taken of mens Abilities according to which the purchase for Life must be managed by two of his Favourites who had a small share the rest went into his Lordships Pocket according to the Actions of Rome where Sins of any kind may be pardoned for mony This indeed was a glorious Design in the Eve of Mother Church to root out Heresie by Executions and Transportations to make room for a pack here Expedition must be made to conclude at Wells for that a great Man being fallen our great Judge designing his Chair which in short he had has the Reward of fo eminent and extraordinary a piece of Service as he did for the Advancement of the Roman Catholicks Interest which is cruel always where it prevails Thus we leave the Town of Taunton after awarding Execution to many there and their Quarters to be scattered up and down the County and so we proceed to Wells where divers Prisoners that had been carried from Goal to Goal in expectation of Evidence against them were in Carts removed to Wells in which place to finish this Expedition the same Method as was at the former Assizes was also taken here by a severe Charge affronting the Gentlemen of this County as he had done in all the Counties before terrifying the Juries when any pleaded to make them to bring in the persons Guilty some of which being over-awed and it is doubted contrary to their Judgments which if so the Lord forgive them Here were many eminent and worthy persons that received the Sentence of Death but the Executions of the County being put together as you have before seen we make no particular Division of the Number here and the Number at Taunton the whole being recited before We shall therefore endeavour to be as brief as we can to give you what we think material and truly matter of Fact my Lord now being come to conclude this extraordinary Commission and in haste to be elevated maketh all manner of dispatch to repair to the King then at Windsor to give an Account of his Transactions and to receive the Reward of his meritorious Service in this Butchering of Protestants which is so acceptable to his Holiness and his bigotted Disciples as nothing can be more and indeed if you will believe them a Work that merits Heaven at last besides what Temporal Preferments are thought fit in this World. If this cruel Judge were a true Protestant his Case is much the worse being made use of as a Tool to destroy and carry on Popish Designs Thus the Affairs being ended the Country filled with Heads and Quarters of those that were Executed the rest that had not wherewith to purchase their Lives left in Custody in order to Transportation My Lord being come to the King to give an Account of his Affairs in the West the Great Seal being to be disposed of by the Death of the late Keeper he kiss'd the King's Hand for it and was made Lord Chancellor which was only an earnest of his Desert for so eminent and extraordinary a piece of Service so now that which remains is to give an Account of divers that had fled and hid themselves up and down in Holes and Privacies whose Friends made all Application to some great Men or other to procure their Pardoms some to this and others to such as they thought Favourites of the King but the Rewards must be assertained before any Application could be made Divers Lists being sent up and the Rewards assertained which amongst many of them put together did amount to considerable so that it was now who could find a Friend to relieve his distressed Relations which were forced to wander up and down in Caves and Deserts for fear of being taken But this Misfortune attended the Agents that unless my Lord Chancellour were used by his Creatures that were allowed by him so to do other Applications commonly met with Disappointments which caused an Emulation among the great Men one supposing to have deserved the King's Ear as well as the other which caused other Measures to be taken though some were wheedled out of their mony At last came out a General Pardon with Exceptions very few if any of those that were solicited for not being excepted were of course pardoned but however divers Sums of Mony having been paid no Restitution to be had for from Hell is no Redemption A worthy Western Gentleman's purchase came to fifteen or sixteen hundred Guinea's which my Lord Chancellour had Amongst the Exceptions were a parcel of Taunton Girls some of which were Children of Eight or Ten years old however something was to be made of them if these Ladies were judged Guilty of Treason for presenting the Duke of Monmouth with Colours c. and for to preserve these from Trial they were given to Maids of Honour to make up their Christmas Box so that an Agent of theirs was sent down into the Country to compound with their Parents to preserve them from what might after follow if taken so that some according to Ability gave 100 l. others 50 l. all which however did not answer the Ladies first Expectations yet it did satisfie and they were accordingly pardoned Thus we have given you an Account of what hath happened on this Occasion being in every Point truth We might have farther Enlarged but that would have spoiled the Design and swoln our Pocket Companion to a Volume too big We shall therefore next proceed to give you a true and exact List of all them that were condemned and suffer'd in the West in the year 1685. under the Sentence of my Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys With the Names of the Towns where every Man was executed Bathe 6. WAlter Baker Thomas Clotworthy Henry Body Thomas Collins Gerrard Bryant John Carter Philipsnorton 12. Robert Cook Henry Portridge Edward Creaves George Pether John Caswell Thomas Peirce Thomas Hayward John Richards John Hellier John Staple Edward Beere John Smith Froome 12. Francis Smith John Humphrey Samuel Vill alias Vile George Hasty Thomas Star Robert Man Philip Usher Thomas Pearle Robert Beamant Lawrence Lott William Clement Thomas Lott Bruton 3. James Feildsen Richard Bole. Humphrey Braden Wincanton 6. John Howel William Holland Richard Harvey Hugh Holland John Tucker Thomas Bowden Shepton-Mallet 13. Stephen Mallet John Hildworth Joseph Smith John Ashwood John Gilham Jun. Thomas Smith Giles Bramble John Dorchester Senior Richard Chinn John Combe William Cruise John Groves Pensford 12. Roger Cornelius Henry Russel John Starr George Knight Humphry Edwards Robert Wine William Pierce William Clerk alias Chick Arther Sullway Preston Bevis George Adams Richard Finier Wrington 3. Alexander Key Joshua French. David Boyse Wells 8. William Mead John Sheperd Thomas Coade Abraham Bend Robert Doleman William Durston Thomas Durston William Plumley Uivelscomb 3. William Ruscomb Robert Combe Thomas Pierce Tuton upon Mendip 2. Peter Prance William Watkins Chard 12. Edward Foote Abraham Pill John Knight William Davy William Williams Henry Easterbrook John Gervis James
An Impartial HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF GEORGE Lord JEFFREYS LATE Lord Chancellour OF ENGLAND LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Black Raven in the Poultrey 1689. TO GEORGE Lord JEFFREYS LATE Lord Chancellour of England My Lord I Know not to whom I could more properly Dedicate a Treatise of this Nature than to your Lordship who lately was Lord Chief Justice of England and have set such remarkable Copies to inferiour Magistrates What is here offered may serve as a Mirrour in which future Administrators of Publick Justice would do well to look for you may remember my Lord if your Lordships present Afflictions have not made you forget as much Law as you ever learnt Common Law runs much upon Presidents And if a Man happen to have none of the best Physiognomies there is no reason why he should streight grow angry and fling stones to break all the Looking-glasses he meets with only because they represent the true Figure of the Object My Lord The following Treatise is a true Accompt of your Lordships Life and Actions most of which are ready to be attested upon Oath of your unheard of Cruelties and barbarous Proceedings in your whole Western Circuit In which all may see at what dear rates our Western Martyrs purchased their Religion and how that it cost those glorious Sufferers that so lately went off the Stage under your Lordships Sentence both Whippings and cruel Imprisonments and the most exquisite Tortures which none could invent or inflict but your Lordship whose good nature is sufficiently experienced nor any endure but they whose gallant and noble Souls were born up with heavenly Cordials and a Power from on high But my Lerd rest assured that their Blood still cries for vengeance and will be a lasting Monument of your Lordships Cruelties whilst History can speak or transmit to incredulous Posterity the Remarkables of elapsed Ages for Hang Draw and Quarter and Try Men afterwards Witness Sir Armstrong's death c. has been your peculiar Talent But your Lordship will now at last do well to remember that King Alfred caused forty four Judges in one year to be hang'd as murderers for their false Judgments I hope your Lordship will pardon this present Address seeing 't is a priviledge we modern Authors hold by prescription to put any great Body's Name in the Front of our Book Princes have not been able to exempt themselves or their Families from the Persecution of Dedications nor ever was there I humbly conceive any Rule made in your Lordships Court to forbid them Suffer then I beseech your Lordship this Address to remain a Monument to Posterity of the sentiments this Age has of your Lordships Conduct and Merits and Witness to all the World how much its Author is Your Lordships Most humble Servant James Bent. THE LIFE and DEATH OF GEORGE Lord JEFFREYS REader Think it not strange if I present you with the memorable Life and Actions of a Person so well known in this great Kingdom And peradventure Fame has not been silent in other Countreys especially since he has been advanced to be a Chief Minister of State and sate as it were steering at the Helm of Government Various indeed are the Changes of worldly Affairs and the Actions of Human Life which have been more particularly exemplified in the Rise and Fall of the Person the Subject of this Discourse who from almost a mean obseurity soar'd to the lofty Pyramid of Honour where for a while like an unfixed Star he appeared to the Eyes of the wondring Nation giving an imperfect lustre 'till by the sudden turn and change of unsteady Fortune he dropt headlong from his Sphere and lost at once his Grandeur and his Power To let Mankind see how little trust there is to be given to the smiles of flattering Greatness especially when attained by violent and pressing motions I now proceed to trace this unfortunate Favourite in the sundry Capacities and Stations that have hitherto made up the Series of his Life He was born at Acton near Wrexam in Denbighshire in Wales about the Year 1648. his Fathers name was Jeffreys being reputed a Gentleman in that Country though of no large Fortune or Estate however he lived very comfortably on what he had improving his yearly Income by his Industry and gain'd by his plain and honest Endeavours a good repute amongst the Gentry of those Parts insomuch that it was not long before he upon the recommendation of some Person of Interest and Ability gain'd a Wife of a good House and they lived very comfortably together in their rural Habitation being sar from Ambition or striving for Court-favour but contented with what God had blessed them with and the fruits of their own Industry they found a solid Happiness in that Contenment Nor had they lived together any considerable time but amongst other Children the fruits of Wedlock God was pleased to bestow on them the Person who is intended the Subject of this Discourse who was in due time Baptized by the Christian Name of George whether he had Godfathers c. it does not occur however he under the care and diligence of his industrious Parents grew up and appear'd to all that studied him of a very prompt and ready Wit active and striving for Preeminence even among his Compeers in his tender Age which lively demonstrated that an Air of Ambition was inherent to his Person As soon as he was capable to receive Learning he was put to a Country School where he was furnished with such Education as that afforded which was not extraordinary yet his Natural Parts set it off to the best Advantage and growing to years of somewhat a ripe Understanding and not very tractable his Father by the Advice of some of his Confidents caused him to be brought to London and finding him not inclinable to any Trade but rather addicted to Study he entred him or by his procurement he was entred into the Free-School of West minster where he profited much so that he was by the care of the worthy Master thereof soon enabled to understand the Languages or at least so many of them as were convenient for the study of the Law which above other things he aimed at tho' his Father seemed not very plyable to his desires for perceiving in his Soul a more than ordinary Spark of Ambition fearing it might kindle into a flame and prove one day his ruine he laboured to hinder the ways he conceiv'd most likely to bring it upon him and is reported to say when he found he could not disswade him from what he purposed gently clapping him on the back Ah George George I fear thou wilt dye with thy Shoes and Stockings on What he meant by that Expression I determine not but leave the Reader to interpret Upon the Coming in of King Charles the Second and the restoring the Face of Affairs in the Kingdom the Law reviv'd again and began to flourish the Practitioners liv'd
Sea-man in order to his escape to Hamborough in a Collier but being discovered he was brought before Sir I. Chapman Lord Mayor of the City of London in a strange disguise very different from the Habit in which he formerly appeared And by reason of the Lord Mayors Indisposition he not being able to Commit him he offered to go to the Tower to be out of the hands of Rabble who there in great numbers with clubs and staves threatned him with present destruction But having a Guard of the Train'd-bands to conduct him he got thither safe and soon after was charged in custody by a Warrant of Commitment from the Lords at Whitehall where he continued under much affliction and indisposition having since moved for his Habeas Corpus to be bailed but was not able to attain it Thus he continued for some months in the Tower his Chronical Indispositions the Stone c. encreasing very fast upon him The ingenious Dr. Lower was his Pysician But Nature being now tired out by a tedious Combat with his Disease and the Guilt of his former bloody Life we hope it touched his Conscience He having besides by his intemperate Life notoriously known contracted an ill habit of Body he at last very happily for himself if not his Relations too dy'd in the Tower the Morning about Nine of the Clock An. Dom. 1689. Thus Reader you have seen the Rise and Fall of this unfortunate Great Ill Man And so at present after we have endeavoured at his Character we take our Farewel Jeffreys's Character HE was of Stature rather above a middle sort than below it his Complexion inclining to Fair his Face well enough full of a certain briskness tho' mixt with an Air a little malicious and unpleasant He was a man of tolerable Sense and had as of necessity he must by so long practice and going through such publick Places got some Law tho' as little as 't was more than he had occasion to make use of since the Dispensing Power having as good as seated all Law in the Kings Breast he by that found out a more compendious method of attaining it than was formerly known He had a pretty large stock of Ill Nature and Wit in which lay his greatest Excellency tho a very unenvy'd one But in fine His Brow and his Tongue wereabsolutely the two best Accomplishments he was Master of By the help of which and that before mentioned by his brisk sudden and sharp Interrogatories he sometimes put falshood and perhaps oftner the truth it self out of countenance But that ill-favour'd Wit which he had lay all of the wrong side muchlike that of those unlucky Animals all whose Wit lies in tricks and mischief He spoke many pleasant things but very few handsom ones disgracing all with intolerable Railing mean passions and perfect Billingsgate and would commonly even upon the Bench it self fall into Heats both as to words and actions not only unworthy of a Judge but even of any prudent man. He seem'd without wronging him to have a great deal of baseness and cruelty in his Nature having a particular delight and relish in cruelty and blood and such things as give horror aversion to all the rest of mankind He was in this case worse than even Nero for whereas that Monster had once so much good Nature or at least pretended it that when he was to sign a Warrant for the execution of a Malefactor he is said to have wish'd he had never learnt to write Jeffreys on the other side then only seem'd in his Element when in the midst of Destruction and Murther For his Religion What a sort of one 't was his Life past sufficiently tells us tho he and his Good Brother Commissioner the Balswagger of Chester maliciously persuade the world that they were of the Church of England that after they cou'd do it no more mischief with their Lives they might disgrace it by their Deaths pretending both to die in that Communion But 't is mean to follow 'em any further unless with a wish somewhat like that handsom one History leaves us That all K. VVilliam and Q. Mary 's Enemies were as honourably bury'd Or in the inspired words of a greater Person So O Lord let all thine Enemies perish FINIS A Catalogue of Books printed for John Dunton at the Black Raven in the Poulrey over against the Compter 1. A Continuation of Morning Exercise Questions and Cases of Conscience practically resolved by 31 Reverend and Learned Divines in the City of London in Octob. 1682. Printed in a very large Quarto Price bound 10 s. 2. A New Martyrology or The Bloody Assizes now exactly methodized in one Volum To this Treatise is added the Life and Death of George Lord Jeffreys ☞ There will speedily go to the Press a very useful Book entituled The Character of a Christian Exemplified in all the Degrees of Perfection attainable on this side Heaven Written by Drawde Rekoohh Author of that most excellent Treatise entituled Divine Breathings 3. Reformed Religion or Right Christianity describ'd in its Excellency and Usefulness in the whole Life of Man Giving an Impartial Character of a Right Christian in general of a Right Christian Minister of a Right Christian Magistrate of a Right Christian Subject of a Right Christian Worship of a Right Christian Parliament and of a Right Christian Soldier Written by M. Barker Minister of the Gospel Price bound 1 s. 4. Mr. Baxter's Directions and Perswasions to a sound Conversion The 4 Edit Price bound 2 s. 5. Mr. How 's Sermon at the Funeral of that Faithful and Laborious Servant of Christ Mr. Richard Fairclough Price 6 d. 6. Mr. Lee's Joy of Faith or a Treatise opening the true Nature of Faith its lowest Stature and Distinction from Assurance with a Preliminary Tract evidencing the Divinity of the Sacred Scriptures Price bound 1 s. 6 d. 7. Mr. Slater's Sermon preach'd upon the Death of that Faithful and Laborious Servant of Christ Mr. John Oakes Price bound 1 s. 8. his Sermon preached to young Men the 25th of December last at that which was Mr. Oakes's Meeting-place Price 6 d. 9. Mr. Jay's Discourse Rector of Chinner in Oxfordshire entituled Daniel in the Den or the Lord President 's Imprisonment and Miraculous Deliverance Price 6 d. 10. Mr. Dunton's Discourses late Rector of Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire entituled The House of Weeping or Man's last Progress to his long Home represented in several Funeral Discourses illustrated with a lively Emblem of a Funeral Solemnity The second Edition Price bound 1 s. 11. Mr. Dolittle on the Sufferings of Christ from the Garden to the Grave being a second Part to a former Treatise on the Lord's Supper with his Effigies done to the Life Price bound 2 s. 12. Mr. Shower's Sermon preach'd upon the Death of a young Gentlewoman Mrs. Anne Barnardiston Daughter of Nathaniel Barnardiston Esq late of Hackney together with her Exemplary Life and Death Price 6 d. 13.