forty men well
armed, started from near the proctor's house, in order to execute a
decree of the Court of Chancery, or rather to protect those who were
about to do so, by first holding an auction, and serving a process from
the same court afterwards, in another place. For the first mile or
so there was not much notice taken of them; a few boys only, and some
women, kept hooting and screaming at their heels as they went along.
Within about two miles or so of the place of their destination, men
began to appear upon the hills in increasing groups, and horns were soon
sounding in every direction. This, however, was not all; on reaching a
chapel, the bell began to ring, and, in a short time, as they advanced,
the bells of the whole country around them were pealing rapidly and with
violence. The crowds now began to coalesce, and to gather about them
in such a manner that they, kept them completely hemmed in; and in this
manner they proceeded, until they arrived at the premises on which the
auction was to be held. The peasantry were formidably armed with every
sort of weapon that the moment could supply; for, on such occasions as
this, the people never used fire-arms. These, carried in the open day,
might enable the police to know the persons of those who illegally
possessed them, and, consequently, get such individuals into trouble.
Their arms, on this occasion, consisted of pitchforks, spades, shovels,
scythes, bill-hooks, and heavy sticks, whilst it was observed that
several of those who carried these weapons in one hand, carried a round,
destructive stone about two or three pounds' weight, in the other. A
powerful man, who wore a sash across his shoulders, and a military
cap that was peaked so as to conceal his face, appeared as leader, and
seemed completely to direct and regulate their motions. The state of
tumult throughout and over the face of the country was indeed frightful,
and it is very likely that a chief constable and only forty police felt
the danger of their position and the utter inadequacy of their numbers,
either to carry the decrees of the law into execution, or to defend
themselves, with anything like success, against the burning ferocity of
the armed multitudes by whom they were surrounded.

At length the auction commenced, and the first article put up for
competition was a fine heifer, but not an individual present would open
his lips to bid for her; and, on a little further examination, it was
ascertai