Communicated by Mr. James Wag ten. 



335 



and received part of the rents. But of late the tenants have been threatened, 

 and our agent also disturbed so greatly by one Mr. Player of Kempsford, who 

 is oftentimes resident at Warminster, where the estate of Sir Henry Frederick 

 Thynne lyeth, that we cannot get in the monies due. Upon the bitter complaints 

 now of the tenants, and in order better to collect the arrears due, we could do no 

 less than inform you thereof, desiring you to send for the said Player before you, 

 or give what further order shall be thought convenient. Your affectionate 

 servants, 



" William Ludlow. Nicholas Geeen. Bennet Swaine. 



Michael Tidcombe, of the Devizes, Esq., sometime an attorney-at- 

 law. He acknowledges in his petition that he adhered to the forces 

 raised against the Parliament, that he acted as a receiver of monies 

 in the King's behalf, and that he was employed in and about the 

 Commission of Oyer and Terminer appointed by His Majesty to be 

 executed at Salisbury. Being heartily sorry for these his offences, 

 he now prays to be admitted to a favourable composition, and to 

 receive the benefit of the mercy offered to others. 25th November, 

 1645. This and other petitions of Mr. Tidcombe were addressed 

 from Ely House, where he had been a prisoner ever since the 11th 

 of November, in the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consequence 

 of his not having answered with sufficient promptness the summons 

 to appear before the London sequestrators. To prove that he had 

 made arrangements to go up before the arrival of the second message 

 from London, he procured testimonials from two Devizes friends, 

 Daniel White and Edward Seager, and also from Colonel Thomas 

 Eyre, the newly-appointed Governor of Devizes Castle after its 

 capture by Oliver Cromwell. Imprisonment was felt in his case to 

 be a very grievous infliction. He describes his affairs as running to 

 ruin — wife and seven children left in an impoverished condition, and 

 a long schedule of debts encumbering his action. Recapitulating 

 all these facts to his counsel, Mr. Alexander, he earnestly begs him 

 not to omit them in his report, terminating his appeal thus : — " Good 

 Sir, do me all the lawful favour you can in your report, and you 

 shall be sure to have the prayers of a poor faithful prisoner. Michael 

 Tidcombe." His fine was estimated at £450. A subsequent pro- 

 posal seems to have been made to reduce it to £217, but he 

 eventually paid the larger sum in September, 1646. At the foot of 



