doing his Duty in those Critical Times resolved to take him off from it and raise him to the Bench. To these were added the Importunities of all his Friends who thought that in time of so much Danger and Oppression it might be no small Security to the Nation to have a Man of his Integrity and Abilities on the Bench and the Usurpers themselves held him in that Estimation that they were glad to have him give a Countenance to their Courts and by promoting one that was known to have different Principles from them affected the Reputation of Honouring and trusting Men of Eminent Virtues of what perswasion soever they might be in relation to publick Matters Not long after he was made a Judge which was in the year 1653. when he went the Circuit a Tryal was brought before him at Lincoln concerning the Murther of one of the Townsmen who had been of the King's Party and was killed by a Soldier of the Garrison there He was in the Fields with a Fowling-piece on his Shoulder which the Soldier seeing he came to him and said it was contrary to an Order which the Protector had made That none who had been of the King's Party shall carry Arms and so he would have forced it from him But as the other did not regard the Order so being stronger than the Soldier he threw him down and having beat him he left him The Soldier went into the Town and told one of his fellow Soldiers how he had been used and got him to go with him and lie in wait for the Man that he might be revenged on him They both watched his coming to Town and one of them went to demand his Gun which he refusing the Soldier struck at him and as they were strugling the other came behind and ran his Sword into his Body of which he presently died It was in the time of the Assizes so they were both tryed against the one there was no Evidence of forethought Felony so he was only found guilty of Man-slaughter and Burnt on the Hand but the other was found guilty of Murther And though Colonel Whaley that commanded the Garrison came into the Court and urged That the Man was Killed only for disobeying the Protector 's Orders and that the Soldier was but doing his Duty yet the Judge regarded both his Reasonings and Threatnings very little and therefore he not only gave Sentence against him but ordered the Execution to be so suddenly done that it might not be possible to procure a Reprieve which he believed would have been obtained if there had been time enough granted for it Another occasion was given him of shewing both his Justice and Courage when he was in another Circuit he understood that the Protector had ordered a Jury to be returned for a Tryal in which he was more than ordinarily concerned Upon this Information he Examined the Sheriff about it who knew nothing of it for he said he referred all such things to the under-Sheriff and having next asked the under-Sheriff concerning it he found the Jury had been returned by order from Cromwell upon which he shewed the State that all Juries ought to be returned by the Sheriff or his lawful Officer And this not being done according to Law he dismissed the Jury and would not try the Cause Upon which the Protector was highly displeased with him and at his return from the Circuit he told him in Anger he was not fit to be a Judge to which all the Answer he made was That it was very True Another thing met him in the Circuit upon which he resolved to have proceeded severely Some Anabaptists had rushed into a Church and had disturbed a Congregation while they received the Sacrament not without some Violence At this he was highly offended for he said it was intollerable for Men who pretended so highly to Liberty of Conscience to go and disturb others especially those who had the Encouragement of the Law on their side But these were so supported by some great Magistrates and Officers that a stop was put to his proceedings upon which he declared he would meddle no more with the Tryals on the Crown-site When Penruddocks Tryal was brought on there was a special Messenger sent to him requiring him to assist at it It was in Vacation-time and he was at his Country-House at Alderly he plainly refused to go and said the four Terms and two Circuits were enough and the little Interval that was between was little enough for their private Affairs and so he excused himself he thought it was not necessary to speak more clearly but if he had been urged to it he would not have been affraid of doing it He was at that time chosen a Parliament-Man for there being then no House of Lords Judges might have been chosen to sit in the House of Commons and he went to it on design to obstruct the Mad and Wicked Projects then on foot by two parties that had very different Principles and ends Thus he continued administring Justice till the Protector dyed but then he both refused the Mournings that were sent to him and his Servants for the Funeral and likewise to accept of the New Commission that was offered him by Richard and when the rest of the Judges urged it upon him and imployed others to press him to accept of it he rejected all their Importunities and said he could act no longer under such Authority He lived a private man till the Parliament met that called home the King to which he was returned Knight of the Shire from the County of Gloucester In that Parliament he bore his share in the happy period then put to the Confusions that threatned the utter Ruin of the Nation Soon after this when the Courts in Westminster-Hall came to be settled he was made Lord Chief Baron and when the Earl of Clarendon then Lord Chancellor delivered him his Commission in the Speech he made according to the Custom on such Occasions he expressed his Esteem of him in a very singular manner telling him among other things That if the King could have found out an honester and fitter Man for that Imployment he would not have advanced him to it and that he had therefore preferred him because he knew none that deserved it so well It is ordinary for Persons so promoted to be Knighted but he desired to avoid having that Honour done him and therefore for a considerable time declined all Opportunities of waiting on the King which the Lord Chancellor observing sent for him upon Business one day when the King was at his House and told his Majesty there was his modest Chief Baron upon which he was unexpectly Knighted He continued eleven Years in that Place managing the Court and all Procedings in it with singular Justice It was observed by the whole Nation how much he raised the Reputation and Practice of it And those who held Places and Offices in it can all declare not only the
of the Rule and Box-moneys was sent by him to the Jayls to discharge poor Prisoners who never knew from whose hands their Relief came It is also a Custom for the Marshal of the Kings-Bench to present the Judges of that Court with a piece of Plate for a New-years-gift that for the Chief Justice being larger than the rest This he intended to have refused but the other Judges told him it belonged to his Office and the refusing it would be a prejudice to his Successors so he was perswaded to take it but he sent word to the Marshal That instead of Plate he would bring him the value of it in Money And when he received it he immediately sent it to the Prisons for the Relief and discharge of the Poor there He usually invited his poor Neighbours to Dine with him and made them sit at a Table with himself And if any of them were Sick so that they could not come he would send Meat warm to them from his Table And he did not only relieve the Poor in his own Parish but sent Supplies to the Neighbouring Parishes as there was occasion for it And he treated them all with the tenderness and familiarity that became one who considered they were of the same Nature with himself and were reduced to no other Necessities but such as he himself might be brought to But for common Beggars if any of these came to him as he was in his Walks when he lived in the Country he would ask such as were capable of Working Why they went about so idly If they answered It was because they could not find Work he often sent them to some Field to gather all the Stones in it and lay them on a Heap and then would pay them liberally for their Pains This being done he used to send his Carts and caused them to be carried to such places of the Highway as needed mending But when he was in Town he dealt his Charities very liberally even among the Street-Beggars and when some told him That he thereby encouraged Idleness and that most of these were notorious Cheats He used to answer That he believed most of them were such but among them there were some that were great Objects of Charity and prest with grievous Necessities and that he had rather give his Alms to twenty who might be perhaps Rogues than that one of the other sort should perish for want of that small Relief which he gave them The Judge was of a most tender and compassionate Nature this did eminently appear in his Trying and giving Sentence upon Criminals in which he was strictly careful that not a Circumstance should be neglected which might any way clear the Fact He behaved himself with that regard to the Prisoners which became both the gravity of a Judge and the pity that was due to Men whose Lives lay at Stake so that nothing of Jearing or unreasonable Severity ever fell from him He also examined the Witnesses in the softest manner taking care that they should be put under no Confusion which might disorder their Memory and he Summed all the Evidence so equally when he charged the Jury that the Criminals never complained of him When it came to him to give Sentence he did it with that Composedness and Decency and his Speeches to the Prisoners directing them to prepare for Death were so Weighty and so free of all Affectation and so Serious and Devout that many loved to go to the Tryals when he sate Judge to be edified by his Speches and behaviour in them and used to say they heard very few such Sermons But though the pronouncing the Sentence of Death was the piece of his Imployment that went most against the Grain with him yet in that he could never be molified to any tenderness which hindred Justice When he was pressed to recommend some whom he had Condemned to his Majesties Mercy and Pardon he answered He could not think they deserved a Pardon whom he himself had Adjudged to Dye So that all he would do in that kind was to give the King a true Account of the Circumstances of the Fact after which his Majesty was to Consider whether he would interpose his Mercy or let Justice take place His Mercifulness extended even to his Beasts for when the Horses that he had kept long grew Old he would not suffer them to be Sold or much Wrought but ordered his Men to turn them loose on his Grounds and put them only to easie Work such as going to Market and the like he used old Dogs also with the same care His Shepherd having one that was become blind with Age he intended to have killed or lost him but the Judge coming to hear of it made one of his Servants bring him home and fed him till he Dyed And he was scarce ever seen more Angry than with one of his Servants for neglecting a Bird that he kept so that it Dyed for want of Food He had a generous and noble Idea of GOD in his Mind and this he found did above all other Considerations preserve his quiet And indeed that was so well Estalished in him that no Accidents how sudden soever were observed to discompose him of which an Eminent Man of that Profession gave me this instance In the year 1666. an opinion did run through the Nation That the End of the World would come that Year This whether set on by Astrologers or advanced by those who thought it might have some relation to the number of the Beast in the Revelation or prompted by Men of ill Designs to disturb the publick Peace had spread mightily among the People and Judge Hale going that Year the Western-Circuit it happened that as he was on the Bench at the Assizes a most terrible Storm fell out unexpectedly accompanied with such flashes of Lightning and claps of Thunder that the like will hardly fall out in an Age upon which a whisper or a rumour run through the Crowd That now was the World to end and the Day of Judgment to begin and at this there followed a general Consternation in the whole Assembly and all Men forgot the Business they were met about and betook themselves to their Prayers This added to the horror raised by the Storm looked very dismally insomuch that my Author a Man of no ordinary Resolution and firmness of Mind confessed It made a great Impression on himself But he told me That he did observe the Judge was not a whit affected and was going on with the Business of the Court From which he made this conclusion That his Thoughts were so well fixed that he believed if the World had been really to end it would have given him no considerable disturbance But I shall now conclude all that I shall say concerning him with what one of the greatest Men of the Profession of the Law sent me an abstract of the Character he had made of him upon long observation and much converse with him It
Impartiality of his Justice for that is but a common Virtue but his Generosity his vast Diligence and his great Exactness in Tryals This gave occasion to the only Complaint that ever was made of him That he did not dispatch Matters quick enough but the great care he used to put Suits to an End as it made him slower in deciding them so it had this good Effect that Causes tryed before him were seldom if ever tryed again Nor did his Administration of Justice lie only in that Court He was one of the principal Judges that sat in Cliffords-Inn about settling the difference between Landlord and Tenant after the Dreadful Fire of London He being the first that offered his Service to the City for accommodating all the Differences that might have arisen about the Rebuilding it in which he behaved himself to the satisfaction of all Persons concerned so that the suddain and quiet Building of the City which is justly to be Reckoned one of the Wonders of the Age is in no small measure due to the great Care which heand Sir Orlando Bridgeman then Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas afterwards Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England used and to the Judgment they shewed in that Affair since without the Rules then laid down there might have otherwise followed such an endless train of vexatious Suits as might have been little less chargeable than the Fire it self had been But without detracting from the Labours of the other Judges it must be acknowledged that he was the most Instrumental in that great Work for he first by way of Scheme contrived the Rules upon which he and the rest proceeded afterwards in which his readiness in Arithmetick and his skill in Architecture were of use to him But it will not seem strange that a Judge behaved himself as he did who at the Entry into his Imployment set such excellent Rules to himself which will appear in the following Paper Copied from the Original under his own Hand Things Necessary to be Continually had in Remembrance I. That in the Alministration of Justice I am intrusted for God the King and Country and therefore II. That it be done 1. Vprightly 2. Deliberately 3. Resolutely III. That I rest not upon my own Vnderstanding or Strength but Implore and rest upon the Direction and Strength of God IV. That in the Execution of Justice I carefully lay aside my own Passions and not give way to them however provoked V. That I be wholly intent upon the Business I am about remitting all other Cares and Thoughts as unseasonable and Interruptions VI. That I suffer not myself to be prepossessed with any Judgment at all till the whole Business and both Parties be beard VII That I never engage my self in the beginning of any Cause but reserve my self unprejudiced till the whole be heard VIII That in Business Capital though my Nature prompt me to Pity yet to consider that there is also a Pity due to the Country IX That I be not too Riged in Matters purely Conscientious where all the barm is Diversity of Judgment X. That I be not byassed with Compassion to the Poor or favour to the Rich in point of Justice XI That Popular or Court-Applause or Distaste have no Influence into any thing I do in point of Distribution of Justice XII Not to be sollicitous what Men will say or think so long as I keep my self exactly according to the Rule of Justice XIII If in criminals it be a measuring cast to incline to Mercy and Acquittal XIV In Criminals that consist merely in Words when no more ensues Moderation is no Injustice XV. In Criminals of Blood if the Fact be Evident Severity is Justice XVI To abhor all private Sollicitations of what kind soever and by whom soever in matters Depending XVII To charge my Servants 1. Not to interpose in any Business whatsoever 2. Not to take more than their known Fâ—es 3. Not to give any undue precedence to Causes 4. Not to recommend Council XVIII To be short and sparing at Meals that I may be the fitter for Business He would neve receive private Addresses or Recommendations from the greatest Persons in any matter in which Justice was concerned One of the first Peers of England went once to his Chamber and told him That having a Suit in Law to be tryed before him he was then to acquaint him with it that he might the better understand it when it should come to be heard in Court Upon which the Lord Chief Baron interrupted him and said He did not deal fairly to come to his Chamber about such Affairs for he never received any Information of Causes but in open Court where both Parties were to be heard alike so he would not suffer him to go on Whereupon his Grace for he was a Duke went away not a little dissatisfied and complained of it to the King as a Rudeness that was not to be endured But his Majesty bid him content himself that he was no worse used and said he verily believed he would have used himself no better if he had gone to sollicite him in any of his own Causes Another passage fell out in one of his Circuits which was somewhat censured as an affectation of an unreasonable strictness but it flowed from his Exactness to the Rules he had set himself A Gentleman had sent him a Buck for his Table that had a Tryal at the Assizes so when he heard his Name he asked if he was not the same Person that sent him Venison and finding he was the same he told him He could not suffer the Tryal to go on till he had paid him for his Buck to which the Gentleman answered That he never sold his Venison and that he had done nothing to him which he did not do to every Judge that had gone that Circuit which was confirmed by several Gentlemen then present but all would not do for the Lord Chief Baron had learned from Solomon that A Gift perverteth the ways of Judgment and therefore he would not suffer the Tryal to go on till he had paid for the Present upon which the Gentleman withdrew the Record And at Salisbury the Dean and Chapter having according to Custom presented him with six Sugar-Loaves in his Circuit he made his Servants pay for the Sugar before he would try their Cause He looked with great Sorrow on the Impiety and Atheism of the Age and so set himself to oppose it not only by the shining Example of his own Life but by engaging in a Cause that indeed could hardly fall into better hands And as he could not find a subject more worthy of himself so there were few in the Age that understood it so well and could manage it more skilfully The occasion that first led him to Write about it was this He was a strict observer of the Lords-Day in which besides his constancy in the publick Worship of God he used to call all his Family
together and repeat to them the Heads of the Sermons with some Additions of his own which he fitted for their Capacities and Circumstances and that being done he had a Custom of shutting himself up for two or three Hours which he either spent in his secret Devotions or on such profitable Meditations as did then occur to his thoughts While the Judge was thus imploying his time the Lord Chief Justice Keyling dying he was on the 18th of May 1671. promoted to be Lord Chief Justice of England He had made the Pleas of the Crown one of the Chief Studies and by much search and long Observation had composed that Great Work concerning them formerly mentioned He that holds the high Office of Justiciary in that Court being the Chief Trustee and Assertor of the Liberties of his Country all People applauded this Choice and thought their Liberties could not be better deposited than in the hands of one that as he understood them well so he had all the Justice and Courage that so sacred a Trust required One thing was much observed and commended in him that when there was great Inequality in the Ability and Learning in the Councellors that were to Plead one against another He thought it became him as the Judge to supply that so he would enforce what the weaker Council managed but indifferently and not suffer the more Learned to carry the Business by the Advantage they had over the others in their quickness and skill in Law and readiness in Pleading till all things were cleared in which the Merits and Strength of the ill defended Cause lay He was not satisfied barely to give his Judgment in Causes but did especially in all Intricate ones give such an Account of the Reasons that prevailed with him that the Council did not only acquiesce in his Authority but were so convinced by his Reasons that I have heard many profess that he brought them often to change their Opinions so that his giving of judgment was really a learned Lecture upon that point of Law and which was yet more the Parties themselves though Interest does too commonly corrupt the Judgment were generally satisfied with the Justice of his decisions even when they were made against them His Impartial Justice and great Diligence drew the Chief Practice after him into whatsoever Court he came Since though the Courts of Common Pleas the Exchequer and the Kings-Bench are appointed for the Tryal of Causes of different Natures yet it is easie to bring most Causes into any of them as the Council of Attornies please so as he had drawn the Business much after him both into the Common-Pleas and the Exchequer it now followed him into the Kings-Bench and many Causes that were depending in the Exchequer and not determined were let fall there and brought again before him in the Court to which he was now removed And here did he spend the rest of his publick Life and Imployment But about four Years and a half after this Advancement he who had hitherto enjoyed a firm and vigorous Health to which his great Temperance and the Equality of his Mind did not a little conduce was on a sudden brought very low by on Inflamation in his Midriff which in two days time broke the Constitution of his Health to such a degree that he never recovered it He became so Asthmatical that with great difficulty he could fetch his Breath that determined in a Dropsie of which he afterwards Died. He understood Physick so well that considering his Age he concluded his Distemper must carry him off in a little time and therefore he resolved to have some of the last Mouths of his Life reserved to himself that being freed of all Worldly Cares he might be preparing for his Change He was also much disabled in his Body that he could hardly tho' supported by his Servants walk through Westminster-Hall or endure the Toil of Business he had been a long time wearied with the distractions that his Imployment had brought on him and his Profession was become ungrateful to him he loved to apply himself wholly to better Purposes as will appear by a Paper that he writ on this subject which I shall here Insert First If I consider the Business of my Profession whether as an Advocate or as a Judge it is true I do acknowledge by the Institution of Almighty God and the Dispensation of his Providence I am bound to Industry and Fidelity in it And as it is an act of Obedience unto his Will it carries with it some things of Religious Duty and I may and do take Comfort in it and expect a Reward of my Obedience to him and the good that I do to Mankind therein from the bounty and beneficence and providence of Almighty God and it is true also that without such Employments civil Societies cannot be supported and great Good redounds to Mankind from them and in these respects the Conscience of my own Industry Fidelity and Integrity in them is a great Comfort and Satisfaction to me But yet this I must say concerning these Employments confidered simply in themselves that they are very full of Cares Anxieties and Perturbations Secondly That though they are beneficial to others yet they are of the least Benefit to him that is employed in them Thirdly That they do necessarily involve the party whose Office it is in great Dangers Difficulties and Calumnies Fourthly That they only serve for the Meridian of this Life which is short and uncertain Fifthly That though it be my Duty faithfully to serve in them while I am called to them and till I am duly called from them yet they are great Consumers of that little Time we have here which as it seems to me might be better spent in a pious contemplative Life and a due provision for Eternity I do not know a better temporal Employment than Martha had in testifying her Love and Duty to our Saviour by making provision for hm yet our Lord tells her That though she was troubled about many things there was only one thing necessary and Mary had chosen the better part By this the Reader will see that he continued in his Station upon no other Consideration but that being set in it by the Providence of God he judged he could not abandon that Post which was assigned him without perferring his own private Inclination to the Choice God had made for him but now that same Providence having by this great Distemper disengaged him from the Obligation of holding a Place which he was no longer able to discharge he resolved to resign it At last having wearied himself and all his Friends with his importunate Desires and growing sensibly weaker in Body he did upon the 21st day of February 28 Car. 2. Anno Dom. 167.56 go before a Master of the Chancery with a little Parchment-Deed drawn by Himself and Written all with his own Hand and there sealed and delivered it and acknowledged it to be Enrolled and
The LIFE and DEATH of Sir Matthew Hale Knt. Late Lord Chief Justice of England Containing many Pious and Moral Rules for humane Conversation Also many Remarkable Sayings and Worthy Actions of the said Lord Chief Justice And many other Things worth the Readers perusal Written Originally by Dr. Gilbert Burnet now Bishop of Salisbury London Printed and Sold by J. Bradford at the Bible in Fetter-Lane The Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale Knight late Lord Chief Justice of England MATTHEW HALE was Born at Alderly in Gloucestershire the first of November 1609. His Grandfather was Robert Hale an Eminent Clothier in Wotton-under-edge in that County where he and his Ancesters had lived for many Descents and they had given several parcels of Land for the use of the Poor which were enjoyed by them to this day Thus he was descended rather from a good than a Noble Family and yet what was wanting in the insignificant Titles of High Birth and Noble Blood was more than made up in the true worth of his Ancestors But he was soon deprived of the Happiness of his Fathers Care and Instruction for as he lost his Mother before he was three years old so his Father died before he was five so early was he cast on the Providence of God But that unhappiness was in a great measure made up to him For after some opposition made by Mr. Thomas Poyntz his Uncle by his Mother he was committed to the care of Anthony Kingscot of Kingscot Esquire who was his next Kinsman after his Uncles by his Mother Great care was taken of his Education and his Guardian intended to breed him to be a Divine and being inclined to the way of those then called Puritans put him to some Schools that were Taught by those of that party and in the 17th year of his Age sent him to Magdalen-Hall in Oxford where Obadiah Sedgwick was his Tutor He was an extraordinary Proficient at School and for some time at Oxford But the Stage-Players coming thither he was so much corrupted by seeing many Plays that he almost wholly forsook his Studies By this he not only lost much time but found that his Head came to be thereby filled with such vain Images of things that they were at best Improfitable if not hurtful to him and being afterwards sensible of the Mischief of this he resolved upon his coming to London where he knew the opportunities of such Sights would be more frequent and Inviting never to see a Play again to which ho constantly adhered He was now so taken up with Martial matters that instead of going on in his design of being a Scholar or a Divine he resolved to be a Soldier and his Tutor Sedwick going into the Low-Countries Chaplain to the Renowned Lord Vere and he resolved to go along with him and to trail a Pike in the Prince of Orange's Army but a happy stop was put to this Resolution which might have proved so fatal to himself and have deprived the Age of the great Example he gave and the useful Services he afterwards did his Country He was engaged in a Suite of Law with Sir William Whitmore who laid claim to some part of his Estate and his Guardian being a Man of a retired temper and not made for Business he was forced to leave the University after he had been three Years in it and go to London to sollicite his own Business Being recommended to Serjeant Glanvill for his Counsellor and he observing in him a clear apprehension of things and a solid Judgment and a great fitness for the study of the Law took pains upon him to perswade him to forsake his thoughts of being a Soldier and to apply himself to the study of the Law and this had so good an effect on him that on the 8th of November 1629. when he was past the 20th Year of his Age he was admitted into Lincolns-Inn and being then deeply sensible how much time he had lost and that Idle and Vain things had over-run and almost corrupted his mind he resolved to Redeem the time he had lost and followed his Studies with a diligence that could scarce be believed if the signal effects of it did not gain it Credit He studied for many years at the rate of 16 Hours a day he threw aside all fine Clothes and betook himself to a plain fashion which he continued to use in many points to his dying day Yet he did not at first break off from keeping too much Company with some vain People till a sad Accident drove him from it for he with some other young Students being invited to be merry out of Town one of the Company called for so much Wine that notwithstanding all that Mr. Hale could do to prevent it he went on in his Excess till he fell down as dead before them so that all that were present were not a little affrighted at it who did what they could to bring him to himself again This did particularly affect Mr. Hale who thereupon went into another Room and shutting the Door fell on his Knees and prayed earnestly to God both for his Friend that he might be restored to Life again and that himself might be forgiven for giving such Countenance to so much Excess and he vowed to God that he would never again keep Company in that manner nor drink a Health while he lived His Friend recovered and he most Religiously observed his Vow till his Dying day And though he was afterwards prest to drink Healths particularly the Kings which was set up by too many as a distinguishing mark of Loyalty and drew many into great Excess after his Majesties happy Restoration but he would never dispense with his Vow though he was sometimes roughly treated for this which some hot and indiscreet Men called Obstinacy This wrought an entire change on him now he forsook all vain Company and divided himself between the Duties of Religion and the Studies of his Profession in the former he was so regular that for 36 Years time he never once failed going to Church on the Lord's day this observation he made when an Ague first interrupted that constant Course and he reflected on it as an Acknowledgement of God's great Goodness to him in so long a Continuance of his health He took a strict account of his time of which the Reader will best judge by the Scheme he drew for a Diary which I shall insert Copied from the Original but I am not certain when he made it it is set down in the same Simplicity in which he writ it for his own private use Morning I. To lift up the heart to God in thankfulness for renewing my Life II. To renew my Covenant with God in Christ 1. By renewing Acts of Faith receiving Christ and rejoyoing in the height of that Relation 2. Resolution of being one of his People doing him Allegiance III. Adoration and Prayer IV. Setting a Watch over my own Infirmities and Passions over the
Snares laid in our way Perimus licitis Day Imployment There must be an Imployment two kinds I. Our ordinary calling to serve God in it It is a Service to Christ though never so mean Col. 3. Here Faithfulness Diligence Chearfulness Not to overlay my self with more Business than I can bear II. Our Spiritual Imployments Mingle somewhat of God's Immediate Service in this day Retrestments I. Meat and Drink Moderation seasoned with somewhat of God II. Recreations 1. Not our Business 2. Sutable No Games if given to Covetousness or Passion If alone I. Beware of wandring vain lustful thoughts fly from thy self rather than entertain these II. Let thy Solitary thoughts be profitable view the Evidences of thy Salvation the state of thy Soul the Coming of Christ thy own Mortality it will make thee humble and Watchful Company Do good to them Use God's Name reverently Beware of leaving an ill Impression of ill Example Receive good from them if more knowing Evening Cast up the Accompts of the Day If ought amiss Beg pardon Gather resolution of more Vigilance If well Bless the Mercy and Grace of God that hath supported thee These Notes have an Imperfection in the Wording of them which shews they were only intended for his Privacies No wonder a Man who set such Rul s to himself became quickly very Eminent and remarkable Noy the Attorney General being then one of the greatest Men of the Profession took early notice of him and called often for him and directed him in his Study and grew to have such Friendship for him that he came to be called young Noy He passing from the extream of Vanity in his Apparel to that of neglecting himself too much was once taken when there was a Press for the King's Service as a fit Person for it for he was a strong and well built Man But some that knew him coming by and giving notice who he was the Press-Men let him go This made him return to more decency in his Clothes but never to any Superflulty or Vanity in them Once as he was Buying some Cloath for a new Suit the Draper with whom he differed about the Price told him he should have it for nothing if he would promise him a Hundred Pound when he came to be Lord Chief Justice of England to which he answered That he could not with a good Conscience wear any Man's Cloath unless he payed for it so he satisfied the Draper and carried away the Cloath Yet that same Draper lived to see him advanced to that same dignity While he was thus improving himself in the Study of the Law he not only kept the Hours of the Hall constantly in Term-time and continued then to follow his Studies with an unwearied diligence and not being satisfied with the Books writ about it or to take things upon trust was very diligent in searching all Records Then did he make divers Collections out of the Books he had Read and mixing them with his own Observations digected them into Common-place Book which he did with so much Industry and Judgment that an Eminent Judge of the Kings-Bench borrowed it of when he was Lord Chief Baron He unwillingly lent it because it had been Writ by him before he was called to the Bar and had never been throughly revised by him since that Time only what Alterations had been made in the Law by subsequent Statutes and Judgments were added by him as they happened but the Judge having perused it said That though it was Composed by him so early he did not think any Lawyer in England could do it better except he himself would again set about it He set himself much to the Study of the Roman Law and though he liked the way of Judicature in England by Juries much better than that of the Civil Law where so much was trusted to the Judge yet he often said that the true Grounds and Reasons of Law were so well delivered in the Digests that a man could never understand Law as a Science so well as by seeking it there and therefore lamented much that it was so little Studied in England When he was called to the Barr and began to make a Figure in the World the late unhappy Wars broke out in which it was no easie thing for a Man to preserve his Integrity and to live Securely free from great danger and trouble He had read the Life of Pompenious Atticus writ by Nepos and having observed that he had passed through a time of much Distraction as ever was in any Age or State from the Wars of Marius and Scilla to the beginnings of Augustus his Reign without the least blemish on his Reputation and free from any Considerable Danger being held in great Esteem by all Parties and courted and favoured by them He set him as a Pattern to himself and observing that besides those Virtues which are necessary to all Men and at all times there were two things that chiefly preseroed Atticus the one was his engaging in no Faction and medling in no publick Business the other was his constant favouring and relieving those that were lowest which was ascribed by such as prevailed to the Generosity of his Temper and procured him much Kindness from those on whom he had exercised his Bounty when it came to their turn to Govern He resolved to guide himself by those Rules as much as possible for him to do He not only avoided all publick Imployment but the very talking of News and was always both Favourable and Charitable to those who were deprest and was sure never to provoke any in particular by censuring or reflecting on their Actions for many that have Conversed much with him have told me they never heard him speak ill of any Person He was imployed in his practice by all the King's party He was assigned Council to the Earl of Strafford and Arch-Bishop Laud and afterwards to the Blessed King himself when brought to the infamous Pageantry of a Mock-Tryal and offered to plead for him with all the Courage that so Glorious a Cause ought to have inspired him with but was not suffered to appear because the King refusing as he had good reason to submit to the Court it was pretended none could be admitted to speak for him He was also Council for the Duke of Hamilton the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel His Plea for the former of these I have published in the Memories of the Duke's Life Afterwards also being Council to the Lord Craven he pleaded with that force of Argument that the then Attorney-General threatned him for appearing against the Government to whom he answered he was Pleading in defence of those Laws which they declared they would maintain and preserve and he was doing his duty to his Client so that he was not to be daunted with Threatnings Cromwell seeing him possest of so much Practice and he being one of the Eminentest Men of the Law who was not at all affraid of
and have affected all occasions of raising their own Esteem by depreciating other Men He on the contrary was the most obliging Man that ever Practised If a young Gentleman happened to be retain'd to argue a point in Law where he was on the contrary side he would very often mend the Objections when he came to repeat them and always Commend the Gentleman if there were room for it and one good word of his was of more advantage to a young Man than all the favour of the Court could be Having thus far pursued his History and Character in the publick and Exemplary parts of his Life without interrupting the thread of the Relation with what was private and Domestick I shall conclude with a short account of these He was twice Married his first Wife was Anne Daughter of Sir Henry Moore of Faly in Berkshire Grandchild to Sir Francis Moore Serjeant at Law by her he had Ten Children the four first Died young the other six lived to be all Married And he out lived them oll except his eldest Daughter and his youngest Son who are yet alive The Conclusion THus lived and died Sir Matthew Hale the renounced Lord Chief Justice of England He had one of the blessings of Virtue in the highest measure of any of the Age that does not always follow it which was that he was universally much valued and admired by Men of all sides and perswasions For as none could hate him but for his Justice and Virtues so the great estimation he was generally in made that few durst undertake to defend so ingrateful a Paradox as any thing said to Lessen him would have appeared to be His Name is scarce ever mentioned since his Death without particular accents of singular respect His oppinion in points of Law generally passes as an uncontroulable authority and is often pleaded in all the Courts of Justice And all that knew him well do still speak of him as one of the perfectest Patterns of Religion and Virtue they ever saw The Commendations given him by all sorts of People are such that I can hardly come under the Censures of this Age for any thing I have said concerning him yet if this Book lives to aftertimes it will be looked on perhaps as a Picture drawn more according to Fancy and Invention than after the Life if it were not those who knew him well establishing it Credits in the present Age will make it pass down to the next with a clearer Authority As he was honoured while he lived so he was much lamented when he died And this will still be acknowledged as as a just Inscription of his Memory tho' his Modesty forbid any such to be put on his Tombstone That he was one of the Greatest Patterns this Age has Afforded whether in his Private Deportment as a Christian or in his Publick Employments either at the Bar or on the Bench. FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THe Best and most Experienced Remedy for Sore or Weak Eyes that ever yet was made known to the World being of that wonderful Efficacy that it infallibly dispels any Humor or Salt Rheum distilling from the Head and takes all Soreness or Redness or Swellings It also strengthens weak Eyes sometimes occasioned by the Small-Pox and will disperse any Film or Cataract growing over the Eye whereby the Sight oftentimes becomes dim In a few times using this Excellent Remedy to those that will be perswaded to use it often it will preserve the Sight to an incredible Age and read the smallest of Prints It being a Secret acquainted by a Gentleman in his long Study whereby he has wrought wonderful Cures among his Relations and Aquaintance and now made Publick for the Benefit of all People that will make tryal of it For those that are really Poor they shall have it for nothing to Others for 6 d. the Bottle Only to he sold at the Bible in Fetter-Lane near Fleet-street