[100] The unfavourable physiognomy of Strafford is noticed by writers of that time. _Somers Tracts_, iv. 231. It did not prevent him from being admired by the fair sex, especially at his trial, where, May says, they were all on his side. The portraits by Vandyke at Wentworth and Petworth are well known; the latter appears eminently characteristic. [101] See the cases of Workman, Peter Smart, etc., in the common histories: Rushworth, Rapin, Neal, Macauley, Brodie, and even Hume, on one side; and for what can be said on the other, Collier, and Laud's own defence on his trial. A number of persons, doubtless inclining to the puritan side, had raised a sum of money to buy up impropriations, which they vested in trustees for the purpose of supporting lecturers; a class of ministers to whom Laud was very averse. He caused the parties to be summoned before the star-chamber, where their association was dissolved, and the impropriations already purchased were confiscated to the Crown. Rushworth Abr. ii. 17; Neal, i. 556. [102] This originated in an order made at the Somerset assizes by Chief Justice Richardson, at the request of the justices of peace, for suppressing these feasts, which had led to much disorder and profaneness. Laud made the privy council reprove the judge, and direct him to revoke the order. Kennet, p. 71; Rushw. Abr. ii. 166. Heylin says, the gentlemen of the county were against Richardson's order, which is one of his habitual falsehoods. See Rushw. Abr. ii. 167. I must add, however, that the proclamation was perfectly legal, and according to the spirit of the late act (1 Car. I. c. 1) for the observance of the Lord's day. It has been rather misrepresented by those who have not attended to its limitations, as Neal and Mr. Brodie. Dr. Lingard, ix. 422, has stated the matter rightly. [103] Neal, 569; Rushworth Abr. ii. 166; Collier, 758; Heylin's _Life of Laud_, 241, 290. The last writer extenuates the persecution by Wren; but it is evident by his own account that no suspension or censure was taken off till the party conformed and read the declaration. [104] Neal, p. 546. I do not know how he makes his computation. [105] A proclamation, dated May 1, 1638, reciting that the king was informed that many persons went yearly to New England in order to be out of the reach of ecclesiastical authority, commands that no one shall pass without a licence, and a testimonial of conformity from the minister of his parish. Rymer, xx. 223. Laud, in a letter to Strafford (ii. 169), complains of men running to New England, when there was a want of them in Ireland. And why did they so, but that any trackless wilderness seemed better than his own or his friend's tyranny? In this letter he laments that he is left alone in the envious and thorny part of the work, and has no encouragement.