In Queen Mary's time, there was only one congregation of Protestants in London, to the number of about three hundred. One was the deacon to them, and kept the list of their names. One of that congregation did dream that a messenger (Queen's Officer) had seized on this deacon, and taken his list. The fright of the dream awaked him: he fell asleep and dreamt the same perfect dream again.

In the morning before he went out of his chamber, the deacon came to him and then he told him his dream, and said, 'twas a warning from God; the deacon slighted his advice, as favouring of superstition; but he [the dreamer] was so urgent with him that he prevailed with him to deposit the list in some other hand, which he did that day.

The next day, the Queen's officer attacked him, and searched (in vain) for the list, which, had it been found, would have brought them all to the flame.

NOTES

• Queen Mary's time: "Bloody Mary" burned English Protestants as heretics during her short reign: 1553-1558.
• This dream is from Foxe's Martyrology, quoted in Miscellanies upon Various Subjects by John Aubrey, 1696.

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