Chap. V. Ve H IS TORY of the PURITANS. 205 the kingdom fhould be bound in a bond of2001. to conform in all things Eb ch, to the at of uniformity, and in cafe of default, their names to be x573 returned into the Exchequer by the bifhop, and the bond to be fued. If this project had taken place, it would have ruined half the clergy of the Svype's kingdom. nals, p. 26o. g L. of Grin- Another occafion of thefe extraordinary proceedings of the court, is dal, p. 185. laid to arife from the accidental madnefs of one Peter Birchet, of the Birchet', Middle Temple, who had the name of a Puritan, but was difordered in madnefs and his fenfes ; this man came out of the Temple in his gown, Oslober I 4' death. g Strype's An- about eleven in the morning, and feeing Mr. Fitz. Gerard, lieutenant ofnaá, Voi.It. the penfioners, Sir William Winter, and Mr. Hawkins, officers of the P. a88 queen's navy, riding through the Strand, with their fervants on foot, came- up to them, and fuddenly ftruck Hawkins with a dagger, through the right arm into the body about the arm -hole, and immediately ran into the Bell-Inn, where he was taken, and upon examination beingafked, Whe- ther he knew Mr. Hawkins? He anfwered, he took him for Mr. Hat- ton,- captain of the guards, and one of the privy-chamber, whom he was moved to kill by the fpirit of God, by which he fhould do God and his country acceptable fervice, Becaufe hewas an enemy of God's word, and a maintainer of papjury. In which opinion he perfevered without any figns of repentance, till for fear of being burnt for herefy, he recanted . before Dr. Sandys bi(hop of London, and the reft of the commif loners. The queen afked her two chief juftices, and attorney general, what cor- poral punifhment the villain might undergo for his offence; it was pro- pofed to put him to death as afelon, becaufe a premeditated attempt with an intention of killing, had been fo punifhed by king Edward II. though the party wounded did not die ; but the Judges did not appre- hend this to be law. It was then moved, that the queen by virtue of her prerogative, fhould put him to death by martial law ; and accordingly: a warrant was made out under the great feal for his execution, though: the fad was committed in time of peace. This made tome of the council hefitate, apprehending it might prove a very bad precedent... At length the poor creature put an end to the difpute himfelf, for on the loth of November in the afternoon, he killed his keeper Longworth, . with one blow, ftriking him with a billet on the hinder part of the head, as he was looking upon a book in the prifon window of the rower; for this crime he was next day indicted and arraigned at the King's-bench, where he confeffed the fad, laying, that Longworth in . his imagination was Hatton: There he received judgment for murder, and the next day, November 12. had his right hand firft;cut off at the place in the Strand- where he ftruck Hawkins, and was,theu immediately hanged ona gibbet' ereéted purpofely,, between eightand. nine of the clock in the morning, and
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