With regard to the administration of justice, I have noted only the following passages as coming within of my design. We read in the Acts how the scope that King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cesarea to salute Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix, about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him. To whom I answered, it is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.' XXV. 13-16. Well therefore does Archbishop Cranmer urge, in King Henry VIII., before the Lords of Council who were assembled to condemn him unheard : I do beseech your lordships, That in this case of justice, my accusers, Be what they will, may stand forth face to face, Act v. Sc. 2. And well too does the Bishop of Carlisle, in King Richard II., urge the same in behalf of his sovereign against those who had conspired to dethrone him :Thieves are not judged, but they are by to hear, Altho' apparent guilt be seen in them: And shall the figure of God's majesty, Act iv. Sc. I. SECT. 12. Of the use and abuse of the Tongue. 'I will speak daggers,' says Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 2, using a metaphor which the Bible has made familiar to us. Swords are in their lips,' says the Psalmist, lix. 7. And again, 'Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrowseven bitter words,' lx. 3. And no doubt there are many cases in which this is found by experience to be too true. For instance : "Tis slander; Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states, Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave This viperous slander enters. Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 4. And the heinousness of slander lies in this, that nothing is more precious to a man than his good name. There is an admirable sermon of Bishop Sanderson* upon the text, 'A good name is better than precious ointment,' Eccles. vii. 1; in which he observes the more precious a good name is, the more grievous is their sin who seek to rob others of it. Neither thieves nor murderers are more cruel and injurious than slanderers, backbiters, and false accusers are.'t This is vigorously put by that great divine, but not so effectively as our poet has + Works, vol. i. p. 21. * Born 1587, died 1662. expressed the same; and he has added the original idea, that though so much is lost by him against whom the sin is committed, nothing is gained by him who commits it : Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse, steals trash; But he that filches from me my good name, Othello, Act iii. Sc. 3. Where Mr. Malone quotes Proverbs xxii. 1, 'A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.' S. Paul has taught us, that in judging others the consequence is we condemn ourselves, Rom. ii. 1; an idea which our poet has caught and admirably intensified, when he makes Timon ask Wilt thou whip thine own faults in other men? Timon of Athens, Act v. Sc. 1. At the same time he does not deny that censure and reproof, even of the greatest severity, may be sometimes necessary, and that charity itself may require us to administer them : I must be cruel, only to be kind. Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 4. But with regard to censures in general there is no reflection more just or more profound than that the judgment we form and the estimate we express of the conduct of others depends upon our own moral state; and how happily has our poet embodied this truth! Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile. King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 2. It follows, as a consequence from this remark, that praise is often a doubtful benefit, and we know that in warning us against it, our Lord himself has gone so far as to say Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you ! Luke vi. 26. And how ingeniously again has this sentiment been adopted and assigned to the character to whom, of all others, it is most appropriate !— Timon. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more. Timon. Yea, thou spok'st well of me. Alcibiades. Call'st thou that harm? Timon. Men daily find it such.* Timon of Athens, Act iv. Sc. 3. See also the dialogue between the Duke and the Clown, in Twelfth Night : Duke. How dost thou, my good fellow? Clown. Truly, sir, the better for my foes, and the worse for my friends. Duke. Just the contrary; the better for thy friends. Clown. No, sir, the worse. Duke. How can that be? Clown. Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass; so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself; and by my friends I am abused.t Act v. Sc. I. See S. Chrys. on Acts, Hom. lii. † i. e. deceived, imposed upon. And if the praise of others is harmful, still less will our own praise of ourselves do us good: Let another man praise thee; and not thine own mouth. Prov. xxvii. 2. It is not good to eat much honey; so for men to search their own glory is not glory. XXV. 27. The worthiness of praise disdains his worth, If that the praised himself bring the praise forth. Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. 3. Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise. Ibid. Act. ii. Sc. 3. We have had occasion, in former sections, to speak of the efficacy of prayer and intercession, and also of the practice of Parental Benediction, which our pious forefathers doubtless regarded as not altogether unavailing. That they should have attributed some effect to malediction likewise, when solemnly pronounced in a righteous cause, is not to be wondered at; and for my own part I feel at least no sympathy with the scrup.es which induced Mr. Bowdler to omit the last line of the am about to quote : passage I Q. Mar. O! princely Buckingham, I kiss thy hand;— Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass King Richard III. Act i. Sc. 3. Instead of omitting these last words, it would |