Robert Allaley was an old offender. He had already been convicted of a capital felony, for which he had received the king's conditional pardon, tempt of court that was in former time | Kyngesberry (Kingsbury) co., Middlepunished by the offender's immediate sex, on the twelfth day of June last. consignment to the peine forte et dure, the hideous and revolting discipline by which the culprit was pressed to death under heavy weights put upon his extended body for having interfered the condition of the pardon being that with the course of justice by forbearing he should henceforth be of peaceful to do what the court required him to bearing towards the said lord the king, do. As a prisoner on his arraignment and all his lieges. On his arraignment for any felony short of high treason for the felony done at Kingsbury, could avoid forfeiture, and so save his Robert Allaley, instead of confessing offspring from extreme destitution by the charge or pleading "not guilty," forbearing to confess or plead, this stood mute, and for that contempt of contempt of court was of frequent oc-court was forthwith committed to the currence in the criminal courts before peine forte et dure, in the execution of the twelfth year of George III.'s reign, which sentence he would have been in which year it was enacted "that stripped of nearly all his clothing, every person who, being arraigned for thrown upon his back on the ground of felony or piracy, should stand mute or a dungeon, bound fast with cords, and not answer directly to the offence slowly pressed to death with heavy should be convicted of the same," a weights. The culprit escaped this punprovision that was superseded by the ishment for a comparatively common statute 7 and 8 George IV., c. 28, s. 1, contempt of the criminal court through which enacted that "if any person his sudden and impulsive perpetration being arraigned for treason, felony, of a second and more unusual contempt piracy, or misdemeanor shall stand at least more unusual at the Old mute of malice, or will not answer directly to the indictment or information, it shall be lawful for the court if it think fit, to order the proper officer to enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of such person, and the plea so entered shall have the same effect as if such person had actually pleaded the same." To "stand mute" under the stated circumstances still remains a contempt, though it has become a contempt which judges forbear to punish, now that they possess a more easy and less objectionable means of dealing with the offence and the offender. Bailey. To Obeying the order of the court, the gaoler of Newgate, one Robert Kemmicke, was in the act of leading Allaley to the appointed dungeon, when the latter, in a sudden gust of rage, turned on the officer and struck him. strike a blow either in the king's palace or its precinct, the same sovereign lord being then present in the palace, was an offence punishable with the loss of the offender's right hand. Every high court of justice was in the eye of the law one of the sovereign's palaces. Moreover, it was sound legal doctrine The record of what may be called a that, when any judge of Assize was two-fold contempt of court is preserved presiding in a court as his sovereign's in the Middlesex County Records of personal representative, and dispensing. the time of James I. At the Assize of justice in the king's name, all loyal Gaol Delivery, held at the Justice Hall subjects of the same dread sovereign of the Old Bailey on July 10 and divers were bound to regard his Majesty as following days of the seventh regnal being then and there present, and to year of James I., Robert Allaley, yeo-regard all things then and there done man, was arraigned on an indictment as done in the king's presence. charging him and other persons with It followed that, besides being a conhaving stolen divers household goods tempt of court, the blow given by Roband chattels from the dwelling-house ert Allaley to Robert Kemmicke was of Humfrey Lyne, gentleman, at an act of contempt against the king himself. By the act of violence offered calmly in a court of justice whilst an angry suitor inveighs against the judge for being a worthless "old hoss," and emphasizes his more free than courteous strictures on judicial incapacity by was to the gaoler within the king's palace, Robert Allaley had forfeited his right hand. Yet more, by the same act of violence Robert Allaley had forfeited the pardon of his previous felony, throwing an onion or an old boot at the which had been granted under condi- head of the valueless animal. tion that he should henceforth bear himself peacefully towards all the Barristers, whilst speaking in the inking's lieges. Seeing these points of terest of their clients, are allowed a the culprit's case, the court gave judg-measure of elocutionary license that is ment forthwith that Robert Allaley's denied to all other persons in a court of right hand should then and there be justice; but even they are liable to cut off, and that immediately after los-attachment and committal when they ing his hand he should, out of regard greatly exceed the limits of forensic to his previous conviction and the for- propriety. Though the menace feited pardon, be hung at the gate of not executed, the famous and admirathe Justice Hall, for the edification of ble Erskine, who fought his way with all persons passing along the Old dauntless courage and unsullied honor Bailey. This sentence was carried at the bar from penury to the woolsack, out. The wretched man's right hand provoked from Mr. Justice Buller a was cut off in the presence of his threat of committal if he persisted in judges, and a few minutes later his opposing the court on a question touchlifeless body dangled at the end of a ing the record of the verdict, by which rope at the gate of a court-house. a jury in the Shrewsbury Court-house had just declared the Dean of St. Asaph (Dean Shipley) guilty of publishing only," whilst they forebore to give any opinion as to the legal nature of the pamphlet, to wit, the famous Sir William Jones's "Dialogue between a Gentleman and a Farmer." A recent case of what Blackstone calls "the most flagrant kind of contempt of court" occurred in March, 1877, in one of the Courts of Chancery. In that year and month Vice-Chancellor Malins was in the act of leaving his court in Lincoln's Inn, a court adjoining the similar chamber in which the still surviving Vice-Chancellor Bacon used to mete out justice to suitors, when a citizen of the United States threw an egg at him. Returning to his seat in a court that was greatly excited by so unseemly an incident, the vicechancellor ordered that the man should be arrested, and then proceeded to commit him to prison. The misdemeanant having been removed from the court, Vice-Chancellor Malins made light of the affair by observing with piquant and seasonable pleasantry that the egg must surely have been intended for his brother Bacon. When he had passed some five months in prison, the perpetrator of this contempt was taken on board a ship bound for New York, and remitted to a country where republican institutions and manners have trained our transatlantic cousins to sit 66 The vehement altercation between one of the most worthy judges and the most masterly advocate of George III.'s time closed in this manner : Erskine I desire your Lordship, sitting here as judge, to record the verdict as given by the jury. Mr. Justice Buller: You say he is guilty of publishing the pamphlet, and that the meaning of the innuendoes is as stated in the indictment. Juror Certainly. Erskine Is the word "only" to stand part of the verdict ? Juror: Certainly. Erskine: Then I insist it shall be recorded. Mr. Justice Buller: Then the verdict must be misunderstood; let me understand the jury. Erskine: The jury do understand their verdict. Mr. Justice Buller: Sir, I will not be interrupted. Erskine: I stand here as an advocate for | jealously and carefully watched and exer a brother-citizen, and I desire that the word "only" may be recorded. Mr. Justice Buller: Sit down, sir; remember your duty, or I shall be obliged to proceed in another manner. Erskine: Your Lordship may proceed in what manner you think fit; I know my duty as well as your Lordship knows yours. I shall not alter my conduct. Fortunately for his reputation, the judge yielded to the advocate's stronger will, and forbore to repeat the menace of commitment. Had he committed Erskine for what Lord Campbell justly calls this noble stand for the independence of the bar," the incident would have enhanced the lustre of the advocate's splendid fame, and put a blot on the judge's fair record. For several and weighty reasons judges are slow to reduce counsel to silence. How far barristers may go in the way of contemptuous resistance to judicial authority without incurring commitment, readers may learn by referring to a full report of the famous Tichborne trial, and observing what license was permitted to Dr. Kenealy by a judge who certainly stood in no awe of that wrong-headed and rancorous barrister. cised, if I may say so, with the greatest reluctance and the greatest anxiety on the part of judges, to see whether there is no other mode, which is not open to the objection of arbitrariness, and can be brought to bear on the subject. I say that a judge should be most careful to see that the cause cannot be fairly prosecuted to a hearing, unless this extreme mode of dealing tions of contempt should be adopted. I with persons brought before him on accusahave myself had on many occasions to consider this jurisdiction, and I have always thought that, necessary though it be, it is necessary only in the sense in which extreme measures are sometimes necessary to preserve men's rights, that is, if no other remedy can be found. Probably that will be discovered after consideration to be the true measure of the exercise of the jurisdiction. Sir George Jessel acted in accordance with the maxim and spirit of these thoughtful words when it devolved upon him to decide what course ought to be taken for the restraint and correction of the doer of an especially outrageous contempt of court. In February, 1878 (just upon eleven months after the American fool threw the egg at Vice-Chancellor Malins), Sir George Jessel was in the act of entering the Rolls House, in order to discharge his judicial functions in the Rolls Court, when a disappointed and vindictive suitor drew a pistol from his pocket and fired it at the judge. Fortunately the attempt to destroy a most valuable life was futile. The ball having missed its mark, the miscreant was promptly arrested. The assault having been committed in the precinct of the Rolls Court, when the judge, though not actually discharging any judicial function, was in the performance of his official duty, Sir George would have been justified in proceeding against the culprit for so egregious a contempt by the exercise of his arbitrary power. But Sir George wisely determined to leave the affair to the ordinary criminal law. Proceeded against by criminal indictIt seems to me that this jurisdiction of ment at the Central Criminal Court, committing for contempt, being practically the offender was dealt with effectively. arbitrary and unlimited, should be most JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON. The origin of the several powers exercised by judges for the correction of contempts and the ordering of their courts being hidden from view by the mists of antiquity, nothing can be urged against the opinion of the jurists who maintain that in all probability the powers which are so likely to be abused, and in former times were so often abused by judges of a despotic temper and overbearing will, came into existence at the first institution of the courts themselves. Speaking from his judicial seat of the greatest and most dangerous of those needful powers, that strong judge, sound lawyer, and excellent man, Sir George Jessel, master of the rolls, gave utterance to these memorable words: From The Spectator. And one, an English home, Grey twilight poured Softer than sleep; all things in order stored, TENNYSON, "The Palace of Art." I. an excellent way of going about the land, there is one better still. Two wheels, one horse, one companion, and no servant, reduce human incumbrance and material superfluity to vanishing point. But in that case, your companion must be thoroughly congenHow irresistibly a beautiful phrase ial, and horse and trap should be your arrests the attention, and how inerad- own; and you must yourself care and icably it insinuates itself into the in- know how a horse should be driven, most recesses of the memory! "A fed, and groomed. It is very simple haunt of ancient peace.' No verse is lore, or I should say it was simple, more rich in beautiful phrases than were it not that in these complex days that of the exquisite poet to whom II observe many simple things are no find myself once again indebted for a longer understanded of many learned captivating title. I have just returned people. "Man and his steed" is still, from a driving-tour of some three hun- even in these traction-engine days, so dred miles, and I saw many an En-natural a combination of forces and glish home, many dewy pastures, dewy companionship. For a driving-tour of trees, and found all things in order any length, you should have a horse stored. My road curved and zigzagged you know better than yourself, and he through Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, returning on itself to the first of these, and never a day came to an end but I slept in some haunt of ancient peace. must possess virtues you are hardly likely to be endowed with. He must be thoroughly sound in wind and limb, must have perfect manners, should go up to his bit yet not pull an ounce, trot But where is the good, or what the or walk up and down his hills according object, of visiting peaceful haunts if as you desire, and be equal to covering one does not visit them peacefully? forty miles in one day, and yet never The fumus strepitusque of a railway train be off his feed. He should be at once ill accord with "blue spires of cottage fresh yet hard when you start, and smoke 'mong woodlands green," with should be newly shod. One's trap and fourteenth-century village churches, tackle require equal attention, and are with the smell of carted hay and ripen- entitled to equal concern; and if you ing wheat, with architecture as old as only take the trouble to place the lugthe time of the Tudors, parks as an-gage where it ought to be, you may cient as that of the Plantagenets, and carry a considerable quantity of it withwith the first penumbral imitations of out burdening your beast. A waterthe eclipse autumn is preparing for yet shining and rounded summer. There are but three suitable ways of journeying through haunts of ancient peace. You may walk, you may ride, or you may drive. If you drive, there are again three courses open to you, but only one of them is in perfect harmony with your purpose. A drag, with its team, implies the presence of a goodly company, who are pretty sure, for the most part, to use the peacefulness of the country lanes as a background for the liveliness of their conversation. Against four wheels, a pair of horses, one companion, and a servant, I have nothing to urge, save that, though it is proof ulster and waterproof cap, two waterproof rugs, one for yourself and one to put over the exposed part of the luggage, and so disposed that should it rain the wet shall run into the road and not into the well of your vehicle, and, finally a luncheon-basket, complete, I think, the precautions one should take if one wants to conduct one's drivingtour in comfort as well as in peace. It was under such conditions, and after such precautions, that two of us started on our driving-tour one morning this last August at the easy hour of eleven, without fuss, hurry, or the imperious command of "Take your seats! Train going on!" There was no fever nor fume of departure, but a quiet, de- | marble, and not a few monumental liberate getting under way, in keeping effigies to Kentish chancels. Now I with the shimmering and windless think it contributes nothing save, by morning. It had rained copiously in its picturesque garden-fronted cottages the night; but had I not heard the and its grey church-tower, to the genheavy pattering on the leaves, between eral sense of quiet which broods over one dream and another, I should hardly the landscape amid which it stands. have known it, in such capital condi- Biddenden, five miles further on, is tion were the roads, and so bright and almost equally "the world forgetting, spacious was the air. I remember the by the world forgot," though its viltime when, at the first turn we took to lagers, who still insist on distributing, the right, there once stood an old sign-on Easter Sunday, flat cakes stamped post on which was written, in rapidly fading characters, "A Summer Road to Bethersden." It was a long, broad, grassy track, running straight between copses of Spanish chestnut, birch, and hazel, grown for hop-poles, and you had to be very careless alike of your springs and your bones, if you drove over it in the autumn or winter months. But it has long been made firm and hard, and it now receives the attention of the County Council. But the woods, pastures, and meadows that lie on either side of it, have lost nothing of their ancient rusticity; and many a time in the short days, Over brown furrows wheels the lapwing white, And whistles tunely to the winter wind. with the figures of the twin maids of Biddenden, ever and anon are greatly excited by the report that they are at last to be linked to the rest of the world by a railway, and will no longer have to travel to Staplehurst or Headcorn in search of it. But the rumor, often as it recurs, is never fulfilled, and Biddenden cannot even boast a telegraphoffice. The variety of English scenery must, I think, be as striking to every observer as the variety of English life. Now park succeeds to park, and comely domain marches with comely domain. Now country seats, with their woodfarmsteads and fitfully scattered roofs land amenity, cease, and only humble mark the residence of mau. Anon, you find yourself traversing a longThat first forenoon of our expedition stretching common, with its gorse, its the ringdoves were cooing in full sum- heather, its bracken, and its loneliness. mer content, and on the heavy clay, Starting, as we did, from a district well pulverized by the drought of last where mansion and deer-park are peryear, and the dripping showers of this, haps the most noticeable features, we spread ample fields of wheat, six feet had driven for the better part of fifteen high in the stem, and plump and prom- miles through a country where nothing ising in the ear. The land is scarcely of the kind is to be descried, and where in the Weald, but partakes neverthe- village churches and here and there a less of its character, and reminds one picturesque cottage whose date it is of forest-clearings long ago. Some one difficult to assign constitute the main has indicated forty-two villages in this interest of the scene. You are always district whose names have the instruc-repaid for halting at the former; and tive termination"den." I think I though one would be better pleased if could add to the list, but will content one found their doors hospitably open, myself with noting that those who the key is always to be had for the abide in them always lay the accent on asking. At Lamberhurst, where we the final syllable. Thus it is not Béth-baited on the first day, the key was ersden, as most Englishmen would handed to us, and we were left to make spontaneously pronounce, but Bethersdén. It has, in bygone days, contributed many an over-mantel to Kentish manor-houses from its grey turbinated our way alone to the church, which is not in the village, but in private ground hard by, and all fee for the loan of it was refused. Both here and at Bid |