It was not thought that Goodenough had yet earned his par don. The government was bent on destroying a victim of no high rank, a surgeon in the city, named Bateman. He had attended Shaftesbury professionally, and had been a zealous exclusionist. He may possibly have been privy to the Whig Plot; but it is certain that he had not been one of the leading conspirators; for, in the great mass of depositions published by the government, his name occurs only once, and then not in connection with any crime bordering on high treason. From his indictment, and from the scanty account which remains of his trial, it seems clear that he was not even accused of par. ticipating in the design of murdering the royal brothers. The malignity with which so obscure a man, guilty of so slight an offence, was hunted down, while traitors far more criminal and far more eminent were allowed to ransom themselves by giving evidence against him, seemed to require explanation; and a disgraceful. explanation was found. When Oates, after his scourging, was carried into Newgate insensible, and, as all thought, in the last agony, he had been bled and his wounds had been dressed by Bateman. This was an offence not to be forgiven. Bateman was arrested and indicted. The witnesses against him were men of infamous character, men, too, who were swearing for their own lives. None of them had yet got his pardon; and it was a popular saying, that they fished for prey, like tame cormorants, with ropes round their necks. The prisoner, stupefied by illness, was unable to articulate or to understand what passed. His son and daughter stood by him at the bar. They read as well as they could some notes which he had set down, and examined his witnesses. It was to little purpose. He was convicted, hanged, and quartered.* Never, not even under the tyranny of Laud, had the con dition of the Puritans been so deplorable as at that time. Never had spies been so actively employed in detecting congrega tions. Never had magistrates, grand jurors, rectors and churchwardens been so much on the alert. Many dissenters were cited before the ecclesiastical courts. Others found it necessary to purchase the connivance of the agents of the government by presents of hogsheads of wine, and of gloves stuffed with guineas. It was impossible for the sectaries *Bateman's Trial in the Collection of State Trials; Sir Johr Hawles's Remarks. It is worth while to compare Thomas Lees evidence on this occasion with his confession previously published hy authority. pray together without precautions such as are employed by coners and receivers of stolen goods. The places of meeting were frequently changed. Worship was performed sometimes just before break of day and sometimes at dead of night Round the building where the little flock was gathered together sentinels were posted to give the alarm if a stranger drew near. The minister in disguise was introduced through the garden and the back yard. In some houses there were trap doors, through which, in case of danger, he might descend. Where Nonconformists lived next door to each other, the walls were often broken open, and secret passages were made from dwelling to dwelling. No psalm was sung; and many contrivances were used to prevent the voice of the preacher, in his moments of fervor, from being heard beyond the walls. Yet, with all this care, it was often found impossible to elude the vigilance of informers. In the suburbs of London, especially, the law was enforced with the utmost rigor. Several opulent gentlemen were accused of holding conventicles. Their houses were strictly searched, and distresses were levied to the amount of many thousands of pounds. The fiercer and bolder sectaries, thus driven from the shelter of roofs, met in the open air, and determined to repel force by force. A Middlesex jus tice, who had learned that a nightly prayer-meeting was held in a gravel pit about two miles from London, took with him a strong body of constables, broke in upon the assembly, and seized the preacher. But the congregation, which consisted of about two hundred men, soon rescued their pastor, and put the magistrate and his officers to flight.* This, however, was no ordinary occurrence. In general the Puritan spirit seemed to be more effectually cowed at this conjuncture than at any moment before or since. The Tory pamphleteers boasted that not one fanatic dared to move tongue or pen in defence of his religious opinions. Dissenting ministers, however blameless in life, however eminent for learning and abilities, could not venture to walk the streets for fear of outrages, which were not only not repressed, but encouraged, by those whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Some divines of great fame were in prison. Among these was Richard Baxter. Others, who had, during a quarter of a century, borne up against oppres sion, now lost heart, and quitted the kingdom. Among these was John Howe. Great numbers of persons who had been * Citters, Oct. 1, 1685. accustomed to frequent conventicles repaired to the parish churches. It was remarked that the schismatics who had been terrified into this show of conformity might easily be distin guished by the difficulty which they had in finding out the collect and by the awkward manner in which they bowed at the name of Jesus.* Through many years the autumn of 1685 was remembered by the Nonconformists as a time of misery and terror. Yet in that autumn might be discerned the first faint indications of a great turn of fortune; and before eighteen months had elapsed, the intolerant king and the intolerant church were eagerly bidding against each other for the support of the party which both had so deeply injured. *Neale's History of the Puritans, Calamy's Account of the ejected Ministers, and the Nonconformist Memorial, contain abundant proofs of the severity of this persecution. Howe's farewell letter to his flock will be found in the interesting life of that great man, by Mr. Rogers. Howe complains that he could not venture to show himself in the streets of London, and that his health had suffered from want of air and exercise. But the most vivid picture of the distress of the Nonconformists is furnished by their deadly enemy, Lestrange, in the Observators of September and October, 1685. INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME. ABHORRERS, 200. A. Abingdon, James Bertie, Earl of; commands the Oxfordshire militia against Act of Indemnity, 151. Agricultural distress in the reign of Charles II., 148. Agriculture; its state at the death of Charles II., 242. Waste and unculti Albemarle, George, Duke of, 113. See Monk. -, Christopher, Duke of, 456, 466. Aldrich, 258. Alford, Gregory, Mayor of Lyme; spreads the news of Monmouth's land- Alleine, Joseph; his popularity and imprisonments, 461. Amsterdam; rejoicings there, on the death of Cromwell, 149, 150. Its Amusements, public; suppressed by the Puritans, 126. Anne, daughter of James II., educated in the Protestant faith, 164. Mar- Anselm, Archbishop; protects the Saxon Christians, 18. Antibirminghams, 200. Architecture, ecclesiastic; its rise in England, 15. Argyle, Marquess of; his share in the downfall of Charles I.; executed by Archibald, Earl of; his participation in Scotch politics; attempts Arminian Nunnery, 60, note. (527) Arminianism; supersedes Calvinism in the Church, 61. Army of the Commonwealth; its domination and character, 93-95. Its standing; unpopular, 120, 136. its gradual formation by Charles Art, works of; demolished by the Puritans, 125. Arts, state of, in the 17th century, 322-324. Arundel, Philip Earl of, 495. Ashley. See Cabal, and Shaftesbury. Athol, John Murray, Marquess of; appointed to oppose Argyle, 430. His Attainder, acts of; proceedings of the Commons in reference to, 457, 458. Ayloffe, John, 414, note. His contempt of death; interrogation before the B. Bacon, Francis Lord; points out a defect in the English polity, 164, 165. Barebone's Parliament; summoned, 104. Its surrender, ib. Its test for Barillon; his interposition during the last moments of Charles II., 342, Barrow, 258. Baskerville, 267. Batavian Territory. See Holland. Bateman, the surgeon; his connection with Shaftesbury, and support of the Bath, John Granville, Earl of. See Charles II., 343. Bath, city of, in 1685; described, and contrasted with its present aspect, Battiscombe, Christopher; executed at Lyme. 510. Baxter, Richard; his political works burned, 210. Refuses a bishopric; Bearbaiting; anecdotes of, 125, 126. Beauchere; his marriage with an English Princess, and consequent unpopu- Beaufort, Henry Somerset, Duke of; his great local influence, 466. Hig Becket; pilgrimages to the shrine of, an indication of national feeling, 19 Bedford, Earl of; his adherence to the opponents of Charles I., 80. Beer; consumption of, in the 17th century, 250. Beveridge, 250. Birmingham in 1685; described, and contrasted with its present state, 267 |