JAMES THE SECOND.

101

Bench, servile as he had hitherto been, would go no further.Resistance still more sturdy was to be expected from Sir JohnHolt, who, as Recorder of the City of London, occupied thebench at the Old Bailey. Holt was an eminently learned andclear-headed lawyer: he was an upright and courageous man;and, though he had never been factious, his political opinionshad a tinge of Whiggism. All obstacles, however, disap-peared before the royal will. Holt was turned out of the re-cordership. Herbert and another Judge were removed fromthe King’s Bench; and the vacant places were filled by per-sons in whom the government could confide. It was indeednecessary to go very low down in the legal profession beforemen could be found willing to render sucb services as werenow required. The new Chief Justice, Sir Robert Wright,was ignorant to a proverb; yet ignorance was not his worstfault. His vices had ruined him. He had resorted to in-famous ways of raising money, and had, on one occasion,made a false affidavit in order to obtain possession of fivehundred pounds. Poor, dissolute, and shameless, he hadbecome one of the parasites of Jeffreys, who promoted himand insulted him. Such was the man who was now selectedby James to be Lord Chief Justice of England. One RichardAllibone, who was even more ignorant of the law than Wright,and who, as a Roman Catholic, was incapable of holdingoffice, was appointed a puisne Judge of the King’s Bench.Sir Bartholomew Shower, equally notorious as a servile Toryand a tedious orator, became Recorder of London. Whenthese changes had been made, several deserters were broughtto trial. They were convicted in the face of the letter and ofthe spirit of the law. Some received sentence of death at thebar of the King’s Bench, some at the Old Bailey. They werehanged in sight of the regiments to which they had belonged;and carewas taken that the executions should be announced inthe London Gazette, which very seldom noticed such events.*

* See Ibe statutes 18 Henry 6. c. 19.; 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 2.; Eachard'sHistory of the Revolution; Rennet, iii. 468.; North’s Life of Guildford,241.; London Gazette, April 18 . May 23. 1687; Vindication of the E. of R.(Earl of Rochester).

CHAP.

VIII.

1687 .