Egerton MS 3779

SUPPLEMENTARY HEATH AND VERNEY PAPERS: miscellaneous papers of Sir Robert Heath, Chief Justice (d.1649) and his family, concerning Parliament; 1626-1679. Supplementary to Eg. 2978-3008, acquired in 1917. The items, which were forwarded to the British Museum by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1963, were later identified as papers that should have come to the Museum with the main purchase in 1917. Incorporated in 1966.

Paper; ff. 30. British Library arrangement. Largest size 350 x 236mm.

Contents:

1. ff. 1-8v. Statements from four members of Parliament in reply to questions from Robert Heath, Attorney-General, relating to the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham; 20-23 June 1626. For the questions posed by Heath on 18 June, see Eg. 2978, f. 14. The statements are as follows: (a) Sir John Eliot; 20 June. Signed. See J. Forster, Sir John Eliot (1864), i, p. 580. ff. 1-2v;- (b) Christopher Wandesford; 21 June. Signed. ff. 3-4v;- (c) Christopher Sherland; n.d. [circa 20 June 1626]. Signed. ff. 5-6v;- (d) John Glanville; 23 June. Signed. ff. 7-8v.

2. ff. 9-16v. Interrogatories put to, and examinations of, members of Parliament arrested in March 1629; 17-20 March 1629. In the hand of Robert Heath. For related interrogatories and examinations see Eg. 2978, ff. 39-42v and the Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1628-1629, pp. 495-496. As follows: (a) Interrogatories for John Selden; [18 March?]. ff. 9-10v;- (b) Interrogatories for Denzil Holles, Sir Miles Hobart and Sir Peter Hayman; [18 March?]. ff. 11-12v;- (c) Examination of Denzil Holles; 17 March. Signed by Holles and the Commissioners. ff. 13-14v;- (d) Examination of Sir Peter Hayman; 20 March. Signed by Hayman and the Commissioners. ff. 15-16v.

3. ff. 17-28. Declaration by Charles I of the wrongs committed by Parliament, with proposals for restoring peace; [Dec. 1643-1644]. Titled 'A Declaracion set forth by his Matie, containing a true and cleere discouery of ye many & dangerous irregularities of ye Members of ye two houses of Parliament remayning at Westminster . . . Published by his Mats Royall Proclamacion.' (f. 17). Beg. 'We are not ignorant, by what, and by whose meanes . . .'. Written after the battle of Roundway Down (f. 20) and probably soon after 1 Dec. 1643 (f. 25v).

4. ff. 29-30v. Speech of Sir Francis Winnington in the House of Commons concerning the impeachment of the Earl of Danby; 22 March 1679. Abstract? For other copies of this item see: Eg. 2651, ff. 197, 198; Harley 4888, f. 297; Harley 6284, f. 37 (where it is dated 28 March) and Lansdowne 1054, f. 77. Not the same as the speech printed in full in A. Grey, Debates of the House of Commons . . . 1667 . . . 1694, vii (1769), pp. 25-29.