POLITICAL HISTORY 



new sequestrating body for Dorset. This continued' till 14 March, 1653—4, 

 when, in consequence of an Act of the previous February,'' one of their 

 number. Dewy, was appointed sub-commissioner in the county.* 



The functions of the committees had been varied. They included the 

 seizing and scheduling of the real and personal estates of delinquents, the 

 control over payments made by the treasurer of the county, the grant of 

 compensation for damages, assessment and rating of obligations, and the 

 alteration of such assessments. The committee also administered the 

 National Covenant, and gave probate of wills. It controlled the county 

 levies, and in 1647 (6 May) disbanded the county troop, raising two new 

 troops of horse in 1648 (6 July),* and disbanding them again in November.^ 

 The committee had complete control of ecclesiastical affairs, administering 

 the directory, examining into the delinquency of incumbents (an office 

 delegated for convenience to certain unofficial sub-committees of 'Triers'), 

 filling the places of sequestered clergy, and administering * not only the 

 benefices and the schools, but concerning themselves with details of appoint- 

 ments of parish clerks, repair of the churches and parsonages, and storage of 

 the church keys. 



In May, 1660, an address of congratulation to the king on his Restora- 

 tion, ' numerously signed,' was sent from Dorset.^ But almost immediately 

 signs of the old spirit began to come to light. These were invariably 

 connected with the religious question. In February, 1661, John Wesley 

 (great-grandfather of the famous Methodist), vicar of Winterborne Whit- 

 church, was informed against for ' diabolically railing against the late king 

 and his posterity, and praising Cromwell.' ' The three deputy lieutenants of 

 Dorset and Somerset had by this time ' just cause of suspicion of a general 

 disturbance,' and feared lest the disaffected should assist one another." 

 Walter Stone of Sherborne prophesied a rising before November, and said 

 that though only fifty of that town were in the plot the old soldiers would 

 join.^" Next year ' the sectaries boast that they shall have their day soon, a 

 rising in Somerset and Dorset is daily expected.' " The severities of the 

 Clarendon Code, however, reduced the malcontents to outward submission, 

 and it was reported in October, 1664, that all was again peaceable. The 

 Dissenters had indeed suffered greatly. The Quakers again fell victims, 

 two hundred of them being imprisoned in Dorset in 1662.'' In Decem- 

 ber, 1664, out of nine Nonconformist ministers at Dorchester five had 

 been imprisoned upon suspicion of being implicated in the ' plot ' above 

 mentioned. Six ministers and seventy other persons were then in prison for 

 Nonconformity. ' The town,' it was said, ' is most factious, and has daily 

 conventicles.' ^' Loyalty to the Stuarts, never very marked, was for the 

 moment strengthened by the issue of the Declaration of Indulgence 

 (15 March, 1672). A large number of nonconforming ministers instantly 

 availed themselves of it at Dorchester.'* Charles II was received with much 



' Cal. CommUtei fir Compounding (1643), xiv ; C. H. Mayo, op. cit. xxii. 



' Scobell, op. cit. 278. ^ Thurke Papers, iii, 263. 



* Min. Bb. Dors. Com. fol. 205, 252;printedMayo, 208, 273. ' Fol. 125, 159; Mayo, 408, 471. 



'^ Jt'ey mouth Chart, vii, 22-4. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1 660- 1, p. 4. 



' Ibid. 504. = Ibid. 1661-2, p. 439. '° Ibid. 526. 



" Ibid. 1663-4, P- 'SO- " ibid. 1661-2, p. 426. " Ibid. 1664-5, P- ^O- 



" Dorch. Corp. MSS. c. 15, under dates 17 May, 4 April, 8 May, &c. 1672. 



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