he Cage the prisoner's friends would help
him in this way. Above the door of the Cage were some narrow upright
openings, and through this a saucer was inserted edgewise, the prisoner
took it and held it, while, by means of a teapot and the thrusting the
spout through the openings, a good "drink" could be administered,
according to the appetite of the prisoner!

In a former chapter, reference was made to the penal side of obtaining
men for the Army, and I may here mention that an instance of the
all-powerful operations of the Press-gang was actually brought home to
an old Roystonian, who, while crossing London Bridge, was seized and
made to serve his seven years! Though the regular mode of enlistment
had less of this arbitrary character it was, nevertheless, often very
burdensome in our rural districts and led to some curious expedients
for meeting its demands. The Chief Constable of the hundred served a
notice upon the Overseers, and sometimes the number required was not
one for each parish, but a demand was made upon two parishes. As in
1796 the Chief Constable served an order upon Barkway and Little
Hormead acquainting them that one man was to be raised between them,
and that the Overseers were to call a meeting of the principal
inhabitants to consider "the most speedy and effectual means of raising
the said man."

This system of allowing discretion as to how the said man, or men, were
to be provided, sometimes did not answer, for in 1796 the parishes of
Little Hormead and Barkway are jointly credited with paying "the sum of
L31 0s. 0d., being the average bounty and fine for their default in not
providing their quota of men for His Majesty's Army."

The following, under date 1796, will show how the parish generally set
about raising the said "man."

"TWENTY-FIVE GUINEAS BOUNTY.

Wanted immediately, one man for the parish of W----, Cambridgeshire, to
serve either in the Army or the Navy. Apply to the Overseers of the
parish."

In some cases twenty-five pounds and a silver watch were offered.
Under more urgent circumstances when men had to be drawn by lot, the
hardship which must often be occasioned was got over by men joining a
sort of insurance society against compulsory service. With
head-quarters in London and agents in the provinces, this society, upon
the payment of 5s. 6d., gave a receipt guaranteeing to provide the
requisite bounty to purchase a substitute in case the men so insuring
should be dr