58

HISTOEY OF ENGIAETD.

map.

XVIII.

1632 .

place by the scandal which was the effect of his lawless amours,lie rode away from another place on a borrowed horse, whichhe never returned. He settled in a third parish, and was takenup for bigamy. Some letters which he wrote on this occasionfrom the gaol of Cavan have been preserved. He assured eachof his wives, with the most frightful imprecations, that shealone ivas the object of his love; and he thus succeeded in in-ducing one of them to support him in prison, and the other tosave his life by forswearing herself at the assizes. The onlyspecimens which remain to us of his method of impartingreligious instruction are to be found in these epistles. He com-pares himself to David, the man after God’s own heart, whohad been guilty both of adultery and murder. He declares thathe repents: he prays for the forgiveness of the Almighty, andthen intreats his dear honey, for Christ’s sake, to perjure her-self. Having narrowly escaped the gallows, he wanderedduring several years about Ireland and England, begging,stealing, cheating, personating, forging, and lay in manyprisons under many names. In 1G84 he was convicted at Buryof having fraudulently counterfeited Sancroft’s signature, andwas sentenced to the pillory and to imprisonment. Prom hisdungeon he wrote to implore the Primate’s mercy. The lettermay still be read with all the original bad grammar and badspelling.* The writer acknowledged his guilt, wished that hiseyes were a fountain of water, declared that he should neverknow peace till he had received episcopal absolution, and pro-fessed a mortal hatred of Dissenters. As all this contrition andall this orthodoxy produced no effect, the penitent, afterswearing bitterly to be revenged on Sancroft, betook himselfto another device. The Western Insurrection had just brokenout. The magistrates all over the country w'ere but too ready to

* I give one short sentence ns a specimen: “0 fie that ever it shouldbe said that a clergyman have committed such durty actions! n