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 A HISTORY OF LONDON few ; "* but two years later the Bishop of London reported that words had been pubHcly spoken by Dr. C. Burgess and pamphlets issued against bishops and the existing form of Church government.^" This may have been partly due to the fact that in 1635 the London ministers and lecturers had been required to subscribe certain articles which must have gone sorely against the conscience of the Puritans amongst them, including the state- ment that bishops zxt '■ jure divino."^'^^ Laud, foreseeing serious trouble if the ill-feeling were not checked, determined to visit the diocese himself."^* In 1637 twenty-five London ministers were summoned before the chancellor of the diocese for ' some inconformity ' ; the bishop reported that lectures ' continue many, but there is great care to keep them in order.' ""' The feeling against bishops, and in particular against Laud, was rapidly growing in the City. Libels against the archbishop were scattered broadcast in the streets and pasted upon posts and on the cross in Cheapside.'"^ He was openly accused of persecuting the saints ; and the case of Bastwick, Burton, and Prynne in 1637 roused the populace yet more against him, though his part in that affair was but small. '"^ Immediately after the dissolution of Parliament in May 1640 the storm broke. Lambeth Palace was attacked by a furious crowd of Londoners, and the White Lion and King's Bench prisons were broken open.'"' The entry of Prynne and Burton into the City ' was made one long triumphal proces- sion.' ^"^ During a session of the Court of High Commission at St. Paul's a mob of Brownists,'"^ nearly two thousand strong, burst in and tore down the benches in the consistory, shouting ' No Bishops ! ' '"^ Convocation, con- tinuing to sit under the title of Synod after the dissolution of Parliament, passed a new set of canons and the oath known as the ' Et cetera Oath,' which roused a fierce protest from some of the London clergy.'"^ In December a petition for Church reform and the abolition of episcopacy, said to have been signed by 1 5,000 Londoners, was presented to Parliament, which had met in November.'"' This blow was aimed at Laud, who was bitterly hated by the citizens ; and it was quickly followed by his impeach- ment.'™ In November 1640 a proclamation was issued ordering popish recusants to repair to their homes and not to come within ten miles of London.'^" On 16 January 1640— i the House of Lords issued an order, to be read in all the London parish churches, forbidding innovations in worship ;"* a few days later the Commons ordered that all images, altars, crucifixes, &c., should be destroyed. Communion tables moved out of the chancels, the Lord's day strictly kept, and preaching substituted for catechizing on Sunday after- noons ; and in April 1 642 a committee was appointed to remove ' all monu- ments of superstition and idolatry ' from Westminster Abbey and the London "* Rymer, Toedera, xix, 590. '" Ibid, xx, 109. "' Lamb. Lib. MS. 595, p. 133. "' Rymer, Foedtra, XX, no ; see Lind, Diary, 17 May 1636. "*' Rymer, Foidera, xx, 196. ^'" Laud, Troubles and 7r;V, cap. v. "' Laud, Diary, June-Aug. 1637. '"' Laud, Diary, May 1640 ; Corp. Rec. Rememb. viii, 229 ; Journ. 29, fol. 84^, 85 ; Lamb. Lib. Misc. MS. 943, fol. 1 17-19. '°* Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, ii, 134 ; Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, iii, 64. '" For some account of the Brownlsts at this time see ' Brownists, 1 64 1,' in the Guildhall Lib. '"" Laud, Diary, Oct. 1640. ™ Lamb. Lib. Misc. MS. 943, fol. 595 ; Wharton MS. 577, fol. 261. '™ Sharpe, op. cit. ii, 135. "° Corp. Rec. Journ. xxxix, fol. 147. '" Lords' Journ. iv, 134. 328
 * " Commons' Journ. ii, 49 ; B.M. Harl. MS. 379, fol. 77 ; St. Stephen Walbrook Chwdns.' Accts. 1640.