| Citation |
BNL.770.058
12 Jul 1770:13 (3483 Supplement)
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in the county of Wilts,
Thursday the last day of the sessions, part of the 5th and
38th, the 50th and 56th regiments of foot did in a most
daring and insulting manner (contrary to custom at the time
of sessions,) keep patrolling the streets, with drums
beating and fifes playing. At the time the Court was
sitting they continued beating their drums, &c. all along
the front of the Town-Hall, or Court-house, &c. After the
business of the Court had been impeded for some time, Sir E.
Bayntun, and the rest of the justices, ordered the
constables to desire all the soldiers to desist from beating
their drums and playing their fifes before the Court, but
the insolence of the soldiers was such, that instead of
paying due respect to the order of the Court, they made no
apology, but kept on beating their drums and playing their
fifes; and, in my humble opinion, if the court had offered
to punish them for disobeying the order of all the
magistrates, we might have had another Boston affair in the
town of the Devizes.
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