cular engagement of friendship and brotherly love to that lady, who, besides the advantage of her person, had a superior wit, prodigious memory, and was most agreeable in conversation. I do just remember so much of her (for I was very young when she married) that, for hours and hours together, she diverted her sisters and all the female society at work together (as the use of that family was) with rehearsing by heart prolix romances, with the substance of speeches and letters, as well as passages; and this with little or no hesitation, but in a continual series of discourse: the very memory of which is to me, at this day, very wonderful. She instituted a sort of order of the wits of her time and acquaintance, whereof the symbol was a sun with a circle touching the rays, and, upon that, in a blue ground, were wrote avráρknç in the proper Greek characters, which her father suggested. Divers of these were made in silver and enamel, but, in embroidery, plenty, which were dispersed to those wittified ladies who were willing to come into the order; and for a while they were formally worn, till the foundress fell under the government of another, and then it was left off.

Edward

Next to this, the loss of his lordship's bosom Loss of Mr. friend Mr. Edward Palmer, Mr. Attorney Pal- Palmer,and mer's younger son, afflicted him. I have heard great benehim say he never was so sensible of a passion of Attorney's

fit by Mr. favour.

grief, as upon his death; and, for a long time after, he eased himself often upon the impotence of crying. For, besides the living amity between them, in that moment lost, he was present, embraced, and held him in his arms when he died; than which nothing could more aggravate his sorrow. This friendship began by mess-making in the Temple-hall, and brought his lordship into other beneficial acquaintance, as of the Hydes, then related to the greatest employments in the law one of that name, whose younger son was of the Middle Temple, had the great seal as lord chancellor, and another was lord chief justice of the King's Bench; and this acquaintance owned his lordship for a relation, and was cultivated by him with all the application he could make. But this Mr. Palmer first brought his lordship to the attorney general's knowledge and familiarity, and the very great benefits to him thereby. For he not only had his direction and assistance, as well as encouragement, in his studies, but was by him, as it were, led by the hand into the highway of preferment. For that great and sudden increase of his lordship's practice, which I mentioned before, may not be entirely ascribed to capacity. It is more than probable that in process of time he had advanced himself by the pure strength of his genius, but not by such large strides as he made in getting money, and loping

into preferments, as he did, without the aid of friends and good fortune; for circumstances of persons and times were most propitious to his character. And of those happy contingents, the first was this friendship of Sir Jeoffry Palmer, which conduced much to the lustre of his lordship's reputation.

to the at

neral.

And therein the attorney-general did no less Serviceable serve himself; for he made use of his cousin torney-geNorth (as he most kindly used to style him) in being personated by him in Westminster hall, and otherwise by his consults upon motions of law depending for, at the latter end of his time, he grew very infirm and weak, and when he could not attend in the court of King's Bench to give accounts and answers to the court in the king's affairs, as belonged to his office, he directed his lordship with instructions to do it for him, and he acquitted himself therein with such decent modesty, as well as neat and concise speaking, as got him no little credit. Mr. Jones at the bar, who had the capital practice of that court, was much disturbed at the advances this young gentleman made so near his territory, and could not forbear flirting at him, as-"Come, Mr. Deputy Attorney, what have you to say now? You are to be of the king's counsel shortly;" and the like; which showed a spirit of ambition and envy, and was an occasion of some inconvenience to his lordship, as

Argued for the king against

Hollis, and

king's counsel.

will be showed elsewhere.

I have heard his lordship say, that once, at the desire of the attorneygeneral, he had consulted books, and gathered together upon a paper, the reasons of law, upon a case he (the attorney) was to argue; and that he used that very paper, and argued almost word for word out of it. And I have such a paper wrote by his lordship, with some notes, of the attorney's hand, in the margin. But his lordship said he never mentioned it to any of his family, but to me only, lest they should think him vain and fictitious.

Another singular opportunity, by means of the attorney, he had of showing himself; which was made the the arguing in the House of Lords upon a writ of error for the King against Hollis, &c. The story of the five members in King Charles the First's time is well known, who being prosecuted for the riot committed in the House of Commons, in holding the speaker down in his chair, were convicted. After the restoration, the commons thought that the record of this conviction might be prejudicial to the privilege of that house, and ordered a writ of error to be brought, and Mr. Attorney was to find counsel to argue for the King, against the Lord Hollis, who was one of the five, and first named in the record. Mr. Attorney being an assistant in the House of Lords, could not argue, nor could he prevail upon any of the serjeants, or

other eminent practisers to do it; for they said it was against the commons of England, and they dare not undertake it. At last the attorney said his cousin North should do it; and accordingly at different times, as his other practice would allow him, he prepared his argument, which was performed at the bar of the house, and (with especial notice taken of his comely youth, and modest, but cogent reasoning) his argument was approved, and although the commons carried the cause, he was immediately thereupon made of the king's counsel, which gave him the privilege of pre-audience, and coming within the bar. This action and its consequence, had the effect of a trumpet to his fame, for the king had no counsel at law then, except serjeants. But I shall beg leave to enlarge a little upon this matter, with some farther circumstances, which I am encouraged to do by a paper I found, in which his lordship had noted his several steps of preferment, with intent, at leisure, to have drawn them into a relation of short history. He had made preparatives, such as these, concerning public matters; but he never had time to pursue them: all or most of which I shall insert in their proper places throughout this work, and annex what occurs to me that may appertain to them. But as to the case before us, his lordship's note is as follows:

"How king's counsel,-Hollis."