_Chanting of Jurors_ (Vol. vi., p. 315.).--No answer has yet been given to
J. F. F.'s Query on this, yet the expression "to chant" was not an unusual
one, if we may believe Lord Stratford:
"They collected a grand jury in each county, and proceeded to claim a
ratification of the rights of the crown. The gentlemen on being
empanelled informed that the case before them was irresistible, and
that no doubts could exist in the minds of reasonable {503} men upon
it. His majesty was, in fact, indifferent whether they found for him or
no. 'And there I left them,' says Strafford, '_to chant_ together, as
they call it, over their evidence.' The counties of Roscommon, Sligo,
and Mayo instantly found a title for the king."
This extract is from a very eloquent article on Lord Strafford in the
_British Critic_, No. LXVI. p. 485.