66 otherwife East Greenwich, and in his inner Apartment near the Oratory, in the Presence of the said "Henry Norris, Chriftopher Hales, Attorney General· "of the faid Lord the King, and others of the Privy Chamber of the faid Lord the King, he gave and "delivered his Great Seal, in the aforefaid Bag, fealed "and repofited in the faid Box, to his much beloved "Counsellor, Thomas More, Knt. to be kept, exer"cifed and occupied ; and then and there did con"stitute and appoint the faid Thomas More his Chan"cellor MEMOIRS of the LORD CHANCELLORS, &c. fays another Author, that he was above the Age he lived in; he came to a Cenfure for the moft fimple and ridiculous Follies that ever entered into the Heart of a wife Man; his • Crimes were Bribery and Corruption, for both which he had ⚫ often condemned others as a Judge, and now comes to fuf fer as a Delinquent.' He was fo full of his own Conviction that he threw himself and Caufe at his Judges Feet; before he was condemned his Submifien and Supplication to the Lords has been reckoned a fine Piece of moving Oratory; but it is too long to be here introduced. And the Seal was for a fhort time delivered to three Commiffioners, Henry Viscount Mandeville, Ld. Prefident of the Council; the Duke of Richmond, and Sir Julius Cæfar, Knt. Master of the Rolls. July the 10th, Dr. 1621. John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, received it with the Title of Lord Keeper, who held it till the Year 1625. Lord Clarendon remarks, That, tho' 6 a Man of great Wit, and good fcholaftick Learning, he was generally thought so very unequal to the Place, that his Remove was the only Recompence and Satisfaction that could be 'made for his Promotion.' 1625. November the first, it was committed, with the Title of Lord Keeper, to Sir Thomas Coventry, who was created a Peer. Lord Clarendon gives us this Account of that great Man, Sir Thomas Coventry was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and newly made a Baron. He was a Son of the Robe, his Father having been a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas i 'who took Care to breed him, though his First-born, to the Study of the Common Law, by which he himself had been promoted to that Degree; and in which, in the Society of the Inner Temple, his Son made a notable Progress, by an early Eminency in Practice and Learning; infomuch that he was Recorder of London, Sollicitor General, and King's Attorney, ⚫ before he was forty Years of Age: 6 "cellor of England, with all the Fiefs, Profits, Re"gards, Robes, Diets, Commodities and Advantages, "due, belonging, or pertaining from antient Times 68 to the faid Office. "And the faid Thomas More received the faid Seal "from the aforefaid Lord the King, in the Prefence "of the abovenamed, and on the next Day, Tuejday "the 26th Day of the fame Month of October, the "aforefaid Lord Chancellor, being inducted about ten "of the Clock in the Forenoon of the fame Day, into "the from CARDINAL WOLSEY's Time. Age; a rare Afcent! All which vance the King's Service. Upon the Meeting of the Long Par Abilities and fingular Reputa-liament, in the Year 1540, tion of Integrity. Lord Coventry difcharged this Place with an univerfal Reputation, being a very wife and excellent Perfon,being generally esteemed throughout the Kingdom; and fure, Juftice was never better ⚫ adminiftred for about the Space ⚫ of 16 Years, even to his Death, fome Months before he was fixty Years of Age; which was another important Circumftance of his Felicity, that great Office being fo flippery, that no Man had died in it before for the Space of forty Years. From this great Man the prefent Right Hon. William Earl of Coventry is defcended. finding he was likely to be accufed of High Treafon, he withdrew himself, and fhortly after paffed into Holland. Jan. the 23d it was delivered to Sir Edward Lit- 1640.. tleton, Knt. Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, with the Title of Lord Keeper, who held it to his Death: But the fatal Civil Wars breaking out, the Parliament appointed Commiffioners thereof. 1645. Auguft the 30th, King, Charles the Ift committed the Seal to the Care of Sir Richard Lane, Knt. Chief Baron of the Exchequer, at Oxford, who held it till his Death; and the Account we have of him is, That he followed the Royal Caufe, and affifted in the De⚫ fence at Oxford, when befieged by the Parliament's Army, under the Command of the Earl of Fairfax' King Charles the IId, in his Exile, intrufted it 1653. with Sir Edward Herbert, it being delivered to him by his Ma jelty "the Place and Seat of the Court of Chancery in the "Great Hall of the Palace of Westminster, by the "moft Serene Princes, Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and "Charles Duke of Suffolk, and a great many other "Nobles and Chiefs of the Kingdom of England, at "the Command of the Lord the King: And, after a "noble Exhortation had on the Part of the Lord the "King by the aforefaid Duke of Norfolk, as well to "the faid Lord Chancellor as to the People, and the "Answer thereunto made by the faid Lord Chan"cellor, MEMOIRS of the LORD CHANCELLORS, &c. jefty at Paris. This Gentleman January the 13th, the Work, called, The Hiftory of the Rebellion. Bishop Burnet, in his Character of this great Man, fays, He was like to grow eminent in the Profeffion of the Law when the Civil Wars begun, * about which Time he went to 'his aged Father in Wiltshire; who, one Day as they were walking together, told him, That Men of his Profeffion did often stretch Law and Prerogative, to the Prejudice of the Liberty of the Subject, to recommend and advance themselves; fo charged him, That he should never facrifice the Laws and Liberties of his Country to his own Interefts, or to the Will of his Prince. He repeated this twice, and immediately fell into a Fit of the Apoplexy, of which he died in a few Hours. His Lordship was a good Chancellor, and very impartial in the Adminiftration of Juftice. He would never make a Vifit to the King's Miftrefs, nor fuffer any thing to pafs the Seal in which fhe was mentioned, and very often prevailed on the King to alter the Refolutions he had taken in the ८ Cabal "cellor, he took his corporal Oath on the Holy Evangelifts. 66 "And then and there, in the Prefence of the afore"faid Dukes, and likewife of Thomas Marquis of Dor 66 fet, Henry Marquis of Exeter, John Earl of Oxford, "Henry Earl of Northumberland, George Earl of Shropfhire, Galfrid Earl of Westmoreland, John Bishop of "Lincoln, Cuthbert Bishop of London, John Bishop "of Bath and Wells, Robert Ratcliff, Knt. Viscount "Fitz-Walter; Thomas Boleyn, Knt. Viscount Rochford; from CARDINAL WOLSEY's Time. Cabal that had met at her Lodgings. This virtuous Minister thought it became him, that the World fhould fee, he did not always comply with the King in his Views. As many who had fuffered in the King's Cause were difappointed, in not having Places, they blamed the Earl, because they were given to those who were looked upon as not the King's Friends; to this the Earl faid, Promises brought the King Home, and it was keeping them must keep him at Home. It was alfo given out, That he advifed the King to gain his Enemies, fince he was fure of his Friends: But Bishop Burnet fays, The Earl always denied it: But it was doubtful, after the King had difgraced him, whether he did not faften it on him, to make him more odious; for he said many hard Things of him, for which he was much blamed in moft of them, but little believed.' Those who composed the Preface to his Lordship's Hiftory of the Grand Rebellion, among feveral other Matters, fays this of him: 66 "Whatever Misfortunes he might have in his Life, whatever Enemies he might have had, or whatever Errors he might have committed (which few Men in his high Station efcape quite clear of) we prefume to think, he deferves from all impartial Men, the Praife of an honeft, juft, and able Servant to the Church and Crown, and to be ranked amongst the great and good Minifters of State.' From this noble Lord the prefent Right Hon. Henry Earl of Clarendon and Rochefter is defcended. Auguft the 13th, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Knt. 1667. Lord Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas, received it with the Title of Lord Keeper. But, according to a learned Prelate, 'His 6 Study and Practice lay fo entirely in the Common Law, • that he never seemed to apprehend what Equity was: Nor had he a Head more for Bufinefs than for fuch a Court. He was a Man of great Integrity; he had very ferious Impreffions of Religion on his Mind; he had been always on the • Side ; "ford; William Sandys, Knt. Lord of Sandys and "of many others of the Lord the King's Council, "the faid Lord Chancellor had the faid Seal, kept "in the aforefaid Box, under the Seals of the Lord the "King, Master John Taylor and Stephen Gardiner, "as aforefaid, taken out, and feveral Briefs of Course σε figned; and afterwards returned the Seal aforefaid "into the faid Bag, which he had fealed with his owri proper Signet, and retained it in his own Cuftody. 66 MEMOIRS of the LORD CHANCELLORS, &C. Side of the Church, yet he had great Tenderness for the Nonconformifts. See Bp. Burnet's Hift. of his own Times. Vol. I. Nov. the 17th, the fa 1672. mous Earl of Shaftsbury received it, with the Title of Lord Chancellor. Several Authors fay, that he was a good Chancellor, and his Abilities no Man yet called in Question. The Speech he made to Mr. Serjeant Thurland, when he was made Baron of the Exchequer, fully fhews how much he had the Tranquillity of the People at Heart. Rawleigh Redivivus fays of him, 'And ⚫ with what Prudence, Candour, Honour, and Integrity he acquitted himself in that great and weighty Employment, the Tranfactions of the Court of Chancery, during the Time of his Chancellorship, will belt teftify. Juftice then run in an " equal Channel; fo that the 'Caufe of the Rich was not fuffered to swallow up the Right ⚫ of the Poor; nor was the ftrong or cunnig Oppofition permitted to devour the weak or unki Be ful Oppofer; but the Abused found Relief fuitable to their Distress, and those by whom they were abused a fevere Reprehenfion to their Crimes. The mischievous Confequences, which commonly arife from the Delays and other Practices of that Court, were, by ingenuous and judicious Manage ment, very much abated, and every Thing weighed and determined with exact Judgment and Equity.' During the Time of his Chancellorship he maintained all Things fuitable to the Greatness of his Place, The Manner of his Proceeding on the first Day of each Term to Westminster was agreeable to the antient and laudable Cuftom, all the Officer's of the Court, the Judges, Mr. Attorney and Sollicitor General, &c. going before him according to their feveral Degrees, which is still followed. From this great Man the prefent Right. Hon. Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury is descended. Nov. the 9th, Sir He1673. reage Finch, Knt. received the Seal with the Title of Lord |