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Show CHAPTER XVI. ROBERT 'VRIGIIT. I NOW come to the last of the profligate chief justices of England; for since the Revolution they have all been men of decent character, and most of the1n have adorned the scat of justice by their talents and acquirements, as 'vell as by their virtues. Sir Robert Wright, if excelled by some of his predecessors in bold crimes, yields to none in ignorance of his profe sion, and beats them all in the fraudulent and sordid VICCS. lie was the son of a re pcctable gentleman who lived near Thetford, in Suffolk, and was the repro entative of an ancient family, long seated at ICelverstone, in Norfolk ; he enjoyed 1he opportunity of receiving a good education at Thetford Free Grammar Sclwol, and at the University of Ctunbridge; and he had the advantage of a very hand~ome per on and agreeable manner. But he was by nature volatile, obtu e, intensely selfish, with hardly a particle of shame, and quite de titute of the faculty of distingui hing what ,vas base from what was honorable. vVithout any maternal spoiling, or the contamination of bad company, he showed the worst fault: of childhood, and these ripened, while he was still in early youth, into habits of gaming, drinking, and every ~ort of debauchery. There was a hope of his reformation when, being still under age, he captivated the affeetions of one of the daughters of Dr. Wren, Bishop of J~ly, and was married to her. But he continued his licentious course of (36-1) A. D. 16S4.J RO.BERT \YiaGIIT. 365 lift!, and, having w:Bt('d her fortune, lte treated her with cruelty. lie wa.· supposed to study the law at au Inn of Court, but when he was called to the bar he had not imbibed even the first rudiments of hi profession. N everLhele ... , taking to the Norfolk Circuit, the extensive influence of his father-in-law, which was exerci .. ed un crup ulou ·ly in hi~ favor, got him briefs, and for sev ral year .. he had n1or bu ·ine .. ·s than North, (afterwards Loru l{ccper Guilford,) a Ycry indu trions lawyer, who joined the circuit at the same time. " But withal," ~ayA Roger, the inin1itable biographer, " he wa-· o poor a lawyer that he could not g ive an opinion upon a written ca e but u e<l to bring . uch ca es as came to him t.o hi friend, 1\Ir. North, and he wrote the opinion on a pap r, and the 1a wyer copied it and signed under the ca~e as if it hacl been hi · own. It run so low with him that when North wa · at London, he ' sent up his ca es to him, ancl had opinion · returned by the post; and in the mean time he put otf hi:; ·lients upon pretence of taking 1nore seriout) con · idcrat ion." A.t last the attorneys found hi1n out .-o completely that they entirely deserted him, and he wa obliged to giv \ up practice. By family intere~t he obtait~ d the lucrativ in cure of" trea. urer to the che 't at Chatham," but by his voluptuou and reckless course of life he got deeper and deeper in debt and he mortQ"ao-ed his c tate to ~fr. North for fifteen hundred u b . pounds, the full amount of its value. Fr01n some Inadver-tence, the title deeds were allowed to remain in \Yright's hands, and being immediately again in want, he applied to Sir Walter Plum1ner to lend him five hundred pounds on mort-e- ao-e o~ure n.n o- the Iuort<Y·trrec1 estn. t e as a, lS" ccurity' and as ertin.g... o b ' 0 o • o . that this would be the first charge upon it. The wary Sn· 31 * |
