The Mother of Parliaments

If Pitt had been dismissed from office "after more than five years of boundless power," says Macaulay, "he would hardly have carried out with him a sum sufficient to furnish a set of chambers in which, as he cheerfully declared, he meant to resume the practice of the Law." – "Miscellaneous Writings," p. 347.

153

Lord Ellesmere observes that in the 8th Chapter of Samuel, Jehoshaphat the son of Abilud, the Chancellor among the Hebrews, was called "Mazur," which, translated into English, becomes "Sopher," or Recorder. "Whether the Lord Chancellor of England as now he is, may be properly termed Sopher or Mazur, it may receive some needlesse question, howbeit it cannot be doubted but his office doth participate of both their Functions." – "Observations concerning the Office of Lord Chancellor," p. 2.

154

The Seal was stolen from Lord Thurlow by burglars in 1784, and the offer of a reward of £200 failed to retrieve it. When Lord Chancellor Eldon's house at Encombe caught fire in 1812, he buried the Seal for safety's sake in the garden, and then forgot where he had buried it. His family spent most of the next day digging for it before it was finally recovered. Eldon seems to have taken the fire very easily. "It really was a very pretty sight," he wrote, "for all the maids turned out of their beds, and formed a line from the water to the fire-engine, handing the buckets; they looked very pretty, all in their shifts." Campbell's "Lives of the Chancellors," vol. vii. p. 300.

155

Queen Eleanor was a remarkable woman. At the age of thirteen she was the author of a heroic poem, and in the following year became a wife. Piers of Langtoft describes her as

"The fayrest Maye in lyfe,
Her name Elinore of gentle nurture,
Beyond the sea there was no such creature."

156

Naunton's "Fragmenta Regalia," p. 38.

157

"The Fyrste Dyaloge in Englys, between a Doctoure of Dyvynyte and a Student in the Lawes of England" (1539).

158

Judicature Act of 1873, section 24.

159

His barbarous treatment of the wretched Anne Askew is notorious. For denying that the sacramental blood and wine lost their material elements after consecration, Anne was condemned to be tortured, and the Lord Chancellor with his own hands stretched the rack on which the unfortunate woman was bound, in the hope of extracting a confession. It must, however, be admitted that Wriothesley's heart was not entirely impervious to emotion, for when, as Lord Chancellor, he announced the death of Henry VIII. in the House of Lords, he could not refrain from bursting into tears.

160

He was, however, an able lawyer, and reserved his orgies for private life. "If my Lord Jefferies exceeded the bounds of temperance now and then in an evening, it does not follow that he was drunk on the bench or in council." (Campbell's "Lives," vol. iii. p. 595 note.)

161

Roger North's "Life of Lord Guilford," vol. ii. p. 167. (The word roiled, so we are informed, was an import from the American plantations.)

162

"If we wish to be in a state of security," he said, in 1859, "if we wish to maintain our great interests, if we wish to maintain our honour, it is necessary that we should have a power measured by that of any two possible adversaries."

163

H. Crabb Robinson's "Diary," vol. iii. p. 453.

164

"Commentaries," vol. iii. p. 47.

165

Sir Robert Harley, Chancellor in 1757, was not made a peer until 1764. In 1830, Brougham took his seat on the Woolsack as a Commoner, and at least one other Chancellor has since followed his example.

166

Roscoe's "Eminent British Lawyers," p. 258. Other Chancellors were sprung from equally humble origin. Edward Sugden, afterwards Lord St. Leonards, was the son of a barber. To him is attributed a repartee similar to that made many years earlier by Colonel Birch, M.P., who was taunted with having in his youth been a carrier. "It is true, as the gentleman says, I once was a carrier," replied Birch. "But let me tell the gentleman that it is very fortunate for him that he never was a carrier; for, if he had been, he would be a carrier still." See Burnet's "History of His Own Time," p. 259.

167

Hawkins's "Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 312.

168

He declared, on a famous occasion, that his debt of gratitude to His Majesty was ample, for the many favours he had graciously conferred upon him, which, when he forgot, might his God forget him! Wilkes, who was present, muttered, "God forget you! He will see you d – d first!" while Burke remarked that to escape the memory of the Almighty would be the very best thing Thurlow could hope for.

169

Page 430.

170

Twiss's "Life of Eldon," vol. i. p. 214.

171

Lord Ellenborough was once asked by his hostess after dinner to cease conversing with his host – a judge – and to give the ladies some conversation, as he had been talking law long enough. "Madam," he replied, "I beg your pardon; we have not been talking law, or anything like law. We have been talking of one of the decisions of Lord Loughborough." – Campbell's "Lives," vol. vi. p. 251.

172

Bagehot's "Literary Studies," vol. i. p. 150.

173

Like Lord Bacon, too, he compiled an indifferent "Anecdote Book." Bacon's "Collection of Apothegms," was supposed to have been taken down from his dictation all on "one rainy day," but neither the brevity of the time nor the inclemency of the weather is a sufficient excuse for so poor a production.

174

These occasionally took the form of lampoons in verse, such as the following: —

The Derivation of Chancellor

"The Chancellor, so says Lord Coke,
His title from Cancello took;
And ev'ry cause before him tried
It was his duty to decide.