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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A REPLY TO A PAPER Written by one of the Six CLERKS, INTITULED, <HI>An An&s;wer to a Printed Paper of the under-Clerks in Chancery,</HI> INTITULED, <HI>Rea&s;ons to be offered,</HI> &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>THE Re&s;pondent or Author of the Paper doth well to Intitle him&s;elf <HI>A Lover of Truth and Ju&s;tice,</HI> el&s;e no man by his Writing could ever have thought him &s;o. And where he conjectures the Rea&s;ons to be framed <HI>by &s;ome under-Clerks in Chancery,</HI> he may po&s;&s;ibly be &s;o farre in the right, but not a word further: And for the &s;atisfaction he de&s;ires, <HI>who will own it,</HI> he may plea&s;e to under&s;tand that the Clerks of the Court do generally own it, and many of them have &s;o expre&s;t them&s;elves unto me, and for the truth of the matter, no man need to doubt it; for if it might be put into a way of Examination, it would be made appear upon the Oathes of 100 &s;everall per&s;ons, and
<PB N="2" REF="2">if the Author thinks him&s;elf, and the re&s;t of his brethren &s;candalized with matter of truth, I cannot help it.</P>
<P>And the Author having fini&s;hed his Prologue (in&s;tead of giving an An&s;wer to the Rea&s;ons) fals a railing at the Clerks for &s;aying <HI>their Allowances are too &s;mall, and cals them &s;herks for that they &s;hare with the &s;ix Clerks in the Fees which the Clients pay.</HI></P>
<P>In Vindication of who&s;e Reputation, although I forbear to &s;ay, that the &s;ix Clerks have fir&s;t &s;herked upon the Clerks, yet I &s;hall truly inform the Reader how they have u&s;ed the Clerks, and not the Clerks alone, but even the Lord Pro|tector him&s;elf, and all the people of the Nation, and leave it to others to give their actions a name according as they de|&s;erve. For anciently when the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Court was but little, and the &s;ix Clerks were not only nominall, but reall Attorneys, advi&s;ing and directing Clients, and laying out and disbur&s;ing money for them, and thereby adventu|ring the lo&s;&s;e thereof, and with their own hands writing all the &s;peciall bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Court (wherein any Clerk&s;hip was required) and had but one or two young Clerks apiece, to write and copy things of an ordinary and ea&s;ie nature, even then the &s;ame young Clerks (their meniall &s;ervants) had all the Fees which the &s;ix Clerks of late allowed to the practizing Clerks, and had al&s;o their Diet, Chamber-rent, Paper, Ink, Parchment and Candles, Blank-writs of all &s;orts, &s;econd Copies, renued Writs, and Copies of Decrees and Di&s;mi&s;&s;ions, and the whole Fees of many Writs, &s;ome of which the &s;ix Clerks them&s;elves afterwards took from the Clerks, and others they &s;uffered to be taken away by Paten|tees, as making Subpenas, ingro&s;&s;ing of Grants and Lea&s;es to the great Seal, and the like, which the &s;ix Clerks oppo&s;ed not, it trenching upon the Clerks only. And when the &s;ix Clerks cea&s;ed to act for the Clients as Attornies, making it their chief imployment to keep Books of Entries, where|by to exact their pretended Fees, all the care and burden of Cau&s;es being ca&s;t upon the Clerks, and they compelled to disbur&s;e all monies to be laid out for Clients, and very often with their own mony to pay the Clients Fees (which grew
<PB N="3" REF="2">due for their own labour) to the &s;ix Clerks, which they never received again from the Clients, and undergo all o|ther hazards and lo&s;&s;es. And when all the afore&s;aid allow|ances were likewi&s;e withheld from them, and the benefit of divers Writs gone as afore&s;aid, it may be truly &s;aid that there was a nece&s;&s;ity laid upon the Clerks to withhold a greater part of the Fees, which the Clients paid, then the &s;ix Clerks would &s;eem willing to allow them, and this they might lawfully do without violation of the Laws of God or man, for I finde no text of Scripture that erects &s;uch Officers as the &s;ix Clerks to live upon the peoples pur&s;es, without any care or regard of, or ability to do them &s;ervice in their Cau&s;es, nor is there any Statute or other Law that creates them &s;ave only their illegall Parent granted in the time of Monopolies by the late King <HI>Charles,</HI> but there are &s;everall Acts of Parliament prohibiting the buying and &s;elling of Offices: And I likewi&s;e finde a Text of Scripture where the righteous God (taking upon him&s;elf the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Re|formation) promi&s;eth his people to &s;end them <HI>Judges as at the fir&s;t and Officers as at the beginning.</HI> From whence it may be concluded, that Officers and others in Publique imployment had need &s;ometimes to be reformed and brought to their Primitive con&s;titution. And if the &s;ix Clerks were &s;till &s;o continued and made to become work|ing Attorneys as at the fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>A</HI>^o 12^o Ri. 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> they were in|crea&s;ed from three to &s;ix.</NOTE> and &s;o many more added un|to them and made Attorneys likewi&s;e, as are nece&s;&s;ary for di&s;patch of the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Court, I think no man would de&s;ire to remove them out of &s;uch their pro|per imployment, or to receive one penny of their Fees. But they have not only thus abu&s;ed the Clerks, but have in a much higher nature abu&s;ed the Lord Protector, and all the people of the Nation, Witne&s;&s;e their receiving very large Fees for inrolling all &s;uch Grants and Pardons and other things as pa&s;&s;e the Great Seal, and never inrolling or e&s;treating many of them, whereby the Lord Protector and Commonwealth are very much abu&s;ed, and the Rents and Re&s;ervations upon them (for want of &s;ending E&s;treats into the Exchequer) never appear, whereby they may be
<PB N="4" REF="3">demanded or levied as they ought to be. And the people are greatly abu&s;ed, not only their E&s;tates, but their Lives being in danger, for want of inrolling the Grants and Pardons, there having been few or none inrolled for the&s;e fourteen years la&s;t pa&s;t. And the Warrants and Privy Seals for pa&s;&s;ing them are &s;o ill kept, that many of them within the&s;e nine or ten years la&s;t are quite rotten, not to be read again, &s;o that now its impo&s;&s;ible ever to have them inrolled: and the truth hereof would appear, were the Clerks appointed for keeping the Records examined upon Oath, and &s;earch made at the Hamper Office what Patents have pa&s;&s;ed within the&s;e fourteen years la&s;t pa&s;t, and then &s;ee in the Chappell of the Rols and Exchequer how many of the Rols are &s;ent to the Chappell of the Rols, or E&s;treat into the Exchequer. And now what name the&s;e doings and actions of the &s;ix Clerks &s;hall have, I leave to the Rea|der to judge. But I am &s;ure, that which the Author of the Pamphlet cals &s;herking in the Clerks, is but the recei|ving of le&s;&s;e then one half of the wages due for their own labours, which &s;ome of the greate&s;t and mo&s;t wi&s;e of the late &s;ix Clerks have acknowledged to be due, and of right belonging to them. For I remember when I waited upon one of the &s;ix Clerks, &s;ome of the younger &s;ort of them propo&s;ing Rules of practice to tye the Clerks to a more &s;trict Accompt, I heard that grave and wi&s;e Gentleman M^r <HI>Saunders</HI> (&s;ometime one of the <HI>&s;ix Clerks</HI>) expre&s;&s;e him&s;elf to this effect, <HI>viz. Let them alone, they do the Work that we ought to do, they disbur&s;e their own mony, and &s;ave us from disbur&s;ing ours, they bring us a great profit, and run all the hazard, and if they do receive one half of the Fees paid by the Clients, it is no more then is nece&s;&s;ary to maintain them|&s;elves and families.</HI></P>
<P>And I appeal to all indifferent men, whether if one of the &s;ix Clerks receive clearly into his own Pur&s;e 1500 or 1600^l <HI>per Annum</HI> or more, by the labour of the Clerks in his Office, which are &s;eventeen or eighteen per&s;ons, (as by their own Certificate to the Committee for Regulation of the Chancery appears,) Whether tho&s;e &s;eventeen or eight|teen
<PB N="5" REF="3">per&s;ons &s;hould not receive among&s;t them all to main|tain their families, &s;o much as one &s;ix Clerk had to main|tain his: The &s;ix Clerk in the mean time, having no hazard, but receives his money ready down from the Clerks whe|ther they receive it or no, and the Clerks adventuring that which they pay down to the &s;ix Clerks, their own Fees, and all other disbur&s;ements which many times are lo&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>And as touching the E&s;tates which the Pamphlet mentions to be gained by the practi&s;ing Clerks out of their former allowan|ces;</HI> I &s;ay, That although the Clerks did at the time he &s;peaks of, &s;hare with the &s;ix Clerks, and receive as much of the Fees paid by the Clyents, as they have done at any time &s;ince; Yet he cannot name above two per&s;ons, that ever gained any con&s;iderable E&s;tate by that imploiment<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">E. R. H. P.</NOTE>. And for any others, the E&s;tates they have gotten are but &s;mall, and much inferiour to the E&s;tates that many other indu&s;trious men have acquired in imploiments much inferiour to theirs. But it may be truly ob&s;erved, that the &s;mall E&s;tates gained by the Clerks have pro&s;pered better then the large E&s;tates gotten by the &s;ix Clerks; For memo|ry hath &s;carce recorded, that ever an E&s;tate gotten by a &s;ix Clerk remained to his po&s;terity one age after his death.</P>
<P>In the next place the Author of the Pamphet &s;eems much to undervalue the Clerks pains, &s;aying, <HI>They take pains to part &s;takes with the &s;ix Clerks, and that the &s;ervants of the Clerks take more pains then the Clerks them&s;elves.</HI> But here (as in all the re&s;t of the Pamphlet) although he &s;tyles him|&s;elf <HI>a Lover of the Truth,</HI> yet he loves not to &s;peak the truth; Witne&s;&s;e his mi&s;-reciting the Ordinance, and men|tioning <HI>thirteen Groats allowed to the intended Attourneys;</HI> where it is but ten Groats, and his mi&s;-repeating the Rea&s;ons likewi&s;e; and where the Rea&s;ons &s;ay, the Clerk might ju&s;t|ly receive part of the Fees which the &s;ix Clerks claimed, he repeats it, <HI>That they might ea&s;ily do it.</HI> And I would know of the Author, Where (in the Paper which he cals <HI>the Clerks paper</HI>) he findes any acknowledgement, <HI>That the
<PB N="6" REF="4">Fees allowed by the Ordinate to the intended Attourneys, are as great as the Fees allowed to the Attourneys of other Courts?</HI> I am &s;ure I can finde no &s;uch thing therein, but his paper is &s;tuft with nothing but untruths: <HI>And touching the Clerks pains,</HI> I would know of him, Who are the Per&s;ons that di|rect and advi&s;e all the Clyents of the Court in their Cau&s;es, and draw all the &s;pecial Writs, Commi&s;&s;ions, Decrees, Di&s;mi&s;&s;ions, and other things? Surely he will not &s;ay, that either the &s;ix Clerks, or the Servants to the practi&s;ing Clerks do, or can do any of the&s;e things. And whether the&s;e things can be done without much care and pains, I leave it to any other (except the Author) to judge: As al&s;o, Whether the ca&s;e be the &s;ame twixt the &s;ix Clerks and Clerks, as be|twixt the Clerks and their menial &s;ervants, or between a man and his &s;ervant whom he teaches and in&s;tructs in an imploy|ment, and maintains with meat, drink, lodging, and other nece&s;&s;aries? The &s;ix Clerks being none of them bred in the imployment, and &s;o know nothing of it, when they purcha&s;e their Offices, and what knowledge they after attain to in the imployment they learn from the Clerks, and not the Clerks from them.</P>
<P>And where <HI>any untruth is laid down as a foundation</HI> in the Rea&s;ons (as the Author would in&s;inuate) I cannot &s;ee; I hope he doth not mean that the Clerks &s;ay untruly, in &s;ay|ing, <HI>they were compelled to pay the &s;ix Clerks the Fees due from the Clyents, and never received them again:</HI> For the Author by his long experience cannot but know, that he hath com|pelled the Clerks to pay him &s;ome hundreds of pounds, that they never received again from the Clyents: And every Clerk that hath had any con&s;iderable practice, if examined upon his Oath, would depo&s;e, that the &s;ix Clerks have ex|acted from him &s;ome &s;cores of pounds that he never did or could receive again from the Clyents. And although I be|lieve the Author be a better Divine then a Clerk or Lawyer, yet he can hardly finde it re&s;olved among&s;t all the Ca&s;ui&s;ts, that the Clerks are bound in con&s;cience to pay their Clyents Fees, out of their own pur&s;es to the &s;ix Clerks, although they never received them of the Clyent, or that it is <HI>fraud
<PB N="7" REF="4">or unju&s;t covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> if they (being unju&s;tly compelled &s;o to do at one time) re-imbur&s;e them&s;elves at another time. As <HI>for the pains pretended to be taken by the &s;ix Clerks,</HI> I leave to all the Clyents in <HI>England</HI> to judge what it is.</P>
<P>And &s;eeing the Author by his paper gives occa&s;ion to lay forth their nakedne&s;&s;e, which I never found the Clerks to have done, I will with moderation (not with railing, as he doth) tell you what they do; They only keep Books, where|in they enter the names of the Clyents for their better recei|ving the Fees, to which none have acce&s;&s;e but them&s;elves; for as &s;oon as they go from their Offices in the vacation, they either take tho&s;e Books along with them, or lock them up, &s;o as no man hath u&s;e thereof, or benefit thereby, but them|&s;elves, &s;o that this labour might be very well &s;pared, and the Cau&s;e would proceed &s;omewhat the fa&s;ter. They likewi&s;e attend in Court, and reade Clyents Books, but the Clerk mu&s;t attend likewi&s;e to give him the Book or Writing that he is to reade: And might not this formality then be likewi&s;e &s;pared? And were it not as little labour for the Clerk to reade them him&s;elf in Court, as to give them to the &s;ix Clerk to read?</P>
<P>They alledge, <HI>Di&s;patch of references,</HI> but they arc chiefly of their own occa&s;ioning, and if they were able to give a pre&s;ent accompt to the Court of the cour&s;e and practice of Court, and the proceedings in Cau&s;es as able Attourneys might do, the references would be &s;pa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ed, and the Court and Clyent much ea&s;ed.</P>
<P>The Author further &s;aith, <HI>By the &s;ame Argument the Clerks would &s;hare with the &s;ix Clerks in the Fees, &s;o might a Plowman or Souldier claim as much as his Landlord or Com|mander, and that the Clerks proceed unju&s;tly in making their pains the rule of propriety, and not Law and Ju&s;tice, and that they promi&s;ed the &s;ix Clerks upon their Admittances to be con|tent with their Allowances, but never kept their words. And that they teach the Lord Protector, and the honourable Com|mittee what Fees &s;hould be paid; And that they go along with the Levelling Party, and are dangerous Per&s;ons to be tru&s;ted,</HI> and divers &s;uch like untrue and &s;candalous A&s;|&s;ertions.</P>
<P><PB N="8" REF="5">
In An&s;wer whereunto, I de&s;ire the Reader to peru&s;e the later end of my Paper, entituled, <HI>A Di&s;covery of certain grievances in the Court of Chancery,</HI> &amp;c. where he will finde a full An&s;wer to the&s;e &s;leight Objections. Whereunto I add further, That the Clerks may well make the pains to be taken for Clyents the be&s;t Rule of Propriety to entitle them to Fees &s;utable to their pains and &s;ervice, e&s;pecially where the matter and Fees are under con&s;ideration of Parliament to be reformed and appointed to every one according to de&s;ert, and a <HI>quantum meruit</HI> lies at Common Law for recovery of meet &s;atisfaction for pains taken; Therefore the Author of the Pamphlet doth well to confe&s;&s;e ingeniou&s;ly, that he and the re&s;t of his Brethren had need of a further help then a <HI>quantum meruit</HI> to recover their Fees, and therefore may well di&s;claim to have <HI>the pains taken for Clyents to be the Rule of Propriety.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;urely the Clerks would have been too blame, if they had been altogether &s;ilent, when they found that &s;ome of the Fees intended to them are &s;o &s;mall, that the Parch|ment will co&s;t them more then they are to receive for the &s;ame when it is written: With this, that they no wayes went about <HI>to teach the Lord Protector, or the honourable Commit|tee What Fees are to be paid,</HI> but humbly offered their Rea|&s;ons, and left it to their con&s;ideration in an humble and pri|vate way, not making their Rea&s;ons publick, as the Author of the Pamphlet hath done them, and his own Paper, by &s;elling them publickly to the Stationers, I &s;uppo&s;e, partly to make profit to him&s;elf, but chiefly to a&s;per&s;e and calumni|ate the Clerks; for had I not found the Pamphlet &s;o publick at every Stationers &s;hop, I had &s;pared this labour, though now in re&s;pect of my former relation to them, I thought my &s;elf by way of gratitude bound to vindicate them, I finding them &s;ilent herein. Neither do the Clerks, as the Author of the Pamphlet fal&s;ly in&s;inuates, <HI>Runne with the levelling Party;</HI> for I never under&s;tood that it was a <HI>levelling princi|ple,</HI> for an Apprentice when he hath paid his money, and &s;erved his Apprenti&s;hip, to de&s;ire to be free of his Trade: Or for a Student of the Univer&s;ity or Inns of Court, after
<PB N="9" REF="5">he hath continued a convenient time, and done his Exerci&s;e, to de&s;ire to take Degrees, or be called to the Barre: And if this be levelling, all the Attourneys of the Com|mon-Pleas and Upper-Bench have been <HI>Levellers</HI> for ma|ny ages la&s;t pa&s;t; for that Attourneys Clerks of tho&s;e Courts, after they have &s;erved a convenient time, and fitted them&s;elvs for that imploiment, have never been denied to be admitted Attourneys.</P>
<P>And &s;urely the Gentleman di&s;covers a high Principle of Tyranny, that would have &s;o many Free-men of <HI>England,</HI> men of Repute and Fortune, Ma&s;ters of Fami|lies, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to be under a Yoke of Servitude, and be ac|counted as their <HI>menial Servants</HI> all the dayes of their lives; And he is no le&s;&s;e injurious and uncon&s;cionable to <HI>appropriate the practi&s;ing Clerks Fees to the &s;ix Clerks,</HI> that &s;o the Clerks might be at their Will and Plea&s;ure only; For what greater Tyranny and Oppre&s;&s;ion can there be in the world, then when a man hath given a &s;umme of Money to be bred up in an Imployment, and then &s;erved in it all his life, perhaps twenty or thirty years, to have a &s;tranger illegally to &s;tep over him into an Office, and without any cau&s;e hold him to any un|con&s;cionable Terms and Conditions by promi&s;e or other Engagements, and to exact and extort the Fees (paid by the Clyents) from the Clerk, and compell him to pay the &s;ame out of his own Pur&s;e, though he never re|ceive it him&s;elf, or el&s;e turn him out of that imployment, wherein he was bred, and upon which he depends for his &s;ub&s;i&s;tence?</P>
<P>And as touching the <HI>Petition annexed to his Paper,</HI> although many of the per&s;ons mentioned to be Petition|ers, di&s;own the &s;ame, and divers names are put thereto of men who never were heard of the be Clerks in the Office? yet I &s;ay, that the three pence <HI>per</HI> &s;heet then de&s;ired together with the profit of the <HI>Dedimus Pote&s;t.</HI> and &s;uch other Fees, as they then received, did amount to as much as the whole Fees now allowed by the Table of Fees annexed to <GAP DESC="missing" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="10" REF="6">Ordinance, and yet not more then was nece&s;&s;ary to &s;upport them&s;elves and Families.</P>
<P>And whereas the Author of the Pamphlet would in&s;i|nuate into the Souldiery, to have the &s;ix Clerks lookt upon <HI>as the Officers of the Army, and the Clerks as the common Souldiers;</HI> and thereupon concludes, <HI>That it is as unju&s;t for the Clerks to de&s;ire their Fees, as for the common Souldier to de&s;ire their Commanders pay:</HI> He therein mi&s;takes the ca&s;e: For the &s;ix Clerks are but At|tourneys, and the Attourneys of every Court, are, or &s;hould be as the common Souldiers in an Army (the men on who&s;e &s;houlders the mo&s;t hard and laborious work of the Court doth lie.) And as well he might &s;ay, That if an Ar|my con&s;i&s;ted of five thou&s;and common Souldiers, and there were a nece&s;&s;ity in re&s;pect of &s;ome &s;ervice to be done to increa&s;e the&s;e five thou&s;and to twenty thou&s;and, that the&s;e five thou&s;and &s;hould monopolize the pay of the other fifteen thou&s;and, and put on them the whole burthen of the &s;ervice, and allow them what pay they plea&s;ed, and disband them at plea&s;ure: And the Indenture being tripartite, I have &s;ealed him a third part thereof; Whereby he may &s;ee, That the ca&s;e he puts concerning others, is their own, which is that they being in the nature of common Souldiers, <HI>viz.</HI> Attour|neys of a Court of Ju&s;tice, de&s;ire and receive Officers pay, whereby their profit (as it was formerly) was not only much greater then the Fees acquired by mo&s;t Councel which are before them in place, but as great as the Ma&s;ter of the Rolls, or any other Judges in <HI>England,</HI> even the Lords Com|mi&s;&s;ioners them&s;elves (as I conceive) &s;o that I may truly &s;ay to him, <HI>Mutato nemine de te fabula narratur.</HI> But I have &s;pent more time then need in clearing this, for that every man knows, That an Army cannot admit of any &s;uch idle, u&s;ele&s;s, and exorbitant Officers, as are the &s;ix Clerks, and &s;ome other pretended Officers in Chancery, who were origi|nally but <HI>Clerici &s;ecundae formae &s;cribentes in rotulis prepr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">is manibus.</HI> But they have received Officers pay &s;o long, that they would now fain be Commanders, and forget
<PB N="11" REF="6">that they are but Attourneys in the nature of common &s;oul|diers.</P>
<P>And whereas the Author of the Pamphlet unworthily goes about to per&s;wade the People, That the Clerks have principles of fraud radicated in them, and are not fit to be tru&s;ted, I &s;ay, that if the Clerks did not perform the tru&s;t repo&s;ed in them, both to the Court and Clyent, better then the &s;ix Clerks performed their tru&s;t, the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Court would have been in farre wor&s;e condition then now it is (although it be bad enough) for certainly all the care and faithfulne&s;s that hath been performed either towards the Court or the Suitors, as to the practical part thereof, hath been performed by the Clerks, and by none but the Clerks. As to in&s;tance in the pa&s;&s;ing of a Decree (being a thing of as great moment, as any thing in the Court betwixt party and party) the Clerks take much pains and care truly to collect and compo&s;e it out of the Pleadings and Orders of the Court, and then examine the &s;ame with the &s;ame Pleadings and Orders, wherein he often &s;pends three, four or five dayes, and then pre&s;ents it to the &s;ix Clerk to be &s;igned; who there|upon certifies the Court that he hath examined it, and receives twenty &s;hillings for the &s;ame, although in truth, he knows not one word that is contained in it; nor can mo&s;t of the &s;ix Clerks &s;ay (if they &s;peak the truth) that ever they examined a Decree in their lives, nor if they &s;hould examine them, do they know whether the &s;ame are done, as they ought to be, or not. And hereupon the Regi&s;ter upon the Clerks credit, pre&s;ents it to be &s;igned by the Lords Commi&s;&s;ioners, &s;o that there is no pains or care be&s;towed about it, but what is done by the Clerk; nay I will boldly affirm, If the Clerks of the Court had been &s;uch as the Author of the Pamphlet &s;tyles them, it had been no hard matter for them (till of late that a greater care hath been taken by the Lords Commi&s;&s;ioners) to have pa&s;&s;ed Decrees again&s;t any man in <HI>England</HI> for ten thou&s;and pound, there being no care taken what was pre&s;ented to the Lords Commi&s;&s;ioners to be &s;igned, but what was done by the Clerks: And as in Decrees, &s;o I might
<PB N="12" REF="7">in&s;tance likewi&s;e in almo&s;t every thing that is done in the Court.</P>
<P>And I hope, if there be ju&s;t cau&s;e (as certainly there is) to make &s;ixty or &s;eventy Attourneys in the Court of Chan|cery, every judicious man will think it rea&s;onable, that the Attourneys of the Court (now) &s;hould have half &s;o much allowed them for their Fees, as the Attourneys of the &s;ame Court had two hundred years &s;ince; carefull, laborious and able Attourneys, being men of &s;o great tru&s;t and ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity in every Court of Ju&s;tice, that the bu&s;ine&s;s of the Court cannot be done without them.</P>
<P>But as for &s;uperintendent Officers, &s;uch as are the &s;ix Clerks, chief Regi&s;ter and chief Examiners, Subpena Offi|cers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Although many think it to be an honour to a Court to have &s;uch Officers in it, and therefore Prophe&s;ie that their removall will occa&s;ion many inconveniencies and di&s;orders, yet I will tell them, that the&s;e and &s;uch like Officers are the di&s;grace and di&s;honour of a Court of Ju&s;tice: And the Chancery never was in &s;o great Honour, as when there were none but working Attornies and Clerks, <HI>viz. (Clerici pri|mae &amp; &s;ecundae formae)</HI> every of which truly performed the work and labour for which they were ordained: Nor was the Court ever in &s;uch di&s;honour and ignominy, as it hath been &s;ince the&s;e Clerks became Officers. And give me leave (like a poor <HI>Micaia</HI>) to foretell, that there never will nor can be any effectuall Reformation, as long as there are &s;u|perintendent Officers continued, between the Ma&s;ter of the Rols and the Clerks of the Court, (who di&s;patch the Clients bu&s;ine&s;&s;e) to receive the greate&s;t part of the Fees which the Clients pay: For what&s;oever Fees are allowed, whether it be the &s;ame in the Ordinance, or more or le&s;&s;e, if the Clerks receive the &s;ame to their own u&s;e, the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e will be well di&s;patched, and the Records well kept; whereas if the great|e&s;t part of the Fees (which are paid pending the &s;uit) be given to Superintendent Officers, bu&s;ine&s;&s;e will never be well done. And the Rule ob&s;erved in ancient time is very remarkable, where we may &s;ee how carefull and prudent
<PB N="13" REF="7">men were, that Clients Cau&s;es &s;hould not be ob&s;tructed; for when the Ma&s;ter of the Rols was only a Mini&s;teriall Offi|cer (<HI>viz.</HI> chief Clerk) and the &s;ix Attornies acted for Cli|ents in all re&s;pects as Clerks do now, the Ma&s;ter of the Rols received no Fees from any Clients pending the &s;uit, but the Attornies who did the whole bu&s;ine&s;&s;e received the whole Fees due for the &s;ame to their own u&s;e. But at and after the hearing of the Cau&s;es, the Ma&s;ter of the Rols received Fees, <HI>viz.</HI> for every Decree and Di&s;mi&s;&s;ion <HI>vj</HI>^s&mdash;<HI>viij</HI>^d, and for every Exemplification <HI>Vidimus</HI> and <HI>Con&s;tat,</HI> the like Fee.</P>
<P>And no doubt this was &s;o done that the Attornies might have no cau&s;e to neglect or delay the Clients Cau&s;es, which they would undoubtedly have done, if the Ma&s;ter of the Rols being the then chief Clerk had received the greate&s;t part of the Fees, due for their Labours; but e&s;pe|cially if he had compelled them to pay their Clients Fees out of their own Pur&s;es, whether ever they received them of the Clients or not, as of late hath been practi&s;ed; for 'tis impo&s;&s;ible to make a Law to binde the Con&s;ciences of men, with their own Money to pay other men the rewards and wages due for their own Labour. And (with &s;orrow it is &s;poken) I am now become of the &s;ame opinion with tho&s;e (though I have formerly much oppo&s;ed them) who think that a Court or Courts of Ju&s;tice, or other thing that is of a publique, concernment to the Commonwealth, when the &s;ame hath proceeded in an irregular and di&s;or|derly way, grievous to the people, without any through and full Reformation for the &s;pace of eighty or an hun|dred years, that then it is altogether impo&s;&s;ible to reform them: For they &s;ay (and I finde it too true) That in &s;o long a continuance of time there will be &s;o many men of quality and e&s;tate immediatly concerned, and &s;o ma|ny others mediatly concerned upon the Accompt of friend&s;hip or other like accompt, that this of it &s;elf will be a great Bullwork again&s;t an impartiall Reforma|tion.</P>
<P><PB N="14" REF="8">
I have heretofore an&s;wered this and the like Objecti|ons, and urged to the Objector thus, Why might not men of ability and integrity, and men no waies, con|cerned neither immediatly nor mediatly, call every man one by one that hath any relation to a Court of Ju|&s;tice before them and examine him, and al&s;o &s;uch others as are fit to be examined, what Fees every man receives from the Clients, and what &s;ervice they perform for the &s;ame Fees, and whether, this be for the good and advan|tage of Clients, and nece&s;&s;ary to be done, or whether &s;u|perfluous and unnece&s;&s;ary, and performed only for the Fees &s;ake, and not for any good it brings to the people. And by this narrow &s;crutiny it might be brought to &s;uch a perfect and exact Reformation, that no man &s;hould be continued to receive ten groats or ten pence from the Client, that could not give a good Accompt why he re|ceives it, and that he performs &s;ome nece&s;&s;ary &s;ervice for the Client, de&s;erving the &s;ame. But I do not &s;ee that this cour&s;e is like to be taken; For they that are exalted and &s;tand on the upper ground (becau&s;e they &s;ee more then I do) think they &s;ee all; whereas I, and others like me, that &s;tand much below them, do &s;ee things which they by rea&s;on of their di&s;tance of place cannot &s;ee. Yet I hope and pray that I may &s;ee a reall Regulation and Reformation of the Court of Chancery, which if I do not &s;ee effected, I &s;hall not yet cea&s;e, (having little el&s;e to do) to tell the people of this Nation (and that more plain|ly then I have yet done) where the fault lies.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="8">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
