A second list in the British Museum Mr. Lower considers to be of a somewhat earlier date. We will set them side by side:

Accepted Trevor, of Norsham.Approved Frewen, of Northiam.
Redeemed Compton, of Battle.Be-thankful Maynard, of Brightling.
Faint-not Hewit, of Heathfield.Be-courteous Cole, of Pevensey.
Make-peace Heaton, of Hare.Safety-on-high Snat, of Uckfield.
God-reward Smart, of Fivehurst.Search-the-Scriptures Moreton, of Salehurst.
Stand-fast-on-high Stringer, of Crowhurst.More-fruit Fowler, of East Hothley.
Earth Adams, of Warbleton.Free-gift Mabbs, of Chiddingly.
Called Lower, of the same.Increase Weeks, of Cuckfield.
Kill-sin Pimple, of Witham.Restore Weeks, of the same.
Return Spelman, of Watling.Kill-sin Pemble, of Westham.
Be faithful Joiner, of Britling.Elected Mitchell, of Heathfield.
Fly-debate Roberts, of the same.Faint-not Hurst, of the same.
Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White, of Emer.Renewed Wisberry, of Hailsham.
More-fruit Fowler, of East Hodley.Return Milward, of Hellingly.
Hope-for Bending, of the same.Fly-debate Smart, of Waldron.
Graceful Harding, of Lewes.Fly-fornication Richardson, of the same.
Weep-not Billing, of the same.Seek-wisdom Wood, of the same.
Meek Brewer, of Okeham.Much-mercy Cryer, of the same.
Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White, of Ewhurst.
Small-hope Biggs, of Rye.
Earth Adams, of Warbleton.
Repentance Avis, of Shoreham.
The-peace-of-God Knight, of Burwash.

I dare say ninety-five per cent. of readers of Hume’s “History of England” have thought this list of Sussex jurors a silly and extravagant hoax. They are “either a forgery or a joke,” says an indignant writer in Notes and Queries. Hume himself speaks of them as names adopted by converts, evidently unaware that these sobriquets were all but invariably affixed at the font. The truth of the matter is this. The names are real enough; the panel is not necessarily so. They are a collection of names existing in several Sussex villages at one and the same time. Everything vouches for their authenticity. The list was printed by Brome while the majority must be supposed still to be living; the villages in which they resided are given, the very villages whose registers we now turn to for Puritanic examples, with the certainty of unearthing them; above all, some of the names can be “run down” even now. Accepted or Approved Frewen, of Northiam, we have already referred to. Free-gift Mabbs, of Chiddingly, is met by the following entry from Chiddingly Church:

“1616, ——. Buried Mary, wife of Free-gift Mabbs.”

The will of Redeemed Compton, of Battle, was proved in London in 1641. Restore Weeks, of Cuckfield, is, no doubt, the individual who got married not far away, in Chiddingly Church:

“1618, ——. Restore Weeks espoused Constant Semer.”

“Increase Weeks, of Cuckfield,” may therefore be accepted as proven, especially as I have shown Increase to be a favourite Puritan name. These two would be brothers, or perchance father and son. As for the other names, the majority have already figured in this chapter. Fly-fornication is still found in Waldron register, though the surname is a different one. Return, Faint-not, Much-mercy, Be-thankful, Repentance, Safe-on-high, Renewed, and More-fruit, all have had their duplicates in the pages preceding. “Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White, of Emer,” is the only unlikely sobriquet left to be dealt with. Thomas Adams, in his “Meditations upon the Creed,” in a passage already quoted, testified to its existence in 1629. The conclusion is irresistible: the names are authentic, and the panel may have been.

(c.) Royalists with Puritan Names.

It may be asked whether or not the world went beyond scoffing. Was the stigma of a Puritan name a hindrance to the worldly advancement of the bearer? It is pleasant, in contradiction of any such theory, to quote the following:—

“1663, Aug. Petition of Arise Evans to the King for an order that he may receive £20 in completion of the £70 given him by the King.”—C. S. P.