E After time of James. 



Sir Matthew Hale. 

 By his exact and impartial administration of justice, of which we have the 

 owing instances. He would never receive any private addresses or recom- 

 ndations from the greatest persons in any matter in which justice was con 

 ned. One of the first peers of England went once to his chamber, and told 

 him, &quot; That having a suit in law to be tried before him, he was then to acquaint 

 him with it, that he might the better understand it when it should come to be 

 heard in court.&quot; Upon which Sir Matthew interrupted him, and said, &quot; He 

 did not deal fairly with him to come to his chamber about such affairs, for he 

 never received any information of causes but in open court, where both parties 

 were to be heard alike.&quot; So he would not suffer him to go on. Whereupon 

 his grace (for he was a duke) went away not a little dissatisfied, and com 

 plained of it to the king as a rudeness that was not to be endured. But his 

 majesty bid him content himself that he was no worse used ;&quot; and said he 

 verily believed he would have used himself no better if he had gone to solicit 

 him in any of his own causes. Another passage fell out in one of his circuits, 

 which was somewhat censured as an affectation of unreasonable strictness, but 

 it flowed from his exactness to the rules he had set himself. A gentleman had 

 sent him a buck for his table that had a trial at the assizes. So when he heard 

 his name, he asked &quot; If he was not the same person who had sent him the 

 venison ?&quot; and finding he was the same, he told him he could not suffer the 

 trial to go on till he had paid him for his buck. To which the gentleman 

 answered, &quot; That he never sold his venison, and that he had done nothing to 

 him which he did not do to every judge that had gone the circuit,&quot; which was 

 confirmed by several gentlemen then present : but all would not do ; for the 

 Lord Chief Baron had learned from Solomon, &quot; that a gift perverteth the ways 

 of judgment,&quot; and therefore he would not suffer the trial to go on till he had 

 paid for the present, upon which the gentleman withdrew the record. And at 

 Salisbury, the dean and chapter having, according to custom, presented him 

 with six sugar-loaves in his circuit, he made his servants pay for the sugar 

 before he would try their cause. 



Were Bacon s judgments influenced by the presents ? 



That these solicitations and presents had not any influence upon the judg 

 ments of the Chancellor appears from many reasons. 



1. During the violence and virulence of the charges not a word was attempted 

 to be said of his having ever decided unjustly. 



2. In most of the cases the presents were long after the decrees. 



3. In many of the cases the presents were made by both parties. 



4. When the present was made by only one of the suitors, the judgment has 

 been against him, and in Aubrey s case, Sir R. Phillips, the chairman of the 

 committee said, &quot;Sir George Hastings, pitying Aubrey s case, did give in a 

 box 100 to the Lord Chancellor in those terms or the like, That it was to 

 help Aubrey in his cause. Notwithstanding, not long after, a very prejudicial 

 and murthering order was made against Aubrey in his cause.&quot; 



5. No doubt of the integrity of his judgments seems to have been entertained 

 by his cotemporaries. 



Ben Jonson. 



Ben Jonson died about 1630. &quot; My conceit of this person was never 

 increased towards him by his place or honors ; but I have and do reverence him 

 for the greatness that was only proper to himself, in that he seemed to me ever 

 by his works one of the greatest men, and most worthy of admiration, that had 

 been in many ages. In his adversity I ever prayed that God would give him 

 strength ; for greatness he could not want. Neither c. uld 1 condole in a word 

 or syllable for him, as knowing no accident could do harm to virtue, but rather 

 help to make it manifest.&quot; 



VOL. XV. 15 



