Other facts, besides that of Henry the Second, shew that the power of the Clergy was carried as far, at least, in England, as in any other Country. Bishop Goodwin relates, that in the reign of Edward I. Sir Osborn Gifford, of Wiltshire, having assisted in the escape of two Nuns from the Convent of Wilton, John Peckham, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury, made him submit, before he absolved him of his excommunication, to be publicly whipped, on three successive Sundays, in the Parish Church of Wilton, and also in the Market and Church of Shaftsbury[97]. [97] See Dr. Berkenhout’s _Biographia Litteraria_, Art. _John Peckham_. CHAP. XVIII. _The glory of flagellations completed: they are made use of for curing heresy._ Among all the instances contained in this Book, of the extensive advantages of flagellations, we certainly ought not to omit mentioning the application that has been made of them to the information of Heretics; the holy personages whose office it was to convert them, having frequently recurred to them as an excellent expedient, either for opening the eyes of such as absolutely refused to believe, or for confirming the faith of those who did as yet believe but imperfectly. As one instance of that use of flagellations we speak of, we may mention that of Bonner, Bishop of London, who, though he had, under the reign of Henry VIII. consented to the schism which then took place in the Church, made it his constant practice, under Queen Mary, to fustigate the Protestants with rods with his own hands, at least if we are to credit the account given by Bishop Burnet, in his History of the Reformation, in England[98]. [Illustration: (end of chapter mark)] FOOTNOTES: [98] I do not remember to have met with the above fact in Burnet: Mr. Hume, who also mentions it, quotes, it seems, another Author: however, Bishop Burnet relates a fact of much the same nature, which is that of Mr. James Bainham, a Gentleman of the Temple, who was accused of favouring the new opinions: Chancellor More caused him to be fustigated in his own (More’s) house, and thence sent him to the Tower. The Abbé Boileau, from whose text I have really borrowed the instance of Bishop Bonner, had however no occasion to look out of his own Country, for instances of Heretics who have been reformed by flagellations: though, to say the truth, that instance, together with that of Chancellor More, which is here added to it, are the more interesting, in that they evince the great merit of flagellations, since the Divines of all Countries have alike resorted to them. CHAP. XIX. _The subject of the merit of flagellations, continued. Holy persons, though without any public authority, have used them occasionally, in order to give weight to their admonitions._