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Master, or his Clerk,' but according to the length of the statement. The Clerk takes it for granted, that the investigation of a state of facts of a given length may be expected to occupy a given number of hours. The Solicitor, therefore, in drawing such his bill of costs, after the statement has been gone through, leaves a blank for the number of warrants "to proceed on the state of facts." The Master's Clerk fills up the blank, by inserting such a number, as might, if there had been much contention between the different parties, have by possibility been issued. Thus, where two or three are all that, in fact, have been taken out, ten or fifteen are charged and allowed. The Solicitor produces those he has actually received in the course of the business, and the Clerk delivers to him so many more as are necessary to make up the requisite number."

P. 12. "A similar process takes place with respect to the Report. If the charge for the warrants alone were all that was to be complained of, the mischief would not be so great. But you are aware, Sir,3 that an attendance on each of these warrants is charged for and allowed, and that frequently by several different Solicitors, so that the expense to the suitors is grievously increased."

II. Of the sinister profit made by the Solicitor, the greater part has for its cause the rapacity of the Master, supported by the Chancellor.

P. 9. "Copies of proceedings of all sorts, of states of facts, of affidavits, of reports, of every paper in short which is brought into the office, are multiplied without the least necessity; and, in many instances, are charged for, though never made. For instance, in an amicable suit, where the only object is to obtain the

Of the business charged for, as if done by the Master, the greater part, Masters taken together, is done by the Master's cleak. The officers styled Six-clerks have long ascended into the Epicurean heaven, the region of sinecures the Masters are jogging on in the road to it. I have known instances of Masterships given to common lawyers, to whom the practice of the Court was as completely unknown as any thing could be.

2 Thus exacting, for the Master, payment for that same number of attendances not bestowed; and as to Solicitors, not only allowing but forcing them, on both sides-and there may be any number on each side-to receive payment, each of them, for the same number of attendances on his part.

3 Thus saith the nameless Barrister to the Master, who has taken care all this while to know no more of the matter than Lord Eldon does. He is one of the thirteen Commissioners, commissioned by Lord Eldon, to inquire, along with Lord Eldon, into the conduct of Lord Eldon.

Though no cause has more than two sides-the plaintiff's and the defendant's-yet on each side there may be as many different Solicitors as there are different parties, and to the number of them there is no limit.

opinion of the Court on some doubtful point, and the Master's report is previously necessary to ascertain the facts of the case clearly, each Solicitor concerned is required, in most instances, to take, or at least to pay for, a copy of the state of facts carried in, of the affidavits in support of it, and of the draft of the report; and in the event of his not taking these copies, he is not allowed to charge for any of his attendances in the Master's office."

P. 10. The draft of the report is kept with the other papers relating to the suit in the Master's office; and to such a length is the system of charging for copies carried, that in amicable suits it not unfrequently happens, I believe, that no copy whatever of the draft report is made, but the Solicitor merely looks over the original draft in the Master's office. Yet, even in this case, two or more copies will be charged for as made for the plaintiff and defendants." pp. 10, 11.

PH. How, by breach of duty as to attendance on the part of Masters and their Clerks, delay and expense are manufactured by them, and profit out of it, over and above what is exacted by them on mendacious grounds, as above.

P. 15. "The Masters seldom, I believe, make their appearance in Southampton-buildings before eleven, and are mostly to be seen on their way home by three o'clock at the latest."

P. 16. "Another evil, is that of issuing warrants to different parties to attend at the same hour."

With some exceptions (says another pamphlet, with a high and responsible name to it, page 32,) I find a general understanding prevails, that the earliest appointment for a Master must be eleven and the latest at two o'clock." Consequence-warrant sent for, frequent answer Master full for a week: page 31. Court sits from en to four.' So far the authority. Court, sitting as yet in public, cannot convert itself into a sinecurist: this accommodation it cannot afford to any but its feudatories, who, so long as they act, the shorter the proportion of time in a day they sit on each cause, have the greater number of attendances to be paid for.

The attendance, styled the Master's, is, after all, in many instances, only the Clerk's so that it may be matter of calculation at the end of what period, under the cherishing care of Lord Eldon, all Masterships may have ripened into sinecures, and thus completed the course completed already by the Six-Clerkships. Per pamphlet, intitled Rewards, &c. p. 49, of which presently. Average emolument of one of the Master's Clerks, in 1822, 1823, and 1824, 2,3007. a year.

IV. Strict community of sinister interest between the judicial and professional lawyers; the judicial, principals, the professional, Jorced accomplices.

P. 13. Their bills will be less rigidly examined. Under these circumstances it is not the interest of a Solicitor to quarrel with the Master's clerk.". Both are alike gainers by the existing system. p. 14. "In cases where the costs come out of a fund in court, much less strictness is likely to prevail. If the plaintiff's Solicitor be allowed for attendances on more warrants than are actually taken out during the progress of the business, a similar allowance must be made to the defendant's Solicitor. But even if it were both the interest and inclination of the Soliciter to amend this practice, it is not in his power so to do. He might indeed amend it so far as his own charges go, but no farther. Over those of the Master's clerks, he has no control; and he is moreover at the mercy of the clerk. If he quarrels with the clerk, he must expect to be thwarted and delayed in every suit which comes into that office, and to have his bills rigorously taxed. The Master's clerk, with the assistance of a clerk in court, taxes the Solicitor's bill; but there is nobody to tax the Master's bill."-p. 14.

V. Corruption and extortion, by bribes, given to and received by Master's clerks, in addition to the sinister profit, carried as above to the account of the Master.

P. 13. "The gratuities at present allowed to the Master's clerks ought to be done away with altogether.... Solicitors, who are in the habit of giving large gratuities to the clerks, will at any rate be looked on favorably. Their business will be readily attended to, and oftentimes to the delay of others, who, in strictness, are intitled to priority."

VI. Anno 1814, Lord Eldon's eyes, forced to open themselves to fraud and extortion in one portentously scandalous instance, kept shut in all other instances before and since.

P. 11. With regard to copies of particulars of sale, where an estate is sold in the Master's office, a material alteration has of late years been made. To such a height had these charges amounted, that in one instance (Casamajor v. Strode) 700l. were claimed for compensation-money, in lieu of written copies of particulars of sale. In consequence of that charge, the general order of 24th March, 1814, was made, by which the Master is allowed

"Since writing the above, I have been informed that in one office* the clerk is not allowed to receive gratuities, but is paid a stipulated salary; and I understand that the business of that office is conducted as well, as expeditiously, and as satisfactorily in all respects as in other offices. It might seem invidious to say more so."-Barrister.

Worth knowing it surely would be by the House of Commons, what that one office is.-J. B.

9

sixpence a side for so many printed copies of the particulars as there are actual bidders, and no more There seems no good reason for making even this allowance. It would be fair enough, if the Masters are to continue to be paid by fees, to allow the expense of copying the particular for the printer, and even a fee, if thought necessary, for settling it; but beyond that, as there is no actual trouble, there should be no charge on the suitor."--p.12. Of the particulars above given, a general confirmation may be deduced from the contents of the (I now see) named, but not promiscuously published pamphlet, above alluded to Mr. Vizard's.

What is above is a small sample of that which is said to have place. Of what follows in sections 4, 8, and 9, the design is-to show how that which has place came, and comes to have place.

§ 11. Anno 1807. Order by Chancellor and Master of the Rolls, augmenting the fees, of offices in the gift of one of them.

It consists of a printed pamphlet of 25 pages bearing in the titlepage the words following:

List of Costs in Chancery, regarding Solicitors, and also Clerks in Court, as increased by orders of Court, dated 26th February last; issued under the joint signatures of the Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor, and Master of the Rolls: being exact copies of those orders. The same having been collated with the original Lists of the Court."

"London: printed for Heraud and Co. Law-stationers, Careystreet, corner of Bell-yard. By J. and W. Smith, King-street, Seven-dials, 1807."

In the preamble to that part which regards the "Clerks in Court Fees," the order speaks of itself as establishing " a schedule ofincreased fees." Thereon follows the schedule, and the number of the fees is forty-three.

Anno 1814. In pursuance of certain orders of the House of Commons, returns were made, amongst other Chancery offices, from that of the Six-Clerks, and another from that of the Sworn and Waiting Clerks. These are comprised in pages 5, 6, 7, 8, of a paper intitled "Fees in Courts of Justice." Dates of order for printing, 13th May, and 11th July, 1814. Nos. 234 and 250.

Inthe return relative to the Sworn Clerks, are reprinted the contents of the pamphlet above mentioned..

§ IV. Profit to subordinates was profit to superiors; so, in

course, to successors.

Here begins the proof of the fact that a twopenny-loaf costs twopence: in Honorable and Right Honorable House, the proof

will be insufficient; in any other, unless it were a Right Honorable one, it would be superfluous: for information, yes: but, for reminiscence, it may have its use. id sa

1. Wherever an office has any money value, so has the patronage of it. By the patronage, understand the power of determining the individuals by whom, together, or one after another, it shall be possessed: the whole power or any share in it.

Take any office singly, compared with the value of the possession, that of the patronage may be less or greater. It is most commonly less; but it may be many times greater. Patron (say) a father near the grave; son, in early youth: value of the office if occupied by the father, not one year's purchase; if by the son, a dozen years or more.

Present income of a Six-Clerkship, about 1,000l. a year: so stated to me by gentlemen belonging to the office. It is regarded as a sinecure; patron, the Master of the Rolls. One of these Judges was Sir Thomas Sewel; children, numerous. No further provision for this one, without injustice to others. Suppose it sold, what would it have been worth to him? Not a fifth of what it was by being given.-2,000l. the price usually got by patron. So at least said, by gentlemen belonging to the office. This for the information of Mr. Robinson: the Mr. Robinson who, as far as I understand hitherto, to secure purity interdicts sale, leaving gift as he found it.

Say patron and grandpatron, as you say son and grandson. Grand patronage is not so valuable as patronage. True: nor yet valueless. In the King's Bench, is an office called the Clerkship of the Rules. Annual value, as per Finance Reports, 1797-8, 2,7671. Nominal joint patrons in those days, Earl of Stormont and Mr. Way; grand patron, Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice. Trustee for the Lord Chief Justice, said Earl of Stormont and Mr. Way: price paid 7,000l.: circumstances led me to the knowlege of it. But for grand patron's cowardice (that cowardice which is matter of history) more might have been got for it. That or thereabouts was got for it a second time.

Would you know the money value of an office, exclusive of the emolument in possession? to the aggregate value of the patronage belonging to it, add that of the grand patronage. Nor is that of great grand patronage nothing. Wherever you can see a grand patron other than the king, seeing the king, you see a great grand

patron.

A Mastership was a fortune to a daughter of Lord Erskine.. Had he held the seals long enough, a Six-Clerkship might have been a provision for a son, supposing the matter settled with Sir William Grant, who had no issue,