and absurd judgments of things in many places, particularly once in
England."--"Was you ever there?" said I.--"Yes, I was," answered he,
"and stayed some months there, not long after the rebellion in the west
was suppressed with a great slaughter of the poor people that were
engaged in it.

"I was then much obliged to that reverend prelate, John Morton,
Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal, and Chancellor of England: a man,"
said he, "Peter (for Mr. More knows well what he was), that was not less
venerable for his wisdom and virtues, than for the high character he
bore. He was of a middle stature, not broken with age; his looks begot
reverence rather than fear; his conversation was easy, but serious and
grave; he sometimes took pleasure to try the force of those that came as
suitors to him upon business, by speaking sharply, though decently to
them, and by that he discovered their spirit and presence of mind, with
which he was much delighted, when it did not grow up to impudence, as
bearing a great resemblance to his own temper; and he looked on such
persons as the fittest men for affairs. He spoke both gracefully and
weightily; he was eminently skilled in the law, had a vast
understanding, and a prodigious memory; and those excellent talents with
which Nature had furnished him, were improved by study and experience.
When I was in England the king depended much on his counsels, and the
government seemed to be chiefly supported by him; for from his youth he
had been all along practised in affairs; and having passed through many
traverses of fortune, he had with great cost acquired a vast stock of
wisdom, which is not soon lost when it is purchased so dear. One day
when I was dining with him there happened to be at table one of the
English lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high commendation of
the severe execution of justice upon thieves, who, as he said, were then
hanged so fast, that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet; and upon