of Louis XVIII. having now risen to the rank of Admiral, he applied for the restoration of the Duchy of Bouillon, and this claim was deemed of sufficient importance to be referred to the Continental Congress, which appears to have finally decided against him.

Admiral D'Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, died soon after, in London, in November 1816, at the age of 71.

No. XVIII.

THE HON. WILLIAM BAILLIE, COMMONLY CALLED LORD POLKEMMET,

ONE OF THE SENATORS OF THE COLLEGE OF JUSTICE IN SCOTLAND.

MR. Baillie, born in the year 1737, was descended from an ancient and respectable family, who had long possessed landed property to a considerable amount, in the south of Scotland, which he considerably enlarged. In early life, he received a classical education, and being destined to practise in the courts of justice of his native country, his studies were carefully directed towards that point.

In the year 1758, he was admitted into the faculty of advocates, at which period, he had obtained the age of twentyone. A few years after this he was appointed Sheriff of Linlithgowshire, iu which capacity he was officially called upon to act as a provincial judge; and his decisions during this period, are said to have given general satisfaction. About the same time he married Miss Janet Sinclair, youngest sister to the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart. of Ulbster, and was at length raised to the bench, when he assumed the title of Lord Polkemmet.

The following particulars are extracted from a funeral sermon, preached on the 28th of March, 1816, by the Rev. James Watson, Minister of Whitburn.

"In the year 1793, His Majesty, well informed of his attachment to the British laws and constitution, of his profound skill in feudal matters, and of his intrinsic worth, promoted him to be one of the Senators of the College of Justice, the Supreme Civil Court of Scotland. In that honourable and arduous station, the preacher is by no means qualified to judge correctly of his merits. But he is well informed, that, disdaining the niceties of modern pronunciation, and the

enticing words of human eloquence, he entered not hastily, but profoundly into the merits of every case which came before him, and that, during his continuance on the bench, there were fewer of his decisions altered than that of most of the other contemporary judges. When seated with them, he sometimes differed in opinion from some and all of them. But even in this solitary situation, he stood so respectably as gave offence to none. Upwards of three years ago he retired from the bench, on account of bodily infirmities, in the full possession of his mental powers; nobly sacrificing pecuniary considerations to the high sense he entertained of the speedy and regular administration of law and justice. Flattery he detested. Vanity he despised. Folly and affectation he ridiculed. Simple, pure, unadorned truth he firmly embraced, and dearly loved. Nature endued him with a warm heart. This impulse was improved by time, cherished by exercise, vivified by study, and fostered by the genuine doctrines and precepts of Christianity *. He was long a respectable elder of our church, and no enemy to any church who worshipped God. To the clerical body, in general, he was a warm friend and unostentatious patron. Injustice and oppression he scorned and scourged. The poor and needy never left his door without praying for his happiness through time and eternity. In short, he was an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile.

"Permit me to mention a few facts, which, we are persuaded, will transmit his name with some celebrity to future ages. A man who had been upwards of fifty years his faithful servant, died about a year ago, and his coffin was made from the wood of a tree which the servant had planted; and his eldest son, the present William Baillie, Esq. of Polkemmet, carried the head of this worthy humble man to the grave, not far distant from that of the master whom he so faithfully served, and sincerely loved t. To the schoolmaster of Whit

* When he perceived any poor persons sitting at the table of the Lord's Supper with himself, without Bibles, or half-worn Bibles, he lost no time, at his own expence, to order new Bibles for their use.

+ The name of the servant above mentioned was William Ferguson.

burn, and his successor in office, he gave a handsome donation of land; a sure proof of his earnest desire to promote useful learning and religious principles. Often did he, in company with the clergy of the bounds, examine the scholars of the parish, and gave prizes, rewards, and Bibles to the needy and meritorious. Acutely did he feel another's woes, and quickly did he alleviate and relieve them, never enquiring from what quarter poverty had come, nor what church it attended.

"How cold in the dust that hand, which, for many years, was so liberal and kind! — How cold that heart which, lately, was so charitable and warm! The nobles and judges of the land, widows, orphans, children, tenants, servants high and low- and, I am sure, the preacher deeply lament his sudden death.

"On my tomb-stone let no panegyric be placed. If injudicious friendship should disobey this prohibition, — may I so live as to deserve the inscription so justly due to him, " HE WAS A GOOD MAN. Amen."

In the month of March, 1816, Lord Polkemmet was suddenly seized with a disorder, which in the course of a few days proved mortal. He was buried in the family tomb adjoining Whitburn church, on the 20th, and on the 24th a funeral oration was pronounced by the minister of the parish, from which we have given copious extracts.

No. XIX.

THE LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. ROBERT HOBART, EARL OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,

BARON HOBARt of Blicking, and a Baronet.

THE Hobarts are a family enriched by the law, and ennobled by the power of female charms. The founder, Sir James Hobart, Knight of the Sword, was Attorney-General, and one of the Privy Council to Henry VI. His ancestors, for many generations, appear to have held lands in the county of Norfolk. He being a younger brother, and having a fortune to seek, entered himself of Lincoln's Inn, and was elected Lent Reader of that society. Fuller calls him "a right good man, of great learning and wisdom;" and he is also spoken highly of in Holland's edition of Camden. Certain it is, that he resided at Holles Hall, in the county of Suffolk; and that by his prudent acquisitions, he left a considerable estate to his posterity.

His descendant, Sir Henry Hobart, of Plumsted, in the county of Norfolk, being bred also to the law, became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, during the reign of Elizabeth; a citizen for Norwich; a burgess for Yarmouth; a sergeant at law; a knight; and a baronet. After being appointed Attorney of the Court of Wards, he was nominated AttorneyGeneral to James I. In 1613, he was constituted Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; and his death, which occurred in 1625, is mentioned by that great authority, Sir Henry Spelman, in his Glossary, as "a great loss to the public weal.”

His son, Sir John Hobart, the second Baronet, built a stately house at Blicking, in Norfolk, which remains to this day, in possession of the family. He married first into the family of Sidney, Earl of Leicester; and next into that of