322 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. many abuses, for which we are so Uncourteously treated." A particular account of this conference is given in another place.* There being no prospect of any further reformation of the church by the legislature, some of the leading puritans agreed to attempt it in a. more private way. For this purpose, they erected a presbytery at Wandsworth in Surrey ; which, being seated on the banks of the Thames, was convenient for the brethren in London. Among the members of this society was one Mr. Field, lecturer of Wandsworth, and undoubtedly this painful sufferer for nonconformity. The formation of this presbytery is said to havebeen in the year 1572 ; in which case, it must not have been in the month of November, as some have supposed, but previous to the month of July ; for on the seventh of July, this year, Mr. Field and Mr. Wilcockswere committed to prison, and remained in close confinement, at least till towards the close of 1573. Mr. Strype observes, that while these sufferers for conscience were closely confined in. Newgate, they were frequently visited by their brethren, Drs. Fulke and Humphrey, and Messrs. Wyburn, Cartwright, Deerin', Lever, Crowley, Johnson, and Brown. And upon their appearance before the council, they were told, that unless they could obtain the queen's pardon,they must be banished from their country, for the singular crime of disliking the Book of CommonPrayer ;+ though atthat time therewas no law in existence requiring such punishment. Whether they ever, sought to her majesty for pardon, we are not able to learn ; only in 1574, Mr. Field, we find, was minister of Aldermary church, London.# Though he was released from prison, his troubles were not over. In the year 1577, he was cited before Bishop Aylmer, who pronounced him obstinate, for having taught children in gentlemen' houses, contrary to the prohibitions of the archbishop. Bishop Aylmer, therefore, recommended that both Mr. Field and Mr. Wilcocks might be sent into the most barbarous parts of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Lancashire, or other places, where, his lordship observed, they might be profitably employed in reclaiming people from the ignorance and errors of popery.§ What the bishop recommended was undoubtedly a more See Art. Wilcocks. Strype's Parker, p. 413. MS. Register, p. 285. § Strype's Aylmer, p. 55, 56
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