so much as in him lay, scandal his majesty's person, his religious wife, and just government, especially the reverend bishops." Soon after this offensive work was put into circulation, Dr Leighton was arrested by a warrant from the high
commission court, and committed to Newgate, where he was confined for fifteen weeks in a loathsome cell full of vermin, without a bed to rest upon, and openly exposed to the inclemency of the weather: none of his family or friends were permitted to see him; and in the mean time his house was forcibly entered, and not only his books and papers, but every article of furniture carried away.
The cause was tried on the 4th of June, 1630. The defendant, in his answer, owned the writing of the book, but denied all intention of evil, his end being only to remonstrate against certain grievances in church and state, under which the people suffered, to the end that parliament might take them into consideration, and to give such redress as might be for the honour of the king, the quiet of the people, and the peace of the church. Nevertheless, the court adjudged unanimously, that for this offence the doctor should be committed to the prison of the Fleet for life, and pay a fine of ten thousand pounds; that the high commission should degrade him from his ministry, and that then he should be brought to the pillory at Westminster, while the court was sitting, and be whipped; after whipping, be set in the pillory a convenient time, and have one of his ears cut off, and one side of his nose slit, and be branded in the face with a double S. S., for sower of sedition; that then he should be carried back to prison, and after a few days, be pilloried a second time in Cheapside, and be there likewise whipped, and have the other side of his nose slit, and his other ear cut off, and then be shut up in close prison for the remainder of his life;" a sentence only to be compared with the worst acts of the infernal inquisition of Spain. Archbishop Laud, on hearing the unfortunate man condemned, pulled off his hat, and holding up his hands, gave thanks to God who had given him the victory over his enemies. This barbarous sentence being given towards the end of Trinity term, and the court not usually sitting after the term unless upon emergent occasions, and it requiring some time in the ecclesiastical court in order to the degradation of the defendant, it was Michaelmas following before any part of the sentence could be put in execution. On the 10th of November he was to have undergone the punishment awarded to him; however, the night before he contrived, with the assistance of one Livingston and Anderson, to effect his escape. A hue arid cry was immediately issued by order of the privy council, ordering his apprehension, which described him as a man of low stature, fair complexion, high forehead, and yellowish beard, about forty or fifty years of age. He scarcely was at large one week when he was seized in Bedfordshire, and brought back to the Fleet. Rushworth, in his Historical Collections, says, "On Friday, the sixteenth of November, part of the sentence on Dr Leighton was executed upon him in this manner, in the new palace at Westminster. He was severely whipped before he was put in the pillory. Being set in the pillory, he had one of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, was branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron with the letters S. S., sower of sedition, and afterwards carried back again, prisoner to the Fleet, to be kept in close custody. And on that day seven night, his sores upon his back, ear, nose, and face, not being cured, he was whipped again at the pillory in Cheapside, and there had the remainder of his sentence executed upon him, by cutting off the other ear, slitting the other side of the nose, and branding the other cheek." His unfortunate companions, who aided him to escape, were also brought before the Star-Chamber, and out of respect to their "penitency" they were only fined five hundred pounds each, and committed to the Fleet during the king's pleasure.
