man should be readier to make known his devotion and true gratitude to your Lordship, than your Lordship's most humble and affectionate poor kinsman and servant, "FINCH." He remained in exile about eight years, in great penury and inisery. Even the royalists, who from time to time escaped beyond seas to avoid the tyranny of the parliament, generally shunned him, although they could not avoid sometimes coming in contact with him at hotels and boarding houses.* At last, by making an abject submission to Cromwell, and agreeing to pay a sum of money as a delinquent, he was allowed to return; and he lived in retirement till the Restoration. He was then most indecently put into the commission for the trial of the Regicides,-which calls forth this indignant complaint from Ludlow: "Finch, who had been accused of high [A. D. 1660.] treason twenty years before by a full parliament, and who, by flying from their justice, saved his life, was appointed to judge some of those who should have been his judges."t He is only reported to have spoken once during the trials. This was upon the observation of General Harrison, "Whereas, it has been said, we did assume and usurp an authority; I say this was done rather in the fear of the Lord." Lord Finch." Though my Lords here have been pleased to give you a great latitude, this must not be suffered that you should run into these damnable excursions, to make God the author of this damnable treason committed by you.”‡ He died soon after, universally despised by cavaliers as well as republicans, by high churchmen as much as by puritans. Leaving no issue, this branch of the family of Finch became extinct; and with it the barony of Finch of Fordwich. We must rejoice that he escaped the scaffold, of which he was in such danger; but we cannot regret the subsequent misfortune which befel him. Nothing can be conceived more subversive of public virtue, than the continued prosperitiy of an unprincipled judge and reckless politician, who has notoriously advanced himself by his profligacy, and set at naught all regard to consistency and decency. *"Arrived at the Hague. I find my Lord Finch, not long before fled out of England from the fury of the Parliament." "I lodged at Brown's. There was in pension with us my Lord Finch,"-Evelyn's Private Correspondence. † Mem. 365. 5 St. Tr. 1025. CHAPTER LXV. LIFE OF LORD KEEPER LITTLETON FROM HIS BIRTH TILL THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR. THE Great Seal remained for some time with the King after the night of the 21st of December, when he so unex pectedly received it from Lord Finch, about to fly [A. D. 1640.] for his life. In such an extraordinary emergency there was much difficulty in the appointment of a successor. Banks, the Attorney General, had been actively engaged in all the unconstitutional and cruel government prosecutions which had taken place during the suspension of parliament; and Herbert, the Solicitor General, though recently appointed, had rendered himself almost equally obnoxious to the popular party, by the blind zeal he had displayed in support of the arbitrary principles on which the government had been conducted. The promotion of either of them would therefore have been considered a direct insult to the House of Commons, and an acknowledgment by the King that all his professions of amendment were insincere. There was a disposition to offer office to some of the lawyers on the other side*, but none of them could be prudently trusted to preside in the House of Lords,-particularly when it was considered that the impeachments against Strafford and Laud would soon be coming on to be heard. Strafford, now in the Tower, still kept up a private intercourse with his royal Master,—and it is said to have been by his recommendation that, on the 29th of January, 1641, the Great Seal was delivered to Sir EDWARD LITTLETON, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, as Lord Keeper. Although the appointment did not turn out felicitously, either for him who suggested it or for the public,-apparently a better choice could not have been made, as Littleton was a very profound lawyer and a man of excellent private character; and although he had changed sides in politics,-considering the times, he was to be praised for his moderation,-for he had not violently persecuted his ancient opinions or his ancient friends. With more moral courage and energy he might have gained for himself a high reputation, and prevented the coming collision; but, entertaining the best intentions, he sadly disappointed the expectations of his friends, and he pursued a vacillating course, which ended in his own disgrace, and aggravated the calamities of his country. Edward Littleton, the subject of this memoir, was of an ancient * Oliver St. John, long in "the sedition line," was soon after made Solicitor General, family of the robe, being lineally descended in the male line from the great Littleton, author of "The Tenures," and Judge of the Common Pleas in the reign of Edward IV. This legal patriarch left three sons, the eldest of whom is the ancestor of Lord Lyttleton, and the second of Lord Hatherton. From the third was descended the Lord Keeper, who was born at Munslow, in Shropshire, in the year 1589, being the eldest son of Sir Edward Littleton, of Hewley, in the same county, likewise of the profession of the law, having been one of the Justices of the Marches, and a Judge of North Wales. Young Edward Littleton was educated at a provincial grammar school till he was sent to Oxford, and entered a gentleman commoner at Christ Church. Here he applied very diligently to study, and in 1609 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, having gained great applause for his proficiency in logic and in classical learning. He continued a very diligent student during the remainder of his life. Being removed to the Inner Temple, he devoted himself to the Year Books and antiquarian lore. He was a bosom [A. D. 1606.] friend of Selden, and for some years they carried on their studies in common, often going together to the Tower of London, there to regale themselves with a smell of ancient parchment.* He continued at the same time to keep up an acquaintance with more elegant pursuits. He was a famous swordsman, and he showed in his youth a taste for the military art, which afterwards broke out in maturer years, and placed him at the head of a regiment,—with the Great Seal in one hand, and a pike in the other. But he was determined to rise by his profession, and when he was called to the bar he was reckoned the best grounded common lawyer which his Society had sent forth for many years. He soon rose into very extensive practice. In 1626 he was returned a member of the House of Commons, and eagerly joined the patriotic party then struggling against the ascendancy of the Duke of Buckingham, and he took an active part in supporting the impeachment carried on against that powerful favourite.† He again sat in Charles's third parliament called in 1628, and fought zealously for the cause of liberty under the auspices of Sir E. Coke. He was much noticed by the venerable patriot, and through his influence was chosen chairman of the Committee which examined into grievances since the preceding dissolution, and prepared the "Petition of Right." He moved four resolutions, which were unanimously agreed to by the House:-1st, "That no freeman ought to be committed or detained in prison, or otherwise restrained by command of the King or the Privy Council, unless some cause of the commitment, detainer, or restraint be * "Oh, Tewkesbury, the smell Of ancient parchment pleas'd thec well."-Pleader's Guide. † 2 Parl. Hist. 53. expressed, for which by law he ought to be committed, detained, or restrained."-2dly, "That the writ of Habeas Corpus cannot be denied, but ought to be granted to every man that is committed or detained in prison, or otherwise restrained by the command of the King, the Privy Council, or any other, he praying for the same." 3dly, "That if a freeman be committed or detained in prison, or otherwise restrained by command of the King, Privy Council, or any other, no cause of such commitment or detainer being expressed, and the same be returned upon a Habeas Corpus granted for the said party, that then he ought to be delivered or bailed.". 4thly, "That the ancient and undoubted right of every freeman is, that he hath a full and absolute property in his goods and estate, and that no tax, tallage, loan, benevolence, or other like charge, ought to be commanded or levied by the King or his ministers, without common assent of parliament." Afterwards, at a conference with the Lords, who were called upon to concur in these resolutions, he made a very learned and admirable speech, showing that they [A. D. 1628.] were founded on acts of parliament and precedents. Sir E. Coke followed, loudly praising his young friend, and saying, "Your Lordships have heard seven acts of parliament in point, and thirty-one precedents, summarily collected, and with great understanding delivered. I am transported with joy, because of the hope of good success in this weighty business.' În a subsequent stage of the proceeding, Heath, the Attorney General, having attempted to prove that commitments by the King himself were not subject to the ordinary rules of law, and stood up for lettres de cachet, Littleton made a furious attack upon him, and successfully demolished his authorities and arguments, showing that "it is equal whether the King do it himself or by the agency of others."* He had a no less triumphant conflict with Secretary Cooke, who, although he had signed most of the illegal warrants by which members had been sent to gaol for their conduct in the House, now found it convenient strongly to recommend moderation. "We have moderation preached to us," said Littleton, "and we follow it. But what is the conduct of those who preach it? Let the parties have their doom who have violated the liberties of parliament."† When the "Petition of Right" passed the Commons, he had the honour to be appointed, along with Sir E. Coke and Sir Dudley Digges, to carry it up to the Lords. The flaming patriot, however, could not resist the tempting offers made to him when the system was begun of buying off opposition, and he went over to the Court along with Noy, Saville, and Wentworth. But it must be acknowledged that he did not like them show the zeal of a political convert from the errors of opposition, and he continued to enjoy the good-will and to cultivate * 2 Parl. Hist. 259 262, 295. 3 St. Tr. 85. † 2 Parl. Hist. 441. the society of his early friends. His first preferment was a Welsh Judgeship (in after times so perilous to patriotism), and soon after, by the support of the government, he was elected Recorder of London. When Lord Keeper he must have looked back with much regret to this period of his life. He still continued to practise at the bar, and without political office was easily at the top of his profession. Noy, the Attorney General, a most learned man, confined himself to his official duties, and was day and night among the musty records from which he was inventing, and preparing to justify his writ of ship-money. The Solicitor was one Shilton, silly and ignorant-put in by a caprice of the Duke of Buckingham, and universally despised. Brampston, the King's Serjeant, was lengthy and laborious, but seldom went beyond the drowsy atmosphere of the Common Pleas. Littleton, who had "taken great pains in the hardest and most knotty part of the law as well as that which was more customary, and was not only very ready and expert in the books, but exceedingly versed in records, so that he was looked upon as the best antiquary of the profession, and upon the mere strength of his own abilities had early raised himself into the first rank of the practices in the Common Law Courts, now grew into the highest practice in all the other Courts," and he was eagerly retained in every cause of consequence depending not only in the King's Bench and Exchequer, but in Chancery, in the Star Chamber, and at the Council Table. Though subject to a few sarcasms for the countenance he now gave to the unconstitutional measures of the government and the altered tone of his conversation on political subjects,-as parliament never met he did not incur any public obloquy, and in private society he was much sought after, not only by flatterers, whom he contemned, but by the numerous class of agreeable persons who are always desirous of cultivating the acquaintance of a man rising into great professional eminence. On the lamented death of Noy at the moment when his writs of ship-money were ready to be launched, Banks, a brazen-faced [OCT. 17, 1634.] lawyer, was put in his place, but he was more remarkable for boldness than for skill or weight to defend the measures now in contemplation. "When the King found he should have much to do in Westminster Hall, he removed an old, useless, illiterate person who had been put into that office by favour, and made Littleton Solicitor General, much to his honour but not to his profit, the obligation of attendance upon that office depriving him of much benefit he used to acquire by his practice." + A more unpleasant consequence must have been to him, who was always defective in nerve and energy, that he was now obliged to appear as counsel for the Crown in all public prosecutions, however obnoxious they might be. But in looking * Clarendon, ↑ Clarendon, |