muster the men who appeared and appointed Officers and listed many men under his command and gave order for free quarter for his souldiers and that the Constables should levie moneys to pay for the horses he took in every place Thom. Milburn Tho. Bell of Farlam Anthony Heviside of Tawkin Secondly that the said Master Howard took ten horses for the said service in Hayton Parish and proportionably in other parishes within Gilesland according to the purvey Tho. Bell. Anth. Heviside Thirdly that the said Mr. Howard did declare openly at the said Muster that the men and horse so levied was for the Kings service and that he was to meet the Prince at Berwick Saturday the 19 of August following Tho. Milburn Tho. Bell. Fourthly the said Mr. Howard sent a letter to ten Cavaliers that had horse and armes quartering upon Leonard Hodgson Constable of Hartleburn in Northumberland that if they would ride in his Troup to Barwick as Reformadoes they should have command as the places fell and they should come to Francis Grahams of the Stone-house in Gilsland and thereabouts and they should have quarter till they marched to Barwick Leonard Hodgeshon Fifthly the said Mr. Howard repaired several times to the enemies Guarrison at Carlisle and walked abroad with his arms Richard Hutton Sixthly at two several Musters by Warrant the said Mr. Howard in the fiâ—st Article mentioned after the said M. Howard had made his Speeches to the Countrey his Souldiers drew their swords and cried a King a King Thomas Addison This charge was presented us and the several Witnesses to every Article proved the same and subscribed their names before us at Penrith the 1. of May 1650. Thomas Craister John Musgrave Jo. Bristoe Tho. Langhorn William Briscoe was a Committee man for the enemy advised the other Justices being most of them Commissioners for Array to commit Captain Crakanthrop and me for not taking the oath of Supremacy and advised the other Justices to disobey our Habeas Corpus When the Justices in open Sessions would have released one Nicholson committed by Col. Fletcher for refusing to take up Arms for the King against the Parliament Mr. Briscoe advised the Court not to do it without Collonel Fletchers directions whereupon the poor man was held in prison till the siege of Carlisle was over He is a great enemy to Sectaries so called and in his charge in Sessions called them worse then Papists requiring the Jury to present them and they would punish them That complaint being made to Mr. Briscoe against Edward Robinson a notorious Delinquent and one who articled against William Musgrave for delivering Iartlepool to the Parl. For forging a false Verdict against one Wil. Bâ—urbank and for levying monies upon that Verdict and other forgâ—ries Mr. Brisco would not punish nor displace Robinson for it but keeps him stil to be Clark of the honour of Penrith and Inglewood Forrest Courts Master Briscoe being learned Steward of the same Honours and Courts Complaints being made to Mr. Brisco for redress of a wrongful amerciament set upon Thomas Cason a tradesman for selling goods in Penreth being no Corporation and of the said Robinson for taking Casons cloath of good value from him would neither give order to redress the amerciament or Robinson to restore Casons cloth tending to the destroying of Casons trade and credit John Barwis to him I have little to say then what is said already onely he is known to be no friend to them they call Sectaries and would destroy us Henry Tolson he hath ever been a Neutral but known a Cavalier hath his heart and is no friend to the Parliament or Armies Friends Thomas Cholmley did take the Earl of Newcastles Oath sent ou Horse and Armes against the Parliament and was in Arms him self for the late King for his delinquency and malignancy deserted the former Parliament being a Member thereof At the Lord Protectors fiâ—st going into Scotland openly declared it was against his conscience to fight against the Scots and committed sundry to prison under the name of Sectaries and preachers Thom Craister a Commissioner for sequestrations got most of his estate by that imployment and being a Captain in Carlisle Garison declared it was against his conscience to fight against the Scots and laid down his Commission raised near ten thousand pound of Delinquents by way of Fines for which he never yet accounted for and without authority of parliament or the Lord General continues still a professed Enemy to all such as are called Sectaries or Independents and imprisoned sundry of them for their judgement Thomas Langhorn did take and subscribe the Earl of Newcastles Oath a great countenancer of Malignant Ministers as Master Baldine of Penreth who refused to pray for parliament and Army while the Scots had an Army on foot A petty Shop keeper very unfit for a Justice of Peace John Hudson against whom I have nothing to object if others have they may but as he tells me he will rather undergo a fine then take the Oath with others in Commission whom he cannot approve of Lancelot Fletcher is a stranger to me I never knew or heard he was any wayes active or appeared for the parliament but by his Cavalier friends lived peaceably at home when the Enemy was in power Captain Coulsey what manner of man he is I reâ—er to the Articles against Howard Arthur Foster a Delinquent and in Armes bo h in the first and and second War against the parliament arraigned for murther and â—ued out his pardon by means of Sir Richard Graham to whose family he is a retainer For the Westmerland Justices I shall be brief being not my business and should have been wholly silent if the honest and suffering party there had not been concerned therein Edward Briggs noted for his malignancy to the Armies friends and for his life and conversation I shall forbear to speak but very many ways unfit for that imployment and ignorant of the Laws and Statutes of this Nation Roger Bateman was so disaffected to the change of Government from Kingly to Parl. as for a long time he refused to be sworn a Justice very passionate and Strafford never more cruelly persecuted the Puritans then he the Sectaries Thomas Burton a notorious Delinquent was a Trooper under Sir Thomas Tildesly expressing his malignancy by drinking the Kings health the gross misdemeanors in executing of his Office while he was Justice of Peace the many quarrelsome and troublesome suits his oppressions and unwarrantable and illegal commitments his daily frequenting ranting Cavaliers company are all proved before the Commissioners for compounding and much more for which be was fined Fifty pounds and disabled to be a Justice of Peace And whereas it is said that his father was plundered by Sir Philip Musgrave it is known that his father was under Sir Philip Musgraves protection and voluntary without compulsion lent large sums of money to Sir Philip to carry on the War and if there was a
Plots and practises against this Common-wealth and the manner of listing of some dangerous persons in the Lord Protectors Life-Guard such as for fear of discovery dare not own their own names Likewise I am constrained to declare some evil dilatory practises and proceedings of Chancery and Law proceedings in relation to my self and some friends with the causes for publishing the same which if you improve for publick good as redresse of private wrongs I shall rejoyce However my confidence is in my God and though he should slay me yet will I trust in him for the devices of the wicked shal not prosper and by their own Counsels they shall be destroyed JOHN MVSGRAVE The Cry of ABELS Bloud again from the Ground IT is not unknown to those who have read the History of England that few in the North for service done against the Scot deserved better or were greater asserters of their countries liberty then the family of the Musgrave's men of good estates and large Revenues of whom Speed in his Chronicle takes special notice with this Character The Ancient and Warlike Family of the Musgraves Sir Simon Musgrave my Grandfather served Queen Elizabeth upon those Borders as Deputy Warden for many years after his death the Queen was pleased to honour my father with that imployment in which service he so behaved himself as he preserved the borders from the Inrodes of the Scots and Rapines of the Outlaws of both Nations there with whom that Country in those times were infested I purpose not at this time to particularize the known services and the great executions my father did upon some eminent Scots enemies to our Nation for which he brought upon himself the envy of King James and most of the Scots Nobility who after the old Queens death watched for an opportunity to ruine my father and destroy his family and how hard a matter it is to stand before envy or bear the wrath of a King the prudent may consider Now about the 5th year of K. James's reign here in England one Thomas Musgrave a dissolute loose man and one Puckering more deboist drew into their company Sir Thomas Musgrave a young Gentleman and the eldest son of Sir Richard Musgrave my Grandfathers second son these fell upon the Kings Receivers in Westmerland and robbed them and the night after came to my fathers house in Cumberland and lodged there my father being then at Ednell ignorant both of the fact done and their being at his house as another of the same name who suffered for that fact at his death did solemnly declare Robinson then Bishop of Carlisle knowing how pleasant a thing iâ— would be to the King to bring my father within the compasse of the Law procures Puckering a pardon to become an approver against my father to evidence that he was privy of their being at his house after the fact done more they could not have any colour for King James glad of this doth forthwith cause a special Gaol Delâ—very to be called for tryal of my father and sent down as Commissioners the Earl of Dunbar with sundâ—y other Lords to carry on the design he well knowing that upon an equal tryal my father would be in no jeopardy and the King a moneth before the Tryal signs a Warrant for execution to prevent all Reprievalâ— all which was with much celerity performed according to the Kings direction but the great signal Testimonies of my fathers innocency and the Countreys dislike of those extraordinary proceedings much discoâ—tented the King and the Court faction my father left an estate setled upon my mother his children of 200 l. by year held by lease for 3 lives which King James would have seized on but upon Tryall in the Exchequer possession was established with her Afterwards my mother by perswasion of friends to her childrens undoing marries one Vaux a Gent. of ancient but most wicked bloudy family having no estate at all For Wil. Vaux his father having in a most barbarous and unheard of manner murthered one Ridley suffered for the same and did confiscate his whole estates And not long before Rowland Vaux father of William procured one Bell to personate two and procured a forged Acquittance for a debt of 100 l. Rowland owed to a Kinswoman for which perjuâ—y Bell lost his ears and for the forgery and subornation Vaux wore Paper and rode backward my Grandfather being then High Sheriff at the time of the execution of the sentence I would have forborn thus to have untombed the dead if I had not by a wicked Sister been provoked thereto Now for twenty years together Vaux in my fathers childrens right held an estate of 200 l. by year for which we never had any accompt in which time he purchased the Reversion of the whole with our moneys for which calling him to accompt I was with a 22 years consuming suits in Law wested and spent and yet is not come to any issue 〈…〉 Vaux in the beginning of the difference the more to disable me to prosecute my Cause beats my mother would have killed her with an hatchet put her out of doors and would have suborned witnesses to have sworn That she and I would have murthered him as some of the witnesses yet living do confesse The particular Processe and proceedings betwixt us I shall refer to another discourse and of old Coventries in justice King Charles's Order in the Case being not the thing I desire now to â—rge or presse While I was in this private contest a Parliament is called by which for a while I was as one raised from the dead but the Kings leaving his Parliament was the cause of new Troubles to me for upon my comming from London I was committed to Carlisle Castle for no other cause but that I said the Earl of Strafford was condemned for Treason But when the Commission of Array 〈◊〉 set a foot in our County then my father Vaux doubted not but to bring me to ruine knowing I was affected to and had declared for the Parliament and the better to compasse this end he procured one Richmond whose son after married his daughter and my sister at the Sessions of the Peace to put that illegal oath upon me called the oath ex Officio which I refusing was committed to close Gaol and then Richmond caused me to be indicted for speaking blasphemous words against the book of Common Prayer viz. that it was Popish but this having not colour to take away my life the next Sessions I was called forth and then Richmond commands me to take the Oath of Supremacy which I refusing twice I was returned back to the Gaol committed for Treason upon this Richmond conspires with Sir Richard Graham who had married his daughter to Sir Edward Musgrave's grandchild who wrongfully held an estate from my mother being her birth-right of 600 l. by year to procure a special Gaol Delivery for the Tryal of me and Captain Crakanthorp for the like offence but
then entertained by Lawson as captain under him for the parliament daily he resorted to the Enemies Garison in Carlisle drank the Kings health and being asked why he would serve the parliament he said he did the King better service then when he was of his party Lawson had a house pulled down by the Enemy in his Isle by Keswick for which he preferred after an indictment against sundry persons some not being near the place by twenty miles which indictment was found upon Orfears evidence against sundry persons that were not there and forced to compound with Lawson upon his own terms One of credit told me he was first named in that indictment and how Lawson swore that hee was the first put his hand to the pulling the house down whereas in truth the man was not near the place by ten miles and was forced to leave his habitation because he would not assist the Enemy in that work and so desired Lawson to consider his condition but the man not being able to traverse his indictment the poor creature was constrained for purchasing his peace to give Lawson six or seven pound this he told me before sundry credible persons all which I beleeve to be true It is credibly said that Orfear did take and subscribe that damnable Oath called the Earl of Newcastles Oath for destroying the Parliament as traytors and which Lawson did likewise as is proved when he was Lieutenant Colonel under Sir Patritius Curwin But as the Fool makes a mock of sin so these make as light matter of Oaths as all their practises demonstrate For Garth he was Qâ—arteâ—mâ—â—◠〈◊〉 to Sir Philip Musgrave and then Cornet to Col. Sir Henry Fletcher for the King and did likewise swear and subscribe the aforenamed O th for the E. of Newcastle but upon reducing of that Country he was made by Barwis Agent for sequestrations in which imployment if he had dealt faithfully he might have brought into the publike treasury 20000 l. which by his being Sollicitor at the same time for Delinquents was lost for while he was Agent for sequestrations Mr. Howard Sir John Lowther Mr. Dalston Richmond and other great Delinquents imployed him as their Steward to keep their Courts their Attorney and Sollicitor in suits of Law and some of them allowing him yearly stipends so as little could be made of any discovery or concealment most of the Commissioners for sequestrations themselves being likewise sequestrable and men dis-affected In the like cases how officious he was to serve his friends one of many may suffice My father Vaux being in contempt for not answering my Bill and for costs upon over-ruling of his Plea I came to Garth being Deputy Sheriff for the return of the two Attachments against Vaux he therewith had Orders and monies from Vaux to discharge the contempt and sue out a Commission to answer in the country and for the costs by the next Post he should receive direction from Vaux where to have money to pay me I told him I could not trust him and would not forbear prosecution unless he would go presently to the fix Clarks Office and pay the contempt money for not answering and give Commissioners names to his Clark accordingly Garth goes with me to Mr. Colburn in the fix Clarks Office to him Garth gave names for Commissioners Christopher Richmond Henry Daâ—res and others before Mr. Colburn paid me the contempt money and I joyned in the Commission and Garth in the presence of M. Golburn declared what he did was by Vaux direction Garth sues out the Commission but Vaux doth not execute but comes to London thinking to set his plea up again the former Commission is a bar to him Garth must help or it cannot be whereupon Garth makes affidavit that he had no direction to sue out a Commission or discharge the contempt and what he did was without the privity or direction of Vaux Upon this the Court referred it to the fix Clarks to examine whether the Commission was regularly sued out and upon hearing of Mr. Colburn the fixe Clarks certified for me and Garths wicked Oath was fruitless the affidavit is filed Henry Pearson told me Garth made an affidavit in the Upper Bench in Michaelmas Term last which is upon the File to which Pearson made another contrary to it so that one must be forsworn Many others have complained to me of Garths desperate swearing and affidavits For Dacres he could swallow the Earl of Newcastle's damnable Oath and I can most bear with him not onely in respect of his malignancy but for that Richmond and his wife had given him 160 l. for doing such like services against my mother and me as Richmonds wife hath in councel told sundry of her bosome friends Now what advantage could my mother have by my Oath as to the mistake of the moneth or what losse or disadvantage had or could Graham have by the same or how I can be brought within the compass of the statute of perjury I am not afraid to submit to the trial and judgement of the greatest of my enemies saving our Cumberland Justices of the peace and their Session juries and if the Gentlemens certificate on my bâ—half be disproved or either my mother or I could have one half-peny profit or the other so much loss by my supposed mistake or that the same was wilful knowingly or corruptly done by mâ— then let me have the like censure as Vaux his Bell with two tongues received for his most wicked wilful and corrupt perjury After my mother had recovered he Dowry my business carried me to the Assizes after held at Appleby in Westmerland thither am I persued by these bloudy men Being at Supper in my Inn some there took occasion of discourse of the Scottish King so called and of an expected change which I opposing one Richard Graham my brother Grahams brother sitting at the lower end of the table used provoking words whereat I seemed not to be moved thereupon this fellow called me rogue traitor and said that I was committed for treason against the King and all those that adhered to the Parliament were traitors and the King would have his right again and we should be all punisht as rogues and traitors Truly it was much I could forbear but passed the same over with other discourse as neglecting him After Supper I did go into the Town which Grahams brother having notice of with one of his Comrades purposed to have way-laid me as after I understood for while they were plotting against me for no other end then as I conceive privately to murther me if I had gone alone my man over-heard Grahams Comrade say to the other Musgrave hath his man with him and we shall not be able to deal with them both thus the Lord delivered me from those bloudy conspirators And the next morning I found this Graham lying in the Kitchin Chimney amongst the ashes asleep in a beastlike manner overcome with drink in all this