62 DENMAN. joining the Midland Circuit and Lincoln Sessions; M.P. for Wareham 1813-20; for Nottingham 1820-26 and again 1830-32, "distinguishing himself hy the boldness with which ho attacked abuses and in particular by advocating the necessity of an amelioration of the criminal^) law." On the accession of Geo. IV, the Queen Consort (Caroline) appointed Brougham her Attorney Gen. and Denman her Solicitor Gen., who, as such, took a principal part in her trial/' 1 ) " The immense popularity which attached to all who were engaged on behalf of that Lady brought Mr. Denman into public notiee."( c ) In 1822 he was elected Common Serjeant of London; in 1S28 King's Council ; in 1830 (under the Grey Ministry) Attorney Gen. being knighted, 1 Dec. 1830: and in Nov. 1832, Chief Justice of the King's Bench/' 1 ) being, on 23 March 1834, cr. BARON DENMAN OF DOVEDALE, eo. Derby. In consequence of the illness of the Lord Chancellor Cottenham, he presided as Lord High Steward, l(i Feb. 1841, at the trial of the Earl of Cardigan. Early in 1S50, after 18 years office, he from ill health resigned his post. He m. 18 Oct. 1804, at Saxby, co. Lincoln, Theodosia Anne, 1st da. of the Rev. Richard Yevkrs, Rector of Kettering, co. Northampton, by Theodosia Dorothy, da. of the Rev. Sir William Asdbbson, Gth Bart, of Lea, co. Lincoln. She, who was 6. 21 Nov. 1779, d. 28 June 1862, at Par- slaves, Essex. He d. 22 Sep. 1S54, in his 76th year at Stoke Albany, co. Northamp- ton.^) Will pr. Oct. 1854. (») Foss's "Judges." ( b ) In this trial, Aug. 1820 " nearly the whole talent of the Bar was engaged, and of the 11 Counsel who appeared, six on one side and five on the other, no less than ten, were afterwards elevated to high legal distinction." See Foss's " Judges," sub " Den- man." "In so far as the Bar was concerned the contest was a battle of Giants, Sir Robert Gif"rd, Attorney Gen. [afterwards Lord Gifford and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas] Copley, the Sol. Gen. [afterwards Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Chancellor] v. ith Dr. Adams, and Mr. Parke [afterwards Lord Wensleydale and one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer] appeared in rapport of the bill ; Sir, Brougham the Queeu's Attorney Gen. [afterwards Lord Brougham and Lord Chancellor], Mr. Denman, the Queen's Sol. Gen. [afterwards Lord Denman and Ch. Justice of the King's Bench], Dr. Lushington [the Rt. Hon. Stephen Lnshiugton, D.C.L., Judge of the High Court of Admiralty 1S38-67 ; d. 19 Jauy. 1S73, in 91st year] Mr. Williams [Sir John Williams, one of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench 1834-40] Mr, Tindal [the Rt. Hon. Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tiudal, Ch. Justice of the Court of Common Pleas 1829-46] and Mr. Wilde [afterwards Lord Truro and Lord Chancellor] appeared for the Queen. With the exception of Dr. Adams [William Adams, LL.D., Advocate, Doctors Commons, from 1799 to 1825, when he retired from ill health tho' he survived till (his 80th year) 11 June 1851], they all subsequently obtained judicial dignity, three of them becoming Lord Chancellors." See Martin's "Life of Lord Lyndhurst," p. 183, in which work, however, among thefive (for such, not four, was their number) counsel for the King, the name of Sir Christopher Robinson, King's Advocate General, is omitted. He,- however, was no exception, being from 1828 to his death in 1833, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty. ( c ) See "Annual Reg." for 1854. The popular excitement, however, soon flagged, and " before the close of the year, everybody was becoming tired of the Queen and her case. The tone of the public mind was cleverly expressed in an epigram written on the [to his side singularly] medapropos passage which concluded Mr. Denman's speech for the Queen, in which he begged the House to tell her [in the words used some 1S00 years previously to a woman taken in adultery] to go and sin no more :— "Most Gracious Queen, we thee implore, To go away and sin no more ; But, if that effort be too great, To go away at any rate." See " Tlie Crohcr papers " as quoted in a review thereof in " The Athenrcum," 25 Oct. 1884. Mr. Denman's comparison of this mature aud reckless Queen to Octavia, the innocent and virgin bride of Nero (by implication involving a comparison of George IV to that Tyrant) was equally unfortunate and much more inappropriate. ( d ) Sic, not Chief Justice of England a.a wrongly stated in Block's "Tables." See vol. 11, p. 331, note " c," sub " Coleridge." (o) "As a Barrister he was not distinguished for the variety and depth of his legal knowledge ; he owed his success to other qualities than those of tho mere lawyer. In
