No man could be sure that he had not incurred
mulcts, or other grievous penalties, by some of those numerous laws
which had so fallen into disuse by their frivolous and vexatious nature
as to strike before they warned. It was often more prudent to compound
by money, even in false accusations, than to brave the rapacity and
resentment of the king and his tools. Of his chief instruments, "Dudley
was a man of good family, eloquent, and one that could put hateful
business into good language; Empson, the son of a sieve-maker, of
Towcester, triumphed in his deeds, putting off all other respects. They
were privy counsellors and lawyers, who turned law and justice into
wormwood and rapine."[5] They threw into prison every man whom they
could indict, and confined him, without any intention to prosecute, till
he ransomed himself. They prosecuted the mayors and other magistrates of
the city of London, for pretended or trivial neglects of duty, long
after the time of the alleged offences; subservient judges imposed
enormous fines, and the king imprisoned during his own life some of the
contumacious offenders. Alderman Hawes is said to have died heartbroken
by the terror and anguish of these proceedings.
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