[Judge Jeffreys, William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution, 1688.] Printed handbill: 'The Lord Chancellor's Petition to His Highness the Prince of Orange, On His Entrance into London.'

Author: 
Judge Jeffreys [George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem] (1645-1689), byword for cruelty for his handling of the Bloody Assizes after Monmouth's Rebellion [William of Orange; Glorious Revolution]
Publication details: 
'LONDON, Printed for S. M. 1688.'
£850.00
SKU: 22125

ESTC R21335, which states: 'Attributed to George Jeffreys. Cf. BM.' 1p, folio. Aged and worn, with fraying to edges, but with text clear and entire. At top right, in pencil, in an eighteenth-century hand, 'Dupl' (i.e. duplicate). The heading reads: 'THE | Lord Chancellor's | PETITION | To His Highness the | Prince of Orange, | On His Entrance into LONDON.' Beneath rule at foot: 'LONDON, Printed for S. M. 1688.' For the context, see Jeffreys' entry in the Oxford DNB. Whether genuine or otherwise, the document has Jeffreys describe himself as 'your Petitioner, who was once Lord High Chancellor of England, is now become the Lowest of your Supplicants; and from the first and chiefest Councellor about the Throne, a miserable Dejected Captive in the Tower'. He also states: 'To Innumerate my Crimes, would be as numberless as the Enemies I have created by them; nor will I presume to Prophane your Sacred Ears with so black a Catalogue'. The text concludes: 'These (may it please your Highness) are the crying Crimes, which, were they yet greater, is in your Power to mitigate, by your Intercessions to the Parliament, having already the King's Pardon. If you vouchsafe this Mercy to an humble Supplicant, I will promise in some measure to make Retaliation, by discovering some Arcana Imperii, or Intrigues of State, what I am Capable of, which may highly concern your Highness's Interest in this Kingdom.' Now scarce.