Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	city_n	sir_n	thomas_n	11,486	5	8.4847	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63195	The tryal of Slingsby Bethel, Esq., upon an indictment preferred by Robert Mason against him of which he was found guilty at the general quarter sessions of the peace for the town and burrough of Southwark at the Bridge-house, holden and kept before the right honourable Sir Patience Ward, Lord Mayor of the city of London, Sir Thomas Allen, Sir William Hooker, Sir Thomas Bloudworth, Sir James Edwards, and Justice Pyrs, on Wednesday, October 5, 1681.	Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697.	1681 (1681)	Wing T2223; ESTC R29550	14,805	18

THE TRYAL OF Slingsby Bethel Esq UPON AN INDICTMENT PREFERRED BY Robert Mason AGAINST HIM Of which he was found GUILTY AT THE General Quarter Sessions of the Peace FOR THE Town and Burrough OF SOUTHWARK AT THE Bridge-House Holden and kept before the Right Honourable Sir Patience Ward Lord Mayor of the City of London Sir Thomas Allen Sir William Hooker Sir Thomas Bloudworth Sir James Edwards and Justice Pyrs on Wednesday October 5. 1681. London Printed for R. Harbottle 1681. THE PREFACE Reader THat you may have a full Sence and Vnderstanding of the following Indictment and what what ensued thereupon it is necessary to acquaint you with all the Circumstances of the last Pole upon the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for the Town and Bourough of Southwark from whence the pretence for this Indictment was taken The Pole began on Thursday the tenth of February 1680. and continued until Tuesday following full five days The Candidates were Sir Richard How and Mr. Peter Rich on one part Slingsby Bethel and Edward Smith Esq on the other part The place of Pole was the Old Artillery-House in Southwark which is Ascended out of the Artillery Ground by six or eight large Stone steps with two half Spaces the uppermost at the entrance into the House being Banistered about is so Capacious as will hold a hundred persons or more The method of Poling was by filling the House from the doors that open upon the half Space then shutting them until they within were all Poled and let out at a back door and so filling the House again Vpon the first half Space was planted one Sam Sams a known Hectoring Carr-man and two water men of the largest size fetched from Lambeth or there abouts These men obstructed coming up to the Pole-House all such as they knew or suspected were Friends to Bethel and Smith to the hurting some discouraging others and causing many to go away This rudeness was several times complained of to Mr. Bethel who kept in the Pole-House but being pressed to endeavour to reform this disorder at last and on the fourth day of the Pole he went along with those that fetched him but found then upon the forementioned steps no more in that Hectoring posture as was represented to him than Sam Sams and Robert Mason Mr. Bethel aapplying himself first to Mason asked him in a milde and Civil manner if he had a right to Pole and upon his denyal that he had desired him to withdraw and not disturb the Peace and so took him by the Arm he having a wide Camlet Coat over his Red Coat and led him gently down who followed without resistance or any such Dialogue as is falsly suggested to have passed betwixt them and went quietly away After this Mr. Bethel asked Sam Sams the same Question as he had done his Companion Mason who answering that he had a right to Pole took him by the hand and led him in at the back door to Pole at which How and Rich seemed displeased though Rich did cunningly speak to him to Pole for Bethel and Smith intending as may well be supposed that he should thereby defend himself against Bethel and Smiths Complaint of his rude and disorderly Cariage but the Dull Fellow not apprehending the meaning of it Poled for 〈◊〉 How and Rich. And now this being all the ground there was for an Indictment one that pulls another by the Sleeve to speak with him may as well be Indicted for so doing as Mr. Bethel was for what he did Having this occasion to take notice of the manner and way of Poling in Southwark I cannot but upon the whole observe That the Inhabitants thereof lye at the times of Poling under great oppression in the expence of five or six days when fewer hours might serve the turn could the Bayliff be prevailed with to follow the example of London where double the number of True Electors in Southwark are Poled in four hours by having several Writers and Pole-Books especially the Artillery House being so convenient for the purpose as nothing can be more and the benefit in putting this in practice is backed with these Cogent Reasons First Because the Industrious sort of Inhabitants will hereby save the attendance of four or five days Secondly Because the doors of the Pole-House standing open and the people understanding that every one in three or four hours will be dispatched it will prevent Quarrelling and Rudeness in coming to the Pole and discourage Factious Persons from sending for Hectoring Fellows to espouse a particular Party in opposition to all others as was done the last Pole Thirdly The Candidates will hereby be prevented in Raking the Prisons Hospitals Almes-Houses and Streets for Beggers and the adjacent Neighbourhood for necessitous persons to the swelling the number of Electors to above double of what they really are as was done the two last Poles the first having Poled near fourthousand and the latter above three thousand whereas there are not in all above eighteen or nineteen hundred in the Bourough that have a right to Pole whereof we found the last Pole by Examination of the Church-Books no more to appear than thirteen hundred that payed to the Poor the rest being abated by Widdows Aged Sick and Absent Persons of which number of thirteen hundred How had five hundred eighty six Rich five hundred eighty three Bethel seven hundred and three and Smith seven hundred and sixteen so that though by the Pole at large How and Rich had near three hundred more than Bethel and Smith these two latter upon a true account had near one hundred and thirty more than the two former as may be observed by the above mentioned Numbers Fourthly Because so long as this method of Poling is continued the Burrough of Southwark will never be truely represented in Parliament the Candidates that live upon the place being always able to make their Numbers by illegal Polers as great as they please Antiently and in the memory of some living none were admitted to the Election but such as by their Taxes appeared to be the most Substantial Inhabitants which was acquiesced in without Poling but of late that way is not only by the Bayliff increased to all that pay to the Poor against which none can object but even to all that will but say they are House-Keepers under which notion it is that the true Electors are abused This Fraud hath been complained of to two Parliaments but both Dissolved before business came to Hearing otherwise it is more than probable it would have been Reformed The last Election Bethel and Smith being sensible that there was no Poling for them against all the Beggars in the Town they with many Inhabitants propounded to the Bayliff to Pole by the Poors Books and to convince him of the reasonableness thereof delivered him the Opinions of two Serjeants at Law and one Bencher under their own hands that none had right to Pole save such as

a Court of Justice Now Eight Witnesses swearing it I do appeal to the Court whether in matters of this Nature one Witness for the Affirmative be not more valid than many of the Negative They take notice of the impossibility and why because they swear as they say at an extravagant rate that Mr. Bethel gave him Twenty blows Gentlemen If Mr. Bethel will beat a Man extravagantly it is not extravagancie to swear it Now Mason's Evidence is confirmed by all the rest produced and no Contradiction If one swear to ten and another to two and another to three is this inconsistent No Gentlemen it is Evident those Men swear Cautiously and Fearfully for if otherwise they could Swear to as many as Twenty as Mason hath done Who is the best Judge he that felt the blows or they that Swear there was not one given He that felt them I am sure Gentlemen It was in a Crowd 't is possible they may not see all yet their Evidence is a concurring Circumstance Next I come to the point of Law how a Man that is a Candidate at an Election can beat any Man that stands in his way I do not understand that to be Law if any Man had beaten Mr. Bethel he might have beaten him again in his own Defence but there was no such thing Mr. Bethel saw no Disturbance himself but was informed of it and so became too Officious though he was Sheriff of London yet he was not an Officer there for he was not a Constable there and it was a Constables Office and he only could have seized him and not a Constable neither unless he had seen the Kings Peace broken And as to what Mr. Thompson saith that it is impossible that such an Election should be carried on without some bustle It 's true in a Crowd Men Justling one another and by accident strike another down it 's no Battery But is it necessary for Mr. Bethel to thump a a Man on the Breast Is it necessary for Mr. Bethel to beat a Man with his Cane Is it necessary for Mr. Bethel to give a Man Twenty blows Is it necessary for Mr. Bethel to pluck a Mans Coat off his Back Is it necessary to an Election It is not necessary and so being not necessary is not by Law Justifiable Gentlemen as Mr. Thompson saith it is a Case of Example I say so too and it is fit Persons that will do such things should be made an Example Justice Pyrs afterwards summed up the Evidence and told the Jury as Mr. Holt the Counsellor for the King had before well observed that they were to have regard to the Positive Affirmative Evidence Mason having sworn positively to several blows that were struck by Mr. Bethel and that Eight Witnesses had sworn in the Affirmative and that though there were Seven Witnesses produced by Mr. Bethel which were on the Negative part yet they were to observe that the Law did not allow of those Negative Evidences But for that so ma-many had Sworn in the Affirmative that they saw a thing done and as many Swear that they saw it not he could not tell what to say but to leave it to the Jury saying that one Affirmative was better than Forty Negative Oaths So the Jury went out and in a very short time were pleased to find the Indictment and brought Mr. Bethel in Guilty Then Mr. Bethel's Counsel moved in Arrest of Judgment for that no Indictment lay for the Words and the Court for that Reason stayed the Judgment as to that part of the Indictment and gave Judgment only as to the Assault and Battery and Fined Mr. Bethel Five Marks Upon which the Counsel for the King moved to have him taken into Custody until he paid the Fine which he presently paid and so was Discharged THE Crowd was so exceeding great that I could not take this Trial so exactly as otherwise I should have done but the Defects are only to the prejudice of Mr. Bethel POSTSCRIPT HAving as a Preface to this Trial shewn the occasion of the Indictment I shall here make some Observations upon the Prosecution of it And first As to Mason those that know him best think it as improbable his Estate considered that he should be at the Charge of three Counsel in this business as it is that a man of his bulk and temper should tamely receive Twenty blows with a stick without returning one or be pursued with blows in the presence of five hundred men at least without having it taken notice of by any one besides himself or especially that his Partner and Companion Sam. Sams who stood close by him should not see one blow given as he hath affirmed to one Mr. Farthing his Southwark Neighbour he did not adding that he would not forswear himself for all the world But the Plaintif was not thus alone more than ordinarily concerned for his Counsel were the same otherwise at the opening of the Cause they would not impertinently and from the matter have inferred Mr. Bethel's quarrelsome and rude intentions from the Company that came first into the Burrough with him whom they rendred to be none but debauched God Dammee's though when it was put upon them to declare who they were that swore at that rate they could not instance in any save one whom they described by his riding first as not daring to name him And were it true that such a person was in the Company it was as uncharitable a Synechdoche to condemn a considerable number of grave and sober Citizens who never were known to be guilty of Swearing or Cursing for the fault of one man as it was indecent in them to describe reproachfully a Person of great Quality because they durst not name him But to make amends for this in the Case of a fellow Commoner after a Fine of five Marks was laid upon Mr. Bethel the same Counsel moved to have him taken into Custody until he paid the Money insinuating thereby that otherwise he might run away and defraud the Baliff of his Fine Mr. Recorder not being at the Court he who in his absence gave Directions to the Jury told them That they had Mason's positive Oath that One Affirmative was better than Forty Negative Oaths and therefore they must either find Bethel Guilty or they would make Mason perjured Which passing for Law with the Jury they brought him in Guilty of the Assault and Batterie The Bench being now to set the Fine my Lord Mayor and Sir Thomas Allen considering the nature of the Action thought 3 s. 4 d. enough but the rest were for several higher Sums yet at last all centred in Five Marks And thus the whole matter is left to the Reader to make what Judgment and Conclusions he pleaseth upon it FINIS