The petition of William Nickes of Cadbury, Devon, 1687
<[Devon s[ession]s>
To ye hono[u]r[a]ble his Ma[jes]ties Justices of the Peace at the gen[er]all quarter Sessions held at the Castle of Exon now Assembled
The humble Petic[i]on of William Nickes of the Parish of Cadbury in the County of Devon aforesaid Husbandman.
<Sheweth>
That yo[u]r petic[i]on[e]r having served his late Maj[es]tie of ever blessed memory King Charles ye First for ye space of six yeares and upwards in the time of that unhappy and unchristianlike Rebellion: In w[hi]ch Warres yo[u]r petic[i]on[e]r lost an eye and rec[eive]d a wound in his head, And for as much as yo[u]r poore petic[i]one[r] never craved the assistance of any p[er]son soe long as he was able to gett his mainetainance, But now being grown old and Impotent, and not possibley able to subsist w[i]thout releife being upwards of threescore and Tenne yeares of age, soe necessity compelled him to have a Warr[an]tt for ye Officers of ye said p[ar]ish of Cadbury and then the Wor[shi]p[fu]ll Justice Tuckfeild and Justice Martin by word of mouth did order them to pay me 6 d. p[er] weeke w[hi]ch said money is keept away and detained from yo[u]r petic[i]on[e]r: Now he being soe weake and feeble not able to gett his livelyhood doth humbley beseech and begg that yo[u]r hono[u]rs would be pleased to grant him some assistance or pention out of the County Stocke or any other way w[hi]ch to yo[u]r hono[u]rs shall be thought meet to pr[e]serve him from perishing (the parision[e]rs takeing noe pitty or compassion upon him)
And yo[u]r poore petic[i]on[e]r as in duty bound shall ev[er] pray &c.
[Overleaf:]
W[illia]m Nickes peticion