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Show 252 A 'f n o c 1 or ~ .n: n c: E ~ . ! A. D. 1G72. There is no such treat for a conunon lawyer. Lord J\Inn. field called hi1u the "Terence of reporters," and he c 'rtainly upports the foren ic dialogue with exq ui"ite art, displaying infinite skill himself in the points which he mal .. es, anll the manncr in which he defends them ; doing ample j u. ticc at the same time to the ingenuity and learning of hi::3 antagonist. Considering the barbarous dialect in wbich he wrote, (for the Norman French was restored with Charles II.,) it is marvellous to ob erve what a clear, terse, and epigrammatic style he uses on the 1no. t ab truse juridic:tl topic."'. lie labored und r the imputation of being fond of sharp practice, and he was .. eYeral times r ebuked by the court for being "trop subtile," or "going too nenr the wind;'' but he was said by hi ., ad1nirers to be fond of his raft only 1'n mcb'ori sensu, or in the good sense of the "\vorc1, ancl that, in entrapping the opposite party, he wa.· actuated Ly n love of fun rather than a love of fraud. Thus is l1e characterized, as a practitioner, by Roger North:- " ""\Vit and r epartee in an affected ru ti city were natural to hitn. l[e was ever r eady, and never at a lo ·:, and none came o ncar as he to be a 1natch for Set:jcant 1\Iaynard. llis great dexterity wns in the art of f;pec ial pleading, and he would lay snares that often taught hi:::; ~ up erior~, who were not aware of hi traps. And be was so fond of succc~.~ for his clients that, rather than fail, he would set the cou rt hard with a trick; for which he tnct sometimes with a reprimanu, which he would wittily ward off, o that no one was much offended with him. But Tiale could not bear his irregularity of life; and for that, and uspicion of his trick , u ed to bear hard upon him in the court. But no ill u age fr01n the bench was too hard for his hold of busi ness, being such as scarce any conld do bl:Jt himself." A. D. HlSO.J lie did not, like Scrogg._ and Jef11·ey. , intrigue for advancement. lie neither . ongl1t favor with the popular leader.~ in the city, nor tried to bo introducccl into Chiifinch's "spie office" at 1Vhitchall. '·In no time diJ he lean to faction, but t1id his business without offence to any. lie put off oillcion ~ talk of government aud politic::, with jc ·ts, anll . o 1nade hi~ wit a catholicon or ·hielcl to cover all his weak place.· and in firmities." lie was in the habit of laughing l>oth at Cavalier;-3 and Roundheads; and though nothing of a Puritan him ~eif, the semi-Popi. h l1igh-churc111nen \rcrc ortcn the objects of his satire. Ilis profes ·ioual, or· rather his . pecial pleading, reputation forced on hin1 the advanccn1ent which he did not coYct. Towards the end of the reign of Charles J 1., "\vhen the courts of jnsticc were turnc<l into in strun1cnts of tyr[tnny, (or, as it wns mildly said, "the court fc·ll into a f.:teacly course of u~ing the law ngainst all kind.~ of ofTen<.ler8,'') Sauncl''r · luH1 a general retainer from the crown, :ln<l wns specia1ly employed in drawing indictlnents again:-;t \Vldgs, and quo warranlos again.·t whiggi "h corporations. In crown ca c · h r )ally con ·itlered the kino- as hi::> cli0nt, and was a.s eager to gain tl1c dny for him, by all sort~ of n1a.1H u vn's, as he 1wtl Yer L ·en for n. roguish Clement's Inn attorney. lie it wn~ tlwt :ugge. ted the moue of proceeding against Lorll Shaftc~ bu ry for high treason; on bis recommendation the exp<'r i!ncnt was made of examining the witne.' ses bd(n·e the grand jnry in open cot1rt, an(l he suggested the subtlety that "the nsual ecrcsy ob ... crvcd being for the kinO''s benefit it 1niO'ht be waived by the king at b ' b his pleasure." When the important day arrived, he himself interrogated very artfully Mr. Blathwayt, the d erk of the council, who was called to produce the papers which had ')~ ~ .. |
