36BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. DAVID LLOYD. By Isaac Sharpless. David Lloyd was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1656. Thomas Lloyd speaks of him in a letter as " my kinsman," though the relationship was probably not near. Comparatively little is known of his early history. In some way he secured an accurate and available knowledge of law. His first wife was from Gloucestershire, and it is not improbable that he was educated in England. In the seething political and religious times of the Commonwealth and later he imbibed the strong republicanism with which his name and talents were afterwards so conspicuously associated. Then he joined the Society of Friends, as many of the Commonwealth sympathizers did, and abjured fighting with material weapons forever. His pugnacity was, however, transferred to another field, and when in 1686 Penn commissioned him as Attorney-General of his new province he little knew what a determined opponent he was sending over the seas. On " the 5th· of y" 6th Mo. 1686 " he presented his commission to the Council, subscribed to the necessary declarations of fidelity to the King and Governor and entered upon the duties of his office. From this time until his death, in 1731, he was a potent factor, possibly as potent as any, considering permanent results, in the public affairs of the province.1 Two months later Patrick Robinson, who appears to have been a testy and obstinate official, was discharged from his position as Clerk of the Provincial Court, and David Lloyd was !Macaulay in his History makes one David Lloyd an emissary in attempting the restoration of James II in 1690-91. The name was included with that of William Penn and a number of noblemen and gentlemen in a list of supposed conspirators against William and Mary. It is possible that our David Lloyd went over from Pennsylvania for this purpose, though it seems improbable. Deborah Logan, however , speaks of him as the same person. She also says that he was Captain in the " Republican Army," presumably that of Cromwell. As he was only two years old when Cromwell died, she was undoubtedly mistaken. DAVID LLOYD.37 appointed to the place. He was also made clerk or deputy to the Master of the Rolls, Thomas Lloyd. As Attorney-General there is only one important case with which David Lloyd was associated that has come down to us— the case in which William Bradford, the only printer of Philadelphia , was charged with issuing a seditious libel in connection with the George Keith controversy. Lloyd represented the prosecution, and won. Bradford was fined, but in the easy-going times the fine was never collected. It is important in being the first case where the seditious character of the publication, as well as the fact of printing was submitted to the jury, and was thus important in establishing the freedom of the press.2 In the snarl that followed the appointment of Blackwell as Deputy-Governor, he showed the militant disposition which made his life a continual turmoil. The question came up in a meeting of the Council of a criminal whose case had been adjudged by the court of the county of Sussex, and the judgment reversed by the Provincial Court. The copies of the records of the higher court being conflicting, David Lloyd was asked to produce the original. He refused, saying that the Council had no authority to give such an order. Then, the minutes state, " he was thereupon ordered to withdraw. This was judged a high contempt in the said David Lloyd, and for that and other unseemingly and slighting expressions of his to the Governor and Council," he was discharged from his various positions . Thomas Lloyd then came to his rescue by issuing a commission to him re-appointing him. This Blackwell conceded he had a right to do as his deputy, but not as clerk of the court. Blackwell was probably right, and the Lloyds had to recede from their position. David Lloyd finally gave up the papers in question, and ultimately recovered his standing. In 1693 he was again brought unfavorably before the Council . One Charles Butler was charged with passing counterfeit coin. The jury...