Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/246

 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND wherein they live but encourage others to do the liice,' and these persons were distrained upon, and were further punished by having their assessments raised. '' Harington's main trouble was to get the assessment of the particular parishes and persons justly made.^^ But not only did he get in the required f%oo by the end of March 1637 ; he had a surplus in hand which was used to 'ease the poorer sort' who had been assessed. Another difficulty was that of getting the money safely ' returned ' to London, and Viscount Campden gave useful assistance in this way. Harington complained that ' the trouble he has been put to has been such that were it not His Majesty's command no profit or reward could draw him to adventure upon the like business again.' His task however was now finished, and he received in May his receipt for the payment in full.^' In the following year the county was assessed for another ^(^3 50,'* which was paid in July 1639. Another levy was made in 1639, and Rutland was among the counties in which, although ' the inhabitants had all in a manner paid their assessments,' the collectors still had the money in their hands in June 1 640, and remonstrance was made by the Privy Council.^' In the Declaration of the King with respect to mustering and training troops for service against Scotland issued to the lords lieutenant of counties on 8 December 1 638, those in Rutland were placed under the control of Sir Jacob Astley, whose command also comprised Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicester- shire, Nottinghamshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, Carlisle, and Northumberland.^* For the campaign of 1640 the county was called upon to furnish 60 pikes, 40 musqueteers, and 30 horse, together with 20 horses and 7 carters for the carriage of artillery. In May the Earl of Huntingdon and Ferdinando, Lord Hastings, who had been 'jointly and severally ' appointed to the lieutenancy of the counties of Leicester and Rutland in 1638," in- formed the Earl of Northumberland, Lord-General, that, with the exception of two or three for Leicestershire, ' all the men are impressed . . . their coats ready and the conduct money levied and all other particulars prepared according to His Majesty's command.' " Two years later the High Sheriff, Thomas Waite," * accompanied by many hundreds of Gentlemen and Freeholders of the county of Rutland,' presented a petition to the king during his journey to York, which affords a " Cal. S.P. Dm. 1636-7, p. 499. " In June Harington and Viscount Campden arranged meetings of the commissioners of taxes and the chief tax-payers of the county with a view to more equal assessment, and in January 1637 a complaint from Uppingham was dealt with ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 402. " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1636-7, p. 531 ; ibid. 1637, p. 70. '* Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland were jointly assessed at j^4,900, of which Rutland's share was ;{^350. In this case particular instructions were given by the Privy Council that 'noe persons bee assessed to the same unlesse they bee knowne to have estates in money or goods, or other means to live, over and above what they get by their daily labour ' ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rip. loc. cit. " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1640, p. 368, and cf. ibid. 1640-1, p. 81. The amount levied is not mentioned, but a list of the year 1639, printed by Stevens, Hist. Acct. of Taxes, 288, allots to Rutland a ship of 64 tons, which at the regular rate of ^^lo per ton would mean a contribution of j{[640 ; see also Dowell, Hist, of Taxation (18S8), i, 215-220, 244. Cal. S.P. Dom. 1638-9, pp. 155, 176, 307. The rest of the counties were required in February to send a supplementary levy ; ibid. 514. The two lists are printed by Stevens, op. cit. 279-81. " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1638-9, p. 188. Ibid. 1640, p. 205. Cf ibid. 455, for a letter from the Earl of Huntingdon to the Council reporting the dispatch of 20 horses and 7 carters from Rutland to be at Newcastle on 15 July. " P.R.O. List of Sheriffs. 186