“As for his vanity, he challenges an instance to be given of any extravagance in any single branch of his expenses through the whole course of his life, either in dress, diet, horses, recreation, or diversion, either in himself or family.
“Now if these, which are the main objections, are wiped off, what becomes of the black account, or of the worse than infidelity which this Severus Frater et Avunculus Puerorum has, in the plenitude of his power, urged, to exclude those, who, for want of equal illumination or equal estates, think or act differently from himself, out of the kingdom of heaven?
“As for the plentiful estates, and great and generous benefactions which he likewise mentions, the person accused answered, that he could never acknowledge as he ought the goodness of God and of his generous benefactors; but hopes he may add, that he had never tasted so much of their kindness if they had not believed him to be an honest man.
“Thus much he said in general, but added as to particular instances, he should only add a blank balance, and leave it to any after his death to cast it up according to common equity; and then they would be more proper judges whether he deserved those imputations which are now thrown upon him.
| “Imprimis.—When he first walked to Oxford he had in cash, | £2 | 5 | 0 |
| “He lived there till he took his bachelor’s degree, without any preferment or assistance, except one crown, | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| “By God’s blessing on his own industry he brought to London, | 10 | 15 | 0 |
| “When he came to London he got deacon’s orders and a cure, for which he had, for one year, | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| “In which year, for his board, ordination, and habit, he was indebted £30, which he afterwards paid, | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| “When he went to sea, where he had for one year £70, not paid till two years after his return, | 70 | 0 | 0 |
| “He then got a curacy at £30 per annum for two years, and by his own industry in writing, &c., he made it £60 per annum, | 120 | 0 | 0 |
“He married and had a son; and he and his wife and child boarded for some years in or near London without running into debt.
“He had then a living given him in the country, let for £50 per annum, where he had five children more; in which time, and while he lived in London, he wrote a book, which he dedicated to Queen Mary, who for that reason gave him a living in the country, valued at £200 per annum, where he remained for nearly forty years, and wherein his numerous offspring amounted, with the former, to eighteen or nineteen children.
“Half of his parsonage was first burnt, which he rebuilt: some time after the whole was burnt to the ground, which he rebuilt from the foundations; and it cost him above £400, besides the furniture, none of which was saved, and he was forced to renew it.
“About ten years since, he got a little living adjoining to his former, the profits of which very little more than defrayed the expenses of serving it, and sometimes hardly so much; his whole tithe having been in a manner swept away by inundations, for which the parishioners had a brief, though he thought it not decent for himself to be joined with them in it.
“For the greater part of these last ten years, he has been closely employed in composing a large book, whereby he hoped he might have done some benefit to the world, and in some measure amended his own fortunes. By sticking so close to this, he has broke a pretty strong constitution, and fallen into palsy and gout. Besides this, he has had sickness in his family for most of the years since he was married.