ner in the Consistory at St. Paul's, where they
were charged with denying transubstantiation, and were condemned to
die. The indignation which had been excited by the first executions
caused a delay in carrying the sentence into effect; but as the menace
of insurrection died away the wolves came back to their prey. On the
9th of March, two more were condemned also, Thomas Causton and Thomas
Higbed, men of some small property in Essex. To disperse the effect,
these eight were scattered about the diocese. Tomkins died at
Smithfield on the 16th of March; Causton and Higbed, Pigot and Knight,
in different parts of Essex; Hawkes suffered later; Lawrence was burnt
at Colchester. The legs of the latter had been crushed by irons in one
of Bonner's prisons; he was unable to stand, and was placed at the
stake in a chair. "At his burning, he sitting in the fire, the young
children came about and cried, as well as young children could speak,
Lord strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise--Lord, strengthen
thy servant, and keep thy promise."[457]

[Footnote 457: Foxe, vol. vi.]

Hunter's case deserves more particular mention. The London apprentices
had been affected deeply by the Reforming preachers. It was to them
that the servant of Anne Askew "made her {p.202} moan," and gathered
subscriptions for her mistress. William Hunter, who was one of them,
had been ordered to attend mass by a priest when it was
re-established; he had refused, and his master, fearing that he might
be brought into trouble, had sent him home to his family at Brentwood,
in Essex.[458] Another priest, going one day into Brentwood Church,
found Hunter reading the Bible there.

[Footnote 458: The story of Hunter was left in
writing by his brother, and was printed by Foxe. I
have already said that whenever Foxe prints
documents instead of relating hearsays, I have
found him uniformly trustworthy; so far, that is to
say, as there are means of testing him.]

Could he expound Scripture, that he read it thus to himself? the
priest asked. He was reading for his comfort, Hunter replied; he did
not take on himself to expound. The Bible taught him how to live, and
how to distinguish between right and wrong.

It was never merry world, the priest said, since the Bible came forth
in English. He saw what Hunter was--he was one of those