ing Earl of Errol,* blooming with the most healthful roseate ; and immediately behind followed Sir Robert Wilson. Time and hard service have made little impression on a set of not very extraordinary features. There is a buoyancy about this historic soldier which bespeaks a good heart. He seems to have lost much of his fancy for senatorial display; and, truth to tell, Parliament is not the place of all others in which he has been destined to shine. He is one of the few whose hard fortune in less auspicious times has stood him in good part in later days.

On entering the room, I was struck by the superior brilliancy of the military costumes, always the most prominent at such times. Military rank is both common and honorable, and its apparel seems to be in favor with all classes. Hence it is that many, such as the lieutenants of counties, whose duty is exclusively of a civil nature, adopt the fashions of the army. There were half a dozen Lords-Lieutenant in the room, among whom I particularly observed the Duke of Argyle.‡ I am told that his Grace is a man of talent; and his fine features, the remains of what rendered the Marquis of Lorn one of the most eminently handsome men of his time, are now thoughtful and melancholy. The present Administration has given the Great Seal of Scotland to the Duke of Argyle; and in duty he is found

The late Lord Errol (whose Earldom was created in 1453), was Hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland, which is the highest hereditary distinc tion in the United Kingdom, after those of the Royal Family. He married one of the illegitimate daughters of William IV. and Mrs. Jordan, the actress, und died in 1846, aged forty-five.-M.

+ Sir Robert Wilson, who much distinguished himself by his military services from 1793 to 1815, aided in the escape of Lavalette, from Peris, in the latter year. In 1821, for taking the popular side, at the funeral of Queen Caroline, he was dismissed from the British army. A public subscription indemnified him from the pecuniary loss, and he was reinstated some years after. From 1818 to 1831 he represented Southwark in Parliament. In 1841, he was raised to the rank of full General. In 1842, he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar, and had just returned from that post, after seven years' of command, when he died suddenly, May, 1849, aged seventy-two.-M.

The sixth Duke of Argyle, born in 1768, married Lady Caroline Villiers (who had previously been the wife of, and had obtained a divorce from, the Marquis of Anglesey), and died in October, 1839..-M

at the levee of its Chancellor. Along with his Grace were several other peers of ducal rank, but whose fortunes were no way interesting to me.

After I had paid my respects to the Chancellor, there came tripping up the Marquis of Bristol with a springy step, which he must surely have acquired at the old court of France; for I am sure that no such movement could be attained on English ground. The elasticity of this noble Lord was such that, when once put in motion, he continued to spring up and down in the manner of the Chinese figures which are hawked by the Italian toy-venders. Had I been told that the head of the house of Newry was a dancing-master, who had not yet learned the present modes, I should certainly have believed the story without scruple if I had met him anywhere else.

He had no sooner left the Chancellor, than he was laid hold of by a fidgetty solicitor, who was the only member of his class in the room, and who, I understand, is a sort of favorite of the Chancellor. The obsequious grin and the affected ease of this worthy do not convey any very favorable impression on his behalf. He was solicitor for the Queen, and in this capacity had formed an intimacy with her chief counsel, which an ill-natured person would perhaps think makes him now forget in some measure the great disparity between their present condition. The Chancellor gave no discouragement to his familiarity.

A certain Sir Something Noel came up immediately afterward, of whom nothing more remarkable could be told than that he was the relative of Lady Byron; and is, I suppose, the same person of whom Byron expresses himself favorably when a temporary illness of his lady shortly after their marriage

* Nephew of the celebrated Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry, of whom mention has already been made. In June, 1826, he was created Marquis. He is yet alive (January, 1854), and is aged eighty-four.-M.

This "fidgetty Solicitor" was William Vizard, subsequently made Secretary of Bankrupts by Lord Brougham, in 1832, a post worth twelve hundred pounds, sterling a year, which he occupied for twenty years (until 1852), and then contrived to get appointed, on its abolition, to an office equally valuable, which he retains. His connection with the Queen's trial made William Vizard's fortune, and he is now a large landed proprietor in Gloucestershire.-M.

SIR JAMES SCARLETT.

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looked rather gestatory. A variety of lords, squires, generals, ossa innominata, followed, for whom the Chancellor cared perhaps about as much as I did.

At length Sir James Scarlett was announced, and the Chancellor left his place to meet him. His welcome was very hearty. Brougham was doubtless gratified by this token of respect from a man who was indisputably his leader in the courts, and for whose forensic abilities it is known that he entertains, and has often expressed, the highest admiration. The position of the two men was singular, and to the ex-attorney not very enviable. Scarlett was in high practice before Brougham was even called to the bar. He kept ahead of him in their profession throughout; and twice he had filled the first places at the bar, when the respective attainments of these eminent persons were such, that if Brougham had been placed before him, Scarlett would have had just ground of complaint, and the bar would have unanimously decried the appointment. Now, however, by one of those cross-accidents which will occur in the most fortunate lives, Scarlett was, with strict justice and universal acquiescence, placed below his former competitor, and in direct opposition to all the early friends with whom he

* Sir Ralph Milbanke's wife was sister of Viscount Wentworth, and she suc ceeded to the estates, on condition that her name should be changed to Noel. Her daughter was married to Lord Byron, who prefixed the name of Noel to his own, on his mother-in-law's death. Sir Ralph Noel died in 1825, and Mr. Sheil alludes to his relative and successor, Sir John Peneston Milbanke, who dropped the name of Noel altogether.-M.

+ Perhaps this is the place where I should state the cost of the administration of justice, which forms an important item in the national expenditure of Great Britain. In 1852, as appears by Parliamentary returns, the whole amount was £2,104,196, of which £645,243 was for Courts of Justice (including salaries of Judges and other officials), £891,542 for police and criminal prosecution, and £567,411 for correction. In October, 1853, the Reverend Mr. Clay, chaplain of the House of Correction in Preston (England) in his annual report to the magistrates, estimates the loss caused to the public by fifteen pickpockets, whose career he has traced, including the value of the property stolen, expenses of prosecution, and maintenance in jail, at £26,500. That is to say, England was at an expense of £1,766 for each of these worthies-a sum, one tithe of which, if judiciously applied at the proper time, would probably have suf ficed to make them useful members of society.-M.

commenced his political career. It was matter of necessity and of course that he should go out when his employers were obliged to surrender office; and no man could complain that Brougham should then be elevated to a distinction, which in other circumstances Scarlett might have thought his own by indisputable right. The Chancellor remained longer in conversation with Sir James than any of the other distinguished persons who appeared. Indeed, his anxiety to show this attention produced rather awkward effects. While they were closely together, Jocky Bell, as he is commonly called, the very eminent Chancery barrister, came in sight; but he was suffered to waddle about for some time before he caught the eye of the Chancellor. Before the conversation with Sir James was finished, there were a good many others in the same unreceived plight, and the Chancellor was obliged to give them a hasty discharge.

The Speaker of the House of Commons was then announced. Brougham and he met as warm friends, though certainly men having little in kindred. In point of talent there is no ground of comparison; yet it may be doubted whether they are not nearly as great in their own way. I have no notion of the place which the Speaker held in Parliament before he was elected to the chair, and I know few situations which require

It was said that Scarlett, afterward Lord Abinger, "ratted" at the wrong time. He had been liberal in politics up to 1828 (and had been Canning's Attorney-General in 1827), but took office with the Duke of Wellington, then an avowed Tory, and was as intolerant as renegades, whether political or religious, usually are. In 1830, when the Whigs came into power, Scarlett had to resign office. But, in December, 1834, when the post of Chief-Baron of the Exchequer became vacant by Lord Lyndhurst's taking the Great Seal, Scarlett was appointed, receiving a peerage shortly after, and continued Judge until his death in 1844.- Had he remained with the Whig party, he would probably have been appointed their Lord Chancellor in 1830.-M.

"Jock Bell," as he was called, was a friend and contemporary of Lord Eldon's. He was notorious for writing so badly that it was said he wrote three hands; one, which nobody but himself could read; a second (that in which he gave his opinion on cases) which none but his clerk could decipher, and a third which neither himself nor clerk could make out. It is a fact, and the foundation of a passage in "Pickwick," that Jock Bell's clerk realized a large income by making readable copies of his employer's opinions, which were greatly in request, on account of their ability.— M.

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more tact and management. In these qualifications the present Speaker is signally gifted. He brings a degree of goodnature to the office which no event, however untoward, can ruffle his calmness never forsakes him; he is the same easy, dignified chairman at all times. The Commons are a truly turbulent body, but they are not impatient of his sway. In all emergencies he is vigorously supported: in his hands, the authority of his office, though rarely exercised, has lost none of its force. Brougham himself was one of the most fiery spirits in this hot region; but a word from the Speaker would calm him in an instant. Among other qualifications for command, he is possessed of a fine, mellow, deep-toned voice, which, while it powerfully enunciates "Order," frees the command from all harshness or severity. As the first commoner in the land, and a truly estimable gentleman, he was entitled to be well received. But I doubt, if deprived of his chair, whether he could insure much regard on the score of his talents. Let me not, however, shade the picture which I have already drawn; it is manifest that Mr. Sutton is a general favorite. Every one was eager to pass a minute or two with him. I was much pleased to witness a frank greeting between him and old William Smith, who is not now in the House of Commons; but who, before he left it, enjoyed the patriarchal rank of being the father of the body. The Speaker told him that they had not much mended since he left. Longer speeches -more of them-later hours, and fewer divisions-were the characteristics of the session, compared with its predecessors.

Lord Farnham,‡ a bluff, weather-beaten old Irish Lord— the unflinching enemy of the Catholics, and the equally-deter

* Charles Manners Sutton, speaker of the House of Commons from 1817 to 1834; created Viscount Canterbury in 1835; and died July, 1845. He was very popular as speaker, and allowed himself to be re-elected (after the Reform Bill was passed in 1832) at the especial request of the Grey Ministry.-M.

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+ This William Smith, who had a seat in Parliament for forty-six years, was latterly Member for Norwich. He attacked Southey, in Parliament, as a corous renegade," and was replied to by the poet in nervous and indignant prose. William Smith was ultra-liberal in politics. He died in 1835, aged seventy-nine.-M.

John Barry Maxwell, fifth Lord Farnham, born in 1767, died in 1838.-M.