"_Sat cito, si sat bene_" (Vol. v., p. 594; Vol. viii., p. 18.).--Your
correspondent C. thinks that F. W. J. is mistaken in calling it a favourite
maxim of Lord Eldon. Few persons are more apt to make mistakes than
F. W. J. He therefore sends the following extract from Twiss's _Life of
Lord C. Eldon_, vol. i. p. 49. They are Lord Eldon's own words, after
having narrated the anecdote to which C. refers:
"In short, in all that I have had to do in future life, professional
and judicial, I have always felt the effect of this early admonition on
the pannels of the vehicle which conveyed me from school, 'Sat cito, si
sat bene.' It was the impression of this which made me that
deliberative judge--as some have said, too deliberative; and reflection
on all that is past will not authorise me to deny, that whilst I have
been thinking 'Sat cito, si sat bene,' I may not sufficiently have
recollected whether 'Sat bene, si sat cito' has had its influence."
The anecdote, and this observation upon it, are taken by Twiss from a book
of anecdotes in Lord Eldon's own handwriting.