From Ipswich I took a turn into the country to Hadleigh,
principally to satisfy my curiosity and see the place where that
famous martyr and pattern of charity and religious zeal in Queen
Mary's time, Dr. Rowland Taylor, was put to death. The
inhabitants, who have a wonderful veneration for his memory, show
the very place where the stake which he was bound to was set up,
and they have put a stone upon it which nobody will remove; but it
is a more lasting monument to him that he lives in the hearts of
the people--I say more lasting than a tomb of marble would be, for
the memory of that good man will certainly never be out of the poor
people's minds as long as this island shall retain the Protestant
religion among them. How long that may be, as things are going,
and if the detestable conspiracy of the Papists now on foot should
succeed, I will not pretend to say.
A little to the left is Sudbury, which stands upon the River Stour,
mentioned above--a river which parts the counties of Suffolk and
Essex, and which is within these few years made navigable to this
town, though the navigation does not, it seems, answer the charge,
at least not to advantage.
I know nothing for which this town is remarkable, except for being
very populous and very poor. They have a great manufacture of says
and perpetuanas, and multitudes of poor people are employed in
working them; but the number of the poor is almost ready to eat up
the rich.
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