Page:VCH Buckinghamshire 1.djvu/389

Rh however was, as Browne Willis tells us, * ever remarkable for its orthodoxy and strict adherence to the principles of the constitution both in church and state.' The ejection of ' scandalous ministers ' began even before the war. The first to go was James Bradshaw of Chalfont St. Peter, of whom Dr. Andrewes of Beaconsfield had spoken as a ' well-meaning man ' but ' wonderful timorous ' ; it seems that he was provoked at last into wishing the Puritan lecturers hanged. Andrewes himself did not live to see the disestablishment of the Church he loved. John Barton, prebendary of Aylesbury, and George Roberts of Hambleden were both ejected in or before 1642. Besides these, Walker in his Sufferings of the Clergy gives the names of twelve others ejected after this date, and therefore rather for political than religious reasons ; fourteen other cases may be gathered from different sources, making a total which represents about one-seventh of the clergy in this county. Their places were filled by men whose chief recommendation was that they were ' godly, diligent and painful preachers ' ; and as the people of Buckinghamshire had long set a very high value on sermons as the chief means of grace, it is probable that they were on the whole well satisfied with the change. Here and there, however, the new ministers had some difficulty in collecting their tithes, and at Hamble- den, Taplow and Monks Risborough they were vigorously resisted by the ejected incumbents and their supporters. At Maids Moreton,