286
all the various steps taken by them in pursuance of
his advice; it is enough to say that he acted as their
confidant throughout the whole affair of the resist-
ance to the liturgy in 1637, and that he was inti-
mately concerned in framing the bond of resistance
entitled the National Covenant, which was subscribed
by nearly the whole population of Scotland in the
succeeding year. The king, with fatal weakness,
nevertheless retained him in an office which, of all
others in the state, implied and required a hearty
service of the royal cause. In 1643, when a parlia-
ment was required to meet in order to settle the
solemn league and covenant with the English par-
liament, Sir Thomas, to get over the dilemma of
illegality which must have characterized such a meet-
ing, as it could not legally take place till the next
year, recommended a convention of estates upon the
precedent of some such transaction in the reign of
James V.; and thus was achieved a measure which,
more than any other, perhaps, was fatal to the royal
cause: the army voted in this irregular meeting being
of great avail in the decisive battle of Longmarston-
moor, which was fought soon after.
Charles, nevertheless, still persisting in his unfor-
tunate policy, appointed Sir Thomas Hope to be his
commissioner to the General Assembly, which met
in August, 1643; an honour never before or since
bestowed upon a commoner. The royalists were so
much incensed at the appointment of an enemy in-
stead of a friend, that they very generally absented
themselves from the assembly, and the field was there-
fore left in a great measure clear to the Covenanters,
who carried all before them. As the sanction of
this body was necessary to the transaction above
alluded to, the credit of the whole, direct or indirect,
lies with Sir Thomas Hope.
In 1645 Sir Thomas Hope was appointed one of
the commissioners for managing the exchequer, but
did not long enjoy that office, dying the next year,
1646. He had the singular happiness of seeing,
before his death, two of his sons seated on the bench
while he was lord-advocate; and it being judged by
the Court of Session unbecoming that a father should
plead uncovered before his children, the privilege of
wearing his hat while pleading was granted to him.
This privilege his successors in the office of king's
advocate have ever since enjoyed, though it is now
in danger of being lost through desuetude.
The professional excellencies of Sir Thomas Hope
are thus discriminated by Sir George Mackenzie, in
his Characteres Advocatorum:—'' Hopius mira inven-
tione pollebat, totque illi fundebat argumenta ut am-
plificatione tempus deesset; non ornabat, sed argue-
bat, modo uniformi, sed sibi proprio. Nam cum
argumentum vel exceptionem protulisset, rationem
addebat; et ubi dubia videbatur, rationis rationem.
Ita rhetorica non illi defuit, sed inutilis apparuit."
The following are the written or published works
of Sir Thomas Hope:—I, Carmen Seculare in Seren-
issimum Carolum I. Britanniarum Monarcham,
Edin. 1626.—2, Psalmi Davidis et Canticum Solo-
monis Latino Carmine Redditum, MS.—3, Major
Practicks.—4, Minor Practicks (a very well-known
work).—5, Paratitillo in Universo Juris Corpore.—
And 6, A Genealogie of the Earls of Mar, MS.
In Wood's Ancient and Modern Account of the
Parish of Cramond, from which the above facts are
chiefly taken, is given a very perfect account of the
numerous descendants of Sir Thomas Hope, includ-
ing the noble race of Hopetoun, and many other
races distinguished in the two past centuries by
official eminence and public service.
HOPETOUN, EARL OF. See HOPE (SIR JOHN).
HORNER, FRANCIS, whose virtues, talents, and
eloquence raised him to an eminent rank in public
life while yet a young man, was born at Edinburgh
on the I2th of August, 1778. His father, who was
at that time a linen manufacturer and mercer upon
an extensive scale, took delight in cultivating the
excellent talents which his son early displayed, and
doubtless contributed much to the formation of those
intellectual habits, and sound and liberal principles,
which marked the boy as well as the full-grown
man. Francis was sent to the high-school, where
he soon became a favourite with Dr. Adam, who
then presided over that eminent seminary as rector,
and who was accustomed to say of his distinguished
pupil, that "Francis Homer was the only boy he
ever knew who had an old head upon young
shoulders." Nor was this remark dictated by undue
partiality, although some of the most eminent men
of the clay were among young Homer's class-
fellows: for he was never known to join in the field-
sports or recreations of any of the boys, and he kept
the rank of dux at school by his own industry and
talents alone, having no private tutor to direct his
studies. Francis indeed needed no adventitious but;
but it has been thought by some of his medical friends
that these early propensities to retirement and con-
stant study contributed to sow the seeds of that pul-
monary disease which assailed his youth, and finally
laid him in an untimely grave.
When removed to the university he enjoyed the
instructions of several eminent professors, and in
particular attracted the notice of Dugald Stewart:
but the theatre, perhaps, which tended more than
any other to unfold his talents and views was the
Speculative Society, an institution for improvement
in public speaking, and in science in general, with-
out peculiar reference to any of the learned profes-
sions, the members of which met weekly during the
sitting of the college. There are few associations of
this kind which have numbered so many young men
of splendid talents on their roll of members. Lord
Henry Petty, the second son of the first Marquis of
Lansdowne, and Messrs. Brougham and Jeffrey, were
amongst Mr. Horner's associates in the arena of
debate, and contributed by their mutual influence on
each other's minds to invigorate and sharpen those
intellectual powers which were afterwards to raise
them to stations of the highest eminence and widest
influence in society. Mr. Horner first directed his
attention to the Scottish bar, but, like his two last-
mentioned friends, with very limited success. The
attainment of sufficient practice before the Scottish
court can only be the result of undismayed persever-
ance and great industry; real talent will ultimately
reach its object there, but the necessary probation is
apt to dishearten conscious merit. There was some-
thing also in the political character of the times in-
auspicious to young men of independent principles,
who sought to make their way without friends or
interest by dint of talent alone; the aristocracy pos-
sessed overwhelming influence, and a considerable
amount of prejudice existed in the midst of the com-
monalty against the first manifestations of that more
liberal spirit which now began to show itself in vari-
ous quarters, and more especially characterized the
debates of the Speculative Society. The interven-
tion of a jury was also unknown in civil causes, and
thus the principal field for forensic eloquence was
denied to the youthful aspirant. These considera-
tions appear to have so far weighed with Mr. Horner
as to induce him, though already admitted a member
of faculty, to direct his attention to the English bar;
and with this view he left his associates, now busily
engaged with the early numbers of the Edinburgh