BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 439
In politics Mr. Clerk was a keen Whig ; and in 1806, when that party came
into power for a short time, he was appointed Solicitor-General in the room of
Robert Blair of Aventoun. This appointment he held only during the limited
period of one year, while his friends were in office ; and his elevation to the
bench did not occur till 1823. In consequence of the infirmities of age, his
lordship resigned five years afterwards, and died at his house in Picardy Place,
on the 30th May 1832.
At the time Lord Eldin was raised to the bench he was advanced in years,
and a gradual decrease of business had previously given intimation that he had
ceased to be regarded by agents as the vigorous and energetic pleader he once
was. Perhaps at no period of his legal career would John Clerk ever have given
satisfaction as a judge ; for, with all his talent and professional skill, he was one
of those persons who could only see one side in a cause ; and although this may
be an advantage at the bai for the client, it is assuredly a serious disadvantage
on the bench for a suitor. As it was, no fair chance occurred to test the
judicial talents of this once distinguished barrister ; for his faculties at the date
of his elevation were seriously impaired-an assertion, the truth of which his
decisions afford ample proof. On one
occasion, shortly before his removal from the judgment-seat, a debate had been
partly heard before him one day and concluded the next. The astonishment
of counsel may be conceived, when, at the termination, the judge candidly
announced he did not know what the parties were talking about, and proposed
that they should recommence the debate, and repeat all they had previously said.
This was one of his last appearances in Court.
Mr. Clerk was not remarkable either for symmetry of person or beauty of
countenance. He was about as plain a looking man as could well be imagined.
His inattention to dress was proverbial. In walking he had a considerable halt,
one of his legs being shorter than the other. Proceeding down the High Street
one day from the Court of Session, he overheard a young lady saying to her
companion rather loudly, “ There goes Johnnie Clerk, the lame lawyer.” Upon
which be turned round, and, with his usual face of expression, said, “ No, madam ;
I may be a lame man, but not a lame lawyer 1,’
In Peter’s Letters occurs the following character of him while at the bar,
which, though a little exaggerated, is on the whole a fair portraiture :-
‘‘ By the unanimous consent of his brethren, bfr. John Clerk is the present Choryphaeus of
the bar-‘Juris consultomm mi seculi faeile primp.’ Others there are that surpass him in a
In 1797 Mr.
Smellie was employed to print a new edition of that work, with remarks by Admiral Rodney, whose
engagement at the Dover Bank, in 1782, was said to have been gained in consequence of following
the tactics recommended by Mr. Clerk, of whose manuscript he had obtained a perusal prior to that
period. Although Mr. Clerk had revised and corrected the whole of the proof-sheets with his own
hands, Mr. Smellie was surprised, on presenting hi account, to be told by Mr. Clerk that he had no
recollection of ever employing him to print the work ; and even after having been shown the proofsheets,
with his own corrections, he could hardly be persuaded of the fact. A similar instance of
forgetfulness is told of his son, Lord Eldin. He employed Nr. Hutchison to print a work for him,
and afterwards denied ever having done so.
Latterly his memory failed entirely.’
His father, the author of “Naval Tactics,” laboured under the same infirmity.
