Defoe (Daniel).- Law (John).- Lovell (Sir Salathiel, Judge, Recorder of London, 1631/2-1713) Warrant signed to constables and other officers in Westminster, Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex, for the arrest of a highwayman and recovery of the stolen goods, manuscript on paper, 1p. and conjugate blank, good impression of Lovell's seal, 12th February 1693/4, "on Tuesday last, there was feloniously stole from Robert Wescombe and Thomas Knight, upon the Kings highway a Dapple Gray Gelding, a Browne Nagg a Bright Gray Nagg, and other goods and Chattles of a Considerable value, And that hee [Robert Wescombe] hath in suspition divers lewd idle and disorderly persons within the Citties or Counties aforesaid to have Comitted the said Robbery...", note in another hand to foot "This Warrant to remaine in the hands of John Connell", light surface soiling, heavier on panel of conjugate blank, very slightly creased at foot.

⁂ Connections to Daniel Defoe and John Law. As Recorder of London, Lovell was one of the most prominent and controversial 'hanging' judges of his time with a reputation for corruption, largely because of his close association with ‘thief-takers’. Among the most notorious of these was John Connell, to whom this present warrant was given. Lovell presided over the trial of Daniel Defoe, an open critic of his, for seditious libel, sentencing him to a fine, public humiliation for days in a pillory, and an indeterminate term of imprisonment. In 1694, Lovell sentenced Scottish economist and financier John Law to death for the murder of Edward 'Beau' Wilson during a duel in Bloomsbury Square. Law was incarcerated in Newgate Prison but later escaped to Amsterdam and then Paris where he founded the Mississippi Company.