Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/428

408 'although, the council had forgotten the King her father, and their oaths to observe his will, yet for herself she would observe his laws as he left them' till her brother was of years of discretion. The peasants, when the commission of enclosures was announced in May, took the redress of their injuries upon themselves; filled the ditches, levelled the hedges, tore down the palings of parks, and drove the deer and killed them.

On this last point the Protector came at once into open collision with the council. Somerset said openly that he 'liked well the doings of the people;' 'the covetousness of the gentlemen gave occasion to them to rise; it was better they should die than perish for lack of living.' Against the entreaties of all who were entitled to advise him, he replied to the commotion by a proclamation that illegal enclosures should be levelled on a day which he specified; and by a second, immediately following, that no one should be vexed or sued for any part which he had taken in the riots. The more energetic among the lords resolved, in consequence, to act for themselves: they dispersed about the country; sheriffs and magistrates were directed by them to prosecute all disturbers of the peace by the sword; and if any of the people 'should be departed from their houses to any assembly for unlawful purposes, to spoil and rifle their houses, to their utter ruin and destruction, and the terrible example of others.' Sir William Herbert,