This was the temper of all the most illustrious chiefs of the party.

One of these was Baxter.

He had, as we have seen, been brought to trial soon after the accession of James, had been brutally insulted by Jeffreys, and had been convicted by a jury, such as the courtly Sheriffs of those times were in the habit of selecting.

Baxter had been about a year and a half in prison when the court began to think seriously of gaining the Nonconformists.

He was not only set at liberty, but was informed that, if he chose to reside in London, he might do so without fearing that the Five Mile Act would be enforced against him.