1700 he petitioned the crown for a grant of the forfeited estate of Joseph Horton of Cotton Abbotts in Cheshire, on the ground that he had been more diligent in the discovery and conviction of criminals than any other person in the kingdom, and that he had been a loser by it, his post only being worth £80 annually (£ in ), with few perquisites, and usually being regarded as a mere stepping-stone to a judgeship in Westminster Hall. In June 1700, when the retirement of Baron Lechmere as a Baron of the Exchequer was expected, Lovell was looked on as his successor, but he continued without reward until he was appointed a fifth baron of the exchequer on 17 June 1708, at the age of 76. He had resigned his Welsh judgeship in the previous year, and now vacated the recordership. Judicial reputation Lovell had a reputation for being both corrupt and sadistic. The writer and pamphleteer Daniel Defoe wrote of him: "He trades in Justice and the Souls of Men, And prostitutes them equally to Gain." Unfortunately for Defoe, Lovell later presided over a trial in which Defoe was found guilty of seditious libel. He sentenced Defoe to pay an impossibly punitive fine, be publicly humiliated for days in a pillory and to serve an indeterminate term of imprisonment, decreeing that Defoe be set free only once he had paid the fine. Defoe's financial circumstances were such that he was unable to pay the fine. Lovell had deliberately structured the punishment to maximise the possibility that Defoe would remain incarcerated for the rest of his life. Lovell also had a reputation for being incompetent. He was 'distinguished principally for his want of memory, and his title of recorder was converted into the nickname of the Obliviscor (forgetter) of London'. Lovell's great-grandson, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, referring to the extent to which Lovell, by the end of his life, had lost his memory, related an anecdote told by his father of a lawyer pleading before Lovell being so rude as to say "Sir, you have forgotten the law", to which Lovell is reputed to have answered "Young man, I have forgotten more law, than you will ever remember". List of prominent people sentenced by Lovell Daniel Defoe the writer, journalist and pamphleteer. After Defoe was convicted of seditious libel, Lovell sentenced him to a fine, public humiliation for days in