138 



" Justice in Warminster in the Olden Time." 



the trials of prisoners and causes, but in the olden time those courts 

 had cognizance of many other matters. There were heard appeals 

 from quarter or petty sessions, concerning poor laws, or road repairs, 

 &C; and a further jurisdiction as to men, women, morals, and 

 property, quite paternal, though according to statute, common law, 

 or custom. 



The assize commissions of the western circuit have been preserved 

 from the sixteenth century, and there are four volumes of orders, 

 partly civil, partly criminal, extending from 1629 to 1688 (that most 

 memorable period of our history) which throw some light on seven- 

 teenth century manners. 1 



It will be remembered that no Parliament sat in England from 

 1629 to 1640 — King Charles I. was trying to get on without one. 

 Then, in 1640, there was the Short Parliament (April 13th to May 

 5th — twenty-two days) which was dissolved ; and on 3rd November 

 following the Long Parliament assembled. Then came the Civil 

 "War, August, 1642; the king's death, January, 1649 ; Cromwell's 

 rule; the Restoration, May, 29th, 1660; the Revolution bringing 

 in William III., February, 13th, 1689. During the whole of this 

 long agitated period of sixty years, assizes were held twice a year, 

 except from the spring of 1643 to the summer of 1646, when almost 

 every one was in arms. 



There is an order of the judge of assize, Sir Robert Foster, directed 

 to the inhabitants of Sturminster, Dorset (Dorchester was the last 

 place on this circuit), to "repair their bridges/' dated August 15th, 

 1642, seven days before King Charles unfurled his standard at 

 Nottingham ; and there is an order of an assize held at W r olvesay, 

 near Winchester, August 6th, 1646, made by Mr. Justice (afterwards 

 Chief Justice) Rolle, "that care shall be taken that legacies and gifts, 

 &c, heretofore given to the poor of Broughton, Hants, shall be 

 applied according to the true intent of the donors ; " and a further 

 order for raising a rate to repair the Church of that parish. 



1 Warminster in the Seventeenth Century. See Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 

 113, for a spirited account of that General's attempt to relieve Woodhouse, near 

 Longleat, and his advance over Warminster Heath (Common), skirmish there, 

 and retreat over the downs to Salisbury. 



