higher reverence for Sir Thomas More than for Thomas CHAP. Cromwell or Cranmer. I am not permitted to enter into a critical examination of his writings; but this sketch of his life would be very defective without some further notice of them. His first literary essay is supposed to have been the fragment which goes under his name as "the History of Edward V. and Richard III.,” though some have ascribed it to Cardinal Morton, who probably furnished the materials for it to his precocious page, having been intimately mixed up with the transactions which it narrates. It has the merit of being the earliest historical composition in the English language; and, with all its defects, several ages elapsed before there was much improvement upon it, this being a department of literature in which England did not excel before the middle of the eighteenth century. XXXIII. More's History of EdRichard ward V. and III. More's Epigrams and other Latin Poems which he wrote His Epiwhile at Oxford, and of which a specimen has been laid be- grams. fore the reader, though much admired in their day, not only in England, but all over Europe, are now only inspected by the curious, who wish to know how the Latin language was cultivated in the reign of Henry VII. His controversial writings, on which he probably bestowed most pains and counted most confidently for future fame, have long fallen. into utter oblivion, the very titles of most of them having perished. But the composition to which he attached no importance, His "Utowhich, as a jeu-d'esprit, occupied a few of his idle hours when pia." he retired from the bar and before he was deeply immersed in the business of office, and which he was with great difficulty prevailed upon to publish, would of itself have made his name immortal. Since the time of Plato, there had been no composition given to the world which, for imagination, for philosophical discrimination, for a familiarity with the principles of government, for a knowledge of the springs of human action, for a keen observation of men and manners, and for felicity of expression, could be compared to the Utopia. Although the word invented by More has been introduced CHAP. into the language, to describe what is supposed to be impracXXXIII. ticable and visionary, -the work (with some extravagance and -- absurdities, introduced perhaps with the covert object of softening the offence which might have been given by his satire upon the abuses of his age and country,) abounds with lessons of practical wisdom. If I do not, like some, find in it all the doctrines of sound political economy illustrated by Adam Smith, I can distinctly point out in it the objections to a severe penal code, which have at last prevailed, after they had been long urged in vain by Romilly and Mackintosh; and as this subject is intimately connected with the history of the law of England, I hope I may be pardoned for giving the following extract to show the law reforms which Sir Thomas More would have introduced when Lord Chancellor, had he not been three centuries in advance of his age: He represents his great traveller who had visited Utopia, and describes its institutions, as saying, "There happened to on criminal be at table an English lawyer, who took occasion to run out in high commendation of the severe execution of thieves in his country, where might be seen twenty at a time dangling from one gibbet. Nevertheless, he observed, it puzzled him to understand, since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left who were still found robbing in all places. Upon this I said with boldness, there was no reason to wonder at the matter, since this way of punishing thieves was neither just in itself nor for the public good; for as the severity was too great, so the remedy was not effectual; simple theft was not so great a crime that it ought to cost a man his life; and no punishment would restrain men from robbing who could find no other way of livelihood. In this, not only you, but a More's enlightened views law. 66 Cœpit accurate laudare rigidam illam justitiam quæ tum illic exercebatur in fures, quos passim narrabat nonnunquam suspendi viginti in una cruce, atque eo vehementius dicebat se mirari cum tam pauci elaberentur supplicio, quo malo fato fieret (how the devil it happened) uti tam multi tamen ubique grassarentur." This lawyer reminds me exceedingly of the attorney-generals, judges, and secretaries of state, who in my early youth eulogised the bloody penal code which then disgraced England, and predicted that if it were softened, there would be no safety for life or property. They would not even, like their worthy predecessor here recorded, admit its inefficiency to check the commission of crime. great part of the world besides, imitate ignorant and cruel schoolmasters, who are readier to flog their pupils than to teach them. Instead of these dreadful punishments enacted against thieves, it would be much better to make provision for enabling those men to live by their industry whom you drive to theft, and then put to death for the crime you cause." He exposes the absurdity of the law of forfeiture in case of larceny, which I am ashamed to say, notwithstanding the efforts I have myself made in parliament to amend it, still disgraces our penal code, so that for an offence for which, as a full punishment, sentence is given of imprisonment for a month, the prisoner loses all his personal property, which is never thought of by the Court in pronouncing the sentence. It was otherwise among the Utopians. "Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not to the prince. If that which was stolenis no more in being, then the goods of the thief are estimated, and restitution being made out of them, the remainder is given to his wife and children." I cannot refrain from giving another extract to prove that, before the Reformation, he was as warm a friend as Locke to the principles of religious toleration. He says, that the great legislator of Utopia made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument, and by amicable and modest ways, without bitterness against those of other opinions. "This law was made by Utopus not only for preserving the public peace, which he saw suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, but because he thought it was required by a due regard to the interest of religion itself. He judged it not fit to decide rashly any matter of opinion, and he deemed it foolish and indecent to threaten and terrify another for the purpose of making him believe what did not appear to him to be true."* * His most wonderful anticipation may be thought that of Lord Ashley's factory measure by "the Six Hours' Bill," which regulated labour in Utopia. "Nec ab CHAP. XXXIII. His oratory. His wit and humour. It is to be regretted that we have so few specimens of More's oratory; but his powers as a debater called forth this eulogium from Erasmus: — "His eloquent tongue so well seconds his fertile invention, that no one speaks better when suddenly called forth. His attention never languishes, his mind is always before his words; his memory has all its stock so turned into ready money, that without hesitation or delay it supplies whatever the occasion may require." But by no grave quality does he seem to have made such an impression on his contemporaries as he did by his powers of wit and humour. I therefore introduce a few of his pointed sayings beyond those which have occurred in the narrative of his life. He said, that "to aim at honour in this world is to set a coat of arms over a prison gate." "A covetous old man he compared to a thief who steals when he is on his way to the gallows." He enforced the giving of alms by remarking, that a prudent man, about to leave his native land for ever, would send his substance to the far country to which he journeyeth.” Sir Thomas Manners, with whom he had been very familiar when a boy, was created Earl of Rutland about the same time that More was made Lord Chancellor, and, being much puffed up by his elevation, treated with superciliousness his old schoolfellow, who still remained a simple knight, but would not allow himself to be insulted. "Honores mutant Mores," 66 summo mane tamen, ad multam usque noctem perpetuo labore, velut jumenta fatigatus; nam ea plus quam servilis ærumna est; quæ tamen ubique fere opificum vita est exceptis Utopiensibus, qui cum in horas viginti-quatuor æquales diem connumeratâ nocte dividant, sex duntaxat operi deputant, tres ante meridiem, a quibus prandium ineunt, atque a prandio duas pomeridianas horas, quam interquieverunt, tres deinde rursus labori datas cana claudunt. Etenim quod sex duntaxat horas in opere sunt, fieri fortasse potest, ut inopiam aliquam putes necessariam rerum sequi. Quod tam longe abest ut accidat, ut id temporis ad omnium rerum copiam, quæ quidem ad vitæ vel necessitatem requirantur vel commoditatem, non sufficiat modo sed supersit etiam."- Utop., vol. ii. 68. * Erasm. Epist. As they had been personally known to each other from the time when More was an undergraduate at Oxford, there can be no truth in the story that the two having met at the Lord Mayor's table, being strangers except by reputation, and conversing in Latin, More having sharply combated some latitudinarian paradox sported by Erasmus, the latter said, "Aut tu es Morus aut Nullus," to which the answer was, "Aut tu es Erasmus aut Diabolus." In 1523 Erasmus sent his portrait to More from Basle, and More in return sent Erasmus the famous picture by Holbein of himself and his family, including the Fool, which is still preserved in the town-hall at Basle. cried the upstart Earl. "The proper translation of which," CHAP. said the imperturbable Chancellor, "is, Honours change MANNERS." XXXIII. He did not even despise a practical joke. While he held Practical joke. his city office he used regularly to attend the Old Bailey Sessions, where there was a tiresome old Justice, "who was wont to chide the poor men that had their purses cut for not keeping them more warily, saying, that their negligence was the cause that there were so many cut-purses brought thither." To stop his prosing, More at last went to a celebrated cutpurse then in prison, who was to be tried next day, and promised to stand his friend if he would cut this Justice's purse while he sat on the bench trying him. The thief being arraigned at the sitting of the Court next morning, said he could excuse himself sufficiently if he were but permitted to speak in private to one of the bench. He was bid to choose whom he would, and he chose that grave old Justice, who then had his pouch at his girdle. The thief stepped up to him, and while he rounded him in the ear, cunningly cut his purse, and, taking his leave, solemnly went back to his place. From the agreed signal, More knowing that the deed was done, proposed a small subscription for a poor needy fellow who had been acquitted, beginning by himself setting a liberal example. The old Justice, after some hesitation, expressed his willingness to give a trifle, but finding his purse cut away, expressed the greatest astonishment, as he said he was sure he had it when he took seat in Court that morning. More replied, in a pleasant manner, "What! will you charge your brethren of the bench with felony?" The Justice becoming angry and ashamed, Sir Thomas called the thief and desired him to deliver up the purse, counselling the worthy Justice hereafter not to be so bitter a censurer of innocent men's negligence, since he himself could not keep his purse safe when presiding as a judge at the trial of cut-purses.* Sir John Sylvester, Recorder of London, was in my time robbed of his watch by a thief whom he tried at the Old Bailey. During the trial be happened to say aloud that he had forgot to bring his watch with him. The thief being acquitted for want of evidence, went with the Recorder's love to Lady Sylvester, |