persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little
importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of March,
1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford, in 1770,
when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a somewhat prolonged
attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he graduated and received
the degree of Master of Arts' in the month of July, 1777. Previous to
this time he had entered himself as a student at the Inner Temple, having
already been enrolled as a student on the books of Lincoln's Inn. He seems
at this time to have been possessed of some small means but not sufficient
for his support, and he pursued his professional studies with such avidity
as temporarily to undermine his health. He paid a short visit to the
Continent, and returned to his native land with restored physical and
mental vigour. In due course he was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards
published a technical work on the law of descent, which attracted some
notice from the profession. He soon became known as an erudite and
painstaking lawyer, whose opinions were entitled to respect, and who was
very expert as a special pleader. At the Bar he was less successful,
owing to an almost painful fastidiousness in his choice of words, which
frequently produced an embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have
been a personal friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's
appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy
may possibly have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as
Chief-Justice of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in
the same vessel with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon
reaching Upper Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at
Kingston, passed on to Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied
the party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued
to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province which was
of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and
his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of