view of the subject, and oppose no bar to its being reconsidered. Something legislative has been said to be in contemplation; but we would humbly petition for the first prisoner who shall apply on habeas corpus for his discharge, that he may have awarded to him the fullest and most patient attention, and most complete investigation of the case in all its bearings; and legislation, if legislation is necessary, will be more becomingly and efficiently exerted, when the precise extent to which it is necessary has been pronounced, by those whose opinions are entitled to the highest respect, and whose authority all wish to preserve. Nothing has yet occurred that need fetter the opinion, or seal the lips, of any one of the judges. The only true point of Abley v. Dale was, that trespass would not lie-all the rest of the case was beside and beyond it; and the sum of what has followed, both in the Common Pleas and the other superior Courts, is this-that there has been a surrender of the judgment, much to be regretted, to a supposed decision, which was not a decision, but an expression of opinion on a matter not properly before the Court. Baron Martin seems to anticipate more freedom of thought in a Court of Error; but there is no occasion to resort to error, no need to terrify the poor insolvent with the expense of that Court of ultimate appeal, nor to impale him on the yet unexplained difficulty of how he is to get there. And as to the remedy,' supposing these commitments are adjudged to be illegal: if the writ of habeas corpus, disclosing on the return the reason of the detainer, and assisted by affidavits, if necessary, to show why the detainer is illegal, will not afford the means of discharging the debtor, and the judges, on the application to them, can point to no other door of escape, then the Legislature must indeed interpose, to provide a remedy for an adjudged wrong, and to give the security of an easy and unconditioned appeal; that the decisions of County Court judges shall, like those of the superior Courts, be capable of being reversed and altogether set aside, when they are not in accordance with the laws of England.

1 We beg to draw particular attention to the observations of Chief Justice Jervis in Dakin's Case, as to the remedy for illegal detainer, and to those also of Lord Campbell, on the same subject, in Ex parte Egginton, 23 L. J., M. C., 41.

We give in conclusion the concluding passage of the "Remarks:"

:

"In the important subject to which these pages are addressed, my desire is this let the questions be grappled with the questions of the validity of protection, and the right to despise it. They are questions, not between a plaintiff and a defendant in trespass; but between certain local courts and the statute law of England. When those questions shall have been fairly met and decided, we the inferior Courts shall defer to the decrees of the higher judicature: they are the expounders of the law. If, by the imbecility of forms and rules, they are estopped from grappling with such questions, so that the public cannot have the sanction of their interpretation, then indeed it may be fit to enlarge their powers, for controlling the errors of those below them."

J. P.

ART. V.-LORD LYNDHURST: HIS PROFESSIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY CAREER.

J

OHN SINGLETON COPLEY was born at Boston, in the United States of North America, on the 21st day of May, in the year 1772, and is now, of course, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His father, a native of that city,' married Miss Clarke, daughter of Richard Clarke, Esq.; and by that lady he had issue the subject of this memoir and three daughters. Mr. Copley, a painter by profession, subsequently settled in England, and attained to considerable reputation in his art.2

1 The family appears to have been originally of Irish extraction; and collateral branches of it are still to be found in that isle. The grandfather of Lord Lyndhurst, who emigrated from the county of Limerick to Boston, in the United States, had married Sarah, the youngest daughter of John Singleton, Esq. This was an ancestor of the Singletons of Quinville Abbey, county Clare, Ireland.

2 John Singleton Copley, the father of Lord Lyndhurst, was born at Boston, in North America, in the year 1737. Being self-taught, he was more remarkable for the vigour of his natural genius than for refinement or taste in his art. Connoisseurs allege that his pictures are defective in respect of freedom of drawing and warmth of colouring; and that these faults of his style are more apparent in the productions of his maturer years than in his earlier efforts. His name first became known in England in the year 1760, upon his sending for exhibition, at the Royal Academy,

The education of his son may be regarded as having, about this period, actually and systematically commenced. Having previously passed through a course of careful elementary training, he was entered a student at Trinity College, Cambridge; and throughout the whole of his academic career, he gave rich promise of the distinction which awaited him in the more extended sphere of public life. In the year 1794, he was announced as Smith's prizeman and second wrangler; having thus taken a position in his college, which commanded the respect of his teachers and his fellow-students. He had already given striking indications of the vigour of his intellect, as well as the extent and variety of his information, not merely in the higher branches of mathematical learning, but likewise in the fields of classical literature and general knowledge. It has been said—although, perhaps, on no stronger authority than that of the wavering intentions and dubious expressions which not unfrequently divide the thoughts, and are supposed to indicate the tendencies, of a young man at the close of his academic studies, and before the commencement of the actual business of life-that, at this period, the views of Mr. Copley were directed towards the church, as the chosen scene of his future exertions; and it cannot be doubted that with his masculine understanding, his scholastic attainments, and, above all, with a certain ductility of nature in adapting himself to surrounding circumstances, enhanced as all these advantages were by many attractive personal qualities, he could scarcely have failed to win episcopal honours, and to wear a mitre. He had subsequently, through his connection with the University, an opportunity of gratifying a very early and very natural longing to visit the continent in which his father had been born; and having, on his return from a picture of "A Boy and a Tame Squirrel," which attracted much attention. Having visited Italy in 1774, he subsequently settled in England as a portrait-painter. In this branch of his profession he was eminently successful. In the year 1777 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy; and, after the appearance of his celebrated picture, "The Death of Chatham," so well known by the admirable engraving of Bartolozzi, he had the honour of being chosen a Member of the Royal Academy. One of his latest productions was a portrait of Lord Lyndhurst. He died on the 9th of September, 1819, at his residence in George Street, Hanover Square; leaving behind him a widow, who survived to witness the growing prosperity and honours of her son.

North America, taken the degree of master of arts, he was in due time elected a fellow of his college. While he was thus closely connected with the University of Cambridge, Mr. Copley acquired such tastes, and formed such friendships, as materially contribute to the dignity and happiness of human life,―tastes which have never forsaken him amidst the turmoil of public affairs, and attachments which, originating in a love of literature and science, have been the sources of enjoyment more pure and enduring than the unsteady, fleeting friendships which spring from and expire with the political associations of ambitious men.2

Having been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of special pleading, Mr. Copley was called to the Bar3 by the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, on the 8th of June, 1804; and a period of self-denying patience awaited him. Without the patronage of the influential classes of the community, and utterly unknown to the subordinate grades of the profession, through which the stream of business flows, Mr. Copley was sustained by his sense of inherent strength, and a conviction that, sooner or later, he could not, according to the common chances of life, fail to have an opportunity of proving that he was willing to labour, and capable of working with practical success; that he would neither be baffled by difficulties, nor easily daunted by opposition. On the Midland Circuit, which, at the time when Mr. Copley was introduced to its bar, was graced by a Romilly and a Perceval, he steadily gained ground; and the credit which he acquired in that scene of his avocations naturally followed him to the metropolis, and gradually opened a path for the young barrister through the crowd of competitors in Westminster Hall. His general business speedily increased; and, in the year 1813, he considered it prudent to assume the

1 In the Cambridge University Kalendar for the year 1796, the name of Mr. Copley stands the second last on the list of Fellows of Trinity College. 2 We find him, even when drawing towards the close of a longer public life than usually falls to the lot of any man, fixing the date of an event by his recollecting that it occurred at the time when he was reading the Principia. The companionship of Professor Farish served to develop his natural taste for practical chemistry and mechanics. In both branches of science Lord Lyndhurst bears the reputation of being an adept.

3 Vide Whishaw's Synopsis, p. 175.

coif. He was probably induced to take this step for the purpose of securing, to a certain extent, his professional position, inasmuch as he could not reasonably expect any decided countenance from the Government of that day. The course being, in other respects, open to this legal athlete, and the prize being seen glittering at the goal, he forthwith began to throw aside all the incumbrances which might possibly impede him in the race. That a sudden change, about this period, in the political opinions of Mr. Copley displayed itself, and that his professions were in perfect unison with his personal interests, are facts which appear to have been known to many who had access to sources of accurate information; and, at all events, an allegation to that effect has never ceased to be currently reported, and generally believed. The ultra-liberal tone of his sentiments during the early period of his career cannot, of course, be substantiated by public acts or speeches: the charge rests exclusively on the testimony of intelligent and honourable men, who must have been cognizant of the political views originally entertained by him, and who concealed not their astonishment at the mental revolution which he had rapidly undergone. The foresight of Mr. Copley, and his knowledge of the world, may possibly have guarded him against rash and open avowal of his opinions; while, at the same time, the conclusions drawn by his companions from sly hints or secret acts may have been certain and strong. Lord Lyndhurst has, no doubt, again and again, resented the charge of political tergiversation which has been so frequently brought against him. But his uneasiness on such occasions has served only to confirm pre-existing suspicions: anxiety to explain is in itself a suggestion that reasons for doubt may have arisen: "Tant de soins," said J. J. Rousseau, " à se justifier produisent quelquefois un préjuge contraire;" and the justice of the remark is so obvious, that it scarcely required the sanction of so shrewd an observer of mankind, and of the motives by which individuals are governed. At so early a

1 On the last day of Trinity Term, 1813, John Singleton Copley, Esq., was called to the degree of the Coif (Vide 5 Taunton's Rep. p. 72). On this occasion he gave rings bearing the motto, Studiis vigilare severis. No words could have been more appropriately chosen they were truly descriptive of the course which had been pursued by him.