ROBERT CROWLEY. "The voyce of the laste Trumpet, blowen by the seventh Angel (as is mentioned in the eleventh of the Apocalips), callying al estate of men to the ryght path of theyr vocation; wherein are conteyned xii lessons to twelve severall estats of men; which, if they learne and folowe, al shall be wel, and nothing amis," is a book printed in London in 1550, and so scarce that I have never been able to find a copy in this country, and have become acquainted with it only by seeing a copy quoted in an old catalogue at fifteen pounds, and some extracts cited in Brydges' Restituta. The lessons are addressed respectively to beggars, servants, yeomen, lewd priests, scholars, learned men, physicians, lawyers, merchants, gentlemen, magistrates, and women. The following is a portion of "The Lawiar's Lesson: "Nowe come hither, thou manne of Lawe, For I intend the for to drawe If thou wouldste walke theren aryght; Thou desirest so to be alofte, That thy desyre can have no staye: Thou art so hasty on thy way. But now I call the to repent, And thy gredines to forsake; 1 Fyrst, call unto thy memorye For what cause the Laws wer fyrst made; To the same ende to use thy trade. The Lawes were made, undoubtedly, . JOSHUA SYLVESTER dedicated the following sonnet to Chancellor Egerton :— THE LAW. Most humbly shewes to thy great worthiness The muses abject (subject of distress) How long wrong-vext, in a not needless cause, Please it, therefore, an Injunction grant, To stay the Suit between himself and Want. So he and his shall pray." B. N. These initials, probably those of Nicholas Breton, are subscribed to the prefatory address of a singular book entitled, "I Would, and Would Not," published in London in 1614. An idea of the author's plan, as well as his style, may be conveyed by the following stanzas applicable to our subject: "I would I were a man of such deepe wit, As might discerne the depth of every cause; That wheresoere I did in Judgement sit, I might be held a Note-booke in the Lawes. My braine might seeme a kinde of miracle, And every word I spake an Oracle. And yet I would not; for then, woe were me, I should be troubled with a world of Cases: FRANCIS QUARLES, In "Emblems Divine and Moral," speaking of the "golden age," says, "There was no client then to wait The leisure of his long-tail'd advocate; The talion law was in request, And chanc'ry courts were kept in every breast; Abused statutes had no tenters, And men could deal secure without indentures.” JOHN STEPHENS, in 1615, published "Essayes and Characters, ironical and instructive. With a new Satyre, in defense of common Lawyers, mixt with reproofe against their common Enemy." The following extract is said to allude to Ruggles's Latin play of "Ignoramus," which was a severe attack on law and lawyers: "It hath been tolde Sound wits are modest, shallow wits are bolde; Of some, should all the Law and Lawyers baite. That honor to yourselves which follows them." He also gives the character of an honest lawyer: "He is a precious diamond set in pure gold; the one gives glory to the other; and being divided, they be lesse valuable. He knows Law to be the mistres of man, and yet he makes Honesty the mistres of the Law. He hath as much leasure to dispute with Conscience in the most busie tearme as in the deadest vacation. He rails not against the vices of his profession, but makes his profession commendable by his owne practise of vertue. He may well be a president to the best physicians, for he undertakes no cure when he perceives it inclining to be desperate. He makes the cause, and not the client, the object of his labour. He hath no leasure to protract time, or save his client's opinion with jests premeditated, or windy inferences. He owes so much worship to desert and innocence, that he can as faithfully applaud sufficient worth, as not to insult over, or exclaime against, dull ignorance. He dares know and professe, in spight of potency: hee dares be rich and honest, in despight of custome.” LYNDSAY. While we are grubbing among ancient remains, it would be wrong to pass over Sir David Lyndsay's "Monarchie," in which a personage termed "Experience” thus speaks of Law: "I would some Prince of great discretion In vulgar language plainly causde translate Then would there not be halfe so great debate If every man the verity did know, We needed not to treat these men of Law. To do our neighbour wrong, we would beware, There would not be such brawling at the Bar, |