126 ftecords of the Rising in the West, A.D. 1655. 
marched to Blandford, where they enlisted 80 more. Thence they 
returned towards Salisbury.!. Having waited some time for their 
friends from Hampshire, of whom few (among them two of the Duke 
family,) came, they feared to wait any longer, and so at the early 
dawn of the following morning, whilst it was yet dark, to the num- 
ber of about 200, led by Sir Joseph Wagstaffe, Colonels Penruddock, 
Grove and Jones, they entered Salisbury. They posted a good force 
on the Market Place, and forthwith seized all the horses in the town, 
at the same time putting guards on the various hostelries. Then 
they broke open the gaol, and found willing recruits. After that 
they apprehended in their beds, the Judges of Assize, the Lord Chief 
Justice Rolle, and Mr. Baron Nicholas,’ and the High Sheriff of 
Wilts, Mr. John Dove, who were assembled in that city for the 
Spring Assizes.2 Having brought both Judges and Sheriff out of 
doors, Wagstaffe ordered them to be hanged. Penruddock with the 
feelings of a Hallam‘ protested against this step, and induced the 
party to allow the Judges to go free, shorn of their Commissions, 
telling them to remember to whom they owed their lives, whilst the 
High Sheriff—one of the King’s Judges—was reserved as a very 
sufficient hostage. The latter narrowly escaped death, for he refused, 
though weeping, in all humility, to proclaim Charles the Second, 
but it was thought some better man might be exchanged for him, 
so his life was spared, literally as a prey. There is a paragraph 
about him in the newspaper called “ The Perfect Proceedings, March 
15th to 22nd, 1655.” 5 
1See Collin’s Sir Joseph Wagstaffe’s servant’s statement infra. 
2 An ancestor of the present Recorder of Wilton. 
3 Tt is curious to find the following in Rolle’s Abridgement, vol. ii, p. 97:— 
‘‘ Justices Itinerants. Henry de Braibrock un justice itinerant estcant surprise 
en temps Henry III. per Falcasius et Imprison pur ceo que 30 Verdicts avoint 
passe vers luy. Per l’assent de Parliament le Roy vae enperson ode le clergie 
and Laietie al seige del lieu and luy deliver accordant. Speed 513, 
4 Hallam’s Constitutional History. 
5 Throughout this paper, wherever possible, I give the modern dates to avoid 
confusion. Here, 1655, not 1654. For what occurred at Salisbury Lord Clar- 
endon is the best guide, as he no doubt received his information from the lips 
of Sir Joseph Wagstaffe. It will not be forgotten that these are but newspapers, 
and rank not in the same file with records, family or state papers. 
