I know, that is to follow us, and receive a censure in Star Chamber, is like to be a bishop!* Gentlemen, look to yourselves; you know not whose turn it may be next. I beseech you all stand firm, and be zealous for the cause of God and his true religion, to the shedding of your dearest blood; otherwise, you will bring yourselves and your posterity into perpetual bondage to these Romish innovators and tyrannizing prelates."

The effect of these words upon the people was very great; and Laud, who sat in the Star Chamber, and received information from his "intelligencers" as to what was going on, moved that the speaker might be gagged. In this, however, he was overruled.

Burton's turn came next. His pillory, we are informed, stood alone near the Star Chamber, and about "half a stone's cast" from the double pillory where Bastwick and Prynne were doomed to suffer. But all three had their faces turned in the same direction, towards the south; and it so happened that the bright sun "all the while, for the space of two hours," was "shining upon them:" an emblem of the light and peace that beamed in upon their souls from an orb yet more radiant and glorious. On being put into the pillory Burton exclaimed, "Shall I be ashamed of a pillory for Christ, who was not ashamed of a cross for me? Good people, I am brought hither to be 'a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.' And howsoever I stand here to undergo the punishment of

* And so it proved. In July, Williams, bishop of Lincoln, was suspended from all ecclesiastical offices, fined £10,000, and imprisoned during the king's pleasure. The pretence for which this heavy punishment was inflicted, was his divulging the king's secrets; the real cause, Laud's malice. Brief Relation, p. 23.

a rogue, yet, except to be a faithful servant to Christ, and a loyal subject to the king, be the property of a rogue, I am no rogue." He then stated the reason for which he had thus been treated, justifying himself in what he had done. One of the people had presented him with a nosegay, which he held in his hand. A bee settled upon it, and became a minister of comfort to his mind. "Do ye not see this poor bee ?" he said, "she hath found out this very place, to suck sweetness from these flowers; and cannot I suck sweetness in this very place from Christ ?" One of the spectators asked him how he was; "Never better, I bless God," was his reply, "who hath counted me worthy thus to suffer." Some one inquired if the pillory were not uneasy; "How can Christ's yoke be uneasy ?" said he "this is Christ's yoke; he bears the heavier end of it, and I the lighter: and if mine were too heavy, he would bear that too." The keeper was proceeding to ease the pillory, when he exclaimed, with a grave but cheerful countenance, "Trouble not yourself; I was never in such a pulpit before. But little do you know what fruits God is able to produce from this dry tree! Remember it well; for this day will never be forgotten, and through these holes, God can bring light to his church.”

After this, he turned his face as well as he could towards the other pillory, and making a sign with his hand, called out in a loud and cheerful voice to Bastwick and Prynne, asking them how they were. The reply, which still seems to echo in the ear, was 'very well!"

A woman standing near, said, "Sir, every Christian is not worthy this honour which the Lord hath cast

Another said, "There are hundreds who by God's assistance would willingly suffer for the cause you suffer for." Burton replied in suitable terms to both, reminding them of Christ's " military discipline," and exhorting them to be prepared to suffer as well as do his will.

A cheerful message was now brought to him from his wife, which kindled afresh the spark of enthusiasm in his soul. He blessed God for her, and added, "She is but a young soldier of Christ; but hath already endured many a sharp brunt, and the Lord will strengthen her unto the end." Then looking upon a new pair of gloves that he wore, he said, with some humour, "My wife yesterday, of her own accord, brought me these wedding gloves, for this is my wedding day!"

Such was the spirit of these men up to this point. But the worst had yet to come. The executioner now approached, and a thrill of horror ran through the multitude. 66 Sir," said one of them to Burton, “the executioner is coming; I pray God strengthen you." "I trust he will;" was the calm reply. The executioner came, and did his worst ;-Burton was unmoved. The knife appears to have been used in a barbarous manner, cutting deep into the flesh, and causing the blood to flow from both ears in a copious stream. The people uttered a loud moan of pity and indignation, and cried out for a surgeon to staunch the wounds; while many that were near dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, "as a most precious thing." All the while the sufferer himself was patient as a lamb. Holding up his hands, he said, “Be content; it is well; blessed be God, it cannot be better bestowed." And afterwards he was heard to

utter the prayer, "The Lord keep us, that we do not dishonour him in any thing."

Bastwick displayed similar fortitude. On being let out of the pillory on to the scaffold, he took the sponge, all bloody as it was, from his ear, and lifting up his eyes, waved it over his head, and cried, "Blessed be my God, who hath counted me worthy, and of his mighty power hath enabled me to suffer any thing for his sake! And as I have now lost some of my blood, so I am ready and willing to spill every drop that is in my veins, in this cause for which I now have suffered; which is, for maintaining the truth of God, and the honour of my king, against popish usurpations. Let God be glorified; and let the king live for ever

!"

The

Prynne suffered most, and most heroically. executioner is said to have performed his work with extraordinary cruelty, as if he had been feed for the purpose. The branding on the cheeks was effected with a very hot iron, and, as if one impression were not enough, the application of the burning letters was repeated. His ears, which had been mutilated before but had been sewn on again, were dreadfully mangled. In cutting off one, the executioner took part of the cheek along with it; while the other was hacked and left hanging, till the surgeon called him back, and bade him cut it off. As soon as this process of torture was over, Prynne gave vent to his thoughts in the following brief sentence: "The more I am beat down, the more I am lift up ;" and, on coming off the pillory, added, "Now, blessed be God, I have conquered and triumphed over the prelates' malice, and feel myself so strong that I could encounter them all together at this very moment."

When their wounds had been dressed they were recommitted, and afterwards transported to separate prisons in the islands of Scilly, Guernsey, and Jersey, far from observation, in solitary confinement. On their way, however, they could not but perceive that the people were with them. Their progress was a triumph. Every where they were received as martyrs in the cause of religion and liberty; and it was evident that the nation at large was unwilling to be tamed down to submission, even by such severe examples.*

We have selected these cases as exemplifications only of the present course of affairs. They are confessedly the worst that occurred. But in many other instances the spirit of the ruling party betrayed itself in a similar manner. It would occupy many chapters to detail severally the cases of persecution which meet us in the history of this period.† Neither was Laud the only bishop whose name deserves to be handed down to posterity in connection with these despotic proceedings. Pierce, of Bath and Wells, and Wren, of Norwich, rendered themselves infamous by the cruelty with which they prosecuted their prelatical aims. The former put down all lecturing in his diocese, and affirmed that "he saw no such need of preaching now as in the apostles' days." The latter deprived or suspended no less than fifty of the

*See Hanbury, i. 569-574, for an account of their progress, and of their treatment when they arrived at their destination.

Lilburne, the publisher, was fined, whipped, and put into the pillory, for refusing to take an oath to answer questions respecting the imputed libels he had either published or imported; and while speaking against the bishops from the pillory, he was gagged by order of the Star Chamber. This was in 1638.