district of the country, who, on being threatened by his landlord with a ruinous lawsuit for the purpose of compelling him to submit to some unjust demand, instantly replied, with flashing eyes, "Ye dinna ken what ye're saying, maister; there's no a puir man in a' Scotland need to want a friend or fear an enemy sae lang as Harry Erskine is to the fore" (survives). Many of Mr. Erskine's bon mots, "seria commixta jocis," have been preserved, and show that his wit was as kindly as it was pointed. "Henry Erskine was the best-natured man I ever knew," says Sir Walter Scott; "thoroughly a gentleman, and with but one fault—he could not say no. His wit was of the very kindest, best-humoured, and gayest sort that ever cheered society." Mr. Erskine died 8th October, 1817, in his seventy-first year. His eldest son succeeded in 1829 to the earldom of Buchan.—J. T.
Erskine, Thomas, Lord, younger brother of the above, was born at Edinburgh, 10th January, 1750. His parents though not wealthy gave him the best education in their power; first as a day-scholar of the High School of Edinburgh, and afterwards at the university of St. Andrews. He displayed considerable talent, being a youth of quick perception, possessing a retentive memory, and not lacking application. Cheerful, and addicted to fun and frolic, he was naturally a favourite with both master and playmates. He early showed a strong predilection for the learned professions, and burned with a laudable desire for a path of distinction. But his father's finances, already severely taxed for the education of his elder brothers, were not sufficient to enable him to indulge the bent of his son's inclination, and Thomas had to enter the navy as a midshipman in 1764. A few year's service did not, however, reconcile him to that profession, and, on attaining his eighteenth year, he resolved, as the bar appeared to be beyond his reach, to go into the army. In September, 1768, he obtained a commission in the first regiment of foot. In 1770 he married Frances, the daughter of Daniel Moore, M.P. for Marlow, and soon afterwards went abroad with his regiment. His passion for literature continued unabated, and on his return home, the sprightliness of his manners and the agreeable use he made of the knowledge he had acquired, aided by remarkable conversational powers, stamped him at once as a man calculated to shine in the legal profession. After some hesitation, he commenced the study of the law, and entered Lincoln's inn. He became also a commoner of Trinity college, Cambridge, and placed himself as a pupil under Mr. (afterwards Justice) Buller, and next under Mr. (afterwards Baron) Wood. During the period thus devoted to his preparation for and call to the bar, his pecuniary condition was deplorable, sometimes little removed from abject poverty. He was called to the bar of Lincoln's inn, 3d July, 1778. In Michaelmas term of that year he received his first brief, and made his debut as an advocate. An accidental circumstance threw that brief and a guinea into his hands, as the junior of five counsel retained by Captain Baillie, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich hospital, then under prosecution for libel, at the instigation of Lord Sandwich, the first lord of the admiralty. A rule to show cause why a criminal information should not be filed against Baillie had been obtained; and it was for his counsel to get that rule discharged. Erskine's seniors were of course heard first, and nothing was looked for from the obscure and unknown junior in the back row; but on the solicitor-general rising to reply, in the full expectation of success, he was interrupted by the young barrister, who, having modestly claimed his right to be heard, immediately proceeded to address the court in a strain of matchless eloquence and unflinching independence, which captivated the court, and carried every auditor along with him. He did not hesitate to denounce the prosecution as a disgrace to its authors, nor spare the most cutting invectives; even against Lord Sandwich himself, whilst he contrasted with the dastardly conduct of the prosecutors the frank integrity and the honourable motives of the alleged libeller, and not only justified the libel itself, but boldly claimed for it the merit of an act of public duty, manfully and laudably discharged. The impetuosity of Erskine's indignation against Lord Sandwich appeared only to be increased by the interference of the court, and he proceeded with redoubled vigour in his denunciation of the prosecution and its abettors. The appeal was irresistible, and his success complete. By this first forensic effort Erskine sprang at one bound from penury to prosperity. Briefs poured in on every side, and his fortune was made from that auspicious moment, thirty retainers having been put into his hands before he left the court. After only five years' experience at the bar, he obtained in 1783 a patent of precedence on the suggestion of Lord Mansfield, received the appointment of attorney-general to the prince of Wales, and was returned to parliament for Portsmouth, in the interest of Mr. Fox. He was not, however, so successful in the house of commons as at the bar. He had there to contend with a consummately powerful antagonist in the person of Mr. Pitt, who, with equal talent and more practical experience as a debater, threw the brilliant forensic orator into the shade. In the meantime, however, Erskine maintained unimpaired his high reputation as a legal advocate. Amongst his masterly efforts may be mentioned his remarkable speech in defence of Lieutenant Browne, R.N., when under prosecution for challenging his commanding officer. Admiral Sir James Wallace; and also his triumphantly successful defence of Lord George Gordon in 1781, when that misguided partisan was charged with the crime of high treason. Nor should his manly assertion of the independence of the bar be overlooked, of which the course he took on the trial of the dean of St. Asaph for libel, at the Salop assizes in 1784, furnishes a memorable example. The presiding judge, Mr. Justice Buller, sought to daunt him in the exercise of his vocation, by an order to "sit down and remember his duty," accompanying the injunction with a threat. This extorted the memorable and effective reply, "Your lordship may proceed as you think fit; I know my duty as well as your lordship knows yours, and shall not alter my conduct." In 1792, in opposition to all advice from friends, in defiance of all remonstrances from men high in authority and power, despite the earnest injunctions of the prince of Wales, and regardless of the unmitigated abuse heaped upon him by the public press, Erskine accepted a retainer to defend Tom Paine, when indicted for the publication of the Rights of Man, and persevered with determined obstinacy in the course he had adopted, from a firm sense of duty; contending that where an advocate is permitted to say that he would or would not stand between the crown and the subject arraigned in the court where he practises, the liberties of England are destroyed. He argued that it was not for the advocate to assume the province of the judge, nor just, upon his own premature impression of the case, to prejudice the client by refusing to act. He defended Paine, but failed to procure an acquittal, and, to the disgrace of his enemies, was deprived of his office of attorney-general to the prince of Wales. But probably nothing more powerfully illustrates the astuteness of counsel, and the telling eloquence of the advocate, than Erskine's defence of Hardy, Horne Took, and Thelwall, in 1794, for high treason. The laboured exertions and persevering industry of the attorney-general. Sir John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, to secure a conviction, proved utterly abortive when Erskine got the ear of the jury, and by the fire of his unrivalled address carried them irresistibly along with him. By a curious turn of events the defender of Tom Paine's Rights of Man in 1792, became counsel in 1797 for the prosecution of Williams, the publisher of Paine's Age of Reason, in which he displayed his great talents by his powerful denunciation of the blasphemous character of the work, and by his arguments in support of the truths of christianity, as illustrated by the prophecies and their fulfilment, particularly with reference to the Jews. He obtained a verdict. In 1802 the prince regent made to Erskine tardy amends for the loss of his attorney-generalship by conferring upon him the office of chancellor of the duchy of Cornwall, which he retained until appointed lord-chancellor on the formation of the Grenville ministry in 1806, when he was raised to the peerage, as Baron Erskine of Restormel castle, Cornwall. He retained his seat on the woolsack only for a brief period, the ministry in connection with which he had taken the office being dissolved in 1807, when he retired from public life. Although Lord Erskine did not shine in the capacity of chancellor, as he had done at the bar, none of his decrees were reversed, and one only was appealed against. He was the earnest, though individually unsuccessful pioneer, of humane legislation in favour of the brute creation. In 1809 he brought in a bill for the prevention of cruelty to animals, which was defeated, but subsequently resumed and carried by other parties in the following year. He took a warm interest in the cause of Queen Caroline, but with this and a few minor exceptions, he did little to distinguish himself in the upper house. In the latter part of his life, from ill-advised speculations, he suffered great pecuniary embarrassment, and the misery of his declining years was not a little augmented by an
