A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



George Greene of Theddingworth *" died before the fatal day ; Yaxley of 

 Kibworth Beauchamp had been engaged in a long suit with Hunt, the 

 previous incumbent, all through the Interregnum, and was ejected in 1660 

 for causes more political than religious. 848 There were, therefore, only 

 twenty-three who can be fairly said to have resigned on principle, because 

 they would not receive episcopal ordination or accept the Prayer Book. Most 

 of these seem to have been quiet peaceable men, and it is recorded of a few 

 that they willingly went to church on Sunday mornings and preached only in 

 private houses in the afternoons. Only eight were university men. John 

 Shuttlewood, who had been at Ravenstone, was the most prominent among 

 them, preaching in several places in the county, and maintaining some kind 

 of organization among those who were Presbyterian by conviction ; he was 

 imprisoned at Leicester for a short time in 1668 under the Conventicle Act. 

 Matthew Clarke, once a chaplain in Colonel Hacker's regiment, and minister 

 of Narborough, continued an active preacher, and was imprisoned three 

 times in Leicester gaol. 34 ' 



The return of conventicles in 1669 shows a number of small gatherings 

 in private houses, mostly Presbyterian, Anabaptists, and Quakers. Only at 

 Stoke Golding, Great Bowden, Kibworth Beauchamp, Ashby Magna, and 

 Market Harborough did the congregations amount to a hundred or more. 

 The Anabaptists are nearly all described as of the ' meaner ' or ' poorer sort ' ; 

 the ' Presbyterians are of the ' middle ' or ' ordinary sort ' ; the Quakers 

 usually of the ' vulgar ' or ' poorest sort,' and not numerically very strong. 860 

 In 1672 licence was granted for the holding of Presbyterian conventicles in 

 thirty-eight places ; the Independents received eighteen licences, and the 

 Anabaptists eight. 251 The Quakers asked nothing, as it was contrary to their 

 principles. They received a good deal of rough usage throughout the reigns 

 of Charles II and James II, one of the worst cases being at Long Clawson in 

 1679, when men and women were dragged along the street by their hair or 

 by their clothes ; and in 1680, when a number of rough lads set upon them 

 under a pretended warrant from the parish priest. 868 



The period of the Restoration has many features of interest as regards the 

 Church. It was a time marked not merely by zeal for the repression of 

 Nonconformity, but also by much personal generosity and sacrifice. Clergy 

 and laity alike had suffered heavy losses, yet now the churches were in need of 

 restoration, often at considerable expense. The work seems to have been 



'" Nichols, Lett, ii, 828. The lecturer and the curate are struck off the list merely to balance the list of 

 those ejected under the Commonwealth, where such cases have not been reckoned. 



* 8 Hunt was sequestered in 1645, but compounded with the committee to retain his benefice, and 

 though Yaxley was invited by the parish was again settled in his place in 1 647. Later Yaxley obtained a 

 presentation from the Protector; but before 1655 Hunt again recovered his rights bylaw. It was finally 

 agreed that Yaxley should serve the cure, making some compensation to Hunt. These facts are summarized 

 from Add. MSS. 15669-71, and S.P. Dom. Inter, vol. xciv, under 9 Feb. 1655. In 1660 Yaxley wasaccused 

 before the Lords of having proclaimed in the pulpit, ' Hell is broke loose ; the devil and his instruments are 

 coming in to persecute the saints and godly party.' Nichols, Leic. ii, 652. 



'" See Calamy in he. fit. and Lambeth Libr. Tenison MSS. 639 (Conventicles in Leicestershire, 1669). 

 Both these authorities show George Fox's old enemy, Nathaniel Stevens, keeping a conventicle at Hinckley, 

 where he lived till 1678, and wrote many books, of which one deserves to be remembered : A Plain and Easy 

 Calculation of the Number of the Beatt! 



* so Lambeth Libr. Tenison MSS. 639. 



81 S.P. Dom.Chas. II, 1672. 



;1 Besse, Sufferings of Quakers (ed. 1753), i, 332-46. We can accept Besse's account of the rough treat- 

 ment without being so ready as he was to suppose that it was instigated by the clergy. 



388 



