the name applied to those who refused to attend divine service on Sundays or holidays, according to the forms of the church established in England. The use of the term in temporal courts can be traced back as far as 1 Elizabeth, c. 2. The statutes against recusancy were fourfold: 1. Those who absented themselves from the church from indifference, irreligion, or dissent, were termed "recusants" simply; 2. After conviction, such persons were styled "recusants-convict;" 3. Those professing the Roman Catholic faith received the name of "Popish recusants;" and 4. Those who had been convicted of Popery in a law court were termed "Popish recusants-convict." Protestant dissenters were relieved from the penalties instituted against recusancy at the Revolution by the Toleration Act, 1 Will. and Mary, c. 18. The exemption in this act in favour of those denying the doctrine of the Trinity, was repealed in 1813 by 53 Geo. III., c. 160; and Roman Catholics were exempted from prosecution in 1791 and 1792, on the ground of their peculiar faith. The statutes against recusants, who not being Roman Catholics or Protestant dissenters, are still in force, though seldom insisted on.