The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

Nittrature. Lives of the Lord Chancellors. By John Lord Campbell, LL.D., F.R.S.E. Fourth Edition. In Ten Vols. Vol. X. London ; Murray. FEW men now living have had such great personal success in life as the present Lord Chief Justice of England. Arriving in this metropolis half a century since, " the son of " a poor Scotch clergyman, who could give him " nothing beyond a good education " (Chan cellors, Vol. vii. p. 54), without either aristo cratic or professional connection, the " plain " John Campbell" (as he once publicly called himself) advanced step by step, and at no slow pace, to the lead of the Oxford Circuit, to a seat in Parliament, and to the Attorney-Gene ralship of England—an office which he held in most important times. Marrying the daughter of a first-class legal celebrity, his wife obtained the rare honour of being created a peeress in her own right, while her lady ship's father had a short time previously been ennobled; and in order that the dignity of a coronet should be conferred on himself, the Government removed the famous orator, Lord Plunket, from the Chancellorship of Ireland. and bestowed it upon " Sir John Campbell," of the English Bar. At a subsequent period, even when the Whig families were in a most exclusive mood, Lord Campbell was admitted to the Cabinet, not as a " mere law-10r3," but as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and many of his practical efforts at legislation were endorsed with the official approbation of his party. As if that success was not enough, his lordship was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England, being the exact post in which he could appear to most advantage. In the possession of a splendid fortune, living in a stately mansion in one of the most fashion able quarters, with heirs to transmit his title and inherit his wealth, Lord Campbell, indeed, may be cited as a wonderful instance of great personal success. Even in the annals of the proverbial in dustry and prudence of Scotchmen we do not remember another instance of such enormous success. Murray (Lord Mansfield) was of a patrician race, co nected with the highest houses ; Erskine, though poor, was of noble birth, and he was gifted with the master-spell of genius, besides being endowed with many consummate graces both of mind and body. Lord Loughborough (Wedderburne) was also singularly fortunate, but there are grievous stains on his personal career, and the rever sion of the Earldom of Rossiya was too dearly purchased. Nor did Wedderburne obtain a peerage for his wife, and he did not acquire so great a fortune as Lord Campbell. Henry Dundas (Lord Melville) had also vast success, but for four previous generations his family had held high official posts. It is more specially to be observed that all this vast suc cess has been obtained by Lord Campbell, although he could not, like Murray, have stood before Chatham in debate, and though he had not the commanding oratorical resources of Wedderburne. Nor could any ono assign to Lord Campbell the possession of the fire of genius which has given meteoric lustre to the career of Lord Brougham, or of the lofty intellectuality and fascinating gifts which dignify Lord Lyndhurst; nor does he display the combined legal and debating powers which made a precocious prodigy of the lamented Follett. Great as are Lord Camp bell's talents, his lordship has not those tower ing faculties which stamp their possessor as one signalised by nature for command. But all this vast success may be achieved in the active walks of life, and yet he who has accomplished it may signally fail when attempt ing to carry off the laurels of an author. The unlucky rhymes of Cicero and Burke, the at tempts at poetry by Richelieu, and the ethical excursions of the great Frederick, are memo. rahle instances of the bounds which are set even to the highest faculties when strained beyond their appropriate use ; and the ques tion now comes as to what measure of literary success should fairly bo assigned to Lord Campbell. We lay emphasis on "fairly," because in our long critical experience we remember few THE PRESS, DECEMBER 26,1857. similar cases in which praise and blame have been heaped so indiscriminately on a writer. Though Lord Macaulay, in his history, has called the " Lives of the Chancellors" "an excellent " book," there have not been wanting learned and eminent pens to commemorate the inac curacies that abound in this huge work. If in the clubs and social circles the collected anec dotes and gossip of these volumes have been often cited, we know that the little touches of egotism, the overflowing self-esteem which appear in these pages have hoen morosely carped at and malignantly satirised. A Lord Chief Justice will always find many indulgent critics; but, on the other hand, disappointed talent and blighted prospects will inspire the spleen of adversaries anxious to aim their arrows, not at carrion-birds fluttering near earth, but on the nobler game which soars triumphantly with defiant and exulting wing. Tho original publication took place before this Journal was founded. It is now brought before us in a " fourth edition," and we are therefore called on for our critical opinion on the work considered as a whole. There is much, truly, to be said on the merits of the "Lives of the Chancellors," and the frequent blemishes, and not few defects, which detract from its literary value. The idea of the book was happily conceived, its serial character had unity of form, and the vigour with which the author carried out his designs is highly meritorious. In its aim the work also had much novelty. It was not a series of brilliant sketches like the portraits by Lord Brougham ; it was a collection of biogra phies, treated with considerable detail. Never before lin this country did any great official personage pass in review so many of his his torical predecessors. The work was bold in its tone throughout ; and though the party bias of the writer was never concealed, yet a considerable measure of justice was without grudge allowed to the virtues and the learn ing of renowned lawyers of the Tory side, though we can by no means accept his "ruling" on the character of Lord Eldon and some others. At times there was a cumbrous affec tation of classical erudition, but it cannot be said that there was any attempt at what is called " fine writing." The author taxed his powers in the statement of his facts, and thus cared little for the embellishment of his matter. An anatomist, not an artist, he dis sected his characters rather than drew por traits of them—narrating much,composing little. Never refining with exquisite taste, but often reflecting with admirable shrewdness, Lord Campbell awakened and sustained interest in the reader. The main points were always promptly seized, and he never lost sight of his subject. Thus the work has a solidity, if it has not elegance; it arrests attention by its massiveness, rather than its form ; it has all the importance of a weighty theme treated with high practical ability; it has historical matter for the antiquarian ; it has much knowledge available for the active politician it has traits of character for the student of human nature, curious anecdotes for the lounger, and is, altogether, a most agreeable miscellany for the general reader. The dig nit} of the author's exalted station and his experience give weight to his opinions, and impart judicial gravity even to his edition of facetia ; and, last of all, in spite of adverse criticism and persevering detraction, the work has had popular success. But, with all these good qualities, the per formance wants the magic graces of a classic and brilliant style. The noble and learned author led so busy and laborious a life that he had not leisure to imbue himself either with the genuine Anglicism of our standard na tional authors, or to acquire the masterly con densation and serene energy of the glorious productions of antiquity. Whenever Lord Campbell attempts to discuss purely literary subjects we can always detect " the cant of " Lord Jeffreyism." lie has an unformed taste ; he is not habitually familiar with any great prose examples. Composition has never been studied by him as an art. In several of his " Lives of the Chancellors " Lord Campbell commences with making a catalogue of the incidents of the life that he is going to tell, and he thus produces anti-climax. In dra matic writing it is a recognised rule that the 1255 coining incidents should be foreshadowed in order to awake a suspended interest ; but in biography the interest should gradually grow, and though general reflections may be intro duced at the beginning, the incidents should never be catalogued in a preliminary state ment. In the life of Lord Bacon there is, on the first pages, a long enumeration of the main incidents of Bacon's story, which would occupy nearly a column of the type now under our reader's eye, and it is con nected only with small dashes and semicolons. We never saw so long a sentence in prose, and it is certainly ono of the " curiosities of " literature." The frequent inaccuracy of the facts, also, and the want of originality in his materials, must also largely detract from the intrinsic merits of the authorship. The works of pre vious writers have been used by the noble author in a wholesale manner ; and he has thought (in legal parlance) that he had a " common of estovers " even in the most special biographies. Mr. Foss has recently retaliated on the noble author with a severity that to ordinary writers would be excruciating ; but Lord Campbell has a theory of his own on the right of appropriation. In original re search the work is certainly most deficient. Through ten volumes Lord Campbell has written with nisi-prias ability, his rank and station securing him a full court, if not always an assenting jury. He collects, he reprints, he restates, but he does not find, discover, nor positively decide. He follows the beaten road, and he startes out no new path. In no case does he bring together such facts and views as alter our opinions of the subject. The opinion of the political world on Thurlow and Wedderburne is just now what it was before he wrote their lives. The fact is that he wrote so fast, and comoiled with such grasping energy, that it would be vain to expect original views in his series of exploits in literary appropriation. Yet there was something fine in Lord Camp bell, in advanced years, resolving to aim at literary fame ; and if he had chosen to pur sue literature as a profession, he would have ranked extremely high. His book is certainly a groat success ; and even when he has been re moved from the scene, it may (with compe tent and learned editorship) enjoy much post humous vogue for many years to come. We could, if necessary, justify these remarks by detailed references to this work throughout, but space is wanted. In this new edition are some original notes which are of interest at the present time, and wo shall cite some of them. With respect to the legality of life peerages, Lord Campbell originally wrote : The Crown certainly might grant a peerage for life ; and, in some instances, this prerogative might be usefully exercised; but there would be much danger of its being abused; and, with all the defects of the hereditary branch of the Legislature, there would be great difficulty in finding a substitute for it, or in altering the mode of its formation. —Note to lit Edition, 1847. That opinion was quoted against him in the debate on life peerages, and it had some pass ing effect. Lord Campbell here appends a new note : In fairness I allow this note to remain, as it was cited against me in the debates on " Life Peerages " in 18A6. But after the fullest consideration of the subject, I now record my solemn opinion that the Crown cannot by patent grant a peerage for life to a commoner with the privilege of sitting in Parliament, and that a writ of summons to the House of Lords under such a patent is a nullity, although 'the writ without the patent, coupled with a sitting under it, would create an hereditary barony descendible to fe ' males as well as males.—Note to 4th Edition, September, I 1857. There is a lengthy final note appended to this new edition. The following anecdote of Lord Melbourne is strikingly characteristic ; we cite it from the last note : From the formation of Lord Melbourne's second Ad- ministration in 183), the Great Seal had been in imminent peril. When, to the astonishment of the public, the de. termination was announced that it was not to be restored to Lord. Broug,hain, the new Prime Minister did Inc the honour to consult me about his law arrangements, and asked my opinion of his scheme of putting the Great Seal into commission. Among other objections, I pointed out that, according to this arrangement, the Cabinet would be mops conrilii. " Oh'" said he, " I will advise them on questions of law myself, and we shall do all the better without lawyers." o.—" Yon, to be sure, have had the ad vantage of studying the law, and being called to the bar and going a circuit; but do you mean to say that perma nently the Cabinet could go on without the Chancellor