The fees belonging to the warden of the Fleet and his officers, in the reign of Elizabeth, were very heavy. An archbishop, duke or duchess had to pay for a commitment fee and the first week's "dyett," L21 10s.; a lord, spiritual or temporal, L10 5s. 10d.; a knight, L5; an esquire, L3 6s. 8d.; and even a poor man in the wards, "that hath a part at the box, to pay for his fee, having no dyett, 7s. 4d." The warden's charge for lawful license "to go abroad" was 20d. per diem. Thus, as may be seen, the fleecing and flayings, the inhumanities and the injustices which characterized the later years of the prison were hereditary to it. From the reign of Elizabeth to the sixteenth year of King Charles I, 1641, the Star Chamber Court was in full activity, and several bishops and other persons of distinction were imprisoned in the Fleet for their religious opinions. Thither, too, were consigned political victims of the Star Chamber, two of the most interesting cases of this period being those of Prynne and Lilburne. Prynne was taken out of the prison, and, after suffering pillory, branding, and mutilation of the nose and ears, was remanded to the Fleet. Lilburne--"Freeborn John"--and his printer were committed to the Fleet for libel and sedition; and the former was "smartly whipped" at the cart's tail, from the prison to the pillory place between Westminster Hall and the Star Chamber; and he was subsequently "doubled ironed" in the prison wards. Another tenant of the Fleet at this period was James Howel, the author of the "Familiar Letters," several of which are dated from the prison. From a letter "To the Earl of B----," from the Fleet, Nov. 20, 1643, we gather that Howel was arrested "one morning betimes" by five men armed with "swords, pistols and bils," and some days after committed to the Fleet; and he says, "as far as I see, I must lie at anchor in this Fleet a long time, unless some gentle gale blow thence to make me launch out." Then we find him consoling himself in the reflection that the English "people" are in effect but prisoners, as all other islanders are. There are other letters by Howel, dated from the Fleet in 1645-1646 and 1647.