Paul Lorrain
Encyclopedia
Paul Lorrain was, for twenty-two years, the secretary, translator, and copyist for Samuel Pepys
, and became well known as the ordinary
of Newgate Prison
by standardizing the publication of the gallows confessions of condemned prisoners.
extraction. He was educated at neither of the English universities, but describes himself as presbyter of the Church of England. He was taken on by Pepys as a secretary from 1678 and developed a close relationship with him lasting until the latter's death in 1703. During his employment, he published a number of Protestant polemical and devotional tracts. In the 1690s, Lorrain's Protestant theological leanings, perhaps together with concern for his future arising out of Pepys advancing years, led him to the Church of England
.
He was appointed Ordinary of Newgate Prison
in September 1698, his predecessor, Samuel Smith having died on 24 August. From his appointment until 1719 he compiled the official accounts of the dying speeches of criminals condemned to capital punishment and oversaw their printing in broadsheet
s; forty-eight of these broadsheets are in the British Museum
. The confessions, to which are prefixed abstracts of Lorrain's ‘funeral sermons,’ are generally headed ‘'The Ordinary of Newgate, his Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and last Speech of X.,’' &c. They were issued at eight o'clock on the morning following the execution, and signed Paul Lorrain, the public being warned against counterfeits and unauthorised accounts. Lorrain standarized the layout of the Confessions, and zealously promoted the sale of his versions over competing unofficial broadsheets. He also benefited greatly from the publications, receiving some £200 per annum income from them, as compared with his remuneration as Ordinary, which with privileges amounted to some £65 per annum.
Among the most notorious felons whom Lorrain attended to the scaffold were Captain Kidd
, Captain T. Smith, James Sheppard, Deborah Churchill, and Jack Hill. On some occasions, when fifteen or even twenty condemned persons were executed at once, the confessions are proportionately abridged. In a joint letter from Alexander Pope
and Bolingbroke
to Swift
, dated December 1725, the ‘late ordinary’ is described ironically as the ‘great historiographer.’ The penitence of his clients is always described as so heartfelt that the latter are playfully called by Richard Steele
‘Lorrain's Saints’. A number of questions were raised by Daniel Defoe
as to the extent to which his polemical and commercial interests affected the authenticity of his Confessions.
Lorrain died at his house in Town Ditch, London, on 7 October 1719. He is said to have left £5,000. His post, which was in the gift of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, was keenly contested until 20 November when ‘Mr. Purney, a young sucking divine of twenty-four years of age,’ was elected ‘at the recommendation of the very Orthodox Bishop of P——’.
, Lord Mayor, in addition to which he published and advertised on the vacant spaces of his Confessions various small manuals of medicine, devotion, corn-cutting, &c. — probably his own compilations. Other works include:
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, and became well known as the ordinary
Ordinary
In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...
of Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
by standardizing the publication of the gallows confessions of condemned prisoners.
Biography
Lorrain was, by Pepys' account, of HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
extraction. He was educated at neither of the English universities, but describes himself as presbyter of the Church of England. He was taken on by Pepys as a secretary from 1678 and developed a close relationship with him lasting until the latter's death in 1703. During his employment, he published a number of Protestant polemical and devotional tracts. In the 1690s, Lorrain's Protestant theological leanings, perhaps together with concern for his future arising out of Pepys advancing years, led him to the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
He was appointed Ordinary of Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
in September 1698, his predecessor, Samuel Smith having died on 24 August. From his appointment until 1719 he compiled the official accounts of the dying speeches of criminals condemned to capital punishment and oversaw their printing in broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
s; forty-eight of these broadsheets are in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. The confessions, to which are prefixed abstracts of Lorrain's ‘funeral sermons,’ are generally headed ‘'The Ordinary of Newgate, his Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and last Speech of X.,’' &c. They were issued at eight o'clock on the morning following the execution, and signed Paul Lorrain, the public being warned against counterfeits and unauthorised accounts. Lorrain standarized the layout of the Confessions, and zealously promoted the sale of his versions over competing unofficial broadsheets. He also benefited greatly from the publications, receiving some £200 per annum income from them, as compared with his remuneration as Ordinary, which with privileges amounted to some £65 per annum.
Among the most notorious felons whom Lorrain attended to the scaffold were Captain Kidd
William Kidd
William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
, Captain T. Smith, James Sheppard, Deborah Churchill, and Jack Hill. On some occasions, when fifteen or even twenty condemned persons were executed at once, the confessions are proportionately abridged. In a joint letter from Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
and Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
to Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, dated December 1725, the ‘late ordinary’ is described ironically as the ‘great historiographer.’ The penitence of his clients is always described as so heartfelt that the latter are playfully called by Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
‘Lorrain's Saints’. A number of questions were raised by Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
as to the extent to which his polemical and commercial interests affected the authenticity of his Confessions.
Lorrain died at his house in Town Ditch, London, on 7 October 1719. He is said to have left £5,000. His post, which was in the gift of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, was keenly contested until 20 November when ‘Mr. Purney, a young sucking divine of twenty-four years of age,’ was elected ‘at the recommendation of the very Orthodox Bishop of P——’.
Works
Besides several sermons, including one on Popery near akin to Paganism and Atheism, dedicated to Harley (1712), and a translation of Pierre Muret's Rites of Funeral (1683), Lorrain brought out in 1702 a little book, entitled The Dying Man's Assistant, dedicated to Sir Thomas AbneyThomas Abney
Sir Thomas Abney was Lord Mayor of London.Abney was born in Willesley, which at the time was in Derbyshire but is now in Leicestershire. He was educated at Loughborough Grammar School, where a house is named after him....
, Lord Mayor, in addition to which he published and advertised on the vacant spaces of his Confessions various small manuals of medicine, devotion, corn-cutting, &c. — probably his own compilations. Other works include:
- Marcus Minucius Felix Octavus, or, A Vindication of Christianity Against Paganism (1682)
- A Preparation of the Lord's Supper, to which are Added, Maxims of True Christianity (1688)
- A discourse of Christianity: laying open the abuses thereof in the Anti-Christian lives and worship of many of its professors; especially the Romanists; and shewing the way to a holy life in the character of a true Christian (1693)
- A way to salvation, or, The way to eternal bliss; being a collection of meditations and prayers suited to the exercise of a true Christian (1693)
External links
- Confessions of William Paul and John Hall, by Paul Lorrain, in A faithful register of the late rebellion (1718)