Hocus

( Humphry ), “the attorney” into whose hands John Bull and his friends put the law-suit they carried on against Lewis Baboon ( Louis XIV .). Of course, Humphry Hocus is John Church ill, duke of Mar i borough, who commanded the army employed against the Grand Monarque. Hocus was an old cunning attorney; and though this was the first considerable suit he was ever engaged in, he showed himself superior in addre to most of his profe ion. He always kept good clerks. He loved money, was smooth-tongued, gave good words, and seldom lost his temper.... He provided plentifully for his family; but he loved himself better than them all. The neighbors reported that he was henpecked, which was impo ible by such a mild-spirited woman as his wife was [ his wife was a desperate termagant ].—Dr. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull , v. (1712).