552 MEMOIR OF 



popularity, that three thousand copies were sold upon the day 

 of its publication. 



In the year 1801, a vacancy occurred in the Bench of the 

 Court of Session, by the death of Lord Stonefield. The 

 friendship of Lord Melville had a new opportunity for its 

 display; and the friends of Mr Tytleii had now the satisfac- 

 tion of seeing him elevated to the highest honours of his pro- 

 fession. On the 2d of February 1802, he took his seat upon 

 the Bench with the title of Lord Woodhouselee. 



Of Lord Woodhouselee's qualifications for this important 

 office, it would be presumptuous in me to offer any opinion ; 

 and I feel, with gratitude, that it is unnecessary, as, of all the 

 honours which the Government of this country has to bestow, 

 those which have been in the estimation of the public most 

 purely won, and most honourably worn, are those which belong 

 to the Administration of Justice. He brought not the Bench, 

 indeed, either that profound acquaintance with the details of 

 law, which nothing but continued and extensive practice can 

 give ; nor that metaphysical acuteness, which so often seeks to 

 distinguish itself by subtlety of distinction, or novelty of inter- 

 pretation ; nor that impatient eloquence, which loves to find in 

 the most trivial cases, an opportunity for its own display. But 

 he brought to it qualities, in a country like this, of higher va- 

 lue, and of more genuine usefulness, — a just and enlightened 

 admiration of the laws he was called to administer, — the most 

 conscientious patience in the investigation of truth, — and a 

 mind incapable either of being intimidated, in the discharge of 

 duty, by the dread of censure, or of being misled by the love 

 of praise. In his conduct on the Bench, the characteristic in- 

 tegrity and modesty of his nature were apparent. In this, as 

 in all other situations, his highest ambition was to be par ne- 

 gotiis, non supra, — to be able to fulfil his duty without seeking 



for 



