his knowledge in the law, what St. Austin* said of St. Hierom's knowledge in divinity, Quod Hieronymus nescivit, nullus mortalium unquam scivit.' And, therefore, the king would not suffer himself to part with so great a man, till he had placed upon him all the marks of bounty and esteem, which his retired and weak condition was capable of.'

To this high character, (in which the expressions, as they well become the eloquence of him who pronounced them, so they do agree exactly to the subject, without the abatements that are often to be made for rhetoric,) I shall add that part of the lord chief justice's answer, in which he speaks of his predecessor: ..

A person, in whom his eminent virtues, and deep learning, have long managed a contest for the superiority, which is not decided to this day; nor, will it ever be determined, I suppose, which shall get the upper hand. hand. A person, that has sat in this court, these many years; of whose actions there, I have been an eye and ear witness; that, by the greatness of his learning, always charmed his auditors to reverence and attention:

* The passage does not occur, among the genuine works of S. Augustine. There is, indeed, in the spurious epistles, (Edit. Bened. Vol. ii. Append. Col. 13.) a passage nearly to the same effect: .. Quæ Hieronymus ignoravit in natura, nullus unquam hominum scivit.' But, even the theologues of Louvain, do not hesitate to call this whole epistle, (as well they might,) a clumsy forgery.' It is enough to say, that it purports to be addressed to S. Cyril of Jerusalem, and gives an account of S. Jerome's life and death; when, it is well known, that Cyril died before Jerome. For this reference, I am indebted to the kind researches, of the Rev. Henry John Rose, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

6

It

a person, of whom, I think, I may boldly say, that, as former times cannot show any superior to him, so, I am confident, succeeding and future time will never show any equal. These considerations, heightened by what I have heard from your lordship concerning him, made me anxious and doubtful, and put me to a stand, how I should succeed so able, so good, and so great a man. doth very much trouble me, that I, who, in comparison of him, am but like a candle lighted in the sunshine, or like a glow-worm at mid-day, should succeed so great a person, that is, and will be, so eminently famous to all posterity. And I must ever wear this motto in my breast, to comfort me, and in my actions to excuse me:

Sequitur, quamvis non passibus æquis." *

Thus were panegyrics made upon him, while yet alive, in that same court of justice which he had so worthily governed. As he was honoured while he lived, so he was much lamented when he died and this will still be acknowledged as a just inscription for his memory, though his modesty forbad any such to be put on his tomb-stone:..

THAT HE WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST PATTERNS THIS AGE HAS AFFORDED: WHETHER, IN HIS PRIVATE DEPORTMENT AS A CHRISTIAN; OR, IN HIS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENTS, EITHER AT THE BAR, OR ON THE

BENCH.

See, in a subsequent page, Baxter's testimony to chief justice Rainsford's unabated reverence for the memory of sir Matthew Hale.

The following complete list of the published works of Sir Matthew Hale, extracted from the Biographical Dictionary,' is substituted for that given by Dr. Burnet: ..

Works published by himself.

1. An Essay touching the gravitation or nongravitation of fluid bodies, and the reasons thereof.

2. Difficiles nugæ; or observations, touching the Torricellian experiment; and the various solutions of the same, especially touching the weight and elasticity of the air.

3. Observations, touching the principles of natural motion; and especially touching rarefaction and condensation; together with a reply, to certain remarks touching the gravitation of fluids.

4. Contemplations, moral and divine, in three parts.

5. The life and death of Pomponius Atticus, written by his contemporary and acquaintance Cornelius Nepos: translated out of his fragments; together with observations, political and moral, thereupon.

6. The primitive origination of mankind considered and examined, according to the light of

nature.

Works published after his Decease.

1. Judgment of the nature of true religion; the causes of its corruption, and the church's calamity, by men's addition and violences, with the desired cure.

2. Several tracts; as, a Discourse of Religion,' under three heads, &c.

3. A letter to his children; advising them how to behave in their speech, &c.

4. A letter to one of his sons, after his recovery from the small pox.

5. Discourse of the knowledge of God, and of ourselves; first, by the light of nature; secondly, by the sacred scriptures.

All the preceding, under the title of his Moral and Religious Works,' were re-published by the Rev. Thomas Thirlwall, 1805., 2 vols. with his Life, &c.

6. Counsels of a father, 12mo. 1821.

7. Letters to his grandchildren, 12mo. 1823. Of his law tracts, one only was printed in his life-time, viz.: London liberty, or an argument of law and reason,' 1650., which was reprinted in 1682, under the title of London's liberties, or the opinions of those great lawyers, lord chief justice Hale, Mr. justice Wild, and serjeant Maynard, about the election of mayor, sheriffs, aldermen, and common council of London, and concerning their charter.' — In 1668. he wrote a preface to Rolle's Abridgment;' which he published, with the whole of that work.

After his death appeared,

1. The Pleas of the Crown, or a methodical summary,' 1678., 8vo. continued by Jacob, and reprinted in 1716. To this edition is often annexed, The treatise of sheriffs' accounts,' and

The trial of the witches.' It must not be concealed, that this otherwise learned and sagacious man was so far prejudiced by early opinions, as to believe in witchcraft, and to preside on the trials of some persons accused of it. The Pleas' has passed through seven editions, the last of which was in 1773. It was not, however, considered by the author, as a complete work; but intended as a plan for his Historia placitorum coronæ,' of which hereafter.

2. Treatise showing how useful, &c. the inrolling and registering of all conveyances of land,' 1694., 4to. reprinted with additions in 1756.

3. Tractatus de successionibus apud Anglos, or a treatise of hereditary descents,' 1700., and 1735., 8vo. This forms a chapter in his History of the Common Law.'

4. A Treatise on the original institution, &c. of parliaments,' 1707.; republished by Francis Hargrave, &c. in 1796., 4to., under the title of 'Hale's jurisdiction of the house of lords,' with an introductory preface, including a narrative of the same jurisdiction, from the accession of James I.

5. Analysis of the law;' without date, but seems to have been only a design for,

6. History of the common law of England, in twelve chapters,' 1713., 8vo. A fourth and fifth edition of which, were published in 1779., and 1794, 2 vols. 8vo. by Mr. serjeant Runnington.