In concluding his charge to the Grand Jury at Liverpool,
Lord Chief Justice Jervis highly complimented Mr. Blundell, of Ince, because, al- though member of an ancient and distinguished Roman Catholic family, he had not attempted, as Sheriff, to obtrude his own chaplain on the Pro- testant Judges. Sir John took occasion to pass, retrospectively, a severe censure on the Sheriff of Buckinghamshire for opposite conduct ; with a piece of prospective advice to other Sheriffs of the same faith-
" It may be hoped, after the wise example set by my esteemed friend Mr. Blundell, the attempt to fasten a Roman Catholic clergyman on Protestant Judges will not be attempted again. To show the delusion on which this pretension rests, it is enough to point out the consequences to which it ne- cessarily leads. Jews and Quakers may fill, and have filled, the office of High Sheriff in England and, if the High Sheriff is entitled to put into the carriage, along with the Judges, the religious adviser he selects for his own edification, they may find themselves riding. through the streets of a pro- vincial capital, the observed of all observers,' with a Jewish high priest sit- ting by them, or a male or female follower of the founder of the sect of Friends, who admit the softer sex to have the privilege of publicly praying and preaching. But such a violation of propriety was not attempted by the late Jewish Sheriffs of Buekinghamshire or Surrey, or by the late Quaker Sheriff of Cumberland; although there is no statute forbidding the use of rabbinical vestments or broad-brimmed hats and russet garments in public processions."
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