Illustrations. HAMPDEN MANOR, THE SEAT OF THE PATRIOT HAMPDEN, LUTTERWORTH (WICLIF'S CHURCH), CHAIR IN WHICH THE REFORMER DIED, LUTTERWORTH BRIDGE-THE STREAM INTO WHICH HIS BONES WERE PAGE 1 9 31 FAC-SIMILE OF THE AUTOGRAPH OF KING JAMES I. 52 FAC-SIMILE OF CROMWELL'S BAPTISMAL REGISTRY, HINCHINBROOK-SEAT OF CROMWELL'S ANCESTORS, KIDDERMINSTER WITH THE CHURCH OF BAXTER, BAXTER'S ANCIENT PULPIT, KIDDERMINSTER, PAGE OLD SAVOY SCENE OF THE "SAVOY CONFERENCE," 237 GATEWAY OF LANCASTER CASTLE-PRISON-HOUSE OF EARLY QUAKERS, THE SOLITARY PRISON-ISLAND IN THE FRITH OF FORTH, 311 CHAPTER I. THE LIGHT OF A DARK AGE. "Fame's lasting register Shall leave his name enrolled as great as those Lines to the Memory of A. Marvell, 1678. W.DICKES WICLIF'S CHURCH AT LUTTERWORTH. No part of England is more rich in historical associations than its midland counties. Though neither statues nor obelisks mark the spots where our ancestors struggled for freedom or for truth, the scenes are sacred; and Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, offer points not less memorable than were Platea, Marathon and Thermopylæ, in Grecian story. Our first journey with the reader shall be taken to the |