the younger escaped, I should be only gratifying my private feelings and wronging the dead. I have no alternative.' And she wept on until her clothes were drenched with tears. Meanwhile the judge reported to the Prince, and the latter, astonished at her magnanimity, pardoned both the accused."
Two more of the above twenty volumes are devoted to the most remarkable of the criminal cases tried by him during his short magisterial career. An extract from the preface (1729) to his complete works, penned by an ardent admirer, will give an idea of the estimation in which these are held :
" My master's judicial capacity was of a remarkably high order, as though the mantle of Pao Hsiao-su 1 had descended upon him. In very difficult cases he would investigate dispassionately and calmly, appearing to possess some unusual method for worming out the truth ; so that the most crafty lawyers and the most experienced scoundrels, whom no logic could entangle and no pains intimidate, upon being brought before him, found themselves deserted by their former cunning, and confessed readily without waiting for the applica- tion of torture. I, indeed, have often wondered how it is that torture is brought into requisition so much in judicial investigations. For, under the influence ol the ' three wooden instruments,' what evidence is there which cannot be elicited ? to say nothing of the danger of a mistake and the unutterable injury thus inflicted upon the departed spirits in the realms below. Now, my master, in investigating and deciding cases, was fearful only lest his people should not obtain a full and fair hearing ; he, therefore, argued each point with them
1 A Solomonic judge under the Sung dynasty.
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