e
the Revolution of 1688 these last named irregular or fluctuating sources
of judicial income have steadily diminished, and in the present day have
come to an end. Eldon's receipts during his tenure of the seals cannot
be definitely stated, but more is known about them and his earnings at
the bar than he intended the world to discover, when he declared in
Parliament "that in no one year, since he had been made Lord Chancellor,
had he received the same amount of profit which he enjoyed while at the
bar." Whilst he was Attorney General he earned something more than
L10,000 a year; and in returns which he himself made to the House of
Commons, he admits that in 1810 he received, as Lord Chancellor, a gross
income of L22,730, from which sum, after deduction of all expenses,
there remained a net income of L17,000 per annum. He was enabled also to
enrich the members of his family with presentations to offices, and
reversions of places.

Until comparatively recent times, judges were dangerously dependent on
the king's favor; for they not only held their offices during the
pleasure of the crown, but on dismissal they could not claim a retiring
pension. In the seventeenth century, an aged judge, worn out by toil and
length of days, was deemed a notable instance of royal generosity, if he
obtained a small allowance on relinquishing his place in court. Chief
Justice Hale, on his retirement, was signally favored when Charles II.
graciously promised to continue his salary till the end of his
life--which was manifestly near its close. Under the Stuarts, the judges
who lost their places for courageous fidelity to law, were wont to
resume practice at the bar. To provide against the consequences of
ejection from office, great lawyers, before they consented to exchange
the gains of advocacy for the uncertain advantages of the woolsack, used
to stipulate for special allowance--over and above the ancient
emoluments of place. Lord Nottingham had an allowance of L4000 per
annum; and Lord Guildford, after a struggle for better times, was
constrained, at a cost of mental serenity, to accept the seals, with a
special salary of half that sum.[19]

From 1688 down to the present time, the chronicler of changes in the
legal profession, has to notice a succession of alterations in the
system and scale of judicial payments--all of the innovations having a
tendency to raise the dignity of the bench. Under William and Mary, an
allowance (still continu