Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/252

 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND was in December 1643 reappointed to the office of sheriff, which he had held two years before. He was at the same time actively engaged in mihtary service ; on Christmas Day Lord Grey reported the defeat by his troops of ' the whole body of the Belvoir forces.'" As governor of Burley he came into serious conflict with the Rutland Committee. In May 1644 the Committee of both Kingdoms reminded the Rutland Committee that it was ' very necessary that the garrison of Burley be enter- tained for the safety of that and the adjoining places,' and desired them ' to take order for some supply of money for the said garrison, wherein we do not doubt but you will show such willingness and readiness as the dangers of the times ... do invite you to.' '^ It was probably in consequence of this letter that about Michaelmas, Evers Armyn, a member of the Rutland Com- mittee and a deputy-lieutenant for the county, finding, on visiting Burley, that the only cavalry force there was borrowed from Northampton, raised — with the assistance of other deputy-lieutenants to Henry Earl of Kent, appointed lord lieutenant of the county on the death of the Earl of Exeter '^ — ' two troops of horse well armed.'" These were placed under the command of Major Layfield (or Leafield) and Captain John Clarke, a sub-commissioner for the county ; and later a third troop was raised under Captain Collins, and arrangements were made for the payment of the three." Additions appear to have been also made to the fortifications, for the Committee of both King- doms wrote in November forbidding the pulling down of more houses or the making of more 'spoil' round Burley than was necessary." During this year a quarrel arose between the governor of Rockingham and the Rutland Com- mittee, whose complaints to Parliament forced him to resign ; " and in July the friction between Colonel Waite and the committee resulted in the pre- sentation of articles against him to the House of Commons. The case was investigated by a committee of the House, and Waite was suspended from his command until it should be decided.*' Burley was entrusted to Major Lay- field, whom Grey does not seem to have readily welcomed, for the Committee for both Kingdoms had to be very explicit in its orders, desiring that ' the house, stables, and all works and strengths of Burley and all the forces of that garrison, horse, foot, and dragoons ' should ' for the present ' be placed under Layfield's command, and enjoining them ' to avoid all quarrels and mutinies that may endanger yourself and the garrison.'*' In October the freemen and yeomen of Rutland petitioned the House of Lords for Waite's continuance in command of the garrison, but without effect.*'" In 1645 Lieutenant John Freeman was sent with a detachment of the garrison to search for Cavaliers in Oakham, where he shot one John Halford for ' resisting ' during his entry of a suspected house, and, being committed for trial on a true bill for manslaughter, was obliged to petition the House of Commons for protection ; ™ and in the same month the Rutland Committee was ordered to garrison Stoneleigh for the purpose of blocking " Commons' Jount. iii, 351, 354, 364. " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 155. " Lords' Journ. vi, 6863 ; Commons' Journ. iii, 603. " Cal. of Com. for. Compounding, 559. " Ibid. «* Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, P- loO- " Tanner MSS. Ixii, 610. «' Commons' Journ. iii, 548-69. «' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 361. "' Lords' Journ. vii, 26-7. " Commons' Journ. iv, 695. 192