Truth Rescued from Imposture. Or a Brief Reply to a Meer Rapsodie
Item #78636
PENN, William. Truth Rescued from Imposture. Or a Brief Reply to a Meer Rapsodie of Lies, Folly, and Slander; but a Pretended Answer, to the Tryal of W. Penn, and W. Mead &c. Writ and Subscrib'd S.S. By a Profest Enemy to Oppression. [London]. 1670. 71pp. plus errata. Small 4to. Modern red calf. Uniformly tanned and foxed. About very good. Bronner & Fraser 11. Smith, Friends' Books II:286. Wing P1392. ESTC R36662. One of the most important incidents in the early life of William Penn was his trial in September 1670 on charges of unlawful assembly and disturbing the peace. He and another Quaker, William Mead, were tried in the Old Bailey. The bench attempted to intimidate the jury into a guilty verdict, and although both men were found not guilty, they both served time in jail. In 1670 a pamphlet on the trial was produced, loosely attributed to Penn and called The Peoples Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted.... Samuel Starling, the Lord Mayor of London and one of the judges in the trial, responded with a pamphlet of his own the same year. In the present pamphlet Penn, assisted by Quaker lawyer Thomas Rudyard, offers his spirited response to Starling's work. "This pamphlet reflects a new side of [William Penn], for instead of the reasonable and cultivated gentleman and Quaker, we find a deeply incensed young man defending his father's honor [Penn's father helped secure his release from prison] and slashing out at his persecutor" - Bronner & Fraser. Penn defends his father's honor and military record, reviews the facts of his trial, and considers the power and role of juries. An important and scarce early work on the role of the judiciary, by the future founder of Pennsylvania.
Price: $2,500.00