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MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Account of cc Master Balsom , " the Exorcist . July 26 , 1814 . Sir , Looking lately into your Sixth Volume . I was reminded of a
promise , yet unperformed , to send you another account from Clarke ' s Lives , of a supposed dispossession which might suitably follow the exploit of Bold Rothwel ^ Vol . vi . pp . 75 and 130 ) . This account is in"" The Life of Master Robert
Balsom , who died A . CV 1647 . " la 1644 he was chaplain to the garrison of Wardour Castle , of which Ludlow was governor , for
the parliament . In the General's Memoirs ( 8 vo . 91—107 ) he is frequently mentioned with respect . According to Mr . Clarke , " a little before the castle was delivered
up [ to the royal army ] , as they were in treaty about the surrender ot'it , Master Balsom walking upon the roof of the castle , heard three soldiers say , that they had sworn upon the bible to take away the life of one in the castte . He
asked one of them , who is that ye mean ? Is it our minister ? They replied , yes , for he is a witch ; which they affirmed upon this ground , because the castle had divers times been very strangely relieved with provision : atone
time , with a herd of swine , com . ing down to the gates , which they took in ; and at another time , by oiue deer and conies , the siege being then not close , but straightening them at a distance / ' Lives .
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" After the surrender of the castle , and the enemy ' s entry , they presently seized on Master Balsom , and clapt him up in a close low room . Afterwards they carried him in a cart to Salisbury—and that night a council of war was called , by which he was
condemned to be hanged . The next morning he rose about five o ' clock —about six , the officers came into the room to bring him forth to execution . While he was preparing to go with them , he heard a
Post ride in , asking hastily , Is the prisoner yet alive ? who brought with him a reprieve from Sir Ralph Hopton [ the King ' s General ] , to whom he was carried to Winchester . " Having
encountered a very brutal reception from 46 Sir William Ogle , the governor , he was brought to Sir Ralph Hopton , who spake to him thus : Master Balsom , I little thought one day that you should have been
my prisoner , and I cannot but wonder that such men as you should be engaged in rebellion against the king . To whom he replied , Sir , I cannot but _ wonder that such men as you should call this rebellion * After about half an
hour ' s discourse , he committed him to his own . marshal ] , with this charge , keep this man safe , but use him well . Master Balsom seems to have been held in some consideration
with the royalists , as appears by the following pleasant story . While he was at the marshail ' s ( who , < tf after tome little rough entertain-
Miscellaneous Communications.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS .
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>• 399 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1814, page 531, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2444/page/7/
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