mated his intention of at once bestowing in free gift upon Dr. Baillie and his wife the fee simple of a small estate, worth about 2,000l., adding, "I feel highly gratified at the reflection that I have had it in my power thus to show my great attachment to and sincere affection for two persons who are an honour to their friends and a blessing to society.'

Dr. Baillie's answer is as follows:

Oct. 30, 1804.

My dear Sir, I will not attempt to express the feelings which your last letter has excited in me. It is not enough to say that I feel most grateful for your uncommon liberality towards me; but I am more particularly affected by the motive from which it has arisen, and by a display of character on your part of which there have been few examples. I sincerely hope that no part of my future conduct will dispose you to repent of this uncommon instance of liberality towards me. It is infinitely beyond what I could have expected, and therefore I request that you will forgive me if I should express a wish that your nephew should in future feel that he is the great object of your benevolence.

I cannot avoid auguring well of this marriage. We have now seen the young lady. She has so much sweetness of manner and loveliness of person that I am sure you would forgive, if you saw her, your nephew for yielding to her charms. If you do not trust to my account, I beg that you will come and see, and then you would give Sophy and myself the highest gratification in thanking you personally for your extraordinary beneficence towards us. Sophy means to express by a letter from herself her sense of your liberality and affection. I shall therefore only add that I remain, dear sir,

Your most grateful and faithful

MATTHEW BAILLIE.

These letters throw great light on the noble character of Dr. Baillie, who, on another occasion, refused to accept of an estate which had been left to him by his relation, the celebrated Dr. John Hunter, because he would not stand in the way of other and still nearer relatives, who were more in need than himself of the testator's bounty.

The event proved the sagacity and correctness of Dr. Baillie's anticipations. The young lady, whose 'sweetness of temper and loveliness of person' he records, became one of the best wives that man was ever blest with. The union endured for eight and forty years with uninterrupted affection on both sides, and with a rare preservation, even beyond the confines of old age, of a warmth and delicacy of mutual sentiment which to colder and more worldly natures would, at any age, have seemed romantic.

It would, indeed, have been difficult to find a human creature more attractive in person, or more charming in character and manner, than Denman's bride. In youth and early womanhood her beauty was remarkable-of the pure and noble type of Raffael's Madonnas; light brown hair, large grey eyes of the deepest tenderness, face exquisitely oval, nose slightly, but only very slightly, aquiline. She literally adored her husband-believed in him as the best and wisest of men, and always encouraged him in his firm and noble acts of resistance against what he deemed oppression and wrong; for, with all her exquisite gentleness, this lady had a high and resolute spirit, not less prompt than her

husband's to show itself when a fitting occasion came to call it forth. She was well accomplished after the fashion of that time; had an exquisite taste for music, and no mean skill as a performer on the piano. She did not belie her Leicestershire breeding, and was an admirable and courageous horsewoman. 'It was told me of her,' writes her youngest son, the Hon. and Rev. Lewis Denman 18 (who amid all the duties of a parish priest most admirably performed, has not quite forgotten his old love-hereditary, no doubt-for horses), ‘it was told me of her that as a young woman, gentle and quiet though her character was, she could ride hunters belonging to her father which none of the grooms dared mount.' She came of a good and gentle race, and had the qualities and habitudes generally to be found in the well-descended. She was fond of telling her children stories of her ancestors, which she did in a manner that riveted and spell-bound their young attention. 'She was,' says her youngest son, 'a loving, generous, noble character; and, as a mother, we all deeply loved and honoured her.' Her piety, like that of her husband, was deep, sincere, and genuine; not obtrusively showing itself in words, but abiding in the heart, purifying the sentiments, elevating the thoughts, and moulding the life.

The incentives to exertion derived from a numerous and rapidly increasing family were not absent from this auspicious and most happy union. No less than fifteen

18 Rector of Willian, near Hitchin, in Hertfordshire.

children (born between 1804 and 1824) were the fruits of the marriage. Of these four died in childhood; eleven-five sons and six daughters-still survive.19

19 For convenience of reference, a table of the late Lord Denman's family, with the respective marriages of his sons and daughters, will be found in Appendix No. I.

55

CHAPTER IV.

CALL TO BAR-EARLY MARRIED LIFE.

A.D. 1804 TO 1811. ET. 25 TO 32.

Special Pleading-Periodical literature (the 'Monthly Review'), 18041806-Cambridge election for Chancellor-Lord Henry Petty-FoxGrenville administration, Jan. 1806-Denman's devotion to FoxLetter to Sir F. Burdett shortly after Fox's death-Denman called to the Bar, 1806-Change of residence to No. 5 Queen's Square, Bloomsbury-Joins Midland Circuit and Lincolnshire Sessions-Leading members of Midland Circuit-Mr. Serjeant Vaughan-Mr. Clarke, K.C.-Mr. John Balguy, K.C.-Denman's friends-Reader-Dwarris -Empson-Copley (Lyndhurst) and Francis Horner-Denman's regret at Copley's political apostasy-Denman's early position and progress on Circuit-Extracts from Midland Circuit book relating to him—His first retainer in town-Letter to his wife from Circuit, July 17, 1808-Denman's connexion through Merivale and Bland with the 'Critical Review'-Extract from his notice of Chief Justice Marshall's 'Life of Washington'-Dr. Denman suggests legal publication as a means of professional advancement-Denman's reply, July 6, 1808Letter of Denman to his wife from Circuit, April 2, 1810-Copley and Denman at Miss Linwood's ball-Walcheren expedition-The money runs short at home-Money difficulties of Denman's earlier professional life-Never famous for prudence or economy-Mrs. Baillie's testimony-Mrs. Hodgson's account-She rather blames Dr. Denman's parsimony-Homely and frugal ways of Dr. Denman and his wife-'One luxury is enough'-The yearly allowance doled out in weekly instalments-Fondness of Dr. and Mrs. Denman for their grandchildren-Mrs. Hodgson's recollections of them-Prizes for being gentlewomen-Primitive simplicity of Dr. and Mrs. Denman's household-Denman as a husband and a father-Mrs. Baillie's recollectionsHis elevating influence on his daughters- Mrs. Hodgson's recollections of her mother and father-His romps with his girls when children—