says: "In good truth he is somewhat saucy." "I hope,"
says Prynne, "your Honours will not be offended. I pray God give
you ears to hear."

The whole of this interesting trial is best read in the fourth
volume of the _Harleian Miscellany_. Prynne's main offence on
this occasion was his _News from Ipswich_, written in prison, and
his sentence was preceded by a speech from Laud, which the King
made him afterwards publish, and which, after a denial of the
Puritan charge of making innovations in religion, ended with the
words: "Because the business hath some reflection upon myself I
shall forbear to censure them, and leave them to God's mercy and
the King's justice." Yet Laud in the very previous sentence had
thanked his colleagues for the "just and honourable censure" they
had passed; and when he spoke in this Pharisaical way of God's
mercy and the King's justice, he knew that the said justice had
condemned Prynne to be fined another L5,000, to be deprived of
the remainder of his ears in the pillory, to be branded on both
cheeks with "S. L." (Schismatical Libeller), and to be imprisoned
for life in Carnarvon Castle.[82:1] Apart from that, Laud's
defence seems conclusive on many of the points brought against
him.

Bastwick and Burton were at the same time, for their books,
condemned to a fine of L5,000 each, to be pilloried, to lose
their ears, and to be imprisoned, one at Launceston Castle, in
Cornwall, and the other in Lancaster Castle. It does not appear
that the burning of their books was on this occasion included in
the sentence; but as the order for seizing libellous books was
sometimes a separate matter from the sentence itself (Laud's
_Hist._, 252), or could be ordered by the Archbishop alone, one
may feel fairly sure that it followed.

The execution of this sentence (June 30th, 1637) marks a
turning-point in our history. The people strewed the way from the
prison to the pillory with sweet herbs. From the pillory the
prisoners severally addressed the sympathetic crowd, Bastwick,
for instance, saying, "Had I as much blood as would swell the
Thames, I would shed it every drop in this cause." Prynne,
returning to prison by boat, actually made two Latin verses on
the letters branded on his cheeks, with a pun upon Laud's name.
As probably no one ever made verses on such an occasion before or
since, they are deserving of quotation:--

"Stigmata maxillis referens insignia Laudis,
Exultans remeo, victima