ARGYLE Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of
£500
Auction: 1 February 2005 at 11:00 GMT
Description
The case of the Earl of Argyle or an exact and full acount of his trial, escape and sentence ... 1st edition, later calf, uncut, rebacked, folio, [sl: n.p.], 1683
Note: Wing C 1066
Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll (d. 1685), was sentenced to death for treason for refusing to subscribe to a test act passed by the Scottish parliament in 1681. The act compelled all who served the church or state to declare their adherence to the protestant religion. To this, the court party, subjoined a recognition of the supremacy of the King, and a disavowal of all resistance without the King's authority, or attempts to change the government wether in church or state. Argyll, who had already objected to James, Duke of York sitting in council without having taken the oath of allegiance, opposed this addition to the multiplicity of oaths and especially the proposal to exempt the royal family from the action of the test. On refusing to take the test, Argyle was tried and sentenced to death.
But before sentence was carried out, he escaped from prison with the help of his step-daughter Lady Sophia Lindsay, dressed as her page. He made his way to Holland, where he caused this account of the trial, sometimes attributed to James Steuart (NLS catalogue) to be printed. It is now very rare, as the Scottish Privy Council ordered that copies of it should be burnt on the grounds that it gave "a bad character of some of our statesmen". The Earl was beheaded in 1685 for supporting the Monmouth rebellion.
Provenance: A note in a contemporary hand records that this was the Earl's own copy, with marginal corrections by him in several places.