ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY had been held at St. Martin's, Leicester, with sermons and extempore prayers from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. continuously. 183 These religious exercises may seem to us nowadays innocent, and even edifying ; but it was not quite the same when they were held within the church, and yet in open defiance of ecclesi- astical discipline. Archbishop Laud was in Leicester himself in 1633,"* and a metropolitical visitation was held by his direction in the following year. The report made at this time 186 corroborates many of the statements made by the officials of the ecclesiastical courts in 1627. The incumbents of Aston Flamville, Croft, Frolesworth, Shawell, Lockington, and the curates of Burbage and Easton chapels were notable Puritans : the first of these was suspended, as his non- conformity had been continuous for twenty years : the rest were ordered to conform. The curate of Market Harborough had been recently ejected for the same cause ; but there were many in the town who favoured his teaching. There were many Puritans, as of old, at Ashby de la Zouch, but the vicar was not presented at this time. 188 There were many at Burrough on the Hill, Buckminster, and Shepshed, who left their parish churches and wandered after preachers who gave them the kind of theology they desired. Not only ' unconformable ministers ' were presented. The parish priests of Garthorpe, Kegworth, and Humberstone were accused of immorality and other mis- demeanours. Eight churches were seriously out of repair. 187 At Noseley the parish church 188 was appropriated to Sir Arthur Haselrig, who kept the tithes, and provided no curate, though he had a Puritan chaplain residing in his own house. The rectory of Belgrave was abused in like manner : the Lady Morrison had the tithes, providing 50 for the service of the church and two chapels, which were irregularly served by unlicensed preachers. Kirby Bellars had a curate who was only the domestic chaplain of Sir Erasmus de la Fontaine. Besides the cases above mentioned, Mr. Angel, one of the lecturers at Leicester, known as an ' excellent sweet preacher,' 189 was accused of noncon- formity before the High Commission Court in 1635 : 19 but he made his submission, and was reconciled to the ecclesiastical authorities so long as they remained in power. 1 ' 1 A good many cases from this county were before the High Commission Court in 16345, but none were of great interest. Only one case of 183 S.P. Dom. Chas. I. Ixxxviii, 13. m Ibid, ccxlv, 39. 1M Ibid, dxxxv, 26. 186 A letter of his dated 1636 shows that he had been under suspicion, and had recently made an oath of conformity. Ibid, cccxxxi, 95. 187 A careful inquiry was made at this time as to the state of the parochial chapels ; but the answers are not often stated. The inquiry is of interest because it is evident from several entries that the visitors had in their hands the old Matriculus of Bishop Wells ; many of the chapels they asked for had been long since lost sight of. 188 The parish church had long since disappeared, but the collegiate church was used instead. It was alleged that the Haselrigs had long abused their position in the same way as Sir Arthur was doing. Lately a ' seely blind man ' had been presented to the church by the king : he was called at this visitation and admonished to do his duty. 189 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, dxl, 446 (Morton Papers), 38. 19 Ibid. 1 8 ; cclxxiv, 15. 191 He went up to London and managed to secure a ' toleration ' from Archbishop Laud ; but when he came back he showed himself so conformable that William Heaward wrote of him quite approvingly to Sir John Lambe. Ibid. ; and cclxxxii, 98. He continued to be a lecturer, and vicar of St. Nicholas, after the disestablishment of the Church, being approved by the committee of Leicester, and no doubt finding the Directory more to his taste than the Common Prayer : but he could not take the engagement in 1651, and so lost his lectureship, .and the post of confrater of Wigston's Hospital. Nichols, Leu. ii, 501. 379
