Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/historymilitarym01bull A HISTORY ll iMILITARY AND MUNICIPAL OF THE ANCIENT BOUOUGH OF THE DEVIZES; AND, SUBOHDINATELY, OF THE ENTIRE piiiikci of |!ottonic aiib Caiuuni[($, vl^ IN WHICH IT IS INCLUDED. Vi. ■ LONDON : Longman, Bkown, & Co., Haiernosteu Row. DEVIZES: IIenky Bull, Saint John Stiieet. 1859. devizks : rnrxTHD uv henry bull, ST. .TORN STREET. 9 ^ 2 ^ 3 > 1 PREFACE. THE compiler of the present chronicle of events, hereby tenders his cordial aclcnowledgments to the following gentlemen for their assist¬ ance:—To Alexandee Meek Esq., town-clerk of Devizes, for liberty to inspect the borough records;—To IIeney Butchee jun. Esq. for papers relating to modern history, including letters from Lord SiD- mouth; to the Hon. and Rev. Dean Pellew his lordship’s son-in-law; to the Rev. Alfeed Smith of Old Park; to Coaed W. Squaeey Esq. of Salisbury; to Mr. William Cunnington ; to Mr. L. J. Abington of Henley; to Archdeacon Macdonald ; to General Geubbe of Potterne; to Mr. John Ellen of Devizes Green; and to Mr. Edwaed Kite :—but especially to the Rev. Edwaed Wilton of West Lavington, whose free¬ handed surrender for inspection of a mass of original documents touching the great Civil War, besides his able adjustment of various dehateable points in more recent periods of history, cannot fail to array the present work with some authority, in spite of its short¬ comings in other respects. For instance, the war warrants directed to the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, with other issues of the like nature, scattered over pages 133 to 212, are, almost without ex¬ ception, fm-nished from Mr. Wilton’s papers. This pleasing task being accomplished, it only remains to invoke the reader’s forbearance for the cursory manner in which matters so heterogeneous as the follow¬ ing must necessarily be treated. N'ot'emhert 1859. ILLUSTRATIONS. Death of Captain Jones at Devizes ... .... PAGE Frontispiece. Castle gateway .... .... .... .... 23 A Norman Hall ... .... .... .... 26 Count Hervey besieged by the Wiltshire Thanes .... 46 St. John’s Church, as originally constructed, 1130 .. 70 Duke Humphrey’s Tomb .... ... .... 89 Guild of Merchant’s Coat of Arms .... 99 Cantelow the Witch ... .... .... 128 Arrest of Sir Edward Hungerford .... 148 Waller bombards Devizes .... .... .... 162 Murder of Mr. Henry Penruddocke at West Lavington 203 Long surrendering his sword to Cromwell .... 219 Jones’s troopers drink the King’s health on their knees 226 The Market Cross .... .... .... .... 389 Portrait of Lord Sidmouth .... .... .... 464 Black Bear Sign ... .... .... .... 476 The New Corn Exchange .... .... .... 502 The Grave of Thomas Moore .... .... .... 542 Estcourt’s Arms and Seal .... .... .... 554 St. Jolin’s Church .... ... .... .... 667 St. Mary’s Church .... .... ... - ... 569 St. James’s Church .... .... ... .... 573 New Baptist Chapel .... .... .... .... 574 The old “ Town-Hall” .... .... .... 575 Bishops Cannings Church .... .... .... 577 The Borough Arms .... .... .... .... 578 HISTOET OF DEVIZES, (Driigiit of tfjc TTU GH MILLER in his ‘History of Cromarty’ lias shewn us what topography may become in the hand of a master; how a fascinating and instructive narrative may arise upon a basis of pre-historic legend and romantic scenery; how the instinctive worship of the paternal hearth and the lingering fondness for early haunts, may form a not unsuitable point of departure from which to traverse the wider range of philan¬ thropic speculation and national development. True, it is, that for elements such as Miller found on Scotland’s rugged shore, we sigh in vain in central England; yet is the example of his practice not without its value: where the Dry-as-dust school merely accumulate, he invites us to select: to the ex¬ haustive process he prefers the illustrative: and his work has in consequence become, not a mere Index Nominum et Loco- rum, bat the fireside hand-book of all lovers of history. For any one, destitute of Miller’s dramatic power, to set about imitating his form of narrative, were but an act of vain presumption. It is, therefore, a fortunate circumstance for the purpose of the present volume, that the historian of Devizes is already supplied, in a manner ready made to his hand, with all the materials of the true romance, materials widely differing, it may be, from those of sea coast adven¬ ture, yet not the less stirring in their way, and undoubtedly interlacing a far larger portion of the national annals. The B 2 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. stoiy of tlie Castle of Devizes iu the “olden time” is essenti- all}' a tale of chivalry and border warfare,—the genuine product of an iron age, whose lights and shadows are all of the sternest hue, such as conteinjiorary monkish chroniclers half trembled to paint, though shrouded in their cells; and such as Edmund Spencer delighted to revive as a forgotten terror, bathed in the gorgeous tints of Fairy land. Indepen- dentl}' of the fact, that to the towers of Devizes was assigned bj" the universal consent of the mediaeval writers, an architec¬ tural pre-eminence over eveiy other military structure in England, it may, with equal confidence be asserted, that during the reign, of one at least of the Norman princes, no spot was more crowded with adventure, or more frequently made the focus of the public gaze. The tide of battle swept around its base: its lofty halls were the scene of national con¬ vention. AYe find ourselves present at the midnight escalade, the flight through winter’s snow, the traitor’s gallows-tree, the chamber of torture, and the councils of belted earls. An Em¬ press, a King, and a Bishop are the combatants for its possession. But not to anticipate events, it will now be necessary to fall back for a while to the debateable ground of the town’s origin. Few topographical enigmas, indeed, have more per¬ plexed the race of antiquaries. Great part of Dr. Davies’s clever work, the ‘ Origines Divisiance,’ is a pasquinade directed against the hazardous hj'pothesis of Stukeley, Musgrave, Wise, and others on this point:—Stukeley at one time attri¬ buting the foundation of the place to Divitiacus the Belgian hero of Caasar’s Commentaries, and at another time affecting to trace the word Devizes in Punctuobice, the name of a station in this vicinity, marked in the Itinerary of Ravennas. The latter, perhaps, was Stukeley’s favourite idea, for he actually affixed the name of Punctuobice to an engraved view of the town, taken in the year 1723. Dismissing these two, we have the choice of two others, resting not so much on conjecture as on tradition. First, Fabyan’s tradition, extending far down ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 3 into the Anglo-Norman age, that the town was founded by Dunwallo the Briton; and secondly, the tradition surviving till the time when Walker edited Spelman’s ‘Life of Alfred the Great,’ that the castle owes its origin to that monarch. Both of these may be briefly noticed. The testimony, such as it is, which we derive from Fabyan’s Chronicle, respecting the British founder of Devizes, is as fol¬ lows. Moliuncius or Malmutias Dunwallo the son of Cloten, was the first crowned king of the entire realm of Britain, Anno Mundi 4747. Having vanquished all the other Dukes, he maintained an undivided sovereignty during a term of 40 years, leaving at his death two sous, his successors, Belynus and Brennus. His code of laws was translated out of British into Latin by Gildas, and into Saxon by Alfred the Great. Among his other works, the most memorable were—the plan¬ ning of the four great highways of Bi’itain,—founding a temple to Peace in Troynovant, that is New Troy, or London —and building the two towns of Malmesbury and “The Vyes.” The earliest authority for this statement is further said to be “The old Chronicle, otherwise called The English Book.” The principal modern historian who appears to repose trust in the above account is Sir Whinstone Churchill, (father to the great Duke of Marlborough,) who wrote in the time of Charles II. In his Divi Britannici, or History of the Kings of this Isle, from a.m. 2855 to a.d. 1660, his notice of the aforesaid monarch, who, he supposes, flourished a.m. 3522, runs in the following words. “Having pretermitted the particulars of the story of Brute and the seventeen kings his successors, as things so remote and uncertain that no just measure can be taken either of the persons they lived with, or of the times they lived in, the next that appears worthy of note, is, this Malmud surnamed Dunwald, or as the Eng¬ lish Chronicle has it ‘Donebant,’ who was to the Britons as Numa to the Homans, the first Lawgiver and the Chief Priest, D 2 4 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. from whose reign they dated the knowledge of all civil, but more especially, all sacred, rites. His laws were the basis of King Alfred’s”.“He has the repute of being founder of those two antient buildings in the West, Malmes¬ bury and The Vyes, the first having the stamp of his name yet upon it.” Then as to the theory which sheds on the early history of the castle the lustre of Alfred’s name. While it is quite possi¬ ble that mere oral report was the only basis for the firm belief which both Walker and Hearne appear to have enter- tained^ the case seems one of those in which the probable presses very closely on the certain. Tradition, even when not the exact truth, generally has a basis of truth. For an ancient road in this direction we can at all events adduce respectable evidence, for one of the boundaries defined in the charter of Roger de Paveley mentioned in the History of Bremhill, page 110, is a road passing from Studley to Devizes, which was called an “antient way” even in the time of Edward I, and which Mr. Bowles hesitates not to designate “the old Roman road to Devizes.” The words in the charter are “Totam illam partem quae est subtus viam antiquam quae tendit a Stodleia ad Divisas.” Besides, we are repeatedly told that Bishop Roger’s castle was only a “re-edification” of a former structure; and, perhaps, the most decisive testi¬ mony to the truth of this statement, exists in the nature of the earthworks in and around the castle, evidence of more force, indeed, to our ancestors than to ourselves, so much have these works been degraded by the combined agency of time, of operations during the civil war, and of the modern process of levelling. In spite of all these changes, the huge central mound still points to a period long prior to the system of castrametation introduced b}' the Herman conquerors, who delighted far more in masonry than in embankment. “I will say nothing,” remarks Asser, “of the Castles which Alfred ordered to be built, but which, being begun late, were ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 5 never finished; because the hostile troops broke in upon them by land and sea, and they who had thwarted the King’s commands repented when it Avas too late.”.“But while his ministers thus neglected his commands, preferring with true Saxon blood to meet their enemies in an open field, the King himself zealously discharged such offices as came within his own personal supervision, and restored the dilapi¬ dated towns and cities to more than their former condition.” Sir John Spelman also adds, “Neither were his reparations notable in regard only of their greatness and universality. They were also of an extraordinary kind, both in regard of the materials and of the new manner; for when the w'alls of towns and castles were but wood and combustible, as we may see by those of York and Rochester that they generally then were, stone buildings were very rare till Alfred made them more frequent.” SteinUz’s ‘Life of AlfrciV. 203. It is proper to remark that the unearthing in Devizes Green of the large collection of Penates, or household gods, found in 1714, as well as of other Roman relics, has been regarded by many as indicative of Roman settlement on the spot. Dr. Davies disputes this inference, believing that the persons who thus hid their treasures Avould have chosen fields more distant from habitations. The point is at least open to discussion. In explanation of some of the confiicting facts of the case, may not the following hypothesis be accepted?—That previous to the existence of Dcvizes-iiroper, a Roman villa standing on the site of Southbroom House constituted the nucleus of a group of houses forming a suburb to the muni- cipium, now known as Bishops Cannings,—that immediately beyond these limits a new town having sprung up became subject to Alfred’s fostering care, and the site of one of those numerous castles which he began to build but could not induce his nobles to complete,—and that this unfinished fabric subsequently formed the foundation of Bishop Roger’s magnificent pile? 6 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. But what are we to make of the name,—a plural word, generally hearing- the form Divism-arum ? On this point Canon Jackson says, “Towards determining the real origin of the name of this town the following testimony drawn from other counties may be useful. “Thence he, [Sir Tho. Fairfax], passed to Thorne, [in Yorkshire], and then across the Devises of Hatfield to Crowle”. This, says Mr. Hunter, is the single instance in which I have found the word Devises applied to these lands. It means no more than border lands, and is in fact the Latin word Divisas with an English form given to it. [South Yorkshire, I. 174]. In the book of the priory of Bath, in Lincoln’s Inn Library, No. XLIY. Art. 4. is mention of lands between the “Divisas de Corston, [near Bath], and lYansdyke.”^ Accepting this explanation of the meaning of the word, and admitting that the proximity of such a vast territorial boundary as the Wansdyke strengthens the possibility that we are in the neighbourhood of border or debateable ground, we still find ourselves in presence of a difficulty arising from the absence of any positive historic guide as to the era when such lands v/ere likely to be the subject of debate. Kemble’s account of Folk-land and the Marches hardly meets our case; nor, I fear, would an elaborate investigation of the various provinces into which the island has from time to time been parcelled out, much advance the object in view. It may, perhaps, be worth just hinting, that the space between Devizes and the Wansdyke is principally occupied by the two Cannings; and it has already been suggested in a former History of Devizes that Kannings may originally have borne the same meaning as Divisae. In Danish old books, Kantning is constantly used to signify edge, border, selvage, coast-side, from the verb Xante to edge. It is the Danish language from which, far more than from the Saxon, our own is derived, ‘ See notes to Leland’s Journey through Wilts. Wilts Magazine, ii. 180. OKIGIN OF THE TOWN. 7 and it may here be remarked that it is the Danish alone which explains the meaning of the Bretesques [Brittox] of Devizes—of which more hereafter. Some notice must necessarily be taken of the conjecture thrown out by Mr. Wyndham, in his translation of the Wiltshire portion of Domesday book, and adopted by some other writers, viz. that the word Theodulveside, occurring in that survey, has reference to Devizes. The idea was, perhaps, suggested not so much by the resemblance of sound, as by the manifest side and importance of the borough of Theodul¬ veside, ranking in population with Old Sarum, and giving entertainment to the King. But independently of the fact that Theodulveside and Devizes are in numberless instances mentioned contemporaneously as distinct places,^ the genea¬ logical descent of Theodulveside, through a varietj^ of spellings, down to the modern Tilshead, is a fact so notorious, that if we will have a similar fountain-head for Devizes, we must discover two Theodulvesides. But, in fact, the name never does occur in the Hundreds either of Swanborough or of Cannings. The Wiltshire portion of Domesday-book is written without much local classification; but in all subse¬ quent survej^s Theodulveside is found just where we should seek for Tilshead, in the Hundred of Dolesfeld, now Branch and Dole. The compiler of the Subsidy-Bolls, for instance, going south, takes Gore-Cross and then Theodulveside. Finally, we have the evidence of the parochial Institution, and the fact that the present vicar of Tilshead holds deeds given him of the glebe and tythe of Theodulveside. Tilshead acquired its early eminence from lying on the hill track leading from Sorbiodunum, or Old Sarum, to the healing- waters of Aquae Sulis or Bath. Before dismissing this subject, it seems but a just tribute to the talent and zeal of Dr. Davies to allow him to speak for ‘ See the Rotuli Hundredorum, Testa de Neville, the Fccdera, the Pla- cita, and many other Records. 8 HlSTOllY OF DEVIZES. himself, iu a discussion which he was the first to array in an argumentative form. The following- extracts, therefore, from the Origines Divisianse are offered as a fair exhibition of his satirical powers. “ An old woman who shewed Lord Bathurst’s fine place by Cirencester, was asked by a gentleman that came to see it, ‘Pray what building is that’—‘Oh! sir, that is a ruin a thou¬ sand 5 ’ears old, which my lord built last year, and he proposes to build one this year, half as old again.’ This absurdity is scarce greater than what is seriously practised by modern antiquaries. Dr. Stukeley is for carrying the Castle of The Devizes into the legendary state of the old woman. “.You have seen that castles have their periods; they rise, flourish, and decay; and seem as mortal as the man that built them. Though they were once noble and amazing structures, they were, as Pome has been, and as my Lord Mayor’s house will be, ruined by their own greatness. They ought not, however, to dazzle our ej'^es so much as to make us conclude upon the greatness of their age from that of their bulk. No further allowance should he given to their years than that which is justified by authority; and this will not allow you to go one step farther hack for the origin of your castle than the year 1132. Then it was certainly built. But what weight can so puny an author as your friend is, who never yet published a sixpenny pamphlet, have against so ponderous an author of some Folios? Mine is like the fate of Hector in Homer, or Turnus in Yirgil, or the Devil’s in Milton, which ‘Flew up and kick’t the beam.’ “I acknowledge myself to be a mean Cockney to that great hunter after objects of antiquity, the renowned Anti¬ quary of Lincolnshire, the incomparable—incomprehensible —inconvincible Doctor Stukeley, who affirms—very peremp¬ torily affirms, ‘That the town was enclosed by the Homans with a vallum and ditch,’ though no traces of a vallum and ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 9 ditch appear to any eye but his own. That ‘this town took in the castle, which was originally Roman, hut afterwards rendered impregnable by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury.’ I humbly conceive, the Roman castle, here mentioned, did not formerly stand on the hill where the windmills are now placed, but in the air. “You see the town is not only Roman, but the castle too, without the least probability or the shadow of a proof. If the town must be linked with the castle, the former had bet¬ ter be fixed to the true date of the latter. This, I confess, will degrade it in the eyes of all zealots of antiquity, by paring it down from a Roman to a Norman structure, yet this is the most reasonable opinion. The extent and magnificence of the castle must have furnished a number of attendants suitable to its greatness. Bread, meat, herbs, clothes, and utensils are the calls of necessity; which must be supplied by bakers, butchers, brewers, gardeners, shoemakers, ta 3 dors, manufac¬ turers and mechanics. You see there is instantly a set of inhabitants fixed without the walls, to answer the exigencies of those within. The cloistered monks, indeed, kept arts and sciences close within their walls, which were scarce ever known to come abroad but once—at the Reformation; but this was not the case with castles. This great one then pro¬ duced the town, as naturally as a Palace begets a village; or a great Lord, villains. “As I am just come to the town after a fatiguing pursuit, it is necessary to pull in and enter coolly. I shall take a peep over the pales at jmur villa, which is one of the most natural modern antiquities that has yet been seen,” &c., &c. “.As to your town, no doubt hut it was ancient, as has been asserted above, but not quite so old as the Flood, Babel, Babylon, or Rome. The inhabitants are not the worse for not having long pedigrees, or Roman blood in their veins; they may he contented with a descent no earlier than the Normans. It is honour enough in these da^'^s to derive our 10 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. blood from the French, for we are not like to draw it from them ail}' other way. Surely that nation was the common stock of all the Europeans; who are all dwindling into beaus, dancing masters, musicians, fribbles, and gamesters. Wit¬ ness the genteel pig-tail, the graceful movement, the harmo¬ nious hum, the jessamy cock of the hat, and the tradesmen’s books. The}'’ seem very much like your gallipots, which are lately gilded and new lettered by order of the College of Physicians. They are all gold without—but bitterness within. The complexion of the present age you see, pleads strongly for this original, and carries this hereditary claim still farther. Not only the cut of their clothes and their diet, but their language is brought irresistibly into fashion. I hope for the sake of old England, that our acts of parlia¬ ment will continue some time longer in English, though it is to be feared they may not do so, since the articles of a late peace have been penned in French; and since an able speaker at the head of the War office is fond of crowding French phrases into English parliamentary debates. You, sir, in your place, have partaken of this degeneracy, and expelled the few re¬ mains of the old honest laborious Saxons; who early submit¬ ted to, and were incorporated with the Normans. They were wool-pickers, wool-combers, weavers, clothiers, and dyers. The industry of these brought riches into your town, which were preserved under the faithful custody .of frugality. But now how are you changed—into delicacy and poverty—into embroidery on one day of the week, and dirti¬ ness on all the rest—sacks are thin in your market-place on Thursdays, but thick in your churches on Sundays. You have turned the grating of your wool-combs into the scraping of fiddles ; the skreeking loom into the tinkling harpsicord, and the thumping fulling-mills into a glittering and conten¬ tious organ. Scents of perfumes are in your churches; your houses are ornamented with Bath stone, wrought into pedi¬ ments, entablatures, and pillastrades; your market-house—a ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 11 stranger to wool-packs, is metamorphosed into a theatre for balls, concertos, and oratorios. So much for the present liber¬ ties of the Town,” &c., &c. “.You must now give me leave to address myself to you in a more particular manner, with that old fashioned frankness that would not flatter an enemy—to make him his friend. You had always a natural taste for antiquities, espe¬ cially for the English. Your honest passion has been steady to the roast beef and strong beer of old England. You love the roughness of the old innocent and hearty ages, better than the modern, gay, refined, efleminate manners. Your integrity has made you open, undisguised, and sincerely blunt; and has given an antique cast to your whole composi¬ tion. You have constantly retained a veneration for the Druids of your country, and have amused yourself some years within the hollow of a tree. This is your cave of contempla¬ tion, lined with slabs, and stuccoed with moss. Your couch is covered with the same, and matted with the peelings of the bark of trees. Your table is a chopping-hlock, your dishes platters, your plates trenchers, and your chairs are chumps of wood. Nature having given you two hands, supplies you with knives, forks and spoons. Every noon and night, you sacrifice to your god Pan a goblet of barley wine. Your eyes every day are feasted sufficiently with a peep at the outside of three churches. Your ears are entertained with the sweetest of all musick, a natural oratorio of birds. Flowering shrubs perfume your nostrils, and j^ou enjoy the conversation of your faithful Houyhnhnms. The gratification of all the senses lies within your reach; you live in the fruition of na¬ ture, without envy or restraint. 'VYitli you I go back to distant ages two thousand years ago, and admire virtue in its original simplicity. To you, therefore, I address myself, who are formed by inclination to be an antiquary; to you I be¬ queath these sheets, not as a dedication, which among authors is a preamble or prelude to thinking; but as a codicil, the 1‘3 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. result of my most mature deliberation—It is not a gift of value, but may serve as an amusement for a vacant hour, wbenever you are disposed to be grave, or take a nap.” “ Your friend has been an old stager in the tedious and uncomfortable tracks of antiquity, which have wanted mend¬ ing ever since Batteley, the ingenious, sensible, and polite author of the Antiquitates Ehutupinoe, finished his Ehutu- piuni. I whip through thick and thin, till I come to a con¬ venient place to bait at. There I stop to refresh with proper necessaries; the conversation of the landlord, and the infor¬ mation of the clerk of the parish, the most conversable and intelligent person left in it; who keeps the records of it, and knows most of the antiquities in the neighbourhood. The squire, formerly a fox hunter, is now generally slinking to London to hawk ofi" a daughter, or in strong scent of a half¬ pay place, or a quartered pension. The parson is so perpe- tuall}^ engaged with his neighbouring brethren, that his parishioners never see him, but of a Sunday; unless the squire come post from town for a week, to wreck his tenants and carry away every farthing in the parish. After the in¬ formation of my learned friends, and the mug is emptied, I jog on in search of antiquities; sometimes I stop to take a view of a barrow, an old dyke, a ruined wall, or tottering steeple. If I see a camp any where, I ride full gallop, ex¬ amine and carefully measure it. If it be a square I can tell you to an inch, where stood all its gates, the Ara, and Preto- rium, and how many people it contained exactly 1500 years ago. In the evening before I go to bed, I recollect the important events of the day, and write down my observations in the first words that offer, for that produces an easy diction. I express my thoughts as fast as they flow, for that makes a simplicity of sentiment. I avoid all revisals and corrections, for they render a composition stiff and laboured; in short I write just as you see, without thinking, without connexion, and without design. I make frequent bold, abrupt, eccentrical, ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 13 and characteristical excursions, like my Lord Shaftsbury or a Comet. You see I am tborougbly qualified to execute on the minute and plebeian antiquaries the office of ‘ Censor castigatorciue minorum.’ “ These as you have seen above, think your town at least Roman, and carry its age, as the Welsh do their pedigrees, beyond the utmost stretch of human conception. We have observed that Dr. Musgrave was of this opinion, who affirms the village must have been a large one; and he advances a step farther, and calls it a very ancient little town; but he imagines the ancient name lost. He proves, from the wine- vessel found here with Alexander’s name upon it, that one Alexander a great man certainly resided in it, attended by his household gods. But this is not to be understood to be Alexander the Great or.but—an Alexander—Alexander what’s his name—a certain Alexander a maker of crockery-wares. These hasty steps are nothing to the large ones of Dr. Stukeley. Believe me, sir, at one progressive stride, he stalked over Dr. Musgrave’s head, the line of right reason, and the extensive hounds of probability, with as much ease as Rich in the boxing match, jumped over the head of the Carman. The ancient name Musgrave had lost, Stukeley has found. Where? why where all antiquities lie concealed—in rubbish. He found it, indeed, with as much quickness, as Mrs. Squire found the longitude, and with an equal certainty. It was, you must know, the Punctuohice of Ravennas. This Ravennas, I must inform you, is an anony¬ mous writer, and upon that account is presumed to be better acquainted with the highways than any of his predecessors. He has recorded some stages that the Romans travelled in order to let his contemporaries and their posterity know where they could be readily supplied with proper entertain¬ ment and post chaises. From Loucomagus you go to Cunet- zio—alias Cunetio—alias Marlbro’; then you proceed to Punctuobice, that is. Vies—Aye, there it is, in the very two 14 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. last syllables; lay aside Punctuo and you Have it in Bice. “You see how subjects of this kind are to be managed ; it is not, bowever, in the power of every body to have such a command. Dr. Stukeley is in possession of a true Roman Securis; it is his companion, friend, and guard. He uses it upon all occasions: if he meets with but an odd word, he laj'^s it down fairly transcribed in cajntals, and with one slight chop divides it; whatever remains on the right of the securis, is the right word. He pursues this religious opinion of the Romans with great exactness. The Grecians, indeed, valued the left side most, but the Romans after a complete conquest, changed hands with them. This sort of torture is usual among critics, but never carried to so severe a degree before, as to treat words as Procrustes did men—This gentleman is in the same instant Judge, Jury, and executioner; even as soon as the learned juggler blows. Bice is turned into vice and vice into vies. So that all that is left of this unfortunate word Punc- tuobice is the tail, which is looked on, as in vipers, as the only sensible part. Mr. Pope seems to have pointed out such minute critics to the life in the following line, ‘ They catch the eel of science by the tail.’ An elderly gentleman, witness to this sad catastrophe, broke out into the following pathetic speech of condolence. ‘Alas, poor Punctnobice! thou who hadst lain untouched a thousand years, wrapt up in obscurity and dust, in the corner of a library of monks, wert at last dragged out of thy snug retire¬ ment, and impressed into an army of virulent Literati; but in a little time jmu disappeared, afterwards wert caught and brought out as a traitor upon the scaffold of criticism, without one friend to support thee, for thy own Ravennas was not known.—Thou wert executed by the order and hands of the Inquisitor-general of words. Thou hadst not the honor of being beheaded, for that is only reserved for capital bodies; but to be halved, the ignominious fate of diminutive ones. How do I commiserate and share thy grief, when I recollect ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 15 thy fondness and regret for the poor miserable orphan thou hast left behind thee—mayst thou oh Bice, meet a better fate.’ Thus ended these melancholy words, with the sad solemnity; the execution was performed at one blow: the priestly butcher retired to some invisible jilace, like a Druid—I beg pardon, I mean a Celtic, to his oak.—However he repented, took care of the orphan, bred him up and put him out in the world after having properly bound him; for the poor thing had lost his father and mother, and had not any one relation left in the world, excejit one cousin-german, whose name w'as Pooghen, of whom you will hear something by and bye. “ The foundation of these painful lucubrations, which are humbly submitted to the reader’s judgment, may be found in a book full of uncommon erudition, ycleped Itimrurium Cu- riosiim at the 76th and 108th pages, composed at night under the influence of painful dreams by Master William Stevckele. This book has a great many divertizing things in it; there are maps and pictures and tail-pieces, but ujion turning it very attentively over, I could not find in the whole book one single head-piece. “ My regard and veneration for this incomparable Doctor oblige me to wait upon him a little farther, to shew you how artfully he tries to extricate himself out of this unsurmount- able puzzle. In another learned book written by him, we are informed that one William Baxter, a profound antiquary, a haberdasher of hard w'ords, well skilled in his native language, Welsh, and possessed with a national itch for verbal criti¬ cism, was at an uncommon loss to account for this word Punc- tuo, and confessed his ignorance on his death-bed. This distress threw him into a sedentary life, and a steady train of meditation. Under this situation, he received a visit from his old friend Dr. Stukeley, who stalking in, very dirty, just after his return from Stonehenge, enquired into the occasion of his melancholy and dejection of spirits; and talked with him as an antiquary and a friend, and something like a 16 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. physician. As soon as the Doctor found the cause of his disease, and that the seat of it was in his gizzard, he cried aloud ‘Poog'h! the word conies from pooghen, which in Ger¬ man signifies an arduous work, as much as to say—the castle, which is said to have been the strongest in Europe.’ Bax¬ ter did not acquiesce in this peremptory decision, but replied, that William of Malmesbury and Matthew Paris give this character to Roger’s castle only, and never hinted the least at any other castle more ancient, upon the same spot of ground. Baxter kept his temper for the present, for his spirits were not high enough to I’ise immediately into a pas¬ sion.—These two had been old friends and intimate acquain¬ tances; formed nearly out of the same materials, their minds were much alike, so that they valued each other, as Virtuosos should do, for the antique cast of their manners, and the vene¬ rable rust that stuck close about them, They imparted to each other, the important discoveries that they had made, long before they went to the press. Their friendship was closely connected by a chain of hard words. They perpetually disputed, but never convinced; their disagreements served for a constant fund of conversation, and kej)t them as steady in their affections, as a court balance exactly poized by different parties. Thus they lived for years, till this fatal catastrophe happened, which was the unfortunate occasion of the death of poor Baxter, but evidently without any malice prepense. The Doctor made no other answer to Baxter’s remonstrances, but cried aloud thrice contemptuously, Pooghen ! A warm dispute ensued, and Baxter was treated with such unusual freedoms, and such an inveterate a,sperity for his ignorance in the German tongue, and want of faith in an infallible Doctor, that all his Welsh blood flew instantly up into his face. He puffed powerful protestations, and poured plent}'- of proverbial parallogisms with pestiferous perfumes, into poor Pill’s phy¬ siognomy. The Doctor started, retreated and .spewed . . . ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 17 “ When Baxter was dead, his friend reigned alone and commanded words. But words have natural rights as well as men; they do not care to be turned out of possession with¬ out the previous forms, and some reasons offered for an eject¬ ment. It is but just that they should have their titles ex¬ amined, and evidence hoard, before judgment is given. They have often had good success in courts of justice, and have recovered large costs from their plaintiffs’ misnomers. The Doctor, it must be confessed, in another place acknowledges himself in some distress about this cumbersome word Punc- tuobice, but like an old staunch hound, will not give it up. ‘ Anonymous Ravennas,’ says he, ‘ may possibly call it Punc- tuobice, but we have no certainty that his copy remains uncorrupt, or that he transcribed it right, nor what alterations the Romans made in the original word Devizes, nor what was made in the later or barbarous times. However there seems enough therein, as well as in the present name of the town, to countenance our conjecture! You see at last he is not clear that the word ever was in Ravennas; and if it was, it might possibly have been altered by the Saxons, Goths, Vandals, or Franks; yet there is enough left to justify his conjecture; it is still therefore “vies” from vice, from bice, from Punctuobice. Did you ever see such a Welsh or rather Irish pedigree—does it not put you in mind of that of King Pepin ? “ The Doctor must be acknowledged to have been more fortunate in the following etymology, and very happy in the application of it. ‘ The Devizes is a town in the middle of Wansdyke, and very probably erected, among others, to secure the ditch or fortification. It seems to have been the capital fort or frontier town, and to have had its name from the King, as a trophy or monument of his power, built by him in person.’ A little below he adds ‘They tell us legendary tales about its being built by an old British King—Divisus was probably the name of this Belgic monarch, or Duiguis. c 18 IIISTORY 01'' UEVTZES. As Gluiguis King- of Demetia in Wales is wrote Glivisus by Toland. And the termination may have been framed into Latin from the Celtic word Tteog i.e. dux. Whence perhaps the Etruscan ‘Tages’ so much boasted of in their antiquities ; likewise the modern ‘ Doge ’ of Venice So that Divitiacus may well be Divisus dux.’ Believe me sir, a most perspicu¬ ous and incontestible inference.” “As there are some things mentioned above in a cata- clirestic style, which I do not thoroughly apprehend, I took the liberty once of asking the Doctor the following questions. Is the town in the middle of the length of Wans- dyke?—Yes, surely, it is but four miles west from it. Perhaps Doctor you mean that it stands opposite to the middle of the length of Wansdyke?—Yes, most assuredly, as does Newbury, and Kingston, and Pochester, &c.—Is it certain that this was a frontier town to the Dyke ?—As certain as that the Pomans never built a station nearer to the place to be defended, than four miles.—Was it built as a trophy to the King’s power?— As sure as Dido built Troj^; and William the Conqueror, King’s College Chapel—Was it built by the King in person?— Without all question, and by the very same King that erected Stonehenge with his own hands, for the Celtic Kings were hewers of wood and drawers of water, and bricklayers, and stone-cutters and free-masons.—Did the Celtse ever build their towns so far from rivers ?—Often ; witness their metro¬ polis at Stonehenge, and their large town upon Marlborough Down, called now the Grey Wethers; you ought to know that the characteristic of a Celt was to he patiens solis atque sitis.” “These answers quite silenced me, so that I have scarce more than one word left to say, that I am, Sir.”—&c. &c. “ In my last I was struck dumb. This taciturnity was attended with an amusing reverie, in which a method darted into my mind of propagating the species of this set of imcom- parable writers. It is enclosed in the following short receipt. ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 19 which I am sure is as infallible for making a complete mo¬ dern antiquary, as Mrs. Stephen’s dissolvent for the stone, or Dr. James’s powder for a fever. I send it in English, because your wife may put it into her family receipt-book, for the benefit of your son who is just going to the University. It is in the taste of the last Dispensary, the like of which, ac¬ cording to the general opinion never was, nor ever will be seen. Conserve of hoary legendary tales .... 2 Ounces. Probably’s preserved.6 Drachms. Flowers of Monkhood.^ Ounce. Seems to be, may be, sprinkled over the whole of ea. 2drms. Roots of Hebraic, Celtic, Saxon, all finely powdered but not searched .of ea. 1 drm. Species of Reasons.1 Scruple. Syrup of sweet credulity, as much as will make it into an Electuary. Take the quantity of an owl’s egg every morning fasting, and at nine at night, drinking after each dose, a bottle of Cerevisia Celtica, i.e. Barley-Wine. The morning dose will create an easj^ digestion, and the night one, pleasing and romantic dreams—There must be added to it a careful diet of roots, and a constant course of riding through all winds, weathers and roads, in the way, or out of the waj\ Mr. Wise will furnish you with a horse, &c.” I acknowledge an owl’s egg is an unusual magnitude for a medicinal dose, but it was thought here not too large, because all students who are formed by nature for antiquities, are furnished with large swallows. I would have them like the family of the Stuke- leys. You must be informed that there were two Williams, one was a physician at Grantham, the other a divine at Stam¬ ford and London. They both descended from the ancient house of Stevekele, both their Christian and surnames were the same, and though they were both as like as Virgil’s twins; ‘.proles Indiscreta suis gratusqiie parcntibus error;’ 20 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Yet there were very different men. The Physician believed nothing but the most incredible things of the Celtic Gods ; the other as appears by a late sermon preached before the College of Physicians avowedly believes in ... . and all his works. The Physician had a particular affection for an aged owl, probably because it was a symbol of one of his goddesses, whom he adored by this representative ; though he often prayed to her, his prayers, like his practice, vanished into air. This owl was a present from a noble Dutchess (Ancaster,) whether as a curiosity or a reproof; by way of civility or satire, is a point not determined to this day. However, the master made the bird the companion of his studies and the confidant of his soliloquies. He perpetually gazed at the eyes of his bird, as if it had been his looking glass, and indeed that was the only one he ever used. This rara avis was his bona avis, always stood fixed upon a perch on his right hand; but the master was unfortunately cursed, as Yirgil says, with a left handed mind. x4-n oil extracted from the faeces of the auspicious bird, was given to his apothecary at Stamford, as a nostrum for the gout. The Doctor, from the sacred gravity or lulling composure in the countenance of his friend, commenced instantly an errant Antiquary; but it cannot be asserted whether from inspira¬ tion, intuition, or ah ovo. “ T must ingenuously confess,” that the above “ Recipe was not entirely my own. I think nevertheless that I have some share in the property, as I have taken immense pains to de¬ cypher an hieroglj'phical hand, and used the utmost caution and precision to whittle the medicine into the present fashion¬ able taste. I met with the original in a manuscript of bro¬ ther Symons, a monk of the Abbey of St. James in North¬ ampton. He had collected a great many receipts from Hippo- eras, Gallienus, and Kelsus, authors I imagine now lost; but this probably was taken out of some Arabian Physician. In the original there were several nuts, as chesnuts, cypress, ORIGIN OF THE TOWN. 21 walnuts, &c.: these I threw away, as all kernels may be sus¬ pected to be poison, and no antidote is left in the present Dis¬ pensary to expell it. To make the medicine efficacious, I ejected all simples heterogeneous to my own private opinion; to render it palatable, I banished a few efficacious ingredi¬ ents ; to make the remaining efficacious ones creep securely into the offices of digestion, chylification, and sanguification, I doubled the quantities of some, as the probable—seem to be—may be; which have very little taste, yet serve as sheaths to carry the others down, and dark-lanterns to light them through all the alleys to their places of destination. I pre¬ served the spices in the species in a moderate quantity, enough I hope for the hysterical ladies, the whetters, the slipslops and the freethinkers—I put in but a small quantity, lest they should fly to the head, to which I would have nothing aimed but the two bottles of barley wine. I think I have now adapted it to the applauded simplicity of the very last Dispen¬ sary. Simplicity, sir, is the beauty of architecture;—the delicacy of gardening;—the expression of music ; the soul of painting; the true basis of morality; in philosophy it is ex¬ periment ; in geometry, demonstration :—in medicine, lon¬ gevity :—in composition, sublimity ;—but in metaphysics, a chimoera.” James Davies, M.D., practised as a physician in this town during the middle of the last century. The late William Hughes, Esq., used to speak of him as the friend of his father, Solomon Hughes. His work on the antiquities of Devizes was written in 1750 and 1751, in the form of fami¬ liar letters, and republished in 1783 in Charles Dilly’s ‘Repo¬ sitory of Wit and Humourf From a note in the latter issue, it appears that he travelled on one occasion as far as Greece; and at the eminent peril of his life, stole from a library at Mount Athos, a Greek MS. of Soranus on medicine. Among the additional MSS. in the British Museum, are a few other letters of Davies antecedent to the above, addressed to Pro- 22 HISTORY OR DEVIZES. fessor Ward, of Oxford, with a view to aid him in a projected supplement to Horseley’s ‘Britannia * He intended to publish other letters after writing the Origines, but failed in obtaining the requisite number of subscriptions. He also, says his publisher, “left a large book about Stonehenge, not quite finished. He seems only certain that is was written by some of the sons of Adam, but whether by Danes, Saxons, Homans, Britons, or Antediluvians he left undetermined, till he had perused Geoffrey of Monmouth.” An anecdote illustrating the reputation he bore as an antiquary, is given in the ‘Hist, of Marlborough, p. 405. BISHOP KOOEU S CAS’I'I,E, 23 §[ogfv.$ Castle. rpHE reign of the first Henry is described by William of Malmesbury as a period of great outward prosijerity to England. Many a Saxon thane, no doubt, still winced under the galling yoke of his Norman master, but even the national prejudices were in great measure allayed by the two-fold fact, that the King himself was English-born, and his Queen a descendant from Edmund Ironside. Foreigners resorted hither for security of traffic, towns and abbej's arose, and the royal treasury could boast of, what the historian terms “a boundless store,” £100,000 in coin, besides cups of gold 24 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. and silver incalculable. It is to tbis period that the Bowers of Malmesbury are to be ascribed, together with many other such like specimens of the solemn Lombardic style, vulgarly called Saxon. Then was the Cathedral of [Old] Sarum re¬ built from the ground, and then were the two oldest churches of Devizes founded, or fashioned anew. The author of much of this architectural renovation, was the renowned Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the second man in the kingdom, and Henry’s most trusted councillor. The Monk of Malmesbury commences not his account of Roger till after his arrival in England, but we learn from other sources, that he was origi¬ nally but an inferior priest attached to the church of Caen, in Normandy. Prince Henry, while serving under his bro¬ ther William Rufus, one day entered that church with a group of his military associates, and requested the officiating priest to sing a Mass for them. Roger immediately began, and executed his office in such brief time, that the soldiers unanimously declared him the fittest person they had ever met with for a chaplain to men of their profession. From that moment he followed the fortunes of the youthful Prince, who on coming to the throne made him his chancellor and treasurer, then a Bishop, and finally his vice-gerent, whenever he himself should be absent in Normandy. Never, in short, was a favourite more loaded with benefactions, and seldom has a minister more fully justified the confidence re¬ posed in him. Such at least might be said of him so long as his patron lived. To quote the words of Malmesbury, “Not only the King, but the nobility, even those who were secretly stung with envy at his good fortune, and more especially the servants and debtors to the crown, gave him almost whatever he might fancy. Was there anything contiguous to his property which might be advantageous to him, he speedily became possessed of it either by entreaty or purchase, or these failing, by force. With unrivalled magnificence in their construction, as our times may recollect, he erected BISHOP Roger’s castle. 25 splendid mansions on all his estates, in merely maintaining which, the labour of his successors shall toil in vain. His Cathedral he dignified to the utmost with matchless orna¬ ments and buildings, on which no expense was spared. It was truly wonderful to behold in this man, what abundant power attended him in every kind of dignity, and flow'ed as it were into his hand. How great was the glory—indeed, what could surpass it—when he saw his two nephews, who owed their learning and industry to himself, both elevated to the episcopate:—and not of mean sees, but of Lincoln and Ely, than which I know not more opulent in England. He was not insensible of his great power; and somewhat more harshly than became such a character did he abuse the favours of Heaven.” The Bishop’s four principal castles were those of Old Sarum (there was then no New Sarum), Sherbourn, Malmesbury, and Devizes. His possession of Sarum, as being royal property, was an especial gift of the crown, but the fabric could not have been large. The Castle of Malmesbury which was scarcely a stones-throw from the Abbey Church ajipears to have been only commenced by Roger. His culminating ideas of military architecture were realized and displayed in the towers of Devizes. In the construction of this vast edifice, which the Monkish historians with unanimous voice declare to have been the most formidable in England, he gave full scope to his aspiring tastes, and lavished upon it, says Malmesbury, “great and almost incalculable sums.” The same writer informs us, that the Bishop’s own expression was, that “he built the Castle of Devizes for the ornament of the Church.” It is worthy of remark how many of the me¬ diaeval annalists, French as well as English, agree in this testimony; and though it cannot be denied that they occa¬ sionally copied one from another, yet the material evidence of the fact remained before the eyes of each successive writer, down to the period of Henry VIII. Matthew Paris, Matthew 26 HISTORY OR DEVIZES. of Westminster, Eoger of Wendover, Henry of Huntingdon, tlie Gesta Stephani, Ordericus Vitalis, and Holinslied; these are only some of the witnesses. Ordericus Vitalis, uses the emphatic words, “There was not a more splendid fortress in Europe.” Castellum quo non erat aliud spkndidius intra fines Europce. The dominating part of the structure was, no doubt, the massive central donjon or Norman keep, (an approximate judgment of which may be formed by reference to the con¬ temporaneous keep of Kochester, still standing;) a square double-walled building, containing the state apartments of the souzerain; and deep below, the prison vaults. The bal- lium or court around this keep, was environed with subordi¬ nate towers, and other buildings for warehouses, kitchens, and barracks. Then we descend to the moat, whose inner bank bristled with wooden palisades, and across which, the fortified passage appears to have occupied much the same place as the modern roadway, on the north side. In completing the de¬ fences, the engineer drew his lines around a considerable space lying beyond the moat, constituting what was called the barbican, guarded in like manner with turretted walls. The strength of the gangway in this direction, that is, towards the town, may be estimated by the fact, that it was furnished, at suitable intervals, with no less than seven or eight portcul- lices. All this is borne out by the testimony of the antiquary Leland, who visited the spot in the 16th century, and whose account, as that of the last person describing its features, may not unaptly be quoted in this place, (slightly modernised). “There is a castle on the south-west side of the town, stately advanced upon an high ground, defended partly by nature and partly with dykes, the earth whereof is cast up aslope, and that of a great height for the defence of the wall. This castle was made in Henry I.’s days, by one Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, Chancellor and Treasurer to the King. Such a piece of castle-work, so costly and strong, was never afore The Norman Hall, DUKE Robert’s imprisonment. 27 nor since set up by any Bishop of England. The keep or donjon of it, set upon an hill cast up by hand, is a piece of work of an incredible cost. There appear in the gate of it six or seven places for portcullices, and much goodly building was in it. It is now (1540, 1542) in ruin; and part of the front of the towers of the gate of the keep, and the chapel in it, were carried, full unprofitably, unto the building of Master Baynton’s place at Bromham, scant three miles off. There remain divers goodly towers yet in the outer wall of the castle, but all going to ruin. The principal gate that leadeth into the town is yet of a great strength, and hath places for seven or eight portcullices. There is a fair park by the castle.” Gate, in the above description, means passage. By “ the gate of the keep,” we are therefore to understand the forti¬ fied gangway uniting the keep with the towers of the moat- bridge; and by the expression, “the principal gate that leadeth into the town,” is clearly indicated the continuation of the aforesaid passage from the moat across the barbican into the town; the most advanced tower of entrance, probably standing at the west end of the lane which still leads from the castle to the Bear Inn . Duke Robert’s Imprisonment in the Castle. The first state prisoner of whom we have any record as entrusted to the lord of Devizes, was Robert Duke of Normandy, the Conqueror’s eldest son. Returning from the Holy Land he was taken prisoner in action by his brother Henry I., who brought him to England and kept him in con¬ finement for the long period of twenty-six years. The captive Prince, says Malmesbury, “ endured no evil but solitude, if that can be called solitude where by the attention of his keepers he was provided with abundance both of amusement and of food. He lingered however till he had survived all his companions in the Crusade, nor was he liberated till the 28 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. day of his death.”— Malmesbury’s History. During part of this period, he was committed to the Bishop’s Castle at Devizes “ as to a most free and liberal prison,” an expression which indicates, that his person was placed under no further restraint than that of respectful surveillance: he was allowed to join in the pleasures of the chase, and to share the festi¬ vities of the Oastle-hall. The tradition that his attempt to ride off on one of these occasions subjected him to the loss of eye-sight by the command of his brother, rests on too slender a foundation to be admitted as history. William of Malmesbury would certainly have known it, had it been true. Yet, he speaks only of Henry’s humanity towards the prisoner. It is true, that for additional security, the Duke was after a while removed from Devizes to Cardiff, a fortress of Robert Earl of Grloster, (the King’s eldest illegitimate son,) but the praise of lofty virtue which Malmesbury is so fond of ascrib¬ ing to this chieftain would have been totally belied by such an act of wanton cruelty, committed at a time when Robert’s age and the death of his son had already bereft him of hope. Let us therefore imagine Duke Robert relieving his weary sojourn at Devizes by hunting the deer in the neighbouring park and adjacent forests; or watching the gradual completion of the grim fortress which formed his nightly asylum; or aiding and advising his episcopal keeper in carrying out in the churches of St. John and St. Mary, a revival on a smaller scale of the masonic glories of Caen. Duke Robert’s Vision. It was at Devizes, according to the testimony of Ordericus Yitalis, that he saw in vision the final extinction of his hopes, in the fall of his son, William Clito, Earl of Flanders. The young man having formed a league with the King of France, was over-running Normandy, but after a wild career he fell in a sally made by the English party from the Castle of Atost, from the effects of a slight wound received in the ball of the THE FALL OF BISHOP ROGER. 29 thumb. Simultaneously with this event his father had a dream in which he supposed himself struck in the right arm by a spear, by which he lost.[Here the record is defective, but it goes on to say, that Robert himself died only six years afterwards.] This dream occurred in the year 1128; and though Ordericus Yitalis places it at Devizes, it is proper to add, that the authority adopted by Mr. Foss in his ‘History of the Judges,' represents Duke Robert as already removed from the Bishop of Salisbury’s custody to that of the Earl of Gloucester, viz., in 1126. Such might have been the date of the order for his removal, hut it is quite possible that the actual change of prison did not occur till the King’s re¬ turn from Normandy in 1128, the Earl of Gloucester usually accompanying his father on these expeditions. See Giles’s Malmesbury, p. 477. The Fall of Bishop Roger. Henry I.’s only son William was drowned in the cala¬ mitous shipwreck of Harfleur, in 1116. His only daughter Matilda had already been given in marriage to Henry Y. Emperor of Germany, who dying in the very bloom of his life and of his conquests, left her a widow in the year 1125. In the following year her father met her in Normandy and carried her back to England. He now concerted measures for securing to her the succession of his own island-crown; and summoning a council of the most influential persons in the realm, induced them to swear that after his own death, they would maintain the cause of the Empress his daughter against every usurper. All hastened to put their hand to this instrument, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops, the Abbots; and foremost among the laity, David the King of Scotland uncle to the Empress, Robert Earl of Gloucester, the King’s eldest (illegitimate) son, and Stephen Earl of Moreton and Boulogne. There was a singular rivalry mani¬ fested by the two last named, each contending for the honour 30 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of first taking the oath, Robert pleading the privilege of a son, Stephen that of a nephew. This rivalry, as we shall hereafter see, eventually took the form of deadly strife. This affair being accomplished, Henry immediately after affianced his daughter to Geoffrey son of Fulke Earl of Anjou, the eldest son of which marriage afterwards became Henry II. of England. Thus matters remained in reference to the suc¬ cession till the King’s death which took place in Normandy in 1135. While his attendants were performing his obsequies at Caen, Stephen hastily passed over into England, and got himself crowned within twenty-two days after his uncle’s decease. Not only could he repose on the allegiance of Henry, Bishop of Winchester, which was natural enough, as the Bishop was his brother; but he had also contrived to win over the two keepers of the late King’s vast personal wealth, Roger Bishop of Salisbury and William de L’Arche. Roger’s own excuse for this act of treachery towards the daughter of his benefactor, must be given in William of Malmesbury’s own words, “I have often,” says he, “heard the Bishop of Salisbury say, that he was freed from the oath he had taken to the Empress, for that he had sworn conditionally that the King should not marry her to any one out of the kingdom without the consent of the nobility; that none advised the match except Robert Earl of Gloster, Brian Fitzcount, and the Bishop of Louviers. Nor do I state this because I believe the assertion of one who well knew how to accommodate him¬ self to the varjung turns of fortune, but as an historian of ve¬ racity I record the general belief of the people.”—ATff /mcsiicry’.s History, a.d. 1135. Tlie real reason seems to have been, that Roger, in common with the other ecclesiastics, hoped to make better terms for their order with Stephen. Forthwith, therefore, they caused him to enter into a league confirmatory of their canonical rights; a vain expedient; for one of the earliest scenes in the ensuing drama brings them before us the victims of his unscru- THE FALL OF BISHOP ROGER. 31 pulous jealousy. For a brief period, indeed, Roger was treated with all the consideration he had ever enjoyed, and his son Roger, surnamed “ Pauper,” became Stephen’s High Chan¬ cellor: but the mere possihility of the lordly owner of four castles again proffering to the Empress his “discarded faith,” brought sweeping ruin on all his house. Touching this son Pauper, or “the poor,” as he figures in the ensuing tragedy, it may be necessary to observe, that he was the son of a lady named “Matilda of Ramsbury,” of whom some authors speak as though she were not the Bishop’s wife. But considering the prelate’s character for prudence and his high position in the State, Mr. Foss considers it hardly credible that he could have been otherwise than legally united to her, for she was openly living in his Castle of Devizes, when it was attacked. Roger, in refusing to obey the canons which were then attempted to he enforced, enjoining celibacy on priests, was only acting like the rest of the English clergy, who in 1125, chased the Pope’s legate Cremensis with disgrace out of the kingdom.—See Foss’s Judges, i. 151. King Stephen’s reign to ail appearance opened prosperously. It was not only that his manly frankness made him personally a great favourite with the common people, whose burdens he lightened, and with whom he never disdained to associate, but his lavish disposal of lauds to such of the barons whose allegiance he was most anxious to secure, gave him for awhile an undisputed ascendancy over the Empress and her brother. But the lawless licence thus fostered by the King’s own hand wrought liis own ultimate damage. The unscru¬ pulous claimants for his favours every where commenced a system of castle building, which should either force him to consent to their demands, or should put into their own hands tlie power of robbing the country. A thousand castles, (or more properly speaking, strong houses) soon covered the fair face of England ; and the peace and plenty which had distin- 32 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. guished the preceding reign, were exchanged for internecine war and the cry of the oppressed. To suppress the local ty¬ rants in these strongholds, became now to Stephen a perpetu¬ ally recurring and most harassing task. It was necessary to levy armies, to surround each fortress, and to conduct the siege according to all the forms of war. The reduction of the Castle of Exeter, belonging to Baldwin de Revers Earl of Devonshire, occupied the King three months and cost him no less than 15,000 marks. This occurred in only the second year of his reign, and already was insurrection rife in every part of liis dominions. As the menaces of one and another of his revolting barons reached his ear, he is said to have ex¬ claimed, “Since they have chosen me their King, why do they now forsake me ? But never will I be called an abdicated King.” David King of Scotland next declared for the Em¬ press, but experienced at North Allerton the signal defeat known as “the Battle of the Standard.” Another rising instigated by Geoffrey Talbot declared itself in the West, and straightway Stephen is seen storming at the walls of Bath, Bristol, and Castle-Carey. The prelates turn restive. The Bishop of Lincoln fortifies himself at Newark, and the Bishop of Salisbury does the same at Devizes. The report that the Empress and her brother of Gloucester are on the eve of landing, every day assumes a more positive form. Evi¬ dently the time has arrived when Stephen must either crush the warrior-Bishops at a blow, or see their wealth and influ¬ ence thrown into his rival’s scale. The scheme is accom¬ plished by the following means. In June 1139, a council of the King’s party was convened at Oxford, at which the aforesaid Bishops were strictly en¬ joined to attend. They went, it is true; but more with the equipment of border chieftains than in the garb of ecclesiastics. Roger had at first pleaded age and infirmity as an excuse for non-attendance, but finding the King inexorable, he invoked the additional shelter of the retinue of his son the Chancellor. THE FALL OF BISHOP ROGER. 33 “ By my Lady St. Mary,” he sighed forth in the presence of the ]\[onk of Malmesbury, “I know not how it is, but my heart misgives me at the prospect of this journey. Of this I am at least sure, that I shall be of much the same service at Court, as a foal is in battle.” “Thus,” adds his chronicler, “did his mind forbode the coming evils.” Swarming into the city of Oxford, the retainers of the Bishops were not long in exciting the wrathful envy of the military barons around the King’s person. In particular, their claims to certain quarters being resisted by the followers of a foreign nobleman named Allan Earl of Brittany, issued in a tumult of the most disastrous kind. A contest on this subject occurring among some of the inferior servants, the Bishop of Salisbury’s retainers, then sitting at table, overheard it, left their meal unfinished, and rushed to the contest. Mu¬ tual rexiroaches were soon drowned in the clash of steel. The Bishop’s men not only routed their foes and slew a nephew of Earl Allan’s, but they fell on the servants of another foreigner, named Ilervey of Lyons, a man described as of such high nobility and so extremely haughty, that he had never before deigned to visit England, though invited hither by Henry I. The affair was not without loss to the victors; for they had several wounded, and one of their officers “ a favourite knight” of the Bishop was killed before his master’s face. The Bishops had now broken the King’s peace. Whether through a pre-arranged plot of their enemies or the result of accident, the pretext for despoiling them was equally available. It was forthwith resolved in council that in ex^iiation of this high contempt nothing should be accepted short of the abso¬ lute surrender of all their castles into the King’s hands; and to ensure their concurrence in a demand so unparalleled, their persons were ordered into immediate arrest. Tlie Episcojial party were set upon and dispersed: Salisbury and Lincoln were rudely captured: Ely who seems to have been the most warlike of his family, fled with precipitation to his uncle’s D 34 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. castle at Devizes and hastily gathered together the materials for an energetic defence. The irritated and impetuous King now broke up the council-board of Oxford, resolving to bring the affair to an immediate issue. He had already too much experience in castle-fighting to be willing at such a crisis to encounter the vexatious delays of a systematic siege; and he resorted therefore to a stratagem characteristic enough of a period when every pi’inciple of law and order was paralyzed, and when humanity had lost its every safeguard but in the fitful and irregular exercise of a grotesque system of chivalry. In the present case even chivalry was violated; though it would be unfair to infer that Stephen practised its doubtful virtues less frequently than others. It was rather an excep¬ tion to his rule. Having ascertained that the Bishop of Salisbury’s lady Matilda of Bamsbury was residing in the castle, and rightly judging that she was not animated by the ambitious views of the Bishop of Ely, whose design we can hardly doubt was to hold out till the Empress’s arrival, Stephen ordered a tall gibbet to be erected opposite to the main entrance, and an¬ nouncement forthwith to be made to the dame that its object was for the immediate execution of her son the Chancellor unless she prevailed on the Bishop of Ely to surrender the place: she was further informed that her lord the Bishop of Sarum would be suffered neither to eat nor drink till the terms were complied with. To heighten the scene, the King caused the unhappy Chancellor to be arrayed in irons, and with a halter hanging about his neck to be led in company with his father to the very gates of the castle for the purpose of exercising their personal influence on her feelings. Ac¬ cording to William of Malmesbury’s version of the affair, the Bishop’s abstinence from food was a voluntary act, adopted to subdue the spirit of the Bishop of Ely. Meanwhile the distinguished prisoners were treated with every imaginable disrespect. “ The old Bishop,” says the Continuator of Florence THE FIRST SIEGE. 35 of Worcester, “was confined in the crib of an ox-lodge in Devizes, and his nephew of Lincoln in a vile hovel more loathsome than the other.” For three days no signal of sur¬ render appeared from the castle walls; till in the end Matilda herself contrived to deliver up the Keep or chief place of strength, thereby compelling Ely to surrender the subordi¬ nate portions of the fortress. Even these were not yielded but on certain terms. lie retained his liberty, though he was ordered to quit the realm, and he relinquished to the Crown all munitions of war, together with such part of his uncle’s long accumulated treasury as lay in the castle, con¬ sisting of 40,000 marks in silver, and plate and jewels to an incredible amount. ' Knyghton and Matthew Paris further inform us that the treasures found in this and Roger’s other castles were made use of to negociate a marriage for Eustace the King’s son with Constantia of France, thus securing the co-operation of the French monarch. This affair which may be termed the first siege of Devizes Castle, dates about July, 1139. By the advice of their friends the other captive prelates acceded sub hastd to all Stephen’s demands. Lincoln pur¬ chased his liberty by the surrender of Newark and Sleaford : the castles of Malmesbury, Sarum, and Sherbourn submitted at the first summons. But this summary mode of treating Church dignitaries and reducing Bishops from the position of “ bold barons ” to the estate of private men, how agree¬ able soever to the mass of Stephen’s followers, could not fail of provoking angry expostulation from a powerful minority. Henry Bishop of Winchester, although brother to the King, unhesitatingly took the side of the oppressed party ; and in his capacity of Pope’s Legate, summoned a court of arbitra¬ tion to meet at Winchester in the approaching August; “ being deterred,” says his eulogist Malmesbury, “ from the path of truth neither by fraternal affection nor the fear of danger.” Of the debates at this council, whither repaired all the n 2 36 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Bishops of England and the Archbishops of Canterbury and Bouen, Malmesbury has preserved a very graphic and interesting rojiort. Entire recapitulation would be tedious, but it may be stated in the general, that Stephen’s advocates claimed for the Crown the exclusive right of the military executive, especially in times of national insecurity ;—that the injui’ed partj'^ on the other hand loudly declared that no earthly power had liberty to rob the Church of her posses¬ sions ;—that the spirited old Bishop of Salisbury in par¬ ticular, scorning to supplicate the men whom he had so long patronized, announced his intention of appealing to Rome;— and that after much mutual recrimination, the muttered threats of excommunication falling upon the ears of the King’s partizans, the Legate dissolved the assembly only when he saw that its prolongation was about to issue in the drawing of swords. But the sword ecclesiastic had also an edge, which King Stephen was by no means in a position to defy. By way therefore of making expiation for the personal indignities to which he had subjected his anointed victims, he shortly after submitted to a public sentence of penance, which should, he vainly hoped, at once save his credit and his castles too. Casting off his royal robe, bruised in spirit, and with a voice which escaped only in sighs, the grim champion of a hun¬ dred battles underwent the adjudicated form of humiliation. Gesta StepJiani, p. 51. The Landing of Matilda. But the clergy were not to be hoodwinked by an act of penance. They carried with them half the barons of the realm, and Stephen’s troubles began afresh. Within a single month after the above synod, Earl Robert escorted his sister the Empress into England, landing at Arundel in October 1139. He brought with him only 140 horsemen, an adven¬ turous step which in the judgement of the Monk of Malmes- THE LANDING OF MATILDA. 37 bury likened him to Julius Caesar who according to Livy commenced the conquest of the Roman world with only five cohorts.^ Leaving the Empress at Arundel, he now rode with scarce a dozen of these knights across the hostile country to Bristol, a city and district which had long been in his interest. In the meantime Stephen, who was battering the walls of Marlborough when the alarming intelligence reached his ears, advanced towards Arundel; and, impelled by the gallantry which was jiart of his disposition, actually granted a safe-conduct to the Empress who was come to dis¬ possess him of the crown, to enable her to pass in safety across Hamjishire and Wiltshire and rejoin her brother. This trust was committed to the Bishop of Winchester and Waleran Earl of Mellent who adopted a route through Caine and may therefore reasonably be supposed to have also tarried at Devizes which was then held for the King. We know nothing of the chieftain placed in authority here by Stephen after the ejectment of the legitimate owner, beyond a statement made at the aforesaid Synod by the Legate, that the Bishop’s castles were entrusted to “laymen of no religious character,” but during the autumn of this year events thickened so rapidly and assumed so sanguinary a character that the castle naturally became an object of desire to all the various belligerents, and was not long in changing hands. The Emjiress’s party was strongest in 'From this passage Mr. Giles in¬ fers that AVilliam of Malmesbury must have seen Livy in a more com¬ plete state than it exists at present. Giles's Translation of 3Ialms, oOo. Doubtless here was one of the many MSS. which were scattered to the winds when the Stump family came into possession of the Abbey at the time of the Reformation, whose loss Aubrey so feelingly bewails, when he tells us that in his own school days “ they flew about like butter¬ flies” and were cut up to cover his copy-books;—when he relates how they were used by the sons of the Cavalier Colonel Stump to scour their firelocks: — and how, still worse! the rector of A'atton-Keynel stopped therewith the bung-holes of his strong beer barrels, exultingly exclaiming as he delivered the final blow, that there was nothing served his purpose so well as an old sheet of parchment. Natural Ilistori/ of Wilts, p. 7S, Britton's Edition, 38 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Malmesbury was one of the first posts seized in her name. Trowbridge Castle the pro¬ perty of Humphrey de Bohun late Steward in the household of King Henry, declared on the same side; [/See Canon Jack- son’s History of Monldon Farley f\ Wallingford was held by Brian the Earl of Gloster’s son; and when we add to these the castle of Marlborough, it is evident that Devizes stood alone in Stephen’s interest. The Siege of Trowbridge. The siege of Trowbridge was at this moment engaging his principal attention. Here Humphrey de Bohun, with the assistance of Milo of Gloucester, had put all the engineering skill of the day into requisition to keep out the foe and to preserve his patrimonial estate. No less vigorously on the other side was the blockade maintained, and military machines were made to lend their cumbrous aid. But Stephen’s knights soon wearied of the profitless toil. Some shewed signs of treachery: others professed to believe that the Earl of Gloster would soon be upon them and break up the leaguer. It was evidently time for the King to withdraw his forces from so contagious a district and concentrate them in the neighbour¬ hood of London. The siege of Trowbridge was therefore raised; Stephen taking care before leaving the West to sta¬ tion in the castle of Devizes a chosen body of practised men- at-arms with orders to infest and harass the garrison of Trowbridge to the utmost of their power. So faithfully did these men execute their trust that by the retaliation they thus provoked, forays, plunderings, and mutual slaughter speedily reduced the entire circumjacent territory to the con¬ dition of a miserable solitude. The Death of Bishop Roger. Stephen mended his fortune at this juncture by the suc¬ cessful surprizal of the castles of Cerne and Malmesbury, THE DEATH OF BISHOP ROGER. 39 capturing in flie latter a formidable ruffian named Robert Fitz-Hubert who bad recently seized the town and castle in the name of the Empress. He will speedily engage our more particular attention; but before entering on the narrative of his career, we are summoned to the death-bed of the broken hearted Bishop of Salisbury who expired in December 1139, having survived just long enough to see his name degraded, his property spoiled by barbarians and his country in flames. In order to save from the royal rapacity what remained of his moveable treasures, he gave them to his beloved church of Sarum, depositing them within the sanctuary of the high altar. Even these were carried off by Stephen’s orders just before the Bishop breathed his latest sigh. Like Cardinal Wolsey he was now “left naked to his enemies;” his ill for¬ tunes, says one of his biographers, seeming to culminate in the fact that though so manifestly wretched, there were few who pitied him, so much envy and hatred had his magnifi¬ cence engendered, and that too in the breasts of many whom he had undeservedly advanced to honour. Even the author of the Gesta Stephani, himself an ecclesiastic and the ener¬ getic denouncer of church-spoliation, though his patron King Stephen were the aggressor, cannot forbear citing the Psal¬ mist’s rebuke on him who “heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them” forgetful of the warning voice to the rich man in the Gospel “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Seu'cU’s edition page 62. Vast indeed must have been the Bishop’s wealth when, on the testimony of the same writer, this last deposit comprised an infinite quantity of coin, besides gold and silver vessels in abundance, the ductile fabrics of artistic grace emblazoned by elaborate chasings. It is but fair to add that the Canons favoured the appropriation of the treasure by Stephen, who religiously applied great part of it to the relief of im¬ poverished ecclesiastics and to the restoration of the churches of Amesbury and Malmesbury. But no consenting party to the spoliation of his house was the exasperated Bishop of Ely; 40 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. who, ejected from Devizes, and now burning anew with re¬ venge, repaired to his Cathedral-island in the Fen country and defied the whole power of Stephen. But Stephen was again more than his match. A faithless monk, who for his services afterwards became Abbot of Romse}^, revealed a ford by which the King’s forces penetrated into Ely, ravaged the place and drove the Bishop to Gloucester. The Adventures of Robert Fitz-Hubert. This robber chieftain, born in Flanders, engaged as a sti¬ pendiary in the service of the Earl of Gloucester, found on his arrival in England the state of the country exactly suited to his marauding tastes. His first act was to possess himself of the castle and town of Malmesbury, where his presence was regarded by the monks with great consternation. From this post of vantage he was, as already related, speedily driven out again by King Stephen in the autumn of 1139, and in the ensuing spring he laid his plans for the capture of the far more important citadel of Devizes. His intentions were carefully concealed from his superior in command; and be¬ fore setting forth on the perilous adventure which was to make him master as he boasted of Wilts and Hants, he made a league with the desperate men who acknowledged his leadership, that if success should crown their enterprise, neither he on the one hand nor they on the other should ever surrender the place, though hanging should be the penalty of their rebellion. During the Passion week, on the 7th before the Kalends of April 1140, Fitz-Hubert and his dark bands stood beneath the outer walls in the dead of night. These exterior defences they soon surmounted by means of scaling ladders made with thongs of leather, and then with a loud shout of victory established their footing in the outworks [the “exteriora cas- tella”] suprising in their sleep a principal part of the unsus¬ pecting garrison, and compelling the few who had time to escape to betake themselves to the keep. The possession of ADVENTURES OF ROBERT FITZ-HUBERT. 41 even the subordinate parts of the fortress established the suc¬ cess of the undertaking; and the ruthless captain, though he ceased not to assail the central tower, forthwith commenced the more congenial occupation of pillaging the neighbour¬ hood; “night and day, in the pride of his heart,” says the historian, “devastating all around him” [“singulis diebus et noctibus in extollentia cordis ubiubi omnia devastat”]. For four days did the inmates of the donjon keep the place against him, till the failure of their provisions and the utter hopeless¬ ness of receiving succour from the King compelled their sur¬ render. But no long time elapsed before a numerous military array were seen to enter by the north-west avenue of the distracted Borough and to draw up before the castle gates. This was a detachment from the Earl of Gloster’s forces, headed by his son Brian who in the name of his mistress the Empress Ma¬ tilda was come to claim the fortress for his father. As dis¬ guise on the part of Eitz-Hubert was by this time at an end the new Governor of Devizes made answer to the Embassy, that having won the castle himself, for himself he designed to keep it: and having with many such like derisive threats dismissed the young man irritated and outraged back to his father s camp, he felt that time was come when he must in¬ vite to his aid a body of his compatriots. Such at least was his expressed intention. Among his troop of banditti were two of his own nephews. The character and acts of Robert Fitz-Hubert, as delineated by William of Malmesbury and other writers are scandalous even for that scandalous age; cruelty, blasphemj", and treachery being all laid to his charge. It was a favourite boast wuth him that he had on one occasion on the Continent witnessed the burning of a church in which twenty-four monks were confined. It was his full intention, he would then add, to do the like in England; the monks of Malmesbury in particular should not escape his vengeance, in consequence, as he chose 42 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. to suspect, of their confederacy with the royal forces when he was surprised in their town. He had also his vulture-eye upon Wilton which then contained a dozen churches, and which from its proximity to his new position seemed likely to fall an easy prey. Very seldom was he known to liberate his captives without torture; one of the forms of suffering to which his savage caprice often subjected them being, naked exposure to the burning heat of the sun, their bodies being rubbed with honey in order to stimulate the attacks of sting¬ ing insects. And now was England sacrificed anew to the violence of brigandage. The garrisons swept from off the fields both sheep and cattle, regardless of the sanctuary even of ecclesiastic enclosures. Such of the vavassours (or yeomen) as were reputed to be possessed of money were cast into castle- dungeons, where they lingered till they revealed their trea¬ sures, or directing their final appeal to Heaven calmly expired in the midst of torments. Urged by the Earl of Gloster, the Legate repeatedly excommunicated the violators of churches and church yards; but so completely was the crosier subju¬ gated to the sword at this turbulent crisis, that neither Bishops nor Monks could pass with safety from one town to another. An eclipse of the Sun too, attended in this part of the kingdom with an unusual amount of obscuration, had con¬ tributed to enhance the fears of the ignorant. Malmesbury dates it “in Lent on the 13th before the Kalends of April, at the ninth hour of the fourth day of the week.” He and his bro¬ ther monks were sitting at table when the darkness came on; they ran out and perceived that the stars were shining around the Sun. To the Brethren, the phenomenon was not so in¬ explicable as to some others, of whom the historian relates that they thought Chaos was come again, though he disdains not to record a prediction based thereon, that the King would lose his crown within a year, which duly came to pass. Fitz-Hubert on establishing himself at Devizes was not CAPTURE OF FITZ-HUBERT. 43 long in making the discovery that the garrison of Marlborough would prove a great obstacle to his movements in an easterly direction. That castle was then held by an adherent of the Empress named John Eitz-Gilbert almost as arrant a villain as his new neighbour. The first correspondence passing be¬ tween the two worthies seems to have been anything but complimentary. Fitz-Hubert talked of hanging his friend as soon as he should get hold of him. “Verily,” replied John, “I should vastly prefer catching you to being caught by you. These challenges nevertheless issued eventually in a proposal made by the Devizes captain that the two Governors should form a league of friendly co-operation involving mutual ad¬ mission into each castle for purposes of consultation. The Marlborough chieftain was as wary as his tempter; and en¬ tering with apparent eagerness into the scheme, he admitted Fitz-Hubert and several followers within his lines, instantly overpowered them, and chased a remnant with ignominy back to Devizes. The prospective value of this capture lay in the means which it seemed to offer for obtaining possession of the eagle’s nest itself. But dungeon-gloom and protracted suffering had failed to subdue the stubborn spirit of the prisoner before the Earl of Gloster issuing out of the West-country with a band of knights arrived at Marlborough to demand possession of his body. This was not to be obtained without suitable com¬ pensation. The Earl therefore consented to an agreement binding himself in a penalty of 500 marks to re-deliver the prisoner into the hands of the Marlborough Governor within fifteen days and to leave hostages for its fulfilment. Fitz- Hubert was then carried to the Empress’s court at Gloucester and plied with every persuasive to order his castellans to surrender Devizes. He pleaded the sanctity of the oath he had sworn with them: his tormentors reminded him that the ' “ Quemlibet malo capere quam ab aliquo capi.” Florence of Wor¬ cester's Continuator, 44 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. gallows was his only alternative: and in this wavering state of mind, the stipulated fortnight over, lie was again conveyed to Marlborough. The Earl recounted to Fitz-Gilbert all that had passed; expressed his belief that the prisoner was acquiescent, and demanded as an additional favour that he might be allowed to carry him on to Devizes, with this un¬ standing, that if peradventure the castle should yield “in the right of John” the Marlborough Governor, it should be at his disposal. But the Marlborough Governor, though he con¬ sented, evidently had no faith in the Earl’s promises. He secretly sent messages to Fitz-Hubert’s men whether lying in the castle or around it, vowing that no harm should be done to their leader, and urging them to adhere to their oath of non-surrender. The result was that the Earl on reaching Devizes found his plans frustrated. He retired therefore to Gloucester, leaving orders with his men to put judgment into execution as soon as it appeared that no further hope remained of bringing about a compromise. Within a short time, to the infinite joy of the Monks, the bodies of Fitz-Hubert and his two nephews were seen dangling from a gibbet before the castle walls. Within the fort meanwhile dismay was only kept in check by despair. To surrender to the exasperated foe would have been to court the same punishment. At the best they could only sue for an act of pardon from the powers whom they had deserted and defied. But the ofifer of a large sum of money from the opposite party changed the aspect of affairs. Hervey of Brittany, a kinsman of the King, recovered by this means the princijial fortress of the West. Hervey Count of Brittany. 1141. This General, described as a man illustrious in character and expert in war, the great grandson of Hervey Duke of Orleans and grandson of Robert Eitz-Hervey who accom¬ panied the Conqueror to England, is also the lineal ancestor COUNT HERVEY BESIEGED. 45 of the Marquises of Bristol, and has been further represented in the County of Wilts by the Ilerveys of Cole Park near Malmesbury, from whom derived Audley Hervey, Esq. Soli¬ citor of Bath, late of Chippenham \_Devizes Gazette]. His tenure of Devizes Castle was but of short duration: for hardly was he seated here before the disastrous battle of Lincoln dethroned his master Stephen, and enabled Matilda to ride in triumph into London the acknowledged Queen of England. Stephen was carried first to Gloucester and then shut up in Bristol Castle: and the Bishops also deserting him in his hour of need, his affairs everywhere fell into disorder. To Count Hervey the necessity of maintaining himself alone at Devizes in the midst of a district entirely devoted to the Empress was now become a task of eminent and daily increas¬ ing hazard. A huge rabble of rustics and thanes drew around the castle to cut off his supplies and precipitate the hour of his surrender. There is reason to think that the Borough itself was held against him. In the celebrated trial of Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes for cowardly surrendering Bristol Castle to Charles I. in 1C43, it will be remembered that William Piynn the Pailiament’s advocate, while seeking to shew how tenable a castle Avas, even when the adjacent city or town was in the enemy’s hands, quoted among his numerous precedents the successful resistance made by Devizes Castle in the time of the Empress Matilda. It is impossible to say to Avhat particular occurrence he referred. Perhaps it was nothing but vague tradition. But as the contemporary historians certainly make mention of no other prolonged defence than the one under consideration, this of Count Hervey’s Avas pos¬ sibly the occasion. And though it be true that he eventually fled out and escaped with a slender train of folloAvers beyond the sea, it Avas clearly the failure of the Ilo3"al cause and the shortness of provisions Avhich thus determined his departure. On the presumption that the tedium of this blockade was occasionally relieved by an attempt to storm the walls, the 46 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. accompanying engraving may be accepted as a fair represen¬ tation of that mode of attack, as also of the architectural character of “the iron-belted keep” from whose summit the signal of surrender never floated till Oliver Cromwell 500 years later, planted upon it the standard of the Commonwealth. The Empress Matilda. Matilda was great in adversity, but unequal to the loftier exigencies of empire. Within a very few months her arrogance alienated the hearts of the Londoners and arrayed against herself the machinations of her newly acquired friend the Bishop of Winchester, the Legate. And now took place a most remarkable juncture of affairs. The Bishop of Winchester defended his palace against the Empress who occupied the city of Winchester: The Empress on her part was assailed by a body of Londoners led on by the Queen of the captured Stephen: famine was spreading in the place; and the Bishop’s party in order to eject the Empress, set fire to their own city, by which two convents were consumed, twenty churches, and more than half the houses. Retreat was now the only alternative. Matilda’s body-guard headed by the King of Scots, the Earl of Gloucester her brother. Count Brian his son, and Milo of Gloucester her chamberlain, fought a passage for her through the throng, sword in hand. The survivors of the melee then throwing aside their defensive armour studied only how they might most swiftly reach the strongholds of the Western Counties. But in the horrible con¬ fusion that reigned, her troops were surrounded and slaugh¬ tered, her brother of Gloucester and the Scots King taken prisoners; and it was not without the greatest difficulty that she herself succeeded in reaching the castle of Ludgershall with a small troop under the conduct of Count Brian. From Ludgershall the retreat was continued on to Devizes, the fair fugitive performing this portion of her journey in male dis¬ guise; and here at last she hoped to rest awhile from the CONVENTION IN THE CASTLE. 4' perils of pursuit. How long she remained is not stated. Devizes evidently was not sufficiently near the centre of her influence, “ Westward ho” was still the word; but on pre¬ paring to resume progress it became manifest that the King’s friends were on the alert and too numerous along the road to allow of her passing unprotected. In this emergency (and here we are tempted to quote the version of honest John Speed) “she devised,—as what will not necessity endure and a woman’s wit devise ?—to be laid in a coffin as dead, hound fast with cords, and so, as if it had been her corse, carried on a horse-litter to the city of Gloucester: in which bonds of her own distress she had good occasion to remember the chains of King Steplien’s captivity. To such extremities were these two princes at the self-same time subject, that whilst they turmoiled for spacious kingdoms, they brought themselves to the very extreme wants of air and of elbow- room.” History of England, p. 494. This tragic affair happened in September 1141. An interesting p ^rsonal memorial of the flight was discovered at or near the castle of ijudgershall in the year 1777. It was the silver seal of Milo of Gloucester, representing a knight on horseback in chain mail and armed with lance and shield, with the following inscription sigillvm milonis de glocestria. An impression of it was engraved in Vol. xiv. of the Archm- ologia, at which time it was in the possession of the Rev. John Selwyn minister of the parish. This was Milo the Chamberlain otherwise called the Earl of Hereford, who had aided the Empress in her escape out of Winchester: and the discovery of his seal corroborates the testimony of Gervase of Canterbuiy who tells us that after emerging from the horrors of the conflagration he rejoined the Empress at Gloucester, in an almost naked condition. Matilda’s Parliaments in DE^^ZES. The Earl of Gloucester who, as already stated, fell into the hands of the opposite party during this melee, was in the 48 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. course of the followirig winter exchanged for King Stephen, and the belligerent parties were once more placed on a more equal footing. Two Governments might now be said to be acting in England, that of Matilda in the West and Stejihen’s in the East. The period of Lent coming on, gave to both a cessation from arms, which the Empress improved by moving from Gloucester to Devizes, here to debate with her knights on the prospects of another campaign. The principal trans¬ action at this council was a resolution to despatch an embassy to Geoffrey Plantagenet Earl of Anjou the Empress’s second husband, and endeavour to engage his services in her cause; and men of approved conduct were at once nominated for this important mission. But that nobleman, to whom his wife had long been an object of indifference, was moreover just now taking occasion from Stephen’s misfortunes to overrun Nor- mandjq and was but ill prepared therefore to co-operate in the more distant views of Matilda. He received the embassy coldljf and sent them back to their mistress with an equivocal answer which was laid before her council at a second confer¬ ence held at Devizes on the octaves of Pentecost. The Earl of Anjou, the messengers said, could not but entertain with some consideration a proposal emanating from the nobility who surrounded the Empress’s person; but unfortunately, amongst them all, he was intimately acquainted only with the Earl of Gloucester, of whose prudence, fortitude, and fidelity he had indeed long had proof. If that General should think fit to venture a voyage to Normandy, his representa¬ tions might possibly issue in a result more favourable to the Empress’s cause in England; but the efforts of all other per¬ sons while passing and repassing on such an errand, would, he assured them, be only so much labour lost. All present now entreated that the Earl would condescend to undertake the business himself, urging upon him its im¬ portance as involving the inheritance not only of his sister but of his nephew. Long did he excuse himself, on account MATILDA AT THE CASTLE. 49 of the difficulty of the negociation, the perils of the journey, ^ and, more than all, the defenceless condition to which the Empress might possibly be reduced in his absence, through the defection of those, who, it was but too evident, had been on the point of deserting her during the recent winter while himself lay in captivity. Yielding at length to the general desire, he consented to depart if he might carry with him hostages for the good faith of the Empress’s chief adherents; stipulating with them moreover that they should all retire to Oxford and there defend her till his return. And thus ended Matilda’s second Parliament at Devizes. The Earl of Anjou though himself unwilling to come over to England, consented after many delays to send his youthful son Henry (afterwards Henry II. of England) with a band of some three or four hundred horsemen, under the guidance of the Earl of Gloster; who on reaching the English shore learnt that the Empress was blockaded in Oxford. The nar¬ rative of that heroic Lady’s romantic escape from the castle, through a snow-storm, her person being disguised in white attire, would draw us too far afield from our present purpose. We must therefore hasten to group together the few remain¬ ing acts and deeds of which she rendered Devizes the scene till the close of Stephen’s reign. The number and varietj^ of legislative transactions dated by the Empress and her son Henry from Devizes lead to the inference that the castle was not unfrequently her favourite seat of empire. It was here that she signed the charter of Heytesbury Church, preserved in Bishop Osmund’s Register; and it is observable that the title which she usually assumes is that which was well-known to be so agreeable to the people, viz., “Daughter of King Henry and Lady of the English.” The witnesses to the Heytesbury charter are Robert Earl of Gloster, William Gifford [of Boyton ?] her Chancellor, Mas¬ ter Ralph, Edward of Hurst, and Peter Boterel. See also the charters dated at Devizes of grants made by her and her son E 60 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. to the Cistercian Abbey of Lockswell or Drownfont near Lacock, recited at length in Bowles’s History of Bremhill. A singular memorial of one of her benefactions [though it is uncertain whether this was made at Devizes] turned up at the time of Henry VIII.’s Reformation, when the convents, and among others that of of Monkton Farley were visited by order of Thomas Lord Cromwell. Richard Layton the in¬ spector of Farley writing to his superior in 1537, sends up by the bearer a bag full of reliques, “in which” says he “ye shall see strange things. Amongst them, Mary Magdalene’s girdle, wrapped and covered with white” (sent with great reverence from house to house upon certain interesting occasions) “which girdle Matilda the Empress one of the founders of Farley gave unto them, as saith the holy father of Farley.” This Priory had been founded by the Bohun family about the year 1125. The third Humphrey de Bohun, whose defence of Trowbridge has already been related, now received marks of his Royal Mistress’s favour in the form of additional endowments to his pet colony at Farley. She gave Monkton manor near Chippenham (now Mr. Esmeade’s) with its tythes, advowsons, and chapelries, also an estate at Marston near Highworth, and another at Foxhanger near Devizes. The Bohun line eventually merged into two daugh¬ ters, one of whom married Henry of Bolingbroke afterwards King Henry IV. (From Canon Jackson’s History of Ilonkton Farley Priory. Wilts Magazine, No. XII.) Her charter to the Borough of Devizes, the year of which is not given, appears to have been executed at Reading, and the only witness is the Bishop of Ely, the same warlike prelate, we may suppose, who had held out the castle against King Stephen, see page 34. This instrument is so brief that a translation of it may here be given entire. Matilda’s Charter to the Town. “ The Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry, and Lady of the English, to her Justices, Earls, and all other her Min- THE SEE OF SARUM CLAIMS THE CASTLE. 51 isters, throughout Englaud. and the sea-ports. Health:—I grant to my Burgesses of Devizes that for their allegiance they shall be quit of land-toll, ferry-toll, fair-toll, and all other customs throughout my realm and the sea-ports; and I will and ordain that they and their servants and their goods shall enjoy my firm peace. And moreover, none shall un¬ justly disturb them—On forfeiture of £10. Dated at Read¬ ing and witnessed by the Bishop of Ely.” The mention of this Prelate’s name will remind the reader that there was still a powerful claimant for the holding of the castle and appendages, in the person of their ex-officio owner the Bishop of Salisbury. Long and unremitting were the apjilications made by the Church-party to recover so valuable a member of the Cathedral establishment; but ecclesiastical censure even when culminating to a threat of excommunica¬ tion failed to shake the Empress’s steady purpose. She was willing to relinquish some of its distant appurtenances, but the Castle and Borough she determined should still remain in the Crown; and so they did. A variety of original docu¬ ments relating to this controversy are still preserved at Salis¬ bury. The first, executed about 1148, is a formal Declaration made by the Empress to her son Henry that she has consented to restore the Cannings and Potterns \term8 Caningas et Poternas~\ and conjuring her son to ratify the same. The next is a charter addressed to the Church of Salisbury by Hugh Archbishop of Rouen, the witness of the first, simply announcing the fact; Dated like that, at Falaise, in June 1148. In the following year Prince Henry who had been absent from England two years, returned with a body of troops, with a view to concert measures with the King of Scotland. On his way into the North, he sojourned awhile at Devizes, and while here signed a ratification of the above act of his Mother, by a more elaborate deed of restitution dated in the Ides of April 1149. “Henry, son of the Duke of Normandy and Earl of Anjou: E 2 o2 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. To tlie Archbishops, Bishops, and others. Greeting. Know that I have restored to the Church of Sarum and to Jocelin her Bishop his manor of Cannings with the hundred thereof, with its liberties, customs, and appurtenances in land, water, wood and plain, as freely and quietly as ever his predecessors Osmund and Roger held it in the days of my grandfather Henry and his predecessors: Excepting the castle of the Devizes situate in the said manor, and the Borough and park; excepting also the services of the knights holding of the said manor, which by the good suffrance of the Bishop I hold till I shall be so magnified as to be able to give them back: excepting also five liides of the said manor occupied by Robert Fitz-Ralph, and two hides held by Gregory at Rinde- veram, and half a hide which Barleben the porter holds; which three men albeit hold under the suffrance of the Bishop for a year after next Michaelmas, and then their lease falls to him. This charter was written and restitution made at the Castle of the Devizes in the Ides of April 1149 in the presence of Roger Earl of Bedford, Patrick Earl of Sarum, John Fitz- Gilbert, Goro Dinant, William de Bello-campo, Elias Gifiard, Roger de Berkeley, John de St. John, Herbert de Yallibus, Thomas Bassett, Henry Hoescat, Humphrey Eitz-Otho, Me- nasser Byset, Hugh Fitz-Richard and Ralph Fitz-Richard, clerks; Robert Dean of Sarum, Gregory the Cupbearer, Her- vey Archdeacon of Sarum, Willibert de Bello Fago, and Robert de St. Pantio.” Notwithstanding Henry’s professed willingness to restore the castle as soon as he should find himself in the seat of power, we can hardly suppose he seriously meditated such a step; especially now that the right of Bishops to such a species of property was become an open question. Their party nevertheless still retained sufficient power to impose sundry conditions on the Prince’s tenancy thereof, till the afiairs of the nation should be composed and the succession to the throne duly established. The document setting this NATIONAL TREATY AT DEVIZES. 53 forth is imperfect, but its general tenor is, that if the Prince shall within a certain period recover his rights, the castle shall be his, with the advice of the Lord Archbishop of Can¬ terbury, Henry Bishop of Winchester, Richard Bishop of Bath, and William Bishop of Chester. In the interim, the Prince shall pay in behalf of the Borough the same revenue which it formerly paid to Bishop Roger, besides giving to the Church ten libratas of land, and if he succeed in retaining the castle, then other ten libratas. \lihrata —100 «cres.^] This parchment is dated in the Ides of April 1152, the year pre¬ ceding that in which the great convention was signed for the peace of the nation. To this we must briefly recur. During the year 1152 Prince Henry, after another long tarry in Normandy once more landed in England at the head of an auxiliary force. His first exploit was the capture of Malmesbury, but this was followed by an ignominious repulse before Cricklade and Bourton. Finding himself unequal to the task of displacing a rival whose personal prowess and frankness of manners secured alliance and disarmed animo¬ sity, he was not slow to enter into a compact which stipulated to give him undisturbed possession of the Crown at Stephen’s death, an event which occurred within a year after the Treaty. But the various articles of this Peace took some months in adjusting. Such a protracted state of discord, last¬ ing 15 years, had unsettled everything. The final sealing in November 1153 took place, according to Gervase of Canter¬ bury, at Winchester; but the preliminaries appear to have been arranged partly at Oxford and partly at Devizes. Some of the subordinate belligerents were themselves almost sove¬ reigns, as for instance William de Romara Earl of Lincoln (who had taken Stephen prisoner at the battle of Lincoln) and his brother Ralph Earl of Chester. The two charters restor¬ ing these powerful barons to their domains and titles “may be regarded” says their biographer, “as part of the Great Treaty for the pacification of the kingdom concluded at Devizes.” [(See NicholPs Topographpr.'\ 54 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. After this, it was not to be expected that so valuable a fief as the lordship of Devizes would ever be handed over to its episcopal claimants. The fifth and final instrument on this subject, executed in 1157 three years after Henry’s accession to the throne, settled the matter by irrevocably detaching the Castle, Borough, and Parks from the manor of Bishops Can¬ nings. “Thojias, Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of England and Legate of the Apostolic see, to all, greeting. Know that in the presence of our venerable brothers Bichard Archbishop of York, Bichard Bishop of Lincoln and Henry Bishop of Chester, for the adjustment of the quit-claim of our lord the King in the matter of the Castle of Devizes with the two parks and the Borough, as the same are now set out and en¬ closed by dykes, the King hath covenanted to deliver to Jocelin Bishop of Sarurn in exchange thirty libratas of royal demesne lands free of incumbrance. And the King accords to the Bishop full power to recall all the distracted and dis¬ sipated portions of his bishoprick, in order that the See may be placed on the same footing which it held in the days of Bishop Osmund and in the day when King Henry was alive and dead. Moreover the King restores the churches of \Yest- bury, Figheldean, Odiham, and Godalmiug, and the prebends of Bedminster and Bamsbury. Sealed in the year 1157 on the morrow after the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist.” \Com- municated hy Henry Hatcher, Esq.~\ Henry II. The castle and lordship of Devizes being now unequivocably vested in the Crown, soon became one of the most important grants in the monarch’s bestowal, and seems generally to have fallen to the lot of some especial court-favourite. Its dignity was enchanced by its ranking among the Boyal Castles^ and ' The Royal castles were those of Northampton, Corfe, Scarborough, Dover and the other Cinque-ports, Bamborough, Newcastle-on-Tyne, RICHARD OF DEVIZES. 55 State prisons, and its revenues were secured by an almost princely catalogue of feudal appendages. When made entire, the gift appears to have comprised, the Castle of Devizes, body and members, the towns of Devizes and Rowde with the advowsons of their churches, two parks at Devizes, the custody of the forests of Chippenham, Melksham, Pevesham, La Cofaud, and the warrens of Marlborough. The “mem¬ bers” above referred to, consisting of the adjacent military fiefs, or lands held of the castle by knights’ services, will have to be more elaborately specified hereafter in the form of re¬ turns made to an inquistion in Edward I.’s time. It may suffice in this place just to remark that in the various refer¬ ences which from time to time will have to be made to the occupier of the whole, the titles “lord of the castle,” “gover¬ nor,” “constable,” and perhaps also “keeper” are inter¬ changeable terms, all alike denoting the souzerain of the establishment, even though he might not in every case be entrusted with all its attendant emoluments. Of municipal matters occurring in the town itself at this time, the Records have preserved nothing of importance. Like the rest of their countrymen, the Burgesses had to meet sundry demands ever and anon made by the Crown under the title of escheats, wardships, and talliages; besides two separate contributions levied in the ensuing reign to redeem Richard Caeur de Lion out of captivity ; and a fine of twelve marks and a palfrey paid to King John for a renewal of their charter. For this form of detail, consult Madox’s Hist, of the Exchequer. The Chronicle of Richard of the Devizes. But it must not be forgotten that the town had recently given birth to the distinguished scholar known as Richard of Hereford, Devizes, Exeter, Sarum, the Tower of London, Rochester, Hadleigh, Winchester, Porchester, Gloucester, and Horestan. Bridgenorth, Oxford, Sherborne, 56 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. tlie Devizes, the erudite author of the Exploits of King Richard in the Holy Land and the affairs of England from 1189 to 1192. Of his personal history nothing is known heyond what is furnished by his work. But we there learn that he was a Benedictine Monk of St. Swithin’s Priory at Winchester, and that he there formed a strong personal attachment to the Prior Robert. When his friend was subsequently translated to Withara Charter-house, Richard paid him a visit, to dis¬ cover, as he expressed it, how much nearer to Heaven was the new-founded Charter-house than Winchester. Returning to his own cell, he executed the work on which his fame rests, dedicating it to his friend, to wean him from the vain pursuits of this world and keep him in mind of his higher destiny. With this end in view, the charitable design of the friend and the interjectional reflections of the author pro¬ bably went farther than the main subject of the book. In the matter of its style, Joseph Stephenson the learned curator of the edition published by the Historical Society, observes that, with the exception of the Policraticus of John of Salis¬ bury, the Chronicle of Richard of the Devizes has more classical allusions than any production of the middle ages. His admiration of the antients is so strong that he betrays a constant tendency to put into the mouths of his interlocutors, speeches almost too correctly cast in the Homeric mould to be accepted as genuine first thoughts. With all this, his history is one of great authority; and from the allusions which it contains to John “Earl of Mortagne” which was the title borne by that Prince before he took the Crown of England, it has been inferred that the Devizes Monk is the earliest and most authentic of all King Richard’s chroniclers, being anterior both to Ralph Diceto and to Roger de Hove- den. One of his qualifications we conclude to have been that of a careful observer. Among his other on dits, why should we hesitate to record that as a Devizes man it was not un¬ natural that his attention should be drawn to a feature in THOMAS DE SANDFORD. 57 London life, which in his own native town has been honoured with due observance and imitation from that time to the present, viz. the absorbent appreciation of the citizens for good fare. On the authority of Bale and Pitts, another extant work has been attributed to Richard of Devizes, being a history of England from Brutus to Stephen in the Corpus MS. cccxxxix, but Mr. Stephenson doubts it as his, though said to be written by a Winchester Monk. [Surname, “De\tzes.” It may here be remarked that it will not be necessary in future to take notice of all the individuals bearing the surname “ de Devizes” ; such a form merely indicating that they had emigrated from the town and become so called on their settling down in some other locality. As no others thus denominated appear to have been persons of any distinction (unless perhaps John the member for Salisbury 6th Edward II.) we here take leave of the family, merely observing that they now exist generally under the form of “Vyse.” The most recent instance of the soubriquet of Devizes being written in full is perhaps that of “Anthony Devizes” whose commission as a surgeon in Major General Lambert’s regiment of foot may be seen in the Commons Journals 28th May 1659.] Thomas de Sandford 1199. The names of the Governors of the castle during Henry II.’s reign seem to be lost; Possibly they are to be found among the Wiltshire Sheriffs for that period : and it is hypo¬ thesis only which must supply the hiatus during Richard I.’s, by supposing that, like Marlborough, Devizes had already become one of the donations made by the late King on his younger son John Earl of Mortagne afterwards King John. On coming to the throne himself, John appointed Thomas de Sandford to the constableship, who proved a trusty soldier throughout his master’s changing fortunes. While the French troops under Prince Louis, in conjunc- 58 HISTOEY OF DEVIZES. tion with the disaffected part of the English Barons were overrunning the country, and Marlborough had opened its gates to the invader, the only castles which held out in this part of the island were those of Bristol, Wallingford, Corfe, Wareham, and Devizes, into all of which the King threw additional troops and furnished them with arms and provi¬ sions. Devizes moreover became the depot of a large portion of the royal treasury, fully accounting for the numerous pre¬ cepts issued during the war for maintaining its defences and supplying its commisariat. A selection of abbreviated entries from the Close Rolls will illustrate this. 7th John. The King, writing from Lambeth, apprizes the Barons of his Exchequer that a portion of the yearly rents of the town and castle are remitted to Thomas de Sandford to be expended in fortifying himself. 8th John. The King to the same. Pay to Thomas de Sandford for the carriage of eight hogsheads of wine from Southampton to Devizes sixty shillings and two-pence. Dated at Cranbourn. 13th John. The Mayor of Bristol is commanded to send twenty hogsheads of wine thence to Devizes. Dated from Trowbridge. 15th John. The King to William the Clerk. Thomas de Sandford is commanded to deliver up to you, to be given to Brian of the Isles, 20,000 marks of the moneys lying in our castle of Devizes. Dated at Stodelegh." 15th John. The King to the Barons of the Exchequer. Pay to Simon and Hugh de Cuvier one hundred shillings for the conveyance of 50,000 marks from Bristol to Devizes to the care of Thomas de Sandford. London. In the 17th year a large parcel of the Royal jewels arrives at the castle. They are minutely detailed and described. 16th John. The King commissions Nicholas Faborum and his associates to repair to the castle and superintend the manufacture of quarrels or cross bow-bolts; and the next HUGH HE NEVILLE. 59 year “ our faithful Britou the cross bowman, with his wife and child” arrive by royal order. Soon after the Earl of Gloster is directed to send to Devizes twenty carts laden with corn, and two pigs of lead (120 stone each) by the hands of Hugh de Neville. In the same year other auxiliaries, sent to aid in the defence of the castle, are named, as Allan Mar- tell, through whom the King directs Sandford to deliver up the great gate of the castle to be defended by Oliver de Bute- ville, Geoffrey de Buteville, and their men: the post mean¬ while which was assigned to Governor Sandford himself, with the assistance of Kichard de Eivers, being the gate of the small tower \Janua caHtelletti\!Y\\Q Butevilles were two Generals who commanded John’s foreign legions from Gascony and Poictou. Allan Martell mentioned above was a Friar and appears to have stood high in John’s favour. Here is another reference to him, in 1215. The King sends his precept to Thomas de Sandford, to the effect that out of the tythes [denariis] which Friar Allan Martell has carried to Devizes, he deliver two hogsheads of wine to our beloved Hugh de Neville to be conveyed to Marlborough. Hugh de Neville, the ancestor of an illustrious race, and the Crusader whose performances in the service of King Richard point him out as the prototpye of Sir Walter Scott’s hero in The Talisman demands also a passing notice. He was one of Richard’s especially favourite knights, and proved his right to the distinction, by slaying a lion (when in the Holy Land) first driving an arrow into his breast and then running him through with his sword; on which, says Fuller quoting Matthew Paris, this verse was made “ Viribus Hugonis vires periere leonis.” The strength of Hugh a lion slew. It has been suggested indeed that the credit of this affair was allowed by its real author to pass current as the King’s own, that Neville, like all prudent courties in the like circumstances, was content that others and not himself should sing “ The Knight slew the boar The King had the gloire.” 60 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. And that in consequence Richard obtained by the reputation of the deed the title of Coeur de Lion. But Fuller discredits this part of the legend. See his Church History, vol. i. Military mandates similar to the above, all bearing upon the struggle which gave birth to the famous Magna Charta, might be multiplied to a weary extent. For further examples see the History of Marlhoroitgh. If they do not positively indicate a state of siege at Devizes they at least testify to the anticipation of sucb an event. At the date of the last men¬ tioned, viz. 1216, the monarch’s death put an end to the contest and placed the youthful Henry III. on the throne; contemporaneously with which event, Sandford relinquished the wardenship of Devizes in order to assume the cross of a Knight-templar. This latter circumstance we learn from an order issued in the following year empowering the Abbot of Malmesbury to recover the sum of 100 marks which he had advanced to Thomas de Sandford for the repairs of the castle. The principal manager of the nation’s affairs at this moment was William Mareschall “the hrave and wise Earl of Pem¬ broke,” on whose nomination Devizes was entrusted to [his son ?] John Mareschall 1216. One of the eleven Barons who with four Earls and a few other persons had constituted the entire retinue appearing on King John’s side at Runnymeade. He had also borne part in the coronation of the young Prince Henry after the father’s death. The records preserved in the Patent Rolls of repairs going on at Devizes Castle during this Governor’s term of office, and the lists of payments to miners, carpenters, fossa- tors, and masons, seem to argue either a large amount of recent damage or an extension of the works. James of Potterne. We may hardly dismiss the civil wars of King John with- ’ He dates the event 1190 which rough Castle, supposed therefore to is sixteen years before Hugh de be the same person. Neville’s appointment to Marlbo- PHILIP HE ALBINI. 61 out a brief notice of the eminent person who during a part of that period held in trust for the King the entire county of Wilts. This was James of Potterne the Justiciary, whose exercise of that still wider office extended from 1197 the 9th Richard I. down to the end of John’s reign, as proved by the fines levied before him. In the early part of John’s reign he was under-sheriff of York to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter and was the principal instrument in despoiling the Archbishop’s lands and goods when that prelate refused to pay the cornage imposed by the King, for which act the Archbishop excommunicated him by name. Three years afterwards the county of Wilts was put under his charge; but we are not told in what form this species of vice-regency was exercised or how far it inter¬ fered with the office of Sheriff. Notwithstanding the confi¬ dence which this large commission implied, his fidelity seems to have been hardly proof against the example of the numerous revolting Barons, at least it was not unsuspect: for, the manor of Wallop having been granted to him for the support of his dignity, the Sheriff of Hants received an order 17th John to deliver it up to Roger Elys, if it should appear to him that James of Potterne was not in the King’s interest “ si Jacobus de Potterna non sit ad servicium nostrum” Rot. Claus. 1. 8. Probably he cleared himself, as so many others did, when John’s death and Prince Louis’s departure threw the reins of Government into the Earl of Pembroke’s hands; for the pro¬ perty was subsequently in his possession; and in 1218 2nd Henry III. we find him entrusted with the custodv of the lands of Richard de Neville in Wilts. Foss’s Judges. Philip he Albini Earl of Sussex and Arundel 1218. This nobleman was also one of King John’s adherents throughout the recent war. The grant of Devizes was in his case made for life, a distinction very seldom conferred. His death must therefore be regarded as contemporary with the advent of his successor 62 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. William de Brewere 1221. The name signifies “ William at the heath.” He had been Sherifi of Wilts in 1209-10. See Canon Jackson’s List in the Wilts AEacjazine, No. viii.p. 194. He bore the further title of Lord of Torbay and held lands at Norrington in Wilts. He died in 1232 leaving four co-heiresses, one of whom, Alicia, married Sir Beginald de Bohun. 6th Henry III. William Brewer receives an order from Court directing him in future to permit the men of Richard Pauper Bishop of Sarum to remain free from custom or toll in the town of Devizes. Close Rolls. 7th Henry III. The King to the Sheriff of Wilts. Take notice that we will that a fair be he’d at Devizes once a year viz. on the vigil, the day, and the morrow of St. John the Baptist for ever. And publish this throughout your baili¬ wick. Dated at Caine and witnessed by Hubert de Burgh. Ibid. This is one of the seven fairs formerly held in Devizes. It is hardly necessary to add that none of them is to be con¬ founded with the large fair held on the Green, which being within the parish of Bishop Cannings has always been the Bi.shop’s perquisite, and remains so to this day. But while touching on the subject of fairs, it may not be out of place to offer an hypothetical explanation of a term seemingly allied. The Crammer Pond on Devizes Green. What is the meaning of the word ? We learn from Lord Cockburn’s Memoirs that the “Krames” was an Anglo-Saxon word ap¬ plied to an arcade of booths which long encumbered the High Street of the Old Town of Edinburgh. “These Krames,” saj^s he, smiling at the recollections of his youth, “were the Paradise of children.” From Krames came “Kramerie” a term constantly used in Scottish deeds to denote articles bought at the Krames. A similar display of Kramerie at the East end of Devizes Green in connexion with the great fair held at that spot would easily give rise to the expression “the Kramerie Pond.” Kramer is still German for trader. THE BRITTOX. 63 7tli Henry III. It is commanded to the Constable of Marlborough Castle that be allow William Brewer to receive as the gift of the King ten good bream out of the fishponds [vivarium] at Marlborough, to be placed in bis own fishponds at Stoke. Dated at Keinton, 20 March. [An old proverb declared that “he that had a bream in his preserves could always welcome a friend,” a proof that bream was a greater favourite then than now. Aubrey tells us that the breeding of fish to furnish the food of Lent was one of the purposes to which the moats round antient houses were not unfrequently applied. Natural History of Wilts, p. 101.] 8th Henry III. “The King to the salesmen of the under¬ wood in the forests of Melksham and Chippenham. We command you to allow our beloved William Brewer Constable of Devizes Castle to apply the proceeds of the underwood of the said forests to the repairing of the drawbridge and pali- sadoes of the castle and of the houses therein.” This mandate is signed by the King in person, then resident at the castle. A memorial of such of these palisades as faced the town seems to survive in the name of a street leading towards the castle, called “The Brittox,” evidently a corruption of the Danish “Bretesca” still in use in Denmark and simply mean¬ ing wooden: though it is quite possible that the Bretesque, which in this case appears to have flanked the entrance to the castle, partook of a more permanent form than wooden piles alone, and included the idea of an earthwork whose per¬ pendicular face was sustained by timber and stone, just such a wall, in short, as Julius Cmsar attributes to the Gauls, in the 7th Book of his Commentaries, 23rd chapter. It is ob¬ servable, that so late as the time of the civil wars in Charles I.’s reign, the financial accounts kept by the Wilts Committee (acting for the Parliament) contain references to “ Britische money” which by means of the explanation above given may be conjectured to refer to a levy made on the Hundreds to furnish stockades for the houses where that Committee sat from 64 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. time to time, viz. at Marlborough, Chalfield, Longford, and Falstone. A primitive Bretesque or Bretache was generally something salient or projecting. It has been described in some glossaries as a vantage point from which proclamations might be addressed to the citizens; also as a wooden defence raised over a drawbridge. In a psssage descriptive of a siege, in Gulielmus Armoricm de gestis Philippi, 1202, it evidently refers to temporary wooden fortifications, built not to defend but to take a place. But whatever be the form or purpose of a bretache, the generic idea is wood. This is evident when it occurs in the mandates issued by Henry III. to his archi¬ tects. At Southampton for instance two bretaches are to be rebuilt because they had become rotten. Liberate Poll 4S)th Henry III. Its design in the following case seems also plain enough (occurring in a precept issued from Marlborough to Winchester 25 Henry III.) “Complete without delay the works of the new gateway and the new bridge, and the tur¬ rets of the same gateway, and joist these turrets and cover them with lead: and cause the bretache over the new bridge to be garreted and covered with lead: and remove the old bridge and cause the ditch there to be prepared and flooded.’ Liberate Roll. Finally: in the simple sense of balconies, it is just possible that the Brittox Street may have acquired its name from displaying in early times an unusual number of these architectural accessories. In an anonymous letter from Devizes published at Oxford in 1643, to be hereafter noticed, written apparently by Sir Edward Hyde, the author evidently takes the word Brittox in a plural sense, for he spells it “ Briteaux.” On this and other kindred subjects the reader is referred to T. Hudson Turner’s work on Domestic Architecture, con¬ taining a selection from Henry III.’s copious directions to Sheriffs and others, to carry out his Majesty’s household ar¬ rangements in his various places of residence, principally Clarendon near Salisbury; embracing the various crafts of RALPH LORD WILLINGTON. 65 building, furnishing, decorating, image-carving, and fresco¬ painting. Under a monarch ever craving gratification in so many branches of the fine arts, the office of Shei’iff could have been no sinecure. “ The Sheriff of Wiltshire is ordered as he loveth his life and chattels to take diligent care that the Queen’s new chamber at Clarendon be finished before Whit¬ suntide, whencesoever monies for the completion thereof may be procured,” »&:c., &c. Liberate Roll, 30 Henry III. Here is another, dated from Potterne in 1255, possibly while the King was on a visit to the Bishop of Salisbury at Potterne Park. “The Sheriff of Wilts is ordered to paint the doors and windows of the King’s chamber at Clarendon, and the tablet over the altar of the King’s chapel at the same place: to make a glass window in the King’s wardrobe there, and to repair the other glass windows of the houses at that place, where necessary: to make a privy-chamber in the house of Pobort de Stopham there: to buy a rope with a bucket for the well there, and a carrate of lead to repair the gutters: to repair the houses over the rock, the King’s almonry and the aisles of the King’s hall, where necessary: and to make a chimney in the Queen’s chamber in the castle of Devizes. Dated at Potterne, 12 July, 40 Henry III.” Liberate Roll. John Mareschall Earl of Warwick 1224. Has already appeared as lord of Devizes, 1st Henry III. He acquired his Earldom in right of his wife Margery, sister and co-heir of William de Newburgh sixth Earl of Warwick, and left one only daughter and heiress, of whom more here¬ after. Balph Lord Willington of Devonshire 1231. Had previously held Bristol Castle with the forest of Keynsham; and on the death of the Earl of AVarwick, he obtained for his active support in the King’s service the fur¬ ther promotion which made him lord of Devizes and of Exeter. F 66 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Shortly after this, the name of AValter de Godarville un- doubtedlj' appears in several documents as resident occupier of the castle, but whether he was the nominee of Lord Wil- lington or of the Crown may admit of a doubt. Godarville or Godard-ville was a form of spelling occasionally assumed by one of the branches of the numerous family of the God¬ dards of North Wilts. $targ d pwkrt h “K. John. Come hither Hubert, 0 my gentle Hubert "We owe thee much.” .... “ I am almost ashamed To say what good respect I have of thee.” Act iii. sc. 3. npmS devoted servant of the reigning famil}’’; the mailed knight who had fought for Richard in Normandy; the general who in the Barons’ wars of King John’s reign had, against desperate odds, held out Dover Castle to the last; the sea-captain who with a force of only forty sail had dispersed a French fleet of eighty; and the privy councillor who in the succeeding reign rose, as a just reward, to the highest offices in the State, is so well known as a Shakspearean character that any more detailed account of his career is unnecessary. Speed entitles him “that perfect mirror of loyalty.” Shak- speare darkly hints that he carried his allegiance so far as to connive at the treachery practised against Prince Arthur; but as he also calls De Burgh into court to refute the charge, few will deny to the illustrious defendant the benefit of the doubt. For a considerable period, Hubert de Burgh almost ruled the kingdom, under Henry III. His title was Earl of Kent; and his office of Grand Justiciary drew within his reach large pecuniary profits. But the 17th year of the young King’s HUBERT DE BURGH. 67 reign witnessed the close of his power. Henry was opposed by the Mareschall’s family, the Earls of Pembroke, (see the History of Marlborough,) and in an evil hour took to his councils a chiirchraan and a foreigner named Peter de Rupi- bus Bishop of Winchester. By his advice the plan was adopted of extorting from the Justiciary the accumulated wealth of office. Hubert received orders to answer for all the wardships which he had ever held, all the rents of the royal demesnes, and all the aids and fines which had been paid into the Exchequer for the last twenty years. If not quite so innocent as the lamb in the fable, on whom the wolf had re¬ solved to fasten a charge, Hubert equally felt that flight was preferable to any court of appeal. lie took sanctuary, first in the church of Merton in Surrey, then at Brentwood in Essex; from wdiich latter place he was starved out after the endurance of nearly six weeks captivity. Conducted at last to London, he was arraigned before his political enemies who clamoured for his blood, and insulted by the fickle multitude who forgat his past services. One exception must be made to the latter charge, in favour of the honest blacksmith of Brentwood, who is reported to have said, when required to construct the iron g 3 'ves in which the prisoner was to be led to London. “I)o with me what you will, but I wdll rather die the worst death jmu can devise, than help to put shackles on the noble Hubert, who drave the foreigners out, and saved England to England,” &c. (see his speech at large in Matthew Paris). Henry, already stained with ingratitude, and consenting to a sentence which confiscated the whole of Hubert’s per¬ sonal and much of his landed propcrt 3 q wns still unwilling to super-add the crime of judicial murder. As a provisional arrangement, four of the principal men in the kingdom now came forward and offered themselves as sureties for Hubert’s reappearance on some future da 3 ’, provided he were suflered to remain under their custody in the Castle of Devizes guarded E 2 68 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. from personal injury by four knights respectively appointed by themselves. Such therefore was the award finally decreed. Hubert in company with his guardians was forthwith escorted to Devizes, there “to be kept” so ran the stipulation, “in honourable freedom from the mean severity wnth which he had hitherto been treated.” His four noble sureties were 1st Prince Diehard Earl of Cornwall brother to tlie King, and eventually Emperor of the Homans. 2nd. Kichai-d Mare- schall Earl of Pembroke Governor of Marlborough Castle and brother-in-law to the aforesaid Prince Diehard. 3rd. William Earl of Warren. 4th. William Earl of Eerrars. Meanwhile, as the revolt of the Pembroke faction assumed a more demonstrative form, the Bishop of Winchester urged upon the King the necessity of displacing sundry of the holders of baronies in favour of foreigners who might be more devoted to his interests. Gascons and Poictevins now flocked into the country and every where assumed places of trust. In Wiltshire, Gilbert Bassett of Compton was stripped of the manor of Netheravon in favour of Peter de Mawley, and Diehard Siward was arrested for marrying Gilbert Bassett’s sister without royal licence. At Devizes the Bishop laboured but too successfullj'^ to supplant Godarville and to seat in his place a son or nephew of his own, named Peter de Divaulx, a step which was strongly suspected to be only preliminary to the assassination of his imprisoned rival. Misunderstand¬ ing between the Court and Hubert’s guardians in the castle had indeed broken out very soon after his commitment, as testified by the following document, referring possibly to an attempt on the part of the King to substitute other men. “ The King to the knights the guardians of Hubert de Burgh, at Devizes. “ Ye ought to recollect, touching the articles of agreement made between us and your superior lords, to whom we assigned the donjon for the safe keeping of Hubert de Burgh, that the rest of the fortress was to remain at our disposal, for us HUBERT DK BURGH. 69 and such of our people as we might send. Now: whereas it hath been certified to us, that to our liegemen lately com¬ missioned thither, j'e have hitherto refused admittance, to our great rebuke and scandal, we now send Aylmer de St. Amaud bearing an order that you admit the knights sent: and unless you return by him a sufficient reason wherefore ye have acted on this wise, know that we will see in our own person who will deny entrance into our castle. Dated at Wallingford, 2 June 17th Henry III.” Rymcr. A fortnight after the issuing of this letter, the King then lying at Woodstock, sent another to Walter de Godarville warning him neitlier to quit Devizes nor to suffer stores of any kind to be carried into the castle. Two days after a third missive arrives, enforced by the presence of a company of knights and serjeants, and prohibiting the importation of any other provisions than what were required for the daily sustenance of the castellans: that as to the Earl of Kent’s guardians, they should be at their own charges on account of their recent contumacy. Furthermore, that if the Sheriff of Wilts should signif}'^ to Walter de Godarville that he required his assistance to go to the house of Gilbert Bassett of Compton to enforce the King’s command, the said Walter might attend him with force and arms, provided nothing were carried into the castle during his absence. And finally it was commanded to the men of the town of Devizes that they should look to and take care of the King’s interest. But how did it fare all this while with the distinguished prisoner ? Truly he might be said to languish in dungeon- gloom. A solitary apartment had become his habitual abode. All communication with the outer world was strictly forbid¬ den, except that on one occasion he was permitted to confess to his ghostly adviser and personal friend Luke the Arch¬ bishop of Dublin. Even the attendant who supplied his daily wants was allowed to approach no nearer to him than the grating of his prison-door. Matthew of Westminster’s 70 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. History supplies the following incident as illustrative of the charity which could brighten the hour of his deep adversity. Having been informed one day of the death of the Earl of Chester one of his sworn foes, Hubert fetched a deep sigh; and then, calling for his Psalter, he stood devoutly before the Cross and ceased not till he had sung it all over for the good of the departed soul. His four keepers too were changed; and, what was still more ominous of a terrible fate, he ascertained (through the friendly agency, we can hardly doubt, of the Archbishop of Dublin) that the castle itself was about to be placed in the hands of one of the Bishop of Winchester’s creatures. Per¬ ceiving that no time was to be lost, he revealed the perilous situation in which he stood to two of his new keepers, and threw himself upon their generosity. They responded to the appeal and contrived his escape on the eve of Michaelmas day 1233, it being their turn then to watch. One led the way, while the other, taking Hubert on his shoulders, who was too en¬ cumbered with fetters to walk himself, carried him safely through the Ballium, or area of the castle, went out through the Ostium, passed with difficulty a deep foss, ascended to the neighbouring church of St. John and deposited him on the steps of the high altar. The escape being soon made known to the Governor, a body of castellans was instantly dispatched in pursuit, who finding the Earl in his place of refuge clasp¬ ing a cross, dragged him out with violence and carried him back to the castle. The King was at that moment in Oxford, and being apprized of the affair, immediately sent orders to the Devizes Governor that the prisoner should be kept in the vault which he had previously occupied, that his person was to be loaded with three pair of iron fetters, and that none should hold any communication with him. But the matter was not suffered to rest here. So notorious a breach of the privilege of sanctuary was, in the eyes of other men besides the clergy, a flagrant transgression : and as the outrage had HUBERT DE BURGH. 71 occurred within the diocese of the Bishop of Salisbury it was resolved that the cause should be undertaken by that prelate, Robert Bingham. Repairing therefore to Devizes Castle, he solemnly adjured the guilty parties to redress the wrong com¬ mitted, by replacing the fugitive within the pale of sanctuary, or to suffer the Church’s penalty on incorrigible wrong-doers. The Governor was deaf to all solicitations, and the Bishop having pronounced a sentence of excommunication upon the whole garrison quitted the castle for London. The prelates then in a body carried their cause before the King, and were so far successful as to obtain an order directing Hubert to be. reconveyed into St. John’s Chin-ch ; though Henry at the same time sent the following secret despatch to the Sheriff of Wilts. “It is commanded to the Sheriff of Wilts that as he loves his own body, he be at Devizes in propria persona with the posse comitatus on Wednesday the morrow of St. Luke the Evangelist in the early morning, and by keeping Hubert de Burgh within the church of St. John both day and night, to prevent his escape by any means. Dated at Westminster 15 Oct. 17th Henry III.” He also dispatched two of his Justices Ralph de Bray and Ralph de Norwich, to offer to the prisoner either a fair hear¬ ing in the King’s court in accordance with the conditions of his imprisonment, or a pass to quit the realm for life; but in case of his refusal to accept either, then the Sheriff’s men were to guard the church and cemetery with all diligence.^ But the disordered state of the country rendered all these precautions unavailing. Hubert was carried back to his sanc¬ tuary and the church was instantly environed to prevent his exit; but assistance was nearer at hand than his enemies ‘ The nominal Sheriff at this time pears both before and after these was Ela Countess of Salisbury. Her events. See Jackson’s List, Wilt- executive deputy may have been shire Magazine. “ John the Dane” whose name ap- 72 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. looked for. On. the very morrow after his restoration, a troop of Pembroke’s adherents, headed by Gilbert Bassett, suddenly burst into the churchyard, scattered the Sheriff’s posse comitatus, and drew the shivering prisoner forth from his living sepulchre. His shacldes they swiftly knocked from his limbs, then seating him on a mailed steed, bore him off in triumph to the mountains of Wales. Though at liberty, he was now in alliance with the King’s declared emeny: but the Earl of Pembroke falling in the succeeding year by the dagger of a false friend, a general amnesty was agreed upon at Gloucester, whereby Hubert with the other insurgents was reinstated (outwardly) in the Royal favour; a proceeding facilitated by the fact that his old enemy the Bishop of Winchester had already retreated in disgrace from England, and was gone to Rome: this was in April 1234. Hubert relinquished the office of Justiciary and sought to live in tranquility, but soon discovered that nothing could permanently secure the King’s grace. The fact was he was still too wealthy. After giving undeniable proofs of loyalty during five years, besides submitting to a heavy fine, a new quarrel was fastened upon him on some frivolous pre¬ tence, and he was actually summoned to take his trial on eight counts, some of them containing charges which the treaty at Gloucester had already obliterated. One of these [and the only one we need mention] was for breaking prison at Devizes in violation of his oath there to remain ! the in¬ dictment aAmrring that, “whereas Hubert de Burgh had placed himself in the prison of our lord the King, and by the agreement made between them, he was to be regarded as an outlaw should he venture to escape without royal licence, neverthless he did so escape,” &c., &c. To this. Master Lawrence of St. Albans, clerk, Hubert de Burgh’s advocate, made reply as follows:—“ Hubert de Burgh makes answer that he entered into no such agreement: And he says, that when he was in the custody of the four Earls of HUBERT HE BURGH. 73 England wlio had it in command that no danger should hap¬ pen to his person, those keepers who were bound to defend him from harm were afterwards removed, he knows not by whom; so that he was reasonably in fear for himself; and particularly since the Bishop of AVinchester became Council¬ lor for the lord the King, who had threatened him, as all England knows, and the castle of Devizes was placed in the custody of Peter de Kival. As therefore the guard which by agreement should have protected him while he was so in cus¬ tody, was removed, it was no wonder if he fled for shelter to the church: and this he would on no account have done if the agreement as to safe custody had been kept with him. As to what is said of the outlawry he made no such agree¬ ment : it was not possible that any good man and true could be outlawed by agreement, such being the jjunishment of evil-doers, not of well-doers. For himself, he had always desired and offered to stand to the judgment of his peers. He also reminded his judges that when at length he returned to the peace of the King, all the premises were pardoned, and the outlawry proclaimed void by all the Earls of England, by the King’s letters, and judgment made at Gloucester be¬ fore all the Bishops and Barons,” &c., &c. Matthew Paris sa 5 ^s he fully proved his innocency, not¬ withstanding the King’s efforts to secure the prisoner’s con¬ viction: hut in order to evade an unjust sentence he found it necessary to make a peace-offering by surrendering to the Crown four of his favourite castles, viz., Blanch, Grosmund in Wales, Skenefrith, and Ilalfleld. This trial took place in 23rd Henry III. See the State Trials where it is recorded in full. Hubert survived the prosecution six 5 'ears, and was buried in the monastery of the Friars-preachers now called Blackfriars. Ilis daughter Margotta who inherited the manor and royalty of Elmore, Co. Gloucester, became the wife of Anselme de Guise, whose descendant Eleanor Guise marrying Lawrence Washington of Garsden, Sheriff of Wilts in 1651, became the ancestor of Lawrence Earl Ferrars who perished 74 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. at Tyburn for m'urder in 1760. The baronetcy of Guise be¬ came extinct in the person of Sir William Guise who died in 1783. To the last they bore the arms of Hubert de Burgh, Gules, seven lozenges vair three; three and one. Foss’s Judges. Peter de Mawley 1233. Of Upavon and Netheravon. Of this baron it is recorded that he was created lord of Devizes 18th Henry III. as a re¬ ward for his allegiance during a troublesome period. But as this was the time of Hubert de Burgh’s imprisonment, when the Bishop of Winchester was seeking to place his own nephew Peter de Rival at Devizes, the coincidence of dates sug¬ gests that of the two persons De Mawley and De Rival, one could have been only the nominal lord. De Mawley married Joan daughter of Peter de Bruce of Skelton and died 1241. His son bearing the same name does not appear to have in¬ herited Netheravon, the reason apparently being that it went back to its rightful owner Gilbert Bassett of Compton. The first Peter de Mawley (father of the Devizes governor) ac¬ cording to Dugdale, a Poictevin by birth, has been charged with the murder of Prince Arthur. It is certain that Kinff o John rewarded him with extensive lands, and gave him moreover the privilege of holding a market at Upavon by the annual tribute of a palfrey. John de Plessitis Earl of Warwick 1235. This nobleman, a Norman by birth, is constantly mentioned in conjunction with Hugh de Plessitis, Nicholas de Boleville, and Drogo de Barentin as “the King’s knights.” They were no doubt servants in the royal household. Plessitis advanced rapidly in Henry’s good graces, and for his services in the Welsh wars was appointed Governor of Devizes Castle, war¬ den of Chippenham forest and Sheriff of Oxford. In 1251 he also became a Justice Itinerary. To raise his fortunes to the highest point, the King had also contrived that Margery LORD BASSETT OF W'YCOMBE. 75 sister and heir of Thomas de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, whose first husband John Mareschall had lately died, should accept Plessitis as her second husband and through that channel convey to him the title of Earl of Warwick. In 28th Henry III. he was appointed constable of the Tower of London; and the remainder of his life is chiefly remarkable for the liberal proofs which he continued to receive of the King’s confidence and regard. He died in 12G3. After the first succeeding g'eneration his descendants cannot be traced. Foss’s Judges, ii. 443. Robert Lord Neville of Raby 1263 Appears to have come next in succession. He was one of the barons who pledged themselves to the King’s observance of the Ordinances commonly known as the “ Provisiones Oxonienses,” and during that turbulent crisis was made Gene¬ ral of all the royal forces beyond the Trent: till Henry having reason to suspect that the intrigues of Simon Moutford Earl of Leicester had sapped the General’s allegiance, displaced him from all his posts whether of honour or emolument, transferring that of the lordship of Devizes to, Philip Lord Bassett of Wycombe 1263. This nobleman, who combined in his one person the ofllces of Chief Justiciary of the courts and Commander-General of the King’s armies, in short, the two principal posts in the kingdom, had greatly distinguished himself before the walls of Northampton, and eventually taken the place from the Earl of Leicester. But in 1264, the year following his ap¬ pointment to Devizes, the battle of Lewes was fought which for a period cost the King his crown and liberty. Philip Bassett who fought near the person of Henry long main¬ tained by his courage and example the combat with Leices¬ ter’s forces, but sinking through loss of blood, his retainers fled; and the King whose horse had been killed under him 76 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, was compelled to surrender to the Earl. He was confined In the Priory of Lewes, and the royal castles fell into the hands of his enemies. Hugh le Despencer, who had married Aliva the daughter of Philip Bassett, obtained that of Devizes by the authority of Leicester and the twenty-four “Bai’ons- regent,” as they were termed, of which conclave he was in fact a member. Lord Bassett meanwhile was imprisoned in Dover Castle, where he remained till the victory of Evesham in 1266 restored his royal master to the throne, and himself to his Wiltshire baronies. It is observable that from this period he was no longer Chief Justiciarj’’, the union of so high an office with that of Commander of the forces being no doubt deemed too perilous a responsibility for one man; though he continued nevertheless to enjoy the royal favours and to be a member of the King’s council. His death must have hap¬ pened in the autumn of 1271, for in the Fine Poll under date 2nd November 66th Henry III. there is an entry of an order for the resident constable of Devizes Castle to give it up, “ because Phillip Bassett his lord had gone the road ap¬ pointed for mortality.” The successor to whom the surrender is ordered to be made is, Elyas de Pabeyn 1271. Whether this baron occupied in his own name or merely acted as the locum teuens of Palph de Sandwich who soon after appears, may admit of a doubt, seeing that on the Parliamentary Polls he is conspicuous for little else than a marriage, out of which, contention grew. The King gave him the wardship of Matilda and Johanna, daughters and heirs of Stephen of Bayhus; whereupon Elyas married Ma¬ tilda, and in order to monopolise the estate of Bayhus; affi¬ anced the other daughter to some person beyond the sea. But this expatriated daughter had a son (Peter Bandrat) who lived to come over and assert his rights against Peter Mallary, Matilda’s second husband, and against Peter de Pabeyn the KNIGHTS HOLDING OF THE CASTLE. 77 son of Elyas aforesaid.* This was in the 18th of Edward I. RoTULI XIUNDREDORUII. During the close of Henry III.’s reign and the commence¬ ment of Edward I.’s were compiled the interesting documents entitled tlie Rotuli Ilundredorum, or general returns touching the state of the royal demesnes and the execution of justice. A selection from those relating to Devizes furnish the follow¬ ing facts. Concerning the garrison of the castle, the Jury declare, that it can be kept in a state of defence for 25 marks per annum and no less. Then follows a list of knights holding lands of the lord of the castle by military tenure; of whom, tho.'e who held at £20 [solidi] or a whole knight’s fee were bound in time of war to do suit to the lord for forty days in the year, in their own persons and at their own charges; those holding half a knight’s fee, to do service accordingly. Walter de Dunstanville, lands at Stert, by one entire knight’s fee. John Fitz-Alan, houses at Keevil by one knight’s fee. Robert de Maundeville, houses and lands at Bratton by one knight’s fee. William Rajmell, Richard Es- turmy, and Humphrey de Schoverille, lands at Littleton by one knight’s fee conjointly. Robert de la Mare, houses in Lavington by one knight’s fee. Richard de Rockley, houses in Lavington by one knight’s fee. Ralph de Wilton, lands at Calstone by half a knight’s fee. Richard de Hetchilhamp- ton, lands there, by half a knight’s fee. Robert de Salccto, ' A memorial of Rabeyu’s posses- for I heawthat your brother I.aw- sions ill this county possibly survives rence will go into Berry’s bouse in the following jiassage occurring in within this se’nniglit; or whether a letter written in 1G07 from Lon- you may go unto his house called don, by John Noyes, IM.P. for Caine, Itabbines, for you had better go any to his wife, when the plague was whither than tarry at Caine, if the raging both at Caine and Devizes, plague do cncrease.” In another “If your hearts will not serve you letter he warns them not to venture till I come home, then see whether near Devizes. Noyes 3ISS. yeu may not go into Stockley house. 78 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. lands at Bishops Lavington by half a knight’s fee. The Jury furthermore declare that the knig'hts here folloiyins: orioi- nally made ward to the castle, but havm withdrawn their ser¬ vice for about thirtj" years. Bobert de Horcheleya [Horseley] lands there, by one knight’s fee. The Earl Richard, lands at Mere, b}^ one knight’s fee. Roger de la Folye, lands at Bishops Lavington by one knight’s fee. Peter de Hymmes- burgh, lands at Lavington and at Hurst by two knight’s fees. Roger Gernun, lands at Steeple Lavington b}^ one knight’s fee. James de Potterne, [the Justiciary ?] lands at Potterne by one knight’s fee. William de Cotes,^ lands there, by two knights’ fee. William Fitz-Luce and Roger de Horton, lands at Cannings and at Horton, by half a knight’s fee respec¬ tively. Allan de St. George, William de Derham, and Owayn de Immere, lands at Horton, by the third of a fee each. Wil¬ liam Quintin® and William Bubbe, lands at Clyve by one knight’s fee. These lists we must conclude comprise all the feudal tenures of the castle at the close of Henry III.’s reign. There are nevertheless a variety of subsequent entries in other records, such as the Inquisiiiones post mortem, which seem to point to additional holdings, as thus—1 Edward III. Henry Estmond and others, 120 acres in the Hew park at Devizes, for suit ' Cotes probably means Coate near Devizes. The name of this knight appears on a jury impanelled at De¬ vizes before Master Richard de Ab¬ ingdon and Master John Gilberd, touching the manors of Steeple Langford and East Grimstead late the possessions of John de Mon¬ mouth, hung for felony. Placita in Pari. i. 186. John of Monmouth, William Guintin forester of Grovcley in Clarendon petitions 8th Edward II. that Adam of the ford and John Bonham had maliciously indicted him for taking a wild buck Knt. was Sheriff of Wilts 1228-9: The crime for which he suffered was killing Adam cle Gilbert a cha])lain at Wells. Monmouth’s mother hav¬ ing been one of the coheiresses of Walrond of West Dean; his for¬ feited estates, thus dciived, went to St. Martyn and Ingham who repre¬ sented the two other heiresses of Walrond. JaclisorCs Sheriff list. goat, whereby he lost his bailiwick. Response. Let Hugh le Despencer late custodian of the forest certify as to the real cause. KNIGHTS HOLDING OF THE CASTLE. 79 done at tlie castle. 5 Edward III. John de Paiilsholte [mean¬ ing Paul’s wood now Poulshot] 30 acres at Chitinarsh, by half a knight’s fee. [A petition is on record from this tenant, complaining in resjiect of 32 acres in Melksham forest which, as part of the bailiwick of Devizes Castle he held of Madame the Queen; for that William of Harden, having obtained a royal commission empowering him to let out the King’s wastes in these parts, had disposed of the petitioner’s land as waste, although it had previously been disafforested. RotuU Pari. i. 476.] 7th Edvvai'd III. William de Maundeville, houses and lands at Edington. 23 Edward III. Henry de Willington, Asserton near Berwick. 2 Henry lY. John Roches, Knt., messuages and lands at Yatesbury. 6 Henry Y. John Lav- ington, one cajiital messuage called Lavington place, and other messuages. 9 Henry Y. Ancareta daughter and heiress of Gilbert Talbot, Knt.,^ half the manor of Broughton. 13 Henry YI. John Earl of Arundel, half the manor of Bulk- ingdon. Under the head of town of Rowde, occurs, “ Richard de Benacre and Juliana his sister hold three virgatas of land at Rowde, by sergeanty, viz., for finding a soldier equipped with haubergeon, sword, and lance; to serve in the castle in time of war, for 40 days at his own charges.” Henry le Oiselur [Falconer] deceased, held one hide [Q. four virgatas ?] at Rowde, by sergeanty, viz., by attending with his birds, on the King, if in these parts at Michaelmas; or, in the absence of the King, on the lord of Devizes. The jury also present, that Roger son and heir of Henry afore¬ said, being a minor, is, with his lands, in the custody of that lord. Touching the state of the Borough, we learn among other * Ankaret, Baroness Talbot and of Gilbert fifth Baron Talbot, by Strange of Blackmere, who died Beatrix natural daughter of John in 1421 at the age of four years. King of Portugal. Sharpe’s Peer- was the only daughter and hehess age. 80 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. tilings. Tliat the Crown held the Borough of ancient royal demesne: as also the advowsons of two chapels:—That the King’s revenue therein derived from the rents of assize, [the assize was that of bread and beer] the herbage and pannage of two parks and two gardens, the rent of a little park and of the market, and the profits of the court, amounted to £29 2s. 4d.: otherwise specified in another return, thus, “Assize of bread and beer £9 11s., Market tolls £16, perquisites of the Court 100 shillings, two bedells 20 shillings.” The Borough claimed to have the return of writs: the Burgesses pleaded causes to distraint; and the King had a gallows here, \_fureas]. Fossa et Furca, meaning ditch and gallows, was a typical term constantly used to indicate a jurisdiction of death and ordeal. It has been suggested that the pond at Hillworth, still called “Gallows-ditch” points out the ancient place of execution, when that power was attached to the King’s court in the Borough of Devizes. Sir Edward Coke the eminent lawj^er of Elizabeth and James I.’s time, says. III. Institute, 58. “ Fossa is taken awajq but Furca remaineth.” In proof whereof it may be added, that the Chamberlain’s accounts for the Borough of Devizes contains an entry for the “mending of the Clicking stool and the gallows” as recently as 1596. Still later, viz., in 1611, King James’s charter to Salisbury directs the citizens to erect a gallows for murder and felony, unless they preferred resorting to that which already stood at Fisherton. Hatcher^s Salishunj. The privilege of Furca as an appendage to their courts was even granted occasionally to lords of manors, together with tumbril, ducking stool, hue and cry, &c., &c. The reason of all this is found in the fact that whenever a city, borough, or manor possessed its own Court-leet, it was totally exempt from the “ Sheriffs tourn” that is to say, from the jurisdiction of the County or Hundred in w’hich it lay. The Jury further report touching Devizes, that the Bur¬ gesses have a privilege granted by the King’s predecessors. PKIVILEOES OF THE BOROUGH. 81 that no market should be held [or levied] within seven miles [leucas] of the town: that nevertheless, Richard de Rockley held one at Steeple Lavington on the day preceding that at Devizes, to the great detriment of the latter. The King’s revenue was also encroached upon by Earl Warwick and Philip Bassett late Constables of the castle, who had esta¬ blished certain stalls in the Borough market, at a reduced rent. John de Haverings, another Constable of the castle, had caused to be made, by the precept of the reigning King, a certain Fishpond [vivarium]: but whether to be placed to the credit of the KingJ the Jury know not; as the King has had no inspectors of the castle since the time of Philip Bassett. [Q. Does not this memorandum suggest the date of the formation of Drew’s Pond ?] One of the privileges above claimed by the Burgesses is the “ return of writs.” Sixty years later, we meet with the following lamentation on this head. “To our lord the King and his council: The good people of the town of Devizes pray that it may please him of his grace to allow them to hold their aforesaid town according to antient usage, that is to say, as they were accustomed to hold it in the time of the good King Edward: For that they are now empoverished and destroyed by farmers and strangers, who make execution upon them by bailiffs unknown to them, and in matters where the people of Devizes ought to elect their own bailiffs. Moreover they have a manifest claim to the return of writs, now intercepted by the farmers, to their great damage. On all which accounts, they earnestly solicit the recovery of their usages and customs as enjoyed in former times.” Itesponse. “Let this petition be presented in Chancery; and to the intent that justice be done them, let them there shew in what form they have hitherto held the town.” EotuH Pari. \tli Edward III. [By “farmers” is to be understood, not agriculturists, * Such may be the meaning of this obscure passage. G 82 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. but contractors for the taxes in Hundreds and Wapentakes.] We now go on witb the history of the Governors. John de Haverings and Ralph de Sandwich Are names which occur very near the commencement of Edward I.’s reign. Sandwich, evidently a man of mark, is mentioned as an officer in the Exchequer, and as one of the witnesses present when Alexander Ring of Scotland did homage to Edward of England, at Westminster, 6th Edw. I. 10th Edward I. Ralph de Sandwich is commanded to con¬ vert the meadows in Devizes Park into pasture land for the support of the King’s deer and other animals. This procedure gave rise in the ensuing reign to a remonstrance from Thomas de Yutflete parson of the church of Devizes, who complained that he thereby lost the tythe of the meadow-hay. In reply, John de Foxley, John Walewyn [altered to John Blewit] and William de Harden were ordered to hold an inquest on the subject and report to the King. The inquest was accord¬ ingly taken at Devizes in 1316 before eighteen jurymen, whose testimony favoured the parson’s former right, and estimated the claim at twenty-two shillings per annum. [It may here be remarked, once for all, that a mass of media3val archives relating to the Devizes Churches, illustrative also of the family history of the Borough, the transfer of property, and the disposition of charitable donations during those early times has been so fully analysed and arranged by Mr. Edward Kite in his History of “The Churches of Devizes” in the Wilts Magazine, Yol. ii., that, in place of mutilating that essay by the process of taking extracts, the reader is referred to its pages.] John de Ewelesham or Evesham 1284. In the famous Ship-money cause, of Charles I. against John Hampden in 1637, Mr. St. John arguing, in the defendant’s behalf, that it had ever been the duty of the Crown to pro- MATTHEAV FITZ-JOHN. 83 vision the defences of the realm, and that by the statute 14 Edward III. cap. 13, the people might not even be compelled to sell against their will, cited a case occurring at Devizes during the wardenship of John de Evesham. “That the statute ”, says he “in this particular was not the introduction of a new law, is cleared by the case Trin. 16 Edw. I. Rot. 93 Wilts in a little Roll, and in a great Roll of the same year Rot. 19 when in Trin., by John Eversham against John Flavel, because he had taken his corn stock. The defendant says, he was Constable of the King’s castle of the Devizes, and having it in the King’s precept that he should provision the castle with live and dead stock, he took an inquest to know where he might best have these provisions to the least damage to the country. The jury fixing on the plaintiff, he went to his house, and offered to purchase for the King’s use: but the plaintiff refused to sell, and they departed from his house: the issue joined, and found against the defendant: 100 marks damages given the plaintiff, and adjudged.” State Trials, [abbreviated .Flavel had in the first instance been fined 20 marks for contumacy in refusing to sell: so that the judgment cited by Mr. St. John was a reversal of the former sentence. Matthew Fitz-John 1286. He bore the title of lord of Stokenham in Devon; and did homage not only for Devizes but for the manors of Erlestoke and Hakleston [Q. Ilaxton near Netheravon]. The annals of this family furnish us with a glimpse of the early history of the seat at Erlestoke. Matthew Fitz-IIerbert, Justice- itinerant in Wilts and other Southern counties in the reign of Henry III. resided at Erlestoke, towards the rebuilding of which, the King gave him ten oaks out of Chippenham forest. Rot. Claus, i. 443. The son wdio succeeded him in his Wilt¬ shire estates was termed Herbert Fitz-Matthew, who died without issue, when they descended to a brother Peter, and then to a nephew John, to whom Dugdale gives a son, G 2 84 HISTOEY OF DEVIZES. Matthew Fitz-Jolm who died 2nd Edward II., no doubt, the Devizes Governor aforesaid. Edward I. was often at Devizes, as proved by the numerous attestations here dated; once if not oftener he dates from Poulshot; while sundry entries on the Rolls relative to the transmission hither of dogs and falcons, indicate one at least of the objects of his periodical visits to these parts. During the early part of his reign. Queen Eleanor the widow of Henry III. was residing at Amesbury Nunnery; and there. Speed tells us, she was duteously visited by her son Edward when¬ soever it happened that he spent his Easters at Devizes. He was at Devizes when he heard of the rebellion of David the Welsh Prince’s brother; and having issued prompt orders for the equipment of his army, he rode in a private manner to Amesbury to offer his salutations to the Queen-mother before entering on his campaign in the Marches of Wales. King Edward being anxious to make Devizes part of the dowry of his second Queen, Margaret of France, agreed to receive it back from Matthew Fitz-John in exchange for the manor of Wrexhall in the Isle of Wight. This was in 1305. The Queen nominated as her seneschall at Devizes John Blewit; who in the first year of the following reign received an order to surrender the property into the hands of ‘‘our beloved and trusty” Hugh le Despencee 1307. During the Scottish wars of Edward I. and II. the castle became the temporary prison of distinguished captives be¬ longing to that nation, as Edmund de Ramsay and William Olyfard in 1297, and David Lindsay in 1315. The usual residence of Hugh le Despencer in Wilts was, it is believed, at Fasterne House near Wootten Basset. For some further account of the estates of the Despencers, father and son, in this county, see the Wilts Magazine Yol. iii. The story of these two noblemen as the favourites of Edward II. is too well WILLIAM ZOUCH IMPRISONED. 85 known to need recital in this place. It must suffice to say that the tenure of Devizes Castle must have passed virtually into the power of Queen Isabella and her paramour Roger Mortimer before Edward’s death, since it was made the prison of his adherents, William de la Zouch and his wife Eleanor, even while the King and his council were sitting at Windsor. From this duresse, Roger Mortimer then informed the cap¬ tives that they could purchase deliverance only by the sur¬ render of their lands in Wales, Gloucestershire and other parts. “For the salvation of their lives and for doubt of death” they did indeed make a considerable sacrifice: but as the grant was forced, of course they petitioned for restitution as soon as Mortimer was slain. See their case in the Rotuli Pari. 4:th Edward III. Sir Oliver de Ingham 1320. Presumed to be the son of John de Ingham [son of Oliver] who claimed Steeple Langford and East Grimstead after the death of John de Monmouth, mentioned above as hung for murder. He is described as a young, lusty, and valorous soldier, who greatly distinguished himself in Scotland and France, and was faithfully attached to Edward’s cause at home. His monumental effigy, still in excellent preservation at Ingham in Norfolk, represents him grasping a spear with both hands, and reposing on a bed of stones; an attitude designed to attest the martial hardihood of the knight. Gilbert de Berwick 1327. He was also Sheriff of Wilts 1335-6. His other estates appear to have lain at Norrington. See Jackson’s List. William de Edington Bishop of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer and Chancellor to Edward III. The length of his tenure we have not the means of declaring. He died in 1366. 86 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Philippa of Hainault ^^TFE of Edward III. Subsequently held the castle and manor, as part of tbe usual dowry of tbe Queen Consort; wbo dying in 1369 it was trans¬ ferred to tbe bands of Roger de Bello Campo [Beauchamp] 1369. Styled also Baron of Bletsbo; one of the most accomplished knights of the chivalrous days of Edward III. His wife Sibyl acquired the manor of Lydiard Tregose. In the course of his wardenship at Devizes the castle was allotted for the habitation of the two sons of Charles de Blois, who were liv¬ ing in England as hostages for their father’s ransom money. That Prince having engaged in a contest for the Dutchy of Bretagne with his uncle John Duke of Montford who did homage to Edward of England, was taken prisoner in 1347 by Sir Thomas Dagworth at the battle of la Roche de Rien; and after lingering in captivity for nine years, consented to pay 700,000 crowns for his ransom, and leave his two sons behind. Edward forgave him half the money, but the sons remained in England twenty years after this event, even long after the father’s death. Entries in Rymer’s Fcedera shew them to have been committed to Lord Beauchamp’s custody at two different periods. In the last year of Edward’s reign, Roger Beauchamp, be¬ ing then Chamberlain of the Household, received, in consi¬ deration of his long and eminent services, an annual pension of 100 marks issuing out of the fee-farm of the town and castle of Devizes : his sou, who bore the same name, succeeded him in the personal occupation thereof. 29 Edward III. The sum of £18 14s. arising from re¬ claimed parts of Chippenham, Pevesham, and Melksham forests, is ordered to be paid over by the Prioress of Ames- bury, collectrix for the King, unto the porter of Devizes Castle during the lifetime of Roger Beauchamp, to be expended in the repairs of the castle; and also in the enclos- DUKE HUMPHREY. 87 ing of the royal park there, under the supervision of the Parson of the Church and the Mayor of the Borough. Nicholas de Sharneffeld 1379. Anne, first wife of Richard II. 1390. This Queen was the daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. She died in 1392 ; during some years after which event, the absence of any known Governor of Devizes [though the King presents to the church] leaves us at liberty to conjecture that the post fell under the control of the renowmed Sir William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire and Treasurer to the King, who about this same time also obtained Marlborough Castle, and whose energetic management of the royal revenues drew from the Lord de Roos the sarcastic exclamation “The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm.” (See the Jlktory of Castle Combe by G. P. Scrope, Esq.) After Richard’s deposition, and the accession of the Earl of Lancaster as Henry IV. this manor was again included in the jointure of the Queen, Joan of Navarre, second wife of Henry IV. 1412. Though this lady lived till 1437, there is reason to infer from the date of letters and of church-presentations, that long before that period, her occupancy of Devizes had been usurped by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester [1419 ?]. This nobleman, popularly known as “ Good Duke Humph¬ rey,” occupied the invidious position of Protector of the realm of England during the minority of his nephew Henry VI. until the ascendancy of the beauteous Queen Margaret of Anjou overshadowed his influence, and contributed to his fall. The hostility of Cardinal Beaufort and the Marquis of Suffolk had long been an undisguised thing. Sufiblk lay under the imputation of ceding away the provinces of Maine and Anjou in exchange for the royal bride: but the secret suspicions 88 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. which rankled in the breast of the young King were simply the offspring of weakness. Whatever were the elements of the plot which aimed at the Protector’s deposition, Henry was induced to summon a Parliament to meet, not at London which was supposed to be too well affected to the Duke, but at Bury St. Edmunds where his enemies trusted that he would lie more entirely at their mercy. He “left his strong Castle of Devizes” on the 10th February 1447, and was present at the opening of Parliament. The next day he was arrested on a charge of high treason by the Lord Beaumont, Constable of England, and seventeen days after was found dead in his bed, without any external marks of violence. Deports were spread that he died of apoplexy or of a broken heart: sus¬ picion whispered that he had been privately murdered. His remains were interred in the Abbey Church of St. Albans, where his monument and that of his biographer Whetham- stede form two of the principal decorations of that venerable fabric. “They hung the banner of his glory Above the tomb that told his story. ’Tis waving still, a faded form, Fit sentinel to waste and worm. ’Tis waving still, though it doth lack The brightness it had centuries back:— A trace, a track of things before, A foot-print of the time of yore, A relic of the age that never shall be more.” Such are the closing lines of a funeral song or Epicedium to the praise of Duke Humphrey, from the pen of W. H. Woods, Esq., a poet and painter of Bristol (written about 1835). If the banner “waving still” be a poetic fiction, a discovery made in 1703 proved that something more than “a trace” was still left of the bony fist which once grasped it. This was the opening of a vault, in which the Duke’s remains, after lying 250 years, were found in entire preservation. Exposure to the air soon wasted the flesh, and bone after bone began to be pilfered by the curious, till now the local antiquary of St. Albans has little else of Duke Humphrey to THE EDINGTON TRAGEDY 89 shew than the skull. A packet of his letters dated from Devizes 7 Henry V. are stated to be in the “Michael Record.” And now began the contest of the Red and White Roses. Richard Plantagenet Duke of York seeking to usurp a sceptre which since the death of Duke Humphrey was wielded by the Queen Consort, plotted among the governors of castles and cities, and stimulated the discontent which our recent disasters in France had already fomented. The first fruits of the conspiracy were the Kentish rising headed by Jack Cade, and the putting to death three of the principal minis¬ ters of Court, Suffolk, the Lord Treasurer Say, and William Ayscough Bishop of Sarum. Suffolk, against whom as sup¬ posed agent in Duke Humphrey’s death there was no diffi- 90 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. culty in raising a storm, had his head struck off on the gun¬ wale of a boat off Dover; Lord Say was dispatched by Jack Cade in Cheapside, and Bishop Ayscough met a similar fate at Edington Abbey seven miles from Devizes, where his own tenants dragged him from the High Altai*, led him to a neighbouring eminence, and there clave his head in sunder. According to Leland, a chapel for awhile pointed out the fatal spot. Why his persecutors carried him to the top of a hill before dispatching him, is not very apparent. One account adds that they then pillaged his palace, attached to the Abbey. After the re-establishment of order, the King came on to Clarendon in person, in order to execute condign pun¬ ishment on the murderers. In order to strike terror into these parts, Salisbury had been selected as one of the four places in which the quarters of the rebel Cade were to be exhibited, while London Bridge was to be decorated with his head. Thomas of Cannings and William Heelyn the two London Sheriffs to whom this edifying mission was entrusted, complained that the service had been attended with great expence, for so excited was the general mind that scarce any one could be bribed to risk his life by carrying a limb of Jack Cade across the country.^ Sir Edmund Hungerford Knt. This Knight was evidently in close alliance with the Lan¬ castrian party. He held the personal office of “one of the King’s carvers,” and his name appears among the feoffees in trust for executing Henry YI.’s will. [This was the side maintained by the Hungerfords of Farley and some other parts of Wilts, throughout the wars of the Roses, “in which cause,” says Canon Jackson, “they liberally lost both their ^Jack Cade’s assumption of the Popular leaders in England seldom name of John Mortimer of the house prevail without this attribute of of March, and his affirmation that good descent. In our own days. Sir his mother was a Lacy, were a prin- Francis Burdett and Henry Hunt cipal element of his first success, owed much to their ancestral status. WARS OF THE ROSES. 91 heads and their estates.” For a short time Farley itself was in the possession of the Duke of Clarence, the prince popu¬ larly said to have been drowned in a butt of malmsey.] In .1451 The Commons petitioned for the removal of Sir Edmund Hungerford from the royal presence as a person injurious to the peace of the realm ; but that Henry had no intention of disowning his adherent is evidenced by an exceptionary clause in his favour in the Act of Resumption of 1455, retaining for Sir Edmund the Constableship of Devizes Castle with its usual forest appendages, a grant which he already enjoyed. These “Acts of Resumption” were among the features charac¬ terising the alternate possession of the kingly authority, to which the faction of the Roses gave rise; enabling the mon¬ arch for the time being, to confiscate, re-adjust, or confirm, the royal grants of land, as prudence might dictate. A simi¬ lar Act passed by the opposing party in 1461, Ist Edward IV. describes Richard Beauchaimp Bishop of S.-vlisbury As in possession of Devizes; the same being confirmed to him by a subsequent Act of 4th Edward IV. Bishop Beauchamp was a powerful civilian, who contrived to secure the favour successively of both the opposing monarchs Henry VI. and Edward IV. Perhaps also the preservation of the peace in this county is mainly to be attributed to him. During the rebellion against Edward IV. in 1468, headed by Clarence and "Warwick and signalized by the battle of Banbury, two dis¬ tinguished men Sir Thomas Hungerford of Rowden near Chippenham and Henry Courtenay attempted a rising in Salisbury and other parts of Wilts; but being apprehended by the Sheriff George Darell, they were tried by a special commission and hung at Bemertou. A schoolmaster’s licence 1461. “Richard, by the Divine permission Bishop of Sarum:—To our beloved Walter Barbur, clerk, health, grace, and benediction. We have granted unto 92 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. thee a special licence for teaching and expounding grammar and literature in the town of the Devizes, to all such as may desire by thee to be instructed in the science of the humani¬ ties, according to the tenour of these presents; such licence to continue in force during our good pleasure. Given under our seal in our manor of Sonnyng, 22 May 1461.” Besides Sunning in Berks, the Bishops of Salisbury had many other residencies, principally at Bamsbury and at Potterne Park. It was in his “palace at Potterne” that Bishop Richard de Mitford had died in 1407. In 1378 the prelate for the time being obtained leave to crenellate (or embattle) his mansions at Salishuiy, Bishops’ Woodford, Sherbourn, Chardstock, Pottern, Cannings, Ramsburj^ Sunning, and Fleet Street.] Bishop Beauchamp relinquished Devizes in favour of Elizabeth Woodville -wife of Edvfard IV. 1467-8. This Queen was the daughter of Richard Woodville Earl Rivers, and sister to Lionel Woodville Bishop of Sarum. Her military representative at Devizes, if, as may be inferred, a Yorkist, must have found himself somewhat isolated, for the partisans of the exiled Queen Margaret were particularly numerous in the West. Her last army, that namely which fought at Tewkesbury, was altogether gathered from this district. “Great numbers of the people of Wiltshire,” says Mr. Britton, “were present at the battle of Tewkesbury and bore the brunt of that fatal day.” Wiltshire p. 23. It was at Tewkesbury that the Lord Wenlock of Fonthill met his in¬ glorious death, when his own Commander the Duke of Somer¬ set struck him down with a battle-axe for failing to support him in a critical moment. Both Margaret and Elizabeth survived the slaughter of those terrible days, to exhibit to one another their mutual wrongs and to denounce the common foe Richard III. After the death of Elizabeth’s husband had been succeeded by the supposed murder of her two sons in the Tower, her situation at the period of the Duke of Buck- WARS OF THE ROSES. 93 ingham’s rising against Richard III. must have been emi¬ nently critical and painful; for independently of the anguish of which she was already the victim, she now found herself implicated by family relationship with the principal agents of tlie new conspiracy; her sister being the wife of Bucking¬ ham, and her brother Lionel Woodville the Bishop of Salis¬ bury being a partizan. The Duke’s execution by beheading in the Market-place of Salisbury so affected the Bishop that he survived the scene only one yeard nor was a much more indulgent fate reserved for the bereaved and outraged Queen. Even if tranquility had been possible to her after such events, it was speedily cut short, when Henry VII. though her son- in-law, despoiled her, two years after, of all her possessions. Before that culminating calamity had been reached, and while Richard III. still lived. Queen Margaret the widow of Henry VI. could thus address her “ I am hungry for revenge ; And now I cloy me with beholding it. Thy Edward he is dead that killed my Edward ; Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward. Young York he is hut hoot, because both they, Match not the high perfection of my loss. Thy Clarence he is dead, that stabbed my Edward ; And the beholders of this tragic play, The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, Untimely smothered in their dusky graves. Richard stdl lives, Hell’s black intelligencer” “ Farewell York’s wife, and Queen of sad mischance. These Enalish woes shall make me smile in France.” ' Other Wiltshire names besides the Bishop’s, in this affair of Buck¬ ingham’s were Richard Beauchamp Lord St. Amand, Sir Roger Tocotes of Bromham, John Cheyne of Fal- stone, Thomas Milborne of Laver- stock, and Walter Hungerford of Heytesbury, Esquires; William Hall Richard III, Act iv. sc. 4. of Salisbury, Michael Skilling of Salisbury, Humphrey Cheyne of Falstone, John Milborne of Laver- stock, William Bampton of Fal¬ stone, and Edward Hampton of Fisherton, gentlemen. These were all attainted of high treason, but soon after pardoned by Heni-y VII. 94 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. “York’s wife” spent tlie brief remnant of her days in the Monastery of Bermondsey in Southwark. Though there is little bej'ond presumptive evidence that she had ever lived at Devizes, the terms on which her successor held the place seem to intimate that the castle had not yet ceased to he a residence, though it might no longer be regarded as a mili¬ tary position. If not one of the defences of the realm, it was still the baron’s hall. Its subsidence into the condition of a ruin must be attributed to the commercial genius of Henry YII., the constant tendency of whose policy was to lower the pretensions of the feudal nobility and to exalt the power of the trading population. Sir Roger Tocotes, Knt. 1485. This knight was three times Sheriff of Wilts viz. in 4th and 11th Edward lY. and 1st of Henry YII. He married Elizabeth (Braybrooke) widow of William Beauchamp Lord St. Amand of Bromham. In the Act of Resumption 4th Edward lY. a saving is made in his favour, in favour of his wife Elizabeth, and in favour of the heirs of her late husband, in respect of the manor of Woodrew in Melksham forest. The exceptionary clause saving to him in like manner the grant of Devizes in the Act of Resumption 1st Henry YII. describes him as “Constable of our Castle of Devizes, steward of the manors and lordships of Marlborough, Devizes, and Rowde; and steward of the lordships of Sherston, Cheriell, and Brode- town.” At the same time John Burley is to retain the sub¬ ordinate offices of porter of the castle and keeper of the park. John Burley, (judging by one of the Herald’s lists) was of Whistley, a hamlet lying at the southern extremity of the park. Sir Roger Tocotes was buried at Bromham. Elizabeth of York wife of Henry YII. 1486. She was the daughter of the last mentioned Queen, Eli¬ zabeth Woodville. The following extracts represent a class HENRY VIII.’s QUEENS. 95 of expenses occuring among her Privy-purse annalia, under date, 1502. “Nov". Paid to John Duffin for riding from Berkley-herons to Pevesham and Blakemore to the lord Saintmond [St Amand. Lord Beauchamp of Bromham?]. From thence to the park of Corsham; from Corsham to the Devizes; from thence to the forest of Savernak to Sir John Seymour for bucks for the King’s grace; and from thence to Fairford; by the space of eight days at lOd the day—6s. 8d. “12 Sep. Item, to John Duffin, for riding to the keeper of the Park of the Devizes, and for biinging of six bucks thence to the dueen, 6s. 8d. During Perkin Warbeck’s affair in 1496, Wiltshire was the scene of no other movement than the march across it of the Cornish army of Michael Joseph the Bodmin farrier, headed by James Touchet Lord Audley, who joining them at Wells was allowed to lead them first to Salisbury and then to London; though according to another account he held a command subordinate to that of Joseph, and consented to lower his knightly cognizance of a butterfly beneath the smith’s pennon. In an old book of Queen Elizabeth’s time called “The mirror of magistrates” being a series of rhyming nar¬ ratives, there is one styled “Michael Joseph the blacksmith’s account of the foolish end of Lord Audley” in which the Cor¬ nish chieftain is thus made to speak. “Touchet Lord Audley, one of birth and fame. Which with his strength and power served in my band: I was a prince while that I was so manned. His butterfly still underneath my shield Displayed was from Wells to Blackheath field.” Katharine of Arragon Henry VIII.’s first wife [1510 ?]. Katharine Howard Henry VIII.’s fifth wife [1540?]. In 1535-6 Henry YIII. and Anne Boleyn were apparently in Devizes and its neighbourhood. The King dates from Bromham 30th September 1535. Though the title of Anne’s father was Earl of Wiltshire, and the Herald’s visitation-list for this county in 1565 has “Bullen Earl of Wiltshire ” it seems doubtful whether Anne as the Queen ever enjoyed the accustomed jointure here. 96 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Thomas Lord Seyiviour of Sudeley [1536 ?]. This aspiring nobleman was brother to Jane Seymour of Wolf-hall near Pewsey who became the third wife of Henry YIII. and the mother of Edward YI. an alliance which sud¬ denly elevated the Seymours of Wiltshire from the rank of country gentry to the loftiest positions of State. Thomas Seymour’s title, besides that of his barony, was Lord High Admiral of England. His brother Edward, created Yiscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford, became Protector of the realm on the accession of his youthful nephew Edward YI. Seymour’s first daring flight in fortune’s wake was his mar¬ riage with Henry YIII.’s widow Katharine Parr, a match to which the lady had no personal objection, having favoured his suit before she was affianced to royalty. So powerful was Seymour already in the Council that they consented to en¬ trust the Lady Jane Grey in the family of his wife who was already the legal guardian of the Princess [afterwards Queen] Elizabeth. Thus he had two heiresses to the Crown in his keeping. But this was not all. An intimacy of a mysterious kind had already sprung up between him and his illustrious ward the Princess Elizabeth, which at length aroused the jealousy of the Queen Dowager his wife. What relation it bore to his ambitious projects for the future, none can tell. His own wife died soon after in child birth; and the catas¬ trophe which eventually overtook himself drew for ever a veil over the deep mysteries of his treason. In the meanwhile, his brother the Protector who was fight¬ ing in Scotland in 1547 became aware of the progress which he was making at home in the endeavour to obtain an un¬ divided rule in the Council. But the King’s affections were not yet alienated from his elder uncle ; and the Protector, on his return to England, had sufficient power to crush the faction which had sought to supplant him, and to attaint for high treason the Admiral himself. This is not the place to recite the impeachment by which his enemies accomplished his THE MEDIAEVAL BOROUGH. 97 death, further than to remark that it is a question of some local interest, how far his dwelling house at Bromham may have been the scene of any of the intrigues laid to his charge? It is at least certain that in 1548 instructions arrived from the Council, directing Sir Hugh Pawlet, Sir Thomas Chaloner and John Yernley' to search the Lord Admiral’s house at Bromham. Lemon’s Kalendar. His lordship’s possession of the fee-farm of the Borough of Devizes will have to be noticed hereafter. (§tnte of tijc Cotoii During the 15th and 16th Centuries. npHE domestic historj^ of the Borough at this early period offers but few materials for comment. The Charter of Bichard II. had granted to the Burgesses the substance of their prayer recited above at page 81, and given them more¬ over a Coroner of their own; but it saddled them with the novel stipulation that all their able-bodied men between the ages of IG and 60 should, when need so required, assist in the defence of the Castle. This obligation is supposed to have given rise to the revenue which, under the name of “Castle guard rent ” long continued to be gathered by the Borough Chamberlains. It was levied in part on landholders at a short distance from the town, but for more than a century it has been quite lost sight of. Examples occur in the Corporation books, thus “1GG3 Mr. Mereweather paid Castle guard rent for his farm at Lavington £1.”—“Mr. Orrell ofCalstone £2 10s.”—“Mr. Topp’s Farm at Stert £1.”—“Gabriel Still, of Lavington Forum £3.” Perhaps it came to be resisted as an unwarrantable and obsolete demand, and was quietly allowed to drop, from the difficulty of recover}'. Some of the latest ' John Yeniley, that is Ernele, three times Sherifl’ of Wilts. See was of Dourton in the parish of JuCkson’s List. Bishop’s Cannings, and was two or O 98 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. entries on the subject seem to indicate such a state of feeling; as thus “ 1678, Received of the King’s messenger for 16 j^ears arrears of Castle guard rent due from Mrs. Bailey, widow, of Etchilhampton £8.”—“1685, Arrears of Castle guard rent of Mr. Beach of Keevil, £1.”—“Paid the King’s messenger for straining from Mr. Beach £1 5s.”—In 1725, the chamber¬ lains are instructed to sue in the Exchequer Court Mr. John Sam well and Mr. William Powell “who last paid the Castle guard rent.”—“1727, oi’dered that search be made for deeds and recoi’ds relating to the Castle guard rents.”—1732, en¬ quiries were again ordered to be made into the estate of the Castle guard rent, and the last notice of the subject appears to be in 1735, when it was resolved, (though apparently no¬ thing came of the resolution) “to proceed forthwith for the recovery of the Castle guard rent.” A small portion of it seems to have been chargeable on lands held by Church and Chantry feoffees. Thus the wardens of Saint Mary’s Church pay, 1606, “ Castle rent yearly to Mr. Kent 15s. 4d.” Pro¬ bably in every case these small payments are relics of the feudal holdings in the neighbourhood, derived mediately from the King in the person of the lord of the castle. In the matter of trade, wool must always have occupied a prominent place here, both in respect of brokerage and of manufacture. The Wool-Hall of Devizes was the seat of the Burgesses’ principal mercatorial guild: it was the heart of their commerce, and a main source of their revenue. It had its private chapel, its registered coat of arms, and its book of records. Aubrey makes the remark that in his time the County of Wilts contained the most sheep and wool of any in England. Nat. Hist. 110. He could also have told us in how many instances the wealth of some of the jDrincipal fami¬ lies in the county sprang from this source, a fact more patent in his day than in our own. Methuen, Webb, Stump, Salter, Hall, Long of Rood Ashton, Brewer, Sutton, Ash, Selfe, Hal- liday, and Yerbury, are names which suggest themselves at THE MEDI-SVAL BOROUGH 99 once. How many more such traditions have faded into ob¬ livion, Leland’s Iti¬ nerary suggests, though it would re- quii’e a much more remote ch ronicle ful¬ ly to testify. ^ “Hall and Webbe,” says Aubrey, “bought all the wool on Salis¬ bury Plain;” while of Mr. Ludlow of Devizes, he adds, that he and his pre¬ decessors had been wool-brokers for 80 or 90 years. A last will and testament Guild of Merchants’ Coat of Arms. of One of tliese early clothiers or weavers of Devizes, named William Salter, dated in 1440, it still extant among the Cathedral archives of Salisbury. Ilis apprentice was John Webbe, a name once very common here and at Bromham, and said by Fuller to have originated in the practice of weaving, under Edward III. Church History, i. 420. It is commonly said that the woollen manufacture was introduced from Flanders into England in 1331,. at the time ' “Happy the yeoman’s house,” them. Yea, those yeomen in whose says Fuller, “into which one of these houses they harboured soon proceed- Dutchmen did enter, bringing indus- ed gentlemen, gaining great estates try and wcalthalongwith them. Such to themselves, arms and worship to who came in strangers within their their estates.” Such is Dr. Thos. doors, soon after went out bride- Fuller’s testimony in reference to grooms and returned sons-in-law, the reign of Edward III. Church having married the daughters of History, i. 419. their landlords who first entertained 100 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. wlien Edward III. granted to John Keinpe the liberty to import his colony of fullers and dyers. That an entire nation which had so long dealt in the raw material, should, down to that period, have remained altogether destitute of the art of weaving it, is of course not to be supposed; but that the trade thenceforward assumed an entirely new character is un¬ doubtedly true. It is during this and the ensuing reign of Richard II. that we first hear of the “blankets of Beckington and the Vyze” as a noticeable article of traffic. See the Rotuli Pari. IV. 361. The epithet “blanket” signifying white or und 5 "ed cloths (as bluetti and cochinelli represented blue and scarlet) indicated an article which, it must be ad¬ mitted, was, when sold to be worn as such, a coarse and ordinary material. This is shewn by a provision in the sumptuary law of 37th Edward III. ordaining that carters, herdsmen, and husbandry servants in general should be restricted to the use of “cloth of blanket and russet at 12 pence a yard” though it is also true that for centuries after, “white cloths” continued to be sent from this district to be dyed abroad. Aubrey’s allusion to the introduction of wool¬ weaving into these parts seems to point to a period almost two centuries more recent even than that just recorded. Such can hardly have been his real meaning; but viewing his statement as the history of a secondary impulse given to the trade, his narrative looks genuine enough. Heniy VII. says he, while living in Flanders, had been so struck with the prosperity of the manufacturers, who derived all their supplies of wool from England, that on coming to tlie throne, he invited several of them over to this country, and placed them in the West, and particularly at Seend, where they built such good dwelling houses that no other village remote from London could shew the like. Here they flourished till 1580, when they removed to Trowbridge, parti}' by reason of a plague, but chiefly, Aubrey conjectures, because the water of Seend was so impregnated with iron as to impart a yellow THE MARTYRS. 101 tinge to their white cloths. The memorial of these Walloon families still lingered in sundry names at Seend, such as Gonpy. Naiural History of Wilts. 112. If Seend was enriched by the patronage of Henry VII. so was Devizes. Leland writing soon after that period, says “The town of Vies standeth on a ground somewhat clyving [elevated,] and is mostly occupied by clothiers. The beauty of it is all in one street: the market is very celebrate.” Lambard, a topographer of Queen Elizabeth’s time bears a similar testimony. “The market continueth; but the Castle, from being the most gorgeous in Christendom, for so was it, saith Hatthew Paris, is become fellow with the most decayed. ” So then the decay of Castles was contemporary with the expansion of commerce. But the fall of the feudal system witnessed likewise the development of a principle of still vaster power and of infinitely higher concernment. This was iCfjc Reformation of Religion. I^XGLISII Lollardism, the term by which the doctrines of -^JohnWyckliffe were stigmatised,'was disturbing the peace of Holy Mother Church in this island long before the preaching of Martin Luther was heard in Germany: and though the Diocesan scribes in Sarum and elsewhere have recorded the name of many a confessor of the new faith whose virtues they were under no temptation to parade and whose fortitude they regai’dcd with horror, yet doubtless many of the sufferers must still for ever remain unrecorded on any roll of human fame. Indeed, the extraordinary success which attended the preaching of Wyckliffe’s band of evangelists itself explains the absence of any lists of these early Protestants. Some few victims from time to time represented the larger mass of secret disciples; and it is gratifying to add that Devizes and its neighbourhood fuinished their “contingent” to “the noble army of martyrs.” The prosecutions in the Bishop’s Court 102 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of the Salisbury diocese become increasingly numerous as we approach the period of the Reformation. In the Langton register, extending from the year 1487 to 1491 sixteen instances occur, chiefly near Newbury, but none at Salisbury itself. The Blythe register, embracing the period 1493-1500 records twenty-two cases, principally at or near Reading, none at Salisbury. The register of Bishop Audley 1502-1524 has forty-eight judgments; three persons as relapsed and incorrigible being delivered over to the secular power, viz., John Bent of Erchfont, tailor; John Tropenell of Bradford, weaver; and John Whitehorn rector of Lidcombe Basset. Of the remaining 45, three only of Salisbury. See Hatcher’s Salishiry. Martyrdom of William Prior and John Bent. As early as the reign of Henry VII. William Prior a native of Devizes fell under ecclesiastical censure for promulgating Lollardy. On being cited at Salisbury, the terrors of a cruel death induced him to sign a recantation of his principles; but heartily repenting of this step, and resuming his former professions, he was delivered to the flames, in that city, as an incorrigible heretic. This was in the year 1507. Communi¬ cated by the late Henry Hatcher Esq., The present generation are unable fully to estimate the difficulty good men had, to think and judge for themselves in that trying hour when the universal voice of the Church was against them, and even the standard-bearers of Truth ever and anon bent to the blast. Here follows a form of recantation to which another Wyckliffite of Devizes was subjected before Bishop Audley in 1517. It is still preserved at Salisbur}^ and was first printed by Mr. Hatcher in the Devizes Gazette in 1841. In the following copy, which is slightly abridged, the spelling has been modernised. “I, H. S. of the parish of St. John Baptist of the Devizes in and of the diocese of Salisbury, being noted and defamed of heresy, and to you, THE MARTYRS. 103 Reverend Father Edmund Bishop of Salisbury my judge and ordinary, being of heresy greatly and vehemently suspecte .... through com¬ munication and ^yords which I have had and spoken against offering to images of saints and against the Sacrament of the Altar; saying in spe¬ ciality, that it was well done to offer to our Lady, but better it had been done to give a penny to a poor lame man .... That the Word maketh all things, and the priest hath no power to make the W ord. And by reason also of great familiarity and receiving into my house relapsed [persons] and certain persons suspect of heresy; and also by depositions of one witness deposing against me that I have said that images of saints be but stocks and stones made by an earthly man as I am; and therefore to set lights before these, is done [foolishly f] . . . Also, that I trusted to see no chxu’ch standing neither “presk or lyfe” within three years . . . . Also, what be Popish religious men and priests but devils and tyrants?: they should teach us as I teach tliee, but they wiU not, for they have the third part of the goods of the world. Also, that we should do well enough and have matiimony and baptism without priests; for chi'istening is but washing the child with water and salt, and wedding is but wedding, and burying but burying. These articles and every of these afore rehearsed, and to me H. S. by you Reverend Father judicially objected, I understand and know to be false errors and heresy against the faith .... and teaching of oxir Mother Holy Church. Wherefore, of my free will and unconstrained mind, I renounce, forsake, and abjure all the said articles and every of them upon these Holy Evangels; and not only these of the which I am defamed and to you Reverend Father vehemently suspect, but also all other errors, articles, and opinions which be contrary to the faith and determination of Holj’ Church; promising faithfully, by virtue of my said oath, that from henceforth I shall never willingly be furtherer, counsellor, maintainer, or receiver of any mis¬ believing or evil-teaching person or pxersons, openly or privilj’. But when I shall have knowledge of any such, I shall them shew, discover, and detect to their ordinarys or to their officers; submitting myself to the rigour of the law provided in such eases, if I from this day forth offend or do contrary to this mine abjuration or to any part of the same. In witness whereof I subscribe with my hand, making a cross X- -A^ncl reejuire all Christian people here present to record and witness against of this mine abjuration, if 1 from this time forward offend or do contrary to the same or any part thereof.” Bishojy's register. Martyrdom oe John Bent. John Bent a tailor of Ercbfont was burnt to death in the market place of Devizes, somewhere about the year 1523 ; the principal charge laid against him being a denial of the doctrine of transubstaiitiation, or as it was more commonly 104 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. called “the Sacrament of the altar. ”Foxe's Acts and Monu¬ ments. Baynton and Latymer. There are few families whose fortunes during the last three centuries have been more identified with the history of Devizes than that of the Bajmtons of Bromham. We first hear of them in the Norman awe as kniwhts of St. John of Jerusalem: afterwards they flourish at Falstone Castle in South Wilts; and finally they succeed to the estates of the Lords Beauchamp St. Amand at Bromham. Bromham Hall, erected in the time of Henry VIII. with the spoils of Devizes Castle and a manorial house at Corsham, and described as “nearly as large as Whitehall and a palace fit to entertain a King” cost the enormous sum (enormous for those days) of £15,000, and was environed by iron-work which cost an additional £5,000. Standing near Netherstreet, close upon the old western road which passed over Roundway hill, it became one of the usual stopping places for royalty and gentry, when on their way to the healing waters of “the Bath,” and must occa¬ sionally therefore have witnessed the discussion and execution of affairs of state, and still oftener become the scene of court- gossip. As the place will again come under our notice, we need only now refer to the representative of the family who, at the period of the Reformation, here held frequent and earnest colloquy with his brother magistrates on the progress of the new opinions, and read in their hearing the solemn warnings of “the poor parson of poor Kyngton.” But though the name of Baynton is thus mixed up with that of the illustrious Latymer, Sir Edward certainly takes not rank among the pioneers of the reforming movement. He may rather be regarded as one of those who were watching with interest the dawn of the coming day; and waiting, not without some amount of self reproach, for that fortitude which the alliance of others only could inspire. From a zealous Papist, Hugh Latymer had recently become BATNTON AND LATYMER. 105 a zealous Protestant. His former opposition to the New Testament which obtained for him when at Cambridge the appointment of Cross-heaier to the University, had given place to an equally heroic ardour for its propagation. He says in a letter to Sir Edward Baynton “ I was then as obsti¬ nate a papist as any in England” .... “I have thought that the Pope, Christ’s vicar, had been lord of all the world; so that if he should have deprived the King of his crown or you of the lordship of Broniham, it had been enough, for he could do no wrong. ” His chaplaincy at Court was another advance in the honours of the world: but when the true light had entered his mind, the Court had no more at¬ tractions for him than the cottage. In 1531 the King gave him the living of West Kyngton in Wilts, whither he resolved to repair and keep a constant residence. “You are deserting the fairest opportunity of making your fortune” said Dr. Butts the royal physician, “pray change your resolution.” But Latymer thirsted for the simplicities of a country life. Leaving the palace therefore he sought his own modest par¬ sonage,” his spirits “reviving as he rode along, at the sights and sounds of the farm, the wood, and the green breezy field. ” Stanford's Latymer. 18. During his residence here he acted the part of an itinerant preacher in all the neighbouring towns and villages. The people loved him, but the priests regarded him with insatiable malice. Every parish Church at that time says Mr. Froude had its special relics, its special images, its special something, to attract the interest of the people: the clergy to secure the offerings, invented the relics and the wonders wrought.” The great exposure took place at the visitation ofthe religious houses: meanwhile Bishop Shaxton’s inventory preserved at Salisbury may suffice for a general description of the articles exposed for public worship. “There be set forth and commended unto the ignorant people, as I myself, of certain which be already come to my hand, have perfect knowledge ; stinking 106 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. boots, uluckj" combs, ragged rochets, rotten girdles, pyled purses, great bullock’s horns, locks of hair, and filthy rags, gobbets of wood under the name of parcels of the holy cross, and such pelfry beyond estimation.” His evangelising zeal led Latymeron one occasion to pene¬ trate even the diocese of the Bishop of London. This he had the King s authority for doing, by virtue of a commission which Cambridge University granted to twelve preachers yearly: but it did not shield him from the Bishop’s wrath. Whilst a citation to appear in London was hanging over his head, he wrote thus to his patronising friend Sir Edward Bayntou of Bromham, “. . . . Meseems it were more comely for my lord of London, if it were comely in me to say so, to be a preacher himself, having so great a cure as he hath; than to be a disquieter and troubler of preachers and to preach nothing at all himself. If it would please his lordship to take so great labour and pains at any time as to come preach in my little bishoprick of West Kyngton, whether I were present or absent myself, I would thank his lordship heartily, and think mj'self greatly bounden to him .... nor yet I would dispute, contend, or demand, by what authority or where he had authority so to do, as long as his predication were fruitful and to the edification of my parishioners.” Further on, evi¬ dently anticipating the worst, he says, “that but for the Almighty hand which had sustained him, the Ocean-sea should ere this have divided him from my lord of London. “Pardon me” he concludes, “that I write no more distinctly, . for my head is so out of frame that it would be too painful for me to write it again. And if I be not prevented shortly, I intend to make merry with my parishioners this Christmas, for all the sorrow; lest perchance I never return to them again: and I have heard say that a doe is as good in winter as a buck in summer.” Baynton, who evidently was in the habit of discussing among his associates the tendency of the Reformer’s doctrines, BAYNTON AND LATYMER. 107 yet had not the courage to adopt them, regrets, in his reply to Latymer, that he could not yet see his way to their recep¬ tion, seeing that they “broke the chain of Christian charity, which required one faith and one baptismbut if people would accept the new doctrine in some honest number, then he might be induced to give credence himself. Another long rejoinder and faithful expostulation follows from Latymer to Baynton. lie stoutly maintains, in opposi¬ tion to the knight and his friends, that a Christian congre¬ gation was something more than an assembly of baptised people; and he closes with an illustration to which his honest indignation cannot forbear giving a touch of sarcasm, “Jesu, mercy, what a world is this, that I should be put to so great labour and pains besides great costs above my power, for preaching of a poor simple sermon ! But I trow, our Saviour Christ said true, Oportct pati et sic intrare: tarn periculomm est in Christo pie vivere telle. Yea, in a Christian congregation. God make us all Christians after the right fashion. Amen.” He adds, that he was about to transcribe this long letter in order to render it more legible, when he was suddenly inter¬ rupted by a man from my lord of Farley, with a citation to appear in London; so the letter must go as it is. This was the messenger of Sir "Walter Hungerford of Farley castle, who served the writ, which had been dated from Salisbury 10 th of January, 1532. As “man is immortal till his work be done” Latymer did not pass, as his enemies hoped, direct from the parsonage of Kyngton to the fiery stake; but we may not in this place follow him any further through his intermediate career^of Bishop, Court-preacher, and Confessor, beyond observing that he outlived by many years his amiable friend and correspon¬ dent the knight of Bromham. Sir Edward is supposed to have died in France in 1544 while in attendance on his royal master at the Court of Francis 1. He had long ere this risen high in Henry’s favour and been nominated vice-cham- 108 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. berlain to three of his queens. His influence was also put into requisition by the King, and assiduously though unsuc- cesfully exercised, to win over Henry’s kinsman the Cardinal Pole, in the matter of the divorce; but the churchman re¬ mained inflexible. Martyrdom of Maundrell, Spicer, and Coberley. John Maundrell son of a farmer named Pobert Maundrell of Rowde was brought up to the same occupation; and sub¬ sequently removing to Bulkington in the parish of Keevil, lived there in good repute with his wife and children. Soon after the publication of Tyndall’s Translation of the Bible, Maundrell had the happiness to hear it frequently read and to become the recipient of its saving truths. Thougli himself unable to read, he procured a copy of the New Testament, which now became his bosom companion and was produced on every occasion when a better scholar could be induced to read or an audience to listen. By this means he soon com¬ mitted the greater portion of the volume to memor}^ and discovered that the paradoxes of the Romanists had no found¬ ation in Holy Scripture. Greater freedom of speech was at that time allowed than afterwards became the rule in Mary’s reign; nevertheless it startled some of his neighbours and offended others to hear him on divers occasions speaking with contempt of the consecration of Bread and Wine, and other such like ceremonies. About this time, Doctors Trigonion and Lee, in the execution of their office as Visitors of Abbeys, came into Wilts; and sitting in conclave in the neighbouring Abbey-church of Edington, received the accusations which Maundrell’s enemies laid to his charge. On this the first fiery trial of his faith he appears to have acknowledged him¬ self in error, for he consented to do penance for the same by perambulating the market of Devizes clad in a white sheet and bearing a candle in his hand. But being mercifully MAUNDRELL, SPICER AND COBERLEY. 109 assisted, he subsequently “took better bold” as the sequel will declare. During Edward VI.’s reign be had of course nothing to fear, but on the restoration of Popery by Queen Mary, bis village home was no longer a safe asylum. Quitting bis family, be wandered into Gloucestei sbire and the north parts of Wilt¬ shire, associating only witli holy men of kindred spirit, and very possibly feeling himself attracted to this district from its having so recently been the missionary field of that prince of Confessoi's Hugh Latymer, while incumbent of the church of West Kyngton. For some time IMaundrell maintained himself by cattle-keeping for the farmers, and by lodging with one John Bi-ydges or some other person at Kingswood; but silence w'as now become an insupportable burden; he resolved to go home and brave the consequences. Taking Devizes in his wa}", for the purpose of secretly conferring with a friend named Anthon}^ Glee, the two brethren retired to a garden and there debated the anxious question of open avowal. Glee’s exhortations to continued secrecy were founded on the direction given to the early disciples “If they persecute you in one city, flee to another:” the resolution of the martyr, on the ether hand, was stininlated by the doom pronounced in liev. xxi. on “the fearful and unbelieving.” Fearful, he had already proved himself to be. In the same spot which had witnessed his former defeat, it was now the time to make aggressive retaliation. In this persuasion he reached his home at Dulkington, where, in concert with two other asso¬ ciates, William Goberly and John Spicer, it was agreed that the very irext Sunday and the parish church of Keevil should witness their confession of faith, Sunday came, and with it the procession of an image. The three protestants solemnly adjured the people to abandon such palpable idolatr}’’, addres¬ sing themselves especially to Mr. Robert Barksdale the principal man of the parish, but he gave no heed to them. The vicar now ascended the pulpit and commenced reading 110 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. bis bead-roll preparatory to prayers for thesoulsin purgatory. Maundrell aud his companions raised their voices against the whole affair, declaring that purgatory was nothing but the Pope’s pinfold; and this time they were attended to. By command of the priest they were laid in the stocks, and the next day carried to Salisbury and presented before Bishop Capon and Chancellor Geoffrey, who after several private hearings arraigned them publicly in Fisherton Anger Church, the Sheriff Mr. John St. John of Lediard Tregoze being present. The usual questions as to the Sacrament of the Altar, the Pope’s supremacy, the use of images, &c., having elicited the usual responses, they were all sentenced to the flames and handed over to the sheriff, whereupon John Spicer spake as follows. “Oh! Master Sheriff, now must you be their butcher, that you also may with them be guilty of innocent blood.” On the following day being the 24th of March 1556, they were led out (probably from Fisherton Gaol) a short distance along the Wilton road to a spot where two stakes stood ready to receive them. After making their prayers in silence, and being uncloathed to their shirts, Maundrell was heard to exclaim aloud “Not for all Salisbury” which words were understood to be in reply to the Sheriff’s offer of the Queen’s pardon if he would recant. Spicer in like manner exclaimed, “This is the joyfullest day that ever I saw.” Fire being now applied to the fagots, Maundrell and Spicer were soon consu¬ med, but Coberley’s sufferings were protracted by the force of the wind. After the body was thoroughly scorched and the left arm had dropped off, he was perceived resting forward upon his chain, the right hand gently striking the breast and blood issuing from his mouth ; aud when at length all thought him dead, he once more lifted himself upright. Such was the witness borne by these three Wiltshire yeomen, who, in the language of the martyrologist Foxe, “most constantly gave their bodies to the fire and their souls to the Lord, for testimony of his truth.” “Thus” says Mr. Froude, “the CHURCH LESSEES. Ill struggle went forward. A forlorn hope of saints led the way- up the breach, and paved with their bodies a broad way into the new era; the nation meanwhile unconsciously waiting till the works of the enemy were won, when they might walk safely in and take possession.” Froucle’s History of Henry VIIL ii. 90. [Spicer and Maundrell are both of them Devizes names. John Spicer was Mayor of the Borough in 1445, and William Spicer was Mayor in 1381 and 1513. Richard Maundrell was Mayor in 1575, and the same name occurs again in 1001 and 1606. Among the Sheriffs of Wilts, Thomas IMaundrell of Blacklands served in 1770.] Ecclesiastical Trustees. Honest Dogberry’s complacent declai’ation in proof of his respectability, that he was “one who hath had losses” seems lately to have come in some danger of being displaced by another claim to distinction, viz., tliat of having “held leases.” And though the alteration tlms suggested by Mr. Collier’s annotator may not carry much conviction to a modern audience, it certainly would not have been without its weight in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the extremely responsible and difficult, though at the same time honourable, position of church-leaseholder was well remembered by more parties than one. While the Faith of the nation was undergoing a change, and the King and his nobles were dividing the monastic lands among themselves, churches and church-property were frequently vested in lay-lessees, and subjected to a control from which in many instances they have never yet become emanciiiated. Some small illustration of the disputes thus engendered is furnished by a letter of complaint still extant, written by Thomas Hall one of the Members of Parliament for the Borough of Devizes in the reign of Mary I. “ Unto the Right honourable and my special good lord of Salisbury, deliver this. “In most humble wise I commend me unto your good lordship.” .“most humbly be.seeching your honour to stand good 112 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. lord imto these mv ueighboiu-s the bringers hereof; for that they are much misused by certain men of this parish which have been the Church¬ wardens, that is to say, John Smyth, Edward Haynes, James Travers, Jolin Adlington, John Blandford, and Edward Helear. These aforesaid persons having the custody and bearing of the parish church stock, plate, jewels, and other ornaments, have sold and otherwise consumed from the church and parish by” . . . .“means, within ten j'ears or thereabout, all these parcels following, that is to saj^ one fail' great cross with Mary and John, by estimation well worth £30: one pair of candle-sticks, by estimation, worth £lo: five chalices worth £20; two censers worth £20; one great pyx worth £5: two ernets worth 40 shillings: one oil-vat worth £4: one shep [casket?] with a spoon, worth £o: two paxe worth £5: two great bells out of the tower, worth £24: and as much brass and iron as is thought to be worth £ 10: and the rent of the chm-ch, which is by the year £8. All which goods and money is not at this present time in the church stock above £o: but doth remain in their hands abovesaid; and thus hath led the parish forth with fair words, promising to pay it at certain days: but nothing is brought forth. And now of late they have craftily used such days of meeting or reckoning when they are sure that the wealthiest and chieftest of the parish be from home; as they did now upon Monday, being twelfth market at Salisbury, and did know all the chief of the chiefest of the parish to be there, made a reckoning among themselves, and so have shortened the debt as they thought meet for their purpose. These things considered, I humbly beseech 5 'om’ houoiu’ to have regard unto these persons [the bearers] for that they be most credible men, and those men as bear more charges in the tovm to the Queen, and other neccessary charges;—one of them, more than aU the company before- Mwitten. This matter is before Master Chancellor in yoiu' court; whei’e- fore T humbly desire you to move Master Chancellor in it. The cause why I write so earnestly is that the parish hath a good opinion in me, thinking that by yom- good lordship’s favoim toward me, I may do them some pleasure therein. Thus being overmuch bold with jmur good lord- ship, I commit you . ” From the Devizes this present Mon¬ day being the 15th of January, by the hand of your poor humble servant. Thomas Hall. The Parliament moreover gave to Edward VI. all the Chantry and College lands not possessed by Henry VIII., and all the revenues given for obits, anniversaries, lights in churches, and all guild lands which any fraternity enjoyed on the same account. It is true there was a clause in the Act, directing such lands to be devoted to schools and to preaching (introduced most likely through Cranmer’s influ¬ ence) hut it was almost a dead letter. The Chantry lands QUEEN ELIZABETH. 113 of Devizes certainly passed away; and even had they been applied to founding a town school, the result might pro¬ bably have been no better than what we have witnessed at Marlborough, Trowbridge, and Bradford. Parish Registers. The early books of St. John’s are missing, but the churchwardens’ accounts of St. Mary’s are extant from 1499, and exhibit in an interesting and instructive form the ebb and flow of the great Protestant movement. Previous to the Reformation, for instance, we meet with such objects of expense as Paschall and Font tapers, buckram for the canopy on Corpus Christi day, priests’ surplices and albes, boards for con¬ structing a sepulchre, midnight watching of the same, a book of the visitation of our Lady, &c., &c. As the reformed faith becomes the law of the land, Thomas Maundrell and others are paid for plucking down altars and removing images ; but on Mary’s ascension, one Bartlett gets 8d. for re-erecting the great altar, the ten commandments and other Scriptures written on the wall are defaced, the rood loft is re-instated and occupied by effigies of Mary and Joseph. Holy oil, holy-water pots, rochets, and green banners, again crave the offerings of the faithful. Queen Elizabeth ascends, and down comes the rood-loft: the studs off the coats and “ the embroidery about our Lady’s coat,” are all sold off, to¬ gether with organ pipes, bellows, and candlesticks. “By land and sea a virgin queen I reign. And spurn to dust both Antichrist and Spain.” Kingsley's Westward hoi /AIJEEN Elizabeth’s reformation is by all admitted to have partaken of the “rough and ready” style. As her enemies were well known to be implacable and unscrupulous, her hand fell alike heavy on all who but wliispered treason to her supremacy whether in Church or State. In other respects she prudently abstained from vexatious interference H 114 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. with the details of civic life, and left her people very much to work out their own pathway to independence. She issued a few stringent laws for conformity, and occasionally commit¬ ted an Anabaptist or a Recusant to the flames: but the incubus of Rome at least was no longer a terror; and the emancipated mind of England rapidly gathered around it those elements of adventurous daring, love of splendour, and contempt of the Spaniard, which found their incarnation in Sir Walter Raleigh and the heroes of the Armada. This seems a suitable place for recording the names of the Wilts gentry who subscribed to the defence of the country in 1588 (extracted from the liepertorium Wiltoniense.) Barnard, Richard Baskerville, Will. Baylie, John Baynton, Sir Edw. Bennett, Thomas Blagden, Roger Brounker, Will. Brydges, Dame Jane Button, Will. Chafin, Thomas Corderoy, Will. Cornall, [Cornwall] John Danvers, Sir John Darrel, Will. Dauntesay, John Disson, Anthony Downe, Nicholas Dowse, Thomas Duckett, Steph. Ernie, Michael Eyre, William Farewell, George Eeltham, Will. Flower, John Gawen Alice, widow Geering, Anthony Goddard, Thos. Green, Francis Grove Thomasine. wi¬ dow Harding, John Horsey, Bartholomew Horton, Edward Hulbert, Thomas Hungerford, Sir Walter Hungerford, Walter Hungerford, Edward Hunt, John Hutchens, Tho. Hyde, Lawrence Hynton, Anth. Ivie, Thomas Jordan, Will. Kemble, Will. Lavington, Richd. Lea, [Ley] Will. Lodge, Thomas Long, Edward Long, Henry Long, John Senr. Lovell, John Ludlow, Edmund Mompesson, Joan widow Moodie, Richard Noyes, William Pinckney, Will. Polden, Peter Reade, Will. Reeve, Will. Sadler, Will. Scrope, George St. John Nicholas Stamford, Will. Stephens, Thomas Street, John Thistlethwayte, John Thynne, John Toppe, Thomas Truslowe, John Vaughan, Charles WaUye, Thomas Walton, Thomas Wehbe, William Whitacre, Jefferey White, Henry Young, William Of the above list, every individual either subscribed or was assessed at £25; except Sir Walter Hungerford, Edward Horton, William Darrel, and Sir John Danvers, who each BOROUGH LAW. 115 gave £50. Whether these sums were ever absolutely re¬ quired, may admit of a doubt, but the catalogue in itself is primd facie of the truth of Stowe’s remark, that, “no words could express the great forwardness of the people in their zealous love and duty towards their sovereign at this juncture.” The regular force of the county trained bands at the commencement of Elizabeth’s reign consisted of about 76 horse and 507 foot; Literary Panorama, i. 235; but they appear to have been greatly augmented and systematised at and after the Spanish invasion. On this subject see the Ilerfford corrcfipondcnce in the Wilts Magazine, vol. i. Le¬ mon’s Kalendar also chronicles sundry letters to the council, touching the condition of the Wilts forces, but none of special interest. One, dated Nov. 1570, from Arthur Gray of Wilton, says, “that the armour of the Wiltshire trained bands was at that time kept at Aylesbury.” The Devizes Corporation books record the arrangements then in force for maintaining in efficiency its contingent of regular soldiers, and keeping their corslets scoured; but they appear to have been very insignificant in point of numbers, consisting only of some score of pikemen and archers. In matters more strictly domestic, municipal discipline in Devizes had evidently acquired considerable consistency and power during this reign. Mr. Chamberlain’s books are kept with great regularity, and well merit more elaborate notice than we have space for. The following specimens will indi¬ cate the character of the entries :— “On the 21st August, 1583, John Scott shoemaker being examined before John Lewen the mayor, Stephen Flower, Richard Maundrell, John Batt, and Matthew Spencer, confessed, that a month past he bought of Lewis Audlcy a pennyworth of ratsbane, which he mixed up with ale and gave unto his wife at night: the cause which he assigned for the act being that she had not used him well. He was put into the ward. “7 August. Elizabeth the wife of John Webb complains before the mayor and his brethren of evil and unseemly language uttered against her by Edith wife of William Martin; which being corroborated by the additional testimony of John Cadby, John Pearce, and Julian Angles, H 2 116 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the culprit is adjudged to ride in the cucking-stool from the Guildhall to the dwelling house of her husband the said Martin, and the cucking-stool to stand at her door. “1585. Whereas Thomas Fitzall had been for contempt and misde¬ meanour ejected from the number of the burgesses ; now, by submitting to Mr. Mayor [John Willis] he is received again. “1585. Complaint was made before John Lewen, deputy to John Willis the mayor, that John North had in the presence of Lord Howard slanderously charged Richard Baynton and Henry Hancock servants to Sii’ Edward Baynton with stealing a buck. North was thereupon set in the stocks and sent to prison, as an example to all others oflending in the like manner. “1585. Bryan Bennet and Walter Stephens, constables, being re¬ quired by Mr. Willis the mayor, by virtue of a warrant from the Queen’s Council, to take up post-horses for her present service, demanded a horse of John Cannon, when his wife fell upon the two constables witli a brock [stake ?] and might have killed them had not her husband taken it out of her hands. Nevertheless he joined in execrating them. Committed to prison. '■'■Mem. Richard Trnslowe of Avebury distributed five marks among the poor in St. John’s Church agreeable to the will of John Trnslowe, 21 Dec. 30th Eliz. “1595. Paid 5s. to my Lady Sharington’s keeper, his fee for a buck. Fee for his Mayoralty [to Mr. Erwood] £4 6s. 8d. Repairing the little room in the chapel 9s. 8d. 1596. Mending the Weaver’s Hall, the shop in the shambles, the cucking-stool, and the gallows, 62s. 8d. For a few years considerable space is devoted to the account kept of small trades¬ men to whom 40 shillings was lent for limited periods, on the security of two brother bru’gesses, in accordance with the terms of a gift made by the Lady Anne Sharington relict of Sir Henry Sharington of Lacock. In 1603, Alexander Webb is paid for his travail to the Court to save the town from serving with carriage for the remove of the Court. [This points to the oppressive laws of purveyance, pnit in execution whenever the monarch traveUed, which were not fully abolished till the reign of the second Charles.] From 1598 down to 1612 various payments occur for constructing a bench in the castle, for cords and lines for the tent in the castle, for the general Sessions of the county. This temporary species of accommodation for the administration of justice seems to have been felt as insufficient, for in 1615 we read “This year was the measuring house near the corn-market erected and set up for the measuring of corn. The same year was begun to be erected and built the new market-house for wool and yarn, and for the holding of the Sessions of the county: and the year following was the same finished, in the time of John Stephens, mayor.” The Borough’s suits with the Crown. 1585. Matthew Spencer, mayor. Whereas there are SUITS WITH THE CROWN. 117 divers suits commenced against the Borough for its lands and liberties, which charges the Borough is unable to bear, the following burgesses offer to lend money to carry them on and defend their privileges. Matthew Spencer John Berefield 20s. John Herriott 10s. Mayor Ferdinando Butler 10s. Thomas Lewon 20s. Edw. Haynes Will. Berry 20s. Thos. Leywood John Willis £6 13s. 4d. John Blandford 5s. Henry Morris 20s. Richard Maimdrell Thos. Coles 10s. John Potter 10s. John Batt £5 Rob. Chamberlain 10s. John Pearce 20s. John Lewen. Will. Erwood 40s. Richard Russell 10s. And the following Philip Fox 20s. Philip Smith 20s. Btu’gesses. Stephen Godfrey 10s. Walter Stephens 20s. Lewis Audley 40s. Edwd. Hope 20s. Thomas White 20s. Richard Adlington Bryan Bennett 20s. Will. Hickes Alexander Webb 10s. The nature of these law-suits will best be exhibited by an extract from Justice Kent’s Ledger-Book, a MS. collection of charters and other documents connected with Devizes, of which two copies are extant, one in the possession of Alex¬ ander Meek, Esq., the other among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum. “ TliG Mayor and Burgesses of this Borough having been, all the time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary, seized in their demesne as of fee and right in divers messuages, burgages, lands, tenements and heriditaments, with tlieir appurtenances lying and being in the said Borough of Bishops Cannings, Rowde, Meek, [Wick ?] and Marlborough,* mentioned in King James’s charter of confirmation dated at Westminster 2 April in the 8th year of his reign:—And having of late years had many other messuages, lands, and tenements in and near the aforesaid Borough, unjustly, by colour of “ concealed lands” pretended to belong to chantries in the Borough, plucked and drawn from them; and notwithstanding that the Mayor and Burgesses have ever since paid chief to the King and his progenitors:—They the said Mayor and Burgesses in the 23rd of Queen Elizabeth, in order to prevent such mischiefs in the residue of their antient possessions, did unadvisedly and without the advico of learned council of law, entitle the said Queen in and to the aforesaid messuages, burgages, and premises in King James’s aforesaid letter of conhi'mation. Whereupon a grant from her, as of concealed lands, was • The property in Marlboroug'h owned by Pilgrim, John Jessop, and George lhason ; the Devizes Corporation consisted in 1617 of also a barn and close in the occupation of sis houses in the Green-ward occupied by Richard Cornwall. Chamberlain’s boohs, William Cowper, James Portlock, Robert 118 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. obtained unto William Envood the elder and Roger Erwood their heirs and assigns, to the use nevertheless of the Mayor and Burgesses: whereas the same or any part thereof was never concealed, but ever in charge before the Auditor of the County and a chief-rent of £10 yearly was paid to the Crown for the same and for the others plucked away. Wherefore the Q,ueen’s grant was void by a proviso mentioned in the said grant, the letters patent of which still remain [1628] in the Council House of this Borough. Mr. Kent’s Ledger-Book also furnishes us with the follow¬ ing history of proceedings. The Mayor and Burgesses at the time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary held the bailiwick of the Borough consisting of the law- day and viewofFrank-pledge, the profits of of fairs, markets, fines, issues, perquisites, and profits of Court-leets, amerciaments, waifs, strays, heriots, goods and chattels of felons, tolls, pickage, passage, pye-powder [Court] customs, liberties, authorities, and other advantages whatsoever to the said Courts belonging, (under 40 shillings in each case) in fee-farm to them and their successors for ever (as was conceived) by the yearly rent of 100 shillings payable half-yearly to the Crown,— until about the 32nd. of Henry VIII. at which time the Manor and Borough of Devizes was parcel of the Queen’s jointure:—And upon a survey taken by the Queen’s commissoners, for that the Mayor and Burgesses could make no other title to the said bailiwick than by prescription, which could not hold against the Crown, they were urged to take a lease thereof from the Queen, which they did, at the same rent; and afterwards they held it by lease from Queen Elizabeth under the great seal of England from one and twenty years to one and twenty years, till 26 June in the 7th of King James, at which time they stiU having eighteen years to run to complete a lease, Edward Wardour of St. Martin’s in the fields, esquire and after¬ wards knight, obtained a lease from King James by letters patent for forty years in reversion of the aforesaid lease then in being; which rever¬ sionary lease of 40 years was assigned and set over to the Mayor and burgesses for the sum of £300.—But to prevent in future suchlike leases to be obtained over their heads, they in the 19th of King James petitioned his Highness for a grant of the fee farm of the said bailiwick on its former footing of 100 shillings rent yearly paid to the Crown; which, his Ma¬ jesty most graciously received; and after many references and much attendance, labour and charge taken and distributed in and about the obtaining of the said grant, it pleased his most excellent Majesty of his gracious favour, afterwards by letters patent dated 31st July in the 22nd of his reign, for a further sum of £120, to give back the aforesaid baili¬ wick with its appurtenances, which was their lawful right;—except as before to be holden as of the Manor of East Greenwich, by fealty, as in free and common socage, and not by knight’s service or in capite; and for 100 shillings yearly rent to be paid at the Exchequer or to his High- SURVEY OF THE FEE FARM. 119 ness’s Bailiff, at St. Michael’s feast and at the Annunciation of the Virgin.” Then follows James’s grant, the original of which is stated to be in the office of the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer in the Exchequer, and is a recapitulation of the issues of the manor of Devizes, heretofore parcel of the possessions of Thomas late Lord Seymour of Sudeley attainted. “A survey made of the fee farm of the Borough by James Symes, Auditor, 14 January, 1651, made by virtue of the Act 12 March, 1650, for the sale of fee farm rents, tenths, or rents reserved, dry-rents and others. The survey speaks of it as “ parcel of the lands and possessions of Thomas late Lord Seymour of Sudeley, and says it includes—Tlie fee farm of the whole Borough and the rent of assize of divers burgages, worth altogether £10. Also an annual rent of £5 payable to the Crown by James’s charter, arising from the courts [recapitulating the items] except advowsons, knight’s fees, wards, marriages, and all mines of gold and silver and prerogatives of the same : granted unto William Scriven and Philip Eden, Esquires, and their assigns for ever by letters patent dated 11 February, 11th of King Charles reign, and held as of the Manor of East Greenwich by half-yearly payment of £15 per annum. Scriven and Eden conveyed it to Edward Northey jun., Robert Drew, Robert Nicholas, John Drew, Edward Lewes, Thomas Kent, John Pierce, Mat¬ thew Allen, and William Thurman, by indentiu-e dated 7 April, 12th of Charles I., by which they covenanted to collect such rents arising out of the Manor of Devizes as were due to the King and pay them into the Exchequer, which rents amounted to £18 12s. 5jd. besides the fee farm rent of £15 above mentioned.” [These rents have remained with little change to our own day. In 1835 they were £30 4s. 2d. paid to Mrs. Eleanor Sutton and Wadham Locke, including the small sum of £5 28. called “rents on Chippenham lands.”] State of the Borough at the death of Queen Elizabeth. Mayor, John Kent, gentlemen. Chief Burgesses or Councillors John Pierce, gent. Mayor-elect. Thomas Bailey William Barrett Brian Bennett Robert Corderoy William Erwood John Lewen Richard Maundrell Walter Stephens gentlemen Burgesses called “The Twelve,” or Common Council. Richard Adlington Nicholas Barrett John Cannon John Allen the elder John Blandford Robert Drew Thomas Auley Ferdinand Butler Thomas Fitsall the elder 120 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Thomas Fitsall the Hemy Morris younger Henry Salter Richard Flower John Sawser James Goslett John Street Edward Hope the elder John Thurman Robert Waite Alexander Webb Thomas Whetacre Thomas White James Willis Inferior or “Free Burgesses.” John Berry WiUiam Breach Rob. Chamberlain Richai’d Dallimore Giles Endall John Erwood Roger Flower Henry Fox Richard Fuller Stephen Godfather alias Godfrey John Hadnetthe elder Abraham Hale John Haskins Robert Hope Robert Morris John Matthew Edward Northey James Paine William Fashion William Pulleyn James I. Richard Russell Robert Russell John Sainsbury Hugh Smith John Smith Philip Stephens Richard Stephens George Watkins James Watts Edward Webb The Devizes charter of 1605 states that a guild of mer¬ chants within the borough had been famous as being inhabited by divers artificers who made woollen cloths, whereby the poorer inhabitants got themselves a laudable and honest live¬ lihood, who are now reduced to poverty, because certain foreigners, not inhabitants of the borough, brought to the weekly market, wares and merchandizes other than corn, victual, cattle, wool, and yarn; and sold them by retail and not in gross, to the prejudice of the resident dealers. To prevent therefore such injury in future, his Majesty’s charter prohibits all such strangers from exhibiting their wares within the borough except in gross or at the fairs. This prohibition, we may be sure, was put in force; for, so recently as the year 1773, the hawkers’ trade having become unbearably intrusive, the editor of the Salisbury Journal in¬ vited the public to imitate the example of the people of Devizes in their treatment, on a recent occasion, of a travel¬ ling hosier and linen draper. The itinerant merchant [our forefathers would have called him a foreigner] having entered the town, began to distribute his hand-bills, when the popu- KING JAMES AT DEVIZES. 121 lace serenaded him with cleavers and marrow-bones, and quitted him not till he drew otF from the precints of the borough as heavily laden as when he entered. King James’s charter manifestly indicates a new era in the history of the borough; the governmental department is elaborated and systematised; a weekly court is established for deciding actions of debt not exceeding £40; and laws are instituted for punishing recusants, that is, Romanists, though their numbers in and around Devizes we cannot suppose to have been considerable. The usual test for discovering their principles was absence from the parish church. Evidence exists of at least three of King James’s visits to Devizes or Bromham Hall, viz. in 1613, 1618 and 1623. In the first of these years £20 15s. is paid by the borough as fees to his officers, and in the succeeding year £22 for his Majesty’s benevolence towards the borough; in addition to a contribution of £77 made in 1608 by twenty-three of the principal inhabitants in aid of a subsidy granted by the Par¬ liament. It was in 1618 apparently that the “entertainment” recorded by Aubrey w'as given to his Majesty on Coate-field, to be presently noticed, as that was the year in which he knighted Sir Rawlyn Bussey at Bromham. Hunting in the neighbourhood of Bromham one day, it is recorded of James that he slew a stag so near to the water in Lackham park, that the owner. Sir Robert Baynard, challenged from his Majesty the benefit of a custom attached to the estate, viz., that if the King killed a deer so near to the Avon that a horn might be thrown into the water, the owner of Lackham might claim the deer. “On my soul” said James, “he was a wise King that made such a grant.” King James’s “benevolences” or forced loans were extracted from the gentry as well as the boroughs. See the lists in the Wilts Magazine, vol. ii. 183. Open war to one of them, viz. that levied in 1615 towards marrying the Lady Elizabeth, was at last declared by a Wiltshire gentleman named Oliver 122 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. St. John, and the case was argued in the Star-chamber. The county Justices who appear to have held their sittings in the principal towns when engaged in assessing the neighbour¬ hood, were holding a meeting for that purpose in Marlborough, when a member of the distinguished family of St. John re¬ solved to record his protest against the entire system in the most unmistakeable manner. The Mayor being anxious to get together as loyal a meeting as possible, and knowing Mr. St. John to be a man of influence, I’epaired to his house beforehand in order “to deal with him in private.” But Mr. St. John was not to be thus hoodwinked: he dismissed Mr. Mayor and told him to expect his answer in public when all might hear. Accordingly the next day when the Justices met, St. John absented himself and sent a letter addressed to the Mayor which he desired might be read out. The letter which was couched in very bold language, argued the unlaw¬ fulness of forced loans made upon the subject; and, as might naturally be expected led to an immediate impeachment in the Star-chamber, where Sir Francis Bacon as Attorney Ge¬ neral conducted the prosecution. It has been usual to suppose that the subject of this prose¬ cution was no other than the celebrated Solicitor General Oliver St. John, who afterwards became so conspicuous for his opposition to King Charles. Mr. Foss on the contrary regards him as an Oliver St. John seated^at Lediard Tregose; but as the prosecutor distinctly describes the defendant as a dweller in the town of Marlborough, the difficulty attending the case is not altogether removed. Still, it is perilous to be at war with so accurate and painstaking an historian as Mr. Foss, and his correction of the error must therefore suffice. Speaking of Mr. Solicitor St. John, he states that he was born about the year 1598, and educated at Queen’s College Cam¬ bridge. He was then seventeen years of age; and Lord Campbell [in his ‘Lives of the Chancellors’] supposes that he had already taken a trip to Holland, and by seeing with A “maske” on roxindway. 123 his own eyes the respect for property as well as for personal liberty, had become imbued with a taste for a republican form of government. His lordship accordingly fathers upon him the “Letter to the Mayor of Marlborough,” against a “be¬ nevolence” then in collection, which was made tlie subject of prosecution in the Star-chamber in April of that very year. To have formed such decided ojjiuions, with reasons so clearly stated, and statutes and authorities so precisely quoted, as are found in the letter in question, would be an instance of most remarkable precocity in any youth who had not even com¬ menced his college studies. But the statement will not bear the slightest investigation. There is absolutely nothing in the whole proceeding to lead to a suspicion that the writer of the letter could have been “a mere stripling;” but on the contrary it is manifest from the letter itself and from Lord Bacon’s speech, who would scarcely have wasted his eloquence on a boy, that he was “a principal person and a dweller in that town,” and “a man likely to give both money and good example.” Instead of the youth who was quietly preparing for his academical course, the person so described was Oliver St. John of Lediard Tregoze a seat not far distant from Marl¬ borough, who afterwards became Viscount Grandison and Lieutenant of Ireland. Foss’s Judges, vi. 476. A “Maske” on Boundway. In June 1613, Anne the Queen of James I. having been to the waters of The Bath for the benefit of her health, was on her way back, and crossing the "Wandsdyke by the old Boundway hill track which was then the high road from Bath to Marlborough, when a scene occurred, which Anthony a Wood thus chronicles. “The vicar of Bishops Cannings, George Ferraby, [otherwise spelt Ferebe,] M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford, was a Gloucestershire man born, and being well skilled in music, did instruct divers young men in his parish in that faculty till they could either play or sing their 124 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. parts. On the 11th of June, the Queen on her return from the Bath did intend to pass over the downs at Wansdyke within the parish of Bishops Cannings; of which, Ferraby having timely notice, he composed a song of four parts and instructed his scholars to sing it very perfectly, as also to play a lesson or two which he had composed, on their wind- instruments. He dressed himself in the habit of an old bard, and caused his scholars whom he had instructed, to be clothed in shepherds’ weeds. The Queen having received notice of these people, she with her retinue made a stand at Wansdyke. Whereupon these musicians drawing up to her, played a most admirable lesson of four parts with double voices, the begin¬ ning of which was ‘ Shine oh thou sacred shepherds’ star On silly shepherd swains.’ Which being well performed, the band concluded with an epilogue, to the great liking and content of the Queen and her company.” This lesson, as it was called, was published soon after. It is described in the books of the Stationers’ Company as “ A thing called the Shepherds’ song before Queen Anne, in four parts complete, musical, upon the plains of Salisbury.” These sort of pageants appear to have been anything but disagreeable to the persons for whom they were got up. “The Queen,” writes Mr. Chamberlain from London, 10th of June, “is not yet returned from Bath and thereabouts, having been at Bristol and received great entertainment at divers places; with which, and the country sports they made her, she is so well pleased that it is thought she will make more such progresses.” WiniooocVs Memorials. ISTeither was her Majesty destitute of the aid of such pastimes in her own train, the Chamberlain’s accounts of the Borough of Devizes affording repeated evidence that players accompanied the movements of the Court. His Majesty also. King James, who was probably very fond of “lying at Bromham hall” the seat of Sir Edward FERRABEE AjND DREW. 125 Baynton, was on one of these occasions similarly entertained. Mr. Ferraby met him at the bush on Coate-field and there “ entertained him with bucolics of his own making and com¬ posing, of four parts; which were sung by his parishioners wearing frocks and carrying whips like carters. Whilst his Majesty was thus diverted, the eight bells, (of which he was the cause) did ring, and the organ was played on for state. And after this musical entertainment Mr. Ferraby entertained his Majesty with a football match of his own parishioners.” “ This parish in those days,” adds Aubrey, “ would have challenged all England for music, football, and ringing.” For this entertainment. King James made Mr. Ferraby one of his chaplains in ordinary. Nat. Hist, of Wilts, 109. The King at this moment was evidently moving between Devizes and Bishops Cannings; the term Coate-field appa¬ rently designating a large tract of unenclosed country lying between Coate and Roundway villages. The neighbourhood of what is now called Horton Bridge may hypothetically be assumed as the scene of the performance. Another of Master George Ferraby’s minor performances was a small publication issued in 1615 entitled “ Life’s fare- mil,” being a sermon preached in St. John’s Church Devizes, at the funeral of John Drew,* Esq., [dedicated to Mr. Robert * Drew of Southbroom. Of the very populous house of Drew, whose alliances pervade much of the fa¬ mily history of Wilts, Gloucester, and the West generally, the Devizes branch first becomes visible in the person of John Drew of South- broom, who in 23rd Henry VII married Matilda daughter and heir of Nicholas Cuffe of Devizes; and hero the family continued to reside, lineally represented, till the estate passed to the Eyles’s. llobci t Drew, styled “of Lacoek” who died in 1734 left three daughters, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, married in 1750 to Thomas Marsh, became the mo¬ ther of Elizabeth Marsh the wife of Solomon Hughes of St. Clement Danes and of Devizes, attorney, son of Solomon Hughes of Clement Danes. The issue of this marriage were William Hughes of Devizes and Poulshot, attorney, Thomas Charles, and Robert. AVilliam Hughes married Sarah daughter of —Bevan Estp and had four daugh¬ ters, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, married to Robert Herbert Brabant of Devizes M.D. is the mother of the 126 HISTORY OF DFATZES. DreiY and Jane his wife ?] a copy of which is *81111 preserved in the library of Magdalen College, Oxford. The friendly understanding existing between the families of Ferrahy and Drew may be further illustrated by the following instrument. License to eat flesh in Lent. “Forasmuch as Mrs. Sarah Drewe of Southbroom iu the xjarish of Bishops Cannings [has been sick] very dangerously since the beginning of August last, and being not as yet recovered of the same sickness but continuing weak and ill, is hereby enforced to crave my license for the eating of flesh for the recovery of her health. Therefore Thomas Ferraby, vicar of the parish of Bishops Cannings aforesaid do hereby license and authorise the said Sarah Drewe for the recovery of her health to eat flesh daring the time of her sickness. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, 18 March 1633-4. Signed by Richard Hughes, minister and Thomas Huddle, churchwarden. St James' parish register South- hroom. The Corporation books record in 1615 the payment of 3s.4d. for publishing the Proclamation forbidding the use of flesh in Lent. But if the butchers were in less demand for a short season, the fish market well supplied the void. Another form of alleviation to the severities of Lent existed in a very indi¬ gestible cake still know'n as “simnel.” It is said that there are three English towns which claim the honour of its prin¬ cipal manufacture. Devizes, Shrewsbury, and Bury in Lin¬ colnshire. The Shrewsbury simnel is made in the form of a present representative of the Drews and Hughes’s viz. William Hughes Brahant, Esq. of the Arm of Brabant, Capron and Dalton, solicitors, Lon¬ don. Robert the youngest son of Solomon Hughes aforesaid married Elizabeth daughter of John Gent of Devizes, and wms father to Rohert Hughes Lieut.-Colonel in the E. I. Co’s service; and to the Rev. Jas. Hen. Hughes, Fel. of Magdalen Col. Oxf. now [1858] chaplain at Surat, Bombay, who in 1835 married Mar¬ garet Sutherland d. of Colonel Robt. Mackensie and sister to the baronets Mackensieof Royston; andhasissue. Although “Solomon Hughes” is said above to be of Clement Danes, there seems reason to conclude that it is primarily a Wiltshire name. ‘ ‘ Solo¬ mon Hues” occurs at Warminster iu a list ofdissentingpetitionersfrom that town in 1719. See Gunn’s History of Nonconformity in War¬ minster, p, 'i\. Solomon Hughes, apparently in the capacity of an attorney, gives evidence in the dis¬ puted election for Westbury in 1747. See the ‘ Commons Journals, ’ xxv. 573. BELIEF IN MAGIC. 127 Warden pie, the crust being of saffron and very thick. That of Devizes has no crust, is star-shaped, and the saffron is mixed with a mass of currants, spice, and candied lemon. Natives of Devizes are very fond of their own simnel; people in the East of England abhor it. Barclay derives the word from simbel, Anglo-Saxon for feast. See Notes and Queries xxvii. 234. But as Lent is not the time for feasting, seminale, Latin or Italian for seedy may hypothetically be substituted; though if such be'its origin, the simplicity of a seed-cake, it must be confessed, has long been lost in the fragrant acces¬ sories which in this as in some other dishes were allowed to the faithful to supply the lack of flesh-meats. Another ele¬ ment constituting its fitness for fast-day food is said to be the absence of eggs in the composition: though on this point we profess no absolute certainty, having already invaded, perhaps too far, the professional secrecy which imparts an additional relish to this piece de resistance.” But Lent-licences were not the only relics of a former age which the civil wars were about to sweep away. Positive superstition and many dark practices still lingered in the provinces. Servitude also approached in many cases so near to the character of slavery, that Aubrey hesitates not to say that “bond-servants were numerous.” It was a common practice for people to appeal to the tutelar saints of their re¬ spective parish churches, in cases of emergency and even in the ordinary events of life, such as going to bed, undertaking a journey, or bringing sheep to the fold. Aubrey instances “Old Simon Brunsden” who was parish clerk of Winterbourn Bassett from the time of Mary I. to James I., and who, when the gad-fly drove his oxen or cows over that “ champagne country ” would pursue after them, crying out “ Good St. Katherine of Winterbourn, stay my oxen.” Paries, of course, held an undisputed reign ; and it was an article of faith that mortals who had once been led astray by them “never afterwards enjoyed themselves.” A bootless chase 128 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. over tlie Beckhampton downs is chronicled respecting a cer¬ tain hind (or rustic) who while riding on Hackpen with corn, was “led a dance to the Devizes.” Also touching a shepherd in the service of Mr. Brown of Wintei’bourn Bassett, who declared that while under fairy influence, the ground opened before him, and he was led into strange places, where he heard viols and other instruments of music such as Master Thomas [Brown] did play on. Aubrey's MSS. Cantelow the Witch. Among other memorabilia of the age some notice must be taken of Cantelow who appears to have been practising the perilous art of the “wise-man” or fortune teller in Devizes du¬ ring the reign of James I. The name belongs to tlie south of Wilts, (perhaps to Tisbury,) rather than to Devizes; and seems to point ori¬ ginally to some alli¬ ance with a power of song. It is certain that a Miss Cantelow was one of the performers at the Salisbury Musi¬ cal Festivals late in the 18th century. Towards the close of James I.’s reign, ap¬ parently about the year 1624, the vicar¬ age house of Wilcot became the scene of a mystery as impenetrable as that of the THE WILCOT GHOST. 129 “Invisible Drummer” which forty years afterwards molested the Mompesson family of North Tidworth. The phenomenon at Wilcot came in the form of a ceaseless tolling of one of the church bells, the benefit of which was confined exclusively to the inmates of the vicarage. In fact, it was necessary that the listener should be not only on the vicar’s premises but inside his house; and further; while the bell was audible enough to a person standing in a chamber, it was immediately lost by putting the head out of window. The affair becom¬ ing notorious, Wilcot was visited by the gentry and other idlers from far and near, whose entertainment at the manor house proved highly inconvenient and expensive to Sir George Wroughton; for, unfortunately for him, that gentleman could not undeceive them, being himself one of the class whose philosophy fairly broke down in the presence of the facts. It baffled even the scrutiny of that Detector-General of impos¬ tors, King James, who in order to certify himself as to the truth of the reports, sent down a gentleman express from London. But the King had his revenge. Young Mr. Francis Wroughton one of Sir George’s sons, who afterwards lived to be more than 90 years of age, was at the time of the above occurrence abroad at school. Conse¬ quently he never himself heard the tolling: but he always averred that there was no mistake about his father and all his neighbours having heard it. He gave the following ex¬ planation to a friend named John Beaumont, Esq. through whom it was communicated in the year 1705 to the author of a rare work entitled “A Treatise of Spirits.” Late in the evening one day “a debauched person” came to the vicar’s house and demanded the keys of the tower, that he might ring a peal; one of that class of gentlemen, we may suppose, who down to a much later period were so enamoured of bell¬ ringing as to be often competing with their neighbours for the wager of a laced cocked-hat or a dozen of wine. The vicar [William Palmer] very properly refused compliance; I 130 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. urging not only that the hour was unseasonable for such a pastime, but that the noise would disturb the family of Sir George Wroughton whose house adjoined the churchyard. The stranger went away, vowing that vengeance should in some form or other overtake the vicar; but not well knowing how to compass such a measure with impunity to himself, he repaired to the Devizes Wizard and sought the aid of his magic art. “Doth he not love ringing P” quoth the conjurer, “then, trust me, he shall have enough of it.” From that mo¬ ment the nuisance commenced, and the blessing of repose forsook the vicar’s abode. Whether or not the machinery of the plot was the contrivance, as at Tidworth, of gypsy con¬ federacy, cannot now be determined; but that it was not dependent on Cantelow’s personal agency seems implied in the fact, that afterwards when King James’s despotism had shut him up in Fisherton gaol for the term of his natural life, he stoutly averred that so long as that life lasted the tolling should never cease. King James’s own death occurred very shortly after, when possibly the liberation of the cap¬ tive brought deliverance also to the vicar.^ It has been suggested that the following mention of a horoscope drawn on a loose sheet, found among Aubrey’s papers now at Oxford, indicates another branch of Cantelow’s art and mystery. “The nativity of Robert Danvers, Elizabeth Danvers, and their children. By W. C. Done as endorsed, when [they ?] were prisoners at Carishroke.” Charles I. King Charles’s charter to the borough, though voluminous enough for the government of a province, was mainly confir¬ matory of existing rights and privileges, rather than creative of new ones; the principal apparent change consisting in the ' It is hardly necessary to say of the above legend of Wilcot have that the treatment and phraseology been modernized. CHARLES I.’S CHARTER. 131 substitution of the title and office of Recorder, in place of that of Town-clerk. Robert Nicholas, Esq., was nominated by his Majesty the first Recorder of Devizes. By this charter the town continued, (with the exception of a brief interval in James II.’s reign), to be governed down to the period of the general municipal reform movement in 1831-3, when, in com¬ mon with the other boroughs of England and Wales, the fiscal no less than the executive code of this borough underwent a revolution such as it never before experienced. As a matter of antiquarian interest some notice might also here be taken of the funds accumulating in the hands of the Corporation in the shape of benefactions to the poor, by bequest or otherwise, which began to be very numerous about this time; but as the severalty of these donations has for many years past been merged in a consolidated fund devoted to the maintenance of two alms houses,' there is little end to be answered by reca- * We subjoin in a foot-note the rules which our forefathers drew up for the eonduct of the inmates of these establishments. “Burg, de Devizes. Tempore Ed- wardi Lewis, gent. Majoris Burgi praedicti. Anno Regni Jacobi Regis Angliae duodecimo. Oedeks set do\vn and agreed up¬ on by the Mayor, chief burgesses, councillors, and common council of the aforesaid borough, the first day of January in the twelfth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord James, King of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., and of Scotland the eight and fortieth;—To be observed and kept by the poor people of the New Alms¬ house within the said borough for the time being and their successors for ever. Imprimis. It is ordered that the said poor Almspeople and every of them sliall from henceforth for ever on every Sabbath day or Sunday and every festival day both at morning and evening prayer and at every sermon preached in the churches within the borough, and also on every Wednesday and Friday at morning prayer in the parish church of St. John the Baptist, together by two and two, in decent order, ac¬ cording to theu’ antiquity [ages] in the said hour, repair and go, unto the church and churches, and there abide until the end of public prayer and sermon; and behave themselves reverently and attentively in prayer and thanksgiving . . . and in their said devotions [shall pray for] the wealth and prosperity of the said borough and of the Mayor, burgesses, and inhabitants of the same:—Upon pain that every of them making default therein, not having any let and impediment by sickness, impotency, or other rea¬ sonable excuse to be allowed by the I 2 132 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. pitulatiug the items. As this province of finance will not be again referred to, it is but a just tribute to individual wardens of tlie said New Alms¬ house, to forfeit and lose for every such default, two pence, to be de- fallted out of the quarterage money of such as shall be faulty; which forfeit-money so defalked shall from time to time be distributed among- the other Almspeople of the same house which duly coulirm this order. Item. It is ordered that the same poor Almspeople and every of them shall live quietly and lo-^dngly, and to the best of their power shall be helpful each to other; and there shall not be any brawling, lighting, scolding, or other unseemly beha¬ viour ; upon pain that every of them offending in this behalf, the same being duly proved either before the Mayor of this borough or wardens of the said house for the time being, to forfeit and lose for the first offence, two pence; for the se¬ cond offence foui- pence, to be de¬ falked and distributed as aforesaid; and for the tliird offence to forfeit his, her, or their, place or places, and be expelled the said house for ever. Item. It is ordered that from henceforth there shall no person be admitted and received into the said Almshouse other than such as be single and unmarried, nor under the age of fifty years, of good re¬ port, such as shall have lived and dwelt within this borough by pains¬ taking and honest labour by the space of 20 years at the least. And every such person shall bring with him, her, or them, such household stuff and goods as thej^ shall be pos¬ sessed of at the time, to be there used to their own comfort, and the good of the rest of the same house if need shall so requii-e, without em¬ bezzling or convejdng the same out of the said house unless by the con¬ sent, privilege, and allowance, of the wardens of the house; and at the time of the decease of every such Almsperson, shall leave all such goods and household stuff' in the said house there to remain and be to the public use and comfort of all the other Almspeople of the house. Item. It is ordered that the said Almspeople of the said New Alms¬ house and every of them shall keep and continue the several lodgings in the said house respectively in cleanly and decent order, not suf¬ fering any dirt, dust, or other filth to be within the same ,•—upon pain to forfeit for every such offence or default, one penny, to be defalked and distributed as aforesaid. And lastly. It is ordered that the wardens shall every month or oftener if they see cause, repair to the said Almshouse and see and ob¬ serve the behaviour of the Alms¬ people, and their ordering themselves according to the aforesaid orders; and, as cause shall recj^uire, commend and encourage such of them as shall not offend in any of the premises; and also to see that the said house be from time to time kept in good repair; and on the general day of account of the said borough, on the Friday se’nnight next after the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle yearly, shall yield a true and perfect account in witing of their accounts and disbursements, of the profits and TRAINED BANDS. 133 merit to take this opportunity of stating, that the labour in 1835-40 of ascertaining the resources of the borough, and taking measures for the removal of a long-standing debt, together with the introduction of a variety of other minor measures tending to the general prosperity of the town at an important crisis, is in a principal measure attributable to Paul Anstie, Esq. 1626. One of King Charles’s minor expedients for raising money at the commencement of his reign, was a more vigorous mustering and arming of the trained-bands, many persons preferring to pay for grants of exemption. The city of Salis¬ bury was ordered to levy a hundred more men tlian heretofore. This was in February 1626. (See Hatcher’s Salishitry.) The Corporation books of Devizes in like manner testify to extra¬ ordinary efforts in the same direction; indicating quite a magazine of arms and armour, kept in the Guildhall. The following is a copy of a document (in the possession of the Rev. Edward Wilton), which has survived the boisterous times which speedily succeeded. “ To the Constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings. 1626. “These are in liis Majesty’s name to ^vill and require you forthwith to warn all those within your Ilunclred to appear before the Deputy-Lieu¬ tenants at the De\dzes on Tuesday the eighth day of August, who are charged with arrears and do refuse to shew the same or to pay the soldiers their wages after 8d. per diem, such days they are called and exercised, as also those who refuse to contribute their part in private or ... . either towards the wages of those who serve in them or towards the re¬ newing or repairing of armour decayed: as also those who hold themselves overcharged. And to warn all others of ability who are not charged at all to appear then before us. Moreover that you bring with you a true revenues of the said New Alms¬ house, and of the lands to the same belonging; and that the said war¬ dens once every quarter shall pub- liekly read or cause to be read unto the Almspeople these orders in the said Almshouse, to the intent they may be the oftener and better put in mind to observe and keep the same. The like orders in aU points are set down and agreed upon by the said Mayor and his brethren for the poor Almswomcn of the Old Alms¬ house within the said borough, mu- tatis mutandis'’ 134 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. certilicate of sucli’quantities of powder, match, and lead, as you shall fin d within your Hundred. Hereof fail you not at your peril. Given under our hands the 3rd day of August 1626. “Edward Hdngerfoed, “ John Dauntesey.” €if)il War. A S this is not a general nor even a county history, we can- ■^not go into the long catalogue of grievances which brought the country into the condition of civil war. If the majority of the wealth and intelligence of the nation declared against the King’s measures, we may well be satisfied that they had a legitimate casus belli. The inhabitants of Devizes, following the general rule which prevailed in cities and boroughs, responded to the popular appeal, but were not prepared to make any potent demonstration when the matter came to blows. The late G-eorge Bankes Esq., M.P. for Dorset, him¬ self a decided royalist, admits that “Oxford was the only city in England entirely devoted to the King’s cause”; while on the Parliament’s side, (says a document which Mr. Bankes attributes to one of his ancestors) there appeared, besides some nobility, gentry, and clergy, the greatest part of the common¬ alty, the corporations, the forts, and the Navy.^ History of Corfe Castle. In the House of Lords, Hallam thinks the King had about sixty peers in his party, and that the Parliament could not shew thirty. Constitutional Hist. ii. 171. 7th Edit. To estimate the value of these numbers, we ought also to know the principles at work. Dodd, in his Church History of Eng¬ land iii. 28, declares that no one English gentleman of the Catholic persuasion was in arms for the Parliament, while on the other hand he shews, that out of about five hundred gentleman who fell in Charles’s cause, one hundred and * The King early sent orders to the Navy to put themselves under Sir John Pennington, hut with the exception of four captains whose ships were immediately brought to, they all declared for the Earl of Warwick, the Parliament’s Vice- Admiral. THE CIVIL WAR. 135 ninety four were Romanists. Industrious Aubrey, on this as on so many other points, supplies us with an illustration. He gives an amusing account of one of the Earl of Essex’s favourite cavalry officers, named Captain Fantum, a Croatian by birth, who spoke thirteen languages and swore that he was shot-proof. He used to say that in Germany the soldiers could render themselves invulnerable by the use of the herb “hardmen”. As a Roman catholic would not have been tolerated in the Parliamentary army, he merely admitted that his father was of that persuasion. But his alliance proved worthless, whatever was his creed; and going over, soon after to the King’s army, his irregular conduct wrought such scandal even in that irregular camp, that Charles ordered him to be shot. Aubrey's MBS. Protected by the influence of Queen Henrietta Maria, the Catholics were a decidedly powerful faction in Charles’s council; and his infantry were, as is well known, largely recruited from Ireland. Of the clerical incumbents of church livings in Wiltshire, at that period, Mr. Poulett Scrope in his recent article entitled “ Wiltshire ” in the Quarterly Review 205, gives about sixty to the King. The 350 livings and chapelries (more or less) now appearing on the Church list for this county, do not of course correctly represent the then state of the Church; for, without taking note of chapels subsequently ruinated, the names of lay-impropriators and cathedral officials must neces¬ sarily perplex the estimate. They may nevertheless afibrd us some approximation as to the number of the working clergy, and lead to the inference that the sixty Royalist clergy were but a small minority in the county. We next turn to the gentry and freeholders. Here, the proportions ranged on opposite sides can never be correctly adjusted. The names of the committees acting in the several counties in the Parliament’s behalf, which may be seen in the tenth vol. of the Lords’ Journals and in other places, seem to indicate that in this respect parties were pretty evenly 136 HISTORY or DEVIZES. balanced. The same Number of the Quarterly Review in which Mr. Scrope’s essay on Wilts occurs, has the following remark, “The real practical leaders on both sides in the civil war of Charles were gentry,” and “The Court-martial which sentenced to death that most loyal and excellent nobleman James Stanley Earl of Derby comprised some of the best names in Lancashire and Cheshire.” “ The Historio Peerage” Quarterly Review No. 205. Of the County of Wilts it may in like manner be stated, that of the one hundred and sixty lords and gentlemen sitting on committees or otherwise acting in a public civil capacity under the Commonwealth, the ma¬ jority are names still in good repute. And yet, names alone cannot always be taken to represent families; for in many instances families were divided. On both sides we discover Bankes, Bennetts, Coopers, Ernies, Estcourts, Eyres, Goddards, Groves, Herberts, Hollis, Hungerfords, Hunts, Leys, Longs, Mannings, Martyns, Nicholas, Raleighs, St. Johns, Wynd- hams, and Yerburys. These names belong to Wilts, but the same remark applies more or less to other counties. The Star Chamber. Before the nation sprang to arms, the fortitude of indivi¬ duals had been sorely tested. Not to mention victims in distant parts of England, Richard Chafin of Meere Esq., was fined in the Star-chamber £500, and an inquisition taken at Hindon to find out and sequester his estate. Hoare's Modern Wilts. Walter Long of Whaddon, for undutiful carriage on the question of tonnage and poundage, was committed to the Tower; and in 1628 tried in the Star-chamber for permitting himself to be returned as a burgess from Bath while holding the office of Sheriff for Wilts. He was sent to the Tower and fined £2000. Jackson’s Sheriffs. The wrongs to which Giles Eyre Esq., of Brickworth was subjected for his opposition to Court measures were expressed in such unmeasured terms by the compiler of his monumental epitaph in Whiteparish THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 137 Church, that his more prudent executor has caused that part of his tablet to remain a blank. Matcham’s Hundred of Frust- field. Oliver St. John’s case in the Star-chamber has already- been noticed; and every one has heard of Mr. Recorder Sher- field’s prosecution in the same court for destroying a painted window at Salisbury. State Trials. The Long Parliament. King Charles, who even before he came to the throne had expressed his impatience of parliamentary control, commen¬ ced his reign by rapidly dissolving two Parliaments in suc¬ cession, with the determination that in future he would dispense altogether with their assistance. For an interval of eleven years he adhered to this resolution; till the armed resistance to episcopacy in Scotland and the outcry against ship-money in England compelled him once more to seek supplies in the old constitutional form. A Parliament met on the 5th of April 1640, and was abruptly dissolved in the following month. This was not the way either to overawe the Scots or to conciliate the English: so, another was sum¬ moned; and this time a body of men came together whom the King never again had the power to unseat. The Long Par¬ liament met on the 3rd of November 1640. As the members returned to this celebrated Convention are highly suggestive of the state of feeling in the county of Wilts, the entire list is here appended; the letter B indicating those who joined the royalist party in the course of the war. For the County. Sir James Thynne, R. Sir Henry Ludlow. Bedavyn. Sir Walter Smith, R. Richard Harding, R. Calne. George Lowe, R. Hugh Roger. Chippenham. Sir Edward Baynton, Sir Edward Hungerford. Cricklade. Robert Jenner, Thomas Hodges. Devizes. Colonel Edward Baynton, Sergeant Robert Nicholas. Downton. Sir Edward Griffith, R. Alexander Thistlethwayte. Heytesbury. Thomas Moore, Edward Ashe. Hindon. Robert Reynolds, R. Thomas Bennet. 138 HISTORY OF DKVIZES. Ludgershall. William Asliburnam, R. Sir John Evelyn of West Dean. Malmesbury. Sir Nevill Poole, Anthony Himgerford, R. Marlborough. John Franklyn, Sir Francis Seymour, R. Old Sarum. Eobert Cecil, Sir William Saville, R. Salisbury. Michael Oldsworth, Sergeant Eobert Hyde, R. Westbury. William Wheeler, John Ashe. Wilton. Sir Henry Vane, Sir Benjamin Eudyard. Wootten-Bassett. Edward Poole, William Pleydell, R. The proportions in the above are 22 parliamentarians to 12 royalists, a much larger relative majority of the former than prevailed generally in the House when the hour of trial com¬ menced. See the Order for supplying vacant seats in 1646, Carlyle’s List of the Long Rarliament, and other Parliamentary llistories. Of the Devizes members, though both were Par¬ liamentarians, Sergeant Eobert Nicholas (to be noticed more especially hereafter on the occasion of Archbishop Laud’s trial) was the more emphatic commonwealthsman of the two; and his conduct in the House appears to have met with the full approval of his constituents, for in 1641 the Corporation books record the payment of “£20 to Mr. Nicholas as a gratuity for his pains and expences in Parliament.” Edward Baynton’s name also becomes conspicuous enough in the army movements. He was early appointed one of the Commissioners to reside in the Scots army; and it is presumed he is the same person who signed the summons to the city of Hereford, 31 July 1645. While the members of the Long Parliament were drawing together, there was observed in many of them, says Clarendon, “a marvellous elated countenance” as they conversed in an ominously “new dialect both of persons and things,” and gathered their forces for a root and branch reformation. How vigorously they entered on that important work, it is not the province of the local historian to recount; and we must there¬ fore pass on to the period when the conflicting claims of SIR EDWARD BAYNTON. 139 Kingly prerogative on the one hand and Parliamentary pri¬ vilege on the other appealed to “the push of pike.” 1641. A committee was appointed by the House to inves¬ tigate cases of vigorous execution of the levying of ship-money: on a report from the said committee by Sir Edward Hunger- ford, order was given to arrest as offenders in a very high nature Edmund Brinsden [of Marlborough ?] William Blackden constable of Whorwelsdown Hundred, Michael Tidcombe of the Devizes, and William Smyth. Itli January. Michael Tidcombe was an attorney of Devizes, and Mayor of the Borough in 1643. His official connexion with the Royalists brought him, as we shall hereafter see, into great trouble. “It is almost universally admitted, that the King’s attempt to seize the five members of the Commons, in the House itself, was the commencement of the war. It was certainly the very act which immediately led to it. From that moment, com¬ promise was impossible, resistance was indispensable.” Carey’s Memorials, xxxiii. The first military movements in Wiltshire were the simultaneous actions, of the King’s party on the one hand, putting the “commission of array” in execution; and on the other, the nomination of the Earl of Pembroke as Lord-lieutenant of Wilts, Somerset and Gloucestershire to raise the Militia in the Parliament’s behalf. This was in August 1642. The principal depots of the North Wilts Militia were Devizes and Malmesbury; though lines of fortification were not drawn around either of these places till the war had considerably advanced. On the 25th of August the Earl wrote to the House, to say that he had succeeded in putting the Militia in execution in divers hundreds ; that he found an extraordinary appearance, with great numbers of volunteers; the county generally expressing their firm and constant resolution to aid and assist the Parliament on all occasions. The command in chief of the Wiltshire forces, together with the executive ordinance to raise moneys in this county, was committed by the Earl to Sir Edward Baynton; who. 140 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. either as a guarantee of his good faith, or more probably seeking a securer asylum for his treasures than Bromham Hall seemed to furnish, forthwith transferred the bulk of his moveable personal property, consisting of several trunks full of plate and money, to the Isle of Wight, which at that moment was under the government of his friend the Earl of Pembroke. Sir Edward’s nomination to so important a post in the county of Wilts was manifestly dictated by feelings of personal regard, the knight having already held military ofl&ce under two Earls of Pembroke for twenty years past; for though he was not destitute of the influence which wealth and long standing in the county gave to his family, yet the reputation which he at the same time bore among good fellows, or as they were then termed “ roaring boys,” seems to have been felt as unfitting him for the post of leader at so momen¬ tous a crisis. Such at least may be gathered from the general tenour of the newspaper reports. It was not therefore with¬ out a certain basis of truth that a set of charges were levelled against him from some private press, in the form of a letter purporting to be written by a Devizes burgess, and representing Sir Edward’s conduct in this town as capricious, tyrannical, and unpopular. That the entire letter, as such, is a forgery, there can be no doubt; though it is possible enough that its sentiments were held by some of the townsfolk; and equally credible that the actions attributed to Baynton were matters of fact, such as his committing the mayor to prison for uttering the King’s proclamation, punishing a boy for firing a squib, and causing the borough officials to be placed in the stocks which he had just ordered them to repair. The compiler of Eushworth’s Collection, observes in his preface, referring to the numerous literary forgeries of the liour—“Such practices and the experience I had thereof, and the impossibility of any man in after ages to ground a true history by relying on the printed pamphlets in our days, which passed the press while it was without control, obliged SIK EDWARD BAYNTON. 141 me to all the pains and charges I have been at, to make a great collection; and while things were fresh in memory, to separate truth from falsehood.” The letter from Devizes is not in Rush worth; neither is another letter, similar in style and spirit, which about the same time came professedly from Marlborough. Both of them look very like the performances of Edward Hyde (afterwards Lord Clarendon); and as that writer boasts in his autobio¬ graphy of his skill in this fictitious species of composition, it is no uncharitableness to give him the benefit of the invention.^ ^ “ His Majesty one day speaking with the Lord Falkland very gra¬ ciously concerning Mr. Hyde, said he had such a peculiar style that he should know any thing written by him, if it were brought to him by a stranger, among a multitude of wri¬ tings by other men. The Lord Falkland answered, he doubted his Majesty could hardly do that, be¬ cause he himself who had so long conversation and friendship with him, was often deceived, and often met with things written by him, of which he could never have suspected him. To which the King replied, he would lay him an angel [a ton shilling coin] that let the argument be what it would, he should never bring him a sheet of paper of his writing, but he would discover it to be his. The Lord Falkland told him it should be a wager, but neither the one nor the other ever mentioned it to Mr. Hyde. Some days after, the Lord Falkland brought several packets which he had just received from London to the King before he had opened them, as he used to do: and after he had read his several letters of intelli¬ gence, he took out the prints of Diurnals of speeches and the like; and among the rest, there were two speeches, the one by the Lord Pem¬ broke for an accommodation, the other by the Lord Brook against it. The King was very much pleased with reading the speeches, and said, he did not think that Pembroke cordd speak so long together, though every word was so much his own, that nobody else could make it. And so after he had pleased himself with reading the speeches over again, and then passed to other papers, the Lord Falkland whispered in his ear de¬ siring he would pay him the angel, which his Majesty in the instant apprehending, blushed, and putting his hand into his pocket, gave it to him. The King was very merry upon it, and would often afterwards call upon Mr. Hyde for a [forged] speech or a letter, which he prepared upon several occasions; and the King always commanded them to bo printed. And he [Clarendon] was often wont to say, many years after, that he would be very glad could he make a collection of all those papers, which he could never do, though ho got many of them.” Clarendoti’s Life written by himself, page 69. See further on this topic, Godtvin'a Commomcealth, vol i. page 396. 142 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. A Letter sent from Devizes to a friend in Salisbury, printed for W. Webb, 1643. Shewing the condition of the town, the affections of the inhabitants, and the behaviour of Sir Edward Baynton. “Sir, I received your letter by Master E. C. which you seem to have writ in such an agony of spirit, that truly I should have wondered at such emphatical expressions had I not measured out your grief with mine own. For, whether by sympathy or chance, you seem so well acquainted with the anguish of my soul, that I read my own thoughts in a truer character of your pen than I am able to give myself. Toge¬ ther with your letter I received your token, which, though sent to me, yet my wife desired me to resign the thanking part to her; because it did her so much honour at her child’s christening, which, as it was born a prisoner, (for what they call a garrison may by a truer phrase be styled a gaol) so it was not long ere it obtained an enlargement: for the Epi¬ phany brought it into the world, and the Purification sent it out again. I will not say my turn is next; but yet I must tell you that when they have taken away our livelihoods, I know not what afterwards will content them but our lives. For Sir Edward Baynton hath lorded it with such an ex¬ quisite tyranny that he hath converted more to the King’s side by persecution than I have been able to win either by my rhetoric or my reason: so that many of our inhabitants whom his cruelty found rebellious, it hath rendered loyal. ’Tis true indeed the town hath entertained them [the Parlia¬ ment’s forces] : but to the best sort, I am sure, as they were never invited, so they are not welcome. Nor can you so properly say that we let them into the town, as that we were not provided to keep them out. We had given up our hands to his Majesty’s service, as we have always done our hearts, but that we lay as naked' as that truth we side with. Nay, ' Meaning that the town was un- otherwise they would have declared provided with lines of fortification; for the King. SIR EDWARD BAYNTON. 143 we would yet leave our houses to lose our lives with the King were we not narrowly observed, not only by a Janus who hath two eyes, but by an Argus who is all eyes; and did not their garrison serve as well to keep us in the town as to keep the King out of it. Now, Sir, when the King shall take this town, as I doubt not but he will, because it will be hard to mow down the tares without cutting some corn, I could wish that Mr. Mayor,^ of whose loyalty I shall tell you anon, might give up a catalogue of such men who have been zealously well-affected to the King’s cause, lest our misfortune be pun¬ ished like their sin ; and lest we suffer, like the stork in the fable, only for being in the company of those unlucky birds. I confess it is better that we should fall in the common con¬ fusion of the town, than that they should longer be industrious in their own calamity, by lifting their hands against their head. Yet it is a miserable happiness which the tragedian so much commends, omnia secum comimpta ferre; and ’tis pity (though to be dispensed with) that in the hurry and confusion of a conquering siege, we should suffer by the King’s forces who have so long suffered for them. And what our sufferings are, you may guess by this, that we are by so much in a poorer condition than those that have least, by how much we are more liable to the loss of all. Did his proud knightship amerce us to nineteen parts of our estates, we might call the twentieth ours : but alas we are become mere stewards of our own; and are made accountable for so much more than we were ever worth, that the reputation we have with creditors doth only purchase this good to us—to be less worth than nothing. ■ Richard Pearco was Mayor in 1642. Michael Tidcombe in 1643, both of them, royalists. The writer of the above letter would say, and perhaps with truth, that it was by compulsion that Mr. Mayor figured in the previous autumn as an agent for the Pai’liaraent, when he arrested one Thomas Rowe a servant of Lord Cottington on suspicion that he was the bearer of intelligence between his master and the Lord Strange, and sent him in custody to London. Commons Journals 30 Sep. 1642. 144 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. “ My blunt neighbour in the Briteaux [Brittox] was so strangely moved at this unhandsome usage, that he was so downright as to say in the public Court, that the Commision of array, if it were so bad as they make it [appear] was yet far better than the settling of the militia; for that, said he, was pretended to take away but the tenth part; whereas this, if it continue, will not leave us one. And being told that Sir EdwardBaynton gave commission for those taxes; ‘If he were ten Bayntons,’ answered the butcher, ‘he should be chopped as small as herbs to the pot before he should play the tyrant here.’ We admired [wondered] that these words should escape unpunished by him [Sir Edward] (unless by a strange good fortune they were hushed up) who had so often belaboured the most sufficient of our town, for no other reason than to try the mettle of his cudgel. He made the officers provide a lock for the stocks; and, Phalaris like, gave them the first fruits of their own labours. His most unworthy piece of cruelty was to give a child that punishment for letting off a squib which was due to a soldier for false alarm. But the master-piece of insolency was against the Mayor of the town, a man of that known integrity and of such general good esteem in the place that we had ransomed his liberty, though with the loss of our own, had not his charity been as great as was his innocence. And as Sir Edward can find no fault with his Majesty but that he is King of England, so he could find none in the Mayor but that he was the vicegerent of the King. For though he stood guilty of no other crime than the execution of his Majesty’s command by the public reading of his proclamation, yet this usurper of Majesty (for he hath used more authority than the greatest Generalissimo I ever read of) did not only turn him out of the Mayoralty but turned him into a blind prison; where when he had lain two days and two nights, without a bed so much as of straw, he was imprisoned the other seven in the Bailiffs’ ward: which the good gentleman suffered with such pleasantness and SIR EDWARD BAYNTON. 145 equanimity, that had I not known him of a generous disposi¬ tion I should have called his moderation food-hardiness. At the Mayor’s freedom, Sir Edward told him, that ‘if he con¬ temned him he contemned the Parliament,—if the Parliament, the people.’ ‘And if you,’ answered the Mayor, ‘offer injury to me who am the King’s deputy, you offer it to the King.’ . . . . At which Sir Edward being moved, after a pretty many valiant and, as he thought, becoming oaths, as you know he is not overstored with reason, I know not by what hap he made a shift to reply, that ‘ if he kept not his tongue in his head he should not keep his head on his shoulders; and so left him.’ “ Nor is this rare tyranny confined to the narrow limits of our town, but spreads itself through the whole county, by commanding great sums out of small tythings, with such menaces on their failing that they shall undergo as much as either cruelty can inflict or patience suffer. This, Sir, is such admirable incivility that I know not whom to name with Sir Edward Baynton in Wiltshire but the Lord Stamford in Hereford; and we find it possible by this sad experience, to be a knight and yet no gentleman. I told you when we were going to Bristol what would be the issue of those fine words. Privilege and Liberty, Parliament and Subject; and you see by the event that my fears were oracles. For whatsoever is pretended, some malcontented persons are grown sick of Monarchy ; and it is my daily prayer that either they may be suddenly restored to health or that they may die of their disease. “ Thus, Sir, I have disburdened my thoughts, perhaps to the burdening of yours; but you must pardon my tedious pro¬ lixity, since I cannot tell whether I shall ever have so safe and cunning opportunity of writing to you as this is. And therefore with my best respects to yourself and that good old gentleman, to whom pray remember me as passionately as if I took my last leave, I rest. Your faithful friend and servant, “E. A.” k; 146 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Edgehill and Brentford were the scenes of the two conflicts distinguishing' the campaign of 1642. The ensuing Christmas was darkened by the smoking ruins of Marlborough, and February saw the town of Cirencester involved in a similar disaster. So decidedly paramount were the Royal arms at the commencement of hostilities that fears were already enter¬ tained that even Bristol' might succumb to a conp-de-main. The particulars of the sacking of Cirencester were communi¬ cated to the House through the medium of a letter written from Devizes, (See the Commons’ Journals, 6th Feb. 1643,) a circumstance indicating that the passage to London direct, was totally intercepted by the Oxford forces. The people of Cirencester had been greatly exasperated against their neigh¬ bour Lord Chandos whom they at first supposed favourable to their cause. On his appearance in the town, the townsfolk and militia, led on by the Earl of Stamford, drove him off with such precipitation, that he left his coach behind him, which the populace immediately broke to pieces. They even pursued him to his castle of Sudeley, and seem to have then and there secured his person, for it is certain that the King¬ dom’s Weekly Intelligencer 31 January declares that he was carried prisoner to Devizes. While the Cicestrians were thus engaged. Prince Rupert stole between them and their town; and before relief could be brought up from Devizes or Malmes¬ bury, took the place by assault. There seems even reason to 1 From the Earl of Stamford to the Speaker of the House of Peers, reporting progress in the West. “Bristol, 19 Dec. 1642. “My Loei). I hope long before this time your lordships have heard of the securing of this important place of Bristol. Before my coming hither I was informed in my march from Hereford that some commotion had happened since the arrival of my forces there under the command of Colonel Essex. But such was his diligence that I found all things in good order. ... I am this day going to the Bath to meet the gentlemen of Somersetshire; on the morrow to the Devizes to meet the gentlemen of Wiltshire; the next day to Marshfield for those of Gloster- shire: and I doubt not but to pre¬ pare a very considerable army to be drawn together within three days. . . . . and remain, My Lord, Your lordship’s most humble ser¬ vant “Stamfoede.” BAYNTON AND HUNGERFORD QUARREL. 147 think that it was twice pillaged during this winter, and that the transaction just related was not the first affair. Cirencester, previous to its capture, had been selected as a centre of operations for the three associated counties, and great efibrts were being made to render it available for de¬ fence. Not only were these designs for a while defeated, but the disaster was followed by an open rupture between the families of Baynton and Hungerford, arising ostensibly out of a want of co-operation in the critical hour, but no doubt springing originally from the jealousy of rival aspirants for the supreme command of the Wilts Militia. Baynton had not only neglected to send relief to Cirencester, but was re¬ ported to have even issued commands for disbanding the troops both at Malmesbury and Devizes ; an unfounded report apparently, but one which induced the twm towns to send exjoresses to Sir Edward Hungerford [at Bath ?] desiring his advice and assistance. He repaired accordingly to Malmes¬ bury, reorganised the scattered troops and wrote to Sir Edward Baynton at Devizes demanding an explanation of his conduct. Baynton without deigning to reply, concerted measures for securing the person of his rival, and with that view dispatched to Malmesbury a body of 140 cavalry under the command of his lieutenant Edward Eyre, who professing to have come up in the Parliament’s behalf was entertained by Hungerford without suspicion. Lieutenant Eyre, as soon as he could execute his plans without exciting apprehension, dismissed Sir Edward Hungerford’s watch, who were already \veary with three nights’ duty, and proceeded to set one in his own interest. Then having disarmed the remainder of the soldiers, he brought six of his own musketeers in the dead of night, to Hungerford’s chamber-door, entered the room alone, drew aside the curtains, and presenting a cocked pistol to Sir Edward’s breast, announced to him that he had Baynton’s warrant to arrest him, and that his only safety lay in quietly submitting to set out immediately for Cirencester, where he K 2 148 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. would be made acquainted with the charges brought against him. But before this design could be efficiently executed, the Malmesbury volunteers rallied round their new General, and took Lieutenant Eyre prisoner a short distance from the town. Even Baynton himself, having arrived from Devizes with 600 men, was set upon in his lodgings, and together with his lieutenant, carried to Gloucester in close custody. So much excitement had the affair occasioned that the news of Hungerford’s danger having reached Cirencester, a thou¬ sand men turned out to rescue him, and met him near Tetbury at the moment of his re-capture. Such was the account of this transaction as it was published in London by Hungerford’s friends. Various rumours were afloat as to Baynton’s motive in the affair; some declaring that the King had offered him a pardon if he would bring Hungerford a prisoner to Oxford, and another writer adding HUNGERFORD AND BAYNTON. 149 by way of a flourish, that when he was taken, a copy of the King’s Commission of array was found in his pocket. The SjMcialPassages says,is, confirmed that Sir Edward Bayn- ton had a design of carrying Sir Edward Hungerford to Oxford. You may see by this what confidence is to be placed in roaring boys.” January 17 to 24. Another news-monger congratulates his readers that “ the naughtiness of the man ” was at last discovered, otherwise they had all been undone; for he was to have the command of all the county of Wilts to himself. He is to be sent up to London, where a declaration is already drawn out against him. This says he, “is all the news we have now, and that the cavaliers are beaten off from Ciciter.” Baynton was in due time sent up to London, and though all restriction was soon after removed from his person and he was allowed to resume his place in the House, we may gather from the following motion what was the general feeling re¬ specting his conduct. “Resolved, that Sir Edward Hunger¬ ford be recommended unto my Lord General [Essex] to grant him a commission to command the forces in chief in Wiltshire, in like manner as Sir Edward Baynton did—Resolved also, that the same ordinance that was granted to Sir Edward Baynton for raising moneys in Wilts shall be granted to Sir Edward Hungerford mutatis mutandis. 31 January 1643.” This disagreement between the families even led to an affray in the precincts of the House of Commons. On the 27th February, the House having been made acquainted that there was a quarrel between Mr. Baynton one of their members, and Mr. Giles Hungerford, demanded of Mr. Baynton the occasion of it; who stated, that he had received from Mr. Hungerford a message requiring satisfaction for certain words spoken by him concerning his brother Sir Edward Hungerford; and that having been in discourse with him, that same day, Mr. Hungerford had with his cane struck him in the hall. Whereupon Mr. Speaker, by command of the 150 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. House, strictly enjoined Mr. Baynton to proceed no further in that business, and neither to give nor to receive any chal¬ lenge. Resolved. “That Mr. Giles Hungerford shall be forthwith sent for and committed to safe custody; and that on Saturday next the House shall take into consideration the words spoken by Mr. Baynton concerning Sir Edward Hun¬ gerford.” [No further notice appears.] The absolute reduction of the garrison of Cirencester, and together with that position, the town of Malmesbury also, date a few days subsequent to the outbreak of the Baynton and Hungerford quarrel. The combined influence of these mischances issued in a considerable dislocation of the Parlia¬ ment’s measures in the Western Counties; for in order to secure Bristol, Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes who held a command at Devizes, was soon after dispatched thither to strengthen the garrison, and Devizes in consequence fell an easy prey to the cavaliers. But not to anticipate events, we must first briefly notice Sir Edward Hungerford’s operations on becom¬ ing the military chief of the Wiltshire Parliamentary forces. Simultaneously with this appointment. Sir John Evelyn and Sir Neville Poole had been dispatched to Windsor by the House, to negotiate with Lord Essex the General, the selection of new officers for Wilts; and one of their first proposals seems to have been in favour of Colonel Edmund Ludlow of Hill Deverill near Warminster (son and heir of Sir Henry Ludlow M.P. for the county), a young officer of proved cour¬ age and unblemished character, who was at this moment with the main body of the Parliament’s forces at Windsor. Sir Henry Ludlow was one of those who either indirectly or per¬ sonally had suffered from a Star-chamber process in the early part of this century. He was one of the first to speak his mind in the House touching the King’s measures, and that so emphatically, that Mr. Speaker deemed it necessary to rebuke him in a formal speech, and admonish him to weigh his words more carefully in future, when “reflecting on the EXPEDITION TO SALISBURY. 151 sacred person” of so “gracious a sovereign.” Commons' Journals 7 May 1642. It was probably in reference to this transaction that a royalist rhymist in a poem called “ The sense of the House," thus introduced Sir Henry among other of the leaders of the opposition. “Who speaks of peace, quoth Ludlow, hath neither sense nor reason. For I ne’er spoke in the House hut once, and then I spoke high treason. I’ll plunder him, quoth Baynton, that mentions peace to me. The Bishop would not grant my lease, hut now I’ll have his fee. A gunpowder monopoly, quoth Evelyn, raised my father; But if you let this war go down, they’ll call me powder traitor,” &c., &c. Young Edmund Ludlow who was a student in the Temple when hostilities seemed threatening, had early entered into a military association with several of his legal comjianions, and in the character of one of Lord Essex’s Life-guard, con¬ sisting of a hundred gentlemen commanded by Sir Philip Stapylton, he served during the first campaign and was pre¬ sent at the engagements of Edgehill and Brentford. Anxious to secure the co-operation of a partisan likely to wield so much influence in South Wilts, Sir Edward Ilungerford now invited him to raise a troop of horse in his regiment: and Ludlow accordingly met him for that purpose at Devizes, and attended him thence to Salisbury, where the}^ seized a quantity of horse and arms from some of the opposite party quartered in the Close. This affair took place on Saturday, 11 February 1643. The version given by the Royalist news¬ papers is to tho effect that Hungerford and Fiennes at the head of 400 men beset the city on market-day; pretending to have come in search of the Sheriff Sir George Vaughan, whose house they searched; but failing in this design they took all the horses found in the King’s service. The next day being Sunday they drew up in the market-place, com¬ pelled the authorities to ransom themselves by a fine of £500, and then rode back to Devizes. Mercurius Anlicus 13 Feh. Ludlow having put his troop in training, returned to the head-quarters at Windsor, where he gave account of the able 152 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. condition of Hungerford and Fiennes; at which Lord Essex was not a little astonished, having been led to believe that the Wiltshire forces were already dispersed or cut to pieces. Sir Edward’s own report was not quite so favourable. He wi’ote to the House on his return from Salisbury, to say that the works at Devizes were “so large and so great” that if more troops were not placed at his disposal, he could not pretend to keep them in a defensible state; adding that it was nothing but this want of men which had prevented him from giving adequate relief at the late affair at Cirencester; but his letter did not give much satisfaction to the House, and several members openly blamed his conduct. Mercurius Aulicus 14 Feh. and the Commons’ Journals. It was not that Sir Edward was becoming weary of the service. The fault lay in the supineness of the local sup¬ porters of his cause, and in the fear and trembling which were permitted to paralyse their efforts the instant they heard that the terrible Colonel Lunsford was placed by the King in command at Malmesbury; for such in fact was now the altered state of things; and no sooner was that relentless functionary in a position of strength in the county, than he issued his first summons to Devizes to pay down a sum of £400, with what results we shall presently see. The next thing we hear of Sir Edward Hungerford is his summoning the circumjacent country to a rendezvous at Devizes on the 1st of March, and inviting them to fortify his position as commander by pronouncing their more em¬ phatic adherence to the Parliament in the shape of a “Decla¬ ration,” to be signed by all who did not wish to be regarded as neutrals. But this mode of rendering retreat impossible was just the very thing which the majority, at this anxious period of the war, wished to evade. The meeting accordingly made answer that they were afraid of the Gloucestershire cavaliers and would have nothing to do with the Declaration. Sir Edward replied that, such being their determination, he THE COUNTY PLATE CARRIED OFF. 153 must then shift for his own safety. He left the town there¬ fore in disgust, and repairing to Bath, proceeded to strengthen the fortifications of that city. Just before this, one of the London newspapers reported as follows. “The cavaliers have left Gloucester and gone to Wilts, making the like cruel usage they did in Gloucester¬ shire; and that they have possessed themselves of the Devizes, and that Malmesbury is yielded to them; but the certain truth is not yet confirmed by any letter to the House; it being much to be wondered at that the Devizes should be so easily won, so well provided as it is with the Parliament’s forces under Sir Edward Hungerford and Colonel Fiennes.” Perfect Diurtial 25 Feb. What was really passing at Devizes at the time comes out in the examinations made at a subsequent date touching the delinquency of William Thurman a mercer of the town, who was charged with the serious ofience of carrying off the county plate which had been stored up in Devizes for the service of the Parliament, and handing it over to Colonel Lunsford at Malmesbury. It is true that strong attempts were made to shift the blame of this transaction to his neigh¬ bour Mr Northey, but it is also true that Mr. Thurman was never able to exonerate himself from the penalty of partici¬ pation in what looked very like treachery. That he was not an independent agent seems sufficiently clear; and if he erred in the affair we must do him the justice to suppose that it arose from his anxiety to save his devoted townsmen from the sorer calamity of indiscriminate pillage. This at least is an equally satisfactory defence with that set up in his behalf at a later period, viz., that when helping Mr. Northey to convey the plate away he was ignorant of the contents of the packages till they arrived at Malmesbury ! The testimony of one of his friends Bichard Pearce of Devizes, woollen-draper, will supply us with all the necessary facts. Touching the first article presented against William Thur- 154 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. man [that of the plate], Richard Pearce saith—“That Colonel Lunsford when he was Governor of Malmesbury for the King, sent a warrant unto the town of Devizes for the raising of £400 to be brought unto him in short time: upon which the said Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey, with the consent of the Mayor and his company, were sent to Malmesbury to the said Colonel to endeavour to get off or to mitigate the said fine of £400. And after their return home, not having pre¬ vailed in their message, a party of about 200 horse were sent by the said Colonel to the Devizes to enforce the payment. "Whereupon the inhabitants of the town endeavoured to raise the money, and having collected great part thereof, sent it to Malmesbury by the said Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey. After which, a warrant arrived from one Captain Apsley directing Mr. Northey to carry to Malmesbury the plate in his hands which had been collected for the use and service of the Parliament: and about the same time, either another warrant from Colonel Lunsford or some other means were used to enforce payment of the residue of the £400, by which the said inhabitants were moved to collect it, or as much as could be gotten; wherewith Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey were by a common consent to go a third time to Malmesbury. And this deponent saith that Mr. Northey took this oppor¬ tunity to carry also the plate to Malmesbury, he having the particular charge and custody thereof: and Mr. Thurman meddled not with the plate, as this deponent knoweth of; and he had moreover his travelling charges for these journeys borne by the town.” [The rest of this evidence refers to an event at which we have not yet arrived.] Not only is all this fully borne out by the contemporary accounts of expenses sustained by the borough Chamber, but we therein learn the additional fact that a fourth journey to Malmesbury was executed by the same deputies, and that Captain Apsley, in addition to the county plate, induced the terrified burgesses to surrender even their arms. Such at WAR ASSESSMENTS. 155 least seems implied in the following entry, “Paid 2s. 8d. for lading the arms and watching them, sent to Colonel Apsley.” The town and castle of Devizes were now nominally in the King’s hands. The militia stationed here by the Parliament had melted away or were serving in Bristol under Colonel Fiennes. The whole of North Wilts was speedily put under contribution by the Eoyalists, and the newspapers in the King’s interest exultingly anticipated that since Devizes was won over, the entire county would soon be cleared out of rebels. The burdens of an extra nature borne by the town while under the Baynton and Hungerford rule, do not appear, judging by the amounts, to have been at all oppressive. They consisted of, fetching ammunition from Chippenham and Bradford, planting ordnance, chaining and blocking up the townsends on several occasions, together with such minor expenses as sending out scouts and messengers, paying for lecturers, or making an occasional present of sack to Sir Edward Hungerford. They were even light when compared to the repeated demands made in the previous time of peace for subsidies, ship-money, or “coat and conduct money,” and light indeed when contrasted with the still more sweeping extortions made upon their treasury in the name of a Sove¬ reign in arms. First there was the £400 sent to Colonel Lunsford: then followed a visit from Lord Crawfurd and his officers, who carried off £126 6s.: next came the assessment of £50 levied by the local county commissioners who raised moneys in the King’s name; and all this within the first year, viz., 1643,^ independently of losses arising from the N.B. Tliroughout the above his- began and ended on the 2oth of tory of these events, the dates of March. Fidler, in his biography of contemporary documents have been Archbishop Williams, (who died, as so far -vdolated as to make the year we should now say, in 1650) savs, begin (as it has done in England “He died, as I take it, anno 1649; since 1753) on the first of January; sure I am, on the 25th of March, whereas at that period the year both leavfing a leading case not yet deci- 156 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. occupation of the town by Lord Hopton’s forces during the siege in July. It is true that for these two last payments, as also for a further sum of £30 paid to Colonel Hamhleton, the Burgesses, by a vote passed in 1644, sought to make their Chamberlain Richard Pearce accountable, by declaring him unauthorised in thus acting “against the Parliament;” but that they ever recovered the lost sums, is more than doubt¬ ful ; especially when it is remembered that Mr. Pearce was further dejiressed at the conclusion of the war, by enrolment in the fatal list of delinquents who had to compound for their estates. What further gatherings were made from the in¬ habitants, which do not appear upon the pages of the Cham¬ berlain’s books, cannot of course be stated. Mr. Pearce as public treasurer, would, we should suppose, be naturally un¬ willing to become the channel of more payments than he could avoid ; since, as the event showed, he might, on the turn of the tide, come to be accused of unfaithful dealing; and that too by the very parties perhaps who in the hour of danger had fully guaranteed his so acting. There can be no doubt that Alderman Pearce was an out-and-out Royalist, as his conduct at the siege (to be presently noticed) fully testi¬ fied ; and that he had been principally influential from the first, in securing for his party so favourable a reception in the town. The assessment on the entire county of Wilts, at this early period of the war, was £725 a week, in the Parliament’s be¬ half: on the other hand, the rate granted by the King’s friends in support of his Majesty’s arms, was, by a vote in November, fixed at £1200 a week to last for one month: but neither of these statements represents the actual gatherings. Arbitrary fines on enemies and free gifts from friends, con- derl in our law, whether his half It remained an undecided case, years rents due after sunrise should because the parties compounded it go with his goods and chattels unto among themselves. Church History his executor, or fall to his heir.” III. 490. SHIP-MONEY. 157 stituted an irregular fund on both sides. Those who were friendly to the Parliament paid what was called their “five and twentieth part” and received a discharge : those in avowed hostility found their entire estates put under temporary se¬ questration. Rents were gathered in the strongest hand, whichever happened to be uppermost. But then it is also to be remarked, that this disorder lasted but a very little while, say from the summer of 1642 to that of 1645; and that in some districts it was scarcely felt at all. Wiltshire, from its position in the line of march to the West, experienced rather more than an average share of the tribulation arising from repeated change of masters. The Parliament’s com¬ mittee in Wilts during 1643 comprised fifteen names (in the following year they were increased to forty-four) as follows. Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir Edward Baynton, Sir Neville Poole, Sir John Evelyn of West Dean, Edward Ba 3 mton, Edward Tooker, Edward Goddard, Thomas Moore, Denzil Hollis, Alex. Thistlethwayte, Jun., Edward Poole, John Ashe, Robert Jenner, William Wheeler, and John White. The Commissioners acting for the King comprised (among others) Edward Ernie of Etchilhampton, Robert Eyre of West Chalfield, William Fisher of Liddington, Richard Goddard of Swindon, Sir Thomas Hall of Bradford, Edward Yerbury and William Wallis of Trowbridge, John Penruddocke of Compton Chamberlain, Charles Seymour of Allington, An¬ thony Cleeter of Clifie Pipard, and perhaps Michael Tidcombe of Devizes.^ Whatever sums were levied upon the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, it was usually the practice to impose the fifth part thereof upon the Borough of Devizes. Two extracts from municipal records may suffice to establish this. The first refers to a levy of ship-money and is dated 23 Sep. 12th Car. 1636. “Whereas £7000, the cost of a ship of 700 tons, * The writer has never seen a list of the King’s Committee for Wilts. 158 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. had been laid upon the county of Wilts, it was conceived that Devizes could bear £50—which was paid —but the Sheriff being informed that Devizes used to pay the fifth part of that raised in the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, of which it is a liberty, and finding that 50 shillings was still wanting to raise it to that proportion, levied the additional 50 shillings upon the Old Park in the parish of St. John’s, being a mem¬ ber of the said borough. The other entry, dated 1640, records the payment of £4 3s. 2d. “ to one Biggs of Marlborough, being the fifth part of money by him recovered against the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings for a robbery done upon him.” The Battle of Lansdovyne. Sir William Waller a knight of Kent next comes upon the scene. He brouo’ht with him into Wiltshire the knowledse of arms which he had acquired in foreign service, enhanced by a reputation subsequently won in the Parliament’s cause, in the counties of Hants and Sussex. In the month of March 1643 he passed through Salisbury into North Wilts, where, on the 22nd he re-took from Colonel Lunsford the town of Malmesbury; then crossing the Severn at night, captured under the walls of Gloucester the entire army of Lord Her¬ bert. He next surprised and took the two garrisons of Here¬ ford and Tewkesbury; and again turning southward, marched upon Bath in order to encounter Prince Maurice, who, in conjunction with Hopton and Sir Bevill Granville was raising for the King the counties of Cornwall and Devon, By this time he was become so great a warrior in the ejms of the Londoners that they styled him William the Conqueror, and still further testified their affection for him by equipping one of his cavalry regiments in complete armour. This was Sir Arthur Hazlerig’s troop of black “lobsters,” and was perhaps the only body of men throughout the war who rode com¬ pletely armed; that is to say, each man had armour for the THE BATTLE OF LANSDOWNE. 159 arms and thighs, in addition to the ordinary “breasts, backs, and pots.” A group of these sable suits may still be seen in the Tower of London, ranged behind the equestrian row of tilting knights who occupy the centre of the room. The King’s western army which at this moment was ad¬ vancing out of Cornwall, comprised many of his Majesty’s Wiltshire adherents, such as the Marquis of Hertford, the Earl of Marlborough, Lord Arundel of Wardour, and Sir George Vaughan the Sheriff. After several skimishes with Waller on the south side of Bath, they threw themselves up¬ on Marshfield, north of the city. Waller, whose design was to prevent their juncture with the King’s forces at Oxford, thereupon tempted them to an engagement, by shewing him¬ self on the ridge of Lansdowne Hill; and a fiercely contested battle was the result, fought on the 5th day of July, 1643, Waller retired to Bath; and the Royalists, who claimed the victory, discovered that they had won it very dearly. The greater part of their cavalry was lost, their ammunition spent. Sir Bevill Granville slain, Lord Arundel of Wardour and Sir George Vaughan severely wounded, the latter fatally, and Sir Ralph Hopton blinded on the following day by the ex¬ plosion of an ammunition waggon. A monument stands on the spot where Granville and so many of his brother officers fell, near the boundary line which separates the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire. In form it resembles that subsequently erected, for a more pacific purpose, on Etchil- hampton hill near Devizes, except that it is surmounted by a different crest. Sir Bevill’s monument was raised by his descendant, the first Lord Lansdowne, who took his title from tliat “well-foughten field,” and from whom it has de¬ scended through a female channel to the present Marquis. As Waller quitted the brow of Lansdowne, and “led back from strife his shattered bands” he liad the city of Bath as a post of refuge in his rear, and a garrison of men to recruit his ranks. Here therefore he refitted his army, and borrowed 160 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. moreover of Colonel William Strode the sum of £500 for present necessities, a debt which the Parliament eventually- repaid, by an order of 6th Sep. 1645. Not so the Eoyalists. As their only resource lay in pushing for Oxford, they broke up from Marshfield on the 8th and marched towards Chip¬ penham and thence on the following day to Devizes; carrying Sir Ealph Hopton in a litter. Here it might at first sight excite surprise that, Oxford being their aim, they should have thought it necessary to deviate so much to the right as Devizes lay. The reason is perhaps to be found in the expo¬ sure to which their infantry would have been liable from Waller’s numerous cavalry, had they traversed the (then) open unenclosed country between Chippenham and Malmes¬ bury. The dangerous proximity of the Malmesbury garrison was also to be taken into account. But more likely still, (as subsequent events suggest) the desire to reach Devizes was in accordance with their own arrangement that a reinforce¬ ment of powder should advance to meet them by way of Marlborough and the Eoundway-Hill route. The result was, that as Chippenham was no farther from Bath than it was from Marshfield, Waller speedily came up with them, and fell upon their rear as they were quitting Chippenham, and again at Bromham House the seat of Sir Edward Baynton. From this point to Devizes a running fight from hedge to hedge was maintained by the Cornish musketeers who, under Sir Nicholas Slanning, ably kept the rear-guard and eflEected for the royal artillery a safe entry into the town; in the afternoon of Sunday 9th July. In order to render this last movement perfectly intelligible to the modern residents in Devizes, it should be observed that Bromham-hall is not to be confounded with any building in the village of Bromham. This would have been out of the line of the army’s march. The house of the Bayntons stood (indeed a fragment still stands) near that part of the parish called Netherstreet; and a portion of the ancient THE SIEGE. 161 straight road leading thence towards the Iron-pear-tree-farm is still in existence, though not marked in the Ordnance map. It may have been by this passage therefore, rather than through Rowde, that the town was attained. "ITTALLER having failed to intercept the Royalists before ’ ' they reached Devizes, encamped for the night on “a large moor near Rowde,” which we may supjiose to indicate Edith marsh and Netherstreet. Early on the next morning he led his whole army, consisting of about 5500 men of all arms, through the Roundway passes, and thus at once cut off all further retreat in the direction of Marlborough. The activity of his scouts at the same time made him aware that a large supply of ammunition was approaching the town from that quarter, to intercept which he immediately dispatched Major Francis Dowett, who in half an hour discovered the waggons approaching with a convoy of dragoons under the command of the Earl of Crawfurd. A short conflict ensued, but the Royalists being greatly over-matched, the Earl aban¬ doned his charge and hardly escaped with his life, leaving behind him 200 prisoners and five loads of ammunition. This skirmish appears to have taken place at Beckhampton. Francis Dowett, a London trooper, who from this time for¬ ward becomes a very conspicuous personage in Wiltshire, was a sturdy little citizen of French extraction, and an officer of great energy and skill, though somewhat erratic and insubor¬ dinate. He eventually went over to the King’s army, but before that took place he was thus stigmatised by one of the Royalist journalists. “ Dowett, a foreigner and a colonel fit for their cause and service, who most nobly carried Captain Fleming’s colours into London along with the Earl of Essex, pretending very bravely that he took them at Newbury, till one of Fleming’s troop knew the colours and challenged them L 162 HISTORY OF DKVIZES. as belonging to his [own] captain.” Mercurius AiiUcus 2bth Oct. 1643. Another contemporary, speaking of Dowett, describes him as “ a low man but of tall resolution,” the word “low” here indicating shortness of stature; as Fuller, dis¬ coursing of “the low but learned Baconthorpe” says “I had almost overseen John Baconthorpe, being so low in stature as but one remove from a dwarf; of whom one saith— Ingenio magnus, corpore parvus erat. His wit was tall, in body small.” Church History i. 402. While this was passing on the plain. Sir William drew nearer to Devizes, and perceived that a large body of the Royal¬ ists, both horse and foot, were drawn up on a rising ground east of the town, looking out for Crawfurd’s approach. They had watched Waller’s army descending the edge of the down, over the village of Roundway, and believing it to be their own friends, had placed themselves in battalia on the aforesaid rising ground in order to form as early a conjunction with them as possible. On discovering their mistake they retreated into the town, and Waller taking possession of the ground they had quitted, constructed on its summit a battery of seven guns and poured in his shot without intermission. The hill here alluded to is the ridge of Coate-field, a few hundred yards to the east of the Green Church. In the town meanwhile where the Royalists at once dis¬ covered that there was no sufficient accommodation for the cavalry, “it was unanimously advised” says Clarendon “and consented to, that the Lord Marquis [Hartford] and Prince Maurice should that night break through with all the horse to Oxford; and that Sir Ralph Hopton, (who by this time was supposed past danger of death, and could hear and speak well enough, though he could not see or stir) with the Earl of Marlborough who was General of the artillery, the Lord Mohun, and other good officers of foot, should stay there with the foot and cannon, where it was hoped they might defend themselves for a few days, till the General might return with THE SIEGE. 163 relief from Oxford, whicli was not above thirty miles off. [It is nearer forty-five]. This resolution was pursued; and the same night all the horse got safe away into the King’s quar¬ ters, and the Prince and Marquis in the morning came to Oxford; by which time Sir William Waller had drawn all his forces about the Devizes.” Lord Clarendon then goes on to observe that “the town was open, without the least fortifica¬ tion or defence but small ditches and hedges, upon which the fort were placed and some pieces of cannon conveniently planted. The avenues, which were many, were quickly bar¬ ricaded to hinder the entrance of the horse, which was principally apprehended.” History of the Rebellion ii. 287. This assertion as to the town being destitute of fortifications is a point on which the testimony is conflicting. “ Woi’ks” are certainly alluded to, when Sir Edward Hungerford held the place, (see page 152) as also in a Parliamentary version of the siege. Moreover there is extant a warrant issued in the following year, viz. in June 1644, directing the constables of Potterne and Cannings Hundred to demolish the “ works and fortifications now standing about the Devizes.” Yet Lord Clarendon and the author oi‘Caroloiades,' to be presently noticed, both assert the contrary; while James Heath another minor historian of the time, in allusion to this very period, styles Devizes “that untenable place.” The truth seems to be, either that the earthen out-works were extremely insig¬ nificant, or that the weakest and most assailable points of enti’ance were artificially strengthened, the houses for the most part constituting a sufficient barrier against mere as¬ sault. Some considerable embankment must have been required on the east side of St. Mary’s Church and along the north and west of St. John’s; but it is hardly to be supposed that the castle-mound was included within their lines of defence, as this would have required far more than their disposable force. If the chapelry of St. James was embraced by an advanced work, this must also have greatly enchauced difficulties. 164 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. The departure of the cavalry under Lord Hartford took place on Monday evening soon after nightfall, but was not accomplished without the loss of a few prisoners. Lord Clarendon, it is true, represents this movement as executed on the very night of their reaching Devizes, viz. on Sunday the 9th, and the return from Oxford and fighting the battle of Eoundway on “Wednesday” the 12th; but all contem¬ porary accounts confirm the opposite view here taken, and fix the battle of Eoundway on Thursday the 13th July, 1643. The horse being gone, the Cornish foot and artillery numbering together perhaps 2500 had all the work to do by themselves; while, as the historian observes, “the compass of the ground they were to keep was so large, and the enemy pressed so hard upon all places, that their whole body were upon perpetual duty together, neither ofiicer nor soldier having any time for rest.” Another disadvantage under which it was apprehended they would lie was an almost total failure in the three important articles of powder, bullets, and match for the musketeers; and strange to say, these were all found in the town. “When the enemy came first before the place and the guards were supplied with ammunition for their duty, there was but one hundred and fifty weight of match left in the store. Whereupon diligent ofl&cers were directed to search every house in the town and to take all the bed-cords they could find, and to cause them to be speedily beaten and boiled, by which sudden expedient there was by the next morning provided fifteen hundred weight of such serviceable match as very well endured that sharp service.” Such is Lord Clarendon’s story of the manufacture of match; but something besides match was needed. It is one of the news¬ papers of the hour, we believe, which states that lead for the bullets was obtained from the church-roo'fs; and from a third source, the Caroloiacles^ of the Hon. Edward Howard, we * Caroloiades, or the Rebellion of books, by Edward Howard fifth son Forty-one, a heroic poem in ten of the Earl of Berkshire of Charlton, THE SIEGE. 165 discover the Aladdin’s cave, whence issued in so critical a moment that supply of powder without which all the “beating and boiling” of the goodwives’ bedding would have proved of little avail. Mr. Howard, who speaks of himself as being personally observant of the facts “of that western expedition’ thus states the case. “This exigent as Royalists deplored, And fruitlessly had searched for powder stored, A trusty townsman makes himself their guide Unto enongh of his to aid their side. Provided tlius, with bold joy they defy By peals of shot the daring enemy; And with recruited fui-y sallies make Where posted foes they kill, and prisoners take. Scorning that works their valour should confine Who dui’st the place defend without a line.” The “trusty townsman” here immortalised, Mr. Howard informs us in a note, was “one Pierce, an inhabitant of the Devized, who discovered to the Lord Hopton where for some time he had hidden powder.” This, there can hardly be a doubt, was no other than our old acquaintance Alderman Richard Pierce; to whom may therefore be indirectly ascribed the merit of the prolonged defence of the town, and as a sequence. Waller’s defeat at Roundway. No wonder that he had to figure in after days at Goldsmith’s Hall as a “delin¬ quent” compounding for his estate. 11th July, Tuesday. During the greater part of this day the town was bombarded from the hill on which Sir William had constructed his battery, but no determined attempt was made to take the place by assault; Waller contenting himself with sending in a message to the Royalists that he had cut off their expected supplies of ammunition, and the sooner they yielded themselves up, the better it would be for them. Malmesbury. He commanded a Ward’s poetical history of the Re¬ troop of horse for the King, but as hellion, the ‘Stmtaloyia' of Andrew a poet, was beneath criticism. There Cooper—[and Thomas Rawlins’s were other rhyming histories of the Eebellion'’ P] war besides Howard’s, such as 166 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. He was so confident at this moment that they were lying at his mercy that he wrote to the Parliament to say that by the next post he hoped to forward a catalogue of the number and quality of his prisoners; to ensure which he had taken care, on entering Wiltshire, to disperse his warrants abroad, in¬ viting all the country in to his victorious standard. As to the disposition of his forces in the leaguer, we gather from an incidental notice in his autobiography that he stationed his dragoons [who numbered 500] on the side of the town farthest from Roundway, which must therefore mean the Potterne side ; that a body of horse lay on the summit of Poundway, apparently to keep a look-out; and that his own quarters as Gieneral were in the village of Poundway. [N.B. The dragoons of those days, who are always distinguished from “the horse” were musketeers who used horses principally to carry them to the scene of action, rather than to fight riding.] The personal memoranda of Sir William, referred to above, but written many years after, supply us with the following anecdote, apparently belonging to Tuesday’s operations. “On the second night after I sat down before the Devizes, having been out to visit the guards, and returning to a farm¬ house at the foot of Poundway Down where I had given order to my cook that my supper should be ready against I came in; and finding my meat but newly laid to the fire, in a sud¬ den impatience I resolved not to sup at all, and so took horse again and rode up to the top where the body of my horse lay. I was not gone above a musket shot, but some of the enemy, knowing the passages thereabout (which I did not) and rationally supposing I might quarter in that place in regard of the convenient situation of it, between my horse and my foot, came into the house and enquired and made a search for me. And if I had staid there as at first I intended, in all probability they might have suddenly dispatched me and re¬ tired in the darkness of the night with safety enough.” Re¬ collections of Sir William Waller. THE SIEGE. 167 12th July, Wednesday. So heavy a rain continued to fall during the morning of this day that hostile proceedings were mutually suspended for a time: but in the afternoon W^aller and Dowett simultaneously led on a furious attack upon the works. After four hours fighting the outworks and guards were carried, and the Parliament’s horse charged up into some of the streets. The marks of about twenty-six canister shot (still visible) on the east end of St. John’s chancel plainly shew that considerable inroad was made, apparently by way of Morris’s lane, and seem to indicate, as hinted above, that the church was a principal post of defence. At this crisis, Waller once more sent in a trumpet to summon them to sur¬ render. The Royalists demanded a parley of two hours, which after some hesitation was granted; and when this was expired, as their object was to spare ammunition as well as to gain time for sleep, they induced Waller to extend it during other six hours. This was a most fatal error on his part and arose from the reliance which he placed on Lord Essex’s endeavours to prevent any succour being sent out of Oxford. By repeated letters to the General he had made him fully sensible of the importance of such a precaution from the moment of the Royalists quitting Marshfield: but Essex was beginning to be chagrined at Waller’s increasing popularity among the Londoners, and he was willing on the present oc¬ casion to allow his rival to shift for himself. Accordingly, though he seemed to promise assistance, he took not a single step for that purpose. “I would have you fight with the Marquis” thus he had written a few days before, “if possibly you may, not upon unequal terms; if not, to march up after him, and to hinder and trouble him in the rear as much as in you lies; and so join with this army. Otherwise, if the King send any supply of force to the enemy, then, if I have notice thereof, I shall take all possible care to supply you accoi'd- ingly.” Sir Arthur Hazlerig also, suspecting Essex’s supine¬ ness, wrote to him with the same intent on Monday and again 168 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. on "Wednesday, but the Earl remained quietly stationed at Thame, a place from which it would have been impossible to make the necessary observations on Oxford, had he been so disposed, since it lay quite out of the route and was still far¬ ther from Devizes than Oxford was. A very different feeling prevailed in London. There the news of Waller’s movements was daily listened to with the intensest interest. On this self same day, the 12th July, the House of Commons having first read one of his letters of the 7th, Resolved, that the sum of £10,000 should be forthwith provided and sent to him by the hand of Mr. Hodges, Mr. Stephens, and Mr. Ashe; and that letters should be sent to the Committees of Portsmouth, Dorchester, and the counties adjacent, urging them to send all the forces they could spare, to his aid. At the same time Sir Robert Harley carried up to the Lords an “Ordinance concerning the Grand Butlerage to Sir William Waller.” Commons’ Journals iii. 163. 13th July, Thursday. The only incident recorded of this day’s proceedings, as regarded the siege, seems to be pre¬ served in another memorandum of Waller’s own journal, following that given above. “Some days after,” says he, “ whilst I lay before the town, I rode with a small party about the quarters, particularly to see how the dragoons were laid on the further side of the town; and being to return back, it suddenly came into my mind to go by another way than that I came; which some of the party and some of mine own servants who staid a little behind, not observing, but taking the former way, they were almost all taken by the enemy. I came back safely.” Recollections. Sir William began now to be very impatient to bring the afiair to a conclusion, and preparations were accordingly made to take the town by storm. E’er this could be put in execu¬ tion, the scouts came flying in to say that a formidable body of horse was rapidly approaching from Marlborough. This was most disastrous tidings for Waller’s men; for having THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAT. 169 been now for a fortnight lying in the fields by night and fighting by day, they had hoped by one more desperate coup de main to win the repose they so much needed. Both horses and men were utterly jaded and ready to fall down for want of sleep; but now no other resource was left them but to abandon their vantage ground and advance to meet the new enemy in order to prevent his junction with the infantry in the town. In breaking up the leaguer, Waller drew off with¬ out drum or trumpet, the besieged Cornishmen remaining in ignorance of the cause of his movement and suspecting it to be only a feint to draw them out. We must now recur to the measures by which the Marquis of Hartford had thus so suddenly changed the aspect of afiairs. §attk of A S described above, that active officer had with the cavalry quitted Devizes on the night of the 10th. He rode so rapidly that very few of these reached Oxford with him, and fewer still returned. Having had an audience with his Majesty on the morning of the 11th, Tuesday, he again started that very day towards Devizes, in company with Lord Wilmot, Prince Maurice, the Earl of Crawfurd and Sir John Byron, at the head of a considerable body of Life¬ guards, whom the King cheerfully dismissed, although he was himself just on the eve of marching to meet the Queen. They took two whole days to reach Devizes; and it was not till four o’clock on Thursday afternoon that they reached the summit of Roundway down, where Waller had also drawn up his whole army to oppose their further progress. All accounts agree in showing that the battle was lost and won by the cavalry alone, and that the part which the infantry played was subsequent to the decisive stroke. In numbers, the cavalry were pretty equally matched; Waller’s horse, including dragoons, being 2500; the Royalists numbered, 170 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. according to Clarendon, 1600; according to some of the Parliamentary prints, the same as their enemies. Waller’s array exhibited his 3000 foot forming a centre, flanked by wings of horse; and backed by a reserve. He possessed also artillerj'-, of which the Royalists were comparatively destitute. But anxiety lest the Cornishmen from the town should be upon him before the afiair was brought to an issue induced him to abandon this line of battle, and to substitute a cavalry charge in order to ride down his enemies. Sir Arthur Hazlerig with the London cuirassiers led the first attack, followed by Sir Edward Hungerford and Captain Baugh at the head of the Western horse. These were all beaten back in great disorder, and the Royalists made themselves masters of four pieces of ordnance. But Sir Arthur having rallied the fugi¬ tive horse, came again to the assault, re-captured the artillery and appeared to be gaining a permanent advantage, when 500 of Wilmot’s men who had hitherto acted only as a reserve, joined in the melee and put the cuirassiers to a perfect rout. But there were some other stout citizens yet to be dealt with; these were the body of trained-bands who had studied the practice of the pike to such good purpose in the London Artillery-ground that on many occasions during this war, they proved the most formidable enemies which the Royal cavalry had to encounter. While Waller himself. Hunger- ford, Hazlerig, and all the horse were flying down Bagdon hill, these men stood to their arms; and it was not till Lord Wilmot, aided by the Cornish musketeers who by this time had reached the scene of action, turned their own guns upon them, that this resolute corps was broken in pieces. Waller with the major part of the horse escaped to Bristol, (carrying with him a small number of prisoners, so at least says one account): others went towards Malmesbury. Another newspaper re¬ porter writes, that the Parliament lost only 50 horse in the engagement, that the greater part of the foot were by the industry of a little Scotchman, brought ofi" bravely; and that THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY. 171 as for Sir Arthur Hazlerig, he deserves a second Homer to set forth his valour. They certainly lost all their baggage and artillery; among which, if we may believe the Mercurius Aulicus, were some carts laden with manacles “for the liberty of the subject ” quoth the editor. On the King’s side, Lord Grandison was the only person of title who was hurt; but a band of between 40 and 50 volunteers from the neighbour¬ hood, who joined Hartford’s standard just before the engage¬ ment, fared much worse. By some accident they became separated from their allies, and were nearly all cut off. A circumstance which had greatly added to the moral strength of the Royalist forces just before the battle was the unexpected arrival of Robert Dormer Earl of Carnarvon, who reaching the scene of action by chance and almost unattended, promptly offered to serve as a volunteer in Sir John Byron’s regiment; but instead of his offer being accepted in this form, the chief command of the regiment was cheerfully ac¬ corded him; and it is further stated that the share which he had in the ensuing victory was owing to a judicious though somewhat novel arrangement of his force. That the success of the day was in some large measure attributable to his pre¬ sence is evidenced by the position assigned him in the triumphal odes which shortly after issued from Oxford.^ It is affirmed in a manuscript history of the war, described in the Notes and Queries, part xxii. p. 331, that the captain who commanded the royal horse in the charge at Roundway was Sir Francis Ottley of Pitchford near Shrewsbury. With¬ out attempting to dispute the knight’s claim to a prominent share in the engagement, it may be sufficient to say, that as it was one of the most dashing affairs executed by the King’s * The Earl of Carnarvon married Anne Sophia eldest daughter of Philip Herbert Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery; so that he was son-in-law to the Parliament’s prin¬ cipal supporter in this county. Af¬ ter the battle of Roundway he was sent vdth his troop to Dorchester, the inhabitants of which, terrified by the recent blow, siuTendered at discretion. A few weeks after he fell at the fii’st battle of Newbruy 20th September, 1643. 172 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. party throughout the war, it is not to be wondered at that the aspirants to its laurels should have been numerous. Various anecdotes too, and traditions, hang about a victory which made so much noise in the kingdom. And first in relation to the siege of the town. In the examination of a Wiltshire gentleman named John Thistleth wayte, three years afterwards when the Parliament having got the upper hand were compelling the Royalists to compound for “ delin¬ quency,” a circumstance comes out which probably finds its place no where else in the chronicles of the time. It appears that when Sir Ralph Hopton led his victorious army to Salis¬ bury after the battle of Roundway, he failed not to recount the successful expedient which in an hour of pressing want had replenished his musketeers’ fusees. It therefore came to be a popular joke that “Ilopton held out Devizes with bed- cords,” and a piece of hempen cord worn as a hat-band, con¬ tinued for some time, among the Royalists, to be an emblem of triumph. It was tendered in evidence against Mr. Thistle- wayte, that while at Salisbury he had been guilty of indulging in this suspicious looking decoration. His delinquency there¬ fore was held to be proven. The witnesses against him were Henry Thistlethwayte and Timothy King. Sworn before the Wilts Committee at Falstone House 13th October, 1646. The report touching the “delinquency” of another Royalist named Francis Barber of Burbage, furnishes also an incident. His delinquency was clear enough, in the fact that he had two sons in the royal army, and had himself even served for about three weeks. His especial enemy appears to have been the constable or tythingman of his parish, to wit Giles Davis, who impressed one of his carts for the service of Sir William Waller, when that General was prosecuting the siege of Devizes. The battle of Roundway following immediately after, threw the balance of power into the hands of the aggrieved farmer, who forthwith made his way, accompanied by his wife, into the victorious ranks of the Royalists in THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY. 173 Devizes, where his two sons were serving under the command of Colonel Pearce, and induced that officer to march with force and arms into the territory of his neighbour Giles Davis and capture two of his horses; telling him withal that it was his full intention “not to leave him while he was worth a groat.” Barber had also sufficient influence with Lord Crawfurd to obtain from him one of Sir William Waller’s captured wag¬ gons, which he therefore carried ofi* in triumph from the fleld of battle, as a compensation for his lost cart. Another witness against him, besides Davis, was Edmund Pearson of Burbage, who averred that oue of Barber’s sons would not have entered the King’s army but for the father’s urgency, &c., &c. Other references to the events of this period will occur when we come to notice the examination in full of Mr. Edward Kny vett the minister of Coulston, at the termination of the war. The following incident, which has a touch of the Homeric about it, and which is traditionally said to have occurred in the awful interval of time immediately preceding the onset on Roundway hill, is derived from the manuscript memorials of the Wanseys of Warminster, a family who highly distin¬ guished themselves in the Parliament’s interest throughout the struggle. One of the Royalist soldiers having advanced so far in front of his comrades that the movement was re¬ garded by the opposite party as deflant, a Parliamentary trooper named Jehu Wansey rode out of the ranks, engaged with, and slew his man. In the battle and rout which eclipsed this chivalrous commencement, Jehu, though a fugitive, contrived to save his life; being destined to receive his flnal bullet in one of the Irish campaigns. Another tradition connected with the battle is derived from Mrs. Bevan who (in 1856) had occupied the ancient gabled mansion at Melksham Spa between forty and fifty years. This lady stated that at the time of Roundway fight, some rebels were hung on the old oak in the adjoining paddock. This is evidently a distorted version of the tragedy at Wood- 174 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. house near Horningsham, where Sir Francis Doddingtou hung up thirteen clothiers on one tree. The Fowde parish register has the following entry, “1643 July 13, being Thursdaj^ was the great fight on Roundway hill, in which William Bartlett was shot in the forehead, and was buried in martial wise at Rowde. He was chief quarter¬ master to the noble Colonel Sands [Sandys] and was baptised, ut patet, 26 March 1615. A cloud like a lion rampant azure was on the army fighting.” The Cheriton parish register has the following, “1643 July 14. William Bartlett the son of Mr. Robert Bartlett of Churton who was slain in the fight on Bagdon-hill, was buried July 14th.” [These two extracts were first made public in the Devizes Gazette 26th July, 1839, by J. S. Money Esq., of Whetham. In reference to the “noble Colonel Sandys,” there were so many of the name on both sides that identification is impossible.] The question might here arise: What was the exact scene of the battle of Roundway? For, as Waller’s manifest object was to prevent the junction of his two enemies, it might, to the modei’n inhabitants of Devizes, appear inconsistent with such a design that he should draw up his army on an elevated spot so far removed from the present road from Shepherd’s Shore to Devizes. But this will be easily understood by re¬ calling the fact that the branch road to Devizes quitted the old Bath road over Roundway, not as now, a mile beyond the Wansdyke, but by two or more tracks this side of the Wans- dyke. The spot called “Windmill Knoll” in the Ordnance Map, a little to the right as we mount the hill by Mr. Estcourt’s plantation, there can hardly be a doubt was the ground on which Waller stationed his men, lying as it does between the two tracks to Devizes, and consequently directly on the line of march. The flight and pursuit of course took the direction of the old Bath road down Bagdon (or Beacon down) hill. As for the neighbouring entrenchment called THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY. 175 Oliver’s camp, there is no reason to suppose that it was the scene of any transaction during the war. Almost simultaneously with the news of Roundway fight reaching the King, he received intelligence of the success of his arms in Yorkshire against Fairfax, It was on the 13th of July also that he met the Queen on her way from Brid¬ lington, where she had just landed from Holland, bringing supplies. Returning with her to Oxford, he found Sir Robert Welsh just arrived from Devizes with the gladsome intelli¬ gence; this was on Friday morning. Such a combination of pleasing circumstances forthwith elicited from the Oxford students a copious outpouring of addresses, orations, and songs of triumph, in Greek, Latin, and English. One writer bursts forth in the following strain. “Go burn some rebel town, for such alone Are bonfires suited to the joys we own; And let the falling ashes sprinkled lie On traitors’ beads: let them repent and die.” Another, in the following not inelegant lines, celebrates the victories which ushered in the Queen’s approach to Oxford. Battle of Lansdowne. “When once the Members shrunk to foui', When Hoj)ton brought his Cornish o’er; When as eternal Granville stood, And stopped the gap up with his blood; When the sly Conqueror durst not stand We knew the Queen was nigh at hand. Battle of Atherton-Moor. When great Newcastle so drew forth As in nine days purged all the North; When Fairfax’s vast perfidious force Was turned to five invisible horse; When none but Lady staid to fight, We knew the Queen was come in sight. Battle of RouNDvv.iY. But when Carnarvon, who still hit With his keen blade and keener ^vit; 176 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Stout Wilmot, Byron, Crawfurd, who Stroke yesterday’s great glorious blow; When Waller could but bleed and fret, Then—Then the sacred couple met.” Among Sir John Denham’s poems are two songs, one ridi¬ culing the report that the Royalists were defeated at Lans- downe and that thunder and lightning had aided their enemies: the other entitled “The second Western wonder,” celebrating the victory at Roundway, and commencing with a jocular allusion to Sir Ralph Hopton’s gunpowder accident at Marshfield. The latter is as follows. The Second Western Wonder. “You heard of the wonder, the lightning and thunder. Which made the lye so much the louder; Now list to another, that miracle’s brother. Which was done by a firkin of powder. Oh! what a damp it struck through the camp; But as for honest Sir Ralph, It blew him to the Yyze, without beard or eyes. But at least thi-ee heads and a half. Then out came the book, which the newsmongers took From the preaching Lady’s' letter; Where in the first place stood the Conqueror’s face. Which made it show much the better. But now without lying, you may paint him flying. At Bristol they say you may find him: Great William the Con—so fast he did run. That he left half his name behind him. And now comes the Post,—saves aU. that was lost; But alas, we are past deceiving By a trick so stale; or else such a tale Might mount for a new “thanksgiving.” ' The preaching lady was Sir William Waller’s wife; whose well- known antipathy to the emblems of superstition is thus satirised on another occasion. “ Sir W. Waller’s lady hath been down to Abingdon to see the place where the Cross once stood; which she encompassed three several times, stiU. faulting some stones in the pavement that still lay across [that is, still finding fault with some stones that lay cross¬ wise.] After which, she put up her table-book, and went home; not vouchsafing one look towards Ox¬ ford, because that place furnishes none but men-preaehers.” Mercurius Academicus. 21 Feh. 1646. [abrid¬ ged.] THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY. 177 This made Mr. Case with a pitiful face In the pulpit to fall a weeping, Though his mouth uttered lyes, truth fell from his eyes, 'Which kept my lord Mayor from sleeping. Now shut up your shops and spend your last drops, For the laws of your cause, ye that loathe them ; Lest Essex should start, and play the second part Of worshipful Sir John Hotham.” The period of this victory, followed as it was by the almost immediate surrender of the city of Bristol, was the must sun¬ shiny spot in the history of King Charles’s warfare for his crown. Whatever were the subsequent disasters of the Royalists, they could always revert with a triumphant tone to the battle of “Run-away.” “They call his Majesty’s forces Woodheads” sai/s Auliciis, “in opposition forsooth to Round- heads; which is the only real kindness they can do us; for indeed we should not else so handsomely have preserved the memory of the blow bestowed on the rebels there [at Wood- head in Derb 3 'shire]. And since their hand is in, we desire they may think on some word that may put them in mind of Basing, Roundway, and Chalgrove.” Mercurms AuUcus, 1643. Nor was this exultant style unwarranted. A treatise entitled “Job in the West” which was published in the fol¬ lowing year by a Parliamentary divine, declares that the almost total subjection of this part of the kingdom to the royal arms might be dated from the hour “when the West received her death’s wound at the Devizes.” It is evident also that Butler the author of “Hudibras” entertained the same view of the case, when he represents his hero as urging Talgol and his confederates to bury their private wrongs in the remembrance of their common disasters. Sir Hudibras thus commences his harangue. “What rage. Oh! citizens, what fury Doth you to these vile actions hurry ? What oestrum—what phrenetic mood Makes you thus lavish of your blood; While the proud Vies your trophies boast. And unrevenged walks-’s ghost. M 178 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Wliat towns, what garrisons might you With hazard of this blood subdue, Which now you’re bent to thi’ow away In vain untriumphable fray.” The edition of Hudibras published by the Rev. Treadway Russell Nash D.D., observes in respect of the fifth and sixth lines “Vies or Devizes in Wiltshire: This passage alludes to the defeat given by Wilmot to the forces under Sir AVilliam Waller near that place 13th July, 1643. After the battle Sir William was entirely neglected by his party. Clarendon calls it the battle of Round way-down; some in joke call it Runaway-down. Others suppose that the hiatus in the next line ought to be supplied by the name of Hampden who fell on Chalgrove field in Oxfordshire about the time of Waller’s defeat. The Heathen poets have feigned that ghosts of the slain could not enter Elysium till after their deaths were re¬ venged.” leash’s Butler, i. 113. [The statement here made that Waller was entirely neglected, as the immediate result of his defeat, is a palpable error; but of this more hereafter.] The results of the Battle of Roundway. The victorious Royalists, leaving Sir Ralph Hopton at Devizes now determined to prosecute their advantage by attempting the reduction of Bath and Bristol. Bath quickly yielded, for its garrison had already been withdrawn for the defence of Bristol; and on the 24th July they sat down before the latter place, and held a council of war as to the best mode of attack. Meanwhile it will be proper to notice the reports which the exasperated Parliamentarians propagated touching Sir Ralph’s conduct when left at Devizes. By way of pun¬ ishing a population which had evinced their preference for his enemies in the hour of his defeat, he now impoverished individuals as well as communities, forcing some persons even to quit their houses. On three of the neighbouring hundreds he imposed the penalty of £1000 each, for having furnished Waller’s army with provisions; and he destroyed the trade RESULTS OF THE BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY. 179 in an article called “the new draperies.” Such are some of the statements supplied by the prolific press in London, in order to stimulate the people to renewed efforts. But it is now time to recur to the movements of the Parliamentary General, when retreating from the fatal field of Roundway. Nothing could exceed the chagrin and dismay mutually experienced, as Waller rode into the garrison of Bristol and announced the particulars of his own discomfiture. He laid the blame of course on Essex’s neglect, in allowing the Royal¬ ists to pass out of Oxford and surprise him; but after all explanations made and allowed, there is reason to think he never got over the disappointment, or could cease to remem¬ ber that there was a moment in his life when assured victory was dashed out of his hands. It is thus that he bemoans the event in after years, when, though he had become a wiser and a sadder man, the irritation against his rival is manifestly a still rankling wound. He is contrasting the great reverse at Devizes with a dashing manoeuvre which had preceded it in Hampshire, “the beating up of Earl Crawfurd’s quarters at Alton,” an affair to which an especial air of triumph had been imparted by the after-fact that out of the large body of the Royalists taken on that occasion, five hundred joined Waller’s standard and took the Covenant. “Great” says he, “was my exultation, but it had bitter endings. The Parlia¬ ment wrote to Essex to join me, intending that we together should do a mighty work ; but the General would not, to their no small displeasure: for which no good reason could be given but that he would have his great name stand alone. My dismal defeat at Roundway Down was owing to those heart-burnings and jealousies; for the General suffered the enemy’s horse to pass quietly and without molestation to the succour of their infantry which lay at the Devizes in miser¬ able plight. ... I was so sure of victory that I wrote to Parliament to bid them be at rest, for that I would shortly send them an account of the numbers taken and the numbers M 2 180 HISTOKY OF DEVIZES. slain. But my victory was turned into mourning ."Witli a small number of cavalry I retired to Bristol, and there heard continually of the successes of the Royal iiarty who took heart on this mischance of mine, that had never happened, had others done their duty.” In another part of his jouimal, under the head of “Father- like chastisements ” he again refers to it in the following terms. “ My presumption upon mine own strength and former suc¬ cesses [was] most justly humbled at tlie Devizes by an utter defeat, and at Cropredy with a dishonourable blow. . . This affair at Devizes was the most heavy stroke of any that did ever befall me. General Essex had thought to persuade the Parliament to compromise with the King, which so im- flamed the zealous that they moved that the command of the army might be bestowed upon me; but the news of this defeat arrived whilst they were deliberating on my advance¬ ment, and it was to me a double defeat. I had nearly sunk under the affliction but that I had a dear and sweet comforter; and I did at that time prove, according to Ecclesiasticus xxvi. 16, that a virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband: As the sun when it ariseth in the high heaven, so is the beauty of a good wife.” Recollections of Sir William Waller. In spite of the disasters of 1643 the Londoners still seemed to think that their principal hope lay in Sir William Waller. They wanted a general whose dashing performances and per¬ sonal devotion to their cause might he set off against the tardy and temporising campaigning of Lord Essex, who was half suspected (whether truly or not) of seeking to make his private terms with the King. As yet, the name of Crom well, though beginning to be bruited in the Eastern counties, did not carry that weight which habitually attached itself to soldiers who had learned their art in foreign warfare; and strange as it may appear, we shall find Oliver, twenty months after the present date, occupying a subordinate position in Waller’s army in another engagement near Devizes. During BRISTOL SURRENDERS TO THE KING. 181 the summer of 1643 we need not wonder therefore that strenuous efforts should be made by the Parliament to re¬ place their favourite general on his original military footing. These efforts, it is true, were so far successful as to enable Waller again to lead a numerous force into the field, but it is equally true that the West was lost. With the exception of Taunton, all the princijial towns in that part of the king¬ dom, including the city of Bristol, were prostrated at the feet of the King; and from this time forth, for the next year and a half we must regard the county of Wilts as almost entirely swayed by a committee of Royalists; Edmund Ludlow’s brief tenure of Wardour castle notwithstanding. Indeed, Waller’s entrance into London after his escapade at Roundway resembled rather the march of a conqueror than that of a fugitive. Clarendon’s language is that he was “caressed with wonderful kindness and esteem,” and “re¬ ceived as if he had brought the King prisoner with him.” All the city trained bands and militia turned out to meet him on his return to London “ after the most total defeat that could almost be imagined; for though few of his horse were killed upon the place, they were so ruinously dispersed, that of about 2000 there were not 300 gotten together again for their service.” History of the llchellion, vol. ii. p. 322. On the 27th July he was publicly thanked by the Speaker of the Commons’ House “for his great and good services, and his continually approving his good affection to religion and the Commonwealth,” and he was at the same time recommended to the Lord General as captain of the forces which were immedi¬ ately to be raised for the defence of the capital. “ It was thus” observes Godwin “that the Roman senate thanked the general who lost the battle of Cannae, that he had not de¬ spaired of the Commonwealth.” Bristol was surrendered by its Governor Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes on the 25th July, 1643. As this general commenced his brief military career at Devizes (see page 150), some con- 182 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. eluding notice of liim may here be taken. The Parliament was so exasperated at his pusillanimous conduct in the affair of Bristol that they brought him to trial and condemned him to lose his head. He received his pardon at the hand of the commander-in-chief Lord Essex, and then expatriated himself for two years, after which it was intimated to him that he might safely return, and he accordingly resumed his place in the House of Commons. Under the administration of Crom¬ well, whom he greatly loved, he became one of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal. After the Restoration he retired to his seat at Newton-Toney in Wilts, where he dis¬ tinguished himself as the patron and protector of ejected non-conformist divines, and died in 1669. His monument and that of his lady Frances daughter of Richard Whitehead, and two of their children, are at the east end of Newton Toney church. Mr. Foss treats his personal character with some asperity, denying him either integrity as a civilian or conduct as a soldier: but he allows him '‘a claim on the public admiration .for talent and eloquence, of which his published speeches afford ample evidence.” History of the Judges, vi. 429. His portrait in military costume is pre¬ served at Broughton castle, Oxon, the seat of Lord Saye and Sele, and is well engraved in Lord Nugent’s Life of Hampden. The colonel, who was the second son of the first Viscount Saye and Sele, himself became the father of William the third viscount. Sir Edward Baynton again arrested. The Baynton and Hungerford feud still continued to fur¬ nish subject for scandal in London. On the 25th May Sir Edward Baynton and Colonel Fettiplace were hardly pre¬ vented from fighting even in the Court of Guard: Fettiplace and his second Whittipool were placed in temporary confine¬ ment : and on the 28th July the Speaker found it necessary to lay a strict injunction on Sir Edward Baynton and Sir SIR EDWARD BAYNTON. 183 Edward Hungerford, neither to give or accept any challenge, nor to do anything that concerned their private affairs which might tend to the disturbance of the peace of the House or the kingdom; soon after which, Bayuton repaired to the Isle of Wight, where it will be remembered he had deposited for security the greater part of his money and moveable goods (see page 140). He was now become a neglected man: the Parliament needed him not, and in retaliation he appears to have indulged in such contumelious remarks on his former associates that an order was sent down to Lieut.-Col. Came, Lord Pembroke’s agent in the Isle of Wight, to arrest his person and to take possession of his horses and other chattels. “To THE Earl of Pembroke, “Carisbroke Castle, 30 August, 1643. “Right Honourable. Sir Edward Bayuton I intend suddenly to ship for London; and truly I think no man hath a fouler mouth or worse hung. He hath spoken such things against the Lord Saye and Mr. PjTU, that he must suffer much or they sufler more. He says that they have betrayed the West and the North, and that the Lord Cotting- ton is treating with his Majesty for their peace ; and a world of such stuff. . . . . He hath not his fellow living, I believe. AU things here are well, and your presence will make it much hetter, and you will find it more quiet than London. I kiss yoiu’ lordship’s hands, and rest your most humble servant, “Thomas Carne.” The affair was quite a bonne bouche to the Oxford Jour¬ nalist, who thus memorialises it. “Sir Edward Eaynton their old faithful servant was seized on in the Isle of Wight for speaking some uni’everent words against the sacred mem¬ bers ; and is therefore bringing up to London according to order, with nine trunks full of plato and money:—There ! There is his malignancy ! It was that money which spoke the words.” Mercuriiis Aulicus Q>th September, 1643. Sir Edward was not restored to favour tillJune 1644 when he was allowed to resume his place in the House; and a committee was at the same time nominated to compose, if possible, the differences between the rival families. Commons’ Journals, iii. 517. 184 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. There was a member of the Baynton family distinguishing himself in another way about the same time, viz. the Royalist captain Henry Baynton who served in the Lord Hartford’s regiment of horse. He plundered the stock and goods of Mr. Keeblewhite of Redbourne in Wilts for refusing to pay him his father’s rents; upon report of which, the King by letter dated 2 November 1643, directed Lord Hopton to arrest the captain and put his troop in other hands. Harl. M88. 6852, p. 201. The Illegal Assizes. Such is the title constantly given by the Parliamentary scribes of the time to certain proceedings which took place at Salisbury at the close of the year 1643; whereby the King’s party, being flushed with victory in the field, sought still further to establish their supremacy by an appeal to the sanction of law, and to superadd the penalties of civil pro¬ secution to the rigours of the military code. A commission of Assize and gaol^ delivery to be holden at Salisbury in December was made out to four Judges, to wit. Sir Robert Heath, Sir John Banks, Sir Robert Foster, and Sir John Glanville and to divers gentlemen of the county, with a view to the prosecution of the Earls of Pembroke, Salisbury, and Northumberland, Robert Nicholas the Devizes member. Sir Edward Baynton, and others, on the charge of high treason in taking up arms against his Majesty. But the Wilts gentry selected to compose the grand jury refused to regard their countrymen in arms as malefactors, and they therefore returned all the bills ‘Hgnoramus.” The result was that not a single trial took place. The mere attempt nevertheless ex¬ cited great indignation both in London and in Wiltshire. The Judges were ordered to be impeached; and in the case of the subordinate agents, even with the palliation just men¬ tioned, they became from that time marked men. We shall hereafter see, how, in the hour of retaliation, when some of THE ASSIZES OF 1643 . 185 the Wilts Royalists came to be dealt with as compounders for their estates, it was always regarded as a suspicious circum¬ stance if their names had appeared on the list of “grandjury- men at the illegal Assizes.” It was not however till 27th October 1645, that Mr. Baynton the other member for Devizes laid before the House the original indictment in which his brother members and other popular leaders were charged with high treason for matters which they did by authority from the Parliament; and he at the same time took care to remind the House that the clerk of the Assize on that oc¬ casion was Francis Swanton of Sarum, and that one Michael Tidcombe of the Devizes was the attorney who prosecuted the business against them. Swanton and Tidcombe were of course promptly sent for as delinquents and committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. Common^ Journals vol. iv. p. 323. The names of all the Grandjurymen cannot perhaps be recovered, but the following are some of them. Wiltshire gentlemen serving in the Great Commission of Oyer and Terminer opened at Salisbury in Gecemioer 1643. Tliomas Bennett, of Pyt-house. William Coombes, of Tisbury. Edward Ernie, of Etcbilhampton. Robert Edmonds. Thomas Fry, of Ashgrove. Riohard Goddard, of New Sarum. Stephen Hurst, of Whiteparish. Benjamin Jay, of Hackleston. George Marshall, of Milford. Humphrey Nor borne, of Choldring- ton. James Parham, of Stratford. Giles Perkins, of Lediard Tregoze. Rowland Plott, of Tollard Royal. Thomas Rose, of Hazledon. Edward Shoard, of Maiden Bradley. John Smith, of Stanton near Lediard, or of Stourton ? Francis Swanton, of Sarum. William Wastfield, of Sarum. Edward Wood, of Tollard Royal. Sir John Glanville one of the Judges, was of Broad Hinton in Wilts. Michael Tidcombe and Lawrence Hyde were collectors of evidence; and John Oakford of Heyteshury, as badift'to the Sheriff, delivered the sum¬ monses to the gentry to serve on the said grand jury. Judge Heath opened the proceedings in the following terms, as reported by John Rede of Salisbury, gent. “There is an inconsiderable number of men now gotten together, (who are mad as I think) that have not only gone about to frustrate and make void the King’s Broad Seal, by which authority we sit here; for 186 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the King speaks by his Broad Seal, and it is now and ever was called “The King’s Broad Seal.” But these are so audacious as to make a Broad Seal of their own, which is undoubtedly treasonable in whomso¬ ever. And therefore they ought to be enquired after, and be presented and indicted here, together with all those that adhere to them, as many as you can find. For although it may be we know some of them, yet we are to take notice of them no otherwise but from you [Gentlemen] in a legal way. And here I am to tell you we are this day appointed to cause a proclamation to be published against aU those the contrivers and forgers of that new-found counterfeit Broad Seal, and all those that join with them in any act by viidue thereof.” The scene was also described by Edmund Cole of New Sarum, who saw the process or indictments which were then directed by way of commencement, against the Earl of Pem¬ broke, Sir William Waller, and about 57 other gentlemen of quality. This was the sole object of the Assize; for, he adds, that no writs of Nisi prius came down or were tried on that occasion. Falstone MSS. The Sheriff for this year was Sir John Penruddocke of Compton Chamberlain, an uncompromising Poyalist. An¬ other of the agencies in the King’s behalf, put in force during his shrievalty, was to distribute among the Wilts clergy an instrument called “the King’s Oath of Association” which they were then required to administer to the people. This was generally done in the parish churches after divine service, whereby many found themselves placed as it were between tv?o fires, being compromised by engagements from which there was no possible retreat, except at the imminent risk of life and estate: for the King’s Oath was only a set-oflp against the two opposing instruments wielded by the Parliament, viz. The Negative Oath and the Solemn League and Covenant. Archbishop Laud and the Member for Devizes, 1643-4. The trial of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the House of Lords was at this time proceeding; some notice of which may properly be taken in this place, because one of the professional gentlemen principally conspicuous on the side of the prose¬ cution was the Member for Devizes (already mentioned at SERGEANT ROBERT NICHOLAS. 187 page 138), viz. Eobert Nicholas Esq. of the Inner Temple, and afterwards Judge of the Upper Bench. Anthony a Wood says of this friend of the Commonwealth, that he was of the same family with those two most loyal gentlemen Sir Edward Nicholas Secretary of State to King Charles I., and Dr. Matthew Nicholas dean of St. Paul’s, who were both born at Winterbourn-Earls in Wiltshire. This assertion may be true enough ; but as it is also true that the Nicholas’s had a seat at Roundway for centuries previous, the locality of the original stock may presumptively be placed in Devizes and its neighbourhood.^ Robert Nicho¬ las on his admission to the Inner Temple 25th July 1614 is styled “of Allcannings.” The entries in the parish register of Allcannings at the time of his birth seem to indicate that he was the younger of twins,—that the elder, being sickly, was baptised and received the name of Robert on the day of its premature death,—and that the survivor also bore the name of Robert, which from another burial entry in 1592 appears to have been that of the father.® In 1640 Robert Nicholas was elected one of the Members for Devizes to serve in the Long Parliament, and two years later we discover him as an active manager of the impeach¬ ment against Archbishop Laud. In the conduct of this affair he is accused of having treated the fallen prelate with “un¬ seemly virulence and insult, using foul and gross language. ' Of Sir Edward Nicholas the fa¬ ther of the Secretary, it was tradi¬ tionally reported that the bailiff who managed his estate at Win- terbourn and who moreover occa¬ sionally acted as the parish clerk of Winterbourn church, was William Fox the father of the celebrated ’ “ Robert Nicholas was baptised the 17th day of November 1597. “Idem Robt. Nicholas sepult. fuit eodem die et anno. Sir Stephen Fox the ancestor of the Lords Holland and Ilchester, and of Charles James Fox. This is on the authority of Mrs. Riggs a descen¬ dant of the Winterbourn Nicholases, who sold Sir Edward’s estate of Motcombe in 1769. Falstone MSS. “Robt. Nicholas minor was bap¬ tised the 22nd of November eodem anno.” Supplied by the Rev. Henry Methuen. 188 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. and calling him among other opprobrious names ‘pander to the whore of Babylon/ until the Ai'chbishop desired the lords, that if his crimes were such that he might not be used like an Archbishop, yet that at least he might be treated like a Christian; and they accordingly checked the member in his harangue.” But, in justice to Mr. Nicholas, it must be remembered that the report of his trial is drawn up by the prisoner himself; and that if this narrative were our only memorial of his career. Archbishop Laud would have come down to posterity as a model of Christian meekness and for¬ titude. Nicholas occupied Sergeant Maynard’s place on the second day of the trial, and he certainly seems to have had very little patience with his prisoner. It was Laud’s ponti¬ fical assumptions at which he took especial offence; such as his permitting such ascriptions to be paid in letters to him, as sanetitas tua thy holiness, Pontifex maximus High priest, Archangelus, See,., though it is likely enough that the extra¬ ordinary dexterity which the Archbishop exhibited throughout his trial, in evading evidence and provinghimselfto be always in the right, must also have had its effect in enhancing the acerbity of the opposing counsel. On the ninth day, the Archbishop records a proverb used by Nicholas which seems to have irri¬ tated him not a little. Mr. Nicholas, we may suppose, was contrasting the prisoner’s declarations when in power with the evasive explanations now put upon them ; for he used the expression “ Whatsoever the bird at this time of the year may sing.” Upon which the Archbishop pathetically appeals to his peers “ Truly, my lords, I could easily return all his [Mr. Nicholas’s] bitterness upon himself, could it befit my person, my present condition, or my calling.” To this pro¬ verb he again refers when contradicting the next witness as to words formerly uttered by himself;—insisting that his own version of the story was the only true one, “ notwithstanding Mr. Nicholas his bird.^ * While one of the Nicholases of Allcannings is thus seen arrayed SERGEANT ROBERT NICHOLAS. 189 In October 1644 tbe Commons passed an order that Robert Nicholas should be allowed to enter upon the chamber of Sergeant Hyde in the Middle Temple, and also that of George Beare, without fine or fee. To Robert Reynolds (M.P. for Hindon) were at the same time granted the chamber, manu¬ scripts, and books, of Sir Edward Hyde of the Middle Temple. The Parliament still further signified their approval of Mr. Nicholas’s services by allowing him, from and after the 24th July 1645, a gratuity of £4 a week, which was continued till 20th August 1646 when the order was recalled. Mr. Foss the learned historian of “the Judges ” quotes as another ex¬ ample of what he deems harshness and intolerance in the member for Devizes, that when on the occasion of the out¬ break of the Royalists in 1648, it was proposed in the House that Lord Goring should not be included among the delin¬ quents, Mr. Nicholas started up, with the words “ What, Mr. Speaker, shall we spare the man who raised a second war more dangerous than the first, and cudgelled us into a treaty ?” —that Mr. Nicholas’s amendment nevertheless was negatived. Foss vi. 464. Yet surely Mr. Foss will not deny that, even in the pages of Clarendon, there is hardly any name more stained with impiety and cruelty than that of Goring. Nor in fact does the above account, which represents Nicholas as the most illiberal man in the House, fairly exhibit the facts. Goring was, in June 1648, declared by both Houses a traitor; and it against Archbishop Laud, presump- added, “the prelate gratefully ac¬ tive evidence exists that another knowledged when at the top of his member of the same family had been preferment.” Now, if William his early patroness. In the life of Bailey was one of the children of William Bailey of Etchilhampton Richard Bailey of Etchilhampton one of the divines expelled by who appears in the Herald’s visit- Charles II., it is stated that “Mrs. ation of 1G23, then this aunt must Burnegham an aunt by his mother’s have been a Nicholas, for Richard’s side” was the person who had been wife was Honor the daughter of at the expense of young Laud’s Edward Nicholas of Allcannings, education, a service which, it is Ilarl. 3ISS. 190 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. was resolved, apparently without a division, that he with other lords should be attainted of high treason. Niue months afterwards, when it was proposed that their execution should be respited for a short time, the division in the case of Lord Goring was actually equal, Mr. Speaker, as usual, giving the casting vote on the side of mercy. Eventually Lord Goring received a free pardon; but Nicholas was far from being the only man in England who regarded him as a pest to society. The majority looked upon him as too poor a subject for a martyr; and rightly too, for he closed his irregular life as a Dominican friar in Spain. In October 1648 the Commons made Mr. Nicholas a Ser- geant-at-Law, and then appointed him one of their assistants on the approaching trial of the King. His name, it is true, is included in the Acts as one of the King’s judges, but he prudently abstained from attending at the trial. “ On 1st June 1649 he accepted the ofl&ce of Judge of the Upper Bench, and in the following April he and Chief Justice Kolle were much commended by the House for settling the people’s minds to the Government by their charges to the grand juries on the Western circuit. On the occasion of this ele¬ vation he presented £30 to the poor of Devizes through the hands of the churchwardens of St. John and St. Mary; the gift is dated 20th April 1650. When Oliver Cromwell as¬ sumed the protectorate, Nicholas was removed from the Upper Bench into the Exchequer, and was sworn a baron in Hilary term 1653-4, an appointment which he still held on the suc¬ cession of the Protector Richard in September 1658, when he was re-sworn. His next change was made by the Hump Parliament, who restored him to his former place on the Upper Bench 17th January 1659-60. There is no account of him after the return of King Charles; and it is most probable that he was permitted quietly to take advantage of the’Act of indemnity. Being of the Rump Parliament, he was omit¬ ted from those sergeants who were confirmed in their degree. THE PLAGUE. 191 As a Judg-e lie will affain come before us in the narrative of the Commonwealth’s proceedings, and in the Penruddocke rising of 1654 he appears as one of the agents in a domestic episode of romantic interest. A further notice of his house will also have to be taken when Robert Nicholas of Devizes, (now represented by the family at Ashton Keynes) inter¬ married in 1778 with a descendant of Oliver Cromwell. The above account is derived from Foss’s Judges, State Trials, fol. 1730, The Commons’ Journals, and the Municipal Records of Devizes. The Plague. A new terror, greatly enhancing the calamity of civil-war- fare, now invaded the people of England. This was the Plague, which after a period of partial abatement during the previous twenty years, broke out with renewed energy in the summer of 1644. “The sickness does still continue and in¬ crease at Oxford,” writes a journalist of the time, “and there are also many die daily of it in the Devizes in "Wiltshire.” True Informer, July 20 to 27. This scourge had visited Wilt¬ shire at the beginning of the century; it also re-appeared in the reign of Charles II. But not to multiply unnecessary details, the subject may here be noticed and dismissed once for all, in conjunction with another sanitory measure adopted during the same period, viz. the suppression of several ale¬ houses. An allusion to the prevalence of the plague both at Caine and Devizes in 1607 occurs in the foot note at page 77 of this volume. The Chamberlain’s accounts of Devizes furnish moreover the agreeable fact, that when the inhabitants of this town found the pressure of the calamity removed from themselves, they forgot not their suffering brethren. In this aspect, the following extracts from that memorial possess therefore a more than ordinary interest. 192 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. 1627. A gift from this borough to Salisbury for the relief of their poor, £10. 1637. The sum of £2 10s. was by Mr. Mayor’s appointment paid to Captain Nicholas as an indemnity for the not keeping of Tanhill fair, which was interdicted this year in order to prevent the dispersing of the plague. 1637. A gift to Caine through Mr. Lowe and Stephen White, when the plague was there, £6. 1640. A Wardman named Giles Willis is disbursed his expenses in a suit brought against him for preventing a Caine man from entering Devizes. 1642. Paid to Mr. Bennett the remainder of an unpaid rate for Caine in the time of the plague 16s. lOd. 1646. A free gift to Bradford in the time of the sickness, £3. A terrible narrative, drawn up by the philanthropic Mayor Mr. Ivie, of the devastation wrought by the disease in Salis¬ bury in 1627 is preserved in Hatcher’s History of that city. So entirely had terror prostrated the virtue of the masses, that even the searchers and bearers became callous to their loathsome office so long as they could ply the stimulus of intoxication. Mr. Ivie saw a group of these officials dancing among the graves, with pitchers of ale on their heads, and singing “Hey, for more shoulder-work.” One landlord of an alehouse, together with his wife and servants, placed a barrel of liquor on a table and drank themselves to death. Three fourths of the inhabitants left the city, and the Cathe¬ dral canons barred the Close against the remainder. In the midst of this desolation Mr. Ivie courageously stood at his post; in his capacity of Magistrate he accomplished the suppression of about 130 drinking houses; and when a fire hurst out at the Hospital he housed the unfortunates who were seen crawling out of the ruins. In the promotion of remedial measures for Salisbury alone, the sum of £50 a week was for a time levied on the County of Wilts; in addition to which, Bristol sent them £84: and Devizes, as mentioned above, another £10. [So at least we infer; for had it been part of the compulsory levy it could hardly have been termed “a gift.”] THE PLAGUE. 193 Near Devizes, a well known spot called “the Two Graves” a mile west of Erchfont house, in a field commanding a most enchanting prospect, is said to be the resting place of three brothers, John, Jacob, and Humphrey Giddons, who all died of the plague in 1644; or, according to another form which the tradition bears, one only of the graves is occupied; the third brother having revived after depositing himself in the other. It is further on record in respect of this parish, that the Rev. Peter Glassbrook, together with his son and four grandchildren were all buried by the servant maid the last survivor of his household. In 1621 a royal Commission signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lennox, Hamilton, Grinfield, Maundrell, Julius Caesar, Sir John Suckling, and other lords of the Council had arrived in Devizes, recommending the suppression of unnecessary ale-houses in order to prevent the excessive consumption of barley. The reply of the Devizes Magistrates was as follows. “ To the right honourable the lords of his Majesty's most honourable privy council. “ Right Honouhable. May it please your honours to be advertised that according to your lordships’ directions by your honourable letters of the last of December, we have taken view of all the ale-houses within the borough of Devizes in the County of Wilts; and of them have sup¬ pressed twelve which we conceived to be less needful, for the ease of his Majesty’s people and convenieney of the markets of the said borough. And at the last quarter-sessions of the peace of the same borough holden in January last, we, as usually upon occasion offered and his Majesty’s laws require, gave to the common brewers, inn-keepers, and ale-house¬ keepers within the borough, an assize of bread and ale, such as the price of malt might then and yet may hear, and as the statute in such case lately made and provided requireth; which course.we purpose from henceforth to continue, to the best of our endeavours; further infor¬ ming your lordships that.our markets here are weekly well and competently furnished of all kind of grain, without want, and the price somewhat falling : only much poor want work; and many of those poor set on work have less wages than in former times have been yielded, which the clothiers answer the cause to be the small profit they receive by the rent of their cloth. And even so, craving pardon of your honours If 194 HISTORY or DEVIZES. for oirr over much boldness, We rest; your honours’ most humbly in all duty and service to be commanded. “Edward Noethet, Mayor. “ Robet Drew, “John Kent. “21 February 1622.”* The Campaign of 1644. The opposing Generals in the Spring operations of 1644, so far as the Southern counties were concerned, are still Sir Ealph Hopton for the King and Sir William Waller for the Parliament. Hopton, who had recruited his ranks in Wilt¬ shire, was lying in winter quarters in the neighbourhood of Winchester and Eomsey; while another Eoyalist officer, the notorious Lord Goring, was signalising himself at Salisbury by that profligate course which wrought so much scandal on the ro 3 ^al arms. For a narrative of his proceedings here, Mr. Matcham’s History of Frustfield Hundred and Lord Claren¬ don’s Rebellion are sufficient vouchers, without enlisting the additional aid of such apocryphal writers as the compiler of The Looking-glass for malignants. A brief newspaper extract, containing an allusion to the recent siege at Devizes may bes added. “ If they [ Goring’s troopers] remove to Eingwood or Salisbury, as is supposed, it must be through want; that part [where they now are] being so poor, and all the country store eaten up, that they [the country- people] have it not for themselves ; much less for such cormorants who glory in their riotings, in undoing this or that place. And indeed, wheresoever they go, say they, we will make the clowns pinch seven years after. The second and chiefest reason is, that they hear that Waller is coming to his army, whom the cavalry doth applaud for valour and experience, since his chasing their General into the Vyse; and at this day will say, that had it not been for Oxford help, Hopton had been as well tossed as ever he delighted in tossing of dogs at a bear-baiting.” Continuation of Sjjecialpassages, 22 Feh. A mutual determination to fight, led the two Generals, Hopton and Waller, to advance one towards the other, near * Tlie above letter, it must be admitted, is somewhat out of place here. It belongs rather to the reign of James I. WAR WARRANTS 195 the close of March. With equal forces, and fired by equal resentments, they met at Cherrington down near Alresford; and after an obstinate contest which lasted a whole day. Waller obtained a doubtful victory, 29th March 1644. The scene then shifts to North Wilts, where King Charles was pitching his standard on Albourne Chase, in order to muster his Western army and summon recruits from the sur¬ rounding Hundreds. His numbers at this rendezvous are estimated by Clarendon at 10,000; but the following cojjy of a mandate issued to the Constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings will shew that they were not all volunteers. “Wilts. Whereas by virtue of his Majesty’s commission under the Great Seal of England to us and others directed for the impressing of six hundred and sixty-seven able men within the said County of Wilts;— And whereas it is conceived that twenty-one is a proportionable nmnber for the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings : These are therefore to will and require you, and in his Majesty’s name straitly to charge and command you, that presently upon sight hereof, you impress within your said Hundred the said one-and-twenty able men, and bring them to us his Majesty’s commissioners, to the Devizes, on Friday next by one of the clock in the afternoon, there to be received. Hereof fail not at your uttermost peril. Given under oiu’hands and seals this four-and-twentieth day of April, 1644. “Thomas Hall, William Willeys, “Edward Hungerfoed, Walter Xorboene.” “First. The persons you are to impress for the service, you shall make choice of such as are of able bodies. 2.—Such as are for their quality ht to be common soldiers. 3.—Such as are fit for their age. 4.—Such as are single men rather than married men. 5 .—Such as being single men are not housekeepers. 6.—Such as, not being housekeepers, are out of service rather than such as are in service. 7.—Such as are mechanics, tradesmen, or others, rather than husbandmen, but no mariners. 8.— Next you shall take care that they be conveniently apparelled, either of their own or by the assistance of the parish where they are impressed.” This and sundry other missives of a similar nature already recited, addressed to the Constables of Potterne and Cannings, are from a collection of original Wiltshire warrants in the possession of the Rev. Edward Wilton of West Lavington. The local details which they unfold are of so interesting a N 2 196 HISTORY or DEVIZES. character, that a further selection may here find place, thrown into a group with a few from other sources. The two first (derived from the papers of the family of Grubbe of Potterne through the courtesy of General John W. Grubbe) point to the period when the King’s power became paramount in De¬ vizes in the spring of 1643, and illustrate the remarks made at pages 155-6. [N.B. In respect of general levies made on the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, it must always be borne in mind that the Devizes liability was one-fifth.] “ To John Grubhe, Esq., “ Charles R. “Trusty and well-beloved; We greet you well:—Though we are unwilling in the least degree to press upon our good subjects, yet we must obey that necessity which compels us in this public distraction when our own money and revenue is seized and detained from us, to lay hold on anything which .... may be a means to preserve this king¬ dom;—We must therefore desire you forthwith to lend us the sum of Two hundred pounds, in money or plate, for our necessary support and the maintenance of our army which we are compelled to raise for the defence of our power, the Protestant religion, and the laws of the land. We have trusted this bearer to receive it of you: and we do promise you in the word of a King to repaj^ it with interest. And of this service we cannot doubt; well knowing you are too mirch concerned in the safety of our person and the preservation of the public peace to neglect this oppor¬ tunity of expressing your care of both. Given at our Court at Oxford, this 17th day of February 1643.” “ To John Harvest, gent., at Potterne.'^ A similarly worded document; the only difierence being that the sum demanded is one hundred pounds, and the con¬ cluding sentence a shade nearer to the language of a threat; thus:— “If you shall refuse to give us this testimony of your affection, you will give us too great cause to suspect your duty and inclination both to our person and to the public peace.” It is dated from Oxford, on the 8th March 1643. Both the above letters are superscribed with the King’s autograph. A contract to furnish the King's army with cheese. “Whereas I, Adam Winckworth of Marlborough in the county of Wilts, chandler, have received his Majesty’s warrant for the raising and WAR WARRANTS. 197 receiving tliree score pounds from the inhabitants of Marlborough afore¬ said, for and towards provision of cheese for his Majesty’s army, I do hereby engage myself within six days after the receipt of the said three score pounds, to bring unto his Majesty’s magazine the full quantity of four thousand weight of cheese, besides the quantity of two thousand two hundred weight already by me brought in. In witness whereof I set my hand and seal this eleventh day of July 1643. “Adam WiNCKWOETn. “Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of Henry Cripps and Anthony Kider.” An accompanying instrument of the same date, is a war¬ rant addressed to the townsfolk themselves, recommending them to furnish the required sum promptly and cheerfully, unless they preferred the alternative of being proceeded against as disaffected persons. To John Harvest and others, Constables of Potterne and Cannings. “Wilts. By virtue of his Majesty’s commissions under the Great Seal of England to us and others directed, for the seizing and employing of rebels’ and delinquents’ estates; These are to authorise you J ohn Harvest, Thomas Lye, John Blandford, Robert Long, living within the tything of Potterne within the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, or so many of you as you shall appoint, forthwith to make your rate upon the said tything of Potterne according to your composition lately with us for £40 and forty shillings towards all fees and charges; but on those only who paid the rates, which are expressed in their presentment. And in case you meet with any refractory persons who refuse to pay or to be rated as aforesaid, that then you make return to us of such persons’ names, to the end we may deal with them according to the power and trust committed to us ; Provided always you impose no rates on those who have been well known to be truely affected to his Majesty’s cause : oiu care being that no such be taxed. Given under our hands the 14th day of December 1643. “Robert Long, James Long, “ Edw. I'erburi', Edward Ernle.’’ I'o William Fisher and John Pleydell Esquires. “ To our trusty and well beloved Mr. William Fisher and Mr. John Pleydell, receivers of the contributions of the divisions of Marlborough, Chippenham, and the Devizes, greeting:—Whereas by an order of the Council of War of 30 November past, the contributions of the divisions of Marlborough, Chippenham, and the Devizes were settled for the payment of Colonel Thomas Howard’s regiment of foot in garrison at Malmesbury and his regiment of horse quartered thereabouts, and you were then ap- 198 HISTOKY OF DEVIZES. pointed receivers to pay the same, as by the said order at large appeareth; which contribution although it hath been since paid to other of our forces, is henceforward to be solely applied to that use. Wherefore our will and pleasure is that you from time to time receive and pay the contribution of the said divisions into the said garrison in Malmesbury, and to Colonel Thomas Howard’s regiment of horse, according to the said order, and to no other. This you are didy to perform; and for jmur so doing, this shall he your warrant. By his Majesty’s Council of War at Oxford 26 March 1644.” To the same. “Our will and pleasure is that out of the contributions of the divisions of Marlborough, Chippenham, and the Devizes, you pay to Colonel Thomas Howard the full sum of £30 by him disbursed to Colonel Allen Apsley to pay his regiment when they were in garrison in Malmesbury. 16 March 1644.” To the Constables and Tythingmen of Potterne, “Wilts. Whereas Captain Grove’s troop in Sir George Vaughan’s regiment is employed hereabouts in his Majesty’s service:—These are therefore to require you that you provide sufficient quarter within your 2 )arish for the troop aforesaid; for which you shall receive satisfaction out of the contribution-money, according to the Lord Hopton’s order to me and the rest of the Commissioners. Given under my hand at the Devizes, this 12th of May 1644. “John Peneuddocke.” To the High Constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings^ William Flower and John Harvest. “Wilts. Whereas we have received letters from his Majesty of the 9th of this instant, wherein his royal pleasure is signified to us and others, that search should be made in the several places of your Hundred for such soldiers as were impressed and delivered over to Captain Robert Skirrowe, and ran away before and after they came to be disposed in Colonel Leslie’s regiment for the recruit of the same; and that in case they cannot be found in the Hundred, that then you impress the same number of men to supply their places, and that you also pursue your former warrant to impress the desertine number of soldiers upon your said former impress¬ ment for the advancement of both the aforesaid services. These are in his Majesty’s name to charge and command you that upon the receipt hereof yorr presently cause aU the parishes and tythings to be duly searched within your Hundred for such runaways, whose names are here¬ under subscribed, to bring them with all speed to the Devizes to Captain Robert Skirrowe; whom notwithstanding if you cannot find and appre¬ hend them, to impress others into their places as aforesaid, and likewise that you impress or cause to be impressed the remainder of such men as were formerly defective and not brought to us upon our last sitting at the Devizes, according to the number charged upon the several places within WAR WARRANTS. 199 your Hundred, whereof there is a schedule hereunto annexed and sent unto you. And in the performance of these several services, we charge and command you to do your utmost diligence and give us a due accompte hereof at the Devizes on Monday, being the 20th of this Instant, when and where you are to bring in all the men not formerly brought in to Cap¬ tain Robert Shirrowe. Hereof fail not as you and the inferior officers will avoid to be carried to Oxford to answer your contempt or remissness before his Majesty’s most honourable council of war there. Dated at Trowbridge the 15th day of May 1644. “John Penetjhdocee, Thomas Hall, “ Robeet Eyee, William Wallys.” The names of the runaways are then appended—viz. Edward Francis of Lavington, John Bond of Lavington, R-r Payne of Potterne, and Edward Edwards of the Devizes. Receipt given while the King was lying at Lord Francis Seymour's house in 3Iarlborough. “Marlborough, 17 November 1644. Received from the tything of Pot¬ terne, one hundred one quarter and twenty pound weight of cheese, and ten bushels of wheat, for the use of his Majesty’s army :—I say, received by me, “Edwaed Jolley, Deputy Commissary.” Extract from the Devizes Borough records 1644. “138 Dozen of bread sent to the army at Marlborough by Mr. Mayor’s orders. £6 18s, Od.” [Matthew Allen.] 'I'o the Constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings. “Whereas you have received a former warrant for the speedy raising of three-score pounds within your Hundred, which you have neglected to do, and given no account thereof, according to your warrant subscribed by Major Nott: These are therefore to require you and either of you, without any further delay, to collect the same, and upon pain of plundering to bring it to our quarters at Trowbridge for the use of my Lord Went¬ worth’s brigade, this instant Tuesday, being the 10th dav of December 1644. “Aethue Slingsby, “Edwaed Nott. “You are to bring this money to Mr. Wallis’s house in Trowbridge this night.” To the Constable of Lavington. “These arc to vill and command you upon sight hereof to provide £9 12s. for the use of my Lord Wentworth’s brigade, to be brought to 200 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Mr. White’s at West Lavington, as you shall answer the contrary. “John Harvest. “Constable of Potterne.” “The tenth day of December 1644. “Received of Robert Pope and Michael Paradice for the tythings of Week and Rudges within the parish of Potterne, for the use of my Lord Wentworth’s brigade, one-and-iifty shillings and three pence:—I say, received per me £2 11s. 3d. “Edward Nott.” To the Constable or Tythingman of Potterne. “These are in his Majesty’s name to will and require you to bring to m}’ quarters at Great Chiverell at Jesse Mereweather’s house, four quarters of oats and two loads of hay by six of the clock this evening; as you tender his Majesty’s service and will answer the contrary at your peril. And you are likewise to be personaRy present to see this provision brought in, at the place aforesaid. From my quarters at Chiverell, this 18th of December 1644. “ Richard Sturdy.” It might be inferred from the above documents that during 1644 the resources of the County of Wilts were monopolised by the King’s party : but such was not entirely the case. The opposite party could make inroads, though they found it impossible just now to establish a permanent footing. And such a raid was in fact executed in the months of May and June by Colonel Edward Massey the Governor of Gloucester. Having taken the town of Malmesbury by storm, he came on to Chippenham and Caine where he arrested Mr. Chivers, George Lowe M.P. for Caine, and a son of Sir Edward Baynton. Thence he marched to Devizes, surprised the King’s committee, among whom were Michael Tidcombe Esq., Mr. Pugh, and two gentlemen of the name of Buck, and left the traces of his visit in the form of two warrants, one to destroy the fortifications round the town, the other to collect money. To John Harvest the Constable of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, “You are hereby required and commanded to summon in all the able- bodied men for work about your Hundred, with such spades, shovels, pickaxes, and other tools as they have, for the present demolishing and WAR WARRANTS. 201 throwing down all such works and fortifications as are now standing about the Devizes. Which you are not to fail to see or cause to be done within four days after the receipt hereof, as you tender the safety of your persons and estates, and will answer the contrary at your- perils. Dated 3rd of June 1644. “Edward Massey.” To the High Constable of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, with the Borough of the Devizes and the liberties of Bromham and of B,owde. “Wilts. AYhereas the regiment of Colonel Devereux, governor of Malmesbury, hath not received any pay for the regiment of foot-troop of horse and dragoons, since the 16th of June last, but what was borrowed of Colonel Broughton:—These are therefore to will and require you to collect and gather within your Hundred the sum of two hundred and forty pounds for and towards the paying of the said regiment of horse and dragoons, for the preservation of the said garrison and defence of the country; for two month’s pay, ending 16 August next. And the same pay unto me at my quarters in the said garrison upon Friday next, 19th July ; upon which payment, all free quarter is to be discharged. And if so it shall appear by any of the high-constables of the several hundreds within the county, that any hundred is rated above the wonted proportion of the rest of the country, upon any just information given, the same shall he amended or allowance shall be given in the next payment. Hereof fail not, as you will answ'er the contrary at your utmost peril. Given under my hand at Malmesbury this 15th day of July 1644. “Nicholas Devereux.” Colonel Edmund Ludlow is also to make his re-ajipearance amongst us, and again to measure swmrds with the enemy who had starved him out of Wardour castle and made him a prisoner in the previous winter. At the present moment he was holding a commission in Waller’s army; having obtained his liberty at the exchange of prisoners which followed the battle of Alresford. But as it was thought desirable by the Parliament that he should take a permanent position in this district, as a check to the power of the King, he obtained from Waller a permission to quit the main army, and once more rode into his native county in the twofold capacity of High Sheriff of Wilts and commander of a regiment of county horse. Alexander Pophani appears to have been his second officer in 202 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. command. Other gentlemen serving with him were Edward Popham, Thomas Bennett of Norton, William Sadler, William Stroud, Francis Dowett, and (subsequently) Henry Wansey. In Colonel Popham’s troop rode Mr. Locke of Bristol,^ father to the philosopher John Locke whom Mr. Popham afterwards sent to Oxford University. The nine brothers Ping should also be memorialised, who fought their way, not unharmed, all through the campaign, in Ludlow’s service, and lived to present their united petition for arrears. They appear to have belonged to South Wilts. The name occurs at Semley, Sedghill, and Netheravon. This new movement took place on the 23rd of June 1644. Ludlow entered Marlborough on a fair-day; and was fortunate enough there to surprise Sir Ralph (now Lord) Hopton, and chase him out of the town. A message now arrived, earnestly soliciting his assistance in behalf of Major Wansey of War¬ minster, who with a slender garrison was blockaded at Woodhouse, an old mansion near Longleat. Ludlow accord¬ ingly came on to Devizes and endeavoured, though ineffectu¬ ally, to augment his troop in this town. His numbers were only 280; and on reaching Woodhouse he found himself so far from being in a capacity to raise the siege, that he was in turn himself chased by Sir Francis Doddington all through Warminster, Salisbury, and Whiteparish. This was a very untoward commencement of his new warfare, and it was followed by a scene still more painful. Sir Francis Doddington returning in triumph to Woodhouse, speedily reduced the place, and then hung up twelve of the de¬ fenders (most of them being cloth manufacturers) on a single tree in front of the house, besides two deserters. The act was said to be in retaliation for the execution of six Irish roj^alist soldiers recently executed; but in justice to the King it must I The authority for this statement is not decisive. Murder of Mr. Henry Penruddocke, at West Lavington. THE TRAGEDY OF BISHOP’s LAVINGTON. 203 be added that he disowned the deed in his reply to a remon¬ strance from the Parliament^ But though Ludlow’s first adventure was a failure, the nomination in July of a new and more powerful county committee kept his troop in the saddle, and enabled him to take part in a variety of skirmishes in South Wilts and Somerset, all which are detailed with great minuteness in his “ Memoirs ” and in the newspapers of the day, but cannot with propriety be pressed into the history of Devizes. We must however make room for a tragical event occurring no farther off than Lavington; the merit of which seems to belong not so much to Ludlow himself as to his Major Francis Dowett; for Ludlow had just before been sent to the relief of Taunton, and it is not all certain that he W'as returned. [See his Memoirs.] Besides which, he cannot be suspected of treating with unprovoked cruelty the member of a neighbouring family. The affair was as follows. On the 28th of December, being St. Innocent’s day, a pai-ty of troopers belonging to Ludlow’s regiment came to the house of Mr. Beckett of Bishop’s Lavington, and finding Captain Henry Peuruddocke (second son to Sir John Pen- ruddocke late sheriff of the county) in one of the rooms, where he was fallen asleep in a chair after two nights of hard service, they pulled the poor gentleman by his hair, knocked him down, and broke two pistols over his head, wfithout so much * As these unhappy men were be¬ ing turned oft' from the ladder, one of them broke his rope and fell to the ground, upon which he prayed hard that he might be allowed to fight for his life with any two of the King’s men; but he was un¬ heeded. Aubrey, who says the vic¬ tims were 13 in number and that they had surrendered upon quarter, adds, that Sir Francis caused a son to hang his father, or e contra. He also gives the size of the tree, mea¬ sured by paces ; from which it ap¬ pears to. have covered a circular area of about 119 feet in diameter. Natural History of Wilts, p. 53. A rough tumulus still marks “the clothiers’ grave;’’ but Woodhouse itself has long been destroyed, and the ruins of the giant oak were converted into a desk for a public school. ♦ 204 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. as tendering him quarter. The gentlewoman of the house [Mrs. Beckett] and her two daughters then fell upon their knees before the soldiers begging for the life of their guest, declaring that he was a gentleman and whose son he was; upon which one of the troopers who was a collier swore that he should die for his father’s sake and forthwith shot him through the body. For the details of the above statement we are indebted only to the Royalist Journal, the Memrius Aulicus; the papers in the opposite interest taking no notice of the trans¬ action; but as it is certain that Mr. Penruddocke’s death did happen at this time, we must be satisfied with the solitary account we possess. An entry in the Burial Register of Bishop’s Lavington parish simply records the fact that “Mr. Henry Penruddocke gent, slain by a soldier of the con¬ trary party, was buried 31st December 1644.” It is a matter of some surprise that his name should have been overlooked in the List of Royal Martyrs, published in Charles II.’s reign, and purporting to contain all the gen¬ tlemen of any distinction who fell in the royal cause: whereas, the only member of this family therein memo¬ rialised is Colonel John Penruddocke who was beheaded at Exeter in 1654 for the part which he took in the Salisbury rising against Oliver; and yet it is certain that at the place of execution, the said Colonel stated that two of his brothers had lost their lives in the service of King Charles. It may further be remarked, as an illustration of the fickle¬ ness of fame, that while the name of Henry Penruddocke was forgotten, that of Francis Dowett was trumpeted as a “ royal martyr ” in consequence of having lost his life soon after his desertion of the Parliament, but whose loyalty, (to adopt the sentiment of Sir Henry Lee of Ditch- ley) had now ennobled him. See Scott’s “ Woodstock.” The house in which the tragedy was enacted is still standing. It is now 1858 the farm house on Mr. Beckett Turner’s estate NEW GARRISONS IN WILTS. 205 at Littleton in the Parish of Bishop’s Lavington, and occupied by Mr. Abraham Newman: tradition still points out the room and the place in it where the murder occurred. Henry Penruddocke probably rode in Colonel Long’s troop, which usually quartered about the two Lavingtons. This was the regiment of Wiltshire Roj'alists, commanded by Sir James Long of Draycot, who, like his rival Edmund Ludlow, also bore the title of Sheriff of Wilts ; Long being the nominee of the Crown, Ludlow of the Parliament. The affair at Mrs. Beckett’s house took place on the same day, 28th December, in which a party of Royalists from Devizes under Lords Goring and Ilopton were engaged in reducing Piuhill House near Caine; and it seems therefore highly probable that Penruddocke had borne a share in that enterprise, and was just returned to his quarters for the night. The town again fortified. Such was the state of the county at the close of the year 1644 when the King (to use the language of one of the news¬ papers,) despairing of the North and East of England, was resolved to dispute the West by inches. “We see they in¬ tend to reduce the West into the state of the Netherlands, and have a garrison at every five miles, and not to fight so often in the field” says the Parliamentary Scout 20tk December With this view. Lord Seymour’s house at Marlborough (now the College) was encircled with stockades, Highworth Church was turned into a garrison; Lord Goring and Sir Jacob Astley were stationed, the one at Sherbourn, the other at Cirencester; while Sir Charles Lloyd the King’s chief engineer and quarter¬ master general was commissioned to raise once more the fortifications around Devizes, and to restore (for a brief sea¬ son, as it turned out) the military character of both tower and town. It was about Christmas that the Lords Goring and Hoptoti with 3000 troops came through Devizes on their way to Bris- 206 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. tol and other garrisons, “ the men,” says the Mcrcurius Cwicm “ marching with heavy hearts, and cursing the unnatural war which would not allow them to rest even in their Winter- quarters.” This, though the language of a Parliamentary journal, is amply verified by the following statements made by a King’s officer. Sir Jacob Astley reporting progress from Farringdon on the 25th November, says, that he has been inspecting Cricklade with a view to its fortification, but finds it unfit for that purpose. If Rupert, says he, wish to fortify some post between Oxford and Bristol, he must furnish more men, horses, and arms; for Massey is on the look out to stop any convoy passing between those cities. He then excuses the disorders of the soldiers, who are “ driven to distraction for want.” For himself, “he is ready to cut his own throat, and would rather starve in Oxford then remain where he is.” On the 9th December he goes to Cirencester to ascertain how far that place was eligible for defence. He finds the town very poor, the best houses in ruin, and he can hardly get victuals for man or horse. He has serious apprehensions that Massey will fall on him before he has rendered the place tenable, and prays for the assistance of an engineer. His horse regiments are content with nothing allowed them: the soldiers will not work and the officers are negligent. The men have received only nine pence a piece for their subsistence during the last fourteen days; and poor as they are, the townspeople are poorer still. Bennett MSS. The same spirit of discontent infected even the new Gover¬ nor of Devizes. It could not have been many weeks after his appointment that we find him deserting his post and marching to join Goring near Oxford. When expostulated with and sent back to his duty by Colonel Thomas Bennett, Prince Rupert’s secretary, he wrote to him from Highworth on the 22nd December, stating that he was only obeying Rupert’s orders, seeing “he had his commission in order to SIR CHARLES LLOYD. 207 live, and not with the object of shutting himself up in Devizes to starve.” Bennett MSS. Sir Charles’ appointment to Devizes was, as before stated, dictated by the engineering skill for which he had already made himself distinguished; for he was not the only officer who had been proposed. Lord Francis Hawley the Governor of Bristol, writing to Prince Rupert 29th November 1644, makes application in the behalf of “Colonel Chester” [Thomas Chester of Almondsbury Co. Gloucester?]. But the post, however desirable it might appear to an officer at a distance, sitting down amid the plenty and security of Bristol, proved no sinecure to the successful holder. The works to be execu¬ ted were of considerable extent; his Welshmen like the soldiers of Sir Jacob Astley, might prove unwilling to work; and as to provisions, it was become quite clear that all future supplies must now be exacted by pillage, or something very like it. Finding that he must take care of himself, he com¬ menced proceedings, with Lord Hopton’s assistance, by the good old practice of warrants, summoning all the country-side to come in to his aid with pickaxes, shovels, and mattocks ; and by the middle of January it is evident that the work was progressing with sjiirit. Spragg’s account of the operations here is that “Lloyd added to the strength of the natural situ¬ ation by cutting out of the main earth several works com¬ manding one another, and so strong that no cannon could pierce them; besides that being palisadoed and stoccadoed in most places, it was rendered a matter of extreme difficulty to storm the works.” EngluniV^ Rccoccnj. “Hopton” says the Mercurim Britannicus, 13 January, “is fortifying amain at the Devises, but all the Deviees in the world will never keep him from the reach of a Parliament. This is he that first designed how to ruin the kingdom by levying forces in the West, since which he hath used all the shifts and Devices that could be imagined to render himself and his country miserable. And now, when the people Ian- 208 HISTORY OF DEVIZFS. guisli in expectation of peace by a treatj^ [that of Uxbridge] he, to lengthen the war, is fortifying at the Devises in Wilt¬ shire ; but I fear greater fortifyings by the Devices in Oxford.” Governorship of Sir Charles Lloyd. 1644. Here followeth another budget of documentary evidence this time entirely derived from Mr. Wilton’s collection above noticed, exhibiting the state of things in the neighbourhood of Devizes now that it had once more become a King’s town. To the Chief-constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, and every of them. “ These are in the King’s Majesty’s name to will and require you that you send out of your Hundred 40 load of good and sufficient hay, the same to he sent to the castle mthin the Devizes forthwith, all delays and excuses set aside. Whereof fail you not, as jmn answer the contrary at yoiu’ utmost peril. Dated at the Devizes this 28th of December 1644. “ Charles Lloyd. “ P.S. I require you also to provide straw and provender, as much as Captain Jones shall think fit for the garrison.” To the Constable of Potterne : haste. “ These are to require you to press two able teams or carts within your hundred, and bring the same to Potterne-wood by 8 of the clock to-morrow the 13th of this instant; there to carry away cannon-baskets and faggots, which you are to bring to the castle in the Devizes. Fail not, as you will answer the contrary. Dated at the Devizes this 12th of January 1645. “ Charles Lloyd.” [This order had been made two days previously. Perhaps it was not attended to.] On the 4th of January, Sir Charles Lloyd writing to Colo¬ nel Bennett, says that on receipt of an order from Prince Bupert he will demolish Blagg’s house in Devizes which he finds himself unable to maintain. At the same time he asks for the eommand of Colonel Howard’s regiment. On the 8th he announces to Secretary Bennett that he has made Blagg’s house uninhabitable; and adds “ The high-steward of Malmesbury takes infinite pains to shew himself obedient to Prince Rupert’s commands.” Bennett MSS. SIR CHARLES LLOYD. 209 To the Chief Constables of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings and to every of them. “ These are in the King’s Majesty’s name to will and require you that you send out of your Hundred, 200 able and sufficient men with spades, mattocks, and shovels, and provision for one whole week, to work at the bull-works at the castle of the Devizes; the first day to begin on Monday next, being the 13th of January; by the break of the day;—And that you also send then out of your Hundred, six able teams, carts, and carters, and provision likewise, there to work, as to carry or lug timber or wood. [Other copies of this warrant give order that the labourers shall not depart home without license, but are to stay in the night-time in the town of the Devizes, where houses and barns will be provided for them.] And that you make a true return of this my warrant, for the workmen, to Captain Garroway at his quarters at Mr. Edward Flower’s house in the Devizes; and for the teams, carts, and carters, unto Captain ChaUo- ner at his quarters at Mr. Edward Lewes. I require you when you grant out your warrants to the petty constables or tything-men, to write it out at large, whereby they may know the tenour of my warrant. Whereof fail you not as you will answer the contrary at your peril and the neglect of his Majesty’s service. Dated at the castle of the Devizes this 10th of January 1645. “Charles Lloyd.” This warrant, with a few verbal alterations, is reiterated again and again, down to the 12th of April; sometimes requiring a smaller number of men, or imposing a shorter period of service. The constables are severely blamed for their repeated neglect of his Majesty’s service, and their disobedience is threatened with “ pain of plunder.” To the instrument issued on the 22nd of March, Governor Lloyd appends in his own handwriting ;— “Send a copy of this to each tything, that they may not plead igno¬ rance.—See this really performed : else I shall come myself and drive and distrain in lieu of it: for these wilful neglects I will no longer endure. “ Charles Lloyd.” On the back of the warrant dated 24th January occur the words:— “ Received by us John Ferris and John Woodward, both within the parish of Bishops Cannings, the sum of 32 shillings. I say, received by us, John Woodward X Ills mark. John Ferris.” [And in pencil] “Mr. Harvest, your part comes to £5.” o 210 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. A brief message To the Constable and Tythingmen of Pot- terne, preserved on what appears to be the second leaf of a torn sheet, in Sir Charles Lloyd’s own handwriting, is as follows:— “ You are not so laid upon your life and goods. But send me immedi¬ ately all your wains laden with straw, and yourself to be here with me presently, the tythingmen too, one or the other. This from me, the 21st of March 1645. “Charles Lloyd.” To the Constahles of Bulhington and Potterne, ‘ ‘ By virtue of ttie power and authority to me given by our Sovereign Lord King Charles, I do hereby straitly charge and command you forthwith upon receipt hereof to impress within your precincts two able men for the recruit of his Ma-Jesty’s army, and to bring them to me to The George in Meere, upon Friday next, being the 17th of this instant, January, by 11 o’clock in the morning. Hereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your peril. Dated at Shaftesbury, 13 January 1645. “ John Choke.” “It is this day certified by letters, that the Donnington and Basing House forces have done much mischief to the country people in Wiltshire, all about Lavington, Whitfalls, and Caine.“The particulars of all these plunderings it would be too tedious to send now, but I shall give you the issue thereof in due time.” Perfect Occurrenees 22 January. “I shall not weary the reader with any further mention of the inhuman¬ ities of these barbarous savages, too sadly felt by many; though, unless themselves sufferers, believed by few. I might tell you much of their cruelties in Wiltshire and other parts; of their cruel murdering one Paradice near the Devizes; hut the particulars thereof are too tedious to he now communicated.” Ti-ue Informer February 1 to 8. “Micbael Paradice” this must surely be;— the constable of the tytbings of Wick and Pudge mentioned at page 200. The poor man, utterly unable to make up his returns, through the number of defaulters in his bailiwick, is visited, we may suppose, by a party holding a distraining warrant from Sir Charles Lloyd. He resists the sword-men, who prove too strong for him; and the corpse of Michael Paradice is left stretched upon Wick green, a spectacle and warning to all SIR CHARLES LLOYD. 211 petty-constables and tythinginen who find themselves unable to serve both King and Parliament at the same time. In connexion with the above may be cited a circumstance recorded in Collins’s Baronetage, relative to George TVastney, third son of Sir Ilardolf Wastney of Headon, Nottinghamshire, who, we are told, rendered himself memorable by slaying five persons in Devizes in the behalf of King Charles, in whose service he lost his life. As there are no data whereby to determine accurately the era of this transaction, we may conjecturally connect it with some one of the scrimmages which came off during Lloyd’s governorship, to be noticed hereafter. To the Constahles of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings and to either of them :— These: — haste. “These are straitly to ^vill and require you upon sight hereof to gather within your Hundred of Potterne and Cannings these several provisions, . . . . thousand weight of cheese, one .... weight of butter, ten flitches of [bacon?] .... quarters of wheat, four quarters of [barley?] or malt, one quarter of gray boiling [pease?]. And you are required to bring all this provision into the castle of the Devizes by Thursday next, the 3rd of April, where the commissary wdll be ready to receive it and give you a discharge. Cut where any part of this provision is not to be gotten, you are to gather and receive it in money to the value. Fail not the due execution of this warrant, as you will answer the neglect of his Majesty’s service and the good of the garrison. Dated at the Devizes, this 28th day of March 1645. “CuAELES Lloyd.” To the Constahles of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, [a mutilated paper;—all the first part gone;—the j)assages in brackets are conjectural]. “ . . . • unsatisfied. And the said .... artificers for the time ... . to be neglected. These are [therefore in the] King’s Majesty’s name to will and [require you upon] sight hereof, as well to collect and [gather within your said] Hundred the said sum of twenty [pounds weekly the gener]al and usual rate, and the same . . . . you pay it unto Mr. Richard Pierce [and Mr. William Dicke] sen. of the Devizes, on Tuesday [the 15th] day of this instant April, at the dwelling house of the said Mr. William Dicke in the Devizes aforesaid ; as also that you collect and gather within your said Hundred weekly and every week, from the day of the date hereof, the sum of four pounds of lUce money, for and towards the expenses and wages of the said sentiies o 2 212 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. and artilicers; wliieh you are hereby likewise required to pay unto the said Mr. Ilichard Pierce and Mr. William Dicke, weekly and every week, at the place aforesaid, until you shall receive further order to the contrary. And hereof you may not fail, as you will answer the neglect of his Majesty’ service and the good of the garrison, at your peril. Dated at the Devizes this present Friday the 11th day of April, 1645. “Charles Llotd.” A letter from Captain Robert Challoner. “Mr. Haris. I shall desire you to send me your answer by the bearer whether you will send me your returns of the ploughs that have been levied on your side of the Hundred, and also for the five pounds that was levied for the payment of carpenters and sawyers. Tours to serve, “Robert Challoner. “Done by the Governor’s orders.” The “Mr. Haris” here addressed is probably John Harvest the unhappy chief-constable of Potterne, whom Governor Lloyd has well nigh driven wild. On receipt of the above missive, he turns the paper over and writes on the back “Woe is me, poor Ba.” a sentence which may be conjecturally completed by the words “ bankrupt constable.” [Captain Challoner’s handwriting and orthography are those of an illiterate person]. The taking of Pinhill House and Eowden House. Having now taken a view of Sir Charles’ ability in the engineering and commissariat departments, it is time to recur to the military movements in this neighbourhood, consequent on the establishment of the new garrison. It will at once be seen, that as Massey and Devereux commanded at Malmesbury, and Lloyd at Devizes, the intermediate tract of country was debateable land. The town of Chippenham seems to have been a sort of out-post for Massey’s advanced guard; but not satisfied with this, he barricaded at sundry times as occasion required, Pinhill House near Caine the seat of the Blakes, Bowden House near Chippenham belonging to Sir Edward Hungerford, and Lacock Abbey the residence of Lady Olivia THE TAKING OF ROWDEN HOUSE. 213 Stapylton. Pinliill House was reduced by the Devizes, Roy¬ alists,^ 28th December, see page 205, and Lord Hopton who was playing the same game as Massey, by dotting the country with garrisons, next cast his eye on Lacock Abbey, to which post he accordingly assigned his own regiment of horse un¬ der the command of his Lieutenant-Colonel Jordan Boville. About the middle of February Boville marched from Bath to take possession of his new quarters, but on arriving at the mansion discovered to his dismay that it was already in the possession of a party of musketeers from Chippenham and Malmesbury; whereupon he rode forward to Devizes to coneert measures with Sir Charles Lloyd and Sir James Long. Colonel Tyrwhit with a detachment of the Devizes garrison, and Long at the head of 300 of his troopers, uniting with Boville’s men, now constituted a force of 500, and in this strength they lost no time in moving privately towards Chippenham. Having advanced some distance they learnt that the enemy had aban¬ doned Lacock and were now, to the amount of 300, ensconced in Rowden House; that a small party moreover was stationed in the town of Chippenham. Colonel Webb with a troop of horse was sent into the town, where he succeeded in capturing Captain Ludford the governor of Rowden House ; after which the entire body proceeded forward to the mansion itself, which they immediately summoned. The message to surrender receiving no other answer than a volley of musketry, and the besiegers being unprovided with battering cannon, nothing remained for them but to sit down before the place and send off to Lord Hopton for a train of artillery from Bath. The cannon in due course of time was brought up by Sir Francis ' Pinhill, that is, Pinehill: so called, says Aubrey, from the grove of Pines which once covered its summit. In 1656 there were only foiu or five of the trees remaining. Nat, Hist, of Wilts. Roger Blake of Pinhill married Mary daughter of Phillip Baynard of Lackham, Co. Wilts, and had a daughter, Joan, who (about 1600) married Anthony Goddard of Ogbourn St. George and llartham. 214 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Doddiiigton,and a reinforcement of 400'cavalry from Cirences¬ ter also moved towards the devoted citadel under the command of Sir Jacob Astley. But the news had travelled equally fast to the Parliamentary stations of Malmesbury and Glou¬ cester ; and before the Royalists had become too powerful. Colonel Stephens the Sheriff of Gloucestershire issued out of Beverstone castle, and at the head of 130 of his own horse and a body of foot from Malmesbury, burst through the lea¬ guer and deposited a supply of ammunition and provisions within the works. Having accomplished this feat, his wiser course would have been to fight his way out again, while his assailants were in comparative disorder. But who, at such a moment, could resist the temptation of sharing the friendly cup of welcome ? Stephens and his men alighted and went into the house to refresh themselves ; and the besiegers made diligent use of the interval of time thus allowed them, by casting up a breastwork in front of the entrance, and thereby blockading in the horses. The result was that as there was no accommodation for cavalry'- in the house, the condition of the inmates was worse than it was before ; or to use the language of a contemporary chronicler, “the poor besieged were most desperately straitened by this kind of relief.” John Corbefs Relation. As this state of things could not last long, it was determi¬ ned that the horse should make a desperate effort to charge over the breastwork, aided by a file of forty musketeers who sallied out with them and strove hard to clear a passage. But the attempt, though made in gallant style, proved utterly abortive: seventeen of the musketeers were cut down, and the whole party driven back. It soon became manifest that further resistance would necessitate surrender at discretion. No less than 3500 men were now encamped around the house ; and although a second relieving party, sent by Massey, actually rode up and fired a few shots on the outposts of the leaguer, yet the very SIR JAMES long’s REGIMENT. 215 feebleness of the demonstration convinced Stephens and his associates of the necessity of at once accepting quarter for their lives. Rowden House was therefore given up to the Royalists; and as its owner, Sir Edward Iluiigerford, was no friend to their cause, they at once dismantled it and set it on fire. The principal prisoners were carried to Devizes; and Colonel Boville occupied Lacock Abbey. Rowden House, as described by Aubrey, was a well-built Gothic fabric, forming a quadrangle and enclosing a square court. It had a fair hall, very well furnished with armour; and the windows of this hall were emblazoned with coats of arms. Escutcheons executed in stone, similiar to those at Farley, also adorned the walls of the court; and the whole was environed by a moat. Farley castle another seat of Sir Edward Hungerford would probably have met with the same treatment from the Royalists hands, but that it was at present held by them as a fortilice, and was eventually saved by the governor revolting from his allegiance and declaring that he held it for the Parliament. The Capture of Sir James Long’s Regiment. Hitherto Commanders Lloyd and Long had had it all their own way, throughout a district of which Devizes was the centre; but they were now about to exjierience a signal reverse. In order to render the affair intelligible it should first be stated, that in the month of March 1645 the Parlia¬ ment directed Oliver Cromwell to march from London with a strong body of horse, and uniting wnth Sir William Waller’s army in Hampshire, to advance under his command to the relief of Taunton, where the indomitable Robert Blake [after¬ wards Oliver’s sea-Admiral] was holding out against despe¬ rate odds beyond the walls and starvation within. We must therefore imagine the two Parliamentar}^ Generals preparing to traverse South Wilts on their way to Taunton, and leave them between Andover and Salisbury while we 216 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. glance at another contemporary movement made by the Ilo 5 'alist party, in North Wilts. The King deeming the West the only secure part of his dominions, resolved before the summer campaign should open, to send the Prince of Wales [afterwards Charles II.] to the city of Bristol; where it was further arranged that the royal youth should assume the title of “General of the West.” Rupert being constituted his lieutenant and Mr. Long his secretary. In execution of this important step, a summons was sent into Wiltshire for Sir James Long with his entire force to repair to Oxford and conduct the convoy to Bristol. The Prince quitted Oxford on the 4th of March; and in com¬ pany with the Lords Colepepper and Hopton, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Marquis of Hartford, and many other of the Court attendants, adopted the route through Marlborough and Devizes in order to keep as far away from Gloucester as possible. The event is chronicled in the church-wardens’ accounts of St. Mary Devizes by the following entry “ Paid for ringers when the Prince came in, 7s. 2d.” Clarendon says the journey occupied about a week. It was hardly so long; for Sir James Long had fulfilled his commission and rejoined Sir Charles Lloyd at Devizes by the 9th of March. Intelligence that this distinguished cavalcade was moving across the countiy reached Waller between Andover and Salisbury, and induced him at once to change his course and push for Devizes. Though too late to intercept the Prince’s party, he judged that an easy triumph might be obtained over Sir James Long’s troopers, could it be possible to inter¬ cept them before they regained the shelter of Devizes. On the 10th of March the various troops under Waller and Cromwell were quartered in and about Amesbury, Norman- ton. Lake, Durnford, and Durrington; and scouts were at the same time sent forward to examine the neighbourhood of Devizes and ascertain the strength and posture of the enemy. Some of these latter returned in the evening with the intel- SIR JAMES long’s REGIMENT. 217 ligence that Colonel Long was lying in Devizes with the posse-comitatus of the County’s forces but that the works which surrounded the town were of very slight construction; whereupon it was resolved to advance that same night and take them by surprise. The army commenced its march at midnight, and when about a mile from Amesbury, they hal¬ ted, and being drawn up in a close body, four men out of every troop were chosen to form the forlorn-hope, and to ride forward in advance of the rest towards Devizes; the main body following in three brigades, through Shrewton and Lavington. Very early in the morning the forlorn-hope gave the enemy a premature alarm, who were perceived to be quartered both within and without the town [a party lying probably at Southbroom] which induced the rest to draw to¬ gether in a body and stand on the defensive at the entrance of the street. Waller being informed of the position of affairs, hung back at Lavington during the da 5 q affecting an attitude of indecision and fear with the two-fold object of either de¬ coying the Loyalists from behind their works or of taking measures to hem them in on the West; for it was justly apprehended that if a protracted action took place at one end of the town. Long’s cavalry might escape away at the other end. The most numerous of his three brigades under the command of Captain Boteler and Sir Ilardress Waller were therefore directed to wheel about, and fetching a large com¬ pass by Steeple Ashton and Trowbridge to fall in somewhere between Devizes and Bath; the two other brigades under himself and Cromwell remaining posted about Lavington, Potterne, and Worton. On the morning of the next day, being Wednesday 12th March, Sir William Waller caused a vigorous demonstration to be made on the works at the south or Potterne side of Devizes, which, as he expected, frightened the Sheriff’s cavalry into a precipitate retreat by the Bath road, and the fugitives, to the number of 400 had ridden safely as far as 218 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Melksham before they discovered that they were intercepted by the aforesaid brigade under Boteler and Sir Hardress. In this emergency the greater portion of them appear to have tur¬ ned due south, taking the road to Westbury and Steeple Ash¬ ton, where they were eventually ridden down and captured. Other portions seem to have preferred the direction of Seend and Worton in order to regain their Lavington quarters; but by this movement towards the valley where Waller and Cromwell were stationed, they threw themselves into the very jaws of their enemies ; or as another narrator expresses it, “ owing to the passes here being so narrow and the coun¬ try so fortified with quickset hedges, they found themselves as it were in a pound, and could make no way of escape.” Two troops came riding near Cromwell’s position at Potterne. Of course their fate was soon decided. The only part of the army which seemed destined to take no share in the capture was Waller’s own section at Lavington; but before the end of the day, the last fragment of the flying cavalry which had contrived to evade Sir Hardress’s pursuit near Westbury, fell into a like snare at Lavington; and Sheriff Long’s regiment was virtually extinct. [It is perhaps in reference to this closing incident that Waller in his private journal, while cataloguing his mercies in the field, places just after Long’s capture “ The infall at the Devizes, and taking Major Rowles and his horse, the remainder of Colonel Long’s regiment,” or it may belong to a transaction a few days later, yet to be narrated.] This affair altogether presented the character of a rout rather than a conflict, four troopers only having fallen on the Sheriff’s side, and two on the part of Waller. Who the officer was, to whom Sir James Long personally delivered up his sword, the despatches of the hour fail to declare; but as it is well known that Sir James subsequently acquired the friendship of Oliver Cromwell, we assume that he became his prisoner on the present occasion, and have accordingly so Long surrendering his sword to Cromwell. CAPTURE OF SIR JAMES LONG. 219 represented him in the annexed engraving. The scattered troops being at length drawn together, they took up their quarters for the night at the two Lavingtons; and on the next day, Sir 'William Waller addressed the following letter to Lenthall the Speaker of the House of Commons. “West Lavington 13 March 1645. ‘ ‘ Sir. These lines are to certify you that upon intelligence that Colonel Long lay with his regiments about the Lavingtons, I marched from An¬ dover on Monday last to Amesbury, and there refreshing my troops till midnight, I advanced from thence in three parties. The first, commanded by General Cromwell, fell in between these quarters and the Devizes; the second, commanded by Sir Hardress Waller, fell in at Trowbridge to cut off’ their- retreat towards Bath and those parts; with the third I fell in at Lavington. It was my fortune to find an empty fourme ; [or “ form,” meaning a nest which the game had deserted,] the enemy being drawn off to Westbury and Steeple Ashton, but the rest had better fortune, and in the end 1 had my share too. Cromwell lighted upon two troops at Potterne ; Sir Hardress Waller upon the rest of his i-egiment at West¬ bury and Steeple Ashton, who beat the enemy in upon my quarter, when my regiment lighted upon them. Of 400 horse there escaped not 30 ; the Colonel with most of the officers and 300 soldiers taken prisoners, with about 340 horses and a good store of arms.This success I hope will be the earnest of a further mercy. I was enforced to refresh our horse after this toilsome march and service in the worst of ways and basest weather that ever I saw. I am this day marching towards [Colonel] Holborne, to join with him so soon as possibly I can. I have no more to add, but that I am. Your humble servant, “William Waller.” Another reporter of the day’s proceedings writes as follows, apparently to the governor of Newport-Pagnell. It is ex¬ tracted from Sir Samuel Luke’s MS. Letter-book. “ Lavington 12 March 1645. “ Noble Dear Sir. As bound in duty, these present you with all occurrences since my last. It was dated, as I remember from Ouslebury, whence on Saturday we marched to Andover where we surprised some forty from Basing and Winchester collecting contribntions and provisions. Thence on Monday we advanced to Amesbury, which, though the farthest way to our journey’s end [Taunton]; yet for quarter’s sake we were compelled to march. Whilst we were on our march we had adver¬ tisement of Colonel Long and his regiment; (he is High Sheriff' of Wilts), securely quartered between Lavington and the Devizes, and that his number was some five hundred. We thought so considerable a party 220 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. wortb our pains of fetching; and that night, dividing our forces for several quarters and passes, our success this enclosed will impartially testify. So now intend without delay for our Taunton fraternity. What shall in our journey thither or there happen, you may assuredly expect faithfully related from. Sir, Your most obsequious kinsman and humble servant, “Edward Cooke.” The rumours of this scrimmage were not long in reaching Bristol, from which place Lord Colepepper sent forward a warning note to his friend Lord Goring who was then belea¬ guering Taunton. “ 12 March 1645. “For the present I can contribute nothing hut our intelligence of Wal¬ ler’s advance westward. Mr. Long the Prince’s secretary came from the Devizes upon Monday [the 10th] with the assurance that Waller’s head quarters were at Andover with 2500 horse and dragoons, and that the foot, which they call six regiments, were behind at Alresford. Yesterday some that came from Warminster, in a sufficient fright, said that several great parties of his horse and dragoons were in the woodland country of Wiltshire towards Farley castle, and that the country people estimated them to he 3000; but these messengers heard nothing of his foot. There¬ upon my Lord Hopton sent orders to two regiments of his own horse quartered between Bath and the Devizes, with the Sheriif of Wiltshire’s horse (of which 1 fear one troop has been beaten up by Waller) and other horse in several quarters scattered in those parts, to draw into a body about Bath; then to expect further orders. When joined, they will be at the least 800 horse. These particulars are sent you that you may compare them with other intelligence.” Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library. A writer from Wiltshire in the Parliamentary interest observes:— “Colonel Ludlow is now sole Sheriff of the county. His competitor being taken prisoner, is in custodid Marescellorum, together with the greatest part of his officers, and his whole regiment utterly extirpate. Colonel Ludlow’s approach hither is now most earnestly desired, to join with us in regard to this county, in which we hope there will now be found but little opposition, though we have been lately heavy-laden with infinite numbers of barbarous villains.” Another paper has the following :— “ A most eminent piece of service it was, performed by Sir William Waller and Colonel Cromwell near Lavington in Wiltshire, where they RELEASE OF SIR JAMES LONG. 221 killed 40 and took 300 prisoners and 400 horse, gallant horse, and their best horse, being the same which conducted the Prince to Bristol; besides their mock-Sheriff Colonel Long, who now may return by Tom Long the carrier.” Mercurius Brittanicus, March Yl to 24. Lord Clarendon in liis very brief notice of the above adventure, attributes Colonel Long’s defeat to “ his great defect of courage and conduct.” This is perhaps too severe, considering the numbers that were opposed to him; though it is not very clear what necessity there was for his leaving Devizes at all. His friends on the spot appear to have taken a higher estimate of his services, for within a few weeks, they procured his release by getting him exchanged for Colonel Stephens who had been taken prisoner at the rendition of Rowden House, see page 215. Lastly we have to notice a memorial of the transaction left on record by the Parliamentary General himself, who, it is to be borne in mind, was not Oliver Cromwell, but Sir William Waller. At present Oliver was steadily performing the duties of a subordinate officer; but performing them in a manner so characteristic of his fervent soul, that the occasion seems to have elicited from his commander-in-chief a confes¬ sion of delighted astonishment at witnessing the powerful grasp with which he closed upon his prey when once the moment for action had arrived. Apparently Waller had never had a fitting opportunity for estimating the capacity of his associate in arms before this march to Taunton; for he makes the notice of the affair at Devizes the occasion for ex¬ patiating on his professional characteristics. The passage occurs in Waller’s private journal, written many years sub¬ sequent to the scenes depicted. “In this engagement” says he “ Cromwell’s horse did good service ; and here I cannot but mention the wonder which I have ofttimes had to see this eagle in his eirey. lie at this time had never shewn extraordi¬ nary parts, nor do I think that he did himself believe he had them ; for although he was blunt, he did not bear himself with pride or disdain. As an officer, he was obedient and did never dispute my orders nor argue upon them. He did indeed seem to have great cunning; and whilst he 222 HISTORY OF DE^aZES. was cautious of his own words, not putting forth too many, lest he should betray his thoughts, he made others talk until he had as it were sifted them and known their inmost designs. A notable instance was his dis¬ covering in one short conversation with one Captain Giles (a great favourite with the Lord General and whom he most confided in,) that although his words were full of zeal and his actions seemingly brave, yet his heart was not with the cause: and in fine this man did shortly after join the enemy at Oxford with three and twenty stout fellows” [vdth more to the same effect]. Recollections of Sir William Waller, page 126. Sir James Long’s captivity wrought, as may well be im¬ agined, great consternation in the family circle at Draycot. His lady, Mistress Dorothy Long, probably began to appre¬ hend that heavy reprisals might now be taken for the recent demolition of Howden House ; and although the county of Wilts was at present so far under the King’s power that the sittings of the Wilts Committee acting for the Parliament were in great measure confined to Malmesbury, yet she pru¬ dently thought it best to temporise with an enemy whose proximity had already enabled him to issue an order for the sequestration of her rents. Mistress Long therefore took the matter into her own hands; and expressing to the committee her private wish that Sir James would lay down his arms and submit to the Parliament, she offered at once to compound for his personal estate. Of the following documentary proofs of that transaction, the two last, it will be seen, belong to the period at the close of the war, when Devizes like Malmesbury affain witnessed the conclaves of the Wilts Committee. “At a council sitting at Malmesbury 5 April 1645:—Present, Richard Talboys, Edward Martyn and William Jesse, it was;—Ordered, That James Long Esq. pay for his composition £100 on Tuesday next: also that he yearly pay forth of his manors, lands, and tenements, £100 clearly, without deduction for contribution or for quartering of soldiers; to be paid at Michaelmas and Lady-day by even proportions. Signed by John Strange, clerk to the Committee.” The Committee sitting at the Devizes to the London Committee, With December 1645. “Right Honoijeable. According to your Honours’ reference to us of 26th November last upon the petition of Mrs. Dorothy Long wife of waller’s third affair at devizes. 223 James Long Esq., we humbly certify that in A.pril last we compounded with her for a line for her husband’s personal estate, then being in her custody, for £100; and for his real estate, £100 for one year, without deduction for quartering; whereunto we were the rather induced by reason the enemy’s forces at that time overpowered this county, and none but herself then daring to adventure the taldng of that estate, nor she herself without she might be protected. And she relating her desire to have her husband lay down his arms and submit himself to the Parlia¬ ment, we gave her protection for herself and tenants and for her stock and goods.and it is our opinion that her goods were unjustly taken away and ought to be restored. And thus much we humbly submit to your honours’ consideration.” Signed by Goddard, Brown, Jesse, and Martyn. The allusion here made to goods being taken away will be explained by another paper, evidently sent up in consequence of a representation made by the family,, at head quarters. Certificate of the Wilts Committee addressed to the Committee at Goldsmiths Hall: \4: November “ Whereas Mrs. Dorothy Long compounded for her husband’s estate in April 1645, albeit the county was at that time overpowered by the enemy, nevertheless upon some misinformation given to the Lords and Commons for Sequestration at Haberdashers Hall, one Thomas Vaughan by autho¬ rity from them seized her goods to the value of £400, and would not return them for a less sum than £300. But the Wilts Committee, on complaint, gave order for their restoration 21 January 1646, when it was found that Vaughan had carried them olf.” Signed by John Goddard, Edward Martyn and William Jesse. A petition on tbe same subject by Sir James Long himself [no date] is endorsed by Mr. Ashe the sequestrator at Gold¬ smiths Hall, to the following effect;—That as the goods were taken by soldiers and not by order of the Wilts Committee, the London Committee cannot interfere. Nevertheless an order was sent from London dated 21 January 1646 enjoin¬ ing the Wiltshire sequestrators to see the stolen property restored;—with what result is unknown. Waller’s third affair at DE^^ZES. The two Parliamentary Generals broke up from their quar¬ ters at the Lavingtons on the 14th March 1645; and hasten- 224 HISTORY or DEVIZES. iiig forward in the prosecution of their main design, the relief of Taunton, advanced through Shaftesbury and Gillingham, formed a junction with Colonel Holborn near Taunton, drove Lord Goring from the walls, and threw into the beleaguered town the long required succours. Having accomplished this feat, they again retired eastward; this time in two bodies; Cromwell took the route through Dorsetshire; while Waller passed near Bath to Marshfield and thence to South Wilts, a march not unattended with adventure. He was now traversing the district rendered memorable two years before by his pursuit of Sir Ralph Hopton into Devizes, and it seems a natural supposition that he was beat¬ ing about to devise some mode of retrieving the credit lost by the disastrous issue of that campaign; for on approaching Bristol, though he can hardly be said to have menaced the garrison, he certainly held correspondence with some of the Parliament’s friends in the city, who found it convenient im¬ mediately after to decamp. This failing, he amused the gar¬ rison of Bath by sticking a few petards in their city-gates and leaving them to explode; after which he bent his steps, as above mentioned, to Marshfield, which must have led him over the fatal field of Landsdowne. Before quitting Marshfield Sir William sent forward a party of horse on some expedition to the neighbourhood of Devizes, who falling foul of a troop of the Devizes horse led by Captain Jones [mentioned at page 208] were worsted in the encounter, and compelled to retire to Caine, leaving in Jones’s hands a few prisoners, of whom more hereafter. Waller speedily rejoined this advanced company at Caine, and waited in that town till the arrival of 200 musketeers with some field pieces which were appointed to meet him from Malmesbury. Our antiquarian friend Aubrey, whose reminiscences so often illustrate the military movements which occurred during his youth, furnishes an incident hav¬ ing reference to the march of this day between Marshfield waller’s third affair at devizes. 225 and Chippenham. In his description of the mound called Hubba’s Lowe and an ancient thorn-tree which stood near it, he observes “I do remember a great thorn in Tatton field near Bristow-way, against which Sir William Waller’s men made a great fire and killed it. I think the stump remains, and was a mark for travellers. It was called ‘Three miles bush,’ and stood as one goes from Yatton to Biddestone on the right towards Giddy-IIall.” Aubrey's M>S8. Waller’s army when he left Caine now numbering 5000 men, (independently of Cromwell’s contingent,) it was pro¬ posed that the next action should be the reduction of Colonel Boville’s garrison at Lacock Abbey; but intelligence reaching him at this moment that Goring’s cavalry had again taken heart and were pursuing Cromwell in Dorsetshire, he deemed it necessary to re-unite with that General without further delay, and accordingly traced a southerly course through Eowde, Potterne, and Lavington. As he passed near Devizes, apparently near the foot of Cane-hilP Jones’s troopers, elated by their recent success, had the temerity notwithstanding the smallness of their numbers, to issue out of the town and skirmish with his horse. The result was what might reasonably have been ex¬ pected. After an action of very brief duration, Jones and his men were chased up into Devizes, the Parliament’s horse entering pell-mell with their adversaries, and dashing through the market-place with a view to secure the castle gates. Those of Jones’s men who were fortunate enough to secure them¬ selves behind the works, lost the majority of their horses and arms, while others were pursued and shot down in the streets. The bold Captain himself lost his life by the hand of one of the prisoners whom he had recently taken as above men¬ tioned, near Caine; the manner of which tragical event ’ Before the formation of the Kennet and Avon Canal the road from Rowde to Potterne was a straight line. P 226 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. being at large set forth by Master John Vickars in the Second part of his ‘Looking Glass for Malignants’ may as well be presented in its original garb. “Captain Jones a Welshman who had a command in Devizes in Wiltshire, and led out the forces which Sir William Waller there lately took and routed: on the night before he went out to encounter Sir Wil¬ liam’s brigade, drank divers healths of strong waters and wine at an inn in the Devizes to the confusion of the Parliament, Sir WiUiam, and the Roundheads, on his bare knees, and did heat three or four in his company who did refuse to pledge them. The next morning some of Sir William Waller’s men who were taken prisoners by this Captain Jones his men, were sent to the same inn and lodging, where Jones drank those healths. But soon after. Sir William’s forces routing Jones, took 200 of his horse and pursued Jones into the Devizes, who flying on horseback towards the same inn, one of Sir William’s soldiers there imprisoned, just as he came before the inn-door, seeing him flying, and the Parliament’s forces pur¬ suing, having his pistol charged, shot him in the head. Whereupon he fell down from his horse at the same door where he drank those healths more to his own than Sir William’s confusion. There he lying dead in the street, the innkeeper informed Sir William what healths he had there drunk overnight before, and what a just judgment was now befallen him in that very place. With which. Sir- William and divers gentlemen with him were much afiected. This is attested by one Captain Brum- midge a gentleman of quality, an ear and eye-witness to all these pre¬ mises, who was present with Sir William in the Devizes, when this judgment befell this health-quaffing cavalier.” This spirited affair appears to have been conducted solely by the cavalry on either side. As Waller’s foot therefore could not reach the town before the entrances to the castle were again secured, and as he was unprovided with battering cannon, he contented himself with the reputation he had al¬ ready won; and continuing his march southward, arrived the next day at Downton, whence he wrote as follows to the Parliament:— To William Lenthall Esq. Speaker of the Souse of Commons. “Downton, 26 of March 1645. “Sir. In regard of my Lord Goring’s labouring to impede my march, I went to Lavington, and thence upon the advance of a long march over the Plains, I came safe . . . hither. On my way between Caine and Lavington, I passed by the Devizes, where .... the enemy’s horse sallying out, we charged them and heat them into the town, falling pell- Jones’s troopers drink the King’s health on their knees. JOHN GWYNN. 227 mell in with them: and if we had any fort, I might have bid fair to have taken the Castle. We took a Lieutenant-Colonel and divers officers and many prisoners, and 200 very good horses. Cromwell, I hear, is advan¬ ced from Ring-wood towards Dorchester. I am now going after him to hear in what condition he is as fast as weary legs can carry me. Our want of money is extreme. Your humble servant, “William Waller.” Near Blandford, the two Generals again joined forces; but the new-modelling of the army requiring their attend¬ ance soon after in London, the country was again left to the tender mercies of Lord Goring, who found no difficulty in driving in the unsupported local troops left under Waiisey and Carr, somewhere in the vicinity of Fonthill and West- Knoyle, and carrying off a standard of Wansey’s bearing the motto “For lawful Laws and Liberty.” After which he repaired to the city of Bath “ to intend his health ” as Clarendon exjrresses it. It must have been a source of considerable satisfaction to Waller that the last two signal actions in which he was en¬ gaged, viz. the capture of Long’s regiment and the defeat of Jones’s troop, should not only in both cases have been emi¬ nently successful, but should moreover have transpired in the vicinity of the very spot which had witnessed his fatal mis¬ carriage in the summer of 1643. There was then serving under Sir Charles Lloyd a grim Welshman named John Gwynn, who had followed the King’s standard throughout the war, and whose relisli for fire-eating in his royal master’s service, judging hy his own report, w'as a passion incapable of being satisfied. As soon as the Devizes garrison had recovered from the consternation into which Waller had thrown them. Captain Gwynn and his brother officers meditated reprisals, and the Parliamentary General’s retreat towards the capital seems to have furnished them with the required opportunity. Let the captain speak for himself:— “When a party of Waller’s horse beat up our quarters at the Devizes, and furiously scoured the streets, giving no quarter to any soldiers they p 2 228 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. met, then I ran and leaped across the street of such a sudden hy them, as to escape both their swords and pistols, when they killed Captain Jones with others, and shot Ensign Garroway in the neck. And to he quit with them, a knot of my own associates, oificers, and reformadoes belonging to the garrison, came to pass away an hour or two with me at my quarters, and there contracted to make a party to go and fall upon Waller’s rear-guard at Marlborough town-end; and withal, strictly re¬ solved that not a word should he spoken after once our swords were drawn, but all to march on in order, and unanimously to sing a brisk lively tune, (being a great part of their design) and so to fall on, sing¬ ing:—As they did,—beat the enemy, and pursued him through the town at mid-day, and market-day too; which so rejoiced a number of loyal- hearted market-people, that their loud shouts gave an apprehension as if an army had come to second them. This strong alarm did so discompose their whole camp, that this small party had time enough to make good their long retreat; and to bring with them their well-deserved prize they so bravely fought for, of prisoners, horse and arms; without the loss of a man and hut one or two slightly wounded.” [At the end of the Memoir, the notes of the tune are given, which Sir Walter Scott observes, resembles the old Scottish air of “Up in the morning early.”] Once more for a brief period the Cavaliers were left masters of the centre and south of Wiltshire. Their career will terminate in the autumn of this year, (1645); and in the meantime it only remains to gather into one group the various performances by which Sir Charles Lloyd rendered memorable his closing tenure of office; and first, in respect of that large and influential class of citizens, the cloth manu¬ facturers. The Western Clothiers. During the month of May a large party of clothiers, re¬ solving to convey in person a cargo of their goods to London, endeavoured to secure themselves against seizures by enter¬ ing into a bond with the Devizes Grovemor, whereby they covenanted to pay him a sum of more than £400 as excise upon the cloth after they should have transported it to the metropolis and returned in safety with ther teams. Upon this presumption a numerous company started in concert and got safe through the King’s quarters at Marlborough; THE WESTERN CLOTHIERS. 229 but on approaching Newbury they suddenly found them¬ selves encountered by Sir John Boys at the head of the gar¬ rison from Donnington castle. To him they laid open the circumstances of their case and exhibited the bond with Sir Charles Lloyd: but Boys insisting that the excise was as duly payable to himself as to any other of his Majesty’s servants, ordered them forthwith to produce the whole amount. The clothiers being unprovided with ready money, were driven to the necessity of raising the amount by loan among their friends in Newbury, and this with some difficulty having been effected, they were allowed to proceed on their journey. A few miles further on, they were caught sight of by the troopers of Wallingford castle, who pouncing upon them, drove them all, teams, baggage, and owners, into the castle, where the Governor Blake not only detained their goods for several days, but suffered his troopers to search their pockets. The end of it all was, that after much vexation and delay, they obtained permission to set out once more on their travels by paying an additional £10 on every pack of cloth, or leaving an equivalent in goods:—So that on reaching London the worthy merchants discovered that they had lost just one third of their property. Here they related their doleful case which was duly published in the newspapers; but whether their statement prevailed to purchase exoneration from Sir Charles Lloyd on their return into the country, the same veracious authorities fail to declare. It is on the whole to be inferred that this time the Devizes Captain lost his share of the booty; for he figures soon after in another seizure of cloth and clothiers which were safely lodged in his castle. The First Attack on Chippenh.a.m. On the 9th of May 1645 Colonel Sir James Long with 200 of his Devizes dragoons entered the town of Chippenham sword in hand and drove out the small Parliamentary garrison there stationed. He even pursued them as far as Malmes- 230 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. bury, when the guns of that citadel opening a rapid fire upon him checked his further advance. To compensate himself and his followers for so long a ride, he carried off from Cole- park a hundred head of cattle, with which he retired success¬ fully to Devizes. Mcrcuruis Aulicus, and others. About the same time a few straggling soldiers were taken in a tavern at Lavington, who having allowed their drinking propensi¬ ties to obliterate their sense of danger, “were brought” says the Mercurius Viridicus, “with such triumph into the Devizes, that when Anliciis comes to flourish it over, I doubt not but it will prove a great victory, for he hath few others of late.” The Burning of Bromham Hall. But though the Devizes garrison had but few opportunities for victory in the field, they were yet fated to become noto¬ rious in another way. It was during this same month of May that Sir Charles Lloyd resolved on the destruction of Brom¬ ham Hall, fearing perhaps that, like its neighbour Chalfield House, it might become a rival stronghold of the enemy ; for it is to be observed that isolated houses better suited the pur¬ poses of small garrisons than did large straggling towns like Chippenham, where the ground to be defended required so much more numerous a force. Consequently we find that Chalfield House could maintain itself, though standing in a right line between the two hostile stations of Farley castle and Lacock Abbey; and there in fact a section of the Wilts Committee acting for the Parliament had now been sitting for some months, protected by a body of men under Lieute¬ nant-Colonel Pudsey or Captain Hutchinson? for both names occur. Bromham Hall was therefore doomed to the flames. As its proprietor Sir Edward Baynton was still nominally a friend to the Parliament, the destruction of his renowned mansion was not perhaps a source of much regret to the King’s party, but the country people around beheld its fall BROMHAM HALL BURNT. 231 with consternation and sorrow; and Colonel Devereux the Governor of Malmesbury forthwith sent a message to Ox¬ ford, saying, that in consequence of the numerous burnings which had recently taken place between Oxford and Bristol, he had determined, in case another instance were brought to his knowledge, to commence a system of retaliation by be¬ ginning with the Earl of Berkshire’s house at Charlton. Diary or Exact Journal 17 May. The following letter, written just at this period bj^ a resident in the neighbourhood of Bromham Hall to a relative in Lon¬ don, appeared in the Weekly Account June 4 to 11. “Blakemore Forest in the parish of Melksham: “ 9th of June 1645. “Lovtxg Cotrsnsr:—My best respects remembered. Having gotten a fit opportunity in these miserable distracted times, by my son, to write to you, I have thought fit to give you a touch of the miserable sad con¬ dition of our poor county of Wilts; being almost all over distressed with continual vexation of plundering by soldiers of the King’s forces. I can hardly^ enough express our sad condition. We live in Blakemore-forest and about the Devizes, in which town the castle is made a garrison, commanded by Colonel Lloyd for the King. His soldiers rove about our county', where our misery' is such that we are forced to pay' them moneys to eat up our provision of victuals, oats, hay, and suchlike. For we must allow every common soldier sixpence by the day, besides diet; twelvepence per sergeant; eighteenpence the lieutenants and captains. And to add further misery to our country, the said Colonel Lloy'd with a party of horse and foot came from the Devizes some ten days since to Bromham two little miles from thence, when they utterly destroyed by fire one of the famousest buildings in these western parts. Sir Edward Baynton’s house, a member of the Parliament; it being a stately fabric of stone, with great store of very rich furniture. Nothing now is left standing but walls and chimneys. I suppose fifty or threescore thousand pounds cannot repair the loss: it is a great grief to our neighbours. When these troubles of quartering, billeting, and plundering will cease, I know not.So with the prayers of my'self and mine for you aU, desiring the like from you, I take my leave: And rest, your loving kinsman till death, “E. K.” The site of this once famous house is still known as Brom¬ ham House farm; but the few remaining vestiges of the primitive fabric, it must be confessed, disappoint the expecta- 232 HISTORY OF DKVIZES. tions of the itinerant antiquary who seeks the traces of a mansion said to have cost £15,000. See page 104. All that can now be said of it, is that a portion of one of the wings which survived the fire ratifies the reputed era of its construc¬ tion, viz. the reign of Henry VHI.; while one or two corbels in other parts, representing grotesque heads, may be referred to a still earlier date, being probably relics of the castle of Devizes, the ruins of which are well known to have furnished the principal materials in the erection of Bromham Hall. Mr. Stoughton Money of Whetham writing to the Devizes Gazette 25th July 1839, says that a subterranean passage runs under the premises, leading no one knows whither, though it is said to Lacock [which of course is only a popular fallacy] and that the entrance to it from the garden had been recently stopped up. “A rampart of earth” he adds, “called The Battery, enclosing an area of about seven acres, surrounds the premises; from which it may be inferred that the house was castellated.” This rampart of earth may be a memorial of the diligence with which Sir James Long and the Devizes troopers entrenched themselves there in 1645; but the sub¬ terranean passage tells another tale, and suggests the exist¬ ence of a Homan hypocaust, such as are found at Cirencester. The original selection of the site as that of a Homan villa seems further warranted by the tessalated pavement still existing in an adjacent field near the Devizes road, unearthed in 1767, and again about fifteen years back. After the conflagration which destroyed his family mansion. Sir Edward Baynton deserted the spot altogether, and founded his new residence on the more commanding position of Spye Park, of which more hereafter. Another of Sir Charles Lloyd’s acts was to demolish South- broom House on Devizes Green, the residence of Justice Drew; and a different account of the same date, adds, “They have pluck’t down the tower of Devizes, a stately place; and are now pulling down the Church.” Such were the reports DOWETT JOINS THE ROYALISTS. 233 of London newspapers in the summer of 1645; but unless Justice Drew’s house and “the Tower” of the above writers belong to one and the same event, the two latter affirmations appear to be unsupported by contemporary evidence, and are in fact inexplicable. Major Francis Dowett joins the Eoyalists. The new modelling of the army, so far as the West was concerned, transferred the command of part of Sir William Waller’s army, with other scattered troops, to Colonel Ed¬ ward Massey the Governor of Gloucester, who thenceforward bore the title of General of the Western forces. Waller will therefore no more appear upon the Wiltshire horizon in the capacity of a military commander. He has now quietly laid down his commission by virtue of the Act styled the “ Self- denying-Ordinance,” and has left the war to be finished by men of sterner mould. Still, there were local troops stationed in the county; and as Edmund Ludlow ivas apparently dis¬ satisfied with the new arrangements, his post of leadership was solicited by his Major, Francis Dowett. But this appli¬ cation being rejected, Dowett resolved to go over at once to the Royalists; and from this time forward his name will bo constantly associated with that of Sir James Long, till his death in 1645 before the walls of Lechlade. He effected his purpose by sending his wife on before him (apparently to Devizes) to give his new friends notice of his intention, and then following her under pretence of beating up one of their quarters. Thirty of the men joined him in the design; but the rest of the trooj) rode back under the conduct of Lieute¬ nant Marshall, and continued faithful to the Parliament. Ludlow's Ilemoii's, vol. i. page 147. If Dowett’s active and enterprising habits made him a valuable skirmisher for the Devizes garrison, now that all regular contributions from the county were at an end, he was, on the other hand, adopting the most effectual method 234 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of rendering the royal cause odious to all men; and it was the licence now reigning throughout the Western counties which occasioned in the summer of 1645 the confederacy among the landowners of Wilts and Dorset known as the army of Clubmen, led on by such men as Thomas Bennett of Pyt House, and Mr. Hollis of Salisbury, who owned allegi¬ ance to neither party and simply inscribed on their banner, “If xotr offer to plunder or take our cattle Be assured we will bid you battle.” Dowett, who was here, there, and everywhere, soon came into unpleasant contact with these desperate men. “The Clubmen,” writes one, “are in great numbers about Salis¬ bury, and refuse to pay contributions to the enemy at Devizes; and when Dowett came, they got together and hacked and killed his men; whereupon Sir Charles Lloyd threatened to fire the city. They [the Clubmen] have not jmt declared for the Parliament or King. We fear they are of the worser party: they smell so strong of malignancy. Sir James Thynne and others of the Oxford party are with some of them.” True Informer 14 June. At Marlborough Dowett is represented as riding up to Mr. Mayor’s house to demand certain arrearages which he declared were due to the Devizes garrison; and threatening that unless the money were forth¬ coming, the town should be presently reduced to ashes. Anon, he re-appears at Collingbourne Duels, where he exasperated the people by killing one of their number who resisted his levies. Perfect Occurrences, \t)th July, and other Journals. “From Malmesbury in Wiltshire it was this day certified that the Committee thereabouts were gathering what force they could to go along with Colonel Massey, [to Taunton]. But at the Devizes the enemy are very cruel, who are accustomed to sally out on Friday night towards Marlborough, and use to lie all about the Downs during that night, that early in the morning of the next day they may rob the market people, which they do in great cruelty.” Perfect Occurrences, dowett’s adventures. 235 20/7i June. “ From Marlborough intelligence came that the enemy’s horse from the Devizes having waited all night, that morning they robbed divers; and they cut one man that brought provisions to the market to the very bone; another on the head; hurt others, and robbed many. Whereupon a party of horse were sent from Malmesbury to drive them away, who lay upon the Downs till night.” Ibid, 21st June. In the month of May, Colonel Richard Fielding aRo 3 ^alist prisoner procured an offer for the exchange of three prisoners for himself. Tliese were Lieutenant Colonel Ludford the Governor of Rowden House, Captain Scarborough who came to their relief with his 120 musketeers, and Lieutenant Goodwin a lieutenant of horse, all three being prisoners in The Devizes in the custody of the Governor Sir Charles Lloyd. Lords’ Journals, vii. 354. The important national events which now rapidly succeeded each other, but which it were foreign to our purpose to en¬ large upon, were the storming of Leicester by the royal army, the decisive action of Naseby, and the King’s retreat into Wales; to be straightway followed up by a general move¬ ment of the Parliamentary forces in this direction, in order to relieve Taunton and invade the Royalists’ last refuge, the cities of the West. In the prosecution of this celebrated march, Fairfax entered Wiltshire hy the north and east, and commenced by reducing the garrison of Highworth Church kept by Major Henne. This was towards the close of June 1645. Bodies of Massey’s brigade were meantime lying in and around Malmesbury, at Hankerton, Charlton House, and Newnton, waiting for the Taunton signal; a state of things which brings into notice another of Francis Dowett’s esca¬ pades. Attracted by the fascinations of a fair to be holden at Marlborough, divers of Fairfax’s men, as the army passed through that town, ventured to linger behind and mingle in the sports. But danger was nearer than they apprehended. 236 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. and it so happened that Major Dowett with 150 of the De¬ vizes troopers was just then on one of his marauding expedi¬ tions and looking out for adventure. Without an}'- difficulty therefore the unwary Fairfaxians fell an easy prey to his sword and were forthwith sent off to Sir Charles Lloyd’s castle. Encouraged by this success, Dowett then directed his course towards Malmesbury, with a view to fall on the open quarters of Massey’s brigade, described above as sta¬ tioned at Newnton, Charlton, and Hankerton. His approach was unnoticed till he reached Lediard Tregoze, when infor¬ mation was speedily transmitted to Malmesbury. Devereux, reposing on the known strength of his allies in the villages, took no immediate measures for encountering the foe; but preferring the plan of waylaying him in the return to Devizes, dispatched on that errand Captain Sadler, who, with three troops of horse posted himself early in the ensuing morning, on the high ground about Clack and Bradenstock Priory. The result shewed that Devereux had rightly anticipated events; for the cavaliers having reconnoitred the various quarters and discovering them to be unassailable by cavalry, were now making the best of their way back to Devizes, and had arrived at Christian Malford, close under Clack, before either party was aware of their mutual proximity. One of Sadler’s trumpeters here catching sight of some stragglers, sounded a premature alarm, which induced the cavaliers to start off riding for their lives. The pursuit was instantly commenced; but Dowett being considerably in advance, was able to keep a-head all the way to Bowde, though his horses and men were ready to drop down from weariness and the heat of the weather. Here it was urged by Dowett, though against the judgment of other of the officers, that they should relax a little; and accordingly they all turned into a pleasant meadow called Rowde Close, eased their cattle, and then stretched themselves amongst the hay. In another minute, and Sadler was upon them. Four were instantly cut down. THE GATHERING. 237 fifteen taken prisoners, including Cornet Dowett a brother of the Major, and forty-five horses. The rest leaped over a ditch and escaped by a bye-way into Devizes. It was re¬ marked of the prisoners that they were “all proper men” i.e. well-built. * The Gathering. “From out each lianilet, field, and dale. The lusty peasants troop apace. Arm’d with the deadly scythe and flail, Or brandishing a rustic mace. Still as they pass, their ranks increase. And shouts of vengeance rend the air: ‘ We’ll crush the traitor to our peace. Or liunt him to his very lair.’ ” The practice of the Clubmen before the}^ rendered them¬ selves so troublesome to the Parliament by assuming the form of a regular army and requiring the suppressive power of Fairfax, seems to have been simply to gather together for mutual defence only when an alarm-bell indicated that out¬ rage was being perpetrated in some particular spot. Major Dowett, it is clear, was the object of tlieir especial hostility. His associate in arms, the renowned John Gwynn, styles him “an accomplished gentleman:”—What the farmers round Devizes thought of him may be read in the prolific news¬ papers of the hour;—and excepting where he happened to possess a friend and abettor like Mr. Knyvett the minister of Coulston, we can imagine that the mere glitter of his troopers’ morions, as they threaded their way through the dusty lane must often have been a signal to the villagers to ply the bell-ropes of their respective church-towers, and launch the tocsin on the winds. At Coulston parsonage indeed the Devizes officers always found a ready welcome; and when¬ ever its church-bells were heard to troll forth an unusually merry peal, it was Mr. Knyvett’s well understood intimation to his neighbours that the Parliament’s arms had just sus¬ tained some calamitous reverse. He would have cut his own 238 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. bell-ropes in pieces rather than permit them to be used for any disloyal purpose. It is true, his parishioners complained that troopers’ “ horse-meat ” seldom produced a profitable return; but he would silence all complaints by averring that, as for himself, his entire stock should burn to the ground be¬ fore a troop of Roundheads ate it up: but of this more here¬ after. About the 10th of July Major Dowett made a secret advance upon Market Lavington, and commenced proceedings by marching up to the mansion now called “ Willoughby’s,” but at that time the property of Sir John Danvers [the regicide] and occupied by one Merewether.^ The wor¬ thy burgess within, having reconnoitred the invader’s ap¬ proach, first took the precaution of barring his entrance; and then, for lack of a bell, seized a ponderous pestle and mortar, and from the roof of his house sent forth a continuous clatter and din, which speedily had the desired effect of drawing the townsfolk together. To the pestle and mortar they responded with the market-bell, and the voice of the market-bell borne on the breeze was caught up and repeated along the foot of the Plain, till the inhabitants of all classes, snatching up their weapons, came pouring in towards the spot where the sound appeared to originate. Dowett and his men had already quitted the field, but the Clubmen forming themselves into a phalanx of about a thousand men determined on advancing direct upon Devizes, and bearding the enemy in his very gates. They marched in order through the town, drew up before the castle and summoned Sir Charles Lloyd to a con- ^The property of Henry Danvers Earl of Danby then lately deceased, over ■which Sir John Danvers his brother must already have exercised great influence, was very extensive round Devizes and other parts of North Wilts. Sir John Dan vers even¬ tually held a large portion, but was dispossessed at the Restoration. It will be remembered that it was at Bainton House near Coulston the seat of Charles Danvers Esq. that George Herbert of Bemerton wooed and won his wife Jane, Jlr. Danvers’ best beloved daughter. See Isaak Walton's Life of Herbert. CHALFIELD HOUSE. 239 ference. Terror it was of course impossible for them to inflict upon a foe so strongly entrenched, and they could only give vent to their indignant feelings in loud and angry threats: “we are resolved,” they exclaimed, “that we will not be plundered with impunity. Sir Thomas Fairfax sets a better example to the country: he will not admit of “ plunderie ” amongst his followers, and for no greater ofience than this, he lately hung up one of his own men not eight miles from Devizes ” [or words to this efiect]. Chalfield, Lacock, and Chippenham. Among these minor garrisons, occasional skirmishes and intermittant forays were meanwhile keeping the country folk in terror, north of Devizes. The True Informer ^rd of Jime tells how a Chippenham and Malmesbury force of Parliamen¬ tarians headed by Major Nicholas and Captain Jones, having laid before Lacock for a fortnight, attempt to take the place by storm and are driven off with ignominy. Another relates how Boville the Lacock commander, taking heart thereupon, roves the adjacent district as far as Malmesbury, till venturing one day too near to Chalfield House, he is set upon in am unguarded moment by the infantry there stationed under Colonel Pudsey and looses ninety-five of his horses. For this expedition, so fatal to the Lacock Cavaliers, a Sunday had been selected; “such was their religion, such their work of piety and charity.” So moralises the London editor, re¬ joicing at the same time that men so “barbarous and brutish”' would “now be cut short, wanting horses to go so far abroad to plunder vt^ithal.” Perfect Occurrences, 16 July, 1645. There is also evidence that Chalfield House, in its turn, sus¬ tained a siege; but the invading party is not named. Most likely it was Lord Goring; for a letter written by the "Wilts Committee from Chalfield overtook Sir William Waller on his march from Devizes just after the affair at Cane-hill, warning him- that the Iloyalists were on his traces from 240 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Bristol and liad advanced as far eastward as Marshfield; and it is certain that Lord Goring passed through Devizes on the 1st of Ma}'^ on his way to join the King at Oxford. The above letter is referred to in the Commons’ Journals, vol. iv. page 107. The operations of this siege of East or Great Chalfield proved very injurious to its neighbour-mansion of West or Little Chalfield, as stated in petition by the proprie¬ tor of the latter, Robert Eyre Esq. a Royalist; the damage coming as much apparently from one party as the other. As to the larger house, where the Committee sat, the proprietor Sir Richard Gurney (the Royalist Lord Mayor of London) de¬ clared that the injury done to the fabric and to the woods around, by its Parliamentary occupants, amounted to £2000. A large portion of this venerable family-mansion still sur¬ vives, and is at present occupied as a farm-house. As an architectural study it has been preserved in a series of elabo¬ rate outlines by Walker; and as a poetic memorial of mediseval ceconomy, it is ably described in Mr. Matcham’s Hundred of Frustfleld, when treating of the family of Eyre. Traces of military occupancy is still evident in the ruined gable on the side of the house next the church, where may be seen three casemated loopholes, which are obviously no part of the original design, for they pierce and mutilate a pair of arcades. After the loss of their horses, we hear nothing more of the Lacock troopers till the early part of the next month, when it was determined, in company with the Devizes forces, to endeavour to retrieve the disaster by an assault upon the town of Chippenham, where a small garrison under Lieute¬ nant-Colonel William Eyres still maintained its ground for the Parliament. “They resolved” says the Oxford Journalist “to give Chippenham a sound alarm; and as that was an¬ swered, to proceed farther.” Accordingly on the 12th of August, Sir James Long at the head of 50 foot and a troop of horse which he had borrowed of Sir Charles Lloyd, marched with Major Dowett to Lacock Abbey to consult with Colonel SECOND ATTACK ON CHIPPENHAM. 241 Boville as to the best mode of attack. Boville drew out his small remnant of cavalry consisting of 20 horse, and having placed them under the command of Major Cook, marched himself at the head of 40 musketeers, protesting that he would not ride a step till he had mounted all his men upon rebels’ horses. From a straggler whom they captured near the town of Chippenham they ascertained that the works were but slenderly manned, and that the rebels’ cavalry had but recently gone forth; whereupon it was resolved to fall on at once without parley;—Captain Williams of the Devizes and Major Dowett to charge at one of the main entrances; while Long, Boville, and Cook directed their efforts against another part defended by two breastworks but having a small avenue of approach. These barriers being soon carried, Long’s troopers pursued the defenders into the market-place. Dowett, on his part was skirmishing at a turnpike, [a rotary chevaux cle frise ?~\ which for a long time proved a formidable obstacle to his progress; but having by repeated charges, as they were called, at length surmounted it, he succeeded in like manner in pushing his advantage to the centre of the town. The rebels appeared now to be in full retreat; but the distant sound of trumpets inducing them to believe that relief was at hand, they faced about and made a street good for nearly an hour. In attempting to force this street. Cornet Dowett (a brother of the Major) fell, together with three common soldiers; the bold Major himself being quit for a shot ill the collar of his doublet and the cheek of his casque blown off. Of the opposite party, two or three hundred escaped away in the dark; the rest were cut down, driven into the river, or captured. The prisoners were 80 in number, and the booty consisted of much ammunition, and what was still more valuable, thirty horses. It is added, that though the place was taken by assault, the inhabitants were not sub¬ jected to the loss of a sixpence. The above account, it will be at once seen, is derived from Q 242 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the columns of the Mercurius AuUcus. The London Journals on the other hand treat the entire description with ridicule, though they do not attempt to disprove the fact that the town was entered. Slightly abridged, the following is one of their critiques.' “Aulicus, though very feeble and decrepit, has again crept to town: his chief design being to support their tottering cause by the surprizal of two petty garrisons, Welbeck House, and Chippenham an unknown garrison in 'Wiltshire: which must serve them in lieu of the taking of Bridgewater, ^Bath, Pontefract, Scarborough, and six or seven other garrisons in less than two months. At Chippenham they lost in the action, say they, not a man but Major Dowett’s brother. That’s ever resolved, I tell you, in all their skirmishes; either but one or two, or none at all, lost on their side. Major Dowett, they confess, was shot in the collar of his doublet and the cheek of his casque. Let him take heed the next be not at his false heart. But let Aulicus alone, and he will make us believe always that their commanders’ doublets are pinked with bullets. They tell us that Major Dowett did excellent service at the turnpike :—Oh! he is excellent at the turnpike, or turncoat:—That the inhabitants lost not sixpence :—No they lost all in being taken, and so in the end, poor souls, they will find it by experience.” Kingdom's Intelligencer 5 August 1645. The taking of Bristol on Thursday the 11th of September prostrated at a blow the Boyal cause in the West; and, in the language of Lord Clarendon, “threw all men on their faces.” While a train of successes was thus attending the arms of Fairfax and Cromwell, the inferior agency of the garrisons was rapidly tending to the same result. Devereux the Grovernor of Malmesbury seized the opportunity to de¬ scend with his main force and once more to invest his rival at Lacock; and Fairfax, by way of rendering him assistance in the undertaking and also to complete the subjugation of Wiltshire, immediately dispatched towards Devizes, Lieute¬ nant-General Cromwell with 5000 men and a train of heavy ' Aulicus,ihe Royalist organ, was following is from an imperfect copy, conducted by Dr. Peter Heylin and and is not therefore strictly verba- the witty Sir John Birkenhead, tim. The reply of the Intelligencer here SIEGE OF THE CASTLE. 243 battering cannon ; while he himself prepared to follow slowly in the same direction. CrointDeU t|e T lEUTENANT-GENERAL Cromwell reached Trowbridge on the 17th of September, and the day following marched on to Devizes, leaving orders for the artillery to follow him with all convenient speed. If the newsmongers of the day speak truth, we can hardly doubt that the townsfolk looked forward to the army’s approach with feelings the very opj)o- site of dismay; for Sir Charles Lloyd, in his eager haste to victual the castle, had been working his accustomed machin¬ ery of compulsory levies with unscrupulous severity, and had even set fire to four houses. Major Dowett conceiving that his troop of cavalry were insufficient to defend the town-fortifications, fled the field entirely, and had just escaped away to Salisbury to join with Sir James Long. Governor Lloyd was thus left without any external assistance, and in this predicament he disjiatched a messenger to the King’s secretary Sir Edward Nicholas im¬ ploring succours, but the letter was intercepted by the enemy who already lay in leaguer before the town. Wliether or not Sir Charles found himself in a condition to make any re¬ sistance by means of his outworks, is uncertain. If it be true that the town itself was held out by liim before he retired into the castle, such opposition appears to have been very speedily silenced, as the following extracts from the daily journals will serve to shew. “ Tuesday the 23rd, came letters from the army under the command of Sir Tliomas Fairfax; in the beginning whereof was only good hopes of taking the Devizes; assuring that our forces had gained the town and sunk some mines about the castle.” Continuation of Special Passages. “ The town of Devizes is taken, and our firelocks are under the castle.” Parliament’’s Post, 23rfZ Sepitemher. “ The sieges of Devizes, Lacock-house, and Berkeley castle are still Q 2 244 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. continued, but neither of tbeni is as yet taken, though our expectations are great of the reducing of them.” Kmgdorti's Weekly Intelligencer, 2'ird Septemher. “ There is another party come into the Devizes, who shoot at the castle, but yet not much. They in the castle have biumt some houses: we hope ere long to be rid of these burners. The artillery was not come up when the messenger left, but was within six miles of the town. Colonel Rains- borough the terrible is gone to assist at Berkeley castle. He will make the dust fly before long, and their brains too if they take not heed. The foot regiments of Colonels Montague, Pickering, and Waller are at the Devizes. Colonel Roches and others are commanded towards Newbury to assist the convoy from Reading; and though the news at the Devizes was that the King was at Worcester‘with his horse, yet lest it should prove otherwise, the horse that went with the Lieutenant-General to the Devizes were commanded to Caning Hill to march torvards Newbury to strengthen the convoy. They of the town of Devizes said to our men, that the garrison prayed heartily to send them either an army of devils or 30,000 Tiu’ks, or they should never overcome these terrible Fairfaxians. The Governor of the castle sent a letter to Prince Rupert or Secretary Nicholas, imploring relief, which was intercepted ; but had it gone, it had been all one. A battery was effectuated on the 20th at night;—then a summons next day; which not obtained,—short work was intended.” Moderate Intelligencer, 2Zrd Septemher. The artillery having arrived from Trowbridge, Cromwell forthwith directed a battery mounting ten guns to be con¬ structed in the market-place within pistol shot of the castle; and on the next day, being Sunday the 21st of September, he sent in a final summons to the Governor to deliver up the place for the use of the King and Parliament. Sir Charles Lloyd replied, that the King his master having put him in trust, he desired ten days truce to send a message to him, but in the meantime he should keep the castle himself. Cromwell in return, assured him that none were so fitting to keep forts and castles for the King as himself the Lieute¬ nant-General; but that if Sir Charles were resolved to hold out, he might send forth his lady or any other gentlewomen in the castle, who should be allowed to pass with all civility; —and then have at him. The Governor’s final rejoinder was as defiant as the most gallant Welshman could desire:—The castle would be held till the death of the last man:—Crom- CROMWELL TAKES THE CASTLE. 245 well might “win it and wear it;”—and the challenge was backed by a brisk discharge of grenades thrown into the town. It is also worth stating, just to show the ignorance of tho Welshmen as to the real character of the foe they had to deal with, that they sent out a dog (said to have formerly belonged to Prince Rupert) with some doggerel verses attached to his neck, and addressed to the officer commanding in the leaguer; in which verses they scorn the imputed charge of having robbed the town, and defy the utmost power of the enemy. The poetic challenge was repaid in kind;—whether by Crom¬ well’s orders or not, is uncertain. If the reply be the Lieu¬ tenant General’s own composition, it may pass for the sole attempt at versification which he is known to have perpetrated; though it is far from being his only recorded hon mot. “ Poor Cavaliers, it was my chance of late To view some brawling lines, come from a blockish pate, Wherein you call us fools :—but stay : You’U prove the fools before we go away.” A writer for the Diary or Exact Journal after reciting the verses sent out by the Royalists, drily observes “It is much that in this height of danger they had so much leisure as to poetize.” Cromwell now left them very little leisure either for poetizing or for parleying; for as soon as Monday morn¬ ing dawned, the cannons and mortars opened upon the devoted citadel, and continued to play all that day and the night fol¬ lowing. On Tuesday morning a grenado or shell fell into the old roofless Keep, where Sir Charles had deposited his powder magazine. The explosion of the missile, though it killed several men, did not ignite the powder; but apprehension of another such contingency brought the Royalists to immediate terms. At eight o’clock their trumpeter sounded a parley, and Captains Challenor and Garroway were sent out to pro¬ pose honourable terms of capitulation. In the course of three hours Cromwell dismissed them, with two of his own officers, bearing the following propositions:— 246 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. 1st.—That the town and castle of the Devizes with all the ordnance, arms, and ammunition therein should be sm’rendered to Lieutenant- General Cromwell for the use of the Parliament. 2nd.—That all officers and gentlemen should march to Oxford or to any other garrison of the King within 30 miles, vnth both their horses and arms. 3rd.—That all private soldiers should march away without arms, only with sticks in their hands : and that they might go to Worcester, but not to any garrison to which their commanders repaired. 4th.—That all private gentlemen in the castle should have liberty to go to their own homes, or have passes beyond the sea. 5th.—That all such persons in the castle and town of Devizes, who, having once served the Parliament had afterwards gone over to the King, shordd be left as prisoners to the mercy of the Lieutenant-General: and that all such others as would consent to take up arms for the Parliament should be entertained. These proposals were backed by an intimation that unless they were speedily agreed to, the place would be carried by storm, and quarter granted to none. Sir Charles Lloyd thereupon gave his consent; and the next morning, Septem¬ ber 24th, he marched out of his impregnable fortress, in the loftiness of which he had so often delighted himself; and having obtained from Cromwell three wains and a convoy for the safe transport of his lady and his goods, he rode off to Oxford or Worcester to make his peace with the King. [N.B. A copy of the pamphlet entitled “The Storming and deliver¬ ing up of the Castle and Town of Devizes unto Lieutenant- General Cromwell,” is in the Library of the Devizes Literary and Scientific Institution.] The capture of Devizes cost the besieging army the loss of five men. We are not told how many of its defenders fell; probably not many more; for fatigue and the hopelessness of their position appear to have been the principal inducement to yield up so quickly. The garrison consisted of between three and four hundred men, the Cromwellians doubtless vastly out-numbering them. The List of Royal Martyrs published in Charles II.’s reign, chronicles the name of one Mr. Stephen Tempest a gentleman-volunteer as having fallen CROMWELL TAKES THE CASTLE. 247 at Devizes, but tbe period of bis death is not mentioned. Should any one ask, in what manner our gallant friend John Gwynn conducted himself during the affair, or how he could bring down his stomach to surrender after a two days siege, before his fire-eating propensities had been gratified by a single storm,—here are two extracts from his autobiography, which will at least prove that he was present; and are inter¬ esting moreover as containing probably the only descrij)tion which the pen of a Royalist has thought fit to preserve of a defence from which so much was expected. The first of these passages is headed as follows:— “IIoiv the Devises teas taken, the rather by the absence of those who tcere obliged to come unto it, and did not.”^ “ I was in the garrison of the Devizes ; where Fairfax and Cromwell were at a stand whether they had best meddle with us ; until they came to understand that the horse in quarters thereabout were not come into it, which upon all occasion were obliged:—then they laid close siege to us. One or two soldiers had run over the works to the enemy and informed them how all things stood with us, or they had not besieged us. The enemy, with incessant peals of muskets, great guns, and mortar pieces, played upon us, that it passed us all day and night at our line, without the least reserve, that we could do no more, Avhen we might have done better with our expected numbers, we resigned. I having the guard by the river’s side, and standing by Sir Jacob Astley, a bearded arrow struck into the ground between his legs. He plucked it out with both hands, and said. You rogues, you missed your aim.” This last incident about the arrow, though forming part of the same paragraph, evidently belongs to a subsequent affair at Farringdon, but it is worth retaining for the sake of Sir Walter Scott’s note, in his edition of Gwynn’s memoirs. “This is perhaps the last mention of the use of the bow and arrow in England in actual battle. In Montrose’s wars, many of the remote Highlanders continued to act as archers, but in England the once formidable bow had in the middle of ‘For “ obliged ” read “under an garrison and place themselves under obligationby which we are to un- the Governor on all occasions of derstand that Dowett’s and Long’s peril, cavalry had orders to draw into 248 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the 17th century, fallen into almost total desuetude.” Military Memoirs of the great Civil TFar, page 39. The remaining notice preserved by Captain Gwynn of the siege of Devizes castle is in a chapter treating “ Of strange preservations which were vouchsafed to the author.” “At the Devizes” says he “as I sat upon a small seat of sods, with my back to an empty cannon-basket which lay close to the works’-side, a sergeant that stood by calls me up in all haste, to show me three of the enemy, (officer like) that came to discover our works. I had no sooner started up, but he clapped down in my place; nor was he no sooner sat, but a musket-ball struck through the basket into his head, and he died immediately.” Ibid, page 139. In what light Governor Lloyd’s conduct was regarded by the King, may be gathered from the following fragment of the journal of Garter king-at-arms, then attendant on the Court. “We got to Bridgnorth, where we expected some rest after our tedious march; but here we had the news of the taking of Berkeley where Sir Charles Lucas was Governor, and of the Devizes where Sir Charles Lloyd our late quarter¬ master-general and chief-engineer commanded. The first was well defended; but the loss of the other [Devizes], in regard of the natural strength of the place, and the ability of the Governor in matters of fortification, was not as yet ever answered by him. But our misfortunes gave us not opportunity to reward, and so we did not punish the' loss of those places.” Bir Edward Walhe fs Discourses, page 142. The King himself writing to his Secretary Sir Edward Nicholas from Newark, 16th October, says:— “I have received seventeen letters from you for which I heartily thank you, we being very much cheered by your frequent dispatches. I wrote to you upon Friday last, wherein there was a letter for my wife ; and lilcervise in that dispatch you were answered concerning the Governor of Devizes and all others in his predicament; so that now I have but few particulars to answer. C. R.” Evelyn's Memoirs, THE FALL OF LACOCK. 249 The truth seems to be that Sir Charles Lloyd’s single qualification for the post at Devizes was his engineering skill. He rarely if ever appears conspicuous in the field. His friend John Gwynn records the blowing up a Thames barge full of Parliamentary ffecruits at the battle of Brent¬ ford in 1642J but with this exception. Sir Charles does not seem to have signalized himself (?) unless indeed his admirers consider him entitled to credit for zeal and diligence in pre¬ paring for the coming storm at Devizes, as testified by the following inventory of goods left behind at his evacuation of the place. There were found in the castle, besides five large and several smaller pieces of artillery, 400 stand of arms, and provisions that would have lasted a whole year; five hundred flitches of bacon, five hundred barrels of beef, one hundred and twenty fat sheep, with much wheat and malt. Every thing in fact tended to shew that the Royalists had calculated on the capability of the place to sustain a pro¬ tracted siege. Cromwell having dispatched this business, and nominated a new Governor for Devizes in the person of Captain Thomas Eyre, described as “a well affected gentleman and well be¬ loved in Wiltshire,”" departed with his four brigades to take in Winchester, Basing, Longford and other forts. He ar¬ rived at Winchester on the 28th of September, and Fairfax at the same moment came on from Bath to Devizes with the remainder of the army. Colonel Boville the Governor of Lacock, seeing the fall of his friends at Devizes, was now be¬ ginning to treat for himself; but scorning to 5 ueld to Deve- reaux and Pickering who in reality were the officers then * “ It liappeued that Sir Charles terror into the rest of the recruits Lloyd or some other engineer [was that they all vanished, and we het- directed] to blow up a barge loaden ter satisfied with their room than with men and ammunition ; which, their company.” Gwynyi's Mcinoirs. at the fearful crack it gave and the Page 2i. sad aspect upon it, struck such a *He became Member for the County in 1656. 250 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. assaulting him, he appears to have pretended ignorance of their names; and in answer to a summons sent in on the 23rd of September (the day on which Devizes capitulated), addressed his reply To the General Sir Thomas Fairfax or the Commander-in-chief of the forces before me, Lacock, 23rd September 1645. “Sir, I confess my reason tells me that you being wliolly possessed of the country, I cannot defend tbis place to a continuance; but must resolve to the utmost to give the King my master a handsome account of his trust to me. I therefore desire, if you please to admit of it, a parley that may discharge me with honour. Two Captains shall be sent unto you, and the like sent in hither for hostages: and if the greatness of jmur power deny this, I can die handsomely, and by that, add more to your trophies than can a slavish yielding to your fetters. From, Sir, your humble servant, “Jordan Bovell.” From the tenour of the next ensuing letter, it looks as though, in the interval, the Lacock cavaliers were given to understand that, like those of Devizes, they must surrender their arms on marching out. To the Commander-in-chief before me, “Lacock, 23rd Sept. 1645. “Sir, I ingenuously acknowledge many of my soldiers have deserted me ; and by that, lessened my hopes of account to his Majesty. I doubt not but you are tender of a soldier’s reputation. My numbers are not great; nor will the allowance of arms to those few (divers of which are gentlemen) prejudice you, but infinitely add to your honour; and gain more upon sweet conditions than your refusal or power can fasten ui)on them. And if you cannot allow that honour to all, exempt myself alone and give it to the rest. It will speak you as noble as gallant, and save much blood, besides the engagement of. Sir, your humble servant, “Jordan Boveli.” To this proposition no objection was raised, and the Roy¬ alists prepared to move out on the third day following. On the 26th therefore Lacock Abbey was surrendered to the Parliament; and Fairfax, in order to give additional solem¬ nity and interest to the scene, went down in person from FAIRFAX AT DEVIZES. 251 Devizes to inspect the garrison and salute the enemy as he marched forth. In the House of Commons meanwhile, a letter dated 22nd Sept, from one of the Scout-master’s servants, relating to the taking of Devizes upon surrender, was read on the 23rd. Whereupon it was ordered, “That the Committee of the West should pay unto the messenger that brought the good news of taking the Devizes, £10.”—On the 25th a letter from Oliver himself was read in the House, describing the affairs of Devizes and of Berkeley, when it was ordered, “That Curtys the messenger have £10 bestowed ujion him by the Commit¬ tee of the Army.”—Ordered also, “That it he referred to the Committee of the West to consider what is fit to be done with the castle and garrison at Devizes, and to report their opi¬ nion with speed to the House.”—On the 26th the further news of Lacock reached the House; upon which an order was forth¬ with issued, appointing a public thanksgiving on the next ensuing Sunday for the great successes recently attending the Parliament’s arms, for the taking in of Lacock house, the town and castle of the Devizes, and reducing the county of Pembroke; the Lord Mayor to give timely notice thereof to the ministers in the several churches and chapels within the cities of London and Westminster, the weekly bills of mor¬ tality and lines of communication. While the public attention in London was thus pursuing the movements of the victorious army, the newspajier writers, as might be expected, gathered up many a fugitive fact which w^ould otherwise have remained unrecorded. “ The ever honoured General” [Fairfax] says the Perfect Passages, “ when he had taken the Devizes, and the like he doth in other places, he caused all the cattle, (there was 120 fat sheep and many good beeves left, that Lloyd and Dowett had plundered) these the General caused to be restored to their owners; and gave command that the country should fetch out their goods from the castle, that had an}”- there 252 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. which did directly belong to them.” Another informant states that his Excellency marched from Devizes on Satur¬ day the 27th September, to Warminster, where on the fol¬ lowing day he and his lady attended divine service in the church, designing to be at Sherbourn on Monday, and so to join with Massey at Exeter. True Informer, October. The army at this juncture was becoming impatient for their pay which had been some time in arrear; and it is stated by Sprigg that during the two days spent at Warminster, wait¬ ing for money from London, Fairfax was compelled for the first time to allow his men to live on free quarters. Death of Francis Dowett. When Major Dowett quitted Devizes and left Sir Charles Lloyd to his fate, he repaired to North Wilts with the avow¬ ed intention of raising a larger troop for the King. His head-quarters appear to have been about Farringdon and Kadcot-bridge; John Gwynn was still his associate ; and Sir James Long at the head of a forlorn remnant of horse con¬ tinued to make good a title to his Majesty’s High Sheriff for the county : the Sheriff acting in the name of the Parliament in 1645-6 being Alexander Thistlethwayte, junior, of Win- terslow. On or about the 20 th of November 1645 Dowett was assaulting the town of Lechlade where a small section of the Malmesbury garrison was quartering, under an Irish Colonel named William Moore. The fiery Major seemed on the point of crushing his opponents, when Devereux himself came to the rescue, thundered through the town of Lechlade, and sallied out upon the besiegers on the opposite side. Dowett was wounded in the charge; and while his men were retreating, he became by some accident separated from them by a wide and deep ditch. A corporal of his troop was with him and also his doughty friend Captain Gwynn. Dowett and the corporal leaped first, but both fell back and perished. CAREER OF CAPTAIN GWYNN. 253 Gwynn then leaped his horse immediately after them; and as fortune had not yet quite forsaken him, he cleared the ditch and joined his company, otherwise, as he adds, “I might have been anatomised as Mr. Dowett was.” Givynn'a Memoirs 65, and the newspapers. Major Dowett’s career being run, that of Captain Gwynn seems to claim a final notice. At the conclusion of the war in England, he followed the fortunes of the Marquis of Mon¬ trose in Scotland; then went to Holland, and was backward and forward till the Restoration of his Royal Master Charles II.; when, finding himself passed over in the promotion of the Royal Guards, among whom he had so long served, he drew up a memorial of his adventurous career, with a view to vindicate his claims to public recompense,—with what success is unknown. These memoirs were first edited and published by Sir Walter Scott, in 1822; though fragments had previously appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine. The unflinching adherent of a depressed cause. Captain Gwynn shared in all the trials of the Royalists during the Interreg¬ num :—sometimes so desperately poor, that while travelling in Scotland he speaks on one occasion of making the churches his lodging houses at night; at another, he won a free pas¬ sage at sea from Caithness to Edinburgh by a jumping-matcb with a skipper named John o’ Groat. Of course he was present at the siege of Dunkirk, where he had an opportu¬ nity of observing how the Ironsides who had beaten him at Devizes could equally set at nought a foreign foe. And we can fancy that when at last marching into London at the Restoration, his propensity to chorus singing must have struggled hard with his sense of military discipline, especi¬ ally if the Lacock musician^ was in his company; for amongst his other qualifications Captain Gwynn considered himself a • William Yokeney (or Yockncy) were played in procession as Charles a lutinist and composer of songs, II. entered London at the Restora- born at Lacock. Some of his pieces tion in 1660. Aubrey. 254 HISTORY OP DEVIZES. judge of music and of poetry. His rhyming descriptions of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Kinnoul, Sir George Munro, and the Long Parliament would not perhaps go far to substantiate this assumption, hut we must in conclusion make room for his song to the mistress of his heart. Her name was “Loy¬ alty.” ‘ ‘ I am so fond a lover grown, That for my mistress’ cause could die ; Nor would enjoy my love alone, But wish her millions more than I. I am devoted to her hand; A willing sacrifice could he. If she be pleased but to command To die is easy unto me.” Colonel Long’s Last Expedition. During the quiet of the ensuing winter of 1645-6, though the Parliament’s authority was everywhere recognised in Wiltshire, and Committees were securely sitting at Devizes, Marlborough, and Langford castle, to collect evidence against Delinquents and to let their lands to “ Tenants of the State,” yet the people were once more to he reminded that the King’s name was a tower of strength, and that Oxford was not many miles distant. In January a final and formidable irruption of nearly 1000 horse from that city and its adjoining garri¬ sons was made under the leadership of Sir John Cansfield and Sir James Long. By means of the newspapers we can trace their passage through Marlborough, Salisbury, War¬ minster, and Leigh [Westbury Leigh?] gathering up as they went, horses, money, and prisoners. From Warminster alone they took a thousand pounds; at Devizes they only succeeded in giving the garrison a terrible alarm; but at Marlborough their triumph was complete. There, the De¬ vizes Governor with other Committeemen, Goddard, Captain White the Commissary-General, and others happening to be in conclave, were all captured, together with three troops of horse, a hundred foot soldiers and a large store of ammuni- THE CASTLE DISMANTLED. 255 tion. Skippon, then at Bristol, strove hard, but in vain, to come in contact with the invaders; but the work of repelling them was at length achieved by Mr. Thistlethwayte, the Parliament’s Sheriff of Wilts. See the Perfect Passages, the Weekly Account, Continuation of Special Passages, and Scottish Dove, on the Parliament’s side; and the Mercurius Rusticus, on the King’s side. Who became the nominal Governor in Devizes, now that Captain Eyre was being marched off as a prisoner to Oxford, we have not learnt; but the following memoranda from the Commons' Journals may indicate to some extent what was passing in the town. 28th May 1G4G. Ordered,—That all such materials as are now remaining in the Castle of the Devizes, and which were part of or belong¬ ing to the Chxu'ch of St. John or to the parsonage house belonging to the said Church, shall be forthwith restored to the churchwardens there, for the re-edifying of the said Church and parsonage house:—Ordered also. That in like manner, all such timber and other materials as have been taken away from any of the inhabitants of the said town and are now remaining in the said castle, shall be likewise forthwith delivered to the particular owners thereof. Commons' Journals. 4th May 164G. Upon Sir John Evelyn’s report from the Committee of the West, it is Resolved :— “That the castle-hill and works at the Devizes, and the works about Longford house in the county of Wilts be forthwith slighted [levelled]— That there be only one troop of horse kept in the said county, consisting of one hundred horse commanded by Captain William Ludlow now Governor of Longford; Robert Hassell, lieutenant; and James Heely, cornet—That one hundred and fifty foot, besides the townsmen, be kept in the garrison of Malmesbury, and that no other garrison be kept or continued in the said county.” Commons' Journals IV. 534. The total destruction of the Castle appears to have been delayed from some cause, for two years: so we judge from entries in the Borough accounts ; thus “ 1650. For horse- hire and sending out warrants and other expenses about demolishing the castle in 1648, 16 shillings,” and another entry in 1649 is to the same effect. 256 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, Among the Additional M8B. in the British Museum is a paper, drawn up apparently in the early part of the last centur}'-, say 1720, by John Strachey. It purports to he a survey of the Devizes Castle grounds, and is illustrated hy a pen and ink sketch. The following are some of his facts. The mound was ascended by a walk somewhat spiral. On its summit was still to be seen the pit of a powder-house which had existed within the memory of persons still living. The ascent to the mound and also the gate leading thence towards the town were neglected and out of repair. Just within the outworks and close to the said gate stood “ an in¬ different good house ” built of stone, but also itself in a state of dilapidation. The Drawbridge at this north entrance was gone and the ditch filled up. All the space within the works was converted into an orchard; and two windmills on the top of the mound are described as recent erections for the grinding of rape seed. The “powder pit” here alluded to is probably the chamber unearthed in 1838 by Mr. Leach, and seems to point out the position of the Keep, which is stated (during Cromwell’s siege) to have been the ammunition magazine of the garrison. The two windmills also appear in the prospect of the town taken by Dr. Stukeley in 1721 from the high ground which now dominates the railway station at the back of Mr. T. B. Anstie’s garden. In accordance with his favourite hypothesis mentioned at page 13, Stukeley calls it a view of “Punctuo- bice.” See his Itinerarium Curiosum. To return now to the events of 1646. Massey’s Brigade disbanded at Devizes. The capture of the City of Oxford in June 1646 left the Parliamentary armies little to do ; and this introduces us to the affair of the disbanding of the Western forces, an event belonging to the autumn of the year, when the King, having taken refuge in the Scottish camp, left his enemies in Eng- DISBANDING OF MASSEY’s BRIGADE. 257 land to fall out among themselves. The controversy which then ensued between the Parliament and the army greatly distracted the councils of Westminster, and but for the iire- siding genius of Cromwell might have taken a more tragic form. The arm}"- clamoured for its arrears of pay. The Pres¬ byterians in the House and in London wanted the army voted to Ireland and sent out of the way. Both parties at length united in declaring that at least two independent sections of the army should be disbanded, viz. a body in the Northern counties under Poyntz, and the associated Western forces known as Massey’s brigade. It was indeed quite time to re¬ lieve the country of the presence of these local troops. A portion of the Wilts Committee sitting at Marlborough had in the previous July represented to the House that the robberies and cruelties perpetrated in this county were such that no man was safe, either abroad or in his own house; a statement which Fairfax corroborated in the following letter to the Speaker. “13 June 1646. “SiK. The complaints against Major General Massey’s brigade arc stiU renewed, and indeed the burden is now become insupportable. They not only tax the country, but by plunder, robbery, and other insoleneies, do so dishearten and affright the people, that it is to he feared many will quit their habitations if timely remedy be not applied. It is true I received an order from you to disband them; but I have not endeavoured it, because I had some intimation that your pleasure was to send some money down, 'which certainly would make the work the more acceptable and effectual. But since having received a letter from Major General Massey, implying some consequences fitter for the House to determine than myself, I thought to represent the letter to yourself, that so I might receive your further pleasure, which will find hearty obedience from “ Your humble servant, “Thomas Fairfax.” It was eventually resolved that the scattered portions of the brigade should draw together to Devizes; that the men should there and then I’eceive six weeks pay, out of a fund raised from the fines for delinquency of Francis Lord Sey- R 258 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. mour of Marlborough, Sir William Button of Alton, and Sir James Thjmue of Longleat; and that Colonel Edmund Lud¬ low as member for the county and Alderman Francis Allen' should go down to see it all put in execution. In anticipation of his task, Ludlow, aware that the dissolution of so large a corps, numbering about 9000, might be a work of some risk, repaired first to the Lord General Fairfax, then lying at Cornhury, and induced him, in company with Commissary- General Ireton, to draw towards Devizes with two regiments of horse; other gentlemen who gave him their personal as¬ sistance in the affair being John Browne M.P. for Dorsetshire, Colonel Robert Blake M.P. for Taunton (afterwards the Sea- Admiral) Colonel Alexander Popham M.P. for Bath, and Colonel-General Massey. The affair, on the whole, passed off quietly at Devizes, the majority of the men being glad of the opportunity to return home to their several callings, having, so Ludlow charitably assumes, “ taken up arms and hazarded their lives purely to serve the public ” though there were not wanting among them “divers idle and debauched persons, especially such as were foreigners, who not knowing how to betake themselves to any honest employment, endea¬ voured to stir up the brigade to a mutiny but failing in this, many of them enlisted before they left Devizes in a regiment equipping for Ireland under Sir William Fenton. Poyntz’s brigade in the North was soon after disposed of in a similar way. Ludlow’s Memoirs, i. 181. ‘ Mr. Allen was, likely enough, sent down as belonging to a De¬ vizes family, then of some weight. Though a London Alderman, he was at this moment sitting as Mem¬ ber for Cockermouth, and his name appears in the list of those soon af¬ ter selected to judge the King. A petition from “Francis Allen of Devizes ” apparently in reference to the sale of Dean and Chapter lands, is recorded in the Commons' Jour¬ nals %th Sep. 1649. William Allen was a Devizes attorney in the time of Charles II. ; and the family acquired undoubted lustre during the same reign, in the person of “Richard Allein” the minister of Taunton; of whom and his father Tobias Allen, more hereafter. DISTURBANCE IN ST. JOHN’s CHURCH. 259 Order concerning the Governor of Devizes, issued hy the Committee for the safety of the Western Counties, 17 Novemher 1646. “ Upon the petition of Captain Thomas Ej-re this day read praying for some part of his arrears, the Wilts Committee are hereby desired to make up the pay of his officers and soldiers to the proportion of one mouth’s pay, upon account:—And further to give to Captain Eyre a debenture for the pay due to him as Captain of horse till the time of our order to pay no officers without commission; and for his whole service till the time of reducing, as Captain of foot and Governor of the Devizes. And in the interim, in regard of his sufferings and imprisonments by the enemy, the said Committee do pay unto him One hundred pounds in part of his said arrears, besides the £50 ho hath already received from them. Signed by the Earl of Pembroke, Edmund Ludlow, John Dove, Sir John Danvers, Edward Massey, Edward Popham, Henry Hungerford and Sir Edward Hungerford.” Disturbance in St. John’s Church. For a proper understanding of the altercations now raging between the Parliament and the army;—a dispute in which Presbyterian uniformity in the City and in the Pulpit, sought hard to crush the manifold forms of independent thought which flourished in the Army, the reader is referred to Thomas Carlyle’s Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Events at Devizes furnish an illustrative anecdote, serving as an index to much that was passing elsewhere ; but a study of the Army Manifestoes issued from Cambridgeshire will alone overtake the case. In explanation of the following letter written from Devizes, it is necessary to premise that the Rector, like the majority of ministers then occupying the parish pulpits, was of the Presbyterian or dominant persua¬ sion, and that the disturbing parties seem to have belonged to the section of the army which came to Devizes to aid in keeping the peace when Massey’s brigade was disbanded. The letter dates just before the disbanding. Edwards's Gangrwna, “A cojny of a letter (to a tittle) sent from some of the inhabitants of Devi zes to a worthy member of the House of Commons." [Robert Nicholas ?] “ Right Worshipful. May it please 5 mu to be certified by us of certain passages this day at the Church in the time of divine service;— R 2 260 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. that is, our minister Mr. Shepherd being in the pulpit, was commanded by one Captain Pretty who is under the command of Colonel Iretou, and who until his soldiers are to our great burden quartered with us, to be silent and to come forth of the pulpit, saying in threatening terms that he was unfit to preach, and that he was yesterday, being Saturday, drunken;—which evidently can be proved to the contrary, the gentleman being to our knowledge a veiy temperate and religious divine. This Captain was assisted by one Mr. Ives and Mr Lainbe, who are, as they say, preachers ; and divers soldiers armed, in a most irreverend manner, to the abominable disturbance of the whole congregation, and as we con¬ ceive to the great abuse and disgrace of the honourable Parliament. By means whereof, our preacher fearing, as was too much cause, what dan¬ gerous effects such indecent and impious demeanours might produce, was enforced to depart and dares not to come in sight; so that we were destitute of preaching this day. Whereof, we thought good, being thereto as we believe bound in duty and good conscience to acquaint your Worship withal; hoping by your industrious means these our most intollerable grievances may be taken into religious consideration, and we thereof eased : which we earnestly beg of you our approved good friend and countryman may be effected. These aforeaid abuses can be (if occa¬ sion) witnessed by the whole congregation. From the Devizes this present Sunday, the 6th of September, 1646.” Edwards' Gangrwna. Although at the date of the above letter it is evident that John Shepherd was already in the performance of his official duties, his name moreover appearing in a Presbyterian mani¬ festo issued in 1647, yet his formal presentation to the living does not appear to have taken place till some time after, as will be seen by the following extract from the Lords’ Jour¬ nals, Zrd July 1648. “Ordered, That Dr. Aylett shall give induction and institution unto John Shepherd, clerk, to the rectory of St. John in the village of the Devizes together with the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary thereunto an¬ nexed, Com. Wiltes, void by the death of the last incumbent, salvo jure cnjuscunque. Granted by the Great Seal.” During the latter part of the reign of Charles I., when the people demanded “a preaching ministry” the Corporation had usually selected and paid the minister. The name of George Widley, clerk, appears in 1629: but at the com¬ mencement of the war in 1642-3 other names occur;—thus, Mr. Welsh receives £5 for having preached several times COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 261 when we had no lecturer.—10 shillings paid to Mr. Smith an Irish preacher, by Mr. Mayor’s order.—4 shillings given to a messenger who was sent to stay ISlr. Barnard from com¬ ing over to lecture. And even to Henry Johnson who held the living long after the Restoration, it was the practice of the Borough authorities to make an annual gift of £10. John Prestwick who held the living for a brief period com¬ mencing in 1644, we may conclude was the nominee of the Crown while the Royalists held the town. Compositions of the Royalists. Michael Tidcombe of Devizes Esq. sometime Attorney- at-Law. As this gentleman has frequently come under our notice, we need not again go over the proofs of that “delin¬ quency” which now brought him to the thumb-screw. His own petitions to the Committee for compositions sitting at Goldsmiths Hall will suffice. “The humble petition of Michael Ticlcombe Sheweth ;—That your peti¬ tioner adhered to the forces raised against the Parliament, and was a receiver employed in that part, with others, by his Majesty’s Commission¬ ers for receiving of moneys for maintaining those forces raised against the Parliament:—That he was also employed in and t^out a Commission of Oyer and Terminer appointed by his Majesty to be executed in that coxiuty: in all which he did act against the Parliament accordingly. Your petitioner therefore humbly prayeth, being Ireartily sorry for these his oflences, that he may be admitted to a favourable composition, and I’eceive the benefit of the mercy oflered to others, to free his person and estate out of sequestration. And he shall ever pray, &c. 25 November 1615.” Another petition to the same parties addressed from Ely- house, where it appears Mr. Tidcombe was imprisoned for not sooner answering to his summons. “ Sheweth :—That your petitioner about three years since was unhap¬ pily, during such time as the County of Wilts was wholly under the King’s power, drawn to act under such commands in his Majesty’s service as he conceiveth himself to bo within the Ordinance of Delinquency. About the 1st of November last, your petitioner intended to repair towards London to submit himself to this Honoiu-able Committee, as by several 262 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. certificates appeareth; but tbe night after your petitioner intended to take bis journey, a messenger served your petitioner with a warrant from tbe Honourable House of Commons:—That your petitioner on the 25th of November did petition this Honourable Committee for a compo¬ sition, having then taken the Covenant and the [negative] oath; but nothing then could be done, in regard your petitioner was a prisoner:— That your petitioner hath been in prison and in custody of the Sergeant at arms since the 11th of November, to his extraordinary charge and almost utter undoing; his estate being sequestered; having no other subsistence to sustain himself; his wife and seven children all rmprovided for ; and in debt at least £400. He humbly prayeth a favourable com¬ position, that he may thereby be enabled with cheerfulness to express his hearty affection to the Parliament and their proceedings.” Document the third is addressed to Mr. Alexander one of the Committee scribes, recapitulating the above facts, and begging him not to omit them in his report; and terminating with “Good Sir, do me all the lawful favour you can in your report, and you shall be sure to have the prayers of a poor faithful prisoner, Michael Tidcombe.” To fortify his case in the matter of his willingness to appear when first summoned at Devizes, he had procured the testimony of two friends Daniel White and Edward Seager who at his earnest entreaty proved that he certainly had fixed for starting in December, though somehow or other it happened that the messenger from the Commons anticipated his movement. Captain Eyre the new Governor of Devizes castle had also lent his friendly services in the form of the following testimonial. “Devizes, 8th of December, 1645. “Upon the request of Michael Tideombe of the Devizes, gent, to certify what I know concerning his resolution to go to London to make his peace, before your messenger from your honourable House of Commons came to apprehend him, I do hereby humbly certify that the said Michael Tid¬ eombe a day or two before the said messenger came to the Devizes, did send by my lieutenant who quartered at his house, to desire a ticket of me to go towards London ; and, as the said lieutenant informed me, the intent of his journey was to make his peace. And this is as much as I can say in the business. “Thomas Etee.” COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 263 To the Hon. Committee assembled at London or to whomsoever this may concern. “ Upon the entreaty of Michael Ticlcombe of the Devizes, gent, we whose names are here subscribed do certify that the said Michael Tidcombe was provided to travel towards London upon the month of December to make his peace with the Honourable Parliament: But the night before he purposed to begin his journey, a messenger came for him, to bring him unto the Parliament, by whose order we hear he is now in custody. Thus; upon his earnest request, under your honourable favours, we do hereby certify of his willingness in submitting to your honourable favours; and this we •null be ready to justify when we shall be thereunto required. Given under our hands, the 6th day of December 1645. “Daniel White. “Edwabd Seager.” “Schedule of Michael Tidcohbe’s estate. He is possessed of the house he lives in and one groxuid called “Painter’s Mead” in the Devizes, held of John Drew Esq. for 99 years if three lives shall so long live, at the rent of 20s. 4d.—worth over this per annum £6 more:—The lease of certain grounds in the Devizes Parks called “ The three hills,” “Castle mead” and “The lawns,” held ofSh- Edward Powell Knt., at the rent of £6 for about twelve years to come; worth more than this, £8 per annum. —A lease having sixteen years to run of certain other grounds there adjoining, held of Thomas Kent, gent, at the yearly rent of £8 10s., but worth £6 more.—Arable, meadow and pasture lauds, parcel of the manor of Great Ashley in the parish of Bradford, held of llobort Ernie for the life of one John Druce aged 66, at the rent of £l 13s. 4d.; worth over this, £17.—Two little coppice grounds adjoining each other, called Elwood in Bishops Cannings, held of the feoffees of St. Mary’s, Devizes for about ten years to come, at a yearly rent of £2 13s. 4d., but worth 16s. 8d. more. “ He is seized of one house in the Devizes and four acres of land which he holdeth to him and his heirs, worth per annum £16.—Several other little grounds there called “Burnell’s lauds” which he holdeth to him and his heirs, annual value £16.—Other arable and pasture land called “ Burgess’s,” annual value £5.—Ground called “ Comerwell” of the like tenure, annual value £6.—Grounds called “Benbornley” £1.—A mes¬ suage at Bradford called “Great Ashley” and grounds thereto belonging, which he holds by the courtesy of England £16.—Certain yearly rents issuing forth of cottages in Bradford held like the last by the courtesy of England, £2 8s. 4d.—Other rents of tenements in Bradford which he holds to him and his heirs, £4 14s. 8d.—Arable, pasture and meadow land at Bishops Cannings, parcel of Badbury, [or Bedborough] which he holds by the courtesy of England, worth per annum £20.—His personal estate in goods and chattels is worth £30.” He claims to be allowed £1 Os. 6d. chief rents paid to the 264 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. King and to the Marquis of Winchester as lords of the lands in Devizes and Bradford. Also the following debts to be taken into consideration ;— £ s. d. He owes to John Grubb of Potterne upon bond 30 0 0 Six years interest on ditto 14 8 0 To Robert Chivers of Quemerford 100 0 0 Five years’ interest thereon • • . . 40 0 0 To Susanna Paraclice of Beadridge Co. Somerset, spinster .. 15 0 0 One year’s interest thereon 1 4 0 To Mr. Phillips of London 60 0 0 To Lawrence Baker of Tilshead, husbandman 42 0 0 To Henry Dams of Trowbridge, mercer 10 0 0 To Mr. Barnes of Shaftesbm-y, gent. 30 0 0 To Mrs. Allen of the Devizes, widow 6 0 0 To Robert Maker of the Devizes, taylor 6 0 0 To Sir Edward Powell 74 0 0 To Jolin Eyles of the Devizes, mercer 33 0 0 And I am to pass an accompt for Henry Chivers late Sheriff of the county, for which I am bound to pass. which will cost me at least 100 0 0 Total £561 12 0 At the foot of Mr. Tidcombe’s account occur the words, “To be reviewed, for that he was an attorney-at-law.” His fine was estimated at £450; and though a subsequent pro¬ posal seems to have been made to reduce it to £217, yet he eventually paid the larger sum on the 7th September 1646. The fact of his having served in the Salisbury Commission (see page 185) was in itself sufl&cient to preclude any idea of mercy, notwithstanding his having subsequently taken the Negative Oath and also the National Covenant. Mr. Tidcombe appears to have passed his latter years in retirement at Bradford-on-Avon, having married in 1626 Susanna sister and co-heir of John Blanchard of Great Ash¬ ley (see the Rev. W. H. History of Bradford-on-Avon). Within Bradford Church, a square slab surmounted by a plain shield, against the north wall, memorialises his death COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 265 26 July 1662, and that of a daughter Sarah 11 July 1661; and thus pronounces his requiem :— “ TiDCOMBTJS TU3IULO JACET HOC MiCHAEIIS IN ALTO, SoSPES HUM CLANGIT BUCCINA ‘SuEOE’ MANET.” Which may be thus Englished :— Michael Tidcombe here Entomb-ed though he lies, Eests securely till he hear The trumpet sound “Arise.” Mr. Pierce’s Case. The delinquency charged against Richard Pierce of the Devizes, draper, bore the simple form of “adherence unto the forces raised against the Parliament.” In his petition, dated 26 April 1649, he makes the following aifirmation, that “he was never a Member of Parliament, nor Judge, nor officer towards the Law common or civil, nor any sergeant, coun¬ cillor or attorney, clergyman, master or fellow of a college.” His fine was £45, being levied “at a sixth” on a freehold messuage or tenement in Devizes called The Swan, worth £15 a year. The above scanty statement, referring only to real pro¬ perty (the province which the London committee and not the local committee embraced) cannot be supposed to repre¬ sent all Mr. Pierce’s losses; for his position in the Borough and his money transactions with the Corporation argue a much wealtliier man. One of his troubles about this time arose from a refusal to pass his accounts as Chamberlain in respect of the sums which he had paid over to the King’s officers, see page 156; such refusal being recorded at a gene¬ ral assembly of the burgesses in 1648 under the mayoralty of John Stephens. Mr. Pierce was the father of a divine of some note in his day, Thomas Pierce D.D. Fellow and eventually President of Magdalen College, Oxford. Though rejected from his living by the visitors in 1641 he obtained the rectory of Brington 266 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. in Northamptonshire which he was allowed to enjoy during the Protectorate. Soon after the Restoration, he became President of his college, but resigned this post on becoming Dean of Sarum in 1671. He is described as a learned and excellent preacher, and a strenuous advocate for the Church of England. In 1683 a controversy arose between him and Bishop Ward of Sarum as to whether the right of bestowing certain Cathedral dignities was vested in the Crown or in the Episcopate. Pierce issued a pamphlet entitled, “a vindication of the King’s sovereign right.” Another memorial of him is a gift of £70 towards rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral. Dying in 1692 he was buried at North Tidworth, (where he had purchased an estate) on which occasion one of his printed works, a funeral sermon, was presented to each of the mourners in lieu of rings or gloves. Over his grave was erected a small cupola or shrine supported by four columns, protecting a plain stone in memory of his own death in 1692 and that of his wife Susanna in 1696. See further respecting his works in Bliss’s Oxonienses iv. 299. Another of Alderman Pierce’s relatives may have been Thomas Pierce of the Swan Inn, who drove such a thriving trade, so Aubrey tells us, by the sale of metheglyn (a wine made from honey.) In another place the antiquary describes the mode of manufacturing this article, obtained from Sir Edward Baynton, and evidently considers that he has suffi¬ ciently praised his own receipt when he affirms that it is “as good as that made at Devizes by Thomas Piers.” The Pierces were extremely numerous in Devizes. One of their female representatives, by marriage with John A’Court of Rodden Esq. about the year 1670 carried the name into a family which has since become highly distinguished. Pierce A’Court the issue of this marriage married a daughter of William Ashe M.P. for Ileytesbury, and the name of the first baronet 1795 was William Pierce Ashe A’Court, and his son William was the first Lord Heytesbury. COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 267 Mr. Thurman’s Case. 'William Thurman of the Devizes, mercer. There were two principal charges brought in proof of his delinquency. In the first place he had personally assisted in the convey¬ ance from Devizes to Malmesbury and delivering over to the King’s ofiicers, certain plate which had been deposited in Devizes for the use of the Parliament (already noticed at page 153); and subsequently he gave evidence at the Salis¬ bury Assizes against sundry of the Parliament’s friends, in December 1643, and occupied himself “in preparing busi¬ nesses for the Commissioners there.” His conduct in this latter affair the Wilts Committee were willing to admit pro¬ ceeded from ignorance and from his not understanding of the Ordinances of Parliament to the contrary. As to the affair of the County plate, he affirms that the part which he took in it was at the request of his neighbours, and that he knew not what was contained in the packages till they reached Malmesbury. He declares moreover that he was never a Popish recusant nor Popishly affected; that he never lived out of the Devizes, and has been compelled to pay con¬ tributions to both parties as they alternately held the place, lie hath already compounded for his delinquency with the local committee by paying them £130 on his personal estate; and for greater satisfaction, has taken the two oaths. But understanding that the county committee have no power to settle with him for his real estate, therefore he prays to be admitted to a favourable composition for the same, &c., &c. On this therefore which appears to have consisted principally of messuages in Devizes and a copyhold in Rowde, he was adjudged to pay £230. Dated 30th May 1646. “ Whereas by a warrant of the Committee of Wilts dated 25 July 1646, I was authorised and appointed to distrain so much of the goods of Wil¬ liam Thurman of the Devizes as in case of his refusal to pay £35 part of his fine and composition made with that Committee, might satisfy the said sum together with such charges as by Ordinance of Parliament are allowed;—I do hereby make sale of so much of the goods of the said 268 HISTOKY OF DEVIZES. TS^illiam Thurman unto Robert Edney [innkeeper] as amounted to the sum of £36, the receipt whereof Ido hereby acknowledge for the use of the State: and do hereby avouch the sale and delivery of these goods under mj' hand this 28th day of July 1646. “Thomas Feench. Collector.’’ But though. Mr. Thurman’s case was so decidedly adjudged at first as one of undeniable delinquency, he appears to have had so many friends among his townsfolk that there is rea¬ son to think that he finally escaped altogether the composition on his real estate. It is certain that his son afterwards dis¬ claimed the charge of delinquency as lying against his de¬ ceased father; and while the affair remained in ahej^ance it is also true that the legal opinion of the renowned John Bradshaw was given on his case. All this will appear from the following documents. The portion of the Wilts Com¬ mittee sitting at Devizes in 1646, after reciting in their re¬ port Mr. Thurman’s several offences, conclude thus:— “Upon all which he was adjudged a delinquent within the Ordinance for sequestration. He hath since compounded for it at £130, and paid £60, in regard of which he is by our agreement with him to be discharged of any further sequestration.” [Endorsed as follows] “It were a good way if directions could he gotten from the Committee of Lords and Com¬ mons imto the Committee of Wilts that they, upon the proofs now made by Mr. Thurman, together with the former against him, upon which form he was only by them convicted of delinquency, may review the whole matter, and accept the money of his composition by way of a five and twentieth part’ and acquit him of delinquency; if they see it just: the rather for that the said Committee of Wilts conceived that what he did was out of fear and not of malice or defection to the Parliament, as ap- peareth by a transcript of their proceedings under the clerk’s hand, 21 AprO 1646.” “Examination of Richard Pierce of the Devizes, woollen draper, June 1646 touching the articles presented against WiUiam Thurman. Who to the first article saith [here refer to page 154]. As to the second article, he affirms that Mr. Thurman endeavoured to absent himself from the Assizes at Salisbury, but was bound over; as this deponent discerned at the said Assizes, by hearing him there called upon his recognizance. Robert Edney of the Devizes, innholder; Saith; that he also was ’ A 25th was the fine received from nominal friends to the Parliament. COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 2G9 present at the Assizes, when Mr. Thui-man was there called upon his re¬ cognizance. Sworn before John Goddard, Edward Martyn, Thomas Goddard, and Robert Brown.” 31r. Bradshaw's note on the subject. “Quaere, upon the certificate and proof; whether the petitioner be withiu the Ordinance : Aud qutere for the petition and original certificate. These are now annexed ; and the main question will he upon the second and third charges ; whether his appearance at the Assizes and there giving evidence to the Grand Jury against some of the Parliament’s par¬ ty bring him within the Ordinance of Sequestration, he being compelled thus to appear and present. If he be, then the question will be, whe¬ ther the Committee of Wilts who sequestered him had power to com¬ pound with him, as they pretend to have; for if so, then also he is to be discharged of his sequestration. 25 Sepember 164G. “John Bradshaw.” The London Committee decided that his sequestration should stand; the fine nevertheless remained unpaid. Some half dozen years later, the name of Thurman still remaining a suspected one, and no receipt of his composition fine ap¬ pearing among the papers of the London Committees, a re¬ newed application on the subject was addressed to three Wiltshire gentlemen who at the period in question had superseded the old local committee and become the Parlia¬ ment’s principal agents in South Wilts: these were William Ludlow of Clarendon Park, Nicholas Green of Winterbourn Stoke, and Bennet Swayne [of Milford?] Esquires, two of whom signed the following reply relative to Thurman and others. “Sarum, 2 August 1653. “Whereas we lately received from your Honours a list of divers de¬ linquents who have formerly been fined but you do not find have paid their fines; wherewith also we received your order to summon such of them mentioned in the list to appear before your Honours, to shew cause &c. We eertify, we find that only three of the list were ever of this county, viz. Mervin Touchet of Compton, Esq., 'William Thurman of the Devizes, gent., and Thomas AYanklyn of Westbury, gent. We have sent our agent to enquire into their estates and to summon them; and we find that Mervin Touchet is not resident in this land, nor hath estate real or personal in this county. And we find that William Thurman of the Devizes in the year 1648 was assessed at Haberdashers Hall at £200 for the 20th part of his estate, and by an order of the Committee for advance 270 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of money, dated 16 April 1649, he was discharged of that assessment; it appearing to that Committee that he was no delinquent; as appears by an order under three of their hands produced to us. And we tind that Thomas Wanklyn hath satisfied his fine and hath a full discharge for the same. Which is all at present, saving that still we are. Your very hum¬ ble servants “William Ludlow. “Bennex Swayne.” The following papers dated two years still later are the work of William Thurman the younger; the father having, as we may suppose, in the meantime deceased. It is perhaps the decimation of known or suspected royalists consequent on the Penruddocke rising in 1655 which has again brought the name of Thurman under a cloud. “Whereas there was an ofhcer of the Commissioners for managing of estates under sequestration who repaired unto one William Thurman an inhabitant of the Devizes in the county of Wilts, requiring payment of a fine long since imposed on him as a delinquent; He humbly offers to your Honours, that he was never a delinquent; but saith, that his father by the name of William Thurman was questioned about his twentieth part in the said county, and was discharged, as by his order lately en¬ closed in a letter from the Committee of the County and now in your Registrar’s hands; And therefore prays your Honours’ discharge.” [Given in by Mr. Thurman’s solicitor, F. Flower, 22 May 1655.] To the Committee for managing of the estates under sequestration. 19^/i June 1655. “The humble petition of William Thurman of the Devizes; Sheweth, that your petitioner was lately summoned to shew cause why he should not pay a tine imposed on him for his delinquency;—that your petitioner did appear by his Solicitor Mr. Flower who put in your petitioner’s answer, that he was never a delinquent. Notwithstanding which, your petitioner is informed that directions are gone down to the Committee of Wilts to levy the whole sum on your petitioner. He humbly prays either a revocation of your order, or directions to the said Committee. And he shall ever pray &c.” [Endorsed] ‘ ‘ The petitioner hath liberty to . . . . . and in the meantime the Committee not to levy.” Mr. Cleeter’s Case. Anthony Cleeter of Cliff-Pipard may be mentioned here, not as holding land near Devizes or anywhere else, but for his official connexion with Governor Lloyd. It was averred COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 271 against him that he constantly resided in the Eoyal garrisons, as for instance at Farringdon and the Devizes. De was held in such high esteem by the King’s party that he exercised the office of Eeceiver General to the Lord Hopton, to Colonel Sir James Long, and to Sir Charles Lloyd the Governor of De¬ vizes, as by various acquittances under their hands, appeared; this high esteem being based on the ability which he dis¬ played in the occupation of “ Common Solicitor and Informer ” whereby many of the Parliament’s friends were entrapped and imprisoned. Ilis fine was most probably adjusted in the country, without the formality of going to London. The principal witness against him was Thomas Morse of Bushton, gent. Mr. Onyon’s Case. John Onyon (or Unwin) of Horton in the parish of Bishops Cannings, gent, was described as a “ Recusant ” or Roman Catholic, but was not charged with any “delinquency.” De¬ linquency, it should be observed, meant opposition to the Parliament; recusancy was a term which had long time been applied to popery. Very little mercy was extended to the latter ofience. Queen Elizabeth had commenced the system of mulcting two thirds of the Romanists’ estates ; King James practised it where he dared; King Charles was more lenient; but the Parliament seemed disposed to revive the Elizabethan policy. Consult on this point the sad history of the gradual ruin of the ancient family of the Gawens of Norrington in South Wilts. Returning to John Onyon’s much smaller affair, we may observe that the rent-roll of his estate is inter¬ esting as preserving the exact acreable value of several pieces of meadow, pasture, and down land at that period, viz.— 280 Acres, of which 140 were worth to rent 10s. the acre Fold for 500 sheep Breach mead in Bishops Cannings at 25s. the acre £ s. d. 70 0 0 20 0 0 5 0 0 272 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Mead called Moorceaste 4^ acres; a portion let at 30s. Meadow called Watt’s Lease, five acres at 25s. .. Meadow called The Berries, three acres at 30s. ,. Meadow lying- around the house, nearly 12 acres at 25s. .. Feed for 500 sheep on the Down, and Dole Mead, seventeen acres at 20s. Ground called Long Croft, three and a half acres at 20s. Twenty seven acres of pasture at 13s. 4d. £ s. d. 6 5 0 6 5 0 4 10 0 14 10 0 50 0 0 3 10 0 18 0 0 Total per annum. £198 0 0 The preciseness of the above description was perhaps owing to the following report by an officious neighbour. To the Honourahle the Committee for Compounding. “The humhle petition of John Stephens of Conock:—Sheweth, That two third parts of the estate of John Onyon of Horton in the parish of Bishops Cannings was sequestered about four years since for his recusancy: —That the whole estate being valued at £120 per annum, the said two thirds amounted only to £80. But your petitioner can and shall he ready to make it appear that the whole estate is worth £240, and so the two-thirds are £160:—And so much is and hath been formerly offered for the same to the Committee of the County: but they, through some underhand dealing of his the said Onyon, have not harkened unto it. Your petitioner prays your honourable order to the now Committee in the County, strictly to examine the truth of the premises, and make cer¬ tificate thereof to your Honours within convenient time, that the State and Commonwealth may not be defrauded. 19th of February 1651. “ John Stephens. Endorsed, “ The Committee in the County to examine and certify.” [Yo fine is recorded against this gentleman, that we are aware of.] Mr. Ernle’s Case. The offence charged against Edward Ernie of Etcbilhamp- ton Esq., was that he had acted in the King’s name as a Commissioner for sequestrations in the county of Wilts. He made his submission to the Parliament before December 1645. His estate per annum is £200: for which his fine, at a tenth is £400. Dated 12 July 1647. While his case was pending, the following statement was sent from Devizes to Goldsmiths Hall. COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 273 To the Committee in London. “ Right Honourable. Whereas we are directed and required by your Honours to certify the condition and malignancy of Edward Ernie of Etchilhampton in this county :—We thus certify:—First as touching his delinquency. He was a Commissioner for the King in the Commission for sequestrations; and being Justice of the peace, appeared at the Assize of Sarum about two years since, but when the charge was given, he immedi¬ ately departed thence.—Touching his estate inlands; he hath at Erchfont the moiety of a farm for three lives, worth about £200 a year, out of which he pays £49 to the Marquis of Hartford. At Etchilhampton, he hath £100 per annum land of inheritance, of which there is £16 ])er annum quit rents and rents of assize. He hath fourscore pounds per annum out of Pryor’s Court in Cleevely parish in Berks at £4 13s. 4d. rent, holdeu of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster by lease for fourteen years to come.—As to his personal estate, he hath eight cows, six oxen, live young beasts, and about fourscore sheep:—And for other personal estate we know not of anj'.—Dated at the Committee for Wilts sitting at the Devizes 19 November 1645, by Thomas Goddard, John Goddard, Robert Brown, William Jesse, and Edward Marljm.” Another certificate adds that he resides at Etchilhampton, and “ by reason of the times is much indebted and behind hand.” In his own petition Mr. Ernie urges in extenuation, that being in the Commission of the Peace near unto the Devizes where the King’s forces have so long time prevailed, he hath yet done many good offices to the members and friends of the Parliament; nor did he assist the adverse party with his person by bearing arms; nor with his purse except under compulsion; nor act in the commission of Array; but that when put in that commission of which Mr. Robert Long was chief, he did so for the good of his neighbours and coun¬ trymen, as no doubt they will testify. But being willing to embrace the offer of the Parliament which extends to the first day of December next, he desires to compound, pra 5 ung consideration of his much burdened estate, &c., 6 Kovember 1645. [This it will be perceived was immediately after the fall of Devizes castle.] Edward Ernie’s attachment to the Royalist party was pi’o- bably enhanced by the circumstance of his marriage with a member of the Romanist family of St. Loe of Knighton in s 274 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. TVilts. By this lady he left two sons, Sir Walter his heir, who also lived at Etchilhampton and was made a baronet at the Restoration, and whose grand-daughter Elizabeth carried the estate to Henry Drax, Esq. ancestor of the late Mrs. Sawbridge Erle-Drax of Charborough park, Dorset:—And 2nd, Michael Ernie of Brimslade, from whom derive inter alios the Burdetts of Ramsbury. The descent and extinction of the baronetcy occurred as follows. I. Sir Walter Ernie of Etchilhampton, dying 1682, was succeeded by his grandson.—II. Sir Walter Ernie, who dying in his minority in 1698, was succeeded by his brother. —III. Sir Edward Ernie (whose daughter Elizabeth married Mr. Drax). He died s. p. m. in 1729 and was succeeded by his cousin.—IV. Sir Walter Ernie of Conock, at whose decease in 1732, it passed to his brother.—Y. The Rev. Sir John Ernie rector of All-Cannings. (From him descended through his only child Elizabeth the family of Ernie Warriner of Conock). Sir John died 1734, when the baronetcy fell to his kinsman.—VI. Sir Michael Ernie of Brimslade park, who died unmarried 1771, and was succeeded by his brother.— YII. The Rev. Sir Edward Ernie rector of Avington in Berks, in whom the title became extinct in 1787. See BurTie’s Ex¬ tinct and Dormant Baronetage. Foss’s Judges, vol. Y.geage 161. Monuments at All-Cannings and at Wootton-Bivers. Dr. Byng’s Case. Robert Byng of All-Cannings D.D. left his habitation and repaired to the King’s quarters [at Oxford ?] and adhered to the forces raised against the Parliament:—He is seized during the life of his wife who holds the same as “jointeress” to a for¬ mer husband, of and in lands and messuages at Beaconsfield in Bucks, of the yearly value before the war of £35.—Fine at a third £87 10s. Dated 16 May 1649. Dr. Byng’s wife was the daughter of John St. Loe of Broadchalk, by Elizabeth daughter of Lawrence Hyde of Hatch, Esq. A small tablet COMPOSITIONS OF THE ROYALISTS. 275 on the wall of the north-east chapel, within the church of St. John Devizes records the death on the 8th of February 1658 of Robert Byng D.D. sometime rector of Devizes. Mr. Knyvett’s Case. Against Edward Knyvett the minister of East Coulston the following complaints vv^ere lodged. \\ hen Sir William Waller entered AViltshire after the battle of Lansdowne, driv¬ ing the Royalists before him into Devizes, it will be remem¬ bered that he sought to increase his army at that juncture by circulating warrants of enlistment in the neighbourhood of Devizes. It was charged against Mr. Knyvett that he was heard on that occasion to say that it was now in his power to hang all his neighbours for obeying Sir William’s warrants. The tide having immediately after turned, by AValler losing the battle of Roundway, and the city of Bristol falling into the hands of the Royalists, Mr. Knyvett forthwith caused the bell-ropes in Coulston church to be mended and the bells to be rung, observing at the same time, “ Now, we may forbear the AVednesday-fast.” Moreover he gave out that he should furnish a list to the Sheriff of all such of his parishioners as refused to sign the King’s Oath of Association [see page 186]. In the following year, 1644, he was heard to express his hope that the plague might be as hot among Sir AA^illiam AA^aller’s company as it was at the Devizes; and at that time, continues the narrator, “it was very hot there.” The Parliament’s forces, said Mr. Knyvett, should have no benefit from his corn ; for what he could not sell, he would wish were spoiled. AVith the Royalists in the garrison of Devizes Castle he maintained constant correspondence; and the fear of the plague it seems did not prevent his frequently inviting the Devizes captains to visit his house ; whereby his parishioners, so they said, were much impoverished by having to furnish horse-meat. He boasted that he had never himself paid a single farthing in support of the Parliament’s cause; and not s2 276 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. content witli this, he reported his neighbour John Baker for lending money to that service, who thereupon was fined, plundered, and imprisoned. On one occasion William Mor¬ timer having, in his capacity of tythingraau of Coulston, received a warrant from the Committee sitting at Great Chalfield House, to summon four of Mr. Knyvett’s parish¬ ioners before them, Mr .Knyvett caused certain Boyalist soldiers who happened to be then and there present to take the warrant out of his liand, and threatened to punish him for only consenting to receive it. The witnesses against Mr. Knyvett were John Pepler, AVilliam Mortimer, John Baker, John Smith, and Anthony Ilorte. Sworn at Falstone House 23rd July 1646. Mr. Knyvett was thereupon ejected from the living; and at the same time Gawen Flower became “ tenant to the State” for the year ending Lady-day next, for the parsonage of Coulston, at £30 besides Mrs. Knyvett’s thirds .—Subsequent entry. “This rent is assigned to Mr. Abraham Richards, now minister of the place; and the tenant is ordered to pay it unto him.” It seems more than probable that a relationship must have existed between Mr. Knyvett and the Earl of Berkshire of Charlton near Malmesbury, another Royalist: for it was through a Knyvett that Charlton came to the Earl; Katha¬ rine the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Knyvett of Charlton havine: married Thomas Howard first Earl of Suffolk, whose second son Thomas Howard was the aforesaid Earl of Berk¬ shire. The connexion which the Knyvett family had with the discovery of the Gunpowder plot of 1605 may also have had its effect in enhancing their adherence to the Stuart party. The Earl of Suffolk who was then Lord Chamberlain was the officer who made the first search of the cellars beneath the House of Lords ; and it was Sir Thomas Knyvett (brother to the aforesaid Sir Henry) who was so fortunate on the same evening as to discover the hidden barrels of powder and to SECOND CIVIL WAR. 277 capture tlie arch-conspirator Guy Fawkes. See Burke’s extinct and dormant baronetage. 1648. The following statements—perhaps not very relia¬ ble are from a List of lands restored to Salisbury Cathedral after the Rebellion, recited (it is believed) in the Antiquitates Sarishurtenses. On the 3rd of June the court-leet and royal¬ ties of Potterne were sold to William and Thomas Barter for £43 17s. 4d. On the 12th July, the Lordship of Potterne was sold to Gregory Clement for £8226 7s. 2|d. William and Joseph Barter also bought the Palace of Salisbury for £880 2s. In March 1649 the manor of Bishops Cannings passed to Samuel Whitwick for £6063 15s. 7^d. and the manor of Bishops Lavington to Edward Cressett for £1465 8s. 3id. The Second Civil War. The disturbance in 1648 known as the second civil war, requiring a renewed draft of the Militia, and again setting on foot in Wilts a county Committee of fifty-seven, was productive of no other noticeable effect in Devizes than a temporary stagnation of the Thursday market. Mr. Toby Allen who had contracted for the tolls of the beams and scales, prayed to be released from his engagement, and the Council taking his case into their consideration, consented to release him accordingly. Peace was almost immediately re¬ established ; and the small county force then on foot under the command of Captain Henry Aland of Langley Burrell, was ordered to Ireland, to serve under Edmund Ludlow. King Charles’s Trial. January 1649. Among the 135 persons to whom the Commission was directed to try the King, occur many names which havo already come before us in these pages;—such as Serjeant Robert Nicholas M.P. for Devizes, Sir Edward Baynton, Sir Arthur Hazlerig, Edmund Ludlow, Oliver Cromwell, 278 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Sir Hardress Waller, Sir Jobn Danvers, Francis Allen, &c., but of these the three first abstained from sitting in judgment. Of the witnesses brought up to prove that the King had appeared in arms against his people (that is to say, riding on divers battle-fields with his sword drawn) two of them were from the county of Wilts; viz. John Vinson [Vincent?] of Damerham, gent, and Samuel Burden of Line- ham, gent. Burden afterwards sought to expiate his offence by giving evidence against three of the regicides, at the Restoration; viz. against Daniel Axtell, John Cook, and William Hulet; and by admitting that at the beginning of the war he had fought for the King. It was Axtell, he said, who had drawn him in to appear against his Majesty; and of Hulet he affirmed that common report attributed to him the act of the executioner. The Levellers. The insurrection of the two regiments of Colonels Scrope and Ireton, known as the Rising of the Levellers, in May 1649, commencing at a convocation held within the area of Old Sarum, subsequently infecting parts of four other regi¬ ments, and eventually being crushed by Cromwell in person at Burford in Oxfordshire, is noticed here because the muti¬ neers, after the execution of four of their number, were all marched off to Devizes, here to remain in quarantine until they should either be restored to their respective regiments or be otherwise disposed of. Possibly, as Ireton’s regiment was implicated, some of them may have been the very men who had witnessed or instigated the disturbance in St. John’s Church in 1646. The authorities at head-quarters seem to have been somewhat prone to select Devizes for a sort of soldiers’ market; for when Longford castle was evacuated as a military post in May 1646, the troops there stationed were in like manner sent all the way to Devizes, to await further orders. It was the scene, as already described, of the dis- MURDER OF SWETTINGHAM. 279 banding of Massey’s brigade ; and subsequently, in 1654, it became one of the asylums for Dutch soldiers taken in Oliver’s wars with Holland, who disturbed the peace of the place by breaking windows. Mention is also made of [Bishops] Can¬ nings and Bromham as “ quarters ” for soldiers mustering for Ireland in 1650, in connexion with a street brawl in Devizes, the narrative of which, in chronological order, here finds its appropriate place. [The Judge Nicholas in the case, is Robert Nicholas of All-Cannings, M.P. for Devizes in the Long Parliament.] The Killing of Joel Swettingham. The Parliament having been induced, on the 25th July 1650, to grant a month’s respite to three soldiers, viz. Nicholas Westwood, and Samuel Cowdree (or Cowdrey) sergeants, and Walter Goffe a drummer, convicted at the recent county As¬ sizes, of murdering Joel Swettingham of Devizes, a letter was, on the 21st of August, read in the House, from Henry Rolle Lord Chief Justice and Robert Nicholas one of the Justices of the Upper Bench, explanatory of the whole affair, as fol¬ lows :— “ Taunton 14 August 1G50. “In obedience to the vote of the honourable Parliament on Thursday the 23th of July last, whereby we were required to certify the whole state of the matter concerning the condemning of Nicholas Westwood, Samuel Cowdrey, and Walter Goffe at the last Assizes held in the county of Wilts for the murdering of one Joel Swettingham (a very honest mau, and had been a soldier and drummer in the service of the Parliament') at the town of the Devizes in the said county of Wilts, and continued faithful unto the Parliament until his death.—We humbly certify that the evidence appeared before us to be thus.—That the said Westwood, Cowdrey, and Gofl’e, amongst divers other soldiers and new raised men for Ireland, were quartered at Cannings some two miles from the Devi¬ zes : and some of the said soldiers coming to the Devizes some three days before the said murder was committed, and oti'eriiig some incivilities unto the people of the town, they were questioned for it by the constable ' There must have been two bro- under Sir Edward Baynton, “ 3Ii- thers Swettingham, drummers : for chad Swettingham is paid 6d. for early in the war, when the town was beating for volunteers. 280 HISTORY OF PEVIZES. and officers of the said town, and were detained in custody for some time, hut were the same day released, and so went hack to their quarters at Cannings. And from thence within a day or two after, the said soldiers removed their quarters to Bromham, about two miles likewise distant from the said town of the Devizes. And the next day being the day when the murder was committed, the said Westwood, Cowdrey, and Goffe, amongst divers other soldiers, came to the said town of the Devizes, and expressed some dislike against the said townsmen for imprisoning some of their company the day or two before. And the said Goffe coming into the Mayoi'’s shop of the Devizes [John Eyles] and talking with John Imber his apprentice, cast out some words of dislike concerning the imprisoning of the soldiers a day or two before ; and then asked of the said apprentice whether there were not a fat constable in the town, meaning one Fitzall, a very honest man and who had been very faithful to the Parliament. And the said Goffe expressed himself to be much discontented with the said con¬ stable for imprisoning of the soldiers, sajdng that he would be revenged to the death of the said constable, calling the said constable “ rogue.” And shortly after, the same day, the said Goffe meeting with one Thomas Street a youth of the Devizes, asked the way to some place in the town. The said Street told him he might go which way he would. And the said Goffe presently drew his sword and ran the said Street into the thigh. Whereupon the said Street’s brother took the said Goffe’s sword and endeavoured to break it but could not, yet he bended it very much. Whereu]ion the said Goffe ran after the said Street’s brother with his sword in his hand; and the said Street’s foot slipping, he fell. And the said Goffe laid on the said Street with his sword very much; which some of the townsmen seeing came to rescue the said Street from Goffe. Whereupon the said Goffe, Westwood, and Cowdrey, and two or three soldiers more unknown, fell on the said Swettingham, who had nothing to do with them, being then gathering up of moneys for the rent of the Butchers’ Shambles ; and having only a wooden hilt of a hatchet in his hand, defended himself as well as he could, but in short space he was run into the groin by the said Goffe and received another wound in the buttock by the said Cowdrey. And feeling himself so wounded, he ran away very feebly from them into a house, and they all three followed him, and there the said Westwood gave Swettingham a great wound on the shoulder. But Swettingham got into the house and shut the door to keep out the said Westwood, Goffe, and Cowdrey, for that they thrust very hard at the door to come in after him. But the said Swettingham and some others which were in the house kept the door fast and kept them out. But the said Swettingham was so mortally wounded by them, that within a short time after, the same night, he died. Upon which evidence, the jury forrnd them all guilty of the murder; upon which, sentence of death was given on all three, in regard they were all three present and actors in the said murder. All which we humbly submit to the consideration of the Honourable Parliament. “Henry Rolle. “Robert Nicholas.” BOSCOBEL. 281 Resolved, by the Parliament, That the Sheriff of the county of Wilts be and is hereby required to proceed to the execu¬ tion of Nicholas Westwood, Samuel Cowdrey, and Walter Goffe, according to law; notwithstanding the order of Par¬ liament of the 25th of July last for respiting their execution. Commons' Journals. Vol. vi. page 456. Boscobel. August 1651. The flight of Charles II. after the battle of Worcester was, as is well known, assisted by Mistress Jane Lane of Staffordshire who rode on a pillion behind him. But it is not so well known that the part borne in that affair by another member of her family is thus commemorated in a church near Devizes.—at Manningford Bruce :— “ Underneath lyeth the body of Mary Nicholas daughter of Thomas Lane of Bentley co. Stafford, Esq. a family as venerable for its antiquity as renowned for its loyalty, of which the wonderful preservation of King Charles II. after the defeat at Worcester is an instance never to be for¬ gotten ; in which glorious action she herself bore a very considerable part. And that the memory of this extraordinary service might be continued to posterity, the family was dignified with the addition of this signal badge of honour, the arms of England in a canton. She was married to Edw'ard Nicholas, the son of Sir Oliver Nicholas cupbearer to James I. and carver to Charles I. by whom she had one son only, wdio died before her: near to whose body she desired her owm might be interred. She died 24 Dec. 1686, aged 67.” The monument is also in memory of Edward Nicholas hujas pagi topurcJm [Lord of the Manor] who died 1706, aged 77. Mistress Jane Lane, as Lady Fisher, ever after enjoyed £1000 a year, as a gift from the Crown. 1653. In the list of sufferers by the great Are which de¬ stroyed half the town of Marlborough on the 28th of April, appears the name of “ Mr. Smyth chirurgeon of the Devizes” whose losses were estimated at £394. Subscriptions for the restoration of the ruined town and compensation to the suf¬ ferers, were made by authority throughout the country. From a passage in Evelyn’s Diary we learn the remarkable fact that a single year sufficed to see the place “new built.” Sir 282 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. John was there on the 9th of June 1654; and a few days later we trace him on a visit to the victim of another fire,— Sir Edward Baynton, whose house, it will be remembered, was burnt by Sir Charles Lloyd in 1645. He found that the old Knight had altogether deserted Bromham and fixed his new residence on the more commanding situation of Spye Park. The journal thus relates the interview. “On the 19th to Sir Edward Baynton at Spye Park, a place capable of being made a noble seat, but the humourous old Knight has built a long single house of two low storeys on the pre¬ cipice of an incomparable prospect, and landing on a bowling- green in the park. The house is like a long barn, and has not a window on the prospect side. After dinner they went to bowls ; and in the meantime our coachmen were made so exceeding drunk, that in returning home we escaped great dangers. This it seems was by order of the Knight, that all gentlemen’s servants be so treated; but the custom is bar¬ barous and much unbecoming a Knight, much less a Chris¬ tian.” Evelyn''s Memoirs. Oliver’s Parliaments. Oliver Cromwell having dissolved the Long Parliament on the 20th of April 1653, proceeded to summon in his own name 140 gentlemen of England, to whom he entrusted the task of carrying out the objects for which he and his brother soldiers had fought, and settling the form of Govern¬ ment. He told them in his memorable speech at the opening of the session, 4th July 1653, that he had not summoned one among them in whom he had not the good hope of personal piety. “ What a Parliament! says Thomas Carlyle “unex¬ ampled before and since, in this world.” “A hundred and forty of these summonses ” again to quote Mr. Carlyle “were issued; and of all the parties so summoned, only two did not attend. Disconsolate Bulstrode [Whitelock] says “many of this Assembly being persons of fortune and knowledge, it Oliver’s parliament. 283 was much wondered at by some, that they would at this sum¬ mons and from such hands take upon them the supreme authority of this nation ; considering how little right Crom¬ well and his Officers had to give it, or those gentlemen to take it.” “My disconsolate friend, it is a sign that Puritan England in general accepts this action of Cromwell and his Officers, and thanks them for it in such a case of extremity; saying as audibly as the means permitted. Yea, we did wish it so! Rather mournful to the disconsolate official mind!” Letters and Speeches ii. 185. Why it was that this first Parliament failed in carrying out Oliver’s schemes of social and religious regeneration, is an historical problem too deep for discussion in this place. But we can hardly doubt that it was in great part attribu¬ table to the want of a Sovereign head, to whom they might feel themselves responsible : for it is certain that their disso¬ lution led immediately to the Protectorate. To this first Convention, called. The Little Parliament, three persons were summoned from Wiltshire, viz. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper [afterw’ards Earl of Shaftesbury] Nicholas Green, and Thomas Eyre. In the Parliament which met 4th Sept. 1654 the county sent ten, viz. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Alexander Popham, Thomas Grove of Bury-Court, Francis Hollis, Alexander Thistlethwayte, John Ernie of Bourton, William York, John Norden, James Ashe, and Gabriel Martyn. Salisbury sent Edward Tucker and William Stephens the Recorder. Devizes sent Edward Baynton. Marlborough sent Lieutenant-General Charles Fleetwood. In the Pailiainent which met 17 Sep. 1656 the county was again represented by ten—viz.. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Sir Walter St. John, Alexander Popham, Thomas Grove, Alexander Thistlethwayte, John Bulkeley, Richard Grubham Howe, William Ludlow, Henry Hungerford, and Gabriel Martyn. The city of Salisbury was represented ■284 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. by three, viz., 'Williain Stone the Mayor, James Heeley, and Edward Tucker. Devizes, by Edward Scotten;—Marl¬ borough, by bis Excellency Charles Fleetwood Lord Deputy of Ireland. The Protectorate 1654. The Corporation, at the period of Oliver’s accession to the supreme power, consisted of ninety-six burgesses, viz., 17 Majores or Capital Burgesses, 38 Chief Burgesses, and 41 Inferior or free burgesses, us under :— Edw^ard Hope, Mayor. Capital Burgesses. Robert Aldwortb Esq. Philip Coleman John Sloper Recorder John EylesyMW. John Tayler Tobie Alleya John Hope John Tilton Sir Edward Baynton Edward Lewes Richard Webb Edward Baynton Esq. Edward Pearce John Wink worth. Thomas Clarke John Stephens Chief Burgesses. ■William Alford Thomas Hawkins Philip Strong Thomas Allen William Hayes John Thorner Henry Barrett John Hollis William Thurman John Batt Robert Ings Michael Tidcombe/MW. John Baynton Thomas Lawrence John Watton George Beedle John Monday Richard Webbjww. Francis Bennett William Poole John White William Dicke Edmund Potter Stephen White William Erwood Christopher Pullen William White John Fillies Francis Read William WhiteyMM. William Filkes William Sanford John Worsdale John Fitzall Robert Sloper Ambrose Zealy eld. John Freeme Richard Street Inferior or free-Burgesses. Charles Andrews Richard Clarke eld. Nicholas Forsyth William Bampton Edward Durnford Philip Godfrey Richard Bennett John Eaton Edward Green Robert Brunsden Thomas Figgins Abraham Hale Edward Butcher Samuel Fitzall Richard Hillier Peter Cooke Thomas Flower Walter May THE PENKUDDOCKE RISING. 285 Tho. Mereweather Michael Morris Francis Paradice Samuel Phelps Adam Pierce John Pope Francis Potter Thomas Potter William Powell Robert Scott Hugh Skeat Edmund Smith John Somers James Street Charles Tayler Samuel Tayler John Wayte Edward Webb John Webb Jeremy Williams John Willis Thomas Yerbury Ambrose Zealy^MW. The Penrxiddocke Rising. 1655. The plottings of the Republicans and Royalists in 1654-5 which issued in the Rising at Salisbury on [Monday the 12th of March, had already occasioned a strict look-out for sus¬ pected persons in Wiltshire during the winter. Colonel Wil¬ liam Boteler an officer thoroughly devoted to the Protector, kept up an active correspondence betw^een the County and head-quarters, and was now l 3 ung with four troops of horse at Devizes, where we must leave him for the present, till the scent of carnage from afar falling or his eager senses shall invite him at the head of his invincible troopers to rusk forward and mingle in the welcome fray. In the city of Salisbury meanwhile, the time of the Assizes having been selected b}'^ the Royalists, a body of 200 horse drew up in the market place in the darkness of the early morning, opened the gaols to furnish a contingent of recruits,, and summoned from their beds Chief Justice Rolle, Judge Nicholas, and John Dove the Sheriff. Mr. Dove was forth¬ with ordered to proclaim King Charles II. but on his refusal, a command w'as issued for the execution of all three upon the public gallows. But the execution did not take place ; nei¬ ther did the insurgents think fit even to remain in Salisbury. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, they rode away westward, and on Wednesday evening were all captured by a body of horse under Colonel Unton Crook, at South Molton in Devon. It is surprising that no reporter of the state of things at Salis¬ bury found his way across the Plain to implore the succour of Colonel Boteler before Tuesday ; and even on that day the 286 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. news arrived at Devizes at so late an hour that Boteler did not deem it advisable to put his men in motion till seven o’clock the next morning. He was however the first to ar¬ rive at Salisbury and restore confidence to the distracted citizens. He found that though the enemy had long dis¬ appeared, the Judges were lying in a state of mental paralysis, and that a gaol-delivery had been effected without their aid. His first act was to set the Judges themselves at liberty; his next to sit down and report progress to the Protector. The examinations and trials of the prisoners form an interesting chapter in the History of Wiltshire, but very few names belong to the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, and none to Devizes. The district of the conspiracy may in fact be almost defined by the Amesbury valley and the tract of South Wilts between Salisbury and Shaftesbury. Names such as the following, Wroughton of AVilcot, Hunt of Enford, Jones of Newton Toney, Grove of Chisenbury, Duke of Lake, Mills of Netheravon, several at Salisbury, Penruddocke of Compton, AVilloughby of Knoyle, Hyde of Hatch, Yerbury of Trowbridge, Dorrington of Mere, are geographical points plainly indicating the restricted and desperate nature of the enterprise. John Cooke of Potterne was one of those who laid hands on the Judges. He was hung, it is believed, at Salisbury. The career of Colonel Thomas Hunt of Enford partook largely of the romantic; and as he was the ancestor of Henry Hunt the reform agitator so conspicuous in our own day at Devizes, his adventures seem to fall within the legiti¬ mate limits of this work. Awaiting his execution in Ilchester gaol (the very same spot where his descendant Henry afterwards lingered for two j’-ears and a half) Colonel Thomas Hunt obtained his libera¬ tion through the magnanimity of his sister Margery, who being admitted, together with another sister Elizabeth, to a last interview with their brother, Margery took his place in bed ; while the Colonel himself, disguised in her clothes, COLONEL THOMAS HUNT’s ESCAPE. 287 walked out of the prison with Elizabeth, and started oflP, he knew not whither. Being totally unacquainted with the country around Ilchester, he so completely lost his way that by daybreak he had wandered back towards his prison suffici¬ ently near to hear the bell tolling for his own execution. At this crisis he met a collier carrying a bag of coals on his horse; and discovering by a few words that the man was a Royalist he revealed his state and implored his protection. The collier at once took him up on his horse and conveyed him to his own cabin, a lonely habitation on the edge of a common. Here they put in readiness all the fire-arms the place could furnish, and kept a look out. In the meantime the cheat being discovered in the castle, the magnanimous Margery is led before Colonel Disbrowe, who threatens her with instant execution unless she reveals her brother’s retreat. This of course she is unable to do, but she frankly declares herself to he the contriver of the rescue and that she had great difficulty in persuading her brother to acquiesce. The two sisters are therefore both put under arrest, and a body of eight or ten troopers are dispatched to scour the neighbourhood in pursuit of “ a man in woman’s clothes.” Their search having lasted through the day, they actually find their way to the collier’s lone house in the night time, and demand admittance. The Colonel and his friend are planted at the window armed with muskets; the good wife stationed in the rear, holds the ammunition. And now an absurd parley ensues : the collier appears to he half asleep, and ridicules the soldiers for coming on such an errand. In order “ to let the gentlemen in,” he makes ineffectual efforts to strike a light, which end in the upsetting of the tinder-box, and induce the Captain to say to his men “Come let us be off to some more likeh^ place: there is no one here but that stupid fellow who appears not to know his right hand from his left,” and accordingly the troop gallop off. The account then goes on to state that Colonel Hunt, 288 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. arrayed in collier’s garb in lieu of his sister’s, speedily found his way to the sea-coast and thence to the Court of the exiled Charles in France:—that Cromwell, enraged at his escape, confiscated the whole of his estates; and not only kept the two sisters in prison but threatened to execute Margery unless her brother returned to England; and that the Colonel resolving to rescue them by casting himself at the Usurper’s feet, was only prevented from this form of self sacrifice by Charles placing him under nominal ari’est. At the Restoration of royalty, Mr. Hunt returned to England, in the same vessel with the King, but discovered ere long that the event was no restoration of his own ancestral pos¬ sessions. These being now in the hands of men whom it was no part of the King’s policy to irritate, Mr. Hunt’s services were rewarded with an ofier of the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, which he indignantly refused; and retiring into Wiltshire lived with his wife and sisters on his small estate at Enford which the sequestrators had overlooked. Such in an abridged form is the narrative preserved in the Memoirs of the late Henry Hunt, an episode in the family history which he was very fond of reviving in order to shew that he came of a stock which had always resisted oppressors. But he surely makes a mistake when asserting that the se¬ questrators overlooked the Enford estate. The sequestrators overlooked nothing; and Thomas Hunt had already com¬ pounded for his estate at Longstreet in the parish of Enford in 1645. The charge against Cromwell of entire confiscation cannot therefore be accepted. The story of the prisoner’s escape in the disguise of his sister’s dress, is on the other hand fully corroborated by a letter preserved in Thurloe’s State papers, written to Disbrowe by two of the Somerset magistrates, J. Cary and J. Barker. It is worth adding, as an illustration of the manner in which traditions become distorted, that at West Knoyle were long preserved portraits of Mr. Willoughby (implicated in the THE TORN CURTAIN. 289 same plot) and of his second wife Marj^, which Lady was traditionally reported to have contrived her husband’s escape in the manner above attributed to Mistress Margery Hunt: the impropriety of connecting the story with the Willoughby family requiring no further proof than the simple fact that Mr. Willoughby was acquitted by the petty jury at Salisbury. The Torn Curtain. During these trials occurred the incident which is thus commemorated in the Spectator:— “Every one who is acquainted with AVestminster School knows that there is a curtain which used to he drawn across the room to separate the upper school from the lower. A youth happened by some mischance to tear the above mentioned curtain. The severity of the master [Busby] was too well known for the criminal to expect any pardon for such a fault; so that the boy, who was of a meek temper, was terrified to death at the thought of his appearance, when his friend who sat near him bade him be of good cheer, for that he would take the fault upon himself. He kept his word accordingly. “As soon as they were grown up to ho men, the civil war broke out, in which our two friends took the opposite sides, one of them following the Parliament the other the Itoyal party. As their tempers were different, the youth who had torn the ciu'tain endeavoured to raise himself on the civil List; and the other, who had borne the blame of it, on the military. The first succeeded so well that he was in a short time made a Judge under the Protector: the other was engaged in the unhappy enterprise of Penruddocke and Grove in the West. I suppose. Sir, I need not acquaint you with the result of that undertaking. Every one knows that the Royal party was routed, and all the heads of them, among whom was the curtain-champion, imprisoned at Exeter. It happened to be his friend’s lot at that time to go the AVesteru Circuit. The trial of the rebels, as they were then called, was very short, and nothing now remained but to pass sentence on them; when the Judge, hearing the name of his old friend and observing his face more atteutivel}^ which he had not seen for many years, asked him whether he was not formerly a AVestminster Scholar. By the answer he was soon convinced that it was his former generous friend; and without saying anything more at the time, made the best of his way to London, where, employing all his power and inter¬ est with the I’rotector, he saved his friend from the fate of his unhappy associates. The gentleman wdiose life was thus preserved by the grati¬ tude of his schoolfellow was afterwards the father of a son whom he lived to see promoted in the Church, and who still deservedly fills one of the highest stations in it.” Spectator. No. 313. AVritten in the year 1711-12, February 28th. T 290 HISTORY OF DFATZES. The two persons here alluded to are, first, William Wake of Blandford, father of William Wake, Archbishop of Can¬ terbury ; the other is Judge Robert Nicholas of All-Cannings. M.P. for Devizes in the Long Parliament. But the writer is wrong in representing Nicholas as giving judgment. Both he and Rolle, though thej’’ sat on the bench, took no part in the trials, lest the personal Indignities to which they had been subjected at Salisbury might seem to bias their deci¬ sions. In respect further of Judge Nicholas, see the account of his birth at page 187, as explanatory of his constitutional timidity. Under fictitious names and attended with accessories incon¬ sistent with the real history of the time, this story of the torn curtain and the recognition of Judge and prisoner, is amplified and illustrated in the 28th number of the modern periodical called The Leisure Hour. The true narrative is at any time better than the fictitious one; but for want of an authenticated sequel we may accept the following version, (substituting “forty years” for “twenty years).” “Lord D-,” said the Magistrate, in tones of deep emotion, “ twenty years ago, you showed me your hands, and said to me. Do not he caught meddling with the curtain again, for I can tell you the master hits hard when provoked ; and to-day I show you your pardon signed by him who is now the master in England; and in my turn I say to 3 'ou, Do not be caught again with arms against the Parliament, for I can tell you Cromwell hits hard when provoked.” At these words. Sir Patrick and Lord D-, threw themselves into each others arms, and sealed with this embrace a friend¬ ship which, notwithstanding the difference of their political opinions, remained uninterrupted during the rest of their lives.” County Court at Devizes. 1656. A bill for the holding the Sheriff’s Court for the BANS PUBLISHED IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 291 County of Wilts, in the borough of Devizes, was read in the House of Commons the first time on the 18th of December: and upon the question, ordered to be read the second time on Saturday next. It was not read till Thursday the 25th when the business was committed to the following gentlemen, Major Scotton, Colonel Dous, General Disbrowe, Mr. Robin¬ son, Major-General Packer, Mr. Throckmorton, Colonel Grosvenor, Mr. John Ashe, Mr. James Ashe, all the gentle¬ men that serve for the County of Wilts and the Boroughs within that county, Mr. Bond, Sir Gilbert Pickering, Colonel Blake, Colonel Fitz-James, Mr. Aldworth, the Earl of Salis¬ bury, Mr. Lister, Sir William Strickland, Sir Thomas Wroth, Mr. Bampfield, Captain Hassell, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Trumball, Mr. Thomas Smyth, Mr. Dunch, and Mr. Brewster. This Committee to meet on Saturday next at 2 o’clock in the afternoon in the Dutchy Chamber. Commons' Journals vol. vii. pages 469, 475. 1658. The Sheriflf for the County was John Ernie of Bourton in the parish of Bishops Cannings, Esq. His nephew Sir Walter Ernie of Etchilhampton, bart., was Sheriflf for 1662. Marriages. 1654-5-6-7. Marriages recorded in the following manner occasionally occur in the parish registers of this period; though in the great majority of cases, parties naturally pre¬ ferred that the bans should be published in the church rather than in more public places .—“Married William Pitt, yeoman, son of Richard I’itt of Lavington, and Mary daughter of William Hunt of Pott erne : the bans having been joublished three times, they were married before Edward Pierce of the Devizes, Justice of Peace for the county, 11th of May 1657. West Lavington Register .—Occasionally marriages were con¬ ducted before William Yorke Esq., another Justice of the Peace, but apparently he was not so much in request as Mr. T 2 292 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Pearce. Edward Mitchell a Justice marries in 1654. In 1657 William Etwall, clerk, is chosen parish register of that district and sworn before William Yorke Esq., in accordance with the late Act for registering marriages. It was alwa 5 'S left to the option of the contracting parties to adopt which of the two forms they preferred. Oliver’s Storm. “His dying groans, his last breath shakes our Isle And trees uncut fall for his funeral pile.”— Waller. 3rd September. The tempest known as “Oliver’s Storm,” which accompanied the Protector’s death, left the traces of its fury in several parts of England. Aubrey records that it blew down on Erchfont green an elm so large in the butt that as it lay prostrate he was unable to look over it. Tradesmen’s Tokens. In Fuller’s “ Worthies” Devizes is styled “the best and big¬ gest town for trading in the Shire.” And no doubt Fuller was well able to speak on the subject, for he had ofttimes traver¬ sed this district as chaplain to Lord Tlopton. The number of trading tokens issued in this town do not however bear any large proportion to those of surrounding places, and Salisbury and Malmesbury appear to have taken the lead. This practice commenced on the revival of trade under the Protectorate, and lingered more or less for a century after. The following specimens of Devizes coins have escaped the accidents of all devouring time. See J. Y. AkermaWs Lists. Obverse, feancis GoriDiNa. A castle. Reverse, in te devizes geocee. A shield charged with the Grocer’s arms. Ohv. EDWAED HOPE. A ship iu fuU sail. Rev. OF THE DEVIZES 1652. Au anchor. Ohv. JOHN FEET OF. A shield ermine charged with a chevron. Rev. THE DEVISES. In the held i.f. RICHAKD CROMWELL. 293 Ohv. JOHN HAMMOND. In tlio field H.i.s. and three cinquefoils. Rev. oi’ IHE DEVIZES. Three closed books with clasps. Ohv. RICHARD wooTTEN. In the field R.w. two cinquefoils or mullets and four pellets. Rev. GROCER IN DEVISES. In the field r.w. and pellets. Ohv. FRANCIS PARADISE. Tallow Chandler’s arms. Rev. CHANDLER IN TE DEVIZES. In the field, the date 1669 and F.M.P. Ohv. GRACE NASH OF THE. A Castle. Rev. DEVISES 1652. Three cloves. Ohv. RICHARD SLADE. Grocer’s arms. Rev. IN THE DEVIZES 1663. In the field R.s. and pellets. Ohv, JOHN FRY 1664. A right hand open. Rev. IN THE DEVIZES. Two tobacco pipes and the letters i.f. [an inn¬ keeper apparently.] Ohv. STEPHEN BATLEY OF. A mermaid. Rev. DEVIZES. MERCER. In the field, s.b. 1668. Ohv. WILLIAM SOMNER OF. Grocer’s arms. Rev. THE DEVIZES. GROCER. W.S. 1652. Ohv. JOHN SLADE. GROCER. A Sugar loaf. Rev. IN THE DEVIZES. 1668. Cinquefoils and pellets, and l.s. Ohv. WILLIAM STEVENS. The Grocer’s arms. Rev. IN THE DEVIZES. 1663. w.A.s. and mullets. Ohv. RICHARD WATTON. 1666. R.W. and two mullets. Rev. GROCER IN YE DEVISES. R.IV. The Devizes Halfpenny. T. baster. The Borough arms. 1796. Richard Cromwell; Protector. 1658. Very few of the addresses from counties and corporate bodies to the Protector Richard were published .verbatim, but an abstract of some of the more florid and devotional was printed in a small octavo, among which is a brief notice of that from Devizes, professing to be executed by the Mayor and Magistrates in behalf of themselves and the Corporation, After condoling with his Highness on the loss of his father, the writers “congratulate him as the noble branch of that most renowned stock;” and after the adoption of a Scripture analogy, the use of which may be almost termed profane. 294 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. conclude by professing tbeir readiness and willingness to stand by him in tbe work to wliicli be bad been thus raised. Tbe address from gentlemen, ministers, and freebolders of tbe county, delivered by tbe Higb Sheriff Isaac Burgess Esq. of Marlborough, is recorded in a Diurnal of tbe 8tb Novem¬ ber 1658, and breathes tbe same sentiments.^ The members for Devizes in Richard’s Parliament were Edward Scotten and Cbaloner Chute jun, Tbe latter was tbe son of Cbaloner Chute of Tbe Yine, Hants, Esq., who sat for Middlesex, as be bad previously done in Oliver’s last Parliament. The elder Chute, one of tbe most respected lawyers of bis time, was chosen Speaker of Richard’s Parlia¬ ment, but he speedily resigned from ill health, arising as was said, from anxiety of mind as to tbe probable turn of affairs. He died immediately after. Sir Lislebone Long, a relation of Walter Long of Wilts, consented to occupy tbe Speaker’s chair during Mr. Chute’s indisposition, but strange to say be also surrendered tbe honour in a few days and like bis pre¬ decessor was struck with mortal sickness and died tbe day after bis resignation. Tbe younger Cbaloner Chute, the Member for Devizes, married Katharine daughter of Richard Lord Dacre and sister of Francis Lord Dacre who sat for Sussex in one of Oliver’s Parliament’s. Meanwhile the widow of the said Richard Lord Dacre was the second wife of the elder ' When Richard Cromwell retired into private life, he carried with him these'precious documents, in which the people of England had so spontaneously laid their lives and fortunes at his feet. They were deposited in a small round trunk in an upper room of his house; and it is further related as one of his fa¬ vourite practices on the introduction of a new friend to his select circle, that the bottles were carried up¬ stairs after dinner, and the new¬ comer directed to sit on the afore¬ said trunk, and in that position to di’ink to the good people of England, all whose lives and estates were now at his feet. The trunk would then he opened, and some of the most ad¬ ulatory specimens perused, amid roars of laughter. Among them all, there could have been few if any, more expressive of dutiful allegi¬ ance than that from the antient and loyal borough of the Devizes. THE RESTORATION. 295 Chute. [In 1842 died Elizabeth wife of William Chute, M.P. for Hants, at The Vine, aged 73. She was daughter of Joshua Smith of Erie Stoke, Esq., M.P. for Devizes. In the Church ofSherbourn St. John, Hants, on the left of the East window, is a mural monument of white marble, surmounted by a shield bearing three swords bar-wise, points towards the dexter, for Chute .—on an escutcheon of pretence, a saltire between three crescents; in base, a dolphin, for Smith of Erle-Stoke. Sacred to the memory of William John Chute of The Vine, Esq., M.P. for Hants, who died 1824. He was the last descendant of the Speaker resident at The Vine. The present W. L. Wig- gett Chute Esq., is not descended from the Chute family.]* The Uestoration 1660. King Charles II. was proclaimed in Devizes by Isaac Burgess Esq., of Marlborough, apparently in the capacity of Sherifi' of the County, the ofEce to which he was nominated in 1659. The affair w'as solemnised in this town by the usual orgies. £5 is paid for wine when the Sherifi’proclaimed ; twice that sum at the Vension altering the maces. In other ' Cromwell of Devizes. la 1604 the name of William Cromwell occurs as that of the deceased vicar of Stanton Barnard, one among many other indications of the pre¬ sence of the Cromwells in this county. The name is also frequent at Pot- terne and Keevil. One of the youn¬ ger sons of Sir Henry Cromwell grandfather to the Protector, was Sir Philip Cromwell of Biggin near Upham, knighted hy James I. and it is from his branch that certain of the sons are sujrposed to have mi¬ grated into Wiltshire, a fact confir¬ med hy the coat of arms which Ed¬ mondson gives to the Wiltshire family of Cromwell alias Williams. feast, and more than £33 for respects, nothing very ruinous The Rev. Mark Noble writing about 1780 says “There is a famil}' of Cromwell of Broomsgrove who came from Devizes, the grandfather of whom was a schoolmaster and their great-grandfather a clergyman. Their father hated the name of Cromwell, because of Oliver the Protector.” Noble's Protectorate i. 36. Another of the younger sons of Sir Henry Cromwell aforesaid was Henry Cromwell of Upham Esq., whose name, in conjunction with that of his wife Eluzai, appears in the Wiltshire Institutions, 1617, as the patron of Newton Toney Church. That Lady was the widow of — Jones Esq. of Newton Toney- 296 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. attended the reactionary national movement, and the borough continued to look after its own domestic affairs. Among private defaulters (or rather, restorers) may be mentioned en passant the name of Edward Northey. Master William Pr 3 mne, now the humble servant of the party who had cut off his ears, presents in May 1660 a report from the Commit¬ tee of Discoveries, in respect of public or royal property lying in the hands of private individuals, and under the head of “Discoveries by confession” we find the name of Edward Northey of Devizes who holds the sum of £6 7s. 6gd. though the capacity in which he holds it, is not stated. Commons' Journals vol. viii. p. 37. Borough Members. 1660 April 27. In the House of Commons Mr. Turner reports from the Committee of Privi¬ leges and Elections, touching the double return from the borough of Devizes,—That William Lewis and Robert Aid- worth, Esquires are returned by the Maj'or under the common seal, and that William Lewis and John Norden are returned by the Burgesses. It is the opinion of the Committee that Mr. Aldworth ought to sit, until the merits of the cause be determined. Commons' Journals. [Whether it was Mr. Mayor or the Free Burgesses who upon this occasion evinced the greater solicitude to conciliate the Court, there are per¬ haps no data for determining, bej'ond the known fact that the name of John Norden appears in the list of fifteen Wilt¬ shire gentlemen pricked at the period of the Restoration for a new order of knighthood to be called “ The Royal Oak;” a scheme which was never carried into execution. Sir Peter Vanlore and the Devizes Parks. 1662. It was during the second year after the Restoration that an adjustment took place of the long disputed inheritance of the Devizes Old and New Parks and other lands, in favour of the heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore. But we must first go back to the period when the attainder of Lord Seymour of Sudeley SUIT TOUCHING THE PARKS. 297 threw the property into the hands of the Crown; seepage 119. After that affair, the Old and New Parks remained in the Crown, till, at the request of tlie Earl of Essex, they were granted in tlie 34th of Queen Elizabeth to three persons of the name of Compton, Wright, and Meyrick. In the suc¬ ceeding reign, that of King James, the inheritance came to William Earl of Montgomer}^^ who in consideration of £5000, by deed dated 8th July 1609, enrolled in Chancery, conveyed the same to Sir Peter Vanlore and his heirs. Sir Peter had, among other children, Mary, upon whom and the heirs of her body the Devizes Parks were settled, with remainder to the right heirs of Sir Peter. This Mary married Sir Edward Powell of Pengethly Co. Hereford, bart. one of the Masters of the Requests (son of Edmund Powell of Fulham) who, when his wife was on her deathbed, procured, by force and fraud, fines to be levied by himself and her, with warranties by which the remainders were barred. But the parties thus injured, being the grandchildren of Sir Peter Vanlore, pre¬ sented, as soon as they could get their evidence together, a petition to Parliament praying that the fines thus levied by their aunt Mary might be reversed; and the same were reversed by Act of Parliament, in tlie second year after the Restoration, or, what is termed in legal phraseology, the 14th of Charles II. Such is a brief outline of a controversy which occasioned a vast amount of disputation in both Houses and two protests from the Lords, all arising out of the reverential awe with which certain parties professed to view any thing like an infringement on the validity of fines;—of which more hereafter. Sir Peter Vanlore, a native of Utrecht, acquired a large fortune in this country as a merchant; perhaps in the tobaccco ’ In 1611 a grant was made to the forests of Pevesham and Black- the Earl of Montgomery, in rever- more near Devizes, Co. Wilts, 10th sion after Sir John Pollard and Sir August [Doequet]. State Paper John Danvers, of the wardenshiji of Office. 298 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. trade, for the bust of an Indian holding a tobacco leaf over his head was the family crest. On one occasion he lent £20,000 to King James, as evidenced by an Order issued at the time of King Charles’s accession, repaying £10,000, and retaining the other half at interest for the use of the new King. State Paper Office. The effigies of Sir Peter and his lady lie in the south east corner of the parish church of Tylehurst St. Michael near Reading, under an arch excavated out of the thick wall. At the Lady’s feet kneels their eldest son, in armour; the front of the tomb being also chiselled into effigies of their ten children, in processional form, two and two, four of them holding skulls in their right hands and books in their left, to indicate probably that they died before their parents; the last of all being an infant lying in a shroud. The arch containing this monument is flanked with Corinthian pillars supporting a pediment and culminated by pyramids of blue marble and the bust of the Indian aforesaid; the legend being as follows:— “Here lies the body of Sir Peter Vaxlore, Kxight: WHO DIED 6th Decehber, A.D. 1627.” “ When thou hast read the name, ‘here lies Yanlore’, Thou need’s! no story to inform thee more. A long industrious well-spent life has shewn His worth as far as our commerce is known. His conversation, London long approved, Three English Monarchs have employed and loved. His industry, his providence, and his care Let his enriched family declare. The poor his bounty speaks that he was not A slave to all to what his wisdom got. After full fourscore years to him were lent. The greater part in one chaste wedlock spent. His soul to Heaven, his earth to earth is come: Utrecht his cradle, Tjdehurst loves his tomb.” Another memorial on a prostrate stone near the altar rails records the death in 1676 of Henry Zinzano alias Alexander, of this parish. Esq., eldest son of Sir Sigismund Zinzano, SUIT TOUCHING THE PARKS. 299 knight: Also of Jacoba his wife, eldest daughter of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger, hart.; who died in 1677. The first petition presented by the heirs of Sir Peter Van- lore to reverse the fines levied by Lady Powell, seems to have been in 1652 or 1653. From a subsequent document we gather the following allegations. It is a petition printed in November 1654 directed to the Parliament of the Common¬ wealth of England, Ireland, and Scotland, by Mary Countess of Sterling and John Blount her husband ;—Sir Robert Crook, knight, and dame Susan his wife:—Henry Alexander alias Zinzan,^ and Jacoba his wife:—SackviDe Glemham and Peter Glemham : all being the grandchildren and right heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the elder and of dame Mary Powell his daughter, (late the wife of Sir Edward Powell deceased); that is to say, daughters and heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger, deceased, only son and heir of Sir Peter Vanlore the elder. “ Shewing That the said Peter Vanlore the elder did in his lifetime settle the Castle and Parks of Devizes, worth £G00 yearly, and also the fifth part of divers others of his manors and lands, worth £2500 yearly, upon the said Lady Powell his daughter and the heirs of her body ; and in default of issue, then to the petitioners and other of his grandchildren hy name. Lady Powell died without issue about the 6th day of October 1651, when the petitioners became entitled to the said Castle and Parks and to proportionable parts of the aforesaid fifth part.—That because Sir Edward Powell could not prevail with his said wife to disinherit her own heirs and settle the estates on himself and his kindred, he threatened and otherwise evilly entreated her, till, their difierences becoming impla¬ cable, they lived asunder for fifteen years before her death.—That one Thomas Levingston having married Anne a niece of Lady Powell, divers unlawful means were attempted hy her and by Robert Levingston a kins¬ man, and hy a servant named John Preston, to induce Lady Powell to leave property to Anne Levingston, as namely, tampering with a witch * William Alexander Earl of Ster¬ ling, apparently uncle to the above, was a poet, a tragic writer, and a statesman. King James gave him the grant of Nova Scotia which he had projected; and King Charles further encouraged him hy institu¬ ting an order of baronets of the new Colony. His portrait, engraved by W. Marshall, prefaces his Recrea¬ tion of the Muses. 1637. 300 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. and delivering portions of Lady Powell’s Pair and the parings of her nails, to he made use of in some unlawful manner.—That Sir Edward Powell, Thomas and Anne Levingstou, all failing in their single attempts, and the Lady in September 1651 falling ill at her house at Chelsea (Avhich had been purchased by her mother the Lady Vanlore, and wherein she had long lived sole and separate) these persons, in combination with 'IVilliam Hj-nson a Middlesex Justice and a nepheAv of Sir Edward, and a number of servants, took possession of the Lady’s house, guarding it with a body of armed ruffians, and even fortifying the windows of her chamber with “shuts”, lest she should make her complaints known through that channel. They discharged the apothecary whom her phy¬ sician Sir- Theodore Maj^herne had appointed to attend her, and substitu¬ ted another unacquainted with her infirmities. And they caused all her servants to be arrested by the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex upon false and feigned actions. The coast being now clear, they induced the late Judge Warburton one of the Judges of the Common Pleas, to come to the house and procure the Lady to levy seven several fines of the Castle and Parks and fifth part aforesaid unto one Anthony Bassett an apothecary, a recu¬ sant papist of Mrs. Levingston’s acquaintance, but a mere stranger to Ladj' Powell: which fines were declared under the Lady’s seal to the use of Sir Edward PoAvell, Thomas and Anne Levingston. A further writing was framed whereby the Lady gave to Mrs. Levingston a personal estate to the value of £40,000 formerly belonging to the petitioners’ grandfather; though it was well knomr that Lady Powell disliked the Levingstons, and on the contrary entertained great affection for her niece Crook, who had ever been loA’ing to her, and besides had many childr'en. And the said confederates fearing that the Lady’s srrddeir death (rvhich occurred on the 6th Oct.) might render their fines ineffectual, they procured by William Gardiner an attorney several writs of covenant and dedimus potestatem for passing them, antedated and enrolled four months before themselves pretend they were acknowledged, a course so dangerous that, if admitted, it might tend to the deceiving of all such as shall purchase land, and to the disinherison of many others. A funeral sermon was also got up, to memorialise the Lady’s reconciliation with her husband; and a certificate drawn out by Levingstou to testify Sir Edward’s kindness to his Lady; which certificate, when produced at a Court of Common Pleas, did appear to the Judges of so strange a nature that they publicly told Levingstone he had over-acted his part in the affair. “That the petitioners appealed to the late Judge Warburton to stop the passing of the fines, who lamented that it was now out of his power, though he wished he had Icnown the facts earlier. The Judges in the Court of Common Pleas also affirmed that the matter had proceeded too far; but added that there was a Parliament then sitting who might and they believed would relieve the petitioners. To two successive Parlia¬ ments the petitioners thereupon addressed themselves, but both were dissolved before any report was made. [The Long Parliament and the Little Parliament.] The petitioners, being the parents of above twenty SUIT TOUCHING THE PARKS. 301 children, now appeal to the sitting Parliament, praying that the said fines may be nulled and vacated and ofienders punished, to the discou¬ ragement of all such as may hereafter attempt a death-bed disinherison by so foul a practice. Note. By old Sir Peter’s settlement, Mrs. Lev- ingston, though she hath no child, is to have a fourth of the fifth part aforesaid, although the fines be vacated.” November IGoT. A Report from the Committee of Petitions, made 22nd August 1G53, relative to a petition from Crook, Glemliam, and others, against the proceedings of Thomas Levingston, &c. states “ that they liave examined every particular of the said petition apart, and on the 9th of August desired Mr. Leving¬ ston to produce the deeds and writings alleged by the peti¬ tioners to be gotten by force and fraud; who promised to bring them on the following Thursday the 11th, but failed therein; when he not only denied the order of the Committee to produce them, but his own promise; and though he was three times affectionately pressed thereunto, that there might be no exception taken upon his contempt, yet he refused to produce them, asserting that they were in the custody of his wife who laid claim to the estate; nor was he bound to shew them to any man. So that this Committee is at a stand, and stojoped from making further examination until the pleasure of the Parliament be known —Renolvedhy the Parliament; That Thomas Levingston produce the deeds, to be perused by the Committee onl}^ Commons' Journals. A bill to reverse the said fines at length passed a third reading in the Lords on the 13th of December 1660, when a protest was entered against it, signed by no less than tiventy six peers, beginning with the Lord Chancellor Hyde : Urging, that whereas fines are the foundations of the assurances of the realm, upon which so many titles do depend, therefore they ought not to be shaken;—that no former precedents occur wherein they have been vacated; and that a future law to vacate assurances which are good by the standing law, would be of dangerous consequence and unreasonable; especi¬ ally in the present case, wherein Skinner and Chute though 302 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. purcliasers of a considerable part of the lands comprised in the said fines have petitioned and yet have not been heard. Another protest by ten Lords was entered on the Journals 17th July 1661 in which the above reasoning is amplified; and the statement made, that Antonia Christiana who had been the Lady Powell’s servant for many years, was not removed from her person ; also that Dr. Goddard a physician, and Foucaut the apothecary who attended her during the last month of her life, had witnessed no fear or force put upon her. In the House of Commons the case was heard on the 16th Dec. 1661, when Mr. Skinner and Mr. Challoner Chute, two purchasers (apparently under Livingston) ofiered divers reasons why the bill should not pass. It was read a third time on the 28th of January following. After long dehate upon it, the Question being put, whether the Question for candles to be brought in shall he now put:—It was resol¬ ved in the affirmative:—And the minor question being put, that candles be brought in, the House divided and it was resolved in the affirmative by 127 to 95.—And candles being brought in, the Question being put, that the further debate on this business upon the bill to make void the fines &c. be adjourned until tomorrow, the House again divided and it was resolved in the negative. So the business proceeded. A proviso was then tendered in behalf of Mr. Challoner Chute. The House resolved that it should not be read:—And the bill was agreed to. Information was now given by several members that Mr. Challoner Chute, being at the door of the House, had been speaking reproachful words against the hon¬ our and justice and in breach of the privilege of the House. Mr. Chute was forthwith apprehended by the Sergeant-at- arms and brought to the Bar. On the 7th of February following, his petition for pardon having been read, and his personal humble acknowledgment and excuse made on his knees at the bar, he received a “grave reprehension” from Mr. Speaker, and was discharged from imprisonment, paying SUIT TOUCHING THE PARKS. 303 his fees. Commons’ Journals, vol. viii. p. 360. [Mr. Chute it will be remembered was the ex-member for Devizes. Perhaps it was this alliance with the claimants of the parks which had brought him into connexion with the Borough] ; and the following document (the original of which is in the possession of Mr. Cunnington of Devizes) will serve to point out the probable date of the transaction. “ J/r. Skinner's release of The Vyze. 2Ath July 1656. “To ALL Christian people to whom these presents shall come, I, Constantine Skinner of London, merchant, send greeting: —Whereas Chaloner Chute of the Middle Temple London Esq., and Chaloner Chute son and heir apparent of the said Chaloner Chute have purchased of Thomas Levingston of the Inner Temple London Esq., and Anna his wife, or one of them. All that the Castle of the Devizes with the rights, members, and appurtenances, in the County of Wilts: And all those grounds arable meadow and pasture called the Devizes Park, or the two Parks called the Vyze Parks, in the Vyze or elsewhere in the said County of Wilts; and all lands tenements and hereditaments whatsoever, there¬ unto belonging or reputed as part parcel or member thereof.—To have and to hold the same to the said Chaloner Chute and Chaloner Chute their heirs and assignees for ever.—Now, these presents do witness that I the said Constantine Skinner for divers good causes and considerations me hereunto moving, have remised, released, and quitclaimed, and by these presents do for myself, my heirs, executors, and assignees, reinise, release, and quitclaim unto the said Chaloner Chute the elder and Chaloner Chute the younger, their heirs and assignees, the said Castle, parks and premi¬ ses, with their and every of their appurtenances whatsoever; and all my estate, right, title, interest, claim, and demand, of in and unto the same and every part and parcel thereof, and all and singular other the premises with their and every of their appurtenances whatsoever, which were by them the said Chaloner Chute and Chaloner Chute lately purchased of the said Thomas Levingston and Anna his wife or either of them, in the aforesaid County of Wilts. In witness whereof I the said Constantine Skinner have herenuto put my hand and seal the four and twentieth day of July, One thousand si.x hundred fifty and six. “Constantine Skinner.^ “Sealed and delivered by the within named Chaloner Chute the elder in the presence of Armiger Warner, John Sherbon, Arnold Williams. ' Apparently brother to Angus- dulgcd largely in purchases about tine Skinner of Tuttesham Hall at this time. Augustine was one of West Farleigh in Kent, who toge- those appointed to judge the King, ther with his brother William, in- Nohle's Lives of the Regicides. 304 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Finally, by deed of partition dated lltli of June, lOth of Charles II. certain parts of the premises were allotted in severalty to Henry Alexander Earl of Sterling, son and heir of Henry Earl of Sterling by the Lady Mary one of the daughters of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger :—Another part to Sir Robert Crook and dame Susan his wife, another daughter of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger, and her heirs :— and the remainder to Henry Alexander Esq., and Jacoba his wife the other daughter of Sir Peter, and her heirs. By Indenture dated 4th December of I8th Charles II., 1666, Sir Robert Croke of Grays Inn, knight,^ and dame Susan his wife convey to Sir Wadham Wyndham, knight, one of the Justices of the King’s Bench, 241 acres of the Castle and Old Park lands, in the several occupation of Richard Webb, gent., Robert Thurman, Edward Potter, William Alford, Robert Ings, William Sherrard, gent., John Wentworth [Winkworth ?], John Taylor, William Yorke Esq., and John Kent Esq. Eourteen acres of the above, in the occupation of Ta 3 dor, are termed “ the Bear grounds.” This conveyance further includes what is called “Essingtone tenement” and sundrj" gardens and plots of which the dimen¬ sions are not given, in the several occupation of John Taylor, Roger Nevison, AVilliam Watts, William Somner, William Stephens, William Sawyer, Richard Bennett, Edward West, and John Eaton, being parcel of or adjoining to the Castle- ditch. A final notice may here be taken of Sir Edward Powell the baronet charged with the above attempt to defraud the heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore. His death is dated bj’’ Burke in 1653 which must have been when the law suit was compara- * In the Commons' Journals 1653 Poile, Oxon, knt. who is possessed Sir Robert Crook or Croke is styled of a term of 80 years, if Dame Mary as “of Chequers in Co. Bucks.” He Powell wife of Sir Edward live so must also be the same person who long, of and in the moiety of the in the Composition papers is called manors of Bodweeke and Staplehall “Sir Robert Crook of Hampton in Essex. A CHAPTER FROiM AUBREY. 305 tively in its first stages. Dying without issue, the baronetcy became extinct, and he left his estates to his nephew William Hynson of Pengethly, who in his turn was created a baronet in 1661, and in like manner died s.p. m. See Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetage. Possibly Sir Edward was kinsman to the Powells who so long after flourished in and about Devizes as Quakers. A Chapter from Aubrey. Dr. John Merewether, a physician of Devizes in Charles II.’s time, drew Aubrey’s attention to what he called a petri¬ fying spring, on the north side of the Castle; no doubt the fountain lately in the possession of Mr. Robert Waylen, but now covered over by the railway. Aubrey remarks concern¬ ing it, that “this rivulet doth petrify leaves, sticks, plants and other things that grow by it; which doth seem to prove that stones grow, not by apposition only, as the Aristotelians as¬ sert, but by susception also ; for if the stick did not suscept some virtue by which it is transmitted, we may admire [i.e. wonder] what doth become of the matter of the stick.” Na¬ tural History of Wilts, 24. In the valley below Devizes he observed that, at the fall of the leaf, the water in all the ditches looked blue. And he compliments the inhabitants of Poulshot by affirming that during the Spring they appear of a primrose complexion, it being a wet, dirty place. “ About the Devizes, snakes do abound.” Ibid, 74. 66. He also mentions a medicinal spring near Poulshot. Some of the Devizes people who had drunk thereof informed him that it was curative for the spleen; and that a hectic and emaciated person, by drinking this water, did in the space of three weeks increase in flesh and get a quick appetite. He adds that it had been already noticed about thirty years back, by S. Pierse M.D. of Bath, whose recommendation induced some few to resort to it. The position he otherwise describes u 306 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. as “in a ditch near Sommerham bridge at Seend towns-end in a ground of Sir Walter Long.” Another entry is to this effect, “At Poulshot are brackish wells, but especially that of Richard Bolwell, two quarts whereof did yield by evapora¬ tion two good spoonfulls heaped of a very tart salt. Dr. Merrett believes it to be vitriolish.” [A considerable spring of chalybeate water rises just beyond the boundary of the Old Park near the old road from Devizes to Potterne. It colours the vegetation over which it flows of a ferruginous tint through the oxidation of the iron which it contains. W. C.] Aubrey was so pleased with this discovery of a new chaly¬ beate well in his own county, that he published an advertise¬ ment of it in an almanack conducted by Henry Coley about 1681; “but,” says he, “it took no effect.” In another place he says, “ I sent some bottles to the Royal Society in June 1667 which were tried with galls before a great assembly there. It turns so black that you may write legibly with it, and did there, after so long a carriage, turn as deep as a deep claret. The physicians were wonderfully surprised at it, and spake to me to recommend it to the doctors of Bath, from whence it is but about ten miles [it is fifteen], for that in some cases it is best to begin with such waters and end with the Bath, and in some vice versa. I wrote several times but to no purpose, for at last I found that though they were satis¬ fied of the excellence of the waters, and that what the London doctors said was true, they did not care to have company go from the Bath. So I inserted it the last year in Mr. Lilly’s almanack, and towards the latter end of summer there came so much company that the village could not contain them, and they are now preparing for building of houses against the next summer. Jo. Sumner saith (whose well is the best) that it will be worth to him £200 a year. Dr. Grew, in his history of the Repository of the Royal Society mentions this discovery, as also of the iron ore there, not taken notice of A CHAPTER FROM AUBREY. 307 before.” Auhrei/s Autobiography, 17. Another testimony to the efficacy of the Seend waters may be read in the Life of Joseph Allein the Divine, who having been seized with a wasting disease after his confinement in Ilchester gaol, ap¬ pears to have tried them before resorting to Bath. His wife’s journal in 16G4 thus records the event. In “ the Summer following, by the use of mineral waters in Wiltshire, near the Devizes where he was born, his strength was much in¬ creased, he finding great and sensible good by them.” But at a subsequent trial, his biographer is compelled to add that all their virtues totally failed to restore him :—of which more hereafter. Life and Death of Mr. Joseph Allein, pp. 63, 76. Vineyards. Sir Walter Ernie told Aubrey that he was planting a vineyard at Stert. This was shortly before the baronet’s death. Aubrey alludes to another vineyard cover¬ ing six acres, made in 1665 by Mr. John Ashe of TefFont Ev^yas. That at Claverdon, the property of Sir William Bassett, he adds, “ is the best he knows in England. Sir AVilliam says the Navarro grapes best suits our climate, and that the best aspect is the east.” Natural History of Wilts. Fuel. Before any regular system was discovered of carry¬ ings coals into this part of Wilts, our forefathers must occa¬ sionally have been sorely pinched for want of that supply of timber and charcoal which the forests had once furnished. We obtain a glimpse of this fact from an observation made by Bishop Tanner a native of Lavington, in Charles II.’s time. “Crookwood” says he “once full of sturdy oaks is now destroyed, and all sorts of fuel very dear in the circumjacent country. It lies very commodious, being situated about the middle of the whole county, three miles from the populous town of the Devizes, and two from Lavington.” In ignorance of the science of geology, attemjits were subsequently made to bore for coal on Erchfont common. 1664. The Sheriff of the County was Sir Edward Baynton 308 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of Bromham, knt. son of tlie Sheriff of 1637. He married the daughter of Sir James Thynne. Jackson''s List. Mr. Recorder Glanville’s Resignation. ^‘To John Sloper, gent. Mayor. “9th. October 1668. “SiE, I was much beholding'to the Burgesses of Devizes when they freely elected me their Recorder, and desire them to be assured that I would and wiR at any time do them all the service I may. But seeing that it happens that I am and must he detained in these parts for a season, and that I now find I cannot according to promise reside in the Borough, to respect and serve them as I ought and would, I do freely and voluntarily resign to them my otfice of Recorder; leaving them free to choose in my place whomsoever they may think fit: desiring them still to retain a fair opinion of me, who will ever have and retain a grateful remembrance of their love and favour shewn to, “John Glanville. “At this day, John Glanville Esq. Recorder of this borough, by his own consent is dismissed and put forth of his office of Recorder of the Borough. At the same time, Charles Danvers Esq. is elected into the said office.” 1669. It is ordered in the Borough, council that the Chamber shall no longer pay forty shillings yearly for a flying and extraordinary post from Marlborough to Devizes. —Ordered that Charles Danvers the Recorder shall receive £10 yearly during his life.—And the same sum to Mr. Henry Johnson the minister of the Borough. John Hollis, Mayor. 1672. William Filkes a burgess refusing to appear and take his oath, is, according to a vote of the Common Council, fined twenty nobles. At the same time a resolution is passed that in future he shall not be called upon.—Job Palmer a chief-burgess-councillor, and Robert Ings of the Common Council, having lived out of the borough two years and thereby neglected their appearance at the Common Council, contrary to their oaths, are disfranchised and displaced from all ofl&ces of trust in the borough. Elections of 1679-80-81. 22 March. A petition from the Common Council and in¬ habitants was read in the House, complaining of undue and ELECl’IONS OF 1679 - 80 . 309 illegal practices used by tlie Mayor, [Richard Watton] in electing and returning Sir Edward Baynton and Sir Walter Ernie to serve in Parliament;— Resolved, That the petition be referred to the Committee of Privileges and Elections:— No report.—In the following year, 1st of November 1680, a petition was read from Sir Walter Ernie and George John¬ son Esq., but the matter is not stated. This last election seems never to have been decided. It should be remembered that it occurred at that critical period in Charles II.’s reign when, after the reaction of the Restoration, the tide had again set in against the Stuarts; and all the Protestant feel¬ ing of the country, under the leadership of Shaftesbury and Monmouth, was roused to oppose the anticipated succession of the popish Duke of York. After the calling of Charles’s second Parliament there had been no general election for seventeen long years, and party spirit was now wrought up to its highest pitch. The popular candidates in 1679-80, (and by “popular” we are also to understand “Protestant”) appear to have been Sir Giles Hungerford and Sir John Eyles. The nominees of the select body, which was also the Court party in the Corporation, on the other hand, were Sir Walter Ernie and George Johnson Esq.; but the outcry against the return of these two gentlemen was so unequivocal that the Mayor, Mr. Watton, knew not how to proceed. Precedent and custom enjoined him to acquiesce in the decision of his hrethren, but the public voice was every where against him. “ The populacy,” as they were termed, for once bore down all technical oppo.sition, and the Mayor put his broad seal to the return of Sir John Eyles and Sir Giles Hungerford. But as the poor man laboured under much alarm as to the possible consequences of so great an irregularity. Sir John Eyles pre- viousl 3 ' consented to sign a bond dated 15th September 1679 indemnifying Mr. Mayor to the amount of £2000 against all damages contingent thereon. George Johnson of Bowden House, Councillor-at-law, Solicitor to the Treasury, and one 310 HISTORI OF DEVIZES. of the Welsh Judges, was undoubtedly belonging to the Stuart party; for he is particularly pointed out as one of “the prin¬ cipal labourers in the great design of Popery and arbitrary poAver” in the tract attributed to Andrew Marvel which came out in 1677, professing to name, in connexion with the various boroughs, the influential gentry likely to influence the coming elections. Perhaps it would be impossible to state who were the legitimate representatives of Devizes during the third and fourth Parliaments of this reign; but in that which met on the 21st of March 1681, the Tory candidates at the previous election, viz. Sir Walter Ernie and George Johnson Esq., were returned without any serious opposition. On the 10th of January 1681, the House, being aware that a prorogation was intended, had voted,—That whoever ad¬ vised the King to this step for any other purpose than in order to the passing of a bill to exclude James Duke of York, is a betrayer of the King, the Protestant faith, and of the kingdom of England, a promoter of the French interest, and a pensioner to France. The prorogation lasted only ten weeks; but on their reassembling in March, Charles dis¬ solved them in the course of a week, and thenceforward dis¬ pensed with their aid. While the Metropolis was thus in arms, abundant evidence exists, in the form of addresses and resolutions by the Corporation of Devizes, that Court intrigues had fully succeeded in once more agitating by their distant vibrations the remote and stagnant element of borough-life. Perhaps the following home scene was one of the fruits of the controversy. In the time of John Child, Mayor [1681], Mr. Robert Sloper was charged with having called two of his brother magistrates “a couple of knaves and fools:” and at the Quarter Sessions he so far forgot himself as openly to declare that all the Borough dignitaries were forsworn; and to shake his staff at Mr. Mayor, calling him an impudent rogue. The matter was some time under discussion, but it was eventually Ordered, that Robert Sloper should be dis- SURBENDER OF THE CHARTER. 311 franchised and removed from his office of magistrate and chief-burgess; and that all the expenses occurred by the aggrieved parties should be paid out of the Chamber. Surrender of the Charter. The close of Charles II.’s reign brings under review the series of unconstitutional attempts to destroy the liberties of his people to which he was urged by the counsels of his in¬ fatuated brother the Duke of York. It were foreign to our purpose to record the fate of the titled patriots who perished on the scaffold, none of their names belonging to this county; but the unprecedented attack on the charters of borough- towns must not be passed unnoticed. The object of the Court by this measure was simply and solely to erect an absolute kingly power by filling the Corporations with the abject tools of the Sovereign’s will. To this end, writs of Quo Warranto were issued to several of these communities, requiring them to shew by what warrant they held office, and whether or not they had obeyed the conditions of their charters. Judge Jef- fereys and other courtiers perambulated the realm, advising all the Corporations forthwith to make a voluntary surrender of their charters into the King’s hand as the best means of averting a more sweeping calamity. The city of London was the first dealt with; and other large communities being for¬ ced to succumb, after a faint show of resistance, the smaller boroughs hastened to imitate their example. In Devizes the affair took the following form. “ At a Court of Common-council or Guildhall-assembly held in the Guildhall of the Borough on the 8th of November in the 361h year of our Sovereign lord King Charles II., Defender of the Faith &c., A.D. 1684.—William Watts gentleman being Mayor. [Then follows Nomina mqjorum et capital-burgensium'''’ eleven signatures:—and '‘Nomina capital-burgensiurn de Communis consilii,” twenty-two signatures.] This Court taking into consideration that Ilis sacred Majest)' has lately issued out divers writs of Quo Tf'arranfo against divers Corporations of this kingdom to call in their charters, and does continue so to do; so that this Corporation cannot expect any thing less than the like course to be 312 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. taken against it unless timely prevented by a voluntary surrender to his Ma-jesty of the charter of this Corporation, whereby this Corporation may have a greater expectation of his Majesty’s bounty and favour than by a compulsive surrender.'—It is therefore ordered by this Court that the charters of this Corporation be forthwith surrendered, or offered to be surrendered, unto his sacred Majesty King Charles II. that now is. And it is desired by this Court that Charles Danvers Esq. Recorder of the Borough, and John Kent Esq. both Justices of the Peace for the Borough and John Child, gentleman, with such other assistants as they can pro¬ cure and think fit, do attend and wait upon his Majesty with the said charters. And it is also desired that Mr. Recorder will draw up and prepare against the next Common Council an instrument or instru¬ ments in writing for surrendering the said charters accordingly.” [Here follow twenty-eight names.] “It is also ordered and desired that the now Chamberlains of the Borough do take up at interest on the account of the Chamber of this Borough the sum of £100 or such other sum as shall be requisite for defraying the necessary costs and expenses of surrendering the aforesaid charters, and of procruing a new charter for this Corporation.” At a Court of Common Council or general assembly held at the Guildhall on the 10th of November in the 36th year of the reign of our Sovereign lord King Charles. [Then fol¬ low “ Nomina Majorim et capital-hurgensium,” ten signatures; and “Nomina capital-hurgensium de communis consilU,” twenty signatures]. At this Court a surrender of the charters of this Borough was sealed and subscribed according to the order of the last Court of Common Council for that purpose, a true copy of which surrender followeth in these words, namely, “ To all persons to whom these presents shall come.^We, the Mayor and burgesses of this Borough of Devizes in the county of Wilts, send greeting.—Whereas our late Sovereign King Charles I. of ever blessed memory by his charter and letters-patent under the Great Seal of Eng¬ land bearing date the 5th day of June in the 15th year of his reign, did grant, ordain, and declare, that the said Borough of Devizes should be from thenceforth one entire free borough-corporate, in the name of the Mayor and Burgesses of the said Borough: and did thereby grant divers privileges, emoluments, and advantages to the Mayor and Burgesses and their successors, as by the said charter may more particularly appear:— Know ye therefore that we the said Mayor and Burgesses of Devizes, with our free and unanimous assent and consent and agreement, have surrendered and given up, and by these presents do surrender and give up unto our most gracious Sovereign lord King Charles II. the charters and letters-patent of incorporation, and all the liberties, privileges, and ad- ARRIVAL or JAMES II.’s CHARTER. 313 vantages, by the same charter and letters-patent or by any former or other charter or letters-patent granted to the said Corporation. In witness whereof, We the said Mayor and Burgesses of the said Borough have hereunto affixed our common seal this 10th day of November in the 36th year of the reign of our Sovereign lord King Charles II., &c. a.d. 1684. William Watts, Mayor. Charles Danvers, Recorder. John Kent Richard Ilillier Richard Watton Francis Paradice John Rogers Matthew AUen Robert Richards John Child John White William Filkes Edward Bryant Nicholas Forsyth Francis Potter Matthew Figgins John Hill Grave Morris William Long William Paradice Richard Bristowe Cornelius Cooke Robert Bennet Jonathan Filkes John Cotton Richard Hope John Saintsbiuy John Day.” And at this Court also was a petition ordered to be pre¬ sented to his Majesty for granting a new charter to this Borough, a true copy whereof followeth in these words, namely:— “ To the King's most excellent 3IaJesty. “ The humble petition of the Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Devizes in the county of Wilts, humbly sheweth—That, whereas our late Sovereign lord King Charles I. of happy memory, by his letters- patent under the Great Seal of England, bearing date the 5th of June in the loth year of his reign, did incorporate the said Borough, and grant divers privileges, powers, and advantages to the Mayor and Bur¬ gesses and their successors:—And forasmuch as your petitioners have under their common seal, with their free and unanimous assent and con¬ sent, surrendered and given unto your Majesty the said charter and letters-patent granted to the said Corporation:—Your petitioners there¬ fore most humbly beseech your Majesty that for the better government of the said Borough for the future, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to grant unto your petitioners another charter of incorporation by such name and with such limitations and restrictions as shall be con¬ ducive to your Majesty’s service. And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.” Arrival of James II. ’s Charter. The next entry on this subject records the ceremonies at¬ tendant on the reception in Devizes of the new instrument of Municipal government;—King Charles II. having in the meantime died. 314 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. “ Memorandum, That on the 21st day of March 1685, in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign lord King James II., the new Charter of our Sovereign lord the King, granted to this Borough, bearing date the 17th day of March in the first j^ear of the reign of our said Sovereign lord the King, was brought from the City of London unto this Borough by Sir John Talbot knt. constituted by the said Charter Recorder of the Borough; who being met by and accompanied with the Mayor, Deputy- Recorder, and great part of the Aldermen and Capital-Burgesses of the Borough constituted by the said Charter, and many other inhabitants of the Borough, and neighbouring gentlemen, attended with drums and ti-umpets, did immediately go into the GuildhaR of the said Borough; where after the said Charter was first read, such of the said officers con¬ stituted by the said Charter who were then and there present, and who in the list following are marked to be sworn, did take the Oaths of alle¬ giance and supremacy and the Oath mentioned in the Act of Parliament for regulating Corporations, and subscribed the Declaration mentioned in the said Act of Parliament; and did also take the several and respective Oaths belonging to their several and respective offices. William Watts gentleman. Mayor and Justice of Peace—Sworn. Sm JoHJi Talbot Kt. Recorder and Justice of Peace—Sworn. Ckaeles Daxvees Esq. Deputy-Recorder and Justice of Peace—Sworn. John Kent Esq. Justice of Peace and Alderman—Sworn.” Then follow eleven other signatures of Aldermen, and eighteen Capital-Burgesses. Also a further entry relating to a Court of Common Council held on the same day, at which thirty new “ Free Burgesses” were enrolled; a mot¬ ley group no doubt, made up of residents and non-residents, and consisting, as far as might be, of such men as the Ro¬ manist party hoped would not prove dangerous. The new Recorder Sir John Talbot, we presume, was the knight of Lacock, and the same who in conjunction with Walter Grubb Esq. was returned as Member for the Borough in James II.’s first Parliament 1685. Sir John’s nomination to the Record- ership, while it threw his influence into the Borough politics and gave to the former Recorder Mr. Danvers the title merely of Deputy-Recorder, did not perhaps in any other sense dis¬ turb the functions of the latter gentleman. \_Note. At the time of the Restoration of Charles II. in 1660, it was a “Sir John Talbot” who was the first to receive the personal salu¬ tation of the King on his landing at Dover.] Monmouth’s invasion. 315 The Duke of Monmouth’s Invasion 1685. Charles II. having gained from his people the outward expression of their allegiance but having lost their affections, quitted this earthly scene of unrest, and left his kingdom in the hands of a popish faction who soon brought every thing ^ into confusion. He died in February 1685, Monmouth being at that time exiled in Holland and nothing therefore existing at home to oppose the accession of James Duke of York. But in the Spring of the same year Monmouth landed at Lyme in Dorset, and opened his luckless campaign in the vain ex¬ pectation that Protestantism in his hands might be made to upset the claims of a legitimate sovereign. But Monmouth was too well known at Court to be accepted on this or any other basis. It is true that a few spirited gentlemen in Somerset and Devon, bearing the names of Speke, Strode, Prideaux, Iloare, Trenchard, and Dare, promptly came for¬ ward and risked their lives and estates at the first summons, yet the Duke’s army was entii ely composed of rustics and artisans. Ilis friend Mr. Thynne of Longleat being dead, hardly a single person of wealth or name joined his standard from Wiltshire; which may perhaps be explained by the further fact that the war was at no period carried into this county. On the other hand, the Wilts Militia with Lord Pembroke at their head, speedily got under arms in aid of the Royal troops, and marched up and down the county for a fortnight, till Monmouth’s retreat from Frome drew them on to Bridgewater. They took no part in the short but de¬ cisive engagement at Sedgmoor near that town, being sta¬ tioned two miles in the rear, and the fighting being at an end before their services were needed. They were then put in charge of the King’s artillery, ammunition, and baggage, with which they marched to Devizes and waited for further orders. Their last day’s march, which was from Philips Norton, would lead them through Trowbridge and Seend; a movement which seems corroborated by one of the traditions 316 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. attaching to the old Bell Inn at Seend. The story is as fol¬ lows :—That in the time of Monmouth’s rebellion a troop of Militia drank up an entire cask of liquor, which cask ever after bore the name of “Old Monmouth and when it was no longer serviceable for beer, it was sawn in two and used as a pair of wash-tubs. This drinking feat may therefore be dated on the 9th of July when the Militia reached Devizes, or on the previous 22nd of June, when, as we shall see by their journal to be presently given, they had marched from Lavington to Chippenham.^ Journal of the movements of the Regiment of Wiltshire Militia commanded hy Colonel Wyndliam during Monmoutlfs Rehellion. \_The body numbered 1500.] “June 20.—On Satiirday 20th of June 1685 in the afternoon, Colonel Wyndham’s regiment marched from Sarum to Wilton. Miles, 2. “21.—On Sunday in the afternoon, from Wilton to Lavington. Miles, 16. “22.—On Monday, from Lavington to Chippenham. Miles, 14. “23.—On Tuesday, from Chippenham to the Bath. Miles, 10. “24.—On Wednesday, from the Bath to Bradford. Miles, 7. But hy an alarm.to go there with Colonel John Dean’s regi¬ ment of fellows belonging to Hampshire, I marched about 11 of the clock that night from Bradford to Trowbridge, by an express sent to Colonel Wjmdham from the Earl of Pembroke, he then quartering at Trowbridge; the Earl being informed that the rebels designed that night to heat up his quarters. By reason of this, we made it more miles 4;—in all 11 miles. “25.—On Thursday, our regiment, the Bhre, and the Yellow, lay still at Trowbridge. This afternoon, the Earl of Pembr'oke with three troops of horse, viz. Colonel Pem-uddocke’s, Captain Willoughby’s, and Captain Maskelyn’s, and some of our regiment of foot being mounted behind some troopers, and others of the foot on small single horses, marched to 1 Another tradition connected ■with this Inn is that Oliver Crom¬ well and his troop once breakfasted there. This evidently points to the period when he advanced from Trowbridge to take Devizes Castle, see page 243. Old Mrs. Tucker of the Bell Inn told the writer (in 1852) that her family had held the house for 300 years ; and that her mother had burnt a file of tavern licences extending from Q,ueen Anne’s reign, which had been long accumulating in an old chest. Monmouth’s invasion 317 Frome, where were gathered together near 1500 rebels armed with mus¬ kets, fowling pieces, prongs, &c. They maintained for some time the bridge, but at last were routed. The Earl of Pembroke with his followers marched to the Market house, where he found Monmouth’s Declaration set up, which he took down, and set up the King’s royal Proclamation ; and made the constable of Frome (Robert Smyth) proclaim Monmouth traitor. Several of the rebels’ arms were brought to Trowbridge; others the Earl ordered to be thrown away. The Earl brought the constable of Frome prisoner to Trowbridge: he was under my custody, I being com¬ manded by Colonel Wyndham that night to mount the guard. When we marched from Trowbridge, I delivered him with three other prisoners to Captain Grubbe’s soldiers. This night was the engagement at Iveyn- sham bridge. “26.—On Friday, we marched from Trowbridge to Kingsdown near Box, where our regiment, Webb’s, Norton’s, the King’s regiment of Guards, and three troops of horse, were exercised by Colonel Sackville and Colonel Kirke. From Kingsdown we marched to Bath ; Miles, 7.— But by an alarm near Clerkendown, (the enemy being near the glass¬ house) we made our march more miles 3 :—in all, miles, 10. “ 27.—On Saturday we marched from Bath to Trowbridge. On our march between Freshford and Farley-castle, we heard the field pieces play, and great hollowing : it lasted several hours: it was at the fight at Philips Norton; many of the grenadiers of the King’s party were slain in this engagement. Miles, 7. “28.—On Sunday, w'e lay still at Trowbridge. “29—On Monday, we marched from Trowbridge through Steeple- Ashton to Bratton, where we lay in a ditch. Miles, 4. “30.—On Tuesday, our regiment and the Blues marched from Bratton through Westbury and Frome. This morning [before starting], the Yellow and Grey regiments belonging to Hampshire mustered in the field at Bratton, where they were drawn up with us regimentally, and would not march with us to Frome, but marched towards Sarum. At Frome we supped in the field and lay there, only we had the benefit of Colonel Wyndham’s tent. Miles, 9. “July 1.— On Wednesday we marched from the field into the town of Frome, where we lay still. Mile, 1. “2.—On Thursday, from Frome to Shepton Mallet. Here the General and other great officers of the army quartered. MUes, 8. “3.—On Friday, from Shepton Mallet to Glastonbury. Miles, 7. Some officers with myself not having quarters in Glastonbury, went to a house under the Torr called Norwood Park, which made the march more miles 3. In all, miles 10. “4.—On Saturday, wo had orders to march to Somerton, but as we were marching wo received an express from the General to march to Charlton, although two days before the General had sent his command to the inhabitants of Charlton to send in what provisions they had in the town, to the army. Here we were put to great hardships. Miles, 7. 318 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. “5.—On Sunday, from Charlton to Middlezoy. Miles, 8. Some of the officers vere forced to go for quarters to Othery, more miles, 1. In all, miles, 9. •‘6.—On Monday, from hence to King’s Sedgmoor, where the battle was fought. Miles, 2. I saw eleven foot colours that were taken from the rebels. Monmouth’s coat was taken with the Star on it, and three of his field pieces. After the fight was over, the General sent to Bridge- water to demand the town; and if they did not presently surrender it and secure all the rebels in it, he would down the town about their ears. The inhabitants did what he commanded. The General rode along the front of our regiment with his hat off and gave us thanks for our forward¬ ness and readiness in being so early in the field, and countenancmg and encouraging the fight, and told us he would acquaint the King of it. (Our regiment was the first in the field of any of the Militia either horse or foot.) We continued in King’s Sedgmoor till near six o’clock in the evening, our regiment being exercised there by some of the chief Commanders of the army, and had their applause; and afterwards part of our regiment were drawn rqi and posted at the passage of a bridge in the moor, with some of Colonel Fleming’s regiment of green called the Forest regiment belonging to Hampshire. Wo took several prisoners [who] were strapped naked and carried prisoners to Weston [Zojdand]. Hence we marched to our quarters at Middlezoy, where [we kept] the guard by Colonel Wyndham’s command. In all, miles, 4. “ 7.—On Tuesday, we marched from Middlezoy to King’s Sedgmoor where the battle Avas fought, where was delivered to our care and charge the King’s artillery, ammunition and carriages, which we guarded through Walton and Street to Glastonbury, where we hanged on the White Hart sign post six of the rebels, one of them a lieutenant in Mon¬ mouth’s army ; and immediately stripped naked, in which posture they hung there till about 9 o’clock the next morning. This night was an alarm there, that a party of Monmouth’s horse was coming to heat up our quarters. [We lay] in a posture of defence all that night. This night at the White Hart Inn was Major Talbot [slain in a duel] by Captain Love, Marshall-General of the artillery. The quarrel was occasioned by the alarm.^ Major Talbot’s troop was then in Glastonbury. Miles, 8.— Some of the officers of our regiment quartered at Norwood park; more miles 3. In all, miles, 11. “ On Wednesday, we marched with the King’s artillery &c. from Glastonbury through Wells to Philips Norton. There was this day 'This affair, in which Sharing- aforesaid. Evelyn says he was “a ton Talbot Esq. the heir of Lacock worthy gentleman” and “had he- lost his life, arose out of a dispute haved very bravely.” He was the with Captain Love as to the com- son of Sir John Talbot, the same parative conduct of their respective knight we presume who was Ke- men on the occasion of the alarm corder and M.P. of Devizes. Monmouth’s invasion. 319 brought into Wells several of Monmouth’s horses which were taken by the King’s party, and twenty of his carriages and his other field pieces which were taken at Axbridge. This day the Bishop of Winchester preached at Wells, where were present at Church some of the rebel prisoners. After sermon, five were executed of them. It was near mid¬ night ere we could get into our quarters at Philips Norton. Miles, 18. “9.—On Thursday we marched from Philips Norton to the Devizes, where we Avere discharged of our care of the King’s artillery and ammu¬ nition, and left it there to be guarded by the King’s own troops. [Dis¬ tance not stated, but it must have been at least, miles, 18.] “10.—On Friday we lay still at the Devizes for want of orders from the Earl of Pembroke; Colonel Wyndham sending thence a post on purpose for orders to Wilton, he being gone thither, which post brought back no answer. “11.—On Saturday, we marched from the Devizes to Sarum. Miles, 18.” Communicated hy Wadham Wyndham Esq. to the late Mr. Hatcher the historian of Salisbury. A further description of the closing scene, in which the King’s troops come to Devizes to relieve the Militia of the charge of the ammunition, seems to survive in the following memoranda drawn up in 1771 by the late Mr. John Collins of Devizes. If the document really refer to the period in question, the alleged presence of the King himself with his troops must be regarded as an error ; though in all other respects, the circumstantial character of the writer’s state¬ ments bears the aspect of veracity. Its occurs in a letter written to Mr. Edward Poore of Queen’s College, Oxford, purporting to be a history of the Collins’s ancestr}', and now [1859] in the possession of Mr. Cunnington of Devizes. We begin with Mr. Collins’s great grandfather; the account of his two immediate predecessors being amply sufficient for our purpose. “ ITenry Collins, my great grandfather, on account of his religious principles was cited in the Bishop’s Court, where the process went on till it came to an excommunication which actually took place, and he died under excommunication when my grandfather was about sixteen years of age, who gave orders to the sexton to bury his father; but the Rector of the parish forbad it; so the sexton came and brought him word, who said that his father must be buried somewhere, and that if he were not suflered to lie in the Church yard, he would dig a grave and bury him 320 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. in his o-wn garden. The sexton unwilling to loose his perquisites, goes to the Eector and acquaints him with what had passed; and at last obtained leave that he might be buried in what was called the unconse¬ crated ground, if Mr. Collins approved of it; which when my grandfa¬ ther lieard, he very readily acquiesced thereto. Afterwards it became the burial place of others that were strangers or excommunicate, and so had no other consecration than the burial of an excommunicated per¬ son. It is in St. John’s parish Churchyard on the right hand side as you go along the south walk from the steps. John Collins my grand¬ father, after his father’s decease, sold the effects, being the eldest child, apprenticed his sisters, and then himself to the same master to whom his father had, Mr. Jeremiah Williams, a glazier who lived at the corner of Morris’s Lane. In the time of Monmouth’s rebellion, a party of King James’s soldiers were coming to town who had taken a guide to direct them from Lavington to Devizes, who, as well as most men in the Western parts, being disaffected towards the King, had them through New Lane,' a lane about haK a mile on this side of Potterne, in order to have their carriages to Devizes; for the public road that now is, was, since the memory of many now living, only a sack and pack road. But he might have directed them over Potterne-Clay and so along Dog-Ken¬ nel Lane to Devizes. When they were come into the middle of this lane, it being a descent from both ends of it towards the middle where a small stream of water runs across it, the ground being partly swampy and partly clayey, the carriages stuck, which detained them till mid night; and in the confusion the guide eloped ; which gave the inhabi¬ tants of Devizes time to secrete some of their effects. My grandfather hid his vice (which is an instrument to draw the lead that is used to separate the quarrels of window lights) in a dunghill; that, and a dia¬ mond to cut glass being his whole treasure :—then put out his candle, opened his doors and walked about the town. The soldiers continued here about two weeks, and King James with them; his head quarters being at The Pelican, where he dined in public every day. On Sunday, the arms of all the soldiers were grounded in the Hall, with the ammunition and baggage, and no sentry to guard them, being gone to Church. There was some of the common people talked of seizing them for the service of the Duke [of Monmouth] ; hut as nobody attempted it, nothing was done.” And here ends the story of the Duke’s rising, in so far as Devizes was concerned. Neither can we, in spite of Mr. ' This cross road, still known as remainder of the route to Devizes New Lane, branches off as stated lying in consequence through Hart- above from the high road half a moor. The road which Mr. Collins mile from Potterne, and crosses the terms Dog-kennel Lane seems to be valley straight to Furze-Hill; the the present Pan’s Lane. JAMES II. VISITS WILTSHIRE. 321 Collins’ tradition, state with precision at what time his Majesty honoured the town with his first visit. The journal of his ‘Western Progress’ executed in the following year to visit and inspect the scene of conflict, records, it is true, a passage through the town of Marlborough in going, and through Salisbury in returning, but we are compelled to admit that it makes no mention of The Pelican at Devizes. The authorities at Salisbury hearing of his approach, made an order in council, that in consequence of this being his Majesty’s first visit to their city after his coronation, a pre¬ sent of a hundred guineas should bo offered him : and more¬ over that the fees of homage claimed by the King’s officers and servants should be paid them, if demanded,—a proceed¬ ing on the part of the citizens which we are perhaps at liberty to regard as a thing of course, rather than as any unwonted expression of cordiality towards the Sovereign personally; for, on the other hand, it was from Colonel John Wyndham the member for that city that James soon after¬ wards experienced the most emphatic hostility when endea¬ vouring to force through the House his unpopular scheme of a standing arm 5 ^ The princely owner of Wilton House also became, for some reason, obnoxious to the royal disfavour: for though he had just served the Crown with fidelity and spirit against the Duke of Monmouth and was entertaining the Court on the present occasion, he was soon afterwards dismissed from his post of Lord Lieutenant of Wilts. Space must here be found for a parting word in commemo¬ ration of the luckless Duke of Monmouth, who, all unworthy as he was of his noble followers, was nevertheless regarded by them with the most generous and enthusiastic love. Dis¬ covered on the 8th of July, half starved, in a ditch not far from Woodyates Inn, he was conducted to London, and the next week beheaded by an executioner who took five blows to accomplish his bloody task. It is still on record in the town of Hornsey, that when passing through that place on X 322 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. his way to the Metropolis, the Duke stopped at an inn for a glass of hot rum and egg, or some such comforting mixture; when the landlady on handing it up to him, observed, “ Sir, you seem to have a very had cold,”—“ My uncle,” replied the Duke “ will soon find me a cure for that.” For some time after Monmouth’s death it was a favourite belief among his followers that he was still alive, and that a substitute had represented him on the fatal scafibld; a fond hallucination which, so long as it lasted, offered an opportu¬ nity for any impostor to set up in his name. Lord Weymouth writing from Longleat to Sir D. Southwell, 6th Nov. 1686, speaks of a counterfeit Duke of Monmouth who had recently made his appearance at Bradford, and was taken up and compelled to confess the cheat. Lord Macaulay’s version is, that he levied contributions in several villages of Wiltshire; and being apprehended, was whipped from Newgate to Tj^burn. Of the Wiltshire adherents to the Duke’s cause. Captain Adlam, supposed to belong to Warminster, was in a dying state from his wounds when taken to the gallows on the moor the day after the battle. One hundred broad-pieces of gold were found quilted into his buff coat. To render his disgrace more lasting, he had the distinction as an ofiicer, together with three others, of being hung in “ gemmaces ” or irons. Thomas Cram of Warminster, Thomas Place of Edington, and John Worms of Warminster, were, as reputed officers, excepted in the proclamation of pardon : their fate is not mentioned. A letter from Lord Sunderland to the Mayor of Devizes dated 1685 is preserved in the State Paper Office, ordering him to prosecute at the next Assizes Daniel Cutting a prisoner then lying in Devizes, but whether Cut¬ ting’s offence had any reference to the Monmouth rising the warrant makes no mention. “The Bloody Assizes” conducted by Judge Jeffereys, commenced at Winchester, where the aged Lady Lisle was condemned to be burnt for harbouring two of THE NEW BURGESS LIST. 323 the refugees (though her sentence was commuted to behead¬ ing). The scene next shifted to Salisbury, where a few of the rebel Whigs were whipped and imprisoned, but no capital execution took place on political grounds. On the subsequent career of the terrible Judge through the adjoining counties of Dorset, Somerset and Devon, nor on the traces which he left behind him in the spectacle of human heads and limbs, boiled in pitch and elevated on stakes along the high roads, we need not further dilate. Suffice it to say in summary, that the Western folk who so freely fought and so cheerfully fell for their “ Glorious Monmouth did so in the honest belief that they were adopting the only course left open to them by Providence for preserving the Reformed Faith of these Realms; and that it was the simple Protestanism of them, and such as they, which three years afterwards gave to the Revolution its real element of strength. The New Burgess Lists. The one end towards which all James II.’s efforts were constantly directed was, as is well known, the undermining of the Established Church in favour of Romanism. This he ignorantly sought to effect by conciliating (after trampling upon) the Dissenters ; and by proclaiming a general tolera¬ tion for liberty of conscience which should embrace the Romanists. After the seizure therefore of the charters of the English boroughs, already referred to, not only were the names of Catholic gentry inserted in the new Corporation lists, but many Dissenters also found themselves thrust into places of honour and power to which the}' had long ceased to aspire. This was a position which the majority of them felt ' Come mortals come, now set yourselves to weep; Is not your glorious Monmouth gone to sleep ? Send us some tears ye Indians from your shore. For it’s our grief that we can mourn no more.” Such is the commencement of his elegy in The new Martyrohgy or The Bloody Assizes, page 434. X 2 324 HISTORY OF DE\TZES. to be one of extreme difficulty ; for though they had suffici¬ ently smarted during the previous reign under Protestant Tests and Oaths, they scorned, on the other hand, to flatter the abhorred party with whom they now found themselves placed in such unexpected and undesired alliance. It is true that a local document, to be presently quoted, represents the Quakers and the Baptists 'as favourable to James’s views, and the Presbyterians as opposed to them ; but this is merely a general statement pointing to the well-known fact that Presbyterian principles have always to a certain extent re¬ cognized the union of Church and State. The others were for fair play and no favour. But not only were Nonconformists introduced into the Corporations, but the ancient principle that burgess-ship in¬ volved residence in the borough, (a doctrine which still main¬ tained a feeble hold on the municipal mind,) was utterly cast aside. Bishop Burnet tells us, that in respect of the Cornish boroughs, the Earl of Bath, with a view to secure the Groom of the Stole’s place, actually inserted the names of the Officers of the Guards into almost all the charters of that county. Certainly nothing so flagrant as this was practised at Devizes; nor further, would it be fair to infer that all the aristocratic names which garnished the Burgess List at this period repre¬ sented a body of gentry around Devizes who were antago¬ nistic to the English Church. If their influence simply ope¬ rated, here as elsewhere, to neutralize the independence of Borough life, the King’s end was so far answered. Their presence at least indicates the important estimation in which boroughs were then held. Again and again are the auto¬ graphs of the neighbouring gentry inserted in the Corporation books during James’s reign; either as Free Burgesses, or as courtiers who deemed the Devizes Ledger a convenient reposi¬ tory for recording their abhorrence of the Solemn League and Covenant. Thus from among the Free Burgesses we may cull such names as Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir John Talbot, James THE NEW BURGESS LIST. 325 Herbert, the Hon. Henry Bertie, Sir Robert Henley, Sir Giles Hungerford, Richard Lewis, Henry Baynton, Robert Bayn- ton, Sharington Talbot, Walter Grubb, Charles Tucker, John Long, Thomas Brewer, Dauntsey Brounker, and George Johnson, Esquires. [With all this external distinction, a necessity seems to have been felt at this period for some retrenchment in home expenses. In the time of Edward Hope an order is passed, denying any salary in future for Mr. Mayor;—also that the Chamber shall make no payment for the annual dinner, but that the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, shall contribute one shilling and sixpence each, as to an ordinary, and the Capital Burgesses one shilling each:—no salary to be paid to the Chamberlains or sub-bailiffs; and the tolls and pitching- pence heretofore paid to the bailiffs, to be taken into the Corporation’s hands. Sir William Pynsent of Erchfont is thanked for his kindness to the poor of the borough.] That King James was entirely successful in his attempt to render the Devizes vote an expression of his own will in the matter of toleration for all religious creeds, is evidenced by a document preserved in the London Gazette for 1687, entitled “The humble and thankful address of his Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects the Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Devizes, as the same is regulated by his Majesty’s royal mandates.” It begins thus,—“ Most dread Sovereign:—Since we enjoy the benign influence of your Majesty’s gracious Declaration of the 4th of April 1687 in the free exercise of our religion and uninterrupted peace in our rights and pro¬ perties,” &c., and then proceeds to express the thankfulness of the subscribers that his Majesty’s royal heart should thus have been inclined “to assert the Divine prerogative over conscience,”—language which sounds at first rather ambi¬ guous, but evidently means, not that James assumed any control over other men’s consciences, but on the contrary that he disclaimed such a prerogative, on the principle that 326 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. coasoience was amenable only to a divine and therefore not to an earthly tribunal. The writers then, after acknowledg¬ ing the happy fruits and effects flowing from a policy in which the King had surpassed his royal ancestors, conclude by “ assuring him that when he should think fit to convene his great council in Parliament, they would do their utmost endeavours to choose such representatives as might join with his Majesty in a Magna Charta, whereby the Peace of all his Majesty’s subjects in matters of religion should be secured to posterity.” Sheriff Crey. 1687-8. In preference to resorting to printed authorities for the oft-told tale of the events premonitory of the Revolution, we may take advantage in the present instance of an interesting journal of events kept at the time by Mr. George Wansey of Warminster, a member of a family which may almost be styled the hereditary assertors in that district of the princi¬ ples of civil and religious freedom. The account here follow¬ ing begins with the close of 1687. “lu or very near the month of December was Jeremy Crey, the elder, of Horningsham, appointed by the King to be High Sheriff of the County of Wilts, which he by hasting to London thought to evade. But without much money there was little hope of getting off. Besides, the King was resolved he should stand Sheriff, for the King said that he understood Jeremy Crey was an honest man, and of an estate though not one foot of land in Wiltshire, and a Dissenter, which was the main point the King aimed at. So Jeremy Crey had his commission for Sheriff, with a clause Non obstante, which was to excuse him from taking the oaths and the tests by law appointed, and which the King was not willing any of his Sheriffs shoiild take, for this reason, that they might be the more willing and forward to repeal the penal laws and tests, so that every man of what persuasion soever might have free liberty of consci¬ ence. But in this Sheriff the King was mistaken ; for soon after he was made Sheriff, he, as I was informed, at liOngleat took the oaths and tests, and Sacraments so called after the manner of the Church of England so called ; and at the Assizes at Sarum which began the 3rd of March 1687-8 being the seventh day of the week, the day after, this Jeremy Crey that the King took for a Dissenter was at the Cathedral, at the time, as far as I could hear, of their .... service .... though I SHERIFF CREY. 327 believe he had no delight in being there, nor loves them not, nor their service at all: but had been more to be be commended .... and more pleasing to the King, that, as he took him for a Dissenter, so he [should have] shewed himself, as he is I suppose, one in his heart; and not for fear of the frowns of some great men or man to do contrary to his conscience. But I fear he chose rather to be governed by this great man Viscount Weymouth and his own timorous brother, than by that noble principle that would not have us to fear men, and would that all men should enjoy liberty of conscience.* .... “ Great were the endeavours of some men, the latter end of this year 87 and the following year, by printing several pamphlets, to induce the people to choose such men for the ensuing Parliament that might comply with the King in repealing all penal laws and tests; which was strongly opposed by most of the great men and clergy in their meetings designed or accidentally. The Baptists and people called Quakers were generally for it; opposed by the Church of England and Presbyters. “We had news yesterday, being the 27th of August 1688 that writs will be issued out for a Parliament the 18th of the next month and to sit the 27th of November next. But about the 21st of September when the writs were expected and (it was said) were sent to the Lord-Lieute¬ nants, strange news arrived from the Belgian shore, viz., that the Prince of Orange was coming with a great army of horse and foot, of Sweedes, Switzers, English and Scots; which news greatly alarmed the King, who made haste to increase his army, and about the latter end of Septem¬ ber issued out a pardon wherein some were excepted, about nine; and also a Proclamation, wherein we were told that the Prince was coming with an army to invade this Kingdom of England; and also the writs for choosing Parliament men recalled. Ever since have we been alarmed with the coming of the Dutch &c., to this 26th of October 1688, but do not hear they are yet arrived, though expected as ’tis said by the King, whose army is ready to march on first notice of their landing.” [Then follows the account of an Aurora Borealis on the 30th Oct. which in the eyes of many bore a portentous resemblance to the conflict of two armies.] “ The 5th of November 1688 the Prince of Orange landed or began to land his army near Exeter, viz., at Ipsam, Torbay, and Dartmouth; news whereof was soon carried to the King at Whitehall, tho messenger * Canon Jackson’s List of Wilt¬ shire Slierifl's has the following no¬ tice of this gentleman “ 1688. Sir Jeremy Craye, knt. A person of this name founded a charity at Horniugsham in 1698; probably the clothier there who made a large fortune by the invention of an ingenious machine for beating wool. Aubrey's MSS. Craye of Ibslev, Co. Southampton presented in 1729 and 1737 to the Eectory of Sutton Mandeville.” The name occurs in the Etchilhampton parish register in the 17th century. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs mentions Cray, a smith of Bishops Stortford, who was prose¬ cuted for denying the sacrament of the altar, but released by the Lord Cromwell. 328 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. killing seven horses. On the 8th inst. at night we had a party of great men lay in Warminster, about 60 men and about 90 horses, they having about 30 led-horses, with arms and monej^. The next day at night came in a regiment of the King’s commanded by Major General Worden. The 11th, came in the Queen’s regiment of horse and stayed till the 14th; when were expected two regiments more, one ofhorse the other dragoons, and the next day, 200 foot. But the 17th inst. in the evening they had an express to call them away, and marched all night to Sarum. Then were the people in hopes they would not come again; hut the 17th of the same November came in a regiment of horse and dragoons, two troops of the King’s guard and two troops of others. The 18th came in more a regiment of horse, and in all three regiments of foot, one of 21 com¬ panies of Dunbarton’s. The 23rd at night, near about ten, there was a false alarm, when, their guards being out of order, the horse ran away towards the Prince of Orange. Some thought 600 might go away that night. The next day the remainder of the army marched.' The people of Warminster suffered much by this army of the King’s, in eating and spoiling their hay and corn. From Warminster the 29th day of Novem¬ ber 1688 the foot marched to the Devizes, the horse to Marlborough. Divers of the foot captains and officers stayed at Stoke a village six miles from Warminster; and, so deserted, it was late e’er the foot got to Devizes. In the morning, about four, they were ordered to march; but they, finding their officers gone (that is, those of Colonel Kirke’s and those of Trelawney’s) mutinied when they should have marched ; and many of them drew away towards the Prince of Orange; some straggled to their homes.” Further recital of the Wansey manuscript, describing the Prince’s triumphant march through South Wilts and the subsequent events attending King James’s abdication, would be out of place here. We therefore turn to a more domestic scene. Bishop Ken retires to Poulshot. While William at the head of his Dutch guards was advancing through the Western Counties, an eminent person. ' Towards Devizes ? This was in consequence of an order sent from Salisbury by the King or his Gen¬ eral Lord Feversham, who, alarmed at the repeated desertions taking place at the advanced post of War¬ minster, directed Colonel Kirke to fall back upon Devizes; but that officer who was watching his oppor¬ tunity, delayed for awhile on some frivolous excuse to execute the order; and though the infantry did at last march, very few of the offi¬ cers, as Mr. Wansey’s MS. shews, seem to have reached the town. BISHOP KEN RETIRES TO POULSHOT. 329 who has already come under our notice, was taking shelter in the neis-hbourhood of Devizes. This was Thomas Ken the O Bishop of Bath and Wells, who, naturally unwilling to see his sleek Flanders coach-horses enlisted into the invader’s cavalry, carried them all into Wiltshire and retired to Poul- shot rectory, the residence of his nephew the Rev. Isaak Walton, (son, by Ken’s sister, of Isaak Walton the angler.) Although Ken was one of the Six Bishops who had withstood King James’s prosecution in the memorable trial of 1688, he was still a friend to that monarch, and he died a non-juror. His sentiments on this head ai’e sufficiently declared in the following letters written from his temporary retreat. “ To his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, “ 24 November 1688. “ May ir please tour Grace. Before I coaid return any answer to the letter with which your Grace was pleased to favour me, I received intelligence that the Dutch were just coming to Wells; upon which I immediately left the town, and in obedience to his Majesty’s general commands, took all my coach-horses with me and as many of my saddle- horses as I well could, and took shelter in a private village in Wiltshire, intending if his Majesty had come into my country to have waited on him and paid him my duty. But this morning we are told his Majesty is gone back [from Salisbury] to London : bo that I only wait till the Dutch shall have passed my diocese, and then resolve to return thither again, that being my proper station. I would not have left the diocese in this juncture, but that the Dutch had seized horses within ten miles of Wells before I went: and your Grace knows that I, having been a servant to the Princess, and well acquainted with many of the Dutch, ‘ I could not have stayed without giving some occasion of suspicion, which T thought it most advisable to avoid, resolving . ... to continue in a firm loyalty to the King. . . . And I beseech your Grace to lay my most humble duty at his Majesty’s feet and to acquaint him with the reason of my retiring, that I may not be misunderstood. My very good lord; Your Grace’s very afiectionate servant and brother. “ Thomas, Bath and Wells.” “ Good Mrs. Gregge. If you hear any thing from my friends, direct your letter, not to me but to Mr. Isaak Walton, Rector of Poulshot, to be left at the Post-house in Devizes ; for to his house I am now going for ' He had in early life been chaplain to the Princess of Orange in Holland. 330 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. some time, partly for my health, partly to avoid that cloud under which I lie, and chiefly from my brethren .... as having done all that is proper for me to do, to assert my character ; the doing of which has created me many enemies, as I expected it would. My brother G-- is, I hear, out of harm’s way in Wales at the present, but I have heard nothing from him. My best respects to my good mother and to dear Miss, who I doubt not behaves herself with all decency and piety and humility, as becomes not only the daughter of a Bishop but a Bishop in affliction. Dr. Kidder is now said to be my successor, or rather supplan- ter. He is a person of whom I have no knowledge. Your very affectionate friend “ Thomas, Bath and Welds.” Ken spent the remainder of his life principally at Longleat in a circle of affectionate friends, comprising, among others, Thomas Thynne first Viscount We 3 '’mouth ; his lordship’s son Henry and his two grand daughters, Mary, and Frances the future Lady Hartford of Marlborough castle; Elizabeth Singer the daughter of a dissenting minister of Frome, but better known as Mrs. Howe; and Mr. Harbin the domestic chaplain and a sturdy non-juror. After the accession of Queen Anne, the Bishop was repeatedly urged to attempt the recovery of his lost diocese, his successor, Kidder, being equally ready to favour the plan by accepting a translation for himself. But Ken’s growing infirmities combined with his scruples of conscience to deter him from a return to public life: he was moreover in the enjoyment of a pension from the Queen. In November 1703 a fearful hurricane of wind, known as the “ Great Storm ” swept over the Island. Daniel De Foe in his striking account of the visitation esti¬ mates the damage done to property at four millions. Ken who during that dreadful night was sleeping at his nephew’s house on Poulshot Green, relates the following incident in a letter to Mrs. Hannah Lloyd. “ The house being searched the following day, the workmen found that the beam which supported the roof over my head was shaken out to that degree that it had but half an inch to hold, so that it was a wonder it could hold together.” Within a fevt^ days the ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES. 331 intelligence reached him that part of his old residence, the Episcopal palace of Bath and Wells, had fallen a prey to the elements, and that Kidder and his wife were both buried in the ruins. What rendered the catastrophe at Wells the more striking was the fact that though the spectators of the cala¬ mity were just then augmented in number by the occurrence of a fair in that city, yet Kidder and his wife were the only sufferers.* Ecclesiastical changes. Among the political narratives which have occupied the few preceding pages, one subject has hitherto been almost ignored,—viz., the religious life of the community as out¬ wardly affected by the changes in the Government, from the days of Cromwell down to the period of King William’s Toleration. This cycle may now therefore be briefly reviewed in sequence. The points to be noticed are, the ejectment of parish incumbents, the origin of nonconformity, and the persecution of the people called Quakers; the geographical circle embraced being, as far as may be, confined to the Hun¬ dred of Potterne and Cannings. * At Salisbury, nearly all the trees in the Close fell flat. The register of Collingbourn Ducis has the fol¬ lowing memorandum. “Saturday 27 November 1703. At two in the morning arose a terrible tempest. Few places in England suflered more than the parsonage here. One long barn blown down; all the rest of the barns, outhouses, stables, and ricks, unthatched; and the dwel¬ ling house uncovered. The lead on the chancel was shrivelled up like a scroll, and the tower and the body of the church much damnified.” The account closes by saying that provi¬ dentially, “ both man and beast escaped all manner of hurt in these parts.” The writer is William Sherwin, rector, who further notifies on 27 November 1704 that his owm repairs will amount to £170. This register also records the remarkable fact that the winter of 1702-3 that is to say, the winter preceding the Great Storm, had been so mild that fever prevailed at Collingbourn during the following summer. And on the 1st of April 1705 the follow¬ ing weather memorandum occurs. “ The rivulet rising at Burbage and passing through the Colling- bourns sometimes as far as Salisbury did not run last winter, the previous year having been dry.” Collectanea Top. et Gen. 332 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Rowde. The vicar in 1646 presented by Sir Edward Baynton in 1628 was Timothy Richards a Presbyterian, who appears to have removed in 1660 (at the Restoration) to the church of Bromham. Bromham. Robert Richards the incumbent in 1646 was also a Presbyterian.^ This village was the birth-place of a Church dignitary who fell a sacrifice to the Irish Catholic Rebels in 1641, just be¬ fore the War in England; viz. Greorge Webb Bishop of Limerick. He was, first, vicar of Steeple Ashton, then rector of St. Peter and St. Paul at Bath. At Court, where he was one of King Charles’s chaplains, he was regarded as the best preacher, his style being elegant and pure. He published sermons and school-books; also a translation of the two first Comedies of Terence. His portrait, engraved by Thomas Slater, prefaces his “Practice of Quietness.” When the Irish Rebellion broke out, he fell a victim to gaol fever in the castle of Limerick, where the Catholics had shut him up. Bromham moreover witnessed the birth and death of the Rev. William Hughes M.A. of New Inn Hall Oxford, vicar of Marlborough St. Mary during the Commonwealth. After being silenced by the Act of Uniformity, he for awhile kept a school at Marlborough, but the operation of the “ Five mile Act ” drove him at last to the seclusion of his native village, where he ended his days in 1687. Of his children, John married Jane daughter of Isaac Burgess, Esq. SheriflT of the county in 1658, and became eminent as a man of let¬ ters, being associated with Addison and Sir Richard Steele in the publication of the Spectator, Tatler, and Guardian, and himself the writer of poems and a tragedy called “The Siege of Damascus.” Another native of Bromham who went out in 1662 was Nathaniel Webb the rector of Yatesbury. Having an estate ' 1646 is mentioned because it was the period of a Presbyterian mani¬ festo, which defined 78 of the Wiltshire incumbents as of that persuasion. ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES. 333 at Bromham h.e retired hither, and continued the practice of preaching, principally at Caine. Bishops Cannings. The composition papers furnish the following scanty documents. “24th July, 1646. Mr. William Temple is become tenant to the State for all the tythes of Bishops Cannings called “ Cannings Portion” for one year ending 25 March next, at £35. He is to discharge all payments and the usual old-rent formerly paid to the Dean and Chapter.”—“ Mr. Aid worth a Parliament man took up this rent.”—“27 July. Mr. William Ernie of Chalbury in Dorset is become tenant to the State for the year ending 25 March next, for a “Portion” of tythes in Horton tything belonging to Bishops Cannings, at £35.”—“ Mr. Aldworth a Parlia¬ ment man took up this rent.” The following order has no date nor any intimation by whom it was issued. “ Upon hearing the debate between Mr. llichard Aldworth a member of Parliament and the Committee of Wilts touching the possession and interest of the Rectory of Bishops Cannings which the said Mr. Aldworth claimeth by or under a lease from the late Dean and Chapter of Sarum for divers years determinable upon three lives, viz. three of the Doughties, brothers-in-law to Aldworth, two of them being dead, and the third, Richard, now in question whether alive or dead, he having been long in parts beyond sea :—Resolved, That it be referred to a trial at law at the next Salisbury Assizes ; wherein one John Lewis by the nomination of the Wilts Committee in behalf of the State, to'be plaintiff; and Richard Aldworth or such as he shall name, be defendant, in an action of trespass. [Six lines illegible] the only point to be insisted on, whether Richard Doughty be alive or dead ; —that the Sheriff bo required to return an indifl'erent jury, that the cause may receive a fair and full trial. In the meantime, the former order of this Committee to be obeyed by the Wiltshire Committee, who, upon hearing of their answers to the matters objected against them, are discharged of any contempt touching the same “ John Wilde.” The Devizes Churches. Carrying this subject on from page 261, it remains to say that on the 29th of April 1652 Henry John.son M.A. was presented, on the death of John Sheppard; and two years later the following inquisition was reported as to the state of the living. “In Devizes there is one vicarage with cure of souls;—number of families in both parishes 485. The vicarage is worth £9 10s. 4d. per an¬ num : the rest dependeth on the good will of the inhabitants. Mr. Henry Johnson the incumbent, a diligent preacher once 334 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. a Lord’s day at each church, was invested 29 April 1652. Two augmentations were granted in 1646 of £50 per annum to each church; £30 of which presently fell away and was never paid. £70 per annum was paid for some time, but soon after £30 more fell away. But £50 was still paid till about eighteen months back by Richard Phelps of New Sarum; but is now detained, for what reason we know not.” Kite’s Churches of Devizes. When Charles II.’s Act of Uniformity passed, Mr. John¬ son saw no reason for withholding his subscription, and therefore remained in undisturbed possession of the Devizes rectory. After all, it was but a poor living, and we are not surprised therefore to find him about the same time urging that long unadjusted claim on the (once) crown-lands of the Park, which it was left to a Rector of our own day to esta¬ blish (the Rev. E. J. Phipps). In Trinity term 14th Charles II. an action of debt was commenced in the Court of King’s Bench by Mr. Johnson, through John Horton his attorney, against William Powell an owner and occupier of 30 acres of land and 29 acres of meadow in the Old Park, to recover the sum of £180 being the treble value of the tythes abstracted, according to the Statute; but on trial at the Wilts Assizes, a special jury returned a verdict in favour of the defendant, Powell, This period, though styled the 14th of Charles II., was in reality very soon after the Restoration; and as so many pulpits were now vacated, it seems a reasonable con¬ jecture that the Devizes Rector found compensation in the chapelry of Alton in 1661 and the church of Stanton St. Bernard in 1662, for in both these cases “Henry Johnson” is the name of the presentee. He died in 1681, and was buried in St. Mary’s Church, Devizes, where a black tablet erected in the Chancel recorded his name and labours,[till the recent alterations in the fabric of that church in 1854. The tablet was then laid prostrate to serve as one of the flag stones in the Nave. Mr. Edward Kite, in order to rescue ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES. 335 the epitaph from that total obliteration to which it seems now to be doomed, caused it to be printed in the Wilts Archaeo¬ logical Magazine. The Nonconfoemists. But if Devizes was not the scene of any ejectment by the Act of Uniformity, it became, in consequence of that mea¬ sure, the asylum or occasional resort of several ministers turned out of other parishes, all of whom continued more or less to occupy the position of preachers. Of these may be mentioned,— First, William Gough (or Goffe) of Queen’s Col¬ lege Cambridge, Rector of Inkpen, who after being silenced in 1662 retired to Earl Stoke probably to be near his father Edward Gough who continued-to be Rector of Great Chi- verel, after the Act. William Gough’gave weekly lectures at Devizes in rotation with two or three other places, but eventually settled in Marlborough where he died at the age of 66. Secondly. Timothy Sacheverell, ejected from the rec¬ tory of Tarrant Hinton in Dorsetshire (great-uncle to the Dr. Henry Sacheverell of Queen Anne’s days). After residing for awhile at one of the Winterbourns, he came on to Devizes in 1672 when his wife established a boarding school for young ladies, which proved so flourishing a concern that it enabled her husband thenceforward to preach without emo¬ lument. His presence in the town was at first somewhat resented by the Rector Mr. Johnson, but courteous concession at last paved the way to a better mutual understanding. It was the practice with many of the ejected to abstain from preaching during the time of Church service, a practice of course soon broken through. Thirdly. Benjamin Flower ejected either from Castle Combe or Cardiff) son of Benjamin Flower of Castle Combe, a deceased minister. After the Re¬ storation of royalty he retired to Chippenham, where and at Devizes he continued to superintend Baptist churches till his death in 1709, at the age of 82, or, according to Palmer 86, when he was succeeded in Devizes by Mr. Chauncey, (followed 336 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. by Mr. John Filkes?‘) It was Mr. Flower’s own belief that be had outlived all his ejected brethren. Perhaps he would have resided nearer to Devizes but for the penalties attached to the Five-mile Act, for there seems reason to think that his connexion with the town arose from old relationship. It is at least certain that many persons of this name are memo¬ rialised on the monuments within St. Mary’s Church, Devizes; Flower was a Potterne family, as shewn in the Visitation Lists published in the Wilts Magazine by F. A. Carrington, Esq.; and John Flower (of AVorton?) was Sheriff in 1705. Fourthly. Obadiah Willis, M.A. ejected from Alton Barnes, became an occasional minister to a congregation at Devizes, preaching alternately with Mr. Frawlings of Heddingtoh. Lastly, John Frawlings whom the Parliament had placed at Compton Chamberlain but who as a matter of course went out at the Pestoration. He then settled in his native village of Heddington near Devizes. Continuing alternatively with Mr. Willis above mentioned to preach to a small congregation at Devizes till his death in 1688 at the age of 80, when Mr. Gough preached his funeral sermon. Towards the close of his life he had become blind, but unwilling to abandon his ' The following list of some of Mr. kinswoman Mrs. Merewether niece Filkes’ published works may here to the deceased.”—A sermon on the find place :—A funeral sermon death of Joseph Anstie son of Mr. preached in Devizes on the death of Richard and Elizabeth Anstie of Samuel Wright of Daventry, who Devizes, 10 January 1717.—A new died at Devizes 22 August 1711. years gift, or a Letter from a father inscribed “ To my particular and to his son, 1 January 1715.—A honoured friends Joseph and Benj a- bound collection of four of the above, min Wright gent.”—A sermon on formerly in the possession of Miss the death of Joseph Wright of Coward, has the autographs of J ohn Devizes, gent., who died 4 March Filkes sen., Samuel Filkes, and 1712; dedicated “To my near James Filkes. Mr. Filkes, it is be- and honoured kinswoman Mrs. lieved, married Anne (who died Sarah Wright”—A sermon on the 1726) only daughter of John Long death of Mrs. Sarah Wright of Esq. of Bath. Burke's Commoners Devizes, widow, who died 8 June iv. 68. 1714; dedicated “To my honoured THE NONCONFORMISTS. 337 ministerial work, he continued to execute his periodical visits to this town by the aid of a person who led his horse (over Roundway Down ?) Thus out of the 2000 ministers cast out of the Establish¬ ment by the Act of Uniformity, and forced by that measure into the attitude of Dissent, five, if not more, and these nearly contemporary, became visitants in Devizes, and to a great extent the founders of nonconformity in the town. Not entirely so; for a separate congregation of Baptists had un¬ doubtedly existed from the time of the war. The Webb MSS. speak of a “ good old Puritan woman” “ Dame Freme,” as she was called, who with her husband were the two first persons that set up a meeting at Devizes, (it was thought, in Oliver’s days,) in a room in their own house, and were survi¬ ving during the youthful days of the writer of the MSS. This writer was Thomas Webb, cloth manufacturer of Devizes, born in the year 1672, and a member of the com- munit}" so long presided over by the venerable Benjamin Flower. His memoirs (the fragment at least which has sur¬ vived the destruction of the major part) contain a variety of details having reference to his immediate friends, but not exactly suitable to these pages. It may suffice to say of him, that his wife’s maiden name was Bailey; that his own ances¬ tors whom ho describes as “ respectable people,” were all interred in the chancel of St. Mary’s Church ; that his grand¬ father Richard Webb “ built that great house at the lower end of St. Mary’s street and parish, and died October 1680 in the 97th year of his ageand that for himself, experien¬ cing but little success in business at Devizes, he removed with his family to London in the year 1711 where he became intimate with Daniel De Foe the author of Robinson Crusoe. In a recent life of De Foe, old honest Thomas Webb is de¬ scribed as one of Daniel’s few steady friends to the last. They had proved one another’s friendship in adversity. Webb, after relating what he himself had suffered by the death of his y 338 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. wife, goes on to tell us who it was that comforted and conso¬ led him,—“And poor distressed I, left alone, and no one to go and speak to, save only Mr. De Foe, who hath acted a noble and generous part towards me and my poor children.” Forster’s De Foe, page 146. Joseph Allein. The name conspicuous above all others connected with Devizes at that era, is undoubtedly that of Joseph Allein the Divine, traditionally reported to have been born in the house next to the Poultry Market (now 1859, occupied by Mrs. Earle,) A.D. 1633. His father Toby Allein, already mentioned at p. 277, see alsop. 258, a most worthy man, died about 1670, it is believed, in his son’s house, the family having long previously left Devizes, where they seem to have sunk in their circum¬ stances. Sundry letters addressed by Joseph Allein to two of his nieces who went to Barbadoes suggests further that the family became scattered in the world. They were undoubt¬ edly to a great extent dependant on Joseph’s liberality. Of Mr. Toby Allein’s children, Edward an elder son became a clergyman, but dying eaidy, seemed to leave open to his brother Joseph a field to which the latter was not long in aspiring and worthily occupying. At sixteen he went to Lincoln College Oxford, but soon after removed to Corpus Christ! to occupy a Wiltshire scholarship then recently become void; and in his twenty-first year became curate to George Hewton the minister of St. Margaret’s^Church Taunton. This was in 1655. Here he continued till his principal and himself were both ejected by the Act of Uniformity in 1662; but though ejected he was not silenced, and continuing to labour incessantly in the work of preaching he was cast into prison in May 1663. This was his fate on two occasions, and the atmosphere of the gaols, combined with his extraodinary labours, soon destroyed a constitution which at one time seemed incapable of fatigue. In the summer of 1665 he came to JOSEPH ALI.EIN. 339 Devizes to try the Seend waters, and seemed to be somewhat revived, hut a second use of them in 1666 produced, it was thought, a contrary elSect, see page 307. Recourse was then had to the Rath waters, but he rapidly sank, and died at the early age of 35, in November 1668, and wa.s buried in St. Margaret’s Chui-ch, where the following inscription marks his tomb. “ Hic JACET DoJIINTTS JoSEPUTTS AlLEINE HOT.OCAESTEM Tatjntonienses et Deo et vobis.” His devoted wife, who was also his principal biographer, bore the name of Theodosia, and it is conjectured, was the daughter of Richard Allein the minister of Bridgewater.* Joseph Allein’s published works were not numerous ; the only one now popularly known, being his “Alarm to the Uncon¬ verted.” We conclude the account of his character by an extract from Dr. James Hamilton’s Christian Classics. “ Joseph Allein with his excellent constitution and amazing activity, with his clear and comprehensive views of the Gos¬ pel, and with an address remarkably tender, endearing, and subduing: with a love to the Saviour which often kindled to rapture, and with a longing after the souls of his people which was offended by no rebuffs and which renewed its endeavours after every refusal :—It was a wonderful change which the seven yeai’S of this young evangelist’s labours effected on the society of Taunton. And it is a wonderful amount of good which has been accomplished since his death by the solemn and pathetic appeals contained in his A to the Unconverted. As one example it may be mentioned that towards the close ' A clock belonp:ing to the Allein family is still in the hands of sup¬ posed descendants, (not descendants from the Divine for he had none.) For many years this clock was the property of the Eev. John Bailey vicar of Chilthorne in Somerset and St. Meryn’s in Cornwall, who died in 1857 at the age of 89. Mr. Bailey’s great grandmother was a Miss Allein: such at least is the belief of the family; there is no doubt his grandfather Jesser often said to him,“ John, never part with that clock unless you want bread.” [Inthe Herald’s M'ilts Visitations it is said that the Alleins came out of Sutfolk and dwelt in Caine.] Y 2 340 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of the last century, a minister more eminent for scholarship than for fervour, repeated the substance of its successive chapters to his Highland congregation, as he was engaged in translating the work for some society, and the result was a wide-spread awakening which long prevailed in the dis¬ trict of Nether Lorn.” History of the People called Quakers or Friends IN Devizes. But of all the Nonconformists, none suffered so severely as the Quakers. This arose from their objection to the use of an oath; whereby it came to pass that the taking of Tests and the Oath of Supremacy, an agency ostensibly levelled against Romanism, though palatable enough to a Presbyterian, was impossible to a Quaker; and could at any time therefore be wielded as an instrument to call in question his allegiance, when no other charge lay against him. [The authorities for the following statements are the Lives of Penn, Fox, Storey, and others—Sewell’s History of the Friends—Bisse’s Suffer¬ ings—and records preserved at Melksham.] As these pages are designed to be the repository of histori¬ cal facts rather than of theories, the story of the Friends must be limited to the outward manifestations of their civic life; such as their passive resistance to tythes and their active spirit of proselytism ; their faultless lives and their baptism of suffering. Their’s was at least the most innocent of all innovations ; nor is it possible for Englishmen to review without a sentiment of affectionate respect an exhibition of truth which, in that age of stern thought, could find embo¬ diment, not in the night-mared visions of Dutch mysticism, nor in the scandalous presumptions of Muggletonians, nor in the usurping demands of the false prophet, but in the life of “ the holy, tender-hearted, much-enduring George Fox.” Fox’s peregrinations through this county generally led him to Slaughterford, Marlborough, and to Oare near Pew- HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS. 341 sey, but be rarely if ever passes through Devizes or Salisbury. Much interest attaches to the Quaker history of Marlborough where they had the countenance of William Hitchcock and Isaac Burgess the Sheriff. Mr. Burgess, it is true, never could bring himself openly to profess their doctrines; and when at last it became his duty to proclaim King Charles II., he must have felt that his own power of protection had pas¬ sed away for ever. William Penn the other Apostle of Quakerism, who comes next to George Fox, may almost be said to belong to this county, the Penns having been seated in and about Braden Forest in North Wilts from time imme¬ morial, though William Penn himself was born in the parish of St. Katharine near the Tower of London. The earliest instance of oppression connected with the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings belongs to the year 1656, being the second year of Cromwell’s Protectorate, when Tho¬ mas Withers of Bishops Cannings was apprehended by a constable at Market Lavington (probably for holding a meeting there) dragged into an ale-house where he was kept till the next morning, and then committed by a justice of the peace to the county gaol. Two neighbours becoming bail for his appearance at the Assizes, he was released, but at his trial was sentenced to further imprisonment. (Six months?) During his incarceration, an estreat came out against his two bailers, a process which cost them more than £18. In 1657 another member of this family, viz., Ralph Withers, also of Bishops Cannings, was taken up in Marlborough for attending a meeting there, and committed to prison by the Mayor on the charge of being “ a vagabond,” though his habitat was well known. During the same year, John Paker of the Lea, for addressing the parish priest during service hours, had three months in the House of Correction at Devizes. In 1658 Samuel Noyes for a similar offence committed in Erchfont Church, where Mr. Christopher Hindley was preaching, was committed by William Yorke a neighbouring Justice, and 342 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. refusing to pay the required fine of £5, had in like manner three months in Devizes Gaol. TVilliam Moxon of Marden, resisting a demand of £4 for tythe, suffered the loss of £15 worth of goods taken from him. But the story of Moxon’s controversy with the Vicar of Marden, "William Gunn, is far too long for insertion here. It extends over the whole period from Oliver’s time till the arrival of William of Orange. It may strike some with surprise that these instances (to which others of far greater enormity might be added) should belong to the reign of the Protector, but it arose from the fact that the early Friends in their headlong crusade against corruption, were attacking the usages of past ages, and found the main object of their hostility, viz. the tythe system, in a principle which continued to flourish in Oliver’s time for the simple reason that there was no other recognised form of ministerial support. To the Iconoclasts of material forms, it mattered not whether the incumbents of the parish pulpits were of the (so called) “scandalous and insuAhcient” order, or whether they had creditably passed the ordeal of the “Triers;” the system of emolument was in both the same, and alliance with the local magistracy gave to both the aspect of oppressors. But though the Quakers found plenty to war with and to suffer for, even during the Commonwealth, it was after all the brightest period of their history. Their societies budded in every corner of the land; and it is a question whether alarm at the rapid spread of their opinions aided by the writings of John Milton, was not at last the principal impulse which gave to a majority of the ministers so remarkable a unanimity in calling home the King. To the events of that reign we must now advance. 1660. On the 3rd of August Isaac Self, sen. of Market Lavington was arrested at the suit of John Merewether the lay impropriator, for £40 tythes, and lay in prison more than HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS. 343 six years;' and William Bartlett of the same place remained in the County gaol till his death. 1661. In January, John May of Devizes, a gunsmith, having in his shop some arms belonging to the trained bands, a party of horse came and seized him and the arms, and car¬ ried him before the Mayor, who after going through the ac¬ customed form of tendering the Oath of Allegiance, committed him till the Assizes. At the same time were taken up at Devizes for attending Quaker Meetings, Robert West, Robert Sumner, Alexander Cuttine, and Mary Coole; and the fol¬ lowing were carried before John Ernie of Bourton, viz. John Fry, Arthur Estmead, John Hickman, and John Tyball, all of Caine. During the same year, Robert Stephens of Rowde, taken at a meeting at Lavington, was sent by Justice Richard Lewis to Fisherton, where he lay till two neighbours oflered bail. At the Assizes, no offence being alleged, his bail was nevertheless retained for a second appearance, to which he also answered. An estreat now issued forth against his bail in the sum of £60, to prevent the execution of which he found it necessary to pay a quietus of £12. Eight years after, an under-sheriff said he had an estreat against him for non-appearance, but Stephens having a copy of his discharge staved off both this and another attemjjt next year. [At a meeting of the Society several years after, viz. in 1682, Thomas Gerrish and Edward Bezer are directed to obtain an account of the sufferings of Robert Stephens of Rowde and of Richard Joyner of Worton, and to transmit the report to London]. At Marden, in the house of William Moxon, a group of friends, to wit, John Bezer, Samuel Noyes, Edward Luffe of Chiverell, and Ralph Withers of Cannings, being ‘ The family of Self was of good 1690 Isaac Self of Beanacre married standing in the county. They were Penelope second daughter of John seated at Beanacre, which the Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Shen- Methuens afterwards inherited hy field, intermarriage with the Selfs. In 344 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. gathered for the amicable adjustment of some difficulty, were assaulted by a party armed with pikes, and carried before a Justice, who ordered them to produce sureties for their reap¬ pearance. Unconscious of any crime, they refused compli¬ ance, and were committed for contumacy. 1662. John Bezer of Bishops Cannings being at a friend’s house in Devizes, and Ralph Withers waiting near in the street, they were both apprehended by Samuel Phelps and Richard Hillier and brought before the Justices William Yorke and John Kent, who remanded them till the next quarter sessions. After being again remanded by Judge Hyde and compelled to lie many weeks in gaol with common felons, they were at last indicted for meeting with force and arms, and the affair ended by the visitation of their houses by a bailiff who possessed himself of £8 worth of their wear¬ ing apparel. About the same time Thomas Withers and John Hudden of Chiverell were severally fined twenty shillings for coming into court with their hats on. Samuel Noyes was also brought again before the Devizes magistrates, who asked if he would promise to discontinue the meetings at his house. On his refusal, they committed him for some months. George Keith whose life and labours were published in 1699, recording a missionary tour through this county, says he met with civil treatment at Devizes, Caine, and Chippen¬ ham. Another itinerant named Thomas Bi’iggs of Cheshire, who made many converts in Salisburj^ was with John Brath- waite incarcerated in that city. This was before the Restora¬ tion. Travelling in Wales about the same time, he was assailed by a constable, who, in his zeal to stop the Quaker from preaching, tore off half his coat. A by-stander, more humane than his fellows, brought it back, but Thomas Briggs left the other half also, as a witness against them. Ashamed of their conduct they then stitched the coat together and sent it to a Friend’s house. Returning into Wiltshire some time after the Restoration, he appointed, in concert with J. HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS. 345 Moon [of FovantP] a meeting to take place near Devizes. A large number attended; but two Justices hearing of the congregation, came and broke it up: and having taken the names of most of those present, allowed them to go free, except Moon, Briggs, and three others, whom they committed to the House of Correction for three months. Here their Christian carriage so won upon the gaoler that he began to soften down, and in a little time even allowed their holding meetings in the prison. In the meantime, one of the Justices, whose design, (so Briggs came to understand) was to tender the Oaths at the expiration of the three months, having occasion to go to London, died on his return : so the prisoners escaped this second ordeal. The relenting spirit of those in power signalized itself in 1671 by the “Declaration of Indulgence,” in pursuance of which several Quakers were discharged from Fisherton Gaol, viz., Walter Penn, John Kingham, John Leonard, John Smith, Jane Self, Henry Long, John Miller, Robert Button, Edward Guy, John Gaine, Isaac Self, James Eve, and Edward Marshall; mostly of Lavington. Notwithstanding the above Declaration of Indulgence, a reactionary feeling soon manifested itself among some of the more isolated of the country magistracy; and it so happens that the dishonourable pre-eminence in opening a new cam¬ paign against the Quakers belongs to the county of Wilts, where the persecution of Thomas Please in 1674 led to a letter of expostulation addressed by William Penn to the committing justice. But the so-called Popish plot of 1678 filled up their cup of misery, by furnishing a renewed op¬ portunity for driving on a general persecution. William Penn himself, being by some scandal-mongers reported as a Jesuit and a Papist, his friends experienced the same prose¬ cutions in the Exchequer as did the Romanists, viz. for penalties of £20 a month for absence from the Established form of worship, or of two-thirds of their estates for the like 346 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. offence, though there was actually no existing law against them as Quakers. Some of the first to suffer in this neish- O bourhood were—Eoger Wheeler of Potterne, blacksmith, prosecuted in the Eccelesiastical Court for not receiving the Sacrament, excommunicated and cast into prison—Ralph Withers of Bishops Cannings, excommunicated at the suit of a Proctor, and imprisoned without any citation or present¬ ment that he knew of; his offence being that he had married otherwise than as the Liturgy directed,—William Withers received from John Methuen Lord of the Manor of Bishops Cannings a notice to quit his copyhold estate; (whether executed or not, unrecorded.) In his letter of complaint to the Society he says it was a considerable copyhold estate left him by his father, and that he himself had long continued to be periodically presented by the homage as tenant. The manor belonging to the See of Sai’um, had been farmed out to John Methuen who, it was admitted, had in some cases favoured the Friends and even allowed them to enjoy their estates without the customary forms of swearing; but as he (Withers) could not swear fealty, a declaration of ejectment had now been sent him, to which he must appear and try the cause at Sarum. [Mr. Methuen perhaps was not a free agent in the matter.] The sufferings of the Friends in this county wei’e as nothing compared with what they underwent in Bristol, where, as they were led along the streets in droves to prison, the populace were encouraged to pursue them with ex¬ ecrations, to tear from the women their scarfs and kerchiefs, and in derision to the men, to pluck from their heads those hats which they showed so strong a tendency to retain. In Wiltshire, some of them found friends among the local magistracy, whose protection would be extended in the following form. “1682. Wilts. May it please your Majesty. We whose names are underwritten, being Justices of the Peace and other gentlemen of the County of Wilts, do hereby humbly certify that Israel Noyes of Caine, HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS. 347 serge-maker; Arthur Estmead of the same, woollen draper; John Harris of Goatacre, elothier; prosecuted at the Exchequer as popish recusants, are of peaceable aud quiet behaviour, and do not give disturbance to the Government, and are not reputed papists nor popish recusants, but are some of the Dissenters called Quakers in the said countj’; as witness our hands. James Long, George Johnson, Walter Norborne, William Duckett, Henry Chivers.” In order to avert the pressure of the Oath of Allegiance, Penn drew up a Memorial which he read in person to the Commons, praying that the simple word of the Quakers might be accepted in proof of their fealty. A quarterly meeting of the Friends at Devizes on the 1st of April 1678, though prior in date, seems also to bear reference to the same subject. It was then and there resolved that two delegates should be sent from Wiltshire to London; and the persons selected were Charles Marshall of Titherton and Ralph Withers of Cannings. The deputies present at Devizes on that occasion were: from Marlborough, William Hitchcock and Daniel Smith:—from Purton, John Gardner:—from Charlecot, Charles Marshall and Edward Jeffrey:—from Lea and Brinkworth, John Stockham and Edward Edwards:— from Caine, Israel Noyes, William Tyler and William Sa¬ vage:—from Heddington, none:—from BromhamandRowde, Benjamin Shell and Robert Stephens:—from Kyngton, John Gingell:—from Chippenham, Marmaduke Roberts, John Husday, and Adam Gouldney:—from Slaughterford and Corsham, John Davis and Walter Edwards:—from Shaw- hill and Melksham, none:—from Comerwell, William Stovey and John Drew:—from Westbury, none:—from Warminster, none:—from Alderbury and Fovant, George Harris, James Abbot and William Isaacs:—from Lavington, Isaac Self and Richard Few:—from Devizes, Samuel Noyes, John Clark, and John Bezer. Persecution again broke out in Devizes on the 22nd of October 1682 when Bartholomew Lacy of Salisbury being discovered at a meeting here, was reported by the Mayor of 348 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Devizes to the Mayor of Salisbury, who thereupon paid a visit to Lacy’s domicile and carried off £4 worth of goods. During the same month a meeting in Devizes was broken up by constables in the house of John Clark the younger, and distresses levied for fines to the following amounts, John Clark in goods £17., Edward Gilbert £6., Joseph Bartlett £4 10s., and Joseph Cornwell 12 shillings. Informers took out of another meeting in Devizes Mary and Martha Dnderwood of Potterne, and caused them to endure eight weeks incarceration. On the 31st of October 1683, William Coole, Charles Wheeler, Joseph Bartlett, and Margaret Bartlett were had up before the Mayor, Eecorder, and other Magistrates, who demanded sureties for their good behaviour. The prisoners replied that they had done nothing to bring them into bonds, and the result was a committal of all four to the Bridewell to await the next sessions. Eight weeks having elapsed, and the winter coming on, the Magistrates relented, and dismissed the case. Another sufferer in Devizes was a preacher named William Stovey of Hilperton, whose prosecution cost him 43 sheep. The same names appear again and again. Once out of gaol, they soon got in again. In February 1685 a meeting at Bromham was broken up by Gilbert Talbot and Sharington Talbot, and among those taken, were Jane Shell of Eowde, Mary Martin of Bishops Cannings, and Martha and Mary Sumner of Seend. On refusing the oath, they were all sent off to prison, where Jane Shell died; and the rest were released by Judge Montague at the Salisbury Assizes. This closes the reign of Charles II.: but Penn had already, before this event, with a view to furnishing an asylum for his brethren, concluded his treaty with the Government for securing Pen- sylvania, and had drawn up his new plan of empire.^ He '■ A letter from Thomas Paskell of Pensylvania to Ms friend J. J. of Chippenham, giving a glowing ac¬ count of the new country and of Penn’s reception there, was printed in 1683. The following letter wMch was furnished by Mr. Mullings of Cirencester, has been conjectured on HISTORY OF THE QUAKERS. 349 was back again in this country, during the reign of James II., and became as is well known one of the most influential of that King’s advisers, and the able advocate of his own immediate friends. King William’s Toleration followed, and with that, the long period of comparative peace and pros¬ perity which has since half-cheated the Quakers out of their martyr-honours. From the memoirs of Thomas Storey a north-country Quaker, many particulars of local interest belonging to the early part of the 18th century might be culled, but they must be limited to his allusions to two conspicuous families, the Bevans of Melksham, and the Dickensons of Monks Park. Of Thomas Bevan, senior and junior, one or both removed to Devizes and were succeeded by a son Roger Bevan, the kins¬ man we presume of John Bevan the joint founder in 1775 of the first Bank opened in Devizes. The elder Thomas Bevan was Storey’s particular friend: so also was Caleb Dicken¬ son of Monks, of whose decease by the gout he writes in slender grounds to have been writ¬ ten to Mr. Locke of Devizes. “ Esteemed Sir. I hear that your sister who bought land in this country is dead, which does cause me to trouble you with the reading of this paper. Sir, she employed me (by her earnest desire), to take up and cause to be surveyed for her use 500 acres in the wilderness here: which I did; and built a little house thereon to secure it from any re- fiurvey to others, which I did many years. At length the fire of the woods burnt the house, and the land is taken and possessed by others, so that I cannot now take up any more unless you send me the deed of her purchase ; and then it will be so far back in the wilderness that it will be little worth. There was thirty shillings paid to the survey. £2 15s for quit rent, the house cost me about £5, with other charges in keeping it about eleven years. Sir, pardon this boldness, for the old proverb says that “ losers have leave to speak.” There is now a good opportunity to convey any thing hither by one Madam Quarry who is at Devizes with Mr. Walton. If you please to consign the writing to me, I will take it for satisfaction. I never had the worth of one far¬ thing from your sister. Sir, I am, your obliged humble servant, “Francis Smith.” “ Brandywine Creek. Pensylvania, 5 March 1669-1700. “ P.S. If madam should begone before this letter comes to your hands, Mr. Nicholas Church a dra¬ per in Marlborough, or Mr. Walton at the Devizes can send to me.” 350 HISTORY OF DEVIZFS. 1731, adding that the large estate was now fallen to his son Ezekiel, a yonth not j^et of age, but of such singular good natural temper, loving, temperate, prudent, and of innocent behaviour, that great hopes were indulged that he would walk in his father’s steps. How far this was the case, we know not. The family no longer occupy Monks; but it will be remembered that in Needham Eees’s poem entitled “Round¬ way Hill, ” written in 1787, “Dickenson’s wealthy gates” occupy a position in the writer’s imaginary range of vision, though at the moment concealed from his eye. In more modern days, the principal representatives of their faith in Devizes were the Tylee family, Samuel Capper of Sleight Farm, and his landlord William Powell of Nurstead, Francis Nash also of Sleight, Mr. Jacob Clark’s wife, herself a Gundry, and Benjamin Gilkes their last minister resident in Devizes, and still living in Nailsworth. He was a watch¬ maker in New Park Street, and his sons are now merchants or manufacturers. In concluding a subject which has been little more than slightly touched, it remains to say that the Quakers’ meeting house still stands in Devizes, but that the majority of the other stations in this county have long ago merged in the central one of Melksham, where the records and registers of the Wiltshire Friends are kept, under the careful superintendance of the brothers Simpson. The Revolution. On the 5 th of November 1688, the Prince of Orange landed in England as the deliverer of the oppressed, the champion of civil and religious liberty. “ Since the English nation had ever testified a particular affection to his consort and to himself, he could not but espouse their interests and contribute all that in him lay for maintaining both the Pro¬ testant religion and the laws and liberties of these kingdoms.” So ran the manifesto of William; and many a group of anxious citizens might be seen reading the document, as it was fas- THE prince’s convention. 351 tened, still wet, to the column of some old market cross ; and there were eager eyes at the same time tracing its lines as it was brought into the dwelling of some nonconforming burgess.’ Such is an opening picture drawn by the Rev. John Stoughton in his Life of Philip Doddridge ; and a true picture it may very fairly be deemed, so far as it goes. It nevertheless exhibits only one aspect of the social mind at that momentous crisis ; for undoubtedly the Established Hierarchy had as good cause as any one class of the Nonconformists, to hail with eager hope the advent of a monarch who should restore the Church to her position of unchallenged security. To the one, in effect, the course of events brought about “ Toleration ” :—the other, it reseated in the throne of power. The Prince’s allusion, in the above manifesto, to the people’s love to his consort, was not misapplied; and it is one of the traditions of Devizes, that when she followed her husband’s triumphal march, and passed with her train over the old Roundway route, the whole town turned out to greet her with a hearty salvo. The Prince’s Convention 1689. One of the features which marks the early sittings of the Convention Parliament is the large number of double returns which had to bo adjusted. These were not from the counties, where the qualifications of voters were well understood; but from the boroughs, which no one understood. In these in¬ dependent communities, a variety of definitions of the most heterogeneous and contradictory nature had long been strik¬ ing root, each and all, in their several spheres, striving to assume the position of fixed principles, and producing little other fruit than a large crop of bribery on the spot, and in Westminster an exhaustless harvest to the Pleaders.* On * Itvibeiy at this time was so un- employed an agent named AVeston, blushing that it was testified in the who perambulated the town, carry- case of Wootton Bassett election that iug a bagofmoneyupouhisshoulder, Thomas AVebb one of the candidates and preceded by a pair of bag-pipers. 352 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the very first day of meeting, petitions were laid against the returns from Devizes, Marlborough, New Sarum, Old Sarum, and Cricklade, and on the following day, from Malmesbury. That from Devizes took the following form :— 21 March 1689. Upon the petition of Sir John Eyles and William Trenchard, Esq. against the election of Sir William P 5 ’nsent and Walter Grubb, Esq. The committee of privi¬ leges reported, that the question was, whether the right of election in Devizes lay with the Mayor and burgesses as a select number, or with all the free burgesses. The petitioners brought forward the usual proofs in such cases, such as the language of Charters granting liberties to “Burgesses” sim¬ ply, and the copy of a return of members made 1st of Queen Mary, which the Mayor had described as se et communi- tate Burgi.” They also brought forward the particulars of the popular election of 1679 [See page 309] though their witness for this affair was compelled to admit that it was the only instance of election by the “populacy” which he had known during a residence of sixty years in the town. For the sitting members, it was insisted that the borough was a corporation by prescription, and that thereupon the power could only be said to lodge with the “ Mayor and bur¬ gesses.” And they recited such of the proceedings of the aforesaid popular election of 1679 as were most damaging to Sir John Eyles, such as his giving a bond of indemnity to the Mayor for making an illegal return. Richard Whatton who had been the Mayor in that memorable transaction was also put forward, to declare how “fearful he had been to make Journals x. 522. See also the ex¬ traordinary evidence against Sir Bazil Firehrass at the Chippenham election, at page 637 of the same volume. Sir Bazil was in this in¬ stance unseated for bribery, al¬ though such a decision reflected but little if any disgrace on the gentlemen of that day. One Joseph Simpkins of Caine who undertook to return Edward Baynton and George Duckett for the borough in 1710, actually caused a new seal to be made for that particular oc¬ casion. Commons' Journals xvi. 412. PYNSENT AND GRUBBE. 353 that return” an election by the “Burgesses in general” having never, to his knowledge, occurred in Devizes before. But being pressed to make it, he confesses that he took the bond.” The recital of this anecdote seems to have laid violent hold of the imaginations of the Committee, for they forthwith decided that the right lay with the Select number only, and in this determination the House agreed, thus establishing the return of the Tory members Sir William Pynsent and Walter Grubbe. In thus designating Sir William Pynsent, we have not, it is true, any positive evidence of his Jacobite tendencies beyond what may be gathered from the character of those whom he opposed: and further it may be added, that though after being pricked as Sheriff by King James, he was set aside by King- William in favour of John Wyndham of Norrington, yet his name re-appears as Sheriff only five years later. But of the politics of his colleague Walter Grubbe Esq., of Potterne, there is no room for doubt. Among the Grubbe MS. is pre¬ served the following extract from a Life of King William by T. and J. Sprint, published in 1703. “Their Majesties having the same day, viz., 13 February, been proclaimed King and Queen of England, the same was attended with the utmost exclamation of joy, &c. And now take a view of the Lists of both Lords and Commons that constituted this Convention, of whom those among the latter, not marked with an * were for making the Prince of Orange King. Wilts. 1689. The Rt. Hon. Edward Viscount Corubury. Sir Thomas Mompesson, knight. Devizes. Sir William Pj-nsent, hart. * Walter Grubbe, Esq. &c. The election of 17 March 1690 witnessed another irregu¬ larity. The candidates were John Methuen, Walter Grubbe, and Sir Thomas Eowle. Of the 59 burgesses who attended the poll, 55 voted for Grubbe, 36 for Metliuen, and 23 for z 354 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Fowle. But Richard Hillier the Mayor having resolved, for reasons of his own, to return Sir Thomas Fowle, adjourned the poll and obtained the additional votes of eight non-resi¬ dents who had been inserted into the Burgess roll by the defunct charter of James II. Thus armed, he made return, not with the common seal, but with his own seal, of Grubbe and Fowle : his brother burgesses meanwhile making return of Grubbe and Methuen. The case was argued in Committee on the 29th March, and decided in favour of the Mayor’s nominee. Sir Thomas Fowle. But Mr. Methuen was determined that the matter should not rest here. The Parliament was prorogued on the 23rd of May, but on their meeting in the autumn, he again peti¬ tioned to be heard, 6th October; and again on the 22nd December were the borough politics brought on the floor of St. Stephen’s. Mr. Gray reports from the Committee that it appears to them the right of election resides in the free burgesses of the Devizes; that there are in Devizes a Mayor, a Recorder, 12 major capital burgesses and 24 minor capital burgesses, as they are called, in the nature of a Common Council. At the election in question Richard Hope town clerk, took the poll thus—For Sir Thomas Fowle 23 — for Mr. Methuen 36. Dauntsey Brouncker who took the poll by order of Sir Thomas Fowle, found it—for Sir Thomas Fowle 31—for Mr. Methuen 36. After which, the two candidates went to Mr. Ma 5 'or’s house and proposed a scrutiny, Mr. Methuen agreeing, so his opponents said, that previous neglect in any bursress to take the two oaths called the Declaration and the O Test should vitiate his vote. On this quibble the dispute turned:—Francis Paradise, John Rogers, and Francis Para¬ dise junior, in Mr. Methuen’s favour, testifying that Mr. Recorder Danvers had been heard to declare his opinion that the free burgesses were not obliged to take the oaths; and the elder Paradise further stating that in respect of five of JOHN METHUEN. 355 Mr. Sfethuen’s voters objected against, for not subscribing, they bad in effect done all that men could do who were unable to write; having taken the oaths, paid down their money, and requested that their names should be entered. For the opposite party, Charles Danvers the Recorder said “he had never pronounced the opinion attributed to him; the oath was always administered according to the 13th Charles II. and even Sir John Eyles though a freeman, was put out of the burgess list for neglecting to be sworn.” Francis Sadler testified “that the Recorder had sent the serjeant round to all the burgesses to acquaint them that in default of taking the oaths their names would be erased ; ” and Richard Bundy said, “the Quarter Sessions were adjourned several times for swear¬ ing in free burgesses.” John Bolles gave the following nai’rative of proceeding on the eventful day of election, “that after thirty-six had voted for Mr. Methuen and twenty-three for Sir Thomas Fowle, Richard Hope the town clerk announced that there was now an end of the Poll, when the Mayor turning to him observed, “That’s no business of yours,” whereupon there was a great tumult: the “Town clerk did not go on,” but afterwards there were eight more polled for Sir Thomas Fowle. Upon the whole matter, the Committee of Privileges came to the conclusion that Sir Thomas Fowle’s election must stand; but on the question being put to the House, that decision was negatived by 157 against 149. Mr. Methuen’s name was therefore inserted in place of Sir Thomas Fowle, 23 Dec. The Right Honourable John Methuen, as he is now styled in history, lord of the manor of Bishops Cannings, and son and heir of Paul Methuen the great Bradford clothier, eventually proved himself to be one of the most sagacious statesmen of his age. He was of the privy council, and Loi'd Chancellor of Ireland in the reigns of William and Anne. His name as a diplomatist is associated with embassies of the z 2 356 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. highest importance, but is principally signalised by the compact called after himself “the Methuen treaty,” which for a hundred years regulated our commerce with Portugal. He died at Lisbon in 1706, whence his remains were conveyed to England to he interred in Westminster Abbey. 1689. The Commons’ Journals of 27th November makes mention of one Smith, living near the Devizes, who was ordered into the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms for counter¬ feiting a protection as under the hand and seal of Sir Eichard Onslow a member; which counterfeit document, being allowed by the Sheriffs of Wilts and Hants, had enabled the said Smith to get himself discharged from an arrest. And Sir Eobert Napier at the same time acquainted the house that this illegal practice of members giving written protections was still much in use. The readers of John Aubrey’s life will remember how the pecuniary difficulties of that gentle¬ man’s later years induced him in like manner to accept a humiliating letter addressed to him in the capacity of “ me¬ nial servant” by the Earl of Thanet, in order to shelter his person from arrest: (though the Earl courteously soothed his wounded feelings the next day by addressing him as his affectionate friend). Two years after the date of Aubrey’s affair, the House made an effort to abolish this abuse, a favourable opportunity being furnished by a case of unusual flagrancy committed by Colonel Thomas Wanklyn the mem¬ ber for Westbury. Mistress Angela Margareta Cottington made complaint that she was hindered in her prosecution at law against her husband Charles Cottington Esq., by “a protection” describing him as Mr. Wanklyn’s “menial servant;” and what added greatly to Mr. Wanklyn’s offence was his throwing a similar segis over one Jones, whereby to frustrate a writ of restitution already awarded by the Court of King’s Bench. It was therefore resolved to make an example of Mr. Wanklyn; and the House having unanimously resolved, that in calling these persons his menial servants he ATTEMPT TO ALTER THE POLLING PLACE. 357 had violated the honour and justice of the House, it was fur¬ ther proposed that lie be expelled the House, and passed by a small majority (140 to 109, besides the tellers). Journals, vol. ix. 431. The Battle of the Boyne. 1G90. King William on his return from Ireland landed at Bristol, and in his progress to London stopped at the houses of several great lords; and though it was observed of these that they were generally Tories, it was also noted that the new King was everywhere received with marks of respect and joy. At Badminton he was entertained by the Duke of Beaufort, wlio was supposed to have had great difficulty in taking the oaths: and the next day he lay at the old house of the Seymours, now Marl¬ borough College, but then a seat of the Duke of Somerset. Attempt to make Devizes a polling place, 1695. The passing of a bill through the House “for preventing irregular proceedings of Sheriffs and other officers in electing and re¬ turning members of Parliament” was embraced by some who desired to see the business of the County of Wilts more centralized, as a suitable occasion for introducing a clause, “That at the request of any one candidate, the Sheriff of Wilts might adjourn the poll from Wilton to Devizes and not elsewhere.” Upon division however the clause was nega¬ tived. Journals, xi. 464. [More on this subject hereafter, under date 1836.] 1695. 7 December, Sir Francis Child, knt., an unsuccessful candidate at the recent election, petitions against the return of John Methuen Esq. [The other member was Sir Edward Ernie]. No report. 1697. The Borough sent an address of congratulation to King William III. on his safe return to England after con¬ cluding the treaty of Ryswick. 1G98. “Wilts. At a general meeting of the Commissioners for the county held at the Devizes, the most usual and common place of meeting within the said county, on Wednesday 20 April 1698 and in the tenth year of the reign of our Sovereign lord King William III. for putting in execution the Act for granting to his Majesty the sum of £1,484,015 Is. 358 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Hfd. for disbanding forces, paying seamen, and other uses therein men¬ tioned, it was agreed by the major part of the Commissioners then present that £9699 19s. l|d. by the quarter should be raised and levied on the county according to the said Act, which sum being divided into one hundred parts shall be levied on the respective divisions according to the following proportions. And the several Commissioners appointed by the said Act shall act in the several divisions wherein they do reside.” Divisions. Sarum ‘24j; parts. The city 1 ■with the liberties to pay j The remainder of the Sa- ) rum division to pay.. .. j Warminster 18'| parts Trowbridge 8 parts Marlborough 17j parts Devizes 15| parts Chippenham 16 parts 362 19 4i 1989 6 5| 2352 4 9| 1818 14 10 776 19 lU 1697 9 lOi 1503 9 lOi 1551 19 10| £9699 19 If The Assassination plot. Though King William’s even- handeduess and straightforward policy disgusted sundry partizans who thought he was come over to England for their especial benefit rather than for that of the nation, the revul¬ sion of feeling in his favour produced by the Turnham Green assassination plot in 1696 was general and most unequivocal. It gave rise to what was termed a National Association, every male signing his hand to defend the King to the death. Af¬ ter several Peers, nearly all the Commons, and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London had subscribed, the munici¬ pal corporations all over the country followed the example. The Spring Assizes being about to open, the grand jurors and Justices of the Peace put down their names. Then fol¬ lowed yeomen, tradesmen, and artizans, who flocked by thou¬ sands to the tables where the parchments were spread out. At Taunton every man who could write gave in his adhesion. Four years later, when the French monarch was supposed to be countenancing the claims of the Prince of Wales, the son of the exiled James IL, the authorities of Devizes promptly forwarded an address to the Crown with a renewed declara¬ tion of their readiness to peril life and estate in behalf of the QUEEN ANNE. 359 reigning sovereign. This was in 1701. A large body also, styling themselves the Freeholders of Wilts delivered to their representatives Edward Ernie and William Ashe, a long “ Paper of instruction,” breathing similar sentiments, which may be seen in full in Oldmixon’s History. [In place of Mr. Ernie, Oldmixon gives “ the Hon. Maurice Ashley.”] Queen Anne 1702. In 1703 a royal visit was paid to the neighbouring mansion of Whetham House, (lying on the north side of Roundway Hill) then the residence of John Kyrle Ernie Esq. son of Sir John Ernie of Bourton in Bishops Cannings, and grandson of Sir John the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and an ebony cabinet was long shown as her Majesty’s gift on the occasion. The event is thus alluded to in a letter, still extant, to Mr. Ernie from his sister: “I hear you are much talked of in town, for your extraordinary wise management in entertaining the Queen. I am happy in having so prudent a brother.” Dated 15 Nov. 1703. Burke's Commoners, iii. 620. Whetham lay near the old Roundway Hill route from Marlborough to Bath, but it would have been interesting to know more of the occasion of the visit. Whetham adjoined Bowood the seat of the recently deceased Sir Orlando Bridgman, and it is not improbable that the selection of the vicinity may have been prompted by an attachment which there is evidence to shew must have existed between the last of the Stuart sovereigns and Lady Dorothy Bridgman. In 1706 Thomas Webb, serjeant-at-law, was nominated Re¬ corder of the Borough; and appears also to have so well laid his plans for becoming in due time its representative, that on the death of John Methuen Esq. in the same year, he procured himself to be returned in his room, by some Mayor or pseudo¬ mayor, name unknown, or more probably still, by himself as chief officer in the absence of the Mayor. But the Sheriff, so Mr. Webb asserted in his petition, being prevailed upon by 360 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, Josiah Diston Esq. to deliver the precept to one Richard Hope, gent, claiming to he Mayor, which he was not, (says Mr. Webh) returned Mr. Diston as the new member, in wrong to the petitioner. Mr. Webb withdrew his petition on the 29th of January 1707, nor was he more successful on the next occasion. 27 November 1708, Thomas Webb Esq. the Recorder, together with a majority of the Common Council, petition against the illegal practices of Josiah Diston a Blackwell Hall factor, who on the issuing of the Sheriff’s writ to choose two members, prevailed upon Robert Payne Esq. the under sheriff to deliver his precept to John EylesEsq. as Mayor of Devizes, although Mr. Eyles, so far from being Mayor, was not even a member of the body corporate; there being in fact at that time no Mayor in the borough. As the Recorder, by virtue of the borough charter, was chief officer in the vacancy of a Ma^mr, he with a majority of the Council sent a written protestation forbidding Mr. Eyles to proceed, who neverthe¬ less executed the said precept and returned Mr. Diston. Order¬ ed to be heard on the 28th April; but before that day arrived the Parliament was prorogued. In the election of 1710 the candidates were Sir Francis Child knt., Thomas Webb the Recorder, Paul Methuen Esq., and Josiah Diston. The office of Mayor was still a disputed post. How was it possible then to declare who were the legally returned members? James Sutton declaring himself to be Mayor obtained possession of the precept and returned Methuen and Diston. On the other hand John Child the brother of Sir Francis being pronounced by his party the legal Mayor, performed a similar office for Sir Francis Child and Mr. Recorder Webb. The Sheriff in the execution of his own office, sent both the returns to London, but styled that of John Child an “undue return.” Both parties of course petitioned, and both charged one another with gross bribery and indirect practices. It is doubtless to this period that the MR. RECORDER WEBB. 361 tradition, still lingering in Devizes, is to be referred, repre¬ senting the partizans of two rival claimants to the mayoralty sustaining the feud by an assault of arms conducted in the churchyard of St. Mary. Similar contests were taking place in other towns. The watchwords were Jacobitism or the House of Hanover; and it is not very difficult to perceive that in the case of Devizes, Methuen and Diston must have been the Hanoverians or Whigs. Such also at that time were the politics of the Eyles family of Southbroom. On the 16th December 1710 the House examined into the merits of the question. Council and witnesses were heard, but their testimony is not recorded, except that John Child having offered to repeat what he had heard Mr. Diston say touching ten new votes, and also concerning the election of councilmen and burgesses since 1706, was objected to by his opponents but afterwards allowed to speak on a division. Sir Francis Child and Sergeant Webb were declared duly elected, by a large majority, 216 to 96. Mr. Webb, being now at last seated, retained his place for four years. On the 5th of March 1714 another complaint appears touching returns, Josiah Diston and Francis Eyles, charging Robert Child and John Nicholas, the sitting members, with undue practices. No report. 1713. On the 12th of March, Richard Noble an attorney of New Inn was tried and condemned for the murder by stabbing of John Sayer Esq., lord of the manor of Biddlesden in Bucks. He died very penitent. His father was the keeper of a fashionable Coffee-house in Bath, and he himself had received his legal education in an attorney’s office in Devizes. The Southbroom Penates, 1714. An unusual number of Roman relics turned up about this period, in and near Devizes. Dr. Stukeley uses the expres¬ sion that they were being “found here every day,” and he describes two that were in the possession of Lord Winchelsea. 362 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. In December 1699, a blue earthen vessel, 18 inches wide and 10 deep, had been unearthed in Sir John Eyles’s grounds, (Southbroom) containing several hundred Eoraan coins of the Empire, mostly copper, some mixed metal, and others washed with silver. Near the same spot a discovery was soon after made of a variety of earthen pots of grotesque form, the full account of all which may be read in a paper communicated by “Mr. Clark” to the editor of the Philosophic Transactions, vol. xxii. No. 268. But none of these approached in interest a collection of twenty-one Penates or pocket-gods which were found by William Cadby in 1714 buried near the ruins of an old house on the Green. To preserve them from injury they had been packed in a capacious urn, (holding about six Eng¬ lish gallons) and the urn itself was encompassed with Roman tiles and secured with Roman cement. Besides the Penates, there was nothing in the urn but a single coin of the Em¬ peror Severus. The images were composed of the mixed metal generally used for that purpose; excepting one, called the Vestal virgin, which is said to have been of Corinthian brass. Eight of them are still to be seen in the British Mu¬ seum, the rest are lost. At the time of their discovery, the curiosities from Herculaneum and Pompeii had not yet found their way into this country; and the Devizes Penates were consequently regarded with so much interest as to be carried about the country for exhibition, and drawings of them were engraved on two or more different scales. The best of these representations, on a folio sheet, was executed at the expense of Sir Robert Eyre; and published by William son to Dr. Musgrave, who also inserted an account of them in his Bel¬ gium Britannicum. In Moll’s Geography they are engraved in the margins of the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire; the publisher explaining his reason for associa¬ ting them with the two latter counties by adding that they were “inserted in counties destitute of antiquities, we being unwilling to omit such great curiosities.” DEVIZES PENATES. 363 Dr. Davis the Devizes antiquary remarks in allusion to these various cases of treasure-trove, “ The reason why the Romans hid their treasures was to secure them from their enemies.When attacked in their fortification, they deposited them in the earth where they were stationed, upon which account much of their money has been hid in their camps and towns. They were determined that their treasures should not fall with their bodies into the enemy’s hands; but chose to leave them, if they died, a legacy to posterity, for an amusement or rather an employment, for some grave and indefatigable virtuoso.” A silver coin of the Faleni family was found in St. John street in 1830, and Roman coins are not of uncommon occurrence still, in the im¬ mediate neighbourhood of the town. Catalogue of the Devizes Penates. 1. Jupiter Ammon, in length 4| inches. 2. Neptune with his trident, 4 inches. 3. Bacchus, of similar dimensions. 4. Vulcan, holding the broken handle of some weapon in his right hand, 3j inches. 5. Venus, inches in length and weighing lloz. 4dr. This figure is of excellent design. 6. Momus, 4 inches (doubtful) 7. Ganymede, 4 inches. He holds in one hand Jupiter’s wine cup, and in the other a platter, and his head is furnished with small wings. 8. Hercules, 4^ inches. He grasps two serpents which are wound round his legs. 9. Minerva with helmet, shield and spear, 3^ inches. The lower part of this figiu’e is broken olf. 10. A Vestal virgin, 3^ inches, holding in one hand a dish, in the other a roll of parchment, or perhaps a torch. 11. She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, li inches. 12. Mars 3^ inches, a helmet is on his head. 13. Apollo 44 inches (doubtful). 14 and 15. Two other figures too imperfect to be described. 16. Bust of a Matron. 17. Bust of Venus, based by a sort of cup, 2 inches in height. 18. A figure possessing no distinguishing mark, 4 inches. 19. Apis the Egyptian Bull, 4 inches long. 20. Anubis the Egyptian Dog, 34 inches. 21. Pegasus 2 j inches. 364 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. George I. Nothing beyond the most flimsy tradition (that we are aware of) associates any of the leading men of Devizes with the Jacobite insurrection of 1715 ; the names of their repre¬ sentatives in Parliament, Eyles, and Styles, constituting a sufficient attestation that commercial stability rather than dynastic change was the principal object of the Burgesses’ regard. And while moreover the Eyles family had, on the one hand, alliances with the world of London commerce, it was connected in Wiltshire with one of the most influential Whigs of the county, Elizabeth the daughter of Sir John Eyles of Southbroom being the wife of James Montague Esq. of Lackham, Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, and an unmistakeable friend to King George and the Protestant succession. Of the Eyles family it will be necessary to speak more at large presently; but for an interesting account of the Montagues, and especially of Mr. Montague’s grandson Colonel George Montague the eminent naturalist, the reader is referred to Mr. Cunnington’s paper in the 7th number of the Wilts Magazine, page 87. In place of reciting the abortive attempts to get up a de¬ monstration for the Chevalier in the West of England, it may suffice to invite attention to an incident of some value to the Wiltshire annalist though occurring at a distance, for which we have the authority of J. Bernard Burke the heral¬ dic writer, viz. that a daughter of Sir John Webb of Odstock in this county is the historic heroine of the romantic adven¬ ture sometimes attributed in fiction to others, the feat, that is to say, of recovering her husband’s head after its exposure over a public gateway. Anna Maria, one of Sir John’s five daughters was the wife of the youthful James Padclifie Earl of Derwentwater, by whom she had one son and one daughter. He was beheaded on Tower Hill, in Feb. 1716, for his share in the Scottish rising, and his head was then stuck upon a spear and placed over Temple Bar, among the group of other GEORGE I. 365 rebels’ skulls, with which it was the barbarous custom of those days to garnish the city gates. “Here, however, it did not remain long. According to tradition current in the family, the Countess of Derwentwater had beforehand arran¬ ged a plan for its removal, which she now carried into effect with equal dexterity and courage. Disguised as a fisherwo- man, and accompanied by another female, most probably belonging to that class, she passed under Temple Bar in a cart, when some persons who had been previously bribed to the undertaking, dropped the head from above into her lap, and, strange as it may seem, she had the good fortune to get off with her prize in safety.” Anecdotes of the Aristocracy, vol. i. page 289. Mr. Burke adds, that the Lady died at Brussels in 1723; that her immediate male descendants are extinct, but the direct representative in the female line is Lord Petre. The history of English society during the early years of the first George was marked by great lawlessness. How was it possible to secure obedience to delegated authority when the claims of the very head of the legislature were set at naught by a powerful party among the aristocracy ? That the Magistracy of Wiltshire were in general favourable to the Hanoverian succession seems sufficiently indicated by their having kept Mr. Montague of Lackham in the chair of the Quarter Sessions for more than twenty years. The con¬ nexions and opinions of Mr. Hawkes and Mr. Ewen, succes¬ sively county clerks, are finger-posts pointing in the same direction, as also the absence of the county gentry from the lists of those who refused to take the oaths to George I.^ Nevertheless great laxity prevailed both in public and private ^AVilliam Estcourt of Bromhara pally retainers of tlie families of is the only name in that list belong- Cottington, Stourton, and Arundel ing to the Hundred of Potterne and of Wardour ; but not even Webb of Cannings. It comprehends about Odstock is to be found amongst 42 Catholics in South Wilts, princi- them. 366 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. virtue; and in the town of Marlborough a hostile influence was found existing, sufficiently strong to ofier with impunity the grievous affront of forbidding the county magistrates in 1719 to hold their Michaelmas Quarter Sessions there, on the ground that the borough charter gave to the burgesses an ex¬ clusive court of their own. This, on legal grounds, Mr. Monta¬ gue accepted as a legitimate issue, and even complimented the Marlborough people for their strict adherence to the letter of their law; and although that borough had long been the scene of the Michaelmas sittings, he now quietly adopted the proposed substitution of Caine or Chippenham, the latter place having in fact not unfrequently been resorted to for this purpose, when Sessions were removed from Marlborough. But the freeholders of the Marlborough County Division viewed the matter in a very different light. By them, the transfer of the Michaelmas Sessions to Chippenham was so highly resented, as to give rise to an inflammatory address, styled “the Marlborough Presentment,” framed, he it obser¬ ved, not by the inhabitants of Marlborough, but by the free¬ holders of the division aforesaid. Perhaps they had some reason for suspecting that the hitch about the charter was an invention called into exercise not altogether without the con¬ nivance of the County Bench. At all events, they could have stood in but little awe of that body when they charged them in the above presentment with obstructing the ends of justice by thus tamely relinquishing their rights. At the County Quarter Sessions held at Devizes in the ensuing April 1720, the grand jury assembled on the occasion met the Marlborough presentment by a counter declaration in defence of the dig¬ nity and independence of the Commission, and received in return an elaborate expression of thanks and advice, which was forthwith published in a pamphlet of 70 pages, bearing the following title “The Charge of James Montague Esq. to the Grand Jury, and other Juries of the County of Wilts; at the general Quarter Sessions of the Peace held at the Devizes, GEORGE I. 367 26 April 1720. Printed for E. Montague at the Bible in Shear Lane near Temple Bar, &c.” The unanimous request of the grand jury aforesaid that Mr. Montague would pub¬ lish it, then follows, with these names:— William Axford Isaac Aldridge Jeff. Merewether Francis Yerbury Samuel Cooke Thomas Eyles John Mortimer Thomas Bush John Fry William Smith Robert Wilshier W. Alexander J. Nicholls Jos. Marshman Isaac Gale John Bedford _ John Gaisford John Browning John Weeks James Crew Joseph Pouting William Wayland William Smith William Nash John Wether ell Jonathan Scott John Hiscock. The principal points which Mr. Montague enforces are, the excellency of King George’s title, and the respect due to the administrators of his laws:—the value of union among all classes of Protestants in order effectually to resist a Popish Pretender, ready, as he says, to be topped upon us on all occasions, and the necessity of keeping the Catholics down by civil disabilities :—he rebukes the tone of disrespect observable in some high quarters when speaking of the King, and he deplores the effect of such language on the common mind. Descending to local details, the right of the Wiltshire Magis¬ tracy to sit in any town in the county is, on the one hand, broadly asserted ; and, on the other hand, the weight of legal authority is recognized which had seemed to establish an exception in the case of Marlborough. The tendency of certain private parties to take the law into their own hands is noticed in conjunction with a growing practice among the cloth manufacturers, of imposing rules upon the poor they employed, and of “ erecting courts of justice in every shop and wool-loft.” He reminds the jurors of the sanctity of their oaths,—regrets that of late they should so much have neglected this consideration,—defines for their guidance the law of treason,—points out the various matters which fell within the province of their presentment,—and concludes 368 HISTORY OP' DEVIZES. with a recital of “ that never to he forgotten exhortation of our late glorious deliverer King William III. in his last speech to his parliament, “Let me conjure you to disappoint the only hopes of our enemies by your unanimity. Lay aside parties and divisions. Let there be no other distinction heard of amongst us for the future, but of those who are for the Pro¬ testant religion and the present establishment, and of those who mean a Popish prince and a papal government.” The way being thus cleared, we have next to notice. George I.’s Visit to Wiltshire 1722. The only large collection of troops, deserving the name of a military spectacle, which has occurred in the County of Wilts, since the period of the great civil war, was the review of eleven regiments on the occasion of George I’s visit to Salisbury in 1722. The newly enthroned King was making himself as popular as he could among a population who, if Hot Jacobites at heart, were certainly no worshippers of Brunswick chivalry. Hence his largesses to the poor, his manumission of imprisoned felons, his release of debtors, and his large affability to the clergy. To some extent the affair answered the desired end. It called forth all the adulatory powers of the numerous class who hail the rising sun; and it compelled many more to make profession of principles which it might afterwards be inconvenient to ignore. The review on the Plain appears to have pleased both gentle and simple, and the King was as majestic as body-armour and a flowing wig could render him. Some few denizens of the Downs might possibly not forget that a hero or two had once appear¬ ed on the same scene: but it was now 30 years since William of Orange had trod the turf, and small must have been the number of those who could recollect when Fairfax and Crom¬ well led their battalions beneath the silent pillars of Stone¬ henge. But now the intoxicated multitude were summoned to contemplate nothing less than the incarnation of Olympian GEORGE I. 369 divinity, a very Jove in ruffles, who having stooped to our spot of earth, shewed forth that perfect image of benign effulgence which Caesar’s all-conquering arms could never attain ; and in the contemplation of which, Brutus and Cato would have hastened to renounce their treason, aud merge “the rigid patriot in the friend.” And should any be tempted to attribute all this to the indulgence of a mauvaise plaisanteric we beg at once to lay the blame at the door of one who might have known better, but who was far too deeply engrossed in mythological studies to be able to emancipate himself from the fashionable bombast of the day. This was the Rev. Christopher Pitt the translator of Virgil’s -ZEneid, whose new-found devotion was so excited by the scene, as to issue in a poetic epistle addressed to his friend Dr. Edward Young^ then visiting at Eastbury in Dorset. As the people of Wiltshire are not likely soon to witness a repetition of the phenomenon therein described, and have probably forgotten that the first George was once seen treading down his enemies not far from the Druid’s Head, no apology is needed for sub¬ joining a few of Mr. Pitt’s spirited lines on the occasion. Oh ! hadst thou seen him when the gathering train Filled up proud Sarum’s wide extended plain; Then when he stoop’d from awful majesty. Put on the man, and laid the sovereign by ; When the glad nation saw their king appear Begirt with armies and the pride of war ; More pleased his people’s longing eyes to bless. He look’d and breathed benevolence and peace. When in his hand Britannia’s awful lord Held forth the olive while he grasped the sword. So Jove, though armed to blast the Titan’s pride With all his burning thunders at his side. Framed, (while he terrified the distant foe) His scheme of blessings for the world below. This, hadst thou seen, thy willing muse would raise Her strongest wing to reach her Sovereign’s praise. ' Dr. Edward Young the author enjoyed a Salisbuiy stall and dean- of “ Night Thoughts" was the son ery, and the rectory of Upham. of the above Dr.Edward Young, who AA 370 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. To wliat bold heights our daring hopes may climb ! The theme so g-reat! the poet so sublime ! I saw him, Young, and to these ravished eyes E’en now his god-like figure seems to rise; Mild, yet majestie, was the monarch’s mien ; Lovely, though great—and awful, though serene I More than a coin or picture can unfold. Too faint the colours, and too base the gold. At the blest sight, transported and amazed. One universal shout the thousands raised. And crowds on crowds grew loyal as they gazed.” The Eyles Family and the South-Sea Bubble. In 1714 John Eyles Esq., attempting to be returned as member for Chippenham, it was objected against him, in petition, that he was a “ stranger,” and therefore not eligible. This means that he was not a burgess of the borough of Chippenham ; residence being, then and long after, a theoretic qualification for such office, though one easily set aside when nothing more formidable barred the way. This gentleman may be presumed to have been either the son and heir of Sir Francis Eyles, bart. the London alderman, or the son of Sir John Eyles the knight of Southbroom, both bearing the name of John. Most probably it was the latter, and the same person who in Canon Jackson’s Sheriff List is styled John Eyles Esq. of Devizes, Sheriff in 1716. In noticing this family more particularly, it will be proper to begin with Sir John Eyles of Southbroom, Knt. said to be derived from an ancient Wiltshire family, possibly that of “Elys”of Chippenham, mentioned in Bowles’s History of Breniliill, page 107. He was knighted by James II. in 1688 ; and being at that time Lord Mayor of London, he vacated the civic chair on the approach of William of Orange. See Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetage. This circumstance viewed in itself would seem at first sight to suggest the inference that Sir John was a Jacobite, in the sense (that is to say) of being a supporter of arbitrary power. But how then are we to identify him with the John Eyles who so often figures in the EYLES OF SOUTHBROOM. 371 pages of the Commons' Journals as the champion of popular election iu Devizes, and the assailant of the select body’s immunities ? This apparent discrepancy is easily explained by supposing him to have been one of that class whose domi¬ nant sentiment was simply hostility to the Church of England. These were the men whose alliance James especially courted; and the conjecture is quite natural, that if Sir John Eyles accepted a knighthood from the King with this understanding, he found himself in a false position when the approach of the Prince of Orange foretold the restoration of that church in all its pristine power. [Apparently also he had received other favours from the exiled monarch ; for a petition from himself and the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, (2nd William and Mary,) represents him as sharing with that lady in certain profits of Aulnage and Subsidy duties for a term of years, a privilege just then endangered by a new bill. Journals x. 409.] In fact. Sir John Eyles’s family connexions, no less than his recorded deeds, alike point to the same issue. His brother Sir Francis Eyles, of whom presently, was an undoubted whig; and his sister Priscilla had married one of the most unrelent¬ ing Commonwealthsmen of his day, Walter White Esq. lord of the manor of Grittleton in Wilts, who left directions by his will, that his funeral sermon should “be preached by some Doctor of Divinity, a nonconformist; for the Common Prayer,” said he, “ I always hated.” See Canon Jackson’s Ilisiory of Gnttlcton, page 9. We next turn to liis brother Sir Francis Eyres, hart. This knight was an eminent merchant and alderman of London and one of the directors of the East India Company. lie married Elizabeth daughter of Mr. Ay ley of London, merchant. At the period of his death, his character and career were thus recorded in a London Journal. “ Died, 24 May 1716, Sir Francis Eyles, knt. and bart. alderman of Bridge-ward, at his seat at Streatham in Surrey, lie was knighted by (iueen Anne during his shrievalty, and created a baronet by his present AA 2 372 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Majesty, in consideration of his firm adherence to the Pro¬ testant succession. He had the advantage of excellent natural parts, improved by a good education, and was as justly admired for his gentlemanlike behaviour as for his application to business; and his integrity, sincerity, and a readiness to serve his friends, shone through all his actions. He has left a great fortune to his son, now Sir John Eyles, bart. a member of the present Parliament.” There were other children besides this son, among whom was Sir Joseph Eyles his fourth son, who was Sheriff of London in 1726, member for Devizes in 1735 ; and moreover appears to have held some confidential post near the person of royalty, for in the privy purse and secret service payments between the years 1721 and 1725, printed in the Commons’ Journals, vol. XX. p. 530, occurs the following item. “ To Sir Joseph Eyles, knt. for the young Princesses, £79,000.” Sir John Eyles, the second baronet, M.P. for Chippenham from 1715 to 1727, Lord Mayor of London in 1727, and Post Master Greneral in 1739, married his cousin Mary, daughter of Joseph Haskin Styles Esq. and died in 1745, leaving, (besides a daughter), a son Sir Erancis, who on inheriting the estate of his uncle Benjamin Haskin Styles, became Sir Francis Haskin Eyles Styles. He was succeeded in 1762 by his son Sir John Haskin Eyles, with whom the baronetc}’’ expired in 1768. This family’s implication in the management of the disastrous mercantile scheme, commonly known as the “South- Sea bubble,” now makes it necessary to turn to that event. The South-Sea Scheme, 1720. “ Tis said the citizens have sold Faith, truth, and trade, for South-Sea gold, ’ Tis false ; for they that know can swear. It is not gold that glistens there.”— Dr. Isaac Watts. When the wrath of the disappointed victims of this and other kindred speculations exploded in a national cry for vengeance on the authors of the calamity, and nothing would THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 373 satisfy the public virtue but a compulsary process of disgorge¬ ment to be inflicted on the successful delinquents, Francis Eyles Esq. the member for Devizes, as a Director and one of the supposed contrivers of the scheme, was of course not suflfered to escape. In common with such other of the Directors as happened to be members of Parliament, he underwent the formality of expulsion from the House, and was moreover compelled like the rest to furnish forth an inventory of all his real and personal estate, as also of the property which he held in trust for others. His expulsion passed the House by an unanimous vote on the 28th of Jan¬ uary 1721, and on the 31st a new writ was ordered for Devizes. On the 20th of April 1721 Francis Eyles presented his petition to the House, setting forth —“ That having the mis¬ fortune to be one of the Directors of the South-Sea Company he has been expelled his seat in Parliament; That by the bill now depending, the estates of the Directors are to make satisfaction for certain losses therein mentioned; That nevertheless he was no-ways concerned in promoting the scheme, nor was ever present at the meeting of the Directors before or after the passing of the Act, or privy to the giving or taking in any stock for any minister of state or member of either House, or of the increase or decrease of the money subscriptions : being in fact absent in the country whilst many of the said matters were transacted : That he hath made a full discovery of all matters within his knowledge, to the Committee of Secrecy, and of all his own transactions since December 1719. That so far from having derived any ad¬ vantage from being a Director, he hath diminished his own fortune, by subscribing in his annuities: that he hath deli¬ vered to the Barons of the Exehequer a true inventory of both his real and personal estate; and that he humbly hopes he shall not be equally involved in the future punishments of those who contrived and unjustly executed the scheme.” Commons* Journals xix. 51G. 374 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Mr. Eyles’ luventory though possessing some interest as a record of names and transactions in Devizes, is far too copi¬ ous for full recital: an abstract must therefore sulS.ce. [Frac¬ tions are omitted.] £ Trees on the Manor and demesne at Rowde. 1000 Reversions in the said Manor. 1500 £559 per annum, demesnes in said Manor, landlord paying all taxes, worth at twenty years pru’chase. 11,180 £170 per annum, purchases in said Manor, not yet conveyed, worth at twenty years purchase. 3400 £33 per annum, copyhold in Bishops Cannings. The Hon. Paul Methuen was recently Lord of the Manor, now Benjamin Haskin Styles. 231 £20 per annum, reversion of a house in Devizes. 380 South-Sea Stock various subscriptions . 12,994 £56 per annum, annunity of 14 per cent, on the lives of John, Francis, Priscilla, and Elizabeth Eyles [the last being wife of James Montagu, Esq.] at eight years purchase. 448 Adventure to Smyrna on several ships and bales of silk sold last March . 11,571 Plate, furniture, horses, &c. 450 The details of his personal estate preserve several names still found in this neighbourhood, as for instance. An adventure with Mr. Samuel Locke in three-eighth parts to China for exchange in gold in the ship Sarum. 2000 A mortgage on the turnpikes at Devizes. 1350 James Sutton jun. on note of his hand. 300 Sir William Pynsent [of Erchfont] on account. 115 An old account not yet settled, between Benjamin Haskin Styles and myself, of a concern in the Aulnage duty, which may produce . 100 A bond on Francis Mereweather, deceased . 50 Other small sums from Edward Webb, Stephen Hillman, Mrs. Lucy Baynton, John Webb, William Chandler, and others. Against the above he arrays more than £20,000 debts, leaving a nominal balance in his favour of about £34,000. He is indebted inter alia. £ To the Mayor and Burgesses of Devizes. 450 To Dr. Dorchester. 300 To Robert Waylen. 200 To John Gale. 150 To Richard Musgrave on bond . 5000 To Thomas Halifax. 300 KYLES OF SOUTHBROOM. 375 £ To Joan Grant . 250 To the Bank of England on my note to Sir John Eyles. 3000 To Robert Knight on note of my hand. 0000 To John Eyles, on account . 572 To Benjamin Haskin Styles, on account . 67 To Henry Flower, on account. 477 To Sir John and Josiah Eyles, on account. 46 The ijurchases mentioned in Schedule I. as recently contracted for, but not yet conveyed; and towards which very little had yet been paid, are as follows;— With Mr. Edw. Hope for an estate at Rowde . 1240 With Will. Waylen for an estate at Rowde. 2744 With Widow Croome for an estate at Rowde . 1050 With Joseph Stephens for an estate at Rowde. . 900 For an estate at Poulshot. 1240 [Besides others in Devon and elsewhere.] It is now time to recur to the Knight of Southbroom, Sir John Eyles of James II.’s time, with whose name this notice commenced. Of his children, John succeeded him at South¬ broom ; Francis of Earnshill left his estates to his nephew Francis the member for Devizes; Sarah married Joseph Haskin Styles; Mary married Sir John Smith of Isleworth, hart., and Elizabeth was the wife of James Montagu of Lackham. See page 364. John Eyles Esq. of Southbroom, son and heir, Sheriff of Wilts in 1716, and sometime Receiver-General of the county, died in 1752. He also had several children, of whom we need only notice Maria who married the lit. Hon. George Heathcote, and long survived him, living at Southbroom till her death in 1792 at the age of 85. Her husband who died in 1768, was once Lord Mayor of London, and three times representative of Devizes in Parliament. His Whig prin¬ ciples are typified by the cap of Liberty which dominates his elaborate monument in St. John’s Church. Two ancient ladies resident at Southbroom, one of whom bore the name of “ Mrs. Eyles,” are still remembered as visitors on more tlian one occasion to the late Rev. James Biggs, minister of the 376 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Presbyterian Chapel, where Mrs. Eyles occasionally attended. She was allied to the Anstie family. Mr. Heathcote’s only son Josiah Eyles Heathcote also married a Maria Eyles, and was the last of the family who occupied Southbroom. He died in 1811. The present man¬ sion, which was his work, was erected about the year 1770; the old house having occupied the corner of the grounds, close to the Salisbury road. In 1774 was prosecuted success¬ fully an indictment, removed from the Wilts Quarter Sessions by Certiorari into the Court of King’s Bench, between the King and Josiah Eyles Heathcote and his two servants Wil¬ liam Smith and Stephen Perrott, charging them with assault¬ ing Lieutenant Stephens of the Wilts Militia on the high road at Holt in this county, in the previous September. All the defendants were found guilty. In March 1792 it was reported in the papers that Mr. Heathcote inherited the large fortune, more than £100,000, of his uncle Josiah Eyles Esq., formerly Governor of Fort St. David in the East Indies, who had recently died at his house in Bond Street, in his 81st year. Speculum Anni. 1733. This year came out the first Devizes Almanack, conducted by Henry Season of Bromham, who styled himself “Professor of physic and student in the celes¬ tial sciences.” “I was born,” says he, in his preface to the candid reader, “ in the place I now live at, a village called Bromham, three miles from the town of Devizes in Wilts, on the 23rd of January ; but the year and hour I conceal: ‘tis no point of prudence to reveal that ; as the learned in astrology and my own experience have informed me; for should any one’s nativity fall into the hands of an artist in astrology that is his enemy, he knows when to hurt him, because he knows when bad directions take place, cum multis aliis ways to circumvent and mischief him.” In another place the Professor tells us that his mother having died at his birth, he was committed to the care of a pious, indulgent grand- season’s almanack. 377 mother. At the age of eleven, his father wished him to go to London, promising to prefer him, but be feared that it would prove a remora to bis learning; besides he affected [loved] a country life. Nevertheless in June 1710 be went to London to assist bis father in the undertaking of funerals; and then took a trip to Parnassus, having a great propensity to associate himself with the Muses, as any one skilled in astrology might easily imagine, who should view his nativity; [Then follow some hieroglyphics] which example of himself and others so born, confirmed that sentiment of the philoso¬ pher, viz. that a poet is born, not made. A young physician dying in this neighbourhood, Henry thought the opportunity should not be lost, of endeavouring to take his place, and find¬ ing the stars very benevolent towards the design, he set about it, according to the old maxim, with all his might. After all, he fears that his autobiography will be ill-relished by some, as he is awkward in learning the art of complacency; doubts whether he shall ever learn it, being born under saturnal stars, so cannot mould himself platonic into the hu¬ mours of a fantastic world. He dates his address “ from my house in Bones lane in Bromham, 1st of August 1733,” and signs himself “Thine and Urania’s humble servant, Henry Season.” In 1734 he says, “Next year, if I write, I shall, in the place of this epistle, write a piece of poetry, an origi¬ nal copy in praise of the propagators of learning.” How many almanacks he lived to witch the world withal is un¬ certain. Forty years later, the Devizes Almanack bears the authorship of “ Evan Thomas, successor to the late celebrated Dr. Henry Season, and Member of the Hon. Society of Ancient Britons.” Printed and sold by Thomas Burrough of Devizes. An elegiac inscription to Henry Season in Bromham Church has been partially obliterated, in consequence of its language reflecting injuriously on a neighbouring gentleman; but the tenour of that language is not to be attributed to Season himself, or to the members of his family. 378 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, Steeple-Flying. This exploit, accomplished by means of a rope, was performed in 1735 from the top of Bromham Church Spire. It had long been a favourite exhibition in Lon¬ don, where it usually took place from the summit of Old St. Paul’s Church. In 1731 a seaman actually descended from Hackney steeple holding a streamer in each hand. The fol¬ lowing extract from an old letter relative to this trick, records How THE Men of Bromham pulled their own Church Spire down. “Mankind not satisfied with travelling on the elements of earth and water, have attempted to invade the air, from the days of Doedalus downwards. Pennis non homini datis, (with wings not given to man) they have hitherto assayed unsuccessfully the art of flying, notwithstand¬ ing Bishop "Wilkins’ prediction that the time would come when a man setting out on a journey would ring for his wings, as heretofore for his hoots. About a hundred years ago, an adventimer of this kind travelled the country, making for money at difierent places the exhibition of a flight from towers and steeples. His method was to have a rope fixed to the top of the place from which he was to descend, and strained to a convenient place where he was to alight. A board, with a groove to re¬ ceive the cord, was fixed to the breast of the seronaut, and by this he was to descend head foremost to the point of alighting. Amongst other places he visited Bromham, and having solicited permission to fly from the steeple, some idle people of the place, without consulting the clergyman, who was indisposed, gave him leave to perform. A time was appointed, the apparatus was fixed, and a mob assembled. The flyer ascended the steeple, made his plunge, and was half way down the rope, when some persons, employed to strain it, pulled it too hard. The top of the spire gave way, and came down: the aeronaut, luckily for himself, fell into a tree in the churchyard and received but little hurt. Had he fallen to the ground, he would have been dashed to pieces. This event probably put an end to steeple-flying: but as the inhabitants of a country are often ridiculed for the foolish acts of their neighbours, the story of pulling down their own steeple was for a long time a standing joke against the people of Bromham. It was repaired, but some years afterwards was struck by lightning, and shivered near the same point where it had been broken before .”—Wilts Magazine, vol. i. p. 351. 1739. The Melksham Eioters. In consequence of tbe decay of tbe clothing trade, attributable, in the opinion of sundry petitioners, to the practice of “running wool into fo¬ reign parts,” an immense mob of operatives marched from GEORGE II. 379 Trowbridge to Melksham and demolished some houses be¬ longing to Henry Coulthurst of Melksham, clothier. Four of the rioters, Edward Davis, John Bezer, John Crabb, and Richard Rowde, were tried at the June Assizes and three of them hung at Fisherton, soldiers attending to prevent a res¬ cue. [The name of Mr. Locke of Devizes occurs in the evi¬ dence, seemingly as a magistrate.] This affair, which evidently created considerable sensation in the country, brought out two or more pamphlets by a landholder in the neighbourhood, one entitled “A 71 Essay on Riots,” the other, '‘The Miseries oj the Miserable,” or an essay towards laying open the decay of the fine woollen trade, and the unhappy condition of the poor Wiltshire Manufacturers, by a gentleman of Wilts, 1739; the two objects of the writer being simply comprised, first, in an expression of regret that regular troops should have been resorted to, in place of the old constitutional force of the Militia; and secondly, in advice to the master clothiers to give their people better wages, and to pay them in money. George II. 1727. The Sheriff of Wilts imprisoned at Devizes. This outrage was actually committed in 1741, by the par- tizans of Sir Edmund Thomas and Edward Baynton Rolt, Esq., at a contested election for the Borough of Chippenham; the object being to neutralize the hostile influence of Anthony Guy, Esq. not, of course, in his capacity of High Sheriff of the county, but as being the principal man in Chippenham, and the oldest of the twelve burgesses who claimed the ma¬ nagement of the affairs of that town. The offence, however, was equally great, and it is surprising that no reprisals were made by the injured party. Mr. Guy having declared him¬ self favourable to two other candidates, Alexander Hume and John Frederick, Esquires, it was resolved to get him out of the way under pretence of an attachment for his Under- 380 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Sheriff omitting to make return of a writ against one Thomas Brown, for the small sum of £27 (an omission owing to the Under-Sheriff’s illness), and Eichard Smith, Coroner of the county, actually proceeded to take Mr. Gruy into custody, though that gentleman offered him £10,000 bail for his ap¬ pearance. At the instigation of John Norris, Adam Tuck, and William Johnson, the then Bailiff or Mayor, the Co¬ roner kept Mr. Guy all night in one of the Chippenham inns under a guard of armed men, and the next morning conveyed him with the same convoy to the town of Devizes, where he remained in custody till the election was over; after which they had the courtesy to carry him back to his own house and set him at liberty. It is hardly necessary to add, that a petition from the unsuccessful candidates appealed against a return effected by such means; but though the Sheriff’s party were finally defeated by a small majority in the house, it does not appear that any attempt was made by their adversaries to disprove the above facts; they simply constitute an additional illustration of the numerous irregu¬ larities which, at the period in question, characterised the management of the boroughs, and of society in general in the provinces, arising out of the balance of the Hanoverian and Jacobite factions. Persecution of the Wesleys. With the Eebellion of 1745 the people of Devizes had little if anything to do: but not more than three years elap¬ sed before they found an opportunity of testifying their at¬ tachment to the established order of things and their prover¬ bial abhorrence of change, by repelling a very different sort of enemy. Had the Young Pretender actually appeared in arms in Wiltshire, his presence, though it might have excited greater consternation, would hardly have provoked more decided hostility than did the advent of the peace-proclaiming brothers Wesley, who about that time were commencing JOHN WESLEY. 381 those itinerant labours which startled the slumbers of both England and America. Nevertheless, though the fiend was active enough when once raised, it required some stimulating agenc}' to be put in exercise first, before the prejudices of the people in general could be so far enlisted as to occasion per¬ sonal danger to the preachers. John the elder brother was for a time so impressed with the docility, or rather perhaps, with the apathy of the people here, that he assured his bro¬ ther Charles that “there was no such thing as raising a mob at the Devizes;” and his diary at the time will exhibit the premises from which his conclusion was drawn. John Wesley in Devizes. 1747. “ Tuesday, 13 October. Rode to the Devizes. The town was in an uproar from end to end, as if the French were just entering, and abundance of swelling words we heard, with oaths, curses, and threatenings. The most active man in stirring up the people, w'e were informed, was Mr. I. the C. [Mr. Innes the cu¬ rate]. He had been indefatigable in the work, going all the day from house to house. He had also been at the pains of setting up an adver¬ tisement in the most public places of the town of “An obnubilative- pantomime-entertainment, to be exhibited at Mr. Clark’s” where I was to preach; the latter part of it containing a kind of double entendre which a modest person cannot well repeat. I began preaching at seven o’clock. Many of the mob came in, listened a little, and stood still. No one opened his mouth, but attention sat upon the face of every hearer. “Thursday 29 October. Rode from Bearfield to the Devizes. I found much pains had been taken again to raise a mob, but it was lost labour.. All that could be mustered were a few straggling soldiers and forty or fifty boys. Noth withstanding these I preached in great peace from “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In the morning, Friday the 30th, I explained and applied “ He healeth them that are broken in heart.” We then took horse in the midst of a quiet, civR multitude, and the next afternoon came to London.” Such wa= John Wesley’s experience of the Devizes folk. In order to see how they treated his brother Charles, we next turn to the journal of the latter, recording a journey made into the West, four months subsequently. CuAKLES Wesley in Devizes. “ 1748. 23 Feb. I set out with Mr. Meriton for Bristol. “24th. Between 3 and 4 in the afternoon we came to Mr. Clark’s at the Devizes. I found his daughter there, our sister Taylor, (who has won him to Chiist without the word,) and a sister from Bath. We soon 382 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. perceived that our enemies had taken the alarm and were mustering their forces for the battle. They began with ringing the bells backwards, and running to and fro in the streets as lions roaring for their prey. From the time my brother told me in London that there was no such thing as raising a mob at the Devizes, I had a full expectation of what vmuld follow, but saw my call, and walked with my brother Meriton and M. Na 5 dor to a house where the society used to meet. “The Curate’s mob had been in quest of me at several places, particu- larlj^ at Mrs. Phillips’s, where I was expected to preach. They broke open and ransacked her house; but Lot finding me, marched awajr to our brother Rogers, where we were praying and exhorting one another to con¬ tinue in the faith, and through much tribulation to enter the kingdom. The chief gentlemen of the town headed the mob, and the zealous Curate Mr. Lines stood with them in the street the whole time, dancing for joy. This is he who declared in the pulpit, as well as from house to house, that he himself heard me preach blasphemy before the University. He had gone about several days, stirring up the people and canvassing the gentry for their vote and interest, but could not raise a mob while my bro¬ ther was here. The hour of darkness was not then fully come. While his friends were assaulting us.I heard my own name fre¬ quently repeated, with “Bring him out, bring him out.” Their design was first to throw me into the horse pond. They continued raging and threatening the first hour, and pressed hard upon us to break the door. The windows they did break to pieces, and tore doivn the shutters of the shop. The little flock were less afraid than I expected, only one of our sisters fainted away. But beneath were the everlasting arms. “Our besiegers had now blocked up the door with a waggon, and set up lights lest I should escape; yet a brother got out unobserved, and with much entreaty prevailed upon the Mayor to come down. He came with two constables, (one a faithful brother, the other a persecutor) and threatened the rioters, but so softly that none regarded him. It was the Lord who for the present rebuked the madness of the people. They hur¬ ried away from us to the inn where our horses were, broke open the stable door and turned out the beasts, which were found some hours after in a pond up to their chins in water. We were at a loss meantime what to do; when God put it into the heart of our next-door neighbour, a Baptist, to take us through a passage into his own house, ofiered us his bed, and engaged for our secruity. We accepted his kindness and slept in peace. “25 February. A day never to be forgotten. At seven I walked quietly to Mrs. Phillips, began preaching a little before the time appointed; and for three quarters of an hour invited a few listening sinners to Christ. Then the boys, with their bells, like the Devil’s infantry, began; and soon after, his whole army assaulted the house to bring us forth. We sat in a little ground room, and ordered aU the doors to be thrown open. They brought a hand engine and began to play into the house. We kept our seats, and they rushed into the passage. Just then, Mr. Burrough the constable came, seized upon the spout of the engine and carried it ofif CHARLES WESLEY. 383 in spite of them all. They swore that if he did not deliver it they wonld pull down the house. At that time they might have taken us prisoners, for we were in their sight, close to them, and none to interpose; but they hurried out to fetch the larger engine. Meanwhile we were advised to send to Mr. Mayor, but Mr. Mayor was gone out of town in sight of the people. This was great encouragement to those who were already wrought up to a proper pitch by the pains-taking Curate and gentlemen of the town, particularly Mr. Sutton and Mr. Willey the two leading men. Dissenters.* Mr. Sutton lived next door, and frequently came out to the mob to keep up their spirits. Mr. Innes was there too and quite happy on the occasion. Mr. Sutton sent word to Mrs. Phillips that if she did not turn that fellow out to the mob, he would send them to drag him out. Mr. Willey passed by again and again, assuring the rioters he would stand by them and secure them from the law, do what they would. “They now began playing the larger engine, which broke the windows, flooded the rooms, and spoiled the goods. We were withdrawn to a small upper room in the back part of the house, seeing no way to escape their violence. They seemed under the full power of the old Murderer. Our brother who keeps the Scciety they laid hold on first, dragged him away and threw him into the horse pond; and broke his back, as was re¬ ported. But another of the Society ran in resolutely among them, and rescued him out of their hands by little less than a miracle. His wife fell into fits again. We gave ourselves unto prayer, believing the Lord would deliver us; how or when we saw not, nor any possible way of escaping. Therefore we stood still to see the salvation of God. As soon as the mob had emptied the engine, they ran to fill it again, keeping strict watch on all sides, lest we should escape. One advised to attempt it through the garden of a persecutor,! and I put on my coat on purpose, but could not think it the Lord’s way of bringing us forth. I laid aside the design, and saw a troop of our enemies coming up the very way we should have gone. Every now and then, some or other of oui- friends would ventui’c to us, but rather weakened our hands, so that we were forced to stop our ears, and look up. Amongst the rest, the Mayor’s maid came and told us her mistress was in tears about me, and begged me to disguise myself in womens’ clothes and try to make my escape. Her heart had been turned towards us by the conversion of her son. Just on the brink of ruin, God laid his hand upon the poor prodigal, and in¬ stead of running away to sea, he entered into the Society, to the great joy and surprise of his parents. “The rioters without, continued playing their engine, which diverted them for some time. But their number and fierceness still increased; and the gentlemen plied them with pitchers of ale, as much as they * Mr. Wesley could only mean that they were Dissenters in the sense of being Whigs or Hanoverians; that is to say, not Jacob¬ ites. It will be remembered that the inva- t Mr. sion of the \ oung Pretender had occurred only three years previously. The Willey and .Sutton monuments are both in the Parish Church. Sutton! 384 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. would drink. Mr. Meriton hid his money and watoli, “that they might do good to somebody,” he said, “for, as to the mob, they should have nothing of him but his carcase.” They were now on the point of break¬ ing in, when Mi'. Burrough thought of reading the Proclamation. He did so at the hazard of his life. In less than the hour [required in the Act, for dispersing] of above one thousand wild beasts, none were left but the guard. They retreated, as we suppose, by the advice of the old ser¬ pent who sat observing us at au opposite house in the shape of a lawyer. We had now stood siege for about three hours, aud none but the Invisible Hand could have kept them one moment from tearing us in pieces. Our constable had applied to Mr. Street, the only Justice in town, who would not act. We found there was no help in man, which di’ove us closer to the Lord; and we prayed by his Spirit with little intermission the whole day. “Our enemies, at their return, made their main assault at the back door, swearing horribly they would have me, if it cost them their lives. Many seeming accidents concurred to delay their breaking in. The man of the house came home; and instead of turning me out, as they expected, he took part with us and stemmed the tide for some time. Then they got a notion that I had made my escape, and ran down to the inn and played their engine there. They forced the innkeeper to turn out our horses, which he immediately sent to Mr. Clark’s. This drew the rabble and their engine thither, but the resolute old man charged and presented his gun tUl they retreated. Upon their revisiting us, Mr. Meriton was for surrendering ourselves before the night came on, which, ho said would make them more audacious, and that there might be witness of whatever they did by daylight. But I persuaded him to wait till the Lord should point out the way. How we stood in jeopardy every moment. Such threatenings, curses, and blasphemies, I had never heard. They seemed kept out by a constant miracle. I remembered the Homan Senate sitting in the Forum when the Gauls broke in upon them; but thought there was a fitter posture for Christians; and told our companions, they should take us off our knees. We were kept from all hurry and discomposure of spirit by a divine power resting upon us. We prayed and conversed as freely as if we had been in the midst of our brethren, and had great con¬ fidence that the Lord would either deliver us from the danger, or in it. One of my companions, M. H., cried out “It must be so: God will de¬ liver us: if God is true, we are safe.” I told my friend Meriton, (et lime olim tneminisse juvahit) that our most distant friends were praying for us, and our deliverance would soon occasion many thanksgivings unto God. In the height of the storm, when we were just falling into the hands of the drunken enraged multitude, he was so little disturbed that he fell fast asleep. They were now close to us on every side, and over our heads untiling the roof. I was diverted by a little girl who called to me through the door, “ Mr. Wesley, Mr. Wesley, creep under the bed; they will kill you; they are pulling down the house.” Our sister Taylor’s faith was just failing, when a ruffian called out, “Here they are behind CHARLES WESLEY. 385 the curtain.” At this time we fully expected their appearance, and retired to the furthermost corner of the room; and I said, “This is the crisis.” In that moment Jesus rebuked the wind and seas, and there was a great calm. We heard not a breath without, and wondered what was come to them. The silence lasted three quarters of an hour before any one came near us; and we continued in mutual exhortation and prayer, looking- for deliverance. If ever we felt faith, it was now. Our souls hung upon that arm which divided the Sea. I often told my companions, “Now, God is at work for us: He is contriving our escape: lie can turn these leopards into lambs; can command the Heathen to bring his Children on their shoulders, and make our fiercest enemies the instruments of our deliverance.” “In about an hour after the last general assault, the answer of faith came,.Soon after three o’clock, Mr. Clark knocked at the door and brought with him the penseeutiug constable. He said, “ Sir, if you will promise never to preach here again, the gentlemen and I willengage to bring yousafe out of town.” My answerwas,—“I shall pro¬ mise no such thing.”—“But will you not tell me that you have no intention , of returning hither “Not till you are better disposed to receive me; for, in obedience to my master, if you persecute me in one city I will flee to another. But, setting aside my office, I will not give up my birthright as an Englishman of visiting what part I please of his Majesty’s domin¬ ions.”—“ Sir, we expect no such promise that you will never come here again : only tell me that it is not your present intention, that I may tell the gentlemen, who will then secure your quiet departure.”—I answered “I cannot come now, because I must return to Loudon a week hence; but observe, I make no promise of not preaching here when the door is open¬ ed; and don’t you say that I do.” “ He went away with this answer and we betook ourselves again to prayer and thanksgiving. We perceived it was the Lord’s doing, and it was marvellous in our eyes. Our adversaries’ hearts were turned Even Mr. Sutton and Mr. AVilley laboured to take off the mob and quench the fire themselves had kindled. AVhether pity for us or fear for themselves wrought strongest, God knoweth. Probably the latter; for the mob were -wrought up to such a pitch of fury that their masters dreaded the con¬ sequence, and therefore went about appeasing the multitude and charging them not to touch us in our departure. I knew full well it was not in their power to lay the devil they had raised, and that none but the Al¬ mighty could engage for our security. AVe had hoped to make our escape in the dead of night, if the house were not pulled down first, and had therefore sent our horses towards Seend, intending to walk after them; but now we sent for them back, and recovered them before were they got out of the town. “While the constable was gathering his posse, we got our things from Mr. Clark’s and prepared to go forth. The whole multitude were with¬ out, expecting us. Now, our constable’s heart began to fail, and he told us he much doubted if the mob could be restrained; for that thirtv or BB 386 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. more of the most desperate were gone down the street, and waited at the cud of the town for our passing. He should therefore advise us to hide ourselves in some other house and get off by night. Mr. Meriton’s council was to escape by the back door while the mob were waiting for us at the fore door. I asked council of the Lord, and met with that word “Jesus said unto her, said 1 not unto thee. If thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God.” After reading this, I went forth as easy as Luther to the Council. “ We were saluted with a general shout. The man whom Mrs. Naylor had hired to ride before her,* was, as we now perceived one of the rioters. This hopeful guide was to conduct us out of the reach of his fellows. Mr. i\Ieriton and 1 took horse in the face of our enemies, who began clamour¬ ing against us, and I answering them, when the constable begged me to forbear. The gentlemen were dispersed among the mob to bridle them. We rode a slow pace down the street, the whole multitude pouring along on both sides, and attending us with loud acclamations. Such fierceness and diabolical malice I have not seen in human faces. They ran up to our horses, as if they would swallow us up, but did not know which was Wesle}'. We felt great peace and acquiescence in the honoirr done us, while the whole town were spectators of our march. After riding two or three hundred yards, I looked back and saw Mr. Meriton on the ground, in the midst of the mob, and two bull-dogs upon him. One was first let loose, which leaped at his horse’s nose, but the horse with his foot beat him down. The other fastened on his nose, and hung there till Mr. Meriton with the butt end of his whip felled him to the ground. Then the first dog recovering, flew at the horse’s breast, and fastened there. The beast reared up, and Mr. Meriton slid gently off. The dog kept his hold till the flesh tore off. Then some men took off the dogs; others cried, “ Let them alone.” But neither beast nor man had any further commission to hurt. 1 stopped the horse and delivered him to my friend. He remounted with great composure, and we rode on leisurely as before, till out of sight. “Then we mended our pace, and in an hour came to Seend, having rid¬ den three miles about; and by seven to Wraxhall. The news of our danger was got thither before us, hut we brought the welcome tidings of our own deliverance. Now we saw the hand of Providence in suffering them to turn out our horses, that is, to send them to us against we wanted them. Again, how plainly were we overruled to send our horses down the towm, which blinded the rioters without our designing it, and drew off their engines and them, leaving us a free passage at the other end of the town. We joined in hearty praises to our Deliverer, singing the hymn “ Worship, and thanks, and blessing, &c.” Sucli were the circumstances under which the Wesleyan cause was planted in Devizes, as recorded in Jackson’s Life of Charles Wesley. Very different was the reception given in * On a Pillion. JOHN WESLEY. 387 the same place, some 80 years afterwards, to Charles Wesley’s son the celebrated musical composer. An entirely new gene¬ ration had now sprung up; and among the persons who listened with delight to Mr. Wesley’s performances on the organ in St. John’s Church, perhaps not half a dozen knew that his father had been driven out of the town by the aid of bull dogs. Our last word must be for Mr. John Wesle}^, the elder brother. The venerable man continued to visit Devizes during a long course of years; and such was the regularity of his movements, that we almost invariably find him here on or near the first week in October, with occasionally an extra visitation. In 1764, Tuesday October 2nd, he writes, “Breakfasted at the Devizes with Mr. B-•, a bkek swan,^ an honest lawyer!—Hence we rode through a most intricate road to Pewsey.” [Q. Who was this lawyer, whose honesty, so rare in the profession, as Mr. Wesley would thereby in¬ sinuate, likened him to the rara avis ? Tliere was Henry Samuel Biggs an attorney of Devizes who died in 1798 and lies in Bromham Churchyard, but whether or not he was de¬ serving of the flattering distinction, we have not the means of declaring.] “ 3rd March 1 772. Preached about noon at the Devizes. The furious prejudice which long reigned in this town is now vanished away: the persecutors almost to a man being gone to their account. In the evening I preached at Bristol. “ Friday ISth September. I preached very quietly at the Devizes. Scarce one of the old persecutors is alive. Veiw few of them lived out half their days. Many were snatched away in an hour when they looked not for it.” Mr. Wesley’s subsequent visitations to this town date as follows: Monday 2 Oct. 1775,—Monday 5 Oct. 1778,—Mon¬ day 4 Oct. 1779,—Monday 2 Oct. 1780,—Monday 8 Oct. 1781,—[Monday 7 Oct. 1782,—Monday 6 Oct. 1783,—Mon¬ day 4 Oct. 1784,—Monday 27 Sept. 1790. He was now in his eighty-eighth year and he died in the following March. ‘ “ Kara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno.” Ovid. BB 2 388 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. His journal, which is a boundless store of quiet observa¬ tion and shrewd suggestion, might furnish many more materials relating to this county, had we the space for it. Visiting Stourhead in September 1776 he eulogises the pic¬ torial arrangement of the house and grounds, but finds fault with the statues. “Returning thence through Maiden Brad¬ ley, we saw,” says he, “the clumsy house of the Duke of Somerset' and afterwards the grand and elegant one of Lord Weymouth, beautifully situated in a lovely park.” George Whitfield does not appear to have visited Devizes, though he was in the neighbourhood in 1739. Passing through Salisbury, he called at the house of Chubb the in¬ fidel writer, with a view to expostulate with him, but found him not at home. He then turned his steps towards a more welcome door, and visited one whom he terms “an old disciple, my brother Wesley’s mother.” Thence he passes to Steeple Ashton, where the landlady of the inn gladly assembled the villagers to hear him. 1753. The Sudden Death of Ruth Pierce. An inscription on the east panel of the Market-cross re¬ cords the following event;— “ On Thursday the 25th of January 1753, Ruth Pierce of Potterne in this County agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the market, each paying her due proportion towards the same. One of these women, in collecting the several quotas of money, discovered a deficiency, and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and said, ‘She wished she might drop down dead if she had not.’ She rashly repeated this awful wish; when, to the consternation and terror of the surrounding multitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money concealed in her hand.” The narrative of this solemn event was, order of the authorities, recorded on a tablet, and hung up in the Market- house, (a row of sheds near the cross). When that building was taken down, Mr. Halcomhe, who kept the Bear Inn, in order that the remembrance of it might not be lost, caused it IIUTH PIERCE. 389 to bo inscribed on the pediment of a couple of pillars which stood opposite his inn, supporting the sign of the Bear. This sign was removed in 1801; and a few years after, Lord Sid- mouth having presented to the town the new cross which now forms the central ornament of the Market-place, the Mayor and Cor¬ poration availed themselves, to use their own language, of the stabi¬ lity of the new structure, to trans¬ mit to future times a record of the awful death of Ruth Pierce, in the hope that it might serve as a salu¬ tary warning against the practice of invoking the Sacred Name, to conceal the devices of fraud and falsehood. It is singular that there is in Devizes yet another memorial of untimely death, regarded equally with that of Ruth Pierce in the light of a judgement. It is conspicuous in St. John’s Churchyard, in the form of an obelisk fifteen feet high, reared over the re¬ mains of five persons who, on a Sunday in the year 1751, were drowned in Drews-pond, through their unskilful man¬ agement of a cooler, in which, for lack of a boat, they had ven¬ tured to take the water. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” is the motto engraved on the base of this obelisk. [The story of Ruth Pierce under the title of “ The Lye pun¬ ished” forms the subject of the Illustrated Handbill, No. 3, published by the Religious Tract Society.] A few years after the first Wesleyan demonstration had been made in Devizes, the town and neighbourhood were visited by a much younger man, then spoken of as “the baro¬ net’s son who goes about preaching.” This will be immediately recognised as the Rev. Rowland Hill; who in his turn had to share the perils and honours of a Devizes persecution; a form 390 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of opposition which however wore but little terror to one of his majestic front. “ When they abused, pelted, and threat¬ ened him,” observes Mr. Sherman his biographer, “ he stood calm and unmoved ; his countenance, capable of almost every expression, never assumed that of fear; but as soon as a person told him, in a way that evidenced sincerity, of his having been the instrument of his salvation, he could never suppress his emotion. His courage, at all times remarkable, often awed his most violent ojiposers. When very early in life he was preaching at Devizes, some fellow came to hear him, with several snakes in his pocket; watching his opportunity, he threw three at once on Mr. Hill. One coiled on his arm, and another fastened on his neck. “Perceiving, at once,” said he, “ that they were harmless, I merely took them off and threw them behind me, away from the crowd in attendance. Some of the people immediately drove away the sinner, and the re¬ sult was increased attention, and several conversions to God. Soon afterwards, the rebel came again to hear me; and he that would have alarmed me by serpents, was himself rescued from the old serpent, and became for many years a steadfast follower of the Lamb of God.” The spot where the above scene occurred was Marshman’s Green, the triangular field on which Mr. Blatchley’s house now stands, between the town and the Potterne turnpike, but at that time common, and open to the road; the broken nature of the ground offering a suitable pulpit to the preacher ; the same spot where two labourers were once buried alive while excavating sand. Another reference to this meeting, taken from Mr. Hill’s contemporary diary, and connecting it apparently with the 5th of May 1771, when he was twenty- six j^ears of age, is to the following effect. “ In the morning at Chippenham. ... In the evening at the Devizes :— the first Gospel sermon that ever was preached there,^ from ' Mr. Hill must here be understood in public to all the town ; the for- to mean that now for the first time mer missionaries having been limi- such a sermon had been addressed ted to the use of private rooms. ROWLAND HILL. 391 Isaiah, 1. 1, 2, 3. ‘ Hear oh Heavens, &c.;’ many thousands supposed to be present: a little disturbance, though we trust a great blessing : many thanked me for my sermon and besought me to return. Before I began preaching, my heart was low, but afterwards was abundantly comforted at the goodness of the Lord. A spirit of praise and thanks¬ giving was upon all the people, and all agreed that the town was taken.” A few months later Mr. Hill again appears in Wiltshire, when his chief opponents were some of the inha¬ bitants of Devizes, who pelted him with eggs and stones ; and followed him to an adjacent village, where they did their utmost to molest the meeting. In 1774 he gratefully records “ a happy journey through Wiltshire.” On the discovery of vaccination by Dr. Jenner, Mr. Hill eageidy embraced this new means of conferring a benefit on his fellow creatures. “ This,” he said, “ is the very thing for me ;” and wherever he went to preach, he announced after his sermon, “ I am ready to vaccinate to morrow morning as many children as you choose ; and if you wish them to escape that horrid dis¬ ease, the small-pox, you will bring them.” For this purpose he carried about with him a suppl}' of quills ready for use ; but even in this affair he one day met with a check in Devi zes, the mahogany box in which they were kept having excited the cupidity of some thief, who stole it from his car¬ riage in the Bear Inn yard, but who must have been sadly disappointed on discovering its worthless contents. Contemporary with the movements above recorded, it is also well known, that a corresponding reformation took place, throughout England, within the Established pale. In this neighbourhood, the name of Sir James Stonehouse vicar of Great Chiverell is conspicuous.* Also that of Monsieur Bou¬ quet, against whom a strong cry of methodism was raised, but who was approved of and ordained by Dr. Wills the ex¬ cellent Bishop of Bath and Wells ; and under the resolute pati’onage of that prelate he ever after remained unmolested, * The “ Mr. Johnson” of “The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain'' 392 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. even in the practice of wbat some would now call irregularity; for lie preached at the opening of the Tabernacle in Trow¬ bridge in 1771, and each year afterwards at its anniversary, till his death in 1776. Of the same school was Edward Spencer, rector of Winkfield, who having being brought under the influence of Whitfield and Wesley, became first a curate at Bradford ; and afterwards at Winkfield established a school upon Evangelical principles, where many clergy commenced an honourable and useful career. Pynsent and Pitt. 1765. Sir William Pynsent of Erchfont near Devizes; descended from a family long seated at Chudleigh in Devonshire, and created a baronet by James IT., has already come under our notice as Sheriff of Wilts and member for Devizes. He was also the builder of the Manor house at Erchfont, now, 1859, the property of S. Watson Taylor Esq.; and he was the father of the baronet whose capricious disposition of the family estates in favour of William Pitt (afterwards Earl Chatham) created so much gossip as well as legal controversy in the years 1765—1771. This event occurred at the time when Mr. Pitt had been temporarily superseded by Lord Bute; and the bequest, so Lord Macaulay informs us, arose out of the following circumstances. Sir William Pynsent was a baronet of Whig principles, who had been a member of the House of Commons in the days of Queen Anne, and had retired to rural privacy when the Tory party, towards the end of her reign, obtained the ascendancy in her councils. His manners were eccentric, his morals lay under suspicions, but his fidelity to his political principles remained unalterable. During fifty years of seclu¬ sion he continued to brood over the circumstances which had driven him from public life, the dismissal of the Whigs, the peace of Utrecht, the desertion of our allies. He now thought that he perceived a close analogy between the well remem- PYNSENT AND PITT. 393 bered events of his youth and the events which he had wit¬ nessed in extreme old age; between the disgrace of Marl¬ borough and the disgrace of Pitt; between the elevation of Harley and the elevation of Bute; between the treaty nego¬ tiated by St. John and the treaty negotiated by Bedford; between the wrongs of the house of Austria in 1712 and the wrongs of the house of Brandenburgh in 1762. This fancy took such possession of the old man’s mind that he determined to leave the bulk of his property to Pitt. In this way Pitt unexpectedly came into possession of nearly £30,000. Nor could all the malice of his enemies find any ground of reproach in the transaction. Nobody could call him a legacy hunter, or accuse him of seizing that to which others had a better claim: for he had never in his life seen Sir William, and Sir William had left no relation so near as to be entitled to form any expectations respecting the estate. Such is Lord Macaulay’s version; but the surviving rela¬ tives thought difierently, and resolved to dispute the validity of the will. The parties who prosecuted the suit were Sir Robert Pynsent rector of Killimore, cousin or nephew to the deceased and the successor to the baronetcy, and Henry Daw Tothill another heir who claimed by reason of his descent from Grace the sister of the first baronet who married William Tothill of Bovey. The inability of the deceased to alienate was the argument principally relied on; and the plea of in¬ sanity was also set up. But though eccentricity was proved, as well as a want of family feeling, there was sufficient evi¬ dence of shrewdness, and what some might even think a laudable exhibition of public spirit. Though he had no son to inherit his title, he had several relations in indigence. To three grand-nephews he left one thousand guineas each; to the notorious John Wilkes he left another thousand: all the rest went to William Pitt: and as if in anticipation of the discord to which such a will would give rise, he signed every sheet with his own hand, and caused the whole to be read 394 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, over in the presence of the subscribing witnesses. The case was finally decided in Pitt’s favour, in the Court of Chancery in April 1771. Thus it came to pass in after years that the younger William Pitt so often sought relief from the burden of office by retreating to Burton Pynsent in Somerset, and taking Devizes in his way, where he met Addington and Captain Sutton. While the fate of Pynsent’s will was still balancing in Chancery, Pitt was again called to assist in the formation of a Cabinet, under which arrangement he took to himself the office of Lord Privy Seal, aud was raised to the peerage by the title of the Earl of Chatham. This was in 1766; and it immediately gave rise to the following pasquinade, the evident design of which was to prejudice the public mind in respect of the legacy. Pynsent’s Ghost. Being a parody on the ballad of “ William and Margaret,” published in 1766, and printed for J. Almon. “ TVas at the silent midnight hour When virtue sleeps so sweet. In glided Pynsent’s grimly ghost. And stood at Chatham’s feet. His face was pale like Scotia’s morn. Clad in a misty cloud ; And clay-cold was the shrivelled hand That held his sable shroud. So shall Earl Talbot’s face appear, Ere twenty years are flown : Such is the robe great George must wear. When Death has snatched his crown. His wealth was like the copious flow. That Thames’s fountains pour; His bounty reached from high to low. In one congenial shower. But madness like some northern blast. Fresh wafted from the Thane, Had all his mental powers o’er cast: Poor Pynsent died insane. pynsent’s ghost. 395 “Arise,” he cried, “thy patron calls. Come from his dreary grave : Arise and heed my threatening voice, Thou vile [degenerate] slave. This is the dumb and silent hour When injured ghosts complain ; And aid the secret fears of night. To scare the treacherous man. Villain repent-repent, though late. Thy broken oaths and vows. And give me back my lost estate. Since shame hath stripped thy brows. How could you say the Cause was good. And yet that Cause forsake ? How could you say j'ou sought not gold. Yet gold on all sides take ? Why did you promise patriot cares. And not that promise keep ? Why did you grieve for Albion’s tears. Yet leave her sons to weep ? How could you swear your country’s love Did o’er your breast prevail ? And why did I, old doting fool. Believe the lying tale ? Thy country’s love no more prevails. To her thine heart is dead ; Black are the cares that whelm thee round; Tliy patriotism is lied. Strafford and Bath thy brethren are, Bute’s livery thou didst wear ; M'Kensie struts beside thee now. With pride’s presumptuous air. But look ! Some demon plucks me hence, A . . . ill-timed adieu. Come see, false wretch, how low he lies Who left his wealth to you.” The cock crowed thrice, the moon appeared. And chased each midnight dread ; Yet Chatham shook with conscious guilt. Then raving left his bed. He hied him to the vaulted aisle Where Pynsent’s carcase lay. And stretched him o’er the marble tomb That held his mouldering clay. 396 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. And thrice he called on Pynsent dead, And thrice he sobbed fuU sore, Then laid his crutch* beneath his head And word spake never more. Epitaph. Wrapped up in flannel thrice three-fold Here humbled Chatham lies, Who proved at last of mortal mould Though erst he scaled the skies. Ambition spur’d his fiery youth Mean avarice snared his age. Bankrupt in friendship, honour, truth, Fiill-gorged he quit the stage. Learn hence ye sons of Albion fair To check too rash applause. Of patriots frail your praises spare ; Yet still support The Cause.” Sir William Pynsent, the second baronet and the subject of the above ballad, lived for awhile at West Lavington, having married Mary daughter of Thomas Jennings and Mary Speke (sister of Hugh Speke): and he died at Erchfont^ in 1765, having outlived his daughters and an only son. Traditions still linger on the spot, of his disinheriting this son, who lived at Winkfield near Trowbridge, and predeceased him: also of Sir William’s post mortem appearance to an old woman who kept his house; both traditions having, in all probability, taken their present form and colour from the fanciful imagery of the aforesaid ballad. It is further said that the cause of offence given by the disinherited son was his having married a very old woman. He built a house at Winkfield, where he died in the year 1754; leaving his pro¬ perty, such as he had, to a protege named William Pynsent * The crutch and the flannel are cousin Robert married Olivia Mat¬ in allusion to his malady the gout, thews, whom we may conjecture to The Erchfont estate is supposed have been the heiress of Erchfont; to have come to the first Sir Wil- for she was certainly buried here, liam Pynsent from his cousin Robert and the name of Matthews still sur- Tothill, son of William Tothill of vives in the parish. Bovey, by Grace Pynsent. This STATE OF TEADK. 397 Wadman. Sir Robert Pynsent, the succeeding and last baronet, seems to have been the son of one of Sir William’s brothers. There were three such brothers buried at Ercbfont, viz. Robert in 1738, John in 1749, and Launcelot in 1695. This account of the family will be found to differ from that given in Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetage, where the Sir William who died in 1765, consequently the devisor of the estate to Pitt, is represented as the third Sir William, lineally descended. But such could not have been the extremely old man described by Lord Macaulay. Mr. Burke’s error arose from supposing that the year 1754, the date of the death of the disinherited son William, was that of his father the se¬ cond baronet; whereas it was that of William Pynsent Esquire, and may be seen in the Winkfield parish register. The ad¬ justment of the above facts was owing to the courtesy of the Rev. Edward Wilton, who adds the following memorandum. “On the 26th ult. [year unknown] died Mr. Wallis, in the 87th year of his age; last surviving son of the late Taverner Wallis of Whitchurch, Oxon, disinherited of the Burton Pyn¬ sent estate by his uncle Sir William Pynsent, bart. in favour of William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham.” It was Sir William Pynsent’s remarkable bequest to Pitt which probably gave rise to the rumour prevailing for a short time after Alderman Beckford’s death in 1770, that the estate of Eonthill had, in like manner, gone to the Earl of Chatham; though the legal heir was then ten years of age. The ex¬ ample was not entirely without similar results; for three years afterwards, viz. in 1773, William Temple Esq. of Trowbridge left £500 to John Wilkes. oi In the middle of the 18th Century. ■[JROM time to time about this period, complaints reach the House of Commons, relative to the decay of the woollen 398 HISTORY OF DEVIZKS. trade in tliese parts; and though no general deductions can be drawn from this class of documents, which for the most part consisted of ex parte statements, the evidence of a pro¬ cess of commercial change going on in the town is in a mea¬ sure supported by the testimony of Dr. Davis the Devizes antiquary, who in his serio-comic manner thus describes the aspect of things in 1750—51. He is addressing the “Friend” to whom the Origines Divisiance are inscribed, whose actual name may not unreasonably be supposed to be Eyles, seeing that he describes his friend’s villa as standing near the spot where the Penates were dug up. See Letter vi. “ You, Sir in your place, have partaken of [the general] degeneracy, and expelled the few remains of the old, honest, lahorions Saxons, who early submitted to and were incorporated with the Yormans. They were woolpickers, woolcombers, weavers, clothiers, and dyers. The industry of these brought riches into our town, which were preserved under the faithful custody of frugality. But now, how are you changed ! into de¬ licacy and poverty ; into embroidery on one day of the week, and dirti¬ ness on all the rest. Sacks are thin in your market-place on Thursdays, but thick in your churches on Sundays.' You have turned the grating of your woolcombs into the scraping of fiddles ; the skreeking loom into the tinkling harpsichord, and the thumping fulling-mills into a glittering and contentious organ. Scents of perfumes are in your churches, and the odours of train-oil .... are no more smelt amongst you. Your houses are ornamented with Bath Stone, wi’ought into pediments, entablatures, and pillastrades. Your market-house, a stranger to wool- packs, is metamorphozed into a theatre for balls, concertos, and oratorios. So much for the present liberties of the town.” The cloth manufacturing trade, once carried on here by six or seven considerable establishments, did not entirely leave Devizes till about 1830. In the Corporation books, receipts for “rents of the Wool-hall” occur as late as 1800. The revenue from wool and yarn, consisting of charges for weighing and warehousing, at one time amounted to £50, affording evidence of at least one valuable branch of industry, which has passed away and left not a trace behind. The ' Sacks in church. This is a pun, having reference to the ladies’ robes, called sacks. BELL FOUNDRY. 399 Guild of Merchants which had flourished in the borough since the time of Edward III.’s charter, was, in the middle of the 18th century, maintaining a flickering kind of existence. Its function had long become virtually obsolete; and though the proceedings continued to be made matter of record down to the year 1770, the convocations of the members appear to have served little other purpose than an excuse for convivial meetings at the Antelope, and now and then an organised resistance to tlie inroads of itinerant hawkers. For an illus¬ tration of the lynch law which they found it necesssary to put in operation against this latter nuisance, see page 120. The history of the three principal trading companies constituting this Guild, viz. the Mercers, the Drapers, and the Leather- sellers, has been fully set forth by Mr. Edward Kite, in the Wilts Magazine vol. iv., the basis of his account being two MS. books of ordinances, constitutions, and decrees, now in the Library of the Wilts Archeological and Natural History Society; one of them, the book of the Drapers, having been presented by Alexander Meek Esq., Town-clerk of Devizes; the other, the book of the Mercers, by the Rev. E. J. Phipps, Rector of Stansfield in Suffolk, and formerly Rector of Devizes. Among the new forms in which trade was developing, may be mentioned a bell-foundry which ajjpears to have been in active operation in Devizes, from at least 1738 to 1754. -This establishment, supposed to have been conducted at the lower end of the garden lying south of St. John’s churchyard, was the property of James Burrough; and the following are some of the Church bells cast by him :—the priest’s bell at Bishops Cannings, in 1738 ;—the first and second bells at Devizes St. John, the gift of William Willey Esq. in 1747 ; —the sixth at Bromham, in 1748:—the second and fifth at Marden, in 1751 ;—the fourth at Caine, in 1751 ;—the fourth at Collinghourn Ducis, in 1752 ;—the third at Iley- tesburj", in 1753 ;—the priest’s bell at Pewsey, in 1754 ;— 400 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the second and third at Chittern St. Mary, in 1754. Lukis’s Church Bells. Wilts Magazine, vol. ii.' A word too must be said in respect of road-making and men¬ ding, which in this district became a favourite investment dur¬ ing the early part of the 18th century, producing a plentiful crop of “turnpike trusts” to the disgust of the old fashioned people and the great grief of the toll-paj'-ers. In those days, nor till long after, Devizes did not stand on the road from London to Bath. The “great and ancient road ” as it was styled in a pe¬ tition of 1707 passing from Marlborough, went over Round way Hill down to Netherstreet, by Bromham Hall on to Sandy Lane, and thence through Lacock to Bath. When therefore a better post road was in agitation, the point in debate was, not the relative advantage of the Roundway route as versus the Devizes route, but the Roundway route as compared with an amended line through Oherhill, Caine, and Chippenham. This Caine line had hitherto been so defective, that, however incredible it may appear to modern travellers, the people of Chippenham, in order to reach Beckhampton, generally had to come round through Sandy Lane and take the Roundway route. The reformation of the road through Caine was never¬ theless strenuously opposed by Walter Grubbe Esq. lord of the manor of Cherhill, both in his own behalf, and in the name of John Baynton lord of Bromham, to whom he was guardian; and though of course the measure eventually pas¬ sed, yet the old Roundway Hill route continued to bear the character of a high road maintained by a turnpike trust, till the middle of the century; from and after which time, the traffic through Devizes obtained a pre-eminence over that of both the other roads; partly owing perhaps to the town lying on an amended route from Bath to Winchester. 1 While St. Paul’s Cathedral was the finishing stroke, hy casting its itself the work of a native of this great hell. This was Phelps of county, Sir Christopher Wren; it Avebury, was another Wiltshireman who gave STATE OF TRADE. 401 The restricted limits of some of these trusts may be instan¬ ced thus. First, a trust was formed to keep in order the road from Rowde-ford, to and through Devizes, on to the top of Etchilhampton Hill and no farther. Then another trust would take it up at Stert-stone and carry it on to Red-horn Hill; and a third completed it over the Plain as far as Fish- erton. It is from the formation of the first of these that we may conjecturally date the execution of the portion of the road from the south corner of Southbroom park to the Nurs- teed turnpike; the lane through the village of Nursteed having evidently been the original high road from Devizes towards Salisbury. To amend this road further on, where, as stated above, it passed over Etchilhampton Hill (by a track still apparent) Charles Garth the member for Devizes, got a clause introduced into a local bill in January 1756, enabling the trustees to avoid the hill by carrying the road across “Tinkfield lands”; an event which, fourteen years afterwards, was thought worthy of a monument, estimated to cost £40, and to be moreover defended with iron rails, though this latter expense was abandoned. It was built by subscrip¬ tions, paid to Thomas Burrough bookseller and goldsmith. Devizes; and inscribed with the name of James Long Esq of Wedhampton as the originator of the scheme: a demi-lion rampant, the crest of Long, forming the apex. Mr. Long died just before the monument was erected. In addition to the toll-bar nuisance, there were not want¬ ing persons who discovered in the improved means of com¬ munication a source of agricultural scarcity. Many absurd and conflicting statements on this head crowd the pages of the Commons’ Journals. It will suffice to add here, that the above doctrine found an advocate in Devizes in the person of Thomas Elbridge Rooke Esq. styling himself “ late lieute¬ nant in the reduced 108th regiment of foot”, who in 1772 issued an imposing quarto treatise entitled “ Considerations on the dearness of provisions” addressed to the King;— cc 402 HISTOKY OF DEAaZES. printed and sold by Thomas Burrough, Devizes. This dear¬ ness he attributes to, the two-great number of horses, still- houses, the prohibition of distilling from wheat, the too general use of tea, monopoly of farms, the goodness of the roads, and lastl}’', the numerous dealers in provisions. It will hardly be neccessary to follow the ex-lieutenant through his course of reasoning under these seven general heads. The principal thing shewn by the book is that Mr. Burrough’s type-fount was of first rate character. A copy is in the British Museum. The annals of Newgate, describing the capture at Knights- bridge of a highwayman who had repeatedly stopped “ the Devizes Chaise,” indicates that a stage coach habitually ran from the town before June 1752. In 1780, John Oak adver¬ tises that a Diligence leaves Devizes every morning from the Castle Inn. Salisbury Journal. A Devizes weekly newspaper, (name forgotten) was in cir¬ culation about 1765, an early specimen of which, long in the possession of Mrs. H. Anstie, was destroyed in the late fire at her house in Long street. The opening of the first banking house in Devizes occurred in 1775, and was thus announced in the newspapers. “A public Bank will be opened at Devizes on the 15th day of May instant, by Messieurs James Sutton, William Leach, John Bevan, and Richard Read; with a capital sufiicient to answer all the purposes of banking.” Another of William Leach’s advertisements was a well engraved pictorial card, descriptive of his snuff windmills on the Castle-mound; a trade which afterwards passed successively to Ludlow, and Anstie. In Edward Dore’s map of the town, executed in 1759, it is stated that the tobacco trade had largely increased of late: and from that document we further gather that there was then a secondary market held every Monday, (in addition to that of Thursday) in the open space by St. Mary’s Church, still called “Monday Market street,” but formerly the “Old core’s map. 403 Market place.” It is hardly necessary to add that the Thurs¬ day market is there made to hold a distinguishing place in the West of England provision trade. [Note. In 1776, pub¬ lic notice was moreover given that in future a monthly market for fat cattle would be held in the borough on the second Thursday in each month; the first for the season, in August; and the last, in the ensuing January. With what results we know not. Saluhury Journal. Seven fairs are mentioned in the map. This map of the town part of the borough, drawn by Ed¬ ward Dore to the large scale of two chains to an inch or forty inches to a mile, engraved by W. Burrough, and brought out no doubt by Thomas Burrough the spirited publisher of the day,* was executed on two plates, forming unitedly a sheet 3 feet 5 inches by 2 feet 7 inches. Besides a brief history of the place, it contains perspective views of the three Churches, the old and new Town-halls, the borough arms, and a prospect of the town from Coate Hill. The extent of the ground covered by the houses indicates that the size of the place has but little varied since 1759. There are also extant various other maps of the Park lands, at least 200 years old, one of which has been litho¬ graphed on a small scale by Mr. Kite. They shew that, ex¬ cepting near the town, hardly any change has taken place in the field boundaries, till the railway drove through them; excepting also the modification consequent on the erection of the mansion known as Old Pai’k House, the residence of the Pev. Alfred Smith, which was built by that gentleman’s • Besides Evan Thomas’s Alma¬ nack and Lieutenant Rooke’s trea¬ tise mentioned above, Mr. Burrough published ‘The way to the Temple of honour and fame,’ by W. Cooke of new College Oxford, 4 vols. 8vo. 1773; ‘A treatise on the Ananas or Pine Apple, shewing how to rear it without the aid of fire,’ by Adam Taylor, gardener near Devizes. 1769; ‘The art of thriving,’ and other small fry. Mr. Burrough was grandfather to Mr. T. B. Smith who has for so many years conducted the post office at Devizes. cc 2 404 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. predecessor Mr. Eldridge, near the commencement of the present century. The only large house formerly standing in the Park was the Keeper’s Lodge, in the centre, surrounded by a broad and deep moat which still exists and gives the name of Moat-mead to the spot. The building is gone, but the site is surrounded by old oaks which spring up in profu¬ sion; and in clearing out the moat, Mr. Smith has occasionally found stags’ horns of considerable size. A vast dyke or earthen rampart, seems originally to have entirely surroun¬ ded the park, forming a ditch of 15 feet in width and a slope 20 feet high. On Mr. Smith’s side of the park, it bears the name of the Deer’s leap: at Marsh lane it is lost, but re¬ appears in good preservation on Mr. George Anstie’s side; and it is probably a section of the same work which is visible on the face of the cliff laid open close to the railway station, though not quite in limine with the present park boundary. This undoubtedly ancient circumvallation may, without diffi¬ culty, be attributed to Bishop Roger. See page 54, where the dyke is mentioned in a contract between Henry II. and the See of Sarum. The principal officers in the borough in 1759 are thus mentioned in Dore’s map. George Willey Esq. Mayor: John Garth Esq. Recorder, and M.P. conjointly with William Willey Esq. a free-burgess: Prince Sutton Esq. Justice. To these it may be added that in 1759 the Sheriff for the County was William Norris of Nonsuch House, Bromham, Esq. In 1760 which was also the first year of George III., the Sheriff was George Flower of Devizes, Esq.; and in 1762 the Sheriff was Prince Sutton Esq. aforesaid. Both the borough members died soon after, and almost contemporaneously: Mr. Garth in Dec. 1764, and Mr. Willey in the following spring. The new writ, dated 29 April, or¬ dering Mr. Willey’s place to be supplied, was indeed found to have been issued prematurely, and had to be followed by a supersedeas : but it was re-issued on the 24th of May, when WILTS POOR LAW BILL. 405 more positive information respecting his decease had reached the House. Mr. Willey’s residence was in London, but the first report may have acquired circulation through the distant channel of his brother George Willey Esq. of New Park, Devizes. Touching this member, the following on dit is re¬ corded in Kaye’s MS. anecdotes. “Willey, a member for the Devizes, finding himself once in the company of Pulteney Earl of Bath and Sir Robert Walpole, thought fit to declare that he intended to steer clear of all party, and to be an in¬ dependent man. Sir Robert, who was good-natured and convivial, claps him on the shoulder, observing, ‘My good friend, take my word for it, you must wear either Will Pul- teney’s yoke or mine; and you will find mine the lighter of the two.’ ” In order to give this story an air of veracity, which the test of dates seems to deny it, we must suppose that it records some anticipatory brag uttered by Mr. Willey, as to what he intended to do when the time came; for he was not in for Devizes till 1747, which was two years after Wal¬ pole’s death, and five years after his resignation as Minister. Walpole, whose systematic plan of paying his majority was even then matter of notoriety, is the reputed author of the saying that “All men have their price;” which Archdeacon Coxe his biographer tones down to an assertion bearing only on the Minister’s adversaries, quasi “all those men.” Mr. Willey appears to have taken the same limited view of Sir Robert’s powers of persuasion. 1763. At the County Quarter Sessions held at Devizes, 12 April, before Sir Robert Long, hart.. Sir John Glanville, James Montagu, Thomas Hedges, John Jacob, Daniel Bull, Thomas Hunt Grubbe, Edward Poore, William Beach, Wil¬ liam Earle, Robert Neale, William Burleton, Thomas Bennett, John Bythesea, Joseph Mortimer, Esquires, the Rev. Charles Wake Doctor of laws, Robert Ashe, and Richard Head, clerks, ‘A plan for the better relief and employment of the poor within the County of Wilts’ was brought forward, and so far secured 406 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, the approbation of the meeting as to occasion an order that it be forthwith printed and dispersed at the expense of the public stock. Michael Ewen, Clerk of the Peace. [Its ob¬ ject was to divide the county into districts, each district containing its workhouse, hospital, and house of correction; a plan in many respects resembling that of the modern unions.] 1765. On the 14th February, a tumultuous mob assem¬ bled in the borough: and being armed and disguised, assaulted the houses of several of the principal inhabitants, particularly those of the Mayor, the under-Sheritf, the Town-clerk, the Post-master, the Distributor of Stamps, and the Excise Of¬ ficers ; demolishing the windows, destroying the furniture, and threatening the lives of the inmates; but on what pretence, the Gazette from which this is taken, does not say. Gentleman's Magazine. It was probably in consequence of this affair, that in the Judges’ Circuit for 1765, the Lent Assizes for Wilts were held in Devizes; a manifest departure from the ordinary routine. None of the prisoners were capitally convicted. See the Annual Register for that year. More on this subject hereafter, under date 1836. The above outrage looks very like the work of smugglers, who at that time were a well organised and really formidable band. The riots which took place in various parts of Wilts, in the succeeding year, at¬ tended with great destruction to bolting mills, arose from a sudden rise in the price of provisions. For a full account of these see the Annual Register. 1764. Died, on the 26th of December, aged 63, John Garth Esq. M.P. for Devizes, and Recorder of the borough from 1732 till his death. He was nephew to Sir Samuel Garth, the eminent physician in ordinary to George I., and author of the satirical poem entitled The Dispensary. Mr. Garth left three sons. 1st. Charles who succeeded his father in the two¬ fold office of Recoi’der and Representative of the borough, and died at Walthamstow in 1784. He was grandfather to JOHN WILKES. 407 the present Thomas Colleton Garth of Elaines Hill. 2nd. George Garth, Colonel of the 17th Foot, died 1819. 3rd. Thomas Garth, a General in the army. Colonel of the Ist or Eoyal Dragoons, and Equerry to King George III. He died at his house in Grosvenor place, 18th Nov. 1829, aged 85, leaving one son. General Garth. The Devizes residence of the Garths was the mansion near St. Mary’s Church, now, (1859) occupied by Miss Bid well; and their monuments are within that church. John Wilkes 1769. In consequence of the House of Commons having refused to sanction the election of John Wilkes by the Middlesex freeholders, though returned by an overwhelming majority, William Talk Esq. the High Sheriff of Wilts summoned the freeholders to meet at Devizes on the 16th of August to consider the grievances of the nation, and to deliberate how they might, in the most constitutional form, assert and vindicate the violated right of free election. When the day arrived, a previously prepared petition to the Crown was produced; and, after three readings, agreed to; the She¬ riff and the two County members undertaking to present it to his Majesty. The instrument was thereupon engrossed, and sent round to all the market towns in the County for signa¬ tures. The meeting was described as “numerous and very respectable,” and the speakers on the occasion were the Hon. Mr. Fox, Counsellor Awdry, and Messieurs Talbot, Temple, Popham, Hussey, Beckford, Bennett, and Burleton. The bur¬ den of the Wilts petition, like that of most others at this crisis, was to pray the King to dissolve the House. The Wiltshire petition [presented 10 January 1770). “Most Gracious Sovereign. We your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the freeholders of the County of Wilts, deeply impressed with the justice of the complaints of our fellow subjects, which have been already laid before your Majest}', prostrate oui’selves at your Majesty’s feet in hopes of redress. We .apprehend the freedom of election of persons to serve in Parliament has been violated in the most open and daring manner. Some of your Majesty’s most peaceable subjects have been 408 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. murdered at the place of election by e-vil-disposed persons, who after having been convicted thereof, have escaped with impunity. The most sacred and inestimable privilege of Britons, their right to a constitutional representation in Parliament, has been set aside ; and by a precedent of the most dangerous nature, a member of the House of Commons has been imposed on the County of Middlesex, for whom the majority of the free¬ holders never gave their voices. These facts in particular we think it our duty to represent to your Majesty, relying upon your paternal love and tenderness for the rights of your subjects ; that you will be gracious¬ ly pleased by such exercise of your legal prerogative as to your royal wisdom shall seem meet, to manifest your Majesty’s disapprobation of these proceedings, and thereby restore quiet to the minds of your people. And your petitioners shall ever pray, ^c.” During the same month of August, some admirer of Sir Fletcher Norton, the baronet who in his capacity of Attorney General had been recently arrayed against Wilkes, was making a passing sojourn at George Whatley’s house of en¬ tertainment the Black Bear at Devizes, and, as the event suggests, was standing at the window of the inn and watching the movements of the crowded market, as it turmoiled around the base of the lofty sign (a bear, on a stone platform, sup¬ ported by two pillars). After the visitor’s departure, the following lines were found scratched on the wainscot of the principal room. “ Whilst snarling curs attack Sir Fletcher’s fame. Baiting his double place and double fees. Sir Fletcher, standing without fear or shame. Pockets the cash, and lets them laugh that please. Thus on a market-day stands Whatley’s Bear, In spite of all the noise and hurly-burly ; Fixed on his double post, secure in air. Munching his bunch of grapes and looking surly.” To explain the allusion to “ double place and double fees ” it should be stated that Sir Fletcher Norton, already Attorney General, had in February 1769 been promoted to be Chief Justice in Eyre, with a salary of £3000 a year. Moreover, on the 22nd of March he was sworn of the Privy Council. To the readers of the Letters of Junius he is familiar as Speaker of the House in 1770; and he eventually became Lord •TOHN WILKES. 409 Grantley. Had not the above verses been published the week before the meeting in Devizes, we might have supposed them to be the work of some one present on that occasion as a dissentient: they may still perhaps be regarded as written in anticipation of the event. On Mr. Wilkes’s release in the following spring, great rejoicings took place in Devizes, Bradford, and Trowbridge. At Wishford the church bells were rung, and several hogsheads of beer and cider distributed. The affair at Trowbridge was principally sustained by William Temple Esq. who invited the public to a fete in his private garden, and enlivened the scene by illuminations and music. It will be remembered that he was one of those who took part in the County meeting at Devizes, and by his will he left £500 to Mr. Wilkes. This personal admiration for the Middlesex hero was not shared in by all, even among his political adherents. The basis of Wilkes’s rejection by the House of Commons was his violent attack on the King in the North Briton, and the unblushing laxity of his morals. While therefore it was quite possible for respectable men and good citizens to recognise in his re¬ stitution, a principle worth defending, it by no means followed that they approved either of his private character or of his public career. Neither, because certain parties sought to turn the affair to account in the following form, are we to con¬ clude, that the sanguinary spectacle of a bull-fight was held by the genuine lovers of the British constitution as the only appropriate and symbolic expression of parliamentary oppo¬ sition. “ The anniversary meeting of the friends of John Wilkes Esq. and the cause of Liberty, Avill be held this year, [1769], at Mr. Sheaths, the Sun Inn [at Newport, Isle of AVight] on Monday, 30 Oct. A good ordinary at Is. 6d. each, at one o’clock. In the afternoon, a bull will be baited, and a silver collar, of 25s. value, given to the owner of the dog that plays the fairest, and pins the bull. Not more than nine dogs, nor less than five, to run for the collar. None but proper buU-dogs to be entered; each dog paying 6d.” The mention of the above may serve to preface a few con¬ cluding remarks on 410 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. The Sports and Pastimes of the Last Century. “With breast so sleek and eye so bright, As if yon were the pink of honour. You’re stuffed as full of wrath and spite As Bishop Bonner.” Address to a game coch. Some of the amusements of our grandfathers as dwellers in towns, are hardly worth noticing except for the purpose of observing that they are now entirely swept away. Cock- fighting, bull-baiting, singlestick-playing, strolling theatri¬ cals, and the performances of the drunken societies known as ‘Miles’s boys’ and ‘Hellfire Clubs,’ have alike vanished from decent society. The local newspapers, eighty years ago, would sometimes devote quite a large portion of their space to controversies on the respective merits of the cudgel-players of Wilts and Somerset; and the readers of the popular ro¬ mance of ‘'Tom Brotcn’s School-days” will not forget the tribute there paid to the prowessof oneoftheDevizes champions on the bloody stage. The drinking clubs were of course, mild copies of similar associations existing in London, where they went by a great variety of names; among which the Tumblers, Mohocks, and the Dancing masters were conspicuous. One of the amusements of the Mohocks was ‘ tipping the lion ’ that is, flattening noses. The Dancing masters took their name from the practice of surrounding a victim and keeping him in motion by pricking his legs with their swords. In one respect they were all alike; they drank hard and led dissolute lives. The following are specimens of hand-bills published in Devizes, from a collection of similar documents which descended to Mr. T. B. Smith from his ancestor Mr. Thomas Burrough, printer, publisher, and goldsmith. “ Devizes. 9 July 1770. Lost at several times within these three months, all the remaining part of honesty, integrity, humanity, modesty, and every other sentiment of virtue or honour that ever did belong to a society, or rather a banditti of villains who are called, but not known, by the name of ‘ Miles’s Boys,’ ” &c., &c. “ Devizes. 16 July 1770. Lost, absconded, and otherwise dispersed. A CHAPTER ON MILITARY AFFAIRS. 411 all at once within these few days, to the unspeakable joy of all the roast¬ ing pigs, geese, turkeys, ducks, fowls, rabbits, and every other species of wild fowl within two miles of this place, and much to the satisfaction of their owners, that desperate gang of villains whom it is hoped the public will never again hear of, by the name of “ Miles’s Boys.” The intention of this paper is to desire that if any person meet with any of these emi¬ grants, by no means to retard their escape—but at the same time to warn the public to be on their guard, as a re-union of these banditti and con¬ sequently a repetition of their outrages is yet much to be apprehended.” Theatres. Another feature of the day was the trans¬ portation about the country of vast theatrical establishments. The quantity of rolling stock thus on the move may be estimated by the fact, that the properties in one of their waggons burnt in May 1758 on Salisbury plain, and estimated at <£2000, were reported to contain the wardrobe, scenery, and apparatus, of the Bath Theatre. Forty years later, Messieurs Shatford and Lee of Salisbury appear as the caterers for the histronio taste: and the people of Devizes are occasion¬ ally tickled with such adulation as the following. “ At a quarter sessions on Wednesday [this was in January 1792] a licence was granted to Messrs. Shatford and Lee to perform at Devizes in the ensuing spring ; and we hear that a new Theatre is preparing; a circumstance doubtless very pleasing to the numerous genteel residents in that polite town and neighbourhood.” A Chapter on Military Affairs. Shortly before Lieutenant James Wolfe’s appointment to the command of the land forces sent to Quebec, he was sta¬ tioned at Devizes at the head of a small recruiting party; and is moreover traditionally said [on the authority of the late Lev. Charles Lucas] to have contented himself with the quarters furnished by an obscure inn at the back of the Town- Hall, then, or afterwards, known by the sign of the Scribbling Horse. A long and interesting letter is still extant, which he dates from Devizes 18th July 1756, addressed to the Rt. Hon. Thomas Townshend, recommending to Townshend’s brother, as a young officer, to acquire a knowledge of the 412 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. French and Latin tongues, and pointing out what books would best advance his studies in mathematics and the military art. It was recently reprinted in the Wiltshire Independent. Militia. In pursuance of the Act passed in 1758 for the better ordering of the Militia forces of the Country, the Wilts battalion was re-organised, and made to consist of ten com¬ panies of 80 men each, raised in ten compartments of the county; the adjustments of these divisions being entrusted to Thomas Phipps and John Turner Esquires, receivers of the land tax. The regiment was placed under the command of Lord Thomas Brudenell Bruce of Tottenham (afterwards, Earl of Ailesbury), and the head quarters seem from the first to have been fixed at Devizes; where one of the earliest regulations in the Book of Orders appoints that the lieutenants and other acting officers should alternately dine at the Black Bear and the White Swan, at a shilling ordinary, each gentle¬ man calling for his own wine. Lord Bruce’s name disappears soon after, being succeeded by that of Henry Herbert, tenth Earl of Pembroke, who was also Lord Lieutenant of the Coun¬ ty, a Greneral in the standing army, and a Colonel of Dragoons. The Earl was displaced from the office of Lord Lieutenant in 1780; but that of Colonel commandant of the Militia had already, we presume, been accepted by Henry Herbert Lord Porchester, whose commission dates from 27 March 1778. After 1793 Lord Porchester re-appears as Earl of Carnarvon; till 1811, when the post again fell to the house of Bruce in the person of Charles Brudenell Lord Bruce (the late Marquis of Ailesbury.) The Earl of Sufiblk succeeded in 1827; and Lord Broughton is the present Colonel. The Book of Orders, above referred to, contains copious directions as to dress, punishments, marching equipments and sanitory regulations;^ 1 “ On the 23rd of August 1762 it served as was the horror of the is commanded that no men be sent small pox among all classes at that on the detachment hut such as have time, inoculation was equally had the small pox.” Great and dc- dreaded. In March 1778 Elias THE MILITIA. 413 constituting in fact a journal of the first dozen years of the Wilts Militia’s new life. Though afterwards printed, it is now extremely rare; but copious and amusing extracts from it were republished in the first Number of the Wiltshire Independent newspaper. In one of the principal rooms at Tottenham park, the seat of the Marquis of Ailesbury, is a large painting representing the Wilts and South Hants Militia encamped near Winches¬ ter ; Lord Bruce with other officers occupying the fore-ground. The Wilts and Hants seem to have interchanged services, for it is certain that a portion of the latter were for some time quartered in Devizes; a prominent fact in the early history of the celebrated author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon was for three years a Captain of grena¬ diers in the South Hants Militia. Ho observes in his Diary, that when himself and his father, with other gentlemen, first enrolled themselves in the service, they little thought they should bo torn from their farms and profitable occupations,, and paraded about the country for so long a period, that “ when the King’s order for disbanding them came down, it was too late to retreat and too soon to repent.” Yet amid all the distractions of such a life, he still found time for study. His regiment, it appears, lay at Devizes during the autumn of the year 1761; and the amount of reading which Roffe was indicted at the Assizes for keeping an inoculating esta¬ blishment on the Wilton road ; and the grand jury unhesitatingly found the bill, hoping it would prove a seasonable caution against such es¬ tablishments being allowed near to cities. Dr. John Smith in 1771 commences his Choir Gaur or trea¬ tise on Stonehenge, with the follow¬ ing not very complimentary allusion to the Wiltshire authorities. “ As an inoculator of the small pox, I rented a very convenient house in the parish of Boscombe, Wilts, by consent of those who called them¬ selves the principal inhabitants; which I had no sooner done, but was prevented by every act of vio¬ lence in the pursuit of my business, by those malevolent villains, noisy wretches, who actually partake of the nature and quality of that hruto which they daily feed on.” 414 HISTORY OF DEVIZF,S. he details, both here and elsewhere, amply accounts for the vast accumulation of materials which characterises the great work of his after life. Unknown among the artizans of a manufacturing country town, and unnoticed by the neigh¬ bouring gentry, his ambitious spirit was silently rearing a fabric of renown such as was never yet achieved by any efforts short of the most unremitting. When making the following entries in his Journal, Mr. Gibbon was in his 25th and 26th years. “ 23 October. We marched to the populous and disorderly town of Devizes.Our first design [on leaving Winchester] was to march through Marlborough ; but finding on enquiry that it was a bad road, and a great way about, we resolved to push for the De¬ vizes in one day, though nearly 30 miles. We accordingly arrived there about 3 in the afternoon .... Nothing could be more uniform than the life I led there. The little civility of the neighbomung gentle¬ men gave us no opportunity of dining out: the time of year did not tempt us to any excursions round the country ; and, at first my indo¬ lence and afterwards a violent cold, prevented my going over to Bath. I believe in the two months, I never dined or lay from quarters. I can therefore only set down what I did in the literary way. Designing to recover my Greek, which I had somewhat neglected, I set myself to read Homer, and finished the four first books of the Iliad, with Pope’s translation and notes. At the same time, to understand the geography of the Iliad, and particularly the Catalogue, I read 8th to 14th books of Strabo, in Casaubon’s Latin translation ; read Hume’s History of Eng¬ land, to Henry VII., just published ; ingenious but superficial; Journal des savans ; Bibliotheque des Sciences, &c.” Another memorial of his studies at Devizes survives in a long essay or review compiled from Dr. Hurd’s Horace; and during a month’s absence from the place in January, he made collections for a Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, a scheme subse¬ quently abandoned. “Hpon the whole,” he adds, “after making proper allowances, I am not dissatisfied with the year.Amidst the tumult of Win¬ chester camp, I sometimes thought and read in my tent : in the more settled quarters of the Devizes, Blandford, and Southampton, I always secui-ed a separate lodging and the necessary books.In our quarters of the Devizes and Blandford, we advanced with a quick step THE MILITIA. 415 in our military duties. The ballot of the ensuing summer renewed our vigour and youth ; and had the Militia subsisted another year, we might have contested the prize with the most perfect of our brethren.” When the standing army was gradually taking the place of Local Militia, it was but natural that some regrets should be expressed for the decadence of that branch of the service which had so long and so well supported the military glory of old England. Besides, while the Militia derived its stabi¬ lity from the lords of the soil, the standing army was felt to be the creature of the Crown. The periodical armaments of our forefathers, whether bearing the name of Militia, Trained Bands, or Commissions of Array, were part of the system of self government then so universally practised by cities, boroughs, and provinces : the standing army, on the other hand, was an approach towards the Continental system of centralized power. There was no fear of the Navy ; for sea¬ men are always national, not cabalistic ;—as Blake used to tell his men, in Cromwell’s time, “ Our business is not to meddle with changes in the home Government, but to keep foreigners from fooling us.” But, a hundred years ago, the jealousy existing between the two land services was unequi¬ vocally expressed ; and it formed one of the objects of ani¬ mated debate when, soon afterwards, the supposed necessity of limiting the encroachments of the Crown issued in the great Reform movement of 1780, headed in this County by Earl Shelburne and Charles James Fox. It would hardly be too strong an expression to say that recruiting parties from regiments of the line were looked upon in those days in much the same light as press-gangs ; while the annoyance they not unfrequently gave to the rural magistracy, was sympathised in by the municipal functionaries of the boroughs, who affected to resent as an affront the presence of men not amenable to their territorial sway. So late as 1798, when the great war with France had begun to efface these lingering prejudices, the practice of volunteering from Militia to line 416 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. regiments (under the Act 38 Geo. III. c, 66) was violently opposed in certain quarters. Protests were entered upon the Lords’ Journals by the Dukes of Leeds and Norfolk, followed by still more lengthy written declarations drawn up by the Earl of Carnarvon who commanded the Wilts Militia from 1778 till his death in 1811, by the Earl of Radnor of the Berks Militia, by Earl Fitzwilliam of the 1st West York, and by the Earl of Buckinghamshire who was a Colonel in the regular army. These noblemen, professing themselves en¬ thusiastic admirers of the old English Militia, regarded the proposed changes as replete with injustice and of a degrading character. See their arguments in the Annual Register for 1799, vol. xli. We can easily then understand how at an earlier period such a Caveat as the following should be cast in the faces of his Majesty’s servants. “Devizes. 21 Sept. 1787. Whereas a serjeant on the recruiting’ service has this day been convicted before two of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of Wilts, in the penalty of £20 for having- enlisted a man enrolled to serve in the militia of the said County ; the Colonel and officers of the said regiment of militia, in consideration of the said sergeant’s submission, and assurance that he had been led into the said oifence by an opinion that men enrolled for three years only might be enlisted, have remitted the said penalty. But they hereby caution all recruiting sergeants and others, against taking any man enrolled to serve in the militia, before his full time of service shall be expired ; as they are determined to prosecute all persons offending with the utmost rigour of the law. “N. Hone, Adjutant Wilts Militia.” The rivalry thus manifestly existing, seems to offer an ex¬ planation to a scene which took place in Devizes in 1770, which was reported in the public journals in May, in the form of the following letter from a gentleman in the country to his friend in town. “ I embrace the earliest opportunity of informing you of the folio-wing fact, and I make no doubt but Sir Edward Baynton will transmit the particulars to my Lord Barrington. I had the pleasure to attend the quarter sessions held at the Devizes in the County of Wilts, the 24th, 25tb, and 26th inst. The appearance of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace did the meeting great honour. Sir Edwaid Baynton was in the THE MTLITIA. 417 chair. On Thursday, the last day of the sessions, part of the 5th and 3Sth, the 50th and 56th regiments of foot did in a most daring and in¬ sulting manner, contrary to custom at the time of sessions, keep patrol¬ ling the streets with drums beating and fifes playing. At the time the Court was sitting, they continued beating their drums all along the front of the Town-Hall or Court-house. After the business of the Court had been impeded for some time. Sir Edward Bayuton and the rest of the Justices ordered the constables to desire all the soldiers to desist from beating their drums and plaj’ing their tifes befoi’e the Court, but the insolence of the soldiers was such, that instead of paying due respect to the orders of the Court, they made no apology, but kept on beating thein drums and playing their fifes. And in my humble opinion, if the Court had offered to punish them for disobeying the order of all the Magistrates, we might have had another Boston affair in the town of the Devizes.” [iVofe. The affair here referred to was the military outrage which had recently occurred in Massachusets, commonly known as the “ Boston massacre,” and for which Captain Preston was tried for murder, but acquitted. It was one of the first preludes to the American revolt, and continued long after to be memoralised in an anniral oration.] This letter produced a variety of anonymous replies and rejoinders; one w-riter relating how portions of the same re¬ giments had recently forced a toll-bridge over the Avon near Araesbury; another, on the opposite side, asserting, that as the offenders in the Devizes affair were only a small recruiting party, the quasi Boston-massacre would have been achieved by four halberts and as many pair of drumsticks. On the whole, the outrage seems to have been over-stated. 1771. 31st October. The Earl of Pembroke, as Colonel, having reviewed at Devizes the County Militia, gave a ball at the King’s Arms Inn ; (the house now, 1859, occupied by Mr. Montgomrey, surgeon,) at which were pi-esent the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury from Amesbury, the Countess of Pem¬ broke, Colonel and Lady Elizabeth Herbert, the lion. Stephen Fox and Lady Mary Fox, Mr. Delme and Lady Betty Delme* ' Died at Devizes, on the 7th of worth in 1735, by whom she became February 1776, John Delme Esq. mother of an only daughter, the brother to Anne Lady Bavensworth. divorced Duchess of Grafton. The She was daughter to Sir Peter Delme country seat of the Delmes was knt. Lord Mayor of London in 1724, Erlestoke, and the name of Lady and married to Henry Lord Ravens- Betty Delme was long conspicuous DD 418 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of Erlestoke, the Hon. Mr. Bathurst, Sir Edward Baynton and family, Sir Thomas Tankerville, the Hon. Miss Herbert, and other distinguished pei-sons. The ball was opened by Sir Thomas Tankerville and Lady Betty Delme. Domestic Details. In 1776 the cloth manufacturers of Devizes taking alarm at the trades of linsey-woolsey practised in the surrounding villages, through the illicit purchasing of ends of yarn from cottage weavers, procured a warrant from Lord William Seymour of Seend, and having by its means gathered a large quantity of 5 mrn from various suspected houses, (among others, from that of H. Herring of Chittoe, who was commit¬ ted), they collected it, to the amount of eight cwt. in the Market-place, and there consumed it in a large bonfire Thursday being chosen, to give the affair greater publicity. among the fashionables at the De¬ vizes Assemblies. Sir Peter Delme’s grandfather was pastor of the W al- loon congregation at Canterbury ; and the burial place of the family, even after they came into Wiltshire, continued to be at St. Gabriel Pat¬ tens in Fenehureh street. John Delme who died, as stated above, at Devizes, seems to have been uncle to the first member of the family resident at Erlestoke, and is regard¬ ed as the real purchaser of that estate from the Heathcotes. The inheritance of Erlestoke, after the recession of the Brounckers, may he thus set forth. Of the shares en¬ joyed by the two co-heiresses of Dauntsey Brouncker Esq. one was purchased by the Heathcote family. George Heathcote Esq. (a London Alderman and M.P. for the city) built the mansion afterwards oc¬ cupied by Peter Delme, near the Church; hut being pressed, as is con¬ jectured, by the liabilities brought on him by the South-Sea bubble, parted with it very shortly after. To Delme succeeded Joshua Smith Esq. M.P. for Devizes ; who, dissatisfied with the low, damp situation of the old house, employed Steward of Londontoerect the modern mansion, successively the seat, after himself, of the late George Watson Taylor Esq., Sir John Cam Hobhouse, now Lord Broughton (as tenant) and of Simon Watson Taylor, the present member for Devizes. The other co¬ heiress of Dauntsey Brouncker married Jas. Townsend, of Great Cheverell; his daughter and heiress intermarried with the family of Wadman of Imber, who in right of that match formerly possessed the estate still in Erlestoke called “Brounckers.” The above account is from Mr. Wilton’s papers. THOMAS THUEMAN. 419 About 1786, great alarm was expressed by the clothing in¬ terest in the West of England, relative to the increasing export of sheep, j’arn, and wool. Mr. John Anstie of Devizes, who took the lead in the movement, was the usual chairman at meetings held in Wilts, till the sittings were eventually transferred to the Crown and Anchor in the Strand, to favour the attendance of more members of Parliament. Riots among clothing ojoeratives, on account of defective wages or nev.'' machinery, occurred in 1767 at Ilorningsham where 500 de¬ stroyed Mr. Everett’s gig mill; in 1787 at Bradford, where the outbreak was suppressed by the energy of Mr. Yerbury; and in 1791 at Trowbridge, where the enthusiasm of the people was allowed to exhale in the burning of Mr. Phelps’s machinery. 1777. Died, aged 86, Thomas Thurman, a draper of this town, residing in Wine street, at the corner house now occu¬ pied by Mr. Clark, where he amassed considerable property in trade. He was for many years the father of the Corpora¬ tion and was held in general esteem for his integrity and the benevolence of his character, his name appearing in most of the executorships of his day. His monument in St. John’s Church records many of his benefactions to the poor and donations to the Church. Among other sums, he left £50 to the parish poor, one thousand guineas to working people in the town, the interest of £200 towards divine service in St. John’s every IMonday and Tuesday, £200 to the Salisbury Infirmary, £200 for the Bath Hospital, £200 for promoting Christian Knowledge, £200 for promoting the Gospel, £200 towards some school in London, £100 to the poor at Potterne, a large sum towards the education and clothing of fifteen poor children in Devizes for three years each, for ever; one guinea to every person in the Almshouses, &c., &c. These were his public legacies. The apportionment of the one thousand guineas to labourers gave just half a guinea per head to man, woman, and child. In distributing sums bequeathed to poor DD 2 420 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. or middling-class tradesmen, some who had families got £30 apiece; others, various sums down to £5: and it was re¬ marked that seldom had so many cheerful faces been seen in the town. Mr. James Sutton his brother-in-law was the executor who had the task of distribution. This closes the account of the family, from page 270; for Mr. Thurman’s son having died in 1764, the name is now extinct in Devizes. Fire at Albourn. On the occasion of a desolating fire which swept through the town of Albourn in North Wilts in 1777, Mr. Innes the Devizes Rector so far enlisted the good offices of his parishioners as to raise the large sum of £55, besides a contribution in the chapelry of St. James. Ills efforts were thus publicly noticed by the Albourn committee; “The poor sufferers by the late fire which has reduced them to great extremities, humbly thank the Rev. and humane Mr. Innes minister of Devizes, and the worshipful the Mayor and inhabitants of that respectable town, for their alacrity in this distressing affair. 25th October 1777.” Salisbury Journal. [Mr. Innes died in 1788 aged 67, his wife surviving till 1809. Charles Innes their son, a merchant of London, died at Hat¬ ton Garden in 1824, aged 62, and was buried at Devizes, hav¬ ing married, first, Anne daughter of Thomas Neate of Devizes, and secondly, Mary Stodart of Newcastle-on-Tyne; by both of whom he left numerous descendants.] In 1778, Robert Nicholas of Devizes was married to Char¬ lotte, seventh daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland, Admiral of the White, a descendant of the Lady Frances, youngest daughter of the Protector Oliver Cromwell: [Dinah the fifth daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland being the wife of William Bowles of Heale House, Wilts, Esq., and Anne another daughter of Sir Thomas marrying John Lewis Esq. of Harp- ton Court, Radnor, the grandfather of our late Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Cornewall Lewis]. The Devizes or Roundway branch of the Nicholas family is pro¬ bably' the original stock of all others bearing that surname NICHOLAS FAMILY. 421 at Winterbourn Earls, Manningford Bruce, or Allcannings; for, evidence that their mansion stood here 400 years back, survives in a tradition in their pedigree, Ilarl. MSS. 1443, that William (second son of John Nicholas who died 1461) “was slain without the gatehouse of Roundway,” an event associated apparently with the desolating wars of the Roses, and pointing to the period of Tewkesbury fight: see page 92. Any attempt to classify the individuals recorded in the re¬ gisters at Devizes, Southbroom, and Bishops Cannings would be totally worthless; but it may be briefly stated, that John Nicholas was Mayor of the Borough in 1610, that Grifiin Nicholas of Roundway died 1634, and Robert Nicholas in 1667. A monument in Southbroom Church to Robert Ni¬ cholas Esq. “des les Devizes” refers to a gentleman whose parish was St. John’s. The next in succession seems to be Robert Nicholas, Justice of the Borough, dying in 1725 at the age of 63; whose second wife, Jane daughter of John Child of Devizes, was the mother of Edward Nicholas (born 1696, died 1731) who married into the family of Richmond of Ashton Keynes of North Wilts, where, since about 1780, the family of Nicholas have continued to reside. This lady’s virtues are largely set forth in the principal Nicholas tablet at Southbroom, an elaborate monument executed in veined white marble and flanked with Roman-Ionic pillars. She survived her husband twenty-one years, leaving one son Ed¬ ward R. Nicholas M.B., the “Dr. Nicholas” we presume, whose death in 1770 as “an eminent physician of Devizes” is recorded in the Salisbury Journal. The next event to be noticed is that with which this paragraph commenced, viz., the marriage in 1778 of Robert Nicholas (eldest son of the physician?) with Charlotte Frankland; which must have taken place before the removal to Ashton Keynes, seeing that in the public notice thereof, he is styled “of Devizes.” He had a brother, John Nicholas L.L.D. who became Vicar of Charlton and Westport near Malmesbury. 422 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. From and after this infusion of the blood of the Protector, the Nicholases of Devizes greatly distinguished themselves in the service of their country. Of the children of Robert afore¬ said b3’'Mis3 Franldand, Edward was Governor of Heligoland and a Dutch merchant;—Robert, a daring naval officer, was lost in a ship which foundered at sea ;—The same fate is sup¬ posed to have attended another son, whose ship was never heard of.—William, an excellent engineer officer, laid out the lines which protected Cadiz, fought at Barrossa under Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) who always spoke of his conduct on that day as above all praise ; and was killed at the bloody storming of Badajoz. See the account given of him in Napier’s History of the Peninsular War; also a biographical notice in the United Service Journal. —Charles, also a military engineer, died of consumption.—Of several daughters, two were married. The Christian name of Griffin, borne 200 3 mars ago, appears to be still a favourite in the family; as in the case of Griffin Nicholas late captain in the 5th Fusiliers. [Griffin Nicholas rode as guide to Major General Disbrowe from Devizes to Shaftesbury in 1656. Borough Ledger.'] Most of the above facts were furnished by the late Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis. For further particu¬ lars of the family, consult the private Act for vesting Robert Nicholas’s estates in the hands of Thomas Frankland Lewis and Dr. John Nicholas, for the payment of legacies, &c., 7 and 8 George IV.' 1 In Allcannings church are (or were, so Mr. Britton says in 1815) monuments to John Nicholas (a grandson of the Secretary) and to his daughter Penelope who married Richard Riggs Esq. This is the Mrs. Riggs mentioned in the foot note at page 187. We are not aware that the following early me¬ morials of the Secretary have ever been printed. “ To my most esteemed loving brother 3Ir. Edward Nicholas in Oxford, give these.'’ [then, 1612, a youth at College]. “Kind Brother. Although I have delayed the time in not answering your first letter, I hope you will not conceive the worst of me. It was because I could not have all your things made ready. I heard by j'our letter that you have received your hand-cuffs and handkerchiefs. There are also two pair of socks JOHN DUMAS. 423 John Dumas the Highwayman. In 1760 Dumas was tried at Salisbury for a robbery committed at the foot of Cane Hill, Devizes, on the person of Viscount Percival son of the Earl of Egmont, then on his way to Bath, from whom twelve guineas were taken. Dumas was taken almost immediately after, and the exact sum of twelve guineas found on him ; but neither Lord Percival nor the post-boy could swear to his identity, and the rogue escaped. But a name of far greater made ready, which will be sent by the earrier, but your stockings are not yet ready. Hut if it be possible they may be ended, they shall be sent; and the rest of your socks. I have spoken with Hugh about your nag, and he tells me be shall not be taken up till you come home. I have done my best endeavours to have all your necessaries made ready. I would not have you think I would be slack in any business that I can procure for you. I cannot choose but tell you my brother Matthew and I and the rest w’ould have been very glad to see you, and thought you would have come home this Whitsuntide, until he heard my mother’s letter. This, with my kind commendations to your¬ self and to my cousin Hunton. So I rest, your very loving sister. “ Susanna Nicholas. “Your mistress has remembered her eomraeiulations; and if she had been well, you had received answer of your letter ere this time. My sisteis have all remembered tiieir commendations, and so have Mary and Margaret.” “ 'I'o m>/ very loving brother Mr. Edward Nicholas in Oxford, give this. “ Loving and kind Brother. My kind commendations unto you. I cannot excuse myself but in this that I have been troubled with the mumps and the toothache this month; and your mistress hath been sick as long ; or else you had heard from us both. All our friends are w'ell, except your mistress, and I hope so are you. This is the news : your cock that was at Good- wife Canne’s is stolen. This with your mistress’s commendations to you, and my aunt Potsholl’s and my sisters’s, and the rest. I end, your assured loving sister. “ Susanna Nicholas.” The “mistress” referred to in these letters becomes still more prominent in the following Articles of agreement tripartite, indented 17 Jul}' 1622 between; 1st, John Nicholas of Winterbourn Earls; 2nd, Edward Nicholas his son and heir and Jane Jaye daughter of Henry Jaye late alderman of Lon¬ don; and 3rd, Thomas Rowe, Robert Jaye, and Richard Dyke of London ;—That on the marriage of Edw'ard Nicholas wdth Jane Jaye, her portion of £600, to be after¬ wards encreased, shall be truly paid to John Nicholas, and the parson¬ age of Winterbourn settled by him upon her and Edward Nicholas, with encreased allowance when the rest of her portion is paid. State Papers. 424 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. notoriety in these parts was that of Thomas Boulter, whose performances for the space of three j^ears kept the Southern counties in constant alarm, and survives in the memory of the old people to the present hour. To him therefore we must devote a larger space. Thomas Boulter the Highwayman. The families bearing the name of Boulter or Bolter are, or have been, so numerous in this neighbourhood, especially at Lavington and Cheverell, that the ignominy of one of their number having ended his days on a gallows, falls, we presume, over a surface far too widely distributed to be conscious of the oppression. Doubt¬ less they have produced in their time as many good citizens as their neighbours. A memorial of one of them survives, where few would think of looking for it, viz., in the belfry of Rowde church ; where, on Bell number III, hung in the time of Oliver Cromwell, are cast the words “ Nathaniel Bol¬ ter made me. 1654.” Boulter’s father was a miller at Poulshot near Devize.s, where he rented a grist mill; but his neighbours long sus¬ pected, and not without reason, that he was a rogue in yrain. His knavery was practised in a variety of ways : till by the vigilance of an old woman who detected him stealing her honey, he was committed to Devizes Bridewell and sentenced to be whipped in the Market-place. Not long after this transaction, having some business to settle at Trowbridge, he was tempted by the sight of a likely looking horse, in a field, the property of Mr. Hall of Trowbridge, which he thereupon mounted, and having ridden with the utmost speed to Ando¬ ver, sold it for £6. The bargain raised the suspicion of the bystanders ; and the result was, confinement in Winchester gaol, conviction at the Assizes, and a sentence of death, which on the intercession of several fiuends, was commuted into transportation for 14 years. This was in 1775. Boulter also had an uncle named Isaac Blagden^ of like * Blagdon or Blackdean was a well descended family long settled at Eeevil, and at Littleton near Semington. BOULTER THE HIGHWAYMAN. 425 disposition ; who, though outwardly known only as a labour¬ ing man at Lavington, was shrewdly suspected of periodically indulging in a dangerous pastime which has not been without its charms occasionally for others in more easy circum¬ stances. At length, while attempting to rob a gentleman (believed to have been Colonel Hanger) a little way out of the town of Market Lavington, the assailed party lodged a brace of slugs in his thigh and left him bleeding on the road. Some humane person passing by, carried him into Lavington, and induced the parish to procure the assistance of a surgeon. The wound was cured, but the invalid ever after remained a cripple in the workhouse ; and the gentleman who had inflic¬ ted the wound, deeming him sufficiently punished, prosecuted no further. But what sort of a woman, it will be asked, was Boulter’s mother ? It is traditionally reported, though not mentioned in his published life, that she too suflered the public indignity of whipping in Devizes market. If such were really the case, it may account for, though not excuse, the desperate character of her descendant. The son who had witnessed the degradation of his mother, ever afterwards carried in his breast a motive prompting him to wage war on that societ}' which had countenanced so revolting an outrage. It is a fact that the public flogging of women was practised far into the present century, and was not rendered illegal till the passing of General Thornton’s Act in George IV.’s reign. Tliomas Boulter jun. was born at Poulshot about 1748 or 1750. His father, he says, gave him a tolerable education, such as he conceived sufficient to qualify him for the trade in which he w'as himself engaged. Here, therefore, the young man wrought for some few years, living apparently on good terms with his father, till the 3 'ear 1774, when his sister having opened a milliner’s shop at Newport in the Isle of Wight, he went to join her there, and transferred his small capital from his father’s mill at Poulshot to a grocery business conducted in the same house with his sister. There is still living at 426 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Poulshot, or was recently, (he must now be 91 years of age) an old man named John Jones who distinctly remembers, not onl}'^ Boulter the highwayman, but also that preliminary personage Boulter the miller, dressed in a light coloured coat, red waistcoat, and buckskin breeches, the costume of the yeo¬ manry of the day. It was not to be expected that a man whom family inher¬ itance and bad example had combined to render lawless in that lawless age, would long submit to the routine of a retail business. A single j^ear’s confinement sufficed to ripen into full exercise his roving propensities. He privately furnished himself with the artillery of “ a gentleman of the road and on the pretence of paying his mother a visit at Poulshot, he left his sister in the summer of 1775. On arriving at South¬ ampton, he persuaded Mr. Cox of the Vine Inn to hire him a good horse to Salisbury ; then following the Salisbury road, turned off at Milbrook, and crossed the country till he got into the great Western road between Stockbridge and Sutton, where in less than a quarter of an hour he met the Salisbury Diligence, containing two passengers. “ Now,” thought he, “ I must begin, or else go home as poor as I came outbut a feeling of irresolution and tremor was for a time so over¬ powering that he rode past the Diligence two or three times before he could muster resolution to pronounce the decisive word, “ Stand.” At length he turned short round, ordered the driver to stop, and in less than two minutes had robbed both the passengers of their watches and money, sa 5 'ing that he was much obliged to them, for he was in great want, and wished them a pleasant journey. Finding this first affair so easy and profitable, he made no hesitation in pursuing his journey to Salisburj% robbing every one he met, whose appearance promised success or booty. From Salisbury he took the road for Devizes, and on the Plain, robbed three single gentlemen he met with on horse¬ back and two persons on foot; possessing himself, before he BOULTER THE HIGHWAYMAN. 427 reached Poulshot, of nearly £40 and seven watches. What was the nature of the interview with his mother, he has not related. She was now living alone, her husband being already on his way to the Plantations, and one of young Boulter’s ob¬ jects in visiting her may have been to settle the family affairs. That she was not destitute of natural affection is evidenced by a letter of hers afterwards published ; and the exultation which the young man probably found it difficult to suppress at the success of this his first essay in crime, could hardly have escaped her practised eye, and must have awakened, we may well conjecture, the darkest suspicions as to the future. On his way home he took the Devizes turnpike-road for Andover, and stopped a post-chaise, several farmers on horse¬ back, one on foot, and two countrywomen returning from market. In sight of the person last defrauded, he went into Andover, put up his horse and baited at the Swan, where he staid for an hour; then took the Winchester road, and hav¬ ing robbed a chaise on the Basingstoke turnpike-road, crossed over the Downs to Southampton, and returned to the Isle of Wight by tbe first packet-boat, very well satisfied with the success of his expedition. Having now broken the ice and served his apprenticeship in felony, he became an accomplished freebooter, and esta¬ blished in the short space of time that pre-eminent notoriety as “the flying higliwayman of Wiltshire,” which has been tbe monopoly of Thomas Boulter ever since. It would be quite wearisome to recount all his various rogueries and esca¬ pades in this and the adjoining counties. An outline of his career, with two or three illustrations will probably be deemed quite sufficient. Finding himself after a while too well known in tlie Southern counties, he in 1777 tried the game in the Forth of England ; but near Ripon being over-matched by a gentleman and his servant, was tried at the York Assizes, cast for death; and would most assuredly have suffered, had not his Majesty’s free pardon been offered him on the morn- 428 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. ing of the execution, on condition of his turning soldier. For a few days the repentant recruit, “Poore,” (such was his nom de guerre) might be seen practising the goose step and sub¬ mitting to the raps of a corporal’s cane. This of course lasted not long. He soon made his way across the country south¬ ward ; and at Bristol formed an alliance with another scoundrel named James Caldwell of the Ship Alehouse in Milk street, in concert with whom he afterwards continued to rob till he stood by his side beneath the fatal tree. A re¬ ward of £40 had been offered for his apprehension as far back as 1775, through the medium of advertisements emanating from Salisbury, but hitherto not a single official in the South of England had laid a finger on his person, nor had even been able to track him to his lair. Mr. Thomas Fowle of Devizes, now took the matter up, and in revenge for having been fleeced himself, determined to trj^ the effect of a renewed series of advertisements. Here is his first:— “ Highway Robbery. —Whereas Thomas Fowle, of Devizes, in the County of Wilts, was attacked on Monday afternoon, on the Devizes Plain, near the 11 mile stone, by two highwaymen, who robbed him of five guineas and a half, and his watch (maker’s name—‘ Grand,’ London ; the dial-plate is remarkable by having dots of gold between the hours ; and the outside case has a small squat). The two men were well mounted on dark brown horses : one of the horses had both hinder heels white ; they had both surtout coats on, and appeared to be lusty men. He who robbed Mr. Fowle was about five feet ten inches high, and was booted and spurred ;—Whoever will give notice so as one or more of the above highwaymen may be apprehended, shall, on conviction, receive five gui¬ neas reward, over and above the £40 allowed by Act of Parliament: to be paid by me, “ 24 December, 1777. “ Thomas Fowle.” The Salisbury journalist then goes on to make the follow¬ ing statement of recent facts :— “ On Monday last was robbed on the Plain, between this city and Devizes, Mr. Bayly, of Devizes, glover, by a notorious highwayman of the name of Boulter, in company with an assistant, a desperate villain. About three in the afternoon they robbed Mr. Fowle of Devizes, of five guineas and his watch. See Mr. Fowle’s advertisement. About an hour afterwards they stopped Mr. Bennett, a farmer of Langford, who was BOULTER THE HIGHWAYMAN. 429 going to Hilcot in company with Thomas Chick, a lahourer. From the fai mer they took eight guineas in gold and one shilling in silver. Thomas Chick offering them only six shillings, they insisted it was not all the money he had, and one of them immediately knocked him down with the butt-end of his whip, and robbed him of three guineas more. About seven in the evening of the same day, in the road to Seend, they robbed Mr. Cook of about £10 and his watch; a farmer of his watch; and a ser¬ vant to Mr. Anstie of about forty shillings and his watch. They stopped a post-chaise boy, who had no money ; also a butcher, who, making re¬ sistance, they knocked off his horse, but his resolution prevented his be¬ ing robbed. He defended himself with an iron weapon he had in his hand, by which he parried off several strokes made at him with a hanger (cutlass), which he believes was broken. They snapped a pistol at him, from which he retreated by creeping through a hedge, with the loss of his hat and his horse. It is astonishing that such a villain as Boulter should so long escape the hands of justice. He is about five feet seven inches high, brown hair, a well-looking man, about 28 years of age, by trade a miller, living lately at Poulshot, in this county. The robberies he has committed about Salisbury, the Plain, Roinsey, and Southampton, and the several Bath roads to London, are innumerable .”—Salisbury Journal. The two following notices, appearing a few days later, show that Mr. Fowle had at last succeeded in rousing the public indignation. “We hear that there is already subscribed twenty pounds at Devizes towards a reward for apprehending Boulter, the noted highwayman who has committed so many robberies on the Plain and other places in this neighbourhood.” “Devizes, 10 January, 1778.—Whereas divers robberies have heen lately committed on the road from Devizes to Salisbury, and also near the town of Devizes: and as it is strongly suspected that one Boulter with an accomplice, are the persons concerned in these robberies ; a re¬ ward of thirty guineas is offered for apprehending and bringing to justiee the said Boulter, and ten guineas for his accomplice, over and above the reward allowed by Act of Parliament:—to be paid, on conviction, at the Bank in Devizes. If either of these persons are taken in any distant part of the country, reasonable charges will also be allowed. Boulter is about five feet eleven inches high, stout made, light hair, crooked nose, brown¬ ish comjilexion, and about thirty years of age. His accomplice, about hve feet nine inches high, thin made, long favoured, black hair, and is said to be about twenty-five years of age.” It was at Birmingham that the two confederates were at last captured, through the agency of a Jew to whom the}'’ of¬ fered a valuable watch for sale. Caldwell after this remained 430 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. in durance vile, but Boulter with his accustomed dexterity effected a deliverance from Clerkenwell gaol by piercing the wall of his chamber and dropping into the street. He now tried every means to get over to France, but the ports being all closed, (this was in 1778) he was again captured at Brid- port in Dorsetshire, tried at Winchester, and hung with his comrade, 19th of August 1778. Political Events, from 1770. The Deptford Club, the American War, Lord Shelburne’s Reform Association. 1770. On Friday, 14th Sejitember, the freeholders of Wilts assembled at Devizes to nominate a successor to Thomas Goddard Esq. lately deceased, M.P. for the County; when, the suffrages in favour of Charles Penruddocke of Compton Chamberlain Esq. appearing to be unanimous, that gentleman was elected on the 2nd of October. Thomas M.\undrell of Blacklands, Sheriff. 1772. Henry Penruddocke Wyndham the High Sheriff summoned the Wiltshire freeholders to meet at Devizes on the 7th of August, to appoint a successor to their late worthy representative Edward Popham Esq. deceased. This election of 1772 points to a crisis of some interest in the history of Wiltshire, for it was the first time that the functions of the Deptford Club, so much assailed in 1818 as “the notorious Quorum ” came into collision with Court influence, or what was termed such, in the persons of “the great families.” Devizes, rather than Salisbury, was always a rallying point for this association of the Wilts freeholders; for here there was no overwhelming family interest in the neighbourhood, except that of Earl Shelburne; and the Bowood influence, as is well known, has never been exercised in violation of local preferences. Even so late as John Benett’s contest for the county in 1818, this town was familiarly known as “ Johnny’s castle.” It would perhaps be impossible to fix the date of the earli- THE BECKHAMPTON CLUB. 431 est formation of the cabal afterwards bearing the two-fold appellation of the Deptford and Beckhampton clubs, for they had evidently been in operation long previous to 1772. Re¬ garding them as identical with what has always been called the Country party, they are perhaps traceable to the days of William of Orange; and, in this character, it was averred against them that their returning Mr. Howe (afterwards Lord Chedworth) was a departure from their professed prac¬ tice of patronising only residents in the county, seeing that Mr. Howe lived in Gloucestershire. There can be no doubt they were in full-blown possession of power when in 1770, their chairman Edmund Lambert of Boyton brought forward Charles Penruddocke to represent the county, and when “ a Trowbridge freeholder” ventured meekly to recommend them not to be too prominent in 1772, lest in future they should forfeit the right to nominate even one member. Mr. Lam¬ bert indeed always stoutly maintained that Mr. Penruddocke was the choice of the county at large, and not the nominee of a party: and in his view of the case there was certainly some reason for asserting that the principal resident freehold¬ ers and clergy of a large county might combine together for the purposes of returning their own representatives to Par¬ liament and selecting the local conservators of the peace,, without being chargeable with any greater offence than that of carrying out the old constitutional system of self-govern¬ ment. On this basis therefore, the principle to which they appealed was. Independence to the freeholders,—that is to say, independence of the control of any great family names, such as Pembroke, Marlborough, Suffolk, Weymouth, or who¬ ever might happen at the time to represent the Court. So long as the Hanoverian monarchs continued to carry out their schemes of foreign warfare by the aid of the great Whig families, these country clubs had a manifest vocation,^ * It must have been one of their entitled “The honest grief of a Tory, brochures which was issued in 1759, expressed in a genuine letter from 432 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. for during all that long period the Tories and the Church had been thrown into the background, in consequence of their suspected preference for the house of Stuart. But as soon as the Tories were thoroughly reconciled to the house of Brunswick, and commenced with Lord North in 1770 their career of 60 years supremacy, the maintenance of the country clubs was no longer a demonstration against any great fami¬ lies, as sucb, but simply a local avowal of the principles which had at length struggled into power. They bore, after this, the character rather of fox-hunting conservators of the landed interest, meeting periodically for old acquaintance sake, but continuing to partake as aforetime, of a strong clerical ele¬ ment; and the reason why the “Quorumites” as the}" were termed, were not omnipotent in favour of their own man, in 1818, as they had proved themselves in 1772, was in part owing to Mr. Benett’s hostilit}" to the clergy, which had thus alienated a powerful section of his patrons. On the other hand, it was easy to assert, as was in fact done in 1818, that while the Deptford and Beckhampton clubs thus acted for themselves and the county, a blow at the independence of the middle and lower classes of freeholders might be as effectually struck by a junto of magistrates as by a great family. Consequently when Wellesley entered the lists against them in 1818, his watchword like theirs, was Independence to the electors; and w'ilh what measure of suc¬ cess the small freeholders were invited to throw off what he described as a yoke of dictatorship which for fifty years had usurped the perogative of election, the County has not yet forgotten. The above observations, it is presumed, will now render sufficiently manifest what was the real cause at issue between the combatants of 1772. Henry Herbert Esq. of Highclere in Hants, and of Christian Malford in Wilts, [not that he was a resident at Christian a burgess of [Caine?] in Wiltshire, deprecating the waste of English to the editor of the Monitor, 17 Feb. money in Continental strife. THE ELECTION OF 1772 . 433 Malford, for the house was ruinous], was Colonel of the Wilts Militia, his cousin the Earl of Pembroke being Lord Lieute¬ nant. He had already sat four years for his lordship’s borough of Wilton, but was nevertheless a man of influence and wealth on his own footing, and he eventually became Lord Porches- ter and Earl of Caernarvon. Of course he had the support of the Earl of Pembroke, who, the country was reminded, was lord of the bedchamber to the King; and of whom it was further reported at this junction, that General Hale’s regi¬ ment had been ordered to Devizes on an express application from his lordship to the War Office. But the real cause of offence, against Mr. Herbert personally, as we learn from the avowed declarations of his opponents, was the character of his recent votes in the House. He had sided with the Minister in an extraordinary levy on the land; he had supported Sir Henry Hoghton’s bill for repealing subscription to the 39 Articles in certain cases; and he had afforded similar counte¬ nance to Henry Seymour’s measure, commonly called “ the Church Nullum Tempus bill,” the object of which was to secure the subject from dormant claims of the Church. Am¬ brose Goddard Esq. of Swindon, the other candidate, and the nominee of the Quorum, had never been in Parliament. The most that could be said of him was that he was a plain country squire, and an out and out “Church and King” man, whose ancestor had suffered in the cause of Charles I. The County meeting took place in Devizes on Fridajq 7th August 1772, a wet day, unfortunately, for the proceedings were conducted in the open air, around the old Market-cross. Lords Pembroke, Radnor, Castlehaven, Weymouth, and Bruce, were present in the town, but not at the meeting at the Cross. Mr. Herbert was supported by Bathurst of Clarendon and Harris of Salisbury; Mr. Goddard, by Grove of Zeals and Lord Folkestone ; hut besides these, there were three speakers against Mr. Herbert, viz. Awdry, Lediard, and Montagu. As it was harvest time, Mr. Sheriff proposed that after the poll EE 434 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. had been opened at Wilton, according to usual custom, it should on the third day be transferred to Devizes, and then to Marlborough : but Mr. Herbert’s friends objected to this course, and declared that a long established precedent should not be violated to suit the purposes of Lord Bruce and his dependants. The result was a four days poll at Wilton, when 1870 votes were recorded for Goddard, and only 1055 for Herbert. The late Mr. Benett, M.P. for South Wilts told the electors on one occasion when they were drinking his wife’s health, 31st August 1818, that that lady inherited her constitutional energy of character from her father Mr. Lambert of Boyton; and he then went on to relate, how towards the close of the aforesaid election of 1772, Mr. Lambert came in to the rescue at the head of 500 freeholders, who at once placed Mr. God¬ dard at the head of the poll, and secured the county’s in¬ dependence. The fewest votes for Herbert were from the freeholders around Marlborough. At Devizes, where those of Potterne and Swanborough Hundreds mustered, the proportion was 30 for Herbert, 180 for his opponent. The clergy were univer¬ sally on Goddard’s side, 38 of them appearing on the nomi¬ nation day at Devizes; and a long list of laymen, containing every name of importance in and around the town. A De¬ vizes bard moreover raised the following note of triumph on the occasion. On Me. Goddard’s Election for Wilts. ‘ ‘ Hail happy Shire! who late so bravely stood To choose the wise, the virtuous, and the good. Unbribed and free, she gave her generous voice; While neighbouring counties all applaud her choice. A choice like this doth all around proclaim Her care for trade, for liberty, for fame. In vain for her the shining bait was laid; The treacherous purpose was too clear displayed. Gold lost its charms; and freeborn Wiltshire blood Spurned at a bribe, and uncorrupted stood. Devizes, 25 August, 1772.” THE ELECTION OF 1772 . 435 Forty-six years later, when, during the Benett and Wel¬ lesley controversy, the county was edified by the lucubrations of the writer styling himself “The old Moon-raker,” (who was in the habit of dating from Swindon, though his home- quarters were suspected to be much nearer Devizes). Mr. Herbert and the election of 1772 were thus re-produced by the Reminiscent for the guidance and emulation of the voters of 1818. “ I was in the vigour of life,” says he, “and bore an active part in the glorious struggle which was then made by the freeholders of Wiltshire to assert the independence of the county.Had Mr. Herbert appeared merely in the character of a Wiltshire gentleman, he might have been generally^ received with favour; but he principally founded his claim upon the weight, the property, and the respectability of his family; and offered himself not so much from any political motive, as the ambition of restoring to a house the honour of representing the county, which had fi’equently been conferred upon its various branches. He rested his cause much more upon his powerful connexions than upon any public service or personal merits. I remember that Mr. Goddard also offered himself, not affecting superior personal merit, or public ser¬ vices more important, but as a plain Wiltshire gentleman born and con¬ stantly resident in the county upon his own paternal property; familiar with all ranks of men residing in it, and anxious to serve them all to the utmost of his power. At the same time he avowed that he had a great political motive for offering himself, namely, to oppose the pretensions of any single family or any single house, even the highest and the most ancient in the county ; and he called on the great body of the freeholders, in maintaining his cause, to assert their own independence. My old heart is warm when I remember how his call was answered. The word independence operated like a charm upon every freeholder. The gentle¬ men of the county instantly felt that their cause and his were inseparable and identical. The principal towns were animated by the same enthusi¬ asm, and united against the man who asserted the pretensions of a single family, in favour of the man who asserted the common rights of all free¬ holders .... The contest, though sharp while it lasted, was not of long duration. The true men of Wiltshire triumphed, and Mr. God¬ dard was elected by a large majority. Old as I am, it is still my daily custom to drink one cheerful glass to commemorate that event, and to wish long continuance to the independence of the county, &c.” Yet is it not strange tliat after all this palaver about the independence of the county, the same class of men should so soon after have rallied round the Earl of Pembroke when dis- EE 2 436 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, placed from tbe Lord Lieutenancy of the county ? or rather, is it not palpably obvious that the objection in 1772 was not at all to the Herberts as a famil}^, but to the candidate of the hour having given evidence of being what we are now in the habit of calling “a friend to civil and religious liberty ?” 1774. Parliament was dissolved on the 30th of September, an unexpected event, because there wanted only seven months to run out its legal septennial term. Public events were ex¬ citing very little attention just now. In Wiltshire, the gentlemen, clergy, and freeholders of Wilts being summoned by the High SherilF Thomas Estcourt Esq. to meet at Devizes on the 14th October, to nominate representatives, unani¬ mously passed a series of votes, re-establishing their former members Charles Penruddocke and Ambrose Goddard, Esqrs. complimenting them on their recent conduct in Parliament, and declaring that their re-election should be unattended with expense. The election took place on the 25th. So much for the county. Domestic government and local organization were evidently the order of the day. The management of affairs meanwhile in the Borough of Devizes was thus re¬ corded :— “We hear the Corporation of Devizes are setting an example in elect¬ ing their members to serve in the ensuing Parliament, worthy of universal imitation. Two Gentlemen, natives of their town, Charles Garth and James Sutton Esquires, their late worthy members, will be re-chosen this day without the least parade or involuntary expense : nor is it in the power of influence of any kind to create one wavering voice in oppo¬ sition to their joint interest.” Salisbury Journal. Almost immediately afterwards, the American war broke out in real earnest, and failure seemed to wait on the British arms in every quarter. Incendiaries fired our dockyards at home; France and Spain openly sided with the revolted co¬ lonies, and Ireland had 30,000 insurgents on a military foot¬ ing. Extraordinary efiorts were made by the Government to raise the army, volunteer companies were added to the militia, some of the large towns raised regiments of their own, and REFORM ASSOCIATION. 437 even private enterprise seems not to have been frowned upon, if we may judge by the following paragraph in a local paper. Under date September 1779 the Salisbury Journal says:— “We are informed by a correspondent that John Anstie Esq. of De¬ vizes is training a number of men for defending the constitution of this country. The men are chiefly such as from the decay of trade, are supernumerary liands in the clothing business. It is pity but such a worthy example were followed in other places.” But though the country was thus burdened with ever in¬ creasing taxation, while the farmers were impoverished by low prices, trade decayed, and land-rents fell, j'^et within the arena of Parliament, hostilities had rendered the Minister all the more powerful. Improvident loans and lavish contracts had gathered round him such a phalanx of placemen and ex¬ pectants, that he could at any time command overwhelming majorities. To counteract these influences, the minds of various statesmen were about this period strongly leaning towards some scheme of Parliamentary reform. The disfran¬ chisement of pocket boroughs was of course part of the plan; but it is to be observed, that in disposing of the seats thus vacated, the usual proposal was to distribute them among the counties; for at that time the great northern towns were only in their infancy. Such was the plan of Lord Chatham and of his illustrious son William Pitt. Mr. Burke’s scheme em¬ braced other important means for diminishing the regal influence; in which object Lord Shelburne united, when he exposed the corruptions in the army. In the general stir now raised against places and pensions, the Earl of Shelburne led the way in the House of Lords, Colonel Barre the member for Caine in the Lower House, and the freeholders of Yorkshire as an external demonstration. In Wiltshire, where the flame soon spread, proceedings were inaugurated by an urgent appeal to the nobility, gentry, clergy, and other freeholders, made in the following form ; “ Sarum 11 Jan. 1780. “At the unanimous request of the gentlemen as-sembled at the general 438 HISTORY OF PEVIZES. Quarter Sessions for this county, this day holden in this city, signified to me by their chairman the Rev. Dr. Wake, I hereby give notice that a meeting of the county -will be holden at the Devizes on Wednesday the 26th inst. at eleven o’clock in the forenoon, to consider of the present situation of public affairs : and I do earnestly entreat you to give an early and numerous attendance. “Robert Cooper, Sheriff.” The Sheriff’s call was promptly responded to, and the meet¬ ing at Devizes was as declarative as the most sanguine could desire. The Speakers were the Earls of Shelburne and Ab¬ ingdon, the Hon. Charles James Fox, William Bowles of Heale House, Sir William Jones of Bamsbury, Mr. Penrud- docke Wyndham, Mr. Jervoise, and General Smith; while the only gentleman who had the courage to take the King’s part was Mr. Coke of Trowbridge. A petition drawn up by Sir William Jones was at first presented to the meeting, but the form finally determined on was a copy of that from York¬ shire, setting forth the expenses of the American war, the confederacy of Fi’ance and Spain, and the squandering of the public money; and concluding with an appeal to the justice of the House of Commons [the Lords were not addressed] that no more burdens should be imposed till inquisition had been made into home abuses. A Committee of fifty-one (to which five were added) was straightway formed, as the basis of a legal Association for supporting Reform and correspond¬ ing with other counties [seven or more to form a quorum] ; which committee forthwith proceeded to hold its first sitting at the Black Bear. The initiatory step was to nominate a Secretary or Clerk; this was William Salmon a Devizes at¬ torney, to whom the office was then delegated of distributing fair copies of the petition throughout the county, and of invi¬ ting the support of all the Wiltshire members ; and in re¬ spect of future meetings, the Secretary was to receive his instructions from Mr. Awdry, or, in his absence, from Mr. Northey. Here followeth the list of Lord Shelburne’s Wilt- shii’e Committee of 1780. REFORM ASSOCIATION. 439 The Earl of Shelburne The Hon. Charles Janies Fox The Earl of Radnor The Earl of Abingdon W. P. Ashe A’Court of Salisbury Rob. Ashe of Langley Burrel Richard Atwood of Bradford John Awdry of Notion Will. Aldridge Ballard of Westbury Peter Bathurst of Clarendon Lovelace Bigg of Chilton Rev. John Bowie of Idmiston Rev. Canon Bowles WiU. Bowles of Heale Hon. Barth. Bouverie Hon. Will. Hen. Bouverie Rob. John Buxton Tho. Bythesea of Wick House Tho. Calley of Burderop Samuel Cam of Bradford Rob. Cooper the Sheriff Hen. Dawkins of Standlinch Will. Dj^ke of Sirencott Esmead Edridge of Chippenham John Reeve Edridge of Chippenham Henry Eyre of Brickworth Gaisford Gibbs of Westbury Ambrose Goddard of Swindon Will. Harding of Swindon Rev. Dr. Harrington of Salisbury Matt. Humphreys of Chippenham WiU. Hussey of Salisbury Tristram Huddlestone Jervoise of Britford Rev. Dr. Kent of Potterne Thos. Liddiard of Devizes Rich. Long of Rood Ashton Jas. Montagu jun. of Lackham Edw. Horlock Mortimer of Trow- Will. Northey of Lockeridge [bridge Ch. Penruddocke of Compton Ch. Rev. Mr. Pococke of MildenhaU Rev. Mr. Polhill of Milston Edw. Poore of Wedhampton Edw. Poore jun. of Tidworth Rich. Smith of Chilton Eoliott Rich. Southby of Bulford Humphrey Sturt [of Dorsetshire] James Sutton of Devizes WiU. Talk of Salisbury Rev. Mr. Townsend of Pewsey Thomas Vilett of Swindon Tho. Goddai’d Vilett of Swindon Rev. Dr. WarnefordofSevenhampton Hen. Penruddocke Wyndham of Salisbury John Yerbury of Bradford William Salmon Secretary. Subsequent county meetings were held at the King's Arms Inn, Devizes, 25th Februarj''; at Salisbury on the 8tb of March; again at Devizes on the 21st and 27th; and at the Town-hall on the 28th of March; on which occasions Mr. Salmon read a vast mass of letters received from the corres¬ ponding secretaries of other counties, as also from Wiltshire members of Parliament; amongst others, from Edmund Burke, from Earls Badnor and Shelburne, from Isaac Barre and John Dunning the members for Caine, the Hon. Charles James Fox member for Malmesbury, Sir James Tylney Long, Pinckney Wilkinson and Thomas Pitt the members for Old Sarum, &c.;—all possessing some interest, but too numerous and copious to be here recited ; a brief report of which pro- 440 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. ceedings, together with copies of the letters aforesaid, Avas afterwards drawn up and published by order of the Commit¬ tee, and sold by Collins and Johnson of Salisbury. In the meanwhile, two stirring events in the Metropolis were afford¬ ing ample subject for comment, and tending to keep alive a spirit of agitation in the provinces. These were, the Earl of Pembroke’s dismissal from the Lord Lieutenancy of Wiltshire, and Earl Shelburne’s duel with Colonel Fullarton. The Marquis of Carmarthen had already been displaced from the Lord Lieutenancy of Yorkshire, and the country was still further astonished to hear soon after that the Earl of Pem¬ broke was visited with a similar form of his Majesty’s dis¬ pleasure, shortly after giving his vote in favour of Lord Shelburne’s motion for the retrenchment of the Civil List. There could be but one explanation for such a procedure, though no ground of offence was set forth in the instrument of dismissal. To the Earl of Pembroke. “ St. James’s 14 Feb. 1780. “ Mx Loed. I am much concerned that it falls to my lot to obey the King’s commands, by acquainting your lordship that his Majesty has no further occasion for your service in the offices of Lord-lieutenant and Gustos Rotulorum of the County of Wilts : and your lordship will I hope believe me when I assure you I should be glad of a more agreeable opportunity of expressing the respect with which I have the honour to be, My Lord, your lordship’s most obedient, humble servant, “ Hilisboeotjgh.” To the Earl of Hillsborough. “ Privy Garden, Monday night 14 Feb. 1780. “ Mx Loeu. I had the honour to receive your lordship’s letter to day, in which your lordship signifies his Majesty’s commands to you, to let me know he had no further occasion for my services in the offices of Lord-lieutenant and Gustos Rotulorum of the County of Wilts. I am much obliged to you for the concern you are so good as to express upon the occasion. Tour lordship will, I flatter myself, excuse me, if, conscious as I am of my never-failing duty, attachment, and affection to his Ma¬ jesty, I am under the necessity of imputing this mark of the King’s dis¬ pleasure to his Ministers, on account of a vote I gave as a free man, upon a public question. I have the honour to be. My Lord, your lordship’s most obedient and most humble servant. “ Pembeoke.' REFORM ASSOCIATION. 441 Lord Shelburne’s duel, which took place just a month after, arose out of his lordship’s strictures on the mode in which promotions in the two fighting services were conducted. William Fullarton the member for Plympton-Earl, who had been recently elevated to a Colonelcy, for which it was gene¬ rally thought that his previous habits had disqualified him, conceiving himself to be especially aimed at, forthwith sent a challenge to the Earl; a request which was readily granted; but so totally unknown to the Earl was his new-found anta¬ gonist, that on reaching the ground, his lordship asked “which is the gentleman I am come to meet ?” At the second fire. Lord Shelburne was wounded in the hip; whereupon he dis¬ charged his pistol in the air, and indulged in some jocular remarks on the probable consequences of his wound. The news of this affair ran through the country like an electric shock. A meeting was very soon convened at Devizes, viz. on the 28th of March, at which, after Mr. Awdry the chair¬ man had reported progress, it was moved, “That as his lord¬ ship’s recent accident was the result of his spirited conduct in Parliament, a congratulatory message should be sent him, on the prospect of his speedy recovery to health.” This was objected to by Mr. John Anstie of Devizes, who, though no doubt favourable to the general objects of the Committee, could not help observing that the afiair of the duel was of too private and personal a nature to be thus made part of a pub¬ lic question; and he was the more averse to the language of the Pesolution, because it seemed like giving a public coun¬ tenance to the practice of duelling. This objection having been over-ruled by Lord Radnor and Mr. Poore, it was fur¬ ther proposed that the thanks of the meeting should be ten¬ dered to the two county members for their independent conduct in Parliament. These were Ambrose Goddard and Charles Penruddocke; but as it was not entirely unknown that these two gentlemen had been occasionally seen to divide on important questions before the House, Mr. Anstie could 442 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. not let this motion pass without observing, that, coming from such a meeting as the present, it bore an air of inconsistency. Mr. Hussey the old Whig member for Salisbury here stood up in defence of his neighbour Mr. Penruddocke against whom the prejudice of being a Government-man lay, and assured the meeting that his friend’s votes were as much based on conscientious conviction as those of any other mem¬ ber. The only other motion of importance at this meeting “expressed the thanks of the county to the Earl of Pembroke for his upright conduct in the House of Peers, in support of the favourite object of this county’s petition, an enquiry into the expenditure of the Civil List; and a concern that his lordship appeared to have been removed on that account from the Lieutenancy of the county.” Lord Shelburne and Mr. Fox did not attend this meeting, but they sent letters of sj^mpathy, which were read aloud, and afterwards published in the newspapers. The proceedings of the Wiltshire Com¬ mittee were then ordered to be printed, and the meeting adjourned dne die. Earl Shelburne’s views, it is evident, went further than those of many of his followers. Mr. Awdry’s report seemed de¬ signed to confine the question to a supervision of the public expenditure. Lord Shelburne was for a total remodelling of the principle of representation and a repeal of the Septennial Act, and he manifestly lent towards Lord Chatham’s idea of counteracting close boroughs by electoral districts. But whatever were the difierences of opinion as to the best mode of purifying the House of Commons, the fact should not be concealed that the impulsive principle of Reform at the time of which we are speaking was not precisely identical with that which gave it force and energy in 1830. In 1780 the freeholders were invited to strengthen themselves against the Crown; in 1830 the people rose against the aristocracy. In 1780 the landed gentry had a quarrel with Court-minions: in 1830 commerce was shaking off the incubus of hereditary STATESMEN OF WILTSHIRE, 443 pretensions. Shelburne, as pre-eminently a man of restless and daring anticipations, would have done battle for his fel¬ low-men in either case, and have acted in 1830 as did his distinguished son; but in respect of many of those who re¬ joiced in his leadership in 1780, as the ground of combat shifted, so did their alliances: they supported the long Con¬ tinental war which preceded the modern movement; and in the name of patriotism and church government they at last found themselves confronting the new-arisen powers of social development and commercial expansion. Two years after the Devizes conclaves of 1780, when Earl Shelburne himself came into power, though he found himself able to put his reformations into but partial operation, yet he had the honour of signing the terms of peace with America and France, and of thus giving repose to the over-wrought spirit of the nation. Here, as discussing the history of Wiltshire, we may be permitted to pause awhile for the purpose of observing how remarkably large a share the county had at this period in furnishing the distinguished statesmen of the hour. In ad¬ dition to the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Porchester, already mentioned, it is observable that many of the Pitts were from time to time returned for two of the smaller boroughs, and of Lord Chatham it has been asserted that he was born in the manor house of Old Sarum;—the Fox family of Eoxley and Winterslow, natives of the county and representatives of Hindon and Malmesbury:—the Earl of Shelburne of Bowood, wanting little of being the most eloquent and philosophic statesman of his times; together with the two nominees of his lordship’s borough of Caine, Isaac Barre, and John Dun¬ ning, afterwards Lord Ashburton :—Lord Weymouth of Longleat, Secretary of State in Lord North’s ministry in 1770, and again under William Pitt, by whose favour he was promoted to the Marquisate of Bath:—Lord Suffolk of Charl¬ ton, Secretary of State on Weymouth’s retirement in 1771, and regarded for awhile as successor to Grenville in leading 444 HISTORY OF DEnZES. tlie section of the Whigs distinguished from the Chatham, Shelburne, and Rockingham Whigs:—Sir William Black- stone the eminent legal commentator, M.P. for Westbury, and grandson of Lovelace Bigg of Chilton Foliott. These were some of the most conspicuous, though others of secondary mark might be added. We now return to events at Devizes. The proceedings of the Wilts Reform Association may be said to have terminated with the aforesaid meeting on the 28th of March; for though on the following 6th of April, Mr. Dunning the member for Caine carried his memorable resolution in the House “that the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished,” yet public interest in any specific plans of regeneration was so immediately after abruptly arrested by the news of disasters at sea, and by the No-Popery riots of Lord George Gordon, that cautious men began to distrust the effect of tumultuous organizations; and Government, taking advantage of the prostration of the national spirit, dismissed the Parliament and summoned another to meet in November. The Election of 1780. The nomination for the county of Wilts took place as usual at Devizes, the day fixed by the Sheriff", Paul Cobb Methuen Esq., being the 12th of Septem¬ ber, when Mr. Penruddocke seeming to think, in consequence perhaps of the notice that had been taken of his votes by Mr. Anstie, that a rather more emphatic justification of his Par¬ liamentary career was necessary than had recently been cus¬ tomary in Wiltshire, delivered a speech which was afterwards published in the Salisbury Journal. Both the late county mem¬ bers were returned. In the borough of Devizes Mr. Garth was re-elected; but being appointed in December following, a Commissioner of Excise, made way for Mr. Henry Jones. The other member was Sir James Long, an intimate friend of Mr. Sutton of New Park who withdrew in his favour. And here it should be observed that James Sutton of New Park is not to be confounded with his cousin James Sutton of Devizes, THE ELECTION OF 1780 . 445 whose name had recently appeared in Lord Shelburne’s Ee- form Committee. Mr. Sutton of New Park on the contrary was not a party man, and it was his weariness of Parliamen¬ tary strife which induced him on the present occasion to introduce his friend Sir James Long to the Devizes Corpora¬ tion. The two new representatives were both what were called “Government men,” so far as could be intimated by their voting for the desperate continuance of the American war in opposition to the motion made 12th December by Sir James Lowther [afterwards Lord Lonsdale] “that all further at¬ tempts to coerce the Colonies were impracticable.” By way of shewing how the county and borough members of Wilts stood affected to the Government in the new Parliament, their votes on Sir James Lowther’s motion are here appended. Against the war. For the ivar. Ambrose Goddard County Ch. Penruddoeke William Hussey Salisbury Devizes Sir James Long Devizes Henry Jones Marlborough .. Earl of Courtown Henry Dawkins Chippenham Giles Hudson John Dunning Caine Rt. Hon. Isaac Barre .. Caine Malmesbury Lord Fairford Malmesbury J. Calvert Jun. Lloyd Kenyon Hindon Nathaniel Wraxall Thomas Pitt Old Sarum Pinckney WUkinson Old Sarum A’Court Ashe Heytesbury Franeis Burton Samuel Estwicke Wcstbury J. W. Gardiner Westbury Wootten Basset Hon. Henry St. John Wootten Basset William Strahan Ludgershall .. Lord Melbourne Ludgershall .. Geo. Aug. Sehvyn Lord Herbert Wilton Downton Hon. H. J. Conway Downton Robert Shafto Sir Thomas Lawrence and the No-Popery Eiots of 1780. Mention was made above of the Gordon riots of 1780. This disturbance will be best illustrated in combination with 446 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. a portion of the history of Devizes differing widely from the political character of the last few pages. We begin with an extract from a letter published in the Hampshire Chronicle dated 17th January 1774. “ Leaving Salisbury we visited tlie venerable pile of Stonehenge in our way to Devizes, which it is a miracle we reached, for we came to such a confusion of roads that a man must have been inspired to be certain of taking the right. Experience showed we had not this gift. Our luck liowever was better than many have met with, for after roaming about two hours we fell in with the direct road.As we came nearer to Devizes we saw at stated distances a white post, on one side of which was the letter S and some figures [the number of miles] and on another side the letter D. We readily conceived their use and blessed the contriver of them, who, we were informed, was the landlord of the Bear Inn at Devizes, at which [house] we consequently put up as a proof of our sincerity; and indeed the treatment we met with confirmed the very favourable opinion we had formed of his disposition who at his own and sole expeuce has executed a work of general utility. I sincerely wish he may receive in return the support he deserves, and am persuaded that every considerate traveller must acknowledge the help he has reaped fi’om these well-contrived direction-posts. But let me not forget, that im¬ provement as well as gratitude had a share in the motives which induced me to trouble you with these remarks. Permit me therefore to recommend to all those who have felt the advantages of Mr. Lawrence’s invention, to endeavour to procure the like in their respective neighbourhoods. We may then flatter ourselves that in a little time it may be universally adopted in these kingdoms. Winchester, 6 January, 1774. “ PlJBLICOLA.” The value of these tall posts erected by Lawrence across the Plain must have been principally felt when the ground was covered with snow or when darkness obscured the more distant landmarks. They were twelve feet in height and stationed at intervals of half-a-mile. To aid the traveller under similar circumstances, while wandering over the Downs near Semley in South Wilts, the Rev. John Gane, rector of Berwick St. John, left a small property to secure the ringing of the great bell of that church for half-an-hour every eve¬ ning at eight o’clock, from the 10th of September to the 10th of March. During the period when from the badness and insecurity of the London and Bath road through Caine and from the SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 447 abandonment of the ancient route over Roundway Hill, a large portion of the posting trade came to pass through De¬ vizes, the Bear Inn was a house of far greater notoriety than present appearances would suggest. For instance, George Whatley the proprietor in the middle of that century was “esteemed the most eminent publican in the West of Eng¬ land,” see the notice of his death in the Salisbury Journal in 1767. The Black Bear as it was then styled, was the resting place of all the elite or invalided who sought the efficacy of the waters of Bath, or were hastening to the empire of Beau Nash; and so solicitous was Thomas Lawrence to enhance to his guests the pleasure of an occasional sojourn at his establish¬ ment, that he was in the habit of closing his advertisements with the following postscript:— “ The gardens of the Bear Inn surround the ruins of the ancient Castle of Devizes ; they are laid out in agreeable walks, and command prospects most remarkable for their variety and extent.” Thomas Lawrence, the father of the well known painter afterwards known as Sir Thomas Lawrence President of the Royal Academy, came from Bristol to Devizes in 1772, at the time when his little son was three years old. His wife who had borne the maiden name of Lucy Read and the sobriquet of “ the beauty of Tenbury,” was distantly related to the house of Powis, and therefore of gentle blood, an honour which Lysons the antiquary endeavoured to establish for the family of Lawrence also. One who saw the younger Lawrence when a child, described him as remarkably handsome, with large bright eyes and a voice unusually sweet. Ilis father soon turned his good looks and fine voice to advantage, and taught him the art of spouting select passages from the poets for the entertainment of customers. Before he was five years old, the child had stood on a table, held out his right arm, and recited to the wondering guests speeches from Milton and odes from Collins. He had moreover at this infantine age discovered the faculty of drawing portraits, which he did 448 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. with such fidelity as to likeness and such rapidity of execu¬ tion, that his father usually introduced him to his visitors with “Gentlemen, here is my son: will you have him recite from the poets, or take your portraits.” In Mr. William Russell’s recent sketch of the President’s life, this scene is described as of frequent occurrence in the smoking room of the Bear, when the farmers, on Thursdays, were closing the business of the day over their brandy and water. These no doubt constituted a large proportion of Mr. Lawrence’s most valuable customers, but his constitutional ambition must have made him still more solicitous to introduce the youthful pro- digy to the notice of the fashionable travellers who thronged the inn in those posting days. Such we know to have been the ease. Prince Hoare who while stopping at Devizes once heard him recite Milton’s “Lycidas” and was shewn some of his drawings of ej^es and hands, reported in the highest terms both of his declamatory and of his pictorial powers. He was even at the age of ten taken to London and introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds who pronounced him, (so declared the fond mother), the most promising genius he had met with; a fact not generally noticed by his biographers. Another distin¬ guished visitor at the Bear, who was early struck with his precocity, was David Garrick the actor, who listened com¬ placently while the little boy, urged by his father, recited a long passage from Shakspeare. On the great actor’s return within the space of a month, as he alighted he called out “ Landlord, has Tommy learned any more speeches, eh ? ” and forthwith ordered the boy and his tea to be taken to a summer house in the garden, saying, “ Come now, my man, begin ”; and when the tea and spouting were finished, he patted him on the head and said “ Bravely done Tommy, whether will you be a painter or a player eh ?” Tommy, both then and for some time after, imagined it seems that he could be both. Mrs. Siddons it is said added her praise to that of the multitude, declaring that his voice and recitation was SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 449 harmonious and his action just. With admirers came ad¬ visers. The Rev. Dr. Henry Kent of Whistley House Pot- terne proposed that a boy of such natural powers should have suitable instructors, and lent him Rogers ‘ Lives of Foreign Painters.’ But the father was averse to his reading on the subject, “though,” said he, “I have no objection to his study¬ ing the old masters and visiting the neighbouring picture galleries.” Tom was accordingly taken to Corsham House. He was lost during the tour of the apartments, and was found gazing upon a picture by Rubens. “Ah !” he sighed, as he was led away, “I shall never be able to paint like that.” Touching the Dr. Kent here referred to, an old gentleman of recluse habits and seldom seen abroad unless mounted on a veteran white charger, it is further reported that he made Master Tommy’s acquaintance through the following circum¬ stance. One day he drew his bridle at the door of the Bear Inn, and summoning the landlord, demanded to be shewn a representation of himself and horse which he understood had given birth to much merriment at his expense. Mr. Lawrence was entirely ignorant of the affair, but immediately suspect¬ ing the truth, sent for his son, who leading his father and the Doctor upstairs exhibited to them on the wall of one of the bedchambers a sketch which both were fain to acknow¬ ledge was a veritable likeness. The old gentleman, so far from retaining any resentment towards its author, led him to the shop of Mr. Thomas Burrough, and requested him to make choice of a variety of books.^ At the age of six. Tommy was sent to the school of one Jones near Bristol; he afterwards received lessons from Lewis a Dissenting minister at Devizes, and finally was placed un- ' Dr. Kent died in 1800 at the other legacies to hospitals and other age of 87. To Merton College Ox- public charities, and directed £200 ford, of which he was a Fellow, he to be expended on his funeral bequeathed his library and £300 to monument, purchase books. He left divers ^ FP 450 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. der tlie tuition of Mr. Jarvis a schoolmaster in the same town, and the predecessor of the late Mr. John Ludd Fenner. Of young Lawrence’s schoolmates at this establishment, Sir An¬ thony Perrier late Mayor of Cork and the Rev. Charles Lucas, were, we believe, both contemporary, and to the last Sir An¬ thony retained an affectionate remembrance of his early days in their society. But the graphic pen of a lady-novelist has so well depictured the interior life of the Lawrence family at this point in their history, that we gladly proceed to make room for a passage from the Diary of Miss Burney (afterwards known as Madame D’Arblay, but at that time attendant on the Queen,) in the form of a letter written to one of her friends. “ Bath, 7 April 1780. “Mr Dearest Susy. Don’t be angry that I have been absent so long without writing ; for I have been so entirely without a moment to myself except for dressing that I reaUy have not had it in my power. This morning being obliged to have my hair dressed early, I am a prison¬ er that I may not spoil it by a hat, and therefore I have made use of my captivity in writing to my dearest Susy ; and briefly I will now chronicle what has occupied me hitherto. The journey was comfortable ; Mr. Thrale was charmingly well and in good spirits, and Mrs. Thrale must be charming, well or ill. We only went to Maidenhead bridge the first night, where I found the caution given me by Mr. Smelt of not attempt¬ ing to travel near Windsor on a hunting day a very necessary one, as we were with difficulty accommodated even the day after the hunt, and we heard of nothing but the King and the royal huntsmen and huntswomen. The second day we slept at Speen hill, and the third day we reached Devizes. And here Mrs. Thrale and I were much pleased with our hostess Mrs. Lawrence, who seemed something above her station in her Inn. While we were at cards before supper, we were much surprised by the sound of a piano-forte : I j umped up and ran to listen whence it pro¬ ceeded. I found it came from the next room, where the Overture to the Buona Figliola was performing. The playing was very decent, but as the music was not quite new to me, my curiosity was not whole ages in satisfying ; and thereupon I returned to finish the rubber. Well, another deal was hardly played, ere we heard the sound of a voice, and out I ran again. The singing however detained me not long, and so back I whisked. But the performance, however indifferent in itself, surprised us at the Bear Inn at Devizes ! and therefore Mrs. Thrale determined to know from whom it came. Accordingly she tapped at the door. A very handsome girl about thirteen years old, with fine dark SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 451 hair upon a finely formed forehead, opened it. Mrs. Thrale made an apology for her intrusion, but the poor girl blushed and retreated into a corner of the room. Another girl however advanced and obligingly and gracefully invited us in and gave as all chairs. She was just sixteen, extremely pretty, and with a countenance better than her features, though these were very good. Mrs. Thrale made her many compliments, which she received with mingled modesty and pleasure, both becoming and interesting. She was indeed a sweetly pleasing girl. We found they were both daughters of our hostess, born and bred at Devizes. AVe were extremely pleased with them, and made them a long visit which I wished to have been longer. But though these pretty girls struck us so much, the wonder of the family was yet to be produced. This was their brother, a most lovely boy of ten years of age, who seems to be not merely the wonder of their family but of the times for his astonishing skill in draw¬ ing. They protest he has never had any instruction, yet showed us some of his productions which were really beautiful. Those tliat were copies, were delightful, those of his own composition amazing, though far inferior. I was equally struck with the boy and his works. We found that he had been taken to London and that all the painters had been very kind to him, and Sir Joshua Reynolds had pronounced him (the mother said) the most promising genius he had ever met with, Mr. Hoare has been so charmed with this sweet boy’s drawings, that he in¬ tends sending him to Italy with his own son. . . . This house was full of books as well as paintings, drawings, and music; and all the family seem not only ingenious and industrious, but amiable : added to which they are strikingly handsome. I hope we shall return the same road, that we may see them again. . . .” A second journey to Bath occasioned the following entry in the Ladies’ Journal dated Bath 28th May. “Adventures in our journey we had no time to think of. We flew along as swiftly as possible : but stopped to change horses at Devhes in preference to Chippenham, merely to enquire after the fair and very ingenious family of the Lawrences, but we only saw the mother and the eldest son.” The Thrale and Burney party were prevented from repeat¬ ing their visit to Devizes, owing to the outbreak against Roman Catholics, which compelled their return to London through unfrequented roads. The affair, usuallj' designated Lord George Gordon’s riot, yielded its principal fruit in London, though the provinces were not unaffected. At Bath in particular, where the fashionable residents naturall}'' sup¬ plied a considerable sprinkling of Romanists, the demonstra¬ tion was for a few hours very active. A residence which FE 2 452 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Lord Arundel of Wardour had recently furnished was at¬ tacked, though unsuccessfully: the Catholic chapel was burnt to the ground; and further mischief would no doubt have occurred, had not an express been sent off to Devizes, where a detachment of the Queen’s or 2nd Dragoons were stationed under the command of Captain Taylor. These being speedily on the spot, restored confidence to the panic stricken citizens. What further measures the municipal authorities put in operation, will be seen by extracts from Miss Burney’s next two letters, written to Dr. Burney. “Bath, 10 7ime 1780. “ I was most cruelly disappointed in not having a word to-day. Every body here is crazed to death. We have intelligence that Mr. Thi-ale’s house in town is filled with soldiers and threatened by the mob with destruction. Perhaps he may himself be a marked man for their fury. We are going directly from Bath, and intend to stop only at villages. To night we shall stop at Warminster, not daring to go to Devizes. This place [Bath] is now well guarded, but still we dare not await the event of to-night. AH the Catholics in the town have privately escaped.” The next is from Salisbury on the following day, 11 June, addressed to Dr. Burney. “ Here we are. Dearest Sir, and here we mean to pass the night. We did not leave Bath till 8 o’clock yesterday evening; at which time it was filled with dragoons, militia, and armed constables, not armed with muskets but bludgeons. These latter were all chairmen sworn by the Mayor for petty constables. A Popish private chapel and the houses of all the Catholics were guarded between 7 and 8, and all the inhabitants ordered to keep house. We set out in the coach and four with two men on horseback, and got to Warminster a little town in Somersetshire [Wilts] a little before 12. The happiest tidings I received are that all is quiet in London and Lord George Gordon sent to the Tower. We stopped in our way at Wilton and spent half the day at that beautiful place.Just before we arrived there. Lord Arundel [of Wardour] had sent to the officers in the place, to entreat a party of guards immediately for the safety of his house, as he had intelligence that a mob was on the road from London to attack it. He is a Catholic. His request was immediately complied with.All is quiet here [at Salisbury]. There is no Romish chapel in the town, mass having always been performed for the Catholics of the place at a Mrs. Arundel’s in the Close, a relation of his lordship’s, whose house [Wardour Castle] is fifteen miles off. . . .” SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 453 The earliest pictorial performance of young Lawrence of which these is any distinct record must be the sketch which in after life he presented to Mrs. Forster the accomplished daughter of Banks the sculptor. Written under it were the words “Thomas Lawrence, Devizes” and on one side “Done when three weeks [years ?] old, I believe.” See Allan Cun- ingham’s British Painters vi. 235. Another, said to have been painted when he was little more than seven, consists of two portraits (Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon) and like all his others at that time was executed in the most unpremeditated man¬ ner, during the brief sojourn of the originals at his father’s house of business. His early portraits continued for many years to be painted either in crayons or in water colours, two or three good specimens of which may be seen in the Dulwich Gallery. A similar one, being the portrait of Miss White of the Castle Inn at Marlborough, was for many years in the possession of Mr. Thomas Burrough Smith of Devizes (grand¬ son of the Mr. Burrough just mentioned). In the autumn of 1830 her present Majesty, then the Princess Victoria, being on her way, in company with her august mother the Duchess of Kent, to visit Erlestoke House, stopped at the Bear Inn at Devizes; and recalling the fact that this spot was the scene of Sir Thomas’s early career, enquired if any of his productions were still extant in the town. Mr. Smith’s specimen was soon conveyed to her, and remained in her possession while the party visited Erlestoke. The Princess even made a copy of it, while waiting there for horses to carry her on to Stone¬ henge. Two years after her coronation. Her Majesty pur¬ chased the picture for 150 guineas and placed it in the Royal Collection. The elder Lawrence was a somewhat pretentious but at the same time a very public-spirited man; rather too much so for his own pocket. His erection of signal posts across Salisbury Plain has already been mentioned. In 1776 there was a large fire on the Green, and Lawrence, ever foremost in action, was 454 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. speedily on the spot, and by the assistance of his men and his single engine, succeeded in extinguishing the flames. A noted highwayman named Thomas Boulter was marauding the neighbourhood and committing the most impudent rob¬ beries on every one whom he met. Whilst the inhabitants of Devizes were entering into a subscription to procure his discovery and commitment, Lawrence sent out a party of horsemen on his own account, who scoured the country but, as might be expected, returned without effect. With all his energy, Lawrence failed in business and left Devizes in 1781, but not before his little son had found many opportunities of practising his art in connexion with persons of influence and distinction. At the age of ten Tommy was already in pos¬ session of sufficient celebrity to command a public notice and panegyric on his pretensions in a work retaining its popularity to the present day “ Miscellanies” of the Hon. Daines Bar¬ rington. When the family therefore left Devizes, it was not without hopes that the rising fortune of the son would open a new field of success. They went first to Weymouth which was then visited by Royalty, but met with little encourage¬ ment. The next experiment appears to have been made upon Oxford and with decided success. The boy had not been un¬ noticed b}^ the chiefs of the University who stopped at Devizes on their way to Bath; and when he appeared in their city and announced himself as a portrait painter, many flocked to his eazel. Among his early patrons here were the Bishops of Oxford and Llandaff, the Earls of Bathurst and Warwick, and the Countess of Egremont, Nor was his pencil confined to celebrities such as these, for the youth and beauty of the classic city and its neighbourhood “ equally pressed upon his talents.” From Oxford, the Lawrences passed after a single season to Bath, and by this time his celebrity was established. We may here record a visit to Tenbury in Worcestershire, the vicarage of which town had been the scene of his father’s romantic marriage with the fair maid of Tenbury. The date THE MILITIA DISEMBODIED 455 of this visit is indicated by a crayon portrait preserved at the neighbouring seat of Stanford Court, and inscribed on the back “Thomas Lawrence 1785.” Two years later, he went to London and took a house in Leicester Square, near that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. This was in 1787. At the age of 24 he was made a Royal Academician; and eventually he be¬ came President of that Institution. In natural disposition. Sir Thomas Lawrence was one of the most amiable of men, and was ever an affectionate son and brother. This was strikingly shewn when, as a youth, he received from Sir Henry Harpur the splendid offer of £1000 to enable him to study in Italy. The support of the family at that time depending wholly on his exertions, he instantly agreed with his father in declining the advantage. He was the youngest of sixteen children, all of whom, with the ex¬ ception of himself and two daughters died in infancy. Fac¬ simile crayon-etchings of the portraits of his father and mother (now very rare) are in the possession of Mr. Henry Bull of Devizes. Peace with America. Lord Shelburne came into power, first as a member of Lord Rockingham’s Ministry in 1782; and immediately after, as Premier himself. Peace being now at last concluded with the American colonies, as also with France and Spain, the Wilts regiment of Militia was disem¬ bodied at Devizes; the Secretary at War’s letter being first read at the head of the regiment, announcing His Majesty’s order that each man should have his clothes, knapsack, bounty, and fourteen days pay to carry him home. Thomas Hussey, Sheriff. 1783. One of those scandalous felonies, a duel without seconds, was enacted in the Castle-orchard of this town, be¬ tween Captain Ambrose Awdry and Mr. Neate jun.: the captain receiving a wound in the arm. 1783. The smuggling trade had been carried on to a daring extent during the American war: and Cranbourn Chase was 456 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. not unfrequently the scene of prolonged conflicts between the military and mounted smugglers, sometimes numbering from fifty to eighty horsemen, driving teams of pack-horses. The following adventure in Devizes will shew to what an extent these bands were organised. In September 1783 a seizure of 600 lbs. of tea having been made in the house of a person named Shepherd at Churton [Cheriton] the goods were con- ve 3 ’’ed to the supervisor’s house in Devizes, condemned as a legal seizure, and Shepherd fined £150 by the borough ma¬ gistrates, which sum was duly paid. In the evening, the quiet of the town was invaded by the entrance of a body of armed smugglers, who confident in their strength, advanced direct to Mr. Supervisor’s warehouse, brought out the whole of the forfeited goods and carried them off in triumph. A similar occurrence took place at Hindon in South Wilts and also at Corsham on the premises of a supervisor named Robert Mann, occasioning at length two proclamations from the Home Office, as for instance, “Whiteiiall, 17 Feb. 1784. Whereas it has been humbly represented to the King that in the months of September and December last, divers gangs of armed men assembled in the night-time, at the towns of Hindon and Devizes in the Co. of WUts, and by force and violence took away from certain houses in the said towns a large quantity of tea which had been seized by the officers of Excise and deposited in the said houses; discharg¬ ing their firearms against all who opposed them, to the great terror of the inhabitants ;—His Majesty, for the better discovering and bringing to justice the persons concerned in the daring outrages above mentioned, is hereby pleased to promise his most gracious pardon to any one of them who shall discover his accomplice or accomplices therein, so that he or they may be ajiprehended and convicted thereof. “ Sydney.” “And as a further encouragement, the Commissioners of Excise do hereby promise a reward of one hundred pounds to any person or persons making such discovery, to be paid by their Secretary, on conviction of any one or more of the offenders. “ J. Fisher, Sec.” There never was a period in English history when public executions were more numerous than during the one under consideration, and yet never was society so infested with THE COUNTY GAOLS. 457 malefactors.^ It was in the year 1785 that the Association of the Marlborough division, under the guidance of Robert Griffiths, solicitor, was first formed for the prosecution of felons, the earliest, we believe, in the county of Wilts. Mean¬ while the gaols were crowded with victims; and it occasionally happened that convicts lay in irons at Fisher ton for nearly a year before they were removed to the hulks or transported, that is to say, before the legal term of their sentence com¬ menced. In 1783 a resolution was passed by the county magistrates to re-build Fisherton gaol, and to send the pri¬ soners, during the process, to Devizes; but this determination seems to have been set aside by a vote in the following year to re-construct the Old Bridewell at Devizes [also a county prison] at a cost of £800. The step was greatly needed; for in 1785, an epidemic breaking out at Fisherton, rendered the transfer to Devizes at once imperative. Howard the philan¬ thropist had in his history of the Lazarettos of Europe already exposed the unhealthy character of the prisons both at De¬ vizes and at Marlborough; but his admonitions remained unheeded, till the gaol-fever at Marlborough proved fatal in 1784 to a most worthy and humane gentleman, Mr. Warner the medical attendant on that establishment, as also to the keeper, Mr. Jones. From that period the system was sub¬ jected to progressive ameliorations. Sir George Onesiphorus Paul, of Gloucestershire, aiding the movement by the well- timed publication of a treatise on prison discipline. The re¬ building of Fisherton gaol was eventually undertaken in 1818 and completed in 1822, at a cost of £28,000. In 1785, an Act was obtained for a new gaol within the city of Salisbury, but this was not a county affair. The new prison at Devizes, on the other hand, built in 1810 just within the limits of the Old Park, is a county establishment; the old Bridewell within * It was in 1783 that Townsend, cordership of Sergeant Adair, at the the Bow-street runner, said he re- close of which, forty criminals were membered a session, during the Ke- hanged at two executions. 458 HISTORT OF DEVIZES. tlie borough also continuing as heretofore, to belong to the county. How long this old Bridewell had belonged to the county, and under what circumstances it first became removed from the control of the municipal body, is involved in some uncertainty. Had it been part of the castle, it might, as such, have appertained to the county or the Crown, though the borough was independent, as in so many other instances: but the old Bridewell of Devizes is far enough from the castle and does not appear to have been ever associated with it. All we can say of it therefore is, that the fact of its being the only or the principal county establishment of the kind in Wiltshire, far into the 17th century, is suggestive of the me¬ tropolitan character which Devizes bore in the mediaeval ages. The following letter, being a mandate issued by the Lord Lieutenant of the county to six of his deputies in South Wilts in the time of James I., will illustrate this, and shew at the same time on what occasion the necessity for a second gaol was first entertained. [The preamble is abridged.] “ To my loving friends, Sir Walter Vaughan, Sir Bichard Mompes- son. Sir Itichard Grulham, Knights; Giles Tooker, Henry Sherville \_Sherfield,'\ and Thomas Sadler. “ After my hearty commendations” &c. “Whereas I understand that the southern division of the County of Wilts, is infested with va¬ grants, &c. &c. . . I have thought fit earnestly to desire the Justices and whomsoever shall be able to lend a helping hand to the reformation of these disorders, to resolve upon some convenient place within the said Division, to erect a house of correction ; that the inconvenience of carry¬ ing such malefactors so far as the Devizes may not be a means to weak¬ en the hands of justice, hut that your cares therein may he such as may give his Majesty content in the due execution of his laws, and give ease unto the country, which is now oppressed with the number and insolencies of these vagabond and licentious multitudes.... So, I rest. Tour loving friend. “ From the house at Baynard’s “ Pesibeoxe. Castle, 15 May, 1623.” [ Endorsed in another hand as follows]“The desire is that the Lieu¬ tenants would shew their letters to the Justices of peace within the county of AVilts, for erecting a house of correction in the southern Division, near Salisbury; for that the house already erected at the Devizes is so far off THE ELECTION OF 1784 . 459 that the country is much troubled with vagrant persons in these parts, because the trouble and charge is so great of sending them thither.” In 1435, during the Shrievalty of Edmund Hungerford, we read that on the 10th of August, a royal commission was issued to William Westbury, Sir Robert Hungerford, John Whj'^te the Mayor of Salisbury, and John Westbury, “to deliver the gaol of Old Saruma circumstance which Mr. Hatcher (the historian of Salisbury) regards as something unusual. Now, at first sight, this document, coupled with subsequent events, might seem to suggest that Devizes, as a place of security for county felons, was selected at the time when the castle of Old Sarum fell into decay: but inasmuch as county Sheriffs had no power or jurisdiction in boroughs, it seems a more likely conjecture to assign the establishment of a county prison within the walls of Devizes to the period of the crea¬ tion of Lords Ijieutenant in the reign of Edward VI., when, as Strype tells us, they “were appointed to suppress the routs and uproars in most counties.” The matter then stands thus:—The castle of Devizes was a State prison till the time of its destruc¬ tion, near the close of the I5th century: and from and after the 3rd of Edward VI. the borough contained the county prison, which county pi’ison being rendered unnecessary by recent enlarged buildings, is now a station for the county police. \_Nofe. Before the erection of the new prisons, the keepers’ salaries were as follows:—Devizes old Bridewell £100;—Fisherton £150;—IVlarlborough £70.] Ratid Changes of Ministry. 1782—1784. In order to give an aspect of continuity to public affairs, we should now go back as far as Lord Shelburne’s advent to power, an event coincident with Lord North’s retirement in March 1782. In the new Ministry, that of Lord Rockingham, Earl Shelburne and Mr. Fox became the two Secretaries of State; and various measures of reform, long in abeyance, were at last successfully introduced. Now also it was that William Pitt agitated the first of his three motions for re-adjusting the Representation 460 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. (which he proposed to effect by transferring about 100 of the borough members to the counties). On Lord Rocking¬ ham’s death during the same year, Lord Shelburne took his place as Premier, and had the honour of signing the peace with America. William Pitt, hitherto one of the Bowood coterie, was his Chancellor of the Exchequer, though only 23 years of age. Fox, who had been displaced from the Secre¬ taryship when Shelburne became Premier, now formed that alliance with the Tory Lord North, known as “the Fox and North coalition,” which, though it succeeded for a few mouths in unseating Shelburne, so disgusted the country, as to pave the way for Pitt’s immediate return to power, who thereupon assumed the post of Prime Minister by holding the two offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, December 1783. At the general election which followed, a county meeting was, according to accustomed practice, convened at Devizes, on the 7th of April 1784, when Charles Penruddocke and Ambrose Goddard, Esquires, were again put in successful nomination. William Chafin Grove of Zeals, Sheriff. In the borough of Devizes, where the candidates were Sir James Long, Henry Addington and John Lubbock, the two former were elected. Bnt inasmuch as the name of one of these gentlemen marks an era of considerable moment to the bo¬ rough, we must stop for awhile to notice more particularly the origin of Henry Addington, afterwards Lord Viscount Sidmouth. On the 1st of August 1771, a marriage had occurred, pro¬ ductive of many important results to this town and neigh¬ bourhood. James Sutton of New Park, Esq., M.P. for the borough, married Eleanor second daughter of Dr. Anthony Addington, an alliance which proved the means of introdu¬ cing to his constituency Mrs. Sutton’s eldest brother, Henry Addington Esq., who for a long course of years afterwards, MR. ADDINGTON. 461 occupied the position of Representative and Recorder of the borough ; till his elevation to the peerage in 1805 terminated a connexion of twenty-one years as Member of Parliament, leaving untouched his lordship’s other function of Recorder of the borough for another period of almost equal duration. This latter office Mr. Addington accepted in 1784, on the death of Charles Garth Esq. (See page 406.) The family of Addington came originally from Frinkford near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Dr. Addington, the father of the bride, was a physician of some eminence in the town and neighbourhood of Reading: his name figures in the remark¬ able trial, in 1752, of Miss Mary Blandy for the murder of her father, on which occasion his evidence was required to determine the presence of poison. At the period of his daugh¬ ter’s marriage he was the family physician of William Pitt first Earl of Chatham; and the following letter, written in reference to that event, will exhibit the cordial intimacy which existed between them. It is dated from Burton-Pyn- sent, the seat which had recently been left to the Earl by the eccentric Sir William Pynsent of Erchfont, and was penned four days after the aforesaid marriage. To Anthony Addington Esq., 31.D, “Burton-Pynsent, 5th Aug. 1771. “Sir, —The share I take, together with Lady Chatham, in every event which materially interests the happiness of you and yours is too sincere to allow me to remain silent with regard to the marriage of Miss Adding¬ ton. Accept, dear Sir, the united felicitations of all your friends here on the occasion, and the truest wishes that all happiness and lasting health may be the portion of the new-joined pair, as well as of all your family. You will be so good as to present in our names a large share of these compliments and good wishes to Mrs. Addington. We begin now,—this happy business being completed,—to look out wistfully for you in the West, and hope to have the satisfaction of embracing you here as you pass, in perfect health and with all your- joy about you- I say nothing more of the article of health of this place, than that mine is better than it has been these twenty years. I wish I could say of my dear William that he has mended since you saw him; but he is wan and extremely lean, —in other respects, not ill. Lady Chatham and all the rest, per- 462 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. fectly well. I am, with, the truest esteem and consideration, My dear Sir, Your faithful and affectionate friend, “CH.iTHAM.” The “wan and lean” little William of the above letter, then only about eleven 5 mars of age, it is hardly necessary to remind the reader, is the same William Pitt who in little more than another eleven years was to become the leading man in the kingdom: but we must now revert to the early history of his future associate, the son of his father’s friend. It was not till 1780, nine years after his sister’s marriage with Mr. Sutton, that young Henry Addington, having left Brazennose College, was entered at Lincoln’s Inn Court, with a view to the profession of the Bar. The circumstance that his health at this period was hardly equal to the pace of London life, induced him to pass a large portion of his time, principally during the sporting season, at his brother-in-law’s residence near Devizes. Here, by his general intelligence, his courtly manners, and his superior horsemanship, he spee¬ dily enlisted the admiring plaudits of all the “ country-side and what was of some moment to his political aspirations, the homage also of the neighbouring Corporation. Several of Mr. Sutton’s friends in the Borough would indeed have preferred him as their representative to Sir James Long; but Mr. Sutton’s influence being already pledged in the baronet’s favour, Mr. Addington’s claims were not prominently para¬ ded till the important election of 1784, when he was unani¬ mously chosen, in concert with Sir James. This was the election which established the Ministry of Mr. Pitt. In the meantime Mr. Addington had married Ursula Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir of Leonard Hammond of Cheam, Co. Surrey, Esq., and was preparing to pursue with avidity the profession of the law, when the rapid ministerial changes of 1781—1783, bringing into play the opening powers of his friend William Pitt, seem to have awakened in his own breast the like ardour for political ascendancy. [These con- MR. ADDINGTON. 463 Tulsions have already been described at page 459.] The new Ministry of Pitt had to be sustained by an entirely new set of Parliament-men; and among these, Addington at De¬ vizes took the place of Jones.^ The youthful senator thus announced his success to another of his friends, Pole Carew, (afterwards a member of the privy council, and in 1796 member for Fowey.) To Reginald Pole Carew, Esq. “ Devizes 8tli or 9th of April, 1784. “ Mt dear Carew. I received your letter this morning just before I went to the Hall, and seize the first moment on my return from it to as¬ sure you of my success. It is only alloyed by the reflexion that it will not add to the too-infreciuent opportunities we have had of being together. But you must turn your thoughts elsewhere. Why should you withdraw from Parliament, my dear Carew, because your sense of what was due to your family has separated you from Sir F. B. As for our sentiments, they cannot materially differ. Sir James Long is my colleague. Our adversary [Mr. Lubbock] declined the contest, and went off early this mor¬ ning for town. Affectionately yours, “ Henry Addington.” Dr. Joseph Warton, Mr. Addington’s old master at Win¬ chester, sent his congratulations in the following form. “ Winton 27 April 1784. “ Dear Sir. I cannot possibly forbear expressing the sincere pleasure I feel in giving you joy of being elected into a Parliament which I hope and trust will save this country from destruction, by crushing the most shameful and the most pernicious coalition that I think ever disgraced the annals of any kingdom ancient or modern. I am, dear Sir, with true regard, yours. “ JosEPn Warton.” Mr. Sutton of New Park died after a long illness, on the 7th of July 1801, having survived just long enough to see his brother-in-law occupying the highest ministerial office in the State. Mr. Sutton had two sons, James and George. At the christening of the first born in 1783, a fete was given on Roundway Hill to the townsfolk, when oxen were roasted w'hole, and booths erected for music and dancing: but the ' Robert Nicholas, late of Devizes, stood for the Cricklade Hundreds, and though not returned at first, yet on petition, established his seat. 464 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. subject of so much rejoiciug survived but a single year; his brother also died in infancy. Mr. Sutton’s large estates have therefore descended through his eldest surviving daughter Eleanor the wife of Thomas Grrimstone Bucknall Estcourt Esq. to the Right Hon. T. H. S. Sotheron Estcourt, now, 1859, M.P. for North Wilts, and a member of Lord Derby’s administration. In the course of five years from Mr. Addington’s entrance into Parliament, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, on the retirement of Mr. (afterwards Lord) Gren¬ ville, in 1789.^ Dr Gilpin addressing him on the subject in a congratulatory letter, regretted “that such an enlightened countenance” as nature had given him “should be shrouded in a bush of horse-hair.” To the inhabitants of Devizes, the classic features of their Right Honourable Recorder are rendered familiar by the well executed bust preserved in the Council Chamber, a memorial which happens in the present case to convey a far more dignified impression than does the painted portrait by Sir William Beechy; though this also was a truthful resemblance. Another portrait, representing him in his Speaker’s robes, was painted by John Copley, R.A. It remains to notice lastly the drawing on stone by Catterson Smith, which, through the courtesy of Dean Pellew, his lord¬ ship’s biographer and son-in-law, has been made use of in the present History. It prefaces the third volume of Lord Sidmouth’s Life, and has always been regarded, (so we are given to understand) as correctly representing him in his latter days. It is from that work that the above facts have been principally derived. 1784. James Sutton of New Park Esq. was pricked High Sheriff of the County for the ensuing year, William Salmon of Devizes attorney-at-law, being appointed his under-Sheriff. Mr. Salmon’s marriage may also here find place: it was ' Sir Gilbert Elliott a whig, was also proposed for Speaker. The votes were, for Addington 215 for Elliott 142. ' FrtOM k DRAVrlKO BK .'ATTKRSON SMITU. DIIA’IVN ON STONK BY h.J -A-NK • I’.-.* LONUON.JANT ifiA?. ,OHN MIIPHAT AI.BKMARLK ST M J N ■.ABtlRT, UTH PHlKTERS. # % GEORGE III. AT THE BEAR INN. 465 announced in 1773 in the following terms. “ Married on Wednesday last Mr. Salmon jun. attorney at-law, at Devizes, to Miss Mortimer, a beautiful young lady of the same place, with a fortune of £5,000 and every accomplishment necessary to complete the felicity of the marriage state.” This was the gentleman whose name has already occurred at page 439 as Secretary to Lord Shelburne’s County Association; and whose uncontrolled management of the borough affairs long after gave him the sobriquet of “King Salmon.” In 1783 he had obtained the lucrative position of stamp distributor to the county, in the room of John Flower of Devizes. [Mr. Flower had been appointed in 1779.] 1785. At the July Assizes an action of trespass and as¬ sault was brought by Wadham Locke Esq. of Devizes against William Aldridge Ballard an attorney of Westbury, arising out of a personal altercation touching the will of the late John Powell of Conock. 1788. The 5th of November being the centenary of Wil¬ liam III.’s Bevolution, was celebrated in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Earl Stanhope presided at the Loudon Tavern, the Duke of Portland at the Crown and Anchor. At Devizes, a lofty pole, erected near the parade in the market-place, was furnished with tar-barrels, to the top, to feed the flame which was then kindled at its base. George III.’s Visit. 1789. When the King was travelling for his health dur¬ ing the early period of his mental malady, he spent some time in this county, in the autumn of 1789; for the particu¬ lars of which, see Miss Burney’s Diary. While passing from Longleat to Tottenham Park, the royal party stopped to change horses at Devizes, when an absurd scene was enacted, which Miss Burue}^ notwithstanding her keen observation and love of fun, does not appear to have noticed. Though the King’s movements were not designed to attract publicity, GO 466 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. it was thought necessary by the Corporation to tender some demonstration of loyalty in the form of an address, to be de¬ livered at the coach door the moment the cortege stopped at the Bear Inn. Here therefore they waited their time, twelve in number, arrayed in official garb and attended by mace- bearers : but when the critical moment arrived, the power of speech forsook the Recorder or whomsoever Mr. Mayor had deputed to read the paper: and the King would have driven off unrecognised, but for the gallant rescue of a military officer, General Crosby, who, residing in the neighbourhood, was present to pay his respects to Majesty on his own ac¬ count. Perceiving the confusion of the burgomasters, he promptly stepped forward, broke the pantomimic spell by reading their speech for them, and thus extricated all parties from the dilemma. On the next day the following lines, at¬ tributed to Dr. Reeve, were found attached to the Market- cross. “Brave Crosby only with undaunted face Addressed the King, who smiled with royal grace: While twelve great men in uniform arrayed, [Would fain]' have spoke, hut were most sore afraid. Hide your vain baubles, cast pompous robes aside; Kings are not pleased with petty borough-pride. Learn by this jest, and know you are but men. Nor dare assume an empty form again.” Devizes Gazette 28iA June 1849. The Election of 1790. June 23. At a county meeting held at Devizes Sir James Tylney Long and Ambrose God¬ dard Esq. the former members, were put in nomination for the county: and on the following day the Hon. Henry Adding¬ ton the Speaker and Joshua Smith Esq. were elected for Devizes. In December 1794 Sir James Long, having de¬ ceased, was succeeded by Henry Penruddocke Wyndham Esq.® ’ “And would” in orig. * The compiler of Seward's Anec- the new Wiltshire member’s quali- dotes. See vol. iii. p. 371, sets forth fications for office, in terms not ex- THE CANAL MANIA OF 1792 . 467 The Canal Mania. 1792. At a very numerous meeting held at Devizes on 12th December to oifer plans for a canal which was to unite Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, and Southampton, William Salmon in the chair, various resolutions were passed, the principal object of which seemed to bo to restrain and regulate the purchase of shares rather than to stimulate expectation, so infatuated were the public with the canal-cutting schemes of the hour. Among the Committee, or as we should now call them, the Directors, appear the names of James Sutton of New Park, James Sutton of Devizes, John Anstie of Devizes, Mr. Wyatt of Rowde-Ford, Mr. Tylee, Josiah Eyles Heath- cote, John Neate, Edward Ilorlock Mortimer, and others. More than £220,000 was subscribed in the room, and a de¬ posit of five guineas per cent, made on three-fourths of that sum. This scheme came to nothing. The “Kennet and Avon Canal” to unite London and Bristol fared better; but like all the rest, proved profitable only to a few speculators and pro¬ fessional agents. The design of uniting London and Bristol by a “mediterranean water-passage” w'as, according to Au¬ brey, first set on foot during the Protectorate of Cromwell by Mr. Henry Briggs, Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford; and Oliver was so pleased with it, that, had he lived, the project would have been pushed. When it was again taken up 130 years later, viz. in 1783, there was a proposal to call it “The Georgian Canal” “to eternise the memory of the monarch [George III.] who smiled on so magnificent an un¬ dertaking !” Salinbury Journal. aotly such as are usually presented of the county have lately conferred to electors. Mr. Wynclham had that honour so long merited by his recently lent him a curious old let- pleasing manners, his social habits, ter from the Duchess of Marlbo- and his elegant hospitality.” In rough: it was very natural there- 1781 was published at Salisbury a fore that the obliged party should “ Tour throxtgh Monmouthshire atid speak of his friend as “ a gentleman Wales in 1774 axid 1777,” by Hen. on whom the unanimous sull'rages Penruddocke Wyndbani. GO 2 4G8 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. It is somewhat I’emarkable that Devizes, rather than Bris¬ tol, should have been the focus of attraction during the in¬ fatuated rush for shares to which the Southampton canal gave rise in 1793. But that the men who pulled the wires were hero located, seems established by a narrative which appeared at the time, from the pen of Romaine Joseph Thorn Esq. entitled “ The mad gallop, or a trip to Devizes, being an humourous description of a journey taken to that place by the inhabitants of Bristol and Bath (chiefly the former), attempted in Hudibrastic verse.” As a metrical performance “the mad gallop” is beneath criticism, yet it ran through two editions in a fortnight. It was the youthful production of a gentle¬ man who eventually attained the venerable age of 86, (?) at which time the present writer had the pleasure of interchang¬ ing civilities with him. From the statements of the late Mr. Lucas of Devizes, it appears, that a day having been appoin¬ ted in which the public were to be allowed the luxury of subscription, a tent was erected in the Market-place for the transaction of business, at one end of which the victims were permitted to enter, and to emerge at the other. No one was to have more than five shares, but on each of these shares eight shillings deposit had to be paid for advertising and other preliminary expenses; so that the sum paid down was in most cases £2. As the crowd was sucked in at the one end of the tent and discharged at the other, they were re¬ ceived at the door of exit by parties waiting, either to offer premiums, or to take possession of scrip of which they were the real though not the nominal owners. Hence many amus¬ ing scenes occurred. Some who bought for others, refused to surrender their shares. Many a common fellow having mus¬ tered £2 by loan or otherwise, found himself worth £5 or £10 soon after emerging from the tent: and this barter continued all through the day, even after the subscription books were closed. While the game was at its height, the drawing up of a hearse in the middle of the crowd dashed for THE CANAL MANIA. 469 a moment the ardour of speculation; but as instantly pro¬ duced the opposite result, when the opening of its prison-door enabled a group of eager occupants to tumble out and join in the pursuit of wealth. They had been unable to procure any other mode of conveyance; so entirely had the “passenger- traffic ” of the hour overtaken the supply. Mr. Romaine Thorn’s poem seems to point, not so much to the actual occurrence of the above scenes, as to a subsequent day when the sagacity of the Bristolians had induced them to expect the publication of a new venture; for he describes the hungry crowds as wandering about the streets on the morning after their arrival, in helpless expectation of the opening of business. Here they had remained through the whole of a miserable night, till, ascertaining in the course of the following day that a new route had been projected for the canal, the shares of which were inonoplised by two law¬ yers, and being alarmed moreover by the apparition of the Crier in his sanguineous costume, who came to clear the streets, they quitted the town, “Swearing they’d not again so soon Be gull’d by those who rake the moon.” So alarmed were the Devizes magistrates by this unac¬ countable confluence of strangers that, as Mr. Tliorn was informed, tliey were on the point of reading the Riot Act. Not only were the inns and every available outhouse crowded during the night, but the coaches and chaises were occupied as sleeping apartments. ]\Ir. Thorn himself was one of those who vainly sought the shelter of a chaise which he saw stand¬ ing in the street: hut finding it already crowded, he passed the night, as did many others, stretched on chairs. 1792. 25th December, at eight in the evening an alarming fire broke out in the offices of the mansion at New Park; when the whole town turned out, and with the aid of three fire-engines got the fire so far under before eleven o’clock, a? to ensure the safety of the house itself. 470 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. War with Republican France. 1793. February. A society was established at Devizes, (the first of the kind, it was said, in the kingdom) called the “ Association of friends to the King and Constitution,” the object of which was the indefinite support of the Government on the opening of hostilities. Their practice, judging by a single instance, was to dine together on the King’s birthday on June 4th. 1794. With a view to sustain the war, a most formidable county meeting took place at Devizes on Thursday 24th April, the Sheriff Richard Long of Rood Ashton in the chair, when it was resolved to augment the militia bj'' adding 400 men, to establish the practice of field artillery, and to make liberal donations for effecting the object. William Salmon was appointed Treasurer; and William Hughes the under- Sheriff was made Secretary. 1795. In consequence of the severity of the cold during the month of June, many thousands of the newly shorn sheep perished. In Wiltshire it was computed that fully one-fourth of the flocks were thus destroyed. It was the Spanish breed which chiefly suffered. Mr. Gale of Stert had largely intro¬ duced them into this district. 1796. Riot in Devizes Market. “Whereas we, Ben¬ jamin Frankum of Bromham and John Knee of Chitway, with divers others, did on Thursday 6th August riotously aud tumultuously assemble in Devizes Market, under pre¬ tence of the dearness of corn; whereby the market was in¬ terrupted and the inhabitants alarmed, for which a prosecution has been commenced against us, but upon our expressing contrition our prosecutors have consented to drop the prose¬ cution; we thus publicly return our thanks; at Sarum, 8th March 1796.” [abridged]. One special cause of discontent, was a renewed determination of the magistrates about this time to force into more general use the Winchester measure, or “little bushel ” as it was called, of eight gallons, instead SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS. 471 of the old bushel which contained nine, and in some instances, ten gallons. This was, it must be confessed, only in accord¬ ance with the Statute to that effect of 22nd Charles II. cap. 8; but the labourers very naturally looked upon it as a con¬ spiracy to lessen the size of the bushel at the same time that the price of corn was maintained ; and even among the far¬ mers themselves, many were very unwilling to change their old habits, till they were driven into acquiescence by the power of law. At a court of magistrates of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings, held at Devizes in September 1792, Squire Tinker successfully prosecuted his neighbour Mr. Thomas Miles of West Lavington for selling to Mr. Tugwell of Chitterne, by the old measure, a load of wheat containing fourteen sacks. The penalty obtained was forty shillings, and with this verdict Mr. Tinker was satisfied, as his object was merely to enforce the Statute, for had he not withholden evidence as to the value of the corn thus sold, the full forfeit¬ ure of such value (more than £20) might also have been exacted. This decision at Devizes, together with the report of a similar case from the Isle of Wight, determined in the Court of King’s Bench, oiierated as a very considerable warn¬ ing. At Salisbury market, where the rioters went so far as to cut the sacks and let the corn about; the principal object of personal hostility was William Dyke of Syrencote, one of the largest farmers in the county, the mob, while pelting his carriage with brickbats as his horses galloped out of the city, swearing that if he came to market the next week, they would serve him still worse. As Mr. Dyke was cornet of the Everley Troop of Cavalry, it was deemed imperative, both for the hon¬ our of the troop, as also for the restoration of order, that on the ensuing Saturday, an overwhelming military demonstra¬ tion should be made in presence of the infatuated market people. When the terrible morning arrived, the ti’oop ac¬ cordingly assembled for action, but the three principal officers, Poore, Astley, and Dyke, being absent from various causes. 472 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the command devolved on Sergeant-Major Pinckney, who led them as far as Amesbuiy, some four miles. Here they all dined, and the majority got drunk; and a messenger arriving from Salisbury to say that all was quiet, the troop was dis¬ missed, and each man sought his home in the best way he could. And thus ended what Henry Hunt, who belonged to the Everley troop, was in the habit of facetiously terming “ the battle of Salisbury.” 1798. On the 22nd of April the Lieutenancy of the County was convened at the Town-Hall, Devizes, to take measures for putting in execution the recent Act of Parliament for public defence and security against the threatened invasion of France. A body was formed at Devizes, called the “As¬ sociated Householders.” During the month of August, Pitt and Addington were both at New Park, sharing the hospitality of Mr. Sutton, who at this time bore the title of Lieutenant- Colonel. A non-professional inspection of the town troops would then take place, which the reader may picture to him¬ self in the following form, as related by an eye-witness still living. The regiment being drawn up, facing the Bear, presently there is seen emerging from the inn, the Pi’ime Minister of England, in flat shovel hat and full-bottomed wig, accompanied by Mr. Speaker Addington, and surrounded by a group of the then aristocracy of Devizes, bearing the names (now past away) of Gent, Powell, Sutton, Neate, &c. The troops would then present arms; and Captain Salmon, ad¬ vancing from the line, would hail their distinguished visitors with a most profound salute. These military fetes were now of constant occurrence in the town; and Mr. Salmon was accustomed moreover to exercise the volunteers in the Green that lay between his garden and the old Castle, the band meanwhile playing on the summit of the Castle mound. The title of “Associated Householders” which they bore at their first formation, was, in the following year 1799, by command of His Majesty, changed to that of the “Devizes Lo 3 "al Volun- THE LOYAL VOLUNTEERS. 473 teers:” and on the 16th of September of the same year, their incorporation was still further ratified by the presentation of a pair of colours, which had been provided by their Rt. Hon. Recorder, the Speaker. The afiair took place on Roundway- down, where the ground was kept by the Devizes Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry and a detachment of the 17th Light Dra¬ goons, and spacious marquees erected for a feast which was to close the spectacle. Fortunately for the numerous com¬ pany which the event had attracted, a brilliant day gave ani¬ mation to the scene. At twelve o’clock the visitors from New Park arrived on the ground, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton and Miss Sutton, Mr. Speaker Addington and Mrs. and Miss Addington; when the act of presentation was per¬ formed by Mrs. Sutton, from whose hands the colours were received by Ensigns Wadham Locke and William Wroughton Salmon. At the termination of the affair, the colours were de¬ posited in the Town-Hall: they now hang in St. John’s Church. This body of volunteers, which never appears to have num¬ bered more than 150 rank and file, was disbanded at the peace of 1801, but was quickened into new life when the threat of French invasion in 1803 evoked the services of 400,000 British volunteers. At Devizes, about 400 men be¬ longing to the town and neighbourhood, enrolled their names at the house in the Market-place now occupied by Mr. Thos. Burrough Smith, then the residence of his father. Their new Colonel, the late Mr. Estcourt (who had recently succeeded his father-in-law at New Park) marched this regiment on two occasions to sea-port towns in the West of England.^ When the news of the surrender of the Dutch fleet in Aug. 1799 reached Devizes, it was received with all that enthu¬ siasm which, the reporters of the day assure us, such intelli¬ gence never failed to kindle in this “loyal town.” The Loyal Volunteers, aided by the 17th Light Dragoons, then stationed here, turned out and fired several vollies in the * For the Devizes Orderly Book of 1799, See Appendix. 474 HISTOllV OF DEVIZES. Market-place: three hogsheads of strong beer were rolled out to the populace, and the Town-Hall and Bear Inn became the scenes of prolonged festivities. 1798. Towards the close of a day in August an electric explosion of surpassing loudness occurred at Devizes. In two houi's its effects became visible, in a fire which totally con¬ sumed the extensive upholstery warehouses of Mr. Richard Knight and the adjoining back premises of the Black Swan Inn, reaching to New Park Street. The Devizes armed Association of householders remained on duty the whole night. One of the most conspicuous and energetic among the helpers, was young Henry Hunt (afterwards the Reformer.) Addi’ess- ing Mr. Knight the next morning, he said, “Mr. Knight, I wish you no harm, but the next time you are on fire, pray send for me, for I never enjoyed a scene so much.” A Duel in the dry bed of the Canal. 1800. During some part of this year there was quartered in the town, a regiment commanded by a veteran officer named Colonel Campbell; and at the same time a recruiting party under the command of a young lieutenant of the name of Cromwell. The late Rev. Charles Lucas, who is our authority for the anecdote, thinks that the lieutenant was a descendant from the old Cromwell family, and declares that he was as full of the tricks of youth as was “ Old Noll” him¬ self in his earl}'^ days. Colonel Campbell had permitted this wild young man to mess with himself and officers, which ought to have induced him to a little more consideration than he shewed in the following affair. The Colonel’s regiment had enlisted a recruit whom lieutenant Cromwell was ex¬ tremely desirous to secure for his own company. He therefore gave him a guinea to pay what was called the “smart-money;” and the man being now free, Cromwell re-enlisted him into his own recruiting party. But the affair coming to the Colonel’s ears, that officer at the next mess severely chid his A DUEL IN THE DRY BED OF THE CANAL. 475 guest before the whole table. Lieutenant Cromwell replied “ Am I to take your reproof, Colonel, as that of the com¬ manding officer of the place, or as the speech of one gentleman to another?”—“ Just as you please, my young gentleman” was the old soldier’s answer; and a challenge the same evening was the result. They met the next morning, and went down into the excavation then in process of formation for the Canal, where Lieutenant Cromwell received a slight wound in the face; and so the affair terminated; the Colonel shaking hands with him and saying “well, my boy, I heartily forgive you, for the spirit you have shewn on the occasion; but I hope you will take more care for the future.” Every body of course eulogised the good nature of the senior officer, in thus fighting one whom he might have disgraced by charging him with unmilitary conduct at the War Office. In conclusion it may be remarked that though the descen¬ dants of the Protector Oliver have always been extremely numerous; yet it so happens that in respect of those bearing the name of Cromwell by lineal male procession, the race has actually died out. Thus, at the time of the above occurrence, it is believed that there was only one such representative alive, viz. the late Oliver Cromwell Esq. of Theobalds, Ches- hunt. And even he is now represented by the children of his only surviving daughter, Oliveria. The Lieutenant therefore in Mr. Lucas’s story may only be invested with the collateral lustre of descent from some cognate branch of the original stock. 1800. A county meeting was convened at Devizes on Friday the 30th of May to consider of an Address of congra¬ tulation to His Majesty on his late providential escape from the recent traitorous attempt against his life. George Yalden Fort, Sheriff. The requisitiouists were Lords Ailes- bury, Bath, Pembroke, Padnor, Porchester, and Carnarvon; and Messieurs W. P. A. A’Court, Ambrose Goddard, H. P. Wyndham, Thos. Estcourt, William Hussey, James Sutton, 476 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. R. Buxton, and M. Hickes Beach. A pistol had been fired at the King from the pit of Drury Lane Theatre, and on the morning of the same day, a ball had passed near him and wounded a spectator, at a review in Hyde-Park, 15 th May. 1801. As this year wit¬ nessed the removal of the old sign of the Black Bear from the Market-place pa¬ rade, a memorial thereof, copied from a drawing in the possession of Mr. Cun- nington, may here find place, and serve at the same time as an illustra¬ tion of the lines recorded at page 408. Dearness of Food. 1800 and 1801 were years of great scarcity to the consumer, and of prosperity to the farmer. Though the imperial average for wheat in 1800 is quoted at 127s., it fetched during some weeks at Warminster market, 144s. On the 3rd of September the high prices of all kinds of provisions in Devizes market occasioned the populace again to shew a disposition to riot.^ At a meeting of the inhabitants at the Borough Council Chamber 19th December 1800, for the purpose of taking into consideration His Majesty’s most gracious Proclamation of the 3rd instant. The Mayor in the chair. The Proclama¬ tion having been read, it was unanimously resolved:— ^Prices in this neiglibourhoocl in sack, pigs 19s. 6d. a score. "With a 1801, flour 25s. a bushel, malt 15s. view to supply the poor with a va- a bushel, hops 5s. a pound, butchers’ riety of receipts for cheap dishes, meat 9d. a pound, butter Is. 3d. a Hannah More, about this time, pound, cheese 4 guineas a cwt. po- brought out her history of Tom tatoes 16s. a sack, onions a guinea a White the post boy of the Bear Inn. YEARS OF SCARCITY. 477 “ That we will use our utmost endeavours jto give full effect to the very salutary injunctions contained in his Majesty’s Proclamation. “ That at this period it is the indispensable duty of every housekeeper who has the ability to provide meat and other articles of subsistence for his family, to be as economical as possible in the consumption of bread and wheat flour, in order that a greater proportion may he applied for the use of the poor who have scarcely any other food to subsist upon. And we do therefore agree that the consumption of bread shall not exceed the rate of one quartern loaf per week for each person in our respective families ; and that we will abstain from pastry, and carefully restrict the use of flour in anj^ other article than bread. “ That we will to the utmost of our power adopt and promote the use of substitutes for bread, as well as a strict economy in the consumption of every other article of subsistence. “ That we will as far as possible reduce the use of oats and other grain for horses, and confine the allowance in all cases to such a quantity only as is absolutely necessary for their subsistence. “ That these resolutions do continue in force until the 1st day of Octo¬ ber 1801. “ That the foregoing resolutions be fairly transcribed and signed by the persons now present, and handed to those inhabitants who are absent, requesting their signatures : and that the Resolutions be also printed and circulated in the town and neighbourhood. “George Slopek l/ayo?-.’' The high price of corn in 1801 came down in the following year to just one half; but continuing to rise again, it main¬ tained for five years after 1809, an average of almost equal altitude. If a farm was to be let or sold, scores of adventurers were now to be seen riding and driving over each other, to take it at any price; not the legitimate agriculturists especi¬ ally, but persons of all professions and callings, who now took up the trade of land-jobbing, and acquired thereby the title of “ apron-farmers;” lawyers, bankers, and place-men, all leaguing to stimulate the movement, and obligingly aiding one another in the conversion of ideal wealth into real estate. It was a period of spasmodic ebb and flow; and the ruinous depression to mercantile interests which succeeded to the un¬ healthy and temporary excitement of war-prices, is now mat¬ ter of history; of which more hereafter. The above state¬ ments have been in great part derived from the testimony of 478 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Henry Hunt, who, at the period in question, was not only an intelligent observer of passing events, hut was intimately associated with the farming operations of the hour, though, unfortunately for his own pocket, he failed to turn those operations to so good an account as some of his neighbours, owing to the erratic and expensive tendency of his political aspirations. Henry Hunt, a large farmer of Enford, who was afterwards to figure so conspicuously on the political arena, was at this time the chairman of the Bear ordinaries, having recently married Elizabeth the daughter of Mr. Halcombe the occupier of that establishment; and on these occasions he must have found frequent opportunities for perfecting himself in that popular mode of declamation which afterwards acquired for him the sobriquet of “Orator Hunt.” He had already, dur¬ ing the winter of 1800-1, passed six weeks in the King’s Bench, besides paying a fine of £100 to the Crown, for the offence of challenging Lord Bruce, who, without assigning a cause, had turned him out of the Marlborough Troop. His sojourn in London led to the formation of sundry political associations, (principally that with Henry Clifford Esq., bro¬ ther-in-law to Sir Charles Wolseley,) which lasted through life; and, unfortunately for his future peace, stimulated into uncontrolable energy those wayward impulses which seem to have been the inheritance of his race. On his return into the country, he was met at Marlborough by his friend Hancock, who then accompanied him on to Devizes, where the event was celebrated by a large party of his admirers, at a dinner provided for the occasion at the Bear Inn. We shall not dwell on the causes wdiich effectually vitiated Henry Hunt’s claim to the rank of moral heroes: his enemies have already done him this service. Neither, on the other hand, are we disposed to admit that his crusade against long standing abuses was his principal sin against society; or that there was any necessary connexion between the course which HENRY HUNT. 479 made him such a thorn in the sides of the aristocracy, and the dishonourable silence which has at last closed over a house of otherwise good ancestral fame. While therefore we cannot accept him as a philanthropist, his name is so mixed up with the chapter of Wiltshire events embraced by the early years of the present century, that some notice of his personal history seems imperative. Henry Hunt was born in 1773 at Widdington farm, in the parish of Upavon, a lone house standing on one of the three farms then occupied by his father, and situated in a beautiful gorge running down from easterly camp towards Chisenbury: the spot is about nine miles from Devizes. His father was Thomas Hunt of Enford, lineally descended from the Colonel Thomas Hunt who has already figured in this history as one of the leaders in the Penruddocke revolt of 1654; and his mother was the daughter of William Powell, a Quaker farmer living on De¬ vizes Wick Green, but afterwards at Nursteed. They both died while Henry was a young man; but such confidence did the elder Mr. Hunt repose in his business talents, that he seems to have left nearly every thing under his control; so that at the age of about twenty-four Henry found himself one of the largest farmers in Wilts, besides being lord of the manor of Glastonbury. He had a deaf and dumb brother, Thomas, who after following him some years, in a capacity something like that of “henchman,” emigrated to America in 1818; his sister Sophia married a solicitor of Alresford named Kirby, related to Bishop Howley; there was also an¬ other married sister, named Elizabeth. His o.wn marriage with Miss Halcombe of the Bear Inn was a union which the elder Mr. Hunt had for a long time vehemently opposed; but as he had himself been the unconscious means of intro¬ ducing them one to the other, he generously surrendered to his son the farm and stock at Widdington, including 1500 sheep; and the marriage took place at Devizes in January 1796. The termination of the affair is related by the bride- 480 HISTOKT OF DEVIZES. groom himself in the following primitive style : “Just as we were about to start, Mr. Halcombe took me aside with his son into the next room, and holding out a canvass bag, he said, ‘Here, my son, is all that I can afford to give you with my daughter: in this bag is a thousand pounds: I wish it were ten times as much; but such as it is, may you long enjoy it; I have no doubt but it will wear well, for it was honestly got.’ ” Before they parted, Mr. Halcombe’s son William, who was then manager of the Bear, observed that as his bro¬ ther James was just then going into business, perhaps Mr. Hunt could lend him half the money upon their joint security, to which he cheerfully acceded. But we must here bid Henry farewell for awhile. Addington succeeds Pitt as Prime Minister. March 1801. When Mr. Addington’s acceptance of the Premiership re¬ quired his ceasing to be Speaker of the Commons, he had occupied the chair twelve years. The occasion evoked a cordial vote of thanks from the House, nor was the opportunity lost sight of by his admirers in Devizes. An address from sixteen corporators condoled with him on the resignation of Mr. Pitt, complimented the wisdom in the Crown which had discovered so suitable a successor, and ended by expressing the hope that they might still be honoured by his re-election as their Representative:—a procedure which of course was soon after effected, without expense to himself. 4th May 1801 Earl Temple moved for a new writ for Old Sarum, on the ground that Mr. Horne Tooke, recently returned for that borough, was ineligible, being in priests orders. The motion was lost, but the object was attained by Mr. Adding¬ ton bringing in a bill to disqualify clergymen from sitting in parliament, for the future, a decision which so offended Lord Camelford the patron, that he threatened to return his black servant, and is said to have been hardly dissuaded therefrom by his kinsman Lord Grenville. THE SHORT PEACE. 481 September 1801. The Emperor Alexander of Russia made a present worth 1000 guineas to Mr. Addington. It was a snuff box adorned with His Majesty’s portrait set round with diamonds. Regarded as an unprecedented act of favour for a Sovereign thus to distinguish the Prime Minister of another country, the aflPair was hailed as a significant proof of His Imperial Majesty’s friendly intentions towards Great Britain at a critical juncture, just on the eve of a Peace. The short Peace of 1801. Preliminaries of peace be¬ tween England and France were signed at Downing Street on the 1st of October. By the date of “1st of October” we are probably to understand that the signing took place after midnight at the sitting of the previous evening; for it is certain that on Friday morning, which was the 1st of October, Mr. Addington had transmitted the intelligence to Devizes by express. Carpenter, the Salisbury carrier, who left this town in the morning, reported in that city the same evening that he had left the people of Devizes making hasty prepara¬ tions for a rejoicing; but the statement was discredited till the next morning, when the arrival of a Gazette extraordi-‘ nary at Salisbury confirmed the happy tidings. Weary of a war which had long ceased to have any object, (for none could dream of unseating the French Consul,) the people everywhere received the intelligence of peace with undis¬ guised satisfaction. The cessation of arms lasted however but little more than a year. It was a Peace, as Mr. Sheridan said, “of which every one was glad, but none proud;” and mutual jealousies soon prompted the rival combatants to tread it under foot. The war re-commenced in May 1803. The Election of 1802. During the short peace, a new Parliament had been summoned, which was considered on the whole to have somewhat strengthened the Whig interest, though the remark will hardly apply to the Wiltshire seats. In Devizes, the Prime Minister was of course returned, together with his accustomed colleague Joshua Smith Esq. of Erlestoke. hh 482 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. In this town also the county nomination was held; on which occasion, the old members Henry Penruddocke Wyndham and Ambrose Goddard, Esquires, having been in the usual form proposed and seconded, and the Sheriff being about to put their election to the vote of the meeting, Mr. Hunt step¬ ped forward and desired, before the shew of hands was taken, to put a question or two to the candidates. So unheard of a proposal in Devizes, and proceeding from a comparatively young man (Mr. Hunt was then 29) took every one by sur¬ prise. A general murmur arose among the old electioneering stagers of the county, and Mr. Salmon the Devizes attor¬ ney, “King Salmon” as he was called, cried “order, order,” and suggested to the Sheriff to take no notice of the intrusion, but to proceed to the business of the day. Hunt thereupon told them that unless he were permitted to put his questions, he should feel it his duty to propose some other candidate; and the High Sheriff courteously recognizing his right as a free¬ holder to do so, he renewed his interrogatories, in spite of old Mr. Goddard’s mournful appeal that he had represented the county 30 years, and never before had a question put to him. The two county members were then respectively asked in what manner they had voted on the recent measure imposing two shillings a bushel on malt: for, Wiltshire being a very considerable barley county, the bill could not but seriously affect the interests of their constituents. Mr. Goddard in re¬ ply, stated that age and ill health had for the last two years incapacitated him from fulfilling his Parliamentary duties, and he feared he should never be able to attend again. Mr. Wyndham’s reply was as follows, “Upon my honour, Mr. Hunt, I cannot charge my memory as to whether I was in the House or not on that occasion.” Upon this, Mr. Hunt addressed the candidates at considerable length, shewing how many acres of barley were grown in the county, and that the large sum which would be taken out of the pockets of their constituents by this tax was a charge affecting them even GEORGE CANNING. 483 more than the income tax, about which so much complaint was raised; and he instanced a brewer in Devizes, who, in the form of additional duty on malt and beer, would pay more than the entire population of the town, consisting of six or seven thousand persons, would contribute to the income tax. Finally he called the attention of the meeting to the stand which the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hants, had made against the measure. As might have been expected, this mode of address had no influence in impeding the election, and was merely resented as an unwarrantable interference. Of the independent electors present, not one was found willing to second his exertions, though some of them afterwards made him a present of their private thanks. In May 1804, Mr. Pitt conceiving that the time was come, when he might advantageously resume the helm of affairs, a dissolution of the Addington Ministry* was effected, and 'The agent principally made use of in dislodging the Addington Min¬ istry was the burning eloquence of George Canning, who accordingl}' became Treasurer of the Navy when his friend Mr. Pitt resumed power. An archaeological problem respect¬ ing the origin of that illustrious name may here be noticed. In a recent work entitled Poets and Statesmen ” by William Dowling, barrister-at-law, a quotation is made from Mr. Bell’s Life of Geo. Canning, to the efleet that the sur¬ name Canning is derived from Bish¬ ops Cannings in Wiltshire, where, so Mr. Bell avers, the family were seated before the time of Edward II.; whereupon Mr. Dowling re¬ marks, that the possessors more probably gave their name to this ancient village, instead of receiving a designation from it. It appears to us on the contrary that Mr. Dow- Ung’s conjecture is a palpable mis¬ take. It is true that the names of families were often added to the names of places not otherwise dis¬ tinguishable, as for instance Win- terbourn Earl versus Winterbourn Basset, W cotton Rivers versusW oot- ton Basset, Compton Chamberlain versus Compton Basset, the termi¬ nals in all these eases denoting the ownership of the respeetive manors. But in Bishops Cannings or Can¬ nings Episcopi, Cannings is the an¬ cient Saxon word, and Episcopi the distinguishing epithet to indieate the patron, as versus All-Cannings. With all this, we are still at per¬ fect liberty to accept the tradition, if tradition it be, which derives the illustrious statesman of 1804 from Wiltshire soil: regarding his ancestor, as in other similar cases, as an emigrant from one of the Can¬ nings, and bearing in consequence the cognomen “ de Canning.” iiii 2 484 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. (principally out of the members of that staff,) a new Cabinet was constructed ;—a procedure which, it was pretty generally felt, notwithstanding Mr. Pitt’s popularity, carried with it some loss of reputation for political good faith. Addington’s reconciliation with Pitt and elevation to THE Peerage. In December 1804 Mr. Addington was dining with his constituents at Devizes; and it was while here that arrange¬ ments were made for his reconciliation with Mr. Pitt, from whose correspondence he had now been divorced for eighteen months. Lord Hawkesbury the Home Secretary, addressing a letter to him at Devizes, says, that the King has expressed in the strongest terms his personal gratification at the renewal of their intercourse and, for himself, he believes that it will hasten the King’s recovery. On leaving Devizes therefore, Mr. Addington repaii’ed at once to Richmond Park and met his friend at Coome Wood on the following Sunday, the inter¬ view being repeated on the next day. In a few weeks he returned to Devizes to take leave of his constituents, and to tell them that he had accepted the title of Viscount Sidmouth, —an honour which it has been asserted by his intimate friends, was thrust upon him in opposition to his private wishes. He had already once declined a peerage; and though at last con¬ senting, he declared both then and ever afterwards that the step was prejudicial to his famil 3 L [It is added that he had refused the dignity of an Earldom chiefly on account of the rank it would impose on his daughters: and as Pitt assured him further that a barony was a useless addition, it being quite as usual to take a Viscounty without as with it, he dispensed with that also.] The meeting with his friends at Devizes took place on the 9th of January 1805, and was, as he told his brother, a pain¬ ful one to all parties. Five days later he received the unani¬ mous thanks of the Corporation in the following terms:— ADDRESS TO LORD SIDMOUTH. 485 “ Resolved TjNAJfiMOtrsLV : “ That the thanks of this Corjjoration be given to the Right Hon. Vis¬ count Sidmouth for the many and eminent public services which he has rendered his country during the long time he has represented this borough in Parliament:—For that steady and unshaken attachment which he has uniformly evinced to Ilis Majesty’s person during a critical and eventful period :—For his upright, able, and impartial conduct in the Chair of the House of Commons, by which the dignity of that assembly was upheld and the real liberties of the people preserved inviolate :—For the patriotic and disinterested conduct he pursued in obeying the call of his sovereign to take the first place in his councils at a time when dangers and difficul¬ ties surrounded and threatened the country on every side :—For the res¬ pite he procured to the country by a peace, shortened only by the in¬ veterate and implacable spirit of the enemy:—For the bold, vigorous, and decisive measures he pursued when a continuance of that jieaee was no longer compatible with the honour or the interests of the nation ; mea¬ sures by which the country was placed on a rock of security and enabled to bid defiance to the united efforts of all its enemies :—And for the no less magnanimous and zealous love of his country evinced by his retiring from the helm of State when the intrigue of party and the voice of faction impeded the regular and constitutional exercise of the Executive Govern¬ ment, and threatened to render abortive the wisest plans and the most efficient councils. “ That this Corporation feels the liveliest sense of pleasure that Ilis Majesty has been pleased to confer marks of his royal favour where they have been so well and so eminently deserved. And although this Borough will thereby lose a Representative so justly valued, yet this Corporation hoi)es that the country at large will regain his assistance and exertions in the Cabinet. “ That this Corporation while contemplating the many public services their Representative has rendered this country, cannot but feel sentiments of pride and satisfaction that a man so deserving of their thanks should have commenced his political life as Representative of this Borough, and that he should have continued to fill the same seat until called by Ilis Majesty to a seat in the other House of Parliament. And this pride and satisfaction is heightened by the reflexion that in six several elections no circumstance has occurred by which the honour of the Representative or the independence of the elector has in any respect been sullied. “ That this Corporation feels considerable jdeasure and satisfaction that they are still to rank the name of Viscount Sidmouth as one of their burgesses in the situation of their Recorder, a situation hitherto filled with as much honour to that gentleman as credit to the Corporation, and which they sincerely trust will continue so filled for a long series of years.” Lord Sidmouth's Answer. “ To the Worshipful the Mayor of Devizes. “Richmond Park, 19th January 1805. “ Sir. The Resolution of the Court of Common Council of the Borough 486 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of Devizes which you have ti'ansmitted to me has afforded me a degree of satisfaction which I am unable to describe. It is proportioned to the respect which I feel for those whose principles are sound and whose minds are independent; and to the pride which I feel in having received from constituents of that character and description the honour of having been six times unanimously elected to represent them in Parliament. It is my earnest and anxious wish, as it is my confident expectation, that the Borough of Devizes may be ever distinguished by a spirit of independence and by that loyalty to the King, that attachment to the constitution, and that zeal for the honour and welfare of the nation, which I have had the happiness of invariably witnessing during a period of more than twenty years. I am. Sir, &c., &e., “ Sidmouth.” In the place of the Right Hon. Henry Addington, now Viscount Sidmouth, his nephew, Thomas Grimston Estcourt Esq. of New Park was forthwith elected as Representative in Parliament for the Borough of Devizes, on which occasion a dinner was as usual given the Corporation to their friends in the town and neighbourhood. 1802. The Sheriff for the county was Sir Edward Bayn- ton of Spye Park, bart. 1804. The Sheriff for the county was Wadham Locke of Rowde-Ford, Esq. Lord Melville’s Impeachment 1805. During the spring of 1805 the public mind was violently agitated by the pro¬ ceedings instituted against Henry Dundas, lately made Lord Melville, for alleged malappropriation of the naval treasury, previous to 1800. The history and mystery of these trans¬ actions was enlarged upon by Mr. Whitbread in Parliament, and by Cobbett’s Political Register out of doors ; and the re¬ sult was, that petitions in support of a criminal prosecution poured in from various points; among others, from Salisbury. Devizes was the scene of the more general demonstration of the entire county, where on the 18th June the Sheriff Sir Richard Colte Hoare convened a meeting, to which he had been stimulated by a requisition from the following lords and gentlemen:— Somerset Suffolk and Berkshire Henry Petty [the pre- Lansdowue Andover sent Lord Lansdowne[| OceniavYun Folkestone G. Y, Fort LORD Melville’s impeachment. 487 Rev. Ed. Duke P. Pinckney The. Ed. Baker Will. Reade W. H. Bouverie R. D. Sliaftoe Barth. Bouverie Will. Ghost Will. Collins George Maton WUl. Hussey. Mr. Hunt was of course present. He had in fact early signalised himself in the affair by writing to the old Marquis of Lansdowne (the Lord Shelburne of 1780) proposing the said requisition to the Sheriff, in which his lordship at once acquiesced. The Sheriff, without whom nothing could be done, found it necessary about that time to take a trip into Wales or some other archoeological recess; the meeting at Devizes was in consequence delayed several weeks, and dur¬ ing the interval the Opposition lost one of their most power¬ ful agents in the person of Lord Lansdowne himself, who expired at his house in Berkeley Square on the 7th of May. When the meeting was at last got together in June, a large body of freeholders attended, but their enthusiasm was some¬ what damped by Lord Folkestone and Mr. Hussey the mem¬ bers for Salisbury proposing, that as an impeachment had been substituted for the criminal prosecution, foreign expres¬ sion of opinion would now be out of place, as calculated to pre-judge a question before the House. Henry Hunt, upon this, immediately drew up and proposed a few energetic re¬ solutions, condemning all peculations in general and Lord Melville’s in particular, and including a censure on the High Sheriff of Wilts for delay in calling the meeting. Mr. Collins of Salisbury seconded, and the meeting carried them by ac¬ clamation; but at the earnest entreaty of the venerable Mr. Hussey,' backed by his colleague, the vote against the Sheriff was withdrawn, on that gentleman’s explaining the cause of his absence from the county. The style of the other resolu¬ tions was also moderated; Mr. Hunt afterwards lamenting that the flattery of those two gentlemen had induced him to ^ Mr. Hussey, from his great age, was then considered the father of the House of Commons. 488 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. cut away the staple of his arguments, which were levelled at "Whigs as well as Ministers. Lord Melville was acquitted, shortly after Pitt’s death, in 1806. It is even said by a recent Whig writer that “the charges against him were groundless, and were at last reduced to insignificance.” [See Lord Cockburn’s Life.] A blow had nevertheless been struck, under which his party reeled; and its close concurrence in point of time with the death of Nelson and Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz, is generally supposed to have had the efiect of hastening the dissolution of the Prime Minister. Mr. Pitt died on the 23rd January 1806; when the Grenville Ministry not only brought once more into power the noble Recorder of Devizes as Lord Privy Seal, but introduced the youthful Lord Henry Petty as Chancellor of the Exchequer; so that it is now (1859) fifty-three years ago since the present Marquis of Lansdowne first bore a part in the Administration. This was the Ministry which went by the name of “All the Talents:” in which Charles James Fox was again seen in alliance, if not with a Lord North, yet with a Sidmouth ahd an Ellenborough. It was signally unpopular, not only with the Court, but with the rising school of root and branch Reformers led on by Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Cochrane the after-members for "Westminster; nor did the general election which followed Mr. Fox’s death in the autumn of the same year, add to their power: the King turned them out in March 1807. Had Lord Lansdowne lived long enough to take part with them, they might have shared a better fate. The London Gazette of April 28th contains, among many others of a like nature, an address to the King from the Mayor and Burgesses of Devizes, thanking His Ma¬ jesty for his care of the Protestant Establishment displayed in his dismissal of the late Administration. The Elections of 1806 and 1807. A county meeting was convened at Devizes on the 5tb THE ELECTIONS OF 1806 - 7 . 489 November, by tbe Sheriff, John Paul Paul Esq., to nominate two Knights for the Shire. Henry Penruddocke Wyndham the late member was proposed by Sir William A’Court, and seconded by John Hungerford Penruddocke. The other member, Mr. Goddard, having retired from age, (he had served 34 years) Pichard Long of Rood-Ashton was proposed by Thomas Grove of Fern and seconded by Francis Warne- ford of Sevenhampton. To these gentlemen no opposition was offered, except in the form of a letter from Henry Hunt, which was published in Cohhett’s Register and the Bath papers, urging the freeholders to discard the dictatorship of the Beckhampton and Deptford clubs, and to stand in awe neither of Mr. Long nor of Mr. Short. The Salisbury paper objected to publish it, even as an advertisement. In the representation of the borough of Devizes, Joshua Smith and T. G. B. Est- court retained their places. These four names also occur in the ensuing election of the following year, 1807, under the Portland Ministry. It was on this occasion that Mr. James Pauli, who had made himself popular by his efforts to impeach the Marquis of Wellesley for misconduct in India, thought to come in for Westminster along with Sir Francis Burdett. A feud from some trifling cause, arose between these two rival favourites of the people, and before the election came on, a duel ensued, occasioning a severe wound to each com¬ batant. The press took the baronet’s part, and he was returned at the head of the poll by an immense majority, 5134 to 269.^ A few months after, Mr. Pauli destroyed himself. At Shaftesbury, Paul Methuen and Michael Hickes Beach were both unsuccessful. ' Burdett’s contest with Main- in the Cheltenham Reading-room waring for Middlesex in 1804 had when news first arrived that Bur- costhim,itwas said, nearly£100,000 dett had carried the election by a or three years income. He lost it majority of one. Fox was visibly by a difference of 5 votes on a scru- elated, but expressed doubts as to tiny. Fox and Hunt were sitting the result of the scrutiny. 490 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. In 1807, died, William Eldridge Esq. 76, of Old Park, and of Abingdon, the founder of the mansion at Old Park.— Also William Long Esq. of Baynton, 72, Captain of the De¬ vizes Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry, and a county justice.— Also Thomas Davis, agent of the Marquis of Bath: he had received, it is said, a good classical education at Devizes, where his father was an Excise officer, but his native place was Perton near Weyhill. He resided forty-four years at Longleat, and contributed many valuable articles to the Board of Agriculture, and the Bath and West of England Society. His principal literary work was a “ General view of the Agri¬ culture of Wiltshire.” Dr. Blayney. Some notice too should here be taken of the eminent Hebrew scholar. Dr. Benjamin Blayney, residing in this neighbourhood till his death, at the commencement of the present century. He was educated at Oxford, where he filled the Hebrew professor’s chair annexed to the Canonry of Christchurch. He is principally known as the editor of the Oxford Bible of 1769, celebrated for the accuracy of its mar¬ ginal references, and there can hardly be a doubt, that he greatly shared in the Biblical labours of Dr. Kennicott. Be¬ sides a variety of manuscript works, now deposited in Lam¬ beth Palace, Dr. Blayney published a Dissertation on the seventy weeks of Daniel, new translations of the books of Jere¬ miah and Zechariah, and several sermons. The only benefice he enjoyed was the rectory of Poulshot near Devizes, which he held till his death in 1801. Dr. Blayney was a rough diamond ; nature having imparted to his countenance an aspect of unusual sternness. This was no fault of his; nor need it excite our wonder, that, in one who occupied the distinguished position in a seat of learning which he did, impatience of “unqualified” teachers should have prompted him on one occasion to upset an itinerant preacher on Poulshot Common. But Mr. Lucas, who relates the story, assures us that, though, as a man, the Doctor was “ irritable WILLIAM BAYLY. 491 in his temper, yet the Christian triumphed; and at his death, he left behind him strong impressions of his worth.” William Bayly. The obituary of another name of emi¬ nence coming within our province is that of William Bayly of Bishops Cannings, Astronomer and Navigator, who died 1810. He was the son of a small farmer at Cannings ; but possessing a taste for the exact sciences, preferred to follow the occupa¬ tion of a schoolmaster, till his acquirements reaching the ear of Dr. Nevil Mashelyne the Astronomer Boyal, [also of Wilt¬ shire descent,] he was engaged as his assistant. In 1769 the Royal Society sent him to North Cape to observe the transit of Venus, the account of which was published in the Philo¬ sophical Transactions. In 1772 he was appointed, conjointly with Mr. Wailes, Astronomer in Captain Cook’s second voy¬ age ; and took part also in the expedition which terminated the life of that celebrated circumnavigator. The results of his observations during the voyage of the Resolution and Discovery were published in 4to, London 1782. Though he long acted under the Royal Society, he never became a Fel¬ low of that institution; but eventually he was appointed Master of the Royal Naval Academy of Portsmouth (where, among others, he trained the present Admiral Montague). This position he held with credit from 1785 till 1807, and then retired with a handsome pension. Passing some time at his native village of Bishops Cannings, he expressed to Mr. Browm his desire to confer some benefit on the parish. Various schemes were talked over: the success which had attended his own favourite studies naturally led him to suggest the formation of a school for arithmetic and practical mathe¬ matics; but this not appearing so eligible to others as it did to himself, it was finally agreed that the sum of £1000 should be settled, for the purchase of an organ and the services of an organist. Some time before his death, he had purchased an estate at Imber on the Downs, but the spot does not appear to have attracted him as a place of residence, for he was 492 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. among his favourite haunts at Portsmouth at the time of his decease. 1808. The first locomotive steam carriage passed through the town for inspection. The transit of the machine, it must be admitted, was not accomplished by its inherent powers, being the work of horses, a circumstance which gave point to the raillery likely to be elicited against any revolutionary novelty in a town like Devizes. The New Town-Hall. 1808. 2nd November. The Mayor and Corporation gave a grand ball and supper to about 300 of their friends, on the occasion of opening the new Town-Hall. Together with its fur¬ niture, it is supposed to have cost about £6416, towards which, the two Borough Members Mr. Smith and Mr. Estcourt had each contributed £1000 : though this is far from representing all their benefactions to the Borough Chamber. It was not entirely a rebuilding of the Hall, for the extreme rear appears to have remained unaltered. The architect was Thomas Baldwin of Bath. It was at this time that the bust of Lord Sidmouth was presented to the Chamber. The portraits of George III. and his Queen in their coronation rohes, after Reynolds, were the gift of George Watson Taylor Esq. some twenty years later. 1810. 24th February; Mr. James Perry, proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, tried and acquitted in the Court of King’s Bench, on the charge of having published a libel re¬ flecting on the Prince Regent’s character, copied from the Examiner. He conducted his own defence. Mr. Britton says that an interesting account of Perry’s first visit to London and introduction to the Press, may be seen in Holcroft’s Me¬ moirs ; and further relates concerning his amiable and ac¬ complished wife, who was a Miss Hull of Devizes, that, falling a victim to consumption, after giving hirth to three children, she consented to try the effect of a voyage to Madeira, but MUTINY IN THE MILITIA. 493 the ill-fated vessel in which she sailed was boarded by Alge¬ rine pirates who carried the entire crew into captivity. 1810. On the 7th of June a mutiny broke out among the 2nd Wilts Local Militia stationed in this town, stimulated, as was asserted, by unnecessary strictness of discipline. A sergeant having in consequence been committed to the guard- room at the Barracks in Back street,’ a party of the regiment, after evening parade, forced the guard room and released the prisoner. The Mayor thereupon summoned to his aid the Yeomanry Cavalry. On the arrival next morning of their Colonel Lord Bruce, at the head of as many troops of the Yeomanry as could be mustered at so short a notice, the mutinous corps was disarmed; and a ringleader, named Mar- mion, flogged on the Green. 1811. In consequence of the failure of the Salisbury Bank of Bowles, Ogden, and Wyndham, immense distress was caused throughout the county of Wilts. It was on this oc¬ casion that William Cobbett® wrote his series of letters entitled “Paper versus Gold” addressed to the tradesmen and farmers in and near Salisbury; being an examination of the report ' These Barracks, at the head of New street, were built by Mr. John Anstie, as a cloth manufactory. ® Cobbett was then, or had recently been, an inmate of Newgate. It was a curious coincidence, that while he was there incarcerated. Sir Francis Burdett lay in the Tower, and Hunt in the King’s Bench (the latter for an assault on John Benett’s game- keeper). After Burdett and Hunt got out, they were in the habit of frequently passing an evening with Cobbett in Newgate, the reforming eonclaves on these occasion being strengthened by the presence of Ma¬ jor Cartwright, Colonel Wardle and Mr. Worthington; when plans were formed for future operation. One day, before either of them was re¬ leased, Hunt’s only daughter went to London to pay her father a visit. On his asking to what sight in the metropolis he shoidd treat her, the little girl replied, “I should like above all things to see Sir Francis in the Tower.” Hunt having “the run of the key” as it was termed, at the Bench, accordingly took her to see the baronet, who thereupon arranged that she should spend tlie ensuing holidays with his own. daughters. Miss Hunt was educa¬ ted at Mrs. Crouch’s of Andover, a top-school in those days. She mar¬ ried Mr. Racey an English gentle¬ man living in Paris, but died soon after at St. Cloud. 494 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of the Bullion Committee, and an exposure of the entire sys¬ tem of stock-jobbing, the sinking-fund, and the national debt. June 1812. In the Earl of Liverpool’s Ministry, Lord Sidmouth held the office of Home Secretary. In the general election which ensued, no change took place at Devizes; in the representation of the county, Paul Methuen succeeded Henry Penruddocke Wyndham. At Bristol, Henry Hunt had the temerity to present himself, in opposition to Hart Davis, Protheroe, and Sir Samuel Romilly, and though un¬ successful, polled 455 freemen. 1813. In consequence of a requisition signed by Messieurs Penruddocke, Methuen, Estcourt, Galley, Powell, Bendry, Read, Harding, Locke, Salmon, Coleman, Long, Phipps, and Bruges, and the Rev. Geo. Edmonstone and Charles Lucas, to oppose the Catholic claims, the Sheriff, W. P. Ashe A’Court summoned a meeting at Devizes on Wednesday 27 January. The occasion proved a highly interesting one, for it elicited not only an able speech from the Marquis of Lans- downe on the opposite side, but a spirited contest between Lord Holland and Mr. Estcourt.^ The chair was taken by Mr. Penruddocke in the absence of the Sheriff, and the object of the meeting was enforced by Mr. Galley of Burderop and ' Lord Holland though not a resi¬ dent in Wilts, hoped that he might be heard in the character of a native and a landholder. This was Henry Richard Fox, the third Lord, who, as an infant, had so narrowly esca¬ ped death by fire at Winterslow in this county, then the seat of his father the Hon. Stephen Fox. On Saturday evening, 8 January 1774 a distinguished party of Foxes, Herberts, Tancreds, and others, had been performing The Fair Penitent, and High Life helow stairs ; (Char¬ les James Fox himself taking parts;) and on the following morning. Winterslow house was burnt to the ground, the result, as was sup¬ posed, of a fire which had been smouldering for some days. The child was preserved by its mother, whose maternal instinct, prompting her first to seek the nursery, was instrumental also in saving her own life, all other avenues of egress having become impassable. (She was the sister of Lady Shelburne of 1780.) The infant heir, thus res¬ cued, became the third Lord Hol¬ land in the following December, his father and grandfather both dying in the same year. ANTI-CATHOLIC MEETING 495 Mr. Harding, whose views Lord Andover at once upset by a counter address, leaving the subject to the wisdom of Parlia¬ ment, and this amendment was seconded by the Rev. Richard Goddard (son of the late county member.) A result so opposite to what the projectors of the meeting had designed, took many b}'^ surprise, and induced them to insinuate that the Liberal Lords had packed the meeting. They had sway¬ ed it by their eloquence, no doubt, and this was all that the authors of the convention had any cause to complain of. But though the meeting at Devizes had so far proved, a failure to the anti-Catholic party in Wilts, they were able in the fol¬ lowing March to announce no less than 6550 signatures to petitions forwarded from various parts of the county. 1813. On the 16th February was formed at Devizes under the presidency of John Benett Esq. the Wiltshire Society of Landowners and Farmers, for the encouragement of agricul¬ ture and rewarding industrious servants. John Nicholson, secretary. Tylee and Salmon, treasurers. An association formed at Lavington, called the South West Wilts Farming Society, being already in existence, they were requested to unite; to which their Manager Mr. Amram Saunders cheer¬ fully consented. 1813. On the 11th of August was held in the Assembly room of the Town-Hall, Devizes, the first anniversary meeting of the Wiltshire branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society: T. G. B. Estcourt Esq. in the chair. 1813. Passage of the Nive, under Lord Wellington. [In 1850 ?] Her present Majesty Queen Yictoria signified her per¬ mission, through the Gazette, that the 62nd or Wiltshire regiment, sliould thenceforth bear upon its colours and ap¬ pointments the word “ Nive,” in commemoration of its gallant conduct in the operations connected with the passage of the river Nive in the South of France, 10th December 1813. The 41st was another regiment which had been principally recruited in and near Devizes, shortly before the American 496 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. war of 1812. They got back to Europe just too late to share in the strife of Waterloo; debarking at Ostend in July, In February of this year, 1813, the reading public of Wilts were I’eminded, by advertisement, that a portrait and memoir of William Nicholas the distinguished engineer officer who fell at Badajoz, was published in the Military Magazine. (See page 422 of the present History.) The New Market Cross. This strueture was raised in 1814, at the expense of Lord Sidmouth the Recorder of the borough. The architect was Benjamin Wyatt; whose father James Wyatt had, in the previous year, lost his life by the overturning of his chariot at the entrance of the town of Marlborough. The father was a favourite of Greorge III., under whose patronage he executed a good deal of Gothic work at Kew and W indsor: he also furnished the design for Beckford’s Abbey at Fonthill, and superintended the alterations in Salisbury Cathedral and at Wilton House. The son therefore had enjoyed the benefit of a long apprenticeship in his father’s office. It was found, nevertheless, when he drew the plan of the Devizes Cross, (which was one of his first attempts in that style,) that he had hardly acquired sufficient experience to act alone. When the structure had reached the height of 20 feet, it was dis¬ covered that much of the channeling required to be deepened. The general design was also faulty, in having only three shallow steps around its base, a defect which has recently (1859) been judiciously corrected by adding three others, of which more hereafter. Neither had Mr. Wyatt sufficiently studied those perspective effects, as versus the outlines of a geometric elevation, which a more practised artist would have tested by means of a wooden model. The result was that on the completion of the work, the central sjiire appeared ab¬ surdly short, and had in fact to be taken down again in order to insert two or three additional courses. In respect of the THE MARKET CROSS. 497 loAver compartment of the building, a wish was expressed by some party in the town that it might be formed of open work, that is to say, to consist of four legs; but Mr. "VVyatt refused to listen to the proposition, alleging that, if so constructed, it might on some future occasion be converted into an official box or shelter for a beadle or clerk of the market, and the entire monument be exposed to danger. He also rejected a proposition to insert into the new building the original slab descriptive of Ruth Pierce’s sudden death. The woi’k began early in 1814, and was finished in September. Noel, a War¬ minster mason, contracted for the plain stonework: the exe¬ cution of the ornamental details was entrusted to Mr. L. J. Abington. The estimated amount of the cost was lodged by Lord Sidmouth at the Devizes Bank, to be drawn monthly, by cheques signed only by Mr. Wj'att. After completing his work in Devizes, Mr. Abington su¬ perintended the decorative carving of the Bank of England, under Mr. Soane. He is still alive, and is the owner of a manufactory of first class Staffordshire porcelain, where his skill in the modelling department has long had more inde¬ pendent play. He has never visited Devizes since the erection of the Market Cross, but the retrospect of those days has, in his memor}", by no means lost that interest which attaches itself to the early stages of a creditable career. One of his tastes was for geological speculation; and, while in this neighbourhood, he made a collection of the fossils of the Green sand formation. From among his various anecdotes, the account he gives of the alteration of the central spire of the Market Cross may be selected, as belonging to the subject in hand. “I went down” says he “to the finishing, before the scaffolding was struck, to see if all were right. I had my fears from the first that the central spire would be too short; for the drawing was purely geometrical, as if seen horizontally only, without reference to perspective efiect. The consequence was that when viewed from the ground, at 498 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. a moderate distance, the little pinnacles appeared to be as high as the great central one. The effect was unbearable. Mr. Wyatt had appointed a man of his, as clerk of the works, I pointed it out to him, but with him it was only a question of figures. We measured to the summit: all was correct to drawing [45 feet] and all my persuasion to write to his mas¬ ter before the masons left, was in vain.” Mr. W 5 fatt was in Ireland during the completion of the work. On his return to England he came through Devizes ; and as he drove up the Market-place, the first glance at the new building told him that something was wrong. He discovered also that such was the opinion of Mr. Salmon and others in the town. On reaching London he sent for Mr. Abington, and being now convinced that his working drawings had been strictly adhered to, it was agreed that they should meet at Devizes the next Monday, Noel the mason receiving in the meantime orders to replace the scaffolding and take down the spire. In renovating the defective part, “we began” says Mr. Abington “by drawing and shaping a pine-board to the proposed measure, so as to introduce the removed stones again, without alteration. This was set up to try the effect of the addition. We then worked in the new portion, and got the new crockets carved and the Finial fixed, as you see it now, by the following Saturday afternoon. But the finishing of it had nearly been the finishing of me. In get¬ ting the Finial off, the hole made through it to receive the iron rod had been much enlarged. When it was replaced, a kettle of lead was drawn up and poured in at the top; but no care was taken to fasten it [the stone] down; a little clay had been pressed round the joint. When the lead, which was very hot, filled the hole, its gravity forced it into the joint, lifted the stone, and came in a flood, coating the scaf¬ fold all the way to the bottom. I heard the cry “Below,” and had just time to throw myself into the arch, before the place where I had'been standing was entirely plated with THE MARKET CROSS. 499 scalding lead. ... In my early days I did much for Mr. Soane the architect. He would never have attempted such a thing as your Market Cross without making a correct model in wood, and then trying it by the eye from every possible point of view; but Mr. Benjamin Wyatt was green. I never was engaged on any other work in Wiltshire. I had a brother-in-law in Salisbury, and used to visit there. A restoration of the ornamental jjarts of the Cathedral was talked of, but I had not interest enough to get the job. I afterwards saw it in progress in the Chapter House, and an awful desecration it was.”^ Mr. Wyatt was so gratified by the assistance which Mr. Abington had rendered him in the affair of mending the Devizes Cross, that on settling his account he added a hand¬ some bonus; but it was the last work they ever executed in concert. The entire cost of the structure is understood to have been about £1500. The foundation stone had been laid in the Mayoralty of Henry Butcher Esq.: the building was opened to public view on the day when the news reached the town of Napoleon’s Treaty of Abdication, in April 1814, John Singleton Clark being then Mayor. On the completion of the structure, the story of Ruth Pierce was engraved on the eastern panel of its lower compartment, for which, refer to page 389; the west side exhibits the following inscription in praise of the donor. “THIS MARKET CROSS WAS ERECTED BY HENRY VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH AS A MEMORIAL OF HIS GRATEFUL ATTACHMENT TO THE BOROUGH OF DEVIZES, OF WHICH HE HAS BEEN RECORDER THIRTY YEARS; AND OF WHICH HE WAS SIX TIMES UNANIMOUSLY CHOSEN A REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. ANNO DOMINI 1814.” ’ Mr. Abington’s wife (who is still, Mr. Ryland of Northampton, and 1859, alive,) was Jane, daiigiiter of for some time eonnectcd with a Bap- the Rev. John Sandys, a pupil of tist Church in Devizes. II 2 500 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. No one who is acquainted with Lord Sidmouth’s personal character can doubt that the sentiment here recorded was a faithful expression of his feelings towards his old constituents. The act of donation too was all the more graceful, as coming from him at a time, when, having ceased to be their repre¬ sentative, he could, on the one hand, confer a benefit without the suspicion of purchasing their suffrages; and, on the other, by acting in his individual capacity, escape the liability of compromising in the smallest degree the independent ac¬ tion of a colleague. Lord Sidmouth’s Parliamentary alliance with Devizes appears to have been uniformly and strictly honourable. The burgesses were proud of a representative whose eminent career in the Lower House was associated from the first with no other constituency than themselves; and we have his lordship’s further testimony, that, for his own part, he recognised no other ties than those of “perfect disinterestedness and of mutual confidence.”^ 1 Among the papers of Henry Butcher, Jun. Esq. the following letters refer to this subject. “ Jb T. G. Estcourt Esq. “Whitehall, 23 October 1812. “My DEAR Sir. I am just fa¬ voured with your letter, enclosing one to you from Mr. Salmon; and I beg you to express to Mr. Salmon, and through him to the Corporation of Devizes, the great satisfaction afforded me by the terms as well as the substance of the communication contained in his letter. It is grati¬ fying to me to think that there will be a public memorial in the town of Devizes of a connexion which I have always regarded, and shall ever re¬ gard, as one of the most honourable circumstances of my life. I am, my dear Sir, Tours most affectionately, “SiDMODTH.” “ To William Salmon Esq. “Whitehall, 15 May 1813. “Dear Sir. I beg leave to in¬ troduce to you Mr. Benjamin Wyatt, whom I propose to employ in form¬ ing and executing a design for a Market Cross at Devizes. It is my wish that, through your kindness, he should be conducted tc the spot where it may be thought most de¬ sirable to erect it, and that he may receive such information as will en¬ able him to form a plan, suited to the purposes of convenience and agreeable in all respects to the Cor¬ poration and principal inhabitants of tbe town. I am very sorry to trouble you in this manner, but I am persuaded you will excuse it. With my best compliments to Mr. and Mrs, W. Salmon, I am, dear Su’, very sincerely yours, “ SiDMODTH.” THE MARKET CROSS. 501 The corn market continuing to be held around the base of the new structure, it was deemed desirable some years after¬ wards to surround it with tall iron railings: the building was “ To William Salmon Esq. “Whitehall, 26 June 1813. “Dear Sir. The bearer is to be the Clerk of the Works at the build¬ ing of the new Market Cross at De¬ vizes. He will deliver to you a per¬ spective view of the building, the design of which will, I trust, be approved of by you and the other members of the Corporation, and principal inhabitants of Devizes. I remain. Dear Sir, very sincerely yours, ‘ ‘ SiDMOUTU. “I beg my compliments to Mr. and Mrs. W. Salmon.” “ To William Salmon Esq. “Whitehall, July 26, 1813. “ Dear Sir. I am obliged to you for your information respecting the approaching anniversary of the Bear Club, which however I very much fear, it will not be possible for me to attend. It is my wish that the intended Market Cross -at Devizes should in its structure and situation fully meet the wishes of the Corpo¬ ration. The design for the former, I am glad to find they approve of, and the latter point I am desirous of leaving to them and Mr. B. Wy¬ att. With your permission, I will deposit £200 at the Bank at Devizes, and authorize Mr. Wyatt to draw for portions of it, from time to time, as occasion may require. I am. Dear Sir, Yours very sincerely, “SiDMOTTTH.” “7b William Salmon Esq. “Devizes 20 August 1813. “Dear Sir. I regret extremely that I have been so unfortunate as not to find you here to-day; as it was much my wish to have held further consultation with you, re¬ lative to the position of the Cross. I however have fully explained to Mr. Estcourt and several gentlemen of the Corporation, exactly what it is which I now propose, and I trust that you will not see any reason to object to it. I have given the sub¬ ject full and deliberate considera¬ tion, and I am thoroughly persuaded that the plan which I now propose to you, will not involve any mate¬ rial inconvenience; and that the ef¬ fect of the new building, as well as of the Market-placegenerally, would be materially injured by placing the building in any less favourable posi¬ tion. I am now on my wa}' to Ire¬ land, and I intend to come here on my return, probabl}’ about a month hence, for the purpose of being pre¬ sent at the setting out of the foun¬ dations, lest, in mj' absence, any irretrievable mistake should happen in that early stage of the structure. The Mayor [Mr. Butcher] and Mr. Estcourt will, no doubt, explain to you all which has passed to-day upon the subject; and I hope that on my return here, I shall be more fortunate as to finding you at home. I remain. Dear Sir, your obedient servant, “Benjamin Wyatt.” Mr. H. Butcher holds a variety of other letters relating to the progress of the work; but enough has been quoted of general interest. 502 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. thus preserved from injury, but pictorial effect was lost. This continued till the recent erection of the new Corn Exchange on O another spot,' when the occasion was embraced for effecting sundry improvements in and around the old spot, and en¬ tirely remodelling the hitherto irregular surface of the Mar¬ ket-place. The iron railings and market posts were now removed, defects in the stone-work were repaired, the panels of the lower compartment were considerably sunk; and by the process of lowering the ground about it, six basement steps, instead of the original three, together with a circum¬ jacent area of flagging laid in an octagonal plan, have so far combined to beautify the structure, that its proportions will now probably be regarded as perfect. Mr. Sotheron Estcourt defrayed the expense of these alterations, so far as the build¬ ing itself was concerned ; the cost of lowering and levelling the Market-place being sustained by the Borough Chamber. The Treaty of 1814, and the Battle of Waterloo. The short period of peace between Napoleon’s retirement to Elba and the opening of the Waterloo campaign, was signal¬ ized in the County of Wilts by two important meetings on the Corn laws. The first which was convened at Warminster in January 1815 by Mr. Benett of Pyt-house, was totally and unexpectedly upset by Henry Hunt; the second, which was called at Salisbury by the Sheriff Greorge Eyre, Esq., issued in a petition against the measure, signed by more than 20,000 persons. On the other hand, Mr. Benett, whose historical essays on tythes and general knowledge of trade rendered him a great authority on agricultural statistics, had given evidence before a Committee of Lords, on the basis of which it is well known that the Bill of 1815 was founded, prohibit¬ ing importation of corn till it reached 80s. a quarter. After this, it is not to be wondered at that for several succeeding years the names of John Benett and Henry Hunt should be- In 18-58, during the Mayoralty of Henry Butcher -Tun. Esq. 4 ( \ ► * SAMUEI- TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 503 come so prominent in the county, as the advocates of hostile systems. Waterloo succeeded: and the Corn-bill was for¬ gotten amid the national shouts of victory. SiDMOuTH AND Hobhouse. It was shortly after this period that Sir John Cam Hobhouse sent to Lord Sidmouth a copy of the work which he had just issued, “ On the last reign of the Emperor Napoleon.” His lordship in reply, dated from Hill Street, 25th Feb. 1816, rejoiced that by this mark of attention. Sir John had enabled him to thank the author be¬ fore reading his book ; the perusal of which, he was but too well aware, would otherwise have given him pain, and re¬ quired the expression of opinions which it were disingenuous to suppress. Coleridge at Devizes. Turning aside for a brief interval from the course of political events, we have to notice here an occurrence or two of a more domestic nature. During the summer of 1815, Samuel Taylor Coleridge the poet paid a visit to this town; primarily, to attend and assist at the County meeting of the Bible Society; and contingently, to pass some time with the Rev. Thomas Anthony Methuen at Allcannings vicarage, and with Robert Herbert Brabant of Devizes, M.D. To such of his acquaintance as justly esti¬ mated him, the event was one of considerable interest; though the reporter of the Salisbury Journal does, not appear to have regarded his appearance on the platform with much emotion; he records, at any rate, none of his observations, though the name of Coleridge is mentioned among the speakers. Per¬ haps there is no just cause to wonder at the ineagreness of the report thus given, for only a few weeks had elapsed since the Battle of Waterloo, when public sympathy may well be supposed to have been more largely shared by the soldier than by the metaphysician. Before coming to Devizes, Mr. Coleridge sent a long letter to the friend who had invited him, (Mr. Methuen), expressive of the pleasure with which he should attend the meeting, and “ cast his mite into the Trea- 504 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, sury;” but the major pai’t of the letter consisting of an ob¬ scure disquisition on the baptismal sei'vice of the Church of England, is hardly suitable for these pages. The letter is dated from Caine, where the poet was at that time resident, under the friendly roof of Mr. John Morgan. After the Devizes meeting had dispersed, Coleridge spent several days at Allcannings, where he became the focus of attraction to many who had no other opportunity of listening to his won¬ drous pourings forth. During the sitting of these Nodes Canningce, Mr. Thresher the minister of the neighbouring village of Wilcot was one of the most constant attendants; not because he was in any sense what Thomas Carlyle calls the “passive bucket” meekly desiring to be pumped into, during the operator’s pleasure; but rather in the hope of closing with and tripping up so imperturbable an antagonist. Impatient of the poet’s monotonous bow-wow, and by no means disposed to quit an uncontested field, the Wilcot par¬ son was sorely tried by the impossibility of edging in a word, or forcing the speaker to even a momentary stand. A gentle inclination of the head, testifying that the oracle was consci¬ ous of some slight interruption, was the sole response elicited, and Mr. Thresher had to wait, with what patience he could muster, for the next opportunity of running in upon the enemy. Mr. Methuen supplies the following anecdotes. While resident for awhile at the village of Box in Wilt¬ shire, Coleridge lodged at a grocer’s, and discovered one day to his dismay that his room lay over a barrel of gunpowder. Expostulation with the owner of the house not prevailing to remove the dangerous article, Coleridge prepared to remove himself. The servant maid, who had learnt to venerate their eccentric guest, now entreated him to reconsider his deter¬ mination.—“ Do you think, Mary, I can sleep in a place where I am in momentary danger of blowing up ?—“ I thought. Sir,” said Mary, “ that it was the shot and not the powder that hurt people.”—“So should T think, Mary, were I a little bird.” SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 505 Visiting Corsham House on one of the show-days when the Methuen picture-gallery used to be open to the public, Cole¬ ridge was recognised from a window by the Rev. Thos. A. Methuen (of Allcannings), who thereupon suggested to his father, the elder Mr. Methuen, that the poet should be invited to partake of the hospitalities of the house. Mr. Methuen immediately acquiesced ; and Coleridge finding both the company and the quarters very much to his taste, made himself at home for four days; during which time. Lord Lansdowne, W. L. Bowles, and other celebrities of the neighbourhood joined the circle. One day while conversing with his host in the gallery, he took up a large conch, and holding it to his ear, observed to Mr. Methuen “ Sir, this shell is emblematic of Socinianism! there is sound, but the life has for ever fled. This recalls my own experience as a preacher among the Socinians. Words I never wanted, but I had nothing vitalising to give the people.” [See Mr. Joseph Cottle’s account of Coleridge’s inaugural discourses at the Unitarian Chapel at Bath; the orator, whose outer attire was that of a white waistcoat and blue coat, utterly disdaining the hide-all gown of black; and edifying his audience in the morning with a lecture on the Corn Laws, and in the after¬ noon with a discourse on the Hair-powder-tax. Reminiscences, page 94. It was with great reluctance that the Bristol So¬ cinians finally renounced their hopes of Coleridge’s return to their ranks; until in one of his lectures, treating of the “Pa¬ radise Regained,” he affirmed that Milton had clearly repre¬ sented Satan as a sceptical Socinian. After this undisguised declaration of war, there could be no compromise.] At the time of his visit to Devizes, Coleridge was sharing (as above stated) the house of Mr. Morgan of Caine, the son of a wealthy spirit merchant of Bristol. Mr. Morgan who had long been his admirer, and hoped by personal attentions to remove the morbid depression of his spirits, had, while living in London, so often induced Coleridge to take up his 506 HISTORY OF DEVIZES, temporary abode at his house, that it issued in a domestication of several years. On his retiring into the country and settling at Caine, he continued to offer a similar asjdum; and until his own pecuniary affairs became involved, Coleridge never wanted a welcome home. In the estimation of his friends, Mr. Morgan’s losses were mainly attributable to a thoughtless generosity in lending to men who never repaid him. His own character, as pourtrayed by Joseph Cottle, was that of a worthy and kind-hearted man. Southey, writing to Cottle eleven years after, gives the following glimpse of his latter days; “Poor Morgan you know was latterly supported by a subscription which Charles Lamb set on foot, and which was to have been annual, but he died within the year.” Cottle’s Reminiscences, pp, 237 and 247. Hartley Coleridge the son of the poet was at this time studying at Oxford. His first vacation was spent with his father at Caine, of which place and of the impressions there experienced he has himself left a characteristic account. It occurs in the Memoirs written of Hartley by his brother, and is introduced as follows:— “ The year 1814, when Hartley left school belonged to the unhappiest period of my father’s life. He was residing at Caine with his friend Mr. Morgan, in a state of health bodily and mental, which, together with the position of his affairs rendered it impossible for him to contribute to my brother’s support at college; and difficult (in a degree which his and our Father alone can measure) to make any present exertion in his behalf.” “ Caine” says Hartley “ a place I can never think of without a strong twitching of the eye, though I have long lost the comfort of tears. Alas, what was I then ! What might I have made myself! Even a comfort and a stay to those who loved me then, and upon whose latter-day, mis¬ fortune, not then a stranger, returned in the threadbare coat of poverty. [This is an allusion to the subsequent losses of Mr. Morgan.] Caine is not a very pretty place: nothing like so SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 507 pretty as Stowey or many of the villages in the neighbourhood of Oxford. The soil is clayey and chalkey, the streams far from crystal, the hills bare and shapeless, the trees not vene¬ rable; the town itself irregular, which is its only beauty. There were however some wildish, half-common fields where¬ in the hedgerows had returned to a state of nature, with old remains of hawthorn bowers and clumps of shady trees, where I used to dream my mornings away right pleasantly. Then there were meadows and beanfields, wealthy looking farms and comfortable mansions—Bremhilland Bowood, and others of less note. And there were good, comfortable, unintellec¬ tual people, in whose company I always thought S. T. C. [his father] more than usually pleasant. And then there were for a time, strolling players, for whom and indeed for all itine¬ rants I have a great liking. The first half of that long vaca¬ tion was the happiest of life, next to my two visits to Nether Hall and my sojourning at Ellery, and my lake excursions with poor Burton, and a few weeks of dear delusion at the close of 1822. I was at Caine at the close of the Waterloo year ; but Waterloo was not to me what the victories of 1814 had been. Young as I was, I saw there was no hope for freedom or hapj^iness in the restoration [of the Bourbons] and I could never bear the idea of England being beaten. I was less bitter against Boney on his return from Elba than on any of his former vagaries. I know not whether I should like to visit Caine again. All I knew or loved must be gone, and T myself far other, or worse. But there is no place where sad recollections await me not.” In 1816 Coleridge left the hospitable roof of his friend Mr. Morgan of Caine, and in a desolate state of mind repaired to London ; when entertaining the belief that his opium habits could only be subdued by subjecting himself to medical re¬ straint, he applied for advice to Joseph Adams an eminent physician, who at once recommended his case to another pro¬ fessional friend Dr. James Gillman of Ilighgate with a view 508 HISTOKY OF DEVIZES. to liis residence in that gentleman’s family. Mr. Gillman not only immediately acquiesced in the plan, but speedily formed so intense an admiration for his patient’s talents and character, that he provided him with a comfortable home for nineteen years, even until his death : and in Highgate church may now be seen an elaborate tablet erected to his memory by his attached friends and admirers “ James and Anne Gill- man.” His son Hartley, the victim like himself, of feelings, exquisitely, not to say, morbidly, sensitive, became in after life an occasional contributor to Blackwood’s Magazine and a writer of most musical songs: a premature death closing the fitful and feverish dream which to him was pictured with but few of the joys of life. Simpson’s Newspaper. 1816. On the 4th of January ap¬ peared the first number of “ The Salisb. ry Gazette ” published by George Simpson on the Canal. It was continued on Thursdays till 24th June 1819, when the establishment was transferred to Devizes, where under the title of “ The Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette ” the paper has maintained its ground to the present time. The Riotous County Meeting of 1817. On the 6th February 1817 Lord Cochrane presented the Spa-fields petition for annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot, signed by 24,000 names; and on the same occasion Sir Francis Burdett delivered one of similar import from Leeds. The friends of Government could not but have been amused in those days, to discover that an anagram for¬ med out of the letters of the baronet’s name, assumed the terrible form of “ Frantic Disturbers.” The term might be supposed to include the two Burdetts, Sir Francis and Jones; who, with the aid of Major Cartwright, had recently estab¬ lished Hampden-clubs throughout England, whose delegates met in London to demand Reform, at the opening of Parlia¬ ment in January. On this occasion it was that the glass of JOHN BEN EXT AND HENRY HUNT. 509 the Royal carriage was broken by a bullet, or, as some people said, by a potato, which Hunt used facetiously to declare, was thrown by none other than Mr. John Castles the informer. The session thus commenced, was rendered notorious by the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, which received the Royal assent on the 4th of March; followed by the Seditious-Meet¬ ings circular, which enabled local magistrates to arrest offen¬ ders by much more summary processes than heretofore. It was speedily put in practice in Devizes, as we shall presently see. Public agitators (of small incomes) now stood in fear of their lives. Cobbett bent before the storm, and set sail for America; Hunt, not yet being guilty of much literary sin, remained behind to be dealt with after a coarser fashion. In March 1817, a requisition, influentially signed, and calling upon the Sheriff of Wilts, John Hungerford Penrud- docke Esq. to summon a county meeting to congratulate the Prince Regent on his recent escape, issued, on Wednesday 19th March, in a convocation at Devizes, which, by the testi¬ mony of the Salisbury Journalist, far exceeded both in num¬ bers and respectability any county demonstration within his (the editor’s) recollection. The zeal and loyalty thus sum¬ moned forth, were designed to counteract the free trade doctrines of Henry Hunt, who during the previous Monday and Tuesday had been industriously circulating handbills, announcing the intention of his party to oppose the Sheriff, and give another characte ■ to the proceedings. His previous success at the anti-corn law meeting at Salisbury in 1815 had evidently inspired him with undue elation; and he doubted not, that with Cobbett’s assistance, he should again sway the audience, and obtain an easy triumph over his old antagonist, John Benett. Hunt had some two years before made a present to Cobbett of a Wiltshire freehold, (consisting of a carpenter’s shop and plot of ground letting for £3 10s.) in order to secure his vote and co-operation in all such county meetings; but on the present eventful occasion, there was no 510 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Cobbett to be found. That sagacious person, wbo had made up bis mind that England was, just now, too hot for him, had no design to trust himself either within the net of Crown lawyers, or to the tender mercies of 'Wiltshire rustics; and at the moment therefore when his admirers were anxiously looking for him at Devizes, he was embarking on board a Liverpool packet. Mr. Hunt (with some abbreviation) may here speak for himself:—“ On the day appointed I went to Devizes with my friend Mr. William Akerman of Patney, at whose house I had slept the preceding night. Arrived at the Castle Inn, I was surprised to find that, though it was rather late, my friend Cobbett had not arrived; but so con¬ vinced was I that he would not disappoint me, that I deter¬ mined not to start for the Hall till he joined us. Mr. Aker¬ man, at my request, went down to the Bear Inn, where the Sheriff and my Lord Pembroke and the others who had called the meeting, were assembled. He very soon came back almost out of breath, to tell me that the Sheriff was just proceeding to the Hall; and with a loud laugh informed me that the Courier nev?spaper, which had just arrived at the Bear Coffee room, had an article, stating that Cobbett was arrived at Liverpool and had taken his passage for America. ‘I at once’ said Mr. Akerman, ‘declared this to be an infamous lie, and offered to bet £50, which I put upon the table, that Mr. Cobbett would be in Devizes within an hour.’ Fortun¬ ately for Mr. Akerman, no one present had sufficient confi¬ dence in the Courier to take the bet.—I was thunderstruck: but it now for the first time occurred to me that there was something mysterious in Mr. Cobbett’s conduct when I last saw him. . . . When we reached the Town-Hall, it was crammed to suffocation, and many persons were standing out¬ side. By the assistance of my friend Akerman, I contrived to get near enough to expostulate with the Sheriff for at¬ tempting to hold a county meeting in such a confined situa¬ tion, adding, that amongst the persons excluded there was JOHN BENETT AND HENKY HUNT. 511 Mr. Richard Long, one of their members. Upon which Mr. Long replied that he was very well oflf, and did not wish to gain admittance. This caused a laugh ; but I persevered by moving an adjournment, and after a great deal of noise and squabbling, the Sheriff proceeded to the Market-place, and took his station upon the steps of the Market Cross. . . . A fawning address to the Prince Regent was now moved by some person, and supported by Mr. John Benett in a violent address, attacking myself, and attributing to me all the recent disturbances in London, and roundly asserting that I was the cause of Cashman being brought to the gallows.^ By the independent portion of the meeting, this harangue was list¬ ened to with considerable impatience. He had nevertheless every sort of fair play shewn him, from their natural convic¬ tion, that as I was present, I should have an opportunity of replying to these infamous charges. The moment that I attempted to speak, the yell began. Sixty or a hundred out of the two or three thousand assembled, commenced a bellow¬ ing and braying like so many of their four legged brethren ; and so well were they marshalled and acted so well in concert, that it was impossible for the rest of the people to gain me a hearing. At length the Sheriff, Hungerford Penruddocke Esq., who looked ready to faint with shame at what he was about to do, dissolved the meeting, and ordered the Riot Act to be read.” This reading of the Riot Act was to serve as a preliminary to arresting the person of the would-be Orator, a purpose however which signally failed, for he was surrounded by so steady a body of supporters that all attempts to reach him were frustrated. If the point of view from which Mr. Hunt contemplated this affair at Devizes, led him to delineate it in a style offensive to the lovers of good order, we should remember that he wrote his account while he was the inmate ' John Cashman, a seaman, executed in January on a charge of taking part in the Spa-fields riot. 512 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of an unhealthy dungeon, and when smarting under the sense of unequivocal defeat. A little license of after-speech may well be pardoned in one who was not suffered to speak on the occasion ; and an interval of 42 years since the transaction occurred, may amply suffice, in all generous minds, to obliter¬ ate the personal animosities of an hour of excitement. Have not the electors of North Wilts long since shaken hands with Sir Francis Burdett? and have we not all sighed over the closing career of Henry Hunt, and lamented that he was a greater enemy to himself than to that section of society whom he so unremittingly assailed ? Have not the questions too, which at that moment divided Society, received the almost unanimous solution of subsequent legislators ? and is it not time to enroll the names both of John Benett and of Henry Hunt among the combatants of a mediaeval age and the pala¬ dins of a forgotten quarrel ? As such, let them still live in the story of Devizes and the legends of Wiltshire, without a feeling of rancour surviving, to stain the memory of either. The official report of the above meeting states that the Address to the Regent was moved by Mr. Locke and seconded by Mr. Eyre: and that Mr. Powell and Mr. Chancellor Douglas proposed that, when the High Sheriff presented it, he should be accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant, the mem¬ bers of the county, and such other county gentlemen as could make it convenient. The Salisbury Journal fully corroborates Mr. Hunt’s statements as to the abuse with which he was met, and admits that on his endeavouring to reply to Mr. Benett, “ he was assailed on every side by groans, hisses, and reproaches, and the cries of, “No Hunt,”—“Off Off,”—“No white feathers here,”—“We don’t want a coward for a leader,”—“ Where’s the ghost of Cashman ?” And now commenced the attempt to seize his person. “But all their attempts,” (to continue his own narrative,) “ were in vain. The gallant, brave, and kind hearted people of Wilt¬ shire surrounded me with an impenetrable phalanx, and JOHN BENETT AND HENRY HUNT. 613 formed with their persons a bulwark which proved impreg¬ nable to all the assaults of constables, bullies, and blackguards, urged on by the Mayor and his myrmidons, a matchless crew. Hoisted upon the shoulders of those who stood in the centre of this brave phalanx, I had a perfect view of all their opera¬ tions. They repeatedly returned to the charge, with staves and clubs, upon the people, who stood as firm as a rock, and all the while acted solely on the defensive. At length [two of them] seized hold of my brother' by the collar, one on each side. He was standing as a spectator, taking no part but that of looking on. My brother smiled at first; but finding them in earnest, and being surrounded by the whole gang who began to drag him off, he let fl}'^ right and left, .and before the people could get to my brother’s assistance, the whole cowardly gang had taken flight. This all occurred in front of the Bear Inn, where the Sheriff and his supporters had by this time retired, and from the windows of which they had the mortification of witness¬ ing the disgraceful defeat of their hirelings, and at the same time, the victory of the people, who instead of inflicting summary vengeance on those who had thus assaulted them, peaceably bore me off to my Inn. Hither Mr. Ma 3 mr with a posse of constables soon followed us, and repeated the read¬ ing of the Hiot Act under the window, amid the jeers and execrations of the people, who had committed no riotous act or breach of the peace which could justify such a measure. From the window of the Castle Inn, where I was dining with some friends, I then addressed the people, who afterwards peaceably dispersed, though they kept a good look-out to see that there was no attempt made to annoy me. Had anj' such attempt been made, I believe, from what I have since heard, that the consequences might have proved very serious.”^ * This was his deaf and dumb and was a host in himself, brother Thomas, who generally at- * Mr. Benett’s speech, it must be tended him on occasions of danger, admitted, had been eminently cal- KK 514 HISTORY or DEVIZES. Election of 1818. Messieurs Beuett and Hunt having fought it out at De¬ vizes, were both of them about to appear on a much larger arena, and in each case to come off with terrible loss. Mr. Benett stood for the county of Wilts; Mr. Hunt presented himself to the electors of Westminster. The latter gentle¬ man may even be said to have now put himself into rivalry with Sir Francis Burdett as a candidate for mob-honours. Only a few days before the old Parliament broke up. Sir Francis, as a wind-up to the ninety petitions which he had presented for Reform, divided the House on a motion for Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments, and in com¬ pany with his seconder. Lord Cochrane, had the honour of standing in a minority of Two. In September following, Henry Hunt, having presided at a meeting held for the same culated to exasperate. ‘ ‘ His mind,” he said, “had been strongly impres¬ sed with that horror and indigna¬ tion which was common to all his Majesty’s faithful subjects, at the atrocious attempt to assassinate the Prince Regent; but he did not think that the ferocious multitude who were then assembled to insult the representative of Majesty, and per¬ haps to applaud but certainly to shelter the assassin, were the only criminals of that day. He thought that the greater criminals were those audacious men who had been wick¬ edly labouring year after year, by falsehood and calumny, to deceive the community, not only as to their duties but as to their dearest in¬ terests; who endeavoured to set the poor man in opposition to the rich, and represented our existing Government as a cruel and oppres¬ sive tyranny. He was speaking of those travelling orators who bad of late years raised a clamour in this and the neighbouring counties, who wandered from town to town and village to village, to disseminate their doctrines among the lower classes. But they were persons of no courage. They created the storm, but diverted its fury from them¬ selves; they betrayed others to de¬ struction, but kept their own necks out of the rope. If any of these men were now present, he would tell them that the guilt of the atro¬ cious act which had brought them together was attributable to them; that the blood shed in suppressing the Luddites, as well as that of the unhappy criminal Casbman, would be demanded of them by impartial j ustice; and that even if vengeance did not overtake them in this world, they could by no possibility escape that more dreadful vengeance which awaited them in another.” Salis¬ bury Journal, 2^th March 1817. Abbreviated.'] THK ELECTION OF 1818 . 515 object in Palace-yard, recommended the petitioners to carry their Address, in a body to the Home Secretary’s office. The document was received by an officer, but Lord Sidmouth re¬ fused to lay it before the Regent, on the ground that it pro¬ fessed to emanate from the inhabitants of the Metropolis; whereas there were not 500 present at the meeting. In the Westminster election, it is hardly necessary to say that Hunt had not the remotest chance against Romilly and Burdett, though he polled more than another Radical on the same hustings. Major Cartwright. In Devizes, Thomas G. B. Estcourt the former member, and John Pearse an army contractor and Bank director, were returned without opposition; both Tories. The contest for the county of Wilts was the most spirited on record. As early as 20th February, which was nearly four mouths before the Dissolution, Mr. Long had announced his intention of resigning, and the county was instantly in a ferment. Manifestoes were at once put forth by Paul Meth¬ uen of Corsham, by William Long Wellesley of Draycote, and by John Benett of P 3 't-house; while a requisition from a knot of admirers prayed Fulwar Craven of Chilton to come forward as the fourth, but he declined the honour, on the alleged ground that no independent man could act in a Go¬ vernment which suspended the Habeas Corpus. Of the three candidates left in the field, whose names resounded through the county during the ensuing twenty weeks, some brief notice must be taken. Mr. Methuen, though he had voted against the Corn bill of 1815 was not conspicuous for any decided policj' in the House; but he had already represented the county^ for six years; and owing to this perhaps rather than to any other cause, he maintained his ground. Mr. Wellesley was the son of the Hon. William Wellesley Pole, afterwards liord Mary¬ borough; and was consequently nephew to the Duke of Wel¬ lington. He had already sat for St. Ives in Cornwall, but KK 2 516 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. was principally known in Wiltshire as the husband of Kath¬ arine Long, the heiress of Draycot, daughter of Sir James Tylney Long, M.P. successively for Devizes and the county (See page 444). Mr. Wellesley, on whose side all the wit lay, throughout the contest, besides being himself a capital flash- orator, came forward as the emancipator of the electors from the dominion of the Deptford and Beckhampton Clubs, a clique of magistrates who, it was affirmed, had long control¬ led the county elections. (See pages 430-432.) He speedily enlisted the support of the manufacturing and commercial interest in the towns of North Wilts, and his cause being sustained in the South of the county by Lord Radnor and Mr. Penruddocke, he rapidly made head against Mr. Benett, to the astonishment of a large class who never dreamt that the Corn law champion could be non-suited in the Arcadian realm of Wiltshire. Mr. Benett presented himself as a na¬ tive of the county where his ancestors had ffourished 500 years, and had in 1688 supported the Revolution. His real status was that of representative of the purely landed interest; and he had recently become notorious for a prolonged contro¬ versy carried on in print with Archdeacon William Coxe of Bemerton on the newly agitated plans for commuting tythes, founded on a prize-essay on commutation, for which the Bed- fordean gold medal had been adjudged to Mr. Benett by the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, at their an¬ nual meeting, 13 December 1814. In short, the clergy were, for the nonce, at war with the Pyt-house doctrines; and it required the friendly pen of the Rev. Charles Lucas of De¬ vizes to convince the world of the orthodoxy of one who so per- severingly denied the divine right of tythes. In North Wilts, Mr. Benett had a clamorous advocate in Thomas Calley of Burderop, M.P. for the Cricklade hundreds; but as the county contest went on, Mr. Calley was defeated on his own ground by Robert Gordon, and support from that quarter became in a great measure neutralised. His Salisbury advocate and THE ELECTION OF 1818 . 517 right-hand man was John Pern Tinney, a lawyer frequently seen holding the office of under-Sheriff, and on the present occasion acting as Secretary to the Benett Committee, a body which also comprised several Devizes names, such as William Salmon, Wadhara Locke of Rowde-Ford, Dr. Deadly, Edward Newman, John Tylee, Thomas Tylee, James Gent, William Hughes, &c. In this respect they were opposed to their member Mr. Estcourt. From all sides Mr. Benett was assailed by reminders of his evidence before the Lords’ Committee in favour of the Corn bill of 1815, and this too by the followers of Mr. Wellesley, who, in his place in the House, had himself voted for the measure. In such a war of words, it was not to be expected that the voice of Henry Hunt should be silent. lie addressed a long letter descriptive of Mr. Benett’s career, from Middle- ton Cottage, where he then resided, near Andover; but in fact, the effusions of that tumultuous hour, lyrical, satirical, and recriminative, are so numerous, that a study of the Kalei doscopiana Wiltoniensia, a work in which the}' are all collec¬ ted, can alone furnish a true picture of the contest. After a protracted canvass of more than three months, the nomina¬ tion at length took place in the Market-place of Devizes, which was crowded beyond all precedent, on Thursday the 18th of June, being the anniversary of the battle of Water¬ loo: Alexander Powell Esq. Sheriff. Mr. Methuen was proposed by Captain Bouverie, seconded b}'’ E. Joy:—Mr. Wellesley, was proposed by John Long, seconded by Captain Bouverie :—Mr. Benett was proposed by William Wynd- ham, seconded by T. Grove. Mr. Methuen contrived to make himself heard; but the clamour with which the two other candidates were greeted, converted the rest of the proceedings into little else than dumb-show. The Sheriff declared the shew of hands to be nearly equal, and adjourned the meeting till the next Wednesday. The poll, which was taken at a spot three miles from Salisbury on the Devizes road, lasted 518 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. eight daj'^8, at the end of which time Mr. Beuett retired from the contest, the numbers being, for Methuen 2822, for Wel¬ lesley 2009, for Benett 1572. In the following year, 1819, Mr. Methuen resigned, but Mr. Benett was not therefore allowed to walk over the course, for now a new opponent arose in the person of John Bug- dale Astley of Notton House near Lacock, who put him to the additional expense of fifteen days poll, and trod so close on his heels that there was not a difference of 200 votes be¬ tween them. Moreover, Mr. Pern Tinney’s slumbers were for some time disturbed, and the triumph of his patron even menaced, by the popular cry beneath his windows, “How will you stand the screw, Tinney ?” [scrutiny.] To this heart breaking ordeal Mr. Benett was not subjected; and the succeeding year, 1820, saw him quietly sharing with Mr. Astley the representation which they were ever afterwards allowed to hold in peace; of which more hereafter. Thomas Moore the poet who had recently built his modest nest be¬ neath the shadow of Bowood, makes, in his diary, the follow¬ ing allusions to the events of this period. “ 10 Nov. 1818. Went to Devizes to dinner at Salmon’s. The com¬ pany, Pearse the member for Devizes and his family, the Gruhbes, &c. Pearse, a good, hearty, jolly man of the world; knows everybody; was intimate with Sheridan;—went to the ball in the evening, danced with one of the Miss Pearse’s. “23 Nov. Left home (for London) in the coach about 12. A jolly old farmer joined us part of the way; talked of the late election; said he had given a plumper for Methuen, because he had flung the hill for the additional income of the Princes out of the House. “5 Jan. 1819. Dined at Locke’s [Mrs. Methuen present]. To the Devizes hah in the evening; Lady Frances W. there; introduced to her, and had much conversation, chiefly about our friend Lord B, [Byron], Several of those beautiful things published, if I remember right, with ‘ ‘ The Bride,” were addressed to her. She told me she had an album which was begun and nearly half mitten through by Lord B.; and she had another which was as yet blank, and which she had resolved to keep blank till an introduction to Mr. M. should enable her to ask him to be¬ gin it for her. I fought this off as well as I could. 10 April. Dined at Salmon’s; company, the Phippses, Mr. Pearse the member for Devizes, Wyatt whom I knew in Ireland when he had the THOMAS HUNT. 519 care of Lord Ormond’s estate, Tylee, &c. Wyatt an intelligent man. Talked among other things of the Bank question and poor-laws. These Tories all seemed to feel how critically the fate of the country hangs upon both questions. . . . Pearse says it is understood in town that the Duke of Wellington is very anxious to become Prime Minister: and that in order to get the character of an homme d'affaires, he had himself named on the Bank Committee, and attended it most punctually every day. . . [At a dinner at Money’s on the 3rd.] Talked of prisons and peni¬ tentiaries. The penitentiary at Devizes was at first so famous for its good soups that the prisoners used to be anxious to get back again to en¬ joy them: but the soups have been abolished. [“On another occasion, 3 Jan. 1824, went with a party to Devizes to see the new Gaol. Practised at the Tread-wheel, and did not find it so very bad. To light men with pliant limbs, it is not one-tenth of the punishment it must be to those who are heavy and stiff.] “16 July, 1819. Walked to Devizes to witness the nomination of a member for the county in the place of Methuen, who has resigned. Dined at Salmon’s with the Phippses, and walked home in the evening. [Phipps was of Wanshouse.] “2 Aug. In the evening, a fete chamiKtre at Salmon’s near Devizes [Drews pond]; a beautiful place, and every thing gay and riant; a boat on the little lake, musicians playing on the island in the middle of it, tents pitched, &c.It was said that the mob of Devizes had threatened to burn the wood, this being the high fever of the election; but all was quiet. “ 20 Aug. Mrs. Phipps took Bessy and me into Devizes in her carri¬ age, that Bessy might return Mrs. Estcourt’s visit.” In the ensuing autumn Mr. Moore went to Italy, with Lord John Russell. Lord Sidmouth and Henry Hunt. At a meeting of the Manchester people at Petersfield in January 1819 where it was resolved to send no more petitions to an unreformed House, Henry Hunt was deputed to wait on Lord Sidmouth with an address direct to the Crown. The Wiltshire agitator was evidently much gratified by this op¬ portunity of a personal interview with the Home Secretary, whom, in his official capacity, he had so often assailed out of doors. His lordship received him with unaffected courtesy; Henry presented his petition, and quitted the audience-cham¬ ber with feelings the reverse of hostile. During the autumn of 1818, Mr. Hunt’s deaf and dumb brother Thomas, disgusted no doubt with the unprofitable 520 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. issue of his kinsman’s political schemes, emigrated to America, in company with Henry Hunt jun. and obtained a “location” near Mr. Birkbeck’s new settlement in the Illinois territory. From the journal of a tour in the States, made during the following year by Mr. J. Faux, an English farmer, we get the following peep into the manners and habits of the new colonists. [Abridged.] “23 Nov. 1819. Spending the day with Mr. G. Flower, rode round the prairie in which is their fine park-like domain, and some smaller estates purchased for their friends in England, of which there is one with a house and some improvements, belonging to Wedd Nash Esq. of Roy- ston, and more rich and beautiful than any he can see from the bleak, barren, chalky hills of his native town. I called at an adjoining farm rented by a dirty, naked-legged French family. . . . Then at Mr. Hunt’s who is deaf and dumb (brother to Henry Hunt the champion of Reform) who, with his nephew, a son of Henry, came here a year since to three “ quarter-sections ” of land, of which they have cultivated only six acres. They live in a miserable log-cabin, doing aU. the labour, and without a female. We found them half naked and in rags, busily greas¬ ing a cart or mending a plough. They appeared only as labourers; but on my being introduced to them by Mr. Flower their best friend, good sense and breeding shone through the gloom of their forlorn situation, We entered their cabin and took some boiled beef on a board, their chairs and tables being destroyed by a recent fire. Disappointed of remittances from England, they were out of funds; their land was uncultivated and selling for the payment of taxes. It was to prevent this that Mr. Flower called this day. Mr. Hunt has a fine, animated, rather agricultural countenance. He converses in writing with ease and rapidity. His ne¬ phew, the Orator’s son, aged 20, is a fine, tall, active, kind-hearted youth, pretty well reconciled to his situation. I offered to bear any commands for them on returning to England, which they gratefuUy embraced.”— Faux's Journal, page 273. Thomas Hunt, it is believed, died in America; but the nephew Henry Hunt rejoined his father shortly after in England. The ‘‘Letters from Illinois” by Morris Birkbeck himself, were published in 1818. They are addressed to dif¬ ferent persons; but the name of the most esteemed of his friends is declared in the following closing words of his volume, PETERLOO. 621 “P.S.—I am just sending these letters to the press, and I seize the oooasion of dedicating them to you. TO JOHN GALE ESa.' STEET, NEAR DETIZES, OLD ENGLAND.” The Peterloo Massacre, 1819. But while a portion of Mr. Hunt’s family were thus passing their time in the soli¬ tude of American forests, he himself was engaging in the hot¬ test tumult of his life. The Wilts election of July 1819 was hardly over, in which he had again signalized himself on the nomination day at Devizes, by an unsuccessful attempt to ex¬ alt Mr. Astley at Mr. Benett’s expense, before he was solicited to preside at a monster Reform meeting to be held at Man¬ chester on Thursday 16th August. The numbers who met on that calamitous occasion have been variously stated at from 50,000 to 80,000, but no one has ever asserted that a single offensive weapon was brought upon the field. The proceedings had opened not many minutes, before this vast mass of men, women, and children, were charged by a body of cavalry, who, hewing their pathway into the centre of the crowd, took prisoners the occupants of the platform, and then made a dash at the flags and banners. The people fled so precipitately, that the field which had just before resounded with the hilarious shouts of thousands, became in ten minutes almost as silent as the grave; about ten persons being killed and nearly 400 wounded. Hunt, who himself received a ter¬ rible blow in the affray, was, together with his associates * Mr. Gale was one of the most enterprising farmers of his day. The family seem to have been long loca¬ ted in this neighbourhood. In 1675 John Gale of Stert, in eonjunction with Richard White a London attor¬ ney, bought the rectory of Westbury with the chapels of Bratton and Pilton, for j£24,000. Hoare'e Mo¬ dern Wiltshire. In 1645, during the civil war, Christopher Gale, in conjunction with John Wayland and Henry Turner, were renting Mr. Tattersall’s farm at Stapleford, when it was seized by the Parlia¬ mentary commissioners. Composi¬ tion papers. 522 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. carried to Lancaster Giaol, there to undergo an examination, lie was eventually tried at York Castle for conspiracy: but previous to that final act, he returned to Manchester on the 30th August, and was drawn in triumph, two miles by wo¬ men, and ten miles by men; Sir Charles VVolseley accom¬ panying him into the town. Whereupon the Courier exclaims, “What will Sir Francis Burdett say to his rival? He no longer enjoys the pre-eminent glory of being the only man drawn by a rabble instead of horses. He must now divide his throne or descend from it. Burdett and Hunt are the two kings of Brentford for the time being.” Burdett however shewed as yet no symptoms of jealousy. His well-known letter to the electors of Westminster on the occasion was of so inflammatory a character, that in the en¬ suing February, he was sentenced to a fine of £2000 and three months imprisonment. His constituents paid the fine by subscription. In Wiltshire, the news of the Manchester affair arrived while the electioneering combatants were still waging their more harmless contest. Wadham Locke was giving balls and entertainments to the electors of Rowde who had sup¬ ported his friend Benett. The successful candidate himself was presiding at cattle shows at Devizes, delivering after- dinner speeches in every corner of the county, and rebutting the charges of his political assailants. Here, as in other coun¬ ties, public indignation expressed itself by demanding an enquir)' into the conduct of the Manchester magistrates who had authorized the military attack. The requisition to that effect, addressed to John Long Esq. the Sheriff, was supported by Lord Arundel of Wardour, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Andover, John Cam Hobhouse, Sir Francis Burdett, Fulwar Craven, and about 360 freeholders. They boasted also that Mr. Benett, by his vote against the Seditious Meeting pre¬ vention bill, then before the House, must be regarded as favourable to their views, and by the same rule they claimed PETERLOO. 523 the adherence of the Marquis of Lansdowne and the Earl of Carnarvon. On the other hand, the Lord Lieutenant, with many clergy, and double the number of subscribers, prayed the Sheriff to reject the motion of the requisitionists, and the Sheriff accordingly refused to call a meeting. Mr. Benett’s good sense induced him to take no part in this counter-move¬ ment, as such a step might savour of revenge towards one who had so often stood in his way; and though in his maiden speech in the House (above alluded to) he could not refrain from dealing a back-handed blow against “ demagogues,” he hesitated not to attribute the discontent of the people to de¬ lay in granting Reform, and to the depressed state of wages. During Hunt’s trial in York Castle, the observations are interesting which were made by an intelligent spectator, who from his connexion in early life with the family of Beach of Netheravon, and consequent residence near the Hunts, was no doubt well acquainted with the career of the Orator. This was the Rev. Sydney Smith, at that time living in one of the Northern counties. His indignation had been greatly roused by the Peterloo onslaught, but he was yet so far from hold¬ ing Mr. Hunt in any esteem, that, in a letter to Earl Grey (15th April), he styles him “a ruffian,” and expresses the hope that he will get six years imprisonment. He took care to attend the whole of the trial, which lasted several days, and what he saw of the prisoner seems gradually to have softened his unfavourable pre-disposition. Writing to his friend Edward Davenport Esq. he says “I heard Hunt at York, and was much struck with his boldness, dexterity, and shrewdness. Without any education at all, he is the most powerful barrister this day on the Northern circuit. Of course, I do not mean, the best instructed, but the man best calculated by nature for that sort of intellectual exertion.” Another of Sydney Smith’s remarks, to Earl Grey, is “Bailey told Tierney that Hunt would have been acquitted if he had called no witnesses.” 624 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Hunt’s sentence was two j^ears and a half in Ilchester gaol, where his ancestor Colonel Thomas Hunt lay in 1654 (See page 286), besides finding heavy sureties. Here he wrote his Memoirs, and issued periodical manifestoes to remind the public of his claims. His confinement however was so rigo¬ rous and the dungeon so unhealthy, that his complaints on this score, combined with certain exposures which he made to the Government as to the mismanagement of the establish¬ ment, issued in a commission being entrusted to Mr. Estcourt the member for Devizes and two other gentlemen, by whose recommendation, the system was ameliorated and the Gover¬ nor changed. He addressed a letter (12th Feb. 1821) to Mrs. Fiy, so well known for her sympathy with distressed prisoners and captives, reminding her that several of his own relations, including his maternal uncle William Powell of Nursteed, were Quakers; but principally claiming her notice on the ground of a young lady, named Churchill, belonging to the Society of Friends, then lying in the same prison with himself, and incarcerated in a stone dungeon for failing to meet a bond of £125 to which she was pledged in behalf of a brother. Mrs. Fry immediately posted to Ilchester, re¬ leased the bond, and carried oflPher friend. Mr. Hunt’s own political allies now commenced a general subscription for him. The memorial from Devizes, resembling in substance those from many other parts of the kingdom, and accompanied with a donation of £12 8s. was sent in August 1822. Attempts were made at various times by Burdett, Hume and Wilson to obtain an alleviation of his sentence, but the Government of the day refused to relent, and Mr. Hunt slept out, as he tells us, his 898th [night in “ Ilchester Bas- tile.” [The building is now destroyed.] Some of our readers may perhaps think that Henry Hunt has occupied too large a space in these pages. For their relief then, we will bring his career to a close, by simply stating that, having returned in triumph to London he successfully contested in GEORGE IV. 525 December 1830, the borough of Preston against Lord Stan¬ ley [the present Earl of Derby,] at that time a member of Lord Grey’s Reform Cabinet, and continued to represent that place till the Derby influence unseated him in 1832. In February 1835, when stepping from his phaeton at Alresford, during a journey towards the West of England, he was sei¬ zed with paralysis, and expired three weeks afterwards. He lies buried at Parham. George IV. 29th January 1820. At the general election in March, the candidates for the Borough were the late members Mr. Estcourt and Mr. Pearse, and Mr. Locke of Rowde-Ford: and though the electors at that period were confined to the Mayor, Corporation, and one Free Burgess, yet so much did the personal qualifications of Mr. Locke outweigh in the estimation of the Devizes public the pretensions of Mr. Pearse, that it was for some time con¬ fidently anticipated that external pressure would for once prevail in favour of their townsman. But Mr. Locke had yet to bide his time, for eleven years. Only twenty-five votes were recorded, and these were sufficient to secure the return of the former members. In the county of Wilts, the Hon. William Long Wellesley withdrew, on the score of ex¬ pense, from a representation which he had held only three years, and John Benett and John Dugdale Astley were re¬ turned without a contest. Mr. Wellesley in returning thanks to the electors, identified his own supporters with the heroes who had secured the independence of the county in 1772;— a mere play upon words; for the state of parties had, since that distant period, become so completel 3 M’evolutionized, that no parallel of this sort was capable of being sustained. See page 431. Improvement Act. The Act under which the town is still regulated, for paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and im¬ proving the Borough of Devizes, received the royal assent 526 HlSTOllY OF DEVIZES. 22nd June 1825. The execution of its provisions was com¬ mitted to 110 resident commissioners, including the Mayor and Burgesses. The expenses of procuring the Act were paid by the borough members Mr. Estcourt and Mr. Pearse, who also presented £1000 each towards the undertaking; and on the resignation of Mr. Estcourt in 1826, his successor Mr. Watson Taylor presented another sum of £1000; the like amount was further raised from the inhabitants them¬ selves by voluntary contributions. With so prosperous an inauguration, the aflPair went forward with alacrit}^. The Borough was paved throughout, and the carriage-roads either pitched or macadamized. The streets were lighted with gas; and new culverts for drainage were laid down under nearly every street, communicating with the ancient sewers; a series of improvements, which, together with others of a minor nature, speedily had the effect of increasing the trade of the town, and of greatly enhancing the value of the Borough property. The town, in short, received a remarkable stimu¬ lus during the ensuing fifteen years, which was also the period when the municipal Reform came into operation, and though it was subsequently in a state of comparative depres¬ sion, for a few years, yet its general condition has been much improved. The Election of 1826. Mr. Estcourt having resigned the representation of the Borough, in order to stand for Ox¬ ford University, George Watson Taylor, then member for East Looe, took his place at Devizes. The new M.P. in one respect, differed widely from his predecessors; he was a poet. It was therefore very suitable that Thomas Moore should join the election dinner party. His Diary thus records the event. “1st March 1826. Dined with the Mayor and Corporation of Devizes, to celebrate Watson Taylor’s election. My health drunk with much ap¬ plause. Made a speech which had a good effect. Said that, some years since, staunch Whig as I was, I should have felt myself mispilaced in that company, but that at present, under a Ministry who by the liberality of their government at home and the truly English front which they TOM MOORE AND WATSON TAYI,OR 627 presented to the other nations of the world, had conciliated the suffrages of liberal men of all parties; the partition between Whig and Tory, if not removed, was considerably diminished. If there does exist any wall between us, it is like that which of old separated Pyramus and Thisbe; there has been made a hole in it, through which we can converse freely, and even sometimes, as we see in the Houses of Parliament, make love to each other. William Salmon afterwards applied this very skilfully. Speaking of Watson Taylor, he said, ‘He would be the last man to nar¬ row that hole which, according to his friend Mr. Moore’s beautiful illustration, had been opened between [them].’ Watson Taylor told me a parody he had lately made with reference to Crabbe, Bowles, and my¬ self, as the three poets of Wiltshire.” “Three poets, at three different ages born, Wilts’ happy county did at once adorn. The first in energy of thought surpassed; The next in tenderness; in both the last. The force of nature could no farther go. To make one Mooee, she joined the other two.”* The elder Mr. Salmon (mentioned in the above passage) died on the 12th October following, aged 78; and a decora¬ tive monument, designed by Baily, was soon after erected to his memory in St. John’s Church. He had for some time resided at Southbroom Park, where he was succeeded by his son William Wroughton Salmon Esq. About a year before Mr. Salmon’s death, a considerable addition was made to the list of gentlemen composing the corporation, whose number had for some time sunk below the standard recognised by the charters of James and Charles, which required 36 capital burgesses, including the Mayor and Recorder, to form the common council. The new bur¬ gesses were elected and sworn in on the 1st of August 1825; but discovering that a defective number [only 18] of the common council on that occasion vitiated their election, they * “Occasional poems” containing was written in 1794. to arouse the two dramas, in two vols. 12mowcre anti-Gallic ardour of the hour. It privately printed in 1830 for G.W.T. was perused in manuscriptby George prefaced by a good portrait of the III., at whose request it was per- author, painted by G. Sanders, en- formed the next year at Covent Gar- graved by Ed. Scriven. Oneofthese den under the title of ^'England dramas, called “ The pla}'of Henry Preserved." III. or the expulsion of the French.” 528 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. disclaimed auy corporate power, till the presence on the 8th of October of a legal number of that council, that is to say, of a majority of the 36, enabled them to enter upon their office by a new and good election. Mr. Salmon died in October 1826; and it was soon after this, we believe, that Mr. James Tilby a Devizes attornej' determined to test the stability of the corporation by an appeal to their charters. On the 27th I^ovember 1827, a case. The King v. Headly and others, was argued in the Court of King’s Bench, before Mr. Justice Bayley, Mr. Justice Holroyd, and Mr. Justice Littledale; the Attorne 3 "-General shewing cause against a Rule calling on certain individuals named therein to shew cause why a Quo Warranto should not be exhibited against them to shew by what authority they severally exercised the office of chief or capital burgesses of Devizes from 1st August 1825 to 8th October in the same year, and by what authority they now claimed to exercise the said office. The point raised was, whether, when a charter gave the elective power to a body by its general name, which body consisted of two distinct classes, a majority of each of those bodies was required to be present; or whether a majority of the whole body, no matter how composed, was sufficient. It was admitted that in certain other cases, wherein “a Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses,” were definitively provided, it had been held by the Court, that as all the three ingredients were essential, each should be represented by its respective major¬ ity, in order to form a good council. In the case of Devizes, twelve of the thirty-six capital burgesses bore the title of “Capital Burgesses Councillors;” and had those cited cases been applicable here, there should be present at least seven of the superior class, and thirteen to represent the remaining twenty-four. It was true that the twelve were the class from which the Mayor, Recorder, and Justices of the two Courts of Borough Quarter Sessions and Record could alone be selected: still the charter did not call them “ Aldermen,” nor did it WATSON TAYLOR. 529 make any distinction of classes when it declared that the common council consisted of all the Capital Burgesses. It was argued therefore that, in Devizes, any nineteen Capital Burgesses, being a majority of the thirty-six, without refer¬ ence to classification, made a good council. Around this point, the learned disputation of several wigs rotated, till in the end, the Rule was discharged, without costs. Whatever interest the question possessed at that time, it was soon to bo merged in the absorbent measure of Reform, reducing to one uniform standard the anomalous varieties of all the boroughs of England; and need not therefore be further in¬ vestigated.* In respect of the few noticeable facts connected with De¬ vizes from this period till the passing of the Reform Bill, especially that of the Princess Victoria’s visit, it is presumed that a more appropriate vehicle of information cannot be se¬ lected than in the form of a few additional extracts from the Diary of Mr. Moore, who himself bore so prominent a part in the welcome given to Her Royal Highness. “11 Feb. 1826. A note from Locke, asking us to meet, according to promise, the Bishop of Bath and Wells at dinner on Monday. 13th went over to Locke’s and dressed there: company besides the Bishop, the Bouveries, Edmonston, Jerry Awdry, Mr. Paley (son to the celebrated Paley.) The Bishop civil and good-humoured. “22 April. Colonel Napier arrived to look at Bromham House: an able man: is employed in writing an account of the campaigns in the Peninsula. . . He liked Battle House very much; and if Dr. Starky is agreeable, will take it. “14 August 1827. Went to a great fete (Bessy and I) at Watson Tay¬ lor’s, Erlestoke Park: more than 600 people there: the grounds very beautiful, and the arrangements very good. A drenching rain came on just as we were coming away, and the delay and confusion were beyond anything 1 ever saw. “4 November. At dinner at Bowood: no one but us three. Lord and Lady L. and myself. ... In talking of the close rapprochement ' The Corporation of Devizes had the question turned on the election already once before been before the of corporate ofticers, and had no re- Court of King’s Bench, namely in spect to the election of Capital Bur- the reign of Queen Anne; but then gesses Councillors. LL 530 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. which long-lived individuals establish between distant periods of his¬ tory, [Lord Lansdowne] said, as an instance, that he himself had been acquainted with Sir Edward Baynton, who knew Sir Stephen Fox, who had been on the scaffold with Charles I. “26 December. Walked into Devizes to get some money. Called upon Dr. Brabant. Found, when I returned, that Lord John Russell, Kerry, and Keppel, had been while I was out. “ 7 February 1828. Went with Bessy to the jeweller’s to buy a pre¬ sent for Dr. Brabant’s daughter: bought a locket; four guineas and a half. As Dr. Brabant will not take any fees, I must at least try to shew that we are grateful. [Dr. B. had attended Mrs. M,] “ 10 April. Went with Rogers to Devizes, to attend the meeting of the Friendly Societies. Met there Methuen and Hobhouse. Methuen pro¬ posed that I should go back with him to Corsham, which I agreed to. Bowles (between whom, by the by, and Hobhouse, there was a peace making to-day, both shaking hands) told me that the house near Devizes with the ridiculous image of Apollo in the garden, is always pointed out by the stage coachmen as mine; the passengers exclaiming “And an Apollo in the garden ; how very appropriate.” [This was Prospect House, the residence of Mr. Banister, now occupied by Mr. Crowe.] “29 June. Walked into Devizes, to the Mayor’s (Hughes’) dinner. My health drunk with great applause: made a speech which seemed to amuse them: slept at Hughes’s. “11 October. Set off [from Bath] for Devizes at one o’clock, with Watson Taylor and Salmon, in W. S.’s carriage. Our conversation on the way interesting, as being about the events of ’98 in Ireland, when Watson Taylor was secretary to Lord Camden. . . William Salmon not a little edified by our conversation. Found now for the first time that Watson Taylor was the author of the words of the celebrated “Crop¬ pies lie down,” a song to the tune of which more blood has been shed than often falls to the lot of lyrical productions.” [The beginning of the year 1829 was clouded by the illness and death of Anastasia, the remaining daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moore, an event which elicited the sympathies of a large circle in Devizes.] “20 October 1830. Have been invited to Watson Taylor’s to meet the Duchess of Kent and young Victoria.—23rd. Walked into Devizes, Watson Taylor having fixed for me to be there at three, to be taken by him to Erlestoke. Got to Erlestoke about four. Rather amused with being behind the scenes to see the fuss of preparation for a Royal recep¬ tion. About half-past five the Duchess and Princess arrived: found that Sir J. Conroy their attendant was an old acquaintance of mine. No guests to day at dinner but myself, Lady Theodosia Hall, and Fisher the Duchess’s chaplain; this being a private day. Music in the evening. The Duchess sang a duet or two with the Princess Victoria, and several very pretty German songs by herself. One or two by Weber and Hum¬ mel particularly pretty; and her manner of singing just what a Lady’s ought to be: no attempts at bravura or graces, but all simplicity and ex- THE REFORM BILL. 631 pressiou. I also sang several songs, with which her Royal Highness was pleased to be pleased. Evidently very fond of music; and would have gone on singing much longer, if there had not been rather premature pre¬ parations for bed. 24th. After breakfast, proceeded to the little church on Watson Tay¬ lor’s ground. The morning very line, and the groups waiting under the shade of the trees for the arrival of the two carriages with the Royal Ladies, made a very pretty picture. Sat in the same pew with their Royal Highnesses. . . Large party at dinner; Lord and Lady Sid- mouth, the Members for Devizes and the County, the Mayor, &c. None of the ladies of the neighbourhood asked, from the invidious difficulty, of course, of making a selection. Great anxiety for music in the evening, but the Duchess very prudently (it being Sunday), and very much to my satisfaction, protested against it. 25th. After breakfast, the Duchess expressed a wash for a little more music, and she and the Princess and myself sang a good deal. The Duchess sang over throe or four times with me “ Go where glory waits thee," pronouncing the words very prettily, and altogether singing it more to my taste than any one 1 ever found. Repeated also her pretty German songs, and very graciously promised me copies of them, having intimated how much she should like to have copies of those songs I had sung for her. At two, their Royal Highnesses took their leave for Salis¬ bury; and 1 soon after departed for Devizes, on my way to Locke’s where Bessy was to meet me, to pass a few days.” [For further account of this visit of the Princess, refer to page 453.] “ July 1831. Found oui- dear Russell returned from school [at Marl¬ borough] on my arrival. Made a party of children to go and dine on the top of Roundway Hill; had a most delicious day of it: Bessy, Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Napier, and myself, being the only elders of the party. “28 July 1832. To Watson Taylor’s sale. 29th. A curious journal of Sir Edward Baynton’s has fallen into Salmon’s hands, of wdiich I glanced through a fow pages. . . . dinner hours of people of rank at that time (1740 or so) from three to four o’clock. “23 Sept. Bowles has been writing a most twaddling answer to my tythe-squib, which has appeared in the Devizes paper. William IV. 26tii June 1830. The King on his accession found the Wellington Min¬ istry in power, and manifested no particular desire to unseat them; but the French Revolution which drove Charles X. to our shores occurring just before the English elections came on, re-awoke in this country the old cry for Parliamentary and Fiscal Reform, and gave a decidedly anti-Ministcrial character to the returns. In Devizes, ]\Ir. Locke renewed I,L 2 532 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the attempt of 1820; and constituted, in opposition to Wil¬ liam Wroughton Salmon and the two former members, a fourth candidate; Mr. Salmon’s nomination being an expedi¬ ent adopted with a view to secure the seat of Mr. Pearse, in case of petition, as he was at the time an army contractor. Thirty burgesses voted, and returned Pearse and-Taylor; nor did any change take place in the county’s representation. In the borough of Caine, Thomas Babington Macaulay [now Lord Macaulay] commenced his political career, as the nomi¬ nee of Lord Lansdowne. Lord Grey’s Cabinet was announced on 22nd November 1830, and it was soon known that a comprehensive scheme of Reform was in preparation. In January 1831, forty householders of Devizes joined in a requisition to John North Esq. the Mayor, to call a meeting in support of the new Ministry, but that gentleman deeming it premature, the peo¬ ple called it themselves, in the names of Benjamin Anstie, John Fowler, James Tilby, T. J. Heard, Henry Saunders, Robert Waylen, John Armstrong, James Bullock, Joseph Randell, George Giddings, Paul Anstie, and J. W. Wall, to meet at the Bear on Wednesday the 2nd of February. Mr. Locke declining the chair, it was filled by Mr. Waylen. A petition was drawn up, descriptive of the then state of the Devizes Corporation, and declarative of the petitioners’ at¬ tachment to the new Ministry; and this preliminary step was soon after followed up by a request that Mr. Locke would again come forward, in the event of the Bill passing. Mr. Locke replied as follows :— To Robert Waylen Esq. “Rowcle-Ford House, 29 March 1831. “Sir. I beg to express my best acknowledgments to you, and through you to the other gentlemen who have done me the honour to invite me to become a candidate to represent Devizes, in the event of the Bill now before Parliament for Reform being carried into a law. It is impossible for me not to feel highly gratified by such a compliment from so many respectable gentlemen, to whom my character and conduct are well known; and although I have long given up every idea and wish of ob- THE REFORM BILL. 533 taiuing a seat in Parliament; yet, should the elective franchise be ex¬ tended as I trust it will be, and the inhabitants of Devizes obtain their just rights, I cannot refuse an application so handsomely made to me, but shall be ready to exert my best endeavours to serve my native town. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged and faithful servant, “Wad. Locke.” Having thus described the opening scene of the drama of Reform in Devizes, it is not our intention to revive all the episodes which gave a passing interest to that tumultuous exhibition : but the county meeting in this town, consequent on the rejection of the Bill by the Lords, must not be over¬ looked. It took place on the 28th October, on and around a hustings erected in the Market-place, where the Sheriff Paul Methuen Esq. presided ; and was composed, so says the Devizes Gazette, “of a more respectable class of persons than any for¬ mer Wilts county meeting within recollection.” As the ob¬ ject of the meeting was to pray the King to continue his confidence in his present Ministers, Lord Lansdowne as being one of those Ministers, could not of course attend; but this in no sense abated the enthusiasm of the occasion. The Earl of Suffolk deprecated the blind obstinacy of the order to which he belonged; Fulwar Craven was for ejecting the Bishops from the Upper House; and Sir Alexander Malet, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to stand for Marlborough, made full reprizals on the enemy who had silenced him on his own ground. Before the force of public opinion every opposition now went rapidly down. The two Wilts county members gave their unequivocal adhesion to the new Bill,* and Reformers * Shortly before the county meet- the vote of thanks which you for- ing, they had thus addressed the warded to me a short time since, chairman of the previous borough that my public conduct has been in meeting. unison with the views and wishes of To Robert Waylen Esq. so large and respectable a number of “ London 25 October 18.31. my friends at Devizes, I request you “My Dear Sir. It is exceed- to communicate to them my grate- ingly gratifying to me to learn by ful acknowledgments for this much 534 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. were even to be counted in the Corporation of Devizes. The Ministerial measure (with some modifications) received the Royal assent on the 7th June 1832; and the new constitu¬ ency of England prepared to return a new Parliament. The nomination for Devizes was fixed by the Mayor, Thomas Biggs Esq. for the 10th December 1832. Wadham Locke of Rowde- Ford was proposed by Dr. Headley, seconded by Robert Waylen; Montague Gore of Tilshead was proposed by Wil¬ liam Hughes, seconded by Benjamin Anstie; Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Durham was proposed by Captain Taylor, seconded by John Hayward. At the end of the first hour’s polling, the numbers were, Locke 193, Gore 158, Dur¬ ham 84, when the Admiral resigned the contest. In North Wilts, where the candidates were Paul Methuen, Sir John Dugdale Astley, and John Edridge, the two former were elected. The borough constituency was now the £10 householders residing within seven miles. That of the counties, formerly restricted to freeholders, now embraced copyholders of £10 per annum, lessees of £10 if for not less than sixty years, or of £50 if not less than twenty years, and £50 tenants at will. Wiltshire as a county was divided into two sections, but lost seven boroughs, viz. Great Bedwyn, Downton, Heytesbury, Hindon, Ludgershall, Old Sarum, and Wotton Bassett. Four were allowed to return one member each, Caine, Malmesbury, Westbury, and Wilton. The limits of other boroughs were valued mark of their kindness; and I assure you, my dear Sir, that not only the vote of my friends, but the manner also in which it has been conveyed to me by yourself will never be effaced from my mind. I hope to meet you on Friday next at Devizes; and am, my dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, “JouN Benett.” To Robert Waylen Esq, “Everleigh House 4 October 1831. “ Sir. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind communication, conveying to me the approbation of the meeting at which you so ably presided: and to assure you that I very highly value the approbation you have done me the honour to convey. Tour obedient servant, J. D. Astley.” NEW BOROUGH BOUNDARIES. 535 enlarged. The new boundary line of Devizes was made to embrace “The old borough of Devizes, including the respective parishes of St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also so much of the chapelry of St. James and of the parish of Rowde as lies between the boundary of the old borough and the following boundary, that is to say : from the point at which the boundary of the parish of St. John would be cut by a straight line drawn from the Dairy farm house on the Chi])pen- ham road, called the Ox-house, to the round Tower of the new County Bridewell, in a straight line to the Ox-house ; thence in a straight line to the house called Brow-Cottage : thence in a straight line to the point at which the towing-path of the Kennet and Avon Canal meets Dye-house lane; thence eastward along the towing-path to the point where the Canal turns northward near the bridge on the London road ; thence in a straight line drawn due east to a point one hundred yards distant; thence in a straight line to a house on the Salisbury road, at the south-west angle of Southbroom park, called the Half Moon house; thence in a straight line to the southernmost point at which Gallows-acre lane is met by the boundary of St. John’s parish.” “ Division of the Wards. No. 1 or North Ward, contains so much of the borough as lies to the north of the following line, that is to say, from the point at which the Salisbury road crosses the boundary of the borough, northward along the Salisbury road to the point at which the same meets Sidmouth street; thence along Sidmouth street to the point at which the same meets the boundary of the parish of St. Mary: thence northward along that boundary to the point at which the same meets the south-eastern boundaiy wall of the churchyard of St. Mary: thence west¬ ward along the said boundary wall to the point at which the same meets Monday-market street: thence in a straight line to the eastern end of the Brittox: thence along the Brittox to the point at which the same meets Wine street: thence along Wine street to the point at which the same meets St. John’s street: thence northward along St. John’s street to the point at which the same meets Castle lane: thence along Castle lane to the western end thereof: thence in a straight line to the old tower on Castle mound: thence in a straight line to Marsh bridge in Marsh lane. No. 2, or South Ward, contains so much of the borough as lies to the south of the line just described.” The first Aldermen chosen were, for the North Ward, Dr. Brabant, John William Wall, and Robert Waylen: for the South Ward, Thomas James Heard, William Cunnington, and Richard Biggs. The number of registered voters was 315. The borough officers were. Town Clerk, William Salmon:— Recorder, W H. Ludlow Bruges: — Treasurer, William Hughes :—Chamberlains, Paul Anstie and William Tanner : 536 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. —Clerk to the Peace, William Salmon:—Clerk to the Jus¬ tices, George Anstie :—Coroner, Charles Felix Sartain. Be¬ yond this brief chronicle of local changes, it has not been thought necessary to enlarge upon the provisions either of the Reform Bill, or of its rider the Municipal Corporations Act, which regulate alike the boroughs of England. The period when the public mind was agitated by Parlia¬ mentary Reform, witnessed also the devastations of the Cho¬ lera Morbus; and a formidable, agrarian outbreak, directed principally against thrashing machines. The emancipation of British West Indian slaves was another subject of the hour. As a focus of county politics. Devizes had already been long conspicuous: on the slavery question it now be¬ came the centre of a movement far less restricted. We be¬ lieve at least that the meeting in this town in 1830 of the Bristol Association of Baptist churches was the first occasion on which a formal Resolution embodied the principle, “That unabating advocacy of the total extinction of negro-slavery is an essential element of Christian Missions.” Robert Hall, the eminent Divine, was present. 1834. The County Court having long been confined to Devizes, its advantages were nugatory as respected so distant a community as Salisbury. A new County Court was there¬ fore opened in that city in April, for the recovery of debts under forty shillings. M. D. Whitmarsh was the clerk ap¬ pointed by the Sheriff. Erection of County Assize Courts at Devizes. 1835. “ Whilst we [the county magistrates] act as the guardians of the public purse, let us remember that we are in no less degree the protectors of the public rights: and there is no right which the public hold by a more ancient title, or which is more valuable, than that which secures to them the effici¬ ent administration of justice.” Speech of Ludlow Bruges Esq. at the Wilts Quarter Sessions, October 1836. NEW ASSIZE COURTS. 537 The selection of spots for the holding of County Assizes seems, during the middle ages, to have been very much in the hands of the Judges themselves. Though public conve¬ nience no doubt required the accommodation of large towns on such occasions, yet from some cause, not now very clear, an opposite practice seems to have become a public grievance as early as the time of Richard II. In 1382, the Commons pray that whereas several Judges of Assize and Deliverance frequently hold their sessions in the most distant parts of the counties [les plids loyntismes lieux des coimtees~\ to the great in¬ convenience of the inhabitants: may it please the King to ordain that henceforth all Assizes and Deliverances shall take place in the principal towns of the said counties, and no otherwhere. Response. The King wills it. Rolls of Parlia¬ ment, hi. 139. In former times, the expense of travelling far to a Court of Justice must have been severely felt; and though long habit reconciled the people of Wiltshire to an inconvenience which seemed immoveable, there were not wanting, from time to time, symptoms of a disposition to centralize the business of the county. Hence, during the Commonwealth, it was resolved that the County Court should in future be hold at Devizes. Hence also arose the attempt in 1695 (re¬ corded at page 357) to shift the polling place from Wilton to this town. It is also observable that the records of King William III.’s assessors, more than once begin with these words, “At a general meeting of the Commissioners for the county of Wilts, held at the Devizes, the most usual and com¬ mon place of meeting within the said county, &c.while a still earlier illustration of the Metropolitan character which Devizes bore in the county, is contained in the letter printed at page 458, plainly indicating the priority in date of the county gaol in Devizes to that of Fisherton. So much for the mediceval feeling on the subject. To what extent the general rule of holding the Wilts Assizes at Salisbury wa^ 538 HISTOKY OF DEVIZES. occasionally allowed to depend on circumstances, cannot now perhaps be fully ascertained. There is at least no modern de¬ viation from it, except in the year 1765, when the Assizes were held both at Salisbury and at Devizes; see the Annual Register viii. 81, where the fact is stated without comment. Though we are now in the habit of regarding the visit of the Crown Judges as a distinction which the citizens of any place would naturally desire to retain, yet possibly it was far less valued at a time in the history of England when cities and boroughs stood more upon their own independence. We know, for instance, that the authorities at Marlborough sought in 1719 to exclude the County Quarter Sessions from their Municipal Court; and a similar junto, even in Salis¬ bury, had in 1658 resisted the High Sheriff’s requisition to furnish a house for the entertainment of the Assize Judges, alleging “ that it had never been the usage of that city to defray the charges thereof.” Hatcher's Salisbury. At the Wilts Quarter Sessions held at Marlborough in October 1836 by an unusually full bench of Magistrates, two very important matters came under consideration. The first was, Mr. Estcourt’s unexpected announcement of his wish to resign the post of chairman of the Marlborough and Devizes divisions, which he had so creditably filled for thirty years. The other was an explanation furnished by Mr. Ludlow Bruges of the measures by which one of the Assizes had been trans¬ ferred from Salisbury to Devizes. The general Act 3rd and 4th William IV. on which it was based, empowering the Crown to appoint more suitable places for Assizes, where necessary, had been passed in 1833. At the Wilts Quarter Sessions following that event, Mr. Methuen suggested to Mr. Ludlow Bruges that this county clearly lay within the scope of the Act. Mr. Bruges set to work, and shortly obtained the signatures of 3000 persons, including a majority of the magistrates, whose memorial to the King in Council, resulted in an order directing the removal of the Wilts Spring Assizes. QUKEN VICTOKIA. 539 £6350 was thereupon subscribed towards building new Courts at Devizes. Their erection, including purchase of ground, had cost £7157, and it was now proposed that the remaining £807 should be raised by a county rate, and the building be conveyed to the county. From this rate the people of Salis¬ bury would be exempt, by virtue of their having formerly provided Courts in their own city, an act which was allowed to free them from county expenses. On a shew of hands, 37 appeared in favour of Mr. Ludlow Bruges’ motion, and 12 against it. The first occasion on which, in consequence of the new ar¬ rangement, tho county Assizes were held at Devizes was in August 1835, when they were taken the last on the Western Circuit. Mr. Carrington of Ogbourn has recently drawn at¬ tention to the fact that the arms sculptured over the new Courts, are not those of the county, but of the city of Salis¬ bury : there being no registered arms for the county of Wilts. Queen Victoria. June 20th 1837. In the formation of the new Parliament under Lord Melbourne’s administration. North Wilts again became the scene of a contested election. Sir Francis Burdett, who declined risking an appeal to his ancient constituents, in whose eyes he was no longer “Old Glory” or “the Pride of Westminster, ” actually invoked the conservatism of North Wilts, and with his usual dash and vigour, unseated Paul Methuen by a majority of nearly 500 ; the numbers being for Burdett 2365, for Walter Long 2197, for Methuen 1876. In the borough of Devizes, Mr. Sotheron Estcourt was re¬ turned as a Tory, while the Whig interest was represented by Captain Dundas : both in the previous Parliament. The Chartists at Devizes. Queen Victoria’s speech at the opening of the Session 1839, contained the expression of a regret that the people in various parts of the country had 540 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. been excited to dangerous and illegal practices. This bore reference to the advocacy of what was called “ The People’s Charter,” an explosive manifesto which had first been made at Birmingham in the previous year. In April, Henry Vin¬ cent and others, as deputies from the London Chartists, came into Wiltshire, and having organised a large body, princi¬ pally of Trowbridge operatives, marched on to Devizes and commenced the publication of their views in the Market-place. They had hardly opened proceedings, before they were assailed right and left by a furious mob armed with sticks, and in a few minutes were utterly broken and scattered; the persons of the principal speakers were roughly handled, and the wag¬ gon from which they had spoken was knocked to shivers. The people’s charter, so far as Devizes was concerned, was at once and for ever snufied out. Vincent, together with some others was soon after imprisoned; but sittings meanwhile continued to be held in London, and in the following November, a really formidable demonstration was made at Newport in Monmouth¬ shire, where 4000 armed men led on by Mr. Frost (a magis¬ trate who had been nominated by Lord John Russell) entered the town and came into collision with the military. Frost, Williams, and Jones, the ringleaders were condemned to the punishment of high treason, and would undoubtedly have suffered the bloody sentence, had not the approaching marri¬ age of the young Queen occasioned the substitution of per¬ petual banishment. But though the popular discontent, as the result of commercial depression and scanty harvests, had now received its death blow in the particular form of “ the People’s Charter,” it was already re-organizing itself in a society bearing the title of the Anti-Corn-Law-League, and headed by one of Oliver Cromwell’s most illustrious descen¬ dants, the Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, who annually brought forward his motion for the total repeal of the bill of 1815. The result is well known. The year 1844 witnessed the death of two individuals well DEATH OF THOMAS MOORE. 541 known to the people of Devizes. These were Sir Francis Burdett M.P. for North Wilts, and Viscount Sidmouth the venerable Recorder of our borough. Lord Sidmouth had long retired into private life, having in 1822 resigned (in favour of Mr. Peel) the office of Home Secretary which he held under the Liverpool administration from 1812. Ke was succeeded in hie honours by his son, the Hon. and Rev. William Leonard Addington, rector of Poole in Wilts. One of his lordship’s daughters became the wife of George Pellew, Dean of Norwich (3rd son of Lord Exmouth the conqueror of Algiers,) whose courteous assistance in the present work has already been acknowledged at page 464. In the Recordership of Devizes, Lord Sidmouth was succeeded by his kinsman the late Mr. Estcourt, of New Park. The Sheriff for the county in 1843 was Henry Stephen Olivier Esq. of Potterne :—for 1847 Wadham Locke Esq. of Ashton Giffard;—for 1849 Robert Parry Nisbet Esq. of Southbroom Park, Devizes:—for 1855 Simon Watson Taylor Esq. of Erchfont. In October 1844 Mr. R. Falkner of the Devizes Bank came into possession of an ancient Torque of solid gold, weighing 21 oz. Troy, found by a flint digger on the ridge of the Can¬ nings Downs. A wood cut accompanied its description in the Devizes Gazette. The Death of Thomas Moore. The latter years of the Bromham Lyrist were clouded by mental decay; but he appears never to have entirely lost the memory of his friends, or the love of song. The last time that his friend Lord John Russell saw him, on the 20th of December 1849, he spoke rationally, agreeably, and kindly ; but the death of his chil¬ dren had already saddened his heart and obscured his intel¬ lect. “As we left his house” continues his biographer, “Lord Lansdowne remarked that he had not seen him so well for a long time; but that very evening he had a fit, from the effects of which he never recovered; and on the 26th of Feb- 542 HISTORY OF OEVIZKS. ruary 1852 he expired calmly and without pain, at ISlupertoii Cottage, in his 70th year. His bod}^ was interred within the neighbouring churchyard of Bromhain, where the remains of two of his children had been deposit¬ ed. The fune¬ ral was quite private.” The house at Slop- erton is still occupied by his widow; re- spectingwhom the following extract may be added from the Biography superintended The Grave of Thomas Moore. pOet S friend and executor, Lord John Russell. “The literary works of which Mr. Moore was the author had yielded him considerable sums for copyright—not less in the whole, he says in the ninth vol. of his Diary, than £20,000. But these sums had all been exhausted by his yearly outgoings. He had a pension from the Crown of £300 a year, but this pension ceased with his death. As a provision for his widow, he left only his Diary and Letters; commending them to my care. I applied immediately to Mr. Longman, his publisher, who informed me that he was prepared to give £3000 for the copyright. I found that for this sum Mrs. Moore could secure an annuity for the re¬ mainder of her life not less than the income upon which she and her husband had lived frugally and quietly for the last years of his life. I therefore undertook the task, reserving to myself the power of expunging any passages I might think calculated to wound individuals, or offend the public taste.” The Attempted Reform Bill of 1852. Before the passing of Lord Grey’s Reform Bill, Wiltshire THE REFORM BILL OF 1852 . 543 sent thirty-four respresentatives to Parliament. The county is still supposed by some to exercise an undue share of influ¬ ence. In attempting to re-adjust the political balance, one of Lord John Russell’s proposals by the Bill of 1852 was to weed the Wiltshire towns out of the county constituency, and group them together after the example of several in Scotland ; in accordance with which scheme. Devizes in North Wilts was to be connected with Warminster and Heytesbury in South Wilts; Chippenham was to make a partnership with Corsham and Bradford; Caine with Melksham; and Malmesbury with Tetbury ; Westbury was to include Trow¬ bridge ; Wilton was to be magnified by the annexation of Amesbury and Downton (two mere villages); and Marlbo¬ rough was to acquire the alliance of part of Hungerford and part of Swindon. The object of uniting Devizes with two towns 20 miles distant seems very inexplicable, unless it were to try the ex¬ periment of amalgamating opposite forces. Ileytesbury was entirely possessed by the A’Court family, while Warminster was comparatively free from landlord influences. Devizes being a Conservative place, though on different grounds from Heytesbury, the Times newspaper suggested that “ there would in all probability arise a feud between Devizes and Warminster, and that the rotten borough of Heytesbury, skilfully managed and directed, would govern the political fate of both.” 544 ioiouglj ^cjjwseiitatilKs in Ijarliaiivtiit. TN early times, cities and boroughs were more anxious to secure independent existence and freedom of trade, than to enjoy the expensive honor of being represented at the great national councils, where their humble deputies, generally chosen from among themselves, would hardly expect to ob¬ tain a hearing. The monasteries, it is true, were well repre¬ sented by a batch of lord abbats; but the municipal claim is supposed to have been first organized by Simon de Montford Earl of Leicester, as an agency to be worked against his Court rivals, in the reign of Henry III. The burgesses thus sent, were paid by their brethren, two shillings a day for their services; even so late as the time of James I. the De¬ vizes books furnish entries such as £10 for John Kent’s charges as representative burgess in 1621:—“more for his expenses and books 55s.” “1624, Charges of burgesses in Parliament, from 9th Feb. to 29th May £18.” It appears also that in mediaeval times two other names had to be fur¬ nished by each representative as “manucaptores” or bail for the faithful performance of his duties. A form of enrolling these pledges, in the case of Devizes, is thus given in Brady’s History of Boroughs, under date 1414. “Devizes. Manucaptores Willielmi Covyntre unius bur- \ Persbore gensium ejusdem burgi electi ad Parliamentum j^ijannes Richman. preedictum. ' Manucaptores Thomse Covyntre alterius burgen- ^ sium ejusdem burgi electi ad Parliamentum Henricus Lamkyn. preedictum.” ' Devizes sent representatives to the Parliaments of Edward I., but the names are all lost. We therefore begin with the reign of Edward II. BOROUGH REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT. 545 1307. Thomas le Boclere. Thomas Auveray. 1314. (Held at York.) William Noble. Gilbert Swift. 1314. William de Codio. Hugh de Cartere, 1323. Walter Bochard. Hugh Estmond. 1325. Thomas Mumham. John Mymyng. Henry V. 1414. William Coventry. Thomas Coventry. Edward IV. 1472. Robert Neville. John Uffenhara. 1477. Ralph Banaster. John Michell. Henry VIIT. 1510. The borough representatives ehosen in the County Court. Edward VI. 1552. Thomas Hall. Marv I. 1553. William Rede. Thomas Hall. 1554. Thomas Highgate. Henry Leke. [Loke?] PuiLiP AND Mary. 1554. Thomas Hall (mayor.) Edward Haynes. 1555. Thomas Hall. James Webb. 1557. Thomas Hall. Henry Morris. Elizabeth. 1559. John Young. Edward Haynes. 1563. Edward Haynes. Hugh Powell. 1571. Edward Baynton. WiUiam Clark. 1572. George Reynolds. Henry Grubbe. 1585. ) Henry Baynton. 1586. ) Henry Brouncker. 1588. Henry [or John] Lever. John Brouncker. 1592. Henry Bajmton. Richard Mompesson. 1597. John Kent. Robert Drew. 1601. Robert Drew. George Fettiplace. James I. ! 1603. Robert Drew, i Sir Henry Baynton. j 1614. Sir Mei'vin Awdley. j Sir Carew Reynell. i 1620. Sir Henry Lee. i Johu Kent. I 1623. John Kent. Sir Edward Baynton. j Charles I. 1 1625. Edward Baynton. Robert Drew. 1626. Sir Henry Lee. Robert Long. 1628. Robert Long. Thomas Kent. 1640. William Baynton. Edward Danvers. 1640. (The Long Parliament) Edward Baynton. W. Robert Nicholas. Rep. Oliver, Protector. 1654. Edward Baynton. W. 1656. Edward Scotten. W. Richard, Protector. 1658, Edward Scotten. W. Chaloner Chute jun. W. Commonwealth restored. 1660. William Lewis. Robert Aldworth. W. John Nurden. T. Charles 11. 1661. William Yorke. W. John Kent. 1679. Sir Walter Ernie. T, Sir Edwaid Baynton. W. Georr/b Johnson. T. 1681. Sir Giles Hungerford. John Eyles. W. MM 546 HISTORY or DEVIZES. 1681. Sir Walter Ernie. T. George Johnson. James II. T. 1685. Sir John Talbot. T. Walter Grubbe. T. Convention Parliament. 1689. Walter Grubbe. T. Sir William Pynsent. W. Sir John Eyles. W. IVilliam Trenchard. William III. W. 1690. Walter Grubbe. T. John Methuen. W. Sir Thomas Fowle. T. 1695. John Methuen. W. Sir Edward Ernie Sir Francis Child. T. 1698. John Methuen. Sir Francis Child. W. 1701. Sir Francis Child. Sir Francis Merewether. 1701. Sir Francis Child. John Methuen. Green Anne. W. 1702. John Methuen. w. sir Francis Child being chosen both for London and Devizes, sat for London, and his place for Devizes seems to have been uusupplied. 1706. Vice Methuen, deceased. Josiah Diston. w. Thomas Webb (Recorder) T. 1708. Josiah Diston. w. Paul Methuen. w. Thomas Webb, (Recorder.) 1710. Sir Francis Child. Thomas Webb. T. Paul Methuen. W. Josiah Diston. W. 1713. Robert Child. T. John Nicholas. Francis Eyles, jun. T. Josiah Diston. George I. W. 1715. Josiah Diston. W. Francis Eyles jun. W. 1720. Vice Eyles, expelled the House. See page 373. Benjamin Haskin Styles. 1722. Sir Joseph Eyles. Benj. Haskin Styles, Chosen also for Caine, but sat for Devizes. George II. 1727. Benj. Haskin Styles. Captain Francis Eyles. W. 1734. Francis Eyles. W. Sir Joseph Eyles. W. 1740. Vice Sir J. Eyles, deceased. John Garth, (Recorder.) 1741. Francis Eydes. W. John Garth. 1742. Vice Eyles, Appointed Superintendent of Foun¬ dries. George Lee, L.L.D., Before in this Parliament for Brack- ley. 1747. j John Garth. 1754. ) William Willey. W. George III. 1761. John Garth. William Willey, 1765. Vice Garth, deceased. James Sutton. T. Vice Willey, deceased. Charles Garth. T. 1768. I James Sutton. T. 1774- j Charles Garth. T. 1780. Charles Garth. T. Sir James Tylney Long. T. 1780. Vice Garth, Appointed Commissioner of Excise. Henry Jones. T. 1784. Sir J. T. Long. T. Henry Addington. John Lubbock. T. 1788. Vice liOng, Who stood for the County. Joshua Smith. T. 1790. j Henry Addington. T. 1796- j Joshua Smith. T. 1802. Vice Addington, Appointed first Commissioner of the Treasury. Henry Addington. T. 1802. Henry Addington. T. Joshua Smith. T. BOROUGH REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT. 547 ] 805. Vice Addington, created Viscount Sidmouth. Thomas Grimston EstcourtT. ) Joshua Smith. T. iThos. G. Estcourt. T. 1812. ' 1818. Thos. G. B. Esteourt. T. John Pearse. T. George IV. 1820. Thos. G. B. Esteourt. T. John Pearse. T. Wadham Locke. W. 1826. Vice Esteourt, Resigned to stand for Oxford Univer¬ sity. George Watson Taylor. T. Elected also for East Looe. 1826. John Pearse. T. Geo. Watson Taylor. T. William IV. 1830. John Pearse. T. Geo. Watson Taylor. T. William Salmon. T. Wadham Locke. W. 30 voted. Mr. Salmon was proposed with a view of securing the seat of Mr. Pearse in case of petition, as he was an army contractor. 1831. John Pearse. T. Geo. Watson Taylor. T. 1832. Wadham Locke. W. 216 Montague Gore. W. 166 Sir P. C. H. Durham. T. 94 315 reg. 276 voted. 1835. Wadham Locke. W. 240 Sir Philip Durham. T. 154 Hon. P. P. Bouverie. W. 96 308 reg. 260 voted. 1835. Vice Locke, deceased. Thos. Hen. Sutton [Esteourt. T. 157 Capt. J. W. Deans Dundas. W. 145 1836. Vice Durham, resigned. Capt. Dundas. W. Queen Victoria. 1837. T. H. S. Esteourt T, Capt. Dundas. W. 1838. Vice Dundas. Capt. Dundas. W. 109 G. W. II. Ileneage. T. 102 On petition. Ileneage Vice Dundas. 211 voted. 1841. T. H. S. Sotheron. T. G. H. W. Heneage. T. 1844. Vice Sotheron. Resigned, to stand for North Wilts. W. H. Ludlow Bruges.T. 202 Christopher Temple. W 67 269 voted. 1847. G. H. Walker Heneage. T. W. H. Ludlow Bruges. T. 1848. Vice Bruges, resigned. Major Jas. Bucknall Est- court. T. 1852. Feh. G. W. Heneage. T. James B. Esteourt. T. I^^^Ig.W. Heneage. T. ( John NeUson Gladstone. T. 18oo. j 1857. Simon Watson Taylor.W. 229 Christopher Darby Griffith. [T. 158 J. N. Gladstone. T. 119 279 polled. 1859. C. D. Griffith. T. 167 J. N. Gladstone. T. 172 Simon Watson Taylor. [W. 147. 289 voted. Biography. In addition to the biographical notices which have already occurred, in passing; a few other names seem to crave at¬ tention, whether as members of Parliament for the borough, or as natives of the town and neighbourhood. These may be MM 2 548 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. suitably prefaced by a list of the freeholders in the district, extracted from “Sir Edtvard Bayntoii’s Booh,” an original manuscript of 1638, now in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, bart. Freeholders of the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings Libly Bromham of llowde Henry Bull of Marston Thomas Eatwell of Horton John Flower of Worton Thomas Grubhe of Potterne. Arm. Philip Harvest of Whistley William Hunt of Potterne John Lewes of Roundway William Lye of Potterne Roger Long of Marston Thomas Lovell of Rowde Francis Mereweather of West Lavington [ceased John Mereweather of Worton, de- William May of Marston John Renger of Potterne Francis Rooke of Potterne Richard Rooke of Potterne Arthur Sherston of Bromham Philip Smith of Potterne William Sloper of Easton William Trymnell of Potterne Thomas Weston of Horton John White of Highway W illiam Weston of Cannings (erased) William Webb of Bromham Samuel Webb of Rowde William Yorke of Devizes SWANBOROUGH HUNDRED. Osmund Amor of Easterton Richard Bayly of Etchilhampton Leonard Bishop of Easterton George Bishop jun., of Easterton William Chandler of Rushall John Cheyncy of Oare William Eyre of Wedhampton William Giddings of Erchfont Rowland Harle of IJpavon John Hayward of Cherington [Chirton] John Hayward of Upavon Thomas Harris of Great Chiverell William Harris of Imber Richard Hulbert of Imber Maurice Jervis of Allcannings William Kingston of Easterton John Lyne of Stert Richard Lavington of Stanton St. Bernard John Long of Little Chiverell Anthony Maokes of Alton Barnard [Barns] John Mereweather of Lavington Francis Mereweather of Easterton (erased) Robert Monday of Charlton J ohn Muspratt of Erchfont Robert Nicholas of Allcannings Henry Pyke of Rainscombe Roger Pinkney of Rushall John Pricktor of Easterton John Russell of Easterton Gabriel Still of Lavington Forum John Smith of Stanton St. Bernard William Springe of Eastcot (no free¬ holder) William Sloper of Easterton Francis Smith of Cherington[Chirton] William Shergoll of Easterton Francis WroughtonofWilcot. Arm. Joseph Willoughby of Market Lav¬ ington John Yerbury of Market Lavington BROUNC'KER-LEE-G RUBBE. 549 Henry Beotjnckee, of Melksham, and of Erlestoke by purchase, M.P, for Devizes in 1588, father of Sir Will. Brouncker of Erlestoke and of Sir Henry Brouncker Lord President of Munster, and other children. The Erlestoke branch long continued to reside here; but it is to be observed that the “Sir William” who fought for Charles I, and was created the first Viscount Brouncker, was not the son of the Erlestoke knight, but of Sir Henry: though it is likely enough, he gathered forces from Wilts. When King Charles, before the English war broke out, was endeavouring to force Episcopacy on the Scots, it was reported in the House, 27 April, 1640, that some of Sir William Brouncker’s troopers were captured by the Scots; and the Devizes municipal records afford abundant proof that soldiers were pressed from this neighbourhood for that unpopular expedition. Sir Henry Lee, M.P. for the borough in 1620, presumed to be tbe bar¬ onet created by James I., in 1611. The marriage on the 1st of June 1655 of his grandson Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley with Anne daughter of Sir John Danversthe Regicide, is recorded in the parish Register of West Lav- ington, where the contract took place before William Yorke a magistrate. This was during Cromwell’s Protectorate. The Devizes member seems to have been a younger cousin of Sir Henry Lee (from whom he inherited) the knight of Queen Elizabeth’s time, and the same person probably who, at the burning of Bishop Ridley, is reiiresented weeping by the stake, and receiving with other friends keepsakes from the martyr’s hand. To Sir Henry Lee the Bishop gave a new groat. See Burke’s Extinct and Dormant Baronetage, where the history of this family is quite subversive of the fabulous “Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley,” whom Sir Walter Scott represents as the incarnation of devoted royalism. Grubbe of Devizes and Potterne, and lord of the manor of Cherhill. Seat, Eastwell House near Potterne. This familj^ during the last 300 years has occupied a distinguished position in the Hundred of Potterne and Cannings; and perhaps there is no other name so often found as the basis of Devizes leases of the 17th century. It occurs also among the Sheriffs of the county and the members for the borough. For sundry notices of the Grubbe family, see the Index; the following memoranda would also have been inserted in the text, had they sooner come to hand. The first is an illustration of the compulsory-loan system. By the Queen. To our trusty and well beloved Thomas Gruhhe of the Devizes. “Trusty and weU-beloved: We greet you well:—The continual great charges which we have for the necessary defence and preservation of our dominions and subjects are so notorious as need not to be otherwise de¬ clared than may justly be conceived by all our loving subjects, being but of common imderstanding. And therefore at this present, finding cause of increase and continuance of such charges exceeding all other ordinary means, and not minding to press our subjects with an}' present free gift of money, but only to be supplied with some reasonable portion by way 650 HISTORY OF DE^aZES, of loan for one year’s space. We have made special choice of such of our loving subjects as are known to be of ability, amongst whom we account you one:—And therefore we require you by this present to lend us.the sum of Twenty pounds for the space of one year, and the same to pay unto Edward Hungerford, Esquire, by us appointed collector thereof: which we promise to repay to you or your assigns at the end of one year in the receipt of our Exchequer, upon the shewing of this privy seal sub¬ scribed by the said collector, testifying the receipt thereof. Given under our privy seal at our palace of Westminster, the 20th day of April in the 39th year of our reign. “ Thomas Kent.” [In another hand] “The time and place appointed for payment by the Council’s letters, is the 25th, 26th, and 27th of July next, at The Crown in the Devizes.” “Received, the 26th of July 1597 of Thomas Grubbe, to her Majesty’s use according to the tenour hereof, the sum of Twenty pounds above written. “Edwaeh Hungerford.” Among proceedings in Chancery of the reign of Elizabeth, occurs a case in which the Mayor and burgesses of Devizes are plaintiffs, and Henry Grubbe defendant. The object of the suit was a bill to stay pro¬ ceedings at law respecting a claim made by defendant of wages from the town for his services in Parliament, notwithstanding his promise to the contrary. In Chancery. Corporation of the Devizes against Henry Grubbe, 29th April 1578. [Shuckburgh.] To the night Honourable Sir Nicholas Bacon, Knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England. “Humbly complain unto your good lordship your poor and daily ora¬ tors the Mayor, burgesses, and town of the Devises in the county of Wilts:—That whereas upon the Queen’s Majesty’s writ for the summons of the Parliament to be begun and holden at Westminister the 8th day of May in the 14th year of the reign of the Queen’s Majesty that now is, directed unto the town of the Devises, one George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe, two of the said town, were chosen to be burgesses in the same Parliament for the commonalty of the said town; the said George Rey¬ nolds and Henry Grubbe upon the same their election well knowing that divers gentlemen were desirous to be burgesses for the said town which very liberally had otfered and did offer to serve for the same without any wages or allowances to be had for the same; and the said George Rey¬ nolds and Henry Grubbe well knowing the poverty and small ability of the said town, did then and there faithfully promise and take upon them that they the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe would serve as burgesses in the said Parliament for the said town without any wages, fee, reward, or allowance taking therefor. And thereupon, the Mayor of the said town then being, willed the clerk of the said town to enter into the book or register remaining in the Common Hall of the said town, the GRUBBE. 551 promise and assumption aforesaid, made by the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe. Whereupon, the same clerk, either by the sinister means of the said Henry Grubbe, or by his own negligence or mistaking, did enter into the said book that the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe, being chosen to be burgesses for the said Parliament, did pro¬ mise to take no wages or allowance for their first service in being bur¬ gesses for the said town. After, the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe served as burgesses in the said Parliament the said 14th year of the Queen’s reign; and since that again in the second session of the said Parliament in the 18th year of the Queen’s Majesty’s reign, without any demand or request of any wages, fee, or allowance therefor, at any time made by the said George Reynolds. But so it is. Right Honourable, that now of late the said Henry Grubbe having understanding in what sort the entry of that assumption and prayer [promise ?] of the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe was made into the said book, hath said and affirmed, and yet doth say and affirm, that the promise and as¬ sumption of the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe was but to serve only during the first session of the said Parliament, free, without wages, fee, or allowance; and no longer if the Parliament should happen to be prorogued; whereas in very truth the promise and assumption of the said George Reynolds and Henry Grubbe was to serve as burgesses for the said town during the time of the said Parliament then next to be holden, without any fee, wages, or allowance; without any speech or mention made of the first session. And hereupon the said Henry Grubbe hatli now of late procured divers processes to the Mayor of the said town for the levying of wages for him of the said poor town for the time of the said session of the said Parliament holden by prorogation in the said 18th year of the reign of the Queen’s Majesty, contrary to his ])romise and assumption aforesaid, and contrary to all reason, equity, and good con¬ science, In tender consideration whereof, and forasmuch as your said orators have no ordinary remedy by the course of the common law^s of this realm to compel the said Henry Grubbe to perform his promise aforesaid, nor to eompel him to leave off his suit for the recovery of his wages and al¬ lowance which now he demandeth and sueth for so eagerly by process:— May it please your good lordship to grant the Queen’s Majesty’s wwit of subpoena to be directed to the said Henry Grubbe, commanding him thereby at a certain day, and under a certain pain therein to be limited, personally to appear before your good lordship in the High Court of Chancery, then and there to answer to the premises, and further to stand and abide such order and direction therein as to your good lordship seem to stand with reason, equity, and good conscience. And your said ora¬ tors shall daily pray for 3 'our good lordship, with increase of honour long to live.” (Blaxchaed.) The answer of Henry Grubbe to this bill affirms that his undertaking was only as regarded one session; and he denies that he used any sinister- means to cause a different entry in the book or register, than the true one. The Replication re-asserts the charges in the bill. 552 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. William Noethie [of llowde ?] (Some of the following names want connexion, but all accounts point to the same origin.) Edward Northey the elder, presents to Broad Hinton in 1629, by con¬ cession of the master of Nicholas Hospital. Edward Northey is vicar of Tisbury in 1644. Edward Northey of Devizes, marries, about the year 1620, Jane third daughter of John Hitchcock vicar of Preshute, and his name occurs as Mayor of Devizes in 1612, 1622, 1630, and 1635. His conduct in carrying off the County plate from Devizes, and delivering it up to King Charles, has already been mentioned at page 154. Sir Edward Northey of Epsom, Knt. [second sou of William Northey, Esq.] born 1651 :—M.P. for Tiverton 1710 ;—Attorney General to Q,ueen Anne :*—married Anne sister and co-heir of Sir Will. Joliffe, and had two sons, Edward and William. William Northey, of Compton Bassett Wilts, son of the above ;—M.P. for Caine 1713, and for Wootton Bassett, 1714 : married Abigail daugh¬ ter of Sir Thomas Webster of Battle Abbey ; died 1738, leaving W illiam, Edward, and Thomas. William Northey of Ivey-House near Chippenham, L.L.D., F.R.S., Lieut-Col. of Wilts Militia;—Groom of the Chamber to George III., which King, as well as his predecessor George II., offered Mr. Northey a peerage:—M.P. for Caine 1747, 1754, and for Great Bedwyn 1768, 1770:—married Anne daughter of Rt. Hon. Edw. Hopkins of Oving House, Bucks, Sec. of State for Ireland,! and left, William of Box in Wilts, M.P., for Newport in Cornwall 1796, 1826 Edward of Kinlet, Salop, in holy orders, who married in 1794 Charlotte sister of Sir Herbert Taylor ;X and thirdly, Richaed, who, inheriting the maternal estates, assumed the name and arms of Hopkins, and became Lieutenant General Northey Hopkins of Oving House. Stevens or Stephens. The pedigree and arms of “ Stevens of De¬ vizes” are preserved in the Heralds’ Visitation of 1623. The name is very prevalent in the Pewsey Vale. Dr. Philip Stephens, born at Devizes near the year 1600, was M.D. of St. Albans Hall, Oxford ;— elected Fellow of New College by the Parliamentary visitors of 1655; and eventually made Principal of Hart Hall. Holding the reputation of a skilful herbalist, he became, con-jointly with Mr. Brown, compiler of the Catalogus Horti Botanici Oxoniemis, published at Oxford iu 1658. Such is the brief account of his scientific eminence, as usually recorded in the Dictionaries : for the profounder elements of his character, we must go to Dr. Edmund Calamy, who assures us that he was “ a very serious good man,” and that he was turned out of his feUowship by the • In the case “ Regina against the inhabi- t In 1742. 24th May, an .Act was passed to tants of Wilts,” 3rd of Queen Anne, to compel enable William Northey an infant, to settle them to repair Lacock bridge, Northey the lands in Wilts for the benefit of himself and Attorney General cited an instance where a any woman he might marry, notwithstand- bridge though built by private hand, yet ing his infancy. coming to be a public convenience, the county t Edward Northey is the name of the Vicar had to repair. who cedes Erchfont in 1802. STEPHENS—JOHNSON-POUND. 553 Hostoration of Charles II. He died soon after that event. Thomas SrnPHENS Alderman of Bristol, who founded the Almshouses in the Old Tem 2 )le and Maiket Street, and endowed them with 2 iroi)erty now worth £750 per annum ; was the son of a Bisho 2 )s Cannings yeoman, who ajtjiren- tieod him in 1622 to Thomas Gough a grocer. After eight years aj)pren- ticoship he commenced business for himself on Old Bristol Bridge, which was at that time crowded with houses. At some period during the tu¬ multuous year 1660, Stephens was nominated Sheriff of the City, but pre¬ ferred going to prison and paying the £200 fine, to serving. He bore office nevertheless in other forms, and was Mayor of Bristol in 1668. He died in 1679 and was buried in St. Nicholas’s churchyard ; nor did he, while making provision for the indigent of his adopted city, forget the poor of his native village. Nathaniel Stephens M.A., of Oxford University, born, as is supposed, at Stanton St. Bernard where his father was the incumbent; wa.s ejected from the rectory of Draycot Fenny at the Re¬ storation. Geokge Johnson, of Bowden Park, Esq., of the Middle Temple, a Welsh Judge, and Master of the Rolls in the time of Charles II.: M.P. for Devizes in 1681. Aubrey the antiquary makes frequent mention of him. His grandson Dr. James Johnson was Bishop of Worcester, and was buried at Lacock in 1775. Both the Bishop and his brother were killed by a fall from a horse, as appears from his monument in Lacock church. The family are supposed to have settled at Bowden in 1520. The park was afterwards bought by one of the Eyles-Styles family, who built the shell of a large mansion, the materials of which were, at his death, sold, and carried to Chipjrenham, where it may’ stiU be seen in the architectural front of a principal house on the left hand, going from the bridge upwards. In 1751 Sir Francis Haskin Styles sold the estate to Ezekiel Dickenson of Monks House, the “ rich old quaker” whom Jeremy Bentham met at the quiet dinner parties of Bowood (see page 350): and the jmesent house was built by his son Barnard Dickenson. It was afterwards for a while the residence of Mr. Sotheron Esteourt, and is now 1859 occupied by Captain Gladstone, M.P. for the borough. Dr. James Pound, born in February 1669 in the parish of Bishops Cannings ; died 16 November 172-1 at Wanstead in Essex, of which ^dace he was Rector : was the maternal uncle and early instructor of Dr. Brad¬ ley the Oxford Astronomer. In the service of the East India Company Dr. Pound went to China, and was one of the few survivors of the massa¬ cre of the factory in the island of Palo Condere in Cochin China, an account of which shocking scene. Archdeacon Macdonald has discovered among the paiiers of Dr. Bradley, as also the journal of the jrassage of the Rose sloop, till they reached Batavia, 18 A^u'il 1705. In the conflagra¬ tion Dr. Pound just escaped with his life, losing all his museum of curiosities. Sutton—Estcoukt. James Sutton of Devizes, Esq., married 1677 Sarah Palmer, and was 554 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. the father of —1, James, his heir, of whom presently.—2, Sarah, born 1680, married Mr. Roberts.—3, Thomas, who, at his death in 1750, left £20 to the Almshouses. By his wife Mary he had one son, Thomas, who died 1721.—4, Mary, born 1690, married Mr. Sellwood; she gave £50 to the Almshouses.—5, Martha, born 1692, married P. Clarke.—6, Robert, born 1698, died 1739: married Miss Wake and had two sons, viz., John, whose wife was Mary Thurman ; and James a Justice of the borough, who died 1788, having, by his wife Anne Shergold, eight chil¬ dren, of whom, Anne the eldest married Wadham Locke of Devizes. James the eldest son, also a Justice, married Anne Guy, and died 1803. Robert the youngest married Miss Hillier, and had a son, Robert, of London and Herts. James Stttton, several times Mayor of Devizes, born 1678 ; married Anne Prince, and died 1740, leaving three sons, viz.. Prince, of whom presently,— George, who died 1770,— William, M.P. who died 1765. Prince Sutton, a Justice of the borough, born 1701, died 1779: Sheriff of the county in 1762;—married Mary Willey sister of George Willey of New Park, Esq., and had five children, viz,, Willey who died 1775:— James, of whom presently; and three daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Anne. James Sutton of New Park, Esq., had inherited his uncle’s business as a general merchant in London. He was M.P. for Devizes 1765—1774, and Sheriff of the county in 1785. He married 1771 Eleanor daughter of Anthony Addington of Reading, M.D., by whom, who died 1837 aged 87, he had two sons, James and George, who both died in their infancy; Mary who died 1791 aged 14 ; Eleanor who married Thomas Grim- ston Estcoui’t, Esq.: and Sarah who married Robert J. Matthews, Esq. At this point we break off, and recommence with the name of Estcourt of Estcourt. This family, which since the year 1300, has been seated at Shipton, on the borders of Wiltshire and Glouces¬ tershire, is connected in many points with the history of both counties : for the last half century, it has also been closely associated with that of Devizes. Among its earliest mem¬ bers on record, are, Walter de la Estcourt, who held an estate at Shipton Moyne, and died 1325, succeeded by his son, Simon de la Estcourt, married Margaret Woodmill, and Johanna . . . Of his four sons, the eldest was, Walter de la Estcourt, living in 1373, succeeded by his son, ESTCOURT. 555 John de la Estcotjut, -who married Alice, heiress of the Beauboys of Shipton Moyne and Fairwood in Dorset, which passed in succession to a son, John, and a grandson John de la Estcouht, whose wife’s name was Elizabeth Seymour, and who may he regarded as one of the Lancastarian party in the W ars of the Roses, seeing that he obtained a grant of pardon from Richard III., which deed is still in the hands of the Rt. Hon. Sotheron Estcourt, who also possesses the original silver seal of William Estcourt, warden of New College, Oxford, in 1426, Canon of Salisbury, and brother of the first John.* The engraved copy thereof, here appended, as also the Estcourt arms inserted above, we owe to the courtesy of the Rev. Alfred T. Lee late of Tetbury. Thomas de la Estcodrt, sou of the last mention¬ ed John, had, by his first wife Katharine daughter of Richard Elliott, sergeant-at-law, Edmund Estcouht, who married Johanna daugh¬ ter of William Button of Alton, Wilts ; by whom he left four sous, viz., •—1. Thomas, of Shipton Moyne, a Welsh Judge; father, (by Emma Ayscough) of Sir Thomas Estcourt, knighted in 1607, by James 1.—M.P. for Gloucestershire,—and died of the plague in 1624 :—of Edmund, who married Mary daughter of Richard Pateshall of Cricklade.t—2, Giles, of Sarum, who married Elizabeth Webb and was father of Sir Edward Estcourt of Salisbury, knighted 1611, married to Mary daughter of Sir John Glanville, Judge of the Common Pleas, —3, George, married to Joan Steede, and had issue.—4, Richard married to Anne Wilcox ; and left, with others, Edmund, whose ■wife was Jane daughter of Sir G. Snigg, Baron of the Exchequer. Two Sir Thomas Estcourts, successively Masters in Chancery in the reigns of Charles II., James II., and William III., were grandson and great-grandson of this Richard. Their residence was at Pinckney near Malmesbury, since conveyed, by a female heir, to the family of Cresswell. Giles Estcourt of the Newnton and Salisbury branch is the same person, who in 1585, I7th Elizabeth, was Recorder of Poole ; and desired of the Mayor and burgesses that he might have the nomination of one of their representatives, either for his own son, or for some other person who, he undertook, should fittingly perform the duty without burdening the borough. His son Edward purchased the College of Salisbury of the family of St. Barbe, and was M.P. for that city. The next in descent. * In the Privy Council Papers, Master John Estcourt, brother of the warden, occurs as ambassador to Ilenry IV,, employed on four different embassies from 1405 to 1427. Lee. + Among the Royalists who compounded for their estates under the Commonwealth, occurs John Estcourt, described as 4th son of Edmund Estcourt of Newnton. Ilis petition, dated 2 July 1G50, states,--That he has not yet been sequestered— that ho is possessed of a personal estate worth £50 10s., consisting of a small flock of sheep of the value of £24, a couple of horses worth £11, books £5, debts owing to him £10 10s. The settlement of his fine which was declared at £8 8s. 4d., is dated 16 July 1650. On the other hand, Sir Francis Estcourt of Salisbury, a Master in Chancery, appears to have been an adherent of Oliver’s, for his name is in the commission appointeil to try the Penniddocko visors. NN 2 556 HISTORY OF UFVIZES. named Giles, was created a baronet by Charles I, in 1626, and during the same year served the office of Sheriff of Wilts. By his wife Anne daughter of Sir Robert Mordaunt of Warwickshire, hart., he left two sons, and three daughters; and was succeeded hy a son, Giles, who died of fever in 1675, while travelling near Lepanto. The second son WiUiam who thereupon took the title and estates, was killed by Henry St. John and Colonel Webb at the Globe Tavern (otherwise called the Devil’s Tavern) in London, in 1684, when the baronetcy became extinct; and the estates, passing through the hands of cousins, eventually fell to Thomas son of Matthew Estcourt of Cam, of whom presently. This affair of the Tavern, which occurred on the 20th December arose primarily out of Edward Fitzharris’s condemnation for treason, 33 Charles II. In November 1684 Edward Noseworthy was tried, for saying he hoped he might live to see the judges hanged who had sentenced Fitzharris. In the indictment, the words were laid to have been uttered in Wilts, but witnesses proving that it was in Dorsetshire, the prisoner escaped. Sir William Estcourt, who had been one of Nose worthy’s jury, sitting soon after in the Globe Tavern in Fleet Street, in company with some of his fellow-jurymen and divers friends from the country, a quarrel arose between him and Sir Henry St. John and Colonel Webb; and swords being drawn, Estcourt was stabbed in five places by St. John and Webb. In December they were both tried for murder and condemned to death, but in the following month (16th January) they severaUy pleaded his Majesty’s pardon and were discharged. Such is Narcissus Luttrell’s account. Bishop Burnett adds, that St. John pleaded guilty on the promise of a pardon, but found that the royal mercy had yet to be pur¬ chased by the sum of £1600, of which tJie King took half, and gave the rest to two ladies. Waiter, the son of Thomas Estcourt of Shipton Moyne, who died 1725, left the family estate to Thomas son of Edmund of Salcombe, at whose death in 1746, it passed to his brother Edmund, who in 1758 left it to Thomas, son of Matthew Estcourt of Cam near Dm-sley. Matthew Estcourt of Cam married Lydia Hailing, and had, Avith other issue,—1, Thomas, of whom presently ;—2, Edmund, a solicitor of excise, who died 1814 ;—3, Edward, D.D., rector of Long Newnton and Didmarton. Thomas Estcourt, of Shipton Moyne, (who also purchased the manor of Ashley from Sir Onesiphorus Paul,) was M.P. for Cricklade 1790, 1802, Sheriff of Wilts in 1774, and died 1818. He had married Jane daughter of James second Viscount Grimston by Mary daughter of John Askell Bueknall of Oxhey near Watford, Esq., by whom, who died 1829, he left;—1, Thomas, of whom presently ;—2, Edmund William, born 1782, died 1856, rector of Long Newnton, married Bertha Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Wyatt of Wargrove, and had issue:—3, Harriet Jane Bdcknall died 1839 :—4, Charlotte, of the Priory, Long Newn¬ ton. Thomas Grimston Estcourt, of New Park, Devizes, barrister-at- ESTCOURT. 557 law; assumed in 1824 tlie name of Bucknall also:—married 1800 Eleanor daughter and co-heir of James Sutton of New Park, Esq., and Mr. Sutton dying in the following year, Mr. Estcourt came to live at New Park. When Mr. Addington (his wife’s uncle) was called to the peerage in 1805, Mr. Estcourt took his place as M.P. for Devizes : and at his lordship’s death, Mr. Estcourt succeeded him also in the Recorder- ship of the borough. lie represented Devizes in Parliament from 1805 to 1826 ; then, on the resignation of Richard Heber, was elected for the University of Oxford, and retained that seat till the general election of 1847. His death oecm-red in July 1853. As a military man, his connexion with the Devizes volunteers has already been noticed at page 473; he moreover took a prominent part in quelling the agricultural disturbances in 1830, and was so impressed with the advantage of the service of the yeomanry corps on that occasion, that he led the way towards tlie formation of a regiment in Gloucestersliire, which was afterwards com¬ manded by the late Duke of Beaufort; and during the Bristol riots of 1831 Mr. Estcourt was on duty in that city. In 1822 he was appointed by the Government one of three commissioners to examine into the alleged oppi’essions practised upon Henry Hunt a political prisoner in Ilchester gaol, and the result was an ameliorated change in the prison manage¬ ment. In his place in the House he further spoke favourably of Mr. Hunt’s conduct while under coniiuement, an act which elicited the warmest acknowledgments from the prisoner, who in one of his subsequent manifestoes from Ilchester, exclaims “This was manly, honest, candid, and honourable, for which I shall respect and venerate the character of Mr. Estcourt as long as I live . . . for, though a ministerial member, he was far too much of a gentleman and man of honour’ to disgrace himself by falsehood, or giving his silent assent to the misrepresentations of others.” From 1802 to 1836 Mr. Estcourt was not only the borough jus¬ tice of Devizes, but chairman of the Corrnty Quarter Sessions at Devizes and Marlborough, in which posts he was succeeded by Mr. Lirdlow Bruges. At a meeting of magistrates and gentlemeir of tire county on the 4th of January’ 1837, it w’as resolved, “That in consideration of the long and valuable services of their late respected chairman lilr. Estcourt, a subscription should be opened, for prrrchasing a piece of plate to he presented to him as a token of esteem.” Walter Long and Joseph Neeld headed the list with £25 each. Mr. Estcourt’s children, nine in num¬ ber, were as follows:— 1. Thomas Heniit Shtton, of whom presently. 2 . James Btjcknai.l, born at New Park, Devizes, 1802; educated at Harrow and Sandhurst: in 1820 entered the army as Ensign in the 44th foot: from which he exchanged into the 43rd. In 1834 he accompanied Colonel Chesney, as second in command, in his Eu¬ phrates expedition; in 1836 he w’as a Major; and in the following year he married Caroline daughter of the Rt. lion. Reginald Pole Carew, of Anthony, Cornwall (Mr. Addington’s early friend, see page 463.) In 1838 he served in Canada, and during 1843 was oc- 558 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. cupied ia the scientific task of defining the boundary line between British North America and the States, from tlie Bay of Fundy to the river St. Lawrence. From 1848 to 1852 he was M.P. for Devizes. On tlie breaking out of the Russian war, he was gazetted Adjutant General of the Crimean army, and in the brevet of 1854 was ap¬ pointed Major General. He was the constant attendant on General Lord Raglan in all the engagements and toils of that difficult cam¬ paign, till cholera laid him prostrate in the summer ot 1855: and most sincerely was General Estcourt regretted by all his surviving brethren in arms, so assiduous had he been in his professional duties, and such cheerfulness and serenity did he manifest while otliers were oppressed with gloomy forebodings. He expired on the 24 th of June in the presence of his wife and sister, four days before the death of his friend and chieftain. Lord Raglan. A fortnight after the news of his death reached England, his name was gazetted as one of those on whom her Majesty would have conferred a K.C.B., had he survived. His widow has since, by special command of the Queen, assumed the rank to which she would have been thus entitled. 3. Edmund Hilet Bucknall, born 1803, M.A. of Merton Col¬ lege, Oxford; rector of Eckington, Derbyshire ; married 1830 Anne daughter of Sir John Lowther Johnston of Dumfrieshire, hart., and has issue,—1, Geoeof, Thomas, born 1840 :—2, Cdaelotte Elea- NOK, married 1853 to the Rev. Fred. Gipps of Corbridge :—3, Jane : —4, Gerteude, married 1856 to the Rev. Thomas Golightly, now rector of Shipton Moyne :—5, Isabella :—6 , Claea ;— 7, Evelyn:— 8, Kathaeine. 4. Walter Geimston Bucknall, born 1807, commander R.N., died 1845, of fever contracted on the coast of Africa, whilst in com¬ mand of H. M. S., Eclair, employed in the suppression of the slave trade. A monument has been erected to his memory in the Chapel of Portsmouth Dockyard, by his brother officers and friends. 5. William John Bucknall, born in 1812, M.A., of Baliol College Oxford, rector of Long Newnton; married 1848 Mary daugh¬ ter of the Rev. John Drake, and has a daughter, Eleanor. 6 . Edward Dugdale Bucknall born 1818, barrister-at-law, and M.A. of Baliol College Oxford. 7. Eleanor Anne Bucknall, married 1836 the Rt. Hon. Henry Unwin Addington, nephew of the first Viscount Sidmouth. 8. Geoegiana Charlotte, died young. 9. Mart Anne Harriet, still living, unmarried. Thomas Henry Sutton Estcourt Esq., born 1801, educated at Harrow School; M.A. of Oriel College Oxford; M.P. successively for Marlborough 1829—1832; for Devizes 1835—1844; and for North Wilts from 1844 to the present time: married 1830 Lucy Sarah daughter of Admiral Frank Sotheron of Kirklington, Notts, whose name he assumed by sign manual in 1839, and re-assumed his paternal name by sign manual in 1855. Mr. Sotheron Estcourt is Captain of the Devizes troop SOTHERON ESTCOURT. 559 of Wilts Yeomanry Cavalry, and a magistrate for the counties of Wilts and Gloucester. In 1857 he bore a part in Lord Derby’s Administration, as President of the Poor Law Board, and in 1859 accepted the still higher office of Secretary of State for the Home Department. For a period of nine years after his marriage, Mr. Estcourt’s countrj’ residence was at New Park ; but the mansion and grounds having, upon the death of Mrs. Sutton, become the joint property of Mr. Estcourt in right of his mother, and her sister Mrs. Matthews, he sold that estate and resided for awhile at Bowden Park; and at the death of the late Mr. Estcourt in 1853, re¬ moved to the paternal seat near Tetbury. A still further severance of the tie which had so long and so agreeably allied the name of Estcourt with Bishops Cannings will be read in the following document. 3Ir. Sotheron JEstcourf s parting letter to his tenants, on the transfer of the Cannings property from himself to the Grown, “Estcourt, 30th of December, 1858. “I address you for the last time as your landlord. Yesterday I signed the papers by which the estate at Cannings which has long been held by my family under a lease from the See of Salisbury, is transferred to an¬ other owner: and I wish in this letter to tell you shortly how this change has occurred, and, as landlord, to bid you farewell. “You arc aware that I held the estate for a term of three lives. The custom of the manor was this, that when one of these lives happened to drop, upon ])ayment of a line another life was inserted. More than five years ago I had occasion to apply for a renewal of the lease, when I found that leave would no longer be given, A body of Ecclesiastical Commis¬ sioners had been placed by Parliament in the stead of the Bishop, and their course was to refuse renewals and to let leases run out. It became plain therefore that my lease, which had been considered by all parties hitherto as a permanent interest, was converted into a merely temporary occupation which would end in the conrse of a few years. This was a condition of matters very unsatisfactory to me, very awkward to the tenants, vei y uncertain to the parish. It would keep the real ownership in a state of doubtful duration, and so would be likely to postpone inde¬ finitely all measures of improvement which would lead to a permanent outlay. The inconvenience is obvious; but it has occupied more than five years to bring a long negociatiou to a close with the Bishop, the Ec¬ clesiastical Commissioners, and the office of Woods and Forests. The result however is, that by a joint transaction between all the parties who shared the ownership, the estate has been made freehold and has been sold to the Crown. “ I have taken this opportunity to appropriate for the benefit of the parish a tytho rent-charge of £278 a year, as a free gift. Having con¬ sulted the Bishop, I have applied tliat sum for the perpetual augmenta¬ tion of the incumbencies of Cannings, Southbroom, and Chittoe; and to an endowment of £20 a year to the national school at Cannings. “ My regret at closing my long connexion with the tenants is much 560 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. lesseijcd by considering that the separation has been rendered inevitable by the change of the tenure effected by Parliament; and that you ndll henceforth become occupiers under the Crown which has always borne the character of a good, considerate, and improving landlord. The ties of mutual regard which long acquaintance has knit between us, need not bo severed though we shall no longer have a rent-day to bring us toge¬ ther. I feel that my attachment to the spot and to all its inhabitants, my satisfaction at their welfare and progress, will remain as warm and as strong as when I had a right to interfere in their concerns. I hope to hear that greater encouragement will be given to all kinds of improvements under a landlord possessed of greater means than mine: and I shall rejoice at every opportunity of shewing that my interest in the parish still subsists, though the estate has passed into other hands. I am, my dear Sirs, Yours very faithfully, “T. SOTHEEON EsTCOURT.” The reply of the tenants to the Rt. Hon. Gentleman, regretting the severance of the ancient tie, and reciprocating his courtesy, was subscri¬ bed by all their names. But the history of Mr. Sotheron Estcourt’s connexion with the county of Wilts would be far from complete, without some particular mention of what many besides himself probably regard as his best claim to public approval, namely, the part he has taken in establishing in 1828, and subsequently in managing, the county Friendly Society. It had long been an object of solicitude among those who studied the welfare of their poorer neighborrrs, that the principle of mutual assurance should be made available to the labouring classes in a form more sound and equitable than was found to be practicable under the constitution of the old fash¬ ioned parish clubs. The first movement towards a reformed system was the provisional construction of a set of rules and tables, which, in April 1828, was submitted to a large and influential meeting of the gen¬ try, held at Devizes, and presided over by the Lord Lientenant the Marquis of Lansdowne. From this meeting may be dated the formation of the Society: Mr. Esteourt consenting to act as Honorary Secretary. A handsome list of donations was rapidly filled, and it was confidently anticipated that an agency of much practical utility had been fairly set afloat. It was soon discovered however that the working classes regarded the scheme with distrust, a state of mind not likely to be mitigated so long as remembrance of the agrarian disturbances of 1830, and the subse¬ quent question of Parliamentary Reform continued to agitate the public mind; and for nearly ten years it seemed doubtful whether the intentions of the founders of the Wiltshire Friendly Society would ever meet with a cordial response. In 1838 Mr. Esteourt, with the assistance of other gen¬ tlemen, re-constructed his tables, and by simplifying the rules, sought to give them a more attractive shape. These he printed in the Spring of 1842, together with an elaborate report of the proceedings of the Institu¬ tion since its commencement. The affair now assumed a new aspect. Branch clubs were rapidly formed; and wherever Mr. Esteourt could BAYNTUN. 561 gain the ear of the labourer, confidence in the principles on which his calculations rested, was no longer withheld. These calculations were in fact the result of extended personal research as well as corresj)ondence with eminent actuaries; nor were the efforts of the founder limited to the local duties of a country gentleman; for in his place in Parliament he from time to time procured the passing of a variety of Acts for legalizing and better managing of Friendly Societies in general, such as the Odd Fellows, &c., as also for the improvement of Savings Banks. The last statement we have to make on this subject is, that, down to the end of the year 1858 the Wilts Friendly Society had disbursed to its members, under the heads of payments during sickness, payments after death, and endowing and apprenticing young persons, upwards of £30,000. [The above account of the Esteourt family has been derived mainly from the pedigree given in Mr. Alfred Lee’s Hutory of Tethury, enlarged from sundry sources, by Mr. Henry Butcher principally.] Batntun, oe Batnton, of Beomham. It is stated by Mr. Burke the Herald, on the authority of Algernon Sydney’s Treatise of Oovernment, that, “in antiquity of possession and name, few of the nobility equal the family of Baynton.” For a long time they were settled at Falston Castle near Wilton; but on the demise of llichard Beauchamp Lord St. Amand, in the time of Henry VIL, John Bayntun removed to Bromham, where his descendants continued to flourish in great pros¬ perity for 300 years. Here it was that the great house called Bromham Hall first arose, on the spot still known as Bromham House farm; and here was the residence of Sir Edward Bayntun the friend of Henry VlII. and of the Martyr Latymer. His great-great-grandson in regu¬ lar descent was the knight who has already figured in this history as Governor of Devizes in the Parliament’s behalf, during the winter of 1642-3. He was also M.P. for the county in the Long Parliament; and so decidedly was his hostility to the Court manifested, that in the Protestation of 1640, his name appears second in the list, being the first after that of Mr. Speaker Lenthall. He founded the new house at Spye Park, after the destruction of the paternal mansion by the Devizes Royalists. He married Stuarta sister of Thomas Thynne of Longieat; but the direct male line became at last extinct in the person of his grandson John, in 1716, when the estates fell to John’s sister, Anne, the wife of Edward Bolt Esq. of Sacomhe Park, Herts. Their son Edward obtained in 1762 the title of Sie Edwaed Bayntun Rout, with a baronetcy, which became extinct in the next generation, Sie An- DEEW Bayntun Rout leaving, in 1816, an only daughter, Maria Barbara, who married in 1797 the Rev. John Starkey D.D., rector of Charlincli (of a Lancashire and Cheshire family) and was the mother of the late John Edwaed Andef,w Staekey Esq., whose widow now (1859) resides at Battle House, Bromham. The Rev. Henry Bayntun, so long known in Devizes, was a grandson of Sir Edward Bayntun Rolt. For sixty-three years he held the rectory of Bromham, but was principally resident in OO 562 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. this town, where he built the large house now the property of W. E. Tug- well Esq. By his wife Lucj- Adlam of Devizes he had five sons and three daughters; the eldest son Samuel Adlam Bayntun, an ofidcer in the Life Guards, was member for the city of York in 1830, and also in the first Reformed Parliament in 1831. Locke, of Rowde-Eohd. The family of Locke was settled in the West of England before the coming of the Conqueror. Robert Loke or Locke was associated with Thomas de St. Maur as Viscomes of Wiltshire in 1350. [In Canon Jack¬ son’s List, Robert Lokes is Sheriff also in 1341.] John Locke ivas Sheriff of London in 1450; and the arms of his grandson John, who died 1519, are in the window of the Mercers chapel. William, another grandson of the aforesaid John Locke, in the 25th Henry VIIL, undertook to pull down the Bull of Excommunication by which the King and kingdom of Eng¬ land were laid under a ban by Pope Clement VIL, for which exploit Henry granted him a freehold estate of £100 per annum, knighted him, and made him Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. Sir William Locke was Sheriff of London in 1548, and died in 1550, leaving eight sons and daughters. [In 1555, 2nd Philip and Mary, a fresh coat of arms, granted to this family, was registered at the Herald’s office.] John Locke the philosopher, son of Captain Locke who fell at Bristol during the Civil Wars, was a member of the Somersetshire branch, having been born at Wrington in 1632. Mr. Locke of Devizes, born 1650, married Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Long of Devizes, (ancestor of Long of Prcshaw in Hants) by Margery daughter of Richard Flower of Devizes, and was succeeded by his son, James Locke, who married Mary, widow of James Harris of the Close, Sarum, of the senior branch of the Harris’s of Orcheston St. George, an¬ cestors of the Earls of Malmesbury. J OHsr Locke, an attorney and magistrate of Devizes, was fa.ther of Wadham Locke, who in 1742 married Rachel daughter and heiress of the Rev. Thomas Andrews of Soend, and had issue two sons, viz. Thomas (Norrey king at arms) who died without issue, and secondly, Wadham Locke. This gentleman married 1779 Anne eldest daugh¬ ter of James Sutton, a Justice of Devizes, [see the Sutton—Estcourt pedigree] and was succeeded by an only son, Wadham Locke, of Rowde-Ford, Esq. born at Devizes in 1780: M.P. for that borough in the first Reformed Parliament; continuing to sit till his death in October 1835. The Rowde-Ford estate was purchased of Thomas Wyatt Esq., who had acquired it from the Define family. The present mansion was erected in 1812, and contains a good library and some valuable pictures. When the parish church ofRowde was re-built, Mr. Locke, as lay rector, erected the chancel at his own cost, and con¬ tributed also as a landed proprietor towards the other portions. In 1802 he married Anna Maria Selina, only daughter of Francis Powell Esq. of LOCKE—LONG-HULL-LUCAS. 563 Hurdcott House, Wilts: and left, with several daughters, three sons, viz. 1. W.VBHAM Locke of Cleeve House, Seend, Esq. Sheriff in 1847. 2. Francis Alexander Sydenham Locke, of Rowde-Ford, Esq., She¬ riff in 1858, and, 3. John Locke of Chicklade House, Wilts, Esq. Long, of Devizes and Potteene. From this branch descend the Longs of Preshaw near Bishops Waltham, a fact which the ])resent oc¬ cupant has recently testified by restoring the monument to James Long on Etchilhampton hill. Beyond the utterance of this brief statement, we must decline venturing further within the meshes of so complicated a web as that formed out of the genealogies of the Longs of Wiltshire, which happen to be remarkably well kept, and elaborately displayed in Burke's Commoners, and Landed Gentry: and to which therefore the reader is referred. Majoe General William Hull, C.B., Colonel of the 1st Bombay Grenadiers, third son of Samuel and Elizabeth Hull of Devizes, and brother of Mrs. Perry the lady mentioned at page 492: died 1840, aged 62: his monument in St. Mary’s church was erected by his widow, Mil¬ dred, daughter of the Vcn. Archdeacon Corbet of Longnor, Co. Salop. During his service in India, while commanding the 1st battalion 4th Regiment Native Infantry, he once had the good fortune, at the head of a party of Sepoys, to conduct to successful issue, a perilous tiger-hunt. From his prominence in the affair. Captain Hull was at one moment even within the tiger’s grasp, but was saved further injury than the tearing of clothes, by the devotion of his men. The Rev. Charles Lucas. Was born at Daventry in Northamp¬ tonshire, 19th April 1769: educated at Harrow School and at Oriel College Oxford; ordained to the curacy of Avebury where he lived more than twenty years, exchanged in 1815 for the curacy of Devizes ; and though he resigned the office in 1833, continued his residence in this town till his death in November 1854 at the age of 84. He mar¬ ried at All-Cannings Sarah Anne, second daughter of the Rev. Henry Williams perpetual curate of Heytesbury, by whom he had several children. Mr. Lucas was a member of the Devizes Corporation. For about fifteen years he held the office, conjointly with Mr. Methuen and Mr. Elliott, of Secretary to the IViltshire branch of the Bible Society;* and his name was associated with all objects of local benevo¬ lence. For further particulars on these points, together with a variety of anecdotes in connection with his professional career at Devizes, consult his Observations on the Modern Clergy, a work published about the year 1840, designed to expose irregularities in church discipline, but principally directed against the abuse of pluralities. About twelve years • It is stated in the Rev. John Owen’s His¬ tory of the origin and first ten years of the British and Foreigm Bible Society, that “ the Bishop of Salisbury, within w’hose diocese and under whose own auspices, the first aux¬ iliary society was formed, [viz. in 1812-13] ac¬ cepted the office of patron to the same.” \'oh ii. p. 207. oo 2 564 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. before his death, Mr. Lucas was offered a benefice in Dorsetshire, worth £300 a j'ear; but unwilling to accept a post which he could not efficiently till, he declined the emolument. As a citizen, his conduct was ever marked by tender consideration for his "brother man;” at the same time that his rebukes often fell with deserved severity on flagrant viola¬ tors of the moral code. In early life, his literary works were very numerous, one of them, " The Infernal Quixote,” a novel in 4 vols. was translated into French and Spanish. This, with " The Abyssinian Re¬ former” or "The Bible and Sabre” and the poem of “Joseph” are con¬ sidered his best. A list is given below. * In this family is preserved a picture of Charles I., derived from Mr. Lucas’s alliance with the family of Massey of Patney and Devizes, a branch from that of "Massie of Coddington,” described in Burke’s Com¬ moners, iii. 46. Edward Massey the Parliamentary General, fifth son of John Massey of Coddington, has already figured in these pages. About 1646 or 1648 the Parliament placed in Patney rectory " John Massey,” whose connexion with the General seems involved in some uncertainty. He has, it is true, been declared to be the General’s father; but such could hardly have been the case, inasmuch as that father was in all pro¬ bability born as early as 1580; and although the General was one of eighteen children, yet the Patuey rector marries at Patney, Joan Clarke, in October 1649, and has five children. Neither was he the General’s brother, for that John died s.p. It will be safer to call him cousin, and in that character to conclude his history. He was succeeded at Patney by a son John, born 1650, who became Dean of Christchurch, and at the Revolution went into exile along with James II., who presented him with this picture of Charles I. as a remembrancer. The Dean had, besides a sister Susannah, three brothers, Henry a clergyman, Nathaniel a cloth manufacturer of Devizes, and William. At his death, the picture passed to the eldest brother Henry, who bequeathed it to his son the Rev. Harry Massey, master of the free-school Northleach and incumbent of Turks- dean in Gloucestershire, and from him it descended to his two daughters Mary and Katharine Massey, who for some years lived at Devizes inherit¬ ing the property of their great-uncle Nathaniel. Katharine the survivor died in 1819 at the age of 95 and left the relic to her nearest relation, Miss Charles of Guiting, from whom in the following year it passed to Mr. Lucas as a relative of the Masseys. The picture, which is supposed to be one of the three said to have been taken just before the King’s exe- ♦ A descriptive account in blank verse of the Serpentine Temple of the Druids at Avebury .1795 The Castle of St. Donat’s, 3 vols. ... 1798 The Infernal Quixote, 4 vols, .1801 The Abyssinian Eeformcr, or The Bible and Sabre, 3 vols. .1808 Joseph, a religious poem, historical, pa¬ triarchal, and typical, 2 vols.1810 Gwellygord, or the Child of Sin, a Welsh tale, 3 vols. .1820 The Double Trial, or the Consequences of an Irish Clearing, 3 vols.1832 Lucy Chamont, or Pride humbled ... 1833 Observations on the Modern Clergy .. .18401 Newmania.—The Pope’s Palace, or a scene at the Vatican; a drama, shew¬ ing the cool reception which Protestant perverts meet with in Rome.—Various Sermons.—Fugitive poems, &c., &c. LUCAS-WYATT-HOOD—MU IXIN GS. 565 cution, is an oil miniature, on copper, preserved in a blue enamel case worked with the linest gold. Matthew Digbt Wyatt, architect and writer on art, is the youngest son of the late Matthew Wyatt harrister-at-law and police magistrate of Lambeth Street. He was born, 1820, at Rowde, at the house of his maternal grandmother Mrs. HUlier, and was educated at Mr. Biggs’s school in Devizes. At the age of 16 he entered the office of his brother Thomas Henry Wyatt, architect, and in the same year gained a prize for an Essay, from the Architectural Society. From 1844 to 1846 ho studied architecture in France, Italy, and Germany. The year 1849, witnessed his connexion, as one of the projectors, with the great industrial Exhibi¬ tion in Hyde Park, and this naturally paved the way to his position of Director of the fine art department in the Sydenham Crystal Palace. It also brought him into notice in France, where he has been made a knight of the Legion of Honour. As an architect Mr. Wyatt’s most important work has been the Paddington Station of the Great Western Railway, which he designed in ceujunction with Mr. Brunei. His grandfather Thomas Wyatt, Esq. originally of Bole Hall near Lichfield, bought Rowde-Forde in 1781 or 1782, of Sir Peter Delme, and sold the property to Mr. Locke about 180j. Dean Hood. 1853. At a dinner held at Devizes to present a piece of plate, value £250, to George Brown of Avebury, Esq., as chairman of the North Wilts Agricultural Protection Society, the following letter was read. To H. Kent Norris Esq., Secretary. “ Rothsay, Bute, 19 November 1853. “ Sir. About sixty years ago, Mr. Brown a farmer gave me a sixpence, and I think it was the first sixpence I had ever possessed. Mr. Browu was then in the prime of life, and I was a little Devizes boy. I have no doubt ho has long since been gathered to his fathers ; but from respect to the name and from a grateful sense of Mr. George Brown’s services to my dear native county, I have much pleasure in sending you my sub¬ scription of one pound towards the proposed testimonial. I am Sir, faith¬ fully yours, “ Samuel Hood, “ Dean of Argyll and the Isles.” JosETH Randolph Mullings of Eastcourt in North Wilts, Esq., is a native of Devizes, being the son of Richard and Ann Mullings of this town. He received his articles from John Slade Esq., an attorney of this town ; and becoming afterwards a distinguished member of his pro¬ fession in Cirencester, was eventually returned to Parliament as member for that borough, on the decease of William Cripps Esq., in 1848. The election was not without a contest, the Hon. C. Ponsonby, in the Whig interest, polling 130 votes; Mr. Mullings, as a Tory, 262. Cases of Longevity in or near Devizes. Elizabeth Golding, Graoe Young, and Elizabeth Wiltshire, whose uni¬ ted ages made just 300 years were all buried on the same day, a.d. 1695 566 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. at Eremliill. See Bowles's History of that parish. The neighbouring district of Corshani appears to favour longevity. In J. Dodsley’s Eng¬ land Illustrated -which was published in 1764, it is stated that not long previously, ten persons of that place whose united ages were more than a thousand years had executed the Morris-dance at a gentleman’s house in the neighbourhood. This “ dance of Death” may therefore be hypothe¬ tically dated about 1750. The salubrity of Corsham, independently of its elevated position, may arise from the dry and porous nature of the oolitic formation on which it stands. Richard Webb, aged 96, who is mentioned at page 337. Mr. Euring of Market Lavington, gardener, died in 1771, aged 105. Mrs. Cooper a farmer’s -widow of Cheriton (or Chirton) near Devizes, died 1772 aged 104, retaining her memory and other senses to the last. Betty Lambourn of Market Lavington, died 1785 aged 107. See her inscription on the outside of the east wall of the south aisle. Anne Simms of Studley Green, died 1785 aged 112. Till past 100 she was a noted poacher, and frequently boasted of selling to the gentry fish taken out of their own preserves. Almost to the last she could walk to and from Bowood, a distance of three miles. Her coffin and shroud she had kept in her apartment more than twenty years. Mrs. Waylen mother of the late William Waylen Esq. of the Brittox, surgeon, died 1827 in her 100th year. Widow Crook of Devizes died in the Poor-house of the borough in 1833, aged 103. She retained all her faculties to the last. Isaac Smith of Coate near Devizes, farmer, died 3rd February 1855 aged nearly 100; much respected for the honesty of his character. He was four times a widower. During the last week of his life, he wrought at the making of spicks for thatching. Elizabeth Parker, maiden name Giddiugs, born and christened it is supposed either at Rowde or at Bishop’s Cannings, in 1748 ; died 14 June 1855, aged 107. The earliest circumstance she was in the habit of recording was the execution of William Jaques for killing a Black in Stanton Park. This was in May 1764 ; and as she must then have been, according to the above reckoning at least sixteen years old, the fact argues that she possibly made a mistake of ten j^ears in stating her age. She was a servant in the family of the Littles of Biddeston, who continued to support her to the last. Her opinion of the modern world was that it was vastly more wicked than in her youthful days, and she particularly denounced the Crystal Palace, and the Russian War. Her eyesight remained unimpaired, and she was conscious of no other bodily ailment than that of deafness. Elizabeth widow of William Hutchins of Devizes Green died 22nd February 1857 aged 97. 567 The Devizes Chxjeches. There seems no good reason for disturbing the long established conjecture which attributes the erection of St. John’s church to Bishop Roger the founder of the Norman castle of Devizes. This would give to it a date of about 1120, which is perhaps also the era of St. Mary’s; the unaltered portions of which are similar in design. But though nearly contemporary, the plan of the two buildings is distinct. While St. Mary’s, from the beginning was a ruder and simpler structure, furnished with side-aisles and adapted for a larger congregation, that of St. John was evidently the object of more elaborate workmanship and of greater completeness in design. This observation of course applies to the two buildings only as they were left by the original architects, for both structures have undergone such transformation that the primitive idea has in a great measure disappeared. Waving any further comparisons, it will be necessary first to speak of St. John’s. The plan of this build¬ ing was a cross, with a tower and a lantern over the intersection, the nave apparently being destitute of side-aisles ; the chancel was vaulted. A moulding, inserted about mid-height, traversed the outer face of the walls throughout, except where intercepted by the pilaster-buttresses, and on this moulding stood the small round-headed windows of the period worked with embattled fret, the zig¬ zag ornament, and other Norman details. One ofthese windows (though injured by being lengthened) may still be seen in the north wall of the chancel; and the outlines of others. now blocked up by masonry, may also be traced in the transepts, both externally and internally. Of such windows the chancel had five, the nave perhaps nine, and each of the transepts four : the latter exhibiting the somewhat unusual arrangement of two lights at the same height, in 01 iwo ng. tliG gable ends, placed at a distance assunder, (a mode met with also at Guston in Kent and Mathon in Here- fordshirc:) in distinction from the ordinary plan in small Norman churches of a triple light or central window. The tower stood on four arches, all chiselled with the Norman ■Window in North Wall. St. John’s. chevron, and springing from capitals worked with vino leaves; but as the tower was not square, two of these arches were round and two pointed. 568 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. The upper chamber of the tower was adorned inside with a series of intersecting arches of a pecu¬ liar structure, which, being visible from below, must have given to the Lantern a stri¬ king effect. The spectator will in vain look for any such feature now; for attheperiod, impossible now to determine, when a ringing loft came to be considered preferable to a Lantern, a floor was made which entirely intercepted this upward view; and to add to the sepulchral darkness thus produced, the East win¬ dow was bricked up, and its place inside supplied with an oil painting. At Romsey Abbey church, (of the same date as that at Devizes) where in like manner the Lantern had been shut off by a ringers’ loft, the recent restorers have so far met the difficulty as to raise the floor sufficiently high to recover the benefit of the lighted arcade. A similar process at Devizes would redeem to some extent the original scheme of the skilful founder, who in fact never designed his tower to carry heavy bells. Externally, the face of the tower was decorated with semicircular headed arcades, some of which were pierced for lights ; but its most characteristic accessory must have been the circular staircase turret attached to its north-west angle, which rose uninterruptedly from the ground and was probably capped with the conical roof of the period. Finally, it is wor¬ thy of remark that, unlike other early Norman work, the masonry of St. John’s tower is so finely jointed as to constitute an additional indication of the handiwork of Bishop Roger, whose carefulness in this particular is thus noticed by William of Malmesbury, “He erected extensive edifices at vast cost and with surpassing beauty, the courses of stone being so correctly laid, that the joint deceives the eye, and leads it to imagine that the entire wall is composed of a single block.” 5th Booh. Such was St. John’s church as left by the hands of its founder. The entire series of changes which it has subsequently undergone have de¬ graded and injured it as an architectural study. The first of these was the addition of side-aisles and the cutting away of the basement of the staircase turret; and from the present appearance of the nave-arches, which have a decided outward inclination, it looks as though this altera¬ tion was carried on without removing either the roof timbers or the west wall: for this west or end wall (though mutilated) is an undoubted part of the old fabric. This took place in the 15th century; Duke Humphrey’s residence in the Castle having seemingly given an impetus to ecclesias¬ tical architecture in the borough, To the same period belongs the at¬ tempt to modernize the windows of the transepts. The private chapels K ST. John’s—st. mart’s. 569 in the north-east and south-east angles date rather later; the more florid one being attributable to Bishop Richard Beauchamp who held the town and castle for Edward IV. By all these changes, the tower was deprived of the stability which it once derived from the lateral thrust of eight sturdy walls; and these walls being now exchanged for arches, and the tower itself left to the support of four pillars, besides being inces¬ santly shaken by the vibration of eight beUs, it is a wonder that it has not sunk with the rest, and completed the ruin which successive genera¬ tions have so long invited. After all, the church of St. John is still a venerable and picturesque pile of building; and the first steps recently taken towards its internal restoration, warrant the assumption, now that historical architecture has so many skilftil disciples, that all such attempts will henceforward proceed in the right direction. Meanwhile, with a view to enhance the apparent external altitude of the building and clear the approaches, much might be done by removing the accumulations of churchyard soil, a process, which, if conducted with courtesy, and car¬ ried on by degrees, would not only escape condemnation, but eventually enlist the general approval. This remark applies with even greater force to the churchyard of St. Mary, which at its eastern end might be advan¬ tageously lowered six feet, even to the level of Back Lane. St. Mary’s. The old or Norman parts of St. Mary’s church are the chancel, the south porch, and the foundations of the aisles. The remain¬ ing portions, including the lofty tower (being of the same date as the alterations in St. John’s), memorialize the zeal of a single individual, whose friends have sought to secure for him a perennial obit by a Latin inscription on one of the roof timbers, which says, “Pray for the soul of William Smyth who caused this church to be built, and wlio died on the 1st ot June llSf).” The aune.xed drawing of the roof timbers, and 570 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. of an aisle window will at once ratify the above date. The new window's in the chancel are non¬ descript, but their insertion into a portion of the building which was vaulted but had no buttresses, was a very unscientific perform¬ ance, and the result which might have been expected followed, viz. that the w'alls were forced out¬ wards. The porch, which, as stated above, is older than the body of the church, exhibits the transition stylo from Norman to Early English, having zigzag or¬ naments on a pointed arch. Mr. Bloxain, in his Manual of Ec¬ clesiastical Architecture 91, remarks that “a custom seems to have prevailed among the archi¬ tects who succeeded the Normans of preserving the doorways of those churches they rebuilt or altered and ho instances Stone- leigh church in Warwickshire, and the tower of Kenilworth church. During the repairs which St. Mary’s church underwent in 1854, the removal of whitewash from the walls of the Nave revealed the fact that a fresco painting of the Assumption of the Virgin formerly met the eye of the spectator on entering by this porch. There were also other subordinate paintings and coloured devices on the adjacent walls. The chui’chwardens accounts for this parish, point to the 4th year of Queen Elizabeth as the probable period when “whiteliming” obscured these memorials of an unlettered age. Tlie above is but a brief description of the two parish churches. The reader who may be anxious to overtake the entire subject, will find it scientifically treated and copiously illustrated, in the second and third volumes of the Wiltshire Magazine, by Mr. Edward Kite, whose account extends over 79 pages. The following remarks are from other sources. “The rectory of the united parishes of St. John and St. Marj'” is com¬ paratively a modern term. Two certificates of the 37th Henry VIII. and a third in the reign of Edward VI. describe St. John’s as “a free chapel within the parish of St. Mary,” its revenues at that period being derivable from certain lands and tenements, lying principally in Bishops Cannings, in the hand and disposition of the Mayor of the borough; and in spite of the language of the presentation of 1398, in which St. Mary’s is said to be annexed to St. John’s, it is not unlikely that at a remote date, St. Mary’s was the Mother-church of Devizes, the style of the uni¬ ted [jarishes, in tlic deeds of presentation, having, from time to time. ST. Mary’s—the rectors. 571 been so variously worded, that nothing can be gathered from that source. So long as the castle and borough were in the gift of the Crown, the churches or chapels went with them, the rector being presented by the patron for the time being, who generally happened to be the Queen-con¬ sort. When that state of things came to an end, soon after the Eeforma- tion, the castle and parks being tythe-free, the rector came to occupy the position of chaplain to the Mayor and his brethren, who voted him an annual sum out of the borough-chamber; and though the Crown con¬ tinued to be the nominal patron, the presentee was understood to be the choice of the burgesses. This subject has already been noticed at page 261; but in further illustration it may be added, that no mention is made of the Devizes churches in any of the ecclesiastical ta.xations of the middle ages; neither in that of Pope Nicholas IV in the thirteenth century, nor in the Nona Roll of the succeeding age, nor in the Parliamentary survey of 26th Henry VIII; and from its omission in the last mentioned record, sometimes called “the King’s book,” the living, though called a rectory, was not in charge to pay first fruits or tenths. So late as the Bishop of Salisbury’s return made to the Governors of Queen Anne’s bounty, that prelate certified that St. John’s was a rectory augmented and discharged, its yearly value being £132, arising from voluntary contributions, rent of cottages, and augmentations. In a document drawn up by Bishop Seth Ward in Charles II.’s time, setting forth the claims of the See of Sarum in respect of fines, post-fines, deodands, waifs, estrays, and felons’ goods, after the parishes have been enumerated from which such perquisites were undoubtedly derived, the following words occur, “And, it is believed, the Devizes and Ramsbury ; but these two are not allowed in the Nomina Villarum in the Exchequer. Allocations are had for Devizes, but not for Ramsbury.” Hatcher's Salisbury. Taking all these particulars into consideration, we may infer that the two cases, already recited, in which tythe was demanded for portions of the Crown lands in the Park, were accidental, and arose out of the conditions of the respective leases of such portions; notwithstanding which, the two late rectors have successfully asserted and enforced a claim to tythes throughout the Park. The ancient patr onage of the Corporation has at last totally ceased to be recognized, unless it may be said to re-assert itself in the modern donation of £5 for the use of the Corporation pews, annually paid out of the private purse of Mr. Mayor “as a voluntary contribution to his chaplain for the time be¬ ing.” It is in fact the same sum as that formerly paid, out of the borough chamber, for the sermon preached on the day of the Mayor’s inauguration, a purpose to which, under the present regime, the Council in their cor¬ porate capacity, do not consider themselves at liberty to devote the public money. List of tuk Rectors. 1310, 22 Oct. .John de Aune, presented to the church of Devizes by the Lady Margaret the Queen Dowager. EP 2 572 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. 1312, 8 Aug. Master Thomas de Yeongeflete, presented by the same Q,ueen. Void by resignation. 1349, 29 May. Stephen West, deacon, presented by Phillippa, Queen of Edward III. 1361, 3 Sep. John le Boteler, priest, same patron. Void by death. 1391, 22 May. William Stoke, presented by Anne, Queen of Richard II. Void by death. 1392, 17 May. Master Thomas Kynewyk, chaplain: same patron. 1398, 25 Nov. Master John Wythen, chaplain, presented by Richard II. to the church of St. John in Devizes with the church of St. Mary in the same town to the church of St. John annexed. 1400, 16 Oct. Master Andrew Swyneford, chaplain, presented by Henry IV. Void by resignation. 1402, 30 July. Swyneford exchanged with Master Henry Netheravon, the vicar of Bedminster. 1412, 7 March. Thomas de Tibbay, presented by Joan, Queen of Henry IV. 1414, 26 March. Robert de Tibbay, same patron. Void by resignation. 1420. John Almote: presented by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Void by resignation. 1426. Almote exchanges with William Goldsmith, rector of Esthen- reth or Estwreth [Eastworth?] in the diocese of Sarum. 1429, 28 Dec. Goldsmith exchanges with Gilbert Crede, rector of Smerdon in Canterbury diocese. 1423, 11 April. John Wygrim, presented by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Void by death. \_Notehy Canon Jackson. Wygrim, fellow of Merton Coll. Oxon, rect. of Devizes, was installed Dean of Windsor 1458, d. 1468; and had an obit every 5th Oct. as a benefactor to St. George’s chapel, Windsor,] 1468, 17 April. Henry Boost, M.A. presented by Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV. on the death of Wygrim. 1474, 16 July. John Smyth, same patron. Void by resignation. 1475, 8 July. John Alcock, Bishop of Rochester; same patron. 1479, 10 Nov. John, Bishop of Tyne, [supposed to be a suffragan Bishop] admitted in the person of his proctor John Giles, at the request of the above Queen: void by resignation. The mandate to induct is directed to Edward Godfrith vicar of Wilsford and John Hulet of Devizes, chaplain. 1480, 28 Jan. Henry Boost, B.D. provost of Eton college, same patron. Void by death. 1502, 1 May. Edmund Chollerton. Void by resignation. 1526, 31 August. John Crapford, priest, B.D. presented by Queen Katharine of Arragon. Void by death. 1533, 14 June. William Dawson, priest, same patron. Void by resignation. [For some reason Dawson had a small retiring stipend allowed him; Robert Peade supplying his place at Devizes. This was the period of the Reformation.] THE RECTORS.-ST. JAMEs’s. 573 1557. Oliver Boswick, presented by Queen Mary on the death of Dawson. 1566. John Beare, presented by Queen Elizabeth. Void by resig¬ nation. 1570. Patrick Blare, same patron. Void by deprivation. Anno incerto. Nicholas Stranguidge. 1602. John Davis; same patron. Void by resignation. 1644, 9 Nov. John Prestwick, M.A. presented “to the vicarage of St. Mary.” Void by death. Anno incerto Robert Byng, D.D. of Allcannings. See page 274. 1648, 3 July. John Shepherd, clerk, instituted by a vote of the Lords to the rectory of St. John with the chapel of St. Mary annexed. Void by death. 1652, 29 April. Henry Johnson, M.A. Void by death. The patron at this period must have been the Mayor and his brethren. 1681, 24 Nov. James Dyer, clerk, presented by King Charles II. Void by death. 1690. Robert Townsend, M.A. Void by death. 1721,14 Oct. John Shergold, M.A. presented by King George I. Void by death. 1738, 8 Nov. William Wells, M.A. presented by George II. Void by resignation. 1774, 3 March. Edward Innes, M.A. presented by George III. Void by death. 1789, 8 Jan. James Lediard, presented by George III. Void by death. 1833, 5 May. Edward James Phipps, M.A. presented by the Lord Chancellor. Void by death. 1853, 19 Aug. Phipps exchanges with. Peter Almeric Leheup Wood, M.A. rector of Stansfield, Sutlblk. St. James CnuEcn, built for the benefit of the chapelry of Southbroom or Devizes Green, belongs to Bishops Cannings. In all temporal matters Southbroom is distinct from Bishops Cannings. In spiritual matters they were formerly under one head, the vicar having the cure of souls in the chapelry till 1831, when it was made a perpetual curacy, and an in¬ cumbent appointed on the nomination of the vicar. As a fabric, the tower is the only part which has not undergone recent change. A good print of it, executed about 50 years ago, is preserved in Mr. Britton’s Wiltshire- volume of the Beauties of England and Wales. The upper part of the tower, which is highly decorated in the perpendicular style, still exhibits, on the side facing Coate Hill, the marks of Waller’s cannon-shot. One of the balls was long in the possession of Francis Cousins a millwright of Etchilhampton, who found it (about 1780 ?) while working in the belfry. This tower has four bells; St. Mary’s has six; St. John’s eight. The spires on all three churches are modern. 574 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. Dissenters’ Chapels, Of the otlier places of worship in the town, the Q,uakers’ Meeting house in High Street is the oldest fabric; and is still (after an interval of non¬ use) devoted to the sittings of that body. Their burial ground lies at the rear of the houses at Hillworth. The Presbyterians, after meeting for some years in a small house at the back of what is now Mrs. CaswalTs residence, removed in 1792 to the chapel in Sheep Street which has re¬ cently given place to the new Baptist Chapel now occupying the site both of that and of the adjoining premises. New Baptist Chapel, Devizes. The Baptist Chapel in Maryport Street, built in 1780, provided for the expansion of a body which had previously assembled at a smaller spot in the Brittox, at the rear of Mr. Barnard’s the chemist. There is a third Baptist Chapel, erected about ten years back, in New Park Street, where is also the Wesleyan Chapel. The Meeting house of the Independants, sometimes called St. Mary’s Chapel, in Northgate Street, was built in 1776 for Mr. Robert Sloper the father of the present George Elgar Sloper Esq. Mr. Sloper served the people gratuitously as long as he lived; but losing to some extent his power of voice, while yet in the meridian of life, he invited to his aid, by the general consent, the Rev. Richard Elliott, then a student at Newport-PagneU. The favourable impression produced by the young minister was immediate and unequivocal; and never was a choice more ratified by its subsequent issues than in the case of Richard Elliott. His youthful ardour and fiery eloquence, of which, the present generation who knew him only in the decline of life, can form but a faint idea, were soon felt throughout the county. On the formation of the Wilts Auxiliary Bible Society, he was nominated one of its Secretaries, and immediately proved himself, beyond all comparison, the most impressive platform orator in the county. This office he filled THE TOWN HALLS. 575 for more than forty years, till failing energy induced him to resign it to the more youthful hands of the Rev. Charles Stanford. Asa citizen he was ever foremost in the cause of philanthropy; and his hostility to West Indian Slavery, manifested in the movement of 1830, as well as the final caveat which, at a meeting just before his death, he pronounced against the insidious advances of the Papal power, will not soon be forgotten. Mr. Elliott came to Devizes in the year 1803 and remained here till his death in 1854 at the age of 73, though for a long period he annually supplied, during some weeks, Rowland Hill’s pulpit at Surrey Chapel, where he was decidedly popular. His continuance at Devizes was in spite of many invitations from more wealthy places, a decision which was only in accordance with the refusal which, in earlier life, he had given to offers of preferment in the Establishment, if he would consent to studj' at Cambridge. He was a Dissenter from principle, in opposition to here¬ ditary tastes. The Town Halls. The now Town Hall has been mentioned at page 492. The building sometimes termed the old Town Hall, which became in 1836 the property of Mr. Cunnington, will be best understood by the annexed print. When first erected for public purposes, the arches of the basement story were open to the ground. Great stability was there¬ fore requisite in their construction, and now that they are converted into windows and doors, the fabric may be styled the best built j)rivate house in the town. At page 553, mention is made of the materials of Bowden House having served for the mansion in Chippenham street. It is tradi¬ tionally reported that the builders of the fronts of this Hall at Devizes 576 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. supplied themselves from the same abundant store. Though sometimes termed a Town Hall, such was never its proper appellation, being only supplementary to the larger Guild or Wool Hall. It is correctly described in Core’s map as the “New Hall” of that date, and is there represented with a canopy and clock-bell on its summit. The rooms on its upper story were from time to time applied to a groat variety of uses, having served in sirccession the opposite purposes of a depot for Militia stores, of a mess-room for the Officers of the Devizes Loyal Volunteers, of a tem¬ porary Sunday School, of the Petty Sessions of the Devizes Division, and lastly of the Museum, Library, and Reading-rooms of the Literary and Scientific Institution, which body has occupied them since the year 1848. The basement story, together with the spacious vaults beneath, are used by the Messieurs Cunningtou for the purposes of their wine trade. Du¬ ring the re-building of the other Hall, from 180d to 1807, the cheese and poultry markets were held in this basement; but on the completion of that edifice, the cheese market resumed its old locality on the floor of the larger Hall, which continued to be its mart till within the last three years. The Market Houses. The butter and poultry Market house, includ¬ ing under the same roof the butchers’ shambles, was designed in 1835, and executed by Mr. Pollard of Frome at a cost of £1200, which was advanced by a mortgage on the tolls at 4 per cent. The new Corn Exchange, on the opposite side of the Market-place, was opened in 1858, and superseded at last the old fashioned plan of holding the corn market in the open air. The Mayor (Henry Butcher jun.) and his brethren, signalized the change by going in procession, on a market day, to the long accustomed spot, and making proclamation by the crier that it was no longer the mart for corn dealers. The cost of the New Exchange was £3900, of which, £2567 was raised by subscription, and the remainder by a process similar to the above. The building is about 140 feet in lengtli. Mr. Spurgeon preached in it on the 6th July 1859. Other public buildings are, the County Gaol, the County Assize Courts, the County Lunatic Atsylum, the Savings Bank, where the County Arch- eeological Museum and Library have temporary accommodation, and the County Militia Stores Depot. Some of these have already come under notice. The Militia Stores Depot cost £7740, to be paid off in 30 years commencing in 1854 at the rate of £250 annually applied from the general county rate. Devizes and Salisbury paid towards the gross amount, quotas amounting to £311. The cost of the Lunatic Asylum, (including the value of the land, purchased of Sotheron Estcourt Esq.) amounted to about £61,000, of which sum, £15,000 was raised by rates during the course of the erection, and £45,000 was borrowed on the credit of the County rates. Abont £7000 has now (1859) been already paid back, leaving a debt of £38,000 still due. Devizes sends all the lunatics of the borough to this County Asylum, under an arrangement with the County Justices; and in lieu of providing any part of the sum required in its erection, pays three shillings per head per week in addi¬ tion to the ordinary charge. t lilSHOrS CANNINGS CHURCH—BROMHAM CHURCH. 577 Hrsiioi’s Cannings Church, dedicated to St. Mary. Could we see this building in the precise form iu which the architect of Henry II.’s time left it, we should probably pronounce it the most tasteful specimen of the Early English style of parish church to be found iu the county: but the process of lowering the points of roofs which came iu with the passion for large windows, has combined, here as iu so mauy other in¬ stances, to vitiate the simplicity and uniformity of the design. Hence, while the triple lancet lights of its normal style (which is identical witli that of Salisbury Cathedral) are visible in the tower and at the extremi¬ ties of chancel, nave, and transepts; the aisles, clerestory, and ehanccl are remodelled to the taste of the loth century; and though it be admit¬ ted, as Archdeacon Macdonald suggests, that tlie new style was adopted in order to give more light, wo seem to miss here also, as at Devizes, the descending radiance of the lantern, now shut oil' by a ringing loft. From a lecture which the Archdeacon recently delivered on the history of this parish, we add a few other remarks touching the church. Attached to the east side of the south transept is a small chapel dedicated to Our Ladv of the Bower, which was granted, 5th Elizabeth, by the churchwardens to John Ernie of Bourton, as a bmial place for the family, on condition that he should keep it in repair. The family being extinct, the chapel has fallen into decay. On the north side of the chancel is what Mr. Britton had called a chantry chapel, but the Archdeacon ventured to think it more probably a sacristy. It had an upper chamber, and originally possessed a bell-tower. This church contains a singular article of furni¬ ture, the original purpose of which has puzzled most observers. It stands on the floor, and resembles a deep square pulpit, having on its back the painting of a huge human hand, covered with scrolls bearing short Latin mottos or sentences, consisting of meditations on Death. Some have though it a confessional. Bromuam Church, is principally remarkable for the highly decoiated chapel attached to it on the south-east, so closely rcseuibliug that in a similar position at Devizes, as to argue the identity of the founder, viz. Richard Beauchamp the warlike prelate who in the reign of Edward iV. held the Castle of Devizes and the manors thereto attached, and was probably, during the term of his tenure, the leading man in the county. The interior of this chapel is now principally remarkable for its various memorials of the Bayutou family, including not only monuments and quartcrings of arms, but fragments of defensive armour. At this church the Curfew bell tolls at six iu the morning and eight iu the ei euiug Ifom Michaelmas to Lady-day; and at seven and eight on Sundays throughout the year, and at one o’clock on Shrove Tuesday. At Peushurst in Kent the curlew is likewise rung. Bromham Church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. 1 578 Boeouqti Arms. Party per pale gules and azure: a castle argent. The Two Maces, composed of silver gilt, are very costly in their construction and execution: they are topped with a crown, and decorated all round with the emblems of the rose, thistle, harp, and fleur-de-lys: their age is indicated by the initials C. E. The Love Cup, used at the Mayor’s feast, is a lofty and elegant silver flagon with a lid, bearing the date of 1620, and the following names, Robert Flower, Mayor; Robert Drew, Esq., John Kent, gent., Walter Stephens, Nicholas Barrett, Edward Northey, John Allen, Edward Lewis, John Stephens, John Thurman, William Erwood, Richard Flower, and Thomas Wheatacre. The Two Constables Staves. These are long weapons, borne like the maces on occasions of ceremony: they are topped with flat-headed brass ornaments, having on the one side the arms of England and on the other a medallion of Queen Anne; and inscriptions, stating, that they were “presented to the Corporation of Devizes by John Smith, citizen of London, brazier to King William III. of blessed memory, who delivered this nation from Popery and arbitrary government, to her present Majesty Queen Anne.” 1709. List oe the Mayors.* From Michaelmas in each year till the Municipal Reform Act: then from 9th November. 1302. John Cray 1305. Will. Codiho 1328. John Cosham 1346. Ralph Roed 1381. Will. Spj^cer 1387. Will. Coventry 1398. John Coventry 1445. John Spycer 1410. Simon Skinner 1458. Henry Pole [sen. 1414. Jno.Coventry sen. 1468. John Reynolds 1415. John Coventry 1473. Nich. Mere 1419. Robert Smydh 1513. Will. Spycer 1436. John Coventry 1516. Will. RusseU Corrected by Mr. Edward Kite. LIST OF THE MAYORS. 579 1505. Edw. Haynes 1631. 1560. John ISurd 1632. 1575. Rich. Maundrell 1633. 1584. John Willis 1634. 1590. John Lowon 1635. 1591. Walter Stephens 1636. 1592. Rob. Cordcroy 1637. 1593. Tho. Bayly 1638. 1594. Will. Erwood 1639. 1595. John Batt 1640. 1596. Will. Barrett 1641. 1597. John Lewen 1642. 1598. Brian Bennett 1643. 1599. Walter Stephens 1644. 1600. Will. Erwood 1645. 1601. Rich. Maundrell 1646. 1602. John Kent 1647. 1603. John Pierce 1648. 1604. Rich. Flower 1649. 1005. Walter Stephens 1650. 1606, Brian Bennett 1651. 1606. Rich. Maundrell 1652. 1607. Tho. Whitacre 1653. 1608. Will. Erwood 1654. 1609. Nich. Barrett 1655. 1610. John Nicholas 1656. 1611. Rich. Flower 1657. 1012. Edw. Northey 1658. 1613. John Allen 1659. 1614. Edw. Lewes 1660. 1615. Will. Erwood 1061. 1616. John Stephens 1662. 1617. Nich. Barrett 1663. 1618. Tho. Whitacre 1664. 1019. Rob. Flower 1665. 1620. Rich. Flower 1606. 1621. John Thurman 1667. 1022. Ed. Northey son. 1668. 1623. John Allen 1669. 1624. Edw. Hope 1670. 1625. Edw. Lewes 1071. 1626. Thos. Kent 1672. 1627. Thos. Lewes 1673. 1028. ChristopherClark 1674. 1629. Christr. Flower 1675. 1030. Edw. Northey' 1076. • lu reference to the rivali Edw. Lewes Tho. Kent John Pierce Philip Strong Ed. Northey jun. Matthew Allen Will. Thurman Will. Shearer Thomas Kent John Hope Edw. Lewes Rich. Pierce Mich. Tideombe Matthew Allen John Tilton [?] John Stephens John Tilton John Eyles John Slopcr Rich. Webb John Tayler Edw. Hope John Stephens John Tilton Edw. Pierce John Slopcr Rich. Webb John Tayler Edw. Hope Rich. Drew Rich. Drew jun. Rich. Wilbec Edw. Pierce John Sloper John Hollis Richard ATatton Rob. Sloper Rob. Slopcr John Hollis Rich. Hillicr John Hollis Matthew Figgins y between Sutton and 1677. Richard Watton 1678. Charles Danvers 1679. Richard AVatton 1680. Richard AA^attou ? 1681. Will. Paradiee 1682. Will. Paiadice ? 1683. Rich. Stephens 1684. AATlliam AVatts 1685. Philij) Powell 1686. Philip Butcher 1687. John Child [sen. 1688. Frau. Paradiee 1689. Rich.Hillier[sen. 1690. Matth. Figgins 1691. Matth. Allen 1692. AVill. Paradiee 1693. Grave Morris 1694. John Child 1695. John Child 1696. Benj. Street 1697. James Sutton 1698. Rich. Hillier 1699. Rich. AA^attou 1700. John Rogers 1701. Matth. Figgins 1702. John Child 1703. Will. Paradiee, died in office. Rich. AA^atton 1704. Benj. Street 1705. James Sutton 1706. Rich. Hope 1707. John Eyles 1708. James Sutton but on petition of burgesses. Benj. Sti-eet by writ of mandamus, 25 May. Benj. Street James Sutton Benj. Street James Sutton* Edw. AA’^attou Charles Flower James Sutton 1709. 1710. 1711. 1712. 1713. 1714. 1715. Street, .see paije 300. 580 HISTOllY OF DEVIZES. 1716, 1717. 1718, 1719. 1720, 1721. 1722. 1723. 1724, 1725. 1726, 1727, 1728. 1729. 1730. 1731. 1732. 1733. 1734. 1735. 1736. 1737. 1738. 1739. 1740. 1741. 1742. 1743. 1744. 1745. 1746. 1747. 1748. 1749. 1750. 1751. 1752. 1753. 1754. 1755. 1756. 1757. 1758. 1759. Rich. Hope Edw. Watton James Sutton Henry Flower Edw. Watton Rich. Hope Henry Flower Sam. Powell Stcph. Street Edw. Davis Henry Axford Edw. Watton died, sue. by Henry Flower Peter Clark Steph. Street James Sutton Will. Adlam Jer. Williams Joseph Needham Henry Flower Edw. Davis Steph. Street Peter Clark Henry Flower Joseph Wells. Steph. Street Will. Adlam Rich. Smith Rob. Sloper Prince Sutton Tho. Sutton Rob. Lawrence Peter Clark. Joseph Wells George Willey John Massey Ralph Good Thomas Adlam Will. Salmon Rich. Smith Stephen Powell Rob. Lawrence John Flower George Willey John Massey 1760. 1761. 1762. 1763. 1764. 1765. 1766. 1767. 1768. 1769. 1770. 1771. 1772. 1773. 1774. 1775. 1776. 1777. 1778. 1779. 1780. 1781. 1782. 1783. 1784. 1785. 1786. 1787. 1788. 1789. 1790. 1791. 1792. 1793. 1794. 1795. 1796. 1797. Ralph Good, died. John Mas sey 13 June Thomas Adlam died 15 Feb. Will. Salmon Stephen Powell John Flower Rob. Lawrence Will. Salmon Henry Williams John Flower Stephen Powell James Sutton George Gibbs Sam. Adlam Will. Leach Sam. Tayler Will. Waylen Edw. Adlam, died 17 Oct. John Flower Will. Read Rich. Read Tho. Whitfield George Gibbs Steph. Hillman George Sloper Matthew Figgins Sam. Adlam Sam. Tayler Rich. Read Tho. Whitfield John Flower, died 28 Feb. George Gibbs Francis Bayly Stephen Powell Stephen Hillman George Sloper M.atthew Figgins James Sutton James Gent Sam. Adlam Rob. Bruges Sam. Tayler 1798. Stephen Powell - 1799. Stephen Hillman 1800. George Sloper 1801. James Sutton 1802. James Gent 1803. Sam. Tayler 1804. Sam. Adlam 1805. Rob. Bruges 1806. Stephen Hillman 1807. James Gent 1808. Sam. Tayler 1809. Will. Hughes 1810. Stephen Neato 1811. John Tyleo 1812. Henry Butcher 1813 John Singleton Clark 1814. James Gent 1815. Tho. Tylee 1816. Steph. Neato 1817. John Tylee 1818. Hen. Bayntun 1819. Will. Everett 1820. Will. Hughes 1821. Hen. Butcher 1822. Tho. Biggs 1823. John Singleton Clark 1824. Tho. Tylee 1825. John Tylee 1826. Hen. Bayntun 1827. Will. Everett 1828. Will. Hughes 1829. Hen. Butcher 1830. John Bayly 1831. John North 1832. Tho. Biggs 1833. Charles Coward 1834. John Singleton Clark Nominated hereafter on Qth November. 1835. Hen. Saunders 1836. Benj. Anstie 1837. Thomas James Heard OFFICIALS IN 1859 . 581 1838. Sara. Whitchurch 1846. John Raikes 1852. Joseph Burt 1839. Rich. Biggs Bayly 1853. Jas. Smallboncs 1810. Geo. Elgar Sloper 1847. Jas. Roger 1854. James Biggs 1841. Joseph Crockett Bramble 1855. John Edwards 1842. Will. Chandler 1848. Joseph Crockett Hayward 1843. Hen. Butcher jun.1849. George Waylen 1856. John E. Hayward 1844. Hen. Butchorjun. 1850 Henry Mackrell 1857. Hen. Butcher jun- 1845. Josex)h Burt 1851. Hen. Butcherjun. 1858. Will. Gifford Everett Charles I. Commonwealth. Chailes II. Anne. George II. George III. Victoria. Recoedeks. Robert Nicholas, appointed in Charles’ Charter. Robert Aldworth. John Glanville. Charles Danvers, 1668. Sir John Talbot, 1684, Danvers acting as his Deputy. Thomas Webb, 1706. John Garth, 1732. Charles Garth, 1764. Henry Addington, 1784. 1833. T. G. Estcourt, appointed 11 Aug. 1828, resigned 28 Ludlow Bruges, appointed 7 Juno 1833, resigned 1844. Henry A1 worth Merewethcr, 1844. Officials In 1859. Mayor, William Gifford Everett Esq. M.D.— Recorder, Henry Alworth Merewethcr Esq. Q,.C. of Bowden House.— Chamherlnins, Joseph Burt and Richard Maysmor.— Toicn-clerk, Alex¬ ander Meek Esq.— Coroner, Henry Kent Norris Esq.— Roronyh Magis¬ trates, Henry Butcher, Henry Butcher junior, William Edmund Tug well, John Hayward, Thomas James Heard, Jacob Player, Georgo Wayleii, Es(p's., and the ex-Majmr. The Devizes County Court Judge, Camille Eoli.x Desire Caillard.— Registrar, Henry Kent Norris.— Superintendant of the Devizes division of the Wilts Constabulary,* Francis Wolfe. The Devizes petty sessions are held at the office of tho Clerk to the Magistrates, (Mr. Alexander Meek) where a spacious room is litted up for tho purpose, at the solo expense of tho Clerk. For an account of the other petty sessions in the county sec foot notc.f The county Quarter • In the Orisiinil I’olicc Act, ceitain bo- rough.s liaving soiiaratc jurisdiction, were ex¬ empted from its operation, l)ut a power was sub.sequently accorded to those boroughs to come to an understanding with the county, and if they tliought fit, to place themselves under the general county police. Devizes, Marlborough, Caine, and Chippenham soon accepted the plan, and in 1857 were together paying t375 a year as their share. tMi. Swayue the Cleih ot the I'eacc laid the following list before the Magistrates at the (luartcr Sessions held at Devizes in Jan¬ uary 1859. At Bradford-on-Avon, petty sessions and special sessions are held in tho Town-1 lall in that town, at an expense to the county (in¬ cluding rent, firing, lighting, &c.) of £15. At Cable, the use of the Town-llall is gran¬ ted free of charge ; and, under the old system, when Caine was included in the Chippenham division, the expense of cleaning, firing, At., 582 IIISTOKY OF DEVIZES. Sessions are held here alternately Marlborough. nscd to amount only to £2, which was borne by the Clerk; hut sessions are now held in the town cvci'y month, and the expenses have therefore increased to £4, which theoounty is now asked to pay. At Chii)pcnltam, up to July last, (when an application for an allowance was made to the Quarter Sessions) the Clerk also paid the ex¬ penses attending the holding of petty sessions —the hall being gi-anted free of charge : £4, however, is now charged to the county, for firing, &c., for the magistrates. At Corsliam, the petty sessions arc held at the Methuen Anns, but nothing is paid for the use of the room, the application of the landlord having been refused on the gi-ound that the law would not sanction any allowance where sessions are held at an inn. [It was mentioned that the allowance which was made to the Evcrlcy and Pewsey division .was paid partly to innkeepers, the petty ses¬ sions being held both at Everley and Pewsey at inns. It appeared however that when the allowance was granted it was upon the suppo¬ sition that the petty sessions would be held at the police station; but the nuigisti’atcs were not satisfied mth their accommodation there, and removed to the old quarters.] At Swindon, petty sessions are held weekly in a building belonging to the Market Com¬ mittee, where every convenience is provided, at a cost to the county of £25 per annum. At Cricldadc, petty sessions arc held once a month at the 'White Hart Inn, no allowance being made to the landlord, although he has often applied for compensation. At Devizes, petty sessions have always been held at the office of the Clerk to the Magis¬ trates, where a spacious room is fitted up for the convenience of the justices, at the solo expense of the Clerk. At Everlej! and Pewsey, the expense of holding sessions is £15 a year, which the county pays, although at both places the sit¬ tings take place at inns. The landlords have £5 a year each, and the other £5 goes to the constabulary fund, for the use of the police station at intermediate times during the hold¬ ing of the regular petty sessions. At Uindon, the sessions arc held in a conve- with Salisbury, Warminstor, and nient hall adjoining the police station, at an expense of £15 a year to the county. At Maimeshury, the expenses of petty ses¬ sions are also defrayed by the county, Mr. Panting (the lessee of the Town-IIall) provi¬ ding every requisite for £10 a year. At Marlbovouyh, where sessions are hold weekly, the Town-IIall is placed at the ser¬ vice of the magistrates; but the county has to pay £8 a year to the hall-keeper for firmg, cleaning, &c. At llelkshnm, petty sessions are held in the Market-house once a month, at a cost to the county of £12 a year. At Salisbury and Amesbui-y, the magistrates- have always defrayed all incidentals out of their own pockets. These, it appears, amount to about £15 a year. At Trowbridge, petty sessions are held in the building used as a police station, which was erected about 3 years ago, and for the accom¬ modation here provided the county pays £15 a year to the constabulary account. At Warminster, it was agreed in 1836 by the justices which were then acting in the divi¬ sion to pay £1 a year each annually for firing, &c., in the Town-hall; and some of the jus¬ tices contiirued to pay that sum regularly; others “a contribution:” others (on public gi’ounds) paying 7iil. This went on till 1841, when a grant of £10 a year was made by the county.—About thattime abalanee w'as owing to the Clerk (Mr. Goodman) of upwards of .£30, wliich, he reminded the Court, had never yet been defrayed. At Westbury, petty sessions used formerly to be held in the Town-hall, rent free; but Sir Massey Lopes has lately demanded £6 a year for the accommodation; and this, added to £4 for firing, cleaning, &c., entails an expense of £10 a year upon the county. In the Whortoellsdown Division, accommo¬ dation is provided at inns at Steeple Ashton and Yarnbrook, gratuitously— the accommo¬ dation at the latter place being very inferior. The total cost of holding petty sessions in this county amounts altogether to £119, in¬ cluding a fresh grant of £4 a year to Caine, which was made to-day upon the application, of Loru Siieldurne. of (Subcrikrs. Addington, Hon. W. W., Upper Ottery, Devonshii’c. Adlam, Mr. S., Devizes. Anstie, P. P]sq[., Devizes. Anstie, E. Esq., Devizes. Anstie, G. W. Esq., Devizes. Anstie, T. B. Esq., Devizes. Arnold, Mrs., Castle House, Caine. Ayton, Mr., Devizes. Bellers, Captain, R.W. Militia, Portsiuoutli. Besley, R. Esq., London. Bidwell, Miss, Devizes. Biggs, J. Esq., R.N., Torbay Cottage, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, Che.shii Biggs, R. Esq., Devizes. Bretton, Captain, R.W. Militia, Dover. ( Ttvo Copies.) Brinkworth, J. H. Esq., Chippeiiliain. Binges, Mrs. Ludlow, Seend, Melksham. Bruges, W. Esq., Pucksbipton. Bruges, W. Esq., Marden. Brown & Co. Messrs., Salisbury. Brown, Rev. F., Nailsea Rectory. Brooke, S. B. Esq., Cowbridge House, Malmesbury. Butcher, H. Esq., Jun., Devizes. Burt, H. P. Esq., 2, Charlotte Row, City, Loudon. Burt, Mr. J., Devizes. Burrowes, W. Esq., Dunkirk Hill, Devizes. Butler, Mr., Kennet. Cadby, C. Esq., London. Carter, W. Esq., Conock. Caswell, Mrs., Devizes. Champ, J. Esq., Nurstead, Devizes. Clarke, Miss, Heddiugton. (Two Co 2 nes.) Clarke, Mr. C., Devizes. Colston, Mrs., Roundway Park, Devizes. Copner, Rev. J., Devizes. Crook, Rev. H., Upavon. Cunnington, Mr. W., Devizes. Davies, Mr. W., Devizes. Devizes Literary and Scientific Institution. Dodd, S. Esq., Hartland Terrace, Kentish Town, Loudot . LIST OF SUBSCRIBEBS CONTINUE!). Douse, W. Esq., M.P., Charlotte Towu, Prince Edward’s Island, British North America. (Three Copies.) Downes, E. Esq., St. Helena House, Richmond, Surrey. Dowding, Rev. B. C., Southbroom Rectory, Devizes. Ellen, Mr., Southbroom Cottage, Devizes. Ellen, Mr. E., Andover. Ellis, Mr., Devizes. Estcourt, the Rt. Hon. T. H. S. Sotheron, M.P., Estcourt House, Tethury. ( Two Copies.) Estcourt, Rev. W. B., Newntou Rectory, Tethury. Everett, Rev. E., Mauningford Abbots, Pewsey. Ewart, W. Esq., M.P., Broad Leaze House, Devizes. Eyles, Mr. T., Winterbouru Monkton. Farraut, Mr. R., Salisbury. Eiggins, V. Esq., London. Eiggins, J. Esq., London. Fowle, Mrs., Market Lavington. Fox, Mr. T. B., Devizes. Flower, T. B. Esq., 7, Beaufort Buildings, Rath. Francis, Mr. J., Devizes. Fraser, Mr., Devizes. Fuller, J. B. Esq., Neston Park, Melksham. Furze, T. Esq., Richmond, Surrey. Furze, T, Esq., Jun., Lewisham, Kent. Giddings, Mr. E., Devizes. Gillman, Mr., Devizes. Gladstone, Capt. J. N., M.P., Bowden Park, Chippenham. Goddard, H. N. Esq., The Manor, Clyffe Pypard. Goddard, Rev. F., Hilmarton Vicarage, Caine. Gore, Hon. Miss, Wilcot Manor, Pewsey. Grant, J. Esq., Highfield, Lymington, Hants. Giiflith, C. Darby, Esq., M.P., Padworth House, Berks. Grubbe, Major-General, Eastwell House, Devizes. Hall, Marshall, Esq., Blaeklands Park, Caine. Hamilton, Kerr Walter, D.D., Right Rev. Bishop of Salisbury. Hayward, J. Esq., Brow Fort House, Devizes. Hayward, J. E. Esq., St. John’s Court, Devizes. Hayward, W. P. Esq., Wilsford. Haywood, F. Esq., Derby. HRlyard, Mr. B., Stanton St. Bernard. Hiscoke, J. G. Esq., Richmond, Surrey. Hood, The Very Reverend Samuel, Dean of Argyll and the Isles, Rothsay, Bute. Hulbert, H. H. Esq., Devizes. Jackson, Rev. Canon, F.S.A., Leigh Delamere, Chippenham. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS CONTINUED. Jones, Rev. W. H., Bradford-on-Avon. King, Lieutenant, Devizes. Kingsbury, Rev. T. L., Savernake, Marlborough. Lansdowne, The Most Hon. The Marquis of, Bowood House. Lanois, Mons. De, Melksham. Leach, R. V. Esq., Briton Ferry, Neath, South Wales. Lewis, W. Esq., Raymond’s Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, London. Locke, F. A. S. Esq., Rowde Ford, (Three Copies.) Long, Walter, Esq., M.P., Rood Ashton. Long, W. Esq., Lansdowne Crescent, Bath. Long, C. E. Esq., Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square, London. Long, W. Esq., Preshaw House, Bishop’s Waltham, Hants. Lucas, C. R. Esq., London. Lucas, Miss, Devizes. Lukis, Rev. W. C., Rectory, Collingbourne Ducis. Macdonald, The Venerable Archdeacon, Bishojis Cannings. Macdonald, Rev. W., Calstone. Meek, A. Esq., Hillw'orth, Devizes. Meredith, Captain, R.N., Heddington. .Mcrewether, H. A. Esq., Q.C., Bowden Hill. Methuen, Rev. H. H., Allcannings. Methuen, Rev. T. P., Guernsey. Mullings, R. Esq., Cirencester. Mullings, J. R. Esq., Eastcourt, Malmesbury. Nisbet, R. Parry, Esq., Southbroom House, Devizes. Nisbet, Miss, Southbroom House, Devizes. Norris, H. K. Esq., Devizes. Parker, Messrs., Oxford. Pellew, The Hon. and Very Rev. Dean, Norwich. Penruddocke, J. H. Esq., Seend. Picket, H. Esq., Temple, London. Plank, G. Esq., The Green Hill, Hampstead, London. Player, Jacob, Esq., Hill worth. Devizes. Price, R. E. Esq., Marlborough. Prower, The Venerable Archdeacon, Purton, Swindon. Reynolds, Mr. J., The HiU, Stroud water. Sainsbury, W. Esq., West Lavington. Salmon, Colonel, Manor House, Potterne. Scrope, G. P. Esq., M.P., Castle Combe. Sedgwick, Mr. Alfred 0., (A.LB.A.) Devizes. Simpkins, Miss, Castle Grounds, Devizes. Sladen, Rev. E. H. N., Alton Barnes. Sloper, G. E. Esq., Devizes. Sloper, A. M. Esq., Bishops Cannings. LIST OF STJBSCBIBEKS CONTINUED. Smith, Elder, & Co., London. Smith, Lady, Hyde Park, London. Smith, Rev, A., Old Park, Devizes. Smith, Rev. A. C., Rectory, Yatesbury. Smith, J. G. Esq., Winkfield House, Trowbridge. Stratton, J. Esq., Manningford. Swayne, J. Esq., Wilton. Taylor, S. Watson, Esq., Erlestoke Park, (3 Copies.) Taylor, Emilius, Esq., Oxford. Thurnam, Dr. F.S.A., County Asylum, Devizes. Tinker, W. Esq., Conock. Tripp, Rev., E., Poulshot. Tylee, Rev. Mortimer, Bridlington Q,uay, Yorkshire. Tylee, J, Esq., 1, Burlington Villas, Redland, Bristol. Tylee, T. P. Esq , Bayswater, London. Tylee, E. Esq., Hyde Park, London. Vincent, Rev. E., Rowde. Vines, D. Esq., Somerset House, Kingsdown, Bristol. Wadworth, Mr., Heddington. Ward, Mr., Devizes. Ward, R. J. Esq., Westbury. Warriner, Mrs., Gay Street, Bath. Watkins, Mr., Devizes. Waylen, G. Esq., Devizes. Waylen, R. Esq., Devizes. Waylen, Mrs. R., Devizes. White, F. G. Esq., Erchfont. White, W. Marriatt, Esq., Springfield Villa, Lansdowne, Bath. Wilton, Rev. E., Bishops Lavington. Wittey, S. Esq., Devizes. Wood, Rev. P. A. L., Rectory, Devizes. 583 APPENDIX. Page 6. To Mr. Henry Bull of Devizes. “51 Eaton Place S.W. 11 Feb. 1859. “Dear Mr. Bull. In your new book, tlie History of Devizes, have you said any word about the origin of the name ? It is derived from the word Divisie, which was the Latin, about the year 1100, for a Park. See Ducange's Glossary : and the spot where the town now stands -was an enclosed Park, divided into Old and New Park, belonging to the See of Sarum. Bishop Roger built a castle on the high ground between the two Parks. The hamlet which grew naturally around the castle and under its shelter, took the name which was already in existence, viz. Devisia, or Bishop’s Park. I never heard this origin suggested, but I do not doubt it is the true and correct solution of the long disputed question, whence came the name of Devizes ? Yours truly. “ T. SOTHERON EsTCOURT.” Page 29. The hurial ‘place of Robert Courtliose Duke of Normandy. It has always appeared an unlikely thing that the body of this Prince should have been carried to Carlisle for sepulture, and recent operations at Cloucester have continued the objection, by bringing to light evidence that he was interred in the Chapter House of that Cathedral; that is to say, Avithiii the City which witnessed the close of his weary life. A cor¬ respondent of the Gloucestershire Chronicle in October 1858, alluding to the assertion of Leland that many persons of distinction had been buried in the Chapter House, conlirms the fact by reciting sundry iusci iptions recently revealed by the removal of the crust of white-washes from the niches and panels of the Avail. Among these appears, “ Hie jaeet Robert Cortus.” Corroborative evidence that the Duke was here buried is found in the tradition that his efligy, carved in Irish oak, stood before the High Altar till it Avas broken in pieces by the Paidiamentary soldiers. The fragments Avcrc collected by Sir Humphrey Tracey of StanAvay, Avho kept them till the Restoration, when they were deposited in the chapel of the Holy Apostles on the north-east side of the choir. Times newspaper 15 Oct. 1858. A correspondent of the Notes and Queries, 5 Dec. 1857 asks Avhat has become of the descendants of Prince Robert Curt-hose f and goes on to say that, iu the reign of Charles 11. there Avas a family in Wilt¬ shire claiming direct descent from him; the name Avas “Shorthose.” The 584 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. [APPENDIX. Rev. John Shoi'thoso, vicar of Stanton Barnard and Upavon, Wilts, was also a prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral. In the beginning of the last century, 1710, a son of his was lecturer of Chelsea, .and died there in 1734. [A short account of him is prefixed to his sermons on several oc¬ casions, 8vo 1738. Ed. N. ^ Q.] The name does not appear in Heralds’ Visitations, nor in Burke’s Landed Gentry. [In reply to the above, all that can be said is that both “Shortho” and “Curtis” arc still prevalent in and around Salisbury.] SoTJTnBEOOM. 1439. Among the documents found at Kingston House, Bradford-on- Avon, in 1851, was an Indenture executed at Southbroom, 18th Henry VI. between John Fyton Esq. and Thomas Norton of Southbroom, about lease of lands at Lavington, Marston, Vyse-wick, Stert, Easton, Bishops Cannings, and Sherbourn. Wilts 3Iagazine, vol. i. p. 288. Page 94. The following document belongs to the history of Sir Roger Toootes. Stafford, who supplants him, is the name of a family prominent in the Wars of the Roses, including the three Dukes of Buckingham of that period. See Shakspeare; and the Peerages, article “Baron Stafford.” Orant of Vies Castle and Bromham, hy Richard III, to Thomas Stafford, 1483. “ Richard Rex. To all the fermours, tenants, and occupiers, as well of the manor of Bromham with the appurtenances, as of all the lands and tenements within our county of Wilts, late appertaining to our rebel and traitor Roger Toootes, knt. and also to all the officers within our forests of Blakemoro and Pevesham, and to all our subjects and inhabitants within our lordship of the Vies, Rowde, Chippenham, Trowbridge, and Marlborough, and to every of them, hearing or seeing these letters. Greeting.—We let you wit that of our grace especial, for certain causes and considerations us moving, we have given and granted to our trusty and well-beloved squire Thomas Stafford the manor and lordship of ^romham aforesaid with the appurtenances, together with lands and ..enements as late belonged to our said rebel, as is above said, to the value of (£100?):—And also have ordained and appointed our said squire to be master-forester and to have the sole rule and governance of all manner offices within our said forests of Blakemore and Pevesham, ■with Gie pannage of the same:—And also to be constable of our castle of the Vyos and Rowde, and stew.ard as well of the same as of our lordships of Chippenham, Trowbridge and Marlborough aforesaid :—To have and enjoy the same witli all other the premises according to our said grant and appointment. Wherefore we 'will and charge you all and every of you to suffer our said squire to enter and enjoy accordingly all the pre¬ mises without any manner let or impediment. And over this, that as well in everything concerning the same as also in all other businesses I,EASE IN THE PARK. 585 APPENDIX.] that ill our behalf he sliall call upon you, ye bo unto him and to none other, from henceforward, helping, answering, and assisting, as the cause shall re(iuire. So that by his report wo may fully understand what towardness and loving dispositions }'e bear towards us; which accordingly we will remember. Given at London the 29th day of November in the lirst year of our reign.” Suits in Chancery; time of Queen Elizabeth. 1st. Plaintiff, George Provender son and heir apparent to Geoffrey Provender;— Defendant, the said Geoffrey Provender;—The object of the suit being, a claim to an entail under a special deed of covenant of and in lands of the said Geoffi’cy in Allington, Allcannings, Bromham, Chittoo, Bisho])s Cannings, Rowde, and Caine. 2nd. Plaintiff, Joan Gaysford widow;— Defendants, Thomas Hulbert, Thomas Brown, and others:—The object of the suit, to protect plaintiff’s title as devisee to a messuage and lands in Stoke and live messuages in the Devizes, sometime the estate of Nicholas llulbcrt, plaintiff’s father. 3rd. Plaintiff, Edward ITungerford Esq.:— Defendant, Henry Brounc- kor and others ;—Object of tho suit, a claim under a crown-grant to the manor and lordship of Rowde, granted by the Queen’s letters patent to Sir Walter Hungerford, plaintiff’s late father, and to plaintiff, in fee. 4th. Plaintiffs, Richard Webb and Elizabeth his wife, [addressed to Nicholas Bacon;] Defendant, Marion Flower, widow, and William Maundrell;—Object of suit, to protect possession of a messuage and half a yardland in Rowde, granted by Queen Katharine wife of Henry Vlll., Lady of the manor, unto the plaintiff Elizabeth’s father and mother, and to plaintiff, for the term of their lives. 5th. The suit of tho Mayor and Corporation of Devizes against Henry Grubbe has already been noticed at page 550. Kalendar of Proceedings in Chancery, A lease of lands in Devizes Park, from the Earl of Pembroke to Thomas Coles and his heirs for three lives. 1595. [abridged.] This Indenture made tho fii-st day of April in the seven and thirtieth year of tho reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, between the Rt. Hon. Henry Earl of Pembroke, Lord Herbert of Cardiff, Lord Mar- mion and St. Quentin, lord-president of the Queen’s Council and within the Principality of Wales and Marches thereof, and of the Hon. Order of tho Garter, Knight; the Rt. worshipful Matthew Ewens one of tho barons of her Majesty’s Exchequer; and Henry Martin of Upham Co. Wilts, Es(p; of tho ono part: And Thomas Coles of tho Devizes Co. Wilts, shoemaker, of the other part:— Witnessetii tliat tho said Mat¬ thew Ewens and Henry Martin by the consent and appointment of the said Earl, for divers good causes and considerations them thereunto specially moving. Have demised, granted, and to farm lettcu, and by these presents do demise, grant, and to farm let, unto tho said Thomas Coles one parcel of ground parcel of tlie late disparked park of the Devizes 586 HTSTOKY OF DEVIZES. [APPENDIX. in the Co. of Wilts, lying to the lands of the said park demised to Ralph Sloper, towards the east;—to the lands of the said park demised to James Watts, towards the west;—to the bank where the pale of the said park lately stood, towards the north; and to the watercourse running from Kingswell, towards the south; containing by estimation two and twenty acres. Except and always reserved unto the said Matthew Ewens and Henry Martin their heirs and assigns all the sapling trees of oak, elm, and ash; and also one foot-path for all the tenants of the said park, their servants and assigns, to pass and repass through the said ground at all times convenient:—To have and to hold the same unto Thomas Coles and his assigns from the feasj of the Annunciation of our Lady last past unto the full end and term of fourscore and nineteen years from thence next ensuing, if the said Thomas Coles, Elizabeth his wife, and Mary Fitzall the daughter of Thomas Fitzall of Devizes haberdasher, or any of them, shall so long live:— Yielding and paying therefore yearly at the said Earl’s mansion-house at Wilton the yearly rent of nine pounds and fifteen shillings of lawful money of England, at the two feasts most usual, that is to say at the feast of St. Michael and the Annunciation, by even portions to be paid.— And also yielding and paying severally by and upon the death of the said Thomas Coles, Elizabeth his wife, and Mary Fitzall, forty shillings of lawful money of England, for and in the name of a heriot.— And if the said yearly rent of nine pounds fifteen shillings shall be behind and unpaid in part or in all by the space of fourteen days after the said feasts, being lawfully demanded, it shall and may be lawful for the said Matthew Ewens and Henry Martin to re-enter and re-possess the aforesaid premises. And also if the said heriots or either of them shall be behind and not paid by the space of fourteen days after the time they shall happen to be due, being likewise demanded, and no sufiicient distress or distresses for the same heriots in and upon the pre¬ mises can or may be found, then it shall be likewise lawful for Matthew Ewens and Henry Martin to re-enter and re-possess. And the said Thomas Coles for himself his executors and assigns covenanteth at his and their proper costs to uphold, maintain, fence, and enclose the pre¬ mises, and so yield them up, provided the other tenants of the park have a footpath into and through the said parcel of ground. And the said Earl for himself his heirs and assigns covenanteth and promiseth to and with the said Thomas Coles his executors and assigns, peaceable posses¬ sion of the premises under the articles and conditions afoi'esaid.—Matthew Ewen covenanteth and promiseth the same.—Henry Martin covenanteth and promiseth the same. In Witness whereof the parties abovesaid to these present indentures interchangeably have set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.” Page 122. Oliver St. John. Who was the real author of the Letter to the Mayor of Marlborough ? Mr. John Maclean of Hammersmith, writing to the Notes and Queries MR. ONYON’s COMROSITTON. 587 AITENDIX.] 8t1i January 1859, coufirms Mr. Foss’s view on this subject so far as to say, “ It is liighly improbable that the letter to the Mayor of Marlborough could be written by such a lad, or that the prosecution of a mere boy would cause such anxiety to the King, as to cause the trial to be deferred until the Lord Chancellor (Egerton), who from age and infirmity was upon the point of re¬ signing the great seal, could attend the hearing.” But ho then goes on to observe, “Mr. Foss however upon the authority oiHarris's Lives, i. 286, states that “Black Oliver” of 1615 was Oliver St. John of Lediard Trcgoze, who in 1622 was created Viscount Grandison. It appears to mo that Mr. Foss is also mistaken. It is true that Lediard Tregoze is not far from Marl¬ borough ; but that circumstance, I conceive, renders it the more impro¬ bable that its owner should be residing in the town. The printed genea¬ logical accounts which we have of this gentleman, certainly state that in his youth he was sent to study the law in the Inns of Court; but having been engaged in a duel, ho was obliged to quit the kingdom. lie served in the Low Countries under the Veres, and was knighted in the reign of (iueen Elizabeth. He afterwards distinguished himself in the wars of Ireland, and in December 1605 was made Master of the Ordnance in that kingdom, which office he continued to hold until 1616. lie thus spent the early part of the reign of James 1. in that country, and we find him taking a prominent position in the debates in the Irish House of Com¬ mons in 1613 and 1614. He seems however to have been in England in 1615, for in October of that year he was so much in the confidence of the King as to be entnisted with the custody of the Earl of Somerset, and in the following April was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, lie could not therefore be the same person who was prosecuted and received so se¬ vere a sentence in April 1615 as “Mr. St. John of Lincoln’s Inn,” who is nowhere spoken of as a knight Who then was this person ? From his residence at Marlborough, I am inclined to conclude that he was of the Lediard Tregoze family; and on referring to the pedigree of that branch recorded in the Heralds’ College, I find that John St. John had two sous, John the grandfather of Oliver who became Lord Grandison, and Oliver who had a son of his own name. No farther descent from this last Oliver is shewn, but he may have been the Oliver of the Star Chamber; or, if considered too early, the latter may have been his son, and the Lord Chief Justice possibly his grandson.” Page 271. Mr. Onijon's Com 2 )osition. Archdeacon Macdonald has kindly sought to contrast (where practica¬ ble) the rents mentioned in Onyon’s schedule with the modern valuations of the same fields ; thus. Breach-mead now lets for £12. Moorcrol'to [incorrectly spelt Moorceaste at i>age 271] is now six acres, let at 43s. per acre. Watts’s-lease. Not known. The Benios, three acres at 45s. per acre. Longcroft, 35s. per acre. 588 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. [appendix. Tlio Arcluloacon adds, “ I have made evoiy enquiry as to the antice- donts of Mr. Ouyon in vain. From a very old man at Horton I have learnt that he lived as a bachelor in a farm house at Horton on his own estate which he kept in his own hands. The farm is now in the occu¬ pation of Mr. W. Brown, whose landlady is Mrs. Rooke of French-hay near Bristol.” Page 278. A manusci’ipt sermon or lecture from Numbers xii., 1, 2, 3, 4, preaohed by Major Barton in the Devizes on the occasion of the revolt of the Levellers in 1G49, is in the possession of Mr. Edward Kite of Devizes. Page 304. Tripartite division of the Park lands at Devizes between the heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger. 1664. [abridged.] “Indenture quadripartite made 10 June, 16th of Charles II. between the Rt. Hon. Henry Alexander Earl of Sterling in Scotland, son and heir of Henry late Earl, and of the Lady Mary his wife the late Countess of Sterling deceased, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Sir Peter Van- lore the younger, bart., deceased, and the Lady Judith his wife, now Countess of Sterling, of the first part;—Sir Robert Crook of Checkhurst [Chequers] Bucks, Knight, and Dame Susan Crook his wife, one other daughter and co-heir of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger, of the second part .—Henry Zinzan alias Alexander of Tilehurst, Berks, Esq., and Jacoba Zinzau his wife one other daughter and co-heir of Sir Peter Van- lore the younger, of the third part:—and William Burnett and William Scatterthwayte of Grays Inn, Middlesex, gentlemen, of the fourth part; —AVheeeas the said Henry Earl of Sterling, Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan his wife in right of the said Dame Susan, and the said Henry Ziu- zan and Jacoba his wife in right of the said Jacoba, do stand seized iu their demesne as of fee, in coparceny or otherwise, by undivided parts of and in all that the Castle of Devizes with the appurtenances, in AVilts, and of and in all those two Parks, whereof the greater is commonly called the Old Park and the lesser the New Park, and of and in divers lands, tenements, and hereditaments thereunto belonging, hereinafter mention¬ ed. And whereas the said parties for the better improvement of the said Castle, parks, and lands, and for their greater freedom iu ordering and disposing of them to and for their best advantage, have mutually agreed to make equal partition and to hold the same divided and in severalty, and to that purpose agree that oue line sur cognizance de droit eomeo ceo shall be levied of the said Castle, parks, and premises, to the said Wil¬ liam Burnet and AVilliam Scatterthwayte and their heirs or the heirs of oue of them. Now, this Indenture wituesseth that the parties aforesaid agree with William Barton and William Scatterthwayte that they the said Earl, Crook, and Zinzan, shall before the end of next Michaelmas term, at equal costs, ackuoulodgc and levy belbro the Court of Commou Pleas one line sur cognizance unto William Barton and William Scatter- APPENDIX.] DIVISION OF THE PARK. 5SU thwayto of all that the Castle of Devizes and two parks, and of all houses, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, feedings, woods, undcrw'oods, rents, reversions, and hereditaments, with appurtenances within the precincts or compass of the said parks or either of them, or in anywise appertaining or accepted, rented, or taken, as part, parcel, or member of the said parks or either of them, wdth the appurtenances situate, lying, and being, com¬ ing, growing, arising, or renewing within the said parks or either of them; by the name of the Castle of Devizes, and of twelve messuages, six tofts, sixteen gardens, 190 acres of laud, 270 acres of meadow, 880 acres of pasture, 100 acres of wood, 60 acres of furze and heath, and ten shillings rent, with the appurtenances in the Devizes, Potterue, llowdc, and Bishops Cannings, or b}' such other names or (jualities as shall be ilt and requisite. And such lino shall be and inure to the uses, intents, and purposes hereinafter mentioned and no other, that is to say, of, for, and concerning the said Castle of Devizes, and of and concerning all those arable lands, coppices, &c. known by the name of the New Pai’k or the Little Park; and all that meadow ground called Shipgrove mead, and that coppice called Shipgrove coppice in the parish of Bishops Cannings; and of, for, and concerning those arable and pasture and meadow grounds, parcel of the Old Park, as follows,—16 acres and 27 perches in tlie occu¬ pation of John Monday, Richard Smith, and John Overton;—18 acres 2 roods and 38 perches in tho occupation of Thomas Kent, gentleman,— 35 acres and 1 rood in tho occupation of John Tayler, gentleman,—27 acres 2 roods and 5 perches in the occupation of Edward Pierce, gentle¬ man,—grounds and gardens parcel of tho Old Park and of the Castlo- diteh, 24 acres 1 rood and 32 perches in the occupation of John 81opor, gentleman,—gardens jjarcel of the Old Park and Castle-ditch, 1 acre 1 rood and 20 perches in the occupation of Ambrose Smith, Robert lugs, Stephen llumphrcy, Stephen Bayley, Edward Pierce, 1‘ldmund Potter, and William Hayes; To the use and behoof of the said Earl of Sterling his heirs and assigns for ever.— And of and concerning those arable, pas¬ ture, and meadow lands, parcel of the Old Park, in the several occupa¬ tions following,—81‘2’38 Robert Pope,—23'3TU William Waylaud,— 17‘3T9 John Kent, Esq.—12-3-14 Edmund Potter,—23'0T3 William Alford,—5T‘20 Robert Ings,—20T‘37 William Sherwood,—14'3'15 John Tayler,—14'0'24 William Yorkc, — IO'3'O John Kent, Esq.—14'0'2U called the Bear grounds, John Tayler,—the tenement called Essiugtons with the adjoining gardens in the several occupations of John Tayler, Roger Neviuson, William Watts, William Somner, William Stephens, William Sawyer, Richard Bennett, Edward West, and John Eaton, being part of or adjoining to the Castle-ditch,—To the only use and behoof of Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan.— And of and couceruing those arable, pasture, and meadow lands, parcel of the Old Park, in the several occu¬ pations following,—27'3'0 William Collins,—1()‘2-2 John Spencer,—that lodge, messuage and tenement giounds and closes, 41'2'34 William Powell,—31T'32 AVilliam Waylaud,—46'2 33 John Sloper and William Long,—37‘3'36 Anthony Martin,— 15-2’5 John Tayler,— 11TT6 Edw'ard HISTORY OF DEVIZES. [APPENDIX. Picl'co,—11-2-39 William Barnes.—To the only use and behoof of Henry Ziuzan and Jacoba liis wife for ever.— And it is hereby covenanted and agreed that the chief rent due and payable out of the said Castle, parks, and premises to the Crown, and all other rents, duties, payments, cus¬ toms, and services, issuing, duo, or payable, for or out of the premises, shall bo equally borne, share and share alike, that is to say, one ecxual third part by the Earl, one equal third part by Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan, and another equal third part by Henry Zinzan and Jacoba his wife.— And it is agreed that each of them and their- tenants and farmers shall have, receive, and take the benefit of all such springs and currents of ivater running into or through the xn-emises, in their re¬ spective usual turns and courses, according as the said springs or currents have been usually permitted to How, for the watering of the grounds Avhich have been usually watered, without any let, trouble, hindrance, or denial, each of the other. And whereas it is pretended by the above William Powell that he hath right to hold and enjoy the said several grounds hereinmentioued by force and virtue of some former grant or lease thereof made, and still in being and not yet determined ; and yet it is conceived by the parties to these presents, and they are so in¬ formed, that such lease, if any such were, is long since determined; and therefore for the better discovery of the truth thereof and more speedy recovering of the grounds, it is intended that some suit in law or equity shall be commenced and xn-osecuted against him, it is agreed that such suit be conducted at the equal and indifferent costs of the said Earl of Sterling, Sir Robert Crook, and Henry Zinzan. —In Witness whereof, to the first part of these indentures remaining with the said Henry Earl of Sterling and the Lady Judith, the said Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan, Henry Zinzan and Jacoba his wife, William Burnett and William Scatterthwayte have set their hands and seals.—Unto the second part re¬ maining with Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan his wife, the said Earl and the Lady Judith, and Henry Zinzan and Jacoba his wife, and Wil¬ liam Burnett and William Scatterthwayte have set their hands and seals. —To the third part remaining with Henry Zinzan and Jacoba his wife, the Earl and the Lady Judith, Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan, and William Burnett and William Scatterthwayte have set their hands and seals.—And to the fourth part remaining with William Burnett and Wiliam Scatterthwayte, the Earl and the Lady Judith, Sir Robert Crook and Dame Susan, and Henry Zinzan and Jacoba have set their hands and seals the day and year first above written. This is a true copy, ex¬ amined 25th February, 1679, by “ Stirltne,* “ Richard Hope.” Page 472. The Devizes Military Association of Householders, established in 1798. One of the “ Orderly books” of this company, in the possession of Mr. Ellen, consists of printed Rules and Regulations, to take eli'ect from and alter the 9th of July, lists of members, and manuscript entries of daily * The Earl’s mode of spelling his name. 591 APPENDIX.] THE VOI.UNTEEKS OP 1798 . occurrents. During summer time the muster took place every Monday evening at six o’clock, with occasional musters on Wednesday and Fri¬ day, The weekly subscription was, from officers Is., sergeants 6d., cor¬ porals 4d., privates 3d. This went to pay for drill, drumming, fifing, &c. Withdrawal, or resistance to authority, was punishable with a fine of five guineas ; and if further, the fine were resisted, the ofi'ender was to be posted on the Market Cross and in the Bath and Salisbury news¬ papers as a deserter. “ 1799. 27 May. Sergeant Butcher and Corporal Chandler to take the duty for one week, commencing this day. Same day, ordered that ornaments for cartouche boxes be delivered by Edward Jordan, who will instruct every person how to fix them. The members are to take their new hats at Whitley’s, and have the bear .skins, cockades, &c. fixed be¬ fore the muster on Monday next. “ 3 June. Notice of a field day on the morrow at 11 o’clock in honour of his Majesty’s birthday. Will. Everett and John Holloway, have not their new uniforms and buttons. “ 7 June. Notice that next Sunday the two companies shall parade to church. “11 June. Called on William Adlam of the 2nd company to demand a forfeit for absence, who refused to attend any more beeauso he had been placed on the picquet on 4 June, but he would join the 1st company if permitted. “17 June. Report read at the muster, touching William and Tlromas Adlam. Ordered that the fine of five guineas bo imposed on William Adlam and his arms demanded. “ 1 July. Sergeants Gibbs and Butcher had both called on William Adlam, who gave them no positive answer. “ 6 July. Jas. Howell and John Chivers to be posted as deserters. “ 17 July. JohnNeate and Richard Drake threatened with forfeiture, for neglect. William Adlam still objects to pay, but rather than bo posted, he proposes his younger brother as a substitute. * “22 July. White pantaloons ordered; for which the tailors in the corps receive instructions. William and Thomas Adlam both attended the muster after the roll was called, and being reminded of the fines to which their delinquency had subjected them, quitted the ground in a contemptuous manner. “ 29 July. William and Thomas Adlam appeared in their places; and having expressed themselves sensible of their misconduct, it was ordered that their fines be accepted, aud no further notice taken of their misbehaviour. “ 17 August. Ordered by Captain Salmon, Lieutenants Gent aud Sutton, and Ensigns Locke aud Salmon, that a meeting of the corps be held this day at the Town-Hall at half past one. “ 19 August. Captain Tayler having written to tho Lord Lieutenant on the subject of the proceedings on Saturda}', 17th, Captain Salmon, HISTORY or DEVIZrS, 592 [Al'PENniX. ou consulting the other officers, docs not think himsclt justified in calling out the corps at present. “ Saturday 24 August. At a muster without uniform or arms, Cap¬ tain Tayler of the first company declared his iuteutioii to resign, iu consequence of meetings having been held for the purpose of electing a person to be recommended to the Lord Lieutenant as Captain Command¬ ant of the two companies. Captain Salmon had at the aforesaid meeting- on the 17th, been chosen by ballot as the person to be so recommended, the numbers being, for Salmon 89, for Tayler 40. It was now therefore proposed that the said arrangement be submitted to the Lord Lieutenant, and also the following promotions, viz., 1st company. Lieutenant Sutton to be Capt. vice Tayler resigned:—Ensign Locke to be Lieutenant, vice Sutton:—Sergeant Neate to be Ensign vice Locke.—In the 2nd company Lieutenant Gent to be Captain vice Salmon promoted to be Captain Com¬ mandant :—Ensign Salmon to be Lieutenant vice Gent. Sergeant Butcher to be Ensign vice Salmon. The thanks of both companies unanimously given to Captain Tayler for his past attention, with regret that any cir¬ cumstances should have made it necessary for him, in compliance with his own feelings, to withdraw from the service. “4 Sept. On the surrender of tho Dutch Fleet, [sec page 473] the corps assembled at three in the afternoon, and tired three rounds. (New feathers delivered.) “ 14 Sept. Printed cards distributed, containing the heads of the manceuvres to be performed on Monday next. Then follows the account of presentation of the colours [for which, see page 473]. The remains of the feast were distributed among the poor of tho town. “21 Sept. Captain Salmon thanks the corps for the creditable manner in which they executed their evolutions on Monday, on lloundway hill. In consequence of the possession of the new colours, the corps is to parade to church next Sunday. On the evening of tho day when the colours were presented, Stephen Bell a private, in an insolent and unbecoming manner, threw his arms into Captain Salmon’s house. He is to attend next muster. “ 16 Oct. Forfeits levied ou Robert Clare, William Arter, William and Thomas Adlam. Stephen Bell promised to apologize for his late conduct, to pay his forfeits and return to his duty. “ 25 November. The corps to attend the funeral of James Davis, and fire over his grave. “ 27 January 1800. A letter was read from Mr. Locke to Mr. Sutton intimating that he had accepted a Lieutenant’s commission iuthe Militia. Mr. Locke is thanked for his past services, and his place supplied by Stephen Neate. “ 21 Feb. Stephen Bell’s apology to Captain Salmon read to the corps and his arms restored. 17 March. A Guard was established to consist of officer, sergeant, corporal, drummer, filer, and 18 privates, who might not leave the town APPENDIX.] THE SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN. 593 when on duty; and in case of alarm, to beat “ To arms ” and assemble at tlie Hall. “ 14 Ajiril. Sergeant Dickenson withdraws, and pays into the Bank his fine of five guineas. “ 18 April. £100 being the balance to 24 Feb. now in the hands of Messrs. Cox and Greenwood, it was propo.sed and agreed that the same should be offered to the Government, as a contribution from the Devizes Loyal Volunteers; the subsequent balance to remain in Captain Salmon’s hands, to be disposed of as may be found necessary. [The musters have of late been repeatedly postponed ; the service apparently has become ir¬ regular and ii’ksome. No further entries till March 1801.] “20 March 1801. Accounts examined. Question put, that £50 be applied to the relief of the poor. [This was dui’ing the scarcity]. Twenty- two dissentient voices. Put again that it be so applied, or that it stand over; carried that it should: but the officers informed the corps that they could not pay it, unless the vote were unanimous. [No decision recorded.] “Resolved that Erwood, Bodman, Pierce, and Pead, pay their forfeits or be posted as deserters.” [Corps disbanded in October.] Of the Volunteers of 1803-4 commanded by Thomas Estcourt, (see page 473), the only sui’viving officers, 1859, are JohnTylee now of Clifton and Henry Butcher sen. of Devizes. Among the privates there are but few, amongst whom is James Hutchins the present town-crier. The Shepherd of Salishury Plain. Sir James Stonhouse, originally a Doctor of medicine, but eventually rector of Great and Little Cheverell near Devizes, and a popular preacher iu Bath and Bristol, commenced his career at Northampton, where pro¬ fessional attendance introduced him to the family of Dr. Philip Doddridge. He had come to that to^v^l an infidel, and had written au attack on the Christian evidence which was sufficient!}^ clever to run through three editions, when the perusal of Doddridge’s '■'■Evidences of Christianity" paved the way to a total revolution in his views. He not onlj' retracted his sceptical publication, but became an ornament to the Faith which once he destroyed. The two distinguished men, now more than ever friends, planned and executed iu conjunction many works of usefulness, of which the greatest was the Northampton Infirmary. Subsequently Dr. Stonhouse left Northampton ; and feeling his health decline, obtained orders from the Bishop of Hereford, and retired to Bristol Hot-Wells, where the first Earl Radnor, accidentally meeting with him, gave him (in 1784) tho living of Little Cheverell, to which the second Earl after¬ wards added that of Great Cheverell, (iu 1779). While resident at the Hot-Wells, he had attended the ministry of the late William Jay, at that time a very young man, supplying the pulpit of Lady Maxwell iu Hope Chapel, till the claims of his own sphere carried tho Doctor’s affec¬ tions into a new channel. He now spent eight mouths of the year at Cheverell, and the winter at Bristol. Profitiug by the friendly sugges¬ tions of Garrick the actor, he became conspicuous for the perfect grace RU 594 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. [APPENDIX. and propriety of his pulpit manner. Perhaps, as a recent biographer has observed, “he studied it too carefully; at least he studied it till he became aware of it, and talked too much about it.” But in spite of the few foibles which it was easy enough to detect in ene who was so often the focus of the public gaze. Sir James was a man of undoubted piety; nor was his candid appreciation of other ministers withered by the personal homage which he could hardly escape in the circle of Hannah More. To the last he always spoke with tender re¬ spect of his early friend Doddridge; and he entertained so high an opinion of the preaching powers of the Rev. Job Orton, whom in this one particular he even elevated above Doddridge, that on coming into Wiltshire he induced him to address to his Cheverell curate Mr. Stedman a volume of letters, which were afterwards published, and which Mr. Jay assures us are well worth the study of young ministers. They are en¬ titled Letters to a young clergyman.” Such was the man, who, while riding over the Downs near Lavington Gore, adjoining his own parish, encountered one day the shepherd David Saunders, and gathered from his lips those lessons of homely wisdom and simple Christianity which the Doctor’s friend, Hannah More, afterwards wove into her popular tale of “2V«e Shepherd of Salisbury Plain,” in which the worthy Doctor figures as “Mr. Johnson.” Saunders, and his father before him, had kept sheep on the same spot for one hundred years. His cottage, which stood at the head of the lane leading down to Russell Mill in West Lavington, was standing within the last ten years. He died in September 1796, at Wyke, between Bath and Bristol, having for some time before his death become totally blind. He was said to be one of John Wesley’s converts. It is quite possible, as King George III. was a diligent reader of tracts, that admiration for the subject of Hannah More’s tale may have had its share in stimulating the desire which his Majesty once expressed to place a Wiltshire shepherd over his flock at Windsor. He is said to have been so struck with the stalwart ruggedness of the race, while passing over Salisbury Plain, that on returning home he directed his farm manager to make choice of an approved specimen and install him at Windsor. Ap¬ plication being made through Mr. Davis of Longleat, Mr. Richard Frowd of Brixton Deverill despatched a man who seemed to promise fairly for the new post of honour. He was met at Windsor by General Goldswor¬ thy, who having been long expecting him, addressed him thus: “ So you are the Wiltshire shepherd come at last. What’s your name ?”—“ Daph- ney ” said the shepherd.—“ I see,” said the General, “ you have acquired a pastoral name since your a 2 )pointment to be the King’s shepherd.”— “I know nothing about pastoral names My father was John Dapbney, and I am Richard Daphuey.”—“How do you find the flock?”—“Bad enough,” said Richard.—“And what do you mean to do with them ?”— “Cui-e them, to be sure.”—“Well, when the King comes, speak as freely to him as you have done to me.”—“That 1' shall, for I thought you were the King.” Daphney for awhile did credit to his origin; but in course of time two sheep being missed from the hock, the charge of corrupt APPENDIX.] NEW DEVIZES.-WILLIAM DOUSE. 595 practices was brought home to him with fatal certainty. The King was visibly affected. He immediately resolved on dismissing his protege, but could not be induced to prosecute. “It was my foolish vanity” he said, “that coveted a Wiltshire shepherd, who, coming into the neighbourhood of Old Windsor, was thrown into the way of fellows that would corrupt an angel.” On hearing of his Majesty’s decision, the discarded servant replied, “I could bear my master’s reproaches, but his kindness over¬ comes me. As I may not serve him with a crook, I will with a musket;” and he enlisted into the Guards. Devizes Gazette. New Devizes. William Douse. While the names of many of the principal counties and towns in Old England have re-appeared again and again in America and Australia, no one, till within the last few months, has thought fit to revive that of Devizes. In connexion with this subject, a brief outline of the career of a native of the old town may here be fitly introduced. William Douse of Charlotte Town, Prince Edward’s Island, Esquire, M.P. in the Colonial Parliament, and a magistrate of twenty years stand¬ ing, is the eldest son of the late Mr. William Douse of this town, nur¬ seryman. He was born 19th May 1800, and was educated at Tilshead on the Down. At the age of twenty-one he emigrated to Prince Edward’s Island, and “taking fortune at the flood,” reached, through a succession of multiform enterprises, his present position of honourable trust. He is now a large landed proprietor, holding about 15,000 acres on his adopted soil. For the last twenty-five years he has represented his district in the Colonial Parliament, having been ten times elected by considerable ma¬ jorities. For two successive years he was president of the Royal Agri¬ cultural Society, and, as stated above, has been a magistrate for twenty years. In the prosecution of his schemes with the mother-country, both as a shipowner and as a merchant, Mr. Douse has crossed the Atlantic forty-six times. He has moreover recently established two flourishing settlements, cal¬ led North and South Wiltshire; the site of the chief town whereof, bear¬ ing the name of New Devizes, has just been marked out, and enrolled in the Government documents [1859]. By his wife, formerly Miss Esther Young, who is a native of Wishford near Salisbury, Mr. Douse has had fourteen children, most of whom are still living. His parents lie in the Old Baptist Chapel yard in this town. The above account has been drawn up by his former schoolfellow on the Plain, Mr. T. B. Smith of Devizes. Page 334. William Powell's suit. Considering the number of burgesses and corporators who in 1663 occupied the Park fields, it is difficult to account for the rector placing himself in a position so antagonistic to his principal patrons, and also to the Yanlore heiresses whose interests as owners of the inheritance would be affected by a decision unfavourable to Powell. 596 HISTORY OF DEVIZES. [appendix. An inspection of the record in the action might perhaps throw some light on the subject, which is hai'dly explainable even by the fact that the Vanlores themselves had a dispute with PoweU, as recorded at page 590. Many of the Devizes Powells were Quakers. Supposing William of the Park to have heen one of that body, it is just possible that we have here a reason for the formation of a league against a member of a class which, at the period in q^uestion, was everywhere being ridden down without mercy. When the case of the Devizes Park tythes, Lediard v. Anstie* came to be argued in the Exchequer, in more modern times, the defendant adduced, with other evidence, the above case of Powell, and sundry deeds of later date in which the tythes were conveyed with the inherit¬ ance; also terriers of 1704 and 1783, and the return of the Bishop of Salisbury in 1809, making no mention of Park-tythes. The Court never¬ theless considered the evidence not sufficient to warrant the presumption of “a composition real,” as contended for hy the defendant; and as it appeared that tythes had been rendered within legal memory (that is, since the beginning of Richard I.’s reign; see the case at page 82), al¬ though it seemed pretty clear that they had not been paid since the time of the Edwards,—decreed for the plaintiff. The case lasted from 1819 till 1830. * 3 Tounge and Jervis. INDEX Abington, Mr. 497. Addington, Henry, Lord Sidmoutb, 460—address to him, 485—erects the new Market Cross, 497—dies, 541. Adlam, Captain, 322—William and Thomas, 591. Agricultural riots, 471, 536. Alehouses, suppression of, 194. Allein family, 258, 338. Almshouses, 131. Ameshury, 84, 86. Anstie,'John, 419—trains a body of men, 437—protests against duel¬ ling, 441—Joseph, 336—Paul, 133. Archery, 245. Assizes, the illegal, 184—New Courts, 536. Aubrey, John, 356. Awdrey, John, chairman of the Re¬ form Association, 438, 442. Baconthorpe, the low but learned, 162. Bailey, of Etcbilhampton, 98, 189. Bank, first opened, 402. Baptist Meeting house, 337, 574. Barber, of Burbage, 172. Barbur, schoolmaster, 91. Barre, Isaac, 443, 445. Bartlett, Wm. slain at Roundway, 174—the Quaker, 348. Bassett, Gilbert, 68—Philip, Lord, 75. Baugh, Captain, 170. Bayly, Wm. the astronomer, 491. Baynard, of Lackham, 121. Baynton family, 561—Sir Edward the friend of Latymer, 104—Sir Edward, I'commander of Wilts forces, 140,147—arrested, 183— disturbed at the Sessions, 416— Henry, plunders Keeblewhite, 184. Beauchamp, Roger, 86—Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, 91, 577. Beckhampton Club, 431. Bell-foundry, 399. Benett, John, 432, 515. Bent, John, martyr, 102. Berwick, Gilbert de, 85. Bevan family, 349. Biggs, of Marlborough robbed, 158 —Attorney, 387. Bishops Cannings famous for music, 125—Church, 577—Rectory, 333 —Constables of, 209. Black Bear Sign, 476. Blagden, Isaac, the highwayman, 424. Blayney, Dr. 490. Blois’s sons confined in the Castle,86 Boleyn, Anne, 95. Borough, suit with the Crown, 117— Suit with Henry Grubhe, 550— Arms, 578—limits extended, 535. Boulter the highwayman, 424, 454. Bowood, 359, 430. Bratton, held of the Castle, 77— Militia march to, 317. Bridewell, 457. Brittox, 63, 144. Bromham, 95—house searched, 97 —natives of, 332—Hall built, 104 —skirmish at, 160—biumt down, 230—Church, 577—Steeple-fly¬ ing, 378—manor granted to Squire Stafford, 584—Thomas Moore the poet’s cottage there, 518—Qua¬ kers of, 348. Brounker, 549. Bull-baiting, 409. Burdett, Sir Francis, M.P. for North Wilts, 539. 598 INDEX. Burgesses, 119, 323. Biu'gess, Isaac, the Sheriff, favours the Quakers, 341. Burgh, Hubert de, 66. Burley, of Whistley, 94. Burnegham, Mrs., educates Laud, (afterwards Archbishop), 189. Burrough, Thos., the publisher, 403. Byng, Dr. compounds, 274. Cade, Jack, 90. Caine, plague at, 77. Canal mania, 467. Cane-hill, skirmish at, 225. Canning, George, origin of the name, 483. Cantelowthe wdtch, 128. Carnarvon, Earl of, 171. Caroloiades, a poem, 164. Castle, built, 25—destroyed, 255— Castle-guard-rent, 97. Catholics in Charles’s army, 134, Chahn, Richard, fined, 136. Challield house besieged, 239. Charles, King, anecdote of, 141. Charter surrendered, 313. Chartists driven out of the town, 539 Chauntry lands, 112, 117. Chippenham taken, 229, 241. Chitmarsh, 78. Churches, 567. Chute, Challoner, 294, 302. Clarendon’s forgeries, 141. Cloth-trade, 98, 379. Clothiers, twelve hung, 202—rob¬ bed, 229. Clubmen, 234. Crammer pond, 62. Crawford, Lord, 126, 155, 161. Cromwell, Oliver, assists to take Sheriff Long, 217 — takes the Castle, 243—nominates a Gover¬ nor for Devizes, 249—his descen¬ dants, 420, 475, 540—Cromwell family of Devizes, 295. Crey, Sheriff, 326. Crosby, Colonel, 466. Crown Inn, 550. Coberley, William, martyr, 109. Coleridge, S. T., attends the Wilts Bible Society, 503. Collins, John, journal, 320. Corporation attacked by Mr. Tilby, 528. Courtenay arrested, 91. Cucking-stool, 116. Danvers, Sir John, 238, 549— Charles, the Recorder, 314. Defoe, Daniel, 337. Delme of Erlestoke, 417. Derwentwater, Lady, anecdote of, 364. Despencer, 84. Devizes, meaning of the word, 6— Mr. Estcourt’s explanation, 583 —as a surname, 57—New Devi¬ zes, 595. Douse, William, 595. Dowett, Francis, 161, his death, 252. Drew family, 125—house destroy¬ ed, 232—pond, 81, 389, 519. Duel, 441, 474. Edington, Bishop of Salisbury slain at, 90. Ela, the Countess, Sheriff of Wilts, 71. Elliot, Richard, 574. Erchfont, John Bent the martyr of, 103—Plague, 193—Gigantic tree, 292—a Quaker disturbs the pa¬ rish church, 341—manor house built, 392. Erlestoke, 83.—James II.’s officers mutiny at, 328. Ernie of Etchilhampton, 272. Essex, Lord, 167. Estcourt family, 553. Etchilhampton, 77—Monument on hill, 159. Eyles family, 370—Election contests 352, 361. Eyre, Giles, fined by Star chamber 1.36. INDEX. 599 Fairfa.x restores goods plundered from the town, 251. Fantum, a shot-proof captain, 135. Farley Castle, 91, 215. Ferraby, George, 123. Fiennes, Nathaniel, 150, 181. Filkes, 308, 336. Firebrace’s bribery, 352. Fisher, Bishop, patron of the Bible Society, 563. Fitz-Johu, Governor, 83. Flower, Edward, 209—Benjamin, 335—.John, 465—George, 404. Fowle, Thomas, robbed, 428. Fox, Charles James, 439—joins Lord North, 460. Freme, old Dame, 337. Friendly Society of Wilts, 560. Gallows, town, 80. Gaols, 457. Gale of Stert, 521. Garth, the Recorders, 406. George I. on Salisbury Plain, 369— George HI. at Devizes, 465. Gibbo!! the historian at Devizes,413. Glanville, the Recorder, 308. Godard and Godarville, 66. Goddard, Thos., M.P. for Wilts, 430. Granville, Sir Bevil, slain, 159. Grubbe, John, loan to King Charles, 196 — Thomas, loan to Queen Eliz. 549—Walter, 352, 400. Guild of Merchants, 99, 399. Hall, Thomas, letter to the Bishop, 111 . Hainbleton, Colonel, 156. Harvest, constable of Potterne, 196, 212 . Hawkers driven away, 120. Hazlerig’s cuirassiers, 158, 170. Heathcote, George, 375. Herbert Henry, Lord Porchester, 412, 432. Highwaymen, 423. Hill, Rowland, 389. Hitchcock, a Quaker, 347. Hobhouse, Sir J. C. 503. Hood, Dean, 565. Hopton, Sir Ralph, 159. Hudibras’ reference to Roundway fight, 177. Hughes, Solomon, 126. Hull family, 492, 563. Hungcrford, Sir Edmund, 90—Ed¬ ward, collector of loans for Queen Elizabeth, 550 — suit with Henry Brounker, 585—Sir Edward, of the civil war time, 134, 149, 170, 215—Giles, 149. Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, 87. Hunt, Henry, 90, 478, 487, 509, 521, 557—Colonel Thomas, 286. Ingham, Oliver de, 85. Innes, Rev. Edward, 420. Johnson of Bowden, 553. Jones, Captain, shot in the street, 226. Jury of Devizes Quarter Sessions, 367. Keevil, 77. Ken, Bishop, retires to Poulshot, 328. Kent, Dr. Henry, 449. Kent, Justice, 117 Kite, Edward, his account of the- churches, 82. Knyvett, the Coulston parson, 237,. 275. Lacock taken, 250. Lansdowne battle, 159—Mar(|uis of, and Earl of Shelburne, 437,. 487, 494. Latimer, Hugh, preaches in Wilt¬ shire, 105. Lavington, 78. Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 446. Lee, Sir Henry, 549. Lent licences, 126. Lloyd, Governor, 207, et scq. Locke family, 562. Long Parliament, Wilts members in, 137. Long, Sir James, 215, 254, 445, — family, 563. GOO INDEX Longevity, 566. Lucas, Rev. Charles, 563. Ludlow, Edmund, 151—Sir Henry, 150. Lunsford demands £400, 154. Mad Gallop, 468. Mareschall, Governor, 65. Marlborough, lands there belonging to the Devizes Corporation, 117 —William III. at, 357. Massey’s brigade disbanded at De¬ vizes, 256. Maundrell, martyr, 108. Mawley, Peter de. Governor, 74. Mayors, list of, 578. Melksham, soldiers said to be bung there, 173—riots, 378—forest, 78. Members of Parliament, 544. Merewetber, 238, 305, 336, 342. Methuen, John, 346, 355. Militia, journal of their marches, 317. Monmouth’s invasion, 315—John of, kills Adam Gilbert, 78. Montague of Lackham, 365. Moore, Thomas, the poet, 526—his grave, 542. Mullings, J. R., 565. Napier, Colonel Wm. comes to live at Bromham, 529. Netheravon, 68, 74. Netherstrcet, 160. Neville, Hugh de, 59. Newspapers, 402, 508. Nicholas family, 281, 420—Robert, Recorder, 131,—M.P. in Long- Parliament, 137—opposes Laud, 186—anecdote of him as Judge, 289—Captain, 192. No Popery riots, 451. Norris, Sheriff, 404. Northey family, 552. Norton, Sir Fletcher, compared to the sign of the Bear, 408. Noyes, M.P. for Caine, 77. Guy on of Horton, a papist, 271,587. Paradice, Michael, murdered, 210. Parks, the Devizes, 95—assessed for ship-money, 158—Lodge, 404— Lease to Coles, 585—Partition deed, 588—tythes of, 82, 595. Pearce or Pierce, Richard a Royal¬ ist, 165, 211, 265—Ruth, falls dead, 388. Pelican Inn, 320. Pembroke,Lord, dismissed by James II., 321—by George HI., 440. Penates at Southbroom, 363. Penruddocke murdered at Laving- ton, 203—Rising, 285. Pensylvania, letter from, 349. Perkin Warbeck, 95. Peterloo Massacre, 521. Philippa, Queen, 86. Pinhill House taken, 213. Pitt, William, his Reform bill, 459. Plague, 76, 191, 194. Plessitis, Governor, 74. Pole, W. Wellesley, 515. Police, 581 note. Polling places, 357. Poor Law bill for Wilts, 405. Potterne, James of, 78—Park, 92 —Writs to Potterne and Can¬ nings, 133, 158, 195, 208—free¬ holders, 548. Poulshot, 84—John of, 79—climate, 305—rectory, 329. Pound, Dr. James, 553. Powell of Nursteed, 479—Sir Ed¬ ward obtains the Park, 299— William, 690, 595. Prior, the martyr, 102. Pynsent, Sir William, 353, 392. Quakers, 340. Queen’s chamber, 65. Quorum, County, 430. Rabbines or Raheyn, at Caine, 76. Recantation, form of, 103. Recorders, list of, 581. Rectors, list of, 571. Reform Bill of 1831, 532—of 1852, 542. Reformation, the, 101. INBEX. 601 Regicides, the, 277. Revolution, the, 351. Roses, wars of, 89. Rowde, 79—skirmish at, 236— Quakers of, 343, 348. Roundway Hill, a masque on, 123— Farm, Waller’s quarters, 166 — Rattle, 169. Rowden House taken, 212. Rowles, Major, in Long’s troop, 218. Saeheverell, minister in Devizes, 336. St. John, Oliver, resists King James, 121, 586. Salisbury, Duke of Buckingham ex¬ ecuted, 93—City pays £500 to Hungerford, 151—Plain, review on, 368.—Shepherd of, 593. Salmon, William, sec. of Reform Association, 439—Marriage, 465. Sandwich, Governor, 82. Scrope, Poulett, on Wilts, 135 — Sir William, 87. Season’s Almanack, 376. Seend, waters, 339—BeU Inn tra¬ ditions, 316. Self family, 342. Sessions, 116—shifted, 366—county and horoirgh, 581. Seymour, 96. Sharington, Lady, 116. Shelburne, see Lansdowue. Sherfield’s fine, 137. Sherifl’ imprisoned, 379. Ship-money, 82, 157. Simnel-cake, 127. Singlestick, 410. Skinner, Constantine, releases the parks, 303. Sloper, Robert, expelled the Cor¬ poration, 310 — Robert, the min¬ ister, 574 — George, 477. Small pox, 391, 412. Smith, T. B. sells a painting to the Queen, 453. Smugglers, 456. Southbroom House pulled down, 232—relics found, 362—re-built 376—Deed concerning, 584. Spicer, martyr, 109. Spye Park, 282. Stafford, Richard III.’s squire gets the castle, 584. Stamford, Earl of, 146. Stanford, Rev. Charles, Life of Latimer, 105—sec. of Bible So¬ ciety, 575. Stapylton, Sir Philip, 151. Stephens or Stevens, 342, 552. Stert, vineyard, 307. Stonhouse, Sir James, and the Shep¬ herd of Salisbury Plain, 593. Storm, the great, 330 — Oliver’s, 292. Strode, Colonel William, 160. Sutton family, 553. Swanborough freeholders, 548. Swettingham killed in Devizes, 279. Talbot, Sir John, Roeorder, 314— Sharington, slain in a duel, 318. Tanhill fair, 192. Tayler, Captain, 591. Taylor, Watson, 527. Thistlethwayte, John, 172. Thurman, Thomas, his bequests, 419 — William, earries off the county plate, 153—compounds, 267. Tidcombe, Michael, the Royalist Mayor, 139, 143, 185, 200, 261. Tocotes, Sir Roger, 93, 94, 584. Town-halls, 492, 575. Tradesmen’s tokens, 292. Trained bands, 115, 133. Vanlore, Sir Peter, purchases the park, 296—Partition between his heirs, 588. Victoria, Princess, visits Devizes, 453, 530. Volunteers, 472 — exti'acts from Ihcir Orderly-book, 590. 602 INDEX. Waller, Sir William, 158—defeated at Round way, 170—second affair at Devizes, 215—third affair at Devizes, 223—His lady’s hatred of Episcopacy, 176. Walton, Isaak, rector of Poulshot, 329. Wanklyn, Thomas, expelled the House, 356. Wansey, Henry, his standard, 227— Jehu at Roundway, 173—family MSS., 326. Wasliington Lawrence, Sheriff, 73. Wastney, George, kills five persons, 211 . Webb, Bishop, 332—Thomas, friend of Defoe, 337—Recorder, 359—of Odstock, 364. Wenlock of FonthUl, 92. Wesley, Charles and John, persecu¬ ted, 380. White, Walter of Grittleton, 371. Whitfield, George, the preacher, 388 Wilcot ghost, 129. Wilkes, John, 407. Willey, the M.P., anecdote of, 405. Willington, Lord, Governor, 65. Wilton, Rev. Edward, his collection of warrants, 195. Wiltshiremen at the battle of Tewkesbury, 92—gentry sub¬ scribe to Queen Elizabeth, 114. Winterbourne Bassett, the old pa¬ rish clerk of, 127. Winterslow House burnt, 494. Withers, the Quaker, 341. Wolfe, General James, at Devizes, 411. Woodville, Elizabeth, 92. Wool Hall, 98. Wyckliffe, John, 101. Wyndham, Wadham, purchases a portion of the Park, 304—Henry Penruddocke, M.P. for the county 466. Yorke, William, 291. Young, Dr. Edward, 369. Zouch, WiUiam, imprisoned in the castle, 85. il. 13 X 11 . 1 ., Printer, .Saint .Tohii Street, Derizcs. 1 Corrigenda, Pag'e 2, line 11 from foot. For “ hypothesis,” read “ hypotheses.” ,, 7, line 8 from foot. For ” given him of the glebe,’” read “ giving him the glebe.” ,, 103, line 13 from top, For “ presk on lyfe,” read “ priest alive.” „ 110. The suggestion that a gaol then stood at Fisherton is incorrect. ,, 190, line 15. For ” Acts a,” rcrtrf “ Act as.” ,, 240, line 20. For “ is still evident,” read “ are still evident.” „ 302, line 17. For “ minor,” read “ main.” „ 309. John Eyles was not at that time knighted. „ 393, lino 10. To £30,000, add, “ and nearly £3000 a year in land.” ,, 411, line 18. For “histionic,” rcr/t? “histrionic.” ,, 427, line 12 from foot. For “ in the short space,” read “ in short space.” ,, 433, line 9. For “junction,” rcot? “juncture.” ,, 547, top of second column ; the words “ Capt. James W, Deans Dundas ” should be in Italics. 555, line 5 from foot. For “ Sir Francis,” read “ Sir Thomas.’ 334, line 16. For “ E. J. Phipps,” read “James Lediard.”