Note 185 — Chapter XX
Reading edition
On the 16th of May James II. issued a warrant commanding that all Quakers who had been convicted on charges of præmunire, or for not swearing, or for not going to church, should be released. By the execution of this warrant about fifteen hundred Quakers were set free. Naturally the yearly meeting which followed was a happy time. This "Order of Release" is preserved in the Archives in Devonshire House in London. It is written on eleven skins of vellum, with the king's portrait at the top. In the list is the name of John Bunyan, who got included in this Royal Pardon.