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5 October 1665: John Reresby finds that Charles II has broken a promise and made someone more generous than him sheriff of Yorkshire

John Reresby. 1734. The Memoirs of the Honorable Sir John Reresby, Baronet, and Last Governor of York. London: S. Harding. Get it:

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Excerpt

I went to Oxford to put the king in mind of a former promise, to make me high sheriff of the county of York, the year next ensuing; but hearing that Sir Francis Cobb (who had been at some extraordinary charge in receiving and attending the court at York) obtained a grant to continue in that office for another year, at his highness’s intercession I waited on the duke, acquainted him with my claim, and begged his assistance. He told me he wished he had known my claim in time, that he should have been ready to serve me, and that I had nevertheless his leave to solicit his majesty’s promise. I thanked him, but said I could not appear in any degree of opposition to his highness’s interest and pleasure, and would therefore defer my pretensions to a better opportunity. This he took very kindly, went with me to the king, and presented me to him for the next year; his majesty gave me his hand to kiss, and his word once more that I should be sheriff as I had desired.

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

  • ER: East Riding
  • GM: Greater Manchester
  • NR: North Riding
  • NY: North Yorkshire
  • SY: South Yorkshire
  • WR: West Riding
  • WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

Reresby was indeed successful in October 1666, “though I was not of the three in the list presented to [Charles] by the judges.”

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Original

I went to Oxford to put the king in mind of a former promise, to make me high sheriff of the county of York, the year next ensuing; but hearing that Sir Francis Cobb (who had been at some extraordinary charge in receiving and attending the court at York) obtained a grant to continue in that office for another year, at his highness’s intercession I waited on the duke, acquainted him with my claim, and begged his assistance. He told me he wished he had known my claim in time, that he should have been ready to serve me, and that I had nevertheless his leave to solicit his majesty’s promise. I thanked him, but said I could not appear in any degree of opposition to his highness’s interest and pleasure, and would therefore defer my pretensions to a better opportunity. This he took very kindly, went with me to the king, and presented me to him for the next year; his majesty gave me his hand to kiss, and his word once more that I should be sheriff as I had desired.

188 words.

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