Chapter V: Part 5

About the year 1747 a terrible distemper broke out amongst horned cattle, which all the vigilance of the authorities could not prevent from spreading. The Worcestershire Bench first ordered "that 4s. per week be allowed to the several turnpikes where it shall be thought necessary in order to have a man sitt up every night to watch the sayd turnpikes, that no horned cattle be permitted to goe through the sayd turnpikes without propper certificates be first showne, and surveyors of the severall turnpikes to appoint propper persons to watch at the said turnpikes, the expense to be paid by the county." Next year it was ordered "that Grey Devy, of Kingswinford, be appointed inspector for the hundred of Halfshire in relation to infected cattle, to take care that no infected cattle be brought into any parish of the said hundred, and persue the order of counsel made for preventing the spreading the infection amongst the horned cattle; and to be allowed 7s. a week till further order." In 1750 the distemper still raged, especially in the adjoining county of Salop, and the magistrates licensed "Edmund Lechmere, of Hanley Castle, Esq., to buy and sell cattle at any fair, market, or place, where the buying or selling of cattle is not prohibited, and to drive, sell, or dispose of them, at any other fair, market, or place, as aforesaid, tho' he shall not have obtained the certificate directed by the said court, the said Edmund Lechmere having entered into a recognizance with two suretys, according to the directions of the said act" (of the previous Session). Many other similar licenses were afterwards granted, and the constables were ordered to prevent all persons not having such licenses from driving cattle to fairs, nor was any person allowed to bring cattle into the county without a certificate of their freedom from disease. The Clerk of the Peace was also ordered to procure 600 copies of an abstract of a certain treatise on the distemper, with a prescribed method of cure, by an eminent physician in Worcester, and distribute them to the chief constables and inspectors in this and the adjoining counties of Salop and Warwick. The _cordon sanitaire_ was relaxed in 1751, but the following year the distemper broke out in this county with great severity, and vigilance was again renewed. A meeting having been advertised for buying and selling cattle at Beoley, the Sessions ordered that the meeting be prohibited, the distemper being at Kingsnorton, and that it be advertised in the Worcester and Birmingham journals, and notice given in Beoley church. It was not till July, 1756, that the distemper entirely abated, and all orders were rescinded.

The Church and the People.

"Three strangers blaze amidst the bonfire's revel:
The Pope, and the Pretender, and the Devil.
Three strangers hate our faith and faith's defender:
The Devil, and the Pope, and the Pretender.
The strangers will be strangers long, we hope:
The Devil, and the Pretender, and the Pope.
Thus in three rhymes three strangers dance the hay,
And he that chooses to dance after them may."

We now come to a class of items chiefly connected with ecclesiastical control over matters both secular and religious--instances of the exercise of power by the Church for the punishment of offenders against her discipline. Every reader of history is acquainted with the force and effect of excommunication in the middle ages. By a sentence of excommunication, both greater and less, the victims were excluded from the right of Christian burial, from bringing or maintaining actions, from becoming attorneys or jurymen, and were rendered incapable of becoming witnesses in any cause. Long before the Reformation the frequency and abuse of this ecclesiastical weapon proved both a scandal and a disadvantage to the Church, by bringing the practice in some degree into contempt; and in the thirteenth century many applications were made to the king complaining of the resistance of excommunicated offenders who defied the utmost that the Church could do to reduce them to submission. In 1289, John, vicar of Feckenham, was excommunicated by Godfrey, Bishop of Worcester, who appealed in the same manner for secular aid. When the nation reformed its religion, the power of excommunication was still retained by the Church, and is in force even to the present day, although modified by the 53rd of George III, chap. 127, which restricts the maximum term of imprisonment in all such cases to six months. (See more on this subject under the head of St. Nicholas' parish.) Obstinately refusing to attend divine service in the parish church, incontinency, contumacy in not appearing when cited in the Consistory Court, brawling, and scolding--these were the principal offences for the punishment of which the Church most frequently put forth her power, as also on Quakers and Popish recusants.

I am sorry to be compelled to state that the first example occurring in these rolls is that of a female scold. In 1614, Margaret, wife of John Bache, of Chaddesley, was presented to the Sessions as "a comon skould and a sower of strife and disorder amongste her neyghboures, and hath bynn presented for a skoulde at the leete houlden for the manour of Chadsley, and for misbehavyng her tonge towards her mother-in-law at a vysytacon (visitation) at Bromsgrove, April 29, 1603, and was excommunicated therefore." In 1617, one Elinor Nichols was presented "as a great scold and mischief maker, who is said to have been excommunicated and had never applied to make her peace with the Church." The usual mode of punishing this class of offenders was, however, by the cucking-stool. A valued correspondent, in commenting upon the details of the gum-stool, or cucking-stool, and other punishments mentioned at pages 110 and 111 of "Worcester in Olden Times" (in which an engraving is given of a curious instrument of torture still hanging on the wall of Worcester Guildhall), says--

"The gum-stool is evidently the cucking-stool, though it never
occurred to me that Cooking Street was really Cucking Street,
and had had its name spelt Cucken in old maps, as you state.
The term cuckold-stool is inaccurate, as this punishment is for
scolding to the common nuisance of the neighbourhood, and has
no reference to conjugal infidelity. The cucking-stool is the
legal punishment of the criminal offence of scolding; and if a
woman had been indicted and convicted of this offence at the
last Assizes, the learned judge must have sentenced her to the
cucking-stool. The common scold (_Communis Rixatrix_)--for the
law confines it to the feminine gender--is a public nuisance
to her neighbourhood, and may be indicted for the offence, and
upon conviction punished by being placed on a certain engine
of correction called the trebucket, or cucking-stool; and she
may be convicted without setting forth the particulars in the
indictment, though the offence must be set forth in technical
words and with convenient certainty; and the indictment must
conclude not only against the peace but to the common nuisance
of her majesty's liege subjects. It is not necessary to give
in evidence the particular expressions used: it is sufficient
to prove generally that the defendant is always scolding. The
skimmington is a mock procession got up in derision of a woman
who has beaten her husband. You will find it in Hudibras. When
a boy, I saw a skimmington, and in it a man dressed in woman's
clothes, who rode on horseback behind a stuffed figure of a
man, carrying a ladle, with which the supposed woman kept
beating the stuffed figure about the head. This, too, has no
reference to conjugal infidelity. But in Wilts and Berks there
is a mock procession that does relate to conjugal infidelity;
but this is called a 'Woosset,' which is pronounced 'Oosset'.
It is a rough band followed by a person bearing a long pole,
with a cross-bar across it, on which is placed a shirt, and
at the top of the pole is a horse's skull with a pair of
bull's horns attached to it. This I have also seen. I have
omitted to mention that cucking-stools were of two kinds--the
one fixed, the other moveable. That mentioned in 'Worcester
in the Olden Times' (p. 110), must have been of the latter
kind. A lithograph of each is in No. 1 of the Magazine of
the Wilts Archæological Society. The bridle for scolds still
exists in several places; there is one in the Ashmoloean
Museum at Oxford; another was in the magistrates' room at
Shrewsbury, but has been stolen within the last few years;
one is figured in one of the volumes of the Penny Magazine,
under the title 'Obsolete Punishments,' and another in Plott's
'Staffordshire;' but it is very remarkable that though so
commonly seen, these bridles, called 'Branks,' are nowhere
mentioned in our law books, though cucking-stools always are
whenever the offence of scolding is treated of or referred to."

But to return to ecclesiastical matters. In the year 1620, Robert Lucy, of Droitwich, was ordered to appear before the Sessions Court "for killinge of fleshe this Lent." By the statutes 2nd and 3rd Edward VI, chap. 19, and 5th Elizabeth, chap. 5 (an act for maintenance of the navy), the eating of flesh in Lent is prohibited under penalties; but I know of no statute which inflicts any penalty on butchers for killing in Lent.

The Sessions rolls contain some sad pictures of clerical misbehaviour in the seventeenth century--a period when the clergy, as a body, had become a plebeian class, when (as Macaulay assures us) "for one who made the figure of a gentleman, ten were mere menial servants," many of the ejected ministers during the domination of the Puritans obtaining bread and shelter only by attaching themselves to the households of royalist gentlemen. The truth of the observation (see Blount's "Reformation"), that "an indigent church makes a corrupt and canting clergy," is apparent from the history of those times. In 1628, articles were exhibited against the Rev. Henry Hunt, of Defford, "that he is a malicious and contentious person and useth scandalous speeches without regard to time or place, but even in the church, sometimes before and sometimes after divine service, hath been known to break out into violent swearing before he came forth of the pulpit, taunting and reviling Rd. Damanne, and throwing stones at him in the field to provoke him to strike him, and threatening to make him so poor with suits that he should be glad to sell his mortuary for 2d.;" also that he swore falsely at Worcester Assizes. "His mortuary" here evidently means the amount of property that he would die worth. In some parishes a sum of 10s. is still payable to the rectors or vicars on the death of each householder in the parish who dies worth £40. This is called "a mortuary." The Rev. William Hollington, of Alvechurch, was in 1641 reported as "a frequenter of alehouses, where he spendeth much time both day and night, as well upon the Saboth as other week dayes in idle and riotous company, in excessive drinking, and is a causer of much drunkenness by procuring and persuading and enforcing others to the drinking of whole cupes. He hath often drawn idle company to his own house, where they have sent for much ale, and there abusefully have spent in drunkness, quarrelling, and fighting. He is greatly defamed of incontinensie with his neighbours' wives, and one of them hath confest he did attempt her chastity, affirminge him to be as bad as Bankes his predecessor, who to prevent punishment for his unchast and incestuous living run away. That he dayley frequenteth houses much suspected of lewdnes, often accompanied with a dangerous armed Papist of idle behaviour, and assisted by him hath in the open street given out rayling and threatning words against his neighbours, calling them knaves and partisans, and hath affirmed they were not Papists that rebelled in Ireland, and that Papists were noe rebbles but honester men than Protestants. He hath been a hindrance of the taking of the protestation, and doth omit the words in the reading of the remonstrance 'and have cutt all theire throates,' to the end to obscure from the people the greatness of the danger the House of Commons was in as it is conceived in favour of the other side. A constable coming to him in execution of his office to deliver the protestations of such as were then and there present to take it, he gave him many reproachful wordes, calling him knave, blockhead, loggerhead. He is a curser and swearer, a nefarious pintious lyer, and a contentious person. He stirred up and mayntained many shutes (suits) and much trouble in the neighbourhood, hath sided and counselled with the old churchwarden to the detayning of goods and money due to the church, and threatned aney that durst question it. He hath laboured to hinder justice and to countenance delinquents, is a quarreller and fighter. He advised and aided in stealing away a widdowes daughter, the only child of his neer neighbour, not above fourteen years old, and marying her to John Price, a rude boy of idle behaviour, and noe good cloths to his back, though the friends of the girl could have made her portion £200, and hath never been heard to put up one prayer either for the Parliament or for distressed Protestants in the kingdom of Irelande except on particular times, and then it was with the limitation 'if soe that they be of the same religion as wee are on.'"

It is difficult adequately to estimate the injurious effects to society of such examples set on the part of the clergy. The judicious Hooker observes that "the examples of clergy and great men are important, as being seen afar off, like cities set on the tops of hills; but mean men's actions are not greatly inquired into except by those who live at the next door."

During the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II, as may be expected, the religious disputes and ill-feeling existing between the Established Church and the various sects that snarled and whined and canted in the racy language of the time, are fully exhibited in these records, of which I shall give some instances. In 1654, Edward Sheldon and Nicholas Hill deposed "that upon the 20th day of August the deponents were objecting against one Mr. Spilsbury, who desired to be minister of Bromsgrove, that he had a low voyce; one Humphrey Potter then answered that if he had a low voice he had a _true_ voice; unto which Mr. Joseph Amige, now minister of Bromsgrove (as these deponents conceiveth) answered and sayd, 'Soe have I;' unto whom the said Potter replied, 'Noe, for you have tould lies in the pulpit,' or words to that effect." Here is another curious specimen of the times: In 1656 the jury presented that Thomas Goslinge, late of Bredon, yeoman, on the 11th November, 1656, at Bredon, of purpose to defame, disgrace, and provoke one Richard Beeston, a pious and godly minister and preacher of the word of God, and to disturb the peace, certain false, seditious, scandalous, and provoking English words did put into meeter or verse, and the same as a libell did openly, maliciously, and of purpose to provoke and disgrace the said Richard Beeston, in the presence and hearing of divers honeste people of the commonwealth of Englande, with a loud voice did saye and singe--that is to saye:

"Here comes Mr. Beeston,
The man wee nere wiston,
As high as the pulpitt topp;
And to his disgrace,
With his impudent face,
To reape another man's cropp."

Roger of Wendover tells of a party, who profanely interrupted divine service, being made to dance in the churchyard for twelve months, without the power of stopping their limbs. But it seems that the fear of supernatural punishment did not deter the brawlers of the seventeenth century. When Dr. Thomas (afterwards Bishop of Worcester) was vicar of Loughern, about the year 1644, a party of Parliament horse went to that place, and inquired whether that popish priest, Mr. Thomas, was still there, and whether he continued reading the liturgy and praying for the Queen; one of them adding, that he would go to church next Sunday, and if Mr. Thomas persevered in praying for that drab of the w---- of Babylon he would certainly pistol him. That good man, however, was not to be intimidated: he performed the usual service, and while praying for the Queen, one of the soldiers, who sat in the next pew to him, snatched the book out of his hand and threw it at his head. The preacher bore it with composure, but the soldier, it is said, was instantly seized with such compunction that his comrades were forced to carry him away. At the Midsummer Sessions of 1660 a deposition was made, that "on the 17th of June, being ye last Saboth daye, Jeremiah Hewes, servant of Mr. Bishops of Lindridge, spoke of Mr. Giles base lascivious words, for he said yt he preached in ye church nothing but lyes, and furthermore he called him ould munkke (monk) and he said ye ould monkke preached in ye forenoon, and his sunn, ye yonge munkker, did endeavour to mend it in ye afternoone; and he said he would never heere him preach again, for if he were in ye church he would goe forthe. Mr. Gyles gave a tuch concerning maypoles--what rudnes is ust (used) to be abought such games, and he wisht he had his beard to make him a flaye (?) yt he might be one of ye fore leaders; and furthermore, my brother Edward tould him yt these words did deserve ye good behaviour (recognizance to keep the peace); and he said again he did not care for never a justice's warrant in ye countie, for he saith they are all turncootes." In 1665, Edward Mutchett, of Norton-juxta-Bredon, informed against Richard Hunt, that he heard him say in his prayers "Downe with this King of Babylon, this Poperye, and this idolatrous wayes as is now sett upp, and that they may not touch Thy anointed."

The Quakers of the seventeenth century, it is pretty well known, were not the mild and gentle beings who compose the ranks of the Friends in the nineteenth. They could rail and brawl in public, would persist in following their trades on a Sunday, and their resistance to the "powers that be" was of a much more active character than that which induces a modern Friend to allow a rate-collector to seize on his tables and chairs. The Quakers met with severer treatment during the Commonwealth than any other sect of Christians. We trace them obscurely under the denomination of "Seekers," their distinguishing principle being the doctrine of an inward light. George Fox, their founder, having bade some of the justices who committed him to jail to _tremble_ at the word of the Lord, gave rise to the term "Quakers." In this city and county they were apparently pursued with great severity after the restoration of "Church and King," which undoubtedly had the usual effect of considerably sharpening their asperity towards the established faith. In the city, they were prevented entering their meeting-house (in Friar Street), and accordingly preached in the open air, while soldiers were paid for watching them. George Fox himself was confined in Worcester jail. In an ancient library at Kingsnorton School, there are treatises against the then recently propounded notions of the Quakers. The subjoined extract will show that maypoles and long hair were not the only troubles the poor vicar of that parish had to contend against. It is taken from "Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers," vol. ii, chap. iii, p. 60, under date 1657. "Jane Hicks, of Chadwitch, was sent to prison at Worcester for some offence which the priest of King's Norton took at her speaking to him." The same writer also states that at another time she was sent to Worcester for disturbing at Bromsgrove church, and that she was placed four times in the stocks--once for a whole night and part of two days. The woman would thus seem to have been a notorious disturber; and doubtless her "speaking" to the "priest" was in the church at the time of worship--a very common custom with the Friends of that day. Viewed in this light the vicar's conduct was proper, and was a necessary precaution against unseemly interruptions. The books of the above-named library, thus viewed, become interesting to us. They are evidence in the great Quaker battle, and no doubt poor Jane Hicks was stirred up with wrath by hearing some of the arguments out of this storehouse hurled at her then noisy sect. When John Bissell, also in 1657, refused to pay the "priest" ten shillings tithe, and had "goods taken from him worth £1. 5s.," no doubt these identical volumes were at hand ready to pour forth their artillery against the poor Quaker.[3] In the County Rolls for 1662 is "A calendar of the prisoners called Quakers: Rd. Payton, convicted _de premunire_; Edwd. Hall, convicted for words spoken in open court, fined £5, and committed till payed; Henry Gibbs, Wm. Collins, Wm. Webb, Robert Baylis, Rd. Walker _alias_ Weaver, Jos. Walker, Rd. Bennet, Wm. Eades, Stephen Pitway, committed the 2nd of January, 1662, for having lately assembled themselves under the pretence of joyning in a religious worship, to the great endangering of the publique peace and safetye, and to the terrour of the people in severall places of this county." In 1666 the following Quakers were "taken at a conventicle and committed by Thomas Wilde, Esq.:" Wm. Pitt, Richard Fydo, Abra. Roberts, Rich. Lewis, Edward Lewis, Edward Staunton, John Wright, Alexander Berdslye, Tho. Fitrale, and John Hoskins. Next year (1667) the gaoler's list of prisoners then in gaol included the following:

[3] This notice of Kingsnorton Library is taken from an article in "Aris's Birmingham Gazette."

"Thomas Payton, late of Dudley, taylor, a p'fessed Quaker,
taken at a conventicle of Quakers in the said towne of Dudley,
a place much infested with Quakers and disorderlie p'sons,
and comitted to ye gaole 10th July, xiiii Caroli, and being
a stubborn and incorigible p'son, was at ye next Sessions
following tendred the oathe of allegiance, which he refused
to take, was indicted, and convicted of premunire. Thomas
Feckenham, another leader of the same sect, was likewise
apprehended about three years since, and tendred ye oathe
of allegiance, and beinge still obstinate and p'verse, hath
been continued a prisoner, but with some liberty now and then
extended towards him, which kindness hath not as yet wrought
any conformitie or submission in him. John Jenkins and William
Bardoe, Quakers, excommunicated in ye consistory of Hereford,
and taken by a writ De Excom. Capiend. about a year since. John
Roberts, of Droitwich, p'fessed Quaker, for using his trade and
calling on ye Sunday or Lord's Day, was likewise presented and
excommunicated a year ago. John Tombs, of Droitwich, for the
like offence, and for refusing to permit the sacred ordinance
of Baptism to be administered to his children, likewise
excommunicated, and taken up by the like writ. Job Allibone and
William Hodges, for the same offence and refusing to come to
church. All which persons soe committed are, by the overmuch
indulgence of the late sheriff, under-sheriff, and gaoler,
permitted to goe at liberty about their occasions, which we
consider doth encourage them to persist in their contemptuous
and incorrigible behaviour; and they are not to be found in
prison unless for about an houre or a night once in six or
eight weeks time."

This report of the state of Quakerism, it seems, was occasioned by a request from the Government that the magistrates should inquire into the subject, and furnish the names of the Quakers then in prison, and whether they were ringleaders or had been seduced into the commission of offence by others. In the chapter on the records of St. Helen's church, Worcester, in the earlier part of this work, it will be observed that the penalties paid by Quakers were converted into a charitable fund for the poor.

The William Pardoe, mentioned above, was probably the individual who was said to have been the pastor of a Baptist congregation at Worcester, where he continued in jail nearly seven years, and died in this city in 1692. A MS. account of his labours, travellings, and writings, was said to have been at Leominster not many years ago. Is it still in existence? Mr. Pardoe was excommunicated, and was buried in a garden at Lowesmoor, near Worcester, where his body, with that of his wife, was discovered some forty or fifty years ago while digging for the purpose of building. The bodies were not disturbed, and a stone was erected to their memory. I am not aware that this still remains.

We now arrive at something more stirring, and may have an interesting peep at a conventicle of "Fifth Monarchy Men" at Oldbury. This sect of religionists had for their distinguishing tenet a belief in the establishment of a fifth universal monarchy, of which Christ was to be the head; while the "saints," under his personal sovereignty, should possess the earth. They appeared in England towards the close of the Protectorate; and in 1660, a few months after the Restoration, they broke out into a serious tumult in London under their leader Venner; many of them lost their lives, some killed by the military, and others executed. In the country the sect continued for some years later. At the concluding Worcestershire Sessions of 1667, one William Cardale deposed that on the 1st of September in that year he took his wife to Oldbury to see her sister, Edward Nightingale's wife, who was lying-in; and after dinner, he being inclined to fall asleep, his brother-in-law asked him to go for a walk; they accordingly went to Oldbury chapel, which they found full of people. After a psalm had been led, the preacher, who was a stranger to him, "made a very strange prayer, praying neither for king, queen, royal familie, nor clergie," and a still stranger sermon followed, from the text "Thy kingdom come," "his doctrine beinge, that Christ hath a kingdome of rewarde for his sufferinge and workinge servants, which in his good time he would possess them, and we ought to pray for;" and he attempted to prove, from the Revelations, Daniel, and other mystical writings, that the aforesaid kingdom was to be on earth. "On the preacher proposing to show _when_ this kingdom was to come, an alarm of soldiers was given, a horse was soon got ready for him, and throwing off his gown and perriwig, he appeared in a grey coat, and speedily worked his way through the crowd and made off." A soldier, named William Perrott, deposed that by command of his officer, Major Wilde, he with others was sent to apprehend this preacher, whose name was Steele, _alias_ Fraser, a Nonconformist; and on arriving at Oldbury chapel they found about 2000 persons there. When the preacher had disappeared, Perrott with two others secured the doors of the chapel; shortly after which some of the congregation "looked out of the windows to see whether any more soldiers appeared, and observing none, they presently swore that three or four were not able to keepe so manye prisoners. Forthwith thereupon they broke open the doors upon us, and layd hold upon my haire, my pistolls, and cloake, and gave me severall blowes upon my head and bodye, and likewise of those soldiers that were present with me. They alsoe forced one of my pistolls out of my hande, and alsoe broake Mr. Hambden's man's pistoll about our heads. After the rest of our partye of horse appeared, most of them runn from us. Some few were took. Alsoe I observed a great many of benches as I supposed newly set upp about ye chapel to receive ye company." What became of the unfortunate prophesier of the coming kingdom doth not appear.

In the year 1669, Thomas Willmot, vicar of Bromsgrove, laid an information at the Sessions to the effect that, "being ready to attend his duty at the funeral of Jane, the wife of John Eckols, was by a tumult of Anabaptists affronted and disturbed whilst I was reading the service. They no sooner came to the grave but irreverently threw the corps thereinto, and having their hats on their heads, immediately, contrary to the orders of the Church, without the least respect to the service of the same, and without either clerk or sexton, with their feete caste in the mold and covered the corps. Amongst which tumult there was one Henry Waldron, who entring into the belman's house without his leave, took away his spade, wherewith John Price, contrary to all civility and decency, notwithstanding he was checked by the minister, with his head covered, persisted to throwe the mold in the aforesaid grave."

The last instance of open disaffection to the church service which is worth a place in this record occurs in 1692, when an information was laid against Michael Bisset, of Feckenham. It appeared that Richard Bond and one Foster having publicly praised a sermon delivered in Feckenham church by a parson named Millard, Bissett swore by God's wounds (a common oath in those days) "That there was never a true word in the same sermon, and that it was all nought and false, and that it would have been a good deede to have sett him downe out of the pulpit with a bowe and bolte (meaning the said preacher), and that he could go down in the meadows and hear as good a sermon under a hedge." Bolt is a short arrow shot from a cross-bow. Hence the saying, "A fool's bolt is soon shot." There are several specimens of these bows and bolts at Goodrich Castle.

The Toleration Act of William III gave immunity to all Protestant Dissenters, except those who denied the Trinity, from the penal laws to which they had been subjected. In the Sessions' order book, date 1696, is a "Mem. That the persons under-named in open Court of Sessions did take the oaths mentioned and appointed to be taken in and by an Act made _Anno primo Willi et Marie_, entitled 'An Act for abrogating of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and appointing other oaths;' and also made and subscribed the declaration appointed to be made and subscribed in and by an Act made _Anno 25 Caroli Secundi_, entitled 'An Act for preventing dangers which may happen from Popish recusants,' according to an Act made _Annis 7 et Willi tertii Regis_, entitled 'An Act requiring the practicers of the law to take the oaths and subscribe the declarations therein mentioned.'" The following are the names of the subscribers in this county:

John Soley, Esq.
Charles Cocks, Esq.

Richard Nanfan, }
Henry Toye, }
Thomas Parker, }
Joshua Bradley, }
Richard Cowcher, }
John Yarranton, }
Richard Teynton, }
John Ffownes, }
Edwyn Eyre, }
Robert Bird, }
Thomas Partington, } Gent.
Samuel Grove, }
Thomas Hayward, }
Thomas Hart, }
William Cardale, }
Epaphroditus Bagnall, }
William Hart, }
Richard Norbury, }
Henry Hodges, }
Richard Herbert, }
Thomas Oliver, }
Edmund Rose, }

22 Maii, 1696.

Samuel Hunt, }
Edward Walker, Advocate, }
John Price, }
William Bowkey, }
Henry Philpott, }
Edward Hallen, }
Thomas Millward, }
Edward Dyson, } Gent.
Godman Atwood, }
Anthony Ashfield, }
James Gilbert, }
John Morris, }
Robert Parr, }
Henry Prescott, }
Edward Walker, jun., }
James Nash, }

_Die eadem_--the same time the persons under-named subscribed the association:

Richard Norbury, }
Anthony Ashfield, }
James Gilbert, }
John Morris, }
Robert Parr, }
Henry Prescott, }
Edward Walker, jun. }
Godman Atwood, } Gent.
Thomas Milward, }
Edward Hallen, }
Henry Philpott, }
John Price, }
Edward Walker, Advocate, }
William Bowkey, }
Samuel Hunt, }

An explanation is necessary with regard to "signing the association," as stated above. In Harris's Life of William III, p. 143, under the date of 1688, it is stated that after the arrival of the gentlemen of Somerset and Dorsetshire, at Exeter, "Sir Edward Seymour asked Dr. Burnet 'Why they had not got an _association_, without which they were only a rope of sand, and none would think themselves bound to stick to them.' The Doctor told him 'It was for want of a man of his authority and credit to support such an advice.'" He then proposed it to the Prince, who, with the Earl of Shrewsbury and all present, approved the motion. Accordingly the Doctor did urge an association, containing "a solemn engagement firmly to adhere together in pursuance of the ends of the Prince's declaration, and in defence thereof, and never to depart from it till the religion, laws, and liberties of the people should be secured by a free Parliament; and if any attempt should be made on the person of the Prince, that it should be revenged on all by whom any such attempt should be made." This association was speedily signed there and in other places, particularly by many in the University of Oxford. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and the principal gentlemen of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, met at Worcester, and declared for the Prince of Orange, when Sir Walter Blount and the Sheriff of Worcestershire were sent prisoners to Ludlow Castle. The declaration, I presume, continued to be signed for several subsequent years.

In the Summer Sessions of the same year "the persons under-named did take the oaths and made and subscribed the declaration of 30 Car. II:"

Thomas Cornewall
William Lygon
William Tillam
Richard Towaye
Francis Sedgwick
Henry Coupland
Samuel Wilcocks
Joseph Adams
S. Taylor
Joseph Jones
Josiah Rogers
Robert Durham
Thomas Lowe
William Sherborne
J. Harper
Henry Davis
Thomas Nash
William Grove
Thomas Dewell
William Search
Thomas Evans
Thomas Wells
Thomas Parker
J. Parker
Richard Mann
Edward Sylls
Arthur Lindsey
Richard James
Richard Smalbrooke
Edward Wheeler
Pa. Philpott
Timothy Parker

The persons next following did take the oaths and subscribe the declaration of 25 Car. II:

Thomas Cornwall
William Tillam
William Lygon
Richard Towage
Francis Sedgwick
Henry Coupland
Thomas Pearsell
Thomas Lowe
Joseph Adams
Samuel Wilcocks
Sy. Taylor
Joseph Jones
Josiah Rogers
Robert Durham
William Sherborne
J. Harper
Henry Davis
Thomas Nash
William Grove
Thomas Dewell
William Search
Thomas Evans
Thomas Wells
Thomas Parker
J. Parker
Richard Mann
Edward Sylls
Arthur Lindsey
Richard James
Richard Smalbrooke
Edward Wheeler
Pa. Philpott
Timothy Parker

The persons under-named did sign the Association:

Thomas Coventrye
Edmund Lechmere
Samuel Pytts
William Walsh
Timothy Parker
Jo. Fleetwood
Wenman Winniatt
A. Ashfeild
Martyn Ballard
James Michell
Richard Feild
Thomas Rudge
J. Packington
James Rushout
R. Dowdeswell
Chambers Slaughter
William Harris
Charles Cocks
Thomas Chetle
William Tillam
Francis Sedgwick
Richard Towaye
Henry Coupland
Stephen Marche
Henry Toye
Jo. Jevon
Jo. Harris
Samuel Grove
William Grove
Thomas Hayward
Edw. Cookes
Richard Wooley
Joseph Jones
Thomas Parker
William Rudge
Richard Cowcher
Edmund Rose
Ja. Gilbert
S. Jewkes
Rowland Battell
Thomas Yarnald
Edward Reynolds
Adam Cave
John Rudge
John Terbervile
George Lench
Richard Smalbrooke
Edward Wheeler
Pa. Philpott
Samuel Freeman
Edward Bunce
Francis Ross
Francis Maleroy
John Jeffery
F. Jeffery
Ja. Ingoldsby
Abraham Stapleton
John Dowglass
John Archer
Francis Wythes
Sampson Farley
John Baron
Francis Russell
William Bromley
Robert Wylde
John Soley
Francis Sheldon, jun.
Thomas Cornewall
Robert Foley
Higons James
Salwey Winnington
Ed. Sandys
J. Apletree
Fra. Sheldon
John Sheldon
Thomas Parrott
Pest. Sheldon
Obadiah Alforde
Thomas Bradley
Robert Bushell
John Tilsley
William Lygon
Thomas Bushell
William Hancocke
Henry Hodges
Thomas Burlton
Thomas Harris
Thomas Mackey
The mark of Thomas Segar
Thomas Savage
William Cowells
Rowland Bradstock
Jarritt Smith
William Ffreet
William Waring
Richard James
Josiah Rogers
Joseph Adams
J. Harper
Samuel Wilcocks
Thomas Nash
William Sherborne
Henry Davis
Thomas Wells
George Harris
Richard Mann
Sy. Tayler
J. Barker
Thomas Pearsall
Thomas Dewell
William Search
Thomas Evans
Thomas Theasker
Thomas Gardiner
Thomas Lowe
Robert Durham
Edward Sylls
Arthur Lindsay
William Reynolds

And divers others put the roll.

The only remaining noticeable item affecting Nonconformity is an order made in or about the year 1716, "that an indenture of apprenticeship made between John Cookes and his master, Samuel Gill, be discharged and set aside, it appearing to this court that the master gave his said apprentice imoderate correccon and alsoe employing him in another trade, viz., plateing of gunn barrells and _obligeing him to goe to the Presbyterian_ meeting." It may be stated, in concluding this chapter, that the law enforcing attendance at the parish church on Sunday was not abolished till 1846. Other notes on Nonconformity will be found in this volume.

Dissenting Chapels and Meeting Houses.

In the first year of William and Mary an act was passed "For exempting Protestant Dissenters from penalties of certain laws, on condition only that meeting-houses should be certified to the Bishop or Archdeacon or Justices at Quarter Sessions." In 1693 (the first year of the Sessions order book) "The wallhouse in the parish of Hanbury, and in the possession of Dame Ann Rouse," was certified to be "a meeting-house according to ye new Act of Parliament." Also "a house adjoining the foldyard of Mr. Blick, at Bromsgrove." 1695. The house of Henry Hanson, of Grafton Flyford, a place for religious worship. 1696. The house of John Emes, Bishampton, a meeting-house for dissenting Protestants. 1697. The house of John Scott, of Stourbridge, and the house of William Dugard, of Dodderhill. 1700. The house of Humfrey Potter, of Bromsgrove. 1702. Samuel Windle (place of residence not stated) "upon petition is allowed to have ye word of God preached in his house;" and a house at Dudley licensed on the petition of John Stokes. 1703. Ordered that "The house of Peter Payton, at Tenbury, be set apart for the worship of God for dissenters from ye church, according to the prayer of a petition for ye p'pose." 1704. The house of Mary Greene, widow, in Little Witley, called the New-house; and the house of John Sparry, at Belbroughton. 1705. Dwelling-houses of Henry Hunt, Cradley; James Thompson and William Tilt, Bromsgrove; Thomas Taylor, Hartlebury; and John Taylor, Chaddesley. 1715. House of Samuel Cater, Stourbridge; and of Jos. Harrison, Thomas Reynolds, John Reynolds, Mary Payton, and Arthur Radnall, of Bewdley; also that of John Carpenter, jun., Bromsgrove. 1720. The house of Richard Windle, Inkberrow. 1723. The house of Ann Thomas, of Pershore, "licensed for Anabaptists." 1733. House of John Harris, of Birlingham; and "a newly-erected house at Upton mentioned in the certificate of R. Baskerville and Thomas Skey;" also "the house at Bewdley wherein Thomas Watson and William Carter now dwell." 1735. Ordered, "That the barn and court-yard thereto belonging, now in the occupation of John Williams, at Tenbury, be licensed for Quakers." 1744. The house of Thomas Baker, at Himbleton, licensed for Baptists; and that of William Sadler, at Halesowen, for ditto. 1757. House of Joshua Kettleby, Church Street, Kidderminster, for Anabaptists; and in 1760, that of James Hill Baker, Black Star Street, Kidderminster, for Presbyterians. 1773. A tenement at Bartley Green, Northfield, licensed for dissenters; and a building in the occupation of G. Parsons, Mill Street, Stourbridge; also "a chapel lately erected in the hamlet of Westencot, Bredon, certified as a place of religious worship for Baptists." 1787. The house of John Harwood, of Moseley, licensed for Baptists; and one at Birmingham occupied by Benjamin Bedford, for Protestant dissenters; also the house of William Purser, at Welland; a Baptist meeting-house in New Street, Dudley; and a building in Mill Street, Evesham. In the year 1791, Robert Berkeley of Spetchley, T. Hornyold the younger of Blackmore Park, John Baynham of Purshall Hall, clerk, Thomas Parker of Heath Green, Beoley, and Mary Williams, of Little Malvern, subscribed certificates that they had set apart rooms in their respective houses for Roman Catholic worship. 1792. A building in Gilson's Lane, Blockley, certified for dissenters. 1796. Andrew Robinson, clerk, of Grafton Manor, set apart a room for Roman Catholic worship; and Richard Cornthwaite, clerk, of Harvington Hall, Chaddesley, ditto ditto.

The Civil Wars.

The year 1643, so distressing to the city of Worcester, when a great portion of the heavy levies on the citizens, for defence against the Parliament army, could not be raised, was nearly to the same extent a cause of pecuniary embarrassment to the county at large. At the April Sessions of 1643 the grand jury ordered "that the £3000 ordered last Sessions to be paid monthly towards the payment of his majesty's forces sent and raised for the defence of this county be continued till next Sessions, and paid over by John Baker, gen. collector to Sir William Russell, High Sheriff of the county and Governor of the city." But considerable difficulty appears to have been experienced in the collection. Here follows a picture of those critical times, worth preserving:

"The information of Edward Raynolls, of Kitherminster, taken
uppon oath the 28th of March, 1651, before Gervase Bucke and
John Latham, Esqs., two of the Justices of the Peace for the
county aforesaid.

"Hee saith and doth informe that Edward Broad of Duncklin,
Esq., about the time of the beginning of the warre betwixt
the late kinge and the Parliament did raise a troope of horse
for his sonne Edmond to engage in the king's service. That
afterwards about the time when Sir Gilbert Garret, the gov'nor
of Worcester for the kinge went to beseige Sturton Castle--a
garrison for the Parliament--the said Edward Broade sollicited
and earnestly pressed the contry thereaboute to rise together
and to goe along with the said Sir Gilbert Garrett, telling
and threatening divers of the country people that they should
be hanged at their owne doores if they would not goe with him
against the said Castle: That many of the country people came
in to the said Edward Broade accordingly and hee was himselfe
captaine over them and furnished them with arms and amunition
and marched before them to Sturton Castle and continued before
that Castle untill the governor whoe held the same for the
Parliament was inforced, beinge overpowred by the enemye to
yeeld yt upp. That afterwards, about 7 dayes before Sir Henry
Lyngum did rise against the Parliament and surprised and tooke
the county troope of Hereford, the said Edward Broade spake
to this informer, beinge his tenant and his warriner, to goe
to John Brancill, dwelling at Kidderminster, beinge a joyner
and well skilled in stockinge of guns, to come with all speede
to stock gunnes for him. And willing this informer alsoe
himselfe to be in redinesse. And this informer askinge him
what use there would be for soe many gunnes the said Edward
Broade answered there would be use for them verry speedily,
and further said that Mr. Hugh Vicaridge of Comberton and Mr.
Thomas Wannerton, other Roundheaded Rogues, should be hanged
to beginn withall. And the said Brancill came to Duncklyn
accordingly, but how many gunnes he stocked this informer
knoweth not. And afterwards when the newes was fresh that Sir
Henry Lingin had surprised the Hereford county troope, the said
Edward Broade asked this informer whether Sir Henry Lyngin
was gone, whereunto this informer answering that hee did not
know, the said Edward Broade replyed and said Sir Henry Lingin
was not as good as his word; and about a weeke after Sir Henry
Lingin was surprised the said Edward Broade hid divers gunnes
which hee had provided as aforesaid under a rick of hay and
afterwards remooved them thence and hid them under a corne mowe
in one of the barnes att Duncklin where they weare seene within
a yeare and a halfe last past by one Thomas Lovell, a workman
belonging to that house, as he tould this informer.

"And this informer doth further informe upon his oath that
about a year last past beinge att Bridgnorth in company with
Edward Powys, of the citty of Worcester, bookbinder, and others
drinking together, hee this informer heard the said Powys begin
A health to the good proceeding of the king's army in Scotland,
likewise A health to the queene his mother, and the third
health to the confusion of the Parliament, and that hee began
all these 3 healths together, but none of the company would
pledge the same, some of them answering that they would drinke
to ye conversion but not to the confusion of any. And that
Steephen Dowty of the Morphe and his servant William Lawde were
then in company, and further doth not informe."

"Articles" were "exhibited" (that is, an information was laid) in the year 1655, against Walter Moyle, of Ombersley, yeoman, for being a profane man, and for that "one day he publicly drank the health of the devil, and fell down as one dead, to ye amazement and terrour of ye beholders; and that in the time of the late war he did threaten his neighbours, when the king's forces were in rendevouze at Oddingley Heath, with plunder unlesse they would repaire in armes to that randezvooze."

On the 5th of October, 1685, John Bartlam, of Whitbourne, laid an information that "in hay harvest last (before this neighbourhood heard that Monmouth was routed), this informant, riding upon the road near Knightsford bridge, there met a man that tould him that Monmouth was then the head man in England, and that it was in every man's mouth in Worcester, and that any man might speak it, and that he would proclaim it at Knightsford bridge (as he had at Broadheath, Martley, and other places, as he came along), although it was so near Captain Clent's; and that if any one questioned it he would be at Knightsford bridge to answer it; that his name was Kent, and he lived in Powick's Lane, Worcester." In 1687, Thomas Knight, of Castlemorton, was summoned to appear at the Sessions, and to give evidence against Charles Jakeman for drinking the Duke of Monmouth's health.

A Traveller's Passport.

The following document, included among the rolls, is dated 1680, from Whitehall:

"Dame Mary Yate, having asked his majesty's permission to
pass beyond the seas, for the recovery of her health, his
majesty was most graciously pleased to grant her request,
under the usual clauses and provisoes, according to which ye
said Dame Mary Yate having given security not to enter into
any plott or conspiracy against his majesty or his realms,
or behave herself in any such manner as may be prejudicial
to his majesty's government, or the religion here by law
established, and that she will not repaire to the city of
Roome, or return unto this kingdome without first acquainting
one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, and
obtaining leave for the same, in pursuance of his majesty's
commands in council hereby will and require you to permit and
suffer the said Dame Mary Yate to imbarque with her trunkes of
apparel and other necessaries not prohibited at any port of
this kingdom, and from thence to pass beyond the seas, provided
that shee departe this kingdom within 14 days after the date
hereof"--April 14.

If the above refers to the celebrated Lady Mary Yate (a daughter of the house of Pakington) who is commemorated on a monument in Chaddesley Church as having died in 1696, at the age of 86, she must have been 70 years old when these precautions were taken by the Government against the poor old lady attempting to invade the country or to comfort the Pope with her presence and support. Dame Mary Yate was no doubt a Roman Catholic, and the permission above referred to was granted under the 7th section of the statute 3rd James I, chap. 5, which was virtually repealed by the statute 43rd George III, chap. 30, which exempted Roman Catholics from all the penalties and restrictions mentioned and enjoined in the older acts, if in one of the Courts at Westminster or at the Quarter Sessions they made a declaration which to them was unobjectionable.

Bridges and Highways.

Upton bridge seems to have been a nuisance to the county ever since the time of the Civil Wars, when one of its arches was destroyed for purposes of defence. Frequent complaint was made of its dilapidations, and in 1757 the Sessions ordered that a frigate should be bought "for carrying workmen, stone, and other purposes, about the said repairs." Mr. Sheward was appointed superintendent of the said bridge in 1775, at the salary of one guinea a year.

A presentment was made in 1661, that "the causeways and horse bridges leading from the city of Worcester to London, and towards the city of Gloucester, which ought, as wee humbly conceave, to be mayntayned and repaired by the Dean and Chapter, are very defective and out of repaire." About five years later the capitular body were again presented "for not repairing a certain causeway leading from a certain messuage called or known by the name of ye Three Crowns, St. Peter's, to a place called Red Hill Cross, in the said parish, and soe from thence to a place called Whitton Pound, thence to a place called Staple Cross in the parish of Norton, being the London road, and likewise one other causeway leading from the newly-erected inn called ye White House, through the parish of St. Peter's, at a place called Clarken Lipp, in the parish of Kempsey, being the road leading to Bristol." And for the third time, in 1689, the Dean and Chapter were presented "for not repairing their causeways from outside Sidbury gate to the further end of Clarkenlip, upon ye Gloster road." In the Townsend Manuscript (elsewhere alluded to) it is recorded that "by virtue of a commission dated March, 1652, out of Chancery for charitable uses, the Commissioners sat on the 12th January, 1653, and by the oaths of 12 men on the inquiry, did order and decree that the several manors and lands of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Worcester were charged by way of repriz. for the payment of £40 yearly towards the repayres of the several highways therein expressed, and should so continue for ever. The like for £106. 13s. 4d. for 40 poor schollers of the grammar school at the Colledg unto every of them four marks per annum, the high master 40 marks, the under master 10 marks, £52. 10s. per ann. towards ye releefe of ten poore old men, and £40 yerely to the poore of Worcester and St. Michael's, by 7s. 3d. in money and 7s. 8d. in bread to be distributed weekly; and it was ordered, 3 June, 10 Car., for the Clerk of the Peace to see the £40 for the Dean and Chapter to be imployed for the use of the causeys, one from Worcester to Redhill Cross, and the other towards Kempsey, and he to pay the same to the surveyors." The Dean and Chapter were liable to repair these roads _ratione tenuræ_, that is by reason of their being the owners of certain lands. These roads are now repaired by the turnpike tolls; but if the tolls became inadequate, and the Dean and Chapter were before liable to the repair, they would still continue to to be so now.

The Plague.

Redditch is stated as having been visited with this scourge in 1625, when the poor people being thrown out of work, it was ordered, under the statute of 1st James I, that Bromsgrove pay 12s. per week, Belbroughton 6s., Cofton Hackett 1s., Northfield 4s., Kingsnorton 9s., Alvechurch 5s., Beoley 6s., Feckenham 7s., Inkberrow 5s., Stoke Prior 4s., Upton Warren and Cookesey 3s. towards the relief of the said poor.

Theatres.

Were somewhat numerous in the county towards the close of the last century. It is recorded in 1789, that, "upon the application of John Boles Watson, of Cheltenham, comedian, ordered that a licence be granted for the performance of such tragedies, comedies, interludes, operas, plays, or farces, as now are or hereafter shall be acted, performed, or represented at either of the patent or licenced theatres in the city of Westminster, or shall have been submitted to the inspection of the Lord Chamberlain of the King's household for the time being, in the town of Stourbridge for the space of sixty days." William Meill, of Worcester, comedian, who in 1794 held the theatres of Worcester, Wolverhampton, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, and Stourbridge, obtained similar licences for Bromsgrove and Malvern.

Compositions to the King's Household.