FOR THE KING And both HOUSES of PARLIAMENT Being A SHORT RELATION OF THE Sad Estate and Sufferings OF THE Innocent People of GOD CALLED QUAKERS FOR Worshipping GOD and Exercising a Good CONSCIENCE towards GOD and MAN LONDON Printed in the Year 1661. For the KING And both HOUSES of PARLIAMENT FOR these many years some have been put to Death and many have dyed in Prisons some have been beat with Clubs and shot at with Pistols and Guns and cut with Swords and knockt down into Pools and not long after have dyed and many have been kept in Prison several dayes without Straw or Meat and almost starved And many have had their Goods spoyled and taken away from them to the Ruining of Them their Wives and Families and above Three Thousand suffered Imprisonments Stockings and Whippings in the dayes of the Commonwealth and of Oliver Cromwel and above Five Thousand have suffered since the King came into England very great Afflictions and Imprisonments and about Seventy lye in Prison that were Committed in the dayes of Oliver and the Commonwealth and above Five Hundred are at present Prisoners some in Dungeons and some lye without Straw and some are not suffered to have Meat brought to them and also divers are Committed every week And besides many other are their Cruel Sufferings some of which are here presented to your Consideration who have the Power to Remedy these things NOttinghamshire Imprisoned Fifteen six of whom were taken out of a Meeting at Vpton by Souldiers with drawn Swords who much abused them punching and beating of them And when they were brought to the Sessions the Justices said they were not there that Committed them and so slighted them and some of them they put in a Pit with Thieves who pickt their Pockets and took their Money from them and violently pluckt off their Coats and forced Drink upon them and swore if they would not drink they would throw it in their faces and threatned to fire their Beds and this was all tolerated by the Goaler who as they said bid them do it and this they did night after night And the other Five are Imprisoned for Conscience sake and not paying Tythes where they all remain Prisoners Warwickshire Imprisoned Fourteen five because for Conscience sake they could not pay Tythes who own Christ come in the flesh the Everlasting Priesthood who ends the first that takes Tythes And Two are cast into Prison for meeting together waiting upon the Lord to worship him and others suffered for Conscience sake towards God And one Friend being bound to appear at the Assizes did appear and then was bid go back and he demanded his Bond so the Judge bad him remember him to the rest of his Brethren and said The next Assizes he should have his Bond with a Halter about his Neck And thus the Innocent is made a Prey upon and all is because their minds and hearts are turned towards God and for fearing loving and obeying him and through the prejudice of the Magistrates they kept two Friends in Prison though they were freed by the King's Proclamation And Four Friends were at a Meeting at Stratford upon Avon and being of another Town the men called Justices caused them to be Whipt both men and women and sent away and caused Two others that were at the same Meeting that belonged to the Town to be Imprisoned Rent Imprisoned Ten some taken out of their peaceable Meetings and some from their Imployments and are cruelly used And the Governour of Dover told Friends they should be kept close and none should come at them and that they should take up their Provision at a Hole and that was all the favour they should have And one Friend is put in a Hole where there is no Light nor Air but through three little holes in the Door and hath nothing to lye on but a little Straw which hath lain there several moneths some of which Friends are Tradesmen on whom many Families depend to be set to work by Pembrookshire Eighteen presented for not going to the Steeple-house and committed Close Prisoners into a close narrow nasty stinking cold Place and the Goaler never once opened the Door for them since they were put in to have Conveniencies but what comes in through the hole of the Door And the Judge gave a strict Charge to the Grand Jury to present all Friends in this County male and female which accordingly was done and gave Charge to all Magistrates and Officers to break up their Meetings and so it 's like the Prisons will be filled very soon in that County with the Innocent and such as fear God and some of these Friends are Husbandmen and were taken away just in the time of their Harvest Carmarthen One Committed on the same Account by the same Judge and was much abused in the Shire Hall Shropshire One Committed for being at a Meeting and though the Judge gave the Goaler a Charge that he might have the Liberty of the Prison and to let his Friends Come to him yet the Goaler hath Cruelly beat him and suffered the Prisoners to beat him and stopt his Victualls that he hath been glad to pluck them up by a Cord at the Window and there he remaines a Prisoner Hampshire In Portsmouth three are in Prison and there Friends were Pluckt out of there Peaceable Meetings and thrust out of the Towne and kickt and beat by Souldiers with the great end of their Muskers and are not suffered to work in Prison being Handy-crafts men Whereby they are like to be ruined for want of outwards and often their Wives are denyed to bring them food and one went to visit one in Prison and they beat him and cast him into Prison also And when Friends laid these things before the Officers one of them said he was resolved to ruine Friends Oxfordshire Four in Prison because for Conscience sake they could not Pay Tythes And at Banbury a peaceable Meeting was broken up by Souldiers under Col. Frettwel who drew their swords and struck and beat Friends and run one in the breast and a Souldier with a legg of a Form beat and bruised severall Friends and when they had pulled out Men Women and Children out of the Meeting they beat them and threatned to Kill some of them Wilishire Eighteen severall of them very poor Men Ten of them were taken in a Friends back-side after a Meeting by Souldiers of whom Friends asked to see their Warrant but they drew their sword and said This is our Warrant and haled them away to one Captain Sharp who sent them to Prison without a Mittimus where they remain Prisoners this Instant Cambridgeshire Two Imprisoned for not paying Tythes and Eleven for not going to the Steeple-houses where they remain Glamorganshire Four Imprisoned one of them haled out of a Meeting by Souldiers with Swords and Pistols and three of them because they could not give Money to the Promooters where they remain Merionethshire Four
imprisoned and had Irons put on them for not Swearing and the rude people set upon them when they were apprehended with drawn Swords threatning to kill them and one threatned to knock them on the head with an Ax the Jaylor took their Meat from them and beat them and made them goe in a very tempestuous day 12 Miles with Irons upon them and there being two Fidlers and a Piper Prisoners in spight he set them a sidling and Piping between every two that were Chained together with Irons Mountgomeryshire Eight Imprisoned sometimes they keep Water from them and often times keep their food from them because they will not have it of the Jaylor and they are in a Cold Room in the Common Goale where they lay six nights on the bare boards without straw and then had a wadd of straw allowed them And sometimes are lockt up and not suffered to go to ease themselves but are forced to do it where they lodge Two of which were taken as they were travelling on the high way Herefordshire Friends being peaceably met together in Hereford to wait upon the Lord the Mayor Aldermen and some Officers came into the Meeting-Room and said he would rouse them up Some of them said they were peaceably met together in the Fear of the Lord. He said he would have no more Meetings in the Fear of the Lord and so sent both men and women to Prison One Friend was taken at Lemster and carried to Hereford and committed to Prison by the Mayor of the City where he had bars of Iron kept on his legs which were about half an hundred weight two dayes and one night and was denyed to send to his Friends and a Letter that he wrote to his Friends being carried by a Friend to the Mayor according to his Order he kept the Letter and committed the Friend to Prison that brough it Radnorshire Imprisoned Eight being taken as they were parting from a Meeting by men who came with Swords and Staves and threatned to drag some Friends at their Horse tails and because they were asked to shew their Orders one Price drew out his Sword and said there was his Order and struck one Friend upon his Head and cut his Hat almost thorow and several others they beat very cruelly without mercy and being brought before a Justice they were committed to Prison until they should take the Oath of Allegiance Suffolk Twenty Imprisoned many of them committed for not going to the Publick Worship Cornwel Above Twenty Friends were taken as they were going from a Meeting by Souldiers and they put the men being Eighteen into a Dungeon which was so little that half of them could not sit at a time and had no Straw nor any thing to lye on and the women were put into a little Room in Pendennis Castle and had not so much as Straw allowed them to lye on And by a Warrant from two Justices as much Goods was taken from them as was worth 25 l. 18 s. for driving them from Prison to Prison Here followeth a Relation of some part of the Lamentable Sufferings and Havock that is and hath been made of the People of God by the oppressing Ministers of England ESsex John Adams of Hadstock renting a Farm of Twenty seven pounds a year the Priest of Hadstock demanded Tythes for the said Farm for the year 1659. and because John Adams could not for Conscience sake pay them the Priest caused to be taken away from him in Goods Cattel and Horses to the value of Thirty eight pounds and returned nothing again And this was testified under the hands of several Witnesses In the same County John Pollard of Steeple renting a Farm of about 200 l. a year Rent according to former Custom Tythes were paid but for three parts of the same One Armiger claimed Tythes for three years for the said Farm which amounted to 45 l. for three parts which John Pollard for Conscience sake denying to pay the said Armiger caused to be taken away from him Cows Bullocks and one Bull to the number of Eighty two in all all which are valued to be worth 322 l. and returned nothing again and hath kept the said John Pollard and his Brother in Prison in the Fleet and other Prisons several years besides Sussex Nicholas Beard had taken from him by Robert Baker Priest of Rottingdean for Fifty two pounds demanded for Tythes for two years fourteen Oxen six Cows and a Bull worth 137 l. and nothing returned again And in the year 1660. the said Baker came into Nicholas his Corn Fields and took away whole Loads of Wheat and Barley without setting out either Ninths or Tenths and choosed as he went and sometimes left none behind but took all as if it had been his own And because Nicholas reproved him he struck him over the head with his Cane in so much that his head was sore seven or eight weeks after and he kept the said Nicholas a close Prisoner in the year 1661 Twelve weeks and since removed him to the Kings Bench and demands Two hundred Pounds more for Tythes Rent Edward Noaks of Word farmed Land at the rate of Eighty pounds a year for one years Tythe had Goods taken from him to the value of an hundred pounds and was kept two years and an half in Prison besides And for about 706 l. 08 s. 11 d. demanded for Tythes of several other Friends the Priest and others have taken Goods worth 3000 l. 03 s. 08 d. and have often taken ten times more than their pretended due And there hath suffered Imprisonments Stockings Whippings Loss of Goods and other abuses for keeping a good Conscience towards God and man before the King came into England 3170 Persons And there remain yet Prisoners that were committed in the dayes of the Commonwealth and of Oliver and Richard Cromwel 0079 Persons And there hath dyed in Prison in their dayes through hard usage 0032 Persons And there hath suffered Imprisonments for Refusing to Swear and for Meeting together and Refusing to go to the Publick Worship and keeping a good Conscience towards God and man since the King came into England 5400 Persons And there hath dyed in Prison since the King came in through hard and cruel usage 0014 Persons In IRELAND For speaking the Truth in Steeple-houses and Markets and for not Swearing and for keeping a good Conscience there have been Whipt Stockt Imprisoned Fined and suffered loss of their Goods 0200 Persons And there is at present in Prison in Ireland being taken out of a peaceable Meeting in Cork and one other Meeting 0029 Persons In SCOTLAND For speaking the Truth and denying the Priests practices and for not Swearing have been Imprisoned Stockt Whipt and some Banished to the number of 0091 Persons And there are many in Prison at present in Scotland and Necessaries denied them and their Friends denied to visit them but the certain number we know not at present Here followeth an Account of Five
hundred and fifty two Persons at present Prisoners in England for good Conscience sake VVIltshire 21 Cornwel 04 Warwickshire 14 Somersetshire 26 Dorsetshire 07 Gloucestershire 23 Essex 15 Bedfordshire 18 Oxfordshire 02 Yorkshire 13 Northamptonshire 31 Lincoln 04 Merioneth-shire 04 Devonshire 03 Buckinghamshire 18 Shropshire 01 Lancashire 58 Leicestershire 05 Darbyshire 03 Cambridgeshire 13 Nottinghamshire 15 Suffolk 20 Cheshire 02 Norfolk 08 Sussex 02 Rent 12 Staffordshire 34 Worcestershire 07 Hertfordshire 50 Herefordshire 15 Hampshire 04 Middlesex 16 Radnorshire 08 Pembrookshire 18 Glamorganshire 16 Carmarthen 01 Mountgomery 08 Cumberland 08 Huntingdonshire 10 Isle of Man 20 Here followeth a short Account of the sad Sufferings of the People of God in the Forreign Plantations IN New England Twenty six Friends have been banished on Pain of death Four have been Martyred Three have had their Eares Cut. One hath been burned in the hand with the Letter H. Thirty one Persons have received six hundred and fifty stripes One was beat while his body was like a Jelly Five Appeales made to England were denyed by Boston Rulers One thousand Forty five pounds worth of Goods hath been taken from them being poor men for Meeting together in the fear of the Lord and for keeping the Commands of Christ Late Sufferings in New England John Curryer an Inhabitant in Boston having a Wife and five Children was Whipt throw three Townes having ten stripes in a Town with a three-fold Cord-whip with knots at the end of it and for returning back to his Wife and Children was Whipt through three Townes againe and is now in Prison and is to be burned in the shoulder with the Letter R. And six Inhabitants are now Prisoners in Boston And one is to lye in Prison as long as he lives by their Law Anne Needham an Inhabitant a woman of good report a Mother of Children was whipt with ten stripes Thomas Harris was whipt in Boston with Ten stripes George Wilson was Whipt at a Carts taile through three Towns Ten stripes at a Town with a Horse Whip Anne Barker was Whipt in Boston Patent with many stripes and she and two more were put in the stocks Peter Pearson and Judith Brown Innocent People had both of them Forty stripes Twenty stripes apiece Twenty-Eight Forced out of their Jurisdiction Some of them Whipt and were not suffered Husband and Wives to go to their Families and Children and if they did they were to be whipt out again at the Carts tayl And they drove Friends out of their Jurisdiction into Plymouth Jurisdiction and there they had a Law to whip them also where George Wilson and John Bristow were whipt soon after with rods having Ten or a Eleven stripes a piece in Plymouth Patent Robert Hodgshon was whipt also in the same Patent with Nine stripes Mary Parker was taken out of her own House and where Friends were met together and six more and put in the stocks and they were much abused punched and halled and they threw them in holes of water in so much that the very Indians Cryed shame of them And when Friends shewed the Governours the Kings Proclamation Concerning setting Friends at liberty the Kings Subjects he said in open Court to Robert Hodgshon that we were None of the Kings Subjects which Robert said he would prove it by the Kings Proclamation and then Daniel Dennison another Magistrate said that if the King sent over any thing that we should have our Liberty he would Consider of it but he would die at the Point of the Sword he said before we should have our Liberty A cruel Marshal took out of a Friends house Cloathes worth Four pound and afterward he took a Man out of his field in a rage and set him in the stocks all night Goods taken for Fines layd upon Friends for not going to the publick Worship From Iohn Small of Salem a labouring man when he was about to go to Plow being fined Five shillings a day had Goods taken worth sixteen pound Taken from Robert Buffan on the same Account 10 l. A Horse from George Gardner worth Ten pounds From John Southwick for his Wife Thirteen pounds And from his Sister Provided in Cloaths from her back and one Cow worth Eight pounds and would have sold her for a Bondslave if any would have bought her Daniel Southwick they would have sold for a Bondslave but no body would buy him so they attached his House and Land and threatned to put in a Tenant of their own William Parker for entertaining a Stranger had a Cow taken from him worth 5 l. John Rogers his Son and his Daughter being found in a Neighbours house on the First Day had a Cow took from them worth 4 l. Henry Holland for having a Friend in his House and a Meeting was fined 7 l. and for that he had three Cows taken from him worth 12 l. Arthur Howland having a Meeting in his House had an Ox taken from him worth 8 l. John Smith for entertaining some of his Neighbors was fined had taken from him 2 l. Taken from Will. Newland for entertaining of Peter Pearson two Cows worth about 10 l. Taken from Peter Gaunt for receiving George VVilson only so long a time while he did refresh himself two Cows worth 10 l. Taken from Ralph Allen one Cow worth 5 l. Taken from Edward Perry one Ox worth 7 l. Taken from VVilliam Gifford one Ox worth 8 l. Goods taken from Friends at Hampton in New-England for Fines From William Marstâ—â— for lodging of Winlock Christison and Joseph Allen he had taken in dry Ginger and green Ginger 5 l. And from Eliakim Wardal for lodging Winlock Christison and Joseph Allen taken away a Gelding worth 17 l. And they paid him part of the Overplus in the Ginger they stole from William Marston and promised to pay him the rest in Land somewhere in the Wilderness And afterwards came again and took away that Ginger and a Frying-pan besides Josiah Cockshall of Rhoad Island for going into Plymouth Jurisdiction to visit some Friends had his Horse took from him worth 13 l. Mary Dyar was put to death for speaking to the Rulers of Boston to repeal their unrighteous Laws BARBADO'S About Sixty were Imprisoned and some Imprisoned in Cyrinan and banished into the Woods among the Wild Beasts to be devoured but the Lord preserved them MARY-LAND Two hundred ninety nine pounds twelve shillings and two pence worth of Goods was taken from Friends for worshipping of God and Friends were cruelly abused and some whipt besides VIRGINIA One Thomas Owen was Imprisoned for having a Meeting of Friends in his House and was put in a close place and not suffered to go forth to ease himself John Cox a Factor for some Merchants in Bristol and a Trader for himself for not putting off his Hat was imprisoned in the same place and in his Mittimus they called him A Lude Dissolute Person and the Governour caused to be taken from him for the