John and Thomas Stubbs | ||
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Friends and Neighbours:- |
John Stubbs was a soldier in the garrison of Carlisle, and was convinced by George Fox, while Fox was in prison at that place. He was discharged from the army because he refused, from objections to swearing at all, to take the oath of allegiance to Cromwell. He was skilled in the Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Oriental languages; and, after his convincement, travelled to Rome and into the dominions of the Grand Turk. While on his travels, the hand of SIR DANIEL FLEMING, appears to have fallen heavily on Stubb's wife and children, but this is all we know of him. Thomas Stubbs of Dean was, with one PETER HEAD, sent to Carlisle Gaol, in 1654, at the instance of Launcelot Fletcher. Stubbs and Head were brought before Justice THOMAS CHOLMELEY and Justice WILLIAM BRISCO, who signed a mittimus for their committal to gaol, and then an order for their liberation. They were detained for their fees. The Clerk of the Peace demanded 4s. 8d. a-piece, the Sheriff 6s. 8d. and the gaoler 10s. These demands they declined to pay, and insisted on seeing a copy of the mittimus under which they were sent to prison, as, they contended, it was bad in law. This was refused them; and they appealed to the Mayor of Carlisle, who thereon ordered them to be deprived of pen and ink. CHARLES HOWARD, afterwards the first Earl of Carlisle, is recorded as having borne testimony for them; but the Sheriff, WILFRED LAWSON, is mentioned as being very hot against them. Of the termination of their imprisonment, we find no mention. The record from which we quote, an Appeal by Stubbs and Head against the injustice of their imprisonment, makes a careful note of the fact that Justice Cholmely died within a short time after signing the mittimus under which Stubbs and Head were committed; while of Briscoe it says, 'God rebuked him' - an allusion, we fancy, to a story we have already told. Note: |
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