In 1632 appeared William Prynne's noted book, _The Histrio-Mastix_, _The Player's Scourge or Actor's Tragedie_, a thick quarto of over one thousand closely printed pages, which bore on the title-page the imprint, '_printed by E. A. and W. J. for Michael Sparke_.' This book, as its title implies, was an attack on stage-plays and acting. There was nothing in it to alarm the most sensitive Government, and even the licenser, though he afterwards declared that the book was altered after it left his hands, could find nothing in it to condemn. But, as it happened, there was a passage concerning the presence of ladies at stage-plays, and as the Queen had shortly before attended a masque, the passage in question was held to allude to her, and accordingly Prynne, Sparke, and the printers--one of whom was William Jones--were thrown into prison, and in 1633 were brought to trial before the Star Chamber. The printers appear to have escaped punishment; but Prynne was condemned to pay a fine of £1000, to be degraded from his degree, to have both his ears cropped in the pillory, and to spend the rest of his days in prison; while Sparke was fined £500, and condemned to stand in the pillory, but without other degradation. During this year John Bastwick also issued two books directed against Episcopacy, both of which are now scarce. One was entitled _Elenchus Religionis Papisticæ_, and the other _Flagellum Pontificis_. They were printed abroad, and as a punishment their author was condemned to undergo a sentence little less severe than that passed upon Prynne, who, in spite of his captivity, continued to write and publish a great number of pamphlets. Amongst these was one entitled _Instructions to Church Wardens_, printed in 1635. In the course of the evidence concerning this book, mention was made of a special initial letter C, which was said to represent a pope's head when turned one way, and an army of soldiers when turned the other, and to be unlike any other letter in use by London printers at that time. For printing this and other books, Thomas Purslowe, Gregory Dexter, and William Taylor of Christchurch were struck from the list of master printers.[11] In 1637 appeared Prynne's other notorious tract, _Newes from Ipswich_, a quarto of six leaves, for which he was fined by the Star Chamber a further sum of £5000, and condemned to lose the rest of his ears, and to be branded on the cheek with the letters S. L. (_i.e._ scurrilous libeller), a sentence that was carried out on the 30th June of this year with great barbarity. The imprint to this tract ran 'Printed at Ipswich,' but its real place of printing was London, and perhaps the name of Robert Raworth, which occurs in the indictment, may stand for Richard Raworth, the printer whom Sir John Lambe declared to be 'an arrant knave.' Or the printer may have been William Jones,[12] who about this time was fined £1000 for printing seditious books.