not remain quiet, especially after such a document from the Bishops. Some of their advocates indeed charged the act as popish—a very convenient charge at all times for what is disliked, or cannot be disproved. The act of the Bishops was made the ground of a proceeding against the three Clergymen. "In pursuance of this, the Court of King's Bench gave orders for an indictment against them, on the 7th of April following: and Mr. Cook and Mr. Snatt were committed to Newgate on suspicion of High Treason, and treasonable practices: but such was the lenity of the government, and his Grace of Canterbury's moderation, in interceding for the delinquents, that no manner of punishment was inflicted on them, and Mr. Collier was not so much as called in question, on account of his great endowments and parts, for justifying his practice in several printed papers."[1] In the present day we may feel surprise at this statement, as if the men had really been guilty of any crime, at which the government could justly take offence.
Collier absconded, but Cook and Snatt were admitted to bail. Collier refused to give bail, because he imagined that by doing so, he should acknowledge the government of King William. He was accordingly outlawed: and under this sentence he continued, because he refused to submit He printed his "Case of Giving Bail," of which it was said, only five copies were struck off. If, therefore, he was not called to account, it was because he was not discovered.
But though outlawed and living in retirement,
- ↑ Life of Tennison, 60, 61.
