Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/525

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1555.]
THE MARTYRS.
505

but as the menace of insurrection died away the wolves came back to their prey. March.On the 9th of March, two more were condemned also, Thomas Causton and Thomas Higbed, men of some small property in Essex. To disperse the effect, these eight were scattered about the diocese. Tomkins died at Smithfield on the 16th of March; Causton and Higbed, Pigot and Knight, in different parts of Essex; Hawkes suffered later; Lawrence was burnt at Colchester. The legs of the latter had been crushed by irons in one of Bonner's prisons; he was unable to stand, and was placed at the stake in a chair. 'At his burning, he sitting in the fire, the young children came about and cried, as well as young children could speak, Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise—Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise.'[1]

Hunter's case deserves more particular mention. The London apprentices had been affected deeply by the Reforming preachers. It was to them that the servant of Anne Askew 'made her moan,' and gathered subscriptions for her mistress. William Hunter, who was one of them, had been ordered to attend mass by a priest when it was re-established; he had refused, and his master, fearing that he might be brought into trouble, had sent him home to his famity at Brentwood, in Essex.[2] Another priest, going one day into Brent-

  1. Foxe, vol. vi.
  2. The story of Hunter was left in writing by his brother, and was printed by Foxe. I have already said that whenever Foxe prints documents instead of relating hearsays, I have found him uniformly trustworthy; so far, that is to say, as there are means of testing him.