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Show 292 A Tl~OCIO lJS JuDGES. lA. D. 1 u8 ~. had disgrace in one of them.'' Jejji·eys.- •' Your ~ ervant, doctor ; you are a witty man and a philosopher." lie had his full reveno-e when the doctor hi1nself was afterwards tried b before him. "\V e may judge of the councillor's general sty lc of treaLiug witnesses by his remark on the trial of Lord Grey de "\VC'rke for carrying off the Lady IIenrietta Berkeley; when bi · oojection wa' overruled to the competency of the young laJy as a witne. s for the defendant, although ·he was not only of high rank and uncommon beauty, Lut undoubted veracity, he observed, '·Truly, my lord, we would prevent pe1jury if we could.'' We now c01ne to transactions which strikingly prove the innate baseness of his nature in the midst of his pretended. openness and jolly good. humor. lie owed every thing in life to the corporation of the city of London. The fre emen, in the exercise of their ancient privileges, had raised him fi·om the ground by electing him coininon se1jeant and recorder, and to the influence he was suppo~cu. to have in the Courl of Common Council and in the Court. of Aldermen rnust be a. cribccl his introduction to Whitehall and nil his political auvancement. But when, upon the failure of the pro ecution against Lord Shaftesbury, the free 1nunicipal constitution of the city became so odious to the government, he heartily entered into the conspiracy to destroy it. It is said that he actually suggested the scheme of having a sheriff nominated by the lord mayor, and he certainly took a very active part in carrying it into execution. On l\fidsum1ner day, having planted LorJ Chief Justice North in his hou~e in Alderman bury, that he might be backed by his authority, he him elf appeared on the hustings in Guildhall; and when the poll was going against A. D. 1G83.J GEOHOE JEFFREYS. 203 the court candidates, illegally ad vised the lord n1ayor to dissolve the hall, and afterwards to declare them duly elected. He did every thing in his power to push on and to a ist the great quo warranto, by which the ci ty was to be entirely disfranchised.* When success had crowned these efforts, and P ilkington and Shute, the former sherifl\ with Alderman Cornish and others, were to be tried before a packed jury for a riot .at the election, finding that he ha1l the game in his hand, hi insolence knew no bounds. The defendants having challenged the array, on the ground that the sheriffs who r eturned the panel were not lawfully appointed,t as soon as the challenge was read, he exclaimed, "Ilere's a tale of a tub indeed !" The counsel for ihe defendants insi ted that the challenge was good in law, and at great length argued for its validity. Je.flreys.-" Robin Hood Upon Greendale stood." Thompson, Counsel for the Defendants.- " If the challenge be not good, there must be a defect in it either in point of law or in point of fact. I pray that the crown mny either den1ur or traverse." JejJ,·evs.-" This di ~cour. e i ., only for di ~cour~e sake. I pray the jury may be sworn." L ord Oltief Justice SaundeTs.- '' Ay, ay, swear the jury." The defendants were, of course, all found guilty; and as there 'vere among them the tnost eminent of Jeffreys's old city friends, he exerted him elf to the utmost not only in gaining a conviction, but in aO'o-ravatiu 0' the sentence. 00 0 • See ante, p. 220. 25. t See life of Saunders, ante, P· 261. |