Mr. WOOLLASTON's CASE, In Relation to a Breach of PRIVILEGE Committed by Mr. ROBERT THOMPSON, and others.  
MR. Woollaston in October 1697. came to an Agreement with one Mr. Thompson, to Hire of him Woodhall-Park, and other Lands in the County of Hertford; being the Estate of one Philip Butler, Esq an Infant. He the said Thompson, being then Tenant to the Premises, and was to Pay 60 l. per Annum Rent, besides some Venison and Rabbits; and was to give the said Thompson Twenty Guineas to procure him a Lease of the said Premises for Five Years. And in pursuance of the said Agreement, the said Mr. Woollaston entered upon the Premises, and was thereof Possessed, and Paid all Parish Duties, and other Taxes and Charges in Keeping and Maintaining of the Dear all the Winter long, and also in Keeping and Repairing the House and Gardens: And that he made little or no Benefit or Advantage of the same, although in quiet Possession until the Sixth of July last; being the last Day but one of the last Sessions of Parliament. At which time, when the Profit was to be made of the Premises by the said Mr. Woollaston, than Mr. Thompson, Mr. Samuel Robinson, John Plummer, John Crane, Samuel Seagins, Joseph Biggs, John Crabb, Richard Nash, James Pendrid, Nicholas Bickerton, William Ansell, Thomas Waller, and Edmund Chambers, with divers others, came in a Riotous manner with Clubs, Staves, and other Weapons, when they knew Mr. Woollaston was Absent, and in the Service of the House the last Sessions of Parliament, and Entered the said Premises, kept his Servants Prisoners all that Day and the next Night, and while they kept his Servants Prisoners, they went and Killed the Deer in the Park; and then came and Entered the House with a great Rabble, and turned the said Mr. Woollaston's Servants out of Possession of the said House, and seized upon his, and his Servants Goods, and his Cattle in the Park, as also upon a Gentleman's Goods that was then in the House, a Friend of the said Mr. Woollaston; and that in so Inhuman and Barbarous a manner, that they would not so much as leave a Bed for him or his Wife or Children to lie on: And likewise set on several Men to Mow down the Grass, pretending all this was for Arrears of Rent, whenas indeed there was no Rent due.