and excellent speeches of the lawyers in the famous cause of Hamilton and Douglas reflect great honour both on themselves and their country, being nothing inferior in point of eloquence or subtlety to any that have ever been made in Westminster Hall or either of our British senates. In short, Greece and Rome, in the most flourishing and distinguished period of those famous republics, never produced greater orators than North Britain does at present.

August 22, 1767.-We hear two gentlemen of distinction at the west end of the town have laid a wager of a thousand guineas and a thousand shillings that the great cause between the Hamilton and the Douglas family will be determined in favour of Mr. Douglas.

We hear the Douglas estate, about which the famous contest is now subsisting, amounts to £12,000 a year.

August 28, 1767.-The opinion of one of the greatest sages of the law in England is in favour of the defendant in the famous cause of Hamilton and Douglas, and that he will support the same if it should come before a most august assembly. It is said that it was on this account that among several wagers now depending on the first issue of this cause one of 1000 guineas has been laid to as many shillings that it will be given in favour of Mr. Douglas.

A letter from Scotland mentions that in the great cause between the Hamiltons and the Douglases a reclaiming petition is preparing on the part of Douglas to be presented to the Court of Session at their first meeting in November. By the consent of that Court, after judgment is given, either party may petition or reclaim against such judgment provided they advance new matters of law or fact. If such is advanced, the other party is allowed to answer and the Court then determines. It is well known in many instances that the Court, on such reclaiming bills, have altered their first opinion. From this circumstance it is probable this great cause will not come before the House of Peers next session of Parliament.

August 29, 1767.--The estate of the late Duke of Douglas, now in the possession of Mr. Douglas, is worth upwards of £20,000 a year, besides the honours of Earl of Angus to which he will be entitled as soon as this cause is over,2 which it is expected will be determined in his favour, as all the relations of that noble family except his competitor are satisfied of the authenticity of his birth.

September 25, 1767.-From divers parts of Scotland we learn that ever since the decision in the famous cause of Hamilton and Douglas the generality of the Ladies of that country take care to be brought to bed in a more public manner than ever was known before, or than seems consistent with the delicacy of their sex, the rooms in which they are delivered being often filled with as many persons of both sexes as they can conveniently hold, and the intention of which is that there

2 This was a popular error. The Earldom of Angus became extinct on the Duke of Douglas's death.

may always be witnesses enough alive to authenticate the birth of any child whose birth to any estate or legacy may be litigated on that

account.

April 1, 1768. It is reported that some of the ablest pens in Britain are to be employed in the great Douglas cause.

Saturday, February 25, 1769 (wrong date).-Last night the great cause between Hamilton and Douglas was finally determined after ten hours consideration, when it was given Nem. Diss. in Favour of Douglas. A noble lawyer in the Determination of a late great cause spoke for Two Hours, when being overcome by the heat of the room he fainted, but recovering again resumed his discussion and went on for near another hour, with the greatest eloquence and strength of argument.

Tuesday, February 28, 1769.-By the decision of the great cause on Monday last in favour of Mr. Douglas, that young gentleman succeeds to the Douglas estate and to the title of the Earl of Angus.

The same night her Grace the Duchess of Douglas dispatched a messenger from her house in Piccadilly to Scotland with an account of the above event.

Thursday, March 2, 1769.-The Douglas estate lately decreed to the Hon. Archibald Douglas, Esq., is said to amount to £17,000 per

ann.

P.S. (same day).—Five noble personages, we are told, have entered their protests on the subject of a late great cause.

Thursday, March 2/4, 1769.—The great cause lately determined had been in hearing ever since the holidays: the Counsel on both sides displayed great eloquence: those for the Apellant were Lord A. . e, whose speech lasted about fourteen hours, and Sir Fletcher Norton, who spoke for about seven hours. The Counsel for the Respondent were Mr. Yorke, who was about six hours in his speech, Mr. W... n, about twelve, Mr. S. . . r G. . . . 1, about nine. After Sir F. N.'s reply, which took up about six hours, the Lords proceeded to Judgement, where one Nobleman spoke about half an hour for the Apellant, another about three hours for the Respondent, a third spoke near three hours for the Apellant. When the Question being called for and put, they were almost unanimously in favour of the Apellant.

Tuesday, March 7, 1769.-Yesterday the Hon. Archibald Douglas was presented to His Majesty at St. James.

P.S.-They write from Berwick that on receiving an account of the late great cause being decided in Favour of Mr. Douglas, great Rejoicings and Illuminations were made there, and particularly by Mr. Leo Douglas of that place, who in the evening caused a large bonfire to be made on Hallidown Hill as a Signal to the neighbouring country, and entertained upwards of 50 of the principal gentlemen at the Red Lion, where the following Healths were Drunk :-Archibald Douglas, etc. etc. etc.

Edinburgh, March 3.-Last night, about half an hour after seven o'clock arrived an Express from London with the news that the Decree of the Court of Session was reversed without a vote.

The Restitution of this noble and illustrious Family gave universal Joy to all Ranks of People here, the whole town was immediately illuminated, and Bonfires appeared in all Corners of this City.

The mob last night broke many windows and committed other irregularities which it is to be wished had not happened.

All the Ships in the Harbour of Leith have colours displayed this Day on account of Mr. Douglas's success, in particular the Success Capt. Howison has above Twenty Flags flying.

Thursday, March 9, 1769.-Yesterday Her Grace the Duchess of Douglas and her Nephew the Hon. Archibald Douglas, Esq., were presented to his Majesty at St. James's.

Tuesday, March 16, 1769.-By a letter from Edinburgh we are assured that on the arrival of the account of the Decision of the Douglas Cause, a numerous mob assembled, and after parading the streets some time, proceeded to commit several outrages on the houses of some of the principal gentlemen of the Court of Session. They broke the windows of and began to pull down the house of Lord . . . . on which the Town Guard were ordered to disperse the Rioters, which finding themselves unable to do, a body of Regular Troops were sent from the Castle, when the mob left the City and went a few miles from Edinburgh to the country house of an agent of Mr. D.'s opponent, where they committed a great many Acts of Violence. It is said that a reward has since been offered by the Magistrates at Edinburgh for apprehension of the Persons concerned in the above Disturbances.

Edinburgh, March 10.—In the Glasgow Chronicle, after the Account of the Rejoicings there on Mr. D.'s success, we have the following paragraph :-When the Chelsea Men had done firing the Company ordered each man 5s.-but when Mr. Graham was going to pay it them, they all with one voice refused it, and said that they would as cheerfully charge with Ball, as they did that Night with Powder, in Defence of Mr. D. and his Cause.

Thursday, March 16, 1769.-In a letter concerning the Rejoicings at Glasgow on Mr. D.'s Success, an Account is given of a Bon-fire made before the Saracen's Head Inn there, of 20 carts of coals, which blazed so that the owners of some thatched Houses at small distance came to the Landlord expressing their Fears lest they should be set on Fire. He bade them be easy, for if it so should happen, of which he thought there was no Danger, the Price of the Houses should be put to the Bill.

Saturday, March 25/28.-On the Sunday after the Arrival in Scotland of the Account of Mr. D.'s success, Clergyman preached in the Church of Douglas, from the following Text:-"I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he whose right it is, and I will give it him."-Ezek. xxi. 27.

Thursday, April 6, 1769.-A gentleman in Scotland, in a letter to his friend in London, dated 9th March, mentioning that the Ladies and Gentlemen in his neighbourhood met at an Inn on the 7th, where the Gentlemen entertained the Ladies with a Dinner and a Ball in the evening, to express their joy on the happy decision of the Douglas Cause, gives the following account of some of their proceedings:-As Tuesday was a Presbytery Day, and the Ministers assembled as usual, it was suggested that an act of Indemnity would be a most suitable circumstance to the occasion, and a Petition was accordingly prepared and addressed to the Reverend Presbytery praying that they would pardon all such Persons as at that Time were under Prosecution before them on Account of the good-natured vices; the Petition was signed by the Ladies and Gentlemen and presented in Form. The Answer of the Reverend Presbytery was as follows:-The Reverend Presbytery having read and considered the above Petition are of opinion that so uncommonly joyful an occasion should be distinguished by some very joyful circumstance, and whereas a simple Act of Indemnity was nothing by the ordinary Attendant of Common Felicity they, without division, remit it to the Consideration of the Petitioners, if it may not to them appear fit to add a Clause for an Indulgence also to all the Consequences of the Good Humour of the Night.

Thursday, April 18, 1769.-On the Sunday after the news of the noble Decision of the great Douglas Cause by the House of Peers arrived at Edinburgh, the Reverend Dr. Hugh Blair preached in the High Church of that City before the Lords of Council and Session from these words:" What fruit had ye then in those things whereof we are now ashamed?"-Rom. vi. 21.

During the Rejoicings at Edinburgh on the late Decision of the Great Douglas Cause, while the Mob were casting stones at certain dark Windows, a gentleman humourously said " Aye, aye, these honest fellows are giving their casting votes in their turn."

APPENDIX II.

CRITICISM of the two versions of the speeches delivered in judgment in the Court of Session, from "A State of the Evidence in the Cause between His Grace the Duke of Hamilton and Others, Pursuers, and Archibald Douglas of Douglas, Esq., Defender, with remarks by Robert Richardson, D.D., Prebendary of Lincoln. London, 1769." [v. note to Introduction, page 1.]

“The book [Almon's 'Speeches', reprinted in this volume] had run into a second edition before he [the writer] heard of it; and it does not appear that any of their Lordships have been offended at the publication, though from the many great inaccuracies in that part of it which has been consulted for these papers, there is room to hope they were strangers to its contents.

"Seven months after Almon's book had been circulated without offence, another copy of the speeches appeared, said to be accurately taken down and published by William Anderson, Writer, in Edinburgh. The account Mr. Anderson gives of his performance is in these words, 'He made himself fully acquainted with the Cause, and while the Judges were delivering their opinions he took down the greatest part of what each of them said. These notes he daily corrected and enlarged by memory: not satisfied with this he got the several opinions revised by those who were best qualified to correct any errors or to supply any omissions, so that the present publication may be depended upon as exact and genuine.' All that Mr. Anderson is here pleased to say leads us to think that his publication is neither exact nor genuine. How could his memory enable him to correct and enlarge his notes with facts he had never taken down and probably never heard? And who were these persons who were qualified, after the long vacation, to correct the errors and supply the omissions of a copy taken down in Court? Mr. Anderson's book is indeed a collection of speeches totally different, both in argument and stile, from that printed by Almon. The stile is more diffuse, the sentiments more ambiguous, and, in some of the speeches, the very state of the question is totally changed."