eminent patent lawyer, who was raised to the bench on March 2, 1881, and died be fore he was sworn in, six days later. Among the justices of the Common Pleas must be included the incomparable Willes, editor in conjunction with Sir Henry Keating of Smith's Leading Cases, and probably the greatest mercantile lawyer that has sat on the English bench ( 1814-1872); SirWilliam Erie (1 793-1 880), who, like Lord Truro and (if one may travel beyond the limits of legal life) the actress, Mrs. Inchiquin, attained the highest pro fessional distinction in spite of a hesita tion in speech; and Sir William Bovill ( 18 1 6— 1873), who tried the Tichborne ejectment case. Among the Barons of the Exchequer, prominent are the names of Sir Fred erick Pollock (Chief Baron from 1844 to 1 866); Sir Samuel Martin, the subject of MR. JUSTICE the famous " scene between Jessel and Cockburn," and a judge who is said to have once called back a prisoner on whom he had just passed sen tence of death without the customary com mendation to the divine mercy, to say : "Prisoner, I beg your pardon; may the Lord have mercy on your soul!" and Sir Fitzroy Kelly ( 1796-1 880). A little more space must be devoted to
SIR ALEXANDER COCKBURN. The Right Hon. Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn was descended from an
ancient Scottish family. One of his fore fathers fell at Bannockburn in 13 14, another at Fontenoy in 1745 . The following are the chief points of note in the family history : A Sir Alexander Cockburn was keeper of the great seal of Scotland from 1389 to 1396. In 1595 Sir William Cockburn re ceived a grant of the lands and barony of Langton, in the county of Berwick. His son William was crea ted a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1627. The sixth of this line of baronets, Sir James Cockburn (17291804), had five sons, the three eldest of whom succeeded to the baronetcy. Sir James, the seventh baronet, was a majorgeneral in the army, became Secretary of State in 1806, and five years later was appointed governor of the Bermudas. The eighth baronet, Sir .George (1772— 1 85 3), was an admiral. The ninth, SirWilliam (1773- 1858), was WILLIAMS. Dean of York. His younger brother Alexander was British Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extra ordinary to the state of Colombia. He married Yolande, the daughter of the Vicomte de Vignier; and their only son, the future Lord Chief-Justice of England, was born on the 24th of December, 1802. Cockburn was thus, on his mother's side, a foreigner. Her two sisters were married to Italians. He received the greater part of his early education abroad. Such an hereditary and family environment produced its natural result. He became an accom plished linguist, spoke French with native
