482 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. preceding evening he made his escape out of the Fleet, where he had been kept a close prisoner. Information of his escape was no sooner announced to the lords of the council, than they caused the following hue and cry to be printed and published through the country : "A hue and cry against Dr. Leighton. " Whereas Alexander Leighton, a Scotchman born, "who was lately sentenced by the honourable court of star- " chamber to pay a great fine to his majesty, and to undergo " corporal punishment, for writing, printing and publish- " ing a very libellous and seditious book against the king " andhis government, bath this eleventh day of November " escaped out of the prison of the Fleet, where he was a " prisoner. These are in his majesty's name to requireand " command all justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, "bailiffs, customers, searchers, and officers of the ports, " and all others his majesty's loving subjects, to use all " diligence for the apprehending of the said Alexander " Leighton ; and being apprehended, safely to keep him in " custody until his majesty shall receive notice thereof, " and shall give further direction concerning him. He is " a man of low stature, fair complexion ; he bath a yellow- " ish beard, a high forehead, and is between forty and fifty " years of age. "* This hue and cry followed him into Bedfordshire, where be was apprehended, and brought again prisoner to the Fleet. Relative,to Dr. Leighton's escape, and the execu- tion of part of the sentence, Bishop Laud made the follow- ing memorial in his diary : " November 4, Leighton was degraded in the high commission. November 9, he broke out of the Fleet ; the warden says, he got or was helped over the wall ;t and professes he knew not this from Tues- day till Wednesday noon. He told it not me till Thursday night. Leighton was taken again in Bedfordshire, and within a fortnight brought back to the Fleet. November W, part of his sentence was executed upon him at West- minster."-t Such was the particular memorial which this reverend prelate preserved of these sacred proceedings ! Rushworth's Collec. vol. ii. p. 57.-The account of the doctor's age is here certainly very incorrect. + Herein both the warden and the bishop were mistaken. His two friends, Mr. Levingstonand Mr. Anderson, lent him theirclothes, by which meal, he got out. of prison in disguise. This, however, was no sooner found out than his two friends were prosecuted in the star-chamber ; when they were fined each five hundred pounds, and committed to the Fleet during the king's pleasure. -Ibid. p. 58. Prynne's Breviateof Laud, p. W.-Wharton'. Laud, vol. i. p. 45. ....111=
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