ief Justice made his entry.
From one of the windows of the room in which we were confined I saw him
pass. First rode the dragoons with their standards and kettledrums, then
the javelin-men with their halberds, and behind them the line of coaches
full of the high dignitaries of the law. Last of all, drawn by six
long-tailed Flemish mares, came a great open coach, thickly crusted
with gold, in which, reclining amidst velvet cushions, sat the infamous
Judge, wrapped in a cloak of crimson plush with a heavy white periwig
upon his head, which was so long that it dropped down over his
shoulders. They say that he wore scarlet in order to strike terror into
the hearts of the people, and that his courts were for the same reason
draped in the colour of blood. As for himself, it hath ever been the
custom, since his wickedness hath come to be known to all men, to
picture him as a man whose expression and features were as monstrous and
as hideous as was the mind behind them. This is by no means the case.
On the contrary, he was a man who, in his younger days, must have been
remarkable for his extreme beauty.(1) He was not, it is true, very old,
as years go, when I saw him, but debauchery and low living had left
their traces upon his countenance, without, however entirely destroying
the regularity and the beauty of his features. He was dark, more like a
Spaniard than an Englishman, with black eyes and olive complexion. His
expression was lofty and noble, but his temper was so easily aflame that
the slightest cross or annoyance would set him raving like a madman,
with blazing eyes and foaming mouth. I have seen him myself with the
froth upon his lips and his whole face twitching with passion, like
one who hath the falling sickness. Yet his other emotions were under as
little control, for I have heard say that a very little would cause him
to sob and to weep, more especially when he had himself been slighted by
those who were above him. He was, I believe, a man who had great powers
either for good or for evil, but by pandering to the darker side of
his nature and neglecting the other, he brought himself to be as near
a fiend as it is possible for a man to be. It must indeed have been an
evil government where so vile and foul-mouthed a wretch was chosen out
to hold the scales of justice. As he drove past, a Tory gentleman
riding by the side of his coach drew his attention to the faces of
the prisoners looking out at him. He glanced up at