[No. 253. [Addison and Steele.][195]
From Saturday, Nov. 18, to Tuesday, Nov. 21, 1710.
----Pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem
Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant.
Virg., Æn. i. 151.
From my own Apartment, Nov. 20.
Extract of the Journal of the Court of Honour, 1710.[196]
Die lunae vicesimo Novembris, hora nona ante-meridiana.
The court being sat, an oath prepared by the censor was administered to the assistants on his right hand, who were all sworn upon their honour. The women on his left hand took the same oath upon their reputation. Twelve gentlemen of the Horse Guards were empanelled, having unanimously chosen Mr. Alexander Truncheon, who is their right-hand man in the troop, for their foreman in the jury. Mr. Truncheon immediately drew his sword, and holding it with the point towards his own body, presented it to the censor. Mr. Bickerstaff received it, and after having surveyed the breadth of the blade, and sharpness of the point, with more than ordinary attention, returned it to the foreman in a very graceful manner. The rest of the jury, upon the delivery of the sword to their foreman, drew all of them together as one man, and saluted the bench with such an air, as signified the most resigned submission to those who commanded them, and the greatest magnanimity to execute what they should command.