the highest to the lowest vnder the quene her selfe, no condicion, state, degree, or age, nor callinge of person or persons can be reckened, which at the same time escaped free and vntouched, without some print of the Lordes crosse vpon him. In the number & cataloge of whom, first to begin with the moste noble, and renoumed the only sister of the quene her selfe, also the only and next heire then, now iust possessor of the crowne of England Quene, Elizabeth, whose shoulders susteined then no small portion of that crosse of Christ, and so from her maiesty descending to al and singuler states inferior. What vocation or condicion here was accepted, whether he or they were Archbyshop, MarginaliaHe meneth þ^e lady Frāces duches of Suffolk who hassarding bothe life, lands & so great possessiōs fled her contrey with her husband in cause of her conscienceDuches, Byshoppes, Archdeacons, Deanes Priestes, Ministers, Deacons, Gentelmen, Lawiers, marchants, Artificers, Souldiers, rich poore men, women, wife, widow, virgin, olde men, young men, boyes, infants, blinde, halte and lame. And what state els can be reckened of men which from some touch of this scourge was exempted. And so what condition, I saye of men, escaped the papists hands in the tyme of quene Mary withoute affliction & daunger. In somuch that, comminge to the lowest of all other one pore hermite, being but one then as I think in all the realme, could not passe theire handes, without open penaunce, and other molestations, as in the story here folowing to he reader maye appeare.

JN the last yeare of Quene Mary, an. 1558. Thomas Parkingson, of the dioces of Couentry and Lichfield, being of the sect of Anachorit, was producted before D. Draicot vpon the suspition to haue a wyfe, he was examined as foloweth. Being asked what age he is now of, saith that he shall be at Whitsontide next. lxx. yeares old, and was borne and christened in a towne called Bedel in Yorkshire, and was sonne to one Thomas Parkingson, Baylife of Thurske, in the same Countye of Yorke. And when he was. xii. yeares olde, he was set to the taylours craft to one Thomas Dent of Thurske, and serued him for. vii. or viii. yeares as his apprentise. And after that, before he was. xx. yeares old, he tooke to wife one Agnes, the daughter of Hugh Hallywell, dwelling in the Fraunchise of Repon, beyng a mayde of. xxiiii. yeares, and was maryed to her in Thurske by one Sir Wylliam Daye, then Curat there, and within two yeres after their mariage together, his wife was delyuered of a man chylde, which although whyle it was in her bodye, dyd styrre and lyue, as shee and other perceiued: yet after the birth it was

ded, so as it could not be christened, in somuch as the Mydwyfe and other women with her buryed the sayde childe (as they sayde) in the fieldes, where, he this Examinate cannot tel. And within three weekes after, it chaunced that a Rauen had gotten vp the saide chylde out of the ground, and torne the clothes from about the same childe, and had begon to break into the sayde chylde to feede vpon, and hadde brought it into a tree, nere vnto þ^e churchyard of Thruske, vpon a Saterdaye, a lyttle before Euensong tyme. And as the people and the Priest before named saw the same childe, they made meanes to dryue away the Rauen, and to get the chylde from him. So as they reasoninge amongest them selues whose chylde it shoulde be, dyd iudge that it was this examinates chylde, that was dead borne, and buryed in the fieldes. And the said Wylliam Day came home to this Examinate, & asked hym for his chylde, and he shewed him that the women had buryed it in the fieldes, whiche the priest also examined of the women, and found it to be true. And thē he shewed this Examinate of the bringing the chylde by the Rauen. Whereupon this Examinate and hys wyfe were therewithall striken with repentaunce to Godwarde, and eche of them vowed them selues from thence forth to lyue chast and solitary. In so much as this Examinate, whē he was but. xxii. or. xxiii. yeares olde, professed the order of S. Frauncis at Richmonde, fyue myles from Madlam, and was an Heremit or Penitentiary at Thruske, and kept the chappel of saynt Gyles, at the end of the towne of Thruske. And his wyfe also was syster of S. Frauncis order, and hadde a beade womans roume at Northallerton, by the healpe of syr Iames Straungwayes knight. And after he had kept the order of saint Frauncis twoo or three yeares, hee determined to lyue a more hard & straight lyfe, and to be an Anachorit, and to seclude hym selfe from the company of the worlde, and thereupon hee was fyrste closed vp in a lytle house, in the churche porche at Thruske, where he lyued by the helpe of good people twoo yeares, befort hee was professed. And when it was perceyued that hee lyked that kynde of lyfe, and could endure the same, there was a Chappell, and a place prouided for hym in the mounte of Grace, aboue the Charter house, by Quene Katherine, and hee was professed into that house by one Doctoue Makerel, then Suffragan to Cardinal Wolseye. And the Suffragan had of this Examinates frendes, for his profession. v. pound, and there this Examinate remained, xii. yeares & more in that house. And his wyfe would some tyme take one of his sisters, and come ouer & see howe this Examinate did: but shee dyed vi. or. vii. yeares before this Examinate came