GARDINER--STANDEN. 317 " To the Bight Reverend -Father in God the Lord Bishop ".of London. " Myduty in humble-wise remembered, my lord. I ani "cast into Newgate by your lordship, for a matter which " aboutseyen years past, was slanderously raised against "me. I was by course of law cleared, and the Lord God " who searcheth' the hearts, befOre whom you and I shall "shortly appear, doth know, and him I call to witness, " that I was and amfalsely accused.. I have been-extremely " sick in prison. I thank God, I am amended, but amyet " so ill, that the physicians say my infection from the prison " will be very dangerous. I have a poor wife and five " children, who are in a lamentable case. I had six at the " beginning of my imprisonment ; but by reason of my " sickness in prison, and my wife being constrained to " attend upon me, one of my children, for want of some., "body to oversee them, was drowned in a tub ofwort, " being two years and a half old. Ifyour lordship have no " compassion on me, yet take pity upon the widow and " fatherless, (for in that state are now my wife and poor " infants) whose tears are before the Lord. I crave only " to be bailed; and if I am found guilty of any breach of " law, let me have extremitywithout any favour. Your " lordship's to command in Christ. "JOHN GARDINER." It does not appear how long Mr. Gardiner remained in prison, nor what other punishment he endured. He was a member of the presbyterial) church erected at Wands-, worth in Surrey ; and he united with his brethren in sub-. scribing the " Book of Discipline."* NICHOLAS STANDEN was educated in the university of Cambridge ; he became rector of St. 3,1agaret-fattens,, London ; but was deprived, it is supposed, for noncon formity, in 1568.-t He was a learned and religious man, an orthodox divine, and ever zealous for a reformation of the church ; often meeting with his brethren to proinote the, desired object. About the year 1570, he was . chaplain to the Earl of Warwick, in his expedition against the rebels. in thenorth4 In 1572, he was a member of the presby * Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 103.-Nears Puritans;vol. i. p. 423: + NeWcourCs Repert. Eccl: vol: i. p.409. T AIS. Chronology, vol. ii. p. 373. (8.) o
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