OCR Rendition - approximate

162 Hereditary Talent and Character. Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper : son, Lord Chancellor Bacon. . Coventry : son of a very learned judge of the Common Pleas. Bacon : father as above. Littleton : son of a pd e. `Vhitelock : son of a judge, father of two sons, one of great eminence as a lawyer, the other as a soldier.. Herbert : three sons. One had high command in arm q ; the second, the great naval officer, created Lord Torrington ; the third, Chief Justice of Queen's Bench. Finch, son of Speaker of House of Commons, and first cousin to the Lord Chancellor Finch of previous years, had a son who "almost rivalled his .father," and who was made Solicitor-General and Earl of Aylesford. Macclesfield : son, President of Royal Society. Talbot". father was bishop, consecutively, of Oxford, Salisbury, and Durham; had sons, of one of whom there were great hopes, but he died young the other "succeeded to h' father's virtues." Hardwick had five sons, all very distinguis ed. One, a man of letters ; second, Lord iancellor Yorke ; third, an ambassador ; ourth, " talented as the others ; " fifth, shop of Ely. Northington : father was " one o the most accomplished men of his day." Pratt : father was Chief Justi e of King's Bench ; his son was distingu led for public service. Y orke : 'father was Lord ancellor Hard wicke. (See above.) / Bathurst : father was the' Lord Bathurst of Queen Anne's time; his son. was the Lord Bathurst who filled high office under George III. and IV. ,Erskine : his brothers were nearly as eminent. The whole family was most talented. a Eldon : brother was the famous Lord Stowell, Judge of Admiralty. Thus 'cut of the 39 Chancellors 16 had kinsmen of eminence. 13 of them -viz. Sir :Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon, Coventry,; Littleton, Whitelock, Herbert, Finch, Hardwick, Pratt, Yorke, Bathurst, Erskine, . and Eldon-had kinsmen of great/eminence. In other words, 13 out of 39-that is, 1 in every 3-are remarkable instances of hereditary in fluence. It is astonishing to remark the number of the Chancellors, who rose from medi ocre social positions, showing how talent makes its way at the Bar, and how utterly insufficient are favouritism and special opportunities to win the great, legal prize of the Chancellorship. It is not possible accurately, and it is hardly worth while roughly, to calculate the numerical value of hereditary influence in obtaining the Chancellorship. It is sufficient to say that it is enormous. We must not only reckon the number of students actually at the Chancery bar, and say that the Lord Chancellor was the fore most man among them, but we must reckon the immense number of schools in Engh id in any one of which, if a boy sh.ws real marks of eminence, he is pr tty sure. to be patronised and pass d on to a better place of educatio , whence by exhibitions, and subs quently by University scholarships nd fellowships, he may become educated as a lawyer. I believe, from these reasons, that the chances of the son of a Lord Chancellor to be himself also a Chancellor, supposing he enters the law, to be more than a thousandfold greater .than if he were the son 'of equally rich but otherwise undistinguished parents. It does not appesr an accident that, out of 54 Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers, two-viz. Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lord Hardwick - should have bad sons who were also Chancellors, when we bear in mind the very eminent legal relationships of Herbert, Finch, Eldon, and the rest. The intellectual force of Tngli~h boys has., up to almost the present date, been steadily directed to clas ical education. Classics form the basijL of instruction at, our grammar schools, so that every boy who possesses signal classical aptitudes has a chance of showing them. Those who are successful obtain exhibitions and other help, and ultimately find their way to the great arena of competition of University life. The senior classic at Cambridge is not only the foremost of the 300 youths who +take their degrees in the same year, but he is the foremost of perhaps a tenth- part of the classical intellect of his generation, throughout all England. No industry, without eminent natural talent to back it, could possibly raise a youth into that position. The institution of the class list at Cambridge dates from 1824 ; so there ha Pr bE or ti' n~ of 18 lE lE