s from all parts of the kingdom.' I remember the
leading Dissenters came to Bungay with a piece of plate, to present to
Mr. Childs, to commemorate his heroism. A dinner was given by Mr. Childs
in connection with the presentation. At that dinner, lad as I was, I was
permitted to be present. I had never seen anything so grand or stately
before; and that was my first interview with John Childs, a dark,
restless, eagle-eyed man, whom I was to know better and love more for
many a long day. I took to Radical writing, and nothing could have
pleased John Childs better. I owed much to his friendship in after-life.

In 1833 the Church-rate question was originally raised in Bungay, and
many of the Dissenters refused to pay. The local authorities at once
took high ground, and put twelve of the recusants into the Ecclesiastical
Court. They caved in, leaving to John Childs the honour of martyrdom.
At the time of Mr. Childs' imprisonment he had recently suffered from a
severe surgical operation, and it was believed by his friends impossible
that he could survive the infliction of imprisonment. The Rev. John
Browne writes: 'A committee very generously formed at Ipswich undertook
the management of his affairs, and when they learned at the end of eleven
days' imprisonment that he had undergone a most severe attack, indicating
at least the possibility of sudden death, they sent a deputation to the
Court to pay the sum demanded. The Court, however, required, as well as
the money, the usual oath of canonical obedience, and this Mr. Childs
refused to give. He was told by his friends that he would surely die in
prison, but his reply was, 'That is not my business.' But it seems so
much had been made of the matter by the newspapers that Mr. Childs was
released without taking the oath. Charles Childs, the son, followed in
his father's steps. At Bungay the Churchmen seemed to have determined to
make Dissenters as uncomfortable as possible. Actually five years after
they had thrown the father into prison, the churchwardens proceeded
against the son, having been baffled in repeated attempts to distrain
upon his goods, and cited him into the Ecclesiastical Court, where it
took two and a half years to determine whether the sum of three shillings
and fourpence was due. At the end of that time the judge decided it was
not, and the churchwardens had to pay Mr. Childs' costs as well as their
own, which in the course of time amounted to a ve