all to concur with me in thinking, that the escape is my greatest misfortune.

"I desire you will communicate this to my friends, lest the news of such a tragedy, which fame always magnifies, should affect them with fears for me.

"Two of the jurymen who were trying the cause are killed, and they are carrying dead and wounded bodies out of the ruins still." "It was

In another letter Mr. Justice Wilmot says, an image of the last day, when there shall be no distinction of persons, for my robes did not make way for me. I believe an earthquake arose in the minds of most people, and there was an apprehension of the fall of the whole hall." The modesty of the writer has induced him to suppress the fact, that his safety was owing to the presence of mind which he displayed in remaining in his place till the confusion was over.*

*

For many years Mr. Justice Wilmot continued to exercise the duties of a puisne judge in the king's bench, having the satisfaction of acting in conjunction with Lord Mansfield and those excellent lawyers, Mr. Justice Dennison, Mr. Justice Foster, and Mr. Justice Yates. Still his desire to occupy a less conspicuous and laborious station remained, and upon two several occasions he attempted to exchange his seat in the king's bench for that of chief justice of Chester. While he was meditating this retreat, Lord Camden, the chief justice of the court of common pleas, was raised to the woolsack, and Sir Eardley received an intimation from his brother, Sir Robert Wilmot, that it was in contemplation to confer upon him the vacant office. Having proceeded on his circuit, Sir Eardley received a letter from Lord Camden announcing the king's intention of removing him to the chief justiceship of the common pleas, if such a change should be agreeable to him. The purport of this letter was communicated by Sir Eardley to his colleague Sir Joseph Yates, with an intimation of his intention to decline the honour thus unexpectedly tendered to him.

* Cradock's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 86.

Sir Joseph, for some time, in vain endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, and it was only by sketching an answer to Lord Camden's letter' himself that he prevailed upon his friend to revoke his determination. Sir Eardley accordingly accepted the office, and in the month of August, 1766, received his appointment.

In the evening of the day Sir Eardley kissed hands on being appointed chief justice, one of his sons, a youth of seventeen, attended him to his bedside. "Now," said he, "my son, I will tell you a secret worth knowing and remembering: the elevation I have met with in life, particularly this last instance of it, has not been owing to any superior merit or abilities, but to my humility, to my not having set up myself above others, and to an uniform endeavour to pass through life void of offence towards God and man.'

Among the congratulatory letters which Sir Eardley received on this occasion, none were warmer or more sincere than the following from his friend Sir Joseph Yates:

Clifton, August 30. 1766.

My dear Lord Chief Justice, "I have now the satisfaction of addressing my friend by the title I so ardently wished him, and blessed as you are with the liveliest feelings of a friendly heart (one of the greatest blessings that man can enjoy), don't you envy me the joy I feel from this event? I should indeed have been heartily chagrined if you had missed it; and, had the fault been your own, should have thought you exceedingly blamable. My casuistry would then have been staggered indeed, and would have found it a difficult point to excuse you. But now it is quite at peace and entirely satisfied. You do me great honour in rating it so high, and I am sure you speak from the heart. It is the privilege of friendship to commend, without the least suspicion of compliment, and I shall ever receive any approbation of yours with superior satisfaction. But no man breathing can have a

my friend's own excellent heart. Of this the very scruple you raised would alone have convinced me if I had no other proofs. I have not the least doubt that you will find your new seat as easy as you can wish, and all your coadjutors perfectly satisfied. There is but one of them that could entertain any thoughts of the same place for himself; and as he knows that in the present arrangement he had not the least chance of it, I dare say he will be pleased to see it so filled. And, as to the rest of the profession, I can affirm with confidence (for you know I have but lately left the bar, where I had a general acquaintance with the sentiments of the hall), that no man's promotion would have given so universal satisfaction as yours. I repeat this to you because it certainly must give you pleasure. Success is never more pleasing than when it is gained with honour and attended with a general good will. It will rejoice me highly to shake your hand before I go northwards; and if I knew what day you would be at Bath, I would give you the meeting there. I long to hear a particular detail of every thing that has passed.

racter.

"Your most affectionate friend,

"J. YATES."

On the chief seat of the common pleas Sir Eardley conducted himself with the same candour, modesty, and good sense which always distinguished his judicial chaThough presiding in a court in which he had many of his seniors on the bench, his fine temper and natural urbanity overcame the feelings. of regret or chagrin which might have arisen in their minds from his elevation. The firm and impartial hand with which he administered justice between the crown and the subject was well manifested in the memorable case of Wilkes v. Lord Halifax and others, in which, after much argument, judgment was given against the legality of general warrants, notwithstanding the long course of office in favour of such a practice. "There is no doubt," said his lordship, "but that the warrant, whereby the plain

tiff was imprisoned and his papers seized, was illegal : it has undergone the consideration of this court, and likewise of the court of king's bench, and has very properly been deemed so by every judge who has seen it; and there is no pretence or foundation for the defendant in this cause to make any stand against this action, by way of justification, in the way he has done, because it clearly and manifestly is an illegal warrant, contrary to the common law of the land. And if warrants of this kind had been found to be legal, I am sure, as one of the plaintiff's counsel observed, it is extremely proper for the legislature of this kingdom to interpose and provide a remedy, because all the private papers of a man as well as his liberty would be in the power of a secre tary of state, or any of his servants. The law makes no difference between great and petty officers. Thank God, they are all amenable to justice, and the law will reach them, if they step over the boundaries which the law has prescribed.”

In the year 1770, on the resignation of Lord Camden, and the death of Mr. Yorke, the chief justice of the common pleas was considered the fittest person to supply the vacancy; and the great seal, with other honours, was tendered to him by the Duke of Grafton. The day before the resignation of Lord Camden, that nobleman came up to Sir Eardley Wilmot in the house of lords, and, pointing to the great seal, said, "There it is, Sir Eardley; you will have it in your possession to-morrow." Sir Eardley shook his head, and begged to be excused. The highest place in his profession, and the prospect of hereditary honours for his family, had few charms for a man who so deeply loved the calm pleasures of private life. Without hesitation, the chief justice declined the honours which were within his grasp, and though in the course of the same year the great seal was again pressed upon him by Lord North, he persisted in his modest but firm resolution. Indeed, at this time, his health had so far declined as to render it necessary for him occasionally

sittings, and, instead of accepting a more arduous office, he contemplated the resignation of his place in the common pleas. In a letter to Lord Hardwicke, dated the 29th of December, 1770, he says, My health necessitates my retreat from public business, and all that I ask of his majesty is, that he will be graciously pleased to accept my resignation, for I have desired that it may be communicated to the king in the most humble manner from me, that I do not wish or mean to be an incumbrance to his majesty by any provision out of his civil list." And in another letter, addressed, about the same time, to his brother Sir Robert Wilmot, he expresses himself in the same manner. "I would much rather resign without any remuneration at all. The plus or the minus of sufficiency lies only in my own breast. I hate and detest pensions, and hanging upon the public like an almsman." In January, 1771, his resignation was accepted; and it was at the particular request of the king himself, which he thought it would be vanity and affectation to refuse, that he received a pension for his life.

Being thus released from the toils of office, Sir Eardley devoted much of his time to pursuits in which he had always taken delight, being a frequent visitor in the reading rooms of the British Museum. For a considerable period also he attended the argument of appeals before the privy council; a duty which he only declined when compelled to do so by his increasing infirmities. At length he retired wholly from public business, enjoying only the society of a very few friends, amongst whom were numbered Lord Shelburne, Sir Thomas Parker, Lord Huntingdon, Lord Hardwicke, and Lord Bathurst; the latter of whom, while he held the great seal, was accustomed frequently to apply to Sir Eardley Wilmot for counsel and assistance. But his principal society was that of his own family, the formation of whose characters he watched over with the most assiduous care, inculcating in the most affectionate manner the noblest lessons of virtue and honour. Many of his letters