.40 Records of the Rising in the West, A.D. 1655. 



Articles and read them distinctly to tlie said Rogers and Lane, Th[ey in]* the 

 Capt.'s name signed the said Articles w'^''. were as followeth or to this effect : — 

 That the severall persons therein comprised npon delivering upp their severall 

 Quarters, should hare their lives, liberties, and estates, and never bee further 

 questioned by any power whatsoever, and were to have free quarter, and a 

 convoy to their severall homes ; The originall thus signed wee are able to pro- 

 duce and sufficiently prove, f yet notwithstanding the sence wee have of the 

 greatnes of our offence hath soe humbled us, that wee prostrate ourselves at 

 your Highnesses and your Honor's feet and doe declare that wee doe totally 

 referre ourselves and our Lives to your mercyes humbly offering these our Articles, 

 w"'. we doubt not, but wee shall substantially prove if your Highnesse and your 

 Hono" shall vouchsafe us this favour •w"'^. wee most humbly implore that we 

 may be called thereto for w'^h wee shall be bound to pray for your Highcesss 

 and your Hono" prosperity as become 



Your Highnesse and yo' Hono" most humble suppliants and servants, 



Jo. Peneuddock, 

 Feancis Jones. " 



It should be observed however that as we cannot summon Croke 

 in reply, the affair must, on our present information, remain open. 

 Col. Penruddock though he called him, in a very special manner 

 during his trial, to verify Articles, no doubt those mentioned in 

 the petition ; never so far as we know, put any questions to any 

 one as to the persons and details, above-mentioned. Still it has 

 the force of the Colonel's own handwriting, and is signed by 

 him and Jones. Towards the end there are some erasures, which 

 may suggest that this is a draft copy, rather than the docu- 

 ment itself, as finally presented to the Protector, and his council. 

 We may assign it, (for there is no date) to the period of the Petitioners' 

 residence in London, prior to their trials, that is the end of March, 

 or early in April, 1655, a circumstance not to be lost sight of in 

 considering its historical value. 



But if there be doubt as to Penruddock and Jones and others, 



there can be none as to Wake. Croke had, as we have seen, touched 



upon the subject in his letter to the Lord Protector j ^ later in a 



letter to Thurloe he says : — 



** Sir, I wrote to his highnesse lately concerning five men (who are the most 

 inconsiderable of the company, not one of them being of estate or qualitie as I 

 can learne,) to whom I promised who kept a house against me 4 howers that I 



* The letters in brackets are in the original torn off. 

 + From here to end of paragraph, in the original copy the writing has been scored in places with 

 a pen. 



*See vol. xiii., p. 131, Wilts Mag. 



