ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



that I know of, of that mind in Moreton,' and he certifies ' all whom it 

 may concern, and that on the word of a priest' that all those entered in 

 his register were ' duly and orderly baptized,' and all couples solemnly 

 wedded in the church, and that according to the orders of the Church 

 of England. 1 The rector of Amersham had to speak of a very different 

 experience. ' General Fleetwood lived at the Vache, and Russell on 

 the opposite hill, and Mrs. Cromwell, Oliver's wife, and her daughters 

 at Woodrow High House, where afterwards lived Captain James 

 Thomson ; so the whole country was kept in awe and became exceeding 

 zealous and very fanatical ; nor is the poison yet eradicated.' a It had, 

 indeed, been injected long before the coming of these magnates. 



Twenty-four 3 of the ministers of religion placed by Parliament in 

 charge of parishes in this county were ejected in 1662, either in favour 

 of the old incumbents or because they refused to accept the episcopal 

 form of Church government : this number nearly equals those displaced 

 during the twenty years preceding. A few stayed on in the neighbour- 

 hood where they had ministered, and were supported by private congre- 

 gations. William Dyer, who had been at Cholesbury, did good service 

 in London at the time of the plague by preaching in one of the deserted 

 churches there : Nathanael Vincent, of Magdalen College, Oxford, who 

 had served the cure of Langley Marish, preached in the streets of 

 London after the fire (to thousands, Calamy declares) and was several 

 times imprisoned in the Gatehouse and the Marshalsea under the Five 

 Mile and Conventicle Act ; George Fownes, a graduate of Cambridge, 

 after leaving High Wycombe was imprisoned two years and a half at 

 Gloucester for the same offences. 4 Four of those who remained at 

 places near the scene of their former ministrations received licenses to 

 preach and hold religious meetings under the Declaration of Indulgence 

 in 1672. These licenses, as might be expected, are numerous in Buck- 

 inghamshire. There were twenty-seven in all, Presbyterians applying 

 for them in most cases, as well as a few Congregationalists and one Con- 

 venticle of Anabaptists. At High Wycombe four different licenses were 

 granted, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Anabaptists being all 

 represented ; at Aylesbury two different places were licensed for meet- 

 ings, both being Presbyterian, and at Newport Pagnel two also, both 

 Congregational. 6 The Quakers, although so numerous in the county, 

 did not apply at all, not thinking it lawful to ask permission from man 

 to worship God. 8 



It is generally acknowledged that much was done at the Restora- 



1 Records of Bucks, vi. 433-4. 



2 From the parish register of Amersham, quoted ibid. ii. 159. 



3 Calamy reckons also Thomas Valentine of Chalfont St. Giles, who was suspended a short time 

 before the Civil War, and John Luff of Aylesbury, who returned there as soon as the old incumbent died, 

 and cannot fairly be reckoned among the victims of the Restoration. Nonconformists' Memorial of I77S> 



i- 234-7- 

 Ibid. 



5 For all the particulars, see Cal. of State Papers Cbas. II. 1672-3. 



6 W. H. Summers, Memories of Jordans, 160. Many of the troubles of the Quakers came upon 

 them for similar causes, refusing to find bail for themselves, etc. 



333 



