In that vile prison, in a filthy, dark, and unwholesome dungeon, the unhappy Leighton was incarcerated for upwards of eleven years, without once being suffered to breathe in the open air; and when at length released from his miserable confinement, he could neither walk, see, nor hear. His release was only effected when the sitting of the Long Parliament had changed the state of things in England. "At the reading of his petition in the house of commons," says Brook, "giving an account of the dreadful barbarity with which he had been treated, the members were so deeply moved and affected, that they could not bear to hear it without several interruptions with floods of tears." A committee was appointed to investigate his case, and the result was, as might be expected, the exposure of one of the most unconstitutional and horrible pieces of barbarity that ever stained a nation's annals. The whole proceedings were declared illegal,
and reversed, and "good satisfaction and reparation were ordered to be made to him for his great sufferings and damages."Six thousand pounds were voted on his account; but it is very uncertain in those distracted times if he ever received it.
In 1642, Lambeth house was converted into a prison, and he was made keeper of it, on account, it is said, of his knowledge of the medical profession. He did not survive this unworthy appointment long, and the wonder only is, how human nature could have borne up against such dreadful inflictions as he had endured.
ROBERT Leighton, some time bishop of Dumblane, and afterwards archbishop of Glasgow, son to Alexander, and the proper subject of this memoir, was, according to Pearson, in a late edition of his works, born in Edinburgh, and received his education at that university, which he entered as a student in 1627. From his earliest years he was conspicuous for exemplary piety, and an humble disposition; with talents of the rarest description, and a happy facility of acquiring a knowledge of languages. He was, above all, fond of studying the Scriptures, and was profoundly skilled in every branch of theological learning. Two of the masters at that time in the university whose classes he attended, namely Robert Rankin, professor of philosophy, and James Fairley, professor of divinity, were strongly in favour of episcopacy; the latter having afterwards become bishop of Argyle. It is more than probable that their opinions, being early imbibed by Leighton, continued in after-life to exercise a considerable influence over him. This may in a great degree serve to explain why he seceded from the presbyterian church. He became master of arts in 1631, and having by that time completed his course of academical studies, he was sent abroad for further improvement, and took up his residence at Douay in France, where some of his relations lived. There he formed an intimacy with many of the best educated of the Roman catholic gentlemen who were attending the college, and being naturally fond of exploring every system of ecclesiastical polity, where he found men of worth adhering to forms of religion even at variance with his own, he loved them in Christian charity for the virtue they possessed, and thought less rigidly of their doctrine. While in France, he acquired a perfect knowledge of the language, which he spoke with all the fluency of the most polished native. It is impossible to ascertain how he passed the intermediate ten years from the time he went to Douay. All we can gather with certainty is, that in 1641, on his return from the continent, and immediately after the triumph of presbytery in Scotland, he was, at the age of thirty, and in the very year of his father's liberation from his cruel confinement, settled as presbyterian minister in the parish of Newbattle, in the county of Edinburgh. There he was most unremitting in the sacred duties of his office, preaching peace and goodwill amongst all men, carefully avoiding to mix or interfere with the distractions
