447. Edward Forbes. Naturalist.
[Born at Douglas, Isle of Man, 1815. Still living.]
One of the most eminent of our scientific men, remarkable for his originality, sagacity, lucid research, and general scientific attainments. Studied at Edinburgh, and afterwards lectured there on Natural History. Joined, in 1841, the Hydrographical Survey of the Ægean, under Captain Graves, R.N., and made important discoveries respecting the laws of bathymetrical distribution of marine animals and plants. In 1842, explored the antiquities, geology, and natural history of Lycia. During this expedition the sites of eighteen ancient cities were brought to light. In 1845, appointed Naturalist to the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, and in 1851, a Professor of the Government School of Mines. President of the Geological Society, one of the Royal Commissioners of the Great Exhibition, and author of numerous works and memoirs on geological, zoological, and botanical subjects. In 1854, upon the decease of Professor Jameson, raised to the Chair of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh.
[By E. H. Baily, R.A.]
SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN.
448. William Murray, Earl of Mansfield. Lord Chief Justice.
[Born at Perth, in Scotland, 1704. Died in 1793. Aged 88.]
This great lawyer and upright man was the fourth son of David, Lord Stormont. In 1718, being thirteen years old, he travelled to London on the back of a pony, and went to Westminster school. In 1723, he proceeded to Oxford. At both places of learning he was distinguished for his industry and classical attainments. Afterwards entered at Lincoln’s Inn, and in 1730 was called to the bar. He gradually made his way upward. In 1742, Solicitor General; 1744, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench; 1776, advanced to the dignity of an Earl. Other events are worthy of record. During the Gordon Riots of 1780, the Protestant mob, thinking him favourable to the Catholics, burned his house to the ground, and cruelly destroyed a valuable collection of books and manuscripts. He was the principal victim of the merciless assaults of Junius; and he is remembered in the law books, as the chief justice who, in the celebrated case of “Rex v. Almon,” arising out of one of Junius’s Philippics, attempted in vain to withdraw the cognisance of the question of libel from the jury, to vest it in the court. In politics Lord Mansfield was a Tory; as a judge he recognised nothing but his duty to his sovereign and his country; and he must always be regarded as one of the greatest men that have adorned the judgment-seat in England. He possessed an amazing clearness of apprehension, vast learning, and marvellous perspicuity of exposition. His love of justice was the sole passion that absorbed his otherwise calm nature, and his integrity was spotless. In law, as in religion, the mind of Mansfield was essentially liberal. It was a saying of Burke’s that Murray—superior to the technicalities of his profession—still made the liberality of law keep pace with the demands of justice and the actual concerns of the world, conforming our jurisprudence to the growth of our commerce and of our empire. He was thus the founder of the commercial law of England, which before his time had no existence. Brave as a lion on the bench, Mansfield exhibited unaccountable timidity as a statesman. He quailed before Lord Chatham, whose schoolfellow he had been, and who mercilessly opposed him from the school to the grave. The illustrious rivals now lie quietly side by side in Westminster Abbey.
[From the statue in Westminster Abbey. Executed in 1801 by Flaxman.]