CCV1 LIFE OF BACON. 



Augustine Nicholls, one of the judges in the time of 

 James the First, as an instance of his virtue, that &quot; he 

 had exemplary integrity, even to the rejection of gratuities 

 after judgment given, and a charge to his followers that 

 they came to their places clear handed, and that they 

 should not meddle with any motions to him, that he might 

 be secured from all appearance of corruption/ () 



This custom, which, more or less, seems to have pre 

 vailed at all times in nations approaching civilization, was 

 about the year 1560 partially abolished in France by the 

 exertions of PHopital, which abolition, is thus stated by 

 Mr. Butler, in his life of the Chancellor : 



&quot;Another reformation in the administration of justice, 

 which 1 Hopital wished to effect, was the abolition of the 

 epices, or presents made, on some occasions, by the parties 

 in a cause, to the judges by whom it was tried. 



&quot; A passage in Homer, (b) where he describes a com 

 partment in the shield of Achilles, in which two talents of 

 gold were placed between two judges, as the reward of 

 the best speaker, is generally cited to prove, that even in 

 the earliest times, the judges were paid for their adminis 

 tration of justice, (c) 



&quot; Plutarch mentions, that under the administration of 

 Pericles, the Athenian magistrates were first authorized to 

 require a remuneration from the suitors of their courts. 



best wine in his cellar ; and turning round to the servant who had pre 

 sented them, &quot; Tell your master,&quot; replied the inflexible magistrate, &quot; that 

 if he approves my wine, I beg he would not spare it.&quot; 



(a) Lloyd. 



(b) See the passage in note Z Z at the end. 



(c) Mr. Butler adds : &quot; But an attentive reader will probably agree 

 with Mr. Mitford in his construction of the passage, that the two talents 

 were not the reward of the judge who should give the best opinion, but the 

 subject of the dispute, and were to be adjudged to him who established his 

 title to them by the best arguments.&quot; 



