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Show 222 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. [A. D. 16S3. doing any thing of that kind which they would apprehend to be very prejudicial to their interest ~." ·:tc J.:'l1en, when he wished to implify the practice and to speed cau es to a liCaring and final decree, he con idcred that he wa not only to r egard tho suitor , but that "there was a ju. tice due as well to the crown, which had aJyantage growing by the dispo:sition of place , profits, by proces. of all sort", a al ~ o the judges and their servants, and counsel at the oar, and solicitors, who were all in po ~ es"ion of their advantages, and by public encouragement to pend their youth to make them fit for them, and had no other 1neans generally to provide for themselves and their families, and had a right to their reasonable profits, if not strictly by law, yet through long connivance." I think we mu t say that his alleged n1erit as a chancery refonner con i t chiefly in the profes 'ion of good intentions ; that he allowed the practice of the court to remain pretty much as he found it; and that if h e . aw and approved wh::tt. ·was right, he followed what was wrong- aggravating his errors by di regarding the strong dictates of his con. cience. N eyerthele , he applied hi1n elf -rery a ... siduou ly to the bu iness of his court, which, fr01n hi ~ experience at the bar, and from hi' having often sat for his predece sor, wa~ quite fan1iliar to him ; and he sce1n to have dispo ed of it satisfactorily. lie was not led into temptation by having to decide in equity any political case ; anu no serious charge \Vas preferred against hitn of bribery or undue iniiuenco. Till the meeting of Parliament ]n the reign of James, and the failure of his health, he prevented the accu1nulation of arrears; and, upon the whole, as an Equity judge, he is to be praised rather than censured. ;;, Tl.le principal obstacle to law reform in America is the pecuniary intcr4 est whiCh the lawyers think they haYc in keeping up old abuses.- Ed. A. D. 1683.] FRAKC:JS KORTH. 223 I wish as much could be said of his political conduct while he held the great seal. lie may have 'Wished " to bring the king to rule wholly by law, and to do nothing which, by any reasonable construction, might argue the contrary;" bnt for this purpose he would make feeble effor ts, and no sacrifice ; and all the measures of the court, however prot1 igate, when resohred upon, he strenuou ly a.Jsi:tcd in carrying in to execution. The ministers who now bore sway, and who were on "'e\'cral points opposed to each other, were Ilalif'ax, Sunderland, and Rochester. The Duke of York, rc .. to red to the office of lord high admiral and to the Privy Council, in dircet violation of the "test act," had so much iniluence, that it wa: said that. "to spite tho. e who "'Yi. heel to prevent hitn from reigning at the king's death, he \vas permitted to reign during the king's life." The Duche."' of PorL"'mouth was likewi 'C at the hc[l.J of a party at court, although Mr ~ . G win, her Proteslan t rival, did not interfere with politic . With none of tbe.-e woulu the lord keeper combine. Ilis policy was to study the peculiar humors of the king- to do whatever would be 1110. t agreeable personally to hin1 - to pass for " the king's frien<l " - and to be "solus cum, solo." Charles, although aware of his cunning and l1i..: selfishness, was well plea ed with the . lavish doctrine he laid down, and with the devoted zeal he expres~ed for the royal prcrog[ttive; and till Jeffrey's superior vigor, dexterity, and power of pleasing gained the a. ccnc1ancy, u~ually treated hitn with decent con icleration. He never would give any opinion on for ign affairs, nor attend a committee of council su1nmoned specially to consider them, professing himself~ for want of a fit education and |