"
"Not so, Sir," the young man gravely replied; "my father was a most
honourable man, and would have injured no one, much less the son on whom
he doated. Neither was he profuse; but lived bountifully and well, as a
country gentleman, with a large estate, should live. The cause of his
ruin was that he came within the clutches of that devouring monster,
which, like the insatiate dragon of Rhodes, has swallowed up the
substance of so many families, that our land is threatened with
desolation. My father was ruined by that court, which, with a mockery of
justice, robs men of their name, their fame, their lands, and goods;
which perverts the course of law, and saps the principles of equity;
which favours the knave, and oppresses the honest man; which promotes
and supports extortion and plunder; which reverses righteous judgments,
and asserts its own unrighteous supremacy, which, by means of its
commissioners, spreads its hundred arms over the whole realm, to
pillage and destroy--so that no one, however distant, can keep out of
its reach, or escape its supervision; and which, if it be not uprooted,
will, in the end, overthrow the kingdom. Need I say my father was ruined
by the Star-Chamber?"
"Hush! hush! my good young Sir," Sir Francis cried, having vainly
endeavoured to interrupt his companion's angry denunciation. "Pray
heaven your words have reached no other ears than mine! To speak of the
Star-Chamber as you have spoken is worse than treason.
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