such a friendship for him, that he came to be called Young Noy. Passing from the extreme of vanity in his dress to that of neglecting himself too much, he was once impressed for the king's service; but some person coming by who knew him, the press-gang let him go. This made him more careful with regard to his appearance. Here his biographer takes occasion to relate another remarkable story.

"Once as he was buying some cloth for a new suit, the draper, with whom he differed about the price, told him he should have it for nothing, if he would promise him a hundred pounds when he came to be lord chief justice of England; to which he answered, that he could not, with a good conscience, wear any man's cloth without paying for it; so he satisfied the draper, and carried away the cloth with him."

His studies were very various. He was well versed in antiquities, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, and even physic and surgery, saying, that "no man could be absolutely a mas

Sir John Finch came into play, whereupon these verses were made,

Noy's flood is gone,

The Banks appear;

Heath is shorn down,

And Finch sings there.

Lord Clarendon, though he allows Noy to have been a great

lawyer, draws but an unfavourable character of him.

ter

ter in any profession without having some skill in other sciences."

He commenced practice just at the breaking out of the civil war; and in those critical times when it was extremely difficult to steer clear of trouble, he wisely imitated the example of Pomponius Atticus, in not only avoiding all publick employment, but the very talking of news.

He was, however, employed by all the king's party he was counsellor for the great Earl of Strafford and Archbishop Laud; and in the case of the Earl of Craven, he pleaded with such strength, that the then attorney-general threatened him with the vengeance of the government; to whom he replied, that " he was pleading in defence of those laws, which they [i. e. the parliament] declared they would maintain and preserve, and he was doing his duty to his client, and was not to be daunted with threatenings."

Cromwell seeing him possessed of so much practice, and being willing to obtain some popularity by the advancement of such a man, resolved to raise him to the bench.

A

Mr. Hale was, for a long time, unwilling to accept a commission under that authority, but at last, by the advice of some of the most eminent of the royalists, he accepted the place of a judge in the Court of Common Pleas. Not long after this, when he went the circuit, a trial came before him at Lincoln, of which Bishop Burnet gives this account.

"A towns

"A townsman was in the fields with a fowlingpiece on his shoulder, and being met by a soldier of the garrison, the latter asked him if he was unacquainted with the order of the Protector, "that none who had been of the king's party should carry arms?" Saying which he would have forced the piece from him; but as the other did not regard the order, so being stronger than the soldier, he threw him down, and having beat him, he left him the soldier went into the town and told one of his fellow-soldiers how he had been used, and got him to go with him and lie in wait for the man, that he might be revenged on him. They both watched his coming into the town, and one of them went to him to demand his gun; which he refusing, the soldier struck at him; and as they were struggling, the other came behind, and ran his sword into the body of the townsman, of which he presently died. It was in the time of the assizes, so they were both tried: against the one there was no evidence of malice aforethought, so he was only found guilty of manslaughter; but the other was found guilty of wilful murder; and though Colonel Whaley, who commanded the garrison, came into court, and urged "that the man was killed for disobeying the Protector's order, and that the soldier was but doing his duty," yet the judge regarded both his reasons and his threatening very little, and therefore not only pronounced sentence upon him, but so ordered

the

the time of execution that it was not possible to procure a reprieve.

"Another occasion was given him of shewing both his justice and his courage, when he was upon another circuit; being informed that the Protector, had ordered a jury to be returned for a trial, in which he was concerned, the judge examined the sheriff about it, who pleaded ignorance, saying, that he referred all such things to the under-sheriff, and this person acknowledged the fact, upon which the judge dismissed the jury, and would not try the cause. This greatly displeased the Protector, who told him when he returned from the circuit, that "he was not fit to be a judge;" to whom he only answered, "that it was very true."

"On the death of Oliver, a new commission was offered to Mr. Hale, which he refused, saying, that "he could act no longer under such authority." He also refused to accept the mourning which was sent to him and his servants for the funeral of the usurper. Mr. Hale lived privately till the parliament was called which brought home the king, to which he was returned as knight of the shire for the county of Gloucester. It appeared at that time how much he was beloved and esteemed in his neighbourhood, for though another, who stood in competition with him, had spent near one thousand pounds to procure votes, which was a great sum for such an occasion in those days; yet Mr. Hale, who expended nothing,

and

and solicited none, was chosen. He was indeed brought to the place of meeting almost against his consent by Lord Berkley, who bore all the charge on the day of election, and whereas, by the writ, the knight of a shire must be miles gladio cinctus, and he had no sword; the same noble lord girt him with his own during the election.".

Soon after the restoration he was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer; and when the chancellor, Lord Clarendon, delivered him his commission, he expressed his esteem of him in a very singular manner, saying, "that if the king could have found out an honester and fitter man for that employment. he would not have advanced him to it; and that he had therefore preferred him, because he knew none that deserved it so well."

It is ordinary for persons advanced to that dignity to be knighted, but he wished to avoid that honour, and therefore for a considerable time he declined all opportunities of waiting upon the king; which the lord chancellor observing, sent for him upon business one day, when the king was at his house, to whom he introduced him by the title of "his Majesty's modest Chief Baron," upon which he was unexpectedly knighted.

He continued eleven years in that place, and it was observed by the whole nation how much he raised the reputation and practice of that court. The only complaint ever made against him was, "that he did not dispatch matters quick enough;"

but