or an over-bold defence. And let not the counsel at the bar chop' with the judge, nor wind himself into the handling of the cause anew, after the judge hath declared his sentence; but, on the other side, let not the judge meet the cause half way, nor give occasion to the party to say his counsel or proofs were not heard. 5 Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers. The place of justice is a hallowed place; and therefore not only the bench, but the footpace and precincts, and purprise3 thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption; for, certainly, grapes (as the Scripture saith) "will not Le gathered of thorns or thistles," neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness among the briers and brambles of catching and polling clerks and ministers. The attendance of courts is subject to four bad instruments: first, certain persons that are sowers of suits, which make the court swell, and the country pine: the second sort is of those that engage courts in quarrels of jurisdiction, and are not truly "amici curiæ," but "parasiti curiæ," ," in puffing a court up beyond her bounds for their own scraps and advantages: the third sort is of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts, persons that are full of nimble and sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and labyrinths and the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees, which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of justice to the bush, whereunto while the sheep flies for defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of the fleece. On the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in proceedings, and understanding in the business of the court, is an excellent figure of a court, and doth many times point the way to the judge himself. Fourthly, for that which may concern the sovereign and estate. Judges ought, above all, to remember the conclusion of the Roman Twelve Tables, "Salus populi suprema lex;" and to know that laws, except they be in order to that end, are but things captious, and oracles not well inspired: therefore it is a happy thing in a state, when kings and states do often consult with judges: and again, when judges do often consult with the king and state: the one, where there is matter of law intervenient 10 in business of state; the other, when there is some consideration of state intervenient in matter of law; for many times the things deduced to judgment may FRANCIS BACON. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 25 be "meum" and "tuum,"1 when the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate: I call matter of estate, not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever introduceth any great alteration or dangerous precedent: or concerneth manifestly any great portion of people; and let no man weakly conceive that just laws, and true policy, have any antipathy; for they are like the spirits and sinews, that one moves with the other. Let judges also remember, that Solomon's throne was supported by lions on both sides: let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne; being circumspect, that they do not check or oppose any points of sovereignty. Let not judges also be so ignorant of their own right as to think there is not left them, as a principal pa.t of their office, a wise use and application of laws; for they may remember what the apostle saith of a greater law than theirs, "Nos scimus quia lex bona est, modo quis ea utatur legitime." 3 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon in April, 1564, and died April 23, 1616. It is evident that his townsmen and most of his contemporaries had no idea of his future greatness, and scarcely any accounts of his youth or of the beginning of his literary career have come down to us. It is surprising that all personal recollections of such a man should have disappeared with his generation, and that from the pen of so prolific a writer only his will and three other autographs now remain. Criticism and research have probably done their utmost, and we must be content to study the life of our greatest poet in his works. The only important facts respecting him, which do not rest in part on conjecture, are, that he was educated in the grammar school of his native town, was detected once in deer stealing in the neighboring park of the Lucys, was married while still in his minority, that he appeared in early manhood as an actor, dramatist, and afterwards manager, in London, where he enjoyed the friendship of Ben Jonson, Drayton, and other men of letters, that he acquired a competency, and retired to Stratford, where he died. He was careless of his fame, and took little pains to have his plays correctly printed, to defend his claims to his own productions, or to disavow the authorship of inferior works falsely attributed to him by booksellers. No specimens of his plays are given in this volume, for reasons stated in the preface. A few sonnets only have been selected; but even these would be sufficient to establish his claim to high rank among poets. The student can have his choice among many excellent editions of Shakespeare. Two very admirable editions have appeared in this country, one edited by Richard Grant White, the other by Rev. H. N. Hudson. [Selected Sonnets.] XVIII. SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? * "We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.”—1 Tim. i. 8. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest ; So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, XXIX. When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, XXX. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, XXXIII. Full many a glorious morning have I seen Suns of the world may stain, when heaven's sun staineth. LII. So am I as the rich, whose blesséd key Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure, So is the time that keeps you as my chest, Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope, LV. Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme ; you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth: your praise shall still find room, That wear this world out to the ending doom. So, till the judgment that yourself arise, LXXIII. That time of year thou mayst in me behold, As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, LXXVI. Why is my verse so barren of new pride, To new-found methods and to compounds strange? And keep invention in a noted weed,1 That every word doth almost tell my name, Showing their birth, and where they did proceed? O, know, sweet love, I always write of you, So is my love, still telling what is told. 1 Well-known garb. Weed anciently meant clothing in general; it is modern usage that has limited it to mourning. |