Political
DUTIES ON TOBACCO & SUGAR
ROCHESTER
(Laurence Hyde, 1641-1711, 1st Earl, brother-in-law of James II)
Signature as Lord High Treasurer, 1685-1687, and monogrammed seal
on the lower portion of a Treasury document, for part-payment to John Hall of £36 out of the new Imposicion on Tobacco & Sugar, by vertue of his now Ma[jes]t[ie]s L[ett]res of Privy Seale dated the 20th of June 1686, with his fine engraved portrait by Goldar after Sir Godfrey Kneller, engraved surface 11 x 7 in margins 16½ x 9¾, 1785, the document 1 side 8¼ x 3½, Whitehall Treasury Chambers, 7th July
Item Date: 1686
lacks upper portion, two tiny defects in blank margin, faint traces of laying down
Background
Rochester was a high Tory of the Court Party, and for some years was Charles II's chief adviser. At the Revolution he favoured a regency on behalf of the absent James II, but reconciled himself to William and Mary and became an adviser to the Queen. Of a strong literary bent, he prepared his father Clarendon's History for the press, prefixing it with his father's life.
Stock No. 51771