CCxllV LIFE OF BACON . 



tired nature, and unconnected with politics : (d) his virtues 

 are inlaid, not embossed. He is more advised than con 

 fident. He has a right understanding of justice, depending 

 not so much on reading other men s writings, as upon 

 the goodness of his own natural reason and meditation, (e) 

 He is of sound judgment; not diverted from the truth 

 by the strength of immediate impression. He is a man of 



namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man s present business 

 of importance, and any case that deserveth pity; yet there be some that 

 think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is 

 piquant and to the quick, that is a vein which would be bridled : &quot; Parce 

 puer stimulis, et fortius utere loris.&quot; See Essay of Discourse, vol.i. p. 113. 



Hence, therefore, levity in a judge always is, to a certain extent, painful, 

 and particularly to the suitors, to whom the present business is important. 

 &quot; It may be play to you, but it is death to us.&quot; Perhaps the right line 

 may be seen in his essay on Adversity : &quot; In embroidery we find it more 

 pleasing to have a lively work on a solemn ground, than a dead work 

 upon a light ground; judge therefore of the pleasures of the heart by the 

 pleasures of the eye. 



He avoideth all jesting on men in misery : easily may he put them out 

 of countenance whom he hath power to put out of life. Fuller. 



(d) He scarce ever meddled in state intrigues, yet upon a proposition 

 that was set on foot by the Lord Keeper Briclgeman, for a comprehension 

 of the more moderate dissenters, and a limited indulgence towards such as 

 could not be brought with the comprehension, he dispensed with his 

 maxim of avoiding to engage in matters of state. Rale s Life, p. 68. 



He would never be brought to discourse of public matters in private con 

 versation ; but in questions of law, when any young lawyer put a case to 

 him he was very communicative, especially while he was at the bar : but 

 when he came to the bench he was very reserved. Hale s Life. 



(e} A judge should be a person of good knowledge and ability; well 

 versed and skilled in the laws concerning matters under debate; endued 

 with good measure of reason, enabling him to sift and canvass matters of 

 fact, so as to compare them accurately with the rules of right. Barrow. 



The things that make a good judge, or good interpreter of the laws, are, 

 first, a right understanding of that principal law of nature, called equity; 

 which depending not on the reading of other men s writings, but on the 

 goodness of a man s own natural reason and meditation, is presumed to be 

 in those most that have mos leisure, and had the most inclination to medi 

 tate thereon. Hobbs. 



