Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/277

Rh JOHN, by the grace of, King of England, to the ſheriff of Hampſhire, and to the twelve that are choſen in that county, to enquire of, and put away, the evil cuſtoms of the ſheriffs, and of their miniſters, of foreſts and foreſters, of warrens and warrenners, of rivers, and of guarding them, greeting. We command you, that without delay, you ſeize into our hand, the lands and tenements, and the goods of all thoſe of the county of Southampton, that will not ſwear to the ſaid five and twenty barons, according to the form expreſſed in our charter of liberties, or to ſuch as they ſhall have thereunto appointed; and if they will not ſwear preſently, at the end of fifteen days after their lands, and tenements, and chattels are ſeized into our hands, that ye ſell all their goods, and keep ſafely the money that ye ſhall receive for the ſame, to be employed for the relief of the holy land of Jeruſalem; and that ye keep their lands and tenements in our hands till they have ſworn, or that, archbiſhop of Canterbury, and the barons of our kingdom have given judgment thereupon. In witneſs whereof, we direct unto you theſe our letters patent. Witneſs ourſelf: at Odibaam, the ſeven and twentieth day of June, in the ſeventeenth year of our reign.