he was not only the great cause of his lordship's proficiency and sudden rising in the law, but his mere acquaintance and favour may be justly accounted one of his lordship's capital preferments.*

Norfolk

These opportunities may be esteemed, as they Used the really were, most benign to the credit of a young circuit. counsel, yet the virtue intrinsically moved from his own capacity, for without some transcendency on that side, the effect had been reversed, and proved loss rather than gain of reputation. There were some more such accidents, which augmented his lordship's esteem in the law; which I shall touch upon, but first mention his going the circuit, to which they properly belong. And here I am to show what great application and industry he used in that branch of his practice, which in a few years raised him to the post (as they call it) of cock of the circuit, which supposeth him (as truly he was) a counsel of one side or other, in

In the Examen, (p. 510,) North has given some farther account of Sir Jeoffry Palmer :"His wisdom and generosity were incomparable. During all the troubles of the times he lived quiet in the Temple, a professed and known cavalier; and no temptation of fear or profit ever shook his principle. He lived then in great business of conveyancing, and had no clerks but such as were strict cavaliers. One, I have heard, was so rigid that he could never be brought to write Oliver with a great O. And it was said the attorney chose to purchase the manor of Charleton, because his master's name sounded in the style of it."

every cause of value to be tried. His lordship stayed not long after he was called to the bar, before he took upon him to go circuits. His choice was that styled of Norfolk, where he was best known, and that by employments and performances, as well as family and acquaintances. He resolved to go through, although the first counties, as Bucks, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire, are very sterile to a beginner, and no young man, at his first entrance into practice, can expect much business under the service of an apprenticeship and succession to those who have the possession, till they fall away. But his resolution was to persevere, knowing success in circuit business to be a cardinal ingredient in a lawyer's good fortune. And he ordered the matter so that, whether he had much or little to do, he did not lose his time; for he was a diligent noter of every passage that was in the court or elsewhere, in the law, new, or he thought material. And he made himself judge so far, that if a good sentence came from the mouth of an indifferent judge, or even of the counsel, he noted it, and whatever the best judge might say, if it did not agree with his reason, he took no notice of it. So bees gather honey from all sorts of flowers. He was exceeding careful to keep fair with the cocks of the circuit, and particularly Serjeant Earl, who had almost a monopoly. The serjeant

was a very covetous man, and when none would starve with him in journeys, this young gentleman kept him company. Once at Cambridge, the serjeant's man brought his lordship a cake, telling him, "he would want it, for he knew his master would not draw bit till he came to Norwich." And it proved so. They jogged on, and at Barton Mills, his lordship asked the serjeant if he would not take a mouthful there. "No, boy," said he, "we'll light at every ten miles' end, and get to Norwich as soon as we can." And there was no remedy. Once he asked the serjeant in what method he kept his accounts; "for you have," said he, "lands, securities, and great comings-in of all kinds?" "Accounts, boy," said he, "I get as much as I can, and I spend as little as I can; and there is all the account I keep.' But his lordship was sure to keep the serjeant's discourse flowing, all the way they rode; for being mostly of law, and tricks, and sometimes of purchases, management, and the like, it was very beneficial to one who had his experience to gather: and all he received from others, he made his own. And in the court, if he was concerned as counsel, he stood in great awe of the chief practisers; for they having the conduct of the cause, take it ill if a young man blurts out any thing, though possibly to the purpose, because it seems to top them; and sometimes, if it doth not take with the court,

Governed the com

dividing the

fens, with

throw up, saying, "the cause was given away," which almost blasts a young man. Therefore, when he thought he had a significant point to offer, he first acquainted the foreman with it, which was commonly well taken: and he in return would say, "Move it yourself," and then he seconded it. These discretions, respecting the counsel, did him great service; and I have more to remember anon, that respect the judge.

But first, I shall remember some of the advanmission for tages which brought his lordship so soon into circuit business. One of which was his being put applause. into the commission, pursuant to the act of parliament, for dividing the great level of the fens ; and which conduced much to his lordship's fame. And that was done to the intent his lordship should take the chair, and direct in the execution of it. When this commission first met, and he was put in the chair, he observed that they had no copy of the act before them, but only that which was printed for common use, and he did not think that sufficient, for it was but a private act, of which the judges did not, ex officio, take notice, and there might be errors of the press : and accordingly he took care to have an authentic copy examined by the record itself. After that he proposed to the commissioners such apt methods for their proceedings in that commission, that the gentlemen were extremely pleased :

for they were satisfied that all he proposed would be for the ease of the commissioners and of the country, and also conducive to an equal distribution of justice to particular persons, who for their interests appeared before them. And these methods being so fairly and ingenuously displayed at the first, the gentlemen of the commission admired the invention and dexterity of one SO young, and accordingly agreed to every thing he proposed. And afterwards, through the whole course of that commission, he had the authority of a judge amongst them, and was seldom interrupted or opposed in any thing he dictated to them; for they saw plainly he had both skill and will to do right in every thing. And the country people, seeing him rule the roast (as they say) there, took him for the judge in earnest. And if any of them had a case to come before the commissioners, of which there was like to be any doubt or contest, they would, if possible, come along with a client to him at the assizes (of which practice I reserve to speak afterwards), and there bow and cringe that they might be known again at the commission. Thus every opportunity of transacting, put into the hands of a person capable of doing well, proves an ingredient of fame, which in professions precarious and competitory as the law is, perpetually, and in a geometrical proportion (to use the allusion) enlarges the sphere