Westminster Hall and Its Echoes [pp. 417-424]

187 1. ] WESTMINSTER HALL AND ITS ECHOES.
since, no statesman has surpassed him.
On the first day of Michaelmas teram the last he ever sat-he headed the usu al grand procession to Westminster Hall,
riding on his mule, attended by his cross es, pillars, and pole-axes, to defend the
great seal. It was remarked that in the
procession, and while sitting in the Court
of Chancery, his manner was dignified
and collected, although he, and all who
beheld him, knew that from the full me ridian 6f his glory, he hastened to its set ting. Sir Thomas More was simply a
wise man and learned lawyer. Succeed ing Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, he said,
on his induction: " I have cause enough,
by my predecessor's example, to think
honor but slippery. It is a hard matter
to follow such a man. To him, in wit,
prudence, learning, authority, and splendor, I am but as the lighting of a candle
when the sun is down. His fall, too,
doth remind me that this honor should
not please me too greatly." But the
ermine was unsullied while he wore it.
Sir Thomas More stands in the annals
of law as the embodiment of justice.
Fingers tipped with gold found in him no
favorable judgment. "Having heard
causes in the forenoon, from eight to
eleven, after dinner he sat in an open
hall, and received the petitions of all who
chose to come before him, examining
their wrongs, and giving them redress;
and the poorer the supplicant, the more
heartily he hearkened to his cause."
Sir Edward Coke, greatest of English
lawyers, and Bacon, greatest of men,
thrust themselves before us in the memories of the old hall. Between the two
barristers contests were fierce.
"Mr. Bacon," said the former, then
Attorney-General in the reign of Elizabeth, "if you have any tooth against me,
pluck it out, for it will do you more hurt
than all the teeth in your head will do
you good."
"Mr. Attorney, I respect you," replied Bacon, "but I fear you not; and
the less you speak of your own great ness, the more will I think of it."
Coke replied, " I think scorn to stand
upon terms of greatness toward you, who
are less than the little-less than the
least."
"He gave me," says Bacon, who re lates the anecdote, "a number of dis graceful words besides, which I answer ed with silence."
Passing by the trial of Strafford, at
which all England gazed with throbbing
interest-that trial, when, in eloquence
never yet equaled in English tongue, the
noble prisoner said: " My Lords, I have
troubled you longer than I should have
done, were it not for the pledges a saint
in heaven hath left me. What I forfeit
myself is nothing; but that my indiscretion should descend to my posterity,
woundeth me to the very soul. You
will pardon my infirmity: something I
should have added, but am not able;
therefore, let it pass. And now, my
lords, for myself, I have been, by the
blessing of Almighty God, taught that
the afflictions of this present life are not
to be compared to the eternal weight of
glory which shall be revealed hereafter;
and so I submit myself to your judgment, whether it be life or death "-passing by all this, let us listen to echoes from
Westminster Hall, which, after the lapse
of more than two centuries, have not
died away.
Strafford had hardly been beheaded,
when the King himself was arraigned at
the bar. Into any thing beyond the incidents of the trial we do not purpose
entering. A high court of justice was
appointed for the occasion, consisting
of one hundred and twenty-five Commissioners, of whom not more than eighty
assembled at one time. Bradshaw, a
sergeant-at-law, was voted President,
under the title of "Lord President."
The hall was specially fitted up for the
occasion. At the farther end sat the
Commissioners in rows, with high-crown
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