ggestive title-page, with which this
chapter may fittingly close: it reads as follows:

"AN HUMBLE REQUEST TO THE MINISTERS OF BOTH UNIVERSITIES, AND TO
ALL LAWYERS OF EVERY INNS-A-COURT:[161:1] to consider of the
Scriptures and Points of Law herein mentioned, and to give a
rational and Christian answer, whereby the difference may be
composed in peace, between the Poor Men in England who have
begun to dig, plow and build upon the Common Land, claiming it
their own by right of Creation,

AND

The Lords of Manors that trouble them, who have no other claimings
to Commons than from the King's will, or from the Power of the
Conquest,

AND

If neither Minister nor Lawyer will undertake a Reconciliation in
this case. Then we appeal to the Stone, Timber and Dust of the
Earth you tread upon, to hold forth the light of this business,
questioning not but that Power that dwells everywhere will
cause Light to spring out of Darkness, and Freedom out of
Bondage."

FOOTNOTES:

[146:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 1365.

[148:1] King's Pamphlets. British Museum, Press Mark, E. 534. We have to
thank the late Rev. Thomas Hancock, of Harrow on the Hill, for this
reference. Mr. Hancock's profound knowledge of the Commonwealth times
was well known to every student of the period, at whose disposal he
gladly placed the wonderful store of information he had collected. We
would here acknowledge our indebtedness to him for this and other
information.

[150:1] British Museum, under Wellingborrow, Press Mark, S. Sh. fol. 669
f., 15 (21).

[153:1] British Museum, Press Mark, S. Sh. fol. 669 f., 15 (23).

[161:1] There is no copy of this pamphlet at the British Museum, nor in
the Bodleian; but a copy is to be found in the Dyce and Forster Library,
South Kensington Museum, London, W.

CHAPTER XIV

GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA: THE LAW OF FREEDOM

"And when reason's voice,
Loud as the voice of nature, shall have waked
The nations; and mankind perceives that vice
Is discord, war and misery; that virtue
Is peace, and happiness and harmony;
When man's maturer nature shall disdain
The playthings of its childhood;--kingly glare
Will lose its power to dazzle; its authority
Will silently pass by; the gorgeous{7} throne