Jeffreys was only forty years old when he was taken to the Tower, but he soon wasted away, tormented, one might imagine, by the spectres of those whom he had destroyed, and of the thousands whom he had made desolate. Whether he died from drinking brandy to excess or not, is of little moment, but according to Oldnixon, his body “continued to decay” until the 19th of April 1689, when he died at the age of forty-one. He had been Chief-Justice at thirty-five, and Lord Chancellor at thirty-seven. No one looking at his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery would imagine that the melancholy-looking and distinguished young man, with his long, flowing wig, could be the most cruel, vindictive, and unmerciful judge with whom the English Bench has ever been cursed. [Illustration: _de k: vhicht by nacht uyt het hof met de seegels vant Rÿck:_] CHAPTER XVI WILLIAM AND MARY Only one prisoner of State suffered death during the twelve years of the joint reigns of William of Orange and Mary. This was Sir John Fenwick, who had been implicated in a plot to assassinate William, and being found guilty of high treason, was beheaded on Tower Hill on 28th January 1697. There were, however, a number of more or less unfortunate important State prisoners at different times in the fortress, the most interesting of these being the future Duke of Marlborough, for “abetting and adhering to their Majesties’ enemies.” In Lord Wolseley’s admirable history of that great soldier’s life, we read under the date of 5th May 1697: “Marlborough was kept a close prisoner in the Tower, no one being allowed to see him except by order of the Secretary of State. His wife left the Princess Anne at Sion House in order to be near him in town, and she left no means untried to obtain his release. There still exist many orders signed by Lord Nottingham granting her permission to see him in prison, the earliest being dated five days after his committal, and worded ‘for this time only.’ A Mr Chudleigh was a frequent visitor; the first order of admission given him was to see Marlborough in presence of a warder, ‘for this time only.’ Later on, we find an order addressed to Lord Lucas, the Constable of the Tower, signifying the Queen’s pleasure that friends and relatives of the prisoners lately committed should have access to them from time to time. They were subsequently allowed to dine together, when all dread of invasion had passed away. Marlborough, in the Tower, had fewer friends than ever, but his wife makes honourable mention of Lord Bradford, who not only refused to sign the warrant which committed him to prison, but paid him a visit when there.... Writing to Lady Marlborough, Princess Anne says: ‘I hear Lord Marlborough is sent to the Tower, and though I am certain they have nothing against him, and expected by your letter it would be so, yet I was struck when I was