In 1638, Alexander Leighton was, under a judgment of the Star Chamber, condemned in connection with a book entitled: _An Appeal to the Parliament or Sion’s Plea against the Prelacie_. He was sentenced to a fine of ten thousand pounds, to degradation from the ministry, and to be publicly whipped in the palace yard; he was made to stand two hours in the pillory, one ear was cut off, a nostril slit open, and one of his cheeks branded with the letters S.S. (Sower of Sedition). A week later, he underwent a second whipping and a repetition of the mutilation. He was then left in prison for three years but, in 1641, had the satisfaction of having his sentence reversed by the House of Commons. The book had declared the institution of Episcopacy to be anti-Christian and satanical and it accused the king with having been corrupted by the bishops to the undoing of himself and his people. In 1633, Prynne was condemned by the Star Chamber to be fined five thousand pounds, to be placed in the pillory, to be deprived of his ears, and to perpetual imprisonment. The book on the ground of which this punishment was administered was entitled: _The Histriomastix, the player’s scourge or actor’s tragedies_. Lord Cottington, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, says in his judgment: “I do in the first place begin censure with Prynne’s book. I condemn it to be burned by the hangman,” etc. This is said to be the first instance in England in which a condemned publication was burned by the hangman. Prynne came again under condemnation, in 1637, in connection with a book called the _Flagellum Pontificis et Episcoporum Latinorum_, which was said to have been written in co-operation with J. Bastwick and H. Burton. I do not find the record of Prynne’s punishment in this case, but Bastwick was condemned by the High Commission court to pay a fine of one thousand pounds, to be excommunicated, to be debarred from the practice of his profession (medicine), and to remain in prison until he recanted (and that is, he says, “until domesday in the afternoone”). The practice of burning books was continued by the Puritans, who also utilised for the purpose the services of the common hangman. One book so burned (in 1619) was the King’s _Book of Sports_, issued by James in 1618, on the advice of Morton, Bishop of Chester. It had been ordered to be read in all churches throughout England. Copies were publicly burned in a number of the Puritan counties.