1(503.] TFIE RIVAL RECTORS. 239 



peaceable possession of the rectory and its titlies, the 

 Magistrates would send the sheriff to turn him (Wright) 

 out. This order was executed October 28th, 1660, 

 when Mr. Wrioht " with three small children and the 

 rest of the the family were turned Into the street." 

 Parson Wright appealed to the courts in London with 

 the object of establishing his right to the rectory, and 

 after many curious trials — in which he got the best of the 

 right rector (Deker) — and finally as he was on the point 

 of o-aininor the suit, the new law aQfainst non-conformants 

 having come into operation — Wright declining to con- 

 form, he was of course non-suited. " About the same 

 time it pleased God to arrest Mr. Deker with sickness, 

 so that he could not prosecute the business. He died 

 the latter end of November following ; and on his 

 deathbed acknowledged, that instead of gaining, he was 

 ^200 worse than at his coming thither." Such charity, 

 brotherly love, and religion ! Wright, the wrong rector, 

 died in 1685, "aged 80 or upwards."* 



The first reference to the races at Newmarket, in 

 the reign of Charles II., relates to the spring meeting 



in 1663. Charles II. 



In a letter from Thomas Ross, a sfentle- „ ^^®^- ^ 



•=' Newmarket. 



man in the suite of the Duke of Monmouth, March, 

 dated Newmarket, March 11, 1662-3, addressed to 

 Joseph Williamson, Esq., " Secretary to the Right 

 Hon. Sir Henry Bennet, Principal Secretary of State, 

 Whitehall," the writer requests the minister to obtain 

 from the king, and send him, a royal mandate 



* "The Nonconformist's Memorial," by Calamy and Palmer, vol. i., 

 P- 314- 



