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some New England men got into a difficulty with the Admiralty Courts in London and were required to give bonds to the amount of £400, Winthrop records with admiration the friendly offices of Sir Henry Vane on their behalf, "although he might have taken occasion against us for some dishonour, which he apprehended to have been unjustly put upon him, yet both now, and at other times, he showed himself a true friend to New England, and a man of noble and generous mind.” 1

1

Hutchinson also records that in the previous year "attachment was made of the effects of Alderman Berkly of London at the suit of Lady Latour, and judgment given for £2000 sterling, and no appeal admitted heavy complaint was made against the government of Massachusetts, and they were threatened with the loss of their privileges. Sir Henry Vane stood their friend, and by his great interest with the parliament appeased their resentment and laid the storm which was gathering and hung over them.'

The name of Henry Vane is remembered as one of the founders of the State of Rhode Island. To use the eloquent words of Roger Williams: "It was not price or money that could have purchased Rhode Island, but it was obtained by love-that love and favour which that honoured gentleman, Sir H. Vane, and myself, had with the great Sachem, Miantonomo, about the league which I procured between the Congregationall way amongst you is in its freeddome and is backed with power; it teaches its oppungers heere to extirpate it and root it out from its owne principles and practice." He ends: "Pray commende me kindely to your wife, Mr Cotton and his wife, and the rest of my friends with you." -The Life of Young Sir Henry Vane, by James K. Hosmer, Boston and New York, 1889, p. 79.

1 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 248.

2 MS. letter quoted by Hutchinson, History, p. 66.

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Massachusetts English and the Narragansetts in the Pequot War. This I mention, as the truly noble Sir H. Vane had been so good an instrument in the hand of God for procuring this island from the barbarians, as also for procuring and confirming the charter, that be recorded with all thankfulness."1

it may

In 1653 Sir Henry Vane showed his continued interest in the affairs of New England by a letter which he wrote to Roger Williams, exhorting the leaders of Rhode Island not to give way to a contentious and intolerant spirit. An answer was drawn up by Roger Williams and signed by the principal inhabitants of Providence thanking him for his friendly remonstrances, and expressing the hope that "when we are gone and rotten, our posterity and children after us shall read in our town records your pious and favourable letters, and loving-kindness to us."2

1 Hutchinson's Historical Collections, vol. x., p. 20.

2 Upham, p. 160; and Historical Collections, vol. ix., p. 194, Second Series.

CHAPTER VI

State of England. Hampden's Protest against Ship-Money. Persecution of the Puritans. Leighton, Prynne, Barton, Bastwick, and Lilburne. Rise of new Sects.

WHILE Henry Vane was away across the Atlantic the doings of the court party and of the ritualists in England were getting ever more rapacious and irritating. The king's methods of raising money brought him much reproach with little gain, for a large share of the sums extorted remained in the corrupt hands of his tax-gatherers. On the advice of the Attorney-General Noy, and Chief-Justice Finch, he began to levy a tax known as "ShipMoney," at first upon the maritime towns and then upon the whole country. As Charles had no standing army to enforce swift obedience, the machinery of government had still to be worked through the old laws and customs of the realm, and the unwillingness of magistrates, judges, and juries to comply with his arbitrary commands opposed a retarding effect upon their execution; nor could the king banish from his mind a fear of the forces against which in his wilfulness he was throwing himself. The towns still elected their civic rulers, had their train bands, and managed their own internal affairs. Thus the old forms of the Constitution still remained, and only awaited a new

spirit of freedom to be used against the encroachment of the prerogative. Hence the court wished to make it believed that they were still acting under the old laws.

John Hampden, a wealthy landholder of Buckinghamshire, consulting with Bulstrode Whitelocke and Oliver St John, two able lawyers, determined to bring the legality of ship-money to the test. For this purpose he resisted a levy of 20s. When the question was brought before the full bench of judges, it was argued at great length from November 6 to December 18, 1636. St John gained great reputation for his pleading against the prerogative. It was decided in favour of the court by a majority of eight judges against four. This decision gave great grief to all moderate men, as it practically placed the property of the subjects at the mercy of the crown. Hampden in this contest showed great skill and tact, affording no opportunity for his adversaries to find fault with his conduct.

As if this was not enough to make the king unpopular, Laud went on with his inquisition about the placing of altars and his persecutions about drapery and posturing. As early as 1628, Alexander Leighton, a Scotsman, had framed a petition to parliament for the extirpation of prelacy, to which he obtained five hundred signatures, some of them from members of parliament. He crossed to Holland to get the petition printed; there it was extended into a book entitled Zion's Plea against Prelacy, printed for the use of the parliament. In this treatise some provoking language was used against the prelates. Leighton was brought before the Star Chamber in June 1630. The attorney

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general offered him a full pardon if he would reveal the names of those who had signed the petition, which he indignantly refused. The dauntless Puritan refused to take off his hat to the court, and declared that they had no authority to touch him. He was sentenced to be committed to the Fleet during life, to pay a fine of £10,000, his clerical dress to be stripped from his back, to be whipped at Westminster, and afterwards to be set upon the pillory and one of his ears cropped off, and his nose slit and to be branded in the face with a double S.S. The day before that fixed for his appearance in the pillory Leighton escaped; but was in a fortnight captured again. His courage did not fail him. "All the arguments brought against me," he said, "are prison, fines, brands, knife, and whip." "This is Christ's yoke," he cried, as his neck was thrust into the pillory; and as the knife of the executioner cut away his ear he exclaimed, "Blessed be God, if I had a hundred, I would lose them all for the cause." Other cruelties were to be committed on him at Cheapside, but we are told one ear was left uncropped, and the second scourging was not inflicted. He was taken back to the Fleet, where he was confined for ten years until set free by the Long Parliament.1

William Prynne, a barrister, had made himself obnoxious by writing against Arminianism and the jurisdiction of the bishops, which he followed up by a big quarto entitled Histro-Matrix, inveighing against the stage, masques, dancing, and other gaieties. Laud

1 The trial of Leighton is given in Rushworth, vol. ii. Some additional particulars are given in the Life and Letters of Robert Leighton, by the Rev. D. Butler, London, 1903, p. 41. Alexander Leighton was the father of Robert Leighton, the Restoration Bishop of Dunblane.