Communicated hj Mr. James Waylen. 329 



in Devizes and a copyhold at Rowde, he was adjudged by the London 

 Committee to pay £230. 



. The examination of Richard Pearse, of the Devizes, woollen 

 draper, June, 1646, touching the articles presented against William 

 Thurman : — 



" Who to the first article, Saith — That Colonel Lunsford when he was Governor 

 of Malmesbury for the King, sent a warrant unto the town of the Devizes for 

 the raising of £400 to be brought unto him in short time ; upon which the said 

 Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey, with the consent of the Mayor and his company 

 I were sent to Malmesbury to the said Colonel to endeavour to get off or to mitigate 

 I the said fine of £400. And after their return home, not having prevailed in 

 their message, a party of about two hundred horse were sent by the said Colonel 

 to the Devizes to enforce the payment. Whereupon the inhabitants of the town 

 endeavoured to raise the money, and having collected great part thereof, sent it 

 to Malmesbury by the said Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey. After which, a 

 warrant arrived from one Captain Apsley, directing Mr. Northey to carry to 

 Malmesbury the plate in his hands, which had been collected for the use and 

 service of the Parliament; and about the same time, either another warrant from 

 Colonel Lunsford or some other means were used to enforce payment of the 

 residue of the £400 ; by which the said inhabitants were moved to collect it or 

 as much as could be gotten, wherewith Mr. Thurman and Mr. Northey were by 

 common consent to go a third time to Malmesbury. And this deponent saith 

 that Mr. Northey took this opportunity to carry also the plate to Malmesbury, 

 he having the particular charge and custody thereof ; and Mr. Thurman meddled 

 not with the plate as this deponent knoweth of ; and he had moreover his 

 travelling charges for these journeys borne by the town. As to the second 

 article, he affirms that Mr. Thurman endeavoured to absent himself from the 

 Assizes at Salisbury but was bound over, as this deponent discerned at the said 

 Assizes by hearing him there called upon his recognizance." 



The above evidence was taken by the section of the Wilts Com- 

 mittee acting in the Parliament's behalf, at that time sitting at 

 Devizes, and consisting of John Goddard, Edward Martyn, Thomas 

 Goddard, and Robert Brown, who thereupon expressed a desire that 

 the London Committee would accept what Mr. Thurman had already 

 paid as his " five and twentieth part 33 (the levy made on friends) , 

 and free him from further demands. Mr. Bradshaw being consulted 

 on his case, said that if Mr. Thurman's action at Salisbury constituted 

 real delinquency, then the Wilts Committee's power to compound 

 with him might be questioned ; but if they were so authorised, then 

 he must be discharged. Mr. Thurman evidently had the benefit of 



