FAR inferior to Mr Cockburn, or to any of the three gentlemen I first described, as a speaker—but far above Mr Cockburn, and far above Mr Jeffrey, as a lawyer, is Mr James Moncrieff, without all doubt at this moment the most rising man at the Scottish Bar. This gentleman is son to Sir Henry Moncrieff, a well-known leader of the Scottish Church, of whom I shall, perhaps, have occasion to speak at length hereafter. He has a countenance full of the expression of quick-sightedness and logical power, and his voice and manner of delivering himself, are such as to add much to this the natural language of his countenance. He speaks in a firm, harsh tone, and his phraseology aspires to no merit beyond that of closeness and precision. And yet, although entirely without display of imagination, and although apparently scornful to excess of every merely ornamental part of the rhetorical art, it is singular that Mr Moncrieff should be not only a fervid and animated speaker, but infinitely more keen and fervid throughout the whole tenor of his discourse, and more given to assist his words by violence of gesture, than any of the more imaginative speakers whom I have already endeavoured to describe. When he addresses a jury, he does not seem ever to think of attacking their feelings; but he is determined and resolved, that he will omit no exertion which may enable him to get the command over their reason. He plants himself before them in an attitude of open defiance; he takes it for granted that they are against him; and he must, and will, subdue them to his power. Wherever there is room to lay a finger, he fixes a grappling-iron, and continues to tear and tug at every thing that opposes him, till the most stubborn and obstinate incredulity is glad to purchase repose by assenting to all he demands. It cannot be said, that there is much pleasure to be had from listening to this pleader; but it is always an inspiriting thing to witness the exertion of great energies, and no man who is fond of excitement will complain of his entertainment. His choleric demeanour gives a zest to the dryness of the discussions in which he is commonly to be found engaged.