George Jeffreys : Judge Jeffreys
George Jeffreys (1648-1689), Baron Wem, better known as "Judge Jeffreys," became notorious during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. He was born near Wrexham[?] in Wales, and embarked on a legal career in 1668. Shortly afterwards, he wormed his way into the favour of the Duke of York, younger brother of Charles II of England, who would succeed Charles as king. This development in Jeffreys's career indicates his ambition, since he had been brought up a strict Protestant, and James was a Catholic. Jeffreys was knighted in 1677 and by 1680 had become chief justice of Chester. Charles II created him a baronet in 1681, and two years later he was chief justice of the King's Bench. His subsequent career showed how willing he was to subordinate his impartiality as a judge to his political ambitions.One of several trials which showed how far Jeffreys was prepared to go in order to curry royal favour was that of Algernon Sidney, who had been implicated in the Rye House Plot[?] and was convicted on the flimsiest evidence and executed. James II, following his accession to the throne, gave the judge the title of 1st Baron Jeffreys.
His reputation as a judge became even more unsavoury following the sentences he handed out to followers of James, Duke of Monmouth, an episode that concluded the Monmouth Rebellion which became known as the "Bloody Assizes." James created him Lord Chancellor in 1685, and he held this position until James was deposed in 1688. Recognizing what the new reign would mean for him, he attempted to flee the country but was captured and died, unlamented, in the Tower of London.
Holcroft were here!" she cried desperately. "He wouldn't deceive
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with after what I've been through?"
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if it can be helped. You know how true I was to you--"
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him--"
"I DO love him, I'd die for him! There now, you know the truth. You wouldn't
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itself, and I won't believe you have any rights till he tells me so himself."
"So you shrink from me with horror, do you?" asked Ferguson, rising, his face
words I'd never live.html">live.html">live with you again. I would live alone till I died!"
"That's all very foolish high tragedy, but if you're not careful there may be
go quietly away with me."
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"I mean I'm a desperate man.html">man whom the world has wronged too much already. You
contented, and happy I was with you, and so I would be again to the end of my
vagabond, for with you only have I known happiness. Why should I live or care
object in living will be his destruction. I shall hate him only as a man
You see I'm armed," and he showed her a revolver. "He can't quietly keep.
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