JET. 23.] ' EDINBURGH REVIEW/ 245 



Russia was so full of fancy, the comparisons intro- 

 duced so various, so happy, each more unexpected 

 than the last, that we all listened in breathless silence 

 and wonder, until our feelings of admiration and 

 astonishment, reflected upon the speaker, for a while 

 suspended his utterance. On another occasion, the 

 question regarding the obligation of representatives to 

 obey the instructions of their constituents, his argu- 

 ment was the usual one, but urged with a closeness 

 and a force amounting to seeming demonstration, by 

 carefully concealing the fundamental error of assuming 

 the representative to be only commissioned to speak 

 for his constituents, and not to deliberate for them. 

 A most conclusive answer was given by Henry Mac- 

 kenzie, perfectly well reasoned, and happily turning 

 into ridicule the meeting of men to debate, when 

 fettered by the orders under which they assembled 

 a meeting which was utterly absurd, if it did not at 

 once end in a vote without a word of discussion. 



He had been eight years at the bar, and had during 

 the more recent of those years obtained a fair share 

 of practice. He married in 1801 a bold step for 

 his father was unable to assist him ; his wife (Miss 

 Catherine Wilson) had no fortune, and his professional 

 income did not exceed 100 a-year. They took a 

 house or, to speak more correctly, a third floor or 

 flat in Buccleuch Place; but in May 1802 they re- 

 moved to an upper story in Queen Street. 



This brings me to a subject on which I naturally 

 feel deep interest the history of the 'Edinburgh 



