382 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
panion. The early friendships which he formed during his connection with the
Select Society of Edinburgh, among whom were Robertson, Blair, Smith, and
Hume, he continued to cherish with fondness throughout the bustle of his after
life.’
The public character of his lordship has been variously represented, according
to the political sentiments and prejudices of his contemporaries. Few statesmen
during the “ chopping and changing ” of last century escaped the satirical
lash of the Opposition ; and with such men as the ‘( wary Wedderburn,” in the
absence of other topics, national reflections were found a never-failing resource
for the wits of the day ; hence he is described by Churchill as
“ A pert, prim prater, of the northern race ;
Guilt in his heart, and famine in his face. ”
Wra&l, who cannot be charged with too much partiality for the “northern
race,” in the Memoirs of his own Times, thus sums up the character of the
statesman :-“ Loughborough unquestionably was one of the most able lawyers,
accomplished parliamentary orators, and dexterous courtiers, who flourished
under the reign of George the Third ; yet, with the qualities here enumerated,
he never approved himself a wise, judicious, or enlightened statesman. His
counsels, throughout the whole period of the King’s malady, were, if not
unconstitutional, at least repugnant to the general sense of Parliament, and of
the country-violent, imprudent, and injurious to the cause that he espoused.
In 1793, when he held the Great Seal, and sat in cabinet, it was universally
believed that the siege of Dunkirk-one of the most fatal measures ever
embraced by the allies-originated with Lord Loughborough. Nevertheless, his
legal knowledge, experience, and versatile talents, seemed eminently to qualify
him for guiding the heir-apparent at a juncture when, if the King should not
speedily recover, constitutional questions of the most novel, difficult, and
important nature must necessarily present themselves.”
Here we find all that can be plausibly urged against the public character of
Lord Loughborough, while a great deal is admitted in his favour. The imprudence
attributed to his counsels is hypothetical, and might be urged with as
much propriety against any other public man of equal genius and decision of
character.
The only literary productions of his lordship were-Critiques on Barclay’s Greek Grammar,
the Decisions of the Supreme Court, and the Abridgment of the Public Statutes, which appeared in
the Edinburgh Review, 1755. In 1793, he published a Treatise on the Management of Prisons ;
and, subsequently, a Treatise on the English Poor Laws, addressed to a clergyman. [Only two
numbers of the Edinburgh Review were published. The editors were BliEir, Robertson, etc.]
