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 A HISTORY OF LONDON hiding-places of priests,*^ and it was tound that some lodged with private persons of various ranks in London and Westminster/^ and others in common inns/* Clerkenwell being described in 1586 as 'a very college of wicked Papists.' '^ Amongst those who gave relief to these priests were Henry Vaux/^ the Countess of Pembroke, Lord Compton," and numbers of London citizens.'^ Recusancy appears to have prevailed to a considerable extent among the medical men of London. In 1580 the bishop was ordered to call before him such physicians practising in the City as were known to be obstinate in matters of religion/^ and in 1588 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners demanded from the College of Physicians a list of recusant doctors/"" while two medical men were included in a list of ' strangers that go not to church ' in 1581."^ The sufferings of the recusants with whom the London prisons were for some years crowded appear to have been considerable. Whenever it was possible the imprisoned priests celebrated mass for their fellow captives, and their co-religionists in London eagerly availed themselves of any opportunity of joining in these services. ^"^ Priests still at liberty would also go to the prisons for this purpose, and marriages of Roman Catholics took place there.'"* Consequently restrictions were placed on the intercourse of the prisoners with their friends ; "* attempts to relieve them with food and money were dis- couraged ; '"^ and, worst of all, spies were sent into the prisons with orders to represent themselves as suffering for religion, and so worm their way into the confidence of the genuine recusants with a view to giving information against them."" Nor was imprisonment the worst punishment that Romanists, especially priests, had to fear. Torture was not infrequently applied to in- duce them to confess supposed plots. "^ Between 1578 and 1585 eighteen priests and three Roman Catholic laymen were executed in London."* No severities availed, however, to put an entire stop to the celebrations of the mass, which continued to be held in various London houses;"' whilst in the last years of the 1 6th century both Jesuits and secular priests abounded in the City, where they were active in 'reconciling' the laity."" In 1594 it was even reported that mass was said daily at the Court."' With regard to the state of the Church of England itself at this period, its clergy, its services, and its customs, much valuable information exists in the parochial and Corporation records and elsewhere. Between 1559 and 1570 dis- pensations were granted to seventeen London rectors and vicars to hold two or more benefices together."^ In 1579 the Privy Council ordered inquiries to be made in every parish in the archdeaconry of London as to whether the '' Acts of P.C. xiii, 151, 153, 164 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxii, 51 ; clxxvii, 48 ; clxxviii, 72, &c. " Ibid, clxxvii, 48 ; clxxxviii, 37 ; cci, 53 ; ccvi, 34, &c. ^ Ibid, clxxviii, 72 ; clxxxviii, 37. '* Ibid, cxciv, 62. ^ Ibid, clxxviii, 72. ^' Ibid, clxxxviii, 37. °* Ibid, ccxxxviii, 62, 126, 139, &c. " Jets of P.C. xii, 129. ™ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. 227. See also Rep. vii, App. 642, and S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxlvi, 137. "" B.M. Lansd. MS. 33, no. 59. '"- S.P. Dom. Eliz. clii, 54 ; Acts of P.C. xiii, 360 ; xxx, 539 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. civ, 27 ; ccxvii, 61, &c. "" Acts of P.C. xiii, 353 ; Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), vi, 419 ; x, 280. "" See Acts of P.C. xiii, 275 ; Chamberlain, Letters (Camd. Soc), 69, &c. '"' Acts of P.C. xii, 282 ; xiii, 275, 326-7. "^ S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxliii, 38, 88 ; ccxlviii, 43 ; Cecil MSS. iv, 402, 429, 432, &c. '"' Ibid, i, 296, and S.P. Dom. for the years 1574-99. '" Rishton, Cotitin. of Sanders, bk. iv, cap. ix-xii. "" S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxli, 35 ; ccxlviii, 99, &c. "" Ibid, ccxli, 41 ; ccxlviii, 102 ; cclii, 80 ; Acts of P.C. xxvi, 74 ; Cecil MSS. ix, 3 iS, &c. '" S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxlviii, 99, 102. "' S.P. Dom. Eliz. Ixxvi. 316