g of tenants, and
such like."

"To declare his folly in riding (these are the literal words of the
accusation), he useth a bridle with white studs and snaffle, white
Scottish stirrups, white spurs; a Scottish pad, with a little staff of
three quarters [of a yard] long.

"He said he would go to parliament on foot; and to his friends that
dissuaded him, alleging that it was not meet for a man in his place,
he answered, I care not for that; it is no sin.

"Having a son, he went before the midwife to the church, presenting
the child to the priest; and giving the name Samuel with a solemn
interpretation of the name,[459] appointed two godfathers and two
godmothers contrary to the ordinance, making his son a monster and
himself a laughing-stock.

[Footnote 459: Wherefore it came to pass that
Hannah bare a son, and called his name Samuel,
saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. 1
_Samuel_ i. 20.]

"He daily useth whistling of his child, and saith that he understood
his whistle when he was but three years old; and being advertised of
his friends that men laughed at his folly, he answered, They whistle
their horses and dogs: they might also be contented that I whistle my
child; and so whistleth him daily, friendly admonition neglected.

"In his visitation, among other his surveys, he surveyed Milford
Haven, where he espied a seal-fish tumbling, and he crept down to the
rocks by the water-side, and continued there {p.205} whistling by
the space of an hour, persuading the company that laughed fast at him,
he made the fish to tarry there.

"Speaking of the scarcity of herrings, he laid the fault to the
covetousness of fishers, who in time of plenty took so many that they
destroyed the breeders.

"Speaking of the alteration of the coin, he wished that what metal
soever it was made of, the penny should be in weight worth a penny of
the same metal."

Such were the charges against Ferrars, which, notwithstanding, were
considered serious enough to require an answer; and the bishop
consented to reply.

He dined with his servants, he said, because the hall of the palace
was in ruins, and for their comfort he allowed them to eat in his own
room. For his hospitality, he appealed to his neighbours; and for his
conversation, he said that he suited it to his hearers. He talked of
religion to religious men; to men of the world, he talked "of honest