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A43532
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Scrinia reserata a memorial offer'd to the great deservings of John Williams, D. D., who some time held the places of Ld Keeper of the Great Seal of England, Ld Bishop of Lincoln, and Ld Archbishop of York : containing a series of the most remarkable occurences and transactions of his life, in relation both to church and state / written by John Hacket ...
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Hacket, John, 1592-1670.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing H171; ESTC R9469
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790,009
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465
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qualifying of themselves for Civil Employments And another sort of Gentlemen termed Forenses who were Pleaders at the Bar and Trained up in real Causes he makes the former more Innocent and Harmless a great deal then the latter and yields hereof the principal Reason Nos enim qui in foro verisque litibus terimur multum malitiae quamvis nolimus addiscimus For we saith he That are bred in Real Quirkes and personal Contentions cannot but Reserve some Tang thereof whether we will or no. These Reasons though they please some Men yet God be Praised if we do but Right to this Noble Profession they are in our Common-Wealth no way concluding or Demonstrative For I make no question but there are many Scores which profess our Laws who beside their Skill and Practice in this kind are so Richly enabled in all Moral and Intellectual Endowments Ut omnia tanquam singula persiciant that there is no Court of Equity in the World but might be most safely committed unto them I leave therefore the Reason of this Alteration as a Reason of State not to be Fathom'd by any Reason of mine and will say no more of my Calling in the General 85. Now when I reflect upon myself in particular Quis sum ego aut quis Filius Ishai What am I or what can there be in me in Regard of Knowledg Gravity or Experience that should afford me the least Qualification in the world for so weighty a Place Surely if a Sincere Upright and well-meaning Heart doth not cover Thousands of other Imperfections I am the unfittest Man in the Kingdom to supply the Place And therefore must say of my Creation as the Poet said of the Creation of the World Materiam noli quaerere nulla fuit Trouble not your Heads to find out the Cause I confess there was none at all It was without the least Inclination or thought of mine own the immediate work of God and the King And their Aâ—ions are no ordinary Effects but extraordinary Miracles What then Should I beyond the Limits and Duty of Obedience despond and refuse to make some few years Tryal in this place Nor Tuâ—s O Jacobe quod optas Explorare labor mihi jussa capessere fas est I will therefore conclude this Point with the Excuse of that Poet whom the Emperor Gratian would needs enforce to set out his Poem whether he would or no. Non habeo ingenium Caefar sed jussit habebo Cur me posse negem posse quod ille putet I am no way fit for this great Place but because God and the King will have it so I will endeavour as much as I can to make my self fit and put my whole confidence in his Grace and Mercy Qui neminem dignum Eligit sed eligendo dignum facit as St. Austin speaks And so much of my Calling now I come unto my Carriage in this Place 86 It is an Observation which Tully makes In causis dicendis effugere solebat Antonius ne succederet Crasso Antonius was ever afraid to come after Crassus a most Eloquent and Powerful Orator And the greatest discouragement I find in this Place is that I am to come after after indeed nec passibus aequis my two immediate Predecessors the one of 〈◊〉 Excellent in most things the other in all things But both of them so bred in this Course of Life Ut illis plurimarum reruni agitatio frequens nihil esse ignotum patiobatur as Pliny speaks of the Pleaders of his time It were too much to expect at my bands a Man bred in other Studies that readiness or quickness of dispatch which was effected by them Lords both of them brought up in the King's Courts and not in the King's Chappel My Comfort is this That Arriving here as a Stranger I may say as Archimedes did when he found these Geometrical Lines and Angles drawn every where in the Sands of AEgypt Video vestigia humana I see in this Court the Footsteps of Wise Men many Excellent Rules and Orders for the managing the same the which though I might want Learning and Knowledg to invent if they were not thus offer'd to my hands yet I hope I shall not want the Honesty to Act and put in Execution These Rules I will precisely follow without the least deslexion at all until Experience shall Teach me better Every thing by the Course of Nature hath a certain and regular motion The Air and Fire move still upward the Earth and Water fall downward The Celestial Bodies whirl about in one and the self same Course and Circularity and so should every Court of Justice Otherwise it grows presently to be had in Jealousie and Suspicion For as Vel. Paterculus Observes very well In iis homines extraordinaria reformidant qui modum in voluntate habent Men ever suspect the worst of those Rules which vary with the Judges Will and Pleasure I will descend to some few particulars 87. First I will never make any Decree That shall Cross the Grounds of the Common or Statute Laws for I hold by my Place the Custody not of mine own but of the King's Conscience and it were most absurd to let the King's Conscience be at Enmity and Opposition with his Laws and Statutes This Court as I conceive it may be often occasion'd to open and confirm but never to thwart and oppose the Grounds of the Laws I will therefore omit no Pains of mine own nor Conference with the Learned Judges to furnish my self with competency of Knowledg to keep my Resolution in this Point Firm and Inviolable Secondly I shall never give a willing Ear to any Motion made at this Bar which shall not apparently tend to further and hasten the bearing of the Cause The very word Motion derived a movendo to move doth teach us that the hearing is Finis perfectio terminus ad quem the End Perfection and proper Home as it were of the matter propounded If a Counsellor therefore will needs endeavour as Velleius Writes of the Gracchi Optimo ingenio pessime uti to make that bad Use of a good Wit as to justle a Cause out of the King's High-way which I hold in this Court to be Bill Answer Replication Rejoynder Examination and Hearing I will ever Regard it as a Wild Goose Chase and not a Learned Motion The further a Man Runs out of his Way the further he is from home the End of his Journy as Seneca speaks so the more a Man Tattles beside these Points the further it is from the Nature of a Motion Such a Motion is a Motion Per Antiphrasin ut mons a non movendo It tends to nothing but certamen ingenii a Combat of Wit which is Infinite and Endless For when it once comes to that pass some will sooner a great deal loose the Cause then the last Word Thirdly I would have no Man to conceive that I come to this Place to overthrow without special Motives the Orders
of the King Now for your own private I make no question but I may say of you my Lord as one said of Coccius Nerva Foelicior longè quà m cum foelicissimus That you were greater a great deal in your own Contentment than now that you have worthily attained to all this Greatness But as in this World of Things every Element forsakes his Natural Disposition so as we many times see the Earth and Water evaporating upward and the Fire and Air darting downward ad conservationem universi as Philosophy speaks to preserve and maintain the common course So in this World of Men private Must give way to publick Respects Now if it be expected that I should say any thing for your Lordships Direction in this Great Office your Lordships Wisdom and my Ignorance will plead pardon though I omit it I will only say one word and that shall be the same which Pliny said to one Maximus appointed Questor that is Treasurer for Achaia Memenisse oportet Ossicii titulum Remember but your Name and you shall do well enough Your Lordship is appointed Lord Treasurer Take such Order in his Majesties Exchequer that your Lordship do not bear this Denomination and Title in vain and your Lordship shall be worthily honour'd for the happiest Subject in this Kingdom And surely as your Lordship hath the Prayers so you have the Hopes of all good Men that Si Pergama dextrâ defendi poterant If any Man living can improve the Kings Revenue with Skill and Diligence you are that good Husband And so I wish your Lordship as much Joy of your Place as the King and the State do conceive of your Lordship This was the Perfume which was cast upon the new Treasurer in his Robes of Instalment The King was pleased much in his Advancement For his Majesty had proved him with Questions and found that he was well studied in his Lands Customs in all the Profits of the Crown in Stating of Accompts And in the general Opinion the White-Staff was as fit for his Hand as if it been made for it The most that could be objected was that he was true to the King but gripple for himself A good Steward for the Exchequer but sower and unrelishing in Dispatch A better Treasurer than a Courtier There was nothing in appearance but Sun-shine and warm Affections between him and the Lord Keeper The Lord Treasurer I know well had cross'd the other in one or two Suits which had been beneficial to him and not drawn a Denier out of the Kings Purse He dealt so with every Man therefore the Sufferer gave little sign of Grievance It was not his Case alone Another Pick in which they agreed not I cannot say disagreed was about a Brood of Pullein which were never hatcht The last Parliament being dissolv'd it was well thought of by some of the Lords of the Council-Board to sweeten the ill relish which it had in some Palats with a Pardon of Grace that might extend to a fair Latitude for the ease of those that were question'd for old Debts and Duties to the Crown for concealed Wardships and not suing out Liveries and such charges of the like kind which put those that were secure in their Improvidence to a great deal of trouble and disanimated their best Friends for fear of such blind Claps to be their Executors When the Lord Keeper had brought this Pardon so near to his Birth that the Atturney-General was sent for to draw it up the Lord Treasurer mov'd That such as took out this Pardon should pay their Fees which are accustomed in that kind to such Officers as he should appoint that the Advantage might enrich the King and that himself might have that share which the Lord Chancellour us'd to have who put the Seal to those Pardon 's This was heard with a dry laughter and denied him But from thenceforth he struggled to correct the lusty Wine of the Pardon with so much Water that there was no comfort in it and falling short of that Grace which was expected was debated no more The Lord Keeper having obtein'd a good Report for the Conception of the Pardon and the Lord Treasurer a great deal of Envy for the Abortion it curdled in his Stomach into Choler and Mischief And wherefore was he angry with his Brother Abel Look what St. John answers 1 Epist Chap. 3. Vers 12. He endeavoured first to make a Faction in Court against the Lord Keeper and it would not hit because he had no Credit with the Great Ones Then he falls to Pen and Paper and spatters a little Foam draws up Ten What-do-you-call-Um's some of them are neither Charges of Misdemeanour nor Objections which were meant for Accusations but are most pitiful failings entramell'd with Fictions and Ignorance They are extant in the Cabal Pag. 72. which the Lord Keeper puts away as quietly as the Wind blows off the Thistle-Down Pusheth his Adversary down with his little Finger yet insults not upon his Weakness As Pliny writes to Sabin Lib. 9. Ep. Tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum irae causa justissima est It was very laudable to be so mild when there was just cause given to be more angry Yet he complain'd by Letters to the Lord Marquiss as if he were sensible of the despite and unto him was very loud in his own Justification From whom he got no more remedy but that his Adversary was not believ'd And was will'd to consider that he dealt with one whose ill Manners would not pay him Satisfaction for an Injury Unto which the Lord Keeper rejoyn'd to the Lord Marquiss His Majesties Justice and your Lordships Love are Anchors strong enough for a Mind more tost than mine is to ride at Yet pardon me my Noble Lord upon this Consideration if I exceed a little in Passion the Natural Effect of Honesty and Innocency A Church-man and a Woman have no greater Idol under Heav'n than their Good Name And they cannot Fight nor with Credit Scold and least of all Recriminate to Protect and Defend the same The only Revenge left them is to grieve and complain Then he concludes Whom I will either Challenge before his Majesty to make good his Suggestions or else which I hold the greater Valour and which I wanted I confess before this Check of your Lordships go on in my course and scorn all these base and unworthy Scandals as your Lordship shall direct me What need more be said In the space of a Month they wrangled themselves into very good Friends and the Lord Keeper was Gossip to the next Child that was born to the Treasurer As Nazianzen says of Athanasius Encom p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was the Condition of two kinds of Stones in his Nature that are much commended He was an Adamant to them that smote him found and firm and would never break But a Loadstone to draw them to him that discorded with him though they were as hard as