'A Decade of Grievances', Alexander Leighton's pamphlet assaulting the institution of episcopacy, 1641 (woodcut) (b/w...

Alexander Leighton (1587-1644/1649) Puritan preacher and pamphleteer; pamphlet is an attack on the hierarchy of bishops, with popish paraphernalia tumbling from their pockets; pamphlet was produced after Leighton had served 10 years in prison for religious sedition; "Presented and approved to the Right Honourable and High Court of Parliament against the Hierarchy or government of the Lord Bishops and their dependant offices, by a multitude of people who are sensible of the ruine of Religion; the sinking of the State and of the plots and insultations of enemies against both. The tottering Prelates, with their trumpery all, shall moulder downe, like Elder from the wall"; Leighton had been imprisoned and tortured during the reign of Charles I; sentenced by Archbishop Laud; ears cut off; his persecution and punishment "form one of the most disgraceful incidents of the reign of King Charles I"; the Long Parliament released him in 1640;