ELQIK, EARL OF. 



ELI8 DE BEAUMONT. 



Ml 



But on Lord Loogbborough'i resignation of the grmt seal la April 

 1801, about month after Mr. Pitt had ben succeeded as prime 

 minuter by Mr. Addington, Lord Eldon became lord obanoellor 

 (April 14th). His own account was, that when he was made chief 

 jiutioe of the Common Pleas, the king had insisted upon his giving a 

 promise, that whenever he should be called upon to take the office of 

 chancellor he would do to. He continued to hold this office till the 

 7th of February 1804, when, on the accession of the Whig ministry of 

 Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville, he was succeeded by Lord Erskine ; he 

 resumed it on the 1st of April 1807, on the return of his party to 

 power ; and be finally resigned it on the 30th of April 1827, when 

 Mr. Canning became prime minister, and the great seal was given to 

 Lord Lyndhurst He was raised to the dignities of Viscount 

 Enoombe and Earl of Eldon in 1821. 



Lord Eldon's judicial character has been elaborately drawn by 

 several competent pens. The reader may be especially referred to 

 the volumes of his biographer, Mr. Twiss ; to a aeries of articles in 

 the ' Law Magazine,' Noe. 41 to 44 inclusive; to the second series of 

 Lord Brougham's ' Historical Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in 

 tlif time of George III.;' and to Lord Campbell's 'Lives of the 

 Chancellors.' It is admitted on all bonds that in legal learning he 

 never had a superior, if he bad an equal, in Westminster Hall ; and, 

 although his intellect was not capacious, nor his general powers of 

 mind of a commanding order, in the acuteness and subtlety with 

 which he applied his professional knowledge he was perhaps unrivalled 

 by any judge that ever sat upon the bench. The great fault that is 

 imputed to him is the hesitation which he showed in coming to a 

 decision, or at any rate, as has been said to have been rather tbe case, 

 in pronouncing one. But this habit, however distressing to individual 

 suitors, was not so permnnectly mischievous as .might be feared. 

 Indeed the anxious consideration with which his judgments were 

 formed enhances their value and authority. 



During nearly all the time that Lord Eldon sat on the woolsack he 

 took a leading part in the general debates of the House of Lords ; he 

 was also understood to be one of the most influential members of the 

 cabinet ; and he was certainly one of the staunchest and most uncom- 

 promising supporters of all the great principles of the old Tory or 

 Conservative party. Tbe two great measures of Parliamentary Reform 

 and Roman Catholic Emancipation in particular were steadily opposed 

 by him on all occasion*, and to the last Indeed it was his inflexi- 

 bility on the latter question that occasioned his final retirement from 

 office. 



Opinions will of course be divided on Lord Eldon's character as a 

 public man. Tbe facts of his long career are now generally known ; 

 and sufficient time has elapsed to enable the present generation to 

 form a tolerably correct estimate of the men who directed affairs in 

 the eventful period of the latter port of the reign of Qeorge III. and 

 the regency. So much we may affirm without incurring the impu- 

 tation of judging in a mere party spirit ; that the reputation of Lord 

 Eldon as a profound lawyer will be permanent, while his career as a 

 statesman was not marked by any measure that places him among the 

 great men of his age or country. 



Lord Eldon survived in retirement till the ISth of January 1838, 

 and was succeeded in his peerage by his grandson, the late earl, the 

 son of his eldest son John, who was born at Oxford on the 8th of 

 March 1774, and died on the 24th of December 1805. Lord Eldou's 

 other children were Elizabeth, born in 1783, who married Qeorge 

 Stanley Kepton, Esq. ; Edward William, born in 1791, and Henry 

 John, born in 1793, who both died in infancy; William Henry John, 

 born in 1795, who died in 1832; Frances Jane, born in 1798, who 

 married the Rev. Edward Bankcs, rector of Corfe Castle and pre- 

 benHary of Gloucester and Norwich, and died in 1838. Lady Kldou 

 died in 1831. John, second earl of Eldon, was declared of unsound 

 mind in 1858, and died in September 1854. His son John, the present 

 earl, was born in 1845, and succeeded to the title on the death of 

 bis fathi r. 



(Tkc Pullic and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, vith 

 Stle&itmt from kit Corrctpmdence, by Horace Twiss, Esq., one of her 

 Majesty's Counsel, 3 Tola. 8vo, Lond., 1844.) 



1 I. '.IN, 1-.AUI, OF. THOMAS BRUCE, seventh e.ul of Elgin and 

 Kincardine, was descended from the royal family of Bruce, and was 

 bom in 1777. After having passed some years at Harrow and West- 

 minster, he went to the University of St. Andrews; thence he 

 proceeded to Paris, where he studied law; aul he afterwards prose- 

 cuted military studies in Germany. He subsequently entered the 

 army, in which he rose gradually to the rank of general. The greater 

 part of his life however was spent in diplomatic posts. He was 

 appointed envoy at Brussels in 1792, and accompanied the Prussian 

 army during its operations in Germany in tbe following ycsr. In 

 1796 he was sent to BerUn as envoy extraordinary, and in 1799 to 

 Constantinople in the same capacity. Here he continued until the 

 French were driven out of Kgj pt in 1801 On his appointment to the 

 embassy to Turk-y it had been suggested to him ss desirable to obtain 

 some batter knowledge of the remains of art at Athens than then 

 existed. Lord Elgin submitted the proposition to the British govern- 

 ment, but it was not encouraged. On his way however he stoi.p. d at 

 Palermo, where be wa. persuaded by Sir William Hamilton to pursue 

 the design, sod accordingly he engaged six artiste at his own expense, 



who reached Athens in August 1800, and they were eventually able 

 to secure snd to bring over to England a large number of casts, monu- 

 ments, statues, bas-reliefs, medals, and fragments of architecture of 

 the best age of Athenian art. In spite of considerable censure and 

 opposition, in 1816 the collection was purchased by the government, 

 and placed in the British Museum, where it is known as the 'Elgin 

 Marbles.' From this time forward Lord Elgin held no public appoint- 

 ment. He was a Scotch representative peer for fifty years, but, 

 except when employed as a diplomatist, he lived a very private and 

 retired life. He died at Paris, in November 1841. 



ELGIN, EARL OF. JAMES BKUCK, eighth earl of Elgin and 

 Kincardine, son of the preceding nobleman, was born in 1811, and 

 received bis early education at Eton, and at Christchurch, Oxford, 

 where he graduated B.A. in 1833, as a first class in classical honour*. 

 He was subsequently elected Fellow of Merton College. In 1841 he 

 was chosen one of the representatives for Southampton, but suc- 

 ceeded to the Scottish earldom on hii father's death before the close 

 of the year. In 1842 he was appointed governor of Jamaica, and held 

 that post for four years. The ability which he here displayed induced 

 the existing government to select him as successor of Lord Cathcart 

 in the still more arduous post of governor-general of Canada, whither 

 he proceeded in 1846. Here his policy was liberal and enlightened, 

 and correspondingly popular. He carried out the principles of adminis- 

 tration recommended by the late Earl of Durham, by cherishing a 

 representative system and self-government Maintaining a dignified 

 neutrality among the extremes of contending parties in Canadian 

 politics, he interested himself in the development of the agricultural 

 and commercial resources of the province, and especially in its export 

 manufactures, thus securing the good opinion at once of the colonists 

 themselves and of more than one ministry at home. In 1849 he was 

 rewarded with an English peerage, and the lord-lieutenancy of Fife- 

 shire was conferred upon him in 1854. He has been twice married ; 

 his present wife is a daughter of the first earl of Durham. 



ELI, the High Priest of the Jews, who succeeded Samson as judge 

 of Israel, or, as is generally supposed, was his colleague for the last 

 twenty years of his government He was the first high priest of the 

 race of Ithamar, the second sou of Aaron the race of Eleazar, which 

 was not extinct, being for some reason superseded, and it was not 

 restored till the time of Solomon, who expelled Abiathar, and 

 appointed Zadok, of the elder race, in his place. Eli flourished, 

 according to Hales, about ii.c. 1182, and his government endured for 

 about thirty years. He was a good and pious man, but deficient in 

 firmness. We first hear of him in the first book of Samuel, when he 

 mistook the fervour of Hannah for drunkenness, as she prayed for 

 issue in the temple. But she remonstrated, " Count not thine hand- 

 maid for a daughter of Belial ; for out of the abundance of my 

 complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto : " and Eli Messed her, 

 saying, " Go in peace ; and the God of Israel grout thee thy petition 

 that thou hast asked of him." As Eli advanced in yean he delegated 

 much of his power to his two sons, Hophni and Phiiiheas. They were 

 dissolute and violent young men, who not only abstracted the sacrifices 

 brought to the temple, but were guilty of other enormities, so that 

 " men abhorred the offering of the Lord." A prophet was sent, who 

 t'lld Kli of the misconduct of his sous, and denounced vengeance upon 

 their crimes. This seems to have been ineffectual in restraining them, 

 for, still later, " when his eyes began to wax dim, and he could not 

 see," Samuel was commissioned to announce to him that his house 

 would be judged, "because his sons made themselves vile, and he 

 restrained them not ; " to which he answered, " Let the Lord do what 

 seemeth him good." A war with the Philistines occurred shortly 

 afterwards, and the Israelites were defeated at Eben-ezer, whereupon 

 iched the ark from Shiloh, and it was accompanied by Hophni 

 and Phinehas. Another battle took place; the ark was captured; 

 and Hophui and Phinehas were slain, together with thirty thousand 

 Israelites. On learning this disastrous news, Eli fell back from his 

 chair and broke bis neck, at the age of ninety-eight He was suc- 

 ceeded as judge by Samuel, who held the office until the nomination 

 of Saul as king. 



* ELIE DE BEAUMONT, JEAN-BAPTISTE-AKMAND-LOUIS- 

 LEONCK, was born at Canon, in the department of Calvados, on tho 

 25th of September, 1798. He was educated at the Lycce Henri IV., 

 where ho gained the first prize in mathematics in 1817, and with it, 

 the privilege of entering the Boole Polytechnique. On quitting this 

 in 1819 he studied for two years iu the Eeole des Mines, and then 

 commenced the series of mineralogical and geological travels that have 

 given him renown. In 1823, in company with M. Dufreuoy, he visited 

 England and Scotland. In 1825, again in conjunction with M. Oufre- 

 noy, he prepared a geological chart of France on a large scale. From 

 this time his studies have been chiefly devoted to geology, although iu 

 January 1 852 he was nominated by the President to a seat in the 

 Senate, but M. de Beaumont has always abstained from politico. Hit 

 chief works are ' Coup d'ooil sur les Mines,' 1824 ; ' Observations Geo- 

 logiques sur les diflVSrentes Formations qui, dans le Systeme des Vosges, 

 apparent la Formation Houillicre de cello du Lias,' 1829 ; ' bur la Con- 

 stitution Goologiquedes lies Baleares,' 1829 ; ' Recherches sur quulijiK-s- 

 unes des Revolutions de la Surface du Globe,' 1829; ' Lecons de 

 Geologic,' 1845. M. de Beaumont was elected a foreign member of 

 tho Royal Society of London in 1835 ; he is Uo a member of several 



