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 under the crown. In 1623 he commanded the Garland, and when the fleet sailed for Spain to bring back Prince Charles, Best remained as senior officer in the Downs. He had previously been engaged in the prevention of piracy, or the pursuit of pirates (Conway to Commissioners of the Navy, 6 June 1623), and he would probably have had more of the same duty, had not the insolence of the Dutch, in destroying a Dunkirk privateer at Leith and blockading another at Aberdeen, rendered it necessary to send a small force to the coast of Scotland. It was determined that Best was the proper man to command this expedition; but the Bonaventure, the only other ship available, was commanded by Sir William St. Leger, who held that, as a knight, he could not be under the orders of Best. The commissioners of the navy recommended that St. Leger should be superseded in the Bonaventure by some captain of 'meaner quality.' Captain Christian, who had formerly commanded the Osiander with Best, was accordingly appointed in his place. The Garland and Bonaventure sailed from Margate on 30 June, and, having gone to Abereen, brought the blockaded Dunkirker to the Downs, closely attended by two of the Dutch ships, and when, on 29 July, the convoy attempted to run off by herself, the Dutchmen would have made a prize of her if Best had not beat them off. He vowed vengeance, but the Dutch ships outsailed him. On 4 Aug. they had all anchored in the Downs, the Dutch at some distance, when Best slipped alongside of them in the dark, and beat them out of the road. The next day the Dutch gathered in force, and threatened summary punishment, unless he could show the king's commission for what he had done. As naval commissions then, as now, were signed only by the admiralty, Best had not the authority the Dutch required, and to evade the difficulty he was ordered to bring the ships up to Gravesend. Eventually he was superseded, and the Dunkirker was sent home with a safe-conduct from the Dutch (Cal. State Papers, Dom., August 1623; Hist. of England, v. 81-8). In 1627 Best commanded the Vanguard (19 March 1626-7), which formed part of the fleet assembled at Portsmouth under Lord Willoughby (State Papers, Dom., Charles I, xxxii. 74), and in the disastrous expedition to Rhé in 1627 (ib. lvi. 88, lxv. 14). In September 1630 he was member of a commission to report on the keeping of the king's ships at Chatham and Portsmouth, and in April 1632 of another to consider the manning of ships. In 1633 he seems to have been senior warden of the Trinity House, and in 1634 to have been master (ib. cclxxiii 25, 271); in 1637 he appears to have been still master of the Trinity House; and in April 1638 he sat on a commission for inquiring into frauds in the supply of timber. This is the last mention of him that can be traced; it seems, therefore, probable that he died shortly afterwards.

 BEST, WILLIAM DRAPER, first (1767–1845), judge, the third son of Thomas Best, by a daughter of Sir William Draper, K.B. (by his first wife), was born at Haselbury-Plucknett, Somerset, on 13 Dec. 1767. After receiving his education at the grammar school at Crewkerne, he was admitted to Wadham College, Oxford, at the age of fifteen, but left the university in his seventeenth year without taking his degree. He had been intended at first for the church, but, having come into a considerable fortune from a cousin during his residence at Oxford, he entered the Middle Temple on 9 Oct. 1784. He was called to the bar on 6 Nov. 1789, and joined the home circuit. The first cause in which he attracted notice was that of Shakespear v. Peppin (6 T. R. 741) in June 1796, when Lord Kenyon, C. J., paid many compliments to 'his talents and industry.' It is said that the brief in this case fell into his hands by the happy accident of the absence of the counsel who was engaged in the cause. He soon afterwards secured an extensive practice, both on the home circuit and at Westminster Hall. Though at Westminster he chiefly practised in the common pleas, he was engaged in many cases of importance in the king's bench and exchequer, and also in some of the principal criminal trials of the day. In 1799 he became a serjeant-at-law, and in July 1802 was elected member for Petersfield. He was now attached to the whig party, and was one of the acting managers on the impeachment of Lord Melville. He continued to sit for Petersfield until the dissolution of parliament. In March 1809 he was elected recorder of Guildford in the place of Lord Grantley. In October 1812 he was returned as a member for Bridport, and, having changed his politics, was appointed, 7 Dec. 1813, solicitor-general to the Prince of Wales. On 14 Feb. 1816 he became the prince's attorney-general, and two years afterwards chief justice of Chester. Upon the elevation of Abbott to the chief-justiceship, Best succeeded to the vacancy in the king's bench on 30 Nov. 1818, but did not receive the honour of knighthood until 3 June 1819. After sitting as a puisne judge for