St. Mary Magdalen, in that town, who, in a very mild manner, remonstrated with him upon the illegality and barbarity of that business, upon which he was then going to proceed. Jefferies heard him with great calmness, and, soon after he returned to London, sent for him, and presented him to a stall in the Cathedral of Bristol. ries was committed to the Tower on the flight of James II. from England. He is said to have died in that fortress of a disease occasioned by drinking brandy, to lull and to hebetate the compunctions of a terrified conscience."

JUDICIAL CORRUPTION.

Jeffe

To the illustrations of this subject in a former volume, (Ante, vol. i. p. 223,) the following passage may be added, which proves the extent to which Judicial Corruption had attained in the reign of James I.

"Among the qualities of a good judge, there is one remaining and fit to bring up the rear, which the king looked upon as verily to be presaged in his new officer, (Lord Keeper Williams,) an hand clean from corruption and taking gifts which blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous, (Deut. c. 16, v. 19.) 'Twas loudly exclaimed, (and the king was ashamed to have so far mistaken the persons,) that there were sucking horse-leeches in great places. Things

not to be valued at money were saleable, and what could not gold procure? As Menander writes, Φιλοι δικαςαι, μαρτυρες, μονον δίδε : ἀυτῆς γὰρ ἐξεις T85 885 iπngsтas. That is, friends and judges, and witnesses, you may have them for a price: nay, such as sit in the place of God, will serve you for such wages. The wise king having both prevailed by monitions and menaces against this sordid filthiness, cast his liking upon a man whom he might least suspect for gripleness and bribery. The likeliest indeed, of all others, to shake this viper from his hand, and to be armed with a breastplate of integrity against the mammon of iniquity; for he was far more ready to give than to take, to oblige than to be beholding, magis illud laborare ut illi quamplurimi debeant, as Salust says of Jugurtha. He was well descended, of fortunate and ancient times, and had made his progress to advancements by steps of credit; a good bridle against base deviations. What, then, made an unsavoury historian call him Country Pedant ? A reproach with which H. L. doth flirt at him in his History of King Charles, a scornful untruth. So I shake off this bar and return to the reverend Dean, who was in a function of holy calling next to God; among them I know all have not been incorrupt. The sons of Samuel turned aside after lucre, and took bribes and perverted Judgment, 1. Sam. c. 8. v. 3. But commonly I trust they do

not forget what a scandal it is, if God's stewards turn the devil's rent-gatherers. He was also unmarried, and so unconcerned in the natural impulsion of avarice to provide for wife and children. Our old moral men touched often upon this string, that Justice is a Virgin. Παρθενος εσι δίκη, says Hesiod, and therefore fit to be committed to the trust of a virgin magistrate. He was never sullied with suspicion, that he loved presents, not so much as Gratuidad di Guantes, as the Spaniard's phrase is; but to go higher, they are living that know what sums of value have been brought to his secretary's, such as might have swayed a man that was not impregnable; and with how much solicitousness they have been requested to throw them at his feet for favours already received; which no man durst undertake, as knowing assuredly it would displace the broker and be his ruin. And it was happy for him when, five years after, lime-hounds were laid close to his footsteps, to hunt him, and every corner searched to find a little of that dust behind his door. But it proved a dry scent to the inquisitors, for, to his glory and the shame of his enemies, it could never appear that the least bird-lime of corruption did stick to his fingers." (Hacket's Life of Lord Keeper Witliams, Part i. p 54.)

REPORTS OF MASTERS IN CHANCERY.

"They feigned a tale, principally against Masters' reports in the Chancery, that Sir Nicholas Bacon, when he came to heaven gate, was opposed, touching an unjust decree which had been. made in the Chancery. Sir Nicholas desired to see the order, whereupon the decree was drawn up; and finding it to begin Veneris, &c. Why,' saith he, I was then sitting in the Star Chamber; this concerns the Master of the Rolls; let him answer it.' Soon after came the Master of the Rolls, Cordal, who died indeed a small time after Sir Nicholas Bacon; and he was likewise stayed upon it; and looking into the order, he found, that, upon the reading of a certificate of Dr. Gibson, it was ordered that his report should be decreed. And so he put it upon Dr. Gibson, and there it stuck." (Bacon's Apothegms.)

EXTRACTS FROM THE WILL OF AN EARL OF

PEMBROKE.

Imprimis-For my soul, I confess I have heard very much of souls, but what they are, or whom they are, or what they are for, know not; they tell me now of

God knows, I another world,

where I never was, nor do I know one foot of the way thither. While the King stood, I was of his religion, made my son wear a cassock, and thought

to make him a Bishop; then came the Scots and made me a Presbyterian; and since Cromwell entered I have been an Independent. These, I believe, are the kingdom's three estates, and if any of these can have a soul, I may claim one; therefore, if my executors do find I have a soul, I give it to him who gave it to me. Item.—I give my body, for I cannot keep it, to be buried. Do not Lay me in the church porch, for I was a Lord, and would not be buried where Colonel Pride was born. Item.-My will is, that I have no monument, for then I must have epitaphs and verses, and all my life long I have had too much of them. Item.-I give all my deer to the Earl of Salisbury, who I know will preserve them, because he denied the King a buck out of one of his own parks. Item.-I give nothing to Lord Say; which legacy I give him, because I know he will bestow it on the poor. Item.-To Tom May I give five shillings; I intended him more: but whoever has seen his History of the Parliament, thinks five shillings too much. Item.-1 give LieutenantGeneral Cromwell one word of mine, because hitherto he never kept his own. Item.-I give up the ghost.-Concordat cum originali.

LORD AVONMORE AND CURRAN,

"Lord Avonmore was one of the brightest ornaments of his country; to a masculine under