kept him at the utmost distance from excess in questions of doctrine. Repentance, faith, love, obedience, with all those mighty and important truths on which they rest, these were the matters about which he principally exercised himself. Thus self-abased before God, he was in a high degree humble, modest, unassuming, in the society of men. In those scenes of business where his influence and his ascendency of character were the most undisputed, no tinge of arrogance or ostentation was discernible in his acts or his deportment. He freely consulted the opinions of judicious friends; listened with readiness to advice, and with courtesy to objection: and, content to achieve great, and good, and difficult undertakings, cheerfully left to others the credit and the reward.

"I will only add that which attested the sincerity of his character, and without which all the rest might, perhaps, have been doubtful an evident advance and growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through all the hurry and the multiplied distractions of a very active public life, he not only appeared to preserve his faith unshaken, his love to God and man unabated, and his high purity and integrity of conduct unimpaired; but he grew in every visible branch of real holiness, in victory over his passions, in watchfulness against every evil tendency, in mildness, tenderness, and forbearance towards all with whom he had intercourse, in humble submission to the Divine will, in unaffected seriousness and spirituality of mind and demeanour, in the deep solemnity of his devotional observances, in the habit of a calm, earnest, and contemplative anticipation of his last hour, and of the world to come. I do not represent him as a perfect character: there is none god but one. He had, doubtless, his measure of faults or f&bles, and he inherited, in common with us all, a nature prone to evil, and very far gone from original righteousness. But the grace of God does not fail those who seek it diligently, honestly, and in the use of the appointed means. The influence of the holy principles which, by the Divine blessing, he had embraced in early life, still more and more increased as he

advanced in years. A sincere disciple of Christ, his spirit seemed more and more conformed to the mind of his heavenly Master. His path grew progressively brighter as he proceeded; till at length all seemed ripe for the perfect day.

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"And it pleased God that that day broke unawares. During his whole life, he had risen to the full measure of the demands of his station. The spring of all his influence, as I have already remarked, was the actual discharge, in the very best manner, of the duties and functions assigned to him. He was ever diligent in business, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord.' And in this honourable position he stood, when the last messenger arrested him as in a moment. In the midst of his labours, with a heart full of zeal for the diffusion of the knowledge of Christ, with his lips uttering sentiments relative to his favourite object, the spiritual welfare of India, without any lingering or protracted disease, by a release as placid as that of an infant, he fell asleep in the Lord. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.'

No. II.

LORD ERSKINE,

BARON ERSKINE, OF RESTORMEL CASTLE, IN THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL; KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE THISTLE, &c.

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A COUNTRY governed by law," was a wise and comprehensive definition of "a free country." In such a country, forensic oratory must ever maintain a distinguished rank among her intellectual attainments. Lord Erskine was one of the most powerful advocates that the bar of England ever possessed; and history will record that the most valuable privileges of which Englishmen can boast, the LIBERTY OF THE PRESS, and the TRIAL BY JURY, — are deeply indebted for extension and security to the magical effects of his extraordinary eloquence.

Thomas Erskine was the third and youngest son of Henry David Erskine, tenth Earl of Buchan, in Scotland; the representative of a family, which, in the ancient times of the Scottish monarchy, filled the highest situations of public trust, as privy counsellors and ambassadors, as guardians during minority, and as lord high treasurers and regents of the kingdom of Scotland. The second son, the Hon. Henry Erskine, long the grace and ornament of society in Edinburgh, and of the Scottish bar, died about eight years ago. Mr. Erskine's father left his eldest son, the present Lord Buchan, with an encumbered estate; on which he had to support himself, and to complete the education of his two brothers; and, we believe, they both owed much to his exertions in their behalf. It has been said, that Lord Buchan's net income, although at present considerably increased by economy and good management, was originally not more than 150l.

age

The highly-gifted subject of this memoir was born about 1750; and was educated partly at the High School, Edinburgh, and partly at the University of St. Andrew's. At the of fourteen, the contracted means of his family rendering it necessary that he should choose some active profession, he embarked at Leith on board a king's ship, as midshipman, with the late Sir John Lindsey, the nephew of the first Earl of Mansfield; and it is a singular circumstance, that he did not revisit his native country until a few years before his death. He never had the commission of lieutenant, but acted for some time in that capacity by the appointment of his captain. His reason for quitting the navy is said to have been the slender chance of obtaining promotion; and as he had served as an acting lieutenant only in consequence of the friendship of his commander, he was unwilling, after having been honoured with such a distinction, to return to sea in the inferior capacity of midshipman.

On quitting the naval service, he entered the army, as an ensign in the royals, or first regiment of foot. This was in the year 1768.

On the 29th of March, 1770, he married Frances, daughter of Daniel Moore, Esq., M. P. for Marlow.

Soon after his marriage, he went with his regiment to Minorca, in which island he spent three years; and continued in the service about six.

During the period Mr. Erskine served in the army, he acquired considerable reputation for the acuteness and versatility of his talents in conversation. Mr. Boswell, who met him about this time in a mixed company in London, says, in his Memoirs of Dr. Johnson, that he was accustomed to talk "with a vivacity, fluency, and precision so uncommon, that he attracted particular attention ;" and mentions the delight which the doctor had himself felt from his ability, while discussing some temporary topic, which at that time happened to be an interresting question of dispute in the circles of the metropolis.

Whether the consciousness of these powers, or the sug gestions of his friends, or the embarrassments of a scanty income, first invited him to make preparations for the study of the law, it is difficult now to determine. It has, however, been said, that Mr. Erskine had no merit whatever in embarking in so new and arduous a profession; but that, after the death of his father, it was literally forced upon him by the importunities of his mother (a lady of uncommon acquirements and singular penetration), and that the hope of succeeding in it was fortified and kept alive, against his own prepossessions, by her counsel and persuasions.

Mr. Erskine was about twenty-six when he commenced his course of legal study. He entered as a fellow-commoner of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year 1777; and, at the same time, inserted his name as a student on the books of Lincoln's-Inn. One of his college declamations is still extant; as it was delivered in Trinity College Chapel. The thesis was the revolution of 1688. It gained the first prize, and was an earnest of his future eminence. An ode, written by Mr. Erskine about this time, in imitation of Gray's Bard, is also worthy of notice, as a sportive production of his fancy. It originated in a humorous occurrence. The author had been disappointed by his barber, who neglected his usual attendance upon him, and thereby prevented him from dining in the college hall. In the moment of disappointment, hunger, and impatience, he pours forth a malediction against the whole race of hair-dressers: with a denunciation, prophetic of the present taste for cropping, and unpowdered hair.

It was not for any academical purpose that Mr. Erskine entered the university. His object in doing so was merely to obtain a degree, to which he was entitled as the son of a nobleman, and by which he saved two years in his passage to the bar. His education had been previously completed in Scotland. His father, one of the most accomplished men of his time, had uniformly felt an extraordinary solicitude as to the education of his children; and actually removed from his family estate for the purpose of residing at St. Andrew's,