Obituary Notices. 
XV 
For a few years his success in the profession, which at that time 
had perhaps as many good lawyers as at any period before or since, 
was not rapid; but soon after the year 1842, when he distinguished 
himself as junior counsel for Mr Nelson in the Hot Blast Patent Case, 
his advance to the highest position at the Scottish Bar was assured. 
The successful defence of Madeleine Smith in 1857, towards the end 
of his career at the Bar, did not create his reputation as an advo- 
cate, hut extended it from the select circle interested in civil law- 
suits to the larger public which watches a cause cUehre in the criminal 
courts. In 1841 he married a daughter of Lord Wood, a judge of 
the Court of Session, who predeceased him, leaving two sons, Mr 
Alexander Wood Inglis, Secretary of the Board of Manufactures, 
and Mr Herbert Maxwell Inglis, W.S. In 1844 he became Advocate- 
Depute, in February 1852 Solicitor-General, and three months later 
Lord Advocate in the administration of Lord Derby. This early 
promotion was due to his position at the Bar as much as or more than 
to his attachment to the Conservative party. By mental constitu- 
tion, as well as the time and circumstances of his birth, education, 
and profession, a Tory or Conservative of a type now almost extinct, 
he was a lawyer first and a politician afterwards. 
Outside of the sphere of party, his opinions on political and 
social, as well as other subjects, might perhaps be best described 
as Liberal-Conservative, a term then current, though now rarely 
used. In November 1852 he ceased to be Lord Advocate on the 
resignation of Lord Derby. He was soon after elected Dean of 
the Faculty of Advocates, an office he held till 1858, and prized as 
the free and unanimous choice of his professional brethren. He 
described its duties in his farewell letter in the appropriate language 
which marked his speech and writing : — “ My constant desire and 
earnest endeavour has been to render the office practically available 
for the purposes which it is intended to serve ; to induce unity of 
sentiment and action within the Faculty : to maintain its privileges 
and independence ; to secure a scrupulous observance of the rules of 
professional propriety; to promote that social harmony for which 
the Scottish Bar has been distinguished ; to advance the reputation 
of the Faculty as a learned Society and a national institution ; to 
encourage by all legitimate means the cultivation of learning and 
scholar-like accomplishments. 
