ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY devotion amongst the people would vary greatly, as it has done ever since, with the character of the parish clergy. 1 A few years later political causes drew attention to the recusants who still clung to the Roman obedience, and lists were drawn up in some places to show their numbers and status. In 1585 a seminary priest, Thomas Freeman, was arrested and examined by the justices of Bedfordshire and sent up to London with his papers and books. 3 There is a curious list among the State Papers of female recusants 3 in Bedford- shire, giving the names of seven wives and three widows of gentlemen of the county, whose incomes varied from £200 to >C 10 a year. Besides these a few names of servants and poorer people were known to the writer, who was ready when the queen's pleasure was signified ' to take such order with them as I hope shall avoid all inconveniences as hereafter might happen by them or any other.' What these measures were can only be guessed, for they were never taken ; but the tone of the letter is very characteristic of the times, and shows clearly the suspicion 4 with which such recusants were regarded. Nothing 5 however seems to have happened to these ladies, and in the lists of 1 59 1 only four names are given of recusants in Bedford- shire. Indeed it seems probable that they never had much influence in the county beyond the little circle of the Mordaunts and their friends at Turvey, where 7 a little later than this, Secretary Coke discovered that William Smith, the titular ' Bishop of Chalcedon,' had a place of resi- dence. When Lord Mordaunt was reconciled to the Anglican Church in 1625, 8 by the influence of his wife and Archbishop Usher, Turvey ceased by degrees to be a gathering place for recusants ; and though there were still twenty people presented to the archdeacon for this offence in 1642, 9 none of them was a person of any note. From this time forward the air of Bedfordshire could scarcely be called congenial to popery. 1 At the end of the same book there is an entry under 30 April, of the institution of the rector of Clophill, in the church of Ampthill, ' inter horas 3 a.m. et 4 a.m.' It would be interesting to know if this hour was exceptional or otherwise. There were a few inscriptions (since destroyed) existing in 1583, to witness that one pious cus- tom, commonly supposed to have passed away with the Reformation, was still sanctioned by law and by public opinion. Such were : In Dunstable church — Hie jacet Ric'us Denton qui obiit I 8 March 1564, et Elizabetha uxor eius quoi' an' etc. ; and in Sutton, North Chapel— Of your charity pray for the souls of Thomas Burgoyne and Elizabeth his wife ' w'che Thomas deceased 9 Aug. 1576 on whose sowle and all Xtane sowles jesu have mcrcye ' (printed in Beds N. and Q. i. 71, 74, from the MS. of Francis Thynne, Lancaster Herald ; Cotton MS. Cleop. C iii.) 2 S. P. Dom. Eliz. clxxviii. No. 26. 3 Ibid. exev. No. 1 16. They arc the wives of W. Mordaunt of Oakley, J. Fortescue of Eyworth, J. Charnock of Holcote, Oliver Skroges and Richard Skroges of Renhold, W. Hewet of Millbrook, Robert Willowes of Barford ; and widows — the old Lady Catelayne of Dunton, Edith Bredyman of Tin- grith and Alice Gostwick of Bedford (the last presented to the archdeacon in 1 5 78 for not coming to church).
- ' The above-named John Charnock ... is son of Richard Charnock of Holcote ... a man
greatly noted and suspected in religion ; and hath as I am credibly informed great and often repair to his house of such as are not to be liked nor trusted in these dangerous times.' s There is a letter from the Earl of Kent to the Council in 1588, asking what shall be done with them ; no answer is recorded (Ca/. of S. P. Dom. Eliz.. 22 Jan. 1588). « S. P. Dom. Eliz. cexxxviii. No. 126. 7 Ibid. Chas. I. xcix. March 1628. 8 History of the IVilky Hundred, W. M. Harvey, p. 182. • Beds N. and Q. ii. 16 ; from the parish registers. 335
