CHAPTER XIII.

Memoir of Lord Somers-Committee appointed to wait upon him-Society receive valuable present from the East India Company-Halley sails on a Scientific Expedition-Mr. Jones sent by the Society on an Expedition of Discovery—Resolution not to give opinions in Scientific Controversies-The Transactioneer-Dr. Woodward disowns the Work-Favour shown to the Academy of Sciences-Letter of M. Geoffroy-Zeal of Sir Hans Sloane-Savery exhibits his Steam-engine-Presents Drawing of it to Society-Receives a Certificate-Performance of the Engine-Death of Hooke-His interest in the SocietyHis design of endowing the Society-His Wealth-Proposal to rebuild Gresham College-Wren furnishes plan of rooms for the Society-Scheme abandoned-The Society resolve on building or buying a House-Lord Somers resigns-Sir Isaac Newton elected President.

1695-1705.

THE election of Lord Somers to the office of President, reflects great lustre upon the Royal Society, "He was a man," says Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Lord Chancellors, "eminent as a lawyer, a statesman, and a man of letters,-the whole of whose public career and character I can conscientiously praiseand whose private life, embellished by many virtues, could not have been liable to any grave imputation, since it has received the unqualified approbation of Addison."

The family to which Lord Somers belonged, had long been proprietors of a small estate in the parish of Severn Stoke, in the county of Gloucester; and of the site of a dissolved nunnery, called the "White Ladies," a short distance from Worcester.

The Chancellor's father, John Somers, was bred to

In

the law, which he practised with great success. 1649 he married Catherine Ceavern, of a respectable family in Shropshire. Her first child was a daughter, Elizabeth, afterwards Lady Jekyll. Her second, the future Chancellor, who was born in 1651.

The first notice of the boy is exceedingly curious, and is stated, in Cooksey's Life and Character of Lord Somers, to be perfectly well authenticated. It is to the effect, that when walking with one of his aunts, under whose care he was placed at the time, "a beautiful roost-cock flew upon his curly head, and while perched there, crowed three times very loudly'." Such an occurrence was of course viewed as an omen of his future greatness.

At the proper season he was placed at the Collegeschool at Worcester, where, under Dr. Bright, an eminent classical scholar, he was thoroughly grounded in Greek and Latin. He afterwards went to a private academy at Walsall, and to another in Shropshire. In Seward's Anecdotes, it is stated that "though he was the brightest boy in the College-school, instead of joining his young companions in their boyish amusements, he was seen walking and musing alone, not so much as looking on while they were at play?."

Lord Campbell informs us, that when only sixteen years of age he was matriculated, and admitted of Trinity College, Oxford; a few years after, he occupied a desk in his father's law-office at White Ladies. The drudgery of an attorney's office was far from agreeable to him, and he eagerly seized every opportunity to exchange the study of parchments for the more congenial pursuits of literature.

1 Cooksey, p. 10.

2 Vol. II. p.

114.

Parliamentary business having led Sir Francis Winnington, afterwards Solicitor-General, to White Ladies, he became acquainted with young Somers, and perceiving his merit, recommended that he should study for the bar, pointing out that Littleton and other Worcestershire men had risen to be judges. With considerable difficulty old Somers yielded his consent to this change, and on the 24th May, 1669, his son went to London, and entered as a student of the Middle Temple.

He forthwith commenced the study of law under Sir Francis Winnington, spending his vacations at White Ladies, where he made the acquaintance of the young Earl of Shrewsbury, which early ripened into a friendship that lasted through life. He returned to London with the Earl, who introduced him to Dryden, and other distinguished men of letters, and also to several noblemen. His manners soon acquired that "most exquisite taste of politeness," for which he was afterwards so distinguished. It appears that his new acquaintances made him painfully aware of his defective education, which, says Lord Campbell, "must have arisen either from a very short stay at the University, or from idleness while resident there." He returned to his College for the purpose of acquiring a sound education, keeping his terms at the Middle Temple during his residence at the University. On the 5th May, 1676, he was called to the Bar, but did not begin to practise until 1681, when, says Lord Campbell, he was "a ripe and good scholar as well as lawyer; and, regard being had to his acquaintance with modern languages and literature, perhaps the

3 Freeholder, Nọ. 39.

most accomplished man that ever rose to high eminence in the profession of the law in England." His progress was extremely rapid; so much so, that in a very few years his professional profits amounted to 7007. a year, a very large sum for those times1.

It would greatly exceed our limits to follow Lord Somers at length through his brilliant professional career. The nature of this work is much more closely connected with his literary than forensic life. I shall, therefore, only glance at his various official promotions. At the age of thirty-seven he was elected to the Convention Parliament, as representative of Worcester; appointed Solicitor-General, and knighted, upon the accession of William and Mary. On the 2nd May, 1692, he was promoted to be AttorneyGeneral, and it was while holding this office that he acted as counsel for the plaintiff in the case of the Duke of Norfolk v. Germaine, the first instance on record in England of an action to recover damages for criminal conversation with the plaintiff's wife. On the 23rd March, 1693, the Great Seal was placed in his hands as Lord Keeper, and he was at the same time sworn of their Majesties' Most Honourable Privy Council. Evelyn thus alludes to the promotion of Lord Somers, in his Diary: "The Attorney-General Somers made Lord Keeper, a young lawyer of extraordinary merit." He presided in the Court of Chancery for seven years, winning the applause of all

4 Cooksey's Life, p. 15.

5 The damages were laid at 100,000l. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, with 100 marks damages. The court, it appears, reprimanded them severely for giving so small and scandalous a fine.

parties for his learning, impartiality, and courtesy. Only one of his decrees has been discovered to have been reversed. During the period that he remained in office, the administration of affairs at home was chiefly intrusted to him. He had been frequently offered a peerage, but steadily refused it until 1697, when being appointed Lord Chancellor, he was at the same time created Baron Somers of Evesham, in the county of Worcester. To support the dignity, the King granted to him and his heirs the manors of Reigate and Howleigh in Surrey, and 21007. a year out of the fee-farm rents of the crown. "Lord Somers had now reached his highest pitch of worldly prosperity. He was not only the favourite of the King, but he could influence a decided majority in both houses of Parliament, and his general popularity was such, that the High Church party expressed a wish that he were theirs. The Tory fox-hunters could say nothing against him, except that he was ‘a vile Whig;' the merchants celebrated him as the only Lord Chancellor who had ever known any thing of trade or finance; the lawyers were proud of him as shedding new glory on their order; and so much was he praised for his taste in literature, and his patronage of literary men, that all works of any merit in verse or prose were inscribed to him”.”

Lord Campbell adds, that "he assisted Montague in the appointment of Newton as Warden of the Mint, and, on his recommendation, Locke was nominated a Lord of Trade, to carry into effect the sound commercial principles which this great philosopher had propounded in his writings."

Campbell, Vol. IV. p. 119.

7 Ibid., p. 133.