chamber was found in disorder; the fire had been lately extinguished, the bedclothes were lying about the room in heaps, and the mattress, which had been turned, was cold on the top, but warm underneath. This was the prelude to a thorough examination of the house. The spies in the garden had heard the priest’s footsteps near a corner under the roof as he retreated to his hiding-place. From one until ten in the morning of March 16 the search was carried on, Gilbert tapping on the plaster inside with his sword and the others meeting him by knocking on the tiles and walls from the other side. Hope was nearly abandoned when the searchers were spurred by the jeers of the people of the house to one last effort. At length they were rewarded. Sounding the roof inch by inch, they came upon a spot near some chimney stacks where the knocks from the two sides did not tally; breaking open the tiles, they discovered a priest’s hole, and in it Busby, whom Mr. Gilbert forthwith bore off in triumph and committed to Derby gaol. These exploits were no doubt typical of the range of activity common to busy justices of the peace throughout the kingdom. Important business passed through their hands, and they felt their position likewise to be important. They were an energetic body of men and spared not themselves, nor their neighbours, nor those against whom their action was directed in the execution of their duty as government officials. Each was sure to be in his way a local magnate, and thus the influence which the government exerted on the justices was through them spread widely over the country. Well known among provincial magistrates, and still more active than the two above mentioned, was Captain Arnold, whose name appeared in the commission of the peace for Monmouthshire. It was this Arnold who in 1679 assisted Dr. Croft, Bishop of Hereford, in his attack on the Jesuit college at Combe, near Monmouth. The college was dispersed and ten horse loads of books, seized in it, were removed to the library of Hereford Cathedral.[472] In December of the previous year he had been instrumental in the arrest of Father Pugh, formerly of the Society of Jesus, and in the seizure of papers and valuables belonging to Hall, another member of the society.[473] But Arnold exhibited something more than the zeal proper to an energetic and business-like justice. He was a keen adherent to the Whig and extreme Protestant party. In addition to the usual government reward of £50 for the apprehension of a Jesuit, he offered £200 from his own resources for each capture.[474] He made friends with the missioners and then procured their own dependents to give evidence against them. He armed bodies of servants to assist him in his expeditions, and brought the unfortunate priest whom Oates had named as prospective Bishop of Llandaff triumphantly into Monmouth at the head of a dozen horsemen.[475] Chief among his performances was the capture of two