Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/251

Rh year 1777, merely to obtain a degree, to which he was entitled as the son of a nobleman, and thereby shorten his passage to the bar ; and, at the same time, he inserted his name in the books of Lincoln's inn, as a student at law. One of his college declamations is still extant, as it was delivered in Trinity college chapel. The thesis was the revolution of 1688, and the first prize was awarded to its author; but, with that nobleness of feeling which always characterized the subject of our memoir, he refused to accept of the reward, alleging as an excuse, that he had merely declaimed in conformity with the rules of college, and, not being a resident student, was not entitled to any honorary distinction. A burlesque parody of Gray's Bard which appeared about this time in the Monthly Magazine, was generally attributed to Mr Erskine. The origin of this production was a circumstance of a humorous nature. The author had been prevented from taking his place at dinner in the college hall, by the neglect of his barber, who failed to present himself in proper time. In the moment of supposed disappointment, hunger, and irritation, the bard pours forth a violent malediction against the whole tribe of hair-dressers, and, in a strain of prophetic denunciation, foretells the overthrow of their craft in the future taste for cropped hair and unpowdered heads. The ode is little remarkable for poetical excellence, but displays a lively fancy and keen perception of the ludicrous. In order to acquire that knowledge of the technical part of his profession, without which a barrister finds himself hampered at every step, Mr Erskine became a pupil of Mr, afterwards judge Buller, then an eminent special pleader, and discharged his laborious and servile avocation at the desk with all the persevering industry of a common attorney's clerk. Upon the promotion of his preceptor to the bench, he entered into the office of Mr, afterwards baron Wood, where he continued for some months after he had obtained considerable business at the bar.

At this time, his evenings were often spent in a celebrated debating association then held in Coach-maker's hall. These spouting clubs, at the period of which we speak, were regarded with a jealous eye by the government; and it was considered discreditable, or at least prejudicial to the interests of any young man, who looked forward to patronage at the bar, to be connected with them. The subjects usually discussed were of a political nature, and the harangues delivered in a motley assembly of men of all ranks and principles, were often highly inflammatory in sentiment, and unguarded in expression. But it was in such schools as these, that the talents of a Burke and a Pitt, and an Erskine, were nursed into that surpassing strength and activity which afterwards enabled them to 'wield at will' not the 'fierce democracy' but even the senate of Great Britain. While engaged in these preparatory studies, Mr Erskine was obliged to adhere to the most rigid economy in the use of his very limited finances, a privation which the unvarying cheerfulness and strong good sense of his amiable consort enabled him to bear with comparative ease.

Mr Erskine, having completed the probationary period allotted to his attendance in the Inns of court, was called to the bar in 1778; and in the very outset of his legal career, while yet of only one term's standing, made a most brilliant display of professional talent, in the case of captain Baillie, against whom the attorney general had moved for leave to file a criminal information in the court of king's bench, for a libel on the earl of Sandwich. In the course of this his first speech, Mr Erskine displayed the same undaunted spirit which marked his whole career. He attacked the noble earl in a strain of severe invective; Lord Mansfield, observing the young counsel heated with his subject, and growing personal on the first lord of the admiralty, told him that lord Sandwich was not before the court: "I know," replied the undaunted