Such is Wood's account; it is to be regretted that that writer
did not supply the additional information, which he tantalizes us
by saying that he possessed, and could have published, had he not
been afraid of being tedious. His love of brevity is, in this
case, most provoking.

As might be expected, the Journals of Parliament cast additional
light on the personal connexion of Lovelace with the Kentish
Petition of 1642, which was for the GENERAL redress of existing
grievances, not, as the editor of the VERNEY PAPERS seems to have
considered, merely for the adjustment of certain points relative to
the Militia. Parliamentary literature has not a very strong
fascination for the editors of old authors, and the biographers of
Lovelace have uniformly overlooked the mine of information which
lies in the LORDS' AND COMMONS' JOURNALS. The subject was
apparently introduced, for the first time, into Parliament on the
28th March, 1642, when a conference of both Houses took place,
respecting "a petition from Kent, which, praying for a Restoration
of the Bishops, Liturgy and Common Prayer, and other constitutional
measures, was voted seditious and against privilege and the peace
of the kingdom;" on the same occasion, Lord Bristol and Mr. Justice
Mallett were committed to the Tower for having in their possession
a copy of the document. On the 7th April it was ordered by both
Houses, that the Kentish Petition should be burned by the hands of
the common hangman.

On the 28th April, the Commons acquainted the Upper House,
by Mr. Oliver Cromwell, "that a great meeting was to be held
next day on Blackheath, to back the rejected Kentish
Petition."<2.22>

Two days later, a strange scene occurred at Westminster.
Let the Commons' Journals tell the story in their own language:--

"30 April, 1642. The House being informed that divers gentlemen
of the county of Kent were at the door, that desired to present
a petition to the House;

"They were called in, presented their Petition, and withdrew.

"And their Petition was read, and appeared to be the same
that was formerly burnt, by order of both Houses, by the hands
of the common hangman. Captain LEIGH reports that, being at
the Quarter Sessions held at MAIDSTONE, he observed certain
passages which he delivered in writing.

"Captain Lovelace, who presented the Petition, was called in;
and Mr. Speaker was commanded to ask him, from whose hand
he had this Petition, and who gave him