1824.] Biographical Skeich of the 
could tend to weaken the force of the 
ease stated against them) by the crown 
lawyers. These. trials lasted. several 
weeks: ihe) public expectation) hung 
upon. them with the) most inconceivable: 
anxiety, and the feclings of good, men 
and virtuous citizens accompanied the 
accused, to) their, trial, with hopes, not 
unmixed).with, apprehension, that al- 
though, from their acquittal, the liberty 
of the subject would receive additioval 
strengily and‘ confirmation, yet, if con- 
victed; the event wus to be considered 
as the establishment of a glaring des- 
potism. 
In the prosecution of the publisher of 
Paine’s Age of, Reason, he appeared on 
the side. of the prosecution ; and, 
although we abhor all such prosecutions, 
and for this pretended offence in parti- 
cular, yet a more eloquent, solemn, or 
impressive oration was. never delivered, 
than that which Mr. Erskine made on 
this ,oceasion. 
Inthe receipt of 10 or 12,0001. per 
annum. for professional. fees, and in the 
flood of his public glory, le was, in 1806, 
on the death of Pitt, chosen one of the 
new ministry, and elevated to the wool- 
sack, with the rank of an English baron. 
His natural, sense of justice qualified 
him, io preside in. a court of equity; 
and, his prompiness led the public 
to hope that it wauld at length an- 
swer to its name. ‘The Guelphs, now- 
ever, having no. fondness for Whig prin- 
ciples, or practices, soon found an op- 
portunity, to enlist vulgar prejudices 
against the ministry ; and, having lost a 
bulwark in the.name of Fox, they. were 
expelled from, power within twelve 
months after they had been raised to it, 
This. result closed the public,services of 
Lord Erskine,—he could no longer prac- 
tise with bis wonted glory at the bar, 
and his assistance to, the state . were 
redaced to those of a simple peer of 
parliament, . while.’ his independent 
12,000/, per anoum was reduced to a 
pension, as ex-chancellor, of 4,000/, 
rom these circumstances arose a va- 
riety of adverse circumstances. He had 
made speculations which a fixed pension 
didnot enable iim to complete, and it 
became. necessary to. mortgage even the 
pension itself to meet expenses, and to 
become more dependent on friends than 
was compatible with the habits of his 
former life,,, An unhappy second mar; 
riage aggravated some of these difficul- 
ties; and, there ig no doubt, but. the last 
fen years of the life of this great man 
late Thomus. Lord Erskine. §25 
were rendered tolerable only by his own 
strength of mind, aud his inherent pria- 
ciples) of, virtue. 
In. 181 Vhe had the chanee of returning: 
again to power by coalescing with the 
Earl of Moira; but he was. a second 
time the victim of the stubbornness of his 
political allics, to whom he adhered from 
affection, inspite of his own judgment, 
a conduct which he repented ever 
afterwards. 
Having no public’ employment, ex- 
cept in great exertions accasionally 
made in parliament, lie has for severak 
years amused himself by revising, for the 
press, an edition of his “ Speeches at the 
Bar ;” and he has, also, published some 
political pamphlets on various subjects of 
paramount intcrest. Against the late 
series of wicked wars carried on from 
1775 to. 1815, against the libertics and 
independence of mankind, he was the 
determined and avowed foe, and never 
committed himself but on one oceasion, 
and then to oblige Lord Grenville, froin 
whom he expected other concessions. 
For forty years the votes of both Houses 
have alwaysrecorded his voice on the side 
of liberty and liberality ; and it was his 
avowed glory, and the only pride in which 
he ever indulzed, that he had reached 
the hizhest station in his profession, and 
attained a peerage, without on any occa- 
sion compromising his principles, or the 
liberties of bis country; and, in this 
respect, he used to say, that he hoped 
his example would be useful to those 
who followed him in a similar earcer. 
He has Ieft a considerable family, and 
some children by both bis marriages, 
In conducting one of his younger sovs to 
Edinburgh, he caught cold in. the 
packet, was in consequence sct, ashore 
at Scarborough, whence he travelled by 
land to Scotland, but died on the 17th of 
November last, at his late brother’s seat 
near Edinburgh. His remains. have 
been interred in Scotland, although he 
sume years. since prepared a splendid 
mausoleum iu the charch-yard of Hamp. 
stead. A meeting has, however, becn 
held, of the leading gentlemen. of the 
bar; and it has been determined to erect 
a public statue to, porpetuate the rememe- 
brance of his talents, virtues, and. yaricd 
merits, ;, 
Lhe character of this great man was 
reflected by the actions of a life spent in 
the. honourable exercise of an. active 
profession, His various talents, even 
by the violence of party, were never 
questioned, He was unequal in his 
intellectual 
