Jeffries, George

Jeffries, George an English lawyer of the crown, born about 1640, was chief justice of the King's Bench during the reign of James II, and is execrated in ecclesiastical history for his conduct towards Baxter (q.v.) and Fairfax (q.v.). He seems to have been a man of low inclinations, and a ready tool in the hands of the court. In the year 1688, after the flight of king James, he was recognized at London during the riots by the rabble, and, after "having suffered far more than the bitterness of death, he was safely lodged in the fortress (the Tower of London), where some of his most illustrious victims had passed their last days, and where his own life was destined to close in unspeakable ignominy and horror." He died April 18,1689. No one has better delineated his character than Macaulay (History of England, vol. 2), and we refer our readers to this able master for further details. See also Neale, History of the Puritans, 2, 317 sq., 341.