JOHN PRINCE. 351 
So Prince found his church duty fitted for worship according to 
Episcopalian rites, but at the same time he found in the town a 
strong body of dissenters, ministered to by Mr. Whiddon. Francis 
Whiddon was great grandson of Sir John Whiddon, knight, 
Justice of the King’s Bench, and one of those Devonians who finds 
a place among the ‘‘ Worthies.” If we take only his opponent’s 
estimate of this Nonconforming divine, we learn that he was a man 
of high integrity, and one in whom Prince would find a formidable 
rival. He has the honour of being one of the first of the two 
thousand ejected ministers, for on the death of the vicar of Totnes, 
Mr. Garrett, he was by the churchwardens and magistrates ejected 
before his brethren on June 22nd, 1662. His appointment had 
been by the Corporation, who agreed to pay him £100 a year; 
double the sum that Prince afterwards obtained. He continued 
in Totnes after his ejection, and lived on good terms with his 
successor, Mr. Ford, and frequently attended the parish church. 
He however gathered a congregation together, preached twice on 
Sundays, and held two weekly lectures at Totnes and one at Bowden 
—the residence of Dr. Burthogge, a leading Nonconformist, about 
a mile from the town. In 1671, a minister expected at Totnes 
church not coming, Mr. Whiddon was requested by the mayor and 
senior magistrate to preach there, which he did; a young man of 
his acquaintance reading prayers. To avoid the displeasure of Dr. 
Anthony Sparrow, then Bishop of Exeter, Whiddon went to London 
and begged the king’s pardon, which was granted, and the prosecu- 
tion ordered to be stopped. 
On two or three occasions he and his hearers were indicted at 
the Assizes at Exeter, but the bill was thrown out, chiefly, it is 
said, through the influence and arguments of one of his relatives 
who was on the grand jury. One of the mayors usually attended 
Mr. Whiddon’s ministrations, and in the old court books, from and 
after 1675, are continual entries of presentments of persons, in- 
cluding Mr. Whiddon, Mrs. Shapleigh (the wife of a magistrate), 
Robert Babbage (ancestor of Charles Babbage, the inventor of the 
calculating machine), Dr. Burthogge, Christopher Furneaux 
(ancestor of Dr. Philip Furneaux, the Nonconformist divine), and 
many others, leading people of the town, for non-attendance at 
church for three consecutive Sundays. On one occasion as many 
as thirty-nine persons are presented at one time. Curiously enough 
the presentations begin just when Prince first comes to Totnes, 
