[1] At this time manie were in trouble for religion,Sir Iames Hales in trou|ble for religi|on. and among others, sir Iames Hales knight, one of the iustices of the common plées, which iustice being called among other by the councell of king Edward to subscribe to a deuise made for the disheriting of queene Marie, and the ladie Elizabeth hir sister,Sée before pag. 1083. would in no wise assent to the same, though most of the other did: yet that notwithstanding, for that he at a quarter sessions holden in Kent, gaue charge vpon the statutes of king Henrie the eight, and king Edward the sixt, in derogation of the primasie of the church of Rome, abolished by king Henrie the eight, he was first committed prisoner to the Kings bench, then to the Counter, & last to the Fléet, where, whether it were thorough extreame feare,Sore tempta|tions in afflic|tions, against which we are to praie for patience. or else by reason of such talke as the warden of the Fleet vsed vnto him, of more trouble like to insue, if he persi|sted in his opinion (or for what other cause, God knoweth) he was so mooued, troubled, and vexed, that he sought to rid himselfe out of this life, which thing he first attempted in the Fleet, by wounding him|selfe with a penknife, well neere to death. Neuerthe|lesse afterward being recouered of that hurt, he sée|med to be verie conformable to all the queenes pro|céedings, and was therevpon deliuered of his impri|sonment, and brought to the quéenes presence, who gaue him words of great comfort: neuerthelesse his mind was not quiet (as afterward well appeared) for in the end he drowned himselfe in a riuer not halfe a mile from his dwelling house in Kent,He drowneth himselfe. the riuer be|ing so shalow, that he was faine to lie groueling be|fore he could dispatch himselfe, whose death was much lamented. For beside that he was a man wise, vertuous, and learned in the lawes of the realme, he was also a good and true minister of iustice, whereby he gat him great fauour and estimation among all degrees.