a go-between for James II and Parliament. Lawton acted in 1700 as Penn's agent in London. At this point, which was during Penn's second visit to Pennsylvania, he was facing determined opposition, in particular from Jeremiah Basse and Edward Randolph. Lawton was tasked with assembling a group of Penn's supporters from his English network, and this involved contacting Robert Harley. Others to be brought in were Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet, Sir Christopher Musgrave, 4th Baronet, and Sir John Lowther, 2nd Baronet, of Whitehaven. Penn was concerned to have his reputation boosted by a pamphlet with a show of strength from the Tory ranks. Lawton then became a close adviser to Harley. Lawton's continuing good relations with the nonjurors were illustrated by a dedication or address of a section in Linguarum veterum septentrionalium thesaurus after 1701; this was the work of George Hickes, one of the pinnacles of nonjuror scholarship, and Lawton was substituted for the late Bartholomew Shower, a Tory lawyer. Not a practicing barrister, he knew prominent lawyers, including John Somers and George Treby; Lawton lobbied Somers over the private act on behalf of John Burke, 9th Earl of Clanricarde. At the time of his death, on 18 June 1721, Lawton was described as "of Northampton". Works Lawton was a prolific writer of pamphlets, including an early group of Jacobite propaganda tracts. In 1693 his hope was for a bloodless restoration of James II. Lawton had the co-operation of the printer William Anderton in distributing his work. Anderton was executed on a treason charge. Related are: A Short state of our condition with relation to the present Parliament (1693) This pamphlet was called the "hush-money paper" because of its criticism of the use of secret payments; Lawton has been credited with inventing the term "hush money". He alleged that £16,000 of secret service money had been paid out in bribes over three days. Some Paradoxes Presented for a New-Year's-Gift from the Old, to the New Orthodox, Serving for an Index to the Revolution (1693) A French Conquest neither Desirable nor Practicable (1693), printed by David Douglas. The Jacobite Principles Vindicated (1693, later in Somers Tracts); here Lawton argued on contractarian grounds. The subject was topical, with John Wildman arguing that the "original contract" for monarchy had been renewed by the Bill of Rights 1689, and Anderton concluding that William III was therefore accountable to it. A Letter concerning