The National Register.
London, England, 1816-12-30 00:00:00

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LORD ELLENBOROUGH,

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE COURT OF KING'S
BENCH.

NUMIII.:R 11. •
--.11110.--

EDWARD, LORD ELLENnonovon, is the son of Dr.
Edmund Law, late Bishop of Carlisle, a prelate of great
learning, and., to judge from his writings, of the mildest
and most benevolent character; a firm friend to toleration
and to liberty, as well political as religious. His Lordship
was born in the county ofCumberland, about the year 1731;
and, until the age of 12 years, was educated by his uncle,
the Rev- Humphry Christian, who then resided at Bottis-
ham, near Cambridge. He was afterwards removed to the
-Charter-house, and was from thence sent to St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, to which he must have had a strong
predilection, his father, who had been an eminent tutor
at the university, having been appointed muster of this
college in the year 1756. Here young Mr. Law distin-
guished himself for an assiduity which through life has
never deserted him. His learniag was of a various kind,
and lie was equally skilled in the mathematics and, the
learned languages. Without a considerable degree of
profirieury in the sciences, the greatest genius can ob-
tain no honours at Cambridge ; where, since the days
of Dr. us', and perhaps in some measure owing
to the celebrity which Newton has conferred on the uni-
versity, it is considered of the highest importance to iu-
caleate at an early age, not so much the laws of moral life
and the elegancies of classical learning as those processes
of abstruse science by which natural philosophers have
elucidated the theory and motions of the heavenly bodies,
and traced the laws by which the universe is held in
eternal revolution. Whether the strict and cautious
process of mathematical reasoning be not in fact the best
introduction to a severe and acute logic, or a close analy-
tical reasoning, in the subsequent course of a student's
•progreta, we shall not inquire ; but Cambridge, which
has for outstripped the rival university in reputation for
the mathematical sciences, is nut wholly without en-
couragements to proficiency in general literature. A
degree in arts may be taken here as well as at other semi-
naries of learning, with little more than the usual proofs
of attendance in the university ; but, amongst the abler
students, a rivalry is excited by a competition for hono-
rary rank, and a sufficient number are dignified with the
strange appellation of wranglers. A senior, or first, in
this class, receives indeed considerable distinction amongst
the students and professors for the rest of his continuance
at the university. The course of study for the attain-
ment of this honour is very severe, and to succeed re-
quires not merely a general knowledge of the sciences,
but a particular skill in some mathematical processes,
which, as they are to be perfumed at the exau:ination, not
only exercise the proficiency, but the readiness, the me-
mory, and the firmness of nerve which the scholar pos-
SCW.S. We have known the anxiety of many younr,ir
men to attain an honour produce slow diseases, which
have, ultimately, as in the case of the lamented Kirk
trfile, undermined the constitution, and brought on con-
Su ption
Mr. Law, who appears to have possessed at all times
a vigorous frame, and no small strength of nerve, by the
:!id of his father and his uncle, both well acquainted with
the habits ot' the itni:crsity, was enabled probably to ma-
ture his knowledge -by degrees, and to acquire mathema-
tical science, together with his other attainments, at an
earlier age than many ; hence we find that when he took
his degree, by a happy combination of industry and ge-
nius, he was enabled to make a considerable figure, not
only M mathematics, but in the classics. In the fernier
he was third wrangler; in the latter he gained the first
medal for some Greek ver.-,:s, and thus united a reputa-
tion at once fiir the profound and the elegant.t
That he has since cultivated the muses we have never
heard. They are had mistresses for an aspiring lawyer ;

• No. I. heinz the INITRODCCTOft V PAPER to these ME
appcurcil July 7.
t We shall he happy if any Correspone.erit will favour us
• with a copy of this successful exercise.