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Show 318 ATROCIOUS JUDGES. [A. D. 1685. for execution, and two hundred and eighty-four to have been s~ntenced to transportation for life. lie particularly piqued lumself upon his bon ?not in passing sentence on one Ilucher ' who pleaded, in n1itigation, that, though he had joined the Duke of Monmouth, he had sent in1portant information to the king's general, the Earl of Feversham. '' You deserve a double death," said the impartial judge; "one for rebeUin('l' • 0 ugamst your sovereign, and the other for betrayino- your friends." b He showed great ingenuity in revenging himself upon such as betrayed any disapprobation of his severities. Among these was Lord Stawell, who was so much shocked with what he had heard of the chief justice, that he refused to see him. Immediately after, there came forth an order that Colonel Bovet, of Taunton, a friend to whom this cavalier nobleman had been much attached, should be executed at Cotheleston, close by the hou e where he and Lady Stawell and his children then resided. A considerable harvc t here arose from compositions levied upon. the friends of t\ve n t y-sr. xr young v1• rgn• 1s who presented the Invader with color~~ , w 1u ·c ·l 1 t 11 ey h a d mnbror. dercd w1. th their own Lands. The fund. was ostensibly for the benefit of ''the q uee~ ' s J~ai'd s of honor," out a strong suspicion arose that the clnef JUstice par· t·I C·i pate d I. n bn.b es for these as well as other pardons · I-Ie tho ug1 1 t t 1w t h1.s pecul".u m was en-croached upon by a letter from Lord Sunderland informinO' l. f ' b nm 0 "the king's pleasure to bestow one thousand convicts 011 several courtiers, and one hundred on a fhvorite of the queen- security being given that ihe prisoners . houl<l be en .. slaved for ten, years I· n some W est I nd1. a I. sland." In lu.s re· monstrance he said that "these convicts would be worth ten A." D.1685.] GEORGE JEFFREYS. 319 or fifteen pounds apiece," and, with a view to his own claim ' returned thanks for his majesty's gracious acceptance of his services. However, he was obliged to ·ubmit to the royal distribution of the spoil. Where the king <.lid not personally interfere, Jeffreys was generally inexorable if he did not him elf receive the bribe for a pardon. l{iffin, a N onconformi. t merchant, had agreed to give three thou'"'and pound .. to a cour tier for ihe pardon of two youths, his gran<.l ons, who ltacl been in nloninouth's army; but the chief justice would li ten to no circu mstances of mitigation, as another was to pocket the price of mercy. Yet, to a buffoon who attended him on the circuit and made sport by his mimicry, in an hour of revelry at Taunton, he tossed the pardon of a rich culprit, cxprc sing a hope ' that it n1ight turn to good account.'' The jails at Taunton being incapable of containing all the prisoners, it wa. necessary to adjourn the commission to W ells, where the san1e horrible scenes were again acted, notwithstanding the hu1nane exertions of that 1110 t honorable man, Bishop I\.: en, who afterwards, having been one of the seven bishops prosecuted by ICing Jan1es, resignec1 his see at the Revolution, rather than sign the new tests. The Cornishmen had all r ernained loyal, and the city of Bristol* only remained to be visiteJ by the commi.:;sion. There were not many cases of trea --on here, but J eifreys had a particular pite against the corporation n1agi lraLcs, because they were supposed to favor dissenters, and he had then1 very much in hi power by a discovery he n1ade, that they had *' Bristol at this time was next to London in population, wealth, and commerce.- Ed. |