Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	city_n	great_a	king_n	11,168	5	3.7047	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77900	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.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1700 (1700)	Wing B5829A; ESTC R175615	23,651	17

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 F●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

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