Characters and characteristics in literature; English literature
A judge is a doom, whose breath is mortal upon the breach of law, where
criminal offences must be cut off from a commonwealth. He is a sword of
justice in the hand of a king, and an eye of wisdom in the walk of a
kingdom. His study is a square for the keeping of proportion betwixt
command and obedience, that the king may keep his crown on his head, and
the subject his head on his shoulders. He is feared but of the foolish,
and cursed but of the wicked; but of the wise honoured, and of the
gracious beloved. He is a surveyor of rights and revenger of wrongs, and
in the judgment of truth the honour of justice. In sum, his word is law,
his power grace, his labour peace, and his desert honour.
AN UNWORTHY JUDGE.
An unworthy judge is the grief of justice in the error of judgment, when
through ignorance or will the death of innocency lies upon the breath of
opinion. He is the disgrace of law in the desert of knowledge, and the
plague of power in the misery of oppression. He is more moral than
divine in the nature of policy, and more judicious than just in the
carriage of his conceit. His charity is cold when partiality is
resolved; when the doom of life lies on the verdict of a jury, with a
stern look he frighteth an offender and gives little comfort to a poor
man's cause. The golden weight overweighs his grace, when angels play
the devils in the hearts of his people. In sum, where Christ is preached
he hath no place in His Church; and in this kingdom out of doubt God
will not suffer any such devil to bear sway.
A WORTHY KNIGHT.
A worthy knight is a spirit of proof in the advancement of virtue, by
the desert of honour, in the eye of majesty. In the field he gives
courage to his soldiers, in the court grace to his followers, in the
city reputation to his person, and in the country honour to his house.
His sword and his horse make his way to his house, and his armour of
best proof is an undaunted spirit. The music of his delight is the
trumpet and the drum, and the paradise of his eye is an army defeated;
the relief of the oppressed makes his conquest honourable, and the
pardon of the submissive makes him famous in mercy. He is in nature mild
and in spirit stout, in reason judicious, and in all honourable. In sum,
he is a yeoman's commander and a gentleman's superior, a nobleman's
companion and a prince's worthy favourite.
AN UNWORTHY KNIGHT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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