worldly things with godly intent." He saw no folly in having his horse
decently appointed; and as to walking to parliament, it was
indifferent to him whether he walked or rode. God had given him a
child, after lawful prayer, begotten in honest marriage; he had
therefore named him Samuel, and presented him to the minister as a
poor member of Christ's Church; it was done openly in the cathedral,
without offending any one. The crime of whistling he admitted,
"thinking it better to bring up his son with loving entertainment," to
encourage him to receive afterwards more serious lessons. He had
whistled to the seal; and "such as meant folly might turn it to their
purpose." He had said that the destruction of the fry of fish
prevented fish from multiplying, because he believed it to be true.

Answered or unanswered, it is scarcely credible that such accusations
should have received attention; but the real offence behind, and is
indicated in a vague statement that he had supposed himself to a
premunire. The exquisite iniquity of the Northumberland administration
could not endure a bishop who had opposed the corrupt administration
of patronage; and the explanation being held as insufficient, Ferrars
was summoned to London and thrown into prison, where Mary's accession
found him.

Cut off in this way from the opportunities of escape which were long
open to others, the bishop remained in confinement till the opening of
the persecution. He was deposed from his see by Gardiner's first
commission, as having been married; otherwise, {p.206} however,
Ferrars was unobnoxious politically and personally. Being in prison,
he had been incapable of committing any fresh offence against the
queen, and might reasonably have been forgotten or passed over. But he
had been a bishop, and he was ready caught to the hands of the
authorities; and Mary had been compelled unwillingly to release a more
conspicuous offender, Miles Coverdale, at the intercession of the King
of Denmark. Ferrars was therefore brought before Gardiner on the 4th
of February. On the 14th he was sent into Wales to be tried by Morgan,
his successor at St. David's, and Constantine, the notary of the
diocese, who had been one of his accusers. By these judges, on the
11th of March, he was condemned and degraded; he appealed to the
legate, but the legate never listened to the prayer of heretics; the
legate's mission was to extirpate them. On Saturday the 30th of March,
Ferrars was