397 preach; whereupon he procur'd an order for a troope of horse to be sent downe to quarter at Nottingham to keepe the fanatiques in awe. But one who had relation to the towne, being then at court, and knowing this to be false, certified to the contrary and prevented the troope. After the maior came downe, he was one night taken with a vomitting of blood, and being ill, call'd his man and his maid, who alsoe at the same time fell a bleeding, and were all ready to be choak'd in their owne blood, which at last stopping, they came to assist him; but after that he never lift up his head, bnt languisht a few months and died. While these poore people were in prison, the collonell sent them some mony, and assoone as their time was expir'd, Mr. Palmer came to Owthorpe to give l1im thankes, and preacht there one Lord's day. ' Whith~r this were taken notice of is not evident, but wlthin Y This transaction is seel}lingly of small note; but will be fou nd of the last importance to the parties concerned. By the declaration from Breda-" Liberty was " granted to tender consciences, and none were to be questioned for difference of "opinion in matters of religion, which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom.'~ But the parliament which was chosen after the restoration, a nd which consisted in a great degree of tories and high church men, encouraged and led on by the chancellor, passed several severe acts against all dissenters indiscriminately. Particularly one called, the Act of Uniformity, and this they followed up with an act forbidding nonconformists to frequent conventicles, under which probably Mr. Palmer was seized. As it had been declared that those who differed ·from the church could not fail to be enemies to the state, and that the fanatics., as they called tbcm, resorted to these meeting.~; under pretence of religion, Lut in reality to form and ripen plots and sed itions, and that principally for this reason these acts we re framed, this renegado very aptly introduced his thousand men in anus. How far it was discreet in Col. Hutchin~on at sud1 a juncture to let this rnnn preach at Owthorpe, on whom a mark had bene set, is doubtful ; it seems that in general he confiued hi s religious "opinions and worship to h~s own house, aqd was of course inoffensive everi to the captious government under which he lived. The manner, time, and plnce of his being se ized, demonstrate the falsehood of the legend contained in Throsby's edition ofThoroton's Nottinghamshire, of his long concealment in his own house, and at last being tr.ken coming lwme from clwrclt.
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