With added ornaments around them rolled, Always the ladies' and sometimes their lords'; 66 Bow Irish jig-and ancient rigadoon; Scotch reels avaunt!-and country dance forego Your future claims to each fantastic toe; Waltz-Waltz-alone both arms and legs demands, Liberal of feet-and lavish of her hands; Hands which may freely range in public sight, Where ne'er before-but-pray "put out the light." Methinks the glare of yonder chandelier Shines much too far-or I am much too near; And true, though strange-Waltz whispers this remark, My slippery steps are safest in the dark.' But here the Muse with due decorum halts, And lends her longest petticoat to Waltz.' "Observant travellers! of every time, Ye quartos! published upon every clime; Gods! how the glorious theme my strain exalts, And rhyme finds partner rhyme in praise of • Waltz.' We have already quoted a few of the doctor's remarks on the state of political, or rather party feeling in Edinburgh; and we observe with satisfaction, that the severe and sarcastic: manner in which he has ventured to comment on some parts of "False opinion's fickle sheen," has given infinite uneasiness to the clamourous rag-tag-and-bobtail of our northern Whigs. The doctor, nevertheless, is as far as possible from carrying the prejudices of his political creed with him, into matters with which politics have no necessary connexion. He has too much perception of talent not to respect it wherever and by whomsoever it is manifested. The tone of his disquisitions concerning our universities and their professors might be adduced as furnishing the most ample proof of this liberality; but we prefer to quote a part of his chapter " on the Scottish Bar," as more likely to afford the pleasure of novelty both to our northern and our southern readers. After explaining at considerable length the origin of that great and unquestionable ascendancy which the bar of Scotland exerts over the whole of our nation, and devoting several interesting pages to an enumeration of some of those illustrious men, whose characters, and attainments, and exertions, have been the principal means of founding, confirming, and adorning this authority; the doctor descends to the present day, and proceeds to describe the parliament-house of Edinburgh, (our Scottish Westminster-hall) as he saw it with his own eyes, A. D. 1818. We shall omit the first part of this description, as being rather too bitter for our pages. The wits of " the Stove School" seem indeed to have found small favour in our traveller's eyes; and he characterizes, in a way which we fear would bring him into much bad odour in certain pretty important quarters, many of the most noisy apostles of that celebrated sect. But it is our opinion, that the doctor always writes best when his subject is a good one, and we there fore proceed to his sketches of some of the true living ornaments of our bar. It is astonishing with what precision he has caught the distinguishing and characteristic traits both of manner and of merits. His portraits are, in fact, so just and spirited, that we have no doubt, their sphere. Do not suppose, however, that I mean to represent any part of the respect with which these gentlemen treat their senior, as the result of empty prejudice. Mr Clerk; the very essence of his character Never was any man less of a quack than. is scorn of ornament, and utter loathing of affectation. He is the plainest, the shrewdest, and the most sarcastic of men; his sceptre owes the whole of its power to its weight-nothing to glitter. "It is impossible to imagine a physiognomy more expressive of the character of a The features great lawyer and barrister. are in themselves good at least a painter would call them so; and the upper. part of the profile has as fine lines as could be wished. But then, how the habits of the mind have stamped their traces on every part of the face! What sharpness, what razor-like sharpness has indented itself about the wrinkles of his eyelids; the eyes themselves, so quick, so gray, such bafflers of they change their expression-it seems alscrutiny, such exquisite scrutinizers, how. most how they change their colour-shifting from contracted, concentrated blackness, through every shade of brown, blue, green, and hazel, back into their own open, gleaming gray again. How they glisten into a smile of disdain!-Aristotle says, that all laughter springs from emotions of conscious superiority. I never saw the Stagyrite so well illustrated as in the smile of this gentleman. He seems to be affected with the most delightful and balmy feelings, by the contemplation of some soft-headed, prosing driveller racking his poor brain, or bellowing his lungs out all about something which he, the smiler, sees through so thoroughly, so distinctly. blunder; the mist thickens about the brain of the bewildered hammerer; and every plunge of the bogtrotter-every deepening. shade of his confusion-is attested by some more copious infusion of Sardonic suavity into the horrible, ghastly, grinning smile of the happy Mr Clerk. How he chuckles over the solemn spoon whom he hath fairly got into his power. When he rises at the conclusion of his display, he seems to col Blunder follows "The eyes that see them now shall be their lect himself like a kite above a covey of praisers To them that shall come after." 66 By the unanimous consent of his brethren, Mr JOHN CLERK is the present Choryphæus of the bar- Juris consultorum sui seculi facile princeps. Others there are that surpass him in a few particular points both of learning and of practice, but on the whole, his superiority is entirely unrivalled and undisputed. Those who approach the nearest to him are indeed so much his juniors, that he cannot fail to have an immense ascendancy over them, both from the actual advantages of his longer study and experience, and, without offence to him or them be it added, from the effects of their early admiration of him, while he was as yet far above partridges; he is in no hurry to come down, but holds his victims with his glittering eye,' and smiles, sweetly, and yet more sweetly, the bitter assurance of their coming fate; then out he stretches his arm, as the kite may his wing, and changing the smile by degrees into a frown, and drawing down his eyebrows from their altitude among the wrinkles of his forehead, and making them to hang like fringes quite over his diminishing and brightening eyes, and mingling a tincture of deeper scorn in the wave of his lips, and projecting his chin, and suffusing his whole face with the very livery of wrath, how he pounces with a scream upon his prey -and may the Lord have mercy upon their unhappy souls! "He is so sure of himself, and he has the happy knack of seeming to be so sure of his case, that the least appearance of labour, or concern, or nicety of arrangement, or accuracy of expression, would take away from the imposing effect of his cool, careless, scornful, and determined negligence. Even the greatest of his opponents sit, as it were, rebuked before his gaze of intolerable derision. But careless and scornful as he is, what a display of skilfulness in the way of putting his statements; what command of intellect in the strength with which he deals the irresistible blows of his arguments blows of all kinds, fibbers, cross-buttockers, but most often and most delightedly sheer facers choppers. Ars est celare artem,' is his motto; or rather, Usus ipse natura est;' for where was there ever such an instance of the certain sway of tact and experience? It is truly a delightful thing, to be a witness of this mighty intellectual gladiator, scattering every thing before him like a king upon his old accustomed arena; with an eye swift as lightning to discover the unguarded point of his adversary, and a hand steady as iron to direct his weapon, and a mask of impenetrable stuff that throws back like a rock the prying gaze that would dare to retaliate upon his own lynx-like penetration-what a champion is here! It is no wonder that every litigant in this covenanting land should have learned to look on it as a mere tempting of Providence to omit retaining John Clerk. "As might be expected ftom a man of his standing in years and in talent, this great advocate disdains to speak any other than the language of his own country. I am not sure, indeed, but there may be some little tinge of affectation in his pertinacious adherence to both the words and the music of his Doric dialect. However, as he has perfectly the appearance and manners of a gentleman, and even, every now and then, (when it so likes him), something of the air of the courtier about him,-there is an impression quite the reverse of vulgarity produced by the mode of his speaking; and, in this respect, he is certainly quite in a different situation from some of his younger brethren, who have not the excuse of age for the breadth of their utterance, nor, what is perhaps of greater importance still, the same truly antique style in its breadth. Of this, indeed, I could not pretend to be a judge; but some of my friends assured me that nothing could be more marked than the difference between the Scotch of one who learned it sixty years ago, and that of the younger generation. These last, they observed, have had few opportunities of having Scotch spoken, but among servants, &c. so that there clings to all their own expressions, when they make use of the neglected dialect, a rich flavour of the hall or the stable. Now, Mr Clerk, who is a man of excellent family and fashion, spent all his early years among ladies and gentlemen, who spoke nothing whatever but Scotch; and even I could observe (or so, at least, I persuaded myself), that his language had a certain cast of elegance even in its utmost breadth. But the truth is, that the matter of his orations is far too good to allow of much attention being made to its manner; and after a little time I scarcely remarked that he was speaking a dialect different from my own, excepting when, screwing his features into their utmost bitterness, or else relaxing them into their broadest glee, he launched forth some mysterious vernacularism of wrath or merriment, to the tenfold confusion or tenfold delight of those for whose use it was intended. "I had almost forgot to mention that this old barrister, who at the bar has so much the air of having never thought of any thing but his profession, is, in fact, quite the reverse of a mere lawyer. Like old Voet, who used to be so much laughed at by the Leyden Jurisconsults for his frequenting the town-hall in that city (where there is, it seems, a very curious collection of paintings), Mr Clerk is a great connoisseur in pictures, and devotes to them a very considerable portion of his time. He is not a mere connoisseur however, and indeed, I suspect, carries as much true knowledge of the art in his little finger, as the whole reporting committee of the Dilettanti Society do in their heads. The truth is, that he is himself a capital artist, and had he given himself entirely to the art he loves so well, would have been, I have little doubt, by far the greatest master Scotland ever has produced. I went one day, by mere accident, into my friend John Ballantyne's sale-room, at the moment when that most cunning of all tempters had in his hand a little pen and ink sketch by Mr Clerk-drawn upon the outer page of a reclaiming petition'-probably while some stupid opponent supposed himself to be uttering things highly worthy of Clerk's undivided attention. I bought the scrap for a mere trifle-but, I assure you, I value it very highly. It hangs, at this moment, over my chimney-piece, just under your old favourite, the blister-piece, by Jack.—I have shewn it to Mrs Tom and and several others of my friends, and they all agree it is quite a Bijou. The subject is Bathsheba, with her foot in the water. The David is inimitable. Mr Clerk is a mighty patron of artists, and has a splendid gallery of pictures in his own possession."-Vol. i. pp. 502-510. But we reserve the doctor's description of Mr Clerk's admirable collection, to be printed at the bottom of the page, by way of a running commentary on Mr Wastle's Sixth Canto, which we expect ere long to have put into our hands, and in which, as the poet has already promised, we are all to be led "6 upon a Dilettante tour" through Mr Clerk's gallery, the exquisite collection of Mr Thomson Martin (the finest, it is probable, ever exhibited by any picture-dealer either at home or abroad), and indeed through all the pictoric riches of this capital, and its environs. The doctor then returns to a more minute and technical consideration of Mr Clerk's legal qualifications; but we shall take the liberty to omit the whole of the ten pages which he devotes to this interesting subject. As the doctor cannot be suspected of having any jurisprudential learning himself, it is evident that he has modestly given up his judginent into the hands of some of his Whig acquaintances of the Northern bar; and to make a long story short, we prefer Dr Morris's own eyes to these thick spectacles.He had made good use of his eyes before he drew the following happy sketch, but certainly not better than the subject deserved. "There cannot be a greater contrast between any two individuals, of eminent acquirements, than there is between Mr Clerk and the gentleman who ranks next to him at the Scottish bar-Mr Cranstoun. They mutually set off each other to great advantage; they are rivals in nothing; notwithstanding their total dissimilitude in almost every respect, they are well nigh equally admired by every one. I am much mistaken if any thing could furnish a more unequivocal testimony to the talents of them both. "It was my fortune to see Mr Cranstoun for the first time, as he rose to make his reply to a fervid, masculine, homely harangue of my old favourite; and I was never less predisposed to receive favourably the claims of a stranger upon my admiration. There was something, however, about the new speaker which would not permit me to refuse him my attention, although I confess I could scarcely bring myself to listen to him with much gusto for several minutes. I felt, to use a simile in Mr Clerk's own way, like a person whose eyes have been dazzled with some strong, rich, luxuriant piece of the Dutch or Flemish school, and who cannot taste, in immediate transition, the more pale, calm, correct gracefulness of an Italian Fresco; nevertheless, the eyes become cool as they gaze, and the mind is gradually yielded up to a less stimulant, but in the end a yet more captivating and soothing species of seduction. The pensive and pallid countenance, every delicate line of which seemed to breathe the very spirit of compact thoughtfulness-the mild contemplative blue eyes, with now and then a flash of irresistible tire in them-the lips, so full of precision and tastefulness, not perhaps without a dash of fastidiousness in the compression of their curves-the gentle, easy, but firm and dignified air and attitudeevery thing about him had its magic, and the charm was not long in winning me effec tually into its circle. The stream of his discourse flowed on calmly and clearly; the voice itself was mellow yet commanding; the pronunciation exact, but not pedantically so; the ideas rose gradually out of each other, and seemed to clothe themselves in the best and most accurate of phraseology, without the exertion of a single thought in its selection. The fascination was ere long complete; and, when he closed his speech, it seemed to me as if I had never before witnessed any specimen of the true "Melliflua Majestas" of Quinctilian. "The only defect in his manner of speak ing (and it is, after all, by no means a constant defect), is a certain appearance of coldness, which, I suspect, is nearly inseparable from so much accuracy. Mr Cranstoun is a man of high birth and refined habits, and he has profited abundantly by all the means of education which either his own or the sister country can afford. His success in his profession was not early, (although never was any success so rapid after it once had a beginning); and he spent, therefore, many years of his manhood in the exquisite intellectual enjoyments of an elegant scholar, before he had either inclination or occasion to devote himself entirely to the more repulsive studies of the law. It is no wonder, that in spite of his continual practice, and of his great natural eloquence, the impression of these delightful years should have become too deep ever to be concealed from view; and that, even in the midst of the most brilliant displays of his Forensic exertion, there should mingle something in his air, which reminds us that there is still another sphere wherein his spirit would be yet more perfectly at home. To me, I must confess, although I am aware that you will laugh at me for doing so, there was always present, while I listened to this accomplished speaker, a certain feeling of pain. I could scarcely help regretting that he should have become a barrister at all. The lucid power of investigation—the depth of argument-the richness of illustration-all set forth and embalmed in such a strain of beautiful and unaffected language, appeared to me to be almost too precious for the purposes to which they were devoted-even although, in this their devotion, they were also ministering to my own delight. I could not help saying to myself, what a pity, that he who might have added a new name to the most splendid triumphs of his countrywho might perhaps have been equal to any one as historian, philosopher, or statesman, should have been induced, in the early and inconscious diffidence of his genius, to give himself to a profession which can never afford any adequate remuneration, either for the talents which he has devoted to its service, or the honour which he has conferred upon its name. 66 Having this feeling, I of course could not join in the regret which I heard expressed by all my friends in Edinburgh, in con sequence of a prevailing rumour, that Mr Cranstoun intends ere long to withdraw himself from the practice of his profession; and yet I most perfectly sympathise in the feelings of those, who, themselves compel led to adhere to those toils from which he is enabled to shake himself free, are sorry to witness the removal of one, who was sufficient of himself alone to shed an air of grace and dignity over the whole profession and almost, as it were, over all that belong to it. Well indeed may they be excused for wishing to defer as long as possible the loss of such a brother. To use the old Greek proverb, which Pericles has applied on a more tragical, but not on a more fitting occasion-it is indeed taking away the spring from their year.' "In the retreat of Mr Cranstoun, however, (should it really take place) even these gentlemen, when they have leisure for a little more reflection, will probably see any thing rather than a cause of regret. The mind which possesses within itself so many sources of delightful exertion, can never be likely to sink into the wretchedness of indolence; and, in whatever way its energies may be employed, there can be no question that good fruit, and lasting, will be the issue. Whether he return to those early pursuits in which he once promised to do so much, and of which, in the midst of his severer occupations, so many beautiful glimpses have from time to time escaped him; or whether he seek, in the retirement of his honourable ease, to reduce into an enduring form the product of his long assiduity in the studies of his profession whether he may prefer to take a very high place in the literature, or the very highest in the jurisprudence of his country all will acknowledge that he has chosen a better part' than he could have ever obtained, by remaining in the dust and fever of a profession which must be almost as fatiguing to the body as it is to the mind." Ibid, pp. 516-522. Nothing, assuredly, can be better in its way than this little fragment of the Doctor's description. It is a rare thing, above all in the present age, to meet with an author, travelled or untravelled, who is capable of feeling so many different sorts of things, and of doing so much justice to what he does feel. When we compare these passages, in which there is so much of dignified and graceful reflection, with some others which we quoted on a former occasion, and in which our readers could not fail to admire the graphic energy of the Doctor's satire, we can scarcely help thinking, that Wales has much reason to be proud of her Proteus. But we have room for very little more, and should be sorry to abridge Dr Morris's view of the third luminary of our bar, for the sake VOL. IV. of any prosing indulgence of our own. I have heard many persons say, that the first sight of Mr Jeffrey disappointed them, and jarred with all the ideas they had previously formed of his genius and character. Perhaps the very first glance of this celebrated person produced something of the same effect upon my own mind; but a minute or two of contemplation sufficed to restore me to the whole of my faith in physiognomy. People may dispute as much as they please about particular features, and their effect, but I have been all my life a stu dent of" the human face divine," and I have never yet met with any countenance which did not perfectly harmonize, so far as I could have opportunity of ascertaining, with the intellectual conformation and habits of the man that bore it.-But I must not al low myself to be seduced into a disquisition. "Mr Jeffrey is a short and active looking man, with a great appearance of vivacity in all his motions. His face is one which cannot be understood at a single look-perhaps it requires, as it certainly invites, a long and anxious scrutiny before it lays itself open to the gazer. The features are neither handsome, nor even very defined in their outlines; and yet the effect of the whole is as striking as any arrangement either of more noble or more marked features, which ever came under my view. The forehead is very singularly shaped, describing in its bend from side to side a larger segment of a circle than is at all common; compressed below the temples almost as much as Sterne's; and throwing out sinuses above the eyes of an extremely bold and compact structure. The mouth is the most expressive part of his face, as I believe it is of every face. The lips are very firm, but they tremble and vibrate, even when brought close together, in such a way as to give the idea of an intense, never-ceasing play of mind. There is a delicate kind of sneer almost always upon them, which has not but seems to belong entirely to the speculathe least appearance of ill-temper about it, tive understanding of the man. I have said, that the mouth is the most expressive part of his face-and, in one sense, this is the truth, for it is certainly the seat of all its rapid and transitory expression. But what speaking things are his eyes! They disdain to be agitated with those lesser emotions fierce and dark energies for matters of more which pass over the lips; they reserve their moment; once kindled with the heat of any passion, how they beam, flash upon flash! The scintillation of a star is not more fervid. Perhaps, notwithstanding of this, their repose is even more worthy of attention. With the capacity of emitting such a flood of radiance, they seem to take a pleablack, inscrutable, glazed, tarn-like circles. sure in banishing every ray from their I think their prevailing language is, after all, rather a melancholy than a merry one-it is at least very full of reflection. Such is a faint outline of this countenance, the fea5 C |