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by way of a flourish, that when he was taken, a copy of the King's Commission of array was found in his pocket. The Special Passages says, "It is confirmed that Sir Edward Baynton had a design of carrying Sir Edward Hungerford to Oxford. You may see by this what confidence is to be placed in roaring boys." January 17 to 24. Another news-monger congratulates his readers that "the naughtiness of the man was at last discovered, otherwise they had all been undone; for he was to have the command of all the county of Wilts to himself. He is to be sent up to London, where a declaration is already drawn out against him. This says he, "is all the news we have now, and that the cavaliers are beaten off from Ciciter."

Baynton was in due time sent up to London, and though all restriction was soon after removed from his person and he was allowed to resume his place in the House, we may gather from the following motion what was the general feeling respecting his conduct. "Resolved, that Sir Edward Hungerford be recommended unto my Lord General [Essex] to grant him a commission to command the forces in chief in Wiltshire, in like manner as Sir Edward Baynton did-Resolved also, that the same ordinance that was granted to Sir Edward Baynton for raising moneys in Wilts shall be granted to Sir Edward Hungerford mutatis mutandis. 31 January 1643."

This disagreement between the families even led to an affray in the precincts of the House of Commons. On the 27th February, the House having been made acquainted that there was a quarrel between Mr. Baynton one of their members, and Mr. Giles Hungerford, demanded of Mr. Baynton the occasion of it; who stated, that he had received from Mr. Hungerford a message requiring satisfaction for certain words spoken by him concerning his brother Sir Edward Hungerford; and that having been in discourse with him, that same day, Mr. Hungerford had with his cane struck him in the hall. Whereupon Mr. Speaker, by command of the

House, strictly enjoined Mr. Baynton to proceed no further in that business, and neither to give nor to receive any challenge. Resolved. "That Mr. Giles Hungerford shall be forthwith sent for and committed to safe custody; and that on Saturday next the House shall take into consideration the words spoken by Mr. Baynton concerning Sir Edward Hungerford." [No further notice appears.]

The absolute reduction of the garrison of Cirencester, and together with that position, the town of Malmesbury also, date a few days subsequent to the outbreak of the Baynton and Hungerford quarrel. The combined influence of these mischances issued in a considerable dislocation of the Parliament's measures in the Western Counties; for in order to secure Bristol, Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes who held a command at Devizes, was soon after dispatched thither to strengthen the garrison, and Devizes in consequence fell an easy prey to the cavaliers. But not to anticipate events, we must first briefly notice Sir Edward Hungerford's operations on becoming the military chief of the Wiltshire Parliamentary forces. Simultaneously with this appointment, Sir John Evelyn and Sir Neville Poole had been dispatched to Windsor by the House, to negotiate with Lord Essex the General, the selection of new officers for Wilts; and one of their first proposals seems to have been in favour of Colonel Edmund Ludlow of Hill Deverill near Warminster (son and heir of Sir Henry Ludlow M.P. for the county), a young officer of proved courage and unblemished character, who was at this moment with the main body of the Parliament's forces at Windsor. Sir Henry Ludlow was one of those who either indirectly or personally had suffered from a Star-chamber process in the early part of this century. He was one of the first to speak his mind in the House touching the King's measures, and that so emphatically, that Mr. Speaker deemed it necessary to rebuke him in a formal speech, and admonish him to weigh his words more carefully in future, when "reflecting on the

sacred person" of so "gracious a sovereign." Commons' Journals 7 May 1642. It was probably in reference to this transaction that a royalist rhymist in a poem called "The sense of the House," thus introduced Sir Henry among other of the leaders of the opposition.

"Who speaks of peace, quoth Ludlow, hath neither sense nor reason, For I ne'er spoke in the House but once, and then I spoke high treason. I'll plunder him, quoth Baynton, that mentions peace to me,

The Bishop would not grant my lease, but now I'll have his fee. A gunpowder monopoly, quoth Evelyn, raised my father; But if you let this war go down, they'll call me powder traitor," &c., &c. Young Edmund Ludlow who was a student in the Temple when hostilities seemed threatening, had early entered into a military association with several of his legal companions, and in the character of one of Lord Essex's Life-guard, consisting of a hundred gentlemen commanded by Sir Philip Stapylton, he served during the first campaign and was present at the engagements of Edgehill and Brentford. Anxious to secure the co-operation of a partisan likely to wield so much influence in South Wilts, Sir Edward Hungerford now invited him to raise a troop of horse in his regiment: and Ludlow accordingly met him for that purpose at Devizes, and attended him thence to Salisbury, where they seized a quantity of horse and arms from some of the opposite party quartered in the Close. This affair took place on Saturday, 11 February 1643. The version given by the Royalist newspapers is to the effect that Hungerford and Fiennes at the head of 400 men beset the city on market-day; pretending to have come in search of the Sheriff Sir George Vaughan, whose house they searched; but failing in this design they took all the horses found in the King's service. The next day being Sunday they drew up in the market-place, compelled the authorities to ransom themselves by a fine of £500, and then rode back to Devizes. Mercurius Aulicus 13 Feb. Ludlow having put his troop in training, returned to the head-quarters at Windsor, where he gave account of the able

condition of Hungerford and Fiennes; at which Lord Essex was not a little astonished, having been led to believe that the Wiltshire forces were already dispersed or cut to pieces. Sir Edward's own report was not quite so favourable. He wrote to the House on his return from Salisbury, to say that the works at Devizes were "so large and so great" that if more troops were not placed at his disposal, he could not pretend to keep them in a defensible state; adding that it was nothing but this want of men which had prevented him from giving adequate relief at the late affair at Cirencester; but his letter did not give much satisfaction to the House, and several members openly blamed his conduct. Mercurius Aulicus 14 Feb. and the Commons' Journals.

It was not that Sir Edward was becoming weary of the service. The fault lay in the supineness of the local supporters of his cause, and in the fear and trembling which were permitted to paralyse their efforts the instant they heard that the terrible Colonel Lunsford was placed by the King in command at Malmesbury; for such in fact was now the altered state of things; and no sooner was that relentless functionary in a position of strength in the county, than he issued his first summons to Devizes to pay down a sum of £400, with what results we shall presently see.

The next thing we hear of Sir Edward Hungerford is hist summoning the circumjacent country to a rendezvous at Devizes on the 1st of March, and inviting them to fortify his position as commander by pronouncing their more emphatic adherence to the Parliament in the shape of a “Declaration," to be signed by all who did not wish to be regarded as neutrals. But this mode of rendering retreat impossible was just the very thing which the majority, at this anxious period of the war, wished to evade. The meeting accordingly made answer that they were afraid of the Gloucestershire cavaliers and would have nothing to do with the Declaration. Sir Edward replied that, such being their determination, he

must then shift for his own safety. He left the town therefore in disgust, and repairing to Bath, proceeded to strengthen the fortifications of that city.

Just before this, one of the London newspapers reported as follows. "The cavaliers have left Gloucester and gone to Wilts, making the like cruel usage they did in Gloucestershire; and that they have possessed themselves of the Devizes, and that Malmesbury is yielded to them; but the certain truth is not yet confirmed by any letter to the House; it being much to be wondered at that the Devizes should be so easily won, so well provided as it is with the Parliament's forces under Sir Edward Hungerford and Colonel Fiennes." Perfect Diurnal 25 Feb.

What was really passing at Devizes at the time comes out in the examinations made at a subsequent date touching the delinquency of William Thurman a mercer of the town, who was charged with the serious offence of carrying off the county plate which had been stored up in Devizes for the service of the Parliament, and handing it over to Colonel Lunsford at Malmesbury. It is true that strong attempts were made to shift the blame of this transaction to his neighbour Mr Northey, but it is also true that Mr. Thurman was never able to exonerate himself from the penalty of participation in what looked very like treachery. That he was not an independent agent seems sufficiently clear; and if he erred in the affair we must do him the justice to suppose that it arose from his anxiety to save his devoted townsmen from the sorer calamity of indiscriminate pillage. This at least is an equally satisfactory defence with that set up in his behalf at a later period, viz., that when helping Mr. Northey to convey the plate away he was ignorant of the contents of the packages till they arrived at Malmesbury! The testimony of one of his friends Richard Pearce of Devizes, woollen-draper, will supply us with all the necessary facts.

Touching the first article presented against William Thur

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