CHAPTER XVI.

A ROD PICKLED BY WILLIAM COLE.

"A proneness to take bribes may be generated from the habit of taking
fees," said Lord Keeper Williams in his Inaugural Address, making an
ungenerous allusion to Francis Bacon, whilst he uttered a statement
which was no calumny upon King James's Bench and Bar, though it is
signally inapplicable to lawyers of the present day.

Of Williams, tradition preserves a story that illustrates the prevalence
of judicial corruption in the seventeenth century, and the jealousy with
which that Right Reverend Lord Keeper watched for attempts to tamper
with his honesty. Whilst he was taking exercise in the Great Park of
Nonsuch House, his attention was caught by a church recently erected at
the cost of a rich Chancery suitor. Having expressed satisfaction with
the church, Williams inquired of George Minors, "Has he not a suit
depending in Chancery?" and on receiving an answer in the affirmative,
observed, "he shall not fare the worse for building of churches." These
words being reported to the pious suitor, he not illogically argued that
the Keeper was a judge likely to be influenced in making his decisions
by matters distinct from the legal merits of the case put before him.
Acting on this impression, the good man forthwith sent messengers to
Nonsuch House, bearing gifts of fruits and poultry to the holder of the
seals. "Nay, carry them back," cried the judge, looking with a grim
smile from the presents to George Minors; "nay, carry them back, George,
and tell your friend that he shall not fare the better for sending of
presents."

Rich in satire directed against law and its professors, the literature
of the Commonwealth affords conclusive testimony of the low esteem in
which lawyers were held in the seventeenth century by the populace, and
shows how universal was the belief that wearers of ermine and gentlemen
of the long robe would practice any sort of fraud or extortion for the
sake of personal advantage. In the pamphlets and broadsides, in the
squibs and ballads of the period, may be found a wealth of quaint
narrative and broad invective, setting forth the rascality of judges and
attorneys, barristers and scriveners. Any literary effort to throw
contempt upon the law was sure of success. The light jesters, who made
merry with the phraseology and costumes of Westminster Hall, were only a
few degrees less welcome than the stronger and more indignant scribes
who cried aloud a