ent of his purpose of enforcing entire submission to the
ecclesiastical authority of the Church. He even had persons sometimes
punished very severely for words of disrespect, or for writings in
which they censured what they considered the tyranny under which they
suffered. This severe punishment for the mere expression of opinion
only served to fix the opinion more firmly, and disseminate it more
widely. Sometimes men would glory in their sufferings for this cause,
and bid the authorities defiance.

One man, for instance, named Lilburne, was brought before the Star
Chamber, charged with publishing seditious pamphlets. Now, in all
ordinary courts of justice, no man is called upon to say any thing
against himself. Unless his crime can be proved by the testimony of
others, it can not be proved at all. But in the Star Chamber, whoever
was brought to trial had to take an oath at first that he would answer
all questions asked, even if they tended to criminate himself. When
they proposed this oath to Lilburne, he refused to take it. They
decided that this was contempt of court, and sentenced him to be
whipped, put in the pillory, and imprisoned. While they were whipping
him, he spent the time in making a speech to the spectators against
the tyranny of bishops, referring to Laud, whom he considered as the
author of these proceedings. He continued to do the same while in the
pillory. As he passed along, too, he distributed copies of the
pamphlets which he was prosecuted for writing. The Star Chamber,
hearing that he was haranguing the mob, ordered him to be gagged. This
did not subdue him. He began to stamp with his foot and gesticulate;
thus continuing to express his indomitable spirit of hostility to the
tyranny which he opposed. This single case would be of no great
consequence alone, but it was not alone. The attempt to put Lilburne
down was a symbol of the experiment of coercion which Charles in the
state, and Laud in the Church, were trying upon the whole nation; it
was a symbol both in respect to the means employed, and to the success
attained by them.

One curious case is related, which turned out more fortunately than
usual for the parties accused. Some young lawyers in London were
drinking at an evening entertainment, and among other toasts they
drank confusion to the Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the waiters,
who heard them, mentioned the circumstance, and they were brought
before the Star Chamber. Before their t