JET. 23.] -CHARLES HOPE. 235 



cherished objects cast into oblivion, all his darling 

 plans scorned \ " '* 



The person who made the greatest impression on 

 my mind of all these eminent advocates was Charles 

 Hope, from whom my first idea of eloquence was 

 derived that is, of oral as contradistinguished from 

 written eloquence. He had the advantage of an 

 English education, which kept his pronunciation 

 pure : his voice was magnificent. His professional 

 knowledge ; his manly and vigorous understanding, 

 which despised trifles, and loved to grapple with 

 the main body of the subject; his bold and self- 

 possessed manner, to some judges unpleasing but to 

 the best not distasteful, and his nervous eloquence 

 seldom equalled, perhaps never surpassed, whether we 

 regard the language or the tones in which it was con- 

 veyed, soon placed him in the first rank of advocates. 

 That I am not using too strong an expression in thus 

 characterising his oratory, I may venture to give two 

 proofs. Few men had less party or personal lean- 

 ing towards another than Laing (the historian) and 

 Gillies (afterwards the judge), and no one will ques- 

 tion their capacity to form a judgment of eloquence ; 

 the latter, indeed, was himself a first-rate speaker. 

 Both gave it as their opinion, and at a time when 

 party ran high in Edinburgh, that Charles Hope's 

 declamation excelled all they had ever heard ; and 



* Eobert Blair, Lord President of the Court of Session in 1808, 

 died suddenly in 1811. Notices of him will be found in 'Peter's 

 Letters,' Lockhart's ' Life of Scott,' and Cockburn's < Life of Jeffrey.' 



