affidavit was read, "Well," said the lord chancellor, "then I will lay my maker by the heels." And with that conceit one of his best old friends went to jail. One of these intemperances was fatal to him. There was a scrivener of Wapping brought to hearing for relief against a bummery bond[20]; the contingency of losing all being showed, the bill was going to be dismissed. But one of the plaintiff's counsel said that he was a strange fellow, and sometimes went to church, sometimes to conventicles; and none could tell what to make of him; and "it was thought he was a trimmer." At that the chancellor fired; and "A trimmer!" said he; "I have heard much of that monster, but never saw one. Come forth Mr. Trimmer, turn you round and let us see your shape:" and at that rate talked so long that the poor fellow was ready to drop under him; but at last, the bill was dismissed with costs, and he went his way. In the hall, one of his friends asked him how he came off? "Came off," said he, "I am escaped from the terrors of that man's face which I would scarce undergo again to save my life; and I shall certainly have the frightful impression of it as long as I live." Afterwards when the Prince of Orange came, and all was in confusion, this lord chancellor, being very obnoxious, disguised himself in order to go beyond sea. He was in a seaman's garb and drinking a pot in a cellar. This scrivener came into the cellar after some of his clients; and his eye caught that face which made him start; and the chancellor, seeing himself eyed, feigned a cough and turned to the wall with his pot in his hand. But Mr. Trimmer went out and gave notice that he was there; whereupon the mob flowed in and he was in extreme hazard of his life; but the lord mayor saved him and lost himself. For the chancellor being hurried with such crowd and noise before him, and so dismally not only disguised but disordered; and there having been an amity betwixt them, as also a veneration on the lord mayor's part, he had not spirits to sustain the shock but fell down in a swoon; and, in not many hours after, died. But this Lord Jeffries came to the seal without any concern at the weight of duty incumbent upon him; for at the first being merry over a bottle with some of his old friends, one of them told him that he would find the business heavy. "No," said he, "I'll make it light." But, to conclude with a strange inconsistency, he would drink and be merry, kiss and slaver, with these bon companions over night, as the way of such is, and the next day fall upon them ranting and scolding with a virulence insufferable. [20] A mortgage on a ship. THE TRIAL OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS (1688). +Source.+--Bishop Kennet's _Complete History_, vol. iii., pp. 484-486. 1706 edition.