A man who became sheriff of
a county and had taken the oath which bound him to remain in the
county was elected to Parliament and stood in opposition to the
king on many matters. He was imprisoned for many years until he
made a humble submission and had to pay a heavy fine. A London
importer who was alleged to have said "That the Merchants are in
no part of the world so screwed and wrung as in England; That in
Turkey they have more encouragement" was fined 2,000 pounds for
seditious and slanderous words against his majesty's happy
government. A Scottish minister circulated a book appealing to the
Parliament to turn out the bishops and to resist its own
dissolution by the King. In it he called the bishops men of blood,
anti-Christian, satanical, ravens, and magpies, preying on the
state. He was against kneeling at the sacrament and denounced the
Queen for her religion. He blamed the state for the death of
citizens of a certain town by famine. For as he did "scandalize
his Majesties Sacred Person, his Religious, Wise, and just
Government, the Person of his Royal Consort the Queen, the Persons
of the Lords and Peers of this realm, especially the Reverend
Bishops", he was fined 10,000 pounds, was to be unfrocked (which
was done by the Court of High Commission), and was whipped,
pilloried, one ear nailed to the pillory and cut off, his cheek
branded, and his nose slit. Then he was imprisoned for life, but
only served ten years, being released by a statute of the Long
Parliament.
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