"A LEWD NAUGHTY FELLOWE"

Language is not a static thing: it changes over time, gradually but inexorably. Words change their meaning, some fall into disuse, others appear in order to cope with changed circumstances. Although “lewd” has not changed its original meaning, it is not, nowadays, in common use and may fairly be considered somewhat archaic. “Naughty” has become almost wholly attached to the misbehaviour of children, in the process becoming somewhat devalued. But while language changes, human nature, alas, does not. So that to find Jeremy Stone described as a “lewd naughty fellowe” may strike us as comic, we have to remember that in 1628 “naughty” would have been understood as both badly behaved and indecent, which indeed he was; and by any criterion he was certainly lewd.

But who was Jeremy Stone? That he was from a Hertford family and that his father owned property is apparent. But there were at least two families named Stone in the town at that time, one of which had produced the famous Samuel. Which family had produced Jeremy is a matter for conjecture, but one possibility is that his father was the draper John Stone. We just don’t know.

His exploits are recounted in statements made by two of his intended victims before the Mayor, John Roberts, and the Borough Steward, John Keling senior, Justices of the Peace, on Saturday 27 September 1628. They are best rendered in the original. Firstly, that of Mary Browne, wife of Thomas Browne of Hertford,

Who saieth that upon the 26 day of this month about 4 of the clocke in the afternoone … beinge in the house of Henry Shermans at Butcherie Greene one Jeremy Stone did come unto the said house and did violently drawe the said Marie Browne into the Chamber of the said house [i.e., the bedroom] and would have had to doe with her saying that yf she would not suffer hym to have to doe with her he would runne his Rapier into her and thereupon did draw his Rapier upon her.

Secondly,

The informacon of Johane Sherman wife of Henry Sherman taken the day and yere within wrytten. Who saieth that yesterday about 8 of the 26 day of 7th [sic, i.e., the seventh month – September] at night she beinge ready to goe to her bedd Jeremy Stone came unto the house of the said Johane Sherman & called unto her saieinge open the door and let me come in but she made fast the doore & beinge ready to goe to bedd wished hym to be gone for she would not open the doore notwithstandinge his many requests [sic] made unto her … saieing she would crye out and did so whereupon the widow Seabrooke hearinge a noise called unto the said goodwife Sherman and asked who was there and the said Stone wished her to say that there was one come from her husband which she refused to doe and wished the goodwife Seabrooke to come and see who it was if she durst yet the said J Stone did urge the said Goodwife Sherman open the doore or else I will breake it open yet did forbeare and went his waie. She beinge much affrighted with hym forsooke her owne house and did lodge with the widow Seabrooke not dareinge to lodge in her owne house for feare he would have broken in upon her and she was the more afraid for that she had heard that he was a lewd naughty fellowe.

Stone was evidently apprehended. Examined by the Justices he launched into a rambling narrative (not all of which, unfortunately, survives), much of which appears totally irrelevant. This seems to have been quite a common ploy on the part of those accused of misdemeanour – presumably on the principle of “confuse ’em”. He said that he had come from London on Tuesday as his father had wanted him to be present on Wednesday. He spent the night at Thomas Greene’s (Greene was landlord of the “Black Lion”) and “spent there for his supper 6d and ijd [2d] in the morning”. Since Wednesday he could give no account of his time. He said that on Friday he went to Henry Sherman’s house (Sherman appears to have been his father’s tenant) about 3 o’clock where

he found a woman and fell a-talkinge with her [and] asked her yf she would fetch some beere and gave her 4 tokens and asked if he might have to doe with her and she said no not for nothing and thereupon he gave her 12d and she went into the chamber and lay downe upon the bedde but he would not [?and] did not meddle with her.

Following which he wandered off into a totally irrelevant account of his marriage plans in London and how his (hopeful) intended had now gone off to her brother’s house in Kent.

Whether he ever got around to explaining his evening’s conduct at Joan Sherman’s house we shall never know, for the rest of his statement has not survived, nor have we any idea of the outcome. It is all very frustrating. But we can have no quarrel with Joan Sherman’s description of him as “a lewd naughty fellowe”. And, while language changes, perhaps it is not too naughty of me to observe that reluctance to call a spade a spade goes back a long way, and that euphemisms ruled as much in 1628 as they do in 2008!

Sources of Reference

The story of Jeremy Stone may be found in Hertford Corporation Records (HCR) Vol. 9, Quarter Sessions Records, Fol. 77