PREPARING THE EVIDENCE.

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CHAPTER X.

BEFORE long it was determined to amass some testimony, if possible, against Laud; it was thought that his papers would incriminate him in some treasonous correspondence-with the Church of Rome, it was hoped. The manner of the search was as brutal as it was unsuccessful. Prynne, as the accredited agent of the Parliament, came to the Tower at night with a file of musqueteers, entered Laud's room when he was in bed, and produced his warrant, wherein it was expressly said that his pockets should be searched, which was accordingly done. Prynne took away twenty-one bundles of letters prepared by Laud for his defence; the Scottish Service-book, his Diary, and, last of all, his book of private devotions. "Nor could I get him," says Laud, "to leave the last, but he must needs see what passed between God and me: a thing, I think, scarce ever offered to any Christian. Among the papers," he continues, "he found a bundle

124

LAUD'S PERSON SEARCHED.

of gloves. This bundle he was so careful to open as that he caused each glove to be looked into. Upon this I tendered him one pair of the gloves, which he refusing, I told him he might take them and fear no bribe, for he had already done me all the mischief he could, and I asked no favour of him. So he thanked me, took the gloves, bound up my papers, and went his way."

The sentence which Laud, as the representative of the Star Chamber, had pronounced, makes excusable a certain amount of energetic hatred on Prynne's part. But nothing can excuse or condone his subsequent proceedings. He sorted the letters, burning those that might be supposed to tell in Laud's favour. He cut with a knife and blotted out many entries of the same character in the Diary. In one place five pages are removed; in another there is a great crescent-shaped burn, that extends over many pages, that looks as if it had been inflicted by a red-hot iron. This he called preparing the evidence. Finally, he published a selection, with notes, explaining, according to his own taste, the secret initials and ciphers in the book. It is needless to say that he understood these to mean gross immoralities in nearly every case. On the eighteenth, and last day of hearing, the Archbishop saw every Lord present with a new

SCOTTISH PRAYER-BOOK.

thin book in folio, in a blue coat.

published Diary.

125

This was the

That of intended

The charges were frivolous. subversion of the laws of the kingdom, had a vague and ominous sound; but it was merely supported by general assertions dealing with his method of administering justice, and his deliberate and evident purpose to support the king in whatever courses he adopted. The bringing in of popish superstition upon the Protestant religion was based upon the fact that he had been offered a Cardinal's hat, and upon a number of names of persons, supposed friends of Laud's, who had become Romanists, and upon whom he had either not used his influence so as to dissuade them, or used it in vain. This last charge he condescended to answer in detail.

The following may serve as specimens of the kind of facts, gravely alleged as criminal-nay, capital misdemeanours. Prynne first proceeds to describe what he gracefully calls his "kennel ” at Lambeth. He stated that he had a Bible with a device of five wounds upon it, in his study, the gift of a devout lady; that he had profane and popish pictures, such as the four doctrines of the Church, with a dove diffusing light-this picture is now the chief ornament of the great

126

POPISH TENDENCIES.

drawing-room at Lambeth; that he had a massbook in his library, with popish pictures; that he had set a silver crucifix among the regalia at the Coronation; that he had repaired the stained glass at Lambeth.

The testimony was all incredibly loose. Richard Pember, a glazier, deposed that there was a picture of an old man, with a glory, in one window; he supposed it was meant for God the Father. Laud meekly shows that it was St. Matthias. Again, another witness stated that in one window there was represented an old man with a "budget" by his side, from which he was pulling Adam and Eve-a representation of the Creation, he supposed. The testimony is apparently genuinely given by a simple sort of person, and shows very curiously how people can persuade themselves of ocular facts by mere imagination.

Of course there was no such thing. And Laud almost laughingly shows the ludicrous impossibility of putting up such a conception of the scene.

Several of the charges relate to sharp offensive speech. A Mr. Vassal was called "Sirrah" by his Grace on one occasion. Laud cannot remember; he knows it is his custom to call gentlemen, such as Mr. Vassal, "Sir."

Again, they alleged that at the Coronation Laud,

PRYNNE ON CHURCH CONSECRATION.

127

acting as deputy for the Dean of Westminster, had done his best to make the ceremony popish. He had secretly introduced a silver crucifix upon the altar, among the regalia. Laud himself could not remember whether he had or not. He had caused to be revived and used a prayer of Romish tendencies, which had been in disuse since the time of Henry VI., and in which the following passage occurred: "Let him obtain favour for his people, like Aaron in the tabernacle, Elisha in the waters, Zacharias in the temple; give him Peter's key of discipline, Paul's doctrine."

The following, a most curious and interesting document for its insane malice and grotesque exaggeration, is worthy of insertion here. It is Prynne's account of the Consecration of St. Katherine Cree Church, in the city of London, on the 16th of January, 1630.

"The Bishop of London, Dr. Laud, came in the morning about nine of the clock, in a pompous manner, to Cree Church, accompanied by many High Commisioners and Civilians: there being a very great concourse of people to behold this novelty. The Church doors were guarded with many Halberdiers. At the Bishop's approaching near the West Door of the Church, the Bishop's hangbies [attendants] cried out in a loud voice,