Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Great Earl Of Mansfield.
Thoup-h he was so far a friend to toleration , as not to wish for an extension of the laws enacted against Dissenters , or to \ vish the existing laws rigidly enforced against them , yet he was a friend to the Corporation and Test Laws , and considered them as bulwarks of the Constitution , which it mig ht be dangerous to remove . On every occasion he reprobated the discussion of abstract principles , and infor the better
culcated the maxim , that the exchange of the well was a dangerous experiment , and scarcely ever to be hazarded . It has been argued , that his knowledge of the law was by no means profound , and that his great professional eminence was owing , more to his oratory than to his knowledge . This was an early charge against him . Mr . Pope alludes to it in these lines :
The Temple tare two brother . Sergeants saw , Who clcem'd each other oracles of law ; Each had a gravity would make yon split . And shook His head at MUH-IAY as a wit . IMITATIONS OF HORACE , B . II . MIST . 2 . Perhaps die opinion was founded on the notion which many enwith
tertain , that the study of the polite arts is incompatible a profound knotvledge of " the law ; not recollecting , that the human mmd necessarily requires some relaxation , and that a change of study is the greatest and most natural of all relaxations , to a mind engaged in professional pursuits . Besides , the commune vinculum _ between _ all branches of learning preserves the habits of application , of
thinking , and of judg ing which are lost in the modes of dissipation usually resorted to for relaxation . The Chancellor D'Aguesseau , and even the stern Du Moulin , were eminently distinguished by their general literature . Lord Bacon ' s various ancl profound knowledge is uni- . versally known ; and many works of Lord Hale are published ^ which ' shewthat to the deepest aiid most extensive knowledge of
, all the branches of the law , the constitution , and the antiquities of his country , he united a genera ! acquaintance with the history , of other nations ; that he had given much of his time to the study of theology ; that he occasionally sacrificed to the Muses , and spent some time in the curious and instructive amusements of experimental
philosophy . To decide on his Lordship ' s knotvledge of the law , a serious perusal of his arguments , as Counsel , in Mr . Atkins ' s Reports , and of his speeches , as Judge , in Sir James BurroAv ' s , Mr . Douglas ' s , and Mr . Cowper ' s Reports , is absolutely necessary . ' If the former be compared with the arguments of his contemporaries , many of whom were men of the profoundest knowlege that ever appeared at the
Chancery Bar , it will not be discovered , that in learning or research , in application of . princip les or in recollection of cases , his arguments are any . wise inferior to those of the most eminent among them . Neither will he suffer by the comparison , if his speeches in giving his -judgments from the Bench are compared Avith those of the Counsel at the Bar . It is easy to imagine , that , on some one
occasion , a Judge , with his Lordship ' s mental endowments , by aparticuiar application to the learning immediately referrible to the case VOL .-VIII . it r
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Great Earl Of Mansfield.
Thoup-h he was so far a friend to toleration , as not to wish for an extension of the laws enacted against Dissenters , or to \ vish the existing laws rigidly enforced against them , yet he was a friend to the Corporation and Test Laws , and considered them as bulwarks of the Constitution , which it mig ht be dangerous to remove . On every occasion he reprobated the discussion of abstract principles , and infor the better
culcated the maxim , that the exchange of the well was a dangerous experiment , and scarcely ever to be hazarded . It has been argued , that his knowledge of the law was by no means profound , and that his great professional eminence was owing , more to his oratory than to his knowledge . This was an early charge against him . Mr . Pope alludes to it in these lines :
The Temple tare two brother . Sergeants saw , Who clcem'd each other oracles of law ; Each had a gravity would make yon split . And shook His head at MUH-IAY as a wit . IMITATIONS OF HORACE , B . II . MIST . 2 . Perhaps die opinion was founded on the notion which many enwith
tertain , that the study of the polite arts is incompatible a profound knotvledge of " the law ; not recollecting , that the human mmd necessarily requires some relaxation , and that a change of study is the greatest and most natural of all relaxations , to a mind engaged in professional pursuits . Besides , the commune vinculum _ between _ all branches of learning preserves the habits of application , of
thinking , and of judg ing which are lost in the modes of dissipation usually resorted to for relaxation . The Chancellor D'Aguesseau , and even the stern Du Moulin , were eminently distinguished by their general literature . Lord Bacon ' s various ancl profound knowledge is uni- . versally known ; and many works of Lord Hale are published ^ which ' shewthat to the deepest aiid most extensive knowledge of
, all the branches of the law , the constitution , and the antiquities of his country , he united a genera ! acquaintance with the history , of other nations ; that he had given much of his time to the study of theology ; that he occasionally sacrificed to the Muses , and spent some time in the curious and instructive amusements of experimental
philosophy . To decide on his Lordship ' s knotvledge of the law , a serious perusal of his arguments , as Counsel , in Mr . Atkins ' s Reports , and of his speeches , as Judge , in Sir James BurroAv ' s , Mr . Douglas ' s , and Mr . Cowper ' s Reports , is absolutely necessary . ' If the former be compared with the arguments of his contemporaries , many of whom were men of the profoundest knowlege that ever appeared at the
Chancery Bar , it will not be discovered , that in learning or research , in application of . princip les or in recollection of cases , his arguments are any . wise inferior to those of the most eminent among them . Neither will he suffer by the comparison , if his speeches in giving his -judgments from the Bench are compared Avith those of the Counsel at the Bar . It is easy to imagine , that , on some one
occasion , a Judge , with his Lordship ' s mental endowments , by aparticuiar application to the learning immediately referrible to the case VOL .-VIII . it r