JAMES II: DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW

JAMES II: DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW
JAMES II: (1633-1701) King of England and Ireland and, as James VII, of Scotland, 1685-1688. D.S., James R, as King, at the head of the second page, two pages, folio, Court at Whitehall, 11^th May 1685. The first page of the manuscript document, dated February 1683, is an order to pay unto Sir John James the sum of ‘Fifteen hundred ninety nine pounds, fifteen shillings two pence’ as the balance, of £29,099.15.02, ‘of the Principall account of the New Forest’ and is signed in the margin by various Lord High Treasurers comprising Sidney Godolphin (1645-1712, 1^st Earl of Godolphin, British politician who served as First Lord of the Treasury 1700-01 and as Lord High Treasurer 1702-10), John Ernle (1620-1697, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1676-89), Stephen Fox (1627-1716, English politician, Paymaster of the Forces 1661-76, 1679-80), Dudley North (1641-1691, English merchant, politician and economist, a writer on free trade) and Henry Frederick Thynne (1644-1705, Clerk of Privy Counsellors) and further signed at the foot by Robert Howard (1626-1698, English playwright and politician who fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War). The second page of the document is a warrant addressed to the Lord High Treasurer and stating, in part, ‘Whereas the Summe of five hundred Pounds wch. remaines due upon….the written Order and to compleate the Payment of the whole Summe of Twenty Nyne thousand & Nynety Nyne Pounds, fifteen shillings & two pence therein menconed cannot by reason of the Death of Our late Royall Brother of blessed memory be paid to the within named Sir John James without Direccon & Authority from us. And it being Our Royall Pleasure that the Said Summe….shalbe paid unto them….’  Countersigned twice at the foot by Laurence Hyde, 1^st Earl of Rochester (1642-1711) English statesman and writer, uncle of Queen Anne, and originally a supporter of King James II, although later supporting the Glorious Revolution in 1688. With blank integral leaf. With extensive splits to the folds (the integral leaf almost completely detached) and some light staining, tears and areas of paper loss to the edges, slightly affecting the text and some signatures. Only FR