"--"All' entrare della milizia,
nota a tutta la citta per lo strepito de' tamburi, il popolo pieno
di spavento, e gia certo, che la fama divolgata dell' intenzione
del re era piu che sicura, comincio a radunarsi, serrando le porte
delle case, e chiudendo l'entrate delle botteghe, che conforme all'
uso della citta di lavorare innanzi giorno, gia s' erano cominciare
ad aprire, e ognuno si messe a preparare l'armi, apettando l'ordine
di quello si dovesse operare._" Lib. IX.
18. It was a frequent complaint of the tories at this period, that the
commons, in zeal for their own privileges and immunities, were apt
sometimes to infringe the personal liberties of the subject. This
is set forth with some humour in a political pamphlet of the day,
called, "A Dialogue betwixt Sam, the ferryman of Datchet, Will, a
waterman of London, and Tom, a bargeman of Oxford;" upon the king's
calling a parliament to meet at Oxford, London, 1681. "As to their
own members, they turned them out, and took others in at their will
and pleasure; and if they made any fault, they expelled them; and
wherever any stood in competition for any town, him they knew would
give his vote along with them was admitted, right or wrong. And then
they terrified all the sheriffs, mayors, and bailiffs in the
kingdom, besides abundance of gentlemen and other honest
countrymen.
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