I have not seen in your list of martyred books the following, in the year
A.D. 1684: _A Plea for the Nonconformists_, by Thomas De Laune, Gentleman.
He died in Newgate, during his imprisonment for the book, in pursuance of
the following sentence:
"Ad General. Quartercal. Session. Pacis Dom. Regis tent. pro Civitat.
London per adjornament, apud Justice-hall in le Old Bayly, die Mercurii
Scil. Decimo Sexto die January, Anno Regis Caroli Secundi cundi nunc
Ang. &c.
"Thomas De Laune Convict. pro illicite Scribend. Imprimend. et
Publicand. Libel. Seditios. dert. concernen. librum Communis
præcationis. Fin. 100 Marc. Et committit, etc.! Et ulterius quousq;
Inven. bon. de se bene gerend. per spacium Unius Anni Integri ex tunc
prox. sequen. Et quad libel. sedit. cum igne Combust. sint apud
Excambium Regal. in London, et si Del. Sol. 5 shil. WAGSTAFFE."
In a letter containing a narrative of his trial and imprisonment, written
by him from prison, occur many touches of humour. In his remarks on the
sentence he says,--
"The six shillings to be paid on my discharge is to the hangman, for
the faggots, I suppose."
"The Court told us that, in respect to our education as scholars, we
should not be pillory'd, though ('twas said) we deserved it.... We were
sent back to our confinement, and _the next execution-day_ our books
were burnt WITH FIRE (not with water, you must note), and we continue
here; but, since I writ this, Mr. Ralphson had a supersedeas by _death_
to a _better place_!"
In his account he affirms that, on his own confession of being the author
of _The Plea_, and because he could find no bail, he was committed to
Newgate--
"Lodged among the felons, whose horrid company made a perfect
representation of that horrible place which you describe when you
mention hell. A hard bench was my bed, and two bricks my pillow. But
after two days and nights, _without any refreshment_, the unusualness
of that society and place having impaired my health, which at the very
best is tender, and crazy, I was removed, and am now in the press-yard,
a _place of some sobriety_, though still a prison _ubi nihil amabile
est_!"
Twenty years after, 1704, his Plea was republished, with his narrative, by
one of his fellow-prisoners, who had been released, and who calls it "an
elaborate piece"! He adds, that De Laune, being unable to pay
"the seventy-five pound, his children, his wife, and himself were
imprison'd, and _all_ dy'd in New-gate; of which myself was an
eye-witness, and a companion with him for the same cause in the same
prison, where I continued above a year after his death."