PRINCETON, -N. J. 9h^y /^^, S 1 ! SAe//. 1 1 BX 5500 .M35 1840 Mant, Richard, 1776-1848. History of the Church of Ireland « HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE UNION" OF THE CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND, JANUARY 1, 1801 ; WITH A CATALOGUE OF THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS, CONTINUED TO NOVEMBER, 1810; AND A NOTICE OF THE ALTERATIONS MADE IN THE HIERARCHY BY THE ACT OF 3 AND 4 WILLIAM IV., CHAP. 37. BY THE RIGHT REV? RICHARD MANT, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR, LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XL. LONDON : HARRISON AND CO., PRINTERS, ST. martin'"? lane. TO THE CLERGY AND LAY MEMBERS OF CHRIST'S CATHOLICK AND APOSTOLICK CHURCH, AS UNDER HIS PROVIDENCE BY LA\V ESTABLISHED, IN THE DIOCESE OF DOWN AND CONNOR, THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, FOR A THANKFUL MEMORIAL OF MUCH PERSONAL KINDNESS, EXPERIENCED FROM THEM DURING A CONNECTION OF MORE THAN SEVENTEEN YEARS; ESPECIALLY OF THE CHRISTIAN ZEAL WHICH HAS PROMPTED THEM TO CO-OPERATE FOR PROMOTING GOD'S WORD AND ORDINANCES, AS BY OTHER RELIGIOUS UNDERTAKINGS, SO SIGNALLY BY ERECTING IN THE UNITED DIOCESE, 1\' THE YEARS OF OVR LORD M.DCCC.XXXIX. AND M.DCCC.XL., SIXTEEN PLACES OF PUBLICK WORSHIP, ACCORDIXG TO THE RITES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND, FOR THE HONOUR OF ALMIGHTY GOD, AND THE EDIFICATION OF HIS PEOPLE. *' Remember them, O my God, coxcerning this ; and wipe not out the good deeds that they haste done for the house of my GOD AND FOR THE OFFICES THEREOF.'" NeHEM. xiii. 14. In the first Chapter, second Section, of the present volume, it is related, that with the exception of one prelate, Sheridan, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, there was, after the abdication of King James II., a general acquiescence in the change of dynasty amongst the mem- bers of the Irish hierarchy. No other instance had fallen under my notice: and that no other existed I inferred from the silence of Mr. Harris, who particularly records the case of the non-juring Bishop Sheridan. Since, however, the printing of this volume, I have received Mr. Thorpe's " Catalogue of Books and IManu- scripts, illustrating the History of Ireland:" and in it are contained three highly interesting and important letters, as described in the Catalogue, relative to Thomas Otway, bishop of Ossory, of whom IMr. Harris says nothing, with respect to his allegiance to the new sovereigns. From these letters, however, it appears, as noted in the Cata- logue, that the bishop, from what he deemed a loyal principle, had studiously avoided the praying for King William and Queen INIary in the Church service; and that, on complaint being made, he had called his clergy together, and left to every man's conscience to do therein as he thought fit. This being represented to the king, he ordered the bishop's suspension, by a letter, one of the three above-mentioned, dated from the camp at Carrick, July 21, 1690. It is addressed to the bishop: and in it Sir Robert Southwell, Secretary of State, writes, ''His b vi PREFACE. Majesty's command is, that your lordship be suspended till further order. I know not the terms, being here in a camp, that are used in things of this nature: but I acquaint your lordship of his IMajesty's present resent- ment, and can say no more till I hear from your lordship herein." The letter was intrusted to Col. Coote to deliver, when his lordsliip placed the blame on the dean and chapter. By the colonel's letter, dated Kilkenny, July 29, it appears that " the dean was in England, and the sub-dean not in town. His lordship owned he had stated the above fact of leaving his clergy to their consciences, but was heartily disposed to give directions to his clergy to pray for the king and queen. The colonel, therefore, returned to Southwell the letter ordering the suspension." The third letter is the bishop's reply to Sir Robert Southwell, dated Kilkenny, August 2 ; in which, to prove that he was not a trimmer, he gives his reasons for not appearing at Court, and for the allegations lately made against him: that " He was bound by the laws of God and man to be loyal and obedient to his natural and lawful prince, and that no earthly power of pope or people can dethrone him." He had " not read any satis- factory vindication for the late revolution: sets forth the persecutions he had suffered under Oliver; that he was then in his 74th year; that he should willingly and cheerfully suffer for that, which he in his conscience could not act, in satisfaction to the law; but should leave peaceably and quietly, whensoever the government should appoint him." In a letter, of a date somewhat later than the fore- going, namely, August 7, 1760, addressed to Sir Robert PREFACE. Southwell, Dopping, bishop of Meath, adverts to Bishop Otway's conduct, and speaks much in his favour. " He that continues stedfast to the late king, from whom he received so many disobligations, and so slender a protec- tion, will be much more so to his Majesty, when his judgment is convinced." And in another letter, addressed to Sir Robert South- well, at the camp before Limerick, August 23, 1690, the Bishop of Meath says, that " He had deferred writing, in hopes of an answer from the Bishop of Ossory, but had received none." And he observes, " If he should be so unfortunate as not to overcome the errors of his judgment, yet he cannot be suspended but in a legal way, lest you run into the same error, that the late king was guilty of in his dealings with the Bishop of London. You know what outcries that suspension made: and the clamours will be more in this case, if it be done by a person who came to recover us from arbitrary proceedings." What was the result of this correspondence I am not enabled to state. But Mr. Harris, who is totally silent on the subject, relates, that Bisbop Otway died in his episcopal house at Kilkenny, and was buried in the cathedral near the west door, as he had appointed by his will, an humble marble stone being placed over him with this inscription: "Hie jacet Thomas Otway, Ossoriensis Episcopus, qui obiit 6to Martii, 1692-3, ^Etatis suoc 77." Mr. Harris attributes to him many other excellent quali- ties, besides his being " a prelate of unshaken loyalty to his prince." With reference to one of the letters just cited of the Bishop of Meath, I would take the opportunity of men- b 2 viii PKEFACE. tioniiig, that in a former letter of July 24, 1690, to Sir Robert Southwell, he had advised the appointment of " a general fast every Friday during the wars, to be ordered by his Majesty's proclamation and letters to the primate and Bishop of Meath." The Archbishops of Dublin and Tuam, as related in the former volume of this history, had been driven from Ireland, and were proscribed by King James's Act of Attainder: and the archbishoprick of Cashel was vacant. Thus, next to the primate, the Bishop of Meath was of the highest station in the church, the primate also being almost disabled by age and infir- mities. His succeeding letter of August 7, acknowledges that he had " received the letters and proclamation for the fast-days, desired in the preceding letter of July 24." The foregoing information is derived from Mr. Thorpe's Catalogue. But, together with a general fast-day, an occa- sional form of prayer was also appointed. For, by the kindness of the Rev. Thomas Lathbury, author of the History of Episcopacy in England, I am enabled to state, that among a collection of occasional forms, from the reign of King James I. to Queen Anne, he has found one, which was printed in Dublin during the reign of King William III. and Queen Mary. It was published in 1690, whilst the struggle between him and King James Avas in pro- gress; and the title of it is as follows: '*A Form of Prayer to be used on Friday the 15th of August, and on every Friday during his Majesty's Expedition in the King- dom of Ireland; being the Fast-days appointed by the King and Queen for supplicating Almighty God for the Pardon of our Sins ; and for imploring his blessing on their Forces by Sea and Land. By their Majesties' Spe- cial Command. Dublin : Printed by Edward Jones, at PREFACE. ix the King's Hospital, in Oxman-Town, for the King and Queen's Most Excellent Majesties. 1690." The form contains a prayer alluding to the Protestant population in those places in which King James still retained his hold, with this title : " A Prayer for the rest of our Brethren that are not yet delivered." The synchronism between the Bishop of Meath's letters and the ordering of the form is remarkable. On the 24th of July he advised the appointment of a general fast ; on the 7th of August he acknowledged the receipt of the proclamation ; and the form of prayer was appointed to be used for the first time on Friday the 15th of August. I subjoin a few words on another subject. In Chapter II., Section I., of this volume, notice is taken of the preferment of Bishop King from the bishoprick of Derry to the archbishoprick of Dublin: and it is stated on the authority of a letter, written after the interval of about a year, that such preferment had not been desired by him. The letters-patent were dated March 11, 1703. JNIr. Thorpe's Catalogue contains a letter of Bishop King, dated five days earlier, namely, on the 6th of JNIarch, wherein he complimented the Duke of Ormonde on his Grace's appointment to the lord lieutenancy, and informed his Grace of his JMajesty's pleasure to appoint him to the archbishoprick of Dublin, which he begged to lay before his Grace: "which appointment, though not so much to his advantage in some respects, yet it will enable him to attend his Grace in the government." X PREFACE. Petition of the Archbishops and Bishops referred to in Chap. II. Sect. III., with a Fac-simile of their Autograph Signatures. To His Grace James Duke of Ormond Lord Lievetenant Generall and Generall Governour of Ireland. The Humble Petition of the Archbishops and Bishops in behalfe of themselves and the Rest of the Clergy of the Church of Ireland May it please your Grace We the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of Ireland have Received an Address from our Brethren the Clergy, who are Come to Dublin in Obedience to her Majesties Writt of Sumons ; in which they Insist on the Church's Right to have a full Convocation with every Parliament, and have earnestly Intreated us to Apply to your Grace to obtaine this our Just and undoubted Right, and to make the meeting (to which many of them have Come from the Remotest parts of this Kingdome) EfFectuall to the promoting the good of the Church We Cannot but Approve of their Request, and humbly beseech your Grace, that you would be pleased to Lay before her Majestie this our unanimous Petition and Claims, and to move her Majestie to Issue the Provincial Writts to the severall Archbishops ; which According to Custome have Constantly Accompanied the Prse- monentes Clause in the Parliamentary Writts; The Bishops and Clergy of this Kingdom being Ambitious to owe the Resti- tution of their Rights Solely to her Majesty by your Grace*'s Mediations And we press the more Earnestly for them at this time because we are fully Perswaded, that there will be a very good Agreement and Unanimity amongst us all. And also an United Zeale for the Glory of God and her Majesties Service. The autographs subscribed are twenty-one, being those of all the archbishops and bishops of the time, with the sole exception of Archbishop Palliser, of Cashel. The PREFACE. xi cause of the exception does not appear. It may be con- venient for the reader to be apprised of the family names of the subscribers, and they are these : Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate. William King, Archbishop of DubHn and Bishop of Glendaloch. John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam and Bishop of Kilfenoragh. Richard Tennison, Bishop of Meath and Clonmacnois. William Moreton, Bishop of Kildare. Edward "Wetenhall, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. Simon Digby,. Bishop of Elphin. Bartholomew Vigors, Bishop of Ferns and LeighHn. William Fitzgerald, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh. Nathaniel Foy, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. William Lloyd, Bishop of Killala and Achonry. Tobias Pullen, Bishop of Dromore. St. George Ashe, Bishop of Clogher. Thomas Smyth, Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe. Thomas Lindsay, Bishop of Killaloe. John Pooley, Bishop of Raphoe. Edward Walkington, Bishop of Down and Connor. Dive Downs, Bishop of Cork and Ross. Charles Crow, Bishop of Cloyne. John Hartstong, Bishop of Ossory. Charles Hickman, Bishop of Derry. The accompanying Map, reduced from the four-sheet Map of Ireland, published by the Rev. Dr. Beaufort, in 1792, represents the ecclesiastical division of the kingdom into provinces and dioceses, together v^ith the bishops' sees, as illustrative of the History of the Church of Ireland. The parochial divisions, and the sites of churches, would have led to confusion on so small a scale: and the civil divisions have been judged unnecessary, since they may be found on the common Maps. The unions of the dioceses, with their respective dates, were as follows : PROVINCE OF ARMAGH. Meath and Clonmacnois . . . 1568 Down and Connor . . . 1441 Kilmore and Ardagh . . . 1C03— 1G33 1060—1691 1693—1742 PROVINCE OF DUBLIN. Dublin and Glendaloch . . . 1214 Ferns and Leighlin . . . 1600 PROVINCE OF CASHEL. Cashel and Emly . . . . 1568 Limerick, Ardfert, and Agliadoe . . 1663 Waterford and Lismore . . . 1363 Cork and Cloyne . . . . 1431 Cork, Cloyne, and Ross . . . 1618 Cork and Ross .... 1638 Cork, Cloyne, and Ross . . . 1660 Cork and Ross .... 1678 Killaloe and Kilfenoragh . . . 1752 PROVINCE OF TUAM. Tuani and Kilfenoragh . . . 1660—1742 Tuam and Ardagh . . . 1742 Clonfert and Kihnacduagh . . . 1602 Clonfert, Kilmacduagh, and Kilfenoragh . 1742 — 1752 Killala and Achonry . . 1C23 CONTENTS. Preface. — Corrospondence relating to Bishop Otway of Ossory, wlio declined to pray for King William and Queen Mary. His suspen- sion ordered by the King. Bishop of Meath's caution to the Government. Uncertain result of the Correspondence, f Supple- mental to Chap, Sect. II.) General Fast-day, advised by Bishop of Meath. Form of Prayer appointed accordingly. ( Su2)p. to CJiap. /., Sect. I) Letter of Bishop King to Lord Lieutenant on his translation from Derry to Dublin. ( Supp. to Chap. IL, Sect. I.) Petition of Archbishops and Bishops for a Convocation, with Fac- simile of their Autographs. ( Sitpp. to Chap. II, Sect. III. J . v CHAPTER I. CHURCH OF IKELANO IX THE REIGN OF KING AVILLIAM THE THIRD AND QUEEN MARY 1690—1702. MICHAEL BOYLE, ARCHBISHOP OF AR:\rAGH AND PRiMATE ...... 3702. Section I. Proposed continuation of the History. King James's refusal to fill the vacant Irish Bishopricks. Ineffectual intercession of English Bi- shops. Vacancies supplied by King William. Presbyterian peti- tions. Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Cashel : his MS. Diary. Other Episcopal appointments. Deny designed for George Walker : his promotion intercepted by his death. King, bishop of Derry : his diocesan exertions : his " Inventions of Men," &c. Compara- tive state of Churchmen and Dissenters. Popery in the North. Church Service in Irish. Foy, Bishop of Watei-ford . . 1 Section II. Other Episcopal changes. General accjuiescence in change of dynasty. New Oath of Allegiance. Reasons for taking it. Anonymous Pamphlet. Its supposed Author. Bishop Sheridan, a Non-juror : his deprivation and subsecjuent distress. Order concerning his intended Successor : his rejection, and circumstances connected therewith. Bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh. Preferment of a Scotch Prelate to liaphoe. Relief given from Ireland to Scottish Clergy. Few Irish Non-jurors. Charles Leslie : his Life, Death, and Character. Henry Dodwell. Converts. Deprivation of Bi- shop Ilackett and Archdeacon Matthews. Character of Bishop Foley. Other newly-appointed Bishops. Death of Archbishop Francis ]Marsh. Narcissus Marsh, Avciibishop of Dublin : his libr.iry. Death of the Que-?n . . . . .24 C xiv CONTENTS. Section III. "rAOE Acts of King James's Parliament annulled. Limitation of power of granting Faculties proposed. Projected Reformation of Ecclesi- astical Abuses. Parliament of 1692. Proceedings connected with the Church. Bishop of Cork's Sermon. Vote of thanks to the King. Circular Letter to the Bishops. Building and repairing of Churches recommended. Parliament of 1695. Acts relating to the Church. Bill for Liberty of Conscience. Archbishop King's MS. Correspondence. Neglect of the Church by the Government. Abuse of Ecclesiastical Patronage. Letters of Archbishop King to Bishops Burnet and Lloyd. Canvassing of Clergymen for Bishop- ricks. Condition of Dissenters. Their Interest with Government. Archbishop King's literary pieces . . . .50 Section IV. Correspondence between Archbishop Marsh and Dr. Smith. Mode of preparing Acts of Parliament. Act for sending Popish Ecclesias- ticks out of the Kingdom. Other Acts relative to Papists. . Their proper Character. Measures of counteraction. Similar Acts in former Parliament. Failure of Bill for King's Preservation. Letters of Bishop King on the subject. Reasons of Opposition. Bill opposed by Bishops. Their Names. Protest in favour of the Bill. Its further fate. Failure of Bill for building Churches : and of Bill in favour of Free Schools. Bills relating to the Church rejected by the Commons . . . . . ,71 Section V. Death of Bishop Dopping. Testimonial to his Merit. Bishop King's solicitude concerning a fit Successor. His Letters on tlie subject. Case of the Bishoprick of Meath. Recommendation of Bishop Foy. Translation of Bishop Tennison. Melancholy Picture of the Church exhibited in Bishop King's Correspondence. Act to en- courage Building on Church Lands. Its utility. Measure for re-building Parish Churches. No Convocation in this Reign. Breaches of Liberty in Church and State. Causes of Discontent. Rapid succession of Irish Bishops. Account of Bishop Huntington. His early Death. Bishop King's diocesan Visitations. Metro- politan Visitations held by suffragan Bishops . . ,89 Section VI. Age and Infinnities of Primate Boyle. Laborious Occupations of Archbishop Marsh. Process of parliamentary Bills. Archbishop IMarsh, one of the Lords Justices. His Disinclination for secular Business. His Library : Plan and Progress of it detailed in his CONTENTS, XT unpublished Lettei-s to Dr. Smith. Provisions for the Building and for Books. Purchase of Bishop Stillingfleet's Books. Oppo- sition by certain Bishops to the Measure. Votes of Thanks from Parliament and Convocation. Names of Opponents. Commenda- tion by Archbishop King. Death of King William. State of Religion . . . . . . . .107 CHAPTER IT. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE ....... 1702—1714. MICHAEL BOYLE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE 1702. NARCISSUS MARSH ..... 1703—1713. THOMAS LINDSAY 1714. Section I. State of Sentiments on the Queen's Accession. Letter on the subject fj'om Bishop of Derry. Dissenters and Nonconformists. Address from the Bishops. Condition and Practices of Presbyterian body. Death of Primate Boyle. Circumstances relating to him. Suc- ceeded by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh. Correspondence with Dr. Smith. Bishop King made Archbishop of Dublin. State of the Diocese. Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Parliament in 170?^. Act for the Queen's Safety and Protestant Succession. Three Acts for Security against Romish Clergy : for preventing Popish Priests from coming into the Kingdom : for registering Popish Priests : and for preventing further Growth of Popery. Insertion of the Sacramental Test in the last. Its remarkable Operation exemplified ...... 124 Sfxtion II. Inveteracy of Popish Superstitions. St. Patrick's Purgatory. Enact- ment concerning it. Penalties. ^Ir. Richardson's Nan-ative of the Pilgrimage thither. Comment on the Narrative. Other Places of superstitious resort. Similar instances innumerable. Popish Corruptions encouraged by Pilgrimages. Responsibilit}' of Romish Churcli. Other Acts affecting the Church. For securing Church Property : for Exchange of Glebes : for Building Churches. Exer- tions of Primate Marsh and Archbishop King for the Benefit of the Church . . . . . . .188 c 2 CONTENTS. Section III. PAOK Assembling of Convocation in 1703. No convocation soon after the Reformation. Convocations in the Reigns of James I., Charles I., and Charles II. Revived in Queen Anne's Reign. Circumstances of its being assembled. Attempts for converting the native Irish. Archbishop of Dublin's Jurisdiction opposed by Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Letters relating to it. Endeavour to procure the First Fruits for the Clergy. Translation of Bishop Moreton. Consecration of Bishop Ellis ; circumstances of it . . .157 Section IV. Inefficiency of Parliament and Convocation in 1705. Letters of Arch- bishop King on the subject. Illness of the Primate. His laborious Occupations. Correspondence between him and Dr. Smith, on the latter's Life of Archbishop Usslier. Restlessness of the Presbyte- rians. Attempts to remove the Sacramental Test. Antipathy to the Church. Sense of the House of Commons. Letters of Arch- bishop King and Dr. Swift. Repeal of Test recommended by Lord Lieutenant ; disapproved by Parliament and Clergy. Dr. Lloyd rejected from a Bishoprick. Brown, bishop of Cork : his Character. Death of Bishop Foy : his Bequests. Date of commencement of the year. Milles, bishop of AVaterford . . . .176 Section V. Incidental notices of Ecclesiastical Matters in Archbishop King's MS. Correspondence. Mutual Conduct of Bishops and their Clergy. Irregularity in conferring Holy Orders, Erroneous view of some of the Prelates. Subterfuge to escape the Canon. Detection of an Impostor. Irregular Bishops called Ordainers. Examination of Candidates. Difficulty of maintaining Ministers. Providing new Churches. State of the Dioceses of Dublin and of Ferns. Confirma- tions. Consecration of Churches. Form of Consecration. Disposal of Benefices. Provision for Converts from Popery. Converts from the Popish Priesthood. Form of Abjuration. Method of dealing with Papists. Laxity in executing the Laws . . .198 Section VI. Restoration of Churches. Supply of Funds. Legislative Enactments for changing Sites. Examples of new Parishes, and of new Churches on new Sites. Conversion of native Irish. Convocation of 1709. Resolutions for printing the Bible and Liturgy in Irish, and for em- ploying Irish Preachers and Catechists. Exertions in Trinity College. Divine Offices celebrated in Irish, and attended by the People. Memorial to the Lord Lieutenant, referred to the Arch- bishops and Bishops. Petition to the Queen. Missionaries in Armagh and Deny. Aid given by Society for Promoting Cbristian CONTENTS. XVll Knowledge. Mv. Ricluutlson's Efforts. Sentiments of Arclibis'.^op King. Proceedings of Convocation in 1711, and of Parliament. Methods agreed on by Lower House of Convocation. Abrupt temiination of ^h: Richardson's Account. Other Business in Con- vocation. Failure of Mr. Richardson's Project, and its probable Cause. Canons of 1711. No subsequent Convocation in Ireland, though one in contemplation. Confirmation of the Canons. Forms of Prayer, agreed on in 1711, inserted in the Book of Common Prayer \ . . . . . . .214 Section VII. Revival of the Business of the First Fruits. Negotiation of Dr. S^^ ift with Mr. Harley. His Memorial. Petitions to the Queen. Account of the Crown Rent. Success of the jMemorial. Grant of the First Fruits. Merit of it due to the Queen. Grant confirmed by King George I. Influence of Dr. Swift. His exclusion from an English Bishoprick. Impediments to his Preferment. Made Dean of St. Patrick's. Dean Stearne made Bishop of Dromore. Dean Swift's Conduct in the Deanery. Character of Bishop Stearne. Archbishop King's high esteem for him. Notice of Dr. Pamell. His promotion to the xVichdeaconry of Clogher. Archbishop King's early patronage of him. His Life, by Goldsmith and Johnson. Commendation of Bishop Steai-ne by Archbishop King and Dean Swift , . 2S4 Section VIII. Embarrassment of the Clergy about the Occasional Forms of Prayer. Correspondence between Archbishop King and the Government. Business not concluded in Queen xlnne's Reign. Resumed and settled in the Reign of King George I. Allowance of Supplemental Hymns. Death of Primate Marsh. Speculations concerning his Successor. Bishop Lindsay raised to the Primacy. Dean Swift instrumental to his elevation. Death of Bishop Wetenhall. Dean Swift's Advice to the Ministry. Caution in recommending for Pre- ferment. Probable cause of Archbishop King's non-appointment to the Primacy. Cause of dissatisfaction between Archbishop King and Dean Swift. Funeral Semion on Primate Marsh, and Commendation of hhn. Account of Primate Lindsay. Edward Synge, bishop of Raplioe. Supply of other Episcopal Vacancies. Prubpccts of Dean Swift « Archbishop King's View of Ecclesiastical Afiairs in this Reign ...... 251 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE 1 1714— 1727. THOMAS LINDSAY, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE ...... 1724. HUGH BOULTER 1724. Section I. I PAOK Accession of King George I. New Lords Justices. Archbishop King in the Commission. His anxiety about the supply of the vacant Sees. Proclamation of the King. Persons recommended for - Bishopricks. Vacant Sees specified. Mischievous practice of Can- vassing for Bishopricks. Jealousy of the Clergy on the King's accession. Their Sermons and injudicious Conduct. Archbishop King's surprise on being appointed a Lord Justice. His discharge of his office. His anxiety for proper supply of vacant Bishopricks. Peculiarities of Lutheran Religion. Difficulties of the Archbishop's new situation. Condition of the vacant Bishopricks. Non-resi- dence of Bishops . . . . . . .271 Section II. Earl of Sunderland appointed Lord Lieutenant. Description of the vacant Bishopricks. Candidates for them. Archbishop of Canter- bury's mediation expected by Archbishop King. New Bishops unexceptionable. Ignorance in England concerning Irish Benefices. Proof of miserable condition of Irish Church. Improper Recom- mendations of Clergymen from England. Fewness of Sinecures. Small value of Benefices. Care requisite in bestowing Preferments, Paucity of Beneficed Clergymen. Few young men of promise growing up. Clergy not well inclined to the King. Improper Sermons not universal. Irregular intrusion into strange Dioceses. Subsiding of temporary Irritation. Sentiments of Members of the Church. Effect of want of Cordiality between Clergy and Gentry. Consequence of Queen Anne's Bounty. Efforts for instructing Irish Natives. Scholars taught to read Irish. Northern Dissenters. Indiscretion of the Clergy ...... 283 Section III. Parliament of 1715. Recognition of King's Title. Act for Attainting the Pretender. Acts in favour of the Church. General view of Parochial Unions in Ireland : their causes and circumstances. Ab- stract of Unions and Divisions of Parishes. Death of Bishop Moreton. Succeeded by Bishop Evans, from Bangor. Death of Archbirihop Vesey. His Life of Primate Bramhall. Archbishop Synge. Origin of the family name. Memorable succession of CONTENTS. xix ' PAOK Bishops in the family. Disinterested conduct of the Archbishop about the Quarta Pars Episcopal is. Character of Forster, Bishop of Raphoe. Downes, Bisliop ofKillala: his Correspondence with Bishop Nicholson. Character of Bishop Ashe, by Mr. Addison. Translation of Bishop Nicholson from Carlisle to Derry. Lettei-s between him and Archbishop of York. His epistolary Correspond- ence has no reference to Ireland ..... 297 Section IV. Renewal of Correspondence between Dean Swift and Archbishop King. Motives to it. Effects of Queen's Bounty. Swift's purcliase of a Glebe. Report concerning the Bishops of Ossory and Killaloe. State of Irish Clergy. Archbishop's Answer. The Dean's Friends indisposed to acknowledge his Services. Archbishop's Testimony to them. Reciprocity of kind offices recommended. The Dean's high Estimation of the Archbishop. Attacks on Archbishop King's Character and Conduct. His Vindication of himself, and Exposi- tion of his Principles and Proceedings .... 820 Section V. Emigration of Protestants from Ireland : taken advantage of by Dis- senters. Its true cause. Used as an argument for repealing the Test. Political object of Dissenters. Solemn League and Covenant circulated. History of the Toleration Bill. Letters from Arch- bishop King on the subject. Bill passed, after long debates. Ar- guments against it. Its Enactments and Provisions. Act for better Maintenance of Curates. Wants of impropriate Parishes; exemplified in letters of Archbishop King. Benefits of building Churches and fixing Ministers. Improved Condition of the Church. Contemplated provision for Clergy residence. Act of Parliament not passed. Glebes alienated from the Clergy. Disinclination of the Gentry to grant Glebes ..... 330 Section VI. Archbishop King not in commission of Lords Justices. Bishop Downes's remarks thereon. Illness of the Primate. Speculations. Archbishops King and Synge not in favour with the Government. Clergy of Dublin visited by Archbishop Synge. Instructions from Archbishop of Dublin. Encroachment by Government on Eccle- siastical authority. Archbishop King again a Lord Justice. Dis- inclination for the office, misrepresented. Want of kindness and respect for him. Distinction between Irish and English Bishops ; Natives and Foreigners. Death of Bishop Digby of Elphin. His Character. State of the Diocese. Bishop Downes translated to it from Killala. Death of Bishop Smith of Down and Connor. Suc- ceeded by Hutchinson. His voluminous Writings. Measures for Improvement of Isle of Raghlin ..... 354 XX COXTKNTS. Section VII. PAGE Great age and Death of Bishop Vigors. His Character. State of Dio- ceses of Ferns and Leighlin. Dr. Bolton recommended to fill the vacancy. Mr. Hort appointed. Report that he had never been Ordained. Its falsehood. His former Preferment litigated. Act of Parliament passed in consequence. Not Consecrated by Arch- bishop of Dublin. Archbishop's view of the subject. First mstance of a Bishoprick conferred without a Degree. Death of Bishop of Clonfert. Wretched state of his Diocese. Tuam improved by Archbishop Synge. Dr. Bolton appointed to Clonfert. Archbishop King's letter of congratulation and advice. Testimony in his favour. Dr. Maule recommended for Deanery of Derry. Con- templated a History of Ireland. Archbishop King's sense of the difficulty of the undertaking . . . , . 372 Section VIII. Account of Bishop Bolton. Dean Swift's Comment on his elevation. The Dean's opposition to his Diocesan. Refuses to attend Iiis Visitation. The Bishop's refusal to ordain a person for his Curate. Archbishop King's practice in oi-daining Candidates from other Dioceses. Dean Swift's continued opposition. His Letter to the Bishop of Meath. Death of the Bishop. His Benefactions to the Church. Episcopal Appointments. Settlement of the Controversy betw^een Archbishop King and Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Various decisions in the Archbishop's favour. His final success. Letter of acknowledg-ment to Archbishop Wake. His Visitation of Christ Church. Jurisdiction settled . , . . 389 Section IX. Lord Carteret Lord Lieutenant. Death of Primate Lindsay. His Character. Desire of Archbishop King's friends for his Promotion. His Letters and Sentiments on the occasion. Speculations on the Vacancy. Dean Swift. Bishop Downes. Appointment of Dr. H. Boulter. Account of him. His unexpected Advancement. His Letters. Motive to his Appointment. Anecdote of Archbishop King. Primate Boulter's maintenance of the English interest. Archbishop King's Illness. Primate's Sentiments on new Appoint- ments. Recommendation of Dr. Burscough for See of Limerick. Political Q,ualifications for Preferment. Arch))isliop King's Senti- ments on Church Patronage. Little encouragement to the Clergy. Dean Swift's Letter to Lord Carteret on Church Patronage . 406 CONTENTS. Section X. TAOE Primate Boulter's Services for the Church. Circular letter to his Clergy. Subscription proposed. Its success. Rules for First- Fruits: their disposal. Irregularity about Commendanis. Arch- bishop King's sentiments about them. Case stated by Primate Boulter. Evil of Pluralities. Holding of a Benefice by a Fellow of the College. Case of Dr. Delany. Primate's Visitation and Charge. Character and Contents of it. Parliament of 1725. Col- lision between the Govcrnours of the Church. Case of a Clergy- man named Power. Letters from Archbishop King on Government Patronage. Visit of Dean Swift to I'^ngland. His iiiterview with Sir Robert Walpole . . . . . .430 Section XI. Primate Boulter's Dispute with Archbishop King. Power of granting ^Marriage Faculties, given to the Primate, claimed by the Arch- bishop. Opinions of Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London. Report concerning Dean Swift's appointment to a Bishoi^rick contradicted. Maule, Bishop of Cloyne. Recom- mended by Primate and Archbishop King. His Character. Infir- mities and Death of Archbishop Palliser. Bishop Nicholson made Ai'chbishop of Cashel. His Death, Character, and Publications. Contest for the vacant Arclibishoprick. Projects of the Primate. Exertions for Bishop Bolton. Archbishop King's Appeal to Lord Lieutenant. Letters of Primate Boulter on the subject. Disposal of the vacant See^. Interrupted by King George's Death. Project concerning Kilmore and Ardagh. Dispute betAveen Archbishop King and Dean Swift ...... 448 CHAPTER IV. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE II 1727—1760. HUGH BOULTER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PR1>[ATE ...... 1742. .lOIIN HOADLY 1742—1747. GEORGE STONE ...... 1747. Section I. King's Accession. Hopes entertained from it. Universal satisfaction attending it. Division of Kilmore and Ardagh recommended by Archbishop King. State of the Papists, Primate's communica- tions with English Government. Condition of Popish Priests. xxii CONTENTS. Address to the King from Dublin College. Provost Baldwin. Parliament assembled, Nov. 28, 1727. Want of Churches. Acts for better maintenance of Curates ; for Chapels of Ease ; for enabling Clergy to reside ; for Recovery of Tithes ; for securing Rights of Advowson ; for enabling Ecclesiastical Persons to part with Ad- vowsons ; for Division of Parishes ; for removing Sites of Churches ; for regulating Admission of Barristers, &c. Papists not intitled to Vote at Elections. Privileges of Parliament. Importance of these Acts. State of Popery and Papists. Encouragement given to Papists . . . . . . . .469 Section II. Illness of Archbishop King. Primate's plan for supplying the vacancy. Archbishop King's sentiments on Ecclesiastical subjects. Efforts for augmenting Dublin Churches. Improvement of his Diocese. Incapable of discharging his Episcopal functions. His great age and infirmities. His view of state of Religion in Connaught. Allusion to his Consecration. Anecdote of his Portrait. Engraving from it. His decease. His prominence in Irish Church History. Characters of him by Dean Swift and Mr. Harris. Primate's measure for filling the vacancy. Delay in filling it. Death of Archbishop Godwin of Cashel. Disposal of the two Archbishop- ricks. Difference between Primate Boulter and Bishop Gibson. Other Ecclesiastical appointments. Clayton, Bishop of Killala. Synge, Bishop of Clonfert, consecrated by his father. Tennison, Bishop of Ossory. His zeal for Protestantism . . . 489 Section III. Efforts in favour of the Church. Bishop Hort's Charge at Kilmore. Account of Henry Maule. Society for encouraging English Schools, 1717. Its result, 1730. Proposal for a Royal Charter. Favour- ably received. Petition to his Majesty, setting forth the great ignorance of the Papists, and plan for Educating them. Subscribers to the Petition. Incorporated Society for Protestant Schools formed, 1783. Its powers. Lord Lieutenant elected President. Patro- nized by the Primate. His Letters on its behalf. Ill success of attempt to convert the Papists by the Irish language. Disappoint- ment and loss of Mr. Richardson. His services badly requited. Efifbrts in favour of Presbyterians resumed in 1781. Recommenda- tion of Duke of Dorset, 1738. Excitement caused thereby. Op- posed in Parliament. Attempt decided to be impracticable. Anger of the Dissenters ....... 508 CONTENTS. xxiii Section IV. PAGE Episcopal appointments. Death of Bishop Lambert. Its remarkable consequence. Death and Funeral of Bishop Ellis. Account of George Berkeley. His character. His project of founding an University at Bermudas. Its failure. Made Bishop of Cloyne, 1733. His refusal to change his see. Attempt to relinquish his bishoprick. His residence in Oxford, and sudden death. Projects about] patronage by Irish Government. Counter-projects in Eng- land. Account of Thomas Rundle. His early preferments. His nomination to the see of Gloucester stopped by Bishop Gibson. His Character. His appointment to Derry. Disapproved of. Remarks thereupon. His situation in Ireland, as described in letters by himself ....... 527 Section V. Bills for enforcing residence of Incumbents, and dividing large Bene- fices ; opposed in Parliament, and by Dean Swift. His letter to Bishop of Clogher. Condemnation of the Bills, and censure of their supporters. Primate's silence about them. Bill for encou- raging Building by Ecclesiastical persons. Bishop Tennison suc- ceeded by Dr. Este. Bishop Brown satirised by Dean Swift. His literary compositions. Works of Archbishop Synge, Dr. Delany, and the Rev. Philip Skelton. Literary works little encouraged in Ireland. Exemplified in earlier times from Archbishop King's Correspondence. Clergy despoiled of their property. Tythe of Agistment confirmed to them by legal decisions ; opposed in the House of Commons. Associations against the Clergy. Motives to the oppression. Provisions for resisting it. Injurious conduct of the House not remedied ..... 544 [Section VI. Carew Reynell, Bishop of Down and Connor. Death of Bishop Milles. His age and successor. Death and Character of Archbishop S^^nge. Archbishop Hort's Instructions and Sermons. Cessation of Primate Boulter's Letters. His death, Sept. 1742. His occupations and Character. His rule in Ecclesiastical patronage. Question of its fitness. Beneficial disposition of his property. Local charities. Fund for augmenting small Benefices. His literary productions. His Letters. Notice of his Secretary, Ambrose Philips. Close of information from Dean Swift and Mr. Harris. General remarks. Motives to Episcopal appointments. Political attachments. Intel- lectual and moral qualifications. Restoration of Episcopal resi- dences. Value of Bishopricks. Dean and Chapter Lands. Deaneries. Parochial Benefices. Frauds and impositions on the Clergy. Their condition as to residence. Spoliation of their Glebes. Non-residence not their crying sin. Pluralities. Want of Churches. Non-cures. Effect of Clerical exertion exemplified in Rev. Philip Skelton . . . . , , 559 XXIV CONTENTS. Section VII. * PAGB Arclibisllop Hoadly raised to the Primacy. Other Episcopal appoint- ments. Death and Character of Archbishop Bolton. His care for the Cathedral of Casliel. Act of Parliament for removing the Cathedral. Delay in rebuilding it. Consequences of Archbishop Price's translation. Act of 21 Geo. II., c. 8, concerning Cathedrals. Cashel alone affected by it. Death of Bishop Stearne. His bene- factions to the Church. His examination of Candidates for Holy Orders. His "Visitation of the Sick." Reported conversation between him and Bishop Sherlock. Appearance of Methodism in Ireland. Rev. J. Wesley's visits. His interview with Archbishop Cobbe. Conduct of the Bishops. Clergy occasionally present at his preaching: opposed or encouraged him. Methodist Societies in A'arious places. His attendance on the Church Service. His visit to towns in the North ...... 570 Section Vlll. Death and Character of Primate Hoadly. Act of nineteenth of George II., c. 1.3, concerning Marriages by Popish Priests. Lenient administration of the Laws relating to Papists. Measures taken in 1745. Viceroyalty of Earl of Chesterfield. Bishop Stone raised to the Primacy. Account of him. Unusual rapidity of his advance- ment. A maintainer of the English interest. His political cha- racter and personal beauty. Not distinguished professionally. Earl of Charlemont's description of him, and Bishop Newton's. His description of himself. Chaplaincy of Lord Lieutenant ordinary channel of preferment. Episcopal appointments during Archbishop Hoadly's Primacy, and in the succeeding years. Metropolitan changes. Other changes by death or translation . , .59 Section IX. Recent Episcopal appointments, why particularly noticed. Several Bishops not specially distinguished. Account of three in particular. Clayton, Bishop of Clogher. His elevation to the Episcopate. His early Publications, and Essay on Spirit. Its object. His higher preferment negatived. His Theological Speech in Parliament. Offence given by it. Determination to proceed against him. Forewarned of the result. His Death. IMaurice, Bishop of Ossory. His place of Education. His Translation of Homer. Description of the MS., and Specimens. His Literary Character. Pococke, Bishop of Ossory. His Education and Travels. His Ecclesiastical Pursuits. His Preferment. Few Theological Works. Attention to Iri^li IVIonastick Anti(j[uities. Translation to Meath, and Hiiddt n Death. Affinity to Joseph Bingham . . 61 CONTENTS. XXV CHAPTER V. GEORGE III., OCT. 25, 1760, TO THE UNION, 1801. GEORGE STONE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE ...... 1764. richard robinson ..... 1764—1795. avillia:s[ newcome ..... 1795—1800. hon. william stuart .... ]800. Section I. PA as Scantiness of contemporary MSS. Biography mixed \N-itli History. Accession of King George III. His resolution of adhering to the Constitution. Act for confirming the Titles of Protestants. Bishop Robinson advanced to the Primacy. His Character. Other Epis- copal Appointments. Bishop Cumberland. His Estimable Cha- racter. Death of Archbishop Cobbc. His Disinterestedness. Account of Dr. Gast. Elevation and Death of Archbishop Car- michael. French Refugees in Ireland. Their Congregations. Incorporated with the general population of Protestants . . C2C Section II. Viscount Townsliend. Dr. Leland. His Works, Literary Character, and Preferments. Vacant Bishopricks during Lord Townshend's Administration. Hon. Fred. Aug. Hervey. Other Episcopal Appointments. Account of Bishop 3Ianu. His estimable Cha- raeter. Primate Robinson's care of the Church. Acts of Parlia- ment procured by him. Bishop Cumberland's translation. Use of his patronage, and management of his Estates. His Death and Burial. Question concerning the correctness of his Son's narrative. Position of Bishop Bedell's Tomb. Stricture on the phrase " Catholick." Archbishop Ryder's Death and Burial at Nice. Episcopal Appointments. Opulence of Clergy overrated. Their condition in 1775. Value of Bishopricks and Deaneries, 1770-1779. 645 Section III. Archbishop Cradock succeeded in Dublin by Bishop Fowler. Arch- ])ishop Cox succeeded in Cashel l)y Bishop Agar. Bishop Chin- nery's infirmities and Death. Barnard, Bishop of Killaloe: particulars in his Character. Woodward, Bishop of Cloyne. Death of Bishop Chenevix of Waterford. His Family, Promotion, and Character. Other Episcopal Appointments. Legislative Enactments affecting the Church. Relaxation of restraints on Popery. Papists now first called Roman Catholicks by Act cf Parliament. Illegal assumption of Titles. Immunities specified. Privilege to Protestant Dissenters in respect of Marriage. Acts commended by Lord Lieutenant. Disapproval by Bishops and other Peers. Opposition to both in the House of Loids. I'rotest against the Dissenters' Marriage Bill .... 6H0 XX vi CONTENTS. Section IV. Death and Character of Bishop Garnet. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. His Character and Publications. Residence in his diocese, great age, and Death. Archbishop Brown succeeded by Bishop Bourke. Law, Bishop of Clonfert. His conduct with respect to the Romanists. Bishop Trail succeeded in Down and Connor by William Dickson. Volunteer Associations. National Convention. Bishop of Derry a delegate. His temporal rank and influence. Character and progress to Dublin. Procession through the Metro- polis. Conduct in the assembly. Subsequent proceedings. Corre- spondence with the Presbytery of Derry. His residence in Italy, and Death. A patron of the Methodists. His Character by Mr. Wesley . . . . . . .679 Section V. The Duke of Rutland Lord Lieutenant. One Episcopal vacancy during his Government. Charter schools generally patronized by Chief Governours. Educat'on recommended from the Throne. Mr. Orde's Plan, and Resolutions and Orders for effecting it. Sentiments of the Lord Lieutenant adopted by the House of Com- mons. Proposed System of Education. Relinquished with the Session of Parliament. Insurrectionary Tumults of the Peasantry. Effects on the Clergy. White-boys. Oak-boys. Steel-boys. Right-boys. Brought under notice of Parliament. Attorney- General's Speech. Bishop Woodward's Tract on the Church. Outrages on the Clergy. Interruption of Church Service. Extent of Disturbances. Impunity of Criminals. Intimidation of Wit- nesses. Clergy vindicated. Misery of Peasantry, and its Causes. Act for Protection and Compensation of Clergy. Inquiry into Tythes proposed and rejected. Excellent Character of Bishop Woodward . . . . . . .697 Section VI. Episcopal appointments. Marlay, Bishop of Clonfert. Bennett, Bishop of Cork and Ross. Condition of Church of Rome in Ireland. Session of 1792. Bill for removing Disabilities from Roman Catholicks. Change of language in describing them. Enactments, commended by Lord Lieutenant in his Majesty's name. Further power sought for them. Speech of Lord Lieute- nant, 1793. Censurable phraseology. Bill for further Relief. Powerfully opposed, but passed. Commended by Lord Lieutenant. Papists improperly called Catholicks. Their discontent. Appoint- ment of Earl Fitzwilliam to the Chief Government. His sudden recall. Episcopal changes. Death of Primate Robinson. His Temporal Dignities and Professional Cliaracter. Reflections on it. CONTENTS . xxvii Mr. Wesley's Stricture upon him answered and confuted. His Will. Portraits of him. Portraits of the Royal Famil}^ and of the Primates bequeathed to his successors. Bishop Newcome elevated by Lord Fitzwilliam to the Primacy. Lord Charlemont's Narrative. The new Primate patronised by the King . 716 Section VII. Primate Newcome's Visitation and Charge. Non-cures. Duty of their Incumbents. Bishop O'Beirne's Charge. Number and activity of Romish Clergy. Duty of the Clergy of the Church. Revival of office of Rural Deans. Commenced by Archbishop Agar. Adopted by other Prelates. Professional diligence of Bishop O'Beirne. Association for Promoting the Christian Religion. Episcopal appointments in 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798. Earl Camden, Lord Lieutenant. Young, Bishop of Clonfert. His great and various excellence. Death of Primate Newcome. His Character. His Biblical Studies. Tendency of his Publications. Evil use made of them. Last Episcopal appointment before the Union . 785 Section VIII. Reign of George III. favourable to the Romanists. Erection of Maynooth College by Act of Parliament. Restlessness of the Romanists. Rebellion of 1798. Its Popish character. Sufferings of members of the Church. Destruction of churches. Laudable conduct of Bishops Law and Percy. Persecution of Bishop Cleaver. Bishop Stock taken prisoner. Debate in the House of Lords. Speech of Bishop Dickson. Union of two kingdoms recommended by Lord Lieutenant. Rejected by House of Com- mons. Recommended by British Parliament. Carried in Irish Parliament. Provisions as affecting the Church. Churches of England and Ireland united. Representative Bishops, Act received Royal Assent, August 1, 1800. Carried into effect, January 1, 1801 . . . . . . .748 Section IX. Condition of the Church at the Union. Dr. Beaufort's Map and Memoir. Ecclesiastical Divisions. Number and distribution of Dioceses. Extent. Episcopal Residences and Revenues. Supply of Episcopal vacancies. Appointments from England and from Ireland. Deaneries and Archdeaconries. Constitution of Chap- ters. Cathedrals, ancient and modern. No Chapter Revenues. Corpses of dignities. Impropriations. Number of Parishes and Benefices. Patronage of Benefices. Number of Churches. Want of Churches and Parsonage-houses. Non-residence. Moderate revenues of Clergy. Emoluments and evil of Impropriations. Character of Hierarchy and Clergy. Room for improvement in the Church ....... 7G4 xxviii CONTENTS. APPENDIX. PAa 1. Catalogue of the Archbishops and Bishops who occupied the Sees of the Church of Ireland, during the period comprised within the foregoing narrative ...... 787 2. Continuation of the Catalogue, from the Union, January the 1st, 1801, to the date of the present publication, November, 1840 . 781 3. Notices of the Alterations which have been made, and are to be made, in the several Provinces and Dioceses of Ireland, by the Act of Parliament of 3 and 4 William IV., chap. 37; commonly called the Church Temporalities Act .... 781 INDEX 789 THE CHUECH OF IRELAND. PART 11. CHAPTER I. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE THIRD AND QUEEN MARY 1690—1702. MICHAEL BOYLE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE .... 1702. Section I. Proposed continuation of the History. King Jameis refusal to fill the vacant Irish Bishopricks, Ineffectual intercessio7i of English Bishops. Vacancies supplied by King William. Presbyterian petitio7is. I^a7xissus Marsh, Archbishop of Cashel: his MS. Biaiy. Other Episcopal appoint- me7its. Be7n'y designed for George Walker: his promo- tion inte7xepted by his death. King, Bishop of Dei'i^y: his diocesan exertions : his " l7iventio7is of Me7i,'''' cJt. Co7npa7'ative state of Churchme7i a7id Dissente7's. Pope7'y 271 the No7'th. Chu7xh Service i7i Irish. Foy, Bishop of Wate)fo7'd. The abdication of Kino- James the Second, involv- Proposed conti- ing as it did, the abolition of " Popish tyranny and History, arbitrary power" in Ireland as in England, and the reinstatement of the Church in the secure possession of her apostolical polity and her primitive Catholick faith, forms a palpable epoch in the Church's history. As such I have taken it, witli the purpose of its being my resting-pLace or my goal, according as B 2. THE REIGN OF [Ch. L publick approbation should be granted or refused to my undertaking. Induced by the reception which has been given to the former portion of my narra- tive, I now proceed with the last ten years of the seventeenth, and the whole of the eighteenth century, inviting the reader s attention to the continued history of the Church of Ireland, untiJ, by her union with that of England, in 1800, she ceased to exist as a separate National Church. King James's re- Auiongst tho fruits of tlio liostllity to the Irish sees. Cliurch of Ireland which King James had mani- fested, he had prescribed to himself one measure in particular, and, so far as occasion had served, he had carried it into effect, the result of which must have been ultimately destructive, as it was actually most pernicious, to the Church- I allude to his deliberate and determined refusal to place bishops in the vacant sees : whence, for the present, a loss arose of the due pastoral superintendence over the Christian flock; and whence, in the end, a breaking-up of the constitution and frame-work of the Church must have ensued. Accordingly, when on the 3rd of Intercession of October, 1688, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and bishop J ' eight of the English bishops, being all those who were then in London, waited on the king, to " beg his permission that they might suggest to his Majesty such advices as they thought proper at that season, and conducing to his service;" the seventh article was, " that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to fill the vacant bishopricks, and other ecclesiastical promotions within his gift, both in England and Ireland, with men of learning and piety." The king thanked the bishops for their advice, and promised that he would comply with it. Upon some of the articles he gradually made cor- Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 3 responding concessions. But for filling the vacant sees, no steps appear to have been taken: so that in a personal interview, to which he was called by the king on the 16th of October, Archbishop Bancroft pro- fited by the occasion for reverting to the grievance, pressing it upon his Majesty's notice, and reminding him of the former remonstrance. " The archbishop," observes Dr. D'Oyly, in his life of that venerable communication 111. -1 t 1 t -I 1 •1 with Archbishop prmiate, " told him, that he had lately received a sancroft. letter without a name, complaining of the bad state of the Church in Ireland; particularly of four bishopricks having been long vacant there, the filling of which had formed the seventh head of advice offered to his Majesty by the bishops." No disposition however to supply the defect was King's persevei- shown by the infatuated king, during the few days of his continuance in England, or afterwards when he had taken up his abode, and exercised a tempo- rary dominion, in Ireland. Matters therefore remained in the same condition as to the foregoing subject of complaint, until the royal authority was established in the latter kingdom in the persons of King William the Third and Queen Mary. But upon their accession to the throne, amonorst Attention shown , , . . , . . , , by AVilliam and the other ecclesiastical provisions rendered necessary Mary to the irisu hierarchy. by late occurrences, the state of the Church of Ire- land received, as it required, the early attention of the new government, particularly with respect to its hierarchy, left incomplete by the lawless deternli^ nation of King James not to fill the vacant bishop- ricks, and to its clergy in general, who had fled from their cures for security. The sentiments of the English bishops were accordingly called for on the occasion, as related by Bishop Patrick, in the Brief Account of his Life, p. 159. B2 4 THE REIGN OF [Cir. I. "I went up to London," he says, '-'against the meeting of the Parliament, (1690,) and on the 12th of December was desired to come to the Bishop of London's lodgings, in Whitehall, where a letter from the king was opened, directed to six bishops, and the Deans of Canterbury and St. Paul's, and Dr. Tenison, to consult the best way of settling the Clmrch of Ireland, and promoting piety there, and particularly to consider what persons were fit to be made bishops there. We resolved upon one thing immediately, which w^as to desire his Majesty to send home the clergy of Ireland, who were here, to their respective cures, if they lay in such places as were under his ^Majesty's protection. On the 15th, we met again, and agreed upon such persons as we thought fit to recommend to his Majesty for bishops in Ireland. Several other times we met, but I do not remember what was further done." Meanwhile the Presbyterians of the north of Ireland would fain have profited by the opportunity, for establishing their own peculiarities of discipline and worship, instead of the liturgy and episcopacy of the Church. " I do remember," says one of the Irish prelates, in a letter dated Dublin, January 8, 1711, who is quoted, but not named, by the histo- rian of Presbyterian Loyalty^ *'that July, 1690, or thereabouts, I heard of some design of Dissenters to the disadvantage of the Church of Ireland : upon it I went to the secretary's office, and there I under- stood that two petitions had been presented to the king; in the first there was a project to abolish episcopacy in the north of Ireland, according to the model of Scotland. The reasons for this were, that that country was entirely Scotch, at least of the Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 5 Presbyterian persuasion: that tliey had the whole charge or care of the souls of that part, and that they were the great instruments of setting up and supporting his Majesty's interest in that country. This account I liad of that petition, but I could never get a copy of it; of the second petition I have a copy, the substance of which, I remember, sets out the purity of their worship, and their many services; the great weight upon them for the neg- lected cures. And for their support in the discharge of their duties they desired, in order to encourage their worship and discipline, till there could be a legal establishment of both, that the little profit of the deserted livings of that country might be collected by them. This, they said, would increase prayer for his Majesty, and highly advance and strengthen the Protestant interest and religion." This statement has been controverted by the his- differently re- lated. torian of the Loyalty of Presbyterians, as to the question of there having been one or two petitions; as to the precise description of the three individuals who presented one or both; and as to the mode of present relief prayed for by the Presbyterian minis- ters, to whom, be it incidentally remarked, the sum of twelve hundred pounds a year had been already granted by the king. But the great and essential article is admitted by the form thus attributed to the petition, " That, as by your princely care, relief is sent to that languishing poor country, which, by the blessing of God, hath already and will further produce happy effects; so your jNIajesty will appear as a nursing-father, for encouraging the purity of the Gospel in worship and discipline, till there be a legal establishment of both." With those who are aware of the sense, annexed purpntofthc rrcsbytcriau petition. 6 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. by such religionists as the petitioners to the expres- sions, " the purity of the Gospel in worship and discipline," it will be manifest tliat the object of the petition was an anti-liturgical worship, and an anti-episcopal ecclesiastical polity; and the intima- tion of " a legal establishment of both these" was, in fact, " a project to abolish episcopacy in the north of Ireland, according to the model of Scotland." But, notwithstanding this, it pleased God tliat " the Apostle's fellowship" should still be maintained Supply of vacant HI Ireland, and accordingly measures were promptly bibhopnckb. ^aken for supplying the vacant bishopricks, which, for the purposes of disabling the Church of Ireland, and of supporting the Popish hierarchy in that king- dom, had been left unoccupied by King James II., as well as those which had more recently become vacant. Archbishoiiick Of the former class, the archbishoprick of Cashel, ofCashel. \ ^ ' the first in dignity, which had been destitute of a pastor since the death of Archbishop Price in 1684, was filled by the elevation of Narcissus Marsh from the see of Leighlin and Ferns, in February, 1691, the king's design of translating him having been notified on the 28th of the preceding December, immediately after the meeting of the English bishops, as related by Bishop Patrick. Narcissus Marsh. Arclibisliop Marsh Avas descended paternally from an ancient Saxon family in Kent, and mater- nally from the Coleburns of Dorsetshire. He was a native of Hannington, in Wiltshire, and had been educated at Oxford, first in Magdalen Hall, where he was admitted in July, 1645, and afterwards in Exeter College, of which he was elected a proba- tioner fellow in June, 1658. Having been chaplain to the Bishop of Exeter, and afterwards to the Earl Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 7 of Clarendon, he was, in May, 1673, appointed principal of St. Alban's Hall, whence, in abont five years afterwards, he was transferred to Ireland. By Dr. Twells, the biographer of the celebrated orien- talist, Dr. Edward Pocock, he is commemorated as an intimate friend of that learned author, and as one who Avas " himself eminently learned, and a great encourao'er of learning: in others." A jNIS. Diarv, preserved in the library, subse- ms. Diary of *' * Archbishop quently founded in the city of Dublin by this distin- Marsh, guished prelate, records several particulars in his earlier life; such as his appointment by the Duke of Ormonde, first to the provostship of Trinity College, in 1679, and then, in 1682, to the bishop- rick of Leiglilin and Ferns; his quiet continuance in his bishoprick, until King James came to the throne, "repairing churches, planting curates where wanting, and doing what good he could;" his perse- ms persecutions, cution in a little time by the Irish Papists ; his withdrawal to Dublin for security; his escape from a party of soldiers who beset his house in search of him at midnight; the severe and open menacing afterwards directed against him; his consequent inability to return to his house in the country; his refuge for some time in the provost's lodgings, until the goods being disposed of, and the place deserted by the family, he was not able to continue there any longer; finally, his " not having money to maintain himself in the city," and his consequent flight to and escape. England and straight to London, in iVIarch, 1689; where, he says, " I was kindly received by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, and others; but especially by the Bishop of St. Asaph, who bestowed on me the parish of Gretford, for my support under that calamity; 8 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. and by the Bishop of Sahshury, Dr. Burnet, who earnestly invited me several times to be at his liouse until I might return to Ireland. The Bisho]) of Lincoln also presented me with five guineas. The Lord remember them all for their kindness to the distressed. and pecuniary "After four mouths' stay in London, having in relief. •'^ ' o the mean time made provision for as many poor clergymen of Ireland, that Avere forced out thence, as I could, I went to Oxford, being invited thither by Dr. Bury, rector of Exeter College, where I was kindly entertained for nine months, and furnished with all necessaries both by the doctor and his wife, and by Mrs. Guise^ their daughter. The Lord reward them for it! " The Bishop of London sent me twenty guineas; Mrs. Rowney sent me five guineas; Mrs. Bury offered twenty guineas at my departure; but I refused them, as having no present occasion." So soon as the defeat of King James had opened a way for the bishop's return to Ireland, he availed liimself of the occasion; and having arrived there in iiispron.otion. August, was, after the interval of about four months, 1690 Till 1 T translated by the new government to the metropolitan see of Cashel, of which he received intelligence on the 20t]i of December, five days after the meeting of the English bishops, related above by Bishop Patrick. At about the same time the sees of Clonfert, Elphin, and Clogher, wdiich had been vacant, respectively, since the years 1684, 1685, and 1687, were filled, the first by the elevation of William Fitzgerald from the deanery of Cloyne, and the two Bishop Digby. last by the translation of Simon Digby and Richard Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 0 Teniiison from the bisliopricks of Limerick and Killala. Of these, the Bishop of Limerick had remained in Ireland during the late season of popish tyranny and persecution, and had profited by the occasion of his being in Dublin to join in congratulating King William on his victory at the Boyne. Bishop Tennison also Avould fain have r.isiiop Tumison. continued in his charge; from which, however, he was forcibly driven, as there hath been already occasion to notice, by the hard necessity of the times. From a parochial cure in the city of London he was now again called to take a new post in the Irish episcopate, where his active discharge of the publick offices of his ministry, for he is recorded as "remarkable for the constant exercise of preaching, by which he reduced many dissenters to the Church," and as having " in one year in his visitation confirmed about two thousand five hundred persons'," bears testimony to the fitness of the choice. And it may be here not imper- tinent to notice, that, having been subsequently translated to JNIeath, he set a valuable example to his brethren and his successors, by bequeathing a sum of money to the Lord Primate for the purchase of land, to serve as the foundation for a fund, to which he expressed his hope that the bishops of the kingdom would make additions, for the main- tenance of clergymen's widows and orphans^ The vacancies made by these translations were supplied by the promotion of Bartholomew Vigors, Nathaniel Wilson, and William Lloyd, respectively Deans of Armagh, Raphoe, and Achonry, to the several sees of Leighlin and Ferns, of Limerick, and of Killala. 1 Ware, 191. ^ Ibid, 1G2. 10 THE REIGN OP [Ch. I. ecsofDerryand The SGGS of DeiTV and of Watei'ford had been Waterfoid. *' . i i . i i vacated about the same period, which nearly coin- cided with the termination of King James's unhappy reign; the former by the death of Bishop Hopkins, which occurred on the 29th of June, 1690, in Lon- don, whither he had fled for protection"; the hitter by the death of Bishop Gore, wdiich took place some- what later in the same year, in consequence of some inhuman treatment inflicted on him by Irish ruffians. Account of The see of Derry had been designed for the well- Geoige^\aiker. j^j^^^j-^ Rby, Gcorge Walkor, more valued at the time, and more commemorated afterwards, for his military exploits, than for his ])eaceful and clerical character. The son of English parents, a native of the county of Tyrone, in Ireland, and educated in the university of Glasgow, he had been admitted to holy orders in the Irish church, and became rector of Donoghmore, a parish not many miles distant from Londonderry. During the conflict that arose out of the arbitrary proceedings of King James he had raised a regim.ent for the defence of the Pro- testant cause; and having gallantly engaged in the protection of the town against the besieging forces of the king, he was chosen its governour, and in that capacity delivered it from its besetting dangers, until at length he resigned it safe into the hands of the English general. His reception in The gracious reception of him by the new "iG»9. sovereigns on a visit, which he soon afterwards made to England, intimated their sense of his services. The thanks of the House of Commons testified that his claims were adequately recognised by the English Parliament. And the degree of Doctor of Divinity, conferred on him by the uni- ^ Ware, 295. Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 11 versity of Oxford, the 26tli of February, 1690, on liis return towards Ireland, bore witness to the estimation in which lie was hekl by that learned body. A higlier distinction, however, awaited him from regal hands. " The king," says Dr. Tillotsou, in a letter to Lady Russell, dated London, Septem- ber the 19th, 1689, just before his own elevation to the archbishoprick of Canterbury', "The king, besides his first bounty to Mr, Walker, whose modesty is equal to his merit, hath made him Bishop of Londonderry, one of the best bishopricks in Ireland, that so he may receive the reward of that great service in the place where he did it. It is incredible how much everybody is pleased with what the king hath done in this matter ; and it is no small joy to me to see that God directs him to do so wisely." The reward here specified must have been in nisreiurnto ^ Ireland. anticipation of the vacancy; for the death of Bishop ^^^^ Hopkins, which occasioned it, did not occur till the 29th of June, 1690', eleven months after the date of the before-cited letter, and two days before the death of his designed successor. It has, indeed, been else- where stated, that Walker, at the time ofhis own death, had in his pocket his appointment to the bishoprick. This could have been a promise only, and not the actual appointment. But, however this be, the military occupation, in which he had been engaged, when urgent circumstances appeared to call for and to afford an apology for his services, had inspired him with a soldier s ardour, which survived the urgency of the call. He returned to Ireland; but, instead of returning to his professional functions, he again min- gled with the army, and was killed in the battle of the * Birch's Life of Tillotson, 281. " Ware, p. 295. 12 THE REIGN OF [CJ^ I. Boy lie, " having resolved to serve that campaign be- fore he took possession of his bishoprick'." To those who look back with a calm and unimpassioned eye on these events, it may seem questionable how far the king " did wisely" in proposing to reward services, And intended such as thosc of Ml*. Walker, with such a reward, prefeiment. ^^^^ ^|^^^ licsitate lu coucurring with the senti- ment that such a measure was attributable to the particular " direction of God." They may moreover think, that whatever pleasure and joy were felt by others in the prospect of Mr. Walker s promotion, in the sober-minded churchman, at least, the gratifi- cation must have been abated, by seeing his future spiritual pastor, on tlie eve of his consecration to the episcopate, resuming his military career of choice, rather than of necessity, and again wielding the weapons of a carnal warfare. Bishops King The death of Walker made, of course, a new and Foy. appointment necessary. And, accordingly, the two sees of Derry and Waterford were now appropriately bestowed on two distinguished champions of the Church, eminent for their trials and their services during the late season of trouble, rebuke, and blas- phemy : the former on William King, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, whose name has been already commemorated with honour, for his delegated super- intendence of the diocese of Dublin in the arch- bishop's absence ; the latter on Dr. Nathaniel Foy, who was conspicuous for his opposition to the Popish corruptions, and for his advocacy of the pure doc- trines of the National Church, to the great risk and peril of his life; and who, having in consequence been a partaker with Dr. King in assaults and imprisonment, was now deemed worthy of par- Birch's Life of TilloUon, p. 221. Srx. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. taking in his elevation to tlie episcopal office and dignity. By permission of his metropolitan, Primate Boyle, Avhose age and infirmities incapacitated him for every active duty, the new Bishop of Derry was consecrated to his order by tlie Archbishop of Dublin, on the 25th of January, 1691, and immediately after his consecration proceeded to visit his diocese. Its con- state of diocese T • n T 1 • 11 of Derry. dition was one of great distress and misery ; and such ic9i. as to require his immediate care, attended by power- ful remedies. In consequence of the ravages, to which it had been long subject, its villages and plantations were all destroyed : its churches burnt or dilapidated ; its clergy withdrawn, and its parishes forsaken, the poverty of the people, and the want of tillage and cattle, being insufficient for the support of a resident ministry. To the correction of these evils the diocesan applied himself with viefour and Exertions of ^ 1 1 1 . .1 . 1 1 Bishop King. effect. Partly by his own contributions, and partly by an arrear of rent collected from the tenants of the bishoprick during the vacancy of the see, and ordered by the Government to be placed at his disposal, he repaired the churches which had been laid waste by King James's army, and built several new ones in addition. He collected about him an efficient clergy, by compelling the incumbents either to reside or to appoint and maintain sufficient curates ; and many he supported from his own revenues, until the im- provements of their respective parishes provided them with a decent maintenance. And, as vacancies occurred amongst his clergy, he tilled them with men remarkable for their learning and moderation, as well as exemplary for their piety and good morals. This, however, was not effected without delay, nor, indeed, without considerable dissatisfaction and oppo- 14 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. sition. In his MS. correspondence, to be hereafter noticed, he says of himself, " I believe no bishop was ever more railed at for the first two years, than I was at Londonderry, by both clergy and laity. But by good offices, steadiness in my duty, and just management, I got the better of them, and they joined with me heartily in promoting those very things for which they opposed and condemned me at first." Scotch From without, also, the situation of his diocese Presbyterans. ' brought him into conflict with other difficulties, which he combated with earnest zeal, regulated and directed by knowledge. New colonies from Scot- land had poured into the northern parts of Ireland, and thus, unhappily, had strength been added to the previous armament of dissent and separation, arranged against the Church. To counteract this evil the Bishop of Derry directed his efforts : he laboured fervently, but temperately and prudently withal, by the methods of gentle and Christian reasoning, and by an example of meekness, charity, and good offices, to work upon the Protestant dissenters in his dio- cese, and to persuade them to a conformity with the discipline and ceremonies, as well to a profession of the doctrines and creeds of the Church. The work of his ministry is recorded to have been attended with considerable success^ And a proof and a speci- men of his episcopal vigilance remains in his treatise Treatise on the ou TliB Ifiventions of Meti in the Worship of God: Inventions of *^ . Meninthewor- a trcatisc lu wliich the arguments in vindication of ship of God." 1^1 f* 1 the Church's forms of divine worship are exemplified from Holy Scripture, set forth in a perspicuous method, and enforced by conclusive reasoning ; which is calm and afiectionate in manner, free from all 7 Harris's Ware, p. 3GG. Sec. I.] WILLIAM IIL AND MARY. 15 bitterness of spirit^ and all harshness of language ; and of which, whilst some opponents have com- mended *'the air of seriousness and gravity, becoming the weight of the subject, as well as the dignity of the writer's character," no one has been found to confute its positions, or to invalidate its truth. This discourse of the Bishop of Derry, however, comparison of Churchmen and called forth an answer from a Mr. Boyse, a person Dissenters, of some eminence amongst the dissenting ministers of the day, composed in a manner, and with a spirit, very different from the author's, who, however, con- sidered himself required to give some explanation concerning certain matters of fact, which were attri- buted to him as mistakes, but which he deemed capable of proof. In this undertaking he was led to mention several particulars of the state of religion, as professed by Churchmen and Protestant dis- senters ; and these particulars it is now intended to abstract from the tract, and submit them to the reader as matters of historical information. The tract was entitled, " An Admonition to the Dissent- ing Inhabitants of the Diocese of Derry, concerning a Book lately published by Mr. J. Boyse," and so it was published in Dublin, 1694. It was also pub- lished in London, 1706, under the title of "An Admonition to the Dissenters, being a Vindication of a Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God." In the interval the author had been translated from the see of Derry to that of Dublin ; and it is possible that since the original date certain allowances should be made, though I am not aware of their being requisite, for some altera- tion in the state of things during the interval. After some introductory remarks, he begins with Religious igno- ranee. stating that, at the time of writing, he had been 16 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. above three years amongst the inhabitants of Derry, and had aken the best care he could to inform him- self of the state and condition of the diocese, and of every parish therein. He had visited each of them several times, and discoursed personally with many hundreds, and informed himself particularly of the customs, manners, inclinations, and scruples of every sort and persuasion. He had found, to his great trouble, much ignorance among the poor people; insomuch that of 800, or more, of the dissenters' communion, with whom he personally discoursed, he did not find above four persons that could give any account of their catechism, and only two that could repeat it, and a great many that could neither say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, nor Ten Command- ments. Of this he had many witnesses, that were present at some of his discourses, ^ff^ct^oft^afe- " I (]o not say," continues the bishop, "this igno- rance was peculiar to dissenters, for too many con- formable persons were in the same condition. This I looked on with great compassion and concern, as it became me ; and, in order to remedy it, I took care to have English schools kept in every parish, accord- ing to law ; and obliged the schoolmaster to teach the Catechism, and the ministers to catechise in each parish : and I furnished them with Catechisms, which, with God's assistance, has proved of good use to such as are conformable, near 2000 of all ages having since learned the Catechism, and presented them- selves to be confirmed. I could not have the same influence on you that differ from me ; and yet I hope my endeavours have not been useless to you, but have helped to raise an emulation in you to instruct your children." SSism -^^^^ great obstacle to the dissenters learning Sec. I.l WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 17 their Catechism, the Bishop found to be its length and intricacy, insomuch that, generally speakiug, whoever could not read must despair of getting it by heart. He was thus put upon persuading them to make use of an easier Catechism, not excluding their own, if they had a mind to it. At this time there were only nine meeting-houses smaiinmiiberof IT 1 T 1 . 1 ?5 1 m?cting-houses. in the diocese, "and 1 think, he observes, "the number is not increased." He then reports the result of the best inquiry he could make among themselves and other people, according to which, upon an average of one meeting-house and one Lord's-day with another, there were not 300 at each meeting : so that, supposing 30,000 persons as com- puted to be the amount of those persons who pro- fessed themselves to be of the Presbyterian persua- sion, and who, on that account, absented themselves from church, there appeared to be only one in ten, or thereabout, who attended God's worship anywhere on the Lord's day. The case seems to have been not much better before the late troubles: for though there were then some more meeting-houses, the number of people attached to them was proportionably more also. The bishop found the sense of religion much decayed amongst them by means of this small num- ber of their meeting-houses ; and many of them, when pressed by him to worship God somewhere, answered, that they could do it at home. " And, indeed," he Non-attendance adds, "I have found some that had not been at any worsMpJ^' publick worship in seven years; and it is not to be wondered at, when some of you are ten miles, some twenty, from a meeting-place. I cast about in my mind how to remedy this ; and in order to it, inquired of many of you why you did not frequent the publick church, since you had none else which you could c 18 THE llEIGN OF LCii. I. constantly attend with your families. I perceived that three objections especially had stuck Avith you rissenteiv obj.c- fomierlv; first, that our ministers were poi^ishly tionstothe i n chuicb. inclined; secondly, that some of them were of ill lives and negligent; and thirdly, that our service was only human inventions, and had no particular warrant from Scripture. The first and second of these I found, by God's blessing, in great measure removed at my coming amongst you; so that I cannot say that any of you ever objected them to me. And as to the third, I particularly examined what things they were in our ordinary Lord's-day's service which you taxed as human inventions, for I only invited you to that service, and which made you think it more justifiable to stay at home than to come to our churches ; and I carefully marked what you objected, and put them in the form that you now find them in this book." Number of parish Tho bishop elsewliere observes, that the meeting- cburches, ^ houses were more numerous in his diocese of Derry than in the neighbour dioceses of the north ; there being, that he could learn, only four in Raplio diocese, in which, and in the other dioceses of the north, the parish churches w^ere proportionally as many more than the meetings as they were in the diocese of Derry. In this diocese it has been already stated that the number of meeting-houses was nine: in the same diocese there were at the time forty-tv;o congregations, in which the offices of the Church were constantly performed, coicbrntion of lu auotlior part of the tract is introduced a Lord's Supper by Dissenters, cuHous couiputatiou as to tho mmistcriug of the Lord's Supper. In the preceding seven years the Lord's Supper had been celebrated amongst the Presbyterians Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 19 111 LoiKlondeiTY, twice 111 Clondermot, onco At Ballindret, once At Bally kelly, onco At Burt, twice At Ardstra, once . At Ahadowy, once . 2 1 1 1 1 1 In all, nine times 9 So that, in the whole diocese, it had been celebrated by them only nine times in seven years; and that, at one with another, there were about 400 who received, though the bishop's information did not allow so many. In seven years about 3,600 may be computed to have received. But in the Church, since he came to the diocese, ana in the which was about three years and two months before the date of his treatise, the Lord's Supper had been administered In the cathedral about . . 43 times In the parish churches, first year 78 „ ,, second year 103 „ „ third year 162 „ In all 385 „ So that in the Church the holy sacrament had been administered in the diocese, during three years and two months, about 886 times, being about forty- three for once in the Presbyterian meetings during seven years. As to the number of communicants in the Church," Number of coni- adds the bishop, '* I cannot give an exact computation; but as to the cathedral, v> hcre I have, for the most part, officiated myself, I can give this account : C 2 20 THE REIGX OF [Cii. I. At 4 Easter sacraments, one with another, above 200; in all .... 800 A.t 3 Christmas sacraments, and 3 AVhit- sundajs, one with another, above 100 at a time GOO At 33 monthly sacraments, one with ano- ther, 50 1650 In all. ...... 3050 From which it is manifest, that near as many have received, in one parish in this diocese, in about three years' time, as with you, in the w^hole diocese, in twice that time ; not- withstanding the numerousness of those who are of your profession. " As to the larger towns, I call only three such in this part of the coutnry, that is, Londonderry and Strabane, in this diocese, and Coleraine, on the border of it. Now, as to Londonderry, it has had this sacrament administered but twice in six or seven years, and Coleraine but once in that time; and as to Strabane, though it, as well as the others, had a settled ministry in it before and some time since the troubles, yet I am informed, from good hands, that in twenty-six years last past the Lord's Supper has been Dissenters' man- administered in it but twice. And I have the more ner of celebration. j.g^gQj^ believc tliis, bccause your sacraments are admi- nistered with so great a concourse of spectators and hearers, besides those that receive, that they can hardly escape observation, which would have been reckoned a profanation of this holy mystery in the primitive times, and in earnest an abuse brought in by Popery." The foregoing extracts bring us acquainted with some circumstances in the religious profession of the north, as maintained by Churchmen and Pres- byterians; of the condition of the Papists it did not fall ^vithin the scope of Bishop King's undertaking to make any mention. Alive, however, to the evilf^and dangers which con- Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 21 tiniially beset tlie Church from her enemies on either side, and prepared to meet and repel their efforts with " the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," the new prelate, who had been im- state of roreiy pressed by paniful experience, as well as by protound theological learning and historical knowledge, with a due sense of the character of the Romish church, was prepared to protect his flock against assaults from that quarter. And, in counteracting the progress of Popery in his diocese, much credit has been given, with reason, to Bishop King for his exertions. J\lany of the Irish natives having left their habi- chmch service tations in the barony of Inishowen, in the county of Donegal, and followed the Irish army into the south, after the raising of the siege of Londonderry, several families, having migrated from the Highlands of Scotland, settled in their places. These Highlanders being Protestants, but not understanding the Eng- lish language, presented a petition to the Bishop of in Deny, Derry, praying that a minister might be sent to perform divine offices amongst them in their own tongue. This was readily granted, and two ministers were accordingly commissioned to celebrate divine service in that barony in the Irish language; one of them being a beneficed clergyman, and the other receiving a competent allowance from the bishop. And by the blessing of God u]3on their labours, they formed a congregation of four or five hundred persons, none of whom understood English. The good effects of establishing these two clergy- men, callable of officiating in the Irish language, in the diocese of Derry, were so apparent, that several of the same description were, for the same reasons, employed in the northern parts of the county of Antrim; for that district having been also deserted andmconnor. 22 THE REIGN OF [Cji. I. by the Irish, on the landing of the English army near Carrickfergns, in 1680, many families from the western isles of Scotland, who understood no lan- guage but the Irish, settled there. At their first arrival, they attended the divine service of the Church; but not understanding it by reason of the language in which it was celebrated, in a short time they went over to the communion of the Church of Rome, desirous of having the benefit of such exhor- tations as the Popish priests usually gave their con- gregations in the Irish tongue; and, when they were asked their motives to the change, they answered, that "it was better to be of that religion than of none at all:" an inevitable consequence of no pro- vision being made for performing the offices of religion for their l)enefit in a language which they understood. This consequence being perceived, and a proof having been given by this example, that, if proper means were not used to prevent it, the Highlanders, who removed in considerable numbers into that part of Ireland, must be Papists, or Protestant dissenters, or of no religion, a petition was presented to the Bishop of Down and Connor, in which diocese the county of Antrim is situate, requesting the appoint- ment of a minister, who might officiate for them in their own tongue. Such a minister was accordingly sent amongst them, named Duncan Mac Arthur, and, on his death, a second, Archibald MacCollum, appointed by the bishop to celebrate the offices of the Church in the Irish language. And their ministry "was blessed with such success, that they not only brought back to the Church those Highlanders who had lapsed to Popery, but converted also many of the natives of Ireland to the religion of the Church, Sec. I.] WILLIAM III. AND MAUY. Besides these, three or four other clergymen, erjually well qualified for their peculiar posts, were placed in the same connty, and collected abont them consider- able congregations. The foregoing particnlars are taken from a " History of the Attempts to Convert the Popish natives of Ireland to the Estabiislied Religion," by the Rev. John Richardson, published in 1712: he speaks of these valuable results as being in progress at the time of his publication, and adds, "by these means, many Highlanders and Popish natives are added to our Church: whereas in other places, where such care is not taken of them, the natives do not only continue in Popery; but many of the Highlanders are drawn off to separate meetings, or to the Romish superstition and idolatry." But the proceedings of Bishop King in liis diocese have rather led to the anticipation of affairs of a later period : we recur therefore to the regular course of events, by observing that to his episcopal charge of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, the bishop elect, Nathaniel Foy, was consecrated in August, 1691, by the new metropolitan. Archbishop Foy, bishop of Narcissus Marsh, who in the previous January, in his '" '^'iSi.' capacity of suffragan Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, had assisted his then metropolitan, his namesake, but not, so far as appears, his kinsman, Archbishop Francis Marsh of Dublin, in the consecration of Bishop King. This his consecration of Bishop Foy, the first metropolitical act of the kind in which he was engaged, the Archbishop of Cashel commemo- rates in his Viari/, with a prayer, accompanied by the expression of his "great hopes," that the newly- consecrated prelate may be " made an instrument of God's great glory." Whereas a record of the conse- cration about the same time of another of the 24 THE REIGN OF LCii. I. recently-appointed bishops had drawn from him the remark, " In which consecration I had no hand, the Lord's name be praised for it ! nor may I ever be concerned in bringing unworthy men to the Church." Section II. Other Episcopal changes. General acquiescence in change of dynasty. New oath of allegiance. Beasons for taking it. Anonymous pamphlet. Its supposed author. Bishop Sheridan^ a no7i-juror: his deprivation and subsequent distress. Order concerni^ig his intended successor: his rejection^ and circumstances connected therewith. Bishop- ricks of Kilmore and Ardagh. Preferment of a Scotch prelate to Bapho, Belief given from Ireland to Scottish clergy. Few Irish non-jurors. Charles Leslie: his life^ deaths and character. Henry Dodwell. Converts. De- privation of Bishop Hackett and Archdeacon Mattheics. Character of Bishop Foley. Other newly-appointed Bishops. Death of Archbishop Francis Marsh. Nar- cissus Marshy Archbishop of Dublin : his library. Death of the Queen. In connexion with these changes in the Irish epis- copate, may be mentioned certain others, which marked the early years of the reign of King WilHam and Queen Mary. General acqui- Thc IHsh prclatcs ahiiost unanimously acquiesced escence in the i'r«iT change of in thc chaugc of dynasty, and pledged their hdelity to the new sovereigns by the form, which, by the authority of an English Act of Parliament, was sub- stituted for the one that had been previously im- posed. The words of the former oath were these : "I, A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare, in my conscience, before God and the world, that our Sovereign Lord King James is lawful and rightful king of this realm. . . . Also, I do swear in my heart, that notwithstanding Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MAHY. 25 any declaration or sentence of excommunication, or deprivation, made or granted, or to be made or granted by tiie Pope or his successors, .... I will bear faith and true allegiance to his JNlajesty, his heirs, and successors; and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever," &c. The other ran thus : ncu- oath of alk'giauce. " T, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen JNIary." To the adoption of this latter form the bishops, Reasons for tak- ing it. and together with them the clergy and other mem- bers of the Church, were probably induced by such considerations as these : that the obligations of their oath of allegiance to King James had been annulled, for that, 1. He had by his own lawless conduct made it unlawful to them ; 2. That by the previous trans- actions and the actual state of things, God and King- James had made it impossible ; 3. That the Pro- testants of Ireland were formally released from it, perhaps by law, certainly in reason and equity : con- siderations, probably enforced by tlie cautious and moderate terms of the new oath, Avhich promised fidelity to the actual sovereigns, but forbore from any recognition of their abstract right. These considerations are put forward in a pam- Publication on the case of Iribh jDhlet, entitled " The Case of the Irish Protestants Protestants, in relation to recognising, or swearing allegiance to, and praying for. King William and Queen JMary, stated and resolved." An advertisement prefixed is dated October 27, 1690: but the title-page bears upon it, "London: Printed for Robert Clavel, at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church Yard, MDCXCI." On these views the author argues at some length, showing how the conduct of King James had been 26 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. such as to exempt the Irish Protestants from tlieir allegiance in these several respects; and he winds up his argument thus : Summary of the "The conclusion theii of all shall be: out of the power argument. ^j^^ king, wlio would iiot be persuaded to preserve him- self, and neither could nor would ])rotect his Protestant subjects ; out of the hands of merciless and barbarous fellow- subjects, who were bent to have destroyed both themselves and their country, and all in it, with themselves ; and finally, from the lashes of the scourge of Christendom ; God has brought us poor oppressed Protestants under a Protes- tant prince. The case now in short is, whether we will accept protection or no ? The conditions indeed, say our adversaries, are very hard. Yes, they are no less than what God has made our duty, if not our necessity, to swear to bear faith and true allegiance to, and pray for, our deliverers and their conquerors, in that quality wherein we find them, and wherein they have delivered us and conquered them : that is to promise sacredly to man such subjection, and to make to God such prayers, which in our present condition, even without such promise, it were sin not to do. In the whole Pevolution, God has not vouchsafed to us, such Irish Protestants, who are mainly concerned in this paper, any active part in advancing these princes to their power. He has thought fit to assign us still only a passive lot. We must acknowledge it is not, it has not been, our business, to set up powers, but yet we must own it is our duty to obey them. And no less certainly to be thankful to God and them, if we may be protected by them. The Scripture is express, ' Let every soul be subject to the higher powers.** Such certainly the conquerors are. And, ' I exhort tliat first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all that are put in authority,'' even for the person of a Nero therefore at that time ; and, if for the froward, much more for the good and gentle." Pamphlet This pamphlet is anonymous. Speaking of him- anonymous. ^^j^^ ^j^^ authoF says lu his advertisement, " In his Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. arguing he chose for satisfaction to proceed r^atlier on foundations of divinity than policy and law : little meddling with those grounds, on which, since the writing hereof, he finds abler heads most to build." But of the individual the tract itself gives no indica- tion. A copy of it, however, is preserved in Trinity College Library', bound in a volume with twelve others in defence of the new oath of allegiance, this being the only one of the thirteen which has a special relation to the Protestants of Ireland ; and in that copy an interlineation in the advertisement, appa- rently written by a contemporaneous hand, speaks of the tract as the composition of " a Bp. or Dr. of the Chair ;" and a hand- writing, different from the other, but in appearance of about the same age, has inscribed on the title-page, "Bp. Cork, and Bp: C:" The pamphlet, therefore, though it has escaped the notice of Harris, in his Writers of Ireland, may pro- bably be attributed to Edward Wetenhall, who had 11,;^^'' suffered great oppression and cruelty under the late tyranny, and was bishop of the united sees of Cork and Ross. But whoever was the author of the tract, the conduct recommended by it was followed by all the Irish prelates, with the exception of only one mem- ber of their body. Of the bishops, who had been driven from their Anonjimng sees by the arbitrary and lawless proceedings of King James II., and constrained to seek refuge in England, Sheridan, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, was one. He was the son of a Popish priest in the diocese of Kilmore, avIio had been converted to a renunciation of the Popish corruptions, and an adoption of the ' R. R. p. p. 25. 28 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. truth of the Gospel, as professed by the Church, by the judicious zeal of Bishop Bedell; and, having testified the sincerity of his conversion, by his un- shaken adherence to his adopted faith in the rebel- lion of 1641, and by the relief which he alforded in that season of persecution to many of the afflicted members of the Church, and even to the venerable Bishop Bedell himself, survived to see two of his sons elevated to the episcopate : Patrick, who died in 1682, possessed of the bishoprick of Cloyne ; and William, who now retaliated the injuries inflicted on him from his late sovereign by a faithful and im- moveable allegiance. An Act of Parliament, the authority of which, though passed by the English Legislature, was recognised in Ireland, made it obli- gatory upon him to take the oaths to the new sove- reigns ; and his refusal to comply, although he endeavoured to shelter himself from the penalty by absenting himself from Ireland, was followed by his His deprivation, deprivation^ In fact, "according to the ancient laws of the kingdom," as affirmed by Bishop King, in his MS. Correspondence, "for absentees without licence, his bishoprick was forfeited by his abs^nce." His subsequent JMr. Harrls states, that, "after his deprivation he lived in London many years, where nonjurors, and others of his own opinion, resorted to his house, for the private exercise of their devotion. He died," adds Mr. Harris, " as I am informed, about the year 1716." anddifttiebs Prcvlously to his death, however, he fell into a condition of great penury and decrepitude. In a letter to the Bishop of Ferns, from London, Febru- ary, 1704, Archbishop King writes, as I find in his MS. correspondence, " Bishop Sheridan has been - Ware, p. 2U. Sec. II. I WILLIAM III. AND MAUY. 29 with me : he is exceeding- poor and crazy. It is not fit one of our order should be exposed to begging. I hope my lords the bishops will remember him, as they did last year: pray subscribe for me 10/. as I did before." In two or three other letters of about the same date, the archbishop notices to other Irisli prelates the poverty of "their brother Sheridan," who thus appears to have been supported by season- able contributions from the episcopal body. To his immediate successors in the bishoprick Relieved by his indeed he was probably at first principally indebted for support : and it appears to have been at one time in contemplation, to procure a regular provision for him out of the revenues of the see. Such a project was submitted to the Irish bishops at the instance of Mr. Dodwell, and is thus commented upon by Bishop King, in a letter of jNIarch the 8rd, 1702, addressed to Dr. ]\Iadden, who was the vehicle of the proposal : " SlE, " I perused the letter you sent me from ^Ir. Dod- Project for pro- well, and communicated the contents of it to my brothers here, who very much approved of taking Bishop Sheridan's case into consideration, and are desirous to do him all the justice in their power; and do think Mr. DodwelFs proposal may be a handle to give him some satisfaction. They say, by ancient practice and the laws of the Church, a man may resign his bishoprick, reserving to himself a pension out of the profits of it : that to avoid schism, many formalities have been laid aside, and even two bishops allowed in a see, to which Mr. Dodwell is no stranger: that, if such a iuethod can be concerted, they would be willing to secure the bishop a pension during his life : that his resignation may express the reasons that occasion it, and his deprivation by lay power only may be ])rotested against in it, though that be not altogether bis case, as they conceive : they rather lay it on bis deserting his charge, contrary to the so THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. laws of the Church and kingdom, that make that depriva- tion ipso facto. But I do think Mr. Dodvvell altogether in the right in not disputing that affair, for no good can come of such a contest ; whereas, in the way he proposes, some claim of a right to the Church may be preserved, and in our present difficult circumstances that is better than nothing. I think the bishop will be likewise justified, even on his own principles : for what better can he do 1 who, if he come to his own diocese, perhaps would not be able to get one single person to join with him. "I do not know whether I have hit Mr. DodwelFs meaning in his proposal ; but if I have not, he will, I believe, take this occasion to explain himself. You may communicate this to him, with my respects as an old friend, and let him know, if anything be done in this affair, the value that the bishops here have for his learning and other good qualities, is the chief ground of it ; and his appearing in it will prevail much still with them. " I heartily recommend you to God ; and am yours, &;c. " W. D.'' If the Bishop of Deny, at the time, and with his opportunities and means of information, " did not know whether he hit Mr. Dodwell's meaning in his proposals," a modern reader of his correspondence may be allowed to regard this occurrence as not altogether free from obscurity. It may, however, be considered sufficiently clear, that no certain pro- vision was thus made for the displaced prelate, as he was subsequently living on eleemosynary contribu- tions from his brethren. Proceeding in consequence of Bp. Sheridan's deprivation. 1GD2. I recur to the date of his deprivation, which penalty, to whatever law it be attributed, was in- curred early in the year 1C92 : and it was in con- nexion with this vacancy, that some proceedings of a nature rather uncommon and remarkable are indicated in the Diar^ of Archbishop Marsh, under that year. Skc. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 31 On the 24tli of October, he notes, *' The Lord- Queen-s order \ concerning Dean Lieutenant, by the queen's orders commanded me, — • the Bishops of Meath, Kiklare, Rapho, Clogher, and AVaterford, to give him our opinion sincerely, whether we thought Dr. S qualified for a bishop. " 25. We gave our joint opinion in writing, that ^^^f^p^^bc^u^n. being a man of an ill fame, we could not judge him qualified for a bishop, unless he should purge and clear himself of that fame. I ofave an account hereof to the bishops of London, Salisbury, and Coventry. Lord, preserve me in this hazardous undertaking, I beseech thee." The subject is resumed on the first of November Difficulty of act- in l'. following. This morning, the Archbishop of Dublin acquainted us, (the six bishops before men- tioned.) that he had received an order from my Lord- Lieutenant, upon Dean S 's petition, that he and the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's should inquire into the matter of the ill fame of Dr. S ; but not having authority thereby to summon and swear Avitnesses, his Grace thought that he could not act thereby." On the Srd of the same month, "DeanS i>eans — •= petition. put in a petition, that he might be purged of an ill fame, that was objected against him, at the Lords' bar. The petition was admitted, but the Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishops of Meath, Derry, and Water- ford, dissented. Then the house in a confused, tumultuous manner desired the speaker to acquaint his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, that they made their request that the queen would take no notice of any private whispers concerning Dean S , until he had purged himself at the bar of the Lords' house." What were the circumstances of this case, the uncertainty and Diary makes no mention ; but the author of the ceding! ^""^ ^"^^ 82 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. Diary seems to have regarded it as pregnant with evil consequences to himself. For having added, that '*my Lord Lieutenant thereupon entered the house in his royal robes and having given a sum- mary of the ensuing proceedings in the house, he subjoins, with evident reference to the foregoing- account : " O Lord ! look upon me in mercy, and deliver me from the great calamities and troubles that this affair is like to bring upon me, Avherein I endeavour only to discharge a good conscience, O Lord I and tliat thou knowest, who knowest all things. Hear me, O God^ hear me and deliver me, I most humbly beseech thee !" Conduct of the Ou tlie 9th, he remarks: "We, the bishops bi,hop.,. concerned, agreed upon a letter to be sent to my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the whole of Dr. S 's business to his grace, which was subscribed by all the six bishops but Kildare and liapho. The four subscribers also sent letters to their friends to the same purpose, namely, to the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield; the Bishop of Meath to the Bishop of London ; the Bishop of Clogher to the Bishop of Lincoln ; and the Bishop of Waterford to uhe Bishop of Salisbury : and the Bishop of Derry also wrote to the Bishop of Wor- cester. Lord, grant that these letters may have their due effect, to the glory of thy name, and the good of thy Church." Result of ti:enp. With tho excoptiou of a brief note, the 24th of position. ^ the same month, "About this time I received a letter from the Bishop of London about this affair, which I answered by the next post," the Diary contains no further particulars. But the foregoing narrative, scanty as it is, may be thought to possess Kome interest for the ecclesiastical incpiirer, exem- Sfir. IT.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. S3 plifying a successful opposition to an intentio^i of introducing an unworthy person into the government of the Church. I say successful, for the individual whose character was thus brought into question was certainly never advanced to the episcopate, though his younger brother was, some years afterwards, promoted to one of the highest stations in the Church, which he adorned by his virtues, as he edified it by his talents and learning. It is with evident allusion to this case that Bishop Bumefs account of the Bishop Burnet speaks in his Histori/ of his Own occurrence. Times, though his epithet of " great" appears inaptly chosen to designate a " family" distinguished by no rank, or property, or political influence in the country. " The state of Ireland," he says, " leads me to insert here a very particular instance of the queen's pious care in the disposing of bishopricks. Lord Sidnev was so far euo-aofed in the interest of a great family of Ireland, that he was too easily wrought on to recommend a branch of it to a vacant see. The representation was made with an undue character of the person; so the queen granted it. But when she understood tliat he lay under a very bad character, she Avrote a letter with her own hand to Lord Sidney, letting him know what she had heard, and ordered him to call for six Irish bishops, whom she named to him, and to require them to certify to her their opinion of that person. They all agreed that lie laboured under ill fame; and, till that was examined into, they did not think it proper to promote him; so that matter was let fall. I do not name the person, for I intend not to leave a blemish on him, but set this down as an example fit to be imitated by Christian ])rince>;." In the end, the bishoprick of Kilmore was con- Translation of Bishop Smith. D THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. ferred on William Smith, bishop of Raphoe, one of the prelates who had been driven for a season from their sees by the tyranny of the preceding reign. Ardagli separated A few months, however, before his translation, the fiom Kiimoic, j^jgi^Qp^ick of Ardagh, which had in ancient times formed an independent see, but had been united to Kilmore in 1603, though again separated by the spontaneous act of Bishop Bedell in 1633, and again united in 1663, was on the present vacancy placed under the care of a separate pastor, in the person of Ulysses Burgh, a Doctor of Divinity of Dublin University, and Dean of Emly, who was consecrated in September, 1692. Mr. Harris, who states the fact, assigns no special cause either for tlie separa- and reunited. tiou at tliis time, or for the reunion of the bishop- ricks in the spring of the following year, when, Bishop Burgh having died in the interval, they were again brought into union, and committed to the oversight of William Smith, who became Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. This translation of Bishop Smith from Raphoe now caused occasion for the appointment of a Scotch prelate, Alexander Cairncross or Cairncastle, arch- bishop of Glasgow, on whom severe sufferings had been inflicted by the two great divisions of sectarists, the Presbyterians and the Papists. His episcopal principles had first caused him to be obnoxious to the Scotch Presbyterians, by whom he was rigorously treated and expelled from Glasgow. By his reluc- tance to abandon the obligations of his Protestant faith, he had afterwards become offensive to Kino- James, and was deposed from his archbishoprick, because, as Mr. Harris states, he would not accede to the measure of abrogating the oatlis wliich were Preferment of a Seotcli prelate. who had been deprived of his bishopriek. Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 35 required of Papists as a qualification for servi^^g in civil employments; or because, as related by the Rev. John Skinner, in the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, ii. 502, he hesitated in complying with an order to punish for presumption one of the clergy of his diocese, who, before a numerous auditory in the High Church of Edinburgh, and in the presence of most of the privy council and many of the bishops, had set forth and argued against the corruptions and perils of popery. His sentence of deprivation was accordingly Causes of his pronounced in 1687, in pursuance of letters of Kaphoe. deprivation from King James. But his cause was taken up by the succeeding sovereign ; and through the intercession and influence of Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, the king's letters-patent were issued for his appointment to the see of Raphoe, the 16th of IMay, 1693, partly in compensation of his 1693. former losses and sufferings, and partly to " open an inlet and shelter in his diocese to the Scotch episcopal clergy, who were forced to fly from Scot- land on the score of their religion':" a poor com- pensation to the individual for the deprivation of his rightful dignity in his own country, and a very insufficient and unsatisfactory exchange to the Scotch clergy for stations of honour and emolument in their own apostolical church, which they had the pain of seeing sacrificed by the new government to the innovations of modern sectarianism. To the Scottish cleroT, in this their season of i^eiief given to Scottish clergy privation and distress, pecuniary assistance was fromireiand. rendered by their Irish brethren. From Mr. Skin- ner's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland we learn, that one of the ejected ministers obtained a brief, ^ Wakk, p. 277, D 2 THE REIGN OP [Ch. I. soon after this period, from the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, for collecting money among tlie well- disposed in that kingdom for the relief of the suffer- ing clergy in Scotland. With tin's sanction, and by the able assistance of Archbishop King, who occupied at the time, first, the bishoprick of Derry, and then the metropolitan see of Dublin, he collected above nine hundred pounds; which, with other contributions in Scotland and England, was of great service both to the bishops and to the clergy. Letters from Archbishop King to Mr. Millar, the clergyman employed on the occasion, are stated by Mr. Skinner to be in existence, expressing the most cordial goodwill to him and to his cause. Among Benefaction of tho beucfactors was Bishop Cairncross, who dyino^, Bishop Cairn- ■'■ ' ./ cross; wlillst thcsc sums were in collecting, left by his will the tenth of his personal estate to the distressed episcopal clergy of Scotland. During his incum- bency he had repaired the palace at Raphoe, which had been burned by King James's army: and his funeral, in 1701, was solemnised in the cathedral of his death; hls dlocesc, amidst a large attendance of the neigh- bouring nobility and gentry, as well as clergy, the last offices being celebrated, and a funeral sermon preached, by Bishop King. In a letter of May 16, 1701, to the Lord Primate, the Bishop of Derry says: ''I think myself in duty bound to acquaint your Grace, that the Bishop of Raphoe died the 14th instant, about eleven in the morning. I attended him in his sickness, and administered the holy sacrament and other offices of the Church to him. He behaved himself with great patience and submission to the will of God, and died as became a good Christian. He has left a tenth of all his goods and chattels to the distressed episcoi)al clergy of Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 87 Scotland. He laid out six or seven hundred p(\unds on the nianse-house of Raphoe, and it will take three or four hundred pounds more to finish it." And in another letter, of the 6th of June, 1701, which communicated the event to the Archbishop of Dublin, the preacher notices, that there " attended funeral sermon by Bishop King. a great concourse of the common people; many," he adds, " that, I believe, never heard a bishop preach before." In the course of Bishop King's corre- spondence occur occasional letters to the Bishop of Rai)hoe, whom, with obvious reference to his former dignity in the Church of Scotland, he constantly addresses with the compellation of " your Grace." Bishop Sheridan was the only member of the Few Irish non- Irish episcopate, a\1io was deprived of his dignity for refusing to transfer his allegiance to the new sove- reigns. Of the inferior Irish clergy, some, but so far as I can learn not many, conceived the like objection to taking the new oaths, and accordingly suffered the like penalty of deprivation. Amongst these was the celebrated Charles Leslie, son of the chariesLcsUe. late eminent Bishop of Clogher, and Chancellor of the cathedral of Connor, whose great abilities and theological erudition and powerful writings in defence of Christianity, of episcopacy, and of the principles, doctrines, and ministry of the Church, were ample reasons for causing him to be distinguished as one of the chief, if not the chief, of tlie Irish non-jurors. After the revolution he relinquished his ecclesiastical His ufe after the „ revolution. preferments, and attached himself to the fortunes, first of King James, and, after his death, of his son. By several visits which he made to the courts of St. Germain and Bar le Due, as well as by his writings, he was rendered so obnoxious to the government S8 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. of the new sovereigns, that he found himself under the necessity of leaving the kingdom, and retiring to the pretender's court. He was there allowed to officiate in a private chapel after the manner of the Church of England, and was assiduous in his endea- vours to convert the pretender to the faith and Avorship of that Church. But, perceiving his labours to be ineffectual, and having undergone many diffi- culties through evil report and good report, he returned to England in 1721, where he prej)ared a collection of his theological works for the press. Thence he retired to his native country, Ireland; Hisdeitb. and after about a twelvemonth's interval, died in the tranquillity of domestick retirement, on his own property at Glaslough, in the county of INIonaghan, April 13, 1722 \ Representation Charles Leslie was no favourite, and appears, of his conduct ^^y.,-. , ■■. '-it /• lus enemies. indcod, to liavc stood m an unmerited degree of disesteem, with those who filled the high ])laces of the English Church. Birch, in his Life of Arch- his/iop Tillotson, referring to Bishop Burnet's Hh- tory of Ids Oioi Times, relates, that " though a declared enemy to the revolution afterwards, lie is said to have been the first who began the war in Ireland against James IT., affirming, in a speech solemnly made, that lie, by declaring himself a Papist, could no longer be king; since he could not be the defender of our faith, nor the head of our Church; dignities, so inherent in the crown, that he, who was incapable of these, could not hold it. And, as he animated the people with this speech, so some actions followed under his conduct, in which several men were killed'." •* Hauris'.s Writers of Ireland, p. 283. Nichols's ZeY. Anccd, i. 195. 5 P. 325. Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 39 Of the inconstancy here attributed to him, if His justification ^ of himself. truly attributed, he must of course bear the bhime ; but equity demands that he should have credit for the denial, which all his life he made, and frequently and publickly provoked his antagonists to disprove it, " that he ever acted out of his profession as a divine, and his office as a magistrate; and, above all, that he ever took up arms for or against any govern- ment." In agreement with this, Harris, in his Writers of Irela?id, states, that, " in the beginning of the year 1689, a brisk skirmish occurred near Leslie's residence, in which near two hundred of the Irish were slain, but he, with his family, Avas at the time in the Isle of jNIan, and received the first account of it some time after at Chester'." Birch speaks also with unjust depreciation of msuterarycha- ^ racter and Avorks. the literary character of Charles Leslie, whom he describes as " a man of some learning and wit, but accompanied with a vein of scurrility, that must render his writings in general disgustful to the present age and posterity, however applauded in his own time, and by his own party." Of his political writings I forbear to speak. But, with respect to his theological works, the Church was indebted to him for a demonstration of the certainty of revealed religion against the Deists; for a demonstration of the certainty of Christianity against the Jews; for a vindication of the Church of England against the Church of Rome; of the divine institution of baptism against the Quakers; of the necessity of episcopal ordination against the Presbyterians; of the divinity of our blessed Lord against the Socinians. The mem- bers of the Church in general, not only of his own . but of succeeding ages, have acknowledged the debt ; and the works of Charles Leslie still continue to be ' r. 28.3. 40 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. holdeii in esteem, not indeed for the allurements of an elaborate style, but for their soundness of argu- ment, their perspicuity of reasoning, their earnestness of sentiment, and withal their substantial support of njs argtimenta- the Cliristiau Verity. Of Leslie's argumentative tive powers. . -rxTi iif» powers m particular, Dr. Johnson had formed a high estimate. Having on a certain occasion, as related by Mr. Bos well, spoken slightingly of the reasoning of the non-juring divines, and made objections to the several claims advanced in favour of William Law and Jeremy Collier, of Kenn and of KettlewelJ, in answer to the question, " What do you think of Leslie?" he said, " Charles Leslie I had forgotten. Leslie was a reasoner, and a rcasoner ivho was not to he reasoned against''' Henry DodNveii. Of otlior Irish nou-juring clergymen, the names have not fallen under my notice, unless it be that of the learned Henry Dodwell, who, however, thougli a native of Ireland, held the Camden professorship of history in the L'^niversity of Oxford, which office he relinquished in 1688, on account of the new oath of allegiance. An earnest and able letter, a copy of which, in ]MS., is now lying before me, addressed to one of the newly-appointed English bishops, pro- bably Pearson, bishop of Chester, with whom, as well as with Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, he had been on terms of intimate friendship, contains a full exposition of his sentiments on that very perplexing and painful subject. Converts. It ajipoai's to have been from motives altogether independent of this question that Thomas Fitzgerald, an incumbent in the Queen's County, quitted the jjarishes of Ballyadam and Fontstown, and turned Papist, as noted in Archbishop INlarsh's Dian/^ > IV. 302. Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 41 under the date of December 22, 1690; as about two years before a conversion in the opposite direc- tion had taken place, of a Popish priest to the com- munion of the Church. The motives of the former are not stated: those of the latter, Neal Carolan, arose from a careful examination of the Church's doctrines, the result of which is related by himself in a book entitled " jMotives of Conversion to the Catholick Faith, as it is professed in the reformed Church of England." The articles which he dis- cusses in this book are, " The infallibility of the Po})e; transubstantiation; half-communion; image worship; and prayers in an unknown tongue^" About the same time another see was vacated, Racket, wshop of Down and under circumstances almost as singular as they were Connor. disreputable and detrimental. In 1672 Thomas Hacket, a native of England, but a graduate of Dublin, beneficed in Hertfordshire, and a chaplain of King Charles II, had been promoted to the diocese of Down and Connor. But for the twenty succeeding years he had been notoriously negligent of his pastoral office, and for the most part absent from his sphere of duty, and resident in England. His diocese suffered the natural consequences of his Neslcct of liis absence and neglect, in the deteriorated condition of his clergy. A disposition appears to have at one time existed, in a quarter not distinctly indicated, to extend an unmerited and unbecoming indulgence to this delinquency. This is intimated in the answer to a letter of congratulation from Primate Boyle, on the elevation of Dr. Tiilotson to the archbishoprick of Canterbury, wherein the archbishoj) says, " As to your former letter, dated three days before, con- » IIai;kis's Writers of Ireland, p. 204. THE REIGN OF LCii. I. His d2i)rivation, 1693. Punibhment of otbcr clergymen. cerniiig a coadjutor for the bishoprick of Down, I never heard the least syllable of it : and, if any such Avere designed, I would oppose it to my power, as an example of very ill consequences. I think it much fitter to have the bishoprick made void, for the bishop's scandalous neglect of his charge ^" This letter is dated June 11, 1691. But not- withstanding the decided language of Archbishop Tillotson, and the evident propriety and urgency of the intended proceeding, two years and a half elapsed before any movement was made in the affair. Then, however, a royal commission w^as issued, Dec. 19, 1693, addressed to the Bishops of jMeath, Dromore, and Derry, for inquiring into his alleged neglect : and the commissioners, or any two of them, were empowered by the king and queen to " exercise all manner of jurisdictions, privileges, and pre-eminencies, touching any spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the diocese of Down and Connor, and to visit and reform all errors, abuses, olfences, contempts, and enormities, committed or permitted by the said Bishop Hackett, or any of the clergy in the said diocese." Wiseman, bishop of Dromore, was pre- vented by bad health from acting. But the com- mission was executed by Dopping, bishop of JMeath, and King, bishop of Derry, who, on the 18th of ]\Iarch, 1694, suspended him from the exercise of his office ; and on the 21st of the same month de- prived him, for simony in conferring ecclesiastical benefices, and for other grievous enormities com- mitted in the exercise of his jurisdiction. By virtue of their commission also, they after- wards, for non-residence and neglect of his pastoral care and otlier offences, deprived Leonard Matthews, ^ BiKCii's Life, p. 267. Sec. ll.l ^VILLIAM III. AND MARY. archdeacon of Down, of five out of nine parishes of Matthews, arch- deacou of Uowrif Aviiich he was the incumbent, and suspended him from his function and benefices during the king's pleasure. They also deprived Thomas Ward, dean of Connor, of his benefice for incontinence, and censured and suspended other clergymen for misdemeanours. The archdeacon appealed against the sentence, and peti- tioned three successive Lord Chancellors, Cox, Free- man, and Phipps, for a commission of delegates, to hear and determine his appeal ; and in 1704 he printed his case in a volume of small folio, of 207 pages, intituled, The Argument of Archdeacon Mat- thews for a Commission of Delegates itpon his Appeals and Qiierel of Nullities, wherein he impugned, with great appearance of legal research and erudition, tlie jurisdiction of his judges, annexing a copy of "The Lisburn Commission Ecclesiastical, to which the foregoing argument refers." His efforts, however, for counteracting the judgment Avere altogether, and, as should seem, deservedly ineffectual ; and on thir- teen or fourteen different hearings, before so many courts and judicatures, he was always condemned. JNIean while the sentence of the commissioners Bi;=hop Foley, was acquiesced in by the other condemned parties, in common with the deprived prelate, whose place was in a fevv months supplied by Samuel Foley, who was well qualified, by the religious character of ins character, his life and deportment, accompanied with a sweet- ness of temper and affability of manner, to re})air, as far as possible, the injury done by his unworthy pre- decessor, had it not pleased Divine Providence to remove him from his trust in the fortieth year of his age, and the first of his episcopate. Some MSS. left by him under the title of " Foley's Collections, out of several authors, relating to the points in con- 44 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. troversy between us and the Papists," are preserved in the library of Trinity College, of wliicli he was a fellow : and in an unpublished letter of Bishop King, of Oct. 24, 1696, in the MS. correspondence to be noticed presently, he is recorded as a person "very meritorious, very useful and laborious in the B^bhop Walking- Church." He was succeeded in his bishoprick of Down and Connor by Edward Walkington, w^ho had been formerly a senior fellow of Trinity College, and subsequently Archdeacon of Ossory, and was then appointed Chaplain to the Irish House of Commons in the first Parliament holden in Dublin in the reign of King "William and Queen Mary. Cause of his pro- Bv the recommendation of that House he was nro- moted to the sees of Down and Connor on the death of Bisliop Foley in 1695, the first or rather the only example which occurs to me of a promotion to a bishoprick from such a recommendation. There were some other episcopal appointments made about this time in the Church of Ireland, but they were required by vacancies which occurred more in the ordinary course of things than those to which we have already adverted. On tlie death of Bishop Roan in September, 1692, who left it on record in his will, that he had been " disabled from doing those works of charity which he had intended'"," having "been stripped of all his substance at the revolution, so that he had little left him, and much debt accrued from the injury of the times," Henry Rider was advanced from the archdeaconry of Ossory to tlie bishoprick of Killaloe, and conse- crated at Dunboyne in the diocese of ]Meath, by the Archbishop of Cashel, the licence of the Lord >o Ware, p. 598. other episcopal appointments. liiihop Rider. Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 45 Primate and the Bishop of Meath being first for that purpose obtained. On the translation, in December of the same year, of Bishop Jones from the see of Cloyne to that of St. Asaph in Wales, the vacancy was filled by Dr. Willam Palliser, a senior fellow Bishop Paiuser. of the college and publiek professor of divinity, who was consecrated the following March by the Arch- bishop of Dublin in the college chapel. And on the death of Bishop Otway in March, 1693, John Hartstong, archdeacon of Limerick, who as such ftong.^ ^ '^'^ had been attainted by King James's Parliament, was at the instance of the Duke of Ormonde advanced to the see of Ossory, under circumstances no other- wise remarkable, than that he was only in the thirty-third year of his age. It was also in the course of the same year, the " shop Francis 16th of November, 1693, that the archiepiscopal ^^^''^';g^ see of Dublin was vacated by the death of Francis Marsh, who had occupied it since the year 1681, being one of tlie prelates Avho for their personal safety were constrained to fly from the persecutions of King James's reign, and being included in the first list of those who were proscribed by his act of attainder. A brief character of him is cited in Ware's History of the BisJiops' \ as given by Dopping, bishop of Meath, who preached his funeral sermon, November the 18th, "that he was a prelate greatly skilled in the Greek lanfTfuao'e, and in the Stoick philosophy, affable, mild, grave, and of an un- l}lameable life." It is a circumstance highly com- mendatory of his character in youth, that being a nis character, fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was, on the promotion of Jeremy Taylor to the P. 8oO. 46^ THE RETGN OF [Ch. I. His connexion cliocGse of Dowii aiid Connor in 1660, immediately with Bishop , *' Jeremy Taylor, brouglit OYGr to Ireland by that eminent prelate, admitted by him to deacon's and priest's orders, and soon afterwards installed by his influence in the deanery of Connor. The deanery of Armagh, and the archdeaconry of Dromore; the sees of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe; those of Kilmore and Ardagh; and lastly, the metropolitan see of Dublin; were his successive ^preferments. His name and l^osterity have been perpetuated by his marriage with Mary, the second daughter of his illustrious patron. Dublin offered to Upou his doath the see of Dublin was offered to Bishop Tennison. Dr. Thomas Tennison, who in January, 1692, had been consecrated to the bishoprick of Lincoln, and who not long after succeeded Tillotson in the arch- bishoprick of Canterbury. He is stated to have been willing to accept the present offer under certain conditions. For " that, as a just motive to his acceptance of it, he requested of King William, in behalf of the poor clergy, that the forfeited impro- priations, belonging to the estates of Papists, might be all restored to the respective parish churches: and his Majesty was pleased to say it was a reason- able proposition. But some unforeseen difficulties arising, the project was not carried into execution'"." ^^^^ISS^S"^' The offer, having been thus declined, was trans- Dubiin. ferred to Narcissus Marsh, whom, in 1691, we have already noticed to have been j)romoted from the bishoprick of Ferns and Leighlin to the archiepis- copal see of Cashel ; who now, on the 24tli of May, ^6^^' 1694, was advanced to the more elevated and im- portant government of the arch-diocese of Dublin; and to whom we shall hereafter have occasion to WaPxE, 358. Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 47 advert, on his further advancement to the primacy in 1702, the first year of the reign of Queen Anno. He was engaged in his triennial visitation of his province of Cashel, when he was apprised of his intended translation, as noticed in the following extract from his Diary: " April 20. The news came to Cork, while I was there, Account of lus that their Majesties were pleased to declare I should be translated to the see of Dublin, and accordingly the king's letter was sent over for that purpose ; and all this without my knowledge, or any means used by me for obtaining it. O Lord, thy ways are wonderful : and, as this is thy sole doing, so I beseech thee to grant me sufficient assistance of thy Iloly Spirit to enable me to perform the work which thou hast assigned me. Amen." Tlie archbishop was enthroned in 8t. Patrick's, ms diligence m office. Dublin, on the 26th of May, his patent having been passed on the 24th. And the succeeding entries in his Diary ^ during the six succeeding months, show the promptitude and diligence with which he devoted himself to the visitation of his new diocese and province, and the earnestness of his desire and prayer that "all the rules he made at these his visitations might be duly observed, and that all might tend to God's honour and glory." To one of these entries, in particular, attention may be directed, as indicating an episcopal irregularity, which must be presumed to have appeared in one of his suffra- gans, and which the metropolitan of course con- sidered that his duty required him to rectify. *-Nov. 26. This day I wrote to the Bishop of ^^""^'"^'r^^ '^'^ J 1 episcopal irregu Leighlin and Ferns, admonishing him not to ordain any but such as are to be preferred in his own diocese, nor to admit any out of another diocese into his without letters dimissory." And it may be 48 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. here convenient to notice, as falling within the scope of our present narrative, the excellent provision made by the archbishop for the intellectual improve- Arciibisi.op ment of his diocese, in the noble library which he Marsh s library. ^ built, furnished, and endowed in the neighbourhood of his archiepiscopal palace. The library of Dr. Edw^ard Stillingfleet, formerly bishop of Worcester, being to be sold, was purchased by Archbishop Marsh, who added to it his own collection of books, and deposited the whole in a building constructed by him for the purpose, at the estimated cost of more than 4000/. To render it more useful to the jDublick, he added a handsome endowment to the amount of 250/. a year, for a librarian and sub- librarian to attend at certain prescribed hours. And for the continual security of the benefaction, he obtained an Act of Parliament to settle and preserve it in perpetuity. At the era of its establishment it was of singular value and advantage: and as such it is mentioned by Mr. Harris, who " acknowledged it from a long experience to be the only useful library in the kingdom, being open to all strangers, and at all seasonable times." He lamented, how^ever, the want of one provision to make it complete; namely, a supply of books from the time of its establish- ment: "there being only the small fund of 10/. a year allotted for this purpose, which is little more than sufficient to keep the books in order." But on this subject there will be occasion hereafter to speak more at length. Death of Queen Towards the close of the year in which A rch- Mary. 1694. bishop Marsh had been translated to Dublin, the queen died; an event which he thus feelingly records in his Diarj/: 1694, Dec. 28. This morning about Sec. II.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 49 one of the clock died that most excellent princess, Mary, queen of England, at her house at Ken- sington; and left me the greatest of her admirers, and faithfullest of her subjects, to lament her death, and the loss of the three kingdoms thereby, until it shall please God to call me to follow her for ever, and to be (if it may so please my heavenly Father) where I have good hope to believe that she is. ' Sit anima mea cum anima domina^ mesc, hoc est, in intimis Paradisi penetralibus.' " Without entering on the difficult questions connected with the queen's accession to the throne, her conduct in discharge of her royal duties appears to have been exemplary: and the care, with which she is generally supposed Her exercise of ,1 'It 1 ' J ' 1 1 • ecclesiastical pa» to nave exercised her ecclesiastical patronage in tronage. England, probably had its counterpart in Ireland, as may be inferred from the instance already cited, of her effective interposition to prevent the appoint- ment of an unfit person to the episcopate, first made under a misapprehension, and annulled on a dis- covery of the error: at the same time it may well excite astonishment that she gave her sanction to the appointment of another, of whom if a judgment may be formed from the reflection of Archbishop Narcissus Marsh at the time, and from Archbishop King's report of the same person, to be noticed hereafter, the unfitness is hardly questionable. E 50 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. Section III. Acts of King James's Parliament annidled. Limitation of power of granting Faculties proposed. Projected Refor- mation of Ecclesiastical Abuses. Parliament of 1692. Proceedings connected with the Church. Bishop of CorFs Sermon. Vote of Thanks to the King. Circular Letter to the Bishops. Building and Repairing of Churches recommended. Parliament o/" 1695. Acts relating to the Church. Bill for Liberty of Conscience. Arch- bishop Kings 3IS. Correspondence. Neglect of the Church by the Go'cernment. Abuse of Ecclesiastical Patronage. Letters of Archbishop King to Bishops Burnet and Lloyd. Cajwassing of Clergymen for Bishopricks. Condition of Dissenters. Their interest icith Government. Archbishop King'^s literary pieces. Acts of King After the transfer of the sovereign power from ment annulled. Ivillg' James II. to King William and Queen Mary, no parliament was assembled in Ireland until the 1690. year 1692. But in the mean time, namely in 1690, the acts of King James's Irish parliament had been by the English legislature declared null and void ; which declaration was, at a subsequent period, 1635. namely in 1695, adopted by the Irish legislature; and in pursuance thereof, all the rolls, records, and other documents, relating to the act of attainder and other pretended acts in Ireland in King James's reign, were, on the 2nd of October, cancelled and publickly burned. Preparations for In the interval, however, notice was given of a a parliament. parliament to be assembled in Dublin: as a pre- paration for which some of the bishops employed themselves during the preceding autumn in framing measures for the imi)rovement of the Church. Of Sec. III.J WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 51 these the following notes occnr in Archbishop Marsh's Diary, under the year 1691. " Sept. 20. We have consulted some days about \m. preparing acts against the next session of parlia- Linritation of inent; and since my Lord Primate Boyle would not faculties pro- hearken to the abridging the power of granting faculties, or rather to a more moderate use of it, than hath been practised, we have drawn up a letter to my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, done by Francis, lord archbishop of Dublin, to get the power limited and some other things regulated: which letter is signed by Fr. Dublin; Narcis. Cashel; Ant. Midens; Will. Derrens; Nat. Waterford. The rest of the bishops here, namely, Will. Darens; Will. Aladens; AYill. Cionfert; not being favourable thereto." The reader may find it convenient to be apprised, that the names Midens and Derrens re- spectively indicate the Bishops of Meath and Derry; and Darens and Alade7is those of Kildare and Killala. The archbishop's Diary proceeds thus: " Oct. 8. I sent a copy of a letter sio:ned by Projecteresent, to consider of a way to rectify these abuses." Meeting of pni lia- lu 1692, beinof the fourth year of William and ment, 1692. ^ ,j. i • p * r* i • • Mary, dating from the commencement ot their reign in England, the 5th of October, about two years and a quarter after the yictory of the Boyne, the parliament met in Dublin, under Lord Viscount Sidney, lord lieutenant of Ireland : and on the 12th of the same month the House of Lords passed a bill of recognition of their Majesties' title to the crown, and sent it down to the House of Commons, whence it was returned without any alteration on the 13th. Time of annul- Speaking of the transactions of this year in James's parliu- Ireland, Bishop Burnet, in the History of his Own Times, relates, that " a parliament was summoned to meet in Ireland, to annul all that had passed in King James's parliament, to confirm anew the act of settlement, and to do all other things that the broken state of that impoverished island required." If, however, the purpose of the summoning of the parliament was "to annul ail that had passed in King James's parliament," the purpose was not effected at this time, nor until the year 1695, when, as Bishop Burnet himself notes among the occurrences of that year, "all the proceedings in King James's parliament Avere annulied." In the mean time the act of settlement, by the recognition of their Majesties' right to the crown, was in this parliament enacted without delay. Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 53 The preamble of this act sets forth the annexing Actofrecojmition ^ ^ of King Williiiin and union of the kinofdom of Ireland to the imperial and Queen Mary s O ^ right to th<; crown of England, and that the kings and queens of England are, by undoubted right, kings and queens of this realm ; its deliverance by King William and Queen Mary, with great expense of blood and trea- sure, and the extreme hazard of the king's person, from the miseries of civil war and rebellion raised by the Irish Papists and abetted by the French king ; its being thus secured from Popery and arbi- trary power, and happily reduced to a state of peace and order, to its laws and liberties, and the free and impartial administration of justice, for which, with all possible thankfulness, is acknowledged the good- ness of Almighty God, in raising up their Majesties to deliver us, and to reign over us. And then follows the recognition and acknowledgment, as enacted by the present act of parliament, that the kingdom of Ireland, and all titles, styles, royalties, jurisdictions, and so forth, thereunto belonging, are most rightfully and lawfully vested in their ]Majesties King William and Queen JMary, and that their most excellent jNIajesties were, are, and of right ought to be, king and queen of England, Ireland, and so forth. In this parliament some other proceedings en- Parliamentary proceedings con* sued, Avhicli may be noticed as connected with the nected with the ^ Church. Church, some of which are mentioned in Archbishop Marsh's Diary ^ as follows : " Oct. 15. — This day it was voted in the committee for religion, that a bill for toleration be desired, with this proviso, that the sacramental test be imposed as it is in England; and also that persons obliged to take it do like- wise receive the communion thrice in the year, at least, THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. according to the rubrick of the communion service ; and also that they presume not to preach against our Church in their meetings, under the penalty of 100/. the first time, 200/. the second time, and losing the benefit of toleration for • the third offence, with some other clauses. " My Lord Lieutenant, at a committee of the council, promised to return the bill for toleration that had been drawn, without the above-mentioned limitations, and to get it amended in England." 19. — At a committee of religion several heads were discoursed, and by the members of the committee agreed on, as fit to be inserted in a bill for toleration ; but my Lord Coningsby acquainting the committee, that a bill for that purpose was already sent over to England by the council, they were let fall." On the 9th of October, soon after the opening of the parliament, the Archbishop of Casliel had preached to both houses at Christ Church. On the 23rd, as the archbishop notes in his Diary, " The Bishop of Cork's Bishop of Cork preached boldly asrainst the Irish." Sermon. Oct. 23. ^ ^ ^ «-/ And on the 24th, " The thanks of the house were voted to be given to the Bishop of Cork for his sermon, with their desire that he should print it; and this message to be carried to him by the Earl of Droglieda and the Viscount Blessington." The 23rd of October was the day appointed by act of parliament to be celebrated as a day of annual thanksgiving for the deliverance of the country from the massacre and rebellion of 1641 : and the Bishop of Cork, here mentioned, was Edward Wetenhall, who had recently experienced great cruelties and oppressions from the persecution of the Irish Papists during the tyranny of King James. He is recorded as eminent for the continual exercise of his pastoral function with great diligence and assiduity, during twenty years' superintendence of Cork and Ross, Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 55 and fourteen years afterwards of Kilmore and Ar- dagli, to which he succeeded, on the death of Bishop Smith in 1692. It appears, from a letter of Bishop King to Sir Robert Hamilton, in February, 1702, that Wetenhall would gladly have given way to the old possessor of the see, Bishop Sheridan, if he could have been restored to it. As it was he repeat- edly contributed, with the other prelates, to the sup- port of their displaced and distressed brother. " On the 22nd of October," as we learn from the Vote of thankb to same authority, "the Archbishop of Tuam," Dr. John ^"esey, who had been forced to fly from his country in the rigorous season of Lord Tyrconnel's government, and who had been included in the first list of those who were proscribed by King James's Act of Attainder, made a motion that an address of thanks should be presented to his ^Majesty for his great care of Ireland, in venturing his person for its reduction: and that thanks should be given to both houses of parliament in England for their assistance therein in a parliamentary way; and thanks also be given to the people of England for their charity towards the English that fled out of Ireland thither for their security. All which was voted, and a committee chosen to draw up an address to the king, and to consider how the latter were to be done. On the 25th the committee brought in the address, which was read, and after some few alterations approved. It was concluded that the speaker should write to the Speakers of- both houses in England, to signify the thanks of the Lords' House, and that in his letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, he should insert a clause to testify the thankfulness of the people of this kingdom for their relief in England. The 26th, 56 THE REIGN OF [Cir. I. the address being ready, was sent to the Honse of Commons, who returned it without any altera- tion." Actforencou- Oil tho sauio day a bill was brought into the stTangcrr ^" Houso of Lords "for the encouragement of Pro- testant strangers to settle in the kingdom of Ireland." An act, in some degree similar, had been passed in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of King Charles II., but had expired after the lapse of seven years. 4\v.andM.,c.2. It was uow revlved for the seven years next ensuing, encouraging such strangers to settle in the kingdom, and providing, as the conditions of their deriving benefit "from the act, that they should take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, as mentioned in the act, and make and subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation. And Protestant strangers and foreigners thus qualified were to have and enjoy the free exercise of their religion, and have liberty of meeting together publickly for the worship of God, and of hearing divine service, and performing- other religious duties in their own several rites used in their own countries." Motions from " Ou tlic 27th a Hiotiou was made from the com- iSon.'"'^^^^*' mittee of religion, that they might have liberty to prepare heads of a bill for toleration ; of another bill against sabbath breakers, and the reforming the lives of the laity and clergy, which passed ; and also the house agreed with their committee that the popish holy days ought to be abrogated, but there was no vote passed for j^reparing heads of a bill for that purpose." There will be occasion hereafter to revert to some of these proposed measures. They were not prosecuted, nor did any other business of sjiecial interest in the Church, except the petition of Dean Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 57 S , occur in this parliament, which was proroo ued Parliament pro- ^ AO rogucd, Nov. 3, by Lord Sidney, November 3rd, 1692, and again le^. April 6tli, 1693, and dissolved on the 5th of the fol- lowing September. At the time of the dissolution the government circular letter to the IJishops, Sept. was in the hands of Sir Charles Porter, knight, lord 30, wm. chancellor, and Sir Cyril Wyche, knight, by whose au- thority a circular letter was addressed to the several prelates for procuring information in order to the improvement of the Church. A MS. transcript of this letter, marked " Copia vera," has fallen into my hands, together with some other diocesan docu- ments, and it runs after the following manner : "My Lord, Dublin Castle, SOth September, 1693. " That the Lords Justices might be able to do that service to the Church which they desire, they are endea- vouring to be informed of the present state of it : and in order to it lately directed me to write to your Lordship and the rest of my Lords, the Bishops, to desire a copy of the last visitation in each respective diocese ; in which they hoped to have found every dignity, rectory, cure, or vicarage in the kingdom, with the value of it in the king's books, the impropriator, patron, and incumbent of each, the number of parishes, and what parishes have churches now standing, and what none : as also what churches are in repair, that divine service may be celebrated in them, and what unions are already in your diocese, and wdiat more are necessary : as likewise how many livings each incumbent hath, and what are the values of the said livings. But finding by some returns • hat have been made, that the visitation books are not so particular, I am commanded by my lords to desire further that these things may be added, and such other as your Lordship shall think fit ; and to assure your Lordsliip that the Lords Justices have no other design in making this THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. Edict of Bishop of Down and Connor. Building repairing churches mended. and of recoir inquiry, but only to do this poor country the best service they can, in truly promoting the honour and welfare of the Churclh " I am, Your Lordship's most humble servant, "Ki: Aldworth. " To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor, at Downepatrick. "Ri: Aldworth, Copia vera." In compliance with this letter from the secre- tary, the diocesan issued his "Edict" to his clergy, as follows : " I hereby desire and require the clergy, and the churchwardens, and questmen, within the dioceses of Down and Connor, to make due inquiries and faithful returns to me respectively, according to the above letter and direc- tions ; and particularly a true valuation of the tithes, glebe- rents, and other ecclesiastical profits of their several respective churches and chapelrics, communibus annis, within the said dioceses. "Dated this 21 Oct. 1693. "Tho: Duno-Conorens. " To the Reverend the Clergy, and to the Churchwardens and Questmen within the Dioceses of Down and Connor.'" The coincidence may be thought a little remark- able, that the bishoj), whose name is subscribed to the foregoing edict, was the same that has been lately mentioned ; against whom a commission was issued for continued non-residence and neglect of his diocese in the December of this year, 1693 ; and wdio, in the following March, was deprived of his bishoprick. This order of the Lords Justices was evidently intended for the ground of further proceedings, but Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND 3IAIIY. 59 of any such I find no particular mention, unless it be that in the year 1695, the seventh of King William, (the queen having died on the 28th of December preceding,) "svhen the parliament ^vas convened the 27th of August before Henry Lord Capel, lord lieutenant; his Excellency, amongst other measures, recommended in his speech from the throne the building and repairing of churches, as one of the best means for promoting the established religion, and providing against future rebellions : a recommendation which ^vas, however, productive of no present result. In this parliament, however, several acts were Acts of Pariia- -•■ ' ment, 1695. passed, which require our attention : one, in the first place, after the example of that which had been passed in England, 29th Charles II., ch. 9, "for taking away the writ de heretico comburendo." It enacts the utter abolishing of all punishment by 7w.,c.2. death in pursuance of ecclesiastical censures, saving, at the same time, the jurisdiction of Protestant ecclesiastical judges in cases of atheism, blasphemy, heresy, or schism, or other damnable doctrines or opinions, to be punished according to his Majesty's ecclesiastical laws by excommunication, deprivation, degradation, and other ecclesiastical censures, not extending to death. To this, in common with others which had no special reference to religion, the following were added, partly for the protection of the Church and the reformed faith, and partly for the general religious improvement of the country: Chapter 3 was " An act declaring all attainders, Attaindci-smade and all other acts made in the late pretended par- rarulment yom liament, to be void." 60 THE REIGN OF LCh. I. The preamble first sets forth, that since the accession of King William and Queen Mary to the imperial crown of England, whereunto the kingdom of Ireland is inseparably united, no parliament could be holden without their Majesties' authority: but that, nevertheless, divers persons during the late war and rebellion did assemble in May, 1689, at Dublin, without authority from their Majesties, and did pretend to be a parliament, and, acting in concur- rence with the late King James, did make several pretended acts, and cause the same to be recorded among the proceedings of parliament, all which pre- tended acts were formed in opposition to the sove- reignty of the crown of England, and for the utter destruction of the Protestants and the whole Pro- testant interest in this kingdom, and are and were null and void. It then recites the enactment of the English act, declaring the said pretended parliament a rebellious assembly, and their acts void; and, there- upon, for the better quieting and assuring the minds of his Majesty's good subjects, and that no memorial might remain among the records of parliament, it enacts, that all the pretended acts, and the rolls whereon they are engrossed, and all proceedings made by the said persons pretending to be a parlia- ment, and also all writs issued for calling the said pretended parliament, and all the journals of the said pretended parliament, be brought before the chief governor at the council-chamber, and there be publickly and openly cancelled and utterly destroyed. All the pretended acts of attainder of the said un- lawful assembly are also declared absolutely null and void : and all persons subjected to any pretended disabilities and forfeitures are discharged thereof, as if they were particularly named in this act. Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 61 Another act, chapter 4, was passed "for restrain- ^^yf^;j;gtrain- ing foreign education, by prohibiting, under a severe jj''^'"^'^" penalty, the sending of any child or other person into any parts beyond the seas out of his Majesty's obedience, to be trained up in any priory, abbey, nunnery, popish university, college, or school, or house of Jesuits or priests." This act also, whilst it restrains instruction in the Popish religion by those means, or by Popish schoolmasters, recites the act of 28 Henry VIII., c. 15, "for the English order, habits, and language," and the act of 12 Elizabeth, c. 1, " for the erection of free schools," which acts are stated " not to have had the desired effect, by reason of such Irish Popish schools being too much con- nived at;" and requires the judges of assize and justices of peace to give them in charge to the grand juries, and to be very circumspect in seeing them put in due execution. Chapter 5 was, " An act for the better securing Act for disarm- the government, by disarming Papists;" but its par- 7"w!'T5*''' ticular enactments, as not directly connected with our immediate subject, need not be stated. Chapter 9 was "for the more effectual suppress- Act against pro- ing of profane cursing and swearing;" and Chapter swearing. 17, "for the better observation of the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday:" being both adopted from English acts, the former from 6 & 7 William III., c. 11, and the latter from the 29 Charles II., c. 7. Another act, peculiar to Ireland, which had been Act restricting holydays. agreed on by the Lords' Committee on Religion in 1G92, was now enacted, founded upon the prac- tice of "many idle persons, who refuse to work at their lawful calling and labour on several days in the year, on pretence that the same is dedi- cated to some saint, or pretended saint, patron, THE REIGN OF [Ch. L or pretended patron, for whom they have, or pre- tend to have, reverence or respect; and choose rather to spend such days in idleness, drunkenness, and vice, to the scandal of religion, rather than following and working in their lawful calling and usual employment, which hath been found by expe- rience to tend very much to the impoverishing and hindering the improvement of this kingdom." This was set forth in the preamble, as the foundation for an act. Chapter 14, "declaring which days in the year shall be observed as holy days." And, for the remedy of the mischief, the act, having recited the days appointed by the Church to be kept holy, ordains, that " if any common labourer being hired, or other servant retained, shall refuse to work upon any other day than the several days mentioned, or than such days as shall be set apart by order of the king or chief governor, he shall forfeit two shillings for the poor of the parish." Bill for liberty Thoso bills woro passed in the month of Septem- of conscience. ber, 1695: another, which was intended to be passed, failed in consequence of the objection enter- tained against it by Sir Richard Cox, at that time one of the Judges of the King's Bench, and after- wards Lord Chancellor; better known to posterity as the author of a History of Ireland. In the j^re- paration of bills for the approaching parliament, one " for liberty of conscience" was projected and sub- mitted to the Privy Council, of which Sir Richard Cox was a membei-. He did not oppose the bill, for he said that " he thought all friends to the state Modified by Sir should have a free toleration of their reliorion:" but Richard Cox. ^ . lie was desirous of modifying it m a particular wherein it ai)peared dangerous ; arguing that, as there was no test in Ireland, it was necessary for the Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 63 security of the established Church, to exclude from offices, or any share in the government, all those who would not conform to the Church established by law." And to that purpose he proposed a clause to be added to the bill, to which much the greater part of the council agreed. The bill accordingly was Dusenterf' lost: for when its advocates found that they could not carry it without that clause, they dropped it altogether; thus testifying to the world, as Harris remarks, " that it was not ease they wanted for Pro- testant dissenters in religious matters, which no good man would refuse, but an admission into offices and power, which no firm churchman wwild consent to'." It appears from Archbishop Marsh's Diary also, that on the 16th of September, whilst parliament was sitting, "Heads for a bill of toleration were brought into the House of Lords, by the Earl of Drogheda; but by the bishops voting that they should not be read until three days after, who had a majority of votes, they were quite laid by." It is added, " The Bishops of Derry and Waterford Protest of Bi- shops of Derry protested against throwing out of the house a bill and y>'aterford. for union and division of parishes; and in their protestations having reflected something on the house, (as was apprehended,) they were both ordered tu withdraw. And after some time, the Bishop of Derry was brought in and asked pardon of the house, and was ordered to take his place. But the Bishop of Waterford standing out, was brought to the bar, and there received sentence to be sent piisoner to the castle, until he should submit to beg pardon of the house, and desire his enlargement by petition, which accordingly he did on Tuesday ' Writers of Ireland, pp. 210, 217. 64 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Parliament dissolveil. morning, and was ordered his place, liis confinement having" been on Saturday." The parliament, having been several times ad- journed, was at length dissolved, without any other acts being passed, particularly affecting the Church. And it was not before the year 1607, being the 9tli of King William, that another parliament was called, wherein some provisions of that kind were enacted. Archbishop King's IMS. Cor- respondence. The library of Trinity College has lately made a valuable acquisition of Archbishop King's corre- spondence, extending with some intermissions from the year 1696 to the year 1729; during the first six years of which period he was Bishop of Derry, and during the remaining twenty-seven occupied the archiepiscopal see of Dublin, which he vacated by death in the last-mentioned year. The correspond- ence appears to contain transcripts of almost all his letters of that period, made in a contemporane- ous hand-writing for his own use, but, with some not inconsiderable exceptions, where injury has been sustained from damp or moth, easily legible. By the kind liberality of the reverend the provost and senior fellows of the college, conceded to my request through the sub-librarian, the reverend Dr. Todd, I am enabled to make use of this interesting collection of contemporaneous and authentick docu- ments, hitherto unpublished, for the exposition of the History of the Irish Church, in which the writer bore, throughout that period, a conspicuous part. By a happy coincidence, the two principal intermis- sions, to which I have alluded, in the series of correspondence have been supplied from another quarter, wliich will be thankfully specified on a Sec. 111.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 66 future occasion. The name of the writer of the letters is too well known to the reader of these pages to need any remark on the importance of the correspondence. The time at which this correspondence com- mences is remarkable, as occurring not long after the queen's death, which appears to have been in its consequences injurious to the Church of Ireland. Bisho]) King at least, in a letter to his " dear friend," Mv. Tollett, dated from Dublin, September the 22nd, 1G9G, thus laments the carelessness and neglect which the Church was then experiencing from the government : " There is one thing I am much concerned at, xegiectofthe Till ! 'T ^'^"'■^^^ because I have heard many take notice of it since I govei-nment, ^ 1696. came to town, and 'tis the little care is taken of the Church in this kingdom at court, which between you and me in policy ought not to be neglected, since this is surely and apparently the strongest interest in Ireland. We have several times petitioned for the forfeited impropriations, which are really worth little; and yet can by no means procure a letter for them, tliough such was never demurr'd on by any king before, and 'tis not one single farthing out of the king's pocket; and therefore very ill reflections arc made on his JMajesty by some that wish him not \\q\\. I wish I could learn how to manaoe this o matter, that I might stop their mouths." In a suc- ceeding letter of ^lay 13, 1698, the annual value of the forfeited impropriations is stated as between 800/. and 1000/. And he then proceeds to notice an abuse that Abuse of ecciesi- . , astical patron- prevailed m the disposal of the highest ecclesiastical ^so. preferments; both of which subjects are enlarged on F 66 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Letter from Bishop King to Bishop Burnet, October 5, 1696. Application for the impropriate tithes. Not granted to the Church. Devotion of the cl3rgy to his M xjesty. in two letter.s of the 5th of October, the former to Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, the latter to William Llojd, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The letter to Bishop Burnet is as follows : " My Lord, " Having the opportunity of this bearer, Judge Coot, who is a very hearty friend to the Church, I give your Lordship the trouble of an affair that is of some concern to us, and in which we need your Lordship's assistance and advice. Amongst many forfeited estates in the late rebel- lion, several impropriate tithes came under that qualifica- tion ; and we, immediately after the victory of the Boyne, applied to his Majesty for them, that he would be pleased to restore them to the Church, for the maintenance of a Protestant clergy, which is very much wanting, where those impropriations are. We have been promised fair all along; but instead of giving them to the Church, there are several parcels already granted to laymen, and we do apprehend the rest will be disposed the same way. We have made several attempts to prevent this, and the late Lord Capell undertook our petition, but his death prevented our know- ing the success. It appeared that all that was left of those forfeited impropriations were not worth 200/. per annum; that many private persons had gotten grants to many times their value ; that all the former kings, his Majesty's prede- cessors, had granted letters in favour of the clergy for such impropriations as came to the crown : that the clergy of L-eland are universally in his Majesty's interest, and most devoted to his person, of any clergy in the three kingdoms, as indeed their obligations are greater to him, being restored by him to all they have. 'Tis hoped, if these things were laid before his Majesty, he would not refuse so small a request, which is not one farthing out of his pocket or of any courtier. If, therefore, your Lordship could put to your helping hand to further our petition, it would be a very great obligation on the clergy here, and a real service to his Majesty. My Lord, I have reason to beg your pardon for this trouble; but it being in the affair of the Church, I Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 67 doubt not but your Lordship will favourably interpret the importunity of, my Lord, your Lordship's most obliged humble servant, W. D. Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum." The other letter was addressed to tlie Bishop of Letter of Bishop King to Bishop Lichfield and Coventry; and it will be observed to noyd. commemorate with respect the endeavours of the late queen for checking the abuse complained of, and to deprecate an encouragement of the abuse on the king's part : " My Lord, " The great concern your Lordship has all along manifested in behalf of this Church has encouraged the addresses of all that wish her well, and gives me the con- fidence to recommend to your Lordship's knowledge the bearer hereof, Judge Coot, a very hearty friend to the interest of the Church and churchmen here, and most zealous for the English Protestant interest, which is the true interest of the kingdom. My Lord, I understand that several clergymen, that Canvassing of have livings in this kingdom, lye at court, and have pro- bish^^icks!^^ mises from some there to use their interest with his Majesty to procure them the next bishopricks that fall in Ireland. My Lord, whatever the merits of these good men may be, their method is very injurious both to the Church and government here, and I find was so esteemed by her late Disapproval by Majesty. If such should be encouraged we should have ^-'^^^ riiany follow their example, and every one that expected a bishoprick would be obliged to leave his benefice here to curates, as those great men do ; and when the attendance of clergymen (that have pretensions to preferments) at Dublin is become a great grievance to the Church, your Lordship will easily apprehend what the attendance at London must be. In short, good men would not do it; and, as it often happens, ill men would engross the best places by their assiduity. Besides the government here would lose the dependence of the clergy, which is of great moment to the F 2 68 The reign op [Ch. I. kingdom; and truly every one that is preferred indepen- dently of the chief governor is looked on by him as an enemy, of which I could give examples ; and therefore I do hope his Majesty will not easily be prevailed on to alter his usual methods, or put affronts on those that he thinks worthy of the government here, by preferring persons with- out the usual recommendations, which would in a great measure incapacitate his ministers here to serve him, and would not be so safe for his JNIajesty. My Lord, I assure your Lordship, that nothing but my zeal for the Church and his Majesty's service could prevail with me to give your Lordship this trouble ; and if 1 gain no more by it, I am sure of this, that it gives mo an opportunity to profess to your Lordship, which I am very ambitious to do, that I am, Your Lordship's most obliged humble servant, " W. D. " Will: Lord Bp. of Litchfield and Coventry." Condition of the To this letter of the Bishop of Derry to the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, the following to the same prelate is an interesting sequel, ex- hibiting, as it does, the actual condition of the dissenters in Ireland, and the sort of esteem in which they were holden by the government. The observations also, in the second part of the letter, made by Bishop King on his own publication, and on his conduct towards the dissenters, and on the effect thereby produced upon them, are well deserv- ing of attention. The letter was written from Lon- donderry, December 15, 1C96; " Uy Lord, Letter of Bishop I rcccivcd the favour of your Lordship's of Nov. 16, Lioyd.%ec^^iS' ^''^^t wcck ; and am much obliged to your Lordship for the notice you took of my last by Judge Coot, and the consi- deration you give the intimation therein. My Lord, we have lost a very good friend to our Church in the late Lord Chancellor, and it concerns us much, both in respect of the Sec. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 69 Cliurcli and kingdom, to have another good man in his place ; for if a violent hot man, especially if engaged in the late faction, should succeed him, it would endanger the Nvhole kingdom. I will take leave to discover a matter to your Lordship, to which, perhaps, you are no stranger; and 'tis, that the dissenters' interest in this kingdom is really in itself very weak and low, as sufficiently appeared in the last session of our parliament, in which all The interest of ••i'iTTiT-v 1 1-^ 1 dissenters vitii then- interest, jonied with the Lord Deputy s, the Speaker government, of the House of Commons, and all his adherents, could not carry anything that we had not a mind to, and, indeed, there vrere hardly ten dissenters in the house. But to deal freely with your Lordship, it has heen the business of most of our governors since the Revolution to make an interest for dissenters. My Lord Capell did it above board, and Lord Capell com- professed that he had the kings commands so to do it; kinftffavo^tll-^ which intimation did them more service than all the other t^^^m. ways he could have invented; for everybody here has a mighty deference to his Majesty's pleasure. To give your Lordship an instance of my Lord's byas that way, there needs no more but to look over the lists of sheriffs made last year by him, and it will appear that if he could find a dissenter in the whole county, though the meanest con- temptible fellow in it, he was sure to be named sheriff, though the great men of the county looked on it as an affront, and remonstrated from their quarter-sessions against it. Now, my Lord, if we have such governors still put on us, 'twill be impossible, whatever reason or Scripture be iheu increase in against schismaticks, to hinder their multiplying; for most people value their interest above their religion; and if dissenters be picked out for places of honour, trust, and profit, whilst their equals are past by, many will daily qualify themselves as they see their neighbours do. I know not how things are in England with the Church, but I can assure your Lordship this is the case here, and that it is a great disservice to his Majesty in many respects. " I am much obliged to your Lordship for your favour- Bishop Kin^-'s able censure of those pieces, which I ordered Mr. Tollett to ^'^''''•''y ^'''''^^ ]>resent your Lordship. jMy Lord, I cannot pretend to be the author of any of the arguments in them, the whole was an 70 THE REIGN OF rCii. I. Change of con- duct in dissen- ters. Uncertainty of their constitu- tion. Constitution of the Church. effect of my reading. Mr. Thorndike gave me tlie notions, and all that I can pretend to is, the taking them out of his obscure stile and method, and putting them into a more modern dress. I have angered the party very much here, but yet have forced them to reform many things, and to speak much more moderately of us and our worthies than formerly. When I came to this diocese, I found the dissenters mighty insolent; and one of our communion could no sooner get into their company, but they imme- diately fell upon him, sometimes scoffing and sometimes arguing with him, and our own people had little to say for themselves, but that they had an establishment by law, and it did not contradict Scripture: but since my book came out, they are mute; no persuasions will prevail wdth them to dispute or talk of religion, and the members of our Church insult over them on this account. As to their constitution, I had taken it to task 'ere this, but I am at a loss what it is, or where to find it; so far as I can perceive, they have nothing fixed or certain, but everything is arbitrary accord- ing to their fancies. However, I take their humble advice to the parliament in 45 concerning Church government, on their late heads of agreement, to look the most authentick. And I have it in my thoughts, if God grant me health, to describe our constitution, and prove it from Scripture, and to compare it with theirs, which, as your Lordship rightly observes, is nothing but an heap of human inventions, not only without, but directly contrary to, Scripture. I want some help to the perfecting of this work, wdiich I cannot come by in this place; and, besides, the subject is very new and ticklish, especially in respect of the foreign Church, and must be handled with a wary hand; which considera- tions, together with an imperfect state of health, which I fell into last winter in Dublin, and am not fully recovered, have hindered me from making any great progress in what I intended; and besides, I have some hope from your Lord- ship's letter, that it will be undertaken by a better hand.'' Death of Robert AVare, March, leiXJ. It may be here not inappropriate to our subject, if we mention the death of Robert Ware, in March, 1696, second son of Sir James Ware, and author of Skc. III.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. the work, frequently cited in the early part of this history, entitled "The Reformation of the Church of Ireland, in the Life and Death of George Browne, some time Archbishop of Dublin." To him also we are indebted for the curious admonition to the Church of the dangers which beset it, in the volume entitled "Foxes and Firebrands, or a Specimen of the Danger and Harmony of Popery and Supersti- tion." His more illustrious father, Sir James Ware, whose Histori/ and Antiquities of Ireland, as trans- lated, enlarged, and edited by Walter Harris, great- grandson of Sir James and grandson of Robert Ware, together with his Annals^ are the foundation of the ecclesiastical history of Ireland, had died in the year 166G, and been buried in St. Werburgh's Church, in the city of Dublin, without either stone or monumental inscription. But as his descendant truly remarks, " He had taken care in his life-time to erect a monument for himself by his labours, more lasting than any mouldering materials ^" Section IV. Correspondence between Archbishop Marsh and Dr. Smith. Mode of preparing Acts of Parliament. Act for send" ing Popish Ecclesiastic'ks out of the kingdom. Other Acts relative to Papists. Their proper character. 3feastcres of counteraction. Similar Acts in former Parliament. Failure of Bill for Klng'^s Preservation. Letters of Bishop King on the subject. Reasons of opposition. Bill opposed bij Bishops. Their names. Protest in f am ur of the Bill. Its further fate. Failure of Bill for Building Churches: and of Bill in favour of Free Schools. Bills relating to the Church rejected by the Commons, The Diarij of Archbishop Marsh is continued very correspondence little beyond the date of the last extract cited in bLhop^"iaJsh and Dr. Smith. * Harris's Writers of Ireland, pp. 256, 156. 72 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. the preceding section; and contains no more eccle- siastical intelligence. But in a collection, preserved in Oxford, in the Bodleian Library, of IMS. letters between him and Dr. Thomas Smith, from about this time through the next eleven or twelve years, on various subjects, chiefly literary, one occurs, bearing date Dublin, Oct. 13, 1697," in which he thus apologises for an apparent neglect of his cor- respondence : Modc ofprepav- u haviiior parliaments but seldom in Ireland, it ing acts of par- , . . liainent. might be supposcd that here is occasion for many acts to be passed when we do meet ; all which are prepared in this council, and sent to that in England, before they can be brought into our parliament to be passed into laws. And Age and infirmi- niv Lord Primatc hems above eiditv-seven years old, and ties of Primate . ... Boyle. almost deprived of his sight and hearing, you cannot imagine but the weight of business to prepare bills, to be passed into acts of parliament, for the Church, which nobody but churchmen will mind, hath lain, and still doth lay, heavy upon me; insomuch, that for four months past I have not been able to command almost a minute's time Archbishop from publick business. And I thank God, that I have crot- Marsh's laborious ^ ^ o ^ ■% p i occupations. ten a great many bills prepared for the good of our Church; whereof some are already passed, and the others I hope will suddenly be passed into laws, for the better establishment of this poor distressed Church.'' The following statutes, passed in the parliament of 1697, w^ere manifestly intended by the foregoing communication. Act for sending Jt was matter of notoriety, that the late rebellions Popish ecclesi- asticks out of the in Irclaud had been contrived, promoted, and carried kingdom. on, by Popish archbishops, bishops, Jesuits, and other ecclesiastical persons of the Romish clergy: and it was naturally judged that the actual peace and publick safety of the kingdom were endangered by the great number of regular clergy of that descrip- SEC. IV.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 73 tiou resident there, and settling in fraternities and societies, contrary to law, and to the great impo- verishing of many of his JMajesty's snbjects, who were forced to maintain and snpport them. It was also notorions, that the said Romish clergy did not only endeavour to withdraw the king's subjects from their obedience, but were daily stirring u]) and moving sedition and rebellion, to the great hazard of the ruin and desolation of the kino-dom. These kvUs that occa- ^ sioned it. mischiefs were set forth in the preamble of the act of the Dtli of William III., chap. 1; and for tlie prevention of all such mischiefs it was enacted, that all Popish archbishops, vicars-general, deans, Jesuits, monks, fi-iars, and all other regular Popish clergy, and all Papists exercising any ecclesiastical juris- diction, should depart out of the kingdom before the 1st of May, 1698, on pain of imprisonment till transportation; and that, returning after transport- ation, they should be guilty of high treason. With respect to any Popish ecclesiasticks not actually in the kingdom, it prohibited any such to come in, on pain of twelve months' imprisonment, to be followed by trans2)ortation, and of high treason if returning after having been transported. Penalties, varyino- accordino- to the number of Penalties for con- -''■<-> c cealing them. times when the offence should be committed, from twenty to forty pounds, and the forfeiture of lands and goods for life, were enacted against any person who should knowingly harbour, relieve, conceal, or entertain such Popish clergy. It was further enacted, that no person, upon pain Bmiaiainmo- of forfeiting ten pounds, should bury any dead in any den. suppressed monastery, abbey, or convent, that is not made use of for celebrating divine service, accordini^; 74 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Orders to magi Btrates. Act against inter- marrying of Pro- testants with Pa- pists. Motives to the act. to the liturgy of the Church of Ireland by the law established, or within the precincts thereof. And that all justices of tlie peace should, from time to time, issue their warrants for apprehending and committing all Po^^ish ecclesiasticks whatsoever, that should remain in the kingdom contrary to the act; and for suppressing all monasteries, friaries, nunneries, or other Popish fraternities or societies. A statute was also enacted for preventing the mischiefs which had resulted from the intermarrying of Protestants with Papists. It had been found that Protestant females, inheriting or being otherwise possessed of property for their advancement in marriage, or having consi- derable life estates by dower or jointure, or being- guardians of Protestant children entitled to property, had been, by flattery and other crafty insinuations of Popish persons, seduced and prevailed upon to contract matrimony with Papists, and that such marriages had tended not only to the ruin and destruction of such jDroperty, and to the great loss and damage of many Protestants, to whom the same might descend, but also to the corrupting and per- verting of the Protestants so marrying, and of those in ^their guardianship, so that they forsook their religion and became Papists, to the great dishonour of Almighty God, the great prejudice of the Pro- testant interest, and the heavy sorrow and displeasure of all their Protestant friends. Such females, there- fore, under the penalty of being rendered incapable of holding their estates or interests, were, by chap. 3 of this parliament, forbidden to marry any person not certified to be a known Protestant. Evil of intermar- riages between Protestar.ts and Papists. It had also been found;, that the marriages of Sec. IV.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. Protestants with Popish females had proved perni- cious to the Protestant interest; forasmuch as it commonly happened, that such Protestant persons and their issues, being influenced by such Popish wives, were reconciled to Popery and became Pa- pists. It was, therefore, enacted by the same statute, that any Protestant marrying a woman not certified to be a known Protestant, should be deemed a Papist or Popish recusant, and disabled from being heir, executor, administrator, or guardian, or from sitting in parliament, or bearing office or employ- ment, unless he should, within one year after such marriage, procure a certificate that his wife had renounced tlie Popish religion and become a Pro- testant. It had been also found, that Popish priests had of late endeavoured to withdraw soldiers from the king's service by marrying them to Popish wives. And it was, therefore, enacted by the same statute, that any Popish priest, or Protestant minister, or other person whatsoever, who should marry any soldier to any wife, without certificate of her being a Protestant, should forfeit twenty pounds for every such offence. There are those by whom these enactments have been condemned as penal statutes against the lio- manists^ But surely it were more agreeable to truth and equity, more in correspondence with the avowed motives and real purposes of the Acts, to describe them as statutes protective of the Protes- Proper character ir.^ ^^<^^^ Statutes. tants. In the course of little more than fifty years, the Church of Ireland and her members, after having been afflicted by the most bitter sufferings, had been by a merciful Providence twice rescued from utter • Plo^vden's Hist. Rev., i. 201. THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. destruction and annihilation as the National Church. The authors of those distresses and dangers had been the Popish hierarcliy and clergy; first encouraging the people of their communion to rebellion, and using them as the instruments of their own ambitious projects; and then giving effect by their co-operation to the arbitrary and tyrannical projects of a Popish king. What the Popish clergy had thus done was, moreover, not the hasty, the transient, and evanes- cent ebullition of a momentary excitement, but the deliberate and steadfast result of their own avowed principles, in obedience to that paramount authority to which they acknowledged allegiance. What they had done, therefore, they were prepared to seize any favourable opportunity of doing again. Knowing these their principles, and sensibly alive to the evil of their consequent practices, it was no more than an act of self-protection and self-preservation in the Protestants of the kingdom to divest the Popish hierarchy and regular clergy of their power to com- mit fresh injury, and for this purpose, as the only sufficient means, to dismiss them from the kingdom. Of the essential and unalterable character of the Romish religion, and of the restless, turbulent, and ungovernable spirit of its emissaries, the Protestants of Ireland had too sufficient reason to be satisfied: and the evils which had been thence experienced by their fathers and by themselves, they naturally en- deavoured to avert in future from themselves and their descendants. Measures of cox'.n- Thus, agalu, witli I'espect to the other act for teraction. j • t> p • • preventing Protestants from nitermarrying with Pa- pists, if the effi?ct of such marriages had been proved to 1 e llie transferring of Protestant property to the hands of Pa])ists, the coiTuj)tion and perversion of Sec. IV.] WILLIAM ITT. AND MARY. Protestants to the faith of Papists, the diminution of the wealth, the numbers, and the power of the Protestant community, and tlie proportionate in- crease of the weight and influence of their Popish opponents, it was prudently and justly done to take the requisite precautions for counteracting- such effects. Such effects are stated in the preamble of the act as having actually come to pass. The character of Archbishop Marsh, who appears from his own testimony to have been the framer of the bill, is a sufhcient voucher for the truth of the state- ment. But, indeed, the truth of it must be self- evident to all who know the genius of Po]:)ery, and have had any experience of its influence on the relations of domestick life. Similar remarks applv to the princiiile of the Li5^'eii. "I have before me yours of the 14th instant, for which Bishop King's I return you my most hearty thanks, and reckon the free- orheaith! dom you use in it as one of the greatest obligations. I shall not say much to justify myself ; and were it not the peculiar value I have for your opinion, I would not say anything at all. I never expected to live to see the sitting of a parliament ; and it was the peculiar and extraordinary goodness of God, that did not only preserve me till the last sate, but enabled me to assist at it, beyond my expectation. I sate every day the prospect of death before my eyes ; and I neither said nor did anything, that I know, in it, but I was ready to answer at the tribunal of God. I hope you will be so charitable to a man in my circumstances as to think that what I did was designed for the service of my king and country, and that I would not consent to any- thing that I thought would betray either liberty or religion. " I was well aware that I was not in the way of my His conscientious temporal interest; and you observe, that one of the justices, that had designs for my promotion, desisted because he found me ^intractable. I cannot help this character, nor my being of sour and morose principles^ or being tied up to them. But I must profess to you, that my principles for government are no other than Magna Charta^ nor for reli- gion other than the Bible, as interpreted by the catholick consent of Christians. To these I am likely to be bound up whilst I live ; and shall, with all the skill I can, oppose such as endeavour to alter them, and introduce slavery and irreligion. As to the particular objections you make, if I under- Biii opposed by stand right, they are these : — 1st. That it turned all men's heads to see eight bishops, made by King William, to be against the bill for the better securing his person, and three archbishops, made by King Charles, to be for it. In answer to which, methinks this is a great objection against the bill but none against the bishops ; for 'tis to be supposed that G THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. the bishops made by King Charles were of the humour of his court, and in that interest ; and the bishops made by King William of the humour of his court, and in his inte- rest : and surely they believed the bill prejudicial to his honour, and dangerous to his person, or they had never rejected it. One good argument for setting up arbitrary power over four-fifths of a nation, and altering Magna Charta, which is law in Ireland as well as in England, in so essential a part as trial for life, liberty, and estate, by a jury, were of more value than a thousand such extrinsical reasons ; but there was not one offered in the debate for it, nor can be, as I take it." Names of tha It were needless to dwell on the other objections cerned!''°" of a political nature discussed in this long letter. But it may be added, that, considering the incapacity of the Primate to take part at that time in publick affairs, the three archbishops who voted for the bill must have been Narcissus Marsh of Dublin, Palliser of Cashe], and Vesey of Tuam ; though, indeed, the fact of Archbishop Palliser having been made a bishop by King William in 1692, when he was consecrated to the see of Cloyne, seems inconsistent with the supposed condition. Of the eight bishops, Sir Robert Southwell conjectured Bishop Foy of Waterford to be one ; but the Bishop of Derry affirmed this to be a mistake, assuring Sir Robert that the Bishop of Waterford was not in the House at the time, and that his proxy and vote were in favour of the bill. Bishop Burnet also had been informed that the Bishop of Waterford was one of the opponents of the bill ; but in another letter of Bishop King it is affirmed that " the Archbishop of Dublin had the Bishop of Waterford's proxy, and gave the bishop's vote with his own." In fact, from a reference to the Journals of the House, it appears that the eight episcopal opjionents Sec. IV.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 83 of the bill were the Bishops King of Deny, Vigors of Ferns, Fitzgerald of Clonfert, Lloyd of Killala, Hartstong of Ossory, Ashe of Clogher, Thomas Smyth of Limerick, and Lindsay of Killaloe. It appears also, from the same authority, that, before the question was pnt to the vote, it was stipulated that such Lords as should be in the minority on a negative might enter their protest on the Journals. The followino- protest was accordindv entered, with Protest in favour ® ^ ® •' ' of the bill. the signatures of the three archbishops and eleven temporal peers. Of the three it will be observed that the Archbishop of Cashel Avas one ; and he having been promoted to that dignity by King Wil- liam in 1694, and having been at first raised to the episcopate by the same sovereign in 1692, as Bishop of Cloyne, it is evident that the view, communicated to Archbishop King by his correspondent in Eng- land, was incorrect. That he did not rectify it may appear somewhat surprising. The protest was as follows, with the preface as entered in the Journals of the House : " Leave being asked, and given, for any Lord to enter his dissent, if the question should be carried in the negative, we, whose names are here after-written, do dissent for the reasons following, viz. : " Because it doth evidently appear, that the Papists of this kingdom have ever been, and at this time are, enemies to the English Protestant interest of this kingdom. " Because it is notorious that his Majesty rescued our lives and liberties out of the hands of our enemies, the Pa- pists of this kingdom, and restored to us the exercise of our religion by his great valour and conduct, and at the frequent and extreme hazard of his sacred person. " Because this bill doth well correspond with the title, and seems aptly and properly framed to preserve his Ma- jesty's person and government, whereon, under God, the G 2 84 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. welfare of all the Protestants in all his Majesty's dominions doth entirely depend. Because this bill doth declare the associations already entered into for the preservation of his Majesty's person and government to be and remain good and lawful ; and doth enjoin and require all that are in office or employment, and other persons therein specified, to join and associate them- selves together for the better preservation thereof ; which w^e conceive to be absolutely necessary for the good of the Protestant religion and the English interest ; and the rather, since the House of Peers have not yet associated, although the House of Commons and many others have done the same. " Because this bill enjoins every person elected to serve as a member of the House of Commons to sign the associa- tion already entered into by that House before he sit or vote therein. " Because it disables every person to vote at elections of parliament that shall refuse to take the oaths in the said act mentioned ; which we conceive would be a great security to the government by incapacitating Papists and other disaffected persons from sitting in parliament. " Because this bill provides for the continuing of all officers, civil and military, in their employments six months after the death of his Majesty, or any of his heirs, or suc- cessors, unless such successor should, within that time, notify his pleasure to the contrary, which provision tends to preserve the publick peace of this kingdom, and keep inviolable the union and dependence of this kingdom on the crown and kingdom of England. " Because, in our opinion, there is* nothing in the said bill inconsistent with justice or equity, the like laws having been enacted both in England and in this kingdom, for the necessary defence of our religion and safety, and to distin- guish Protestants from Papists by oaths and declarations prescribed by such laws, and changed by subsequent acts as occasion required, and the penalties in this bill contained can never be inflicted but by the joint concurrence of the majority of the justices of the peace, at their quarter- sessions, who roust certify every conviction to the judges of Sec. IV.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 85 assize, that the same may be estreated into the exchequer, from whence process may issue, so as there seems no danger of the prosecution being hasty and severe, there being no obligation to put the said act in execution, but a discre- tionary power is left both in the justices of the peace, barons of the exchequer, and the government. " Because the bill lodges in his Majesty full power to pardon and discharge all offences, forfeitures, and disabilities incurred by the said bill, under his royal signet or sign- manual, so as his Majesty's clemency and the ])rudence and moderation of the justices of the peace and the govern- ment may well be intrusted with the power of putting in execution a law so necessary for our safety. Because the rejecting this bill may seem to discourage the execution of those penal laws which are already enacted against the Papists of this kingdom, who from hence may take occasion of condemning, as unjust and severe, the laws formerly made against them. " Lastly, Because we think it our duty, by entering our dissent to the rejecting of this bill, to acquit ourselves before God and man, from being charged by our posterity as authors of the miseries which we fear may be the conse- quence of the loss of this bill. '•Narcissus Dublin. !MorxT Alexander. W. Cashell. Loftus. Jo. TuA.M. Massareene. Meath. Powerscourt. In'chiquix. Blessixgtox. Orrery. Mouxtjoy. Mountrath. B l.AYXEY. the bill. As the session of the next year, 1698, was draw- Further fate of ing on, the Bishop of Derry, by the advice of several friends, wrote letters on the 22nd of September to the Bishops of Down and Connor, of Limerick, and of Elphin, entreating their attendance in Parliament, in expectation of business of the greatest moment. In one of these letters, namely, that to the Bishop of Limerick, it is observed, '"As to the bill for the THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. preservation of the king's person, it is likewise of moment, and, I believe, may still bear debate: but I cannot say how it is, not having yet seen it/' The statute-book, however, contains no such act: but in a letter of February 2, 1699, in which the Bishop of Derry gives a detailed account of all the bills that •\vere rejected, there occurs a mention of this amongst the number, wdience it appears that, having been again brought into parliament, it underwent the same fate from the Commons w-hich it had un- dergone tlie former session from the Lords. Of one act passed in this session, the only one of an ecclesiastical nature, being for the encourage- ment of the building of houses by ecclesiasticks, an Failure of bill accouut has been alreadv sfiven. A bill was also for building ^ *' churches. iutroduccd for the building of churches; but "after having been committed in the House of Lords, it w^as by common consent called for no more," as stated in the letter of Bishop King, just cited. " This method of laying it aside," he proceeds to relate, was taken, because the House was willing to Exceptions avold glviug au express negative to it. The excep- againi,t it. , . , , tions agauist it, amongst many others, were, that it prescribed a new and impracticable way of calling vestries. 2ndly. That by mistake of the clerk a negative was added in one material clause, by which was enacted, that in applotments, if any -were not aggrieved, they might appeal and have remedy, but if they were they had none. Srdly. Only the inhabit- ants were obliged to contribute to repair churches, Avhereas, as the law is now and ought to be, all those that have lands or holdings in parishes are liable to such assessments: this was the more into- lerable in Ireland, where whole parishes are stocked with flocks belonging to persons that are no inhabit-. Sec. IV.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 87 ants. 4tlily. The parishioners were enabled to transfer their cliurch from one place to another without consulting the bishop or patron, which was judged too great a power to be lodged in them. And, lastly, all appeals were ordered to be made to tlie quarter-sessions and assizes, without any notice of the bisliops, which was a fair way to destroy the ecclesiastical jurisdiction." Another bill that did not pass in the House of ^^4^^ J^^^^^;/ Lords was for free schools, the design of which, as p^'^'- we learn from the aboye-cited authority, " was to reinforce the Act of 12tli Elizabeth, chap. 1, for the erection of free schools. This went off as the former, for these, amongst other reasons : 1st. It enacted, that tlie school sliould be erected in the principal county of the diocese, but gaye no rule for determining which was the principal county. 2ndly. It gaye power to the grand jury of the principal county, not only to assess their o\yn county, but like- wise all other counties that were in the diocese, which was judged inconyenient. Srdly. It took no care for the residence of schoolmasters, which in well-endowed schools begins to be a grievance in Ireland. 4thly. Whereas the bishops and clergy were to maintain these schoolmasters, yet the elec- tion of them was to be in the council and chief goyernor; and the yery applotment of the salary on the clergy was not to be, as formerly, in the clergy, but was transferred to the judges. And, lastly, though it appeared that some dioceses had already more free schools than were useful, yet they were obliged by this bill to erect another, and it would happen sometimes to be in the same to\yn ^yhere there was one already endowed." The other bills, of which there were seyeral, re- bius rejected by the Coiumons. 88 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. jected in this parliament by the Lords had no im- mediate reference to ecclesiastical affairs. But there were two rejected by the Lower House, on which a few words may be added. One was a bill for reviving the act of union and division of parishes. " It came," says the Bishop of Derry, from the Lords to the Commons, and was rejected — 1st. Because Mr. Brotherick had, by his interest at the council-board, added a clause to the heads drawn at first by the Lords, that retrospected, and would have turned many good men out of their livings, and made way for bad. 2ndly. Because Mr. Brotlierick, as was alleged, to serve his turn at Coraby, had put such a definition of residence in the bill as was not practical in many places. And, lastly, because it was of little use if it had past." In the mean time the bill for tlie preservation of the king's person had been previously rejected by the Commons; being, in fact, the first that was rejected in that House. "It was mended," says the Bishop of Derry, " in some particulars, since it mis- carried in the House of Lords last year ; yet the reasons offered against it there made such impres- sion in the generality of the kingdom, that it was thrown out by a great majority; and surely it had been so mischievous to the kingdom, that no man had been safe in it if it had passed, and it had been of no real advantage to his Majesty." Sec. v.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 80 Section V. Death of Bishop 'Dopping. Testimonial to his merit. Bishop King's solicitude concerning a fit Successor. His letters on the subject. Case of the Bishoprick of Meath. Recommendation of Bishop Foy. Translation of Bishop Tennison. Melancholy 2^ictiire of the Church exhibited in Bishop King'^s correspondence. Act to encourage Building on Church Lands. Its utility. Measure for re- building Parish Churches. No Convocation in this reign. Breaches of liberty in Church and State. Ca uses of dis- content. Rapid succession of Irish Bishops. Account of Bishop Huntington. His early death. Bishop King''s diocesan Visitations. Metropolitan Yisitations held by suffragan Bishops. The same year in which the acts just commented on Death of Bishop Avere respectively passed and rejected, the year 1 697, witnessed the removal of one of the bishops of the Church, concerning* whom there has been ah'eady occasion to make honourable mention. To the merits of Anthony Dopping, bishoj) of Meath, in his episcopal character, testimony has been borne in earlier passages of this narration : and during the late calamitous season of tyrannical oppression, no member of his order appears to have been as resolute as he in resisting the iniquitous proceedings of King- James and his pretended parliament, and in standing- forward to protect the interests of the members of the Church. These things need not be repeated : but in evidence of his worth as a parochial clergy- man, such as many of those whom the Church of Ireland has, at all times, had the happiness of reckoning- among her sons, if less conspicuously, yet not less benehcially, known within their more limited 90 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. sphere of duty, it may be here incidentally noticed, that at his death, which is said by his biographer to have been much lamented by all ranks of people', Testimoniaito a massy silver dish, given to him in testimony of respect by the parishioners of St. Andrew's, Dublin, of which parish he had been vicar, was devised by his will to the heir of his family, as an heir-loom to descend for ever in remembrance of his parishioners' kindness; his family arms being engraven on the margin, and on the bottom St. Andrew on the cross, . surrounded with the original Greek of the apos- tolical precept, " Let the elders that rule w^ell be Succeeded by couutcd w^orthy of double honour." The vacant see Bishop TenniBon. ;^Jeath was filled by the translation from Cloglier of Bishop Tennison, of whose episcopal character there has already been occasion to speak Avith respect. Bishop King's so- The dcatli of Bishop Dopping, wdio was highly licitude concern- t-» t ing a fit successor, estecmed by Bishop King as "a worthy and active prelate before his infirmities seized him," rendered desirable the appointment of "a prudent, knowing, and vigorous successor." A contrivance was sus- pected for bringing in the Bishop of Clonfert, con- cerning whom Archbishop Marsh, as w^e have seen, " praised the Lord that he had no hand in his conse- cration," and of whom Bishop King now spoke in a letter to Mr. Tollett, as " the weakest of the order, and as having no qualification to recommend him." This co-operated wdtli his sense of the importance of the station to excite in him a special solicitude for a worthy successor to Bishop Dopping in the bishop- rick of Meath: and he expressed this solicitude in Ills letters on the three letters of the 29th of April, 1697, addressed respectively to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and Sir Robert Soutlnvell. Of ^ ]Iai{hks's Ware, Buhjcct. Sec. V.J WILLIA3I III. AND MARY. 01 these I select the one addressed to Sir Robert Southwell as most illustrative, not only of the par- ticular case before us, but of the condition of the bishoprick of JSIeath generally, and of other circum- stances relating to the Church: Sir, L:derry, Ajyy'd 29th, 1697- Letter to sir ro- .... . ^ - bcrt Southwell. 1 am very unwilling to give you any trouble except Ainii29, 107. it be on necessary occasions, and I look on the present as eminently so. I understand by my letters from Dublin, which I left on the 20th instant, that since my coming from thence it lias pleased God to remove the Bishop of !Meath, a most useful and eminent pillar of our Church, before his late impairment by sickness, and in particular my friend and assistant, upon whose advice I would rely in matters of moment. 'Tis of the last consequence to the Church here, and to his Majesty's service, that that place be supplied with a proper person. I will therefore take the liberty to lay the case of the bishoprick before you, and doubt not but you will do in this, as I have ever found you do heretofore, I mean improve the intimations I give you to the best advantage. "The bishoprick of Meatli is the first in the kingdom, case of the as London is in England; and takes place next to the Meath. "^'^ archbishops, but it is much inferior in value to many of them. The bishop is usually of the privy council, and resi les in Dublin. We have at present these clergymen of the privy council: the Lord Primate, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Bishop of Kildare, and Bishop of Cloyne ; and ■ he Bishop of ^leath was likewise of it, and yet the Church mttrest was very weak there; for the Lord Primate is disabled, and never appeareth ; the Bishop of !Meath was under the discountenance of the government ; and besides, by the infirmity of his hearing and other defects, could be but little serviceable for these last years; and the Archbishop of Dublin, (though an excellent person and scholar,) yet is to 3 modest and unacquainted with tlie world to make a great bustle, without which I am informed little is done there. The Bishop of Kildare hath likewise his disad- vantages; and the Bishop of Cloyne is seldom at the 92 THE REIGN OF [Cn. I. Board, and is not yet in so great authority as hereafter he will be, by reason of his age. So that upon this matter the Church interest at the council-table depends on the fit choice of a person to fill the bishoprick of Meatli. Necessity of a fit " Thcro are some such (as the Bishop of Clooher) that person to fill it. i i i n p • i • i would be fit for it, but they are already in better bishop- ricks, and cannot, without imputation of imprudent ambi- tion, accept it. If I might (between you and me) discover iiecommcndation my scusc, I think the Bishop of Waterford would do well of Bishop Foj. ^ Smith, dean of St. Patrick's, that attends his Majesty, might be sent to Waterford. By the care and prudence of the present bishop that diocese is put in tolerable order, as I observed when there last summer; and it is a good His high cha- testimony of the bishop's prudence that he governed a parish in Dublin for fourteen years in very difficult times with the greatest love and highest approbation of his parishioners, and has now with the same success governed, for five or six years, his diocese. As to his affection to the government, I dare engage that his Majesty has not a subject in his kingdoms more cordial to him, more zealous or concerned for his in- terest or prerogatives ; insomuch that the late Lord Capell depended upon him for stoppage of any attempts that might be offered in the House of Lords to lessen the king's pre- rogative. I believe the Bishop of Kildare may put in for the succession ; but he is already in council, and I question whether his successor in Kildare and Christchurch may have interest to get into it, and so we shall lose one vote. " I have one consideration more to press for the putting the Bishop of Waterford into the post, and 'tis the great disorder in which the diocese of Meath is. ^Tis one of the largest in L*eland, consisting anciently of five bishopricks, at least sixty miles long, in an excellent country : but the lands were mostly made away or exchanged for tithes about the Keformation ; the rest of the tithes are generally impro- priate, and many parishes must be united to make a com- petency. The late bishop being infirm since the Revolution, was not able to look to the cures as was necessary ; and there needs an active, vigorous, and skilful person to put them in order, such as the Bishop of Waterford ; and I hope you will use your endeavour to place him or some Sec. v.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 93 such there. T am now to beg your pardon for this trouble, but, lest I should increase it, I will conclude with my hearty prayers for you, and the humblest respects of, " Sir, yours, &c., " W. D. To Sir Robert Southwell." From a subsequent letter of the Bishop of Derry ^[g^^^'p^T^n^on. to Sir Robert Southwell, he appears to have been well satisfied with the appointment to Meath. "As to the late disposal of the preferments in Ireland," he says, ^yriting from Bath, July 19, 1697, " they are better than I could have wished." In fact. Bishop Tennison was translated from the more opulent see of Clogher to the more honourable post of INleath; he was succeeded in Clogher by St. George Ash, translated from Clovne: and the bishoprick of consequent pre- ^ ferments. Cloyne was filled by the consecration of John Pooley, dean of Ossory, and prebendary of St. Michan's, Dublin. In his latter capacity, he is related by Mr. Harris to have used great labour, entreaties, and solicitations, and thus to have effected the repair of his church, which was almost in ruins, against a strong opposition from the sectaries, many of whom, nevertheless, he was successful in bringing over to the Church : and Bishop King mentions, that by his preferment to the bishoprick of Cloyne, " he made room for the division of St. Michan's parish, which will make three, and I hope a short bill to that pur- ])ose will be transmitted." A few weeks after the date of the precedino' Melancholy pic- . ^ ° ture of the letter, the following, from the Bishop of Derry to chmcu. the Bishop of Waterford, present a melancholy picture of the condition of the Church : THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Letter of Bishop King to Bishop Foy, September 28, 1697. Evils of the times. ■Hifficultyof procv- "ng laws for the beiiti"' of the Church. '■'Dublin, 2Stk Sept, 1697. " My dear and very good Lord, " I have read over yours of the 18th instant, with great grief and trouble of mind. I am sensible every word you say is most true, and that it is not possible our Church should subsist long in this languishing and crazy condition; but few regard or mind it, and those that are apprized of it are either afraid or wearied out with the ill treatment with which they meet. . . . "As to those steps of reformation you mention, they are necessary, but they must be obtained by union, per- severance, and industry; whereas I must profess I have not one to whom the proposal of them would.be grateful. O, my Lord! we have Mien in evil times, in which it is a step to a preferment to the person that will give assurance, that, as soon as he is in it, he will disgrace or betray it: this is the fatal method has been taken since the restoration to destroy us, and is still prosecuted, though by different hands; in short, my Lord, we are not like to obtain one good law for the Church. " This sessions some of our own body, and a whole crowd of the inferior clergy, opposed the bill for building houses ; and it was with much ado we carried it in the House of Lords. I laboured it near three hours; and had it not been that I got some of the lay Lords, it had been left there; but it miscarried in the House of Commons, as I told you formerly. We shall have no bill for unions; or, if we have any, it will be worth nothing. We pressed a bill of blasphemy, but it was said there was none in Eng- land, which carried it off. We have had no meeting this sessions at the Archbishop of Dublin's house as formerly, nor any committee for religion, at least very seldom. My own business has pressed me so hard, having the society of London and Lord Chancellor to deal with. I have been much diverted, and your absence has been of no good con- sequence. We did not meddle Avith Tolon, {qii. Toland?) because we could do nothing to him; but tlie bill of blas- phemy was designed against him and his followers : the House of Commons made short work with liiin, but with Sec. V.l WILLIAM ITI. AND NAUY. 95 the ill precedent which you observe: but it cannot be helped : they that have power must use it, and will do it.'' And on the 5th of October, he ao^ain wrote to Letter of Bishop ' c> King, October 5, his friend the Bishop of Waterford, in the same dis- 1697. couraofino: manner : " My very good Lord, " I am more sensible of the ill aspect that the sene- Vark, 207, 101. 281^ .54.0. II 2 100 THE REIGN OP [Cii. I. No convocation in this reign. Letter of Bishop King to Bishop of Worcester, Feb, 3. 169f). Breaches of liber- ty in Church and State. Causes of discon« tent. land, in quality of his chaplain, and been promoted to the bishoprick of Killaloe in 1696; and he hap- pily had the address and influence required for the successful execution of his commission ^ Together with the parliaments assembled in this reign, no convocation was holden: meanwhile taxes were laid by the House of Commons on the clergy without their consent; and a power of annulling Irish acts of parliament affecting the Church was assumed and acted on by the English parliament. In a letter from the Bishop of Derry to the Bishop of Worcester, on the 3rd of February, 1699, these breaches, as he esteemed them, of their liberty in Church and State are thus specified as being with- out precedent: *' First, we have had two parliaments in Ireland since the Revolution without any convocation, which is without example in Ireland. Secondly, in this session the clergy have been assessed by the Commons without their own consent, and were not allowed so much as a salvo to their right; there never was any tax in nature of a subsidy granted but in convocation before; all that we the bishops could do was, to enter our protestation against it in the Journals of the House of Lords, which they permitted the archbishops and bishops to do. Thirdly, since this Revo- lution, the parliament in England did, by an act, suspend an act, 17 & 18 Car. XL, cap. 10, made in Ireland, disabling clergymen to hold livings in England and Ireland at the same time; and by that have assumed a power to repeal our acts, which is absolutely new to us, there being no such precedent before. Fourthly, they made an act .3 Gul. and Marise, obliging all persons to take the new oaths, and abrogating the oath of supremacy enjoined by an Irish act; and this under the penalty of forfeiture of freeholds and ofBces, with other grievous penalties; this is likewise new." Several other instances of encroachment are " Ware's J??*,f//o/).-ov.'i5, i697. any one man to provide for the necessities of the Church, which wants many good laws liere that you have in England, hath hindered me hitherto from writing to you.*' 108 THE REJGN OF [Cii. I. Dec. 17, 1698. Aiid Oil Decembei* 17, 169B : " I must beg your pardon for not answering your two last letters. The business of our parliament sate hard upon me, and some other bishops that are privy-councillors ; be- cause, the continuance of our session being uncer- tain, we are forced to i)ush on the preparing of bills, especially for the Cliurch, with all speed. And though we had a recess for eighteen days, yet there were twenty-five bills lay upon the council-board, to be read, examined, drawn into form of an act, en- grossed, and transmitted to England, and to the council there, in order to their being remitted by the time of our next meeting, or at least before our Process of par- ])arliament riseth, wliicli must be soon. All which liamentary bills. ^ we desi^atched in little more than a week's time; though every bill is read twice at the council, then committed, and there read and examined nicely all over, and altered as occasion may serve ; then reported to the council, read, and argued paragraph by paragraph, if there be need ; ordered to be en- grossed, the engrossment read, three of which are joined under a broad seal, which transmiss is signed by the whole board, packed up and sent away. This is the method of our proceeding on bills at the council-board, where I did attend upon this only business for ten or eleven hours every day ; but am now got free, and therefore have time to thank you for both your kind letters." Letter of January And on January 0, 1700 : " 'Tis long since 1 heard from you; but 'tis longer since, I may in a sense say, I lived. From the beginning of February until May I was a perfect recluse, though not wholly a clinick all that time. Then was I on a sudden drawn out of my chamber to the castle, to help hold M-lJ^h onTof the the sword with my Lord Galway, in my Lord Duke Sfc. VI.] WTLLTAM ITT. AND UXItY. 100 of Bolton's absence, until my Lord Bearkley came seasonably to ease me of that burden. And yet I am not hitherto Avholly free from such worldly cares." And again, on May the 4th, 1700, in the year way 4,1700. preceding which he had been for a short time one of the Lords Justices, in conjunction with the Earl of Galway, and had been then relieved by the substitu- tion of the Earl of Berkeley in his jdace; to which charge he alludes in the foregoing as well as in the following extract: "It must be a great goodness in you to pardon my neglects, which I do still confess, promise amendment, and then do worse. But all nisdiMnciination ••^ ' for worldly busi- arises from an unhappy circumstance that I do usually labour under. ^Vorldly business is that which above all things I do hate; and that the more, because the affairs of the Church, as things now stand, and during my Lord Primate's inability to act in his station, create me as much business as I can conve- niently turn under. When I was dismissed last summer from the charge of the government, I hoped to be ever hereafter free from things of that nature. But Providence disposed of me out of one trouble into another. For our Lord Chancellor was no sooner summoned by the parliament in England, bat I was appointed first commissioner for keeping the broad seal, which hath found me employment that I hope will be over in a few weeks, that so I may be at some liberty to write to my friends." And on the 3rd of Sei3tember, the same vear, Letter of septem ■I ' . ' ber 3, 1700. lie refers to the stated occupations arising out of his metropolitan office: *'I received your book; but was, at the ti me of its delivery, travelling over the province of licinster in my triennial visitation; that is, my archiepiscopal visitation of niy province. For 110 THE REIGN OF LCii. I. our bishops here do visit each man his own diocese every year; and all this little enough to set and keep things in order." fiolTirirdand! ^^^^ ^^^^ ^"^^ "^^7 ^® ^^^^'^ couvenieut to be stated, that in Ireland provincial and diocesan visita- tions of the clergy are regularly holden; the former every third year, of all the dioceses in his province, by the metropolitan; the latter every year, when the provincial visitation is not holden, of each diocese by its bishop. Archbishop Mention has l)een lately made of the library Marsh's hbrary. founded by the archbishop in Dublin. The circum- stances are such as deserve and require detail in a history of the Church; and this seems the proper place for relating them. Plan and progress The inteutiou of establishinof his library was of it. O formed by Archbishop Marsh, and begun to be carried into execution whilst he was Archbishop of Dublin; and continued to be advanced and was completed by him after he succeeded to the pri- macy, occupying altogether a space of about eight Archbishop's let- qj. jr^inQ years. Tho different stao^es in it are stated ters to Dr. Smith. » by himself in letters, of which the foregoing are extracts, addressed to the learned Oriental scholar, and the author of a Latin life of Primate Ussher, Dr. Thomas KSmith; who, having been deprived of his fellowship of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1688, by Dr. Gifford, the Popish president, "because he refused to live among the new Popish fellows of that house, he being then the senior bursar thereof;" and, after his restoration in the same year, being a second time deprived for refusing to take the oaths Account of him. of Supremacy and allegiance to William and ]\fary, lived afterwards in poverty and retirement, as a non- Si:c. VI.] WILLIAM TIT. AND MARY. Ill juror, ill Dean-street, Soho, London. Archbishop ^Jarsh constantly entertained for him the greatest esteem and affection, as manifested by a confiden- tial correspondence of many years in continuance, still preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and from which the following extracts contain the chief particulars relative to the archbishop's library. The first intimation of his intention is expressed in the last-cited letter of JNIay 4th, 1700, wherein the Archbishop, having sought Dr. Smith's assistance in " recommending to him choice books," thus opens the occasion of his wish: "And now, Sir, that you may know the better what Needof a library in Dubliu sort of books will best fit me, I must declare to you a secret, which is this, that by the blessing of God I do design to leave all mine Oriental MSS. to the Bodleian Library when I die; and for the rest of my books, I hope to dispose of them thus: The Archbishop of Dublin's house in Dublin, called St. Sepulchre's, though it may well be called a palace for the stateliness of all the publick rooms of reception, yet hath it no chapel nor library belonging to it, nor indeed any convenient room to hold an ordinary study of books, so that mine lav dipersed in three distant rooms. This considera- Archbishop's re- 1 'i -I 1 1 M T -I T ^ 1 ^ solution in conse- tion hath made me resolve to build both a chanel and quence. library ; which had been done by this time, if the title to the ground on which I am to build could have been cleared, which I hope will soon be done. The chapel is designed tor the use of the archbishop's family, but the library for publick use ; which will be of great use here, where is no publick library, (that of the College being open only to the provost and fellows,) and where the booksellers* shops are furnished with nothing but new trifles ; so that neither the divines of the city, nor those that come to it about business, do know whither to go to spend an hour or two upon any occasion at study. '• In this library (if God shall enable me to go through Provision for the with the work, in order to the buildinfr whereof I have laid 112 THE REIGN OF [Cn. 1. by eight hundred pounds, which is the money that became due to me from the King whilst I was concerned in the government last summer), in this library, I say, my inten- tions are to lodge all my printed books when I die, having no relation to whom to leave them that I think deserves such a favour. Ani for hooks. " Sir, the dcsigu rcacheth yet a little further. I have now 600/. worth of books lying ready in Dublin to be put into the library as soon as it shall be built, which is the study of a learned gentleman that will give them freely, provided the king will settle upon him 200/. per annum out of the first-fruits of this kingdom, as a salary for being library-keeper, (which he will attend,) until I or my suc- cessor can bestow upon him the chancellorship or treasurer- ship of St. Patrick's in Dublin, on which are no cures, to be appropriated to that use for ever. The gentleman is Mr. Bouhereau, who published Origines contra Cehuni in French, with learned notes, in Holland. He is a man as well quali- fied to be a library-keeper as any one I do know, being well skilled in critical learning, and one of great correspondence. The matter hath lain before the king some time, and now that the parliaments are over, I hope we shall have a gracious answer speedily, my Lord Galvvay being deeply concerned in it, because Mr. Bouhereau is his secretary, and hath been so for many years. " I have near 200/. worth of books by me, that I would put into the library presently, were it built, and the rest when I die. And I hope, if my Lord Galway might con- tinue in the government a little longer, to find a way by a removal, to get one of the fore-mentioned dignities for a library keeper without being chargeable to his Majesty for anything but the first fruits." The archbishop was by no means remiss in pro- secuting his laudable and valuable design. On the 26th of January, 1703, he writes thus to Dr. Smith: Description of the "I have no news from this kingdom to requite you building. \y\ih^ only that the library I have been for some time erecting for publick use, will, I hope, be finished by Mid- summer, which had been by last ^Michaelmas, if Sir Sec. VI.] WILLIAM III. AN'D MARY. 113 William Robinson, who is my architect, had not stayed so long in London the last year. The whole pile of building is ninety feet long, and will contain a greater quantity of books than I shall live to see put into it. And when the upper part, that is contrived like the cross part of the Bodleyan Library, shall be filled with books, then the lower part under it. that is made like the upper, and is now made lodgings for a library-keeper, may be converted into a library also. The whole building will cost me about 2000/. by the time it is finished, which I pray God enable me to • do : for which also I desire your prayers." The furaishinof of the library with books was the next object of the archbishop's solicitude, as noticed in the following extract from a letter of July 5, 1704, before which he had been translated to Armagh : " The structure being nearly finished, my next care contemplated must be to get it well furnished with such books as may Sirho^tming- render it useful to all sorts of persons. I am indeed fleets boc-ks. earnestly pressed to purchase Dr. Stillincrfleet's library, but it will cost -3000/. before it can be brought over hither ; and I fear, that if it should come, it would not fully answer my design, because there must of necessity be many insionincant books in it. Wherefore it being my design to furnish the small library that I have erected, which I conceive may be capable of receiving about 10,000 books of all sorts, with none but the most useful books in each faculty and science, my request to you is, that, as opportunity will serve, you ^^■ill yourself think and advise with your friends, what ijooks in each faculty and science may be most proper to be put into a library designed as mine is, as to Divinity, Civil and Common Law, Medicine and Anatomy, Sec, History, Geo;:raphy, Mathematicks, «Src., and that you would draw ip a catalogue of the authors and their best editions. Clas- sical authors and poets also are not to be neglected." On the 7th of September, the same year, he reverts to the same topick of Bishop Stillingfleet's library: I 114 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Doubts concern- ing it. PurchaseefFectod. Satisfactory to the archbishop. Steps for securing its perpetuity. " I am very much solicited to purchase Dr. Stilling- fleet (late bishop of Worcester's) books ; for which purpose the catalogue is sent me. The collection is great ; but, as far as I can yet discern, is on some subjects superfluous and redundant ; on others too deficient to form such a complete library. I desire your opinion of this collection, if you have seen it, whose price I fear will exceed the strength of my purse at present ; and that it might be better for me to purchase none but those books, and those by degrees, as I can best spare money."" Bishop Stillingfleet's library, however, was even- tually purchased, and appears to have exceeded the archbishop's expectations, as recorded in a letter of Nov. 3, 1705: " I did not answer your last sooner, because I had then a prospect of getting Dr. Stillingfleet's library of books over hither very soon, of which I had a mind to give you an account ; which now, by God'*s blessing, are safely arrived, and I, with some friends, are very busy in looking them over and examining them. I am very well pleased with the purchase, there being very many excellent books amongst them, and most very well bound and of the best editions : and I am the more so, because by this means I may ease you of a great part of the trouble I was putting upon you, of giving me an account of what books and editions of books you think proper for a library. But though the greatest part of my care on that account is now over, yet the whole is not ; for a library must be still in- creasing, as new books, or new and better editions of old ones, do come out. Besides that many good books in some faculties and sciences are wanting. I therefore do still desire the continuance of your favour in setting down such good books as you think fit for a library, as they occur to your mind." For the valuable institution thus made, the arch- bishop judged it prudent to take such steps as might secure its perpetuity under legislative au- Sec, VI.] WILLIA31 III. AND MARY. 115 thority; but in prooiiring that autlioritv he en- countered unexpected opposition, ^vhich he reports to Dr. Smith in a letter undated, but evidently written near the end of the year 1707: " I have no more to add at present," he observes, '* but that I am endeavouring to pass my bill for establishing my library for future use here. Which bill, though it first passed the House of Commons here, as heads of a bill, and then the council ; next the council in England (for this is our method.) with great applause, (if I may say so.) and now is come back to our House of Lords: I here find some opposition to it rubs, and that from some who, of all men in the world, have the least reason to make objections against it. both on account of their profession and character. But I hope to surmount all those as I have done many other difficulties in this affair, having, I think, all the laity on my side, and to be able to do a publick kindness and confer a publick benefit on this unhappy nation, whether some men will or no.'' This subject is resumed in the next letter, dated Dec. 13, 1707: I wish I could deny or any way revoke what I for- bv certain raerly wrote to you concerning the opposition made by men of mine own coat to my bill for settling a publick library, which I would gladly do, though to mine own shame, to hide and cover theirs. But the opposition continued to the last, not levelled against me directly, or my design in it, but that the bill contained in it simony, sacrilege, and perjury, though not one of them proved. Xotwithstanding all the exclamations made against it by two turbulent men on the above-mentioned accounts, all other the lords tem- poml and spiritual appeared very zealous for it, and it passed the House of Lords, and was sent down to the House of Commons, where it was very kindly and favourably received. In the mean time the dissenting lords entered their protestation against it, with such reasons as the House of Lords thought to be very reflective on them, and there- fore at the next session immediately voted those dissenting I 2 116 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. Votes of thanks to the archbishop from both houses of parliament, And by Lower House of Convo- cation. Cost of the li- brary. lords should be sent prisoners to the castle, unless they would withdraw their reasons, which accordingly they did, and all was quiet. " In the mean time the House of Commons passed my bill without any man's opposing it, or, as they say, nemine contradicente^ and presently voted that a committee of eight of their members should be appointed to give me the thanks of the house for the benefaction, which was accordingly done out of hand. The Lords, knowing this, presently voted the same, and pitched upon the dissenting lords to do it, for their mortification. But only one of them being at the time in the house, a temporal lord was joined with him ; and that likewise was done openly in the House of Lords. Next, the Lower House of Convocation, which had been in- fluenced by some others to declare themselves against the bill, which they had nothing to do with, voted likewise that thanks should be given me in the name of the inferior clergy for the benefaction, which accordingly was done by the prolocutor accompanied with six or seven of his assessors. And now you will think all rubs are over. I wish they were. " By this you will perceive how difficult a matter it is for a man to do any kindness to the people of this country. If he will be a publick benefactor, he must resolve to fight his way through all opposition of it; it being a new and unheard-of thing here, that certainly hath some secret de- sign in it to subvert the Church, though they cannot tell what; and the reason of it is, ' Quia omnes, quae sua sunt, quserunt.' *' This library, with the books, hath cost me near five thousand pounds, Irish money; and I designed to expend near so much more about it, as soon as God should enable me. But I confess this opposition has struck a great damp upon my spirits. I beg your prayers, that God would please to strengthen and encourage me in my former resolu- tions, without whose assistance, yea, and enlivening grace, I can do nothing more. Rev. Sir, — Thus far I had written near a month ago, and have laid by my letter to cool upon it thus long, and finding no exaggeration of truth in what is before said, I Sec. VI.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 117 now proceed to tell you, that since that time I have placed all Bishop Stillingfleet's books in the said library, Avhich I retained in my own house before the library was by act of parliament appropriate to publick use, and do find that they do very near fill up all the space that is yet prepared in it for the reception of books."" And repeating what is here said about the library being near filled, he adds, in a letter of Feb. 16, 1708 : " Until this matter be settled, and an additional build- ing be raised, or the present be carried on, as is designed, I fear that I shall not find room in it to place any more books. Which does no more discourage me from prosecuting my design of rendering the library as beneficial to this kingdom as may be than the opposition made to the bill hath done ; which hath only made me more zealous in the business, since it hath received the general approbation. But I must beg Archbisiiop-ssen- . timents concern- your pardon, it i cannot consent to leaving any marks be- ing his opponents, hind me of the opposition made to the passing that bill, more than what of necessity must be entered on the journals of the House of Lords here. The opponents, some of them, are worthy men; sed Nescio quo fato, nec qua vertigine rapti, &c. I forgive them, and I pray God every man else may : at least, nothing under my hand shall ever rise up against them.'' These last remarks were drawn from the arch- bishop by a letter of Feb. 5, 1708, wherein Dr. Smith says : " I give you my humble thanks for the communication Dr. Smith's ob- of the affair of your library, transacted and at last settled 5^1708.''"'' by act of parliament. [The act is chap. xix. of the 6th of Queen Anne.] I am heartily glad for the common good of the Church and kingdom of Ireland, that after such violent opposition made by one or two of your own order, 118 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I; your truly heroick, pious, and Christian design, deserving so well, and at so great trouble, charge, and expense, not only of the present age, but of all posterity, is fixed and Thanks of pariia- pl^ced out of the reach of envy and malice, and that the ^ent^and convo- two houscs of parliament, together with that of convoca- tion, who understood so clearly the wonderful good conse- quences of your benefaction, appeared so zealous in your behalf, and have given you their thanks and acknowledg- ments in so publick and solemn a manner, the Lords espe- cially, who ordered those very men, to their great shame and mortification, to do it in all their names. I am amazed at the heavy charges laid against the bill by those very few bishops who were so violent against it, and cannot comprehend the reasons and grounds of them. But I hope this their outrageous proceeding will not discourage your Grace from finishing your excellent design, which cannot but be highly acceptable to all good men who are concerned for ,the honour and propagation of learning and religion; and, to be sure, when envy and ill-nature shall cease, all future ages will be just to your name and memory, and will honour you as one of the principal benefactors of that country, how ingrateful some men may be at this time. I doubt not but your Grace, while these things continue fresh in your mind, will take care to digest in writing all particulars relating to the fabrick, the books contained in it, and the troubles you have met with before its final establishment, which will make no inconsiderable part of the history of your life, which you have employed so ad- vantageously for the good of that kingdom where Provi- dence has placed you." Honour due to The foregoing extracts will have given a sum- Archbishop mary view of the particulars here specified. From these great honour appears due to the archbishop's prudence and benevolence; the rather, because, as Dr. Smith remarks in a former letter, of August 7, 1707, " this great city (London), to the great scandal of it, has not a library in it which deserves to be called by that name; so that, by your Grace's muni- Sec. VI.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 119 ficence and publick spirit, Dublin will infinitely exceed London in this particular." The opposition which this munificent plan of Names of the op- posing bishops. Archbishop Marsh encountered proceeded from the Bishops Lloyd of Killala, Hartstong of Ossory, Lindsay of Killaloe, and Pooley of Raphoe, who, on the third reading of the bill, October 27, 1707, entered their protest on the Journals of the House of Lords; but on the 29th of the same month, by leave of the House, withdrew their reasons for the protest. Thus the cause of the opposition is not recorded; but the chief movers appear, from Arch- bishop King's MS. correspondence, to have been the Bishops of Killaloe and Raphoe. A pleasing anti- Commendation of , , . , . /¥» 1 • 1 1 benefaction dote to this opposition was offered in a letter to the by Archbishop Primate from Archbishop King, July 21, 1705, on occasion of the purchase of the books being com- pleted : " I understand, with great satisfaction, that your Grace i-e'ter to Arch- . " . . bishop Marsh, has concluded with Mr. Stillingfleet for his father's library. Jiuy2i, 1705. 'Tis a^noble gift to the Church; and as it will perpetuate your Grace's memory here, so it will, I hope, be plenti- fully rewarded by our common Master. I could not, on this occasion, forbear expressing the sense I have of it, and rendering my thanks to God on the behalf of your Grace, as well as my acknowledgments to your Grace. I am further to assure your Grace, that I am ready to join in an act of parliament to settle the library and gallery, as we agreed; and I hope it will be ready to pass next sessions." For the purpose of exhibiting this meritorious undertaking of Archbishop Marsh in a connected view, we have thus anticipated some of the dates of the succeeding reign, which commenced on the death of King William, the 8th of March, 1702, at Death of King ° > • > William, the distance of about thirteen years from his acces- March s, 1702. 120 THE REIGN OF [Cii. I. Extent of the Re- formation in Ireland. Encouragement to dissent and sepai-ation. sion to the throne in England, and of about eleven years and a half from his actual sovereignty in Ireland. At this period, as we are informed by the author of A?i Historical Review of the State of Ireland, " In the higher orders the progress of the Reformation had latterly been much more rapidly extended than formerly. And the English, who were now domi- ciliated in Ireland, were, from plantations, forfeitures, and other causes, surprisingly multiplied'." It ap- pears, also, that the Reformation prevailed amongst the lower orders, especially with those of English importation or extraction, in a very considerable degreed But in the northern counties, from their vicinity to Scotland, Protestant sectarists abounded, if an inference may be drawn generally from the condition of the united dioceses of Down and Con- nor, as reported by a contemporaneous manuscript document, which states, "The inhabitants of both dioceses are mostly dissenters, and refuse to accept the office of churchwarden, whereby the churches go out of repair." If, however, such was the case in those dioceses, the evil was probably less abundant in Derry, and the other neighbouring parts, as re- ported by Archbishop King. At the same time, the spirit of Protestant dis- sent and separation unhappily had derived encourage- ment at this period from the jealousy of England, which led to such commercial enactments as inci- dentally operated to the injury of the Irish Church. In 1698 additional duties were imposed on the exportation of Irish woollen cloths, to such an extent as to be almost tantamount to a prohibition. In this manufacture many of the English settlers, mem- ' Plowden, p. 198. ''^ Harkis*s Bishops, p. 3G7. Sec. VI.] WILLIAM HI. AND MARY. 121 bers of the National Church of Ireland, had been engaged, but were now compelled to forsake the country, where the efforts of their industry were intercepted. In the mean time, the encouragement given to the linen manufacture supplied an additional inducement to the Scotch Presbyterians for forming establishments in Ulster. Thus an additional stimu- lus was ofiven to Protestant sectarianism. And, with state of the o ' Romanists. respect to the Romish schism, it can hardly be ques- tioned, rather, indeed, it is matter of historical noto- riety, that the large majority of the population, especially those of Irish lineage, were trained in the profession of their hereditary faith, though examples have occurred in our narrative of successful endea- vours to impress them with purer views of Christi- anity. In these endeavours, however, the govern- ment of the country does not appear to have taken an active part ; nor to have made adequate provision insufficient pro- vision for the by material buildings for the Church's ministrations, church, though a recommendation of the Lord Deputy to the parliament, in 1695, shows that they were not insensible to the want or the advantage of supplying it ; for which, at the same time, they had an admo- nition and an encouragement in the example of some individual bishops, as also, at a later period, of the episcopal body in general. In the appointments to the episcopate, those character of the ^ ^ ^ episcopal ap- who were especially intrusted with that important pointments. duty, of whom the queen herself, during her life, was probably in Ireland, as in England, the chief authority, seem to have acted for the most part with integrity and discretion. The nomination of one person, indeed, selected rather for his military than for his religious qualities, for his political than his ecclesiastical services, and to whom a marshal's staff 122 THE REIGN OF [Ch. I. statutes passed with relation to the Church. Burke quoted by Plowden, p. 195, 196, a. might have been a more characteristick compensation than a bishoi3's crosier, however commended at the time of popular excitement, may be well, by the judgment of the sober-minded Christian, deemed questionable at least, if not objectionable. If, on occasion of another nomination, there is cause to doubt its propriety by reason of a remark which it drew forth from Archbishop Marsh, as to the want of worthiness in the individual, the withdrawal of a third person, who had been named under an im- pression of his fitness, but who was subsequently set aside, on suspicion of his deficiency in moral qualifi- cations, may serve to exempt the crown from the charge of a wilful dereliction of duty. Meanwhile the episcopal appointments in general were unex- ceptionable and commendable; and the names of Narcissus Marsh, successively promoted to the arch- bishopricks of Cashel and Dublin, of Tennison, and King, and Foy, and Foley, and Huntington, respec- tively translated or consecrated to the bishopricks of Clogher, Derry, Waterford and Lismore, Down and Connor, and Raphoe, reflect honour on those who recommended and appointed them. The statutes passed in this reign with relation to the Church testify, on the parts of the government and the legislature, their sense of the dangers from which they had escaped, and to which they were still exposed, from the unrestricted spirit of Popery. To represent these enactments as " the manifest effects of national hatred and scorn towards a con- quered people, whom the victors delighted to trample upon, and were not at all afraid to provoke," as cal- culated to " harass and ruin a set of people who were looked upon as enemies to God and man, and, indeed, as a race of bigoted savages, who were a Sec. VI.] WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 123 disgrace to human nature itself," is language which may be employed for promoting the purposes of a political partizan, but is utterly at variance with the fact. They were calculated, indeed, to promote, not only the security of the Protestant, but the benefit of the Papist; especially that which had for its object to counteract the restless intrusion and domi- neering influence of Popish ecclesiastics. If the prudence which dictated that enactment had been followed up with corresponding wisdom, vigilance, and vigour in its execution, effective provision having been made withal for the ministrations of the clergy in a degree commensurate with the occasion, the deluded victims of a fond superstition might have been weaned from their blind attachment to a foreign religious dictator, and have become, by God's blessing, reasonable and enlightened members of the Reformed National Church. 124 CHAPTER II. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE .... 1702—1714. MICHAEL BOYLE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE .... 1702. NARCISSUS MARSH .... 1703—1713. THOMAS LINDSAY . . . .1714. Section I. State of Sentiments on the Queeiis Accession. Letter on the subject from Bishop of Derry. Dissenters and Non- conformists. Address from the Bishops. Condition and Practices of Presbyteriari body. Death of Primate Boyle, Circumstances relating to him. Succeeded by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh. Correspondence with Dr. Smith. Bishop King made Archbishop of Dublin. State of the Diocese. Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Par- liament in 1703. Act for the Queenh Safety and Protes- tant Succession. Three Acts for security against Romish Clergy: for preventi7ig Popish Priests: from coming into the kingdom: for registering Popish Priests: and for pre- 'centing further growth of Popery. Insertion of the Sacramental Test i^i the last. Its remarkable operation exemplified. Queen Anne acceded to the throne on the death of King William, the 8th of March, 1702. The sentiments, with which the change of the sovereign were received in Ireland, are thus stated in a letter of March 24, from Dublin, by the Bishop of Derry to the Bishop of Clogher, who was at that time in London, whence he had communicated the intelli- gence of the king's death: Letter from Bi- " ^y Very gOod Lord, ^op^^^^erry to <■<- J rcturii you my hearty thanks for yours of the her, March 24. 12th and l7th instant. I received them regularly, which Sentiments on the queen's ac- cession, 1702. Sec. I."] QUEEN ANNE. 125 is not common of late, the winds having been contrary. I was not willing to be sudden in my answer on so great an occasion, and can hardly yet think what to say of it. My ^^^JiSl'sdeatS^ great benefactor, that took me out of prison and set me on the episcopal chair, is dead. And yet my loss is nothing to what all Europe feels in it. And God only knows what the consequence will be ; yet I hope the best, and am well assured, if the queen w^ill but keep to the laws, make the parliament her favourite, and sacrifice everybody to her peace when they mislead her in her councils, that she will reign as happy as any of her predecessors. As to us here, you know we universally loved King William, as our dehverer, and have a sense of it. But the dissenters are Con^"ct of dis- ' senters. most cast down, and seem divided in their measures ; some endeavour to ingratiate themselves by obsequiousness, and, in order to it, have already sent an address in behalf of their ministers in the south. Others endeavour to sow fears and jealousies, and to intimate suspicions of her ministers. None suffered more than our Lord Lieutenant, and you know what a party was against him; but his being anew declared has a little stopped their mouths. " I am w^ell assured that, with right application, a great causes of non- deal might be done to compose our religious differences; ponS!*^ for I do find at present, they rather lean on politick con- siderations than conscientious, and very few are so weak as to think it a sin to conform : one thing ought especially to be minded : I mean the pension here allowed the dissent- ing ministers; for this they themselves are trustees, and have the disposing of it amongst them, and they employ it most to set up new meetings where none was before, and it begets a dependance on the trustees, by which there is created a centre of union amongst them, and the govern- ment has no influence. Therefore, if it be thought fit to continue the fund to them, the government ought to keep the disposal of it in their own hands, and encourage those only by it that comply, as they would have them. By which means every particular minister would be at their mercy, and it might be so managed as to be an instrument of division and jealousy amongst them. " We sent last packet an address from the bishops in Address from the bishops. 126 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Dublin; it went to the Bishop of Killaloe; we hope all there will present it. We put it only in the name of the archbishops and bishops in Dublin, for we durst not venture to put other hands to it, nor thought it fit to stay for them." It is remarkable, that neither in this letter, nor in one of the same date and similar effect to the Bishop of Killaloe, nor in a fuller communication of the 28th to Sir Robert Southwell, does Bishop King take any notice of the Papists, as affected by Letter from Bi- the recent change. But in his letter to the latter, RoTeJt'Sfuth^'' in which he refers more particularly to different classes of men in Ireland, he thus enlarges on the condition and circumstances of the Presbyterian body: "As to the dissenters of Ireland, they seem to be in great fear, and nothing could show more clearly the interest they thought themselves to have in his late Majesty's favour, than the dejection that appears amongst them at present. " I believe good use might be made of this, if rightly managed; and that right methods now used might bring in many of them. I find that they are now in most places come to that pass, that they do not plead conscience for their nonconformity : but say they canH do it safely, their dependence being on that party who are able to ruin them. Arts of Presby- if they do uot stick to them. The arts by which they keep up their party, are to take no apprentices that will not engage to go to the meeting with them ; to employ none nor trade with any that are not of their own sort, if they can help it ; to plant their land with such ; and on all juries, and other ' occasions, to favour such more than justice : in all those they have been supported and countenanced, and he was looked on as disaffected to the government that formerly complained of them. Their grant from " You mav remember that they had 1200/. per annum, the Treasury. . J f ^ settled on them out of the Treasury. Some of the most eminent of their ministers were trustees for it, which created a sort of dependence of the press upon them, and Sec. I.J aUEEN ANNE. 127 enabled them to manage their affairs by joint councils : for these were a general committee and centre of unity for their whole body : they employed this money to settle meetings through the whole kingdom. And by this they maintained their emissaries, till they had seduced enough to support their teachers : by this means the most busy factious per- sons had the best shares. But I hope this will fail them for the future ; or, if it be continued, it will be put in good hands that will give it the most humble, peaceable, and complying. And some good use may be made of such con- trivance, if it must be continued. " I may tell you that their insolence has much increased. Their increased They have insulted both the clergy and laity, and made our ^ ecclesiastical offices more and more^ every day ; particularly in assuming to themselves the privileges of celebrating marriages. Nay, there is one instance very remarkable of their confidence. A clergyman had purchased a lease, on which there was a meeting-house ; he refused to let them enjoy it gratis ; on which they came in a body, broke it open, preached in it, and then pulled it down, and carried away the materials. The clergyman brought a constable, and a justice of the peace^s warrant, to quiet the riot ; but they slighted both: and, when examinations were taken against them, they puffed the justices of the peace that took them, and gave out, that they cared not what they did against them, for they had employed their agent in England to obtain from his Majesty an order to stop proceedings. We hope that such actions as these will not be counte- nanced; for, though I believe they were not approved before, yet they believed they were ; which had much the same effect.**' From the date of these letters in the spring of interval in 1702, until August 1704, an interval occurs in the correspondence, correspondence of the Bishop of Derry, who during that period had been promoted to the archbishoprick of Dublin. For towards the close of the former year, on the 10th or 11th of December, died Michael Bovle, i>eath of Primate * Boyle. ^ A word omitted in the MS. 128 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Archbishop of Armagh and Primate. On the resto- ration of King Charles II., he had been promoted from the deanery of Cloyne to the bishoprick of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, and was one of the twelve prelates consecrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in January, 1661. It is related of him by Harris, in the History His pluralism, of tlw IHsJi Bis/iops, p. 569, that, "not content with those three bishopricks, he held possession of six parishes in the west of his diocese, as sinecures, under colour that he could not get clergymen to serve them. And that when Roger, earl of Orrery, Lord President of Munster, went down to his govern- ment about the close of the year 1662, or the beginning of the year 1663, he had it in commission to see that the bishops of that province did their duty. For this end he convened them together, and particularly admonished this bishop, who was nearly related to him, to provide clergymen for these vacant livings ; and told him that, if he did not, he would sequester the profits, and apply them to the support and education of some students in the university : upon which reproof the bishop immediately fixed six clergymen in these vacant livings." His preferments ^^^^ 27th of Novomber 1663, Bishop Boyle was translated to the archbishoprick of Dublin, where he left the more honourable memorial of having very much repaired and beautified the archiepiscopal palace of St. Sepulchre's : but beyond this no trace appears of his diocesan benefactions. In 1679, from Dublin was he again translated to the primacy. As Archbishop of Armagh, he continued to hold the office of Lord High Chancellor, with which he had been first invested in 1663, and which he had con- tinued to administer till 1685, when he was removed from it on King James's accession to the throne, to and offices. Sec. I.] QUEEN ANNE. 129 make room for one, who was deemed more likely to promote tlie lawless projects of that arbitrary sove- reign. In his disposition he is said to have been both ni. character, liberal and publick-spirited : and a monument, erected by his son to his memory in St. jVIary's Church of Blessington, commemorates, that, "among many other his merits to the Church and common- wealth, he founded and erected, at his own expense, this church of Blessington, dedicated to the Blessed Bunt the church ^ of Blessington. Virgin, together with the churchyard, to the glory of God, the decent administration of Divine worship, and the comfort and use of this parish : he also fur- nished the communion table and church with silver flagons, cups, and patins, and other ornaments ; and added to the church an elegant steeple, with a ring of six musical bells. All these things he solemnly dedicated to God and religion on the 24th day of August, 1683." With this exception, however, and that of two donations of 200/. and 100/. respectively, for improving the buildings and increasing the col- lection of books of the college in his lifetime, and of twenty shillings apiece to thirty poor men by will at his death, his wealth, which was abundant, appears to have been not devoted to pious or charitable uses: an omission, as to which his biographer, who records the fact, seems to concur with an opinion which attri- buted it to the impairing of his hearing and eye- nis great age and sight for more than fifteen years before he died, and to the loss of his memory towards the end of his life, which was prolonged to his ninety-third year. Besides the office of Lord Chancellor, he held three times that of a Lord Justice, so that he was probably considered to be possessed of considerable legal and statesman-like qualities. But in what manner he K 130 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. His conduct about faculties. administered llie affixirs of the Church, and whether he was conducive to its improvement, I have not the means of judging, except that in one case which has come before us, as noted by Archbishop Marsh's Diary, namely, a question concerning '-the abridging of the power of granting faculties, or rather a more moderate use of it than had been practised," the primate would not listen to the proposal, but was steadfastly opposed to an attempt w^iich the Arch- bishops of Dublin and Cashel, (Francis and Narcissus Marsh,) and the Bishops of jVIeath, Derry, and Waterford, (Dopping, King, and Foy,) were making for the benefit of the Church, by controlHng or abating the practice of giving dispensations for pluralities. Narcissus Marsh, primate. His letter to Dr. Smith, Jan. 26, 1703. The distinguished character of the Archbishop of Dublin, the laborious and responsible duties which had devolved on him in consequence of the infirmi- ties of the late primate, and the services which he had rendered the Church, naturally indicated him as the fit person to occupy the vacant primacy, to which he was translated on the lOtli of February, 1703. It is perhaj^s somewhat remarkable that, considering the confidential nature of his corre- spondence with Dr. Smith, he should, in a letter of January 26, 1703, have abstained from all mention of this event. But, having thanked his corre- spondent for his account of affairs both at home and abroad, he adds, " For those abroad I am not much concerned that they should be ended, though in their opinion, who think they have an infallible judge over them, it may be done at any time when he shall dare to give a definitive sentence therein. But ours at home do make a deeper impression on Sec. L] QUEEN ANNE. 131 my mind, because those intestine divisions do £>ive Hisgnef atin- *' ' testinc divisions. our enemies too great an advantage against us. Certainly there are greater things to be minded than those which have caused so many pamphlets of late to be written on both sides. I pray God to put a speedy and happy end to those unseasonable contro- versies, that are fomented by I know not wliom. I have no news to requite you with, only," &c. ; and then he passes on to the subject of his library, as before noticed in an extract of this letter, but makes no mention whatever of his intended translation, which was accomplished in fifteen days from the date of this communication. The foregoing allusions refer to certain conten- tions then prevailing at Paris and Rome between the Jesuits and the Dominicans, and then to the disputes which had been mentioned by Dr. Smith as un- Dr. smiths no- i-r- ■»■ -"^ in their posses- sions," it was enacted that all archbishops, bishops, ^''^^s. deans, and chapters, parsons, vicars, and all other ecclesiastical persons, many of whose writings and other evidences had been lost during the late war, should enjoy their possessions in such manner as any patentee, provided for by King William's act against all future claimants ; and not be liable to be sued on pretence of any ancient incumbrance, before October 23, 1641, not now depending, or, if depend- ing, not prosecuted, since October 23, 1691. In consideration of several srlebes, Ivinof at a <^ii'ip lo.for o ' » o exchange of great distance from the churches to which they s^^^^^- belonged, and some in other parishes, thus causing the residence of the incumbents on their glebes to be either impracticable or less useful than was fitting ; chapter 10 made it lawful for persons, having cure of souls, to exchange glebes at a distance from their parish churches, for lands of equal value near and convenient. And also made it lawful for any bishop or other dignitary, having land convenient to any church not already endowed with twenty acres of glebe, to grant a quantity, not exceeding twenty acres, to the incumbent, for a sum not less than the moiety of the present yearly rent. Chapter 11, intituled, "An act for building chap.ii,for parish churches in more convenient places," autho- churches rized the building of two churches in the diocese of Cork, and two in that of Connor, the old churches incorkand being ruinous, and the situations very incommodious for the i)ari;?liioners to resort thereunto : and of a 150 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. third ill the diocese of Connor and the parish of Killead, " which, though very large and well inha- bited, wants a parish church, and the situation of the old parish church cannot now be ascertained." These churches were to be built with the concur- rence of the several diocesans, incumbents, and parishioners, on sites granted for the purpose by the respective proprietors : who, in the instances of the Cork parishes, are not named, but in those of Connor were the Earl of Donegal, patron of Dru- maul ; Benjamin Galland, Esq., the proprietor of an estate in the parish of Fenvoy; and the Lord Vis- count Massareen, patron of Killead. It authorises also the building of a new church at Ringsend, near Dublin; the inhabitants of which are stated to be " numerous, and at a distance from Donebrook, their parish church, which is so inconveniently situ^ ated, that the said inhabitants often cannot come to attend divine service in the said church, by reason of floods and overflowing of the highw^ay by tides and waters: many of the queen's officers likewise belonging to the port of Dublin, and many strangers and seamen do frequent the said Ringsend, and are detained there on the Lord's-day; all which are deprived of the service of God for w^ant of a church or chapel for publick w^orship near the said Ring- send." Lord Viscount Merion was accordingly empowered to convey a site for the church or chapel, not exceeding two acres, notwithstanding any settlement of the same; and the Archbishop of Dublin to "apply to the building 100/., out of the forfeited tithes, appointed for the building the ruined churches of Ireland." Sir Lawrence Esmond, also, and Benjamin Mountney, Esq., having conveyed the site of the abbey of Arklow, for the place of a Sec. II.] QUEEN ANNE. 151 parish church, instead of the okl parish church, M hich was ruinous and inconveniently seated ; the act authorised tlie Archbishop of Dubhn, with consent of the incumbent and vestry, to constitute and erect the abbey into a parish church. After the lamentable spectacle, which has again and again been presented to us, of dilapidated and ruinous churches, left in a state of hopeless deso- lation, it is gratifying in a degree to welcome one act of the legislature, giving effect to the good inten- tions of certain members of the Church, in their laudable desire to re-erect the houses of God in the land, though the examples be far from numerous. The act authorizes also the building of three other churches, namely, two in the diocese of Tuam, and one in that of Down. But the gratification to be derived from these undertakings is qualified by the circumstance, that in each case the building was to be accomplished by a perpetual union of three union of parishes into one, with the provision of only one parish church, which should be reputed the parish church of the three united parishes to all intents and purposes whatsoever. "All the old churches of the parishes being utterly ruined and inconveniently situated for the Protestant inhabitants," the erection of new buildings and in new situations is so far satisfactory. In what degree the union of the parishes, and the provision of a single church ^liere three formerly existed, may have been required or justified by the particular cases, it may be difliicult to determine ; but generally such unions were evils, which, unless necessary, it were well to have avoided. The want of churches for divine worship, and of ministers for its celebration, appears to have been at 152 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. this time sensibly felt, and endeavours to have been made for its counteraction, by those who filled the highest stations in the Church of Ireland. Of the primate it is recorded by Harris, that " he repaired many decayed churches within his diocese at his own expence, and bought in many impropriations, and restored them to the Church,"' which is also specified in the monumental inscription in St. Patrick's cathedral. And of Archbi- The sauic author relates more particularly and shop King. at large concerning Archbishop King, that, on his translation to Dublin, he found the Protestants greatly multiplied since the Revolution, and many new churches wanting in several parts of his diocese for the conveniency of the people to attend divine worship. He immediately applied himself with extraordinary assiduity to this pious work ; and by application of the impropriated forfeited tithes, pur- suant to an act passed in England the eleventh year of William III., by large benefactions collected by his discreet solicitations from well-disposed gentle- men, and by his own generous contribution, he Additional procured fourteen churches to be repaired, seven to be rebuilt, and nineteen to be erected in places where no divine service had been performed since the Reformation. To supply these new churches with pastors, as the contiguous benefices, which often consisted of many united parishes, became And ministers, yacaut, lio dlvldcd them and settled a resident clergy- man in each. Most of these parishes being not endowed with glebe-land for the comfortable support of the incumbents, he took advantage of the statute, recently passed in the second year of Queen Anne, and apportioned to each out of the see-land a glebe * Ware's Bishops, p. 367. Sec. II.] QUEEN ANNE. 153 of twenty acres, at a moderate reserved rent : and in parishes where the see had not any estate, he either purchased himself, or procured from the trustees of the first-fruits, when that act of royal bounty had been conferred upon the Church, an allowance to purchase glebes either in fee or at a small reserved rent; so that most of the vicarages of his diocese were supplied with convenient land. INIeanwhile the many divisions that he had made of unions, which formerly had produced a very con- siderable emolument to the incumbents of the united parishes, reduced the income of the clergy of the separate parishes, so as scarcely to suffice for their decent maintenance. To remedy this in some Better provision measure, as the prebends of St. Patrick's became vacant he annexed them to the vicarages, which were before separate, and in distinct persons. He purchased a large parcel of impropriate tithes, and vested them in trustees for the augmentation of small cures in his diocese, on the condition of the incumbent's constant residence. And as the leases of some appropriated tithes, scattered in different small parishes of his diocese, expired, he executed new leases to the vicars, many of whom thereby doubled the income of their benefices ; the arch- bishop, at the same time, providing for the indemnity of his successors by purchasing an equivalent in lands near Dublin, and annexing them to his see^ These, his methods for encouraging the clergy of Archbishop's his diocese to residence, are enumerated by Harris "idnrgi'etes?* in his Life of Archbishop King : in addition to which another may be specified from a tract by Dean Swift, written after the archbishop's death, but illustrative of his conduct in the particular before • Ware's Bishops^ p. 3G7. 154 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. US. "When a lease had run out seven years or more, he stipulated with the tenant to resign up twenty or thirty acres to the minister of the parish where it lay convenient, without lessening his former rent, and with no great abatement of the fine : and this he did in the parts near Dublin, where land is at the highest rates, leaving a small chiefry for the minister to pay, hardly a sixth part of the value. I doubt not," adds my author, with the date of February, 1732, "that almost every bishop in the kingdom may do the same generous act, with less damage to their sees than his late Grace of Dublin, much of whose lands were out in fee-farms or leases for lives : and I am sorry that the good example of such a prelate has not been followed \" Disposal of vacant preferments. Letter from Arch- bishop King to Bishop Ashe, August, 1704. His sentiments on patronage. The archbishop's sentiments and practice, as to the disposal of vacant preferments, were about this time stated in a letter to one of his episcopal brethren, whose conduct seemed to require cor- rection ; and it may serve to exemplify a then pre- valent abuse of patronage, and the consequent discredit and injury inflicted on the Church : " My Lord, Dublin, August '17, ITOtt. " Dr. Ashe was with me yesterday, and showed nie the letter you sent to my Lord Primate, and delivered yours of the 11th to me: by them I perceive that you design three parishes for him in your diocese, and those to be served by three curates ; he to be non-resident, and to hold Finglass, in Dublin. I beseech you to consider this scheme well. I confess I did not understand it before, and, now I do, I must own to you I do not like it. " My objections are, 1st, that it is a breach of my own method, which is to put a good man in every parish that falls, and let him wait till a better falls, and then remove him. ^ Swift's Works, vol. viii. p. 429 ; edit. London. Sec. II.] QUEEN ANNE. 155 *' 2dly. Where a dignitary has several cures, he ought to reside on one of them, and have an eye and regard to the other : in which way a due difference of degrees is kept up amongst the clergy, and the people are as well, if not better served, than if each had an independent minister, " odly. The people of the north have a peculiar aversion to curates, and call them hirelings : and the difference in point of success amongst them is visible, between a grave resident minister that lives amongst his people, and spends part of what he receives from them in the place, and a poor curate that is not able to keep himself from contempt. " 4thly. If your three parishes in the country can main- tain three fit clergymen to serve them, and afford the better part to be carried to Dublin, what reason is there that the rest should not be spared to the publick ? Your Lordship has heard this objection before. othly. The people of the north do not grudge their tithes to the clergy, though they pay more than all the other provinces, because their landlords or the clergy must have them: the first must spend them in London or Dublin, whereas the clergy spend them on the place. And this very argument saved our 9d. per cow in our former parlia- ment. But if the clergy live in Dublin, 'tis as good for the people landlords had the tithes. " 6thly. Though your brother be a very deserving man, yet if every such be indulged in four livings, there will be nothing but curates in the north, which will have fiital effects, as is too visible by former management, " 7thly. That humour of clergymen living near Dublin, and declining remote and barbarous countries, as they call them, is by no means to be indulged ; for 'tis plain, that this is to prefer the clergyman's ease to the salvation of the people ; and 'tis just as if one should refuse to send a good physician into a city, because there were many sick in it. " In short, the world begins to look on us as a parcel of men that have invented a trade for our easy and convenient living; and till we show the world that we seek their good more than our own advantage, we are not like to wipe off the aspersion. And whether indulging your brother to live at his ease in Dublin, and keep three curates under him at 156 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Clogher, be the way to blot out that prejudice out of men'*s minds, I leave you to judge. My hearty respects to my friend, &c. " Bishop of Clogher. W. Br But it should seem, that the kind of defect, the evils of which are thus forcibly exposed, was not confined to parochial incumbents; for occasion of crimination was afforded to the enemies of the Church, and of sorrow and complaint to its friends, in quarters where better things might have been expected. Speaking of dissenters, in a letter to jNIr. Annesley, of July 3, 1714, towards the end of Queen Anne's reign, Archbishop King observes, " My opinion is, that the best way to deal with them, is to take the methods I did at Londonderry; but I have had few followers. There has been but one bishop resident at a time in that province for several years : there are now two in it. But I can't count the Bishop of Derry resident, or any other that only goes there to settle his rents, or make a visitation. Though a bishop should not be of any great consideration as to his personal qualifications, yet bis presence and dwelling amongst the people has generally a good effect." How far this evil may have prevailed in other parts of the kingdom, I do not find ; but the province of Armagh, to which the observation applies, comprised more than a third part of the Irish bishopricks. Sec. III.] QUEEN ANNE. 157 Section III. Assembling of Convocation in 1703. Ko Convocation soon after the Reformation. Convocations in the reigns of James /., Charles /., and Charles II., revived in Queen Anne'^s reign. Circumstances of its being assembled. Attempts for Converting the native Irish. Archbishop of Dublin s jurisdiction opposed by Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Letters relating to it. Endeavour to procure the First Fruits for the Clergy. Translation of Bishop Moreton. Co?isecration of Bishop Ellis; circum- stances of it. The assemblino- of this parliament was accom- Assembling of ^ convocation, panied with that of the convocation, of which no 1703. example had occurred for near fifty years preceding, as, indeed, it was not until a late period after the era of the Reformation, that it appears to have been assembled at all in Ireland. In the twentv-eiorhth year of the reio'U of Kin^;* no convocation J O J O in the reign of Henry VIII., when several acts of parliament passed Kin? iieniy vesting the supremacy in the crown, there are several reasons for supposing that there was no such body. Of any such there is no historical mention ; and the clergy, in common with other subjects, were taxed by act of parliament only. The act, indeed, of that year, chapter 12, sets forth in its preamble, that " at every parliament begun and holden within this land, two proctors of every diocese within the same land have been used and accustomed to be summoned and warned to be at the same parliament;" but it adds, that they " were never, by order of the law, usage, custom, or otherwise, any member or parcel of the whole body of the parliament, nor have had of right any voice or suffrage in the same, but only be there as counsellors and assistants to the same, 158 THE REIGN OF [Ch. it. and upon such things of learning, as should happen in controversy, to declare their opinions." It adds, indeed, " much like as the convocation within the realm of England is commonly at every parliament begun and h olden by the king's highness' special licence." But the likeness here noticed seems to have regard rather to the fact of their being sum- moned, than to their poTver when assembled; for, unlike the English convocation, there is not evidence of their liaving been in any way an independent, deliberative, legislative body; but they seem to have been assembled only as counsellors and assistants to the parliament;" and the act denounces "their ambitious minds and presumption," for '* inordi- nately desiring to have authority, and to intermeddle with every cause or matter without any just ground." Nor of King jj^ ^ho fifth vear of the succeedino^ reio-n of Edward M. . * o o King Edward VI., the king sent an order for the liturgy of the church of England to be read in Ireland; and thereupon, the Viceroy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, before he issued his proclamation, called an assembly of the archbishops and bishops, with other of the then clergy, to propose their acceptance of the king's order. But this assembly had no appearance, nor does it bear the historical character, of a regular convocation. oiLt?h"''" In the second year of Queen Elizabeth, the par- liament of Ireland passed the Act of Uniformity; but by the collective body of the clergy nothing was done in relation to that act. And when, in the following year, 1560, the queen signified her pleasure to the Earl of Sussex " for a general meeting of the clerg}' of Ireland, and the establishment of the Pro- testant religion through the several dioceses of the kingdom." the meeting, which wa« in conseijuence Sec. III.] QUEEN ANNE. 159 assembled, presents no features of a regular convo- cation, and " soon after dispersed themselves'.'* There were no other assemblies of the clergy during the rest of Queen Elizabeth's reign, though before the end of it there were other parliaments. And when, after an interval of twenty-seven Norofeariy part of King James years, King Jamos I., in the tenth year of his reign, i.'s reign, assembled his parliament in IMay, 1613, there is no contemporaneous assembling of a convocation : nor is there the appearance of such a meeting during the latter part of that year, or during the year following, nor until the subsequent year 1615, when First regular ° -1 J convocation in the articles of religion were agreed upon by the leis. clergy, according to their prefixed title. This ap- pears to have been the first regular convocation of the clergy of the Church of Ireland, who assembled in their several houses ; Jones, archbishop of Dublin, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, being " Speaker of the House of Bishops in Convocation," and " the House of the Clergy, also," having their respective pro- locutor. Of tliis we are informed by Dr. Parr, in his Life of ArchbisJiop Ussher, p. 14, who also relates that the speaker and the prolocutor signed the articles agreed on, "in the names" of their several houses. In other respects, the mode of proceeding is not recorded, nor of the results are there any remains, except the aforesaid articles. The next convocation, as well as the next parlia- convocation ia ■•• reign of King ment that met, was in the tenth of Charles I., 1634. chariesi.,i634; It assembled about the same time as the parliament. Archbisho])Ussher presided, and signed the Synodical Acts, Dean Lesley being the prolocutor of the Lower House. In this convocation the clergy, for the first time, taxed themselves: and it is further ^ Ware's Amvth, p. 4. 160 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. memorable for having received the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, and for having constructed the Irish Book of Canons. In 1639; In 1639 a convocation again met, and granted subsidies to the king. Its sitting coincided partly at least, if not altogether, Avitli that of the parlia- ment. AndiGGi. And again, in 1661, the convocation met within two days of the parliament, and continued their sitting to the 29th of March, 1666. None afterwards lu tho iutcrval, which elapscd between the last- *'ii^703. mentioned date and the year 1703, no convocation had been summoned. But a desire being then con- ceived by the clergy to be allowed, what they esteemed their ancient right and privilege, it appears by extracts from the Journals of the Lower House of Convocation, that the deans and archdeacons, who happened to be in Dublin, availed themselves of Account of its the occasion of an approaching parliament ; and in being assembler, ^j^^j^, ^^^^ nauics, aud 111 those of their brethren, implored the archbishops and bishops, who also were then there, to bring the subject before the viceroy ; and to procure that the clause, which had formerly summoned the clergy to meet in convocation, but which had, from negligence or some other cause, been twice omitted from the parliamentary writs to the bishops, should now again be inserted. On the subject being in consequence brought by the Duke of Ormonde before the queen, certain questions were submitted to the consideration of the archbishops and bishops then in Dublin, and received answers, which were reported to the government to the followinof effect on the 5th of Julv in the same year. Questions sub. 1. Tluvt tlic last convocatlou holden in Ireland was Sfic. III.I QUEEN ANNE. 161 after the restoration of the royal family in 1661: muted by Lord Lieutenants to that it began with the parliament then called, and the bishops, continued during the said parliament, namely, to the year 1666, and since which time, till the year 1692, there had been no parliament in Ireland. 2. That, as to the mode of summoning convoca- Modeof sum- ... moning convoca- tions, there had been some question concerning this tions. in 1661, when the Lords Justices, being the Lord Chancellor Eustace, and the Earls of Orrery and Montrath, and the privy council, made an order for the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin " to meet and advise of, and return their opinions, how all things requisite in order to the convocation, and other things relating to the Church, may be done and prepared." To which order the two archbishops made report, " that they liad considered the matter, and particularly made search for a form of writs to be issued as formerly, for convocating the clergy, and could find no other than what they annexed, w^hich they conceived a sufficient form to be sent to every of the archbishops and bishops: ''Prnemonentes Deca- Form of sum- num, &c. — premonishing the dean and chapter of your church of Armagh, and the archdeacon and the whole clergy of your diocese, that the same dean and archdeacon, in their proper persons, and the same chapter by one, and the same clergy by two, fit proctors, having severally full and sufficient power from the said chapter and clergy, be at the aforesaid day and place personally present, for con- senting to such things as shall then and there happen to be ordained by common judgment." 3. To the question of the clergy's right to have Right of ciergy ,1 . /• T i to a convocation. a convocation on the summoning or parliament, they answered that it had been " the custom for a convo- cation to meet with a parliament in Ireland, and the M 162 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. clergy had claimed it as a right. But in the two late parliaments, held in King William's reign, the ancient form of writs, directed to the bishops to appear in parliament, were omitted." Authority to act. 4. To the qucstion, ** What authority the con- vocation when summoned have to act without the queen's licence authorizing them, and, if they have any authority, to what matters it extends ?" it was observed that " the quaere seemed best answered by the clause in the WTit of licence directed to the convocation, and dated the 21st of March, 1661, which writ was again renewed after the death of Primate Bramhall, Nov. 10, 1665." This writ, which is cited in full, was addressed to the Arch- bishop of Armagh, and to the other archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and proctors capitular and clerical, and gave them free power to meet in convocation from time to time during the parlia- ment ; and to communicate, treat, consult, and con- clude, concerning such articles, canons, rules eccle- siastick, &c., which should appear to them conducive to the increase of the honour and true worship of God, to the eradicating of heresies and evil customs from Christ's vineyard, to the procuring and pre- serving of the benefit and peace of the Church ; and also to make ordinances and decrees, having the force of ecclesiastical canons and constitutions, in the premises, and to publish and promulgate the same, having first had and obtained the royal consent. Sight of taxation, To tliis was added, that " the clergy of Ireland had likewise taxed themselves in convocation; and in the last parliament, when no convocation sat, the bishops protested against the parliament's taxing tliem in a laud-tax, in order to preserve their right to tax themselves." Sec. III.] QUEEN ANXE. 163 5. In answer to the question, "What are the rules Rules of pro- and methods of their proceedings?" it was stated that *' the convocation of Ireland was a national synod ; that all the archbishops and bishops sat in an Upper House, the deans, archdeacons, and proc- tors of the clergy in a Lower House ; that they were governed by the common rules of synods, each house acting and adjourning by itself ; and that no canon or rule was made or obliging, but with the concurrence of both houses, ratified and confirmed by the royal assent under the great seal." These answers were returned to the Duke of Ans-versofthe ^ archbishops and Ormonde by the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, bishops, and the Bishops of Kildare, Clogher, and Down and Connor, with a humble representation to his Grace, referring themselves to her JNIajesty's favour and wisdom for the time when the convocation should sit and act ; but withal humbly insisting' upon having the clause " praimunientes," or " prcemoneutes," in- serted in the bishops' parliament-writs, as had been constantly practised in England, and likewise in Ireland, in all parliaments held before the late Revolution, and as they conceived it ought of right to be. The clause, above specified, was accordingly The clause , ^ " prscmunientes" inserted in the writs which called the bishops to inserted in the writs. parliament on the 1st of the ensuing September. But the clergy being thus summoned by the royal writ, and the bishop's mandates thereupon, having assembled in Dublin, were of opinion that there should also be issued provincial writs to the several archbishops and bishops, together with the prsemo- nentes clause in the parliamentary writs. The members of the Lower House thus expressed their views on the subject, in an address offered to the M 2 164 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. bishops for tlieir co-operation in procuring what they esteemed "a full and entire convocation:" A.iiiiess of clergy "We coiiceive that the clersfy of this kinp^dom, when to bishop'^. . . fe-^ . , 1 . met in a perfect and entire convocation, do assemble in two distinct capacities, namely, in a civil and in an ecclesiastical capacity. In the first, we apprehend ourselves to be called together by her Majesty's writ in the clause prcvmunientes\; and that in virtue of this, we have a right to be formed into a regular body, to be attendants upon and counsellors to the parliament, in whatever may relate to the temporal rights of the Church, as interwoven with the state. In our ecclesiastical capacity, we look upon it as absolutely neces- sary to be summoned by the provincial writ, and your Grace's metropolitical authority consequent upon that writ, which forms us into a national and truly ecclesiastical synod, to frame canons, to reform discipline, censure heresy, and to exert that jurisdiction wdiich belongs to us in con- junction with your Lordships, as the representative members of a national church.'' The prelates concurred in these sentiments of the Low^er House, and signified their approval by beseeching the Lord Lieutenant to move her Ma- jesty to issue the provincial writs to the several archbishops. To this application a favourable an- swer w^as returned ; and in a few days, the writs, so earnestly sought, arri^ ed, thus constituting the clergy a perfect and entire convocation. Convocation con- stituted- Opinion infavcnr of Irisli preacherg. Resolution of tlie Lower House. In the convocation, which was thus assembled together with the parliament of 1703, an opinion w^as expressed favourable to attempts for the con- version of the native Irish by means of Irish preachers. On the 3rd of ]\Iarch, the following resolution was sent from the Lower to the Upper House : " Resolved, that the endeavouring the speedy conversion of the Papists of this kingdom is a work of great piety and Sec. III.] QUEEN ANNE. 165 Answer of the Upper Hous9. charity; in order to which, it is the opinion of this House, that preachers, in all the dioceses of this kingdom, preaching in the Irish tongue, would be a great means of their con- version. And, therefore, that application be made to the most reverend and right reverend the Lords Archbishops and Bishops, that they take into their consideration what number of such preachers will be necessary in every diocese, and how they may be supported." To this their Graces and Lordships returned for answer : " We think, that endeavouring the conversion of the Papists is very commendable ; and, as to preaching in the Irish tongue, we think it useful, where it is practicable.'" It does not appear that any proceedino* more Attempts at con- ii -i- . 7 verting Iribh specmck took place in this convocation, or that any Papibts. publick or official provision for the proposed object was made in consequence. But it is related by the Rev. John Richardson, in his History of the At- tempts to Convert the Irish Papists, that endeavours, similar to those which had been made in the former reign, were repeated in two or three instances at this period, and not without considerable success. With the advice and encourao-ement of the Efforts of the diocesan, Dr. St. George Ashe, at that time Bishop Brown, of Clogher, and with the assistance and countenance of Audley Mervin, Esq., one of the knights of the shire for Tyrone, the Rev. Nicholas Brown, rector of the parishes of Donacary, Dromore, and Rosorry, applied himself in 1702 to the conversion of the Irish, and persevered for some years in the under- taking with great zeal and assiduity. He was well qualified for the work, by a perfect acquaintance with the Irish language, and by a facility in express- ing theological ideas in that tongue after a manner agreeable to the native hearers. By great kindness also, and humanity, and by works of charity aiuoiig 166 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. the poor, he gained their hearts and affections. And thus he took advantage of the great delight which he observed in them at hearing divine service m their own tongue; and he accordingly sought them in their own dwellings; appointed with them publick meetings; attended at the places where they usually assembled to hear mass, taking care to be present when mass was just ended, and before the congregation w^as dispersed; and thus seized every opportunity of instructing them, administering to them the ordinances of religion, reading to them chapters of the Old and New Testaments in Irish, and reading the prayers of the Church out of an Irish Book of Common Prayer. His success. The people assembled in great numbers to hear him, whenever they received notice of his intention, joined devoutly in his prayers, and heard his in- structions with thankfulness and satisfaction. On one occasion in particular, the Popish priest, being much troubled to see his congregation joining in the service of the Church with great attention and devotion, told them aloud, " That our Church had stolen those prayers from the Church of Rome:" to which a grave old native answered, "That, if it w'as so, they had stolen the best, as thieves generally do. ' The result was, that many of those whose parents and relations, and who themselves also, had previ- ously gone to mass, were brouglit and adhered to the communion of the Church, notwithstanding the menaces and denunciations of the Popish priests; and that he impressed the generality of his Popish neighbours with a favourable opinion of the religion wiiich he professed and taught, many of them de- claring that they w^ere always kept in the dark by their priests, but that this man showed them the Sec. nr.] QUEEN ANxNE. 167 light, and said notliing but what was good, and what thej understood. The foregoing particulars, abstracted from Mr. l^^l^J:]'''''^^ Richardson's detailed narrative and documents, were established by the undeniable testimony of such as were eye-witnesses of Mr. Brown's labours and success : namely, the certificate of the provost, bur- gesses, and otlier inhabitants of the town of Enis- killin, and the deposition of a former servant of Mr. Brown, a respectable person, and known in that corporation. His career was interrupted by severe illness, which confined him to his house a long time before he died, and was at last terminated by a premature death. To a friend, who waited on him several times during his last sickness, and who has likewise reported his labours, as above specified, he frequently spoke of his former endeavours, and *' communicated freely his thoughts about the con- version of the Irish, which he seemed to have a most tender concern for ; and told his friend, that if the convocation would be pleased to take it into their consideration, and could prevail on the parliament to encourage the building of churches, and to esta- blish Irish preachers and schoolmasters in every diocese in the kingdom, he did not doubt but the success would be great within few years ; to which he thought the translation of some choice books in Irish would be conducive." Mr. Brown died in or about the year 1708, "i^^^^^t^^- having exerted himself in thus doing the work of an evangelist from the year 1702, till incapacitated by illness. At nearly the same period the like work Exertions of the A Rov. NN'alter was strenuously undertaken by the Rev. Walter ^^^""s- Atkins, treasurer of the cathedral church of Cloyne, and vicar of the parish of Middleton in that diocese. 168 THE REIGN OF [Ch. 11. Being not altogether a stranger to the Irish language before his collation to his benefice, he immediately employed himself in acquiring a more competent acquaintance with it; and then proceeded to per- form the offices of religion for the natives, in their own tongue; being for that purpose furnished by the Earl of Inchiquin with an Irish Common Prayer, and encouraged in his enterprise by his diocesan, Dr. Charles Crow, Bishop of Cloyne. He buried their dead according to the liturgy of the Church ; and gave thereby so much satisfaction to the living, that they participated in the service with great devotion, and joined audibly with their voices in the Lord's Prayer, and in the previous responses: and, on occasion of a burial in the churchyard of the cathedral, one of them was heard to say, " That if they could have that service always, they would no more go to mass." In process of time his ministe- rial labours became so acceptable to the natives, that they of their own accord sent for him from all parts of his parish to baptize their children, to solemnize matrimony, to church their women, to visit their sick, and to bury their dead. These circumstances of Mr. Atkins's ministry, conducted by him after this manner for several years, and continued at the time of his relation with success, were communicated by that clergyman himself to Mr. Richardson. This example, and that of Mr. Brown, are all which he has adduced in illustration of his subject at this period. To what further information he affords, there will be occasion to advert at a somewhat later period than that with which we are now conversant. fuSdinSn ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Archbishop King's translation to uuMcuurch, Pviblin, a question relative to his archiepiscopal Sec. III.J aUEEN ANNE. 169 jurisdictioii arose between him and the dean and chapter of Christ Church, the deanery being at that time holden by William JNIoreton, Bishop of Kildare, in pursuance of a custom which had been long established by reason of the poverty of that bishop- rick. In Archdeacon JNIathews's "Argument," to Litigated be- tween the aich- which there was a reference on a former occasion, bishopandtho ,., ~ih^r\4 • 11 All dean and chapter. pnnted m the year 1704, it is stated, that "All archbishopricks and bishopricks in Ireland are royal donatives, as all bishopricks in England were, until the reign of King John, (17 Eliz., c. 40); and all archbishops and bishops of this kingdom are regal commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, (2 Eliz., c. 4,) each of them having a particular commission from the king or queen, or the chief governor of Ireland, for the exercise of [ecclesiastical jurisdiction within their respective dioceses : and upon the delivery of the commission or letters-patent to them, they may immediately exercise that jurisdiction before they be enthroned or consecrated, as hath been lately declared in a judicial debate between the present Lord Archbishop of Dublin and the Lord Bishop of Kildare." From the latter part of this statement it should appear, that the debate, to which allusion is here made, was a question of time only, regarding not the exercise of jurisdiction abso- lutely, but its exercise before enthronement or con- secration. If so, it has a different bearing from that which is the subject of the following extracts from Primate Marsh's correspondence. In a letter of May the 27th, 1704, the first after observations by his translation to Armagh, the Primate had excused thesubj"Jct.'''''^ himself for not having written to Dr. Smith, on the ground that "the affairs of parliament, of the con- 170 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. vocation, and of his diocese and province, all which, except the first, being wholly new to him, had entirely possessed his thoughts the last year." A nd, after two or three intervening letters, he thus con- tinues his correspondence on the 14th of December the same year : "I wish I had anything to communicate to you from this poor kingdom, worth your knowledge. But as poverty breeds strife, and naked walls contention in a family, so I fear 'tis in this kingdom : which is not worth while to trouble you with, only thus nmch ; because I believe you have heard enough, if not too much, of the controversy betwixt the Archbishop of Dublin and the dean and chap- Mode of invcfeti ter of Christ Church here. That upon a petition of the gallon. latter to the queen, setting forth that Christ Church, in Dublin, where the State goes to church, is the chapel-royal, the consequence whereof must be, that it is exempt from the archbishop's visitation, the queen referred it to the Duke of Ormonde to make report thereof. Whereupon a hearing was appointed by the duke about nineteen days ago, the Lord Chancellor and three chief judges, and all the bishops in town, being present. After a long hearing of about three hours, wherein many ancient charters, deeds, and records, were cited by the counsel on both sides, the duke ordered the Lord Chancellor and three chief judges to examine those records, which they have been upon from time to time ever since: and when the duke returns from Kilkenny, where he hath been ever since the day of hear- ing, I believe a report will be soon made to the queen, but containing a great many sheets of paper, as is thought; and then w^e hope the matter will soon be decided, and peace be restored to this part of our Church, to the joy of all good people : which I wish that I were able to tell }'ou is done already, but that's a blessing which we must wait God's leisure for." Intel est excited Tho Priuiate makes no further allusion to this ^y It. controversy: but Dr. Smith in his answer, dated Sec. III.] QUEEN ANNE. l7l London, January 23, 1705, thus adverts to tlie subject : " I humbly thank your Grace for that compendious account you have been pleased to send me of the contro- versy between the Archbishop of Dublin and the dean and chapter of Christ Church, which has made a great noise here. I have read several papers, some communicated to me, and others purchased, relating to this unhappy contest, which has caused great divisions and animosities in the Church of Ireland. But I hope, that a sudden stop and period will be put to them, upon the appearance of both the contending parties ; Archbishop King being only liere at present, and the Bishop of Kildare shortly expected. I wish and pray for peace and unity in your Church, which I am afraid is flying from us by the restless de^iigns and underminings of the dissenters, too much countenanced, who are visibly carryiug on their evil designs and machina- tions as did their predecessors formerly, under specious shews and pretensions of reformation, moderation, and godly zeal." That this dispute between the archbishop and the bishop had excited much attention in England as ^^^'^ '^i^i^op well as in Ireland, appears not from the foregoing letter only, but from one addressed by Dr. Swift, with the date of Trim, December 81, 1704, to the JJ':;.';;;^ archbishop, who Avas then ])repared for his voyage to England, and waiting the first opportunity of the wind." The writer, who had been in England the preceding winter, reports the prudence and diligence \vith which the dean and chapter had endeavoured to support the cause they w^ere engaged in, in the writer's mind " not otherwise to be supported," and " assures his Grace, which perhaps others may have been cautious in telling him, that they had not been without success." An impression had been thus made on the general mind to the prejudice of the archbishop ; wdio, in his answer to Dr. Swift's letter^ Opinion unfa- vourable to the C'ommunioatcd ill a letter from 172 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Archbishop King's answer to Dr. Swift, January 30, 1705. His cause misre- presented. Archbishop's right finally established. on the 80 til of tlie following January, soon after his arrival in London, thus confirms from his own ob- servation the intelligence previously imparted to him. The foregoing extract from Dr. Swift's letter is copied from his published works ; the archbishop's answer is supplied by his MS. correspondence in Trinity College Library: " Rev. Sir, " I received the favour of yours of the 31st Decem- ber last, and am very much obliged to you for the concern you took in my affair, of which I have had information from several hands. I am satisfied that great industry has been used to misrepresent me and my cause here ; and that those employed to do me ill offices have not been altogether unsuccessful. It was so in Dublin till my cause was heard; but I think I left everybody possessed of another opinion, and believe it will quickly be so here. I reached London on the IStli instant, and have in effect been ever since con- fined by the gout, which has been a great hindrance to my affairs, but I hope it is near over. 'Tis no small misfortune for us in Ireland to have our causes judged here by persons that neither understand or regard our affairs. For an instance of this, I do find, that neither stationers' shops, nor publick or private libraries, can furnish so much as the statutes or canons of Ireland, though I have made a very diligent search for them ; and I do now find that the reason my adversaries desire to be judged here, is in hopes their cause will never be understood ; but that wull not serve their turn. As to their prints, they have a very different effect on all I have discoursed, from what they designed. I shall be able to give a better account when my commission is returned and opened. I am not very fond of saying any thing 'till I have full vouchers, and then their falsehoods will turn to their shame." Without entering further into the particulars of this case, it may be sufficient to mention here, that the anticipations of the archbishop were ultimately realized : for that, after a long, most tedious, and Sfx. III.] QUEEN ANNE. 173 most vexatious contest, the question was decided in his favour, and his right of visiting tlie dean and chapter of Christ Church was established by the highest court of judicature, the English House of Lords. A similar claim to exemption from archi- ciaimof denn J- and chapter of episcopal jurisdiction, on tlie part of the dean and st. Patricks, chapter of St. Patrick's, in 1703, is related by Mr. Mason 2; but it appears to have led them no further than a protestation against the archbishop's right to visit them. Bv Dr. Swift's letter above cited, we are in- Attempt to pro- cure the first formed, that an endeavour had been previously fruusfortue \ clergj-, made to procure for the clergy of the Church of Ireland an act of bounty similar to that which the queen had conferred on the English clergy. " I would also beg of your Grace," he says, " to use some of your credit towards bringing to a good issue the promise the queen made, at my Lord Bishop of Cloyne's intercession, to remit the first fruits and tenths of the clergy; unless I speak ignorantly, for want of information, and that it be a thing already done. But what I would mind your Grace of is, Andthecrown- rent. that the crown-rent should be added, which is a great load upon many poor livings, and would be a considerable help to others. And I am confident, with some reason, that it would be easily granted, being, I hear, under a thousand pounds a year, and the queen's grant for England being so much more considerable than ours can be at best. I am very certain, that, if the Bishop of Cloyne had continued to solicit it in England, it would easily have passed; but, his lordship giving it up wholly to the Duke of Ormonde, I believe it has not been thought of so 2 Mason's St. Patrid; p. 217. THE REIGN OF [Ch. 11. much as it ought'." In fact, this affair, important as it manifestly was to the Church and the clergy, had been, and continued to be, strangely mis- managed or neglected. The archbishop, in his answer, judged that it wonld be imprudent for him " as yet to meddle in it." It was nominally taken up, once and again, three or four years later than this period, as we shall have occasion to notice here- after; but it was not till after the lapse of more than seven years, that the grant was finally completed. Slowness of the The reio'u of Queen Anne was almost as remark- epi&copal bucces- <-> ^ able for the slowness of the episcopal succession, as that of King William had been for its rapidity; for whereas twenty bishops had died in the twelve years of King William's reign, nine only died in that of Queen Anne, which extended through about the same period; and of those nine, four occurred within the last twelvemonth of her reign. Of those which took place in the earlier portion of that period, next to Primate Boyle's death in 1702, was that of SopMoreton ^i^^^op Teuuisou, lu l705. This made a vacancy in the bishoprick of INIeath, which was supplied by the translation of Bishop Moreton, the vehement and pertinacious opponent, as Dean of Christ Church, of the Archbishop of Dublin's episcopal jurisdiction; and the vacancy thus made by him in the bishop- rick of Kildare, and the deanery of Christ Church, was filled by Wei bore Ellis, a native of England, and doctor of divinity of the Universities of Oxford fjnscciS^^^^^ and Dublin. He was promoted by letters-patent in September, 1705, and consecrated in the ensuing- No vember; but Mr. Harris, who gives the date of his consecration, has omitted to state, that it was ^ Swift's ff 'orkSf ix., 4G, the Primate. Sec. III.] QUEEN ANNE. 175 solemnized by the Lord Primate, in the absence of the Archbishop of Dublin from Ireland. This is mentioned in a letter of thanks from the Archbishop to the Primate, whence I collect that an attempt had been made by the bishop elect to pro- cure consecration from an English archbishop, but had been resisted by his future metropolitan. The letter commences thus: " Pall Mall, November 20, 1705. ianvfieuer. " May it please your Grace, ^1:""" ''' " I received your Grace's of the 1 Sth instant, and return your Grace my ackno\A-ledgments for complying in my request to consecrate the Bishop of Kildare. I was un- willing to innovate any thing about our consecration, or to give an example that bishops would have found too many to follow it; besides, as I take it, our succession in Ireland is more clear and unexceptionable than our neighbours, and therefore 'tis best to stick to it.'' This is not a solitary example of the Primate such comecra- ••■ tion not unusiu officiating on such occasions for the Archbishop of Dublin; for instance, both of Bishop Ellis's prede- cessors, Dopping and jNIoreton, had received con- secration from Primate Boyle. But the remarks made on the transaction by Archbishop King have caused it to be here mentioned. The metropolitan, in a letter of the same date as the preceding, con- veved to his new^ sufFrao-an his cono-ratulations on his accession to the episcopal order, and his wishes for many happy days in it, to the service of God, the good of the Church, and his own comfort." THE REIGN OF [Ch. it. Section IV. Inefficiency of Parliament and Convocation in 1705. Letters of Archbishop King on the subject. Illness of the Primate. His laborious occupations. Correspondence between him and Dr. Smith, on the latter s Life of Archbishop Ussher. Restlessness of the Presbyterians. Attempts to remove the Sacramental Test. Antipathy to the Church. Sense of the House of Commons. Letters of Archbishop King and Dr. Sicift. Repeal of Test recommended by Lord- Lieutenant ; disapproved by Par- liament and Clergy. Dr. Lloyd rejected from a Bishop- rick. Broii-n, bishop of Cork: his Character. Death of Bishop Foy: his Bequests. Date of commencement of the year. Mills, bishop of Waterford. Inefficiency of In the parliament which assembled February, 1705, parli iment and convjcation, and sat till the 18th of June, no act was passed, 1705. ^ nor incident occurred, of special interest to the Church. The convocation also, which was holden during the same period, was equally inefficient, much to the dissatisfaction of Archbishop King, who, in a letter of March 15, 1705, thus urged the Bishop of Clogher to active exertions: Arthbilh^J^King *' ^01' God's Sake, endeavour to procure a few canons for ciolher ^ the regulation of things amiss in our discipline; if we do March 15, go, all Other things will come in course. We have our Saviour's promise, ' Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you." But if the convocation only mind the secular profit of the Church, or such things as the parliament must do for them, the world will look on all this as priestcraft and carnal interest, and we shall get nothing. I perceive the Lower House do their part pretty well; and if the bishops fail of theirs, they will fall under the same censure that some bishops do here." And to Arch- With the Archbishop of Tuam, in a letter of bishop of Tiuun, a • - April 17. April 17th, 1705, he was no less urgent: pressing Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 177 Convocation in- attentive to r\M sages from the Lower, on him the necessity of the Upper House of Convo- cation testifying a spirit, corresponding in some degree with that of the Lower House : " May it please your Grace, "I understand by several letters that the Lower upper iiousc of House of Convocation have sent up several messages with ample matter for canons that would tend greatly to the reformation and restoration of discipline, but to the day of their adjournment they never had any answer from the bishops, or could find that they had taken those or any other affairs for the good of the Church into their considera- tion. Though I am so unhappy as to be obliged to be absent, yet I can't but be deeply and sensibly concerned for the honour of our order and the good of the clergy in general. I therefore take the liberty to inform your Grace, that after the last sessions there was a project by some of the Lower House to print the proceedings. It was actually drawn up and ready for the press, and I was desired to peruse it, but I utterly refused it, and laboured with all my friends to prevent the printing it, apprehending it could not be for the advantage of the bishops that so many things were offered to them by the clergy, and they never vouchsafed to take so much as one of them into consideration : by much Project for ado the persons concerned were prevailed on to let it lie to Sidings. ^'^^ another session ; and now I am morally certain an account will be printed, and by what I can guess little to our ad- vantage. I only desire your Grace to consider how it will look to have it published to the world, as I doubt it will be, that the Lower House applied themselves to the business of the Church, proposed so many things for her adv^antage, but that the bishops obstructed all, and never vouchsafed so much as to give the least answer to what was proposed, or so much as to signify that they had ecclesiastical afiairs in their minds. " I am afraid this will be the turn will be given our unfavourable management, if it continue; and therefore I beg of your Grace to lay the matter to heart, and to contrive some way bishops, that we may not be represented to the world in such a pre- N view of the con dact of the 178 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. judicial manner. I dare not give my opinion at this dis- tance, but surely our House may so far apply themselves to business, as to give an answer to what lies before them, and at least signify their approbation or dislike of what is proposed^ and so show their concern and readiness to comply with what may be useful and advantageous to the Church. I propose this w^ith all deference to your Grace ; and if I be mistaken, I entreat you to impute it to my zeal and not to any singularity. I pray earnestly for your Grace and for all my brethren, and desire your Grace to remember me in yours. " My Lord, &c., " Archbishop of Tuam. W. D.'' Archbishop And at the close of the convocation, he adverted King's letter to , . Bishop of cloyne. agaui, III Si lettci of June 26, addressed to the Bishop of Cloyne, to the probable publication of the proceedings, not without an implied censure on the influence which he supposed to have been employed for repressing a disposition to greater activity : Business in the As to your couvocatiou, I have letters already inti- Upper House . i • n • t • • obstructed. mating a resolution oi some to print your proceedings : it is from the Lower House ; and, if care be not taken, I am sure it will not be for the honour of the Upper. I am of opinion that if it go on, your Lordships ought to have a hand in it, and publish your answers, &c., so far as may be for your justification. It will do much better if it come out with consent. Care was taken that you should do as little as possible, but even what is done will be for your honour. There is providence in everything; perhaps there was one in my absence, though I cannot tell how, yet I believe God doth air things for the best. I should have spoken my mind, and how far that would have pleased some, God only knows. *' Some men are very dexterous at doing nothing; I wish those of that temper would keep out of places that require something to be done. You have had a session without one clause to the good of the Church: if all had done their Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 179 ProbaltiO cause of complaint. parts, I fancy it might have heen otherwise. I will add no more but my prayers for your Lordship, and desire a return for, my Lord, " Your Lordship's truly affectionate brother and humble servant, " To the Bishop of Cloyne. W. D.^' No distinct explanation lias fallen in my way of the allusions contained in the latter part of this letter. But perhaps Ave shall not err if we sui)pose that the more fervid temperament of the Archbishop of Dublin was not met with corresponding ardour in the Lord Primate; and that he saw cause for censuring an inaction, which he regarded as detrimental to the character, and an hindrance to the imj^rovement, of the Church. The same subject was resumed and prosecuted second letter , n 1 Ji ^Ti t AT from Archbishop by linn ni a letter of the 4tn of July to the Arcli- King to Archbi- , . , p m 1 * in ^^'"P of Tuam. bishop of Tuam, who appears to have partaken or his feelings of mortification, and whom he addressed in the followino- lanouaoe of condolence : o o o " May it please your Grace, " I was honoured with vour Grace's of the 25th of Discomfort of June, and have read it often with great concern. 'Tis an fm^IgScrgj-- uneomfortable thing, that all assemblies of men come to some conclusion and ngreement, only clergymen : that all that have controversies can write with temper and humanity, only they treat one another with passion and bitterness. Sure it is time for us to be sensible of those defects, and consider both the causes and remedies of it ; I do perceive that it has troubled your Grace to the heart, but the way is not, I conceive, to wish to be out of a world so shocking, but to use our endeavours to reform it. I hope your Grace will yet live to promote such reformation ; and, though your success be hardly sensible, yet such efforts have been the means to preserve what religion is in the world hitherto. Our Saviour and his apostles had reason to complain of an imtoward and perverse generation, yet their successors, though like a little leaven, have leavened a great lump ; and though N '2 180 TOE REIGN OF [Ch. ir. \N'hat you hav^e done in convocation be in your eyes little, especially when compared with what might have been done, Publication of jg nothiuof, and will have its value. I expect that the proceedings *' i ^ to be expected. thosc that werc stopped last time from printing, wall now infallibly publish their proceedings; if this must be printed, as, I am of opinion, it can hardly be prevented, I wish it were under the review of some of our order, otherwise I am afraid w^e shall not have equal treatment. There are, I doubt, fewer of the humour of Shem and Japhet, that covered their father's nakedness, than of Ham's that exposed it, and therefore I hope some care will be taken in this point : it concerns the wdiole Church, and will do mis- its danger, chief, if discretion be not used, to the whole clergy, even to them that contrive it, and, therefore, either there should be no printing, or else the act ought to be with common consent. " Perhaps your Grace may expect some account of mat- ters here from me, but T do protest I am more a stranger to them than when at Dublin. Great struggling has been for parliament men ; but to what purpose is a mystery that I never could be let into, but I believe it may open itself next session. " I had no particular account of any one thing done by the convocation, only what was printed. And I confess I wondered at those resolutions, or wdiat could occasion them, n-ciand^" '^^^^ great objection against Ireland has been their value for King William, and why you should declare it at this time, except it be to make yourselves suspected that you are not so, I can't tell. I writ to a friend to unfold the matter to me, and he answered that one Monck, a clergyman, had said something in a coffee-house that fired the Commons, and that obliged the convocation to concur; but sure coffee- house talk could not influence a parliament or convocation." It has been already noticed, that in the parlia- ment of 1705 no legislative or other proceeding luncssof Primate Qccurrcd of spccial interest to the Church. But in Marsh. ^ preparation for that wdiicli was convened in 1707, the primate was seized with illness, which he com- municated to his friend Dr. Smith in an apologetical letter from Dublin, of September the l7tli: Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 181 "I humbly beg voiir pardon for being so slow in an- His letter to Dr. swering your last obliging letter of August 7, 1707: and ^^^^J^^^^' -^pt. i/, I fear that I shall ever hereafter be forced to begin my future letters to you, as I do this, with begging pardon for not answering in due time, which I hope you will not take amiss, it proceeding not from negligence or want of due respect, or not being sufficiently sensible of the great favour you do me by them. As to the present, a lazy indisposition seized me that day at dinner whereon my Lord Lieutenant landed, which was June 24th, which rendered me unable to walk or stand without help. 'Twas a benumbness in my limbs, that is not yet quite worn off, nor can it be, until I have liberty to ride and walk and stir about, which the busi- ness of parliament, convocation, and council hath hitherto His laborious denied me ; especially the council, which, since the recess ^'^^"P''*^^""^ of parliament, which is to meet again September 20th, hath seldom sate, either itself or in a committee, less than eight or ten hours every day, to prepare, adjust, and dispatch bills to the council in England for their approbation, that they may be returned hither time enough to be passed in our parliament, when it shall meet. This is our method. So that when I returned home at night, I have been still more inclined ad dormiendiim quam ad scribendum. But, God be thanked, my distemper, as the doctors tell me, is only the scurvies, not a touch of the palsy, as I at first apprehended. And the forementioncd business being now for a few days over, I have time to think of my friends and of books.'"* ^leanwhile Dr. Smith had been employed in Dr. smith 'sLifo .. i»x ' T ' r»T^« * • Archbishop Avritnig his Latni Lire of Primate L ssher, concerning ussher. bis composition of which he had thus spoken in a letter of May the 14th, 1707 : '* In the Life of Archbishop Ussher I have had frequent, just, and necessary occasion of mentioning and accounting for the state of the Church of Ireland, especially in his time ; and should be glad, when the great weight of the civil government, now incumbent u]3on you, as well as ecclesiastical, shall permit, to know your Grace's opinion of it;' 182 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. And explaining afterwards, October 21, more fully what he meant : " When I formerly made your Grace a present of my Latin book of lives, my humble request was that you would be pleased to signify your opinion about what I have written in the Life of Archbishop Usshei\ concerning the two convocations of the Church of Ireland, the one held 1615, the other 1634, about which I have said nothing, but what I have used my utmost care to collect out of authen- tick memoirs and letters, and have aimed at truth, which is sacred and most essential to history, and not in the least biassed by partiality or prejudice one way or other. This was my pure design and endeavour ; but, as to what con- cerns the performance, your Grace and others, who are so well versed in the records of your Church, are the best judges. This was the only request I made to your Grace in the letter you are pleased to refer to : being no way con- cerned to inquire after the present state of the Church of Ireland in general, or any of the four provinces : this con- sideration never entering into my thought." corespondencc This last extract was in reply to an inquiry of between the ^ '' \~ J primate and Di. tho primate, who seems not to have clearly appre- Smith on the Life ^ . of Archbishop hended the purport of Dr. Smith's request for his Ussher. . . opinion about the state of the Church, and who had, in consequence, asked for an explanation " In a former letter,**' he observes, September 17, 1707, " signifying that you had sent me Primate Ussher's Life, &c., you mentioned your desire to know the state of the Church of Ireland, when I should have perused the said Life. I suppose you meant the different state of the Church now from what it was then. " What the state of the Church was then, I cannot so readily and positively tell: nor of that of the whole kingdom now, because it is under four archbishops of the four pro- vinces, whereof but that of Ulster is under my immediate care. Actual state of 'Tis truc I was Arclibishop of Cashel, and had then the Church. Muustcr Under my charge; but it was presently after the Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 183 late Ilevolutioii, when all things were out of order, and I was removed to Dublin before things could be rectified. When Archbishop of Dublin I had the province of Leinster under my jurisdiction, and can give a pretty good account of that. But the best account I can give is of Ulster, which is now under my immediate jurisdiction, and all which I visited last year, and do very well know the state of the Church in that province, where are many dissenters, and but few Papists. And if it be this you would have, I shall be ready to give it you when you please to desire it." Dr. Smith's request, as explained in the fore- going extract from his letter of Oct. 21, had no such drift as the primate here supposes, nor did he inti- mate any desire that the primate's offer of informa- tion should be realised. Had he so done, the result would probably have assisted our present inquiries with much valuable information, a portion of which may, however, be gathered from another quarter. But in the mean time it may be proper to observe, that the testimony of the primate was borne to the Primate's testi- accuracy of the account wdiicli Dr. Smith had given smith?aciiracy. of the affairs which it had been his business to narrate : "'Tis but lately that I could get time to read over Primate Ussher's Life, as written by you, which I find very exactly done. What you say there of the transactions in convocation at that time, is true according to the accounts we have of it; and the English Articles being then introduced into this Church, those they call the Irish were from that time irish Articles quite laid by and forgotten, few men knowing anything of fo^rgotten!*^ '''''^ them, till about six or seven, or a few more years ago, they were privately reprinted by I know not whom, and exposed to sale. The Canons of our Church are mostly the same with those of the Church of England, and do differ only in such things as peculiarly relate to this kingdom, so that the Church of England and Ireland is one and the same Church." 184 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Restlessness of the Pi-esby- terians. Attempt to rc- uiove the sacrameutal test. Their arcnimc; ts answorcd. The members of the Presbyterian body were now beginning to show a dissatisfied and restless spirit nnder the restraint which the law imposed npon them. Formerly it had been a snbject of complaint with them, that they were not permitted to serve God in tlieir own way. They professed not to repine at the employments of chnrchmen ; but thought that all men, who lived peaceably, ought to have liberty of conscience, and permission to assem- ble as they vrould for publick worship. This was allowed at the Revolution, and for a while they acquiesced in the restriction of the sacramental test, with which they now manifested their discontent, and aimed at removino: it. For accomplishing their object, they sought countenance and support, especially in England; and they put forth such arguments as these: — 1st, that when the clause, enacting a sacramental test, was put into execution, half the justices of the 2)eace throughout Ireland had laid down their com- missions; 2nd, that, by means of that test, dis- senters had been persecuted for their religion; and, 3rd, that their meritorious services in the late Mar, for the benefit of the nation, entitled them to an exemption from all disabilities. On the other hand, it was contended, that of the justices of the peace who had laid down their com- missions, as alleged in proof of their disapprobation of the test, the number was confined to twelve or thirteen, men, in general, of inferior property and understanding, and some of them superannuated; that the stories of the persecutions of dissenters were false or exaooerated; and that one case in CO ' particular, so misrepresented, had been under the cognizance of the Lord Primate, and determined Sec. IV.] QUEEN AXNE. 1S5 according to law and discretion; and that, however willing churcbraen were to give a toleration to dissenters, the Church of Ireland was the national church, and the only church established by law, and, if the sacramental test were repealed, there would be no established church remaining, or rather there would be as many established churches as there were sects of dissenters. Besides, if Protestant dissenters were admitted, admission might likewise be claimed for Papists to publick offices. And it was contended, moreover, that the consequence of the projected repeal would be an entire and no distant alteration of reliorion in the kino:dom. For the Irish Presbyterians had brought with them from Scotland, together with a strong affection for each other, and an exclusive national intercommunion, a devoted predilection for their own religious peculiar- ities, and withal, a sentiment of antipatbv to the Ancip«thytoi ^ • Church. Church, which they regarded as no better, if not worse, than Popery itself; and were fully possessed with the spirit which had influenced them to abolish episcopacy at home, and the influence of which, if accompanied with corresponding power, was calculated to produce similar evil to the Irish church. Indeed, this inclination, not inexperienced previously in Ireland, had latterly manifested itself in a distinguished advocate of the Presbvterian Ma-.ifoste^ in cause, who, during the session of a former parlia- adx-oc-atc, ment, had insolently shaken one of the Irish pre- lates, Dr. Lindsay, at that time Bishop of Killaloe, and afterwards Lord Primate, by his lawn sleeve, and told him, in a menacing manner, that he hoped to live to see the day when there should not be one of his order in the kingdom." Of this person, supposed to be Alan Broderick, E>q., it was only a consistent 186 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. Letter from Archbishop King to Mr. Annesley August 16, 1707 Sentiments in parliament on the test. Archbishop King's letter to Mr. Southwell, November 8, 1707. part, that at the time, with which w^e are now engaged, being Speaker of the House of Commons, he should have solicited in person several members of both houses of the English parliament to effect a repeal in that parliament of the Irish act. A letter from Archbishop King to Mr. Annesley, of the 16th of August, 1707, reports the condition of things with respect to the test, Avliich was like to embroil" the parliament; but which, now near the close of the session, he observes, " we have got over pretty easily:" " The matter was so contrived, that it seems the ministry in England was of opinion, that we were wonderfully fond of repealing that clause in the bill against Popery, that obliged all in office to take the sacrament. And we here were held in hand, that this was the design of the ministry, and that we could not oblige her Majesty by anything more effectually, than by complying in it. But, upon trial, it proved that nothing was more averse to the universal in- clination of the parliament here. I believe some few might be for it; but it was their interest to make things go smoothly in parliament, and they found this was the way to obtain it; and, therefore, they came in with the rest, and have really gained great reputation by being so. You can hardly imagine what a healing measure this has proved, and how far it has prevailed to oblige those that were in great animosities against one another, to comply in all reasonable proposals; whereas, if the repeal of the test had been insisted on, it would have broken all in pieces, and made them form parties on principles which before were founded only on personal quarrels.'' And in a subsequent letter, of November 8, 1707, to Mr. Southwell, he relates: " The test got a parting blow ; for, on a disputed elec- tion for Belfast, it was found, that only four burgesses of thirteen were at the election; and on an inquiry, the reason was given, that the other burgesses durst not act, having Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 187 not taken the test. The question then came in, very naturally, whether they were obliged to take it or nol and, on a fair division, the house resolved that they were. This Declaration of . the sense of is looked on to be a fuller declaration of the sense oi the House of house, than all that happened before; for they were under no necessity to make any such declaration, and it was pressed hard, when it was very late, to adjourn the debate ; but, on division, they were resolved to go on with it, and made the aforesaid declaration." The exertions of the dissenters, and the support received by them from the Speaker, as well as the efforts judo-ed requisite for resistinf): them, are thus i^etter from Dr. o O I O ' S^vift to Dr. stated in a letter from Dr. Swift to Dr. Stearne, at sterane, April 15, 1708. that time dean of St. Patrick's, and afterwards bishop of Clogher, dated London, April 15, 1708: " The dissenters have made very good use here of your Activity of the - Til • 11' • 11 dissenters. frights m Ireland upon the intended invasion; and the archbishop writes me word, that the address of Dublin city will be to the same purpose, which I think the clergy ought to have done their best to prevent, and I hope they did so. Here has the Irish Speaker been soliciting to get the test clause repealed by an act here, for which I hope he will be impeached when your parliament meets again, as well as for some other things I could mention. I hope you will be of my opinion in what I have told the archbishop about those addresses. And if his Grace and clergy of the province send an address, I desire I may present it, as one of the chapter, which is the regular way; but I beg you will endeavour, among you, that the Church of Ireland gentlemen may send an address to set the queen and court right about the test, Avhich every one here is of opinion you should do, or else I have reason to fear it w^ill be repealed here next session, which will be of terrible consequence, both as to the thing and the manner, by the parliament here interfering in things purely of Ireland, that have no relation to any interest of theirs.^" On the 12tli of June, 1708, the Archbishop of L<>tterfrom ' Works, X., 53. 188 THE REIGN OF LCii. II. fo Drl'st'f^^^^^^ Dublin thus expressed his sentiments on this subject Junel2,i7u'8. toDp. Swift: " As to the test clause, if the repeated votes of parlia- ment be not sufficient to show the sense of the people as to that point, I can't tell how it shall be known. Great industry has been used, and great art, to drop something tending that way into three or four addresses. These have been industriously printed, and all others excluded. For my own ])art, I can't have so mean a soul as to stoop to such artifices. I have had the comfort to see many such defeated, and their fine-spun webs, that had cost much time and pains, swept away at one brush. I hope the like success will follow the like endeavours."' Archbishop King ^^^^ samc yIcws and purposes of the dissenters Lv''2o^'r^8 ^^^^^ commented on by Archbishop King, in a letter to Dr. Swift, from Dublin, November 20, 1708: " I understand some dissenters from hence will apply to the parliament of England this session, to obtain a repeal of the test, and for a toleration on a larger foot than in England; and that a fund is raised, and agents appointed to solicit their affairs, by the presbyters of the north. I Presbyterians an j^^vc had somc iutimatiou, that all dissenters are not of a object of fear to ^ _ ^ ^ other dissenters, mind iu this poiut: the other sects, if I am rightly in- formed, being as much afraid of them as of us; and that they would rather be as they are, than run the hazard of coming under the jus divhiiwi of presbytery. Something pleasant enough is said to have happened on this occasion. A certain person endeavoured to comfort them, and remove their jealousy, by telling them they needed not to fear ; for, that the greatest friends to dissenters, and who would be most zealous for toleration, never designed to establish any church, but only to destroy that which had the protection of the laws. Whether this will give them satisfaction, I can't tell ; but am certain, that, if any have so wicked a design, they will fail in it. ni-groundcd fears J oftcu alarmed with the fears of some good men, for religion. . .... o \ • who would persuade me that religion is in danger of btuig Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 189 rooted out of the hearts of men; and they wondered to see nie so sanguhie in the cause. But I tell them that I believe it is with religion as with paternal affection: some profligate wretches may forget it, and some may dose them- selves so long with perverse thinking, as not to see any reason for it; but, in spite of all the ill-natured and false philosophy of these two sorts of people, the bulk of man- kind will love their children. And so it is, and will be, with the fear of God and religion : whatever is general has a powerful cause, though every one cannot find it out. '* But I have forgot mv dissenters. The reason of their applying in Great Britain is because they see little reason to hope for success here; and if I can judge of the sense of gentlemen that compose the parliament, they never seemed to be further from the humour of gratifying them.-'' Notwithstanding, however, the little reason f,p^eafoTti*e^'' A^hicli appeared to hope for success, the experiment tesn ^'ovember, of effecting the repeal of the sacramental test was made with the Irish parliament. In November, 1708, from among the party most opposed in England to the prosperity of the Church and the clergy, the Earl of Wharton was chosen for the chief government of Ireland, with the supposed purpose of effecting the repeal. At least, in the openino- of the session of parliament in Mav, 1709, Recommendedby ^ 1 ' Lnid Lieutenant, he pressed on both houses the serious consideration of supplying any defect for preventing the growth of Popery, and " the evident necessity of cultivating and preserving a good understanding amongst all the Protestants of the kingdom. What the most proper methods are to compass so desirable and so necessary an end, you yourselves, who have the opportunities of knowing the uneasiness that any of your fellow-subjects lie under, are fittest to judge." This intimation of the desirableness of repealing - Swift's Works, x.. G7. 190 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. Clause in act to prevent fui tlier the sacramental test, evidently intended by the foregoing allusion, did not, however, produce the desired result; whilst in an act, explaining and growth of Popery, amending the former act, *'to prevent the further growth of Popery," a clause was inserted, enacting that no convert from the Popish religion should be deemed a Protestant, within the meaning of the acts, unless, within six months, he should, among other qualifications, receive the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the order of the Church of Ireland." This act, which was not passed till the 8th of 1709- Queen Anne, 1709, appears to be the same as a bill alluded to by Archbishop King in a letter to Mr. Southwell, of September 2, 1707 : " You will find," he says, " in the bill to prevent the further growth of Popery, a clause to oblige all persons to take the Reasons for the sacramoutal test. It was drawn by a hand that you clause. *' '' would least suspect in the world : but it was found necessary, because several converts have taken the oaths, and made an abjuration of Popery, but do not come to church, but pretend to be dissenters, and are believed to be still Papists. And it was doubted whether a man's professing himself to be a Protes- tant be a sufficient proof that he is so; or, if he can incur the penalty of relapsing before he has received the sacrament, according to the order of the Established Church. And, after all, 'twill be hard to fix a certain criterion of Protestantism any other way. And I hope this will show people some necessity to continue the sacramental test in Ireland." LordLioutonant's Thus, notwithstaudiu o' the intimation from the rcoomnicndation ' O disapproved by throuo at tho opeuiuo' of the session of 1709, the parliament and I o sacramental test was retained, and, in a particular parliament and clcrg}', 1710, Sec. IV.] QUEEN AXNE. 191 instance, re-enacted. The intimation of the desira- bleness of repealing it was repeated to the like effect by the Lord Lieutenant on opening the succeeding session in JNIay, 1710. But his sugges- tion was received with no corresponding feeling on the part of the parliament or clergy of Ireland. This result had been anticipated by Dr. Swift, in a Letter concerning the Sacramental Test, published in December, 1708, in the character of a Member of the L'ish House of Commons, wherein he set forth the temper with which the project would be encountered. According to his anticipation, in the Commons, a very large preponderance of the House was opposed by a small minority, including some- thing less than twelve professed dissenters; and the Presbyterian party having, on a former occasion, with great industry, mustered their forces, and endeavoured, on a hint in Lord Pembroke's speech, to introduce a debate about repealing the sacra- mental test clause, could not produce more than one to four against them. In the Lords, the bishops ?j;iXpir''*^ were understood to be unanimously opposed to the repeal, constituting, as they did, by reason of the absence of many temporal peers, nearly a moiety of the house, and of the lay lords but a small propor- tion was found on the other side. The whole body ^^^">ie body of clergy opposed to cf the clergy, meanwhile, v>-as utterly hostile to the repeal; their influence with the laity also was great, and their opinion much respected; the rather because they had no immediate personal interest in the question, and were thence believed to be impartial in their judgment, and to be guided only by their con- cern for the welfare of religion and the prosperity of the community; for the repeal of the sacramental 192 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. act would only qualify a layman for a civil office, and not a Presbyterian or other dissenting minister for an ecclesiastical benefice. In fact, several members of the House of Commons, being aware of the projected alteration, consulted all the dis- tinguished clergy of their acquaintance, and desired to be informed of theirs entiments. The result was a very remarkable unanimity, from which there appeared only one exception, in an individual, who afterwards stood alone in the convocation, of which he was a member, very little to his credit, but, as he hoped, very much to his interest.^ An individual Tlils iudividual was a Dr. Lloyd, fellow of Trinity exception. College, Dublin, who, being in consequence recom- mended by the Speaker, an earnest advocate, as we have seen, of the same opinion, ingratiated himself with the Lord Lieutenant, by whom he was received into a great degree of favour, and became me- morable for his marriage with a disreputable female in the vice-regal household. Soon afterwards, on the see of Cork and Ross becoming vacant, he was selected by the notoriously profligate Earl of Whar- ton for tlie bishoprick, partly as a provision for his former favourite, and partly with tlie intent of bringing discredit on the Church and degrading her Lloyd rejected oplscopate. But thc solcctiou was esteemed so from a bishop- iii i i k t t • ^ lick. infamous, that both the Lnglish Archbishops, espe- cially the Archbishop of York, inter]:)osed with the queen to hinder so great a scandal to the Church. The queen was accustomed to reserve all tlie great aj)pointments in Ireland for her own patronage, thougli slie was often guided by the recommendation of the chief governor, which upon this occasion she ^ Swift 07i the Sacramental Test. — Works ^ iii., 132 — 1^15. Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE.' 193 rejected: and Dr. Brown, provost of Trinity College, Appointment of Dublin, being* then in London, she nominated him to the vacant bishoin-ick\ In his personal character "austere, retired, and his character, mortified," the Provost of Dublin College, Peter Brown, was eminent among his contemporaries and brethren for many valuable qualities : for profound learning and critical skill in the Greek and Hebrew languages ; for consummate ability in explaining the beauty, energy, and sublimity of the sacred writings ; for a just discernment and correct style of composi- tion, founded on the best models of antiquity, and calculated to introduce an improved taste into his society ; for a solemn, graceful, and impressive elocu- tion; and for a spirit of earnest piety, which, ani- mating his own heart, was communicated to the hearts of those who heard him preach or pray, breathing in purity and fervency from his whole air, manner, and tone of voice, whether in the pulpit or at the altar ; commanding the most awful attention in all who heard him in the former, and causing every one to feel and confess, when he officiated in divine worship, the inimitable beauty and excellency of the liturgy, and especially of the communion service of the Church^ His delivery of his sermons, indeed, was so much admired, as to be commemorated in an anecdote, which I cite, with no purpose of commending the application which it contains of holy writ, that when the bishop preached before Queen Anne on the text, Never man spake like this man," the queen applied these w^ords to the preacher''. In the year 1G97, when Toland, who "had been * Swift's Character of the Earl * Ware's Bishops^ p. 571. of Wharton. Works, vol. iii. ^ Cx^ifbelVh Philosophical Siir- 314, .315, vey, p. 421. O 194 THE REIGN OF LCh. II. Bishop Broivn r.n educatecl fi'om liis cradle in the grossest superstition Tdand"*'' and idolatry," had from Popery taken refuge in rationality, and published his treatise, intituled Chris- tianity not Mysterious; among the divines of the Church of England and Ireland who came forward to refute it, was Brown, at that time a bachelor of divinity, and a senior fellow of his college. Prompted to the undertaking by Narcissus Marsh, at that time Archbishop of Dublin', who set a high value on the performance, he continued ever after- wards to enjoy the archbishop's patronage : and having previously, by his procurement, been pro- moted to the provostship of the college, was indebted to the same recommendation for his elevation to the episcopate ; so that Toland, as reported by Harris, used jestingly to say, that it was he who had made Brown bishop of Cork. Hisactivityin In the discharo^c of his episcopal function his behalf of the ® r r Church. name stands in honourable, but no unfriendly ri- valry with those who were most zealous in endea- vouring to supply the necessities of the Church. By his generous encouragement, and, although not entirely at his own expence, yet principally by his contributions, the full amount of which his most intimate friends could seldom discover, several parish churches in his diocese were rebuilt or re- paired, and a handsome publick library, with a large room for a charity school, erected near his cathedral. On his residence at Bishop's Court, in Cork, as w^ell as on a country-house, built by him for a summer retreat, in the neighbourhood, and left to his suc- cessors, he expended large sums of money without any charge for his remuneration. The want of con- venient glebes and habitations for his clergy, in ' IlARRTfi's Writers, pp. 274, 200. Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 195 which his diocese was more defective than most others in the kingdom, he earnestly lamented ; and remedied, at no small expence, to the best of his opportnnities. Where the means of residence existed he was strict in obliging his clergy to reside in their parishes : otherwise, as near as possible to their parish churches. Amongst these commemorated claims to the grateful recollection of the Church, Bishop Brown is still perhaps more generally known as the author of a discourse delivered to his clergy, His discourse of , drinking in re- Of Drinkinc) in Remembrance of the Dead, published menibranceof at Dublin in 1713, and followed by three or four other tracts in vindication of the former. On this occasion he was engaged in controversy with a brother prelate, Edward Synge, bishop of Raphoe, and subsequently Archbishop of Tuam : and it may be noticed as somewhat remarkable that Synge, as well as Brown, had been engaged in combating the principles put forward by Toland's publication. The vacancy in the see of Cork and Ross had Death of Bishop Fov. been preceded the year before by one in that of Waterford and Lismore, occasioned by the death of Bishop Foy, a very meritorious clergyman and prelate, as hath already appeared on more than one occurrence in this narrative, especially from the high testimony borne to his character in Archbishop King's MS. Correspondence concerning the supply of the bishoprick of Meath. He was diligent His character; throughout his life in maintaining the truth of the Gospel, as professed in the Church of Ireland, for which he had been a confessor during the arbitrary rule of King James II. ; and he made provision for perpetuating it among the rising generation by con- siderable legacies to the city of Waterford, to be And bequests. O 2 190 THE REIGN OF [Cu. TI. employed in the education of the children of the in- liabitants. Of his Avill, Mr. Harris specifies one remarkable bequest of five pounds to his kinsman, Thomas France, " for preaching his funeral sermon, on condition he spoke nothing of his person, good or ill, only signifying to the auditory it was his express will it should be so : and he ordered that the charge of his funeral should no way exceed thirty pounds." Letter of Arch- Auothcr ordcr, o iven bv Bishop Foy at his bishop King, con- ' o l j ceniirig Bishop dcath, uot uoticed by Harris, is to be collected from April 20, 1708. the following letter in Archbishop King's MS. Cor- respondence. It is dated April 20th, 1708, and ad- dressed to Mr. Thomas France, Waterford, apparently the kinsman to whom the j^reaching of the funeral sermon was committed, though his profession is not designated, according to the archbishop's usual prac- tice, by the compellation or by the address : " Sir, " I have before me yours of the I7tli instant. I can, in answer to it, only tell you that I have had several dis- courses with my good friend, the late Lord Bishop of Waterford, about his papers, and he seemed very zealous to His directions for havc tlieui all bumt, and obliged me to look out for all his burning his pest- , . . •i-it'i humous papers, letters Written to me and destroy them; in which 1 intend to obey him. None can have a more hearty and kind regard for his memory than I have ; and if the case were my own, I should certainly think it a justice to him to dis- pose of his papers as he has ordered, and should be very uneasy if I thought the person on whom I laid such an injunction would make any scruple of performing it. I doubt not but he has left many useful discourses behind him, which deserve very w^ell to be preserved : but whoso- ever has printed anything knows how necessary it is that what is offered to the ])ublick should have the author's last hand. The want of which, which cannot be had to posthu- mous works, generally speaking, makes thorn very injurious to him to whom thoy are ascribed. I am, therefore, in my Sec. IV.] QUEEN ANNE. 197 own judgment, ])0.sitively against printing any of my dear iViend's ; but preserving them for your own use, or others who value his memory, is another matter, though I cannot encourage even this disobedience to his dying mandate. You may be able to judge from several circumstances that happened to your knowledge in his life-time, what his settled opinion was in this case ; and I doubt not but you will have regard to it, and act accordingly. I pray God direct and guide you in all things, which is the prayer of, " Yours, kc, W. D." The death of Bishop Fov was onlv the third r>ateofcom- ^ *' • mencementof which had occurred amongst the Irish prelates during the yew. the space of almost six years, which had elapsed since the accession of Queen Anne in March, 1702. jVIr. Harris having stated him to have died on the 1st of January, 1708, afterwards marks it as a mis- take, which he begs the reader to correct; observing that ''it is true, reckoning the year to commence that day, but 1707 according to the usual calcula- tion." Occasion is hence taken for apprising the reader, that throughout the present work the year is considered to commence with the 1st of January, so that all the dates which are given by Sir James Ware, Mr. Harris, Archbishop King, and other authorities, on the calculation of its commencing on the 25th of March, are adapted to the former supposition. Bishop Fov was succeeded in the sees of Water- Mme?, Bishop of Waterford. ford and Lismore bv Thomas ]Milles, a native of Hertfordshire, educated at Wadham College, Oxford, Vice-Principal of Edmund Hall, and Queen's Pro- fessor of Greek in that university; and editor, in 1703, of a folio edition of T/ie Works of St. Ct/ril of Jerusalem. In April, 1707. he attended Thomas Herbert, earl of Pembroke, to Ireland, as his Excel- lency's chaplain: and early in 1708 was promoted 198 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. to the sees vacated by the death of Bishop Foy. "As to Dr. Milles's preferment," observes Arch- bishop King to Dr. Swift, in a letter of February the 28th, 1708, "you will not expect from me any Obscure allusion accouut how it rolishod here. Some say, if General of Archbishop *^ King. Laureston had been primate, it would not have been so. I did not ask what they meant." Although the archbishop did not ask the meaning of the remark, he may possibly have understood it. But from the obscurity of his language the allusion at this time seems unintelligible. Speaking of the same prelate, in a letter of ^January 7, 1720, to Dr. Charlet, he observed, in a style of the like obscure allusion, " I do not wonder at the Bishop of Waterford's appearing among the Sorbonne doctors. I do not hear that he showed his crucifix. That ho wears continually at his breast. He is one you sent us, and you must answer for him." Section V. Incidental notices of Ecclesiastical Matters in Arclibishop King's MS. Correspondence. Mutual Conduct of Bishops and their Clergy. Irregularity in conferring Holy Orders. Erroneous View of some of the Prelates. Suh^ terfuge to escape the Canon. Detection of an Impostor. Irregidar Bishops called Ordainers. Examination of Candidates. Difficulty of maintaining Ministers. Pro- mding neiu Churches. State of the Dioceses of Dublin and of Ferns. Confirmations. Consecration of Churches. Form of Consecration. Disposal of Benefices. Provision for Con'certs from Popery. Converts from the Popish Priesthood. Form of Abjuration. Method of dealing with Papists. Laxity in executing the Laics. Incidental no- SoME iucideutal uoticos on the state of the Church tices from Arch- bishop King's at this time, scattered over Archbishop King's MS. Sec. V.J QUEEN ANXE. 191) CoiTespoiideiice, iiiav be tliouolit not unworthy of ms. correspond the readers attention, and are accordingly brought together in this place with less regard to chrono- logical order than to the nature of the subjects. Greater care than formerly seems to have been Mutual conduct now taken by the bishops in superintending the tL^'rciTgy."'^ conduct of their clergy. A clergyman had miscon- ducted himself towards his diocesan, who consulted the Archbishop of Dublin on the subject, and re- ceived the following answer of September 10, 1706: it contains only an obscure allusion to the facts, but is cited for the sake of the general observations : I do own the clergy are altered as to their demeanour towards their bishops of late, of which several reasons may be given ; one particularly is, the bishops being altered towards them. Time was, when they were left to them- selves, and might do, or not, their duty as they pleased. But of late, some bishops have begun to look more narrowly into their practice, and to press their duty on them. This makes them recoil and become very uneasy. Mr. Bury would never have threatened your Lordship, if you had let him alone. All people readily submit to power that they think will be executed. If your Lordship can prove those threats, they are cause of deprivation, and I would have your Lordship go about it effectually. You must make commissaries, because you are a party." The conferring of holy orders appears on some irregularity in . ^ ^ 1 J 1 • • conferring holy occasions to have been conducted in a manner in- orders, dependent of ecclesiastical discipline, wdiich was made to give way before the easy disposition and remiss practice of some of the bishops of the Irish church. This is noticed, with merited censure, by the Archbishop of Dublin, in a letter to the Bishop of Bangor, Dr. John Tyler, dated November the 29th, 1707: 200 THE REIGN OF j Ch. II. Letter of Arch- bishop King to Bishop of Bangor, Nov. 29, 1707. An impostor pretending to holy orders. Mistake of the Irish prelates. Letter to Bishop Hartstong, Dec. 24, 1786. " My Lord, " I do remember, when I had the honour to wait on your Lordship in London, you told me of several that had been refused orders in England, and obtained them in Ireland, without letters-dimissory, and such recommenda- tions as the canons of the Church require. I find that there appears too great reason, on inquiry, for your Lord- sliip'*s complaint, and that two such have here so irregularly stolen into orders ; and I am not sure but there may be more. But I am well assured, that some pretend here to orders that never had them. Amongst others, there is one James Doggerill, a blind man, who petitioned me for orders, and. was refused both by me and his own bishop. He was of the diocese of Ossory ; but he returned last summer from England, and pretends that your Lordship ordained him. I thought myself obliged to inform your Lordship of his pretences, and do intreat your Lordship to certify the falsehood of them, that I may be able to pro- secute him for his wickedness. I have spoken to most of my brethren about their easiness in conferring orders, and do endeavour to give them the best example I can, and do hope my brethren shall have no reason to complain of this diocese." The following letter, written somewhat earlier, namely, December 24, 1706, to Bishop Hartstong of Ossory, discloses an erroneous view entertained by the Irish prelates at the time, and under which they acted in some of these irregular ordinations ; " I received the favour of your Lordship's of the 21st instant. As for Mr. Close, he was with me, and desired orders from me. He told me he had no title, but had a fortune sufficient to maintain him till provided, wdiicli answers the canon. That, therefore, was not the exception. If I remember right, 1 showed or directed him to my me- thod of examination of candidates for orders. I suspect he did not like it, and therefore did not come again. I know some to take caution from those they ordain that they will not trouble them for a maintenance ; but your Lordship will be well advised before you venture on such a practice ; Sec. v.] QUEEN ANNE. 201 for I am told it is void, as being a simoniacal contract. I hav^e ordained near thirty since bishop, and have provided, thank God, for all but one, and have something in view for him. They every one of them answer my expectation, and some out-do it. I understand a thousand have been or- dained since the Revolution, and all the livings in Ireland will not employ six hundred. This matter ought to be well considered, for it may have ill effects. I wish we could come to some conform methods of examining, and then people would not run from one bishop to another.'^ The practice here censured, whether simoniacal subterfuge to escape the canon. or not, was an evident subterfuge to escape the pro- visions of the canon which was framed as a safe- guard to prevent the Church and the ministry from being overburdened with supernumerary and un- occupied clergymen. In one particular, however, the archbishop committed a mistake in his comment on the canon, which prescribes the proper " titles for such as are made ministers." And this mistake he ingenuously acknowledged in another letter to the Bishop of Ossory, of the 7th January following: " I did, when I writ to vour Lordship, believe, that if ^':°hbishop ' _ " » ' ... King's niisappre- any one were qualified with proper personal abilities, and hensionofthe able to live of his own charge, a bishop might ordain him ; and therefore I said in my letter, that, if he had a fortune sufficient to maintain himself till provided, it answered the canon. But, on inspection into the thirtieth canon, I find it is except he be a master of arts of five years' standing, that liveth of his own charge in the university. I am w^illing to come as near to the canons as I can, and do heartily wish that all of us would make them our rule." The imposition noticed above, as having been attempted to be practised by the person named Doggerill, was afterwards proved by the inquiries and perseverance of the archbishop. " He shuffled with us for a long while," as his Grace wrote on the Detection of tho impobtor. 202 THE REIGN OF [Cu. LI. 11th of May, 1708, to the Bishop of Bangor; "but when he found that he could not escape us, he at last came to the within confession, the original whereof I have entered in the registry. If the like care were taken, and a little better correspondence among bishops, many such wicked practices would be detected and punished. He is to do penance for his forgery, which is all we can do to him." Laxity of bishops In tho coufcssion here spoken of, the Bishop of called ordainers. Ossory was not mentioned, and it should seem that he had expressed some dissatisfaction at the omis- sion. Such at least is the interpretation which I put on the answer to two letters of the bishop, of which Archbishop King acknowledged the receipt on the 4th of August, 1708. It is less, however, on account of the individuals concerned, than of the irregularity complained of, that the following extract is inserted : " I did not mention your Lordship," says the archbishop, " in the confession of Doggerill, the blind man, out of pure respect to your Lordship, because it was to be a publick thing, and lie in registries, and I did not think it proper to mention your Lordship in such an affair without your leave; for I considered, that there are several easy bishops, that are here called ordainers, not with a design to honour them, for commonly the refuse of the world creep into orders by them, and who- ever counterfeits orders, he will be sure to pass them under the name of some such bishop. Now, lest any, that had not the honour to know your Lordship, might, when they saw your name, imagine, from his boldness with you, that you might be such an easy and uncautelous man, I therefore thought fit not to name you. I assure your Lordship this was the reason of tliat omission. I will not defend the Sec. V.J QUEEN ANNE. 203 goodness of it; but your Lordship will believe that I meant for jour honour." The allusion in a foregoing extract to the arch- Examination candidates. bishop's " method of examination, ' may excite a reasonable curiosity to be informed on that subject; and the letter last cited affords a seasonable oppor- tunity for gratifying it : " The method I take," he observes, when I am to ordain any, is this: — First he applies himself to me in private, and I examine him. I never ordain any that I have not known personally for some time. If he give me satisfaction as to his life, title, and learning, then I summon four or five of the clergy, according to the canons, to assist me in the examination, which lasts publickly four days. Each takes such part as is agreed. The candidates exibit all their testimonials, titles, &c., and the registrar enters a brief of it. If any come from another diocese, or be to be preferred in it, I do not admit him but at the request of the bishop; for I think it reasonable that every bishop should have the examination of those that are to serve in his diocese. By this method, I have had some trouble, but have avoided all importunity and sur- prise about conferring orders, though I have been a bishop eighteen years." The mode of providing for the maintenance of Difficulty of maintaining ministers when ordained, has been at all times one ministers, of the difficulties which the Church of Ireland has had to encounter. As an example of this at the period now under investigation, I submit the follow- ing extract from a letter of Archbishop King to Mr. Southwell, bearing date the 2nd of September, 1707: "Tlie great thing wanting is a fund to main- THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Providing neW churches. tain ministers. I want maintenance for ten or twelve; and except a table of tithing be settled, 'tis impossible to supply the diocese with ministers. I have not above fifty in the country, and of those not above five are worth 100/. per annum. Of the others, above a dozen have not 40/. per annum. Several have nothing at all certain; and some have but 10/. or 16/. per annum. This ac- count is true; and perhaps, if her Majesty knew how low the clergy is here, she would not grudge them their first-fruits and twentieth parts." The same letter exemplifies the archbishop's energy in providing churches for his diocese at this juncture : " I have been very busy since I came to Ireland. I have got Arklow church finished, Still- organ, Kilgobban, Ringsend, and Glassnevin. Ano- ther is going on in the country, and I have got a fund for it. St. Nicholas within the Walls is pulled down, and in a j^retty forward way of reparation. We have a bill gone over to finish it. If I live to see the three new churches erected in the city, and four or five more in the country, I shall think I have done pretty well for my time." Letter to Mr. Wcntworth, Oct. 13, 1713. In further illustration of the condition of the Church, as to the provisions for its ministrations, two other extracts from the archbishop's correspond- ence may be here fitly inserted, of a date little removed from the preceding; one having reference to his own diocese, the other to another diocese in his province, namely, that of Ferns. Concerning the former, he thus wrote, on the 13th of October, 1718, to Mr. AVentwortb, from whom he was desirous of making a purchase of some impropriate tithes: Sec. v.] QUEEN ANNE. 205 " Anioiifrst several other matters, I tliouglit to discourse state of diocese of you about some tithes in the parish of Newcastle, ^Yhich I understood you were willing to part with for the better service of the cure. I thank you, and hope God will reward you for what you have already done for the accom- modation of the minister there ; his endowment is very small, and I do not see how he could have lived without your kindness. I have inquired, and find the tithes you are willing to part with are about 40/. per annum in value. I have purchased in some already, and have been assisted by charitable persons ; and am willing to strain myself, as far as 1 can, towards so good a work. "You are sensible in what a miserable condition the its improvement. Church is in this diocese, in respect both of churches and maintenance for the cures; insomuch, as we have not half maintenance for the ministers we have, nor half ministers enough to serve the people. I have made a shift since I came to this diocese, which is about ten years, to get seventeen churches built and rebuilt, and as many repaired, of which nine are where there has been no service or church, that I can find, since the Reformation. I want yet twelve, to have the diocese tolerably served. This, with my repairing my mansion-house, purchasing some impropria- tions, and assisting to the repairing of seventeen old churches, has not been without considerable charges ; so that I can at present but ill spare money. Yet I am un- willing to lose this opportunity, and would willingly deal with you for those impropriations that you condescend to part with. " You may guess what condition the Church is in from Destitution of A\^icklow and Arklow; the one has ten and the other eleven parishes to make a competency, and 'tis generally so through the diocese ; each of those ministers has two churches to serve, and at considerable distance. I hope, if these things were duly and fully represented to pious and charitable men, it would prevail with them to take the matter into consideration, and seriously apply their cha- ritable endeavours towards a remedy ; for I find charity is not lost out of the minds of men. . . . Give me leave to deal with you as I have done with other gentlemen, to 206 THE REIGN OF [Cii. II. lay before you the misery of this poor Church and kingdom, and leave the rest to your own goodness and charity.'"* Diocese of Ferns. Coiicernin<]f the diocese of Ferns, the information to which I alluded is contained in a letter addressed to Mr. Annesley, from Gory, June 7, 1712: Letter to Mr, " I havo finished my triennial visitation, and intend to 7, 1712. ' visit the parts of my own diocese that lie between this and Dublin, and shall confirm, God willing, in ten or eleven places before I go home, and consecrate a new church on Monday. I can't forbear, though perhaps you may not think it pertinent, to represent to you the miserable state of this diocese of Ferns. There are in it one hundred and thirty-one parishes : of these seventy-one are impropriate in lay hands, twenty-eight are appropriated to the bishop, dignitaries, and prebendaries of the cathedral, and thirty- two in the hands of the clergy that serve the cures, and generally these are the worst, for the monks seldom troubled themselves but with the best. There is neither bishop, dean, nor archdeacon residing in it. There are only thir- teen beneficed clergymen in it, and nine curates, and these very poorly provided, about 30/. per annum to a curate, and very few of the beneficed clergy have 100/. per annum : I cannot reckon five. " The bishop has the bishoprick of Leighlin united to this. He resides on the latter : and, considering the impro- priations and appropriations with the crown and lay patron- ages, I do not see how he could order the cures better than he has done."" Confirmations. Jn the foregoiug extract the archbishop speaks Letter to Bishop of hls coufirmatious. From a passao^e in a letter of of Clogher, Oct. 4, an 1720. October 4, 1720, to his friend the Bishop of Clogher, it incidentally appears to have been his practice on such occasions to address the assembled congrega- tion. As to my business," he says in that letter, " I have gone through my diocese, and confirmed in twenty country churches, in each of which I made a Src. v.] QUEEN ANNE. 207 discourse, except at Kiklrouglit, where you were so kind as to ease me, for which I return you my hearty thanks; and on the account and in considera- tion of that favour, do acquit and release your Lord- ship all suits, claims, or demands, to which I may be entitled, by reason of any injuries, affronts, abuses, or contempts, designedly or by accident, done to me by your Lordship." The archbishop also mentions his purpose of con- secrating- a new church. The forty-third canon ordered, that "as often as churches were newly built, where formerly they w^ere not, they shall be dedicated and consecrated ;" but it authorised no form of consecration. No information on the sub- ject has occurred to me under the date of the present reign, but I find it noticed a few years later. It is to be presumed that when new churches were consecration of 1 /> 1 • 1 churclies. built, they were set apart by a formal rite to the honour and service of Almighty God, in pursuance of the law which prescribed it : whilst the mode of setting them apart was probably determined by the judgment of the individual bishop. This appears to have been the case with the Archbishop of Dublin, who thus speaks of his practice in a letter of June 6, 1715, to the Bishop of Carlisle: "I have conse- Letter to Bishop -•- of Carlisle, June crrated or restored," he says, " near forty churches, 6, 1715. and some in a crowd of dissenters ; and yet so managed the matter, that they seemed very w^ell satisfied with what was done : and, in truth, great care ought to be taken to make the form unexcep- tionable. "We have a form in Ireland, but without any authority, and I altered it to my own mind, which I reckoned myself as a bishop empowered to do, because the canon requiring bishops to conse- crate cliurches, but prescri])ing no form, leaves the form to their discretion." THE REIGN OF I Cii. II. Form of conse- The archbishop's form here spoken of appears cratiou. intended by him to haye been brought into use amongst his brethren, if, ^vhen completed to his satisfaction, it shoukl receive their approbation. To this effect he writes to the Bishop of Clogher, on the 8th of September, 1718: "As to the form of consecrating and restoring churches, I have finished the preface I designed, and all the prayers, only one for the desecration of churches, which I have not yet well considered. My homily before the conse- cration is too long, almost as long as a sermon : and yet I cannot see how to make it shorter. I think to put it in the disjunctive, as that in the Visitation of the Sick; but to be sure I will print nothing till I have the Archbishop of Tuam's approbation and yours, and, if advisable, that of my clergy. It is a pretty nice matter ; and, as I am informed, was laid aside by the convocation in England because they could not agree about it. 'Twill only be for my own diocese, and if my brethren do not like it, they may make each one for themselves." Fomis agreed on lu a letter to the same correspondent, November zn England. 1713^ the Archbishop of Dublin thus adverts to the same subject: "I can find no copies of the forms of consecrating churches agreed on in the convocation of England, nor indeed that they did agree on any. We had lately a letter from the secretary in England, requiring the government here to inquire how the forms in the last Common Prayer Book, of receiving penitents, consecration of churches, &c., came to be composed, printed, and annexed to the Common Prayer Book, and by what authority used. To which we returned the best answer we could ; and after all the annexing them to the Common Prayers ai)peared to be the printer's work without any authority." Sec. v.] QUEEN ANNE. 209 The archbishop's form was published not long after, namely in 1719, mider the title of "A Dis- course concerning the Consecration of Churches; showing what is meant by Dedicating them, with the Grounds of that Office the form having been pre- viously agreed to at a synod and visitation of the diocese of Dublin, held in the cathedral church of St. Patrick's, Dublin, April the 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1719. The course which the archbishop prescribed to Disposal of bene^ himself, and followed, in the disposal of the benefices of which he had the patronage, as communicated in a letter of April 23, 1720, to the Bishop of Derry, may be here conveniently brought forward, in con- nection with other episcopal functions : " The method I have taken ever since it pleased God to advance me to the office of a bishop, in filling vacant livings in my gift, and which I still observe, is this : never to give GWcn to experi- a benefice to any one of whom I have not had some experi- ence, either by his serving a cure, or his assisting some grave man in the service of his : for I could not think it reason- able to trust the government of a parish with a person that had no trial of himself, or knowledge of the matter with which he is intrusted : nor could I conceive how any man, just come out of a college, and unacquainted both with mankind and himself, should be able to conduct a parish with that prudence and application that is necessary to do good in it. "2ndly. When any good benefice becomes void, I con- ^g^^^"^*** sider what clergyman in a lesser has behaved himself well, gained on his people, and promoted conformity, unity, and piety amongst his people ; inform myself the best I can about it, and then, without any application, I remove him to the better benefice. And if I find another that has a less benefice than his, I take the same course with him ; and have several times made three, and sometimes four removes on a vacancy. P 210 THE REIGN OF LCh. II. " I find great advantages from this practice. 1st. It eases me of many solicitations : for deserving men know that they will be taken notice of in their turns, and, if not de- serving, they know it is in vain to make application. " 2ndly. I find it a great motive to stir up clergymen to be diligent in their duty, and approve their conduct to their bishop and their people. And, besides, removals are a great ease to them in the performance of the great office of preaching : for having made several sermons on the great mysteries of our religion, on which they are obliged to preach, they must either preach them over again, or make new ones, which is not so easy for a man after he has exhausted his subject ; whereas, when he is removed, all his discourses are new to his parishioners, and he has time to apply himself to other studies, and for laying a fresh stock of knowledge. In short, I found great advantage in a removal when a private clergyman, and great advantages in this method to my diocese, which though I have practised hitherto, yet I am far from prescribing it to my brethren." The providing for persons converted from Popery to the Church was a matter of difficulty to her governors. " We have abundance of converts every day from Popery," says Archbishop King to Mr. Southwell, Nov. 8, 1707: "there is one hardship happeneth from that, I mean, necessity of maintain- ing them ; for their friends are so malicious, that they put them out of their former way of living." A question sometimes offered itself to the Irish bishops about this period, concerning converts from the Romish priesthood to the faith of the Church : the following letter, though bearing date April 11, 1728, is cited in connection with the preceding topicks, being in all likelihood equally applicable to this, as to the exact year in which it was written. It is Archbishop King's answer to some inquiry put to him by the then Bishop of Kilmore : Sec. v.] QUEEN ANNE. 211 *' My Lord, *'I had the honour of your Lordships of the 27th Jetter of Arch- ^ , bishop King to of March on Saturday last. I have not seen Mr. Cox since Bishop of Kii- he was recommended to me, I think by the Bishop of TyS!' "^^"^ London. When I came to examine him, I found he pre- tended to be ordained by a Popish bishop in this kingdom, but coukl produce no certain proofs of either his own orders or of his ordainers. Now, my Lord, surely I would not take less evidence of such an ordination, than I would from Evidence of the ordination of one ordained in our own Church : and I must declare that Papists, such proofs as he produced, which is only his own saying, would not be sufficient for me to admit any one into the Church as a clergyman. If a man be ordained in a settled regular church, where a registry is kept, to which I can have access, and witnesses can be produced, the Communion of Saints, I think, obliges me to own one so ordained as a clergyman : but such ordinations as his, the certainty of which I have no way to come at, are of different considera- tion, and till I have the resolution of my brethren on the question. I hope I shall be excused if I admit none such to officiate in my diocese. I have followed hitherto this rule, and therefore when any applied to me, I refused to do any- thing for them. 'Tis an easy thinsf for people in Enoland, injudidousappu- , * , . -IT / • • 1 ! cations from when they are not willing to maintain a man, or knoAV not England, what to do with him, to send him here : for, as I found by several, they thought anything would pass on us ; that we have no discipline or rule amongst us. I hope w^e shall not justify this surmise of theirs, and therefore I have sent back half a dozen worthless clergymen recommended to my pro- visions, and several deserving ones, and gave this reason for it, that I had forty curates in my diocese, most of them very good men, laborious, and regular, and I had not ten bene- fices in my gift of value to gratify them; and if any of those chanced to fall, I thought those who had laboured in the Church were best entitled to them. " Your Lordship's observation is just: seldom any priest or Presbyterian minister who comes over to us does us any service, whereas, when any goes off from us, he is immedi- ately a top-man among them, wdiich, I think, shows our way of education to be much better than theirs. I send your P 2 212 THE REIGN OF [Ch. it. Form of abjura- LordsliiD the fomi of abiuration I use in my diocese, which was drawn up at a visitation, with the assistance of my clergy. If it be not too particular, I think it has no other fault. I discourse the converts on the several articles, and then make them sign it, and on the back give the direction your Lordship sees, to the minister of the parish to receive them. On their reading this abjuration in the church in time of divine service, for which some of the prayers in the common form are added by the minister, I give them a cer- tificate. After this he is to receive the holy sacrament, and take the oaths as the act prescribes. When he swears, he produces the certificate I subjoin, together with that of the minister and churchwardens." Methodof dealing The general method of dealing with the Papists about this time is set forth in a letter of Archbishop King to the Earl of Sunderland, soon after his appointment to the vice-royalty. The letter, indeed, was written after the accession of King George I., and is dated the 21st of January, 1715. But whilst it seeks for information as to the future intentions of the then government, it reports the character of the proceedings in the previous reign ; and, on account of that, its retrospective bearing, it is in- serted at this period: I think it necessary to acquaint your Excellency with somethins: relatino: to the Roman Catholicks of this king- dom, that seems to me to require a serious consideration. " By law they are allowed a priest in every parish, which are registered in pursuance of an act of parliament made about ten years ago. All bishops, regulars, kc, and all other priests then not registered, are banished, and none allowed to come into the kingdom under severe penalties. The design was, that there should be no succession, and Laxity in cxecut many of thosc tlicu registered are since dead; yet, for want ing the laws. ^ cxccutiou of the Liws, uiauy are come in from foreign parts; and there are in the country Popish bishops concealed, that ordain many. Little inquiry of late has been made into these matters. Sec. V.J QUEEN ANNE. 213 "But now it has pleased God to place his Majesty on Question pro- the throne 'twill be necessary to know ^yhat measures are S^.'"^^^^ intended to be taken with them, before any one will here think of calling for a vigorous execution of the laws. For, if the design be effectually to execute them, a strict inquiry must be made to find out what registered priests are dead ; whether any, and who, have come in their places; and all possible care taken to drive them out of the kingdom, as law requires. But if the same mild hand be designed to be continued over them that they are under at present, it seems to me best to make no noise about them : for inquiries or orders tending that way, when no consequence follows, only make them more secure and daring. " I thought it necessary to apprise your Excellency of this as of a matter, in my judgment, of great moment, and of which only those that are in confidence of his Majesty's in- tentions can be judges. There is an expectation in the kingdom that something should be done, and, if it do not begin from the fountain of power, or be not supported and prosecuted with resolution and steadiness from thence, in- stead of doing good I am afraid it will do a great deal of hurt, discourage the Protestants, and animate the Papists, as has frequently happened formerly on proclamations against them, which came to be considered no otherwise than as copies of the government's countenance, and mere feints to amuse people. " And therefore I am humbly of opinion that this ought to be well considered and adjusted, that it may be gone through with if once begun/' 214 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Section VI. Restoration of Churches. Supply of Funds. Legislative Enactments for changing Sites. Examples of new Parishes^ and of neic Churches on neic Sites. Conversion of Native Irish. Convocation of ] 709. Resolutions for Printing the Bible and Liturgy in Irish., and for em- ploying Irish Preachers and Catechists. Exertions in Trinity College. Divine Offices celebrated in Irish, and attended by the People. Memorial to the Lord Lieutenant, referred to the Archbishops and Bishops. Petition to the Queen. Missionaries in Armagh and Derry. Aid given by Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Mr. Richardson s efforts. Sentiments of Archbishop King. Proceedings of Convocation in 1711, and of Parliament. Methods agreed on by Lower House of Convocation. Abrupt termination of Mr. Richardson s Account. Other Business in Convocation. Failure of Mr. Richardson s Project^ and its probable Cause. Canons o/* 1711. No subsequent Convocation in Ireland, though one in contemplation. Confirmation of the Canons. Forms of Prayer^ agreed on in 1711, inserted in the Book of Common Prayer. Restoration of About this period there are indications of a gro^y- churches. .^^^ disposition in different parts of the country to restore the ruined churches, and to place them, as occasion seemed to require, in situations better suited to the wants of the inhabitants. Supply of funds- The fuuds for the purpose were supplied by parochial assessments, aided in some instances by the contributions of benevolent individuals; and it should seem not improbable, that such individuals may in the outset have advanced the money for building, for no publick fund hitherto was in exist- ence, from which such aid could have been derived. Legislative enactments were necessary to authorise Sec. VI.] QUEEN' AX.VE. 215 a change of situation iu the cases where such change ca^esinwnich was judged desirable. Of these, there were the ^auuforiii following kinds: — 1st, where the site of the ancient church was remote from the dwellings of the prin- cipal portion of the inhabitants; 2ndlv. where cause existed for the formation of a new parish ; ordly, where two or more parishes, previously united by statute, and possessing one parish church for the unioD, were deemed fit to be disunited, in such manner, that each separate parish should possess its own provisions for publick worship ; and, fourthly, where, from their smallness or poverty, or other urgent cause, it was thought expedient that two or more contiguous parishes should be formed into a single union, and thus provided with a parochial establishment most commodiously settled for the general benefit of the whole. With such views as these, in 1703, the second -^^-^ of r^u-iia- men:. 8 and 9 of year of Queen Anne, had been passed an act, of -'-^-e. which some account has been already given. And now, in her eio-hth and ninth years, 1709 and 1710 itw. two other acts, with similar views, were enacted; the former " for dissolving the union of the parishes of Tynan and Derryuoose, and for building several parish churches in more convenient places in the diocess of Armagh;" the latter with no diocesan restriction, but generally for uniting several parishes, and building seveml parish-churches in more convenient places." By the former of these it was enacted, that the Examples of new * parishes. two parishes recited in the title, which had, by the 14th and loth Charles II.. c. li>., been constituted one entire rectory and parish, should now be dis- united, the cure having become, by the late in- crease of Protestant inhabitants, too great to be 216 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. discharged by one minister, and the ))arochial church being not large enough for the parishioners of the united parishes, and also at too great a distance from the inhabitants of one member of the union;" for remedy of which, a second church and minister were to be provided. The same act ordained also the rebuilding, on new sites, of the churches of Killevy and Arboc; and the creation of a parish, and the erection of a parish church, in the territory or pre- cinct of Tartaraghan, tithes having been conveyed for the service of the cure of souls, and vested in the rector of the new parish, by Mr. Francis Obre of Clantlew, William, lord viscount Charlemont, and Arthur Brownlow, of Ijurgan, Esq. Newthuicheson The latter of the two acts, nameh^ that of 9 new sites. Anne, c. 12, enacted the building of twenty-two new churches on new sites, in twelve several dioceses: namely, five in Elphin ; four in Cloyne; tw o each in Kilmore, Dromore, and Meath ; one each in Leighlin, Ferns, Waterford, Killalla, Tuam, Clogher, and Clonfert. One of these, in the diocese of Cloyne, was accompanied by the advantage of the division of an union, which had consisted of four parishes, so that in future, instead of one, they should form two unions, consisting of only two parishes each. On the other hand, authority was given for forming two or more parishes into an union, in three of the cases in the diocese of Elphin, and in one case in each of the dioceses of Leighlin, Ferns, Cloyne, Killalla, Tuam, Meath, and Clonfert; ten unions in the whole. The act also recognised a n3w church, built near forty years before, about a quarter of a mile from the old parish-church of Castle-bellingham, in the diocese of Armagh, and then consecrated, and made use of for divine service Slc. Vl.'J QUEEN ANNE. 217 ever since, as the lawful parisb-cliurcli of the parish. And it also enacted, that the ancient sites of all the parish-churches should be kept inclosed and apart from profane uses, by sufficient fences, at the charge of the parishes; and that the materials of the ancient churches might be removed and made use of towards the building of the new-intended churches, and for no other use whatsoever. Whilst these proceedings were going on in par- ^^["^^'j^j^'J^''' liament, the convocation was not altogether inactive; but measures were taking there, in parliament also, and elsewhere, for the improvement of religion in the country by the conversion of the native Irish from Popery, in pursuance of Mr. Richardson's former enterprise'. On the assembling of convocation in 1709, the ^^«^^^o^a"on of Upper House sent a communication to the Lower to this effect, that " This House, considering with great compassion the Message from T . f, 1 1 • 1 • 1 1 • ■ Upper to Lower condition of the recusants of this kingdom, and conceiving House, great hopes, from the present juncture of affairs, that many of them may be prevailed upon to join themselves in com- munion with the Established Church, do think themselves obliged to thank God for putting such a favourable oppor- tunity into their hands, and to use more than ordinary endeavours at this time to improve it. " This being a matter of great concern to all Protes- tants, and particularly to the clergy of this kingdom, re- quires the united application of them all, and highly deserves the most serious thoughts of the convocation. " And, therefore, this House hath thought fit to call in the assistance of their brethren of the Lower House, for which they have more than ordinary occasion at this time, the bishops being at present so engaged by their constant attendance in parliament.'"' * Richardson's History, p.[30. 218 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. This was readily complied with by an order of P.esolutions for printing the - - S'lrlsh"^ "^""^^^ the Lower House, on the 1st of June; and, amongst other resolutions, it was ao-reed: For employing Irish " That the Holy Bible and Liturgy of the Church be printed in the Irish language, in the English character; that some person be appointed to prepare a short exposition of the Church Catechism, particularly fitted for the in- struction of the Popish recusants, and that the same be printed in Irish iind English; that fit persons be provided and^atUhiscTln^ cucouraged to preach, catechise, and perform Divine service in the Irish tongue, by the direction of the ordinary, and with the consent of the incumbent; that such clergy- men in each diocese, as are qualified by their skill in the Irish language for this work, and are willing to undertake it, have the preference, not only in their own parishes, but in any other parts of the diocese ; that priests converted from the Popish religion, and judged qualified by the ordinary, may be employed in the work, and encouraged by an addition to the allowance already settled on them by act of parliament ; that to supply the cures of clergymen em- ployed in this work, or to perform it where there are no beneficed clergymen nor converted priests qualified for it, one or more ministers be provided in each diocese, who shall be engaged in the service of no particular cure ; that the ministers of each parish be required to return the number of Popish families within their respective parishes to the bishop, in three years ; that to defray the charges of pursuing the foregoing measures, the parliament be applied to for necessary provision ; and that application be made to her Majesty for granting letters-patent to erect a corpora- tion, capable of receiving and disposing charitable con- tributions, for promoting the conversion of Papists in this kinordom." For seeldng aid from parliament and from the queen. Similar exertions in TrinityCoileje. In concurrence with these projected means, the College of Dublin was employed in the same cause. Tlic \'ice-provost, Dr. Hall, supported, at his own charge, a person qualified to teach Irish privately to such of the scholars as desired to learn that Ian- Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 219 guage. Under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin, and with the consent and approbation of the provost and fellows, a professor was employed in the college to teach it publickly. A small allow- ance was settled in the House for a few natives. And many of the students attended the instruction given in that language, and made in it considerable progress. In 1710, by declinino' the oath of abjuration, Divine offices >/ ^ *J performed for the most of the Popish priests had rendered themselves Jrish by ciergy- ^ men of tho liable to heavy penalties, if tlicy exercised their ciimch. function ; they forbore, therefore, for the most part, to perform any religious offices, so that their people attended no publick worship, and many of their children were unba^^tized. To supply this defect, some clergymen of the Church applied them- selves to the conversion of the Irish, and performed divine offices for them with good success. Many of fnte^of^the""^' the people readily attended, and expressed much p^"^^^" satisfaction at the prayers, delivered, as they were, in their own lanofuao-e, commending' the forms of worship of the Church, and declaring their prefer- ence of Irish over Latin prayers, and their disappro- bation of praying in an unknown tongue. By the reading, also, of the word of God, they were highly pleased and affected ; and two men, of thirty years of age, are said, by Mr. Richardson, to have been so much taken with it, that they bought primers, and learned to read, that so they might be able to search the Scriptures themselves. Encouraged by this sfood beo^innino*, one of the Fontofirish o J o O o' types purchased. fore-mentioned clergymen bought a font of Irish types in London, in order to print the Bible, the Liturgy, and other books necessary or useful for the purpose; and a proposal to that effect was 220 THE REIGN OF LCh. II. received witli the approbatiou, and offered to be assisted by the subscriptions, of several noble and worthy persons in Great Britain and Ireland. Suggestion of Mr. Annesley, Memorial to the lord lieutenant But a firmer foundation and a wider sphere was soon instituted for this enterprise, on the recom- mendation of the Honourable Francis Annesley; and in conformity with his opinion, that an undertaking of such publick benefit as the conversion of the Irish, should be executed at the publick charge, it was determined to seek, in the first instance, vice- regal support and intercession, in order to its being further patronised and cherished by royal counte- nance and encouragement. A memorial, comprehending the various j)articu- lars deemed requisite for the conversion of the Irish, was accordingly framed ; and having received the approbation of the Earl of Anglesey, and bearing the sentiments of several of the nobility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland, the Bishop of Kilmore, Edward Wetenhall, being the only person individually named, was presented to the Duke of Ormonde, the lord lieutenant. The document is so important an illustration of the actual state of Popery, as well as of the expectations entertained from the pro- jected measure, that it seems to require insertion in this narrative: From the Bishop of Kilmore and others. Importance of converting tlic Popish natives " To his Grace James, Duke of OrmoiKle, Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of Ireland, " The humble ^Memorial of several of the nobiUty of Ireland, the Lord Bishop of Kilmore, and several of the gentlemen and clergymen of that kingdom : " Whereas nothing tends more effectually to promote the common welfare of Ireland, than the conversion of the Po])i.sh natives to the Protestant i-eligion, whereby the Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 221 English interest would be better secured, trade and industry increased, and both the spiritual and temporal good of the Irish themselves advanced in that kingdom. A.nd whereas, in order to obtain these happy ends, several laws have been lately made in Ireland, to discourage and weaken Popery in that kingdom ; and one statute particularly hath been en- acted to prevent the succession of Popish clergy, by virtue whereof the number of Popish priests is already sensibly decreased in it ; and it is probable, that in some counties, the whole succession may be extinct within a few years. And whereas the natives, w^here trial hath been made, have expressed great satisfaction upon hearing divine service per- formed in their own tongue. And, lastly, whereas there are no printed books of religion (except a very few Bibles and Common Prayer Books) now extant in Irish, therefore. Proposals for that our pure and holy religion may be propagated among them them, by evangelical and religious means, and that so many souls may not be abandoned to utter ignorance, infidelity, and barbarity, on the one side, or left a prey to deceivers, on the other, it is humbly proposed as followeth : " 1st. That some numbers of New Testaments and pi inting books in Irish ; Common Prayer Books, Catechisms, and expositions thereon. Whole Duty of Man^ and select sermons upon the principal points of religion, be translated and printed in the Irish character and tongue ; in order to which, the only set of Irish characters, now in Britain, is bought already ; and that those books be distributed in the Irish families that can read, but especially be given to such ministers as shall endeavour to convert them, and to give them a true and practical sense of religion. 2nd. That the wdiole nation may in time be made Ry erecting scliools * both Protestant and English, that charity-schools be erected in every parish in Ireland, for the instruction of the Irish children, gratis, in the English tongue, and the catechism and religion of the Church of Ireland. 3rd. That in "order to the carrying on the foregoing By incorporating designs, in the preceding or any other methods that shall be thought requisite to promote the same, a charter be sued out from her Majesty, constituting an incorporated society of the well-disposed to so good a work, consisting of the 222 THE REIGN OF [Cir. II. Lord Primate of all Ireland as president, the archbishops and bishops, some of the nobihtj, clergy, and gentry of Ireland ; empowering them to take subscriptions, receive benefactions, make purchases, and hold courts and con- sultations for the more effectual promoting of the same. her j!4jestV'' "^^^^ ^"^^ ^^^^^ archbishops and bishops of Ireland, as your Grace thinks fit, be consulted about this proposal ; and if they approve of the same, that with their advice and concurrence, a petition be drawn up and presented to her Majesty for constituting such an incorporated society for converting the Irish Papists. " May it therefore please your Grace to countenance and encourage this undertaking, in such manner as in your great wisdom your Grace may think fit." Memorial re- The duke TGceived the memorial with kindness, fei red to the prelates. and pi'omised all reasonable encouragement. And being at the time in England, he dispatched it im- mediately to the lords justices with a letter in its favour, desiring that it might be submitted to the lord primate and the archbishops and bishops then in Dublin, for their opinion of the usefulness of the work and of the fit manner for proposing it to her Majesty. The prelates expressed themselves in approbation of the imdertaking, but intimated that it would require the advice and assistance of the parliament and convocation. In order, therefore, to prej^are it for their examination, the Duke of Or- monde procured her Majesty's licence for the convo- cation to consider, amongst other things, and agree upon the most i)roper and effectual methods for the conversion of the Irish. And it was thought ad- visable that the whole affai^ should be laid before the queen, in the hope of procuring her JNIajesty's countenance and authority, and thus more effectually promoting the design, and causing it to be generally adopted throughout the kingdom. Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 223 A petition was accordingly presented to the Petition pre- _ . .fi,-t J - f sented to the queen, but embracing, as it did, the same topicks as queen; the memorial to the lord lieutenant, and corre- sponding with it for the most part in substance, though with a diversity of expression, to recite it here might be superfluous ; and more is not requisite to be added, than that it was signed by seven temporal peers, by John Ilartstong, bishop of Ossory, and by forty-seven others of " her Majesty's most loyal and most dutiful subjects." The subject was recommended to the queen's And graciously ^ received. approval by the Archbishop of York and the Duke of Ormonde. She received it very graciously, and ordered the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to report upon it. At the same time to obviate objections it was thought expedient to defer any further progress in the affair, till the sense of the convocation should be known, and Avhether the parliament would sanc- tion and encourage it. In the interval, the lord primate and his clergy Missionaries in 1.. ^ ... .* Armagh and united in a subscription lor maintaining two mis- Derry. sionaries to preach in Irish to the Popish inhabit- ants of the diocese of Armagh ; and the Bishop of Deny and his clergy did the same for that diocese. JNIr. Richardson also, under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin, was diligent in soliciting the printing of Irish Bibles, as also of the Liturgy, an Ecvposition of the Churcli Catechism^ and other useful treatises in Irish. For this purpose he api^lied to the Aid given by the O • D -r> • /^i • • T- 1 1 Society for Pro- hociety for Promoting Christian Knowledge, of moting christian which he was a corresponding member : and which, in consequence, directed an edition to be printed of 8000 copies of his Short History of the Attempts to Convert the Popish Natives of Ireland, with a view of obviating objections, and preparing the publick mind 224 THE REIGN OF LCh. II. for the encouragement of the undertaking, part of which was the erection of charity schools for the gratui- tous education of Irish children in the English tongue. Subscriptions were accordingly opened for the pur- pose at the Society's house, in Bartlett's Buildings, and the consequence was an edition of 6000 copies of the Book of Common Prayer, the same number of the Church Catechism, with the Irish alphabet and elements of the Irish language, for the use of the charity schools, and 6000 copies of Lewis's Ea^position of the Church Catechism^ translated by Mr. Richardson, and dedicated by him to the excel- lent Mr. Nelson. All these were printed in the English and Irish languages, in parallel columns, and were distributed partly in Ireland and partly in the Highlands of Scotland. Exertions of Mr. In thcse eudeavours, durinor his visit to London, Richardson. ^ n ' Mr. Richardson was assisted by the services of Dr. Swift, out of respect for the archbishop% who, how- ever, looked forward with some mistrust to the approaching parliament and convocation. In a letter to Dr. Swift, of July 28, 1711, he says : ArdJbishJpKing. " ^® I believe, have some considerations of me- thods to convert the natives ; but I do not find that it is desired by all that they should be converted. There is a party among us that have little sense of religion, and Opinions divided heartily hate the Church : they would have the natives on the conversion i-i-> ^ i i i tup-i of tne Irish. made Frotestants, but such as themselves ; are deadly afraid they should come into the Church, because, say they, this would strengthen the Church too much. Others would have them come in, but can't approve of the methods pro- posed, which are to preach to them in their own language, and have the service in Irish, as our own canons require. So that, between them, I am afraid that little will be doue\" Swift's Worls^ x. 17^"). ^ p. 204, Sec. VI.l QUEEN ANNE. 225 In a letter of September 1, the archbishop writes thus : " As to our convocation, a letter came from her Majesty Pmoeedin sin to give us licence to act ; but it nowise pleased some people, JJ^^^*^'^'^^**^"' and so it was sent back to be modelled to their mind, but returned again without alteration. It came not to us till the day the parliament adjourned. I was at that time obliged to attend the council, there being a hearing of the Quakers against a bill for recovering tithes. In my ab- sence, they adjourned till the meeting of the parliament, without so much as voting thanks or appointing a com- mittee. The things that displeased some in the licence were, first, that my lord primate was not the sole presi- dent, so as to appoint w^hom he pleased to act in his absence. The second was the consideration of proper me- thods to convert the natives, against which some have set themselves with all their might. The third is what con- cerns pluralities and residence, which some have not patience to hear of. The Lower House seem to have the matter more at heart ; for they have appointed committees during the recess, and are doing something*." It appears, indeed, from Mr. Richardson's narra- And in pariia- tive, that as soon as the convocation met, the Lower House entered upon the question of the conversion of the Irish ; but although the end proposed was highly approved by every one, the opinions about the means w^ere very various and different. And this occasioned so much delay, that the time for making application to parliament for carrying on the work was almost exhausted. On the motion, how- ever, of a well-wisher to the design in the House of Commons, a committee was appointed to consider the subject; and the report being favourable, a series of corresponding resolutions were agreed to, and a bill agreeable to the resolutions was ordered to be prepared, but too late to allow of its being trans- ^ Swift's Works, x., p. 215. Q ment. 226 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Methods agreed on by Lower House of Convocation. Abrupt termina- tion of Mr. Richardson's accoimt. Letters from Archbishop King to jDr. Swift. mitted to England, so that no further step could be taken by the parliament in that session. The House of Commons, however, having given such demonstration of their readiness to countenance and promote the undertaking, the Lower House of Convocation, after a long and full consideration of the several methods proposed, agreed, on the 25th of October, to a set of resolutions, in addition to those of the former session, containing " methods for converting the Papists of Ireland to the Established Church." They also agreed to the " heads of a canon to be framed for regulating the assistants in the conversion of the Irish." And on the following day, the 26th of October, they agreed, moreover, to the " heads of a canon to be framed for regulating charity-schools." And, in obedience to an order of the House, the prolocutor immediately waited on the lords of the Upper House, and acquainted them with the proceedings of the Lower House, and laid the several resolutions before them, for their Graces' and Lordships' concurrence. Of the sequel of this business, Mr. Richardson's narrative gives no information; it terminates some- what abruptly, with the account of the resolutions of the Lower House being carried to the Upper, and adds no mention of the manner of their recep- tion. From this silence, it appears to be the obvious inference, that the resolutions were not adopted. And that inference is confirmed by two letters, at this season, from the Archbishop of Dublin to Dr. Swift, one dated October 27, 1711, the day after the resolutions of the Lower House of Convocation were laid before the archbishops and bishops, the other dated November 10, the day after the close of the session. The following extracts are introduced. Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 227 not only as authorities on this particular question, but as serving to illustrate some other proceedings of the convocation : " Reverend Sir, Dublin^ Oct. 27, 1711. Letter of oct. 27. " I have before me yours of the 1st instant, but have been so employed with attending parliament, convocation, and privy council, that I could neither compose my thoughts to write, nor find time. Besides, our business is all in a hurry ; and I may say, in fine, that things admit of no perfect account " As to the convocation, I told you formerly how we other business in - , , , . p , . . , . convocation. lost all the tmie 01 a recess, by a precipitate adjournment made by five bishops, when the Archbishop of Tuam, and as many of us as were of the privy council, were absent, attending at the board, upon a hearing of the Quakers against the bill for recovery of tithes. Since the meet- ing of the parliament, after the recess, w^e have attended pretty closely, have drawm up and agreed to six or seven canons, and have drawn up a representation of the state of religion, as to infidelity, heresy, impiety, and Popery. We have gone through likewise, and agreed to a part of this ; but I doubt we shall not be able to finish it. We have also before us the consideration of residence, and the means of converting Papists. This last sent up from the Lower House. But 1 reckon it not possible to finish these things this session. I need not tell you, that my Lord Primate's indisposition is a great cloof to despatch: Effects of Pri- ^ 1 n 1 1 1 • mate's indisposi- but he is resolved none else shall have the chair. So we tion. dispense with many things, that otherwise I believe we should not. We had only tv/o church bills at this time ; one for unions, which was thrown out in our house ; and another for recovery of tithes, which I understand will be throwm out by the Commons. Our session draws near an end, and everybody is tired of it. " Will. Dublin.^'' * Swift's Worhs^ x., p. 231. Q 2 228 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Protest against the proceedinga ill convocation. And again : Letter of Nov. 10. " Reverend Sir, Dublin^ Nov. 10, 1711. " Perhaps it will not be ungrateful to you to know our session of parliament ended on Friday last "As to our convocation, those who had loitered and done nothing before last week, pressed on the representa- tion of the state of religion, as to infidelity, heresy, impiety, and Popery ; it will in some time be printed. I had many reasons, but insisted only on two; first, to imputing all vices to us, as if we were the worst of people in the world ; not allowing any good among us. Secondly, not assigning it a cause of the natives continuing Papists, that no care was ever taken to preach to them in their own language, or translating the service into Irish. You will find the matter in Hey Lm''^ Reformation^ 2nd Eliz. 1560, page 128. I was forced to use art to procure this protest to be ad- mitted, without which they would not have allowed me to offer reasons, as I had cause to believe. " Both the parliament and convocation have been so ordered, as to make us appear the worst people in the world, disloyal to her Majesty, and enemies to the Church ; and I suspect, with a design to make us appear unworthy to have any countenance or preferment in our native country. When the representation is printed, I will, if you think it worth your while, send you my protest. We agreed likewise on some canons, of no great moment, and some forms of prayer, and forms of receiving Papists, and sectaries ; which, I think, are too strait. I brought in a paper about residence ; but there was no time to consider it, nor that which related to the means of converting Papists. I did not perceive any zeal that way. A great part of our representation relates to sectaries ; and many things, in the whole, seem to me not defensible. I told you before, how we lost six weeks during the adjournment of the parlia- ment ; and since it sat, we could only meet in the after- noon, and I was frequently in council ; so that I was neither present when it was brought into the house, when it passed for the most part, or was sent down in parcels, in foul rased papers, that I could not well read, if I had an Suppposed mo lives for such proceedings. Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 229 opportunity; and never heard it read through before it passed.®'^ Thus the measures, proposed by the Lower R-Jh'Sison^'^' House, were not adopted by the Upper House of f^J^ativeT^ih Convocation, partly for want of time, and partly, as should seem, for want of zealous affection to the undertaking. Mr. Richardson's subsequent " Proposal for Con- verting the Popish natives of Ireland," failed after the like manner and from the same cause. The truth appears to be, that the subject was neither put forward nor cordially espoused by the governing powers; and that Mr. Richardson, highly merito- rious as he was for his zeal and his exertions, was not qualified to carry the enterprise into effect. The proper solution of the problem is in all probability furnished by a letter of Archbishop King, addressed to Mr. Annesley on the 13th of November, 1712, and to be found in his MS. Correspondence : " As to that part of your letter, which relates to my Letter of Arch- opinion concerning Mr. Richardson'^s project about the Nov^^s^m'i. Irish tongue for converting the natives of Ireland, I con- JJ^g ^'dertLking. fess to you, if I could have helped it, it should not have been Mr. Richardson''s, or any private man's. But I de- sire you to distinguish between the matter itself, and as it is undertaken by him. A s to the matter itself, I have had many thoughts about it, which in my own justification I communicated at large to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York. I suppose you are well acquainted with his Grace ; and, if you will give yourself the trouble to discourse him on this subject, I persuade myself his Grace will give you full satisfaction. "As to Mr. Richardson's undertaking it, I may put insufficiency of you in mind, that when a thing is proper and fit to be for the under- done, and they, whose duty it is to do it, neglect or refuse to concern themselves, others that are zealous, and not so . « Swift, x., p. 236. 230 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. wary, will generally intermeddle with it. The case was so in the Reformation : and God sometimes blesses such endeavours. But there are always, when the case is thus, great irregularities and imperfections in the performance, and the work often miscarries ; and the evils become worse than they were, and more desperate. If the bishops of Ireland had heartily and unanimously come into this work, and the government had given it countenance, certain methods might in my opinion have been taken, that, with due encouragement from the parliament, would have had great effect towards the conversion of the natives, and making them good Protestants, and sincere in the English interest. But what success it may have in the hands of a private man, without such evident encouragement, nay, under the manifest disapprobation of most of those who are able to give it life, I believe it not difficult to guess.**' In the end, nothing was effected towards the accomplishment of Mr. Richardson's project for the conversion of the Popish natives of Ireland to the Protestant faith. Whatever might have been his own wishes and efforts, and however they may have been aided by other individuals, they did not receive the cordial support of those in authority. And it is a remarkable opinion, which was expressed by Arch- bishop King in an unpublished letter of the date of July 21, 1724, applicable to this, as well as to other cases : " It is plain to me by the methods that have been taken since the Reformation, and which are yet pursued by both the civil and ecclesiastical powers, that there never was nor is any design that all should be Protestants." With respect to the other measures of the con- vocation of 1711, the canons, which are mentioned as having been agreed to, relate chiefly to proceed- ings in the ecclesiastical courts, and have no special reference to the conduct of the clergy in the dis- Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 231 charge of their ministerial function. They are five in number, and are appended to the canons of 1634, in the larger editions of the Irish Book of Common Prayer. These are the last acts of the Irish con- vocation, which has, since that period, had no licence to meet and deliberate, although, from some corre- no subsequent spondence of Dr. Swift with the Archbishop of Dublin, Archdeacon Walls, and Dr. Synge, in October, 1713, wlien a project was in agitation for electing him prolocutor, it seems that a meeting of the convocation was expected^ That a meeting: of convocation was at that time convocation con- c5 templated in contemplated, appears also from a letter of the i7i3. archbishop, dated September 22, 1713, and addressed to Sir John Stanley, on occasion of the Duke of Shrewsbury's appointment to be lord lieutenant. " I believe," says the archbishop, " it may be of use to put his Grace in mind of our convocation, which it is expected will sit with the parliament ; and what is to be done about it. In the last convocation, in obedience to her Majesty's licence, we agreed on several canons, and on several forms of receiving penitents, and other matters, which were returned to his Grace the Duke of Ormonde, to lay before her Majesty for her confirmation ; but we have not yet had any account of them. Now, it may not perhaps appear very congruous that a new convocation should sit, and go upon business, before her Majesty either approve or disapprove what was done by the last. I believe, therefore, it would be very grateful, if her Majesty's pleasure might be known as to what is past, before the convocation fall on anything new. Not assembled. Mr. Southwell, I am of opinion, can give you the best light on this afiliir." But the expectation of a Swift's Works, x., 837, 340. 232 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. convocation seems not to have been encouraged ; since, in a letter of November 14, the same year as the above. Archbishop King writes to Mr. Southwell, " as to our convocation business, I despair of it, for the reasons you gave me." That, however, is especially remarkable which the archbishop says in his letter to Sir John Stan- ley, concerning the Queen's non-confirmation of the canons of 1711, and of the several forms of prayer, at the same time agreed on. As to the canons, they have been annexed in the Book of Common Prayer to those of the reign of King Charles I., with the title " Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical, treated upon by the Arch- bishops and Bishops, and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, and agreed u})on by the Queen's Majesty's licence in their Synod, begun and holden at Dublin, anno domini 1711, and in the tenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Anne, &c." And this, mutatis mutandis, is a copy of the title of those of 1634. And whereas there is annexed to this title, and prefixed to the canons of 1634, the royal assent and ratification of King Charles; those of 1711 are prefaced by Queen Anne's royal approbation, to which, however, no date is aflfixed in the ordinary modern editions of the Common Prayer Book. From the foregoing evidence, supplied by Archbishop King's Correspondence, this approbation must have been given at a date subsequent to the 22nd Sep- tember, 1713; were it not that conflicting evidence is supplied by a folio Prayer Book printed by Grier- son, in Dublin, 1721, in which is contained Queen Anne's formal approbation of them, dated in 1711. It is strange that the royal approbation, if given at Sec. VI.] QUEEN ANNE. 233 that time, should have been unknown, two years ^^^^^^l^^^ later, to the archbishop. then agreed c As to the forms of prayer agreed on by the con- vocation of 1711, they are three: one for "the visitation of prisoners" in general ; one for " pri- soners under sentence of death ;" and a third for " imprisoned debtors." These, which are inserted in the Irish Book of Common Prayer, after the occasional national forms, have a title corresponding with that which is prefixed to the canons ; but in the ordinary editions they have no declaration of royal approba- tion. It appears, however, from the same folio Common Prayer Book, Dublin, 1721, that this addi- tion was approved, not by the king, but by the lord lieutenant and council, in 1714, after the following manner : " Shrewsbury. " Ordered, that the form of prayer for the visitation of prisoners, treated upon by the archbishops and bishops, and the rest of the clergy of this kingdom, and agreed upon by her Majesty's licence in their Synod, holden at Dublin, in the year 1711, be printed and annexed to the Book of Common Prayer, pursuant to her Majesty''s directions. Given at the Council Chamber, in Dublin, the 13th day of April, 1714. " Tho. Armagh. Rich. Cox. Con. Phipps, Cane. KiLDARE. Mount Alexander. Abercorn. W. KiLDARE, Edw. Down & Connor. Cha. Fielding. HoBT. Doyne. Rob. Rochfort. P. Savage. Theoph. Butler. J. Stanley. W. Steuart.'' 234 THE REIGN OF [Cn. II. Section VII. Reviml of the Business of the First-Fruits. Negotiation of Dr. Swift with Mr. Harley. His Memorial. Petitio7is to the Queen. Account of the Crown-Rent. Success of the Memorial. Grant of the First-Fruits. Merit of it due to the Queen, Grant confirmed by King George I. Influence of Dr. Swift. His exclusion from an English Bishoprick. Impediments to his preferment. Made Dean of St. PatricFs. Dean Stearne made Bishop of Dromore, Dean Swiffs Conduct in the Deanery, Character of Bishop Stearne. Archbishop King's high esteem for him. Notice of Dr. Parnell. His promotion to the Archdeaconry of Clogher. Archbishop King''s early patronage of him. His Life^ by Goldsmith and Johnson. Commendation of Bishop Stearne.^ by Arch- bishop King and Dean Swift, Revival of ques- Jn 1708 the Question of sfivinff the first-fruits to the tion concerning 00 the first-fruits, clcrgj, which had slumbered since 1704, was revived, but still failed for a considerable time of being satis- factorily adjusted, through the passiveness, as should seem, and indisposition of the lord treasurer, the Earl of Godolphin, who was discontented with the result of the former similar grant to the English clergy, or through the indifference and want of energy of the Earl of Pembroke, the lord lieutenant of Ireland'. Lord Pembroke, indeed, being about to quit the chief government of Ireland, in November, 1708, care was taken to remind him of the business before he went out of office : but it was at the same time said to be needless, for his Excellency had it at heart, and the thing was reported to be done". Of this he sent immediate notice to Dr. Swift, who comnmnicated the intelligence to the Archbishop of ^ Swift's f^rorks, x., pp. 57, 58. Ibid, p. 70. Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 235 Dublin in January, 1709". The archbishop, like- wise, in his answer of February the 1 0th, says : " I had a letter from my Lord Pembroke, wherein he told me the first-fruits and twentieth parts were granted, and that my lord lieutenant," meaning his successor, the Earl of Wharton, will bring over the queen's letter for them. I returned him my thanks, and as soon as the order comes, he will have a publick acknowlegment*." But in a subsequent letter of March the 12th, Progress of the business. the archbishop says : " The business of the twentieth parts and first-fruits is still on the anvil. We are given to understand, that her Majesty designs, out of her royal bounty, to make a grant of them for charitable uses ; and that it is designed this grant should come over with his Excellency the lord lieutenant. The bishops in this town (Dublin) at present thought it reasonable to apprise his Excellency of the affair, and to address him for his favour in it, which accordingly is done by this post. We have sent with this address the repre- sentation made at first to her Majesty about it, the reference to the commissioners of the revenue here, and their report, together with the memorial to the Lord Pembroke. In that there is mention of the state of the diocese of Dublin, as a specimen of the condition of the clergy of L-eland, by which it will appear how much we stand in need of such a gift\" As to the grant, which Lord Pembroke had ofSpem"'' alleged to have been passed, " and afterwards took the compliment Dr. Swift made him upon it," it appeared, on the doctor's inquiry at the treasury, that there were never any orders for such a grant: and his Lordship's only explanation was, " that he had been promised he should carry over the grant when he returned to Ireland'." " It is wonderful,'* ^ Swift's Works, x., p. 74. * Ibid, p. 82. ^ Ibid, p. 87. « Ibid, p. 94. 236 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Two bishop8 appointed to negotiate the affair. Application of Dr. Swift to Mr. Harley. Their interview. adds Dr. Swift, in relating this explanation to Arch- bishop King, " that a great minister should make no difference between a grant and a promise of a grant." Such a failure, however, of their hopes having been ascertained in that quarter, the only resource ap- peared to be with the new lord lieutenant. But neither the address of the bishops, nor a personal solicitation from Dr. Swift on behalf of the clergy, produced any better effect, than a cool expression of a favourable disposition, followed by a hasty and abrupt breaking off of the discoursed And so the matter rested till the 81st of August, 1710, when the bishops in Dublin being of opinion that a convenient opportunity had arisen for re- newing the application in a more auspicious quarter, and the Bishops of Ossory and Killaloe being at the time in London, a request was conveyed to them by the Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, and the Bishops of Meath, Kildare, and Killala, " to take on them the solicitation of that affair, and to use such proper methods and applications as they in their prudence should judge most likely to be effectual." With them Dr. Swift was associated, in persuasion of his " diligence and good affection ;" and to him was committed the management of the busi- ness, if the two bishops should have left London before it was effected. This proving to be the fact. Dr. Swift deter- mined on applying to Mr. Harley, by whom all affairs in the treasury were said to be governed : and accordingly procured an interview, which led to his succeeding well-known familiarity with one whom he has described as " the nation's great support." This interview will be most satisfactorily reported Swift's Works, x., p. 05. Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 237 in the narrator's own language, as contained in a letter from London, October 10, 1710, addressed to Archbishop King : " As soon as I received the packets, I went to wait ll^^^^^^Z^'' upon Mr. Harley. I had prepared him before by another bishop King, oct. hand, where he was very intimate, and got myself repre- sented (which 1 might justly do) as one extremely ill-used by the last ministry, after some obligations, because I refused to go certain lengths they would have me. This happened to be, in some sort, Mr. Harley's own case. He had heard very often of me, and received me with the greatest marks of kindness and esteem, as I was whispered that he would; and the more, upon the ill-usage I had met with. I sat with him two hours among company, and two hours we were alone; where I gave him a history of the whole business, and the steps that had been made in it, which he heard as I could wish, and promised with great readiness ^J^^aSSt^e^. his best credit to effect it. I mentioned the difficulties we had met with from lords lieutenants and their secretaries, who would not suffer others to solicit, and neglected it themselves. He fell in with me entirely, and said, neither they nor himself should have the merit of it, but the queen, to whom he would show my memorial with the first opportunity, in order, if possible, to have it done in this interregnum. I said, ' it was a great encouragement to the bishops, that he was in the treasury, whom they knew to have been the chief adviser of the queen to grant the same favour in England; that the honour and merit of this would certainly be his, next the queen's ; but that it was nothing to him, who had done so much greater things, and that, for my part, I thought he was obliged to the clergy of Ireland for giving him an occasion of gratifying the pleasure he took in doing good to the Church." He received my com- pliment extremely well, and renewed his promises.'*'* Dr. Swift adds, that, besides the first-fruits, he Notice of the crown-rents. told Mr. Harley of the crown-rents, and show^ed the nature and value of them ; but said, his opinion was that the convocation had not mentioned them 238 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Memorial of Dr> Swift to Mr. Harley, Oct. 7, 1710. Want of glebes. Numerous impro- priations. in their petition to the Queen, delivered to Lord Wharton with the address, because they thought the times would not then bear it ; but that he looked upon himself to have a discretionary power to solicit it in so favourable a juncture. He had two memo- rials ready of his own drawing up, as short as possi- ble, showing the nature of the things, and how long it had been depending, &;c. One of these memorials had a paragraph at the end relating to the crown- rents ; the other had none : " In case he had waved the motion of the crown-rents," continues the nar- rator, " I would have given him the last; but I gave him the other, which he immediately read, and promised to second both, with his best offices, to the Queen. As I have placed that paragraph in my memorial, it can do no harm, and may possibly do good. However, I beg your Grace to say nothing of it; but, if it dies, let it die in silence; we must take up with what can be got^" A transcript of this memorial is requisite, not only for completing the account of this transaction, but as subservient to the general history of the Irish Church; and it is accordingly annexed at length : " A Memorial of Dr. Swift to Mr. Harley, about the First-Fruits, presented October 7, 1710. " In Ireland, hardly one parish in ten has any glebe, and the rest very small and scattered, except a very few, and these have seldom any houses. " There are, in proportion, more impropriations in Ireland than in England, which, added to the poverty of the country, make the livings of very small and uncertain value, so that five or six are often joined to make a revenue of 50^. per annum ; but these have seldom above one church in repair, the rest being destroyed by frequent wars, &c. « Swift's JForks, x., pp. 130, 131. Sec. VII.J QUEEN ANNE. 239 " The clergy, for want of glebes, are forced, in their ciergy forced to own or neighbouring parish, to take farms, to live at rack- rents. " The queen having some years since remitted the first- The queen so- fruits to the clergy of England, the Bishop of Cloyne, being grant the first- then in London, did petition her Majesty for the same favour in behalf of the clergy of Ireland, and received a gracious answer. But this affair, for want of soliciting, was not brought to an issue during the governments of the Duke of Ormonde and the Earl of Pembroke. " Upon the Earl of Wharton's succeeding. Dr. Swift Application to , , . . . . . the Earl of (who had solicited this matter in the preceding government) ^^^larto^. was desired by the bishops of Ireland to apply to his Excel- lency, who thought fit to receive the motion as wholly new, and that he could not consider it till he were fixed in the government, and till the same applications were made him as had been to his predecessors. Accordingly an address was delivered to his Lordship, with a petition to the queen. Petition to the and a memorial annexed from both houses of convocation; '^^^'^'^"* but a dispute happening in the Lower House, wherein his chaplain was concerned, and which was represented by the said chaplain as an affront designed to his Excellency, who was pleased to understand and report it so to the court, the convocation was suddenly prorogued, and all further thoughts about the first-fruits let fall as desperate. " The subject of the petition was to desire that the subject of it. twentieth parts might be remitted to the clergy, and the first-fruits made a fund for purchasing glebes and impropria- tions, and rebuildinor churches. " The twentieth parts are twelve pence in the pound, Account of the f» n t • ■ 1 A n 1 twentieth parts ; paid annually out oi all ecclesiastical benefices, as they were valued at the Reformation. They amount to about 500^. per annum ; but of little or no value to the queen, after the officers and other charges are paid, though much trouble and vexation to the clergy. " The first-fruits paid by incumbents upon their promo- And of the first- tion amounted to 450/. per annum ; so that her Majesty, in ^ remitting about 1000/. per annum to the clergy, will really lose not above 500/. " L^pon August 31, 1710, the two houses of convocation Powergivenby 240 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Burden of the crown-rfcnt. It of it. the bishops to Dr. being met to be further prorogued, the archbishops and bishops conceiving there was now a favourable jucture to resume their applications, did, in their private capacities, sign a power to the gaid Dr. Swift to solicit the remitting of the first-fruits and twentieth parts. But there is a greater burden than this, and almost as intolerable, upon several of the clergy in Ireland ; the easing of which the clergy only looked on as a thing to be wished, without making it part of their petition. " The queen is impropriator of several parishes, and the incumbent pays her half-yearly a rent, generally to the third part of the real value of the living, and sometimes half. Some of these parishes (yielding no income to the vicar), by the increase of graziers, are seized on by the crown, and cannot pay the reserved rent. The value of all these impropriations are about 2,000/. per annum to her Majesty. " If the queen would graciously please to bestow like- wise these impropriations to the Church, part to be remitted to the incumbent, where the rent is large and the living small, and the rest to be laid out in buying glebes and im- propriations and building churches, it would be a most pious and seasonable bounty. " The utmost value of the twentieth parts, first-fruits, and crown-rents, is 3,0001. per annum, of which about 500/. per annum is sunk among officers, so that her Majesty, by this great benefaction, would lose but 2,500/. per annum.'" Successful cr,nse- "With respGct to the consequences of this memo- quences of the , , memoriaL rial, in a letter from London, November 4, 1710, Dr. S\nft informed the Archbishop of Dublin, that " Mr. Harley had given him leave to acquaint the lord primate and his Grace, that the queen had granted the first-fruits and twentieth parts to the clergy of Ireland;" the motion about the crown- rents seems to have died in silence: that "the bishops were to be made a corporation for the dis- posal of the first-fruits, and that the twentieth parts were to be remitted:" that "he had all the reason Value of the grant sought. Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 241 in the world to be satisfied with Mr. Harley's con- duct in this whole affair:" that " in three days he spoke of it to the queen, and gave her Dr. Swift's memorial, and so continued until he got her grant:" that the queen was resolved to have the whole merit of this affair to herself:" that " Mr. Harley advised her to it; and, next to her Majesty, he was the only person to be thanked ^" In the end, the warrant was drawn, January, Grant of first- fruits. 1711, in order to a patent; and the patent was completed February the 7th, of the same year. It exonerated the clergy of Ireland from paying the twentieth parts, and it gave the first-fruits, payable out of ecclesiastical benefices, to Narcissus, arch- bishop of Armagh ; Sir Constantino Phipps, Lord Chancellor; William, archbishop of Dublin; Wil- liam, archbishop of Cashel ; John, archbishop of Tuam; the Bishops of Meath, Kildare, and several other bishops, and other persons, in trust, to be applied for ever towards purchasing glebes, and building houses, and buying impropriations for the clergy. In his speech to parliament, July, 1711, the J^P^^f^^J^^^^^ Duke of Ormonde, who had succeeded the Earl of Duke of Or- monde. Wharton in the chief government, mentioned the grants of the crown, but did not assume to himself any merit in procuring them ; nor so much as insi- nuated, by any intimation, that they were made on his motion. Nevertheless, both in the House of Lords and in the convocation an effort was made for ascribing the whole merit to his Grace, and, in fact, both their addresses bestowed on him a share of the commendation. In conclusion, all the arch- bishops and bishops agreed to return thanks to the ^ Swift's IFor^s, x., p. 139. R THE REIGN OF [Ch. 11. J^M^ul^'^ Lord Treasurer Harley by a letter, signed by all the prelates who were at that time in Dublin, under a conviction, that, next to her Majesty's native bounty and zeal for the Church, this favour was due to his lordship's mediation^". The acknowledgment was forthwith transmitted; and that, together with a special communication to the like effect from the Archbishop of Dublin, produced from Dr. Swift the follov/ing account, dated London, Aug. 15, 1711, of a visit made by him the day before to the lord treasurer : Merit of the " I read to him that part of your Grace's letter, which queen.^"^ *° expresses your Grace's respects to him, and he received them perfectly well. He told me ' he had lately received a letter from the bishops of Ireland, subscribed, as I remember, by seventeen, acknowledging his favour about the first-fruits.' I told his lorship that ' some people in Ireland doubted whether the queen had granted them before the Duke of Ormonde was declared lieutenant.' ' Yes,' he said, ' sure I remember it was immediately on my application.' I said, ' I heard the duke himself took no merit on that ac- count.' He answered, ' No, he was sure he did not ; he was the honestest gentleman alive : but,' said he, ' it is the queen that did it, and she alone shall have the merit '\"' Thus was finally and happily completed a mea- sure, disinterestedly designed and accomplished for the benefit of the Church ; and it deserves the grateful commemoration of posterity, for the earnest- ness and perseverance of the prelates who engaged in it, especially of Archbishop King ; for the dili- gent, discreet, and cordial exertions of their repre- sentative. Dr. Swift ; for the prompt and effective patronage of the Lord Treasurer Harley ; and for the voluntary and cheerful concurrence of the queen. Swift's TForJ^s, x. 201. Ibid., p. 205. Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 243 It was the opinion of the archbishop at the time, that this grant " for buying impropriations and pur- chasing glebes would be a great ease to the clergy, and a benefit to the church." But he observed, " We want glebes more than the impropriations ; and I am for buying them first, where wanting, for without them residence is impossible However, in both respects the bounty of the queen was highly to be prized on its own account, and was made the foundation of other important and beneficial mea- sures ; the letters patent of Queen Anne, which first made the grant, having been confirmed by the Act of the 2nd year of King George I., chap. 15, which Confirmed by allowed to all ecclesiastical persons four years for the payment of their first-fruits, to be paid by annual instalments, and by the Act of 10 George I., chap. 7, Trustees incor- the trustees having been incorporated, and the first- p'''*^^'^ fruits vested in them and their successors. The influence of Dr. Swift, which had been influence of Dr. Swift. thus honourably and beneficially exerted in pro- curing the first-fruits for the Church, was not long afterwards applied with remarkable effect to the designation of an individual to the episcopal bench, which made room for his own preferment to one of the first ecclesiastical dignities, the first, indeed, next to that of the episcopate, in Ireland. His political abilities had been in the mean time experienced and acknowledged by his friends in power: and although not forward in pressing his own merits, and disdaining to solicit a recompense, he was by no means insensible of the claims which he actually possessed upon their patronage. The object of his ambition appears to have been an English bishop- rick ; from which, however, he was excluded by the '2 Swift's Works, x., p. 203. R 2 244 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. HiB exclusion disapprobation of the queen herself, actinof under from an English ^ ^ ^ ^ ' O bishoprick. the suggestions of the Archbishop of York, the excellent and exemplary Dr. John Sharp, her ma- jesty's spiritual counsellor. It was his caution to the qneen, that " her Majesty should be sure that the man ^^as a Christian, whom she was proinsf to make a bishop."' The special ground of the suspicion entertained against him was the Tale of a Tub, which was represented as a ridicule upon religion, and as exhibiting its author in the character of an infidel, whose profligate levity was unbecoming a member of the sacred order of the priesthood ; and which was so eminently calculated to do injury to the author, that, whilst he was et unknown, Atterbury pronounced upon him this judgment in a letter to Bishop Trelawny, " He hath reason to conceal him- self, because of the profane strokes in that piece, which would do his reputation and interest in the world more harm than his wit would do him good."" Impediments to Tlius, whatcver Other impediments may have his preferment. Q]3g^ j.^^.^-^^] ecclcslastical prouiotiou, this propen- sity to profaneness, and the outward signs of a want of becoming respect for religion, must have been diflficult to be surmounted by those, who could form a proper estimate of the episcopal, not to say of the clerical, or indeed of the Christian, character. In truth, had the Tale of a Tub been never written, there were causes enough in many of the other writings, as well as in much of the conversation, of Swift, to show the incompatibility of his habitual thoughts and language with the qualities befitting one of the hicrhest stations in the Christian Church. And admitting, therefore, the force of all his reason- able claims to advancement, the wonder is less that one who was so devoted to " foolish talking and Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 245 jesting, which is not convenient," should have failed of being preferred by the queen, though recom- mended by her ministry, to the episcopal throne of Hereford, than that he was subsequently elevated to the decanal stall of St. Patrick's. Upon what principle, indeed, consistent with the ms elevation to J- ^ L ^ the deanery of St. reason before assigned for his non-appointment to Patrick's, the former preferment, he was nominated to the latter, it were difficult to say. But there are con- siderations which may have produced an acquiescence in the nomination with those who did not approve of it. The station of a dean may have been thought less open to animadversion, and less productive of evil consequences than that of a bishop, to his appointment to which station an objection still appears to have been entertained; for it was by the removal of another to that station, that Dr. Swift's preferment was effected. Preferment in Ireland may have been judged a further mitigation of the olfence against propriety, by removing him to a sequestered position; of this, he himself complained, that he was " condemned again to live in Ireland; and all that the court and ministry did for him, was to let him choose his situation in the country where he was banished^"." 1 he act also may have worn the appearance of being an act of patronage of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, rather than of the queen; an act, on her part, rather of consent, than of nomination or approval. Speaking of the arrange- ment, Dr. Swift himself says, " the queen has made Dr. Stearne bishop of Dromore, and I am to succeed him in his deanery"." There may have been no distinction here intended between the origin of the appointments; but the words have the appearance of Swift's TForls, x., p. 304. Ibid., p. 305. 246 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Dean Stearne made Bishop of Promore. Dr. Swift, his successor in the deanery. His conduct in the deanery. expressing a distinction, which probably really ex- isted. But, however this be, at the earnest interces- sion of Dr. Swift, the Duke of Ormonde was per- suaded to appoint Dean Stearne to the bishoprick of Dromore, vacated by the death of Bishop Pullen, in April, 1713; and after much hesitation on the part of the queen. Dr. Swift, in June, succeeded to the preferment vacated by his predecessors appoint- ment to the bishoprick, and so became Dean of St. Patrick's. The reader, who wishes for a detail of this trans- action, may find it in Swift's Journal to Stella, where he may find also very ample reason for reluctance in advancing the author to the consj^icuous and re- sponsible stations of the Church, or in the copious and elaborate life of him, with which Mr. Mason has enriched his History of St. Patrick's Cathedral. To give more than a summary notice of the appoint- ment, would exceed the scope of the present work; and in giving such a notice, I cannot but lament the occasion for expressing sentiments, which, if they had operated with full force on the government of the time, would have precluded his promotion to the deanery. It is much more pleasant to add, in the words of his biographer'", Mr. Mason, that, after his l^romotion, " he was diligent in discharge of his duty as dean; he restored the primitive practice of weekly communion at his cathedral, and distributed the sacramental elements in the most devout and im- pressive manner with his own hands; he attended church every morning and evening, and preached always in his turn, reading the service with a strong nervous voice, rather than in a graceful manner." tJhsracler of Bibhop Stcaruu. Of Bishop Stearne, now placed in the see of r, 410. Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 247 Dromore, and subsequently translated to that of Clogher, there will be occasion to speak hereafter. On this occasion, it may be fit to mention, as credit- able both to him and to Dr. Swift, that, in the February preceding these appointments, before he had any thought of procuring the deanery for himself. Swift had named the dean to the lord treasurer. Lord Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Ormonde, for a bishoprick, and, says he, " I did it heartily;" and that, on a later occasion, October the 28th, 1712, although he remarks that he was not on terms of friendship with Stearne, neverthe- less, he adds, " however, if I am asked who will make a good bishop,! shall name him before any- body." This also appears the fit occasion to mention the Archwsiiop King's high es very high esteem wherewith he was spoken of by teem for Mm. the Archbishop of Dublin, who thus expressed his sentiments to Mr. Southwell, in a letter of May 16, 1713, from Chester, on his road between Dublin and Bath : " The wind keeping me so long, gave me opportunity to consecrate the Bishop of Dromore before I came away, which I reckon one of the best works I have done this long while, though I find it whispered that my friendship did him hurt. I am glad he had better assistants; but I am sure there is none whose good wishes towards him are more sincere, and I shall ever be thankful to you for the part you had in his promotion, of which he likewise is thoroughly sensible." To the Bishop himself he wrote thus, from Bath, on the 24th of June: " They mistook you much, that placed you in that bishoprick ; whereas the busiest episcopal post in Ireland would be more suitable to you. It would be a comfort to me, if I were dying, to think that you would be my succes- 248 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. sor, because I am persuaded that you would prosecute right methods for the good of the Church, which J. am sure I intended.'" Parncih^^''* "^^^^ ^^^^^^ prebcnd of Dunlavin, vacated by the new dean's appointment, was an object of desire to Dr. Parnell, whose application for it to the Arch- bishop of Dublin was thus seconded by Dean Swift: " He thinks it will be some advantage to come into the chapter, where it may possibly be in my power to serve him in a way agreeable to him, although in no degree equal to his merits, by which he has dis- tinguished himself so much, that he is in great esteem with the ministry, and others of the most valuable persons in this town. He has been many years under your Grace's direction, and has a very good title to your favour'"." It may be incidentally noticed, as corroborative of this testimony, that in the proceedings of the Lower House of Convocation, in 1711, relative to the conversion of the Irish Papists, the Rev. Archdeacon Parnell was chairman of the committee, to whom the recommendation of proper methods for the conversion was intrusted, and reported their resolutions to the House. In another letter, the dean alludes to his requisition in favour of Dr. Parnell, " who, by his own merit, is in the esteem of the chief ministers here'';'' a character calculated to be gratifying to those who have derived amusement and improvement from the Night Piece on Death, the Fairy Tale, and The Hermit, and other poetical compositions of that amiable man. Kingi'eariy PamcU had been long under the patronage of patronageofhim. Archbishop Kiug. In early life, before he had Swift's Worls, x., p. 300. '7 Ibid., X., p. 313, Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 249 attained the canonical age of twenty-three years, he had, by dispensation from the Primate, been ordained a deacon, in 1700, by King, then bishop of Derry, who, about three years afterwards, admitted him to priest's orders. In 1 706, he had an offer from the Archbishop of the vicarage of Finglass, near Dublin, a benefice worth about 400/. a year ; he declined it, and accepted, in preference, the archdeaconry of Archde^o*iy of Clogher, with the parish of Clontibret annexed to it, ^logber. from the bishop. Dr. St. George Ashe; on which occasion, he was favoured with an excellent letter of advice on his professional and future conduct from his friend and patron. Archbishop King, in whose unpublished ]\1S. correspondence in Trinity College Library, the letter may be found, under the date of March 6, 1706. Dr. Goldsmith, and, after him. Dr. Johnson, say, that he was, in 1716, collated to the vicarao^e of Fino^lass. But his collation seems questionable, and the statement may be thought to arise from a confusion of this with the earlier date, when he had an offer of that benefice. The prebend, which at this time was the subject of Dr. Swift's letter, appears from the Archbishop's answer. May 25, to have been promised to another. Parnell's life was not prolonged to a late period : he died soon afterwards at Chester; and the few inci- dents, which are known of him, have had the singular honour of being commemorated by the pens of ms life by gow- Goldsmith and of Johnson. His countenance is son. perpetuated in a marble bust amongst the collection of intellectual worthies, whose resemblances appro- priately adorn the magnificent library of Trinity College, Dublin. But to recur to Dean Swift's letter: it appears Letter of Arch- 250 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. bishop King to to have been written in answer to one in the arch- Dean Swift, May 16,1713. bishop's MS. Correspondence, dated from Chester, May 16, 1713, on his road to Bath, for the benefit of his health: Commendation of " Reverend Sir, Bishop stearne. "This is to welcomo you to my neighbourhood at St. Sepulchre"'s. I have a very great loss in the removal of the Bishop of Dromore, who was not only a neighbour, but a bosom friend. I understand that was not much to his advantage, but I am sure it was to mine and the Church*'s. I hope that will not discourage you from reckoning yourself among my friends, which I earnestly desire. I had wrote sooner to you, but expected every day a wind to bring me here : it continued cross for many days, and gave me oppor- tunity to consecrate your predecessor before I came away. I go directly from hence to the Bath, my health requiring it, where I shall be glad to hear from you. I know not whether I shall be obliged to go to London before I return. I will not if I can avoid it, for, considering the great number of Irish bishops and clergy that are there, I am ashamed to add to them. I should be very much pleased to have an hour or two of your conversation before I returned, or you went to Ireland ; but I am afraid I cannot expect it, though, perhaps, it might be of use to us both. . . . " Your predecessor in St. Patrick's did a great deal to his church and house, but there is still work for you. He designed a spire for the steeple, which kind of ornament is much wanting in Dublin. He has left your ceconomy clear, and 200^. in bank for this purpose. The steeple is one hundred and twenty feet high : twenty-one feet in the clear wide where the spire is to stand : the design was to build it of brick one hundred and twenty feet high : the scaffolding we reckoned to be the principal cost, which yet is pretty cheap in Dublin. The brick and lime are good and cheap. But we have no workmen that understand anything of the matter. I believe you may be acquainted with several that are conversant with such kind of work, and, if you would discourse some of them, and push on the work as soon as Sec. VII.] QUEEN ANNE. 251 settled, it might be of use to you, and give the people there an advantageous notion of you : Dimidiiim facti qui bene coepit habet, " I add no more but my hearty prayers for you, and that you may enjoy with comfort and reputation the provision her Majesty has made for you, which shall be the study and endeavour of, &c., " W. D." In his letter to the archbishop, with reference to his Grace's remarks concerning his predecessor and himself, the dean replies: *' I am very sensible that the loss which your Grace has Answer of Dean suffered in the removal of Dr. Stearne, will never be made up by me, upon a great many accounts : however, I shall not yield to him in respect and veneration for your Grace'*s character and person ; and I return you my most grateful acknowledgments for the offer you make me of your favour and protection.'' Section VIII. Embarrassment of the Clergy about the Occasional Forms of Prayer, Correspondence between Archbishop King and the Government. Business not concluded in Queen Anne''s Beign, Besumed and settled in the Beign of King George I. Alloicance of supplemental Hymns. Death of Primate Marsh. Speculations concerning his Suc- cessor. Bishop Lindsay raised to the Primacy. Dean Swift instrumental to his elemtion. Death of Bishop Wetenhall. Dean SiciffsAdmce to the Ministry. Cau- tion in recommending for Preferment. Probable cause of Archbishop King'^s non-appointment to the Primacy, Cause of Dissatisfaction between Archbishop King and Dean Sicift. Funeral Sermon on Primate Marshy and commendation of him. Account of Primate Lindsay. Edward Synge^ bishop of Baphoe. Supply of other Epis- copal vacancies. Prospects of Dean Swift. Archbishop King'^s view of Ecclesiastical Affairs in this Beign. About this period, a difficulty, which caused em- Embarrassment of clergy in their barrassment to the Irish clergy in some of their ministrations. 252 THE REIGN OF [Ch. 11. ministrations, was brought under the notice of the government ; but though the representation was received with courtesy, it was treated with so little alacrity, that the remedy was not applied till the succeeding reign. The proceedings are recorded in Archbishop King's MS. Correspondence in Trinity College Library, whence so much as seems requisite to make the case clear to the reader shall be ex- tracted. Letter from Arch- Tho first uotlcc of thls difRculty occurs in a bishop King to »ir. southweu, letter of the Archbishop to Mr. Southwell, the 7th of February, 1713. Having had occasion to speak of " an order of service for her Majesty's birth-day," such as he supposed to be in Great Britain, he pro- ceeded thus: Occasional forms " And now I have occasion to speak of forms of prayer, of prayer. j ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^isit we have old forms for the 29th of May, the 2.3rd of October, and the 5th of November, and the 30th of January, which, by the alteration of circumstances, are become improper, and yet there has been no order in Ireland for altering them as you have in England, though the clergy of their own heads are forced to make some changes, and great complaints are made both by them and the people, that they want a rule to go by, and some Common Prayer Books are printed one way and some another. Now this is a matter that concerns the preroga- tive, and only her Majesty can give directions in it that will be binding. I therefore think that you will oblige the Church by procuring a letter to settle it. I am sure it will not be refused, and it may come in the method that we usually receive directions for publick fasts and thanks- givings, which is by a letter to the council and chief governours to give orders therein. It were not amiss if the time and method for our putting the chief governours in our prayers on changes were likewise settled." Subject revived j^jj.^ SouthwcH's atteutiou was revived on the on Duke ot pdntment'^' ^^^^^^^ Oil the Dukc of Shrcwsbury's appointment, Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 253 by a letter reminding him that forms of prayer had, by direction of the Duke of Ormonde, been sent over to England in the preceding May; and on the 22nd of September, 1713, the day on which the Duke of Shrewsbury arrived in Ireland, in order to take possession of the vice-royalty, in a letter ex- pressive of hearty congratulation on the appoint- ment, the Archbishop of Dublin thus directed the attention of the secretary. Sir John Stanley, to the difficulty experienced by the clergy: " I take leave to acquaint you that we are in great con- fusion here about the additional offices of our Church, such as the 5th of November, the 80th of January, &c. These, though new modelled and adapted to the present circum- stances in England, yet remain as they were, unaltered here, which causes great confusion in performing those offices, some using them one way, and others in another. The reforming and adapting them to the present circum- Previous at- stances, and making them conformable to the English, as far as the difference of the law would allow, w^as referred by his Grace the Duke of Ormonde and the government here to some bishops, who, accordingly, made their report con- taining the forms as reformed and amended : and they were sent to Mr. Southwell to be laid before her Majesty by his Grace the then lord lieutenant, in order to procure her order for their use about May last, but we never heard anything since. I have wrote to Mr. Southwell to put them into your hands, if that be practicable : and intreat you to take them into your care, and to recommend them to his Grace the present lord lieutenant, that, if possible, we may have them on the approaching occasions. " I assure you this will be an affair very grateful to the Desired measure clergy, who are much at a loss how to behave themselves at S^^ndpeopie. present ; and grateful to the people, who are stumbled by the impropriety of the services as they now stand, and with the diversity used by severals, vrithout any authority to adjust them. I am not sure that this method is proper ; but if it be not, you will do us the favour to put us in a better."''' 254 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Subject revived, On the 14th of November, the archbishop ap^ain Nov. 14. AO pressed this business on Mr. Southwell: " My lord lieutenant tells me," he observes, " that he spake twenty times about our prayers, and was as often promised to have them dispatched. You say they are in the council office; and pray, since you still attend there, put some lords in mind of them. If writing to the Archbishop of York might any way further them, I will do it." Business not con- The reigu of Quecu Anne, however, passed away eluded in the . i , . queen's reign. without auythuig eiiectual bemg done; but the business was resumed soon after the accession of King George, in a letter of NoA^ember 27, 1714, and in another of January 25, 1715, to jNIr. Delafay, pressing the subject on the attention of the new lord lieutenant; and, in the end, the affair was brought to a conclusion by the following letter to Mr. Addi- son, which contains a sketch of the previous pro- ceedings, in which the lord primate appears to have acted a somewhat remarkable part : Resumed in the " As to the business of the prayers, you may observe reign of George I. ^^^^ Occasional offices, for the Gunpowder Treason, the SOth of January, and the 29th of May, have been altered in England, and suited to the present circumstances of time and emergencies that have happened since. But there has been no alteration made in Ireland, but they stand as first added by King Charles II. to the Common Prayer. Our Prayer Books are generally printed in England, and some use the prayers as they find them in those books ; but others, conceiving they have no authority to do so, as indeed they have none, use the old, which causes great con- Narrative of the fusion in our churches. In the year 1713 I wrote to Mr. uegotiatwn. Southwell of tliis matter ; and the Duke of Ormonde ordered the justices here to get a memorial prepared to lay before the queen, and to send with them the prayers as they now stand, and a draft of them as conformed to the English, with allowance for the difference that was necessary to suit Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 255 them to Ireland. He likewise desired that the prayer for the 23rd of October, which is peculiar to this kingdom, and that for the chief governours, might be revised, several things in each of them, by the alteration of times, appearing and becoming improper : he likewise ordered a form of prayer, used in England for the queen's accession to the crown, might be appointed likewise in Ireland, which had not been done before. "Upon this the then lords lustices recommended the steps taken in ^ . . 1 1 ' 1 affair. consideration of the affair to the lord primate and bishops then in town ; and we met together and adjusted all the forms as we judged proper, and returned them, as required, to the lords justices; they returned them to the lord lieutenant, and he to the secretary's office, I suppose. There they lay for sixteen months, and I heard nothing of them, only that they were laid before the council in order to procure a command from the queen, in the usual form, for their use. When the Duke of Shrewsbury was named to be lord lieutenant, I wrote to Sir John Stanley about them, but he could not find them. Since I was one of the lords justices, I wrote to Mr. Southwell to find them, if possible, and to Mr. Delafay, to wait on him about them, which he did with such diligence 'that he found them out, but not the letter or memorial that went with them; but told me, if we would send them again, with a letter, to my lord lieu- tenant, he would solicit the affair, and procure the usual order for them. On this, the lords justices took the same steps taken before, and recommended them to the lord pri- mate and bishops ; what was done thereupon, I gave an account to Mr. Delafay, because he had first concerned himself about them. " These prayers are no part of the Common Prayer Book established by act of parliament, but w^ere added after, and stand merely by royal authority. We cannot, it is true, alter them without that ; but to signify to his Excel- lency what alterations we judge necessary to be made in them, in order to petition his Majesty to make them, can be no fault at all, but a duty; and yet this is the pretence made by the lord primate for not complying with the justices' order. I sent over to Mr. Delafay his report, 256 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. which every one that reads the prayers, as they now stand, by authority, will perceive not to be true. The Bishops of Kildare and Raphoe refused to sign it. He brought it to the meeting, signed by the Bishop of Meath, who was sick, and the Bishop of Clonfert, who was likewise ill, and con- fessed to me, that he did not read or compare the prayers. There was none present that signed it but the Bishop of Cork. We expect my lord lieutenant's directions about it, or the king^s letter, if necessary, as I think it is not. " This is the sum of what has passed; but the reforma- tion of the prayers is necessary, and I hope you will put your helping hand to effect it." Communication The foregolng communication was made by King to Mr. Ad- Archbishop King to Mr. Addison, on the 5th of AprU5,i7i5. April, 1715. Two or three brief notices complete the information which his correspondence furnishes on this subject. On the 4th of June, he wTote to Mr. Delafay, " I hope you will take care to send over the letter about our prayers, which is very necessary, and will be opposed by none, but such as are unwilling that we should thank God for the king's accession to the throne on the 1st of August, and for the Revolution on the 5th of November, as it is in England." And on the 21st of June, " We progress of the ^ad rccclved the letter about the forms of prayer^ bufiiness. ^^^^.^ ^^^Ij worded, and will return them as soon as possible, which cannot as yet. be, because few bishops are in town to consider them. As to the day of his majesty's accession to the throne, to be sure it will always be celebrated by his subjects, whilst it pleases God to continue him among them. Now the question is, whether it be not proper to express our thankfulness to God at that time in some religious duties, as our joy by bonfires, ringing of bells, illuminations, feastings, and revels. I do not look on the religious offices appointed on that Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 257 day, as an honour to the king, but as the king's honouring God for bringing him to the throne, and acknovvleddno: it to be the work of God : which methinks is very proper, and far from a profanation of God's worship, and seems a worship due from his majesty to God." And again, on the 6th of July, We could do nothing about our forms of prayer, because we have hardly any bishops in town; but as soon as they come we will go about them. We shall not go before you in any form, though I know no reason why the form, settled for Queen Anne's accession, may not, mutatis mutandis, be applied to his majesty." Matters were thus placed in due train for the ^/thro^bjecr^"' accomplishment of the object, which was ultimately effected by the king's order in council, Nov. 3, 1715. For the Dubhn folio Prayer Book of 1721, cited on a former occasion, after the consecration of bishops,'and just before the prayers for October 23, contains the following order, addressed_^ to the lord lieutenant : George R. order in council, Nov. 3, 1715. " Our will and pleasure is, that the six following forms of prayer, made for the 23rd of October, the 5th of November, the 30th of January, the 29th of May, and the day of our accession to the crown, together with the prayer for the chief governour or governours of Ireland, be forth- with printed and published, and for the future annexed to the Book of Common Prayer and Liturgy of the Church of Ireland, to be used yearly on the said days and occasions, in all cathedral and collegiate churches and chapels, in the chapel of Trinity College, near Dublin, and in all parish churches and chapels within our kingdom of Ireland. For which this shall be your warrant. S 258 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Given at the Court at St. J ames's, the 3rd day of November, 1715, in the second year of our reign. " By his Majesty's command, James Stanhope." Pr lyer for chief govcrnoiirs. Sketch of its history. Settled by order of council. This order, it will be observed, together with the five occasional forms of prayer therein enume- rated, sanctions also the prayer for the chief go- vernour or governours of Ireland, which was noticed in Archbishop King's Correspondence. Such a prayer had been introduced into the Irish liturgy at an early period of the Reformation, and subse- quently preserved, subject however to several varia- tions. In the course of this history it has been already noticed as occurring in King Edward the Sixth's Common Prayer Book of 1551 ; though I am informed that none such is contained in the Irish version, made by William Daniel, archbishop of Tuam, and printed at Dublin in 1608. The Act of Uniformity, 17 and 18 Charles II., implies the existence of such a prayer, by directing that " in all prayers, which do any way relate to the king, queen, or royal progeny, or the lord lieutenant, or other chief governours of Ireland, the names be changed, &c." Such a prayer is contained in the sealed book at the four courts, Dublin, but different from both the prayers now in use. In a quarto Prayer Book, printed in Dublin by Andrew Crook, 1700, the prayer for the lords justices is inserted in the morning and evening prayer, before the prayer for the clergy: this book contains only one of the present forms, namely, that in which a blank is left for the name of the lord lieutenant. Finally, the folio Prayer Book already mentioned, printed by Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 259 Grierson, Dublin, 1721, contains the two prayers for the lord lieutenant, as they are now used: not printed, however, in the course of the morning and evening prayer, but on a separate leaf just before the Thirty-nine Articles. It is reasonable to suppose, that the sanction given by the king's order in council to this, in common with the occasional prayers, arose out of Archbishop King's correspond- ence; and that the ultimate adjustment of the prayers for the chief governours was made in con- nexion with the order in 1713. The different circumstances, as unfolded in Anticipation of events in the the Archbishop's correspondence with respect to next reign, the Church services, and the regal and viceregal orders to which they gave occasion, have been in this place brought together, as giving at once a summary view of the whole, although the latter parts of it did not occur till the succeeding reign. The primacy in the mean time had undergone a change ; and the lord primate, mentioned in the correspondence, was Archbishop Lindsay, who suc- ceeded Primate Marsh towards the close of Queen Anne's reign. From what has been now related concerning supplement of . , , , . HjTnns to the a part of the Church s services m this reign, occasion ncw version of • Psalms. may be here taken for mentioning an mcident, trifling in itself, but connected with a subject of no trifling moment, as affecting the seemly and orderly celebration of divine worship. There have fallen under my notice " Four Hymns," printed in order " to be used in the Parish Church of Coleraine," in the diocese of Connor ; and they profess to be selected from a " Supplement " to the New Version of Psalms, such supplement having been " allowed S 2 260 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IL and peimitted by the queen to be used in all churches," as stated in an abridgement of the order. Selection printed Of tliesc four liynnis, the first is a metrical at Coleraine. version of " The thanksgiving apponited in the Church communion service, to be be sung or said," beginning, " To God be glory, peace on earth, to all mankind good will :" the second is the " Song of the angels at the nativity of our blessed Saviour," from Luke ii. 8 — 15, " While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night the third is from 1 Cor. i. 7, for Easter-day, " Since Christ our passover is slain and the fourth is lost from the imperfect copy now before me. From these citations it will appear that these supplemental hymns are in part at least the same as those, which have of late years been annexed to the New Version of the Psalms in our Common Prayer Books, but of which the origin and history, and the royal allowance and permission for the use of them in all churches, are, I presume, very little known. Minute in the gv the kinduoss of a friend, however, who has pri\'y council office. made the requisite search at the privy council oflice, I am enabled to verify the Coleraine state- ment of the royal allowance and permission, by subjoining a copy of the minute, in full, as ex- tracted from the records of the privy council by my informant : Order of council, At the Coui't at Haiiipton Court, July 30, 1703. July 30, 1703. ^ ■) J ■> " Dr. Brady and s u ^j^on reading this day at the board Hymns ^to the ^^^^ petition of Nicholas Brady and Nahum New Version of ' Tate, setting forth that his late Majesty Psalms allow- in council was pleased to order the royal > allowance for the petitioners'* New Version of the Psalms to be used in churches, chapels, and congre- gations ; that a supplement to the said New Version, Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 2G1 containing the usual hymns, creed, Lord's prayer, &c., Avith the church tunes, has been thought expedient for farther accommodating that part of divine service, and humbly praying her Majesty's allowance of the said supplement: her Majesty, taking the same into her royal consideration, is pleased to order in council, that the said supplement to the said New Version of Psalms be, and the said supple- ment is hereby allowed and permitted to be used in all churches, chapels, and congregations, as shall think fit to receive the same." Thus we have distinct evidence, that in the reio'n useof hymns not ' O admitted but of Queen Anne, the use of hymns, though they ^^th royai auow- T\ere no more than metrical versions of passages of holy Scripture or of the Church's formularies, was not admitted in the national congregations, other- wise than by the " royal allowance and permission." To adopt the language of the Church herself in her discourse " Of Ceremonies," it seems to have been agreed, that " the appointment of a common order and discipline pertaineth not to private men : there- fore no man ought to take in hand, nor presume to appoint or alter any common order in Christ's church, except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto." The observation applies to the national Church of each kingdom ; and, indeed, it was with immediate reference to the Church of England, that the order in council was made : but the incident of the supplemental hymns in question having been used, as appears from a contemporaneous document, in an Irish diocese, has induced me to notice the case in connection with the history of the Church of Ireland. On the 2nd of November, 1713, the primacy Death of Pnmate ' ^ L J Marsh, Nov 2, was vacated by the death of Archbishop Narcissus ^^la. Marsh, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He had 262 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. been for some time in a declining state of health ; so much so, indeed, that in December, 1710, the Duke of Ormonde told Dr. Swift, that " he was hardly able to sign a paper and Swift answered the intelligence with the remark, that " he wondered they would put him in the government, when every one knew he w^as a dying man this twelvemonth Speculation eon- past. I hope," lio adds, in reporting this conversa- cerning Arch- bishop King. tion to Archbishop King, " for the Church's good, that your Grace's friends will do their duty, in repre- senting you as the person the kingdom wishes to succeed him. I know not how your dispositions stand that way.'" In the three years, however, that intervened betw^een this illness of the primate and his death, political changes had occurred : and in consequence, whatever hope may have been enter- tained at the former period of Archbishop King's translation to the primacy, it w\is now frustrated, Bishop Lindsay and the choice fell on Thomas Lindsay, bishop of primacy. Raphoe, who was translated to Armagh, by privy seal, dated December 22, 1713, and by letters- patent the 4th of the January following. It has been remarked by Dean Swift's biographer, Mr. Mason, that " he w^as in a great measure vested with ministerial authority in matters which related to Ireland, nothing of consequence being done without his advice ^" If so, he must have changed his opinion of " the duty of the archbishop of Dublin's friends, for the Church's good," in regard to the succession to the primacy; or in that in- stance, at least, his ministerial authority must have been insufficient : for he w^as greatly instrumental Deau Swift in- f o the appointment of a different person. " Be strumcntal to his ^ ^ ^ elevation. plcascd," says the new primate to him, in a letter of ^ IVorkSy X., 154. ^ jSt. Patrick's, p. 274. Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 263 January 5, 1714, " to accept my thanks for the great services you have done me : and, as you have contributed much to my advancement, so I must desire you, upon occasion, to give your further assistance for the service of the Church'." On the 12th of November, ten days after the Death of bljiop Wetenhall. death of the primate, died Wetenhall, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. In reference to which event, Dean S^vift wrote to Bishop Stearne, from London, Dec. 19, 1713, as follows: " I have had an old scheme, as your Lordship may Letter from Dean remember, of dividing the bishopricks of Kilmore and Steame, Dec. Ardagh. I advised it many months ago, and repeated it hL^ advice to the lately ; and the queen and ministry, I suppose, are fallen ministry, into it, I did likewise lay very earnestly before proper persons the justice, and indeed necessity, of choosing to promote those of the kingdom ; which advice has been hearkened to, and I hope will be followed. I would like- wise say something in relation to a friend of your Lordship's; but I can only venture thus much, that it was not to be done, and you may easily guess the reasons. " I know not who are named amonof you for the prefer- caution in rc- , T 1 1 • • . . -ii n commending per- ments ; and, my Lord, this is a very nice point to talk of at sons for prefer- the distance I am. I know a person there better qualified, perhaps, than any that w^ill succeed. But, my Lord, our thoughts here are, that your kingdom Jeans too much one way ; and believe me, it cannot do so long, while the queen and administration here act upon so very different a foot. This is more than I care to say. I should be thought a very vile man, if I presumed to resommend to my own brother, if he were the least disinclined to the present measures of her Majesty and ministry here. Whoever is thought to do so, must shake off that character, or wait for other junctures. This, my Lord, I believe you will find to be true ; and I will for once venture a step further than, perhaps, discretion should let me : that I never saw ^ Swift's Works, x., 8G7i ment. 204 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. Probable cause of Archbishop SO great a firmness in the court, as there now is, to pursue those measures, upon which this ministry he^ran, whatever some people may pretend to think to the contrary : and were certain objections made against some persons we both know, removed, I believe I might have been instrumental to the service of some, whom I much esteem. Pick what you can out of all this, and believe me, Sec."'' From these observations a judgment may be Sment""^^" fomied of the cause of Archbishop King's non- appointment to the primacy : and the same cause seems to be implied in the following passage of a letter, addressed from London, Dec. 13, by the dean to the archbishop himself : " My Lord, we can judge no otherwise here than by the representations made us. I sincerely look upon your Grace to be master of as much wisdom and sagacity, as any per- son I have known : and from my particular respect to you and your abilities, shall never presume to censure your proceedings, untill I am fully apprised of the matter. Your Grace is looked upon here as altogether in the other party, which I do not allow when it is said to me. I conceive you follow the dictates of your reason and conscience ; and whoever does that, will, in publick management, often differ as well from one side as another The allusion in the foregoing extract can hardly be misapprehended. It appears, at the same time, somewhat remarkable, that neither in this, nor in any other letter of that period, does Dean Swift speak to the archbishop expressly either of Primate Marsh's death, or of the appointment of his succes- cause of dissatis- gor. Somo cause of dissatisfaction, indeed, had faction between Archbishop King ariscn between them. On the 24th of October, and Dean Swift. Lord Chancellor Phipps had thus written to the dean, from Dublin, with reference to the archbishop: " I cannot discharge the part of a friend, if I omit * Swift's JVorks, x., 359. * Ibid., p. 365. Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 265 to let you know, that your great neighbour at St. Pulcher's is verv angry ^vith you. He accuses you for going away without taking your leave of him, and intends, in a little time, to compel you to reside at your deanery. He lays some other things to your charge, which you shall know in a little time^" An estrangement seems to have ensued, marked by an interruption of epistolary intercourse, for near three years, when, on a special occasion, it was resumed by the dean, in a strain of expostulation with the archbishop for alleged unkindness, and of self-justi- fication and defence'. It mav, likewise, be thouo^ht remarkable, that ^chbi^hop •' O Lang 5 silence the MS. Correspondence of the archbishop contains about the pn- ^ ^ macy. no special mention of the primacy, with respect either to its avoidance or its reoccupancy; although, in two letters of December 15, 1713, to Mr. Annes- LetterstoMr. Annesley, Dec, ley and Mr. Southwell, he expressed his sentiments ^'i^. concerning the vacant preferments generally, not, indeed, in the former of the two letters, without particular allusion to his own conduct and situation; an allusion which may probably be understood as having reference to his pretensions on the primacy, at that time actually vacant : " As to the vacant preferments in the Church, I have His remarks on 1 • n 11 /-r. ttie vacant pre- notning to pray lor, but that (rod would direct her Aiajesty ferments, to persons that may be equal to such great trusts, and have the service of the Church, of her Majesty, and of the kingdom, at heart. " One thing I would heartily wish, and 'tis, that her Majesty would not be too forward to gratify the importunity of such as leave their cures and charges to solicit prefer- ments at court, that being, in my opinion, a practice mis- chievous to the Church and kingdom, and what will create her Majesty infinite and endless trouble. « Swift's Worh, x., p. 343. ^ Ibid., xi., p. 42. 266 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. " As to my own conduct, I have nothing to reproach myself, being conscious that I have acted with reason and conscience, and a particular view to her Majesty's service. As to the representations made by others, I am perfectly at ease, being apprised that it is no difficult matter to give an ill face to the best action, of which you have in particular had too much experience ; and I believe every one that dares be honest, will be sensible of the same. I have had the comfort, that in everything in which I have met with opposition, the event has always justified me.*" Funeral sennon In the mean time, on the interment of the late on Primate Marsh. primate, Archbishop King had preached a funeral sermon on Psalm cxii., v. 6, which was published the following year, in Dublin, but of which I have not been able to procure a sight. The purport of it seems to be conveyed by the following extract from a letter to the Rev. Dr. Charlett, of University College, Oxford, bearing date Dublin, April 19, 1714: " I was so much a stranger to the late primate's life, before he came here, that I durst not venture to say much about it in my sermon ; and found that the good things he had done here, of which all my auditors were witnesses, were sufficient to take up as much time as was allowed me. ^^™endationof I believe, if a full account could be given me of his life, many useful observations might be made on it, tending to his honour and to the publick good, such great examples being very rare, and very few in a disposition to imitate them. The more honour is done to his memory, it will be the more effectual to stir up others to the like virtuous per- formances, toward w4iich a certain supineness has possessed most men, and many are afraid of such examples, or fear, if they should grow in fashion, the like might be expected from them. I find, if men were pressed to these, many might be prevailed on to come into them. I have several examples in this diocese, since I came to it. A physician, one Dr. Stephens, died here lately, and left about 500/. per annum to endow an hospital. .... Another, Sir Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 2G7 Patrick Dun, left about 300/. per annum to endow a pro- lessor of physick I find, that there has been laid out in building and repairing churches, in manse houses, and purchasing impropriations in this diocese, within ten years, since I came to this see, about 14,000/., which is considerable in so poor a country. All which show that charity is not lost out of the world ; and if the clergy would fall into reasonable measures with the laity, they might in- fluence them very much to contribute to works of publick charity.'' To revert, however, to the vacant primacy, it ^.^trLhidlay" was filled by the promotion of Bishop Lindsay, the son of a Scotch^minister, and a native of Blandford, in Dorsetshire, in which to'svn, also, he had been educated, in the same class with Dr. William Wake, who was primate of England, at the same time that his school-fellow held the same post of ecclesiastical dignity in Ireland. From the benefice of Wool- wich, in Kent, he was, in 1698, transplanted to Ireland, in quality of chaplain to Henry Lord Capell, having been admitted doctor of divinity by diploma, in Oxford, of which university he was a member, having been elected a fellow of Wadham College in 1678. By means of his patron, who was at first one of the lords justices, and afterwards lord deputy, of Ireland, he was soon promoted to the deanery of St. Patrick's; thence, in 1695, to the bislioprick of Killaloe, and thence again, in ^lay, 1713, to that of Raj^hoe, from which, after the interval of a few months, ho was further advanced to the primacy; his political sentiments being such as made him accept- able to the English government, and his advance- ment being greatly promoted by the assistance of Dean Swift. On his ti-anslation to Armagh, the new primate Atumpbu. au 268 THE REIGN OF [Ch. II. the vacant see of Raphoe. Appointment of Dr. Synge. Supply of other episcopal vacan- cies. was desirous of procuring his late see of Raphoe for Bishop Lloyd, of Killalla, who, however, thought it " not worth liis while to carry his family so far north- ward for so little advantage as that bishoprick would bring him, his own being upwards of 1000/. a year, and Raphoe not much above 1100/\" The primate, thereupon, endeavoured to engage Dean Swift's services, in procuring the bishoprick for Dr. Andrew Hamilton, Archdeacon of Raphoe^ " a man of good learning and abilities, and one of great in- terest, and most likely to do good in that country." But from the disinclination or inefficiency of the dean, that recommendation failed of success; and Dr. Edward Synge, whose name has been already mentioned on occasion of his controversy with Bishop Brown, of Cork, was promoted and con- secrated to the bishoprick of Raphoe, in November, 1714. He had been previously Chancellor of St. Patrick's, and was afterwards usefully employed and honourably distinguished as Archbishop of Tuam. The scheme for the division of the bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh, alluded to aboye, was not carried into effect ; but they were bestowed, in November, 1715, on Dr. Timothy Godwin, arch- deacon of Oxford, who, about three months before, had been nominated by the Duke of Shrewsbury, the new lord lieutenant of Ireland, his Excellency's chaplain. Two translations, and one other episcopal ap- pointment, occurred about this time. On the death of Bishop Hickman, of Derry, the 22nd of Novem- ber, 1713, John Hartstong was, on the 3rd of ]March following, translated to that see from Ossory, and his see was filled, the 8th of April, by Sir Thomas ' Swift's JVorh, x., p. 366. » Ibid., x., p. 367. Sec. VIII.] QUEEN ANNE. 269 Vesey, baronet, bishop of Killaloe, son of the Arch- bishop of Tiiam ; his successor ^vas Dr. Nicholas Forster, senior fellow of Dublin College ; the date, however, of whose letters-patent was the 19tli of October, 1714, more than two months after the queen's death. In anticipation of some of these appointments, Prospects of Dean the Lord Chancellor Phipps wrote to Dean Swift from Dublin, Jan. 15, 1714: " AA'e are told by every body that the rest of our vacant bishopricks will be filled to our satisfaction; if they are, you must be one of them." And he adds a supposition that the dean may be "resolved that he will not episcopari here'"." Whether the event may have resulted from a resolution on the part of the dean not to accept an Irish bishoprick, or on that of the government not to grant him one, is matter for spe- culation. In fact, he was not so promoted. Of the manner in which these bishopricks were Archbishop Bang's view of actually filled, there will be occasion to speak at the ecclesiastical affairs in this commencement of the succeedino^ reio^n. i\Iean- reign, while, this account of the Irish ecclesiastical occur- rences in the reign of Queen Anne may be concluded with an observation of Archbishop King, communi- cated in a letter to the Bishop of Killalla, Nov. 20th 1714: ''I think I could demonstrate that the Church has lost Lettertothe more hearts and ground these last four years in Ireland, than Mia!'>ro>\^20, she did since King James came to the crown : and I have put it to some scores of the admirers of that ministry, to give one instance of one single step or act taken in all that time for the good of this kingdom in general, or the Church in particular, and I never could get an answer. I think I could show many to the detriment of both." And in a letter of April 15, 1715, he thus Swift's U'orks^ x., p. 369. 270 THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. [Ch. II. Letter to Dr. Charlett, Apiil 15, 1715. Archbishop King's Tran- script Books, in possession of Mr. Piitler Bryan. writes to the Rev. Dr. Charlett, of University College, Oxford : " I never observed the countenance of a government to add much to the security of the Church. I will maintain that under King William, when we did not reckon our- selves great favourites, we had advanced our congregations more every four years, than we did under the four years of the late management here, in which I fear we lost ground ; the diligence, piety, humility, and prudent management of the clergy, when they had nothing else to trust to, proving much stronger motives to gain the people than the favour of the government, which put the clergy on other methods, that made them odious to their people." The two foregoing extracts are taken, not from the Trinity College MSS., but from a volume of unpublished letters of Archbishop King, apparently a part of the same series as the others, in which they fill up an interval, and extending from July 81st, 1714, to June 24th, 1715. It is intituled Transcription Book, being, like the others, a tran- script of original letters, in the hand-writing of the archbishop or his amanuensis. It is the property of a descendant of the archbishop, Robert Butler Bryan, Esq., by whose kindness, at the instance of the Rev. Dr. Elrington, it has been intrusted to me for my present purpose ; and use will be made of it for enriching this narrative with several interesting particulars at the period, at which we are now arrived, of the accession of King George I., being the period at which the general Correspondence of Archbishop King in the MSS. of Trinity College Library is suspended. The contents of those MSS. relating to that period are limited to the archbishop's official communications in his capacity of one of the lords justices of Ireland, his appointment to which will soon fall under our notice. 271 CHAPTER III. CHURCH OF IRELAND IN THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE I. . . . 1714—1727. THOMAS LINDSAY, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE .... 1724, HUGH BOULTER .... 1724. Section I. Accessio7i of King George I. New Lords Justices. Arch- bishop King in the Commission. His anxiety about the supply of the meant Sees. Proclamation of the King. Persons recommended for Bishopricks. Vacant Sees specified. Mischievous practice of Canvassing for Bishopriclcs. Jealousy of the Clergy on the King''s accession. Their Sermoiis and i?ijtidicious Conduct. Archbishop King''s stirpf^ise on being appointed a Lord Justice. His discharge of his office. His anxiety for proper supply of vacant Bishopricks. Peculiarities of Lutheran Beligion. Difficidties of the Archbishops new situation. Condition of the vacant Bishopricks. Non- residence of Bishops. The death of Queen Anne, August the 1st, 1714, Accession of King ^ ' O ' ' George L, 1714. and the consequent accession of King George I., were productive of an immediate change in the administration of publick affairs, which in Ireland was exemplified in the two chief governours of the Church. Soon after his elevation to the primacy in the early part of this year, Archbishop Lindsay had been appointed one of the lords justices, to- gether with Sir Constantino Phipps, the lord chan- cellor, and Vesey, archbishop of Tuam. But on the king's accession a new commission was issued: in this the name of the lord primate, who was politi- 272 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. cally distiiiguislied as " an old and high tory was not included, but for him and for the lord chan- New lords cellor were substituted Dr. William King, arch- jubtices. bishop of Dublin, and Robert Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, associated with one of the former lords justices, Archbishop Vesey of Tuam. Had the change of the sovereign occurred a few months earlier, this substitution, connected with the well- known principles of the two individuals, suggests the probability that the Church of Ireland, on the death of Primate Marsh, would have seen a different prelate translated to her primacy. Archbishop King Thls appolutmcnt of Archbishop King to the in the commis- 6ion. office of lord justice, appears from several letters in the MS. Transcription Book, mentioned at the end of the last chapter, to have been altogether unex- pected by him. To this, there will be occasion to advert more particularly as we proceed; in the meantime, the circumstances of the Church require immediate attention. His anxiety about Scvcral bishoprlcks had been vacated, as already the supply of the ^ ^ 'J vacant sees. notlcod, bcforc the death of Queen Anne, but had not hitherto been disposed of. The anxiety which the Archbishop of Dublin felt for their being pro- perly bestowed, is shown by some letters which he wrote within a few days of intelligence being re- ceived of the change of dynasty, and from which the following extracts are likely to be read with in- terest. His letter to Dr. From Mouut Meriou, his temporary country Godwin, August • t-\. t -i 14,1714. residence, near Dublin, by the kindness of Lord Fitzwilliam, its proprietor, on the 14th of August, he wrote thus to Dr. Tho. Godwin, chaplain to the ^ Swift's Works^ x., p. 133, n. Sec. L] KING GEORGE I. 273 Duke of Shrewsbury, and who w^as soon afterwards placed in one of the vacant bishopricks: " Reverend Sir, *' I had the favour of }'OUrS of the 5tll inst., for Proclamation of which I thank you. You'll hear from all hands that we are in perfect tranquillity here, God be thanked, and his Majesty Kinf,' George proclaimed with all solemnity every- where. " I confess I retired here for shelter, being unmercifully bated at the council, and some were angry with me that I would not attend there to be abused. But that I hope is over for the present, and I heartily forgive them. " I had the honour of a letter from his Grace the Duke of Shrewsbury, which I will acknowledge in as few words as I can : and, considering his Grace's business, I believe the shorter my letter is "'twill be the more acceptable. His Grace, by his treatment in Ireland, compared with what he has met with in Great Britain, will have reason to believe some of us have a very bad taste, and are ill judges of men; and all honest and wise men will concur with him in that opinion. '''Tis a providence that the Church preferments are yet Persona recom- '■ _ ... mended for the to be filled. I hope his Grace will exert himself in that bishopdck-. matter. I doubt not he will think of you as a fellow- sufferer, besides your merit. I think when your own affair is over you would do w^ell to remember a friend, I mean Dr. Synge. I take him to be the fittest man for a bishop of any in Ireland, that is not already one. If any removes be thought on, I think the Bishop of Dromore, who was made a bishop for no merit of his own, but to make room for Dr. Swift, might yet deserve for his merit a removal. "If his Grace do us the honour to accept again of the government of Ireland, he may expect soon one or two more vacancies, and it would do well to think of men fit for them.'*' The following letter, addressed a few days after to the Archbishop of Canterbury, enlarges on the subject of the vacant bishopricks, and exposes, in a T 274 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. manner far from creditable to the competitors, the measures employed for procuring ecclesiastical pre- ferments : Letter from Archbishop King to Archbishop of Canterbury, August 1714. Specification of the vacant bees. Practice of can- vassing for bishop- ricks ; Its misc'iievous effects ; Endeavours to counteract it. ''Dublin, August 19M, 1714. May it please your Grace, " I could not prevail with myself to omit congratu- lating your Grace on the happy turn it has pleased God to give publick affairs at this time of the demise of our late gracious queen : and it was a particular satisfaction to me to find that God had enabled your Grace to bear your part in it. I hope he will farther preserve and strengthen you to set the crown on his Majesty's head, which I believe w^ould be a sensible accession of happiness to your Grace, and matter of joy to all your friends. " My Lord, I am persuaded that much of the manage- ment of Church affairs, as is meet and proper, will be in your Grace's hands ; and let me take the liberty to beseech your care of this Church. We have at present four bishop- ricks void, namely, Raphoe, Killaloe, Kilmore, and Ardagh: the two latter used to be united, though each singly is of good value. " We have many candidates for these : and 'tis become a custom with us, that w^hoever pretends to any preferment, he immediately posts away to London. AVe have crowds there, and I find more are going, and some have waited two years, hunting for a promotion. The vacancies have been continued longer than usual, and I hope that may be looked on as a work of Providence, and may turn to the good of the Church. " Your Grace is well apprized what a discouragement it is to men that reside and attend their cures, and by that support religion, to see others preferred before them, merely for attending at court and neglecting their churches: the mischiefs that attend this practice are so many and great, that I will not pretend to enumerate them in a letter. " I laid some of them before his Grace the Duke of Shrewsbury when here, and he seemed thoroughly sensible of them. So if you discourse his Grace upon it, I am con- fident he will heartily join your Grace to disappoint these Sf.c. I.] KING GEOKGE I. 275 ambitious pretenders; aiul, in truth, they injure the chief governour as well as the Church. For by their assiduity in soliciting, by flatteries, calumnies, and other unlawful means, they prove very often too hard for his interest, and lessen by that means both his authority and credit. I therefore intreat your Grace to lay this matter to heart ; for by disappointing the present crowd of suitors, (let them be of what party they will, since they are of both sorts,) your Grace will put a stop to that mischievous practice, and do a signal service to the Church of God. " I believe nothing will be done before his Majesty come, which I pray may be soon and in safety ; and before then, if I see occasion, I will take the liberty your Grace has always allowed me, to give you my farther thoughts on this subject. " I recommend your Grace's health and happiness to God's care." Meanwhile a jealousv was conceived bv some of Jealousy of some • • of the Irish the clei-fvy, on account of the new kinir's relio-ious dergy on account O o of the kings persuasion, and it was the occasion of conduct, of religion, which the Archbishop of Dublin gives the following- account, in a letter of the same date as that before cited, addressed to the Bishop of Clogher : " There was an odd sernion preached by Mr. Kearns after the queen's death, which gave great offence. I called the clergy together, and gave them the best advice T could, but I am concerned to remember what a spirit appeared in some of them, and I understand several preached last sennonsonthe . . . . subject. Sunday against consubstantiation : this was construed to have no good asj)ect towards the king, whom they supjx)se to be a Lutheran. I am unwilling to look too far into matters, or too nicely, hoping these heats and ill humours will digest and vanish in a little time ; but in the mean while they give good men some uneasiness.'' To the Bishop of Dromore, a few days later, Le"«rtothe * ' Bishop of Drt>- .Vugust the :26th, the archbishop wrote to the same T'*' ^"-'^ t'iVect, but somewhat more at large : T 2 276 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IEI. Remarks on the " I wish the tui'ii affkii's liave taken may put an end to ^"^"ttf ih^cie^g^^^ parties ; but I see plainly, if some men can prevent it, we shall have no peace : industry will be used to that pur- port. I called the clergy together, and gave them my advice in as mild and friendly a way as I could, and parti- cularly took notice of a sermon preached by Mr. Kearns, in which there was a paragraph, one would think, contrived to provoke his people, and to intimate jealousies of the king's government. I did what I could to convince him of his having done ill ; but it grieved me to perceive what a strange spirit there appeared in him and some others of his brethren. The effect was, that some preached against Lutheranism next Sunday, and endeavoured to make it as bad, if not worse, than Popery: your Lordship sees where- unto this tends. The clergy seem to think that their joining in proclaiming the king will justify themselves and all their party for all that is past, and prove all suspicions of them were false calumnies ; but I am afraid they will be mistaken in their account. I pray God turn all to the best. There are, on the other hand, those that villainously reflect on her Majesty's memory, which no good man can hear with jDatience. Sure there never sate on the throne a prince that designed more heartily the good of her people ; if there were mistakes under the late ministry, 'twas their fault, not her Majesty's; and it is visible that she intended to change them. AIchl,i^h.lp " As to preferments, I know not on what foot I stand, polmon"^^'^*^*" nor what credit I may have; but I shall not be backward to use it, though I can't make such attempts as some would have me. I have, at least, solicitations from ten to intercede for them. If I should comply with them, I am satisfied I should have no credit at all; he has good interest with a government, that succeeds with one good man. I hope I may have that." The archbishop, I presume, alludes to his corre- spondent, the Bishop of Dromore, in favour of whose removal he had expressed his sentiments, as we have seen, in his letter to Dr. Godwin or Goodwin ; or, as he is apt to write the name, Goodwyn. Sic. 1.1 KING GEORGE I. 277 Archbishop King had retired into the country 111 Ill's surprise on being appointed the summer, where one oi his occupations was the one of the lords revising of his book of 77ie Inventions of Men in the Worship of God, in which he liad gone a good way," as he mentioned in a later letter to a friend, and was residing at Mount Merion, where he was, on the 8th of September, " strangely surprised with an express and packet" from the Duke of Shrews- bury, acquainting him with his appointment to the office of lord justice, in conjunction with the Arch- bishop of Tuam and the Earl of Kildare. " I Letter to sir joim ^ Stanley. received yours of the 4th instant," he writes on the occasion to Sir John Stanley, " with the commis- sion, &c., on the 8th, and a great surprise it was to me, and I think to everybody else. I immediately went to my neighbour, the Earl of Kildare, at Stillorgan, and we had no long deliberation on the matter; but so ordered it, that we were sworn yesterday about six of the clock ; and since it has been very uneasy to me with the ceremonies; I think as much as a marriage. We have sent a state account, jointly, of what passed, to Mr. Bromley, and likewise to his Grace our lord lieutenant. . . The Archbishop of Tuam sent officiously for the Officiousness of letter to sign it, for which I am sorry. His Grace veSy.'"''"^ the Duke of Shrewsbury's humanity to him, in con- tinuing him, in the present circumstances, one of the justices, is wonderfully applauded even by those who do not love the archbishop ; and it has another good effect, that it shows his Grace has regard ( nly to his Majesty's service, without respect to pnrty." Archbishop King was uniformly conspicuous for Archbishop bis zealous attachment to the House of Hanover, menVto the house and to the succession of the croAvn in that Protestant of Hanover. 278 THE REIGN OF [Ch. hi. family, as necessary, under divine Providence, to the security and welfare of the constitution in church and state : and Mr. Harris confidently attributes it " in a great measure to his seasonable counsel, and the weighty authority, which his known wisdom, long experience, and confessed probity had procured him, that the city of Dublin was preserved steady and united in an unshaken affection to the succes- sion of the royal family of Hanover'"." Information of the archbishop's untainted loyalty and extraordi- nary merit, being communicated to the king, caused him to be invested with the highest trust in the His able dis- kino'doui : which he discharged with such ability and charge of his ^ ^ office. integrity, and at the same time with so much pru- dence, moderation, and kindness, as to occasion the reinstatement or continuance in employment of many civil and military officers, who had been, or were in danger of being, removed on a suspicion of disloyalty. ^' This," observes his contemporary bio- grapher, " is attested by many now living, who gratefully own the truth of this fact." " And it is notorious," he continues, " that by his and the other lords justices' prudent directions and steady conduct dnring their presiding in the publick ad- ministration, the whole nation was in an even and calm temper, not the least tending to riots or in- surrections, and at a season, when our standing' army was transported to suppress the rebellion in Great Britain." This, however, is to anticipate the archbishop's conduct in the office, with his appointment to which we are at present more immediately concerned. The surprise with which he received intelligence of Wakk's J3iHJioj>s, ]>. .3G8. Sec. I.] KING GEORGE I. 279 the appointment, has been already mentioned in a MS. letter of his own, contemporaneous with the event. Several others of his letters to different correspondents advert more or less to the same topicks, written as they were on or about the same day. I select the foUowino-, addressed to the Bishop \^^^^^}ojhe bi- o' i shoi^ of Dromore, of Dromore, to Avhose inquiries concerning the reli- ^^p*- gious tenets of the new sovereign the answers may appear curious : *' My Lord, Mountmerion, Sep. 10, 1714. Reason of change mi 1 T 1 -n • 1 of lords justices. " The pubhck news will give you an account of the alterations here : they are somewhat surprising, but to none more than to me. I dreamed, I assure your Lordship, of no such matter, when an express and packet came to me on AVednesday afternoon with a patent and directions. The reason of the change is nothing but the obstinacy of the late justices in not complying with the regency^s orders relating to the city of Dublin, which was highly resented ; and I am afraid the privy council is so deeply engaged with them, that, if they continue as hitherto, it may have ill effects." It appears from another letter, that " the Arch- fause of Arch- ' bishop Vesey's bishop of Tiiam was continued, because, being sick, continuance, he had not acted." Archbishop King's letter ju'oceeds : ^' I am now in a better capacity to write to the Duke of '^^^ archbishop's I ^ anxiety about the Shrewsbury about church preferments, and reckon it a vacant prefei- providence that I did not teaze his Grace about them before. I have now a call, and will beg God's assistance to enable inc to use it to the best advantage, and hope for the concurrence of your Lordship's prayers. I do not de- spair of having you nearer us, and in truth I need your help. I have none of my clergy that I can depend on but Dr. Synge, and believe I shall not have him long. You know I am pretty resolute, when I have the approbation of my friends, but never love to stand alone, or depend altogether on my own judgment. 280 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Character of the Lutheran reli- gion. Lutheran notirns of consubstantia- tion And crdination. The archbishop's Fense of the diffi- culties of his new situation. As to what you ask concerning the Lutheran religion, you have their doctrine in the Augustan Confession, and they adhere close to it. The dispute between them and the Calvinists is chiefl}^ about free will and predestination. The ubiquitary opinion is held amongst them, but is no settled or general doctrine. They have a liturgy, and a very good one: the Te Deum, Psalms, &c., are much as with us, but a little nearer the form of the mass, and in many places they call it so. " I reckon that they will make no scruple of conforming to our church. As to their consubstantiation, "'tis hard to understand what they mean by it. They seem not to mean a local presence, but only a spiritual, by the virtue of the reunion of the human with the divine person ; for, say they, the divine person of our Saviour is everywhere, and he is nowhere without his humanity; which is true: but then, "'tis to be considered, that the divine nature has no relation to place, not being an extended substance. But, as thought is everywhere, and whatever I think of is really in my mind, without any local motion either of the mind or the object, so by analogies I reckon the humanity of our Saviour is everywhere with his divinity, without relation to place. The Lutherans seem to be a little weary of this doctrine themselves, and speak sparing of it. " But the chief thing that I apprehend is the matter of ordination, which is very loose among them, and their notions of it accordingly. I am satisfied their clergy, in their hearts, believe our doctrine about it better than their own, and would be glad to come into it, if the laity would permit them. " I add no more than my prayers for you, and that I am, &c. " W. D." In a letter a few days later to the same corre- spondent, the archbishop expressed his sense of the difficulties of his new situation, and his earnest de- sire to discharge his duty in it efficiently : " I have yours of the 11th, and give your Lordship most hearty thanks for your good advice, and shall always reckon Sec. I.] KING GEORGE I. 281 it a piece of friendship indispensably necessary, and which I particularly expect from your Lordship. I must own I am not fond of my new employment, and that for many reasons : 1st. I am afraid it may obstruct my proper business as a bishop, which I could never answer. 2ndly. It puts more on me than, I am afraid, my age and infirmities will admit me to dispatch with that care that I think necessary. Srdly. I dread anything being put on me, that my judgment will not allow me to do ; which if it should happen, I should be dismissed, perhaps, with more indignity than ever I came in with applause. You know that I never would go into the violent measures of parties, and by God's help never will ; and yet, who knows but that may be expected ? 4tlily. Considering how our commission is limited, we can't do the good that we would, or prevent the evil, yet must bear the blame if anj'thing be amiss : the only thing that gives me comfort is, that this matter is not likely to continue long " As to the church preferments, I will do mv endeavour His zeai in pro- . 1 1 1 T IT* \ading lit men for to nave men m tliem that will answer the ends and duties the vacant pre- of their offices. How I shall succeed, God knows. I pray f"™*^^*^ to God more particularly in this affair, on which so much depends, to direct and assist me, and I earnestly desire the assistance of yours and all good men's prayers. 'Tis a thing has often grieved me to find, on reviewing the list of the deans, that we had not one, that we could set up for a prolocutor " I think myself very happy in my colleague, the Earl character of the of Kildare, who has good sense and great honesty : he doth not scruple to speak his mind, and is immoveable in what he judges to be right. " I long to have you nearer us ; in the meantime I recommend you to God's care, and entreat the continuation of your prayers for, kc.^ " ^y. D." It was his sense of the "\\'ant of a man of Bishop Stearne's knowledge and probity in the privy council," as necessary to the ease of the Duke of Shrewsbury's government, which caused the arch- 282 THE REIGN OF [Ch. he. Condition of the bishopiicks. bishop to be so " zealous for his advancement," as he expressed himself in a letter of September 21, to Dr. Goodwjn; at the same time he signified his hope that " care would be taken of Dr. Sjnge, with- out much soliciting. The Church," he observed, " wants such men, more than they want the Church." Of the vacant bishopricks he gave at the same time this description : " The bishopricks of Kilmore and Killaloe, as I understand, are in a most wretched condition, both as to the service of the cures and discipline ; but Raphoe is tolerably well as to the cures, though Bishop Pooley, during the eleven years he was bishop, hardly resided eighteen months, and seemed to design making as many non-residents as he could." In a letter of September 23, to Mr. Brotherick, he thus adverts to the same topicks : Expected i romo- " I spoke to hls Gi'ace about Dr. Synge before he went tionof Di.sjnge. 2|gugg^ ^^^^ J ^^^^ g^.g ]jq promoted, but where, I am not certain. If I can prevail, you may be sure it will be to his satisfaction. But, ho^yever, a remove is much more easily obtained than a promotion ; and we must not only consider what benefice may be deserved by a person, but what person it may want ; for a very ordinary benefice, as to profit, may need a person of the greatest piety, learning, and prudence, to manage and bring it into order ; and, by what I am informed, that is the case of Killaloe, Kilmore, and Ardagh." Non-residence of Tho nou-resideuce of Bisho]) Pooley was not the bishops. only instance of episcopal neglect which fell at this time under the merited animadversion of Archbishop King. "We want your Lordship, and other lords of the council, very much," he wrote to Ashe, Bishop of Clogher, on the 23rd of September ; " and I assure you there is great exception taken by both Sec. I.] KING GEORGE I. 283 parties at your long absence. Your friends murmur at your deserting them, and your enemies excuse their negligence by your absence ; and the common enemies of the Church conchide that bishops are not necessary, since they can be so long spared. I, therefore, entreat you to think of coming home as soon as possible." In a subsequent letter, on the 26th of the ensuing February, the archbishop again remonstrated with the Bishop of Clogher, arguing with him, that he "justified Mr. Boyse's reproach, by making his bishoprick only a jwmpous sinecure, as he seemed to do, by so many years' absence from it.^' Section II. Earl of Sundei'land appointed Lord Lieutenant. Descrip- tion of the vacant Bishopricks. Candidates for them. Archbishop of Canterhurfs mediation expected hy Arch^ bishop King. Neic Bishops unexceptionable. Ignorance in England concerning Irish Benefices. Proof of mise- rable condition of Irish Church. Improper Eecommenda- tions of Clergymen from England. Feloness of Sinecures. Small talue of Benefices. Care recpiisite in bestowing Preferments. Paucity of Beneficed Clergymen. Few young men of promise growing up. Clergy not icell inclined to the King. Improper Sermons not universal. Irregular intrusion into strange Dioceses. Subsiding of temporary Irritation. Sentiments of Members of the Church. Effect of tcant of Cordiality between Clergy and Gentry. Consequence of Queen Anne's Bounty. Efforts for instructing Irish Natives. Scholars taught to read Irish. Northern Dissenters. Indiscretion of the Clergy. The Duke of Shrewsbury, who had been appointed Earl of Sun'ler- 1 ^ ' n */»TiiTi ^•'"'^ to the chief government ot Ireland, did not, how- tenant, hept. £-s ever, at this time, take possession of it ; and on liis resignation, Charles S])encer, earl of Sunderland, 284 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. was named for his successor, September the 24th, 1714. The Archbishop of Dublin lost no time in exerting himself for the proper supply of the vacant sees, Mhich v,'eve still unoccupied ; and on the 30th of the same month, he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury the following letter, which is important, on account, not only of the immediate object, but of the incidental information conveyed by it on several collateral topicks : Letter of Arch- bishop King to Archbishop of Canterbury. Description of the v.Tcant bishop- ricks. Situation and value of Raphoe; ''Duhlin, September 30, 17U. " May it please your Grace, I wrote lately to your Grace something relating to the vacant bishopricks in Ireland. I believe they will soon be actually disposed, and, therefore, I beg leave to give your Grace my thoughts concerning them. " The vacant bishopricks are four : Raphoe, Killaloe, Kilmore, and Ardagh. As to Raphoe, it is the best in value, being about ],2(XV. per annum. It lies next Derry, near Scotland, and is full of dissenters and Papists ; however, it is in a tolerable condition. Before the troubles, one Dr. Wm. Smith was bishop ; he put one Mr. Span in as his chancellor, a worthy, good clergyman, well skilled in all parts of learning, par- ticularly in the canon law; and by the bishop's authority, and the diligence of this clergyman, he got the churches generally repaired, and the cures settled and attended. And though the late bishop did several things that encouraged non-residence for ten or eleven years, that he hardly resided himself eighteen months, yet the diocese, I understand, is still in tolerable condition, as to the cures, though discipline has been much neglected. I mean this of Bishop Pooley ; for the present primate was so little a while in it, that much could not be expected from him. A watchful bishop will be necessary in this, by reason of the dissenters ; and a man of temper and prudence, that will know how to deal with and calm the spirit of the people, especially of the gentlemen, who have been very much ruffled by some treat- ment they have met with from some former bishops. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. 285 "As to Killaloe, 'tis in Munster, and I cannot pretend Kiii.aioe; to be much acquainted with it. But, for all I can learn, His in a miserable condition, both as to the churches, the cures, and discipline. It abounds with Papists. An active, prudent, and experienced man, ought to be placed here, that may be able to go through with his business, and that may have skill and courage to reform what is amiss. The value of this is about 800/. per annum. " Kilmore and Ardadi have gone together. The value Kiimore and of Kilmore is about 1,000/. per annum, and Ardagh about 600/. The question is, whether they ought still to be united, as they have been in the three last bishops. The Question omiku- 11 1 1 1-1 disunion. reason given why they ought to be separated is, because they are of a large extent, and in the utmost disorder, so that no one man can be able to bring them to any tolerable regularity. The reason for keeping them united is, because the laity complain, that the bishops are already too numerous in parliament for the lay lords there, being twenty- two bishops that generally attend the session, and seldom so many temporal lords. We have more ; but most of them have no estates in Ireland, or live in England, and do not attend. " Dr. AVm. Smith, 1 mentioned before, was removed improvements by ' _ ^ ' Bishop Smith ; from llaphoe to these bishopricks. He brought ^Ir. Span along with him, and placed him at Longford, a country town, on a good benefice, and put the jurisdiction of Ardagh in his hands. He began, as he had done, at Raphoe, to build the churches and settle the cures. Three churches, I think, w^ere finished, and five more begun, then the bishop died, and Bishop Whitenal succeeded. He had not the same regard for Mr. Span that his predecessor had. He was absent six years toward the latter part of his life, and Not prosecuted sickly for the most part ; so that sixteen or seventeen years successor, these dioceses have been, in effect, without a bishop, the bishop living either in England or Dublin. Nor was this all the mischief. He had those about him that prevailed with him to stop the hands of his chancellor in his proceed- ings about discipline ; that stopped the building of churches, so that the five begun by his predecessor were never finished, but lie as left by him. And whereas there were 286 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. Candidates for the dioceses : Dr. Good\v} n. Jfr. Span. Dr. Marsh. Dr Forster. Dr. Storv. Dr. Hamilton. woods in the diocese worth, as I have been informed, ten thousand pounds, he sold and destroyed them all. " The diocese of Kilmore, as I hear from everybody, is more especially in a lamentable condition as to the cures and clergy. Ardagh is a little better; Mr. Span, the chan- cellor, notwithstanding all discouragements, having pre- vented many inconveniences, for which, and his pious, prudent life, he is much valued by the whole country, both clergy and laity. Your Grace may easily see what men are fit for such dioceses. The persons candidate for those under the Duke of Shrewsbury's government were : *' 1st. Dr. Goodwyn, his Grace's chaplain, and, as I remember, archdeacon of Burford, a grave, sober, good man, and well affected to his Majesty's government. " 2ndly. Dr. Edward Synge, chancellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, a learned, prudent, pious, and active man : the only objection against him was, that he was a whig ; otherwise, it was owned, that none was fitter for a bishop. " Srdly. Mr. Benjamin Span, above mentioned, who had given so many testimonies of his being fit for a bishop. And it was further said, that it would be of good example to take a man from a constant cure, after thirty years' labour in the Church, and of no ambition, and make him a bishop without his asking. " 4thly. Dr. Jeremiah Marsh, son to my predecessor, Dr. Francis iMarsh, archbishop of Dubhn, who has a good temporal estate, and is dean of Kilmore, and treasurer of St. Patrick's, in value about 500/.; he is a grave, sober, discreet man, and would make a very honest bishop. " othly. Dr. Forster, brother to the Recorder of Dublin. He is only senior fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, at pre- sent, but a very deserving, learned, and pious man ; but not having any preferment in the Church, or served a cure, one cannot say what bishoj) he would make. 6thly. Dr. Story, dean of Limerick ; he is in London, and well known to your Grace. " Tthly. Dr. Archibald Hamilton, archdeacon of Raphoe. He has a good temporal estate, and benefices to the value of COO/, per annum. He is a pious diligent, and learned man. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. 287 I was witness of bis pains and application when Bishop of Deny, for he lived within five miles of me. I confirmed two hnndred in his church, most reduced by his labour to conformity, being originally dissenters; which I take to be a good specimen of a man. " Sthly. Dr. John Bolton, dean of Derry. He has a Dr.Bjiton. good temporal estate, and benefices to about the value of 900/. per annum. He is a grave, prudent, learned man, and would make a good bishop. " I might name others, and there may be others that I am not acquainted with, and more deserving ; but those I know, and believe preferment would be well placed on them : and I conceive it is not necessary to acquaint your Grace with any more at present. " I believe I should hardly have ventured to name some of these, if they had not applied to me, and desired my testimony. " I know not how my Lord Sunderland, our lord lieute- Archbishop of nant, may be inclined in this affair, nor is this to interfere mediationex- with his Excellency. But I believe he has a high value for p«^*^^- your Grace, and will consult your Grace in a matter of this nature : and I believe, if there be occasion, I cannot convey my sentiments by a better hand, who will communicate only so much as is proper, and may be of use : in which, not having the happiness of being acquainted with my Lord, I may easily mistake. " I humbly entreat your Grace's pardon for this long letter, and your prayers for, &c., W. D." In conclusion of this business, it remains only The new bishnps J. 1 T T -w-\ , unexceptionable. to add, that i)r. Godwin or Goodwin was promoted to Kilmore and Ardagh, Dr. Syiige to Raphoe, and Dr. Forster to Killaloe. In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, of November 1 2th, Archbishop King thus expressed his sentiments on the selection : " As to the bishops you have given us, they are without exception; only as to Dr. Forster, it were to be wished that we had had some more experience of him 288 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. in the Church ; but I hope that will be made up by his learning, diligence, and abilities." Ignorance in England concern- ing Irish bene- fices. Letter from Arch- bishop King to Mr. Addison, October 30. Proof of mise- rable condition of Irish Church. letter of Arch- bishop King t J Dr. Gibson. Improper recom- mendations of clergymen from England. From some observations made by the archbishop, in connection with these appointments, it appears, that much ignorance prevailed at this time, in England, concerning the benefices of the Irish Church, and occasioned consequences severely felt by the Irish clergy. The case may be best explained in his own language, which shall be cited first from a letter of October 30th, addressed to Mr. Addison: " I have wrote to my lord lieutenant about the benefices vacant by promotion and during the voidance of the sees. Dr. Goodu'yn was never beneficed here, nor had Dr. Forster any preferment in the Church. The matter, therefore, was so ordered as to put very little in my lord lieutenant's gift. " You'll observe that there are at least ten parishes void in the diocese of Killaloe, held all by one man. Perhaps they yielded between 200^. or 300/. per annum, and might be twenty miles in length. This showeth the miserable condition of the Church in this kingdom. You make nothing in England to order us to provide for such and such a man 200/. per annum : and when he has it by favour of the government, he thinks he may be excused attendance : but you do not consider that such a disposition takes up, perhaps, a tenth part of the diocese, and turns off the cuie of ten parishes to one curate. " I know not how I have fallen into this affair : but it is so much at my heart, that it offers itself on all occasions ; and therefore you'll pardon the unseasonableness of it at this time.'" This evil was further illustrated by a letter from the archbishop to Dr. Joseph Gibson, December the 1st: " There is one thing of ill consequence to the Church here, and that is the want of knowing the true state of it in those on whom the management of most of our affairs depend. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. 289 You make iiothinf^ of recommending a cast clergyman, whom you are not willing to prefer in England, to 200/. per annum in Ireland, and do not consider that in many dioceses 200/. per annum is near a fifth part of the mainte- nance of the clergy of the whole diocese : that to make up 50/. per annum very often ten parishes must be united, and after all an ill, an insufficient, clergyman does ten times more mischief in Ireland than in England. " You likewise bespeak sinecures for particular friends : Fewness of sine- but I can make it appear that there are not above a score in the whole kingdom that are perfectly so, and where they are they starve the cure. *' I laid a state of the diocese of Dublin before my smaii value of Lord Pembroke, and showed that there were not in the whole diocese, besides the city cures, above six or sev^en clergymen, that had an 100/. per annum ; and some of those had nine, some ten, and one eleven, parishes to raise it. *' If this were duly considered I believe it would appear, care requisite in , , , 1 ' P • bestowing prefer- that there ought to be great care taken m preierrmg persons mcnts. in Ireland. I had one benefice vacant in my diocese by the promotion of Dr, Synge ; and my lord lieutenant was so kind as to gratify me in it, which was a signal favour ; for by it I shall be able to gratify seven worthy men, some of which have served the Church twelve or thirteen years for 30/. per annum, whereas, if a stranger had come in, all their removes had been lost." In a letter of December the 11th to the Bishop Letter of Arch. . bishop King to of ^Norwich, observations, much to the foreofoinof Bishop of xor- o o ^-ich, Dec. 11. effect, are stated, and the grievance is, moreover, exemplified in this manner : " Our chief frovernours are chaufjed commonlv once in three years, and they commonly bring chaplains with them, who succeed to bishopricks, if they fall, or to the best preferments, these being generally in the crown : and hence your Lordship may guess, what encouragement there is for the clergy educated here. Your Lordship perhaps will be paucity of cier- surprised, when I tell you, that in all Ireland there are not six hundred beneficed clerirvmen : and vet this is a certain 290 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. truth. And 'tis as certain, that the paucity of clergymen has been a great obstruction to the conversion of the natives, and a great occasion of the muhiplying of sectaries. I have not ten parishes in the whole diocese endowed with glebes, and not six of them that clergymen can live on. I drew out a state of this diocese, and laid it before the con- vocation, who were not pleased with it, because, as they said, it too much discovered their nakedness : to which I only replied, that the sick man, who conceals his distemper from his physician, can never expect a cure. My lord lieutenant has been so kind to me, as to comply with my recommendation of a worthy clergj'man to one of the benefices vacant by the promotion of Dr. Synge, by which I have provided for another very worthy man. If I can prevail with his Excellency in another matter, that I intend soon to lay before him, I shall be able to gratify five or six more.'" It may be remarked, that although the arch- bishop was *'in a post of honour," as one of the lords justices, " yet," in his own language, " he could not give any place, civil or ecclesiastical ; no, not a vicarage : all such being excepted out of their commission." Whether from want of encouragement, or from what other cause, does not appear, but the rising generation, in Archbishop King's judgment, offered no favourable prospect of good to the Church. " It is a mortifying reflection to consider," he thus wi-ites, September 25, to the Bishop of Dromore, " how few young men are growing up, that either by their application to their studies, their parts, or prudence, give us hopes of their being considerable supports to the Church." At the same time many of the actual clergy, "who at the commencement had shown a disinclination for the new dynasty, did not see cause at once to Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. 291 adopt a different course, and become cordial sup- porters of the king, notwithstanding there appeared on his part no disposition unfavourable to the eccle- siastical establishment. As to our present king's affection to the Church," said the Archbishop of Dublin to the Bishop of Cloyne, October 80th, " I think there is no manner of reason to question it : but withal we ought to remember, that kindness begets kindness. The clergy ought to be the most forward to express their satisfaction in the king's accession to the crown, and avoid everything that may occasion a jealousy; above all, avoid herding with those people that endeavoured to hinder his succession. Assure yourself, my Lord, 'tis generally believed that there was such a j^arty : and by what I can learn, his Majesty makes little doubt of it. This suspicion, if it were no more, is sufficient to make us cautious, and have a watch over our words and actions, so as to distinguish ourselves from the disaffected. Whether the clergy take this course. Their improper 111 1 conduct in their your Lordship can tell : but to preach uj) the sermons, danger of the Church on his Majesty's accession to the crown, to sing the 137th Psalm, to preach against Lutheranism, or to make it worse than Popery, I am sure is not the way." " Very few," he observes in another letter to the same prelate, of the 20th of November, " have declared against the succession, because few are fond of being hanged for treason : but if a party of men take all possible methods to obstruct a thing; if they oppress all that were zealous for it and the Revolution ; and encourage the professed enemies thereof, and join wdth them ; if they show themselves uneasy and chagrined, when it took ])lace ; one may guess at what they mean without any formal declaration. In short, the court U 2 292 THE REIGN OP [Ch. III. Not universal. Irregular intru- sion into strange dioceses. Clergj men ad- monished by Archbieliop King. believes all this, and is resolved to stand by those that they believe their friends." The conduct, here made the subject of com- plaint, was, however, not universal. " Your Lord- ship is very happy," remarked the archbishop in the last-cited letter, " in the prudence of your clergy. I assure your Lordship it is not so here. I was forced to admonish two clergymen, that were not of my diocese, to preach no more in it without licence ; and I believe I shall be obliged to deal the same way with others." The allusion here is to certain of the clergy, distinguished rather for zeal than for knowledge, who had irregularly intruded themselves into strange dioceses, without the diocesan's permission, and in violation of the law. Of this the archbishop gives a somewhat more full account in a letter to the Lord Mountjoy, the 8th of the ensuing January : " I took up two youths, that had been busy that w^ay. They were not of the diocese ; and I did no more but, according to the canon and Act of Uniformity, admonish them, not to preach in my diocese without my licence, without troubling my- self to give them any other reason. This hath had a good effect." And, in a letter of the 12th of April following, he thus adverts to the same topick, observing to the Bishop of Carlisle: "I wish the canons were re-inforced, that prohibit any man to preach in a bishop's diocese without his leave. The clergy of this diocese are tolerably careful of their discourses; but we have furiosos come out of the country, that get into their pulpits, and endeavour to set all in flames, to the great dissatisfaction of the generality. Some of these I have prohibited, and believe I shall be obliged to use the same course towards others." Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. 293 In a few months, however, this temporary irrita- ^^"bsidinGtofie-n- ' ' i- •/ porary irritation. tioii seems to have subsided, and to have left the clergy to the peaceful discharge of their unques- tionable functions. In two letters, of the 28th of December and the 1st of January, respectively, to Dr. Jenkins and to the Lord INIountjoy, the arch- bishop says: " I thank God party business is pretty well banished our pulpits. ... By what I can learn, the danger of the Church is pretty well sunk here ; and people begin to preach something of the Chris- tian relisfion and the duties of it." The sentiments of the members of the Church ^'.^^'^^f^f'be in general at this time, with special reference to the <^^"i<^^' clergy and religion, are thus set forth in a letter from the archbishop to' Dr. Charlett, of April 20, 1715: " The bulk of the common people in Ireland are either Archbishop Papists or dissenters, equally enemies to the Established Dr!^charietT, Church: but the gentry are generally conformable, and the ^p^^^^'- ^'^^ Church interest apparently lies in them. But most of the clergy under the late management set themselves against the gentlemen, traversed them in their elections, endeavoured to turn them out of their own boroughs, and in their convocation opposed the votes of the House of Commons by contrary votes ; and after the parliament was prorogued, endeavoured at assizes and quarter-sessions to get addresses condemning the parliament's proceedings : in many of which, by the assistance of the judges and sheriffs in the interest of the then government, they succeeded. This, to be sure, has much irritated and soured the gentry, and has lost them much to the clerg}-; who yet, as I observed before, are the persons on whom the interest of the Established Church most depends. But I have reason to hope, that they are so much in earnest in their religion, that they -svill be firm to it, notwithstanding the imprudent management of the clergy : and, though many be angry, 294 THE REION OF [Ch. III. yet I have not met with one, that seems in the least shocked in his resohition to stand by the Estabhshed Church. I pray God keep them in this temper : it shall be my business to encourage it, and to vail, as much as I can, the weakness of my brethren." This want of mutual cordiality produced one unhappy effect, of which an example is given in a former letter to Dr. Cliarlett, of the lOtli of February: " To day," writes the archbishop, " I set out ground for a new church in this city, and agreed with the workmen, who promised to finish it in a year. I want three or four more in the city, to make a tolerable accommodation for the people. But the poverty is so great, and the clergy of late have been on so ill terms with the gentry, that I despair of success, though one is half finished." A prospect of greater respectability, usefulness, and comfort, was in the mean time beginning to open upon the clergy, in consequence of the bounty extended to the Church by the late queen. Of their destitute condition, with respect to parochial residences, and the hope of a remedy, some judg- ment may be formed from the following letter of the 25th of April, 1715, addressed by Archbishop King to the Bishop of Raplioe : " I intreat the favour of you at the several visitations and synod, to give the clergy notice, that there is a fund of money in bank out of the first-fruits, to purchase glebes : and that if any clergyman can find a con- venient parcel of ground in his parish for a glebe, which the proprietor is willing to sell for that use, he that brings in the first proposal to that purpose shall be first accommodated. I have returned near fifty parishes in this diocese, that have churches in repair, and have service in tliem, that arc unprovided Sec. II.] KING GEORGE L 295 of glebes, not reckoning those of the city. And I hope the clergy will bestir themselves to find out proper parcels of land to be settled for glebes, and prevail with the proprietors to contribute so far to this good work, as to sell them for their value," Mention has been already made of the efforts Efforts for in- •' Btructing the undertaken in the last reign for instructing the native imh. native Irish through the medium of their own language ; and especially of a person named Linegar or Lyniger, patronised and partly supported by the Archbishop of Dublin, for training scholars of Trinity College in the knowledge of it. Information on the subject, and his own views in patronising the undertaking, are thus communicated by the arch- bishop himself, in a letter to Mr. Conolly, of Fe- bruary 16, 1715: " I send you inclosed a list of scholars taught to read Scholars taught Irish by Mr. Linegar in the college. All these are de- signed for the clergy, being in number forty- five. It is not intended that they should have any salary or establishment from the publick : but, when they come to be settled in cures, they are enabled by this to discourse all the parish- ioners, and perform offices to them, in a language that they understand ; which I take to be the'^^doctrine of our Church. You know how much more easilv and effectually its utility with T'l • '11 1 11 *i ' 1 ' the natives. an Irishman is prevailed on, when addressed to in his own language that is native to him, than that to which he is a stranger. And, if all the clergy discourse their ]>eople on 'occasion, I believe it would be the most effectual way to make them Protestants, and reconcile them to the English language and government, of which I could give many instances. I had a prospect of enabling at least one- third of the clergy of Ireland, in a few years, thus to apply to their people without any new charge or burthen to the publick: and the pains Linegar took in the college, you see, very much has contributed to it, and, if encouraged, I 296 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. believe would have effected it. He is very poor ; and I hope the committee, before which his petition lies, will have some compassion on him. I have not been wanting to give him what assistance I could out of my own pocket. Pray be at the committee, and represent this matter in his favour, and you'll oblige, &c., " W. D." Conduct of the It seems that continual accounts from the north senters. of Ireland had been sent to Oxford, of the dissenters insulting the orders and government of the Church : and these accounts were reported by Dr. Charlett to Archbishop King. In his answer, dated the 20th of April, 1715, he controverts the accounts, which he suspects to have been made with " design, not of having the abuses corrected, but rather to render his Majesty's government suspected and odious. I am assured," he says, " from all hands, that no judges ever w^ent the northern circuits, that gave the country, the Church, and particularly the clergy, more satisfaction than the last." At the same time, considering the indiscretion of which the clergy had been guilty, and admitting the ill use made of it by the dissenters, he, on the whole, commends the latter for their moderation : Indiscretion of " Tis strange to me that the dissenters are not more the clergy. exaltcd aiul insolcnt than they are, for many of the clergy have made it their business, since the king's accession to the throne, to represent the Church as in the utmost danger; to prepare the people to expect nothing less than the subver- sion of our constitution, the destruction of the hierarchy, the abolishing the liturgy, and setting up presbytery. They have given themselves strange airs on these topicks in tra- gical complaints, mournful representations, and pathetical exhortations to the people to prepare themselves for suffer- ings. These had no great effect on the generality of our own people, who looked on such preachers as mad. But the dissenters pretended to believe them, and took an Sec. II.] KING GEORGE I. liandlc from tlicncc to encourage their followers, assuring them from the confession of the conformable clergy them- selves, that they were out of the favour of the government, and that only dissenters were to be encouraged. I am really surprised that these proceedings have not made them ten times more insolent than they are." Section III. Parliament of 1*7 lo. Recognition of King's Title, Act for Attainting the Pretender. Acts in favour of the Church. General mew of Parochial Unions in Ireland: their causes and circumstances. Abstract of Unions and Divi- sions of Parishes. Death of Bishop Moreton. Succeeded by Bishop Evans^ from Bangor. Death of Archbishop Vesey. His Life of Primate Bramhall. Archbishop Synge. Origin of the family name. Memorable succes- cession of Bishops in the family. Disinterested conduct of the Archbishop about the Quarta pars Episcopcdis. Character of Forster., Bishop of Raphoe. Downs, Bishop of Killala: his Correspondence with Bishop Nicholson. Character of Bishop Ashe, by Mr. Addison. Translation of Bishop Nicholson from Carlisle to Derry. Letters between him and Archbishop of York. His epistolary Correspondence has no reference to Ireland. The Duke of Shrewsbury had been appointed lord ParHamcntof lieutenant of Ireland October the 27th, 1713, and reappointed on the accession of King George I. On his retirement from the office, it was filled, Sep- tember the 24th, 1714, by the appointment of Charles Spencer, earl of Sunderland. But, ill health pre- venting him from taking charge of the government, he resigned the office the 23rd of August, 1715; and in the ensuing month, the Duke of Grafton and the Earl of Galway were appointed lords justices, and soon after proceeded to Ireland ; and, arriving in Dublin the 1st of November, assembled a parlia- 298 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. merit, which was begun on the 12th of that month. Actiecognisiig Qf this parliament, the second chapter was a the king's title tO the throne. recomiition of his Maiesty's title to the throne, 2 Geo. I., c. 2. ^ ° ^ J J immediately upon the decease of her late majesty- Queen Anne ; it contains an offering of unfeigned thanks to Almighty God for his gracious and won- derful providence in placing the king peaceably upon the throne, notwithstanding all the open and secret practices that had been used to defeat the Protes- tant succession; and it commemorates, with expres- sions of heartfelt and inexpressible joy, his Majesty's declaration from the throne, that the established constitution in Church and State should be the rule of his JNIajesty's government, " the course of whose whole life liad shown him to be a lover and sup- porter of the reformed religion." i^'e\^?etindei*!"^ Chapter 4 was " an act for attainting the person 2 Geo. I., c. 4. during the life of the late King James, took upon him the style and title of Prince of Wales, and, since the decease of the said late King James, hath assumed the name and title of James the Third, king of England and Ireland, and James the Eighth, king of Scotland, commonly called the Chevalier de St. George, or the Pretender, and all his adherents ; and to give a reward of fifty thousand pounds sterling to any person who shall seize and secure the said Pretender, if he lands, or attempts plpiiTs'''"^^^'' to land, in tliis kingdom." The preamble states, that the vast body of Papists in the kingdom had of late years carried their insolence to an unusual height, by many daring acts of presumption com- mitted by them, as well in the city of Dublin, as in many other parts of the kingdom ; and that their hopes and expectations seemed to be founded on the Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. 299 rebellious and traitorous attempt made by some of the king's subjects to invade his dominions, and levy war in the same, by commission and in favour of the person commonly called the Pretender, who was " bred up and instructed to introduce the Romish superstition and French government into these realms." To these enactments concerning: the security of Acts in favour of O •/ the fluireh. the profession of pure religion in the Church, were l^^i'.^ added two others, chapters 14 and 15, intended to promote the efficiency and the temporal benefit of the clergy: the former intituled "An act for the real union and division of parishes;" the latter " For confirming the several grants made by her late Ma- jesty of the first-fruits and twentieth parts, payable out of the ecclesiastical benefices in this kingdom, and also for giving the archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons, four years' time for the payment of first-fruits." The purport of the latter of these acts is suffi- ciently explained by its title, so that upon it there is no occasion to enlaro^e. But the former requires Parochial unions o la Ireland. more particular attention, and affords a convenient opportunity for offi^ring some general information concerning parochial unions in Ireland, which were of two kinds, temporary and permanent. Bv the common law, the bishop, or ordinary. Temporal yepis- " ' i copal unions. possessed a power of forming temporary unions in his diocese, under his seal, which endured no longer than the incumbency of the clerk instituted to the parishes, and, on the ceasing of his incumbency, the churches became separate and distinct, as before. By the common law, also, the bishop had tlie Permanent epis- copal unions. power of uniting churches in perpetuity, and many such unions subsisted in ancient times, which may 800 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. be presumed to have been constituted at unknown periods, and are reputed to have existed from time immemorial, under the character of perpetual unions. For the exercise of this power of the bishop, there were required the previous consents of the patrons of the churches to be united, and of their several incumbents, if full ; and, as was com- monly supposed, the confirmation of the crown. The bishop, also, could not make an union, either temporary or permanent, but for good and canonical causes, such as the poverty or paucity of inhabitants; the vicinity of parishes, unprovided with churches, to the church of a contiguous parish ; the smallness of the income of benefices, and their insufficiency to supply an incumbent or curate. Unions by royal In addltlou to tlic uulous formcd by bishops, charter. * there are also instances of unions of churches, by virtue of certain royal charters, before the enactment of any statute on the subject of unions. Consequence of Qno of tlio most i)owerful motivcs to the union dis6(jlutit)D of monasteries. of paHshes by the bishops, was furnished by the dissolution of the monasteries and religious com- munities. The appropriations and appropriate tythes which had belonged to these were in most cases bestowed by the crown, in which the parlia- ment had vested them, and conferred on lay persons as temporal inheritances, with the new name of im- Appropriations; propriations. The unsettled state of Ireland had induced many of the incumbents of parishes to seek for support and protection in religious communities ; so that the appropriations had been, and consequently And impropria- tlio impropriatious became, peculiarly numerous in that country. By the king's grants of these impro- priations, the impropriators were entitled to no more than what had been possessed by the religious com- Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. 301 munities or their members. But, nevertheless, many of the great patentees made encroachments on the parochial incumbents, under the pretences that the property encroached upon was parcel of the ancient appropriations, and thus greatly impoverished the parochial cures ; and others seized on vicarages, as well as rectories, as if they also were impropriate, and either left the cures unprovided for, or afforded small and insufficient stipends to the stipendiary curates; nor was a remedy administered by the patents themselves, which, in some instances at least, contained express conditions, that the grantee, or his assigns, should repair the chancel, and pay the maintenance of the curate ; nor by the act of parlia- ment of 83 Henry VIII., c. 14., which enacted the erecting and incorporating of a vicarage in every parish church which had been appropriated to a religious house, and served by its members, but had no vicarage endowed. This state of things necessarily caused the forma- Evufeit; tion of many unions of parishes in the same incum- bents. The evil was felt and acknowledged, and attempts made at several times to counteract it: especially by the government endeavouring, in the Attempts to time of the Lord Deputy Viscount Wentworth, to compel the restoration of usurped vicarages, and restoring to the churches impropriate rectories and tythes still in the possession of the crown; by an act of parliament, in 1635, 10 and 11 Charles I., c. 2, rendering it easy for the owners of impropriations and impropriate tythes to restore them to the parish ministers ; and by the act of settlement, 14 and 15 Charles II., which gave to the Church, with certain exceptions and limitations, all impropriations seques- tered or forfeited by the rebellion of 1641 ; and by a 802 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. similar application of impropriations forfeited in 1688. Insufficient Much benefit accrued from these provisions, especially under the statute of 10 and 11 Charles I.; new benefices, with cure, were created, parochial cures established, and many sinecures extinguished. Still only a few of the impropriators were induced by that act to restore their impro]3riations to the Church, and the necessity of unions that had arisen out of this cause was continued. Unequal distribu- Anothor cause was the extremely unequal dis- tion of parishes. *^ ^ tribution of parishes in many parts of Ireland. In some parts, all the parishes were of small extent, so as not to yield support for an incumbent, or bear the expense of church repairs ; and in other parts, the parishes were inconveniently large and extensive for the supply of the parochial ministra- tions. Exemplified in Thls mav be in some deo-ree exemplified and the province of *^ ox Armagh. explaiucd by reference to the province of Ulster, or, ecclesiastically speaking, of Armagh. In those parts of the province which had been settled in times earlier than the reign of King James I., especially in the county of Louth, which forms the southern division of the diocese of Armagh, and in the counties of Meatli and Westmeath, which com- pose the diocese of Meath, the parishes had been so constituted, that the smallness of the incomes, accruing to the incumbents having cure of souls, had introduced the necessity of committing several parishes to the care of one minister, who, notwith- standing the extent of his cure, was oftentimes very inadequately paid. On the contrary, in the six counties of Ulster, planted by charter in the reign of King James I., namely, those of Armagh, forming Sec. III.J KING GEORGE I. 803 tlie northern division of the diocese of Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan, the ancient parishes were large, but of small value ; and at the period of that settlement, the tjthes, which had been previously distributed among the different proprietors, were almost all assigned to the incum- bents having cure of souls. These parishes then, for the most part, instead of being united, stood rather in need of being divided, as, in fact, many of them have since been, so as to afford support for in- cumbents in a greater number of benefices than existed before the Reformation. This being the condition of the two classes of bene- Unions of fices,to meet the former class in particular, a statutable legalized, remedy was requisite : for, inasmuch as unions of small parishes had become absolutely necessary, and as, according to the common law, though churches and benefices might be united, their parishes, not- withstanding, as to building and repairing the churches, continued to be distinct and separate, so that the inhabitants of one parish of the union were not liable to be rated to the church existing in another ; a provision was needed for uniting, not only the benefices and churches, but the parishes themselves, so that all the parishes of the union might be made contributory to the support of the mother-church. Occasion was at the same time taken for meeting the exigency of the larger parishes, and, accordingly, an act was passed in the year 1662, Actof Handis the 14th and 15th Charles II., c. 10, for this two- ^^ ''■'^^ fold object. Its preamble recited, that parishes in some parts of Ireland were so little, that five or six lay together within a mile or two, whereby the subjects were like to be much burthened with the necessary charge of building or repairing so many 804 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. churches, and their means were so small that sundry of them would not serve for the sustentation of one incumbent: and that, in other parts, the parishes were too large, and that deans, chapters, dignitaries, and prebendaries had often many parishes, situate at remote distances, annexed and appropriated to them. And thereupon the act provided, that, during the space of twenty years, it should be lawful for the lord lieutenant and council, with the consents of the bishop and metropolitan, patron, and incumbent, to unite and divide parishes, and disappropriate bene- fices from the deaneries, dignities, and prebends, and settle them on the resident incumbents, and to unite a presentative benefice with cure to a dignity without cure. Its effect. That statute, although it had no effect on the impropriations, was considered beneficial to the parish ministers, and under it many unions appear to have been formed : it appears also, though in a less degree, to have operated to the no less desirable effect of producing disunions and divisions of pa- rishes and benefices. But it had been limited to twenty years, so that, after its expiration, several unions and divisions of parishes were made by special enactment, of which examples have been given in the two preceding reigns. It was now, Prinoipie adopted however, iu the reign of George I., judged necessary to frame another general statute on the same principle : and, accordingly, the act, which gave occasion for this statement, was passed, with a preamble similar to the former, empowering the lord lieutenant and council, for the space of ten years, to divide parishes, or to unite parishes or j^arts of parishes to others, and to form new parishes, and also to unite or appropriate any benefice with cure Sec. III.J KING GEORGE I. 305 to a dignity or prebend without cure, as they should think fit, with the consents of the metropolitan, bishop, jiatron, and incumbents. This act was afterwards amended in 1723, by Act amended in 1723; enabling the lord lieutenant and council, with the like consents, to unite and appropriate benefices without cure to dignities and prebends having actual cure of souls ; and empowering bishops, dignitaries, and prebendaries to exchange their appropriate rectories, vicarages, and tythes for lands. It was afterwards continued, and at length made perpetual Madeperpetuai in the year 1739. From the records of the privy council, preserved Abstractor ^ ^ unions and divi- in the Council Office of Dublin Castle, I have formed sions of parishes imder these acts. the following abstract of the unions and divisions of ])arishes, made by acts of council, under the authority of these acts of parliament, for a period commencing with the year 1721, and extending to the close of the eighteenth century. Of the unions of parishes, consisting of two, three, four, five, or even six, there were about sixty-one : of the divisions, which were made by separating a parish from one or two others, or by separating certain town-lands and erecting them into a new parish, there were about thirty-four. In the province of Armagh there were fourteen Unions in pro- of these unions, of which eight were in the diocese of JMeath alone, two were in Armagh, two in Ardagh, one in Down, one in Dromore : none in each of the other dioceses of Clogher, Connor, Kilmore, Raphoe, and Derry. In the province of Dublin there were nineteen Dublin, unions, of which eight were in Ferns, six in the diocese of Dublin, three in Leighlin, and one each in Kildare and Ossory. 306 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Cashel, In the province of Casliel seventeen unions were formed, of which seven were in the diocese of Cashel, three in Clojne, three in Killaloe, two in Emly, and two in Cork. In Waterford, Lismore, Limerick, Ardfert, and Ross, there was none. Tuam. In the province of Tuam there were eleven unions formed ; four in the diocese of Tuam, two each in Elphin and Clonfert, one each in Kilfenora, Kilmacduagh, and Killalla; none in Achonry. Divisions in pro- Qf tlic tliirtv-four divisious, by which new vince of Armagh, ^ *^ parishes were erected, twenty-nine were in the pro- vince of Armagh. The diocese of Armagh itself comprised nine of these, Clogher six, Dromore five, Derry four, Kilmore two, Connor, Ardagh, and Raphoe, each one : in Meath and Down there was none. i>u^iiii' In the province of Dublin were three divisions; namely, one in each of the dioceses of Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns; none in either Ossory or Leighlin. <^^^shei. In the province of Cashel, the diocese of Cork contained two new parishes, formed by division of old parishes. There was no other in this province, Tuam. nor any in the province of Tuam. Episcopal unions Thcrc is, liowevcr, legislative testimony, that, still necessary. notwithstandmg these enactments, there were nu- merous cases to which their application was im- practicable, and in which it was necessary for the diocesans to form temporary or permanent unions of benefices. For an act passed in 1729, obliging the inhabitants of every parish of an union epis- copal, or by charter from the crown, to contribute to the church of the union, until they should rebuild or repair the church of their own parish, has a pre- amble to this effect : that in divers parts of Ireland, Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. and more especially in Leinster, Munster, and Con- naught, there were many parishes, the income whereof was so small as not separately to be able to support an incumbent or curate, and the inhabitants so poor and so few in number, as not to be able to build up or repair their parish churches ; and that the joining such parishes in a perpetual union Avas in many cases found impracticable ; so that, for a present remedy of that inconvenience, archbishops and bishops were under the necessity of uniting by episcopal union, two or more of such parishes, as were contiguous, under one incumbent or curate. The chanp^es of the sites of parish churches, change of sites of ° ^ parisli churches. where the situation of the old church, with refer- ence to the dwellings of the parishioners, was found inconvenient, especially, in cases of two or more parishes being united into one, w^as another ex- pedient to which recourse was had in the early part of this century. At first, special acts of parliament were passed, as we have seen, to meet particular emergencies; but a general enactment was after- wards made, in the second year of King George I., c. 14 ; and the result was, that in the period above defined, namely, between 1719 and the end of the century, the sites of about a hundred-and-nine parish churches were changed by acts of council, as recorded in the Council Office, of which thirty-nine were in the province of Armagh, twenty-two in that of Dublin, twenty-three in Cashel, and twenty-five in Tuam. In puttino^ toofether this general view of the General view of ^ <--> o <=> parochial unions. causes and circumstances of parochial unions in Ireland, I have taken advantage, not only of the records of the privy council, but also of the Report made by the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Inquiry X 2 308 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. in 1831, to whom it had been given in charge by his then majesty King William IV., to investigate and report npon that subject. By thus noticing in their mutual connection the acts passed, not only before, but in pursuance of the act of 14 George I., I have deviated from chronological order, and advanced into the succeeding reign ; but I have done so for the convenience of bringing at once under the reader's view, and avoiding the necessity of re- suming, the statement of the Irish parochial unions. For the same purpose, the present occasion is taken for adverting to the proceedings of the Irish House Resolution eon- of Commous at a period twenty years later than the ceming tj'the of agistment. elate with which we are immediately conversant. The country had in a great measure recovered from the effects of the civil wars, and the condition of the clergy had been in consequence materially im- proved, so that the increased value of their benefices made it probable that a dissolution of many unions, then existing, would in the course of a few years be accomplished. At this epoch, the Irish House of Commons placed itself in opposition to the rightful claims of the clergy, by objecting to the payment of the tythes of the agistment of dry and barren cattle ; and they accordingly passed a resolution, in 1735, " that all legal ways and means ought to be made use of to opj^ose all attempts that should be framed thereafter to carry demands of tythe agist- ment into execution, until a proper remedy could be provided by the legislature." Most parts of Ireland had been already greatly devoted to pasturage, which was increased by that resolution of the House itseffecton to au excess injurious to the country; and the vote unions of *^ *^ paribhes. was tlio cause of such a diminution of the incomes of the clergy, that, instead of means being found Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. 309 for the dissolution of unions, it induced a further necessity for increasing their number, and thus co- operated with the other causes, which have been previously stated, and which, notwithstanding some cases, perhaps, of inattention or unfitness, have been the chief and operating causes of those parochial arrangements which have obstructed the due celebra- tion of divine worship and the efficacy of ministerial exertions. The death of Bishoi) INIoreton, who, after liis Death of Bishop ^ Moreton, 1705. translation from the see of Kildare, in 1705, had occupied that of Meath till the 21st of November, 1715, caused a vacancy in the Irish episcopate, which was filled, in the following January, by the translation of a Welshman, Bishop Evans, from the bishoprick of Bangor, in North Wales ; an appoint- ment which seems to have been made in opposition to the wish and recommendation of the lords jus- tices. For in a letter of November 27, 1718, to the Bishop of Clogher, Archbishop King says : " The Evans, Bishop of case of the diocese of jNIeath was fully represented, when we recommended you to it ; but what signifies the interest of a diocese, to the advantage of a friend that is to be preferred?" And in the month of ]March, of the same vear, 1716, by the death of Death of Aich- bishop Vesey. Archbishop Vesey, a vacancy was made in the archi- episcopal see of Tuam, which he had occupied since the year 1678. Both he and Bishop Moreton had experienced the rigours of King James's government, the latter having been disj)laced from the privy council, the former having been driven from the kingdom, and comprehended in the act of attainder, and reduced to seek a safe retreat and a scanty sub- sistence in London, from a lectureship of 40/. a year. 310 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. But he survived to hold three times the commission of one of the lords justices of Ireland, and to see his son, Sir Thomas Vesey, baronet, successively Memorial of him BisliOD of Killaloe Eud of Ossory. The name of in his Life of Archbishop the archbishop is well known to the reader of these Bramhall. ^ i • i i pages, which have frequently cited hmi as the author of the Life of Primate Bramhall, prefixed to the works, and the chief source of information to Mr. Harris in his account, of that illustrious prelate'. Affecting inoi- A touchiug iucideut in his life is mentioned in dent in his life. one of Mr. Wesley s journals; where, speaking, m 1755, of Holy-mount, " some years since, one of the pleasantest places in Ireland," he adds, " Dr. Vesey, then archbishop of Tuam, fixed on this spot, nine miles from his see ; built a neat commodious house on a little eminence ; laid out fruit and flower gardens around it ; brought a river to run through them ; and encompassed tli3 whole with walks and groves of stately trees. When he had finished his plan, round a stone pillar, which stands in a basin, surrounded by a small green plat of ground, he placed the following inscription : *' Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Uxor, cum numerosa et speciosa prole, Chara charse matris sobole ; Neque harum, quas colis arborum, Te prseter invisum cupressum Ulla brevem dominum sequetur." It appears, from Harris's account in Ware's Bishops, that he was buried at Holy-mount, his place of residence. The vacancy caused by Archbishop Vesey's death, was filled on the 8th of June by the transla- ^ Ware's Bishops, p. 125. Sec. III.] KIN(» GEORGE I. tioii of Bishop Synofe from the see of Raphoe. The synge, Arch- ^ >' ^ J- bishop of Tuam. name of Synge, or Singe, the more ancient form of the modern word sing, is conspicuous in the epi- scopal annals of the Irish Church : and I take the occasion offered by the elevation of this, the most eminent of its owners, to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam, for bringing under notice the series of prelates who bore it. Speaking of Edward Synge, one of the Dublin odginoftue clergy renowned for their adherence to the English liturgy during the Usurpation, and afterwards a member of the episcopal order, Mr. Harris says, " Anthony Wood styles him Synge, alias Millington ; wdiich I find, upon inquiry, was the name of the family ; but that it was some time or other changed into Synge, on account of the sweetness of voice and skill in vocal musick, which some of the Millingtons wexQ possessed of; and the same talent," adds Harris, " I am informed continues in that family to this day." To this account of Harris I annex the tradition of the family, which I received many years ago from one of the descendants, that the name was, in fact, conferred by Queen Elizabeth on an an- cestor of theirs, a member of her Majesty's clioir at the Chapel Royal, and that it had been ever since cherished by the family in memory of the royal commendation. Early in the seventeenth century, one of the Account of the name was living in a condition of gentility at Bridg- north, in Shropshire : and it was his son, George Synge, who is recorded in Ware's Bishops as " de- scended from an ancient and good family, born in England, and educated a commoner in Baliol Col- lege, Oxford," who settled the first of the family in Ireland, under the patronage of Primate Hampton ; 312 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. George, Bishop of Cloyne, ]638. Edward, Bishop of Limerick, 1661, of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, 1663. Edward, Bishop of Eaphoc, 1714, Archbishop of Tuam, 1716. Edward, Bishop of Clonfert, 1730, of Elphin, 1740. Nicholas, Bishop of Killaloe, 174 J. Remarkable suc- cession of bishops. and, having passed through some other preferments, became Bishop of Cloyne in 1638. At his instance, and under his auspices, his younger brother, Ed- Avard, then a boy, was removed to the same king- dom ; and having received his education, first at the school of Droglieda, and then in the university of Dublin, the same person noticed ^aboveMn connec- tion with the English liturgy, was eventually elevated, in 1661, to the see of Limerick, and afterwards, in 1 663, to that of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross. Another Edward, son of the preceding, w^as he, whose pro- motion to the bishoprick of Raphoe in 1714 has been formerly mentioned, and whose subsequent advancement in 1716 to the arcbbishoprick of Tuam has given occasion for this enumeration. He died in 1741. Eleven years, however, before his death, he had by his own hands consecrated his eldest son, a third Edward, to the bishoprick of Clonfert, in 1730 ; and in the years 1731, 1733, and 1740, had successively seen him in possession of the bishop- ricks of Cloyne, of Ferns and Leighlin, and of Elphin. Four years after the archbishop's death, namely, in 1745, his second son, Nicholas Synge, was preferred to the bishoprick of Killaloe, to which, in 1752, that of Kilfenora was annexed in commendam. It were difficult to adduce a parallel to such a succession of prelates in one family : five bishops in three successive generations, one of the five being of archiepiscopal dignity. Disinterested con^luct of the Archbishop of Tuam. Archbishop Synge is entitled to the grateful recollection of the Church in behalf of the clergy of his diocese, for having conferred on them the qiiarta jyars episcopalis^ or the fourth part of the tytlies of most of the parishes, with which he was invested- Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. 313 From verv earlv time?, the Archbishop of Tnam and Qiwrtapars * •' IP cpiscopalis. his suffragan bishops had been possessed of this portion of the tythes in their respective bishopricks. The loss was severely felt by the clergy of the pro- vince, deprived, as they moreover ^vere, of two other parts by the impropriators. At the same time the bishops, from the scantiness of their own revenues, were not in a condition to relinquish their claim. For a remedy of the evil, after an inquisition made by Lord Deputy Went worth, whence it appeared that many fee-farms, formerly made by the bishops, had been forfeited by rebellion, or were possessed by defective titles, the property was restored to the respective sees, on condition that the bishops, en- joying the benefit of such restitutions, should relin- quish the fourth part episcopal to the inferior clergy. This was accomplished in Elphin and Killalla, the bishops of which resigned their pretensions to the fourth part of the tythes, which was accordingly settled on the clergy. In Clonfert, from some unknown cause, the same measure failed of being effected. In Tuam, however, the archbishop made his resignation, which was forwarded toward Dublin: but, the rebellion of 1641 breaking out at that juncture, it failed of reaching its destination. The sufferings, the losses, the great age, and the Kept by foi-mer merit of Archbishop Pullen, after the Restoration, Tuam. were admitted as reasons for his enjoyment of the fourth part during his incumbency: the like plea was allowed in favour of his successor, Archbishop Par- ker. Notwithstanding the petition of his reluctant clergy, and the inclination of the government in their favour, by compromises and engagements, which, according to Harris's narrative, were not fulfilled, the next archbishop contrived to secure THE REIGN OF [Cu. III. Relinquished by Archbishop S^'nge. 4 Geo. I., c. 14. Character of Bishop Forslcr, of Kaphoc. himself in the same possession. To the honour of Archbishop Synge, he chose a different course : and in the next parhament after his translation procured the passing of an act, in 1717, for divesting his see for ever of the fourth part of the tythes, and settling them on such rectors, vicars, and curates, as per- sonally discharge the respective cures within the dioceses of Tuam and Enaghdune, an ancient bishop rick, of which the archdiocese of Tuam was partly constituted. The act mentions the agree- ment between the government and the arclibishop before the rebellion of 1641", of which there was stated to remain very probable evidence. And it also enacted, that, where one incumbent had more than one benefice, the archbishop might accept a resignation of one or more of the benefices, and, in lieu thereof, settle on the incumbent so much of the quarta pars, as arose out of the remaining part of his benefices which continued unresigned : and in case the incumbent should not afj^ree to such resio-nation as the archbishop should think reasonable, the arch- bishop might then give so much of the quarta pars, as arose out of the benefices of the incumbent, to some other resident minister, to assist in the dis- charge of the cure, such proportion, on the deter- mination of the incumbency, to be united to each benefice respectively. The see of Raphoe, vacated by Archbishop Synge, was supplied by the translation of Bishop Forster from Killaloe : a prelate, who has been commemo- rated to posterity for his zeal, in contributing largely to the repair of many churches, and to the erection of chapels of ease in large parishes within his dio- cese ; in building school-houses for the instruction ^ Ware, p. 621. Sec. III.] KING GEORGE I. 315 of the poor children of his charge ; and in endowing a residence for the perpetual support of clergymen's widows. How far the loss of this charitable and munificent prelate was compensated to his former diocese by the appointment of his successor, does not appear. But that successor entered on his epi- scopal charge with a prepossession in his disfavour, if, at least, the annotator on Dean Swift's Works be right in applying to Dr. Charles Carr. bishop of Kil- laloe, an observation of the dean to Bishop Atter- bury, in a letter of April 18, 1716: "We have recommended to a bishoprick one whom you would not allow a curate in the smallest of your parishes'." Three or four other episcopal appointments, which occurred about this period, may be brought together in this place under notice. On the death of Bishop Llovd, in December, do^vtics, bi^iop ^ ' ' ' ofKillalla. 1716, the see of Killalla was conferred, the ensuing February, on Dr. Henry Downs or Downes, formerly a fellow of New College, Oxford, and then rector of Brington, Northamptonshire, whence he was pro- moted to the bishoprick of Killalla, and subsequently in succession to those of Elphiu, !Meath, and Derry. His appointment is specially noticed here, as iutro- ductorv to the epistolatorv correspondence which he HisepLt-.iar>- ^ ^ • ^ correspondence lonof maintained with Bishop Nicholson, whose with Bishop appointment to an Irish see will presently be mentioned. In March. 1717, Bishop Stearne was translated Bishop steame translated to from Dromore to Clogher, an event which is noticed in ciogher. a letter from Dean Swift to Archbishop King, as one " at which he was sure all parties would be exceed- ingly glad\" =» JForls, xi., p. 40. * Ibid., p. 73. 316 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Death of Bishcp The Vacancv in Clodier was caused by the re- Ashc. J t3 J ^ moval of Bishop St. George Ashe, who having, on the death of Archbishop Vesey, refused an offer of translation to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam^ as less profitable, though more honourable than his own, accepted, on the death of Bishop Hartstong, of the bishoprick of Derry, to which he was translated in February, 1717. But his continuance there was brief ; for in the same month of the following year, 1718, he died, carrying with him the sorrow, and honoured by the commendation, of Mr. Addison, at that time secretary of state, who, in a letter of MrAddLon"'^^ Marcli 20, expresses himself as "condoling with Dean Swift upon the loss of that excellent man, the Bishop of Derry, who has scarce left behind him his equal in humanity, agreeable conversation, and all kinds of learning''." A few occasional sermons con- stitute the whole of his theological remains^ Transiaiion of xiiis vacaucv uiado an openine^ for the prefer- Bishop Nicholson l o x to Derry. uiout of Blshop Nlcholsou, who, having been a fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and afterwards archdeacon of Carlisle, was made bishop of that sea in 1702. From a letter addressed to him, November 27, 1716, and preserved in his epistolatory corre- spondence published in 1809, it appears, that "every body, at the date of that letter, expected to see his great services to his king and country rewarded with a much better bishoprick in the north or souths" His correspondent, who alludes to the bishop's active services on occasion of the Pretender's invasion in 1715, and anticipates his consequent promotion, does not forebode a translation to the west. How- ever, the vacancy of the bishoprick of Derry gave Ware, p. 191. I 7 Harris's Writers, 1^.211, « Swift's Works, xi., p. 92. j « Ibid , vol. ii., p. 451. Sec. KIXG GEORGE I. 317 occasion for a lucrative, if not otherwise an eligible, exclmno-e, to which he Avas accordino-lv nominated in JMarch, and translated by letters-patent, on the 2nd of May, 1718, with allowance to retain Carlisle for a short period'. The period must indeed have been very short, for his successor at Carlisle was appointed the 30th of April, confirmed the 30th of jNlay, and consecrated the 1st of June. The Bishoi) of Derrv appears to have lost no nis letter to J- .11 Arclibishop of time in visiting the new spliere of his episcopal labours, or in communicating tlie result of his obser- vations to his late metropolitan. Sir William Dawes, archbishop of York, who, on the 4th of October, 1718, wrote to him thus : "Thoiicrh I have not troubled vour Lordship with a Archbisiiop-s c * ' ^ answer, Oct. 4, letter to inquire after your health since you came into ins. England, yet I liave not been wanting in making that inquiry another way. " Your Lordship obligeth me very much by giving me a further account of your Church affairs in Ireland ; it is but a melancholy account indeed, but still it must be made known, in order to its being made better ; and I hope in God, as bad as the world is, there are a great many good churchmen who lend their helping hands to make it so. What strength you can get together in parliament in Difficulties of the Ireland, to oppose any overtures that may be there made in favour of the dissenters, I know not ; but 1 heartily pray God that it may be enough effectually to oppose them, for otherwise, I fear, the Church of Ireland will be soon brought into danger: and her being so will not a little weaken the interest of her sister Church here, and encou- rage the dissenters with fresh life and courage. It were very much to be wished, at this critical time, that the clergy would be careful to conduct themselves with a due mixture of honesty and prudence ; but really, my Lord, with us in England, I am more afraid of a want of the ^ Harris's JVriter.^j vol. ii., p. 474. 318 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. mentin his dio cese. former than of the latter. A blame-worthy compliance with great men, under the name of prudence, and a want of that plain, open, free Christian simplicity and integrity, which fear not the face of man, have almost undone us ; and (I am loth to speak it, but it is to your Lordship,) all the greatest mischiefs which have threatened our religion of late, have come from some false brother of our own. I am sure with us the clergy have, for many years at least, exercised great moderation towards dissenters, (and I would have them go on to do so, because it is their duty,) but for any returns of moderation which they have met with, or are like to meet with from them, I can say very little.'"* ^n'^esuw^^^^^^^^^ Another letter from the archbishop shows, that early in the following year the bishop was preparing to establish himself in his new see. It is dated Cecil-street, February 14, 1719, and says: " I hope this wdll reach you time enough to bring you my best wishes and prayers for a safe voyage to London- derry, and all manner of happiness there. Your presence amongst your people and clergy there w^ill, I dare say, give new life to them at this critical juncture. I should wonder at the conduct of quartering a Presbyterian regiment at Londonderry, if it were not of a piece wdth all the methods wdiich have been used of late for the safety of the Church. God, in his due time, put us into better methods ! " I will trouble your Lordship no longer, at this busy time, than only to desire you to let me hear of your health and the state of the Irish affairs at your leisure; and to believe me to be, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's very affectionate brother, and assured friend, " W. Ebor." None of his let ters liave refer On the perusal of these letters it seems worthy ence to Ireland, of boiug lamented, that the commencement which Bishop Nicholson made of giving the archbishop an account of Irish Church affairs, and which the archbishop desired to be prosecuted at his leisure, Sfc. III.] KING GEORGE I. 319 led to no result, of which the present age is capable of taking advantaga His communications would no doubt have thrown much light on this period of Irish ecclesiastical history. But it unfortunately happens, with respect to the Letters on various subjects, lite- rary, political, and ecclesiastical, to and from Bishop Nicholson, although the first and about half of the second volume contain many letters of his writing, they relate to times before his translation to Ire- land ; and the latter part of the second volume, written after his translation, and during his resi- dence in that country, contains scarcely any com- munication from his pen. It consists, indeed, principally, as their editor INIr. Nichols has re- marked, of letters of Dr. Henry Downes, whose preferment to the bishoprick of Killalla was lately noticed, the academical as well as the episcopal brother of Bishop Nicholson, and his intimate and beloved friend : and " whilst they display the plea- santry and amiable disposition of the writer, they develop some of the secret springs of promotion in Ireland during the latter part of the reign of King George the First." Preface, p. v. 820 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. Section IV. Renewal of Correspondence between Dean Swift and Arch- bishop King. Motives to it. Effects of Queen'' s Bounty. Swifs purchase of a Glebe. Report concerning the Bishops of Ossorg and Killaloe. State of Irish Clergy. Archbishop'' s Answer. The Deaiis Friends indisposed to acknowledge his Services. Archhishop'^s Testimony to them. Reciprocity of kind Offices recommended. The Deans high Estimation of the Archbishop. Attacks on Archbishop King's Character and Conduct. His Vindi- cation of himself and Exposition of his Principles and 'Proceedings. Revival of corrc- It was during the progress of the foregoing episcopal tween Dean Swift appointments, but not in connection with them, that Kin^ '1716.'''''°^ the correspondence, which before the death of the late queen had been suspended between the Arch- bishop of Dublin and the Dean of St. Patrick's, was revived by a letter from the latter, dated June 17, 1716. Upon this letter, which was devoted to matters of local interest, and of personal expostula- tion and vindication, we need not dwell : but from one a few months later, dated Dublin, November 13, 1716, the following extracts may be cited. The archbishop was at the time in England for the recovery of his health ; and the dean appears to have thought that, at such a time, some mark of outward attention was due from himself to his official supe- rior, to whom also he was fain to take the o])portu- nity of communicating intelligence concerning the general affairs of the Church. The letter commences thus : Cause of the " '^^^ reasoii I never gave your Grace the trouble of a Dean's letter. lettci* was, bccausG it could oiily be a trouble, without either entertainment or use ; for I am so much out, even of Sec. IV.J KING GEORGE I. 321 this little world, that I know not the commonest occur- rences in it ; neither do I now write to your Grace upon any sort of business, for I have nothing to ask but your blessing and favourable thoughts : only I conceived it ought not to be said, that your Grace was several months absent in England, without one letter from the dean to pay his respects. My schemes are all circumscribed by the cathe- dral, and the liberties about it ; where nothing of moment happened since your Grace left it, except the election of Mr. Chamberlain to St. Nicholas, which passed quietly while I was absent in the country \" From what follows Ave are informed, that the Effects of queen's bounty. bounty of the late queen, in conferring the first- fruits upon the Church, was producing the desired effects, as related to the providing of residences for the clergy: but the latter part of this extract, rela- tive to the prelates, who had been employed to negotiate that business, may excite some astonish- ment, and, accompanied as it is by the qualifying phrase, " I am told," some doubt of the accuracy of the information contained in it : " I am purchasing a glebe, by the help of the trustees, swiffspm chase for the vicarage of Laracor : and I have vanity enough to desire it might be expressed by a clause in the deeds, as one consideration, that I had been instrumental in procuring the first-fruits ; which was accordingly inserted ; but hints were given it would not pass. Then the Bishops of Os- Rcportconcern- sory and Killaloe had, as I am told, a sum of money for oss^ry and Kii- their labour in that affair; who, upon my arrival at London to negociate it, were one of them gone to Bath, and the other to Ireland : but it seems more reasonable to give bishops money for doing nothing, than a private gentleman thanks for succeeding where bishops have failed. I am only sorry I was not a bishop, that I might at least have got money^"''' The succeeding passage notices the actual state ^^fshcier'S"*^^^ of mind of those of the Irish clergy, who were ^ Swift's JVcrh, xi., 58. 2 p. 59, Y 322 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. favourable to the pretensions of the exiled royal family ; but with respect to whom it was the opinion of the dean, that the indiscreet zeal of the same political party in Eno^land, in endeavouring to maintain a distinct episcopal succession and an independent church, afforded an opportunity for attaching them to the house of Hanover. The tory clei-f^y here seem ready for conversion, pro- voked by a parcel of obscure zealots in London, who, as we hear, are setting up a new Church of England by them- selves. By our intelligence, it seems to be a complication of as much folly, madness, hypocrisy, and mistake, as ever was offered to the world. If it be understood so on your Opportunity for ^idc, I cauuot but tliiuk tlicrc would be a great opportunity t"iheco«it!'''" regaining the body of the clergy to the interests of the court ; who, if they were persuaded by a few good words to throw off their fears, could never think of the Pretender without horror; under whom it is obvious that those refiners would have the greatest credit, and consequently everything be null since the time of the Revolution, and more havock made in a few months, than the most de- sponding among the tories can justly apprehend from the present management in as many years. These at least are, as I am told, the thoughts and reasonings of the high Church people among us; but whether a court, in the midst of strength and security, will conceive it worth their while to cultivate the dispositions of people in the dust is out of my reach After a rather long discussion, resumed in some subsequent letters, concerning the provost of the college, Dr. Pratt, whose unfitness and unpopularity made his removal to another station desirable, but whose wishes would not be satisfied with any preferment inferior to a bishoj^rick, though ulti- mately he was content with the deanery of Down ; the letter concludes with the intelligence : — ^ Swift's IVot'is, xi., p. 59. Sec. IV.] KING GEORGE I. C23 "Here has been one Wliittingham, in an ordina- Abuse of the tion sermon, calling the clergy a thousand dumb dogs, and treating the episcopacy as bad as Boyse." The annotator describes the latter as " an eminent dissenting teacher, minister of Wood-street meeting- house, in Dublin, who wrote several tracts in favour of the dissenters ;" probably the same person, bear- ing, as he did, the same name, who assailed the archbishop, when Bishop of Derry: " yet no notice," adds the dean, " at all shall be taken of this, unless to his advantage upon the next vacant bishoprick; and wagers are laid already, v/hether he or one Monk will be the man. But I forget myself; and, therefore, shall only add, that I am, with the greatest respect and truth, my Lord, your Grace's most dutiful and most humble servant, &c.''" To this letter the archbishop returned the fol- Archbishop's T . 1 . .1.1-1 . answer, Nov. 22, lowmg very becoming answer ; m which, however, it me. may be remarked, that no notice is taken, either of the statement concerning the Bishops of Ossory and Killaloe, or of the intimations of the disposition shown by the " tory clergy '^London, Suffolk Street, November 22, I7l6. " Sir, " I read yours of the loth instant with great satis- Fitness of a good faction. It is not only an advantage to you and me, that between them, there should be a good correspondence between us, but also the publick ; and I assure you I had much ado to persuade people here, that we kept any tolerable measures with one another; much less, that there was anything of a good intelligence ; and, therefore, you judge right, that it ought not to be said, that in so many months I had not received any letter from you. "I do a little admire, that those that should be your DeanSwiffs fastest friends, should be so opposite to acknowledge the ^^^^^l^^ s n 5 , . bis services. * Swift's Works, xi., p. 61. Y 2 324 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. service you did in procuring the twentieth parts and first- fruits ; I know no reason for it, except the zeal I showed to The archbishop's (Jq 5^ou iustico in that particular from the befrinninor. But, testimony to his . _ , _ _ , i • , , • i merits. suice I Only did it, as obliged to, to bear testimony to the truth in a matter which I certainly knew, and would have done for my worst enemy I had in the world, I see no reason why you should suffer, because I, among others, was your witness. But be not concerned ; ingratitude is war- ranted by modern and ancient custom ; and it is more honour for a man to have it asked, why he had not a suitable return to his merits, than why he was overpaid I ' Benefacere et male audi re' is the lot of the best men. If calumny or ingratitude could have put me out of my way, God knows where I should have wandered by this time. " I am glad the business of St. Nicholas is over any way; my inclination was Mr. Wall, that I might have joined the vicarage of Castle-knock to the prebend of Malahidart, which would have made a good provision for one man, served the cures better, and yielded more then to the incumbent, than it can do when in different hands. But I could not compass it without using more power over Reciprocity of my clcrgy than I am willing to exert. But as I am thankful Recommended. to you for your coudescensiou in that affair, so I will expect that those vrith whom you have complied, should show their sense of it by a mutual return of like compliance, Avlien there shall be occasion. Such reciprocal kind offices are -the ground of mutual confidence and friendship, and the fuel that keeps them alive ; and I think nothing can con- tribute more to our common ease, and the publick good, than maintaining these between you and me, and with the clergy\" Dean swift'b high There is, however, nothino^ w^iich bears on the estimation of the archbishop. general concerns of the Church sufficiently to give occasion for dwelling any longer on this portion of Dean Swift's correspondence with his metropolitan. It may, at tlie same time, be briefly remarked, that at this period he appears to have been particularly * Swift's fForks, xi., pp. GO— C3. Sec. IV.] KING GEORGE I. 825 desirous of standing fair in the archbishop's estima- tion, and to have cherished towards him a strong- feeling of personal veneration and affection. An observation of the archbishop, which seemed to call in question his political integrity, drew from him a justification, which he concluded with saying, " I have not spoke or thought so much of party these two years, nor could anything have tempted me to it, but the grief I have in standing so ill in your Grace's opinion\" In relating his purchase of a glebe for his country parish, which was effected partly by a sacrifice of his own property, he took occasion to pass a merited commendation on the archbishop's liberality : " I reckon to lay out of my own money about 250/., and so to be an humble imitator of your Grace, longo intervallo'T A few months later, he thus expresses his sense of the value of the archbishop's life : "I hear vour Grace vaiueofthe ^ * archbishop's life. intends this spring for the Bath. I shall pray, for the good of the Church, that you may establish your health"." And, again, about two months later : *' I pray God preserve your Grace, for the good of the Church and of the learned world, and for the happi- ness of those whom you are pleased to honour with your friendship, favour, or protection. I beg your Grace's blessing ; and remain, with the greatest truth and respect, my Lord, your Grace's most dutiful and most humble servant, — Jox. Swift'." That these commendations of the archbishop's Attacks on Arch- ^ bishop King's conduct and character were uttered in sinceritv, character and conduct. there appears no reason to doubt; and the justice of « Swift's Works, xi., p. Go. ' Ibid., p. G6. ^ Ibid., p. 70. ^ Ibid., p. 78. 326 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. them is proved by the tenor of his active and useful life. It ought not, however, to excite astonishment, if, in a country under such political and religious circumstances as Ireland, a person in the elevated station, of the decided sentiments, and of the corre- sponding vigour and firmness of action, of Arch- bishop King, should have encountered those by whom his good was evil spoken of ; nor need we be astonished, if, when unjustly, as he thought, assailed, he should have stood forward in his justification. It seems to have been on such an occasion that he His vindication addrcsscd, on the 18th of March, 1719, the follow- er himself. ing letter to John Spranger, Esq., at Henry Hoar's, Esq., in Fleet-street, London, the tenor of whose communications, which called for the answer, is to be conjectured only from the answer itself: Letter to Mr. "Sir, Spranger, March u J received yours of the 19th of February yesterday, and two before ; but have had a long fit of the gout in my right hand, which has disabled me to write, and it is with pain I handle my pen. I thank you for the account you give me : as to what concerns my lord primate, I have nothing to say ; but as to my being a positive opiniative man, and wedded to my own way, it is no news to me. Hisconductwhen " 'Twas the coustaut clamour of Sir Constantine Phipps fied by the event. and all that party, and no wonder, when I was almost single in opposition to their designs. And I believe I shall take the same way, if I should perceive anything carrying on to the prejudice of his Majesty''s prerogative, of the interest of religion, or the publick. But I have had the for- tune in everything, where I was reckoned to be positive, to be justified by the event : and, when the mischiefs of the contrary management have appeared, then I have universally been acknowledged to have been in the right : and I am sorry that I am able to give so many instances where it so happened. I never yet, that I remember, stood out against Sec. IV.] KING GEORGE I. 327 the current of common opinion, but I have, at long running, either gained my point or seen the repentance of those that blamed me. "I hope the diocese of Derry, whilst I was in it, and J/'^q^^J ^ the diocese of Dublin, since I came to it, have not been the worse for my steadiness : for so I call that virtue which others call positiveness, opiniatrete, and being wedded to my own way. The truth is, my ways are the ways prescribed by the common and by ecclesiastical laws, and so ought not to be called my ways ; but, generally, the ways of those that censure me are truly their own ways, being contrary to laws, canons, and justice. It is easy for a few whisperers in London, whose designs and practices I have opposed, to tell ill stories, and prejudice people against any one : but I believe if it were put to the vote of the people of Ireland to judge of my conduct, I should have as many of all sorts approving it, Protestants, Dissenters, and Papists, as any of my easy complying neighbours would have for justifying theirs. Though I am little concerned about that, my busi- ness not being to please men but God : and he is so good, that when a man's ways please him, he often makes his enemies at peace with him, and, beyond all expectation, his reputation is cleared. You say, the person who discoursed you acknowledged that I had been and was useful and ser- viceable to the Church : assure yourself that if ever I was so in anything, it was by doing those very things that got me the censure of being opiniative and singular. " I remember an understanding and sincere friend once Example of I , 1 ■, IT , , . . . Bishop Dopping. ingenuously told me, that I was too rough and positive m my treating my clergy, and proposed to me the example of the late Bishop of Meath, Doctor Dopping, a person who was, in truth, much better skilled in the laws and constitu- tions of the Church than I was, had the good thereof as much at heart as any man could have, was of a meek and gentle spirit, and managed all things with mildness and gentle persuasion. I asked my friend whether he was well acquainted with the dioceses of Meath and Derry, and Diocpses of Meath desired him to tell me whether of them he thought in best H^T'^' condition, as to the churches built and repaired, as to the progress of conformity, service of the cures, and flourishing 328 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. of the clergy as to their temporals. He freely owned that Derry was in a much better condition as to all these, and that it was due to the care I had taken. To which I replied, that he knew that the churches had been more destroyed in Derry, and the state of the clergy and conformity more dis- turbed and wasted than in any place of Ireland ; and yet in five or six years that I had been there bishop, it was put in a better posture by the methods I took than Meatli was in fifteen by the bishop's ; and he might judge by that which of the two were best. I asked also, if he had lately discoursed any of the Derry clergy : he said he had, and said he found them much altered as to their opinion of my proceedings : and they thought at first when I began that it was impossible to bring the discipline of the Church and conformity to the pass in which they were then ; that they found themselves agreeably deceived both as to their spiritual and temporal advantages : and thus ended all the loud clamours raised at first against my positiveness, singularity, and tyranny : and I believe you may remember something of this. D^^br^ ^^^'^"^y " As to the other part that concerns charity, I have been sixteen years Archbishop of Dublin, and can show visibly, besides what is private, that above 70,000/. has been laid out and given to M^orks of charity, such as building churches, poor-houses, schools, and hospitals, and other pious uses in the diocese, w^hich I think a great deal in so poor a country. I hope neither my example nor persuasions have given any discouragement to the good disposition of the donors. Charity schools; " As to charity-scliools, I have perhaps more in this city than are in most of the kingdom besides. What my opinion was of them seven years ago, you will see by the inclosed, which is a copy of a letter I wrote to Mr. Nichol- son at that time. " I have only now to add to it, that I observed with great grief that the management of many of these schools was got into the hands of persons disaffected to the Revolution and Government : and what the effect of that may be in time it is easy to judge. I am sure I shall never encourage them, and will take the best care I can to put them into right hands in my own diocese. Sec. IV. I KISG GEORGE I. 329 "Another thing I apprehended, that the clergy, on Dan?er of their account of these schools, may think themselves freed from JtnTctk^ a3 the most excellent method proposed for teaching the princi- rXlclL^' pies of Christianity in the rubricks annexed to the Cate- chism and office of confirmation in our Common Prayer Book, which, if enforced and duly executed, would effectually propagate all the necessary knowledge for Christians to all manner of persons ; wdiereas, the teaching six or seven hundred poor children, the number of those settled in Dublin, no ways answers the end of our rubricks, which reaches all. I therefore endeavour to put the clergy on doing their duty, and this is one of my particular ways, to which I am wedded, and which doth not please at all. I have good hope of these schools, whilst under a strict eye and in well-affected hands, and whilst they depend on the yearly voluntary contributions of well-disposed Christians : for those will, I suppose, take care that their money be not misapplied ; and school-masters and mistresses will take care to give a good account, for fear they should get no more. But if once they come to have legal and settled endowments, I doubt they will be managed as other chari- ties that are on that foot. " Of what moment I reckon the training up of youth in a right way, you may see from my printed Charity Sermon, ])reached at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on Proverbs xxii. 6. "1 shall add no more, but my most hearty prayers for you ; and that I am, " Sir, Yours, «S:c.. ^' \V. D. ^' John Spranger, Esq., at Henry Hoar's, Esq., in Fleet Street. London.'' 830 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Emigration of Protestants from Ireland, 1717, 1718. Section V. Emigration of Protestants from Ireland: taken advantage of hy Dissenters. Its true Cause. Used as an Argu- ment for Repealing the Test. Political object of Dis- se?iters. Solemn League and Covenant circulated. History of the Toleration Bill. Letters from Archbishop King on the subject. Bill passed^ after long debates. Arguments against it. Its Enactments and Promsions, Act for better Maintenance of Curates. Wants of impropriate Parishes; exemplified in letters of Arch- bishop King. Benefits of building Churches and fixing Ministers. Improved Condition of the Church. Co7i- templated Provision for Clergy Residence. Act of Par- liament not passed. Glebes alienated from the Clergy, Disinclination of the Gentry to grant Glebes. The years 1717 and 1718 are memorable as the commencement of a practice, which has operated in different ways and with powerful effect on the religion and Church of Ireland. Hundreds of families about that period departed from the northern parts of the kingdom for the West Indies, Cape Breton, and other countries of North America, for the purpose of seeking more eligible settlements in those remote regions. The reasons which they gave for their emigration were, the raising of the rents of the land by the landlords to such an extent that they w^ere unable to live ; the great discourage- ment practised towards Ireland by the parliament of England ; the impediments presented to their trade; the residence of the great landed proprietors in England, and the consequent stoppage of the circu- lation of money, and want of a resident gentry to protect and regulate the country ; and lastly, the preference given to Popish tenants, who, by their Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 381 more frugal and meaner habits of living, -svere enabled to give, or at least, by their anxiety to possess the land were excited to promise, larger rents : for they vrere only Protestants, though of different denominations, who engaged in these emi- grations. JNlean while the London and Bristol mer- chants gave them all encouragement ; sent ships for transporting them ; and tempted them by invitations in the newspapers. This emif^ration of the Protestants from Ireland Taken ndvantnge O of by the dis- was taken advantage of by the dissenters, and made centers, the occasion of complaint and clamour, as if it was occasioned by some religious restraint to which they were peculiarly subject. This fallacy is noticed and exposed by Archbishop King in a letter of June 2, 1719, wherein he explains to the Archbishop of Canterbury the real motives which induced the Irish Protestants to quit the kingdom, and transplant themselves in such numbers to the other side of the Atlantick : Some would insinuate,'' he observes, " that this is in Their easiness at , , ... , . the time. some measure due to the uneasniess dissenters nave in the matter of religion, but this is plainly a mistake ; for dissenters were never more easy as to that matter, than they have been since the Revolution, and are at present ; and yet they never thought of leaving the kingdom, till op- pressed by excessive and other temporal hardships ; nor do only dissenters leave us, but proportionably of all sorts except Papists. The truth of the case is this: after the True cause of tho Revolution, most of the kingdom was waste, and abun- dance of people destroyed by the war ; the landlords, there- fore, were glad to get tenants at any rate, and set their lands at very easy rents ; this invited abundance of people to come over here, especially from Scotland, and they have lived here very happily ever since ; but now their leases are expired, and they obliged not only to give what was paid before the Revolution, but in most places double, and in 882 THE KEIGN OF [Cii. III. many places treble, so that it is impossible for people to live or subsist on their farms. Farms in the " The landlords set up their farms to be disposed by hands of Papists. . . , . ^ / cant, and the Papists, who live in a miserable and sordid manner, will always out-bid a Protestant; nor are they much solicitous whether they pay the rents covenanted or no ; their business is to out the Protestants, and when that is done, they get into arrears with the landlords a year or two, and then run away : many have been thus served, and yet it will not teach others wisdom. By these means most of the farms of Ireland are got into their hands, and, as leases expire, it is probable the rest will go the same way. " This is that which forces Protestants of all sorts out of this kingdom, not only farmers but artificers ; since they can have no prospect of living with any comfort in it. I have inquired, and am assured that the peasants in France and Turkey live much better than tenants in Ireland. hSgdomin'thcir " "^Y ^^^^ ^^t against Popery, that hinders Papists to i^anenalties. 6 George I., c. 5. Of the bill thus strenuously debated in the par- liament of 1719, being chapter 5 of the 6th year of King George I., the ground, as professed in the preamble to the statute was, that " the granting of some ease and indulgence to the Protestant dissenters in the exercise of religion may be an effectual means to unite his Majesty's Protestant subjects in interest and affection and accordingly an act was passed for exempting them from certain penalties to which they were subject. The Acts for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, of the 2nd of Queen Elizabeth and of the 17th and 18th of King Charles II., were those from the penalties of which exemption was thus pro- Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 343 vided for Protestants dissenting from the Church of Ireland. By the former of these, all persons were required to resort to their parish church every Sunday and holiday, during divine service, upon pain of forfeiting twelve-pence for non-attendance ; and, by the latter, every dissenting minister was liable to a penalty of 100/. for officiating in any congrega- tion. But, by this act, such penalties were taken its enactments off from Protestant dissenters, provided they should ''''' p'^'^'^'^'''"^- take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, and make and subscribe the declaration against transub- stantiation ; provided, also, that no assembly for religious worship should be had in any place with the doors locked, barred, or bolted ; and that all laws for frequenting divine service on Sundays be still in force, and executed against offenders, unless they resorted to some assembly of religious worship allowed by this act. The like benefits were ex- Benefits extended tended to Quakers, on their making and subscribing a declaration professing fidelity to the king, and disbelief in the peculiar doctrines of the Church of Rome, as superstitious and idolatrous ; but no benefit was thereby given to any person professing the Popish religion, or to any who, in his preaching or writing, should deny the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, as declared in the Thirty-nine Articles by the Convocation holden at London, in 1562, at the same time no assent to that doctrine was required. Another act of this parliament, following the Act for the better , p .11 . maintenance of example ot an Lngiisli statute, m the late reign, cmates. was enacted " for the better maintenance of curates within the Church of Ireland." That " the absence of beneficed clergymen ouglit to be supplied by curates, who are sufficient and licenced preachers, 6 George I., c. 1.X 344 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. and that no curates or ministers ought to serve in any place without the examination and admission of the bishop of the diocese, or ordinary of the })lace, having episcopal jurisdiction ; but that, nevertheless, for want of sufficient maintenance and encourage- Reasons for it. meut foY sucli curatcs, the cures within this kingdom of Ireland have been in several places meanly sup- plied :" these positions were laid down in the pre- amble as the reasons for the following enactment. And for remedy, it was enacted, that if any beneficed clergyman, having cure of souls, should nominate a curate to be licenced to serve the cure in the incum- bent's absence, the bishop, according to the great- ness of the cure and the value of the benefice, should appoint a yearly stipend, not above 50/., nor less than 20/., payable to the curate by the incum- bent, and where there is a church already, or where a church hereafter shall be built; and on non-payment, Remedies scqucster the benefice. It provided, also, that in enacted- , i i • i • i certain cases of episcopal unions, the bishop might appoint a curate for such benefices. Another clause recognised the fact of there being " several parishes in the kingdom of such great extent, that it is im- possible for the inhabitants thereof to repair for divine worship to their parish churches, being in some places ten or twelve miles distant from them;" and, accordingly, made it lawful, that in parishes where a great number of inhabitants was more than six miles from their place of publick worship, one or two chapels of ease might be erected, and a curate or curates be nominated by the incumbent and admitted by the bishop ; the chapels being either endowed with a portion of the tithes of the ])arish, or annual payments being made by the incumbent to the curate, as the bishop of the diocese should Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 345 appoint; and the chapels being repaired at the charge of the whole parish, or by annual rents, to be placed at the vestry on their account. No provision, however, of this kind, however wantsofpansiiea r ' ' where tithes useful it may have been in relieving the wants of impropriate, parislies in general, was calculated to have any effect on those parishes the tithes of which had become impropriate, or, in other words, been granted to a layman as his property, subject to the questionable condition of making provision, very small, perhaps, and insufficient, for the maintenance of a curate. Allusion has frequently been made to this source of evil to the Church, in the course of the foregoing narrative. A special instance of the injury, and of the mode proposed for remedying it in a particular parish, falls at this time under my notice, as specified in a letter from the Archbishop of Dublin to the Earl of Thomond, which is submitted as a con- venient mode of laying the grievance distinctly before the mind of the reader: My Lord, Dublin, March 9, J 719. Grievance set . . ^ . forth in letter " Perhaps it may be some surprise to your Lordship from Archbishop to receive a letter from a person that has not the honour to Thomond^Mich be known to you ; but the importance of the subject, and ^' the good intention of the writer, I hope will recommend it to your charity. " I understand that the whole parish of Holm Patrick, condition of I'T />Tii • Til' parish of Holm in this diocese of Dublin, is your Lordship's inheritance, Patrick, and find that the whole tithes, with the altarages, offerings, and oblations, are impropriate into your hands ; that there is a considerable congregation of Protestants in the parish ; and that they are fiye miles from any church. I have been on the phice, and find that there are the walls of a church, and I have a fund which will help to roof it ; but there wants an endowment to support a minister; only 10/. per annum are allowed by your Lordship's tenants for a 846 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. curate, which will not enable me to place one there, as there ought to be. I, therefore, with all submission, lay the case before your Lordship, which I am encouraged to do with the greater assurance, from the reputation your Lord- ship has deservedly acquired of being heartily and sincerely zealous for the Protestant interest of Ireland, which greatly depends on their having a sufficient number of clergymen settled and churches built. improven»entof " Siuco I camo to tliis dioccse, I liavc made this my chief care and study, and, I thank God, with considerable success; insomuch, that I have got about twenty-five churches new built or rebuilt, and near as many more repaired. Several endowed with tithes and glebes, and manse-houses built, without which residence is often im- possible. This encouraged me to address your Lordship, in hopes I may have the same success that I have had with other persons of quality. I hope, therefore, your Lordship will pardon me when I propose to your Lordship to think of settling a minister at Holm Patrick, and endow either a vicar or a curate with a competency. Advantage of a " We havc now an act in force in Ireland, that enables resident clergy- . • i i • i • i man. US, m a Certain method, to erect parishes, to unite and divide them ; if your Lordship will be so charitable as to do your part, there are some small things that lie adjacent and convenient to be united to Holm Patrick, that may make a subsistence for a resident vicar. But, then, as I observed before, there must be a glebe of twenty or a dozen acres ; if your Lordship will think of settling such a parcel, I am confident your Lordship will be no loser by it ; for the resi- dence of a minister and vicinity of a church, is such an encouragement to Protestant tenants to settle in any place, that it double pays the rent of the glebe ; but if your Lord- ship should think it too much to give, (which the character of charity which your Lordship bears persuades me you will not,) we have a small fund for purchasing glebes, with the help of which, and what I would be willing to contribute myself, we may be enabled to give your Lordship a com- petent reprisal. Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 347 " Your Lordship may think me too free and forward in this matter, especially with a nobleman to whom I have the misfortune to be an absolute stranger ; but I entreat your Lordship to consider, that I have no manner of private interest in the [matter ; that it is for the benefit of God's church only I solicit ; and I shall never be ashamed to beg, and even importunately, on that account. " I add no more, but my most earnest prayers for your Lordship's health and happiness ; and that I am, with the greatest respect, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's most humble servant, W. D. ^' The Right Hon. the Earl of Thomond." The evils which attended a want of the Church's Letters to Lord Palmersto^vn and ministrations, the pressing demand for additional sir John Stanley, edifices, and the benefits resulting from the supply of such demands, may be further illustrated from two letters of the 8th of October, 1725, addressed respectively to Lord Palmerstown and Sir John Stanley, by the Archbishop of Dublin, soliciting their assistance, as the landed proprietors, to pro- vide for the spiritual necessities of Grange Gorman, in the neighbourhood of Dublin, pursuant to the petition of the grand jury and inhabitants. The destitute condition of the place, and its Destitute condi- ^ tioii of Grange consequent depravity, are thus described : Gorman. " As to Grange Gorman, it is reckoned extra-parochial. On that account no care has been taken of it ; insomuch that it is one of the most lewd and irregular places about Dublin. I have got a clergyman to attend the sick, to christen the children, and do such other offices as can be performed without a church ; but this doth not answer the necessities of the people, for they have no place to attend divine service, nor to bury their dead. "To remedy this there are two ways proposed : one is Proposed rcmo- dics. 848 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. to unite them to St. PauFs, the next church; and the other, to erect them into a parish or chapehy, " As to the first, I do not find the people to be pleased with such an union, for they have been ill-used by the governors of that parish. They had seats in it at first, but were turned out of it. The church is small, and will not receive a fourth part of the parishioners ; and they can"'t expect any accommodation in it; therefore, they are desirous Want of churches to havc a cliurcli of their own. To say the truth, Dublin in Dublin. greatly wants churches ; for that side of the water has in it, by a diligent inquiry, about thirty thousand souls, for the reception of which there are only three churches, which, one with another, will not receive above a thousand persons each. We have no fund for buildino^ or rebuildino^ of churches ; notwithstanding, by the assistance we had from the Crown, and by the industry and beneficence of private persons, I have got twenty-eight churches built, or rebuilt, in the diocese since I came to it ; four new ones in Dublin, and two officiated in, which had no service in them before. I still want six more to accommodate the conformable people with any tolerable conveniency in this town, and about as many more in the country. This is one reason why I think Grange Gorman should rather have a church than be united to St. PauFs. Benefits of build- " Another is, that I find, wherever a church is built, ing churches and , . . . . i i • i fixing ministers, and a regular minister and service settled, it greatly re- formeth the manners of the people. I have two or three instances of this near the city. Ringsend was one of the lewdest irreligious places near Dublin. Since I have got a church there, a good clergyman, and constant service, "'tis a pleasure to see the alteration. No church is better fre- quented ; no congregation appears with more decency or devotion ; and they will not suffer a lewd person to har- bour amongst them. The same must be said of Glassnevin. It was the receptacle of thieves and rogues : the first search, when anything was stolen, was there : and when any couple had a mind to retire to be wicked, there was their harbour. But, since the church was built, and service regularly settled, all these evils are vanished. Good houses are built in it, and the place civilized. I could give several instances of the like. Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 349 " A third reason svliy I was for having a church there, fZl^^Ztt is the planting it with Protestants. I find nothing con- tribute more effectually to that than the near neighbour- hood of a church ; as may be seen everywhere, both in the city and the country ; nor is there a more effectual means to break both dissenters' and Papists' meetings. " The county of A\^icklow was full of Quakers and dis- J^^^™*^! senters ; but, having got seven new churches in it, and low. filled them with good men, there is hardly a meeting left in that part ; that is in the diocese of Dublin. As to the city, the parish of St. Nicholas Without is in my neigh- bourhood, and there was but one church in it, and that a very small one, and seldom filled. On a good minister being there placed, instead of one who was not agreeable, the church immediately filled ; and, though enlarged with galleries, so as to receive double the number, there wanted room. To help them, service was opened in the cathedral of St. Patrick's, which was not officiated before regularly ; that was likewise filled. And though it has usually a thousand people every Lord's-day, yet there was not recep- tion enough for the auditors ; on which we got a new parish erected out of the former, and a new church, St. Luke's, built, of an hundred foot long and forty foot wide, with spacious galleries ; which church is frequented every Lord's-day with about a thousand hearers, and yet there wants room ; so that we are about enlarging the old church. I could give several other instances of the ad- vantages to religion by building new churches, but should be too tedious. " These are the reasons that move me to be zealous in Landlords' estates that affair. But there is one that concerns you as land- churches, lord ; I mean the improving of your estate. I will only give you two or three precedents, to convince you of the advantages you may expect by countenancing this project. Mr. Joseph Dawson purchased a piece of ground, which cost but a small sum of money, by St. Stephen's Green ; began with laying the foundation of a church, and erecting, by act of parliament, the parish of St. Anne's. The con- sequence was, that he set his ground for above five hundred pounds per annum, and has now Dawson-street, one of the 350 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Cost of a parish church. Better condition of the Church in 1723. best in Dublin, built upon it. Sir Humphrey Jervice gave ground for a church over the water, now St. Mary^s, which has thriven so prodigiously that we are now about dividing it. Sir John Rogerson got a church built at Glassnevin, and contributed effectually to it ; and it has doubled or trebled his rent."' From a remark in a subsequent letter to Lord Palmerstown, we incidentally learn, that the cost of such a church as was contemplated was reckoned by the archbishop at eight hundred pounds. " I am altogether," he adds, " of your Lordship's opinion, that we ought rather to multiply the number of churches than make them magnificent." Notwithstanding the obstacles which impeded the improvement of the Church in these respects, it appears to have been gradually advancing ; and to that effect I here subjoin a remark, in a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury of June 8, 1723. "Though the Church of Ireland," observes Arch- bishop King, " is in a very, very bad condition, as to the maintenance of a sufficient number of clergymen and discipline, yet I think it in a better way than it was when I was made a bishop ; and I flatter my- self that I have somewhat contributed to it. I have now the Archbishop of Tuam and several other bishops who join heartily with me ; whereas at first I had hardly any one who durst own my schemes, and several who not only opposed them violently, but made it their business to expose and ridicule them." pro'Sn f^ It appears to have been in contemplation, during ciergj- residence. scssiou of parliament in 1719, to make some provision for enabling the clergy to reside on their benefices, by putting them in possession of glebes. Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 851 of which to a great extent they were destitute. The extent of the destitution in the diocese and province of Dublin, as well as the contemplated relief, are thus stated by the archbishop in a letter to Mr. Parnell, of the 20th of July : " I understand the Commons have before them a bill Jifbrnffci^rgy about providing glebes for the residence of clergymen. I believe it may be some help to the members of the com- mittee, to which that bill is referred, to have some view of the state of the clergy as to that particular. Queen Anne gave the first-fruits of the clergy towards purchasing such glebes as might encourage residence, and settled them in trustees for that purpose ; and they issued an order to every bishop to return an account of wha! churches in their respective dioceses wanted glebes, or had small ones. In obedience to which you may see that at the time, viz., November, 1714, there were about forty-eight rural churches that wanted either glebe or maintenance, or both: one church has been built since, and several repaired; three have been endowed with glebes, and I have laid out land to endow four more, and put it in my queries to the clergy, to enquire whether any proprietors would sell any parcel of land for glebes, and have given it in charge to them every visitation ; but, on the best inquiries, they could find none, and I have laboured that point with several, but without success. " I have inquired in my triennials concerning the other same in other clergy of my province, whether they be in a better condi- tion as to glebes, than those of the diocese of Dublin ; and found them no better, if not worse : so that till some way be found out to provide glebes, residence is extremely diffi- cult. I have known several clergymen that could not so much as find a lodging in their parishes, and have been forced to ride six or seven miles every Sunday morning to preach, or when called on to a sick person, to a Christ- ening, or burial. " I can't call this serving a cure ; and, when they get a lodging, or small farm in the parish, the rent of it very often in a manner takes up their whole income as clergymen. 352 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Act of pariia- " That Something ought to be done to make residence men necessarj, ppjjg^j(,^|j|g^ J think it is plain, and I see no other way to come at it, but by an act of parliament ; and I can only pray God to direct the House of Commons in an affair of so great moment." But not enacted. The piojected bill, however, was not enacted ; and the evil was left to operate with its full force. If a law could have been passed and made effectual, for reinstating the clergy in what properly belonged to them, no other enactment would have been de^y auemted. ^eccssary. The glebes, of which the clergy were in need, were in the possession of the landed pro- prietors, though, 'indeed, it might have been im- practicable to ascertain their position and limits, from the absence of requisite documents. This was clearly perceived by Archbishop King, who, on being consulted by the Bishop of Derry concerning an exchange of glebe in that diocese, in January, 1721, urged the necessity of counterparts to the deeds, and of a map being affixed to each deed ; " the want of such precautions," he observes, " having lost most of the glebes in Ireland : and even in your Lordship's diocese, most of the old grants and glebes are lost for want of a map to direct wdiere to find them. By the same means I have forty- eight country parishes, with churches in repair and incumbents that officiate in them, that have no glebes ; and the clergymen can neither for love nor money get a house in the parish to live in. I have no less reason to complain of the same misfortune in the lands belonging to the see, many shares of which have been cli])ped off by the neighbouring gentlemen, and are lost past recovery : for which reason I have added maps to all the leases I have lately given ; and we take the same course with Sec. v.] KING GEORGE I. 853 such glebes as we purchase on the fund of the first-fruits." In truth, however, whilst the gentry were suffi- Disinclination of ' ' O ^ the gentry to ciently ready in appropriating to themselves, and grant giebes. retaining, this portion of ecclesiastical property, they seem to have been little disposed to accommodate the ministers of the Church with the means of resi- dence, even for an adequate pecuniary compensation. " As to the purchasing of glebes," says Archbishop King, in a letter of June the 9th, 1722, to Dr. Maule, "a great many are unwilling the clergy should have any ; for, say they, they will then live in their parishes, and have a place to draw their tythes to, and then we shall not have them at what rate we please. I find very few willing to sell either glebes or impropriations ; and these are so far from encouraging the matter, that they set the due on us, and insist on extravas^ant rates. Yet I am willino^ to try the method you propose. I have done some- thing myself, and shall endeavour to persuade others to follow the precedent." *»54 THE REIGN OF |Cit. TIT. Section VI. Archbishop King not in Commission of Lords Justices. Bishop Downess Bemarks thereon. Illness of the Pri- mate. Speculations. Archbishops King and Synge not in faxonr with the Government. Clergy of Dublin msited by Archbishop Synge. Instructions from Archbishop of Dublin. Encroachment by Government on Ecclesiastical authority. Archbishop King again a Lord Justice. Disinclination for the office., misrepresented. Want of kindness and respect for him. Distinction between Irish and English Bishops ; Natives and Foreigner's. Death of Bishop Digby of Elphin. His Character. State of the Diocese. Bishop Downes tra7islated to it from Killala. Death of Bishop Smith of Down and Connor. Succeeded by Hutchinson. His voluminous Writings. Measures for Improvement of Isle of Raghlin. Archbishop of Immediately after the close of the parliament in commission of November, the Duke of Bolton, the lord lieutenant, lords justices, g^ilod for Eugkud, leaving the government in the hands of Viscount Midleton and William ConoUy, Esq., lords justices. In the early part of this year, before the arrival of the duke, the government had been committed to the same hands, but the Archbishop of Dublin was then associated with them in the office, from w^hich at this time he was ex- cluded. The fact, and the inference from it, are thus noticed by Bishop Downes in a letter to Bishop Nicholson, dated Dublin, November 24, 1719'. Remarks thereon " Last Thursday, about noon, the lord lieutenant left rk)Iner^ us ; and the next day, in the evening, the lords justices (viz., the speakers of both houses) were sworn into their ofiTice, and this day were publickly complimented upon it by ^ Bishop Njciiolson's Letters, ii., 407. Sec. VI.l KING GEORGE I. 355 the city and the college ; by the recorder in the name of the one, and by Dean Clayton's son, one of the junior fellows, in the name of the other : and there was nothing said that was exceptionable by either ; not so much as a touch upon foreigners, nor upon encroachments made upon their privileges, or preferments by them. " I believ^e it was a great mortification to the zealots that a certain third man was left out (the Archbishop of Dubhn is here intended;) "because it looked as if he had far less credit and power on the other side of the water, than he has on this. However, he was so wise as to dis- semble his dislike of that step, and came to the castle as usual, to take his leave of the lord lieutenant, and to attend him out of town ; and seemed as pleased with his release from trouble, as others can possibly be with the addition to theirs' ; but his heart you can guess at as well.'"* In the ensuing January a violent and repeated p"^^^^ attack of paralysis, which confined the Primate for some time, and caused him to be thought in great danger, led to speculations on the result of his ex- pected death. "As matters stand," writes Bishop speculations oe- ^ casioned by it. Downes to his brother of Derry, Jan. 15, 1720, " I am persuaded your predecessor will not be his suc- cessor. And I could not but agree with a great layman, who told me, this day, that he had certainly put a caveat against himself ; and perhaps you will agree with me that mj metropolitan" (Archbishop Synge, of Tuam,) " has done the like'." The course pursued by the two archbishops Archbishops of with respect to the toleration act in the late SeS- Tuam not in fa- rt T i i/Y*•J^^»i^ four with the Go- sion 01 parliament may account sutfaciently for the vemment. disfavour in which they were now supposed to stand with the ruling powers. In that course, however, they appear to have been actuated by a sincere and disinterested sense of their own duty; and they, ^ Nicholson, ii., p. 502. 356 THE I?ETGN OF [Cri. III. therefore, shrank not from persisting in it, although doubtless aware of the invidious character of their proceeding. In the ensuing spring, the regular claims of office called on the Archbishop of Dublin to hold a visitation of his clergy ; but his infirmities precluding him from holding it in person, he found an able and willing substitute in his brother metro- visitation of politau ; and the Archbishop of Tuara, accordino'ly, Dublin commit- ■■■ ' A ' O J ' ted to Archbishop uudertook the task. The circumstances of the Synge. times, however, seemed to require that the occasion should be taken for addressing to the assembled clergy admonitions specially applicable to the exist- ing state of religion in the kingdom. These, there- fore, were given in charge to the Archbishop of Tuam ; but, fearful that some unpleasant responsi- bility might thus attach to him, as the propounder of offensive sentiments. Archbishop King took the precaution of conveying to him in writing the parti- culars with which he wished his clergy to be im- pressed. A letter to the following effect, preserved in the Archbishop's MS. Correspondence, in Dublin College Library, was accordingly written : " St. Sepulchre s, April 24, 1720. Letter oT irstiuc- " My Lord, bishop King, " SiiicG it has pleased God to disable me from per- Apni24,i/20. forming my own duty in attending the visitation of my clergy, I nmst acknowledge his goodness m procuring me so good an assistant to supply my place, who is so w^ell ac- quainted with the state of the diocese, and the persons and qualifications of the clergy ; and I must acknowledge your Grace's goodness and kindness in so cheerfully undertaking this trouble, which I have been obliged so oft to put on you. I hope God will reward you, though I can't ; and so enable you to do your duty, that you may never need such an assistant, or, if you should, that he will furnish you with as good an one. Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE I. 357 " I conceive your Grace needs no directions how to execute the affairs of this diocese : but because some things may not be so grateful to all persons, I am willing that what may not be so relishing to some may rather be im- puted to me than to your Grace ; since there is no reason that for your charity and kindness you should be exposed to the resentment of any. I therefore entreat your Grace, that, if you think it proper, you would, as from me, put the clergy in mind, first, of the late act of parliament, by which ciergy to be re- /. 11 1-1 ' . ,1 1 • • minded of the a lull liberty is given to all sects to set up their meetings late act of pariia- and propagate what doctrines they please. By this neither the civil nor ecclesiastical courts have any power over them; so that we can neither help ourselves nor call for any assist- ance or encouragement from the civil magistrate, and are entirely to depend on God's care and providence over his Church, and on the means and methods Christ has left us to support religion ; which if we use, as we ought to do, with faith and diligence, we are not to doubt but they will go further to support religion and holiness than all temporal motives and assistance could do without them. " And if one would observe the state of religion in these Prosperity of the kingdoms in our own time ; that is, since the restora- pendent on the tion of the royal family; perhaps it will appear that the "^^ipo^^r. Church never gained more true friends than when the civil power gave her doctrine and worship least encouragement, nor lost more the hearts and affections of her people than when seeming most encouraged. " What, therefore, will be wanting in temporal interest special diligence may be supplied by a double diligence of the clergy in their clergy. ' " office and duty ; by their prudence, diligence, and applica- tion to their people ; by their watching over them for good ; and foreseeing and applying themselves to prevent every approach of their enemies. " And I think it will not be amiss to exhort the clergy to lay this matter to heart, and to consider with one an- other of the most effectual means to put in practice proper methods of application, and to assist one another in the execution of them, and stir up and admonish one another, and take notice of such of their brethren as they find negli- gent or backward in the performance of their duty. This 358 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. will raise a spirit of activity in them, and create a holy emulation amongst them, the effect of which will, with God's blessing, soon appear in the success of their ministry. Beseech them, therefore, that they would go about and visit their parishioners ; not be represt by any cold reception, or ill treatment, but persevere ; and I dare promise them, in the name of God, that they will find a good effect of their labours. prpTryr?coS"'* " ^ ^ouM further intreat your Grace to put them in mended. mind of preaching against Popery, and that they would take all opportunities, and when any occasion offers, of con- futing any point of false doctrine advanced by the Church of Rome; that they would lay hold on it, and, without bit- terness, from the Holy Scriptures and other proper argu- ments, show, as briefly as they can, the falsehood thereof. This I take to be extremely necessary in the present cir- cumstances, both because the people expect it, and to my knowledge are concerned that it is not done ; and likewise because, I apprehend, the late act of toleration, or indem- nity for all sects, may furnish the Roman missionaries and priests with some arguments which they had not before, which may work with some weak and well-meaning people. As to the Government, I think it advisable that the clergy in their sermons should avoid meddling with matters of State, and keep themselves to the articles of our holy religion and the duties of Christianity : for the clerg}^ by mixing in the matters of politicks, have more than once, in my time, brought themselves into many inconveniences, w^ithout any advantage to the Church. fipiefjiXted ".^o""- G'-'loe is well apprised, that very pernicious Of late. principles, both in relation to fundamentals of our holy religion >nd to the government and discipline of the Church, have been vented and propagated with great boldness of late, and that some of the clergy have joined with the common enemies of our faith and Church. I hope none of my clergy are thus tainted : yet, when our neighbour's house is on fire, 'tis time to look to our own ; Caution to the and therefore I think it proper to warn them of the danger, them!^^*^"^* and that, if they observe any of their brethren or people to have a penchant this way, that they would take notice of Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE I. 359 them, and use their best endeavours to prevent their being corrupted by the insinuations of wricked men, the modish conversation of the world, and cunning of Satan. *' Your Grace will be pleased to represent these things to the clergy, if you think fit so to do, and in the best manner ; which I am sure your Grace is able to do much better than I can pretend to direct or advise you in my present circumstances Upon these suggestions, together with some Visitation of others not needful here to be recited, and in com- Synge reported by pliance with the request of the diocesan, the Arch- ^^^^'^'^^^p^"'*^- bishop of Tuam addressed the Dublin clergy. The result is thus communicated by Archbishop King to the Bishop of Clogher, in a letter of May 12, 1720, from Dublin : " The Archbishop of Tuam held my visitation for me. Letter to Bishop I writ him a letter, intimating what I w^ould have him say ^^^y to the clergy, which his Grace did with great approbation. Amongst other things I desired them to use double dili- gence in their cures, on account that they could not expect the same assistance from the civil or ecclesiastical powers that they might have done before the late act. This was represented to the Government as a stirring-up of disaffec- tion, and his Grace was called before them, and a mighty business was made of it, but he acquit himself so well that it dropped of itself. 'Tis very hard that a bishop must not advise his clergy to double diligence but it must be counted disafFection."' About this period the Archbishop of Dublin was Encroachment again brought into inconvenient collision with the authorities in re- Government, by an act of theirs, which he esteemed an arbitrary encroachment on the ecclesiastical au- thorities, and which he therefore resisted. The assault and the opposition are recorded in the two following letters of his MS. Correspondence, in Trinity College ; the former to the Lord Bishop of Derrv, the latter to the Earl of Kildare. spect of briefs. 360 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Letter to Bishop To tliB BishoD of Derrv be wrote thus, from -23, i72(.. Dublin, the 23rd of May, 1720 : " I should say much more to your Lordship, if I were able ; only one thing I must observe to your Lordship, and it is about a brief your Lordship will receive for some houses burnt in Castle-dermot, in which the lords justices Authoritj' take on them to command archbishops, bishops, vicar- assumed by lords . . . . justices generals, mmisters, churchwardens, and apparitors, in such positive terms, that I can by no means submit to. We have had three or four such before, and I would not suffer my clergy to obey them. I disputed with the government, as I have done with this; and if this should pass sub silentio, I am afraid they will plead prescription, and perhaps require us to collect and receive other monies, for which, I con- ceive, that there is as much law, as for requiring these things from us. I send your Lordship the order I made at a \'isitation on the like occasion, which was generally complied with by the clergy. " Your Lordship may compare the brief with the act that passed about briefs in England, 4 Anne, c. 14 ; and you'll see how far they have gone beyond that.'' The lords justices at this time in office were A^iscount Midleton and William Conolly, Esq. A letter from the Earl of Kildare drew from the arch- bishop an answer, of ]May 26th, which contains some particulars not detailed in the former com- munication to the Bishop of Derry. It runs as follows : Letter from Arcli- '* My Lord, iS^uf KUdare. " I ^^^^ hououred with your Lordship's of this day, in favour of the sufferers of Castle-dermot. I assure your Lordship I am very desirous to assist all people in distress, more particularly your Lordship's tenants, and those of my Description of the own diocese. But the case is this: they have got a brief, briefs. which archblshops, bishops, fcc, are required, within ten days, to send copies of the letters-patents to their chan- cellors, »S:c.., and to cause them to be delivered, by their Skc. VI.] KING GEORGE I. 361 apparitois, at the rate of fourpence a brief, to their deans, parsons, &c. The deans, parsons, &c., are to exhort and stir up, and earnestly persuade, their people, to contribute to the poor sufferers, not allowing them to judge whether they are objects of charity or no. And then they and the churchwardens are required to go from house to house im- mediately, and receive from masters, mistresses, and others of their families, their contributions, and, in the presence of the givers, to set down, next LordVday, on the briefs, the names and sums given ; and the minister is obliged to receive the money, and send it, with the briefs, to the chan- cellor, &c. ; and the bishops are commanded to send them to the archbishops. " Now, these are things, in many cases, impracticable; Not obligatory on and neither the clergy nor churchwardens are obliged to any * ^^^^^^y- of them. We have had three or four briefs of this nature, and I have withstood them all, and must still continue to do so. We are slaves enough already ; but to subject our- selves to such commands, which we conceive we are no Avays obliged to obey, would make us much more so ; and we know not where it may end. They might as well, in my opinion, command us to collect the hearth-money. " I had a great dispute with my Lord Wharton in the case of the Palatines ; and, on another occasion, with Sir Constantino Phipps and the then government ; and, to stop the matter, I issued the inclosed order to the clergy, which had the desired effect. I hope, therefore, your Lordship excuse me, in that I act uniformly to myself. " If the brief had desired anything of me and the Difference be- cl^^gj' and only recommended the matter, as the style was lldcomSanding. for forty years to my knowledge, charity would have gone a good way to procure my compliance, at least in part ; but command and require is a style I do not understand, and it might be an ill example if I submitted to it. " I am hurried in writing this, and, therefore, youU pardon the imperfections of it ; and I assure your Lordship, that there is no man in the kingdom who should be more readily gratified than your Lordship, by, my Lord, Your Lordship's most, &c., W. D." 362 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. I have not met with any account of the issue of this business. But, whatever influence from any of the foregoing causes the Archbishop of Dublin may have appeared to have lost, he recovered it so far, at tga^lteof^T ^^^st' as to be again included in the commission of lords justices, the lords justiccs, in 1721 and 1722, on the tem- porary withdrawal of the Duke of Grafton from the vice-royalty, in conjunction with Richard Boyle, Viscount Shannon, commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland, and William Conolly, Esq., speaker of the House of Commons. Hiedisinciination Tho growiusf iufirmities of the archbishop seem for office mis- o o l represented. to havo made thls honourable, but burthensome appointment, by no means an object of his desire, though there were those who attributed his reluct- ance in accepting it to only an assumed disinclina- tion; for, speaking of him in a letter of March 1, BishopDo^esto I'^^l' Bishop Downes observes": " His Grace seems Bishop Nichoi- pleased with the trust reposed in him, and told me, that he was sure it would kill him. But I do not believe him: perhaps he would have been as uneasy if he had been left out of the government." And, again, in the following year, 1722, on another temporary withdrawal of the Duke of Grafton, he was appointed, with some apparent re- luctance on his own part. " What you told me," writes Bishop Downes, on the 17th of February, " is, beyond my expectation, come to pass. The Archbishop of Dublin, after mature deliberation, has accepted of the government, as Mr. Fairfax did of the deanery of Down. But my opinion is, that they, who long hesitate about preferment, should go without it, especially such who think their accept- ^ NiciioLbox, ii., p. 53(J. Skc. VI.] KING GEOKGE I. 8G3 ance matter of obligation, and, consequently, not worth thanks. Whether onr friends on the other side wanted power, or wanted courage, I cannot tell; I may say, that they wanted regard to us foreigners, who are put entirely into the hands of the natives.'" The reader, however, will form his judgment of The archbishop's - sentiments, in a the propriety of these reflections, when he has letter to Mr. AnnesleVjMarch, perused the following statement of the archbishop s 1721. sentiments, as made in his private and friendly cor- respondence. On the lOtli of IMarch, 1721, he thus expressed himself to Francis Annesley, Esq. : " I write this in pain. The force used on me to put me in the government here, in which I can neither hope to do good nor prevent evil, and yet must bear a share of blame of what is done wrong, has put me into a violent fit of the gout, and God only knows when I shall get out of it." The archbishop continued to hold this office, jointly with the Viscounts Midleton and Shannon, and William Conolly, Esq., till the return of the Duke of Grafton to the lord lieutenancy, in Sep- tember, 1723. jNIeanwhile, the letters of Bishop Downes to Bishop Nicholson advert to him in the following extracts : " March 24, 1722. Last Thursday I preferred my peti- tion to tlie board of justices for leave to cross the water, and, for the conveniency of the yacht, to do it in some state, and both ^Ye^e readily granted, without opposition ; nor did the Archbishop of Dublin open or make a wide mouth upon the occasion. I ^yish you joy on this account ; for I will warrant you will come off as well, whether you write to the lords justices, or write to the secretary to speak for you.'^ In a former letter he had said : *' I fancy you and I shall not, without soinebody''s * NicHOLsox, ii., p. o40. 364 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Want of kind- ness and respect for the arch- bishop. Distinction be- tween Irish and English bishops. grumbling, get leave to go and see our friends in England this summer. If we cannot, I think we may justly com- plain of false imprisonment, and apply for relief.^'' " October 31, 1722. All our talk is about the Arch- bishop of Dublin's return from the Bath without showing himself at court. He appears very gay, and in good hu- mour; but I fancy he is inwardly very chagrined that his presence should not be thought necessary at this important conjuncture " December 8, 1722. I believe the Archbishop of Dublin has made his colleagues sick of him ; for he leaves the invidious work to them, as the signing the patents for the pensions, &c. ; and serves himself at the expense of their and some other greater person's honour. " He spent some time last week at Lord Molesworth's, where, I dare say, there was not a word spoken in favour of the king's ministry. He is much out of humour, but why I know not." These extracts evince a want of kindly and respectful feeling towards the Archbishop of Dublin, connected probably with that strong line of distinc- tion which was maintained between the prelates of Irish and English birth. English bishops, and other clergymen, promoted to benefices in Ireland, were at that time regarded with an eye of extreme jealousy, even by those whose immediate, or almost immediate, progenitors had been brought into the country, and there settled from a similar cause. They were con- sidered and described literally as foreigners. A corresponding sentiment seems to have taken pos- session of the minds, and dictated the language, of the newly-promoted English clergy; and symptoms of it are evident in the letters of Bishop Downes, from which the following sentences have been ex- tracted, in exemplification of the foregoing remark. * Nicholson, ii., p. 553. " Ibid., ii., p. 556. ^T.C. VI.] KING GEORGE 1. 365 Thus, speaking of complimentary addresses made Natives and foreigners. to the lords justices, the 24th of November, 1719, by delegates from the city and the college, he observes ^ " there was nothing said that was ex- ceptionable by either ; not so much as a touch upon foreigners, nor upon encroachments made upon their privileges or preferments by them." On the 15th of January, 1720, he mentions' " four foreign bishops, dining with their sister Kildare," meaning the wife of the bishop of that see. In the following month he writes'', " I doubt not my good neighbour has told you, how we foreigners, and our foreign friends, are railed at by the natives of one, two, or more descents, since the resolutions were known, &c." And in a passage already cited, doubting whether to attribute the appointment of Archbishop King to the govern- ment, in February, 1722, to want of power or want of courage in the English ministry, he adds , " I may say that they wanted regard to us foreigners, who are put entirely into the hands of the natives." Agreeable to which is an observation further on in the same letter'*: " Brother Kilmore is brisk and well again ; but cannot, any more than his other English brethren, boast of favours at court." 'i he death of Bishop Dio bv, in 1720, and the Death of Bishop r O . Digby. expected appointment of Bishop Downes to succeed him, gave occasion to the following letter, contained in the Archbishop's MS. Correspondence in Trinity College, addressed to Archbishop Wake : I^ublhl^ April 12, 1720. Letterfrom " :Mav it please your Grace, Archbishop King ' • ' to Archbishop I had the honour of a long letter from your Grace wake, April 12, of the 24th of March last, for which I am your debtor, and 7 Nicholson-, ii., p. 497. ^ IMd., p. 502. » Ibid., p. 509. Ibid., p. 549. " Ibid., p. 550. 1720. 366 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. like to be for some time, being confined by a severe fit of the gout since this day month, in both my feet, one of my hands and elbows. I must not, therefore, pretend to an- swer your Grace on matters of so great moment as are contained in your Grace's, whilst in this lame condition ; nor should I have put a force on myself to give your Grace the trouble of this, if the death of Dr. Digby, Bishop of Elphin, did not oblige me to say something on that occasion. " He was a gentleman of the Bristol family, and his father was Bishop of Dromore here. He was a great master of painting in little water-colours, and by that greatly re- recommended himself to men in power, and ladies ; and so was early made a bishop. In the year 1678 he passed his letters-patent for Limerick, and w^as translated from thence by King William and Queen Mary, immediately after the Revolution. He generally lived out of his diocese ; and, though his predecessor left him the shell of a very good house, yet he took no care to finish it, or, by what I can learn, to preserve it from decay. He left the diocese, as I understand from everybody that comes from thence, in a miserable condition : churches greatly wanting, and those that are, ill supplied. I am informed, that, though the diocese be large, there are only about thirteen clergymen in it. " Elphin is a very pleasant place, and a good country about it ; and 'tis a pity it should want a resident bishop. There will be work enough for an active bishop for many years, to put the diocese in some tolerable order. I pray God we may have a bishop that w'lW lay it to heart, and make it his business : we greatly need such. " 'Tis commonly supposed here, that the Bishop of Killala will succeed in it. He is very capable of doing good, if he will apply himself to it. The bishoprick he has is about 900/. per annum, besides a good mensal ; and there is a tolerable house on it, in which his predecessor lived comfortably and hospitably, but he has not thought fit to imitate the example. If bishops take the course, that is too much in practice, to fix in Dublin, and only make an excur- sion once in the year into their diocese, I am afraid the gentry and people of the country will not easily find out of Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE I, 367 what use they are ; and to have a set of men looked on as useless, is, I am afraid, a great temptation to lay them aside. " Our lord lieutenant has disposed of five deaneries since he came to the government ; and each has some benefice or benefices annexed to it with cures, and not one of them resides. This cannot but give any one, who is concerned for the good of the Church and the interest of religion, great uneasiness : but how shall we help it ? I see no way but prayers and patience. However, it is some ease in such cases to open our grief to a friend ; and I hope your Grace will excuse me for taking this liberty, and believe that I am with all respect, " My Lord, Your Grace's, &c., " W. D." " I am willing to believe, that the Bishop of Killala's expectation of being translated to the next good vacant bishoprick, might be the reason of his not thinking of settling on his bishoprick ; and, if his successor have the same expectations, I am afraid that diocese will be in an ill taking, the dissenters every day creeping into it.'' In effect, the see of Elphin being vacated by the f^^'^gi^jg^^^"®^ death of Bishop Digby, the Bishop of Killala was ^iphin. appointed to succeed him ; an event which he thus communicates in the P.S. to a letter of April 26''': I am likely to change my name, but not my nature ; his Majesty being willing to translate me to Elphin, as his Grace the Duke of Bolton assured me by Sunday's post, and his Grace of Canterbury, and our brother Norwich, by the packet of this day. I hear Dean Cobb will succeed me." Dean Cobb, or Cobbe, ^obb, Bishop of Killala. was a native of Winchester, and, like his predecessor, Bishop Downes, a fellow^ of New College, Oxford. His deanery w^as that of Ardagh. From Killala, to the bishoprick of which he was now advanced, he '■^ Nicholson, ii., p. 510. 368 THE REIGN OF [Cii. HI. was subsequently promoted in succession to Dro- more, to Kildare, and finally to Dublin. To Bishop Downes the best recommendation of Elphin was, that it was fifty miles nearer Dublin, and 500/. per annum better than Killala. But Papists swarmed there, as in other parts of Con- naught'^ The rents, however, were but 1265/. 19^. a year, though the bishop thought they would bear doubling ; and he expected next year to double his mensal, which was set at 100/.'* He visited his diocese for a temporary abode in the summer: and, as there was no episcopal resi- dence fit for occupation at the time, he hired a small dwelling, and prepared it for his present reception and that of the Bishop of Meath, who accompanied him thither. " I spent about two months," thus he writes to Bishop Nicholson, September 15, 1720, " in my little hired cabin, which has been fitting up for me in the little town of Elphin, and upon which I have laid out near an hundred pounds, and must lay out more before it will be fit to receive my family, even in the summer-time. The great shell of the house is in so ruinous a state, that the best use that can be made of it is to pull it down and build a more convenient one in its room : towards which it will supply me with a great deal of good stone and some timber. But you will advise me to get a little money in my pocket before I put my fingers in mortar. My diocese is about seventy Irish miles in length, and yet has not above twenty clergymen in it, and but one parsonage-house, and that is the dean's at Elphin; about which I think the Papists are more numerous than at Killala, being fifty to one Protestant. But the gentry are generally Nicholson, ii., p. 525. Ibid., p. 527. Ibid., p. 521). Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE I. 369 Protestants, and very loyal ; and the clergy are very well ; and both clergy and laity are very respectfnl to their bishop : so that I seldom sat down but at a full table." The same year, 1720, the death of Edward j;^^^^;;^^^^;'^';' Smith, bishop of Down and Connor, drew from andconnor. Archbishop King an expression of his desire for the promotion of the Dean of Clogher to that bishop- rick. " I understand," he said, in a letter of November 12, to Bishop Stearne, " that the bishop- rick of Down would please your dean very well, and I wish heartily he had it. But I doubt it will fall to the share of some chaplain that never served cure, and will think it ungenteel to trouble his head with the spirituals of his office. Such generally is their great modesty ; contenting themselves with the mean, sordid part, the temporalities." The person, however, selected, who does not appear to have been a chaplain, and whose course of preferment is not mentioned by ^Ir. Harris, was Francis Hutchinson, succeeded by a native of Derbyshire, a doctor of divinity of Cam- bridge, and a beneficed clergyman of St. Edmund's- bury, in the county of Suffolk, who was appointed to the united dioceses of Down and Connor, and consecrated in the ensuing January, when he imme- diately settled himself at Lisburn, in the centre of his dioceses. Following the example of his dis- tinguished predecessors in the see, Henry Leslie and Jeremy Taylor, at his primary visitation at Lisburn, he preached a sermon, which he published at the request of his clergy ; and amongst his somewhat vo- luminous writings, a list of which he communicated. His voluminous in 1739, to I\lr. Harris, for his insertion in Ware's ''''^'"^^* Hidorij of the Irish Bishops, then passing through 2 B 370 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. His measures for the improvement the press, together with several which relate to the history and statistical circumstances and improve- ment of Ireland, are others of a theological charac- ter, such as " A Defence of our Holy Bible, with respect to the History and Account of the Crea- tion of the World, and our Race upon Earth;" " Advices concerning the Manner of receiving Po- pish Converts 'and " The Certainty of Protestants a safer foundation than the Infallibility of Papists." From his sermons preached at Christ Church, before the government and the House of Lords, on the 80th of January, the day of the king's accession, and the 5th of November, I infer him to have been eminent as a preacher ; the last of these, delivered in 1731, is accompanied by an Appendix, proving Pope John to be Pope Joan. In one action of his episcopal career, Bishop Rarhiin^^^ Hutcliiuson was singularly happy, and deserves par- ticular commemoration. At the distance of about six miles from the northern coast of the county of Antrim, and separated from it by a sea at all times of difficult navigation, and frequently, for many weeks, impassable, lies the island of Raghlin or Raghery. In the time of Bishop Hutchinson, in whose diocese of Connor it is situated, it contained about five hundred inhabitants, but had no resident clergyman, being annexed to the parish of Ballintoy, on the opposite coast, but deriving very scanty and uncertain means of spiritual benefit from the con- nection, for pastoral superintendence or the minis- trations of the Church. The bishop and the paro- chial incumbent concurred in their wishes and purposes for its imj)rovement. On application of tlie former to the trustees and governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, the great tythes of the island were Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE I. 871 purchased by means of the first-fruits, and Dr. Archibald Stewart, the rector, surrendered the small tithes, and they were vmited for the endow^ment of a minister of Raghlin. " A state of the case of the island," also, having* been drawn uji, printed, and circulated by the bishop, the interest of the neigh- bouring gentry and clergy was aroused, and con- tributions raised, whereby a new clmrch w^as built on the ruins of an old one, under the special auspices of the lord primate, in 1723. And, as the inhabitants were generally incapable of understanding the Eng- lish language, the bishop procured the Church Catechism to be translated into the vernacular tongue, and printed in parallel columns of English and Irish, under the title of the Raghlin Catechism. Partly, also, at his own expence, and partly by the contributions of the Duke of Grafton, and other persons of benevolence and ability, he purchased a collection of books, and deposited them in the par- sonage-house as a library for the incumbent. Through some neglect, which occurred before the incumbency of the present rector, the library was dispersed and lost; but the church still stands, a conspicuous object to those who pass between the isle of Raghlin and the mainland ; a source of reli- gious comfort and enlightenment to the inhabitants, such of them, at least, as choose to profit by the blessing, wdio would otherwise have been benighted in the darkness of infidelity or Romanism ; and a jiermanent monument, as the simple inscription over the communion table denotes, to the honour and glory of Almighty God. 2 B 2 872 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Section VII. Great age and Death of BisJiop Vigors. His Character, State of Dioceses of Ferns and Leighlin. Dr. Bolton recommended to fill the xacancy. Mr. Hort appointed. Report that he had never been Ordained. Its falsehood. His former Preferment litigated. Act of Parliament jyassed in consequence. Xot Consecrated hy Archbishop of Dublin. Archbishop" s view of the subject. First instance of a Bishojjrick conferred without a Degree. Death of Bisliop of Clonfert. Wretched state of his Diocese. Tuam improved by Archbishop Synge. Dr, Bolton appointed to Clonfert. Archbishop King'^s letter of congratulation and advice. Testimony i?i his favour. Dr. Maule recommended for Deanery of Derry. Con- temjjlated a History of Ireland. Archbishop King's sense of the difficulty of the undertaking. Great age and Jx tliG autuniii of 1721 tliG anxietv of the Archbishop death of Bishop ... Vigors of Terns of Dubliii WRs aufaiii excited, first, by the infirmities ami Leighlin, ^ 1721. and decay, and afterwards by the death, of an aged prehite, Bartholomew Vigors, who had been ad- vanced to tlie episcopate in 1690, immediately after the Revolution, at the same time that King was made Bishop of Derry ; and had occupied the see of Ferns and Leighlin for the last thirty-one years, Avith a character not unbefitting his office. His inability to join the assembled bishops in Dublin drew from the archbishop, in a letter of September 21, expressions of his sorrow^ at " so great a decay of his strength and health," accompanied by a prayer for his preservation ; " for at present," observed the archbishop, " we can ill spare your Lordship, for reasons besides the private ones of losing a friend, which I believe will be obvious to you without my mentioning them. I beseech you take all care of Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 873 yourself, and let us live as long as we can, since Ave know not who will succeed us." From three or four subsequent letters of the archbishop, it appears that the Bishop of Ferns, though an octoge- narian, and incapable of travelling, was alive to the calls of his office, and studious in discharging them. But on the 9tli of January a communication from the archbishop to Mr. SouthAvell announced the bishop's burial. " We bury to-night," he observed, "the Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin. It is a small bishoprick, between 800/. and 900/. : it concerns me much to have an agreeable person for his successor: you know the other two suffragans, Kildare and Ossory, are in another interest." The followin^v letter from Archbishop King to Jitter Arch- O AO bishop Ising the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 13tli of the bV^optrcanter- same month, unfolds his sentiments and wishes in ^^^Z' connection with the vacancy : nnmnf A'miv Cimno flmf if deceased prelate. " I think myself obliged to acquaint your Grace, that it character of the has pleased God to take to himself our brother, Dr. Vigours, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, in a good old age, near eighty. He was a learned, good man, well acquainted with the discipline of the Church, and most sincerely affected to the government ; he has left a farm, that he purchased, near the cathedral of Leighlin, and necessary for the accommodation of the bishop who shall reside ; to that use it had been alienated by some of his predecessors. He has left, likewise, SOO/. towards repairing his manse-house. In truth, he was an eminent example of Christian piety and charity through his whole life. These two dioceses are in a sad condition by iinpro- state of the priations, there being about two hundred parishes in those circumstances ; the vicarages, where there are vicarages endowed, being so small, that, to my knowledge, sixteen yield the incumbent hardly 60/. per annum. The bishop has for several years been very feeble in body, though perfect in his understanding, and did as much as he could THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Recommendation of Dr. Bolton. to serve the Church. Your Grace will, from this account, see how necessary it is to have a vigourous, active man, to succeed him, well acquainted with the state of the Church of Ireland in general, and of these dioceses in particular, and who will be able and willing to lay out both his time and money to supply the present defects ; the bishopricks are valued to the annual produce of about or between 800/. and 900/. " I recommend to my lord lieutenant Dr. Theophilus Bolton, my vicar-general, for this succession. He is owned by all, I think, to be the best civilian and canonist in the kingdom, and of clergymen, certainly the best skilled in the common law. He is not only well affected to the present government, but zealous for his Majesty^s interest, and I know none more able to defend our constitution. " I confess I have one reason, that particularly relates to myself, to desire him for my suffragan, and it is this : I am now grown old and infirm, and am not so able to go through my province as formerly, and, therefore, need the assistance of one that will "be ready to help me, and whom I may trust with confidence. Now, my two other suffra- gans, the Bishops of Kildare and Ossory, are persons that seem to be in a different interest from that I have always espoused, and have given me great opposition in many in- stances; and, therefore, I can neither desire nor expect such assistance from them as I shall need, and which, I am well assured, Dr. Bolton would give me. " My Lord, your Grace is the only person on whom the clergy of this Church have their eyes, as their patron at court I make no apology for troubling your Grace in these matters, which concern the good and dis- cipline of the Church Archbishop The Archbishop of Dublin's interposition, how- King's Ignorance ^ -I prefemientf ^^'^^ ineffectual : and on the 8rd of February lie received from the Archbishop of Canterbury intelli- gence, which, on a consideration of the dates and cir- cumstances, seems to have apprised him of the intended successor to the vacant bishoprick. I acknowledge," Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 375 he says, " the favour of your Grace's of the 25th of January last, Avhich came to hand to-day with three pacquets. I know not who are consulted about the disposal of Church preferments or affairs, only I am sure I am not. I know not how the clergyman your Grace mentions behaved himself in your Grace's province, but his behaviour since he came here, if I should believe publick reports, has not been very clerical. I understand that hardly a more ungrateful person to all sorts of people could have been pitched on for a promotion. I wish he may prove otherwise." In effect, the person appointed Bishop of Ferns po^J^^'t^^the and Leighlin was Mr., erroneously called Dr., Josias vacant see. Hort: and with that error a curious anecdote is connected. " The Bishop of Ferns," relates Bishop Downes, strange report , concerning him. m a letter from Dublin, March 1, " was consecrated by our brother of Meath, assisted by Kilmore and Dromore, at Castle Knock, last Sunday. . . You see in the Whitehall^ Eveni7ig Post what news con- cerning him was got to London, namely that the Archbishop of Dublin refused to consecrate him, as having been bred a dissenting teacher, and never received orders according to the usage of the Church of England or Ireland ; and that the Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, had, on that account, petitioned the King to recall his nomination'." The report here mentioned, so far as relates to Grounds of tue the want of episcopal ordination, might be considered * to be sufficiently accounted for by the circumstances of his having been born of a dissenting family, educated in a dissenting school, where he was a ' Nicholson, ii., p. 58G. 376 THE REIGN OF LCh. III. fellow-student with the celebrated Dr. Watts, and officiated at first as a dissenting minister : and of a tradition prevalent in his family, "that he had so greatly recommended himself to the court by his zeal and services in support of the Hanoverian succession, that, as he scrupled re-ordination, it was dispensed with, and the first preferment bestowed on him was that of a bishoprick in Ireland ^" Its falsehood. Xlie falscliood, however, of this family tradition will appear from the following statement, which, whilst it effectually controverts the report above cited, will, at the same time, serve to show where- fore, in fact, the metropolitan of the bishop-elect, the Archbishop of Dublin, did not consecrate him ; and wherefore he was consecrated by three bishops, neither of whom was a suffragan of the archbishop, but all in a different province. Ey what bishops Harris does not notice the report, but he sup- he had been crdained. plies its coutradictiou and disj^roof by mentioning, in a manner contrary to his usual practice, the bishops by whom he had been admitted to both orders of the ministry. Born at Marsh.field, in Gloucester- shire, brought up at a grammar-school in Bristol, and afterwards a member of Clare Hall, Cambridge ; he was ordained a deacon, in 1705, by Dr. John More, bishop of Norwich, and a priest, towards the end of the same year, by Dr. Simon Patrick, bishop of Ely. In 1706, he was instituted to the vicarage of Wendover, in Buckinghamshire; and in 1708, pub- lished a sermon, preached at the archdeacon's visita- tion at Aylesbury; and having, in 1709, attended nis preferment the Marouis of Wharton to Ireland, in quality of litigated. ^ ^ ^ 1 J his domestick chai)lain, he obtained a patent for the parish of Kilskir, in the diocese of Meath, in the ^ Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary, Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 377 patronage of the crown ; but, the title of the crown to the advowson being- litigated, he did not take possession of the benefice till after a procrastination of seven years, in which interval he was instituted to the rectory of Haversham, in Buckinghamshire, on the queen's nomination. In 1717, judgment having been at length given in behalf of the crown's title to Kilskir, he took possession of that benefice. In 1718, he was promoted by the Duke of Bolton to the deanery of Cloyne, and to the rectory and sinecure of Louth, which was likewise litigated and recovered. In 1720, he was removed to the deanery of Ardagh, and thence, in 1721, by favour of the Duke of Grafton, was advanced to the episco- pate, under the circumstances already stated. By the litigation concerning the vicarage of Kilskir, which was finally concluded by a judgment of the British House of Lords, he lost more than seven years' profit of the benefice, which could not be recovered from the defendant by any law then in force. The consequence of this was an act " for Actofrariiamcnt in conseinence. better securing the rights of advowson and presenta- e George i., c. n. tion to ecclesiastical benefices," passed in the sixth year of King George I., c. 2, for seven years ; con- tinued in the first year of King George IL, c. 23; and made perpetual by the thirteenth of the same king, c. 4 ; by which, amongst other things, it is enacted, that in suits for recovery of usurped pre- sentations, for the purpose of preventing vexatious delays, the intruding clerk is made accountable for the profits of the benefice recovered, allowance being made to him, or his curate, of a limited pay- ment for the actual service of the cure. From the particulars here related, it is suflficiently Not consecrated • n , .^ . .1 , . t r. Archbislinp of manliest that the report concerning the want of Dublin, and why. 378 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. episcopal ordination in the bishop-elect of Ferns was unfounded and fictitious. So far, however, as relates to the simple facts of the archbishop's refusal to consecrate him, and of his being in consequence consecrated by the before-mentioned prelates, the statement is correct, and it is explained by the fol- lowing transcript from a MS. note in Mr. Austin Cooper's copy of Harris's edition of Ware's Bishops, " In his letters-patent, he was styled Jos^- Hort, D.D., dean of Ardagh; for which misnomer of styling him doctor in di\inity, the archbishop, Dr. King, refused to consecrate him, until he brought the opinions of Mr. Rogerson and Mr. Marlay, two eminent common lawyers, and also of Dr. Trotter, the civi- lian; who all agreed that Dean Hort was sufficiently described by the name Josias Hort, dean of Ar- dagh, and that the additional title of D.D. can be no good reason for the archbishop's refusing to consecrate him. However, the archbishop still refused to perform that office in person, and there- fore issued a commission to seven bishops, empower- ing them, or any three of them, to consecrate him in any church of the diocese, upon which John^ bishop of jNIeath, Timothy, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, and Ralph, bishop of Dromore, did conse- crate him the 25th of February, 1721, in the church of Castle-knock." The chief particulars in this anomalous and ex- traordinary affair have been here mentioned, as col- lected from different sources. The view, in which the subject offered itself to the mind of the arch- bishop, was represented by him in a letter to the lord lieutenant, the Duke of Grafton, and is pre- served in his MS. Correspondence in Trinity College Library, which also contains Mr. Cooper's copy of AVare. Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 879 JSt. Sepulchres, February 16, 1722. " May it please your Grace, Feb. i6, 1722. " I have perused Dean Hort's patent for consecra- tion. I am by it commanded to consecrate Josias Hort, Sacrre Theologiae Doctorem, Decanum Ardaghensem : on inquiry, I find that he is so far from being a doctor of divi- nity, that he never took any degree in any university. So Misnomer of the 1 conceive there is a misnomer here. 1 can nnd no such man as Josias Hort, doctor of divinity, dean of Ardagh. To consecrate any one bishop of any diocese in his Majesty^s dominions, without sufficient warrant, is very penal. I therefore pray that I may have the attorney and solicitor's opinion in the case, whether such a misnomer be of conse- quence, and whether such a patent be a sufficient warrant in law to me to proceed to consecration. " I am not in a capacity to perform it in person; and therefore must grant a commission to some others, and must recite the words of the patent in it. I am very unwilling to put a falsity under my seal; and therefore I intreat, that the attorney and solicitor would let me know, whether I may safely alter the words of the patent in my commission. "I thought to have inquired the opinion of lawyers opinion of the myself ; but on second thoughts think better, that he should sought?^^^^^^^ do it for my satisfaction, and the dispatch of his own business. " About the year 1692 I was in England, and a certain dean was named by Queen Mary for a bishop in Ireland. His letter was ordered to be drawn, but the officer was at a Queen Mary's loss for his style, and the clerk came to me to learn his doctor of°Lwa^^ degree. I told him the dean was doctor of laws ; but fur- ^^^^'^i'- ther, on his inquiry, that he was not graduated in divinity ; when her Majesty was informed thereof, she stopped his letter, and could not be prevailed on to make him a bishop. " Give me leave to acquaint your Grace, that this gentle- First instance of man is the first I ever heard of, that pretended to a bishop- fenedTtiiout a" rick without any degree at all. I am sorry the precedent '^^"'"''e- begins in your Grace's government, for whom I have all possible respect; and shall, whilst 1 am, " My Lord, " Your Grace's most obedient servant. His Grace the Duke of Grafton.'' " Will. Dublin. 380 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. Tv^hoT""'^' Dr. Bolton, "v^-lio was thus ineffectually put for- Avard on this occasion, was however again recom- mended on another episcopal vacancy at no distant period, when his patron, Archbishop King, being one of the lords justices, and being joined by his associates in the recommendation, the result was more favourable. An exclamation It mav bo remembered, that soon after the of Archbishop N. ^ ^ ^ ' Marsii explained. Revolutiou, Narcissus ]\Iarsh, then archbishop of Cashel, thanked God in his Diary that he was not concerned in the consecration of an unworthy person then made Bishop of Clonfert. That he was not without cause of thankfulness, is evident from the following letter of the Archbishop of Dublin to the Archbishop of Canterbury, undated, but shown by circumstances to have been written in or about July, 1722: -^T T- " Lord, Archbishop King ' wake^^j'f " ^^^^ Grace will find by the publick prints, that De:.th'of Bishop" Doctor Fitzgcrald, bishop of Clonfert, is dead. The poor of Clonfert. has had hardly any use of his reason for several years. I believe he was about the age of eighty-eight. About twelve years ago he married a young woman about twenty, who governed him and the diocese in a wretched manner; no discipline, no due care of spirituals or temporals, his manse-house gone to ruin, and everything out of order. Wretched state His prcdeccssor, Dr. Woollev, was as bad as he, thoudi of the diocese. ^ ' i i • i bir James \\ are gave a great character of him. These two have held this bislioprick with that of Aghaduy (in Latin, Duarensis,) since the year 1665. The case of the clergy is thus: there are no glebes; one-quarter of the tithes are held by the bishop; two-fourths have been generally in the hands of impropriators; so the clergy have been pos- sessed of one-fourth. The diocese is pretty large; yet has but ten beneficed clergymen, and about half these non-resi- dent. Your Grace will see from this account what necessity there is that a good active man should be placed in it, if any regard be had to relio;ion. Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 381 " The neighbouring diocese of Tuani was much in the piocese of Tuam same condition, by the negligence of the former archbishops ; Archbishop but, by placing Dr. Synge in it, it begins to change its face. His Grace has gone a great way in building a manse- house, which has already cost him about 2000/., and will cost him, I believe, about 1500/. more, before he finishes it. He has given up the quarta pars Episcopalis held by all his predecessors, and yet, by his prudent management, has very little lessened the yearly revenue ; and, I am per- suaded, will, by the methods he prosecutes, leave it as good, if not better, than he found it ; and all this without law- suits, and with the consent of the tenants. He has also got several new churches and cures, and is projecting more. I pray God preserve him to finish his good designs. The same mav be done in Clonfert, if a rifjht man be placed in it. We ^^^iton * ' o 1 ^ recommeuded for have recommended Dr. Theo. Bolton for it: he is a thorough, cionfert. universal scholar, and absolutely the best civilian and canonist in the kingdom. He has a great reputation for prudence and piety, as well as learning ; and especially our common- law judges have a regard for him and his opinion in the common law as in the civil. But what reo^ard will be had to our recommendation, or these qualifications, time nmst show ; but of this I am persuaded, that if he were made Bishop of Clonfert, who is a suffragan of the Archbishop of Tuam, and between whom there is an entire friendship, they would be a mighty assistance to one another, and soon put that province in a better condition than it ever has been ; and the only contest between them would be, who should do best for his bishoprick and the publick. " When I began this letter I did not think to give your Grace any trouble about this matter; but, on second thoughts, I concluded that I should be wanting to my duty, if I should not apprise you fully of the state and circumstances of it, which few can do better, having lived some years in that country, and made it my business to inform myself of everything in the province. " Archbishop of Canterbury." The result of this recommendation is noticed in i^ettertotue bishop-elect, a letter of congratulation and ad vice, from Bath, August 27, 1722. 882 THE REIGN OF [Cir. III. August the 27th, 1722, addressed by the archbishop to the bishop-elect : My Lord, *' This is to congratulate your nomination to the bishoprick ; and I pray God that you may manage the office with as much success and honesty as the means have been fair by which you have come into it. You will give ine leave to desire the favour of you to take care of my court till I can come over and put it in order. You have the vi car-gen eraFs place for life. I am not sure whether your acceptance of a bishoprick voids it. I think not : if so, pray execute it whilst you stay in Dublin : and, if you be obliged to leave it before I return, you can appoint a com- missary ; but, if the place be void, you and the Bishop of Kildare, by your commission, can appoint one, w^hich I desire you to do " As to your own affair, you wnll not think of being consecrated till after Michaelmass, and I hope to be in Dublin in October : I wish I w^ere able to assist at it. " The first thing I would advise you to do, as soon as your patent is past, is to get your manse-house view^ed by commissioners, and a report made by them what sum will put it in repair fit for your reception ; and then immediately send to the executors of the late bishop to pay the money, and, if refused, to commence a suit for it. It will be proper to advertise them of the commission, and to desire them to join in it : this w^ill be a good precedent, and of good use. " The next thing w^ill be to inquire into the money re- ceived out of the impropriations, and how it has been laid out. " As to yourself, you have obtained a great character both for abiHtyand honesty, not only in Ireland, but like- wise in England ; and it will concern you much, and all your friends who have helped you, and indeed the whole Church of Ireland, that you maintain it by suitable actions. Tricks and contrivances may serve a man on some occa- sions, but generally fail a man at last, and disappoint him, of which we have had very signal instances on his Majesty's accession to the throne, and with wdiich you are well ac- Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 383 quainted ; therefore, let me intreat you to resolve to act always according to your conscience, and to do it with dili- gence and courage, and neither fear the frowns of the great nor the clamour of the mob ; for the world is not yet so bad but truth, honesty, and good sense are still able to sup- port themselves. And though it should happen otherwise, yet the comfort of having acted in the honest part answers all the inconveniences which can happen to a good man. I tell you things which you know as well as I : but I am well pleased with such lectures from all my friends, and therefore you will take this in good part from him who wishes you well from his heart, and of whose hearty and continual prayers you may assure yourself, and desire the like return for, " My Lord, *' Your most humble servant and brother, W. D. " Dr. Bolton." A letter from Archbishop King to Archbishop l^^^^^^^f^^^' Wake expressed his sense of the assistance derived bi^^opwake-s assistance, Aug. from the English primate in attaining an object so 28,1722. desirable, as this was esteemed, for the Irish Church : ''Bat/i, August 28, 1722. " ^lay it please your Grace, " I am honoured with your Grace\s of the 21st instant. I am glad, on many accounts, that my lord lieutenant has procured the bishoprick of Clonfert for Dr. Bolton, though I could wish that he had been advanced to some less obscure and less difficult place ; but I promise myself his Grace the lord lieutenant will have both honour and good-will by his promotion ; not that I think it possible for him to put the diocese in the order that it should be, though he lived forty years in it; for I have laboured twenty years in my own, and spared neither cost nor pains, and yet I am very far from bringing it to any perfect regulation, and I have had many advantages to help me which he will w\ant. I reckon we have had your Grace's helping hand in this affair, and am willing your Grace should be sensible THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. that we are sensible likewise of your good offices, and thankful. SrMaui?""''*'^ " ^0 Maule, I do not know any man whom I had rather have a bishop ; and, to deal ingenuously with your Grace, for this particular bishoprick I would rather had him than Dr. Bolton, though both excellent men, and the latter the brighter ; for which I have a reason, not to the disadvantage of either ; but I learned, from an old say- ing, that one should drive the nail which will go. I hope his Grace my lord lieutenant will continue in the same mind, and extend his next favour to Dr. Maule, as you say he has encouraged him to expect.'^ Testimony in fa- A letter also to the lord lieutenant, the Duke of Bouon!^'"^''^ Grafton, November 6, 1722, reports from the arch- bishop, that the Bislioj) of Clonfert went imme- diately to his bishoprick as soon as consecrated ; and conveys the writer's pledge that " his Majesty would find in him a faithful subject, the Church an useful bishop, and your Grace receive the grateful returns due to a patron." And another letter, of the same date, addressed to the secretary, the Right Hon. Ed. Hopkins, Esq., together with the archbishop's grate- ful acknowledgments to the lord lieutenant, conveys a notice of the condition of the bishoprick of Clon- fert, as well as the province of Connaught in general : I am, and the kingdom, greatly obliged to his Grace for the promotion of the Bishop of Clonfert. He has been at his bishoprick ever since he was consecrated ; but I expect him here this week or the next. I understand he finds Confusion and GVQV ything there in the utmost confusion and disorder; and, diocet^!^ in truth, it could not be expected it should be otherwise, the late bishop, who held it about thirty-one years, never having been very capable of the station, and for the last years of his life not himself. Connaught, where the see lies, is the most Popish country in Ireland^ and requires the most active, prudent, and industrious clergy, if we ever Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 885 expect it should become Protestant. I think the present bishops arc all very good ; and if they can be prevailed on to reside, and apply themselves to their business, I believe a great deal of good may be done." Of Dr. Maule, dean of Cloyne, to whom allu- sion was made in one of the last extracts, it may be convenient to take this opportnnity for ex- plaining, that in the conrse of the preceding spring, on the expected vacancy of the deanery of Derry, Archbishop King had made a great exertion in his favonr ; and had addressed letters commendatory of him to the Archbishop of Canterbury, JNIr. South- well, jNIr. Hopkins, and the Duke of Grafton. The nccommended ^ ^ for the deanery grounds on which these recommendations M'ere of Derry. made, were the position of the deanery of Derry, being " a great frontier against the dissenters, and having five great cures on it, and the necessity of a sixth in the isle of Inch, where there were an hun- dred families, and an old chapel, seven miles from the parish church, without the power of getting to any church without crossing the sea ;" the necessity of a good man, to fill the station efficiently; and the peculiar qualifications of Dean ]Maule, distin- guished as he was by his care for the souls under his ^charge, and his charity for the poor, his concern for the faith and discipline of the Church, his good aftection to his ^Majesty, and zeal for his government and the publick good. These qualifications, as the archbishop observed to Mr. Hopkins, " speak loudly for him in this kingdom : but you know that will do him little good, except they be considered on your side of the water, I therefore entreat you to give what assistance you can conveniently to a good man, which, as it will be a publick service, so will it be an obligation on. Sir, your humble servant, W. D." 2 c 386 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. His competitor. The archbisliop was induced to take steps thus early in behalf of Dr. JNIaule, by the exertions pre- yiously made to procure the deanery of Derry for another person. " I should not have encouraged him to make any motion that way," he writes on the 24th of JNIay to the Archbishop of Canterbury, " had I not found that the bishop had written letters to secure it for a son-in-law of his Lordship's ; and, as is suspected, gone over to England in person to that purpose. I understand there have fallen three benefices in the diocese since he came to it ; one the very best in it, another the archdeaconry, and another one of the best : these he has got for his son and two relations or friends. My Lord, such proceedings will have an ill effect on the minds of both clergy, I fear, and laity, and add to that general discontent that of late too much appears everywhere." He contemplated Qf the wortli of tho iudividual commended in a history of Ireland. tliese extracts, there will be occasion to speak with respect hereafter. At the present time it seems that he had in contemplation to write a history of Ireland : such, at least, is the interpretation which I put upon the following observations made to him by Archbishop King in a letter of May 8, 1722 : Archbishop " As to tliG liistovy of Ireland, I am very sensible there th "difficulty of ^^^^ wanting, but doubt whether it be possible to supply the undertaking. [^^ observable that the beginning of all societies is generally obscure, insomuch that little account can be giv^en of them ; the reason is, because people are so busy in pro- curing a settlement for themselves, and providing neces- saries, that they have not time to tell the world what they have been doing; and this is so true, that it holds even in the settlement of the Church : for though the faith of Christ was preached through a great part of the world by the apostles, yet we have hardly any account of any other Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE I. 387 apostle's labours but St. Paul's, and even that is imperfect, aud dotli not go through a great part of his latter time : in short, we find Christianity everywhere, but when, or how, or by whom planted, is in the dark. " Now this I take to be the state of Ireland. It has Unsettled state been in a continued state of unsettlement ; and the few ° * ecoimtrj. clergy, who are in it, are put to such shifts to live, so em- ployed in the common offices of their duties, that they have not time to apply themselves to anything else : besides, our benefices, which are few, very few indeed, which would afford subsistence and leisure to look into the history and antiquities of the kingdom, are generally given to persons Wantofencou- altogether unqualified and incapable of performing such a ^'^S'^"^^^*- task. Our gentlemen do not apply themselves to learning ; and those who are able to employ hands to collect and procure the sight of records, generally live out of the king- dom : and the offices, where our records lie, are kept or Record offices m held by persons that neither live in the kingdom, nor, if they did, were capable of looking into the records. The poor harpy deputy has no view but to get money ; never minds anything but what gets him the penny; hardly knows what records he has in his custody; and can neither find them if yon inquire for them, nor let you peruse them without considerable sums and great costs : the case, then, is this, that those who have money and leisure have neither capacity nor will to apply themselves to such a work, and those who are capable and willing have neither leisure nor opportunity. " When I first came to this diocese, I had it in mv mind Archbishop , . ' King's inten- to look into the antiquities, the civil, ecclesiastical, and tions, how fms- natural history of the kingdom ; but found everything in such disorder, the discipline so sunk, the cures so ill pro- vided, so many churches wanting, and those in being so ruinous, that I looked on it as my immediate duty to take care of these, which I have done with all the diligence I could, and it has taken up most of my time, and what money I could spare. I want yet twelve churches, to accommodate the dioccso with tolerable convcniency to the people ; and, which is worst, vrant a maintenance for the ministers to serve them, if they were built. Of the churches which 2 C 2 888 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. are in repair, and continually officiated in, I reckon twenty- three have no sufficient maintenance ; the allowance to the curates who serve them being from 20/. to 40/. per annum : and about forty-six have no glebe, which makes residence very difficult, and in some of them impossible. You may see from this that I have work enough, and that it is not possible for me to find either means or leisure to take care of an history, either civil, ecclesiastical, or natural. Council-chamber a J j^^^v farther obscrvc, that the council-chamber beinj? burnt. 1 , , . . burnt about eleven years ago, we have lost the repositories of most of our Church affairs, and with it the surveyor''s office was burnt, w^here many inquisitions and maps relating to our endowments were destroyed. Change of go- 4t ^jjd farther, our chief erovernours and their secretaries, vernours. *^ who are so often changed, commonly took with them all the records which came to their hands, insomuch that I believe there are more MSS. and papers relating to Ireland in the Lambeth Library, Bennett College, and my Lord Clarendon"'s, than in all this kingdom. iJeiand^''*'"^*° " ^ ^^P^' ^^^'^ Clarcudon s is printed, but I do not remember any printed of the other two : we have several Irish MSS. in the library here, but I know nobody that can or cares to peruse them. " Mr. Dodwell has often told me that we might have the ecclesiastical history of the Church of Ireland more entire, and from authors freer from fable than the English ; particularly he mentioned the Ulster Annals^ and Tiger- nacus^ Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE I. Section VIII. Account of Bishop Bolton, Dean Swift's comment on his elevation. The Deaiis opposition to his Diocesan. Re- fuses to attend his Visitation. The Bishop'^s refusal to ordain a person for his Curate. Archbishop King's practice in ordaining Candidates from, other Dioceses. Dean Stvifs continued opposition. His Letter to the Bishop of Meath. Death of the Bishop. His Benefac- tions to the Church. Episcopal Appointments. Settle- ment of the Controversy between Archbishop King and Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. Various Decisions in the Archbishop'' s favour. His final success. Letter of achioicledgment to Archbishop Wake. His Visitation of Christ Church. Jurisdiction settled. Theophilus Bolton, who, on the death of Bishop Acc ent of Bishop Bolti Fitzgerald, was promoted to the bishoprick of Clon- fert, in September, 1722, is recorded as " one of the most eloquent speakers of his time, a very learned man, and particularly skilled in ecclesiastical his- tory'." He had been, together with Dr. Swift, chaplain to Charles Earl of Berkeley, when one of the lords justices of Ireland ; and had been promoted to the deanery of Derry, which is said to have been promised to Dr. Swift; but that Mr. Bushe, the principal secretary, laid the latter aside, unless he would pay him a large sum, which the doctor refused with the utmost contempt and scorn. Dr. Bolton afterwards became Chancellor of St. Patrick's, in which capacity he had been brought into disagreeable collision with the dean, who, in a letter of July 9, 1717, to a common friend, Mr. Cope, threw upon the chancellor the whole blame of their disagree- ment : " I made a good many advances to your » Swift's Jf^orks, x., 29 ; xiv., 269. THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Dean S^vift's comment on his elevation. The dean's oppo- Bition to his dio- cesan. friend Bolton, since I came to town, and talked of you ; but all signified nothing : for he has taken every opportunity of opposing me in the most un- kind and unnecessary manner; but I have done with himV It was accordingly with no great complacency that he heard or spoke of Dr. Bolton's elevation, as expressed in a letter to the same correspondent, October 9, 1722: " Strange revolutions since I left you: a bishop," (meaning Dr. Atterbury, bishop of Rochester,) " a bishop of my old acquaintance in the Tower for treason, and a doctor of my new acquaint- ance made a bishop." After an interval he adds, " Your new Bishop Bolton was born to be my tormentor : he ever opposed me as my subject, and now has left me embroiled for want of him. The government, in consideration of the many favours they have shown me, would fain have me give St. Bride's to some one of their hang-dogs, that Dr. Howard may come into St. Werburgh's a parish church in Dublin, annexed to the chancellorship of St. Patrick's : " so that I must either disoblige whig and tory in my chapter, or be ungrateful to my friends in power \" What may have been the causes or circumstances of the opposition thus complained of, as offered to the Dean of St. Patrick's by ''his subject" the chancellor, is not stated. But, reverting to a some- what earlier period, we find a remarkable example of opposition offered by the dean himself, though in a different character, to his ecclesiastical superior. He was Vicar of Laracor, in the diocese of JNIeath, and, as such, subject to the jurisdiction of the dioce- san, and bound to attend his visitations. From the * Swift's Works, xi., 83. ^ Ibid., xi., 104. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE I. 891 following letter it appears, that in 1718 he had attended a visitation; but, from some offence con- ceived against the bishop, had determined to attend no more. In the following year accordingly he sent a proxy, appointing a substitute to appear for him: and on the proxy being refused to be accepted, this letter w^as addressed by the parochial minister to his bishop' : " To the Bishop of Meath, May 22, 1719. His letter to the _ , / 11 Bishop of Meath, 1 had an express sent to me yesterday by some May, 22, 1719. friends, to let me know that you refused to accept my proxy, which I think was in a legal form, and with all the circum- stances it ought to have. I was likewise informed of some other particulars relating to your displeasure for my not appearing^. You may remember, if you please, that I pro- Refuses to attend , , " ^ ' i ^ ' . . the bishop's visi- mised last year never to appear again at your visitations; tations. and I will most certainly keep my word, if the law will permit me: not from any contempt of your Lordship's jurisdiction, but that I would not put you under the temp- tation of giving me injurious treatment, which no wise man, if he can avoid it, will receive above once from the same person. " I had the less apprehension of any hard dealing from Expostulates your Lordship, because I had been more than ordinary offi- gratitude, cious in my respects to you, from your first coming over. I waited on you as soon as I knew of your landing. I attended on you on your first journey to Trim. I lent you a useful book relating to your diocese; and repeated my visits, till I saw you never intended to return them. And I could have no design to serve myself, having nothing to hope or fear from you. I cannot help it, if I am called of a different party from your Lordship''s, but that circum- stance is of no consequence with me, who respect good men of all parties alike. " I have already nominated a person to be my curate, and His remark on did humbly recommend him to your Lordship to be ordained, ^fto o^dJin a^""' which must be done by some other bishop, since you are curate ^^'^^^ pleased, as I am told, to refuse it: and I ain apt to think ' Swift's Works, 110. 802 THE EEIGN OF [Ch. III. An instance of insubordination. Oidinatinn of curates depend- ing on the dio- ces.ins. you will be of opinion, that, when I have a lawful curate, I shall not be under the necessity of a personal appearance, from which I hold myself excused by another station. If I shall prove to be mistaken, I declare my appearance will be extremely against my inclinations. However, I hope that in such a case, your Lordship will please to remember, in the midst of your resentments, that you are to speak to a clergyman, and not to a footman. " I am, your Lordship's most obedient, humble servant, "JoN. Swift." It is not my purpose to magnify unduly the episcopal office, still less to hold it forth as a defence of injurious treatment, or resentful or disrespectful language, from a bishop to his ecclesiastical inferior. What, however, had been the conduct or the lan- guage of the Bishop of Meath on this particular occasion, I am not aware that ^ve possess means of ascertaining. Probably it was aggravated by the irritable temper of the complainant: the tone of whose letter altogether, and especially its language of crimination, and of independence on the judgment of the diocesan in the exercise of his episcopal power of ordination and admission of curates, de- viated widely from the deference due from the ecclesiastical inferior to his bishop. As connected with the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Ireland, let it at the same time be observed, that either the sanguine temperament of Dean Swift must have misled him into a supposition, that he could procure from some other bishop the ordination of a candidate for a cure, for which his own diocesan refused to ordain him; or great laxity of discipline must have prevailed in the Church. In juxtaposition, therefore, with his remark, I adduce two extracts from letters of Archbishop King, on Sec. VIII.J KING GEORGE I. 393 the 12th and 22ncl of December, 1724. "I am Archbishop pressed," he says to the Bishop of Cork, ''to ordain a young man priest for a curacy in your Lordship's diocese to assist Dr. Maule. But I think every bishop ought to have the examination of such as are designed to serve the Church under his care, and I ordain none for other bishops except at their request. If your Lordship, hoAvever, desires it, I will not refuse to examine and ordain him." And again: "The gentleman, whom Dr. Maule desired to have ordained for your Lordship's diocese, is one ^Ir. Hassett, I think of Kerry: he is a deacon, and only intended for an assistant, which is a proper employment for a deacon, it being the first design of their institution, and expressed in the office of their ordination, that they are to assist the priest. And I seldom ordain any priest till he have officiated as an assistant to some priest for a year, according to the rubrick, that I may know how he behaves himself in the service of God, and may be more perfect and better instructed in his duty: and finding your Lord- ship had demurred on ordaining him, it made me the more resolute in observinof mv rule of not or- daining any for another bishop's diocese, without being desired by the bishop." The followino: case, likewise, is not unworthv of Bishops bound to o provide for t'lose notice, where the bishop of another diocese havins^ whom they ordained a person on a title in the archbishop's diocese, Avithout the archbishop's authority, the latter threw the responsibility of employing the ])erson ordained, on the bishop who had ordained him : " My Lord, Dublin, Oct. 22, 1726. '' I understand that your Lordship has ordained a gentleman, one ^Ir. Hely, who, whilst a layman, had a THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. presentation, as I am told, to some small thing in my diocese. I never did such a thing for any of my brethren, but on letters-testimonial from them, and at their request. I wish I might have the same deference paid to the canons, and to me as a brother ; but, since your Lordship has thought fit to ordain him, I hope your Lordship will be so kind as to provide for him in your own diocese, and not return him on me. I referred him to my commissioners, being absent, of which the Bishop of Kildare was the first, and had power to ordain whom he thought fit ; but, on application to him, his Lordship did not think fit to lay hands on him. Your Lordship has taken it on yourself ; and I also hope that you will take care of him, that I may have no further trouble on his account. I persuade myself that your Lordship will comply with this, as a reasonable request of. My Lord, *' Your most humble servant and affectionate brother, " Lord Bishop of Down. W. D." From these letters, written at a period not very remote from the date of Dean Swift's letter to his diocesan, it is evident, that he would have sought in vain, from the Archbishop of Dublin, for the ordina- tion of a candidate, whom his own bishop refused to ordain. Possibly, other bishops may have been less scrupulous, as these pages, indeed, have given proof that they were, in upholding the Church's discipline. Dean Swifts I rotum, liowcver, to the case of the dean, with continued oppo- sition to his the observation, that the offence, whatever it was, diocesan. that had raised his displeasure, continued to be cherished in his remembrance. The next year a violent disorder obliged the Bishop of Meath to hold his visitation by commission ; but, after an interval of two years, when the bishop's visitation was again announced, the following letter was Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE I. addressed to a confidential correspondent of the writer, the Rev. Mr. Wallis' : " Sir, DuhUn, May 18, 1721. " I had your letter, and the copy of the bishop's circular inclosed, for which I thank you ; and yet I will not pretend to know anythin^^ of it, and hope you have not told anybody what you did. I should be glad enough to be at the visitation, not out of any love to the business of the person, but to do my part in preventing any mischief; but, in truth, my health will not suffer it, and you, who are my proxy, may safely give it upon your veracity. I am confi- dent the bishop Avould not be dissatisfied with wanting my company, and yet he may give himself airs, wdien he finds I am not there. I now employ myself in getting you a com- panion to cure your spleen. " I am, " Your faithful, humble servant, " J. S." The visitation accordingly was holden, and the proceedings produced the following letter from Dean Swift to the Bishop of Meath, dated July 5, 1721. In a note upon Bishop Nicholson's Epistolary Correspondence, it is characterised by the editor of that work as " an excellent rebuke' the reader will form his own estimate of its fitness, under the relative circumstances of the parties'^ : " My Lord, Letter to the "I have received an account of your Lordship^s refusing to admit my proxy at your visitation, with several circumstances of personal reflections on myself, although my proxy attested my want of health ; to confirm which, and to lay before you the justice and Christianity of your pro- ceeding, above a hundred persons of quality and distinction can witness that since Friday, the 26th of May, I have been tormented with an ague, in as violent a manner as ^ Swift's JVorls, xi., p. ]63. ^ Nicholson, ii. 7 Swift's JVorh, xi., p. 1G4. 396 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. possible, which still continues, and forces me to make use of "onto^Ivrd the htind in writing to you. At the same time I must visitation. be plain to tell you, that if this accident had not happened I should have used all my endeavours to avoid your visita- tion, upon the publick promise I made you three years ago» and the motives which occasioned it ; because I was unwil- ling to hear any more very injurious treatment and appella- tions given to my brethren or myself : and, by the grace of God, I am still determined to absent myself on the like occasion, so far as I can possibly be dispensed with by any law, while your Lordship is in that diocese, and I a member of it. In which resolution I could not conceive but your Lordship would be easy, because, although my presence might possibly contribute to your real, at least future interest, I was sure it could not to your present satisfaction. " If I had had the happiness to have been acquainted with any one clergyman in the diocese of your Lordship's principles, I should have desired him to represent me, with hopes of better success : but I wish you would sometimes think it convenient to distinguish men as well as principles, and not to look upon every person who happens to owe you canonical obedience, as if " I have the honour to be ordinary over a considerable number of as eminent divines as any in this kingdom, who owe me the same obedience as I owe to your Lordship, and are equally bound to attend my visitation ; yet neither I nor any of my predecessors, to my knowledge, did ever refuse a regular proxy. " I am only sorry that you, who are of a country famed for good nature, have found a way to imite the hasty passion of your own countrymen with the long, sedate re- sentment of a Spaniard : but I have an honourable hope that this proceeding has been more owing to party than complexion. " I am, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's most humble servant.'"* Death of Pisi.op j,^ Mnrch, 1724, Bishop Evans died. Notwith- Evjins, March, ' ' i ^^2^- standing the severe and sarcastick reflections of Sec. YIIT.] KING GEORGE I. 897 Dean Swift, lie is repeatedly mentioned by Bishop Downes with esteem and kindness, and appears to have maintained with him and Bishop Nicholson a neighbourly and friendly intercourse. On his menu- "'J, ment it is recorded, that, at his death, he devoted his property, as he had done during his life, to the benefit of the Church, both in England and in Ireland. And the record is confirmed by the fact of his having bequeathed his personal estate, in several portions, for building, if not built by himself, accord- ing to his intention, an episcopal house at Ardbrac- can ; for purchasing lands for the use of the rector of Llanlayhan, his native parish, in the diocese of Bangor; for purchasing glebes and impropriate tytlies, with the consent of the governours of Queen Anne's Bounty, for the benefit of the poor clergy in England ; and for purchasing glebes and impropriate tythes for the benefit and endowment of the several churches in the diocese of Meath, in the sole dona- tion of the bishops of that see^ It were difliicult to imagine a more judicious and appropriate distribution of property acquired from the Church, and thus devoted to her emolument. The vacancy thus caused in the see of Meath, Episcopal appointments. was promptly filled by the translation of Bishop Downes from Elphin, which was conferred on Bishop Bolton ; and, thereupon, the bishoprick of Clonfert fell to the lot of Arthur Price, doctor of divinity in the university of Dublin, of whom Harris has noticed it as observable, that he had o-radually Pnco.bishopof 1 ii 1 11 1 . , / Clonfeit: his passed tnrouern all the stations of the L^llUrCIl, gmdations in having been, successively, first, reader, then curate * ' of St. Werburgh's, in Dublin; vicar of Cell-bridge; ^ Ware's Bishops, p. 1(13. 898 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. prebendary of Donadea, in Kildare; rector of Louth, in Armagh; archdeacon and canon of Kildare ; and, final ly^ dean of Ferns, whence he was promoted to the bishopricks of Clonfert and Kil- macduagh, in May, 1724. Letter from Tlio arrano^oment of these bishopricks, and the Bishop Downcs to " Bishop Nichoi- influence by which they were distributed, are com- son. J J municated by Bishop Downes to Bishop Nicholson, in the following letter, dated Dublin, March 24, 1 724^ the Duke of Grafton being lord lieutenant : " Dear Brother, " Whether you make a jest of it or no, perhaps I may be a privy counsellor before my betters : though, when- ever that honour shall fall to my lot, if it were in my power I should be willing to resign it to one I could name, who is far more worthy of it. Cause of his pro- It was uot out of affectatiou of secrecy that I did not motion to IMeath. . acquamt your Lordship with my hopes of success, which you contributed greatly to strengthen by the letters you wrote, particularly that to the Bishop of London, who, though he knew me very well, and I knew his power, yet, having never held any correspondence with him, I could not find out any way of coming at him to so good advantage as by your Lordship. Your readiness to use your interest in him, and his to use his interest at court in my favour, lays strong obligations upon me to both. I believe his Grace's recommendation of me to Meath was no sooner received than approved, and the others also were soon agreed to ; for on Sunday morning last the lord lieutenant received an account that his Majesty had signed all the three letters to his Grace's great satisfaction ; and, if he would be as quick in disposing of preferments in his own power, it might be more to the satisfaction of others and his own honour. Accident to the " Our brotlicr Ferns, who is now on his visitation, on the road calling somewhat louder than usual to his man, as he rode by, to come up to him, quite lost his voice, and has ^ Nicholson's Letters, ii., p. 5G5. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE I. G99 not yet recovered it ; so that be will be able only to make signs, or wbisper to bis clergy, &:c. " Dean Price, wbo went along witb bim, bad an express * sent after bim on Sunday, and be came bitber last nigbt, or early tbis morning, to take possession of bis bisboprick of Clonfert, tbougb tbere ^yas no need of bis making sucb post baste, none of our letters being yet come over, and perbaps none may, till tbey sball be called for and cleared off by tbe ])ayment of tbe fees at tbe Privy Signet Office, wbicb now we bave desired Mr. Maddocks to do by tbe first post. And wbcn tbey do come, mine must bave finisbed its course before eitber of tbe otbers could begin tbeirs. All wbicb sbows tbat tbere was no necessity of wbipping and spurring, unless it proceeded from an impatience to express bis grati- tude to bis benefactors for a promotion wbicb was most bigbly provoking to tbe lord cbancellor, (Viscount Midle- cScSTor^ ton.) and tbe first news of it made bim swear : nor could ^ndieton. be find in bis beart to wisb eitber brotber Clonfert or me joy on tbe occasion, tbougb be was in tbe room wben we came in to return our tbanks to my lord duke; and bis Grace was pleased in bis bearing to wisb us joy ; and after- wards turned about, and told tbe lord cbancellor. Upon wbicb occasion be only said be saw joy in our looks : but did not tbink fit to sbow any sign of bis rejoicing witb us. On tbe contrary, bis countenance fell, and discovered no small concern at tbe evidence tbe duke bad given of bis power at court, wbicb be, no doubt, reflected on as wbat one day migbt affect bim. " I bad a letter from our good friend tbe Lord of Can- terbury by tbe last post. He seemed to expect tbat tbese preferments would not be disposed of till tbe duke came over ; but heard, bowever, tbat I was safe. He complained tbat be sbould be tbe last tbat would be consulted in tbose matters ; and tberefore did not trouble bis bead or concern bimself about tbem. I really feared tbat so it con- tinued witb bim : bowever, I tbougbt it not fit to suppose so mucb, or to seem to neglect bim, by omitting to write to his Grace in tbis affair. " Our best services wait on you and all yours, and are and sball be yours most affectionately, as above all otbers is " Your most obliged, H. E/' 400 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. Visitation of his All eai'lv visitation of his new diocese by Bishop dioccoe by Bishop J x ofMcath. Downes, i3roduced a letter, of June 4, 1724, from which the ensuing extract is remarkable, in refer- ence to the previous intercourse between his pre- decessor and Dean Swift : " I spent all last week in or near Trim. On Wednesday I held my visitation, and on Thursday a synod there ; and, through the unexpected goodness of the Dean of St. Patrick's, was made perfectly easy on both days, as if he had a mind to atone, by his uncommon civilities to me, for the uncommon trouble he had given to my pre- decessor. The dean went with me, on Friday, to visit Arbracken, and to lay out the ground for my new house and gardens ; but we returned re infectd, not having allowed time for so necessary a work.'"" Sntrovcrsy''^ ^^'^ Tho coutroversy concerning the power of the wirpK^ngand Archbishop of Dubhn, in regard to the dean and orchxTsJciur'c^' chapter of Christ Church, which had existed for a long period of years, was brought to a close in the spring of 1724. The archiepiscopal jurisdiction in that cathedral was resisted, and two very tedious and expensive suits had been carried on against the archbishop, one of them for fourteen years and upwards, by the dean and chapter. One of these suits related to the instalment of his archdeacon, whom they refused to admit to a seat, and allow him a voice, in the chapter, to which he was said to be entitled by their charter. The other was on the question of the archbishop's general jurisdiction and visitation, which they rejected. ilwXvoin'"' ^^^^ previously had "two other causes on the same foot," which passed all the courts in Ireland and in England, and at last were determined Nicholson, ii., p. 574. Sec. VIIL] KING GEORGE I. 401 in the English House of Lords ; besides, on a refer- ence to Lord Chief Justice Holt, he had given his award in the archbishop's favour. Li the causes now under judgment, the arch- bishop had also had sentence in his favour, first in the Court of Common Pleas, in Ireland. The sen- tence was affirmed, on a writ of error, in the Irish Court of King's Bench. Again, on the like writ of error, it had been affirmed in the King's Bench, in England. But his adversaries proceeded thence, and brought the causes before the English House of Lords. Of the conduct of the dean and chapter on this ms indignation at the conduct of occasion, he speaks wdth the greatest indignation: thedeanand " I must crave your pardon," thus he writes on the 4th of February, to Francis iVnnesley, Esq., " when I tell you, that you are much mistaken to imagine, that the dean and chapter of Christ Church are ashamed of anything. They live in opposi- tion to all mankind, except their two lawyers, Mr. Nutley and Mr. Burk ; squander away their oeconomy; have turned their chapter-house into a toy-shop, their vaults into wine-cellars ; and allowed a room in the body of their church, formerly for a grand jury-room, and now^ for a robe-room for the judges; and are greatly chagrined at my getting two or three churches built and consecrated in the parishes belonging to their body, which were for- merly neglected, as several others still are; their cathedral is in a pitiful condition ; and though St. Patrick's has not half the oeconomy that Christ Church has, yet it is much better beautified, and great sums of money laid out on it. In short, the dean and chapter, and all their members, seem to have little regard to the good of the Church, or to 2d 402 THE RETGN OF LCh. tit. the service of God. This consideration has made me zealous to settle my jurisdiction over them, and the same makes them unwilling to come under it. One of them told me, when I objected these things to him, that he looked on these as a sure sign that they were not subject to the archbishop ; for, if he had had power, he would not have suffered them." Hisexe tionsto arclibisliop was desirous of brino-ino- these procure a hearing 1 o o LoSl^°"''' ''^ questions to a close; and, that he might secure a hearing and a decision, wrote to several English peers, entreating their attendance, especially to the Earl Coningsby, the Lord President of the Council, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. To the last he expressed himself thus : If your Grace cannot be there, I entreat you send as many of your brethren as you can influence ... I beseech your Grace not to resent this trouble. You see how I am pushed in my jurisdiction. If this were by dis- senters or Papists, I should bear it more easily ; but it is by the members of my cathedral, who pretend to be mighty high churchmen, and whose church was built and endowed by my predecessors out of the bishoprick, who now will not own me, though constantly visited by all my predecessors, till I came in." Final success. Frcsh attcuipts wcro made to postpone the hear- ing till another session ; but ''the House put them- selves to more than ordinary pains in order to give judgment in them, and in both the causes gave judgment, "with costs, in favour of the archbishop." His grateful acknowledgments for the expedition with which they were despatched were made in two letters, of May the 2nd, to the lord chancellor. Lord Macclesfield, and to the lord president ; and in two letters of Mav 28, 1724, to Lord Townshend and Sec. VIILJ KIXG GEORGE I. 403 Earl Cadogaii, to wliose influence and exertions lie ^vas indebted for their beino- heard and broiio;]it to judgment. In the interval he addressed a long account of his condition ^vith respect to Christ Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury ; and it contains so many curious particulars, that I purpose to transcribe it at length, little pleasing, as it is, for an ecclesiastical exhibition, and little creditable to the churchmen whose portraits are comprised in the picture : - DuhUn, May the 2Brd, 1724. Letter of ac- 11 tr ' , 1 n " kaowledgmeni to May It please your Grace. Archbisiiop of I was honoured with vour Grace^s of the 2.8rd of 'if':'^'^'^^ April, which, to be sure, i^ave me great satisfaction, and obliges me to have a great sense of gratitude to your Grace, and to the whole House of Lords, who, as I understand, treated me with some distinction, which I gratefully ac- knowledge. I received your Grace's letter in the beginning of a fit of the sfout, which seized me in my hand, and I was unwilling to make use of another's to your Grace. But finding it continue, I thought it more respectful to make my acknowledgments any way than delay them too long. '* I hope this will put an end to the lone and expensive ^'^^erousjud?- ^ ^ _ * ' ' ments in his fa- contention in which I have been engaged, for which there vour. was not the least ground. I have had three judgments in the Common Pleas here, some of them in the Queen's time, when the judges were no ways favourable to me : four in the King's Bench here, four in the King's Bench in Great Britain, and four in the House of Lords there : in all which, by what I understand, the judges were unanimous. Besides these I have had the better in two appeals ; and surely this may satisfy any reasonable men. ' I am not yet sure whether my adversaries acquiesce; General censure but I hope they will. It will be my part not to treat them huop^^n^"' with resentment; and lam resolved to act that part, though the provocations have been very great on their part. The clamour of both clergy and laity against them is so loud, that I do not see how they will be able to stand it ; for, 2 D 2 404 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. wliomsoever they meet, they find themselves condemned. They have suffered extremely both in their interest and other advantages which were allowed them ; the clergy having withdrawn themselves from preaching in their church, which they formerly did by turns both on Sundays and holidays ; and the nobility and gentry absenting themselves, because they did not see that decency in the service of God and edi- fication in the preaching which they used to have. " The truth is, the members of it are generally treated with contempt, and looked on as persons of no conscience or prudence, as negligent of the orders of the Church, and all true piety, notwithstanding their pretensions to be mighty high churchmen. Their irregular!- a J ^ever did, nor intend to, invade any of their rights and privileges, but think myself obliged to take care that they should do their duty. They have appropriated to their church about twenty -seven parishes, many of which are not supplied at all, and most of them very indifferently. They will not concur to rebuild churches where they are necessary, for fear they should be obliged to supply them with curates. These and several other irregularities I take to be the reasons they have been so unwilling to submit to their bishop ; and this management had, before I came, very bad influence on the whole diocese ; for, though my predecessors all visited them, yet these visitations signified very little, because the archbishops did not know the extent of their own power, and were unwilling to exert themselves, for fear of being involved in an expensive contention. I thought myself obliged to give your Grace this account, for my own justification. Archbishops of " My Lord, o^ive me leave to observe to your Grace, Dublin ill treated , i i i • i « i • i t , ^ ^ by the crown. that tlic arclibishops of this see have had very hard measure from the crown ; for this church was founded by my pre- decessors, built, and endowed by them ; the parishes appro- priated to them were all of the archbishop''s advowson, and given by him ; the archbishop was their patron, abbot, and visitor ; he confirmed their prior, whom they elected by a cofi^c (Telire from him, and he admitted their canons. They never resigned to the king, nor, indeed, could they; for cathedrals are not in our act of dissolution of religious Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE I. 405 houses, nor was the king ever seized of their church. Yet, without consent of the archbishop, he turned them into a dean and chapter, by ;^a mere act of power ; made the four dif^nitaries, that is, the dean, chanter, chancellor, and trea- surer, donatives ; and the vicars, which afterwards King James the First made prebendaries, elective by the dean and chapter, with power to put them in possession of their stalls without license from the archbishop ; so that, if the foundation of their present constitution were looked into, it would not be found to be very solid, I am sure not reason- able. " Whereas the bishoprick of Glandelaojh is united to the Bishoprickof ^ ° . Glandelagh seized archbishoprick of Dublin from the very foundation, and has by King Henry YIII. its cathedral, dean, and chapter ; this was dissolved and seized by the king, with all its dependence, under the notion of a collegiate church ; so that, till it was restored again by Queen ^lary, they did not leave to the archbishop so much as the naming of a vicar in both his cathedrals. My Lord, I hope you will excuse the length of this, since 1 thought it fit to let your Grace see by this account how the Church has been treated in Ireland ; and that it is due to the prejudices the people have contracted from such proceedings, with others in the civil management, that the natives are so strangely averse to the Reformation. " Let me conclude, with my greatest respects and thankfulness to your Grace that are possible to be enter- tained by, " My Lord, Your Grace's most humble servant and brother," No immediate consequence appears to have fol- ^[a^l^ntf^ch^^^^ lowed: but, November 2, the archbishop writes to JJ-'-^i^. O'^tober, Mr. Annesley, " I visited Christ Church the 27th of last month, and was received there with submission, on which the contempt was purged. I proceeded without any harshness or reflection, but told them what I expected at the next visitation. How mat- ters will go then, if I live till that time, I will give you an account." 406 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. The foregoing particulars are taken from another " Transcript Book," containing letters between Au- gust, 1723, and May, 1725, in the possession of Robert Butler Bryan, Esq. They do not comprise the date of the archbisho23's next visitation ; but the MS. Correspondence, in Trinity College Library, by a letter to Lord Palmerstown, of October 5, 1725, relates, that " the archbishop had settled his jurisdic- tion, and the dean and chapter become amenable to him so far as not only to yield him reasonable sub- mission, but to join "with him in making some provi- sion for the cures dependent on them," Section IX. Lord Carteret Lord Lieutenant. Death of Primate Lindsai/. His Character. Desire of Archbishop King's friends for his Promotion. His Letters and Sentiments on the occa- sion. Speculations on th3 Vacancy. Dean Swift. Bishop Doxcnes. Appointment of Dr. H. Boulter. Account of him. His unexpected Ad'cancement. His Letters. Mo- tive to his Appointment. Anecdote of Archbishop King. Primate Boulter''s maintenance of the English interest. Archbishop King'^s Lllness. Primate''s Sentiments on new Appointments. Recommendation of Dr. Burscough for See of Limerich. Politiccd Qucd if cations for Preferment. Archbishop King's Sentiments on Church Patronage. Little encouragement to the Clergy. Dean Swift'' s Letter to Lord Carteret on Church Patronage. It Avas in the interval between the settlement and the conclusion of the late episcopal changes, that an alteration was made in the ministry; when Lord Carteret became lord lieutenant of Ireland instead of the Duke of Grafton, who was ap])ointed lord chamberlain ; and the Duke of Newcastle succeeded Sec. IX.] KINC^ GEORGE I. 407 Lord Carteret as secretary of state. On the Duke or Grafton's withdrawal to England, and in the absence of the Lord Carteret, on the 21st of May, the Viscounts Midleton and Shannon, and William Conollj, Esq., were re-sworn as lords justices, which station they had before occupied during the absence of the Duke of Grafton, in company, however, with the Archbishop of Dublin, who was not now re- appointed. On the 13th of Julv, 1724, Primate Lindsay feath of Pnmate •' Lindsay, July 13, died, having laboured under severe indisposition for several years. From a contemporaneous record, cited in ]Mr. funeral. Stewart's Historij of Armagh, his funeral was so- lemnised at Dublin, witli great pomp and circum- stance. In a procession to the cathedral of Christ Church, where the body was to be deposited, the pastoral staft' was borne by the Chancellor of Ar- magh, accompanied by the eight chaplains of the deceased prelate, in long cloaks of close mourning, the Chanter of Armagh, vrho bore the episcopal crosier, and the king at arms, in mourning, wearing the royal ai-ms, and earring a mitre on a velvet cushion. The Bishops of Meath and Clonfert, the Deans of St. Patrick's and of Armagh, Dr. Travers, and the Vice-provost of Trinity College, supported the pall. Primate Lindsay had been a liberal benefactor ms character, to the cathedral and choir of Armagh, especially in maintaining the fabrick, and in })roviding for the better celebration of the choral service : in his private charities also he was bountiful. But in relation to his diocese in general, and still more to the Church of Ireland at large, there are few of those who have filled his station of pre-eminence, of 408 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. whom there is so little recorded in commemoration of their value. In a letter to Dr. Maule, of June the 9th, 1722, concerning the purchasing of glebes, Archbishoj) King remarks : " We are not like to make any great hand of the matter, till my lord primate is pleased to act with more vigour and less nicety." And in a letter of the 31st of the ensuing October, Bishop Downes informs his correspondent, " We have all of us this day received a summons from the primate, to meet at his house upon business on Saturday next at twelve o'clock. I little ex- pected to have gone there again upon that errand. We shall then see, whether he has been so weak a man as he has generally, on both sides of the water, been reported to be'." And again, " As to the late primate," said Archbishop King to Mr. Annesley, in a letter of June 23, 1727, " I confess he deceived all his friends, especially the clergy, who were so zealous for his promotion ; but it must be acknow- ledged, that he did something, that he believed to be good for the Churcli. He expended above 4000/. to purchase 200/. per annum, to maintain a choir at Armagh. I think likewise that he purchased bells. Perhaps the money might have been better laid out ; but sure every one ought to be allowed to dispose of his charity as he thinks fit." Desire of Arch- Froui tho othcr " Trauscript Book," lately men- bisiiop King's *' promotion tlouod. Containing letters from August, 1723, to May, 1725, in the possession of Robert Butler Bryan, Esq., it appears, that Archbishop King Avas engaged in his triennial visitation of his province, when he was overtaken at Kildare by letters from friends in Dublin, acquainting him with the death of the primate, and urging him to make application to ' Nicholson', ii., 553. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. several persons of high station in England, so as to secure the appointment of an eligible successor to the primacy ; and, as the most eligible, of the arch- bishop liimself. He complied Avith the advice, so far as regarded the appointment generally ; but he declined to make application for his own promotion. The friends, from whom the suggestion came, were Dr. Marmaduke Coghill, and Chief Justice Whit- shed, who were supported in their sentiments by Mr. Conolly, one of the lords justices. The name of Dr. Coohill is one which will occa- Mamiaduke O CoghiU. sionally occur in the course of these pages; it is convenient, therefore, that he should be made known to the reader, which cannot be better done than in the words of Archbishop King, who, in a letter of July 15, 1728, thus presented him to the Bishop of London : " I presume by this to introduce and recommend the His character, bearer, Dr. Marmaduke Coghill, a gentleman of a good estate and family, judge of the prerogative, and one of the privy council. He has been of great use to the government here, and to his Majesty's interest ; if your Lordship be inclined to know anything of the state of the Church or kingdom here, I know not any man more able to inform you. " The knowledge of the canon and civil law is very young among us ; few of our bishops talented that way. What progress has been made of late in that science is chiefly due to the bearer, and to some other encouragements given in this city to that study. Vie still want something to perfect our processes, especially as to proper delegates : if anything relating to that matter comes before his Ma- jesty, we promise ourselves your Lordship's countenance and assistance, which will be of very great moment." In a letter of similar introduction to Sir Paul Methuen, the archbishop represents Dr. Coghill as joining with his other qualifications, " prudence, knowledge, and probity." 410 THE REIGN OF [Cn. III. Hib letters on the occasion It was this most respectable gentleman, who, in conjunction with the Lord Justice Conolly, and AVhitshed, chief justice of the King's Bench, urged the condition of the Churcli, under the circumstances of the primate's death, on the attention of the Arch- bishop of Dublin. The archbisho]), in consequence, addressed letters on the 14th of July, to Lord Carteret, the lord lieu- tenant; to the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Duke of Grafton ; the Bishop of London ; the Lord Ilarcourt ; and Sir Peter King, chief justice of the Common Pleas. Of these distinguished personages he severally besought the good offices with his Ma- jesty and his ministers, for " securing to Ireland such a ])rimate, as might answer the expectation of the publick, and serve his Majesty, and the kingdom, GmftonT'° ^^^^ t^^^ Church, effectually." " Your Grace is sen- sible," ^ he observed to the Duke of Grafton, "that both the Churcli and kingdom have been incom- moded by my lord primate's indisposition, and other circumstances that attended his administra- tion ; and your Grace knovveth of what moment it is to have one in that post, well affected to his Ma- jesty's person and government, who is well acquainted with the state of the kingdom and Church, and may To the Bishop of ]jQ an assistant to the oovernours thereof/' "We London ; have suffered much,"' he writes to the Bishop of London, " by the unhappy circumstances of his late Grace of Armagh ; and it will require a person of spirit and knowledge to set things in order in that To Lord liar- proviucc, aud particularly in that diocese." lie reminds Lord Harcourt, that the lord primate is the chief member of the Church under his Majesty, and a great minister of state ; and therefore ought to be a man of knowledge and weight ; otherwise he makes touit ; Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. liimself and station contemptible. I have known," he adds, " great inconveniencies happen to his Ma- jesty's service and the publick, by the unfitness of the person who possessed that high station." And to Lord Chief Justice King he remarks, " The lord To Chief Justice primate is of great consequence to the State, but of much greater to the Church ; the great affairs thereof passing through his hands. All faculties and dispensations being in his disposal, all references relating to the Church are made to him : he is at the head of the council, of great weight in the par- liament, and in all meetings of the bishops and clergy he presides. The affairs, therefore, of both Church and State, suffer very much Avhen a weak, insufficient, or an ill-affected person filleth that place, of which we have had but too much expe- rience." Whilst, in compliance with the advice of his friends, the archbishop exerted himself in endea- vouring to " procure a knoAving, prudent, and well- affected person, for their primate," he signified to them his gratitude for their solicitude in his behalf, and his owm personal sentiments as to his promotion, which he regarded as of very questionable benefit. To Dr. Coghill he wrote as follows : " Sir, Klldare, July loth, 1724. in^ letter to Dr. ' ^ ' Coghill, July 15, " I was favoured with your very kind letter of the 1724. 13tli instant. I am at a loss how to acknowledge your extra- ordinary concern for my interest expressed in it : nor can I make any other return, but to assure you, that I look on it as such an instance of friendship that shall never be for- gotten while I live. I have struggled with myself what to do in so critical an affair. I never asked any preferment for myself, and alway thought I had as much as T deserved. I am now almost superannuated, and at present very lame. 1 have now brought my diocese to a pretty good regularity, THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. and am settled, to my heart''s content, at St. Sepulchre's. His disinciina- To remove at this time of day, and he^in the world anew tionfortbe *^ . , appointment. With a prospcct of a disorderly diocese, where you would have me go, and the retrospect on that in which I have taken so great pains, and which I may perhaps see turned topsy-turvey, as it has happened to Derry, are things so mortifying they grate my very heart. " However, I have not been obstinate to the advice of friends, who, I am persuaded, mean well to the publick and to me. I have therefore writ all the letters you required me to write, but could not prevail with my own mind to ask anything for myself. " If Providence should throw this upon me, I submit : but I am persuaded, if it should, I should never make that figure in the primacy that I have done in the archbishoprick of Dublin. . . r To Chief Justice Whit shed he wrote, on the 19th, to the same effect, mentioning, at the same time, his opinion concerning the disposal of the vacant preferment : Letter to Chief I am mucli obliged to Mr. Conolly and Dr. Coghill, Bhed, July 19, and liavc returned both of them my thanks, and leave the whole to Providence. My own opinion is, considering the state of the late primate^s health for several years, that his successor was long ago determined, and that none of this kingdom must pretend to it. Whether I be right in this time will show/' ToDr.coghiu. A few days later, namely on the 21st of July, he resumed the subject, with the following remarks to Dr. Coghill : " If I could convince myself that my succeeding the late primate were of as much moment to the Church and king- dom as you seem to think it, I would immediately, lame as I am, pass into England and solicit it. But I can by no means be of that opinion, nor imagine how a crazy, lame, and superannuated primate can be of any service to either. We have already suffered sufficiently under such. If twelve or twenty years ago I had been put into that post, I believe I might have done something. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 413 Tunc esfo debueram capieiula ad Pergaiiia mitti. But now I can neither expect continuance of life, nor have I vigour of body to do any great matter. However, I cannot but value, and receive with the greatest sense of gratitude, the opinion of my friends, who are pleased to make me believe that they think otherwise." At the same time, a mark of respect was shown a/minifSJ^'of to the archbishop by the dean and chapter of Ar- Armagh diocese, magh, who constituted him administrator of that diocese during the vacancy, an honour which he gratefully accepted as an act of kindness in them, and an instance of their good affection to him, which, said he, " I greatly value." The primate's decease naturally o'ave occasion for speouiations on '' , the vacant various surmises and reports, some of which are ex- primacy, tant, as commemorated by contemporary documents. Dean Swift, having reconciled his difference with Deanswiftto ° Arclitishop Archbishop King, had thus expressed his sentiments King, sept. 28, in a letter of September 28, 1721^ : " I believe you seriously, that you will take care of your health to prevent a successor ; that is to say, I believe you tell truth in jest ; for I know it is not the value of life that makes you desire to live, and am afraid the world is much of your mind. For it is out of regard to the publick, or some of themselves, more than on your own account, that they wish your con- tinuance anion o- us." On the day followino- the death of Primate The dean s letter, T . 1 IT July 14, 1724. JLindsay, the dean thus noticed it to the Archbishop of Dublin, with a communication of a general rumour, and of his own wishes, on the subject : " Your Grace will have received, before this comes to your hands, an account of the primate's death, who died yesterday at twelve o'clock at noon. . . . The vogue ^ Swift's JVoris, xi., p. 178. THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. is, that your Grace will succeed him if vou please : hut I am too orreat a stranger to vour present situation at court to know what to judge. But if there were virtue enough, I could wish your Grace would accept the offer, if it should he made you : because I would have your name left to pos- terity among the primates ; and because entering into a new station is entering, after a sort, on a new lease of life ; and because it might be hoped that your Grace would be advised with about a successor; and because that diocese would require your Grace^s ability and spirit to reform it ; and because but I should never be at an end if I were to number up the reasons why I would have your Grace in the highest stations the crown can give you." The foregoing is an extract from a letter in Dean Swift's printed Epistolary Cmrespondence. The answer is in the archbishop's MS. Transcript Book," in the possession of !Mr. Bryan. It rnns as follows : Archbishop Bear Dean, Catherlou- July 1724. King's angrvver, £T1ti ' r> ' n p i t a ^ ' July 20, 1724. 1 had the satisfaction of yours oi the 14th mstant, and it gave me great pleasure to find you remembered me so kindly in my absence. I had a return of my gout three days after I left Dublin, and I have gone through the offices of confirmation and visitation in a very lame manner. I am still in pain, but must go on if possible. How the primacy will be disposed of, I can't guess . but, considering how many years the late primate w^as dying, I am apt to think it was long ago determined who should be his successor; for I understand that it is the inethcd taken by this ministry to determine on supposition, that, should such or such die, who shall succeed. I have been importuned by my friends to apply for myself : but, having never asked anything, I cannot now" begin to do so, when I have so near a prospect of leaving the station in which I am another way. . . Bishop Dowr.cs Othei projects were formed at the same time in to Bishop Nicliol- ^ ^ different quarters. Having alluded to the primate's death in a letter of July 16, Bishop Downes informs Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 415 Bishop Nicliolson"' : " On Tuesday, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the lords justices di^^patched away the packet -svitli their letters. But Lord Shan- non being out of the way upon a review of the forces in Munster, the two remaining lords justices cculd not, as I hear, agree upon recommending any single person. You cannot wonder, if Mr. Conolly should be as unwilling to come into a recommenda- tion of the Archbishop of Tuam, as my lord chan- cellor to that of tlie Archbishop of Dublin." And in a postscript he adds: "The schemists have laid out Armagh for the Archbishop of Dublin, and you are to come to Dublin. Others say, that Armagh will full either to your lot, or to that of your humble servant; but 1 believe they say what nobody yet knows. I cannot say that I should more rejoice in its being mine, than if it was yours." But "the vofjue" and " the schemists" were in Appointment of ° Dr. U. Boulter. error. Neither were tliey the lords justices who recommended, nor was it the see of Dublin or of Tuam, of Meath or of Derry, which furnished a successor to the primacy ; but under the immediate patronage of Lord Townshend, one of the secretaries of state, and with the approbation of the Duke of Newcastle and the Lord Carteret, the archiepiscopal see of Armagh was conferred on Dr. Hugh Boulter. With reference to this appointment, Archbishop King wrote to Dr. Coghill, on the 1st of August, the following letter, now first published from JNJr. Bryan's MS.: "I suppose you are now convinced that I judged better Arciii.i^hop of matters than my kind friends did, to whom, nevertheless, cog'^m on° I reckon nivself as much oblicred as if their endeavours had t^e appointment, met with all the success they desired. There has nothing ' Nicholson', ii., p. .580. 416 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IIL happened contrary to my wislies : and, as I have a signal instance in this of their sincere affection towards me, which I greatly value, so I hope it will show them how much I am under their power, and how ready I am to sacrifice my own inclinations to their judgment. " I am of opinion that if things had succeeded as they proposed, it would have shortened my life : for I should have looked on myself as obliged to answer their expecta- tions, which would have obliged me likewise to such efforts of doing my duty, as in my crazy circumstances must have every day endangered my life. " I know nothing of Dr. Boulter's character. If he be not tainted with Hoadly\s principles, I hope we may pre- serve our Church and religion : but our trust must be on God, and he will not fail us if we be not wanting to ourselves." BouueTbehig" ^^^3^ thoiiglit, pei'haps, a little remarkable, made a bishop, tliat, althougli few notices of episcopal appointments in England occur in Archbishop King's Correspond- ence, in a letter of his to Dr. Charlett, January 7th, 1720, the following sentence appears, with reference to the death of Bishop Smalridge, and the nomina- tion of his successor : " The Bishop of Bristol is a considerable loss to the Church : what his successor is, I cannot tell, having, that I remember, never heard his name before. The Gazette spake him bishop. I wish the second temple may equal the first." Account of the Huo'h Boulter, now elevated from the bishoprick new piimate. o ' i of Bristol to the archbishoprick of Armagh, and primacy of Ireland, was born in London, January the 4th, 1671, and educated in Oxford, at Magda- lene College, of which he was elected a demie, together with Dr. Wilsted, Dr. Joseph Wilcox, and the celebrated Joseph Addison. The merit, talents, and learning of these young men w^ere so eminent, as to induce Dr. Hough, president of the college, to Sf.c. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 417 dignify this election with the honourable appellation of " the golden election." Boulter became, in course, a fellow of his college. After leaving the university, he held, at several times, the offices of chaplain to Tennison, archbishop of Canterbury; rector of St. Olave's, Southwark ; archdeacon of Surrey; chaplain to King George I.; and preceptor to his grandson. Prince Frederick. Recommended by his ability and faithfulness to the kinof, he was consecrated •z " . . Bishoi) of Bristol, consecrated Bishop of Bristol, with which station Nov. 15, 1719. he held also the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford. From the bishoprick to which he had been con- secrated the 15th of November, 1719, he was preferred to the Irish i)rimacy, and entered upon his new dignity in November, 1724. His appointment had l)een entirely unexpected "ef^^^enuo^^^^ and undesired by himself. Whilst engaged in a primacy, Nov., visitation of his diocese of Bristol, he received, by a messenger from the secretary of state, a letter, apprising him of the king's pleasure, that he should be translated to the primacy of Ireland. His first consideration of the subject induced him to prefer a request, that he might be permitted to decline the preferment, to which he afterwards acceded, in obedience to his Majesty's absolute commands. He proceeded, in a short time, for his new charge, and reached Dublin in November. A letter of that date informs the Archbishop of Canterbury of his first arrival and settlement in Ireland, observing, that he " missed little there but friends and ac- quaintance, and had little to complain of, but that too many of our own original esteem us Englishmen as intruders." This letter is the first of a series, msiettera. continued to December, 1738, through rather more than fourteen years, addressed to many persons in 2 E 418 TIIE REIGN OF [Ch. III. England, of tlie highest distinction in Church and State, and containing a large fund of intelligence concerning affiiirs, ecclesiastical and civil, during that period. Do^t^'el'^Bishop ^ few weeks previous to his arrival, Bishop Nicholson. Downes writes thus, in anticipation of it^: "I had a letter from the primate this day," September 22, 1724, "under his own hand, in which he speaks of coming over next month, either a little before or a little after the lord lieutenant, such great bodies not being very fit to move together. But, if his Grace Expected arrival (]oes uot couie ovcr bcforc his Excellency, perhaps of the primate. j ' I i he may never see Ireland ; for, though he be ordered to come over, perhaps, if his instructions should not be agreeable on a certain point, he may choose to keep at home." liulLVs-ip-'^'''^ Without disparagement of Archbishop Boulter s pointment. othcr qualificatious, the chief motive to his elevation was of a political tendency, the object of the English ministry being to place in that situation a confi- dential adviser, who might support what was called the English interest in Ireland. And this will suffice to account for the non-appointment of Archr bishop King, who was at the head of the Irish party, though a pretext for it was ostensibly put forward in his advanced time of life. Anecdote of Couuected with this is a curious anecdote, which Archbishop King. ' is thus recited in a note on Dean Swift's Epistolary Coi 1 'esjwn den ce" : " When our author was chaplaui to Lord Berkley, he was set aside from the deanery of Derry on account of youth ; but, as if Lis stars had destined to him a parallel revenge, he lived to see the IMshop of Derry afterwards set * Nicholson, ii,, p. •' Swift's JVorh, xi., p. 243. ' Sf.c. JX.] KIXG GEORGE I. 419 aside on account of age. That prelate liaci been Arclibisliop of Dublin many years, and had been long celebrated for his wit and learning, when Dr. Lindsay died. Upon his death, Archbishop King immediately laid clnim to the primacy, as a preferment to which he had a right, from his station in the see of Dublin, and from his acknowledged character in the Church. Neither of these pretensions were prevalent ; he was looked upon as too far advanced in years to be re- moved. The reason alleged was as mortifj ing as the refusal itself; but the archbishop had no opportunity of showing his resentment, except to the new primate, Dr. Boulter, whom he received at his own house, and in his dining- parlour, without rising from his chair; and to whom he made an apology, by saying, in his usual strain of wit, and with his usual sneering countenance, ' My Lord, I am sure your Grace will forgive me, because, you know, I am too old to rise."* Whether or not this anecdote be true, the pre- F.normthe foregoing narra- Yious statement is manifestly erroneous, contradicted, "ve. as it is, with regard to the archbishop's claims, by what has been related concerning his correspondence with his friends on the occasion. But, whatever 2)retext may have been assigned, PrimateBoui- , . I'll • (* ter'smaintenance It appears with undeniable certainty from Primate of the English in- Boulter's correspondence, what was the motive to his appointment. And the like motive avowedly actuated the publick appointments which he recom- mended, urging, as he did, the necessity of the Eng- lish interest being constantly maintained, by the selection of persons who could be depended on for maintaining it. In the month of January, within a few weeks of ivimatcs letter his arrival in Ireland, he wrote thus to the Duke of cL^'ief jun.^^ms. Newcastle': ^'Tlie Archbishop of Dublin has of late been very ill, so that his life was almost despaired Bouiter's Letters^ i., p, II, 2 E 2 420 THE REIGN OP [Ch. III. of; but his illness has since ended in a regular and painful fit of the gout, so that I do not apprehend he is in any present danger. Your Grace had heard from me sooner on this subject, if I had known his condition before the worst was over : all that I shall say now is, that I think his Majesty's service abso- lutely requires that, whenever he drops, the place be filled with an Englishman, and one with whom I may hope to have a very good agreement. But of this I shall write further, as your Grace shall give me encouragement." LeuerofMarch4, j^^^^ 4^l^ eusuiug March, he thus resumed and enlarged upon the subject^ : " It is now about a month ago since I troubled your Grace with a very long letter, relating to the affairs of this nation ; and I should not have written again on any of the subjects therein mentioned, till after receiving your Grace's commands, if there were not repeated advices from Eng- land, that, upon the report of the Archbishop of Dublin's illness, there was a very great canvass on the bench about his successor, without the least regard to what might be represented from hence as of service to his Majesty. Your Grace knows very well, that I was very content with what I had in England, and my just expectations there ; and that it was purely in obedience to his Majesty's pleasure that I came hither ; and, now I am here, the only thing that can make me uneasy is, if I should not be enabled to carry on his Majesty's service here, the prospect of doing which is the greatest comfort I have in my present station. But, if the bishopricks here are to be disposed of elsewhere, with- out leaving me room for anything more than, as it may happen, objecting against a person, who may be sent over to the best promotions here, when I have done so ; and if I be not allowed to form proper dependencies here, to break the present Dublin faction on the bench, it will be impos- " Boui motions here ; and that an imprudent person may easily be tempted by Irish flattery to set himself at the head of the Archbishop of Dublin's party in opposition to me. And, besides, as there is a majority of the bishops here that are natives, they are not to be disobliged at once. *• I hope I shall never behave myself so as to be thought primaieBoiiiier's unfit to take care of his Majesty's interest on the bench ^^J^'^^^ *** here ; and by that, till it be found I am, I may be efl'ec- tually sup|x>rted in that authority and dependence which I can assure your Grace I desire for no other end than to be the more able to serve his Majesty."' Meanwhile his views extended to civil as well as ecclesiastical appointments ; and on the 29th of April, 1725, he thus addressed himself to Lord Townshend, secretary of stated " My Lord, LetiertoLc.rd T M 1 1 T 1 M Townshend, '•I am sensible that I nave beeu guilty of a very April, 1725. great omission in not having sooner returned your Lordship my most hearty thanks for recommending me to his Ma- jesty to so great a post, both for dignity and profit. I can assure your Lordship it has not beeu owing to want of either gratitude or duty to your Lordship. But whatever my post is here, the only thing that can make it agreeable to me, who would have been very well content with a less station in my own country, is, if I may be enabled to serve his Majesty and my country- here, which it will be impossible nis sentiments for me to do according to my wishes, if the English interest ^lesi^acJi ap^ be not thoroughly supported from the other side. When I p^"^"^«°*^ ^ Boulter's Letters, i,, p. 17. 422 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. left E:i;rlaiid I did not doubt but youi* Lordship was suffi- ciently sensible bow much this had been neglected for many years, and of the necessity there was of taking other measures for the future ; but those of us from England, whose hearts are still with our country, fear all this is forgotten, when we hear that the mastership of the rolls, which, as it is for life, is one of the greatest places in the law here, is permitted to be sold to a native of this place. As I believe the thing is past revoking, I shall trouble your Lordship no further about that affair. We should likewise bo very much alarmed if we took it for any other than an idle report, that our attorney-general is to be made lord chancellor here ; against whom the English here have nothing to object, but that they think the only way to keep things quiet here, and make them easy to the ministry, is by filling the great ])laces with natives of England : and all we would beg is, where there is any doubt with your Lordship about the consequence of a place here, that you would have the good- ness to write hither to know its weight before it be disposed of. None of us desire to re3ommend to any such places ; but we would intreat, that in filling them up a strict Regard to be paid regard may be had to the English interest ; which if it be i*nterit5"^^'^*' neglected in some more instances of consequence, though 1 am effectually pinned down here, yet others, who are very able, and thoroughly disposed to serve their country, will think of returning thither again. I will only add, that, as all accounts from England are positive we are to have a new chancellor, I heartily wish we had one sent as soon as may be, that he may have time to look a little about him, and know somewhat of things and persons here before the next session of parliament is opened. " Your Lordship will have the goodness to excuse these lines, which I have taken the freedom to trouble you with purely out of my zeal for his Majesty and his Service here. I am, S:cr And on the same day he wrote to the same effect Duke of New- castle, though less briefly, to the Duke of Newca&tle' : ^ Boultek's Letters, i., p. 19. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 42S " My Lord, DuOUn, April 29, 1725. I have by this post, at the desire of some of his jMajesty's hearty friends here, written to niy Lord Towns- hend what a blow we think is given to the English interest, by the creation of a new master of the rolls, and the nneasiness we are under at the report, that a native of this place is like to be made lord chancellor. I must request of your Grace, as I have of his Lordship, that you would both use your interest, to have none but Englishmen put into the great places here for the future ; that, by degrees, things may be put into such a way, as may be most for his Majesty's service, and the ease of his ministry. Your Grace will be so good as to excuse this freedom from, My Lord, &c.'' On the vacancy, which it was afterwards under- stood was about to be caused by the resignation of Viscount JNlidleton, to the recommendation of Lord Chief Baron Hale to succeed him, the primate, in a letter to the duke, of May 1, 1725, does not object, commending him as " a worthy man, and heartily in the English interest ; and I believe," he adds, " very capable of filling that post : but I must intreat, in the name of all of us here, that if he be thought of, a proper person from England may be sent to succeed him in his present post, or the English interest will go very much backward here"." And on the arrival of intelligence, the 7th of D^ath of Bishop May, of the death of Bishop Smyth of Limerick, - Avho had occupied that see for thirty years, on the following day the primate seconded, in a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Carteret's recom- mendation of a successor. " On this occasion I find RccoTiimendation the lord lieutenant recommends his first chaplain, Dr. Burscough, to succeed in that see. As Dr. Burscough is of some standing, and has supported a Boulter's Letters , i., p. 19. 424 THE REIGN OF LCh. Ill, Principle of ap- twintnient to high offices. Political qualifi- cations for pre- feiment. <.'haractcr of Bi- shop Burscougli. very good character, and is well affected to his IVIajesty and his family, and I am assured he will con- stantly concur with me in supporting his Majesty's interest here, I make bold likewise to recommend him to your Grace, for his Majesty's favour for the said bishoprick'"." The foregoing cases, all of which occurred within four months of each other, and within^ six of Arch- bishop Boulter's elevation to the primacy, are men- tioned here in exemplification of the principle by which appointments to high offices in Church and State were avowedly regulated. With respect, indeed, to appointments in the Church, with which our subject chiefly connects us, it can hardly be supposed, but that regard was had to the professional qualities of the persons advanced to its stations of dignity, emolument, and trust : the rather, because in the performance of his own pastoral duties, as a parochial clergyman, he is related to have been distinguished for his zeal ; and to have discharged the duties of his high office, when Bishop of Bristol, with the most unremitting attention '^ But it is remarkable, and it is calculated to excite a senti- ment of dissatisfaction and disapprobation, on perusal of the primate's letters, that very little is, in fact, said of the religious, the moral, the theological, the literary characters of those, who are put forward for supplying vacancies in the episcopate, and that their recommendations rest in a prominent degree on political and secular considerations. Xo cpiestion is hereby intended to be intimated as to the fitness of Dr. Burscough's appointment ; for he is recorded, in the-^Histon/ of Limerick^ in which ^' BouLTEx^'s Letters, i., p. 21. Stewaut's Huiory of Armonh, pj). 42-5, 42G. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 425 see he sate for thirty years, as a good preacher, and a man of great learning, piety, and candour. In two letters, of May the 27th and June the 5th, Bishop Downes speaks of his nomination having been approved of by the |king, and of Mr. Cotterel having been appointed to succeed him in the deanery of Lismore ; and he adds, " Our brother of Dublin," meaning, of course. Archbishop King, " does not like the disposal of preferments without him ; but Lord Carteret will go on as he thinks tit''." Bishop Burscough's letters-i)atent were dated June 25 ; and he was consecrated by the primate, vrith assistant bishops, in the ensuing July. His deanery of Lis- more was conferred on Mr. Alcock ; the death of the dean of Raphoe having vacated that more valu- able deanery for Mr. Cotterel, whom Bishop Downes represents as "a young but very ingenious and good- natured man''; and my best brother and friend," he adds to the Bishop of Derrv, will not like him the worse, if he thinks him my friend, or me his ; who am always, your Lordship's most affectionately? H. jNIeath." In justice, however, to the Archbishop of Dublin, KSg-g^'J^^^j, as well as from respect to historical truth, let his ments on church ^ jiatronage. own views vrith respect to Church patronage, in connection with these occurrences, be cited from his unpublished letters in Mr. Bryan's " Transcript Book." In a letter to Samuel Molyneux, Esq., of No- >rtiy^eux^^Nov. vember 24, 1724, giving an account of Lord Car- teret's " noble entertainment at the college" on his arrival, the archbishop says : " I find he has three chaplains from Oxford ; these must first be provided for : and I took the liberty to tell his ^'^ NicHOLbO.v, ii., p. GOi. Ibid., p. 007. 24, 1724. 426 THE REIGN OF [Cii. 111. Excellency, that it was an even lay, if three good benefices fell in one governour's time. You'll perceive by this, what encouragement our university is like to have. Nor are we like to be better helped by our bishops ; for most bring with them chaplains and dependents enough to en- gross all their favours.*' Litter to Bishop Oil the 12th of December, the same year, the 1724. ' * ' archbishop writes thus to the Bishop of Cork : " Mrs. Blair was with me, and I presented a petition in her husband's favour, that he might have Ronglorran, of which he has served the cure. I could obtain no promise from his Excellency, for I believe all that Dean Francis had is little enough, in his opinion, for his first chaplain, Dr. Burscough ; so that I do not see any hojje for him, except your Lordship could take some care of him, of which your extraordinary kindness gives him some prospect. It is a miserable thing, to see men who have spent their strength and youth in serving the Churjh successfully, left destitute in their old age, and others, who never served a cure, have heaps of benefices thrown upon them. But this is the way Little encourage- of the world ; the more the pity. 'Tis a grief to me to" clergy. cousidcr, that I have above forty curates in my diocese, most of them worthy men, and some tbat have served near twenty years, and I not able to give or ])rocure them a vicarage. If your Lordship could any way assist Mr. Blaii-, I should think it an act of charity, and an obligation on me.*' And ill a letter of the following May, 1725, he thus describes his condition : It is a great comfort to me, to observe several young men, who might pretend to another way of living, offer themselves to the service of the altar, especially wdien there is so little encouragement for those of this kingdom to apply themselves that way ; but I hope the case will not always Curates unpro- be SO. As to my owu case, I have a good number of clergy- videdfor. ^^^^^ employed in my diocese, but most of them curates, at 30/. or 40/. per annum ; the good benefices are generally in the gift of the crown, or other patrons; insomuch that Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 427 there are not seven in my disposal worth 100/. per annum ; nevertheless, I have by one means or other helped forward a very great many deserving men, and hope it may yet be in my power to help others.'' Surely such sentiments as these reflect no dis- credit on the archbishop ^vlio entertained them : and if in his anxiety to promote the interests of those with whom he was officially connected, and whose merits he was well capable of appreciating, he exerted such influence as he may have possessed with the government, his conduct was entitled, not merely to forbearance and indulgence, but to respect and honourable commendation. It was with evident allusion to these preferments Letter from Dean ^ Swift to lord to the bisho})rick of Limerick and the deanery of lieutenant, juiy ^ *' 3, 1725. Raphoej that Dean Swift addressed the following letter to the lord lieutenant, July the 3rd, 1725 My Lord, I am obliged to return your Excellency my most humble thanks for your favour to Mr. Sheridan, because, v.lien I recommended him to you, I received a very gra- cious answer; and yet I am sensible, that your chief motive to make some provision for him was, what became a great and good person, your distinguishing him as a man of learning, and one who deserved encouragement on ac- count of his great diligence and success in a most laborious and difficult employment." (That of a schoolmaster.) " Since your Excellency has had an opportunity, so Irish clergy re- early in your government, of gratifying your English prtronagt!"^ ^""'^ dependents ,by a bishoprick, and the best deanery in the kingdom, I cannot but hope that the clergy of Ireland will have their share in your patronage. There is hardly a gentleman in the nation, who has not a near alliance with some of that body ; and most of them who have sons, usually breed one of them to the Church, although they Swift's JVorkSy xi., p. 272. 428 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Consequence of bishops from England. Appeal to lord lieutenant's jus- tice and reason. Recommendation of distinguished individuals. have been of late years much discouraged and discontented, by seeing strangers to the country ahnost perpetually taken into the greatest ecclesiastical preferments ; and too often, under governours very different from your Excellency, the choice of persons was not to be accounted for either to prudence or justice. The misfortune of having bishops perpetually from England, as it must needs quench the spirit of emulation among us to excel in learning and the study of divinity, so it produces another great discouragement, that those prelates usually draw after them colonies of sons, nephews, cousins, or old college companions, to whom they bestow the best preferments in their gift: and thus the young men, sent into the Church from the university here, have no better prospect than to be curates, or small country vicars, for life. " It will become so excellent a governour as you, a little to moderate this great partiality; wherein, as you will act with justice and reason, so you will gain the thanks and prayers of the whole nation, and take away one great cause of universal discontent. For I believe your Excellency will agree, that there is not another kingdom in Europe, where the natives, even those descended from the conquerors, have been treated, as if they were almost unqualified for any employment either in Church or State. Your Excellency, when I had the honour to attend you, was pleased to let me name some clergymen, who are generally understood by their brethren to be the most dis- tinguished for their learning and piety. I remember the persons were Dr. Delany, Dr. Ward, of the north, Mr. Ecklin, Mr. Synge of Dublin, and Mr. Corbet; they were named by me without any regard to friendship, having little commerce with most of them, but only the universal character they bear: this was the method I always took with my Lord Oxford, at his own command, who was pleased to believe that I would not be swayed by any private affections, and confessed I never deceived him; for I always dealt openly when I offered anything in behalf of a friend, which was but seldom; because, in that case, I generally made use of the common method at court, to solicit by another. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE I. 429 " I shall say nothing of tha young men among the clergy, of whom the three hopefullest are said to be Mr. Stopford, Mr. King, and Mr. Dobbs, all fellows of the college, of whom I am only acquainted with the first. But these are not likely to be great expectors under your Excellency's administration, according to the usual period of govern ours here. If I have dealt honestly in representing such persons among the clergy, as are generall}- allowed to have the most merit, I think I have done you a service, and am sure I have made you a great compliment, by distinguishing you from most great men I have known these thirty years past ; whom I have always observed to act, as if they never received a true character, nor had any value for the best ; and consequently dispensed their favours without the least regard to abilities or virtue. And this defect I have often found among those from whom I least expected it. " That your Excellency may long live a blessing and ornament to your country, by pursuing, as you have hitherto done, the steps of honour and virtue, is the most earnest wish and prayer of, " My Lord, " Your Excellency's most obedient, and niost humble servant, " Jox. Swift.*" 430 THE REIGN OF [Ch. ITT. Section X. Primate Boulter's Sermces for the Church. Circular letter to his Clergy. Subscription proposed. Its success. Bides for First-Fruits: their disposal. Irregularity about Commendams. A rchhishop King's sentiments about them . Case stated by Primate Boulter. Exil of Pluralities. Holding of a Benefice by a Felloio of the College. Case of Dr. Delany. Primate's Visitation and Charge. Character and Contents of it. Parliament of 1725. Collision between the Goternours of the Church. Case of a Clergyman named Power. Letters from Arch- bishop King on Crovernment Patronage. Visit of Dean Swift to England. His intei view icith Sir Bobej't Walpole. Primate Bouuer'3 Primate Boulter lias left a name, which is honoured, sei-vices for tho Church. and deserving to be had in perpetual honour, for the benefit which he bestowed on the Irish Church by the bestowal of his property for its improvement. This object very early occupied his thoughts; and was expressed in a circular letter to his suffragan bishops within a few weeks of his elevation'. Circular letter to " My Lord, Dublin, Dec. 24, 1724. his suffragans. j ^^^^ ^.^^^ desirous to serve the Churcli, to which it has pleased God to call me, I have, since my arri- val, been inquiring into the wants of the clergy here, and the produce of the fund given to supply those wants. And finding that the fund will probably raise but 300/. per annum conimunibus annis, and that this scanty fund is about 1500/. in debt; I have been talking with my brethren, the bishops, about encouraging a subscription among them and the inferior clergy, to bring the fund out of debt, and make a small beginning of a larger supply to the wants of the Church; in hopes that we may, after ^ Bovlter's Letters, i., p. 4. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 481 liaving done somewhat oiirselv^es, witli the better grace apply to the laity for then* assistance. And the proposal at last ag^reed upon by the Arch- Subscription bishop of Dublin, the Bishops of Meath, Dromore, Elphin, ^^'^^'^^ ' Clonfert, and myself, to be communicated to our brethren, the bishops, and, if approved by them, to be by them recommended to the inferior clergy in their respective dio- ceses, for their concurrence, is this: That every archbishop and bishop would be jdeased to subscribe, at the rate of 2 per cent, per annum, for three years, out of Uis yearly income, to be rated by himself, deduct is onerihus; and, in like manner, and for the same term, that every clerg}'man, possessed of above 100/. per annum, subscribe at the rate of 1 per cent. And that every clergyman, possessed of pre- ferment from 50/. to J 00/. per annum, subscribe ten shil- lings. Any one, notwithstanding, to be at liberty to sub- scribe a larger proportion if he thinks fit. " This is designed to be employed in aid of the fund of its application, first-fruits: the money so gathered to be lodged in the hands of Dr. Coghill; and to be laid out in purchasing glebes or im])ropriations, as the bishops shall direct. Several of the clergy, who have been talked with here, have expressed a readiness to come into the design, if the bishops would subscribe a double portion of what the clergy were desired to subscribe on this occasion. The whole is desired to be entirely voluntary. I have reason to believe the Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam will cheerfully come into this design. "I doubt not of your Lordship's readiness to concur with anything that maybe of service to religion; but I must desire your opinion concerning this proposal, as being satisfied you are a better judge of what may be done in prudence to advance the worship of God and the Protestant religion in this nation, than myself, who am so newly arrived here. "I am, my Lord, " Your Lordshij^'s very affectionate brother, and humble servant, Hu. Armagh." 432 THE RETC3N OP [Ch. IIT. Success of appeal. To what extent this appeal was successful does not appear. In a letter, indeed, of May 22, 1725, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the primate says, " I thank your Grace for your kind prayers, and hope I shall always make it my endeavour to promote the good of this Church, though I fear I shall not always meet with that ready concurrence I could wish for here'." And in explanation of tliis the editor has appended a note, that his Grace's scheme recommended in his third letter had then failed. But this is certainly a mistake. For, although this collection of the primate's letters contains no further information of the scheme, in the epistolatory corre- spondence of Bishop Nicholson are two letters, one from Bishop Downes, the other from Archbishop Boulter, to Bishop Nicholson, of dates later than that quoted above, namely, on the 27th of May, 1725, and the 14th of June, 1726, which prove that the scheme was at those times in progress. Letter from Au cxtract froui tho letter of Bishop Dowries to Bishop Downesto Bishop Nichoi- Bishop Nicholson is as follows' : son. '■'Dublin, May 27, 1725. Dear, very dear Brother, " Your kind letter met me at this place, just upon niy return from my visitation at Trim, where nothing happened worthy of notice ; only niy clergy, who were generally averse to a strict ecclesiastical cess, according to the value of their livings, seemed very willing to come into a voluntary subscription, wdiich they did believe would raise more money than the other."** Letter of the This was \i\ 1725: the subjoined carries the primate, June 14, ^726, subject forward into the following year, being the primate's account of the prospect which he then had of success : 2 BoTTLTER*s L^tten, i., p. 2-5. ^ Nicholson, ii., p. G02. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 438 My Lord, June 14, 1726. " I have received your Lordship's of the 20th past, and am very glad to hear you met with so good success at your visitation, and that, notwithstanding the discourage- ments you apprehended, your clergy came in so cheerfully to the design of augmenting poor livings. The Bishop of Meath is just returned from his visitation, and reports, that his clergy have actually subscribed 98/.; and, I find it is thought, the absent clergy may make it up 110/. A clergy- man of the diocese of Raphoe was with me this day, and tells me the clergy of that diocese are universally disposed to contribute to this good design. So that, from what is already done or doing, I have great hopes that my province will set a good example. I should be very glad to hear that our brother of Cloghei-, notwithstanding his rash declara- tion at the board, is promoting the subscription.'*"' Beyond this no further progress is stated, so that it may reasonably be supposed, that from want of universal co-operation in the province of Armagh, and perhaps from a backwardness in the other provinces, the primate's good purposes ^vere de- feated. In the vear 1725 several rules were laid down Rules for the fund, 1726. for regulating the disposal of the fund of first-fruits : and alterations were subsequently made, the 3rd of May, 1728, at a meeting of the trustees, of whom there were present the lord primate, the three other metropolitans, thirteen bishops, and six other mem- bers; and who then agreed upon what, for a long succession of years, formed the standing orders of the Board. They are recited in a pamphlet pub- lished in 1780, under the title of "Valor Benefi- statement of its T^ 1 ' ' XT 1 . 1 r-i disposal in 1780. clorum Ji-cclesiasticorum m Hibernia : or, the First- Fruits of all Ecclesiastical Benefices in the Kingdom of Ireland, as taxed in the King's Books : with an ■* Nicholson, ii., p. 611. 2 P 434 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Account showing how this Royal Fund, vested in Trustees, hath hitherto been disposed of." In the preface of the ])ublisher to the reader it is stated, that, " for the further encourao'ement of the ori^jinal pious design, the bishops in 1726, finding the money arising from the fund insufficient to answer the necessities of the Church, had very liberally aug- mented the same out of their private bounty by subscriptions, which was also much increased by the generous contributions of the clergy." This should seem to have reference to the contributions mentioned in the foregoing correspondence. An account is also given of the progress made by the trustees in purchasing glebes and impropriate tithes, and assisting poor incumbents in the building of houses : Avhence it appears that, to the date of that l)ublication, there had been sixteen glebes purchased at the cost of 3543/. 2.s. 7d., and tythes for fourteen incumbents, for 5855/. 13s. Qd., and assistance given for the building of forty-five glebe houses, by gifts of 4080/. Irregularity Soou after the i:)rimate's arrival, there was about c-ommen- ^ Hams. brought under his notice a strange practice with respect to the holding of ecclesiastical benefices, which he was altogether unacquainted with in England, and which, being illegal, he immediately set himself to correct. For an incumbent to hold a second benefice, the primate's licence, technically called a faculty, was requisite. But the late pri- mate. Archbishop Lindsay, having in some cases refused to grant a faculty, a stratagem was devised for attaining the same end. Accordingly a fiat was executed under the lord lieutenant's warrant, con- taining his Majesty's grant and donation of a second Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 435 or third benefice, or even more, to be holden in commendam by an incumbent, together Avith such other benefice or benefices as he previously held, and to be entered into without institution, induction, installation, or other solemnity. An allusion to this case occurs in a letter of the ArciiH^hop King's opinion of Archbishop of Dublin, April the 10th, 1722, where the irregularity, it is condemned in terms of strong- reprobation : You proposed," he observes to Dr. Coghill, " when here last night, that those who have got commends should resign them, and take presentations, if my lord primate would grant them faculties ; and that you believed they might be prevailed on to take that course. I look on those commendams to be so mis- chievous, so irregular, and, in truth, contrary to law, that I should look on any expedient, that would effectually discourage and prevent them, ought to be embraced, and, I am of opinion, what you propose would do it; and, if you can bring it to that, I doubt not but I shall prevail to let Mr. Whalley's faculty pass.'' A^'hether, however, from disinclination in Pri- mate Lindsay to take the steps necessary for abolish- ing the evil, or from the inactivity incidental to his increasing years and infirmities, or from whatever cause, no remedy was applied to the evil. From the foregoing extract, it sufficiently appears what were Archbishop King's sentiments on the subject, and what would have been his course, had he been in a station to call for or warrant his interposition. Such, however, was not his station, so that it Meansfor cor- recting it. remained for the new primate to apply a corrective to the irregularity, and he was prompt in making the application. *• I have euquired,'' observes the primate, in reporting Letter from 2 F 2 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. primate to Arch- this casG to tliG ArchbisliOD of Cauterburv, May 22, 1725, bishop of Canter- ^ ^ • n t ^ ^ • i bury, May 22, " whether thei^e IS any act of parhament here that gives the crown any such power, and I am assured there is none ; so that I think it stands on the same bottom as a bishop taking a commendam after consecration. I have discoursed w^ith my lord lieutenant of the illegality, as I conceive it, of this practice, and of the dangerous consequences of it, since I can apprehend it no other than the sequestration of a bene- fice, granted by lay powers, without being accountable for the profits received, and without being charged with the cure of souls ; and I do not see but, in time, they may pro- ceed to make such grants of benefices to laymen. I told his Excellency, if he pleased to give the several persons concerned in these extraordinary grants, which are, as far as I can learn, about half-a-dozen, legal grants of the same preferments they now possess, I will readily grant them faculties for the holding them, that things may be brought into the legal way, and farther abuses may be prevented. His Excellency seemed very much surprised at this method of granting commendams to presbyters, and is very ready to put this aiFair into the right channel. But, before I proceed any further in this matter, I shall be obliged to your Grace for your opinion, whether what has been already done is legal, that I may occasion no needless disturbance here ; and I am sure your Grace's opinion of this matter will thoroughly satisfy his Excellency\*''' No further mention of this case occurs, so that it may be presumed to have been settled in the manner proposed by the primate, and approved by the lord lieutenant. But although this expedient may have corrected the irregularity of the pro- Eviiofpiiiraiities. ccoding, it must have left the evil of pluralities as it was. In the fiat, a copy of which was transmitted in the foregoing letter, for the purpose of giving the Archbishop of Canterbury the better understanding of the nature of this new tenure, an individual clerk Boulter's Letter.^, i., p. 24. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 437 was empowered to hold a deanery, tlien void, together with a prebend, a rectory and vicarage, an entire rectory, and another vicarage. In the conrse of the same year, but a few Holding of a *^ benefice by a months later, the primate saw cause to interfere for feiiowofthe ^ college. preventing another irregularity with respect to the holding of a benefice, in the case of a fellow of the college. Dr. Delany, one of the senior fellows, derived from his fellowship and pnpils an income, supposed to be 600/. or 700/. a year. The chapter of Christ Cliurch were desirous of giving him a parish in the city, then vacant, and of which they were the patrons. But without a royal dispensation he could not keep his fellowship with this new living. And the primate, in consequence, requested the Duke of Newcastle, that any application which should be made for such dispensation might not be granted. " Dr. Delany," says the primate, in a letter of October 12", " is a great tory, and has a great influ- ence in these parts ; and it were to be wished, for his Majesty's service, that he might be tempted by some good country living to quit the college ; but, if he has St. John's, with his fellowship, there can be case of Dr. ^ Delany. no hopes of his removal." But another and a better reason was assigned in a subsequent letter, of the 11th of November': "As to Dr. Delany's affair, when I was in England, and belonged to the uni- versity, I was always against persons holding any tolerable preferments with their fellowships, as being a hindrance to succession in colleges, and excluding some or other, that may want that help in their education, from getting upon a foundation; and * Boultek's Letters, i., p. 40. " Ibid., p. 42. 438 THE REIGN OF [Cu. III. though a power is reserved to the crown to dispense with the statutes of the college here, yet I woukl hope it will not be done merely for being asked for, where there is not some very good motive beside." jMean while, a petition had been presented to the crown, in terms which were calculated to convey an erroneous apprehension of the kind of preferment for which the dispensation was sought. Such, at least, was the view taken of it by the primate : " By his petition, I perceive your Grace might apprehend, that it was only a dignity, of the nature of a sine- cure, that he desired to hold with his felloAvship, as is the case of prebends in England ; but this pre- bend, as most other dignities here, has a parish, with cure of souls annexed to it'." The petition, however, was ineffectual, and the primate succeeded in his opposition. " I am very much obliged to vour Grace and the other lords justices," he writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury, December 8, 1725", "for rejecting Dr. Delany's request for a faculty to hold a living with his fellow- ship. I can assure your Grace it was not out of any ill will to the person, that I opposed it ; but that his iNIajesty's friends here think it would be very much for his ]Majesty's service, if he were removed from the college to some other part of the kingdom, instead of having a living here in town, and such an addition to his fellowship, as may put him beyond any temptation, but that of a wife, to quit it. This was my reason then, and still continues so ; but I am now a little surprised with what I did not then know, that his application was not to be dispensed with from the obligation of any statute, but of an oath he had taken never to hold such a benefice; " Bolltek's Letters, i., p. Vj. ^ Ibid., p. 47. Sec. X.] KIXG GEORGE I. this, where there is not an express clause in the oath, nisi tecum aliter dispeasatim fuerit, seems to me altogether new." In the course of this summer. Archbishop Pnmate-s vuita- Boulter held a diocesan visitation, wiiicli he re- ported to the Duke of Newcastle in a letter from Dublin, of July 3, 1725^- " Since I had the honour of your Grace's of June 29, I Andcimrge. have been employed on a visitation of my diocese, where I have, by my charge to the clergy, made the Protestant dis- senters in those parts easy, and have, I hope, given some courage to his Majesty's friends. I met with all the civility I could desire, both from the gentry and clergy ; and as the latter desired me to print my charge, and as some others think it may be of some service to the government, at least by giving me the more weight among the well-affected, when they see|my sentiments in print, I have thoughts of speedily putting it to the press/' The charge was accordingly printed, and copies sent to Lord Townshend, with a request that one might be presented, with the author's most humble - duty, to Prince Frederick, grandson of the king, and eldest son of George, at that time Prince of Wales, and afterwards George the Second ; to whom it has been before mentioned that he had been 'pre- ceptor. It is a sensible pastoral address, but contains no character of it, remarks particularly striking. He speaks of the discouraging situation that he should feel under the disadvantage of his being a stranger in Ireland, " if he could not at the same time observe, that he is descended from the same blood, from whence most of his clergy or^their progenitors were sprung ; that he is here under the government of the same prince, Boulter's Letters, i., p. 28. 440 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. and, as to the main, of the same laws, as he was before ; that he is come to a Church professing the same faith, enjoying the same institutions, and exer- cising the same discipline with that which he had left ; that we have," said he, " the same common interest, and the same common enemies to our happy establishment both in Church and State, with our fellow-subjects on the other side of the water ; and that our safety is so interwoven with theirs, that no ruin can overtake them, which will not equally involve us, nor can we be finally ruined without drawing them into the same common destruction." And conte ite. Profcssing tlicu, " that the time he had spent in this nation had been too little for him to come to a knowledge of the particular -wants of his diocese, and the consideration of the most proper remedies to be applied to them," he contents himself with a general admonition on the common duties of clergymen, and the qualifications required for the work, concluding with some observations on the behaviour required to Kindness reconr.- those who are without the Church. Kindness and gentleness, and the unblameable conversation of the clergy, he thinks, will go a great way towards drawing dissenters over to our communion. And he particularly recommends to the clergy, by the like means practised towards the Papists, and by relieving them in their necessities, to try to gain their love and esteem ; " which if you can compass, it will be no hard matter gradually to obtain some weight and authority with them." " I do not know enough of the case, to lay any parti- cular blame ou you or others : but I cannot but esteem it a reproach to the Protestants of this country, that so few converts have been made from Pcpery, in the several seasons of settled peace this nation has from time to time mended to tho clergy. Condition of rxotestantism. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 441 enjoyed. But it will be still a greater shame to us, if any descended from Protestant parents either go over to Popery, or, though they keep out of the Church of Rome, are as ignorant of the doctrines of Christ, as the members of that Church generally are. " I must therefore desire of you, my brethren, that you Ministerial diu- would be diligent, by your preaching and other ways, in ^^^^^^^^^^ instructing your flocks in the principles and duties of our holy religion ; and that you would direct and encourage them to read pious and useful books at home, for their greater growth in Christian knowledge ; and that you would carefully catechise the children and youth under you, clearly and familiarly explaining to them the articles of our faith. And I must recommend to you, that when you have laid open and confirmed to them any doctrines of the Gospel^ you would, if the matter admits of it, show them how those truths have been corrupted or enervated by the Papists." A brief allusion to the necessity of loyalty to his Majesty and his royal family is added : ''And all of you, who retain any sense of religion, Loyalty to the cannot but know, you have bound yourselves with the most sacred ties to his royal family, exclusive of all pretenders to the crown, by the oaths you have taken. So that I think it superfluous, where the obligations you lie under are of the greatest weight possible, to acquaint you, that affection to his ^lajesty is a necessary qualification in all those who expect any countenance and favour from me."*^ The unusual occurrence at that period of an episcopal, at least an archiepiscopal, charge from a prelate of the Church of Ireland, the station of the individual at the head of that Church, and the reli- gious circumstances of the country, have induced me to dwell on this composition longer than its intrinsick value may seem to require. For, in fact, it is not characterised by any peculiar excellence of remark, or strength or elegance of style ; and it fails altogether of gratifying curiosity by any intelligence 442 THE REIGN OF [Ch. 111. Collision between the governoui-s of the Cliiuch. concerning the state of religion in the kingdom, the province, or the diocese. sepri72"'^''*' In September, 1725, the parliament assembled, but there was not anything particular in the bills, especially relating to the Church, as Primate Boulter informed tlie Archbishop of Canterbury, observing that, if there had been, he should have given his Grace advice of it ' The meeting, however, gave occasion for a collision between the chief governours of the Church, on account of an address to his Majesty upon the lord lieutenant's speech. On the appointment of his Excellency, the address was moved by the Archbishop of Armagh ; and an amendment proposed by the Archbishop of Dubhn, and supported by the Archbishop of Tuam. The amendment consisted of the introduction of two words, which Archbishop Boulter resisted, as a yidlJ!ls7emtrk^' rcflection on the ministry : he expresses himself also as " sensible that one thing, which in part disposed some to be peevish, was the seeing an English primate there'':" a censure, which the editor of his letters observes must be invidious, as most of the primates of Ireland, since the Reformation, had been from England. In the end, the amendment, having been at first carried, was subsequently left out of the address, after a long debate, which ter- minated in a division of twenty-one against twelve. The struggle was considered by Archbishop Boulter as a fair trial of strength between the parties ; and in agreement with that was an observation of Dean Swift, in a letter of the ensuing November, that " the primate and the Earl of Cavan governed the House of Lords"." He at the same time alludes to an Boulter's Xcif^cr^, i., p. 48. Ibid., p. 87. ^•^ Swirx's JVorh'f xi., p. 812. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 443 attack made in the castle on the primate by the Archbisliop of Dublin, for preferring an improper person to a good living. His allusion, Avhich is ob- scure, is conveyed in language of snch vulgar scur- rility, as to preclude transcription. However, the Archbishop of Dubhn's attack was not Avithout foundation. It seems that, before the primate left England, ^^^^'^^^^f Lord Townshend had recommended to his care a clergyman, named Power, whom, in September, 1725, he had an opportunity of providing for, by giving him a living of about 150/. a year'\ That this person was soon discovered to be unworthy of such patronage, is evident from the following letter addressed to him on the 24th of the ensuing Fe- bruary, by the primate's secretary, Mr. Ambrose Philips: and the circumstance of date makes it most probable, that this was the case upon which the x\rchbishop of Dublin's attack had been founded, and which, having been investigated by the primate, was judged deserving of this expression of his Grace's displeasure : " To the Reverend Mr. Power Letter from Am- ^ . ^ brose Philips to Sn-, Dublin Feb. 24, 1726. Mr. Power. " I received yours of the 24th of November, in answer to mine of the 20th, and delivered your present, which was kindly received. " What I write to you now is by the express orders of my lord primate, to inform you that his Grace hears from persons of credit such things of you as are highly displeasing to him. You are represented as a person who have neither discretion in your words and conversation, nor proper de- cency in your actions and conduct, nor a due regard to the offices of your function ; and that the result of your whole behaviour has given such offence to the generality of your BouLTEu's Letters, i., p. 32. Ibid., p. 53. 444 THE REIGN OF [Ch. Ill parishioners, that your congregation falls off daily from you. I am ordered to acquaint you, that my Lord is very much troubled to have so indifferent a character of a clergyman whom he has promoted, and that he will not rest satisfied with such a behaviour as brings a scandal on religion and a disrepute on himself. I am, Sir, " Your very humble servant, " Ambr. Philips." me^t'^atronlgr ^Iie systcm, upoii which the government patron- age was now disposed of, appears to have excited the apprehensions of the Archbishop of Dublin, whose influence had been much abated by the late wsl^^pK^g^^o ^' alterations. " I am glad,*' he writes to the Bishop ^'ork, on the 7th of December, 1725, "when I can do any service to any of my brethren of our bench, but more especially to your Lordshi]), to whom I am very much obliged, more than to others, to whom I have had opportunity to do much greater services than I ever could to you. I have had the mortification to be deserted by most of my brethren, and by some who owed me the greatest obligations. I was not much concerned on my own account, but could not but regret their making themselves ridicu- lous and contemptible, which happened to their grief and my vexation ; for all such accidents weaken the Church. I wish you had sent up your doctor's certi- ficate, or affidavit, of your indisposition ; for 'tis alleged that no man is to be believed in his own cause. Pray, take care of your health ; for, if a vacancy should happen at this time, we should not know how it would be filled." ^^hZi!"' a letter, of the 29th of the same month, to Edward Southwell, Esq., the system of patronage is again noticed with severe censure, in several particu- Sec. X.] KING GEORGE T. 445 lars, of which I cite that only which relates to eccle- siastical affairs. The case, in which the primate's name is mentioned, probably refers to the individual whose ill-advised preferment was the subject of the attack made by the archbishop at the council-board, and of the letter of the primate's secretary. For the " Walton blacks" I propose to substitute Walthara w^iton for wait- blacks," a well-known horde of deer-stealers in Hamp- shire, whose enormities about this time had been such as to give occasion for the statute of 9 Geo. I., c. 22, commonly called " the black act." " I toM you in my last," says Archbishop King, " that since my lord lieutenant was nominated to the government, about 18,000/. annual rent have been given in benefices, employments, and places, to strangers, and not 500/. to any in Ireland ; but I find I Wiis mistaken ; for I find there have been above 20,000/. disposed that way, and I understand several have not yet come to my knowledge. There are several vacancies now in prospect to the value of some thousands, and I hear strangers are already named for them. " The bishops sent us from England follow the same track in many instances. The Bishop of Derry, since his translation to that see, has given about 2000/. in benefices to his English friends and relations. Lord Primate hath had two livings void since his translation: one he has given, of about 200/. per annum, to one of his Walton'' {Qif. Walt- ham!) " blacks, whom he since ordained priest, and the other to one Mr. Blennerhassett, whom they commonly Cvall an Hottentot ; I know not for what reason. " I tell you what is generally said and believed. Whe- ther in all circumstances true or not, it showeth the sense of the kingdom as to the treatment they meet with from the government. The Bishop of Waterford has not only given all livings of value in his gift to his brothers and rela- tions, but likewise his vicar. generalship and registry, though none of them reside in the kingdom.'' !Mean while, the political principles and attach- Letter of primate to Duke of New- castle, 446 THE REIGN OF [Cif. III. nients of the Dean of St. Patrick's naturally made him an object of observation to those in the opposite party ; so that we read without surprise the intima- tion conveyed by the primate to the Duke of New- TisitofDean castlc, iu a letter of the 10th of February'*^: "The Swift to England. *' general report is, that Dean Swift designs for Eng- land in a little time ; and we do not question his endeavours to misrepresent his Majesty's friends here, wherever he finds an opportunity. But he is so well known, as well as the disturbances he has been the foment or of in this kingdom, that we are under no fear of his being able to disserve any of his Majesty's faithful servants, by anything that is known to come from him ; but we could wish some eye were had to what he shall be attempting on your side of the water." The primate's anticipation turned out to be well- Hisintcrview fouuded. The dean soupht an interview with the with Sir Robert o waipole, prime minister. Sir Robert Walpole, with whom he had, in consequence, more than an hour's conversa- tion, " with design of representing the affairs of Ire- land to him in a true light, not only without any view to himself, but to any party whatsoever." What passed between them he related, in a letter of April the 28th, to the Earl of Peterborovr, who had, at the dean's request, obtained for him the interview. It contains a specification of grievances, of which the two following have particular reference to the ^"grievai^^^^^^^ Church'': *'^That whereas there is a university in Ireland, founded by Queen Elizabeth, where youth are instructed with a much stricter discipline than either in Oxford or Cambridge, it lies under the greatest discouragements, by filling all the principal employments, civil and ecclesiastical, with persons Boulter's Letiers, i., p. 51 . Swift's TFoH:^, xi.^ p. 32G. Sec. X.] KING GEORGE I. 447 from Eugland, who have neither interest, property, acquaintance, nor alliance, in that kingdom, contrary to the practice of all other states in Europe, which are governed by viceroys, at least what hath never been used without the utmost discontents of the people:" and "That several of the bishops sent over to Ireland, having been clergymen of obscure condi- tion, and without other distinction than that of chaplains to the governours, do frequently invite over their old acquaintance or kindred, to whom they bestow the best preferments in their gift." What part of these grievances," he observes, in conclusion, may be thought proper to be redressed by so wise and great a minister as Sir Robert Wal- pole, he perhaps will please to consider; especially because they have been all brought ujdou that king- dom since the Revolution, which, however, is a blessing annually celebrated there with the greatest zeal and sincerity." A remarkable position this, if understood with reference to his complaints con- cerning the Church ; for certainly the same prac- tices, whether right or wrong, with respect to the preferment of English ecclesiasticks, had, to a con- siderable extent, prevailed in Ireland long before the Revolution. 448 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Section XI. Primate Boulter's Dispute tcith Archbishop King. Power of granting Marriage Faculties^ giten to the Primate^ claimed by the Archbishop. Opinions of Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London. Report concerning Dean Swifs appointment to a Bishoprick contradicted. Maule^ Bishop of Cloyne. Recommended by Primate and Archbishop King . His Chai-acter. Infirmities and Death of Archbishop Palliser. Bishop Nicholson made Arch- bishop of Cashel. His Deaths Character, and Publica- tions. Contest for the vacant ArchbishopricJc. Projects of the Primate. H:vertio?is for Bishop Bolton. Arch- bishop King'^s Appeal to Lord Lieutenant. Letters of Primate Boulter on the subject. Disposal of the vacant Sees. Interrupted by King George'' s Death. Project concerning Kilmore and Ardagh. Dispute between Archbishop King and Dean Swift, Primate Boulter \^ ApHl, l726, Lorcl Carteret went to Eno-land; a lord justice, x ^ ^ o ' April, 172G. whereuioon the Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Chan- cellor West, and William Conolly, Esq., were made lords justices, and sworn into office. In May the archbishop found himself again engaged in dispute with the Archbishop of Dublin, by whom he consi- dered himself very much aggrieved in some points of such a nature, that he could not, without preju- dice to his successors, suffer them to go on without His dispute with looking out for some remedy. He was, however, Archbishop unwilling to take any step without the opinion and advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as to the measures most proper to be taken by him, or rather by the crown, which he thouglit to be at least as much concerned in the case as he was. He accord- ingly laid the following statement before Archbishop Wake, in a letter of the 21st of May, 1726' : * Boulter's Letters, i., p. 61. Sec. XI.] KINa GEORGE I. 449 "The power the Archbishop of Armagh claims of Ltter to Arch- granting hcences for marriages, at uncanonical hours and Aiyn, 1720? places, is as follows: In the twenty-eighth of Henry VIII. there was a sta- Power of grant- tute passed here, entitled ' The act of faculties,' which, for marriages the bulk of it, is only a recital of the English statute of the twenty-fifth of Henry VIIL, concerning ' peter-pence and dispensations with an application at the end to the kingdom of Ireland. There is, likewise, another statute past here the second of Elizabeth, entitled ' An act for restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesiastical and spiritual, and abolishing all foreign authority repugnant to the same:' which act is almost verbatim the same with the English statute tenth of Elizabeth of the same title, as to the general part; and, as to the repealing and reviving part, repeals or revives, such statutes of Phil, and Mary, or Henry VIIL, as were thought proper to be repealed or revived. And, in both these acts, there is a power lodged in the crown, to authorize such person or persons as the crown shall think proper, to exercise the several powers therein mentioned in this kingdom. " In virtue of these two statutes, which, in the begin- Lodged in the ning of the grant, are mentioned as the foundation of the p'""^^'^'- several powers therein granted. King James I., by letters- patent to Christ. Hampton, Archbishop of Armagh, dated April 10, a?ino regni of England 20, and of Scotland 55, did among other things grant full power, authority, and jurisdiction, to him the said Christ. Hampton, and his suc- cessors. Archbishops of Armagh for ever, from time to time, and at all times requisite, to give, grant, and dispose of all manner of such licences, dispensations, compositions, facul- ties, grants, rescripts, delegacies, instruments, and all other writings, of what kind, nature, or quality soever they be, as by force of the said act of parliament may be given and granted, in the most large and ample manner: and did likewise, by the same letters-patent, enable Christ. Hampton, and his successors, &c., to appoint a commissary or commis- saries under them. In virtue of these letters-patent, my predecessors have from time to time appointed commissaries, Mdio, as occasion has offered, have granted faculties for 2 G 450 THE REIGN OF CCh. III. Claimed by Archbishop of Dublin. Clergy encou- raged to marry nt uncanonical hours. Archbishop of Dublin's usurpa- tion. Opinion sought of Archbishop Wake and Bishop Gibson. marriages at uncanonical hours and places, which are here usually termed ' prerogative licences.'' " The authority of these licences never has, that I can learn, been disputed, nor is it now; but his Grace of Dublin is pleased to set up his licences as of equal force with the prerogative licences: which licences of his differ no farther from the common episcopal licences in England, than what necessarily follows from their being directed here to the clergyman who is to marry the parties; whereas, in England, they are directed to the parties to be married. The canons indeed here are very severe against any clergyman marrying in uncanonical places or hours: the 52nd canon here punish- ing the so doing, in a beneficed clergyman, with depriva- tion, in a non-beneficed clergyman by degradation ; whereas, by the English canon, the punishment is only suspension j)er triennium. " But to give a currency to the common episcopal licences, ^\hich are all his Grace of Dublin even pretends to grant, he has been pleased, both in private conversation and at his publick visitations, to encourage his clergy to marry at any hour, and in private houses, purely in virtue of one of his licences ; assuring them they need not be afraid of the canon, since he is the only person who can call them to account for breach of the canon, and that they may depend upon it, he never will call them to such account. " The use the Archbishop of Dublin makes of his licences in this way, by making them serve for marrying at uncanonical hours and places, is usurping a power, which no ways belongs to him by auy law or custom. And as the power I claim depends on the supremacy given to the crown in spiritual matters by these acts of parliament, and is derived to me and my successors from the crown, I take this proceeding of his Grace to be a direct invasion of the authority of the crown, as well as an injury to me. And, therefore, I think the crown as much concerned to stop these irregular proceedings as I am. " Now what I desire of your Grace is, to inform me which is the most proper method for either the crown or myself, or both, to put a stop to this illegal practice: and likewise which is the best and easiest w^y of convicting and Sec. XI.] KING GEORGE I. 451 punishing any clergyman in the diocese of Dublin, who breaks the canon in this manner hough his proper ordinary will not meddle with him. "And as the ignorance, I have observed in the most ignorance of the eminent common lawyers of England in ecclesiastical mat- ters, 'persuades me that I can have very little help from consulting the lawyers of this country, who are much infe- rior to those of England for skill and experience, I am the more desirous to have your Grace's advice in this matter: and the grievance I labour under on this head is the greater here, because the people are more vain than in England; and those of moderate fortunes in this country think it beneath them to be married at the regular time and place. And in the way his Grace of Dublin has put this affair, the breaches of the canon relating to marriages, and the inva- sions of that power granted by the crown to the Archbishops of Armagh, are more numerous here than they would be if any bishop made the like attempt in England. " I shall in a post or two send a copy of this case to the Bishop of London, to desire his opinion likewise : for I have a troublesome and perverse opponent to deal with, and cannot have too much assistance. I hope his Lordship will wait upon your Grace to discourse over the subject with you; that upon any difficulties, which either may offer, I may have your joint sense, or if opportunity should not offer of your consulting together, I shall be very thankful for your Grace's advice singly." But both Archbishoi) Wake and Bishop Gibson Their cautious answers. were cautious ni encouraging proceedings, Avithout full investigation and deliberation, and after such assistance as he could procure for his guidance in Ireland. The former advised him not to be too hasty to engage with so litigious and obstinate a person, whatever his grievance might be^ The advice of the latter was, not to begin any informa- tion against any ofTender, till he had thoroughly mooted the point in Dublin'. The lord chancellor * Boulter's Letters, i., p. 74. ^ Ibid., p. 70. 2 G 2 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. was entirely of the Bishop of London's opinion, as to the course to be taken in the affair, which, in con- sequence, appears not to have been prosecuted. Report concern- ^ho visit of tho Dcau of St. Patrick's to Endand, ing Dean Swift. O lately alluded to, gave occasion for a report which had as little foundation in likelihood as in fact. Having gone thither upon some afRiirs of a private nature, he was accidentally brought into personal intercourse with some persons of high rank and station, especially with the Princess of Wales, after- wards Queen Caroline, consort of King George the Second, and with Sir Robert Walpole, prime- minister, and other chief members of the adminis- tration ; so that he was reported to have received an offer of the bishoprick of Cloyne, vacated about that time by the death of Bishop Crow. In truth, how- ever, there is no indication of his having been thought of for the purpose, either by the English or Contradicted. Irish govemmeut. And the report Avas positively contradicted by the dean himself, in a letter from Pope's residence at Twickenham, to Mr. Worrall, July 15, 1726' ; and again more fully to Dr. Stop- ford, with several explanatory circumstances, on the 20th of the same month'. nis letter to Dr. " I have chiefly lived about two months with Mr. Pope, foTim' '^"'^ ^^^"^^^ g^'^^^' empty. I shall leave him the begin- ning of August, and so settle my affairs to be in Ireland by the end of that month, for my licence of half a year will be ^then out. I came here to see my old friends, and upon some business I had with two of them, which, however, proves to be of little consequence. The people in power have been civil enouD:h to me ; manv of them have visited me. I was not able to withstand seeing the princess, be- cause she had commanded, that whenever I came hither, < S\yift's JVorks, xi., p. 835. " Ibid., p. 336. Sec. XL] KING GEORGE I. 453 as the news said I intended, that I should wait on her. I was latterly twice with the chief minister ; the first time by invitation, and the second at my desire for an hour, wherein we differed in every point. " But all this made a .^jth sS™ t great noise, and soon got to Ireland ; from whence, upon ^vaipoie. the late death of the Bishop of Cioyne, it was said I was offered to succeed, and I received many letters upon it ; but there was nothing of truth, for I was neither offered, nor would have received, except upon conditions which would never be granted. For I absolutely broke with the first minister, and have never seen him since ; and I lately com- plained of him to the princess, because I knew she would tell him. I am, besides, all to pieces with the lord lieu- tenant, whom I treated very roughly, and absolutely refused to dine with him.'' This statement of Dean Swift, as to his own Dr.Mauie.bishop of Cioyne. want of concern in the transaction, was accompanied by a* remark to JNIr. Worrall, that " the promotion was, as he was told, given immediately to Maule." And this corresponds with the intelligence in Pri- mate Boulter's letters. Apprised of the Bishop of Cloyne's dangerous state, and desirous of " pre- venting any surprise in naming his successor ; for some here," as he wrote to the Duke of Newcastle, June 25, " are not without fears that interest may be made for a tory on this side, to succeed to that or the next vacancy on the bench';" he made the duke acquainted with the expected vacancy. And immediately on its having occurred, he wrote, on the 28th, to the duke, with a recommendation of Dr. Skirret, who had attended liim to Ireland as his chaplain, if acceptable to his Grace and the ministry: but, he added, " if your Lordship thinks he is not so fit, I would recommend Dr. INIaule, dean of Cioyne, to succeed to the bishoprick : he is counted one well affected to his JNJajesty, and is very diligent in the ^ Boulter's Letters, i., p. 68. 454 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. discharge of tlie cures he has at present, and has the honour of being known to several bishops in England." It is somewhat remarkable, that the same indi- vidual, thus recommended by the primate, should have had the good fortune also of being recom- mended by the Archbishop of Dublin ; who thus wrote to the lord lieutenant in his favour : " May it please your Excellency, " I understand that the Bishop of Cloyne is dead : I hope your Lordship will pardon me if I give you my sense on this occurrence. Your Excellency hath indulged me to use great freedom ; and I can assure you I never made any exercise of that liberty, but with a real design for your service. " I have heard that Dr. Maule had promises from some great men in the ministry, that he should succeed in it when vacant : he is beneficed in that diocese ; has a great reputation there for his charity, piety, and zeal for religion and his Majesty's interest ; and if so preferred, it will be a gratification to that whole country. " The circumstances of that diocese are such, that he runs a great hazard that accepts of it ; for there is about two thousand five hundred pounds to be paid to his predecessor for his improvements, and five hundred more will not pay his fees and settle him in it. If a person in low circum- stances should be put into it, he would be hard put to it to raise the money ; and if he should die soon, (the bishoprick not being, as I have been informed, worth above eight or nine hundred pounds per annum,) his family would be undone ; but Dr. Maule, having a good temporal estate, may be able to bear it. " But I hear that Dr. Howard will be recommended ; to be sure I have no objection against him. . . This individual recommendation by the primate, addressed to the Duke of Newcastle, and repeated in substance to Lord Carteret, was followed on the 30th by a common letter from himself and the other Recommended by primate and Archbishop King. Sec. XI.] KING GEORGE I. 455 two lords justices, relative to a successor to the late Bishop of Clovne, in which three persons were named : Dr. jNIaule, dean of Cloyne ; Dr. Howard, dean of Ardagh ; and jNIr. Gore, dean of Down, w^ho was also chaplain to the House of Commons, and brother to Sir Ralph Gore, Bart. Dean JNIaule, the senior of the three, ^vas preferred, as communicated to the primate by the Duke of Newcastle, in a letter of the 9th of July. Lord Carteret was backward in reporting the selection, which appears not to have been satisfactory to his Excellency. The bishop- His chaiT.cter. elect was a native of Arklow, and had been alto- gether educated and beneficed in Ireland : he bore the character of a very worthy and respectable man; and became one of the first promoters of the Pro- testant charter schools, to which our attention will be required, about six years later, as established for the reception and education of the children of Papists ' . Towards the close of the year 1726, the great infir mities of age and rapidly increasing infirmities of Archbishop n^r. Palliser foreboded an early vacancy in the see of Casliel ; when the Archbishop of Dublin, in antici- pation of Lord Carteret's resumption of the vice- regal office, drew his attention to the subject in the following letter : DuhUu, December 21 , 1726. j^^j^^^^ " Mav it please vour Excellency, bishop King to T , T " " Ml • Lord Carteret, " I believe the next pacquets will bring you an Dec. 21, 1726. account of Dr. Palliser, archbishop of CashelFs death ; for Dr. Molineux assures me, that he cannot live two days. That diocese and province has been in effect without an archbishop for some years, the archbishop, by reason of his age, being incapable of managing the office; and your Excel- lency will be sensible how necessary it is to have it filled 7 Swift's Works, xi., p. Goo, note. 456 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. with a man of experience, activity, learning, and piety ; and how improper it would be to have a novice or a slug in it. I thought proper to "give your Excellency timely warning of the vacancy, that you might use your timely endeavours to have it well filled. I hope to see your Excellency again in the government here, and wish it may be easy to you. Lord lieutenant's Your Excelleucv will find vour interest and advantage in responsibility in • i p ^ • p ^ i ^ ^ ^ appointing a sue- the prudcut disposal of this see ; for nobody doubts but you cessor. kuow a good man from a bad, a proper and agreeable from an improper. If, therefore, such a person be thrust upon us, 'twill be concluded either that you had not interest enough to prefer a good one, or that you had not kindness enough for the kingdom to engage you to use your power in its service. I am sure if either of these opinions prevail, that will be to your Excellency's disservice. Your Excel- lency has always [indulged me to discover my thoughts freely to you ; and I hope my freedom in this, being well- intended, will not be displeasing to you. To convince your Excellency that I have no design, besides serving your Excellency, the Church, and the publick, I do not presume to name or recommend any person to you. I only add my hearty and earnest prayers, that God would direct you in this and every step of your life, and preserve you and all yours in health and happiness ; and that I am, with all respect and submission, " My Lord, " Your Excellency's most obedient servant, " W. D. " His Excellency Lord Carteret." Bishop Nicholson In the following January, the event anticipated made Archbishop » .-t » -i -• of cashei. m this letter occurred ; and the death of Archbishop Palliser, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, caused a vacancy in the metropolitan see of Cashei, which was conferred upon Bishop Nicholson of Deny. He appears to have been not ambitious of the change from any motive personal to himself, but to have accepted the preferment less on his own account than on that of Bishop Downes of Meath, for whom Sec. XL] KING GEORGE I. 457 the see of Derry had some special attraction, and who was translated thither on the recommendation of the lords justices, as well as through the particular favour of Lord Carteret and Bishop Nicholson him- self. A very grateful and affectionate letter to the latter from "his most obliged and affectionate brother, friend, and servant, H. Meath'," records the translation, which is confirmed by Archbishop Boulter's letters. "If," said the primate, in two Bishop Downes ^ translated to letters to the same effect, written on occasion of the Derry. vacancy, and proposing a scheme for filling it and others incidental to it, to the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Carteret — " If it be thought proper to break this scheme, by sending some bishop from the bench in England to Cashel, Derry, or Meath, I hope w^e shall not have one sent for being troublesome or good for nothing there, for such an one wdll do the English interest a great deal of mischief here ; and I hope regard will be had to his being likely or un- likely to agree with me. I remember I have in conversation mentioned two that I should not desire to see here ; one for the restlessness of his temper, the other for the great liberties he was pleased to take with my character upon my being made primate^" But the caution was superfluous : Cashel and Derry were bestowed in the manner already men- tioned, and Meath was filled by the translation of Bishop Cobb from Killala, to which see Dr. Howard w^as promoted from the deanery of Ardagh. To one, however, of these translated prelates his i^eath of Arch- ^ bishop Nichol- promotion was little more than nominal, and indeed detrimental to the affairs of his family. The new Archbishop of Cashel, who had been elevated to the ^ Nicholson, ii., p. 616. ^ Boulter, i., pp. 8, 9. 458 THE REIGN OF [Cii. III. metropolitan dignity, on the 28th of January, 1727, but had not yet taken possession of his see, was seized with apoplexy on the 13th of February follow- ing, and found dead on the floor in his room at the palace of Londonderry. Archbishop Boulter ex- pressed his great sorrow for the loss of a very valuable His character, c^^^i uscful, a vory loamod and worthy man. Of his professional character I find no particular record. His learning seems to have prevailed chiefly in the de- partment of antiquities, in his fondness for which Mr. Harris reports that he w^as said to have built an apartment near his garden at Derry, for the pre- servation of the manuscripts and records belonging to his see". Among his numerous publications the Andpubiications. principal were the E^iglish, the Scotch, and the Irish Historical Library, three several works, indicating most of the authors and records, in print or in manu- script, which might be serviceable to the compilers of a history of either of the three kingdoms. Harris has remarked'', that, for want of sufficient acquaint- ance with the Irish manuscripts and language, he fell into many errors in the last work ; notwithstand- ing which, he adds, that " much thanks are due to him for the extraordinary pains he took to inform himself about the materials which may be had for improving Irish history." The appointment to the vacant archbishoprick w^as much sought after and contested, and various pleas were urged upon the English government, in whose hands the patronage was reserved. Bishop Ellis of Kildare made immediate application to the lords justices, and " desired to be considered as being the oldest bishop upon the bench, except the Arch- Wake's Bishops, p. 488. " Ibid., p. 206. Contest for the archbishoprick. Projects of the primate. Sec. XI.l KING GEORGE L 459 bishop of Dublin." " I must do him the justice to saj,'* observes the primate to the Duke of Newcastle, and in much the same terms to Lord Carteret, " he Bishop eius. is an hearty Englishman, and I believe a thorough enemy to the Pretender : his only fault is, that he is rather counted a tory here'^" Next to the Bishop of Kildare, the primate re- commended Bishop Godwin of Kilmore, an English- man, and one whom he describes as " the best beloved by his Majesty's friends of any that have been mentioned from England, as standing here in competition for the see of Cash el, as well as much senior to others, which used to be a consideration of weight in England ; and the English here think it of great consequence that it should be given to an Englishman'^" Another project of the primate's was, as being ^^^0^"^^^^^" for his Majesty's service, "to fill Cashel from the bench in England, or to send one from England to the bishoprick vacant by any translations made here." "If the first is done," he adds, "I hope nobody will be sent hither from the bench in England for being restless or good for nothing there, or who is not likely to agree with me, since this will certainly weaken the English interest here. If the latter method be taken, I hope a divine of some character will be sent hither." This recommenda- tion was founded upon a computation, made by the primate and the Lord Chancellor Wyndham, that if some person were not brought over from England to the bench, there would be thirteen Irish to nine English bishops out of twenty-two ; which,'' says he, "we think will be a dangerous situation''." If an *2 Boulter's Letters, i., p. 110. Ibid., p. 113. Ibid., p. 122. ,460 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. Englishman were sent over to Cashel or Kildare, he thinks that "if it were one that would be a proper person to succeed to Dublin upon a vacancy, it would be the less invidious, but in that view it ought to be one from the bench in England." He acquaints Lord Carteret also, that " the oldest friend he has on the bench in England is Dr. Smalbroke, bishop of St. David's, and that he should be very glad to see him here also he " should be satisfied if the Bishop of Glocester or Bangor were sent hither either on this occasion, or to Dublin when it falls : but I have formerly mentioned two on the bench to your Lordship, whom I should be sorry to see here." The editor of the primate's letters notices, that the Bishop of Bristol was certainly one of the two. Bishop Bolton. In oppositiou to these recommendations of an Englishman, powerful influence was used for the translation of Bishop Bolton from Elphin to Cashel. He was a native of Ireland, a high tory, and a friend of Dean Swift's: a man withal of great learning, and vast abilities. He was at first mentioned as a competitor for the archbishoprick in the common letter of the lords justices, but his pretensions found their principal support in the friendship of Mr. Conolly, and his cause was subsequently espoused by Lord Carteret. His appointment, however, was earnestly resisted by the primate for such reasons as these : that " it would be too dangerous a step to trust him in that post;" that "he was an enter- prising man, and would soon set himself, if he had that station, at the head of the Irish interest ;" that " he should be kept longer in a state of probation ;" that " he was much a junior, and as dangerous an Irishman as any on the bench;" that " his great friend Sec. XI."| KING GEORGE I. 461 was Mr. Conolly, and that most of those ^vllo solicited here for him T\-ere set on by him;" that "all the English here thought it would be a dan- gerous step to make the Bishop of Elphin arch- bishop." Meanwhile the Archbishop of Dublin again Archbishop ^ ^ King's appeal. ventured to appeal to the lord lieutenant, in a letter of ^larch 18, on the second vacancy of Cashel : " Your Excellency's disposal of the late preferments has, as there is reason, been very acceptable ; and it is hoped that your Excellency, having gained this step, will be able to proceed in the same track, especially since the person you recommended to the archbishoprick of Cashel never was installed, or had any emolument from it ; and, consequently, your Excellency had not the benefit of his Majesty's favourable condescension to your recommendation. " I doubt not but there are many in England desirous Irish bishopucka of our preferments, which, by our zeal for the Church, and English competi our good laws, are become considerable ; whereas, I do not find that the bishopricks in England, by the indolence and covetousness of the possessors, are much better, if anything at all, tban they vrere at the Reformation. Metbinks, therefore, it seems a little hard, that, because we have been honest and industrious for the common good, we should be excluded from the improvements we have made, and those given to such as have made none. ' Sic vos non vobis, kc' "It is confidently reported here, that ten English bishops were striving for this void archbishoprick ; if this be so, I conclude, when it pleaseth God to remove me, twenty will contend for mine ; but I am no ways inclined to throw a bone of contention amongst my brethren, and, therefore, am resolved to take all possible care of my health, and do all that I can to prolong my life, so long as God and nature will allow me.'' His own ^dews, at the same time, continued to be urged in several letters by the primate on the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Carteret, the Archbishop 462 THE PvEIGN OF [Cn. HI. of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, to whom, after a lapse of more than two months from the vacancy, when the appointment had not yet been determined he again wrote as follows ' : Primate's letter u rj^^ Bishop of London. to Bishop of ^ Londc.AprU^, , ^^^^^ j^^^j.^^ ^^^^.^ ^5, 1727. " As I have heard nothing from your Lordship since mine of the 1st instant, and as we have not yet had any orders about the archbishoprick of Cashel, I cannot help writing a hne or two more on that subject, though it may possibly come too late. '•It is reported here, that our speaker has wrote, that the House of Commons will be very much disobliged if the Bishop of Elphin has not Cashel. I am, on the contrary, assured^ that among the whigs of that House, setting aside the speakers creatures and dependents, there is hardly one who will not be better pleased to have the Bishop of Kil- more made archbishop, than the Bishop of Elphin. I must, likewise, inform you, that I have discoursed with every Englishman of consequence in this town, whether clergy or laity, and can assure you, that there is not one who is not of opinion, that the giving the arch- bishoprick to Bishop Bolton will be a very great blow to the English interest in this kingdom. I would beg of your Lordship, if the affair be not over, to represent this to the ministry. " I shall, likewise, write a letter to the Duke of New- castle, to desire the ministry to consider who is the proper person to recommend to bishopricks here, an Irish speaker or an English primate. I shall trouble your Grace no further at present, and am, " My Lord, &c.^' Still on the 20th of May the question remained undecided, and on that day the primate again pressed his recommendation on the Duke of Newcastle in the following letter " Boulter's Letters, i., p. 12G. >° Ibid., p. 132. Sec. XI.] KING GEORGE I. 468 " My Lord, " I have so long forborn troubling your Grace about JitwcLl?! May' the arclibishoprick of Cashel, in expectation of our speedily 20, 1727. receiving his Majesty'^s commands about it ; but, as no orders are yet come, and the reports we have here about what is intended are various, and as his Majesty's speedy going abroad must occasion some determination in that affiiir very soon, your Grace will excuse my giving you this trouble, to renew my recommendations of Dr. Godwin, bishop of Kilmore, to the arclibishoprick of Cashel, and of Dr. Hort, bishop of Ferns, to the bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh. " The present Bishop of Kilmore has been some years longer on the bench than any that have been talked of for the arclibishoprick, and is, I may safely say, the best beloved, by his Majesty's friends here, of any English bishop ; the Bishop of Ferns is senior to the Bishop of Elphin. " If it be designed I should have that weight with the bishops, as to dispose them to unite in his Majesty's service here, I think my recommendation ought to be regarded on this occasion ; and I can assure your Grace it is not any particular friendship to the Bishop of Kilmore, but a regard to his worth, and to the most likely method of keeping up a good understanding among his Majesty's friends on the bench, that makes me so hearty in recommending him. I hope I may depend on your Grace's friendship to support me in this affair, and shall always remain, &c." The perseverance of the lord lieutenant, in insisting on the advancement of Bishop Bolton to the arclibishoprick of Cashel, co-operated with the pressure of business, of much greater consequence to the publick, in retarding the Duke of Newcastle's answer to the primate's last letter : but on the 6tli of June the primate intimates, that " by his Majesty's letters received yesterday, he finds he was not forgot; and most humbly thanks the duke for supporting his recommendations." Accordingly, Bishop Godwin 464 THE REIGN OF [Ch. III. was translated from Kilmore and Ardagh to Cashel, and Bishop Hort to Kilmore and Ardagli from Ferns and Leighlin; which bishoprick was conferred on Dr. John Hoadly, who had been chaplain to Bishop Burnet, and was Archdeacon of Salisbury, brother of Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, at that time Bishop Feln^and"*^ of Sallsburv, and subsequently of Winchester. This Leigbiin. promotion was satisfactory to Archbishop Boulter, on account of his personal friendship with the two brothers, and, as being agreeable to his recommenda- tion on the vacancy of the archbishoprick, that after some translations the last bishoprick should be filled up from England. To the Archbishop of Dublin they were less satisfactory ; for in a letter of June 22, he observes to the Archbishop of Canterbury : " We have nothing to trust to in effect, but the prudence and diligence of the bishops and clergy to press and make the best advantage of a good cause. And if we consider the preferments that have been of late, many are of opinion that much is not to be expected from them." These aiDpointments, however, were not com- pleted till the ensuing reign. For soon after the grant of the several sees by letters of King George I., his Majesty died suddenly and unexpectedly at Hanover, on the 11th of June, and the patents were afterwards procured on the 3rd of July, the 27th of July, and the 4th of August respectively, soon after the accession of King George II. Project ccn- Meauwhile, on the determination of translating ceining Kilmore and Ardagh. tho Blsliop of Klhuore and Ardagh to the arch- bishoprick of Cashel being known, it appeared to the Archbishop of Dublin a favourable occasion for disuniting those two bishopricks, and thus giving Sec. XL] KIXG GEORGE I. 465 additional eflBcacy both to the Church and to tlie Government : and he accordingly recommended the measure to the adoption of the lord lieuteuani in a letter of June the 6th, 1727 : " I understand,** he said to Lor! C:irteret. ••that the bishopricks of Kilmore and Ar Those bishopricks are large and well inhabi: . 1. (as they were by King WiUiam, of glo:. . ; . i by the Earl of Stafford, when chief governor of Ireland.) will each of them be worth about 1,000/. Your Excel- lency, by dividing them now, will do a great service to the Church, and strengthen his ^Lajesty's interest, both in the kingdom and parliament. I hope your Excellency will not take it amiss, that I give you this hint, for I am sure it will make you more grateful to both laity and clergy. If I ob- tain no more by it, yet it pleases me, inasmuch :: es me the opportunity to do myself the hon: - -uring your Excellency, that I am, with the greater. . ^ . :. •• My Lord, '* Your Excellency's most obedient servant, " His Excellency Lord Carteret, D. lord Heutenant of Ireland.'^ It was whilst this negotiation was in progress, Dispute betweoi ,1 J IT' 11^ • \. . Archbishop King that a collision occurred between two eminent digni- and Dean swifi. taries of the Church, whose high stations and cele- brated characters require that it should not be passed over T\ithout notice. There was occasion, not Ions; since, to speak of an ecclesiastical difference between the Dean of St. Patrick's, in his capacity of a paro- chial incumbent, and his diocesan, the Bishop of Meath. We have now to observe the same dio-ni- tary, in his decanal capacity, opposed to the Arch- bishop of Dublin. At the archbishop's visitation of the dean and chapter, which occurred in the spring of this year, during the dean's absence in England, an exercise of 2 H THE RETGN OF [Ch. IIT. archiepiscopal power was attempted by the diocesan, and resisted and resented by the dean, to whom an account of the occurrence was forthwith transmitted. Whatever sentiments of respect, or feelings of kindly regard, may have been revived in him, after a season of estrangement, appear to have been again obliterated by this occurrence : and the result was the following letter, addressed to the Archbishop, on the 18th of May, 1727'^: The dean's letter My Lord, to Arclibishop King, May H 1727. His proxy demanded. Tlie dean's causes of complaint. His claims on the archbishop's regard. " I understand, by some letters just come to my hands, that, at your Grace's visitation of the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's, a proxy was insisted on from the dean, the visitation adjourned, and a rule entered, that a proxy be exhibited within a month. If your Grace can find, in any of your old records, or of ours, that a proxy was ever demanded for a dean of* St. Patrick's, you will have some reason to insist upon it ; but, as it is a thing wholly new and unheard of, let the consequences be what they will, I shall never comply with it. I take my chapter to be my proxy, if I want any ; it is only through them that you visit me, and my sub-dean is to answer for me. I am neither civilian nor canonist ; your Grace may probably be both, with the addition of a dexterous deputy. My pro- ceeding shall be only upon one maxim ; never to yield to an oppression, to justify which no precedent can be pro- duced. " I see very well how personal all this proceeding is, and how, from the very moment of the queen's death, your Grace has thought fit to take every opportunity of giving me all sorts of uneasiness, without ever giving me, in my whole life, one single mark of your favour, beyond common civilities. And, if it were not below a man of spirit to make complaints, I could date them from six-and-twenty years past. " This has something in it the more extraordinary, because, during some years, when I was thought to have '7 Swift's JForhf xi., p. 400. Sec. XI.] KING GEORGE I. credit with those in power, I employed it to the utmost of your service, with great success, where it could be most useful against many violent enemies you then had, how- ever unjustly, by which I got more ill-will, than by any other action of my life, I mean from friends. " My Lord, I have lived, and, by the grace of God, will die, an enemy to servitude and slavery of all kinds ; and, I believe, at the same time, that persons of such a disposition will be the most ready to pay obedience wherever it is due. Your Grace has often said, ' You would never infringe any of our liberties.' I will call back nothing of what is past ; I will forget, if I can, that you mentioned to me a licence to be absent. Neither my age, health, humour, or fortune, qualify me for little wrangles ; but I will hold to the prac- tice delivered down by my predecessors. I thought and have been told, that I deserved better from that Church and that kingdom ; I am sure I do from your Grace. And, I believe, people, on this side, will assert, that all my merits are not very old. It is a little hard, that the occasion of my journey hither, being partly for the advantage of that king- dom, partly on account of my health, partly on business of importance to me, and partly to see my friends, I cannot enjoy the quiet of a few months, without your Grace inter- posing to disturb it. But, I thank God, the civilities of those in power here, who allow themselves to be my pro- fessed adversaries, make some atonement for the unkindness of others, who have so many reasons to be my friends. I have not long to live, and, therefore, if conscience were quite out of the case for me to do a base thing, I will set no unworthy exam])les for my successors to follow ; and, therefore, repeating it again, that I shall not concern myself upon the proceeding of your Lordship, I am, &c." With reference to this affair, on the 24th of Hises enter- tai.ied from it TTniversal sati!5- faction attending it. Division of Kil- more and Ardagh rccomn.ended by forWai'd Archbisliop King. for his interest, than the Protestants of Ireland, though they do not think that they had a propor- tional share in his late Majesty's favours: and, to deal ingenuously with you, they hope better from the present. The taste they had from his govern- ment, when intrusted by his father, left a mighty impression on their minds; and if he proceed in the methods he then took, he will be the most admired and loved prince that sat on the throne since Queen Elizabeth." And in a letter of Sept. 5th to Lady Carteret, he thus impressively signified the universal satisfac- tion by a comparison with the accession of former sovereigns, of whom the archbishop's advanced age enabled him to cite no less than seven : " His late Majesty's death was a surprise to everybody. But w^e are over comforted by his Majesty's accession to the throne of his father. I remember the coronation of five kings and two queens, none of which came to the royal seat with that universal satisfaction, tranquillity, and pleasure, that has accompanied his Majesty's accession. I pray God he may continue long and long in his kingdom, and reign in the hearts of his people, as I am sure he doth at l^resent." It has already been noticed that the archbishop was desirous of taking advantage of the vacancy of the sees of Kilmore and Ardagh for dividing them. And he seized the earliest moment for again putting and pressing the division. " I under- stand," he continued to JNIr. Southwell, " that the patents are not yet past the seals for Cashel, and Kilmore and Ardagh : so that new letters must be procured for them. If it might please his Ma- jesty to divide the latter, as they formerly were, it Sec. I.] KIXG GEORGE II. would, in my opinion, be for the good of the Church, gratify the kingdom, and be for his Majesty's interest. They would be each about 1000/. per annum, and are capable of being raised at half value. I have nothing to ask, nor any other part to act but that of using all my endeavours to promote his ]Majesty's service, which, with the help of God, I will do to the utmost of my power." And in a letter of the 22nd to the lord lieute- nant he revived the subject, which he had previously urged on his Excellency's consideration: "I find the patents for the bishopricks are not yet jassed; and I cannot refrain putting your Excellency in mind of what I wished before, of dividing the bishopricks of Kilmore and Ardagh. There must be, I conceive, new letters for them; and, if his Majesty could be pre- vailed on to divide them, it would be a grateful begin- ning of his Majesty's reign to the Church and people of Ireland: the bishopricks are large, and reach almost quite across Ireland, from Sligo in the west, to near Dun- dalk in the east. " The Papists have more bishops in Ireland than the state of the Protestants have, and twice (at least) as many priests; their priories and nunneries are publick; it is in vain to pass laws against them, for the justices of the peace are no ways in- clined to put such laws in execution; and, to help the matter, there is a notion prevails universally that the go- vernment is so engaged with the neighbouring Popish supported by powers by treaties and confederacies, that they are obliged pj^veli/'"^^"^ to connive at the practices of their Popish subjects. The consequence of this is, that we have little else to depend on for the support of religion, but the diligence of the bishops and clergy: and some, who reflect on the late run of prefer- ments, do not expect much assistance from the zeal or ability of such as are preferred. I do not offer this as mine own opinion, for I do mine endeavour to disabuse those opinion- ators; but I find the general sense of Protestants is against me." 472 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. The archbishop's advice concerning the sees of Kilmore and Ardagh was not followed; and the appointments previously settled, were completed. ; of king's ion on the Church. Primate Boulter's commuEicatioos with English government. Letter to the lord lieutenant. The accession of King George II. to the throne seems to have had no immediate effect on the Church of Ireland, the affairs of which continued to be administered under the superintendence and advice of the lord primate, the vice-regal authority being still lodged in the hands of Lord Carteret. At the period of the late king's sudden and unexpected death, Archbishop Boulter was engaged in the triennial visitation of his province, which he had not half finished, and was disposed to proceed with, since the new king would be proclaimed, and all the usual orders given, before he could possibly reach Dublin. By the importunity, however, of his friends, especially of the other lords justices. Lord Chancellor AYyndham and Mr. Conolly, who were uneasy at his absence, he returned to Dublin, whence he immediately wrote to the principal ecclesiastical and civil authorities in England, with intelligence of the prevailing quiet in Ireland, and the universal satisfaction given by his Majesty's declaration in council. To the lord lieutenant, in one of these letters, he observed, he could not but suggest, though he was under no fear of the experiment being made, that anything which looked like bringing the tories into power here, must cause the utmost uneasiness in this kingdom, by raising the spirits of the Papists of this country, and exasperating the whigs, who, your Lordship knows, are vastly superior among the gentlemen of estates here' : which, the editor of the ^ Boulter's Letters, i., p. 139.^ Sec. I.] KING GEORGE II. 473 archbishop's letters observes, was no bad admonition to Lord Carteret, who appeared to have been much inclined to favour the tories. To the Archbishop of Canterbury he wrote as And to the Arch- bishop of Can- follows": terbury. " Your Grace knows I have nothing to lose; but I may be made more or less capable of serving his Majesty, of doing good in the Church, and of supporting the English interest, which labours under great disadvantages in this country, according as I have more or less countenance from England. I have in particular done my endeavours here to serve his late Majesty with the greatest faithfulness, and shall serve our present Sovereign with the same fidelity : but the services I can do will be much lessened, if I am not supported in my station: and as I am satisfied your Grace w^ill come in for a great share of power under the king, I must beg the favour of you to give me your support here upon proper occasions.'' In his letter to the Bishop of London, incidental And to the mention is made of a subject, which shows the de- doS°^°^ grading state of religious ignorance, which still con- tinued to characterize the Popish clergy: The priest your Lordship mentions has been several condition of Pop- times with me, and I do not find any of my brethren object p"^^'^ to his sincerity; but most of the priests here are so ignorant, and there is so much hazard in trusting them in our Church, that it is very hard to put them in any way here of getting their bread. If O'Hara could be put into some little business in the West Indies, I believe it would be better for him ; but I have not yet talked with him, whether he is willing to go thither, nor shall I till I know whether your Lordship The accession of the king, who had been chan- Address to the cellor of Dublin College, caused an address to be Dub£°coueS. 2 Boulter's Letters, i., p. 141. ^ Hjjd.^ p. 144, THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. . presented to his ]Majesty from that body, for the purposes of congratulation and of knowing his pleasure concerning the chancellorship. The pro- vost, Dr. BaldAvin, was the bearer of the address. It appears that there had lately been an election of a fellow in the College, and a quarrel had ensued, in which he had been very much misrepresented and abused, and threatened with a petition being pre- ferred to the king, in order to the reducing of the power which was conferred by the statutes on the ?o^st^f \1recor° P^'o^'ost. In consequence of this, Arclibishop Boulter lege; gave Dr. Baldwin a letter of introduction to the Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting his Grace's protection, as there might be occasion, and reconi- His character mcndiug him as "a very worthy gentleman, a man of learning, and extremely well-affected to his Ma- jesty and his family, and one who showed himself to be so in the latter end of the queen's time, when he was vice-provost." "The power he has," observes the primate, " is indeed beyond anything any head of a college has in Oxford, but is all little enough to keep the college here from being a seminary of Jacobitism, through the streno th of a faction in the college against him\" The consequence was, the Archbishop of Canterbury's kind reception of Dr. Baldwin, and promise to support him if there was occasion'. What authority the primate had for his intimation of the jacobitical tendency of the society Primate-s sup- ho did uot statc; but the editor of his letters, jealous posed error about . r ^ f m pitt- tue University, ot tho charactor of the fellows oi the University of Dublin for loyalty, as well as for charity, piety, reli- gion, and learning, as great as any other college in Europe, since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, attri- butes the charge to a great mistake in the primate. Boulter's Letters, i., p. Ibid., p. 153. Sec. I.J KING GEORGE II. 475 or to his having been grossly imposed upon by igno- rance and malice. The parliament beinor dissolved by the king's Parliament as- ■•• ® JO sembled, Nov. 28, death, another ^vas assembled, and began the 28th 1727. of November, 1727, before Lord Carteret, the lord lieutenant. The ^^•ant of churches and resident ministers was want of painfully felt ; and in consequence of there not being a sufficient supply to meet the exigencies of the country, many of the people who were descended from mem- bers of the Church of Ireland, as well as others who had professed themselves to be such, had fallen off, and connected themselves with the Papists or Pres- byterians. To correct this evil, if possible, and to buis for improv- give greater scope and efficacy to the Church's mini- mLn^of^mS^^f ' strations, several bills were introduced into this par- liament, under the auspices of Archbishop Boulter, who was diligent in providing for their enactment by means of those in authority in England, so that, when submitted for the sanction of the English council, they might not fail there of success. Ap- prehensions at the same time were entertained of their failure in the Irish House of Commons, on account of a great jealousy which prevailed there of increasing the wealth of the Church. The chief support in England on which the pri- Primates views mate depended, was that of the Archbishop of Can- terbury and the Bishop of London, to each of whom he communicated the proposed enactments, together with a statement of the reasons for them, and the views which were entertained in Ireland of the benefits likely to result to religion in that country. For the reader's satisfaction, our best course will probably be to particularise the several acts, and to ments. 476 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. annex, from Archbishop Boulter's correspondence with the English Prelates, extracts in explanation of his intentions and of the provisions of the acts. The two acts to which attention is first to be directed are chapter 22, " for explaining and amend- ing an act, intituled an act for the better mainten- ance of curates within the Church of Ireland and chapter 15, " for rendering more effectual an act, intituled an act for the better enabling of the clergy having cure of souls to reside upon their respective benefices, and for the encoura^fement of Protestant schools within this kingdom of Ireland." In exposi- tion of the views which prompted these acts, the primate expresses himself thus^: " There are probably in this kingdom five Papists, at least, to one Protestant. We have incumbents and curates to the number of about 800, whilst there are near SOOO Popish priests of all sorts here. A great part of our clergy have no parsonage-houses, nor glebes to build them on. We have many parishes eight and ten, twelve and fourteen miles long, with, it may be, only one church in them, and that often at ^one end of the parish. We have few market- towns that supply convenient food for the neighbourhood, nor farmers that can supply the common necessaries of life, which may be had at most farmers' in England ; so that all agree no clergyman in the country can live without a moderate glebe in his hands ; and as there can be no hopes of getting ground of the Papists without more churches and chapels, and more resident clergj men, we have been framing two bills, one for explaining and amending an act for the better maintenance of curates in the Church of Ireland, 6° Georgii. " By that act, a bishop was enabled to cause one or two chapels of ease to be erected in any parish where a number of Protestants lived six miles from the church, and that was understood to mean six country miles, wdiich are, at least, * Boulter's Letters , i., p. 169. Sec. I.J KING GEORGE II. 477 Provision for chapels of ease. nine measured miles, and in many places twelve. We have reduced that distance to five measured miles, the incumbents'* and patrons' consent we have omitted, as what, we fear, will render the bill useless. The consents we have made necessary are such Protestant inhabitants as may want a chapel exclusive of those of the mother church, or on the other side of it, as they must contribute towards building it. At the instance of the clergy, we have, likewise, excluded such as live within two miles of a neighbouring church. The bishop has the same power of appointing a salary for these new curates as that act allowed. " We have, likewise, there provided for the building of chapels of ease in cities and towns corporate. " The other is an act to explain an act for the better ^ct for enabling ^ , clergy to reside. enabling of the clergy, having the cure of souls, to reside on their respective benefices, &c., 8 George, c. 12. There is, by the old act, a power of giving land, under forty acres, for a glebe, at half the improved rent, or more ; but, as most of the estates here are under settlements, it has little effect; and there are now three or four gentlemen that would grant fifteen or twenty acres, if they were at liberty. This act, therefore, is to empower those that are under Power of granting settlements, to give a glebe at the full improved rent, to be settled by a jury, on condition of building and improving. " Beside the benefit of distress for arrears of rent, the bishop is empowered to sequester the whole living upon complaint, to pay such arrears. And that the successor may not have an unreasonable arrear come upon him, the bishop is obliged to inquire, at every annual visitation which we hold here, whether the rent is paid, and to sequester and see it paid. The same power of giving a glebe is extended to perpetual curacies in livings appropriate or impropriate. " Having endeavoured to provide glebes, we oblige all future incumbents having convenient glebes to build. All are allowed three -fourths of what they lay out ; but we see nothing but force will make them build. " As there are several schools, of whose endowments I Encouragement ' for school-houses. am trustee, that have, some no house, others inconvenient little ones, without land near them, the same encourage- ment is given to them to build as to the clergy, and they Incumbent required to build. 478 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Act for recovery of t> thes. are empowered to exchange some land for a convenient demesne, under proper inspection." An act "for the more easy recovery of tythes 1 George II., c. 12. ,^^^^| ^^j^gj. eccleslastical dues of small value," was another of the statutes passed in this parliament of the first year of King George II., chapter 12, which the i^rimate thus explains^: Its provisions, And necessitv. Act for securing rights of advow- son. 1 George II. C.23. " We had the English act before us, but have altered some things to please the Commons, who have twice thrown out a bill of the same nature ; oblations and ohve/i- tions are omitted to please them. ^Wq have, likewise, ex- cluded clergymen from being the justices before whom such causes may be tried, that they might not play the game into one another's hands ; for, in many places here, one-fourth or fifth of the resident justices are clergymen, for want of resident gentlemen. " The bill is exceedingly necessary here, since the recovery of little dues costs more than they are worth, and the justices will not help. People stand contempt and excommunication, and the taking up costs, too much, and, beside, most of them must be absolutely ruined, if taken up." Another act was the revival of one, of which an account has been already given in the reign of King George I., but which was then enacted for a limited period . This was chapter 23 of the present parlia- ment, and was intituled, " An act for the better securing the rights of advowson and presentation to ecclesiastical benefices." The primate describes it as one^ " Avhich has been in force seven years already, by which the incumbent, that has been a wrong clerk, is accountable for the profits received after such allowances made for serving the cure. The laity in both houses are very eager for it, and the English bishops are for it: there having been Boulter's Letter s^, i., p. 171. ® Ibi(b Sec. 1.] KING GEORGE II 479 formerly very extraordinary thing's done here by bishops in putting- clerks in possession that scarce had tlic shadow of a title." Another act of this parliament, being chapter 18, t^^ZZT"^ was to "empower archbishops, bishops, and other ^^^navmv'o^^^^ ecclesiastical persons to part with the advowson of ^ George ii.,c. a. benefices under SO/, per annum, or more *' My brethren, the bishops,"" observes Archhishop Boulter'', " consented to this bill before it was offered. And that your Grace may the better understand the expediency of inexpediency, this bill, it will be proper to inform you, that, in many parts of this kingdom, by means of impropriations, there are vicarages or curacies worth but 5/., 10/., &c., per annum ; that, in several places, the bishops let the same person enjoy three or four, on to seven or eight, of these, which possibly, all together, inakc but 60/. 80/. or 100/. per annum, or little more ; and there is, it may be, but one or two churches, on all the denominations, which is the name we give these parishes ; that the patronage of the greatest part of these is either in the crown or in the bishops ; that there might be difficulties raised as to the crown parting with its rights, but we think there can be no objection to suffer bishops to part with their right for the good of the Church, and pro- curing additional clerofymen ; and we have the more reason to ti-y what effect this temptation of the sole patronage to a lay-benefactor may have, since the act of King Charles I., by which any one, who restored tythes to the Church, was to have a turn with the old patron, in proportion to the value of the tythes given, in respect of the old income of the Church, has had very little effect. We have, in the same bill, encouraged ])eople to build and endow chapels of ease, by giving them and their heirs the nomination of such chapels. " Your Grace will see, that, in this act, we had before Modified in an us the act passed in England, 1 George I.; only we have ^"^^^^^^ no fund to help such benefactors, as there is in England. BovLTEB,*^ Letters, i., p. 173, 480 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. And, as there are trustees of the first-fruits here for buying glebes or tythes for small livings, we have in this act made them the repositories of the authentick value of small livings, and of all augmentations in virtue of this act, that there may be some to see that the grants are such as they ought to be for value and validity. " In this kingdom, the clergy paid the tvrentieth, not the tenth, to the crown, as in England, and first-fruits ; but the twentieths were given off by Queen Anne, and the first-fruits are the only fund the trustees have, which com- munibus annis^ rises no higher than from 800^. to 400/. per annum, deducting charges, without a power to receive any benefactions. I hope it may please God in time to dispose the parliament to permit these trustees to receive benefactions for so good purposes, since what we are now doing in our church bills seems to be very well liked; though, when I first came hither, the laity would not have heard with patience the least proposal of what we are now attempting. " The clause in this bill, by which the patron of a chapel of ease may nominate, if the chapel be not actually filled then, though the nomination be then lapsed to the bishop or crown, is taken from the English bill. There was, this day, added to the said bill a clause to empower bishops, &c., to encourage their tenants by a proper lease to inclose and preserve copse- wood, which will be of service to all parties." Act for division There is one other act in this important session, of parishes- ^ -t r\ i > t n 1 George II., c. 19. uamely, chapter 19, benig an amendment of some former statutes, which demands notice in connection with the history of the Church, and which is thus introduced by Archbishop Boulter to the notice of Archbishoi? Wake and Bishop Gibson'": " As many of the parishes here are very large and inter- mixed with other parishes, and others of too little income to subsist by themselves, and little enough for extent to be united to some other parish or part of a parish, there was an act passed in the l^th and 15th of King Charles II., by J'^ Boulter's Liters, i., p. 175, Sec. I.] KING GEOKGE II. 481 Avliicli parishes might be divided or united for conveniency's sake, with proper consents, atid the approbation of the chief governoiir and the council. As that act was expired, a new act was passed in the 2nd of George I., for the real union and division of parishes, in which w^as a proviso, that no union, made in virtue of the former act of King Charles IT., should be capable of being dissolved, nor any part of such union be united to any other parish, unless the parish-church of such united parish does lye three country miles from some part of such parish. " Now, as three country miles arc often five or six Motives to the ■, p ^ . 1 enactment. measured mues, and as several of those unions were made without regard to the conveniency of the people, but purely to make a rich benefice, as w^e are now endeavouring to make it possible to have the worship of God celebrated in all parts of this kingdom, we find it necessary to repeal this clause, and to lay such parishes open to a division, as well as other old parishes. "There is another clause added to that bill, which ciiuscfor . . -rw 1 removing sites of relates to the removmg of the site of churches. By the act churches, of 2nd George I., for the real union and division of parishes, it is enacted, that the site of an inconvenient church may be changed for one more convenient, with the consent of the patron, &c. " Now, with us, many churches stand at the end of a long parish, or on the wrong side of a bog or river, in respect of the greatest part of the parishioners, or, at least, Protestants ; so that it would be very convenient to change such a situation of the church. But, where the king is patron, as his consent is to be had, the expense of having a letter from England, to give his Majesty's consent under the broad seal here, to such a change, and passing a patent for it, is so great, as to discourage these removals ; and I can assure your Grace, 10/. is harder to be raised here upon a country parish, than 100/. is in England, upon a parish of the same extent, and our gentry part with money on such occasions as unwillingly as the peasantry. " It is, therefore, provided in the same bill, that the chief govcmour chief governour, &;c., may consent for the king, where the the king, king is patron ; and as the king's patronage cannot be hurt 2 I 482 THE RETGN OF [Ch. IV. Act for reguLiting admission of bar- risters, &c. 1 George 11. , c. 20. Practitioners of the law mostly new converts. Evil resulting therefrom cor- rected. by such a change of the site of a church, but the parish will probably prove of better value ; and as the taking off of this expense may occasion the building several more con- venient churches, we hope the bill will be returned to us. And I can assure your Grace there are instances, in two or three acts already, where the chief governour, &;c., is em- powered to consent for the king." To the foregoing statutes may be added, as a measure of protection for the Church, chapter 20, of which the following account is given by the primate": " There is another bill gone over, to regulate the admis- sion of barristers, attornies, six-clerks, solicitors, sub-sheriffs, deputy officers, &c., which is of the last consequence to this kingdom. "The practice of the law, from the top to the bottom, is at present mostly in the hands of new converts, who give no farther security on this account, than producing a certifi- cate of their havinor received the sacrament in the Church of o England or Ireland, which several of them, who were Papists at London, obtain on the road hither, and demand to be admitted barrister in virtue of it at their arrival : and several of them have Popish wives, and mass said in their houses, and breed up their children Papists. Things are at present so bad with us, that if about six should be removed from the bar to the bench here, there will not be a barrister of note left that is not a convert. " To put some stop to this evil, this bill endeavours to obtain some farther security of the sincerity of these con- verts : 1st. By obliging all that come to the bar hereafter, or practise as attornies or solicitors, &c., or act as sub-sheriffs, sheriffs"* clerks, or deputy officers in the courts, to make a declaration against Popery, and take the oath of abjuration before they are admitted, or practise ; 2nd. That every convert shall have been so five years before his admission, or so prac- tising or acting ; 8rd. That he shall breed up all his children under fourteen, as well those born before his conversion as those after, in the Protestant religion ; and 4th. That whoever fails in any of these points shall incur the penalties and dis- Boulter's Letters, i., 182. Sec. I.] KING GEOKGE 11. 483 abilities to which those relapsing from the Protestant religion to Popery are liable. " Everybody here is sensible of the terrible effects of this growing evil, and both Lords and Commons are most eagerly desirous of this bill. "We have likewise, by this bill, inflicted the same Provision as to penalties on every convert or Protestant who shall breed up veitsoTprotest- any child a Papist. But if the latter part be thought too severe, or have too strong a party against it, I hope, how- ever, that what relates to lawyers, attornies, solicitors, sub- sheriffs, (Sic, will be granted us, or the Protestant interest must suffer extremely here. " I should flatter myself, that as in this bill we have not meddled with the Papists, but only with persons professing themselves Protestants, the foreign ministers cannot, with any reason or decency, make any application to his Majesty against this bill." With respect to the above-mentioned clause, on which the primate expresses some misgiving, no ob- jection was taken, at least no effectual opposition was made to it, for it stands as j)art of the act. Nor does it appear that any opposition was offered to a clause in chapter 9, being " an act for further regulating the election of members of parliament," whereby it was enacted, " that no Papist should be entitled to vote Papists not en- at the election of any member of parliament, or of elections, any magistrate for any city or other town-corporate." Of the introduction of this clause into the act the history is not clearly ascertained : probably it was occasioned by opposition at that period shown by Popish electors to the Protestant interest: but in any case it was a salutary caution against the dangers which were at that time apprehended, and which were in the event realised by the restoration of the political power, of which the Papists w^ere deprived by this enactment. 484 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Purpose of hold- During this session of parliament, we learn from not accom- cl letter of Archbishop Boulter to the Archbishop of pushed. Canterbury, dated January 13, 1728, that the holding of a convocation had been under consideration. According, however, to the report of the lord lieu- tenant, the ministry were not desirous that one should sit ; nor did the primate desire it, " except they had some useful business to do, and that he was thoroughly certain they would confine them- selves to that. I have had no great occasion or leisure," he observes''', " to inquire into the nature of our convocation here ; but as it is made up of the clergy of four provinces, I find some of our bench question, whether they have ever been settled in - such a regular method of being called, as to make a truly legal assembly." Act relative to Auothcr act passed in this session gave occasion privileges of par- rn ^ > i liament. for a diiterence among the spiritual peers, or rather for one member of the episcopal bench to 2)lace himself in opposition to the body of his brethren. 1 Geo. II., c. 8. Chapter 8 is intituled '-'An act for preventing incon- veniences that may happen by privilege of parlia- ment;" and it enacts, that all members of either house of parliament, and all other persons having parliamentary privilege, may be sued after fourteen days following the dissolution or prorogation, till fourteen days before the meeting or re-assembling. ^verS'temporai The bill was, froui the first, opposed by several of the temporal peers, who had the character of " being very much in debt, and of valuing themselves upon paying nobody '':" but "the great opposition made on this occasion, was formed and managed by the Eiphhf ^''''''^''^ Bishop of Elphin, Dr. Bolton, who put himself at Boultek'.5 Letters, i., p. lOG. '-^ Ibid., p. 190. 1 ( Sec. L] KING GEORGE II. 485 the head of those lords, and drew in some other?, with a view of making himself considerable, by being- at the head of a party of lay lords against the bench of bishops." " All the lay lords," as the primate writes to the Duke of Newcastle, April 20, 1728, " that oppose the government in whatever they can, joined against the bill. There was no bishop against it, but the Bishop of Elphin, and of Waterford, for whom he was proxy. The Lord JNIidleton was the first who spoke against the bill, and that very pro- lixly, and ^to little purpose : he was very well an- swered by the Archbishop of Tuam. After this the Bishop of Elphin made a speech, with very false reasonings, and some inflaming passages against England ; though in the close of his speech he was rather, as circumstances now stand, for the passing of the bill. He has very much lost himself with both sides, for his shuflling speech on this occasion. As his speech did no hurt to the bill, we let the debate drop without answering him." The bill was carried in the House of Lords by a Primate's objec- tion to Bishop majority of twenty-five to nineteen ; there being one Boiton. proxy among the twenty-five, and seven among the nineteen. The opposition, made by Bishop Bolton, strengthened the objection previously entertained by the primate to his higher advancement in the Church. " I hope," he observes, " it will not be thought proper, when a vacancy happens of an archbishop- rick, to reward one with it, who has endeavoured to form a conspiracy of lay lords against the bishops here, who are the persons on whom the government must depend for doing the publick business." The primate ends his letter with remarkinfr very importance of , , , n J these acts. truly concerning the enactments of this parliament, We shall probably conclude our sessions next 486 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV: ]Moiiday, ^vllen more truly useful bills will have passed, than have passed for many sessions put together." Archbishop The passing of this bill was esteemed of such on the privilege importance, that it drew the Archbishop of Dublin out of the retirement, to which age and infirmity now for the most part confined him, and constrained him to give it his parliamentary support. " There was a strong party," he observes, in a letter of April 27, 1728, to Edward Southwell, Esq., " made in the House of Lords against the privilege bill, at the hearing whereof was my Lord ]Midleton, and Dr. Bolton, the Bishop of Elphin. This obliged me to go to the house, though I had not been out of my house for near six months, and in a very bad state of health. But I looked on the bill to be of so great moment, that I thought worth my venturing to assist in the passing of it. The young indebted lords were generally against it ; and had not my lord lieutenant espoused it, and joined his influence, I doubt whether it Avould have past. I believe there will be no difficulty about any of the rest ; four already have passed the Commons, and all the rest will this day either be before the Lords or Com- mons. This passing of all the bills will be much to the honour of my Lord Carteret's government, the like, as you have observed, not having happened to any lord lieutenant before." state of Fopery Some remarks, which the archbishop makes in and Papists. ^ the same letter, concerning the then state of Popery and the Papists in the kingdom, may be also deemed not undeserving of attention. Letter to Jir. " GivG me leavG to acquaint you, that I remember ^z^i^!""' "^^^^ something of Ireland for sixty years, and made some observ- Sec. I.] KING GEORGE II. 487 ations on the state of it ; but cannot call to mind that the Papists seemed to be so much indulged and favoured as at ])resent, excepting in King James's time. They insult the king's officers everywhere that are concerned in the revenue. Nobody dare accuse their priests, or hinder their insults ; for amongst their mobs they either maim them or knock them in the head. They take a^A'ay by force women of fortune, and they depend on Popish ambassadors' interest for a pardon. They have proposed to themselves, as I t^^^^' p"p^4"' . understand, two maxims : the first is to underlive the Pro- testants, as to expenses ; and the second is to outbid them for all farms that are to be new set. By this means they worm out Protestant farmers, and yet run no hazard ; for they bid nmch more than the farm will yield : when they have made the best of it the last year or two, and find they can't pay the rent, they run away and leave it. Several landlords have been thus used, and yet they will not learn wisdom. *' As to the trade of the kingdom, they have got the best Their advan- of it into their hands, and have several advantages of the Protestants. A Popish merchant is better received in Popish countries with which we trade than Protestants ; and the generality of farmers and graziers in Ireland being Papists, they choose to put their goods into the hands of those of their own religion ; and lastly, the country assists them in running their goods both out and in\vard. . To the Bishop of Killala, in the August of the ^^^^^^''^'^ same year, he thus expressed himself on the same subject : " "What you observe concerning Popery, we not only Encouragement know, but feel to be true. I have known Ireland for near Papists, threescore years with observation, and never remember Popery so rampant, or so much encouraged, as at present, except in King James's time. I am not so far let into the management of affairs, as to find out the policy of it ; but see that it is so not only here, but through all Europe. The suitableness of the principles of that religion to the corrup- tion of men's hearts, recommends them to all loose and vicious persons, that is, to the generality of the world ; and 488 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. inclines most men to embrace them, for by them they are able to reconcile their lusts with the hope of heaven : whereas tlie principles of the Protestant religion are such, that men of wicked lives can have no hope by them, and therefore turn obstinate infidels ; and it is observable, that in Popish countries the most vicious persons turn bigots, thinking that their zeal for Popery will atone for their wickedness, whereas our debauchees often turn atheists. Mismanagement " I am sensible that the gentlemen much mismanage of the gentry. themselves, their estates, and their children; we can only tell them of it, and persuade them against it, and if we could prevail with a few of the principals to change their measures, their examples might be a means to reform the rest. " I am glad that you have so increased your clergy, and don''t doubt but you will add daily to them, and procure churches for them. I can give you no assistance, except that of my prayers, which I shall not fail to do; if you can think of any other way that I may be serviceable to you here, let me have your commands, and assure yourself of my best endeavours. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Howard, and believe that I am, with all affection and respect, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's, &c., W. D. " Lord Bishop of Killala."'' Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 489 Section II. Illness of Archbishop King. 'Primates plan for supplying the xacancy. Archbishop King\ sentiments on Ecclesias- tical subjects. Efforts for augmenting Dublin Churches. Improtement of his Diocese. Incapable of discharging his Episcopal functions. His great Age and Infirmities. His view of state of Religion in Connaught. Allusion to his Consecration. Anecdote of his Portrait. En- grating from it. His decease. His prominence in Irish Church History. Characters of him by Dean Sioift and Mr. Harris. Primcite''s measure for filling the vacancy. Delay in filling it. Death of Archbishop Godwin of Cashel. Disposal of the txco Archbishopricks. Difference between Primate Boulter and Bishop Gibson. Other Ecclesiastical appointments. Clayton^ Bishop of Killala. Synge^ Bishop of Clonfert^ consecrated by his father. Tennison^ Bishop of Ossory. His zeal for Protestantism. Towards the end of this year, an illness of the Si^^^pKingf' Archbishop of Dublin, though not attended by immediate danger, gave occasion for efforts being made for naming his successor. And the primate in consequence exerted himself, and employed his influ- ence with the Bishop of London, for the purpose of preventing a successor being named on any rumours of his death. To the same effect, and more fully, he wrote to Lord Townshend on the 16th of the ensuing January'. " The age and frequent returns of illness the Archbishop of Dublin has laboured under the greatest part of this winter, though I do not apprehend that he is in any imme- diate danger of dying, have made me think it proper to write a few lines to your Lordship about a successor to him, if he should fall, that there may be no surprise. It is certain that it is of the last consequence to the Pn mate-sad vice to the goveni- ^ Boulter's Lcitcrs^ i., p. 210. mcnt. THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. king's service, that lie be an Englishman: whether it be thought best to send one from the bishops' bench in England, or to remove one from the bench here to that post, I submit to your Lordship's wisdom. If the former be thought of, the person I should be most desirous to see here, as being one of the oldest friends I have on the bench there, that would be willing to come, is the Bishop of St. David's; of whose behaviour your Lordship must have some knowledge, as he has been in the house about five years. If the latter be judged best, I think the Bishop of Ferns is the most proper that can be thought of here: he behaved himself very well last sessions of parliament here: he is one of courage, and very hearty for the English interest, and a good speaker; and I am satisfied he is one, that would concur with me in promoting his ^lajesty's service. He is very well liked of here for an Englishman. English interest " But I must beg to spcak freely, that I hope nobody to be surported. . ^^^^^ hither, because he is troublesome or uneasy elsewhere. It is of great consequence that there be a good agreement between the primate and the Archbishop of Dublin: and one in that post, who would set himself up against the primate, would be sure of being caressed, flat- tered, and followed by the Irish interest here." Archbishop From various symptoms it was evident, that the ments on various end of Archbishop King was now approaching. By Zbiectt''^''^ himself it was clearly foreseen, and met with a Christian spirit. Several indications of his senti- ments appear in his MS. Correspondence in Trinity College Library ; and it may be here not unacceptable, if three or four of these be brought together, as showing to the last the bent and vigour of his mind, before we take leave of this eminent servant of God and of his Church. The archbishop's confinement to his house by infirmity, and his exertion nevertheless to attend his parliamentary duty on an important question, have been lately noticed. An opportunity for promoting Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 491 the welfare of the Church in his diocese soon after- wards occurred; and he avaikxl himself of it by addressino;", on the 10th of June, 1728, two letters Letter to Lady T /-N 1 Carteret, June to the lord lieutenant, and to Lady Carteret, the 10,1728. latter of Avhich I here subjoin: May it please your Ladyship, " I have always found more zeal and piety in devout ladies than in the other sex, and I know none have given better instances of it than your Ladyship. I am sensible of the great influence your Ladyship must have at court, and that gives me some confidence to apply to you for your assistance. It is in a matter of piety, to which I am sure your Ladyship cannot be indifferent. We want churches Plan for increas- , , . , . . 1 T 1 • • 1 TT* ing the number extremely m tins city; and I have put in a memorial to rlis of Dublin ]\Iajesty for the forfeiture of John Audovin, condemned for a most barbarous murder, of which your Ladyship w^as well apprized before you left Dublin. The success of this peti- tion will depend much on my lord lieutenant's favourable representation of it to his Majesty; and I beseech your Ladyship to put to your helping hand, and stir up his Excellency's zeal and diligence in the affair. If I durst ask your Ladyship's good word to her Majesty, the assurance I have of her readiness to further all good works, would give me certain hopes of success. I dare not presume to desire you to say anything of the great veneration I have for her Majesty, because 1 cannot say enough: but your Ladyship's happiness in expressions may go a great way to supply that defect. " I have under consideration the adding four new churches to those in this city, besides two in the country; all absolutely necessary. I have no hopes of living to com- pass this design; but if I could put things in a way towards it, 'twill be a great comfort to me, and I shall die with more satisfaction. What success this may have I can t tell ; but it is a great pleasure to me that it has given me an opportu- nity to acknowledge your Ladyship's civilities to me; and that I am, with the greatest respect, " Madam, " Your Ladyship's, &c., -W. D." 492 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. improvimentof The arclibisliop's efforts for buildino: churches in his diocese- " his diocese have several times fallen under observa- tion. From a letter of the 7th of December, 1727, we learn, that he had at that time j)rocured seven- teen churches to be built, where there had been none since the Reformation; and fourteen to be rebuilt fiK)m the ground. He had likewise caused eleven manse-houses to be built on the glebes, seve- ral of which were his own gift. He had likewise purchased in above 300/. a year of impropriations, and was then upon the point of settling the tythes of nine parishes upon the incumbents. incapaiie of dis- g^t whilst tlio viffour of his mind continued, his charging his epis- copal lunctions. bodily Strength was gradually decaying ; so that, soon after tliese letters to Lord and Lady Carteret, he was compelled to seek a substitute for one of his episcopal functions, as we learn from a letter of July the 16th, to the Bishop of Ferns : Letter to Bishop , " I havc the honolu' of your Lordship's of the 8th inst., Hoadly, July 16, , i i o ^ i i i • 1728. and am very tliankful to you, tliat you are pleased to give me your assistance for the performance of that necessary office of confirmation, which it has pleased God to disable me from performing in person. There are five places in your Lordship\s way to Dublin, where there is occasion for that office : Arklow, Dunganstown, Wicklow, Delgenny, and Bray. I am not sure whether it will stand with your Lordship's conveniency to confirm at each of them ; I wish it may, but I must leave this to your Lordship's goodness and discretion " I shall always be ready to communicate to your Lord- ship what I know relating to the state of the Church, and hope you will always find my observations just. I am sorry you met with disorder and negligence in your visitation, M-hich, I doubt not, made everything else less agreeable. But while there are men there will be faults. B* I can Sec. ir.J KING GEORGE II. 493 prevail with Dr. Trotter, I will have the consistory court go along with the confirmation, that such things as are amiss or wanting may he regulated and supplied." On the 25tli of July he WTote as follows to his old acquaintance and friend, Mr. Southwell ; and liis allusions to his actual term of life, and the earlier incidents in his eventful history, are calculated to excite a lively interest : " I was honoured with yours of the 8th of May, and did ^^"f Mr. ' Southwell, July not answer it sooner, because I was in hopes to have made 25. use of my own hand ; but I have been visited wnth a severe fit of the gout in my right hand, left foot, and knee ; which obliges me, after all my waiting, to make use of an amanuensis. You observed ridit, that old asfe w^ill brinsr His great age and . n • ■ 1,. .° p infirmities. iniirmities ; and being now in the seventy-ninth year 01 my age, I cannot think it strange that I have lost many friends. I don't know that I have any left in England of my old acquaintance, to whom I can write with any freedom, except you and Mr. Annesley. I was greatly inclined this summer to pay my duty to his Majesty and the queen, but found it impossible ; for I cannot bear travelling, it imme- diately throwing me into great disorders ; and I conceive it had been no prudence in me to kill myself, wdien I found no possibility of doing any service to their INIajesties or the country by it. " This day requires my rememberinof it, for thirty-nine thankfulness years ago i was miprisoned m the castle by King J ames ; I pray God make me thankful to him, who preserved me then, and hath ever since protected and supported me, and hath given me a long and a happy life " The tranquillity with which he contemplated his own condition, and the earnestness with which he still directed his thoughts to the discharge of his oflicial duties, and the welfiire of the Church, are depicted in an affecting manner in the following- extract of a letter of August the Gth, to the Bishop of Killala : 494 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. Letter to the Bi- shop of Killahi. His feelings as to his ovm condi- tion. State of religion in Connaught. " I am honoured with yours of the 27th of J uly last. I am still very ^Yeak in my limbs by the gout, but begin to creep abroad. ... I don't complain of the approach of the night of death ; for that, I thank God, I am not solicitous about ; but it is uneasy to me to observe, that, though the duties of a bishop are incumbent upon me, yet I am not able to discharge them in person ; and though my brethren have been so kind as to assist me, yet that does not yield me the satisfaction that I used to have when I executed them myself. Nor do I find that the people are so ready to comply with others, as they used to be with me. " I have done what I could to put my diocese in some order, but it is very far from the state in which it ought to be. " I have a very good notion of the state of religion in Connaught, when I was there. I hope it is much mended, for then it was most wretched ; but I am pretty well satis- fied, that, though you enjoy a longer life than I have done, you will not be able to order your diocese as it should be : but that must not discourage you. Ust aliqiiid prodire tenus^ si non datur idtra. You have one encouragement and comfort, that your brethren, the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishop of Clonfert, I believe, will heartily concur with you, and assist you ; and I hope that you, by their application and diligence, will provoke one another, and your neighbouring bishops, to proceed vigorously in the reformation of your dioceses. " I am glad that you have so increased your clergy, and don't doubt but you will add daily to them, and procure churches for them. I can give you no assistance, except that of my prayers, which I shall not fail to do ; if you can think of any other way that I may be serviceable to you here, let me have your commands, and assure yourself of my best endeavours. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Howard, and believe that I am, with all affection and respect, " My Lord, Your Lordship's, &c., Lord Bishop of Killala. W. D." Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 495 In the following extract of a letter, dated August ^'^^X^^l^o. G, to the Bishop of Cloyne, there is something peculiarly touching in his allusion to the day of his consecration, to the exemplar which he had proposed for his imitation, and to his sense of failure in the attempt to copy it : " I heartily thank your Lordship for the honour of yours . ' ^ King s allusion t( of the 19th of July last. I can by no means be of opinion his consecration, that I haye done my work, or that I should sit down and rest from my labours. St. Paul has set me a better ex- ample, who, when he had laboured a thousand times more than I, and to much better purpose, yet did not reckon upon \yhat was past, but prest forward to the obtaining of the prize for which he laboured. There is no stopping in this course, till God call us from it by death. I would haye you propose no other example but St. PauFs himself, and compare the progress you make to his. I am ashamed, eyery time that I think of the course he ran, when I compare it with my own. I was consecrated on the day we celebrate for his conyersion, and proposed him to myself for a pattern. But God knows how short the copy comes of the original." The letter, of which the commencement follows, better to Lady ' ' Carteret, Sept. addressed to Lady Carteret, seems to haye been 26, 1728. written under a feelino- of increasino: infirmity and disability ; and, from a particular expression, may be thought to be the last that was written with the archbishop's own hand : '-'Dublin, Sept. 26, 1728. May it please your Excellency, " I had sooner acknowledofed the great honour you did anxiety to ^ ° , write with his me m yours of the .30th of August last, but my hand was so own hand, weak with the reliques of the gout, that I could not handle a pen, and was not willing to use an amanuensis to your Ladyship : not that I had any intrigue or secret, which I was unwilling anybody should know ; but because I thought it a respect, and a mark of particular esteem to your Lady- ship, to haye the last letter I writ with my own hand directed to your Ladyship. Besides, I find they giye me 4D6 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. for dead in London : I hope you wdl beheve me ahve, when I give it under my own hand ; though how long it will be, only God knows. So I could be sure of a good man coming in my place, I thank God^I care not how soon it be.*' The archbishop's life was prolonged into the following spring; and shortly before his death an incident occurred, somewhat curious, though, as he describes it, of no great moment, but which occa- sioned the following communication to Mr. Annesley, and was the immediate cause of an encrrayinof beins: o o o made of his portrait : " I have not much to say to you at present, only to beg your favour in a matter of very small moment, and with which I am almost ashamed to trouble you. There is one AVilkinson pretends to print mezzotinto pictures: he came to me, and desired that I would admit him to make one for me. I desired to see some of his work : he told me he had only done two ; one of Macheath, the varlet in the Beg- gars Opera ; and the other for Polly Feachum. He shovved me both of them, and I neither liked the pictures nor the originals, and conceived, that if he had my picture he would shew it with these : I did not think it convenient that my picture should appear in such company, and therefore posi- tively forbade him to attempt any such thing ; notwith- standing which, he has stolen a copy, and made a picture, which he says is for me, and shows it about. It is more like an ill-shaped lion's face than mine, and is a most frightful figure. I know no way to remedy this insult, but to get my picture done, in taille douce or mezzotinto, in Eng- land : if this could be done from the picture that you have, or my lord lieutenant's, or Sir Hans Sloane's, it would do me a pleasure. If the plate were graved, and two or three hundred struck off, and sent with the dates to me, it would counterplot the ill man. Perhaps you have a friend that would do this for me, and I will pay him what you will think reasonable, and reckon it amongst the many favours I have received at your hands. I would have it done upon half a sheet of strong paper.'' Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 497 On the 8rd of April, the subject of the portrait was thus resumed : " I received yours of the 27th of March, and am really ashamed to put you to so much trouble ; but I hope the same friendship that engaged you to take so much pains about my picture will incline you to continue it so far as to excuse me. I have sent you a bill for 201. to pay for the plate and for four hundred prints : you will get them made up in a box, and directed for me to the care of Mr. Murray of Chester. " The inscription I would have upon it is, ^ Gulielmus King, S.T.D., consecratus episcopus Derensis 25^° Jan., 1G90, translatus ad Archiepiscopatum Dubliniensem per literas patentes, Annse Reginse undecimo, Mar., 1702." If you think fit you may put in my age, ' Natus prima Maij, 1650.' " A postscript notices that "the i)ainter's name is his age and de- cea&e. Ralph Holland." The engraving I suppose to be that which is mentioned in Bromley's Catalogue of British Portraits, as engraven by Faber in mezzo- tinto. If so, the blank left for the name of the painter may be supplied from the foregoing post- script : and the age, which by Bromley is said to be 79-83, meaning, as should seem, some year between the two, may be correctly expressed by seventy-ninth, the archbishop having died, shortly after the plate was engraven, in the eightieth year of his age, hav- ing completed his seventy-ninth year after the date of his last letter, and seven days before his death, which occurred on the 8tli of Mav, 1729. Of Archbishop King's actions and character, nis prominonco from the reign of King James II., when he appeared tLnihchurch. as an active supporter of the Church and clergy against Popish tyranny, through three successive reigns, and part of a fourth, in Mhich he bore the 2 K 498 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. episcopal or arcliiepiscopal office, much has already been reported in these pages. But we must not take leave of one who for forty or fifty years stands so prominently forward in the history of the Irish Church, without again adverting to his character, as delineated by contemporary pens. In his letter concerning the sacramental test, dated December, 1708, Dr. Swift thus records his sentiments concerning him^ : byXan swrn.'"" " Because the Lord Archbishop of Dublin has been upon several occasions, of late years, misrepresented in England, I would willingly set you right in his character. For his great sufferings and eminent services he was by the late king promoted to the see of Derry. About the same time he wrote a book to justify the Kevolution, wherein was an account of King James's proceedings in Ireland : and the late Archbishop Tillotson recommended it to the king, as the most serviceable treatise that could have been published at such a juncture. And as his Grace set out upon those principles, he has proceeded so ever since, as a loyal subject to the queen, entirely for the succession in the Protestant line, and for ever excluding the Pretender ; and though a firm friend to the Church, yet with indulgence toward dissenters, as appears from his conduct at Derr}^, where he was settled for many years among the most virulent of the sect ; yet upon his removal to Dublin they parted from him with tears in their eyes, and universal acknowledgments of his wisdom and goodness. For the rest, it must be owned, he does not busy himself by entering deep into any party; but rather spends his time in acts of hospitality and charity, in build- ing of churches, repairing his palace, in introducing and preferring the worthiest persons he can find, without other regards : in short, in the practice of all virtues that can be- come a publick or private life. This and more, if possible, is due to so excellent a person, who may be justly reckoned among the greatest and most learned prelates of this ago, however his character may be defiled by such mean and * Swift's Works, iii., p. 135. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 499 dirty hands as those of the ' Observator,"' or such as em- ploy him." This character of Archbishop Kinff was written, Remarks on the ^ character. as already noticed, in 1708; but it was omitted in the Irish edition of 1735, said to have been dictated, or strictly revised, by Dean Swift himself. It no doubt spoke the real sentiments of the Dean at the time of its first publication ; and is the more re- markable, because, as is related by Lord Orrery, the archbishop, before his elevation to the metropolitan see of Dublin, had hindered Dr. Swift from being made Dean of Derry. Possibly he had not been at that time informed of the obstacle thus offered to his preferment, nor had obtained the information till he was intimately connected with the party to which he afterw^ards adhered, and to Avhich Bishoj) Lindsay ow^ed his advancement to the primacy in 1714, in opposition to Bishop King. How^ever that be, at the time wdien the foregoing extract was written, it appears to have been the sincere effusion of the writer's mind : and it has been well observed by the editor of his w^orks, Mr. Nichols, with reference to a letter of almost the exact date of the foregoing, that "with no other correspondent are the extravagance of Swift's humour and the virulence of his j^reju- dices half so much restrained as in his letters to Archbishop King. He certainly feared or respected this prelate more than any other person with Avhom he corresponded'." Latterly, indeed, as w^e have seen, he fell into a condition, first of temporary and then of permanent estrangement from the archbishop; and, under the influence of irritated feelings, proba- bly withdrew the character, wdiich has been subse- ^ Swift's Worh, x., p. 71. 2 K 2 500 THE REIGN OF [Cir. IV. quently replaced in his works, and there stands, an honourable testimonial to the archbishop's episcopal virtues and actions. aSsiTop Khig The other contemporary character to which I by Mr. Harris, alludcd IS that which is given by Mr. Harris in his edition of Sir James Ware's Bishops, A compen- dious view of the actions of the archbishop's life may be sought in that piece of biography, which sums up his character in the end after the following manner \* " He appears in the tendency of his actions and endea- vours to have had the advancement of religion, virtue, and learning, entirely at heart ; and may deservedly be enrolled amongst the greatest and most universally accomplished and learned prelates of the age. His capacity and spirit to govern the Church was visible in his avowed enmity to pluralities and non-residence ; in his strict and regular visitations, both annual, triennial, and parochial ; in his constant duty of confirmation and preaching ; and in the many excellent admonitions and charges he gave his clergy upon these occasions ; in his pastoral care and diligence in admitting none into the sacred ministry but persons well qualified for their learning and good morals, who were graduates regularly educated in the universities of Eng- land or Dublin, and who were before their ordinations pub- lickly examined in the necessary points of divinity by him, his archdeacon, and some of his chapter. ' He may be counted worthy of double honour who thus not only ruled well, but laboured in the word and doctrine.** His hos- pitality was suitable to the dignity of his station and charac- ter ; and the whole course of his conversation innocent, cheerful, and improving ; for he lived in the constant prac- tice of every Christian virtue and grace that could adorn a publick or private life." rrimate'smoa- Qy^ i\^q death of Archbishop King-, the primate Biu cs tor supply J- O' i of the vacancy. ^Qst no time in repeating his former sentiments con- ^ Ware's Bis]i02)s, p. 8G0. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE IL 501 cerning the supply of the vacancy, in letters addressed to tlie lord lieutenant and the Duke of Newcastle, as well as to Lord Townshend. The vacancy in the archbishoprick of Dublin, ociay in suppiy- *^ ing it. which occurred on the 8th of May, 1729, was, how- ever, not supplied for many months. It was the wish and opinion of the primate, that it should be filled up without delay, so that the new archbishop might be well settled in his station before the meet- ing of parliament in September ; but the king being on the point of visiting his continental dominions, when the first advice of the vacancy arrived in London, the appointment of a successor was post- poned till his JNIajesty's return. Meanwhile, much negotiation was carried on with the English ministry, by the primate, on one part, who was solicitous to procure the archbishoprick for Smallbroke, bishop of St. David's, or Hoadly, bishop of Ferns; and, on another, by those of different sentiments, who " used great endeavours, and much art, to bring into play, on this occasion, some new person on this side of the water\" On the 28th of August, he thus expressed Letter to the himself in a letter to the Bishop of London'': London, August 28, 1729. " We are still here under an uncertainty who is to be the Archbishop of Dublin, and, I take it for granted, shall continue so till his Majesty's return. Your Lordship knows the Bishops of St. David's and Ferns are both old accjuaint- ance and friends of mine; and as I have wrote to your Lordship, so have I wrote to the ministry, that I shall be easy, on whomsoever of them the choice shall fall, since I have no doubt of agreeing very well with either of them. But it will be otherwise, if some third person shall be put into that post ; and I am the more concerned that it should not be another, because it is generally understood here, that * Boulter's Letters, i., p. 255. ^ Iljicl., p. 257, 502 THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. I am a friend to both of them. But it will be clear, that, if another be made archbishop, my recommendation has been of no significancy, which opinion, I am sure, must have an ill effect on the bench here. I must, therefore, beg of your Lordship, who are upon the spot, if possible, to hinder such a disgrace from happening to me. " I can assure your Lordship, that, if one has Dublin, and the other be made sure of Cashel, Derry, or Kilmore, the first that falls, I believe the person who has this pro- mise kept to him, will rather be a gainer as to providing for a family." But, before this question ^vas decided, Lord Carteret appeared again in Ireland, the 13th of Sep- tember, being for the third time entrusted with the Tice-regal office, and opened the parliament in October ; and in about two months, another metro- politan see Avas vacated by the death of Archbishop Godwin, of Cashel, on the 13th of December, 1729. The primate was disposed that advantage should be taken of this contingency, for compromising the dispute about the archbishoprick of Dublin, by re- moving the Bishop of St. David's to Dublin, and the Bisho]:) of Ferns to Cashel ; but, if this w^ere done, he thought it would be better to defer doing it till after the parliament was up, fearful, as it should seem, of encountering the displeasure which was likely to arise from the appointment of two English- men, one already on the Irish bench, and the other to be introduced for the purpose, to the tw^o archiepis- copal sees. If, however, it were aj^prehended, that it would give too much offence, and be too bold a step, to bestow, at one and the same time, on two Englishmen, the two best posts in the Church, after the ])rimacy, he then thought, that the most proper person to be removed to Cashel would be Dr. Synge, archbishop of Tuam. The uneasy and troubled Sec. II.] KIXG GEORGE II. 503 state, however, of the House of Commons, and a i)'sp<^sai the two archbishop* desire to maintain quiet and tranquillity in the "^^^ country, constrained him, all circumstances con- sidered, to -withdraw his opinion in favour of the above-named proposal; and to concur with the lord lieutenant and the lord chancellor in projecting another scheme, in pursuance of which Hoadly, bishop of Ferns, was translated to Dublin, and Bolton, bishop of Elphin, to Cashel. With reference to these preferments, there was P'^^'*"'^ , ■«■ ' between Pnmate a want of mutual o-ood nnderstandino- and satisfaction c" Bishop Gibcon. between Archbishop Boulter and Bishop Gibson, of London, especially on the part of the latter, who was desirous of seeing the Bishop of St. David's placed in the archbishoprick of Dublin, and thought that liis wish was defeated by the primate's recom- mendation of the Bishop of Ferns for that see. In a letter of September 13, 17-9', the primate ex- presses his sorrow, that his conduct in this affair had been disagreeable to the Bishop of London, whom he should be very unwilling to oflend ; and adds his belief, that if the Bishop of St. David's knew the true state of affairs here, he would excuse the part which he (the primate) had acted since the death of the late archbishop. On the 2nd of January en- suing, the archbishoprick of Cashel having been in the interval vacated, he thus writes to the Bishop of London " I am sorry there has been any misunderstanding betwixt your Lordship and me on account of the archbishoprick of Dublin, and should have been for compromising matters in favour of the Bishop of St. David's, on the vacancy of Cashel, if your Lordship had not assured me he would ' Boi LiEB.'i Letters, i., p._2Gl. 9 Ibid., p. 275. 504 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. think of nothing here, if he failed of Duhlin, and we had not been in a very uneasy situation in the House of Com- mons. But I hope things will again settle, since I desire still, and hope it is a favour you will grant me, that I may trouble you to discourse with the ministry, about what I apprehend to be for his Majesty's service in the promotions here. '■' I have read the Bishop of St. David's book with a great deal of pleasure, and am glad to hear it takes well in England.'' tolTtainSop^ •^'^^ similar sentiments were again urged on Gibson's good Bishop Gibson in a letter of February the 3rcl, by Archbishop Boulter, who appears to have been extremely anxious to retain the bishop's assistance in his communications with the English ministry':" " I have received your Lordship's of the 13th past, and thank your Lordship for your readiness to do any service to the general state of the Church of Ireland, and have hopes your Lordship will re-consider the affair of promotions here, and will, at the least, for the good of his Majesty's service here, be willing to be concerned with me in recommending for vacancies here. Your Lordship is too sensible of the ill effects of throwing the great preferments of the Church into a scramble, and I shall be very sorry to be under the necessity of applying to the ministry by any other hand than }'our Lordship ; and I still flatter myself the long friendship I have had with your Lordship w^ill, on further consideration, prevail with your Lordship to re-assume the kind part you have hitherto acted on that occasion.'* Disposal of Ferns The vacaucies of the two archiepiscopal sees and EJphin. ^ having been supplied, as just mentioned, by the translation respectively of the Bishops of Ferns and Elphin, the bishoprick of Ferns was thereupon filled by the translation of Bishop Price from Clonfert, which was conferred on Edward Synge, eldest son of the Archbishop of Tuam : and the bishoprick of ° Boulter's Letters, i., p. 284. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 505 Elpllin being conferred on Howard, bisliop of Killala, Dr. Clayton was appointed hy the Engb'sli govern- ment to succeed him. Robert Clayton, a native of Ireland, had been a ciayton, bbhop *^ of Killala. senior fellow of Trinity College, but had resigned his fellowship on his marriage in 1 728, a year or two before his elevation to the episcopate. Clonfert appears, from Archbishop Boulter's letters, to have been designed for an Englishman, agreeably to the primate's sense of the propriety of giving more strength to the English in Ireland, there being at the time but nine English on the bench, and twelve Irish. " But, I hope," he observed to the Duke of Newcastle'", " the person to be sent from England will be a person of some worth, and who is likely to join with us that are here already." He added withal his opinion, that " there could be no grumbling here, if Clonfert were bestowed on an Englishman ; but it might be easily kept open till the season of grumbling was over." But the execution of this design was interrupted by the illness, and reports of the death, of the Bishop of Cork, It was thought, that, in the event of his death, any Englishman would rather choose Cork than Clonfert, and that Clonfert would be Dr. syngc conse- secrated to Clon- Gspecially acceptable to Dr. Synge, a man of fert by bis father, acknowledged worth, and whose preferment had been previously contemplated, but postponed till another opportunity, who was, hovvcver, now again proposed for Clonfert, in which his father, the Arch- bishop of Tuam, would rather see him, on account of its neighbourhood to Tuam, than in any other bishoprick. The Bishop of Cork, indeed, recovered, and survived five or six years. But the pro2)osal '•^ Boulter's Letters, i., p. 277. 506 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. which had been put forward by his ilhiess was, nevertheless, accomplished ; and, on the 7th of June, 1730, the Archbishop of Tuam had the high paternal gratification of laying his hands, for epis- copal ordination and consecration, on his elder son, elected to the bishoprick of Clonfert and Kilmac- duagh ; and of hearing the consecration sermon preached by his younger sou, brother of the bishop- elect, and himself afterwards elevated to the epis- copate. Death of Bishop An opportuulty for compensating this loss of an additional Englishman on the Irish bench, was soon afforded by the death of Sir Thomas Vesey, baronet, bishop of Ossory, an event of which ]\Ir. Harris speaks as productive of " universal grief to his clergy: to whom he always was a father, brother, friend, and companion; for he was a well-bred gentleman, as well as a good bishop." The oppor- tunity was embraced by the English ministry, on the recommendation of the Irish lords justices, and with the grateful acknowledgments of Arch- bishop Boulter, in a letter of the 27th of August, 1730, to the Duke of Dorset, then recently ap- pointed to the lord lieutenancy, of which he had not, at the time, taken possession. The person Tennison,bL=hop choscu for the appointment was Dr. Edward Tenni- son, who, with the office of chaplain in ordinary to the king, held a preljeudal stall at Cantei'bury, the rectory of Sundridge in Kent, and the archdeaconry of Caermarthen. For these preferments he had been indebted to his kinsman of the same name. Archbishop of Canterbury ; for his present elevation he seems to have been indebted to the patronage of the Duke of Dorset, who had, on former occasions, given him his countenance. To Archbishop Boulter Sec. II.] KING GEORGE II. 507 he was recommended by old acquaintance, and his known attachment to the roval family''. He is re- "iszeaiforthe propagation of lated to have had the propa^ration of the Protestant the Protestant J- o religion. religion greatly at heart ; and it may be here no- ticed, in confirmation and exemplification of the statement, that, at his death, in 1735, he left the following bequests : 40/. a year to one Michael Stephenson, a deacon, during his life, to catechise the children of Papists in the parish of Kilkeasy, a wild and mountainous part of his diocese, obliging him to residence, under the penalty of forfeiting his pension ; 20/. to the incorporated society for pro- moting English Protestant schools, to which our attention will be presently directed ; to every incum- bent and resident curate in the diocese of Ossory, one copy of the latest edition of Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants; and 10/. to each of six parishes, towards buying red fir, balk laths, and slates, for covering small oratories to be built, and for enlarging the roofs of those oratories which, at the time of his death, should be built, within the ruined walls of the several churches''. A singular bequest had been made not long before by another prelate, Fitzgerald, bishop of Clonfert, who, dying in 1722, left by his will 50/. to be divided among the resident clergy of the dioceses of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, to buy them gowns'". " Boulter's Letters, ii., pp. 23, 24. Harris, in Ware's Bishops, p. 453. Harris, p. 645. 508 THE REIGN OF :[Ch. IV. Section III. Efforts in fatoiir of the Church. Bhhop Horfs Charge at Kilmore. Account of Henry Maule. Society for en- couraging English Schools^ 1717. Its result^ 1730. Proposal for a Boyal Charter. Fatourahly received. Petition to his Majesty^ setting forth the great ignorance of the Papists^ and plan for Educating them. Suhscri- hers to the Petition. Incorporated Society for Protestant Schools formed^ 1738. Its poicers. Lord Lieutenant elected President. Patronized by the Primate. His Letters on its behalf. Ill success of attempt to contert the Papists by the Irish language. Disappointment and loss of Mr. Richardson. His services badly requited. Efforts in favour of Presbyterians resumed in 1731. Eecommendation of Duke of Dorset^ 1733. Excitement caused thereby. Opposed in Parliament. Attemj^t de- cided to be impracticable. Anger of the Dissenters. Efforts in favour Qther iiistaiices occur about this period of a dispo- of the Chuich. ^ sition in tlie governours, the clergy, and other mem- bers of the Church of Ireland to extend her efficacy, and to recall Avanderers into her communion; of these may be here mentioned two or three efforts made by individuals, and one of a more comprehen- sive and general kind. Bishop iiorfs In 1720, soon after his translation from the sees charge at Kil- more, 1729. of Ferns and Leighlin, Bishop Hort delivered a charge, which was printed first for the use of liis clergy, and then published by j^ermission, under the title of Instructions given by the Lord Bishoj) of Kilmore and Ardagh to his Clergy at his Visitations, anno 1729. Dublin, 1731. After many valuable suggestions on the composi- tion and delivery of sermons, the manner of reading the common prayers, and other particulars of clerical Sec. III.] KING GEORGE II. 509 duty, the bishop impresses on his clergy the great importance of carrying into effect the rules of the church with respect to catechising. ''This," he importance of * ^ cateclnsmg. observes, " would be a most useful exercise on Sun- days in the afternoon, especially in the summer months: it would edify grown persons, as well as children: it would keep them from being idle and disorderly; and I do not doubt but your churches would be well filled, and your people as well en- tertained as at the morning sermon. If you should at the same time take occasion to explain the doctrines and principles of Protestantism and of the Established Church, it might be of great use to prevent apostacies, and perhaps to make converts of those, who may have the curiosity to be your hearers, whether Protestant dissenters or Pai)ists. And, indeed, the way of persuasion and Effects of porsiu- sion and reason- reasoning is the only way of doing this effectually, ing. Coercive laws may restrain and disable those who hold principles that are destructive to the Church and to the State, but they can never convince nor convert anybody: they may bind men's hands and tongues, but can never reach their hearts. This is only to be done by enlightening their minds, and making proper applications to their understandings and consciences.'' — (p. 14.) Other pastoral admonitions of this kind were important in- probably delivered, though not easy to be traced zeai. among the fugitive compositions of the day. The following example of clerical zeal is of a different class, and led to important consequences : Dr. Henry Maule, a native of Arklow, and edu- Account of , ^ . llenrv Maule. cated hrst m the diocesan scliool of St. Patrick's, and then in Trinity College, Dublin, w\as a gentleman 510 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Society for en- couragingEnglish schools, 1717. Result of that society. Proposal for a royal charter. Favourably re- ceived. of good family and fortune'. In 1717, being at that time a beneficed clergyman, rector of a parish in the city of Cork, he instituted a private society in Dublin, for the establishment and encouragement of English common charity schools, for instructing poor children in reading and writing, and for educat- ing them in the principles of religion and virtue. In this praiseworthy undertaking, he was joined by several benevolent clergymen and laymen, amongst whom he had the satisfaction of reckoning Arch- bishop Synge of Tuam. The contribution of half-a- crown quarterly from subscribers, w^ith the aid of charity sermons, supported the institution; and the result was the establishment of many schools, both in town and in the country. A much more important result was the establish- ment of a society, which soon afterwards arose, con- sisting of the most distino'uished inhabitants of the kingdom, and sanctioned by the king's authority, for the purpose of spreading, by one great and combined effort, the principles of true religion and loyalty throughout the land. Dr. ^laule had become successively Dean and Bishop of Cloyne: having been promoted to the deanery in 1720, and to the bishoprick in 1726. In the year 1730, in concurrence with a parochial clergyman of Dublin, the Rev. Mr. Dawson, curate of St. Michan's, he put forward " An humble pro- posal for obtaining his Majesty's royal charter to incorporate a society for promoting Christian know- ledge amongst the poor natives of the kingdom of Ireland." By means of the JMarquis of Montandre, then master of the ordnance in Ireland, this proposal * Boulter's Letters ^ n., p. 0, note. Sec. III.J KING GEORGE II. 511 readied tlie Court of St. James'i?, and was received with favour by the king. And the same year, the primate of Ireland, who greatly approved the under- taking, collected at his house in Dublin a large assembly of persons of rank and distinction, in order to concert measures for the framing and forwarding of a petition to the king. The following was ac- cordingly drawn up and agreed to, and transmitted forthwith to his IMajesty with the annexed sub- scriptions: " To the King's most Excellent Majesty, petition to his " The humble petition of the Lord Primate, Lord Chan- cellor, Archbishops, Noblemen, Bishops, Judges, Gen- try, and Clergy of this your Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland, whose names are hereunto subscribed, " Humbly Sheweth, "That in many parts of this kinsfdom, there are ^veat Number of Pa- , ^ '^^ pists in Ireland. tracts of mountainy and coarse land, of ten, twenty, or thirty miles in length, and of a considerable breadth, almost universally inhabited by Papists; and that in most parts of the same, and more especially in the provinces of Leinster^ Munstei\ and Connaught^ the Papists far exceed the Pro- testants of all sorts in number. "That the generality of the Popish natives appear to Their great have verv little sense or knowled J ' ^741- bishop Synge caused a vacancy in the metropolitan see of Tuam, which he had filled in a manner worthy of a Christian bishop, for twenty-five years, the whole period of his episcopate being extended Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE IT, 561 two or three years longer. He was buried in the churchyard of his own cathedral: leaving behind ms c^macter. him the renow^n of an exemplary prelate, together with the character of a gentleman of true piety, an excellent scholar, and a great divine. In the course of his ministry he composed and published several excellent treatises for the promotion of piety and virtue. They consisted for the most })art of small tracts, wTitten in a sensible and easv manner. A list of them, amounting in number to fifty-nine, is given by i\Ir. Nichols, in his Literary Anecdotes of the Eujhteenih Century: and they are stated to have been again and again reprinted in large numbers by Mr. Bowyer^ Collected they form four duodecimo volumes. Of the author it has been said, that his life was as exemplary as his writings were instruc- tive; and that what he wrote, he believed, and what he believed, he ])ractised. The see of Tuam, vacated bv Archbislioi:) Svno-e, Promotion of " i . «5 ' Bisiu p Hort to w'as filled by the translation of Bishop Hort from tiiearoubishop- ^ rick. Kilmore, with allowance to retain Ardagh in com- mendam. At his primary visitation, the next year, he delivered a charge, or instructions, to his clergy, which he afterwards published, and which have been esteemed so hio^hlv, that they were included in a instructions ° ♦ » to his clergy. volume of pastoral advices to the clergy, printed by the delegates of the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1807, under the title of The Clergyman s Tnstmctm\ Not long before his translation, namely, in 1738, Bishop Hort had published an octavo volume of sixteen sermons, which have been described as judi- cious and impressive; by the preface to which we are informed, that, for many years previous to its ap- pearance from the press, he had been disabled from ' Vol. i., p. 379. 2 0 562 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. preaching by an overstrain of the voice in the pnlpit, at a time when he had a cokl with a hoarseness Hissermons. upon him. "The providence of God," he says, " having taken from him the power of discharging that part of his episcopal office which consisted in preaching, he thought it incumbent on him to con- vey his thoughts and instructions from the press, that he might not be useless. The solemn promise that he made at his consecration, to exercise himself in the Holy Scriptures, so as to be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, was no small motive to that undertaking, as being the only Loss of his voice, meaus left him for making good that promise." It is probable, however, that the loss of which he here speaks, as caused by an overstraining of the voice in the pulpit, was the repetition of an earlier i)rivation ; for, in a letter of March, 1724, Bishop Downes thus writes to Bishop Nicholson, with reference to Bishop Hort, at that time in the see of Ferns and Leighlin. " Our brother. Ferns, who is now upon his visitation, on the road calling somewhat louder than usual to his man that rode by to come up to him, quite lost his voice, and has not yet recovered it ; so that he will be able only to make signs or whisper to his clergy^" prim''ateBoiiter'8 circumstanccs of these episcopal appoint- Letters. meuts no information is given by Archbishop Boulter's Letters, nor, indeed, of any other eccle- siastical occurrence, later than the contest ab(5ut the tythe of agistment ; except that, in a letter of April 12, 1788, to the Bishop of London, there is a brief allusion to a curate in the primate's diocese, placed there by his predecessor, but whom the primate Nicholson's Letters, ii., 566. Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE II. judged himself under a necessity of dismissing from the cure, because he was not able to prove, by suffi- cient evidence, his assertion, that he had been ordained by a deprived bishop in Scotland ; an inci- dent which I notice, because it seems to show, that such ordination, if attested by sufficient evidence, was accounted at the time a qualification for the ministry in tlie Church of Ireland, or, as may also be collected from the letter, in the West Indies, or any of the British plantations. Four or five addi- tional letters complete the collection, which is ter- minated before the close of the year 1738, though the primate's life was prolonged till the autumn of 1742. On the 2nd of June, in that year, he em- barked for England, and proceeded to London, where he was seized with an illness, which, after two days, nis death, sept. ' 27,1742. terminated fatally on the 27th of September, in the seventy-first year of his age, the twenty-fourth of his episcopate, and the nineteenth of his primacy over the Irish Church. Durino^ that course of years, he appears to have His occupations ° ^ ^ ^ and character. enjoyed the confidence of two successive sovereigns, of the English ministry, and of the viceroys of Ire- land, and was thirteen times entrusted with the administration of Irish affairs in the quality of one of the lords justices. This appointment, and the duties necessarily attached to it ; the eftbrts requi- site for maintaining the reigning family in possession of the crown ; the pretensions to it still asserted by the exiled descendants of the house of Stuart ; the parties consequent thereupon in the State, and their struggles for pre-eminence; caused the primate to bear a twofold character, of which the ecclesiastical features were less strongly marked than the political, and induced him to use his influence for placing in 202 564 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Hisnile in eccle- siastical patron- age. Question as to its fitness. Ik-ncficinl appvo- piiatioii ol his property. the high and responsible stations of the Church men distinguished for their zealous attachment to the house of Hanover, rather than for their professional merits. With this view, as it was from the first his avowed object to support the English interest, so he constantly pursued it, being studious to keep up, as far as possible, an equality of English bishops on the bench ; and, as he was seconded in that object by the English government, of about fourteen consecra- tions to the Irish episcopate, which occurred during Archbishop Boulter's primacy, rather more than a moiety was of persons of English birth. AVhether to allow that predominant and prime influence, which seems to have been allowed by the primate, to political considerations, and to treat professional worthiness as a secondary and subordi- nate qualification, was a proper and wise exercise of ecclesiastical patronage, and calculated to raise the character and increase the efficiency of the Church, and thereby to promote true Christianity throughout the kingdom, is a question which I am not prepared to answer in the affirmative. To me, indeed, this course of proceeding appears less to deserve com- mendation than to need apology. That the primate acted honestly in the way which he thought for the best I make no question ; but the doubt is, whether he acted on the best principle. In one respect, however, he evidently is entitled to high commenda- tion ; namely, that the property which he derived from the Church he employed freely, bountifully, and beneficially for the Church's purposes. Besides numerous other charitable uses of a secular kind, to which he devoted it both in England and in Ireland, the following ecclesiastical benefactions especially call for notice in the present work. The cure of the Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE 11. 565 city of Armagh being too burdensome for the regular ministerial provision, he placed in it an additional t^Ji^''''''^ curate, with an especial obligation that he should celebrate divine service every Sunday afternoon, and read prayers twice every day. To several of his clergy, who were incapable of giving their children a proper education, he supplied means for maintaining their sons in the university, and thus qualifying them for future preferment. Both at Armagh and at Drogheda he built houses for the widows of clergy- men, and purchased estates for endowing them with annual allowances. To the Protestant Charter Schools, which, although he did not institute himself, he was mainly instrumental in establishing, he con- tributed considerable pecuniary assistance during his life, though the fact of his having made his will be- fore their institution, and in the end his sudden dissolution, prevented his conferring on them any post-obituary benefactions. The bulk of his pro- perty, after a suitable provision for his widow during her life, and a few testamentary bequests, was appro- priated, to an amount exceeding 30,000/., to the purchase of glebes for the clergy, and the augmenta- Fund for aug- tion and improvement of small benefices ; an appro- Sreficei'""* priation which, as it has been most usefully employed under the direction of the act of 29 George II., c. 10, enacted for the pur])ose, so has it contributed to the comfort, and respectability, and usefulness of many of the clergy, and deserves to be cherished in per- petual and grateful remembrance by every member of the Church of Ireland. The active life of Archbishop Boulter left him llis literary pro- little leisure for literary composition. Twelve occa- sional sermons and a few visitation charges, one of which, delivered at his primary visitation of Armagh, THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. lias already fallen under our notice, are said to be the whole of his pu})lications. His letters, which are evidently, as the editor of them states, entirely letters of business, were written, as occasion required, to different officers of state and principal churchmen Hisietters. in Eugkud, and have no pretensions to be regarded as specimens of literary talent. They are valuable as authentick memoirs of Irish history during his primacy : and the originals, which are in the library of Christ Church, Oxford, are vouched to be genuine, as being in the hand- writing of the archbishop, or of his secretary, Ambrose Philij^s, Esq., by whom they were collected, and who had lived in his Grace's house as his secretary during the space of time in which they bear date. Notice of his Of the connection which subsisted between the secretary, Ambrose Philips, primate and his secretary, a few words may be here inserted. Ambrose Philips, one of the English poets included in Dr. Johnson's collection, and as such commemorated by the great biographer, was engaged in a paper, his " happiest undertaking,^' as Dr. Johnson describes it, called the Freethinker, in conjunction with Dr. Boulter, '^who, then only minister of a parish in Soutlnvark, was of so much consequence to the government, that he was made first Bishop of Bristol, and afterwards Primate of Ireland, where his piety and charity will be long Dr Johnson's hououred." Dr. Johnson seems not to have been remarks on them. aware either of the archidiaconal dignity of Boulter, or of his position in immediate connection with royalty, as preceptor of the young prince, when he made the foregoing observation. It is, however, rather for the sake of what follows that this refer- ence has been introduced. " It may be easily imagined," continues the narrative, " that what was Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE II. 567 printed under the direction of Boulter would have nothing in it indecent or licentious; its title is to be understood as implying only freedom from unreason- able prejudice. It has been reprinted in volumes, but is little read, nor can impartial criticism recom- mend it as worthy of revival. Boulter was not well qualified to MTite diurnal essays; but he knew how to practise the liberality of greatness, and the fidelity of friendship. When he was advanced to the height of ecclesiastical dionitv, he did not foro-et the com- panion of his labours. Knowing Philips to be slenderly supported, he took him to Ireland, as partaker of his fortune, and, making him his secretary, added such preferments as enabled him to represent the county," he should have said the borough, " of Armagh in the Irish parliament. In December, 1726, he was made secretary to the lord chancellor, and in August, 1733, became judge of the prerogative court." At about the same period at which we are de- tio^oofiuforma- ^ tion from Deaix prived of the benefit of Archbishop Boulter's letters, ij'^j.fjg'"'^ we lose assistance from the writings of Dean Swift also, both his epistolary correspondence and his occasional pamphlets, as well as from Mr. Harris's edition of Sir James Ware's Bishops of Irelmid, which was carried down to the date of its publication in 1739, two or three years before the death of the primate. This maybe a convenient season, there- General remarks, fore, for collecting several scattered pieces of in- formation which have not fallen within the scope of the preceding narrative. The principle of elevating clergyiuen to the Motives to epis- Irish episcopate, chiefly on account of their political mcnls!''^''"'* 568 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. attachments, has been already mentioned as deduced from Archbishop Boulter s letters. The application of that principle to the preferment, both of the bishops and of the clergy in general, and the extent to which it was carried, is broadly stated by Dean Swift, whose testimony, being that of a partisan on the other side, should be received with caution ; yet I am not aware of any evidence in the primate's correspondence, or elsewhere, to controvert or in- validate the position concerning the clergy, " from the highest prelate to the lowest vicar;" namely, that " there were hardly ten clergymen throughout the whole kingdom, for more than nineteen years preceeding 1733, who had not been either preferred entirely upon account of their declared affection to the Hanover line, or higher promoted as the due reward of the same merit'." Political attach- With zoal for the House of Hanover, was ments. coupled, according to the same authority, " abhor- rence of the Pretender, and an implicit readiness to fall into any measures that would make the govern- ment easy to those wlio represented his IVIajesty's person; a cliaracter, also, of having most dis- tinguished themselves by their warmth against Popery, their great indulgence to dissenters, and all true loyal Protestants'."' Intellectual and The doau sDoaks in a tone of depreciation of the moral qiialifica- ^ ^ intellectual and moral characters of those who were thus preferred : " If," he says, " the general im- partial character of persons chosen into the Church had been more regarded, and the motive of party, alliance, kindred, flatterers, ill judgment, or personal favour, regarded less, there woukl be fewer com- plaints of non-residence, want of care, blameable ^ Swift's IForh, viii., p. 172. " Ibid, p. 432. Sec. Vl.-j KING GEORGE II. behaviour, or any other part of misconduct, not to mention ignorance and stupidity'." But observa- tions such as these, from that quarter, cannot be safely entertained without qualification ; for, not to impeach the sincerity of the writer, few men have betrayed in their writings more palpable marks of a party spirit, or have been less chastised in their language of censure and condemnation. The bishops, at the time under review, appear to Restoration of ^ episcopal resi- have been desirous of correcting an evil, which, in dencea. relation to themselves, had been growing up out of the commotions and wars that had in the last century agitated and distracted the country. By these most of the bishops' palaces had been involved in ruin or destruction. But advantage was now taken of the facilities aftbrded by acts of parliament in the tenth of King William III., and in subsequent reigns, for that purpose. So that before the pub- lication of Harris's Histori/^ in 1739, partly with the assistance furnished by those statutes, and partly through the gratuitous exertions of the several bishops, in more than half of the Irish dioceses the episcopal residences are reported by that historian to have been rebuilt, or repaired and improved, by their respective possessors at a large pecuniary expence. The value of some of the bishopricks at this time vaiueof the bishopricks. IS nicidentally noticed by Archbishop Boulter. The bishoprick of Kilmore he reports as better than 2000/. a year, and that of Derry as 200/. more. Kildare, with its constant and necessary appendage of the deanery of Christ Church, as worth 1600/., and Ferns and Leighlin as of about the same value. Of Clonfert he speaks in one place as worth better than 1200/., and in another as 1500/., or hardly 100/. Swiff's IVorks^ vili., \. 422. 570 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. less than Ferns. Killala he supposes to be worth full 1100/., "no contemptible thing in this country"." With some of the sees it was judged requisite to grant commendams, as in the case of Cloyne'. Dean and chapter Tho sacrilegious robbcries, encouraged by the lands, succession of confusion and war, had despoiled the Church of the dean and chapter lands, so that little property of that kind remained in Ireland : and ecclesiastical dignities were supported by means of the tythes of parishes appropriated to them. The Deaneries. doaueries of Dcrrv, Down, and Raphoe, w^re the only opulent deaneries in the whole kingdom : of the first of which the revenue is said by Dean Swift to have exceeded that of some bishopricks^ The others were of much less, and some of them of very small value. The deanery of Kilmore is said, by Archbishop Boulter, to have been reckoned worth 300/. a year: that of Kilmacduagli was esti- mated at about 120/. or 140/. The deanery of Killaloe, to which four small sinecures were united, produced on an incumbency lease about 120/., but was supposed to be worth about 300/. The deanery of St. Patrick's appears to have been of at least double that value ^: but, when given to Swift, he doubted its being worth more than 400/". Value of paro- vSeveral livings are noticed by the primate as at the disposal of the government, varying from 80/. to about 300/. But of whatever nominal value was a benefice, its profits were precarious and uncertain, collected, in Dean^ Swift's language, " from a mise- rable race of beggarly farmers, at whose mercy every minister lay to be defrauded''." "There are not ten ^ Boulter's Ze«er5, i., pp. 94, 111, ^ Boulter's Ze«er5, ii., p. 9-3, 120 ; ii., pp. 100, 102. 24; i., p. 78, 82. 7 Ibid., i., p. 81. Swift's Works, xv., p. 42G. « Swift's TForls, viii., p. 438. Ibid., viii., p. 416. Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE 11. 571 clergymen," he observes elsewhere, " reputed to l)ossess a parish of 100/. a year, who for some years past have received 60/., and that with the utmost difficulty and vexation'^" "It is well known and allowed, that the clero-y round the kino'dom think themselves well treated if they lose only one single third of their legal demands And, " There is not a landlord in the whole kingdom, residing some part of the year at his country seat, who is not, in his Fraudsandimpo- ** J ' ^ sitioiis on the own conscience, fully convinced that the tythes of his minister have gradually sunk for some years past one third, or at least one fourth, of their former value, exclusive of all non-solvencies. The payment of tythes in this kingdom is subject to so many frauds, brangles, and other difficulties, not only from Papists and dissenters, but even from those who profess themselves Protestants ; that by the expence, the trouble, and vexation of collectino: or baroainino- for them, they are, of all other rents, the most pre- carious, uncertain, and ill paid. The landlords in most parishes expect, as a compliment, that they shall pay little more than half the value of the tythes for the lands they hold in their own hands, which often consist of large domains ; and it is the minister's interest to make them easy upon that article, when he considers what influence those gentlemen have upon their tenants'\" Confirmative of this is the archbishop's assurance to the Bishop of London'', that, ''at every visitation I have held here, which is annually, the clergy have made as great complaints of the hardships put upon them by the people in getting in their tythes, especially their small dues, as the people can of any Their hard^iiips Swin's Works, viii., p. 419. Ibid., p. 421. Ibid., p. 473. '5 Boulter's Letters, i., p. 232. 572 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. oppression from the clergy. And, to my knowledge, many of them have cliose rather to lose their small dues than to be at a certain great expence in getting them, and at an uncertainty whether the farmer would not at last run away, without paying any- thing. And I can affirm to your Lordship, that the laity here are as troublesome and vexatious as they can be in England, and from time to time fight a cause of no great value through the bishop's court, then through the archbishop's, and thence to the delegates, where the clergy sue for what is most evidently their due. I would not be understood by this to deny that any clergyman or farmer of tythes ever did a hard thing by the people; but that there is not frequent occasion of complaint against them." Their condilion as to residence. Spoliation of their glebes. The condition of the clergy, with respect to their means of residing on their benefices, was one of great hardship, and productive of much mischief- " We have in this kingdom," says Archbishop Boulter'", " but about six hundred incumbents, and, I fear, three thousand Popish priests ; and the bulk of our clergy have neither parsonage-houses nor glebes, and yet, till we can get more churches or chapels, and more resident clergymen, instead of getting ground of the Papists, Ave must lose to them, as, in fact, we do in many places, the descend- ants of many of Cromwell's officers and soldiers here being gone off to Popery." " The greatest part of the clergy," observes Dean Swift'^, " throughout this kingdom, have been stripped of their glebes, by the confusion of times, Boulter's Letters^ i., p. 170. Swirx's TVorh; viii., p. 474. Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE IT. 573 by violence, fraud, oppression, and other unlawful means, all which glebes are now in the hands of the laity ; so that they now are generally forced to lie at the mercy of landlords for a small piece of ground in their parishes, at a most exorbitant rent, and usually for a short term of years, whereupon to build a house, and enable them to reside. Yet, in spite of these disadvantages, I am a witness, that they are generally more constant residents than their brethren in England, where the meanest vicar has a convenient dwelling, with a barn, a garden, and a field or two for his cattle, beside the certainty of his little income from honest farmers." He elsewhere says' ^ that "he does not by any Non-residence t . 1 . not their crying means conceive the crynig sm of the clergy ni this sin. kingdom to be that of non-residence. I am sure it is many degrees less so here than in England, unless the possession of pluralities may pass under that name ; and if this be a fault, it is well known to whom it must be imputed, I believe, upon a fair inquiry, and I hear an inquiry is to be made, they will appear to be most pardonably few, especially considering how many parishes liave not an inch of glebe, and how difficult it is, upon any reasonable terms, to find a place of habitation." But, wherever the fault lay, pluralities seem to Eviiof have existed to a considerable extent : and these, as well as the parochial unions, must have operated powerfully in diminishing the efficiency of the Church, and obstructing the religious edification of the people. The existence of this evil, indeed, appears to have been sensibly felt by the primate, and to have given occasion for legislative measures, to which our attention has been already directed. Swift's Works^ viii., p. 428, 574 THE REIGN OP [Ch. IV. Want of churches. Exemplified in three southern dioceses. Disproportion of churches in and out of I'epair. Of one of the evils, alluded to in the foregoing extracts, and which has been repeatedly noticed in these pages as afflicting and depressing the Irish Church, a remarkable example was about this time furnished, in a limited district indeed, but to a great and painful extent : I mean the want of edifices for publick religious worship. In the year 1746 was published Smith's History of Waterford, which was followed in 1750 and 1756 respectively by similar accounts of Cork and Kerry. These volumes com- prise a view of the ecclesiastical condition of the several counties ; and from them I abstract the fol- lowing tabular sketch of the churches, in repair and in ruins, as at that time existing in the dioceses of Waterford and Lismore, of Cork and Ross, of Cloyne, and of Ardfert and Aefhadoe. Diocese of Churches in repair. Churches in ruins. Waterford 9 22 Lismore . 14 49 Cork .... 30 46 Eoss . n 21 Clovne 47 22 Ardfert and Aghadoe . 15 54 126 214 Thus in the dioceses which extended over the above-mentioned counties of Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, the churches in ruins exceeded those in repair, after the rate of about 12 to 7; or, deducting the single diocese of Cloyne, where only the build- ings fit for Divine service preponderated, after the rate of about 8 to 8 : leaving respectively for the worship of the Church, in the former case 126 instead of 340, and in the latter 79 instead of 271 ; that is, in the former between a third and fourth part, and in the latter between a fourth and fiftli, of Sec. VI.] KING GEORGE II. 575 statement of County of Down. what had been by the law assigned as proper accom- modation for the publick Avorship of the Church. How far the foregoing statement may serve as a criterion for the parochial provisions in other dioceses at that period, I have not met with documents which enable me to say. In his history, indeed, of the County of Down, published about the same period as the foregoing histories of Smith, namely in 1744, Harris enumerates in that county forty-two parishes, as being in the diocese of Down, and tweilty-one in that of Dromore ; and observes, " The parishes, that are numbered liere, lye in the county of Down, and have churches erected in them." But I hesitate in believing all those churches to have been in sufficient repair : and at the same time I incline to fear, that the ecclesiastical condition of the three southern counties was not unparalleled in other parts of tlie kingdom. The evil consequences of such a want of religious fice" so cSiod^''^ edifices, on the maintenance and propagation of the faith and worship of the Church, must be obvious. And to this, in co-operation with the want of paro- chial residences, must, together with other evils, be attributed that anomaly in the Church of Ireland, wdiich is unknown to the law, but which has been familiarly known amongst ecclesiasticks, by the technical name of non-cures : a species of benefice, whereby an incumbent having been instituted to a parish with cure of souls, but having no place of parochial residence, nor any place for the publick discharge of his ministry, was wont to consider himself as exempt from all personal attendance on his cure, and to abandon his charge altogether to such ministerial aid as could be procured from the casual and voluntary services of some neighbouring clergyman. THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV. Effect fif clerical exertion. Notice of the Rev. Philip Skelton, 1/^0. Character of his parishioners. What may have been the religious condition of tlie members of the Church in parishes, where the legal provision for ministerial instruction and divine worship was duly supplied, documents are not at hand for our information. One example, however, of a parish, which was partially recovered from a state of spiritual desolation by the zealous and indefatigable exertions of its pastor, is related in Mr. Burdy's Life of the Reverend Philip Skelton : and, although particular cases cannot be reasonably or safely taken for the ground of general conclusions, such cases ought not to be passed without notice in historical investigations. In 1750, ]Mr. Skeltou, who had for several years laboured diligently as a curate in the diocese of Clogher, was collated by his diocesan, Bishop Clayton, to the benefice of Templecarn, or, as it is commonly called, Pettigo, according to the Irish custom of giving to a parish the ])opular name of the town or village where the church is situated. The village lies on the extremity of the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh, which are there separated by a small river running through it : the parish ex- tended fifteen miles in length, and ten in breadth, over the adjacent county of Donegal, in a district which was mostly wild, rocky, mountainous, and covered over with heath. The nature of the people resembled that of the soil : they were rough, uncul- tivated, and disorderly; addicted withal to drinking, quarrelling, and fighting. As to their religion, they were sunk in profound ignorance. On a view of their manners, it was liardly to be supposed that they were born and bred in a Christian country, yet many of them were nominally Protestants. JNIr. Skelton declared they scarce knew more of the Sf.c. VI.] KING GEORGE II. 577 gospel, than the Indians of America; so that he considered himself as a missionary sent to convert them to Christianity. Of the use of books they were for the most part ignorant ; and their chief study was the supply of their natural wants and the indulgence of their gross appetites. For the instruction and improvement of these His efforts for A th.nr instruction poor people, committed to his spiritual charge, a ^^J^j"'^'^'^^''' wide field was open to their new pastor, who failed not to enter on it immediately. He visited them from house to house : he taught them early and late: he told them of Jesus Christ who died for their sins, whose name some of them had scarcely heard of before. In passing through the parish, he noted the names of the children, whom he desired the parents to send to church for instruction in the catechism, which he explained, throughout the summer season, on Sundays, before all the people, both young and old, a more pleasing, as Avell as a more profitable exercise, than a sermon. And thus, by extraordinary diligence, and by means of lectures and admonitions both publick and private, he is said. to have brought these uncultivated people to believe in a God who made them, and in a Saviour who redeemed them. It should seem, however, that his efforts to im- Paraaiiy success- ful. prove the morals of the people were attended with only partial success. The practice of illicit dis- tillation, and the consequent plenty and cheapness of ardent spirits, caused drunkenness to prevail, not only amongst the Popish population of the parish, but also amongst those who called themselves Pro- testants. Mr. Skelton earnestly strove to withdraw them from this vice : to private remonstrances and solicitations he added publick admonitions; and a 2 p 578 THE REIGN OF 1 Ch. IV. very impressive sermon, intituled, Woe to the Drunkard, which he delivered from his pulpit, still remains among his works, a testimony of his fervid zeal for their reformation. Yet his advice and preaching are confessed by his biographer to have produced in this instance but little improvement ; though some of his immediate flock may probably in some degree liave been reclaimed by him from habits of brutish intoxication, v/ant of religious jMr. Skclton's biographer relates an anecdote, in instruction in higher ranks. cou uectiou witli liis ministry in the parish of Pettigo, which serves to show a want of due religious in- struction in the higher, as well as the lower, ranks of the community. The residence of one of his parishioners. Sir James Caldwell, being at the ex- tremity of the parish, it was the practice of Mr. Skelton to officiate once in the month, on a Sunday, in that gentleman's parlour, where he had a tolerable congregation. It was part of his system of parochial instruction to examine the people publickly in religion. This practice, which he followed at his lectures in the church, he introduced also into this assembly at Sir James Caldwell's; and "was once examining some persons of quality there, when one of them told him there were two Gods, and another three Gods, and so on. Such," observes the narrator, " was their ignorance." Mr.skeiton-3 Hiav bo horc noticed incidentally, that in the account of * Lough-Dearg. jmrisli of Pcttigo, about three miles from the little village, is Lough-Dearg, of which, and of the resort of pilgrims to Patrick's Purgatory contained in it, I have already had occasion to give some account. The superstitious usages, related in detail by Mr. Richardson, and of which an abstract has been insei'ted in this narrative, were practised after the Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE II. 579 same manner in the time of Mr. Skelton, who wrote a letter on the subject to his diocesan, which at first made its way into the newspapers without a name, but was afterwards claimed by the author as his property, and included in a publication of his works. From the 12th of May to the latter end of August the village was crowded with pilgrims on their passage to or from this place of superstitious resort : and the publicans throve on the demand for spirituous liquors, which animated the visitants in supporting the labour of their pilgrimage. Section VII. Archbishop Hoadhj raised to the Primacy. Other Episcopal appointments. Death and Character of Arclihishop Bol- ton. His care for the Cathedral of Cashel. Act of Parliament for removing the Cathedral. Delay in re- huilding it. Consequences of Archbishop Price'' s trans- lation. Act of 21 Geo. 11.^ c. 8, concerning Cathedrals. Cashel alone affected by it. Death of Bishop Stearne. His benefactions to the Church. His examination of Candidates for Holy Orders. His " Visitation of the Sicl.^'' Beported conversation between him and Bishop Sherlock. Appearance of Methodism in Ireland. Rev. J. Wesley's visits. His intervieio tcith Archbishop Cobbe. Conduct of the Bisho])s. Clergy occasionally present at his preaching: opposed or encouraged him. Methodist Societies in various places. His attendance on the Church Service. His visit to toicns in the North. The primacy, which had been vacated by the death Ard.bishop ^ ♦ Ifoadly raised to of Archbishop Boulter, was filled after a very short the primacy, interval by the translation of Archbishop Hoadly from Dublin to Armao'h: the death of the former having occurred on the 27th of September, 1742, and the letters-patent for the appointment of the successor being dated on the 21st of the ensuing ocr.21.1742. '1 V 2 580 THE REIGN OF [Ch. lY. October. A short memoir of him in a note appended to a life of his brother Benjamin, the well-known Bishop of Winchester, in the folio edition of the works of the latter, mentions, that on Primate Boulter s death, thelDuke of Devonshire, the lord lieutenant, had made all solicitations needless within an hour after the news arrived: his expression to the king with respect to Archbishop Hoadlj was, " that he could not do without him;" and he was accordingly appointed Archbishop of Armagh, and other episcopal metropolitan and primate of all Ireland. The trans- preferments. A A lation of Bishop Cobbe from Kildare filled the archi- episcopal see of Dublin in March, 1743: and in the same month Bishop Stone was translated to the see of Kildare, from that of Ferns and Leighlin, which was immediately conferred on Dr. William Cotterell, dean of Raphoe. In the same year, 1743, the death of Bishop Run die gave occasion for the translation of Bishop Reynell from the see of Down and Connor, to that of Derry ; as in the January of the following year, the death of Archbishop Bolton occasioned the translation of Bishop Price from the bishoprick of Meath to the archbishoprick of Cashel, and of Bishop jNIaule from Dromore to Meath. These cliano-es o were not accomplished by the issuing of the letters- patent till the month of May. Death and cha- Qf Arclibisliop Boltou, whose death is here no- ract >r nf Arch- *- bish.p Bolton, ticed, there has been mention made in the course of this narrative, as a person distinguished for his elo- quence and his acquaintance with ecclesiastical his- tory, and as having taken a lead in politicks, opposed to the sentiments of Primate Boulter, and favourable to the Irish as contradistinguished from the English interest. A manuscript note to Mr. Cooper's copy Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE 11. 581 of Ware's Bishops, says, that " He was learned, polite, and affable, very hospitable, and a great im- prover of lands, by draining large and useless bogs, and turning them to pasture and tillage: but all his virtues were sullied by ambition, which was his reigning passion, and to gratify which, he used such methods as brought him under great contempt some years before he died." It is added, on the same authority, that " he built a library at Casliel for the use of his diocese, and bequeathed to it a noble col- lection of books, to the number of 8000 volumes." It were too strict to interpret by the letter the "'^ account of ^ '' Ware's History of playful eflusions of epistolary correspondence; other- the iiish bishops, wise the following extract would impress the reader with no favourable opinion either of the archbishop's professional character, or of that of the Irish con- temporary hierarchy : " I have but one troublesome affair noAv upon my hands, which by the help of the prime sergeant, I hope soon to get rid of; and then you shall see me a true Irish bishop. Sir James Ware has made a very useful collection of the me- morable actions of all my predecessors. He tells us they were born in such a town of England or Ireland; were consecrated in such a year; and, if not translated, were buried in their cathedral church, either on the north or south side. Whence I con- clude, that a good bishop has nothing more to do than to eat, drink, grow fat, rich, and die; which laudable example I propose for the remainder of my life to follow'." Of his episcopal merits or demerits, however, there is little recorded. But there is one circum- ins caro for the 1.1./. 1.1 .11. 1 n t cathedral of stance m his lite, which entitles him to the respectful cashei. commemoration of those who take an interest in the ' Swirr's Works, xiii., p. 198. 582 THE REIGN OF [Cu. IV. ecclesiastical antiquities of Ireland. The cathedral of Cashel, eminently and conspicuously situated on a rock without the avails of the city, justly lays claim to a high antiquity. The chapel, A^hicli bore the name of Cormack, was probably constructed by that renow'ned personage, King of Munster and Bishop of Cashel, in the tenth century. The larger portion of the edifice seems to have been built in the twelfth century, and to have been further im- proved about two hundred years later. Its style of architecture was honourable to the taste, the skill, and the munificence of those who founded and enlarged it. The position of the cathedral, difficult as it was of access on a steep and rocky eminence, and falling from the lapse of centuries into decay, excited the interest of Archbishop Bolton, who, W'ithin a few years of his translation, thus described his views and operations in a letter to Dean Swiftj of April 7, 1735 ^: His letter to " I am HOW wholly employed in digging up rocks, and t^Ttso^^^^^'^^"^ making the way easier to the church; which if I can suc- ceed in, I design to repair a very venerable old fabrick, that was built here in the time of our ignorant, as we are pleased to call them, ancestors. I wish this age had a little of their piety, though we gave up, instead of it, some of our im- mense erudition. What if you spent a fortnight here this summer; I have laid aside all my country politicks, sheriffs' elections, feasts, &c. ; and I fancy it would not be disagreeable to you to see King Cormack's chapel, his bed- chamber, &c., all built, beyond controversy, above eight hundred years ago, when he was king as well as archbishop. I really intend to lay out a thousand pounds to preserve this old church: and I am sure you would be of service to pos- terity, if you assisted me in the doing of it.'"* ment for reraov- To what extent Archbishop Bolton succeeded in ing the cathedral. 2 Swift's Works, xiii., p. 171. Sec. Vll.J KING GEOKGE LL. 583 accomplishing his purpose, does not appear. Proba- bly his power fell short of his inclination. At all events his successor was either not actuated by the same spirit, or saw cause to abandon the undertaking. For he procured an act of council, authorizing hirn to remove the cathedral from the rock of Cashel into the town, and to unite it with St. John's parish. The soldiers of the 22nd regiment of foot, quartered in the town, were employed to strip off the roof: and the noble and venerable pile soon went to ruin. The power of destruction, however, seems to have Delay in rebuiid- ^ ^ ing it. been more prompt and effective than that of re- edification. For Dr. Campbell, who travelled through the south of Ireland, and wrote his Philosophical Survej/, ill 1775, thus describes the condition of Cashel: "There is not even a roofed church in this metropolis (Cashel); the service being performed in a sorry room, where country courts are held. The choir of the cathedral was kept in repair, and used as a parish church, till within thirty years; but the situation not being accessible enough, which, how- ever, 20/. would have rendered so, the roof was wantonly pulled do^^'n, an act of parliament and a grant of money being first obtained, to change the site of the cathedral from the rock to the town. A new church, of ninety feet by forty-five, was accord- ingly begun, and raised as high as the wall plates. But in that state it has stood for near tv^enty years^" . . . "The congregation," he adds, "was thin; comi)osed of some well-dressed women, some half dozen boys, and perhaps half a score of foot soldiers." Archbishop Price, it seems, whilst Bishop Ot Consequences of Meath, had been employed in building an episcopal Prices tiausia- residence at Ardbraccan, in pursuance of the design of CAMi'BiiLL's Philoso2)hical Siirvet/f p. 121). 584 THE REIGN OF [Ch; IV. his predecessor, Bishop Evans. The offices he built in a handsome manner, and completed them, that they might serve for v>ings to the principal building, which not being raised before his translation to Cashel, his successor, Bishop Maule, converted one of them into a dwelling-house. A MS. note in Mr, Coopers copy of Ware, mentions the fact, and adds, "It ^vere much to be wished that he had never quitted ]Meath, and then the house of Ardbraccan would have been completed; and the noble, the venerable cathedral of Cashel would have escaped his destructive hand." A^'t of 21 George The act of council which authorised this pro- U., c. 8, concern- »— t toi cathediais. ccedlng was passcd on the 10th of July, 1749. It was based upon an act of parliament passed in the year 1747, being the twenty-first of King George II., chap, 8, which recites, as the reasons for the Preamble of act. enactment, that "in several dioceses of this king- dom cathedral churches are so incommodiously situated, that they cannot be conveniently resorted to for divine service ; by reason whereof they for some years past have had no divine service cele- brated in them, and therefore have been suffered to go to ruin and decay :" that "' there is no likelihood of their being ever repaired, as well by reason of their said incommodious situation, as because they have no fund belonoinof to them sufhcient thereto :" and that " there are parish churches which he near such cathedral churches, which may be conveniently used both as cathedral and parochial churches, and made sufficient to answer the uses and piu-poses of Power given such Cathedral churches." For these reasons power by it to chief . i i . ^ • i i goveraour. was giveu to the chief governour, with the assent or the privy council, with the advice and approbation of the archbishop, bishop, and dean and chapter, and Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE II. 585 with tlie consent of tlie parochial incumbent and parishioners, to remove the site of a cathedral church to some convenient parochial church, and to make such parochial church both cathedral and parochial. Other enactments were added, distributing the future repairs of the new cathedral and parochial church between the chapter and the parish; and providing' that the old cathedral church or church- yard should be kept enclosed and apart from profane uses by sufficient fences, at the charge of the dean and chapter. This act of parliament alludes, as may have been casuei cathedral ^ '' alone affected by noticed, to the incommodious situation and decayed it. condition of " cathedral churches in several dioceses of the kingdom." It should seem, however, to have been enacted with a view to one in particular. At least, whatever may have been the actual state of others, the cathedral church of Cashel was the only one that was removed by virtue of this act, there being no record of any other in the archives of the privy council. This act also o-ave power to the chief o-overnour. Power of disap- ^ ^ <~> propriating with the assent of a majority of the council, and with benefices, the consent of the archbishop, bishop, and other patrons and incumbents, for disappropriating bene- fices belonging to deans, archdeacons, dignitaries, and other members of cathedral churches, and for appropriating others in their stead. It was somewhat earlier than the date lately Death of Bishop *' stearne, 1745. mentioned, namely, in 1745, that the Church of Ireland was deprived of one of her most munificent prelates in Stearne, bishop of Clogher, who died on the 6th of June in that year, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. His generosity, hospitality, and 586 THE REIC4N OF [Cii. IV. charity are said to have been unbounded ; and he stands on record as a liberal benefactor, either dur- ing his life, or by his will, to almost every institution of publick utility'. Those beneiits which he con- ferred on the Church, thus endeavouring to return in a degree the advantages which he derived from it, require to be specially noted in this narrative. His benefactions Tho cplscopal mausion-hoUses of Droniore and Clogher, as well as the deanery-house of St. Patrick's, were entirely re1)uilt by him. Towards finishing the cathedral church of Clogher, if not finished by him- self in his life-time, he bequeathed 1500/. or 2000/., to be determined by his executors; and towards building a spire on the steeple of St. Patrick's cathe- dral he left 1000/., provided the work should be seriously undertaken within six years of his decease. To explain the catechism twice a week in the city of Dublin, he bequeathed an annual salary of 80/. for a catechist, to be chosen every three years by the beneficed clergy, and 40/. for a clergyman to officiate regularly in Dr. Stevens's hospital. To these may be added, a donation of 400/. to the Blue- coat Hospital for the education of poor children ; and a bequest of 100/. a year for apprenticing Tothcuuivci=ify; eliildren of decayed clergymen. Ten exhibitions, of 50/. each a year, entrusted to the provost and senior fellows of Trinity, testified his desire of encouraging education in sound religion and useful learning; which was further shown by a donation of 1000/. to the university, for building a printing-house, and 200/. more for the purchase of types. To the uni- versity also, of which he was vice-chancellor, he pre- sented his valuable collection of manuscripts. His books, such of them as were not already in Primate * Masun's St. Patrick's, p. 222. Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE II. 587 Marsh's library, he left to increase that collection ; and the remainder to be sold, and the purchase- to the cieigy. money distributed among the curates of the diocese of Clogher; at whose request, however, the books themselves were by the bishop's executors divided amongst them. To purchase glebes and impropria- tions for resident incumbents he gave 2000/. to the trustees of the first-fruits, providing against the en- tire waste of the principal sum, by allowing only one- third of the purchased tythes to the incumbent, until the residue had replaced the principal sum expended. " Such acts as these," it hath been well observed, " confer honour on our Protestant prelates." Bishop Stearne was memorable also for the care with m hich His examination he examined his candidates for holy orders, submit- holy orders, ting them to a week's previous trial in Latin, in which lano-uaoe the whole of his intercourse with them on that occasion appears to have been con^ ducted. His own talent of Latin composition Avas ms skm in Latin composition. eminent, distinguished as he was, according to the testimony of Mv. Harris", his contemporary, for the extent and copiousness of his literature, and the sharpness and readiness of his intellect. He chose that languag*e for the vehicle of his sentiments on the visitation of the sick, or the duties of parochial mini- sters towards the sick and dying, which he published in a treatise, for the benefit of the vounger and less ms Treatise on *' , the Visitation of experienced clergy, at Dublin, in 1697 ; a treatise tuesick. which Dean Stanhope recommended to a young- clergyman, as calculated to be of assistance in form- ing a habit of ready and free conversation with the sick; and which is characterised in Nichols's Literary A7iecdotes as " short, indeed, but comprehensive, and valuably useful';" and which was judged, by the * Ware's Bishops. ^ Vol. iv., p. 170. 588 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. delegates of the Clarendon Press, in 1807, worthy of being reprinted amongst other " more scarce or eminent treatises of our English divines," for the assistance of the parochial clergy, in a valuable volume, intituled The Clercjymans Instructor, For a sermon in the same language, delivered before the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of the Lower House of Convocation of the Church of Ireland, in the cathedral of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in February, 1703, he received the thanks of the Lower House. Report of a con- ]Mr. Burdy, in his Life of the Rev. Philip Skelton, versation be- . • i • i tween him and has mcutioncd an anecdote concernmg his work on the Bishop of _ London. DeisM Remoled I that a few months after its publica- tion, the Bishop of London, Dr. Sherlock, asked Bishop Stearne if he knew the author of this book ; and on being answered, that " he had been a curate in the diocese of Cloglier near twenty years," he replied, " More shame for your Lordship, to let a man of his merit continue so long a curate in your diocese." Of the genuineness of this anecdote we are not informed : supposing it to be correctly told, I venture to observe, that the Bishop of Clogher was as well qualified to judge of the merit and claims of a curate in his diocese, as was the Bishop of London. The foregoing statement of his benefac- tions is a proof that he was not indifferent to the promotion of religion, or the well-being of the Church, And, notwithstanding the intimations of Mr. Skelton's biographer, I should be slow in be- lieving that Bishop Stearne was indisposed to give encouragement to literary or professional exertions, or that he made promises of preferment which he " disregarded," and which, in fact, " he never in- tended to perform." Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE II. 589 It was about this time that Methodism first made Appearance of Methodism la its appearance in Ireland, in which country, according Ireland, to the description of Dr. Coke, the author of the life of Mr. Wesley, not only " the Romanists were buried in the profoundest ignorance and supersti- tion," but " among the Protestant dissenters also, a very considerable, if not the major part of them, had embraced very dangerous errors, and but few, com- paratively, knew anything of the powder of religion ; and in the Established Church there was hardly any- thin o- but the form of reliofion remainino^." Here- upon one of the Methodist preachers, a Mr. Williams, crossed the Channel, and began to preach in Dublin: multitudes flocked to hear, and for some time there was much disturbance, chiefly, not wholly, from the lower class, mostly Romanists. He soon formed a small society, and wrote an account of his success to Mr. Wesley, who determined on visiting Ireland ZViy^iilSlS'^ immediately, and arrived in Dublin on the forenoon ^"s- 1747. of Sunday, August the 9th, 1747. In the afternoon, by the permission of JMr. R., curate of St. Mary's, he " preached to as gay and senseless a congregation as ever he saw," and received the affectionate thanks of ^Ir. R., Avho " professed abundance of good-will, and commended his sermon in strono- terms ; but expressed the most rooted prejudice against lay- preachers, or preaching out of a church; and said, the Archbishop of Dublin was resolved to suffer no • such irregularities in his diocese." Archbishop Cobbe at that time presided over the ^is interview ^ ^ with Archbishop diocese of Dublin. Being absent, however, from the cobbe. city, Mr. Wesley sought him the following Tuesday at Newbridge, ten miles from Dublin, where, as he reports in his Journal, " I had the favour of con- versing with him two or three hours, in which I 590 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. answered abundance of objections^." But neither the objections nor the answers are specified. His sermons in The Mothodists Were already possessed of a Dublin. , *' ^ preaching house in Marlborough-street, originally designed for a Lutheran church. In the evening of Sunday Mr. Wesley preached in it, and " many of the rich w^ere there, and many ministers of every denomination. I preached," says he, " on ' The Scripture hath concluded all under sin,' and spoke closely and strongly ; but none at all seemed to be offended." The following days, both morning and evening, he preached to large congregations in the same place ; but appears to have had no further connection with the curate or the church of St. Mary's, or, indeed, with any other church, except that on Sunday, the 16th, he went to St. James's in the morning, there being no service at St. Patrick's, and in the afternoon to Christ Church, where he was an object of silent curiosity to the whole congrega- tion. In the evening he again preached in Marl- borough-street; and having subsequently examined the society, and explained to them the rules, within a few days returned to England. Shortly after, Ireland was visited by Mr. Charles Wesley, who preached in Dublin, and in other parts of the kingdom, chiefly in Cork, Athlone, and Ban- don ; and, in the spring of 1748, a second time by Mr. Wesley, accompanied by two of his preachers. Ilesnmpt;on He now resumed his labours, which he carried on o^^^ IS Lii ours, through much opposition, and with various success; no longer confining himself to the house, but preaching in Oxmantown Green, near the barrack ; and at Newgate, in the common hall. And then, extending his visits from Dublin into the country, he preached, Journ., vii., 40. Sec. VTI.] KING GEORGE 11. 591 as occasions served, in the open air, in a street, in a market-place, or by the road side ; and thns formed societies in many towns of the provinces of Leinster and AInnster, and in some of Connanght. It was at a somewhat later period that Methodism, which was thus introduced into the southern provinces by the founders of tlie sect, was extended into Ulster by their emissaries, where the same discipline Avas ob- served as in the other societies, and conferences were established by Mr. Wesley with the preachers, as with those in England. I do not find any mention made of the rulers of conduct of the bishops and the Church in connection with these irregularities, ciergj-. except what has been already said incidentally of the Archbishop of Dublin. But of the conduct of the parochial clergy there are some examples scat- tered over JNIr. Wesley's Journal, from which the following particulars are extracted. Whether from mere curiosity, or from a motive ciergy occasion- *' ally present at of approbation, does not appear; but some of the i^s preaching, clergy occasionally were present at his preaching. Thus, at Athlon e, " five clergymen were of the audience, and abundance of Romanists. Such an opportunity," he adds, " I never had before in these parts ^" When he preached in the market-place at Roscrea, " several gentlemen and several clergymen were present, and all behaved weir." Among the congregation at Ahaskra, where he preached " at the desire of the rector, and before his door," was the rector of a neighbouring parish, " who seemed then to be much athirst after righteousness'"." He describes himself as being sometimes the Their rpposition, object of clerical opposition; once in particular, ^ Wesley's JournaJ, vii., p. 78. ^ Ibid., viii., p. 5.5. Jl)i^ Ibid., viii., p. 40, Ibid., p, 104, Sec. VII ] KING GEORGE II. 593 And, in his absence from Ireland, Mr. Lloyd wrote him a letter reporting the success of Air. Wesley's society, the preaching of which he frequently at- tended ; " and though," he added, " I am much reflected on for it, this does not in any wise dis- courage me;'' and commending this work of jNIr. Wesley's, "though I could wish," he added, " that all the clergy were, in that respect, of the same mind with me'V In fact, but few of the clerofy appear to have Little interest ° ^ taken by elergy shown approbation of these innovations, and none jn ws proceed- other to have permitted Mr. Wesley to preach in his pulpit. For the most part, indeed, they gave little outward demonstration of interest in his pro- ceedings ; at least, besides the instances which have been already cited, I find no mention made of their interference with his preaching, either for good or ill, during the first five or six years of his connection with Ireland, though his journals record all the occurrences that befell him with sufficient minute- ness. ^Meanwhile, from the lav-members of the ^^^t^odist so- ' ► cieties in various Church, he had collected societies in various places, p^*^^^- especially in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Limerick ; and in the most considerable provin- cial towns, such as Bandon, Kinsale, and Rathcor- mick, in the county of Cork ; Roscrea, of Tipperary; Birr, Tullamore, and Edenderry, in the King's, and Portarlington and JNlountmellick, in the Queen's, County; Tyrrell's Pass, in West JNIeath ; Athlone, in West Meath and Roscommon ; and Aghrim, in Gal way. During his journeys throudi Ireland, it was the ^^^'^sieys ^ ^ ^ attendance at practice of Mr. Wesley to attend divine service on Sundays in the parish-church of the place where he ^' Wesley's Jottrnal, viii., p. 49. Ibid., p. 7. 2 Q THE REIGN OF [Cn. IV, chanced to be, the hour of which, in the morning, he notices to have been twelve o'clock at noon. The commendation of the officiating minister, which was now and again drawn from him on such occasions, may be deemed not unworthy of a passing notice. At Athlone, he says, " we went to church, and heard a plain, useful sermon^*." At the same place, ht another time, " Mr. G. preached an excellent sermon at church, on the necessity of the religion of the heart 2"." At Bandon, " we had in the morning, at St. Paul's, a strong, close, practical sermon''." At Limerick, he w^ent to the cathedral. " I had been informed,'* he says, " it was a custom here, for the gentry especially, to laugh and talk all the time of divine service ; but I saw^ nothing of it. The whole congregation, rich and poor, behaved suitably to the occasion At one of the Dublin cathedrals, a very different scene appears to have been exhibited. *' I was greatly shocked," he ob- serves " at the behaviour of the congregation in St. Patrick's church. But all their carelessness and indecency did not prevent my finding an uncommon blessing. Between five and six," he continues, " our house was nearly filled ; but great part of the hearers seemed utterly unawakened. I marvel how it is, that, after all our labour here, there should still be so little fruit." His appearance By moaus of tho prcacliers whom Mr. Wesley 1736, ' left behind him, Methodism was at first extended into the north of Ireland ; but it was not until the year 1756, that it was encouraged there by his per- sonal appearance. In the July of that year, he took occasion to visit Ulster, and records in his journal Wesley's Journal, vii., p. 60. Ibid., ix., p. 34. Ibid., p. ns. 22 Ibid., vii., p. 128. Ibid., ix., p. 32. Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE IT. 595 the transactions ^Yb^cll occurred at Newry, Lisburn, Belfast, and Carrickfergus, some of the principal towns of the counties of Down and Antrim. At Newry, he preached to a large congregation, ^^j^j)'"^^''^"''''^''^ and afterwards spoke to the members of the society, consisting of churchmen, dissenters, and Papists that were. At Lisburn, he preached in the market- house : " one man only gainsayed ; but the by- standers used him so roughly, that he was soon glad to hold his peace. The rector, with his curate, called on JNIr. Wesley, candidly proposed their objections, and spent about two hours in free, serious, friendly conversation. How much evil," he observes, " might be prevented or removed, could other clergymen follow^ their example." At Belfast, he preached in the market-house to as large a congregation as at Lisburn; but some of them did not stay till he concluded. At Carrickfergus, he preached in the sessions-house to most of the inhabitants of the town. " But Satan," he remarks, " had prepared one of his instruments when I had done, to catch the seed out of their hearts. A poor enthusiast began a dull, pointless harangue, about hirelings and false prophets. ... At eleven, I went to church, to the surprise of many, and heard a lively useful sermon. After dinner, one of our brethren asked, ' If I was ready to go to the meet- ing?' I told him, 'I never go to meeting.' He seemed as much astonished as the old Scot at Ne^^'- castle, who left us ' because we were mere Church- of-EngJand men.' We are so," continues ]\Ir. \A>sley, " although we condemn none, who have been brought up in another way." At Lisburn, again, he spoke very plain, both to the great vulgar and the small. But, he observes, "between seceders, old 2 Q 2 596 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. self-conceited Presbyterians, new-light men, Mora- vians, Cameronians, and formal churchmen, it is a miracle of miracles, if any here bring forth fruit to perfections^" After preaching in the neighbouring town of Lurgan, where the gentry, assembled in a room over the market, ceased tuning the violins till he had done, Mr. Wesley quitted the North, where, how- ever, as in other parts of the kingdom, by the exer- tions of his emissaries, and occasionally of himself, Methodism continually made farther advances. But it may suffice to have brought the foregoing notice of its introduction before the reader. Section VIII. Death and Character of Primate Hoadhj. Act of nineteenth of Georcie 11.^ c. 13, concerning Marriages by Popish Priests. Lenient administration of the Laws relating to Papists. Measures taken in 1745. Viceroyalty of Earl of Chesterfield. Bishop Stone raised to the Primacy. Account of him. Unusual rapidity of his advancement. A maintainer of the English interest. His political character and personal beauty. Not distinguished pro- fessionally. Earl of Charlemonfs description of him^ and Bishop Newton s. His description of himself . Chap- laincy of Lord Lieutenant ordinary channel of pre- ferment. Episcopal Appointments during Archbishop Hoadlys Primacy., and in the succeeding years. Metro- politan changes. Other changes by death or translation. Death of Primate \^ tho vcar followiug the death of Bishop Stearne, Hoadly, July 16, O ^ ' 1746. and preceding the first visit of the founder of Methodism to Ireland, the primacy became again vacant by the death of Archbishop Hoadly, on the 16th of July, 1746, aged sixty-eight years. A too Wesley's Journal^ x., 78. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE II. 597 assiduous attendance on his workmen caused a fever, which soon terminated fatally ; and the next day he was, by his own desire, buried at Tallaght, near Dublin, where, as related by the author of the sketch of his life, annexed to that of his brother, " he had erected a noble monument to himself, the most elegant as w^ell as convenient episcopal palace in Ireland, from the ruins of an immense castle of that name. But," adds his panegyrist, "he raised a nobler in the hearts of the Irish, by indefatigably promoting the improvement of agriculture by his skill, his purse, and his example." Without intending to depreciate such under- ^i'^ character, takings, or to disparage the character of those who engage in them, it is obvious to remark that such is not the monument most appropriate to a churchman, or best calculated to transmit his name with honour to a grateful posterity. Of any claims, however, of a more professional nature which Primate Hoadly may have on the gratitude of the Irish Church for benefits conferred on it or its clergy during his primacy, I am not furnished with evidence. Amongst five occasional sermons w^hich he published, one was an assize sermon, in 1707, On the Nature and Emellency His writings. of Moderation^ which his biographer remarks to have been "a dangerous and unfashionable subject at that time:" and another was preached at the consecration of his brother to the bislioprick of Hereford, in 1717. Two other works of his composition and publication wxre, A Defence of Bishop Burnet on the Articles, and A View of Bishop Beveridge's Writings hi a Humourous Way. With his last-named work I have no acquaintance. But the name of Bishop Beveridge is too venerable, and his writings of too serious a cast, to encourage the supposition that 598 THE llEIGN OF [Cii IV. tliey could have been well or fitly converted into an occasion of humour. Let it however be added, in the words of the historian of the city of Armagh, that "he was probably more zealously attached to the doctrines of the Church of England than his brother, who is styled by some of his biographers, ' the greatest dissenter that ever obtained promotion in the Church.' " Act of nineteenth Durino' the primacv of Archbishoi) Hoadly no GeorgcII.,c.l3, , . , . ® ^ , , i • i concerning mar- legisuitive euactmeuts, beanng on ecclesiastical priests. affairs, occurred, unless it be the act of the nine™ teentli of George II., chapter 13, relative to mar- riages celebrated by Popish priests. In the year 1725, the twelfth of George I., in consequence of clandestine marriages having been "celebrated by Popish priests and degraded clergymen, to the mani- fest ruin of several families within this kingdom," the guilt and punishment of felony was enacted against any Popish priest, or reputed Popish priest, or person pretending to be a Popish priest, or any degraded clergyman, or any layman pretending to be a clergy- man of the Church of Ireland, as by law established, who should celebrate any marriage between two Pro- testants or reputed Protestants, or between a Pro- testant or reputed Protestant and a Papist." But this enactment having been found ineffectual, another act was passed in 1745, enacting, that "every mar- riage which should be celebrated between a Papist and any person who hath been, or hath professed him or herself to be, a Protestant at any time within twelve months before such celebration of marriage, or between two Protestants, if celebrated by a Popish priest, should be absolutely null and void." Felony in the priest was left as before enacted by the statute of George I. Sec. Vlll.] KING GEOIIGE II. 508 Such marriages, as it was the object of these enactments to prevent, have been at all times a fruitful source of encouragement to Popery, and of injury to the Church of Ireland ; for whose protec- tion, therefore, and for the preservation of her mem- bers against seduction, prudence dictated this enact- ment. Otherwise, there were no new restrictions at L:nientadminis. . . „ PI tration of the this time introduced upon the protessors oi the uws concerning Popish creed: and so far from being exposed to fresh rigour, during the Duke of Devonshire's govern- ment, which was the longest known in Ireland since the accession of the House of Hanover, lasting, as it did, from 1737 to 1745, the laws, which had been 2)reviously enacted for controlling them, were ad- ministered with leniency and moderation'. The alarm excited by the efforts of the Pretender to disturb the Protestant succession, and to replace a treasures taken Popish sovereign on the throne, caused recourse to be had at first to the enforcing of former enactments against them: and a proclamation was issued for compelling their priests to quit the kingdom'. But if, in some cases, the laws were thereupon rigorously executed, in others the magistrates were fain to extend indulgence to those whom they believed deserving of confidence. And, on the arrival of the Earl of Chesterfield to execute the vice-regal office in the September of that year, their places of worship were opened to the Romanists, their priests were released out of prison, and the exercise of their religious offices was allowed them without disturb- ance or interruption. The viceroyalty of Lord Chestei-field, who had Viccroyalty cf been appointed on the breaking out of the Scotch fieid,i74G. rebellion, terminated with the danger that attended * PLOWDiiN's HUtoncal JRevicw, p. 2ii9. Ibid., p. 296. 600 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. it. On the 16th of April, 1746, the Pretender was defeated at the battle of Culloden ; and, on the 25th, the lord lieutenant withdrew from his brief tem- porary administration, and the government was committed to three lords justices, of whom Primate Hoadly was one. This appointment was followed within three months by his death : but it was not till the following March, the Earl of Harrington having entered on the viceregal office in the inter- Bishop stone vening September, that the vacant primacy was raised to the r» n i i i • r» t-» • i n primacy. hllcd by tlio apponitmcnt of Bishop btone. Account of the Georc'e Stone was the son of a banker at Win- new primate. Chester in Hampshire, and had received his education at Christ Church, Oxford, of which he was a student, as aj^pears from the Chapter Registers in 1725. His connection with Ireland originated in some cause, which I have in vain endeavoured to trace. The earliest record of him is, that he was placed, in the year 1738, in the deanery of Ferns, whence, in 1784, he was promoted to that of Derry, and thence again, in 1740, was further promoted to the bishop- rick of Ferns and Leighlin. About this period, and probably with a view to this latter promotion, the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by the university of Oxford in full convocation, on the 20th of May, 1740; being in the interval between the vacancy of the bishoprick in April, and the date of the letters-patent for the consecration of the bishop-elect, who was consecrated on the 8rd of August, by the Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of Meatli and Derry. On the 19th of March, 1748, he was translated to the bishoprick of Kildare, and installed dean of Christ Church on the 15th of June. Thence another translation of him Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE II. 601 was made to the see of Deny, in April, 1745; and ultimately he became Archbishop of Armagh, and primate of all Ireland, in March, 1747. So ra|)id a i^rooress throuodi such a succession of i^nusuai rapidity ^ o o of his advance- dignities, terminated only by his attainment of the "^^'^t- highest, whilst he was still in the flower of his age? (For, assuming him to have been of about eighteen years of age at his matriculation in 1725, we find him of about forty on his elevation to the primacy in 1747,) was of very unusual occurrence. His eleva- tion to the episcopate, which took place two years before the death of Primate Boulter, was, however, later than the date of the last of his published letters: so that no light is thrown, as might liave been other- wise expected, from that source on Bishop Stone's promotion. The fact, however, of his having dis- tinguished himself, in the early stages of his episcopal career, by his maintenance of what was considered Amaintainerof ' the English the English, in opposition to the Irish interest, interest, affords a probable clue for unravelling the course of his preferments ; as in that, to which he eventually attained, he was no less distinguished for following the example of Primate Boulter in maintaining the same interest. Immediately after his elevation to the primacy, in the absence of the Earl of Harring- ton, Archbishop Stone was placed at the head of the commission for the lords justices, in company with the lord chancellor and the speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. Boyle. With the latter he was soon involved in political disputes. Opposition from lusponticai other quarters, and continual efforts to secure poli- tical supporters, co-operated, with a natural ambition and desire of power, in giving a secular tendency to his mind and conduct, so that he is known more as a statesman than as an ecclesiastick ; and the appella- 602 THE UEIGX OF [Ch. IV. Andrersonai tioii of tlie beaiitv of lioliiies?," which he commonly beauty. bore on account of the handsomeness of his person, has not been confiniied by any singular excellence of his official bearing. The propriety of this appellation, indeed, as applied to any person, it is neither my btisiness nor my wish to defend. But it may be here noticed as rather a curious incident, that whilst the portmit of Primate Stone is preserved in the valuable collection of Christ Church, Oxford, amongst the students of that society, the appellation to which I have alluded has been given, not to the picture of the archbishop, but to that of Trevor, bishop of Durham. In the })lace of his residence, the elegance of his form and the beauty of his countenance were long traditionally commemorated as unrivalled ; so that the historian of the city of Armagh has stated his recollection, that " at an early period of his life, when the old inhabitants of Armagh were speaking of any person remarkable for comeliness, they would say, ' he was almost as hand- some as Primate Stone.' " It is more to his honour, that, by his attention and kindness as a landlord, he is represented by the same traditional authority as having secured the affectionate gratitude of his tenantry, and withal an honourable compensation for the open libels aud secret calumnies, whereby slander magnified his failings into vices. Not distinguibhed Xo meuiorial of his episcopal vio:ilance or his professionally. a i o literary talents is said to exist, unless it be one of his visitation sermons, which he is related to have published, but which the relator had heard of, but had never seen^ Meanwhile, of all the political controversies, v/hich agitated Ireland during the latter part of the reign of King George the Second, ^ Stuart's Armtgh, p. ^1. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE II. G03 the primate was a zealous and indefatigable partaker, not to say the prime and most material mover. And, as represented in a memorial of the Earl of Kildare, afterwards Dake of Leinster, to the king, "he made use of his influence to invest himself with temporal power, and affected to be a second AVolsey in the state'." Speaking of the session of 1753, as remarkable ^nt— for the first great parliamentary contest in Ireland, Mr. Hardy, in his Memoirs of James, Earl of Charle- monU p. 80, says, " The Duke of Dorset, son of the celebrated and amiable Lord Dorset, was then lord lieutenant : government was led on by Primate Stone, a man of unbounded ambition. Lord Charle- mont, who knew him ])erfectly, often assured me, that the temper and genius of the English people, and English constitution, averse to all ecclesiastical interference or domination, which the primate Avas well aware of, alone prevented him from aspiring to a distinguished place in the councils of Great Bri- tain. He was brother to Andrew Stone, who pos- sessed considerable knovdedge and ability, a principal figure in the court of Frederick, prince of Wales." Of Andrew Stone, the primate's brother, Bishop Remark on Mm ' i 'A by Bishop Newton, in his Autobiography, has remarked, that Newton. *' he was a most excellent scholar, and at school and at college distinguished himself by his compositions; and the knowledge, not only of Greek and Latin, but even of the Hebrew language, which he at first learned at school, he retained and improved to the last ; and was, withal, a man of grave deportment, of good teuiper, and of the most consummate prudence and discretion. If," adds the right reverend writer, " he had been made primate of Ireland instead of * Hardy's Life of Earl of Charleniont, p. 85. 604 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. his brother, and his brother had l)een secretary of state in his place, the change, perhaps, might have been more suitable to their respective characters." -(p. 182.) The hypothesis, in its application to the primate, can hardly be questioned : his occupations, at least, were by no means of a professional kind ; and as these occupations in a great degree monopolised his mind and pursuits, so they appear to have worn out his constitution ; " and it is said, that when he went over to London, to consult the gentlemen of the faculty on his state of health, he very candidly said tio^jrhfrnsci?* them, ' Look not upon me as an ordinary church- man, or incident to their diseases; but as a man who has injured his constitution by sitting up late, and rising early, to do the business of government in Ireland'.' " Towards the close of life, it has been stated of him by Mr. Hardy, that, " satiated with the bustle and splendour of the world, he thought proper occa- sionally to assume the lowliness of an ecclesiastick ; when the artful statesman still glared so over every part of his behaviour, as to render it in some measure revolting. He quickly perceived this effect of his newly-adopted manner, and re-assumed his old one, in Avliich not the least trace of a churchman was visible^" chapiainc.yof I havc iutiuiated above, my ignorance of the lord lieutenant , i Aii'i o t ordinary channel occasiou whicli brouglit Archbisliop Stone to Ire- land : probably, however, he came as chaplain to a lord lieutenant ; and, if so, of the Duke of Dorset, who held the viceregal dignity before, and at the ^ Campbell's Survej/ of the South of Ireland, p. 5.5. ^ Life of Earl Charlemonty p. 105. Sf.c. VIIT.] KING GEORGE II. 605 dates of, his first preferments. This, indeed, was at all times an ordinary channel of ecclesiastical pro- motion for Englishmen : but subsequently it was peculiarly such. And whatever courses may have been pursued for maintaining the English interest, it is, perhaps, somewhat remarkable, that, after the death of Primate Boulter, during the primacy, first of Archbishop Iloadly, and then of Archbishop Stone, which last was extended beyond the reign of King George II., few appointments of Englishmen to Irish bishopricks occurred, except of the chaplains of lord lieutenants. Durinof the four years of Archbishop Hoadly's i^pi^copai primacy, three natives of England, namely, in ^"^^op noad^^^^^ 1743, Cox, who had been chaplain to the Duke of wim^^v- Ormonde ; Fletcher, chaplain to the Duke of Devon- shire, in 1744; and Chenevix, chaplain to the Earl of Cliesterfield, in 1745; were promoted respectively to the bishopricks of Ossory, Dromore, and Killaloe. During the same period two natives of Ireland were raised to the Irish episcopate; namely, Jemmet Brown, in 1743, to the see of Killaloe ; and Nicholas Synge, in 1746, to that of Killaloe, from which Bisliop Chenevix was translated to Waterford. The only persons besides these, who in these four years were consecrated bishops in Ireland, were William Barnard, George Marlay, and Robert Downes : the last a native of England, but whose father had become bishop of Killala in 1717, and had succes- sively filled the sees of Elphin, Meath, and Derry. The son was promoted from the deanery of Derry to the bishoprick of Ferns and Leighlin in 1744. William Barnard was dean of Rochester, and proba- bly an Englishman. In the same year, 1744, he was made Bishop of Raphoe. George Marlay, who was THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. consecrated to Dromore in 1745, was of an English family, and, I believe, of English birth; as was his elder brother, at this time Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. stceldin^ years. ^ ^"46, on tho death of Archbishop Hoadly, the see of Derry, being vacated by the translation of Bishop Stone to the primacy, w^as filled by Bishop Barnard from Raphoe, which was conferred on Philip Twisden, chaplain to the Earl of Chesterfield. In the succeeding years, Hi chard Robinson and John Garnet, both of them chaplains to the Duke of Dorset, were consecrated respectively in 1751 and 1752 to the bishopricks of Killala and of Ferns and Leighlin : in 1753, William- Carmichael, a Scotchman, chaplain to .the Earl of Harrington, to that of Clonfert: in 1756, Richard Pococke, chap- lain first to the Earl of Chesterfield and then to the Duke of Devonshire, to that of Ossory; in 1757, John Cradock, chaplain to the Duke of Bedford, to that of Kilmore : and in 1758, Thomas Salmon, also chaplain to the Duke of Bedford, to the bishoprick of Ferns and Leighlin. Intermixed with which six appointments, were those of seven men of Irish birth, namely, Arthur Smyth, in 1752, James Stopford, in 1753, Edward Maurice, in 1754, James Leslie, in 1755, William Gore, in 1758, and of Robert Johnson and Samuel Hutchinson, in 1759, to the bishopricks of Clonfert, Cloyne, Ossory, Limerick, Clonfert again, Cloyne again, and Killala. Metropolitan Mcauwhile certain changes took place in the changes in the . /-\ i ■, i f a ^ same period. metropolitau appointmcnts. On the death of Arch- bishop Hort, in 1751, Bishop Ryder was translated from Down and Connor to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam : and his successor in the former see. Bishop Whitcombe, was in 1753, on the death of Arch- Sec. VIII.J KING GEORGE II. bishop Price, translated to the archbishoprick of Cashel, from ^vhich, however, he was removed by death the following year, 1754, and was succeeded by Bishop Cox of Ossory. In the course of the same series of years, the bydeatil following changes took place among the Irish t^^"'^-'^'" bishops, partly by deaths, and partly by translations. In 1743 died Anthony Dopping, bishop of Ossory, to which see he had been consecrated in 1741. He was son of the prelate, both of whose names he bore, who had distinguished himself by his faithful attachment to the Church in the season of King James's persecution. He was promoted to the episcopate from the deanery of Clonmacnois, having been educated in Trinity College, Dublin. His vacancy at Ossory was supplied by INIichael Cox, whose translation to the archbishoprick of Cashel in 1754 has been recently mentioned. He repaired the episcopal residence of Ossory, and added to it some land for a demesne, at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice. In 1744 Bishop Cotterell vacated by his death the see of Ferns and Leighlin, which he had occu- pied little more than a twelvemonth from his con- secration, on the 19th of June, 1743. He was succeeded by Robert Downes, of Merton College, Oxford, who had held the deanery of Derry since 1740; and was subsequently translated to the bishoprick of Down and Connor in 1752, and to that of Raphoe in 1753. He published a sermon preached before the Irish Protestant schools in 1 750. His father was the first of the familv who settled in Ireland : his sons returned to England, and became respectable beneficed clergymen in Essex and Oxfordshire, in the country of their extraction. 608 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. In 1744, Bishop Maiile, who had been originally consecrated to the see of Cloyne in 1726, and in 1731 had been translated to that of Dromore, was thence again promoted to Meath, where he con- tinued till his death in 1758. The see, vacated by him at Dromore, was filled by the consecration of Thomas Fletcher, promoted from the deanery of Down. He had been vicar of Chatsworth in Der- byshire, the residence of the Duke of Devonshire, to whom in his viceregal capacity Dr. Fletcher was chaplain. In the following year, 1745, on the translation of Bishop Stone to Derry, Bishop Fletcher was promoted to Kildare. Dromore was thereupon occupied by Bishop Jemmet Brown, who had been consecrated to Killaloe in 1741, and w^ho, in the same year in which he w^as translated to Dromore, "was further translated to Cork and Ross. Chenevix who succeeded him at Killaloe, to which he was consecrated, being chaplain to the Earl of Chester- field, lord-lieutenant, was also translated within a few months to the see of Waterford and Lismore, on the death of Bishop Este, wdiich occurred in November of this year. Accordingly another bishop was appointed for Killaloe in the person of Nicholas Synge, who was consecrated in the ensuing January. He was the second son of the late Archbishop of Tuam, and younger brother of the then Bishop of Elphin. He had previously held the archdeaconry of Dublin. The bishoprick of Kilfenora, which had been annexed to the archbishoprick of Tuam since the Restoration in 1660, until 1741, when it was given in commendam to John Whitcomb, bishop of Clonfert, was upon his translation in 1753 given in commendam to Bishop Nicholas Synge, and has Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE II. 600 continued since that period to be united to the bishoprick of Killaloe. In 1747, William Barnard, w ho from the deanery of Rochester had been promoted in 1744 to the bishoprick of Rajjhoe, succeeded to Derry on the advancement of Bishop Stone to the primacy. His vacancy at Raphoe was filled by Philip Twisden, younger son of a baronet of Kent, and chaj)lain to the Earl of Chesterfield. His death in 1753 gave occasion for the translation of Bisliop Downes from Down and Connor, which see, on the translation of Bishop Ryder to the archbislioprick of Tuam, had been previously filled by the translation of Bishop Whitcomb from Clonfert ; and, on his promotion the same year to the archbislioprick of Casliel, was then filled by Bishop Downes, and then again by a second translation from Clonfert, namely, that of Bishop Arthur Smyth, who continued there till his translation to Meath in the followinor reimi. JNIean- while the vacancy made in Clonfert by Bishop Smyth, in 1753, was supplied by the consecration of the Honourable William Carmichael, son of the Earl of Hyndeford in Scotland, and chaplain to the Earl of Harrington, and archdeacon of Bucks in the cathedral of Lincoln. In 1753, also, the death of Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne, gave occasion for the promotion of James Stopford, formerly a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and at the time provost of St. Mary's Church, at Tuam, and dean of Kilmacduagh. In 1755 died Burscough, bishop of Limerick, a man commemorated for his piety, learning, and eloquence, and as one who had, by his residence in his see, so attached to him the citizens' affections^ that their jealousy was aroused by his being buried 2 R 610 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. at New Ross, his seat in the county of Tipperary. He was succeeded by James Leslie, a native of Ire- land, a member of Trinity College, and possessed of patrimonial property in the county of Kerry, but connected by marriage with Dr. Edward Chandler, bishop of Durham, from whom he had received pre- ferment in that diocese. In 1754, on the promotion of Bishop Cox to the archbishoprick of Cashel, Edward Maurice was con- secrated to the bishoprick of Ossory ; and in 1756 he vacated it by death, having presided over it about two years. His successor was the celebrated Oriental traveller, Ricliard Pococke, archdeacon of Dublin, and chaplain, first to the Earl of Chesterfield, and then to the Duke of Devonshire, by whose recom- mendation he was promoted to the episcopate. In 1757 died Joseph Story, bishop of Kilmore, being upwards of seventy-eight years of age. He had been educated in the College of Edinburgh, which he left in 1702, the year of King William's death. He was chaplain of the House of Commons, and possessed the deanery of Ferns, before his con- secration to the bishoprick of Killaloe, in 1740; whence, in 1742, he was translated to Kilmore. By Dr. Campbell, in his Philosophical Surveij of the So2ith of Ireland', it is stated " that Bishop Story published only some occasional sermons ; but, in his Treatise on the Priesthood, deep erudition and Christian moderation are equally consincuous." His successor in Killaloe was John Ryder, afterwards bishop of Down and Connor, and archbishop of Tuam ; and, in Kilmore, John Cradock, rector of St. PauFs, Covent Garden, and chaplain to the Duke of Bedford. 7 P. 421. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE II. 611 The death of Bishop Clayton, vrho had been translated from the see of Cork and Ross in 1745, on the death of Bishop Stearne, caused, in 1758, another vacancy in the bishoprick of Clogher, M'hich was filled by the translation of Bishop Garnet from Ferns and Leighlin, a member of the University of Cambridge, where, by royal mandate, he had been created doctor of divinity in 1751, and a chaplain of the Duke of Dorset, during whose viceroyalty he had been raised to the episcopate in 1752. His promo- tion to Clogher now, in 1758, made way for the translation of Bishop Carmichael from Clonfert to Ferns and Leighlin; whence he was further advanced to Meath, on the death of Bishop Maule, the same year. In 1759, Bishop Stopford, whose elevation to the episcopate in 1753 was lately noticed, vacated by death the bishoprick of Cloyne, which was con- ferred on Robert Johnson, a native of Ireland, dean of Tuam, and domestick chaplain to the Earl of Shannon, one of the lords justices. And in the same year. Bishop Robinson, who had succeeded Bishop Cary at Killala on his death in 1751, was, on the death of Bishop Salmon, translated to Ferns and Leighlin. A native of Tavistock, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, the deceased prelate had attended the Duke of Bedford to Ireland, as his chaplain, and retired to his native place to die, within a year of his consecration. 2 R 2 612 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Section IX. Recent Episcopal Appointments^ why particularly noticed. Heteral Bishops not specially clistinyuished. Account of three in particidar. Clayton^ Bishop of Clogher. His Elevation to the Episcopate. His early Publica- tions, and Essay on Spirit. Its Object. His higher preferment negatived. His Theological Speech in Par- liament. Offence given by it. Determination to proceed against him. Forewarned of the result. His Death. Maurice, Bishop of Ossory. His place of Education. His I'ranslation of Homer. Description of the MS., and Specimens. His Literary Character. PococJce, Bishop of Ossory. His Education and Travels. His Ecclesiastical Pursuits. His Preferment. Few Theological Worls. Attention to Irish Monastick Antiquities. Translation to Meath^ and sudden Death. Affinity to Joseph Bingham, Recent episcopal \^ ^lie eai'Uer periods of this history, whilst the most appointments ^ no^tLe^*'''"^'''^'^ distinguished members of the Irish episcopate have been brought under the reader s notice, I have not been studious of particularising all who have borne the episcopal dignity ; knowing, that to those per- sons who might be desirous of tracing the succession in the several dioceses, a ready opportunity was afforded by Sir James Ware's History of the Irish Bishops, continued by his relative ISIr. Harris. But since the date, at which the labours of the latter terminated, attention has been given to the episcopal appointments, which have been specified, whatever may have been the personal distinction of the indi- viduals. And thus the last few pages have been occupied with little more than a catalogue of names, requisite, perhaps, to be introduced as matter of historical record, but little calculated to interest the general reader. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. 613 Whether there was little belon^'iiiff to each incli- several wshops " not specially dia- vidual for commemoration, or that there were want- tjns>iisiied. ing persons to commemorate what there was; whether from the consequent non-existence of memorials, or from the difficulty of obtaining such as may exist, of the bishops who have now been enumerated, as hav- ing at this period been consecrated to the episcopal office, or as having been translated to other bishop- ricks, or as having been called thence to their great account, there are several of whom I find few parti- culars, such as to require introduction into this nar- rative. Of some there has been already occasion to speak more particularly; as, for example. Bishop Maule and Bishop Berkeley. A more convenient opportunity may occur for speaking of others, as in particular of Bishop Robinson, who will be presented, in the next reign, to notice in a conspicuous and important character. But there are three, two of Notice of three in ^ particular. whom we have just seen go off the stage, and one who has been lately introduced, and continued some- what longer u])on it, to whom our attention may be now most appropriately given, namely, Clayton, bishop of Clogher, and Maurice and Pococke, suc- cessively bishops of Ossory. It has been related in a preceding: pao:e, that in ciayton.bishop ^ & 1 O ' of Clogher. 1758 died Dr. Clayton, bishop of Clogher. Son of a Dean of Kildare, he had been nevertheless edu- cated at Westminster, under the private tuition of Zachary Pearce, afterwards successively Bishop of Bangor and Rochester: but being removed to Trinity College, Dublin, for the completion of his education, he became in due time a fellow of that society. A considerable patrimonial property enabled him at an early period to resign his fellowship on marriage; 614 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. and, having previously past some time in foreign travel, he shortly afterwards visited London, where he formed an acquaintance with Dr. Samuel Clarke, the result of which was his adoption of those reli- gious principles to which he adhered during the re- mainder of his life. His elevation to Notwithstaudino' his condemnation of the doc- the episcopate. ^ trines of the Church, he was however not unwilling to partake of her temporal dignities. And having been strongly brought under the favourable notice of Queen Caroline by his relation, Mrs. Clayton, the favourite of the queen, and afterwards Lady Sundon, he was recommended to Lord Carteret for the first vacant Irish bishoprick. With the concur- rence of Primate Boulter, who, we must charitably presume, was not acquainted with Dr. Clayton's theological sentiments, he was in January, 1730, raised to the episcopate, as Bishop of Killala, and in November, 1735, translated to the see of Cork and Ross, on the death of Bishop Brown. In 1745 he succeeded Bishop Stearne in the bishoprick of Clogher. His early publi- It appears to have been somewhat later than cations, this period that he first became know^n to the pubhck as a biblical scholar, by means of a History of the Jews, the Chronology of the Hebrew Bible vindicated, and a Dissertation on Prophecy: by these publica- tions, however, his peculiar theological principles were not notified, as they were in a succeeding work And his Essay of the year 1751, intituled An Essay on Spirit, which professed to consider " The doctrine of the Trinity, in the light of reason and nature, as well as in the light in which it was held by the ancient Hebrews, compared also with the doctrine of the Old and New Testament; with an inquiry into the Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. (315 sentiments of the primitive Fathers of the Church, and the doctrine of the Trinity, as maintained by the Egyptians, Pythagoreans, and Platonists, together Avith some remarks on the Athanasian and Nicene creeds." Of this i)erformance, which excited very general «;iinottubch attention, and was productive of a large and fruitful controversy, it is, however, a remarkable fact, as alleged by Bishop Clayton's biographer, with Avhat truth I know not, that the authorship was not his own. A young clergyman in his diocese having showed the manuscript to his spiritual overseer, expressing withal a fear of printing it in his own name, the bishoj), according to the above authority, conveyed it to the press, placed it under the cover of a dedication of his own writing, and, although he did not absolutely avow the work, contrived that he should be universally considered as the author. The ])rincipal object of the work was to controvert the doctrine of the Trinity, as maintained bv the Church: object of the work. and the natural consequence, that he, who had placed himself in the responsible situation of the author, was precluded from the future patronage of those who were intrusted ^^ith the disposal of her prefer- ments. On the death of Archbishop Hort in 1752, he was recommended indeed by the Duke of Dorset, then vicerov of Ireland, for the vacant arcliiepiscopal His higher prc- c m ' r\ T-i 1 n ferment ncga- see of Tuam. But the English government formed tived. a better estimate of the qualifications of a candidate for such an appointment; and a negative was put on the higher elevation of the publisher, and universally received author, of the Emi?/ on Spirit. Of this prelate's intermediate works or publica- His theoi„3icai ^ sp2ech in parlia- tions, it is not necessary to speak; but an event "^'^"t- which occurred soon after his rejection from the 616 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. arcliiepiscopal dignity, must be related: and for that purpose the language of his biographer shall be adopted: " He bad long been dissatisfied with the Athanasian creed, nor did he approve of the Nicene creed in every par- ticular: on which accounts he was not a little disturbed, that they continued to be a part of the liturgy of the Church. These sentiments he had declared in his vrritings: but this, upon mature deliberation, did not appear to him to be a sufficient discharge of his Christian duty. He determined, therefore, to avow the same sentiments in his legislative capacity; and accordingly on Monday, the 2nd of February, 1756, he proposed, in the Irish House of Lords, that the Nicene and Athanasian creeds should for the future be left out of the liturgy of the Church of Ireland. The speech, which our prelate delivered upon this interesting occasion, being taken down in short hand, was afterwards published, and hath gone through several editions. When the bishop returned from the House of Peers, he expressed to a gentle- man, who accompanied him in his coach, his entire satisfac- tion with what he had done. He said, that his mind was eased of a load which had long lain upon it: and that he now enjoyed a heartfelt pleasure, to which he had been a stranger for above twenty years before.'' His retention of Upon this result of a proceeding, which was dic- hi^ preferment. ^^^^^| (joubt by a Condemning conscience, only one observation shall be offered, namely, that the heartfelt pleasure which he enjoyed, on such a declaration of his sincere sentiments concerning the doctrines and formularies of the Church, which by his ordination and consecration vows he was pledged to maintain, would doubtless have been greatly enhanced, if he had at that time surrendered the dignity and emoluments possessed by him in virtue of that pledge. His perseverance in retaining the preferment, of which he had renounced the condition, must have lain still a heavy load upon his jnind. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. 617 " But ^vhatever happiness," adds the bioQ^rapher, "the ofFeme giveu by . V, ' . f, , , . . , bis speech. Bishop of Clogher might derive from thus complying with his own conscience, he had not the additional felicity of obtaining the approbation of his auditors. His speech gave great and general offence; and was particularly disgusting to the ecclesiastical lords. The primate said, that 'it made liis ears tingle.' But though so declared and avowed an attack upon the establishment was regarded in a very atrocious light, no measures were taken for calling the bishop to account for it.'' Ill a subsequent publication, however, in 1757, he renewed his attacks on the same and similar subjects: " In short, he gave up so many doctrines as indefensible, Determination to , , , , rrn • • proceed against and avowed others so contradictory to the ihirty-nine him. Articles, that the governours of the Church of Ireland determined to proceed against him. And in consequence of this determination, the king was advised to order the Duke of Bedford, then lord lieutenant, to take the proper steps towards a legal prosecution of the Bishop of Clogher. A day was accordingly fixed for a general meeting of the Irish prelates at the house of the primate, to which he was summoned, that he might receive from them the notification of their intentions. A censure was certain: a deprivation was apprehended. But, before the time appointed arrived, he was seized with a nervous fever, which brought him to his dissolution on the 26th of February, 1758." Mr. Burdy, in his Life of tJie Rev. Philip Skelton, mentions an anecdote that Bishop Clayton consulted a lawyer of eminence on the subject, and asked if he thought that he should lose his bishoprick? " My Lord," lie answered, I believe you will." " Sir," he replied, " you have given me a stroke which I shall neA'er get the better of." Whereupon he was instantly seized with a disorder, and soon after died. From the same authority, however, it Forewarned of ' the result. appears that he had been forew^arned of this result of G18 THE REIGN OF [Cii. IV. his efforts at making converts to his opinions; for whilst he was engaged in committing to paper his peculiar notions, with a view to their publication, his wife was used to visit him in his study, and admonish him, " My Lord, quit writing, or you will lose your bishoprick." But he would not be persuaded by her ; " The world whs all wrong," he answered, " and he would strive to set it rio-ht." However these things be, the ruin, which eventually threatened to overwhelm him, was more formidable than he was able to sustain; and it is on all hands agreed, that the agitation of mind, into which the bishop was thrown by the prosecution commenced against him, His death. was tlic immediate cause of his death. "We have been informed," adds the biographer, " that nothing- affected him so much as the consideration that he should on this occasion be deserted by his royal Vindication of mastor." And this is extremely probable. But their Majesties. i • i • i i M"hen he proceeds to observe, that " it does nideed reflect disgrace on the memory of King George II., that he should thus have been prevailed upon to give countenance to any measures of persecution; and that had Queen Caroline lived, she would undoubt- edly have protected the prelate of her own creation:" justice towards the royal i)ersonages, who are re- spectively the subjects of the censure, and of the implied commendation, demands the remark, that to call a publick functionary to a legal account for con- duct, contrary to his plighted faith, and his most solemn obligations, is not to ''persecute;" and that the royal patronage, how^ever blamelessly exercised at first in promoting to the episcopal office one sup- posed to be qualified for its duties, could not without guilt have been continued to be exercised for his "protection," when his disqualification was avowed and notorious. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE 11. (519 Edward Maurice, a native of Ireland, was edu- Maurice, bishop _ of Ossory. cated in Trinity College, of which he became a scholar in 1709. In a MS. note appended to his place of Harris's edition of AYare's Bishops, and marked Avitli the name of Archbishop Newcome, it is stated that he was a scholar of Corpus Christi Colleg-e, Oxford. But this appears to have arisen from some confusion between him and his successor in the bishoprick of Ossory, who was certainly a member of that society; at all events, I find, on inquiry, that the name of Maurice does not appear among either its scholars or exhibitioners, whereas it does appear among the scholars of Trinity College, Dublin, in the above year, though without the Christian name to identify it with the subject of this inquiry. It ap})ears also from the Dublin Journal of January 26-29, 1754, that on the preceding Sunday the Rev. Edward Maurice, INl. A., was consecrated Bishop of Ossory at the cathedral church of St. Patrick's, by the Archbishop of Dublin, and that the consecration sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Dawson, an error probably for Dr. Lawson, a senior fellow of the college, and an intimate friend of the new^ bishop. Tlie provost, also, and senior fellows nis degree in Trinity College, of the college are stated to have "complimented the Duwin. bishop with the degree of Doctor in Divinity, as a mark of their esteem and honour for him, and the satisfaction they share in with the publick at the preferment of a person of such distinguished learning and abilities." Thus the Dublin University seems entitled to the credit of reckoning Bishop Maurice among her sons. The library of Trinity College, Dublin, contains ins translation of ^ , , . _ Homer in Trinity a very curious specimen of the literary talents and couegc Library. 620 THE REIGN OF [Cu. IV. pursuits of this prelate in the earlier periods of Lis life, before his elevation to the episcopate. It is a series of six !MS. paper books, in (juarto, com- prising an entire translation of the ^vhole of Homer's Iliad and Odi/ssey into English blank verse ; the Iliad extending through the two first, and i^riptionof Odijssei/ through the four last volumes. The first volume is intituled Homer's Iliad, newly translated from the greek. " Omnibus eloquentiae partibus exemplum et ortum dedit (Homerus.) Hunc nemo, in magnis sublimitate, in parvis proprietate, supera- verit." — QuiXTiLiAN, lib. x., c. 1. " Carmen sequor, ut sil)i quivis Speret idem." — Hor. ]Mr. ^Jason's Catalogue, in the possession of the library, states: " This is the work of Maurice, bishop of Ossory, and was presented to the college by his friend, Dr. Lawson, who was a fellow thereof. It is the original, and much corrected throughout. The first book commences thus : " Sing of Achilles, !Muse I the wrath, the son Of Peleus, the destructive wrath to Greece ; That brought unuumber'd woes, and sped to hell Her bravest souls. At the end are two pages, containing some various readings, in which the first lines of Book I. are altered thus : " Sing, Muse I the wrath of Peleus' son, to Greece Desimctive fountain of umiumber'd woes. That sent to Pluto many valiant souls, Dismiss'd untimely." The third volume is intituled Hosier's Odyssey, translated from the greek."" It is written in the same hand with the Iliad, and bears on the title-page the date, also in the same hand, March 14, 1744. Sec. IX.] KIXG GEORGE II. 621 For the satisfaction of those readers uho may be Further spec men. desirous of seeiug a longer specimen than the pre- ceding, which is too limited for the pm'pose of forming any estimate of tlie quality of the work, I have transcribed the following from the second book of the Iliad: *' As on the mountain top, devouring flame Consumes a boundless wood, and dreadful shines Wide o'er the rale : such lustre, as they march' d, Far through the welkin cast their brazen anns, Divinely \vrought, and heav'n received the light. " Or as of birds innumerable flights, Geese, cranes, or swans, along Cayster s flood. Flowing o'er Asian meads, their stately necks Stretch through the sky, and, with exulting wings, Rebuff the troubled air, till on the bank, AViih noise and order lit, they clap their wings, The winding shore re-echoing to their clang : So, on Sciunander's plain, from ship and tent. The nations pour'd ; and under foot and hoofs Of men and horses groan'd the beaten ground. By hundreds, and by thousands, on the mead Scamandrian, crowded they, as thick as leaves, Or bloom, on trees in seasonable spring. " As when, with spring, returns the milk to fill The flowing pail, around the dairy swarm The flies of various hue, the farmer's plague : So squadrons stood of Greeks, of flowing hair, Embattled against Troy, athirst for blood. " Xor readier do the shepherds call their flocks, In pasture mix'd, and at their will divide. Than did the leaders form and range their men, Though here and there wide scattered, for the fight ; Above them all King Agamemnon shone. (Achilles was not there.) He lx)re his arms Like Mars ; like Neptune his erected breast ; Like Jove his eyes and curl'd ambrosial head, "VSTien his loud thunder rends the gather'd clouds. " Through numerous herds, as with majestick pace The lordly buU bears high his wide-hom'd head : Such bright distinction to the King of men Gave Jove that day, and more than human form." B. 2.., 539—574, p. oG— 53. MS. K., 4, 1. 622 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. Bishop Maurice'a TliG woi'k, of wliicli tliG foref^oiiig extract is a literary cha- x i J 11 racter. Sample, taken almost at random, is, 1 apprehend, ail but totally unknown. Myattention has been drawn to it by a letter in the Anthologia Hibernica, a literary monthly miscellany, published in Dublin in the years 1793 and 1794, wherein a brief notice is taken of Bishop Maurice's version of Homer ; and his transla- tion of a particular passage in the eighth book of the Iliad is cited in juxtaposition with Mr. Cowper s translation of the same, the letter-writer professing himself unable to determine the question of supe- riority between them. How^ever this be, a critical examination of Bishop Maurice's version would, in all likelihood, lead to the conviction, that " He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one." And although his character, as an ecclesiastick, may be not illustrated hereby, except so far as there exists a natural connection between "sound religion and useful learning," I think it not out of place to bring under publick notice this translation, for the purpose of commemorating one, who is less known than he deserves to be, Avith due honour, which is not confined to the individual, but reflected from him on the country of his birth and the place of his education. His portrait. It may be added that I am in possession of an engraved portrait of this prelate, subscribed with the following lines from Virgil's Second Georgick: " Rnra milii et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes, Fliimina amem silvascjue inglorius." The quotation seems intended to indicate his taste for natural scenery, the fields, the valleys, the rivers, and the woodlands; and his delight in the unambitious and retiring enjoyments of rural life. Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. 623 On his deatli, in 1756, Bishop Maurice was Pococke. bishop succeeded in the bishoprick of Ossory by Richard Pococke, the son of a clergyman, whose Christian as well as surname he inherited, rector of Colmer, in Hampshire, and afterwards sequestrator of the parish of All Saints, in Southampton. He was born in 1704, in that town, and received there the rudi- ments of his education in one of King Edward VI.'s free grammar-schools, of which his father was the master ; his mother being the only daughter of the Rev. Isaac Milles, rector of Highclear, in Hampsliire, and the sister of Thomas Milles, Greek professor in Oxford, and afterwards, in 1708, Bishop of Water- ford and Lismore, of which see he continued in possession till his death in 1740. Having been trained in academical learning as His education, an exhibitioner of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to which he was admitted on the 3rd of February, 1722, Pococke took his degree of IMaster of Arts in 1781, and of Doctor of Laws in 1733, together with Seeker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury; having been previously promoted to the precentorship of Lismore in one of his uncle's cathedrals. Not long And travels, after this he engaged in an extensive course of travels through many countries of the East : and of the observations, made durinfr a careful investio^ation of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, JVIesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia, he, on his return, published a narrative in two volumes, which were among the foremost of modern European descriptions of those regions, and which, notwithstanding the numerous narratives that have since been published, still continue to rank with the most valuable standard productions of their class. His ecclesiastical jVIeanwliile, as opportunities served, he appears to have directed his mind to a study of tlie ecclesiastical 624 THE REIGN OF [Ch. IV. remains in his own countiT. The architecture of our venerable cathedrals and parish churches had, at that period, undergone but little investigation : and a remark, which has been put forward by antiquaries of a later date, and which is now very generally admitted among those who are partial to such in- quiries, seems to have originated with him ; namely, that the original of what is called the Gothick arch was two Saxon arches intersecting. This observation he olfers in a letter to Di*. Ducarel, from Dublin, August 27, 1753, which is preserved in Mr. Nichols's Illustrations of Literature, vol. iii., p. 685, and a visible exemplification of it is specified by him at Christ Church, Hampshire. In the year which intervened between the dates of the two volumes of his travels, namely, 1754, he became precentor of Waterford; and soon after attended the Earl of Chesterfield to Ireland, in the quality of his domestick chaplain, and was promoted to the archdeaconry of Dublin, having, in the mean- time dedicated to his Lordship the second volume His preferment of hls Descviptiou of the Eust. This preferment was to the bisboprick ofossory. followcd iu 1756 by his elevation to the episcopate, under the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire, who had succeeded Lord Chesterfield in the lord lieutenancy, and upon occasion of the death of Maurice, bishop of Ossory, to which see he was promoted. Excursion in Of liis mode of discharo:in<2: his episcopal functions Scotland. .1.-,. 1 xni t» withni his charge I find no account. But it is related that on an excursion, which he made into Scotland, he visited many episcopal congregations, and preached and confirmed in them all. This was at a time when there existed in that country many such congregations, who were separated from the Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. 625 jurisdiction of their national episcopate, and main- tained an anomalous and ill-defined connection with some of the English and Irish bishops. On the cause and the circumstances of that unhappy condi- tion of the adherents of episcopacy in Scotland, it Avere beyond our scope to dwell. It is mentioned here in connection with Bishop Pococke's life for the sake of the inference, that the zeal, which ani- mated him to such an exercise of his ministry in Scotland, could have hardly failed of prompting him to corresponding exertions in the sphere of his pre- scribed duty in his own diocese. No notice has occurred to me of any theological Few theological works. works by Bishop Pococke, except of two sermons, one preached in 1761, for the benefit of the Mag- - dalen Asylum in London, and the other in 1762, before the Incorporated Society in Dublin for Pro- moting English Protestant Schools in Ireland ; both of these were printed. To this society he was a zealous friend, and left the chief portion of his pro- perty for the fui^therance of its excellent objects. JNIean while his mind was much directed to the Attention to the monastick an- illustration of the monastick antiquities of Ireland, tiqmtiesof I'll 11. ir. 1 Ireland. which he prosecuted himself, and gave encourage- ment and assistance for prosecuting to the Rev. Mervyn Archdall, whose meritorious labours he patronised by appointing him his chaplain, and con- ferring on him preferment in his diocese, and by frequently withdrawing from his palace at Kilkenny to the retirement of his chaplain's rural parsonage at Attanagh, where he also framed the narratives of his travels through Ireland and Scotland, wliich are said to have been lost. Of the encouragement thus received from his patron and diocesan, Mr. Archdall 2 S 626 THE REIGN OF [Cri. IV. makes the following grateful acknowledgement in the introduction to his Monasticon: " The late learned Dr. Pococke, bishop of Ossory and of Meath, to whom the author had the honour of being domestiek chaplain, whilst his Lordship presided in the see of Ossory, frequently noticed the defects of our nionastick history, and urged the necessity of its improvement. He pointed out the method here adopted, procured many neces- sary documents, and had the goodness to encourage the author with solid favours. The work was difficult, and required unremitted perseverance. Authentick vouchers were not easily had ; even when they were, it was no small labour to decipher musty and worm-eaten manuscripts, and ascertain their contents." Of some peculiar traits in the bishop's character jNIr. Cumberland bas left the following sketch, which exhibits a likeness, probably in the main traced with correctness, though some of the features appear to be touched for the sake of effect : That celebrated oriental traveller and author," he says, was a man of mild manners and primitive simplicity. Having given the world a full detail of his researches in Egypt," (why not in Palestine and the other coun- tries of the East?) '-'he seemed to hold himself excused from saying any more about them, and observed, in general, an obdurate taciturnity. In his carriage and deportment he seemed to have con- tracted something of the Arab character ; yet there was no austerity in his silence, and, though his air was solemn, his temper was serene. When we Avere on our road to Ireland, I saw, from the windows of the inn at Daventry, a cavalcade of horsemen approaching on a gentle trot, headed by an elderly chief, in clerical attire, who was followed by five servants, at distances geometrically measured and most precisely maintained, and who, upon entering Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE II. 627 the inn, pro\ecl to be this distinguished j^relate, con- ducting his horde -with the phlegmatick patience of a Schick." I anticipate an event of the ensuing reign, by proceeding to remark, that, in 1765, on the transla- tion of Bishop Carmichael from the see of Meath to the archbishoprick of Dublin, Bishop Gore, of Elphin, was appointed to succeed him, and the Bishop of Ossory was, by the king's letter, trans- lated to Elphin. But Bishop Gore declining to take out his patent, Bishop Pococke was in con- sequence translated, by the Earl of Northumber- land, directly to the see of Meath. This promotion occurred in July; and in the ensuing September, whilst engaged in the visitation of his new diocese, he was suddenly seized with an apoplectick stroke, which soon terminated fatally. At his episcopal tteatir^ residence of Ardbraccan he left an appropriate me- morial: at least about eighteen years ago my atten- tion was there directed by Bishop O'Beirne to some cedars of Lebanon, which tradition represented as the produce of seeds brought by Bishop Pococke from Syria. Bishop Pococke never formed any matrimonial ms affinity to Joseph Bingham. engagement ; but there are not wanting those who feel honoured by standing to him in the relation of an hereditary affinity. A sister of his was married to the reverend and very learned Joseph Bingham, author of the Antiquities of the Christian Church; and to the present writer it is the source of pleasing reflection, which he trusts he may express here without impropriety, that, by the union of a daughter of that marriage with his paternal grandfather, he is entitled to claim a lineal or a collateral connection with two of the most eminent ecclesiasticks of their generation. 2 s 2 628 CHAPTER V. GEORGE III., OCT. 25, 1760, TO THE UNION 1801. GEORGE STONE, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE .... 1764. RICHARD ROBINSON .... 1764—1795. WILLIAM NEWCOME .... 1795—1800. HON. WILLIAM STUART . . . 1800. Section I. Scantiness of contemporary MSS. Biography mired U'ith • History. Accession of King George III. His reso- lution of adhering to the Constitution. Act for confirming the Titles of Protestants. Bishop Bohinson advanced to the Brimacy. His Character. Other Episcopal Ap- pointments. Bishop) Cumberland. His Estimable Cha- racter. Death of Archbishop Cobbe. His Disinterested- Qiess. Account of Dr. Gast. Elevation and Death of Archbishop Carmichael. French Befugees in Ireland. Their Congregations. Incorporated icith the general poptdation of Protestants, SinSnTssof In entering upon the last portion of our history, contemporary chaptor dovotecl to thc roigu of King George III., I cannot but lament the absence of such docu- ments as have suj^plied us with valuable information during the portions comprised in the earlier pages of this volume. In the reigns of William and Mary, of Anne, of George I., and the first moiety of that of George II., our researches have been aided by communications from contemporary writers, not eye-witnesses only, but themselves parts and parcels of the occurrences which they relate, and with which they had an intimate acquaintance : by the MS. Diary and Letters of Primate Marsh, hitherto Sec. I.] KING GEORGE III. 629 unpublished ; by the unpublished jNIS. Correspond- ence of Archbishop King ; by numerous letters of different writers contained in the published volumes of Dean Swift's Works ; by others, principally of Bishop Downes, in Bishop Nicholson's Epistolary Correspondence ; and finally, by the Letters of Primate Boulter. Since the cessation of these channels of intelligence, my inquiries have not con- ducted me to others of a similar kind during the latter half of Kino- Georo-e II.'s reio-n : nor have I been successful in the like inquiries with respect to the reio-n of Kino- Georo-e III. INIeanwhile the value of Sir James Ware's and jMr. Harris's Historij of the Bishops has been proved by the want of it ; and the consequent necessity and difficulty of col- lecting facts from the miscellaneous writings of the passing period, or from indistinct oral tradition. But I proceed to invite attention to the result of these inquiries, in which I fear that the scantiness of the documents will be shown by the imperfection of the narrative. Interspersed, however, with what niographicai . • 1 1 • 1 1 memoirs IS more strictly historical information, there will be intermixed with found, perhaps, a larger ])roportion of biographical memoirs of distinguished members of the episcopate, the succession in which, as maintained in the several dioceses, it has been one of my objects to record. To relieve the dryness of an enumeration of names and promotions, I have availed myself of such occasions as offered for enlarging on the lives and characters of eminent individuals, whose actions have conspired with their stations in recommending them to particular notice. Of many, indeed, the particulars, which I have been able to collect, are feAv and scanty : in some instances I have been more successful. If in these there be a smaller 630 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. • portion than might be desired of original intelli- gence, yet to have collected from different sources such scattered materials as they supply, and to have combined them together in sketching a distinguished individual, may be esteemed, perliaps, as not an un- acceptable service. Accession of Thc death of Kino^ George II., and the accession George ni. o O ' of King George III. to the throne, on the 2oth of October, 1760. ■ Qctobcr, 1760, produced no consequences of imme- diate interest to the Church of Ireland. The administration of i)ublick affairs continued to be left in the hands of three lords justices, of whom the primate was one, until the appointment of George, earl of Halifax, to the lord-lieutenancy. His resolution of ^pj^g kiucr, ill his first spccch to the British i^arlia- adhei ing to the ^ ^ ^ Constitution. nicut, had announced his " invariable resolution to adhere to and strengthen this excellent constitution in church and state." And, on opening the first session of the Irish parliament, in 1761, the lord lieutenant repeated the same sentiment, with especial application to Ireland : Speech of Earl You caii be 110 straiigGi's to his Majesty's most gracious of Halifax, 1761. declaration, that the preservation of the constitution in church and state, and the enforcing a due obedience to the laws, shall be the first and constant object of his care: and I have it particularly in command to declare to you, that his subjects of this kingdom are fully and in every respect comprehended in these assurances.'' The session passed without the introduction of any enactments on ecclesiastical subjects : and at the close of it, in the spring of 1 762, the govern- ment of Lord Halifax terminated; and the adminis- tration of publick affairs was consigned to the hands of the primate, the Earl of Shannon, and Mr. Pon- sonby, the same which had conducted it before Lord Halifax's arrival. Sec. I.] KING GEORGE III. 631 The ensuiuer session was opened bv the Earl of £^es3i..nof o ^ ' October, 1763. Northumberland in October, 1703 : and in the course of it an Act was passed, for confinniiig the titles, and for quieting the possessions of Protestants, and for giving time to converts from Poperv, to per- form the requisites of confonnity prescribed by the ^'J^^' laws against Poperv." On the Avithdrawal of the lord lieutenant, after the session was closed in ^lay 1764, the government was committed to the same lords justices as before : hut the deaths of the primate and the Earl of Shannon occurring in the following December, the Lord Chancellor Bowes was appointed in their stead. The first episcopal promotion, which took place fri.t^at^dto"^''* in the new reign, was the translation of Bishop J^l^^are, Apn, Robinson from Ferns and Leighlin, to supply the vacancy made by the death of Bishop Fletcher in the see of Kildare. His translation was elFected by letters-patent of the 13th of April, 1761 ; and on the 19th of January, 1765, by the death of Arch- bi shop Stone on the 19th of the December pre- Amagb,jaa. ceding, an opening was made for his further advance- ^' ' ment to the in'imacy of all Ireland. Descended Hiseaiiyiife, A and piefermentf. from the Robinsons of Rokeby, in the north riding of the county of York, Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, partake of the honour of his education : and the merit of liavino' distinouislied him, first by a domestick chaplaincy, and then by substantial i)referments in his diocese, belongs to Blackburn e, archbishop of York. His first pro- motion to the Irish episcopate, and his subsequent advancement, as bishop successively of Killala, and of Ferns and Leighlin, have been already commemo- rated in these pages. 632 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. His usefulness to jjad tlio lot fallen to this illustrious prelate only the Church of ^ *' Ireland. jn tliese suffragau bishopricks, his name, perhaps, would not have been transmitted to posterity with any signal distinction. But his elevation to the primacy afforded scope and means for the exercise of a munificent spirit : and he nobly availed himself of the ability with which a bountiful Providence endowed him. It has been well observed, that " no primate ever sat in the see of Armagh, who watched more carefully over the interest of the Church of Ireland, as the statute book evinces'." The follow- ing portrait of him is drawn by the contempora- neous pen of an author, who wrote from his own observations : " The Lord Primate Robinson," says the late Richard Cumberland, in his Memoii^s^ " was my very kind and par- tial friend ; but, more than this, he was the friend of my father. Splendid, liberal, lofty, publickly ambitious of great deeds, and privately capable of good ones, there was an exte- rior, that to the stranger did not always hold out an encou- raging aspect, but to him that stept within that barrier all wasjiiildness, suavity, benevolence. He supported the first station in the Irish hierarchy, ^vith all the magnificence of a prince palatine. He made no court to popularity by his manners, but he benefited a whole nation by his publick works. He gave plenty of employment to the industrious, and of food to the hungry ; but he spread no table for the idle, and made no carousals for the A'oluptuous. He built a granite palace from the ground, with all its offices, gardens, farm, and demesne. He repaired and beautified his cathe- dral, built houses for his vicars-choral, erected and endowed a very noble publick school, and built several parish churches in the ueighbourhood of Armacrh. He lived and died a bachelor, and administered his revenue with great regularity, else his fortune could never have sufficed for the accomplish- ment of such expensive projects ; for he kept an establish- ' Antliol. Hibeni.^ i., p. 1. Account of him by Mr. Cumber- land. His publick works. Sec. I.] KING GEORGE III. 633 meiit of servants, equipage, and table, highly suitable to his rank. " The cathedral church of Armagh stands in full view nis demeanour, from the windows of the palace, and at a short distance from it. Whilst I was passing some days with the primate, on my return to England from Kilmore, I accompanied him on the Sunday forenoon to the cathedral. We went in his chariot with six horses, attended by three footmen behind, whilst my wife and daughters, ^vith Sir William Robinson, the primate's elder brother, followed in my father's coach, >vliich he lent me for the journey. At our approach, the great western door was thrown open, and my friend (in person one of the finest men that could be seen) entered, like another Archbishop Laud, in high prelatical state, pre- ceded by his officers and ministers of the Church, conducting him in files to the robing-chamber, and back again to the throne. After divine service, the officiating clergy pre- sented themselves in the hall of his palace to pay their court. I asked him how many were to dine with us : he answered, " Not one.'"' He did them kindnesses, but he gave them no entertainments : they were in excellent disci- pline. I had accustomed myself so lately to admire the mild and condescending character of my benevolent and hospitable father at Kilmore, that I confess the contrast did not please me ; but the primate Jcneic^ my father lovecl^ man- kind. I saw the princely demesne at Armagh covered with a small army of wretched creatures, making hay after the old Irish foshion, in loose great-coats ; a lazy, racrged, dirty gang. How different w^as the scene I had contemplated in my father's fields ! But the primate left many noble monu- ments of his munificence in brick and stone ; my father left his bounteous tokens in the human heart"." To the foregoing brief enumeration of Primate msnutnerous , . , .1 .p. , , _ benefactions. Robinson s princely muniticence other examples might have been added. A publick infirmary, erected by his means, and in a great degree by his contributions ; a publick library, constructed, en- dowed, and furnished at his cost, with what a Greek ' Clmbekl.vnd's Memoirs, pp. 854, So-3. THE llEIGN OF [Cii. V. inscription described as " the medicine of tlie soul;" the town of Armagh, converted by his prudential management of the episcopal property from an unsightly crowd of mud cabins into a handsome city of stone dwellings ; an observatory, built at his expense, and inscribed with tlie appropriate motto, " The heavens declare the glory of God combined in attesting tlie multiplicity and extent, the solid value, and the i)ractical usefulness, of his benefac- tions. In the mean time the creation of new paro- chial cures, and the providing of additional residences for the ministers of the Church, proved his solicitude for the welfare of the clergy and people of his diocese ; and tlie legislative enactments which he caused to be effected for the general extension of these improvements bore witness to his care for the general welfare and enlarged and augmented effi- ciency of the Church. His successor in The vacauclcs made by these promotions of the vacated -r^ ti/^ii bibhopricks. Bishop Robinson were supplied first by the consecra- tion, and then by the translation, of Charles Jackson, who succeeded, both in the see of Ferns and Leigh- lin, and in that of Kildare, respectively, in the years lushop jackbon. 1761 aud 1765. He was chaplain to the Duke of Bedford, lord lieutenant, at the time of his elevation to the episcopate as bishop of Ferns and Leighlin ; and, on his removal to Kildare, was succeeded in his former see by Edward Young, who had occupied the see of Dromore only since the translation of Bishop Oswald to Raphoe, on the death of Bishop Downes, in 1763; Bishop Oswald also having sat for only a few months in Dromore, to wliich he was promoted on the death of Bishop Marlay, in April of the same year, 1763. Sec. I.] KING GEORGE TII. 635 Both Oswald and Young were Englishmen, and other episcopal chaplains of the Earl of Halifax. Tlie former, who, having been educated at Oxford, in St. JMary's Hall, had been a prebendary of Westminster, was, in 1762, consecrated to the bishoprick of Clonfert, when Bishop Gore was translated from that see to Elphin on the death of Bishop Edward Synge. In 1763 he was translated from Dromore to Raphoe ; whereupon Young was promoted from the deanery of Clogher, and consecrated bishop of Dromore. The promo- tion of Bishop Robinson to the primacy and of Bishop Jackson to the see of Kildare gave occasion, as already noticed, for Bishop Young's translation to Ferns and Leighliu, in February, 1 765. His successor in Dro- more vras an Irishman, the Hon. Henry Maxwell, dean of Kilmore, and youngest son of John, baron of Farnham. His continuance in that bishoprick ex- tended only from March, 17G5, to April, 17GG; wlien, on his translation to ISIeath, his vacancy was filled by another Englishman, vice-principal of Hert- ford College, Oxford, and chaplain to the Earl of Hertford, lord lieutenant, AVilliam Xewcome, the future successor of Primate Robinson in the metro- politan throne. In connection with these episcopal chano'es oenison cumber- land, bibhop of another appointment remains to be noticed, result- cionfeit, ires, ing from the translation of Bishop Oswald to Dro- more from Clonfert in 1763. Denison Ciunberland, orandson of Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough, was educated at Westminster School, and from that admitted fellow-commoner of Trinity College, Cambridge. In compliance with the wish of his father-in-law, the 636 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. His elevation to the episcopate. His disposal of his patronage. His estimable character. celebrated Dr. Bentley, he accepted from Lord Chancellor King the rectory of Stan wick, in the county of Northampton, as soon as he was of age to ' hold it, and, after thirty years, exchanged it for the vicarage of Fulhani, near London. A vacancy in the see of Clonfert occurring a short time before Lord Halifax quitted the government of Ireland, it was bestowed on Mr. Cumberland, notwithstanding great efforts which were made for withdrawing the nomination from Lord Halifax, and placing it at the disposal of his successor, the Earl of Northumber- land. The expectant in behalf of whom this interest was exerted is related by Mr. Cumberland, the bishop's son, in his Memoirs of his Life\ to have been Dr. Markham, subsequently appointed to higher dignities in the Church of England. On the offer of the bishoprick being made to Mr. Cumberland, " he received it," says his son, " in his calm manner, modestly remarking, that his talents Ave re not turned to publick life, nor did he foresee any material advantages likely to accrue to such as belonged to him from his promotion to an Irish bishoprick. It was not consistent, he said, with his principles to avail himself of his patronage in that country to the exclusion of the clergy of his diocese ; and, of course, he must deny himself the gratification of serving his friends and relations in England, if any such should solicit him. This did happen in more instances than one ; and I can witness with what pain he withstood requests which he would have been so happy to have complied with ; but his con- science was a rule to him, and he never deviated from it in a single instance*." Bishop Cumberland appears to have borne his P. 23B. * P. 239. Skc. I.] KING CEORCE III. 637 dignity Avith unblemished reputation, and to Lave been honoured and beloved by the people of Ireland for Ills benevolence, his equity, his integrity, and his numerous virtues, testified by his exertions to pro- mote the welfare of all with whom he was connected. In particular, the city of Dublin was pleased to confer upon him a very extraordinary honour, in pre- senting him with his freedom in a gold box ; a form of high respect, which his son specifies as being such as they had never before observed toAvards any person below the rank of their chief governour. The mo- tives, assigned in the deed which accompanied the box, are in general for the great respectability of his character, and in particular for his disinterested pro- tection of the Irish clergy \ The vacancy of the primacy was soon followed Death of Arch by that of the archbishoprick of Dublin, upon the death of Archbishop Cobbe, which occurred on Sun- day, the 14th of April, 1765. He was in the seventy- ninth year of his age, and the forty-fifth of his episcopate; having occupied the sees of Killala and Achonry, of Dromore, and of Kildare, pre- viously to his translation to the metropolitan dig- nity in 1731. An anecdote is related of his con- Anecdote of hig disinterestedness. duct before he was made a bishop, which reflects honour on him. as a sign of liberal and disinterested feeling. In 1718, being then Dean of Kilmacduagh, he received from the Duke of Dorset, whose chap- lain he was, an offer of the valuable benefice of St. ]\Iary's, Dublin, which had fallen by lapse to the crown, in consequence of the incumbent's neglect to take out a faculty before his promotion to another ' Cumberland's MemmrSj p. 200. G38 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. benefice. The iiicumlDent was Dean Francis, father of the translator of Horace : in a note on Dean Swift's Ejnstolari/ Correspondence, he is stated to . have enjoyed the benefice for eighteen years ; and, being an old tory, to have been ''most spitefully turned out of it, by the virulence of party rage'." Dr. Cobbe, how^ever, generously refused the benefice, as belonging to another man, who had fallen into an error, but was guilty of no crime. However, as remarked in a MS. note in ]Mr. Cooper's copy of Ware's Bishops, " a king-fisher was easily found for the purpose, one Dean Cross, who got possession of that living." It appears from Primate Boulter's Letters, that Dean Cross would on two occasions have fain succeeded to a bishoprick, for which he made application, when the primate offered no objec- tion to his preferment : his attempts, however, were not successful ^ HispLinofare- But, to retum to tho archbishop. As he pre- ligious society, ^ ^ ^ 1753. ' sided over the see of Dublin in 1758, it must have been of him that ]\Ir. Wesley spoke, M'hen, in his Journal for that year he gave the following relation : " Among the letters I read in publick last week was one from Mi\ Gillies, giving an account of a society lately formed at Glasgow, for promoting Christian knowledge among the poor, chiefly by distributing Bibles among them, and other religious books. I could not then helj) expressing my amazement, that nothing of this kind had been attempted in Ireland, and enquiring if it was not high time, that such a society should be formed in Dublin ? This morning Dr. T. showed me a paper, which the archbishop had just sent to each of his clergy; exhorting them to « SwiFi's Works, xi., p. ]38. 7 Eoulter's Letters, pp. 112, 279, 285. Sec. I.] KING GEORGE III. G39 ' erect a society for the distribution of books among the poor".'" Of tlie result of this exhortation of the archbishop I can give no account ; but in an article of the Anthologia Hihernica, for September, 1793, he is named as " that excellent prelate. Archbishop Cobbe';" and is respectfully commemorated for his His patronage, patronage of a meritorious clergyman, which calls from the writer the remark, that " these rewards of virtue and learning reflect as much lustre on the amiable donor, as they conferred honour on the receiver." The object of the archbishop's patronage on this Account of or occasion was Dr. John Gast, son of a Protestant of Saintonge, in the province of Guyenne, in France, where he followed the profession of physick, until the religious persecution in that country, in 1684, compelled him to fly to Ireland for refuge. The son was educated in Trinity College ; and, having gra- duated, and been admitted to holy orders, served as chaplain to the French congregation at Portarlington, and afterwards as curate of a Dublin parish. A work on the rudiments of Grecian history, published in 1753, produced from the provost and senior fellows of the university, in 17G0, a certificate of their approval of its execution, and the degree of doctor of divinity for its author ; wdio, in the following year, was fur- ther distinguished by being collated to the benefice of Arklow by the archbishop, and, three years after, to the archdeaconry of Glandelagh, the former of wdiich he subsequently exchanged for the parish of St. Nicholas Without, Dublin. In these prefer- ments Dr. Gast continued to exercise his ministry till the year 1788, devoting a long life, as a paro- chial clergyman of the Church of Ireland, to the " Wesley's Journal, x., loO. « A^ol. ii., p. 187. 640 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. service of God and the good of mankind ; respected and beloved by his parishioners, diligent in endea- vouring to reconcile to the Church those who were of the Popish communion, and leaving a character, as a minister of the Gospel, for which his parishioners testified their respect and affection by erecting and inscribing a marble monument to his memory, in grateful remembrance of his services. Thus, during about twenty-three years, he survived his patron, a living memorial of the archbishop's judgment, which had distinguished his virtue and learning. The almost contemporaneous evidence of the writer in the AntJiolocfia was, to all appearance, founded on a personal knowledge of one, probably of both, the individuals whom he commemorates. Archbishop The death of Archbishop Cobbe gave occasion Carniichael. ^ ^ for the translation of Bishop Carmichael from Meath to Dublin, and of Bishop Pococke from Ossory to Meath ; Gore, Bishop of Elphin, who was first nomi- nated to the latter see, having declined to take out his patent, on finding that a large sum was to be paid to his predecessor's executors for the episcopal other episcopal residcuce at Ardbraccan. Bishop Pococke, there- appointments. ^ fore, who was translated by the king's letter to Elphin, in June, 1765, was thereupon translated, on the recommendation of the Earl of Northumberland, directly to Meath in July ; and in the ensuing Sep- tember was suddenly taken off by an apoplectick stroke, in the course of his visitation. His place was supplied in Ossory by the consecration of Charles Dodgson, an Englishman, chaplain to the lord lieu- tenant ; and in Meath by the translation of Arthur Smyth from the bishoprick of Down and Connor, wherein he was succeeded by James Trail, chaplain Sec. I.] KING GEORGE III. 641 to the Earl of Hertford, ^y]\o had succeeded to tlie viceroyalty, August the 7tli of this rear. Dr. Trail was a native of Scotland, but beneficed in England, being vicar of West Ham. in Essex, and rector of St. John, Horsleydo^Ti, in the borough of Southwark. Before the close of the year 1765, and six months Donthof Arehw- and three days from his translation, reckoning, namely, 1705. ^"^'^ from the 12th of June to the loth of December, Archbishop Carmichael died at Bath. Bishop Smyth, iius«cccsor. "Nvho had succeeded him in ^leath, succeeded him likewise in Dublin, whither he was translated the 14Lh of April, 1766 : the following day Bishop Maxwell was ti-anslated to Meath from Droraore, where he was followed by William Xewcome, raised on that occasion to the episcopate by the Earl of Hertford, to whom he was chaplain. The incidental notice, latelv taken of Dr. Gast, may be made the occasion for a remark, that amidst her o\yi\ atflictions and distresses, the Church of Ireland had at different periods, and for a long con- tinuance of time, afforded a refiige to the victims of foreign persecution, and the means of professing their Protestant belief in security and peace. Near Persecution bj the commencement of the Reformation, the ances- tors of the familv of Verschovle emicrrated to Ire- land during the persecutions which the professors of the reformed faith in Holland, their native country, suffered from the intolerant zeal of Philip II: and ]Mr. Mason, in his Hhtori/ o f St. Patrick's Cathedral, mentions that a brass chandelier, which but a few years before had been removed from the church of St. Catherine, in Dublin, bore the name of one of the family, who had presented it to the | arish in 2 T THE HEIGN OF tCH. V. Revooalion of edict of >'antQS. Congregations in Dublin and else- where. Rcfucrec clergy- men of ennntnce. 1637'°. In later days, the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis XIV. of France, which drove large multitudes of his subjects to abandon their country for their religion, caused a numerous portion of the refugees to seek an asylum in Ireland. And after the battle of the Boyne, a regiment of French Huo'onots. who had there foupfht under the command of King William, were fain to establish themselves in their adopted country. Of these, the number was so considerable in Dublin, as to constitute, according to the report of the historian of that city^^ three distinct congrega- tions, to one of which, being conformable to the doctrine of the Church of Ireland, was assigned a chapel under the roof of St. Patrick's Cathedral : a circumstance, which is marked, in Archbishop King's MS. Correspondence, by some letters addressed by him to the Rev. Charles Vignoles, and other leading ministers of that congregation. Others of the refu- gees were settled in Waterford, and others again in Lisburn, where clergymen, for celebrating the ser- vice of the Church in the French language, w^ere paid by the government of the country, and where congregations were continued till a very recent period. But the most important colony w^as one established at Portarlington, in the Queen's County, which was long in high repute for its seminaries of education, and especially for the opportunities afforded by it of instruction in the French tonoue. Some of these foreign clergymen rose to stations of eminence in the Irish Church. jNIr. Abbadie, who is mentioned by Primate Boulter as a man of learning, and " one who for many years had made !Maso^'5 History of St. PatricTc's CatJiedral, p. 457. History of Dublin, ii., j). 842. S::c. I.] KING GEORGE III. 643 a figure in the world by the writings he had pub- lished"," was dean of Killaloe; and, having been promised a better preferment, would have been placed in the deanery of St. Patrick's, but that his ignorance of the English language was thought to disqualify him for holding the greatest preferment in Dublin. The deanery of Killala was conferred on Mr. Maturin, the son of a refugee, and a refugee himself, Vv^ho is reported by his descendant to have been " a man of very various erudition," and to have left behind him "an immense mass of manu- scripts, principally in Latin, and a few in French'".'* His son also was promoted to the deanery of St. Patrick's, and is commemorated as an able mathe- matician. To others likewise of this expatriated body, or to their immediate progeny, Irish literature is said to have been indebted. Tlie first literary journal, which appeared in Ireland, was established in 1744 by the Rev. INIr. Droz, the son or grandson of a French refugee: and it was continued after his death by the Rev. Mi\ Desvoeux, who stood in a similar relation to one of that community The name of Gast has been already mentioned, as having given occasion for these brief notices. That of Vig- noles also has been quoted from Archbishop King's Correspondence. And the names of Saurin, La Refugee families ^ in Ireland. Touche, L'Estrange, Lefanu, Dubordieu, and others, familiar with those who are acquainted with the nomenclature of the Irish clergy and gentry, may be cited as living memorials of the hospitality with which their forefathers were received in the country: and, I may add, of the moral and intellectual worth by which that hospitality has been compensated. Boulter's Letters, i., p. 81. Mason's St, Patricks, p. 445. History of Dicb!i?i, ii., p. 841. 2 T 2 644 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Meanwhile, the great body of these emioTants were distinguished by their habits of industry, and their skill in manufactures; especially the manufacture of silks, which, on the same occasion, was introduced into Spitalfields, London, was established by them Incorporated in tho Hbertics of Dublin. At the same time they with the general I'rotestantpopu- adhorod to their principles of repugnance to the Romish domination and corruptions: but by degrees their marks of religious, as well as of national, pecu- liarity have been obliterated, and they have become generally incorporated with the Church and country of their adoption. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE III. C45 Section II. Viscount Townshend. Dr. Lelancl. His JForks, Literary Character^ and Preferments. Vacant BisJiopricks during Lordj Townshend'' s Administration. Hon. Fred. Aug. Hertey. Other Episcopal appointments. Account of Bishop Mann. His estimable Character. Primate Iiobinsojis care of the Church. Acts of Parliament pro- cured by him. Bishop Cumberland'' s translation. Use of his patronage^ and management of his Estates. His Death and Burial. Question concerning the correctness of his Sons narrative. Position of Bishop BedeWs Tomb. Stricture on the phrase " CatholichP Archb'ishop Ryder s Death and Burial at Nice. Episcopal appoint- ments. Opulence of Clergy overrated. Their condition in 1775. Value of Bishoprichs and Deaneries., 1776- 1779. In August, 1767, the chief government of Ireland, Viscount Tow which had been administered by the Lord Chancellor tenant, 1767. Bowes, the Earl of Drogheda, and ]Mr. Ponsonby, having been relinquished the preceding year by the Earl of Hertford, and nominally but not actually filled by the Earl of Bristol in October, 1766, was undertaken by Viscount Townshend, who appointed for his chaplain Dr. Thomas Leland, fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. Dr. Leland was previously Dr.L.hmj, well known to the publick as the editor of the Philippick Orations of Demosthenes, and the trans- lator of them, and of the other orations, into Eng- lish; and as the author of the Life of Philip of Macedon, and of Dissertations on Human Eloquence. Afterwards he became further known as author of the History of Ireland, and of some occasional Ser- ins works, mens, as well as of three posthumous volumes. A critical judgment is given of these works in the 646 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Antliologia Hibernica, for March, 1793; and in NicHOLLs's Literary Aiiecdotes of the Eighteenth Century^ vol. viii., j). 55-57: from which I transcribe the following brief character of the author, supposed to have been written by Dr. Parr: " Of Leland," he says, " my opinion is not founded upon hearsay evidence; nor is it determined solely by the great authority of Dr. Johnson, who always mentioned Leland with cordial regard and marked respect. It might, perhaps, be invidious for me to hazard a favourable decision upon the History of Ireland: because the merits of that work have been disputed by criticks : but I may with confi- dence appeal to writings which have long contributed to pub- lick amusement, and have often been honoured by publick approbation : to the Life of Philip^ and to the Translation of Demosthenes; to the judicious Dissertation upon Eloquence^ and to the spirited Defence of that dissertation." These works had been published before the arrival of Lord Townshend in Ireland ; and as the new viceroy was sufficiently aware of the merits of the author to appoint him his chaplain, his friends entertained hopes, apparently not without reason, that he would have been advanced to the episcopate. His preferment, however, was limited to the prebend of Rathmichael, in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, united with the vicarage of Bray, both of small value, but tenable with his fellowship. To these he w^as collated in 1768. AVhy the anticipa- tions of his friends, with respect to his higher pro- motion, were frustrated, is not apparent. It could hardly have been for want of opportunity during the unusually long period of more than five years that Lord Townsliend's government continued, and there is reason to think, that it was not, in every case at least, from regard to the superior professional or literary pretensions of those who were preferred. Sec. IL] KING GEORGE III. 647 In fact, during Lord Townsliend's viceroyalty, from vacant bbhop- August the 19tb, 1767, to October 30tb, 1772, Tutnsws admiuistration. there occurred in the Irish episcopate seven vacan- cies, Avhich were severally filled by the consecration of the Bishops Ilervey, Agar, Averell, Fowler, Cope, jNIann, and Bourke. In January, 1767, the death of Bishop Johnson nou. Frederick made a vacancy in the see of Cloyne, which was ofcioj-^e. filled by the preferment of the honourable Frederick Augustus Hervey from the mastership of IMagdalen College, Cambridge, vrhich station he had occupied from June, 1760. And in January, 1768, the death of Bishop Barnard made a vacancy in the see of Deny, which was likeT\^se filled by the preferment of the honourable Frederick Augustus Hervey from the bisho])rick of Clovne. There is connected with Promoted to tliis preferment a traditional anecdote, rendered not improbable by the eccentricities of its subject, that the Bishop of Cloyne was amusing himself in feats of activity with some of the young men attached to the castle, trying which could jump furthest, when a note was put into his hands ; on reading which, he exclaimed he would jump no more ; he had beaten them ail, for he had jumped from Cloyne to Derry. However this be, the translation was effected, and Agar made bishop of CIo\Tie. Charles Agar, dean of Kilmore, elevated not long afterwards to the temporal barony of Somerton, and eventually to the archiepiscopal dignity, a native of Gowran Castle, his father s seat in the county of Kilkenny, Ireland, but educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where his portrait is preserved, standing in his episcopal robes, was now consecrated, in February, 1 768, to the bishoprick of Cloyne. Another death, namely, of Bishop Leslie, in Death of Bishop 1770, caused an opening in the see of Limerick, 648 THE KEIGN OF [Cii. V. •which was filled by the consecration of Dr. John Averell, dean of that cathedral, on the 6th of Ja- nuary, 1771. On the 14th of September he died, in the course of his primary visitation, at Inishmore, in the county of Kerry, and was succeeded by Bishop Gore, translated thither from Elphin. The see of Elphin was filled by the translation of Bishop Jem- met Brown from Cork and Ross, to which bishoprick Isaac Mann was consecrated in March, 1772, having been previously Archdeacon of Dublin. Robert Fowler, In the mean time, Robert Fowler, an English- Kiiiaioe. man, doctor of divinity, of Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and prebendary of Westminster, had been brought to Ireland, under the patronage of the lord lieutenant, and consecrated, in July, 1771, to the bishoprick of Killaloe, void by the death of Bishop Nicholas Synge, the fifth and last prelate of that episcopal family; the grandnephew, the grandson, and the brother, of three bishops, himself a bishop, and an archbishop's son. The cause of Dr. Fowler's appointment was a disinclination in Lord Towns- bend's chaplain to accept preferment, accompanied by the condition of residence in Ireland ; and per- mission was in consequence given for him to nego- tiate an exchange, which transferred Dr. Fowler from his prebend of Westminster to the bishoprick of Killaloe, and eventually to the archbishoprick of Dublin. other episcorai About the samo period, between five and six years' occupancy of the metropolitan see of Dublin was terminated by the death of Archbishop Smyth, in 1771. He was succeeded by Bishop Cradock, from Kilmore, and he again, by Bishop Cumberland, from Clonfert. The dean of Dromore, Walter Cope, a native of Drumilly, in the county of Armagh, and Sec. II.] KING GEOEGE III. 649 educated in the university of Dublin, was consecrated to the vacant bishoprick of Clonfert in March, 1 772. The same was the date of the consecration of Bishop JNIann, whose elevation to the see of Cork and Ross has been already noticed. But it was somewhat later, namely, in the month of October, of the same year, that Joseph Deane Bourke, a native of Ireland, and educated in Trinity College, Dublin, having' been first possessed of the deanery of Killaloe, and then of that of Dromore, a member of the family soon afterwards ennobled with the earldom of Mayo, to which title, as well as to the archiepiscopal dig- nity of Tuam, he eventually succeeded, was con- secrated to the bishoprick of Ferns and Leighlin, on the death of Bishop Young. This was the last of the seven appointments to the episcopate made during the viceregal government of Lord Towns- i^ordTownshcnd hend, who, on the 30tli of October, in that year, resigned his office to Earl Harcourt. If, of these seven opportunities, one had been embraced for conferring the episcopal dignity on Dr. Leland, the selection would have reflected credit on the administration of Lord Townshend, who has been transmitted to posterity with honour, for one of the objects of his selection, namely. Bishop ISIann. Isaac Mann was a native of Norwich, but re- ceived his academical education at Trinity College, Dublin, under the patronage of the Lord Chancellor Jocelyn, by whose favour, also, he procured several promotions in the Church, and eventually the arch- deaconry of Dublin. On the assumption of the viceregal authority by Lord Townshend, he became one of his Excellency's chaplains ; and having been called on by the duties of his office to administer spiritual consolation to the first Lady Townshend, siiccee led by Earl ll ucourt. Account of liibhup .'Ma'.in. 650 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. during an illness, wliicli terminated in her death, lie gave such convincing proofs of piety, discretion, and tenderness, in the treatment of a mind anticipating the awful close of mortal existence, that, by the dying breath of that honourable lady, he was recom- mended to the special patronage of her lord. A His appointment yacaucy iu the see of Cork and Ross, in 1772, a to Cork and Ross, ^ ' short time before Lord Townshend's relinquishment of the government, afforded an opportunity for fulfilling the wishes of the deceased. To both par- ties it must have been a gratifying, as it was an honourable, occurrence. By the writer, from whom this anecdote is derived, and who describes himself as connected with the departed prelate by no other ties than those of long acquaintance and friendship, it is confidently affirmed, that " no promotion to that high and important office in the Church had, in the memory of man, given more sincere or general satisfaction ; never had a chief governour a more fortunate opportunity of throwing a lustre over the close of his administration ; and with what- ever emotions, in future days, whether of uneasiness or of pleasure. Lord Townshend might take a retro- spect of his conduct in the viceroyalty of Ireland, it might either comfort or delight him to reflect, that he had bequeathed to this country a good bishop':' Hisestin^abb Bv a coustaut residence in his diocese, unless character. '' withdrawn by attendance on parliament, or by ill health and the infirmities of age. Bishop IMann testi- fied his sense of episcopal duty : and he provided for the personal superintendence of his successors by entirely rebuilding the palace at Cork, his own resi- dence being, in the mean time, kept at the country seat of Ballinespeg, which he made the abode of ' DvMin ChrGnidc for 1788. Sec. TI.J KING GEOEGE III. C51 innocent cheerfulness, and decent, but not expensive, hospitality. Of his scriptural erudition, of which he is said to have been possessed in a high degree, he was contented to publish no more than two un^^re- t ending but valuable memorials, an Exposition of the Church Catechism, and The four Gospels and Acts, ivith Notes Explanatory and Critical, for the use oj Families and Schools. As a preacher, he was emi- nent : gentle in his manner, insinuating, and persua- sive ; distinguished more for making an useful im- pression on the heart, than for rhetorical declamation. Of his social and domestick virtues, let one example be added. His brother died in early life, leaving a widow and five children in circumstances far from affluent. Dr. JNIann received the entire family under his roof: his own prospects of conjugal liappiness he sacrificed to their good : to the end of his life he behaved towards them with all the tenderness and care of the best husband and parent : and he had his present reward in the unremitting affection of the widow and the fatherless. The care of Primate Robinson for the welfare Piimate Robin- son's care for the and improvement of the Church was at this time chuixu. manifested by an act of parliament, passed under his auspices for erecting parochial chapels of ease, and making them perpetual cures in parishes of large extent. The act, which is chapter 16 of the eleventh Act of 11,12, 1 1 f 1 f XT'* TTT n 1 . Geo. III., chap. and twelfth years of King (jreorge HI., sets forth m le, for erecting its preamble, that *' there are several parishes within and chapels, this kingdom of such large extent, tliat the mother churches of such parishes are not sufficient to accom- modate the number of inhabitants who midit resort thither for divine worship, and, on account of the great di: be procured at ^ 1 1 ^ O the Rolls' Office. OfficG to tlio pcrsou lu whose custody the documents are lodged, I have been informed, with somewhat of the Shaksperian attribute of office, that its miscel- laneous contents are in such a state or confusion, and the index so manifold and complicated, as to render the information on any particular subject of inquiry practically unattainable, even if the inquirer were willing to incur a very considerable charge of Sec. II.] KING GEORGE III. G53 Aft 11 and 12 Geo. J] I., chap. 17, for encouraghig residence on be- nefices. fees, payable to the treasury for every the minutest several article of intelligence. Another act was passed at this time, being- chapter 17 of the same session, for better enabling the clergy, having cure of souls, to reside on their benefices, and to build houses upon their glebe- lands. This was in pursuance of former acts of William III. and George I., which it professed to explain and render more effectual. The chief enact- ment of it was, that it authorised an incumbent, who should build or make other necessary improvements on a new site, to receive from his successor the full sum certified, instead of three-fourths, provided it did not exceed two years' clear income of the benefice. Chaj^ter 22 of the same session was also an act Actofii,i2.Geo. p 1 • • 1 T •111* ill-, chap. 22, for- 01 an ecclesiastical nature. It recited "the burying bidding bmiais in churches. of dead bodies in churches, as a practice very inju- rious to health :" and it forbade the burial of any dead body, or the breaking up of the ground, within the walls of any church, or within twelve feet on the outside of the walls, for the purpose of burying any dead body ; it also forbade any ecclesiastical person to perform that part of the burial service appointed to be said at the grave, within the walls of a church, or within twelve feet on the outside. The penalty for every such offence was 10/., to be laid out in the repairs of the church. It has been stated above, that on the promotion Bishop cumber of Bishop Cradock Bishop Cumberland was trans- lated to the see of Kilmore, which, as remarked by his son, placed him in a more civilized country, and lodged him in a more comfortable house'. His patronage in that see was very considerable; and - Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 347. land's use of his patronage. 654 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. this he is said to have bestowed upon the clergy of his diocese, promoting the curates to the smaller livings, as vacancies occurred, and exacting from every man, whom he put into a living, where there was no parsonage-house, a solemn promise to build ; " but I am sorry to say," observes his son, " that in no single instance was that promise fulfilled iiis manngcmcnt Tj^e followlug circumstauco in the bishop's ma- of Ins estates. ° J- nagement of his estates is mentioned by his son with merited commendation. " The opportunities he had of benefiting his fortune and family by fines, and the lapse of leases, which might have been con- siderable, he honourably declined to avail himself of; for when he had tendered his renewals upon the most moderate terms, and these had been delayed or rejected in his days of health, he peremptorily withstood their offers, when he found his life was hastening to its period, esteeming it, according to his high sense of honour, not perfectly fair to his successor, to take what he called the packing penny, and sweep clean before his departure. He left his see, therefore, much more valuable than he found it\" Mr. Cumberland adds a particular, concerning which it is to be hoped that he was under a mis- apprehension, that " his legal demands for monies, expended on improvements, beneficial to the de- mesne, and regularly certified by his diocesan," meaning, I presume, his metropolitan, " could not be recovered by his son for his daughter's use, till the lord primate took the cause in hand, and enforced the sluggish and unwilling satisfaction from the bishop who succeeded him." ITis death and Bishop Cumberland died in 1774: his burial is thus related in the Memoirs of his son : " Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 877. ^ ILid., p. 378. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE III. 655 " In a small patch of ground, enclosed with stone walls, adjoining to the churchyard of Kilmore, hut not within the pale of the consecrated ground, my father's corpse was interred heside the grave of the venerable and exemplary Bishop Bedell. This little spot, as containing the remains of that good and great man, my father had fenced and guarded with particular devotion ; and he had more than once pointed it out to me as his destined grave, saying to me, as I well remember, in the words of the old prophet of Beth-el, ' When I am dead, then bury me in this sepul- chre wherein the man of God is buried : lay my bones by his bones,' This injunction was exactly fulfilled ; and the Protestant Bishop of Kilmore, the mild friend of mankind, the impartial benefactor and unprejudiced protector of his Catholick poor, who almost adored him whilst living, was not permitted to deposit his remains within the precincts of his own churchyard, though they howled over his grave, and rent the air with their savage lamentations. Thus, whilst their carcasses monopolise the consecrated ground, his bones and the bones of Bedell make sacred the unblest soil in which they moulder \" In a former portion of this narrative it has been Question con- • 1 1 11 -r»'i -nt T n i 1 1 coming its acc given to be understood, that i3ishop Bedell s body mcy. was " buried in the consecrated ground of his own churchyard and this is agreeable to Bishop Bur- net's account, that " his friends were obliged to obtain leave of the new intruding bishop, to bury his body in the churchyard of Kilmore, w^hich with difficulty w^as done ; and on the 9th of February he was buried, according to his directions, next to his wife's coffin." This last circumstance is of consider- able moment in confirming the former account ; for it is hardly credible that the venerable prelate had deposited his wife's remains in other ground than the consecrated churchyard, of which at that time he had the disposal. I think, therefore, that the ^ Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 870. 656 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. recollection of ISIr. Cumberland, writing as he did after a long interval, and at an advanced period of life, was defective with respect to the spot, in which he describes his father's remains to have been depo- sited ; the rather, as there is no appearance of any patch of gronnd and inclosure, such as he describes, adjoining to, but distinct from, the churchyard of Kilmore. Besides, his statement represents, first, that Bishop Cumberland selected himself, for his inter- ment, a spot not within the pale of the consecrated ground and then, that he " was not permitted to dejiosit his remains within the precincts of his own churchyard," through the opposition, if I apprehend aright, of his Catliolick poor an event w^hich, in the year 1774, may be safely said to be beyond belief. Position of Bi For better satisfaction, however, I have sought tomb. information from the present Bishop of Kilmore, who kindly informs me, that he agrees with Bishop Burnet, that Bishop Bedell's tomb is within the ancient churchyard, and in consecrated ground. " The place," his Lordship observes, " is, and has been as long as I know, surrounded by a low w^all, separating it from the rest of the churchyard, but tvithin the walls. The spot of ground so surrounded is claimed by a family of the name of Sheridan, as their burial-ground. They assert, and it is believed in the parish, that the bishop died in the house of their ancestor, and was buried in the burvino-oTound belonging to their family." To a particular friend, also, who resides in the neighbourhood of Kilmore, I am indebted for some very minute and accurate inquiries and observations made upon the spot ; the result of which on his mind is, that " he sees no reason whatever for the opinion of Bishop Bedell's having been buried in un consecrated ground." Sec. II.] KING GEORGE III. 657 Thus, on the whole, whilst I cite Mr. Cumber- land's statement of his father's burial, I question its correctness, so far as regards the precise spot of the interment. To his phrase, " Catholick poor," used s'tncture on ti e *■ phrase ♦« Catho- wliether by him, or by any other person, in the sense ^^^J' * in which he intends it, namely, as designating the members of the Romish sect in Ireland, I am bound in conscience to object : if used by him correctly, the Church, of which his father was a bishop, at that time, and at this time the united Church of England and Ireland, is heretical and schismatical. Bishop Cumberland was succeeded in the see of g. l. j.mes, bi- Kilmore by George Lewis Jones, who had been a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and had gra- duated there as doctor of divinity, in 1772. He was chaplain to Earl Harcourt, who had followed Lord Townshend in the chief government of Ireland, October the 30th, 1772 ; and was consecrated to the bishoprick of Kilmore in 1775. On the 4th of February, in the same year, died Arthb.^hop ny. dor's death and Archbishop Ryder, at the advanced age of seventy- biuiai,atx\ice. eight years, at Nice, in France; and there he was interred, on the 6th of February, by his own request, in a field purchased for a burying-ground by the con- sul ; the Rev. Mr. Campbell, an English clergyman, reading the burial service, at the deceased prelate's house, and at the grave. The metropolitan see of Tuam, vacated by his death, was filled by the trans- lation of Bishop Brown from Elphin, to which Bishop Dodgson was removed from Ossory; w^iereupon Bishop Newcome was translated to Ossory from Dromore. The new Bishop of Dromore was James New episcopal Hawkms, D.D. of Innity College, Dubhn, son of W. Hawkins, Ulster king at arms, rector of Clon- aHan, in the diocese of Dromore, and Dean of Emly. 2 u 658 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. He was appointed in April, 1775, and consecrated in the castle chapel, the 23rd of that month, by the Bishop of Clogher, Garnet, assisted by the Bishops of Ossory, Ferns, and Kilmore. It does not appear why the solemnity was not performed by the metro- politan. Opulence of Irish clergy overrated. Their condition in 1775. Value of bishop- ricka and The opulence of the clergy of the Church of Ireland has been often the occasion of invidious remark. Information, adduced in the coui*se of this narrative, may, perhaps, have diminished the estimate of the value of Irish benefices at different periods. The following statement of the case, at this particular period, may be of use in contributing to a discovery of the truth. Dr. Campbell, in his Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland^ written in 1775, thus describes the condition of the southern and western clergy: I had been taught to believe that the state of the Irish parochial clergy had been universally comfortable, if not affluent. But the case in Munster is mostly otherwise. It is, indeed, scarcely to be conceived, that in a country so uncultivated, a parish of moderate extent should yield sufficient for the liberal support of a parson. Accordingly, unions of large districts are here common; which after all give but a scanty subsistence. In the north, which is said to be very populous, and in the parts of Leinster which are cultivated, the case is different. There a small parish affords a decent maintenance. But in the south and west, where industry and consequent population is by every means discouraged, the situation of these gentlemen is rather to be pitied than envied. It requires a large income, indeed, to compensate for the want of houses, and markets, and those other comforts which the English clergy everywhere enjoy" The following catalogue of Irish bishopricks and ^ Philosophical Survet/ of the South of Ireland, p. 803. Sec. II.] KING GEORGE III. 659 deaneries, with their respective incomes, is coj)ied deaneries, irre, from the Gentlemaris Magazine for March, 1800, where it is given on the authority of Mr. Young's Tour in Ireland. On reference to the tour itself, I find no mention of the deaneries: but the. value of tlie bishopricks is stated with the remark, that the author of the tour had " corrected them so often in the neighbourhood of each, that he believed it would be found nearly exact." The statement was made between the years 1776 and 1779 : and it is accord- ingly introduced into its present position in the narrative, the arrangement of the sees being adapted to the metropolitan divisions of the kingdom. A RCH BISHOPRICKS. Armagh Dublin and Glandelagh Cashel and Emly Tuam and A dagh £. 8000 5000 4000 4000 Deaneries. Armagh fChrist Church 1st. Patrick's . f Cashel LEmly . J Tuam \Ardagh . £1 I^Q Archbiihopricka. 200 800 200 100 800 200 BISHOPRICKS. Meath . . . S400 Derry .... 7000 Raphoe . . . 2600 Clogher .... 4000 Dromore . . . 2000 Kilmore .... 2600 Down and Connor , . 2300 Kildare .... 2600 Ossory . . . 2000 Ferns and Lcighlin . , 2200 Limerick, Ardfert, andl All r o£>00 Aghadoe J Clonmacnoise Derry Raphoe Clogher . Dromore Kilmore {Down Connor . Kildare Ossory . {Ferns Leighlin {Limerick Ardfert . 2 U 2 Bishopricks in the province of 1600 Armagh. 1600 800 400 600 1700 200 120 Province of Dublin. 600 800 80 gQQ Province of CashoL 60 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. Province of Tuam. BISHOPRICKS. £. DEA.NERTES. £. J Waterford . A (\(\ 400 Waterford and Lismore 2500 1^ Lismore . 2700 /Cork . 400 Cork and Hoss • . LRoss 20 Cloyne • • . . Oloyne 1 Killaloe . 140 TCillalnp arifl TCilfprifira 2:100 1 Kilfenora . 210 Elphin . 8700 Elphin . 250 v^ionieiL . 90 Clonfert and Kilmacdua»h 2400 1 Kilmacduagli 120 fKiUala 150 Killala and Aclionry 2900 1 Achonry 100 Archbishop Cradock suc- ceeded by Bishop Fowler. Section III. ArchbisJwp Cradock succeeded in Dublin by Bishop Fowler. Archbishop Cox succeeded in Cashel by Bishop Agar. Bishop Chinnerys infirmities and Death, Barnard^ Bishop of Killaloe : pa?'tlculars in his Character. Wood- ward, Bishop of Cloyne, Death of Bishop Chenevix of Waterford. His Family, Promotion, and Character. Other Episcopal Appointments. Legislative Enactments affecting the Church. Relaxation of restraints on Popery. Papists now first called Roma^i Catholicks by Acts of Parliament. Illegal assumption of Titles, Immunities specified. Privilege to Protestant Dissenters in respect of Marriage. Acts commended by Lord Lieutenant, Dis- approval by Bishops and other Peers. Opposition to both in the House of Lords. Protest against the Dissenters^ Marriage Bill. In 1777 the Earl of Buckinghamshire succeeded Earl Harcourt as lord lieutenant: and in 1778, the death of Archbishop Cradock, at his palace of St. Sepulchre's, Dublin, the 10th of December, caused a vacancy in the metropolitan see, which was filled by Bishop Fow ler : of whom ]\Ir. Skelton has sj)okeii with respect, for his regard to religion, Sec. III.] KING GEORGE III. 661 as Avell as for his kindness, condescension, and affa- bility, not, however, unattended by warmth of temper, the usual " concomitant of good nature ;" to whose conduct in a particular instance of his publick capacity he has obscurely alluded, as highly to his honour ; and whose solemnity and devotion he has commemorated as unrivalled in reading the service of the Church'; a quality which ^Mr. Wesley like- wise has noticed, as worthy of being admired in this prelate, especially in administering the rite of ordi- nation'. Archbishop Fowler occupied his see till after the Union. The vacancy, made at Killaloe by his translation, was filled by Georci^e Chinnerv, an bishop ' JO ' ' of Killaloe. Irishman, of the university of Dublin, and dean of Cork, to which dignity he had been advanced from the mastership of ]Midleton School, by the interest of the Earl of Shannon. He was consecrated at Christ Church, the 7th of jNIarch, 1779, by the Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of JMeath, and Down and Connor, the solemnity ha^'ing been fixed at eight o'clock in the morninir, in con- sequence of the bishop-elect's great infirmities. The vear following the vacancv of the arch- A.chinshopcox '<->•> si:ccceilc*d by bishoprick of Dublin, the metropolitan see of Cashel jHj'i'^r aet^, also was vacated, the 28th of ]May, by the death of Archbishop Cox, an ancient man in the ninetieth year of his age, of which he had passed thirty-six from his episcopal ordination; eleven in the suftragan bishoprick of Ossory, and twenty-five in the arch- bishoprick of Cashel. His portrait, in his episcopal robes, is preserved in Christ Church, Oxford, where Ti.cir portraits ^ ' in Chri^t he was educated as a gentleman commoner, accord- chuich, Oxford, ing to the customary, but somewhat invidious, phrase of that university, or, in the language inscribed on ^ Burdy's Life, p. rW6. * Wesley's Journal, xx., p. 14. 662 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. the portrait, " siiperioris ordinis coinmeiisalis." He was succeeded in his archbishoprick by Bishop Agar, who has the merit of having completed the present cathedral of Cashel, a large and handsome edifice for one of modern structure ; and who continued in this see till after the Union. His portrait also, standing in his episcopal robes, is preserved in Christ Church, where he received his academical education. Bishop Chin Archbishop Avar's successor in the see of Cloyne nery s mfinnities 10 J and death. ^yg^g ^jshop Chiuuery, consecrated not many months before to Killaloe, whose infirmities preventing him from going out, he was sworn before the Archbishop of Cashel at his own house, the 21st of February, 1780, and died at Cloyne on the 13th of August, the STpof'KT'^' following year. In Killaloe, he had been succeeded laioe. Thomas Barnard, son of the late Bishop of Derry, a doctor of divinity of the university of Dublin, where he had been educated, and succes- sively Archdeacon and Dean of Derry. Dr. Barnard was in the latter station, when characterised by Goldsmith in the poem of Retalia- tion, amongst the dishes which furnished that intel- lectual feast, as " Venison just fresh from the plains." And afterwards by the imaginary epitaph : " Here lies the good dean, reunited to earth, Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth ; If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt." Particulars in his Aud he was lu the same station, when, after the chfiractcr, by Goldsmith. discussion, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, of Johnson's epitaph on Goldsmith, by a large company of their friends and acquaintance, it was determined to submit the composition to the author's reconsidera- tion ; and an address was accordingly drawn up tq Sec. hi.] KING GEORGE III. 663 Dr. Johnson, on the occasion, by Dr. Barnard, ^vhich ^lr. Boswell has described as "replete with wit and humour; but which, it was feared, the doctor might think treated the subject with too much levity;" aud ^\]iich wa^ thereupon superseded by another from the pen of Mr. Burke. Bishop Barnard was also a member of the Literary Club," and is men- tioned as such, together with Bishops Percy and Marlay, in Mr. Boswell's enumeration of 1792. He was well acquainted with Dr. Johnson, to Andjohnson. whom he paid remarkable attention, and with whom he lived on terms of mutual regard, according to the testimony of Mr. Boswell, who, at the same time, relates an anecdote, arising out of a pretty smart altercation," when Johnson, in a hasty humour, expressed himself in a manner not quite civil. Dr. Barnard," continues the biographer, made it the subject of a copy of pleasant verses, in which he supposed himself to learn different perfections from different men. They concluded with delicate irony: " * Johnson shall teach me how to place In fairest light each borrow'd grace ; From him I'll learn to vrrite : Copy his clear familiar style, And, by the roughness of his file, Grow, like himsel:^ polite.' " It may be added, that " a just and elegant com- pliment" was once paid to the bishop by Dr. John- son, who, it seems, could occasionally amuse himself with 80 slight and playful a species of composition as a charade. *' I have recovered one," says Mr. Boswell, which he ma/le on Dr. Barnard, now lord bishop of Killaloe, who has been pleased Tot many years to treat me with so much intimacy and social ease, that I may presume to call him not only jny right reverend, but my very dear friend : 664 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. « ' CHARADE. « < jVIy first shuts out thieves from your house or your room j My second expresses a Syrian perfume ; My whole is a man in whose converse is shared The strength of a Bar and the sweetness of Nard."* Woodward, To revert to Bishop Chinnerj, whose successor in bi=>hoi> of cinjnc. j^-jig^i^g jy^ Barnard, in Cloyne he was succeeded by Richard Woodward, dean of Clogher, of a family belonging to Bristol, formerly a member of Wadham College, Oxford, but afterwards a doctor of laws of the university of Dublin, and chancellor of St. Patrick's, which last preferment he had exchanged for the rectory of Louth. By Mr. Wesley, who attended divine service in the church of Clogher, in 1771, where "the congregation was not only large, but remarkably well-behaved," the dean is repre- sented as " one of the best readers he had heard, and one of the most easy, natural preachers.^" By the biographer of Mr. Skelton he was afterv/ards described, as " a prelate, whose arguments were able to convince, and his eloquence to please and reform." Death of Bishop Tho sauic vcar, 1779, died, also, Chenevix, Chencvix. *^ bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in the thirty-fifth year of his episcopate, the whole of which he had passed in that see, with the exception of a few His family. mouths lu Killaloc. It is believed, that his family, \^hich was of French extraction, had fled from their country at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and become naturalised in England. He himself was chaplain to the British embassy at the Hague, when the Earl of Chesterfield was ambassador, and was taken over to Ireland as first chaplain, when Lord Chesterfield became viceroy, in January, 1745. It is said, that a pamphlet, which Dr. Chenevix wrote, rendered him obnoxious to the prime minister ' Journal, xyi., p. 31. Sec. III.] KING GEORGE III. 665 of the time, who objected to his advancement to a bishoprick ; but the lord lieutenant was so convinced Promotion, of his merits, or so attached to his person, that he declared he would resign his office, if his recom- mendation was not complied with. This had its effect, and Chenevix was promoted, in 1745, to Killaloe, and, in the following year, to Waterford and Lismore. In that diocese Bishop Chevenix is still remem- And character, bered as a man of the most simple, innocent mind. To those who had been committed to his charge he gave lasting proofs of his benevolence : for, by his will, dated August the 13th, 1777, ^vhich is in the Prerogative Office, Dublin, and of which a copy is in the Consistorial Court of Waterford, he bequeathed to the diocese of Waterford 1600/., the interest to be given to w-idows of clergymen of that diocese ; and 1000/. to the diocese of Lismore, the interest of which w^as to be expended for the benefit of that diocese at the discretion of the bishop for the time being. In consequence of the death of Bishop Che- other episcopal iippo'ntiiiciit^. nevix, wiiicli occurred the 11th of September, in this year, Bishop Newcome was translated from Ossory to Waterford and Lismore; and John Ho- tliam, the second son of a Yorkshire baronet, arch- deacon of Middlesex, and chaplain to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, lord lieutenant, w^as promoted to the bishoprick of Ossory, to which he was conse- crated the 14th of November, the same year. Early in the following year, 1780, Hawkins, bishop of Dromore, on the death of Oswald, bishop of Raphoe, w^as translated to that see, over which he presided till some years after the Union. In Dromore he was succeeded by the Honourable Wil- 666 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V, liam Beresford, brother of George, first jMarqiiis of Waterford, and rector of Urney, in the diocese of Derry, Avho was consecrated on the 8th of April by the primate. And on the death of Hutchinsor, bishop of Killala, who died, aged eighty years, on the 27th of October the same year, William Cecil Pery was consecrated to that see by the Archbishop of Dublin on the 18th of February, 1781. He was a native of Limerick, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and had been successively dean of Killaloe and of Derry, and for many years chaplain to the House of Commons. In the interval between the making and the supply of this vacancy a change had taken place in the chief government, the Earl of Buckinghamshire having been succeeded by the Earl of Carlisle, on the 23rd of December, 1780. Legislative enact- ments affecting the Church. RaVixnti'on of rc itraints on Popery. During the years in which these alterations in the Irish hierarchy were in progress, a series of legislative enactments had been commenced and were carrying forward, calculated to have a pow- erful effect on the future condition of the Church. Deeply impressed with a sense of the essential nature and the necessary tendency of the Popish tenets, under the guidance of the ministers of the Church of Rome; and haviug experienced in their own persons and property, and in those of their fatliers and progenitors, the effects of such tenets, when suffered to operate without due control ; the Irish legislature, in the early part of this century, had imposed strong restraints upon the members of the Romish Church. Ignorant or negligent of the true character of Popery, the legislators of the latter part of the century proceeded to take off those restraints by counteracting statutes, and to invest the Papists Sec. III.] KING GEORGE III. 667 step by step vnih the pri\dleges and power, which have continually urged them forward in their de- mands, and fortified them for the acquisition of more. But the end is not yet. The first step of this kind was taken by parlia- Act of 13, u, Geo. ^ ^ ^ ^ III.,c. 35, for ment in the year 1774, durinpr the yicerovaltv ot te^tif>mgaucgi- Earl Harcourt, when an act was passed " to enable his Majesty's subjects, of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him." It was framed upon the ground of there being many of his ^Nla- jesty's subjects in Ireland, "desirous to testify their loyalty and allegiance, but, on account of their religious tenets, prevented by the laws from giving publick assurances of such allegiance, and of their real principles and good will and affection towards their fellow-subjects." And, accordingly, the act set forth an oath, which might be taken by any Papist or person professing the Popish religion ; and which, amongst other things, contained a declaration of belief, " that the Pope of Rome neither had, nor ought to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence within this realm." The Pope's spiritual power was not noticed by the oath : manifest as it was, that the possession of temporal is indissolubly bound up with the pos- session of spiritual power; that the claim of temporal power by the Pope was, in almost all instances, founded on his possession of the spiritual power ; and that his possession of spiritual power in Ireland did, in fact, invest him with a vast portion of temporal power. Yet it was conceded to the Papist, thus to retain his notorious and undisputed belief of the spiritual power of the Pope in Ireland, and thus to testify his allegiance to the king. The small end of the wcdixe was thus iiitro-^'^*"^'^. is. O Geo. III., c. 49, THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. for relief of duced ; it was not till 1778, under the viceroyalty of the Earl of Buckinghamshire, that an effort was made to drive it further. But in that parliament, another act was passed, 17 and 18 George III., c. 49, intituled " An act for the relief of his Majesty sub- jects of this kingdom professing the Popish religion." The preamble adverts to two acts in the reign of Queen Anne, respectively in her second and eighth years, whereby " the Roman Catholicks of Ireland were made subject to several disabilities and inca- pacities therein particularly mentioned and states, that, " from their uniform peaceable behaviour for a long series of years, it appears reasonable and expe- power of taking (]ient to rclax the same/' And accordindy it em- leases, &c. ^ powers "Papists, or persons professing the Popish religion," to " take leases for any term of years not exceeding nine hundred and ninety-nine years certain, or for any term of years determinable upon any num- ber of lives not exceeding five ; and to purchase, or take by grant, limitation, descent, or devise, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in this kingdom, and to dispose of them by will or otherwise, to descend according to the common course of law, devisable and transferable in like manner as the lands of any other of his Majesty's subjects." It also enacted, that " the conformity of the eldest son of a Popish parent to the Church of Ireland, as by law established, should not affect or alter the estate of any Popish parent, by making him tenant for life, or by vesting a reversion or estate in such eldest son." The benefits of the act were limited by the provision of taking and subscribing the oath of allegiance prescribed by the act of 1774. And they were not suffered to extend to " any person, who, having been converted from the Popish to the Sec. nr.] KING GEORGE III. 669 Pi-otestant religion, should afterwards relapse to Popery, or who, being a Protestant, should at any time become a Papist, or educate any of his children, under fourteen years of age, in the Popish religion." In this act there occurs a particular phrase, which Papists now first ^ ^ ^ . c:ilkd Roraau deserves to be pointed out to the reader's attention, cathoucks. The title refers to " his ^lajesty's subjects professing the Popish religion." And in the body of the act the terms Papists or persons professing the Popish religion," ''Popish parents," '' Popery ^ perpetually occur. But, in the preamble, we find the phrase " the Roman Catholicks of Ireland," used with refer- ence to acts of Queen Anne, wherein the phrase was Papists r The alteration is remarkable, as supplying, so far as my recollection reaches, the first example of deviation from the established phraseology of the legislature, except in the pretended parliament of King James II. In connection with this parliamentary innova- Ji^n^of ^f^"™^' tion, it may be incidentally noticed, that, at about this period also, it appears, that the professors of the Romish religion were unlawfully attributing to their rulers distinctions, which belonged lawfully only to the rulers of the Irish Church. Dr. Camp- bell, in his Philosophical Survey of Ireland*, pub- lished in 1778, records it as a trivial circumstance, whence might be argued the prevalence of the Popish interest at Cork, that, on directing his guide to conduct him from the cathedral to the bishop's house, he was met by the question " Which bishop ?" • The same conclusion he drew at Kilkenny, from " hearing the titular bishop greeted in the style of his dignity." Let it then be here repeated, and let it be ever borne in mind, that neither the Popish * P. 180. 670 THE REIGN OF LCh. V. Act of 21 ar.d22 Geo. III., c. 24, for further I elief of Papists, 1782. prelates, nor their predecessors, were at any time in possession of the sees, of which they thus arrogated the titles, but were merely intrusive missionaries of a foreign prelate. But, reverting to the progress of parliamentary indulgence in favour of the subjects of that foreign prelate, I observe, that, after a second interval of four years, in the year 1782, under the viceroyalty of the Duke of Portland, another act was passed, 21 and 22 George III., c. 24, " for the further relief of his Majesty's subjects of this kingdom professing the Popish religion." The ground assumed for its enactments was, that the taking of the oath of allegiance, prescribed in 1774, ought to be con- sidered as constituting persons " good and loyal sub- jects to his Majesty;'' and that " a continuance of several of the laws formerly enacted, and still in force, against persons professing the Popish religion, was, therefore, unnecessary, in respect to those who Further power of ^ad taken. Or should take, the said oath." Accord- acquiring land. ingly, power was given to them of " purchasing in fee, or taking by grant, limitation, descent, or devise, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in this king- dom, the same being descendable, according to the course of the common law, and devisable and trans- ferable, in like manner as the lands of Protestants." Thus the capacity of acquiring land by purchase, which, in 1778, was granted under a fiction, was given directly and entirely. Popish ecciesia£. Popish ecclcsiastlcks, on takinp^ the aforesaid ticks discharged ^ ^ ^ from penalties, oath of allcgiauce, and registering their names, ages, and places of abode, were discharged from the penal- ties, incapacities, or disabilities, mentioned in the acts of the ninth of William III., and of the second, fourth, and eighth of Queen Anne, which had respect to the Sec. III.] KING GEORGE III. 671 Popish clergy. They were, however, still restricted from officiating in any church or chapel with a steeple or bell, or at any funeral in any church or churchyard ; or from exercising any of the rites or ceremonies of the Popish religion, or wearing the habits of their order, save within their usual places of worship, or in private houses ; or from using any symbol or mark of ecclesiastical dignity or authority; or assuming or taking any ecclesiastical rank or title whatsoever; or from procuring, inciting, or persuading any Protestant to become a Papist. Bv a reiieal of the act of the eidith of Queen Anne, Fu^t ler immu- ^ O ^ ' nities. the penalty was removed from such Papists as should refuse to appear and testify on oath, >vhere and when he heard the Popish mass celebrated, and the names of the persons who celebrated and were present at it. And by a repeal of parts of several other acts, of the seventh of William III., the ninth of George II., the sixth of George I., and the second of Anne, various secular immunities were extended to them. By another act of this same parliament, chapter 62, repealing former enactments, persons professing the Popish religion were allowed to keep school, and to have the guardianship, care, and tuition of their own or other Popish children ; but the act did not extend to any Popish schoolmaster, who should receive into his school Protestant scholars ; nor did it allow any Popish university, or college, or en- dowed school, nor authorise any Papist to keep school, without the licence of the ordinary of the diocese. Thus much of relief and encoura(i^ement was M;mner of con- ° forming made anorded to the Papists of Ireland by the acts of the more easy, parliament of 1782. ]Means, indeed, were at the same time provided, for " rendering the manner of conforming from the Popish to the Protestant reli- 672 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. gioii more easy and expeditious." In the preamble to chapter 26 of this session, " the manner of con- forming, according* to the laws then in force, is stated to be attended with considerable delay and difficulty." It w^as enacted, therefore, " That all persons, desirous of conforming, should be reputed Protestants of the Church of Ireland, on receiving from any parish minister the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, any Sunday, in the time of Divine service, according to the order of the Church ; and on sub- scribing the declaration in the act to prevent the further growth of Popery ;" and taking the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, which declara- tion and oaths every such minister was authorised and required to receive and administer : a certificate of such requisites having been performed being filed in the Court of Chancery. The minister was also directed to keep a roll of parchment, containing the declaration and oath, and w^hich should be signed by every person conforming. But the good intentions of this act w^ere counteracted by the enactments for the encouragement of Popery. But this year, 1782, the year memorable as the era of the establishment of the legislative inde- pendence of Ireland, was memorable also for addi- tional enactments, in favour of the hereditary ene- mies of the Irish Church. In the same session, wherein these immunities were granted to the Pa- pists, there was a very important privilege granted to the Protestant dissenters. The restriction of the sacramental test, imposed by the act of the second year of Queen Anne, by which all persons were required to qualify themselves for holding offices, civil or military, by receiving the sacrament of the Lord s Supper according to the usage of the Church Si:c. III.] KING CJEOKGE III. 673 of Ireland, and wliicli they had in former years in vain endeavoured to shake off, had been repealed in 1780, by the act of the 19th and 20th of George III., Acton9and2o ^ J o ' IlI.,o. G, chapter 6, in favour of all persons beino* Protestants, for repeal ing the ^ ^ ^ ° sacramental test. This statute opened to dissenting laymen the posses- ^"so. sion of offices in the state. But by a statute passed in the parliament of 1782, an ecclesiastical function, Avhich had been previously limited to the clergy of the Church, was extended to dissenting ministers and teachers in connection with persons dissenting from the Church. For, by the act 21 and 22 George Act of 21 and 22 ' ^ ^ ^ Geo. III., c. 2.5, III., chapter 25, beino-, according to its title, for relating to dissen- ^ 00 ^gj.g. marriages. their relief, it was enacted, that " all marriages here- tofore solemnised, or hereafter to be solemnised, between Protestant dissenters, and by Protestant dissenting ministers or teachers, should be good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been solemnised by a clergyman of the Church of Ireland." This act for the relief, so it professed to be, of ^^ts commended ^ by lord lieute- the dissenters, as well as those for the relief of the "^nt. Papists, were passed under the viceroyalty of the Duke of Portland, who entered upon the chief go- vernment during the progress of the session, about the middle of April ; and at its close, on the 27th of July, adverted to these, amongst other " very im- portant acts, which would for ever distinguish the period of this memorable session." " You have cherished and enlarged," he said, addressing the houses of Parliament in his speech from the throne, " the wise principles of toleration, and made consi- derable advances in abolishing those distinctions, which have too long impeded the progress of industry, and divided the nation." But however these thins^s may have been re- Disapproved by *^ bishops, and garded by the lord lieutenant, and the majority of other leers. 2 X 674 THE REIGN OF [Cir. V. the legislature of Ireland, sucli encouragement, con- ferred on the two religious parties who were in notorious and unceasing hostility to the Church, was viewed with natural jealousy, and encountered with corresponding resistance, by her governours, who, in co-operation with a respectable body of lay members of her communion, did not fail, in their places in parliament, to testify their disapprobation of the countenance given to Popish and Protestant dissent. Opposition to the In tlio formcr case, when a motion was made on PuiK'i y Relief Bill, the 2nd of May in the House of Lords for the com- mittal of the Popery relief bill the following day, an amendment was proposed to substitute for " to- morrow" the 1st day of September next. After a debate, on a division it appeared that the number in favour of the immediate committal was thirty-nine, and against it twenty-five: which were increased by the addition of proxies to forty-six and twenty-nine respectively. It does not appear how many spiritual peers were opposed to the measure : but on this occasion there were present in the house the Arch- bishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, and fifteen bishops; namely, of Meath, Kildare, Elphin, Down and Connor, Waterford and Lismore, Cork and Ross, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, Ferns and Leighlin, Kilmore, Raphoe, Ossory, Killaloe and Kilfenora, Dromore, Cloyne, and Killala and Achonry. The only prelates absent were the Archbishop of Tuam, and the Bishops of Derry, Limerick, and Clogher. Subsequently, the bill for the education of Papists was passed without opposition. AndtotheDis-^ ln tho lattor case, namely, that of the counte- 8en tors' Relief Biu. nance given by the legislature to Protestant dissen- ters, on the 3rd of May, the bill for the relief of Sec. III.] KING GEORGE IIL 675 such dissenters was read a second time in thelloiue of Lords, in the presence of seventeen spiritual and forty-four temporal peers. After the reading of petitions, and the hearing of counsel for and against the bil], a long debate ensued: when a motion was made, and the question put, that the said bill be committed for to-morrow. On a division, the con- tents were twenty-nine, and the not-contents twenty; and by the addition of proxies, the former were increased to thirty-five, and the latter to twenty- tliree. Tlie bill was accordingly carried. But it gave occasion to the following protest, to which, besides the names of nine temporal peers, will be found those of the three Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, and of ten bishops. The four bisliops, who were present at the debate, but whose names are not subscribed to the ])rotest, were Kil- more, Killaloe, Dromore, and Killala: " Dissentient. Protest in the House of Lords. I. Because it is apprehended, that this bill, professing to allow Protestant dissentino- teachers to celel)rate marriages between Protestant dissenters, may encourage almost every species of clandestine and improvident marriages, not only between Protestant dissenters of all denominations, but between Protestants of the Established Church : for it is apprehended, that neither by this bill, nor by any other law now in being, can it be ascertained whether the par- ties be, or be not, Protestant dissenters; so that any man and woman, who may have gone once or twice to a meeting- house, or to hear a field preacher, and calling themselves Protestant dissenters, may be married under the sanction of this bill by a Protestant dissenting teacher, whether he be a Presbyterian teacher, tin Independent teacher, an Anabaptist teacher, a Moravian teacher, or any other Protestant dis- senting teacher whatsoever. Nay it is apprehended, that a degraded Popish priest, a degraded ^jlergyman of the Esta- 2X2 676 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. blislied Church, and by the 6th George I., c. 5, s. 8, any man whatsoever pretending to holy orders, and taking the oaths and subscribing the declaration therein prescribed, has under this bill a right to solemnise marriages. And, therefore, the lowest and most profligate men in the state may instantly qualify themselves for that purpose. " II. Because it is apprehended, that such marriages may not only be celebrated by all such persons, but that, as this bill makes marriages so celebrated good and valid to all intents and purposes whatsoever, those marriages are so far privileged, that there can be no divorce a xinculo for pre- contract, consanguinity, or impotence. For this bill gives to such marriages all the rights and benefits of those cele- brated by the clergy of the Established Church, but does not subject them to the same objections. "III. Because it is apprehended, that under this bill marriages may be celebrated by all Protestant dissenting teachers, with absolute impunity to themselves, between parties within the prohibited degrees of kindred; without publication of banns, without licence, in a private place, at any hour of the night; without witnesses, without register- ing such marriage between minors, and without the consent of parents, guardians, or of the lord chancellor; though such transgressions would subject a clergyman of the Esta- blished Church to deprivation, if beneficed, and to degrada- tion, if not beneficed; and in the case of a Popish priest, would be felony, without benefit of clergy. And by making such marriages, heretofore bad, good and valid, legal heir.-; may be robbed of their inheritance by this ex post facto law. " lY. Because this bill makes valid, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, all matrimonial contracts heretofore entered into between Protestant dissenters, and solemnised hy Protestant (Ws^ewiAUg teachers, whether such matrimonial contracts w^ere consummated or not. From whence it is apprehended, that such contracts, not consummated, will, by this ex post facto law, be of force to make void subse- quent marriages consummated; and to subject women, who are now lawful wives, to bo divorced, and their chihh-on to be bastardized; although by the S3rd Henry VI 11., c. C, Six. III.] KING GEORGE III 677 and the 12th George L, c. 3, no contract of marriage, cele- brated even b}- a clergyman of the Estabh'shed Church, but not consummated, shall make void a subsequent marriage which was consummated. " V. Because this bill, by vesting generally in Protestant dissenting teachers, without distinction, an unregulated power of celebrating marriages, exposes dissenters them- selves and their children, to all the evil consequences attendant upon clandestine and improvident marriages, equally with the members of the Established Church. " And of the numberless sects of Protestant dissenters, no one denomination of them is guarded by this bill against clandestine and improvident marriages, to be celebrated between persons of their persuasion by dissenting teachers of any other denomination whatsoever. " VI. Because it was admitted in debate, that this bill is extremely defective; yet it was argued, that it ought to be passed, because it might be hereafter amended; an argu- ment, which, it is conceived, would rather justify the rejec- tion of a bad bill, to which this branch of the legislature is fully competent, than support the passing of such a bill, with a vie\v to future amendment of it, which cannot be obtained, but by the concurrent agreement of all branches of the legislature. For this argument would justify the commission of an actual evil, which might be avoided, in order to apply a future remedy, that possibly might never be obtained. " VII. Because those who opposed this bill did repeat- edly declare themselves willing to vote for another bill, rendering all matrimonial contracts or marriages heretofore entered into between Protestant dissenters and celebrated by Protestant dissenting ministers or teachers, as good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as such contracts or mar- riages would have been, if celebrated by the clergy of the Established Church. And also rendering all matrimonial contracts or marriages, hereafter to be entered into between Protestant dissenters, and celebrated by Protestant dissent- ing ministers or teachers of their ow^n respective congre- gations, under proper regulations, as good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as such contracts or marriages 678 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. would be, if celebrated by the clergy of the Established Church. (Signed) Richard Armagh. Bellamont. Belmore. Eniskillen. Shannon. James Raphoe. Tracton. Carlow. R. Dublin. James Down and Henry Meath. Connor. William Waterford. Antrim. Clanwilliam. Richard Cloyne. Milltown. J. D. Leighlin and , Isaac Cork and Ross. Ferns. Walter Clonfert. Cha. Kildare. Charles Cashel. Charles Elphin."' The importance which belongs to the foregoing document, with reference to the law which the protesters had ineffectually endeavoured to intercept, has induced me to transcribe it at length. The tone of calm consideration, discretion, and moderation, which pervades it, must be perceptible by every reader: but the wisdom and foresight of its framcrs will be most justly, and therefore most highly, esti- mated by such as have had opportunities of seeing or learning the injuries, which under the sanction of that law have been inflicted on sound religion, on pure morality, on the decencies, the charities, and the comforts of social life ; and the frauds, the im- positions, and the subterfuges practised under its shelter by those from whose profession better things might have been expected. Multitudes of members of the Established Church have been induced to call themselves Protestant dissenters, for the sole purpose of being married by a Protestant dissenting teacher ; and many a Protestant dissenting teacher has been known to require from members of the Church written declarations, that they were Protestant dis- S-c. III.] KING GEORGE III. 679 seuters, for the sole purpo-^e of enabling liini to niarrv them, under the sanction of this statute. To those, who resisted the enactment, a grateful acknow- ledgment is still due from such, as properly value Christian truth and simplicity: and I therefore add that the spiritual peers, as known by their family names, who protested against this enactment, were the Archbishops Robinson, of Armagh ; Fowler, of Dublin ; and xVgar, of Cashel : and the Bishops Maxwell, of JMeath ; Newcome, of Waterford ; Mann, of Cork and Ross; Cope, of Clonfert; Haw- kins, of Raphoe ; Trail, of Down and Connor ; Woodward, of Cloyne ; Bourke, of Leiglilin and Ferns; Jackson, of Kildare; and Dodgson, of Elphin. Section IV. Death and Character of Bishop Garnet. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. His Character and Publications. Residence in his diocese, areat age., and Death. Archbishop Brown succeeded hif Bishop BourJce. Law, Bishop of Clonfert. His Conduct icith respect to the Romanists. Bishop Trail succeeded in Down and Connor hfj Wil/ia/n Dick- son. Volunteer Associations. 2s^ational Convention, Bishop of Derry a delegate. His temporal rank and influence. Character and progress to Dublin. Procession through the Metropolis. Conduct in the assembly. Sub- sequent proceedings. Correspondence with the Presbytery of Derry. His residence in Daly, and Death. A patron of the Methodists. His Character by Mr. Wesley. After the passimr of the last-named acts, but Death and T . 1 ''pi . , . . , character (.f during the course ot the same session, three spiritual Bishop Garnet, peers took their seats in the House of Lords on their promotion, which in eacli case was the conse- quence of the death of a very respectable prelate. Garnet, bishop of Clogher, aged seventy-eight years, to whose honour it is recorded by Dr. Campbell, in G80 THE REIGN OF [Cji. V. his Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland, that he pursued in his episcopal course the same plan as Primate Robinson, improved his cathedral and palace, built churches where they were wanting, and provided that scarce a parish in his diocese should be without a parsonage-house ; and of whom Mr. Burdj, in his Life of Mr. Skelton, makes honourable mention, as a prelate of great piety and humility, kind to his domesticks, and a friend to literature and religion, prompt in discovering men of worth and abilities, and distinguished for promoting them and treating them with merited respect." The suc- cessor of Bishop Garnet in Cloglier was Ilotham, translated from Ossory : and together with Bishop Hotham their seats in parliament were now taken by Beresford, the new bishop of Ossory, translated froin Dromore, Avhere he had recently erected a handsome and convenient residence; and by Percy, the new bishop of Dromore, to which bishoprick he was consecrated from the deanery of Carlisle. Thomas Percy, not unknown among biblical scholars, though more known among the follo.wers of general and polite literature in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the heir male of the ancient Percies, earls of Northumberland, was a native of Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford, from which he received the vicarage of Easton Mauduit, in Northamptonshire, in 1756. By invitation of the Duke and Duchess of Northum- berland, with whom he claimed a family relation, he became in 1765 a resident in their household, as domestick chaplain. In 1769 he was appointed a chaplain in ordinary to King George III., whereupon he took his degree of doctor in divinity at Cam- bridge, having been admitted a member of Emanuel Slc. IY.] KING GEORGE III. 681 College: and in 1778 was promoted to tlie deanery of Carlisle, where, as Mr. Boswell relates, he had the character of being very popular, and whence he was transferred to the Irish episcopate in 1782. Mr. Nicholls, in his Literary Anecdotes, com- caamctcr. memorates him" as "well known for more than half a century by various learned and ingenious publica- tions, and distinguished by the most active and exemplary publick and private virtues : in him," he adds, " literature has lost one of its brightest orna- ments and warmest patrons ; his ardour of genius, his fine classical taste, his assiduity of research, and his indefatigable zeal in its cause, were such as were possessed by the distinguished feAv, and will for ever render his name dear to learning and science. He was the intimate friend of Shenstone, Johnson, Goldsmith, Reynolds; and the last of the illustrious association of men of letters, who floiu'ished at the com.mencement of Kin or Georo^e III.'s reisrn." Of Dr. Percy's value Johnson in particular was vaiucdbyDr. Johnson. highly sensible : and he has left a very interesting testimony of his sentiments in a letter addressed by him to ]Mr. Bos well, by whom it has been preserved in the life of the great moralist. Percy had been hurt bv some observation which had fallen from Johnson in conversation ; and this being communi- cated to Johnson, he thus signified his concern on the occasion : " If Percy is really offended, I am sorry; for he is a man whom I never knew to offend any one. He is a man very willing to learn, and very able to teach : a man, out of whose company I never go, without having learned something. It is sure that he vexes me sometimes, but I am afraid it is by making me feel my own ignorance. So ' XiciioLLs' Litci'irri/ Aiiccdo'.cs, iii., p. 752. 682 THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. much extension of mind, and so much minute accuracy of inquiry, if you survey your whole circle of acquaintance, you will find so scarce, if you find at all, that you will value Percy by comparison. Lord Hailes is somewhat like him : but Lord Hailes does not, perhaps, go beyond him in research, and I do not know that he equals him in eief^anco. Percy's attention to poetry has given grace and splendour to his studies of antiquity. A mere antiquarian is a rugged being. " L^pon the whole, you see that what I might say in sport or petulance to him, is very consistent with full con- viction of his merit."' Dr. Percy, on being made acquainted with this letter of Johnson in his praise, was highly delighted with it, and said, " I would rather have this than degrees from all the universities in Europe. It will be for me, and my children, and grandchildren ^" His publications, lu 17G5 1)6 first published the work for which he is most generally celebrated, The Relirjues of Ancient English Poetry: of which jNIr. Nicliolls justly says, that it " constitutes an era in the history of English literature in the eighteenth century ;" and in which "he recovered from obscurity, and pre- served from oblivion, many beautiful remains of genius ; supplying the deficiencies in some, that were mere fragments and detached stanzas, and forming tliem into a whole by congenial taste, feeling, and imagination." For his other publica- tions of a lighter kind the reader may be referred to And thcoio^itai. Mr. Nicholls' entertaining and instmctive volumes. As more according with the bishop's professional character, and as more in harmony ^^'ith the present narrative, I specify his publication of "The Song of Solomon, newly translated from the original Hebrew, M'ith a Commentary and Annotations," in 1764; his ^ Bosv. ell's Life, i i., pp. 200, 200. Sec. IV.] KING GEORGE III. 683 • Sermon, preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at their Anniversary Meeting at St. Paul's, May 11, 1 769 his " Key to the New Testament," a concise manual for students of sacred literature, first pub- lished in 1765, and often reprinted; and the as- sistance rendered by him to Dr. Diicarel in com- pleting his list of the various editions of the Bible in English. Bishop Percy resided constantly in his diocese, nis residence in ... T 1 • • diocese. where he is said to have promoted the instruction and comfort of the poor with unremitting attention, and superintended the sacred and civil interests of the diocese with vigilance and assiduity : revered and beloved for his piety, liberiility, benevolence, and hospitality, by persons of every rank and religious denomination. Under the loss of sight, of which he was gradually deprived some jears before his death, he steadily maintained his habitual cheerfulness ; and, in his last painful illness, displayed such for- titude and strength of mind, such patience and resignation to the Divine will, and ex2)ressed such heartfelt thankfulness for the goodness and mercy shown to him in the course of a long and happy life, as were truly impressive, and worthy of that pure Christian spirit, in him so eminently conspicuous. He continued to preside over the bishoprick of uis great ntc and ^ . . death. Dromore beyond the period of the Union ; his death taking place at his episcopal residence the 30th of September, 1811, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was buried in a vault constructed by himself for the purpose, adjoining his cathedral church. His valuable library was purchased for the Earl of Caledon, and was removed to his Lordship's mansion at Caledon, in the county of Armagh. There IS a Portr.iiti of him. fine mezzo-tinto portrait of him in a velvet cap, 684 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. holding ill his hand a thick volume, labelled MSS., engraven in 1775, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is inscribed with the name of "Thomas Percy, S. T. P.," to which, in some impressions, his dignity was afterwards added, of " Dean of Carlisle," in 1778, and of "Bishop of Dromore," in 1782. There is another portrait of him in his episcopal habit, taken from a painting also by Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, which continues to form an appropriate orna- ment of the bishop's palace at Dromore. And a third likeness of him is given in Dibdin's Decameron, a very interesting whole length, of which the upper part has been copied into Nicholls' lUitstrations of Literature, vol. vi., p. 552. It is there described as " representing the bishop, when an old man and nearly deprived of sight, walking in his garden, and about to feed his swans." It is a thin, spare figure, in a morning episcopal undress, with the full wig and three-cornered hat, used by elderly clergymen of the day, and with the hands placed one upon the other, and together resting upon a walking stick. Archbishop In the same year, 1782, but somewhat later, died Brown tiiie- *^ cecded by Bihhop Browu, arcliblshop of Tuam. His vacancy w^as filled by the translation of Bishop Bourke from Ferns and Leighlin ; as was his again by the trans- lation of Bishop Cope from Clonfert. His successor was Dr. John Law, son of the Bishop of Carlisle, the well-known patron and friend of Archdeacon Paley. The son was born at Grey-stoke, in Cumberland, in 1745, and was educated first on the foundation of the Charter House, in London, and afterguards at Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow, having previously distinguished himself by his success both in his scientifick and in his classical Account of Tr. Law, Sec. IV.] KING GEORGE III. 685 studies. In 1778 he was preferred by liis father to the vicarage of AVarkworth, in Northumberland, and to a prebendal stall in Carlisle: and in 1777 to the archdeaconry of the diocese. Whilst in possession of that dignity he was mentioned by Mr. Bos well, in his Life of Dr. Johnson, " as a man of great variety of knowledge, uncommon genius, and, he believed, sincere relidon." From the archdeaconry of Car- i^'O'^/^teato O J Clonlcit. lisle, in 1782, he was removed to the bishoprick of Clonfert. " It has been reported," says Mr. Nicholls, in his Literary Anecdotes', "that this promotion was most unexpectedly offered to the bishop by the late Duke of Portland, when that nobleman was lord lieutenant of Ireland, in order to bestow the prefer- ments held by Dr. Law upon a gentleman, to whose exertions the duke was principally indebted for his success in the celebrated trial between himself and Sir James Lowther." From this see Dr. Law was removed successively to the bishopricks of Killala, 1787, and Elphin, 1795 : the last of which he re- tained till his death, March 19, 1810. Upon the above-named authority the following Anecdote of him. anecdote is recorded : " When he took possession of the see of Killala, and learnt that almost the whole of the population were Roman Catholicks, he used these expressions: 'that, as it was a hopeless task to make them Protestants, it would answer every desirable purpose to make them good Catholicks :' and with this view he got printed at his own expence, and distributed gratis through the diocese, a new edition of the works of the Rev. J. Gother, which breathe the piety, and in plain and intelligible lanffuao'e inculcate the morality, of the Bible." The l ibemiityattii- ° ° 11. butfcl to him. narrator records this anecdote, "as furnishing an ^ Vol. viii., p. 395. 686 THE REIGN OP [Ch. V. Fitness of liis CDnduc-l cjuls- tioncd. Bishop Trail succeeded in Down iind Connor by W. Dickson. useful instance of the wise and genuine liberality of his character :" but he has given no opinion of the compatibility of such conduct with the bishop's clerical and episcopal obligations. " The Bishop of Elphin," it is added, " has been recorded as ' a man of great variety of knowledge, uncommon genius, and sincere religion.' In regard to his literary character, we are not aware that any production avowed by himself has been given to the publick : yet it has been sujiposed that he had a considerable {^hare in the composition of the Moral and Political PJdlosophi/ of his friend, Dr. Paley ; and we believe the chapter on Reverencing the Deity has been gene- rally ascribed to him." To judge, however, from the foregoing anecdote, his religious principles were not distinguished by a strict adherence to scriptural truth, as professed and taught by the Church : at least there is, to my mind, no perceptible agreement between the consecration pledge, that the bishop will be " ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and false doctrines from tl;e fleck committed to his charge ;" and the putting forth and the distribution of a work, impregnated v> itli error and false doctrine, for the instruction of those who are committed to him. The death of Bishop Trail, at Lisburn, the 12th of November, 1788, caused a vacancy in the see of Down and Connor, which was filled by the consecra- tion of "S^'illiam Dickson, first chaplain to the lord lieutenant, the Earl of Northington. He was also a personal friend, and, at Hertford College, Oxford, a fellows-collegian, of Mr. Fox, one of the last acts of whose administration was this promotion ; and I remember to have heard a statement, which I believe to be authentick, that the promotion was commu- Sfx. IV.] KING GEORGE III. 687 nicated to tlie person promoted in a letter from that statesman, to the following effect : I have ceased to be minister, and you are bishop ofT)oAvn." This occurrence produced the somewhat singular effect of a son elevated to a station of professional superiority above his father, within his own jurisdiction ; for the father of Bishop Dickson had been, and, after his son's advancement, continued to be, dean of Down. The bishop survived the Union, of which we shall hereafter find him an opponent. It would be bevond the scope of this narrative volunteer asso- ^ ciiitions. to enter into the political contests which agitated Ireland about this period. But the volunteer associ- ations spread over the country require a few words of passing allusion, by reason of the prominent and conspicuous part taken in them by one of the pre- lates of the Irish Church on a certain memomble occasion. These associations were formed for the declared purpose of establishing the national inde- ix^ndence, and redressing the alleged grievances of Ireland. On the 8th of September, 1783, a meeting irsa was held at Dungannon, consisting of about five hundred delegates, returned from two hundred and forty-eight volunteer corps in the province of Ulster, and representing not less than eighteen thousand individuals. !Many of these delegates were men of high rank and large property; and they unanimously agreed to a series of thirteen resolutions, setting forth their orievances and claims, and concludino- with one to the following effect : ^' That a committee xa oil 1 come 3 viailation Archbishop Newcome held his primary visitation of and charge, 1795. the province of Ulster, and took occasion to state and enforce the duty of clerical residence, in a Charge, which he read in some dioceses, and intended to read in all but for the interruption of ill health. He published it at the request of many very respect- able hearers, as stated by him in an advertisement prefixed; and "inscribed it to the bishops and clergy of Ulster, with sincere regard, and with an earnest desire to co-operate with them in every measure conducive to the reputation, prosperity, and stability of the National Church." In this Charge some of the obvious arguments its contents, for clerical residence are put forward clearly and forcibly; and an Appendix to it contains a collection of legal documents upon the subject. I perceive in it, however, nothing illustrative of the condition of the Irish Church in particular, unless it be the ob- servations upon those anomalous benefices, wherein 736 THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. the absence of a church, a parsonage-house, and a glebe, afforded the incumbent a colourable 2)retext for non -residence : " But what,"" demands the primate, " is the duty of such as are instituted to benefices without a church ; or to non-cures, as they are usually but improperly termed ? For to all who possess them, the cure of souls is committed with the usual solemnity. The reply does not admit of hesita- tion: it is their duty to keep constant residence on such benefices, if no other has been conferred on them. Why should their parishioners labour under a double inconve- nience, in being deprived both of their minister and of their church? Surely the performance of occasional duties cannot be legally or conscientiously dispensed with in the circum- stances supposed : and these a substitute of some neighbour- ing parish is likely to perform with inferior care, and from a distance inconvenient to such as have a right to require them. I add, that the residence of an exemplary clergyman on such benefices, will naturally lead to the purchase of a competent glebe, and to the erecting of a glebe-house and of a church: and that, in the mean time, some other place may perhaps be obtained for the publick worship of a few pious parishioners, or, at least, for convening such children as need catechetical instruction.'^ About the same time, this anomalous peculiarity in the Irish Church was again made the subject of publick episcopal reprehension. In his primary charge to the clergy of the diocese of Ossory, in 1795, Bishop O'Beirne, whilst he enforced upon his clergy the obligations of personal attendance on the wants of their parishioners, animadverted in terms of strong reprobation upon the abuse of " non- cures :" " a description of ecclesiastical benefice, for which ^ve can discover no authority, except in an eagerness to find any excuse, and seize any pretext, for neglecting the most sacred and obligatory of our duties." And he condemned the minister, who Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE HI. 737 should absent himself from such a benefice, as one who violating all that he owed to the redeemed of Christ, whom he engaged to instruct and to comfort, and forgetful of that awful name, by which he had sworn, abandoned his charge; leaving them to what- ever casual instruction they could gather from others, to pick up the * word by the wayside to beg even for baptism for their children from some charitable hand, often from ministers of another faith, while he, standing on the mere privilege of an accommo- dating conscience, set every other consideration at defiance." It can hardly admit of a question, that to the condition of parishes in such a state of sjDiritual destitution as these, as well as to the very insufficient provision frequently existing for the Church's minis- trations in others, are to be atti'ibuted the facts, not only of persons not being added to the Church, but of others falling away from and deserting her com- munion. jNIean while the ministers of the Romish church Number and activity of in Ireland, more numerous as they were in a mani- Romish ciergy. fold degree, were found at all times and everywhere active. It was to this cause that the Bishop of Ossory, in his second charge of 1796, attributed the pertinacious pre valency of the Roman Catho- lick religion in the country, and how it had main- tained its influence over the great bulk of the people, amidst so many impediments and difficulties :" and he gave the following sketch of the ministers of that religion: " Their clergy are indefatigable. Their labours are unremitting. They live in a constant familiar intercourse with all who are subject to their pastoral inspection. They visit them from house to house. Their only care, their sole employment, is to attend to the administration of their saera- 3 B 788 THE REIGN OP [Ch. V. ments, and to their multiplied observancefs and rites. They Avatch and surround the beds of the sick. They are ' instant in season, and out of season : they reprove, they rebuke, they exhort,' certainly ' with long-suffering, and with doc- trine,' such as it is. ' They are wise,' observes Archbishop ^ Seeker, ' in their generation, and, if we hope to be a match clergy of the for them, WO Hiust imitate them.' If we hope to succeed Church. 1^ good cause, we must come down to an emulation with them in exertions, that are worthy only of that cause : an emulation, not of envy or strife ; not of angry controversy or disputation ; not of any intemperance of proselytism, where the idle contest is merely to swell the numbers of nominal votaries, without making better Christians or better subjects, and with the continual breach of Christian charity and benevolence; but an emulation in the faithful, earnest, and persevering discharge of such pastoral duties, as are most calculated to secure us the respect; the love, the attachment, and the confidence of our flocks." Revival of office An attempt was about this time made for the of rmal (leans. . • p 1'j^'it«t ij^i improvement of ecclesiastical discipline by the re- vival of the office of rural deans : an institution of very ancient date, and originally designed for the inspection and admonition of both^ clergy and laity within the respective deaneries, and for the informa- tion of the bishop concerning them, in order that, if requisite, he might interfere as directed by the law for their amendment. The institution had fallen into disuse in Ireland as well as in England : where, however, it was less needed on account of the archi- diaconal superintendence which prevailed in that part of the empire, w^hereas in Ireland the arch- deacons had no power or jurisdiction. Some of the governors of the Church accordingly, considering the ofiice calculated for its benefit, took measures for Commenced by its rcstoratioii iu their dioceses. The first advance Archbishop Agar of cafchei. appcai's to have been made by the Archbishop of Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE III. 739 Casliel, Dr. Agar, to whom, observes Bishop O'Beirne in a note on his first charge at Ossory, " the Churcli of IreLand is as much indebted as to any prelate of modern days." He framed new regulations, in order to render the institution fit for producing the best effects, and caused it to be 'revived throughout his whole province. Primate Newcome, on his appoint- ment to the see of Armagh, both revived the office in his own diocese, and strono^ly recommended its Adopted by other prelates. adoption to his suffragans. And the Bishop of Ossory, having within his' diocese adopted a similar plan, took the opportunity of his primary visitation for "returning his warmest thanks to his most re- spectable brethren, who had so cheerfully and zea- lously undertaken the very laborious task he had imposed upon them in the restoration of the ancient office of rural dean, and who were engaged in ren- dering him such essential services towards the dis- charge of Iris duty." He added, " Their labours, I trust, will not be in vain. In the information they have conveyed to me, I find much to rejoice at, and much to lament : from henceforth the whole object of my life, while God gives me health, shall be to endeavour to strengthen and extend the one, and to remedy and correct the other." The earnestness of the diocesan appears to have professional 1 ' ^ 11.1 diligence of been met with corresponding feelings by his clergy. Bishop oBeime. at whose request, communicated by a letter of the vicar-general. Dr. Gladden, he published his two first charges: a third, in 1797, designed for private cir- culation, was also published on the suggestion of the lord primate. A circular address to his clergy, the same year, was published with his permission, by the Association for discouraging Vice, and promoting the practice of Religion and Virtue. The three charges 3 B 2 740 THE KEIGN OF [Cii. V. and the address, together with four occasional ser- mons, were collected together in a volume in 1799. After his translation to ]\Ieath, several charges, of which five are now lying before me, and an address to candidates for ordination, show the unremitting vigilance of this faithful pastor of Christ's flock. Association for Qf ^^^q Associatlou, to whlch allusion has been discountenancing Vice, &c. just made, it may be here convenient to notice, that the institution had recently been formed for the excellent purposes, intimated by its designation. It arose out of the vicious state of society, which was observed to be prevalent in Ireland towards the latter end of the eighteenth century: and as the evil was judged to originate in an ignorance and neglect, so a remedy was sought in the promotion, of the knowledge and practice of the Christian religion. Thus its avowed objects were the discou- raging of vice, and the promoting of religion and Institution and virtue. Its subjccts were the risino^ generation particulars of it. ^ . throughout the kingdom. Its instruments of im- provement were schools erected under its patronage and with its aid ; teachers provided in part or w^holly with salaries from its funds ; Bibles, books of Common Prayer, and other religious publications, distributed gratuitously or at low prices ; and prizes conferred on the best-instructed and best-behaved children at periodical catechetical examinations con- ducted by the parochial clergy. Its principles were those of the Church of Ireland, of which it was a faithful offspring and minister, dispensing religious knowledge specially to her children, but embracing also the professors of other tenets. Its founders were three i:)rivate churchmen, one ecclesiastick and two laicks ; with whom were soon associated in its support other members of the Church, whose pre- Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE III. lates and other clergy, and a considerable number of its most respectable laity, gradually connected themselves with the association. Amongst its patrons it likewise reckoned from time to time the chief governours of Ireland : nor did it fail of re- ceiving countenance in England from the kindred Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. To notice the rise of this association belongs to our undertaking, falling, as it does, within the period assigned to the present narrative. To proceed with i^ossof itsroMer. an account of it would be to advance into a different period: suffice it to observe, that tlie society, having for many years conducted its enterprise with good success, was eventually deprived of its power by the intervention of rival societies, founded on more popular but less commendable principles, and by the withdrawal of the patronage of the government. Archbishop Newcome, who, as we have seen, Episcopal ap- pointments, 1795. was elevated to the primacy from the bishoprick of AYaterford and Lismore, in January, 1795, was suc- ceeded in that see, the following ^larch, by !Marlay, bishop of Clonfert. Bishop jNIarlay retained his bishoprick till after the Union. His successor in Clonfert was the honourable Charles Brodrick, fourth son of George, third Viscount jNIidleton, and son-in- law of Bishop Woodward, by whom he had been made treasurer of Cloyne, and rector of ^lidleton. In the same year, 1 795, on the death of Dodgson, bishop of Elphin, March the 7th, Bishop Law was translated to that see, from Killala, the 27th of that month, and remained in it till after the Union. Earl Fitzwilliam quitted the government the 24th of the same month ; and immediately on his departure, the lord primate, and the lord chancellor, the Earl of Clare, were made lords justices, and so continued THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Earl Camden, lord lieutenant, March 31, 1795. Episcopal changes, 1796. 1797. 1793. until the arrival of Earl Camden with the viceregal authority, on the 31st of March. Dr. John Porter, Avho had been chaplain to the Archbishop of Canter- bury, attended the new lord lieutenant as his chap- lain, and was consecrated to the bishoprick of Kil- lala the 7th of the ensuing June. In January, 1790, Foster, bishop of Kilmore, was translated to the see of Clogher, which had been vacated the 3rd of November preceding, by the death of Bishop Ilotham. And in the following year, 1797, the see of Clogher was again vacated, by the deatli of Bishop Foster, after less than two years' occupancy. In Kilmore, he had been succeeded by Brodrick, bishop of Clonfert, who continued in the see till after the Union, being subsequently ])ro- moted to the archbishoprick of Cashel. In Clogher, Bishop Foster was succeeded by Porter, bishop of Killala, who also survived the Union in his new £ee. The former was succeeded in Clonfert by Hugh Hamilton, dean of Armagh ; the latter in Killala by Joseph Stock, fellow of Trinity College, a distin- guished Hebraist, and noted for his translation of the Book of Job into English, who was consecrated to that see in 1798. In the same year, 1798, also. Bishop Maxwell died, in the see of Meath, having erected at Ard- braccan, for an episcopal residence, " a large and convenient mansion, in a style," says Dr. Beaufort, " of superior elegance, and with such simplicity as does equal honour to his Lordship's taste and liberality." His place was supplied by the transla- tion of Bishop O'Beirne from Ossory, to which Bishop Hamilton was translated, from Clonfert. He was succeeded there by Matthew Young, senior fellow of Trinity College, who was consecrated to Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE III. 743 the bislioprick in 1798, and vacated it November the 28 til, 1800, the vacancy, however, being not filled till after the Union. The Bishops O'Beirne and Hamilton survived the Union in their respective sees of Meath and Ossory. Of Bishop Youno', not lonfj before his death, the commemorated ^ ^ ® ' by Bishop following honourable testimony was borne by Ben- Bennett, nett, bishop of Cloyne, in a letter from Dublin, of June 5th, 1800, recorded in Mr. Nicholls' Illustra- tions of Literature, vol. iv., p. 712: "Dr. Young, the bishop of Cloufert, who is, I am afraid, dying of a cancer in his mouth, is the ablest man I have seen in this country, with the most keen and logical mind, united to exquisite taste. He has the playful- ness and ingenuousness of a school-boy. The Church will have a severe loss in him." The anticipation of Bishop Bennett was too well mseariy death, founded, and his estimate of the object of his pane- gyrick appears not to have, exceeded the reality. Bishop Young died of the painful and lingering malady just mentioned, in the fiftieth year of his age ; and by his death, it was said by one who spoke from personal, and, as it should seem, from intimate, acquaintance, that " science had lost one of its High character, brightest luminaries ; religion a sincere and powerful advocate ; his country its proudest boast and orna- ment; and his friends all that could command esteem and conciliate affection. The versatility of his talents, the acuteness of his intellect, and his intense application to study, were happily blended with a native unassuming modesty ; a simplicity of manners unaffected and irresistibly engaging; a cheerfulness and vivacity that knew no bounds but those of innocence ; a heart throbbing with the warm feelings of private friendship and general philan- THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. thropy; and a firm and inflexible spirit of honour His early and and integrity." He was elected to a fellowship of various excel- o j x ^ lence. his collogo in 1775, having, at his examination, dis- played a knowledge and comprehension of the New- tonian philosophy unexampled. To the professor- ship of natural and experimental philosophy, which became vacant in 1786, he was elected without competition. And in a society generally distin- guished for the successful application of its members to scientifick studies, he appears to have risen to a height of singular distinction. In the politer accom- plishments of musick, drawing, and botany, he made acquirements which his commemorator, in the Gentle- 7?i(m\s Magazi7ie\ has thought not unworthy of being specified, together with his literary proficiency; and, together with his mathematical and philosophical dissertations, other intellectual labours are attributed to him, which show that he was not inattentive to his peculiar duties as a divine. With him originated a society, consisting of a small number of his most intimate college friends, of which the principal object was the improvement of its members in theo- logical learning. In Dublin, during the winter which preceded his dissolution, one of his studies was the Syriack language, of which he endeavoured to make himself master, with a view to improve and perfect a new version of the Psalms. At intervals, he amused himself with an essay on sophisms, of which he exemplified the different classes from the works of the deistical writers. And after his re- moval to Whitworth, in Lancashire, where he died, his last labours were devoted to an examination of the principles on which could be most unexcepticn- ably demonstrated the existence of God. ' Vol. Ixx., p. 1216. Sec. VII.] KING GEORGE III. 745 Plis promotion to the episcopate was most His honourable JL A 1 promotion. honourable to all the parties concerned. The prin- cipal secretary being consulted by the lord lieu- tenant, who was the properest person to fill the vacant see, reported, that he believed Dr. Young to be the most distinguished literary character in the kingdom ; and Dr. Young accordingly became bishop of Clonfert. On the 11th of October, 1800, died Primate Death of Primate Newcome. Newcome, at his house in Stephen's-green, Dublin, and was interred in the new chapel of Trinity College. Of his seventy-one years, he had passed thirty-four as a bishop, and the last five in the primacy, to which he had been promoted soon after the death of Primate Robinson, and during the brief viceregal government of Earl Fitzwilliam, in 1795. Like his immediate predecessor, he appears not to have taken a prominent part in the political admi- nistration of affairs ; but, unlike him, he has left few his character, memorials to mark his episcopal character, beyond the attestation of his biographer, that, after his first promotion to the episcopate, he " discharged with great assiduity the duties of the episcopal office, and by his affability, prudence, and moderation, secured the respect of all parties and of all religious per- suasions;" and that, "on his translation to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh, he maintained in this new situation the same character wliich had rendered him the object of universal respect and esteem at Dromore, Ossory, and Waterford." He was "obliged, indeed, to assume greater state in his manner of living and appearance, and to mix more in publick life, than was agreeable to his wishes ; but he con- ducted himself in those scenes with the same pro- THU REIGN OF [Cu. V. priety which governed him in all his intercourse with the world, rejoicing when he was enabled to with- draw from them to the enjoyment of domestick happiness, and the pursuit of his literary studies'." His pastoral care. There lias beou already occasion to commemorate his attention to the due administration of his pastoral care, as exemplified in the charge delivered to his clergy, and published soon after his elevation to the primacy, wherein he calls attention to the absolute necessity of clerical residence, and therewith to a very important department of clerical duty, that of occasional and private instruction. This publication, however, seems to have passed away with the other fugitive productions of the day, iiis biblical and has left hardly any memorial of the writer. As a biblical scholar, his reputation is more extended : and the student of Holy Scripture may derive assist- ance in his researches from this prelate's version of Ezekiel and of the twelve minor prophets, and from his "Harmony of the New Testament," as well as from his "Observations on our Lord's Conduct as a Divine Instructor." In two of his publications, however, he has been especially unhappy, if not from their bearing a tinge of unwholesome liberality on matters of very serious import, at least from the precedent wdiich they have afforded to men of unsound princi- ples, and from the discontent which they are calcu- Tendency of his latcd to produco III tho miuds of others. His "His- pubhcations. ^Qj^j^al Vlcw of the Euglisli Biblical Translations ; the expediency of revising by authority our present Translation, and the means of executing such a work," published in 1792, may give good reason to think that his zeal outran his judgment; for that any imaginary and j^i'oblematical benefit, contemplated ' Rees's Cyclopedia, Sec. VII. I KING GEORGE III. 747 in a new version of tlie lioly Scriptures for puLlick use, would be more than counterbalanced by the disrepute cast on the old version, and the distrust of its fidelity thus excited in the popular mind. His posthumous publication of an "Attempt ^'c^onhcmf towards Revising our English Translation of the Greek Scriptures," is liable to the same exception : and, in effect, it has been made the occasion and the basis, which he could hardly have anticipated, and which it is to be presumed that he would have deprecated and deplored, of another work under the title of an "Improved Version of the New Testa- ment, published by a Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge." The castigation, which this work underwent at the time of its first appearance from some able sons and champions of the Anglican church, satisfactorily exposed the defective scholar- ship and the weakness of the critical powers of its editors, as well as the erroneousness and falsehood of their theological opinions. The primate's family lamented and condemned the use wliicli had been made of their relative's authority: and others, who have no natural connection with him, but who feel for the honour of the Church, in which he bore so high a station, will long continue to grieve at the sight of his name placed in such an unholy associa- tion. He was succeeded by the Honourable William JJ^jf^^^ft";^' Stuart, fifth son of the Earl of Bute, and Bishop of St. David's, to which see he had been consecrated in 1793. This was the last episcopal appointment in incidents prc- ^ ^ '■ vi»)us to the Ireland before the Union, of which and of the pre- ^'^o"- vious incidents it now remains to speak, so far as jbhey bore on ecclesiastical affairs, and on the incor- 748 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. poration of the two national Churches of England and Ireland in one United Church. Section VIII. jReign of George III. favourable to the Romanists. Erection of Maynootli College hy Act of Farliamerd, Restlessness of the Romanists. Rebellion of 1798. Its Popish cha- racter. Sufferings of members of the Ch urch. Destruc- tion of churches. Laudable conduct of Bishops La w and Percy. Persecution of Bishop Clearer. Bishop Stock taken prisoner. Debate in the House of Lords. Speech of Bishop Dickson, Union of two kingdoms recommended by Lord Lieutenant. Rejected by House of Commons. Recommended by British Parliament. Carried in Irish Parliament. Provisions as affecting the Church. Churches of England and Ireland united. Representative Bishops. Act received Royal Assent^ August 1, 1800. Carried into effect., January 1, 1801. The reign of King George III. had been in an un- exampled and remarkable degree conspicuous for the removal of civil and political disabilities from the members of the Church of Rome in Ireland. After the act of 1793, they could not be regarded as suffering under any positive oppression : what re- mained of grievances was negative only. At the same time a positive and most important benefaction had been conferred upon them by a parliamentary provision for maintaining, dissemi- nating, and perpetuating their religion in the country from the national resources. During the adminis- tration of the Earl of Westmoreland, in the year 3 794, the chief ecclesiastical authority of the Ro- manists in Ireland, Dr. Troy, had represented to the government, that, in consequence of the disturbances then existing in France, which had been the usual resort of candidates for the Romish priesthood in Sec. VIIL] KING GEOROxE III. 749 Ireland, a large number of Irish students had been deprived of the means of education: and that the establishment of a domestick seminary ^vas requisite to meet the difficulty of supplying priests to perform the necessary duties of religion. This purpose, however, was not accomplished Am.mpiighed ^ A ^ by Lord Camden, during the short remnant of the Earl of Westmore- 1795. land's administration, nor during the still shorter succeeding administration of Earl Fitzwilliam, thougli great exertions were made for its accomplishment immediately on his appointment to the viceregal office, agreeable as such an establishment would have been to the avowed principles of the new lord lieutenant and his partisans, in favour of the Irish Papists. But it was reserved for the viceroyalty of Earl Camden, to give a new character to Popery in that portion of the empire, by taking it under the patronage, and fostering it at the expence, of the nation. Accordingly, in 1795, an act of parliament was Actofpariia- passed, authorising the erection and endowment of a for college at college at Maynooth, in the county of Kildare, for the education of Romish priests. Certain trustees were thereby empowered to receive donations for establishing and endowing an academy, and to ac- quire lands, free from forfeiture by mortmain, for the education of persons professing the Roman Ca- tholick religion. Such donations appear not to have been made ; but a sum of near 40,000/. was granted by parliament for its first establishment, and 8000/. in each succeeding session for its annual support, and for the maintenance and education of two hun- dred students, that so they might be trained to minister the rites of the Romish religion to Ireland's Romish population. 750 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V, Deemed insuffi- cient by the Papists. Their restless- ness. Rebellion o(\7'- Its Popish character. Such fi benefaction may have been thought cal- culated to conciliate the good will of that population to those by whom it was bestowed, the Protestant rulers of the kingdom ; thus co-operating with the removal of civil and political disabilities. But the more they received, of the more were they desirous. And having been disappointed in their expectation of political aggrandisement by the government of Earl Fitzwilliam, they had recourse to other expe- dients. Towards the attainment of their end., they first urged forward the claim of parliamentary re- form, in which object they were joined by the Pro- testant dissenters of the north ; but in which they soon found that they would be defeated by the opposition of the government and of the legislature. The opportunity of succeeding by foreign aid then seemed to be opened to them by the French revo- lution; and they determined on connecting them- selves with France, and invited to their assistance the French republicans, with the purpose of de- taching Ireland from England. Hence arose com- binations, conspiracies, tumults, insurrections, and finally the rebellion, which spread havock, desola- tion, and misery over no small portion of the king- dom, in the ever-memorable and disastrous year of 1798. To the hierarchy, and the respectable classes of the Romanists in Ireland, it is justice to observe, that they appear not to have been parties in the rebellion, but rather to have exerted their influence for its suppression. The great body, however, of the rebels consisted of members of the Romish church, in inferior situations ; not without the en- couragement, meanwhile, the support, and the guid- ance, of their immediate spiritual pastors. And the Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 751 bitterness, with which they regarded thofte wlio differed from them in rehgion, was testified by the acts of barbarity inflicted on their captives ; barbarities, so atrocious in effect, and so unequivocal in their objects, that the Protestant dissenters, who had originally associated themselves with the Papists from a sameness of political sentiments, withdrew, on discovering the spirit of ruthless persecution, which was manifested against all who did not pro- fess the Papal creed. Their presbyterian partisans being thus detached in Leinster. from the confederacy, the rebellion was soon quelled in the province of Ulster. In the province of Leinster its principal strength was concentrated. The whole mass of the Popish inhabitants of the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare, and Carlow, rose at once ; and were joined by many inhabitants of the adjoining counties, particularly of IMeath and Dub- lin, of the same religious persuasion. At one time their number in arms is said to have amounted to fifty thousand men. Confiding in this strength, they made no secret of their designs of extirpating Pro- testants. On the contrary, their object and intention was proclaimed to be the excision of all liereticks, whom they bound themselves by the most solemn oath, " to burn, destroy, and murder, up to their knees in blood." The generality of the priests," says an historian gene- ^o-phh cntbnsi- i-Tk 'i 1 11 carrying rally lavourable to the Komisn cause , " took the utmost on the Rebemon pains to diffuse, as widely as possible, the malignant spirit of religious bigotry, and inveterate animosity against the Protestants, very few of whom were found in the ranks of the rebel army. Those, who had been imprudent enough to enter, were either obliged carefully to conceal their religion, or submit to be re-baptized by the priests, who were con- ^ Mr. Belsham, quoted in Collectanea Political iii., 302. 752 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. tinually preaching up, that, in destroying hereticks, they were performing a duty to heaven. Murphy, one of the most popular and profligate of this class, in a sermon deli- vered by him after the defeat at Ross, declared, ' that those who were killed in that battle had follen in consequence of their want of faith ; that this general rising of the Catho- licks was visibly the work of God ; that the Almighty had determined the hereticks, after having reigned so many years, should be now extirpated, and the true Catholick reliction established.' At the successful attack at Three Rocks, previous to the surrender of Wexford, the same !Murphy marched at their head, telling them ' not to fear ; for if they took up the dust from the roads, and threw it at the king's troops, they would f:ill dead before them."* Many of the priests pretended to give charms, to prevent the balls of the soldiery from hurting them ; and Father Roche, one of the number, as was believed by these poor credulous wretches, did constantly catch the bullets, that came from his Majesty's army, in his hand." Suflferings of the Under such circumstances as these, the sufferings Church? ° of the Church in her members cannot but have been manifold and acute; and in a history of the Church a specifick notice of them seems necessary to be introduced. The following may be taken as mere specimens ; for I would refrain from any lengthened detail. At Prosperous; At a towii callod Prosporous, in the county of Kildare, the committing of many cruel atrocities ■was accompanied with cries of AA^here are the hereticks ? down with the hereticks ! " Atcree; At Crcc, iu the county of Wexford, the rebels, having attacked the house of an industrious farmer, and forced him out of it, they interrogated him as to his religion ; and on his acknowledgment that he was a Protestant, they kicked him in the head and different parts of the body; thus putting him to death with the greatest cruelty. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 753 In Kildare, they destroyed the liouse and pro- AtKiidarc; perty of a jNIr. Crafford, whom they reviled for being a Protestant, and then put to deatli by thrusting a - pike up his body, which penetrated almost to his throat, and wounded him in many other parts : they afterwards roasted him before a large fire, where he expired in the most shocking agony. One of his young children they put to death in the same man- ner. The mother, with another child, having been severely wounded, was rescued by the providential arrival of a party of loyalists. At Enniscorthy, in the county of Wexford, an AtEnniscorthy; industrious tradesman was seized by the rebels, and required to renounce his religion as a Protestant, to confess to a priest, and receive baptism : on his refu- sal, he was piked in several parts of the body, and thrown out into a field for dead. At Gorey, in the same county, the Popish neigh- Atcorey; hours of a Protestant prisoner came to see him in his confinement, mocked him, wished him a speedy liberation, and hoped he would not lose any time in accepting the means to procure it ; which was, to be christened by a priest, and embrace the holy Roman Catholick faith, as they called it ; and, if he would not consent to these pro]»osals, he should be shot. At Oulard, in the same county of Wexford, the AtouiarJand Caibcry. rebels burned the houses of the Protestant inhabit- ants. At Carbery, in the county of Kildare, they burned a Protestant charter school, and several houses ; they then proceeded through Johnstown, burning and destroying tlie liouse of every Protestant on the road. At Wexford, all the houses were searched for ivrassacro at Protestants, who, on being discovered, were thrust into the jail : thence tlicy were dragged out in de- 3 c 754 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. tachments to the bridge, by dozens or half-dozens, and there the hereticks, for such was their familiar appellation, were piked in the most horrible and tormenting manner, and thrown over the parapet into the river. Murder of clergy. Sovoral clergymen in different places fell victims to the sanguinary fury of the rebels. The names of those of Enniscorthy, Oulart, Ballinagale, Rillan, and Templeshambo, are recorded. One clergyman of respectability was stripped naked, put into a i)ig- trough, and bled to death: after which the murderers danced and washed their feet in his blood. The parish minister of Camolin, in the county of Wex- ford, having during an imprisonment of ten days been continually urged to become a convert to Popery, was, on his refusal, eventually knocked down, stripped of his clothes, barely covered with some ragged garments, wounded with pikes, and sent bare- foot to Wexford jail. Murder of Hev. The glebe-house of the Rev. Dr. Burro wes, rector of Kilmuckridge^ in the county of W exford, having been assailed and set on fire, he, together with his wife and family, and several of his Protestant pa- rishioners, who had taken refuge in it, was by the danger of suffocation constrained to quit it, having received from the Popish priest, who headed the assailants, an assurance of safety, if they surrendered without further resistance. The penalty of his con- fidence was paid by the instant murder of himself and seven of his parishioners; and by a severe wound inflicted with a pike On his son, a youth of sixteen years of age, who was rendered motionless and appa- rently dead at the time, and actually died from its effects not long after. Destitution of Qf elovoH parlshes in the diocese of Dublin, five diocese of Dublin. ■*■ Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 755 of which were within six miles of that city, tlie inciiinbents, together with their parishioners, were compelled by insnlts and menaces to seek safety in flight, after having experienced in most cases, if not all, the destruction of their houses and property, and imminent peril to their lives; many also of the Pro- testant inhabitants having been in some instances pre vi 0 usly m u r d ei-e d . In some also of these instances, the churches, r>estniction of churches, as well as the persons and property of the clergy and the other members of the Church, were objects of Popish persecution. In Blessington, the parish church was greatly damaged by the rebels, and in Fonstown almost destroyed: in Hollywood, it was converted into a barrack. In various other cases likewise, the fury of the rebels was directed to the demolition of the parish churches, which they despoiled of their moveable furniture, and, witli the wantonness of sacrilegious insult, abused and tore in pieces the sacred volumes that they contained for divine worship. At Gorey, At Gore in the county of Wexford, not satisfied with burning and plundering the place, they destroyed the church, dragged down the pulpit, burned some of the seats and pews, and actually stained it with the blood of two Protestants, whom they inhumanly put to death within its hallowed precincts. At Enniscrono, in At Enniscrone. the county of Sligo, they tore up the floors of the church, demolished the pews and the communion table, rifled with reckless and unfeeling indecency the tombs of the dead, and barbarously insulted the remains of a former vicar, which had been deposited there thirty years before under a monument, that commemorated the universal reverence cherished among his people for his humane and charitable disposition. 3 C 2 75G THE KEIGX OF [Cii. V. Amongst other churches, profaned and damaged in the same county of Sligo, may be specially noticed that of Lackan, the vicar of ^vhicli, the Rev. ]Mr. Little, resided constantly in his glebe-house, and Avas continually occupied in searching out and reliev- ing the wants of his poor parishioners, Avithout reli- gious distinction. Being addicted to the study, and skilled in the practice, of medicine, he incurred no small expense in applying remedies for tlieir several diseases; especially for those of the Romish popula- tion, ^vhose poverty and numbers caused them to be in the greatest degree objects of his bounty. But in this calamitous season, his benevolence and holy charity were thought scorn of, and his kind offices requited with heartless barbarity. The clergyman and his wife were both in a feeble and declining state of health: nevertheless they were forced from their house, without a horse to carry them, and with scarcely clothes to cover them, and plundered of everything worth taking: to the wanton destruction of a valuable library, and of every other article of property, for which the plunderers could find no use, they added the demolition of the church. Some incidents occurred during this season of alarm and distress, in relation to the hierarchy of the Church, such as to require notice. The bishoprick of Elphin comprises the county of Roscommon, in which also the residence of the bishop is situated. The Popish multitude in that county, being universally disaffected to the govern- ment, were on the point of joining the insurgents, and only waited for a signal from the leaders in their respective districts. But the evil was counteracted by the magnanimity and fortitude of the bishop. Dr. Law; who fortified his palace, resolutely maintained Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 757 his post, bade defiance to the rebels, animated the gentry and tlie Avell-disposed inhabitants by his example, and by his wise and seasonable exertions was the means, under divine providence, of pre- serving the property and lives of the Protestants of that county from the outrages of a deluded and infuriated multitude, who w^re thus kept in check, till the time of that rebellious tyranny was overpast. Bishop Percy, also, by his residence and exertions Bishop of Droniore. at Dromore, especially by liberally contributing to the formation of a yeomanry corps, whicli com- pletely restrained the operations of some ill-disposed persons in the neighbourhood, was instrumental in upholding the cause of true religion and loyalty, whilst the rebellion was raging in the counties of Down and Antrim, the former of which contains the diocese of Dromore. Meanwhile, in the county of Wexford, where Bishop of the rebellion was most rife, in common with the other members of the Church, who lay within reach of its desolating career, it had visited the abode of the exemplary prelate, who presided over the diocese of Ferns and Leighlin. Bishop Cleaver, a constant resident in the palace of Ferns, was as eminent for his mildness and condescension as he was for his great piety and extensive learning. That he regu- ins chnmc lated the affairs of his diocese v^ith admirable dis- cipline, and watched the conduct of liis clergy with vigilance, and distinguished the most meritorious by acts of substantial favour, were features in his cha- racter which might have been naturally viewed with indifference by the votaries of an alien creed : but feelings of grateful and respectful attachment might have been reasonably expected from those who were the objects of liis perpetual benevolence, and who^e THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. wants were supplied, and their distresses alleviated, and their diseases remedied, by his bounty. By His persecution thesc objects of his bounty, however, actuated by in the rebellion. . i i i • i • i the inhuman and remorseless spirit which now desolated the country^ the life of their benefactor, and of her who was associated with him, as in domestick union, so in his works and labours of love, was avowedly sought. Their thirst for blood, indeed, was not gratified by that of the venerable prelate. But his house was plundered : his cellar was broken open, and its contents consumed amidst execrations of himself and of his order: all his valuable articles of furniture w^ere rifled and carried off : his library was scattered abroad, and its most precious volumes converted into saddles for the horses of the rebels : and the cause assigned for the ej^jiscopal palace not being delivered over to destruc- tion as well as to plunder was, that one of the Popish priests, who led on the plunderers, intended to keep it for himself. KUMa°^ Another member of the episcopal body suffered during this season of alarm and dismay, or rather after the suppression of the rebellion. A small French squadron appeared in August on the coast of Connaught, off the county of Mayo ; and cast anchor in the bay of Killala, where the troops dis- embarked, and took possession of the town, the commanding officer. General Humbert, establishing his head-quarters in the episcopal palace. The Taken prisoner Bishop of Killala, Dr. Stock, who was encrap^ed at by the French. l ' ' <=> ^ the time in holding the annual visitation of his diocese, was with the dean and several of his clergy taken prisoner. He might, indeed, have made his escape, before the arrival of the invaders at his palace : but he took the praiseworthy resolution of Sec. VIIT.] KING GEORGE III. 759 remaining, and tlius materially assisted the French officers in maintaining social order, and in preserving the lives and jn-operty of the Protestant inhabitants. He felJ, however, into merciful hands, and was treated Avith much moderation and forbearance, of which he has made due mention in a narrative, which he afterwards published of the transactions. In particular, when the main body of the French marched forward into the country, they left behind them six officers and two hundred privates, for the purpose, as the general said, of protecting the Pro- testants from the sanguinary spirit of the Popish multitude. And to a desire expressed by a Popish priest, of being put in possession of the bishop's library, the officer in command, turning from him with contempt, made answer, " The bishop's library is as much his own now as it ever w^as." Before the breaking: out of the rebellion, the Debate between O Earl of Moira Earl of Moira had moved in the House of Lords and Lord chan- ccllor Clare. an address, beseeching the lord-lieutenant to " pursue such conciliatory measures, as might allay the appre- hensions, and extinguish the discontents, unhappily prevalent in the country;" and on the occasion he stigmatized, in the severest terms of reproach, the culpable misconduct of ministers in recalling Lord Fitz William, and refusing to concede further immu- nities to the Romanists. The lord chancellor, the Earl of Clare, in answer, contended, that " the system of government had been a system of conciliation ; that in no country had the experiment been so fairly tried as in Ireland ; and in none had it so completely failed." In the course of his speech he passed some reflec- speech of Bishop tions on the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr. connor. ' THE REIGN OF [Cir. V. Impropriety of his language. Consequence of the rebellion. Dickson, who had promoted a petition to the king in favour of conciliatory measures. In reply, the bishop vindicated his character from this publick asjjersion, acknowledging that he was a friend to conciliation. " Coercion," he said, " had been tried long enough. With respect to Catholick emancipa- tion, he considered it as a matter of right, not of favour; and a reform of parliament as an act of policy, which the state of the country rendered absolutely necessary : and the present calamities of the country he ascribed to that most impolitick and lamentable measure, the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam." This is the only prelate, of whom I find mention, as taking part in the debate. His language I transcribe as I have found it; and I cannot but lament, what- ever may have been his political sentiments, that a bishop of the Church of Ireland should have allowed himself, if correctly reported, in the use of a phrase, so injurious to the character of the Church, as that of " Catholick emancipation." Lord Moira's motion was lost by a large majority. In the month of May the rebellion broke out, and Avas soon subdued. But the recourse which had been had to foreign aid, with the view of separating Ireland from Great Britain, determined the English government to bind the two kingdoms together by an indissoluble chain. And on the opening of the session, January the 22nd, 1799, the lord lieutenant, Marquis Cornwallis, thus communicated the king's sentiments to the two houses of parliament : " The unremitting industry with which our enemies persevere in their avowed design of endeavouring to effect a Union of the tvvo kin:,'(li)ins jeconi- mcndeil bv I\I.u- quis Cornwallis, . fi'i- n -t t • • jan.22, i7yy. separation of this kingdom from (jreat Britain, must have engaged }oiir particular attention ; and his JNiajesty con - Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 7G1 mands iiic to express his anxious hope, that this considera- tion, joined to the sentiment of mutual affection and common interest, may dispose the parliaments in both kingdoms to provide the most effectual means of maintaining and im- proving a connexion essential to their common security, and of consolidating, as far as possible, into one firm and lasting fabrick, the strength, the power, and the resources of the British empire." The proposal for the Union, however, being Rejected by the subsequently brought forward in the House of Com- mons. nions, was rejected by a majority of 111 to 105 ; although, in the House of Lords, the answer to the viceroy's speech coincided with his recommendation. JVIeanwhile a joint address of the two houses of Recommended *^ by the Britibh parliament of Great Britain was laid before his parliament. JNIajesty, accompanied by resolutions, " proposing and recommending a complete and entire union between Great Britain and Ireland, to be established by the mutual consent of both parliaments, founded on equal and liberal principles, on the similarity of laws, constitution, and government, and on a sense of mutual interests and affections." A communication to this effect was made to the communication of lord lioutc- Irish houses of parliament by the lord lieutenant, on nnnt.june i. ^ 1790. his prorogation of parliament, the 1st of June, 1799. On opening the session, January the 15th, 1800, he abstained from reference to the subject ; whereupon, by an amendment of the address, an attempt was made to quash the project by anticipation, but was frustrated on a division by 138 against 96, in the House of Commons ; majority 42. The proposal for the Union, being- soon afterwards Proposal f.r Union carric'd in brought forward by Lord Castlereagh, was adopted i'i=^i' pariir.ncnt. by a majority of 43 ; the numbers being, 158 in favour, and 115 against it. In the House of Lords, the measure was carried with little dilficulty; the 762 THE REIGN OF rcu. V. numbers being, contents, 53 present, or, including proxies, 75 ; not contents, 19, including proxies, 26: but a i^rotest was entered on its journals by two spiritual, together with eighteen temporal, peers. The spiritual peers were Dickson, bishop of Down and Connor, and Marlay, bishop of Waterford and Lismore ; the former an intimate friend of Mr. Fox, the latter an uncle of Mr. Grattan. The Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam, and eight bishops, besides those above named, were present ; but there was no speci- fication of votes. The measure is understood to have had the approbation of the episcopal bench with the foregoing exceptions. Provisions of the The folloAvlng wcro the provisions of the act of act as affecting tt • Union, as affecting the Church. the Clhiirch. Act of 4(1 Goo. Ill , c. 3«, It was enacted, as the fifth article of Union, that the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one Protestant Epis- churchcs of Eng. copal Churcli, to be called ' The United Church of land and Ireland ^ united. England and Ireland ;' and that the doctrine, wor- ship, discipline, and government of said United Church shall be, and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by law established for the Church of England ; and that the continuance and preservation of the said United Church, as the esta- blished Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the Union." Representative The fourth article provided, that " four lords spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, should be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the parliament of the United Kingdom." And by the eighth article it was regulated how the four spiritual lords should be returned for each session ; namely, that one of bishops. Sec. VIII.] KING GEORGE III. 763 the four archbishops of Ireland should sit in each session, by rotation among tlie arcliiepiscopal sees ; and tliat three of the eighteen bishops should sit in like manner, by rotation among the episcopal sees : that the primate of all Ireland should sit in the first session, then the Archbishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, successively, and so by rotation of sessions for ever : and that the suffragan bishops should in like manner sit according to rotation, from session to session, in the following order: the Bishops of JNIeath, Kildare, and Derry ; the Bishops of Raphoe, of Li- merick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, and of Dromore ; of Elphin, of Down and Connor, and of Waterford and Lismore ; of Leighlin and Ferns, of Cloyne, and of Cork and Ross ; of Killaloe and Kilfenora, of Kil- more, and of Clogher; of Ossory, of Killala and Aclionry, and of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh. The act, being chapter 88 of the fortieth of Act received tliG George III., received the royal assent on the 1st day ASirS. of August, 1800 : on the folloAving day, in pursu- ance of the fifth clause, the Primate of all Ireland, and the Bishops of JNIeath, Kildare, and Derry, became the representatives of the lords spiritual of Ireland in the parliament of the United Kingdom, for the first session thereof ; and, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland being united into one kingdom on the 1st of Januarv, 1801, the Church of Ireland, rnion eflfected, *' Jan. 1, 1801. and with it the Church of England, each ceased to have an independent, separate, national existence ; and the two were thenceforth united into one Pro- testant Episcopal Church, The United Church of England and Ireland." THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. Section IX. Condition of the Church, 1800. Dr. Beaufort's map and memoir. Ecclesiastical divisions of tlie map. Condition of the Church at the Union. Dr. Beauforfs Map and Memoir. Ecclesiastical Divisions. Number and distribution of Dioceses. Extent. Episcopal Residences and Revenues. Supply of Ejyiscopal vacancies. Appoint- ments from England and from Ireland. Deaneries and Archdeaconries. Constitution of Chapters. Cathedrals^ ancient and modern. No Chapter Revenues. Corpses of dignities. Impropriations. Number of Parishes and Benefices. Patronage of Benefices. Number of Churches. Want of Churches and Parsonage-houses. Non-residence. Moderate revenues of Clergy. Emoluments and evil of Impropriations. Character of Hierarchy and Clergy. Room for improvement in the Church. We have now reached the proposed period of our narrative in the Union of the two Churches; but before we bid a final farewell to our subject, it may be well to take in conclusion a summary view of the condition of the Church of Ireland, at this epoch of its history. In the year 1792, only eight years before the Union, the Rev. Dr. Daniel Augustus Beaufort con- structed and published an entire new map of the kingdom of Ireland, and accompanied it with a "Memoir, illustrating the Topography of that King- dom, and containing a short account of its present state, Civil and Ecclesiastical." This map, that I may confine myself to the latter branch of the undertaking, accurately traces out the ecclesiastical divisions of the kingdom ; carefully distinguishes the limits of each diocese, which have little or no dependence on the civil limits of coun- ties and baronies ; defines the situation and extent of the several parishes; and places every church in Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE III. 765 its proper site, in such a manner that the eye can at once distinguish churches then existing from such as ^vere in ruins : indicating also by the letters R. and V. following the name of each parish, whether it was a rectory or yicarage ; and, by a single line under the name of a vicarage, denoting that the rectory was a lay impropriation, and, by a double line, that the tythes of the whole parish were impro- priate. The utility of such a map, in perusing a history of the Church of Ireland, must be obvious : and I have accordingly procured it to be engraven on a reduced scale, as a commodious and valuable companion to the present volume. The memoir, in illustration of the map, contains Particulars ' J- ' memoir. various statements on the ecclesiastical condition of Ireland at the time : founded on the authority of the registries and visitation books of the respective dioceses ; on the communications with which the author was favoured by several of the bishops and clergy; and on the information which he acquired in visiting the different parts of the kingdom. From this memoir, which is now become extremely scarce and difficult of access, I have abstracted several particulars, and combined them with others from different sources, for the purpose of giving a com- pendious view of the condition of the Irish church at the period of the Union. The number of dioceses at this time continued Number of tlidceses, to be the same as it was in 1678, a few years after the restoration of the Church with the monarchy: namely, four arclibishopricks and eighteen bishop- ricks : the only difference in their distribution being, that Ardagh, which in 1661 was united to Kilmore, and after a short interval, in 1692 and 1693, THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. when it formed a sejDarate see, was re-united to that diocese, was, in 1741, again separated from it and annexed to Tuam; and that Kilfenora, which had been annexed to Tuam, was, in 1741, separated therefrom and given in commendam to the Bishop of Clonfert, and afterwards, in 1752, united to Killaloe, with which it continued thenceforth in And distribution, uuiou. Thus the episcopate of Ireland in 1800 con- sisted of the archbishoprick of Armagh in the northern province, with the seven suffragan bishopricl<:s of Meath, Clogher, Derry, Down and Connor, Dromore, Kilmore, and Raphoe, besides the see of Ardagh, which, though in the province of Armagh, was annexed to the archbishoprick of Tuam : the arch- bishoprick of Dublin in the eastern province, with the three suffragan bishopricks of Kildare, Ferns and Leighlin, and Ossory: the archbishoprick of Cashel, with the bishoprick of Emly united to it, in the south, and the five suffragans of Cloyne, of Cork and Ross, of Killaloe and Kilfenora, of Lime- rick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, and of Waterford and Lismore : and the archbishoprick of Tuam in the west, with the three suffragans of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, of Elpbin, and of Killala and Achonry. The Archbishop of Armagh was lord primate and metropolitan of all Ireland; the Archbishop of Dublin was lord primate of Ireland ; the Archbishops of Cashel and of Tuam, respectively, lord primate of Munster and of Connaught. Tiieir extent. Xho diocoscs wero of very unequal extent. The archbishoprick of Tuam, which was considerably the largest in the kingdom, was, in Irish measure, more than 60 miles long, and 50 broad ; or, in English, 77 miles by 63. The bishoprick of next greatest dimensions consisted of the united dioceses of Lime- Sec. IX.] KING GEOPvGE III. 767 rick and Arclfert with Agliadoe; the former ex- tending 27 Irish rniles in length and 17 in breadth; tlie latter 52 by 48 ; or, in English measure, Lime- rick being 34 miles by 21, Ardfert 66 by 61. The other dioceses, as to their relative cajmcity, succeeded each other by the following enumeration : 3, Ferns and Leighlin; 4, Killaloe and Kilfenora; 5, JNIeath; 6, Derry; 7, Down and Connor; 8, Cloyne; 9, Clogher; 10, Killala and Achonry; 11, Raphoe; 12, Kilmore; 13, Cork and Ross; 14, 15, 16, the three other archbishopricks of Dublin, Armagh, and Cashel, with Emly united : of which Dublin was 50 miles in length and 36 in its greatest breadth, Irish measure, or 64 by 46, English; Armagh was 59 Irish miles long, and from 10 to 25 broad; or, in English measure, 75 miles long and from 12^ to 32 broad; and Cashel, with Emly, 32 Irish miles one way and 30 the other, or 41 by 38 English. The succeeding dioceses in point of dimensions were : 1 7, Elphin; 18, Waterford and Lismore; 19, Ossory; 20, Kildare: 21, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh; 22, Ardagh; and 23, Dromore. This last, which was the smallest diocese, extended only 28 Irish miles in length, by 17 in breadth; or 31| by 21^ English; the episcopal residence being not 20 miles from any part of the diocese. Episcopal residences Avere possessed by all the Episcopal resi- bishops in their dioceses, with the exception of two only. Eight or nine of these were older buildings: eleven were of modern date, having been built by their actual or late possessors. But in the diocese of Kildare there was no residence; and it was less necessary by reason of the bishop's station as dean of Christ Church, which rendered his residence in the city of Dublin desirable, and by reason of the THE REIGN OF [Cn. V. proximity of his diocese to Dublin, and of its small extent. The only other exception was that of the united diocese of Down and Connor, which, from time immemorial, had no fixed habitation for its bishops, who appear to have chosen temporary- abodes here or there, as suited their taste or con- venience. Thus the bishops were generally settled amongst their clergy and people, although in some instances the extent of the diocese caused an interval of 50, 60, or even more, miles between the episcopal residence and the extremity of the diocese. The bishop's palace in Limerick was 80 miles from some parts of Ardfert: 80 Irish miles; the Irish mile being to the English in the ratio of 7 to 5J, or 14 to 11. Episcopal reve- In au earlv part of this chapter, Section II., nues. X 1 there has been given, on the authority of Mr. Young, an estimate of the incomes of the Irish bishops and deans, made between the years 1776 and 1770. In default of more recent statements, it may serve in some degree as a criterion of epis- copal and decanal incomes at the era of the Union. Supply of v.ican- ^ f^^- words may be added on the mode of supplying episcopal vacancies at this period. A practice had prevailed, since the Revolution, of placing an Englishman in the station of primate of all Ireland ; for the only native of Ireland who had occupied the station since that epoch, was Arch- bishop Boyle, wlio had been advanced to it by King Primate uhvays Charlos II. His succossor was an Eno'lishman, and an Englishman. ° the practice, thus introduced, continued to be main- tained in the present, as in the preceding reigns. The primates, indeed, had ceased to bear that poli- tical character, and to take that part in affairs of state, which had distinguished Archbisboi>s Boulter Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE III. and Stone; but still it was the policy of the govern- ment to follow the precedents previously set, in the appointment, first, of Bishop Robinson, and then of Bishop Newcome, to the primacy; and now, on the eve of the Union, a member of the English episco- pate was translated to preside over the Irish branch of the future United Church. As to other appointments, there were about Bishops from . -I . X 1 1 1 • • England, forty persons raised, in Ireland, to the episcopate m the same number of years which elapsed between the accession of King George III. and the Union. These preferments were divided, but not in an equal rate, between natives of the two kingdoms. Of the twenty-two Englishmen thus promoted, seventeen were chaplains of lords lieutenants: reckoning Bishop Fowler, who was promoted in exchange of preferment with a chaplain of Lord Townshend. These appoint- ments, together with men of inferior note, included the Bishops Newcome, Mann, Bennett, Cleaver, and Woodward ; with respect to the last named of whom, to the information already stated, recent in- telligence, kindly communicated by his descendants, enables me to add that, having been born at Grims- bury, where his father was a country gentleman, between Bristol and Wick, in Gloucestershire, and having been educated by the celebrated Dr. Josiah Tucker, dean of Gloucester, who, after his father's death, had married his mother, he went abroad and remained there for many years. During his travels he formed a friendship with Mr. Conolly, whom he accompanied to Ireland on a visit, and by whom he was encouraged to settle in that country. To him he owed all his preferments. He was appointed, first, Dean of Clogher, about the year 1765; after- wards minister of St, Werburgli's, in Dublin, which 0 D THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. he resigned, after a few years, for the large benefice of Louth, stiil holding his deanery. On the appoint- ment of Lord Buckinghamshire, who married Mr. Conolly's sister, to the lord lieutenancy in 1777, Dean Woodward became his excellency's first chap- lain ; and immediately before Lord Buckingham- shire's removal in 1780, he was nominated to the bishoprick of Cloyne, and consecrated in Lord Car- lisle's administration in February, 178L In this see he remained until his death in 1794. About the year 1770 he published his well-known pamphlets in support of a national provision for the poor ; and he drew up the acts of 11 and 12 George III., under which the House of Industry, in Dublin, and other houses were established ; and for his exertions in which he received the thanks of both houses of par- liament. His services to the Church have been already noticed in the course of these pages. The other Englishmen consecrated in this reign were the Bishops Cumberland, Percy, Law, and Brod- rick, and the Honourable William Stuart, advanced, as already mentioned, towards the end of 1800, And froni Ire- from the bishoprick of St. David's to the primacy of Ireland. Bishop Brodrick was of an Irish family, being a son of Viscount Midleton, but born and educated in England. After he had reached man's estate, he visited Ireland for the purpose of inspecting the patrimonial property in the county of Cork, when he formed an acquaintance, which led to his marriage, with a daughter of Bishop Woodward, and to his preferment to the treasurership of Cloyne- and the rectory of Midleton, which were in the patron- age of the bishop. In 1795 he was consecrated Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, and translated the following year to Kilmore, which he occupied till after the Union. Sec. IX.] KING GE0RC4E III. 771 Of the eighteen Irishmen, raised to the episcopate in this reign, a majority were connected with families at the time, or soon afterwards, ennobled, or with persons of high political or official station. Among these special notice has been cited from their con- temporaries, of the Bishops Agar, Barnard, and ]\Iarlaj. Among the remainder occur the respectable names of O'Beirne, Stock, and Young, of whom it is to be presumed, that their elevation was due to their personal merit. Bishop Stocky it may be inci- dentally noticed, was a brother-in-law of Primate Newcome. The number of deaneries was thirty-three, and of Deaneries and . archdeaconries. archdeaconries thirty-four, nearly corresponding with that of the bishopricks, reckoned independently of the unions. But the archdeacons had no visitatorial jurisdiction ; for the government of the Church of Ireland, in respect of visitations, diflered from that of the Church of England, notwithstanding their general conformity; so that the Irish bishops held annual visitations of their dioceses, and the arch- bishops visited the dioceses of their suffragans every third year, a peculiarity to which there has been occasion to advert already in the course of this narrative. The chapters varied from each other in their Constitution of constitutions. The most complete consisted of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, and archdea- con, and a limited number of prebendaries. This was the case in the metropolitan chapters of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, as likewise in some of the other chapters, as in Kildare, in each of those of Down and Connor, in each of those of Ferns and Leighlin, in Ossory, Lismore, Cloyne, in each of those of Cork and Ross, in Limerick, and in Killaloe. But in 3 D 2 772 THE REIGK OV [Cii. V. some of the chapters, one or other of the members • was deficient; as the treasurer in Clogher and in Emly, and the archdeacon in Waterford, that dig- nitary being stated by Dr. Beaufort to have no vote in the chapter. In others, the deficiency was more extensive : thus, in Elphin, there was neither chan- cellor nor treasurer; in Deny and Raphoe, there was neither precentor, chancellor, nor treasurer; in Ardfert and Kilfenora, there were no prebendaries ; in each of the dioceses of Kilmore and Ardao-h, there was a dean and an archdeacon, but no chapter in either; in Meath, where there was no cathedral, there vv^as also no chapter, nor even a dean of Meath, the only dignities being the deanery of Clonmacnoise, a bishoprick incorporated with that of Meath by act of parliament, in 1568, and the archdeaconry of Meath. " The want of a chapter," remarks Dr. Beaufort, " is supplied by a synod, of which every incumbent is a member, and the archdeacon pre- sident; their proceedings are authenticated by a common seal." Cathedrals. With fsw exceptlous, each of the Irish dioceses at this time maintained possession of a cathedral, venerable, in some cases, only for its antiquity ; in others, with the reverence due to it as a relique of ancient art, combining some claim to respect for its architectural character. As examples of the latter kind, may be mentioned the metropolitan churches of Armagh and Dublin, and the churches, not metropolitan, of Deny, of Ossory, of Lismore, Ancient. Cloyuc, Limcriclc, and Killaloe. Many of the cathedrals to their cathedral-character added that also of a parish-church. In several instances, the ancient structure had been superseded by one of And modern. modcru datc. The cathedral of Dromore had been Si:c. IX.] KING GEORGE III. 773 re-edified by Bisliop Jeremy Taylor, soon after the restoi'atioii. In recent times, large and handsome edifices, sufficient, at least, for the decent celebration of divine worship, had supplied the place of the old cathedrals of Waterford, and Cashel, of Clogher, and of Cork. Of the cathedrals of Aghadoe and Kilmacduagh, the ruined walls only remained, as memorials of the former edifices ; and such was the case also with the cathedral of Connor, as a substi- tute for which, however, as well as for that of Down, the church of Lisburu, or Lisnegarvie, had been constituted by the patent of King Charles II., in 1693, the cathedral of the united dioceses; not- withstanding which, an act of parliament was passed in 1790 for restoring the cathedral of Down; and, cathcdiaiof • 11 . . Down. when Dr. Beaufort wrote, it was actually repairing in a style of English pointed architecture, conform- able to the venerable remains of the ancient building, though the undertaking had not been completed when the present writer became bishop of the see, in 1823. Of the church of Ardagh, Dr. Beaufort says, that "it cannot be called a cathedral;" yet the buildiug, for which it was the substitute, was termed by Bishop Bedell, " the cathedral church of Ardagh, one of the most ancient in Ireland, and said to be built by St. Patrick." Dr. Beaufort also says, speaking of Kilmore, "There is no cathedral, and the i)arisli-church of Kilmore is very small and church of T ' • T-i'T* 1 1 Kilmore. ancient. It joins the bishops palace. From the situation of the church, in contiguity with the epis- copal residence, one might perhaps have been in- clined to infer, that it was the cathedral of the diocese, in the absence of all other edifices havino- claim to that distinction. And Bishop Bedell, though he does not mention the cathedral church of 774 THE REIGN OF [Ch. V. Kilmore, as he does " the cathedral church of Ar- dagh," yet, writing from Kihnore, expressly distin- guishes "the church here" from "the parish- churches" of his diocese. However this be, the church bears self-evident marks of great antiquity ; appearing in part, at least, to be of a date earlier than the introduction of the pointed-arch in eccle- siastical architecture. The deans and chapters possessed, for the most part, in their corporate capacity, no revenues for their personal emolument ; but, in some cases, they had an oeconomy fund for publick purposes, to which contributions w^ere made by parochial assessment also, when the cathedral was a parish-church. To each dignity was annexed, under the denomi- nation of its corpse, a parish, or an union of parishes, with the cure of which the dignitary was charged in some instances ; in others, the parishes were sine- cures to the dignitaries, a vicar being charged with the cure of souls. Thus, to exemplify from the chapters of one united diocese the different parochial relations in which a dignitary might be placed, the cori)se of the precentorship of Down was a single entire rectory, with the cure of which, and of which only, the dignitary was intrusted, whilst other mem- bers of that chapter, as well as of the chapter of Connor, in common with each dean, were possessed each of two, three, or more, entire rectories, for the cure of which he was responsible : but the Chan- cellor and the Archdeacon of Connor had, not the entire rectories, but the rectorial tythes only, the former of six, and the latter of five parishes, with which they had no spiritual concern, the cure of souls in those parishes being delegated to vicars. Besides the ])aritlics, wliich ])y this distribution Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE III. 775 Avere appropriated to dignities, there were many wherein the property of the Church had fallen into the hands of laymen, and the inhabitants were left with very small or no provision for spiritual cure, and the celebration of the offices of the Church. Of 562 parishes the rectorial tythes were impropriate to laymen, the vicarages only being left for the supply of clerical duty. In 118 parishes the tythes were wholly impropriate. In the whole kingdom this pro- perty in the hands of laymen was about two-seventlis of the entire : a prolifick source of injury to the Church, and the cause of many a parochial union. It has already fallen within the scope of our A bcn.-.i-.'cb and narrative to give some account of the occasion and v^vi^^^s. circumstances of parochial unions : the general result was, that, at the epoch now under considera- tion, the two thousand four hundred and thirty-six parishes, which were contained in the whole kingdom, were so distributed as to constitute only one thou- sand one hundred and twenty benefices, with cure of souls ; exclusive of one hundred and eleven sinecures in the several dioceses. Of these bene- fices the largest proportion was in the province of Armagh, where 663 parishes were only reduced to 419 benefices. In the province of Dublin 658 parishes constituted only 252 benefices. In Cashel 839 parishes were converted into 362 benefices: in Tuam 276 into 87. The patronage of the benefices was divided I'ltr.nageof among the crown, the bishops, the university, the deans and chapters, and certain lay patrons : exclu- sive of the parishes wholly impropriate. The crown was the patron of about 295 parishes ; the bishops of about 1560; the university of about 21, and the deans and cliapters of about 62. The presentations THE REIGN OF [Cii. V. of about 880 beloiigocl to laymen, vrbo were also possessed in tbeir own persons of tbe entire rectories of about 118 more. Number of Tlic cliurclies were far from equal in number to cluiiclics. tbe benefices, much less to tbe parishes: tbe total of benefices being 1120, and of parishes 2436, and that of churches only 1001: of which two or more were in some instances found in the same benefice. In the province of Armagh, indeed, there was an excess of churches over benefices, namely, of 446 to 41.9 : and in that of Tuam they approached nearly to an equality, the churches being 84 and the benefices 87. But in Dublin 252 benefices supplied only 217 churches: and in Cashel the numbers were respectively 362 and 254. How inadequate, indeed, to the wants of the country must have been this provision, is apparent from the fact, that the average amount of acres to each church throughout the kingdom was little short of 12,000. In the province of Tuam it was above 29,000 ; and in the diocese of Tuam above 47,000. In the diocese of Dromore, where the average was lowest, it was 5770. Now the Irish acre bears to the English the rate of 49 to 30J : being not quite that of 5 to 3. Want of The want of churches was an evil at all times churches, felt. It had existed, indeed, to a much greater extent at the commencement of the present reign: but although the defect had been in some degree supplied, pecuniary means were needed for carrying into effect the provisions enacted by certain recent statutes. A parliamentary grant of money a few years later was the occasion of a large addition being promptly made to the number of churches. houteT'^'''"'^"^' "^^^^ same observation aj^plies to the residences of the clergy. In 1792 Ireland contained only 354 Sec. IX."1 KING GEORGE III. 777 parsonage-lionsof^, of wliicli 212 were in the province of Arinagli, 64 in that of Dublin, 61 in Casliel, and 17 in Tuam. In some cases there ^vas a want of ground whereupon to buikl ; for there were 866 benefices destitute of glebes : in others there v, as a Mant of funds for buikling; for there were 517 parishes witli glebes only. The first fruits were inadequate for these purposes : but when a parlia- mentary supply was made not long afterwards, glebes were purchased and houses built. In the mean time, ?.t the epoch now under review, it is liardly possible but that many incumbents must Non-rc&idence. have been absent from their residence. Voluntary non-residence was probably not frequent: but that it prevailed in some degree may be inferred from the arguments for residence pressed on their clergy in the charges of Primate Newcome and Bishop O'Beirne ; avIio condemned, as we have seen, with pointed reprobation, the incumbent's absence from a non-cure, as attended by many aggravating circum- stances. Of pluralities non-residence must have been at least an occasional consequence. The revenues of the clergy at this time were by ivrodciate - Till • revenues of tlia no means such as to be reasonably deemed excessive, clergy. It was the desire of Bishoj) Woodward, in the tract lately mentioned, as published in 1787, to give a collective view of the value of the parochial bene- fices. It was not, however, in his power to procure in time for his publication accounts from all the dioceses. But he exhibited a list, which compre- hended a number of the best-endowed dioceses : and he stated his belief, that the average income of the clergy throughout the kingdom could not be greater than that which he deduced from the accounts in tlie several dioceses, from which he had been able to procure returns. In these he divided the aggre- THE REIGN OF I Ch. V. gate income of all the parishes, including deaneries Estimate of and othcr dignities, by the number of clergymen; Woodward, and produced the average of jDarochial income in the several dioceses as follows : Raphoe .... . £250 Clogher . . . . . . 187 Cloyne ..... 180 Cork and Ross . . . . . 150 Waterford and Lismore . 125 Killaloe and Kilfcnora . 120 Dublin 1J5 Clonfei't and Kilmac luagh . . IIG Killala and Achonry 90 1333 The average in the diocese of Raplioe is re- marked to be I'aised so high, principally by six rich benefices in the patronage of the university : aud it is also remarked, that, in the dioceses of Clonfert and Kihnacduagh, the number of clergy would have been returned much greater, and the average income less by 25/., if the dignitaries in those churches had been reckoned; as the income of some of those dignities was so exceedingly low, as not to be worth mentioning. However, taking the sum of 1333/. as the sum of the average incomes in the nine dioceses, and dividing it by nine, the number of dioceses, two united dioceses being reckoned only as one, we find a general average of 148/. 2s. 2^d. for each of the parochial incumbents in the above-named parts of tlie kingdom, provided they received their incomes without defalcation. But for employing persons to view and collect their tythes, an expence of 5 per cent, was judged necessary; and the loss of another 5 per cent, for insolvencies, on an income composed of very many small parcels : making together a deduction of 14/. IGs. 2^/., and thus leaving the net sum of 133/. 6s. for each clergyman, if tlie na- Sec. IX.] KING GEORGE III. 770 tioiial income of parocbial incumbents were distri- buted in equal portions. Of tlie incomes produced from tbe five bundred Emoluments and . . . •11 impio- and sixty-two impropriate rectories, and the one pniiuons. bundred and eigbteen parishes wliolly impropriate, ill tbe possession of laymen, I can give no autlientick report. Undoubtedly, however, they were large; in return for M'bich, sometimes a very small compensa- tion, in others none at all, was made to the Church for tbe enjoyment of her property. In fact, they were at the period under review, as they always had been, among tbe chief obstacles to the spiritual improvement and welfare of tbe country. On the general character of the hierarchy and ciiaractciof ^ •ixTii liierarcliy and other clergy or Ireland at that period, 1 shall venture cicrgy. to say but little. Of some the good fame has reached our ears. Others we have personally known and valued. And the names of O'Beirne and Brodrick, of Trench, and Elrington, and jNIagee and Jebb, of Hales and of Graves, are our assurance, that there M'ere not wanting men, whether in the episcopate or in the presbytery of tbe Church, to be diligent in doing God and his Church service. IVIen, such as these, who, being dead, yet speak, reflect honour on the country which produced them, and on the Church by which they were nurtured, and of which they as- sisted at the ministrations. Ireland and the Church of Ireland will long bear them in grateful remem- brance. Episcopal vigilance, at the period with which we are now conversant, and an earnestness in prompting his clergy to professional exertions, seem to have especially characterized Bishop O'Beirne: and bis clergy seem to have received his admonitions and encouragements to religious zeal with corresponding feelings. But the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury was perhaps, on the whole, a season of supineness 780 THE KEIGN OF KING GEOl^GE II F. [Cii. V. and inaction as to religion in these kingdoms: and the Irish clergy in general may be judged to liave partaken of this character, though the revival of the office of rural deans may be regarded as a symptom of increasing care for the discipline of the Church in her governours; and the institution of the Associa- tion for discountenancing vice and promoting the knowledge and practice of the Christian religion indicates both in them, and in the clergy at large, and in the lay members of the Church, a disposition Eoomfui ini- to cucourage spiritual improvement. For such im- provement in tlie ci.urch. provement no doubt tliere was ample room in the interior of the Church herself. And much need there was for all her energy, under the gracious providence of her divine founder, for counteracting the assaults of her enemies from without; whether of open infidelity and vice on the one hand, or, on the other, of false doctrine, heresy, and schism, coun- tenanced as these had of late been by the government and ]iarliament, under the forms of Popish corruption, and of Protestant dissent and separation from the one Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ. Her numbeis at this period may be thought to have been nearly stationary : and, if she retained within her pale those who belonged to it by natural inheri- tance, it is probably as mucli as she did. Her own l)ower of extending her ministrations was, as we have seen, greatly straitened. There appears also to have prevailed a general acquiescence in the state of things as they were. And her ministers probably used little diligence in endeavouring to enlarge her borders, and dispense to recusants and sectaries the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and the rites and worship of primitive Christianity, as enjoyed in the Church's communion. 781 APPENDIX. 1. Catalogue of the Archbishops and Bishops who occupied the Sees of the Church of Ireland, during the period comprised within the foregoing narrative, commencing in the year of our Lord 1690, the year of the Abdication of King James the Second, and ending January the 1st, ISOl, the date of the Union of the Churches of England and Ireland ; with the Birth-place or Country of each Prelate, his previous Station in the Church, the Dates of his Suc- ceeding to, and Vacating, his Bishoprick, and his Translation, if any. 2. Continuation of the Catalogue, from the Union, January the 1st, ISOl, to the date of the present publication, November, 1840. 3. Xotices of the Alterations which have been made, and are to be made, in the several Provinces and Dioceses of Ireland, by the Act of Parliament of 3 and 4 William IV., chap. 37 ; commonly called the Church Temporalities Act. I. PROVINXE OF APv^EAGII. AliCKBISHOF.S OF ARMAGH. Names. Birth-j.laces. Prtfious Stations. Saccf?siou. Vacancy. Translalii Michael Boyle Ireland Archbishop of Dublin ... . 1G78 .. 17U2 Narcissus Marsli | ^^'^y'^jL^g' | Archbishop of Dubhn .... 1703 . . 1713 Thomas Lindsay -| I Bishop of Raphoe 1711 .. 1724 Hugh Boulter London Bishop of Bristol 1724 .. 1742 [ Tottenham John Hoadly - High Cross, r Archbishop of Dublin ... 1742 . . 1747 i Middlesex . . J George Stone Winchester.... Bishop of Derry 1747 .. 1705 ^'i'^'^ P^r^'""^"' 1 Yorkshire Bishop of Kildare 170-3 .. 1794 Baron Rokeby , . . . j ^ William Xewcome ... . Abingdon, Berks Bishop of Waterford .... 1795 .. 1800 Hon. William Stuait . . England Bishop of St. David s 1800 . . 1822 Lord J. G. Bebesford. Dublin Archbishop of Dublin .... 1S22 BISHOPS OF MEATH AND CLOXMACNOIS. Anthony Dopping .... Dublin Bishop of Kildare 1682 .. 1097 Richard Tennison ... . C'aiTickfergus . . Bishop of Clogher 1697 .. 1705 V.'illiara Moreton Chester Bishop of Kildare 170-3 .. 1715 John Evans ^ 1 Bi.hop of Bangor 1710 .. 1724 ( gor, ^ * 7S2 APPENDIX. Names. Birtliplares. Heiiry Downes England Ralph Lambert England Welbore Ellis England Arthur Price Dublin Henry Maule Arklow Hon. Wm. Carmichael Scotland Richard Pococke Southampton . . . Arthur Smyth Limerick Hon. Henry Maxwell . Ireland Thomas Lewis O'Beime Ireland Nathaniel Alexander . . DeiTv Vacancy made Oct. 22. Previous Stations. Si'ec^s*'""' Vacancy. Translation Bishop of Elphin 1724 .. 1727 to Deiry. Bishop of Dromore 1727 .. 1732 Bishop of Kildare 1732 1734 Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1734 . . 1744 to Cashel. Bishop of Dromore 1744 . . 1758 Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1758 . . 1765 to Dublin. Bishop of Oissory 1765 .. 1765 Bp. of Down and Connor 1765 .. 1766 to Dublin. Bishop of Dromore 1766 .. 1798 Bishop of Ossory 1798 .. 1823 Bp. of Down and Connor 1823 .. 1840 successor not known Nov. 16, 1840. BISHOPS OF CLOGHER. Richard Tennison Carrickfergiis . . Bp.ofKillalaandAchonry 1691 .. 1697 to Meath. St. George Ashe ...... Roscommon. . . . Bishop of Cloyne 1697 . . 1717 to Deny. John Steame Dublin Bishop of Dromore 1717 .. 1745 Robert Clayton England Bishop of Cork and Ross . 1745 . . 1758 .John Garnet England Bp . of Ferns and Leighlin 1758 .. 1782 .To\n Hotham Yorkshire Bishop of Ossory 1782 .. 1796 William Fo.ster Dublin Bishop of Kilmore 1796 .. 1798 John Porter England....... Bp.of Killala and Achonrj' 1798 .. 1819 Lord J. G. Beresford .. Dublin Bishop of Raphoe 1819 .. 1820 to Dublin. Hon. Percy Jocelyn .. Dublin Bp. of LeighUn and Ferns 1820 .. 1822 deprived. Lord Roe. Ponsonby | ^^^^^^^ ^ Leighlin and Ferns 1822 lOTTENHAM J ^ ° On the next avoidance of the bishoprick of Clogher, it will become united to the archblshoprick of Armagh, by the Act 3 and 4 "\Vm. IV., chap. 37. BISHOPS OF DOWN AND CONNOR. 1672 Clonmel Fell.of Trin. Coll. Dublin 1694 Limerick Archdeacon of Ossorv . . . 1695 Thomas Hacket England Dean of Cork Samuel Foley , Edwaid "Walkington Dean of St. Patrick's Francis Hutchinson . . , Carston,Derbvsh. Incumb. of St. James's, ) Edmundsbury .... J 1699 1721 I" Chap, to Duke of De-^ Carew Reynell England -j vonshire, L.Lt., and V 1739 i Chancellorof Bristol j John Ryder Ireland Bishop of Killaloe 1743 John Whitcombe Cork Bishop of Clonfert 1752 Robert Downes ...... England Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1752 Arthur Smyth Limerick Bishop of Clonfert James Trail Scotland Rec. St. John's, Hors-") ^CA'down, and Ch. to r ofHertlord,L.Lt. j CRec 1753 1765 . . 1694 deprived. .. 1695 .. 1699 ,. 1720 ,. 1739 . 1743 toDerrj'. . 1752 to Tuam. , . 1752 to Cashel. . 1753 to Raphoe. . 1765 to Meath. William Dickson Countv of Down. to Eail of) Lt. I 1783 1804 f Chaplain \ Northiugton, L Nathaniel Alexander . . Derry Bishop of Killaloe Richard Manx South amjjton .. . Bishop of Killaloe 1823 On the next avoidance of the bishoprick of Down and Connor, or of tliat of will become united to Down and Connor, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., . 1783 . 1804 . 1823 Dromore, Dromore c. 37. BISHOP OF KILMORE AND ARDAGH. William Sheridan .... Cavan Dean of Down 1081 .. 1091 deprived. BISHOP OF ARDAGH. Ulysses Burgh Dahlia Dean of Emly 1092 .. 1092 APPENDIX. 783 BISHOPS OF KILMORE AND APvDAGH. Prerious Stations. Succession. Vacancy.. Translation. Bishop of Raphoe 1G93 .. 1699 Tatchtieia Bisliop of Cork and Ross . 1699 .. 1713 iAi-L'lul. of Oxford, and l C'liap. to Diike of > 1714 .. 1727 to Cashel. Shrewsbun- J Names. Birth-places. William .Sniitli Lisnegarvie . . Edward WetenLall, Josiah Hort. (Mar.blield, I Bp. of Ferns aud Leigliliu 1727 ( (jtloucestersu. j ^ ° 1742 to Tuam. On liis translation, Ardagh ■w as disunited from Kilmore, and lioldeu in counnendam v^ith Tnaiii. BISHOPS OF KILMORE. Joseph Story Co. of Tyrone . . Bishop of Killaloe 17-1:2 f Rect. of St. Paul's, Co- A^'olverhixnipton John Cradock . , 17.57 1772 to Dublin. 1771 1790 to Kildare. 1796 to Clogher. 1S02 to Cashel. vent Garden, A: Ch. > 17j7 to Duke of Bedford J Penison Cumberland. . England Bishop of Cloufert 17 72 I Fell, of King s Coll., | George Lewis Jones .. England < Camb.. Chap, to / 1774 I Earl Harcourt .... ' M'illiam Foster Dubhn Bishop of Cork and Ross. 1790 {St. George's, | Hanover-sq., ^Bishop of Clonfcrt 1796 Ix)ndon .... ' G. de la Poer Bercsford Dublin Bishop of Clonfert 1802 On til e death of Power Trench, archbishop of Tuam and bishop of Ardagh, kc, in 1839, the bishoprick of Ardagh was united to Kilmore, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 37. BISHOP OF KILMORE AND ARDAGH. G. DE PoF.R Beresford .. .. .. .. 1839 On the next avoidance of Kilmore or Elphui, tlie bishoprick of Elphin will become united to those of Kilmore and Ardagh, by the above Act. BISHOPS OF DROMORE. Capell Wiseman Essex DeanofRaphoe 1683 Tobias Pullen {^^Yoikshke jsishop of Clojme 169-5 John Steame Dublin Dean of St. Patrick's ... . 1713 Ralph Lambert England |Ch. to Earl ol' Wlaarton ) ^ ° { and Dean ot Down. . J Charles Cobbe Winchester.... Bp.of KillalaandAchonry 1727 Henry Maule .... Thomas Fletcher England Jemmet Brown . . . Arklow", in Wioklow . . . j Chap, to Duke of De- % onshire, and Dean I 1744 Down J Ireland Bishop of Killaloe 174 5 I Bishop of Cloj-ne 1732 r Cha] I of 174.5 1763 63 George Marlay England John Oswald England Bishop of Clonfert J-.- Til (Chap, to Earl of Halifax, I Edward \onng England | aiul Dean of Clogher f ^' Hon. Henry Maxwell . . Ireland Dean of Kilmore 176-5 Vice-Prin. of Hertford 1766 William Xewcome . . {\ ice-Jr'rni. ol Hertford \ Coll. Oxford, .Vc Ch. I to Earl of Hertford J James Hawkins . . . . Hon. Wm. Beresford Dublin Dean of Emly 177-5 Ireland Rector of Urney 1780 Thomas Percy { ^t^^,. . } Dean of Carlisle 1782 George Hall Northumberland Provost of Trinity Coll. . . 1811 John Leslie , . Mouaghan Dei\n of Cork 1812 169-5 1713 1717 to Clogher. 1 727 to Meath. 1732 to Kildare. 1744 to Meath. 1745 to Kildare. 174-5 to Cork and Ross. 1763 1763 to Raphoe. ' Ferns and ,'hlin. 1766 to Meath. 1765 /to Fern I I^pi.Kl 177 J to Ossury. 1780 to Raphoe. 1782 to Ossorj-. 1811 1811 consecrated Nov. 17, died Nov. 23. 1819 to Elphiu. 784 APPEXDIX. Names. Birtli-plare James Sai rin Belfitst. . . . 1S19 Trevioui Slalions. S.iccesiion. Vaciacy. Tiin,l . f Arcli leacon of DiiUin,] I Dean of Ucrry J On the next avoidance of Down an 1 Connor, or of Dromore, the bbhopriek of Proiuore will b2 unitea to that of Down and Connor, by 3 and 1 Win. IV., c. 37. BISHOPS OF RAPHOE. Williajn Smldi { ^^^rn^'! } ofKm^l^ Scotland Archbishop of Glasgow . . Ipswich, Sufiblk Bishop of Cloyne Thomas Lindsay Blandford, Dorset Bishop of Killaloe Edward Svnge Ireland Chauc. of St. Patrick's . . Nicholas Forster Dublin Bishop of Killaloe William Barnard England Dean of Rochester lGS-2 1693 to Kilmore Arda-'h. ftol Alexander Cairncross Robert Huntington . . John Poolev 1093 .. 1701 Philip Twisden Kent . . . , Robert Downes England Ch. to E. of Chesterfield. Bp. of Down and Connor John Oswald England Bishop of Dromore James Hawkins Dublin Bi>hop of Dromore Lord .1. G. Bert'sford . . Dublin Bisiiop of Cork and Ross "William Magee Fermanagh .... Dean of Cork f Chanc of Annagb,'\ „-.„. * 1 Archd. of Ross, and ' A^ilhamlWtt Armagh -j ^^^^^^^.^ elieslev 1 Chan, to Marqi [ Wellesley On whose death, in ISol, the bishoprick was united to that of Di 1701 1702 1713 1711 1716 1744 1747 1753 17(33 17S0 1S07 1S19 lS-2-2 1701 1712 1714 to Annagh. 1716 to Tuara, 1744 1747 to Derry. 1753 1703 1780 1807 1S19 to Clogher. 1822 to Dublin. 1831 ■\Villlam King Antrim Charlos Hickman Northamptonsh. John Hartstong Catten, nr. Norw St. George .Ashe Roscommon. . . . "William Nicholson .... Ortou, Curabld. Henrv Downes England ...... Thomas Ruudle Tavistock, Dev. BISHOPS OF DERRA'. Dean of St. Patrick's , Chap, to Queen Anne Bishop of Ossoiy . . . . , Bishop of Clogher . . , Bishop of Carhsle . . Bishop of Aleath 1727 M. of Sherborne Hos. J Pb. ofDur. andCh. - i toLd.Chncr Talbot j Bp. of Down and Connor 1743 Bishop of Kildare 1745 16:n 1703 1714 1717 1718 1735 Carew ReyncU England . . George Stone "Winchester William Barnard England Bishop of Rajjlioe 1747 Hon. F. Aug. Hervey . . England Bishopof Cloyne 17G8 Hon. "William Knox .. Dublin Hon. Rich. Ponsonbv. . Kildare countv 170 5 to Dublin. 1713 1717 1718 1727 to Cashel. 1735 1743 1745 1747 1768 1803 1831 to Annagh. Bishop of Killaloe 1803 Bishop of Killaloe 1831 On the death of William Bissett, Bishop of Raphoe, in 1831, that bishoprick became united to Derrv by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 37. BISHOP OF DERRY AND RAPHOE. Hex. Rich. Ponsonby 1834 II. PROVINCE OF DUBLIN. ARCHBISHOPS OF DUBLIN AND BISHOPS OF GLENDALOCH. Francis Marsh Gloucestershire B. of Kilmore and Ardagh 1682 .. 1693 Narcissus Marsh Hanning. Wilts . Abp. of Cashel 1094 .. 1703 to Arma"!!, William King Antrim Bishop of Deny- 1703 .. 1729 JohnHoo.dly | '^°^f^"^^^Jj.]^- 1 Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1729 .. 1742 to Armagh. Charles Cobbe Winchr. Hants . Bishop of Kildare 1742 .. 1705 APPENDIX. 785 Names. 5 y Birth-placfs. Previous Stations. Succession. Vacancy. .Translati Hon. W. Cannicliael. . Scotland Bishop of Meath 1705 .. 1705 Arlhur Smyth Limerick Bishop of Meath 1766 .. 1772 John Cradock Wolverhampton. Bishop of Kilmore 1772 .. 1778 Robert Fowler Louth, Lincolns. B. of Killaloe & Kilieuora 1778 .. 1801 C. Agar,e.ofXonuauton Gowran C. Kilk. Abp. of Cashel 1801 ,. 1809 Euseby Cleaver Twyford, Bucks Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1809 . . 1820 Ld. J. G.Beresford.. . Dublin Bishop of Clogher 1820 .. 1822 to Armaj "William Magee Fermanagh.... Bishop of Raphoe 1822 .. 1831 RiCHAED WU.VTELY... England P. of St. Albans Hall, Ox. 1831 BISHOPS OF KILDARE. D. of Christ Church, Dub. 1682 . 1705 . England .... 170.5 . 1732 to Meath. . Winchester . . 1732 . 1743 to Dublin. . Winchester . . . . Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1743 . 1745 to Derry. 174.5 . . 1761 Richard Robinson . . . . . Bp. of Ferus and Leighlin 1701 . 1705 to Armagh. . Bp. of Ferns and Leighlin 1765 . . 1790 George Lewis Jones . . . . Bishop of Kilmore 1790 . 1804 Hex. Cn. Lindsay.. . . Bp. of Killaloe & Kilfenora 1804 On the next avoidance of the bishoprick of Kildare, it will become united to the Archbishoprick of Dublin, by 3 and 4 Win. IV. c. 37, BISHOPS OF OSSORY. Thomas Otway Wiltshire Bp. of KillalaandAchonry 1680 John Hartstong Catten, nr. Norw Archdeacon of Limerick. . 1693 Sir T. Vesey, Bart Cork Bishop of Killaloe 1714 Edward Tennison .... Norwich Archd. of Caermarth'^n . . 1731 Charles Este "NMiitehall, Lend. Archd. of Armagh 1735 Anthony Dopping .... Dublin Dean of Clomnacnols .... 1 74 ) Michael Cox Dublin Chap, to D. of Ormonde. . 1743 Edward Maurice .... Ireland D.D. of Trin. Coll. Dublin 1754 I" C. toE. of Chesterfield, ^ Ricliard Pococke Soutliampton . . 4 and D. of Devoush. ^ 1756 ( and Archd. of Dub. j Charles Dodgson England Chap.to E. of Northiunb. 1705 William Newcome .... Abingdon, Berks Bishop of Dromore 1775 John Hothara Yorkshire Archd. of Middlesex ^ and Chap, to E. ofV 1779 Buckinghamshire. J Hon- W. Beresford Ireland Bishop of Dromore 1782 r^, , . ^.-r. . T 1 1 f Priv. Sec.toE.Fitzwil-) Thos. Lewis OBeume Ireland | liam &R. of Longford J Hugh Hamilton Dublin Bishop of Clonfert 1798 Jolm Kearney Dublin countv . . Provost of Trinity Coll. . . 1806 Robert Fowler England Archd. of Dublin 1813 On the death of Thomas Elrington, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, in became united to tliat bishoprick, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. .. 1693 . . 1714 to Derry. .. 1730 .. 1735 , . 1740 to Waterford and Lismore. .. 1713 . . 175 I to Cashel. .. 1756 . . 1705 to Meath. . . 1775 to Elphin. . . 1779 to Waterford and Lismore. . . 1782 to Clogher. . . 1795 to Tuam. . . 1798 to Meath. .. 1806 .. 1813 1835, Ossory 37. BISHOPS OF FERNS AND LEIGHLIN. Narcissus Marsh | ^'^""J"^^''"' . } Prov. of Trin. Coll. Dub. 1683 . . 1 091 to Cushi 1. Bartholomew Vigors . . Ireland Dean of Annagli 1091 .. 1722 786 APPENDIX. Names. Birtli -places. Previous Statioin. Succession. Vacancj*. Translation. JosiahHort Marslifield, Glos. Dean of Ardagh 1722 .. 1727 to Kilmore and Ardagli. John Hoadly | nfgh ^Cross } ^^1^^^"^^ • ' ' ' ^'^^ • • IT'^Q to Dublin. Arthur Price Bu2...Z, {^traL^u^" '''' " 1^34 to Meath. Edward Synge Ireland Bisliop of Cloyne 17.34 . . 1740 to Elpliin. George Stone Winchester DeanofDerry 1740 .. 1743 to Kildare. William Cotterell .... England Dean of Raphoe 1 743 . . 1744 Robert Downes ...... England DeanofDerry 1744 ., 1752 to Down and Connor. John Garnet England Chap, to D. of Dorset. .. . 1752 .. 1758 to Clogher. Hon. Wm. Carmichael Scotland { ^'Swckia^^^^^^^ ^^^^ " 1758 to Meath. Thomas Salmon Devonshire.... { \n"/c^ toD^of B^d^^^ ^^^^ " ^^^^ Richard Robinson ... . Yorkshire .... Bp. of Killalaand Anchory 1759 .. 1761 to Kildare. Charles Jackson ..... . England Chap, to D. of Bedford .. 1761 .. 1765 to Kildare. Edward Young England Bishop of Dromore 1765 .. 1772 Hon. J. Deane Bourke Ireland Dean of Dromore 1772 1782 to Tuam. Walter Cope Armagh cou„^. { "^tracd"?"' } 1^82 .. 1787 Wilham Preston England Bp. of Killalaand Achonry 1787 .. 1789 Euseby Cleaver Twyford, Bucks. Bp. of Cork and Ross. .. . 1789 .. 1809 to Dublin. Hon. P. Jocelyn Ireland .. 1809 .. 1820 to Clogher. Ld. R. P. Tottenham . . Ireland Bp. of Killaloefe Kil/enora 1820 .. 1822 to Clogher. Thoma^Ehlngton.... Dublin {^,^^.711^4^:} " On whose death, in 1835. the bishoprick of Ossory was united to the bishoprick of Ferns and Lei ghhn, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 37. BISHOP OF FERNS, LEIGHLIN, AND OSSORY. Robert Fowler ♦» .. 1835 " III. PROVINCE OF CASHEL. ARCHBISHOPS OF CASHEL AND BISHOPS OF EMLY. Narcissus Mai-sh . . ^""^^ Leighlin 1691 . . 1694 to Dubhn. William Palliser | ^'yo^rk^^i^g^' . . } Bishop of Cloyne 1694 . . 1 721 William Nicholson.. .. Orton, Cumbld. Bishop of Derry 1721 .. 1727 Timothy Godwm Norwich Bp. of Kilmore and Ardagh 1727 .. 1729 Theophilus Bolton.... 1730 .. 1744 Arthur Price Ireland Bishop of Meath 1744 ., 1752 John Whitcombe .... Cork Bishop of Down & Connor 1752 .. 1754 Michael Cox ^ Dublin Bishop of Ossory 1754 .. 1779 Charles Agar {^KUken.^o^ty}^^'*^^P ^^^^^^^^ ^''^^ ^^^^ to Dublin. Hon. C. Brodrick London Bishop of Kilmore 1801 .. 1822 Richard Laurence ... . Bath Regius Prof, of Heb. Oxf. 1822 On the death of Richard Bourke, bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in 1832, that bishoprick remained vacant, until the passing of the Act 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 37, whereby in the fol- lowing year it w^as united to Cashel. APPENDIX. 787 ARCHBISHOP OF CASIIEL, AND BISHOP OF EMLY, WATERFOPvD, AND LISMORE. Birth-places, Previous Stations. Succession. Vacancy. Translation. 1833 .. 1838 Riclianl Laurence Ou the death of Richaril Laurence, in 1838, Cashel ceased to be an ai-chbishoprick, by the above-named act, and the province became subject to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Dublin. BISHOP OF CASHEL, EMLY, WATERFORD, AND LISMORE. STErnEN C. Saxdes . . Kerry Bishop of Killaloe, kc 1839 BISHOPS OF LIMERICK, ARDFERT, AND AGHADOE. Simon Digby , Natlianiel "Wilson ... Thomas Smyth Wilham Burscouprh . Queen's county ( Martley, Wor- ( cestershire . . f Duudrum \ DoA\ n comity , Encrlaud ,} James Leslie Keiry John Averell William Gore "William Cecil Peiy . . Thomas Baniard . . . . C . Mongan "Warburton Thomas Elrincrton .... Coleraine . ]Mayo . . . Limerick . Surrey . . Ireland . Dublin.. . John Jebb Hex. Edmixd Knox . Drogheda. Dublin.. . Dean of Kildare Chap, to James D. of "j Ormonde, & Dean > of Raphoe J Chantor of Clogher fChap. to Lord Catei-et,l ( and D. of Kilmore. . J f D. D. of Trin. Coll. 1 } Dubhn, and Pre- \ [ bendary of Diu-ham J_ Dean of Limerick Bishop of Elphin Bp. of Killala and Achomy Bp. of Killaloe & Kilfenora Dean of Ardagh Provost of Trin. Coll, {Archd. of Emly and Rector of Abington Limerick county Bp. of Killaloe & Kilfenora nd Y □n, > 1679 1692 1695 1725 1755 1771 1772 1784 1794 1806 1820 1822 1834 1692 to Elphin. 1695 1725 1755 1770 1771 1784 1794 1806 1820 to Cloyne. 1822 to Ferns and Leighlin. 1833 BISHOPS OF WATERFORD AND LISMORE. Hugh Gore . . Nathaniel Fov , Thomas Milles Dorsetshire .... Dean of Lismore York . . . , Sen. Fellow of T. CD... {"YicePrin. of Edmund Hall, Oxfd. Chap, to: 1666 1691 I" 08 1691 1708 1740 Charles Este Richard Chene^-ix . . . . "William Newcome . . . . Richard ]Nrarlay Hon. Power Trench . . Joseph Stock Hon. Richard Bourke . . Soon after tlie death E. of Pembroke AMiitehall Bishop of Ossory . . ...... 1740 . . 1745 England Bishop of Killaloe 1745 .. 1779 Abingdon, Berks Bishop of Oss^oiy 1779 .. 1795 to Armagh. Dublin Bishop of Clonfert 1795 .. 1802 Galway Vicai- of Ballinasloe .... 1802 . . 1810 to Elphin. Dubhn county . . Bp. of Killala and Achonry 1810 .. 1813 Ireland Dean of Ardagh 1813 .. 1832 I of Richard Bourke, was passed the act of 3 and 4 "\l\'illiam IV. c. 37, hereby this bishoprick was united to Cashel, in 1833. BISHOPS OF CORK AND ROSS. Litchfield Chantor of Chrst Church 16* Edward Wetenhall Litchfield Chantor of Chrst Church 1679 .. 1699 to Kilmore and Ardagh. Archd. of Dublin . , 1699 . . 1709 Peter Brown Dublin Prov. of Trin. Coll. Dub, 1710 .. 1733 3 E 2 Dive Downs f Thornbv, Nor- t Ihii amptonsh 788 APPENDIX. Names. Birth-places. Previous Stations. Succession. Vacancy. I ran il.ition. Robert Clayton England Bp of Killalaand Aclionry 173-5 .. 1745 to Clog' lov. Jemmet Brown Cork Bishop of Dromore 1715 .. 1772 to Elphin. {Chap, to Vis. Towns- "j hentl.and Arclul. of > 1772 .. 1789 Dublin ) Euseby Cleaver TwyfordjBucj'is. Ch. to M. of Buckingham 1789 .. 1789 to Fern i and Li-ighlin. William Foster Dublin Chap, to H. of Connnons 1789 .. 1790 to Kilmore. William Bennett London Chap, to E. of Westmorld. 1790 .. 1794 to Cloyne. Hon. T. Stopford England Dean of Ferns 1794 .. 180.5 Lord J. G.Beresford .. Dublin Dean of Clogher 1800 .. 1807 to Rapine. Hon. T. St. Lawrence.. Dublin Dean of Cork 1807 .. 1831 Samuel Kyle Derry Provost of Trin. Coll 1831 On the death of John Brinkley, bishop of Cloyne, the bishoprick of Cork and Ross became united in 1835 to that of Cloyne, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 37. BISHOPS OF CLOYNE. Edward Jones England Dean of Lismore 1GS3 .. 1692 to St. Asaph. Wilham Palhser | ^^'yoSiire^' } ^^'"'^'* ^^^^ ' * ^^^^ Cashtl. Tobias Pollen |^ 1 091 .. 169,5 to Dromore. St. George Ashe Roscommon Co. Provost of T. Coll., Dub. 169J .. 1697 to Cloglier.. j-Chap. to E. of Essex,] John Pooley Ipswich, Suflblk. -j and Prebend, of St. >■ 1097 .. 1702 to Raphoe. ( Michan's, Dublin, j Charles Crow | ^^casht?^'^''"' I ^"<1 ^ I*^^' ] 1^02 . . 1726 ^ I vost of Tuam j Henry Maule Arklow,inWickl. Dean of Cloyne 1726 .. 1732 to Dromore Edward Synge Ireland Bishop of Clonfert 1732 .. 1734 to Ferns George Berkeley { Conn. | ^^'^^ ^"^'"^ ^^^^ •• ^^^^ James Stopford Dublin Dean of Kilraacduagh . . . 17o3 .. 1759 {Dean of Tuam, and 'i Chap, to Earl of > 1759 .. 1767 Shannon, L. .T . . . . J and Leighlin. /"Master of Magdalen Hon. Fred. Hervey.... England Sp. to tiscoum l" " ^'^^ ^o Derry. \ Townshend Charles Agar { ^Semiy ^c! } ^^'^^^^^^^ ^'^^ to Cashel. George Chinnery Ireland { \ilSa } ^'^^ •• ^'^^ , P . , ( Dean of Clogher, and | Richard V>-oodward.... ■! ^^-j^?^^^^^^^^^^^ I Chaplain to Earl of > 1781 .. 1794 I Buckinghamshire. J William Bennett London Bishop of Cork and Ross. 1791 .. 1S20 C. MonganVVarburton. Ireland Bishop of Limerick 1820 .. 1826 Archdn. of Clogher, {Archdn. oi Clogher, ) and Royal Astrono- \ 1826 mer of Ireland. ... J 183; On whose death the bishoprick of Cork and Ross was united to Cloyne, by 3 and I Wm. IV., c. 37. BISHOP OF CLOYNE, CORK, AND ROSS. Samuel Kyi,e .. .. 1S35 APPENDIX. 780 BISHOPS OF KILLALOE. Names. Birth-places. Previous Stations. Jolm Roan Wales Dean of Clogher Hciiiy Rider Piiris Archdeacon of Ossorj- .. , Tlionias Lindsay Blandford, Dorst. Dean of St. Patrick's .... Sir TLs. ^'e^cy, P)iirt. . . Cork Ch. ta Duke of Ormonde. Nicholas Porsler Ireland Sen. Fell, of T. C, Dublin Charles Carr Ireland Chap, to H. of Commons Succession. . 1675 . . 1003 . . I(i00 . . 1713 . 1714 . 1710 . Joseph Story Trrone (Chap, to H. of Com- [ j^,. ' I mous, A:D.ofFerns. J John Rvder Ireland 1742 Jemniet Brown Cork Dean of Ross 17 43 Richard Chenevix England Ch. to E. of Chestorfio]d. 174-5 Nicholas Synge Cork Archdeacon of Dubhn .. . 1740 During whose mcumbency Kilfenoragh was united to Killalue BISHOPS OF KILLALOE AND KILFENORAGH. Nicholas Syuge ....... . . , . . . . . ] 7.52 Robert Fowler Louth, Liucolns. Preb. of Westminster. . . . 1771 . George Chinncry Ireland Dean of Cork 1779 ., Thomas Bcimard Siurey Dean of Derry 1780 Hon. Wm. Knox Dublin Chap, to H. of Commons. 1794 . Hon. Charles Lindsay . Scotland . . . . 1803 . , Natlianiel Alexander . . Deny- Bishop of Cloufert 1804 . . Vacancy . Traiislation. . 1092 , 1090 1713 to Raphoe. 1714 to Os^sory. 1710 to Raphoe, 1740 1740 to Kilmore. 1743 to Down and Connor. 1745 to Dromore. 1740 to Water- ford and Lismore Lord R. Pon. Tottenham. 1804 Richivrd Mant. Southampton {Chap, to Abp. of Can- 1 terbury, and R. of > 1820 .. Bishopsgate, Lond. * Alex. Arbuthuot Ireland Dean of Cloyne 1823 . . Hon. Rich. Ponsonby . Kildare county . Dean of St. Patrick's. . . . 1827 . . Hon. E dm. Knox Dnblm Dean of Down 1831 .. On whose translation, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh became united to Killaloe bv 3 and 4 Wm. IV.. c. 37. 1771 1778 to Dublin. 1780 to Cloyne. 1794 to Limerick, 1803 to Derry. 1804 to Kildare. 1804 to Down ami Connor, 1820 to Ferns and Leitrhlin. 1S23 23 {- to Down Conno: 1827 1831 to Derry. 1834 to Limerick, and Kilfenora, BISHOPS OF KILLALOE, KILFENORAGH, CLONFERT, AND KILMACDUAGH. Christopher Butson .... (See Clonfert.) . . . . 1834 . . 1830 Stephen C. Sandes Kerry Sen. Fell, of T. C, Dub. . 1830 .. 1639 to Cas'ie!. Hon, Li DLOw ToNsox ., .. Rec, of Ahem, Cork coun, 1839 IT. PROVINCE OF TUAM. "^^-^ ARCHBISHOPS OF TUAM, AND BISHOPS OF KILFENORAGH, John Vesey Coleraine Bishop of Limerick 1679 .. 1716 Edward Synge Ireland Bishop of Raphoe 1710 .. 1742 On whose death, Josiah Hort, being translated to Tuam from Kihnorc, was allowed to hold Ardagh in conimendam; and Kilfenoragh was disunited from Tuam, and annexed for tho time to Clonfert. ARCHBISHOPS OF TUAM, AND BISHOPS OF ARDAGH. Josiah Hort | ^^gj^o^^^jJers 'j^P' ^"^^^^^^ ^ Ardagh. 1742 . . 1752 John Ryder Ireland Bp. of Down and Connor. 1752 .. 1775 790 APPENDIX. Names. Birili-places. Prerious Stations. Succession. Vacancy. Traiislatinu. Jema:et Brown Ireland Bishop of Elphiu 1775 .. 1782 Hor:. Jos. Deane Bourke Kildare county. . Bp. of Fenis and Leighlin. 1782 .. 1795 Hon. Win. Beresford . . Ireland Bishop of Ossory 1795 .. 1819 Hon. Power Trench . . Galway Bishop of Elphin 1819 Ou the death of James Verschoyle, bishop of Killala and Achonry, in 1834, that blsaoprick was united to Tuam, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 37. ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM, AND BISHOP OF ARDAGII, KILLALA, AND ACHONPvY. Hon. Power Trench .. .. 1831 .. 1839 On the death of Power Trench, in 1839, Tuam ceased to be an archbishoprick by the above- named act, and the province became subject to the jurisiliction of the Archbiship of Armagh : and Ardagh was separated from Tuam, and united to Kilmore. BISHOP OF TUAM, KILLALA, AND ACHONRY. Hon. Thos.Plunket . Dublin Dean of Down 1839 BISHOPS OF ELPHIN. Simon Digby Queen's county. Henry Downes Theorhilus Bolton.... Mayo county Edward Synge Ireland Bp. of Ferns and Leighli ^, ^ I Bishop of Clonfert and M ilham Gore Mayo | Kilmacduagh .... Jemmet Brown Cork Bp. of Cork and Ross , 1G92 . . 1720 1720 . . 1724 to M:;ath. 1721 , . 1730 to Cashel. 1730 . . 1740 1740 . . 1762 1762 . • 1772 t'j Limerick. 1772 . . 1 775 to Tuam. 1775 . . 1795 1795 . . 1810 1810 . . 1819 to Tuam. 1810 John Law Cumberland Hon. Power Trench . . Galway John Leslie Monaghan.. On the next avoidance of Elphin or of Kilmore, the bishoprick of Elphi i will bocoaie united to that of Kilmore, by 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 37. BISHOPS OF CLONFERT AND KILMACDUAGPI. "NVilUam Fitzgerald.. .. Cork Dean of Cloy ne IGOl .. 1722 {Chancellor of St. Pa- \ trick's, and Vicar > 1722 .. 1724 to Ca.shel. General of Dublin. ) Arthur Price Dublin Dean of Ferns 1724 .. 1730 to Fenis and Leighlin. Edward Synge Ireland Chanc. of St. Patrick's .. 1730 .. 1732 to Cloyue. I'Rec. of St. Catherine \ MordecaiCary England I C„le„,an, London, I .....I '"Mai. 1 Coleman, London,! i-.^o ( , 1 and Chap, to Duke f ^'^^ ^'^^^ 1 ^J"'} { of Dorset j ^ '^^^ ;houry. John Whitcombe Cork Rector of Louth 1735 In 1712, the bishoprick of Kilfenoragh wa.s disunited from Tuam, and given in commeudam to John Whitcomb. BISHOP OF CLONFERT, KILMACDUAGH, AND KILFENORAGH. JohnWhitcomb .. .. 1742 .. 1752 to Down and Connor. On whose translation it was again disunited and given to Killaloe. APPENDIX. 791 BISHOl^ OF CLOXFERT AND KILMACDUAGH. Names. Birth-places. Previous Stations. Succession. Vacancy. Translation Artliur Smyth Lunerick Deau ol' Derry 17.32 .. 17o3 toDowuvk; Conujr {Arclicl. of Bucks, aud \ Chaplain to Earl of > 1753 .. 1 Harrington j Hon. "NVm. Ciirmichael . Scotland "NVilliam Gore Mayo . . John Oswald Eui'land toFerns^j Leifflilin. Preb. of Westminster, and Cliap. to Earl of Halifax 7-58 I 1758 . . 1762 to Elphui I 1702 17C3 toDromorc. Denison Cumberland Walter Cope 1703 Dean of Dromore 1772 England Mcar of Fulliam. . . . J Druniilly, cou ( of Armagh 1782 John Law 1782 |Archdeacon of Carlisle Richard Marlay Dublin Dean of Ferns 178 Grey Stoke, Cumberl. 1772 to Kilmore. toFems & Leiglilin. {to Killala and Achoury . 179-5 to Water fd. and Lismore. Hon. Charles Brodrjck.j Sq.,Lon St.Geor.,Han. ) don. J Treasurer of Clovue .... 1795 .. 1796 to Kilmc Hugh Hamilton Dublin Dean of Armagh 1796 Matthew Young Roscommon. . . . Sen. Fell, of T. C, Dub. . 1798 G. de la PoerBere^ford. Dublin Dean of Kilmore 1801 Nathaniel Alexander . . Derrv . . . . 1802 1801 1798 to Ossory. 1800 1802 to Kilmore. 1804 to Killaloe and Kilfenora. Christopher Butson ... England Dean of Waterford. . On the translation of Edmond Knox from Killaloe, in 1804, Cloufert and Kilmacduagh became united to Killaloe aud Kilfenoragh, by 3 and 4 Wm IV., c. 37. Richard Tennisou Carrickfergus , f Penhullis,An ( glesea WUham Llovd BISHOPS OF KILLALA AND ACHOXRY. 1682 1691 1717 , Dean of Clogher I Dean of Achonry T- 1 1 f Minister of Brington, "I Henry Downes England | Nordiamptonshire . J Charles Cobbe Winchester Dean of Ardagli Robert Howard Dublin Deanof Ardagh Robert Clayton England Fel. of Trin. Coll., Dubl Yorksliire Mordecai Cary .... Richard Robinson . Samuel Hutclunson Wm. Cecil Perv Limerick England Bishop of Clonfert f Preb. of York, oudCh. ) \ to Duke of Dorset . J Ireland Dean of Dromore f Dean of Derry, Ch. 1 I to H. of Commons. J AVilliam Preston England . . Ch. to Duke of Rutland. 1720 1727 1730 1735 17.52 1759 1781 1784 John Law Cumberland .... Bishop of Clonfert 1 787 {Ch. to Apb. of Canter- "j bury, and to Earl j- 1795 Camden ) Joseph Stock Dublin county . . Fell, of Trin. Coll., Dubl. 1798 . 1691 to Clogher. . 1716 . 1720 to Elphin. . 1727 to Dromore. . 1730 to Elphin. . 1735 to Cork and Ross. . 1752 . 1759 ( l^F^f}^^^' - ( Leighim. ,. 1780 . . 1784 to Limerick. , . 1787 to Ferns A: Leighlin. . . 1795 to Elphin. .. 1798 to Clogher. . . 1809 to Waterf 1. and Lismor3. .. 1834 James Verschoyle Ireland Dean of St. Patrick's ... . 1810 On whose death, in 1834, tlie bishoprick was united to Tuam, by 3 en.l 4 Vi'm. IV., c. 37 792 APPENDIX. The alterations made, and to be miulc, by the Act of Parhament of 3 and 4 WilHam IV., ch. 37, in the Irish archbishopricks and bisliopricks, have been noticed individually, as occasion lias occurred in the foregoing catalogue. The following is a collective view of the Hierarchy, when those alterations shall have been completed Archbishop of Armagh, and Bishop of Cloglitr, having jurisdiction over the provinces of Aim; gh and Tuam. Archbishop of Dublin, and Bishop of Glendaloch and Kildare, having jurisdiction over the IK vInces of Dublin and Cashel. Bishop of Meatli and Clonmacnois. Bishop of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore. Bishop of Tuam, Killala, and Achonrj-. Ijishop of Derry and Raphoe. Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe. Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore. Bishop of Ferns, Leighlin, and Os.sory. Bishop of Cloyne, Cork, and Ross. Bishop of Killaloe, Kilfenoragh, Cloufert, and Kilniacduagh. Bishop of Kilmore, Ardagh, and Elphin. As to the parliamentary representation, the two archbishops will sit in Parliament by alter- nate sessions. The bishops will succeed each other, as enacted by the Act of Union, by a rotation of three m every session, but regulated anew according to the foregomg cycle, which Avill be completed every ten years. INDEX. Acts of Parliament, 4 William and Maiy, chap. 1, rccognitio:! cf their Majesties' title to the croAvn, 53 4 William and Mary, chap. 1, for encouraging Protestant strangers to settle in Ireland, 5() 7 William, chap. 2, for taking away the ^vrlt " dc heretico coin- hurendo," 59 its aholition of death in pursuance of ecclesiastical censure?, 59 7 William, chap. 3, declaring all acts of King James's parliament void, 60 its preamhle and enactments, 60 7 AVilliam, chap. 4, for restraining foreign education, 61 7 William, chap. 5, for disarming papists, 61 7 AVilliam, chap. 9, for suppressing profane cursing and swear- ing, 61 7 William, chap. 14, for restricting holy days, 61 9 William, chap. 1, for sending popish ecelesiasticks out of the kingdom, 72 [ 9 William, chap. , against intermarrying of Protestants with papists, 74 motives to it, 75 10 William, chap. 10, to encourage Luilding on church lands, 98 its utility exemplified, 99 2 Anne, chap. 5, for securing the queen's safety, 135 2 Anne, chap. 3, to prevent popish priests from coming Into the kingdom, 134 2 Anne, chap. 7, for registering popish priests, 134 2 Anne, chap. 6, to prevent further groAvth of popery, 135 2 Anne, chap. 9, for quieting ecclesiastical persons in their posses- sions, 148 2 Anne, chap. 10, for exchange of glehes, 149 2 iVnne, chap. 11, for building churches in more convenient places, 149 8 and 9 Anne, chap. 12, for uniting parishes and building new churches, 215 2 George I., chap. 2, for'recognizing the king's title, 298 2 George I., chap. 4, for attainting the Pretender, 298 2 George I., cliap. 14, for real union and division of parishec>, 299 704 INDEX. Acts of Parliament, 2 George I., chap. 15, for confirming grants of first- fruits, 299 4 George I., chap. 14, for divesting Archbishop of Tuam of the quarta pars episcopalis, 314 6 George I., chap. 5, for exempting dissenters from certain penalties, 342 its enactments and provisions, 343 6 George I., chap. 6, for better maintenance of curates, 343 reasons for it, 344 remedies enacted by it, 344 6 George L, chap. 11, for better securing the rights of advowsou, 377 1 George II., chap. 15, for better enabling the clergy to reside, 476 J George II., chap. 22, for better maintenance of curates, 476 views on vrhich founded, 476 1 George II., chap. 12, for recovery of tythes, 478 its provisions and necessity, 478 1 George II., chap. 23, for securing rights of advowson, 478 1 George II., chap. 18, for empowering ecclesiastical persons to part with advowsons, 479 its expediency, 479 clause in it founded on an English act, 479 1 George II., chap. 19, for division of parishes, 480 motives to the enactment, 481 clause for removing sites of churches, 481 1 George II., chap. 20, for regulating admission of barristers, 482 I George II., chap. 8, relating to privileges of parliament, 484 opposition to it, 484 its importance, 486 9 George II., chap. , for encouraging building by ecclesiastical persons, 548 its necessity explained, 549 29 George II., chap. 10, for augmenting small benefices, 565 21 George II., chap. 8, for changing sites of cathedrals, 584 reasons of, and powers given by it, 584 its limited operation, 585 19 George II., chap. 13, concerning marriages by popish priests, 598 3 George III, chap. 26, for confirming the titles of Protestants, 631 II and 12 George III. chap. 16, for erecting churches and chapels, 651 11 and 12 George III., chap. 17, for encouraging residence, 653 11 and 12 George III., chap. 22, for forbidding burials in churches, 653 13 and 14 George III., chap. 35, for enabling subjects to testify their allegiance, 667 17 and 18 George III., chap. 49, for relief of papists, 668 INDEX. 795 Acts of Parliament, 21 and 22 George III., cliap. 24, for further relief of papists, 6/0 21 and 22 George III., chap. 02, for further relief of papists, 671 10 and 20 George III., chap. 6, for repealing sacramental test, 673 21 and 22 George III., chap. 25, for relief of Protestant dissenters, 673 27 George III., chap. 15, to prevent tumultuous risings, 712 28 George III., to the same effect, 71-1 32 George III., for removing disabilities from Roman Catholicks, 720 remarkable change of language in it, 721 intention of its enactments, 721 33 George III., for further relief of Roman Catholicks, 725 35 George III., for erecting Maynooth College, 7^0 40 George III., chap. 38, for union of the two kingdoms, 7^2 in King James's reign declared null, 50 mode of preparing them, 72 affecting papists, their proper character, 75 of Union and Division of Parishes, failure of Bill for reviving it, 88 of Uniformity, repealed by Toleration Aci^, 339 commended by Lord Lieutenant, 673 disapproved by bishops and other peers, 673 Advowsons, ecclesiastical persons empowered to part with, 470 rights of, secured, 478 Agar, Charles, bishop of Cloyne, 647 made Archbishop of Cashel, 661 completes his cathedral, 662 his portrait, 662 revives office of Rural Deans, 730 Agistment, tithe, resolution of House of Commons concerning it, 308 its effect on unions of parishes, 300 tythe of, claim of clergy to it legally confirnied, 554 opposed in the House of Commons, 555 Allegiance, statute for enabling persons to testify, 667 Anne, Queen, sentiments on her accession, 124 address to her from the bishops, 125 her exercise of ecclesiastical patronage, 192 rejected a person nominated for a bishoprick, 102 laxity in executing the laws in her reign, 212 her reception of a petition for converting papists, 223 petitioned to grant the first-fruits, 237 and crown rents, 238 grant of the first-fruits due to her, 242 disapproves of making Dr. Swift a bishop, 243 her allowance and permission of hymns, supplemental to the New Version of Psalms, 261 ecclesiastical affairs in her reign, 260 79G INDEX. A >'XE, Queen, consequence of her bounty, 294, 321 A.NNESLEY, Hon. Mr., his plan of religious improvement, 220 Appropriations and impropriations, evil of them, 300 Arch, Gothick, formed by intersection of two Saxon ones, supposed origin of the notion, 624 Archbishops and bishops, copy of their petition for convocation, prcf., x. fac-simile of their autographs, pref., x. family names and sees of the twenty-one subscribers, pref., xi. consulted by Lord Lieutenant about a convocation, 160 their answers, 163 their communications with the clergy, 164 Akchdall, Rev. ^Mervyn, his Monasticon, 625 his connexion with Bishop Pococke, 625 his account of the bishop, 626 Ardagh, Bishoprick of, held with Tuara in commendam^ 561 church of, a cathedral, 772 Akdfert and Aguadoe, condition of the churches, 574 Armagh, Archbishoprick of, speculations on the mode of filling it, 113 their non-fulfilment, 415 disposal of it to Dr. Boulter, 415 Archbishops of, their portraits in the palace of Armagh, 731 Dean and Chapter of, constitute Archbishoj) King administrator of the diocese, 413 Ashe, St. George, bishop of Cloyne, translated to Cloghcr, 93 bishop of Clogher, complaint of his non-residenjce, 282 his translation to Derry, and death, 316 his character by Mr. Addison, 316 Association for discountenancing vice, &c., 740 institution and particulars of it, 740 its good success, 741 loss of its power, 741 Atkins, Rev. Walter, his exertions for converting Irish papists, 167 his ministerial labours acceptable, 168 Augmentation fund for small benefices, 565 AuNGiER, Dr. his MS. Concordance for the Septuagint, 553 Autographs of twenty-one Irish prelates, signed to a petition to the Lord Lieutenant concerning the convocation, pref., x. AvERELL, bishop of Limerick, his early death, 648 Baldwin, Dr., Provost of the College, 474 his character, 474 Barnard, "William, bishop of Raphoe, 605 translated from Raphoe to Derry, 608 Barnard, Thomas, bishop of Killaloe, notice of him by Goldsmith and Johnson, 662 his ironical verses on Johnson, 663 translated to Limerick, 727 Beaufort, Dr., his Map of Ireland and 3Icmoir, 7^>1 INDEX. 797 Bkaufort, Dr., liis IMap of Ireland, and its ecclesiastical division^^ 'JGi Bedell, Bisliop, position of his tomb ascertained, 65(3 Belfast, refractory conduct of tlie people there, 97 Belfast, question in an election for the borough of, 137 Benefices, best method of disposing of them, 209 its advantages, 210 ignorance in England concerning thein, 288 their small value, 209 care requisite in bestov.'ing them, 289 hiW for subdividing them opposed, 545 appropriate, power of disappropriating, 585 number of, 773 patronage of, 77-1 Bennett, AViliiam, consecrated to Cork and Ro:jS, 718 his early life and pursuits, 718 his residence in London. 719 his death, 720 translated to Cloyne, 727 project said to have been formed for him, 733 Beresford, Hon. AVilUam, bishop of Dromore, GGu translated to Ossorv, 680 translated to Tuara, 727 designed for the primacy, 733 Berkeley, George, account of hiiu, 529 his character by Pope and Johnson, 529 his epitaph by Archbishop 3Iarkham, 529 description of him by Dean Swift, 530 his travels, 580 project of founding an university at Bermudas. 530 recommended to Lord Carteret, 531 anecdote of his plan, 531 failure of it, 532 his preferment to the see of Cloyne, 533 refusal to change his see, 533 attempt to relinquish it, 534 residence in Oxford, and sudden death. 534 Bill for the King's preservation, letters of Bishop Kincr concerni-.ig it, 78—82 protest in fiivour of it, 83 iurther fate of it, 85 its failure, 78 controversy concerning it. 7^ X BixoiiAM, Rev. Joseph, his afhnity to Bishop Pococke, G27 Biographical memoirs mixed with history, 629 Birch, his crimination of Charles Leslie, 3o contradicted, 39 Bishop, a non-juring one, 27 Bishops, almost unanimously took the oaths to William an 1 Maiy, :"4 703 INDEX. Bishops, six ordered to report on the qualifications of a person nomi- nated to a bishoprick, 31 their conduct thereupon, 31 — 33 circular letter to, for improvement of Church, 57 eight, opposed the bill for the King's preserration, 82 their names, 83 names of three who supported it, 85 rapid succession of, in King William's reign, 101 who opposed Archbishop Marsh's library, 119 non-residence of, its mischievous effects, 156 slow succession of, in Queen Anne's reign, 1 74 mistake of some about titles for orders, 201 laxity of some, called ordainers, 202 their non-residence, animadverted on, 282 their power to make parochial unions, 299 of Irish and English birth, distinction between them, 364 evil of their non-residence, 366 bound to provide for those whom they ordain, 393 consequence of bringing them from England, 426 from England, their disposal of preferment, 445 Irish and English, their relative numbers, 459 not satisfied with Dr. Rundle's promotion, 540 unjustly censured on the occasion, 541 condemned by Dean Swift for supporting certain bills in parlia- ment, 547 appointed from political attachments, 568 observations on their intellectual and moral characters, 568 several enumerated, but not specially distinguished, 613 opposed the Popery relief bill in 1782, 674 and the dissenters' relief bill, 674 names of those who protested against the latter, 677 generally approved of the union, 762 representatives, provided by Act of Union, 762 order of rotation, 763 alteration in the order by 3 and 4 AVilliam IV., c. 37, Appendix English, their fruitless intercession with King James II. to fill the Irish sees, 2 English, consulted about filling the vacant sees, 3 Bishops and clergv, their conduct on the introduction of Methodism, 591 opposed to the repeal of the test, 191 their conduct towards each other, 199 Bishops in Scotland deprived, ordination by them allowed, 563 Bishoprick, first instance of one conferred without a degree, 379 Bishopricks vacant, not filled by King James IL, 2 earlv attention shown to them by King William and Queen ' :\lary, 2 vacant, how supplied, 6 INDEX. 799 T'islinpricks vacant in 1714, persons recommended for, 273 condition of tlieni, 282 vacant, their situation and value, 284 candidates proposed for them, 286 persons appointed unexceptionable, 287 appointed to by King George I., filled after his death, 464 improperly canvassed for by the clergy, 67 practice of canvassing for, 274 its mischievous effects, 274 Irish, objects of English competition, 461 their value, 569 their estimated value in 1776 — 1779, 659 in what proportion supplied from England and Ireland in the reign of King George III., 7^9 Bolton, Dr. T., recommended for promotion to a bishoprick, 374 recommended for Clonfert, 381 his high character, 382 testimony in his favour, 384 account of him, 389 his elevation commented on by Dean Swift, 390 translated to Elphin, 397 recommended for Archbishop of Cashel, 460 opposed by the Primate, 460 opposes the bill relating to the privileges of Parliament, 484 an objection to his advancement, 485 translated to Cashel, 504 his death and character, 580 his account of Ware's History of the Bishops^ 581 his care for his cathedral, 581 invites Dean Swift to visit it, 582 Boulter, Dr. Hugh, consecrated bishop of Bristol, 417 made archbishop of Armagh, 415 account of him, 416 his unexpected elevation to the Primacy, 417 his letters, 417 his expected amval, 418 motive to his appointment, 418 his maintenance of the English interest, 419 urged in his letters to the English government, 419 his claim with respect to bishopricks, 420 his sentiments as to new episcopal appointments, 421 his views extended to civil appointments, 421 set forth in letters to Duke of Newcastle and Lord Townshend, 421 recommends Dr. Burscough for see of Limerick, 423 his principle of appointment to high offices, 424 his services for the Church, 430 circular letter to the bishops proposing a subscription, 430 800 INDEX. Boulter, Dr. Hugh, circular letter to the bishops proposing a suh- scription, its application, 431 success of the appeal, 432 takes means for correcting irregular commenclams, 434 opposes the holding of a benefice by a fellow of Trinity College. 437 his primary visitation and charge, 439 character of the charge, 439 contents of it, 440 marked by no peculiar excellence, 441 collision between him and the archbishops of Dublin and Tuim, 442 his invidious remark, 442 liis jiredominance in the House of Lords, 442 censured for his promotion of an improper person, 443 his disposal of preferment condemned, 445 one of the Lords Justices, 448 his dispute with Archbishop King about marriage licenses, 418 consults Archbishop Wake and Bishop Gibson, 448 their cautious answers, 451 recommends Dr. IMaule for see of Cloyno, 454 his projects for filling the archbishoprick of Cashel, 458 recommends an Englishman, 459 opposes the appointment of Bishop Bolton, 460 liis urgency on the subject in several letters, 4G1 communicates with English government on George XL's accession, 472 calls in question the loyalty of the College, 4/4 his views of proposed improvements, 475 his objection to Bishop Bolton's advancement, 485 speculates on Archbishop King's illness, 489 his advice on a successor, 490 his measures for supplying the vacancy made by Archbishop King, 500 his plan respecting it and Cashel, 502 his difference with Bishop Gibson, 503 liis anxiety to retain the Bishop's goodwill, 504 patronises and supports the Incorporated Society, 515 explains the origin of the Society, 515 solicits the Duke of Dorset's assistance in England, 516 corresponds with other friends of the Society, 517 endeavours to interest the Duke of Devonshire on its behalf, 518 recommends jNlr. Richardson for a benefice, 520 liis plan relative to the vacancies of Meath and Derry, 535 dissatisfied with Dr. Bundle's promotion, 540 his silence about two bills relating to the clergy, 548 promotion of his chaplain. Dr. Este, 549 recommends Dr. Delany to Bishop Gibson, 551 cessation of bis letters, 562 INDEX. 801 Boulter, Dr. Ilugli, Ins death, 563 his occupations and character, 503 his rule of ecclesiastical patronage, 5(34 question of its fitness, 564 beneficial appropriation of his property, 564 his local charities, 565 fund for augmenting small benefices, 565 his literary productions, 565 his letters, 566 his secretary, 566 Johnson's remarks on them, 567 concurs in Dr. Clayton's appointment to a bishoprick, 614 BoURKE, Joseph Deane, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 649 translated to Tuam, 684 his death, 727 Boyle, Michael, Primate, objects to moderate the power of granting penalties, 51 his great age and infirmities, 72 his death, 127 his preferments and offices, 128 his character, 129 monument to his memory, 129 consequence of his great age and infirmities, 129 his conduct about faculties, 130 BoYSE, Mr. J., a dissenting minister, his answer to Bishop King, 15 Briefs, encroachment on ecclesiastical authority in respect of them, 359 description of an irregular one, 360 not obligatory on the clergy, 361 Broderick, Alan, Speaker of the House of Commons, his advocacy of the presbyterians, 185 his insult to a bishop in the House of Lords, 185 Brodrick, Hon. Charles, consecrated to Clonfert, 741 translated to Kilmore, 742 his family, 769 Bromley's Catalogue of British Portraits, mention of Archbisliop King's, 497 particulars of it and date, 497 Brown, Peter, Provost of Dublin College, his character, 1 93 an opponent of Toland, J 93 made bishop of Cork and Ross, 194 his activity in behalf of the Church, 195 his discourse of drinking in remembrance of the dead, 195 satirised by Dean Swift, 550 his literary compositions, 550 Broavn, Jemmet, bishop of Killaloe, 608 translated to Dromore, 608 and to Cork and Ross, 608 archbishop of Tuam, 657 802 INDEX. Browx, Jenimet, his death, 684 Brown, Rev. Nicholas, his efforts for converting Irish papists, his suc- cess, 165 Bryan, Kobert Butler, Esq., unpublished letters of Archbishop King in his possession, 270 Bryan, Robert Butler, Esq., his MS. Transcript-book of Archbishop King's letters, 406 Buckinghamshire, Earl of. Lord Lieutenant, 666 BuRDY, Mr., his Life of Rev. Philip Skelton, 576 reported conversation in it remarked on, 588 Burgh, L^ljsses, dean of Emlj, made bishop of Ardagh, 81 Burials, prohibited in and near churches, 653 Burnet, Bishop, his remark on the Queen's care in disposing of bishopricks, 33 apparent inconsistency in two statements, 52 BuRROWES, Rev. Dr., murder of, in 1798, 754 BuRSCOUGH, Dr., recommended for see of Limerick, 423 his character, 424, 609 Cairncross, Alexander, archbishop of Glasgow, made bishop of Raphoe, 34 persecuted by Presbyterians and Papists, 34 causes of his appointment, 85 his benefaction to the Scotch clergy, 36 his death and funeral sermon, 37 Camden, Earl, Lord Lieutenant in 1795, 742 Maynooth College, instituted in his government, 749 Campbell, Dr. Philosophical Survey of Ireland^ 583 his description of Cashel cathedral, 583 his account of the Irish clergy in 1775, 658 Canon, the 30th, mistake in interpreting it, 201 Canons of 1711? their subjects, 230 their confirmation, 232 Capel, Lord, recommends the building of churches, 59 commanded by King William to favour the dissenters, 69 Carmichael, William, consecrated to Clonfert, 606 translated to Fenis and Leighlin, 611 thence to Meath, 611 his appointment to Dublin, and death, 640 Carolan, Neal, a Popish priest^ converted to the Church, 40 his narration of motives to his conversion, 41 Caroline, Queen, her appointment of Dr. Berkeley to the see of Cloyne, 538 her attachment to Mrs. Clayton, 536 patronises Dr. Clayton, 614 vindicated from an injurious remark concerning Bishop Clayton, 618 Carr, Charles, Bishop of Killaloe, prepossession in his disfavour, 315 INDEX. 803 Carteret, Lord, made Lord Lieutenant, 407 his bestowal of church preferment, 426 his large patronage, 427, 44.0 his scheme for filling the vacancies of Dublin and Cashel, 503 Carteret, Lady, her influence solicited by Archbishop King, 491 letter to her, probably the last of Archbishop King's own hand- writing, 495 Cary, Mordecai, consecrated bishop of Clonfert, 528 Cashel, Archbishoprick, contest for it, 458 cathedral of, its antiquity and architecture, 582 removal of it, 582 delay in rebuilding it, 583 state of the province and diocese, 456 Catechising, good effects of, 16 its importance, 509 Cathedrals, one in each diocese, 771 ancient or modem, 771 statutes for authorising change of sites of, 584 applied in one instance only, 585 Catholick, stricture on the use of the phrase, 657 Catholicks, Papists so called from the throne, 722 term improperly given to Papists, 725 Chapels of ease, provision for, 477 Chaplaincy of Lord Lieutenant, ordinary channel of preferment, 605 Chaplains of chief govemours, preferred to bishoprics, 289 Chapma>', Sir William, endeavours to promote the Incorporated Society, 517 Chapters, their constitution variable, 770 generally without revenues, 772 Charlemont, Earl of, his account of Primate Stone, 603 his narrative of Archbishop Xewcome's elevation, 733 Charles L, King, three convocations in his reign, 159 Charter, Royal, for English Protestant schools, prayed for and granted, 513 schools, patronised by chief governours, 698 Chenevix, bishop of Killaloe, 608 translated to AVaterford and Lismore, 608 circumstances of his life and promotion, 664 his death and character, 665 Chesterfield, Earl of, his viceroyaltv, 599 its effects on the Papists, 599 Chief governours, consequence of their frequent changes to the Church, 289 Chinnerv, bishop of Killaloe, his infirmities and death, 661 Christ Church, dean and chapter of, their opposition to Archbishop King, 133 dispute the archbishop's jurisdiction, 168 mode of investigating it, 170 3f2 804 INDEX. Christ Churcli, dean and chapter of, dispute the archbishop's jurisdic- tion, interest excited by it, 170 settlement of their controversy with Archbishop King, 400 their conduct generally censured, 403 their irregularities, 404 visited by the archbishop, 405 Christ Church and its jurisdiction settled, 406 Church, why objected to by dissenters, 18 of Ireland, parliamentary proceedings connected with, 53 information sought by government for its improvement, 57 neglected by the government, 65 forfeited impropriations sought for it, 65 melancholy picture of its condition, 93 difficulty of procuring laws for its improvement, 94 ill disposition towards it, 95 insufficient provision for its ministrations, 121 lost ground in Queen Anne's reign, 270 ignorance in England concerning its benefices, 288 proof of its miserable condition, 288 melancholy account of, 317 better condition of, in 1723, 350 prosperity of, not dependent on civil power, 357 subscription proposed for its benefit, 431 success of the proposal, 432 letters on the subject, 432 — 433 collision between its governours, 442 how affected by King George II. 's succession, 472 bills for improving its means of ministration, 475 efforts in favour of, 508 Laws aff*ecting it in 1774, &c., 666 state of it in 1787, 708 preserved from jeopardy and ruin, 727 members of, their suff'erings in 1798, 752 its condition at the Union, 764 room for its improvement, 778 of Ireland, history of, more free from fable than churcli of England, 388 Churches of England and Ireland, contract of conformity between them, 338 altered by the toleration act, 339 united, 761 provisions for the union, 762 Churches, building and repairing of, recommended by Lord Lieutenant, 59 failure of bill for building, 86 little expectation of an act for building, 97 means for effecting repairs of them, 97 measure for rebuilding them in 1699, 99 INDEX. 805 Churches, statute for building in move convenient places, 149 the building of, encouraged by Primate jMarsh and Archbishop King, 15], 152 provision of new ones, 204 their consecration, 207 proposed restoration of, 214 changes of site authorised by law, 215 benefits of building them, 348 power of changing their sites, 486 want of, exemplified in three southera dioceses, 574 statement of, in county of Down, 575 and chapels, statutes for erecting them, 651 divine service in them interrupted, 709 destruction of, in 1798, 7^4 number of, 774 their inadequacy, 775 general want of, 775 Church lands, act to encourage building on them, 98 Churchmen, difficulty of their position, 95 and Dissenters, after the Revolution, compared, 15 Clare, Earl of, his reflections on Bishop Dickson, 759 Clarendon Press edits Archbishop Hort's Instructions to his Clergy^ 561 delegates of, reprinted Bishop Stearue's treatise on the Visitation of the Sick, 588 Clayton, Robert, made Bishop of Killala, 505 attempt to translate him to Derry, 536 his early life, 613 his elevation to the episcopate, 614 his first publications, 614 his Essay on Spirit, 614 said not to be his own, 615 his higher preferment negatived, 615 his theological speech in Parliament, 615 his retention of his preferment, 616 offence given by his speech, 617 determination to proceed against him, 617 forewarned of the result, 617 his death, 618 Claytox, Mrs. (Lady Sundon), her influence with the Queen, 536 Cleaver, Euseby, consecrated to Cork and Ross, 718 translated to Ferns and Leighlin, 718 his character, 757 his persecution in the rebellion of 1798, 7^8 Clergy, sent back to Ireland after the Revolution, 4 \ neglected by the government, 65 their devotion to the King, 66 better provision for, 153 their liberties infringed by Parliament, 100 806 INDEX. Cle]gy, desirous of a convocation, 160 communicate with the bishops on the subject, 160 their embarrassment in their ministrations, 251 their jealousy about George I.'s religion, 275 sermons on the subject, 275 remarks on their injudicious conduct, 276 not well inclined to King George I., 290 improper conduct in their sermons, 291 not uniyersal, 292 instance of irregular intrusion into strange dioceses, 292 their return to peaceful discharge of their duty, 293 contests between them and the gentry, 294 and gentry, want of cordiality between them, 294 invited to take steps for procuring glebes, 295 their indiscreet representation of the state of the Church, 296 their state of mind as to politicks, 321 opportunity for attaching them to the court, 322 abuse of them by one Whittingham, 323 contemplated provision for their residence, 350 in unpropitious circumstances urged to diligence, 357 cautioned against pernicious principles, 358 little encouragement for them, 426 recommended for patronage, 427 act for enabling them to reside, 477 required to build houses, 477 their endeavours at education counteracted, 512 their zealous opposition to the repeal of the test, 523 despoiled of their property, 554 their legal claim to tythe agistment, 554 opposed in the House of Commons, 555 associations against them, 556 prayer for king's protection, 557 project of a committee for inquiring into their conduct, 557 injury done to them not remedied, 558 value of their benefices, 570 frauds and impositions practised on them, 571 their hardships, 572 their condition as to residence, 572 spoliation of their glebes, 572 little Ciiargeable with non-residence, 573 occasionally present at Mr. Wesley's preaching, 591 their opposition and encouragement of it, 592 little interest taken by them in his proceedings, 593 statute for enabling them to reside, 653 their opulence overrated, 658 their condition in 1775, 658 the victims of insurrectionary tumults, 703 outrages on tlieir persons, 709 INDEX. Clergy, vindication of their conduct, 711 statute for tlicir protection and compensation, 712 called on to emulate the Romish clergy, 738 causes of non-residence, 775 their moderate revenues, 776 average of income, 77^5 their general character, 777 examples of worthiness among them, 778 of Dublin, their want of glebes, 351 same in other dioceses, 351 English, notice of divisions among them, 131 Scotch, shelter opened to them in Ireland, 35 pecuniary relief afforded to them, 36 Clergyman, resident, advantage of, 346 Clergymen, discomfort of dissensions amongst them, 179 improperly recommended, from England, 288 murdered in rebellion of 1798, 750 paucity of, its consequence, 290 Clerical exertion, effect of, 576 zeal, important instance of, 509 Clonfert, diocese of, its wretched state, 380 its confusion and disorder, 384 Cloyne, diocese of, its circumstances, 454 its churches in repair and in ruins, 574 examples of outrage in it, 709 CoBBE, dean of Ardagh, made bishop of Killala, 367 translated to Kildare, 528 translated to Dublin, 580 visited by Mr. Wesley, 589 Archbishop, his death, 637 anecdote of his disinterestedness, 637 his plan of a religious society, 638 his patronage, 639 CoGHiLL, Dr. Marmaduke, his character, 409 his letters on occasion of Primate Lindsay's death, 409 Coleraine, selection of hymns printed there, 260 Commendams, irregularity about them, 434 noticed by Archbishop King, 435 means taken by Primate Boulter for correcting them, 436 Commission of inquiry for spiritual misconduct, 42 Common people, enemies to the Church, 293 Commons, House of, oppose the clergy's claim to agistment, 555 design further hostility, 556 motives to the oppression, 556 provisions for resisting it, 557 project of a committee for inquirihg into the conduct of the clergy, 558 injurious conduct not remedied, 558 808 INDEX. Commons, House of, adopt proposals for education, 7^1 their resolutions thereupon, 702 rejects proposal for union, 761 adopts it afterwards, 7<31 Conforming from Popery to Protestantism made more easy, 671 Connaught, most Popish part of Ireland, 384 state of religion in, 494 Connor, diocese of, divine service celebrated in Irish, 21 Consecration of churches, directed by law, 207 no form prescribed, 207 one composed and published by Archbishop King, 209 Convocation, necessity of one in 1697, 96 none in William III/s reign, 100 assembled in 1703, 157 none in early reigns after the Reformation, 158 first regular one in 1615, 159 in reign of King Charles I., 1634, 1639, 1661, 159, 160 none afterwards till 1703, 160 account of its being assembled, 160 questions submitted by Lord Lieutenant to the bishops, 161 answers of the bishops, 163 address of the clergy to the bishops, 164 constitution of the convocation, 164 opinion about Irish preachers, 164 resolution of Lower House about converting Irish Papists, 164 answer of Upper House, 165 of 1705, its inefficiency, 176 Upper House of, inattentive to messages from the Lower, 177 business of Upper House obstructed, 1 78 of 1709, measures for converting the Papists, 217 resolve on printing the Bible and Liturgy in Irish, 218 on employing persons to preach and catechise in that language, 218 of 1711? proceedings in, 225 resolutions concerning the Irish Papists, 226 other business in, 227 protest against the proceedings in, 228 supposed motives to them, 228 none later than that of 1711, 231 one contemplated in 1713, but not assembled, 231 purpose of holding one in 1728, not accomplished, 484 mode of summoning them, 161 form of summoning them, 161 right of clergy to meet in, 161 authority to act, 162 right of taxation, 162 rules of proceeding, 163 the clause " prremunientes" in the writs, 163 INDEX. 809 Cooper, Mr. Austin, his copy of Harris's Ware in Trinity College Library, 378 question concerning a note in his copy of Ware's Bishops^ 560 Cope, Walter, Bishop of Clonfert, 648 his death, 716 Cork and Ross, condition of its churches, 574 CoRMACK, King, his chapel in Cashel Cathedral, 582 CoRNWALLis, Marquis, recommends the union of the two kingdoms, 760 Coronation oath, violated by toleration act, 339 CoTTERELL, William, dean of Kaphoe, made bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 580 bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 607 Cox, Michael, Bishop of Ossory, 607 translated to Casliell, 607 Archbishop, his death, 661 his portrait, 661 Cox, Sir Richard, opposes a bill for liberty of conscience, 62 reasons of his opposition, 63 Cradock, John, consecrated to Kilmore, 606 bishop of Kilmore, 610 Archbishop of Dublin, his death, 660 Crown rents, application for a grant of them, 237 burden of them, 240 Cumberland, Denison, his elevation to the episcopate, 635 his disposal of his patronage, 636 his estimable character, 637 his use of his patronage, 653 management of his estates, 654 his death and burial, 655 Cumberland, Mr., his sketch of Bishop Pococke's character, 626 his account of Primate Robinson, 632 his narrative of his father s burial, 655 its correctness questioned, 655 stricture on his],phraseology, 657 Curates, ordination of, depending on the diocesans, 392 unprovided for, 426 Dallaway, James, his edition of Bishop Rundle's Letters, 537 extracts from his biographical preface, 538 — 542 Dawes, Sir William, Archbishop of York, invites communications from Bishop Nicholson, 318 Dean and Chapter lands, not preserved, 570 Deaneries, value of, 570 their estimated value in 1776—1779, 659 and archdeaconries, their number, 769 Delany, Dr., fellow of Trinity College, case of his holding a benefice, 437 810 INDEX. Delany, Dr., ineffectual petition to the Crown, 438 his literary productions, 550 recommended by Primate Boulter to Bishop Gibson, 551 Derry, deanery of, its important position, 385 diocese of, its distressed state after the Revolution, 13 its improvement under Bishop King, 13 diocese of, its religious ignorance, 15 diocese of, divine service celebrated in Irish, 21 condition of the clergy and diocese of, 542 Description of the East, by Bishop Pococke, notice of tlie work, 623 Desiring, difference between it and commanding, 361 Devonshire, Duke of, his high esteem for Archbishop Hoadly, 580 Dickson, William, bishop of Down and Connor, 686 his speech, in answer to Lord Clare, 760 impropriety of his language, 760 protests against the Union, 762 DiGBY, Simon, bishop of Limerick, translated to Elphin, 8 his death and character, 365 a great painter in water colours, 366 Dignities, corpses of, their nature, 772 Dioceses, their number and distribution, 765 their extent, 766 Dissent, its prevalence in the northern countries, 120 encouragement given to it, 120 Dissenters compared with Churchmen after the Revolution, 15 obstacles to learning their catechism, 16 how affected by Bishop King's conduct, 69 uncertainty of their constitution, 70 their interest with the Government, 68 favoured by Lord Capel, by the King's command, 69 in general afraid of the Presbyterians, 188 their conduct misrepresented, 296 misrepresent the cause of Protestant emigrations, 331 their easy condition, 331 political power their object, 333 solemn league and covenant printed with their catechism, 333 no Act in Ireland against them, 336 true point between them and the gentlemen, 336 Protestant, privilege granted to them, 672 their relief bill, opposed in House of Lords, 673 protest against it, 675 Protestant, join in the Rebellion of 1798, 750 motives of their withdrawing from it, 751 DoDGSON, Bishop, translated from Ossory to Elphin, 657 his death, 741 DoDWELL, Henry, an Irish nonjuror, 40 MS. letter on the subject, 40 INDEX. 811 DoppiNG, Anthony, bisliop of Meath, his remarks on Bishop Otway's refusal to pray for King William and Queen Mary, pref., vii. his caution to the government on the subject, pref., vii. advises a general fast, pref., viii. his death, 89 testimonial to his parocliial worthiness, 90 DoppiNG, Anthony, bishop of Ossory, 607 Dorset, Duke of. Lord Lieutenant, patronizes Dr. Tennison, 506 chosen president of Licorporated Society, 514 recommends repeal of the sacramental test, 523 unjustly blamed for its not succeeding, 526 objects to Dr. Berkeley's promotion to the deanery of Down, 533 his government led on by Primate Stone, 603 his recommendation of Bishop Clayton for the archbishoprick of Tuara, negatived, 615 Down, cathedral of, rebuilt by act of parliament, 771 county of, condition of the churches, 575 DoWNES, Henry, bishop of Killala, his correspondence with Bishop Nicholson, 315 his letters to Bishop Nicholson, 319 remarks on Archbishop King's being left out of commission of Lords Justices, 354 remarks on Archbishop King's appointment as Lord Justice, 362 shows a want of kindness and respect, 364 expected to succeed to Elphin, 365 his non-residence, 366 his translation, 367 ■ visits his new diocese, 368 translated to Meath, 397 cause of his translation, 398 his translation not agreeable to Lord Chancellor, 399 his visitation of his diocese, 400 translated to Derry, 457 his illness and death, 535 DoAVNES, Robert, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, of Down and Connor, and of Raphoe, 607 account of his family, 607 translated to Raphoe, 609 Dow^NS, Dive, his excellent character, 101 made bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, 102 Dublin, archbishoprick of, expected vacancy, 420 qualifications for a successor, 421 delay in supplying it after Archbishop King's death, 502 negotiations about it, 502 disposal of it, 503 archbishops of, ill treated by the crown, 404 diocese of. Archbishop King's opinion of it in 1703, 132 its condition in 1713, 205 812 INDEX. Dublin, diocese of, its Improvement, 346 visitation of, committed to Archbishop Synge, 355 its improvement under Archbishop King, 492 parishes in it abandoned in 1798, 755 diocese and province of, its w ant of clerical residences, 35] city of, its want of churches, 348 works of charity in, 328 DuiGENAN, Dr., his opposition to bill for further relief of Roman Catholicks, 723 his censure of the language of their petition, 725 Ecclesiastical abuses, proposal for reforming them, 51 authority encroached on by the government, 359 divisions of Ireland, 764 inquiry, commissioners of, in 1831, use made of their Report, 307 insubordination, instance of, 392 patronage, abuse of, 65 system of, by government, condemned, 445 great extent of it, 445 political exercise of, 563 its fitness questioned, 564 persons, statute for encouraging them to build, 548 occasion and necessity for it, 549 preferment, political qualifications for, 424 Episcopal residences, 767 revenues, 768 supply of vacancies, 768 Education, foreign, law for restricting it, 61 proposals for extending it, 699 adopted by House of Commons, 701 relinquished, 703 Edward YI., King, no convocation in his reign, 158 Elective franchise granted to the Roman Catholicks, 725 Elizabeth, Queen, no convocation in her reign, 158 Ellis, "NVelbore, consecrated to Kildare by the Primate, 1 75 translated to Meath, 528 his death and funeral, 528 j Elphin, diocese of, its situation and condition, 366 ; its revenues, 366, 368 its extent and religious profession, 368 Emigration of Protestants, 330 taken advantage of by dissenters, 331 true causes of, 331 English interest in Ireland, importance'^attached to the support of it, 418 maintained by Primate Boulter, 419 schools, society for encouraging them, 510 INDEX. 813 English schools, society for encouraging them, its result, 510 Episcopal appointments in l(j92, Sec, 44 in 1697, 93 in King William's reign, 121 in 1724, 397 in 1732, 527 in 1733, 528 in 1743, 580 about 1779, 665 in 1787, 716 in 1794, 727 in 1795, 6, 7, 741, 742 motives to, 567 recent, why particularly noticed, 612 the last before the Union, 747 residences, restoration of, 569 'Essay on Spirit, published by Bishop Clayton, 614 said not to have been his own, 615 EsTE, archdeacon of Armagh, made bishop of Ossory, 549 translated to ^S^aterford, 560 Evans, Bishop, translated from Bangor to Meath, 309 opposed by Dean Swift, 390 his death and benefactions to the Church, 397 Faculties, power of granting, attempt to moderate it, 51 opposed by the primate, 51 Fast-day, general, during the war of the revolution, pref., viii., form of prayer for the occasion, pref., viii. Ferns, diocese of, its condition in 1712, 206 and Leighlin, state of the united diocese, 373 First-fruits, attempt to procure them for the clergy, 173 dilatoriness of the proceeding, 174 question concerning them revived, 234 progress of the business, 235 two bishops appointed to negociate it, 236 application of Dr. Swift to Mr. Harley, 237 his memorial, setting forth the need of them to the clergy, 238 its successful consequence, 240 grant of, improperly attributed to the Duke of Ormonde, 241 merit of grant due to the Queen, 242 confirmed by King George I., 243 trustees incorporated for managing them, 243 fund of, subscription for increasing it, 431 rules for its regulation, 433 statement of its disposal, 434 Fitzgerald, Thomas, converted to Popory, 40 Fitzgerald, William, dean of Cloyne, made bishop of Clonfert, 8 814 INDEX. Fitzgerald, AVilliam, dean of Cloyne, remark hy Archbishop Marsh on his consecration, 24 project for his translation, 90 his death, 380 wretched state of his diocese, 380 his singular bequest to his clergy, 507 FiTZGiBBON, RigKt Honourable^- John, Attorney General, his account of insurrectionary tumults, 707 vindicates the clergy, 711 FiTZWiLLiAM, Earl, his appointment as chief governour, ^26 and sudden recall, 727 elevates Bishop Newcome to the Primacy, 733 Fletcher, T., consecrated to Dromore, 608 translated to Kildare, 608 Foley, Samuel, made Bishop of Down and Connor, 43 his excellent character and early death, 43 his collections in Trinity College Library, 44 Foreigners and natives, terms of distinction, 365 Forms of prayer, agreed on in convocation of 1711, 233 their authority, 233 occasional, embarrassment of the clergy concerning them, 251 attention of the government directed to them, 252 cause of the embarrassment, 253 not concluded in Queen Anne's reign, 254 resumed in that of King George I., 254 narrative of the negociation, 255 strange conduct of the Primate in the business, 255 accomplishment of the object^ 256 order in council, 257 FoRSTER, Nicholas, Bishop of Killaloe, 269, 287 translated to Raphoe, 314 his character, 314 Foster, AYilliam, consecrated to Cork and Ross, 7^8 translated to Kilmore, 718 translated to Clogher, 742 his death, 742 Fowler, Robert, bishop of Killaloe, 648 cause of his preferment, 648 made Archbishop of Dublin, 660 respectful mention of him, 661 FoY, Nathaniel, made bishop of Waterford, 12 consecrated by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, 23 sent by the Ilouse of Lords prisoner to the castle, 63 recommended for the bishoprick of Meath, 92 his death, character, and bequests, 195 his direction for burning his posthumous papers, 196 Free Schools, failure of bill in favour of, 87 INDEX. 815 Garnet, John, consecrated to Ferns and Leighlin, 606 translated to Clogher, 611 his death and character, G79 Gast, Dr., account of him, 639 Gentry, generally conformable to the Church, 293 of Ireland, their mismanagement, 488 George I., King, question as to executing the law against Papists in liis reign, 213 change in atfairs on his accession, 271 his peaceable accession, 273 jealousy about his religion, 27'5 act recognising his title, 298 his sudden death, 464 bishopricks of his appointment filled after his death, 464 George II., King, hopes entertained from his accession, 469 universal satisfaction caused by it, 470 effects of it on the Church, 472 his letters-patent incorporating the society for Protestant schools, 513 ordinary channel of preferment of Englishmen in his reign, 605 orders steps for the prosecution of Bishop Clayton, 617 vindication of the order, 618 George III., King, reign of, scantiness of original information, 628 his accession, 630 resolution of attachment to the constitution, 630 his approbation of measures for preserving tranquillity, 713 approves measures for relief of the Papists, 722 his patronage of Primate Newcome, 734 reign of, remarkable for privileges to the Papists, 748 supply of bishopricks in his reign, 769 Gibson, bishop of London, stops Dr. Rundle's promotion to the see of Gloucester, 538 subscription to his Preservative againsL Poperi/^ 552 Glandelagh, bishoprick of, seized by King Henry YIII., 405 Glebes, statute authorising exchange of, 149 destitution of, 294 opportunity for procuring, 295 of the clergy, alienated by landed proprietors, 352 disinclination of gentry to grant glebes, 353 power of granting them enacted, 477 Godwin, Timothy, archdeacon of Oxford, made bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, 268, 287 made archbishop of Cashel, 463 his death, 502 GoLPs:\iiTn, his verses on Bishop Barnard, 662 Gore, Hugh, bishop of Waterford, his death 1)y Irish ruffians, 10 Gore, William, consecrated to Clonfert, 606 his death, 698 816 INDEX. Grange-gorman, its destitute condition and depravity, 347 proposed remedies by Archbishop King to Lord Palmerstown, and Sir John Stanley, 347 Grattan, Mr., proposes inquiry into tythes, 713 GuBiNET, image of, an object of Popish idolatry, 144 Hacket, Thomas, bishop of Down and Connor, neglect of his diocese, 41 commission of inquiry, 42 his deprivation, 42 Halifax, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant, his speech in Parliament, 630 Hamilton, Hugh, consecrated to Clonfert, 742 translated to Ossory, 742 Hansard, Mr. Secretary, to the Incorporated Society, his mission to England, 516 Harcourt, Earl, succeeds Lord Townshend as Lord Lieutenant, 649 restraints on Popery first relaxed in his time, 667 Hardy, Mr. his account of Primate Stone, 603 HARLEY,Mr.liis communication with Dr. Swift about the first- fruits, 237 his satisfactory conduct about the first-fruits, 241 thanks of the bishops returned to him, 242 Harris, Walter, his account of Archbishop Marsh's Library, 48 his criticism on Bishop Nicholson's work, 458 his character of Archbishop King, 500 close of information from his writings, 567 Hartstong, John, his youth when made Bishop of Ossory, 45 translated from Ossory to Derry, 268 Hawkins, James, Bishop of Dromore, 657 translated to Raphoe, 665 Henry VIIL, King, no convocation in his reign, 157 Hervey, Honourable F. A., made Bishop of Cloyne, 647 translated to Derry, 647 a delegate of the National Convention, 688 his temporal rank and influence, 688 his character, and progress to Dublin, 689 procession through the metropolis, 689 conduct in the assembly, 691 addresses the Volunteers under arms, 692 corresponds with the Presbytery of Derry, 692 residence and deportment in Italy, 694 absence from his diocese and death, 695 a patron of the Methodists, 695 his character by Mr. Wesley, 696 Hewson, archdeacon of Armagh, his account of Lough Dearg, 146 Hickman, Bishop, his treatment of the see of Derry, 553 Higher ranks, their want of religious instruction, 578 Highlanders, divine service celebrated for them in Irish, 21 Hoadly, John, made bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 464 assists Archbishop King in his confirmations, 492 INDEX. 817 HoADLY, John, translated to Dublin, o03 succeeds to the primacy, 5/9 his death and character, 596 his writings, .597 episcopal appointments during his primacy, 605 HoBART, Mr. Secretary, brings in a bill for relief of Roman Catholicks, 723 Ilolmpatrick, parish of, its condition, 345 Holjdajs, regulated by law, 61 Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, translation of, in English blank verse, by Bishop Maurice, 619 Hopkins, bishop of Deny, his death in London, 10 HoRT, Mr. Josiah, appointed to Ferns and Leighlin, 375 strange report concerning him, 375 grounds of the report, 375 its falsehood, 376 by what bishops ordained, 376 his former preferment litigated, 376 decision in his favour, and its consequences, 377 not consecrated by his metropolitan, 377 by Avhom consecrated, 378 a misnomer in his patent for consecration, 378 opinion of eminent lawyers in the case, 378 loss of his voice, 398 made bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, 464 his charge at Kilmore, 508 contents of it, 509 promoted to Tuam, 561 his instructions to his clergy and sermons, 561 his account of his loss of voice, 562 HoTHAiNr, bishop of Ossory, 665 translated to Clogher, 680 his death, 742 Howard, Robert, translated from Killala to Elphin, 505 HuNTrsGTON, Robert, his education and travels, 102 provost of Trinity College, 103 declines the bishoprick of Kilmore, 103 consecrated to Raphoe, 104 his early death, 104 HuTcei>-soN, Francis, mad€ bishop of Down and Connor. 369 his voluminous writings, 369 his measures for improving the isle of Raghlin, 370 HuTcniNSoy, Samuel, consecrated to Killala, 606 his great age and death, 666 Hymns, supplemental to the Xew Version of Psalms, 259 allowed and permitted by royal authority, 260 not allowable without royal sanction, 261 818 INDEX. Idolatry, Popish, examples of, 145 Impropriate tythes, &c., forfeited, applied to the building of churches, 99 want of parishes so circumstanced, 345 exemplified in a letter from Archbishop King to Earl of Thomond, 345 Impropriations, forfeited, petitioned for on account of the Church, 65 their number, 773 emoluments and evils of, 777 Incorporated Society. See Society. Inventions of Men in the Worship of God, character of Bishop King's treatise, so called, 14 Ireland, History of, contemplated by Bishop Maule, 386 difficulty of the undertaking, 386 arising from unsettled state of the country, 387 ■want of encouragement, 387 record offices ill kept, 387 council-chamber burnt, 388 change of governours, 388 MSS. relating to, where to be found, 388 Irish Government, projects of, about episcopal appointments, counter- projects in England, 535 language, divine service celebrated in it, 21 ministers appointed to officiate in, 22 Bible and Liturgy resolved to be printed in it, 218 ministers to preach and catechise in it, 218 encouragement given to it by Trinity College, 218 divine offices performed in it, 219 ready attendance of the people, 219 font of Irish types purchased, 219 attempts to procure regal and viceregal patronage for it, 220 scholars taught to read it, 295 failure of interest in its favour, 520 Jackson, Charles, Bishop, translated from Ferns and Leighlin to Kil- dare, 634 his death, 718 James I., King, no convocation in early part of his reign, 159 James II., King, his refusal to fill the Irish sees, 1 acts of his pretended parliament declared null, 50 Johnson, Robert, bishop of Cloyne, 606, 611 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, his testimony to the powers of Charles Leslie, 40 his charade on Bishop Barnard, 664 his value for Bishop Percy, 681 his remark on Primate Robinson, 729 Jones, Edward, Bishop, translated from Cloyne to St. Asaph, 45 INDEX* 819 JoNFS, George Lewis, Bishop of Kilmore, 657 translated to Kildare, 71 B KiLDARE, Earl of, a Lord Justice, 277 character of hiin, 281 KiLFENORA, hishoprick of, annexed to Tuam and Clonfert, 608 finally to KiUaloe, 608 KiLLALOE, hishoprick of, its situation and value, 285 KiL.MORE, church of, whether a cathedral, 771 and Ardagh, hishoprick of, vacated hy deprivation, 28 nomination of successor annulled, 30 separated and reunited, 31 plan for dividing the hishopricks in 1699, not effected, 101 renewed project for their division, 263 not effected, 268 their situation and value, 285 question of their disunion, 285 division of them recommended, 465 recommendation repeated, 470 King, William, dean of St Patrick's, his letter giving ran account of his translation from Derry to Dublin, pref., ix. made bishop of Derry, 12 corrects the evils of his diocese, 13 difficulties which he encountered, 14 attempts to reconcile dissenters and separatists, 14 his treatise on ihe Inventions of Men in the Worship of God^ 14 encourages catechising, 16 his exertions to counteract poperv, 20 provides for divine service in the Irish language, 21 his assistance in relieving the Scotch clergy, 36 his funeral sermon on the bishop of Raphoe, 37 his MS. Correspondence in Trinity College Library, 64 two principal intermissions in it supplied, 64 laments the Government's neglect of the Church, 65 his account of his literary pieces, 69 effect of them on the dissenters, 70 opposes the bill for the king's preservation, 78 explains and justifies his conduct, 79 his letters concerning the hishoprick of Meath, 91 his letters exhibiting a melancholy picture of the Church, 94 — 96 his opinion of the necessity of a convocation, 96 his peculiar situation, 96 his diocesan occupations, 105 parochial visitation, 106 his commendation of Archbishop Marsh for his library, 119 his promotion to the arch hishoprick of Dublin, 128 not of his own seeking, 132 his opinion of his diocese, J 32 3 G 2 820 INDEX. King, William, liis exertions for building churches, 152 and settling resident ministers, 152 his disposal of vacant preferments, 154 his sentiments on patronage, 155 his jurisdiction disputed by dean and chapter of Christ Church, 168 unfavourcible opinion conceived of him, 171 his justification, 172 his right finally established, 1 73 his dissatisfaction at the inefficiency of convocation in 1 705, 1 7^ his letters on the subject, 177 his opinion about Bishop Foy's papers, 196 his obscure allusions to Bishop Milles, 198 various incidental notices from his correspondence, 199 his erroneous interpretation of the 30th canon, 201 his examination of candidates for holy orders, 203 his provision of new churches, 204 his confirmations, 206 his consecration of churches, 207 form of consecration composed by him, 203 his method of disposing of benefices, 209 his sentiments about converting Irish Papists, 224 and about the convocation of 1711, 227 his opinion about converting the Irish Papists, 229 his earnestness in procuring the first-fruits for the clergy, 242 his high esteem for Bishop Stearne, 247 his early patronage of Arcb deacon Parnell, 248 his correspondence relative to the occasional forms of prayer, 252 speculations on his succeeding Primate Marsh, 262 probable cause of his non-appointment, 264 his diflference with Dean Swift, 264 his silence about the vacant primacy, 264 his remarks on the other vacant preferments, 265 his funeral sermon on Primate Marsh, 266 his view of ecclesiastical affairs in Queen Anne's reign, 269 his Transcription Book, in possession of Robert Butler Bryan, Esq., 270 appointed one of the Lords Justices, 272 his anxiety about the supply of the vacant sees, 272 endeavours to counteract canvassing for bishopricks, 274 remarks on the injudicious conduct of the clergy, 276 his uncertain position with the Government, 276 his surprise on being appointed a Lord Justice, 277 his attachment to the House of Hanover, 277 his able discharge of his office, 278 his sense of the difficulties of his situation, 280 his zeal in providing fit men for the vacant sees, 281 admonishes clergymen for preaching in his diocese without licence, 292 INDEX. 821 iNG, William, revival of correspondence between him and Dean Swift, 320 his willingness to cultivate a good understanding between them, 321 his testimony to Dean Swift's merits, 324 recommends mutual kind offices, 325 justifies himself against attacks, 326 the law his rule of conduct, 327 his account of the Toleration Bill, 337 his opposition to it, 337 consequences thereof, 337 his arguments on the subject, 338 left out of commission of Lords Justices, 354 not^in favour with the Government, 355 commits visitation of Dublin to Archbishop Sjnge, 356 ^ his letter of instructions, 356 again included in commission of Lords Justices, 362 his disinclination for office misrepresented, 362 his sentiments on the subject, 363 not consulted about preferments, 374 refuses to consecrate Mr. Hort, 378 his sentiments in a letter to the Lord Lieutenant, 379 his anxiety for the promotion of Dr. Bolton, 381 his letter of congratulation and advice, 382 acknowledges Archbishop Wake's assistance, 383 his recommendation of Dr. Maule, 384 his sense of the difficulty of a History of Ireland, 386 his intentions in that respect how frustrated, 387 his practice about ordaining curates, 393 settlement of controversy with Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, 400 various decisions in his favour, 400 his indignation at the conduct of the Dean and Chapter, 401 his exertions to procure a hearing in the House of Lords, 402 his final success, 402 his letters of acknowledgment to Archbishop Wake and others, 403 visits Christ Church, 405 settles his jurisdiction, 406 his second Transcript Book, in the possession of Robert Butler Bryan, Esq., 406 desire of his friends that he should be primate, 408 his correspondence ^vitli them, and measures in consequence, 410 constituted administrator of diocese of Armagh, 413 general expectation of his being primate, 413 his opinion of the succession, 414 his sentiments on the appointment, 415 his remark on Dr. Boulter when made a bishop, 416 822 INDEX^ King, "William, anecdote of his reception of Primate Boulter, 418 error in the narrative, 419 canvass on report of his illness, 420 his views of Church patronage, 425 his communications on the subject with Lord Carteret, 426 condemns irregular commendams, 435 his collision with Primate Boulter, 442 his censure of the Primate for promoting an improper person, 443 condemns the system of Government patronage, 445 claims a power of granting marriage licences for uncanonical hours, 450 recommends Dr. Maule for see of Cloyne, 454 warns Lord Lieutenant of the approaching vacancy of Cashel, 455 appeals to Lord Lieutenant about the archbishopiick of Cashel, 461 not satisfied with episcopal promotions, 464 recommends division of Kilmore and Ardagh, 465 r dispute between him and Dean Swift, 465 forbears to prosecute the controversy, 468 supports the bill on privileges of parliament, 486 remarks on the encouragement given to Popery and Papists, 486 his age and frequent returns of illness, 489 his sentiments on various ecclesiastical subjects, 490 his plan for increasing the Dublin churches, 491 solicits Lady Carteret's influence, 491 incapable of discharging his episcopal functions, 492 acknowledges Bishop Hoadly's assistance in confirming, 492 describes his increasing infirmities, 493 his thankfulness to Providence, 493 his feelings as to his'own condition, 494 his allusion to his consecration, 495 his inability to write, 495 last letter of his own handwriting, 495 anecdote of his portrait, 496 engraving of it, 496 inscription on it, 497 his age and decease, 497 his prominence in the history of the Church, 497 his character by Dean Swift, 498 and by Mr. Harris, 500 Knox, Hon. William, consecrated to Killaloe, 727 Lambert, bishop of Meath, account of him, 527 his death and its remarkable consequence, 528 Landlords, their estates improved by building churches, 349 Langrishe, Sir Hercules, moves a bill in favour of Romanists, 720 seconds another bill in their favour, 723 INDEX. 823 Law, John, account of liim, 684 Bishop of Clonfert, 685 anecdote of him, 685 liberality attributed to him, 686 fitness of his conduct questioned, 686 translated to Killala, 7^6 translated to Elphin, 741 his usefulness during the rebellion of 1798,756 Law, practitioners of, mostly converts, 482 evil resulting from this corrected, 482 Laws, course of passing them in Ireland, 341 Lawson, Dr., his sermon on the consecration of Bishop Maurice, 619 Leland, Dr. Thomas, his works and literary character, 645 his preferments, 646 Leslie, Charles, a non-juror, 37 his life after the Revolution, 37 representation of his conduct by his enemies, 38 his justification of himself, 39 his literary character and works, 39 his argumentative powers, 40 Leslie, James, consecrated to Limerick, 606, 609 Liberty of conscience, bill for, cause of its fiiilure, 62 Library, Bodleian, contains MS. letters between Archbishop Marsh and Dr. Smith, 72 of Christ's Church, Oxford, contains the originals of Primate Boulter's letters, 566 of Archbishop Marsh, contains a MS. Diary of the archbishop, 7 in Dublin, need of one. 111 supplied by Archbishop Marsh, 111 of Trinity College, pamphlet in it on the oath of allegiance, quoted, 26 contains Foley's MS. collections, 43 its valuable acquisition of Archbp. King's MS. Correspondence, 64 contains a bust of Parnell, 249 contains Mr. Austin Cooper's MS. notes on Ware's Bishops^ 378 contains several Irish MSS., 388 contains a MS. translation of Homer in English blank verse, 619 description of the MS., 620 Lindsay, Thomas, bishop of Killaloe, procures forfeited impropriations, 99 insulted by Mr. Broderick, 185 raised to the primacy, 262 acknowledges Dean Swift's assistance, 263 his early life and preferments, 267 attempts to name his successor in Raphoe, 268 his illness, speculations on it, 355 his death and pompous funeral, 407 his character, 407 824 INDEX. LiNEGAR, Mr., scholars taught by hira to read Irish, 295 Literary works, little encouraged in Ireland, 552 exemplified at different times, 552 — 554 Lloyd, William, dean of Achonry, made bishop of Killaloe, 9 Lloyd, Dr., a favourite of Lord Wharton, 192 rejected from a bishoprick, 192 LoFTUS, Archbishop, fine portrait of him as Lord Chancellor, 731 Lords, House of, adopts proposal for the union, 'JGl protest against it by certain peers, ^62 Lords Justices, their undue assumption of authority, 360 Lord's supper, celebration of, by dissenters, 18 and in the Church, 19 communicants in each, 19 mode of celebrating by dissenters, 20 Lough-Dearg, described by Mr. Richardson, 140 Mr. Skelton's account of it, 578 Lutheran religion, character of, 280 notions of consubstantiation and ordination, 280 Mann, Isaac, account of, 649 appointed to Cork and Ross, 650 his estimable character, 651 his death, 718 MSS. relating to Ireland, where deposited, 388 Marlay, George, bishop of Dromore, 605 Marl AY, Richard, consecrated bishop of Clonfert, 716 his family and character, 717 translated to Waterford and Lismore, 741 protests against the union, 762 Marriages between Protestants and Papists forbidden, 74 evils of such marriages, 75 licences for, at uncanonical hours, dispute concerning, 448 granted to the primates, 449 claimed by archbishop of Dublin, 450 by popish priests, statutes concerning, 598 of dissenters, statute relating to, 673 protest against it, 675 evils of it, 678 Marsh, Francis, archbishop of Dublin, his death, 45 his character and connexion with Jeremy Taylor, 46 Marsh, Narcissus, his early life and preferments, 6 his MS. Diary, 7 his promotion to the bishoprick of Leighlin and Ferns, 7 his persecutions and escape, 7 his return, and promotion to the archbishoprick of Cashel, 8 his observation on the consecration of bishop Foy, 23 and on that of another bishop, 24 his account of the nomination of Dean S ... to a bishoprick, 31 INDEX. 825 Marsh, Narcissus, made archbishop of Dublin, 46 his diligence in office, 4/ his correction of an episcopal irreguhirity, 4/ summary account of his lilDrary, 48 cessation of his Diary, Jl his correspondence >vith Dr. Smith, 72 his Laborious occupations, 72 his parliamentary and other employments, 107 one of the lords justices, 108 his disinclination for worldly business, 109 his archiepiscopal visitation, 109 his library, circumstances of its formation, 110 plan and progress of it, 110 provisions for the building, 111 and for books, 112 description of it, 112 i[s cost, 113 purchase of Bishop Stillingfleet's books, 113 steps taken to secure the perpetuity of his library, 115 opposition by certain bishops, 115 votes of thanks from parliament and convocation, 11(3 his sentiments concerning his opponents, 117 commendation of him by Dr. Smith and Bishop King, II7 honour due to him for his benefaction, 118 translated to the primacy, 130 his grief at intestine divisions, 131 his anxiety for the welfare of the Church, 131 his exertions for building churches, 151 consecrates bishop of Kildare, in archbishop of Dublin's absence, his observations on the dispute betvreen Archbishop King and the chapter of Christ Church, 169 his illness, communicated in a letter to Dr. Smith, 180 his laborious occupations, 181 his remarks on the English and Irish articles, 183 effects of his indisposition in convocation. 227 his illness and death, 261 his funeral sermon preached by Archbishop King, 266 an exclamation of his explained, 380 Mary, Queen, orders inquiry into the character of Dean S . . . , 31 her death, 48 her exercise of ecclesiastical patronage, 49 her disapprobation of the clergy canvassing for bishopricks, 67 refuses to make a doctor of laws a bishop, 379 Matthews, Lemuel, archdeacon of Down, punished for non-residence 42 his appeal, 43 his frecjuent condemnations, 43 826 INDEX. Maule, Henry, dean of Cloyne, commendation of, by Archbishop King, 384 character of him, 385 recommended for the deanery of Derry, 385 his competitor, 386. contemplated a History of Ireland^ 386 made bishop of Cloyne, 453 recommended both by the Primate and Archbishop King, 454 and by the lords justices, 455 his character, 455 account of him, 509 institutes the charter schools, 510 translated to Dromore, 528 translated to Meath, 580, 607 Maurice, Edward, bishop of Ossory, 606 his place of education, 619 his degree in Trinity College, Dublin, 619 his translation of Homer into English blank verse, 619 specimens of it, 620, 621 his literary character, 622 his portrait, 622 Maxwell, Hon. Henry, his promotions, 635 his death, 742 JNEaynooth college, its institution, 749 Meath, diocese of, its condition, 91 importance of its being well filled, 92 compared with that of Derry, 327 Methodism, its introduction into Ireland, 589 seeds of separation natural to it, 697 Methodist societies settled in various places, 593 Methodists, patronised by the bishop of Derry, 695 not by the bishops in general, 696 in a degree by the clergy, 696 MiDLETON, Viscount, Lord Chancellor, his discontent at certain epis- copal appointments, 399 his opposition to the bill on the privileges of parliament, 485 MiLLES, Thomas, account of him, 197 made bishop of Waterford and Lismore, 198 obscure allusions to him by Archbishop King, 198 his disposal of his preferment, 445 his death and alleged age, 559 Ministers, difficulty of maintaining them, 203 insufficiency of, bill for remedying, 476 Missionaries for preaching to the Papists in Irish, 223 MoiRA, Earl of, moves an address for conciliatory measures, 759 ^Monasteries, burials in, forbidden, 73 dissolution of, its consequence as to unions, 300 INDEX. 827 Monastick antiquities, study of, promoted by Bishop Pococke and Mr. Archdall, 625 MoRETON, Bishop, translated from Kildare to Meath, 17^ 3IuRRAY. Dr.. made provost of Trinity College, 733 MusGRAVE, Sir Richard, as high sheriff, executes the sentence of the law on a criminal. 706 his character of Bishop '\\'oodwarcl, 715 National conyention in 1783. bishop of Derrv a member of it, 687 Xerr Teslament^ improved version of, so called, its castigation, 7^7 2SEWC0ME, William, his elevation to the episcopate, 635 translated to Ossorv, 657 translated to Waterford and Lismore. 665 elevated to the primacy. 733 cause of his preferment, as related by Lord Charlemont, 733 patronised by the King. 734 his primary visitation and charge. 735 promotes the revival of rural deans. 739 his death and character. 7^5 his pastoral care. 746 biblical studies, 746 tendency of his publications. 746 evil use made of them, 747 Newton. Bishop, remark in his Autobiography on Primate Stone, 603 XiCHOLS. Mr., his observation on Dean Swift's character of Archbishop King, 499 XiCHOLsox, Bishop, translated from Carlisle to Derrv, 317 letters between him and archbishop of York. 318 his establishment in his diocese, 318 his Epistolary Correspondence. 319 contents of it, 319 his preferment of his family, 386 his disposal of his preferment, 445 made archbishop of Cashel, 457 his death and character, 458 his publications, 458 Xon -conformity, cause of it, political, 125 Non-cures, benefices so called, e^-il of them, 575 or benefices ^^-ithout churches, 736 duty of their incumbents to reside, 736 their anomalous character, 736 evils incidental to them, 737 Non-jurors, only one of the episcopal order, 37 few of the inferior Irish clergy. 37 Non-residence on benefices, evil of it, 367 Oak-boys, their rising in 1 703, 704 Oath of allegiance, enacted by English parliament, 24 828 INDEX. Oatii of allegiance, enacted by English parliament, wherein different from the old one, 25 reasons for its being taken by the Irish bishops, 25 O'Beikxe, Thomas LeAvis, consecrated to Ossory, 727 charge to his clergy, 736 adopts the office of rural deans, 739 his professional diligence and charges, 739 translated to Meath, 7-12 Orde, Mr. Secretary, proposes to extend education, 699 plan and resolutions for effecting it, 699 his proposed system, 702 its relinquishment, 703 Orders, holy, irregularity in conferring them, 199 mistake of the Irish prelates on the subject, 200 a subterfuge to escape the canon, 201 error of Archbishop King in explaining it, 201 detection of an impostor, 201 laxity of bishops, called ordainers, 202 examination of candidates, 203 Ordination of curates, depending on their own bishops, 392 irregularly practised by some bishops, 394 Ordinations, irregular, censured, 47 Oioio'DE, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, receives a memorial for con- verting Irish Papists, 222 Oswald, Bishop, his promotions, 634 OiAVAY, Thomas, bishop of Ossory, avoided praying for King AVilliam and Queen Mary, pref., v. original correspondence on the subject, pref., vi., vii. his death and monumental inscription, pref., vii. Palllser, "William, made bishop of Cloyne, 45 his great age and increasing infirmities, 455 Papists, law for disarming them, 61 statutes affecting them, their proper character, 75 measures of counteraction, 76 state of, in King William's reign, 121 their hopes of disappointing the Protestant succession, 133 to take oath of allegiance at elections, 136 advoAYSons taken from them, 136 attempts at converting them, 164 impressed with a favourable opinion of the Church, 166 general method of dealing with them, 212 laxity in executing the laws, 212 measures for their conversion in 1709, 217 plan for their conversion, 220 memorial to the Duke of Ormonde on the subject, 220 particulars of which it consisted, 221 approved by the prelates, 222 INDEX. 829 Papist?, plan for tlicir conversion, petition for it presented to tlie queen, 223 aid given by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 223 proceedings on it in parliament and convocation, 225 fiiilure of the plan, 229 causes of failure, 230 their insolence, 298 outbid Protestants for farms, 332 trade of the kingdom engrossed by them, 332 state of them in reign of King George II., 4/1 supported by foreign Popish powers, 471 children of converts or Protestants not to be brought up such, 482 not intitled to vote at elections, 483 indulged by government, 486 two maxims of theirs, 48/ their advantages over Protestants, 487 their number, 511 their great ignorance, 511 plan of education proposed for them, 512 ill success of attempts to convert them by the Irish language, 520 laws concerning them leniently administered, 599 measures affecting them in 1745, 599 statutes for their relief, 667 immunities granted to them, 668 first called Roman Catholicks in Act of Parliament, 660 parliamentary proceedings in their favour in 1792, 720 their condition in 1792, 720 change in their parliamentary denomination, 721 statute for removing their disabilities, 721 further power sought for them, 722 bill for their further relief, 723 opposition to it, 723 their security under then existing laws, 7^3 their petition false and libellous, 724 bill passed notvrithstanding, 724 bill commended by the Lord Lieutenant, 725 their discontent, 726 further intentions in their favour abortive, 72/ privileges granted to them, 748 their restlessness, 750 principally engaged in rebellion of 1708, 7^0 their enthusiasm in carrying it on, 751 Parishes, unions of, accompanying the building of churches, 151 unequal distribution of, 302 exemplified in the province of Armagh, 302 unions and divisions of, abstract of, 305 power of dividing them, 480 number of, compared with benefices, 77^ 880 INDEX* Parish cliurcli, cost of one, 350 churches in the North, after the Revolution, 18 compared Avith the meeting-houses, 18 change of sites of, 307 Parliament, preparation for, in 1691, 51 assembled in 1692, 52 votes thanks to the king, parliament, and people of England, 55 prorogued, 1692, 57 in the autumn of 1703, 133 several statutes in it relating to religion, 133 of 1705, its inefficiency for the Church, 176 of 1715, 297 of 1725, 442 of 1727, 475 bills for improving the Church's means of ministration, 475 of 1727? importance of the acts passed in it, 485 of 1732, bills in it opposed, 544 of 1782, encouragement given by it to the Papists, 671 of 1786, measures in it relating to education, 699 of 1792, proceedings in favour of the Papists, 720 Parliament, British, recommends the union of the two kingdoms, 761 Irish, adopts the union of the two kingdoms, 761 Parliamentary bills, process of them, 108 Parnell, Archdeacon, notice of him, 248 his merit, and early patronage by Archbishop King, 248 promoted to the archdeaconry of Clogher, 249 his life, by Goldsmith and Johnson, 249 his bust in Trinity College Library, 249 Parochial benefices, value of, 570 Parsonage houses, general want of, 775 Patronage, ecclesiastical, prevalent abuse of, 154 Archbishop King's sentiments on, 155 Patrick, Bishop, his narrative concerning the filling of the vacant Irish sees, 3 Patrick, St., his purgatory in Lough Dearg, 139 penalty enacted against it in Queen Anne's reign, 139 superstitions practised there, 140 narrative of superstitions there, by Mr. Richardson, 140 and by Archdeacon Hewson, 146 Philips, Ambrose, Esq., his letter to Rev. Mr Power, 443 j notice of him, 566 Dr. Johnson's remarks on his connexion with Archbishop Boulter, 567 Pembroke, Earl of. Lord Lieutenant, his strange conduct about the first fruits, 235 Percy, Thomas, account of him, 680 his preferments and consecration to Dromore, 686 his character, 681 INDEX. 831 Percy, Thomas, valued by Dr. Johnson, 081 his publications, literary and theological, 682 residence in his diocese, 683 great age and death, G83 portraits of him, 684 his usefulness in the rebellion of 17^8, 7^7 Persuasion and reasoning, their good effects, 509 Pery, bishop of Killala, 666 translated to Limerick, 698 his death, 727 Petition for royal charter for Protestant schools, 512 subscribers to it, 513 its gracious reception, 513 Peasantry, insurrectionary tumults of, 703 effects on the clergy, 703 brought under the notice of parliament, 706 statutes passed in consequence, 712, 713 their misery and its cause, 711 extent of them, 709 impunity of criminals, 710 intimidation of witnesses, 711 Pilgrimages to Lough Dearg, 140* and other places, 142 their general prevalence, 147 Popish obstinacy in maintaining them, 147 responsibility of the Romish church, 148 Pluralities, evil of, 573 PococKE, Richard, consecrated bishop of Ossory, 606 his birth and education, 623 his travels, 623 ecclesiastical pursuits and preferments, 624 made bishop of Ossory, 624 his excursion in Scotland, 624 his benefaction to Incorporated Society, 625 attention to monastick antiquities of Ireland, 625 account of him by Mr. Archdall, 626 traits in his character, by Mr. Cumberland, 626 his translation to Meath, and sudden death, 627 his affinity to the author of the Antiquities of the Christian Church, 627 PooLEY, John, dean of Ossory, made bishop of Cloyne, 93 consequence of his preferment, 93 voided his bishoprick by an accident, 137 restored to it by Queen Anne, 138 Pope, connection between his spiritual and temporal power, 667 Popery in the north, state of, after the Revolution, 21 statute to prevent further growth of, 135 motives to the statute, 135 832 INDEX. Popeiy, clause in it concerning the sacramental test, 137 clause prohibiting Popish superstitions at Lough Dearg, 139 convert from, how qualified to be deemed a Protestant, 190 reasons for the clause, 190 converts from, difficulty of providing for them, 210 preaching against it recommended, 358 and Papists, encouraged by government, 486 restraints on relaxed, 667, 671 relief bill, opposed by bishops and other peers, 673 Popish ecclcsiasticks sent out of the kingdom, 7^ penalties for concealing them, 73 their illegal assumption of titles, 669 discharged from certain penalties, 670 priests, prohibited from coming into the kingdom, 134 statute for registering them, 134 converted, provision enacted for them, 134 converted, question of their ordination, 211 form of abjuration, 212 powers, foreign, support the Irish Papists, 471 priests, their condition, 473 statutes concerning marriages by, 598 project for their education, 748 their activity in the rebellion of 1798, 751 clergy, their number and activity, 737 an object of emulation to the national clergy, 738 superstitions, their inveteracy, 138 remarkable^ instances of, 140, 144 innumerable, 147 Porter, John, consecrated to Killala, 742 translated to Ciogher, 742 Portland, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, commends Acts of Parliament for relief of Popish and Protestant dissenters, 673 Power, Rev. Mr. recommended by Lord Townshend, 443 improperly preferred by the primate, 443 Pratt, Dr. made dean of Down instead of a bishop, 322 Frcevmnienles^ clause so called, summoning a convocation, 161 Prayer for chief governours, its first introduction and continuance, its authority, 259 Presbyterians, their design against episcopacy at the Revolution, 3 their petition to the king, 4 purport of it, 5 Scotch, their increase in the north of Ireland, 14 compared with churchmen, 15 their condition in Derry after the Revolution, 16 their catechism, 1 6 their meeting-houses, 17 their non-attendance at publick worship, 17 their objections to the Church, 18 INDEX. 833 Presbyterians, tlieir celebration of tlie Lord's Supper, 19 conduct of, at Queen Anne's accession, 125 their condition and circumstances, 125 their arts for keeping up their party, 126 their grant from the Treasury, 126 their increased insolence, 127 their restlessness, 184 attempt to remove the sacramental test, 184 their arguments answered, 184 their antipathy to the Church, 185 manifested by a distinguished advocate, 185 an object of fear to other dissenters, 188 fresh efforts in their favour, 521 their activity in endeavouring to repeal the test, 521 their disappointment and anger, 525 their unjust blame of the Lord Lieutenant, 526 Presbytery of Derry, their commendation of the bishop, 692 Preston, William, consecrated to Killala, 698 translated to Ferns and Leighlin, 716 Price, Arthur, bishop of Clonfert, his gradations in the Church, 397 dissatisfaction of the Lord Chancellor, 399 translated to Ferns and Leighlin, 504, 527 thence to Meath, 529 translated to Cashel, 580 his improvements at Ardbraccan intercepted, 584 his destruction of Cashel cathedral, 584 Primacy of Ireland, great importance of, 410 Primate, always an Englishman, 768 Privy council, minute of, concerning allowance of hymns in churches, 261 records of, as to unions and divisions of parishes, 305 as to change of sites of churches, 307 Privileges of parliament, bill relating to, 484 how opposed and supported, 485 its importance, 486 Profane cursing and swearing, prohibited by law, 61 Protestant strangers encouraged to settle in Ireland, 56 Protestants of Ireland^ Case of pamphlet so called, 25 summary of the argument, 26 its probable author, 27 Protestants, act for quieting their possessions, 631 encouragement by the building of churches, 349 their persecution in 1798, 752 tortured and murdered for their religion in 1798, 753 Publication of men's principles, limits to be placed to, 340 Quakers, benefits of toleration act extended to them, 343 Quarta Pars Episcopalis^d^QQOWJii o^,^\2 o ii 834 INDEX. Quarta Pars Episcopalis^ kept by former archbishops of Tuam, 313 lelinq^uished by Archbishop Synge, 314 Raghlin or Raghery, island of, its desolate condition, 370 measures for its improvement, 371 Raphoe, bishoprick of, its situation and value, 284 Rebellion of 1798, its popish character, 750 most prevalent in Leinster, 7^1 sufferings inflicted by it on members of the Church, 7^2 consequence of it, 7^0 Reformation in Ireland, its extent in King William's reign, 120 Refugees, French, their settlement in Ireland, 641 congregations in Dublin and elsewhere, 642 incorporated -with the general Protestant population, 644 ^ Religion, state of, as professed by Churchmen and Dissenters, 15 its ill condition in 1697, 96 difficulty of improving it, 96 ill grounded fears for it, 188 Residence of incumbents, bill for enforcing it opposed, 5 45 Reynell, Carew, made bishop of Down and Connor, 559 translated to Derry, 580 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his portraits of Archbishop Robinson, 731, 732 Richardson, Rev. John, his History of Attempts to Co?ivert the Popish Natives of Ireland^ 23 his volume on Pilgrimages and St. Patrick's Purgatory^ 140 • his description of the pilgrimage, 140 his comment upon it, 142 his visit to the place, 142 attempts to convert the Irish natives exemplified by him, 168 his exertions for converting the Irish Papists, 224 abrupt termination of his Narrative, 227 failure of his plan for converting natives, 229 his disappointment and loss, 520 recommended for a benefice, 520 ill requital of his services, 521 Rider, Henry, bishop of Killaloe, consecrated by licence of Lord Primate, 44 Right Boys, their outrages, 705 Roan, bishop of Killaloe, remarkable clause in his will, 44 Robinson, Richard, consecrated bishop of Killala, 606 translated to Ferns and Leighlin, 611 translated to Kildare, 631 and to the primacy, 631 his early life and preferments, 631 his usefulness to the Church, 632 his publick works, 632 his demeanour, 633 his numerous benefactions, 633 INDEX. 835 RoBixsox, Richard, his care of the church, 651 his death, 727 his temporal dignities, 7^8 his professional character, 728 reflected on and vindicated, 729 clause in his will, 730 his portrait at Armagh and Oxford, 731 his bequest to his successors, 731 portrait and medal of him, 732 Rolls' Office, publick documents badly kept there, 652 intelligence not to be procured, 652 Roman Catholicks, Papists, when so called by statute, 721 Rome, Church of, responsible for the superstitions of its people, 148 Royal Family, portraits of, bequeathed by Primate Robinson to his successors, 731 RuxDLE, Thomas, account of, 537 his early preferments, 537 nomination to the see of Gloucester, 537 stopped by bishop of London. 538 his character, 538 his description of himself, 538 appointed to the see of Derry, 539 disapproved of, 540 remarks on the disapprobation, 541 abatement of the prepossession against him, 541 his situation in Ireland, 541 extracts from his letters, 542 his anticipation of death, 543 Rural deans, revival of their office, 738 Rutland, Duke of, Lord Lieutenant, his vlceroyalt}', 697 events that distinguished it, 698 recommends education of the people, 699 his speech on insurrectionary tumults, 705 Ryder, John, bishop of Killaloe, then of Down and Connor, 560 archbishop of Tuam, 606, 610 his death and burial at Nice, 657 St. Patrick's Cathedral, designed improvement of, 250 Dean and Chapter of, question archbishop's right to visit them, 168 Salmon, Thomas, bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 606 his early death, 61 1 Sancroft, Archbishop, his communication to King James about the Irish sees, 3 Schools, Charity, danger of their superseding rubrical instruction, 329 School-houses, encouragement for, 477 Scotland, episcopal congregations in, their anomalous character, 625 Secker, Archbishop, his early connection with Bishop Rundle, 537 3 n 2 836 INDEX. Seceer, ArchLlsliop, authors of his Life quoted on the suhject, 538 SuABP, archbishop of York, his interpositign concerning an Irish hishoprick, 193 his caution to the Queen about Dr. Swift, 244 SuERiDAN, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, a non-juror, 27 his deprivation, 28 his subsequent residence and distress, 28 relieved by his brethren, 29 project for procuring him a pension, 29 its failure, 30 SnERLOCK, bishop of London, reported conversation between him and Bishop Stearne, 588 •Sinecures, fewness of them, 289 Skelton, Rev. Philip, publication of his Deism Revealed^ 551 anecdote of it, 552 notice of him, 576 character of his parishioners, 576 his efforts for their instruction, 577 his partial success, 577 his account of Lough Dearg, 578 his charge on Primate Robinson, 729 Smith, his Histories of Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, 574 his account of the state of the churches, 574 Smith, Dr. Thomas, his correspondence with Archbishop Marsh in the Bodleian Library, 72 some account of him, 110 his correspondence with Archbishop Marsh, 111 his letters about Archbishop Marsh's library, 117 his Life of Primate Ussher, 181 correspondence about it with Primate Marsh, 182 the Primate's testimony to its accuracy, 183 Smith, William, bishop of Raphoe, translated to Kilmore, 31 with Ardagh, afterwards united to it, 31 bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, improved his hishoprick, 285 improvements not prosecuted by his successor, 285 Smyth, Arthur, consecrated to Clonfert, 606 translated from Clonfert to Down and Connor, 609 thence to Meath, 609 his translation to Meath, 640 archbishop of Dublin, 641 his death, 648 Society, plan of, for converting the Papists by Irish language, 220 for promoting Christian knowledge, its assistance in promoting religious improvement of Ireland, 223 assists association for discountenancing Vice, &c. 741 for encouraging English schools in 1717, 510 result of it, 510 INDEX. 8S7 Society, Incorporated, for promoting English Protestant scliools in 1730,510 proposal for obtaining his majesty's charter, 510 petition to his majesty, 511 plan of education proposed, 512 prayer for a royal charter, 512 subscribers to the petition, 513 graciously received by the King, 513 incorporation of the society, 513 powers given to it, 514 charter opened, and Lord Lieutenant elected president, 514 patronized by the Primate, 515 assistance sought from England, 516 question of seeking the royal bounty, 517 favour of duke of Devonshire solicited, 518 Bishop Pococke's benefactions to it, 625 Socinianism, encouraged by toleration act, 340 Soldiers withdrawn by marriage from the King's service, 75 Solemn League and Covenant printed with the dissenters' catechism, 333 numerous editions of it, 334 Stanhope, Dean, his opinion of Stearne's Visitation of the Sick, 587 Stearne, dean of St. Patrick's, made bishop of Dromore, 245 character of him, 246 highly esteemed by Archbishop King, 247 commendation, of him b}'- the archbishop, 250 translated to Clogher, 315 falls under Dean Swift's displeasure, 545 his advanced age and death, 585 his benefactions to the Church, 586 to the university, 586 to the clergy, 587 his examination of candidates for holy orders, 587 his skill in Latin composition, 587 his treatise on the Visitation of the Sick, 587 reported conversation between him and Bishop Sherlock, 588 Steel-boys, cause of their rising in 1769, 705 Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester, his books purchased for Arch- bishop Marsh's library, 113 Stock, Joseph, consecrated to Killala, 742 taken prisoner by the French in 1 798, 758 Stone, translated to Kildare, 580 raised to the primacy, 600 account of him, 600 unusual rapidity of his advancement, 601 maintains the English interest, 601 his political character, and personal beauty, 602 not distinguished professionally, 602 838 INDEX. Stone, his unbounded ambition, 603 compared with his brother, 603 his own description of himself, 604 his remark on Bishop Clayton's speech, 617 the prelates convened at his house on the occasion, 61 7 Stopford, James, consecrated to Cloyne, 606 his death, 611 Stopford, Hon. Thomas, consecrated to Cork and Ross, 727 Story, Joseph, bishop of Killaloe, then of Kilmore, 610 his great age and character, 610 Strange preachers, example of, 292 admonished of irregularity, 292 Stuart, Honourable William, raised to the Primacy, 747 last episcopal appointment before the Union, 747 Stuart's History of Armagh, particulars of Primate Stone, 602 defends Primate Robinson against Mr. AYesley, 729 Swift, Dr., his letter concerning the sacramental test, published in 1708, 191 his application to Mr. Harley about the first-fruits, 237 his memorial, 238 his laudable exertions in procuring the first-fruits, 243 his exclusion from an English bishoprick, 243 impediments to his preferment, 244 made dean of St. Patrick's, 245 considerations on his appointment, 245 his influence in the promotion of Dr. Steame, 246 his conduct in the deanery, 246 his hope of Archbishop King's advancement to the Primacy, 262 his influence in Irish appointments, 262 bis services in advancing Bishop Lindsay, 263 his advice to the ministry about Kilmore and Ardagh, 263 his caution in recommending persons for preferment, 263 dissatisfaction between him and Archbishop King, 264 supposition that he was to be made a bishop, 269 revives correspondence with Archbishop King, 320 purchases a glebe, 321 his report concerning the bishops of Ossory and Killaloe, 321 his high estimation of Archbishop King, 324 his comment on Dr. Bolton's elevation, 390 his opposition to his diocesan, 390 refuses to attend the bishop of Meath's visitation, 391 expostulates with him for ingratitude, 391 remarks on his refusal to ordain a curate, 391 his continued opposition to his diocesan, 394 whether his letter to the bishop be an excellent rebuke, 395 his uncommon civility to Bishop Evans's successor, 400 his difibrence with Archbishop King reconciled, 413 INDEX 839 Swift, Dr., his wish that the archbishop should he primate, 414 his letter to Lord Carteret in behalf of the Irish clergy, 427 his recommendation of distinguished individuals, 428 his visit to England, 446 his interview with Sir Robert Walpole, 446 and specification of grievances, 447 said to have been offered a bishoprick, 452 report contradicted by himself, 452 his difference with Sir Robert Walpole, 453 disputes Archbishop King's exercise of power, 466 his proxy demanded, 466 complains of his ill usage, 466 his determination to maintain his rights, 467 unbecoming tone of his letter, 468 case undecided, 468 his character of Archbishop King, 498 remarks on it, 499 his high opinion of the archbishop. 499 recommends Dr. Berkeley to Lord Carteret, 530 satirizes the bishops for their disapprobation of Dr. Rundle, 540 opposes two bills for residence of clergy, and dividing benefices, 545 strong expression of his sentiments, 546 his dissatisfaction with Bishop Stearne, 546 his conduct to the bishop, 547 condemns the two bills, and censures their supporters, 547 satirises Bishop Brown, 550 close of information from his works, 567 his observations on episcopal appointments, 568 SuMDERLAND, Ear? of. Lord Lieutenant, 283 adopts a recommendation of Archbishop King, 284 Synge, origin of the name, 311 remarkable succession of bishops in the family, 312 Synge, Edward, in controversy with Brown about drinking in remem- brance of the dead, 195 an opponent of Toland, 195 his expected promotion, 282 made bishop of Raphoe, 268, 287 translated from Raphoe to Tuam, 311 his disinterested conduct, 312 not in favour with the government, 354 holds visitation of Dublin, 359 account of his visitation, 359 improved his diocese, 381 consecrates his eldest son bishop of Clonfert, 506 his works, 550 his death, 560 840 INDEX. Synge, Edward, his character, 561 Synge, Edward, consecrated bishop of Clonfert by his father, 506 translated to Cloyne, 528 thence to Ferns and Leighlin, 529 Synge, Nicholas, preaches his brother s consecration sermon,^506 bishop of Killaloe, 605 bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, 608 S * * * E, Dean, nominated to a bishoprick, 30 inquiry into his character, 31 not advanced to the episcopate, 32 Taste, literary, want of, exemplified, 553 Tennison, Edward, bishop of Ossory, 506 his zeal for Protestantism, 507 Tennison, Richard, bishop of Killala, translated to Clogher, 8 his active discharge of his office, 9 his bequest to the church, 9 translated from Clogher to Meath, 90 Tennison, Thomas, archbishoprick of Dublin offered to him, 46 afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, 46 Test, Sacramental, introduced into the Act against Popery, 137 cause of its introduction, 137 failure of the stratagem, 137 operation of the clause, 137 attempts by Presbyterians to remove it, 184 error of the English ministry about it, 186 sentiments of the Parliament, 186 declaration of the House of Commons, 187 letters relating to it by Archbishop King and Dr. Swift, 187, 188 experiments for its repeal, 189 recommended by the Lord Lieutenant in 1709, 189 not successful, 190 repeal of, disapproved by parliament and clergy, 190 opposed by the bishops, 191 new efforts for repealing it, 332 reasons why parliament unanimous against repealing it, 336 repeal of, pressed by the Crown, 341 carried by Lord Lieutenant's casting vote in council, 342 supported by bishops from England, 342 attempts to repeal it resumed, 521 recommended by duke of Dorset, 523 excitement caused by the proposal, 523 opposed in parliament, 524 decided to be impracticable, 525 anger of the dissenters, 525 repealed, 673 Thorpe, his catalogue of books and manuscripts, illustrating the His- tory of Ireland, pref., v. INDEX. TiLLOTSON, Archbishop, his remark on the intended promotion George AValker, 11 propriety of the remark questioned, 12 ToLAXD, author of Chrislianity not Mysterioui}^ 193 originally a Papist, 194 combated by Bishops Brown and Synge, 195 Toleration, bill for, proceedings relating to, in 1692, 53 bill in 1719, history of it, 334 opposed by the Commons, 334 division on it in the council, 335 alterations from the English Act, 335 passed after long debates, 337 dangerous clause added, 337 arguments against it, 339 not desired by generality of Dissenters, 3 10 authorizes infidels &c. to set up for teachers, 342 its enactments and provisions, 343 Act, clergy reminded of it, 357 Tow>'SHEND, Viscount, Lord Lieutenant, 645 his episcopal appointments, 647 TrxIil, James, bishop of Down and Connor, 640 his death, 686 Trinity College, Dublin, encouragement given by it to instruction Irish, 218 question of holding a benefice by a fellow of, 437 its address to George II. on his accession, 473 its loyalty, 474 Tuam, diocese of, its improvement by Archbishop Synge, 381 T'sviSDEX, Philip, bishop of Raphoe, 609 Tythes, Act for recovery of, 478 inquiry into, proposed and rejected, 713 Union of the kingdoms, incidents previous to, 747 immediate cause of it, 760 recommended by Lord Lieutenant, 7^1 rejected by House of Commons, 761 recommended by British Parliament, 761 carried in Irish Parliament, 7^1 provisions of, affecting the Church, 762 act of, royal assent given, 763 carried into effect, 7^3 Unions, episcopal, temporary, and permanent, 299 causes of their formation, 299 legalised by Act of Parliament, 303 episcopal, their necessity, 306 parochial, episcopal, or by charter, 299 Usurped presentations, penalty enacted against them, 377 842 INDEX. Vesey, John, archbishop of Tuam, proposes vote of thanks to the king, 55 and to the parliament and people of England, 55 cause of his being continued a Lord Justice, 279 his death, 309 his account of Primate Bramhall, 310 affecting incident in his life, 310 Yesey, Sir Thomas, hart., bishop of Killaloe, 268 translated to Ossory, 268 his death, 506 Vigors, Bartholomew, dean of Armagh, made bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, 9 his great age and death, 372 his character, 373 Visitation of prisoners, added to the Book of Common Prayer, 233 of the sick, Bishop Stearne's Latin treatise on, 587 its usefulness and value, 587 reprinted at the Clarendon press, 588 metropolitan, held by suffragan bishops, 106 provincial and diocesan, 110 how conducted, 769 Volunteer associations, in 1783, 687 Wake, Archbishop, looked up to by the Irish clergy, 374 his assistance in preferring Dr. Bolton, 383 not consulted about Irish episcopal appointments, 399 instrumental in settling the dispute between Archbishop Kjng and Christ Church, 402 Walker, George, account of his early life, 10 his reception in England at the Revolution, 10 his return to Ireland, and intended preferment, 11 his death at the Boyne, 11 fitness of his intended promotion questionable, 12 Walkington, Edward, chaplain of the House of Commons, made bishop of Down and Connor, 44 Walton blacks, supposed en-or for Waltham blacks, 445 prohibited by act of Geo. I. c. 22, 445 Ward, Thomas, dean of Connor, deprived for incontinence, 43 Ware, Robert, his death and works, JO Ware, Sir James, his death in 1666, 71 remark on his history of the bishops, 581 opportunity of tracing episcopal succession in his history, 612 Waterford and Lismore, its churches repaired or in ruins, 574 AVells, holy, places of superstitious resort, 143 Wesley, Rev. John, his first arrival in Dublin, 589 his interview with the archbishop, 589 his sermons in Dublin, 590 INDEX. 843 Wesley, Rev. John, resumption of his labours, 590 how received by the clergy, 591 his attendance at church, 593 his appearance in the north, 594 towns Avhich he visited there, 594 his account of Bishop Hervey, earl of Bristol, 695 warns his people of the madness of leaving the Church, 697 his stricture on Primate Robinson, 729 answered and confuted, 730 "Westmoreland, Earl of. Lord Lieutenant, 721 commends the act for removing disabilities from Papists, 721 recommends further favour to them, 722 his censurable language in describing them, 722 commends the bill for their further relief, 725 corrects his phraseology, 725 his purpose for educating Roman Catholick priests, 749 Weteniiall, Edward, bishop of Cork, pamphlet attributed to him, 27 his sermon against the Papists, 54 circumstances in his life, 55 translated to Kilmore and Ardagh, 102 joins in a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant for converting the Irish Papists, 220 his death, 263 his treatment of the see of Kilmore, 553 Wexford, massacre at, in 1798, 753 "Wharton, Earl of. Lord Lieutenant, recommends repeal of the test, 189 disapproved by parliament and clergy, 1 90 Whitcombe, translated from Clonfert to Down and Connor, 606 translated to Cashel, 606 Whitsoed, Chief Justice, his correspondence with Archbishop King about the primacy, 410 White-boys, their outrages in 1 762, 704 WiCKLow, county of, its improvement, 349 Willi-vm III., King, orders suspension of Bishop of Ossory, for not praying for the King and Queen Mary, pref., v. his conduct compared with that of King James II., pref., rii. and Queen ^lary, episcopal appointments early in their reio^n, 24 their title to the crown recognised, 53 his early attention to the Irish hierarchy, 3 confers the bishoprick of Derry on George Walker, 1 1 vote of thanks to him by parliament, 55 his neglect of the Church, 65 his favour to the dissenters, 69 disappointments caused by his reign, 101 rapid succession of bishops in it, 101 his death, 119 extent of Reformation in his reign, 120 state of religion, 121 844 INDEX. 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