The life of Judge Jeffreys

Introduction

The author happened, in the presence of a friend, to hint his intention of writing this life, when the latter instantly took the alarm, and exclaimed, "Why, you surely are not going to whitewash Judge Jeffreys?" The author said, he certainly could not think of justifying that lawyer upon every occasion, whose character was, upon the whole, none of the be.st ; but that he saw no reason why even such a man as Jeffreys might not have had some good qualities, as well as others.

Now, most will agree that this is a fair principle, not at all inapplicable to human nature; and, upon investigating the subject, some very redeeming traits soon showed themselves, brightening up with admirable lustre the conduct of a man who has been denounced by Protestant writers, people of his own creed, as the most wicked of mortals. Were all the histories unimpeachable which profess to speak of him, and the anathemas against him as prompt in their fulfilment as in their descent from the pens of^rme^a^d>*e,ai^ ^Yr^ej^^^e^^h^inigjiljlj^ front the Catholics a place in their purgatory, and count it indeed a felicitous atonement for his misdeeds.

But really it would be as absurd to predicate of any person that he is entirely vicious, as that we should desire to see Jeffreys at the head of the King's Bench now, insteadof the excellent and patient judge who presides thereS^At the same time, we are far from advising parents to recommend the example of Sir George Jeffreys to their children. Heaven grant that our country may be for ever free from such tyranny as his ; and that whoever ventures to make him a pattern may be impeached, and soon hanged, or beheaded, as may suit ! All we say is, that whenever a cloud is spread over the political horizon, some needy adventurer will appear, ready to serve every turn; and that it is, nevertheless, the province of such as are pleased to record his actions, to give him fair measure, good as well as evil report. For were it otherwise, it need only be said of any one, as Burnet did of Jeffreys, that he is " scandalously vicious ;" and the terms monster, tyrant, ruffian, a cohort of abuse, a condemnation full and universal, would be poured forth against him, without the scantiest endeavour to point out the true sources of his errors ; so that others would never be the wiser, or better enabled to shun them. If an inquiry be once set on foot, there are kindly qualities even in the worst of men : the depraved and degenerate (as some are called) will often, in their mood, achieve generous and

INTRODUCTION.

noble deeds which the excellent of the earth have seldom contemplated, so sternly is the Divine Image, all over beautiful and lovely, stamped upon us. But, had the author even indulged in panegyric, the character of Jeffreys would not have been the first, no, nor yet the worst, which a solitary writer might have dared to ennoble in the face of all others who have agreed in a united theme of execration.

What said the philosopher Seneca of Claudius Caesar ? Consoling Polybius, the emperor's freedman, for the loss of a brother, he writes: — "Since you are so anxious to banish all things from your memory, think on Caesar : see what faithfulness, what diligence you owe him, for his partiality. It is his watchfulness which guards the dwellings of all; his labour the ease of all, his industry the luxuries of all, his occupation the repose of all. Add now, that as you ever hold Caesar to be more dear to you than your own soul; it is not right, whilst Caesar is safe, to repine at fortune." 1

This was the great philosopher who so far scorned the, world, as to declare, that there was great pleasure in the

1 *

INTRODUCTION.

very article of death; and yet he wasted much such lavish praise upon a drivelling idiot.

But not to harass the reader ; does not our own historian, George Buck, speak feelingly for crook-back'd Richard? " There is no story that shows the planetary affections and malice of the vulgar," says the panegyrist, "more truly than King Richard's, and what a tickle game kings have to play with them ; though his successor, Henry VII., played his providently enough (with help of the standers-by ;) yet even those times both groaned and complained, but had not the sting and infection of King Richard's adversaries, who did not only contend with his immortal parts, but raked his dust, to find and aggravate exceptions in his grave." — "Julius Caesar," continues he, "was, and ever will be, reputed a wise and a great captain, although his emulation cost an infinite quantity of human blood. He thought crimen sacrum Ambitio."

If right for ought may e'er be violate, It must be only for a sovereign state.

And again: "He wore the crown at Bosworth," says Polidore, "thinking that day should either be the last of his life, or the first of a better; but whatever was his mystery, it rendered him a confident and valiant master of his right."

Indeed, one might at this day be emboldened to ask — What had become of Richmond's memory, if he had fallen down slain in Bosworth-field, and, like Richard, had been

INTRODUCTION.

Dragg'd by the hair to hostile swords a prey, And slain with barbarous wounds ?

What had been told us of Augustus, if he had died less than Emperor of Rome? What of our Jeffreys, on the other hand, if the army at Salisbury had stood faithful to King James; or the Lord Dartmouth, blest with auspicious winds, had attacked the Dutch fleet, ere the Prince of Orange had landed at Torbay ?

But it is for the public to judge : to their mercy we leave the great Chief Justice, and go on at once, lest some Christopher Sly should peep out, and say, "A good matter, surely : come there any more of it ? Would it were done? " When the answer must be, " My lord, 'tis but begun."

~l

•^1 ov\ r s t *

J % *t

9 V

Chapter I

Birth and parentage of Jeffreys — His love of splendour— Anecdote- Goes to school at Shrewsbury, St. Paul's free-school, and to Westminster—Recollection of Busby — Jeffreys a lawyer against his father's consent— His remarkable dream — He is entered of the Inner Temple — Sir GeofFry Palmer, attorney-general to Charles II. — Studies of Jeffreys — His love of the bottle — He is the zealous supporter of the democratic faction, who encourage him and assist him with money. Page 13

Chapter II

Jeffreys pleads at Kingston at the age of eighteen, two years before he is called to the bar — Paucity of lawyers — Boldness of his carriage — His clear enunciation — Ingenious artifice to obtain briefs — Cross-examining — Disinterested motive of Jeffreys' marriage with the kinswoman of the heiress whom he first courted — Amiable temper of his wife, Lady Sarah — He receives countenance from a namesake, Alderman Jeffreys — He is appointed common-serjeant — His blustering concealment of a bribe — Jeffreys betrays the democrats, and accedes to the court party — Friendship with Chifnnch, the King's page — Jeffreys, recorder of London, owes his advancement to political tergiversation. Page 24

Chapter III

Jeffreys, now a widower, espouses the daughter of a former lord mayor — "The Westminster Wedding;" lampoon upon the Town Mouth, or Recorder Jeffreys — The King's Psalter, question of literary piracy — Sir Edmondbury Godfrey — Trial of the Jesuit Coleman — The recor»

CONTENTS.

der's commiseration of the papists he condemns — Really inimical to the Catholics — The sermon-house at Canterbury — Jeffreys defends Dangerfield— Cases of libel — Maxims of Jeffreys on this head — Jurymen ignore a bill against Smith; violence and subtlety of the recorder foiled — Jeffreys is made Serjeant, Chief Justice of Chester, and a.Baronet — Duke of York's claims of profits of the new penny-post — Mr. Dockra — Baron Weston's reproof of Jeffreys in Court — Lord Delamere's severe charge against Jeffreys, as a Welsh judge — His brothers, Sir Thomas Jeffreys, Dr. Jeffreys, Dean Jeffreys — The question as to petitions — Jeffreys is accused of obstructing the voice of the people — Subsequent censure of Sir George Jeffreys on his knees at the bar of the House of Commons — He is constrained to resign the office of recorder of London — George Treby elected recorder — Case of Verdon ; his wit in his own defence. Page 38

Chapter IV

Situation and new prospects of Jeffreys — He refuses to admit dissenters on the grand jury — Trial of Fitzharris— Colledge, the joiner, tried — Witticisms of Jeffreys — Election of the city sheriffs — Dudley North elected — Account of Sir Edmund Sanders — Judge Jones — The quo ■warranto judgment — Trial of Pilkington for a riot — Anecdote of Dare the petitioner— '-Some account of Sir Thomas Bludworth, and the fire of London — The Rye-house Plot — Sir Francis Pemberton — Conduct of Jeffreys on the Trial of Lord William Russel. . . Page 74

Chapter V

Sir George Jeffreys appointed lord chief justice of the King's Bench — The trial of Algernon Sidney — Points of law overruled by the judge — Intrepid and talented defence made by Sidney — Exasperation of the chief justice — Bishop Burnet's invective against Jeffreys — Character of him by North — Wit of a gray-beard directed against the judge — Williams, the speaker of the Commons, fined — Bickering between the chief justice and Mr. Ward — His severity in restraints upon counsel — His treatment of unwilling witnesses — He is summoned to be a member of the cabinet — The Lord Keeper Guilford's uneasiness in having him for a colleague — He addresses the King — Lord Guilford resists the chief justice's intercession — Jeffreys decidedly a Protestant — Trial of Mr. Rosewell— Generous application of Sir John Talbot to the King

CONTENTS. XI for Rosewell's pardon — Contests of the Chief justice and Lord Guilford — Anecdotes— Death of Charles II. — Monmouth and the liberal party — Jeffreys' elevation to the peerage — Titus Oates tried for perjury — His sentence — Sir Bartholomew Shower — Legal acquirements of Jeffreys discussed— East India monopoly — Lady Ivy's case — Richard Baxter, the non-conformist — Occasional forbearance of Judge Jeffreys Page 97

Chapter VI

The Western Assizes — Duke of Monmouth's invasion— Special commission, and Jeffreys at the head of it — Countess of Pomfret — The Bloody Assizes, so called — The number executed — Trial and execution of Lady Alicia Lisle — Henry Pollexfen, afterward lord chief justice — Conduct of Jeffreys — Cruel promise of James II. — Salisbury — Church service at Dorchester — Intemperate speeches of the judge — Many transported or sold as slaves — Weakness of the Monarch — Case of Battiscomb — Sentence for the whipping of Tutchin — Trials at Exeter — State of the West during this assize — Cruelties at Taunton — Lord Stawell's indignation — Warrant to the mayor of Bath — Boasts of Judge Jeffreys — Further executions — Bishop Ken— The judge's charge to the grand jury at Bristol — Anecdote — Case of the brothers "Spekes" — Tory Tom's shrewdness — Dr. Oliver — Edmund Prideaux — Enormous bribe paid to save his life — Reception of Jeffreys at court — Anecdotes of Colonel Kirk — The Dissenters — Observations on the character of James II. and Judge Jeffreys — Execution of the Duke of Monmouth — Mrs. Gaunt burnt — The Lords Grey, Stamford, and Brandon Gerrard are pardoned — Bigotry of the King — Lord Jeffreys is appointed lord chancellor — Trial of Hampden before Sir Edward Herbert — Dangerfield killed in a private quarrel — Satire on Jeffreys. . . Page 149

Chapter VII

The great seal — Conduct of the lord chancellor in parliament — Lord Delamere arraigned before the Lords Triers at Westminster — Ecclesiastical high commission court — Dr. Sharp — Compton, bishop of London — The chancellor's cause-room— Anecdotes of the lord chancellor — Account of Sir John Trevor — Doctrine of passive obedience — Trial of the seven bishops — James throws off the mask with regard to his religion — Dr. Peachell — University refractoriness — Determined con-

Xll CONTENTS.

duct of the mayor of Arundel — Duke of Ormond — The royal dispensing power— Domestic life of the lord chancellor — Scandalous stories of his second lady — Evelyn — Lord Clarendon — Mr. Jeffreys's father — Sir John Trevor, speaker of the House of Commons — Anecdote of Tillotson — Lord Castlemaine's mission to Rome — Father Petre — Earl of Tyrconnel — Acquittal of the bishops — Birth of the Pretender — Privy-counsellors present — Legal character of the lord chancellor discussed — Sir Basil Firebrass — Gathering of the political storm — Religious contest— The city charter — How far lord chancellor Jeffreys is personally involved in the national and civic dissensions — Landing of William III. — The court of James in confusion. . . Page 207

Chapter VIII

Flight of James II. — The lord chancellor is ill spoken of by the fugitive monarch — The great seal is consigned to the Thames, and is found by a. fisherman — Jeffreys conceals himself on board a collier — A scrivener, %vhom the chancellor had browbeat at a former time, discovers the fallen judge — He is seized and carried before Sir John Chapman, lord mayor — He is sent to the Tower, on a charge of treason — Petition of the widows and orphans in the west of England against him — Four questions propounded by the peers to the ex-chancellor — Death of Jeffreys — Causes of his demise— His place of sepulture — Anecdotes — Curious writings in vituperation of the fallen chancellor at the time of his imprisonment — His good and ill qualities— His splendid talents — Attainder of Jeffreys and his heirs attempted — His landed possessions — His portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller — Some account of his son, John, Lord Jeffreys — Fable supposed to have been written by him — He espouses a daughter of the earl of Pembroke— Conclusion.

LIFE

OF

JUDGE JEFFREYS

Chapter I

Birth and parentage of Jeffreys — His love of splendour — Anecdote — Goes to school at Shrewsbury, Sr. Paul's free-school, and to Westminster—Recollection of Bushy — Jeffreys a lawyer against his father's consent — His remarkable dream — He is entered of the Inner Temple — Sir Geoffry Palmer, attorney-general to Charles II. — Studies of Jeffreys — His loveof the bottle — He is the zealous supporter of the democratic faction, who encourage him and assist him with money.

George Jeffreys was the sixth son of John Jefferys, Esq. of Acton, 1 near Wrexham, in the county of Denbigh, by Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Ireland, 2 Knight, of Bewsey, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, and was born at his father's house about the year 1648.

His paternal grandfather was a judge of North Wales, though some call him a justice of the peace, for that princi-

1 Now the property of Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart. Acton had been for a long time in the family : and Pennant is pleased to tell us of the obloquy which must have fallen on the race of Jefferys, by the production of the chancellor, after it had so long run uncontaminated from an ancient stock.

a Probably of Grey's Inn, and the same who abridged eleven books of Lord Coke's Reports, and the reports of Chief Justice Dyer.

pality,) and claimed on his father's side a descent from Tudor Trevor, Earl of Hereford.

John Jeffreys, 1 the father, was held to be a gentleman in his neighbourhood; and although his estate was not large, he lived contentedly upon his fortune, improving it by industry and frugality, till, having gained the good-will of his acquaintance, he obtained so good a recommendation to his intended wife, through a person of some interest who knew him, as to win her hand very successfully. Whether, as some have said, he indulged a niggardly and covetous disposition, or was, according to others, prudent and economical (for men differ somewhat as to the bounds between thriftiness and parsimony,) it is admitted that he was a cautious and careful housekeeper, that he prospered on the fruits of his exertions, and lived in peace and happiness with his partner at home. But he was decidedly a foe to extravagance; and we will here give an instance of the dislike which he bore to that fashionable vice. When his son George had supplanted that good old cavalier, Sir Job Charlton, in the chief-justiceship of Chester, he thought to dazzle his old companions and the unassuming natives of his birth-place with the splendour of his new state. Accordingly, he purposed a visit to his father, and went forth with a train so numerous, that the cider-barrels ran very fast, and the larder was in a state of perpetual exhaustion : on which the old gentleman put himself into such a fret, that he charged his son with a design to ruin him, by bringing a whole country at his heels, and bade him never attempt the like prodigality

* The original name of the family was Jefferys, although the Chancellor wrote his name Jeffreys,

LIFE OF JEFFREV;

with hopes of success. The reverend old man lived to a very considerable age, having witnessed his son's eminence and downfall ; but he ever withheld his sanction from those arbitrary measures which the chancellor pursued. Pennant saw a likeness of him at Acton House, taken in the year 1690, in the eighty-second year of his age.

George, who, were we writing romance, would be called the hero of these pages, showed very early that prompt address and activity which were the causes of his rising ; he was always striving for the mastery over his young companions ; and, although he inherited no ambition from his parents, he was indebted to their diligence for the improvement of his enterprising parts.

When yet very young, he was sent to the free-school at Shrewsbury, where he remained some time, we are told, not without credit ; and on his leaving that place, it appears to have been the wish of his father that he should have settled to some trade, for he had already evinced proofs of a disposition far from tractable. This sober career, however, would have been a sad check to the untameable spirit of Jeffreys : no fatherly admonitions would probably have hindered him from becoming the idle apprentice ; and he certainly possessed talents and propensities, which, had he been kept in an inferior station, might have procured him his quietus in those turbulent times much sooner than the ambitious bearing of his elevated fortunes. It seems as though his mind was instinctively bent upon aggrandizement; and he was so fortunate as to discover, youthful as he was, the importance of learning and information; he is therefore described as being addicted to study ; so it was determined to give him the benefit of a superior education at St.

Paul's free-school. Here he acquired a fair proficiency in the learned languages; 1 and he imbibed also in this place that fondness for the profession of the law, which led him to fix on it as his future destiny. He afterwards went to Westminster school, then under the care of Dr. Busby, whose rod bears as high a character as his learning. 2 Of his improvement here we have no account ; but many years afterwards he showed that he had not forgotten his old schoolmaster, nor the knowledge of grammar he had acquired. On the trial of Rosewell, the dissenting minister, there was a little conversation about the relative and the antecedent on an objection taken to the indictment ; and Jeffreys, the chief justice, referring to a treasonable sentence charged to have been delivered by the prisoner from his pulpit, said—" I think it must be taken to be an entire speech, and you lay it in the indictment to be so, and then the relative must go to the last antecedent, or else Dr. Busby (that so long ruled in Westminster school) taught me quite wrong; and who had tried most of the grammars extant, and used to lay

1 Not as has been said under the care of Dr. Gill. There were two Gills, father, and son, successively masters of St. Paul's school; but the last was removed from his situation in 1635, and died in 1642, before the birth of Jeffreys. John Langley was the next, and he died much beloved by his scholars in 1657. He was succeeded by Samuel Cromleholme, or Crumlum, who, from his acquaintance with languages, obtained the name of nolvy Xwrrog,* and under him, young Jeffreys probably received his education. St. Paul's school was burnt in his time.

2 There was another George Jeffreys, a lawyer, who was bom at Weldori, in Northamptonshire, and who went to that school. He died in 1755, at the age of 77.

Many-tongued.

down that as a positive rule, that the relative must refer to the next antecedent." 1

His desire for forensic debate was, however, very far from being agreeable at home : often and earnestly was he entreated by his father to desist from a pursuit which savoured too much of ambition to please a retired country gentleman; and when all dissuasions were found to be unavailable, the signal of yielding to his wishes was a gentle pat upon the back, accompanied by these words : "Ah, George, George, I fear thou wilt die with thy shoes and stockings on." Surely the prophecy would have been accomplished but for the chancellor's sudden death in the Tower. Some have said, that this legal impulse arose from a dream which the ambitious boy had whilst at this school. The substance of it was, that " he should be the chief scholar there, and should afterwards enrich himself by study and industry, and that he should come to be the second man in the kingdom ; but in conclusion, should fall into great disgrace and misery." This he told, when he came to the chancellorship: never imagining that the

1 T^he words were — " We have had two wicked kings together, who have permitted popery to enter in under their noses, whom we can resemble to no other person than to the most wicked Jeroboam; and that if they would stand to their principles, he did not fear but they would overcome their enemies, as in former times, with rams' horns, broken platters, and a stone in a sling."

And this is the observation of the lord chief justice: " Suppose you were to speak it in English, Mr. Solicitor" (indictments were then drawn in Latin) — Now we have had two wicked kings together, who have suffered popery to come in under their noses (meaning the late king and this) — there perhaps the inuendo is sensible, and no doubt of it: then he must mean them: but to say, if they will stand to their principles, they shall overcome their enemies, pray to whom does that '■they'' relate?"

O* last part of it could possibly befall him. But whatever might have been his vapourings after his elevation, a much more probable reason may be asssigned for his decision.

The profits of the law were greatly diminished during the broils of the civil wars, and the steady, careful times of the Commonwealth ; but no sooner had the new system of things been established, than the business of the counsellors revived: they began to set up their equipages, and to make a splendid show of the improved fortune which had befallen them; and this, doubtless, excited a youth who was never backward to discover the bright side of human life, and who, being without an estate himself, was thus stimulated by the hopes of acquiring one.

With all his constancy, Jeffreys needed one essential towards the prosecution of that pursuit which he had marked out for himself, and that was the main-spring and engine of all human action — money. His father, encumbered with a large family, could scarcely have afforded assistance to his younger son, had he conformed himself to the manners of his home ; much less would he create the means to promote an end so hostile to his feelings. And, perhaps, it had been happy for the state-prisoners of after-times, if this aspiring youngster had been without another relation ; — but it happened, that he was not only blessed with a fond grandmother, but had cither so far insinuated himself into her good graces, or recommended himself to her pride, that she came forward with an annuity of forty pounds for him ; and when his father found this to be the case, he did not scruple ten pounds a year more for decent clothing. Notwithstanding all these pushing efforts, he never had the benefit of a University education.

He was entered of the Inner Temple, May 19, 1G63 ; and, in an obscure apartment, commenced a study of the municipal law very diligently: while, at the same time, his pecuniary means were such as to call upon his best wits for subsistence in a profession which bore a distinguished character for gentility. Templars of the present day can have a better idea of this dull lodging than of most ancient buildings; for, without the aid of Sir Walter's lively colouring, they can behold the very original of dulness in many corners of the learned spot which they people so thickly. Roger North, therefore, finds easy credit, when he applauds the good fortune of his relative 1 in coming into Sir GeofTry Palmer's 2 chambers, which were very commodious; having a gallery, and at the end a closet, with a little garden. Here Sir Francis North

a

1 The Lord Keeper.

3 GeofTry Palmer was of Carlton in Northamptonshire. He was a very considerable lawyer, and the first attorney-general after the Restoration. He was employed against the unfortunate Earl of Strafford; and in November, 1642, was sent to the Tower for opposing "the Grand Remonstrance," after which he retired into Oxfordshire. In May, 1655, he was again imprisoned, on suspicion of being concerned in a plot against the Protector; and, we are told by a facetious writer, that he never could be persuaded to write Oliver any otherwise than with a little o. In 1660 he was knighted, made attorney to the King, and chief justice of Chester; and on the 7th of June, in the same year, a baronet. His wife was Margaret, daughter of Sir Francis Moore, serjeant-at-law, of Fawley, Berks, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. He died, May 5, 1670, at Hampstead, aged 72, and was interred, having first lain in state in the Middle Temple Hall, with great funeral honours. It was to a cultivated friendship with Edward, the fourth son of Sir GeofTry, that the Lord Keeper North owed an introduction to the family of that great pleader, and much of his subsequent good fortune.

situation so eligible, that a few more such would brighten up the countenance of many a recluse of this day. The saying of Juvenal —

seems most applicable, where the sufferer is of a modest and retiring habit; but fails of its point, when poverty drives forth the man of pleasantry and humour to seek the pleasures of society, and makes him acquire by his ingenuity an access to those festivities he would vainly dream of in his domestic solitude. Jeffreys was not the man to sit silently in his chamber, either mourning over the depths of the law, or indulging in that paradise of anticipation, the advent of clients : he was out and abroad in season and out of season; grave with the grave, and cheerful with the gay.

Most probably he was never a profound lawyer ; and these holiday-makings were certainly obstacles to the attainment of a difficult science. But there were other reasons which diverted him from a course of perpetual application — other temptations which fell in with his ardent disposition, and easily seduced him from his abode of silence.

The tide of conviviality had now strongly set in ; to refuse the social glass would have been to court the martyrdom of Puritanism : every countenance was lighted up by the new-born hilarities of the Restoration — every heart felt relieved from the stern austerities of the repub-

' " Slow rises worth, by poverty deprest."

Johnson.

lican tyrant; and this change agreed exactly with the temper of our promising student. He was now in a condition to consider every free dinner as a boon of the first order, and was very willing in return to enliven the entertainment with his jests and sallies. Indeed, he was not the first student who has readily deserted his apartment to become an animated and welcome member of the cheerful board; or who has forgotten to return thither when summoned to the drawing-room, where his wit and address have made him equally a favourite.

Yet these freedoms with Littleton and Coke, truly hostile as they must be to the character of a black-letter scholar, arc calculated to give the man who ventures on them an enlarged acquaintance with the world ; and when a man has determined to push his fortune unaided by interest or influence, how much is done by effrontery, and a certain easy indifference to the rules by which others are governed, and abide ! These last qualities were eminently possessed by Mr. Jeffreys ; they accorded remarkably with his versatile genius, which seldom failed to take advantage of a beneficial change, or make any sacrifice consistent with personal advancement.