CUPID’S DICE BOX

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 6

CUPID’S DICE BOX

lI.—LAW-GIVER’S LOVE PATRON.

FRO), BARGEMAN’S SON TO LORD CHANCELLOR.

LORD ELDON’S ELOPEMENT.

By J. Barr-Lixxev.

(Copyright.—For the Otago Witness.) When Cupid casts his dices, He aims at twenty-one; He's twenty—comes a crisis, When Cupid cast s his dices; A queen or peasant’s son, X " His “one” he then entices; V. hen Cupid casts his dices He aims at twenty-one.

There have been many Scotts famous in the history of these islands; but scarcely one has so romantic a career as that of that John Scott, who began life as the son of a “ hoastman,” coalfitter, or bargeman; and who, having graduated successfully into the courts of love, became Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Eldon, aiid died worth nearly £1,000,000. John Scott’s father .had prospered in business until he became the owner of several “ keels,” or barges, and a public house. He married twice, and, by his second wife, had 13 children. Of these were three sons—William, afterwards Lord Stowell; Henry, with whom we need not concern ourselves; and John, who became Lord Eldon. Th e bargeman who gave two famous names to the peerage may himself be said to have gained from the throw of Cupid’s dice box. BUSINESS: CHURCH OR LAW? And love was going to play a great part in the lad's career. In his early life young John Scott had a very rough hammering under a Scottish dominie; but at the Newcastle Free Grammar School he found himself in th e same form with the future Lord Collingwood. And for Hugh Moises, who grounded him in the Church Catechism and the classics, he had in after life such regard that when h e became Lord Chancellor he made Moises one of bis chaplains. Moises always said that “ love was his patron.” We learn that, though a fair scholar, John Scott was primarily intended for business; then the idea was that he should become a clergyman. At all events, at the suggestion of the first son of the old Newcastle bargeman, William—the future Lord Stowell —John was allowed to join him at Oxford. With what result we shall see.

Now John Scott was one of those peculiar people who, at the impressionable age of 15—people were allowed to matriculate at an early age at both universities in those days—combined a sneaking after love with business. That passion of the heart which stirred young Romeo again 1 Yet, it was through Cupid winning the first throw with his dices that a successful career in life followed for the bargeman’s son at Oxford. LOVE THE CONQUEROR.

Did he dream, as he walked through the classic “ High ” —as glorious and as full of romance in the moonlight as his beloved Princes St. Edinburgh—of the fair hand awaiting him of Elizabeth, the beautiful daughter of Avbone Surtees* the wealthy banker of Newcastle-on-’lyne? He was certainly in love with some unknown impossible She; and in between Iris scnolarship victories—he had gained the English essay prize—his thoughts constantly reverted to that dear lady whose heart had ever been his. How he' wanted to clasp her to his heart—to tell her all his passions I And as he breathed the evening scents of the flowers in Trinity, Bailiol, and Wadham gardens his sould went soaring back to th e fragrant blooms of Newcastle and to the fairest flower of them all—Bessie Surtees. THE RIFT IN THE LUTE.

But the path of true love does not always run smoothly. The young lovers were devoted to each other, yet the patents of th e beautiful girl, for some reason or other, refused their consent to the match.

But love found a way. John Scott had gained the hand of his true-love, and one dark November night, she, being as determined to have him as he was to have her, eloped with her ardent swain by an upper storey window and a ladder. Next day, at Blackshiels, near Edinburgh, the pair were married, according to the rite of the Church of England, by John Buchanan, a priest of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, who had a cure of soul s at Haddington. The bride and bridegroom, we are told, at once recrossed the border and were soon forgiven by their parents, who settled £3OOO upon them. The marriage was re-solemnised in St. Nicholas’s Church, Newcastle, on January 19, 1773 —John Scott being then only 22 years of age. By the 28th of the same month the future Lord Chancellor had been admitted a member of the Middle Temple, and from this point, fixed by Cupid, his real career begins. CUPID, TASKMASTER.

For John Scott, fortunate in love was determined to be fortunate (through hard work) in his legal career. His maxim was that a lawyer should live like a hermit and work like a horse. And backed up by a brave and sensible wife, who had dared parents’ displeasure, he succeeded. Young John Scott withdrew from society, and be worked hard and achieved much success at the Bar; and for his success he owed'much to his loyal Bessie, who never doubted the ultimate victory of her husband.

He gradually rose in his profession, backed up by her, until he became Lord Chancellor of England—under the title of Lord Eldon—a favourite with King and people.

To please his wife he wore his hair long, when wigs were all the fashion, and made a request of the King (which was granted) not to dispense with his wig as Lord Chancellor if out of Court. The bargeman s son became famous for many a legal decision—so did his wife, for her loyalty. 5 A FAMOUS HOUSE.

The house from which .the dramatic elopement took place ou the Quayside, Newcastle, still stands, or, at all events, was standing at least a year or two ago, and the thought of the great Lord Chancellor in after life, when he was trying similar cases—or when he was pleading at the Bar—in which elopements were concerned, must have gone back with a smile to his youthful escapade with his beautiful Betty, the rich banker's daughter, who had meant so much to him, and who ardently loved him. Did he not, perchance, think of it in the Lord Chancellor's Court, or while seated on the Woolsack of the House of Lords, or in the heated debates of Cabinet Councils, or when investigating a Berkeley or a Roxburghe peerage claim, or when he -was presiding over the trial of a Queen —the unhappy consort of George IV?

Be sure he did, for there was never a happier couple than John Scott and Elizabeth Surtees—none who understood and trusted each other as they did. “ You are constantly in my mind.” was the slogan of his devotion to his beloved wife, Lady Eldon, in the heyday of a brilliant career. And so we see him on this dark November night receiving his runaway bride with, first, a courtly kiss of the hand, and then a hea? - ty impassioned Northern kiss on the lips;- a man of middle height, in the rays of the lantern of Geordie Ogilvie, his friend, strong, proud, and with perfect features; keen sparkling eyes and luxuriant hair, the humble, clever son of a Newcastle bargemaster, and the future Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor of England—now in the springtime of his physical and intellectual beauty. And the fair Betty Surtees, as her father and mother slept on that November night, gave him one endearing look, and trusted him—trusted to the man who, through weal or woe, was to be her all in all, in fortune or misfortune, her beginning and end. her rock, her fortress and her shield, “ till death do us part.” THE DICE BOX CHALLENGED.

In the history of famous loves there has been no more luminous annal than that of Bessie Surtees, the quiet, pretty, resourceful girl who challenged the dice box of Dan Cupid. Yet was there not a sparkle in her eyes? She’ threw for herself—and woo. She watched her husband take silk, and saw bis triumphs and defeats —saw him as an M.P. flayed by the scathing mockery of Sheridan, the wit; gave him bravely when he was ridiculed by Burke, and finally saw her equally loyal star arise in all its spendour, though doubled by the courtiers of the day. And she, too, never forgot that dark, cold November night when under the flickering light of Ogilivie's lantern she eared not for anybody except her John. In all the world the stars were the onlyeyes that saw that trembling yet trusting kiss and the soul that went forth to the sanctuary of a brave lover. In the twilight of his days, Lord Eldon, safe, secure, and with honours thick upon him, never forgot the trusting, runaway bride of his young days. He laughed at the world over his port wine—of which he was somewhat inordinately fond—and Cupid, thinking of his dice box, winked back at him from the beeswax beacon and the twinkling glass. A LION OF ROMANCE.

John Scott became Lord Eldon in 1799 when he was made Chief Justice of Common Pleas, and he held the proud office of Lord Chancellor of England for a longer period than any other person before or since, “ and during a quarter of a century exercised an influence a’most unprecedented in the Cabinets of successive sovereigns.” His sehool-fcllows at the Newcastle Grammar School included his elder brother William (Lord Stowell), who presided over the High Court of Admir-alty-at the time when “ England became the sole occupant of the sea, and held at her girdle the keys of all the labours of the globe”; and there was also “a pretty and gentle boy ” who also in after years was not entirely unknown to the majesty and wonder of the sea. This boy, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, now sleeps in St Paul’s Cathedral beside his old comrade , Lord Nelson.