The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-10 00:00:00

LAY LORDS.

Lord Kenyon has addressed the following very sensible
letter to the Stand;rd:—"Sir,—As the son of a law lord
I have read with surprise the statements, reported in the
newspapers of yesterday, of Lord Brougham and Lord
Wharncliffe—namely, that law lords constitute the Court
of Appeal in the House of Lords. I well remember an
instance occurring, when Lord Loughborough, Chancel-
lor, Lord Thurlow, ex-Chancellor, and Lord Walsing-
ham constituted the house on judgment being given on an
appeal. Lord Walsingham gave his vote with the Chan-
cellor. There must be three peers to constitute a house,
and there being only two law lords-present, the vote of the
lay peer, as they differed, must determine the judgment.
To say that no lay peer ought to vote on any case of ap-
peal, might be to prevent any judgment whatever being
given. It may be a matter of delicacy in what cases lay
peers may determine whether they will vote or not ; and
there can be no doubt that if they do so, they should try
to enforce the best founded legal decision. Whether they
have judged correctly in the case of O'Connell I will not
presume to say.

" I'have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your obedient and'faithful servant,
" Gredington, Sept. 6. " KENYON*"

[An excellent letter appears in the Times of yesterday,
in which the writer, makes the following just remarks :
" If only men practised in criminal law are to vote, why
speaks Lord Cottenham 1- A high Chancery authority,
he is not a criminal lawyer. Did he ever conduct a
criminal case? Did he ever adjudicate on one, except in
this house in common with his peers, lay as well as law?
Did he ever draw an indictment? Did he, in the course
of practice. ever aive a- grave counsel's opinion on a
criminal matter F. Would ever any attorney think for a
moment of sending for his advice on a matter of this
kind? Would be,.if this-point had issued from the Court
of Chancery to be decided by the judges, have ventured
to override such a preponderance of common law autho-
rity ? Compare the boldness of his language with that of
Lord Brougham, who acquired the most brilliant part of
his foren,ic reputation in the conduct of criminal cases,
and yet, professing his inferiority in the extent of his
criminal practice to that of others, says—' My lords, my
practice at the bar has been much more limited in criminal
cases than that of my learned here or elsewhere ; I felt
bound, therekre, largely to consult authorities, and to
have recourse to those who could supply my deficiencies.]

Sir Howard Douglas and family are detained in town
by the severe accident which recently happened to his
son, Lieut. Douglas, of her majesty's ship Formidable,
on account of which he has come home on Admiralty
leave.

THE WEATHER, though occasionally showery, has, on
the whole, during the past week, been highly propitious
for the harvest in this quarter. Very little of the corn
crop remains on the ground, the whole, or nearly the
whole, having been got under cover, and that, too, in
prime condition. The effect has been, that the flour
dealers have added another pound to the shilling's-worth,
to the great satisfaction of housekeepers who have many
mouths to fill. Potatoes still maintain rather high prices
for low pockets, but, as the season is very favourable for
this useful and almost indispensable root, we anticipate a
fall, as well as a good article,—for we have heard of few,
and but very partial failures of the seed. The turnips
look well, and there is a fine crop of after-grass; yet
butchers' meat is still rather dear, verifying the old adage,
Up horn—down corn." Vegetables and fruits are un-
usually abundant and cheap.
ANSDELL'S PICTURE OF THE BOARD-ROOM MEETING
OF THE BLUE COAT HOSPITAL.—We have been favoured,
by an invitation of the artist, with a private view of Mr.
Ansdell's painting of " The Board-room of the Liverpool
Blue-Coat Hospital in 1841," and were much gratified,
and not a little surprised, by the inspection. lt is of con-
siderable size, and represents with great fidelity the
board-room of that admirable institution at the period
when its warmest friends, in full assemblage, are seated
or standing round the large table anxiously yet cheerfully
engaged in listening to the claims of young orphans and
others as candidates for admission to the benefits of the
establishment. The room itself is finely and minutely de-
picted in true perspective, with the pictures on the walls
of several of the earlier benefactors of the school. The
principal portion, however, of the work is occupied by
full length portraits of upwards of fifty of the trustees, in
various easy attitudes, and the whole of the likenesses,
both in face and figure, are so marked and characteristic
as to be immediately recognised and acknowledged to be
astonishingly perfect by all who have even a slight per-
sonal acquaintance with the living originals—the respected
benefactors of this and other charities. The beholder
finds himself in the immediate company of the Reverend
Hectors Brooks and Campbell, the Rev. Thomas Bold,
James Aspinall, (in his veritable accustomed sitting atti-
tude and pleasant expression of countenance,) Sir Thomas
Brancker, Anthony Swainson, Richard Hollinshead Blun-
dell, Edw. Gibbon, S. Staniforth, Joseph Langton, Jas.
Heyworth, William Brown, F. Haywood, Wm. Potter,
Peter Bourne, Edw. G. Deane, Jno. Nelson Wood, Adam
Hodgson, Henry Holmes, John H. Turner, Edw. Moon,
George Withers, Wilfred Troutbeck, Henry Ashton, Jas.
Pownall, Samuel H. Thompson, Chas. Inman, Edmund
Molyneux, Samuel Sandbach, John Crostbwaite, Robert
Gill, Thomas Corrie, James Crossley, Charles Horsfall,
Nicholas Robinson, Esquires, and many others. There
are also two fine portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Foster, the
long respected head master and mistress of the establish-
ment. We noticed, too, Dr. Reynolds and Mr. King
Ellison, the physician and surgeon to the institution. The
correct drawing of the whole is only equalled by the co-
louring, which is warm and effective. We should cer-
tainly have preferred a slightly greater variety in the
flesh tints, v hich appear to partake of a sameness ap-
proaching to ruddy ; but this we do not remark as a fault,
as it resolves itself into the peculiar style of the artist ; or
the glow of health he has perhaps properly imparted to
the countenance of each of his subjects; or it may be the
natural effect of the manner in which the light is thrown
into the room, when it has frequently this effect, particu-
larly if window drapery be introduced. Independently of
the intrinsic merits of the picture as a work of art, it de-
rives additional and affecting interest from the fact that it
is intended by the artist as a present to the trustees, " itz
(as he modestly states) gralrful remembrance of the be-
nefits received whilst he teas a pupil in the institution."
What nobler or more gratifying testimony of the excel-
lence of that institution than this instance of one who,
when lowly and deprived of natural protectors, was nur-
tured and taught within its precincts, and who when, after
many years, and the attainment of high eminence in his
honourable and difficult vocation, thus comes forward
with this offering of the fruits of his genius—at once a
delicate and noble testimony of his gratitude, and of those
excellent instructions in his boyhood, which have regula-
ted him in after life, and laid the foundation of his suc-
cess ! The picture was viewed by a great number of the
friends of the charity, while it remained in the board-
room, which it so admirably depicts. It has since been
sent to the Liverpool Gallery for public exhibition, where
it will doubtless, on the opening, become an, object of
much local intercat and attraction.