36 INTRODUCTION. Sparrow, and King, weredeprived of their livings, and four of them committed to Newgate. They were told, that if they did not comply in a short time, they should be banished, though there was no law in existence to inflict any such punishment.* Mr. Johnson, who was fellow of King'scollege, Cambridge, and domestic chaplain to the Lord Keeper Bacon, was tried at Westminster-hall for nonconformity, and sent to the Gatehouse, where, through his cruel imprisonment, he soon after died. Several others, cast into prison at the same time, died under the pressures of their confinement. Mr. Bonham, Mr. Standen and Mr. Fenn, were committed to prison, where they remained a long time. Mr. Wake, rector of Great-Billing ; Mr. Paget, minister of Oundle; Mr. Mosely, minister of Hardingstone ; Mr. Gilderd, minister of Collingtree; and Mr. Dawson, minister of Weston-Favell, all in the diocese of Peter- borough, were first suspended for three weeks, and then deprived of their livings. They were all useful preachers. Four of them were licensed by the university, as learned and religious divines, and three had been moderators in the religious exercises. Mr. Lowth, minister of Carlisle, was prosecuted in the high commission at York; while gr. Sanderson and Dr. Crick, two learned and usefuldivines in Norfolk, fell into the hands of the high commissioners in the south, When the latter was deprived of his preferment. Many others in the diocese of Norwich refusing conformity, were prosecuted in the ecclesiastical courts.-F And Mr. Aldrich, with many others in the university of Cambridge, received much unchristian usage from time governing eccle- siastics. At the same time, John Townley, esq. a layman, was committed to prison for nonconformity, when Dean Nowell, his near kinsman, presented a petition to the presi- dent of the north and the Archbishop of York, for his release . The year 1574 was memorable for the suppression of the religious exercises, called prophayings. Some of the bishops being persttaded of the usefulnessof these exercises, discovered theit unwillingness to put them down. This gave great offence to the queen, who addressed a letter to all the bishops in England, peremptorily commanding them to suppress them in their respective dioceses. Her majesty in this discovered a most despotic and tyrannical spirit. All the bishops and clergy in the nation must bow to her Strype's Parker, p.412, 413. f Ibid. p.451, 452. t Baker's MS. Collec. vol. xxi. p. 382.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=