Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 2.djvu/249

428 Chester, 15 Octob: 1639;" which was duly acknowledged by the bishop from Elphin, 5th February, 1639-40, by letter, in which he mentions the debt of gratitude he owes him for many benefits formerly received from him. From the following letter from bishop Bramhall to bishop Bridgeman written a fortnight later it appears that his son James had then left Ireland:

"My noble Lord It was not my happiness to know that you had a sonne in this Kingdome till this weeke. And now he is leaving it. But if he returne hither againe I shall indeavour to make both you and him satisfaction. We are going this morning to receive the Bishoppe of Killallah's answer at the Court of High Commission. You will wonder what the crime should be. Inveighing against the Scotish ministers who did rather leave their benefices then subscribe, for professing his owne readiness to have done it rather then to have left the Kingdome, for wishing the Scotish Bishoppes in hell, for magnifiing Leslye and the covenanters loyalty and other things in this kind. The best is, it is not out of abundancie of Judgment, he was never bredd for a Bishopp.

My Lord, I beseech you to beleeve that no man in this kingdome shall be more ready to serve you and yours then your Lordshippes lovinge brother and faithfull servaunte,

Octob. 11, 1639.

On 15th October, 1639, a letter was sent by the archbishop of York to his suffragans (which did not reach the bishop of Chester till the 21st November), informing them of the persecution of the Scotch ministers, many of whom had been forced to leave their country and betake themselves, with their wives and children, to