Meurtre

1693 · D12884 — Printed 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 Bracegirdle’s 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 Lord’s 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 Mountford’s 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