sle, another of that number, was there, by
certain generous royalists, despatched. He afterwards lived several
years in vagabondship; but when he died, or where his carcase was
lodged, is as yet unknown to me."[35]

On Christmas day, 1657, good John Evelyn went to London, in spite of
many severe penalties incurred thereby, to receive the holy sacrament
from a priest of the Church of England.[36] Mr. Gunning, afterwards
Bishop of Ely, was the officiating clergyman, and preached a sermon
appropriate to the festival. As he was proceeding with the Eucharist,
the place where they were worshipping was beset by Oliver's ruffians,
who, pointing their muskets at the communicants, through the doors and
windows, threatened to shoot them as they knelt before the altar. Evelyn
surmises that they were not authorised to go so far as that, and
consequently they did not put their threat into execution; but both
priest and people were taken prisoners, and brought under guard before
the magistrates to answer for the serious misdemeanour of which they had
been guilty. Before whom should the gentle friend of Jeremy Taylor find
himself standing as a culprit, but these worshipful Justices, Whalley
and Goffe! It was, doubtless, by their orders that the solemnities of
the day had been profaned.

Evelyn seems to have got off with only a severe catechizing; but many of
his fellow-worshippers were imprisoned, and otherwise severely punished.
The examination was probably conducted by the theologically exercised
Goffe, for the specimen preserved by Evelyn is worthy of his genius in
every way. The amiable confessor was asked how he dared to keep "the
superstitious time of the Nativity;" and was admonished that in praying
for kings, he had been praying for Charles Stuart, and even for the king
of Spain, who was a Papist! Moreover, he was told that the Prayer-book
was nothing but the Mass in English, and more to the like effect; "and
so," says Evelyn, "they dismissed me, pitying much my ignorance."

This anecdote, accidentally preserved by Evelyn, shows what kind of
characters they were. They seem to have been as sincere as any of their
fanatical comrades, though it is always hard to say of the Puritan
leaders which were the cunning hypocrites, and which the deluded
zealots. Whatever they may have been, their time was short, so far as
England is concerned with them; and in three years after this event,
they suddenly disappeared. So perfectly did they