By R. TV. Merriment, Esq. 



81 



as needing' repair, and similar presentments occur as to the cucking- 

 stole. The latter instrument may probably have been in requisition 

 on the 20th November, 28 Hen. VIII. , on which day it was pre- 

 sented that Alice Hicks rails [ascultat) under her neighbours' walls, 

 and that the same Alice is a common scold, to the serious nuisance 

 of her neighbours. Wherefore, &c. 



In a community so compact as was that of Marlborough it is 

 to be expected that the same names should be of frequent recurrence. 

 This was certainly so in the case of one litigant named Peter Peers 

 the younger. We hear of him first as sueing Walter Cullern, of 

 Manton, for a debt of 10<?., and it is clear that this claim had its 

 origin in some exercise of the healing art, because after divers pre- 

 sentments of non-payment by Cullern, a declaration of the cause of 

 action discloses, "That the same Peter, so he avers, has cured a 

 certain wound in the left hand of the said Walter/'' After a cross 

 suit by Cullern, and some other instances of the " law's delays," 

 the dispute is referred to two Arbitrators, who in their award 

 decide that Cullern is to pay to Peers I7s. } in full satisfaction of all 

 matters in difference between them, and that the said Peter and his 

 father " are to administer to the aforesaid Walter ointments and 

 other salves necessary for him, for the cure and healing of two fingers 

 and one thumb on his left hand." The arbitrators, somewhat boldly, 

 also awarded that the parties are hereafter to be on good terms. 



This was on the 11th of January, 1525, but ere long the ad- 

 venturous spirit of Peter Peers the younger brought him again 

 before the court. About six months afterwards we find the Mayor 

 examining the two sub-constables for what reason they had put Peter 

 Peers the younger in " Le Cage 33 against his commands. They 

 confessed that they had done wrong, and were forgiven. 



This introduction of Peter to the Ca^e arose out of a disturbance 

 between him and the watchmen. At the court held on St. Martin's 

 Day, 1526, Peter Peers produces a supersedens under the seal of 

 Thomas Yorke Knight, a county magistrate, requiring his discharge 

 from custody. It is probably in answer to this interposition by the 

 county justice that the Mayor proceeds to state at large the behaviour 

 of Mr. Peers. His narrative is as follows : — 



VOL. XIX. — NO. LV. G 



