A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



' The humble petition of the County of Southampton, subscribed at 

 the late Assizes held at Winton, by the Grand Jury and neer 8000 of 

 the Gentry, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the said County ' set 

 forth, in a wordy preamble, that a learned and godly ministry such as 

 now for the most prevailed, though amid much opposition, was the 

 greatest blessing that England enjoyed, and prayed definitely, under four 

 heads, that (i) the universities with other schools and nurseries of 

 religion and learning might be continued ; that (2) tithes and other 

 settled maintenance for ministers may be upheld ; that (3) ' unsavory 

 salt may be cast out, and such as know not the worth of souls and are 

 only skilful to destroy them may be removed ' ; and that (4) there may 

 be a settled order established for the admission to the ministry of those 

 who are orthodox and fitly qualified. On Friday, 8 April, 1653, Major 

 Hooker, Captain Terry and Captain Chase, who had been desired by the 

 justices and grand jury and the other Hampshire petitioners to represent 

 them, presented this county petition personally in the House of Com- 

 mons. After the petitioners had withdrawn, the House resolved that 

 the petitioners be recalled and that Mr. Speaker should give them the 

 thanks of the parliament, and to let them know that some of the other 

 matters contained in the petition were already under consideration and 

 that the rest would be considered in due time. 1 



After an ineffectual attempt by the minority to abolish tithes, a 

 committee was appointed on 10 July to consider the propriety and 

 legality of their payment. It did not report until the following Decem- 

 ber, and meanwhile Hampshire again petitioned. 



On 28 September, 1653, Mr. Hooker, the recorder of Winchester, 

 with four other esquires of the county, presented a petition to the parlia- 

 ment from ' many of the well-affected of the County of Southampton 

 and town and county thereof in favour of the continuance of tithes. 

 The recorder's speech and the petition itself both allege that they were 

 moved to take this action because of a petition in the contrary sense 

 lately presented from the county of Kent. They argued that tithes were 

 of above 500 years' growth and had been confirmed by Magna Charta, 

 and that their abolition would be grievous both to ministers of the 

 gospel and to impropriators and to their respective families. The 

 petitioners withdrew and after a short debate were again called in, and 

 the Speaker made the following meaningless answer : ' That the House 

 had commanded him to give them thanks for their good Affections ; and 

 that the particulars by them petitioned for were under debate, and the 

 Parliament will proceed therein as God shall direct them.' * 



It is a mistake to imagine that the Commonwealth was a period of 

 toleration. The Presbyterians and the Independents found it necessary 

 to conclude a truce, which also embraced the Baptists ; but for Anglicans, 

 Romanists, Quakers and Unitarians there was nothing but persecution. 

 The Quakers suffered most severely, though their continuous interrup- 

 tion of the worship of others was most provocative. 



1 Brit. Mus., King's Pamphlets, E. 693, iv. * Ibid. 714. 



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