halo around all that he wrote respecting jurisprudence. The attention which is so gladly given to his literary productions, recommended by the expressive and agreeable, though not powerful imagination, the happy allusions, the pointed reflections, and the refined sensibility to every thing human, which pervade them, is readily transferred to all the labors of his mind. What, from the pen of another,-unassisted by literary eminence like his,―would seem dry and uninviting, under his hands assumes a most pleasing interest. We respect and admire the learned lawyer, but we love and would take to our bosoms the elegant scholar and man of literature. The position of Sir James Mackintosh among men of the latter character, is universally acknowledged. In this place we can do no more than allude to it. His merits as a jurist, though generally conceded, are, of course, less extensively known.

The Introductory Lecture on the Law of Nature and Nations, is the only production of his,-in the nature of a treatise, on the subject of jurisprudence, which has been published. This was delivered in the Hall of Lincoln's Inn, of which he was a barrister, at the latter part of the last century. The ball was at first refused to him by the Benchers, who, probably, feared that the Jacobin sentiments of the Vindicia Gallica might tinge the proposed course of lectures; but at the suggestion of Lord Rosslyn, then Chancellor, and Sir John Scott (Lord Eldon) Attorney-general, it was granted. Previous to this, Sir James had made the acquaintance of Burke, and so far fallen under the influence of his mighty mind, as to be led to forsake some of the grounds which, in the ardor of controversy, and of early manhood, he had been induced to assume. He delivered and published, nearly at the same time, his Introductory Lecture. This has ever been admired as a most learned and finished production, full of sound views and research, exhibited in language at once choice and copious, classical and harmonious, marked at every turn by a curiosa felicitas of expression. The whole course of Lec

tures was attended by a most distinguished audience. From twenty-five to thirty peers, double the number of commoners, and a crowd of the most learned and accomplished persons in the metropolis, are said to have been attracted to Lincoln's Inn Hall. Letters of compliment were poured in from the most distinguished quarters. 'I have no motive,' said William Pitt, 'for wishing to flatter you; but I must be permitted to say, that I have never met with any thing so able and elegant on the subject in any language.' Canning was a frequent auditor. The Introductory Lecture opens with a confession of unemployed time in the then early days of his profession, which may at once comfort and stimulate others, at the present day, whose lot,-not wanting in high precedents, it will be seen,-it is to find themselves with a like lack of business, and the correlative opportunity for study. 'I have always been unwilling to waste,' says Sir James, 'in unprofitable inactivity, that leisure, which the first years of my profession usually allow, and which diligent men, even with moderate talents, might often employ in a manner neither discreditable to themselves, nor wholly useless to others. Desirous that my own leisure should not be consumed in sloth, I anxiously looked about for some way of filling it up, which might enable me, according to the measure of my humble abil ties, to contribute somewhat to the stock of general usefulness.' He then preceeds to state the design of his course of Lectures; without interrupting the progress of his discourse by anticipating or answering the remarks of those who might, perhaps, sneer at him for a departure from the usual course of his profession, because he was desirous of employing in a rational and useful pursuit, that leisure, of which the same men would have required no account, if it had been wasted on trifles, or even abused in dissipation.

The Lectures of Sir James were delivered from notes and memoranda, and have never yet been published. It is probable that he never wrote them out. For a long time all, interested in the subject, looked for their publication, with a

despairing hope, anxious that the plan so admirably drawn in the Introductory Discourse, should be filled up; at the same time distrusting the energy of the author for so great a task. His life seems to have been made up of unexecuted or defeated plans. His first studies of medicine were thrown aside for those of law; these again yielded to the avocations of politics and literature; his course of lectures, which excited such universal admiration, was never prepared for the press; and lastly, his labors on the History of England, which was announced full twenty years before his death, and on account of which he received in advance, from the public, as if to bind him to his bargain,- —a measure of fame, such as is very rarely accorded for the most meritorious works already finished, appears in little more than two small volumes of Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia,—hastily composed, though crowded with apt thoughts and graphic sketches of character and events,—and in the fragment on the Revolution of 1688. It seems that the Lectures were delivered twice. A writer in the London Law Magazine, states, that during the second course, he was applied to, by Sir James, for the use of his notes of a lecture of which he had lost his own memoranda, and that, at the opening of the lecture in question, he alluded in the most friendly and flattering manner to his loss, and the manner in which it had been supplied.

Sir James' practice at the bar appears to have never been of great consequence. His first effort of any importance as an advocate, was as counsel for Peltier, a French emigrant and agent of the Bourbons, who printed in London a French newspaper, called 'l'Ambigu,' in which he inserted an ode instigating the assassination of the First Consul of France. Bonaparte,whose fortune it was so long and with such reverse fate to be opposed to the English arms,-sought redress from the English laws.

The Attorney General filed a criminal information; and Peltier was brought to trial before Lord Ellenborough, in February, 1803. He is said to have selected Mackintosh as his leading counsel, in order to afford a splendid opportunity

Lord El

to a friend. His friend did not lose the occasion. lenborough, in his charge to the jury, pronounced his address 'the most eloquent oration he had ever heard in Westminster Hall.' It, however, has the qualities of an oration, rather than of a forensic effort. It contains luminous views of politics, splendid and vigorous historical sketches and animating rhetorical flourishes, but little that concerned the case in hand. Mackintosh seems to have been addressing the vast public, all Europe and posterity, rather than the twelve men in the box before him. His client, perhaps, became conscious of this; for he is said to have complained, in his broken English, that the fellow, as he called Mackintosh, had sacrified him to show off in praise of Napoleon. Sir James' fee on this occasion was five guineas. This is the only case of importance in which it is remembered that he appeared in Westminster Hall. A story is told which strikingly illustrates his inefficiency as an advocate. While he was once addressing a jury, Henry Blackstone, the brother of the Judge, was engaged in taking notes of the speech for the senior counsel who was to reply, till at length, wearied out by the irrelevancy of the oration, he wrote down-'Here Mr. Mackintosh talked so much nonsense that it was quite useless and indeed impossible to follow him.' His most successful forensic efforts were addressed to the privy council, and latterly he ceased to plead before any other tribunal. The writer in the London Law Magazine, to whom we have before alluded, states, that many years ago, he heard a masterly oration delivered by him at the Cock-Pit, on which occasion Mr. Pitt entered the room after he had spoken about ten minutes. Mackintosh, at the request of the president, recommenced his speech, to which Pitt (behind whose chair the above writer happened to be standing) listened most attentively, and he was heard to say to the first Lord Liverpool, who was sitting next to him, Very able,' pronouncing the word very with marked emphasis.'

Sir James Mackintosh in 1804 received the honor of knighthood, and the recordership of Bombay. In the discharge of

the duties of this station, he was led to the land hallowed by the virtuous labors and death of Sir William Jones. His duties, on the bench, occupied but a small portion of his time. His charges to grand juries, as a criminal judge, and his judgments in trials, are said to have been among the most able and splendid specimens of English judicial eloquence. Very little has been published which will enable us to form a sober opinjon upon his merits in this regard. What we have seen is greatly superior to the similar productions of Sir William Jones, pronounced in India but a short time previous. Sir James' farewell charge, delivered on 20th of July 1811, contains a short review of the administration of the law in Bombay since he had presided there, with suggestions of remedies for some of the defects which he had observed. first in relation to the principles adopted by the court in cases of commercial insolvency, and secondly in relation to the dispensation of the penal code. His statements and views on both of these topics are given in that lofty spirit, which seems to vindicate a title to the proud trust confided to him, as bearer of the scales of a nation's justice. Of capital punishment, he says; 'I have no doubt of the right of society to inflict the punishment of death on enormous crimes, wherever inferior punishment is not sufficient. I consider it as a mere modification of the right of self-defence, which may as justly be exercised in deterring from attack, as in repelling it.' In this connection, he alludes to the exertions of one whom he considers as among the wisest and most virtuous men of the present age-Sir Samuel Romilly, we presume,to render the letter of the penal law more conformable to its practice. The close of his charge is grave and eloquent; 'I now have the honor,' he said, 'to take my leave of you, with those serious thoughts that naturally arise at the close of every great division of human life; with the most ardent and unmixed wishes for the welfare of the community with which I have been for so many years connected by an honorable tie; and with thanks to you, gen