colonial practice too limited for his aspirations, he resigned his office of attorney-general; and on returning to London, he entered with full ardour upon a more favourable arena in the courts of Westminster, after having been commissioned in 1787 to practise as an English barrister. His commencement, however, was so unpropitious as to bring all his energy and resolution into full exercise, and nerve them with double vigour; for however eminent he had been at the bar of Quebec, he found himself an utter stranger in London, while his shy retiring habits gave little promise that such a difficulty would be easily obviated. Fortunately, one of those incidents occurred by which the reserve of modest merit is often broken through, and the possessor dragged out to the sphere which he ought to occupy. Mr. Grant, after having gone the circuit year after year without obtaining a single brief, happened at length to be retained in some appeals from the Court of Session in Scotland to the House of Lords. He discharged his duty so ably on this occasion, and evinced such legal talent and force of reasoning, as to extort the highest approbation from the stern Lord Chancellor Thurlow, a man by no means profuse in compliments. He eagerly asked the name of the speaker; and having learned it, he said to a friend, "Be not surprised if that young man should one day occupy this seat." It is thought that Grant might ultimately have fulfilled this prediction had he been willing to encounter the responsible duties of the chancellorship. Thurlow's approbation did not end in empty compliment; he interested himself in the fortunes of the talented but unbefriended stranger, and in consequence of his advice, Grant left the practice of common law for that of equity, as being better fitted for his studies and habits.
From this period his career was one of honour and success, and his first step was a seat in parliament, having been returned for Shaftesbury at the general election in 1790. On entering the House he made no attempt to attract notice as a political orator; his forte rather lay in private consultations and committees, where his sagacity, good sense, and extensive knowledge, were seen and appreciated by the most eminent of his colleagues. Of these especially was Mr. Pitt, of whom he was a firm and effective supporter. On one occasion, in the year 1791, his colonial experience was of great service to the premier. The subject before the House for discussion was a new code of laws for the province of Canada, and on this question he enforced the proposal of Pitt with such incontrovertible arguments, drawn from his own knowledge and practice as attorney-general of the colony, that even Fox was gratified, and all but convinced. Another occasion on which Grant signalized himself in the House of Commons occurred in the following year, when he defended the measures of the ministry upon the subject of the Russian armament. At the beginning of 1794 he was returned to parliament by the borough of Westminster, and at the same time appointed solicitor-general to the Queen, and in 1796 he was chosen knight in parliament for the county of Banff. In 1798 he was appointed chief-justice of Chester, and in the year following he was made solicitor-general, on which occasion he received the usual honour of knighthood. In 1801 he was honoured with his last and highest promotion of master of the rolls. This steady rise was owing, not to his support of the predominant party in the state, but the high character which he established for himself as lawyer and judge, in which all parties coincided. He continued to represent the county of Banff until 1812, when the Parliament was dissolved, and to fill the office of master of the rolls till 1317, at which period he was anxious to retire from public life
