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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

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SUKTEES SOCIETY

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MDCCCXXXIV.

VOL. XL.

FOE THE YEAR MDCCCLXL

Z.o

WESTMINSTER :

PRINTED BY JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SONS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET.

DEPOSITIONS

FROM

THE CASTLE OF YORK,

RELATING TO OFFENCES COMMITTED IN

THE NORTHERN COUNTIES

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

]j)ubli0Ijfl> for tfjr

BY FRANCES ANDREWS, DURHAM ;

WHITTAKER & Co., 13, AVE MARIA LANE; T. & W. BOONE, 29, NEW BOND STREET; BERNARD QUARITCH, 15, PICCADILLY,

LONDON : BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.

1861.

AT a General Meeting of the Surtees Society held in the Castle of Durham on the 18th of June, 1860,

It was ordered, that a volume of the Depositions preserved in York Castle should be prepared for the Society, to be edited by the Secretary, as one of the publications for the year 1861.

JAMES RAINE,

Secretary.

PKEFACE.

IN the present work a class of documents is laid before the members of the Surtees Society, of which no one, up to this time, has made any use. In the many volumes of State Trials that have been pub- lished those cases only are to be found which are generally interesting, and almost everything of a local character has been necessarily omitted. The robberies and murders that once paralysed the village or the city have been forgotten, with the exception of a few startling crimes that are chronicled in the fugitive literature of the period or in the unwritten pages of tradition.

In the castle of York is preserved a large mass of documentary evidence, which illustrates the annals of crime in the North of England. It relates to four out of the six counties, Durham and Lancashire being the exceptions, and they had separate jurisdictions of their own. I have not been able to discover many papers at York anterior to 1640, but between that year and the arrival of William III. they exist in great numbers. During the reigns of William III. and Anne there is a hiatus in the series of records, and 011 that account it has been thought desirable to

VI PREFACE.

confine the period embraced by the present volume to the central portion of the seventeenth century.

The earliest papers that are preserved in York Castle are very similar to those which are still an- nually deposited there, and with which every one who is " learned in the law" is so perfectly familiar. They consist of calendars, lists of magistrates and jurors, recognisances, the presentments of parish con- stables, writs, petitions of various descriptions, and especially of the depositions taken before the magis- trates, which exhibit many features of a striking and interesting kind. The series of minute-books is un- fortunately imperfect, so that it is impossible to ascer- tain what was the fate of every criminal, and there are so many gaps among the files of depositions that I am unable to draw up any accurate statistical account of the crime of the district to which they relate. In every public repository of records there are many serious deficiencies, and York Castle is no exception to the general rule ; but the remainder, in this instance, is so large, that the Council of the Surtees Society has determined, with the kind per- mission of the authorities, to select the material for one of its volumes out of this vast storehouse, which has been hitherto unexplored.

On the value of the depositions that are now given to the world there can be no controversy or differ- ence of opinion. They give us a picture, which is drawn no where else, not only of the political feeling, but of the every-day life, of the inhabitants of the

PREFACE. vii

provinces. "We see how the great movements and movers in the state were criticised in the cottage and the market-place. We can gauge the sentiments of the religious parties of the day. We can trace the origin and progress of great crimes, which arose and disappeared with the suddenness and the violence of an epidemic. We can put our finger upon the pulses of fanatics and politicians. We can trace vice to its haunts. We can see it festering in the alley and the court, or polluting by an unexpected and unwelcome visit the secluded village and the solitary homestead. There is much also to interest us in the style and composition of the depositions. Some good old Saxon English breaks every now and then through the stiff legal phraseology in which many of them are unfor- tunately drawTi up. It would be an amusing sight could we place before us the justices of that day, when the depositions were being taken. In the town there would be the mayor, with an alderman or two, upon the bench, in all the pomp of civic grandeur, with a clerk to write down what was necessary, and the wish to awe both criminals and spectators with the " cir- cumstance " and dignity of their position and their little smattering of law. Here and there in the country there would be a gentleman who had spent a few years at one of the Inns of Court. He would quote Brae- ton at the quarter- sessions, and know something of Coke and his erudition. How keenly would he try to puzzle the criminal that was brought before him ! But in another place, and how frequently would this

Vlll PREFACE.

occur, the functionary was called to the judgment-seat from his farm-yard or his laith, unable to spell the words that he was to perpetuate, and scrawling what he heard upon the back of some letter, as there was no paper in the house. There were many Justice Shallows at that time, and it is impossible to read Roger North's description of the magistrates of North- umberland without a smile at the humour that is manifested in the picture.

The assizes were held twice a year, in March and August. Of their duration it is not easy to speak with certainty, but there seems to have been quite as much business to transact as there is at the present time. The circuit always commenced with York, and never with Lancaster or Appleby. The journeys of the dispensers of the law in many respects resembled the progresses of royalty. The sheriffs always escorted them with a gallant train of gentlemen. Within living memory the high-sheriff of Yorkshire has been at- tended by a large cavalcade of horsemen when he went to meet the judges. In the 16th century James Metcalfe, Esq. of Nappa, was accompanied by three hundred members of his clan, all bearing his livery and his name. Some of the old families in Northum- berland, especially the Fen wicks and the Eorsters, could bring an equally numerous retinue of kinsmen when the shrievalty was in their house. The judges were everywhere received with hospitality and respect. At Durham they were the guests of the Prince Pala- tine, who empowered them to act in his behalf. He

PREFACE. ix

drove them from his castle to the court in his coach and six, and sat between them on the bench, for a while, in his robes of Parliament. At Newcastle they were welcomed with great ceremony and state. They were feasted by the Corporation in the mansion- house. They sailed upon the Tyne in the mayor's barge, a pleasant custom, that was discontinued for a while, in consequence of the chief -magistrate of that ancient town having threatened, in the heat of passion, to commit one of his potent guests to prison, as the water of the Tyne was under his own jurisdiction ! The sheriff of Northumberland escorted the judges to the boundaries of Cumberland, to guard them from the freebooters with whom the district was infested. When he returned homewards they passed on, under a similar protection, to trace their path among the sheep-walks across the hills and moors to Carlisle and Appleby. There were no regular roads in that country till they were laid down by General Wade in his progress against the rebels in the North. Some grateful poet has handed down the efforts of this military engineer in a characteristic couplet —

If you'd ever been here when these roads were not made, You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade !

The number of cases that was brought under the cognisance of the judges at each assize was a very considerable one. Some of them were sent up from the country sessions, at which all minor offences were generally tried ; but the prisoners, for the most part,

X P HEP ACE.

were committed by the magistrates in their own au- thority. There were, however, many districts and places in which the judges were merely private indi- viduals. The old prerogative of ingfangtheof was not yet extinct. Several baronies still retained it, and it was most jealously preserved. The justices of assize could not enter into the bishopric of Durham, which included at that time parts of Northumberland and Yorkshire, without the consent of the Prince- Bishop. There were several towns in the North that still possessed the right of trying their own offenders. The terrors of Halifax and Hull were known long before they became the chief article in the beggar's litany of deprecations. At the former town the guil- lotine was still in use, and at Hull the authorities had the reputation of shipping off, every now and then, a cargo of offenders and impostors, and consigning them —

Sr)\rjfj,ova Trd

The labours of the judges in Northumberland and Cumberland were very materially lightened by the existence of a standing commission for the suppression of freebooters. Some of the principal gentlemen in the two counties sat upon it and dealt out justice with a relentless hand. Roger North tells us that "at one sessions they hanged eighteen for not reading sicut clerici" And, in truth, there was very great need of the adoption of energetic measures. It was not from Scotland only that the moss-troopers made

PREFACE. xi

their depredations. An English commander, in a despatch written at the close of the 16th century, de- clared that there was more plundering and bloodshed by English thieves than by all the Scots in Scotland ! And so it was. Every village had its party of thieves ; every family had its own feuds and wrongs to avenge. No one could go to rest with the certainty of finding his cattle in his fold when he arose in the morning. The effects of such a system were most disastrous. Agriculture was necessarily neglected. Refinement there was none, and all the gentler arts were unculti- vated and unknown. The husbandman tilled his fields with his arms by his side, meditating, perhaps, all the while a descent upon some neighbouring herd—

Armati terrain exercent, semperque recentes Convectare juvat prsedas, et vivere rapto.

The landed proprietor, also, was but little in ad- vance of his tenant in the social scale. He occa- sionally assisted him in his raids. At all times he was willing to cast a cloak over his offences. There are several startling pictures in the present volume of the evil influence that was exerted by the gentlemen of Northumberland and Cumberland. How lament- able is that state of society in which the fountain of justice is itself polluted ! On every side there was rapine and bloodshed, and the inhabitants of the dis- trict, gentle as well as simple, were Ishmaelites in- deed. An interesting account of the measures that were taken to repress the turbulence and the violence of the times is to be found in Mr. Hodgson Hinde's

Xll PREFACE.

introductory volume to the History of Northumber- land.*

* There is at York a thin volume containing the proceedings of the Border Commissioners for a few years. I take from it a code of rules upon which they acted : —

Morpeth, October the 5th, 1665. Articles of agreement made and con- cluded between the right honourable Charles Earle of Carlisle, William Lord Widdrington, and the rest of the commissioners for this generall gaole delivery, and justices on the part and behalfe of the Borders of Eng- land, with Henry Mackdougall of Mackerston, John Rotherfoord of Egers- ton, and Robert Pringle of Stitchill, for and on behalfe of the Borders of the kingdome of Scotland, commissioners for the said Borders for the sup- pressing of theft of both the Borders.

1. First, that the acts of Parliament shalbe put in execution, made for that purpose, and that the Act of the 7th of King James for re-demandinge shalbe duely observed, and that the manner for the demanding and deliver- ing of felons shalbe soe often as conveniently it can according to the direc- tion of that statute. That is to say, at the generall quarter sessions of the commissioners for the gaole delivery, and in the intervalls upon the infor- mation given to the neighbouring justices or commissioners of either king- dome of any person or persons that have committed any theft or other of- fence punishable by them, they shall, upon fourteen dayes notice, doe their endeavour to apprehend the said persons and bring them to some conve- nient place upon the Borders, where four commissioners or justices of each kingdome shalbe present to informe themselves touching the truth of such accusations ; and, being satisfyed of the truth thereof, shall deliver the said persons soe demanded to be prosecuted according to the law for their offences.

2. It is further agreed, in case any Englishman shall committ any of the aforesaid offences in the kingdome of Scotland and fly into England, that, if any Scottish man shall have information whereto the said person is fled, if he doe pursue him and apprehend him and bring him before the next magistrate, he shalbe committed to the next immediate assizes, gene- rall gaole delivery, quarter-sessions, or other meeting of commissioners which shall first happen, or come there to be tryed or re-demanded as the case shall require.

3. It is also agreed that at any assize or gaole delivery where any person or persons are brought to his or their try alls for any of the offences afore- said, that then noe person nor persons that shalbe produced as witnesses against such offender or offenders, or shalbe otherwise concerned in the management or prosecution of any evidence tendinge to the conviction of him or them, shall, and at that time, be questioned for any offence or offences

PREFACE. Xlll

Of the social position and character of the people of the North during the 17th century it is impossible

of his or their ownc, dureing that time of assizes or generall gaole delivery, but that he or they may safely returne againe to his or their respective kingdome and place of aboade.

4. It is also agreed that, in all the particulars herein expressed, that the same method and care shalbe used by the ministers of justice within the kingdome of Scotland for the attainement of the ends aforesaid.

5. It is also agreed that the commissioners of the kingdome of Scotland authorized for the suppression of theft, shalbe carefull to apprehend all such persons as shall endeavour to escape from us through that kingdome into Ireland.

6. It is further agreed that the commissioners of either kingdome, upon application to them made and satisfaction given that such person or persons as they shall then nominate to be suspected guilty of theft, or any other offences punishable by them, and thereupon declared demandable, that then it shall and may be lawfull for the commissioners of that kingdome to whom the persons suspected doe belong, to apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, the said persons, giveing notice to some magistrate of that kingdome after they are apprehended of such their apprehension.

HEN. MACKDOUGALL. J. RUTHERFOORD. ROB. PRINGLE.

The names of those that were remanded by the commissioners of the Borders of Scotland.

Roger Hangingshaw of Harehaugh, Gyles Hall of Woodhall, Alexander Rotherfoord of Peeles, John Chaiters of Woodhouses, William Hall of Wilkewood, William Hall of Eardhope, Anthony Pott of Eashop, Isack Hall of Woodhall, Adam Browne of Leerne, Roger Hall soldier in Ber- wicke, Alexander Hall of Woodhall, Parcivell Pott of Arnehouse, Andrew Bell called the chief Bell, Thomas Hedley of Elsden.

HEN. MACKDOTJGALL. J. RUTHERFOORD. Ro. PHINGLE.

Carlisle, 29 Augusti, 1674. Additionall articles of agreement (to those concluded at Morpeth, the 5th of October, 1665) made and concluded by and between the right honble the commissioners of gaole delivery and jus- tices on the part and behalfe of the Borders of England and Scotland, for the suppressing of theft and rapine upon the Borders of both the said kingdomes.

First, that every constable and proper officer in every constable-wicke, parish, or barony, within the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, or any parts or members of the same, and within the parts and places lying on the north side of the river Tyne, commonly called and known by the names of Bedlingtonshire, Norharnshire, and Islandshire, the towne and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the towne of Barwick-

XIV PREFACE.

to speak with commendation. These depositions give us a very unvarnished tale. It is painful to find an Earl, the head of one of the noblest families in Scot- land, killing his companion at the gaming-table in a drunken brawl. How often do we see gentlemen of the highest consideration drinking and stabbing one another in a country pot-house ! Party -spirit seems to have raged with all the acrimony of later times un- attended by their generosity. Treason, in one form or another, was not unfrequent. The convulsions in the state had shattered the foundations of society, and many vices had sprung up which were congenial to the period, and which the rulers treated with that un- equal justice that is so detrimental to the morals and happiness of the people. Informers were far too busy

upon-Tvveed, with the bounds and liberties thereof, in the kingdome of England, and within the shires and villages of Roxborough, Selkrigge, and Drurafreize, and stewartry of Annandale, within the kingdome of Scotland, shalbe authorised, by the persons haveing power for that end, to make dili- gent search in all suspected places, or wheresoever they shalbe desired, within their respective jurisdictions, by any person or persons haveing a warrant under the hand of any one commissioner or justice of the peace dwelling within either of the said kingdomes, for any goods stolen, or for any suspected person, and to convey the same before a commissioner or a justice of the peace of that kingdome where such person or goods shalbe apprehended or found, to be proceeded against as the case shall require.

2!y. That every person dwelling within any of the places abovesaid that shall receive againe any of his owne goods after they have been stolen, shall give account to any commissioner or justice of the peace how they came by the same.

3ly. That the commissioners or justices of the peace, or any one of them, within the places aforesaid, shall, with all expedition, binde over by recog- nizance or bond all such persons as shalbe suspected to be guilty of felony, or shalbe of known evill fame within their respective jurisdictions.

WILLIAM SCOTT, Tarras, WALTER SCOTT, JON. SCOTT, F. ELIOTT, JA

JOHNSTONN, J. RUTHERFURD.

PREFACE. XV

with their calumnies and lies, and men had not yet learned to look upon them with contempt. There could he hut little security either at home or abroad when freedom of speech and liberty of conscience were hampered or denied. Restrictions are too fre- quently the nurses of discontent and crime. What way could education have made among the people when superstition was still so rampant, and when they listened with such implicit belief to every tale of witchcraft and spiritual manifestations ? Religion, also, I fear, had but little hold upon the masses. They were obliged, indeed, to attend the services of the church, but there are few things more detrimental to true piety than such compulsory worship. It bore some very evil fruits. That this was the case the fre- quency of the crime of sacrilege is a sufficient proof. When the spirit of devotion is strong no unholy hand is laid upon a church. The painful scene that occurred in York Minster at the funeral of Lady Straf- ford cannot easily be forgotten.

The haunts of vice in the 17th and the 19th cen- turies are pretty nearly identical. In many of the agricultural and mountainous districts, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in Craven and Westmerland, there was a general freedom from crime. It was principally to be found in the towns. The vapours that cannot contaminate the pure clear airs among the hills nestle over the crowded city. There are, how- ever, far fewer heinous offences recorded among the depositions at York than any one could reason-

XVI PREFACE.

ably have expected. It is, perhaps, true that many crimes were undetected and even unknown, but it is pretty evident that the cases recorded in the pamphlet- literature of the day, and by men like Aubrey and Glanville, have no foundation in fact. They were written, in the first instance, merely to gratify the morbid taste of purchasers and readers. Murders were less numerous than might have been expected. E/ape was almost unknown. There were, however, robbers of every description and degree, from the famous Nevinson to the ordinary cut-purse. Horse- stealing was a very frequent offence, especially in the time of the civil wars and among the disbanded soldiery. Cattle-stealing, which is now so rare, was one of the common vices both of town and country. But, perhaps, the most serious and frequent crime was the clipping and deterioration of the coin. No one can have any idea of the extent to which this infamous trade was carried on. I have seen the con- fessions of several culprits, each of whom inculpates twenty or thirty others. The offence, which was high- treason, was repressed by the severest punishments, but the temptation was greater than many would re- sist. There were few silversmiths in the North who had not purchased the proscribed filings, or clipped them off themselves.

The offences against the state, during the period embraced by the present volume, were many both in variety and number. The reader will be struck with the frequent occurrence of seditious speeches. Un-

PREFACE. XVli

important, for the most part, in themselves, they are still significant. They shew how freely public men and public acts were criticized in the country. AVe see in them the progress of popular opinion, and with what jealousy it was watched by the government in those unsettled times. The rulers, however, were generally satisfied with the mere vindication of the supremacy of the law, and a reprimand was usually the punishment with which the offenders were visited. Many, however, were not content with whispering or speaking treason. Whilst there were insurgents on land there were pirates on the seas. The adventure of Captain Denton at the market-cross at Malton will be read with great interest. The exploits of Colonel Morris at Pontefract Castle possess all the charms of a romance. One man startles us with an account of a visit that Prince Charles is said to have paid to Yorkshire during the usurpation. Another witness throws some light upon the origin of the great fire in London. Most of the leading events of the day elicit the remarks of some critic in the country. Nor were the people of the North unacquainted with the scan- dal of the court and capital. They would have us believe that Charles I. was a parricide, and Charles II. a Roman Catholic, and something worse. They make James II. into a murderer, and deny the death of Monmouth, whom they loved so well.

The most striking political offence recorded in this volume is the great Presbyterian rising in October, 1663. That powerful party had many real or imagi-

b

XV111 PREFACE.

nary grievances to arouse it. The neglect of that sovereign whom they had placed upon the throne — the vices that he countenanced and practised — the black Bartholomew act that emptied so many pulpits — generated much bitterness and discontent. They broke out at last in open rebellion. A conspiracy was organized at Harrogate and Knaresbrough, which spread its ramifications through the whole of the Northern counties. Liberty of conscience was the chief watchword of the insurgents. But, although there was much energy and determination evinced, they had neither system nor plan. There was no leader of any name to give his authority to the move- ment, for men like Fairfax and Wharton held them- selves cautiously aloof. There were too many masters, with no presiding genius to direct them. The house, therefore, whilst it was in the builder's hands, crumbled to the ground. The night of the 12th of October wit- nessed the beginning and the ending of the Westmer- land plot. The Bishopric men arose at the same time and with a similar result. In Yorkshire, however, some large preparations had been made. Parneley "Wood, near Leeds, was the rendezvous of the insur- gents, who assembled there on the night of the 12th in some force, and actually threw up entrenchments, which were abandoned at the approach of day. Con- cealment was impossible, and the Cavaliers were at once upon them. Numerous arrests were made throughout the North of England, and in the winter a special assize was held, at which the offenders were

PREFACE.

brought to the bar. Twenty-two were executed in Yorkshire, and four at Appleby. Many others were kept in prison for a long time ; and so severe an exam- ple was made that the flames of treason were tho- roughly stamped out. A list of the Yorkshire pri- soners, which is quite new, will be read with interest. The offenders, it will be seen, were principally West Riding men, and many of them were engaged in the manufactures for which that part of England was even then renowned.

Jan. 7, 1663-4. Before Sir Christopher Turner, kt. Baron of the Exchequer, and Sir John Keeling and Sir John Archer, kts. Justices of the Common Pleas.

To be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Captain Thomas Gates of Morley, Samuel Ellis, John Ellis of Morley, John Nettleton, sen. and jun. of Dunningley, Robert Scott, of Alverthorp, Wm. Tolson, John Fossard, Robert Oldroyd of Dewsbury, Joshua Askwith, alias Sparling, of Morley, Peregrine Corney, John Sowden, John Smith, Wm. Ash, John Errington, exequendus apud Leeds, Robert Atkins, exequendus apud Leeds, Wm. Cotton, George Denham, Henry Watson, exequendus apud Leeds, Richard Wilson, Ralph Rymer, sen.

Richard Oldroyd, (the devil of Dewsbury,) sentenced to death in July, 1664.

Charles Carr, reprieved before judgment. Released from gaol in March, 1665.

Acquitted. To find sureties for their good behaviour, and to take the oath of allegiance. — William Towers and Robert Redshaw of Leeds, cloth-workers, Robert Cooke, James Newton of Leeds, locksmith, Samuel Ward of Morley, labourer, William Sparling of Woodchurch, cloth- worker, John Smirfitt of Morley, Ralph and John Wade of Leeds, cloth-workers.

To remain in gaol, without bail, till the delivery of the qaol, for

XX PREFACE.

high-treason. — Leonard Flesher of Otley, yeoman, Kichard Nel- son of Helperby, yeoman, John Sergeant of Harrogate, yeo., John Hodgson, Theodore Parkinson, Walter Merry, William Stockdale of Bilton park, Esq., Joseph Oddy, James Oddy of Leeds, clothier, William Flesher, Daniel Lupton of Holbeck, Eobert Fletcher, Henry Pownall of Hawnby, gen. Thomas Pickells of Beckwithshaw, George Robinson of Burro wby. yeo., John Pease of Leeds, cloth-worker, Robert Lucas, Ralph Robin- son of Cockerton, co. Durham, Matthew Thackwray, Thomas Lascells of Mountgrace, gen., James Fisher of Sheffield, gen., Ralph Rymer, jun,, John Joblin of Newhouse, gen., Robert Hutton, John Tayler, William Hogg of Leeds, cordwainer, George Fawcett, Henry Hanson of Broughton, yeo., Benjamin Lucas of Broughton, yeo.

Freed by proclamation, but to find securities, and to take the oath of allegiance. — David Hamond of Bolton, yeo., William Hamond of Bolton near Bradford, John Staveley ofCalenton, yeo , Samuel Sparling, alias Askwith, of Woodchurch, linen-wea- ver, James Sparling, alias Askwith, of Earles Heaton, weaver, Robert Harrison, Robert Raine of Ripon, yeo., William Adkins, alias Atkinson, cloth- worker, William Day of Skip ton, cloth- worker, John Wiseman, of Leeds, cloth-dresser, John Dickinson, of Gildersome, yeo., John Acey, David Leake of Ripon, malster, Percival Robinson of Northallerton, inn-holder, Francis White of Olton, yeo., John Dennison of Morley, yeo., Henry Laidman of Hunslet," clothier, Dennis Walker of Leeds, cloth -dresser, John Lascells of Little Siddall, gen., Miles Dawson of Beeston, clo- thier, William Dixon of Leeds, cloth-worker, Thomas Lobley, Edward Sheppardson, Timothy Crowther of Gildersome, yeo , Thomas Woollas of Glaipwell, co. Derby, gen., Ralph Rountree of Stokesley, yeo., Christopher Witton of Eaton, yeo., John Hill of York, grocer.

Thomas Benson, acquitted by proclamation and released.

To find bail to appear at the next assizes, and in the mean time

PREFACE. XXI

to be of good behaviour. —Ralph Gates of Morley, gen., Timothy Idle of Holbeck, Enock Sincler of Burneby, John Hunter of Leeds, cloth-worker, Nathaniel Shrigley of Halifax, Robert Nicholson, Thomas Walker, Christopher Brogden of Holbeck, cloth-maker, William Bussy, William Flesher of Leeds, shoe- maker, William Childrey, Henry Bradshaw of Manningham, and Peter Pattison of Bubwith, yeoman.

To remain in gaol without bail. — John Acy, Robert Hutton, John Joblin, William Fisher, Percival Robinson, Alexander Homer, Francis White, Dennis Walker, William Hamond and Robert Cooke.*

Among the political offenders of the day the Quakers must undoubtedly be enumerated. That peculiar sect had only recently sprung into existence, and, through its luminaries, Eox and Naylor, it was very closely connected with the North of England. The infancy of this religious party was more fiery than its age. The Quakers were concerned more or less in all the plots of the time. It was their delight to abuse the minister in the pulpit and the judge upon the bench. They were continually violating public order and decency in the grossest manner. They pro- phesied. They walked about the streets in the un- adorned simplicity of our first parents. They howled and bellowed as if an evil spirit was within them. They professed to use earthly weapons, as the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Madness like this was of

* Several others were in gaol for some years, including Parkinson and Merry. On July 25, 1664, Ralph Rymer and John Hodgson were ordered to be imprisoned for life, and all their goods and lands to be forfeited for thei* lives. Hodgson was pardoned, and released in March following.

XX11 PREFACE.

course intolerable. The Yorkshire justices clapped the deluded creatures into prison. They suppressed their conventicles. They forced upon them the oath of allegiance, and cooled their religious ardour in the gaol. The Cumberland grand jury made a special presentment against these misguided men, for in that district they were more than usually numerous and obnoxious.* Erancis Higginson, the vicar of Kirkby

* Aug. 17, 1655. Cumberland. The humble presentment of the grand jurie to the honorable the judges of the Notherin circuett.

Our duty to God and our country doth in our apprehenson oblige us as followeth, viz., to sett forth and represent to your lordshipp our sadd and deplorable condicion, occasioned by the multiplicity and irregularity of the deluded sect called the Quakers, as namly,

1. Their horride blasphemies and violations of the cleere and knowne fundamentall truthes of the Gospell.

2. Their notorious affronts to magistrates and ministers, whom they labour uncessantly by their scandalous speeches and pamphletts to expose to most infamous scorne and contempt, and consequently the whole nation to confusion.

3. Their apparent designe and common practise is to seduce and misleade the poore, ignorant, ungrounded, and unsetled people of these Northeren partes, and to involve them in most dangerous and detestable principles, worse then the Egiptian darknes, wherein they resemble the old serpent, who first applied his assaults against the weaker vessell.

4. They are growne numerous, and meete frequently to the number of diverse hundred together ; and some of them have given out that their opposers should repent their withstandinge them before Michaelmas next, as was proved by oath att the last quarter sessions holden in July last for this county.

Hereupon yt is our most humble peticon to your Lordshipps, for the glory of God, the reducement of those misguided people themselves, and the prevention of mischiefe and destruction to the soules of others, that some speedie course be forwith taken, whereby piety may be preserved in purity, and the people of this county in safty. And wee most humbly con- ceive that the restraint of strangers from coming into this county, and all others of them from meeting in soe great numbers together, may much conduce to the ends abovesaid, which wee most humbly subinitt to your Lordshipps' order and direction. •

PREFACE. XX111

Stephen, undertook to vanquish them in print, but it will be seen from a deposition that he could not silence them. His pamphlets, for he shot at them with light artillery, are most amusing and are full of curious information. An extract will suffice. Speaking of the excesses of the Quakers, he says, " They railed at the judges sitting upon the bench, calling them scar- let-coloured beasts. The justices of the peace they styled 'justices so called;9 and said there would be Quakers in England when there should be no justices of the peace. They made it a constant practice to enter into the churches with their hats on during divine service, and to rail openly and exclaim aloud against the ministers with reproachful words, calling them liars, deluders of the people, Baal's priests, Ba- bylon's merchants selling beastly ware, and bidding them come down from the high places. One instance of this kind (ludicrous enough) happened at Orton. Mr. Pothergill, vicar there, one Sunday exchanged pulpits with Mr. Dalton of Shap, who had but one eye. A Quaker stalking as usual into the church of Orton, whilst Mr. Dalton is preaching, says, ' Come down, thou false Eothergill ?' ' Who told thee,' says Mr. Dalton, ' that my name was Pothergill ?' ' The Spirit,' quoth the Quaker. 'That spirit of thine is a lying spirit,' says the other; 'for it is well

William Musgrave. John Aglionby. Richard Helton. Will. Hutton. John Whelpdall. Edmund Harrington. Robert Thomlinson. Hugh Askew. John Rawbancks. John Simson. Ar. Forster. Cuth. Studholme. George Graham. Thomas Stanwix. William Latus. Thomas Laythes. Roger Sleddall. Lawr. Parke. Joseph Dalston.

XXIV PREFACE.

known I am not Fothergill, but peed Dalton of Shap!"'

Another religious body that must be noticed are the Roman Catholics. Although they are not to be men- tioned in the same breath with the fanatics who have just been spoken of, they were treated with even greater harshness and severity. Ever since the Re- formation they had been looked upon with suspicion. Doubtless there was in them the longing wish to re- cover the spiritual control over the province that they had lost — and could they be blamed for it ? but the zeal of some of their more unscrupulous members had seemingly wrapped around the whole party, innocent as well as guilty, the garb of treason. There is some- thing very touching in the devotion of the mis- sionaries to England. Year after year did a number of English youths steal across the seas to the college of Douay, which was founded for the winning back of their fatherland to the bosom of their church. Year after year did they return in various disguises, heed- less altogether of the laws which denounced them as traitors, and eager to spend their life-blood for their religion. There are many mournful chapters in the annals of their sufferings, and the adventures and fate of several of them will be disclosed in the pages of this volume. The fear of detection made them adepts in the art of deception. Who could fence more deftly with a question ? They were ready for everything that occurred. Some of them were schoolmasters ; others could labour, if necessary, with their hands,

PREFACE. XXV

whilst in some secret recess were the vestments of their office concealed alike from the inquisitive and the incurious eye. In many old manor-houses there was an asylum for them, and some quiet hiding-place to which they could retire when the searchers were abroad. But the lash of authority was laid upon the laymen as well as upon the priests. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. a great number of the Yorkshire Roman Catholics were in prison for their faith, Many of them died in gaol. They were dragged to the service at the minster, where the arch- bishop preached at them. When his chaplain, Mr. Bunney, aspersed them from the pulpit with what An- thony a' Wood calls his " Divinity squirt," they cried out in indignation, and they were actually gagged ! Could intolerance go further than this ? In the following reign they met with some little consider- ation, but Charles I. was obliged to make them com- pound for their estates. This, however, did not damp their loyalty, for the Roman Catholic gentry were found among the ranks of the Cavaliers. After the Restoration, when religious parties became every day more divided, the Roman Catholics were looked upon with increased dislike. Those who had laid at the door of Henrietta-Maria more than half the evil deeds of Charles I., looked with dread upon the advent of Catherine of Braganza. Towards the close of Charles the Second's reign, the prospect of a Roman Catholic succession raised the fears of the one party and the hopes of the other. When the public mind was thus

XXVI PREFACE.

excited, the well known plots struggled into light. The outcry against the Roman Catholics was now im- mense. The old penal laws were put into full force, and more stringent enactments were devised. In 1675 there came down into the North an order of council desiring the justices of the peace to be more strict in reporting and punishing recusants. In 1678 and 1679 the oaths of allegiance were offered to many of the leading Roman Catholics in the district, and those who declined fell under the statute of prramu- nire and were thrown into prison. All suspicious persons were arrested. The sea-ports were watched, and every disaffected neighbourhood was put under the strictest surveillance.* In this crisis there arose

* The presentment of the grand jury for the county of Northumberland, at the assizes holden at the high castle of Newcastle the 7th day of August, anno Domini 1683.

We doe humbly present that the surest and most effectuall meanes to establish our happiness both in church and state, to preserve our King, and make us live a happie people under a great and glorious Prince, is to se the lawes made against the disturbers of our peace impartially and duly put in exe- cution, especially against the teachers and ringleaders of that seditioiis crew.

Wee beleive recusants of all sorts are now growen equally dangerous in our established government ; and, therefore, wee here present them as they come to our knowledge. Wee did the same last assises, and doe really beleive that, had the lawes against them been duly executed, wee should have had but a very few of them to have troubled you with again.

Wee humbly beg that certificates for the conformity of dissenters may not be allowed, except such certificate be under the hand of the minister of the parish where such dissenter dwelleth, wee being informed, that it is their practice to goe from their owen parish church to others, where they come in for scrapps of sermons at the latter end or after divine service, and soe procure certificates for their comeing to church, and, in the meane tyme, the divine service and their owen parish church are utterly neglected, and their minister dispised.

Wee alsoe doe present that all persons who shall presume to speake

PREFACE. XXVn

in the North two mischievous informers of the names of Bolron and Mowbray. Of their proceedings the present volume will supply much novel and interesting information. The first person that they struck at was Sir Thomas Gascoigne of Barnbrough, but this blow was unsuccessful They were equally unfortunate in their attack upon Sir Miles Stapleton of Carlton. At another time they laid an information against Anne Lady Tempest, the daughter of Sir Thomas Gascoigne, Charles Ingleby of Lawkland, a barrister of Gray's Inn, Thomas Thweng of Heworth, clerk, and Mary wife of Thomas Pressick, for subscribing money to bring about the murder of the King. In this instance Thweng was convicted on their testimony, and died upon the scaffold. The rest escaped, and Mr. Ingleby lived to become a Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of James II. In the following year Bol-

reflectively on the government, or shall dare to extenuate or excuse the horror of this late execrable plot, are dangerous and of evill example, debauching the loyall hearts of many of the ignorant sort, and ought to be disarm'd, that honnest men may be secured from the wicked effects of their inveteratly rebellious spirits.

Wee alsoe doe present that all persons who keep ale-houses, or other publicke-houses within this county, shall bring a certificate under the hand of the parson of the parish where hee or she dwelleth at the same tyme they come to renue their lycences, that they have duly repaired to their parish churches and received the Sacrament accordeing to law.

And whereas John Pigg hath lately been removed from the office of sur- veyor of the high-wayes for this county, cheifly uppon the account of his nonconformity, wee doe here present George Barkass of Quarry house as a loyall person, a good churchman, and very fit to doe this county good ser- vice in that office. R. Bates, Will. Orde, Hen. Ogle, Willm. Ogle, Na. Whitchead, Surtes Swinburne, T. Swinho, Geo. De-lavall, John Clennell, Ephraim Reied, Nath. Salkeld, J. Irwin, Mark Errington, Win. Bonner, Lan. Strother, Ed. Charleton, Ed. Parke.

XXV111 PREFACE.

ron and his companion accused Mr. Gascoigne, Mr. Stephen Tempest, and Mr. York, but no reliance was placed upon their evidence, and the three gentlemen escaped. In their disinclination to credit the state- ments of informers, the Yorkshire juries have set an example to the whole of England. On the accession of James II. the Roman Catholic prisoners were re- leased. They became sheriffs and justices of peace, and honours were showered upon them which were in no small degree the cause of that revulsion of feeling which in the end removed the misguided monarch from his throne.

It is impossible, of course, to notice every kind of offence that will be placed before the reader in the present volume, but there is one which it is impossi- ble to pass over; I mean that of witchcraft. The North of England has always been noted for its super- stition, and in the seventeenth century it was pecu- liarly rampant. People, to a great extent, take their tone from the district in which they live, and we cannot therefore be surprised at finding that the inha- bitants of the wilder parts of the North especially cherished that strange belief in possession and evil influences that was suggested by the scenery around them. Eearful stories of fancied sights and sounds would pass from lip to lip, far beyond the boundaries of the savage district that originated them; they would spread into the lowlands, till every heart trem- bled at the recital, and owned its own subjection to the influence that appalled it. In the earlier part of

PREFACE.

the seventeenth century there were several noted cases of witchcraft in the North. The first is the well-known tale of Janet Preston, of Gisburne, in 1612, which has been printed more than once. After this there were the very remarkable experiences of Edward Fairfax, the poet, which have just been brought to light by the Philobiblon Society. During the Commonwealth there were published t\vo little volumes of great rarity and curiosity ; one of them gives an account of some very singular occurrences that took place in the family of Mr. George Mus- chance, or Muschamp, of Barrnoor, in Northumber- land, the other relates the sufferings of Miss Martha Hatfield, of Laughton-en-le-Morthing, and is well known from the graphic notice of it in the pages of the historian of South Yorkshire. These four cases in themselves were enough to terrify the North of England for several generations. But there were many others. In the midst of the dismay that was generated by these strange stories, there sprung up several impostors, who professed to be able to detect witches, and to them the credulous public too fre- quently applied. In 1650 one of these fellows visited Newcastle, and fifteen persons were executed on the Moor in consequence of his impudent assertions ! The disease, however, was not cured by examples like these, as will be shewn by the present volume. I have given a number of depositions which illustrate the history of this remarkable superstition. The great Northumbrian case of 1673 will almost rival

XXX PREFACE.

the exploits of Mother Demdyke and her crew. It is striking, also, to observe what a range of victims the torturers select. They begin with the daughter of a knight, and end with cows and pigs ! I am happy to say that in no instance have I discovered the record of the conviction of a reputed witch. All honour to the Northern juries for discrediting these absurd tales ! And yet some of these weak and silly women had themselves only to thank for the position they were placed in. They made a trade of their evil reputation. They were the wise women of the day. They pro- fessed some knowledge of medicine, and could recover stolen property. People gave them money for their services. Their very threats brought silver into their coffers. It was to their interest to gain the ill name for which they suffered. They were certainly uni- formly acquitted at the assizes, but no judge, or jury, or minister, could make the people generally believe that they were innocent. The superstition was too deeply rooted to be easily eradicated. I shall finish the paragraph with a story that is given by Sir John Heresby, who gives it as if he was nearly convinced of its truth. " I would venture to take notice of a private occurrence which made some noise at York. The as- sizes being there held on the 7th of March, 1686-7, an old woman was condemned for a witch. Those who were more credulous in points of this nature than myself, conceived the evidence to be very strong against her. The boy she was said to have bewitched fell down on a sudden before all the court, when he

PREFACE. XXxi

saw her, and would then as suddenly return to him- self again, and very distinctly relate the several inju- ries she had done him : but in all this it was observed the boy was free from any distortion ; that he did not foam at the mouth, and that his fits did not leave him gradually, but all at once ; so that, upon the whole, the judge thought it proper to reprieve her, in which he seemed to act the part of a wise man. But, though such is my own private opinion, I cannot help con- tinuing my story. One of my soldiers being upon guard about eleven in the night, at the gate of Clifford Tower, the very night after the witch was arraigned, he heard a great noise at the castle, and going to the porch, he there saw a scroll of paper creep from under the door, which, as he imagined by the moonshine, turned first into the shape of a monkey, and thence assumed the form of a turkey-cock, which passed to and fro by him. Surprised at this, he went to the prison, and called the under-keeper, who came and saw the scroll dance up and down, and creep under the door, where there was scarce an opening of the thickness of half-a-crown. This extraordinary story I had from the mouth of both the one and the other : and now leave it to be believed or disbelieved, as the reader may be inclined this way or that."

It is impossible to speak in terms of too strong reprobation of the state of the Northern prisons in the seventeenth century, and of the conduct of their keepers. They were dens of iniquity and horror, in which men and women herded together indiscrimi-

XXX11 PREFACE.

nately. The dungeons of the Inquisition themselves were scarcely worse. Some of them had no light and no ventilation ; several were partly under water when- ever there was a flood ! The number of prisoners who died in gaol during this century is positively startling. And how could they live in such places, where they were treated worse than savages themselves ? The ordinary conveniences and necessaries of life were denied to them. They were at the mercy of the gaolers for their food and for everything they pos- sessed. They had the meanest fare at the most exor- bitant price.* If they resisted there were irons and screws that compelled them to he silent. There was also the greatest inequality and injustice in the treat- ment of the prisoners. Those that had money had many indulgences. &fThey were allowed to go to places

* The following papers will illustrate my remarks, and show the state of York Cnstle in the 17th century : —

My Lord, — It had bene fitter for me to have wayted on you myselfe, then to have presented my respects to you this way ; but, my Lord, I have bene soe desperatly ill these six weekes, I have hardly bene able to stirr out of my bedd. My humble suite to your Lordshipp is, in the behalfe of a great many poore distressed people that are now prisoners within the Castle of Yorke, that have noethinge to subsist withall, but the charity of well disposed persons; and, as the case stands with them, the beni- fitt of what they have is very small, for they are not suffered to buy a bitt of bread or a dropp of drinke, nor so much as a halfe penny worth of milke, or a little fyreing in the wynter, but what they are compelled to buy of the keepers of the prison, where they pay 2d. or 3d. for that which is not some- tymes worth a penny. My Lord, my lodginge being not farr from the Castle gate, the neighbours have made a great request to me to be a suiter to your Lordshippe, that at this Assizes your Lordshippe would be pleased to make an order that these poore people, as formerly they have done, may send into the towne for such provision as they are able to compasse, where they may have it at the best hand. I hope your Lordshipp will pardon the

PREFACE. XXxiii

of amusement without the walls of the gaol, and some were even permitted to lodge beyond the precincts,

bouldnes of your most humble servant, — Jo. WORTH AM. From my lodg- inge this 9th of August, 164'2.

In dorso.—To the honorable Sir Robert Heath, knt. his Ma" Judge of Assize for the county of Yorke, with my humble service, these present.

1654. A petition from the prisoners in York Castle, complaining of the gaolers. — They have hindred divers prisoners from haveinge theire meate and drinke at the best hand, and, to cornpell them to come to the high table, did lye some in dubble irons. That some prisoners sendinge for theire drinke within the castle, where they can have more for sixpence then they can have in the sellers for neenpence, the gaolers did abuse the prisoners and tooke theire drinke from them, and gave it to the low gaole prisoners. The gaolers' servant gets a share of the charities given to the prisoners. On July 10 last divers prisoners going to the sessions at Malton, the gaolers refused to devide the Cottrell bread till they were gone, and got their share. The gaolers doth refuse to hange up the stablishment of fees in a publique place, etc.

For the worshipfull William Bethell, Esqr., foreman of the grand jury for the county of Yorke.

The humble petecion of the prisoners in the castle of Yorke, complaining of the severall abuses committed and don by Thomas Core and William Crooke, jailors.

Sheweth, that, contry to a table of severall fees and acts of Parlement, the aforesaid jailors hath deinaunded and taken severall sums of money for chamber-rent, and likewise for our owne bedds and bedding, and doth compell us to pay for ease of irons (being in execution), although wee have paid the sunie to the former jailors to whom wee was committed, lodgeing fellons and debtors together in one roome or chamber, takeing more fees then one, viz. for every accion one fee, althowgh wee are discharged from all such accions by the shivriffe, takeing unjust fees from the prisoners when discharged, receiveing 161. and 8s. from 6 men committed and indicted for high treason at the last assizes, as fees due to them, besides 61. for ease of irons, they or there servants' takeing or receiveing money at several! times from 3 persons indicted for murther at Lent assizes last, promissing that the jury should acquitt and discharge, and alloweing weekly out of the county bread a greater share to fellons and condemd persons then they doe to debtors. Alloweing condemd persons not onely to dispose of it, but of most of the concernes in the jaiol. Tollerateing persons condemned for high treason, for murther, for fellony in execution, excommunication^ besides 180 Quakers, at the least, to goe into the citty and county of Yorke,

C

XXXIV PREFACE.

subjected only to some trifling surveillance. Escapes were very frequently made.* The prisons also were too few in number, and were frequently out of repair. In 1684 there was no common gaol at all in Cumber- land. In July 1658 the county of York was presented at the assizes for not renovating the common prison. In 1677 it was almost in ruins. In a later century those distinguished philanthropists Howard and Neild give most distressing pictures of the state of the Northern gaols. Peter prison, in York, and the hold on Ouse Bridge, were a disgrace to any civilized country. The cells in the latter place would almost have rivalled the notorious Black-hole. Air, light, and ventilation were absent, and the waters of the river rushed in when they were above their usual level. The castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a

but to play-houses, taverns, coffee-houses, &c. not lodgeing in the jaiol above the number of 90 Quakers att any one time, from March last to July instant, takeing severall sums of money besides bond and judgement not onely from men committed as misdemeanors, but from all sorts of fellons for ease of there irons.

Wee distressed petecioners humbly craue to take the premisses into con- sideration, moveing the judges and justices of peace nott onely that the abuses may be regulated, but that a table of fees may be settled ; and wee shall be ever bound to pray, &c.

* I give one instance among many :

March 9, 1653-4. The affidavit of John Thackeray, Miles Fawcett, Win. Hopkinson, and John Tomlinson, concerninge the escape of six pri- soners out of the Castle of Yorke. The said prisoners were laid in the place called the low gaole, being supposed to be the safest place, and double- ironed according to law. That the goale being now knowne to be weake, in regard the said prisoners did worke through the stone wall in one night, the weakenesse whereof was presented to the grand jury the last assizes. That the kayes belonging to the backe gates (soe called) of the said goale were in the custody of the souldiery in Clifford's Tower, which obstructed the present pursuite of the saide prisoners, being in the night time.

PREFACE. XXXV

dreadful den, but it was far eclipsed by the Bishop's prison in the palatinate city of Durham. It seejns to have consisted of a succession of dungeons, one below the other, descending far into the ground !

The punishments of these times were as barbarous as the places of confinement. The pillory was occa- sionally used for political offenders. Burning in the hand was not unfrequent. Imprisonment was the usual penalty that prisoners paid for their misde- meanors, and, remembering what the gaols were, it was a very severe one. They were never sentenced for any specific period, but the list of those who were under confinement seems to have been revised and lessened by the judges at each assize. Occasionally a batch of criminals seems to have been sold to the best bidder, if they were not given away. I believe that this was the custom at Hull. After the fight on Seacroft Moor a number of the prisoners were confined in the Merchants' -hall in York, and came into the possession of a Mr. Clay. The remnant of the Scots, who after the battle of Dunbar were shut up in the cathedral of Durham, was sold en masse to an officer who is said to have sent them to the Plantations. Transportation was occasionally awarded, and the culprits were gene- rally draughted into any portion of the army that was on foreign service. The well-known Nevinson was sent to Tangier s. The annual number of executions at York between 1650 and 1670 varied between six and twenty. Whenever there was a want of an exe- cutioner, a condemned criminal was reprieved if he

XXXVI PREFACE.

would accept the odious office. The Border Commis- missumers, probably, put more to death in a year than were condemned on the whole Northern circuit. Theirs was, indeed, at many times, a very summary process. A little evidence, however incomplete, and after it the culprit was dangling on the limb of a neighbouring oak. How different was this from the long procession, with the cart and rope, that accom- panied the wretched criminal to Tyburn ! The ve- hicle conveyed the coffin in which his lifeless body was to be laid, and at the foot of the gallows, before his eyes, was the hole into which he was to be buried like a dog, if his bones were not to bleach near the scene of the atrocity that ruined him, or if he had no kinsman to procure for his remains the rites of sepul- ture at home. On the same unhallowed spot might occasionally be seen the faggots and the flames which consumed some miserable creature who had broken the most sacred tie that can be bound on earth, by mur- dering her husband. These are painful pictures, but happily they represent scenes which are no longer to be witnessed.

In conclusion, the Editor, on behalf of the Society, has to thank Sir John Bayley, for allowing the records under his charge to be inspected and made use of, and he has also to express his sincere obliga- tions to Mr. Holtby, the deputy-custodier, and his son for the courtesy and attention which he has uniformly experienced at their hands.

J. R.

York, October 17, 1861.

DEPOSITIONS, ETC. FROM YORK CASTLE.

I. JOHN RERESBY, ESQ. FOR AN ASSAULT.

Oct. 1, 1640. Before Sir Wm. Allenson, Kt. John Briggs, servant to John Rearsbie esquire, serjeant-major, saith that upon Tuesdaie was sevenight the said Mr. Rearsbie went to a taverne att Castlegate-end,* to drinck a pint or quart of wyne; and that ther went with his said mr to the said taverne his corronell, Sir Georg Wentworth, and diverse other gentlemen. And, after- wards, this informant, going into the roome where his said mr was, found sitting with him one Captaine Womb well, who had on him a buffe coat and britches; Captaine Darcie Wentworth, who also had a buffe coat on; also one John Brittane, ancient-bearer to Coronell Wentworth, having on a cloth sute mingled culler; Mr. Thomas Malliverer, ancient-bearer to the said Mr. Reasbie, having on a read coat, who dwelleth at Letwell; also one Mr. Bradley, f

* A description of a scene which occurred at a tavern in Castlegate in York. Charles I. was then in York, preparing for an expedition against Lesley and the Scots, and fifteen thousand men were quartered in and around the city. Many of the gentlemen of Yorkshire were in arms or in attendance upon the court, and the great council of peers was sitting in York.

The gentlemen mentioned in the deposition were all of them people of distinction in the county. Mr. Reresby was the father of Sir John Reresby, armis togaque insignis, who was afterwards Governor of York, and a well-known author. Sir George Went- worth was brother to the Earl of Strafford, and Darcy Wentworth of Brodsvvorth was gentleman -usher of the black rod to the same nobleman when he was Viceroy of Ireland. The pedigree of the Mauleverers of Letwell is well known. It is not my intention to trouble my readers with many genealogical details in a work of this nature, save where they throw light upon any deposition, or its leading character.

The inn was probably the Blue Boar. It was situated between Castlegate House and the parish church. It is now a private dwelling, and was the residence of the late Mrs Campbell. It was to this inn that the well known Turpin resorted. In 1640, as we see, it was fitted up with boxes of wood for carousing parties, after the fashion of many old taverns at the present day.

f In " Mr. Bradley " I recognize an old friend. He was, I believe, Thomas Bradley, the eccentric rector of Castleford and Ackworth, which were given to him by Charles I. whom he was now attending in York in the capacity of chaplain. In the Rebellion he lost all, and was reduced to some straits; but his sun rose again at the Restoration. In addition to his other preferments he then became a prebendary of York. He pub-

B

2 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

a minister; and also an other minister, whose name this informant knowes not; also one Wheatley, lewetennant to Corronell Went-

lished ten or eleven sermons, seven of which I possess : I could wish that they were better known. Marred by few of the eccentricities of the period, they are remarkable for a boldness of diction and an eloquence and ease of expression which few divines of that period possessed. I shall give fuller specimens of his style in another place.

In a sermon preached before the judges of assize at York, in 1663, Bradley was bold enough to censure some of the public and private vices of the day in terms so strong that he was obliged to recant them publicly in another discourse which he delivered at the next assize. It ends with the following words: " I will conclude with one word which his Majesty spake to me himselfe at the Councell-table, and it was close and home, and did more to silence me then all that was spoken to me besides, and it was this, That his Majestic thought it was my duty to preach conscience unto the people, and not to meddle with State affaires."

When Bradley was seventy-two years of age he actually preached and printed his own funeral sermons ! Their style is more sober than that of his earlier productions, but it is striking, and there are some passages which will remind the reader of the De Senectute. The writer was evidently a person who had read and thought much.

" And although there be nothing in this world so desireable as that it should make a man in love with it in any state of his life and in his best years; yet much more, when his best dayes are gone and past, when he is entring into that state of life which David saith It is but labour and sorrow, and those years approach of which he shall say / have no pleasure in them, may he with good reason be content to leave the world and make it his request That the Lord would take away his soule. Then for an old Barzillai, to refuse the pleasures of the court; or an old Simeon, to sing his Nunc dimit- tis; or an aged Paul, to desire to be dissolved; or an old Elijah, to beseech the Lord to take away his soule; is no wonder. And all this as old age meerly considered in itself, without any other grievances added to it to make it burdensome and irksome, it is a burden to itself. But who ever saw it come but attended with a world of in- firmities to make it more tedious, catarrhs, rheumes, aches, palsies, akings in the bones, gouts, dropsies, and, in all these, the inability to help itself. Senex bis puer, it is a second childhood, and 'tis a question whether the second be not worse than the first. Upon these and some other considerations it hath often been my prayer to the Lord God, and it is at this instant, that he would not detain this soule of mine in this taber- nacle of clay, wherein it hath now lodged these seventy years and upward unto extremity of old age. But farther, if to all these there shall be added any externall grievances, poverty and want, discontent in the family, disobedience in prodigality of children, divisions among brethren, vexatious suits, or the like; these were enough, not only to make an old man desire dissolution, but to hasten it, and to bring his gray haires with sorrow to the grave.

" But what need I preach mortality to mortalls, whose very bodies that they carry about them dayly preach unto them the same thing; and the spectacles of mortality, which we dayly see, preach it more powerfully to our eyes then funerall sermons can doe unto our eares? Dayly we heare the tollings of the passing bells calling us to our long home. Dayly we see the bones and skulls of our friends deceased rak't out of the grave ; dayly we see others following after them, and the mourners about the streets. It strikes me deeply into the meditation of mortality, when I doe but look over the register book, to see in the turning over of how few leaves I finde the same man baptized, married, buried. Thus one generation passeth away, and another suc- ceedeth and hasteth after it, as we after them, till we all lye down in the dust of death, for we are no better then our fathers."''

Bradley married a daughter of John Lord Savile. Thoresby tells us that she was " very memorable for constantly wearing a veil day and night, having made a vow no Englishman should see her face, and which she observed till within six weeks of her death." Of Savile Bradley, their son, there is a curious story in the Life of Anthony a Wood.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 3

worth, -who had on him a read coat; who, having drunck ther wyne and paid ther shott, were coming forth. And, in passage to the barr, ther were coming in a soldier and a weoman with him. And some of the company, his rnr being one, as this in- formant thincketh, did j east with the weoman merrilie; where- upon the soldier did peremptorilie and saucecelie replie. Wher- upon his said mr gave him a bio we on the care with his hand, and threwe him downe. And, in the interim, there came into the howse a gentleman of the name of Orrick, who, upon his coming in, justled upon this informant's mr, and asked him why he did strike the boy, with other wordes of coller; but what they were he remembreth not. And, after this, the first thing that this informant did see was that his said mr and the said gentleman had hold one of an other's haire, and was strugling. And in ther strugling drewe one and other into the said box or seat, where some blowes past betweene them. They parted, and his said mr went into an other roome. And he further saith that, desireing to see the head of the said Orrick, hee wold not suffer him. And, presentlie after, a constable comeing in caried his said mr, and all the rest of the gentlemen aforenamed, before Alderman Hodgson, to be examined. And there, after some passages and questions, the Lord Wharton, being ther present, said unto Orrick these wordes: " Bobbin, it's but a broken head, let it alone."

II. THOMAS STAFFORD. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Jan. 25, 1640-1. Before Edward Payler, Esq. George Panjer saith, that last Sonday being in George Dickson howse of Youl- thorpe, beinge an ale howse, Thomas Stafford* revilled the informait, and said that the souldgeares weere all roges that came against the Scotes, and if it had not beene for the Scotes, thirtye thowsand Ireish had rissen all in armes, and cutt all our throtes, and that the Kinge and Queene was at masse together, and that hee would prove it uppon recorde, and that hee is fitter to be hangd then to be a Kinge, and that he hopte ere longe that

* Youlthorpe is a little village near the Wolds, not far from Bishop-Wilton. A great part of it is now the property of the parish of All Saints, Pavement, in York. The incident shows how jealous the executive was of any seditious language. A poor tipsy man is the culprit, and he denies everything, having, probably, forgotten all. Another witness, describing the scene, says that Stafford, " beinge hie flowne in drinke, takinge a kopp, drunke a health to the old prest, and, God a marcye, good Scot. And, withall, saeinge the Kinge and Queene was at masse together, and that such a Kinge was wourthye to be hanged."

B 2

4 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

Lashlaye* would be a Kinge, for he was a better man then any was in England.

III. RICHARD PENROSE. FOR SACRILEGE.

May 23, 1642. Before Sir Arthur Robinson, Kt. John Pen- rose, of Wheldrake, sayth, that, about 7 yeares since, he missed two iron crooks which used to be in the middle roome of the steeple of Wheldrake church, f in the fanones of the doore, and Richard Penrose confessed he puld them out. About 4 yeares since the sayd church was broken, and there was taken out one silver challice, twoo pewther plates, a carpett, a communion table cloth, a pulpitt clothe, and twoo searpleses, which did usually lye in the vestrie, of which Richard Penrose hadd the keeping of the keyes. The sayd Richard confessed before Doctor Stanhope, then parson of the sayd church, that he took away a piece of a pipe of lead which conveyed water from the sayd church, beinge about one ell longe. He also confessed hee tooke the serples out of the church, and carryed yt home to his owne house, and cutt it shorter.

IV. JOHN TROUTBECK. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

June 9, 1642. Before Sir John Goodricke. Thomas Waike- feild, on the 5th instant, at the house of Marmaduke Bullocke, in Knasebrough, hard John Troutbeck say that the King was halfe French, halfe Germaine, J and that he could live as well without

* A great compliment to Sir David Lesley, who had much to do with the civil war in the North of England. At Marston Moor he was so roughly handled that he fled from the field, thinking that all was lost. His troops followed him, —

" Cursing the day when zeal or meed

" First lured their Lesley o'er the Tweed."

The supposed leaning of Charles I. towards the religion of his wife has been com- mented on by several writers.

+ An account of some peculations in the church of Wheldrake. The culprit was a tailor in the village who appears to have been parish clerk or sexton. It is amusing to read of the mishap of the surplice which the sinning official would cut, as David did the skirts of Saul, secundum artem. The rector, Dr. George Stanhope, was the grand- father of the well-known Dean of Canterbury. He was Precentor of York and chaplain in ordinary to James I. and Charles I.

J The speaker was probably alluding to the King's wife and mother, but he could not properly call Anne of Denmark a German. Public men and public acts were now being canvassed pretty freely, and punishment generally had no lame foot in pursuing them. Troutbeck pleaded intoxication as his excuse.

Mr. Gifford lived at Scotton. His family, of Staffordshire extraction, had some con-

FROM YORK CASTLE.

a King as with a King. And ]^lr. Francis Gifford saying, " What did tye the King to observe and keepe the lawes ?" the said Troute- becke answered "By his oath." And Mr. Gifforcl asking further, " Howe, if the King did not keepe the lawes and his oath, how stoode the case then?" the said Troutebecke answered, " He might be deposed for ought he knew."

V. ROGER HOLLINGS. FOR SLANDEROUS WORDS.

A true bill against Roger Rollings of Methley, for saying on Apr. 16, 1643, to John Savile,* Esq., " Traytor," and that he hoped to see him hanged, and that many honester men then he had beene hanged.

VI. THOMAS NEWTON AND OTHERS. FOR FIRING INTO A DWELLING HOUSE.

Sep. 28, 1646. Before Wm. West, Esq. Anne, the wife of Thomas Warier, of the Brushes, in the parishe of Ecclesfeld,^ yeo- man, saithe, that upon Saturday the 13th of June last, aboute eleven of the clocke in the night, there came some unknowne persons, and attempted to breake into this informer's husbande's house, and discharged a muskitt with two bulletts throughe the doore into the said house towardes the fyer, where this informer Richard Burrose and Elizabeth Parkin, theire servantes, were sittinge. One of the bullets light upon the fyer hudde. And, likewise, upon the night followinge, there came some unknowne persons and attempted to breake into the said house, and dis- charged a muskitt in at a parloure windowe against a bedde, where this informer did usually lye, and broke the curtine rodde with a bullett, and so runne into the walle. And, upon the 20th of June, some unknowne persons attempted to breake into the said house, and discharged a muskitt with two bulletts in at another

nection with Darlington in the county of Durham. Mr. William Dearlove, a native of Knaresbro', was also present on this occasion. He came to the house, as he says him- self, singularly enough, " to visitte one ancient Prior."

* The head of the great house of Savile, son of Sir John Savile, a Baron of the Ex- chequer, and nephew of the celebrated Provost of Eton. He took the side of the Par. liament, and was vigorously engaged in the siege of Pontefract Castle. This extract is taken from the original presentment of the grand jury.

t A deposition which shows the lawless state of society in the wild country in Hallamshire. Ecclesfield is in one of the principal parishes in that district, and the church is called the cathedral of the moors.

6 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

window, into another parloure, on the same side of the house, the first parloure window beinge walled up that they before shotte in at. And, likewise, they came the 25th of June, and discharged a little gunne with two bulletts in at a win do we on the other side of the house into the first parloure ; which two bulletts light in the walle in the windowe that was walled up. And upon the 3d, 4th, and 18th of July last came some persons in the night- time and attempted to breake into the saide house: and this informer and the said Burrose and others in the house sawe five men some nightes which picked theire lockes. And one night this informer hearde one saye, " Newton, lay thy heade to the windowe, but not against the windowe, for I thinke they wente to bedde aboute a quarter of an houre since." And one night they left a lighted match in the fould; and one night they broke into a butterie next unto a parloure where a dore was made betweene the butterie and the parloure, and one of the said men gott in his arme and shoulder in to the said dore and strucke at the said Burrowes, and Burrowes haveinge a sworde in his hande thrust at the said man in the dore stead, and pricked him in the thighe, as he thought; so the man felle backe, and Burrowes gott the doore made againe. Then this informer sawe three men in the butterie, whereof she knewe two of them, the one to be Thomas Newton and the other Lawrence Wade.

VII. THOMAS BEEVERS. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Oct. 22, 1646. Before Thos. Jopson, Darcy Wentworth, and John Hewley, Esquires. James Losh of Barnsley, about Michael- mas last was a twelve month, heard Thomas Beevers of Thur- leston, dyer, say he wold lay this informant tenn poundes the Kinge's eares was stowled * of within a month, and that the Queene was gone over into Holland to play the whore.

VIII. ELIZABETH CROSLEY AND OTHERS. FOR WITCHCRAFT.

Dec. 31, 1646. Before Charles Fairfax and Thos. Thornhill, Esqrs. Henry Cockcrofte, of Heptenstall, clothier, saith, that,

* Another indictment for seditious language. The charge against the Queen has been made by others. John Ellis of Burnsall, yeoman, was indicted at York for saying, on the 20th of June, 1677, " The old Queen had severall children in the absence of her husband : one att Pontefract, when her husband had not been with her of a twelve moneth. The King mynds nothing but women."

FROM YORK CASTLE. 7

the wecke before Michaellmas last, Elizabeth Crosley of Hep- tenstall came to this informer's house, begginge an almes, shee beinge in an evill report for witchinge.* And (as it seemed, by his wive's relacon) displeased with her reward, departed thence, and, the next night after but one, William, a childe of this infor- mer's, of the age of one yeare and three quarters, being att that tyme in very good health, fell sicke by fitts, bendinge backward, changinge his coulor and scrichinge, and soe continued one night, and then recovered. About seaven or eight weekes after, the said childe, not being soe perfectly in health as formerly, but more dull and stupid, did fall sicke in the same manner, as aforesaid, and soe continued for aboute a fortnight or three weeks, and then grew better, till aboute the tenth day of December, who, after hee hadd languished nyne or tenn dayes, dyed. And this in- former conceiveinge that his childe was bewitched, wente unto Mary Midgley, who, as he suspected, was confederate with the said Elizabeth, and then urging that shee the said Mary was one that was the cause of the death of his said child, she, the said Mary, then confessed that shee could witch a litle, but said that Elizabeth Crosley, Sarah her daughter, and Mary Kitchinge were witches, and hadd bewitched the said childe, and the said Mary tould this informer that shee would bee sworne of it before any justice in England.

Samuel Midgeley, of Heptenstall, saith, that hee, together with Jonas Utley and Lawrence Hay, did accompany the said Henry Cockcrofte to the house of Mary Midgley, and the said Henry meetinge with the said Mary did both threaten and strike her, who thereupon confessed that shee herselfe was a witch, but that it was not shee but Mary Kitchin and Elizabeth Crosley that hadd bewitched the aforesaid childe.

Daniell Briggs, of Waddsworth, saith, that aboute Michaell- mas was two yearcs, one John Shackleton, an infante of aboute the age of two yeares and an halfe, beinge sore taken and held with paynes and convulcions, the head and knees beinge drawne

* The first of the many cases of witchcraft that the present volume will contain. They are a painful record of the ignorance and credulity of the age. The scene, in the present instance, is laid in the wild parish of Halifax, the very place, of all others, at that time for superstition. Good Vicar Favour had done a good deal to civilize his flock, but his voice was now silent and there was no one to oppose popular errors. And if a reformer had arisen, who would have listened to him ? He would have been a bold man who ventured to decry the potency of ghosts and witches in the Yorkshire Highlands.

In the Journal of the Archaeological Institute I have printed a very remarkable case which bears witness to the superstition prevalent in the parish of Halifax shortly before the Reformation. No one point in the charter of credulity had been lost when these depositions were written down.

8 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

neare together, and, haveinge soe remained for aboute a quarter of a yeare, was removed to a neighbor's house ; whereunto William Whaley, clarke, minister of Croston chappell, came to see the said childe, who tould this informer and a maide servant that attended upon the said infante, that if they mett any by the way as they were to goe homewards, they would longe or desyer to mawle them on the heade; and they, shortly after, settinge forwards, did meete Elizabeth Crossley, and the maide that carryed the childe, perceiveinge it to bee her, shunned the way; notwithstand- inge, the said Elizabeth asked how the said childe did, but this informer suspectinge her to bee a witch did not tell her how ill it was, but said it was indifferent well, att which shee seemed very angry. And beinge shortly after in the next house where the said childe was, whether the maide came and strooke her with a candlesticke ;* after which the said childe was reasonable well till about the breake of the day in the morneinge, att which tyme hee begun with his ill fitts againe, and, after hee hadd languished aboute eleaven weeks, dyed. And this informer further saith that the morneinge it was buryed hee mett with the sayd Elizabeth Crosley, who said ** Have you brought this witched childe to towne ? " To whom hee answered that hee was perswaded hee

was not witched. Shee swore by it was witched; and,

further, saith that Mary Briggs, this informer's mother, upon her death bedd, aboute seaven yeares agoe, said that shee feared shee hadd hurte done by Elizabeth Crosley, who hadd gone in an evill reporte for witch inge.

Richard Wood, of Heptenstall, saith, that aboute fower dayes before Midsomer last (as this informer's wife tould him) Mary Midgeley came to her and begged wooll; whereupon shee tould her shee hadd given her a goodalmes of wooll three weeks before, and would give her noe more, for they bought it, but did give her an almes of milke, with which shee departed very angry : and the day after six of this informer's milch kyne fell sicke. This informer's wife, feareinge shee hadd done them some hurte, tould her shee hadd made the faulte, and desired her to remedie it if she could. Longe it was before shee would take too that shee had done it, but at last tooke six pence of her, and wished her to goe home, for the kyne should mende, and desired her to take for every cow a handfull of salte and an old sickle, and lay under- neath them, and, if they amended not, then to come to her againe. The next day this informer comeinge home was informed by his

* The common belief was that if blood could be drawn from a witch the victim would recover.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 9

wife of all the passages aforesaid, and hee, shortly after, meetinge with the said Mary in the house of one Ingham, an alehouse keeper in Heptenstall, tould her there hadd beene some litle fault made by her since hee wente from home, but hee did not mention any particuler wherein. Shee thereupon gave him an apple, and confessed shee hadd done him hurte diverse tymes, but never would doe more.*

IX. ROBERT JOHNSON, CLERK. FOR PUBLISHING UNLAWFUL

BOOKS.

Aug. 14, 1647. Before Luke Robinson, Esq. Ralph Walker, of New Malton, saith, that upon Sonday last, being the 8th instant, Robert Johnson of New Malton did publish two bookes in the church at Old Malton, the contents of which publicacions hee saith to bee as follows, viz. To forbid the payment of tythes ; and that any might refuse tythes as they would answere it after- wards.f Abraham Medd, of Old Malton, asked the said Johnson who should beare them harmelesse. Hee answered, " The King and Sir Thomas Fairfax."

X. RICHARD DUNWELL, CLERK. FOR USING THE PRAYER BOOK.

Aug. 16, 1647. Before Thomas Dickinson, Lord-mayor of York. John Stones, tayler, saith that on Saturday last about fower of the clock in the afternoone, Mr. Dunwell, the minister, did baptize! a childe in the parishe church of Bishophill the newer;

* The accused persons deny the charge altogether. Mary Midgeley, however, says that Martha Wood " did aske her advise touchinge one of her kyne whose mylke earned in the gallin, but said shee knew not which of them it was. Whereupon this ex1 tould her that shee hadd learned of one Issabell Robinson who hadd good skill (if anythinge were gone) and shee wished her to take a litle salte and old yron, lay it under the cow, and pray to God for mend." The other two women deny all.

f Two of the ephemeral publications of the time, written, probably, by Puritans. It was a bold act to announce them for sale in a church. In those days, in the North of England, it was customary to proclaim from the pulpit any stolen goods, and other matters of interest to the congregation were also announced. One rich rector in the county of Durham, who sat in Barnard Gilpin's chair within the present century, used regularly to announce from the rostrum the sale of the hay off his glebe !

Johnson was a clergyman and a member of the Assembly of Divines. He was a graduate of Cambridge, and published the following sermon : " Lux et Lex, or the Light and the Law of Jacob's house : held forth in a Sermon before the honourable house of Commons at St. Margaret's Westminster, March 31, 1647, being the day of publike humiliation. By Robert Johnson, Eboraicus, one of the Assembly of Divines. London, 1647," 4to. pp. 38.

J The Liturgy of the Church of England was now voted down by Act of Parliament.

10 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

and, after he had prayed, he tooke the childe, and said " I baptize the in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and doe signe the with the signe of the crosse;" and soe proceeded with other words in the booke of Comon Prayer. And the said Mr. Dunwell, imediately before he baptized the said childe, said that he would baptize none but such as he would baptize with the signe of the crosse; and that there was noe act against it, it was but an ordinance.

XI. HERBEET COOK. FOR SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOUR.

Aug. 24, 1647. At York Castle. John Garthwayt, clerk, deposeth, that one Herbert Cook,* being churchwarden of Hes- lington, detayneth the register book belonging to the sayd towne, insomuch as this ex*, the minister, cannot therein record the names of such persons as are baptized and buryed within that parish. And the sayd Herbert Cook sayd that he would burne the sayd register before he would deliver it unto him. The sayd Cook is an ordinary frequenter of alehouses upon the Sabaoths and Fasting dayes, and he hath seen him drunk severall times on those dayes. He is by common fame a brabler and quareller. He is a man of such a vexatious and contentious disposition that his neighbors stand in awe of him in respect of suites, and he hath nowe a dosen suites on foot, and he actually saw him bunching an old man, and he hath often seen him distempered with drinck. The said Cook did undertake for 20s. to keep all the Company of Weavers within the Citty of York seaven yeares in suite.

The sign of the cross in baptism was peculiarly offensive to the Puritans. Mr. Dunwell was charged with baptizing another child after the proscribed form at St. Hellen's, the Directory being in both instances neglected. Mr. Dunwell pleads guilty to both charges.

On Feb. 1, 1649-50, Robert Hendley, of Snainton, clerk, was charged with marrying people " without the consent of their parents, nor doth in any publique manner make known the intencion of theire marriadge, according to the lawes of the land, but in private places, and at unlawfull houres doeth make itt his practise to joyne any men and women together in wedlocke, not of his parrish."

On Jan. 31, 1666-7, before Sir Joseph Cradock and James Darcy, Esq., Anne, wife of Henry Kilburne, late of Thorpe and now of Reeth, says that she and Henry Kilburne " were married together by one Mr. John Ladler, parson of Gateside, without license or banes askeing, in Mr. Ladler's parler, after 8 of the clock at night."

* A refractory churchwarden with whom, no doubt, Master Garthwaite was sorely troubled. I have not ventured to print all the misdemeanours of this dangerous official.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 1 1

XII. GEORGE CLAY. AN ATTEMPT TO POISON.

March 10, 1647-8. Before Sir Robert Barwicke, Kt., at York. Joseph Bannister, of Hallifax, locksmith, saith that hee, being a souldier under command of the right honorable the Lord Fairefax, was, at the late battle upon Seacroft more,* taken prisoner with many others and brought into the Cittie of Yorke, and imprisoned in the Marchants' hall there; where he and the other prisoners had not continued many days before the said George Clayf (then one who bore armes with the enimie against the Parliament, but whether listed as a souldier or no he knoweth not), did come, and tooke a list of the names of all the said prisoners, beinge 700 in number. And, within few dayes after, came againe, and tould this informer and the rest of the prisoners that they were all his prisoners, and at his disposinge, by grant from the Lord Gowring, a comander in the then Earle of Newcastle's armie, and demanded of every prisoner severall somes of money, which sommes if they would not pay, they should rott in prison, as he then said.

The said Mr. Clay forced one Jonathan Tattersall, a prisoner, to pay him 601. for his release, which he did pay, as many others did; and, likewise, he demanded of this deponent 101. for his release, which he not beinge able to pay, the said Clay did deteine this deponent in prison nineteene weeks and 3 days, duringe which time (through his cruell usage) hee was almost famished for want of food ; and many died by reason of his crueltie and hard usage in prison. Hee further saith that hee, havinge a

* The fight on Seacroft Moor, near Bramham, took place in April, 1643. It was between Lord Goring, with a portion of the Earl of Newcastle's army, and Sir Thomas Fairfax. Sir Thomas's troops were caught at a disadvantage and were terribly handled by Goring's cavalry. Fairfax says of this combat, in his Memorials, " This was one of the greatest losses we ever received."

A vast number of prisoners, principally countrymen, were taken by the Royalists. Many of them, as it will be seen, were shut up in the Merchants' Hall at York, where some died from confinement and neglect. Prisoners in those days were treated like slaves, and were bought and sold. The Scottish prisoners who were captured at Dunbar were brought to Durham and shut up in the cathedral. There is an account of their sufferings in a letter from Sir Arthur Haslerigg, which is printed in the first edition of the Memoirs of Sir Henry Slingsby. Mickleton, the Durham antiquary, in his MS. diary, tells us that 4,500 were imprisoned in that sacred building. In eight months all had died except 500, who were taken away by Captain Rokeby, having been probably bought by him. What a frightful desecration !

f I have reason to believe that this gentleman was a kinsman, if not a son, of Robert Clay, vicar of Halifax, who was a singular character. The vicar ends his will in the follow- ing manner : " As a father I leave this last chardge to my sonnes: to avoide drunkenes, tobaccho, and swearing, and profaneing of the Saboth." There is much about Dr. Clay in Watson's History of Halifax.

12 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

warrant from Col. Generall Lambert, dated 3rd of March instant, to apprehend the said Clay to answere his misdemeanor, the said Clay beinge apprehended accordingly, and brought to Leedes, did in the house of widow Droninge there, upon the 8th day of March instant, indeavour to poyson this deponent, and to that end did secretly put into a cupp of ale quicksilver, and came to him and offered him the said cupp to drinke, telling him he should drinke it, for it was the Queen's health ; which this deponent after much and importunate intreatie did drinke, thinkinge noe harme, till he found some of the quicksilver in his mouth at th'end of his drinke, some of which he hath yet to shew. Whereupon he sent for an apothecarie and did drinke a cup of sacke, whereupon he did purge. And he deposeth that the said Mr. Clay, upon his appre- hension, did promis to give presently to this deponent 20s. if he would lett him escape; and he would also give bond to answere Col. Lambert: which this deponent refused to doe, and brought him to Yorke, where he now is comitted by Col. Lambert* to the provost-marshall his custodie.

XIII. ROBERT KAY AND OTHERS. FOR A RIOT.

Oct. 20, 1648. At Doncaster, before Wm. Armitage and Darcy Wentworth, Esqrs. Mark Vanvaulconburgherf of Midlins, Esqr., saith, that upon Wednesday the llth, about nyne of the clock in the morning, Robert Kay, together with 16 or 18 men, unknowne to this informant, came to this informant's father house at Midlins in a warlike manner, with musketts and swords drawne, and broke open the outgate and fower other doores within the

* The tables were now turned, and the prisoner was able to pay off an old score. Lambert, who was now almost paramount in the North, would give Clay no quarter.

•}• The Van Valkenburghs were a Dutch family of distinction, some members of which came over with Sir Cornelius Vermuyden to assist him in the draining of Hatfield Chase. The difficulties they experienced in this task would have driven any English settlers insane, but the Dutch were more cold-blooded and went through them all. By the inhabitants of the district they were regarded as intruders, their system of drainage interfered with old rights, and they were being continually robbed and maltreated. These depositions disclose an appalling adventure.

Midlins, or Middle Ing, on the Don, was a large hall erected by Sir Matthew Von Valkenburgh, which continued after his decease in the possession of his family. In later times it was the abode of what Mr. Hunter calls a striking spirit, which drove every one in terror from the house, and it was on that account for a long period without a tenant.

The Valkenburghs were the owners, at one time, of above 3,000 acres of Hatfield Chase. They were a family of wealth and consequence.

Robert Kay, the person alluded to in the deposition, was a Doncaster "gentleman." That town was deeply interested in the drainage of the levels.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 13

said house, and did beat, cutt, and wound three servants within the said howse; and afterwards tooke divers parcells of goods out of the same howse. And he did heare the said Kay say to the rest with him, " Goe on, for I will beare you out in it whatsoever you doe."

Elizabeth Hargrave, of Midlins, spinster, heard the said Kay say that hee would fyre the howse if Mr. Vanvaulconburgh came not out presently to him, for hee would have him quicke or dead. And Kay and the men turned her master's servaunts out of the said howse, and threatned to pistoll her with a brace of bulletts.

John Warunn saith, that Robert Kay, together with 16 or 18 men, came in a vyolent and outragious manner to his master's howse at Midlins, with their musketts cockt, light matches, and swords drawne; and did breake open the outgates of the said howse, and the kitchin doore, and other chamber doores wheere his said master was. And one of them with his muskett knockt his master downe, and forced him out of the house, and afterwards this examinate. And the said Kay stroke this informant with his tuck. And, about a quarter of an hower after, there came two captaines thither, and was very angry with the soldiers that came alonge with Kay, and clensed the howse of Kay and the rest with him, and put his said master into possession againe. But, within a quarter of an hower after the captaines weere gone, the said Kay, together with six men more, came againe to the howse and broke open the out doores againe, and a chamber doore in whicli there was a cupboard that had wrytings. And took his master by force away with them againe, a quarter of a myle from his howse ; who was againe sett at libertye by the soldiers and putt into possession of the said howse.

XIV. COLONEL MORRIS AND CORNET BLACKBURN. FOR HIGH

TREASON.

July 30, 1649. Before Edward Feild, Mayor of Pontefract, and John Scurr, Mathew Franck, and John Cowper, Aldermen and Justices of the Peace. William Foster, of Pontefract, saith , that he knoweth John Morrice;* and that the said Morrice, im-

* An important addition to Nathan Drake's account of the siege of Pontefract Castle that has been recently published by this Society. I now give the depositions against Colonel Morris for his successful surprisal of the castle in June 1648, one of the most daring exploits of that eventful period.

John Morris was a Yorkshire gentleman, of some little consequence and estate, who had followed the profession of arms. His first patron was the great Earl of Strafford,

14 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

mediately after surprizall of the castle, tooke upon him to be governor and commander in cheife of the said castle; and that,

to whom he was deeply attached. He served under him among the King's troops in Ireland, and saw some fighting in that country and in England. After a while he entered into the employment of the Parliament; but, taking offence at some slight which had been shewn him, he threw up his connection with that party and retired to his own estate at Elmsall in Yorkshire.

In 1648 he shewed his discontent at the new regime by entering into the plans of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was fomenting a rising in the North. The sur- prisal of the key of the North, Pontefract Castle, was then mooted, and Morris, who had been thinking of such a scheme for some time, threw himself at once into that difficult and perilous enterprise. Great caution as well as daring were requisite for the attempt, and in both Morris shewed himself an adept. He nursed a close intimacy with the governor and his soldiers, who never thought of suspecting him of treachery. He gathered together many associates. In May 1648, he made an unsuccessful at- tempt to scale the walls of the castle in the night time. The failure, and the increased precautions adopted by Major Cotterill, the governor, precipitated a second adventure, which was more fortunate than its predecessor. Morris with eight or nine associates entered the castle in disguise on the 3rd of June as the purveyors of some beds which were being brought in from the country. They were dressed like ordinary villagers, but each one was secretly armed with a pistol and a dagger. When they were within the gates, the drawbridge was thrown up, the astonished guards were hastily tumbled into the dungeon, the governor was surprised in his bed, and the castle was won. The Royalists flocked into the fortress and placed themselves under the command of Morris, who acted with wise forethought in victualling the castle and preparing it for a siege.

Morris was the master of the stronghold till the end of March 1649, when after a vehement resistance it was surrendered to Cromwell himself. Six persons were specially excepted in the conditions. They were Morris, the governor, Lieutenant Austwick, and Cornet Blackburn, who were suspected of being concerned in the death of Colonel Rainsbrough at Doncaster; Major Ashby, Ensign Smyth, and Serjeant Floyd, who were charged with a treasonable correspondence with the surprisers of the castle, having been a portion of the garrison. The gallant defenders of the fortress refused to surrender it if they were required to give up their friends. The reply was that they might escape if they could. With the daring of despair the six rode right at the guard; one, Smyth, was killed upon the spot, Morris and Blackburn cut their way through ; the other three were obliged to retire within the castle. But even then they did not fall into the hands of the enemy. The surrendering garrison walled them up within the castle, giving them provisions for a month, and these three gallant soldiers actually made their escape.

Morris and Blackburn went into Lancashire, and were arrested ten days after they had broken away from Pontefract. Lambert had promised them their lives if they could escape, but Cromwell ordered them to York, where they were tried in August 1649. Thorpe and Puleston were the judges ; George Eure, Esq., was foreman of the grand jury, and Sir William St. Quintin, sheriff.

The following gentlemen acted on the jury: Richard Brooke, of Birstall, gen., Thomas Reynolds, of Thorpe, gen., Thomas Thomlynson, gen., Sampson Darnebrough, gen., John Yonge, of Rocliffe, gen., WTilliam Robinson, gen., Henry Peele, gen., John Rookesby, gen., John Clerke, gen., William Johnson, gen., William Oldridge, gen., John Hewan, gen.

Morris challenged Brooke, as his enemy, but his objection was overruled. His de- fence and the account of the proceedings may be seen in the State Trials. The ob- ject of the prosecution was to shew that Morris had acted as governor ; this he did not deny, but produced his commission for that post signed by Prince Charles, as Captain- general under his father. This was not allowed, and irons were actually put upon the prisoner before the verdict was found. He and his companion were convicted and died upon the scaffold on the 22nd.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 15

within one wccke after the. castle was taken, the said Morrice sent muskettiers to take this informant, and carried him downe and imprisoned him in the dungeon six weeks. In which time the said Morrice, in this informant's presence and heareing, said that if he had 1,000/. in gold he could not tell itt, he was soe overjoyed, for he had now brought the worke to passe that he had beene about two yeares, meaneing takeing of the castle. He further say th that diverse of the lord generall's forces and souldiers being taken att Ollerton, and brought prisoners into the castle, and one of them being stripped and to be putt into the dungeon, the said souldier being unwilling to goe into the dungeon, the said Morrice did sticke the said souldier in the backe, and said that he must goe in, and if the Parliament were there themselves they should have no better place nor usage. The said Morrice did make out commissions and appointed officers and souldiers under him ; and he saw a draught of a commission wherein one Ashby was made a captaine under Morrice, and it did mencion that the said Morrice derived his power from the Prince. He hath heard him say to the men that assisted him, and were att takeing and surprizeing of the said castle, that every one of them should have and weare a gold chaine that they might be knowne from others, for that their noble and gallant act of takeing the castle.

The night before they died the two prisoners very nearly made their escape. Morris let himself down from the wall, but his companion, in descending, fell and broke his leg. Morris, like a gallant gentleman, would not desert his friend, and the two were easily re- captured.

On the morrow they were executed, and Morris's last words were a prayer for his King and a grateful expression of thanks to his late master, the Earl of Strafford. His body was afterwards laid by his side in the little chapel at Wentworth.

At Sledmere there are several relics connected with the siege of Pontefract. Among them there is a large bundle of papers once belonging to the family of Drake, includ- ing a curious list of the watches in the castle. Colonel Rainsbrough's sword is also preserved there. But the most interesting memorial is a half-length portrait of Colonel Morris. It shews a dark-complexioned young man in armour, with a rich lace collar, and long hair hanging over it. I am indebted for this information to my friend Mr. C. Sykes.

Castilian Morris, the Colonel's son, was town -clerk of Leeds, and drew up for the press an account of Pontefract Castle, in which his father's exploits were duly chronicled. What became of it, I do not know. Castilian Morris, who was born in Pontefract Castle when his father was there, had a son John, who was famous not for military skill or legal and historical research, but, as Thoresby tells us, " not only as an eminent dancer, but peculiai-ly noted for his admirable dexterity, whereby he can put his body into so various shapes as is very surprising ; he has also so much of the art of insinuation from his grandfather, Colonel John Morris, who surprised Pontefract Castle for King Charles I., that he thereby discovered the cheat of Walter Freazer, who. pretending his tongue was cut out by the Turks, had imposed upon a great part of the nation, by a trick he learned in Holland of drawing so much of his tongue into the throat, that there seemed to be only the root remaining."

16 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

Richard Lite of Pontefract, grocer, saith, that he heard Morrice sale that, the Wednesdaie before the castle was surprized, being the fast daie, the said Morrice was in a chamber in the house of Mr. John Tatham in Pontefract, and intended to have surprized the castle that night, but that a regiment of the lord generall's foot being to quarter in the towne that night caused him to deferre it.

Richard Tailor saith, that Major Morrice before the surprizeing of the castle was an officer in service for the Parliament against the King's partie, and did duty as other officers did. He saith also that Major Morrice ledd forth the forces that went against Ferrybridge against the Parliament's forces soe farre as the Newhall, and then gave order and command to Major Bon- ny vant, an officer under him, to march and lead on the said forces to Ferribriggs. He saith that Major Morrice did direct and issue forth warrants for listing of men , levying of monies and provicion for the said castle, and likewise sent out warrants to fetch in seve- rall persons as prisoners, and there detained them untill they lent moneys; and commaunded the gunners and other officers and souldiers under him to dischardge their gunnes and muskitts against the Parliament's forces then before the castle.

Thomas Acaster, of Pontefract, being' with others upon the guard, Morrice came to them, and did incourage them, and said, " Stand to it, ladds, against our enimies (the Parliament's sol- diors then approaching neare the castle), for if wee be taken, I myselfe shal bee pulled in peeces before any of yow."

Richard Clement, of Pontefract, saith that Major Morrice did cause him to be taken prisoner into the castle, and forced him to pay 51. for his libertie; and he did see the said Morrice lead upp a partie of horse with his pistoll in his hand against Leiftenant Generall Cromwell's forces being to enter the towne of Ponte- fract.

Mary Metcalfe, of Pontefract, saith that Michaell Blackburne was a souldier in the castle, and coronett to Captaine William Paulden.* She knew that the said Blackburne was one of that party at Doncaster when Coll. Rainsbrough f was slaine, and she

* Captain William Paulden died in the castle a month before its surrender. His brother, Captain Timothy Paulden, was killed at Wigan Lane. Thomas Paulden, another brother, suffered in the same cause, but he saved his life, and overlived the century. He was the author of a small historical tract which illustrates these deposi- tions. It is " An Account of the taking and surrendering of Pontefract Castle, and of the surprisal of General Rainsborough in his quarters at Doncaster, Anno 1648. In a letter to a friend by Capt. Tho. Paulden. Oxford, 1747. 8vo." There was an earlier edition in 4to printed at London in 1719.

f Paulden gives an interesting account of the death of Rainsbrough. The daring assailants wished to carry him off as a prisoner that they might exchange him for Sir

FROM YORK CASTLE. jy

heard that Lftcnt. Autwicke * and Marmadukc Grcenfeild was there also.

John Bennington, gent., saith, that Major Marrice did give order to Captaine Alexander Aslibie.t a captaine then under him, to seize and fetch this informant goods from his chamber in Pon- tefract into the castle, and that he did see the said Ashbie kill a soldior for the Parliament in the street in Pentefract the same daie ^the castle was surprized. He saith further that one Mr. William^Eamsden of Langley tould him that Michaell Black- borne, his late servant, tould him that he was one of those that runne throughe with his sword and murdered Colonell Rains- broughe at Doncaster.

Leif tenant Thomas Farray, of Pontefract, sayth that Major Morrice issued forth warrants in his owne name as governor of Pontefract Castle for raiseing of horses, levying of money and provicions for the said castle, and for seizeing of the goods of anie townesman that was gone away with the Parliament's partie; and he heard the said Morrice say that he drew forth the forces that went against Ferrybrigges as farre as Newhall orchard himselfe, and that the said forces went against Ferribriggs by his owne appointement. He saith that the said Morrice sent for him and kept him prisoner about a fortnight, and told him that he should pay to the said Morrice 70/., otherwise he would plunder all his goods and burne his howse, He saith, further, that the said Morrice did committ one John Garforth prisoner into the dungeon, and, by a councell of warre, condemned him to be hanged, for giveing intelligence to the Parliament's forces; ;m<l,

Marmaduke Langdale who was then in durance. He offered resistance and was killed in the affray. The Parliamentarians considered that he had been murdered.

Mr. Jackson of Doncaster is the owner of a very rare tract, the sermon that was preached at Rainsbrough's funeral. Through his kindness I am able to give a copy of the title: "The glorious day of the Saints' appearance; calling for a glorious con- versation from all beleevers. Delivered in a sermon by Thomas Brooks, preacher of the gospel at Thomas Apostle's, at the interment of the corps of that renowned com- mander, Colonell Thomas Rainsborough, who was treacherously murdered on the Lord's Day in the morning at Doncaster, October 29, 1648, and honourably interred the 14th of November following in the chappell at Wapping, neare London. 4to. London. Printed by M. S. for Rapha Harford and Matthew Simmons, and are to be sold at the Bible in Queen's-head Alley in Pater- noster- row, and in Aldrr^au; streete, 1648." (Dedicated) " To the right honourable Thomas Lord Fairfax, Lord Generall of all the Parliament's Forces in England, such honour and happinesse as is promised to all that love and honour the Lord Jesus."

* Austwick, was, I believe, the person who killed Colonel Rainsbrough. He was one of the six persons excepted from the benefits of the surrender of the Castle, but he made his escape, and died in 1655.

f Ashbie was also excepted from the terms. He had carried on a treasonable correspondence with Morris before the castle was taken. He got away.

C

18 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

in pursuance thereof, the said Garforth was carryed to the gybbett, went upp the ladder, the rope putt about his necke by the exe- cucioner, and there soe stood a certaine time, being mooved to make his confession, but afterwards was suffered to goe backe. He saith that when Lieftennant Generall Cromwell was to enter the towne of Pontefract, this informant did see the said Morrice draw upp his force, both horse and foot, against the said Parlia- ment's forces, endenvoreing to resist their entry.

Marie, wife of John Tatham, of Pontefract, gentleman, saith, that in May was a twelvemoneth John Morrice did sett upp his horse at this inf13 husband's house in Pontefract : that there did sometimes some souldiers come from the castle to the said Morrice and keepe him company, he then being in armes for the Parlia- ment against the King, and was a leiutenant-collonell to Collonell Forbes,* and received pay from the Parliament accordingly, and did duty as other officers did in the leaguer before Pontefract, when the castle was held against the Parliament by Collonell

John Lowther,f governor. And, att other times, one Ashbie,

Flood, and John Smyth, J souldiers under Major Cotterall,

who was then governor for the Parliament. And one John Battley kept him company, then an inhabitant in Pontefract, and imployed afterwards by the said Morrice after the surprizall of the castle, as an advocate for him. She further saith, that the castle was attempted to be taken by ladders about 16 dayes before that itt was taken, but by what persons she knoweth not; onely she saith that Mr. Charles Davison was att this informant's hus- band's house, the day before the castle was attempted soe to be taken by ladders, and that she hath heard that he was one of them that did attempt the same. She, further, sayth as she hath heard the said Major Morrice confesse, that he with Peter, his servant, an Irishman, did first enter into the castle, when itt was surprized the last summer, and that the said Peter did then shoot and wound Major Cotterall, the then governor, after that the castle was surprized. She, further, saith that the said Morrice, accompanied with Sir Hugh Cartwright, Gervas Nevill, Sir Richard Baron, and others, mett att this informant's husband's howse, and sent out warrants into the country for levying of monies, raiseing of men and arms and provisions of corn and victuall for the said castle. The said Morrice did severall times

* Colonel Forbes took part in the first siege of Pontefract Castle. He had one of \ his eyes put out by the " waff " of a cannon-ball.

-f* This gentleman's name was Richard and not John.

J These are the three who were specially excepted in the terms of the surrender, on account of their communications with the enemy.

F R OM YOU K CASTL E . 1 «J

in her presence declare that he did enter the said castle for the use of the King and the enemies against the Parliament, and that for them he did hold the same, and would doe to the uttmost of his power.

John Garforth, of Pontefract, saith, that Major Morrice did send one Richard Tailor, a soldier under him, to fetch the in- formant prisoner to the castle; and, when he came there, Morrice chardged him with several! false accusations, and caused him to be tried by a councell of warre, where the said Morrice, as presi- dent, gave sentence against him, and adjudged him to be hanged. And, in pursuance thereof, caused this informant to be guarded with horse and 100 muskettiers, with matches lighted, to the gallowes on Bagghill, and caused him to climbe the ladder, and putt a rope about his necke : whereupon this informant desireing the spectators to sing a psalme with him, in the time the psalnie was singing, one Captaine Browne brought a reprive for eight dayes, and soe from thence they kept him in prison 7 weekes longer, and then whipped this inform1 out of towne, and charged him not to come to the towne againe upon paine of death.

Gervase Cooper, of Pontefract, draper, saith, he havinge two cowes taken from him and carryed into the castle by the sayd Mania1 souldyers, and that when the Parliamentt's forces entred the towne he obtayned favour of Coll. Farefax to goe with a drumme unto the castle to procure his cowes againe. And the officers of the castle then told him thatt none but Marris could lett him have them againe ; butt he, the said Marrice, toold this in- formantt, thatt he should not have his cowes againe if Kinge Charles should write his letter to him to deliver them : and sayd further thatt he would not leave a house standinge in Pontefract: and thereupon commanded to give fire to a morter peece, and shott a granado into the towne, and soe did twice after, whilst this informantt was in the castle : and sayd thatt he would not deliver the castle, although the King's partye in England were destroyed, he would hoold and keepe itt untill he had releefe from the Prince, for he had beene a yeare plottinge to take itt, and he was able to keepe itt three yeares.

Mary, wife of John Smyth, sayth that Morrice caused her husband, being master of the magazine under Major Cotterall, to be called forth of his bedd, and be putt a prisoner into the dungeon, where they kept him eleaven weekes. And she heard the said Morrice then say that he had beene about that plott 2 yeares ; and that he hoped within a moneth to have ten castles more, and that Yorke was theire owne already. And she heard him say that

c 2

20 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

there was two and twenty men* there that surprized and tooke the said castle, that should, every man, have a gold chaine with a peece of gold hung in the same, that they might be knowne from all other people in England for their service in takeing the said castle.

Alexander Stileman, gentleman, of Pontefract, saith, that after the attempt of takeing the castle by the ladder, he tooke one Mathew Adams prisoner, and brought him to Pontefract castle, who told him that Morrice was cheife in the plott for the attempt by the ladders. And he heard the said Morrice say that he had 3 times attempted the takeing of the said castle, and, if he had failed, he would have attempted itt six times more but he would have had itt. Hee saith, also, that the said Morrice did, imme- diately after the surprizall of the castle, commaund Gilbert Hough, Henry Sprowston, and other cannoners, to be brought into the castle, and to traverse the great gunns, and to give fire upon Captaine Browne's horse, a captaine for the Parliament, that appeared in Pontefract feild before the castle. And he heard the said Morrice say that that very day Yorke, and all, or the most, of the holds in England would be surprized. Hee saith, further, that the said Morrice gave order for the parties that went to Ollerton against Ferrybriggs, and takeing of Captaine Todd and his company att Turnebrigg, and shewed letters that Tinmouth castle f was betrayed, and other places, and caused bonefires to be made, and great gunns to be shott of for joy upon the report of takeing Newcastle, Boston, and Lincolne.

William Tatham, of Pontefract, jun., saith that, in May was a twelvemoneths, Major Morice did frequent the house of John Tatham, his father. He knoweth not by what authoritie Sir Phillip Mountaine, Kt.J and the rest of the officers or souldiors went from the castle to Willoughbie fight.

* The ordinary accounts say eight or nine. It is observable that twenty-two men went out of Pontefract to carry off Rainsb rough.

•f- In 1648, Colonel Lilburn, the deputy-governor of Tynemouth Castle, declared for the King. On the llth of August Sir Arthur Haslerigg took the place by storm, and put all the garrison to the sword.

J The fight on Willoughby Field took place in July 1648, and was most disastrous to the Royalists. Sir Philip Monckton and some 500 others were taken prisoners. Sir Philip was a most dashing Cavalier, and went through all the dangers of the Civil War. At Marston Moor, according to the tradition in the family, he was so badly wounded that he was obliged to ride with his bridle in his teeth. He has left some remarkable memoirs of his own experiences, which have been partly printed by Mr. Hunter, in his History of South Yorkshire. It appears from them that he was mainly instrumental in admitting General Monk into York. There is a fine portrait of Sir Philip in the pos- session of his lineal descendant, Lord Galway.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 'J 1

Aug. 2, 1649. Before Sir Robert Btirwicke, Kt, Major John Cotterill* saith, that at and before the 3rd day of June, 1648, this ex* was governor of Pontefract Castle, and garrison souldiers then belonging to the same, beinge deputed thereunto by authoritie from Major-Generall Lambert. And, by authoritie in that be- halfe derived from the State, he had the charge of the said castle and garrison for the service of the Parliament and Common- wealth of England. And he saith that upon the said 3rd of June, betwixe six and seaven of the clocke in the morning, this ext haveing beene upon duty the night before, and haveing then newly repaired to his lodging chamber, presently there came in two men with swords and pistolls in theire hands, whomo he then knew not (but afterwards heard theire names to be Paulden and Peters) who being asked by this ex*, " Who comes there ?" they answered that the castle was surprised for the King, an# that this informer was in the hands of gentlemen: he might have quarter, if he pleased. But refusinge, with his weapon drawne, they fell upon him and wounded him both with sword and pistoll, and after a quarter of an houre's dispute or there abouts, growinge faint with much bleeding, was disabled to make farther opposicion ; whereupon the said two men seised upon this informer, and led him into the castle yard, where he mctt John Harris, comonly called Major Harris, who had formerly becne active in the Parlia- ment service, and had assisted in the reduceing of that place to the obeidiance of the Parliament of England, when it was holden by one Lowther, formerly governor for the King. And, upon that meeting, the sayd Major Harris sayd " I am now governor of this place for the King," or words to the like effect. And the informant askinge him if he would put him into the dungion, Harris answered, with oathes and great execracions, that if both speakers of Parliament were there they should in. To which place he thereupon commanded this informant to be comitted, where this informant found then newly comitted to the same dungion about the number of thirty officers and souldiers, till that time under this deponents command. And, after he had continued in misery in the sayd place about three days and three nights, he was by order from the said Harris removed to another prison in the said castle. And the sayd Harris, after that, had the title and name of governor, and commanded the souldiers and guards in the sayd castle. And this deponent was inforced in the behalfe of the prisoners formerly under his command, as well for theire

* Major Cotterill's account of this scene differs slightly from that which is given by Captain Thomas Paulden. His resistance could not have lasted a quarter of an hour. Cotterill gives us some interesting information about Morris.

22 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

subsistance, as for theire exchange, to make his addresse to the sayd Marris, as governor; in whose power and sole command that garrison then was, from and after the time of his sayd surprisall. And the sayd Morris did constitute and appoint officers under his command for the raisinge and disciplyninge of men for defence of that castle and garrison against the authoritye of the Parliament of England. And he heard the sayd Marris say that he had beene about the surprysall of that castle any time for 2 yeares then past. And he further said, that himselfe with Col. Furbus and Col. Thomas Fairefax (who lately revolted from the Parlia- ment and was in Scarbrough Castle) did lodge together at Knot- tingley in one bedd, about that time the late King came to Don- caster in a hostile manner ; and that they there continued expect- ing command from the said King to surprise the said castle from the hands of Col. Robert Overton, then governor for the Parlia- ment. And this informant also knoweth that there was formerly attempts made to take the castle in the night time by rearinge of ladders, which was duringe this deponent's said governement dis- covered and prevented. And this informer heard the sayd Marris after the surprisall aforesaid say that he was there in person when the sayd ladders were reared, and intended himselfe to be the first man that should enter, and that he then had the chiefe command of that party. And he saith, that duringe the time of his durance as prisoner in the said castle (beinge about thirteene weeks) he well knoweth that the said Marris commanded in cheife in the said castle, as governor; and did walke the rounds and commanded severall locks and barrs to be layd upon the dores where this informer was in durance. He knoweth not Black- burne by that name, but may perhaps remember both his persons and some of his actions when he seeth him.

Aug. 2, 1649. Before Sir Robert Bar wicke, Kt. John Grant, gunner, late under the command of Major Cotterill, late governor of Pontefract Castle, saith, that he beinge the gunner of the said castle, as it was a garrison held for the Parliament, under the command of the said Major Cotterill, governor of the same. And whilst the same garrison was soe under that command, it fell out unhappily upon the third of June, 1648, that it was taken by surprisall, by Major John Marris, and others under his command, and of conspiracy with him. And, immediately upon theire entry, this deponent, and about thirtie more of the officers and souldiers of the sayd castle who continued faithfull to the Parlia- ment, were by command of the said Marris comitted to the dungion in the said castle, beinge a darke place about forty-two steps within the earth. And, imediatly after theire comeing in,

FROM YORK CASTLE. 2.'}

Major Cotterill was also brought thither sore wounded in severall places of his body. And this deponent saith that the said Major John Marris was commander-in-cheife of those souldiers who were actors in the said surprisall ; and that he did from thence forwards continue governor and commander-in-cheife of the said castle and garrison for the King, and held the same against the Parliament of England, until it was by force regained after a long siege. And this deponent, further, saith that he well knoweth him commonly called Major Blackburne, who was likewise an actor in the said conspiracy, and ayded to surprise the said castle, and continued there in the same under command of the said Marris ; and uttered in this ext3 hearing many railing words against the Parliament, and affirmed that he had gon forth upon parties and killed severall men.

Aug. 8, 1649. At York Castle: before Sir Robert Bar- wicke, Kt. and Tho. Dickinson, Esq. Michael Blackburne, late of Coldhil in the parish of Almondbury, sayth, that he was ser- vante to Sir John Ramsden,* and waited on his chamber till the tyme of his death, and that he was not present at the surprising of the castle and garrison of Pontefract, in June was a twelmonth, by Major Marris, nor did then know him; but he came into the castle in the same month of June, and received within few days after his coming into the said garrison a commission from Sir Marmaduke Langdale as cornet -of Capt. Palden's troop ;f and, at that tyme when Col. Rainsbrugh was slaine at Doncaster, he went forth with the same party, but came not to Doncaster by reason that his horse tired; and he sayth that he was one amongst the rest that continued the holding of the said castle and garrison under the command of Mr. Jo. Marris ; and, being questioned touching his leaving of the said castle and garrison, he sayth that he, with Col. Marris and his man, did about March last ride through the forces which had then long besieged them in the said castle, and came into Lancashire where they were apprehended.

John Marris, now prisoner in York Castle for high treason, being examined touching the surprisall of the castle and garrison of Pontefract in June last was a yeare, and whether he comanded the party who surprised and toke the said castle, he answereth that he did not surprise the said castle and garrison, for it was delivered to him, the gates being opened to him, and he

* Sir John Ramsden was in Pontefract Castle when it was besieged for the first time.

f The original commission to Captain William Paulden, signed by Sir Marmaduke Langdale, is now at Sledmere.

24 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

going into the same without resistance; and he was from thence- forth governor of the same, as his commission from the Prince of Wales, which he hath to shew, will expresse at large, and he did there comand in cheife the soldiers of the said garrison according to this said comission, for all the tyme he held the said castle against the forces of the Parlament.

XV. THOMAS BRIGHT. FOR HAVING AN UNLAWFUL BOOK.

Sep. 18, 1649. Before Richard Etherington, Esq. Mathew Morley, a trouper belonging to Collonell Robert Lilburn's regi- ment, saith that hee did see a booke intituled, " The Tablet or Moderacion of Charles the First and Martir," * in the hands of one Mr. Boyes; and the said Mathew Morley, upon perusall of the said booke, thought it to be very prejudiciall to the govern- ment established in England. And the said Boyes said that the booke was Thomas Bright's, of Pickring aforesaid, gentleman, and he had a frind that sent it him from beyond the sea.

XVI. MARMADUKE RICHARDSON, CLERK. FOR PRAYING FOR THE PRINCE OF WALES.

Sep. 26, 1649. Recognisances for the appearance at the assizes of Marmaduke Richardson, t of Pocklington, clerk, for praying publickly before his sermon in the parish church of Pocklington for Charles the Second, Kinge of Scotland and heire apparent to this realme.

XVII. NICHOLAS SPAVILD AND RICHARD DREW. FOR HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

Nov. 28, 1649. Before Andrew Burton, Mayor of Doncaster, &c. The Right IIonnUe Wm. Eark of Dwifreise J saith that,

* No early edition of this work is recorded by Watt. It was reprinted in 8vo in 1694. Another deposition describes the work as " The Tablet, &c. with an Alarum to the Subjects of England." John Musgrave, a trooper in the same regiment, supports the evidence of his comrade. Mr. Bright was bound over to keep the peace at the assizes.

•f* Mr. Richardson was ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour.

J A Scottish earl is returning from the South, and between Lincoln and Bawtry he is set upon, as he says, and robbed. He had a servant with him. It is strange that they should surrender to two assailants.

When the earl reaches Bawtry on foot there is a hue and cry after the offenders, and they are soon caught. Their story is a strange one — they say that the gentleman

FROM YORK CASTLE. 25

beinge ridingc on the high rode way betwixt Lincoln^ and Doncaster, he was sett uppon by Nicholas Spavild and Richard Drew, on the 26th of Nov., who tooke from him one bay mare and a black nagg with a great lethcr mall full of goods. Thor- upon hee was forced to goe to Bawtrey on foote, and there raysed hue and crye after them.

XVIII. WILLIAM MASON. FOR TREASON, &C.

Jan. 9, 1649-50. Before Isaac Newton, Esq. William Kirk- /MM, of Rivis, sayth, that one Wm. Mason of Newless did relate to this informant that he brought a woman unto his brother's, Robert Mason's, bedd syde at Olde Byland, in the night time, as they were in bedd together. This informer then asked him whether or noe it was a substantiall body, and how he could see or perceave her in the darke ? * Whoe answered that when it was darke to this informant it was light to him. He asked the said Mason howe he dared to doe these and other straunge matters amongst the soldyers least they should fall upon him and kill him ? He answered that he had fixed them soe that they had neither power to pistoll him, stabb him, kill, or cutt him. This informant further telling the said Mason that, if he could not make good the charge which he had framed against Richard Boulbye's wyfe, he did beleeve the justices at the sessions would comitte him to the gaole or house of correccion. Whereunto he answered, if they did soe he would make some others followe him; and, when they were fast, he would goe out at his pleasure. Further, asking the said Mason whether or no there should be a King in England, he answered he would warrant there should bee a King, and that very shortely.

XIX. THOMAS WELSH. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Feb. 12, 1649-50. Before Richard Robinson, of Thickett, Esq. John Robinson and William lies, souldyers under Captayn

was riding off the road over the corn : when they remonstrated with him he and his servant dismounted and walked away, leaving the horses behind them, which Spavild and Drew carried away to the pinfold. Credat Judseus !

* A deposition evidently depending upon others that are lost : it is difficult there- fore to explain it. The accused person seems to have mixed politics with his diablerie, and it Avas for them, apparently, that he was called to account. Another witness charges him with saying at Helmsley " that hee knewe when there would be a King, and when there would be a greate fight."

26 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

Henery Ponnell, captayn in Collonell Bright's regiment,* say that, being drinking one night in theire quarters with one Tho- mas Welsh of North Dalton, they did heare the said Welse say these words following : That there is a King, and that England could never be governed aright without a King. That Prince Charles was crowned King of Scotland, and would shortly be amongst us. He drank an health to the sayd King and Queene's prosperity, and would have them to have pledged him with the health of Sir Marmaduke Langdale. He asked John Robinson if, when an army came against us, that he would give him quarter if he light on him, and he would doe the same by him.

XX. THOMAS ROSETER AND OTHERS. FOR PIRACY.

March 1, 1649-50. Before Jo. Overton, Esq. Thomas Roseter, an Irishman, saithe that, aboute sixe weekes since, he was shipped from Dunkirke in Flaundcrs by Lourance Dusbury, maister of this shippe now ridinge in Humber, for to goe to sea as a man of warr upon free bootie ;* and that he and John Marcer, Wm. Wil- son, and one Raiphe, whose sirname this ex1 knoweth not, were likewise shipped in the said shippe aboute the same time as soul- diors upon free bootie; and confesseth they have Prince Charles his cornission, and that they came yesterday on shoore at Easing- ton for taking in freshe watter and gettinge victualles, haveinge been aboute sixe weekes at sea, and spent theire watter and vic- tuall, and gott noe prize in all that. And saithe theire be only tenn other men aboarde the said shippe, and that she haithe only 2 gunnes and 12 muskittes, with pouder and amunition theireunto proportionall, sixe fyrelockes and 16 swordes and some pistolles. And, upon further examinacion, confesseth that they tooke a smale boate neare or belonginge to Lynn, loadned with oates.

At the assize begun at York on March 12, 1650-1, a Wm. Mason was indicted for uttering six pieces of bad gold coin, but was acquitted.

* Colonel Bright was a Parliamentarian, and his regiment saw much service in the Civil Wars. The offending cavalier pleaded drunkenness as his excuse, and said, probably with truth, that he remembered nothing about the alleged offence. He was ordered to find sureties for his good behaviour, and was fined 40L

Sir Marmaduke Langdale's name would at this time be in the mouth of every cavalier as the most dashing and successful cavalry officer in the King's service. The sufferings and the exploits of this noble gentleman are well known. His loyalty is said to have cost him the large sum of 160, 0001.

•f A case of piracy. The adventurers had letters of marque from Prince Charles. A great deal of mischief was done on the Yorkshire coast during the Civil Wars by pirates. In 1646 the people of Scarborough complained to Sir John Lawson that they had lost as many as nine ships within eight days. After this those waters were pro- tected by seven ships of war. At the assizes the pirates were ordered to be left in prison without bail.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 27

William Dickinson, borne at Skarbroughe, confessetlie the very same with Tho. Roserter, and, further, that the name of the capt. of the pyrates shippe is Capt. Cusye, and the name of the mr is Lowrance Dusbury, and the name of the shipe is The Fortune. John ^ Marser, was borne at Bristol, but refuseth further to be examined, savinge that he belongethe to the shipp now in Humber. Raiphe Fletcher, born in Bushop-warmothe, near Sunderlande, will confese nothinge.

Eositer and Fletcher say that Marser's name is Plunkett. (Yow will finde this Plunkitt a notable, cunninge, boulde rogue.)

XXI. RICHARD SMITH AND OTHERS. FOR BEING GIPSIES.

March 8, 1649-50. Before Luke Robinson, Esq. William Allan, of Bransby, constable, saith that divers people in the habitts of jipsey * came to Butterwicke the day before they were apre- hended att Normanby, the same who are now in the Castle of Yorke. Divers of them did tell fortunes to children and to

* A party of poor gipsies are in trouble. We see them acting and living just as they do now, and probably no class has changed less than the gipsies. Their migra- tory habits and hereditary tricks and devices used to expose them to much unmerited suffering and suspicion. They generally were called Egyptians, from the country in which, it was supposed, they had their origin. Thence comes their present name. In the Register book of St. Nicholas's church, in Durham, " 1592, Aug. 8, Simson, Arrington, Fetherstone, Fenwicke, and Lanckaster, were hanged for being Egyptians"

The gipsies referred to in the depositions were treated in a most unjustifiable manner. The following petition declares what happened to them.

"To the right worshippfull Mr. Robinson, Esq., Justice of peace in the North Riding. The humble petition of divers distressed wandring persons, calling them- selves by the name of Jepsese.

" Humbly she with, that, whereas your worship hayth comitted us most justly, and according to our deserts, to the castle of York, where wee are ; and our poore infants almost famished for want of livehood. And, much the rayther, be reason the men that by your worship's comannd brought us hither, did contrary to all equity and Christiannity, and, as we are informed, contrary to the law of this kingdom, bereft us, and tooke from us our mare, and many things of greate noate and vallew. And, with- oute any neede or just cause, getting at many townes both meate and monny for theire and our use, of which your poore petitioners gott smale releife.

" In tender considderation whereof, and soe that your petitioners are most sorry for theire former leud course of life; and promisseth, by the help of Almighty God, will indeavor ourselves to direct our lives heareafter, observant to the will of God, and lawes of this land, it, therefore, would please your worship to commisserate our dis- tressedness, and in your grave wisdom to cause the cunstable and others to restore our goods soe unjustly tacken from us. And that it would please your worship to call us to the sessions to receyve such punishment as the worshipful! bench shall think fitt, and wee shalbe bound to pray."

At the assizes all the women plead pregnancy before judgment. It was allowed in one case, that of Barbara Smith. The others were probably executed. The name of the man does not occur in the calendar.

28 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

others, and askt them money. They did some tyme speake in languages wich none who were by could understand.

Jane, wife to Thomas Savadge, of Bransby, sayth that she went to Win. Kattill's house, where these people were, about sixe of them, and one of them, a woman, did wagge hir hand of hir, and did draw hir to a side, and told hir shee would helpe her to 60Z., three silver spoones and two gold rings, if she might have halfe, and one shilling, fower pence, one linning sherte and one linning pillow beare.

Richard Smith, and Barbary, whoe pretends to bee his wife, Francis Parker, Elizabeth Grey, and Elizabeth Parker.

Richard Smith doeth confesse that hee and the rest of his com- pany weere apprehended in London as suspitious persons, for highway robbers, and were committed to Newgate and the House of Correccion, and wear in question att the sessions their, but weir, as hee pretends, ordered to bee sent to their severall dwellings or countryes, conducted by one Grey, whoe was not with them when they were apprehended. He confesses that they have beene in severall parts of this country ; that they were tra - vayling into Northumberland ; that they have been in Hereford- shire, Stafford, Salop, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and that they came last from the East Riding about Hesle. He denyes that any of them did professe to tell fortunes. They did likewise pro- duce this passe, concerning which I have received since a letter from Alderman Penington, affirming itt to be forged. And likewise wee did thinke these persons were burned in the hand att theire sessions.

XXII. MARY SYKES AND ANOTHER. FOR WITCHCRAFT.

March 18, 1649-50. Before Henry Tempest, Esq. Dorothy Rodes, of Boiling, widoiv,* saith, thatt, upon Sonday night was a seavennight, she and Sara Rodes, her dawghter, with a litle childe, lay all in bedd together; and, after theire first sleepe, sheheareing the saide Sara quakeing and holding her bands together, she asked her what she ailed, and she answered " A, mother, Sikes wife came in att a hole att the bedd feete, and upon the bedd, and tooke me by the throate, and wold have put her fingers in

* Another curious story of witchcraft. I shall make no comment upon it. What a picture of credulity and folly it discloses. The depositions contain some curious local words. The poor women deny all acquaintance with the crimes imputed to them. At the assizes the bill against Susan Beaumont was ignored, and Mary Sykes was acquitted.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 29

my^mowth, and wold nccdcs choake me." And, this informant asking her why she did not speake, she answered she cold not speake for thatt the saide Mary Sykes fumbled about her throate and tooke her left syde thatt she cold not speake. And she further saith thatt the saide Sara hath beene taken severall tymes since the saide Sonday with paines and benummednes, by six tymes of a day, in greate extremity, the use of her joynts being taken from her, her hart leapeing, the use of her tongue being taken away, and her whole body neare unto death. And those fitts continewed halfe an hower, and sometymes an hower, and when she was recovered, she continually saide thatt the saide Mary Sikes came and used her in that maner. And upon the saide Sonday the saide Sara told this informant thatt the saide Mary Sikcs came unto her as she was comeing home, and tooke holde of her by the apron, and gathered itt by the bottom into her hands, and puld her soe hard by itt thatt she puld some of the gatherings out ; and that she was in great feare, and wincked ; and opening her eyes she saide " Mary." Butt the saide Mary Sikes wold give noe answere. And then Susan Beamont came to her. And the likenes of one Kellett wife appeared to her. Whereupon this informant told her that Kellett wife dyed about two y cares since. To which the saide Sara answered, "A, mother, but she never rests, for she appeared to me the fowlest feinde that ever I sawe, with a paire of eyes like sawcers, and stood up betwixt them, and gave me a box of the eare in the gapsteade, which made the fire to flash out of my eyes/'

Richard Booth, of Boiling, saith, that he saw the said Sara Rodes two severall tymes verie strangely taken, her body quake- ing and dithering about halfe a quarter of an hower, her hart riseing up, and in such manner that she cold not speake but now and then a word. And the saide Mary Sikes hath divers tymes saide unto this informant, " Bless the," and " 1'le crosse the," and that he hath had much loss by the death of his goods.

Henry Cordingley, of Tonge, saith, that the saide Mary Sikes hath saide unto him divers tymes, since Christenmas was twelve monthes, that he had nyne or tenn beasts and horses, but she wold make them fewer, and " Bless the/' but " I'le cross the." He further saith that, some three dayes before the saide Cristen- , mas, he goeing to fother horses, about 12 o'clock in the night, with a candle and lanthron, his beasts standing neare his horses, he sawe the saide Mary Sikes riding upon the backe of one of his cowes. And he, endeavoring to strike att her, stumbled, and soe the saide Mary flewe out of his mistall windowe, haveing three or fower wooden stanchions, the saide cowe being then white over

30 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

with an imy sweate. And he likewise saith that he had one blacke horse, worth 41. 16s., begunn to be sicke about Tewsday was a fortnight, and continewed dithering and quakeing till Sonday following, and then dyed. And he, opening the saide horse, cold not finde an eggshell full of blood. And he is verily perswaded that the saide horse was bewitched. And he saith, allsoe, that a black meare of his hath beene sicke in like manner as the former horse was, since about Tewsday last was a fortnight, till the tyme that the saide Mary was searched by the weomen ; but, since that, she hath recovered and amended, and eates hir meate verie well. William Rodes, of Boiling, saith, that in harvest last past this informant was in the howse of William Sikes, husband to the saide Mary Sikes, and that he hearde the saide Mary say " Henry Cor- dingley braggs of his dawghters, what gay dawghters they are. His eldest dawghter was of her feete at once, butt, if I be owne to live, she shalbe taken off her feete and made a miracle." And than went to her parlor windowe and saide, " I'le looke if the devill be att the windowe." Isabella Pollard, of Bierley, widow, and Jive other women, say, that by vertue of a warrant from Henry Tempest, Esq., they searched the body of the saide Mary Sikes, and founde upon the side of her seate a redd lumpe about the biggnes of a nutt, being wett, and that, when they wrung it with theire fingers, moisture came out of it like lee. And they founde upon her left side neare her arme a litle lumpe like a wart, and being puld out it stretcht about halfe an inch. And they further say that they never sawe the like upon anie other weomen.

XXIII. JOSEPH CONSTANT AND OTHERS. FOR PIRACY.

Apr. 2, 1650. Scarbrough. The examinacions of Joseph Constant, captain of a vessell of warre called the St. Peter of Jersey,* &c., before Tho. Gill and Wm. Saunders, baliffes. Whoe

* A privateer captured off Scarbrough. Mr. Hinderwell gives an interesting account of their seizure, of which I shall avail myself. Robert Colman, master of a North Sea fishing smack, hearing of the presence of the strange ship on the coast, volunteers to Colonel Bethel, then governor of Scarbrough Castle, to capture it. The governor gives him arms and twenty-five soldiers under the command of Captain Thomas Lassells, and he had besides twenty-five seamen.

" Wee sailed forth, and that evening met with the said ship of warr, who called to us and commanded us, saying ' Strike, yee dogs, for King Charles !' and so brought their vessel aboard on us; whereupon I gave the word to the seamen then in my vessel, who immediately entered the ship of war, and, after a very hot skirmish (myselfe and three seamen being sorely wounded), we stowed the men, twenty- nine in number who were alive, besides five more slaine and drowned, tooke the vessel, and brought her

FROM YORK CASTLE. 31

say that upon the 27th of March they came to sea from Dunkirke with 32 men or thereabouts, with commission from Charles, eldest sonne of the late Kinge of England, to apprehend and pocesse, and, in case of resistance, to sinke, fire, or otherwise destroy, all shipps and vessells, togeather with ther men, goods, ladings, and merchandize, belonginge to any places or person not in obedience to the said Charles whom they call King of England. Ariel that, upon Monday the 1st of Aprill, towardes the evening, they espyed a vessell coming towards them, which they presantly sailed to, and laid her aboard, thinkinge to have taken her, and fircinge upon the said vessell, but they, being too stronge, tooke them :m<l brought them into Scardbrough peare.

XXIV. JOHN PURVEYS. A DANGEROUS PERSON.

^ July 17,1 650. At Rotherham. Thomas Hartley* of Fishlake, saith that John Purveys, of Fishlake, was in actuall service against the Parliament, and doth continue in his malignance to this very day. That hee hath constantlie used to weare a pockitt dagger with two longe knives. That, on the 3rd of July, which was an exercise day at Fislake, he did carry privately in his pockitt the said dagger and knives to church, and said that hee did weare them for the honor of his King, and that he hoped to doe his King more service therwith then any Cropp did the Par- liament with his longe sword.

XXV. ANNE CROWTHER. FOR KILLING HER HUSBAND.

Aug. 19, 1650. Before Jo. Stanhope. Henry Walker, of Mirfeild, clothier,} say th that, upon Sunday morning last but one,

with one gun and other armes and provisions, and the men as prisoners, into Scar- borough peares."

This deposition is signed by the captain and twenty-eight of his crew. The names show that the greater part of the men were foreigners, apparently Dutchmen.

* A Royalist who was more bold than cautious. In addition to these misdemeanors he was also charged with robbery and assault.

f A story that can scarcely be credited. A widow, three weeks after her husband's death, feels the want of another spouse— to reap her corn ! An obliging friend finds one for her, and brings him on the same day, a Sunday. On the Tuesday they are married. On the Thursday she turns her husband out of bed and house. The poor wretch, who complained bitterly of the effects of a certain " clapt cake1' that his wife had given him on the Tuesday, was found shivering with cold, sitting on a clog near his own door, through which he did not dare to pass. On the Friday it was broken open and he was carried in in a chair, having almost died twice whilst they were carrying him. On the Saturday he did die — a nice termination to the week. The woman denied the marriage !

32 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

hee, goeing to the howse of Anne Crowthcr, of Mirfcild, she, haveing buryed her husband about three weekes before, made a great lamentacon to him for want of some helpe to gett her corne. Whereupon he told her that hee would helpe her to a man which would helpe to gett her harvest, and told her the sayd man was a widower and that, if they pleased, they might make a marriage together. Shee asked him of what age hee was, and was so importunate with him to have a sight of the man that she procured him the same day to goe for him to Hunslett, where he dwelt, and lent him her mare, and offered to pay him for his paynes. Whereupon this informant went to Hunslett, the said day, and procured John Walker to come along with him. And John Walker and Anne Crowther meeting together the sayd Sunday att night, after some conference betwixt them, the said Anne expressed herselfe willing to marry with him, if it was that night, and carrycd him along with her to her howse. And, on Munday after, they did agree to be marryed together on Tuesday, and were marryed by Mr. Kobert Allanson, vicar of Mirfeild. And upon Thursday she went to the said John's bedsyde and lifted up the cloathes and desyred him to gett up, which he did. And she desyred him to goe forth of doore, and did deny to Ictt him come into her howse.

XXVI. THOMAS BRADLEY. FOR MANSLAUGHTER.

Oct. 18, 1650. Before Henry Tempest, Esq. Ellen, wife of James Rodes, of West Ardesley,* saith thatt, about Midsomer last was fower yeares, Eobert Allerton, her late husband, and Thomas Bradley sitt in a seate together in the church att Woodchurche. And the saide Robert, setting up his knee to write the sermon, the saide Thomas struck him with his hand severall tymes upon his right legg, which had an issue or a pipe in itt, and paused him soe vehemently that the saide Robert cryd " awe." And, by reason of the saide pawseing, the issue was stopt. And Robert said to Bradley, " thou hast given me my death."

XXVII. PETER DE BEAVOIR. A DANGEROUS PERSON.

Dec. 14, 1650. The true state or accontt of Mr. Peter dc Beauvoir,f nat . . . the islande of Garnezey.

* A man accidentally killed by a slight blow that he received in church, whilst he was taking notes of the sermon. Bradley says that he merely pushed the leg off the other, and that no charge was made against him till he demanded 20s. of the woman for keeping an unlicensed alehouse.

•f Peter de Beauvoir, a native of Jersey and a captain in the service of the Parlia-

FROM YORK CASTLE. 33

That, the 14th day of December, 1650, as I was travellinge from the towne of Doncaster, on my march to Scottland, to repaire to Collonell Whaley's owne troope (whom by God's bles- singe I did hope to have gone in), I was seiszed upon in my mne as if^I had beene somme malefactor or dangerous person against this state or common whealth. That I have served this nine yeares in severall qualifications: first, at the very first beginning of these wars I have ingaged for the Parlement case with my owne horses and armes from time to time, as my little abylity did innable mee to doe ; first, as a horseman-reformadoe under Collonell John Fiennes, and after wardes was preferde to bee c* of foote to Captn Douty, ant ce of horse twisce under the saide Collonell Fiennes, to Captain John Hunt and Barnarde at Nazeby fight, untill wee were disbanded by order, havinge been taken before by the enemy Prince Roberta att Bristoll, and was prefferd to bee cornet to Collonell Mazzeres, under the Earle of Manchester, where at our disbandinge I rid reformadoe under Captain Fulke Grevill's troope with my man and my tow horses in Sir William Waller's army untill the said John Fiennes pre- ferd me to be I1 of horse as abovesaide ; and aftenvardcs have beene of my Lord Fairfax his liffe guarde, untill the disbanding thereof at London. Where, by a speciall order from General! Fairfax, given to Doctor Stanes for my entertainemen in Collo- nell Whaeley's owne troope, for the space of tow years an a halfe, with my servant and tow horses and armes at my owne cost and charges, where the said Collonell did chuze mee to bee a con- ductor for Irelande, where I shipt neer or above heightscore souldiers as recreutes a twelve months agon at King's Roads at Bristoll. And sinsce I have ride in Captn Jinkin's troope untill I was put out of the muster rolle, in regarde I was to goe for Scottlande in the above saide Collonell Whaley's owne troope. I come from Wells to London about a moneth agone, where I come to London at the signe of the White Swan neere Holborne, where Captn Freeman did laye then, serjourninge only 8 or 9 dayes there. From whence I come with a full resoluttion to serve in Scottlande as reformadoe under my Colonel Wlialey owne troope. I did mett Captn John Cresset foote company

ment is arrested at Doncaster for suspicious and extraordinary conduct, as will be seen in the charges brought against him. He seems to have been playing the part of a swaggering bully. The account that he gives of his adventurous life is interesting and was written by himself. I have seen a short petitionary letter which he addressed to the judge at York begging for a little consideration on account of his being a foreigner, and expressing his regret at what had occurred. He was indicted at the York assizes, but was discharged on finding sureties for his good behaviour. The case is a remarkable one, and the papers will be read with much interest.

D

34 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

belonging to Boaston garrison in the regiment of Colonell Liliarde upon their march from London towards Boaston, quart- teringe with them all alonge our march as farre as it lie in my way towards Scottland, officiating^ for that present time as quart- termaester in the townc of Upton, foure milles of Stillton in Hunttingtonshire. Where I tooke my leave of him, hee being goeinge to quartter to Peterborough that night, where I did lie in the inne or alehouse in Crocksom in my roade northwardes, when I mett with Judge Tharpe's company heither to this towne of Duncaster, and did hope to have gone to Yorke still allong with him and the rest of his followers, both for my owne secu- rity and speede in my journey, having beene like to have ben set upon towards the eveninge by foure highwaymen that did endeavor to take me at advantage untill I was secured in my saide inne of Crockesam. The which things made mee be the . . . linge to goe sauve from robbery, as abovesaide, to prevent further dooings. I had forgoat to tell you that whithin fbwre milles of Roiston wee did stopt and seisze 4 men, whereof 3 of them hade beene formerly cavaleers, and the other was as a servant. Wee did apprehende them, and committed 3 of them under custody in the saide towne of Roiston ; and the chief of them wee sent up disarmed with Enseigne Cresset to the concell of wane at White Hall to bee adjuged as lafull prisze, and besides to know whether or no they where not in North folke muttiny, as I did partly discover them to be malignants newly arrived from Holland to plott mis- chieff, as I wrotte by Captn Cresset's ensigne to my lorde presi- dent of the concell of state from Royston; the which things I doe certific to be the plaine truth att my perill. Peter de Beau- voir, Captn."

Articles of misdemeanors against Peter de B . . ., a Garnsey mann, whereupon, as maybe concluded, he is a daingerous person and fitt to be secured.

That he tooke a jorney from London, aboute three weekes before Christide last, pretending to goe into Yorkeshire, and in his jorney his doeinges and speaches hereafter specified weere observed.

1. That he ridd armd in extraordinary manner (viz1.) with fower pistolls, a carbine, a raper and pockett dagger, and in a bottle coate. 2. That, upon discourse with Robert Sparke, he said " I tendred my service to a Parliament collonell, but he refused me because I was a Frenchman, and he is now one of the councell of state, a stately knave as all of them are." And, there- with, drawing his dagger, said these words in great passion, " I Would this dagger weere in their bellies, and ere long it shalbe

FROM YORK CAtsTLK. M5

iii some of their bellies." 3. That upon discourse with John Rockley he said, " I have beene a sol . . . for the Parliament, but " therewith swearing a great oath " I will never serve them more." 4. That, upon discourse with Robert Sparke, he said " If I should meet with 20 or 30 men I would fire upon them all, and I care noe more for killing a man than for killing a woodcocke." 5. That he being advised by some persons of his ac- quaintance at Doncaster to retornebacke to London said, " I will not goe to London, for then I may venter to be hanged." 6. That he was very inquisitive in his jorney whether Judge Thorpe,* who was then upon the roade, was past by or not; and after he had overtaken the Judge's company, he was very inquisitive to know his jorneys and stages; and how many of the company belongd to him, and when he and the rest weere to part, and what the Judge carried in his sumpter, and whether it weere not mony. As, also, how his company was armd, and whether they would fight in case they should rneete with highway robbers and cutters ; and he seemed very fearefull to meete with such highway robbers and cutters, as he cald them. And, further, he said he wondred the Judge was nott sett upon by cutters, considering he had hanged so many men. 7. That he ridd thorough Brigg, Caster- ton, northward, about fower. clocke towardes night, and came backe into the towne about eight clocke at night all in a great fright, and with his carbine and his pistolls cockt and ready to give fier, and affrighted all the people in the inne to which he came, and while he was at supper he laid his pistolls ready cockt beside his trencher; and did also their present his pistoll cockt in one hand and a naked dagger in th'other to a countryman's breast, and furiously asked him what he was, and what armes he had. 8. That upon the day when Barron Thorpe came to Doncaster, which was aboute fower clocke, the said De Bevoyr tooke occacoii to stay behinde the company, and then came into the towne after them about eight clocke at night, and brought with him three or fower more persons all armd with swords and pistolls like soldiers, and wente to another inne where that company with him staid, but himselfe came to the inne where Barron Thorpe lay, pretend- ing to belong to his company, and soe lodged their. 9. That the next morneing, being Saterday, when Barron Thorpe and his

* Did Beauvoir actually think of falling upon the Judge and his suite? Francis Thorpe, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, was frequently on duty at York.

A charge which he delivered to the grand jury at York, on March 20, 1648, was printed, in folio, by Thomas Broad, of York, in 1649.

He died and was buried at Bardsey in the West Biding, leaving behind him an unfavourable reputation.

D 2

36 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

company weere to part, and all of them to goe to their owne homes, though the day before he had charged his carbine with haileshott and killd pigeons as he roade upon the way, yett then he had charged his carbine and pistolls, some with two bulletts, some with three bulletts a peece. 10. That he said, " If I gett into Yorkeshire I will have mony enough." 11. That though he be not a soldier, but putt out of the rolle, for some misdemeanor, as may be conceived, yett he tooke upon him in his said jorny to be a quartermaster, and tooke free quarter in divers places by the way as he roade. 12. That since the said De Bevoir's comitment he hath several! tymes reviled Barren Thorpe and the maior of Doncaster, and said they weere both rogues, and if ever he gott out he would marke them for rogues, and said " I will write to Bradshawe to be freed."

XXVIII. ROBERT ASHTON. A DANGEROUS PERSON.

Dec. 25, 1650. Before Thos. Dickinson and Kalph Rymere. John Peirse, of Bedall^ Esq. maketh oath that Robert Ashton, late of Askew, gen., comonlie called Doctor Ashton,* having a woman who charged him with bastardy, this deponent, having receaved from London an ordinance of Parliament in print against adultery, wished the said Mr. Ashton to read the same, which he did accordinglie, and withall wished him to put away the woman, in respect that he had credablie heard that he had a wife and children at Wappen neer London. The said Mr. Ashton's answer was that, before 25 June, as neer as it was, he hoped to see all the rebells that made that ordinance and act to be hanged ; saying that there would be an alteracion of State, and his Majes- ties sonne, whose picture he kept and loved, would have his owne in despight of all rogues and rebells, and he, this deponent, would be put to his last game.

July 26, 1650. Informations against Docter Robert Ashton of Aiskew, taken before Mathew Beckwith, Esq.f That the

* A very singular story. Of course the articles against Dr. Ashton must be received •with some caution; but how strange they are, if true ! "What a union of opposites in his character ! One would like to know what became of him. Mr. Ashton was tried at the York assizes, and it was ordered that he should be kept in gaol at the pleasure of Sir Robert Barwick and Mr. Thomas Dickinson.

Mr. Peirse, a member of a family that is still resident in Bedale, was a Parliament man. I find a person called Ralph Douthwaite, of Thirsk, indicted at York for having said at Bedale on 14th June, 1652, " Mr. Pearse, the Parliament are all turned levellers, and will levell every man, that the poorest soldier will bee as good as the best freeholder."

t Of Tanfield, Esq. a strong Parliamentarian and one of Oliver's captains. After

FKOM YORK CASTLE. 37

said Dr. Ashton used to reade Common Prayer, and, to the end that he might have hearears, he put upp a bell in his house, which was rung at set houres to draw his congregation togeather, which were most of them lewd people. That he pretended to have a revelacon since the late Kind's decease, to heale the evill ; and soe hee solemnized the same day of the King's departure^ every moneth, in a long white garment, with other ceremonies, and laid his hands upon some to heale them, saying some forme of prayers like a charme, to the delusion of the people. That hee preached divers times at the chappell of Leeming, teaching the doctrine of workes, which is meere Poperye. And there he read the Common Prayer, and since hath hired a man to rcade it morneing and evening in contempt of authority. That the said Dr. Eobert Ashton hath beene banished forth of Byshopbridge by Sir Arthur Hazlerigg * for theese and other disorders That he hath noe licence for practizeing of physicke, nor other degrees in the university that is knowne, and many have died very sud- dainly under his cure. That he is almost every day distempered with drincke, and soe very unfitt to cure the distempers of others. That he hath exprest divers base words against the present government, and those that adheares unto it, and hath scandal- ized many in authority most unworthily. That he doth brew and sell aile in his house without a licence, keeping a bowleing ally and butts to draw people to his house to spend their money; and besides he keepes lewd weomen in his house, and has one as his concubine; and, before his childe was borne, he said hee would give 40/. if Peggie would prove with childe, and what he would give att the baptiseing of it ; which hee did, and played

the restoration he was steward to the Earl of Elgin. He built the east end of the Marmion Chantry at Tanfield, in which he lived, and put over his door in Latin If religion flourishes I live.

M. B. 1668.

Whereupon Mr. Littleton, then rector of Tanfield, and living opposite to Mr. Beck- with, put over his door

I do not heed the man the more, That hangs religion at his door.

* A zealous Parliamentarian, who turned the diocese of Durham upside down. I have the original manuscript of the arrangements that he made for preachers, £c. in that county. It contains much new and curious information. Sir Arthur died in the Tower before any measures had been taken against the leaders of the Cromwellian party, otherwise he would in all probability have been executed. One of the old ballads of the time thus speaks of him

What is the cause, Sir Arthur, Your pulses go so quick ? Tis Bishops' lands That's in your hands Which makes them beat so thick.

38 "DEPOSITIONS, ETC,

both midwife and minister, and caused the bells to be rung for joy.

Mr. Win. Johnson, of Leeminy, says that Ashton pays him 2s. a-week for the last year to say morning and evening prayers in the chappell.

XXIX. MARGARET MORTON. FOR WITCHCRAFT.

10 Jan. 1650-1. Wakefield. Before Sir John Savile, Kt. Alex. Johnson, Henry Tempest, John Stanhope, and John Hewley, Esqrs. Joane wife of Wm. Booth, of Warmfeild, saith that Mar- garet Morton,* of Kirkethorpe, came to her house, and gave her sonn (about fower yeares old) and then in good health and likeing, a peece of bread ; after which time her said childe begann to bee sicke, and his body swelled very much, and his flesh did daly after much waste, till he could neither goe nor stand. This informant, mistrusting that the said Margaret Morton had bewitch her child, did send for her, who asked the child forgivenesse three times, and then this informant drew bloud of her with a pin, and iine- diately after the child amended. And at divers times this in- formant could not get butter when she chimed nor cheese when she earned.

Frances, wife of John Ward, ttielder, of Kirketliorpp, saith that she was one of the fower that searched Margaret Morton, and found upon her two black spotts between her thigh and her body ; they were like a wart, but it was none. And the other was black on both sides, an inch bread, and blew in the middest. And this Margaret had beene a long time suspected for a witch, and that her mother and sister, who are now both dead, were sus- pected to bee the like. And this ex* had two children that dyed about two yeares agoe who were grievously perplexed with sickcnes before they died; and the one of them said before it dyed, " Good mother, put out Morton," who was then in the j'oome,

* A vague and unsatisfactory case. The poor woman was tried at the assizes and was very properly acquitted. In September, 1650, a woman called Ann Hudson, of Skipsey in Holderness, was charged with witchcraft. The sick person had recovered after lie had scratched her and drawn blood.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 39

XXX. WILLIAM LAZENBY, GENT. FOR FALSE NEWS AND SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Jan. 22, 1650-1. Before Richard Robinson, Esq. Wood, of Yorke, parchmente-maker, sayth, that after the Lord Generall Cromwell's going into Scottland, he was at Towthrop with one William Lazenby, gent., of Haxby,* who did say, that Generall Cromwell had lost his army, and that he was taken into a castell or hold, or unto the seas. And that he hoped within a twelvemonth to see Generall Cromwell's head off, and all the heads of all the Parliament men in England that now is. And Edward Gower, George Crathorn, and Katherine his wife, and Mr. Barber, the minister, all of Towthrop, heard these words.

XXXI. GEORGE HOLROYD, CLERK. FOR A SEDITIOUS SERMON.

Feb. 21, 1650-1. Before D. Hotham, Jo. Peirson, and Tho. Styringe, Esqrs. John Cutlibarte, parrishe-clarke of Foston, sayth, that upon Thursday, being the xxxtn day of Januarie, which was appoynted by an authority of Parliament as a day of thanksgiving for the good successe of our armcs by sea and land, George Holroyd, minister of (Foston) did preach ;f and the part of Scripture which he nominated for his text was the 14 verse of the 6 chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, vizt., " God forbid that I should glory but in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c. After the reading of which words the said George Holeroyd fell into a large discourse of the . . . ceding verses, expressing the joyes and rejoycing of the . . . ked; and, withall, saying that he could not very well tell whether there were more cause of humi- liation then of exaltation, for that there was no we soe much bloudshedding and cutting of the throats of our Christian brethren; which things were more cause of mourning then rejoycing. And to that purpose he did alleadge the example of David mourning

* A charge of using seditious language and spreading false news. The wish, in this case, was father to the thought.

At the delivery of the gaol for the city of York in March 1657-8, William Mar- rison was fined 100£. for spreading false news.

On Feb. 14, 1650-1, George Thorne said, at York Castle, " You see what you gett for servinge the States : as they have murdred the Kinge, soe they will likewise hang those that have done them service."

f The pulpit was at this time very much used for political purposes, but as Mr. Holroyd reflected somewhat upon the ruling powers he was called to account.

In July 1658, John Hitchmough, clerk, of Egton, in Cleveland, was charged at the York assize with uttering seditious words, but the bill was ignored.

40 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

for the death of Saule, a wicked king; and also for the death of Jonathan, Saule's sonn, for the death of Abner, who was treacher- ously slayne, and diverse other examples to that purpose. And, proceeding further, he sayd, that if wee looked into the miseries of these present tymes, wee should see nothing but oppression, tyranny, and butchering, and the cutting of the throats of our brethren. Yet the said George Holeroyd prayed for the good and prosperous estate of the governours, and for a peaceable con- clusion betwixt the two kingdoms.

XXXII. RICHARD MONTAIGNE, GEN. AND OTHERS. FOR HIGH

TREASON.

March 3, 1650-1. At New Malton, before Arthur Noel and John Worsley, Esqrs. Clir. Holliday, of New Malton, grocer, saith, that, about May was a twelvemonth, some foure men came about twilight, at the time of shutting up of shops, and betooke themselfes to the Cross in New Malton and had with them a wanded bottle, wherein was wyne or ther drinke, and drunk a health amongst themselfes to Charles the Second.* And, when they had done that health, one of the foure persons abovesaid, with a loud voice, proclaimed Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. Amongst which foure persons were at that time some sword or swords drawne, and when the said procla- macion was by one of them ended, all the said foure persons came from the old cross singing, and soc went together to the taverne, where one John Williamson now dwelleth. It was said that the names of theis four men were Christopher Nendike, Capt. Denton, and Mr. Mountaine, of Westowe neere Malton. The fourth this exc never heard nor can learne what his name was, it being sup- posed hee was a stranger. It was said, allso, that some of their horses then stood at one Eobert Tyson's, and it was thought that Capt. Denton had beene in towne two or three dayes. He hath credibly heard that Capt. Denton was a pyrate at sea, and did there much hurt to the Parlaiment's freinds.

* The record of a somewhat daring adventure at Malton. A few bold Cavaliers proclaim Prince Charles King of England at the Cross. About Captain Denton more information will soon be given. He was recognised by a person who said that he had " formerly beene billited at their house, and was under Capt. Bushell in Sir Hugh Cholmley's command, when they were in the Parlaiment's service.''

The person who made the proclamation was Mr. Richard Montaigne of Westow, a nephew of George Montaigne, sometime Archbishop of York. Soon after this, some persons attempted to arrest him at Kirkham, when he was in the company of Mr. Thomas Vaughan of Whitwell and others, but he made his escape. I know not what became of him. His father and his elder brother George paid 155^. Us. as a composition for their estate, to say nothing of an annual charge upon it of 50£.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 41

XXXIII. CAPTAIN DENTON. FOR PIRACY.

March 12, 1650-1. Before John Harrison and John Burton, bayliffes of Scarbrough. Wm. Batty of Scarbrough, marriner, sayth that betwixt Michaelmesse and Martinmesse in 1649, one John Denton,* captaine of a ketch, with one peece of ordinance, and about 30 men, did take the good ship called the Amity of Scarbrough, whereof one Robert Rogers was master, from the said Robert Rogers, betwixt Scarbrough Roade and Fyley Bay. And, after the said Denton had boarded, entered his men and taken the said ship, he did putt aboard about 7 or 8 of his men to carry the ship away, who carryed it as farre as neere to Flam- brough Head, and kept the said Rogers, this inform1 and some other marriners, prisoners aboard the said ketch, until the said Rogers (being unwilling to lose his ship, being at that tyme but 2 yeare old,) did agree with Denton to pay him a certaine sum of money for to have his ship againe, which was done, and all the prisoners were sett at liberty.

Leonard Greene, of Whitby, saith, that in the yeare 1649, about Christmass, or three weeks before, being a servant in a shipp being in Tees water, and loaden with allome and butter, one Capt. John Denton, with his men, came into the said shipp, when she was on dry ground, and broke open a chest and tooke out a bagg of money, and severall suites of apparel, and tooke neare two hundred firkins of butter. Being this day with Capt. Denton in York Castle, and haveing some speach about the sur- prizeing of the shipp that belonged to Mr. Wiggoner and his

* One of the many cases of piracy that occurred about this time off Scarbrough and Whitby. The leading offender, Captain Denton, seems to have been another Paul Jones in these waters. With the story of his capture we are unacquainted, but it ap- pears that he was taken whilst attacking a ship belonging to Mr. Wiggoner of Whitby. That this was not the only charge against him may be seen from these informations. He was evidently regarded as a prisoner of great importance. On Feb. 20, 1650-1, Bradshaw, as President of the Council of State, issued his warrant authorising Den- ton's detention in York castle on a charge of piracy and bearing arms against the Parliament. He was indicted at the assizes in March, and orders were given that he should be kept in prison without bail. In June he made his escape. The gaolers, Richard Lealand and Thomas Reed, had allowed him to go into the city, in the charge of a keeper, to dine with Captain William Thornton. Horses were waiting for Denton at Walmgate Bar, and he got clear away. A strict inquiry was made into the matter, and Mr. Francis Hesketh, of Heslington, was charged with assisting Denton, but he exculpated himself.

I find that on the 9th of March, 1650-1, a ship, belonging to Whitby, called the Ellis, was taken by pirates near Bridlington. Seven men were put on board, but the vessel leaking, they were obliged to put into shore and were captured. Diego Laughe was the captain of the pirate.

42 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

partners, but was hindered of his purpose by some cobble men be- longing to Burlington. In revenge whearof the said Capt. Denton sayd, that if it had nott been for the company that was with him, hee would have landed his men and fired Burlington Key.

XXXIV. JOHN TAYLOK. FOR BEING A SUSPICIOUS PERSON.

March 26, 1651. Before Francis Carleill, Esq. John Tayler* sayth, that, aboute four yeares and a halfe last past, he went to be servant to one Mr. Robert Benskyn, who, before this ex- aminate went to serve him, had beene a Major for the late King at Basing-house. After this examinate went to serve him, the said Mr. Benskyn went to London, and this ex* went with him. And when they came to London the said Mr. Benskyn, this ex*, and other gentlemen gott a frigott at London, called the Wicked, carrying aboute 6 litle peice of ordinance ; and from thence they, and the other gentlemen, one named Mr. Elvage, and divers others to the number of 24 persons, went to sea to Prince Rupert neare Portingall, and so were of his fleete, being in all at that tyme aboute the number of 22 ships ; and also continued with the said Prince Rupert at sea, and was with him when the Malligo fleete, being in number 12 English ships, were taken by the said Prince at sea. And after that, the said Prince Rupert's fleete of shipps being scattered at sea by Generall Blague, being a com- mander for the Parliament of England, the ship wherein this ex1 was, and his master and divers other persons, one Capt. Bartley being then Captaine for the late King, and, since his death, for his eldest sonn, was taken before Christinas last at sea by Generall Blague's ships, and the ship wherein this ex* went was allotted as prize to one Capt. Bradshaw, belonging to the said Generall Blague's fleete; and, after there takeing, the said Capt. Bradshaw sett this ex1 and the other persons that were in the said ship called the Wicked, upon shore at Chepstow, where they were all imprisoned untill such tyme as they were exchanged by the French who lately had fought at sea with some English ships, and tooke them and the persons in the same ships. And,

* At this unsettled time no one was allowed to travel without a pass, and all sus- picious persons were arrested and obliged to give an account of themselves. The number of disbanded soldiers and sailors that were wandering up and down the country made these precautions necessary. The sailor, in the present deposition, tells a long and an interesting story of his adventures, introducing to us Prince Rupert and Blake the great sea-captain, The prisoner was sent to York Castle.

FROM YORK CASTLK, 13

aboute 15 dayes last past, they were exchanged and sett at liberty for the English so taken. And after their release this ex1 went to Rotchdale, and so towards Newcastle-upon-Tyne,but came not to the towne, and so to Pickering and to Yeddingham, where he lay, and so to Foxholes, where he lay, and so to Agnes Burton, where he lay aboute two nights agoe att the constable's house ; and from thence to Brandsburton, the 25 of March, 1651, where he was apprehended, intending to have gone to Hull, with an intent to have gone to a towne called Ashwell, in Rutlandshyre, where he was borne.

XXXV. RICHARD POLLARD, GENT., AND ANOTHER. FOR A CONSPIRACY.

June 13, 1651. Articles exhibited against Richard Pollard, of Sepulchre's, near Hedon, and against Godfrey Sommerset, of Mil- ford. That, about the 14th or 15th of Feb., the said Richard Pollard * did repaire unto the house of Elizabeth Middleton, of Skidby, widow, late wife of Win. Middleton, gen., deceased, hee having a wife and many children, and did make suite unto her by way of marriage. And affirmed that his wife was dead, and that hee had only two sons. And further affirmed that hee had 500^. by the yeare at Woodhall, neare Pomfreit. And, to perswade her thereunto, being a stranger to his estate, it was agreed that Sommersett should procure a man to represent the person of Richard Etherington, Esq., one of the justices of the peace for the East Riding, a neare kinsman unto the said Pollard, to satisfy her concerning the reality of his estate, and that hee was a widower and had noc wife. The said Pollard hath gott divers summes of moneyes of the said Mrs. Middleton upon loane, shee belecving the premises to bee true. And, like- wise, hath counterfeited and forged a deed from the said Mrs. Middleton, to passe away and sell the estate of the said Mrs. Middleton, lying neare Rippon, and sold the same.

•"" A charge of conspiracy and forgery. All the persons concerned occupied some position in society, and it would be curious to know what was the result. The case will remind the reader of some of the old adventures in the Fleet. Mr. Pollard was so far unsuccessful in his suit that he lost the lady, as I find her spoken of as the wife of Mr. William Oglethorpe. I know not who this gentleman was, but if he was the same person who occurs in some of the more northern informations, ten or fifteen years after this, the lady had fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire when she married him.

44 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

XXXVI. JOHN ROBINSON AND ANOTHER. FOR BEING SEMINARY

PRIESTS.

June 6, 1651. Luke Robinson, Esq., certifies that the evening of the above mentd day he aprehended two persons tra veiling on the backe side of Malton, who would say nothing of themselves.* One calls himselfe John Robinson, and did produce a printed cer- tificate signifying he had taken the engagement ; the certificate was from the Comrs in the plurall number, but onely signed by Sir Robert Barwicke. Hee did then owne the name mentioned in that certificate, which was Thomas Towler. The persons did acknowledge they were Roman Catholiques. The other person who calls himself John Mannering, otherwise Gravenor, did say hee was a scoole-master and did teach Mrs. Mennill's children of Kilvington. The said John Robinson saith hee was borne att Upsall.

Thomas Towler examined, 9th June, calleth himselfe now John Robinson, and saith the name hee did use yesterday was to gett the advantage of a pass. Denies to say where he was borne.f

* Two suspected seminary priests are arrested at Malton. There was at this time a great crusade against them and they were treated with much unmerited severity. The English mission was the destination of many of the young men in the college at Douay, and many sought their mother country merely to lay their bones in its earth. They were chased about and pounced upon by the executive as enemies to the State. It is melancholy to read the story of these bold and zealous men, availing themselves of every device to escape detection, disguising themselves, forging passes, travelling under assumed names, and undergoing every hardship for the sake of their religion. Almost every residence of an old Roman Catholic family had some hiding place for a priest, to which he could escape when the searchers were abroad. I shall revert to this subject in another place.

At the Yorkshire Assizes in March, 1651-2, Robinson was convicted of being a seminary priest, but was reprieved before judgment. I find that he was still in prison in 1660. It is probable that no proceedings were taken against his colleague.

In March 1657-8 I find that there were two other suspected seminary priests in York Castle, John Fairfax and George Anne. In April, 1660, they were still in prison, refusing to answer. Fairfax was freed by proclamation in September, 1660. His fellow-sufferer had probably died in prison.

I possess a small portrait on panel of a Yorkshire gentleman who was a missionary priest and died for his religion upon the scaffold, — Thomas Tunstall, of Scargill. It represents him with a broken rope about his neck and a knife in his bosom, an allusion to his death as a traitor. Around the picture is the following inscription, Thomas Tunstall, pi: and sujf. Mar. 1616. Funes ceciderunt mihi in prceclaris. Spectaculum facti SUDWIS, &c. — 1 Cor. iv. 9. At the back is a little sliding panel on which is pasted an account, written in a very neat hand, of Mr. Tunstall's life and sufferings. It is taken from Mr. Knaresbrough's MSS. and is accessible elsewhere. The portrait was purchased at the dispersion of the family treasures of the Tunstalls at Wycliffe in 1812.

•f- It will be seen how cautiously the accused person fences with the questions that are put to him. He will bring no one into trouble. Mr. Robinson, it will be seen, shows his zeal for the Parliament in trying to connect the priest with the royal party.

FROM YOKK CASTLE. 45

Cannot answere whither hee have taken any orders from the Church of Rome. Hee mett with Mannering on Saturday last att Mr Thompson, the inkeeper, in Wetherby. Will not answere whither hee ever see him before. Acknowledged himselfe an Englishman and hath beene beyond the seas. The coats upon his ^backe came with him from beyond the seas. Hee was att Paris three yeares, and hath beene in England come Michaelmas about three yeares. Hee hath beene att Rome. Was of noe University in England. Doth not deny hee were of any Univer- sity in forrayne countrys. Will not deny to have received orders from the Church of Rome. Hee saith often hee is unwilling to bring others into the bryars. Hee will not say what acquaintance hee hath in Yorkeshire. Hee did intend to goe to Pocklington last night, haveing some businesse there, but will not name with whome, because hee will wrong none. Hee landed att Dover when hee came into England. Was never in Scotland. His father's name was John Robinson, but doeth not know where he did live. Hee did see Mr Mole* in prison in Rome when he was a youth.

June 9. Re-examined. Asked whither he were in Yorkeshirc when the Earle of Newcastle had command there, saith hee doth not know. Hee hath beene in Flanders, but not in Holland nor Spaine. Being askt whither he hath beene with him that is now called King of Scotts, saith hee was with him att Paris. Hee did not know one Coxe in Ireland, but did receive a messadge from a frend who complained that Coxe had wronged him.

John Mannering, saith that hee is some tyme called by the name of John Grosvenor, his mother being of that name. Was borne neere Stafford towne att a place called Hamton. Was bred a Roman Catholique. Served one Mr. Fowler in that county of the same profession, and since hath lived with Mrs. Mennill of Kilvington and did teach her childeren. Hee mett with John Robinson att Wetherby, and stayed with him untill hee did eate meatt, and did not know of his comeing. They mett on this day sennight, and did part with him att Rippon, and mett againe upon Munday att Osmotherley. Hee doth now belong to Mr. Thomas Watterton of Walton, and doeth teach his childerne. Hee was araigned for the death of Robert Cooper the last Lammas assizes and was acquitt. Denyeth that he was in armes against the Parlament. Hee was goeing yesterday, when hee was taken att Malton, to Farburne hard by Brotherton, and saith that John

* The \vcll-known Protestant martyr.

46 DEl'O.SIliOJN*. ETC.

Robinson was goeiiig to Beverly, as hee told this ex1, and the said Robinson did undertake to know the way.

XXXVII. THOMAS WOODROFFE. FOR SELLING UNLAWFUL BOOKS.

Aug. 13, 1651. Recognizances for the appearance at the next assizes of Thomas Woodroife, of Leeds, bookseller, for selling of a scandalous painphlett called Linguae Testium* which (upon his cxaminacion beefore the Honble Baron Thorpe) hee confesseth hee received from one Mathew Keynton, a stacyoner, liveing about Paull's churchyard in London.

XXXVIII. CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Aug. 28, 1651. Before Luke Robinson, Esq. Wm. Blanshard, of Pickering, gentleman, saith, that he being att Thomas Norfolke's house att Whitby, one Christopher Wright came rushing in and sate downe att the table, and called for drinke ; and did declare that hee was a cavaleirc, and that hee was for King Charles ; and that hee would fight hartily for him soe long as hee did live, though hee were hanged att the doore cheeke for itt.f

XXXIX. EDWARD CLEGG. FOR A MISDEMEANOR.

Aug. 30, 1651. Recognizances for the appearance at the assizes of Edward Clegg, one of the common sergeants at mace of

* One of the numerous political pamphlets of the time which the ruling powers were so anxious to suppress. I have never seen it. Baron Thorpe has been already mentioned: he was one of the tools that did so much service to the Commonwealth.

f There was a good deal of discontent in Yorkshire in the spring and summer of this year, and several insignificant risings took place. In March I find that Sutton Oglethorpe, the younger, of Escrick (Eskirk), gentleman, was convicted before the commissioners of being engaged in the late plot, and was committed to Hull. In the same month the following persons were obliged to find securities for their good behaviour on the same account : John Sisson of Hopperton, Mr. Thomas Moore of Knaresborough, Robert Powter and Lancelot Lamb of Little Ouseburn, Richard Ellis, gen., late of Plumpton, and now of Durham, Thomas Hutton of Hopperton, Richard Browne and Richard Matterson of Marton, and Mr. Richard Sissons of Allertoii Mauleverer.

Thomas Mattericke, gen. was acquitted at the York assizes for saying at Connondell, on 1st June, 1651, to Francis Levy, " The King is cbmeing for England. I will give the a horse and armes, and prefer the to a cornet's place, for I hope to have a troope of mine owne."

FROM YORK CASTLE. 47

Beverley, for that, after a proclamacion published by him which came from Generall Cromwell, dated 19th August, 1651, he did say " God save the King and Parliament."

XL. JOHN THOMPSON. FOR BEING A SEMINARY PRIEST.

Aug. 31, 1651. Before Luke Robinson, Esq. John Smith, otherwise callinye himselfe John Thompson,* saith hee never went by other names than these two ; saith, that hee hath no certaine abode, but where his frends doe entertaine him for the time. Being askt, amongst which frends hee doeth most reside, doeth desire to be pardoned, because hee is not willing to wrong his frends* Hee saith that hee did come from Ruston in the night ; last night from Mrs. Saier's house, there haveing beene three dayes; and came from Mr. Trollop's house in the bishoprikc of Durham about a fortnight agoe, and came on foote. Being askt what places hee did lodge att by the way, hee is unwilling to wrong his frends, yett confesseth hee lay att Yarme att an alehouse, and att an house beyond Blacke Hambleton, an alehouse; and that hee lay att Stangrave att an ale house. Saith hee hath beene at the house beyond Hambleton before, butt not att the other houses. Hee is by profession a schoolemaster; hath lived

* Another seminary priest. Bishop Chaloner, in his Memoirs of the Missionary Priests, gives the following account of him : " He was one of the secular clergy. His name was Wilks, tho' he was commonly known by the name of Tomson. He was born at Knaresbrough in Yorkshire, was taken at Mai ton upon a market-day, and set in the stocks to be gazed at by the people almost the whole day, till a cutler of the town making oath that he knew him to be Lord Evers his priest, he was sent to York Castle, tried and convicted, but died before execution."

Christopher Cooper, of Old Malton, deposes that before day he met Smith and one William Thompson, " goeing on the backe-side of the toune on the foote way. He said they came from Rushton. Travailed early, for they had beasts goeing before, but the beasts were not his. He then got the constable to apprehend them, and Smith confessed that he came out of the North, and confessed that he was Roman Catholique and a schoolmaster."

William Skelton, constable of Malton, says that the nightwatch of Old Malton brought the two to him as suspicious persons. " He did find popish papers about Smith, and the watchmen did bring small peices of paper which they said they did see Smith scatter."

Luke Robinson, Esq., of Thornton Risebrough, near Pickering, was an active magis- trate and a very zealous Parliamentarian. He was bailiff and M. P. of Scarborough, and one of the Council of State. At the Restoration he was driven out of the House of Commons. He is thus alluded to in one of the old political ballads of that period.

" Luke Robinson that clownado, Though his heart be a granado, Yet a high-shoe with his hand in his poke Is his most perfect shadow."

48 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

in diverse places, butt will not name any; saith liee is a Roman Catholique, and became one in the family of the Lady Anne Ingleby, and did live some time with old Mr. Vavasor of Hesle- wood five yeares, and from thence went to teaching schollars, and did teach Sir Francis Ireland his children. Being askt whether hee did never teach in any other place, hee will not answere. Being askt whether hee bee in orders from the Church of Rome or noe, hee saith hee will not say hee is or hee is not, and will not answere positively to that question. He saith hee was not beyond seas. Being askt whither a man may bee qualified for an ecclesiasticall person of that Church of Rome without hee 'goe beyond seas, hee saith hee must either goe beyond the seas or bee quallified by some person who comes from thence. Saith hee was not in prison in his life but once, being carried before Sir Robert Barwicke about two yeares agoe, who, upon examination, sett him free. Hee saith hee was then aprehended in Hemsley att one Daniell Emerson's house, and was aprehended by Major Scarffe, and was then accused for being a preist, and hee did not then deny that hee was one. Hee hath beene much att the Lord Ewres his house in the old lord's time, but not since. Hee was borne in Nitherdaile in Yorkeshire, and his father's name was William Smith. Hee did take the name of Thompson, because the times were troublesome for him. Hee came to Mrs. Sayers only to see hir.

XLI. JAMES WILLIAMS. FOE SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Sept. 2, 1651. Before John Warde, Esq. Thomas Hanson, of Carelton, saith, that hee hard James Williams, of Carleton, say to a souldier in Colonell Hacker's regiment at the marching by off the army, under his excellencie the Lord Generall Crom- well, " Thou prittie face, hast thou noe better fortune then to fight against the King?" And further said, that one off these dayes they would all bee hanged, and called them trayterley rougues.

XLII. RICHARD CHAMLEY. FOR AN ASSAULT, ETC.

Sep. 23, 1651. Before Charles Fenwicke, Esq. at Hagthorpe. Peter Vavasor, of Spaldington, Esq. saieth, that on Tuesday the 22d of July last, about 3 or 4 of the clock in the afternoone, there came to his house a man (unknowne to this informant) yet

FROM YORK CASTLE. 49

in gentleman's habitt, naming himself Tempest, who pretended to come as messenger from Sir Walter Vavasor to buy a cast of hawkes,* and tooke occasion of much further impertinent dis- course, belching out sundry horrible oathes, and telling many great and notorious lyes, protracting tyme untill this informant was very weary both of his discourse and company; which the said Tempest (he thinketh) perceyving, and not invyted to stay, about 6 or 7 a clocke towardes night tooke horse, and, with another man who seemed to be his servant, rode away towardes Howden; and about 12 or one of the clock in that night thciv came to his house 7 men and horse who assaulted his house, attempting to break in by opening two slotts or boults, beating downe the window, which this informant hearing, hastily arose out of bed, not speaking to them one worde, but at an high win- dowe wynded an home, which the assay lantes hearing one of them said " Sirray " if he wynded agayne he would pistoll him. Neverthelesse this informant went into another roome, and there at a window winded agayne, which being heard by the assaylants they consulted together and went from the house ; but, after a little space of time, they all, together with the constable, came agayne to his house, charging the constable to comaund the dores to be opened, saying, " There is one Tempest, a rogue who hath a commission to raise forces for the King against the Parliament. Him we have sought an hundred myles, and this night he is lodged in this house; we will have him out." This informant then answered saying, " There is no such man here; " and fur- ther said, " The man naming himself Tempest went from hence about 6 or 7 a clock in the day tyme ; and (saieth this informant) one of yow may be hee, for one of your voyces is very like to

* What a graphic picture of a startling scene ! Mr. Vavasor tells his story with great simplicity, and still with considerable effect. The attack upon the house— the devices of the assailants — the winding of the horn at which no one dared to rise— are capitally described. The adventurers were more mischievous probably than malicious.

The chief culprit, Richard Chamley, alias Tempest, alias Chambers, confesses that he was at Mr. Vavasor's, and says that he met some men on the evening in question, who went to Howden. He and his servant, as he says, passed the night in a field, and crossed Booth Ferry early in the morning.

George Hagerstone, his servant, says that his master hired him at Marnck in Swale dale. He was arrested at Blyth, co. Notts., and was taken to Newark, but was releasec on promising to do nothing against the Commonwealth.

Elizabeth Bates, of Thome, says that seven men like gentlemen came to her house armed with swords and pistols. *One of them was Chambers, who then called himsel Justice Mountaine of Lincolnshire, and another was Mr. Cressey.

The constable, Richard Westobie, says that six armed horsemen called him from his bed, and forced him to follow them in great fear. Tempest gave out " speaches against Peter Vavasor, Esq. because that he sleighted and did not give him entertainement as he expected, pretending that he, the said Tempest, was a peece of a Vavasor.""

E

50 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

Tempest's." Whereat they were inraged, threatning to pistoll him at the windowe, and with greater violence still indeavoured to break in. Yet, after many attempts, and not prevayling, some of them said. " Come, let us take the gentleman's worde. Give us some beere, and we will be gone." Then this informant caused beere to be given them at a windowe, untill they all (or so many as would) had drunke. Then they desired otes for their horses, but aunswere was made that there was none otes in the house saving a small quantity for his rabbetts. So at last, desiring this informant to shake hands (who so doeing) they departed from the house, but threatned shortly to come with a stronger party, who, as he is informed, did about break of day, or before, goe over at Booth's ferry. And more also saith that the winde was that night so faire and sylent that his home might have bene heard a mile, neverthelesse not one man diirst make any helpe for want of urines to apprehend such like persons. Moreover this informant saith that, upon seryous examynacion of those passages, informacion is given by one William Smith of Burnby, sometymcs quartermaster to Sir Marmaduke Langdale, that the man which to this informant named himself Tempest, his name is not so, nor Farmer, but Chambers, now or late living at Wawton, a minister's sonne, and sometymes also quartermaster to a captayne of the adverse party.

XLIII. WILLIAM BEWICK. FOli SEDITIOUS WOKDS.

Oct. 2, 1651. Before Thomas Hudson, Mayor of Beverley. Bettrice Hughes saith, that upon the 24th of July shee heard William Bewick of Beverley, currier, say " I will drinck a health to Prince Charles, King of Scotts, and to his good successe into England, and to the confusion of all his enimies;" and thereupon drunck a silver beaker full of ale. After which the said Bewick wished Thomas Stockdale to pledge him the said health, but he refused ; whereupon the said Bewick puld of the said Stockdale's liatt from his head, saying it was a health that deserved to be uncovered.

XLIV. WILLIAM CARMICHAEL AND DAVID GKEY. WANDERING

SOLDIERS.

Dec. 8, 1651. Before George Eure, Esq., N.R.Y. William < 'at'ndchell and David Grey, Scotchmen,* say that they came into

* Two Scottish gentleman who had been in the Royal array and were making their way back to their own country. They were arrested as suspicious persons by the

FROM YOKK CASTLE. 51

England with the Scotish army, under the commaund of Charles Stuart, and that one of them, Sir William Carmighall, was ser- vant unto one Sir Daniell Carmikell, and other, Sir David Grey, was servant unto the Earle of Lauderdale. They confess that they weare in the towne of Worcester, when the English army came down against it, but denie that they were souldiers, only attended _ upon the aforesaid gentlemen. They say they weare taken ^prisoners by the cuntry people neer Bradford, and weare committed by the maior of the said towne; and that they hud Kbertie given them to departe from the towne by the maior of that place, about a moneth since.

XLV. HESTER FRANCE. FOR WITCHCRAFT.

Jan. 23, 1651-2. Before Henry Tempest, Esq. Hester Spicy, of Hotliersfeilde, widdoiv* saith, thatt upon Thursday last she went unto the milne, and, att her comeing home att night, Elizabeth Johnson, her servant, told her thatt Hester France had beene at her howse, and, she mending the fire with the firepoite, the sayde Hester sayde, itt was a good deede to scare her lipps with itt, if she thought anie thing by itt; and soe went out of the house, but came in againe and cursed the sayde Elizabeth, and prayed to God that she shold never bake againe. And the sayde Elizabeth told her thatt she thought the sayde Hester had bewitcht her ; and then this informant answered, she hoped she had a better faith then to feare either witch or devill. And, after they was gone to bedd, the sayde Hester made a greate noise in her sleepe, insomuch that she affrighted this informant ; and, in the morning, she bidd her goe to some neighbors to see if her eare rootes were not downe, but they were not downe. Thereupon the sayde Ellisabeth lay herself downe upon a bedd, and, this informant presently following her, she sawe that she cold not speake, and takeing her into her armes, she cold not stand, and soe she continewed speechles from six a clock untill betwixt eight or nine in the evening, saveing thatt she spoke once to her brother. Whereupon the sayde Hester France was sent for, and, she being come, the sayde Elizabeth spooke to her, and catched

country people near Bradford. They had escaped from the ''crowning" victory at Worcester. Florea t jiJe Us civitas !

* Another case of witchcraft out of the West Riding. The girl, no doubt, was seized with catalepsy. One witness declares that Hester France had been a reputed witch for above twenty years. Another says that when he went to take her to Elizabeth Johnson's house she was very unwilling to go.

E 2

52 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

att her, and sayde "Thou art the woman that hath deard me/5 and soe scratched her, since which the sayde Elizabeth is some- what better, but still continewes very ill.

John Johnson, of Hothersfeilde, the younger, saith that Robert Cliff is now very weake and sick, and hath beene sick this halfe yeare. And this morninge the sayde Robert sent unto the con- stable of Hothersfeilde, and desired him to send the sayde Hester France unto him; and she being come into the chamber he scratcht her very sore, and sayde, " I thinke thou art the woman that hath done me this wrong ;" and then she answred and sayde that she never did hurt in her life.

XL VI. JOSEPH BANNISTER AND ANOTHER. FOR HARBOURING A SOLDIER.*

Apr. 15, 1652. Before Henry Tempest, Esq. Thomas Ger- rard, of Hallifax, saith, that, about a moneth after the batle att Worcester, Joseph Bannister tolld this informant that he had taken one Collonell Carr, a Scotchman, prisoner, and that he was to have 501. to convey him into Northumberland to Mr. Haslerigg's at Fellton bridge, whoe maryed the sayde Collonell Carr's sister.

Elizabeth, wife of John Astin, of Hallifax, saith, thatt before, att and after the tyme that the batle was att Worcester, betweene the English and Scottish armies, she wayted upon Joseph Ban- nister's wife, being then in childbedd: and, upon the Friday night before the Scotts fledd by Hallifax, she went home to her owne house; and when she retourned to the said Bannis- ter's house, she founde there a man who confessed himself to be a Scotchman, and called himselfe Collonell Carre, and that he was kept there and at Edward Barrowes of Scircoate for the space of a moneth.

XLVII. WILLIAM ARCHER. FOR SEDITIOUS WORDS.

Apr. 29, 1652. At the generall sessions holden at Beverley hall garth, before Francis Thorpe, one of the Barrens of the

* Two Halifax men are charged with harbouring an officer of the Royal army. Colonel Carr was a Northumberland gentleman and was making his way into the North after the battle at Worcester. Bannister and Barrowes were prosecuted for en- tertaining him and not giving him up. Bannister has already appeared in this volume with a charge against a Mr. Clay for attempting to poison him.

FROM YORK CASTLE. 53

publique Exchequer, Sir Wm. Strickland, Kt. and Bt., John Anlaby, Durand Hotham, Chr. Ridley, Richard Pearson, Richard Robinson, Phillipp Saltmarsh, Hugh Bethell the yonger, Francis Carhell, Thomas Stireing, Edward Wingate, Charles Fenwicke, and John Pearson, Esquires, keepers of the peace, and also justices by the keepers of the libertie of England by authorise of Parliament.

William Archer, of Etton, yeoman, on Feb. 3, 1651-2, did speake these false and malicious and scandalous wordes, at Cherry- Burton, saying the Parliament were traitors and bloodsuckers, and that they had taken off the King's head and intended to take off his son's, but the Lord had blessed him out of their hande.*

XL VIII. WILLIAM ELRINGTON, GENT. FOR A LIBELLOUS LETTER.

July, 13, 1652. The Grand Jury presents William Ellington, late of Beverley, gent.,f for writing a challenge to Thomas Hudson, Maior of Beverley, in theis words following: " Sirrah! you have in your apprehension putt mee to disgrace ; it is not your sheepskinns will repairc you. I expect satisfaccion from you this night, otherwayes I will proclaime you a coward. I scorne your basenesse, therefore I rest, my owne, not yours, — William Eirington." [Indorsed thus:] " To Thomas Hudson theis." And alsoe the said William Eirington did speake to the said Thomas Hudson in theis words, " Come out, and give me satisfaccion, or I wilbe revenged on thee/'

* The country sessions, it will be seen, were, during the Commonwealth, of more consequence than they are now. The East Riding Sessions were presided over by a Baron of the Exchequer, who happened to be the Recorder of Beverley.

The offender was an unfortunate Royalist. He was not alone, however, in his wishes. In 1657, James Atkinson, of New Malton, innkeeper, was charged witli saying at Kirkby Moorside, on Dec. 20, " I will drincke a health to three of the best Englishmen which are out of the nation;" — meaning the princes of the blood royal.

In 1647, Henry Revell, of Rotheram, clerk; Wm. Crofts, of Doncaster, yeoman; and Robert Browne, of Roth erham, yeoman; were charged with publishing a blas- phemous and seditious libel called the Parliament's Ten Commandments. The libel consists of a most profane and wicked parody of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Revell was fined 50^., and the other two 100/. each.

f An amusing ebullition of revenge. A gentleman, who bears a Northumberland name, sends a challenge to the Mayor of Beverley, who had offended him. The result is not a combat, but a committal to the assizes. The mayor was, probably, a tanner.

54 DEPOSITIONS, ETC.

XLIX. MARY FISHER. FOR BRAWLLING IN CHURCH.

July 18, 1652. The Grand Jury presents Mary Fisher,* late of Selby, spinster, for that she on that day, being the Lord's day, did, openly in the parrish church, speake unto Richard Calvert, clerke, minister there, being in the pulpitt and preaching, these words " Come downe, come downe, thou painted beast, come downe. Thou art but an hireling, and deludest the people with thy lyes."

L. WILLIAM SYKES. FOR A MISDEMEANOR.

Whearas it is cleare by the law of God, and the law of reason, that a tenth of oure corne and hay, in kinde, ought not to bee paid to preist or impropriator ; and that hitherto wee have beene cheated by names and pretences of tithes law, and trible dammages without right or reason.f

First. Wee, whose names are hereunto subscrybed, doe, in the first place, protest against all pracktise in that kinde, past or to cume, as sinfull, ungodly, and distinctive.

Secondly. And, therefore, in the second place, wee doe resolve and promiss to each other to reap and receive into our owne hands all our cropps of corne and hay, as well the tenth stacke or cocke as the other nyne, which the blessinge of God upon our labors and cost hath sent us, for the mantenance of our famylyes, and doinge other duetyes to the Common-welth and neighbour- hoode that is to bee dune by us.

Thirdly. Wee will waite with patience till our representative inable us to recover reparations for those robberyes, which, under the notion of tythes, have beene drawne from us by them who are

* The culprit was probably a quaker, and at this time it seems to have been a part of the creed of this singular body to insult the ministers of the church in every possible way. She pleaded guilty at the assizes, and was fined the large sum of 200^.

At the York assizes, in August 1663, Henry Thornton, of Selby, was bound over to keep the peace for insulting Francis Sherwood, clerk, in the church, during the cele- bration of divine service.

f A singular case. The constable of Knottingley boldly takes upon himself to decry the payment of tithes. He writes a paper against them, putting his name to it by way of warranty. He then sent his servant with it to the common crier of the village, who proclaimed it, ore rotunda. The consequence was that much mischief was done. Many persons entered into an agreement to withhold their tithes from Mrs. Hamond, to whom they belonged, until she