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ERSKINE By J. A. Lovat-Fraser
" Councillor Ego," as the most eloquent advocate who ever pleaded at the English Bar came to be called in his unpopular and egotistical old age, was an extraordinary character, combining in himself the sagacity and highmindedness of a great public servant with the private life of a vain fop who led a life which was always careless and sometimes dissolute and who married a barmaid at the age of seventy. Mr. Lovat- Fraser (Cambridge University Press, 5s.) confines him- self chiefly to the public side of Erskine's career, and describes with vividness that marvellous eloquence which laid its spell alike on judges and juries ; but we feel that the other side of his nature might with advantage have been more fully considered. Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner : it is not enough to quote Lord Brougham on " the extreme imprudence with which some indulgences were sought, and unfortunate connexions, even late in life, formed." Thomas Erskine was a great man ; this little book merely whets our appetite to know more about him.
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