190

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

VIII.

1688 .

of the Tory party had, one after another, refused to comply,and hat been dismissed from their employments. Sir ThomasPowis, the Attorney General, was scarcely of the third rankin his profession. Sir William Williams, the Solicitor Ge-neral, had quick parts and dauntless courage: but he wanteddiscretion; he loved wrangling; he had no command over histemper; and he was hated and despised by all political parties.The most conspicuous assistants of the Attorney and Solicitorwere Serjeant Trinder, a Roman Catholic, and Sir Bartho-lomew Shower, Recorder of London, who had some legallearning, but whose fulsome apologies and endless repetitionswere the jest of Westminster Hall. The government hadwished to secure the services of Maynard: but he had plainlydeclared that he could not in conscience do what was askedof him.*

On the other side were arrayed almost all the eminentforensic talents of the age. Sawyer and Finch, who, at thetime of the accession of James, had been Attorney and Soli-citor General, and who, during the persecution of the Whigsin the late reign, had served the crown with hut too much vehe-mence and success, were of counsel for the defendants. Withthem were joined two persons who, since age had diminishedthe activity of Maynard, were reputed the two hest lawyersthat could he found in the Inns of Court: Pemb."rton, whohad, in the time of Charles the Second, been Chief Justice ofthe King’s Bench, who had been removed from his high placeon account of his humanity and moderation, and who had re-sumed his practice at the bar; and Pollexfen, who had longbeen at the head of the Western circuit, and who, though hehad incurred much unpopularity by holding briefs for thecrown at the Bloody Assizes, and particularly by appearingagainst Alice Lisle, was known to be at heart a Whig, if not arepublican. Sir Creswell Levinz was also there, a man ofgreat knowledge and experience, but of singularly timid na-ture. He had been removed from the bench some years be-fore, because he was afraid to serve the purposes of thegovernment. He was now afraid to appear as the advocate of* Johnstone, July 2.1688