"Crowder and his wife," says the report, "be most horrible blasphemers and swearers." The matter is taken up by the lords of the Council, who write to the lord mayor, desiring to be fully informed of all disorders committed, and by whom. "They are sending gentlemen to repair to the prison to inquire into the case, and requesting the lord mayor to appoint two persons to assist them." Sir Christopher Hatton also writes to the lord mayor, drawing attention to the charges against Crowder. The lord mayor replies that certain persons had been appointed to inquire, but had not yet made their report. The Court of Enquiry are willing to receive Crowder, but he persists in refusing to explain. "He would not come to their meeting, but stood upon his reputation." The result, so far as can be guessed, was that Crowder was pensioned off. But he found powerful friends in his adversity. His cause was espoused by Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor, who informs the lord mayor that he thinks Crowder has been dealt with very hardly, and that his accusers were persons unworthy of credit. FOOTNOTES: [41:1] This abjuring the king's land was an act of self-banishment, akin in its effects to the old Roman penalty of _aquæ et ignis interdictio_. Any criminal who took sanctuary might escape the law, provided that within forty days he clothed himself in sackcloth, confessed his crime before the coroner, and after solemnly abjuring the land, proceeded, cross in hand, to some appointed port, where he embarked and left the country. If apprehended within forty days he was again suffered to depart.—Note in Thom's "Stow," p. 157. [44:1] Cromwell's house was in the city in Throgmorton Street, close to the site of the monastic house of the Austin Friars. [45:1] This Benedict Spinola must have been an Italian with some influence. His personal relations with Burghley are manifest from a letter of congratulation sent by him to Burghley on the safe arrival of the Earl of Oxford at Milan. Other more or less confidential matters are mentioned in connection with Pasqual and Jacob Spinola, Benedict's brothers. [62:1] Friday continued the day of horse-market until the closing of Smithfield as a market for live cattle. [63:1] The bell which was rung at mass on the elevation of the host. CHAPTER III NEWGATE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Jesuit emissaries in Newgate—Richardson and others—Speaking ill of king's sister entails imprisonment for life—Criminal offenders—Condition of prisoners—Fanatical conduct of keeper —Nefarious practices of turnkeys—They levy blackmail— "Coney catching"—Arbitrary imprisonment imposed by House of Lords on Richard Overton—Case of Colonel Lilburne, "Freeborn John"—Royalists in gaol—Also prisoners of mark—Brother of the Portuguese ambassador charged with murder, and executed.