After more in the same strain the letter concludes:
J am a Louer of yoʳ soules yᵗ am sent to warne you.
Elisabeth Hooton.
Although Charles II. had by his Mandamus issued in 1661 obtained some remission of the cruelties practised against the Quakers in Massachusetts, he appears to have quickly repented his clemency, for in an Order in Council, issued 28th of June, 1662, after acknowledging the receipt of an Address from that Colony and confirming the Patent and Charter granted by his father, he continues:
And as the principal end of their Charter was liberty of conscience His Majesty requires that those who desire to perform their devotions according to the Book of Common Prayer be not denied the exercise thereof nor undergo any predjudice thereby and that all persons of good and honest lives be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the Book of Common Prayer and their children to Baptism. We cannot be understood hereby to direct or wish that any indulgence should be granted to those persons commonly called Quakers, whose principles being inconsistent with any kind of Government, we have found it necessary, by the advice of our Parliament, here to make a sharp Law against them and are well contented that you do the like there.
Undeterred by the prospect of further persecution and the improbability of the King again intervening on behalf of the Quakers, Elizabeth Hooton once more believed herself called of the Lord to visit New England. This time she carried with her a licence from the King “to purchase land in any of his plantations beyond the seas.” One cannot help suspecting that King Charles, wearied with her importunities, had hit upon this method of ridding himself of the necessity of an enquiry into the high-handed proceedings of the Leicestershire magistrates, of which she had so vigourously complained, and that it would be a matter of perfect indifference to him whether she succeeded in making good the purchase in the Boston Courts, or not. Fortunately, again, the account of her journey and her sufferings can be given in her own words. She says:[75]
Afterwards was J moved of yᵉ Lord & called by his spᵗ to goe to New England againe, & tooke wᵗʰ me my Daughter to beare there my 2ᵈ Testimony, where when yᵉ persecutoʳˢ understood J was come they would have fined yᵉ ships Mʳ 100ˡⁱ, but yᵗ he told them J had been wᵗʰ yᵉ King & thither was J come to buy an house so stopped them from seizing on his goods, when J had been a while in yᵉ Country among ffriends, then came J up to Boston to buy an house & went to their Courts 4 times but they denied it me in open Court by James Oliver, who was one of their chief a persecutor, so J told yᵐ yᵗ if they denyed me an house yᵉ King having promised us libertie in any of his plantaçons beyond yᵉ Sea then might J goe to England & lay it before yᵉ King if God was pleased.
So when J returned from them J went up Eastward toward Piscatua & there was imprisoned ffor bearing my testimony against Seaborn Cotton[76] yᵉ Priest who sent his Man & tooke a (a 2 yʳᵉ. Heyfer)[77] cow from one of oʳ ffriends[78] who owed him nothing & his Church Members tooke from 2 poore men (Eliakim Wardill John Hussey[79])[77] almost all yᵉ estate they had, because of a fine they had put on them for absenting from their Worship, yᵉ one of them they tooke away all yᵉ fatt kines he had & a fat calfe wᶜʰ they feasted themselves wᵗʰ besides 12 bussheles of wheate & provision in his house wᶜʰ was for himself & children & threatned to take away his Children & sell them for ten pounds wᶜʰ they demanded, where also they imprisoned me, & at Salem Haythorne[80] yᵉ ruler whipped foure ffrᵈˢ & sought also for me, though afterwards J was moved to cry through yᵉ towne, but had noe power to hurt me at yᵗ time, So at Dover in Piscatua there ffor asking Priest Rayner a question when he had done they put me in yᵉ stocks Richᵈ Walden being (deputye)[77] Magistraite (for Dover) (his wife begged the office in mischeife to friends) & put me in prison 4 dayes in yᵉ cold of winter but yᵉ Lord upheld & preserved my life, where my service to yᵉ Lord was profitable for strengthning of friends & leaving yᵉ other wᵗʰout excuse, So more could Stormes did J endure & more persecution then J can expresse, so afterwards J returned to Cambridg, where they were very thirsty for bloud because none had been there before yᵗ J knew of & J cryed repentance through some part of yᵉ towne, So they tooke me & had me early in yᵉ morning before Thomaˢ Danford & Danˡ Goggins 2 of their Magistrates who by their Gailer thrust me in a very dark dungeon for yᵉ space of 2 dayes & 2 nights wᵗʰout helping me to eithʳ bread or water but a frᵈ (Benanuel Bowre)[81] brought me some milk & they cast him into prison because he entertained a stranger & fined him 5ˡⁱ & at 2 dayes end they fetch me to their Court & asked me who recᵈ me J said, if J had come to his House J should have seen if he would have recᵈ me for J was much wearied wᵗʰ my travel & they ought to entertaine strangers so J asked whethʳ he would not receive me wᶜʰ he did deny then J said sell me an House or let me one to rent yᵗ J may entertane strangers & laid yᵉ Kings promisse before them concerning libertie we should enjoy beyond yᵉ seas, but they regarded it not, but made a Warrant to whip me for a wandring vagabond[82] Quaker at 3 townes 10 stripes at whipping poast im Cambridg & 10 at Watertowne & 10 stripes at Deddam at yᵉ Carts tayle wᵗʰ a 3 corded whip 3 knotts at end, & a handfull of willow rods at Watertown on a cold frosty morning So they put me on a horse & carried me into yᵉ wildernesse many miles, where was many wild beasts both beares & wolves & many deep waters where J waded through very deep but yᵉ Lord delivered me, though J ware in yᵉ night to goe 20 miles but he strengthned me over all troubles & feares, though they caried me thither for to have been devoured, Saying they thought they should never see me againe.
So being dilivʳed J gott among oʳ frᵈˢ through much danger by yᵉ watʳ & after yᵗ to Road Jsland whence J tooke my Daughter wᵗʰ me to fetch my cloathes & othʳ things wᶜʰ was about 80 miles, So when we came there for my Cloaths there Thomas Danford made a Warrant for yᵉ Constable of Charles towne to apprehend us & one of their own Jnhabitʳˢ Sarah Coleman an auntient woman of Scituate where he met us in yᵉ Woods comeing back & he asked us whether we were Quakʳˢ for he said he was to apprehend Quakʳˢ, So J answʳᵈ wilt yᵘ apprehend thou Knowes not who nor for wᵗ, so he said J suppose you are Quakʳˢ therefore in his Majᵗˢ name stand, wᵗ Majesty J asked him he said yᵉ Kings, now said J thou hast told a lye for J was later at yᵉ King then thou & he hath made noe such Lawes, saith he J must take you to Cambridge, but yᵉ ffriend yᵗ was inhabiter said she would not goe except he carried her, then he met wᵗʰ a Cart & he comanded yᵐ to aid him & set us all upon yᵉ Cart & caried us away to Cambridg to Daniel Goggings house, but he came not home till night & in yᵉ night they fetcht us before him & a wicked Crew of Cambridg scollars there were yᵗ abused me both times, & Goggins said did not we charg you yee should not come hither, so J said we were forced thither in a Cart, J came thither to fetch my Cloaths, because they would not let me take yᵐ wᵗʰ me. So he asked the Jnhabiter, if she owned me, she said she owned yᵉ truth so he wrote her down for a wandring Vagabond Quaker yᵗ had no dwelling place, & she dwelt but a little way of him, & he knew it & to my daughter he said dost thou own thy Mothʳˢ religion & she said no thing, & he set her downe for a wandring Vagabond Quaker wᶜʰ had not a dwelling place, & J Eliz Hooton was set downe for a wandring Vagabond Quaker, who would have bought a House among them, & this was in yᵉ night, when yᵉ house was full of Cambridg Scollers being a Cage of uncleane birds[83] yᵗ gave us many bad languages & yᵉ Colledg Mʳˢ & priests sons, stood mocking of old Sarah Coleman wᶜʰ had formerly fed them wᵗ yᵉ best things wᶜʰ she & her husband could get, & told her she should be whipt wᵗʰ thwangs & wᵗʰ ends her husband being a Shoemaker, & had given them yᵉ making of their shoes, & mending, thus was she rewarded evill for good, & so sent us all to yᵉ House of correction in yᵉ night, wᶜʰ was a cold open place & had nothing but a little dirty straw, & dirty old cloath.
So early in yᵉ morning before it was light yᵉ Whippʳ a Member of their Church came up, wᶜʰ had said to me before yᵗ yᵉ governoʳ of Boston was his God & yᵉ Magistrates were his God, J answered many Gods many Lords blind sottish Men both Priests & people, & asked us whether we would be whipt there or below, J said wilt thou take our bloud in yᵉ dark before yᵉ people be rissen to see wᵗ thou dost, so he tooke me downe & lockt them up, & said J was acquainted wᵗʰ their whipping because J had been there before. So to yᵉ whipping post he lockt my hands, having 2 men by to beare him Witnesse yᵗ J was whipt before it was light, then fetcht he downe Sarah Coleman being as J thought older then my selfe & whipt her & then my daughter & whipt us each 10 stripes a piece wᵗʰ a 3 corded whip, & said to my Daughter are you not glad now its yoʳ turne she said J am content, so they put her hands in a very streight place wᶜʰ pressed her armes very much, & so this Daniel Goggins yᵉ Magistrate walked out of dore wᵗʰ my Bible in his hand, for it had yᵉ Epistle to yᵉ Laodiceans[84] & other things opening of yᵉ Corruption of translations then he asked me, whethʳ J would promise him to goe to Scituate, J said J submit to yᵉ will of yᵉ Lord wᵗʰ other words J spake why he should whip us so wᵗʰout a Cause, but he ran & made anothʳ warrᵗ & fetcht yᵉ Constable to whip us at other two townes, & yᵉ Constable provided company to goe a long wᵗʰ us, but Sarah Coleman was not able to goe so they got a horse & yᵗ day they went with us from towne to towne.