illiam (now Lord
Stowell,) and John, he wisely gave them an education in accordance
with their mental endowments. "It is said that the singular variety
in the talent of these two remarkable youths was manifested at a very
early age. When asked to 'give an account of the sermon,' which was a
constant Sabbath custom of their father, William, the eldest, gave at
once a condensed and lucid digest of the general argument. John,
on the other hand, would go into all the minutiae, but failed in
producing the lucid, general view embodied in half the number of words
by his brother."[1] The two boys received their early education at the
free grammar-school of Newcastle.[2] William was from the beginning
destined for the study of the law. John was at first intended for
the church, and was, accordingly, sent to Oxford: early marriage was,
however, the fortunate means of changing his destination, and he began
the world in the same profession with his brother. In 1757, John was
entered as a student at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar
at the usual period. He at this time possessed an extensive stock of
legal information, having been an indefatigable reader, and spent the
two last years of his preliminary studies in the office of a special
pleader. At his outset he made no progress, his powers being palsied
by an oppressive diffidence. He therefore devoted his talents entirely
to being a draftsman in Chancery. His employment was laborious, and
not lucrative, while it materially injured his health. In a fit of
despondency he resolved to retire into humble practice in his native
county; and he had actually given up his chambers and taken leave of
his friends in the metropolis, when he was not only diverted from his
purpose by an eminent solicitor, but was even prevailed upon to make
one more trial at the bar. His first success was the undoubted fruit
of his extraordinary abilities, and is said to have originated in the
sudden illness of a leading counsel the night before the trial of a
complicated civil cause. It could not be put off, and the client
of the lost leader was in despair, when Scott courageously took the
brief, made himself in one night master of its voluminous intricacies,
and triumphed. From this time he gained confidence, and his forensic
reputation soon became established. He was much aided by the
encouragement which he received from Lord Thurlow, who praised his
abilities, and is said to have offered him a mast