1805. | 
pattern to be followed, with regard to 
both, whether at the Houfe of Commons 
or at the Bar. fei 
«¢ And yet (continues he) there was a 
ftill more extraordinary inltance which I 
met with at Edinburgh, in a Lord of Sef- 
fion (Lord Aylmoor), who, though he 
had never been out of Scotland, yet, 
merely by his own pains, without rule or 
method, only converfing much with fuch 
Englifihmen as happened to bethere, and 
reading regularly with fome of the prin- 
cipal actors, arrived even at an accuracy 
of pronunciation, and had not the leatt 
tIngture of the Scottifh intonation.” — 
Having thus polifhed the weapons 
which he had before carefully prepared for 
the conteft, Mr. Wedderburn is faid to 
have made his fir efforts in Butcher- 
row, at the Robin Hood; having made 
proof of that fuit of armour in'which he, 
afterwards, was deftined to engage, in 
Weftminfter-Hall, St. Stephen’s Chapel, 
and the Houle of Peers. It was there, 
too, he firft fell in with a redoubted 
champion, whom he was fated fometimes 
to fide with, and fometimes, although, per- 
haps, always reluctantly, to contend 
againft in another place: this was the lace 
Edmund Burke, who, having, with 
fome difficulty, overcome an eloquent 
baker, the victor in the I:fts for many 
years before, was now preparing to exhi- 
bit his prowefs on another ftage, and reap 
thofe laurels that will encircle his name as 
‘an orator, in ages yet unknown. 
As a lawyer, Mr. Wedderburn, in 
the courfe of a few years obtained great 
practice, noiwithftanding he had to con- 
tend with men of no’common talents: 
for Dunning was then in the flower of 
youth and of reputation ; Thurlow had 
begun to rear his head above the gaping 
crowd of competitors at the Chancery 
bar; Wallace had already acquired the 
reputation of indefatigable diligence; 
Kenyon, although confidered as a dull 
man, had extenfive chamber practice ; 
while Buller, but juft known as the au- 
thor of a Treatife on Nifi Prius, was pre- 
paring to ftart,at once on the Bench, and 
become one of the youngelt and ablett 
Judges on record. In1763, he obtained 
afilk gown, as King’s Counfel; and on 
this occafion, we have been informed, he 
became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. 
But although Mr. Wedderburn never 
difdained monty, yet there was fomething, 
in addition to this, that attracted his at- 
tention, and became the pole to which 
be, young, but at once wary and ambi. 
tious, continually pointed—we allude to 
Memoirs of the Earl of Rafslyn. 
43 
the feals. The road to tie Chancery 
Bench is fometimes circuitous, and may 
be frequently entered by a poftern ga'e 3 
at leat Mr. Wedderburn thought fo, and 
took his meafures accordingly. He, there- 
fore, of courfe, longed to fit in Parlia- 
ment; but as he was a (tranger himfelf, 
and unacquainted with the road thither, 
his countryman, Sir Laurence Dundas, 
father to the prefent Lord Dundas, kindly 
granted his affiftance ; and, by means of 
his influence in the north of England, re- 
commended him to a feat, for the borough 
of Richmond. | 
About this period, he had an opportu- - 
nity of diftinguifhing himfelf, in the affair 
of Lord Clive. That nobleman had re- 
turned laden with the fpoils of the Eaft, 
and, with a liberality hitherto unexam- 
pled, defcended, as Jupiter is fuppoted to 
have done to Danie, in a fhower of gold. 
The genius of his Lordthip, who had 
rifen from the counting-heule to the cam- 
mand of armies, was acknowledged by 
all, and his real, or fuppofed, crimes were 
foon forgiven—for he had been fucce(sful t 
The firft avowed patron of Mr. Wed- 
derburn was Mr. George Grenville, the 
father of the prefent Marquis of Buck- 
ingham, who, like himfelf, had been bred 
to the bar, but prudently changed a plain 
black gown for the more proftable robe 
of a Chancellor of the Exchequer. This 
young ftatefman had retired, or rather - 
been driven, from the Miniftry, and was 
then in oppofition: he was powerfully af- 
fitted, on this occafion, by.Mr. Wedder- 
burn; who, in 1788, diftinguifhed him. 
felf by a {pivited oppoiition to the expul- 
fion of John Wilkes, Efq. Member for 
Middlefex. In the courfe of the next 
year, having married Milfs Betty Anne, 
fole daughter aad heirefs of John Dawfon, 
Efg. of Morley, in Yorkshire, he vifited 
his new acquiGtions in that county, and 
is faid to have made a tour throughout the 
ridings, towns, and diftriéts of that ex- 
tenfive county, oa purpofe to difplay the 
fervor of his patriotifm, by warsing the 
electors “ of the dangers with which they, 
and all the freeholders of Great Britain, 
were threatened, on account of the late 
unconftitutignal, corrupt decifion of the 
Houfe of Commons, in the affair of the 
Middlefex eleftion.” But when Mr. 
Wilkes, afterwards, moved to refcind this 
vote, Mr. Wedderburn, who was then . 
in office, remained mute. 
On the oth of May, 1770, he uttered a 
very animated philippic againf{ Lord. 
Clare, afterwards Earl Nugent, whom he 
accufed of ** the moft marked inconfit. 
ency, 
