We can salute him, Antony, as a fine, manly, clean writer, who was an
honour to letters.

Your loving old
G.P.



15


MY DEAR ANTONY,

Born in the same year as was Grattan, namely, in 1750, Lord Erskine
adorned the profession of the Bar with an eloquence that never
exhibited the slight tendency to be ponderous which sometimes was
displayed by his contemporaries.

Grace and refinement shine out in every one of his great speeches.

He was a young scion of the great house of Buchan, being the third son
of the tenth Earl. After being in the Navy for four years he left it
for the Army, and six years later he went to Trinity College,
Cambridge, and took his degree; thence he came to the Bar in 1778, and
at once displayed the most conspicuous ability as an advocate.

He appeared for Horne Tooke in a six-day trial for high treason, which
ended in an acquittal.

In 1806 he became Lord Chancellor and a peer.