“On the morning of December 20th, 1798, James Turnbull, one Dalton, and two other men were engaged in the press-room swinging the fly of the screw-press, while Mr Finch, one of the manager’s apprentices, fed the press with gold blank pieces, which were struck into guineas. At nine o’clock Mr Finch sent the men to their breakfast. They all four went out; but Dalton and Turnbull returned almost directly. And while the latter held the door, Turnbull drew a pistol and advanced upon Mr Finch, demanding the key of the closet where the newly-coined guineas were kept. Finch, paralyzed with fear and surprise, yielded it up. An old gentleman who was in the room expostulated; but both were forced into a sort of passage or large cupboard and locked in. Turnbull then helped himself to the guineas, and managed to get off with no less than 2308. For nine days he effectually concealed himself in the neighbourhood, and then, while endeavouring to escape to France, was apprehended. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. In his defence he cleared Dalton from any willing complicity in the crime.” Turnbull was executed at the Old Bailey. CHAPTER XVIII GEORGE I. With George the First the Whigs came into power, and soon after the new King’s accession, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and the former Lord Treasurer, was sent to the Tower on the charge of having advised the French King as to the best means for capturing the town of Tournai. Harley had resigned his Treasurer’s staff three days before Queen Anne’s death, and on the 10th of June 1715, he was impeached by the Commons, of whom only a short time before he had been the idol, and committed to the Tower. His courage never wavered, although he was left to languish for two years in the fortress, and at length, on petitioning to be tried, he was acquitted in July 1717. He died seven years later, aged sixty-two. Lord Powis and Sir William Wyndham soon followed Lord Oxford to the Tower, but the latter was very shortly after set at liberty without even undergoing a trial. Wyndham was member for the county of Somerset from 1708 until his death in 1740; he had been Secretary of State for War and Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Anne, as well as Master of the Buckhounds. His talents and his eloquence made him one of the foremost men of that brilliant age, and Pope sang his praises: “How can I Pult’ney, Chesterfield forget, While Roman spirit charms, and Attic wit; Or Wyndham, just to freedom and the throne, The Master of his passions and our own?”