Memoir of Archibald Campbell Swinton. 373 



have raised him to great distinction. He joined the bar of 

 Scotland as an advocate in 1833. 



I should before have mentioned that for several years he had 

 been in the habit, during the recess, of travelling, at first with 

 a tutor through the Highlands, and in 1828 and 1829 he took 

 tours on the Continent, visiting various places now familiar to 

 tourists, but which at that time were not so easily accessible as 

 they have since become. He went one year to France, another 

 to Switzerland, and another to Italy, and in many instances 

 revisited the same scenes. In 1828 he had the great advantage 

 of travelling under the superintendence of the late Bishop 

 Terrot, himself an accomplished scholar and a man of high 

 intellectual attainments and thought. Professor Aytoun was, 

 in the earlier of these tours, his travelling companion. Swinton 

 continued these Continental wanderings in many after years, 

 and recounted his progress in journals written at the time. 



I may mention in passing that Swinton's time was not 

 altogether consumed either in the study of law or in politics. 

 He was a principal promoter of a Charade Company, composed 

 of his own companions and intimates, who played with great 

 acceptance and success in various Edinburgh circles. Of these 

 the late Cosmo Innes was the principal manager, and Lord 

 Neaves and Angus Fletcher of Dunans and Henry Jardine, son 

 of Sir Henry Jardine, as well as Aytoun and Swinton, were 

 principal performers. I find that, in the diary which he kept, 

 some of these performances are noted from time to time — one 

 in particular, I remember, which was acted at his father's 

 house in Inverleith Place — a dramatised version of Nicholas 

 JVickleh/, in which William Aytoun sustained the part, first, of 

 "Squeers," which he rendered admirably; and secondly, of 

 the "Infant Phenomenon," in which his attire created an 

 intense sensation among the ladies of the audience. 



From 1833 down to 1862 Swinton devoted himself with great 

 energy and fair success to his profession. He used to go to the 

 circuit at Glasgow, and was engaged in several criminal trials 

 of importance ; and before he had been two years at the Bar, he 

 rendered a great service to the profession in initiating a system 

 of Reports of Criminal Trials. This department of law 

 reporting had fallen into decay, and, in fact, had not been 

 systematically pursued for many years before. These reports 

 continued under his superintendence for several years, and 



