At this time the two sides were evenly matched among the members of the City Council; but the Mayor, John Beck, was a Parliamentarian, though his father, Robert, who preceded him in the office, belonged to the opposite camp. A crisis was reached in April, when Sir John Hotham, the Governor of Hull, refused the King admittance to the town. In Lincoln, which had much trade with Hull, the King’s attempt upon that place was not viewed with favour; and on April 27, Parliament appointed a committee of the county members of both Houses (on which of course no Royalist sat) to carry out the Militia Ordinance in Lincolnshire. Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham, a young noble of under thirty, with Presbyterian sympathies, had just been appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the county, and proceeded, with an alacrity which might well arouse the King’s suspicions, to call up the militia for training. He summoned the constables to meet him at Lincoln on May 31, and render an account of the arms in their district, and all but two or three responded; but he complains that the King’s proclamation forbidding the muster had been “officiously fixed” upon the door of the inn where the committee met. On June 6 he arranged to review the militia from Lincoln and the adjoining villages; and on the same morning received a letter by express messenger from the King at York, dated two days before, charging him upon his allegiance to take no further action, and warning him that if he did so, he would be proceeded against as a disturber of the public peace. Lord Willoughby’s answer, which he penned on the spot, is a curious mixture of humility and defiance. He alleges the opinions of certain eminent lawyers (which they afterwards disavowed) in favour of the legality of the ordinance, and trusts that, if he has offended, his “want of years” may excuse his “want of judgment.” “Nothing,” he says, “hath yet passed by my commands here, or ever shall, but what shall tend to the preservation of the peace of your kingdom.” And yet, within three months, he had accepted the command of a troop of horse in the Parliamentary army. The Mayor and Corporation attended the Lincoln muster; and about eighty of the hundred members of the trained band appeared. When the constable was asked to explain the absence of the remainder, he gave the excuse that they durst not venture down hill owing to the prevalence of plague in the lower city. The committee, however, attributed their non-appearance to the influence of the Royalist Recorder, Mr. Charles Dalison. Volunteers were obtained to supply their place; and at Boston the Lord-Lieutenant was met on arrival by 100 well-armed volunteers, who showed that they had profited by their self-imposed training. But other musters were not to pass off without incident. Lord Willoughby had taken the strong measure of removing William Booth of Killingholme from the command of a company in the Caistor contingent on account of his Royalist views. But