155 Before the publication of the Field-Musings, Wither had disbanded his troop; his reasons are briefly given in the Nil Ultra: But so divisions them enraged Who were in that contest engaged, That I my troop did soon disband; My sword and arms quite flung away, He declared in "the speech without door," delivered July 9, 1644, that he had served the republic in a military capacity while he had any thing to serve it with, and had kept his horses until they had "twice eaten out their heads." A MS. note, in a contemporary hand-writing in the copy of the speech among the King's pamphlets, says that the author was at the time Poet Laureat, a title never claimed or even mentioned by Wither himself. Our poet did not again take up his sword. He had told Lord Essex in the dedication of the Field-Musings, that his pen would probably strengthen the Parliament army more than a regiment of horse; and he showed himself quite as active in one employment as he had been in the other. Polemical pens are rarely idle or exhausted. In the same year he addressed "Letters of Advice" to all the counties and corporations of England, particularly Southampton and Surrey, "touching the choice of Knights and Burgesses;" and in the following year he lifted up a "Voice of Peace," tending, as he hoped, to the pacification of God's wrath, and the healing of the wounded commonwealth. But they whose assistance had contributed to raise the storm, possessed no power either to mitigate or allay it; and observers, like Wither, who expected the cloud would have dissolved in a little harmless lightning, turned away in doubt and fear from its threatening aspect. He waited for peace, but he waited in vain *. He was himself soon to fall under the vindictive malice of the party with whom he had sided. At the close of 1645, or the beginning of 1646, he was ejected from the magistracy of Surrey, to which he had been appointed by the Long Parliament, principally, as he suspected, through the interest of Sir Richard Onslow and his friends, "who found it pertinent to the establishing their designs on the Government, that he should be put out of the commission." Wither did not often conceal his sentiments, whether of love or hatred, and he immediately retaliated on his enemy in a very bitter pamphlet, Justiciarius Justificatus; or, The Justice Justified, in which he vindicated his conduct in the execution of his duty, having, he declared, neither delayed nor perverted justice, nor put any man to so much cost for it as the expense of one clerk's fee." This attack enraged Onslow, and on the 10th of April, 1646, he complained of the pamphlet to the House of Commons; and Wither, who happened to be at the door, where his petitions caused him to be a frequent attendant, being called in, avowed himself the author. Upon this it was resolved, "That Mr. G. Wither be forthwith sent for as a delinquent by the Serjeant at Arms;" and having been brought in a second time, after he had "kneeled awhile," the Speaker informed him of the intention of the House to refer the consideration of the • Opobalsamum Anglicanum, August, 1646. pamphlet to the Committee of Examinations. On the 4th of May, Mr. Whittacre and some other members of that committee were directed to send for Wither, and to inquire into the truth of his allegations. The following extract from the Journal of the House of Commons for the 7th of August, 1646, will not be uninteresting: "Mr. Whittacre reports the state of the examinations concerning a pamphlet written and published by Mr. George Withers, intituled Justiciarius Justificatus; and concerning a practice informed of in Mr. Withers, and one Mr. Andrewes Burrell, of accusing Sir Richard Onslow that he sent monies to the King at Oxon; and the several examinations, and the instances and inferences out of them, were all read by the Reporter. The humble petition of George Wither was read, desiring further time to prove what he suggested in his book. "Another humble petition of George Wither was read, expressing his sorrow for his error in transgressing against the privileges of this House." It having been resolved that the reflections upon Onslow in the Justiciarius Justificatus were unfounded, 'false and scandalous,' the question was "propounded, that Mr. George Wither should pay unto Sir Richard Onslow the sum of five hundred pounds for his damages." "The question being put, the House divided, and there appeared for the question 65; against it 54; leaving a majority of 11 in favour of the fine. It was then resolved, "That the book called Justiciarius Justificatus shall be burned at Kingston upon Thames, and at Guildford, upon the market days there, by the Marshal attending the Committee at Kingston aforesaid." According to Wood, our poet was, at the time of this debate, in prison for the libel; and he afterwards asserted that he knew nothing of the impeachment until he was startled by the news of the conviction. The accusation, he says, in the Fragmenta Prophetica, was brought on early in the morning, but so many members "abominated what they perceived to be intended, that the whole day was spent, before the author's enemies could prevail against him." That he had many friends in the House is proved by the small majority; and it may be remarked that Lieutenant General Cromwell was "Teller for the Noe." After a confinement of nearly twelve months, he was released without "petitioning or mediation for it," and, we may conclude, without paying the fine. His imprisonment neither taught him discretion, nor improved his fortunes. Much of the disquiet which imbittered so many years of his life, was occasioned by the difficulty he experienced in obtaining compensation for the plunder of his estate by the Royalists, and the liquidation of the debt due to him from the Parliament. A great portion of his time was wasted in fruitless attendance upon various Committees. On one petition, he tells us, he bestowed two months; on another, ten; and on a third, a year and nine months. Milton, in a passage supposed to refer to his own sufferings, bitterly complained that the truest friends of the republic, after having afforded the aid of their labours and fortunes, were tossed from one Committee to another with petitions in their hands. The various methods employed by Wither to attract the notice of Parliament were very ingenious. On the 12th of November, 1646, he placed an humble memoran dum in the hands of several members as they entered It was in these words: the House. Sir, Mind your faithful servant; for my need His efforts were not altogether ineffectual. On the 15th of March, 1647, an order was agreed to by the Lords and Commons, for payment of 18001. out of Discoveries at Haberdashers' Hall; and on the 22nd of the same month, a further order was made for the payment of 16811. 15s. 8d. out of the Excise. Nothing, however, was gained by these orders, which do not seem to have been ever enforced, and the House was at length induced to appoint some "selected members" to provide him with a temporary employment until his claims could be adjusted. When he published his Sí Quis*, in 1648, he stood recommended to a situation of considerable value, which he does not appear to have obtained. About this time, he says, when he was living upon the charity of friends, "God providentially, beyond his hope, enabled him to purchase a considerable estate, by means of their acting against him who thereby intended their own benefit and his ruin;" and the Parliament also sold him a Manor, worth 3001. per annum, in consideration of "his debt of 16007. and more by him paid." I suppose the property alluded to belonged to the See of Win • Weaver, in his Life and Death of Sir John Oldcastle, says, "Set up a Si Quis, give intelligence." A Si Quis was formerly a term for what we now call a hand-bill.-Brit. Bib., vol. i, p. 314. I'll fix a Si Quis (or it may be mo) Wither's Perpetual Parliament, p. 72. |