66 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t2''<i S. VIII. Jlly 23. '59. 



inflicted upon him by the Law, but, as your Petit" are 

 informed, was pardoned the infamous part of it. 



" That your Petif Thomas Cannon, upon the first re- 

 flectiou, Stung with tlie utmost remorse of Conscience at 

 the Iieinousness of his guilt, and not daring to throw 

 himself upon the Justice of his offended Country, whilst 

 the Jlemory of his Crime was j'et recent, and his Contri- 

 tion wanted the opportunity of time to approve its Sin- 

 cerity, Did withdraw himself from the weight of so heavy 

 a Prosecution into Foreign i)art3, where he resided near 

 three years, and then returned to England, partly;.'con- 

 s!rained by Necessity (having neither property nor any 

 other means of subsisting himself), but principally in 

 Order to make the only Atonement in his power to the 

 Publick, by Printing and Publishing his Retraction or 

 Kecantation, in which j'our said Petif has in a Short 

 Treatise, drawn up by him during his Exile, and Sub- 

 scribed with his name, from a due Sense of Eeligion, and 

 other Conscientious Motives, endeavoured to obviate the 

 Mischiefs arising from his former Publication, by I>e- 

 canting and abjuring in the most solemn manner the 

 Principles there broached. 



" That since your said Petit" return to England, he 

 has lived the most recluse life at Windsor with your 

 other Petif his Mother, abstracted from Society, and 

 almost wholly dedicated to Religious Offices ; and to the 

 constant Tenor of his life and Conversation, from the first 

 hour of his Exile to the present period, and to his future 

 Conduct and behavior (to Mguarded and secured in such 

 manner as your Lordships snail think proper). Your said 

 Petit'' begs leave to Appeal for the Sincerity of that Re- 

 cantation which he has upwards of two years since 

 (without any other Constraint than from the pure Mo- 

 tives of Conscience) made in his Publication from the 

 Press, most humbly Imploring your Lordships that the 

 same, together with his long Sufferings for a Series of 

 five years past, attended with a Disappointment in every 

 View of Life in consequence of his offence, may be now 

 accepted in some degree of Satisfaction and Attonement 

 to the Justice of the Publick, and that the memory of his 

 Crime (which it is hoped hath been long since buried in 

 Oblivion) shall not be again revived by further Prosecu- 

 tion against your said Petif, who cannot reflect upon his 

 past Offence without Horror and Detestation. 



" That in consequence of j-our said Petit^' having De- 

 clined to take his Tryal, by withdrawing into foreign 

 parts. His Majesty's Attorney General was pleased to 

 give directions for prosecuting your said Petif to an 

 Outlawry, and for Estreating his Recognizance against 

 his Bail ; upon which some proceedings have been had, 

 and will, as all your Petit" have too much reason to ap- 

 prehend, be too soon perfected, unless prevented bj* your 

 Lordships' Indulgence and favourable Interposition. 



" For after your Petif, Thomas Cannon, had returned 

 to England, and been two years resident at your Petif 

 his Mother's house at Windsor, with a Security which 

 the Sincerity of his repentance could only give him, 

 Your said Petit" received an Alarum from your other 

 Petit" the Bail, who, with all the terrors ofan imme- 

 diate Levy of their Security under the Crown process. 

 Have lately' applyed to your Petif, the Mother, for an In- 

 demnity upon her Counter Bond, and insisted upon her 

 immediately paying down the whole Caution monej'. 



" That your Petit", the Bail, are in verj' Indigent Cir- 

 cumstances, and with all the Substance they have in the 

 World Incapable of Satisfying the Levy to be made upon 

 them in the first Instance. And your Petif, the Mother, 

 is equally Incapable of Satisfying either the Crown or the 

 Bail, being reduced to a small Pension or Annuity for 

 life only for the Support of herself and two Daughters, as 

 well as her unhappy Son, who have no other dependance 

 whatever; Nor is your other Petif, Thomas Cannon, in 



the power of your Petit" his IMother and Bail, having 

 again withdrawn himself into retirement to avoid the 

 impending Danger ; So that the further Prosecuting the 

 Recognizance must inevitably' terminate in the utter ruin 

 of j-our Petit"^ Elizabeth Cannon. 



"That 3'our said Petif is descended from a Stock 

 which hath bom the Publick better fruit ; and, having 

 already lost her Eldest Son in the Service of his Country 

 at the Battle of Fontenoy, humbly hopes that the Ser- 

 vices of her father, the late Bishop Moore, and of her late 

 Husband in the Cause of Religion and Virtue, and of her 

 Eldest Son in the Cause of his Countrj-, will be weighed 

 against the Demerits of her now only Surviving Son, thiit 

 herself and the other Innocent branches of her family 

 shall not be involved in the same common ruin, and that 

 her once offending and now Penitent Offspring shall 

 learn hereafter to Revere that Government whose Lenity 

 and Clemency he has Experienced, and shall not be de- 

 prived by the Severity of the Law from an Opportunity 

 of giving the Publick further fruits of his Repentance iu 

 a future course of Life Expressive of his utter abhorrence 

 and detestation of the Principles which have unhappily 

 fallen from his Pen, but never yet descended into his 

 heart. 



" Wherefore Your Petitioners mosthumblj- Pray 

 Your Lordships out of j-our Great Goodness 

 and Compassion, and more Especially out of 

 tenderness to your Petif the Mother (now 

 declining in the Vale of Years), That your 

 Lordships will be pleased to Issue your War- 

 rant or Directions to his Majesty's Attorney 

 General to put a Speedy and Effectual Stop to 

 all further Proceedings in the premisses upon 

 the said Information, Outlawry, and Estreated 

 Recognizance, And to grant Your Petit^' Tho- 

 mas Cannon such Remission of his Offence, or 

 Relaxation of the Proceedings thereon as to 

 your Lordships shall seem meet. Or that your 

 Lordships will be pleased to give such further 

 or other Orders and Directions in the Pre- 

 misses as the Nature and Circumstances of the 

 Case may seem meet. 



" And your Pet" (as in Duty bound) 

 shall ever pray, &c. 



« Euz. Caxnok. 

 " On behalf of herself and the 

 other unhappy Petif*. 

 " Ordered (In dorso), 

 " Be pleased to get a Constat made out by 

 the Clerk of the Estreats on w"^'' the 

 Lords of the Treasury will sign a Warr' 

 to the Remembrancer to strike the Re- 

 cognizance out of the Roll." 



The title of the work written by Thomas Can- 

 non is unfortunately not given in the foregoing' 

 petition ; but it can doubtless be discovered from 

 the bundles of indictments, or the Crown or Con- 

 trolment Rolls at the Public Record Office. 



WiLiJAM Hesey Hart. 



Folkestone House, Roupell Park, 

 Streatham, S. 



lyEDITED LETTER OF BISHOP PATRICK. 



I am permitted by its possessor to send you a 

 copy of the following original letter of Bishop 

 Symon Patrick, written when he was Rector of 



