

-.iT'ili ! 

 v-!f 



uji in vi'.lrni language against 



<omo aCOOli: !i .it. tin- tii. ;u-it tin- jury 



1 1 ud a verdict, and that it wan only in 



consequence of tho threats of the judge that thuy at length 



found h.T guilty. It Js but right to say that the account given 



Trials says nothing about thia, though it tfiv*M 



to show tho ili-'irniorful \i\u--- of th'- . :i t HIM 



an. I th" unjudicial part, and that a , , which 



llr expressed the greatest surprise that the jury 



should have hesitated so long about their verdict, adding, '"If I 



n among you, and she hod been my own mother, I should 



have found her guilty." Ho then passed sentence, the sentence 



of Hi" law be it observed, not of the judge, " That you bo con- 



iionce to the place from whence you came, and from thence 



to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, wl&re 



~ tn br bvrnt alive till you be dead. And the Lord 

 y 011 your soul." 



:itence to death by fire was changed by the 

 the mark to death by beheading, the 



utmost King James could be induced to grant to a woman. 

 U'h.'ii .Tame.-* himself was sent into exile, an Act of Parlia- 

 ment : attainder of Lady Lisle, on the ground that 

 injuriously extorted by the menaces and 

 , and other illegal practices of George, Lord Jeffreys, 

 Hnron of Wein, tho Lord Chief Justice of tho King's Bench." 



A I Siilislniry, tho next town on the circuit, various punish- 

 inputs, including flogging and imprisonment, were passed on rebel 

 r-Titipathisers who had wished "the cause" good speed; but there 

 >i :iny actual rebels for trial till tho judge came to Dor- 

 ro the real campaign began. He charged tho grand 

 jury to the effect, that he would punish with the extreme rigour 

 law, not only principals, but all aiders and abettors, all 

 who had encouraged traitors, whether by word or deed, and all 

 rt-hn had helped any of them to escape. Several hundreds of 

 <; true Mils" v. ITO found, when the meshes of the net were 

 1 i.> bo so ample, and Jeffreys, alarmed for his own 

 convenience if so many prisoners were tried singly, announced 

 that those who would plead guilty ' should find him to be a 

 merciful judge; but that those who put themselves on their trial, 

 if found guilty, would have rery little time to live ; and, there- 

 fore, that such as were conscious they had no defence, had better 

 spare him the trouble of trying thorn." To show that ho \\ n- in 

 earnest, ho ordered thirteen out of twenty-nine of those first 

 convicted to bo hanged in thirty-six hours after sentence, and 

 the remainder tho next morning. To ono man who objected to 

 the competency of a witness, he exclaimed, "Villain! rebel! 

 methinks I see theo already with a halter about thyneokj" and 

 this poor man he ordered specially to be hanged first. Two 

 hundred and ninety-two were condemned to death at this town, 

 and seventy-four of them were actually hanged ; tho others were 

 sold as slaves, and sent to the plantations in the West Indies. 

 Cruel floggings took place, in addition to these severities, on 

 those who Imd taken smaller part in the rebellion ; ono poor 

 wretch was sentenced to be whipped through every market town 

 in the county for seven years, that is to Ray, once a fortnight for 



\ oars. 



At Exoter, the first man convicted was sent to instant execu- 

 tion. Thirty-seven more suffered death at the same place, and 

 206 were condemned to whipping, slavery in tho West Indies, 

 or imprisonment. At Taunton 500 prisoners awaited their trial, 

 and Jeffreys observed, in his address to the grand jury, that "it 

 would not be his fault if he did not purify tho place." One 

 hundred and forty-three were ordered for execution, 284 were to 

 bo sent to tho plantations, and, in order that the rebellious county 

 might be duly \\;irned for the future, Jeffreys ordered some of 

 tho condemned men to bo executed in the surrounding villages. 

 At Wells, tho sconos enacted at Taunton wore repeated with 



.' itendfcm, and the* JsAVvje went OB to Bristol, 



... Lad but threw victim*. Two own of tb 



.eg been cx.nvu.-ud in Somersetshire, one of 



.-id to dttath, *ud th* other procured a pardon; 



bqt before hii rvlaaae, tke other ua ^fijf, Jeffrey* nndersa 



>.o oo the pardon** one, homos* W U* faattiy 



owud a life '. " 



A Jnitr* nm ./ mrmwy wan mad* by the jodg* ia tfce sale of 

 -unding !,- .|.ilHy of blood actoaUy ssttd. 

 A mi< "tt* oa*e, 43,000 was vafBaed 



in fiiH.i- :* rirruil was over, Lord Jeffeqn 



fuuud liim -.-if rich enough to support tbo dignity of Inrd ehe.n 

 ivllor. a )>okt which was the reward of M* seal am eerrioes ia 

 the west 



our king nor judge profited in th*. end. The former loet 

 his throne, which has boo* erer sine* banwd agates* the retail 

 of any of hi* dynasty, and the plritu di*embodied OB the Bloody 

 Attttizo eat heavily on tho wml of the judge, and pressed ft down 

 to death. As soon OH it was found that King Jamee bod ted 

 on tho approach of the Prince of Orange, fat 1669, th* people 

 demanded with loud voioos that his ifl adrieers should nol 

 escape. The chief one for whose punishment they thirsted 

 was Jeffreys, and search was made high and lew for hint. 

 Almost he escaped. 8-eps to ensure his departore froes Eng- 

 land had been "secretly taken, and, disguised as a ataatan, his 

 eyebrows shaven off, the better to conceal his ftatejee, he ha-1 

 arrived on board the collier which was to take him to Hamburg, 

 when he took it into his head to go on shore. At an alehcoso 

 in Wapping he was recognised by one to whom he had, as judge, 

 behaved brutally; a mob surrounded the boose, and would bar- 

 torn the fugitive to pieces, had not some soldiers tesausd him- 

 and taken him to the Lord Mayor. By order of the temporary 

 Government he was sent to the Tower, where he died miserably, 

 before he could be brought to trial on a charge of high treason.' 

 In the West of England the man's memory is still pieeeiisd 

 as that of an incarnate fiend, the true representative of perfect 

 injustice, the fit sign of brutal cruelty and oppression. Pro- 

 bably some inventions to his disadvantage hare been Blade by 

 the fertile brains of angry foes, and possibly some traits of 

 goodness may have been forgotten amidst the universal execra- 

 tion which has been his historical epitaph ; but there are few 

 even now-a-days who think the epithet "bloody," whieh fa 

 usually prefixed to Jeffreys' name, too strong for the man who 

 presided over the special commission after Monmoath's rebellion, 

 and who, in his capacity of judge, " played eneh fantastte trioka 

 before high Heaven, as made the Bagels weep." 



SYNOPSIS OF THE LIFE AND REIOH or JAMES II. 

 James n. 'was the third son of Charles L by his Qnec-n, 

 Henrietta Maria of France. He was the twenty-seventh sove- 

 reign of England after the Norman Conquest, and the fourth of 

 the Stuart dynasty. 

 Born at St. James's, Oct. 14, 

 Began to reign . . Feb. 6, 

 Rising in Scotland in favour 

 of the Duke of Moninouth 

 Monmouth laud* at Lyuie, 

 Juno 11, 



Battle of Sedgttuoor, July u, 

 Execution of Meunioutb, 

 July 1J, 



1333 ' 

 1685 , 



1698 

 1 



lt*i 



The " Bloody Assize " 

 Revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes, in France. Oct. 12, 



Christian V. . . 1670 



Franc, King of. 

 Louis XIV. . . 1643 

 Germany, Emptror of. 

 Leopold I. . . 1658 



Poland, King of. 

 John Sobieeki . 1674 



[Thu umrck vaj 

 tht but ttiUpnd*n( 

 L-iity of Poland. U* 

 dtj*i'.ra tin Twrfcj in 

 many fudl.*. and com- 

 pttted thtm to raiM tht 

 rigt of ft^nns, <n 1683, 



1685 



10S5 



Test Act Suspended . . . 

 The King goes to Uatt . . 

 The Universities copelUd 



to admit Papists ... II 

 Trial of the Seres Bishops. 



June*. 1( 

 Birth of the "Old Piwtsa- 



der "... JUD 1(\ II 

 William of Orange land* at 



Torbay .... N\v. 5. li 

 | Abdication of James, De-i 11, 1 

 16S5 Died at St. Germain*, Ang. 4 1! 



.SOVEREIGNS CONTEMPOEABT WITH JAHIS II. 



D*ninark, King of. Portugal, King of. 



Peter II. (prtrv- 

 oiuli *onl) . 1683 



JtoMM, Pep* of. 

 Innocent XI. . 167< 



Kn**i, Ctart of. 

 Iran IV. and 



Peter I. (the William Heary 



Great) con- (afterwards 



jointly . . . 1681 William 1 



Spain. Kiny of. of England) . 1673 



Charles II. . . HMS r T J,u pn.c* orri. J 

 9wdH, King of. ' Vary, (K asiif aUr e/ 

 Chejies.TZ, . . 10 ! /amw I/.] 



Mahomet IV. 





. 



