160 "Justice in Warminster in the Olden Time" 



No Warminster men were out for the rising in 1655, or for that 

 of the Duke of Monmouth. Chief Justice Jefferies came not hither, 

 hut I have a document slightly anterior to the Bloody Assize, the 

 order of the Privy Council for the proclamation of King James II., 

 signed by Archbishop Sancroft, &C., 1 which is as follows. 



Order of Privy Council to Wm. Chaffyn, Esq., Sheriff of Wilts, to 

 proclaim James II. as king. 2 



Outside sheet, sealed with the sigillum of the Privy Council, and 



inscribed with the archbishop's monogram, bears this superscription : 



" For his Ma ties Special service 

 To our Loving Friend W m Chaffin Esq e 

 Sheriff of ye County of Wilts " 



Inside sheet : — 



" After our hearty commendations It having pleased Almighty God this day to 

 take to his mercy out of this troublesome life Our late Sovereign Lord King 

 Charles the Second of Blessed memory. And therefore his late Majesty's Only 

 Brother & Heir King James the Second being here Parliament according to the 

 Proclamation herewith sent you signed by us, and sevrall other Peers of this 

 Realme together with another Proclamation Issued by His Ma te Entitled a Pro- 

 clamation signifying his May es Pleasure that all men being in office of Government 

 at the Decease of the Late King his Ma te most Dear and most entirely Beloved 

 Brother, shall so continue until his Ma te further directions. We do hereby will 

 and require you forthwith to cause the said Two Proclamations to be Proclaimed 

 and Published in the usuall Places within your jurisdiction with the solemnity 

 and ceremony accustomed on the like occasion, and soe not doubting of your ready 

 complyance herein We Bid you heartily farewell from the Council Chamber in 

 Whitehall the 6th of February 1684 



Your Loving friends 

 Guilford C S Rochester P 



W Cant 

 Beaufort 



AlLESBURY 



Clarendon " 



Huntingdon 

 Sunderland 



C Craven 

 Middleton 



Bathe 



Halifax CPS 



J Bridgewater 



J FAUCONBURG 



H London 



The body is not written apparently by any signing, unless it be 

 the archbishop. The signatures of this highly interesting document 

 are apparently genuine. 



1 Sancroft, as Dean of St. Paul's, the munificent patron of the old and present 

 building. One of the seven bishops, " honest pious narrow-minded." Deprived 

 of his archbishopric by William III., after much hesitation. 



2 Miss Chafyn Grove's MSS. 



