BASTWICK, Dr John, born at Writtie, in Essex, in 1593, was a physician at Colchester, whose celebrity rests on his strong opposition to the Roman Catholic ceremonial. About 1633 he printed in Holland a Latin treatise, entitled Elenchus Religionis Papisticoe, with Flagellum Pontificis et Episcoporum Latialium; and as the English prelates thought themselves aimed at,hewas fined£1000 in the High Commission Court, excommunicated, and prohibited from practising physic, while his books were ordered to be burnt, and the author himself consigned to prison. Instead of recanting, however, he wrote Apologeticus ad Proesules Anglicanos, and another book called The Litany, in which he exclaimed vehemently against the proceedings of that arbitrary court, and charged the bishops with an inclination to popery, l'rynne and Burton coming under the lash of the Star-chamber court at the same time, they were all censured as turbulent and seditious persons, and condemned to pay a fine of £5000 each, to be set in the pillory, to lose their ears, and to undergo imprisonment for life in remote parts of the kingdom. The parliament in 1640 reversed these proceedings, and ordered Bastwick a reparation of £5000 out of the estates of the commissioners and lords who had persecuted him. The civil commotions which ensued prevented his receiving this solatium for his sufferings; but, in 1644, his wife had an allowance ordered for her own and her husband’s maintenance. The place and time of his death are unknown. He seems in his later years to have shown bitter opposition to the Independents.