County aforesaidunlawfully Maliciously and
Wickedly did falselyCharge and Accuse John Hart< no role >
Cotton Esquire agood true honest and faithfull
Subject of our said Lord the King with having then lately before been
Guilty of Sodomitical practices and did then and there unlawfully and
Wickedly Menace and Threaten the said John Hart< no role > Cotton with Prosecution
for such pretended Offence unless the said John Hart< no role > Cotton would give
him Money for his Silence and Forbearance with Intention then and there
unlawfully and unjustly to extort Acquire and Obtain Money from
the said John Hart< no role > Cotton Whereas in Truth and in Fact the said
John Hart< no role > Cotton was never Guilty of the said Pretended Offence or
any other Offence of the like Nature To the great Damage of the said
John Hart< no role > Cotton In Evil Example of all others in the like Case
And against the peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity
Wherefore the Bailiff of the said Liberty is Commanded that he do
not Court by reason of any Liberty in his Bachwick but that he take
the said William Coombes< no role > to Answer to the Premises And thereupon
at the same General Quarter Session of the Peace holden at Guildhall
aforesaid on the same Thursday the Eighth day of January in the
Seventh Year abovesaid Cometh the said William Coombs< no role > in his own
proper person and having heard the said Indictment the said William
Coombs Saith that he is not Guilty thereof and of this he Puteth himself
upon the Country And Peter Forbes< no role > Esquire Clerk of the Peace of the
Liberty aforesaid who Prosecuteth for our sd Lord the King in this behalf
doth the like Etc Therefore by the Consent of the said William Coombs< no role > .
let the Jury thereupon immediately come before the Justices of our said
Lord the King above named and others their fellows aforesaid here by
whom the Truth of the Matter may be the better known and who have
no Affinity to the said William Coombs< no role > to recognize upon their Oath
whether the said William Coombs< no role > be Guilty of the Premises in the
Indictment aforesaid above Specified or not because as well the said Peticon
Forbes who Prosecuteth for our said Lord the King in this behalf as the
said William Coombs< no role > have put themselves upon that Jury Jury And
the Jurors of the said Jury by Thomas Corbett< no role > Esquire Bailiff of the
said Liberty for this purpose Impanelled and returned to wit Thomas
Tovey Marmaduke Treckett Samuel Tilt Caleb Jones< no role > George Wilson< no role >
Charles Payne< no role > John Fulwoods< no role > Henry Allison< no role > Stephen Golden< no role >