ople,
and which aimed at plucking the crown from his head, that they might set
it on their own ambitious pates." Burton hinted that "the sooner the
office of the Bishops was abolished the better it would be for the
nation." Bastwick, who had been brought up in the straitest principles
of Puritanism, had ended his pamphlet "_Flagellum Pontificis_," with
this outburst, "Take notice, so far am I from flying or fearing, as I
resolve to make war against the Beast, and every hint of Antichrist, all
the days of my life. If I die in that battle, so much the sooner I shall
be sent in a chariot of triumph to heaven; and when I come there, I
will, with those that are under the altar cry, 'How long, Lord, holy
and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood upon them that dwell
upon the earth?'"

These men were called before the Star Chamber upon a charge of libel.
The sentence was a foregone conclusion, and was so outrageous that its
result could only be the strengthening of opposition. The "muckworm"
Cottington, as Browning calls him, suggested the sentence which was
carried out. The men were condemned to lose their ears, to pay a fine of
L5000 each, and to be imprisoned for the remainder of their lives in the
castles of Carnarvon, Launceston, and Lancaster. Finch, not satisfied
with this, added the savage wish that Prynne should be branded on the
cheek with the letters S. L., to stand for "seditious libeller," and
this was also done.

The account of the execution of this sentence is almost too horrible to
read. Some one who recorded the scene wrote, "The humours of the people
were various; some wept, some laughed, and some were very reserved."
Prynne, whose sufferings had been greatest for he had been burned as
well as having his ears taken off, was yet able to indulge in a grim
piece of humor touching the letters S. L. branded on his cheeks. He
called them "Stigmata Laudis," the "Scars of Laud," on his way back to
prison. Popular demonstrations in favor of the prisoners were made all
along the road when they were taken to their respective prisons, where
they were allowed neither pen, ink nor books. Fearful lest they might
somehow still disseminate their heretical doctrines to the outer world,
the council removed them to still more distant prisons, in the Scilly
Isles, in Guernsey and in Jersey. Retaliation against this treatment
found open expression. "A copy of the Star Chamber decree was nailed to
a board. Its corners we