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native place, where he first sought employment in a lawyer's office, and he seemed to take as much delight in his occasional visits to Shaftesbury as if he were a boy leaving school to spend his holiday at home.

Of his rapid rise in his profession after the date up to which we have traced his course, it is not necessary for us to speak. It is now matter of history, known to others as well as ourselves. Neither is it our province to speak of the qualities which won for him his high place as a lawyer and a judge. It is pleasing, however, for us to note the singular unanimity with which the Press has borne testimony to his character and ability. We do not remember any one, even among those who have occupied more distinguished places, and have been more talked of during their lifetime, who has been made the subject of such general eulogy. When he was appointed Lord Justice, it was said, "Few judicial appointments have been hailed with such cordial and universal pleasure as the elevation of Mr. Justice Lush to the Court of Appeal. The satisfaction with which it is regarded is as widespread as it is unmingled. The different sections of the Press-religious, legal, and secular-have united in one chorus of approval. And, while the Press is unanimous in its acclamations, with the profession the appointment is the most popular that has been made for many years; and the general public, so far as it has given any sign, sees among all the judges on the Bench, or the leading men at the Bar, no one whose elevation it would have regarded with greater satisfaction." Since his death the eulogy pronounced on him has been still more universal and emphatic. Our space does not permit of our quoting at any length the language which justifies this remark; but we cannot refrain from giving two or three specimens, in order to show how he was thought of by those whose standpoint is widely different from our own. The Times says:—“He was a settler of disputes between man and man in the widest sense of the word. He was always ready with almost paternal advice to suitors. To discover what was best for both parties was his guiding motive; and, when the heat of litigation had cooled down, all were willing to acknowledge his services as mediator. Then his good nature was great; and young counsel had often to be grateful for a kind word in their perplexities. There are few judges whose careers have spanned an epoch of change with such success." The Daily Chronicle says:-" It is impossible for his

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bitterest enemy, if he had one, to say a word against his administration of justice. He had learning and a marvellously intimate and accurate knowledge of the practice of the courts. He had patience, he had industry, and a head unaffected by prejudice or conceit. Surely, but unostentatiously, he took a firm grip of each subject which came before him; and his clear head and zeal for justice seldom deceived him. There was no narrowness, no perversity, no temper in his administration of the law; and those who have experienced his firm, but gentle, kindness in the transaction of business know how great is the loss the Bench has sustained in his death. But Sir Robert Lush will be mourned not less deeply as a man than as a judge, for the virtues of his judicial conduct were not more conspicuous than the genial charm of his social disposition. In his seventy-fifth year, after a long and honourable career, crowned with the highest distinctions of his profession, he has gone to his grave, leaving his life as a bright example to those who come after him." The Morning Advertiser says:-"A great lawyer and one of nature's gentlemen has passed away. More than forty years have elapsed since Sir R. Lush was called to the Bar, and seventeen since he was appointed judge in the Queen's Bench. But within that period no living or dead lawyer has achieved a greater reputation, and none has more completely owed his advancement to his intrinsic merits. Lord Justice Lush won whatever steps he gained by honest work, by indefatigable industry, and conspicuous ability. Notable, even for these days, was the suavity of his manner, and, if we may use the term, delicacy of touch in all that came before him. Benevolence and perspicacity seemed to go hand-in-hand in all his work. In public as in private life, no lawyer and no judge has more thoroughly realised the ideal of the man four-cornered and without flaw before the world." Truth says:-" Few English judges have done more towards the simplification of our law than Lord Justice Lush, whose death was announced last week. In a year which has been so prolific in the deaths of illustrious men, and especially so of our highest legal luminaries, as 1881, it is high praise to say of Sir Robert Lush that no blow inflicted on the legal profession during the past twelve months has been more severely felt than his death; but, high as it is, it is none the less true. The one great and prominent fact in his judicial life which contrasted him so strongly with his brother justices was his keen insight into the moral as well as the legal merits of

such claims as came before him, relying upon which he was enabled to decide cases on their own merits, instead of being tied down by those hard-and-fast rules of precedent which obtain so widely in the profession."

These eulogies of the Press of every shade of political opinion are corroborated by the testimony of his professional brethren. At the first sitting of the Court of Appeal after his death, the Master of the Rolls said :-" Before commencing the business of the day I think it right to express the great grief which we all feel at the death, during the last vacation, of our esteemed colleague, Lord Justice Lush. When I say 'we all feel,' I mean the public and the profession at large, but especially the members of the judicial bench. The late Lord Justice was a remarkable example of what can be accomplished in the law by energy, industry, and perseverance. By these means he raised himself from the lowest to the highest rank in the profession. Combining as he did an excellent memory with extraordinary power of labour, he in early life made himself master of the remarkable intricacies which at that time beset the procedure and practice in an action at law, and his book on the subject was for many years considered as a standard work. In later life, when the progress of law reform swept away that cumbrous and complicated process, to the elucidation of which he had devoted so much time and thought, he welcomed the advent of a simpler system of procedure with ungrudging love. As a member of the Committee of Judges who revised and settled the Rules under the Judicature Act, he gave willing and most efficient assistance. Those who knew him in private life knew him as kind and benevolent, pleasant in manner, and amiable in disposition. As a judge we can truly say he was conscientious and painstaking, patient and impartial, and distinguished alike by sound learning and sound sense."

Mr. John Pearson, Q.C., as senior member of the Bar present, said: "On behalf of my colleagues and myself, I can only say how heartily we reciprocate the sentiments which have fallen from your lordship. If there be any circumstance which can alleviate our regret at the departure of the late Lord Justice Lush, it is that age had not weakened his intellect or diminished the patience, kindness, and courtesy which endeared him to the profession."

It only remains for us to add the testimony borne to his character by those who were associated with him in religious work.

At a special meeting of the Fundees of the Particular Baptist Fund held at the Mission House, Castle Street, on January 5th, 1882, it was resolved: "That the Fundees, in recording the death of the Right Hon. Sir Robert Lush, one of the judges of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, and from November 9th, 1858, a treasurer of this Fund, express their most sincere and heartfelt sorrow at the loss they have thus sustained, in common with the whole nation, but especially as belonging to a denomination of which he was so honoured and beloved a member. They record with gratitude the interest the late Lord Justice took in this Fund, and the readiness with which he placed at its service his great legal knowledge. They would magnify the grace of God, which shone so brightly in his adherence to those principles of religious truth he so conscientiously held and so consistently followed. They respect his memory for the dignity and ability with which he filled his high position, and they cherish with loving remembrance the kindness of heart he ever exhibited in all his intercourse with his Christian brethren. They can never forget the bright example he has thus left behind him, and their prayer is that, in the same spirit of simple, humble, earnest following of the Saviour which marked Lord Justice Lush's course to the end, they may, like him, be found faithful unto death,'

"Opinions like these," says Dr. Landels in his funeral sermon, "expressed by men of all shades of political and religious belief, are, in our judgment, a greater honour to him than even the high office which he filled, for appointment to office may be determined by reasons which imply no personal excellence, and its duties performed with conspicuous ability without its deriving any lustre from the moral character of its occupants. Whereas, the concurrent testimony of so many witnesses shows that in his case his virtues adorned his office more than the office reflected honour on him. And the testimony borne by those who knew him in private concurred with theirs who watched only his public course. In all the relations of life which he sustained he acted his part well. He was a good father, a loving, faithful husband, a kind and generous relative and friend. In all these relations he was one who bore without reproach the grand old name of gentleman,' 'one of nature's gentlemen,' as the paper designates him a gentleman by nature and by habit as well. His character bore the strictest scrutiny. The more closely it was watched the more upright and transparent it appeared. To all who knew him he was a Christian indeed in whom there was no guile."

As might have been expected from the amount of eulogy which his death has called forth, various stories about him have been set afloat, some of which are decidedly apocryphal; and, though they are supposed by those who invent and circulate them to reflect honour on their subject, they are so much at variance with the character of the man that we are only performing a friendly duty, and gratifying a filial wish, when we give notice of this fact. One of our religious papers is responsible for the following:-" One Sunday, on the occasion of the assizes being held in Manchester, Sir Robert quietly walked into Dr. Maclaren's chapel, and seated himself in the nearest pew. After a few minutes, in came a Manchester man, the real owner. Indignant at finding a stranger in his pew, he requested the latter to walk out, which he did, finding accommodation elsewhere. The service over, Dr. Maclaren sent to the judge to come into the vestry, and, while chatting together, the very individual who had expelled the judge from his pew entered. Dr. Maclaren, ignorant of what had occurred, introduced him to Sir Robert. I have already seen Mr. So-and-So,' replied Sir Robert, quietly, and I have no wish to see him again." The first part of this story may be true. A Manchester man might not like, any more than a London man, to see a stranger in his pew, and might possibly request him to take another. But it is extremely unlikely. The judge was pretty well known in Dr. Maclaren's church, and was not treated with any want of attention when there; he did not need to be "sent" for, either, before going into Dr. Maclaren's vestry. As for the latter part of the story, the rebuff which he gave when Dr. Maclaren introduced the "Manchester gentleman," it is so utterly unlike the man that those who knew him best will refuse to believe it except on the most unimpeachable authority. His familyone of whom always accompanied him on circuit-know nothing of the incident as here told.

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Another paper says:- -"His letters were ever the same, and never did he pen one-and we were privileged to see several-without a direct word of appeal, irresistibly touching in its tenderness, respecting the salvation of his correspondent." The writer, no doubt, means this for high praise; but it is not true when applied to his letters generally. He may, in writing to some one in whom he was specially interested and about whose condition he was doubtful, have used words of direct appeal. But he had naturally little sympathy with those who abruptly drag religion into all their writing and conversation; and, though his

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