lay to draw the Magistracy of the City after him as appears more especially by one passage viz. The King being recovered of an Indisposition that had for some time put the Kingdoms in a fear and doubt of his Life the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to congratulate him upon his going abroad after which and a favourable reception it was proposed by this Person that they should in like manner wait upon his Royal Highness then Duke of York who was not long before returned from Flanders but perceiving no forwardness to be seconded he only with his Father-in-law stayed behind to gain that Access These and other Proceedings created in the City a Jealousie that he had espoused an Interest to their prejudice which wrought so strongly in their Conceits that it was concluded in the Council-Chamber at Guild-Hall that he should resign his Recordership and accordingly they sent to him to deliver back the Papers and Writings they had entrusted him with which accordingly was done and Sir George Treby constituted Recorder in his stead This so netled him that he now openly declar'd himself to be what before was only suspected indulging his thoughts in nothing more than how he might revenge it upon the Dissenters to whose influence on the Court of Aldermen he attributed his dismission from the Recordership and used his Endeavours to blacken them as much as he could Yet all his Honour was not sunk for he had prevailed for the Removal of Sir Job Charleton from the Chief Justiceship of the County Palatine of Chester and by the importunity and interest of his Party at Court gained it for himself and took the first Possession of that Charge in much splendor paying at that time his Father a Visit with a numerous Train which as 't is reported put the old Gentleman into such a fret for the drinking up his Cyder and devouring his Provisions that he charged him with the undertaking to ruiue him by bringing a whole Countrey at his heels commanding him never to attempt the like Prodigality again with hopes of success Many Petitions being put up upon the dissolving the Parliament in 1682. by most of the Counties and Burroughs and Corporations of England for the speedy calling another to redress the Grievances of the Nation and the King shewing some dislike of that manner of proceeding this Person further to endear himself to the Interest of the Court declared in his station as vehemently against them by saying He abhorred that Petitioning c. from which and the discountenancing the Petitioners as much as in him lay he gain'd the name and Epithite of an Abhorrer and upon the burning the Pope in Effigies at Temple-Bar upon the Birth-day of Queen Elizabeth amongst other Figures the Arch-waggs had set one on Horseback with his Face to the Tail and a Paper on his back viz. I am an Abhorrer During these Transactions the Parliament being called met at Westminister and amongst others this Person was called before them for attempting to intrench upon the Rights and Priviledges of the People c. and obliged at the Bar of the Commons House after having been heard what he could say in defence of his Proceedings by his Council to make his acknowledgment upon his Knees and receive the Reprimand of the Speaker whereupon with some sharp Rebukes as the Censure of the House he was discharged To comfort him in this affliction that was not by a man of his haughty Spirit a little stomacked this Parliament being dissolved and a call of Serjeants had at the Kings-Bench-Bar Westminister he was the first in the Roll and consequently the Kings Serjeant and as it is usual to present the King with a Ring on that occasion the Motto he agreed to was A Deo Rex a Rege Lex viz. The King from God and the Law from the King. And now the Popish Party playing their Cards with more security Edward Fitz-Harris who had been impeached by the Commons and stood charged by them of High Treason being nevertheless upon the Dissolution tryed at the King-Bench-Bar this Person was the principal Stickler against him and by his Rhetorical and florid expressions wrought so powerfully with the Jury who were somewhat in doubt what they should do in this Case that they found him Guilty and the Impeachment in Parliament set aside he was executed as a Traytor at Tyburn and soon after this the Dissenters losing of their Esteem in the eyes of the Court-Party and some Justices of Peace of Middlesex being sharp upon them this Person was chosen Chair-man at the Sessions at Hicks's-Hall where he had an opportunity to make them as he found his time see the resentments of his anger but this place being held too low for a Spirit winged with so large an ambition he aimed at higher things resolving like Icharus to be near the Sun tho at the hazard of melting his waxen Wings dropping headlong into the Sea of inevitable ruine Whereupon perceiving some hot Contests in the City of London about the Election of Magistrates and Officers he turned the Edge of his Fury that way insomuch that a Quo warranto came down against the Charter of the Honourable City of London and in fine after much pleading and argument pro contra the Charter was surrendred at least in consent by those that were in Power and the King suspending the Execution of the Judgment obtained caused such Orders to be observed as he thought most convenient which being so well known to the Citizens of London it would appear a presumption in me to enter upon particulars yet the chiefest Cavil against the City was taking the Toll of Markets collecting Money to build Cheapside Conduit c. Nor was it long after this and the Trial of several Persons for Rioters who attended the Election of Sheriffs and Mayor and the Fines passing upon many worthy Citizens as Rioters on that occasion in promoting which this Person as a Counsellor by his florid Rhetorick was mainly instrumental by giving the Court an account of their respective abilities the better to settle the Fines but the Lord Chief Justice Saunders dying he succeeded him as Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench in which station he vvas scarcely setled but he admitted the Popish Lords to Bail that lay under an impeachment in Parliament and whose bailing had been refused by the Judges his Predecessors and now it was that he began more particularly to remember former affronts an example of which take in the Case of Elias Best a Hop-Merchant in Thames-street viz. It so happened when this Person was Recorder of London that a Jury of which Best was one having contrary to his mind acquitted a Party indicted at the Sessions of Peace in Guild-Hall for Printing and Publishing a Pamphlet he in much heat declared that they had gone contrary to their Consciences and stuck not to upbraid them with Perjury for which as a high affront put upon the Juries of London they prayed the
Court at the Old-Bayly that they might prefer an Indictment against him and herein Mr. Best was the most active but the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs then upon the Bench after it had been a long time argued and debated told them that the Sessions being almost at an end it could not be tryed and therefore he would desire them to refer it to the next Sessions for the Recorder being a Person of Quality he could not suffer him to lie under the imputation of an Indictment so long but in the interim he resigning his Recordership the business fell and came to nothing but soon after it seems Mr. Best had drank an Health to the pious Memory of Stephen Colledge departed meaning the Joyner that was executed at Oxford for which he was indicted upon an Information and found Guilty yet he being at large thought fit to withdraw himself to avoid the rigour of the Fine c. when so it fell out that this Person going the Circuit as Lord Chief Justice accompanyed with a great many on Horseback Mr. Best came by and asked one of the Company what Judge that was who replyed the Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys and he unadvisedly told that Party his name was Best and desired him to remember his Service to his Lordship upon notice of which he immediately caused him to be fetched back and committed him to York Goal from whence he was brought by Habeas Corpus to the Kings-Bench and Imprisoned for a Fine of 500 l. c. And other instances of the greatness of his Stomach tho in another nature is that which so remarkably happened at Kingstone upon Thames at the Midsummer Assizes held there for the County of Surry 1679. At this Assize being Counsel in a Case upon Nisi prius before Sir Richard Weston one of the Barons of the Exchequer and desiring to ingross all the Questions without suffering those on the other side to ask the Witness what was convenient in carrying on and managing the Cause he was desired by the Judges to hold his Tongue c. upon which some words passing this Person told him He did not use him like a Counsellor curbing him in the managing his Breviate c. to which the Judge fiercely replyed Ha! since the King has thrown his favours upon you in making you Chief Justice of Chester you think to run down every body if you find your self aggrieved make your complaint here 's no body cares for it And this Person replying That he had not been used to make complaints but rather stopped those that were made when being again commanded to hold his Tongue he sat down and wept for anger c. And here by the way it will not be amiss to let the Reader have a taste of some passages that happened on the publick Stage of business in the Jocular part of this great Man's Life and the Repartees he met with of which I shall instance a few Once it happened upon a Trial that a plain Country Fellow giving Evidence in the Court and pressing it home moved this Person who was Counsel on the other side to pick a quarrel with the poor mans Leather Doublet and amongst other Interrogations bawl'd out You Fellow in the Leather Doublet pray what have you for swearing The man upon this looking steadily on him replyed Truly Sir if you have no more for Lying than I have for Swearing you might wear a Leather Doublet as well as I. This bluntly retorted moved at that time much laughter and filled the Town with the Discourse of it Another time it so fell out that some Musicianers brought an Action against a person at whose Wedding they had play'd for the mony they were promised or expected when in the midst of the Evidence this Person called to one of them viz. You Fidler c. at which the man seeming to be disgusted he again upon the Parties alledging himself to be a Musicianer demanded What difference there was between a Musicianer and a Fidler As much Sir said he as there is between a pair of Bagpipes and a Recorder And he then being Recorder of London it was taken as a suitable Repartee Being at a Country Assize as Judge an old Man with a great Beard came to give Evidence before him and not doing it to his mind he began to cavil with his Beard and amongst other expressions told him That if his Conscience was as large as his Beard he might well swear any thing This so netled the old Blade that without any respect to his greatness he briskly replyed My Lord If you go about to measure Consciences by Beards your Lordship has none Many more of this kind might be mentioned but not being greatly to the purpose they are willingly omitted But to return to the thrid of this Discourse passing by his vehement and pressing Discourse to the Jury against William Lord Russel on his Tryal at the Old-Bayly which some say greatly influenced them to find him Guilty and add that he did it out of a pique in remembrance he was one of the Members of the Parliament before whom he was brought on his Knees We find him by this time Trying of Dr. Titus Oats upon two Informations upon the account of his Swearing to the White-Horse Consult and Ireland's being in Town and after a long Debate wherein many sharp Repartees passed the Jury made a shift to find him Guilty as to the Circumstances I refer you to the Tryal but the Sentence was severe and of its effects few are ignorant wherefore I shall pass it over as also that of Mr. Tho. Dangerfield another of the Evidences in discovering the Contrivances and carrying on of the Popish Plot which the Papists by these manner of Proceedings accounted to be effectually stisted And now before any thing remarkably happened the Kingdom was alarm'd by the Landing of the late Duke of Monmouth at Lyme in Dorsetshire and the Earl of Argyle in Scotland but however these two unfortunate Gentlemen miscarrying and losing their Lives left a great many of their miserable Followers to feel the severity of Punishment and as for the gleanings the bloody Fields in England they came to the sifting of this Person who with others going down with a Commission to Try them all the Indignities the Diffenters had put upon him came fresh into his remembrance so that he made them find the Laws more cruel than the Sword and wish they had fallen in the Field rather than have come to his handling for he breathed Death like a destroying Angel and sanguined his very Ermins in Blood a large Account of which you shall have in its proper place But by the way for the sake of the West-Country Reader I shall here add a true and impartial Narrative of the late Duke of Monmouth's whole Expedition while in the West seeing that was the Prologue to that bloody Scene that you 'l hear by and by was acted by George Lord Jeffreys the Subject of our
Guilty they should have but a little time to live And at the same time insinuated That it were better to plead Guilty if they expected any favour These Thirty being on Trial the Evidences being sworn and examined before the Jury Upon the whole by the violent Deportment of the Lord Chief Justice and sharpness of the Jury they found Twenty-nine Guilty though some of them were very hardly dealt with and not so Criminal as my Lord and their Country imagined Particularly amongst the Twenty-nine were Mr. Matthew Bragg of Thorncomb and Joseph Speed of Culliton in the County of Devonshire and Mr. Smith Constable of Chardstock in the said County and George Steward of Culliton aforesaid The Circumstances of each of these and the severity of their being found Guilty c. shall be shewed in its proper place before we take leave of this Town and proceed on in this Western Expedition The said Twenty-nine being found as before Guilty my Lord immediately pronounced Sentence of Death on them all as usual in Cases of High-Treason and did the same Night give a Warrant to the Sheriff for the Execution of Thirteen of the Twenty-nine on Monday following which accordingly was done notwithstanding great Application was made to the Lord Chief Justice by Gentlemen of the best Quality in this and the Neighbouring Countries for a Reprieve of Mr. Bragg to all which he was Deaf and not to be prevailed upon though he was assured of his Honesty and true Conformity to the Church of England yet it availed nothing At last it was only requested for Ten days Respite yet that had no better effect but on Monday he with Twelve more of that number were accordingly Executed at Dorchester In the mean time this Proceeding was designed to shorten Business and to wheedle the rest that were to follow to a Confession which without it the tenth part of them could not be proved Guilty A Method was also taken without President to entrap many poor ignorant people by a couple of Officers that were sent into the Goal to call over and take the Names of the Prisoners on promise if they confest they might expect Mercy otherwise not which many did And this was written so that had they pleaded Not Guilty these two were designed to have been Evidences against them from their own Confessions which so disposed the remaining great Numbers that all except a very few Pleaded Guilty which put an end to any further Trial. The only thing remaining was the pronouncing of Sentence on them which were in Number 292. who received Sentence of Death all at once One Mr. Lawrence put himself on Trial but by the Jury found Guilty whose Case was hard his Circumstances being so small to be condemned to die and had actually suffered had not Application been made to my Lord's Favourites and with the payment and securing of 400 l. preserved him from Execution This Matter being adjusted and Execution awarded to about Eighty which were Executed and their Quarters sent up and down the Country to the dread of their Spectators as well as the Annoyance of the Travellers his extraordinary Whippings though unmerciful are not to be taken notice of so we leave this place and proceed towards the City of Exon In their way thither lying at an Honourable Gentlemans House divers of the Neighbouring Parishes made their Petitions to the Lord Chief Justice in behalf of some Relations concerned It hapned that through some disorder amongst his Servants some Pistols were fired in the Night which gave him a Suspicion or at least he took it of some design upon him on which at parting he said Not a man of all those Parishes that were of that Vicinitude if found Guilty should escape And so we proceed and arrive at Exon where to the number of 243 Prisoners being in Custody for assisting the said Duke of Monmouth one amongst the rest Mr. Fower Acers pleading not Guilty he being found by the Jury the said Lord Chief Justice immediately pronounced the Sentence upon him and immediate Execution which was done to terrifie the rest who all Pleaded Guilty so that these unfortunate People had not time to have the fairness of Trials allowed them which is a right due by the Laws of God and Man. The remaining number he all condemned and here was a little sparing not so many order'd Execution as was in the other County but those that were executed were hung up and down in most Towns of the County and their Quarters and Heads scattered up and down the High-ways and publick places An extraordinary Sentence of severe Whipping was pronounced against Mr. Samuel Staple of Thorncomb in the said County but these are Trifles and we shall endeavour to pursue our Design and make as quick dispatch as we can that time may not be lost the King served and this Miscreants thirst quenched with Protestant Blood which is always well-pleasing to Inquisitors and so proceed to the Town of Taunton At which place being arrived it was thought fit by the Lord Chief Justice to be as expeditious as might be so that late in the Afternoon the Court sat where the Commission being read he proceeded to give the Charge which was so very keen and full of sharp Invectives as if the Country it self had not been able to make Expiation to his Lordship to quench his Thirst in the Blood of those that ventur'd their All in Defence of the Protestant Religion and here we enter upon the bloodiest part of the Tragedy In this Tovvn and at Wells in the said County were more than 500 Prisoners To begin at Taunton The next Morning after the Charge given the Assizes began vvhere some fevv put themselves on Trial vvho vvere found Guilty and immediately ordered to be Executed of vvhich number one Mr. Simon Hamlin vvas one vvho vvas a zealous vvorthy good Man and his Case no vvay dangerous but on the contrary had he had to do with a Judge of another Stamp To proceed to the rest This first Cruelty caused the rest to plead Guilty in hopes of favour which was only a few days to live which those that pleaded had not Amongst these at Taunton were divers eminent Persons that had been taken in the West and carried to London and brought down there to compleat the Bloody Tragedy in those parts Mr. Parrot Mr. Hewling the Elder Mr. Lisle Mr. Jenkins Mr. Hucker and divers others were very eminent To take notice of every particular in this Matter will alter our Design and swell the Book to too great a Bulk being ony designed for a Pocket Companion and useful it may be to see the Cruelty of men when in their Power and how the Devil stirreth up his Instruments to pursue those that adventure for the Cause of God and Religion Here were in this County Executed 239. the rest that were Condemned were Transsported except such as were able to furnish Coin and that not a little for an account was