Reader, Here you'l plainly see Iudgement perverted By these three A Priest, A Judge, A Patentee. Written by Thomas Heywood |
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Of Iudges.
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 | Reader, Here you'l plainly see Iudgement perverted By these three |  |
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Of Iudges.
Can Iudges be corrupt, or staggering stand,
Who should be fathers both of lawes and land?
They did of old upon wilde Asses ride,
An emblem, that when doubts they did decide,
They should be slow in sentence, and consider
The cause, (both parties being brought together.)
Athens for them did Images devise:
To intimate, nought should from them be heard,
Savoring either of favor or reward.
But corrupt Iudges (such no doubt there are)
Punish the purse, and still the person spare.
And I have heard from a most learned Speaker,
That no Law-maker should be a law-breaker.
Hee's only a wise Iudge that stands in awe
Of one God solely, one King, and one Law.
Who should be fathers both of lawes and land?
They did of old upon wilde Asses ride,
An emblem, that when doubts they did decide,
They should be slow in sentence, and consider
The cause, (both parties being brought together.)
Athens for them did Images devise:
To intimate, nought should from them be heard,
Savoring either of favor or reward.
But corrupt Iudges (such no doubt there are)
Punish the purse, and still the person spare.
And I have heard from a most learned Speaker,
That no Law-maker should be a law-breaker.
Hee's only a wise Iudge that stands in awe
Of one God solely, one King, and one Law.
But to our former Quære; May it bee,
That in these times we any Iudge shall see,
Who on the Bench being seated as a god,
Should be call'd thence, and beat with a Blacke Rod?
Nor wonder is't; when some as grave and great,
Have in the same or like Judiciall Seat,
(Only to give his wit some vaine applause)
Jested and jeer'd a poore man from his Cause.
But O you Judges, that your selves forget,
And in the high seat of the Scornfull sit;
Who with the wicked have gon hand in hand,
You in the future judgement shall not stand.
That in these times we any Iudge shall see,
Who on the Bench being seated as a god,
Should be call'd thence, and beat with a Blacke Rod?
Nor wonder is't; when some as grave and great,
Have in the same or like Judiciall Seat,
(Only to give his wit some vaine applause)
Jested and jeer'd a poore man from his Cause.
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And in the high seat of the Scornfull sit;
Who with the wicked have gon hand in hand,
You in the future judgement shall not stand.
But how of late are things growne out of order?
When we shall see one from a bare Recorder,
Rais'd unto such an eminence of state,
That quite forgetting what he was but late,
He shall through all Judiciall seats aspire,
Even till he gaines the height of his desire:
And then, through guilt of conscience (none accusing)
(His place of soveraigne trust so much abusing)
When standing eminent in the Worlds broad eye,
Then like a Finch to take his wings and fly,
Leaving the Purse and the Broad Seale behind him,
As had they bin meere toyes, and did not mind them.
When we shall see one from a bare Recorder,
Rais'd unto such an eminence of state,
That quite forgetting what he was but late,
He shall through all Judiciall seats aspire,
Even till he gaines the height of his desire:
And then, through guilt of conscience (none accusing)
(His place of soveraigne trust so much abusing)
When standing eminent in the Worlds broad eye,
Then like a Finch to take his wings and fly,
Leaving the Purse and the Broad Seale behind him,
As had they bin meere toyes, and did not mind them.
But all have not the fortune to evade
Their triall: for though some fly, some are stayd.
Their triall: for though some fly, some are stayd.
When those whose livelihoods are the lawes, indeed,
By which they onely can subsist and feed,
(Which such sworne Fathers should as sacred keep,
And no houre in their execution sleep)
When such shall seeke to extirpe the Lawes foundation,
And in the stead thereof bring innovation;
To them I leave the Magna Charta's curse:
Now let the better Judges judge the worse.
By which they onely can subsist and feed,
(Which such sworne Fathers should as sacred keep,
And no houre in their execution sleep)
When such shall seeke to extirpe the Lawes foundation,
And in the stead thereof bring innovation;
To them I leave the Magna Charta's curse:
Now let the better Judges judge the worse.
| Reader, Here you'l plainly see Iudgement perverted By these three | |