and brought forth without any to pity it, nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings, for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken, I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth; who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life."

CHAPTER IX.

LIFE OF JOHN LILBURNE

ACCORDING to the account published in the Biographical Dictionary of 1798, in 15 octavo volumes, this singular man was born in the county of Durham, in the year 1618. Though he was not, for the greatest part of his life, a member of the Society of Friends; yet, as he at length received their principles and died in their faith, he seems to claim a place in these Memoirs. And the reader is desired particularly to notice, the difference between the turbulence of the partizan, which marked the early and the principal part of his life; and the calmness and meekness of his latter days, after he had adopted the principles of the despised people, called Quakers.

His father was possessed of a valuable estate, and resided at Thickney Purcharden, the family

seat, in the county of Durham. John was a younger son, and being placed out as an apprentice to a clothier or woollen-draper in London, when only twelve years of age, he must have acquired a very small stock of learning. The master was a Puritan, and the apprentice had been educated in the same religious sentiments. His deficiency in learning was supplied by a precocity of parts, and forwardness of disposition, which rendered his situation as an apprentice, uneasy to him, and he complained to the Chamberlain of the City, of his master's ill usage. Thus early did he manifest a disposition, impatient of control, which he carried with him through the greatest part of his life.

The times in which Lilburne lived, were such as were likely to find employment for his active and enterprising mind. When his apprenticeship expired, instead of prosecuting his trade, he attached himself to the discontented party of that day, and in the year 1636, was sent to Holland by Dr. Bastwick, who was a prisoner by order of the Star Chamber, in the Gatehouse, London. Lilburne's errand was to obtain the printing of some pieces in Holland, unfavourable both to the civil and ecclesiastical government of this country, the principal of which, was Bastwick's "Merry Liturgy." For the distribution of these and other similar publications, he was brought before the

High Commission Court, and sentenced to be whipped at the cart's tail, from Fleet Prison to the Old Palace Yard; there to stand two hours on the pillory; to remain in the Fleet Prison till he conformed to the rules of the court; to pay a fine of 5001. to the king, and to find security for his good behaviour.

He bore his punishment with so much fortitude and spirit, that he acquired the name of "Freeborn John" from his enemies; while his friends esteemed him as a saint. These circumstances occurred in the year 1637, and it appears that he continued a prisoner in the Fleet till 1640, part of the time loaded with double irons on his arms and legs, and confined in one of the worst wards. Here he was suspected of setting the prison on fire, but probably without cause. The fear of him, however, produced some amelioration of his situation, by which means he found opportunity to publish a piece of his own, entitled "The Christian Man's Trial."

The party to which Lilburne was attached, gaining the ascendancy, he was liberated; yet his restless spirit soon brought him again into difficulties. Early in the year 1641, he was arraigned before the House of Lords, for an assault upon the Governor of the Tower, Colonel Lunsford;

but was soon dismissed; and in 1646, and some succeeding years, he obtained decrees for a pecuniary remuneration on account of his sufferings, out of the estates of those who were attached to the royal party.

The civil wars now broke out with great violence, and Lilburne of course attached himself to the Parliament. He entered the army as a captain under the Earl of Essex, and was taken prisoner in an engagement at Brentford, but was exchanged for one considerably above his rank, after being tried at Oxford for high treason. When the Earl pressed the Scotch Covenant upon his followers, Lilburne differed with him, and through Cromwell's interest was advanced in the army. In this station he signalized himself on various occasions, particularly in the battle of Marston Moor, near York; and was advanced to the station of lieutenant-colonel, under the Earl of Manchester. This appears to have been the termination of his military career; for, quarrelling with the Earl, he consequently lost his station under him, and he was also committed, first to Newgate, and afterwards to the Tower, for his improper conduct to the Earl, as Speaker of the House of Lords. He continued prisoner till the year 1648, when an order was made to discharge him from his imprisonment, and to make him compensation for his sufferings.