ch of the three suitors
on the other side had maintained their right. Having thus reduced the
estate of Lady Frances Pope to a fortune estimated at about L14,000, the
lawyer proposed for her hand, and was accepted. After his marriage,
alluding to his exertions in behalf of Lady Elizabeth Lee's very
disputable claim, he used to say that "he had been counsel against
himself;" but Roger North frankly admits that "if this question had not
come to such a composition, which diminished the ladies' fortunes, his
brother had never compassed his match."

It was not without reluctance that the Countess of Downs consented to
the union of her daughter with the lawyer who had half ruined her, and
who (though he was Solicitor General and in fine practice) could settle
only L5000 upon the lady. "I well remember," observes Roger, "the good
countess had some qualms, and complained that she knew not how she could
justify what she had done (meaning the marrying her daughters with no
better settlement)." To these qualms Francis North, with lawyer-like
coolness, answered--"Madam, if you meet with any question about that,
_say_ that your daughter has L1000 per annum jointure."

The marriage was celebrated in Wroxton Church; and after bountiful
rejoicings with certain loyalist families of Oxfordshire, the happy
couple went up to London and lived in chambers until they moved into a
house in Chancery Lane.

It may surprise some readers of this book to learn that George Jeffreys,
the odious judge of the Bloody Circuit, was a successful gallant. Tall,
well-shaped, and endowed by nature with a pleasant countenance and
agreeable features, Jeffreys was one of the most fascinating men of his
time. A wit and a _bon-vivant_, he could hit the humor of the roystering
cavaliers who surrounded the 'merry monarch;' a man of gallantry and
polite accomplishments, he was acceptable to women of society. The same
tongue that bullied from the bench, when witnesses were perverse or
counsel unruly, could flatter with such melodious affectation of
sincerity, that he was known as a most delightful companion. As a
musical connoisseur he spoke with authority; as a teller of good stories
he had no equal in town. Even those who detested him did not venture to
deny that in the discharge of his judicial offices he could at his
pleasure assume a dignity and urbane composure that well became the seat
of justice. In short, his talents and graces were so various and
effectiv