596 the HISTORY of the PURITANS. Chap. V. K. Charles I. writing againft the bithops and their fpiritual courts :.Baflwick was r639. charged with a book publifhed 1636. entitled lipologeticus ad prcefules anglicanos and with a pamphlet called the new Litany : The others with two anonymous books, one entitled Adivine tragedy, containing a cata- logue of God's judgments againfi fbbath breakers; the other, Newsfront Ipfwich. Which laft was a fatire upon the fevere proceedings of Dr. Wren bifhop of that diocefe. For three they were cited a fecond time into the (far chamber, by virtue of an information laid againft them by the attorney general, for writing andpubling feditious, fchifmatical, and libellous books, agairfl the hierarchy of the church, and to thefcandal ofthe government. When the defendants had prepared their anfwers, they could not get council to fign them ; upon which they petitioned the court to receive them from themfelves, which would not be admitted : however Prynne and Baflwick having no other remedy, left their anfwers at the office, figned with their own hands, but were neverthelefs proceeded a- gainft pro confefo. Burton prevailed with Mr. Holt a bencher of Gray's Inn, to fign his anfwer; but the court ordered the two chief juftices to expunge what they thought unfit to be brought into court, and they ftruck out the whole anfwer, except fix lines at the beginning, and three or four at the end ; and becaufe Mr. Burton would not acknowledge it thus purged, he was alto taken pro confe. In BaJlwick's anfwer the prelates are called invaders of the king's pre- rogative, contemners and defpifers ofthe holy fcriptures, advancers ofpope- ry, fuperjiition, idolatry andprofanenefs; they are charged with oppreing the king's loyalfubjetks, and with great cruelty tyrranny and injufiice. Mr. Prynne's anfwer refleded upon the hierarchy, tho' in more moderate and cautious terms. All the defendants offered to maintain their feveral an- fwers, at the peril of their lives; but the court finding them not filed upon record, would not receive them. The prifoners at the bar cried aloud for jafice, and that their anfwers might be read; but it was peremptorily FÄ'eïr fen- denied, and the following fentence paffed upon them ; that Mr. Burton te'ue. bedeprived of his living, and degraded from his mini/try, as Prynne and Baft wick had beenfrom their profigons oflaw andphyfick; that each of them be fined Pave thoufand pounds ; that they Band in the pillory atWelt-' mintier, andhave their ears cut of; and becaufe Mr. Prynne had already lo/l his ears by fentenceof the court 633. it was ordered that the remainder of hisflumps /houldbe cut of and that hefhóuldbeJIigmatized onboth cheeks with the letters S. L. and then all three weretoPufferperpetual imprifonnrent in the remotf prifons of the kingdom. This fentence was executed upon them June 3oth. the hangman rather fawing the remainder of Prynne's ears than cutting them off; after which they were tent under a ftrong guard, One to the caftle of Launce/ïon in Gornwal, another to the cattle. of
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