A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



while the vicar of High Wycombe, a notable puritan, openly proclaimed 

 that they were ' lazy, unconscionable, ambitious ministers ' who would 

 not preach twice on a Sunday. 1 The habit of wandering from church 

 to church for the sake of hearing sermons was alluded to in a letter of 

 Dr. Farmery to Archbishop Laud as common in this county. 3 



As might be expected, the king's unfortunate ' Book of Sports ' 

 gave great offence in Buckinghamshire, and a large number of incum- 

 bents refused to read it from the pulpit 3 : three were even suspended 

 for so doing, 4 the most notable of these being Thomas Valentine of 

 Chalfont St. Giles, 6 afterwards a member of the Assembly of Divines.' 

 Some who did read it expressed their disapproval of it in other ways, as, 

 for instance, by concluding with a prayer ' We beseech Thee, Good 

 Lord, stand up and defend Thy sabbaths from profanation ' ' and the 

 like. The gentry insisted on holding musters in the churchyards (John 

 Hampden and Sir Edmund Verney, who afterwards took opposite sides 

 in the national quarrel, were both notable offenders in this respect) ; and 

 if the clergy appealed against this, their patrons would ' storm like so 

 many termagants.' " Elections of parish officers were often held in the 

 churches with much ' brabbling and jangling.' 8 There was also a 

 growing contempt for holy days, and terrible irreverence in church at 

 divine service ; not only did the majority refuse to bow at the holy 

 name, but they usually sat through the whole service and sermon (some- 

 times with their hats on throughout), or even lay full length along their 

 pews. It is easy to see how acts of this kind, proceeding in the case of 

 some from conscientious scruples, would be imitated by many who 

 neither cared for God nor regarded man. A justice of the peace, one of 

 the very few who sympathized with the Laudian revival, remarked to 



1 S.P. Dom. Chas. I. cccxxvi. 1 8. Gerard Dobson was vicar, and continued during the Com- 

 monwealth. 



J ' That sort of people that run from their own parishes after affected preachers are the most trouble- 

 some . . . especially in Buckingham and Bedfordshires, where they find great abettors." S. P. Dom. 

 Chas. I. cclrzi. 82. There are instances given under the visitation of 1635, ibid, ccxcvi. 6. 



3 This we know from the Metropolitical Visitation of 1634, 'bid. cclixiv. 12 ; and Andrewes in his 

 letter to Sir John Lambe said the book was read by very few incumbents in the deaneries of Burnham, 

 Wycombe and Wendover ; ibid, cclxxxvi. 86. 



Gladman of Chesham, Worcester of Olney, Valentine of Chalfont St. Giles. Of the first case no 

 details are given. The Vicar of Olney sent constables to stop the dancing in his parish after evensong, 

 and then refused to read the Book of Sports. He was suspended I July, 1636 ; but after some shuffling 

 read the book on I November. S. P. Dom. Chas. I. cccviii. 25 and cccxxxv. 19. This account is Sir 

 John Lambe's. 



He was suspended in 1635 first, and apparently gave in shortly after and let his curate read the 

 book. In 1636 he fell again under suspicion, and in spite of attempts to bribe Sir John Lambe and a 

 petition sent in by twenty-eight of his parishioners, was again suspended, and an act of sequestration was 

 entered and executed against him later. In July 1638 he petitioned Archbishop Laud on the ground 

 that he ought not to be freshly punished for the same offence. The matter was referred again to Sir John 

 Lambe, who was requested by the archbishop to absolve Valentine temporarily until it was seen whether 

 he seriously intended to amend. He was absolved 13 July. This account is mainly taken from Valen- 

 tine's own petition, S. P. Dom. Chas. I. cccxcv. 37, 49 ; and also from ibid, cccxix. 62 (a letter to Sir 

 John Lambe, endorsed ' 5 bribe enclosed ') cccxxxv. 19, etc. Bishop Williams' quarrel with Sir John 

 Lambe further complicated this affair. 



8 Records of Bucks, vi. 65. 



* S. P. Dom. Chas. I. cclxxxvi. 86 (Andrewes to Laud). 



8 S. P. Dom. Jas. I. clxxiii. 4 (misplaced because carelessly dated 1624 : see Records of Bucks, vii. 101). 



S. P. Dom. Chas. I. cclxxix. 36. 



322 



