304 Charles, Lord Stourton, 8fc. 



The Protector Somerset was now appealed to, not in any official 

 capacity, but as a mutual friend and their near neighbour in the 

 country, to interfere between Stourton and Hartgill. The appli- 

 cation had no doubt been made by Sir John Thynne, in writing to 

 whom the Protector thus refers to the subject : — 



(No. 37.) The Protector Somerset to Sir John Thynne. {Original at Long- 

 leat.) 



" We have receyved your letters. • • * For the matter between my Lord 

 Sturton and Hartgill, "We shall at our next meeting with my Lord Sturton 

 doo what wee can to make an end between them. 



"And whearas you write that you are informed wee had given from you * 

 the kepyng of the game of the Holt f and Bradley Woods unto my Lord 

 Sturton, you shall understand that wee have permitted unto hym to be but onlie 

 Master of our game there, as wee intend to permit hym the like, with th' office 

 of High Stuarde also, in dy verse other places, in consideration of certyn friend- 



shipp he hath done unto us of late. For the Holt wee had of Mr. , wee have 



promised it unto hym agayne of whom wee had it, as we keep it not still in our 

 owne hands. Howbeit wee intend as yet to occupie it ourselff. • * * And thus 

 fare you well. From Sion J the x**" of August 1551. 



" e. someeset." 



Riotous Entry on the Demesne of Mere A.D. 1550-1. 



Among the Star Chamber Proceedings of (probably) 1551, or 

 1552, there is a very long List of Interrogatories sent down into 

 CO. Wilts, for the purpose of closely inquiring into the particulars 

 of certain assaults alleged to have been committed by Lord Stourton 

 and his agents upon Thomas Chafyn and others, by forcibly seizing 

 Mr. Chafyn's sheep on the demesne lands of the Manor of Mere. 



From these interrogatories it appears that on the 18th September 

 1550, Lord Stourton sent notice to Mr. Chafyn to give up possession 

 of the said demesne lands and laid an indictment before the 

 Justices : but that nevertheless on the 16th February following 

 (1551) Mr. Chafyn's servants having charge of the sheep thereupon 

 were attacked by Lord Stourton and his servants armed with 

 weapons : the sheep were driven to Stourton House and impounded, 



• i.e. " Taken from you." The reader will not fail to notice the Royal plural we, the use of -which, 

 in his private letters, gaTe offence to the enemies of this powerful man. 

 + The name of a wood. 



t Syon Monastery, co. Middlesex is mentioned in an Act of Parliament 4th NoTemher 3 Edw. VI. 

 among a vast number of estates granted to the Duke. He resided there, and among the Marquis ot 

 Bath's papers is a MS. account of expenditure by the Protector in alterations, &c. 



