In 1694 a great agitation was manifested in the House of Commons, in the belief that the Court, and even the House itself, was tainted with bribery. A committee was appointed, and on the 12th March, 1695, Mr. Foley, the chairman, read its report, which implicated Trevor; and a debate arising, a resolution was proposed “That Sir John Trevor, Speaker of this House, receiving a gratuity of 1,000 guineas from the City of London, after passing of the Orphans’ Bill, is guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour.” This motion Trevor had the mortification to put from the chair, and the unparalleled humiliation of declaring it unanimously carried. The House immediately adjourned, and two days after he resigned the chair, and on the 16th a motion for his expulsion from the House was carried, and a new writ issued for the borough he represented. {203} He was, strangely enough, permitted to retain his Mastership of the Rolls, and no further proceedings were taken against him. The rest of his life he wisely spent in his judicial office, never again withdrawing from it for politics. He died at his house in Chancery Lane, May 20th, 1717, and was buried in the Rolls Chapel. Trevor’s character, on the whole, is but a poor one; a selfish ambition appears to have made him consider the end, and not the means, the chief object of his care. His circumstances, doubtless, compelled him to practise a rigid economy, which, as he advanced in years and position, grew into meanness. But it would be unjust not to mention the redeeming points in his career. Lord Campbell states that “he was not only an upright but an enlightened judge, and he pronounced many decrees which to this day are considered of high authority.” No charge of bribery or favouritism was ever brought against him in the fulfilment of his judicial duties. “He had a villa at Knightsbridge,” says Lord Campbell, “then almost a day’s journey from London, and he has been absurdly censured for occasionally hearing cases at his private residence, a practice all equity judges sometimes must necessarily follow.” And notwithstanding his niggardly disposition he founded six almshouses in St. Martin’s parish, Shropshire, and provided also several other charities. He left issue an only daughter, Anne, who married Michael Hill, of Hillsborough, Esquire, who had two sons—Trevor, who became heir to the Hills, and was ancestor of the Marquis of Downshire, and Arthur, who inherited this property, assumed the name of Trevor, and was, April 27th, 1765, raised to the peerage as Viscount Duncannon; and from him the present freeholder is descended. William Street was built about 1830. At No. 11 resided for many years Lady Morgan, whose works occupy too distinguished a place in our literature to need mention here. Mrs. Gascoigne, in her poem, “Belgravia,” after sketching the portrait of Mr. Higgins, as before given, describes Lady Morgan as follows: