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3 (1849)
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355
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JAMES THE SECOND.

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at high interest, had some time before lent a sum on bottomry. CH A p .The debtor applied to equity for relief against his own bond; ,53-57and the case came before Jeffreys. The counsel for the bor-rower, having little else to say, said that the lender was aTrimmer. The Chancellor instantly fired.A Trimmer!where is he? Let me see him. I have heard of that kind ofmonster. What is it made like? The unfortunate creditorwas forced to stand forth. The Chancellor glared fiercely onhim, stormed at him, and sent him away half dead with fright.WhileI live, the poor man said, as he tottered out of thecourt,I shall never forget that terrible countenance. Andnow the day of retribution had arrived. The Trimmer waswalking through Wapping, when he saw a well known facelooking out of the window of an alehouse. He could not bedeceived. The eyebrows, indeed, had been shaved away.

The dress was that of a common sailor from Newcastle, andwas black with coal dust: but there was no mistaking thesavage eye and mouth of Jeffreys. The alarm was given. Ina moment the house was surrounded by hundreds of peopleshaking bludgeons and bellowing curses. The fugitives lifewas saved by a company of the trainbands; and lie was carriedbefore the Lord Mayor. The Mayor was a simple man whohad passed his whole life in obscurity, and was bewildered byfinding himself an important actor in a mighty revolution.

The events of the last twenty-four hours, and the perilousstate of the city which was under his charge, had disorderedhis mind and his body. When tlie great man, at whose frown,a few days before, the whole kingdom had trembled, wasdragged into the justice room begrimed with ashes, half deadwith fright, and followed by a raging multitude, the agitationof the unfortunate Mayor rose to the height. He fell into fits,and was carried to his bed, whence he never rose. Mean-while the throng without was constantly becoming more nu-merous and more savage. Jeffreys begged to be sent to prison.

An order to that effect was procured from the Lords who weresitting at Whitehall; and he was conveyed in a carriage to theTower. Two regiments of militia were drawn out to escorthim, and found the duty a difficult one. It was repeatedly'

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