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him, if he would not tell where the books were, which fo affrighted the poor child, that he never recovered it all his days. They broke open preffes, chefts and boxes, and deftroyed every thing at pleasure. They robbed the doctor's house, and carried off all the books and manufcripts they could find. They likewife carried away his houthold ftuff, apparel, and other things, leaving nothing which they had a mind to have. At the end of fifteen weeks, or fomething more, he was brought into the ftar chamber court, and required to put in an answer to a long invective, called an information; which he did to the fatisfaction of all unprejudiced perfons. He owned the writing the book, but faid that it was done with no ill intention; his defign being only to lay thefe things before the next parliament, for their confideration. Things were carried with fo high an hand, that no council dared to plead for him, nor any body to appear in his behalf. It is fuppofed, upon good grounds, that poifon was given to him in Newgate; for his hair and his skin came off in a diftemper, which was attended with loathfom fymptoms. But notwithstanding a certificate was given under the hand of four physicians, and an affidavit made by an attorney, that his difeafe was defperate, and it was unfit to bring him into court; yet nothing would ferve bishop Laud, but in the midft of that defperate diforder, and great diftrefs, the following fentence was paffed upon him, though abfent; and that court unanimously decreed, June 4, 1630, That Dr. Leighton fhould be committed to the prifon of the Fleet for life, and pay a fine of 10,000l. (though they knew he was not worth fo • much) that the high commiffion fhould degrade him from his ministry, and that then he should be brought to the pillory at Westminster, while the court was fitting, and be whipped; after

whipping, be fet upon the pillory, and have one of his ears cut off, one fide of his nofe flit, and be branded in the face; that then he should be 'carried back to prison, and after a few days, be pilloried again in Cheapfide, and be there likewife whipped, and have the other fide of his nofe flit, and his other ear cut off, and then be shut up in close prifon for the remainder of his life.' Bishop Laud pulled off his cap when this horrible fentence was pronounced, and gave God thanks for it.

Nov. 26, part of the fentence was executed upon him, and that in a moft tremendous manner, the hangman having been plied with strong drink all the night before, and likewife threatened if he did not execute the fentence in a cruel manner. When he came to the place of execution, befides other torments, his hands were tied to a ftake, where he received thirty-fix ftripes on his naked back with a triple cord, every lash whereof brought away the flesh. Then he was fet in the pillory, in which he ftood almoft two hours in cold froft and fnow. While he was in the pillory, one of his ears was cut off, one of his noftrils flit, and one cheek branded with a red-hot iron, with the letters S. S. (a fower of fedition.) After that, he was remanded to prifon; and the next cruel handling of him, we may take in the words of bifhop Laud, who hath recorded it in his diary, as well as the foregoing treatment. 'On that day fe'nnight his fores upon his back, ears, nofe, and face, being not yet cured, he was whipped again at the pillory in Cheapfide; and had the remainder of his fentence executed upon him, by cutting off the other ear, flitting the other fide of his nofe, and branding 'the other cheek.' Being by this terrible fuffering rendered unable to walk, they would not suffer him to be carried back to the Fleet in a coach, but hur

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ried him away by water. In the Fleet he went through much harsh and cruel ufage for the fpace of eight years; fo that when he was afterwards released from it by the parliament, he could hardly walk, fee, or hear. This, not to mention many other inftances, which might be brought, may fhew how very jealous the people ought to be, and how abfolutely neceffary it is, that they should preferve unviolated in any shape whatever, that fecurity of their perfons and property which they have a right to by Magna Charta, that no freeman may be apprehended or imprisoned, nor fentence paffed upon him, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.' If apprehenfions and imprisonments once come to be practiced in any other way than by the law of the land, and any other trial allowed of but by juries, giving their own verdict, as they ought to do, and not what is called a special verdict, every man will be fubject to the like illegal imprisonment and inhuman treatment, as the unhappy Dr. Leighton experienced. The very thought of it fhudders one's blood, and is fufficient to keep awake every Englishman to preserve that inestimable privilege of no ap'prehenfion and commitment, but by the law of 'the land,' and of no trial but by jury,' or 'the lawful judgment of our peers.' Which God grant may be secured to our very latest posterity. A LOVER OF LIBERTY.

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N a late news-paper I read the following pa; 'the rev. Mr. Entick, Mr. Arthur Beardmore and his clerk, and meffrs. Wilfon and 'Fell, have given notice to the earl of Halifax, in pursuance of the act of parliament of the 24th of the late king, that they fhall bring their feveral actions against his lordship and the meffengers for

their imprisonment, on account of the feveral ' numbers of the Monitor, concerning which no profecutions having been carried on, their feveral recognizances were, by the court of King's Bench, difcharged the laft day of laft term.' Mr. printer, my heart leaped within me, my eyes fwam in tears of joy at reading thofe glorious words; I felt all the exultation of being an Englishman. Where, cried I to my heart, where is the fpot upon earth, except in these islands, in which the lowest of mankind is fecure of justice, as much as the highest? Where elte dare the poorest man fend word to a minifter that he intends to call him to account for tyranny and oppreffion? O Britannia, divine region of liberty, mayft thou ever be thus free! may the haughtieft grandee tremble to injure the meaneft of thy fons; may thy beggars walk as fecure from the clutches of power, as the nobleman in ermine while thy laws are facred, and justice raises her fword at the firft cry of the poor, 'tis more glorious to want bread in the ftreets, than to be pampered in any other country. Gods! who can reflect a moment, and not be tranfported to be an Englishman! Think what astonishment the above paragraph would create in a Spaniard or a Frenchman! what! they would cry, an obfcure wretch, a printer, a curate or his clerk, dare to give notice to a fecretary of ftate, that they intend to call him to account! Is it poffible? have you no baftile, no gallies, to punish fuch infolence? No, no, we have the full enjoyment of all the rights to which as men we are entitled. The good fenfe and the spirit of our ancestors told them that rank, birth, and fortune, make no difference in human nature. Englifhmen, of former days, never conceived that accidents of birth or riches gave one man a right to injure another; they held that affluence and comforts were fufficient for lords; that it was not reasonable to give them power too over their fellow creatures. Thefe wife law-givers

did not apprehend that poverty was not a fufficient evil, without adding flavery to it. On the contrary, they fecured to the poor the bleffing of liberty, which can fweeten every hardship. Yes, poor of England, though riches, honours, palaces, equipages, are not your's, LIBERTY is; O preserve it inviolate! Loath, abhor, fhun the wretches, who would wreft the invaluable treasure from you: mix not with Tories, thofe apes of foreign flavery: drive them from your corporations and your clubs; refufe them your votes at every election. If once they get the afcendant, you will no longer have the unparalleled privilege of fending notice to a fecretary of state that you will profecute him if he oppreffes JOHN.

you.

Fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus.

HOR. An old manufcript fell into my hands the other day, in which I met with the following reflections.

• FAVOURITISM is of itself an unfuperable objection to the power of which it is the bafis, being the most odious title any person can have to be a minister in any country. So far is it from'making up for the want of other precautions, that it would, alone, destroy the best. It will ⚫ not be fubmitted to in a free country, and has • never failed to be the ruin of the favourite himfelf, at the fame time that it is one of the most dangerous rocks a prince can touch. It tends to convulfe a ftate; and the firmeft governments have been fhaken by its dreadful confequences. As it attacks the fovereign's regard to one man, 'it of courfe cools and may alienate the affection of other fubjects. It engroffes the royal confidence, and confequently deprives the crown of

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