boo The HISTORY of the PURITANS. Chap. V. K Charles I. fon he fhauld be laid alone with irons on his hands and legs, in the wards '37 of the Fleet where the bafeft of the prifoners ufed to be put, and that no perfon fhould be admitted to fee him. Here he continued in a molt for- lorn and miferable condition till the meetingof the long parliament. Courage.oj In the midi ofall thefe dangers the puritan clergy fpoke freely againft the puritans. their oppref 'ors. Dr. Cornelius Buries in a latin fermon before the clergy ofLondon, preached againft the feverities of the bifhops, and refuting to give his diocefan a copy of his fermon, was put into the high commiflìon. Mr. Wharton of Eex preached with the fame freedom at Chelmsford, for which ('tis faid) he made his fubmiffion. Several pamphlets were difper.- fed againft the proceedings of the ecclefiaftical courts, which the bifhop of London declared he had reafon to believe were wrote or countenanced by the clergy of his own diocefe. Many private gentlemen in Sujòlk maintained lecturers at their own expence, without confulting the bifhop, who complained that they were factious, and did not govern themfelves Rufhw. according to the canons; but fays his lordfhip [Wren] " What (hall I do P. 467 " with fuch fcholars, Tome in orders and others not, which gentlemen of " figure entertain in their houles under pretence of teaching their chil- dren ? and with thofe beneficed divines who take fhelter in the houfes " of the rich laity, and do not live upon their cures ? " Here was the pu- ritans Taft retreat ; thofe who were not willing to go abroad found enter- tainment in gentlemens families, and from thence annoyed the enemy with their pamphlets. Even the populace who were not capable of writing, expreffed their refentments againft the archbifhop by difperfing libels about the town, in which they threatned his deftru Lion. His grace has entered Tome of them in his diary. Libels difper- " Wednfday, Aug. 23. My lord mayor fent me a libel found by the fed againft " watch at the fouth gate of St. Paul's, that the devil had left that houle the archbi- .AoP " to me. "'Aug. 2.5. Another libel was brought me by an officer of the high ".commiffion, faftened to the north gate of St. Paul's, that the govern- " ment of the church ofEngland is a candle in a fnuff, going out in a ftench. The fame night the lord, mayor fent me another libel, hanged upon " the ftandard in Cheapfide, which was my fpeech in the ftar-chamber " fet in the pillory. A few days after another fhort libel was fent him in verle." Yet none of thefe things abated his zeal, or relaxed his rigor againft thole who cenfured his arbitrary proceedings. Pref re- It was impofrble to debate things fairly in publick, becaufe the preis /lrained, was abfolutely at his grace's difpofal, according to a new decree of the Aar-chamber made this fummer, which ordains that " no book be printed " unlefs
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