Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/82

 a suitor in chancery, being displeased with a report made hy Sir John Tindal, one of the masters of the court, shot him dead as he was alighting from his carriage, and, upon his committal to prison, he destroyed himself. An account of this murder was published under the superintendence of Sir Francis, to counteract the erroneous opinions which had been circulated through the country and the false commiseration which the misery of this wretched offender had excited, in times when the community was alive to hear any slander against the administration of justice.

When the morbid feeling of insane minds is awakened, there is always some chance of a repetition of its outrages. Towards the end of the year the lord keeper was in danger of sharing the fate of Sir John Tindal, from the vindictive temper of Lord Clifton, against whom a decree had been made, who declared publicly that "he was sorry he had not stabbed the lord keeper in his chair the moment he pronounced judgment." As soon as this misguided suitor, who afterwards destroyed himself, was committed to the tower, Bacon wrote to Buckingham, saying, "I pray your lordship in humbleness to let his majesty know that I little tear the Lord Clifton, but I much fear the example, that it will animate ruffians and rodomonti extremely against the seats of justice, which are his majesty's own seats, yea, and against all authority and greatness, if this pass without public censure and example, it having gone already so far as that the person of a baron hath been committed to the Tower. The punishment it may please his majesty to remit, and I shall, not formally but heartily, intercede for him, but an example, setting myself aside, I wish for terror of persons that may be more dangerous than he, towards the first judge of the kingdom." Not content with discharging the common duties of a judge, he laboured, whenever an opportunity offered, to improve the administration of justice.

He carried into effect the proposal, which, when attorney-general, he had submitted to the king, that two legal reporters, with an annual stipend to each of £100, should be appointed. He realized the intention, which he expressed upon taking his seat, by issuing ordinances for the better administration of justice in the chancery, upon which the practice of the court at this day is founded. Before the circuits he assembled the judges, and explained his views of their duties, when they, as the planets of the kingdom, were representing their sovereign, in the administration of law and justice;—to advance kind feeling and familiar intercourse, he introduced a mode, at that time not usual, of inviting the judges to runner; thus manifesting, as he says in a letter to Lord Burleigh, that it is ever a part of wisdom not to exclude inferior matters of access amongst the care of great: and, upon the promotion of any judge, he availed himself of the opportunity to explain the nature of judicial virtues, of which an extensive outline may be seen in his works.

"The judge is a man of ability, drawing his learning out of his books, and not out of his brain; rather learned than ingenious; more plausible than witty; more reverend than plausible. He is a man of gravity; of a retired nature, and unconnected with politics: his virtues are inlaid, not embossed.—He is more advised than confident.—He has a right understanding of justice, depending not so much on reading other men's writings, as upon the goodness of his own natural reason and meditation.—He is of sound judgment; not diverted from the truth by the strength of immediate impression.—He is a man of integrity:—of well regulated passions; beyond the influence either of anger, by which he may be incapable of judging, or of hope, either of money or of worldly advancement, by which he may decide unjustly; or of fear, either of the censure of others, which is cowardice, or of giving pain when it ought to be given, which is improper compassion.—He is just both in private and in public.—He without solicitation accepts the office, with a sense of public duty.—He is patient in hearing, in inquiry, and in insult; quick in apprehension, slow in anger.—His determination to censure is always painful to him, like Cæsar, when he threatened Metellus with instant death, 'Adolescens, durius est mihi hoc dicere quam facere.'—He does not affect the reputation of despatch, nor forget that an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal.—He is diligent in discovering the merits of the cause: by his own exertions; from the witness, and the advocates.—He is cautious in his judgment; not forming a hasty opinion: not tenacious in retaining an opinion when formed: 'never ashamed of being wiser to-day than he was yesterday:' never wandering from the substance of the matter in judgment into useless subtilty and refinement.—He does not delay justice.—He is impartial; never suffering any passion to interfere with the love of truth.—He hears what is spoken, not who speaks: whether it be the sovereign, or a pauper; a friend, or a foe; a favourite advocate, or an intelligent judge.—He decides according to law; 'jus dicere: non jus dare,' is his maxim.—He delivers his judgment in public, 'palam atque astante corona.'

"He discharges his duty to all persons.—To the suitors, by doing justice, and by endeavouring to satisfy them that justice is done:—to the witnesses, by patience, kindness, and by encouragement;—to the jurors, by being a light to lead them to justice:—to the advocates, by hearing them patiently; correcting their defects, not sufering justice to be perverted by their ingenuity, and encouraging their merits:—to the inferior