To the RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS MAJESTIES JUDGES, Now Sitting in Oxon, &c.  
The Humble Petition of STEPHEN JAY, Clerk, Rector of Chinner, in the County of Oxon.  
Humbly Sheweth,  
THat one Titus Brown, a very lewd and infamous Person, guilty of several Thefts and Burglary, about January last, by a forged Licence set up an Ale-House in your Petitioner's Parish,( where two already were) but upon Petition to the Justices of that Division at their private Session, was suppressed according to Law by their Order of April the Seventh; and afterwards by the General Sessions at Oxon, April the Twelfth.  
The said Brown thus suppres'd,( understanding the little good will born to your Petitioner by one Mr. Allnut, for Causes well known to the country) applied himself to the said Justice, who receiving the said Brown into his favour,( though himself knew him to be very scandalous, and had been brought before him for Assaulting on the High-way with design to Rob, as the said Justice then apprehended;) at Trinity Sessions following, on a Certificate in the Name of a Child of Twelve Years Old, very vigorously moved the Bench for a Licence for the said Brown( after it had been denied the Day before on the account of the Order made the last Session) and prevailed.  
Your Petitioner and Parish much afflicted hereat, applied themselves by Petition to the Honourable Judges of the Assize at Oxon, July the Fourteenth, who were pleased to refer our Complaints to the Examination of any two Justices of the County, with Order to suppress the said Brown, &c.  
In pursuance whereof, a meeting was appointed at Tetsworth, on Saturday, July the Thirtieth past; your Petitioner writing to Justice Allnut to be there, and accordingly he the said Mr. Allnut appeared, together with Sr. Thomas Tipping, to whom was presented the Order of the Judges, with humble desire to Execute the same.  
But so it is( may it please your Lordships) that he the said Mr. Allnut utterly refused to execute the Order, though moved earnestly by your Petitioner thereto,( Ten Witnesses being present ready to be Examined on Oath against the said Brown) but the said Mr. Allnut pretending Business left the whole Matter unexamined, to our great Amazement and Charge. And to your Petitioner( telling him only that if we could not have Justice from him, we would have it else-where from his superiors) Sirrah,( said he) I could find in my Heart to cut your Pate.  
May it please your Lordships; your poor Petitioner( though a Minister) hath yet the Honour to be extracted from a Worshipful Family, and( with all humility be it spoken) is allied to the several Families of Three Honourable Members of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council. His Father losing an Estate of near 500 l. per annum, for his Loyalty to his late Majesty. He himself driven to seek Bread in another Kingdom, during the Kings absence; Though by Gods Blessing is now restored to a plentiful Estate: Is Patron, as well as person of his Parish, which engageth him ever to seek the welfare thereof. And doth behave himself in all things as becometh a Minister and a Gentleman; who by his constant Preaching and Exemplary Life hath gained in some Dissenters to the Church, and preserves the whole Parish in it: Having owned the Episcopal Government, by being ordained by a Bishop even in Cromwell's time. You Petitioner( dares not justify himself before God, yet) is bold towards your Lordships, to hope that Protection and Security will be granted him by your Honours, from such insulting Menaces against a Minister of the Church( how unworthy soever) in the discharge of his Duty, and the suppression of Wickedness in his Parish. And that your Lordships will not suffer so causeless an Affront to be given him in the public Yard of an Inn, and before many of his own People and Strangers, to his great Disgrace, on no other Provocation but demanding Justice against a dangerous fellow. The very Heathen have ever honoured their Priests.  
Your Petitioner most humbly kneels to your Lordships for Redress, and casts Himself and his Complaint at your Honours Feet, humbly submitting Himself and It, to your Prudent Censure. And does beseech your lordship to Examine, or Order to be Examined the High Misdemeanours of the said 〈…〉   

To the WORSHIPFUL HIS MAJESTIES JUSTICES, For the County of Oxon.  
Gentlemen!  
THe Petitioner has not appealed in dishonour of the Justice of the Bench;( there is not a Gentleman on it, that is a really Gentleman, whom he does not worthily esteem and submit to) but thinks it duty to himself to fly the attacks of an Enemy, whose Will had so great an Influence as Arbitrarily to procure the rescinding a positive Order granted but the Session before; and whose Prejudices against the Petitioner have gradually increased from these remarkable Causes:  
1. The Petitioner's dismissing Richard his Elder Brother( an honest plain Man,) from being his Tenant, for Reasons accountable to any that demand them 1669.  
2. An( yet unrooted) jealousy that the Petitioner impeached him to the Council at the breaking out of the Plot; when( in a better than Jesuitical sense) he was as Innocent as the New Born Child.  
3. The Petitioners saucy equalizing himself with him; when in heat and altercation of words before Forty or Fifty Gentlemen at Dinner, he dropped this Truth, That he was as good a Gentleman, as he;( and cannot as yet recant it.) Besides, his charging him with indiscretion in the manage of an Interest, the miscarrying of which he would( very invidiously) have foisted on the Petitioner, 1679.  
4. The Petitioner's Neighbours their Voting for those he disfavours occasioned( as he fancies) by him; when of a Truth they were voluntarily lead by their own Discretion and Will. And who are wise enough without him to be faithful to their Native Interests and Rights, 1680.  
Gentlemen; Duty will Oblige you to keep the Peace; and Gallantry will prompt you to be generous and just to a Stranger, whose near 
Sir Jo. Ernle. Sir Edw. Hungerford. Sir Walter Ernle. Sir Giles Hungerford. Sir Walter St. Johns. Mr. Daniel.  Relations fill the Neighbouring Bench; who will not take it so kindly to have the Pate cut of  
Their poor Kinsman, and your Servant S. J.