pressing of riots and routs ;" and call to their assistance the train bands, if need be, of the same county. And the Parliamentary forces next adjoining to be aiding and assisting the Participants, in guarding and keeping these sluices and sewers, and in repairing what had been so demolished, and in levelling the taxes legally imposed, tending to the preservation of so good and beneficial a work to the commonwealth. The Sheriff was also enjoined to appoint a deputy within the limits of the Level; and this order of Parliament was to be published in the several churches and market towns of the county. These measures being put in force, seven of the inhabitants of Epworth had recourse again to their favourite system of litigation, and endeavoured to overturn what had before been settled, with their consent, by the award of the Attorney-General; but meeting with little success, they returned to their old practice of rioting: for the Sheriff having come with about one hundred persons to preserve the peace, and to repair the damage done to the four thousand acres first laid waste, one Daniel Noddell, solicitor for the litigious inhabitants of Epworth, gathered together about four hundred men defeated the Sheriff, and demolished the reparation which he had begun to effect. The Participants being thus forcibly kept out of possession, endeavoured to obtain redress from the Court of Exchequer; but while the case was hearing, Nodell, having obtained the assistance of Lieut.-Colonel John Lil burne*, a person of a most turbulent disposition, and also of Major John Wildman, * John Lilburne, a stern republican, was one of the most restless and contentious spirits of the time. John was an apprentice in London to a poor book-binder, where he first exhibited his impatience of controul, by a complaint before the Chamberlain against his master for ill-usage. He then began to study the divinity of the time; and the Book of Martyrs inspired him with an enthusiastic fervour for acting and suffering in what he deemed a righteous cause.. He was soon called upon to suffer; and no one could go through his trials with a more unsubdued spirit. Lilburne passed a life of contention against power, in every hand in which it was placed, and of dispute with all his superiors in command; which no doubt procured for him great popularity with the lower orders, and the title of free-born John. He was a violent controversialist on civil and religious topics; a brave soldier, but never found an authority under which he could act. Cromwell made use of him to inflame the army against the Parliament; but no sooner was the sovereign power lodged in Crom well's Wildman*, headed the inhabitants in another riot, and laid waste theremaining three thousand four hundred acres on Epworth, which till then had remained undisturbed. The sufferers not knowing what to do, complained several times to Michael Monkton, a Justice of the Peace for the said parts, who not only refused to grant any warrants, or to pursue any legal course for their preservation, but on the contrary gave encouragement to the rioters; and succeeded so far in protecting them by his influence, that, when indicted and found guilty at the sessions, they were fined only twelve-pence a man. In 1650, a decree was issued from the Exchequer in favour of the Participants, which the inhabitants, through the influence of Lilburne, Wildman, and Noddell, refused to obey, and said they could make as good a parliament themselves, some calling it "a parliament of clouts ;" and declared, that if any forces were sent they would resist them. They then proceeded to deface the Church at Sandtoft; buried carrion under the communion table, carried away the leads and seats; "and within ten days' time, did totally demolish the town itself, with the houses thereabouts, to the number of four-score and two habitations, besides barns, stables, and out-houses, and also a wind-mill, and destroyed all the corn and rape then growing, the damage of which amounted to four score thousand pounds, as appeared by the testimony of sundry witnesses." These rebels, with their confederates, Jasper Margrave and George Stovin, having got possession of the Participants' lands both in Epworth and Crowle, demised well's hands, than Lilburne loaded him with every species of abuse and invective. Cromwell had him tried for high treason; but the jury returned a verdict of acquittal, which infinitely enraged and perplexed Cromwell, who is said to have regretted it more than the loss of a battle. Noddell and others drew him into disputes respecting the rights of commons, &c. and he appears to have acted with spirit in their cause. He wrote "the Case of the Tenants of the Manor of Epworth." This singular man at last turned Quaker. *Wildman was bred a scholar in the University of Cambridge; and being young and of a pregnant wit, in the beginning of the rebellion meant to make his fortune by the war. He was patronized by Cromwell, who made use of him in his disputes with the Parliament. He afterwards quitted the army, and betook himself to civil affairs, in the solicitation of suits depending in the Parliament or before committees. He was afterwards imprisoned for exciting the army to take up arms against Cromwell; and many expected he would have been executed. Lord Clarendon thinks he was let off on condition of becoming a spy in Cromwell's service. demised several parts to different persons; and Lilburne, having repaired the house which had been built for the Minister at Sandtoft, sent his servants to reside there, and used the Church for a stable and barn. In 1653, an order was made by the Council of State, that the forces quartered in that neighbourhood should aid and assist the officers of justice in putting a stop to these abominable proceedings; and that a special commission of oyer and terminer should be issued to try the rioters, and to inquire of the damages suffered by the Participants and their tenants: but notwithstanding this the said inhabitants still continued in open rebellion. Another character now appears upon the scene, who, if Vermuyden deserves "high praise and honourable mention in all histories" for making his drains, ought to be compared to Hercules, for his prowess and incredible labours in subduing the rioters, and defending the property of the Participants. This person was Mr. Nathaniel Reading, a Counsellor. He was first sent into the country by the Earl of Antrim, who had married the Dowager Duchess of Buckingham, to collect the fee farm rents in arrear, granted by King Charles to the late Duke. He was employed by the Commoners as their counsel when the allotments were divided; but he seems quickly to have deserted that side, and to have agreed with Sir Anthony Tryram and the other Participants, for a salary of £200 per annum, and indemnification of all charges, to undertake the work of subduing his old patrons, and enforcing upon them obedience to the laws. This was, to use the political phraseology of the present day, "ratting" with a vengeance; and is sufficient to account for that deadly hatred which afterwards existed in the hearts of the Commoners towards him. Mr. Reading being appointed collector of the rates and scotts imposed by the Court of Sewers on the improved lands, and payment thereof being refused by the Commoners of Epworth, he distrained their cattle, which they rescued with great violence from the pinfold at Hatfield, wounding the constable in the head and both his legs. The Court of Sewers, in vindication of their authority, sent a remonstrance to Cromwell, to this effect, "that the *Records of the Court of Sewers, Vol. 2. the inhabitants of the Isle of Axholme had wounded and maltreated the officers who, by order of this Court, had distrained upon them for a certain scott or rate; and had rescued from them the distress*. And not being content with having in a forcible manner dispossessed the Participants of four hundred * We learn from the depositions, in the records of the Court of Sewers, who were the principal actors in this rescous. One of the deponents says he saw James Brown and his Son, armed with a fork, Wm. Brown with a club, Alexander Clark with a club, William Shuttleworth with a club, Allen Coggan and Jos. Waterland with a club, John Wilson, Wm. Moody, blacksmith, and Peter Cheesman with a pistol; Thos. Potts, John Glew the elder, and John Glew the younger, Rowland Stephenson, with a sword; Edmund Maw, Robert Maw, Daniel Lander, Wm. Tate, Charles Tate, Robert Pycock, Alexander Batty, William Ellis, with a sword; all of Belton aforesaid. Peter Barnard, of Epworth, is accused of having threatened, that if Mr. Reading came to Low Melwood, or Epworth, or Owston, or Ferry, he wonld have four men to lay in wait for him. A chirurgeon of the name of Grey deposes, that Thomas Heddon, constable of Hatfield, had divers wounds upon his head, arms, and legs, which if they had not been immediately attended to would have endangered his life. In consequence of these informations, the following persons were summoned before the Court of Sewers, in Dec. 1655, and fined in various sums. Thos. Glew Peter Cheesman, yeo. Thomas, the Servant of Mr. Ryther Allan Coggan, yeo. John Glew, the elder Daniel Elmer Wm. Tate Wm. Eratt, of West Butterwick Christopher Maw, of Epworth Thomas Flisher, labourer John Hudess hundred acres of land, as we are credibly informed, for which and other offences they were excepted out of the general pardon, they have compelled the Participants to maintain the banks for the preservation of those lands thus taken from them. And, notwithstanding their former misdemeanors did too sadly presage their future disobedience, yet hoping what we all most earnestly desired, a change of spirit in them, we requested our worthy friend Nath. Reading, Esq. being both a Commissioner and a Participant, to undertake the getting in of the assessments charged upon the said lands, and empowered him accordingly, requiring the Sheriff of the county to be assistant to him therein. But when the said Mr. Reading had distrained several of their goods, some of the inhabitants of the said Isle, to the number of one hundred, with swords, pistols, carbines, halberts, and other arms, did, at Hatfield, in the county of York, assault and set upon the persons appointed to keep the said distress, dangerously wounded several of them, and amongst them the constable of the said town, who in your Highness' name, charged them to keep the same. And when, on the 19th inst. the Sheriff of the said county of Lincoln, in pursuance of a precept, assisted Mr. Reading in taking another distress, several of the assailants aforesaid, to the number of forty or fifty, rescued that distress likewise." The remonstrance then concludes with petitioning Cromwell for some extraordinary powers, in order to enable the Court to enforce obedience to their orders; and express their fears that the Islonians would be guilty of still further outrages against the public peace. On the presentation of this remonstrance Major-General Whalley was deputed to call both parties before him, and to examine the whole matter, which he accordingly did. The Commoners, however, affected to treat his authority very lightly. They declared, "that if the Lord Protector himself were to come, they would make no more of him than of an ordinary person,......and that they would choose a hundred men out of the Isle, against a hundred of Cromwell's soldiers, who should fight them for their possessions*." * Geo. Starke's deposition. In |