80MERSETSHIRE SEQUESTRATION8. 67 



hath not that yet, I not having received so much from the 

 parsonage." 



Dr. Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, holding in right 

 of his see the impropriate j^arsonage of Castle Gary, it 

 was of course sequestered with his other possessions. The 

 Bishop was an old enemy of the Puritans, his high church 

 opinions rendering him a zealous supporter of Land. Soon 

 after his translation to the see in 1632, he had been very 

 active in carrying out the Archbishop's views respecting 

 the Book of Sports and Pastimes, and produced much dis- 

 satisfaction in the county by his conduct. It was in conse- 

 quence of the Bishop's report to Land, of the oi'der made 

 by Chief Justice Richardson at the Somersetshire Assizes, 

 on the Petition of the leading men of the county, for 

 putting down wakes, revels, and other parochial festivals, 

 that the Chief Justice was summoned before the Privy 

 Council, and severely reprimanded by the Archbishop, 

 for his interference. He told a friend in his way out 

 that he had been nearly choked by a pair of Archbishop's 

 sleeves. 



Bishop Pierce was one of the twelve Bishops who with- 

 drew from the House of Lords, on the debate for excluding 

 Bishops from seats in Parliament, and protested against 

 any bill passed without their concurrence. He and his 

 companions were immediately impeached for high treason, 

 and imprisoned ; but the King soon after giving his con- 

 sent to the Exclusion Bill, the prosecution was dropped. 



After his deprivation, Dr. Pierce resided on an estate 

 of his own, at Cuddesden, in Oxfoi'dshire. At the Kesto- 

 ration, he was reinstated in his see, and enjoyed it until his 

 death. He was the father of William Pierce, Archdeacon 

 of Taunton, and Vicar of Kingsbury Eplscopi, whose 

 living was also sequestered, and he himself subsequently 



