12(> Records of the llising in the West, A.I). 1655. 



marched to Blandford, where they enlisted 80 more. Thence they 

 returned towards Salisbury. 1 Having waited some time for their 

 friends from Hampshire, of whom few (among* them two of the Duke 

 family ,) came, they feared to wait any longer, and so at the early 

 dawn of the following morning, whilst it was yet dark, to the num- 

 ber of about 200, led by Sir Joseph Wagstaffe, Colonels Penruddock, 

 Grove and Jones, they entered Salisbury. They posted a good force 

 on the Market Place, and forthwith seized all the horses in the town, 

 at the same time putting guards on the various hostelries. Then 

 they broke open the gaol, and found willing recruits. After that 

 they apprehended in their beds, the J udges of Assize, the Lord Chief 

 Justice Rolle, and Mr. Baron Nicholas, 2 and the High Sheriff of 

 Wilts, Mr. J ohn Dove, who were assembled in that city for the 

 Spring Assizes. 3 Having brought both Judges and Sheriff out of 

 doors, Wagstaffe ordered them to be hanged. Penruddock with the 

 feelings of a Hallam 4 protested against this step, and induced the 

 party to allow the Judges to go free, shorn of their Commissions, 

 telling them to remember to whom they owed their lives, whilst the 

 High. Sheriff — one of the King's Judges — was reserved as a very 

 sufficient hostage. The latter narrowly escaped death, for he refused, 

 though weeping, in all humility, to proclaim Charles the Second, 

 but it was thought some better man might be exchanged for him, 

 so his life was spared, literally as a prey. There is a paragraph 

 about him in the newspaper called " The Perfect Proceedings, March 

 15th to 22nd, 1655/' 5 



1 See Collin's Sir Joseph Wagstaffe' s servant's statement infra. 

 2 An ancestor of the present Recorder of Wilton. 

 3 It is curious to find the following in Rolle's Abridgement, vol. ii, p. 97: — 

 u Justices Itinerants. Henry de Braibrock un justice itinerant esttant surprise 

 en temps Henry III. per Falcasius et Imprison pur ceo que 30 Verdicts avoint 

 passe vers luy. Per l'assent de Parliament le Roy vae enperson ode le clergie 

 and Laietie al seige del lieu and luy deliver accordant. Speed 513. 



4 Hallam's Constitutional History. 

 5 Throughout this paper, wherever possible, I give the modern dates to avoid 

 confusion. Here, 1655, not 1654. For what occurred at Salisbury Lord Clar- 

 endon is the best guide, as he no doubt received his information from the lips 

 of Sir J oseph Wagstaffe. It will not be forgotten that these are but newspapers, 

 and rank not in the same file with records, family or state papers. 



