EPISCOPAL  ANTI-MARTINIST  POLICY     205

and  dangerous  bookes ' — one  of  them,  Dolman's  book  on
the  succession  ! — was  Valentyne  Sirnms.  Bancroft  protected
the  men  who  printed  the  treasonable  Eomish  book,  but
later  he  had  Simms  prosecuted  for  '  printing  a  ballad  against
Sir  Walter  Eawley ' ;  and  in  that  connection  said,  '  I  could
have  hanged  the  fellow  long  ere  this  if  I  had  listed.'  The
allusion  was  no  doubt  to  Simms'  arrest  in  connection  with
the  Marprelate  press.  But  besides  casting  some  light  upon
the  character  of  Simms,  the  incident  is  an  additional  and
valuable  piece  of  evidence  on  the  leading  part  played  by
Bancroft  in  all  these  prosecutions.  It  also  supports  and
further  illustrates  our  estimate  of  this  unscrupulous  man's
character.1

5.  Important  Arrests. — We  learn  from  the  Puckering
Brief  that  during  the  autumn  of  1589  a  large  number  of
persons  had  been  convented  before  the  High  Commission
in  addition  to  those  referred  to  already.  We  only  know
the  tenor  of  their  depositions  from  this  analytical  docu-
ment. The  venerable  widow  Mrs.  Crane  was  among  the
number.  Being  a  dame  of  good  social  standing,  and  per-
haps in  remembrance  of  the  harsh  measure  meted  out  to
her  late  husband,  who  died  in  Newgate  of  prison  disease,
she  does  not  appear  to  have  been  sent  to  prison.  It  was
not  her  complaisant  behaviour  to  Whitgift  that  saved  her.
