BERTRAM. CCXXX1X 



In the cause of Hody and Hody, which was for a great Hody and 

 inheritance, a present of gold buttons, worth about .50, ^&quot; 

 was given by Sir Thomas Perrot, one of the counsel in the 

 cause, (a) after the suit was ended. 



This slander of Wraynham s was not the only evil to 

 which he was exposed. 



On the 12th of November, 1616, John Bertram, a suitor Lord Clif- 

 in Chancery, being displeased with a report made by Sir ton 

 John Tindal, one of the masters of the court, shot him 

 dead as he was alighting from his carriage, and, upon 

 his committal to prison, he destroyed himself. An account 

 of this murder was published under the superintendence 

 of Sir Francis, to counteract the erroneous opinions which 

 had been circulated through the country, and the false 

 commiseration which the misery of this wretched offender 

 had excited, (b) in times, when the community was alive 

 to hear any slander against the administration of justice. 



that which they voluntarily presented ; for if I had taken it in the nature of 

 a corrupt bribe, I knew it could not be concealed, because it must needs 

 be put to account to the three several companies. 



(a) The article of the charge, namely, &quot; In the cause between Hody and 

 Hody, he received a dozen of buttons value 50, about a fortnight after 

 the cause was ended :&quot; I confess and declare, that as it is laid in the 

 charge, about a fortnight after the cause was ended, it being a suit for a 

 great inheritance, there was gold buttons about the value of 50, as is 

 mentioned in the charge, presented unto me, as I remember, by Sir Thomas 

 Perrott and the party himself. 



(6) In a letter to the King, dated 21st November, at ten at night, 1616, 

 vol. xii. p. 311, he says, &quot; For this wretched murderer Bertram, now gone 

 to his place, I have, perceiving your majesty s good liking of what I 

 propounded, taken order that there shall be a declaration concerning the 

 cause in the King s Bench, by occasion of punishment of the offence of 

 his keeper ; and another in Chancery, upon the occasion of moving for an 

 order, according to his just and righteous report. And yet withal, I hare 

 set on work a good pen* (and myself will overlook it) for making some 

 little pamphlet fit to fly abroad in the country.&quot; 



* Birch, p. 104, says it was Mr. Trott. 



