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NOTE 28. p. 64. -This appears from the following note in the State Trials. "The Lord Chancellor Finch told me that this argument was not Mr. Herne's, though he pronounced it, for he could not argue, but it was Mr. Hale's, afterwards lord chief justice. And he said further, that being then a young lawyer he stood behind Mr. Herne when he spake at the bar of the lords' house, and took notes of it." Vol. iv. p. 677. Though Herne could not argue, he could make a witty reply. When Serjt. Wilde in answer to the argument observed that they did not allege that any one crime of Laud's amounted to high treason, but that all his misdemeanors by way of accumulation made many grand treasons, Herne answered, "I crave your mercy, good Mr. Serjeant; I never understood before this time that two hundred couple of black rabbits would make a black horse."

NOTE 29. p. 65. As to the efforts of the long parliament to effect a reform in the law, see Godwin's Hist. of the Commons, vol. iii. p. 573. and consult Scobel. It would seem from what is said by Hale in his tract on the Amendment of the Laws, p. 274. that at this time he did not favour the project of a legal reform.

NOTE 30. p. 66. Though the tender of amends has been introduced by statute in some particular cases, yet in general a party who has committed a wrongful act has no power of making compensation.

NOTE 31. p. 67. - Burnet adds, "If he made no declaration of acknowledging their authority, which he never did." This is not correct, for as before mentioned he took the engagement, and in fact the acceptance of office was a direct acknowledgment of their authority.

NOTE 32. p. 69. - Hale, and Thorpe a Baron of the Exchequer, were the only judges who served in this Parliament. · Godwin, vol. iv. p. 112.

NOTE 33. p. 71. In an interview with Mr. Langton, Hale said, "that 10001. a year was a great deal for any common lawyer to get; and Mr. B. said that Mr. Winnington did make 20007. a year by it. My Lord answered that Mr. Winnington made great advantages by his city practice, but did not believe that he made so much of it."- Seward's Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 419.

NOTE 34. p. 72.-"Nothing has ever been found more vindictive and cruel than fanaticism acting under the influence of preternatural terror, and assuming to punish offences created by its own gloomy reveries. Under such circumstances it becomes itself the very demon whose agency it seeks to destroy. It loses sight of all the common principles of reason and of evidence. It sees nothing around it but victims for sacrifice. It hears nothing but the voice of its own vengeance. It believes nothing but what is monstrous and incredible. It conjures up every phantom of superstition, and shapes it to the living form of its own passions and frenzies. In short, insanity could hardly devise more refinements in barbarity, or profligacy execute them with more malignant coolness. In the wretched butcheries of those times (for so, in fact, they were) in which law and reason were equally set at defiance, we have shocking instances of unnatural conduct. We find parents accusing their children, children their parents, and wives their

husbands, of a crime which must bring them to the scaffold. We find innocent persons misled by the hope of pardon, or wrought up to frenzy by the pretended sufferings of others, freely accusing themselves of the same crime. We find gross perjury practised to procure condemnations, sometimes for self-protection, and sometimes from utter recklessness of conse quences. We find even religion itself made an instrument of vengeance. We find ministers of the gospel and judges of the land stimulating the work of persecution, until, at last, in its progress, its desolations reached their own firesides."—A Discourse pronounced at the Request of the Essex Historical Society in commemoration of the first settlement of Salem, Massachusets, by Judge Story. Boston, U. S. 1828.

NOTE 35. p. 76. In another place the same writer gives a much more favourable character of Hale, describing him as "a most propitious judge to a poor man's cause; and before him if any leaning were, it was of his favour to that side that seemed to be oppressed."- North's Examen, p. 550.

NOTE 36. p. 81.-"It is much to be lamented," says Mr. Butler, "that he did not carry into execution his favourite object, a complete edition of the printed and MS. works of Sir Matthew Hale, an eternal monument of the profound knowledge, possessed by that great man, of the laws and constitution of this kingdom. They are distinguished by deep and extensive learning, patient investigation, method, and perspicuity. His language is always guarded, and he carefully avoids drawing any conclusion which his premises do not warrant. He deserved such an editor as Mr. Hargrave." Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 121.

NOTE 37. p. 82. - A more competent judge of the merits of this work could not have been found than Dr. Parr, who has thus spoken of a portion of it :-"Much as I have been delighted and interested by the representations which Plato and Xenophon have given of their illustrious contemporary Socrates, I confess myself to have been equally delighted, and more delighted, and more interested, by Hale's Account of the good Steward. It is the very picture,' as says the Editor, 'wherein, representing the good steward passing his account, it was impossible for him not to give a lively representation of himself;' and rarely do we meet with an instance in which any man speaks so unreservedly and so largely of his own opinions and actions with so much propriety. Upon every account of matter, style, and spirit, it is a work which deserves to be read every year by every light of the Church, and every sage of the Law in Christendom.". - Characters of Fox, vol. ii. p. 346.

NOTE 38. p. 86. For an account of Sir Geoffrey Palmer, see the Examen.

NOTE 39. p. 96.-See Selwyn's Nisi Prius, title Statute of Frauds.

NOTE 40. p. 101.-"I have heard," says Roger North, "Sir John Churchill, a famous chancery practiser, say, that in his walk from Lincoln's Inn down to the Temple Hall, where, in the Lord Keeper Bridgman's time, causes and motions out of term were heard, he had taken 287. with breviates only for motions and defences for hastening and retarding hearings."-Life of Lord Guilford, vol. i. p. 425. new edition.

NOTE 41. p. 113. The most copious details as to the life of Jefferies will be found in the memoirs of him by Mr. Woolrych. It is to be regretted, however, that the author has not always cited his authorities.

NOTE 42. p. 119.-The reader who is attached to the study of legal biography, will not forget the admirable portrait of Saunders in the life of the Lord Keeper Guilford.

NOTE 43. p. 146.-Johnson says, The poem was ascribed to Somers.-Lives of the Poets, vol. ii. p. 39. Sir Walter Scott in his Life of Dryden, p. 257. says, that Lord Somers positively disavowed the poem. See also Malone's Life of Dryden, p. 116. "The gross ribaldry of it cannot be supposed to have flowed from so humane and polished a nature as Lord Somers." Horace Walpole's Works, vol. i. p. 432.

"Mr.

NOTE 44. p. 173. Mr. Booth was a Roman Catholic. He is noticed by Mr. Butler in his Historical Memoirs of the English Catholics. James Booth, acknowledged to be the father of the modern practice of conveyancing, was not the author of any work; but his written opinions were given at great length and are very elaborate. They are held in great esteem, and always mentioned at the bar and from the bench with great respect. The copies of them are numerous, and in the works entitled, Printed Copies of Opinions of Eminent Counsel, several of them found their way to the press." Vol. ii. p. 337.

NOTE 45. p. 229.-The present Memoir is altogether derived from the Memoirs of the Life of the R. H. Sir John Eardley Wilmot, knt. &c. by John Wilmot, esq.

INDEX.

A.

ABBOTT, Archbishop, succeeds Ban-
croft to the see of Canterbury;
renews complaints against the
judges; summoned before the
king, 11.

Addison, his character of Lord So-
mers, 168.

America, Lord Mansfield's speech
on, 185.
Lord Ashburton resists
the measures against; rebellion
of, 292.

Animals, bill against the cruel treat-
ment of, 378.

Asaph, St., Dr. Shipley, Bishop of,
Jones's letter to, 319. A bilí
of indictment preferred against
him; his daughter marries Jones,
320.

Asaph, St., Dean of, Erskine's de-
fence of, 341.

Ashburton, Lord, John Dunning,
born 1731, 287. Called to the bar;
selects the western circuit; argu-
ment against general warrants;
elected recorder of Bristol; ap-
pointed solicitor-general; returned
member for Calne; Lord Mans-
field pays him a singular compli-
ment, 288. The city of London's
address to the king on the con-
duct of ministers; motion to cen-
sure this document opposed by
him; defends the right of the
subject to petition and remon-
strate; presented with the free-
dom of the corporation; his
answer to their address, 289.
Supports Mr. Grenville's bill
in cases of contested elections;
humorous apology; arguments
against the doctrine as to libels
accusation of Lord Mansfield, 290.
Speech against the right of the
house for committing the Lord
Mayor and Alderman Oliver to
the Tower, 291. Resists the mea-
sures adopted against America;
his speech on the rebellion, 292.

;

Speech on the suspension of the
habeas corpus act, 293. Is liberal
upon matters of religion; seconds
the motion for the relief of the
Catholics; supports the bill for an
account of pensions granted, 294.
Speech for economical reform,
295. Moves an address to the
king, 296. Speech on the affair
of Sir Hugh Palliser; created a
peer, 298. Appointed chancellor
of Lancaster; confidential adviser
of the premier; receives a pension;
speech on the influence of the
crown, 299. Marries in 1780; death
of his son; health declines, 300. In-
terview with Mr. Wallace, dies,
1783; character of, by Sir W.
Jones, 301. Character of, by Sir
Nathaniel Wraxall, 304. Burke's
panegyric on, 306.

B.

Bacon, Sir Francis, his dislike to
Coke ; appointed solicitor-ge-
neral ; his letter to Coke, 6.
Eager to obtain the office of at-
torney-general, 13. Pamphlet
against Coke ; ambitious and
crafty, 16. Created lord keeper;
tries to frustrate the restoration
of Coke, 27.

Baillie, Captain, Lord Erskine coun-
sel for, 331.

Bancroft, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, differs from Coke respect-
ing the royal authority over the
judges, 9.

Bankes, Sir Joseph, Sir William
Jones's letter to, 324.
Baxter, trial of, 121.

Bennet, Dr.,friend to Jones; Jones's
letter to, 307.

Bentham's strictures on Black-
stone's Commentaries, 249.
Blackstone, Sir William, born, 1723;
his progress at school, and at
Oxford; becomes a member of

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