CHAPTER VI. -- THE WANDERING FREE PRESS. JOHN PENRY'S ARRIVAL AT NORTHAMPTON.— - HIS "SUPPLICATION TO THE PARLIAMENT." HIS EXAMINATION AND IMPRISONMENT. AN OLD MAN'S ARGUMENT AGAINST THE CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. ITS WELCOME AND SUCCESS. PROPHETIC DREAMS.-A CHRISTIAN MAIDEN'S LOVE. — PENRY'S EARLY HISTORY. FAWSLEY MANOR. THE PRELATES ANNOYED BY PURITAN BOOKS. ROBERT WALDEGRAVE AND HIS SECRET PRESS. HIS PERSECUTIONS. THE SEIZURE AND DESTRUCTION OF HIS PRESS. ANOTHER PRESS ESTABLISHED. - PREVIOUS TROUBLES OF MR. JOHN WIGGINTON. THE COMMOTION EXCITED BY THE ISSUES OF THE NEW PRESS. A DOMICILIARY VISIT BY NIGHT. MR. WIGGINTON AGAIN ARRESTED. HIS EXAMINATION. COMMITTED TO PRISON. MIGRATIONS AND OPERATIONS OF THE PRESS. PENRY SUSPECTED, AND HIS STUDY SACKED. HIS INDIGNATION, AND HIS "APPELLATION TO PARLIAMENT.”— -ORDER FOR HIS ARREST. HIS RETREAT TO SCOTLAND. -THE ENGLISH GUILLOTINE. 1587-1589. On the north bank of the river Nen or Nene, and near its source, rises an eminence occupied by the ancient town of Northampton, the capital of a shire to which it gives name. Years before the time of our narrative, and perhaps then, this elevation was surmounted by a "formidable castle" of considerable strength, and the older part of the town had been enclosed by substantial walls. Of the castle and the walls only the ruins now remain. Near the site of the castle, and commanding a view of the little Nen and of the green fields and forests beyond it, stood the dwelling of Mr. Godley, a thrifty but unpretending burgher, -a good speci men in person and character of the sturdy, honest, high-minded Englishman. In the evening twilight of an April day, in the year 1587, the worthy man sat in his quiet parlor, with his maiden daughter and a young man whose dusty dress indicated that he had just closed a day's journey. They seemed very happy, and there was something in their looks which showed that they were also happy in recognizing their meeting as a special favor from Heaven. The traveller, who wore a University garb, was about twenty-seven years of age. When silent, his countenance betokened great firmness of character; when speaking, energy and boldness. The strong points of Helen's character were less obvious. Yet, in a quiet way, her conversation and countenance disclosed that she could pursue a purpose without halting or looking back, and that she would not flinch under any suf fering or self-denial which the purpose might entail. "All that we have known," said she, "is that you were sent to one of those horrid prisons in London." "My heart did greatly misgive me," said Mr. Godley, "so weak be my faith. Albeit Helen, the child, hath shamed me, believing all the while that her God would be your God and deliver you." The young man looked at her with an approving smile, and replied, "I do not wonder, for I know her faith be strong. Yet mayhap such faith must some day give way to another kind. Sometimes the Lord seeth fit to deliver his people from the furnace; sometimes to let them consume." "A truce with homilies!" exclaimed Mr. Godley impatiently, and somewhat tartly. "We want your story, my son." There was no relationship between the two; but the elder had a paternal feeling toward the younger which he would indulge in words. "My tale is short. You know how my heart is pained for my poor countrymen of Cambria, thousands of whom have never heard of Jesus Christ.1 You know, too, that I have myself labored to sow the blessed seed of the Gospel in those barren mountains. But I could not rest satisfied without calling for other laborers. Therefore I resolved upon an humble supplication to be exhibited to her gracious Majesty and the High Court of Parliament, that the Gospel of Christ might be made known and published among the inhabitants of Wales. To show the equity of this petition, I wrote a treatise,3 wherein I did set forth so much of the estate of our people as without offence could be made known, to the end (if it had pleased God) that they might be pitied by them who were not of the Parliament, and so they also be drawn to labor on our behalf. The treatise was allowed to be printed by public authority,* 1 By the Act 5 Eliz. Cap. XXVIII. it was ordered that "the whole Bible and also the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments should be translated into the Welsh tongue and printed; and that the whole divine service thus translated should be used by the curates throughout all the dioceses where that tongue was commonly spoken or used." But this Act had not been carried into effect; the translation having been made only in part. In many parts of Wales preaching was unknown. In some places a sermon was read once in three months. Elsewhere the service was read by "unpreaching ministers ignorant of the native language and altogether unacquainted with the truths of the Gospel." (Waddington's Life of Penry, pp. 9, 12, 13, and note.) 2 This was during the recess of Parliament from Feb. 15th to March 23d, 1586-7. (D'Ewes, 407, 418.) "The twenty-ninth year of her Majesty's reign." (Strype's Annals, VI. 150.) Strype's Whitgift, 410. and was printed at Oxford. About the beginning of Lent1 I caused a supplication to be presented to Parliament by one of mine own countrymen, himself a worshipful member of the Commons House, to which the Parliament showed no disliking, though they sinned in the careless respect they had thereto.? The Archbishop of Canterbury and his associates of the High Commission were offended, despatched their warrants and officers, seized five hundred of the books, and sent me to prison.' "To prison because somebody else presented a petition!" exclaimed Mr. Godley. "I did not suppose that to petition Parliament was disallowed. An it were, methinks the member should have been proceeded withal; not you." "Ay, ay; but the petition was of my framing, as well as the book." "Is it then thought wicked by the reverend fathers of the Church to argue for the better preaching of the Gospel?" inquired Helen. "I did print, and offer to prove, that our unpreaching ministers and non-resident ministers and the callings of our lord-bishops, archdeacons, and so forth, were intolerable toward the Lord. I did say, withal, that the Convocation House were not intent upon determining matters of religion according to God's Word without partiality, that their decrees were to the ratifying of corruptions and to the continuance of ungodly callings within these dominions, that their 1 Martin Mar-prelate's "Epistle," p. 38. Strype's Whitgift, 306. 2 Strype's Annals, VI. 148, 150. Waddington's Life of Penry, pp. 10, 15, London, 1854. 4 Strype's Annals, VI. 151. Waddington's Penry, p. 12. Strype's Whitgift, 306. endeavors were how to prevent Christ from bearing rule in the Church by his own laws, and that it was well known that all of them had banded together to maintain the corruptions of our Church. The plain truths about the government of the Church established had moved the Commissioners, and especially the Archbishop, against me. Had my statements been untruths, they would hardly have been disturbed. Touching the better preaching of the Gospel, Helen, I do not think the bishops wish it." "I think that you were overmuch bold, John, and that you might have given the truth in words less blunt and harsh. I do not marvel that his Grace was moved." "It be not my way, Helen, to speak softly against a great wrong. But what I said in print, I did not fear to say to his Grace himself by word of mouth." "Did that dark, cruel man haul thee to his judgment-seat?" "Twelve days my keeper had me in charge to hold me in safety at his utmost peril. A close ward and a few chains," showing a slight red streak upon his wrists, "were sufficient." Helen shuddered, while the old man knit his brows and muttered, "Well, twelve days; and what then?" "Then before the High Court of Commission. They thought it intolerable that an enterprise for the evangelization of the Principality should be projected by an obscure student. The Archbishop eased his stomach by calling me a lewd boy, a knave, a varlet, a factious slanderer of her Majesty's 'Strype's Annals, VI. 148, 149. * Ibid., 150. 3 Ibid., 151 |