the grave of his first wife within this church, leaving behind him, in the excellent treatises published by himself, lasting monuments of his learning, judgment, piety, and Christian temper of mind. He was twice married: first to Anne, daughter of Arthur Bernardiston, of the Inner Temple, Esq., one of the Masters in Chancery. She departed this life December 19th, 1696. He had by her three sons, Nathaniel, Edward, and Richard; and five daughters, Anne, Anne, Susannah, Elizabeth, and Mary; of whom Edward and Richard, Susannah and Mary survived him. His second wife (who likewise survived him) was Elizabeth, widow of the Rev. Dr. Hezekiah Burton, and daughter of Mr. Ralph Trevor, of London, merchant."

NOTE.

1.-Mr. Forbes, who was the Bishop's contemporary, was a great collector of local books, but none of Fowler's works are found in the old library at Southgate Congregational Church.

SIR JOHN POWELL.

[1645-1713.]

HE junior of the two Judges, to whom we referred in our sketch of Sir Edmund Saunders, demands a fuller

notice. This we are enabled to give by the courtesy of His Honour Judge Powell, who has contributed the substance of the following account of his distinguished namesake and fellow citizen.

JOHN POWELL, who was successively Town Clerk of Gloucester, a member of Parliament for the city, a Serjeantat-Law, a Baron of the Exchequer, a Justice of the Common Pleas, and a Justice of the King's Bench, was descended from an ancient Herefordshire family, which migrated to Gloucester, where he was born in 1645. It is not known where he was educated, or whether he graduated at either of the Universities; but he entered the Inner Temple as a student-at-law in 1664, and was called to the bar in 1671. He appears to have been a Tory in politics, and to have taken an active part in local affairs, for we find upon the dissolution of the old Corporation, his name stands first on the list of Common Councillors appointed by the Charter of Charles II.1

In those days when access to London was less easy than it became afterwards, it was the practice of municipal authorities to secure legal advice by electing counsel to the office of town clerk. Powell's father, after filling several minor offices, became Mayor of Gloucester in 1663, and his influence may have smoothed the way for his son's appointment to the town clerkship in 1674, as successor to John Dorney, whose "Diurnall" of the siege, and

"Speeches" on the annual election of civic officers, are of so much interest in the history of the city.

In 1685 the office appears to have become the subject of litigation, and Powell was removed the following year. He at once applied to the King's Bench for a quo warranto against his successor, Robert Price. The matter seems to have been compromised, for Price resigned and Powell was restored in 1687, and held the office till 1692, when he was succeeded by his brother Thomas.2

In the year 1685, during which these difficulties arose,. Powell had been elected as a member for Gloucester to the first Parliament of James II., and this might have occasioned his removal from the town clerkship. His fellow member was John Wagstaffe. He does not appear to have sought re-election.

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It has been conjectured, but without foundation, that,. immediately after his restoration to his municipal office, he took part in preparing an Address which was presented to James II. by the Corporation. Mr. Henry Jeffs has drawn attention to a London Gazette, published by authority," and dating from "January 16 to January 19, 1687," which contains the announcement of the presentation to the King of an Address from "The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, Sheriffs, Common Councilmen, Grand Jury, and Borough Jury of his Majesties City and County, of the City of Gloucester." This said Address, which had been adopted at the General Quarter Sessions held on the 9th of the same month, styling James as "Dread Sovereign!" extolled "the Reason and Equity of General Indulgence for matters of mere religion." "Nothing. can be more our duty," it goes on to say, "both as Christians and Subjects, than first to render to Almighty God, in whose hands are the hearts of Kings, our hearty thanks for putting. it into the King's heart to do so good things for his people. Next in all humility to express, not only our aquiescence but height of satisfaction, in your Majesties so pious, so prudent,. so charitable, and kind a determination towards all your

subjects." Then, assuring the crafty monarch of their "united and utmost efforts to elect for Parliament such members as will joyfully and readily meet and join with him " in his Indulgence design, it proceeds, in a style of pious adulation, to congratulate the "Dread Sovereign" upon the probable birth of a son and heir, "the Image of his heroic mind." It need hardly be said that "His Majesty received it very graciously." It might well be called "a foolish business altogether." The good men of Gloucester, like many others, were deceived by the King's professions, and fell into the trap he had so artfully baited. But as to Powell's authorship of 'the fulsome document," there is room for doubt. It was more probably the work of his supplanter Price, during his brief occupation of the municipal clerkship, or of some one who may have held the office pro tem between Price's removal and Powell's restoration. 3

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In 1689 Powell was called to the state of Sergeant-at-Law, and took the oaths at the Chancery Bar. On this occasion, according to custom, he entertained the nobility, judges, and other distinguished persons at Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street, when he gave rings with a motto, alluding probably to the recent arrival and new government of William III., "Veniendo Restituit Rem "-(His coming restored affairs).

We read in Narcissus Luttrel's "Diary," under the date May 1, 1691, that His Majesty (William III.) before he went hence was pleased to order that Mr. Serjeant Powell should succeed Mr. Justice Vintris, deceased, in the Court of Common Pleas, and who had thereupon appointed his officers and made his robes; yet notwithstanding at Harwich Sir John Trevor and Henry Guy, Esq., who attended the King thither, prevailed on His Majestie to put a stop to the former, and got his promise for Sir W. Poultney to be the judge; this is also opposed by the Earl of Nottingham and the Chief Justice Holt, who have put a further pleasure be known." against him was that he was

stop thereto till His Majesties The result of this intrigue appointed a Baron of the

Exchequer and knighted, instead of becoming a Justice of the Common Pleas.

By a singular coincidence there was at this time another judge bearing the same name. Sir John Powell, of Llangharn, Carmarthenshire, with whom our Gloucester worthy has been frequently confounded, was one of the judges on the trial of the seven Bishops in 1688, and was dismissed from the Bench by the arbitrary James for his independent conduct on that occasion. He was, however, restored to his office by William, and sat as a Justice of the Common Pleas, so that when our Mr. Justice Powell was removed to that court in 1695, these two judges with the same Christian and surnames sat on the bench of the same court at the

same time. In some cases they sat together on special commissions, for Luttrel says "18 Sept. 1692 Monday fortnight 6 of the judges-Treby, Dolben, Eyres, Rokeby, and the 2 Powells sat on a special commission of Oyer and Terminer at Winchester for tryall of several officers in the Yard at Portsmouth for embezzling his Majesties stores." This duality of names, which has since occasioned much confusion, was found to be also inconvenient at the time, and hence we frequently find attempts to distinguish them in the reports of the period, as Mr. Justice Powell "senior" or "junior"; while sometimes the latter is described as "of Gloucester." Neither had cause to be ashamed of the other. Both were recognised by the profession as upright judges and sound lawyers; and presided over many important cases which will be found in the Law Reports and in the State Trials.

The eminent Carmarthenshire Judge died on circuit at Exeter in 1696: but his younger namesake survived him seventeen years; becoming a Justice of the King's Bench in 1702, and at length dying in his native city, where he lies buried, with others of his family, in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral. A handsome marble monument, with statue representing him in his judical robes, perpetuates his memory.