and fleas; and forced to ly upon one another as hogs in a ſty; and every day threatened and tormented by friars and prieſts, who not be being able to convince them by reaſon, think to do it by ſeverity.
Some are put in priſon, and kept in naſty dungeons and holes, full of mire and dirt, without any bed, or ſo much as ſtraw to lie upon, and not ſuffered to have the leaſt glimmering of the ſun, or the light of a candle; and allowed ſo ſmall a quantity of victuals as is hardly ſufficient to keep them alive. In this miſerable caſe, without any pity to them, ſome have been kept above a year together. One of them being viſited after twelve months impriſonment, in this manner, by one called a director of conſcience, juſt as they were going to bring him his ſmall allowance, he could not forbear crying out, as ſoon as he ſaw him; "Lord! in what a condition are you, ſir?" To which the poor ſufferer replied, with a Chriſtian fortitude, worthy of the cauſe he ſuffered for; "Could you but ſee the ſecret pleaſure my heart experiences, you would think me too happy." The prieſt told him, "The greateſt ſufferings did not entitle to the glory of martyrdom; unleſs he ſuffered for truth and juſtice." To this the poor priſoner replied, "He granted it; but that was his caſe; the Holy Ghoſt ſo ſealed it to his heart, that the very thoughts thereof, ſupported him in the midſt
of
