Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/93

 the officers was Sir Hierome Sankey. He is described by Wood as having been educated at Cambridge; 'but being more given to manly exercises than logic and philosophy, he was observed by his contemporaries to be a boisterous fellow at cudgelling and football playing,—though a candidate for holy orders—and more fitt in all respects to be a rude soldier than a scholar or man of polite parts. In the beginning of the rebellion, he threw off his gown, and took up arms for the Parliament; and soon after became a captain, a Presbyterian, an Independent, a preacher, and I know not what besides,' says Wood, who goes on to relate that, when the war ceased and the King's cause declined, Sir Hierome obtained a fellowship at All Souls College from the committee of visitors. He was proctor in 1649, and officiated as such when Fairfax was made a Doctor of Civil Law, but 'retained his military employment, and went in the character of a commander to Ireland.' There he served with great distinction, and was amongst the earliest grantees of forfeited lands, as upon a Parliamentary order of October 22, 1652, the Commissioners for the affairs of Ireland ordered a survey to be made of the manor of Kilmainham in Leinster in his favour. He next declared himself an Anabaptist, and trusting partly to his own pushing temperament, and partly to the favour which he enjoyed with the extreme fanatics of the army owing to his new profession of faith, he attempted to obtain an order for rejecting three thousand acres which had fallen to him by lot, and for enabling him to elect arbitrarily the same quantity elsewhere, 'a thing,' says Dr. Petty, 'never before heard of.' This demand the Commissioners refused, and Sir Hierome determined to have his revenge, especially on Dr. Petty, whom he considered mainly responsible for the refusal.

Other circumstances besides these militated to bring Sir Hierome into collision with Dr. Petty and to embitter the quarrel. Not only was Sir Hierome an Anabaptist, but