ss to
Bristol,[a] and at his entrance into that city, he rode on horseback with a
man walking bareheaded before him; two females holding his bridle on each
side, and others attending him, one of whom, Dorcas Erbury, maintained that
he had raised her to life after she had

[Footnote 1: "William Simpson was moved of the Lord to go at several times,
for three years, naked and barefoot before them, as a sign unto them in
markets, courts, towns, cities, to priests' houses, and to great men's
houses; so shall they all be stripped naked as he was stripped naked. And
sometimes he was moved to put on hair sackcloth, and to besmear his face,
and to tell them so would the Lord besmear all their religion, as he was
besmeared. Great sufferings did that poor man undergo, sore whipping
with horsewhips and coachwhips on his bare body, grievous stonings and
imprisonments in three years time before the king came in, that they might
have taken warning, but they could not."--Fox; Journal, i. 572.]

[Footnote 2: Lambert spoke of him with kindness during the debate: "He was
two years my quarter-master, and a very useful person. We parted with
him with very great regret. He was a man of very unblameable life and
conversation."--Burton's Diary, i. 33.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1656. October.]

been dead the space of two days. These occasionally threw scarfs and
handkerchiefs before him, and sang, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God
of Hosts: Hosanna in the highest; holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of
Israel." They were apprehended by the mayor, and, sent[a] to London to be
examined by a committee of the parliament. The house, having heard the
report of the committee, voted that Naylor was guilty of blasphemy. The
next consideration was his punishment; the more zealous moved that he
should be put to death; but after a debate which continued during eleven
days, the motion was lost[b] by a division of ninety-six to eighty-two.
Yet the punishment to which he was doomed ought to have satisfied the most
bigoted of his adversaries. He stood[c] with his neck in the pillory for
two hours, and was whipped from Palace Yard to the Old Exchange, receiving
three hundred and ten lashes in the way. Some days later[d] he was again
placed in the pillory; and the letter B for blasphemer was burnt on his
forehead, and his tongue was bored with a red-hot iron.[1] From London the
house ordered him to be conducted[e] to Bristol, the place of his offence.
He entered at