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¬nor a syllable of testimony be read before the Judge ; and they sometimes exceed the value of the subjects in contest, which are abandoned, of course, to any knave who may be in possession — , They are not political contrivances to excite awe and reverence for the Sovereign, but have been resorted to for revenue, and threaten in the end to destroy all the benefits of courts of justice. ¬I never was more affected than when I saw the virtue and wisdom of so many ages thus shamefully overthrown by the mad profusion of spendthrift governments in very modern times. I had thought it worth all the perils I had encountered, to be present in their ordinary courts; I had visited them almost daily, and it was more like enchantment than the imperfect condition of human affairs, to witness the dis- patch and unerring justice with which the most complicated concerns were disentangled and decided ; but after this sad communication, their tribunals appeared to me like painted sepul- chres. — I found that little was left for the ¬suitors ¬
