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THE JUDGE.

THE judge is a man of ability, drawing his learning out of his books, and not out of his brain; rather learned than ingenious; more plausible than witty; more reverend than plausible. He is a man of gravity; of a retired nature, and unconnected with politics: his virtues are inlaid, not embossed.—He is more advised than confident. -He has a right understanding of justice, depending not so much on reading other men's writings, as upon the goodness of his own natural reason and meditation.-He is of sound judgment; not diverted from the truth by the strength of immediate impression.—He is a man of integrity :-of well regulated passions; beyond the influence either of anger, by which he may be incapable of judging, or of hope either of money or of worldly advancement, by which he may decide unjustly; or of fear either of the censure of others, which is cowardice, or of giving pain when it ought to be given, which is improper compassion.—He is just both in private and in public.-He without solicitation accepts the office, with a sense of public duty. He is patient in hearing, in inquiry, and in insult; quick in apprehension, slow in anger. His determination to censure is always painful to him, like Cæsar when he threatens Metellus with

instant death, 'Adolescens, durius est mihi hoc dicere quàm facere.'-He does not affect the reputation of dispatch, nor forget that an overspeaking judge is no well tuned cymbal.—He is diligent in discovering the merits of the cause: by his own exertions; from the witnesses, and the advocates. He is cautious in his judgment; not forming a hasty opinion; not tenacious in retaining an opinion when formed: never ashamed of being wiser to-day than he was yesterday: never wandering from the substance of the matter in judgment into useless subtlety and refinement. -He does not delay justice. He is impartial; never suffering any passion to interfere with the love of truth. He hears what is spoken, not who speaks whether it be the sovereign, or a pauper; a friend, or a foe; a favourite advocate, or an intelligent judge. He decides according to law; 'jus dicere: non jus dare,' is his maxim. He delivers his judgment in public, palam atque astante corona.'

He discharges his duty to all persons.-To the suitors, by doing justice, and endeavouring to satisfy them that justice is done: to the witnesses, by patience, kindness, and by encouragement :to the jurors, by being a light to lead them to justice to the advocates, by hearing them patiently; correcting their defects, not suffering justice to be perverted by their ingenuity, and encouraging their merits ;-to the inferior officers,

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by rewarding the virtuous, skilful in precedents, wary in proceeding, and understanding the business of the court; and discountenancing the vicious, sowers of suits, disturbers of jurisdiction, impeders, by tricks and shifts, of the plain and direct course of justice, and bringing it into oblique lines and labyrinths: and the poller and exacter of fees, who justifies the common resemblance of the courts to the bush, whereunto while the sheep flies for defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece:-to himself, by counteracting the tendency of his situation to warp his character, and by proper use of times of recreation to his profession, by preserving the privileges of his office, and by improvement of the law-and to society, by advancing justice and good feeling, in the suppression of force and detection of fraud; in readiness to hear the complaints of the distressed; in looking with pity upon those who have erred and strayed; in courtesy; in discountenancing contentious suits; in attending to appearances, esse et videri: in encouraging respect for the office; and by resigning in due time."

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