The Sun.
London, England, 1823-11-22 00:00:00

DEATU OF LORD ERSKINE.

The intelligence of the death of this distin-
guished Orator reached town yesterday morning.
lie died on Monday evening at A huondale, six
or seven miles from Edinburgh, of an inflamma-
tion of the chest.

Lord ERSKINE had bean twice before ill of the complaint
which has now proved fetid to him—in 1807 and 1819. His

,recovery at the last of these periods was deemed impossible, but
his extraordinary stamina bare him out against the expectation
of the physicians. Almondsle was the seat, and is now the re-
sidence of the family of the late Hon. Henry Erskine, the
brother of Lord Erskine, whose reputation at the Scotch Bar,
and in Scotch society, almost equalled that of his Noble Bro-
ther. His wit was unrivalled.

Lord Erskine was 73 years of age. He was the third son of
the late and youngest brother to the present Earl of Buchan.
In presenting a brief sketch of Lord Erskine's life, we shall
confine ourselves to his professional career, to which indeed hs
is indebted for all his well-earned fame.

Mr. Thomas Erskine went to sea with the late Sir John
Lindsay, nephew of the great Earl of Mansfield. He never, it
is believed, 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 slen-
der chance of obtaining promotion ; and as he had only served

as an acting Lieutenant 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 into the army as an
Ensign in the Royals, or First Regiment of Foot. This was
in the year 1768, and happened not so much from inclination,
it is said, as because his father, with a small and strictly en-
tailed estate, had not the means of assisting him, with conve-
nience, to pursue one of the Learned Professions. 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 ac-
quired 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, mentions, in
his Memoirs of Dr. Johnson, the delight which the Doctor and
himself felt from the ability of a gentleman, who was no other
than the subject of this memoir, while discoursing on tome
temporary topic which, at that time, happened to be an inte-
resting question of dispute in the circles of the Metropolis.
Whether the consciousness of these powers, or the sugges-
tions of his friends, or the embarrassments of a scanty income,
first invited him to make preparations for the study of the law,
it is of ne importance to inquire.
It has, however, been said, that Mr. Erskine, had no merit
whatever in embarking in so new and arduous a pursuit; but
that it was literally and most unwillingly forced upon him by
the importunities of his mother, the Countess of Buchan, after
the death of his father; and that the hopes of succeeding in it
were fortified and kept alive, against his own' prepossessions,
by her counsel and persuasions.
Mr. Erskine was about twenty-six when lie commenced his
course of legal study. He entered as a Fellow-Commoner of
Trinity College, Cambridge, in die year 1777 ; and, at the
same time, inserted his name as a student on the books of
Lincoln's lan. One of his College declamations is still extant,
as it was delivered in Trinity College Chapel. The thesis
was the Revolution of 161311. It gained the first prize, which
he refused to accept, not attending Cambridge as a student,
and only declaiming in conformity to the rules of the College.
An ode, written by Mr. Erskine about this time, in imita-
tion of Gray's Bard, is worthy of notice as a sportive produc-
tion of his fancy t it was published in 7'he 2ifonthly Magazine.
It originated in an occasion truly humorous. The author had
been disappointed by his barber, who neglected his usual at-
tendance upon him, and prevented him from dining in the
College-hall. In the moment of disappointment, hunger, and
impatience, he is supposed to have poured forth a malediction
against the whole race of hair-dressers, with a denunciation,
prophetic of a future taste for cropping and unpowdered hair.
Mr. Erskine did not enter the University for any academical
purpose, but merely to obtain a degree to which he was entitled
as the son of a Nobleman, and by which he served two years in
his passage to the Bar. His education had been previously
completed in Scotland. His father, ono 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 in Scotland for the purpose of residing at St.
Andrew's, where he continued for many years. During this
time he procured for them a private tutor, one of the moat
elegant scholars of that part of the Island, to assist their studies
at the school and University. Mr. Erskine always pursued the
study of the Belles Letters with unremitting ardour, and had the
advantage of imbibing from the most eminent persons of die day
diet various and extended knowlege which can never be derived
from books orSolitaryapplic.ation. In order to acquire rs necese
eery idea of the mechanical parts of his, future profession, he
was persuaded, by the Judicious counsels of his friends, to enter
as a pupil into the Office of Judge Buller, then an eminent
special pleader at the Bar.
During this period of his life, Mr. Erskine experienced all
the difficulties arising out of a very limited income. He had
been already married about four years, and was obliged to ad-
here to a most rigid frugality of expenditure.
The part sustained by the late Mrs. Erskine, before the
cloud that overhung their first entrance into life was dissipated,
is highly hononourable to her feelings ; she accompanied her
husband to Minorca, followed his fortunes with the most cheer-
ful constancy, and while he was engaged in the pursuits of a
most laborious profession, never guttered any pleasure or amuse-
ment to interrupt her in the assiduous discharge of her domestic
duties.
'While he remained in the office of Mr. Buller he pursued
the business of the desk with unremitting activity and ardour;
and, on that Gentleman's promotion, lie went into the office of
Mr. Wood, where be continued a year after he had been in
considerable business at the Bar.
In what manner our advocate first cultivated popular decla-
mation does not clearly appear. It has been said, that he was
an assiduous attendant at Coachmaker's Hall, cre a debat-
ing climb of some estimation was at that time held. But the
style of Mr. Erskine`e oratory bears internal testimony against
this assertion.
Mr. Erskine had now completed the probationary period
allotted to the attendance in the inns of Court ; and he was
called to the Bar in Trinity Term 1778. Ile is a singular ex.
ception to the tardy advancement of professional merit at the
English Bar. It is not worth inquiring how long lie continued
a mute auditor in the back benches of the Court, among the
crowd of young men, who may be not unaptly, compared to the
ghosts that linger on the banks of the Styx for a passage over
the lake ; but, by a singular partiality of fortune, he was not
tortured'by the" hope deferred," and the sickening expectation
of a brief, which so many men of promising talents are doomed
to undergo: an opportunity was almost immediately afforded
him of distinguishing himself in Westminster Hall. Captain
who had been removed from the superintendence of
Greenwich Hospital by the late Earl of Sandwich, then First
Lord of the Admiralty, and one of the Governors of Greenwich
Ilospital, was charged with having published a libel on that
Nobleman, and the Attorney-General was instructed to move
for leave to file a criminal information against him • this was
the occasion of Mr. Erskine 'a first speech in Court. 'ln oppos-
ing the motion of Mr. Attorney-Geueral, an opportunity pre-
sented itself 4if entering into the merits of the case in behalf of
Captain Millie. lie accordingly expatiated upon the services
which had been rendered by his client, and on the firmness
with which he resisted the intrigue and artifice to which he
attributed the prosecution set on foot against him.
In the course of this speech, lie also attacked the Noble
Earl in a tone of sarcastic and indignant invective. Lord
Mansfield interrupted him more than once; but the Advocate
did not abate of the severity of his aniinadversions. It was at
that time no common spectacle to observe a man, so little
known to the Court and the Bar, commenting with asperity of