Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/396

Rh passed by. Then came the clerks of the judge, gentlemen in holy orders, well skilled in the wondrous penmanship and still more curious Norman-French and law-Latin of the day; next, with well-secured saddle bags, the grave, long-bearded clerk of as size, saving the judge, the most important man upon the circuit. Could we but peep into those saddle-bags, gentle reader, what curious documents should we discover! There, carefully folded, lies the royal commission, with the broad seal of England attached, giving power to those within it named to try all treasons, misprisions of treason, insurrections, rebellions, counterfeitings, clippings, washings, false-coinings, murders, felonies, manslaughters, killings, burglaries, unlawful meetings and conventicles, false allegations, trespasses, riots, escapes, contempts, negligences, oppressions, deceits, and a great deal more, all drawn out in much the same form as at the present day; there lie indictments, carefully worded by far-seeing men in their quiet rooms in London, and to escape from which those politically obnoxious beings for whose use and benefit they are designed, will have to be clever indeed; and if it be a spring circuit, there is the bishop's consent for the judge to try prisoners and causes in the holy time of Lent, and a license signed by all the prelates of the realm for him to administer oaths in that same holy season; and there also, doubtless, lie many other curious documents, the very names of which have departed from the memory of our degenerate age.

Close to the clerk of assize ride his officers, and then two or three learned serjeants of the law in their red robes and hoods, followed by the hero of the procession,—the judge. Picture to yourselves an old man of reverend aspect riding upon an ancient mule, and clothed in a long red coat of the finest broadcloth faced with velvet, the sleeves and collar being thickly embroidered with gold; on his head the solemn square cloth cap, now the awful forerunner of death, from beneath which peeps forth the border of a white satin coif; and you will have some idea of the external appearance of "my lord, the king's justice." Doubtless that stern countenance is the index of a deeply engaged mind, pondering on the weighty instructions received from its lord and master, when last they met in the Star-chamber to confer upon the circuit, and to settle the fate of many discontented beings shortly to be placed upon their trial; and very likely those instructions clash unpleasantly with the oath taken to administer justice "equally as well to rich as to poor." How difficult the task! Especially to one who, unlike his happy successors, independent of ministers or crown, could be removed from office for the slightest cause or for no cause at all, if his sovereign should so will it.

Behind the judge ride the sheriffs of London and Middlesex, who courteously conduct him out of their bailiwick; and a long line of serving-men, together with three or four sumpter-horses, wind up the procession. Thus, mile after mile, do the administrators of justice proceed. The boundary of each county witnesses the departure of one set of officers and the arrival of another. At every humble door the cottager appears, and with doffed hat and bended knee witnesses the majesty of the law pass by; at every mansion the anxious owner, with loyalty to his sovereign and a due respect for his own security, reverentially offers the hospitality of his carefully prepared refreshment. Nor is the journey so ill managed but that lordly dwellings are each evening found, where the judge is feasted and lodged right royally, and upon the morrow sent upon his way rejoicing.

A proud man, indeed, is the judge by the time he reaches the first assize-town where his commission is to be executed; the inhabitants flock out by hundreds and by thousands to witness his arrival; the high sheriff with a long train of javelin-men and others sounding trumpets, together with