[Sidenote: 1663.] Not more frequent at that time, when old English sports continued to amuse the nobility and gentry, was the flight of the hawk, freed from its jess and hood, gliding through the air and striking its quarry, than was the prowling abroad of the informer, who, freed from all restraint of justice and humanity, pursued with keenest eye, and seized with merciless vengeance, the ill-fated Sectary. This favourite English bird, indeed, is dishonoured by the comparison, for, with all the hawk's rapacity, the spy had none of its better qualities. Sprung from the dregs of the people, mean and dastardly to the last degree, and many of them spending their ill-gotten gains in gambling and debauchery, creatures of this kind were as much the objects of abhorrence to the respectable portion of the community, as they were of terror to the innocent class upon which they pounced. Destitute of the fear of God, caring not at all for religion, yet professing themselves zealous Churchmen, they spent the Lord's Day in ferreting out their fellow-citizens and disturbing them at their devotions. In coffee-houses and places of public resort, during the week, they were lying in wait to catch the unwary, or to obtain a clue to the discovery of Conventicles. Many of them perished in poverty, shame, and despair; smitten, as their victims thought, by the avenging hand of God. To informers belonged a low coarse villany, peculiar to themselves; but their criminality could not but be largely shared by others, and the responsibility of the system, of which they were the instruments, attached mainly to the Government which condescended to employ them.[436] [Sidenote: NONCONFORMIST PLACES OF WORSHIP.] At this point in our history we may appropriately answer two questions which naturally arise respecting the Nonconformists--Where did they worship? and how were the ejected ministers supported? These questions lead us into the by-paths of our narrative, and entering them we cannot avoid wandering a little further than strict chronological order would allow. But, although we somewhat anticipate subsequent periods, it will not matter; we shall presently return to the highway by the gate through which we leave it, and the remembrance of what we pick up in our short ramble will enable us better to understand much which follows.