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.