the minister there. He also denied possessing superstitious crosses. Having no male heir of their own bodies together, Thomas and Jane Tasburgh found an heir in their nephew John Tasburgh (V) (son of John Tasburgh (IV) of Flixton, Suffolk). In 1597 John (V) married Lettice Cressy, daughter of Jane's second marriage, and it was on that occasion that they alienated Hawridge to him. The Statutes against recusancy were becoming increasingly severe, and (in the face of accusations) it may have seemed needful to escape the risk of forfeiture or limitations on the bequest of property. Thomas's brother John (IV), father of the nephew John, was of more Puritan leanings, and the gift was made under the arrangement that he should pay an annuity of £120 to Thomas and his wife in exchange for it: this was not at once forthcoming, and led to a Chancery suit. As Thomas sat in Parliament for Aylesbury once more in 1597, his nephew John took his place for Chipping Wycombe, and in the following year Thomas was appointed one of the four Tellers of the Exchequer. In May 1599 he went to Dublin where, on 9 May, he was knighted by the Earl of Essex. The Queen was displeased by his going there, and upon his return to England he was imprisoned. Three letters survive from Tasburgh to Sir Robert Cecil, all asking for his intervention with the queen. By his own account, he had gone with Lord La Warr "to bring the Earl of Essex on his journey", not at first intending to travel further than Cheshire. Having proceeded there, the Earl had persuaded him to remain longer than he expected. On 19 May, still at large, he writes that he had been coming to bring Lord Dunkellie's compliments to Sir Robert, but durst not come to court because of the queen's displeasure, and begs that the queen remember his near 30 years of faithful service to her. On 26 May, from captivity, he has heard ("from Mr Bowyer, my neighbour and enemy") that the queen proposed to deprive him of his office (which is in good order and not neglected), which she had recently granted to him in lieu of a large sum of money owing to him. He begs Sir Robert that he shall not be disgraced in this way, since Her Majesty has his estates and the names of his