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Show 314 ATROCIOUS JuDGES. LA. D. 1685. really believe, would have done the same had she been the mother that bore him-'" That you be conveyed from l1en~c to the place fron1 whence you catne, and from thence you are to be Jra'Nn on a hurdle to the place of execution, where your l>ody is to be burnt alive till you be dcaJ. And the Lord ha YC mercy on your soul." The king refused the most arnest applications to save her life, , aying that he had promised Lord Chief Justice J effreys not to pardon her; out, by a n1ild exercise of the prerogative, liC changed the punishment of burning into that of beheading, which she actnally underwent. After tho Rovolu Lion, her attainder was reversed by act of Parliament, on the ground that "the verdict was injuriously extorteJ by the menaces and violence and other illegal practices of George Lord J effreys, Baron of W en1, then lord chief justice of the 1\::ing'. Bench." From "\Vinchester~ the "lord general judge" proceeded to Salisbury, where he was obliged to eon t en~- himself with whippings and imprisonments for indiscreet words, the \Viltshire men not having actually joined in the insurrection. But when Le got into Dorsetshire, the county in which l\Ionmouth had landed, and where many had joined his standar(l, he was fatigued, if not satiated, with shedding blood. G-reat alnrm was excited, and not without rea ·on, by his being se n to laugh in church, both during the prayers and sermon which preceded the comn1encement of business in the hall- his s1nile being construed into a sign that he wa · about "to breathe death like a destroying angel, and to sanguine his very ermine in bloou." I-Iis charge to the grand jury threw the whole county into a state of consternation ; for he said he ,vas determined to exercise the utmost rigor of the law, not only against principal traitors, but all aiders and abettors, who, by any expression, A. D.1685.] GEORGE JEFFREYS. 315 had encouraged the r ebellion, or had favored the escape of any engaged in it, however nearly related to them, unless it were the harboring of a hu band by a wife, which the wisdom of our ancestor. permitted, becau c she had sworn to obey him. Bills of indictment for high trea on were found by the hundred, often without evidence, the grand j ury being afraid that, if they were at all scrn pulou. , t hey then1 elves might be brought in "aiders and abettors." I t happened, curiou --ly enough, that a he wa a Lout to arraign the pri .,oner .. , he r eceived news, by exprc,' , that the L ord 1\::eeper Guilford had breathed his last at \Yroxton, in Oxford 'hire. lie had li ttle doubt that he should hi1n ·elf be the succcs .. or, and very soon after, by a me ... enger fron1 \Vi nd~or, he r eceived assu rances to that effect, with on1 ·r , ''to fini h the king' businc. s in the west." Although he had no gronncl for , erious mi:::-givings, he could not but feel a li ttle unca y at the thought of the intrigues ·which in hi ab. once rnigl1t pring up again t him in a corrupt court, nnd he was impati ent io take posse sion of his new dignity. But what a pro.-pect b fo re him, if all the prisoners again t wh01n there n1ight be indi ·tments, her e and at other places, should plead not guilty, and seriatim take their trials! l-Ie r e--ortecl to an e .. rpcdient wor thy of hi geniu by openly proclaimino- in term f yarrue promise but cer tain de- t'l' .... 0 nunciation, that "if any of tho:e indicted would relent fi·orr1 their conspiracies, and plead guilt y, they houlu find hi1n to be a merciful judge; but that tho c who put themselves on their trials, (which the law 1nercifully gave them all in strictness a right to do) if found guilty, would have very little time to live; and, therefore, that such as were conscious they had no defence, had better spare him the trouble of trying them." |
