NORBURY MANOR HOUSE AND THE FITZHEREBERTS. 243 
heralds, took notes of the very numerous coats that were then in 
the windows of Norbury Manor House. The sparse, but interest- 
ing remains of this once profuse display of rich heraldic glass, are 
now to be found in the south windows of the apartments marked 
“Entrance Hall” and “ Kitchen” on the plan, and there are 
also some valuable sixteenth century roundlets of picture glass, 
representing the months, in the window of the staircase. All this 
glass has been described, and still better illustrated by my friend, 
Mr. Bailey, in the fourth and fifth volumes of our Society’s 
‘Transactions. 
This is not the place or time to dwell upon the general facts of 
the Elizabethan persecution of the Recusants, that is, of those who 
adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, and refused to attend the 
public worship of the Establishment; nor to say what State ex- 
cuse, if any, there might be for a general policy of outrageous and 
long-continued oppression, before which the short-lived and fierce 
Marian persecution absolutely pales in comparison. Suffice it to 
say that this page of our national history has been generally 
slurred over, through ignorance or wilful suppression of the truth, 
__ by most of our historians. The facts are beyond dispute ; they 
are to be found at our Public Record Office, and are sup- 
ported by abundant other contemporary evidence. As we 
have written elsewhere, carefully weighing every word,* almost 
every persecution, short of death,t was resorted to immediately 
after Elizabeth’s accession; the Recusants were everywhere 
¥ harassed by fines, forfeitures, and imprisonment, in order to 
: - compel their attendance at church. ' Where the local magistrates 
were lax in their efforts, special commissioners, armed with the 
| fullest powers immediately from the crown—powers which, in. their 
free use of torture, as well as in other respects, more closely 
. La! 3 as , a tvs vi 
* Here, and in some other subsequent paragraphs, I quote from a recent 
article of my own that appeared in the Church Quarterly, entitled ‘* The 
_ Elizabethan Martyrs.” 
+ Death was soon added to the other penalties by the legislation of 1571 and 
1584. At least 183 individuals suffered the awful death of being hung, drawn, 
and quartered (they were cut down to be quartered whilst still sensible), for 
_ their religious belief during the reign of Elizabeth. From this number all 
_ those who had any complicity with ‘‘ plots ” are excluded. 
