Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

I \.~ " OLD BRECKNOCK CHIPS." A Column of Antiquarian Chit-Chat relating to the County of Brecknock, NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES, on Subjects inter¬ esting to Breconshire, must be addressed to EDITOR, Brecon County Times, Brecon. Real names and addresses must be given in confidence, and MSS. must be written legibly, on one side of the paper only. FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd, 1887. NOTES. ONE OF THE OLD BEECON JUDGES. [Concluded from March 11th, 1887.] Having given some sketch of Judge Har¬ dinge as a lawyer, we will now conclude with a few observations on his literary career and his charges to the grand juries of South Wales. He held the position of Chief Justice on the Brecon Circuit from 1787 to 1816. He seems to have been a conspicuous judge —talented and popular, and as a Member of Parliament he distinguished himself in several notable debates, especially on the impeach¬ ment of Mr Hastings : and in the memorable debate on the subject of the Begency—Dec. 16, 1788—Judge Hardinge strongly support¬ ed Mr Pitt's Resolution declaratory of the right of the two Houses of Parliament to appoint a Begent. In 1788 Judge Hardinge was elected F.B.S. In 1791 Mr Hardinge published " A Series of Letters to Mr Burke, in which are contained Inquiries into the Constitutional Existence of an Impeachment against Mr Hastings." In these Letters Mr Hardinge enlivened a very dry subject, by his accustomed vivacity of diction, and by a profusion of historical and classical illustration ; and he discussed at great length most, if not all, of the topics, that were agitated on the important question of the abatement of Mr Hastings' Impeachment. His reputation for professional eloquence before a Jury had so long been fully established, that he was employed at Warwick, on the 5th of April, 1792, as Counsel for the Hundred, to plead in mitigation of the damages claimed by Dr. Priestley, in conse¬ quence of the house of the latter having been burnt by a turbulent and lawless mob. After this, Mr Hardinge seems to have been but litte employed as a Counsel; and to have sought but very little for practice. He was, however, always busy. The Circuit in Wales occupied some considerable portion of his time ; for he had formed a large ac¬ quaintance in the Principality, and was accustomed to visit his friends there. In addition to this, he continued to write verses till within a short time of his demise. He also took part in Shakesperian criticism, and in 1800 published a controversial work on the subject of over 540 pages. In 1800 he had also made considerable progress in a Series of Letters to Mr Walpole on the subject of Chatterton and Rowley. He had some years before written an Essay on the Character of King Richard the Third, in a series of Remarks on Mr Walpole's "Historic Doubts." In 1802 (accompanied by his nephew, Mr George Nicholas Hardinge) he visited some of the romantic parts of Wales, the Lakes of Westmoreland, and several of the principal towns in Yorkshire. On this Journey he has left some striking and very agreeable remarks. Mr Hardinge's liberal, manly, and en¬ lightened sentiments on Catholic Emancipa¬ tion are fully developed, in a Letter which he addressed, in 1805, to a Roman Catholic Peeress of great distinction. In 1813, Mr Hardinge printed a small number of three single " Sermons, written by a Layman"; and " An Essay on the Character of Jonathan " not intended for sale. In the same year he published " The Russian Chiefs, an Ode," 4to ; and he revised and enlarged an excellent critique, written many years before by his father. In 1813 and the following year Mr Har¬ dinge was a copious and valuable contributor to the "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century." " Think," he says, " what a fine old Grecian I must be, who intimately knew, for years and for ages, the first Lord Camden, Dr. Akenside, Mr Hall (Markland's friend), Baron Adams, Wray, Lort, Barring- ton, Lord Dacre, Mr Dyson, Horace Walpole of Strawberry-hill, Mr Cambridge, Athenian Stuart, &c, &c. But, lest you think me older than I am, you will permit me to say, that all these Friends were older than myself by several years ; but I always cultivated in youth men older than myself, though in my old age I cultivate young men the most. Excuse this egotism, and this garrulity of age." He afterwards added the names of " James Hayes of Holliport, Woodeson (his schoolmaster), Dr. Barnard, Dr. Battie, Stephen Poyntz, Dr. Glynne, Stephen Whisson, Bp. Watson, Dr. Goode, Thomas Papillon, and Jacob Bryant." In the latter end of March, 1816, Mr Justice Hardinge set out on the business of the Circuit. In some letters previous to his quitting home, he told his Friends that he was suffering from a heavy cold ; which, to use his own words, "had not separated his nose from the fire " ; but he was first taken seriously