The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 568, September 29, 1832

Little need be said, by way of explanation, for the addition of the present subject to our collection of the birthplaces of eminent men. It is something to know that John Scott was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the principal dwelling represented in the above Engraving, in the year 1751; that he received the rudiments of his education at the free grammar-school of the town; that he grew up a man of safe discretion; that he enjoyed the highest legal honours which his sovereign could bestow for a quarter of a century; and that he still lives, a venerable octogenarian, in the enjoyment of glory from his conscience, and honour from men. The biography of so distinguished an individual must have innumerable good tendencies: it at once inculcates the wholesome truth that every man is the architect of his own fortune; and it presents us, moreover, with the encouraging picture of a well-regulated life, and its healthful energies so employed in the discharge of important duties as to entitle the subject to high rank among the worthies of his country.
In 1783; Mr. Scott obtained a silk gown; and, through Lord Weymouth's interest, he was introduced into parliament for the borough of Weobly. It is stated that on the latter occasion, he stipulated for the liberty of voting as he pleased. He took a decided part with the Pitt administration; and in 1788, he was appointed solicitor-general, and knighted; in 1793, he rose to be attorney-general, and in the following year he conducted the trial of Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall, for treason. Erskine was opposed to him; and the prosecution failed, though the speech of the attorney-general occupied nine hours in the delivery.
In 1799, Sir John Scott was appointed to the chief justiceship of the Common Pleas, on the resignation of Chief Justice Eyre; and in the same year he was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Eldon. In 1801, he was made Lord Chancellor, which high office he retained till the year 1827, with the exception of the short period during which the Whigs were in office, in 1806. His lordship was raised to the dignity of an earl at the coronation of George IV. in 1821.