286 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 258. 



WILLIAM HOULBROOK, THE BLACKSMITH OF 

 MARLBOKOUGH. 



There has lately fallen into my hands a tattered 

 little piece with the running title of A Blacksmith 

 and no Jesuit, pleasantly narrating the troubles 

 the above-named loyal subject got into with the 

 Eump, for refusing to become subservient to 

 Oliver's government. One Cornet Joyce, with a 

 small detachment, had, it appears, been prowling 

 about ]MarlborGugh watching the movements of 

 the Cavaliers ; and thinking that the farrier could 

 furnish them with a cue to the parties secretly 

 *' carrying on the interest of Charles Stuart," 

 Joyce jesuitically represents himself as a Royalist, 

 and In this manner entraps the Smith ; who, upon 

 the information thus obtained, is had up a prisoner 

 to London. Houlbrook is here put upon his 

 mettle by being confronted and Interrogated by 

 Bradshaw. Vulcan, before an open enemy, is, 

 however, a waggish fellow ; chopping logic, and 

 parrying the snares laid for him by this arch king- 

 killer and others, who would incite him to peach 

 upon the Royalists. Very well: these examin- 

 ations, notwithstanding, result in the Smith's 

 "committal by Bulstrode Whitelock, President, 

 for high treason, in holding correspondence with 

 the enemies of this Commonwealth ; " but, finding 

 that intimidation had not answered their views, 

 Houlbrook, after being bullied and badgered by 

 their High Court of Justice, gets out of their 

 clutches; and upon a review of his sufferings 

 here detailed, exclaims, " If this be tlie Good 

 Old Cause for which the R.ump have cried out 

 so, I must say with the Litany — Good Lord, 

 deliver us from such men!" Back again to his 

 home, the blacksmith became a notable, and the 

 sequel of his story may be gathered from his 

 "Song:" 



" William Houlbrook is my name, 

 For loyalty I siiffer'd shame, 

 For ■which the Rump ^ya3 much to blame. 

 Which nobody can deny, &c. 



" To be a pris'ner was my fate, 

 In the dark dungeons of I^ewgate, 

 For bloody Bradshaw did me hate. 



Which nobody can deny, &c. 

 " For in July, in Fifty-nine, 

 I most dearly paid my fine, 

 The Rump from goodness did decline ; 

 Which nobody can deny, &c. 



" At last the Rump was well paid off, 

 Tho' of rebellion they made a scoff: 

 So I, poor blacksmith, did come off, 



Which nobody can den3-, &c. 



" And now I dwell in Marlborough town, 

 For all my wrongs had ne'er a crown. 

 And yet I am of some renown, 



Which nobody can deny, &c. 



" For I do make both nails and shoes, 

 And I can tell you pleasant news, 

 If you do act like good True Blues, 



Which nobody can deny," &c. 



At the Restoration, Charles looked upon the 

 sufferings and sequestrations of his nobles as amply 

 rewarded by the reinstation of the monarchy ; and 

 probably these latter repaid the blacksmith in the 

 like coin, holding the re-establishment of the old 

 noblesse and squirearchy an equivalent for the 

 shield he had thrown over them in troublous times. 

 But I have forgotten my Queries : Is the black- 

 smith's story elsewhere recorded ? And can any 

 of your curious readers give me a copy of the title 

 and remainder of the smith's ditty, wanted in my 

 mutilated book ? J. O. 



[We subjoin the concluding verses : 



" Make use of me, be not afraid, 

 Mj' suff 'rings have not me dismay'd, 

 Altho' by Cornet Joyce betvay'd, 



Which nobody can deny, &.c. 



" 'Now from my song I here will rest, 

 And pray for those who are the best. 

 For many knaves have feather'd their nest. 

 Which nobody can deny. 

 Which nobody can deny." 



The song is followed by a list of "The names of those 

 whom Joyce and his bloody crew did endeavour to ruin." 

 Also "A Speech made by a worthy Member of Parliament 

 in the House of Commons, concerning the other House, 

 March, 1G59." This edition consists altogether of 140 

 pages, with the following long title-page : — "A Genuine 

 and Faithfull Account of the Sufferings of William Houl- 

 brook, Blacksmith, of Jlarlborough, in the Reign of 

 Charles I., showing the artifices and treacherous insinu- 

 ations of Cornet Joyce, Tynn, and others of that horrid 

 crew ; how he was ensnar'd into all the dangers and 

 difficulties those regicides could invent. Together with 

 his commitment to Newgate, where he was inhumanly 

 treated, and loaded with irons. Also his several examin- 

 ations before Bradshaw and his execrable companions : 

 with other particulars in prose and verse. The whole 

 written by himself during his confinement. To which is 

 added, A learned Speech made by a worthy Member of 

 Parliament in the House of Commons, concerning the 

 other House, of that critical and dangerous year 1659. 

 London, printed for R. Montague, at the Book Warehouse 

 in Wild Street, 1744. Price, bound, one shilling and six- 

 pence." The first edition of this curious piece, published 

 in 1600, onl}' extends as far as the postscript on p. 97. of 

 the edition of 1744.] 



Arthur^ Earl of Anglesey. — Can any of your 

 readers inform me where I can find a sale cata- 

 logue of the library of Arthur, Earl of Anglesey, 

 which was sold at the Black Swan, near St. Paul's, 

 the 25th October, 1686, 4to., 176 pages ? H. G. 



The noted Westons of Winchelsea. — During a 

 recent photographic visit to Winchelsea, a locality 

 which I recommend all your photographic readers 

 to avail themselves of, who wish for a good day's 



