fered rudeness, if not insult to the person whom he was most
anxious to propitiate; partly because on inquiry he ascertained the
respectability of the applicant; and partly because he wished to seal by
kindness the lips of a man who could report on the authority of his own
eyes that the best lawyer was also the worst shot in all England, Eldon
gave the petitioner the desired preferment. "But now," the old
Chancellor used to add in conclusion, whenever he told the story, "see
the ingratitude of mankind. It was not long before a large present of
game reached me, with a letter from my new-made rector, purporting that
he had sent it to me, because _from what he had seen of my shooting he_
supposed I must be badly off for game. Think of turning upon me in this
way, and wounding me in my tenderest point."

Amongst Eldon's humorous answers to applications for preferment should
be remembered his letter to Dr. Fisher of the Charterhouse: on one side
of a sheet of paper, "Dear Fisher, I cannot, to-day, give you the
preferment for which you ask.--I remain your sincere friend,
ELDON.--_Turn over_;" and on the other side, "I gave it to you
yesterday." This note reminds us of Erskine's reply to Sir John
Sinclair's solicitation for a subscription to the testimonial which Sir
John invited the nation to present to himself. On the one side of a
sheet of paper it ran, "My dear Sir John, I am certain there are few in
this kingdom who set a higher value on your services than myself, and I
have the honor to subscribe," and on the other side it concluded,
"myself your obedient faithful servant, ERSKINE."

[35] Swithin was tutor to Ethelwulf and Alfred. Becket was tutor to
Henry II.'s eldest son. Wolsey--who took delight in discharging
scholastic functions from the days when he birched schoolboys at
Magdalen College, Oxford, till the time when in the plenitude of his
grandeur he framed regulations for Dean Colet's school of St. Paul's and
wrote an introduction to a Latin Grammar for the use of children--acted
as educational director to the Princess Mary, and superintended the
studies of Henry VIII.'s natural son, the Earl of Richmond. Amongst
pedagogue-chancellors, by license of fancy, may be included the Earl of
Clarendon, whose enemies used to charge him with 'playing the
schoolmaster to his king,' and in their desire to bring him into
disfavor at court used to announce his approach to Charles II. by
saying, "Here comes your schoolmaster."