The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-10 00:00:00

L 9
Commons, although when he CLQSC to ad c'rtssh
spoke with effHouse,ect, and was
tened to with
respect and attOtion. His most remarkable spec ches
were on the Duke of York's affair, on the motion of
Colonel Wardle, in 1809, and on the bill for creating
the Vice-Chancellor's Court. In the former, March
10, 1809, he defended the Duke, which so pleased
his Royal Highness that he called on. Mr. Leach the
next day, begged his acquaintance, and introduced him
to the then Prince of Wales. This was the founda-
tion of that confidence and intimacy which subsisted
so long between the late King and the subject of this
memoir. His speeches on the Vice-Chancellor's Court
Bill were all •in opposition to the plan. His great
speech was on Feb. 15th, 1813; and probably at that
period he hardly thought that he would have been the
second Vice-Chancellor appointed under the measure
which he so strenuously opposed.
We have said that Mr. Leach was never a very warm
politician ; and with a fickleness to which lawyers are
said to be more than usually prone, iio thought pro-
per, soon after his visits to Carlton-house, to waver in
his adherence to the 'Whigs. In 1811 he spoke in
favour of the Regency Bill, and thought it advisable
to print his speech ; and from this time the favours of
the Court flowed in upon him. He was consulted by
the Prince of Wales as to the propriety of issuing a
commission to Italy respecting the conduct of the
Princess of Wales ; and in 1817 he succeeded Sir

Thornns Plomer as Vice-Chancellor, and was knighted.

On his acceptance of the office of Vice-Chanecllor,
Sir John Leach took the Chiltern Hundreds, and, we

believe, parted with his interest in the borough of
Seaford on the usual terms. His appointment was on

the whole considered a proper one, find gave satisfac-
tion to the profession ; and no better proof of this can
be given, than that Mr. Bell from that time confined
himself to the Vice-Chancellor's Court. In May,
1827, he succeeded Sir John Copley a:3 Master of the
Rolls, on his acceptance of the Great Seal. In 1829
Sir John :each agreed to change the hours of the.
sitting of his Court, which he appointed for the morn-
ings instead of evenings, as theretofore ; and on this
new morning Court being established, Mr. Bickersteth
and Mr. Pemberton selected his Court as their favou-

rite field of practice. Sir John Leach held the office
of Master of the Rolls until his death, which bnp-

penal at Edinburgh, on September 16, 1834, on hip
road to visit the Duchess of Sutherland. He was

about 74 years of age.

Sir Join Leach will long be remembered as a
Judge. His most remarkable qualities were his power
of seizing on the important points in every case that
came before him, and in his being able to deliver his
opinion on them immediately, in a manner the most
clear and precise. Although his long practice, and a
life spent in the duties of his profession, bad stored
him abundantly with the decisions of former Judges,
yet legal learning was not his most eminent quality.
He chose frequently, however, to rely on his own opi-
nion rather than on that of those who preceded him ;
he very often disregarded the cases cited in argument,
and decided on his own judgment. He almost always

paid attention to his own reported decisions, in some
cases, where even they had been disapproved of by
powers of disposing of his bust-
other Judges. His
ness were such as few men possess. Of him it is to
be recorded, as it was of Sir Thomas More, that he
left no cause remaining unheard, but on calling for the
next cause, was informed that he had disposed of them
all. His manner to counsel rendered him frequently un-
popular with the bar. He had great excuse in the dis-
eases with which he was afflicted; but the agony
which they occasioned him, increasing the natu-
ral irritability of his temper, betrayed him in
the early part of his judicial life into alter-
cations hardly becoming the bench. He seemed,
perhaps unconsciously, to take and give way to likings
and dislikings in his intercourse with counsel, which
rendered the task of addressing hini frequently an un-
pleasant one. it is only justice to say, however, that
this manner was greatly softened, if not entirely al-
tered, in his latter years, particularly since he accepted
his last office. At the same time it is right to men-
tion, that to so high a pitch did the feeling of the bar
on the subject come, that at one period, when Vice-
Chancellor, he was waited onby the most distinguished
counsel of his court, who formally remonstrated with
him on his manner—an interview which was not with-
out effect on him.

vM
Sir John Leach was by no means satisfied with dis-
tinction as a lawyer. Political honours he had never much
covetted ; but he was always desirous of mixing with
the great and noble. He was on terms of intimacy
with many distinguished persons, and both received
the visits and accepted the invitations of a lon;_-, list of
royal and noble personages. His tastes were'fastidi-
ous—at least we must say so when we record the fact
ttiat but few lawyers were invited to his entertain-
ment, except on some marked occasion, as on his ele-
vation to the office of Vice-Chancellor and Master of
the Rolls, when some fonnal dinners were given to all
the practising barristers of his court. Fashionable
society was his chief liking, and he was desirous of
shining rather as a fine gentleman than as a judge.
He established several aristocratic retreats around
London ; and at these—at Cashiobury and Osterly
Park—he frequently passed his time from the Satur-
day till the Monday, although even here the lawyer
peeped out in the shape of a bag of papers, which usually
accompanied him. He was neat and precise in his
dress,. and in private courteous in his manners. He
was abstemious in his diet ; if his cellar were well
stocked, and his cuisine in the best taste, it was to
please his guests, and not himself ; if he were a fre-
quenter of the feasts of others, it was to partake the
society, not the dainties of his hosts, as his own home-
made bread and linseed tea generally accompanied him
on these latter occasions. He was a man of active
habits, and fond of exercise, particularly on horseback.
When the sittings of the Rolls Court were in the even-
ing, he did not allow this circumstance to interfere
with his fondness for gaiety. In spite of the fatigue
of his judicial duties, he dressed again for the parties
of the 'night, and an hour after he had presided in his
Court, might be seen talking over the nothings of the
day in the crowded saloons of fashionable life. These
frequently he did not quit until an early hour in the
morning ; but he never allowed his pleasures to inter-
; fere with his public duties, as few Judges were so
punctual in Court as he. These habits of life, how-
• ever, probably injured his constitution ; he was afflicted
with two dreadful diseases, having been twice operated
I on for stone, and more recently had his eyes couched
[ in consequence of cataract. He was fond of music, in
which he had some taste, and latterly generally spent
• his long vacations abroad. His private life was distill-
- guished by great amenity and inoffensiveness.

A bed of strawberries, of the roseberry kind, in Mr.
Burnett's garden, st Litchureh, near this borough, is now pro-
ducing a second, and an abundant crop of fruit, of fine size and
ilavour.—Derby Reporter.
PROFANE ABUSE OF TEMPERANCE.—SeveraI
of
the recent American papers Mention -instances in which the
fanaticism of temperance bus teen carried to such an extent
among some of the Protestant sects, that communicants have
refused to use wine even in the sacrament of the Lord's supper,
,and have substituted buttermilk or lemonade instead of it I This
is really a most revolting and profane abuse of a valuable prin-
eiple-Dublin lilortiiny Refitster.
On Sunday morning, shortly before ten o'clock, a
fire broke out on the premises of Mr. Pick, grocer, Kir:l7.-
1 Mreet, in this borough. It originated in a beam being laid
directly into the chimney, which had taken fire the day before,
and smouldered through the night. It was very fortunate that
it broke out in the day time, or the consequences might have
bern more serious ; as it is, the damage amounted to nearly
6001. We are 7lad to observe Mr. Pick was insured to the
whole amount. 'At one time great fears were entertained that
the wholee• premises would have been burnt down ; but the very
praiseworN activity of a large concourse of the inhabitants of
the borough,. and a plentiful supply of water moon subdued the
fire.—Derby Reporter.
A meeting of the Stamford Magistrates was called
on Thursday, to lake into consideration the refractory conduct
of some of the prisoners in the gaol. It appeared that on Wed-
nesday afternoon four of the prisoners, named Wells, \\raiding,
Hewlett, and Hewerdinei, all notorious characters, of Stamford,
were confined in the day-teem in consequence of having dis-
obeyed the roles of the prbon, when they commenced an at-
tack upon every article in the room, which they destroyed ;
they then broke the windows and pannels of the door, and
elf-
deavoured to break the lock, with a view of making their
and even the bibles es-
cape,belong-
arming themselves with the legs of the tables and stools
i=fleyetcloEtroyed. With the assistance
belong-
ing carryt
othtehpetriisio3pw)oesree
of the police the prisoners were disarmed, ircned, and placed
in separate cells. The facts having been fully stated upon oath,
the Magistrates directed that they should be severally kept in
solitary coofinement, in irons, and fed upon bread and water
for the space of ten days.---Boston Herald.