1678, under the direction of the Jesuits, drove half the population of London off their heads. As a result a number of completely innocent people were butchered on the scaffold for no other reason than they were members of the same religion as had been Thomas Percy, Robert Catesby, Guy Faukes, Oswald Greenway, and Henry Garnet.
The hardships undergone by the English Romanists during the seventeenth century, from the date of the meeting of the adjourned Parliament (which Faukes strove to destroy), are manifest when we read of the fresh laws passed against all the avowed members, rich or poor, of the old religion. The following were some only of the schemes that came into operation for placing the 'Recusants' under the iron rule of the Government:—
1. They (Roman Catholics) were forbidden to appear at Court;
2. They were forbidden to dwell within ten miles of London;[1]
3. They were not allowed to remove five miles from their homes, without permission of the neighbouring magistrates;
4. They were not allowed to become doctors, clerks, lawyers, or members of corporations;
5. They were inhibited from presenting to Livings;
- ↑ Unless employed in one of the very few professions open to them.
