A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE deprivation is recorded, that of the vicar of Lowesby ; 193 it was probably for neglect of his cure. John How, vicar of Loughborough, was fined 500 and costs for praying publicly that the young Prince Charles might not be ' bred in Popery, which there was much cause to fear ' : m but the fine was after- wards lowered to 20, on consideration of his poverty. 19 * There was, no doubt, much discontent with the Church and the Prayer Book amongst many of the clergy of the archdeaconry of Leicester ; but it must be owned that the manner in which ecclesiastical discipline was exercised was most unsatisfactory. Archbishop Laud was a genuine reformer, and wholly above all thought of self-interest ; but he could not always choose his instruments. The enormous fortune amassed by Sir John Lambe, while dean of Arches and official for this archdeaconry, would be grave evidence against him even if there were no other records of his career. But there are also numerous letters extant which passed between him and the minor officials of the courts, such as Walter Walker, Reginald Burden, William Heaward, and others ; and none of these men seem to have taken a large or generous view of the difficulties of the time. On the contrary, there was much petty arrogance and self-seeking in their manner of discharging their several offices. 196 Sir John Lambe himself had a long suit with Dr. Walker which lasted from 1632 to 1 64 1. 1 " 6 Burden complained of the high fees exacted by Walker, chiefly because he was afraid he might be himself a loser in consequence. 1 " He related with pride how he had questioned and rebuked the preacher of an assize sermon for the ' gross and pestilent error ' of saying that obedience to the ' higher powers ' (Rom. xiii) meant only the temporal rulers, not the ecclesiastical. 19t Such men as these might enforce the laws of the Church, but they could carry out no real reform. It was on 9 September, 1641, that the House of Commons refused to consent to the publication of an order issued by the Lords, ' that divine service should be performed as appointed by the Acts of Parliament of this realm, and that all such as shall disturb that wholesome order shall be severely punished according to the law : ' and substituted in its place an order of its own, that all communion tables should be moved from the east ends of the churches into some other convenient place ; that all rails should be removed and chancels levelled ' as heretofore they were before the late innovations.' m This order was not, of course, immediately or universally obeyed : but it was at least a sign that the Laudian reformation was ended for the time being, and that a new era had begun. The list of sequestrations for Leicestershire is a very long one ; nearly a third of the parochial clergy were on some ground or other dispossessed of 191 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxi, fol. 124. The living was only worth /6 I y. i.J. a year. 193Tt_*J/"t i *-' * / / 9 Ibid. fol. 1 19^. 91 Ibid. fol. 182. The vicars of Horninghold, Carlton Curlieu, Witherley, and Garthorpe, were before the court for various misdemeanours, but not for refusal of conformity. '* It is impossible to collect a sufficient number of quotations within the scope of an article like this : the letters may be found among the Domestic State Papers. Complaints against the officials connected with Sir John Lambe may be found, especially in S.P. Dom. Chas. I, dxxxvii, 32. 96 It was connected with the quarrel between Sir John and the bishop, and turned mainly on the post of commissary and official of Leicester, which both Walker and Lambe claimed. In 1638 Walker gave up his claim to the offices and went to Bedfordshire (S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccclxxxvi, 31) ; but in 1641, by the influence of Bishop Williams, then in favour with the Parliament, he obtained a judgement against Sir John, who was condemned to pay 1,250. Ibid, dxi, 107 ; and Lords' Journ. iv, 214.
- S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccxci, 15. >*> Ibid, cccxcv, 65. " 9 Commons' Journ. ii, 286-7.
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