that necessity had forced him to lay down his place; and that he must certainly come to want, if not in some measure supplied.  “Therefore I humbly beseech Your Honors to take my case and condition so far into consideration, that I may have some supply this hard winter, that I and my poor children may not be destitute of sustenance, and so inevitably perish; for I have been bred a gentleman, and not much used to work, and am become despicable in these hard times.”  He concludes by declaring, that he is not “weary of serving his king and country,” nor very scrupulous as to the kind of service; for he promises that “if his habitation” could thereby be “graced with plenty in the room of penury, there shall be no services too dangerous and difficult, but your poor petitioner will gladly accept, and to the best of my power accomplish.  I shall wholly lay myself at Your Honorable feet for relief.”  Marshal Herrick died in 1695.

But, while this feeling was spreading among the people, the government were doing their best to check it.  There was great apprehension, that, if allowed to gather force, it would burst over all barriers, that no limit would be put to its demands for the restoration of property seized by the officers of the law, and that it would wreak vengeance upon all who had been engaged in the prosecutions.  Under the influence of this fear, the following attempt was made to shield the sheriff of the county from prosecutions for damages by those whose relatives had suffered:—­

“At a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Jail Delivery, held at Ipswich, the fifteenth day of May, anno Domini 1694.—­Present, William Stoughton, Esq., Chief-justice; Thomas Danforth, Esq.; Samuel Sewall, Esq.

“This Court, having adjusted the accounts of George Corwin, Esq., high-sheriff for the county of Essex, do allow the same to be just and true; and that there remains a balance due to him, the said Corwin, of L67. 6_s._ 4_d._, which is also allowed unto him; and, pursuant to law, this Court doth fully, clearly, and absolutely acquit and discharge him, the said George Corwin, his heirs, executors, and administrators, lands and tenements, goods and chattels, of and from all manner of sum or sums of money, goods or chattels levied, received, or seized, and of all debts, duties, and demands which are or may be charged in his, the said Corwin’s, accounts, or which may be imposed by reason of the sheriff’s office, or any thing by him done by virtue thereof, or in the execution of the same, from the time he entered into the said office, to this Court.”

This extraordinary attempt of the Court to close the doors of justice beforehand against suits for damages did not seem to have any effect; for Mr. English compelled the executors of the sheriff to pay over to him L60. 3_s_.