THE RHYMED CHRONICLE OF JOHN HARESTAFFE. 89 



Soe wyselie did this Dame herself behave, 



And unto him such faire advice she gave, 



That she procur'd him to reduce his landes, 



The state wherof had longe beene in y e handes 



Of such a frend as he did then elect, 



When rather death than lyffe he did expect : 



One William Atkinson a Lawyer hee 



But such a one for faithe and honestie 



As of his ranke too fewe I feare there bee 



This man releas't him from Imprisonment, 



Wherin two tedious yeares wel nere he spent 



At London in the Poultrie Compter" where 



With manie executions charg'd he were, 



And Actions great, above ten thousand pound, 



On Bondes & Statutes wherein he stood bound 



For Frendes and kindsmen : But ere this was done 



He stated all his Landes on Atkinson, 



By good assurance as he could devyse, 



Without condition then in anie wyse : 



For why ? his care was not on Landes but lyffe, 



Because y' tyme the Plaguet were verie ryffe 



In London, and suspected to beginne 



Within y' Prison which he lived in : 



He stood not then on points of revocation 



But sought inlargement after anie fashion : 



Compter, or counter, was a term applied to certain prisons, originally 

 intended for debtors, "whereinto (according to Cowel's interpretation of the 

 term) he that once shppeth is like to account ere he can get out." The two 

 city London) prisons in the Poultry and in Wood Street, from the time of 

 Elizabeth down to their demolition, were always known by this name. But 

 other gaols, as for instance, one in Southwark, were also called Counters. 



Ihe Poultry Counter had a singularly evil reputation, even in those days of 

 bad gaols for hlth and cruel treatment; in the days of Elizabeth it was 

 generally kept well supplied with Recusant priests and laymen, not a few of 

 whom died from sickness within its walls. To be moved from the Poultry to 

 any other London prison seemed always to be an acceptable change. But one 

 imprisoned, as John Vernon was, for a civil cause, would doubtless be able to 

 purchase his own comforts. 



+ In 1603-4, no less thnn 30,578 persons perished in London of the plague ; 



here were also several severe attacks, in which many thousands died, during 

 the last decade of Elizabeth's reign. 



