1828.] The Court of Chancery. 567 



of that which manufactures a small piece of flax into a yarn that would 

 reach over miles, dexterously expands a meagre sentence through a dozen 

 sheets of official foolscap. It must be observed, that in the above enu- 

 meration of offices, no notice is taken of the masters in Chancery; 

 nor does it seem that their duties were anciently any thing like so exten- 

 sive as they are at present. Mr. Parkes quotes the assertion of Mr. 

 Ravenscroft, that "the first reference to a master in Chancery, was 

 during the chancellorship of Sir Christopher Hatton, and, in consequence 

 of this chancellor's ignorance !" Any account of their origin, indeed, is 

 altogether omitted in Mr. Parkes's work, though it is known they had a 

 very early existence; and, in ancient times, were accustomed to live 

 with the chancellor, at the Royal Palace, wearing his livery, and receiv- 

 ing their board at his hands, together with a certain number of tuns of 

 wine, the same as the rest of the royal inmates, and considerable salaries 

 in addition. " De sorte," says the clever author of the Lettres sur la 

 Cancellerie et Jurisprudence Angloise, p. 81, " que deja du temps de 

 Richard II., on disoit, en parlant d'eux, que leurs esprits lourds etoient 

 absorbes par la graisse de leurs corps et la pesanteur de leurs bourses ; 

 en ajoutant encore, qu'ils etoient les plus grands paresseux du monde, 

 travaillantfort peu et recevanl beaucoup." Whether in the "wearing of the 

 livery/' or the "travaillant fort peu et recevant beaucoup," they present 

 any point of resemblance to certain individuals who, at a somewhat early 

 hour of the day, are to be seen driving away from Southampton Build- 

 ings, London, we leave our readers to discover. The abuses of the 

 office, and the incompetency of the masters, were, however, an early 

 subject of complaint. Among the proposals presented to Parliament in 

 the time of the Commonwealth was one : " That a certain number of 

 Godly and able men be appointed, instead of masters of the court, to take 

 oaths, and to hear and determine matters of account, arid such other 

 things as the court shall refer unto them ;" p. 154. In an enumeration 

 of legal abuses existing in the reign of Queen Anne, and contained in a 

 pamphlet, cited by Mr. Parkes (p. 283) it is said : " 10. Above all, 

 there 's the great charge and delay before the masters, the very worst 

 part of the business of that court, and more than all other wants to be 

 redrest. 11. The ordering money into a master's hand, and he to put it 

 out on security to be approved of by himself, by which means he becomes 

 in a great measure judge how long he thinks fit to keep the money : 

 and by this means orphans' money frequently lies dead (to them) a long 

 time. But, whoever thinks the master makes no use of the money, nor 

 makes more gains than formerly, must be at a loss for a reason why they 

 now GIVE 6,000 for their places, which at the revolution were sold only 

 for about 1,000." And Mr. Parkes, speaking of the time of George I., 

 remarks (p. 300) : " It is scarcely necessary to inform the legal reader, 

 that the masters in Chancery of this period, not only embezzled the 

 interest money of the suitors, but also the principal." Indeed the office 

 of accountant-general was instituted as a remedy to their abuse. The 

 charge of peculation certainly does not overhang the masters' offices of 

 the present day ; and if suitors continue to be defrauded by the appoint- 

 ment of incompetent individuals, useless prolixity, or unnecessary delay, it is 

 the fault less of its administrators than of the system itself. In the adjust- 

 ment of disputed accounts, the inquiry into matters of fact, the ordering 

 of sales of property, and the like, the masters exercise a species of judi- 

 cial function. Their decisions, however, under the technical term ot 



