on law, and
otherwise a worthy justice, forgot his place of session, and brought it
in this place too much in use." It would be difficult to find precedents
for the aggravated cruelties inflicted on Leighton, Lilburne, and
others; but instances of cutting off the ears may be found under
Elizabeth.

The reproach, therefore, of arbitrary and illegal jurisdiction does not
wholly fall on the government of Charles. They found themselves in
possession of this almost unlimited authority. But doubtless, as far as
the history of proceedings in the Star-chamber are recorded, they seem
much more numerous and violent in the present reign than in the two
preceding. Rushworth has preserved a copious selection of cases
determined before this tribunal. They consist principally of
misdemeanors, rather of an aggravated nature, such as disturbances of
the public peace, assaults accompanied with a good deal of violence,
conspiracies, and libels. The necessity, however, for such a paramount
court to restrain the excesses of powerful men no longer existed, since
it can hardly be doubted that the common administration of the law was
sufficient to give redress in the time of Charles I, though we certainly
do find several instances of violence and outrage by men of a superior
station in life, which speak unfavorably for the state of manners in the
kingdom.

But the object of drawing so large a number of criminal cases into the
Star-chamber seems to have been twofold: first, to inure men's minds to
an authority more immediately connected with the crown than the ordinary
courts of law and less tied down to any rules of pleading or evidence;
secondly, to eke out a scanty revenue by penalties and forfeitures.
Absolutely regardless of the provision of the Great Charter, that no man
shall be amerced even to the full extent of his means, the counsellors
of the Star-chamber inflicted such fines as no court of justice, even in
the present reduced value of money, would think of imposing. Little
objection, indeed, seems to lie, in a free country, and with a
well-regulated administration of justice, against the imposition of
weighty pecuniary penalties, due consideration being had of the offence
and the criminal. But, adjudged by such a tribunal as the Star-chamber,
where those who inflicted the punishment reaped the gain, and sat, like
famished birds of prey, with keen eyes and bended talons, eager to
supply for a moment by some wretch's ruin, the cravi