2 74 THE EXETER ROAD 



of 1G85 by gazing at 'Judge Jeffreys' Lodgings,' 

 still standing- in High West Street, over Dawes' china 

 shop. 



It must have been with a ferocious satisfaction that 

 Jeffreys arrived here to open that Assize, for Dor- 

 chester had been a ' malignant ' town and a thorn in 

 the side of the Royalists forty years before. A kind 

 of wild retribution was to fall upon it now, not only 

 for the share that this district of the West had in 

 Monmouth's Rebellion in this unhappy year, but for 

 the Puritanism of a bygone generation. 



Jeffreys reached here on 2nd SejDtember and the 

 Assize was opened on the following day, lasting until 

 the 8th. Macaulay has given a most convincing- 

 picture of it : — 



' The Court w^as hung, by order of the Chief Justice, 

 with scarlet ; and this innovation seemed to the 

 multitude to indicate a bloody purpose. It was also 

 rumoured that when the clergyman, who preached the 

 assize sermon, enforced the duty of mercy, the fero- 

 cious mouth of the Judge was distorted by an ominous 

 orin. These thinos made men au2;ur ill of what was 

 to follow. 



' More than three hundred prisoners were to be tried 

 The work seemed heavy ; but Jeffreys had a contrivance 

 for makin£>- it lis^ht. He let it be understood that the 

 only chance of obtaining pardon or respite was to 

 plead guilty. Twenty-nine persons who put them- 

 selves on their country, and were convicted, were 

 ordered to be tied up without delay. The remaining 

 prisoners pleaded guilty by scores. Two hundred and 

 ninety-two received sentence of death. The whole 



