his duty. At the last being remoued from the ministery, and put from his benefice (as many other good Pastors were beside) when he could not auoyde the ragyng violence of that worlde, yet woulde he not gyue ouer the care that hee had for his flocke, but woulde teache them priuelye and by stelthe when he coulde not openlye be suffered to do it: and about this tyme was there order taken by the Quene to be published by þ^e cōmissioners, that al prests which had maried in Kinge Edwardes dayes putting their wyfes from them shuld be compelled to returne a gaine to their chastity and syngle lyfe. This decree woulde not Samuel stande vnto, for that he knewe it to be manifestlye wicked and abhominable, but determininge with him selfe that gods lawes were not to be broken for mans tradicions, kept his wife still at Ipswiche, and gaue his diligence in the meane tyme to the instructing of other there about, as occasion served. And as soone as this thing was knowen to maister Foster, ther lacked no diligence, but he being a great man in those same quarters, sendeth his Espials abroade, & layd hard wayte for Samuel, that if he came home to his wife at any time, they might apprehēd him & cary him to prisō. In conclusiō, when such as should betray him espied him at home w^t his wife, they bringing word to the officer, came immediatly flocking about his house, & beset it with a great companye to haue taken him. They layed hands on him in the night seasō, because they durst not do it in the daye tyme, for feare of trouble and tumult, 

MarginaliaSamuel apprehēded although good Samuell did nothinge with stande them at all, but meekelye yelded him selfe into their clouches of his owne accord. Whē they had thus caught him, they put him into Ipswiche gaole, where he passed his tyme meekely among his godlye brethren, so longe as he was permitted to continue there. Howbeit not longe after, beyng taken from thence, he was caried (throughe malice of the wicked sort) to Norwich, wher the said bishop, ful like a cruel tirant, plaid Rex wyth him, as in dede he was a man in that time of persecution that had not his match, for straitnes and cruel tormenting of the bodies of the saintes, amonge all the rest beside, through the procuring of Duninges his Chauncelour.   They al were cruel inough in their generatiō. And yet they were satisfied with imprisonment, and death, and woulde go no farther. For I neuer heard in maner of any before, that did vse to tormēt his pore brethrē as this B. did. For he vexed many of them pitifullye, & some he dyd also peruert, and bryng quite and cleane from the truth. Thinking therefore that he myght as easely preuaile with Samuel, as he had don with other before, he kept him in a very strait prison at his first cōming, where he was chai-

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ned bolt vpright to a great post, in suche sorte that standing onely on tiptoe, he was faine to stay vp the whole paise or weight of his body. And to make a mendes for his cruelty or pain that he suffered, they added a farre more greuouse torment, keping him without meat and drinke, wherby he was vnmercifullye vexed through hunger and thirst: sauing that he had euery daye allowed him two or three mouthfuls of bread and thre sponefulls of water, to the ende rather that he mighte be reserued to farther torment, then that they wold preserue his life. O worthy constance of the martir. O rage of papists more then the deuils of hel vse. 

O the wonderful strength of Christ in his mēbers. Whose stomacke thoughe it hadde bene made of the Adamant stone wold not haue relented at these intollerable vexations, and extrme paines aboue nature? MarginaliaSamuel desirous to drynke hys own water & could notHow often tymes wold he haue dronken his own water, but his body was so dryed vp w^t this his long fasting, þ^t he was not able to make one drop of water?

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At the last when he was brought forth to be burned, 

which was but a trifell in comparison of those stormes that he had abidden, ther wer certayne that harde him speake what strange thinges had happened vnto him, MarginaliaStraunge visiōs that hapned to Samuel. during the tyme of his inprisonment, to wete, that after he had bene famished or pined with hunger ii. or three daies together, he then fell into a slepe as it wer one half in a slumber, at which time one clad al in white semed to stād before him, which ministred comforte vnto hym by these wordes: MarginaliaSamuell broughte to burnyng.Samuell, Samuell, be of good chere, and take a good hart vnto the. For after this daye shalt thou neuer be either hungry or thirstye: which thinge came euen to passe accordingly. For a none after he was burned. And from that time till he should suffer, he felt neither hunger nor thirste. This he sayed he vttered, that al men mighe behold the wonderfull workes of God. He saide besides that he coulde haue declared many suche like matters concerning the great comfort he had of Christ in his afflictions, but that shamfastnes & modesty wold not suffer hym to vtter it. And yet if it had pleased God, I would he had ben lesse modest in that behalfe, whereby the loue and care that Christ hath of hys, might haue manifestly appeared before our myndes, by such present argumentes, for the more plentiful cōfort of the godly, though there be sufficient testimonye of the same in the holye scriptures. No lesse worthy a thing is it to be remembred of three ladders which he tolde diuers he saw in his sleepe, set vp towarde heauen: of the which ther was one somwhat longer then the rest, but yet at length they becam one, ioyned as it were al three together. This was a forewarning reueled vnto him, declaring vndoubtedly hys martirdome. First his I say, & then

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