ELDON ELEVATION. 



461 



his majesty's first illness occurred, and the country 

 was in consequence much agitated upon the Re- 

 gency question. The bill introduced by Mr Pitt 

 on that occasion, was drawn by Sir John Scott; 

 to whom also are attributed the line of conduct 

 adopted by the minister, and the truly constitu- 

 tional doctrines for which he contended. 



Sir John Scott's progress towards the highest 

 honours was certain, but gradual. His merit con- 

 tinually developed itself, and familiarity with the 

 forms of business, a habit of public speaking, and 

 acquaintance with his own powers, wore away the 

 diffidence by which he had formerly been oppressed. 

 On the 13th of February, 1793, he was appointed 

 attorney-general, which office he held for six years. 

 During that time, his labours were unremitting. 

 Often was he seen at five o'clock in the morning 

 in Lincoln's Inn-fields, walking to his chambers. 

 In 1796, he was returned for Boroughbridge as the 

 colleague of Sir Francis Burdett. On the death of 

 Sir James Eyre he succeeded him as lord chief 

 justice of the common pleas; and, on the 18th of 

 July, 1799, was raised to the peerage as baron 

 Eldon, of Eldon, in the county of Durham. But 

 this was only a foretaste of tne honours which his 

 knowledge and ability were certain to secure; and 

 accordingly, in 1801, he became lord high chancel- 

 'or of England. In the same year he was nomin- 

 ated high steward of the university of Oxford, by 

 the duke of Portland, then chancellor of the uni- 

 versity ; a nomination ratified by the unanimous 

 vote of convocation, by which the degree of D.C. L. 

 by diploma was immediately after conferred upon 

 him. Lord Eldon resigned the great seal on the 

 7th of February 1806 ; he was re-appointed April 

 1, 1807, from which period he continued in office 

 until 1827, being altogether a period of nearly 

 twenty-five years. He died on the 13th Jan. 1838. 



Testimonies to the judicial merit of lord Eldon 

 are so common that the difficulty lies in selection. 

 Perhaps that of Sir Samuel Romilly himself one 

 the purest and ablest of men is the highest in 

 point of authority. He stated in the house of 

 commons on the 7th of March, 1811, "that there 

 never was a man in the court of chancery who more 

 endeared himself to the bar, or exhibited more hu- 

 mane attention to the suitors. There never pre- 

 sided- in that court a man of more deep and various 

 learning in his profession ; and in anxiety to do jus- 

 tice, that court had never seen, he would not say 

 the superior, but the equal of the lord chancellor. 

 If he had a fault, it was an over-anxiety to do jus- 

 tice." It was his peculiar gratification, in his Jat- 

 ter days, to speak freely of the imputations of delay 

 and indecision which had been raised against him, 

 with feelings of conscientious satisfaction, and a 

 declaration to those to whom his heart was really 

 open, that all the virulence with which he had 

 been attacked on this score weighed but as a fea- 

 ther in the balance against the blessed conviction 

 in his own mind, that he had never decided a case 

 until he had perfectly satisfied himself upon its real 

 merits. His reported judgments are contained in 

 twenty volumes ; and of the whole few indeed 

 have been reversed. 



In personal appearance, lord Eldon was every- 

 thing that might be expected in a supreme judge : 

 the deep thought betrayed in his furrowed brow 

 the huge eye-brows, overhanging eyes that seemed 

 to regard more what was taking place within than 

 around them, his sternness, dignity, and venera- 

 ble age, all tended to inspire respect. His voice 



was very remarkable. It was so weak that to 

 persons unaccustomed to hear him in his court, he 

 seemed rather to whisper than to speak ; but his 

 utterance was extremely distinct, and his clear, 

 soft, low tones were singularly forcible and impres- 

 sive. In private life he was exemplary. He never 

 appeared to such an advantage as amidst the chari- 

 ties of home, by his own fireside, where, with the 

 friends who loved him, his relations, his children, 

 and grand-children, he passed the declining years of 

 his life, submitting with tranquillity and cheerful- 

 ness, which never forsook him, to the infirmities 

 from which at his advanced age he could scarcely 

 hope to be exempt. By his wife, Elizabeth, daugh- 

 ter of Aubone Surtees, Esq. banker, of Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne, the earl of Eldon had two sons and 

 two daughters. 



By his will, he left to his elder daughter, the 

 lady Elizabeth Repton, a life interest in 4000 

 per annum ; to lady Frances Bankes, 4000 a year ; 

 to his grandsons, the children of Mr Bankes and 

 Mr Repton, 10,000 each, and 5000 each to the 

 grand-daughters. To his butler he left a 100 a 

 year for life ; 50 each to all the servants that 

 lived with his lordship above a certain number of 

 years, and 20 to every other domestic in his ser- 

 vice. All the residue of his vast property he left 

 to his grandson, the present earl of Eldon, with re- 

 mainder over to the male children of his daughters 

 in succession, in the event of his lordship (who has 

 three daughters) not having male issue ; but giving 

 the earl power of making ample settlements on the 

 female children. The personal property was sworn 

 to be under 700,000. 



ELEVATION OF LAND. That our existing 

 continents and islands have been raised from the 

 bed of the ocean by successive eruptions of igneous 

 rocks, is now an established fact in geology. That 

 these elevations took place at different times with 

 considerable intervening periods, is also apparent, 

 from the unconformable manner in which the suc- 

 cessive formations are inclined towards each other, 

 and the different characters of the organic remains 

 found in each. Some geologists suppose that these 

 elevations were paroxysmal, others again that 

 they have been gradual and continuous. One 

 thing appears evident, that repeated elevations 

 must have taken place before the strata were fin- 

 ally raised above the level of the ocean. Mr Lyell 

 concludes that almost the whole of Europe emerged 

 from the ocean at a period posterior to the deposi- 

 tion of the chalk. Although it appears that the 

 principal changes have taken place in the strata of 

 the old continents, previous to, and at the period 

 of their final emergence from the ocean, yet there 

 are also indications that since the commencement 

 of the existing state of things, and the introduc- 

 tion on the surface of the present system of veget- 

 able and animal life, considerable elevations of our 

 shores have taken place, and are still in progress. 

 These comparatively modern changes have been 

 recently investigated and described by several ob- 

 servers. Mr Lyell first pointed out the elevation 

 of the rocks on the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, 

 and the existence of recent balaiue still adhering 

 to these rocks at a considerable elevation above 

 the highest tide marks. He also has pointed out 

 the existence of modern shells in the silt or loess 

 of the valley of the Rhine, from below Cologne to 

 the falls of Schaffhausen, at an elevation of 3 

 to 400 feet above the river. Shells of existing 

 testacea have also been found at various elevations 



