As a lawyer Hale's reputation is high, and his integrity is unim peached ; indeed his punctilious feelings were carried to a fantastical excess, as many anecdotes related by his different biographers show.
The only spot upon his memory as a criminal judge is the notorious fact of his having condemned two wretched women for witchcraft, at the assizes at Bury Ste Edmunds, iu the year 1665. Hale in the course of the trial avowed himself a believer in witchcraft, and the jury found the prisoners guilty, notwithstanding many impartial bystanders declared that they disbelieved the charge. No reprieve was granted, and the prisoners were executed. An anecdote is mentioned by his biographers of his having hastened the execution of a soldier found guilty of murder, for fear he should be reprieved ; but in so doing he certainly overstepped the bounds of his duty as a ud jge.
Sir Mathew Hale was a voluminous writer, though none of his pro ductions were printed during his life. Ilia 'Pleas of the Crown,' ' History of the Common Law,' and some other treatises connected with the law, have been published since his death, and also several others upon scientific and religious subjects. His manuscripts, which
he had collected at a very considerable expense, he bequeathed to the Society of Lincoln's Inn, and he directed that they should not be lent out or printed, saying, "As they are a treasure not fit for every man's view, nor is every man capable of making use of them, I would have nothing of these books printed ;" and he also directed that any of his posterity, members of that eociety, might, on giving security, have one book at a time lent out to them by the society.
A catalogue of the manuscripts was contained in his will, and a full account and catalogue of all his works is printed in Dr. Williame's ' Life of Hale.' Ilia life has also been written by Burnet and Roscoe, and many anecdotes relating to him are detailed by that amusing gossip Roger North, in his ' Life of Lord-Keeper Guildford,' though it should be observed that the author does not write in a very friendly spirit towards Hale.
Sir Mathew Hale was twice married : Brat to Ann, daughter of Sir Henry Moore, by whom he hal ten children ; and secondly, late iu life, to one of his own domestic servants.