Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/325

Rh dated August 4th, 1719, giving an account of this singular trial. It affords striking evidence of the hard condition, to which the Clergy of that day were, or at least might be, subjected, simply from their faithful attachment to the Church. In this letter he tells the Chancellor what he had said to the jury: and among other extraordinary assertions he remarks, "No collection even for charity (unless for the poor of the same parish) is by law to be made, but by the leave and permission of the King. I told the jury that this was a case of dangerous consequence, and was an invasion, not only on the King's prerogative, but also upon the legislature, and that I thought the defendants guilty." He also tells the Chancellor that he had not inflicted a heavy fine, lest compassion should have been excited, and a collection made for the parties. In the same letter he alludes to the Bishop of London: "I gave Mr. Woodford a newspaper, wherein was an advertisement, which I thought very fit to be shewed to superiors: that the Bishop of London had issued a circular letter to all his Clergy, to collect charities in their parishes for the poor vicarages in England, which I thought much akin to the late collection in Kent, or rather more dangerous, not only by raising a vast sum of money, (if the like in all dioceses) but also by marking out people how far affected to the Church throughout