, dost thou think we will let thee poison
the court? Richard, thou art an old knave. Thou hast written
books enough to load a cart, and every book as full of
sedition as an egg is full of meat. By the grace of God,
I'll look after thee. I see a great many of your brotherhood
waiting to know what will befall their mighty Don. And
there,' he continued, fixing his savage eye on Bates, 'there
is a doctor of the party at your elbow. But, by the grace of
God Almighty, I will crush you all!'

"Baxter held his peace. But one of the junior counsel for
the defence made a last effort, and undertook to show that
the words of which complaint was made, would not bear the
construction put on them by the information. With this view
he began to read the context. In a moment he was roared
down. 'You sha'n't turn the court into a conventicle!' The
noise of weeping was heard from some of those who surrounded
Baxter. 'Snivelling calves!' said the judge."[32]

[Footnote 32: 1 Macaulay, (Harper's Ed.) 456-8.]

He was sentenced to pay a fine of 500 marks, to lie in prison till he
paid it, and be bound to good behavior for seven years. Jeffreys, it
is said, wished him also to be whipped at the tail of a cart.[33] But
the King remitted his fine.

[Footnote 33: 1 Macaulay, 456; 11 St. Tr. 493.]

Throughout the reign of James II. the courts of law became more and
more contemptible in the eyes of the people. "All the three common law
courts were filled by incompetent and corrupt Judges."[34] But their
power to do evil never diminished.

[Footnote 34: 2 Campbell's Justices, 87.]

9. James II. wished to restore the Catholic form of religion, rightly
looking on Protestantism as hostile to his intended tyranny; so he
claimed a right to dispense with the laws relating thereto, put a
Jesuit into his Privy Council, expelled Protestants from their
offices, and filled the vacancy thus illegally made with Papists; he
appointed Catholic bishops.[35] In 1688 he published a proclamation.
It was the second of the kind,--dispensing with all the laws of the
realm against Catholicism; and ordered it to be read on two specified
Sundays during the hours of service in all places of public worship.
This measure seemed to be a special insult to the Protestants. The
declaration of indulgence was against their conscience, and in
violation of the undisputed laws of the land, but Chief