The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-19 00:00:00

Q;‘llrienirtg

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1849.

A farewell banquet of no inconsiderable interes
-was given on Saturday evening, by the Learned
Members of the Oxford Circuit, to the distinguished
man recently elevated from the position of their
Leader to the most venerable dignity that can be
awarded in the legal profession. Very nearly ninety
persons assembled together on that occasion, in order
to evince by their attendance, and also, be sure o
that, by their enthusiastic plaudits, their affectionate
regard for Mr. Justice TALFOURD and their cordial
gratificaticn at the reward of his abilities, the fulfil-
"' went of his destiny, and the realisation of his noble
and exalted ambition. No eulogiums, we are
satisfied, were ever more heartfelt, as they certainly
were never more conspicuously deserved, than
those pronounced on the celebrated guest, at once a
poet and an orator ; nor were words of panegyric
ever more earnestly enforced by the acclamations of a
similar body of gentlemen. Although the avowed
purpose of the meeting was to proffer this genuine
tribute of respect and admiration ; and although the
appearance among those present, of such men as
HALLAM, the historian, added lustre to the enter-
tainment, we shall not cause any surprise by saying
that the principal event of the evening was the
feeling and eloquent address in which the newly-
created Judge bade his brethren of the bar
farewell. After a career upon the Oxford cir-
cuit of no less than eight-and-twenty years'
duration—a career, too, so brilliant in its promise, and
so doubly brilliant in its consequences—it was im-
possible that a warm heart like that of Judge Tar-
rows]) should remain unmoved by the prospect of a
final separation, that a generous temperament like his
should continue unaffected by the ardour of his old
companions, that his susceptible nature and fervid
imagination should preserve any degree of impassable
and imperturbable stoicism when listening to so many
voices, and grasping so many hands of friendly
congratulation. His reply to the speech of his
eminent successor in the leadership of the
circuit, Mr. WIIATELEY, Q.C., was perhaps one
of the most hippy efforts of a speaker invariably
felicitous. The graceful and unaffected modesty with
which Judge Tarrouan spoke of his own advance-
ment, as, under DIVINE PROVIDENCE, largely attri-
butable to the encouragement of those who might be
vulgarly regarded as his jealous and captious compe-
titors ; the gentle reminiscence of his bumble origin
and youthful obscurity; the genial and exhilarating
tenderness with which he called to mind the pleasant
scenes, the agreeable memories, and the kindly
thoughts blended together in his circuit associations—
envelope his speech with a charm which must even
prove potent over those who are not honoured with his
friendship. We know not which to prefer among his
different remembrances—that of his maiden speech
before the bar at Reading, the place of his nativity,
when, according to his own acknowledgment, he
rose with trembling and emotion—that of his quiet
sojourn among the grey cloisters and monastic edifices
of Oxford, when, lodging with some undergraduate,
he half fancied himself a student, although the great
blessing had never fallen to his lot of an university
education—that of his gradual descent into the vale
of Evesham where that perfection of an English
landscape first greeted his attention that
of his passage through the good town
of Shrewsbury, and thence by a continuous
stream of beauty to old Gloucester ; or that of each
scene becoming more and more familiarised, with his
p..rpetually renewing friendships, " until at last
every place in the circuit seemed like another feast
and another home, reviving scenesof half-remembered
pleasures." From all this fascinating volubility on
the part of Mr. Justice TALFOURD, it will not be
difficult for his old associates to recognise that in
assuming to himself the pitiless impartiality, and the
other inexorable qualities befitting one in his vene•
rable position, his heart beats not the less warmly
under the judicial ermine than it did of yore
under the stuff gown of the unknown but aspiring
barrister. It is this beneficent combination of the
more lofty with the more lowly attributes of intellec-
lectual greatness and moral goodness which has so
peculiarly endeared Judge TALFOURD to those who
OCEWSPAilialhen fortunate enough to b 3 thrown into his
n ; it is because the kindly eyes of a true and
,r,04 tore have beamed under the shadow of his
471c1b that his literary achievements have pro-
+ 440 t, ejealousy in opposition ; it is because the
41e, ....,N___,AstVa generous disposition and the sincerity of a
fastfe Aportment have been perceptible through all,
g illevenSie most impassioned of his forensic altercations,