An

small joy for them, whosoever they be, that behold the same." observation," continues Heylyn, which seems to savour more of the prophet than it did of the priest, and to have as much divination as divinity in it! "b

The proceedings against Burton, Prynne, and Bastwick, related heretofore, will not lose in their interest by a further relation of their return from their respective abodes of captivity; which was attended with all the circumstantials of a popular triumph. From the authority which we shall continue to cite, it appears that Laud had no relentings towards his victims; that he had treated with the Queen not to be induced to intercede with the King on their behalf," not to intermeddle in their business."d Prynne had, however, obtained through the medium of Sir Thomas Jermyn, certain relaxations of the strictness of his confinement, which the Archbishop hearing of "was so enraged that he imputed forgery to the instrument which his Majesty had sanctioned; but the Earl of Dorset attesting its authenticity, it was subsequently shown to Sir Dudley Carleton, "and so the Prelate, unable to reverse it, was forced to let it pass, against his good will!"f

"e

The same narrative continues by stating that "It pleased God, not long after this, beyond the Prelates' expectation, to bring a Parliament together,.. but breaking up, suddenly, in discontent, by the Prelates' machinations, before any petitions preferred on their [the prisoners'] behalf, they still remained hopeless of all human deliverance. But the Great Moderator of the Universe miraculously turning all the Prelates' pernicious designs against our State and Church, upon themselves; and fettering them in the snares they had laid to entrap others, contrary to their elevated hopes and thoughts, unexpectedly caused and summoned this second Parliament; to the ineffable happiness both of the present and future g ages.

No sooner was Parliament assembled than several petitions were presented to the Commons, that the prisoners "might all be sent for out of hand, to prosecute their grievances and complaints before them, against their [the Prelates'] unjust Censures. Which petitions were cordially received and readily granted." One of the Warrants certifying accordingly, represents that "It is Ordered this day, by the Commons House of Parliament, that a Warrant shall issue forth under Mr. Speaker's hand, directed to the Governor.. of Castle Cornet, in the Isle of Guernsey,.. to send up to the said House of Commons, in safe custody, Mr. Henry Burton,.. that he may, before them, prosecute his complaint, according to a Petition this day delivered to this House by Mrs. Sarah Burton, his wife. And, withal, to require them whom it may concern, to certify to the House, by what Warrant and Autho

a Hooker's Eccles. Polity, bk. v. sect. 79, apud fin. This Fifth Book was printed in 1597. Heylyn calculates, however, from "the beginning of the Reformation under Queen Elizabeth, 1558, to the Pacification made at Berwick, 1639." P. 449.

b P. 450. "A New Discovery, &c." See back, vol. i. p. 510.

d P. 110,

"Yet this man, in his Epistle to the King, before his Relation of his Conference with Fisher, published about this time to blear the world, writes “That he heartily beseeched God to forgive these three bitter men." Ibid. p. 110. marg. ! P. 111.

lb.

rity he is there detained close prisoner... Dated this present 7th day of November, 1640.-William Lenthal, Speaker." a

Burton and Prynne arrived together, on Saturday the 28th of November, "to the great joy of all good people." From Dartmouth, where they landed, all the way to London, their journey resembled a triumphal procession, increasing as it approached "to Charing Cross, where they encountered such a world of people in the streets," that it was nearly three hours in passing from Charing Cross to their lodging in the City, having torches carried to light them." The bells "rang, in most places; . . and the company that rode with them into London were estimated to be about a hundred coaches, many of them having six horses apiece; and at least two thousand horse; those on foot being innumerable."b

On Monday morning they appeared before the Commons, when liberty was granted them "to frame new Petitions in their own names." Prynne's was presented on the third of December, and Burton's on the fifth. A Special Committee, of sixty members, was ordered, to take the parties into hearing; "to receive all Petitions of like nature; and to examine the jurisdiction, and abuses, of the Star Chamber, the High Commission, and Council Table:" it met, the same day, in the Star Chamber Court, and appointed Alexander Rigby, of Gray's Inn, Chairman.c

The prayer of Prynne's Petition ran in these words, "May it, therefore, please this Honourable House, to take these your Petitioner's almost eight years tragical grievances, of new and dangerous example, into your most sad and just considerations; that so they may not become precedents to the prejudice of posterity. To grant him liberty to send for and examine all necessary witnesses: to order all clerks, registers, and other officers of the Star Chamber, or elsewhere, speedily and freely to grant him the copies of such orders, decrees, and writings, as his cause shall require to release him upon bail, being now but a prisoner only upon an extra-judicial order of the Lords, and not by virtue of any sentence or decree in Court: to grant him liberty to plead and prosecute his own cause, since counsel hath so often failed him; and, to give him such satisfaction and relief, as the justice and equity of his cause shall merit." d

Burton's petition prays, after having recited all the processes concerning himself, "May it, therefore, please this Honourable House, to take the Petitioner's sad cause into consideration; and for the better manifestation of his grievance in this cause, to assign him for counsel Master Serjeant Atkins, Master Tomlins, and Master Gurdon, to assist him in his cause; and to command, that he may take out such copies gratis out of the said several Courts, as do or may concern his said cause." e Dr. Bastwick's was similar. He had landed at Dover, on the fourth of December, and was, on Monday the sixth, met and brought into London, nearly as his fellow-sufferers had been; who "supped with him, at a friend's house, that same night." Ilis cause, though

a P. 112.

d P. 125.

b P.113-115.

e P. 130.

c P. 116.
P. 135.

the last heard, being the shortest was first reported to the House by Mr. Rigby; Burton's next; and Prynne's last. The whole House voted unanimously, all the Censures, Proceedings, and Orders, against the several parties, illegal."

The Votes, in Burton's cause, March 12th, 1640-1, were to the pronouncing illegal the proceedings of Dr. Duck, and others; and adjudging "reparations and recompence." The Warrant from the Council-Board, Feb. 2nd, 1636-7, for Burton's committal, was pronounced "illegal, and contrary to the liberty of the subject." The Archbishop, the Bishop of London, and five others, Earls, etc., were ordered to "make reparations" to him. And, on the 10th of March, it was resolved That the Sentence in the Star Chamber against Mr. Burton is illegal, and without any just ground, and ought to be reversed, etc. : That he ought to be restored to his degrees taken in the University, and orders in the Ministry; and to his Ecclesiastical Benefice in Friday-street, London: That the Order of the Council-Board for transferring him from the Castle of Lancaster to the Isle of Guernsey; and the imprisonment of him there; are against law, and the liberty of the subject: and, That he ought to have reparation and recompence for the damages sustained by his said imprisonment, loss of ears, exile, and other evils sustained by him by the said unjust and illegal proceedings. Signed, "H. Elsynge, Cler. Domus Com." On the 8th of June, under the same signature, "The House of Commons doth this day declare and hold fit, That Mr. Henry Burton shall be restored to his former liberty of Preaching."c

The Compiler of the "New Discovery" brings his labours to this conclusion: "It will be but equal, that these tyrannical bloody Lord Prelates should now be so dealt with in the Honourable Court of Parliament, as themselves have formerly dealt with others for far less crimes than those they are now accused and guilty of; and that they should have judgment without mercy,' who have showed no mercy,' and whose tender mercies'd have been cruelties! e In the Dedicatory Epistle, however, the Compiler wrote thus, "Kind Reader,-I here present thee with a late tragical history, or New Discovery of the Prelates Tyranny in their unjust prosecutions and bloody persecutions of these eminent persons of the three most noble professions in the kingdom; divinity, law, physic, all suffering together on the pillory, —much honoured by them, and they by it,—and losing all their ears at once, to make themselves hear better, and the Prelates worse! f Such a spectacle,' both to men and angels, no age ever saw before; and posterity is never like to behold hereafter.

"To hear of Lord Bishops metamorphosed into ravenous wolves' h is no novelty; they have been thus in every age, and will be so while they have continuance. But to see them mounted to such an altitude of authority and tyranny as to crucify divinity, law, physic, on the pillory together, and to make Judges, Peers, and Courts of Justice, if

not Sovereignty itself, the Executioners of their malice, cruelty, and private revenge, by such extravagant and untrodden courses as were unknown to our ancestors is such a prodigious innovation, as neither Africa nor England ever beheld the like; and never had been brought forth into the world, had not a venomous Arch-prelate proved a father to engender, a mother to foster, a midwife to produce and bring it to its birth. But, alas, poor silly Politician! while he sought these innocents' ruin by those unwarrantable practices, he laid but the foundation of his own overthrow; in the snare' that he laid for them, is his own foot taken; into the pit' that he digged for them, he is fallen himself; his snares are broken, they are escaped,' and he now lies entangled in them. He is cast down and fallen;' but they are risen, and stand upright: his mischief' now returns on his own head, and his violent dealing comes down upon his own pate:''evil' now hunts this man of violence to overthrow him;' and 'the mischief' of his own lips' doth cover him.' As he hath done,' so 'God hath requited him; while he made haste' to shed their blood,' he did but lie And he that did violence to the blood'

in wait for his own.'

of these persons, now fleeth to the pit,'-as God hath threatened,— let no man stay him; but let all stand admiring God's justice upon him, and his admirable providence, and mercy, in preserving, delivering, and acquitting them from his unjust Censures, and that in the highest court of justice, without one negative voice!

The manifestation of this remarkable justice, mercy, and providence, of our Great God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders,' not only of old, but at this present, even in all our eyes, doing great things' for these Patients; for the whole land; whereof we rejoice,'d was the chief end of publishing this Discovery, whereby to daunt all graceless Persecutors, and cheer the souls of all sincere professors."

The transactions connected with these men, their prosecutors, and their vindicators, are condensed in his History, by Clarendon, who stigmatizes the sufferers as "men of no virtue or merit," and describes their reception, on their return, as an "insurrection and frenzy of the people." His Lordship adds, "From this time the license of Preaching and Printing increased to that degree that all Pulpits were freely delivered to the schismatical and silenced Preachers, who, till then, had lurked in corners, or lived in New England; and the presses at liberty for the publishing the most invective, seditious, and scurrilous pamphlets that their wit and malice could invent." "f It was about this time that

Exod. xv. 11.

d Psal. cxxvi. 2, 3.

a Sce Fox, Acts and Men, vol. i. p. 526, edit [ante 1641.] b Psal. xxxviii. 5, 6. Hist. Rebel. pt. i. bk. iii. p. 201, 202.-" The more ignoble these men were" writes Hume, "the more sensible was the insult upon royal authority, and the more dangerous was the spirit of disaffection and mutiny, which it discovered among the people." Hist. Char. I. ch. liv. an. 1640. Baillie writes, Dec. 2nd. "Never here such a like show; above a thousand horse, and as some of good note say, above four thousand; above a hundred coaches, and as some say, above two hundred; with a world of foot, every one with a rosemary branch... This galled the Bishops exceedingly." Vol. i. Let. 20, p. 222.

P. 202.

Bishop Hall lamented, in a Speech to the Lords, "That there should be in London and the suburbs and liberties, no fewer than fourscore congregations of several Sectaries, as I have been too credibly informed, instructed by guides fit for them, cobblers, tailors, feltmakers, and such like trash; which are all taught to spit in the face of their mother, the Church of England; and to defy and revile her government." Who, and of what denominations these were, it is not our present business to describe.

CHAP. XXXVII.

THE SCOTS' DEPUTATION.-CANNE.-PAGET.-DAVENPORT.-DEADMAN'S PLACE.

WE turn to introduce a fresh set of our opponents, formidable, indeed, in their own might, as will be amply evinced; but who were unexpectedly to themselves kept at bay, and were often even repelled in an encounter, by instruments contemptible, at first, in their eyes, till they found the oracles of God" came sounding from their mouths, with the invincible majesty of Truth.

Scotland might justly boast of her prowess in the struggle for Reformation; she was become, however, if not "vain" in her "imaginations," yet filled with a vain imagination that she had "all sufficiency in all things: "d for so we may be allowed to infer from what was arranged and transpired at Newcastle, connected with the procedure of her commissioners and others to London; and which we shall present from an authority to whom we shall be beholden for much curious and some strange matter connected also with the interests of religion at large, and with those promoters of it in whom we are most particularly concerned.

In a Letter dated "Newcastle, Nov. 5th, 1640," that sturdy and noted Presbyterian, Robert Baillie, writes, "At our presbytery, after sermon, both our noblemen and ministers, in one voice, thought meet that not only Mr. Alexander Henderson, but, also, Mr. Robert Blair, Mr. George Gillespie, and I, should, all three [four], for divers ends, go to London: Mr. R. Blair, to satisfy the minds of many in England who love the Way of New England better than that of Presbyteries used in our Church; I, for convincing of that prevalent faction against which I have written; Mr. Gillespie, for the crying down of the English Ceremonies, for which, he has written; and all four to preach, by turns, to our Commissioners." In another Letter, dated "London, Dec. 2nd, 1640," he writes thus, "Say, and Brooke, in the Higher House, and

e Let. 18, vol. i. p. 215, of "Letters and Journals Containing an impartial account of Public Transactions, &c. From the beginning of the Civil Wars in 1637, to the year 1662.-From the MSS. of Robert Baillie, D.D., 1775." 2 vols.