Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Great Earl Of Mansfield.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE GREAT EARL OF MANSFIELD .
BY A LEARNED FIUEND . "OIS Lordshi p Avas sent , at the usual age , to the University of Oxx ford . He applied to the study of the Classics , and afterwards to the study of the Law , with great diligence . For some time after he was called to the Bar , he Avas Avithout any practice . A speech he made as Counsel at the-Bar of the House of
Lords , first brought him into notice . Upon this , business poured upon him from all sides ; and he himself has been heard to say , he never knetv the difference between a total want of employment and a gain of 3000 I . a year . He learned much of special pleading from Mr . Justice Dennison , and much of the Law of Title and real Property from MrBooth
. . He confined his practice to the Court of Chancery . His command of words , and the gracefulness of his action , formed a striking con-, trast with the manner of speaking of some of his rivals , AVIIO were ' equally distinguished b y the extent and depth of their legal knowledge , and their unpleasant enunciation . After he had filledwith great lausethe offices of Solicitor and
, app , Attorney-General , heAvas created Chief Justice of the King ' s Bench , in May 17 * 6 , on the decease of Sir Dudley Rider . He held that hi gh situation for two and thirty years . In all he said or did there was a happy mixture of good nature , good humour , elegance , ease , and dignity . Flis countenance Avas most pleasing ; he had an eye of fire ; ancl a voice perhaps unrivalled
in its SAyeetness , and the mellifluous variety of its tones . There was a similitude between his action and Mr . Garrick ' s ; and , in the latter part . 'Af his life , his voice discovered something of that gutturality , for which iVir . Garrick ' s Avas distinguished . He spoke slowly , sounding distinctly every letter of every tvord . In some instances he had a great peculiarity of pronunciation—' authority' and ' attachment , ' two words
of frequent use in the law , he ahvays pronounced aioiawrity and attachment . His expressions tvere sometimes low . Lie did not always observe the rules of grammar . There Avas great confusion in his periods , A'ery often beginning without ending them , ' and involving his sentences in endless parentheses ; yet , such was the charm of his voice and action , ancl such the general brauty , propriety , and force of his expressions , that , as he spoke , all these defects passed unnoticed . No one ever remarked them , AVIIO did not obstinatel y confine his attention and observation to them alone .
Among his contemporaries , he had some superiors in force , and sime equals in persuatioti ; but in insinuation he tvas without a rival or a second . This Avas particularly distinguishable in his speeches i ' rcm the Bench . Fie excelled in the statement of a case . One of the first Orators of the present age said of it , 'that it was of itself , worth the argument of any other man . ' Fie divested it of all unnecessary circumstances ; he brought together every circumstance of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Great Earl Of Mansfield.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE GREAT EARL OF MANSFIELD .
BY A LEARNED FIUEND . "OIS Lordshi p Avas sent , at the usual age , to the University of Oxx ford . He applied to the study of the Classics , and afterwards to the study of the Law , with great diligence . For some time after he was called to the Bar , he Avas Avithout any practice . A speech he made as Counsel at the-Bar of the House of
Lords , first brought him into notice . Upon this , business poured upon him from all sides ; and he himself has been heard to say , he never knetv the difference between a total want of employment and a gain of 3000 I . a year . He learned much of special pleading from Mr . Justice Dennison , and much of the Law of Title and real Property from MrBooth
. . He confined his practice to the Court of Chancery . His command of words , and the gracefulness of his action , formed a striking con-, trast with the manner of speaking of some of his rivals , AVIIO were ' equally distinguished b y the extent and depth of their legal knowledge , and their unpleasant enunciation . After he had filledwith great lausethe offices of Solicitor and
, app , Attorney-General , heAvas created Chief Justice of the King ' s Bench , in May 17 * 6 , on the decease of Sir Dudley Rider . He held that hi gh situation for two and thirty years . In all he said or did there was a happy mixture of good nature , good humour , elegance , ease , and dignity . Flis countenance Avas most pleasing ; he had an eye of fire ; ancl a voice perhaps unrivalled
in its SAyeetness , and the mellifluous variety of its tones . There was a similitude between his action and Mr . Garrick ' s ; and , in the latter part . 'Af his life , his voice discovered something of that gutturality , for which iVir . Garrick ' s Avas distinguished . He spoke slowly , sounding distinctly every letter of every tvord . In some instances he had a great peculiarity of pronunciation—' authority' and ' attachment , ' two words
of frequent use in the law , he ahvays pronounced aioiawrity and attachment . His expressions tvere sometimes low . Lie did not always observe the rules of grammar . There Avas great confusion in his periods , A'ery often beginning without ending them , ' and involving his sentences in endless parentheses ; yet , such was the charm of his voice and action , ancl such the general brauty , propriety , and force of his expressions , that , as he spoke , all these defects passed unnoticed . No one ever remarked them , AVIIO did not obstinatel y confine his attention and observation to them alone .
Among his contemporaries , he had some superiors in force , and sime equals in persuatioti ; but in insinuation he tvas without a rival or a second . This Avas particularly distinguishable in his speeches i ' rcm the Bench . Fie excelled in the statement of a case . One of the first Orators of the present age said of it , 'that it was of itself , worth the argument of any other man . ' Fie divested it of all unnecessary circumstances ; he brought together every circumstance of