2 résultats
1689536261689. The Legality of Lord Russell's Trial Trial. Rye House Plot. Atkyns Sir Robert 1621-1709. A Defence of the Late Lord Russel's Innocency By Way of An Answer or Confutation of a Libellous Pamphlet Intituled An Antidote Against Poyson; With Two Letters of the Author of This Book Upon the Subject of His Lordship's Tryal. Together with an Argument in the Great Case Concerning Elections of Members to Parliament Between Sr Samuel Barnardiston Bar. Plaintiff And Sr Will. Soames Sheriff of Suffolk Defend' in the Court of King's-Bench In an Action Upon the Case And Afterwards by Error Sued in the Exchequer-Chamber. London: Printed for Timothy Goodwin 1689. iii 51 pp. Title page preceded by advertisement leaf. Argument in the Great Case preceded by divisional title page. Folio 12" x 7". Disbound text secure. Some edgewear and soiling to first and final leaves worming through upper margins of most leaves with no loss to text. Toning small faint stains to a few leaves internally clean. $250. First edition. This is a reply to a pamphlet by Sir Bartholomew Shower that defended the legal position of the Russell trial. Atkyns was Russell's legal advisor. Russell 1639-1683 was implicated in and ultimately executed due to his supposed involvement in the Rye House Plot a plan to assassinate King Charles II and his brother and heir to the throne James Duke of York devised by a group of Whigs. Some historians believe this plot was largely fabricated by Charles II as a way to destroy the Whigs most notably Russell and Algernon Sydney 1623-1683 who were convicted and executed on the basis of flimsy evidence. English Short-Title Catalogue R4958. unknown
1693D12884Printed by Edward Jones. and Published by him and Randal Taylor 1693. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Modern half calf and marbled paper gilt-stamped lettering on spine; 300x187mm; pp. 4 64. Binding is fine. Text block browned as expected; tiny chips at corners of first two leaves. <br/><br/>In December 1692 the young but already dissolute Cornish peer Charles 4th Lord Mohun was involved in a fracas arising from a botched attempt to kidnap the popular actress Anne Bracegirdle. Mohun was acting as accomplice to a young army officer Captain Hill who had taken a fancy to Bracegirdle and decided not to take no for an answer. Their plan to bundle her into a coach was thwarted by the intervention of several of Bracegirdles neighbours but principally by her fellow actor William Mountford. In the ensuing scuffle Mountford was stabbed; he died shortly after. His trial was one of the society events of the year as Mohun had already been part of numerous duels and brawls and tho he was not yet a member of the House his father had been a good Whig and the young Lords future vote was not something that either party were keen to squander. His acquittal proved as sensational as the trial itself had been. One newsletter commented bitterly that a commoner would not have been so fortunate; others debated the intricacies of an attempted appeal that it was thought Mountfords widow intended to lodge but which was expected to be stifled by the Lords. Perhaps most intriguing of all was the conclusion drawn by Queen Mary herself that the verdict was symptomatic of a rot at the very heart of society. Mohun did not learn his lesson. He continued to brawl and only a few years later he was again arrested for another murder of an apparently unrelated Captain Hill. On this occasion he was spared a trial though and took advantage of a royal pardon. Over the next few years he repaid his Whig colleagues trust in him by proving a dependable lieutenant in the House. He may well have been fulfilling precisely the same role when he took the field against the Tory Duke of Hamilton with fatal consequences for both. Printed by Edward Jones... and Published by him and Randal Taylor hardcover