Note 149 — Chapter VII

Mr. Justice Bathurst was the second son of Allen, the first Lord Bathurst, “one of the most amiable, as he was one of the most fortunate men of his age,” immortalized alike by the polished poetry of Pope and the brilliant eloquence of Burke. He had not much of his father’s gaiety and spirit. For some years he had sat on the Bench of the Common Pleas, with a fair reputation, and he had previously enjoyed a considerable practice at the Bar. A very popular and useful work, Buller’s Nisi Prius, is understood to have been compiled from his notes. In early life he had made some figure in the House of Commons as Attorney-General to the Prince, and Walpole notices him as a rising man in the Opposition.—(Walpole’s Letters, vol. ii. p. 262.)—As a Commissioner of the Great Seal he showed but moderate parts, and his appointment as Chancellor excited much surprise. It had been believed that the Seals would be offered to Mr. De Grey, as they had been in the preceding year by the Duke of Grafton; and that gentleman so perfectly expected it, that he announced himself as Lord Chancellor at a dinner of his family. On the very day following this announcement it was declared that the choice had fallen on Mr. Bathurst. He is not to be ranked among the great men who have filled this high office; his decisions are seldom cited, and indeed few of them have been preserved. It was perhaps a disadvantage to him to preside over a bar of superior talents to himself, the leaders of which were Thurlow and Wedderburne. A coolness that took place between him and Lord North furnished the King, who never liked him, with an excuse for transferring the Seals to Lord Thurlow, and he became President of the Council. He died at an advanced age in 1794.—E.