that Mekins had said the sacrament was nothing but a 'ceremony'; and the other that it was nothing but a 'signification.' 'But did he not say,' exclaimed the bishop, 'that Barnes died holy?' 'But we can not find these words,' said the jury, 'to be against the statute.' 'Upon which Bonner cursed and was in a great rage.'[381] 'Retire again,' he said, 'consult together, and bring in the bill.' Mekins was condemned to die. In vain was it shown that he was a poor ignorant creature and that he had done nothing worse than repeat what he had heard, and this without even understanding it. In vain, too, did his father and mother, who were in great distress, attempt to mitigate the harsh treatment to which he was subjected in prison. The poor lad was ready to say or do any thing to escape being burnt. They made him speak well of Bonner and of his 'great charity towards him'; they made him declare that he hated all heretics, and then they burnt him.[382] This was only the beginning and Bonner hoped by such proceedings to prepare the way for greater triumphs. [Sidenote: PERSECUTION IN LONDON.] The persecution became more general. Two hundred and two persons were prosecuted in thirty-nine London parishes. Their offences were such as the following--having read the Holy Scriptures aloud in the churches; having refused to carry palm branches on Palm Sunday; having had one or other of their kinsfolk buried without the masses for the dead; having received Latimer, Barnes, Garret, or other evangelicals; having held religious meetings in their houses of an evening; having said that the holy sacrament was a good thing, but was not, as some asserted, God himself; having spoken much about the Holy Scriptures; having declared that they liked better to hear a sermon than a mass; and other the like offences. Among the delinquents were some of the priests. One of these was accused of having caused suspected persons to be invited to his sermons by his beadle, without having the bells rung; another of having preached without the orders of his superior; others, of not making use of holy water, of not going in procession, &c.[383] The Inquisition which was made at this time was so rigorous that all the prisons of London would not hold the accused. They had to place some of them in the halls of various buildings. The case was embarrassing. The Catholics of the court were not alone in instigating the king to persecution. Francis I. sent word to him by Wallop, 'that it had well liked him to hear that his majesty _was reforming_ the Lutheran sect, for that he was ever of opinion that no good could come of them but much evil.'[384] But there were other influences at court besides that of Francis I., Norfolk, and Gardiner. Lord Audley obtained the king's sanction for the release of the prisoners, who, however, had to give their promise to appear at the Star Chamber on All Souls' Day. Ultimately they were let alone.