„ MAY 26 f£69 BR 75 .W47 1847 v. 1:2 Wilson, Thomas, 1663-1755 The works of the right reverend father in God, V I C- i) j h EIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, THOMAS WILSON, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF SODOR AND MAN. THE LIFE ^ouottat^ EIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, THOMAS WILSON, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF SODOR AND MAN. COMPILED, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, REV. JOHN KEBLE, M.A.. VICAR OF HURSLEY. Lib. 0+ A\K)f/lr>->l .r> 4->r\^\ \ r Tlneol THE CARE OF DISCIPLINE IS LOVE." fj^tzt ii. OXFORD: JOHN HENRY PARKER. M DCOC LXIII. PRINTED DY MESSRS, rAHKT'1!, CORXJIAKICET, OSFOllI) CONTENTS. PART II. CHAP, page XVI. The Bishop's Imprisonment, Appeal, andEelease 491 XVII. From the Bishop's Eelease till his Visit to England on his Appeal. Aug. 31, 1722 — April 8, 1723 536 xviii. a tear and a hale in england. the cause decided. From April 8, 1723, to Oct. 4, 1724 . 558 XIX. From the Bishop's Eeturn, Oct. 6, 1724, to the End of the Negotiations with Lord Derby, Sept. 7, 1725 616 XX. From the Appointment of Horton to the Death of Walker. 1725—1729 652 XXI. The Discipline struggling against Decat. 1729 —1733 702 XXII. Last Two Visits to England. The "Intro- duction to the Lord's Supper." Death of James, Earl of Derby. 1733—1735 750 XXIII. The Athols in Man. The Impropriations Cause. The Famine of 1741. 1735—1752 . .781 XXIV. The Discipline under the Athol Dominion. 1736—1750 812 XXV. The Bishop advising Lady E. Hastings. Petty Schools and other Charities in Man. 1737 — 1748. 848 XXVI. Concluding Pastoral Letter. End of Con- vocation "Work. 1738 — 1749 872 XXVI [. Family Events. Death of Lady E. Eastings. " Instruction for the Indians." 1734 — 174f . . 900 XXVIII. The Bishop's Friends in his Old Age. 1740 —1745 923 XXIX. The Bishop's Decay and Death. 1746—1755 .939 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAPTER XVI. THE BISHOP'S IMPRISONMENT, APPEAL, AND RELEASE. But we must return to Bishop "Wilson and his position at CH AP. Easter, March 25, 1722, New YearVDay, as the Church of XVt' England then reckoned it. His deep sense of the troubles er™*gfa~ then gathering round him shews itself in more than one crisis came passage of Sacra Privata. Thus, with the date 1721 in the margin, he prays, — " 0 God of peace and truth, rebuke the spirit of antichrist, libertinism, and discord, which is ready to break in upon this Church and nation. Rebuke its abettors, and give me grace, like a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ, to stand in the breach, and to omit no part of my duty in this day of danger ; for Jesus Christ's sake, the Prince of Peace, and Son of Thy Love. Amen." The " Independent Whig " was not quite useless, calling forth as it did such intercessions. He reconsidered at the same time, with the same spirit of prayer, his special oath of allegiance to the Lord of the Isle, taken and recorded with his other engagements at his in- stallation in Peel Cathedral a quarter of a century before. Thus it runs in all copies of his devotions : — "The oath of the Bishop of Man administered to me, April 11, 1698; "My allegiance to the King's Majesty of England, and my former oaths (according to the laws there) reserved ; " I swear to be true to the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, and his heirs, and will perform all such duties unto them as belongs to my place being Bishop here. And to my power shall defend and maintain the ancient laws, statutes, and customs, proper and be- longing to this isle, and prerogatives due to the heirs thereof. And 492 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, with my best advice and counsel be aiding and assisting to the — — Captain of this Isle or Governor for the time being, for furtherance of the Government and benefit of the said isle. So help me God. " Tho. Sodor and Man." " Prov. xxi. 30. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. " Isaiah xxx. 1. Woe unto them that take counsel, but not of Me, saith the Lord. "Ezek. xiv. 4. Every man that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth a stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord. will answer him according to the multitude of his idols. " Prov. xxii. 28. Remove not the ancient landmark. " 0 God, the King of all the earth, grant that the breach of this oath may never rise up in judgment against me. " Look down in mercy upon this part of Thy dominions ; put a stop to the growing evils, and to the judgments that threaten us. " Endue the Lord of this Isle, and all that are put in authority under him, with wisdom from above, that they may govern with truth and justice, and that the people, whose duty it is to obey, may do it for conscience sake. " Give us all a peaceable temper of spirit, that laying aside all partiality, we may study the things that make for peace, and that nothing may be done through malice, strife, pride, or vainglory, but that we may all join in promoting Thy honour, the true reli- gion, and the welfare of this whole nation. " And grant that I may never, by any act or counsel of mine, or by omitting any part of my duty, increase the misunderstandings that are risen among us. But that I may become a peacemaker in word and deed, and may obtain that blessing which Thy Son has promised to all that truly deserve that character ; for whose sake I most humbly beg to be heard. Amene." It is evident on comparing the several MSS. that this prayer was suggested by the difficulties we are now speak- ing of. The following, which occurs in the same MS. a few pages before, is yet more critically adapted to the trying moment, when he had to determine on the best mode of meeting the Attorney-General's charges f: — " 0. of A. O God of light, and truth, and goodness, may Thy Holy Spirit direct me in this (to me) perplexing case. Let me c MS. iii. 28. f MS. iii. 16. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 493 faithfully consider what shall be required of me, that I may see CHAP, my duty, and avoid the paths of error and danger. Let nothing XVI. seduce me from a settled purpose of doing what I believe will be most acceptable to Thee. And grant that I may omit nothing that I ought to do in order to be rightly informed." Other devotional compositions, of about the same date, shew that however careful and decisive in action, he really proceeded in no reliance on himself. And he went on preparing himself by alms as well as by His in- prayers. It plainly appears on comparison of dates, that as a]^Sg if by a kind of instinct, conscious or unconscious, he re- peatedly fixed on times when he was likely to be hard pressed as the very times for augmenting his proportion of religious alms. Thus on Jan. 6, 1716, very shortly after Mary Hendrick's appeal, his memorandum is, being then at Bishop's Court : — " Finding that I have enough to spare, over and above a decent hospitality, besides what I formerly gave to pious uses ; and being convinced that I am no proprietor, but only a steward of the Church's patrimony ; I do therefore, to the glory of God, dedicate three-tenths of my rents to pious uses, and one-tenth of all the profits of the demesnes, and two-tenths of the profits of my English estate, until I can purchase the impropriation of the estate, which I intend to do, and give it to the Church, and after, the one-tenth besides." "This English estate," says Dr. Wilson (for doubtless it is he) in a note to Cruttwell, " was £€C0 a-year, Mrs. Wilson's jointure, and purchased with her fortune." It consisted, I believe, of two estates in Cheshire, both of them in the parish of Woodchurch, in the townships partly of Landican, partly of Knoctorum : both of which in after years were carefully superintended and improved by Dr. Wilson, the Bishop's son, and both under his will have descended to his kinsman and representative, Mr. Wilson Patten. Two years after this, the Bishop climbs another step, from 30 per cent, to 40 on his gross rental : — " Bishop's Court, Feb. 18, 1718. " To the Glory of God. I find by constant experience that God will be no man's debtor. I find that I have enough and to spare ; 494 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, so that for the future I dedicate four -tenths to pious uses — one-tenth XVI • • • — of the demesnes, and custom which I receive in moneys, and of my English estate as above. And the good Lord accept His poor servant in this service, for Christ's sake. Amen." This, it must be observed, dates just from tbe day before that on which the Council laid a fine on him for not obeying the Earl's summons to Westminster. Once more : — " Bishop's Court, St. Thomas's Eve, 1721. " To tJie glory of God. I dedicate the interest of all my moneys to pious uses, so long as I have wherewithal to live on besides. Blessed be God for giving me a heart and will to do so." This was his way of keeping his fifty-ninth birthday, and it was just two days after the consistory which had censured the Earl's Chaplain and the Governor's wife. I have given these entries as he originally framed them. In the final copy of Sacra Privata s he modified them, after his manner, so as to clear up some of the expressions: sig- nifying that the tenth from the demesnes was to be " turned into corn for poor families :" and explaining in the third entry that he meant " the whole interest of what moneys he had at use." I suppose such enviable courage in giving could hardly be attained by a thoughtful conscientious per- son, were it not for his strict and honest economy, which enabled him at all times to know what he was receiving, and what he could justly spare. And this was not all, as will shortly appear. In the course of that year he had lost his eldest sister, Sarah, aged, as he says, sixty-six : but the Burton register states her to have been baptized March 7, 1657, which would make her at most sixty-four. Probably in that " in- terregnum" of the Church, her baptism may have been de- layed even for two years. Or he may have remembered in- correctly : the day of her death, it may be noticed, he has left blank. She was married, Oct. 21, 1878, to Mr. Garratt (i. e. Gerrard) Macklin, whose residence is not specified ; and at the date of her father's will she was the mother of two sous, Thomas and Gerrard, who are mentioned repeatedly in the e MS. i. 157. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 495 remaining journals of their cousin the Bishop's son, as re- CHAP. siding in or near Warrington, and seemingly in affluence. '— Thus, Oct. 21, 1731, he says, "Cousin Macklin sent his horses with me to Chester." And both then and as long after as 1750, he was depending more or less on one of them for reports of the condition of his farms there. The Bishop's omission then proves no estrangement, but merely some failure of memory at the time. Mr. Macklin his brother- in-law, had been, it will be remembered, one of his father's executors. The Bishop's choice of sermons and subjects for sermons may be one indication how his mind was engaged at these critical times of his life. His last sermon in the old year, 1721, was preached at Kirk Michael on Palm Sunday, March 18, when he confirmed seventy persons, fifty-eight of them of his own parish, and it was the eighty-fifth in his collected works, than which one can scarcely imagine a graver warning — the more impressive from its perfect calmness and simple air of common sense — against people satisfying themselves with the bare performance of the outward duties of religion. Again, on the following Easter Sunday, being the Annun- ciation Day, and therefore the first of the new year as then reckoned, Bishop Wilson preached at Douglas, on the Resur- rection, with a view especially to its evidence : Douglas being a town where new opinions and corrupting pamphlets were likely to be more harmful than anywhere else in the island, with the single exception of Castletown. Meanwhile every week almost some fresh strife was arising between the ecclesiastical and civil officers : — " Si rixa est, ubi tu pulsas, ego vapulo tantutn." Besides his outrageous behaviour to Henry Halsall, which has been related, the Governor interfered in various instances to stay the course of discipline by encouraging, or at least conniving at, the departure of criminals or witnesses from the island. Thus, at Braddan, April 16, came on — "A final hearing of the case of Mr. Bacon and Mrs. Fine. The two defamers, Falconer and Ashworth, having no witnesses to support their own oaths, were not admitted to take their oaths ; and Bacon and Fine admitted to clear themselves with lawful com- purgators on Sunday next, plena Eccles" 496 LIFP OP BISHOP WILSON. chap. But, April 21, the Bishop having written XVI. " a letter to Mr. Curghey to be careful solemnly to admonish Bacon and Fine, and to be careful what compurgators he admits ; Mr. Falconer," he says, " came to desire I would stop the purga- tion of Bacon and Fine, alleging that he had clear proofs in Eng- land, &c. My answer, That I would stop their purgation, and allow him reasonable time, if he would give bonds and security to make good his allegation," &c. This, it seems, he was unable or unwilling to do, and had incurred some censure for defamation, but " N.B. Governor Home gave Mr. Falconer a licence to depart the island, though under Church censures, &c. The like to Count Taaf, — his own maid, — Spanish lady," &c. Dekhoyd's April 23, (the Bishop writes,) " W. Curlet," Coroner of Michael Sheading, " charged me this day by a stone token to appear at Castletown on Friday next by 9 o'clock, at the suit of one Delahoyde." This stone token, at that time uni- ■ versally used as a kind of summons by the Manx Courts, was a piece of thin stone or slate, on which "the magistrate" (says Bishop Wilson11) "makes a mark," — " generally the first letters of his Christian and surname. This is given to the proper officer, — the Sumner, if it be before an eccle- siastical magistrate, or the Lockman ', if before a temporal, — with twopence ; who shews it to the person to be charged, with the time when he is to appear, and at whose suit ; which if he refuse to obey, he is fined or committed to prison until he give bonds to obey and pay costs." In this and in the other instances of the Governor's sum- moning Bishop Wilson and his officers, the summons was sent not as from a court of appeal to an inferior court, but by coroners or lockmen as to ordinary offenders, by way of studied affront. Delahoyd's case may be sufficiently understood from the Bishop's statement, which is confirmed by his own, both being extant in the register ; together with a deposition h History of the Isle of Man. (as executioners in Scotland) from ' The Coroners (there is one for having formerly been paid by a "lock" each sheading) have a deputy in each of meal from each man's sack. Train, parish, called a Lockman, most likely ii. 210. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 497 from the Sumner of Kirk Braddan, who in the execution of CHA p. his office had been violently assaulted by Delahoyd : — '— "April 27, 1722. " To the Honourable Alexander Home, Esq., Governor of this Isle :— " We the Bishop, Vicars- General, Official, and both the Regis- trars of this Diocese, not insensible of the great indignity offered us and the offices we bear, by being summoned as a Court by coroners and lockmen to appear before you, and particularly by your enlargement of Patrick Delahoyde, confined by our authority for not perfecting an Administration by giving pledges according to law, (though no appeal lies to the Staff of Government for any causes depending or determined in the Ecclesiastical Courts, touch- ing the granting of Administrations,) do hereby protest against these methods of contempt and innovation, as tending to the en- couragement of the criminous and refractory, and to the manifest diminution of that authority with which we are vested by the laws and constitution of this isle. " And forasmuch as on the 9th of February last, we the Bishop and Vicars-General requested the benefit of the law of the land by a trial before the 24 Keys of the matters of slander and defamation wherewith we were then charged in our offices ; but the same not being granted us : "We do now again desire the Deemsters and 24 Keys may be called to declare the law : — "1. Whether, as a Court, we be subject to be summoned, and obliged by law personally to appear to defend our judgment given in any cause, especially where no regular appeal lies ? " 2. Whether the granting releasement by any authority but ours to prisoners confined for causes of the said nature, viz. where no appeal lies, be agreeable to the law and practice of this isle, and whether the person releasing be not liable to the damages which may thereupon ensue. "Tho. Sodok and Man, WrM. Walkek, John Cueghey, Cha. Watlewokth, J. Woods, Wm. Gell." " April 27 " (says the Bishop) " we appeared " (at Castle- town) " and protested under our hands. The Governor denied he gave any token to charge us, and ordered Delahoyde to be recommitted." Yet the register contains an order from him, dated April 17, that the said Patrick Delahoyde "give notice to the officers of the Spiritual Court that they appear in order to answer and satisfy the Court in this matter." Evidently he had now come to understand that it was a " trumpery Kk 498 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, case." and that he had acted hastily. But he had not the XVF. . '■ — seuse and spirit to restrain his Comptroller, Mr. B-owe, from asking as before the insolent question, Whether the Bisl:op knew the meaning of stat mutus ? On that same 27th of April the man Stole, excommunicated for adultery, appeared by petition as a penitent, which re- sulted in his absolution, after a course of penance, Aug. 25. And early in May the Bishop had the satisfaction of receiving a note very welcome to him, from one who had been wronged, the wrongdoer being under censure at the time for grievous sin in another way, and having performed some part of his penance; whereupon the Bishop, "in hopes that the disci- pline of the Church, by the grace of God, has had its just effects upon this person, and that a charitable indulgence may be a better measure of [? for] perfecting his repentance than the rigour of the law/' had suspended the remainder of his censure for that sin, but added : — " Forasmuch as he is in a former censure for an offence against his neighbour which we cannot dispense with, when he shall have submitted to that, and reconciled himself to his brother, let him be received into the peace of the Church, according to the Con- stitution." This was written March 26. The offender seems to have taken some time before he could make up his mind to this concession, but at length, May 1, he bad done so, and re- ceived in return this letter to carry to the Bishop : — " My Lord, — Mr. Kelley having applied himself to me, and in a Christian manner offered to submit to the censure of the Church if I so required, which being a motive of persuasion to me that my easiness in the matter may be a foundation of a better understanding betwixt him and I, as I have reasons to believe it may, and that I have no pleasure in anybody's punishment, I humbly certify to your Lordship that I remit the said censure as far as in me lieth, and that he and I are reconciled, which I hope God will long continue. " I am, " Your Lordship's most obedient and humble Servant, " Tho. Christian." The Bishop sends the penitent on to the Parson of the parish : — " Sir, — Let the bearer be received into the peace of the Church LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 499 on Sunday next according to the Form for Receiving Penitents ; CHAP, XVI. and let this letter and order, together with your certificate, he re- turned to me, that it may be put upon record as a standing testi- mony and example of that forgiving temper, which we wish might be found more frequently amongst Christians. — Dated May 4, 1 722. " Tho. Sodoe and Man." " To the Reverend Mr. Bridson, Vicar of Kirk Marown." Perhaps the Bishop judged the letter the more worthy to be preserved, for the little confusion and imperfection in its grammar. It is to be hoped the reader will agree with him, and will not think it overstraining, if I remark that such little passages are no small portion of the comfort which God provides for His servants in trying times, interchang- ing them as it were with the disappointments which they must needs incur from the Evil One, and those whom he misleads. Upon this state of things came on the Whitsun week, and Convo- the annual Convocation ; and as might be expected it proved chlnre a momentous one. Until within the last week the Bishop !?22- had hoped for a peaceable settlement of the main cause of disturbance by the submission of the Archdeacon. But that wilful and very ordinary person, whose way seems to have been to commit himself offhand on the most serious sub- jects, without any notion of their real importance — to be ex- tremely angry when he was at all interfered with, and equally obstinate as long as he thought he could have effectual sup- port from great people — had in the meantime taken a fresh step which it was impossible to pass over ; and the Bishop, waiting till the last moment, on Whitsun Monday ordered him to be formally summoned. He himself having preached at Ballaugh on Whitsunday, from Rom. viii. 14, — throwing himself as at other times into the great doctrine of the Day, without a word of present controversies, and confirming fifty- three persons, — met his clergy at Kirk Michael on the fol- lowing Thursday, May 17, when he also preached another of his plain and practical but very energetic sermons— that which in his works is numbered 64; only changing the text from Hebrews xii. 1, to St. Matt. v. 29. After service, as the manner was and is, lie delivered his Charge, seventeen of his Kk2 500 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, clergy being present, besides the Archdeacon and the two — — Vicars-General. Portions of the Charge have been pre- served by Cruttwell. It was unavoidably taken up in good measure with the late and present troubles. First he spoke of the " Independent Whig :" — "My Brethren, — It is now two years ago that I gave you notice of several pernicious books brought into this diocese, in order to pervert the Gospel of Christ, and to undermine the discipline of this Church. I since gave you notice of a most pestilent book, which contains the poison of all the rest, being, as it were, an abstract of blasphemy and libertinism ; ridiculing the clergy of all religions, the Sacraments, the Holy Scriptures, and all God's ordinances. " But because I did not in my letter set down the pages to which my censure of that book referred, I have been reproached by some evil spirits, as if I had imposed upon you my own sentiments in- stead of the authors'. Why now, my brethren, I was very con- fident I had not lost my credit with you, whatever such children of Belial have suggested. Ye who have known me so long as most of you have done, I did hope, and do so still, would believe that I had judgment to discern, and veracity to report to you, the baneful contents of a book, which I knew was not like to come into any hands but such as were already or were like to be corrupted. I shall now thei'efore so far trespass upon your patience, as to give you the very words of that wicked book, as far as concerns my letter and censure. * * #- * * * * " And now I will venture to say, that for the most part you will agree with me, that whoever is pleased with this book, or takes pains to recommend it, cannot be under the conduct of the Holy Spirit of God, no more than the authors that wrote it ; who, as we are assured by a certain pious peer of Great Britain, are a club consisting of Atheists," &c. " Thus much for that wicked book, ' The Independent Whig,' against which it is the joy of my soul that I have borne public testimony. " There is another affair which I have referred to this meeting, and in which I want your advice and testimony. It is a matter of great grief to us, that we should have any sort of difference with the civil magistrate, who- is God's ordinance, and must be obeyed at the peril of our souls, either by an active or passive obedience. On the other side, we have laws and rules to go by, which, being LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 501 established by lawful authority, are as much the ordinance of God, CHAP. XVI and are not lightly to be receded from or transgressed. ! — " Now it has been the unhappiness of two of our brethren [Mr. Woods and Mr. Makon] to fall into this dilemma, either to trans- gress their rule, or to disoblige the civil power. The Rubric saith expressly, ' That nothing shall be published in the church during the time of divine service but what is prescribed by the rules of that book, or enjoined by the King, or by the Ordinary of the place.' Pursuant to this law, all briefs in England, and all other things to be published in the church, are evermore directed by the King himself to the Archbishops and Bishops, as well as to the inferior clergy. " Whether in your time this has been the practice of this diocese, ivhen a Bishop has been resident, I desire to be in- formed by every one of you ; for no man can foresee the evil consequences of departing from a rule established by so good an authority." It seems as if at tins point the Bishop had broken off his Charge in order to collect the testimonies of the clergy as to the traditionary practice of the island. They stand in the Convocation Book thus : — "At our Annual Convocation, Sfc, May 17, 1722, Sfc. " This day the clergy present being asked by the Lord Bishop after what manner briefs have been recommended in their time, have answered, — That whenever the Lord Bishop of this Diocese was within the island, the Governor, under his hand, desired his Lordship to recommend the same to the clergy, excepting within these two years, or thereabouts. And Mr. Curghy, Vicar-General, who has been in Holy Orders about forty-two years, declares fur- ther that the late Bishop Bridgman did (in his time) by his own authority grant briefs in all parts of this diocese. Mr. Archdeacon, who has lived here but about two years, was not asked the question. Mr. Henry Allen declares as the rest of the clergy ; and that his uncle, Mr. Tho. Allen, averred to him some time ago, (being fifty- five years Vicar of Kirk Maughold,) that the late Governors Hey- wood and Kenyon, in their time, desired the Lord Bishop to recommend briefs to the clergy." This matter being disposed of, it appears, though not men- tioned in the Charge, that they next addressed themselves to the case of Bridsou of Kirk Marown, which had stood first 502 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, in the list of grievances alleged by tlie Council against the — - — spiritual officers : — " This day the Lord Bishop taking notice of a scandalous libel exhibited by the Attorney General in the Temporal Court against his Lordship and the Vicars- General, the 9th of February last, one Article whereof was an arraignment of their proceedings in the case of Mr. Bridson's suspension ; the said Mr. Bridson solemnly affirmed, and offered to make oath, that he was no way concerned in that accusation, and that he never made any complaint to occa- sion the same." HorroWn The Bishop then addressing himself to Mr. Horrobin, before the . ■. Convoca- said, " And now, Mr. Archdeacon, forasmuch as you have more than once called upon me to give my judgment touching your complaint against Mr. Hai'ley for charging you with false doctrine, I have thus long deferred it, in hopes either that you yourself would ere this have seen the evil tendency of some of those things which were excepted against in several of your sermons ; or if otherwise, that I might, if I judge right, have the concurrent testimonies of my brethren, that the things I condemn are not defensible by Scripture and the sense of our Church. What my judgment is, you will find in this paper," [i. e. in the judgment presently to be inserted, part of which the Bishop appears to have then and there read, and so to have proceeded] : "You see, my brethren, my thoughts of this cause, which was brought before me by Mr. Archdeacon himself; but what sentence to pass is not so easy to determine ; for so many irregularities have of late been committed, that we could no sooner think of applying a proper remedy to one, but our time and thoughts and trouble have been taken up with another ; so that we must censure them together, or not at all. "You have all heard that we were obliged, at the instance of Sir James Poole and Mrs. Puller, to require Madam Home to ask their pardon for the injury we judged she had done them. If we had erred in our judgment, our laws have pi-ovided a remedy by a legal appeal. But despising that and our censure, an account is given me, that she has been admitted to the Lord's Supper by Mr. Archdeacon, not only in contempt of our authority, but of the rubric, the canon, and the peculiar laws of this Church ; — an at- tempt which I do not remember to have heard of before in any Christian society ; and which if permitted to pass unnoticed would LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 503 be in effect to give up our discipline, and to suffer the flock over CHAP, which the Holy Ghost hath made us overseers, to be scattered and corrupted, to be uncharitable, unjust, lewd, or anything, without control. " But God forbid that we should suffer this as long as we live. What Mr. Archdeacon can say to excuse so enormous an irregu- larity, is what I am now ready to hear before you, my brethren, that you may be able to testify the equity of our proceedings. For if I have the testimony of my own conscience, and my clergy's approbation, and that of my superiors in spirituals, I shall not be deterred from my duty by all the reproaches and libels that the devil or man can invent." The official summons being recited, and tlie serving of it proved, the record proceeds : — "Our Right Rev. Diocesan having upon the trial of Mr. Arch- deacon Horrobin asked him whether he had administered the Holy Sacrament to Madam Home, and whether he then knew that she was under the Church's censure, he owned that he had admitted her to the Sacrament, but did not acknowledge he knew her to be under the said censure. Upon which the Lord Bishop referring that matter to his own oath, and he refusing to swear, the depo- sitions of Mr. Jo. Quaile, Vicar of Kirk Christ Rushen, Mr. Henry Allen, Vicar of Lezaire, Mr. Jo. Woods, jun., Curate of Kirk Michael, and J. Woods, sen., Vicar of Kirk Malew and Episcopal Registrar, were taken, who declare that they were present in Castle Rushen, with the Lord Bishop and Vicars- General, on or about the 10th of February last, where the said Mr. Archdeacon was also present, when Madam Home gave into the Temporal Court a paper, which was then read publicly, concerning her being censured by the Ecclesiastical Court, and desiring redress ; and Mr. Quaile, with Mr. Woods, sen. and jun., depose that the said Mr. Archdeacon was in the same place the day before, when a scandalous libel concerning the Ecclesiastical Court was read ; the last article whereof contains these words, viz. that the said Court have taken upon them to summons and censure persons not within the jurisdiction of their Court, contrary to the known laws of this isle, for instance, the case of Madam Home," &c. Mr. Woods, sen., deposed to something further, which I give at length, as being much to the point : " On Friday, Dec. 22, 1721, immediately after Morning Prayer in Castletown Chapel, I desired Mr. Archdeacon Horrobin to walk into my house, and when we were come into the parlour, I gave 501 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. him. the annexed individual copy of record in which Madam Home is censured, and told him I had the Court's directions to shew it him. He looked it over very carefully, and then asked me, why it was shewn Mm. To which I answered, I could not tell him the Court's reasons for it. I then, of my own accord, said, it would be well if Madam Home knew it, and desired him to acquaint her with it, which he utterly refused to do. However, on Saturday night I went to his house, and enquiring whether he had informed Madam Home of it, he answered, he neither had, nor would tell her : ' For,' said he, ' to what end ?' I replied, the solemn festival being at hand, it was both our duties to endeavour a reconciliation betwixt neighbours, lest perhaps Madam Home might come to the altar where he was to officiate ; and as he had brought her into trouble, he should endeavour to bring her out. To which he an- swered, ' She would easily forgive him that trouble.' At length I desired him only to acquaint Madam Home that I had something of importance to communicate to her, if she would be pleased to appoint the time and place : but that too he obstinately refused to comply with, and so we parted. " Some time in January or February last, Mr. Archdeacon came into my parlour, where the book lay on the table, and then likewise he saw the original order, and my certificate on the back of it, that I had shewed him a copy of it, December 22, before. And at an- other time, when Madani Home said to me, If she had known of the censure before Sir James Poole had spoken publicly of it, she would have done something in it ; I assured her, ' I had let Mr. Archdeacon see the copy before I gave it to Sir James, and im- portuned him (the said Archdeacon) to acquaint her with it, and went to his house next day for that end, but he utterly refused to do her that friendly office, or to inform her I had something of moment to impart to her.' Upon which she went and charged him with it, (as I presume,) for he came on horseback to my door, and there could not deny, but owned before Madam Home and some others, that I had requested him as abovesaid ; but added, ' Did not I then tell you I would not be concerned in it ?' And ' Was I to be your sumner or servant ?' " This was the substance of our discourse. " J. Woods, sen., Reg. Episc." " After which depositions were taken, Mr. Archdeacon urged that he had not denied his knowledge of the censure above-men- tioned, only declined to own it, but that he did not esteem any censure he saw to be such as to exclude her from the Holy Sacra- ment, but what he did was unwittingly, and not in contempt of any LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 505 person, or authority, which the Court are surprised to hear, con- CHAP. sidering the annexed declaration of Mr. Jo. Woods, sen., which • he lias also deposed, and is desired to annex to this upon record. " Memorandum, the deponents have sworn to and signed the ahove depositions so far as is, in their several narratives, ex- pressed." The Archdeacon's principal plea being thus utterly over- thrown, he seems to have alleged nothing further but a com- plaint of a verbal error in the report of his sermon, and a hint that he might perhaps be entitled, as the Governor's Chap- lain, to freedom from all spiritual censures : — "May VI, 1722. " Whereas the Archdeacon, upon his trial this day, objected that the word 'jangling,' mentioned in some of the depositions and the following censure, was not in his sermon; it is to be ob- served that the Archdeacon himself, at the last annual convocation, (June 1, 1721,) owned, as the Court very well remember, that he could not say, but he might have added or omitted some words in the delivery of his sermon, which were not written down ; as he said was natural for preachers to do. " The Archdeacon having, in his defence, frequently hinted, though not insisted on, an exemption from the episcopal jurisdic- tion, the Lord Bishop required him to produce any law for such exemption, and the same should be considered ; which the said Archdeacon not doing, his Lordship proceeded to judgment in manner following : — " Suspension of Archdeacon Horrobin. " Having duly weighed the annexed proceedings, occasioned by a complaint of Mr. Archdeacon Horrobin against Mr. Thomas Harley, for charging him with preaching false doctrine, and having compared the several depositions with the sermons to which they refer, it appears to us, and so we adjudge, that the said Archdeacon, either from a fond imitation of some late heter- odox writers, or from a desire of novelty, has delivered several things from the pulpit not agreeable to truth and sound doctrine ; and by an obstinate defence of them, after he was seriously ad- monished to forbear giving offence, he has done what in him lay to involve in endless disputes a Church which, at his coming hither, he found in perfect peace and unity. And this he has done, " First ; By endeavouring to fix an unjust and groundless re- proach upon his brethren of the clergy, as if they had carried the 506 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, doctrine of absolution so high as to persuade weak minds that they ! — assume to themselves a power of pardoning sins. " Secondly ; By asserting, in direct contradiction to the first ex- hortation to the Communion Service, that the absolution of a priest, whether Papist or Protestant, is at the best a false foundation of comfort. Which expression being made use of (without any regard had to the fifty-third canon) in opposition to a sermon concerning the power of the keys, preached but two Sundays before in the same pulpit, did manifestly tend to render the excellent discipline of this Church contemptible ; to encourage offenders to despise her censures, as if public satisfaction, and absolution thereupon, were not necessary parts of repentance, where public wrong or offence has been given. "Thirdly; By limiting the words of Christ, 'Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto themJ,' to the Apostles only, and affirming, that men uninspired, weak and fallible men, must no more appropriate this to themselves, than the power of working miracles ; and this in contempt of that very office, and the very words by which he received the order of priesthood ; as if the Church usurped a power which she neither understood, nor had any right to. " Fourthly ; And in consequence of the foregoing assertion, by affirming that God's ministers have only authority to declare the terms of salvation, and to tell people that if they come up to those terms, God will pardon them ; and that this in truth is all they can do ; a position for which the followers of Socinus stand justly condemned by all orthodox Churches. " Fifthly ; By perplexing his hearers with his uncertain conjec- tures of God's uncovenanted mercy ; making it a question not yet determined, whether the heathens, and such as have never em- braced the Christian religion, shall not receive the like benefit with Christians of pardon and salvation by Christ ; laying too great stress of men's salvation upon their living up to the light of nature ; and affirming that it is nowhere said in sacred Scripture, nor can be inferred from thence, that no man can be saved unless he believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have the Gospel preached to him. " Lastly ; By speaking of the controversies in the primitive Church after a very loose and suspicious manner. For, not con- tent with calling the disputes about the time of keeping Easter, and the fast preceding it, (which fast is strictly and almost uni- versally observed here,) a trifling controversy, he immediately J John xx. 23. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 507 added, ' the wrangling, jangling disputes about the Divinity of our Saviour, — the two natures in Christ, — the doctrine of the sacred Trinity, — heretical baptism, &c., are niceties in religion, which consists not in the knowledge of such things ;' expressing himself so as if he designed (for so the evidences understood him) that his hearers should look upon them all of the same importance ; namely, all trifling. " All which and many more novel assertions of the .said Arch- deacon having, during the course of this controversy, been fre- quently represented to him as very shocking and offensive to Christian ears, Ave were in hopes our patience and forbearance hitherto might have had so good an effect upon him, as to have made him sensible of his errors, and induced him to have given satisfaction to the Church, and thereby prevent a public censure. " But instead of this, he has not only presumed to repel one of the evidences in this controversy from the Holy Sacrament, without any previous admonition, and for which he has been already de- clared irregular, but also, forgetting his ordination vows, and oath of canonical obedience, has since done his utmost to supersede our judicial acts, and to wrest the episcopal authority out of our hands, by admitting unto the Lord's Table Mrs. Home, whom he knew to be under the censures of the Church, and this deliberately, and in contempt of the rubric before the Communion, the canons, and the laws and statutes of this Church and nation. " It being therefore high time, and our express duty, to remove the offence given to the flock of Christ, by laying him under eccle- siastical censures, we do accordingly pronounce him, the said Mr. Robert Horrobin, Archdeacon, suspended ah officio et benejicio, until he give such satisfaction to the Church as the nature of his crimes before- mentioned requires. — Dated May 17, 1722. " Tno. Sodor axd Max." " N.B. After the Lord Bishop had pronounced the above sen- tence, he desired the clergy now assembled in Convocation to de- clare their minds freely, if they observed any harshness or illegality either in the foregoing proceedings, or censure ; to which they severally answered, They did not ; and added, That the said cen- s\ire was so mild, as they could hardly expect the like, were they themselves in the same circumstances. Only the Vicar of Kirk Marown apologized for the Archdeacon, imputing his last crime to his ignorance or inadvertency, and hoping he might be pardoned for the same." It appears by a private memorandum of the Bishop's, that Mr. Bridson, the only one who separated himself in any de- 508 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, gree from his brethren on this occasion, went far beyond — — what is above recorded in his expressions of dissent : — " Marotcne. Mr. Brideson, the Vicar, upon the Archdeacon's being suspended, very insolently declared before his brethren in convocation, that for all his censure he would keep him company, and that nobody should hinder him from doing so, for he believed him to be an honest man V One may fairly observe on the general unanimity of the clergy, that very few of them could have been nominees of the Bishop, (except it were indirectly through Mawdesley,) he being at that time patron of only four cures of souls in the island. But in truth they were only expressing, as will soon appear very distinctly, the common mind of the flock towards the shepherd. Another comfort was, that in the May Sheading Courts which came on the same week, ten out of the seventeen parishes return nothing which can be called scandalous. The Bi- But on the other hand, the very day after the suspension, quired to and partly, no doubt, in consequence of it, " My Registrar cancel his brought me from the Temporal Court a sentence upon the proceed- . ings. hearing of Feb. 9, 1721, — the most partial, malicious, and illegal that my eyes ever saw, as I hope to make appear be- fore proper judges." This was the paper, I suppose, of which the substance has already been given1. The air of surprise which blends with disgust in the Bishop's way of speaking of it is accounted for when we come to understand that the judgment, although dated Feb. 9, had not until now, May 24, been made known to the condemned persons ; so the spiritual officers state, as will appear hereafter, in their petition to the Kingm: — "What orders or determinations were made your petitioners never knew until the 24th of May." The Bishop however went on as if nothing had happened. On the 25th he provided for one part of the Archdeacon's interrupted duty. " The Rev. Mr. Ross, Academical Pro- fessor, is authorised and required to officiate in Castletown Chapel during the Archdeacon's suspension, or until further orders from us." The parish of Kirk Andreas was supplied k Episcopalia. ' p. 466. m Cruttwell, p. cxxiii. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 509 by the curate, Mr. Wattle worth. The Archdeacon, meantime, chap. with small gratitude for so much kind help, was agitating — at Castletown, and arranging future moves with the Go- vernor. " In a rage," says Dr. Wilson in Cruttwell, " instead of applying to the Archbishop of York as Metropolitan, he threw himself on the civil* power." "May 31," says the Bishop, "he brought me an appeal to the Lord, of the Isle, which I returned, and bade him see the Acts of Parliament of Henry VIII., &c, and there he would see before whom appeals of this nature are cognizable11." The next day, his fierceness having cooled, "he brought me another appeal, to Lord Derby, ' or to whom appeals lie ;' which being not explicit, I gave him again. He said at parting that he was ready to make all reasonable satisfaction, &c. I bade him do it in writing, and I would consider it." He returned probably to Castletown, and his milder mood soon passed away ; at least we hear of no further proposal from him. The Attorney-General instead on June 8 brought the Bishop the following letter, which made it evident that the Council, with Horrobin, meant to rest their cause, as far as he and Mrs. Home were concerned, mainly on the as- sumed exemption of all the Lord's officials and family from spiritual discipline : — " Castletown, June 5, 1722. "My Lord, — The Governor being informed that the Archdeacon having upon several of his trials before your Lordship's Courts made a reserve of the rights and privileges of our Right Honourable Lord, and the legal exemption of the Governor's family and others of his Lordship's household of Castle Rushen ; and being your Lordship was also sufficiently reminded of the same upon the 9th of February last, at the Court then held at Castle Rushen aforesaid, and might have had full satisfaction therein, either by entering upon the subject in dispute, or coming to a private conference, which was freely offered to your Lordship as a most probable ex- pedient to compose such differences : the laws were then ready to be produced, and the Governor thinks your Lordship was as nearly concerned to have known them, and under the same sacred obliga- tion to maintain them, as he himself; and he hearing lately that your Lordship was pleased to say that you had been often told that there were laws for exemption, but that you had never seen any, n Ep:scopalia 510 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, hath therefore ordered me to transcribe and send your Lordship the inclosed copy, which you might have had (if desired) before now, with all the proceedings and other copies of record relating thereunto. " I am, My Lord, " Your Lordship's most dutiful, most obedient servant, "Jo11 QXJATLE." "As I did by the Governor's order give to Mr. Woods a copy of the order of Court of the 9th of February last, to be delivered to your Lordship, so I hope he delivered it accordingly. " To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of this Isle." The inclosure certainly looks more to the purpose than any other of the Governor's arguments ; perhaps more than all of them taken together. It is a report of a decision in Governor Ireland's time, Feb. 1, 1610. The then Bishop, Phillips, had exhibited articles by way of petition to the Lord of the Isle against the Governor, the eleventh, headed "Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction," running thus: — " If a parishioner that is a soldier be enjoined by the Church to penance for satisfying the congregation, Mr. Lieutenant, contrary to the old order, will privilege him from it. Yea, I having ad- judged a vyld incestuous offender to penance at the market-cross, he disallowed it." The Governor, two of his Council, the Deemsters, and Keys, with the Vicars-General, meet to consider this, the Bishop being absent. Their report is : — " We the two Vicars- General do answer, that the punishing of soldiers or any other that receive pay of the Lord, or of any of the Lieutenant's families, for criminal causes, doth not by law belong to the Bishop or spiritual jurisdiction, for special reasons and good considerations formerly set down by the late Bishop Merrick in a letter sent by him to Capt. Robert Mollineux the deputy in this isle. Which letter . . . reinaineth of record . . . And this we say doth agree to the ancient laws of this land." This looks at first glance very much like what the Bishop was always challenging his opponents to produce, an autho- rity for the proceedings against him from those empowered to " deem the law." Nevertheless, if we may judge by his indorsement, he was not greatly dismayed by this allegation. " Quayle's letter, and the pretended law for exempting," &c. — thus he dismisses it. There was probably something in the history of it more than we know, which made it of less LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 511 value as a precedent than at first reading we might imagine. CHAP. The memoranda for his counsel in the great cause, where — - — '■ — they notice it, refer us especially to the 34th Customary Law, which is indeed decisive, if its authority be as complete as its interpretation is clear. " No appeal shall be made from Churcfi censures to the Staff, (i. e. the Governor,) and none to be privileged from them. See practice and precedents upon this for more than 100 years last pastt" And cer- tainly, besides Earl James's directions, of which something has been said before, the records of the island from Bishop Barrow's time abound in cases which prove beyond a doubt that if there were such an exemption it was hardly ever claimed or enforced. The a priori argument from common sense and practical utility is of course altogether against it. If spiritual discipline be a good thing at all, it must be a good thing for a Sovereign's retainers as well as for other men ; unless their souls be of a different make from the rest. However, the Bishop would probably have passed over Mr. Quayle's second communication sub silentio as he had done the former, but that in a day or two came from Castle Rushen the news of what they were doing with poor Halsal, by which he understood better the full purpose of their legal researches. It was to be made a crime, not only in him to censure, but in the Lord's servants to seek absolution. This was on the 12th of June, and on the 17th he wrote to the Governor, as we have seen, a calm and argumentative and very friendly expostulation, embodying the topics which I have just re- ferred to. We have seen how far this availed in Halsal's case. But it had its effect, no doubt, in quickening the Council to further proceedings. " To the Eight Reverend the Bishop and the Vicars- General of this Isle. " Whereas, by an order of the 9th of February last, you were required to retract and cancel your late proceedings against certain persons therein mentioned, exempt by the laws of this island from the jurisdiction of your Court, which proceedings were found to be contrary to the laws and the Lord's prerogative within this island : and forasmuch as I do not find that you have yet observed the aforesaid order, these are therefore to require you to give obe- dience thereunto, according to the tenor and purport therof, and 512 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. forthwith make a due return of your performance thereiu, under XVI. the penalties the law prescribes in such cases. " Given under my hand at Castle Rushen, the 20th day of June, 1722. " Ai,Exr Horne." Such was the rejoinder of the civil power to the Bishop's arguments and appeals. As he afterwards remarked to the Privy Council, " What makes these orders more irregular and surprising ... is, that they do not appear to have been issued at the request of the several parties censured ; . . . but rather to proceed from the mere motion of the Governor and other officers." The Bishop received this second order June 21, the Court of Tynwald being to meet on the 25th, (for the 24th was Sunday) ; and he resolved to try the ef- ficacy of a remonstrance there. Castletown In the meantime another grievance arose, which touched shuTup n^m nearly : f°r his opponents, if illogical and absurd in many things, shewed a certain dexterity in hitting the points where they knew he would be most sore and sensitive. "About the same time the said Governor Home took upon him to lock up a Chapel of Ease at Castletown, belonging to the parish of Kirk Malew, whereby the people were deprived of the public worship of God in the principal town of the island °." That Chapel, it may be remembered, was in some sense Bishop "Wilson's own work, and the first which he had undertaken for his diocese, and that with much prayer. He had preached in it — so his memorandum on suspending the Archdeacon sig- nifies— " from Easter, 1698, to Oct., 1711, thirty-three times." Castletown had been the scene of his earliest ministrations in the island, both at first landing, and when he brought his wife home. But of course the scandal was more a great deal than all these personal mortifications : and it con- tinued, as we shall see, three years and a-half. On June 21, he writes to Mr. Ross to demand the keys of the chapel of the Governor, well knowing what the answer will be : but he must establish the grievance before he seeks redress. June 22, one of his employments is relieving a clergyman's widow of part of her dilapidations "in consideration of the house being fired." And on the Sunday, the feast of St. 0 Petition to Privy Council — Cruttwell. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 5 13 John Baptist ; he preaches at Jurby, on our Lord's weeping CHAP, over Jerusalem, the 43rd of his published sermons, wherein — the train of thought is such as might well have been sug- gested by present circumstances, but the sermon belonged to another Sunday, and to the preceding year. Still more distinctly was he preparing himself for whatever might be coming on by prayers such as these following, shewn to be composed at this crisis of his life, by the handwriting and place in the MS.P:— "0 God, forgive my enemies, persecutors, and slanderers; for- give their sins, and turn their hearts, and give me grace to love, to bless, and to do good to them." ''Vouchsafe unto all such as are now under the censures of the Church a true sense of their crimes, true repentance for them, and Thy gracious pardon, that their souls may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." '■'■Difficult Times. — Direct me, gracious God, in this difficult time, that I may neither speak nor act anything unbecoming my character, that I may never prostitute my conscience for any worldly consideration whatever." "Make me, O God, truly sensible of the affliction of Christ's Church, — the want of discipline, of charity, and of zeal for Thy glory, — that with the zeal of Elijah I may lay these things before the Throne of Grace." Thus prepared, fresh from keeping the memorial of that Protest at Saint who is our pattern in boldly rebuking vice, and carry- waiu/1722. ing with them a remonstrance drawn up with all the con- sideration which two such men could give to it, the Bishop and Mr. Walker, with the other Vicar- General Curghey, (who in all these matters seems simply to have done as he was bidden,) proceeded to the Tynwald on the Monday morn- ing : where they met the Governor with his four abettors ; one of whom, however, W. Seddon, had ceased for some cause to be Water Bailiff. The Statute Book has no me- morial of anything done in that Court ; nor indeed of any- thing done for the island during all the years of Home's administration, except the formal signature of an act which had been passed in 1713, before he was in office. Whatever the business of the day was, the Bishop and his officers took P MS. iii. 17. l1 514 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. c H A P. the first opportunity it gave them of publicly delivering their ■ — protest to him. This was the tenor of it : — " To Captain Alexander Home, Governor of this Isle. " "Whereas by an order dated the 9 th of February last, and sent us the 24th of May following, your Honour, together with the Comptroller, the late Water-bailiff, and two Deemsters, have taken upon you (after we had been most ignominiously treated, and threatened with the consequence and punishment of standing mute, because we could not submit to your authority in spirituals) to arraign and censure us the Bishop and Vicars- General of this isle, for several matters in your said order mentioned of a merely spiri- tual nature ; namely, " For suspending a delinquent clergyman according to the canons and laws of this Church, for breach of his ordination vows, and violation of his canonical obedience : " Secondly, for convocating the clergy of the diocese, in order to advise with them in difficult cases, in pursuance of the very direc- tion and tenor of the law : " Thirdly, for requiring your wife, according to the rules of the Gospel, and the laws of this Church, to be reconciled to her neigh- bour ; namely, to ask forgiveness of Sir James Poole and Mrs. Puller, whom she had grievously injured by a slanderous charge, in which she had not one evidence to support her ; and of which slander the said persons cleared themselves upon oath, with lawful compurgators : " Lastly, for declaring the Archdeacon to have acted irregularly in repelling the said Mrs. Puller from the Holy Sacrament, without a previous admonition, or any regard to the rubrick and canons of the Church : " In all which cases there neither was offered us, nor did any ap- peal lie to you from our proceedings ; we having a Metropolitan to whom we are accountable, and before whom, or any other com- petent judge, we are able to justify all our acts to be legal, regular, agreeable to the law and constant course of justice in this isle, and not in the least tending to the diminution of the Lord's prerogative, or the subversion of the Government ; imputations which we abhor and deny, though the same be injuriously affirmed in your said order ; by which we are likewise required and menaced, as we are also by another order of the 20th instant, under severe penalties, to retract and cancel our proceedings in the cases aforesaid, (though all of them be matters of express duty,) and not to presume to act in such cases for the future : LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 515 "And whereas, in the late proceedings against Mr. Henry Halsal, CHAP, our spiritual jurisdiction, exercised as usual over the soldiers, is called an unlawful power, though the law expressly provides that ' no person whatsoever shall be privileged from Church censures ;' which said censures he having submitted to, (as became a good Christian,) in order to be restored to the peace of the Church, which he had forfeited by his sin of fornication, was so severely dealt with on that account that he was constrained, after desiring time to make application to the Lord of the Isle, to appeal to his Majesty in Council, for which he was thrown into the dungeon, where he lay two days and two nights as if he had been a con- demned malefactor : " By which, and by the other instances before-mentioned, you have endeavoured not only to make it penal for the Bishop to take care of the souls committed to his charge, and to obstruct us in the faithful discharge of our duty ; but also, by taking cognizance of acts purely episcopal, you have, as much as in you lay, divested his Grace the Archbishop of York of his metropolitical authority esta- blished by Acts of Parliament : " Lastly, forasmuch as having been charged with having acted contrary to law and the Lord's prerogative, we have four several times desired and demanded, (as by an express law we have a right to do,) and have as often been denied, to have the Deemsters and twenty-four Keys called to deem the law truly in several high points in debate ; this being the legal and usual way of resolving doubtful points in law, and the most effectual means of determining whether any magistrate has invaded the Lord's just prerogative, or subverted the laws of the isle : " We therefore hoping to find redress for these great injuries done to us and the offices we bear, and purposing to use all just and legal ways of obtaining the same, do in the meantime for our- selves, and likewise for his Grace of York our metropolitan, until he shall be fully apprized of these matters, pkotest against all your proceedings in the cases before-mentioned, as no way belonging to your cognizance ; desiring that this our protestation may remain on record, as a testimony of our integrity and endeavours to preserve the constitution of this isle, both in Church and state, inviolate to posterity. " Given in at the Tynwald Court, June 25th, 1722. " Tho. Sodor and Man, "William Walker, John Cueghey." During the Court the Bishop learned the result of his l12 516 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. claim to have the chapel opened, which caused him to add ! — what follows at the foot of his protest. " To the Honourable the Governor of this Isle. " Having just now had an account from the Reverend Mr. Ross, ■whom I appointed to officiate in Castletown Chapel during the Archdeacon's suspension, that the doors of the said chapel are shut up, and that you have refused to deliver him the keys, wherehy the people are deprived of the public worship of God, and the chapel of that town, which has ever been subject to me and my prede- cessors, is endeavoured to be made independent ; I do therefore again complain against your said act, as a fresh instance of your intrenching on the episcopal authority, and which (if not speedily remedied) may open a gap for a much greater and more pernicious innovation." After putting in this paper, they continued their attend- ance "during the whole time that the Court was assembled, but could not prevail on any of the five civil officers to record their remonstrance either then or at any time after." The Governor, throughout consistent with himself, " received the protest with most opprobrious language, expressly denying the Archbishop of York's authority, and not only declaring the Earl of Derby was, and should be Metropolitan, but also that he the said Governor would punish any person that should in any case presume to appeal to the Archbishop." This was proved on oath before the Privy Council by Mr. Thomas Corlett, one of the 24 Keys. The Bishop With such redress the Bishop departed, and the Keys also, General3*5 ^° ^neu' several homes : but Mr. Home and his four friends fi»ed. stayed awhile longer, to do a little more work which they had devised for themselves. They virtually forged (is it too strong to say so ?) an order of the Court, the highest Court in the island : — "At a Timvald- Court holden the 25th of June, 1722. " Forasmuch as the Bishop and Vicars-General of this island were, by an order of the 9th of February last, required to retract and cancel several late proceedings in their Courts, which were contrary to the laws of this island, and the state and government thereof; and were again required by precept to observe and per- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 517 form the same as the law directs in such cases ; and having this CHAP, day publicly refused to give due obedience to either of them : XVI. " Therefore for their contempt the said Bishop is fined in fifty pounds, and the Vicars- General in twenty pounds a-piece, which the Coroner is required forthwith to demand. " Alex. Horne." " To the Coroner of Michael Sheading." The Bishop's note is, — "N.B. Although the above order is said to be given at a Tin wald- Court, yet that Court (which of necessity must consist of the Governor, Officers, Deemsters, and twenty-four Keys) was departed, and the twenty-four Keys and several of the Council absent, when the said order was made." And he attests it by the subjoined correspondence, which took place a fortnight after : — " To the Twenty-four Keys, Representatives of the Commons of this Isle. " Gentlemen, — Among the many indignities put upon us, the Bishop and Vicars-General, of late years by the Temporal Court, that of being fined at the last Tinwald is not the least affecting, in regard that whatever is said to be done at that solemn assembly (as is the order for fining us) will by posterity be understood to have been done with the knowledge and approbation of the whole Court, which consisting of the Governor, Council, Deemsters, and twenty-four Keys, we desire to know whether you the said Keys were made acquainted with, or gave your consent to the said order, or to our present imprisonment " And forasmuch as we were that day openly charged with exer- cising a spiritual tyranny, you who dwell in several parts of this isle may do us the justice of testifying whether you know, or be- lieve, there be any just cause for so heavy, and (as we persuade ourselves) so groundless an imputation. — Dated in Castle Rushen, July 10, 1722. "Tho. Sodor and Man, Vm. Walker, John Curghey." " Castletown, July 11, 1722. " My Lord, and Reverend Gentlemen, — " We the Keys of Man, as well to satisfy your Lordship and you the Ecclesiastical Judges, as to justify ourselves to posterity, do hereby certify and declare, that though we were present at the Tinwald during the whole time of the sitting of the Court, and until the same was dismissed as usual, we neither were made 518 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. acquainted with, nor gave our consent to, the order you mention ; neither was any such order there made or concerted. And there- fore we could not but be much surprised to hear of your being then fined and afterwards imprisoned. " And as to the charge of exercising a spiritual tyranny, we do solemnly testify (as we are in justice bound) that there is no cause to us known for so strange an imputation, being verily persuaded that you have been so far from assuming to yourselves any undue authority, that the Church was never better governed than in your time, nor justice more impartially administered in the Ecclesiastical Court of this isle. — J. Stevenson, Robert Curghey, Wm. Christian, Sil. Ratcliffe, Tho. Corlett, James Banckes, Tho. Christian, Phil. Moore, J. Wattleworth, jun., James Christian, John Curghey, John Murrey, Edm. Corlett, John Christian. " I, Thomas Stevenson, not being present at that Tinwald, agree with my brethren, only in respect of the latter clause. " Mem. Five of our Members were absent at the signing hereof." Before the Governor's ink was well dry, his warrant was executed : — "June 26," the Bishop writes, " Early this morning the Coroner (no proper officer) came to demand a fine of £50 imposed on me yesterday, said to be done at a Tynwald, (though the 24 know nothing of it.) I refused to pay. " N.B. Fine should not come before October, in the Moar's charge, otherways the Lord may be cheated." Observe his exactness — perhaps we should say his loyalty — under all these provoking circumstances. lis im- They let him alone for two days. On the third, June 29, aenu' his entry in Episcopalia is, " St. Peter's Day. See the Epistle." (That is, St. Peter in prison, the Church praying for him, and his deliverance by an angel.) " I and my two Vicars were carried to prison by three soldiers for not paying a fine of <£90, most arbitrarily imposed upon us." It was a day already memorable in the Bishop's calendar, as we have seen, for more than one special favour, — the day of his entering into Holy Orders, and of the deliverance of his father and brothers from shipwreck. It is interesting to observe that he enters this imprisonment in the list which he kept of " Special Favours," as well as in that of "Merciful Visitations aud LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 519 Chastisements." In the former. " I had the honour of being CHAP. XVI imprisoned for a faithful discharge of my duty." In the — latter, " I and my two Vicars-General were fined 90lb and imprisoned in Castle Ryssin (sic) for censuring, and refusing to take off the censures of certain offenders : which punish- ment and contempt I desire to receive from God, as a means of humbling me," &c. The joy of the confessor and the sub- mission of the penitent, — were they ever more touchingly blended, more simply expressed? But the feeling all around was intense indignant grief. Such a thing of course could not be done in a corner. The scene at the Tynwald on the Monday must have fixed the attention of the whole diocese on the controversy, and the persons concerned in it. The prisoners with their escort had to traverse one-third of the island's length, — one of them, Curghey, from Douglas or its immediate neighbourhood. It might easily happen that by the time they came to Castle Rushen all Mona was in commotion. The rather, because as will hereafter appear, they considered the Bishop, and that very justly, not only as their faithful pastor and unwearied benefactor, but as the champion likewise of their political rights and liberties, and in that sense also felt his wrongs as their own. Accordingly, for the first days at least of his imprisonment, "the concern of the people was so great, that they assembled in crowds, and it was with difficulty they were restrained from pulling down the Governor's house, by the mild behaviour and persuasion of the Bishop, who was permitted to speak to them only through a grated window, or address them from the walls of the prison, whence he blessed and exhorted hundreds of them daily, telling the people that he meant to ' appeal to Csesar,' meaning the King, and he did not doubt but that his Majesty would vindicate his cause if he acted aright." It is to be observed that Mr. Walker was with him, who might act as interpreter, if need arose, between him and the many among his audience who understood only Manx. They had made up their minds, we see, from the first day of their imprisonment, to carry the matter before the Privy Council, and that, as the Bishop signifies more than once, " by the advice of the Archbishop of York and others." 520 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C il A P. Thev must therefore have communicated with his Grace be- XVI — forehand, while this outrage was but in posse ; and there was reason enough for apprehending somewhat of the kind ; al- though perhaps even from Home they could hardly as yet expect anything so extreme. The Bishop, we might be sure, would not have decided on a step so toilsome and so hazard- ous, without special sacrifice of prayer : and fortunately we have in his manual, with 1722 over against it in the margin, the very Collect or Litany by which he was enabled to help himself : — " In a Law-suit. " Convince me, 0 God, if I am under any mistake in this affair. " Direct, assist, and support me under all the difficulties I shall meet with. " Put an happy end, in thy good time, to this troublesome con- troversy. " Dispose the hearts of those with whom we have to do, to peace and justice. " Give me grace to rest satisfied with whatever shall be the issue, believing assuredly that God can make good any loss I may sustain, or sanctify it to my eternal welfare. " Lord, in this, and in all other things I undertake, Thy will be done, and not mine. " O manifest Thy will to me, preserve me from evil counsels, and from rash enterprises. " Give me true Christian resolution,. which will neither be tired nor discouraged with difficulties while I am in the way of my duty." His Pas- The third day of his imprisonment, July 1, he addressed prison. a Pastoral Letter to his clergy : — " Castle Kushen, July 1, 1722. "My Brethren, — Though our persons are confined to this place, yet our affection for you, and our concern for the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made us overseer, and our prayers for both, are at full liberty. And we doubt not but our authority in matters spiritual at least will be obeyed by you, and by all such as fear God for our great Master's sake, who has promised to be with us always, even unto the end of the world. " I desire therefore, and require of every one of you, that you make regular presentments to my Register of all unquiet, disobe- dient, and criminous persons within your several parishes, that we may correct and punish them according to such authority as we have bv God's Word. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 521 " I beg you will be more thfm ordinarily diligent in discharging CHAP, the several duties of your sacred calling : this will be the best XVI. testimony of your affection for us. And I beseech you, let no unworthy thoughts enter into your hearts, nor unbecoming words come out of your mouths, against those that have given us this trouble. " If we suffer for righteousness'"sake, that is, for doing our duty, it will turn very much to our account. And if we have been mis- taken in any thing, there are proper judges superior to us all, who will be able to clear up these difficulties, to the satisfaction of all good men and lovers of peace. " And that none of your people may transgress the bounds of duty and obedience to the civil magistrate, (who is God's minister in temporal matters as we are in spirituals,) and so come to suffer as evil doers ; I pray you communicate this letter and my hearty desires to whom you shall think fit, that they may be convinced that neither they nor we have any reason to be uneasy at what has befallen us. " And if to this you afford us your daily prayers, which as your Bishop I require, that we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same, that this Church may be always ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors, such as may constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for righteousness' sake ; you will then do what becomes worthy sons of a father and Bishop, who every day of his life remembers you at the Throne of Grace. " Tho. Sodor and Man." It would appear that this prayer was answered in a re- markable way ; things went on as according to the promise given to Israel in their festal season, " Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." So, when this trouble had passed away, Bishop Wilson used to tell his friends that he " never governed his diocese so well as in the time of his imprisonment," and " that if he could have borne the con- finement without injury to his health, he would have been content to remain a prisoner during life, for the good of his flock ; who were more pious and devout than at any other timeq." They felt themselves, both clergy and laity, bound 'i Stowell, p. 176 ; Cruttwell, p. I. 522 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, in love and in honour to be doubly scrupulous and useful XVI while the Shepherd's eye was unavoidably withdrawn. One instance remains on record, simple enough, yet not without its interest, of the way in which " though absent in body" he contrived to make himself " present in spirit" to his flock. June 16, 1722, John Tear of Castletown and his wife Christian Hutchin are presented for antenuptial forni- cation by Mr. Woods of Malew. The Bishop and Vicars- General, dating from Castle Rushen, July 7, 1722, say, — " Though bonds and imprisonment for the defence of the truth and our just authority be at present our own portion, yet we must still labour to free the souls committed to us from the bondage of sin, which is much more grievous ; we do therefore order that the above John Tear and his wife perform public penance the next Lord's Day, and (if their behaviour be truly Christian) that they be the same day received into the peace of Christ's Church, and the woman churched as usual." Details of He enjoyed also the great consolation and support of finement. naving friends with him, fellow-sufferers in the same cause, — Walker especially. Mr. Stowell dwells much upon this pro- vidential favour; not more however than its importance de- serves. He adds1 that the Bishop turned his confinement into an opportunity for commencing a fresh and most im- portant work, a Manx translation of the whole Bible. But this I believe is an oversight, as we have already found Thoresby speaking of that work as begun in the year 1719. And we may be sure that the Bishop entered on it as soon as the Catechism was fairly out of his hands. However, it was just like him, so to turn the calamity to account, when he found himself favoured with the company of his friend. It was the only favour, as far as we are told, which the Bishop's enemies vouchsafed to him at this time. In many instances, we know, his hardships were studiously aggra- vated. The place of his confinement, the keep of Rushen Castle, which is the regular prison of the island, was then "a dreary dungeon, where prisoners were crowded together in dark and damp cells3." The Bishop had indeed a cell to himself, but it was dark and damp enough. Visitors are shewn it as they enter the inner keep, to the left hand, r Stowell, p. 171. s Train, ii. 312, (note). LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 523 on the ground floor. Opposite, on the right, is the cell in CHAT. which the two Vicars-General were confined. This cell has — a square-headed trefoiled door, with the date 1103 upon it, which Mr. Neale* considers "a palpahle fiction;" allowing nevertheless that " great part of the building seems of that date m" and that the castle " may very well have been founded," according to tradition, by King Godred in the middle of the tenth century. This cell moreover stands at the foot of a spiral staircase, leading by ninety-nine steps to the summit of the northernmost of the four towers of the keep, the total height of which from the ground is eighty feetu. When you have mounted seventy-two steps, you come to the room used fifteen years ago, perhaps in Wilson's time, for the prison chapel ; in which he seems to have had per- mission to attend and worship during the first days of his imprisonment. And if so, we may imagine him also occa- sionally allowed to mount the remaining twenty-seven steps, and to look out, some of those summer evenings, from the upper platform of the flag- tower, over what is described in the following eloquent passage : — " The view in the clear twilight from the top is superb. Looking south, far over the waters, you catch Penmaen Mawr, like a cloud in the distance, but most clearly visible without a telescope ; to the right, the savage cliffs of the Calf, and the more stupendous outline of Spanish Head, rising themselves above the gold of the sunken sun ; across them, Slieve Donard in Down, and the high land round Dundrum Bay ; to the north, the whole chain of Manx mountains, from purple North Barrule, by royal Snajfell, and black Bein-y-phot, and double-headed Garrahan, and pyramid-like Greaba, and lonely Sliewhallen, down to South Barrule, gorgeous in the sunset, and uttermost Cronknaireylha. Then a little to the east, the darkness is closing in around Scawfell Pikes and Ennerdales." The gifted word-painter, it will be observed, has here limited himself to such features as remain untouched by time and the hand of man; every one of them abiding to this day just what it was at the date of Bishop Wilson's im- prisonment. But his people were far from looking up to him in his ' Ecclesiological Notes, 3(i. u Cumining, 59, 61, 62; Neale, 36. * Neale, p. 37. 521 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, prison as calmly as he may have looked down upon them. XVL The grated window from which he addressed them is still shewn, opening upon the street or quay, and over it, upon the stream called Silverburn, nearly at the point where it meets the tide and begins to form the harbour of Castle- town. Thither, as it may seem from Mr. Stowell's account, or to some convenient spot under the ramparts, they con- tinued to resort from time to time, after he had succeeded in staying their first outbreak. " Several hundreds of them assemble d daily under the windows of his prison, to receive his instructions, which they treasured up in their hearts, and practised in their lives y." Also, if I read the same account rightly, besides the Pastoral to his clergy given above, " he wrote circular letters for them to read in all the parish churches throughout the island, for the quieting the minds of the people, and teaching them lessons of forgiveness and forbearance2." It is disappointing that none of these letters, so far as I know, have been preserved. Appeal to The day following the issue of the Bishop's Pastoral, July 2, Council! witnessed the Confession (would not old Christendom have so called it?) of Henry Halsall, and his ignominious expulsion from the garrison. Of all which the Bishop and his fellow- prisoners could not fail to be aware : for whether on account of his usefulness in keeping the people quiet, or for some other reason, they were not yet debarred all intercourse either with the inmates of the Castle or with persons out of doors. This we conclude from a subsequent memorandum of the Bishop's. They were able therefore to go on in some sort with their pre- parations for an appeal to the King in Council ; on which, as the Bishop told the multitude, they had made up their minds from the moment of their arrest, if not before. Amongst other steps in that direction, they put themselves in communication with the House of Keys, then sitting in Castletown, and obtained from them the certificate herein before given, that they were no parties to the imposition of the fine, nor had any sympathy with the charge of spiritual tyranny. This was on the 10th of July. And so active were the prisoners, and such zeal was in their helpers, that r Stowell, 17(J. » lb. 173. LTFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 525 on the 19th of that month their petition was not only CHAP, ready, but laid before the Council, and proceedings were — taken upon it. The disgust of Home and his friends on being told of the How re- appeal was excessive. From that time forward the strong theVGo->y words of Dr. Wilson and others describing the imprisonment ver»°r- became literally true : — " The horrors of a prison were aggravated by the unexampled severity of the Governor, not permitting the Bishop's housekeeper (who was the daughter of a former Governor) to see him, or any of his servants to attend upon him during his whole confinement ; nor was any friend admitted either to the Bishop or his Vicars-General. They were not treated as common prisoners, but with all the strict- ness of persons confined for high treason. They had no attendants but common jailors, and these instructed to use their prisoners ill a." Thus far the Bishop's son, who being nearly nineteen years old at the time, must have known the locality, the persons, and most of the details of the affair, though him- self probably absent at Oxford, where he was keeping his terms as an undergraduate. The remark which is added would come most naturally from a young man so circum- stanced : — " A strange return this for a long course of favours and hospita- lity which the Governor and his wife had received from the Bishop at his house, where they had frequently resided for days and weeks together !" " Closely confined, and treated like felons, — the jailors strictly charged to treat them with every mark of contumely, and admit no person within the walls of their prison, to see them or converse with them" — such is Mr. Sto well's summary. But, as has been said, these descriptions apply less exactly to the first days of the imprisonment than to the time when the appeal became known. Then the Bishop's entries in his journal are such as these : — "July 21. Porter turned out of place for letting Mrs. Pool come to see me. 11 July 22. All people forbid to come to us: even the^ Vicar of ■ Cruttwell, xlviii., xlix. * 526 LIFE OF BISHOr WILSON. CHAP, the parish," (Mr. Woods of Kirk Malew,) " and the woman that XVI _ makes my bed and cleans my room. " N. B. Chapel door locked up. Soldiers forbid going to prayers with us. All others hindered from coming to see or to pray with us." July 31, another insult was offered him, of a kind to which he was especially sensitive : — " I received," he writes, " a most abusive letter of the 9th in- stant, from Lord Derby, a copy of which being sent to the Gover- nor, he dispersed it through the country. ' Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord, Thou God of Truth.' " This letter, the Bishop elsewhere informs usb, was in reply to one which he had addressed to the Earl, inclosing him a copy of both the protests given in at the Tynwald ; "and in that letter his Lordship, among many harsh expres- sions not proper to be repeated, is pleased to say, ' If the Bishop should meet with the hardships he seemed to be afraid of, he had nobody to blame but himself,' and so forth." It was harder than any outward inconvenience or privation, to find himself thus directly and coarsely attacked by one with whom he had so many associations, — the head of the family towards which in heart as well as in position he bore a true feudal allegiance ; one with whom he had acted cor- dially for so many years, — whose comrade he had been in a great and good work, which he never ceased to look back on with peculiar thankfulness. From the date of the letter, there can be little doubt that the Earl was provoked to this ignoble way of venting his displeasure, by finding that an appeal to the Crown was really in preparation. He did not probably expect 'such promptitude in the Bishop's friends and advisers, and he must have known enough of the world to make the thought very distasteful to him of having these proceedings exposed in the highest quarter. As little doubt can there be that the additional hardships and indignities of the Bishop's confinement were due to instructions received from him about the same time with that letter. One very aggravated wrong is specified in one of the petitions, as having been first inflicted at this juncture : — " Your petitioners in the making the proceedings formerly com- b The Bishop of Mai»\s Case, ap. Reg. Episc. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 527 plained of, and ever since, and their friends and agents, have had CHAP, a mark as it were set upon them, and have upon all occasions been XVI. treated with all the indignity and disrespect imaginable, and many inexpressible hardships put upon them. And your petitioners can- not omit to mention that since their humble complaint to your Majesty they have not been able to receive one letter from their friends in England, though many have been sent; nor have your petitioners' letters come to their friends. So that they have been put to the extraordinary charge of sending a special messenger backwards and forwards from time to time." This step, so intolerable to our apprehensions, may not have seemed so atrocious in those days, since, as may ap- pear for example from expressions frequent in Mr. Pitt's correspondence, as low down as 1785 and beyond, people laid their account with the possibility of liberties being taken with what they had entrusted to the post, far more commonly than they do now. Thus the insolent letter from Lord Derby, above-mentioned, dated July 9, did not reach the Bishop until the 31st. Somehow it had been kept back from him, though diligently circulated in the diocese. Now thev allowed him to see it : and his health no doubt having begun to suffer, (for the prison was confessedly damp and unwholesome, and he had been there more than a month,) this additional wound, as we have seen, was felt more keenly than all before ; and as the time went on, and he could hear no news from England, his spirits appear to have sunk lower than usual. But as the blood of Martyrs is the seed, so the tears of Confessors may be called the dew, of the Church : and to the burden and anxiety of that time we owe the devotional piece headed "Resignation" in the Sacra Privata for Monday; which, well-known as it is, I must transcribe, for, like a flower in situ, it can hardly be appreciated unless you con- nect it with the very occasion out of which it grew. " Castle Ryssin, Aug. 5, 1722 c. " To the glory of God, and justification of His infinite goodness, I must own that in all the dispensations of Providence which have befallen me to this day, however unwelcome to flesh and blood, I c From MS. iii. 130. The page bear- the infirmity which about this time be- ing, if I mistake not, clear tokens of gan to affect his handwriting. 528 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. J/ave yet experienced the kindness of a Father correcting his child : - — and am convinced that it would have been much worse for me if I had had my oivn choices. How just, therefore, is it to yield a cheerful submission to all God's appointments for the time to come. "Luke xxii. 42. — 'Nevertheless not Mt will, but Thine, be DONE.' " O God, who takest delight in helping the afflicted, help a soul too often afflicted with an inward rebellion against Thy just ap- pointments. " I know not the things that are for my good : my most earnest desires may prove my ruin ; the things I complain of may be the effects of the greatest mercy ; the disappointments I meet with may be absolutely necessary for my eternal welfare. I do therefore protest against the folly and madness of desiring to have my own will done, and not Thine, O God. " 0 may I never dispute the reasonableness of Thy will, but ever embrace it as the best that can happen. "Prepare me always for what Thy Providence shall permit or bring forth. " Grant that I may set no greater value upon this world than it deserves. " Let me never be eager or positive in my desires, so that I may readily embrace the appointments of Thy will. " Let my dependence be upon Thee and never upon myself, or upon the power, the wisdom, or counsels of men. " Who am I that I should make exceptions against the will of God, infinitely great, and wise and good? "Lord, Thy will be done; and grant that I may be ever pleased it should be so. " Let me never murmur, be dejected or impatient under any of the troubles of this life, but let me ever find rest and content in this, This is the will of my Father and of my God." First pro- In the meantime the law had begun to move, though CrancS " witl1 no great raPiclity> towards his relief. No time had been lost in bringing the petition to a hearing. George the First was then at Kensington, having removed thither in May to be under the protection of a camp which had been formed in Hyde Park, in consequence of one of the many panics which were constantly occurring in that period of our history from Jacobite conspiracies, real or imaginary d. It was that d Lord Stanhope's Hist, of Engl., c. xii. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 529 one which led to the banishment of Bishop Atterbury. CHAP. There, on the 19th of July, three weeks all but a day after xv1, the Bishop's imprisonment, the King holding a Council, the petition was read at the board. It runs in the name of "Thomas Bishop of Man, and of William Walker and John Curghey, Presbyters, Pastors and Vicars-General of the dio- cese of Man, now prisoners in Castle Rushen within the said Island." It recites first the suspension of Bridson, June 27, 1721 ; then the censures on the Archdeacon and Mrs. Home, Dec. 19; thirdly, the fact that no appeal had been offered, but one of the parties on the contrary, Mr. Bridson, had made his formal submission ; fourthly, it alleges that had the censures been irregular, the appeal, by the Act of Henry VIII., could only lie to the Archbishop of York. The petitioners go on to complain of the two oi'ders of the Governor and officers : the first (dated Feb. 9, 1721) charging the spiritual courts with illegal and revolutionary proceed- ings, and threatening penalties if they would not retract; the second (June 20, 1722) renewing the former charges and threats, and specifying moreover, — "that the proceedings thus ordered to be retracted and cancelled had been against persons who, by the laws of the island, were ex- empt from your petitioners' court, — although, in fact, the law ex- pressly provides that no person whatever shall be privileged from Church censures ; and besides, two of the persons thus censured were clergymen within the island." They add, as a circumstance which " makes these orders more irregular and surprising than they seem to be, that they do not appear to have been issued or granted at the request of the parties censured by the petitioners, but rather to proceed from the mere motion of the Governor and other officers." Then, mentioning their protest at the Tynwald, the fine arbitrarily laid on them and falsely purporting to * be an act of the Tynwald, the demand and refusal of the fines, and their own summary arrest and imprisonment, they con- clude : — "Your petitioners therefore most humbly pray your Majesty, that they may have your Majesty's immediate order for their re- lease,— they being ready to give security for the payment of the said fines if the same shall be legal ; and that the said Alexander m m 530 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Horne, John Rowe, William Sedden, Daniel Mylrea and Charles XVI- Moore, may be directed to return their answer in writing forthwith . . . and that your petitioners may be allowed free recourse to any records in the island, and to have authentic and attested copies of such as they shall want, paying the accustomed fees; and that a day may be appointed for hearing this your petitioners' com- plaint, and the answer of the said officers, when the same shall arrive; and that your petitioners and their witnesses may come over to attend such hearing without performing quarantine, which the age and infirmity of some of them will not allow them to do without hazard of their lives ; the commissioners of your Majesty's customs having, as your petitioners are informed, no objection to the taking off the quarantine from the Isle of Man." The state of quarantine had continued now with more or less rigour since 1720, in respect of all vessels coming from France and the Mediterranean, and legislative measures were in progress for enforcing it more strictly than ever. But any infection from the Isle of Man was comparatively so im- probable, that the exacting quarantine from vessels coming thence must have been in fact merely a fiscal arrangement for checking the contraband trade. It is curious that at that very time, or soon after, (as appears from the register of the Privy Council,) Lord Derby was negociating with the Treasury for a relaxation of the quarantine laws, in favour of his island generally. But to go on with the Bishop's petition : it prayed for relief against the offensive orders, " either by reversing them, or by allowing the petitioners to appeal ;" also that he and his officers " may have such reparation and satisfaction for the great injuries done to them, and such costs, charges, and other relief, as to your Majesty in your great wisdom and goodness shall seem meet." It would be a matter of some interest to ascertain whether any of the ministers or persons having influence with Govern- ment gave any help or countenance to the petition, and to whom, among the legal practitioners of the time, the honour was granted of having Bishop Wilson for a client. We only know that Mr. Talbot— Charles Talbot, son of a Bishop of Durham, and afterwards Lord Chancellor — was one of his counsel, and a Mr. Paris— Ferdinando John Paris— his at- LITE OF BISHOP WILSON. 531 torney. To the latter lie writes, as we shall see, in much CHAP, confidence, subscribing himself " your affectionate friend." XV1, The Council seem to have felt — they could hardly help feeling — that it was a very urgent case. It appears that they did, immediately on receipt of the petition, all that could be done by them to expedite the matter : — " His Majesty in Council taking the same into consideration, is pleased to order that a copy of the said petition be transmitted to the Governor and officers, who are hereby required to return their answer in writing hereto with all speed. And his Majesty is further pleased to order that the said Bishop and the other complainants be allowed free recourse to any of the records in the said Isle of Man, and to have authentic and attested copies of such as they shall have occasion for, upon paying the accustomed fees for the same." Then follows the usual admonition, the probable effect of which in this case upon the temper and features of those whom it regards may be more easily conceived than ex- pressed : — " And the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, proprietor of the said Isle, the said Alexander Home, and all others concerned, are to take notice of this his Majesty's pleasure, and to govern themselves accordingly." For the rest, the petition was referred to the Attorney and Reference Solicitor-General, who were at that time Robert, afterwards crowen Lord Raymond and Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and Lawyers. Philip Yorke, the renowned Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. They were to report their opinion what methods would be proper to be taken for the relief of the petitioners; but previously the Attorney- General was to give notice in writing to the pro- prietor of the Isle of Man, and to know from his Lordship whether he had any objection to the petitioners being released from prison, upon their giving security to answer the said fines if found legal. On the point of quarantine the Trea- sury was to be consulted. A letter with the petition and order was at once sent to Lord Derby. His answer, dated July 29, is remarkable on more than one account. The substance of it, as reported by the Crown lawyers on the 2nd of August, is, — " That his Lordship not having had the least intimation of the m m 2 53.2 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, contents of the said letter from the Governor of the Isle of Man, — - ! or the Council, or Twenty-four Keys, till he heard from them, (which he would endeavour to do as soon as he could, by sending a copy of the Bishop's petition, and of the said letter, to the island, by the first opportunity) he did not know what answer to make to the letter or the order inclosed therein. That till his Lordship hears what the Governor, &c, have to say for themselves, it is im- possible for him to give any opinion. That he believes the matter contained in the Bishop's petition to be misrepresented, but hopes in a little time to give a more satisfactory account of the whole proceeding : which, till he is able to do, his Lordship may be excused from giving any opinion on this matter, since he really thinks that the persons complained of are very honest and well- meaning men. His Lordship is pleased to conclude with saying, that it will be made very plain that he is not as yet in the least, either directly or indirectly, concerned in this matter ; or that any- thing has been done therein either by his direction, or the least hint about it to any person whatsoever ; but on the contrary, that he never gave any directions to the officers of the island, but that they should be very careful to observe strictly the laws." This earnestness in disclaiming all knowledge of his sub- ordinates' doings, coupled with the fact that he had twenty days before written to the Bishop in reply to a letter com- plaining to him of some of the worst of those doings, may provoke suspicions not very favourable to the veracity of this " person of honour," as he would be styled in those days. The Crown lawyers then give their opinion in favour of the release of the petitioners on bail. " We beg leave further humbly to certify your Majesty, that upon consideration of the allegations of the said petition, we appre- hend that the imprisonment of the petitioners hereby complained of is in the nature of a commitment in execution, for fines imposed by judgment of a court claiming to act by legal authority, from which the petitioners had appealed to your Majesty ; and therefore we are of opinion that pending the appeal, and before any determi- nation made thereupon, no order can by law be made for the dis- charge of the petitioners out of custody upon giving security for the fines, without the consent of the person interested therein. But the commitment being only for non-payment of the said fines, we appre- hend that in case the petitioners pay down the same, they ought to be forthwith set at liberty ; and such payment being compulsory, will be no prejudice to the appeal, or any other remedy they may LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 533 think fit to take by due course of law. All which, is most humbly CHAP. submitted to your Majesty's royal wisdom. "Rob. Raymond, P. Yorke." What sort of interpretation the authorities in the island put on Lord Derby's injunctions, however he may in the letter have expressed himself, soon became very evident. The report of Raymond and Yorke bears date Aug. 2, and was approved in Council at Kensington, Aug. 7. After those five days of delay, unavoidable perhaps in the course of pub- lic business, but most seriously harmful to the wrongfully imprisoned, an order for the relief desired was made out, and dispatched to the Bishop and Vicars- General. But by some delay not accounted for, neither it nor the former order of July 19 reached them until Aug. 29. In the meantime the Bishop's memoranda are like those of a person left on a desert island, few and far between, such as he might gather from accidental intercourse with the servants of the prison. "Aug. 4, Archdeacon went for England." "Aug. 11, Mr. Sedden went for England." His accusers and judges at liberty to take counsel where they would against him, but himself debarred from help. "Aug. 22, Mrs. Hey wood," the faithful attendant and soother of his household solitude, was " refused to come to me." She was his principal nurse, doubtless, in his occasional ailings, and must have heard that his health was suffering in that noisome confinement. One piece however of good news found its way into his prison. "Aug. 25, Thomas Stole (Braddon) ordered to be received into the peace of the Church :" of course upon a return made to the Bishop of satisfactory behaviour during his penance. He had noticed before the same sort of providential consolation. At last he writes, — "Aug. 28, Mr. Thorn returned from England with orders from King and Council." It does not appear who this Mr. Thorn was, but we find him after this associated with names better known as coming and going in the Bishop's behalf. Even after his landing, however, there was some delay. As the Bishop knew in some way that he was coming with a message to him, so no doubt did the Governor; and we are not told how, but it came to pass that 534 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, the royal order was not delivered in the prison until Aug. XVL 29, the day after its arrival. The day after that a remark- able process occurred, which the Bishop's journal thus briefly notices :— ■" Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Curlet, and Mr. Thorn gave the Governor the orders of Council, which he flung away, &c. We also offered to deposit the fine. He abused T. Curlet abominably for bringing our letter." But the statements afterwards made and proved before the Privy Council, chiefly on affidavit by Anthony Halsal, are more minute, suggestive, and picturesque. I give them as they stand in the Council Register, omitting certain technical repetitions : — " Your petitioners on the said 30th of August sent a person (Mr. William Thome) to Alexander Home the Governor's house, with the original orders and papers annexed and copies thereof; and the copies being offered to him by the said person, Mr. Home re- fused to receive the copies unless the person that summoned him would give him the originals. And he telling the Governor that he could not do that, (for then he should have no authority to serve the other four officers,) but offering to compare and examine the originals and copies with the Governor, the Governor replied he would have none but an original. Whereupon, on the same day, your petitioners prevailed upon two other persons (two of the 24 Keys of the Island, J. Stevenson and Corlett, with Mr. Halsal as a witness) to wait upon the Governor with the originals and copies, and the copies were delivered into the Governor's hands at his house ; and as soon as he had received the copies, the dooi-s of the chamber were shut against the person who delivered the same, (Corlett.) However, the other, (Stevenson,) who was in the cham- ber with the Governor, opened your Majesty's original orders and shewed the Governor the seals, offering to compare the copies, which the Governor refused, and threw the copies down stairs, threatening the person Avho delivered him the copies, and ordering him to be gone. And the Governor's wife, Mrs. Jane Horne, not content with the said papers being thrown down stairs, came down and picked them up again, and threw them quite out of the house into the court-yard, calling after them, and asking why they left their papers behind them. And sometime afterwards the same day, Corlett, the person who had delivered the copies to the Governor, waiting upon him again with a very civil letter from your petitioners, offering according to your Majesty's order to pay down the fines ; he, being enraged to see that your petitioners, by your Majesty's good- ness, were to be discharged from their confinement, (which in a short LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 535 time would have ended their lives,) was pleased to call the said C H^A P. person villain, rogue, pitiful summoner, dog, and to give him other — opprobrious language, telling him he deserved to be put in the dungeon for having served him (the Governor) with your Majesty's said orders. Which behaviour of the Governor your petitioners apprehend to be the more extraordinary in him, in regard by the said orders he particularly by name was required to take notice of your Majesty's pleasure," and govern himself accordingly ; and moreover he is more immediately your Majesty's servant, being an officer in half-pay e.'' The Governor's principal victim on this occasion, Mr. Thomas Corlett, or Curlet, a member of the house of Keys, from whose deposition much of this statement is taken, adds, " Upon my asking the Governor what answer I was to re- turn my Lord Bishop, he said, You may tell him that I called you a villain;" and Anthony Halsal, the clergyman who had accompanied Corlett to the house, being in the next room, certifies that he overheard it all. Such was the vice-regal court in the Isle of Man, under the last Lord of the House of Derby. The four councillors very dutifully followed their supe- rior's example. " When the Governor had the copies delivered into his hands, as aforesaid, two others of the officers re- quired to answer, Mr. Rowe and Mr. Moor, were in his chamber." Afterwards, on being themselves severally served with copies, in like manner, they accepted them at first, but in about two hours, encouraged by the example of the Gover- nor, " were pleased to declare that they had not been served at a proper time or place, nor by a proper officer, for that by the laws of the island they could not be served with the King's orders in the Lord's garrison ; and threw away their respec- tive copies from them." The next day, the 31st., the other Deemster, Mr. Mylrea, received his copy, and was told that the Summoner was ready with the original for comparison. The King's seal was shewed to him, but he too declared that if he might not have the original, he would take notice of no copy. That which was brought to him he threw away from him to the ground. Mr. Sedden was in England, so his dutifulness was not tried. The others, by their behaviour, do certainly appear to e Stowell, Appendix, 373, 374. 536 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, warrant the petitioners' representation, that " on hearing of XV1, the orders, the Governor and officers conspired (to evade, if possible, the intent of your Majesty's orders) that each one insist, for himself, upon having the original orders under seal, and not accept of copies, though never so exactly verified from the originals in their presence." An unprecedented thing, as they thought : for how could it be expected, considering the frequency of orders sent to courts to answer petitions, that each person should have an original sealed order for himself? And in this instance the King had especially directed that a copy should be sent to each of the five officers. " The obedience," moreover, " of these five officers to the orders after they were served, was agreeable," says the Bishop in his second petition, " to their behaviour at the time of serving." " Your Majesty's order of the 7th of August approved your Attorney and Solicitor's report that your petitioners ought to be set at liberty on paying down the fines : nevertheless, after they had signified by letter to the Governor that they were ready to do so, and after he had been served with your Majesty's order, they were still kept twenty-four hours in prison." Tlie The pretence for this we are not informed of: however at Bishop jas^ on Aug. 31, completing the ninth week of their con- released, -n- i j i -re- finement, the iiisnop s memorandum is, " Discharged out ot prison." CHAPTEE XVII. FROM THE BISHOP'S RELEASE TILL HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND ON HIS APPEAL. AUGUST 31, 1722— APRIL 8, 1723. The following day brought indisputable tokens how en- tirely all that they had suffered was the doing of the few who formed the Government, the heart of the island being all the while with the prisoners. "Sept. 1. I and my Vicars- General returned home, accompanied by about 400 horse of the best of the island." Mr. Stowell describes the scene from contemporary evidence f : — " The day of his release was a day of general jubilee throughout the island. Persons from all parts of the country assembled to 1 pp. 177, 178. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 537 welcome their revered Pastor, once more restored to the light of CHAP, day. Never were there more sincere congratulations than were expressed on this occasion. Old and young, rich and poor, broke forth into acclamations of joy, and formed such a procession as had never before been witnessed. The populace wished to spread their clothes under the Bishop's feet when he came out of the Castle, which he not permitting, they scattered flowers along the path, anxious to testify their attachment in every possible way. A per- son who was confirmed by the Bishop, and who still retains the perfect use of his memory, though more than fourscore years of age, reports that he has often heard the following account of the procession from those who were present on the occasion. The road leading from Castletown to Bishop's Court, for more than three miles, was lined with farmers and others on their best steeds, and caparisoned in their best manner, joy beaming from every countenance, and pleasure sparkling in every eye. For want of musical instruments of a superior kind, the cavalcade had fur- nished themselves with flutes made of the elder-tree, on which they contrived to make a loud and merry noise, and with rude and simple notes express the raptures which they felt. As they approached the village of Kirk Michael, the inhabitants had pre- pared a bonfire, to testify their joy. These modes of evidencing the gladness of their hearts, though not very congenial to the feelings and sentiments of the Bishop, demonstrated the attach- ment of the honest rustics, and the extraordinary pleasure which they experienced at his release." It would be a mistake to imagine that all this congratula- tion and sympathy was due to Church feelings on the part of the Manxmen, or even to personal attachment and grati- tude for the Bishop's services. Unquestionably in this, as in other critical moments of his career, there was a strong political element at work, identifying his cause with that of the islanders in general. Mr. Stevenson of Balladoole, whom we have seen so much mixed up with his troubles, — the two mutually befriending and befriended, — was also, both in the House of Keys and generally in the temporal affairs of the island, an unflinching champion of popular rights and liberties against real or supposed encroachment on the part of the Lord or his officers. There were indeed questions at issue between them great enough, had the field of action been large in proportion, to cause a whole series of revolu- 538 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, tious and counter-revolutions. At this very time, or soon XVIL after, the Keys, as representatives of the people, were pre- paring a petition to Lord Derby which should bring their grievances to an issue concurrently with the Bishop's appeal : the details of which petition, as will be seen by and by, plainly shew how thoroughly they blended his cause — the cause of Church discipline — with their own, as equally neces- sary to be upheld, if there was to be anything like orderly freedom in the island. The Bishop One immediate result there was of the Bishop's imprison- jame. '" ment, very mortifying as likely to impair his usefulness. He hand. was now in his sixtieth year, and his constitution, naturally hale and robust, had nevertheless begun to feel the effect of his hard trials and incessant work, so that, as we have seen, he was constrained to deprecate quarantine by reason of his age and infirmity; and in the known condition of that prison it was not wonderful that he had ere long to complain to the Privy Council, "Your petitioners' long imprisonment has greatly damaged their health, especially that of your petitioner the Bishop, who is ancient and infirm." And again, that whereas they all suffered great hardships during the nine weeks of their restraint, "your petitioner the Bishop contracted such infirmities as are likely to last him the remainder of his life." This alludes especially to a disorder in his right hand, caused by the dampness of the prison. He lost the free use of the fingers of that hand, " so that he was constrained ever after to write with the whole hand grasping the pen." " In this manner," continues his thoughtful and amiable biogra- pher, " he penned the greater part of his useful and valuable writ- ings. The activity of his mind, and his zeal to do good, would not suffer him to lose the use of his pen while he had a nerve to hold it. It was one of his chief instruments of usefulness, and to the last he exercised it with a masterly hand. Charity is ingenious in devising expedients. She has many substitutes. The privation of one instrument of good only excites her to the discovery of another e." The first week of the Bishop's liberation was marked by two deaths which would touch him deeply. He left his B Stowell, 178. LIFE OF BISHOP "WILSON. 539 prison on Friday, August 31 ; the Saturday was the day of CHAP, his triumphal march home; and while they were keeping _^ZJJl_ the Sunday (it was the fifteenth after Trinity) poor Henry Halsal was dying of the ill-treatment he had received in the same prison, and as a witness in the same cause. I have noticed the event before : it stands without remark in Epis- copalia : — " Sept. 2. Henry Halshall (see above) died." Sept. 6, being Thursday in the same week, he has marked in his obituary thus: — " Bach. Murray, my god-daughter, Sept. 6, 1722, aged 17." The Murrays were merchants in Douglas, akin to the Patten family, and through them to the Bishop. Mr. William Murray has been mentioned as his companion in that adventurous voyage to Scotland about the Customs, and became also his surety on sundry impor- tant occasions: and of his wife Susanna we shall hear more hereafter. It would seem that their presence in the island must have been a great comfort to him in many ways. This girl might have been a playfellow or rather plaything of his daughter Mary's, whom he buried at thirteen about ten years before, and so might be associated with her in his memory. At any rate we know how he prayed for her in common with his other god-children : — " Give Thy holy grace to all those for whom I have undertaken at the sacred font, that they may in their own persons renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe Thy holy Word, and obedient!}' keep Thy commandments ; that Thou mayest give unto them the blessing of eternal life, and make them partakers of Thine everlasting kingdom h." This prayer, by the handwriting and the place where it occurs, seems to have been written into the book about the time of his release. In the course of this year, 1722, came out Bishop Gibson's revise of his edition of Camden's Britannia, for which our Bishop had been preparing an article on the Tsle of Man, to complete, or rather perhaps to supersede, that which his predecessor Bishop Merrick had contributed to the original publication by Camden himself in or about 1607. It is a terse vigorous sketch, full of matter, thought, and energy : h MS. iii. 16. 540 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and few I suppose have written, or will write, on the Isle — — of Man, without being greatly indebted to it. One thing in it very remarkable is the candid and good-tempered tone in which (stern reformer as many might account him) he treats of matters to which a strong partizan might easily give a violent and exclusive turn. Although while it was in writing, certainly long before it was published, Lord Derby had gone very far in the ways of oppression and insult, the Bishop (as I have before observed) makes none but honour- able mention of the dealings of that House with the Islanders1. Evidently the work was a labour of love to him. He was an antiquai'ian in grain, and delighted in exact observation; it was all about his own beloved island ; and he was working for Bishop Gibson, and in conjunction with Thoresby — friends who entirely sympathized with him. Thoresby was transcrib- ing for the press his own contribution to Gibson's work as early as 1719, from October to December, as his Diary shews. The Go- vernor's ways of petty per- secution. Although the Bishop's person was free, the anxiety and irksomeness of his position were hardly abated. His own and his Vicar-Generals' English letters were intercepted as while they were in prison, — so they state in their second petition to the King, which was read in Council, Feb. 1 : a thing hardly conceivable in times so near our own, and shewing more distinctly perhaps than anything else in these strange proceedings the great need of eventual annexation to England. Moreover, whereas the order of July 19 required the officers to allow the petitioners free access to the insular records, and authentic and attested copies of such as they needed, at the accustomed charge, — " They were not," they say, " allowed to take copies of such as they wanted, but were obliged to take several unnecessary copies of other papers both before and after the same, (to make the charge the greater). And even then, when your petitioners have sent 1 I may add here, that in this book Wilson estimates the population of his diocese at about 20,000 natives, besides strangers, " which obliges them every where to enlarge their churches :" (p. 181, Works, 4-to., t. i.) Yet Mr. Train (i. 31) says, "By a MS. still extant in the handwriting of Bishop Wilson, the population of the island in 1726 appears to have been 13,971. And in p. 36 he gives the detail by parishes. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 541 a proper person to examine the copies with the records, and see CHAP. the officers attest them, such persons have been denied admittance, VJI* and kept out by the soldiers of the garrison." This was indeed afterwards denied by the officers, but the Bishop's remark on the denial is, " It will be proved by undeniable evidences." In the absence of further informa- tion, we are at liberty to believe which we please. Some time in the course of the five months he discovered another part of the Governor's proceedings, which he was not aware of when he sent in his first petition : viz. that upon payment of the fines being refused, June 26, on return of their refusal the Governor and officers decreed such re- fusal to be " a contempt," and the parties refusing were "left in mercy" (that is, I suppose, delivered over to the mercy of the Lord of the Isle) " for other fines," to be settled by him at his discretion. The Episcopal Registry contains also a copy of the follow- ing paper, certified by Mr. Woods the Registrar : — "Fines and Amercements in Kirk Micliell, anno 1722. " June 25, 1722. The Right Rev. the Bishop of this Isle for con- temptuously refusing (after being required by several orders of Court) to retract and cancel several of his proceedings, wherein he was found to have acted contrary to law, the Lord's prerogative, and the State and Government of this Isle, is therefore fined in £50. " This is a true copy out of the Moars Debet published at Kirk Michael Cross, Jan. 13, 1722. " File 1722, p. 11. John Looney for suspicion of stealing a bee- hive is fined in 6s. 8d. And to be whipped at the Market Cross of Peele the next market-day after this comes out in charge, by the coroner of Michael Sheading, whereof he is to return certificate." It seems they took advantage of a form of law customary in ordinary cases, to offer an elaborate insult to the Bishop and his coadjutors, posting up their names by way of stigma on the market-cross of the Bishop's own parish, along with the name of a poor fellow who had been flogged for petty larceny, (or rather for the suspicion of it, for so the record runs) ; as if by a kind of fatality the then " staff of Govern- ment" could not do the least thing without shocking our English notions of law and equity. And it was done on 542 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, a Sunday, the first after Epiphany, as the Calendar for that — year will shew : so that the people could not pass on their way to and from their church, to receive their Bishop's bless- ing or to bear it home with them, without being met by the announcement that he was no better than a vulgar felon. To make that twelvemonth more completely a year of troubles, a dispute came on in the month of October touching- interments in the Cathedral at Peel. The Bishop we know was most averse in a general way to burying within a Church at all, but was accustomed to allow it when there seemed to be a sort of hereditary claim which it might be painful to disturb. Such a claim in his judgment existed in a family called Cannon in respect of the Cathedral, which was also the parish Church of St. German's ; and he had permitted one Hugh Cannon to bury his wife Isabel there, it being already the burial-place of her child. But the Constable of the Fort, Captain Mercer, had refused permission, unless her friends should first obtain license from the Governor. The Bishop (Oct. 9) writes to him: — " You would do well to consider that this is the first instance of such a practice, and will be a new invasion of the Church's rights and the subject's property ; for if a license must be asked, it may be refused, and then the Bishop may be shut out from his cathedral, and the people from their parish church, for such it was before ever it was a garrison. I think fit to give you this hint, that you may not create new trouble to yourself or me. " I am your friend, " Tho. Sodob and Man." The remonstrance was disregarded. The next page in the Register contains a certificate from the Vicar of the parish that the same thing was done in two subsequent instances, on Oct. 11 and Jan. 21 following : with a view to which last the Bishop had had an extract previously made from the Castletown Records, proving that the parishioners, not the Lord of the Isle, were chargeable with the repairs of St. German's, and therefore had a right in it without asking the Governor, though it did stand within the limits of a fortress. Nov. 22, a circumstance occurred so shocking, that he LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 543 could hardly have borne it but for the special comfort which CHAP, by God's providence came along with it : — — " Mr. Stevenson informed me this day of a most malicious, false, and groundless story set about by . . . and propagated by . . ." (the names are those of two who were most displeased with him, and who ought on every account to have known better ;) " as that when I was tutor to Lord Strange, about twenty-six years ago, I had been under Dr. Radcliffe's hands . . . ; ... pretending that Lord Strange told him so, twenty-five years ago. We immediately went to evening prayer, when, to my great comfort, the History of Susannah was the lesson appointed to be read: in which, viz. vers. 42, 43, Susannah, as I can truly do, appealed to God in these words, '0 everlasting God, ivho knowest secrets, Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me, ivhereas I never did such things as these men have maliciously invented against me.' " But although in this thing I am very much wronged, as Thou, O Lord, knowest, yet my very, very many great and crying sins have deserved this and a much greater punishment. I will therefore hold my peace, and not open my mouth, because it is Thy doing and my deserving. Lord, give me true repentance for all the sins of my life past, and especially for those which may have been the occasion of this sad reproach. The good Lord grant that the Ministry be not blamed, nor His Church suffer, while I receive the due reward of my sins ! And give me grace to look upon the authors of this wrong, as Thy servant David did on Shimei when he cursed him bitterly, as instruments in Thy hand for manifesting Thy glorious attributes of mercy and justice : Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do ! "But grant, O Lord, that I may know and acknowledge Thy voice in this dispensation, and that I may make the best use of this severe trial and treatment, that my sins may be forgiven, and my pardon sealed in heaven before I go hence, and be no more seen. "... The use I purpose to make of this affliction, by God's grace, is, seriously to consider, to avoid, and to repent of, the sin of detraction j." We may hope that Mr. Stevenson somehow mistook what Perse- had been reported to him. But in every way it was growing ^mTand™ more and more evident that the lawsuit would be as tedious, in disci- expensive, and damaging, as the adversaries could possibly make it. Yet when his birthday and Christmas drew near, i MS. iii. 158. 514 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and he revised, as was usual with him, both his temporal XAI " and spiritual accounts, and one might expect that, as in a former time of need, he would be compelled to diminish his offerings for the present, this was the conclusion he came to : — " Bishop's Court, Bee. 23, 1722. " I made the above dedications when I bad enough and to spare, and this I did in a grateful return to God for the undeserved bounties He had heaped upon me. It has now pleased Him to suffer me to fall into troubles, and an expensive lawsuit to defend the discipline of this Church and the episcopal jurisdiction. He is the same great and good God, who can either shorten my troubles, or lessen my expenses, or make good my losses in another life. In sure confidence of which, and as a testimony of my firm faith in His power, ti-uth, and goodness, I do for the future dedicate five-tenths of all my ecclesiastical rents to pious uses, and the rest as above ; and blessed be the good Spirit of God, who at this time has put this thing into my'heart, as an earnest of His purpose of weaning my affections from the world. Amenk." He was also addressing himself (if possible) with increased energy to the work of discipline, and a visible blessing still appeared to rest on it. In the October courts, six out of the seventeen parishes returned an omnia bene, and in seven of the remainder the charges were comparatively trifling. In Douglas, however, here dealt with apart from Braddan, he had to lament a sad and scandalous relapse. William Murray, — who was probably in some sort his kinsman, — the same who had presented himself for unchastity in 1720, now appeared under the like charge again, confessing himself guilty with the same person as before, and desiring that another might be put in his place as Chapel-warden. He was censured, Oct. 23, 1722, but as early as Dec. 13 was released (from prison no doubt) upon his petition. Yet plainly the Bishop was not satisfied, for he makes a memorandum at the time " to send to him ;" and on the last day of the year writes him " a serious letter on occasion of his petitioning to be hastily received after his late shameful relapse into fornica- tion," which was followed up, Jan. 19, by "a serious ex- hortation touching his late sad relapses." It would seem k MS. iii. 191. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 545 as if Murray had wished to be excused from public penance : CHAP. . . XVII but in April, prevailed on doubtless by the Bishop, he sub — mitted, and was restored after two penances, one in Kirk Onchan, the other in Douglas Chapel. This final sentence runs in the name of the Vicars- General only, the Bishop having gone to England. It was a grievous disappointment ; but such cases, be they few or many, have no tendency to prove discipline ineffectual. Who can doubt that the same evil would have happened had the person been only warned, as with us in our parishes ? but it would have been without the same check and chance of amendment. Waldron, in- deed, writing shortly after this time, and wishing to make out as strong a case as he can against the spiritual courts, (of the Bishop personally he speaks highly, and with seeming sincerity,) says1 that they have little success in preventing fornication, "as is seen by the great number of persons doing penance." It is obvious to reply that a penal law is not proved useless by the fact that on following it up strictly the convictions under it multiply. Those who know the island can best say whether the disuse of Church discipline has seemed to improve its morality. Among the many letters, such as that to Mr. Murray, of which one would be thankful to have more than a mere mention of them in Episcopalia, occurs one at this time on a subject which seems to have been gradually drawing more and more of Bishop Wilson's attention : — " Bride, Nov. 24. A letter to the Rector on occasion of the two boats and eight or ten persons, most heads of families, lately lost, as they were running goods to Scotland, &c, desiring him to take all occasions of inculcating the grievousnessof the sin of defrauding the public of taxes, &c. The Lord grant it may have its effect." 1 Description of the Isle of Man, may be said rather to comply with p. 118. But in p. 124, "I must not than approve of it, being in his own quit this subject without mentioning nature what our blessed Saviour recom- some of those many amiable qualities mends, mild, humble, tender, com- which adorn the character of the pre- passionate. But the abundant charities sent Bishop. Long and uninterrupted which he bestows, and which are too custom has made the Spiritual Court well known not to have reached where- of such arbitrary authority, that should ever this treatise will arrive, are better he derogate from it he would be in testimonials of him than the words of great danger of public opposition as any author." Waldron's work is dated well as private hatred from the great 1732. body of inferior clergy : he therefore n n 546 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. It is interesting to see his thoughtfulness in guarding — - — against casual ill-consequences of his acts of discipline : — "Dec. 10. Archdeacon returned from England. — Dec. 21. A letter to Mr. Wood, that the Archdeacon's censure does not debar him from the Holy Sacrament, according to my present sentiments." Probably Horrobin himself, who called on him that day, had mentioned the subject. For bis memorandum goes on: — "N.B. The Archdeacon gdr" in a blew coat, gave me a petition, to which this day, Dec. 21,1 gave him an answer." Horrobin was beginning to have thoughts of submission. His suspension must have been very inconvenient, consider- ing the value of his benefice ; and the object of his call was to try whether the Bishop Avould be satisfied with such an apology as he had made up his mind to : the amount of which may be seen in the petition now presented by himself: — "Your petitioner wanting neither a desire or disposition to pay your Lordship all that duty and regard which becomes a Clergy- man to his Bishop, and in all other respects to act agreeably to his ordination vows, does therefore the more lay to heart his great misfortune in having been involved in several troublesome disputes with reference to his ministerial performances ; and that much against his intention it should have happened, that he has so far incurred your Lordship's displeasure, or given offence, as to induce your Lordship to lay him under the heavy sentence of suspension from his place and office. " Your petitioner therefore humbly prays your Lordship that, all past mistakes or offences pardoned or overlooked, he may be restored (so soon as your Lordship shall think fit) to your Lord- ship's favour, and to the public exercise of his holy function ; he hereby acknowledging, in whatever circumstances he has erred, his hearty concern for the same, and promising all due obedience to your Lordship's authority, admonition, and judgment, and in all respects to behave himself agreeably to his sacred character and profession." He had not to wait long for his answer : — " The sentence I passed upon the petitioner in Convocation, with the advice and approbation of my clergy, was either legal and justi or it was not ; if the latter, he had a legal remedy, and was very often told, that if he thought himself aggrieved, his appeal to our Metropolitan, the Archbishop of York, should be accepted, and reasonable time allowed him to make it good ; but if my sentence LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 547 was legal and just, as I must have leave to believe it was, then I do CHAP. expect (before I can think of restoring him) that he shall acknow- ledge it to be so, as well as the just occasion of offence he has given to bring such a censure upon him ; that he own my authority and jurisdiction over him, which he has openly denied ; and that he promise for the future to avoid giving any occasion of disturbing the peace and unity of this Church : and this with a sincerity be- coming a Christian, and in terms bespeaking a real conviction. " When this is done, I shall then do what becomes a Bishop, who has nothing more at heart than the welfare of his brethren, and the safety of the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer. — Dated at Bishop's Court, Dec. 21, 1722. " Tho. Sodoe and Man." " N.B. The petitioner is required to own the justice and legality of our censure against him ; for that he had the assurance, in a former petition, to urge, in extenuation of his crime, that the proceedings of our Court in the ease of Mrs. Home (one of the causes of his suspension) had been found irregular and contrary to the laws of this Isle, and therefore declared invalid by a sentence of the temporal officers, who could have no jurisdiction over us in matters purely spiritual ; as we doubt not to make appear before his Majesty in council, where our appeal now lies." The Bishop however, as always, was no doubt looking out for whatever might justify him in relenting, and accordingly made the concession about Holy Communion. But he soon found that he had judged a little too favourably. On the 26th he saw reason to write again to Mr. Woods, counter- manding his last of Dec. 21, that is, withholding from the Archdeacon at present permission to receive the Holy Com- munion. He adds this note in explanation : — "N.B. The Archdeacon (Mr. "Walker, "Woods, &c, present) had the assurance to say that the book called 'The Independent "Whig,' censured by me Jan. 7, 1721, had rules and directions in it sufficient to bring us to heaven, if we could observe them." It seems to have been hard even then — it would be still harder now — to persuade those who most need discipline that any one could be in earnest in enforcing it. As Lent drew near, the Bishop became aware of a great Submis- encouragement which by God's mercy was in store for him, ^tv and for his disciplinary labours. Mary Hendrick, after six Hendrick. n n 2 548 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, years' wilfulness, had been brought to feel in some measure '— what excommunication really is ; the promptings of her false friends, the Bishop's enemies, could no longer sustain her against her own inward convictions, and the want of support and sympathy from the neighbourhood : so on some day in the winter of 172f she made up her mind to humble herself in earnest before the Bishop. The first indication of this in Episcopalia is the following : — " Braddan, Jan. 23. An humble petition from Mary Hendricks (6 years under excommunication), begging to perform the just censure passed upon her, and which the enemies of the Church had persuaded her to despise hitherto." The Register preserves the petition itself in two forms ; the first (which has no date) so simple and untechnical, as to suggest the notion that it was drawn up by the poor woman herself: — " To the Eig1 Revrnd Father in God Thomas Ld Bpp of Sodor and Man. " The Petition of Mary Hendrick is wth all humility Presented : " Shewing y* yr Ldps poor and distressed petitionr is reduced to great extremity and want, being forcd to wandr from place to place in a miserable destitute condition, being y* evry person, tho' of nevr soe great Acquaintance, are in noe mannr willing to either give yr poor petitionr reliefe or Lodging soe long as she remains excluded out of the Church. " What yr Lops petition1 craves for Christ's sake is, y* yu would be pleased to grant yr order for the restoring yr petition1 to the Church, and y* the same may be done wth what expedition yr Lop in yr gracious judgement shall think fitt. And she as in duty bound shall ever pray." This paper is valuable as shewing how much of faith in God's Word concerning discipline was lingering still among the Islanders, so that in a tolerably clear case an excommu- nicated man could get no countenance from those around him. It may seem that she brought it to Mr. Woods, and by his assistance it took the following form : — "January 18, 1722. " Whereas your petitioner being truly sensible of her great mis- fortune and error in withstanding the just censures of the Church, being let and hindered by the instigation of the devil and the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 549 enemies of the Church, humbly begs that your Lordship would CHAP, please to give such orders with all speed, that your petitioner mav XVH- be restored to the communion of the Church, and that your peti- tioner is fully resolved, by the grace of God, to undergo whatever your Lordship is pleased to order, and humbly begs that your Lord- ship would make no delay, by reason I labour under such great afflictions, which I earnestly desire to be eased of, by being re- stored to the Church. This granted, your petitioner shall ever pray. " Mart Hendrick." " Signed by the petitioner before me, J. Woods, lleg. Ep." This was forwarded to Vicar-General Walker, and we see by his acknowledgment how thankfully it was received : — " Jan. 24, 1722. "Dear Sir, — Yours finding me last night at Bishop's Court, I immediately delivered the petition to my Lord, who rejoiced truly (as I do from my heart) at the prospect of Mrs. Hendrick's being again received into the fold of Christ. I pray the God of heaven to assist, and comfort, and strengthen her in her good resolutions. My Lord has sent forth directions touching her performance of penance, which, though appointed to be in several churches, yet his Lordship will be sure to shorten the number, if her behaviour be satisfactory, and exemplary to the respective congregations. And not only at the churches, but elsewhere, — I mean in her whole conversation during the time appointed for the trial of her sin- cerity,— you will be pleased to exhort her to be exceeding careful not to give the least offence, lest both she and we be [by the devil's instruments] reproached as only mocking of God. You may assure her she is dealt with in what is required of her as mildly and compassionately as her case will bear, her own very words in her petition being the words made use of in her censure. When she has brought you three or four good certificates, (one of which must be from the chaplain of Douglas,) you will send them over to my Lord, and his Lordship will not fail, if he finds by them she has behaved herself as a real penitent, to give orders for her being restored to the peace and communion of the Church. " Care must be also taken that the respective ministers have the papers sent them at least the night before she is to do penance at their churches, that they may not be surprised ; and she will do well to sign with her own hand the paper she is to deliver to the minister at his entrance into the church, — I mean, let her sign the request to be prayed for, &c. It need not be in a distinct paper, but as it stands in the censure, for she is to deliver the whole to 550 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, the minister as he passes by her into the church. I hope you received your son's letter about the courts, &c. " I am, dear Sir, yours affectionately, "Wm. Walker." "That there may be no delay, there is a copy sent you along with the original, which you may sign and deliver to her for her perusal till Sunday. " You may add at the foot of the petition, ' Signed before me, J. Woods, Reg. Ep.' " Do you certify, both at the foot of the original ji>etition and the copy, that it was signed by her in your presence. And since yours is to be the first church of penance, let your certificate be a good pattern for others to follow." Mr. Woods was now growing very old, which accounts for these minute cautions, tending both to exactness and com- fort. Next come the Bishop's directions : — " Bislwfs Court, Jan. 24, 1722. "Mr. Woods, — I have seriously considered the inclosed petition of Mary Hendrick, and as we followed the example of the Apostle St. Paul in casting her out of the Church for her obstinacy and other crime, so we ought to observe the same Apostle's advice to receive her again, when once we can be persuaded of the sincerity of her repentance. But forasmuch as she has done great dishonour to God, and has given great scandal to all good Christians of this Church, it is very necessary that her penance should in some mea- sure answer the nature of her faults. If, therefore, with a meek- ness becoming one sensible of so great crimes, she shall observe the following directions, she shall be received again into the com- munion of the Church, and will be treated by us, and if her re- pentance be sincere, by God Himself, as if she had never offended. But then let her beware of dealing deceitfully in a matter in which her everlasting welfare is so nearly concerned ; she may deceive the Church by a feigned repentance, but God, the Searcher of Hearts, is not to be imposed ivpon ; and if the future conduct of her life be not answerable to her present professions, she may justly expect that a much worse evil than any we have or can inflict upon her, will follow. Whatever is the consequence, I hope both you and I, and all that shall be concerned in treating with her, in order to bring her to a true sense of her condition, shall have the approbation of our own consciences, and of Him in whose name we act, as having done all we can to save a soul from death. In LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 551 doing of which, may the blessing of God attend you, and all con- CHAP, cerned in so good a work. " I am, XVII. " Your affectionate friend and brother, " Tho. Sodor and Man." " To the Rev. Mr. "Woods, Vicar of Kirk Malew. " Mary Hendrick, in order to her being absolved and received into the peace of the Church, is to observe these following direc- tions : — " She is to go to the several churches hereafter mentioned, and standing in penitential habit and manner just within the church- door, shall deliver to the Incumbent the following petition or re- quest signed with her own hand : — " ' Sir, — I pray you, for Christ's sake, to believe me yourself, and to satisfy your congregation that, as I have set forth in my petition to the Lord Bishop, I am truly sensible of my great misfortune and error in withstanding the just censures of the Church, being let and hindered by the instigation of the devil, and the enemies of the Church, — that I am heartily grieved for my great offences, begging your and all good Christians' prayers for my conversion. " ' Mary Henrick.' " The minister, having received this, shall, after the Nicene Creed, read her petition and the papers following, and immediately after a sermon proper to the occasion, shall make use of the prayer appointed for persons under a course of penance, and return cer- tificate as usual. " The churches appointed are : — (1) Kirk Malew, (2) Kirk Santon, (3) Douglas Chapel, (4) Kirk Conchan, (5) Kirk Lonan, (6) Kirk Braddan. After which, if the certificates she brings be- speak a sincere penitence, she is to be absolved and received into the peace of the Church by her proper pastor, the Vicar of Kirk Braddan, pursuant to the directions which he shall hereafter re- ceive. " Tho. Sodor and Man." Some certificates follow, to the effect that the course of penance prescribed was duly gone through, beginning at Kirk Malew on the third Sunday after Epiphany, "after a very becoming and serious manner, and with tokens of sorrow, to my satisfaction, and to [that of] most of the con- gregation, as I am verily persuaded," says old Mr. Woods. Anthony Halsal at Douglas makes no remark on her de- meanour, but adds, " God grant her future behaviour may give full testimony of her real humiliation and sincere re- 552 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, pentance." However, her absolution was deferred until XVII — Palm Sunday, March 31, 1723 m, when it took place in Kirk Braddan Church, after a form minutely specified by the Bishop : — " Directions to the Vicar of Kirk Braddan for absolving and receiving Mary Hendrick into the peace and communion of the Church, upon her bringing proper and satisfactory certificates. " Mr. Curghy, — You are, in your surplice, with your clerk and the rest of the congregation, immediately before morning service, to go to the church-stile, and there receive the said Mary in peni- tential habit, walking leisurely before her towards the church-door, and devoutly repeating the fifty-first Psalm. And having placed her just within the door (where she is to continue during divine service) you are, after the Nicene Creed, to read her petition with my letter to Mr. Woods, and the certificates in the order they stand, giving the sense of the whole in Manx ; and after sermon to go down, and again walking before her towards the altar, to repeat some verses of the thirty-second Psalm, — ' Blessed is he whose unrighteousness,' &c. After which you are to proceed with the Form appointed for Receiving Penitents until you come to the prayer, ' May the gracious God give you repentance,' before which are to be used these following words, the penitent kneeling at the rail, — ' By my holy office, and by the authority committed unto me by the governors of Christ's Church, I do declare thee to be ab- solved and free from the sentence of excommunication, wherewith thou hast been bound. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. May the gracious God give you repentance,' &c, and so to the end of the Form." Supposing her sincere and consistent, (and we are told nothing to the contrary,) it was indeed a happy termination of one of the Bishop's main troubles, and well worth the money, anxiety and mortification which it had cost. Besides the deeper invisible blessing, it was now distinctly settled that appeals on excommunication, and by parity of reason- ing on other spiritual matters, could lie only to the Metro- politan. And the Bishop might with the more cheerfulness address himself anew to an English voyage, for which mat- ters were now become more than ripe. m Curghy, the Vicar-General, says in was Easter Day; and the Bishop in the Register "April 7 ;" but it must Episcopalia' says also March 31. have bt-en a slip of the pen, for that LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 553 For five months the officers had been delaying their CHAP, answer to the first petition, although the Council had re- quired it to be speedy : a second petition therefore was pre- shop agajn pared, and laid before the Council on the first of February, before the „ . J Council. the same from which extracts have already been given. They recite the substance, first of the former petition which they had forwarded out of prison, then of the order in Council for their relief; they detail the many ways in which that order had been disobeyed or evaded, and the insulting behaviour of the Governor and officers on receiving it ; and they conclude with the following prayer : — " Now in regard of these great and high contempts of your Majesty's orders, and forasmuch as in like cases the Governor, judges, and officers of the said island have formerly been sent for over to attend this most Honourable Board in person, as by order in Council of the 5th of August, 1663, in your Majesty's council books appeareth ; " Your petitioners humbly beseech your most gracious Majesty that you will be pleased to refer your petitioners' former petition, and this petition also, and all the proceedings in this affair, unto the committee of your Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council for hearing appeals, complaints, &c, from the Plantations, or to that for the affairs of Guernsey and Jersey; and that your Majesty by your order in Council or otherwise will order and command the said Alexander Home, John Rowe, William Sedden, Daniel Mcylrea, and Charles Moor to appear in person, and answer for their said con- tempt, as well as to the complaint of your petitioners against them for the making the irregular orders complained of in your petitioners' former petition, at a short day to be named and appointed by your Majesty in the month of April, if your Majesty so pleases ; and that the several matters of the said officers' contempt, your petitioners' complaint against them for making the aforesaid irregular orders, and your petitioners' appeal against the said orders, may all come on to be heard at one day ; and that proper notice of such hearing may be given to the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, proprietor of the said isle, who would be entitled to the said fines, if legal, to defend the said orders or sentences if he thinks proper ; and that, in order to verify the allegations in your petitioners' present and former petition, your petitioners the Bishop and two servants, and your petitioner William Walker, and Mr. John Stevenson, Mr. Thomas Corlett, Mr. Thomas Christian, Mr. Anthony Halshall, and Mr. William Thome, may have your Majesty's order of leave to come 55-1 LIFE OF BISHOP AV1LSON. CHAP, over from the island to attend the said hearing without performing quarantine ; and that upon such hearing the said officers may be punished for their said contempt, and censured for making such irregular orders against your petitioners, and the said orders and execution of them declared illegal and reversed ; and that your petitioners may have the money by them paid down for the fines restored to them by the said officers, or whom else it may concern (your petitioners having paid them in August last,) together with interest for the same, and full costs and damages for this great vexation and cruel treatment of your petitioners, or such other relief as to your most sacred Majesty in your great wisdom and goodness shall seem meet." The petition was immediately referred, according to their wish, to the Committee for Colonial Appeals ; and in the meantime it would appear that something was done to quicken the movements of the Bishop's adversaries, for on Feb. 15, when the matter came on again, their answer to the Bishop's first complaint had arrived, which was of course referred in like manner. The Treasury and the law officers having been consulted on the matter of quarantine, saw. no reason why it might not be dispensed with, as in the case of the Governor of Jersey a little while before. Indeed all need of it had well-nigh ceased for some time, so that as early as Dec. 13 the Bishop had issued "directions to his clergy to return thanks to God for assuaging the contagious sickness abroad n." Lord Derby was written to, and the 22ud of May named as a convenient day for hearing the cause. At this juncture it was thought proper to draw up a paper, which has been preserved in the Kirk Michael Registry, headed " The Bishop of Man's case with respect to the evil treatment he has met with from the Earl of Derby's officers, by their endeavours to destroy the Episcopal Authority." It is very well drawn up, reciting in the first place the main points in the litigation as we have traced it, from the excom- munication of Mary Hendrick, the last fact being that " his Majesty has been graciously pleased to order the 2.2nd of May for a hearing." Probably it was provided as a sufficient sketch of the case for those who might be interested in it as n Ep'seopalia. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 5 55 friends of the Bishop or otherwise, taken from his point of CHAP XVII view ; but plainly one main purpose of it was to obviate - a misunderstanding which to a certain extent already pre- vailed, and which might do him irreparable harm in the minds even of those who were to judge him. For after the above recital it proceeds, — " The Bishop of Man having exhibited the above complaint to his Majesty in Council, and his adversaries having no better de- fence to make for themselves, have endeavoured most unjustly to asperse him, with exercising an exorbitant power in the govern- ment of the Church, and with disaffection to the present Govern- ment of Great Britain. "To the first the Bishop is able to produce the ample testimony of the 24 Keys, or Commons of Man, declaring that there is no cause to them known for so strange an imputation, being verily persuaded that he and his Vicars- General have been so far from assuming to themselves any undue authority, that the Church was never better governed than in their time, nor justice more impar- tially administered in the Ecclesiastical Courts of the isle. " To the second unworthy aspersion, never pretended till now, the Bishop can very safely trust his reputation for loyalty with all that know him ; and such as do not, he desires they may be in- formed— " 1 . That he has taken all the oaths to the Government which have at any time been required of him by law, viz. five several times in England since the Revolution. "2. That upon his Majesty's coming to the throne, he took timely care, by an order dated March 1, 1714, to require his clergy to recognize his Majesty's title, pursuant to the 55th Canon. "3. This order he reinforced Aug. 8, 1718, when he took an occasion to admonish his clergy to avoid the company of strangers and others disaffected to the present Government. "4. Upon complaint of people's drinking disaffected healths, the Bishop, Oct. 4, 1715, sent a circular letter to his clergy, requiring them to read the Governor's order on that occasion, and to take that opportunity to instruct the people in the duties of obedience to his Majesty, &c. Of all which the Bishop is able to produce authentic records. " 5. The Bishop can very truly say for himself, that since his Majesty's accession to the throne he has scarce ever (except hin- dered by sickness) omitted reading daily prayers himself, and those who know his character will hardly believe that he durst entertain 556 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, any disaffection in his heart while he used the stated prayers in XVIL the Liturgy. " Lastly, It is known that the Bishop has written a small tract, some time ago, for the satisfaction of such as had any scruples on account of the oaths to the present Government. " Besides the above reasons, the Bishop (at a proper time and place) is able to give another instance of his loyalty, which may make his adversaries to blush for their unjust aspersion." The summons of course made a stir at Castle Rushen. "March 18, Mr. Thorn landed with the King's orders for the officers/' &c, to attend the trial ; and to shew in what temper these orders were received, on the same day " the Governor absolutely refused the assistance of a soldier in Wainwright's case for adultery." As the time for the voyage drew on, the Governor, who seems to have been at his wits' end, having prepared his witnesses, most unaccountably in- vited the Bishop to hear them give their evidence. The Bishop wrote his answer to Mr. Stevenson as follows : — " Bishop's Court, April 2, 1723. " Sir, — Just now the Coroner served me with an order of the Governor's, letting me know that some evidences are to be ex- amined and taken at Castle Ryssin, on Friday next, touching our complaints to King and Council. I beg you will know of the Governor whether there be any commission sent, or commissioners appointed, for taking evidences in this affair which now lieth be- fore his Majesty : if there be, I will not fail to attend ; but if there be none, I should think it very strange and very hard measure, and I believe it wdll be judged so elsewhere, for those persons against whom our complaints are laid to charge us to hear evidences, with- out any orders from that Court where the cause is to be heard and judged ; for it is easily seen what hardships we may meet with, the whole civil power being in the hands of those whom we have been constrained to complain against. " I am making all the haste I can to make myself ready for a voyage and hearing elsewhere, and have scarce time to write this, much less to ride thirty or forty miles. I hope therefore the Governor will not take it amiss that I excuse myself from coming on this occasion. " I am, " Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant, " Tno. Sodor and Man. " I send you a copy of the order with which I was served. " To John Stevenson, Esq., of Balladool." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 557 The affair at the Governor's is described in letters from CHAP. Mr. Thomas Christian,, a member of the House of Keys, — attested by other members who were present : — " April 4, 1723. "This day at Mr. Stevenson of Balladoul's request, (he being himself somewhat indisposed,) I read the within letter to Governor Home in the presence of Mr. Richard Stevenson, Mr. Comptroller Eowe and Mr. Sandforth, water-bailiff, being also by ; and asked the Governor, according to the directions in the said letter, whether there was any commission, or commissioners appointed to take evidence in the case now lying before King and Council. To which he answered, that he would give no answer relating to that, either to Mr. Stevenson or me. I also asked whether it was requisite that my Lord Bishop should take out a licence or pass from him, for himself and his witnesses to go for England ; to which he replied, that if the Bishop sent for a pass he might have it." The next day the Court, as it called itself, was holden, consisting of five persons, Home, Rowe, the two Deemsters, and a Mr. Sandforth, who had succeeded Sedden as water- bailiff or collector ; four of the five being parties in the matter on which they were to take evidence. They pro- ceeded to deal with two groups of witnesses : first, those whose evidence had been rejected by the Spiritual Court in Mr. Bridson's case; and secondly, a number of persons — several of whose names one familiar with the records may recognise as belonging to their own partizans and de- pendants— who professed to have been present at the Con- ference (so called) on the 9th of February. One woman, a Mrs. Cornah, "was examined about what she heard her husband say in relation to liberty given him to let the Bishop have wine :" doubtless to shew that he was not altogether denied what he wanted in the prison. It seems to have been a confused crowd of persons, making their affidavits and writing their names as fast as they could, in behalf of the very persons who as magistrates were taking their evidence, and whose former conduct, at least in Bridson's case, could only be justified (if at all) by their being then in possession of the very affidavits which were now for the first time being signed, in their presence and at their call. 558 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAPTEE XVIII. A YEAR AND A HALF IN ENGLAND. THE CAUSE DECIDED. FROM APRIL 8, 1723, TO OCTOBER 4, 1724. CHAP. At length, on Easter Monday, April 8, Bishop Wilson's preparations were so far complete that he was able to start once more for England — the most momentous, perhaps, of all his voyages. " I landed," he says, " at Hylake, with Mr. Stevenson, after twenty-four hours' sail." If we take the phrase at its literal meaning, this expedition, like so many before, must have taken place on a Sunday : that is, he must have gone on board before Easter-day was over. Mr. Steven- son was one of four who had been commissioned by the Keys to use on their behalf, here in England, " all legal means of obtaining redress of their manifold oppressions and wrongs, before His Majesty in Council, or elsewrhere, as they shall be advised, in pursuance of the power of trust formerly by the Keys reposed in them." The other three were John Chris- tian, of Unrigg, in Cumberland, Esq., Thomas Corlett, and Thomas Christian, Gentlemen — the two last, with Stevenson, being members of the House of Keys. They brought with them ample instructions as to the matter of their remon- strance, and full authority to proceed as might seem best in the manner of urging it. They elected to petition Lord Derby in the first instance, and the event in the Bishop's cause proved that in so doing they exercised a sound dis- cretion. The result I will not here anticipate ; but the very application must have satisfied his Lordship, if he did not know it before, that he had to do not with a mere clerical junto, but with the general body of the landholders of the island; as what took place first at the Bishop's imprison- ment, and afterwards on his liberation, must have shewn his Lordship the feeling of the populace. For the instructions (which I reprint at the end of this chapter from Mr. Stowell's Appendix °) as well as the petitions afterwards based upon them, mix up the Bishop's spiritual grievances with the people's civil and temporal wrongs, in a way to shew, beyond 0 See Note (A) subjoined to this chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 559 all doubt, that they felt one as deeply as the other, and re- C H A P. garded both as alike unconstitutional. Independently of any . XVIIr- formal result, the moral support which all this gave to the Bishop's cause at the time must have been real and very valuable. The Bishop as yet could have hardly had in his hands the answer (so called) of the Governor and his officers to the first petition ; for the evidence on which that answer was to be based had been only taken but three days before. He had therefore (besides other things) to draw up his rejoinder — an elaborate and masterly paper — after he came to Eng- land, to be ready against the first hearing. Various de- lays however intervened ; and when the day of hearing first appointed was come, that is, May 22, it found him, instead of waiting anxiously in Court, making a quiet call upon his old friend Dr. Bray, where another old friend and cousin, Ralph Thoresby, then paying what proved to be his final visit to London, chanced to look in, and " happily," as he says, " met with the good Bishop of Man p." A few days afterwards, May 28, Thoresby was at the Society's room, " taking leave of dear friends," amongst whom he names Bishop Gibson, the Bishop of Man, &c, adding, evidently with the feeling of one who has found a gem, " I have his motto in my travelling album :" no doubt the Tuta et Parvula, which our Bishop wrote in all his books. Then came other postponements — one especially which I am unable to explain. The King having gone over into Germany, the Bishop petitioned the Lords Justices to have the hearing of the cause transferred from the Appeal Com- mittee to the whole Council. Notice had to be given to Lord Derby, and so one hindrance following another, nothing was really done until July 18. The charities however of the City of London, especially those connected with the great societies, and the earnest people in the congregations, failed not to profit by the delay. There are entries on his MS. Sermons for every Sunday in June of that year : for Whitsunday, June 2, two, both at St. Mary Aldermanbury ; and there are three in the ensuing p Diary, ii. 380, 382. 560 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap, month. In August and September there are none — a fact — easily accounted for. Derby. Order for For on July 18 the cause really came on. For the first Appeal to* time tne I*rivy Council sat judicially on the appeal ; but it Lord took a turn probably different from what the Bishop and his friends expected, and the immediate result was simply a great deal of vexatious delay and expense. The parties were heard by counsel, but the merits of the case were not entered into. A preliminary point was raised by the Go- vernor's advocates ; viz. that the appeal out of the island, purporting to be made from the decree of a Court acting by authority of the Earl of Derby, feudal proprietor of the island under the Crown, ought to have been made to his Lordship in the first instance. So it was argued, and so it was finally sustained ; the time had not yet come for speaking of uncon- stitutional abuse of power, ill-treatment, contumacy, or any- thing else, but an order was made " that the first petition of appeal be dismissed, in regard the same ought to have been made in the first instance to the Earl of Derby as Lord of the Isle, from whom it would regularly have come before his Majesty." As to the second petition, charging the officers, and Home especially, with contempt and contumacious disregard of the King's order, their Excellencies were pleased to respite it for future consideration. In fact it was deferred by consent. It was but too easy to foresee that the persons, especially the principal person, with whom the Bishop and his friends now again had to deal, would have no scruple in pro- longing the time, enhancing the cost, and aggravating every difficulty to the extent of their power. However, there was but one thing to be done. The Bishop and Mr. Walker (for the other Vicar- General, Curghey, had not accompanied them to England, partly perhaps on ac- count of his age and infirmities, and partly because of the inconvenience of their being all absent from the island at once) lost no time in preparing a petition to the Earl, the same in substance with that which they had first presented to the Council. It was ready by the 31st of July, and dry and technical as it was in itself, it was destined to undergo LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 561 a series of adventures which may remind us of nothing so CHAP. XVI II much as of the difficulty of conveying papal mandates accord - ing to their address, as exemplified in the romantic history of Archbishop Becket. First of all, on July 31, the petitioners having, as I imagine, Difficulty left London (where the Bishop preached on the 28th) for thfappefi Warrington, in order to be near at hand for convenience presented. in dealing with the Earl — they sent Anthony Halsal, Chap- lain of Douglas, a person greatly trusted, and constantly em- ployed by them in this emergency, to deliver their petition to his Lordship, whom they knew to be then at Knovvsley. But the Earl would not see Halsal : only a Mr. John Murrey signified to him, in his Lordship's name, that the appeal and complaint must first be sent to his officers in the Isle of Man, for their acceptance, before he could receive it himself. Upon this, with great trouble and expense, they sent Mr. Halsal with the petition to the Isle, who presented it in their name, Aug. 19, to Mylrea, then Deputy-Governor in Home's absence, to Moore the other Deemster, and to Rowe the Comptroller, Sandforth acting with them as Water- Bailiff. They took a week to consider, and then frankly accepted and indorsed it. For Halsal, Aug. 26, saw their names on the back of it, and read them several times, in their own hands. Their acceptance is recorded in the Registry as follows : — " The officers accepted the Bishop of Man and his Vicars- Generals' appeal in these or the like words : — " Castle RusJien, August 26, 1723. " Notwithstanding the method and form of the above appeal is not agreeable to the visual practice of appeals within this Isle, yet in all submission to the Eight Honourable Lord's prerogative, the said appeal is accepted from our judicial proceedings, the parties applying to Governor Home, who presided in this affair, for his acceptance, and giving in bonds to prosecute and make good the said appeal in such time as shall be appointed by his Lordship, and also to answer all costs, damages, and expenses that have been, or shall be sustained by the parties complained of by this complaint, and likewise that they take authentic copies of all proceedings relating to this affair, and lay them before his Lordship. " Charles Moor, John Rowe, Daniel McYlrea." o o 562 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. c H A p. It appears that at this point Mr. Sandforth withdrew him- — — self from the affair. But they very soon repented of this deviation into straight- forwardness. Three days after, Aug. 29, they took on them to require of Mr. Halsal a bond under penalty of £500 on the part of the Bishop and Vicars-General, one condition being that they should make good their appeal, another "for payment of all costs and charges, past or to come." Until this bond were given they declared they would neither re- turn the appeal with their acceptance, nor give an authentic copy of it. Halsal, who seems thoroughly to have justified the Bishop's confidence in him, declined this arbitrary demand, but of- fered an engagement to the same amount to prosecute the appeal with effect, and to answer all ensuing costs, or to give any other bond that was according to law and precedent. He reminded them of an appeal which they had themselves accepted only two months before, not imposing any such condition. But they would not listen to his proposal. The next fact may best be given in the very words of the document : — " That your petitioners having notice of what passed in the island, a petition thereupon to the said Earl of Derby was pre- pared, and sent by Mr. Christian, one of the 24 Keys of Man, to be presented to his Lordship, then at Buxton ; who endeavoured to get an opportunity of laying the same before his Lordship, and used all decent means he could think of, but in vain, not being able to gain access to his Lordship." Upon this it would appear that the Bishop and Mr. Walker, confident in their just cause, authorized Halsal to accept the required bond in their names, strange aud unreasonable as its terms were. He did so on the 4th, and again on the 8th of October, offering to have it executed in the very terms the officers had insisted on, " or any other bond that they should require, the said Mr. Halsal trusting that his Lordship, upon hearing the cause, would detest and condemn such unrea- sonable proceedings." But now they had got up another plea: they said the time for appealing was elapsed, although they had six weeks before signed and sealed their acceptance of that very appeal. Rowe went on to tell Halsal that he LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 563 had written to Lord Derby for directions, and whatever his CHA P. Lordship should order, that he and the other officers would XVIIL do. Halsal, not knowing, after his best inquiries, of any law that limited the time of appealing, often asked them to shew him such a law, but in vain. The records give the very form of the bond, as executed by the Bishop's sureties, tendered and rejected : — " We, Wm. Murrey of the town of Douglass, merchant, Thos. Christian of the said town, John Wattleworth of Kirk Malew, and Anth. Halsal, Chaplain of Douglass, do in behalf of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of this Isle, the Rev. Mr. Wm. Walker, and Mr. John Curghey, Vicars- General, firmly bind, and jointly and severally oblige ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns • to prosecute to effect an appeal accepted by the officers, August the 26th last past, from their proceedings against the said Bishop and Vicars-General to the Right Honourable the Lord of this Isle ; and also to answer all costs and damages that shall ensue upon the said appeal, and all this in the penalty of five hundred pounds sterling. As witness our hands and seals this 3rd of September, 1723. — Signed and sealed in presence of us, " J. Woods, " Will. Mureey, Will. Ross. Thos. Christian-, John Waxtlewoeth, Anth. Halsal." " Castletown, Sept. 3, 1723. " We certify that this day the within bond was signed and sealed in our presence, and offered to Mr. John Rowe, Governor and Comptroller, in his office, where such bonds are recorded, and that he would not accept the same. "J. Woods, Will. Ross." They give also the details of Halsal's final application : — " Comptroller John Rowe, who is principal Keeper of the Re- cords, was applied to as follows for a copy of the law for limiting the time of appealing, 8cc. : — " October 10, 1723. " Sir, — Having at the Sheading Court held at Douglas on Friday, the 4th instant, and likewise at the Head Court at Castletown on Tuesday last, tendered sufficient bonds for the due prosecution of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop and the Vicars-General their appeal from several late orders of the officers to the Right Hon. the Lord of this Isle, accepted by you and the other officers con- cerned, August the 26th last past, and this in the very words and o o 2 564 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, terras (how hard and unreasonable soever) required in the said XVI11, acceptance, and then insisted on by you, or any other you should think fit to demand, since we are thereunto constrained in order to obtain justice ; you were pleased to say upon your rejecting the same, that the time was lapsed. " We do therefore now demand in behalf of the appellants afore- said a copy of the law whereby any time is limited for appealing to the Eight Honourable the Lord of this Isle, or your certificate that there is no such law known to you. We also desire a copy of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop and the Vicars-General their appeal from the orders of the officers to the right Honourable the Lord of this Isle, presented August the 19th, 1723, with the officers' accept- ance August the 26th, 1723, indorsed thereupon, being still ready to give bonds as aforesaid : or favour us with a speedy answer whether you will grant this legal demand to " Sir, your humble servants, " John Cueghey, Anth. Halsal. " To the Worshipful John Rowe, one of the Deputy Governors and Comptroller of this Isle." "We do certify that the within request was delivered to the Comptroller in his own office, October 10th, 1723, in presence of the rest of the officers ; and that he the said Comptroller refused to keep it or give any answer thereto, but sent it out by a soldier to the Rev. Mr. Curghey, Vicar- General, who refusing to take it, he threw it on the wall. " J. Woods, Anth. Halsal." At length, finding that he could make nothing of them, Halsal returned to Warrington, and made his report to the Bishop and Mr. Walker ; and taking Mr. Thomas Patten, the Bishop's brother-in-law, into their counsels, they drew up a fresh petition to the Earl, giving the history of Halsal's mission as above, and " most humbly beseeching his Lord- ship to consider the exceeding trouble and expense they had been at in endeavouring to lay their grievances before him, and the many artifices made use of by the officers to hinder him from looking into the merits of the cause ; and that he would be graciously pleased to accept the appeal thereto annexed, and appoint a day of hearing according to its prayer." The petition was ready by the 21st of October, and should have been presented on that day. How it fared is minutely LIFE OV BISHOP WILSON. 565 described in the Bishop's subsequent petition and affidavit, CHAP. as they stand on the books of the Privy Council : — - " On the 21st of October last, two of your petitioners, together with the said Mr. Halsal and Mr. Thomas Patten, attended at his Lordship's house, at Knowsley, to have presented the same, but being told that his Lordship was in the park, after waiting about three hours, Mr. Wignal, his Lordship's butler, told two of your petitioners that his Lord had sent word he would not return till late in the evening, but if that we had any papers for his Lordship, he the said Wignal would take care to deliver them ; whereupon your petitioners left the petition and the appeal annexed with the said Wignal to be delivered to his Lord." I interrupt the statement from the petition to observe that the Bishop, reflecting on what had passed, had serious mis- givings as to the prudence of committing himself to any further negotiation with Lord Derby ; and wrote the next day to his solicitor in London, as follows : — " Warrington, Oct. 22, 1723. " Mr. Paris, — You see by the above petition what pains we have taken, and what expense we have been at to get our appeal ac- cepted by Lord Derby. This petition and the appeal was delivered yesterday to one of his Lordship's chief servants by Mr. Halshal, with whom I went to his Lordship's house ; we found him not at home, but having word sent him that I was there, he sent word that he would send to me at a convenient time. The reason of my writing to you is this : I do apprehend that he will demand of me (as he did of Mr. Stevenson) a bond of 5007., not only to prosecute my appeal to effect, but also to be forfeited in case I do not make good (perhaps all) my complaints, or some such clause as will serve their turn to commence, it may be, two or three lawsuits against me here in England, for I have too much reason to believe that there are some persons who would not stick to spend 500Z. to make me spend the same sum. " I desire you therefore to consider, and to give me your opinion the first post, — that we offered bonds, and they have been rejected, in the isle ; that in England, in other causes of appeal, no bonds are required or given. Here is no officer to take nor office to lodge bonds in, nor any instance of the Lord's taking such bonds. Wm. Christian appealed to the King, they required but 100/. security to prosecute that appeal to effect, and to stand by his Majesty's orders ; they required 5001. of us, with most unaccountable clauses. And no doubt they would have made us to have paid dowu all the 565 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, charges they had been at, before our appeal should have been XVIIT- heard. In short, I am loath to engage myself in lawsuits in Eng- land with such powerful adversaries, and therefore I am not sorry our proposal was not accepted. "What if Lord Derby sends us back to the Isle with instructions to his officers to take bonds ? It may be three or four months this time of the year before an agent can come back, besides the dangers of the seas. As to the lapse of time, we know of no law limiting appeals to the Lord, and they will tell us of none. We have an attested copy of an appeal accepted by these very officers three years after judgment given, indeed I am not sure whether so long after the judgment was put in execution. We went to the records to see for other precedents, and the first my agent cast his eye upon, the date of the acceptance was torn off. You see what we have to struggle with. I take it for granted that if Lord Derby agrees with the officers that the time is lapsed, we have nothing to do but to appeal to his Majesty. " What if he accepts our appeal, and will hear it — must we be at the trouble and charge of bringing over his officers? " To be sure he will reproach us, and think he will have an ad- vantage over us if we refuse to give the same bonds here as we offered in the Isle. What shall I do ? for I have been advised by all my friends here, to beware of entangling myself by any act of my own, and laving myself open to the most enraged passion. " You must know that when the officers first accepted' the appeal, my agent offered to give the very same bond that these very officers accepted not two mouths before upon an appeal to the Lord, which however they rejected. " I must beg your best advice by the first post, how I shall be- have myself and act without danger of being again dismissed, if we should be forced to come up again. My Lord has our appeal, and I think regularly, so that hitherto I hope we have made no false step. " They have found a way of sending Mr. Stevenson to the Isle, re infectd, by letting him know that Lord Derby has sent by his new Governor an answer to the 24's complaint, and there he will find it. " I cannot but think my Lord Derby's counsel dealt hardly with us, (not to say with the Regent,) in giving such assurance that we should upon our appeal meet with speedy justice from his Lordship. I shall wait for your answer and advice with some impatience. In the mean time I am, " Your affectionate friend, " Tho. Sodor and Max. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 567 " Mr. Halshall I hear has secured a good part of Christian's debt CHAP. XVIII. to you. " To Mr. Paris, Solicitor-at-Law, at his house in Norfolk-street, in the Strand, London." His London advisers however, — the principal of whom, be- sides his solicitor, were Mr. W. Patten and Dr. Marshall q, — appear to have considered that notwithstanding the dilemma which he apprehended, the right course would.be to renew the application ; which was done accordingly, at the end of a week. Fortunately the course which Lord Derby took was such Lord as to remove all dilemma whatsoever : — fuses to6" "Upon the 30th of October" (so the petitioners inform the consider 1 v l the appeal. Privy Council) " the said Mr. Halsal was sent again to Knowsley, humbly to know what his Lordship would please to do upon the petition ; at which time the butler told Mr. Halsal that he had presented the petition and appeal to his Lord, who would not re. ceive nor peruse them, but had ordered him, the butler, to return them, and to tell any person who should call for an answer, that he would do nothing in that affair yet. Whereupon Mr. Halsal pressed the butler to acquaint his Lord that he was then there to receive his Lordship's answer. But the butler told him that he was ordered not to permit anybody to give his Lordship any more trouble about that matter ; for that when his Lordship thought fit to do anything in it, he would send." The case was now clear. The Bishop and Mr. Walker had only to throw the facts above related into the form of a fresh petition to the Crown as represented by the Lords Justices, and they did so forthwith, annexing an affidavit from them- selves and Mr. Patten. The prayer of the petition runs thus, noticeable for its studious avoidance of any word which might seem directly to touch the person really most responsible : — " Now in regard your petitioners humbly conceive they were un- justly and illegally fined, and imprisoned, and cruelly treated in the said island, and are still exposed to the same evil treatment at pleasure ; and forasmuch as they have by the means aforesaid been prevented from proceeding in the proper manner to try the regu- *> This appears incidentally from the specifications in one of the Solicitor's hills, which has been preserved. 568 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, larity or validity of the said officers' proceedings which are appealed — from by your petitioners' appeal : " Your distressed petitioners, being able to prove all the par- ticulars above mentioned, most humbly pray your Excellencies to take this extraordinary case, attended with most grievous hard- ships and great expense, into consideration, and to afford them such relief therein as to your Excellencies, in your great wisdom, shall seem meet. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray." Another month elapsed before the Justices found it con- venient to consider this new petition. Very fortunate it was for the Bishop that this weary time of waiting had to be divided for the most part between Warrington and the city of London, just the two neigh- bourhoods in England towards which he would otherwise be most attracted by Church cares and family connections. His London abode was then and usually at Mr. William Patten's in Milk-street Market ; and St. Mary's, Alderman- bury, in which he had preached twice on Whitsunday, 1723, appears to be the same which now stands in the Clergy List as St. Mary's, Milk-street. There he seems to have sojourned, — that was his parish church for the time, — and in that part of London we have seen that he was preaching Sunday after Sunday, until it was time to go into Lancashire. On his way thither he paid a visit to his son, then resident as a Com- moner at Christ Church in the third year of his under- graduateship ; and won golden opinions from one person at least, Thomas Hearne, the distinguished antiquary and Jacobite, then resident in St. Edmund's Hall : — " 1723, Aug. 15. This morning the Right Reverend Dr. Thomas "Wilson, Bishop of Man, called upon me, and stayed with me some time at Edmund Hall. He is a most worthy, ingenious, learned, honest man. I never saw him but once before. He told me he had given my Lord Harley some historical MSS. This Bishop hath done abundance of good in his diocese, having lived there, and in- structed the inhabitants in the principles of the Christian religion, and published a book in the Manx and English language, upon the subject of the Christian religion, being the first book ever pub- lished in the Manx language. He is a most excellent, good- natured, pleasant man, and hath a son, a Commoner of Christ Church, a pretty young gentleman. The said Bishop of Man hath LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 569 written an account of the Isle of Man, which is printed in the CHAP. second edition of Gibson's English Camden r." XVIII. In Lancashire again, during the autumn, he preached re- peatedly at Manchester and at Warrington. This interval of comparative leisure may be as likely Letter on the M State. a date as any for the interesting letter which follows. It th was printed in 1848 by Mr. (since Dr.) Cumming, then Vice- Principal of King William's College at Castletown, in the Appendix to his valuable work on the " Isle of Man," p. 332. Dr. Cumming himself discovered it "amongst some papers of Bishop Wilson in possession of the Vicar of Malew. It is simply," he adds, "the original draft, and the name of the person to whom it is written does not occur in it, yet from the contents there can be little doubt that it was addressed to the Honourable Archibald Campbell, one of the Nonjuring Bishops, who published a work in 1721, entitled ' The Doctrine of a Middle State,' &c. ; also a ' Preservative against several of the Errors of the Roman Church :' "— " Honoured Sir, — I had not the favour of yours upon the Middle State and against Popery till about a month ago ; by what mis- fortune it came no sooner I cannot yet learn, and hope you have received the price of it long before this, I having writ twice to my friend to whom you delivered it to see you satisfied, which I hope he has done. The subject was not altogether new to me ; for be- sides what I could not but observe in my former readings, I had seen your lesser piece soon after it was published. " Whatever objections may be made against perfecting our con- dition in a future state, and the benefit the members of the Church in paradise may reap from the prayers of the Church on earth, the doctrine of an intermediate state is too well grounded upon the Holy Scriptures to be opposed by any, except such as are much prejudiced or unacquainted with that subject. " But as well as a middle state is founded, and that a regular advance to perfection seems to be the just consequence of such a doctrine, and although the primitive Church had their comme- morations of, and prayers for such as died with the seal of faith ; yet since that practice was not founded upon the Holy Scriptures, and the consequence of restoring it at the Reformation might have r Blisb's Rel;quiae Heamianae, ii. 504. 570 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, been of as bad consequence as it would have been to have con- 1 tinued the Agapoe in the primitive Church, which were therefore by her laid aside ; one would not too severely blame our Re- formers, who thought it not convenient to continue the repetition of prayers for the dead in the public service ; especially as they have not condemned it in their Articles, but have left it to the discretion of every pious member of our communion to believe and act in this particular as he thinks fit. " And indeed, if that grand delusion and dreadful doctrine of the Popish purgatory, — if this in all appearance has no better effect upon the generality of that communion, than to make them trust too securely to a death-bed repentance, and, as is much to be feared, ■ has been the ruin of many souls ; what might be the consequence if our people should come to be persuaded that without the terrors of a purgatorial fire they might through the prayers of the Church escape the just punishment of their negligence and disobedience, and attain such a perfection as should render them acceptable to God at the day of judgment ? And considering the corruption of human nature, one cannot but fear that in time some such practice as is now the reproach of the Church of Rome would be introduced into the Reformed Church, and too many would think they should make a saving bargain to part with a good deal of money to be secured of the prayers of the Church, and not in the meantime to be obliged to part with their lusts. " I do not remember that in your elaborate collection of S.S. you have taken notice of a text which appears to me expressly to determine the doctrine of an intermediate state, and that the souls of the elect are in very different mansions betwixt heaven and earth, according to the different degrees of holiness which they have attained unto, and this until the day of judgment. The text, Mark xiii. 27 s. If I have overlooked it in your work, you will pardon me." Horrobin's Moreover, in the very midst of that worrying affair at Knowsley,on Oct. 31, the date of his long letter to his attorney, he had had the satisfaction of receiving a document, which put an end to one of the worst of the troubles and scandals of his diocese, besides promising to be of good service in his great cause. A second twelvemonth, or near it, of suspension had by this time reconciled Archdeacon Horrobin to the con- * [See Bp. Wilson's note on this text in loc, Works, A.-C. edit., vol. vi. p. 443.] submis- sion LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 571 cessions required of him; he saw probably that the chances CHAP, were small, of the case, tried on its merits, terminating in his xvin- favour; and there is no reason, that I know of, for denying him the credit of better motives. However, certain it is that he being about this time at Liverpool, and having for a good while, as it seems, left his family in the island, wrote to the Bishop at Warrington as follows : — " Leverpoole, October 31, 1723. "My Lord, — I am desirous to throw myself entirely upon your Lordship's goodness and mercy, with this single reserve to myself of the liberty of preserving the quiet of my own mind. I am sin- cerely disposed to be at peace with all men, and to make restitution to the uttermost of my power for injuries done by me to your Lord- ship or any other ; and on the other hand, I may and do rely upon your Lordship's accepting me to favour, and restoring me to my place and office upon terms as easy and tolerable as may suffice to answer the ends of justice, and to preserve a due regard and deference to ecclesiastical discipline and censures ; which is what I am stedfastly purposed always to bear to them. " I may have been too lavish of complaint, as I have been too in- dustrious in seeking relief where it neither is nor ought to be had ; but I freely own my mistake, and hereafter will be profoundly silent upon the subject, suppressing and forbearing all heart-burnings and invectives against those whom I have (perhaps falsely) esteemed the chief occasion and instruments of my sufferings ; and pray heartily with and for them. I will more diligently mind my own business, and disengage myself from what does not concern me : and I will beg and pursue your Lordship's advice and admonitions in all du- bious and difficult cases that shall fall in my way. These, my Lord, are not words at random, or purely the effect of fear, or what the prospect of perpetual disgrace and poverty may be thought to have extorted from me, but proceed from a mature deliberation, and are what by God's assistance I shall observe and act conformably to, so soon as your Lordship shall give me an opportunity, by taking off that censure, which has (I hope your Lordship will think) now long enough continued on me, and which I do beg and pray upon my bended knees to be delivered from. Then I could with pleasure indulge those impatient cries of a desolate wife and poor children, which have long been calling me to them, and would immediately set upon such a course of behaviour as should be an irresistible con- viction to all mankind, that I am truly a lover of peace and true religion, and disposed to behave myself in all respects to your Lord- 572 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ship, my Diocesan, and to all my brethren and fellow- Christians, as XVIH- becomes a true son of the Church, and, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's most faithful and most obedient servant, "Robert Horrobin. " To the Right Rev. Father in God Thomas, Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man, Warrington. This." This led of course to correspondence, and probably to con- ference; and in ten days' time ended in entire submis- sion : — " October 31, 1723. " Whereas I, Robert Horrobin, have in some instances incau- tiously and unadvisedly delivered myself from the pulpit so as to give occasion of offence, and thereupon has ensued much distm-bance to the peace and unity of the Church, which God of His infinite mercy continue to us to the end of the world : aud whereas I did repel one from the Holy Sacrament without due and timely pre- admonition, and administer it to another who was under the cen- sure of the Church: which things have been justly declared and adjudged irregular, and contrary to the laws of the Church, and prejudicial to the episcopal authority and judicial acts of our Right Reverend Diocesan, Thomas, Lord Bishop of this Isle, and thereupon I have been legally suspended ab officio et bene/icio, until I give such satisfaction to the Church as the nature of my crimes do re- quire : being now sensible of my mistakes and irregularities afore- said, and heartily sorry for the same, and for the great disregard shewn to these laws and that authority which I am bound to obey, and being also desirous to make all due satisfaction, I do here, in the presence of you my Diocesan, the Vicars-General, and the rest of my brethren the clergy here present, implore the pardon of Almighty God, beseeching Him to prevent any evil consequences or bad use that may be made of any unguarded or unwarrantable expressions I have uttered in this place. And I do earnestly beg of you, my Diocesan, to forgive the irregularities I have been guilty of, and whatever I have done amiss in the exercise of my ministry, or in disobedience, or contrary to the Laws, Canons, and Constitutions of our Church, humbly praying to be restored to its peace ; and most faithfully promising to be more careful of my be- haviour for the future, by a strict observance of my duty, accordiug to the laws of this Church, and pay that due submission to your Lordship and my superiors which those require. " Rob1. Horrobin." "Indorsed Oct. 31, 1723. The within humble submission of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 573 Mr. Archdeacon Horrobin was this day signed by him, and pre- CHAP. sented to the Right Rev. Father in God, the Lord Bishop of Sodor XVIII. and Man, in presence of us, Win. Walker, Vicar-General; John Worsley, Chaplain of Trinity Chapel, Warrington ; Anth. Halsal, Chaplain of Douglas in Man." Nothing could be much better than the tone of this letter and submission. The Bishop however took a few days to consider it. He might think it more charitable not to trust to such ample professions all at once. But when his absolution came, it was frank and unreserved, though very grave : — " Notwithstanding the Archdeacon's offences have been long and obstinately persisted in, and that it has been too evident the godly discipline of the Church, whereby many grievous sinners have been happily reformed, instead of being zealously defended by him, ac- cording to the duty and dignity of his station, has been most un- naturally opposed if not endeavoured to be totally laid waste and trampled upon, and this under pretence of his not being subject to our jurisdiction, a plea altogether new and groundless ; yet in re- gard he has now, at last, bound his soul by solemn asseverations as well of sorrow for past misconduct and errors, as of a more regular and inoffensive conversation for the future : we, willing to extend to him our fatherly compassion, of which (had he returned to his duty) he had long since reaped the benefit, and passing by the great injury done to our authority, to receive him into the peace of the Church : " We do therefore hereby order and declare the said Archdeacon to be free from his censure of suspension, and to be fully restored both to office and benefice, viz. after the Rev. Mr. Curghy, one of our Vicars- General, shall have read this our order and declaration, together with the annexed submission, in the presence of the said Archdeacon, and as many of the neighbouring clergy as may be conveniently called together, and that the same be added by our Register to the rest of the proceedings on record. Given under our hand the 6th day of Nov., 1723. " Tho. Sodor and Man." The Archdeacon, it will be observed, was spared the read- ing of his own submission. The Bishop felt no doubt that in his position merely being present was penance enough. It was read at Malew, November 25. November 26, in that year, was a day of some consequence in his life. " At the request," (he writes,) " of my worthy friend 574 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Francis" (Gastrell,) "Lord Bishop of Chester, I consecrated '- the Chapel of Atherton, in the parish of Leigh and county of Lancaster, according to the following form." This is his memorandum prefixed to a copy of his well-known Consecra- tion Office, which if not composed for this occasion, was evi- dently then used for the first time in England. The place and date will have a certain interest for many from its asso- ciation with that service. But no local memorial of the matter exists, except the Deed of Consecration, which adds that the Chancellor of Chester and the Vicar-General of Sodor and Man (Mr. Walker) were present at the ceremony, and, what seems to require explanation, that it took place after the Nicene Creed. Of his preaching at Atherton, then or at any other time, no record remains. Returning to Warrington, he preached once more in the chapel there on the following Sunday, the first in Advent, when his business in Council was just about to recommence. All these were stirring practical exhortations ; his Charity Sermons, distinctively so called, re-appear on his return to London, towards Lent, when " the season" had begun ; and of course whenever he was there he would take his part in the work of the Societies, daily becoming more important, and would refresh himself with the intercourse of those whom he met in their board rooms ; many of them now dear and old friends, and all like-minded. His name however does not occur at this time in the minutes of S.P.C.K., a strong token of the incessant calls of the irksome struggle he was engaged in. Lord Dec. 5, the Lords Justices met in Council at Whitehall, Derby's an(j £ne COmplaint touching the obstructions raised to the plea that r ° . the time prosecution of the appeal being read, a copy of it was or- had^sed ^ered to be sent to Lord Derby, and an answer required " with all convenient speed." Mr. Walker took the papers to Knowsley, but as usual saw no one but the porter and butler, though it was announced that the Earl was at home ; but Walker had brought with him a person prepared to verify by affidavit the documents and the fact of their delivery. So there could be no cavilling on that ground. Lord Derby seems to have felt that he could not trifle with the Council as he had LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 575 with the Bishop, and this time his reply was speedy. The CHAP, order arrived Dec. 11, and on the 17th his answer was read - i— at the Council Board. It was in effect the same with which Halsal had been finally put off by the Comptroller, viz. that the right of appeal had been let go by default: — " The Bishop and Vicars-General had at first made no appeal from the sentence or jurisdiction of the Court in the Isle of Man, but suffered execution ; they had also suffered the stated and usual time of appealing to be elapsed. He therefore conceived himself to be disabled from accepting any such appeal without breaking through the rules and customs of the Courts in that isle, which would be of the utmost ill consequence to the island." Such is the substance of Lord Derby's reply, as reported, by the Attorney and Solicitor- General, to whom the whole matter was referred by an order of the Justices in Council, Dec. 17. Yorke had. now become Attorney- General, and Sir C. Wearg Solicitor. They were to be attended by counsel on the subject, and many weeks would elapse before their report — equivalent as it would be to the King's own sentence — would be ready. The Bishop seems to have taken advantage of this delay to pay a visit to his friends in Yorkshire ; probably to Lady E. Hastings at Ledstone Hall, certainly to Thoresby at Leeds : to the latter especially he came as a friend in need. Thoresby was now 73 years old, daily feeling more and more of the infirmities which were shortly to bring him to his grave ; and as suited his genial and charitable temper, he was day by dajr seeking or welcoming one or an- other of his old friends, and shewing himself unchanged towards them. Thus on Sept. 1, 1723, he was at "Cousin Wilson's," making his will and " settling his secular con- cerns :" " Cousin Wilson" being a lawyer, and Thoresby, as we have seen, being connected through him with the family of Bishop Wilson. On the 20th and following days he paid what he thought would be a farewell visit to Ledstone, having received a courteous letter and " a most endearing message from the pious lady." On the 30th he was visited by Mr. Wogan of London, the admirable commentator on the Proper Lessons. Oct. 15, he was at the christening of his cousin Wilson's daughter. Then Archbishop Dawes came to Leeds 576 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, on his Visitation : the worthy successor of Thoresby's old xvnr — friend Sharp. Thoresby heard him preach as he had Sharp before, and took solemn farewell of him : and the next thing of consequence in his Diary comes Dec. 31, " With the Bishop of Man at Cousin Wilson's ;" and Jan. 1,' (Thoresby writes the date according to the more modern manner,) " Dined with the Bishop at Cousin Wilson's :" so spending their New Year's day. And on the 2nd and 7th he was busy read- ing "Mr. Lucas's MSS. on his native country;" wherein he would find an interesting account of Dr. Sherlock, the Bishop's uncle, which could hardly fail to be a subject of their con- versation. Not long afterwards the Bishop left him, (for he was preaching in London, Jan. 26,) and it was their last meeting : Thoresby died, in the course of the year. The Bishop having found his way back to London, recom- menced his course of preaching in the city churches ; and ere long he was again employed on behalf of the Christian Knowledge Society : — "March 31, 1724. The Secretary reported from Mr. Hoare that the Trustees for Charity Schools had at their meeting last Thursday agreed to desire one of the undermentioned persons to preach at the anniversary meeting of the Charity Schools next Whitsuntide, viz. Bishop of Oxford, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Bishop of Sodor and Man ;" — i. e. Potter, Chandler, and Wilson. The last of the three .accepted the offer. By and by, the Society being much interested in printing and getting out their Arabic version of the Bible, a memorial was to be prepared to be laid before Lord Townshend, Secre- tary of State, " for his Lordship's good offices in obtaining his Majesty's bounty for encouraging that work ;" and on May 5, a draught of that memorial being read, was referred by agreement to the Bishop of Sodor and Man " for such other alterations as his Lordship shall think fit." He was accounted skilful in the compilation of formal documents, and not slow either in criticising or in undertaking such work. The following week he sent in his draught accord- ingly, and it was adopted with some amendments, and laid before Lord Townshend, with copies of the Arabic MSS. of the New Testament and Psalter, the printed proposal, and LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 577 a specimen referred to in the memorial. What ensued, the CHAP, minutes do not say. xvm. Meantime the Crown lawyers had heard counsel, had taken Lord some evidence, and were ready with their report : of which -^ ^ this is the substance. After stating very fully the evidence ruled, of Halsal before given, and now confirmed to them by affi- davit, they say : — " The counsel for the petitioners relied upon this as a full proof of the refusal of their appeal by the Earl of Derby, which they alleged was contrary to the law and usage of the isle, and that upon this account they are proper to apply for relief to your Ma- jesty in Council. ' As to the reasons alleged by the Earl of Derby for refusing this appeal, it was incumbent,' they said, ' on the other side to shew that by the law of the island any such restrictions were laid upon the liberty of appealing, which they did not admit.' " Lord Derby's counsel for their part admitted the fact, that an appeal had been offered by the petitioners to his Lordship, but alleged that by the Manx law the time of such appeal, from the sentence of the highest court in the island to the Lord, is limited to a month. But in this case the sentence was recorded, June 25, 1722 ; the first attempt to offer an appeal to the Earl, as sworn by Mr. Halsal, took place July 31, 1723. They further alleged that the petitioners had submitted to the sentence by paying down the fines set on them, after which submission and payment the parties, they said, could not appeal. This latter plea — the effect of submission — they tried to sustain by reference to the practice of the isle in a kindred matter. They said, 'Where judgment is given against a defendant in a civil suit, and he suffers a pawn to be taken, which is in the nature of a pledge for the payment of the debt or damages recovered, and which cannot be taken without his permission ; he cannot afterwards appeal from that judgment. But if he refuses to submit to the judgment and is committed in execu- tion, he may then appeal ; upon which he may be discharged out of custody till the appeal is determined upon giving proper se- curity.' " And they offered to put in a paper, certifying both these their allegations to be the law of the isle, under the hands of a Comptroller and two Deemsters. But these proving to be the very same Rowe, Mcylrea and Moor, from whose de- cision the appeal was brought, the Crown lawyers " conceived pp xvrn. 578 LIFE OF BISHOr WILSON. CHAP, that such paper could not be taken to be a certificate of the - law made by them as judges, but as an answer only in which they must be considered as parties making their defence, and therefore it could not be read as evidence." Then the Earl's counsel assayed to bring precedents on both points : one of 1673, when one Roger Curghey tried to appeal to Bishop Barrow, then Governor, and it was refused because he had delivered in a pledge, " thereby rendering obedience to the law;" another of 1670, in which case (besides other objec- tions) it appeared that the complainant had assented to the former sentence for a year or two. What else they called precedents were cases in which appeal had been allowed within a month, but not such as to prove the limitation of time essential. And lastly, they quoted a statute of Tynwald of 1664, assigning twenty days for contravening the verdict of a jury, with a view to a new trial, in certain cases. The other side brought abundance of counter-precedents to prove the validity of appeals offered more than a month, sometimes more than a year, after the sentence. And as to the appeal being barred by the parties' submission, they stood upon the broad facts, that instead of any kind of submission they had appealed to the Crown, and had only paid their fines upon direction from the Crown that it should be no prejudice to their appeal, and in such payment had expressly signified the same. The receipt of the Crown's directions, and of the petitioners' offer for payment under that condition, was proved by the evidence of Ilalsal as above given, and by oral acknowledgment from Captain Home himself. After this summary of evidence the Attorney and Solicitor proceed to say, — " Upon consideration of the several matters laid before us, we beg leave humbly to certify your Majesty, that we apprehend the petitioners have not precluded themselves from the benefit of an appeal, either by lapse of time, or by submitting to the sentence by paying the fines imposed upon them ; for it don't appear to us that by the laws or usage of the island there is any certain stated time within which an appeal ought to be brought. But if there was any law or usage for limiting appeals to a month after sentence, as is mentioned in the Earl of Derby's answer, yet it appears in this case that a petition of appeal was presented by the petitioners LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 579 to your Majesty in council within that time ; which being an appeal CHAP, to a judicature properly superior to that of the Earl of Derby, Lord ' of the Isle, we conceive (according to the reason and practice of the Civil Law in like cases) was sufficient to prevent any lapse of the time for appealing to the Lord of the Isle, who is the intermediate judge. As to the objection, that the petitioners have submitted to the sentence, we apprehend it does not appear by the proofs laid before us, that by the laws of that island a person cannot appeal even after a submission to the sentence ; but if it did appear that such submission did bar the party of his appeal, yet we think that the petitioners cannot under the circumstances of this case be said to have submitted to the sentence of the Court, by paying down the fines, considering that such payment was made after the re- ceipt of your Majesty's order in council of the 7th of August, 1 722, approving the report of your Majesty's then Attorney and Solicitor- General, which was directed to be transmitted to them in order to obtain their liberty for the more effectual carrying on their appeal then depending ; and at the same time by their letter sent to the Governor the petitioners did in effect protest that they did not submit to the sentence, but intended to carry on their appeal, not- withstanding their depositing the fines. Therefore we are humbly of opinion that the Earl of Derby ought to have received the appeal of the petitioners." The refusal of the appeal being thus erroneous, the juris- diction of reviewing the original cause devolves, they say, on the King in Council. And if the petitioners had in this last petition re-stated the wrongs originally complained of as well as the Earl's refusal of redress, it would have been com- petent for his Majesty in Council to proceed with the matter at once. As it is, — "We conceive," they say, "that the cause is not regularly brought before your Majesty in Council ; but that is a defect which the petitioners may still supply by a new petition to your Majesty in due form, if they shall think fit to take that course." In conclusion, they advert to the facts which had come out as to the way in which the royal message had been re- ceived : — " We think it our duty to observe to your Majesty that in the last affidavit of Mr. Halsal annexed to this report there is contained a charge of a very high nature against Mr. Home, Governor of the island, for a great contempt and disrespect shewn by him to the pp 2 580 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, order of your Majesty in Council when served upon him. But as this XVI11, matter did not strictly concern the question before us, and Mr. Home has not had an opportunity of making his defence against it, we mention it, not as a thing fully proved, but as an accusation of an offence which concerns your Majesty's authority, which may be further examined into in such manner as your Majesty shall judge proper.- All which is most humbly submitted to your Majesty's royal wisdom. " P. Yokke, C. Wearg." " May 1, 1724. The King having now returned, held a Council, May 12, when this report was read and approved, and his Majesty de- clared " his pleasure to take cognizance of the said appeal when it shall be brought before him at this board." As for Mr. Home's contempt, it was referred to the Committee for hearing Appeals from the Plantations. The opinion of the Crown lawyers must have been confidently anticipated ; for before the Council separated, the required duplicate of the petition of appeal was brought in, and referred in like manner to the same committee, as well as their petition of complaint against the officers, of Feb. 31. Thus the whole case came at last fairly before the final Court. The committee on May 15 fixed two several days for the hearing of the several petitions, — that of appeal for June 17, that of contempt for June 19, — and ordered notice to Lord Derby. Ultimately it dragged on, partly on account of Home being unprepared with his documents, to July 1; a material addition to the costs, in a case where so many witnesses had to be detained at a distance from their homes. Final sen- On the last-mentioned day the matter was decided ; but tne°Privv °^ *^ie ac^ua^ pleadings, unfortunately, we have no details. Council. The custom of regularly reporting and publishing trials be- fore the Privy Council dates from a much later period, and we can only conjecture from what we otherwise know of the respective views of the two parties, how the counsel may have argued, what evidence oral or documentary was produced, and (what would have been most interesting of all) the grounds on which the decision proceeded. The line of defence chalked out by the officers, and the rejoinder prepared by the ap- pellants, are distinctly enough drawn out in a paper which under the circumstances it seems best to subjoin at length, LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 581 notwithstanding some unavoidable repetition, which it is CHAP hoped will not be found wearisome*. 1 It would seem that the Court thought it unnecessary to determine the several questions, both of law and fact, which were raised by the Bishop's case. They could not have done so in the time which they took : the mere examination of the witnesses would have engrossed it all, and more. And the wording of the decision implies that they addressed them- selves to the one point of jurisdiction. It being once settled that the Governor and officers did not form such a Court as was competent to deal with the case at all, there was no oc- casion to go into the enquiry whether the particular conclu- sions they came to were just and legal, or no. But it will be best to give the very words of the royal sentence as pro- mulgated : — L.S. " At the Court at Kensington, the 4-th day of July, 1724. " Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the Lord Chancellor, Lord President, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Chamberlain, Duke of Newcastle, Earl of Cadogan, Lord Viscount Townshend, Lord Bishop of London, Lord Carteret, Mr. Vice-Chamberlain, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lieutenant- General of the Ord- nance, Sir Robert Sutton. " Upon reading this day at the board a report from the Lords of the Committee of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, dated the first day of this instant July, upon the petition of appeal of Thomas Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man, and of William Walker and John Curghey, Vicars-General of that Diocese, against Captain Alexander Home, Governor, John Rowe, Comptroller, William Sedden, late Water-bailiff, and Daniel M'ylrea, senior, and Charles Moore, Deemsters, in the Isle of Man ; and also against Daniel M'ylrea, junior, Attorney-General of the Earl of Derby: " Which petition sets forth the proceedings and censures of the said Bishop and Vicars-General in the Ecclesiastical Courts in the Isle of Man, against Mr. Bridson, Vicar of Kirk Marown in the said diocese, and Mr. Archdeacon Horrobin, and Mrs. Jane Home, wife of the said Captain Home ; and that the said Bishop had called an assembly of the clergy in his diocese, to be present at the proceed- ings against the said Mr. Horrobin ; and that after those proceedings were over, the said Daniel M'ylrea, junior, as Attorney-General of the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, preferred a representation ' See note (B) at the end of this chapter. 582 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C II A P. to a new and unhearcl-of court, consisting of the said Captain Home, yynt ° l J l_ Ilowe, Sedden, M'ylrea senior, and Moore, complaining against the Ecclesiastical Court for the said proceedings and censures ; where- upon the said pretended court (notwithstanding the petitioners in- sisted to have the Twenty-four Keys called in to deem the law) proceeded to make two several orders of the 9th and 10th of February, 1721, adjudging the petitioners' proceedings in the said cases to be irregular and contrary to law, and ordering the peti- tioners to retract and cancel their proceedings upon the register, under penalties to be inflicted, and not to presume to proceed in such matters, or against such persons, for the future : "That upon the 20th of June, 1722, the said Captain Home signed a precept, enforcing the said order of the 9th of February, 1721. And upon the 25th of June, the said Captain Home singly signed an order, dated as at the Tinwald Court, by which the peti- tioner the Bishop was fined fifty pounds, and the petitioners the Vicars- General twenty pounds each, for their pretended contempt, in not submitting to the afore-mentioned orders; and presentments were made in the Exchequer-book of the petitioners refusing to pay the said fines : " That upon the 29th of the said month of June, the petitioners were seized by three common soldiers, and carried prisoners to Castle Rushiu, and there detained during nine weeks, where the petitioners suffered very great hardships ; and that upon the 31st of August following, the petitioners paid the said fines : "And. the said Bishop and Vicars-General pray, for the reasons afore-mentioned, and for several others contained in the said peti- tion, that all the said orders and proceedings against them may be reversed and set aside, and the said fines restored with interest ; and that the said Mr. Home, and the other officers, may satisfy and pay to them all their charges and expenses, and that of their witnesses, (from the time the petitioners were first imprisoned,) as well in the prosecution of this business, as in their journeys hither, or any other way whatsoever thereunto relating ; and that they may have such other relief as in the said petition (a copy whereof is hereunto written) is mentioned : " By which report it appears, that the said Lords of the Com- mittee have heard all parties by their counsel learned in the law, and considered several copies of records which were produced to support the jurisdiction of the said pretended court held before the said Governor, Council, and Deemsters ; and that they are of opinion that the judgments or sentences given by the Governor, Council, and Deemsters of that Isle, on the 9th and 10th days of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 583 February, 1721, ought to be reversed, in regard they had no juris- CHAP, diction ; and that the order signed by the Governor as made at the XVIII. Court of Tinwald the 25th of June, 1722, was not an order of that Court ; and that therefore the fines imposed by the said order upon the Bishop and Vicars- General ought to be restored to them : " And that as to that part of the said petition praying that the said five officers may pay to the petitioners all the charges and expenses they have been at in the prosecution of this affair from the time of their imprisonment, as also the charges and expenses of their witnesses ; the said Lords of the Committee are of opinion it should be referred to the consideration of his Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor- General: " His Majesty in Council, taking the said report into consideration, was pleased to approve thereof; and pursuant thereto, to refer that part of the said petition of the said Bishop and Vicars- General re- lating to the charges and expenses to Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor- General to consider the same, and report to his Majesty at this board what method may be most proper to make satisfaction to the peti- tioners therein. " And his Majesty is hereby pleased to order, that the afore- said judgments or sentences given by the Governor, Council, and Deemsters of the Isle of Man, on the 9th and 10th days of February, 1721, be reversed and set aside, in regard they had no jurisdiction. " And for that the order signed by the Governor as made at a Court of Tinwald the 25th day of June, 1722, was not an order of that Court ; that therefore the fines imposed by the said order upon the said Bishop and Vicars-General be restored to them. " And the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, proprietor of the Isle of Man, the Governor or Commander-in-Chief for the time being of the said Isle, and all others whom it may concern, are to take notice of his Majesty's pleasure hereby signified, and cause this order to be registered in the records of the said isle, and duly complied with. " Temple Stanyan." The emphatic words plainly are, " The Lords of the Com- mittee have heard all parties by their counsel learned in the law, and considered several copies of records which were pro- duced to support the jurisdiction of the said pretended court, and they are of opinion that the judgments given by the Governor, &c, ought to be reversed, in regard they had no jurisdiction : and that the order signed by the Governor as made at the Court of Tinwald . . was not an order of the Court." True it is then, in a certain sense, that "the King 584 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and Council by thus reversing all the proceedings of the officers of the island declared them to be arbitrary, oppres- sive, and unjust :" yet it would perhaps be hardly correct to plead this decision as positively authorizing the proceedings of the Bishop in the instances which led to the prosecution. Virtually and indirectly he had " established the discipline of the Church/' by baffling this violent attack on it, and shewing that the presumption was all in its favour. But of the two capital points which the Earl and his men had dis- puted,— the sole metropolitan jurisdiction of York, and the liability of his garrison and household to Church censures, — the former remained just as unassailable, and the latter just as questionable, after this decision as before. No other could be expected from the constant tendency of English Courts in matters which concern what Magna Charta calls libertates Ecclesite Anglicance. They shrink as they best may from determining any principle, and eagerly lay hold of any flaw in the formalities, anything personal or incidental, which may excuse their doing so. The individuals who constituted the Council-board on this occasion may be taken as a fair average of English statesmen and lawyers, since the Revolution, in respect of their Church tendencies. Bishop Gibson of London was an earnest friend of Wilson's and a sincere upholder of discipline. Sir Robert Walpole's bearing towards such mat- ters is well known. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Towns- hend, perhaps Lord Carteret, might be all not unlikely to sympathize with the Church in some measure. On the whole, it cannot I think be said that the measure of jus- tice awarded to her at this time was eminently bountiful and overflowing. The Coun- The decision of the Council with regard to costs is re- costs6. US6S markable. One prayer of the appellants had of course all along been, "that the said five officers may satisfy and pay to your petitioners all their charges and expenses, and that of their witnesses, from the time your petitioners were first im- prisoned, as well in the prosecution of this business, as in their journeys hither, or in any other way whatsoever there- unto relating." To which in one place they add a request, " that the defendants may give security here, that all your LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 585 Majesty's orders in this business shall be fully executed in CHAP. • ... "V V T T f the island ; as was required by order in Council in another - case relating to the Isle of Man." They mean probably the case of William Christian's representatives, when they ap- pealed to have his attainder (so to call it) reversed in 1663. That case we know was among those on which the Bishop's counsel relied in some part of their argument. Certainly, apart from technicalities, it would appear but plain undeniable equity, that where there has been wanton and obstinate liti- gation, the promoters should pay for it and not the sufferers. And as a general rule, it has been laid down on high authority that the costs ought to follow the verdict. The appellants therefore had great reason to expect that this part of their petition would be granted. The Council, as we have seen, had referred the matter to the Attorney and Solicitor-General: when they made their report does not appear, but it did not come before the King in Council until August 6, and then instead of being at once adopted was referred again to the Committee, as if some difficulty had arisen. What the Crown lawyers had recommended we are not told, but the opinion of the Committee is simply expressed without any reasons given, in these words : — " Although their Lordships cannot but be sensible that the said Bishop and Vicars- General have been put to great expenses in prosecuting this affair, yet they are humbly of opinion that no costs can be properly given them by your Majesty in Council in this case, against the said Governor, Comptroller, Water-bailiff, and Deemsters, nor against Daniel M'ylrea, jun., Attorney of the Earl of Derby." The person really concerned in the demand of costs was of course Lord Derby himself; for he could not in honour have thrown his officers overboard, when they had so plainly been acting under his directions. Whether in those days the parliamentary and other influence of so great a man might affect even the judicial decisions of his Majesty in Council, and whether some weight on the same side might be also due to the jealousy with which the Prime Minister would un- doubtedly regard the form of Churchmanship represented by Bishop Wilson, are points which may not uncharitably be left to conjecture. It must however in fairness be remarked 586 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, that the Committee, whose names stand at the head of this — document, was clearly not selected with a view to a foregone conclusion. It consisted of Lord Carleton, President; the Earls of Hay and Portmore, and Earl Cadogan, Viscount Townshend, the Bishop of London, and the Speaker; two of whom, Lord Hay and Speaker Onslow, are persons marked in history as specimens of the judicial mind; Bishop Gibson was our Bishop's particular friend ; Lord Carleton and Lord Townshend, besides their general character for integrity, seem to have been on terms of personal regard with him u. In the highest quarter, at any rate, there was no dis- position to overlook his claims. Cruttwell, authorized by Dr. Wilson, writes, — " The King offered him the bishopric of Exeter, vacant by the translation of Dr. Blackburn to the see of York, to reimburse him ; but he could not be prevailed on to quit his own diocese. His Majesty therefore promised to defray his expenses out of the privy purse, and gave it in charge to Lord Carleton, Lord Townshend, and Sir Robert Walpole to put it into his remembrance ; but the King going soon afterwards to Hanover, and dying before his re- turn, this promise never was fulfilled." In confirmation he quotes a letter of the Bishop to his son eighteen years after, for it is dated Sept. 20, 1742 : — " The affair of mine with Captain Home and the officers is almost out of my memory, only I have the King and Council's order by me, setting aside all they had done against me ; and upon my ap- plication for costs, his Majesty, by the President and Sir Robert Walpole, promised that he would see me satisfied." Evidently the minds of the great men misgave them in leaving him under so great a wrong. By the way, it is curious to remark, both here and else- where, how, like many aged persons of much business, he suffered even the most important facts concerning his fortunes as distinct from his conscience to fade away from his memory. u In Mr. Paris the solicitor's bill ing his Grace again after he had there are items for "a fair copy for shewed it the Lord President, and he his Grace of York" of the Bishop's approved of it." second long petition ; and " fur attend- LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. 587 The vacancy in the bishopric offered him arose out of CHAP. ... XVIII a real and great loss which he had to sustain at this time, - in the death of his honoured friend and metropolitan, Sir William Dawes ; who was taken away in his fifty-third year, April 30, 1724x, just at the moment when (among other good works) he was exerting himself in Wilson's cause, which was undertaken at his prompting, and was indeed his own. But every change and chance as it occurred did but confirm our Bishop in his determination to stand by his own diocese, however unquiet in some respects the situa- tion might have become. Besides the deep inward prin- ciple which governed him in such things, he had but too much reason to dread the change for his people's sake, considering what manner of person would be likely to be sent from Knowsley to succeed him. For as far as we can judge by the precedents of the seventeenth century, it does not seem that the nomination to the see of Man, as in a case of ordinary patronage, would have positively lapsed to the Crown on its occupant receiving a bishopric in the King's gift. And to have Archdeacon Horrobin, or some one of the like opinions, presiding at Bishop's Court, and to hear from time to time of his doings, would be shame and grief indeed. For this and for other reasons he declined the royal offer ; but an offer of private assistance from sympathizing friends upon public grounds he had already welcomed with warm and humble gratitude. Nearly a twelvemonth before this he had entered in Sacra Privata what follows : — " September 20, 1723. " Having engaged myself, by the advice of the Archbishop and others, in an expensive controversy for the defence of the discipline of the Church, in which I have already spent above three hundred pounds, Mr. Dean Harris, Chaplain to the Prince of Wales, as Dr. Marshall tells me in his letter of the 5th instant, proposed that without my knowing of it a contribution should be made to enable us to carry on this suit, which being the common cause of the Church, he said it was not fit I should bear the whole burthen myself. He therefore laid down five guineas, and Dr. Marshall very kindly undertook to manage it; and as far as I can yet be let x Bio an^ Wending itself in a peculiar way with the riage. personal history of the Bishop. Thomas Cown had incurred Church censures as far back as November 8, 1721; having LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 627 lost his wife, and being convicted of too much intimacy with CHAP. her niece, Elinor Martin. In the circuit then going on he — should have been excommunicated, but he promised to give security the next day to leave the place and all further con- verse with the woman, and to undergo such censures as the Church should appoint. The woman to be forthwith com- mitted. At the ensuing Court of Correction, (Feb. 16,) the note is, " They live in incest as formerly," and excommuni- cation at the next Consistory is threatened. In May they are admitted to penance, and give bonds to perform it. Then came the Bishop's imprisonment, which of course would embolden such offenders, and the October Courts reported nothing done. The Bishop that winter (172^) was a good deal at Kirk Bride, on account of the Rector's illness and death; and could not but have his attention drawn to the subject. But the man still evaded his cen- sures by real or feigned indisposition. During that absence in England, which seems to have been a kind of Saturnalia for the enemies of discipline, this unhappy uncle and niece, who had gone on all the time living in incest, (of which, before or after, a child had been born to them,) celebrated a sort of mock-marriage under somewhat grotesque circum- stances. There was a man well known in all that side of the island, Richard Wattleworth by name, a grandson of the late Arch- deacon, but by profession a swaggering ringleader in all wild and profane doings. He, on some day towards the end of October, 1723, appointed this incestuous pair to be at a cer- tain public-house, whither he brought to them from Ramsey, by way of officiating minister, one Thomas Looney, a miner, from Glen Aldyn a : who either was or pretended to be very simple and guileless indeed. His account of the matter in a petition to the Bishop is, — " That in their way "Wattleworth borrowed a coat for him where they supped and drank some ale, and there being a man and woman in the company, viz. Thomas Cown and Elinor Martin, Wattle- worth said, 'There's a pretty couple, and it's pity hut they were married,' and joining their hands together, reached them to your d Or Glion Auldin, as Feltham writes the name. s s 2 G28 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C EI A P. Lordship's petitioner, and bid him marry them : whereupon your * petitioner answered, ' If they have a desire to be married, God bless them, and send them success' or ' good luck.' " This sham marriage your petitioner would have owned long since, but that Richard Wattleworth strictly charged him to dis- cover no more than he would permit him. And he is in great fear of being grievously abused for discovering thus much, but has a desire to save his soul though with hazard of his life." Depositions establishing this profane outrage were taken by Charles Wattleworth, the Archdeacon's official and Richard's uncle, on three several days : among the rest, those of Cown and Martin themselves. But no fresh act of the Court is recorded until the Bishop's return. In the mean time the poor wretched woman died, in her state of incestuous concubinage : — died, as the Bishop tells us, har- dened in her heart " by that wicked pretended marriage." No wonder that it was the very first thing to which he drew the attention of his clergy. The cause was heard in Consistory at Kirk Michael, Dec. 1, 1724, and sentence of excommunication issued against Cown first : — " Insula Mannice. " Whereas Thomas Cown of Kirk Bryde has been presented at several Courts successively, for living in incest with Ellinor Martin, his late wife's sister's daughter, for these three years last past, during which time he has been frequently convened before us in order to convince him of his wickedness, and the danger of con- tinuing therein ; and in order thereto has had several wholesome censures passed upon him, which have been so far from reclaiming him that he has not only had by her an illegitimate child, but also, under pretence of a very profane and ludicrous marriage, continued to live in incest with the said woman until the day of her death : We therefore, upon the account of this great sin, and the scandal given thereby, do in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the authority by Him committed to us, excommunicate and exclude the said Tho. Cown from the number of Christian people, requiring all such to avoid him as being no longer a member of the Body of Christ, which is His Church ; and as they would not be partakers of his sin and punishment." Under this sentence he continued until the end of the month, and then by a petition dated Jan. 4s, certified and LIFE OF BISHOP "WILSON. 629 probably drawn up by bis Rector, Mr. Parr, prayed for tbe CHAP. penance which he had been scorning or evading. The Bishop ^— granted it in these terms : — • " The petitioner, Thomas Cown, of Kirk Bride, notwithstanding the Church's endeavours for his reformation, having continued for some time past to cohabit incestuously with Ellinor Martin, his late wife's sister's daughter ; and being by that means so far given over to a reprobate mind, as to suffer the holy office of matrimony to be profaned by a pretended solemnization of it between him and the said Ellinor, since deceased, whereby he drew upon himself the dreadful sentence of excommunication : But seeming to be now at length sensible of his great wickedness, and most earnestly peti- tioning to be permitted to perform such censure as shall be thought proper to be passed on him, in order to his being restored to Chris- tian communion, We do order that the said Thomas Cown do stand in penitential habit at the doors of the several churches and chapels of this isle on the Lord's day during the whole time of divine ser- vice, beginning at Kirk Andrews, and that he publicly and openly confess his great and crying sins, and humbly implore God's and the respective congregations' forgiveness for the scandal brought on his Christian profession ; and we do strictly require the clergy to use their utmost endeavours to recover a soul so near eternal per- dition, by seriously and zealously admonishing him of the grievous- ness of his crimes, and exhorting him to a truly exemplary Chris- tian conversation for the future. Dated at Bishop's Court this 5th day of January, 1724." Penance having been accordingly performed in four of the churches specified, and the reports of the man's behaviour being satisfactory, the Bishop was induced to write as follows to the Rector of Kirk Bride : — " Bishop's Court, March 17, 1724. " Sir, — The many assurances you have given me that you verily believed the bearer, Tho. Cown, to be a true penitent, has prevailed with me to take off his excommunication much sooner than could be expected, considering the crimes he has been guilty of. " I do therefore, by the authority committed to me by our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His name, declare him, the said Tho. Cown, to be loosed from the bond of excommunication, requiring and em- powering you to receive him into the peace and communion of the Church, according to the form appointed by our constitutions. " But forasmuch as the good fruits of his repentance will, under the grace of God, very much depend upon your care and concern 630 LIFE OF BISHOr WILSON. CHAP, for hiin, I do therefore beseech you, for our great Master's sake, • .. that you will very often and seriously exhort him to remember the resolutions and promises he has made of becoming a new man. And that you will diligently enquire whether his future life and conversation be answerable to his present declarations. Particu- larly you are to observe whether he constantly attends divine ser- vice, and keeps out of such idle company as have heretofore been a snare to him. The comfort you will have in doing your duty in this particular as becomes a faithful minister of Jesus Christ will excuse me from making use of any more arguments to persuade you to it. I do therefore recommend you and your labours to the grace and blessing of God, and remain your affectionate brother, " Tho. Sodor and Man." And the man was received in the usual form, April 11, the second Sunday after Easter. But the evidence in his case had so brought out the dis- gusting facts of the mock marriage, as to make yet more acts of severe discipline indispensable. Dec. 10, the Bishop writes e, " Thomas Looney and Richard Wattleworth appeared before us and were both denounced excommunicate, the first for a mock marriage of two incestuous persons, and the other for encouraging and assisting at the said marriage, &c, and for great insults upon the Court," &c. The sentence on Looney states, that he took upon him " to personate and execute the office of a minister in joining together, by a clandestine pretended solemnization of matrimony, two incestuous persons:" and that "being this day seriously ad- monished of his own dangerous state, and the heinous offence given to all Christians by such a flagrant profanation of holy ordinances," he was so far from shewing any token of concern, that he con- tinued obstinate and deaf to all our godly admonitions." This final blow seems to have told upon the man's con- science, but by slow degrees, taking months and years to be effected. At the end of that December his mother died, and he humbly prays, for Christ's sake, — " that your Lordship will, out of your tender commiseration towards your petitioner, be graciously pleased to grant him liberty to go into church to see his mother buried." e Episcopalia, 1724. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 631 " This will not be refused the petitioner," (replies the Bishop,) CHAP, by any of the clergy of my diocese." XIX. March 8, he makes a sort of confession f, and petitions to be admitted to penance. The Bishop and Vicars-General reply : — " The petitioner's faint confession of his guilt in respect of his great profanation of the holy office of matrimony, and the conse- quential wickedness of the incestuous copulation thereupon, is not fully satisfactory to the Court, by reason the whole truth is not yet discovered and confessed in a Christian manner, through fear (as the petitioner owns) of being grievously abused by Richard Wattle- worth, his copartner in iniquity. However, in hopes of his being more sensibly affected with his sin by public penance, and serious and salutary admonitions, we do require him (after having been seven days confined in St. German's prison) to perform penance at the doors of the several churches and chapels of this isle ; and if he shall be found to have acknowledged the whole truth according to the proofs taken, and his behaviour otherwise be becoming, then order shall be given for his being received into the communion of the faithful. " Tho. Sodok and Man, Wm. "Walker, John Ctteghet." He could not however for a long time make up his mind to that degree of humiliation, and perhaps he may have honestly felt as if the charge was in one point exaggerated. It was not until Aug., 1728, when he had been nearly four years excommunicate, that he felt in a condition to ap- proach the Bishop again. I give his petition in full, as fairer to all parties : — " Your Lordship's unworthy supplicant has continued this long while under the tremendous sentence of excommunication for a crime well known to your Lordship, though the petitioner did not personate the clergyman (as was alleged) at the said ludicrous marriage, nor did or said anything more than what he has already set forth in former petitions. However the consequences both as to that couple and the petitioner having produced such effects as the poor petitioner can never sufficiently deplore, though at that time he never imagined such ill use had been made of a mere joke, (as he thought it was,) for he knew nothing of the intrigue or design in hand, nor did intend what he sillily said to the profanation of Church ordinances ; and having performed five Sundays' penance f Cf. pp. 627, 628. 63.2 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, at several church doors already, in order to qualify him for such — — censure as your Lordship would please to inflict before his admit- tance to Church communion, and would have gone through the whole, but for an unfortunate accident that rendered him incapable of moving for sixteen weeks out of doors, (which he hopes has been a temporal judgment to forward his true remorse for that and his after transgression,) — the petitioner upon due reflection of these circumstances humbly begs your Lordship may please to grant him such a course of penitential exercise, and in such a moderate time as your Lordship thinks most convenient, that your poor petitioner may be once more restored to the peace of the Church, from which happy communion he hopes never hereafter to be debarred, (God's grace assisting). The grant of which will oblige the petitioner for your Lordship to pray." The Bishop, more than usually satisfied of the reality of these professions, replies, — " The petitioner having assured us, not only by the annexed petition but very solemnly by word of mouth, that, through the great mercy of God, he is become sensible of his sad condition, and of the offences which occasioned it ; in the first place we give God thanks for His great mercy bestowed upon him, as also for His blessing upon the discipline of this Church, beseeching Him that this may be the beginning of a repentance not to be repented of. That it may be truly such, and that he may have some time to try the sincerity of his promises, may obtain the prayers of all good Christians, and that the Church may witness against him, if he shall be so unhappy, which God forbid, as to lead a careless or wicked life for the time to come ; we do therefore order and ap- point the petitioner to stand at the church door of Kirk Andreas, the parish where he committed his first offence, and there, in penitential habit and manner, acknowledge the same ; and [this] on Sunday the 4th instant; and on Sunday the 11th of this month at the parish church of Ballaugh, where he behaved himself very contemptuously when he was ordered to do public penance ; there also to acknowledge his contempt, and his other offences ; of which if he brings certificates, he shall have orders to be re- ceived into the peace of the Church. — Dated at Bishop's Court, Aug. 3, 1728. " Tho. Sodor and Man." This was done, and the certificates were also encouragrius:, Dr. Walker iu particular testifying that "he behaved himself with a most becoming seriousness, confessing his sins, and promising by God's assistance a real reformation ; LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 633 hoping therefore he is a sincere penitent, he is recommended as CHAP, such, to be received into the peace of the Church, by Win. Walker." XIX- And on Aug. 18, between the first and second services, he was by the Bishop's special direction absolved and received at Kirk Malew. Very different was the course, as far as we can trace it, of the other party in the offence, — the arch-criminal, perhaps we might call him, — Richard Wattleworth. His sentence charges him with having been "the chief promoter (and present all the time) of a pretended solemnization of a marriage betwixt two incestuous persons. For which having been called before us in order to convince him of the great guilt wherein he had involved himself and others, and to oblige him to make public reparation and satisfaction for the offence and scandal given thereby, as also to deter others from the like wicked practices ; instead of shewing any sign of remorse, he most outrageously insulted the Court [on] two Court days suc- cessively." For which he is at once excommunicated. But " upon the Court breaking up, R. Wattleworth waylaid Mr. Curlett, General Sumner, pilled him off his horse, and would have murdered him if people had not rescued him. However he is ill hurt. And soon after a message came to my house" (it is the Bishop who speaks) " from his (Richard's) uncle, C. Wattleworth, to desire that Mr. V. Gr. Walker and Mr. Curlet (both of whom may God preserve) must take care of themselves, for evil was in- tended them ; he having [threatened ?] to assault them wherever he should meet thein. Of which I give the Governor an account to-morrow." The Governor however was in no mood to check even such Governor outrageous doings : and that doubtless Wattleworth himself °y„ ° ° ' m patron of knew but only too well. On the day of the Convocation criminous just before, the Bishop had heard from the Vicar of Malew, Case°of that upon the Sumner's making application to the Governor Heywood. for power to commit one Robert Wain wright, now for a twelve- month under Church censure for adultery confessed by him, the Governor utterly refused his authority. It was the old plea, of Wainwright's being a soldier ; aud in the course of the day the Governor wrote to the Bishop with some prece- dents tending to excuse soldiers from censure. That letter 634 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap, and the Bishop's reply have not been preserved. But there — — could be no question what the next issue would be between the ecclesiastical and civil powers ; a token yet more alarm- ing ensued. "N.B. This day" (the same 24th of November) "I had an ac- count of the Governor's making Tom Hey wood a captain as soon as ever he was known to have debauched a young woman and got her with child, in hopes that that will protect him from Church censures." To make the matter more scandalous, the appointment was to the captaincy of the fort of Douglas itself. (So much for the discipline promised by Governor Home, which was to be severer than that of the Church.) Nor was this a mere favour to Heywood, as might have been conjectured from his position in the island, he or at least his family then occupy- ing, if not owning, the Nunnery near Douglas. The like countenance was shewn to a man named Kelly. The very day after he had been tried for cursing the Bishop, who bad forgiven him, the Governor gave him cfa soldier's place" in Peel Castle. Various indeed, and some of them rather inge- nious, were the tricks of prerogative (so to call them) resorted to for the same end. Davenport, who had been presented for drinking the devil's health, did upon the Bishop's summons get himself arrested and put into Rushen Castle ; " after which" (says the Bishop) " he was set at liberty without our knowledge, and has since absconded, and (it is said) has gone off the island, without any enquiry of the civil magistrate who it was that carried him off;" that is, in whose vessel he sailed. Again ; Nov. 29 the Bishop received an account from Mr. Halsal, that on the 23rd, the night before the Convoca- tion, the windows of his chapel at Douglas had been broken. That of itself might be nothing ; but it acquires a significance from the following : — "Dec. 1, Mr. Woods acquaints me that upon application to the Governor for his token along with the Deemster's (who had granted his, according to law) for a jury of enquiry to find out who had broken the windows of Douglas Chapel, he refused it." And to crown all, and effectually to disable the discipline, LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. 635 so far as any outward power could do so, on the same 1st of CHAP. December, — XIX- " Capt. Mercer, Constable of Peel, sent me word by Mr. M. Curghey, Vicar, that he was ordered by the Governor not to grant a soldier to put the orders of the Ecclesiastical Court in execution ; though this is contrary to an express law, to the uninterrupted practice, and of the most fatal consequence to the rights of the subject." Any chance which might yet exist of redress within the island was at the same time lessened by the appointment of a new Deemster in the room of the elder Mylrea. Lord Derby's choice fell upon one Nicholas Christian, who had so recently as Nov. 23 been returned to the Spiritual Court by the 24- Keys to be punished spiritually for cursing the King. It must have been trying to the Earl's loyalty, but the sacred duty of putting down discipline overcame all other considerations ; and he had to shew his sense of the behaviour of the Keys, who had been unpatriotic and un- dutiful enough expressly to leave Christian to be dealt with by the Church Court, although he was a soldier in the Earl's pay, thereby disallowing the "fee'dmen's" claim of exemp- tion. A curious thing to happen in a time and place so near our own, — that a man should gain a chief justiceship by being a soldier and cursing the King ! However, it brought pointedly before men the sympathy which the representa- tives of the island felt for the Bishop. And as before, so now, there were not wanting persons ready to submit without demur to his discipline, not accept- ing the impunity which the Earl now offered to all, though he claimed it only for his own paid retainers. There is the case of Captain John Norman, of Douglas ; probably one of the seventeen who with that title commanded the militia in the several parishes. He had been presented, Oct. 26, for adultery, and for a mock consecration of a Bishop of Sodor, and would have been excommunicated, but upon his humble petition was ordered fourteen clays in prison, and penance in every Church. Norman had no thought of asking aid at Castle Rushen, but throws himself on the Bishop's mercy : — " I beg your Lordship would consider the concern it must put my friends to in England. Distraction and despair are likely con- 636 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, sequences to an unsettled family. Pray throw me not out of the — - — — — Church I was baptized in, under sentence of damnation, for some unguarded words or actions not known by me to be said or done, and reported from a private house, where not one in company could boast of his reason. ... If you have a great offender before you, you have an humble suppliant on his knees." The petition was so far granted ; but Norman from time to time was very importunate to be spared part of his penance. At last, March 27, 1725, the Bishop (three of the penances being over and satisfactory certificates brought) dispensed with the rem inder of the sentence, and he was received in Braddan Church on Low Sunday, April 4. This case may serve to illustrate a secondary benefit of the discipline — its working on moral and prudential motives. There is small appearance of a deep spiritual change, as in Halsal. But if the man was seriously startled and checked in his downfall, though it were but by the dread of exposure and family distress, it was no small gain for the time, and who can tell how far it may have been blessed in the end ? The Bishop Meantime Wattleworth's cause went on, and became in with assas- a remarkable way blended with that of Captain Heywood. smation. rp]ie former, Dec. 26, a fortnight after his excommunication, " brought me," says the Bishop, " an appeal to the Arch- bishop of York from himself and Thos. Looney, which I ac- cepted, obliging him first to give bonds to prosecute, &c, to make good costs, and to take authentic copies." It does not appear that anything came of this step. Looney, as we have seen, before very long changed his mind, and submitted to penance, whereby he virtually withdrew his appeal, and this with his statements concerning the mock marriage must have damaged Wattleworth's case incurably. This latter more- over went on as though he were on purpose putting himself out of every court in Christendom. " Jan. 28. Mr. Walker acquainted me that Mr. Christian [John Christian, Vicar of Jurby] meeting Mr. Charles Wattleworth the other day, and talking about his nephew, Mr. Wattleworth told Mr. Christian that there is a certain person in Douglas, who, as soon as we censure him, has a couple of pistols ready for me and my Vicar- General. And when Mr. Christian asked him whether that person LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 637 did not expect to be hanged if he should murder either of us, Mr. CHAP. Wattleworth replied, ' He does not question but he should meet XIX' with favour if he did.' " Gracious God, in Whose Hands our lives are, deliver us out of these wicked hands, or prepare us for what Thy providence shall permit to befal us for our Great Master's sake. Amen." Feb. 9, he adds, — " Mr. Charles Wattleworth owned as above to me ; and added that his nephew, R. Wattleworth, had given the information above : that Capt. Heywood was the person who had provided himself with pistols : and he greatly feared that there was a combination between his nephew and the said Capt. Heywood to murder us both." The same facts appear in the Register, with an authen- tication by Mr. Christian, dated Feb. 15, and with the ad- dition that the hint about the man's 'expecting to find favour was thus given, — " My Lord Derby has the power of pardoning him." The next day the Bishop inclosed the authenticated state- ment to Mr. Christian, who with Mr. John San forth as his associate had been made Deputy Governor of the island, during Major Floyd's absence in England. He accompanied it with the following letter, the copy of which by his own hand appears in the Register : — "February 16, 1724. " Sir, — I send you the inclosed to shew you what designs are on foot to destroy the discipline of this Church, which is not only to be made a sacrifice of, but even we who are under the obligation [of] oaths to exercise it are to be destroyed with it. I hope [we have] done nothing to forfeit the protection of the civil power, and therefore that] for the sake of your own authority you will . discountenance these menacing outrages, especially when some, it seems, are concerned that are in our Honourable Lord's pay. If once this villainous suggestion be propagated, that any man who murders the Bishop or his Vicars- General may hope for my Lord's pardon, our lives are no longer secure from the attempts of despe- rate men, when we shall pass such sentences in law that shall not please them, or censure them for their abominable sins. This, I hope, will not deter us from going on in the way of our duty, and God's will be done for the consequence. I hope you will acquaint my Lord Derby with these matters, and that some wny may be 638 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, found to put a stop to these disorders, which if not discountenanced ! — may be attended with very ill consequences to this place, as well as to " Worthy Sir, " Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant." " My letter to Mr. Christian, &c." How this was answered does not appear. At any rate he went on with his work just as if nothing had happened. Feb. 22, at the Brad dan Court of Correction, Capt. Thos. Heywood and Jane Fletcher are presented for fornication by the Vicar alone, he foreseeing trouble, and wishing perhaps to save the churchwardens : — " If he owns it," (says the Bishop,) " he is to have seven days imprisonment and three penances in Church. If not, he is to have a token," i.e. a summons, " to clear himself." The May Courts for some reason were this year deferred to June, and on the l'4th of that month, Heywood not appear- ing, and there being sufficient evidence of his owning the fact, the rule for his censure was made absolute ; but the Bishop directed the Vicar to take a copy of it, to shew to Governor Sanforth, and desire his authority for the com- mitment. In the meantime the Sumner of the parish went " with a copy of the same to the Nunnery House, the place of the said Capt. Heywood's abode, and the answer" (he says) "there given me was that he should not go along with me to prison until I brought the Governor's token with the censure." Time passed on, and nothing further was done until Sunday, July 11, when in pursuance of an order of the Ecclesiastical Court annexed to the presentments of the last circuit, public notice was given in Kirk Braddan Church and Douglas Chapel, that if Heywood did not submit to the censure, he would be excommunicated at the Consistory, which was to be held at Kirk Michael, July 22. Mr. Curghey adds, — " To prevent Captain Heywood's pleading ignorance, I do further declare that he sent up to me for a copy of what was published in Church concerning him, on the Tuesday following, as I can produce under his own hand." On July 19, the Sumner made formal application to Governor Christian for the token which the Bishop had re- quested, and Heywood required : — " who refused,'' (he says,) " to grant his authority; and the same LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 639 day I also applied to Governor Sanforth, whose answer was, that CHAP. Governor Christian being first in commission and having refused, XIX. his token alone would not avail." The poor Sumner then goes on to relate how carefully he had called at the Nunnery and invited Captain Heywood to meet him at Church the next day and go with him to St. German's, or else to appear at the Consistory at Kirk Michael; and how on the morrow he waited for him at the Church for several hours, and he did not come. He was absent, of course, from the Consistory also : and the Court had no choice but to pass sentence as had been threatened. " July 22, 1725. " Thomas, by Divine permission Bishop of Sodor and Man, to Excom- all Christian people, to whom these presents shall come, grace and munlcation of Hey- peace in our Lord everlasting. wood. " Know ye, that on the 22nd Feb. last, Thomas Heywood, Captain of Douglas Fort within our diocese, having been presented for fornication with Jane Fletcher, of whose illegitimate child he owned himself the father before our Vicar-General, both of them were censured to public penance, &c, which the woman, on her part, performed ; but the said Capt. Heywood, shewing no remorse or desire of making satisfaction for the scandal he had given, was first sent for by us to be admonished in private of his sin and danger, which he refused to comply with. Whereupon publication was made the 1 1th inst., in the parish Church of Kirk Braddan, and the Chapel of Douglas, that if he performed not the censure the Church would proceed to excommunication, as on this day, at Kirk Michael ; with which publication he was made acquainted, as is certified by the Vicar of the parish ; the Sumner also having made affidavit that on the 19th inst. he had legally summoned him, either to submit to the censure, or to appear at the next Consistory to shew reasons why he did not ; otherwise, that he should be there further proceeded against, both for his crimes and contumacy. Forasmuch therefore as he has not appeared this day, but has utterly contemned our authority, and all the methods taken for his conviction, we have been constrained, and do accordingly, In Nomine Dei, denounce him the said Capt. Thomas Heywood cut off and excommunicate from the Church of Christ." And so forth, in the usual form. Or as the Bishop sums up the matter in Episcopalia, July 22,— " Owning himself the father of Jane Fletcher's child, and being 640 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. XIX. often admonished and required to give such tokens of his repentance as the laws of God and his Church demand, and despising both our authority and godly admonitions, he is therefore for his crime and contumacy excommunicated." Another paper in the Register adds, — " This was denounced in full Court, where were present" (besides the Judges and Register) " the Rev. Mr. Robert Horrobin, Arch- deacon ; Mr. Wm. Gell of Kirk Onchan, Mr. Henry Allen of Lezaire, Mr. Chas. Wattleworth, Official, and Mr. Jo. Woods, Curate of Kirk Michael ; with Mr. Matthias Curghy, Vicar of Kirk Patrick and German." Thus careful was he to join his clergy with himself in matters of vital consequence. Grounds of hope for better times. Before going on to the results of this step, it will be well to gather up a few particulars which had occurred since Heywood's first presentment, and which will shew among other things that the Bishop, far from rushing wildly on as in defiance of the temporal government, might just then reasonably hope for a certain degree of mitigation on their part, and was all along ordering himself accordingly. First, Richard Wattleworth, one of Heywood's partners in excommunication, as if on purpose to discredit their common cause, went on so as to make it impossible for any decent person, or even for the Council at Rushen Castle, to protect or countenance him. March 16, a man named Kneen of Lezaire obtained a token to call a jury to take evidence against Wattleworth for an atrocious outrage on his wife. But on the day appointed, the defendant and some of the jury were absent : the charge, if made out, of course affecting the man's life. An order was made for their commitment, which the jury at least regarded, and they were sworn, April 10, 17.25, in Kirk Michael; but the man could not be found : and this was the state of the case at the time of Heywood's excommunication ; so that all quiet people must have felt that if the discipline went, no hearth nor home was safe. To finish that wretched man's histoi'y for the time : an order was made, Aug. 2, to commit him by a soldier for thus refusing to appear, and for assault- ing the Sumner in the execution of his office. And plainly LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. G41 he neither had nor expected any favour from the Earl and CHAP, his men ; for the next, but happily not the last, we hear of XIX' him is, " Aug. 18, An account that Rich. Wattleworth went off the island Thursday last without licence." The discipline proved not quite useless, were it only for its ridding the country of such as he was. Again, Mr. Sanforth consented, and as it would seem quite cheerfully, to a proposal for republishing in all the churches the present Earl of Derby's Proclamation against Vice and Irreligion, issued originally Sept. 1, 1704. An order came out, March 9, ll72+, for all ministers to read this paper in their churches on the following Sundaj'. It was signed Tho. Sodor and Man, Win. Walker, J. Rowe, Jno. Sanforth, Dan. Mylrea; Rowe acting as Deputy Governor in Floyd's absence. The mere juxtaposition of the names would mark it as a sort of healing measure. There is a sort of comfort too in perceiving that it was the last public act, or one of the last, to which the name of John Rowe was affixed. Two months afterwards, May 14, this entry occurs in Episcopalia : — " Mr. John Rowe, Comptroller, and one of the Governors of this Island, died this morning, aged 78. There are few people but at one time or another have complained of him for his imperious be- haviour. Mr. Sacheverel in his ' History of the Island f ' has given him but a scurvy character, under the name of John Cotes ; if it is a true one, which he [Sacheverel] knew as well as any man. I hope God has forgiven him the great injury he with the rest of his con- federates attempted against the discipline of this Church ; which, had not God most wonderfully prevented, they had certainly de- stroyed. He saw his error before he died, as it has been my hearty prayer that he and all they might do ; and that God would not lay that sin to their charge." The departure, and still more the penitency so far as was yet known, of so conspicuous an adversary, could not but f P. 75, Mr. Ctimming's ed. "John ness, neglecting his own; worrying Coate was at that time Comptroller, the people witli his Lord's authority, one whose education towards the law but always to serve his own interests had given him all the knavish part or passions. By the duty of his sta- without any of the understanding — in- tion, he was to sit judge in these dis- solent, drunken, brawling, hair brained; orders, of which he had been the prin- a blocklu ad, a zealot, always mistaken ; cipal cause." running himself into every man's busi- T t 642 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, encourage any favourable change which might be taking — . — u_ place in men's minds towards the Bishop. Again, on Good Friday, March 26, he had written, " Mr. San forth brought me a letter from Lord Derby, and an ac- count that Floyd was turned out from being Governor." He had made himself in a short time so disagreeable both to clergy and people, that his mere dismission was good news : but the manner of it as here indicated was still better, giving hopes of an entire relenting on the Lord of the Isle's part. In the summer circuit, at Braddan, Turner Ingoldsby, a soldier, was charged, with Sunday work — he had been " trimming," i. e. cutting hair, for his comrades, in time of Divine Service, and he makes no difficulty, nor the Govern- ment for him, but submits at once to his penance, which of course was not oppressive. By the way, one or two noticeable entries occur about this time. Some are punished for working on Whitsun-Monday; one for playing with a dog in Church ; a lockman (or coro- ner's summoner) is presented for summoning a jury and wit- nesses to meet on a Sunday. " He says it was by mistake : however to be reproved." From Kirk Arbory especially two couples spontaneously charge themselves with ante-nuptial fornication, and on their making confession in the congre- gation the women are churched b. The Bishop (Jan. 9) writes to Mr. E. Moore, the Curate, on the many present- ments for that sin in the parish of late years, and tells him to lay before his people in the most plain manner the evil consequences of the sin of impurity, &c. There was a Convocation as usual in Whitsuntide, but the only thing told of it is that a formal vote of thanks on behalf of the Diocese of Man was there agreed on and offered to Dr. Bray. It is here inserted, as being probably drawn up by the Bishop himself: — " At our Annual Convocation at Bishop's Court, Thursday in Whitsun-week, May 20, 1725 : " We the Bishop, Vicars-General, and the rest of the clergy of the Diocese of Man, in Convocation assembled, having a grateful sense of the pious and charitable endeavours of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray, Vicar of St. Botolph's, Aldgate, London, hold ourselves s See Note at the end of this chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 613 obliged to tender him our most humble thanks for his having so CHAP, much at heart the good of this Church and nation in general, as XIX. well as of us of the holy office in particular, as to have not only formed and promoted the design, but likewise contributed so largely himself towards the expense, of erecting Parochial Libraries within this diocese, and with a truly Christian zeal disposed others to join in so very laudable and beneficial an undertaking. To commemo- rate this benefaction, it is this day ordered that a fair catalogue of the books given, with the names of the pious donors of them, be preserved in the Episcopal Registry of this Isle. And it is our humble request, that when a duplicate hereof shall come to the hands of the learned and reverend gentleman before mentioned, he may be pleased, in our behalf, to assure the rest of the benefactors that the good effect of their bounty which is reaped by the present aud will extend to future ages, is accepted with the most becoming gratitude, and will always engage our prayers for their lasting happiness." But to return : at this year's Tynwald the Bishop was enabled to make good a point of vital consequence on which he had been very anxious. Hear his own account : — " June 24. Tinwald Court. Having this day acquainted the two Governors, Sandforth and Christian, that the benefit of the statute touching the Ordinary's demand of a soldier from the constables of the garrisons had been denied, first by Horn and then by Floyd, I de- sired the opinion of the Deemsters and twenty-four Keys, whether that statute and the practice upon it (till within these five or six years) had not been acknowledged to be plain for the Ordinary's right ; which both the Deemsters and twenty-four Keys acknow- ledged ; and the Governors promised that orders should be given that the law should be observed without interruption for the future." The Bishop had as usual preached that morning in St. John's Chapel before the Court. It is needless to say that his sermon — on "Ye shall not be afraid of man, for the judgment is God's" — was eminently weighty and appro- priate11. His memoranda shew that it was composed for the occasion ; and being read with a view to this, by one who has gone along with the preceding narrative, it will h Vol. iii. Semi. li. T t 2 6M LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, throw a vivid light on what was going on in the island, and XIX . LJ— iii the Bishop's mind : — " Lest magistrates, finding themselves vested with so much power, should be tempted to abuse it, all nations, after the example of God's people, and by His will, have agreed upon laws to direct and re- strain them. And most nations, particularly this of ours, have made the law of God by Moses to the Israelites their pattern The laws of all nations do suppose that magistrates may be mistaken in their judgment, and therefore have provided a remedy by allowing an appeal from every inferior to a superior court. St. Paul, when he was unjustly prosecuted for a faithful discharge of his duty to God, appealed unto Ccesar, as to the . . next under God ; from whom he might expect a more equitable sentence. Our laws were in- tended to secure . . the honour of God . . and the good of every man. ... I wish one could say the same of all our precedents. . . . The Kings and Lords of this Isle first instituted this Court of Tinwald, that all inferior magistrates might have an opportunity of justifying their conduct if they had acted uprightly, and agreeably to law, and might receive a just rebuke if complaint were made that they had acted otherwise." And he compares their functions to those of the Roman censors. Again,— " The generality of those that take upon them to manage causes have nothing so much in view as their own gain. . . The complaints of those that suffer by these sort of people, both in their peace and in their rights, should, one would hope, awaken the Government to regulate at least, if not to silence them ; and to bring us back to our old constitution, wheke every man pleaded his own cause." Again, — " Every magistrate stands charged with this — to consult the cause of God and religion .... And the will of God is that wicked- ness be punished, and sin made uneasy to men .... And if magis- trates shall be remiss in this, they will soon see their authority undermined." By such arguments this most influential orator prepared his audience for their judicial functions ; and it would seem that their return was unanimous : those who most hated the thought of owning the Ordinary's prerogative could not for very shame now deny it. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 645 Another symptom of the Government relenting occurs, chap. July 2 :— XIX- " The Chapel of Castletown having been most arbitrarily shut for above three years and a-half, by Governors Horn and Floyd, this day Governor Sandforth wrote to me, desiring me to appoint one of my clergy to officiate there to-morrow, being my Lord Derby's birthday, and assuring me that it shall be no longer shut. I have therefore ordered Mr. Woods to officiate to-morrow, it being a chapel-of-ease to his parish church ; and for the future I shall order it as I can most conveniently provide." And Mr. Makon was to assist. Thus the old names began to come back to the old places again. This Mr. Sanforth seems to have had many of the quali- ties of a peace-maker. His availing himself of the Lord of the Isle's birthday proves him both watchful and ingenious for that good end. And the Episcopal Register has preserved two fragments of letters from him, which shew on what terms he was, and wished every one else to be, with the Bishop. The first of them relates to a matter which brought out strongly the ill effect of over-riding the discipline on many civil causes : — " Captain Wm. Mercer, Constable of Peel, having been com- mitted for not rendering an account of decedents' goods in his hands, as he was obliged by oath to do, was released," writes the Bishop, " without any authority from our Court : of which Bramhall, the administrator, complaining, this Court " (the same Consistory which excommunicated Hey wood) " declared that the regular course of law [being] obstructed, his want of justice is not our fault." The Bishop sent Bramhall's petition to Sanforth, who for- warded it to his colleague Christian, with a letter of which he sent the Bishop a copy: "by which your Lordship may see I have done my part." The letter to Christian is muti- lated, but two things in it are quite plain — one, that he has the strongest opinion of the justice of the cause: — " I for my part am both willing and ready, as far as in me lies, to do anything which is justifiable to bring the man to his right:" even though (for so it is clearly implied) we should have to act through the spiritual power : " and he who re- fuses, at his door let it lie." The other point is his pleading 616 LIKE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap, with his colleague by the loyalty due from them to the Lord - — of the Isle : — " My Lord Derby, who is always remarkable for his exact deal- ing and good pay . . . though a peer of England . . . [wherever] he has a privilege to grant protection to [persons] there, yet has always refused as peremptorily [as to the] Comptroller : and shall we offer to do [what will bring] shame and scandal, and a reflec- tion on him ?" I find also in Episcopalia that at this time the claim to authorize briefs irrespectively of the Bishop, which, it may be remembered, had been one cause of trouble, was virtually abandoned by the civil power. " A brief in favour of Edward Cottier, of Castletown, sent me by Governors Christian and Sandforth to be recommended to the clergy of the South Side, which I did July 26, 1725." Heywood's Things being in this state, Heywood himself, the excom- Appeai. municated person, took a step which proved eventually but sion from too successful for his own purposes. July 24, two days after Derby. n^s sentence, the Bishop's memorandum is, " About ten this day Capt. Thos. Heywood went for England in Mr. Hender- son's boat :" for which information he quotes a Mr. Knipe, elsewhere named as a man of business in Douglas. Heywood seems to have been a combatant who knew when and where to plant his blows, and he judged that he had a better chance with the Lord of the Isle himself than with his pre- sent deputies, and therefore lost no time in crossing over with his appeal to England. Contrary to his practice on a former occasion, the Earl did not at once receive the appeal, but determined to send over a commission of en- quiry with a view to the final settlement of the question. Aug. 18, Sanforth writes announcing this determination to the Bishop : — " Castletown, Aug. 18, 1725. " My Lord, — Mr. Heywood hath applied to my Lord Derby setting forth his excommunication, and that he looks upon himself to be exempted, being a fee'dman. My Lord Derby, who hath a mind to have the affair set in a true light, and on such a footing as may not cause any disputes for the future, hath sent over Mr. Ed. Stanley and Mr. Poole to be present when that matter is en- LIl'K OF BISHOP WILSON. 647 quired into, and the officers and council to report the same to his CHAP. Lordship, and your Lordship and the spiritual officers to have notice to be present at the same time. Mr. Christian is not come to town. Mr. Stanley and myself have appointed Monday next for our meeting, which I hope will be suitable to your Lordship and the Vicars- General. I hope now this matter will be so fixed as to prevent any misunderstandings for the future. " I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient Servant, " Jn. Sanforth." By way of postscript is added : — " Mr. Stanley I was with yesterevening, who seems to be a very good-natured gentleman, and said, If the fee'dmen were exempted here, it was more than they were in any part of England. [He said] he should be glad to see your Lordship [before] the meeting. And Mr. Brownhill [Brownall], late Curate of Melling', is ap- pointed Comptroller, (but this not yet made public,) and hath a strict charge from my Lord's own mouth not to meddle in any disputes with the clergy, but to mind his own business. I under- stand my Lord is very desirous to have everything made easy in the island, and that there may be no disputes. " Mr. Woods' letter which Wattle worth made such a noise about was intercepted ; my Lord surprised at it. " If your Lordship thought it well, I wish you would come over before [the] meeting." Of Mr. Poole I have ascertained nothing, except that his Christian name was Josiah. He might be the same with an " Alderman Poole " mentioned in the records as having re- quested the Constable of Peel to escort Governor Floyd to the mountains, July 18, 1725. Edward Stanley, his col- league, may have been the second son of an Edward who died at Preston, 1755, at the age of 103 ; who was himself grandson to the first Sir Edward Stanley of Bickerstaff J; a member therefore of that branch of the family which in- herited the title on the failure of the Great Earl's male heirs- Evidently great hopes were conceived of the healing effect of this mission. Besides Sanforth's letter, the Bishop (Oct. 19) mentions one "from T. Harley " (one of his well- wishers) " at Mr. Mcguire's instance, to come over to Castle- town, Mr. Stanley and Mr. Poole being landed, which I ex- 1 Melling is a perpetual curacy, near Ormskirk. > Jacobs' Peerage, ii. 464. 618 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, cused myself from doing for very many reasons." It is not : — the first time that we have found him shy of appearing be- fore the Castle Rushen staff; and he being in this instance prima facie disturbed in a known prerogative, it behoved him not to seem anxious about defending it : it was the assailants' part first to make out their cause. But after three days, Aug. 21, — " I went," he says, " to Castletown, to wait on Mr. Edward Stanley and Mr. Josiah Poole, lately come from Lord Derby. The first assured me that Lord Derby was desirous to live in peace, &c. That persons excommunicated came with complaints, particularly Captain Thos. Heywood, who pretended that being a soldier he was exempt from my jurisdiction, &c. That Lord Derby had sent him" (Mr. Stanley) " to settle this affair, and therefore, " Aug. 23, we had a meeting, where I insisted on my purely spiritual power over all within my diocese, &cc. And as for the temporal jurisdiction, I referred that to the laws of the land ; and would be concluded by the opinion of the twenty -four Keys, which I insisted upon." In this sentence the Bishop is giving the substance of a paper which he delivered into the Commissioners' hands on that day, and caused to be carefully recorded : — " Castle Rijshin, August 23, 1725. " To prevent misunderstandings in this conference touching the exemption from ecclesiastical jurisdiction claimed by fee'dmen, I desire it may be observed, that as Bishop of Man I am under a double oath and obligation ; one to the Archbishop of York, to Avhom I was sent by His Majesty of Great Britain to be conse- crated, and to whom I took an oath of obedience, and amongst other things solemnly promised to correct and punish such as be disobedient and criminous within my diocese, according to such authority as I have by God's Word, and as to me shall be com- mitted by the ordinance of the realm, which oaths are reserved in my other oath of fidelity to the Lord of this Isle. " Now I hope it will not be expected from me, that I shall be answerable for this purely spiritual authority, which I have from God's Word, to any but to my spiritual superior ; my oath, and the Act of Parliament of the 33rd of Hen. VIIL, and the Statute of Appeals, making me accountable to the Archbishop of York in all episcopal and purely spiritual causes. " But forasmuch as I am bound as Bishop of Man to exercise also a temporal jurisdiction, such as fining and imprisoning of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 649 certain offenders, in all such cases I acknowledge that I am to CHAP, be governed by the laws of this land ; and such we believe we XIX. have, and as plain as words can make them, to justify our pro- ceedings, as well as a continued series of precedents for as long as we have records. " But if the plain meaning or authority of any such law shall be questioned, I desire, and insist upon it as my undoubted right, to have the twenty-four Keys called to deem the law. *And this will be the best and most legal way to satisfy our Honourable Lord that we have had a most sacred regard to the laws and his Lordship's prerogatives ; and that we have acted just as our predecessors have done time out of mind. " Tho. Sodor and Man. " To the Honourable Edward Stanley, Esq. " Eod. die, compared and examined with the original by us, " ¥m. Walker, J. Woods." The next day, finding doubtless that his reference to the Keys was demurred to, he sent in another copy, changing only the last clause and address : — " Castle Rushin, August 24, 1725. *" Which if I am denied, I do protest against any consequence that shall follow from this conference, or any opinion the Deemsters (whose own case this is) may give, to the prejudice of the autho- rity which I have by the Word of God or by the laws of this land. " Tho. Sodob and Man. " To the Worshipful Nicholas Christian and John Sanforth, Esqrs., Governors of this Isle; who are desired to order this to be recorded." " Sept. 3," (apparently at Bishop's Court). " After dinner Mr. Stanley, Mr. Pool, and the new Comptroller entered into discourse with Mr. Henderson and myself about the badness of our laws, both temporal and ecclesiastical." (Henderson is called elsewhere " the King's Officer at Ramsea," and had been stigmatized as a reckless supporter and introducer of the " Independent Whig.") " I set him (Stanley) straight with respect of [?to] his mistaken notions of some of our ecclesiastical [laws ?], &c. . . And assured him (he and the rest having all declared with one voice that they did not nor would not pretend to obstruct our purely spiritual power) that as for our temporal power, we should at any time submit to have it limited or mended, if it shall appear to the Legislature that we have either abused it, or that it is likely to be abused, to the injury of the subject." 6jO life or bishop wilson. CHAP. No special account remains of what passed further at this ' — conference. But that on the whole it separated with fair hope in the Bishop's mind of a reasonable and friendly settlement, would appear by his calling his clergy together before a week had passed, and drawing up with them, or rather for them, the address which follows : — " At a Convocation of the Clergy of the Diocese of Man in St. John's Chapel, the 7th day of September, Anno Domini 1725. " To the Right Hon. James Earl of Derby, Lord of Man and the Isles : " We the Bishop and Clergy of your Lordship's island of Man in Convocation assembled, beg leave to render your Lordship our most humble and hearty thanks, for the late most gracious intima- tions of your Lordship's favour and countenance, signified to us by Edward Stanley and Josiah Poole, Esquires. " It has been our unhappiness to labour for some time past under the unpleasing effects of the ill offices done us with your Lordship by the disturbers of our peace, who have deservedly fallen under your Lordship's displeasure, and been divested of the au- thority they so much abused ; whilst our conduct, we doubt not, will every day more and more commend itself to your Lordship's approbation, and dissipate all jealousies and misunderstandings, touching the exercise of the spiritual jurisdiction within this diocese. " Your Lordship's faithful clergy have now encouragement to hope, that your Lordship's pious injunctions for the suppression of vice and immorality, lately published in our churches, will have a due influence on the lives and manners of the dissolute and profane among us, when they see your Lordship so zealous for the pro- moting of virtue and piety in all your people, and particularly in such as have any employments of profit or trust under your Lordship. "We likewise acknowledge with all due thankfulness your Lord- ship's justice and goodness, as well in ordering the fine imposed, without any just cause, on the Vicar of Kirk Malew, to be repaid him, as also in the directions given for the opening the chapel of Castletown, whereby the worship of God, so long obstructed in that place, is now restored and established, to the great comfort of us of the holy function, and the inexpressible joy of all the in- habitants. " The just and grateful sense of these high obligations to your Lordship will constantly excite us to discharge with the utmost LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 651 zeal and fidelity the duties of our several stations, in promoting C H A P. your Lordship's honour and interest, as well as the peace and hap- XIX. piness of your people, and in offering up (as it is our daily prac- tice, and as we are moved both by duty and inclination) our most unfeigned prayers to God, for your Lordship's both present and eternal felicity." This address, with a letter from the Bishop to the same effect, was conveyed and presented to Lord Derby by the Commissioners, with their report, which doubtless was framed in a friendly spirit. Plainly the clergy had been encouraged, not only by fair words and courteous behaviour, — though the merely haviug a gentleman, such as Mr. E. Stanley, to deal with, was enough to cheer them after their experience of the Homes and the Rowes, — but by the actual repayment of Mr. Woods' fine incurred in the controversy about briefs, and the opening of the chapel under the Bishop's own direc- tions. These were real and tangible acknowledgments of wrong done, and pledges given of a change for the better. A month elapsed before it became evident how far they might be depended on. NOTE, p. 642. " To the Right Reverend Father in God Thoma«, Lord Bishop, and to the Rev. Mr. Walker and Mr. Curghy, Vicars-General of this Isle : " The humble petition of William Cubbon and Elizabeth Har- rison, both of Kirk Arbory, " Sheweth, — That your petitioners having to their very great sorrow been guilty of the sin of antenuptial fornication, they are, by the grace of God, become very sensible of their crime, and are heartily sorry for the offence they have thereby given to God, and to Christian people ; and whereas your petitioners understand that it will be tedious to wait for the return of the next Chapter Court, ■ "They do therefore fly unto your Lordship, &c, for mercy, humbly acknowledging their sin, and begging that you will be graciously pleased to pass a favourable sentence on your very penitent and afflicted petitioners. They do earnestly desire to he restored to the peace of the Church as soon as possible, that your petitioner's wife may be in a condition to return God thanks for his blessings. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall pray, Sec. 652 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " Willinm Cubbon and Eliza Harrison, having (before any pre- sentment) made known and acknowledged their crime of antenuptial fornication, and the offence thereby given to the Church of God, you are hereby directed to call them before you on Sunday next, immediately after the Nicene Creed, when you are to read their annexed petition, and receive their acknowledgment of their sin from their own mouths before the congregation, after which you may proceed to Church the woman as she desires. " Given under our hand this 31st of July, 1725. " Tho. Sodok and Man. " To the Curate of Kirk Arbory. "Let these papers be sent to the Episcopal Registry. " "The above Wm. Cubbon and Eliz. Harrison have acknowledged their sin in the presence of the congregation, and everything has been observed as the above order directs, this 1st of August, 1725. " Edw. Mooke." The other case exactly resembles this. CHAPTER XX. FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF HORTON TO THE DEATH OF WALKER, 1725—1729. The disciplinary Courts meanwhile proceeded as usual, nothing very remarkable occurring. Cursing perhaps is of- tener mentioned than it had been, as a ground of serious censure, and other modes of gross insolence ; people priding themselves on defying authorities. For example : — " Germain, March 25, 1725. "N.B. J. Kelly came to me, and told me very insolently, that I was sensible that he was belied in what was laid to his charge concerning his abusing of me, and for that reason I had forgiven him; and wdien I argued with him, &c, he bid me do my worst." Such behaviour of course found encouragement in the recent sayings and doings of those who ought to have known better. So did tae abettors of open lewdness. The Bishop mentions one Captain Wattleworth, as having entertained in his house, as though they were married, two whom he knew to be not man and wife: — "the consequence of pretended LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 653 exemptions." On the other hand, the case of Nicholas CHAP. Bridson, of Kirk Arbory, shews the civil and ecclesiastical xx- tribunals yet exerting a joint influence for good. This man had some years before been convicted by the judgment of the twenty-four Keys " of the detestable sin of perjury," and so was " liable," the Bishop says, " to have undergone a se- vere course of penance, had he been returned by the tem- poral Court to be proceeded against by the Church, as the law directs k. But forasmuch as no such return has been made, and that the said matter was never regularly brought in judgment before us, we have not hitherto passed any public censure upon him." That is, not for his sin of per- jury ; but he had been under sentence many months, with his father and another of the family, for " striking, brawling, fighting in the Church, so that the minister was forced to leave the service1." And he had been contumacious under censure. But coming to a better mind, he performed one penance, and then asked for restoration, being " very ready to submit to whatever the Bishop should please to order ;" which the Bishop understood as an offer on Bridson's part to humble himself for his perjury as well as for his later profaneness, and gave order accordingly, — " that upon his solemn and submissive acknowledgment of his crime on his knees before the altar on the Lord's day, plena ecclesia, he be seriously and zealously admonished of the grievousness of his sin, and after pious promises of amendment of life and a sober and religious conversation for the future, that he be received by the prescribed form into the peace of Christ's Church, of which we pray he may continue a worthy member." This was accompanied by a note to the curate, Mr. Edward Moore, an alumnus of Bishop Wilson, pointing out the double satisfaction which the petitioner owed to the Church of God, and requiring him to be seriously admonished of his sins both of perjury and of profaning God's house. The indul- gence of the courts in not urging on him all the penalties which he had incurred seems to have been felt by him as k "Whosoever is sworn, and after Mills, Ordinances, &c., p. 17. Deemed their oaths proved false, they shall a.d. 1422, at the requirement of Sir make satisfaction by our law, and re- John Stanley, serve them to the Church for perjury." ' Episcopalia, Feb. 23, 1724. vernor. 654 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, a call to voluntary submission. To the extreme of legal pres- XX . . . ■ — sure he would not perhaps have yielded so willingly. Horton Long before this cause was ended, — for the last paper re- lating to it bears date Dec. 9, 1725, — the result of the nego- tiation with Lord Derby was known. It was most disap- pointing. Had the Government continued in the same hands, in all probability peace would have returned to the island ten years sooner than it did. Besides the tokens of relenting which have been noticed, it is certain that this Lord Derby had not altogether become such as they were, whom he somehow thought it his duty to patronize. His favourite pursuits were gardening and art : in both he had always shewn a generous and public spirit"1, and there is extant a letter of his, bearing date within a few weeks of the point of time at which we are now arrived, which indicates some- thing still better : — " Knowsley, Dec. 12, 1725. " My good Doctor, — I never designed to buy any more of the things you mention," (it was a bronze Venus and Cupid, worth. £100,) "being satisfied, God be thanked, with what I have, not only in such things, but in everything else. All that I wish for is, that we may safely enjoy what we have, which at present we are in no danger of losing .... I make my life as easy as I can to myself and all my neighbours, and so am resolved to manage wisely the last stake, at least as far as my poor understanding will give me leave. I am glad to find you agree with me that a country life is the most innocent as well as the most satisfactory, especially for one who has seen so much of the bustling part of the world." " To Dr. Stukeley." To be sure, there is nothing very high-toned in this, nevertheless it may warrant us in judging, that the injustice and even outrageousness of some part of his demeanour to- wards Bishop Wilson and his cause were not altogether na- m Nichols, Lit. Hist. i. 298, gives Winstanley, a painter, to purchase two letters of his to Dr. Richardson abroad a capital collection of pictures, on botanical subjects, premising, " He many of which were in high estimation, had a taste for scientific pursuits, and He threw open his gallery at Knowsley, an excellent garden at Knowsley." and many young men of those days Gregson (Fragments on Lancashire, p. studied architecture and drawing under 230) calls him "a great patron of the his auspices, when there was not any arts," and says " he employed Hamlet academy of design in England." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. (555 tural to him. In no small measure doubtless it was owing, CHAP. as the Bishop sometimes intimates, to unscrupulous men ' — who knew how to play upon the jealousy of Church influ- ence, incidental to all in his position. Such evil counsels, it would seem, had been at work with him after the visit of Heywood and the departure of the Commissioners. " Oct. 9," writes the Bishop, " Governor Horton sworn." Those three words imply the undoing of all that had been done, or thought to be done, towards a reasonable and con- stitutional settlement. So it appeared within two days after. " Oct. 11. I waited on the new Governor, and found him the most prejudiced against the Church, Churchmen in general, and in particular against the laws and discipline of this Church — which by his own acknowledgment he was a stranger to ; and was sure his sentiments were well-grounded. I pray God give him a better mind, and us grace to bear all the reproaches and evil treatment which we have reason to expect from one who comes so much possessed with an evil opinion against us." This Thomas Horton, Esquire, of an old Yorkshire family was now resident owner of an estate at Chadderton, which is a township of Prestwich near Manchester, a Justice of Peace for Lancashire, and Deputy Lieutenant, and thought by himself and others to be learned in the law. He had very recently lost his wife, (who was a Mostyn,) and per- haps was the more ready and willing to leave his home for the Isle of Man. And it appears that he was in some sense brother to the new Comptroller Brownall, presently to be mentioned. He also brought with him a brother of his own, called James, to be Receiver and occasionally Deputy Governor of the Isle. Mr. Horton was so far better quali- fied for his place than some of his predecessors, that he was at least an educated man and a magistrate, and knew how to hold his own in argument with somewhat of dexterity and force ; a very necessary thing, as much experience had now shewn, when discussions with Bishop Wilson were an- ticipated. He came furnished with something like a regular view and line of argument, of which the following letter, ad- dressed by Lord Derby to the Bishop when he was send- 656 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ing Horton to the island, may be taken as the exponent. : Unlike all that had come out before in these discussions, bearing this second Earl James's name, it is carefully, co- herently, and grammatically written. Either he must have made much use of another pen, or at least he had learned that it was too serious an affair to be dealt with offhand, and in the tone of mere scorn, as hitherto : — Lord Derby's Letter to the JBis7wpn. " The letter I received lately from your Lordship by the hands of Mr. Edward Stanley, owns that I have been always ready to suppress vice and immorality in the island, and I shall never fail of doing my best endeavours to promote so good a work. The Justices of Peace in England have great power given them by the laws of this land for that purpose. Mr. Horton the present Governor has been one of them for several years bypast, as well as his father before him, who not only knew very well how to act on such occasions, but did whatever lay in their power to suppress vice and immorality, not only by the power given them by the law, but by shewing a good example themselves, which generally has a very good effect. And I am confident Mr. Horton, the present Governor, will act as heartily in this affair in the island as ever he did in England. " There never was any law made in England which can in any measure touch the laity in the island, so as to prevent them from doing all in their power in exerting their utmost on such occasions, and I think there cannot be too many hands at work on so good an account. Your Lordship mentioned to me formerly an Act of Par- liament of 33rd of Hen. VIIL, which has only reference to eccle- siastical matters and persons. I believe the people of this island were totally unacquainted with it till your Lordship first gave the intimation, so that there may have been many things done both before and since this Act of Parliament in the Isle of Man very contrary to it ; but this Act of Parliament being still in force, all that has been anyways done derogatory from it must of course be null and void from the beginning. That Act of Parliament says that the Isle of Man shall be reputed part of the Province of York in the like manner with the Diocese of Chester, so that whatever powers, privileges, or authorities have since that Act of Parliament been claimed or anyways exercised by the clergy in the Isle of Man more than the clergy of the Diocese of Chester can or ought to " In the Rolls Office, Castle Rushen. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 657 claim, must certainly be contrary to the aforesaid Act of Parliament. CHAP. Whether your Lordship was sensible of this when you first men- tioued this Act of Parliament I much question ; but be that as it will, your Lordship and the clergy of the island are bound now to stand to it. " I gave you a hint of this formerly, which perhaps you might not understand, but is now so well known that it must of course put the ecclesiastical affairs of the island upon the same foot with England. I have only mentioned these things at present to pre- vent the disputes between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts, for the Civil Courts of the island must certainly have the same force there as the Civil Courts have in England. Therefore I am in great hopes, when this matter is well understood and justly fol- lowed, it will put an end to all further disputes amongst us, which is the hearty desire of, &cc. " This is a true copy of a letter I writ to the Bishop of Mann, Oct. 5, 1725. "Dekby." The argument at first sight appears ingenious and plau- sible, but does it not depend on an equivocal term? It proceeds, if I rightly understand it, upon two clauses of the Act referred to. First, " Man is to be united to York, to all purposes and effects, as Chester is." Secondly, " Chester is so united as that it shall obey York in all things, according to the laws in this realm." " Therefore" — so they infer — " if there be any laws in Man other than what we have in England, the Archbishop is not to decide, nor the parties to obey, according to those laws." To make this good logic, " this realm " must mean Eng- land only, as opposed to the Isle of Man ; and so that island must be taken to be no part or parcel of this realm, even while the Parliament of this realm is in the very act of legis- lating for it, — which seems to be utterly absurd. But if it be included within " this realm," then its peculiar laws not yet abolished will be part of the laws of " this realm," as any customary local privilege or private Act of Parliament would be ; and the Archbishop will be bound to notice them, and decide accordingly. Thus the words by which it is endea- voured to prove the Manx spiritual laws abolished seem to be in truth an implied recognition of them. u u 658 life of BisHor wilson. CHAP. Mr. Horton, however, had no scruple : — " Oct. 21. Notwithstanding the twenty-four Keys declared (the V" 24th June last) the law concerning soldiers to put in execution the refused : ' o i scandal orders of the Ecclesiastical Court, and the then Governors gave ensuing. orders accordingly, the new Governor has reversed those orders, and is resolved to deny the country the benefit of the plainest and strongest law ever made in this land." The records quickly begin to abound in instances of the confusion and sad immorality resulting from this change of administration. The first which occurred is remarkable, not so much for anything scandalous in itself,*as for the deter- mination it shews to thwart the Bishop at all events. To- wards the end of December an alarm arose of a sort of Popish conventicle in Douglas, sermons preached and a child baptized in the house of one Patrick Kelly by a sup- posed priest, who went by three several names. It was thought right to enforce the then law of the isle against the parties as for an illegal conventicle. On their non- appearance an order was made for their committal : but the Bishop privately notes "an intimation that these people have the countenance' of the Governor/' And so it proved : the aid of a soldier (i. e. of a policeman) was denied. The course of Lord Derby's ministers hitherto had been to make people jealous of the Bishop's favouring Popery, but everything else was now to give way to the paramount duty of extinguishing the discipline. The next was a serious scandal indeed. Jan. 2, one of Malew parish was charged in consistory, convicted, and sen- tenced for a most violent and gross attack on a woman. The sentence was moderate ; seven days' imprisonment, and penance in three Churches : — " He obstinately refuses obedience. The constable denies the woman a soldier. The Deputy Governor, application being made to him, put the order in his pocket, and his brother damned the whole pack of the Ecclesiastical Court, kc, and the Deputy re- fused. . . . The woman being in some danger of her life." The same cursing and swearing was reported to the Bishop in another notorious instance about the same time. Indeed Mr. Horton's sense of duty carried him so far on this par- ticular subject of " refusing a soldier," that he did so LIFK OF BISHOP WILSON. G59 a twelvemonth after in protection of an incestuous pair CHAP from England, an aunt and nephew of the name of Hud — dleston, who having been excommunicated by Bishop Gas- trel in Chester diocese, had taken refuge in our island, and against whom Wilson was proceeding at Gastrel's request. "Feb. 24, 1726. The General Sumner being sent to charge Eliz. Huddleston, who lives in incest with her nephew, her bro- ther's son, to appear to give bonds not to cohabit with him ; the constable refused a soldier, though obliged by statute law to send one, and the Governor (as certified) declared that he would turn him out of his place if he did it." The case was too shocking almost to think of; the suit promoted by the father himself of the young man : but it really seemed as if Governor Horton thought it better for people to live in incest than to be corrected by the Manx discipline, even in subordination to that of Chester, for the rights of which he had professed so much deference. Yet during the intervening months he had had kindly in- tercourse with Wilson. On Jan. 30 the Bishop's entry is, — " Governor Horton at my house. Gave me a letter from Lord Derby : two or three gross mistakes in the letter, about the oath ex officio, Convocations, See. I expostulated this with the Governor, how he could tell my Lord such things. An answer not direct." » And the next day, — "Jan. 31, he spoke of many things, which will come to nothing while they are influenced by one who lies under insuperable pre- judices." The Governor was attended in this visit by his new Comp- troller, Mr. Brownall, with whom the Bishop managed to get some interesting talk. It seems the poor man was a sort of Arian, and perhaps that was the reason of his giving up his cure and profession, and accepting a secular appointment. " He being in my house, I acquainted him with the account I had of his contempt of our Lord's divinity, — to take care not to spread blasphemous tenets here, &c. He owned he was an Euse- bian, but he would never discourse with any one on those heads. Gave him the state of the Hango Hill case0. Told him of his ° A suit relating to a bequest of Bishop Barrow for the academic students. See below, a.d. 1728. u u 2 660 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, brother's abuse of the ecclesiastical discipline and authority, the w ' ' ' denying soldiers, Sec. At last he told me that he was resolved to leave the island forthwith." Amid these troubles the Bishop bad the great and rare consolation of a visit from his son, now made more precious to him than ever by a remarkable escape which had been just vouchsafed to him. " Jan. 1, 1725. My dear child coming to see me from Liverpool, was in tempest driven to the coast of Ireland, and there ship- wrecked ; but by the great mercy of God his life was saved, and this clay (Jan. 16) I have a letter under his own hand. The Lord make me truly thankful." Thus writes the Bishop in Sacra Privata, MS. iii. In a later MS. he adds this striking fact — that " the Master and he" (i.e. the Bishop's son) "were left on board; the Master drowned, and by the mercy of God he was saved. Blessed be God for this miraculous [mercy] ." Young Thomas Wilson was now full Student of Christ Church, having been elected on July 8 p, in pursuance of the Dean's nomination in 1721 q. And he had taken his B.A. degree, Dec. 17. following, according to the Catalogue of Graduates. Thus having made good his position at Oxford, it was just the time for him to give and receive enjoyment, and to be made much of at his native home ; being moreover a quick and lively observer, who kept a journal, and in sundry matters, political, academical, ecclesiastical, took just the sort .of interest which makes people welcome in society. He was particularly pleased to talk of Oxford and of Christ Church. Some portions of his journal I have been favoured with a sight of: there is a good deal to smile at in them, some things to lament : but in one good quality he is never want- ing— a deep and unreserved veneration and love for his father — an honest filial pride, with which it is impossible not to sympathize. No wonder the Bishop looked forward to his •" The Bishop (MS. iii. p. 4) says Bristol:' i. e. Hugh Boulter, afterwards July 11 : but the College records give Primate of Ireland." Wilson had ma- •the other date. triculated, April 20, under George 'i " On the making of a new Roll for Wigan, afterwards Principal of New Canoneer Students, July 29, 1721, Gil- Inn Hall, and Rector of Stourbridge, bcit West and Thomas Wilson were This note is due to the kindness of nominated by ' Mr. Dean, Bishop of Dr. Jacubson. LIFE OV BISHOP WILSON. 6G1 son's visits as he did during all the years of his remaining c n \ \\ life. They were to him so many events, each one of no small — ' importance. The young man's present sojourn continued at least fifteen months. So ended the year 1725; perhaps the most disappointing year of his whole episcopate ; a sample of the state of things described in his two striking sermons, then first composed and preached, the one May 2, the other Oct. 24, at Kirk Michael, — " On the Shame and Danger of being Christians without Christianity ;" "Thou Son of Man, shew the House to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities ; and let them measure the pattern." He could but go on as before, constantly " hoping against The Bi- hope." Amongst other good and courageous ways, he kept shoP's lxl" up his practice of writing with his own hand special letters to persons under censure, where he thought he saw a fair chance of making an impression on them. Thus we have, Feb. 3, 172*, " A letter to ■ , now in St. German's, to beware of mocking God as he has clone formerly, by an insincere repentance. Not to expect to be received until after a long trial of his behaviour." Again : — "July 2, 1726. A serious letter to Mr. Thomas Hurley about his clearing himself with , and the consequence of his con- tinuing to have correspondence with her for the time to come." It must be added, in justice to the parties, that in the fol- " lowing December, after many letters had passed on this sub- ject, Mr. Harley's protestations of innocency and promises of caution were accepted, and all censures suspended ; only the Vicar and Wardens were enjoined to present, if any future scandal arose. A few days afterwards " Harley's wife died and he had the Bishop's permission to bury her in the chancel." Again : — " Aug. 26, Braddcm. having earnestly prayed to be ad- mitted to do penance for his sin of fornication, and being accord- ingly sent to prison, to give bonds as usual, I wrote him a serious letter on this head." 662 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Again :— XX. — "Sept. 27. A letter to Capt. W. Stevenson, of Langadool, upon his petition out of St. German's, exhorting him to an un- feigned repentance and amendment of Life." And, " Oct. 14, 1727. A serious letter to John Hodgson, Esq., concerning his wicked course of life : which God grant he may- mend." And, " Nov. 20, Malew, A serious letter to Eliz. Cottam upon her recovery from a late most dangerous sickness, in which she shewed great signs of a most serious sorrow and concern for her past life." Our narrative will shortly bring us to another token, still more remarkable, of the same yearning care for sinners of all degrees. Instances also occur, as before, of his pressing on penitents with peculiar earnestness the duty of household devotion as a test of their sincerity : — " April 4, Germain. Ordered Phil. Crosse to do penance in the Church, and to be received. N.B. He solemnly promises to have prayer in his family for the future." I observe a curious entry in a case of seduction : — " Nov. 28, 1727. John Cubon of Kirk Arbory, Margaret Preston. The man promised her marriage : he not to have a licence to marry any other person, . . . but to be asked in the Church, that the woman may have notice to make her objection." And subsequently, July 5, 1729, on private hearing of a case of incontinence from Lezaire : — " This man being charged before me," (not as it seems in court,) " on account of a pre-contract with this woman, he referred it to her oath, (she having first referred it to his, which he refused) and she positively swore that he promised to marry her as soon as he could, (he being in service,) with the greatest imprecations, and that she did the like — that they would never marry any other. An order to the Vicar and Vicar-General, that the man be not permit- ted to marry till notice first given to me." Here as elsewhere in like cases we find him leaning, some might say with blameable indulgence, to the weaker side — the seduced rather than the seducer. In the meantime the Earl and his officers were careful to keep him alert aud watchful for his own and others' con- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. G63 stitutional rights. Hardly a month passed without some CHAP, serious encroachment. xx- " March 31, 1726. Mr. Charles Wattleworth brought me a pre- sentation to Kirk Arbory from Lord Derby, in which was a clause, ' that his Lordship having a legal right to all ecclesiastical promo- tions in the island,' Sec. I refused him institution, apprehending that this would be a ready way of depriving me and my successors of the right of presenting to several livings within the island, which we have had time out of mind." But, "April 5, I gave Mr. Charles Wattleworth a licence to be Curate of Kirk Arbory till such time as Lord Derby should send him a regular presentation. He took it, and took time to give his answer." Doubtless the Bishop got the presentation corrected, for on June 1, the Deputy Goveimor, James Horton, and Comp- troller Brownall, vyith others, came to him " with Lord Derby's presentation (as they called it). I gave them," he says, " this answer — that it being a new form, I would take time to consider of it; that if I could be satisfied that the new clause in it relating to presentations did not prejudice the Bishop, I would not oppose Lord Derby; but if it did I hoped I should be excused." And on the next day, which was that of the annual Convocation, he told Mr. Wattle- worth when to come for institution : and, June 21, " Caro- lum Wattleworth in Vicariam Sti. Columbi (sic) nostras Mannensis Diceceseos instituimus," &c. It was however a questionable appointment : " I gave him an account of the complaint against him about falsifying the Register-Book." Such instances bring out the difficulty certain to occur whenever the Bishop and the Lord of the Isle had ceased to understand each other: the latter being the undoubted patron of thirteen out of the seventeen bene- fices. Had all these been as wealthy as Andreas, and had there been no need to find incumbents who could speak Manx, in no long time the whole flock would have had pastors after the type of Archdeacon Horrobin. The dif- ference of language and the poverty of the livings might prove so far a valuable safeguard to the Church. As it was, notwithstanding his ample endowments and the Horrobin sympathy of the temporal power, the Archdeacon had long ^'m0°ved's 664 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. c II A p. ago found out that the air of the island did not agree with — 1—1 — him. The memoranda touching Andreas grow more and more unsatisfactory. " Oct. 17, 1725. Church much out of order — an unchristian misunderstanding between the Archdeacon and his Curate." "July 9, 1726. Captain Lace with two of the churchwardens came to me with a petition, importing that they wanted the service in the Manx language, &c. He also told me that there had been no regular school kept for twelve years past. Either he told a false- hood, or the Curate and churchwardens have had little regard to their oaths." (This Curate was Charles Wattleworth, whom we have just seen preferred by Lord Derby.) Then, " Nov. 7. The new Curate does not live within the parish — omits the Manks service. No catechising of the children. Bap- tisms in English, the godfathers not understanding." The Bishop, like a Christian judge, interposes here a word for the absent : — "Nov. 8, 1726. " All the above presentments being made without acquainting the minister therewith, we admonish arid require the church- wardens and Chapter Quest to meet monthly as the statute directs, and in making their presentments to govern themselves by the articles of their charge, and the laws of the Church. And at such times to give in their presentments to the minister and to take his advice therein, lest they should be led by designing people to make presentments out of prejudice, or of such things as are frivolous, or not upon their charge, to the vexation of their neighbour and the injuring their own souls. " T. S. M." No wonder that, after about half a year had elapsed, " May 25, 1727, Mr. Archdeacon Horrobin " (who had obtained leave to be absent in England on most urgent business fifteen months before) "brought me a resignation of Kirk Andreas, which I accepted, and sent it by Mr. Woods, sen., to the records." Having gone through a sort of confessor- ship for his cause, such as it was, in the diocese of Man, he now migrated to that of Salisbury, being collated by Bishop Hoadley to the rectory of Winfrith-Newburgh on the Dorset- shire coast ; no bad substitute in a worldly sense, if we may trust the received statistics, for that which he gave up. His last public act in Man had been declining to join the clergy in thanking Lord Derby fur the hope he had held out LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C65 that he would no more disturb their privileges : Bridson of CHAP. Marowne being the only one who concurred with him. He XX' had but a short tenure of his new abode, for he died in 1729 % Horrobin's successor was John Kippax, A.M., Lord Derby's Chaplain, instituted by Bishop Wilson Oct. 6, 1727. He was the second Archdeacon of his name, and very likely the son of the first, whom Wilson had found friendly on his first coming to the island, and had intrusted him, as we have seen, with a mission of peculiar delicacy. If so, this John Kippax came from the neighbourhood of Ormskirk and of Lathom ; and I do not know of his ever giving reason to suppose that he came commissioned to thwart his col- leagues. In a different and much more gratifying way, the Bishop was not long after freed from the molestation of another troublesome adversary. ^ " Jan. 30, 1727. Rich. Wattleworth brought me a petition pray- ing to be restored to communion. He made the most serious pro- testations of reformation, and I ordered him to make trial for some time of the sincerity of his resolution by a sober, Christian life, which he cheerfully complied with. I wrote to Mr. Woods his pastor, and gave him directions in writing. The good Lord touch his heart most powerfully from above !" Next, " April 14, 1728, Richard Wattleworth, having stood ex- communicated for many (i.e. three) years, at last came to the isle ; and [on his] petitioning to be restored to the peace of the Church, I ordered him some time ago to make trial " of himself, " and to bring me proper certificates of his sober life, &c: which having done, under the hands of several of the clergy and laity, I this day absolved him ; he first in penitential habit solemnly acknowledging his crime, and promising [a new life]. He performed his public penance after a becoming manner." Those surely were golden moments, even making all al- lowance for the chance of future backsliding, when one who had sinned with so high a hand proved equally courageous in his repentance. News had come from England, May, 1726, that another, who also had been a ringleader in the same wild set at i Feltham, Isle of Man, p. 179. 666 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Douglas, had come suddenly to a sad end. " Francis Daven- — . — : — port having been countenanced by the Governor when we called him to account for drinking the devil's health, and having so made his escape from the isle, is since killed in a duel, as we are now certainly informed." Heywood, &c, en- couraged. But Heywood, their partner in contumacy and profane- ness, went on, and "made no sign." In November, that same year, his sister acquainted the Bishop that he was very sick; "a very awakening letter was consequently written and sent to him, touching his wicked life and the sentence of excommunication under which he was lying." Whether Heywood replied at the time we are not told : his practical reply after recovery consisted in such doings as the fol- lowing : — " Braddan, March 15, 1726. " Captain Tucker, captain of a cruiser, Captain Hey wood, P. Ball, and one Mr. Hussey presented by the churchwardens for giving a masquerade on Sunday the 5th instant — drunk, swearing, cursing, blaspheming, terrifying all they met, &c. Evidences taken. Tucker and Ball censured — to ask public forgiveness : Hussey to be excom- municated after due notice : Heywood being already excommuni- cated, no notice of him." But very remarkably, he took it into his head to volunteer a notice of his censurer. For to this time the Bishop refers in a striking entry under the head of "Merciful Visitations and Chastisements," in Sacra Privatar: — " March 29, 1727. By a letter of T. H d (so God makes all things serve to His own purposes) I was in the visitations of the night awakened to the performance of a branch of my duty which I had sadly neglected, viz. publishing the great sin of defrauding the king of his customs. God grant that I may now do it effec- tually." He may have merely dreamed of such a letter — or some- thing may have come to Heywood's knowledge or fancy which gave him, he thought, an opportunity for insolence. But watchful piety is more ingenious than the malice whether of men or of evil spirits. In all these affairs, the then ministers of Lord Derby, both r Works, t. v. p. 90. See above, p. 281. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 667 individually and collectively, seem to take a pride in going chap. out of their way to shew their entire sympathy with the xx- ruffian and the profligate, as the Bishop's antagonists. By their general rule of refusing a soldier they had long since tied the hands of the Spiritual Court. A week before the masquerade just mentioned they had taken yet a further step. Upon an application from Heywood they summoned the churchwardens of Braddan and Mr. Curghey the Vicar to account for their having presented him : and having ascertained from them that the presentment was Curghey's alone, and that it was grounded on " common fame," they decreed it null and void, utterly ignoring the contumacy. If they held this due to the maintenance of their con- stitutional point, still it was not necessary for them to appear in the Consistory, as they did when the masqueraders were censured, by their attorney Mylrea, and their comptroller Brownall, (as the Bishop says) to "insult the Court." Hey- wood was one of the party, and the attorney came with Hussey from his (Hussey's) house, "where he had made him drunk, as Hussey told T. Curlet," the Sumner : upon all which the Bishop exclaims, " The God of heaven vindicate His own honour and our sincerity !" Neither was it incumbent upon the Governor to go out hunting and dine publicly with Heywood, and tamper with the young clergy to meet him; which drew from the Bishop " a letter to the Curate of Kirk Lonan, Mr. Matthias Cur- ghey, touching his hunting at Peel in Lent, in Ember "Week, and keeping company with an excommunicated person, to the scandal of his profession." The Curate in explanation assured the Bishop that "the Governor sent for him to have his answer about taking the Vicarage of Kirk St. Anne, that he refused and abhorred the proposal, and that he would never come into their profane company again, being per- suaded that God is not among them." It were too wearisome to give ever so brief samples of the several ways in which the new government went on manifest- ing its bitter scornful dislike of the Bishop, his friends, and his cause. One while it was childish incivility, directing an order for a brief to " Thomas Bishop of Sodor and Man, and whom else it concerns," but the Bishop overlooked the dis- 6G8 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. courtesy and irregularity by reason of the petitioner's dis- tressed condition. Very often it is conniving at accused persons, and parties to suits, in their evasion of the laws by retirement from the island ; not now clandestine retirement, since it was openly allowed by the authorities. Thus — '■'■July, 1727," we read, " , of Castletown, presented for adul- tery, the whole town almost scandalized by it, but — a license from the Governor to go out of the island, though I gave him notice by the Vicar, who gave us certificates of her crime." And in the same year, — " March 8. When the Ecclesiastical Court had given order for the widow Toilet to administer or bring in her husband's will, she was immediately suffered to go off the island, contrary to law ; by which the creditors are defrauded of their debt." This might possibly be an instance of the partiality charged in general on the Governor's judicial proceedings : — " He fines excessively such as have any respect for the Bishop, the clergy, the Douglas youths" (i.e. of the Seminary), "• &c. and remits the fines of the most profligate if they are enemies to the Church." He " calls executors before him into Chancery, and takes causes out of our hands." The cases of contumacy and of cursing multiplied greatly, those who feared not God nor regarded man quickly finding out that the old way of enforcing punishment was at an end, and nothing but Church censures, seconded by warning words, provided in its stead. The profaners of the Sunday, who gave much trouble at this time, especially in Douglas, had been cheered and edified by the sight of a Governor who on Sunday morning, March 12, 1725, — "having hunted on the north side, went with all his train through three or four parishes, and even through the town of Douglas, in time of Divine Service, to the great offence of all good Christians." In one case especially their proceedings were most im- moral. A soldier, by name William Christian, had been presented at the Braddan Chapter Court for adultery, Nov. 27, 1727. He seems, like Hey wood, to have been a new- made soldier, allowed to enlist for the very purpose of evading the Church's discipline. The Governor refused his token; nay, more, he imprisoned the Summoner of Kirk LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. . 669 Braddan for citing him, and twice in December called the CHAP. Churchwardens of Douglas to Castletown to answer for pre- XX' senting him. Of course the man refused to appear before the Church Court. When Lent was drawing on, the Bishop " sent for him, exhorted him, and let him know plainly the consequences of his contumacy." Feb. 11 there was "an account from Mr. Cosnahan that on Thursday last the Church- wardens of Douglas were called a third time before the Governor to Castletown, called and treated like vile rogues for presenting this Christian ; and that Deemster Moor, commenting on some part of the evidence, uttered most indecent and corrupting words. ' Lord God,' exclaims the Bishop, ' rebuke this spirit of wicked- ness in those that stand in Thy place to do judgment !' " Such was his appeal in a case of corruption. His cor- responding cry, in a case of frightful oppression a little before s, had been, " Good God, deliver us from this dread- ful tyranny and injustice !" These very severe and impassioned utterances occurring so A. Halsal. frequently in his iournal at this time, might seem to betoken ■ Keys 1 J _ J > a again at undue excitement, if not personal anger and ill feeling. But issue with it is not so : the facts speak out for themselves, and abundant evidence remains that they made the same impression on the great body of his contemporaries in the island as they made on him. Side by side with this ecclesiastical debate was going on a struggle, if possible yet keener, between the re- presentatives of the Lord of the Isle and the representatives of the Isle itself. These latter, it will be remembered, had deputed Mr. Stevenson and others to carry their complaints first to Knowsley, and then to Whitehall, at the same time that the spiritual officers crossed over to prosecute their appeal; but Lord Derby found means to persuade them that he was really going to make all desirable concessions — that a more judicious Governor than Home was on his way, who would quickly set all to rights. So they returned, re infecta : and we have seen what kind of Governors followed them. It were a curious and by no means irrelevant enquiry, did our present limits allow it, to trace out step by step the ensuing movements of the two parties ; but it must be enough now s See Note (A) at the end of the chapter. vernor. 670 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, to point out the most marked instances of the mutual sym- '- — pathy and co-operation of the Bishop and the great body of Manxmen. In 1723 the Keys, as we have seen, enumerating the public grievances for which they were seeking redress in England, had specified most if not all of the points which were in de- bate between the civil and spiritual officers. Out of twenty-five articles of very unequal moment, nine were identically the same as those alleged by the Bishop and his colleagues on various occasions : and the inartificial way in which they are set out, one with another, just as they were remembered at the time, serves to shew how frankly and naturally the clergy and commons made each other's grievances their own. Nov., 1726, in the time of Governor Horton, matters going on rather worse than better, the same sympathy came out, as might be expected, more and more strongly. It was called forth in a case which interested Bishop Wilson especially — the case of his pupil, and tried friend and helper, Anthony Halsal, Deacon Curate of Douglas Chapel. Halsal, an able man, of ardent temperament, and endowed with an unusually keen sense both of logic and of justice, was present that year in the Tynwald Court, June 24, and took occasion, regularly or irregularly, to speak strongly of the conduct of Deemster Moor in trying a cause. His own account is, — " I acknowledge that in the debate touching his proceedings in the case of Douglas Chapel windows, in which I was a plaintiff, I laid to his charge (not by way of insult, but complaint before that Court) that he had acted partially and irregularly, and had endeavoured to mislead the jury." Halsal had, or thought he had, a legal right then and there to exhibit his grievance. The Governor upon the Deemster's petition convenes him, not by a legal summons but by send- ing two soldiers to take him into custody, and confines him in Castle Hushen until he has given a bond of no less than £600 to appear for trial on the first of August. He did ap- pear, and put his cause upon this issue — that he had indeed made the statement alleged, and that he was ready to prove it before the Keys to whom he had addressed it, but he denied the authority of those before whom he was now LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 671 standing, being justified in such denial by the distinct sen- CHAP, teuce of the Privy Council on Bishop Wilson's appeal, which XX" had reversed the orders of the officers on the ground of their having no jurisdiction. The Bishop's note on that day's proceedings is, " Mr. Halsall tried for telling Deemster Moore the truth, viz. that he had acted arbitrarily." But when he conies to the sentence, which was not delivered until Nov. 17, (by which delay, and also by allowing Halsal's pleas from time to time to be put on record, they would seem to have faltered a little in their purpose, or to have waited for instructions from the Earl,) the Bishop re- capitulates the whole matter, his tone becoming quite in- dignant : — "N.B. Mr. Anthony Halsall, Chaplain of Douglas, having put out a jury of enquiry for finding out the persous who had broken the chapel windows, met with such palpable oppression and injus- tice from Deemster Charles Moore, (whose memory will be odious to this isle,) that at the Tinwald Court he charged him with par- tiality ; for which this day he was tried before the Governor and officers, contrary to the known practice of such trials before the 24 Keys, contrary to the protest given in on this occasion by the 24 Keys, and contrary to the advice of the Bishop and two Vicars- General as Lord's Councillors. Notwithstanding which they pro- ceeded, he refusing their jurisdiction, to sentence him to the pil- lory, and £10 fine. The sentence itself, which is stuffed with as much malice as there are lines, — and it is a very long one, — will shew what sort of judges this poor country is like to have, if this precedent shall stand; which the good and righteous God forbid!" They were even more severe than the Bishop here repre- sents them ; they condemned him not to the pillory, but to lose his ears — the Manx statutable punishment, as it had been the English, for scandals uttered against persons in authority. The remonstrance of the Keys to which the Bishop refers had been voted and given in to Horton two days before, upon an intimation of his that he was about to proceed with the trial. It most distinctly affirms that it had been the constant practice of the Isle for such causes to be tried before the Keys. The Bishop's opinion had been given on the day of the trial itself, he appearing in Court for the purpose. " But as he was no member of that Court, 672 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. nor had any call thither as a counsel to qualify him to give '- — his opinion, but delivered the same unasked," the Governor and officers " judge it very improper to take any notice of it," or to have it recorded, or copies given of it ; lest the people should be corrupted, among whom they had taken all care to circulate the " Independent Whig/' Two days more, and Halsal is ready with his appeal : which he addressed at first to the King in Council or to the Earl ; but on a hint from the officers waived all mention of the King. The appeal, so modified, was accepted, and so diligently and earnestly prosecuted, notwithstanding diffi- culties made by the Comptroller in the way of the appellant's obtaining proper documents, that at the end of a twelve- month, Sept. 7, 1727, his Lordship at Knowsley pronounced sentence, Halsal attending there in person. He affirmed the appeal, on the formal ground that the Court of Exchequer ought first to have given judgment on the point of jurisdic- tion, and then to have given a further day for trying the case on its merits. He takes occasion in the end of his sen- tence distinctly to affirm the jurisdiction of that Court in matter of scandals, proceeding " either by a jury or by an enquiry by the twenty-four Keys in nature of a verdict upon a reference to them by the Governor." This time his Lordship seems to have taken the matter really in" hand, and to have gone on in a formal and purpose- like way, whether his decision was right or wrong : of which professional men must judge. Feud on Mr. Halsal was then in England on another account, of tual C us- wnicn some explanation should be given, it being a very im- tomary portaut transaction, and the Bishop greatly mixed up with it. We must go back to the summer of 1726. In the spring of that year Lord Derby had issued an order regarding the spiri- tual portion of the Customary Laws of the island. A revisal of those laws had been desired on all hands, and some of the Keys themselves, with the concurrence of the Bishop and clergy, had some time before transmitted to the Earl through the Governor a draft of certain amendments and alterations, and a draft also of an order to be signed by the Earl, miti- gating the severity of the execution of those laws until the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 673 revised code might become law. He signed an order accord- CHAP, ingly on the 8th of April, but of a tenor very unlike what the — — - — Clergy and Keys had desired. Instead of such mitigation, it suspended the whole code until " it should be amended and revised by the Legislature;" i.e. for an indefinite time. The Keys however, and the Bishop and his coadjutors with them, entered on the work apparently in all good faith, on Aug. 1, at Castletown ; the day and place when HalsaPs trial began : — " We met the twenty-four Keys in order to revise the Spiritual Cus- tomary Laws — went through a few. The twenty-four Keys remon- strated against Lord Derby's order for suspending the Customary Laws till they were revised, and insisted on the Vicars-General going on in the way of their duty." Their reasons may be best given in their own words : — " Castletown, Aug. 4, 1726. "We, the Keys of the said Isle, have with all due deference and respect taken into deliberate consideration our Right Honourable Lord's order of the 8th of April last, concerning the Spiritual Customary Laws of this island ; and have with all cheerfulness embraced his Lordship's directions and commands, by concurring to give our best assistance and advice in revising and amending the said Customary Laws according to law, justice, and reason ; and could wish to have his Lordship's commands, that not only those but the whole body of our laws might be revised, amended, and explained. " But as it is probable the consideration of the Spiritual Cus- tomary Laws will take up some time before they can be concluded upon and published, especially if any part of the legislature should not in all points agree, we do with all humility represent to your Honour, that if a suspension or stop shall be put to the execution of the said Customary Laws, as time immemorial practised, till other be substituted in their stead, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction will for so long a time both in spiritual and civil affairs be in great measure, if not entirely, at a stand ; no debts can be recovered, nor the people, so far as depends on these Courts, be secure in body, goods, or fame ; and an encouragement will unavoidably ensue to all vice and immorality, which of late is but too notorious among us : all which we are confident his Lordship was not apprized of, and was far from his intention. And therefore we make it our humble request, and insist on it as the right of the people of this isle, that until the said Customary Laws be fully concluded and agreed upon, the Ecclesiastical Court and Judges do proceed as x x G74 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C II A P. formerly accustomed, in the due execution of all the laws and cus- '—Ll toms spiritual, according to their oaths, the law, and the constant and known practice within the said isle ; and that such of the said laws as shall .not be altered or abrogated by the consent of the whole legislature, stand and remain in full force, and be duly executed as heretofore hath been accustomed. And we desire that this our representation may be recorded, and a copy thereof transmitted with all convenient speed to our Eight Honourable Lord." This paper, with others of like tone following from the same quarter, or from the Bishop, evidently startled the men of Castle Rush en ; they did not quite relish the idea of leaving such remonstrances on record against themselves, and suspended in respect of them the usual permission to have them registered, and office copies given of them if re- quired, which they had expressly allowed to all Halsal's pro- tests and petitions. Thus they dealt with the remonstrances both of the Bishop and the Keys against their trying for defamation ; and with another document of the same date, in which the Keys had as it were presented Deemster Moore, for accepting a pretended and illegal verdict (so to call it) of a corrupt jury in the cause of one George Tollett's repre- sentatives. All such papers they kept unregistered, as they themselves reported to Lord Derby, until he directed them otherwise ; to the great damage, as it now turns out, of their own credit with posterity. Miscelia- They certainly were admirable specimens of consistency ; of°0US res- f°r instance, we never find Mr. Hoi ton deviating into civility sion. and reverence when he was speaking either to or of the Bishop. He could scarcely direct a letter to him, or make an appointment, or speak of a common acquaintance, with- out shewing his spite. " July 14, 1726. " The Governor gives an unusual ill-mannered reference to a petition, directing to ' Thomas Bishop of Sodor and Man, and whom else it concerns.' " " Nov. 23. The Governor after a very unmannerly way sent the Coroner to charge me to appear at Castletown." " Oct. 13, 1728. The Governor, Horton, at the Sheading Court to-day at Castletown, abused the Dean of York and his brother most scandalously, to the grief and offence of many worthy people, Mr. W. Murray," &c. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 675 Observe that this took place within a few weeks of the c H A P. Dean's death : Bishop Wilson's entry in Sacra Frivata xx- being, — "Mr. Hen. Finch, Dean of York, my most kind and worthy friend for thirty years, died Aug., 1728, aged 68." "Feb. 11. Governor sent for me to Castletown to meet him and the other trustees about the Academic salary : when I came he went a hunting, and the next day sent word that there was no occasion for a meeting, &c. A terrible journey home, which flung me into a great disorder. This is the third time I have been so served." Also, — "Jan. 27, 1729. Having writ to the Governor against Charles Radcliffe for beating and abusing the person who gathers my tithe- fish, he fined the man for provoking language j that is, merely for asking the boatmen for the tithe." But these are trifles in comparison with the encourage- ment which their policy gave to the most outrageous im- morality. Besides the indiscriminate refusal of a soldier to execute the ecclesiastical sentences, the shameless protec- tion of such as the Huddlestoues, Wattleworth, Heywood, and Wm. Christian, notorious for incest, rape, flagrant in- continence, and adultery, and the confessed ill-repute of the two Deemsters, Moore for intolerable grossness, Nicholas Christian for cursing; there are special cases which may be adverted to, to complete the picture. One has been already mentioned : an adulteress escaping by express leave of the Governor, as if in scorn of the Bishop, who had in- formed him of the charge s. The person thus favoured had been one of the witnesses against Mrs. Puller in Madam Home's case. And, " Aug. 11. By letter Mr. Woods, sen., acquaints me, that upon his acquainting the Deputy-Governors Brownhill and Horton that Mr. was presented for adultery, and that I hoped he would not be permitted to go off, Brownhill and Quayle abused bim most outrageously." ■ p. 666 ; July 8, 1727. x x2 676 LITE 01? BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. And, XX. "July 12, 1729. The Governor refused upon application to commit a slanderer to St. Germain's ; so the slanderer continues obstinate." They failed not to use their influence, both as patrons and as companions, for corrupting such of the clergy as sought for preferment at the Governor's hands, or thought it a fine thing to associate with him. Thus Bridson of Marowne, the old offender, who had continued more or less to be a thorn in the Bishop's side, was preferred successively to Lezaire, Kirk Bride, and Ballaugh, in the last instance replacing Vicar-General Walker as next neighbour to the Bishop, — a matter surely of great patience to the latter. The person selected for Marowne was a son of Vicar-General Curghey, a young man in whom the Bishop could have no confidence, he having fraternized repeatedly, and against warning, with Horton, and Heywood, and the rest, in their carousals and hunting parties. The Vicar- General's brother was removed from Peel to Kirk Bride; and about him also the Bishop had grave anxieties. "April 6, 1730. Bride. The present rector, M. C, came this day to me much concerned (?) in drink; (Mr. Woods, Mr. Chris- tian, both met him as he returned home). I rebuked him and purposed to write to him. This is the fourth time he has been admonished of this vice — by Dr. Walker at my request, by his brother, and by myself more than once. I pray God touch his heart most powerfully from above." (The Bishop had written this person a letter, March 18, 1727 — " the day" (he says) "after I put him into Priest's Orders, earnestly pressing him to consider the dignity and the duty of the Priest- hood, and the vows he has taken upon him.") It was a deep device in the same kind which he detected and frustrated, Dec. 4, 1729 : — " Mr. Radcliff having accepted of a presentation to Kirk Michael, and given it to me," (no doubt it contained the obnoxious clauses which the Bishop had so often declined sanctioning,) "came at last to be convinced that it was given him in order to distress me, and to injure the discipline of the Church ; and this day sent me word that he would not take institution." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 677 The same design of obtaining every way a right of inter- CHAP ference with the clergy, and bringing them wholly under the Governor's control, may be discerned in another claim put in for the Lord of the Isle as far back as the end of 1726. 11 March 18. The Governor at my house gave me an order of Lord Derby, to sequester £3 per annum of the vacant livings, towards repairing the vicarage houses. (N.B. A great many false- hoods asserted in the order. The sequestering of vacant livings belongs to the Ordinary. Therefore I shall take no notice of this order, but to do my duty.)" The Bishop entered on the new year with this affair fresh upon his mind, and found comfort in the first lesson for what was then New Year's Day : — "See Ecclus. ch. ii., the whole chapter. N.B. This chapter was the lesson for the day, March 25, 1727, at a time when I was much perplexed about the attempts made upon the Episcopal juris- diction ; and this I cannot but remark, since to my exceeding great comfort and direction it has often so happened (I am persuaded) by the special providence of God*." But to return to Horton and his doings : the saddest by far of these instances of would-be corruption is one bearing date March 1728 :— " The Governor has encouraged Mr. Thos. Christian's son, of Kirk Marowne, that he will force me to restore his father to the exer- cise of his ministry, from which about eighteen years ago he was inhibited at a Convocation of the Clergy, for adultery ; and since? for a relapse into the same crime, has done public penance. Chris- tian has been directed to procure certificates, but cannot yet obtain any. And if he does, &c. " This is a greater sin in the Governor, because he has often and often reproached the said Christian and his order for their crimes, and for some vile circumstances which did attend it. I pray God make him sensible of his crime in opposing the good discipline of this Church in every branch of it, and render his attempts ineffec- tual, for the Lord Jesus' sake !" The picture will be incomplete without a touch or two on their treatment of holy places : — " May 30, 1728. I gave orders to the General Sumner to employ Dawson the slater to mend the roof of the chancel of my Cathedral. Dawson told him that the constable had given orders (by orders 1 Sacra Privata, t. v. 104. ed. A.-C. L. XX. 678 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, from the Governor) that no one should be suffered to repair or — — work there without the Governor's express orders. So that he was not suffered to do the work. The soldiers told the General Sumner the same." It appeared afterwards that they had another use for any materials they might find there : — " June 5, 1730. Mr. Woods tells me that the Governor has or- dered the roof of St. German's Cathedral to be carried to Castle- town, to build stables, &c., and that part of it is already there. Let him beware of what will follow. I pray God awake him ere it be too late ! " June 9. Mr. Radcliffe assures my son that he saw the very timber taken off the Cathedral and marked, which is now to be framed for a roof and barns at Castletown." As to the Chapel at Castletown : — "Aug. 16, 1728. The Archdeacon informed me that he was ordered by the Governor not to catechise the children and. youth, as had been done." In obedience, we may add, to a canon which was part of the undoubted law of the land. And — "April 7, 1729. Easter Monday. Deputy Governor Horton turned the people out and shut the doors, because the Yicar (Woods) was that day to read prayers in the absence of the chap- lain. The Lord rebuke and convert him." But it was all done upon principle : — "Dec. 9, 1729. Mr. Thos. Christian this day acquainted me with the Governor's discourse with him, Mr. Dentrel present : viz. that there was no need for the clergy ; that they would any of them- selves do the work of the ministry, absolve penitents, &.c. He shewed him at the same time his most blasphemous answer to the Bishop of London's pious Pastoral Letter, Sec, which he propagates. The Lord rebuke Satan, and all his agents !" TheBishop Such having been from the first the scarcely dissembled tkionfng6" character and tendency of Horton's administration, besides with the his arbitrary way of dealing with all sorts of people in tem- poral matters, no wonder if Bishop Wilson came forward in union with the great body of the landholders of the island to procure if possible redress and security. There was indeed a hope- — it could hardly be called an expectation, and no LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 679 one knew how long it might be deferred — of an arrange- chap. ment putting an end to the feudal sovereignty by direct sale i^J of the island to the Crown; Parliament having in the session of 1725 authorized the treasury to make such a bargain with Lord Derby and those who might claim after him, naming especially Lady Henrietta Bridget Ashburnham, then under age, next in remainder to his Lordship. And the Bishop heard from his solicitor, Mr. Paris, May 3, 1726, not many weeks after the Act had passed, that "Lord Derby, &c, were agreed" so to dispose of this isle. Probably the Bishop might think in his heart that the Ashburnham family would prove the most desirable superiors, if a man might choose. However, the evil was most pressing, the remedy in either case uncertain, and probably distant. They had recourse then, as before, to " Csesar." Immediately after the con- demnation of Halsal, — " Nov. 23, 1726. The Governor and officers having set up a new authority of their own, without any law or practice to countenance it, and having in a manner taken away the jurisdiction of the Twenty-four, by tryiug men for crimes which affect their lives, &c. ; this day met here the following persons, who in order to prevent these and other most grievous oppressions, subscribed as follows : Thos. S. and M., £20 ; Mr. Stevenson, £30 ; Mr. Mur- ray, 30; Mr. W. Murray, £25 ; Mr. P. Moor, £15 ; Mr. Walker, £6 ; Mr. Anthony Halsall (it being on his account), £20 ; Mr. Curlett, £5. In all £151 British, and to repeat these payments until we can obtain redress from His Majesty or otherways." Thus the Church and the Government were once more fairly arrayed as for open war; with this difference, seem- ingly disadvantageous to the former, that Horton, though evidently a much worse man than Home, had the advantage of him in being able to write, when he chose, like a man of some education, and to transact business steadily and decently, as one who knows what he is about. Among other appliances, we find that the occasion called out an endeavour to get the people to petition, in the way so familiar with us in England. The Bishop writes, May 15, 1727 : — "This week Major Wood, Heywood, Hussey, Christian, Radcliffe, &c, came round the country, and surprised many poor ignoraut people to subscribe a petition against the twenty-four Keys &c, G80 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, telling them that it was only thanks for the settlement, and so — XX> forth. Those who saw it tell us that it was a most scandalous libel. Some they threatened, turned others out of their posts, and many of those that signed were very sorry for what they had done. Kirk Christ refused ; many in Kirk Bride and Maughold ; most in Lonan," &c. The Castletown records shew how much store the officers set by this petition, and specify one person who had lost his place by throwing cold water on it. The people of the several parishes were then accustomed, I know not whether they still are so, to muster for military training at certain times, each parish having its own captain. The Kirk Arbory people were assembled in such muster, Friday, May 26, 1727, when Mr. Stevenson of Balladoole made his appearance on the field ; and the exercises being over, the captain of the parish (Tvldesley) " made a ring as usual." Mr. Stevenson with the officers came into the ring, and said he had a paper to read which he thought proper to acquaint them of. He drew it out and read it accordingly ; it was the substance of an address which was carrying about the island, " to be signed by the people ;" then " he desired them all to take care of themselves, adding, ' we have as hard a Governor now as ever we had since Governor Sankey,' " . . . and "the boon-men," i.e. they who owe him rent in the way of work, "are hardly used by him in weeding his corn, he obliging them to weed it as people weed parsnips in their gardens";" and more- over told them, "that indeed they might thank my Lord Derby for the Act of Settlement, but that they ought espe- cially to thank those that obtained it for them." This being reported at Castle Rushen, produced an imme- diate order to the captains of the parishes to warn their companies publicly against such "incendiaries," and against " all who shall chime in and combine with them to sign seditious papers." By which it would appear that there was a counter petition going on among those who favoured the Bishop. Soon after, Thompson, deputy-constable of the castle and captain of the parish of Rushen, was suspended from both his offices for telling his people that the Lord of u If this be correctly reported, it was certainly unworthy of the Bishop's friend. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 681 the Isle would not look the less kindly on them for declining CHAP. to sisrn the Governor's address x. - — As if to leave nothing in the island without debate, another Dispute on question was started about this time, which proved very s^,,",^!0 troublesome to the Bishop. The office of Sumner-General, General. a most important one, not only in the way of Church disci- pline, but as a place of trust, involving the custody of large deposits in money, — fines due to the Lord of the Isle, or sums detained for due administration of the goods of the departed, — had become vacant in 1712* by the death of the Bishop's dear friend Ewau Christian, and the Bishop, not doubting that it was in his own patronage, had nominated Mr. Thomas Corlett, of Ballaugh, one of the Keys, who had been admitted (as far as appears) without question, and had served the place ever since. All of a sudden a new light seemed to have dawned on the Lord of the Isle. He awoke one morning with the conviction that he had been grossly outwitted by the Bishop in this matter of patronage, that he, and he only, could appoint a Sumner- General, and conse- quently that Corlett's claim was null and void. April 1, 1727, he granted the -office — which was a freehold, and had been anciently devised in like manner — to Capt. William Christian, of Jurby, for twenty-one years. On May 15, Christian laid this commission before the Bishop, whose answer was, — " I look upon it to be my right to appoint Sumners and Appari- tors ; I appointed one several years ago, and lie being in possession of the place by my authority, I cannot admit any other until he be legally dispossessed." " I find in a letter from Mr. Philip country, and which had then been Moore to Dr. Wilson, Jan. 10. 1780, destroyed, but for the vigorous exer- a passage evidently referring to this tions of your father, with Mr. Stephen- movement, but apparently with some son of Balladool and the other friends confusion of dates. It contains hints of their country, with the gentlemen of which it might be curious to explain the Keys. The Church was next to be and verify. Referring to a matter attacked, though, God knows, we had then going on, he says, " There was not much to lose at the time. But our a scheme of this kind set on foot once divine Moses stood in the gap, and de- before, in your father's time, about feated all their machinations. Then the year 1724 or 1725, [by] Hor- they wreaked their diabolical malice ton the governor, with a view to break on the Cathedral, of which you may the Act of Settlement — our Magna remember the event. 'So let Thine Chart a — which your worthy father was enemies perish, O Lord.' Judges 5th." so instrumental in obtaining for the 682 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. June 2, the Governor in Chancery took notice of this xx. matter, and issued an order inhibiting Corlett from acting any longer in the office, and sequestering the profits of it in the hands of the parochial Sumners, to whom the order was directed. This he did in spite of a remonstrance which the Bishop had drawn up two days before in anticipation of such proceeding, and which was tendered to him in court by Corlett himself. " Forasmuch as Mr. Tho. Curlet, my General-Sumner, has been menaced, in open court, by the Lord's Attorney for acting by my authority, though he has done so for many years without molesta- tion, as his predecessors time out of mind have done by the appoint- ment of the then Lords Bishops : — " I do therefore, for preserving my own and the rights of my successors, desire and demand, as I have a right by law to do, which right was fully debated and allowed by His Majesty's mcst honourable Privy Council, That the two Deemsters and twenty-four Keys may deem the law truly, whether the Lord Bishop for the time being has not a right to authorise and appoint his own General-Sumner, for whose acts and fidelity he is answerable, and who being entrusted with administrations of a very great value, might ruin the Ecclesiastical Court if he should prove unfaithful." No notice being taken of this not very unreasonable demand, and everything around tending to oppression and disorder, the Bishop betook himself (as always) to especial prayer ; and on this occasion the prayer is registered y. It bears date June 10, 1727, a week after the temporal court had dealt, as we have seen, with the Simmer-General's office and the right of petitioning ; it is headed, " This whole country labouring under great distractions," and it may be described as a serious appeal to the King of Kings, begin- ning as it ought with confession of sin and ending with entire submission. Thus having offered to God beforehand all that he was about to do in His cause, he memorializes the Lord of the Isle on the newest grievance — that touching the Sumner's office. After reciting the facts as above, he goes on, — " Which most lawful and reasonable demand of mine being de- nied, and being violently deprived of my rights, and ni}' Sumner of his freehold, I am constrained to apply to your Lordship, and to y Sacra Privata for Friday, in vol. v. p. 230. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 6S3 pray that your Lordship, out of a tender regard to the rights and CHAT. XX. properties of your people, may not suffer me to be divested of the one, and my Sumner of the other, without due course of common law ; and that in the meantime the said General Sumner may not be dis- turbed in the execution of his office, or from receiving the profits thereof, before he be lawfully dispossessed of the same." This paper bears date June 28, the Bishop having appa- rently waited for the Tynwald day, June 24-. But his oppo- nents had contrived an ingenious way to avoid being troubled there with any unpalatable grievances. " The Governor, Receiver, and Attorney and two Deemsters, after service was ended, contrary to all the rules of Tinwald and the law, ran out of court without giving any one liberty to lay the grievances or necessities of the country before them and the twenty- four Keys, and without consulting the Council, &c., which I look upon to be one of the greatest breaches of our constitution that has yet been made." During all this time of worry and anxiety the Bishop's Encou- memoranda shew that he relaxed nothing in his attention to [nMalfand the Chapter and Consistory Courts, which were held regu- elsewhere, larly, and seem to have retained more of their efficiency than could have been expected; the people for the most part submitting of their own accord, though they knew the temporal penalty could not and would not be enforced as formerly. This would seem to shew that, granting a certain amount of faith in the flock, the shepherd need not despair of discipline, though he find no aid from the secu- lar arm. Besides this, there were cases, as before, of con- fession purely voluntary, which were always a peculiar com- fort to the Bishop, and gave exercise to his special gift of speaking grave comfort to those who plainly needed it ; they also caused him to teach Christ's law of excommu- nication much more pointedly and minutely than he did before. Here is one of the bright spots in his registry, oc- curring Feb. 6, 17ff : — " Marowne — Antenuptial Fornication. The man petitioning be- fore he is presented and of his own accord, and appealing to the whole parish for the inoffensiveness of his life till he fell into this sin, we are disposed to shew him all the favour the discipline of the Church will allow. lie is therefore to perform one Sunday's 684 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, penance as soon as may be, and when his wife recovers you shall xx- receive further orders concerning her. — March 29, 1727. T. S. M. " To the Vicar of Kirk Marowne." Again : — " Aug. 27. Braddan. P. M., Jun., having earnestly prayed to be admitted to penance for bis sin of fornication, and being accordingly sent to prison, to give bonds as usual, I wrote him a serious letter on tbis head." One thing which greatly consoled him, occurring as it did when all his relations with the Earl, Horton, and the rest were most unpromising, was the manner in which George IL and his Queen, the latter especially, received his homage on their accession to the throne. Years before, as we have seen, she had noticed him in London, and been greatly attracted by his preaching. Now, Aug. 9, he and his clergy prepare an address to the King, signed by them all, and the Bisbop prepares a letter from bimself to the Queen's Majesty. The Yicar-General Walker conveys it to England; and there joins the Bishop's son, who had some time before left the island to be ready for the Trinity Sunday ordination in Christ Church, and had been made deacon by Bishop Potter on that day, May 28, 1727, as is noted by his father among " special favours." Walker was probably at the same time in joint charge also of preparations for the grand appeal to the Council, which if not as yet in progress, was fairly enough within reach in prospect. And on Sept. 5, the Bishop's note is, — " Tbis day our address to his Majesty was presented by Mr. Walker and my son, introduced by the Earl of Albemarle, and was very favourably received. As also my letter to the Queen, by the Countess of Buckenburgh, which her Majesty received with the greatest regard to me, desiring my daily prayers, and assuring me of her continued kindness to me in promoting the cause of religion. May the praise of all this be given to God, for of myself I confess I am nothing, and deserve nothing but reproach, as Thou, my God, kuowest better than those who see only the outward man." Bishop Wilson may have been the more deeply touched by these marks of royal favour, as they contrasted with what he avus hourly enduring from persons in high place nearer home : his spirits too were depressed just then by the do- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 685 parture of his son and the unusual absence of his friend CHAP. Walker. The latter remained in England for several months. ■ — March 27, 1728, the Episcopalia mention "a circular letter to the clergy, to give them notice to prepare the youth of their parishes for confirmation, of which they shall have notice as soon as I am at liberty from the necessities I lie under on account of my Vicar-General's absence." And the notices for confirmation do not begin until after the middle of July. Walker's stay in England was doubtless lengthened by the business in hand between Lord Derby and his island petitioners, of the progress whereof some account must now be given. The strange behaviour of the Governor and officers at the Petition of Tynwald had been a sufficient proof to all men that no real [0eL0rdS consideration of the alleged grievances could be hoped for Derby, from them; the only thing to be done was to appeal, as before, to the King in council, but first the forlorn hope was to be tried of applying to Lord Derby. The Keys proceeded in the same method as in 1723, appointing certain com- missioners with instructions embodying their grievances, out of which they were to frame a petition, and sign it on behalf of the whole House, i.e. (according to their view of the con- stitution, which made the Keys representatives of the island) on behalf of the Commons of Man in general. The com- missioners were Mr. Stevenson of Balladoole, Mr. John Murray of Douglas, and the Rev. Anthony Halsal, of whom the first only had been on the former commission. Mr. Murray was connected by affinity as well as intimacy with the Bishop, and Mr. Halsal being in England on account of his own appeal, and having had but too much experience in such matters, was naturally requested to act with the other two. They had agreed upon their petition, and signed it, Sept. 22, Halsal having had his appeal confirmed by the Earl three weeks before. It was not however presented to his Lordship in person until Oct. 21. The concluding para- graph added two new ecclesiastical grievances to those which had been enumerated in 1723. The first, the order for the suspension of the spiritual customary laws, — " which they presume your Lordship was induced to issue on 686 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, some misinformation relating to the nature and execution of the said laws, without duly considering the consequences of dispensing with so great a body of national laws at pleasure." The last phrase seems to hint what is tolerably obvious to one versed in English notions, that such an act did in truth involve a claim of unlimited power in the Lord of the Isle to dispense with any or with every common or customary law. The other new grievance is the Earl's appointment of a Sumner-General: — " To the like misinformation we cannot but impute your Lord- ship's granting a commission to a spiritual magistrate when the episcopal see is not vacant. . . . We presume also to represent the dangerous consequences (to every man's property) of the Governor taking upon him to divest any person of his freehold, as was done in the case of the General Sumner, who by an order of the said Governor is prohibited from acting in his office, the place declared vacant, and the profits of the same sequestered, without any legal trial or process at law. By which method of sequestration any other person may hereafter at the will and pleasure of the Governor be ousted of his freehold before a legal trial and definitive sentence is passed, and be unable to defend his right, be it never so just." " They are constrained further to observe to your Lordship, that the Governor by dispensing with the express statute law for putting the ecclesiastical laws in execution, to the great scandal of Chris- tianity and growth of vice and irreligion among us, hath hindered the legal prosecution of incest, rape, and other the greatest immo- ralities." The prayer of the petition is for his Lordship to take into consideration — " our most miserable state and condition, and to grant us such relief ... as may hereafter effectually discourage the officers of this isle in these and all such arbitrary practices and oppressions, and secure to your people for the future the peaceable enjoyment of their religion, lives, laws, liberties, and properties." Of course it was not expected by any one that this remon- strance would have any effect upon the Earl, especially that part of it which relates to the Sumner's office. Within a few days of its being delivered, Mr. Curlett, the Bishop's Sumner-General, " charged to Castletown to take a copy of record, when he came there, was laughed at, abused, and LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 687 turned out of the room by Deputy Brownhillz." They would CHAP, uot have dared to behave so in the island had they not felt — XX' sure of their answer from Lancashire. As yet I have seen no record of that answer, only we know that it was unfavour- able, since the appeal was carried on to the Privy Council. During these months, or rather years of suspense, the The Bi- effects of what was going on are traceable in more than one of sermons*^ the Bishop's sermons. Thus in 1725, before the Tynwald, the Governor's place being as it were in commission, and in the hands of persons disposed to hear reason and not to perse- cute, he took occasion to speak out on the duty of magis- trates, in a way which would have seemed personal had Home or Horton been in office. His keynote is, " the judgment is the Lord's:" "if just, it is God Himself speaking by you:" and in his descant many touches occur, pointedly but not obtrusively bringing the matter home to the needs and temptations of that special place and time. For instance, " Most nations, particularly this of ours, have made the law of God by Moses to the Israelites their pattern." Mark also his significant mention of St. Paul's appeal unto Cassar, and his distinction between laws and precedents, such, he says, that " the reproach cast upon the commonwealth of Athens may too fitly be applied to other nations, namely, that their great wisdom appeared in their excellent laws, and their folly in taking pains to pervert them. To prevent which," he adds, " the kings and lords of this isle first instituted this Court of Tynwald, that all inferior magistrates might have an opportunity of justifying their conduct if they had acted uprightly and agreeably to law, and might receive a just rebuke if complaint were made that they had acted other- wise;" which institution, he remarks by the way, was the same in principle with the censorship in the Roman republic. He dwells upon the case of Pilate, especially on this point, that he was "egregiously affronting that master whose dis- pleasure he feared, by supposing that he could be pleased with a wicked action." He utters a warning against "the generality of those who take upon them to manage causes/' and " would hope that the complaints of those that suffer by z Episcopalia. xviii. 7. 688 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, these sort of people both in their peace and in their rights — may awaken the government to regulate at least, if not to silence them ; and to bring us back to our old constitution, where every man pleaded his own cause*." Three years after this he preached again to the Court of Tynwald, Horton probably being present as Governor, and the appeal then in progress in England. On this occasion he was more outspoken, no doubt regarding it as one which left him no choice but he must "cry aloud and spare not." He takes for his text the cause of the Flood, rendering the Scripture words, "the sons of God saw the daughters of men," •in this way, " The sons of the sovereigns (who in Holy Scrip- ture are called gods), seeing the daughters of the inferior men that they were fair, they took them by force." This he Judges connects with the cases of Sodom, of the people of Laish, of the Benjamites in the Book of Judges, of Israel in Jeremiah's time ; which he contrasts with the blessings on Phineas, and on penitent Nineveh, and draws the conclusion, " That the sins of private people become the sins of the whole nation, and are the cause of national judgments, when the guilty continue unpunished by those who should call them to ac- count." And on this topic he goes on, pouring himself out as if he could not help it, not regarding who might hear him, or who might take the censure home, and convict themselves by being affronted. Observe such sentences as the following, and compare them with what the records have told us of the recent ways of that government : — " There was indeed one, and but one, who had the heart or the courage to reprove the people of Sodom ; but he wanted power to restrain them, and they plainly told him so : — ' This one fellow came to sojourn among us, and he will needs be a judge.' " The penitent king of Nineveh " would now be made a jest of, and even by some who call themselves Christians. ' A king in sackcloth and ashes !' Yes, anything rather than the vengeance of God upon his kingdom." " Church discipline is necessary, as it is appointed by Jesus Christ. The ends proposed by it are, to reform wicked men, to a This matter was taken up by the the Bishop's hint, but not until 17G3, legislature, and regulated according to eight years after his death. Mills, 339. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 689 remove scandals, and to prevent the judgments of God : and to CHAP. obstruct or discountenance it is to oppose an order of God for the — good of the world and for the salvation of particular men ; a sin which will draw after it great judgments. And sad experience may convince us, that when Church censures are set at nought and ridiculed, the most damnable sins become the subject of mirth and laughter, rather than of horror, sorrow, and shame." " Discipline being an institution of the Gospel is not to be set aside by any human law. And as sure as the Gospel which I hold in my hand is true, this is true, — that to countenance no- torious evil livers, or such as rebel against that discipline which Christ has ordained for the salvation of sinners, is to be partakers with them in their evil deeds." " May it please God to awaken all that are in authority both in Church and State, and make us sensible that we are answerable for all the sins which it is in our power to prevent." Another sermon of this date is the 18th, on " the Design and History of Christianity," preached at Douglas Chapel, Nov. 5, 1727; where the "Independent Whig" with its liber- tinism is as plainly described as is Governor Horton and his tyranny in those from which I have been giving extracts. But neither tyranny, nor libertinism, nor the absence of his best human helper, were allowed to outweary him in his disciplinary task. The notices- in Episcopalia of work done in Church Courts at Michaelmas, Candlemas, and May, 1727-8, are at least as ample as in the circuits of other years, and have the usual tokens of minute attention and discrimination on the Bishop's part. Thus June 6, 1728, William Tear of Andreas is presented for cursing his father : — " To be committed, till he give bonds to perform three Sundays' penance, &c. And this being a crime of so foul a nature, that it was punished with death under the law, and the curse of God denounced against the guilty, the Curate is to take especial care to give the Court an account of his behaviour herein, the next Chapter Courts." This, by the way, is in the spirit of the Bishop's remark before the Tynwald, that the Manx law was in many re- spects copied from the Mosaic. A somewhat singular presentment occurs at Marowne, April 24, 1728:— 690 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " Mary Christian, Bally Connye's b daughter, is now under XX. Church censures for abusing of her sister-in-law, and has not been at the Sacrament for some years." She is reported at Michaelmas not yet reconciled to her sister. These entries, however, begin too clearly to indicate the relaxation of discipline sure to follow on the proceedings of the Government. Churchwardens and questmen are repeat- edly censured for neglect of their official duties ; offenders appear oftener to have braved oat their sentence ; the awful name of excommunication appears more frequently, but with less effect, occurring as it does in this way, " If he be negligent or contumacious, the Vicar or Curate must press on him the danger of that dreadful sentence," whereas before it used to be, " The Sumner must take him to prison, with the aid of a soldier, if need be." Walker's Some time in July, Walker seems to have returned, return* • bringing with him the style and title of LL.D., with which he had been honoured by Archbishop Wake. The com- pliment, Mr. Stowell intimates, was due to the general esteem which Mr. Walker had won by the zeal and ability with which, on some occasion in the course of the Bishop's trou- blesome lawsuit, he had pleaded his diocesan's cause. It seems fair to conjecture that the Bishop himself may have suggested this preferment (so to call it) for his friend, by a kind of instinct, to mark him out (if Providence should so allow) for his successor. Certainly if Bishop Wilson did allow himself any speculation on such a point, — which would be quite in keeping with his usual common-sense and fore- thought, perfectly disinterested as both always were, — Walker would be the man on whom his thoughts would dwell : were it only that besides his other qualities, both as a man of business, as a theologian, and above all as a wise and self- denying Christian, he was a born Manxman, thoroughly versed in the language, manners, and interests of the island. Moreover he was the person of all others to continue and carry into full effect the work, so dear to Bishop Wilson's b Naming the man from his residence, Scottish fashion. This is very common in Manx writings. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 691 heart, a Manx version of the Holy Scriptures. He had con- chap templated it, as we have seen, from the beginning of his episcopate, had early fixed on Walker as his chief coadjutor, and the compulsory leisure of them both in their joint im- prisonment had been so well improved, that the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles were now ready in Walker's hand- writing. For Mr. William Crebbin, afterwards Vicar of Jurby, and translator of the Book of Numbers, being (as was usual) in residence with the Bishop before he was made deacon in 1743, saw there the four Gospels, the Acts, and a part of the Common Prayer, which had been translated, as he was assured and understood, by Dr. Walker. " He was certain that the copies he saw were in the Doctor's hand- writing : for Bishop Wilson used to give him the perusal of them, in order to qualify him also for translating*." Dr. Walker returned by Ramsey, as most convenient for Ballaugh, and was met on the beach " by a multitude of the principal inhabitants, who had assembled to welcome his return, and anxiously inquired the success of his embassy. Amongst the crowd he espied his aged mother coming towards him ; and instantly," says Mr. Stowell d, " according to the simple manners of the day, he dropped upon his knees to receive her blessing, which she bestowed with streaming eyes, and a heart overflowing with gratitude for his safe return. " His mother had married a second time ; and though she formed an imprudent connexion, the man having long lived in habits of intemperance, yet both she and her husband continued to live in the Doctor's house. The intemperance of his step-father was a source of much uneasiness to him. He laboured earnestly by prayers and admonitions... to give him a horror of this most ruinous of all sins, but without effect... Such, however, was the Doctor's unchangeable attachment to his mother, that for her sake he bore with this disagreeable inmate from day to day, and never removed him from under his roof." As to " the success of his embassy," all that the Vicar- Fresh ap- General could tell the Bishop, so far as we can judge by £er^° the the records, was the fact (the particulars are lost) that Lord Derby had refused all redress. So the Keys in con- c Butler's Life of Bp. Hildesley, 254. Communicated by Mr. Crebbin to the Rev. Wm. Cubbon, Vicar of St. Maughold, 1798. rt P. 417. Yy2 69.2 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. c H A P. cert with the Bishop had to prepare their Appeal to the ^ King in Council. The matter must have been encumbered, as usual, with many delays ; for it was not until Nov. 6, 1728, that the Bishop could enter in his journal, — " This day the Twenty-four's Appeal was given in to the King in Council, who ordered it to be considered by a Committee. I pray God it may end well, and that we may be prepared for what His providence shall bring forth." The preamble of the Appeal stands thus : — " Your petitioners are the representatives, according to the con- stitution of that country, of at least twenty thousand of your Ma- jesty's loyal subjects in that island ; many of whom have for seve- ral years past been grievously, arbitrarily, and illegally deprived of their liberties, fined, punished, and imprisoned, and otherwise vexed, harassed, and oppressed in their persons, and in their estates, rights, and properties, by the late and present governors and officers of the said isle, appointed by the Right Honourable James, Earl of Derby, Lord of Mann." Then they recite their petition to his Lordship, delivered Aug. 20, 1723; "enumerating a very small part only of the grievances the people then daily laboured under :" the sub- stance of which, so far as it related to ecclesiastical matters, has been given, it being indeed but the recapitulation of this painful history since Home's appointment. They go on to state, — " That your petitioners with great duty and patience waited near four years, expecting his Lordship would find leisure to think of and relieve their crying oppressions. But the Governor and officers of the said island, seeing the disappointments which your petitioners had met with, and not being called to account for their mal-practices, (though they were well informed your petitioners had complained of them as aforesaid,) began to proceed in a more arbitrary and extravagant manner (if possible) than hitherto : upon which your petitioners found themselves under a necessity of preferring a se- cond petition." Namely, that of Oct. 21, 1727, which they proceed to recite, from which also have been herein above extracted the new wrongs and insults offered to the Church since the decision on the Bishop's appeal. The petition was of course immediately referred by the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 693 King to the Committee for hearing Appeals from the Planta- chap. tions, and on Nov. 19 it was transmitted to Lord Derby and — '-^-^ — his officers for their reply, which they were required to send in within a month from that date. But the Council Register tells us no more of the matter, except that on March 14, 1728, "appearances were entered on behalf of the Deputy- Governor, Officers, and Deemsters ;" and twice afterwards more time is allowed them to prepare and lodge their an- swers, the latest entry extending the allowance to May 10, 1729. And there the case disappears from the Council books. The Rolls Office indeed at Castletown contains a draft of a voluminous " Plea, Defence, and Answer of Thomas Horton, Esq./' and the officers and Deemsters, to the com- plaint of the Keys of the said isle. By the kindness of a friend in the Isle of Man I have been favoured with large extracts from this document, portions of which I subjoin to this chapter for the information of those who may be curious to know how the cause was argued by the opponents of the Bishop e. It has no date, and as no mention of it occurs in the Register, the probability is that it was never lodged with the Council, and that at this stage the proceedings were dropped : possibly for want of funds on the side of the ap- pellants; but this is at most a probable conjecture. This was a great and sore disappointment to the Bishop ; Walker's and it was followed or accompanied by a bereavement, which w;ti, t]ie (all things considered) he must have felt as one of the severest Bishop, trials of his life. Dr. Walker had joined him apparently about the middle of July, and he had presently begun the round of Confirmations which he had delayed until Walker should arrive : choosing Sundays for them, and in each place noting, as it seems, particularly the condition of the chan- cels in which he was ministering. Thus, July 28, at Kirk Marown, he " reproved the wardens publicly for having so scurvy a Communion table-cloth, and the floor within the rails so scandalously out of order : and I am told," he adds, " that the font is so too." At Andreas, Aug. 11, " I publicly reproved and admonished the churchwardens for the indecent * See Isote (B) al the end of this chapter. 694 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Communion table-cloth. N.B. They have no flagon, nor — — plates, nor dish, nor bason for alms." Afterwards, Oct. 25, " A table-cloth to be provided before Candlemass, sub poena 2s. 6d. on every warden." He was scrupulous in shewing all due respect to the officers with whom his suit was pending : — " Aug. 1. Malew. On Deemster Moor's request, I permitted his son Charles to be buried in the chancel." " Sept. 25. I sent by Dr. Walker £10 to Mr. Dan. Mcylrea, which he demanded (though how righteously God knows) for his services at Douglas daring the time the chapel was in building. Of which £10 I myself paid £3, Mr. Murray £2, and Mr. Hen. Allen £5, which he had received in wrong of the chapel." Letters of admonition seem to multiply : — " To Mr. Macon, to oblige his boys to say their daily prayers : to the Curate of Marowne, concerning his clerk's irregularities yesterday, being Sunday, at Peel, where it is said he was drinking all night with Capt. Hey wood ; to Capt. John Christian of Le- zaire, the Lord's forester, now prisoner in St. Germains, concern- ing his sin and in answer to his petition." This last was an encouraging case : one of the Earl's of- ficers voluntarily submitting himself at a time when so much was made of the claim of exemption. The Bishop grants him relaxation very cheerfully, — " in good hopes that such solemn resolutions and promises will, by the grace of God, be attended with fruits meet for repentance, and that a dispensation of this kind will have a proper effect upon a well-disposed mind." He orders him to be received after public penance in peni- tential habit two days before Christmas, and adds, — " May God of his infinite mercy and goodness seal unto him the forgiveness of his sin according to the sincerity of his repentance !" The Bishop wrote also to the man's partner in guilt, on her petitioning out of prison. "March 20. A sharp letter to the Vicar of Malew" (Mr, Woods) " for his giving the blessed Sacrament to Charles Fargher (see his crimes above) on his death-bed. Vide letters of disci- pline." The man seemed to die in contumacy, having been sum- moned LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 695 " to answer as well for his frequent relapses into fornication, as C H A P. for his outrage in Court ; and having had warning that if he did not appear he would be excommunicated." It would appear that the Bishop kept copies of his let- ters of discipline : a treasure which there is now no hope of recovering. He could dispense with the form of admission where he saw the substance of penitency : — "April, 6, 1729. Michael. William Craughan having performed public penance, I admitted him to the Holy Sacrament, partly be- cause there was no Sunday for him to be received on, and also because he had the grace to acknowledge his sin, (when presented upon common fame,) though the woman offered to clear with him. But I seriously admonished him, and publicly, before the altar, and the whole congregation, had his most solemn promise of living as becomes a good Christian for the future." It was Easter Day, and the Bishop administered the Lord's Supper in both kinds, without " any assistance, and read prayers and preached. Above 250 communicants." The feast bringing with it a kind of amnesty,, was as in some other cases an additional plea for the indulgence granted. A similar dispensation took effect the same day in another Church : — " Bishop's Court, April, 3, 1729. " Mr. Moore, — If this person shall, on Sunday next, confess his sin before the congregation as becomes a true and serious penitent, you may afterwards admit him to the Holy Sacrament. He must do this upon his knees, after the most humble manner, — we dis- pense for this time with the sheet, because of the day on which it is to be pei formed." Dr. Walker's name is found accompanying the Bishop's, after the return of the former from London, in one " State paper," so to call it, and one act of discipline : — " Feb. 6," he writes, " I signed, together with the Vicar-General, a protest against the Governor and officers calling Mr. Radclifi'e to an account for reading an order in the chapel of Douglas, citing an adulterer to appear before us." But " Mr. Radcliffe not being pro- secuted, the address was not given in." The act of discipline is one well suiting Walker's mild and peacemaking character: it relates to two persons named 696 LITE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap. Harrison, of Kirk Arbory, a brother and sister-in-law, who — — were charged by the wardens, on " common fame," with no less a crime than incest, and prayed to be admitted to com- purgation, May 22, 1729. The reply of the spiritual of- ficers, dated Bishop's Court, the same day, stands thus : — " If the Vicar and Wardens of the parish have any material or particular cause or circumstance to offer to the Court, whereby the guilt of the parties may be more grossly suspected, than only by a common flying rumour, their purgation is not to be taken, until there be a trial at the next Court ; but if the Vicar and wardens hope, and are persuaded, (as we are,) that after such solemn as- severations they are innocent of the grievous crime laid to their charge, then they are to be admitted to a purgation the next Lords day, before the celebration of the Holy Communion, the man on his part bringing two lawful compurgators. And hereof certificates are to be returned at the next Sheading Court. " Tno. Sodob. and Man. ¥m. "Walker." They were admitted accordingly, but not until the follow- ing November. And this of May 22, as far as we know, His death, is the last public act of the wise and good Vicar-General. June 18, the Bishop has to record as follows : — " Ballaugh. N.B. W. Walker, LL.D., having been the worthy Rector of this parish about twenty-five years, and one of the Vicars- General seventeen; — the duty of both which places he discharged with great integrity and diligence; — he died June 18, 1729, aged fifty-nine ; to the great grief of all good men who had been wit- nesses of his great virtue." NOTE (A), p. 669. The affair alluded to is that of John Tobin, a stranger, detailed in divers entries of Episcojmlia. " Nov. 19, 1727. One Katherine Tobin, alias Kelly, brought me a letter from the Archbishop of Dublin, with most authentic cer- tificates of her mai'riage with John Tobin, now living in Douglas with another woman. I sent to Mr. Curghy to charge the man before the [Court ?] in order to separate him from the woman with whom he lived, but a parcel of Papists put the man upon LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 697 taking an action of scandal' against Kafherine his lawful wife, by C H A P. which he most scandalously and unmercifully flung her into prison, till she would give £200 bond to stand a trial before the temporal officers. Good God, deliver us from this dreadful tyranny and in- justice !" Next, in Consistory, Dec. 6, an order was made for cen- suring and separating Tobin and his paramour. So far, it seems, discipline was allowed to act. Dec. 19, he had to petition out of prison, and " I," says the Bishop, " released him, letting him know both by order, and by a letter to himself, that if he continued any longer to cohabit, i. e. to live in the same house with Mary Green- way, his adulteress, he and she should be excommunicated." March 1, he is ordered to appear at Kirk Michael to hear himself excommunicated for adultery and contumacy. April 2, 1728, this Tobin ought to have appeared, " but was confined in the court by Captain Heywood for beating his wife, — supposed a contrivance. June 3, John Tobin appeared and heard all the proceedings against him, and behaved most insolently, telling the Court that he had injustice done him, &c. I proceeded to pronounce the sentence of excommunication against him. After the sentence passed, he openly declared in the face of the Court that we had done him the height of injustice." And this is the last we hear of the case. Either he went off the island, or was permitted to stay there, taking all easily. NOTE (B), p. 693. "To the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council for hearing Appeals, Complaints, &c., from the Plantations. "The plea, defence, and answer of Thos. Horton, Esq., Governor of the Isle of Man, James Horton, Receiver, John Brownell, Comptroller and Clerk of the Rolls, Dan. Mcylrea, Attorney-General, and Charles Moore and Nicholas Christian, Deemsters in the said Isle, to the petition of appeal and complaint of the Keys of the said Isle " That many of the clergy of the said isle, though the Bishop and all of them are nominated by the said Earl and his ancestors, have, against the ties of gratitude and allegiance, been for several years last past very active and restless in opposing the civil government of the said isle, and in exalting the ecclesiastical power in opposition to it, and in propagating and infusing hito the minds of the people false and injurious opinions, as well in respect to the late happy revolution in Great Britain and the succession in the most illustrious House of Hanover, as opinions injurious to the government of the said Earl in the said isle, and to the principles of the Protestant religion in general. 698 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " That the said Earl, having on all occasions shewed himself a great xx- favourer of liberty and property, did soon after he became Lord of the Isle of liis own mere motion most generously grant to all the inhabitants of the said isle their fee and inheritance of all the lands in the said isle under very small quit-rents — whereas all the said lands had before, time out of mind, been, and then were, the absolute fee and inheritance of the said Earl and his predecessors, and had been granted out by them as they thought fit ; and such grant was made by the said Earl without receiving or stipulating for any consideration whatsoever in respect thereof, and with no other view or expectation than that the inhabitants of the said isle, when they should have a more permanent, valuable, and independent interest in the said lauds, would become more active in improving the same, and more industrious iu promoting the trade of the said isle. " But after the people of the said isle had got such grant of their said land, instead of being reminded of their allegiance and the great gratitude due from them to the said Earl on account of the said grant, they were taught and often told by some of their clergy that by virtue of the said, grant they were become independent of the said Earl as to their estates, and need not fear or regard what he could do to them ; and from the time of the said grant the people have been industriously encouraged to a dis- regard of the civil power, and at the same time as industriously taught to pay an unlimited regard and obedience to the Ecclesiastical power in the said isle, and no means have been omitted to advance the one and debase and embarrass the other ; and these respondents beg leave to hope that the petition now before your Lordships will appear to proceed from the same spirit and fountain only, aud not from any real grievances any of the people of the said isle have, been or are under. "Aud it is very observable, as these respondents humbly apprehend upon the face of the said petition, that the same is calculated and framed de- signedly to asperse and draw an unjust odium on the said Earl and his officers in the said isle, by raking up and ransacking for many years back- wards several articles of illegal and arbitrary practices, as the petitioners term them, doue by the former Governors and officers of the said isle, and wherein these respondents are no-ways concerned; and in order to make out such complaints, the said petition has stated the said complaints very par- tially and imperfectly ; omitting and suppressing, on the one hand, every circumstance tending to justify the said former Governors and officers, and, on the other hand, stating not only such facts as appear against them hi virulent and general terms, and in a manner that renders it impossible without great prolixity to answer the same; but the said petition has also stated falsities for facts, and though a great part of the petition is taken up with complaints stated in this manner against the late Governors and officers of the said isle, the two last of which Governors are now living, and one of them hi his Majesty's service, and many of the other former officers are now also living, yet are [not?] they or any one of them, though the only persons who should answer such complaints against them, made parties to the said petition, which evidently shews that the aim of the said petition must be to LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 699 calumniate, asperse, and injure the said Earl in his honour, and his officers CHAP. in their reputations, and to prejudice them in his Majesty's and your Lord- xx- ships' opinion. "And these respondents further say that though, and for some time, more persons have been prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment and shameful punishments — such as wearing the bridle on" their heads and a bit in their mouths, and led about in public markets within the said island by the Spiritual Court there, for pretended offences, or suspicion of rape, adultery, fornication, and affronts or pretended affronts to the spiritual power in the said island than have been during the time imprisoned by all the Temporal Courts there for temporal crimes or offences ; and though the oath ex officio is rigorously imposed and enforced by the Bishop and his officers on all persons whom they are pleased to suspect of fornication or adultery, and such persons put either to charge or purge themselves, to the great harrassing and expense of the people and introduction of perjury, as was found by the said oath in England till abolished by Act of Parliament in the reign of King Charles the Second, yet the said Bishop and clergy have, by their artifices and endeavours, all along hindered the said oath from being abolished by the legislature in the said island. And though the ar- bitrary practice and proceedings of the Spiritual Courts in the said isle are carried on and exercised to the great destruction and ruin of numbers of families there, a power arrogated by the Bishop and clergy utterly destruc- tive of and inconsistent with the Uberties and properties of the inhabitants, and with the Protestant religion itself ; yet it is observable that there is not the least complaint mentioned in the said petition of any misbehaviour in any one spiritual person or officer, but, on the contrary, complaints of discouragements or restraints put upon them in the exercise of the power they assume in the island — which the respondents take notice of the further, to shew your Lordships from whence the complaints in the said petition do really and truly proceed " And as to the said dungeon complained of by the petitioners to be so damp and unhealthy a prison as to cause death to a person in a few hours, these respondents say that, on the contrary, it is a' dry wholesome prison, and is, and time out of mind has been, a common and public prison for persons imprisoned by the civil power in the said isle ; and is now, and has been ever since these respondents remember the same, in good repair, and in such-like condition as the respondents are informed and believe it has usually heretofore been in. Aid it is very remarkable, that though the said Bishop's prison being [?be] a dungeon under the graves of the dead, and infinitely more noisome and unwholesome than the said public prison can be pretended to be ; and though so many persons are imprisoned in the said Bishop's dungeon for even bare suspicion of what the said clergy term spiritual offences, — that the present petition to your Lordships shewed to [? should be] so long with complaint against the public prison, and yet take no notice of the said Bishop's prison; and \J.om. "and"] which the respondents have taken the liberty to observe, as a further testimony that the said petition now before your Lordships is not founded upon any real 7C0 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, grievances of the people of the said isle, nor does proceed from them, as it XX. pretends, bnt from very different persons, and from motives and views most destructive of and inconsistent with the civil and natural rights and properties of the said people. . . . " And as for the assistance the then Governor and officers are charged with withholding from the Ecclesiastical Courts, it is an assistance of soldiers which the Ecclesiastical Court claims to have from the Governor to enforce their arbitrary spiritual censures, and to harass the poor people, and on sundry trifling occasions to carry them prisoners to be imprisoned in the said Bishop's prison or dungeon, aforesaid ; which said pretended power of the Spiritual Court as made use of in the said isle is, as they apprehend, utterly inconsistent with the civil and natural rights of every free subject and with religion itself; And in regard the parties so imprisoned have no means of being released save by submitting to whatsoever is im- posed upon them by such pretended Church power, or appealing to the Bishop of York, which is too expensive for most of them at so great a dis- tance to do ; therefore the said Governor, to prevent the rights and liber- ties of the people of the said isle from being overturned and destroyed by such pretended Church power, and to preserve the poor sort of them being utterly ruined thereby for mere trifles, may have refused to order any of the Lord's soldiers to be aiding and assisting therein in such cases only as [?were] against all conscience and ruinous to the party, and [?del. "and"] which they apprehend was just and laudable for them " And as to the prisoners said to be legally confined by the Ecclesiastical Court's order, that they were severely treated in an unlawful manner by the Governor and officers, the respondents say that they know nothing of these matters of their own knowledge, but have heard that at the time of the late rebellion hi Scotland, and for some time afterwards, for the securing and safe-keeping of the garrison of Peele, (within which is the Bishop's said prison of St. Germans,) orders were given and strict rules observed to stop strangers and others not belonging to the garrison from loitering or walking about within the same, to prevent discoveries to the enemy of its strength or situation. And in this time the respondents believe that those numbers of prisoners sent into St. Germans' hole by the Bishop and the Spiritual Court (who had sometimes before, by the in- dulgence and connivance of the soldiers, and not by any law as the petitioners untruly suggest, been suffered to ramble about in the said gar- rison) were now kept close to their prison, and for the reason above- mentioned; but as to any other of that kind, the respondents say that the same are groundless. " And the respondents say that the Attorney-General, both by oath and office, is obliged to prosecute and defend all the Lord's causes ; but as for the legality of the Bishop's and Vicar-Generals' demands of calling the twenty-four Keys to deem the law in any point where the deemsters are not doubtful, it is what the respondents humbly conceive not to be war- ranted by, or consistent with, the known and undoubted laws and customs of the said island. But the respondents humbbj crave leave to observe to LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 701 your Lordships, that through the whole tenor of the present petition, either CHAP, the pretended power and jurisdiction of the spiritual [? officers], or the autho- ^X. rity, privilege, and independency of the Keys, which is endeavoured to be made auxiliary to it, are the principal ground and cause of every complaint ; which shews that the petition has not in view the liberty and property of the subject "And these respondents further say, and humbly insist, that the repre- sentation of the petitioners of Aug. 4, 1726, in the said petition mentioned, is irregular and extra-judicial, and without any foundation of law or justice ; for they say that the pretended spiritual customary laws mentioned in the said petition, wliich they therein artfully style and call the national laws, are only divers absurd arbitrary pretended practices, devised, contrived, and from time to time made use of and set down by such clergy as were officers of the Ecclesiastical Court at their own pleasure, and never received or had any sanction or authority, consent, or allowance of the lord or legis- lature of the said island, and are many of them gross impositions and in- fringements on the civil rights, liberties, and properties of the lord and people of the said isle, and calculated only to enslave them to the clergy to a degree inconsistent with the Protestant religion itself. And such impo- sitions never being authorized by any legislative power in the said isle, are not, nor ever have been or ought to be, recorded amongst the laws and records of the island ; for many of these impositions being [be] directly re- pugnant and contradictory to statute laws in force, and others contrary to declarative opinions of the legislature hi points of law. And some of the petitioners themselves, sensible of the oppressions accruing from these pretended spiritual laws, drew up and delivered to the respondent, the Governor, a draught in writing containing many amendments and alter- ations thereof, and also a draught of an order to be signed by his Lordship mitigating the severity which had been in the execution of them, till they should be so altered and amended and passed into laws by the legislature; which order was signed and transmitted by his Lordship to the said island, and such alterations of the said pretended spiritual laws were recommended by his Lordship to be passed into laws by the whole legislature, and to be published and recorded amongst the other laws of the said island ; and the bishop, clergy, and twenty-four Keys expressed their desire to have the same accordingly done. But the respondents have never been able to get the said alterations enacted into laws, though everything on their part has been done towards it ; which makes it very extraordinary that the peti- tioners should now (as these respondents humbly conceive) turn this order into a country grievance ; and the rather for that no complaint has yet been made by any of the said people, save by the said petition, of such order, or of the least hardship or inconvenience sustained thereby, or any ill conse- cmeuce ensued or [by] possibility to ensue therefrom. And as for the recovery of debts, the civil and temporal laws and courts have, as the respondents apprehend, provided proper and sufficient means, and the cognizance or recovery thereof are not matters proper for or appertaining to any spiritual jurisdiction: and the respondents also apprehend that the temporal laws of 702 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C II A P. the said Isle are sufficient, and the only proper national security for body, ^X- goods, and fame of every subject. " And all these respondents say that the office and place of General- Sumner of the said isle hath time out of mind been granted by the Lords of the said Isle, and held and enjoyed accordingly, till the death of Ewan Christian, the late Sunnier-General, who died a few years ago, when the present Bishop, without the knowledge or privity of the Lord of the Isle, and without any foundation of right or title, took upon him to put in Thomas Corlett, one of the petitioners, to officiate in that place. But the Lord of the Isle being acquainted therewith, according to the undoubted right duly granted the said office to Capt. William Christian, a fit and proper person, with authority to enter upon and execute the same. But the said Bishop, abetting his nomination of the said Corlett to the said office, though without pretending to shew any lawful right, power, or foundation for the same, a secpiestration was duly issued and executed for secpiestering the profits of the said office till the said Corlett or the Bishop should shew some legal title thereto, which neither of them have ever yet done : which therefore cannot as to the article be proper, as the respondents apprehend, before your Lordships, in regard the cognizance thereof must primarily and originally belong to the Lord and his temporal courts in the said isle. And as the said Corlett never had any grant for bfe thereof, nor the least colour of right thereto, the respondents apprehend, that to infer from his being hindered to act in the said office that he and others in general were disseized and dispossessed of their freeholds unjustly or illegally, is mere calumny, and without the least colour of sense, law, truth, or justice." CHAPTEE XXL THE DISCIPLINE STRUGGLING AGAINST DECAY. 1729—1733. The death of the Vicar-General seemed almost to leave the Bishop in a more forlorn condition than he had ever before found himself in from the beginning of his episcopate. Many- losses he had had of late : the friends of his earlier years and companions of his pastoral work were beginning to drop away from him, both in his diocese and in England. It could The Bi- not be otherwise from his time of life. His first bereavement berSe- after nis return in 1724 was the death of his "kind brother- ments. in-law, Mr. Thos. Patten " of AVarrington, the head of the family, whose name appears as a seasonable helper more than once in his negotiations with Lord Derby. He died LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 703 April 2, 1726, aged 64, and was commemorated by the CHAP. Bishop accordingly. XXI. Towards the end of the same year departed one of his most respected coadjutors, the father of the island clergy in point of age : — "■March 8, 1726. Mauglwld. Mr. Thomas Allen, having been Vicar above sixty years, died, aged 83, and has left a good name behind him, having been a diligent pastor, of a serious, grave, sober behaviour, kind to his neighbours and to the poor, and very hos- pitable to all others." Three days afterwards, many of his brethren being gathered round his remains, the Bishop was preaching a funeral ser- mon for him, in the interesting old church of the Robber Saint Maughold, guarded by its many crosses, which Mr. Neale so beautifully describes. The Bishop, from the Great Shepherd's words, " I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do/' set forth the work of the ministry, and the danger of slighting it, with an eye especially to the mis- chiefs beginning to prevail, the contempt of the Church and its censures, "the great profaneness of those who go about to prostitute the ordinances of God by making them the common business of all Christians." He embalmed, as it were, his aged friend's example in his own touching and serious way : — "It is an exceeding great comfort to the serious part of the living, when they can lay their dead friends in the grave in sure and certain hopes of a blessed resurrection. " And blessed be God that this is the case before us. This good man's life, as a Christian, has been unblameable ; as a pastor, for threescore years, laborious and exemplary ; always resident upon his cure, always contented with his condition, and never eager to increase his work and his burden at the hazard of his soul. " But his life, his virtues, and his character are so well known, not only to this congregation, but to this whole land, that I shall not injure his memory by recounting only a part of them. " One would only wish and hope, (if the evil tempers and times we are fallen into did not discourage us from hoping for it,) that he may have many followers, as a Christian, as a minister of Christ, as a neighbour, and as a friend ; in all which capacities he has most worthily discharged himself. " And now, his good name and his good works do follow him ; 701 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and all we must follow him very soon, either with or without these XX I ... : — witnesses of our behaviour in this world." A few months more, and Kirk Maughold was again in mourning for one whom the Bishop seems to have regarded as the flower of the younger clergy of the island : — " JVov. 10. Young Mr. Ross, a most hopeful youth, Curate of this parish" — (the Bishop had licensed him, being the son of his old friend Ross of Castletown, shortly after Allen's decease) — " died this morning." In August, 1728, tidings came of the death of one of his most valued English friends : — " Mr. Henry Finch, Dean of York, my most kind and worthy friend for thirty years, died, aged 68." And one on whose services, especially in matters of scandal and litigation, he had been especially used to count, as a faithful and vigilant reporter, and an adviser of much readiness and skill, — Anthony Halsal of Douglas, — disappears, we are not exactly told how or why, from the memoirs and records of the island, about this time. He does not appear to have ever returned, at least so as to be regularly employed there, from his mission to England in 1727 f. Another loss by death occurs in a different rank of life, of such an one as the Bishop had especial pleasure in com- memorating, — " Honest Mr. Phil. Hooper, some time of London, but resident at Bishop's Court for several years. Dec. 29, 1728, aged 78." He seems to have been an old servant, or at any rate one who had found refuge in the family, and was cherished at Bishop's Court in his declining age. What manner of man he was may be seen by the offerings, large for his station, which he made at the con- secration of St. Patrick's s. The Bishop himself buried him at Kirk Michael. But none of these losses, nor all taken together, could be compared with that of Dr. Walker — a brother in heart and spirit, residing at his very door, and the very person whom he needed in his official and public engagements. The discipline gradually becoming more ineffective as people dis- covered that they would be countenanced by the Govern- f See Note (A) at the end of this chapter. « See p. 349. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 705 ment in defying, or at least disdaining it, called more ur- CHAP. ... XXI gently than ever for rare personal qualities in those who had — to administer it; — a true judicial mind, an imperturbable temper, sagacity, and courage ever ready for emergencies, and the gift of sympathizing with all sorts and conditions of men ; and even if the like of Walker in these respects existed among Manxmen, the loss of his experience would take years and years to remedy. He spoke the lauguage of the island, and knew all its ways and instincts — thus supplying at every turn what no alien, however wise and good, could quite at- tain to: and there was a calm sweetness about him, which seasonably tempered his friend's energetic indignation ; a circumstance admirably expressed by the old labourer's say- ing already quoted of him, " He was never the man to kindle a fire h." There was no one to whom the Bishop could be- take himself in all his labours and anxieties with anything like such perfect confidence. Dr. Walker was buried at Ballaugh, June 20, two days only after his death, having lived forty-nine years and six months, — just therefore at the age when, his judgment and experience being thoroughly matured, his friend might yet reasonably hope to be accompanied by him during the re- mainder of his own pilgrimage. All things considered, it really seems a great effort of self-command and Christian calmness that the Bishop should have been able to preach at the funeral ; and to preach such a sermon. It stands last among those which are published : the text being Phil, i. 21, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gaiu:" and though, after his manner, several of its principal heads, some even in the very same words, are repeated from what he had said nearly two years before over the coffin of Mr. Allen, vet, no less after his manner, he has produced the effect of originality, by simply and truthfully applying it all to the very different case before him. He first sketches St. Paul's " life in Christ j" and having occasion to quote the saying, "1 thank Christ Jesus the Lord, who hath enabled me," he adds, — " This, by the way, was the very first subject which this very worthy person and imitator of St. Paul preached upon when he en- h See Note (B) at the end of this chapter. Z Z 706 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C IT A P. tered into Holy Orders, ascribing to God his ability, his vocation to . — ! — the ministry, and all his holy purposes and resolutions . . . How faithfully he performed his duty, will be better understood by the loss his flock will have of him than by any words of mine." Again : — " Such was the love of your pastor for you, good Christians of this parish : it was in his heart to live and to die with you. A good proof of which is now to be seen among his papers ; namely, a pre- sentation to a very considerable living in Ireland, which was freely sent him, which yet he never would make use of." Again, referring especially to St. Paul's exercise of disci- pline and to the oppositions and afflictions he met with, — " This," he adds, " was the case of our friend and brother lying dead before us ; whose faith and patience having been exercised with a great variety of trials, and very uncommon as well as very grievous afflictions ; yet he never repined, or charged God foolishly." By the way he presses on the clergy with, peculiar em- phasis, as he had at Mr. Allen's funeral also, their obligation as pastors to offer every day the prayers of the Church each one for his flock : which point, as we have seen, he had marked in his private devotions as one which he had neg- lected sufficiently to enforce. In conclusion, as was natural over a deceased Vicar-General, he has a word to say about the discipline : — " If we claim no other power or authority over you but what Christ has commanded for your good ; if we exercise no other dis- cipline but such as we are directed to do by God's Word, and by the laws of this Church and nation ; then we may be confident that God will accept our persons, and bless our labours to your edifica- tion, and to our own eternal advantage. " And this, as I have the best reason, I do, as in the presence of God, affirm, was what our dear friend and brother ever aimed at, and made his constant practice. " He looked upon himself, by his ordination vows, bound to minister the discipline of Christ as the Lord has commanded, and as this Church and nation have received the same, according to the commandments of God. " He was under the obligation of another solemn oath, as one of the Council of this land, to the oest of his power, to defend and LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 707 maintain the ancient laws, statutes, and customs, proper and be- CHAP XXI. longing to the isle, and prerogatives due to the heirs thereof. " He solemnly declared before he died, that to the best of his understanding he made these oaths his rule to act by ; that he acted according to the best knowledge God had given him, for the honour of God, and the good of this Church and nation. " And they are the worst enemies to themselves, if there are any to be found, who will say that he has not acted with great integrity in every branch of his duty, and estate of life, as a most faithful, painful, tender pastor of the flock committed to his care; as a most charitable disposer of his own and of the Church's incomes ; as an uncommon benefactor to his parish, and to his unknown successors ; as a most dutiful son to his parents, and bountiful friend to his re- lations ; as a magistrate, entirely free from the least stain of cor- ruption or partiality ; as a Christian, of irreproachable morals, and exemplary life and conversation ; as a most hospitable entertainer of strangers and persons in distress ; and lastly, as a very sincere friend, and most grateful person. " Would to God that every one who attends his funeral may leave the world with the same fair unstained character ! It is the best prayer I can put up for myself, or for those that hear me '." The Bishop, according to the way of that time on the demise of a learned person, wrote a Latin inscription for the flat stone in the Church of Ballaugh, where the re- mains of Dr. Walker were interred : — GuLIELMUS WALKER, LL.D., HUJUSCE . ECCLESIiE SECTOR PER ASTNOS XXV., E VICARIIS GENERALIBUS, NECNON NOBILTSS. DOMINO A COKCILIIS, PASTOR, JUDEX, CIVIS, QUO NEMO FIDELIOR, ^QUTOR, AUT BONI PUBLICT STUDIOSIOR. MANSUM OMNIAQUE RECTORIA MDXE1C1A. PRORSUS DILAPSA PERMAGNO SUMPTU RESTAURAVIT. OBIIT XVIII. JUNTI, A.D. M DCC XXIX. ^TAT. XEIX." Two things are here observable : the Bishop's careful Latinity, of which other instances occur in his remains ; and * Sermon 90, in Works, vol. iii. pp. 541, 512. z z 2 708 LIFE OF BISHOF WILSON. CHAP, his simple mention of his friend's public character and public — — — : — works only, avoiding all allusion to what he was before God. I suppose the omission has a meaning K It is remarkable that a very few weeks before the date of "Walker's death the island records make their first mention of one who proved afterwards, if not another Walker, yet one of the Bishop's best friends and helpers, — Philip Moore, of a reputable family long established in Douglas, the seventh of ten children, and the second son whom his parents dedi- cated to the service of the sanctuary. He was born in 1705, educated first in the Douglas Grammar-school under An- thony Halsal, then under an English Clergyman of the name of Lancaster, who took pupils in the island, and lastly under Bishop Wrilson himself. In 1726, Nov. 10, the Bishop cer- tifies, "I examined Phil. Moor in order to an academic scholar's place against the next election, and found him fit." Now, three years farther on, the Bishop ordaining at an uncanonical time, the second Sunday after Easter, enters it in Sacra Privata with a word of apology, both for the time and for committing the sole cure of a parish to a deacon : — " Robert Radcliffe, Presbyter, April 20 ; Paul Crebbin, Deacon ; Philip Moore, Deacon — same day. Two livings being destitute of Curates, by the death of Charles Wattleworth," of Kirk Arbory, " and Robert Parr," of Kirk Bride, " I was obliged to this ordina- tion, the necessities of the Church requiring it." Moore was licensed immediately to Kirk Bride, with a yearly salary of £'2o during the vacancy. However, for nine years he had scruples, on some unknown ground, about seeking priest's orders. He was afraid possibly of his own lively and genial temper, which drew on him, as we shall see, once at least, a remonstrance from his spiritual father and friend. But neither from Moore nor from any person then in the island, so far as we know, could serious help be expected for the present in the difficulties with which the Bishop was beset. Evidently he knew not whom to appoint Vicar-General. Halsal, the most able probably of the clergy now in con- nection with him, seems to have been still in England and J See Note (C) at the end of this chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 709 unlikely to return : besides, he was neither beneficed, nor as c H A P. . XXI yet even in priest's orders; and had he been, the way in which he had been mixed up with so many disagreeable discussions, political as well as theological, must have gone near to disqualify him for the appointment. The Bishop's perplexity may be judged of by the fact, that no entry ap- pears in Epis cop alia but for three out of the seventeen paro- chial Chapters in the island, in the circuit then coming on, from June 25 (only a week from Walker's death) to July 2; and the returns from the excepted three are mere fragments. July 10, he wrote " a most pressing letter to Mrs. Margaret Christian of Ramsey, desiring her to be kind to her sister-in-law John Christian's widow, and to her other poor relations, particularly to her brother James Christian's children, &c. I desired her also to come and be ad- vised by me touching her will, (which once she shewed me), and to be in some measure her own executrix : that she would find the comfort and blessing of being so, and in being good to the poor, &c. I pray God it may affect her heart." Four days afterwards he embarks for England again; on Tenth what errand is left to conjecture. His two last official acts Enghmd. before starting imply that there was small chance yet of re- conciliation or compromise. For on July 7, his former nomi- nee, Mr. Corlett, having somehow made a vacancy, " I gave a commission" (he writes) "to Mr. Thomas Christian, jun., of Kirk Marown, to be General Sumner of this isle." Un- less there was some agreement, (and we are not told of any,) this was a strong step by way of continued protest against the Governor. Again, July 12, he had warned certain per- sons in Lezaire, who had been censured for slander but re- fused to obey, that they must expect the severest eccle- siastical sentence ; the Governor as usual having refused a soldier. The difference here, as all along, is observable between this and the former administration, that whereas Home did not commonly trouble himself with interfering, except for persons of a certain standing in society, or in some way connected with the Lord's household, Horton, as one asserting a principle, made a rule of never allowing any- thing in aid of any Church Court. 710 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. Cxx\P Under such unpromising appearances the Bishop started on his tenth voyage to England, July 14, 1729, "from Douglass, on board Captain Richmond," and in forty-eight hours was at Liverpool, — " Blessed be God :" so he writes, as if something special had occurred; and the voyage was twice as long as usual. What was his object, how he was employed, and indeed where he spent his time, during this, the shortest but onek of his sojournings in England, we are singularly un- informed. Abundance of probable conjectures occur. There was an appeal pending ; there might be hope of successful negotiation ; his son, whose plans in life were quite un- settled, was in England, and might need his presence ; or (what is perhaps most probable) he might be fairly tired out with losses and disappointments, with laborious and most uncongenial work, and he might simply go for change and refreshment. The only memoranda relating to this time which I have found are four entries of sermons preached — the first two at Warrington, August 3 and 10, the others at Neston and Winwick, Sept. 7 and 14. The two sermons at Warrington were those from Ezekiel xliii., on " Measuring the Pattern" of God's House; and must have come with forcible and peculiar meaning to his old friends and neigh- bours who knew his circumstances. Burton The Neston sermon, from St. Luke xii. 43, "On Re- .Sciiooi and sponsibility increasing with Privileges," could not but be very significant in a neighbourhood which was just begin- ning to profit so largely by the Bishop's own pious munifi- cence in the foundation of Burton School. This was the first visit he paid in that quarter since his plan had been in full working. It was threefold, comprising first a school- room, then a master's house, then an endowment in land. The site which he selected was a portion of the waste land of the township of Burton, twenty acres, more or less ; a quarter of a mile perhaps from the cottage in which he was born. There the schoolroom and the schoolmaster's house are now l to be seen, under one roof, forming the k The shortest of all was in 1703, when he won the Act of Settlement from Lord Derbj ' hi 1819. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 711 crown of a steep rough bank, almost a cliff, of red sand- stone with patches of turf, rising above some brushwood on the right hand of the road to Neston and Parkgate, and looking over a wide sloping reach of meadow and the salt- marsh beyond, to the Dee, or the sands which occupy that river's place at low water, and again over them to the coast of Flint and its castle, and the Denbighshire hills in the blue distance. It is a noble situation, and the colour of the building, which is of the stone of the country, with its porch, and gable-ends, and slated roof, harmonizes well with all around, especially in autumn. It keeps the characteristic mark of most of the cottages and walls which compose the village street of Burton, as of many places on the same forma- tion,— that they appear to the eye, at least for some inches from the ground, as if they were but a continuation of the rock on which they stand, growing as it were out of it, and approached by steps cut in it. The whole is a very favour- able specimen of the Bishop's taste in such matters. As to the progress and cost of the work, the son's memo- randa do not exactly agree with the father's; but putting all together, thus it seems to have gone on. In 1724, having determined on his plan, and obtained sufficient assurance of the consent of the owners of the ground, he began to build his schoolroom, and surveyed its progress, as we have seen, as the last thing on his return to the island. By Nov. 19, 1725, the room was fit for use, and the first master nomi- nated— one Mr. Dunne, to whom the Bishop delivered the rules of the school on that day. The provisions and con- ditions of the trust deed had been virtually arranged before, but the formal execution of that document did not take place until the 1st of January following. It is an "inden- ture sex partite ;" for, first, there were no less than three separate interests in the common land to be granted and extinguished, that of Edward (Chandler, Wilson's comrade at Trinity College), who as Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield was then lord of the manor of Burton ; that of John Hough, Bishop of Worcester, to whom it had been granted for certain lives; and that of the owners and occupiers of land in. Burton, who all had right of common in the waste ground of that township. The other three parties were, (1 .) Bishop Wilson as 712 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A p. purchaser and endower ; (2.) two of the trustees, the Bishop's XXI '-. son and the Rev. John Mapletoft, Vicar of Neston, who was also at that time treasurer of Chester Cathedral ; (3.) a cer- tain " Blest Colclough, of Ellenhall," near Eccleshall, " co. Stafford, gentleman," to Avhom and his heirs and assigns the property is granted for a thousand years, at a peppercorn rent, subject to the following trusts. (1.) To let the pre- mises from time to time under direction of the trustees for twenty-one years or under, at the best rent that can be gotten. (2.) Such rent and profits to be paid to a school- master nominated by the trustees to instruct the children of persons residing and legally settled in the township of Burton. (3.) In default of appointment within three months, the nomination to lapse to the Bishop of Lichfield or his devisee. (4.) The schoolmaster to be of the communion of the Church of England, and licensed by the Ordinary. (5.) To teach the Burton boys, up to the age of eighteen, English, Latin, writing, and " to cast up accounts and other parts of arithmetic;" and the Burton girls, English to the age of fourteen. (It was therefore to be a mixed school.) (6.) He might also, for his encouragement, instruct and re- ceive pay for other children, only not to the parishioners' detriment. (7.) In case of neglect or refusal to teach, not taking convenient and necessary care to do so in the usual and approved method, indecently behaving himself, leading an immoral or disorderly life, — then on legal conviction be- fore the Ordinary he is to be deprived, and another imme- diately named by the trustees. (8.) He is to give a bond of £400 to the trustees to perform and comply with their orders or those of their authorized representatives. (9.) The Bishop covenants with the first trustees to lay out as soon as may be the remainder of the £300 in inclosing, quick- setting, fencing, &c, the waste grouud, and in improving the yet unimproved portion of it with marl if conveniently to be had, or otherwise with lime, muck, or compost, for the schoolmaster's advantage : the two vicars always to be par- ties to the master's appointment. (10.) The trustees when reduced to three to fill up their number with the approbation of the two bishops. (11.) The other trustees besides the Bishop's son and the two vicars, were Joseph Wilson, the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 713 Bishop's nephew, and John Pickance, also a connection of chap. his ; and there was to be a preference in future appointments xxl" in favour of the sons or kinsmen of the two Wilsons, of the same name, if otherwise qualified. I have given these clauses rather minutely, as implying the Bishop's sanction to principles and modes of endow- ment which find comparatively small favour in the present day. The same may be affirmed in some measure of the internal regulations of the school, delivered by the founder, as I just now said, with his own hand to the first master, who must have waited on the Bishop in the Isle of Man to receive them. Here they are, as they appear on the school- room walls, and have appeared from that day to this : — "Rules and Orders for the School of Burton. " I. It is already provided by the settlement of the said school, that the master be a member of the Church of England, as by law established. " II. And that he be a man of sober life and conversation, as well as qualified to teach the Latin and English tongues. " III. He is to observe the school hours ; namely, to begin at seven in summer and eight in winter, and to keep the children till eleven in the forenoon, and to be in school again at one in the afternoon, and to teach till four in the winter, and until five in the summer season. " IV. He is to read prayers every morning before he begins to teach, and every evening before he dismisseth the children ; namely, the Collect for the day, the Collect for Peace, the Collect for Grace, (as in the Morning Service of the Church,) and the Collect for the Post-Communion, ' Prevent us, O Lord,' &c, con- cluding with the Lord's Prayer, and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And at evening, the Collect for the day, and the two Collects for the Evening Service, concluding as before. " V. Every evening before they depart the school, the master is to give the children a short charge, to be sure to say their prayers before they go to bed, and as soon as they rise, (such short prayers as he shall teach them) ; to be dutiful to their parents, civil and respectful to all they meet ; to be careful not to tell any manner of lie, nor to take God's name in vain, &cc. " VI. He is to take especial care to make the children sensible of the end of learning ; which is, that they may be better able to read the Holy Scriptures, and therein to learn their duty ; to love, 714 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, to fear, and to serve God acceptably all their days, that they may '. — be happy when they die. " VII. And above all things, he is to take all proper occasions to plant the fear of God in their hearts, to make them serious and concerned for their souls, and to awaken them into a sense of the danger they are in without the grace of God and the aids of religion. " VIII. Every Saturday before they depart the school he is to give the children a strict charge to go to church the clay following, and to behave themselves with reverence becoming the place, and to get the Collect for the day by heart, and to remember at least the texts, which will be a way to make them attentive betimes. " IX. He is to call the children to an account for these things on Monday morning, and to take care that the same be required of them upon Church festivals, if divine service be read in the church on such days. " X. The children are to be taught the Church Catechism, and no other, and to be made to understand the meaning of it after the most plain and instructive manner. " XI. The master is not to be absent from school unless upon urgent business, and even then to shew the reason of his absence if required to do so. " XII. The master is never to grant any whole, or half play-day, in any week in which there is a holiday. " Lastly. The Reverend the Vicar of Neston, the Curate of Burton, with the rest of the trustees, shall be desired to visit the school once a year, at the breaking-up for "Whitsuntide, in order to make a judgment of the master's diligence and the scholars' improvement. " Tho. Sodob, and Man." This his cherished work, however, Bishop Wilson had no opportunity of seeing in action for nearly four years, i.e. be- fore the first week in September, 1729, when, as we have seen, he preached at Neston ; and we may be tolerably sure that he was the Vicar's guest then, and that one of his objects in lingering a little in that quarter was to visit Bur- ton school, for which he has kept a niche, so to speak, in his list of heads for special intercession, — " I pray God bless this school, and all that shall be educated in it." The works however were far from complete at that time, and for two years after. The Bishop's son, Sept. 24, 1731, " weut to Burton school, an excellent building, but the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 715 additional work not finished, nor ceiled. No cellar. The CHAP. garden not marled." " Pickance and Cross/' he adds, " not — — - at home :" but probably his visit quickened them, for it would appear from Cruttwell, that in 1732 both the school and the master's house were ready, and the endowment settled at about £30 per annum '. As might perhaps be expected, the memory of Bishop Wilson appears to linger more distinctly around this school than in any other spot of English ground. In 1825, his amiable biographer, Mr. Stowell, with others, paid a visit to the place, of which he afterwards printed an account : — " The master," he says, " pointed out a stone in front of the house which had been placed there to receive the name of Bishop Wilson, as founder of the school. But the Bishoj) would not suffer any inscription, saying, with his characteristic humility, the name of the founder was of no consequence.5' Besides the school, the Bishop in 1729 had another paro- chial work in hand, or in immediate prospect, the "beauti- fying " of Burton Church, which was completed, as the in- scription now to be seen there informs us, in 1730, Joseph Wilson and Thomas Evans being churchwardens : Joseph Wilson, the Bishop's nephew, and one, as we have seen, of the trustees of his school. Of the remaining trustee, John Pickance, there is, or lately was, extant a very distinct family tradition, that he, being the great-grandfather of a person now living, was a special friend as well as first cousin of the Bishop's, " and chiefly employed by him both in the building of the school and the rebuilding] of the church ; with both which works he had much to do, and to both was a large contributor." The Bishop's son in 1731 is better pleased with the progress of the church than with that of the school :— " The church very pretty," he says, " and neatly finished, but no press for the books," i. e. for those belonging to one of Dr. Bray's parochial libraries, which the Bishop had procured for his native parish, as he had for so many in his diocese. In 1819 the remains of it were still existing in a room over the church porch. In the way of 1 The Bishop in a memorandum the land I have improved has already published by Cruttwell says, so far cost me £379. Makes £25 per ami." back as 172*, "The school-house with 716 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ecclesiologv, however, this Burton restoration did riot go '— beyond the ordinary notions of that time"1. The Bi- During this sojourn in England it appears that the Bishop shop's re- was a]s0 employed in securing for his clergy from King George II. the continuance of the royal bounty, as first granted by Charles II., which did not, it seems, flow on of course, but was matter of trouble and attention at the commencement of each new reign. A fortnight after he had preached at Neston, when he was on the very point of re- turning to his diocese, he registers a devotional purpose, all but a vow : — " Warrington \_Sunday~], Sept. 21, 1729. If God shall bring me to my flock and to my home in peace, I purpose by His grace to be much more liberal to all such as shall stand in need of my help. And in kindness to my clergy I will take no deductions for my expense and trouble in getting for them the royal bounty." Here if anywhere we seem to see fulfilled the well-known votive wish of one like-minded with himself, " Religion shall be my employment, and alms my recreation"." Stored abundantly with such comfort, but entirely dis- appointed, as it may seem, in any hope that he may have entertained of improved relations between the island and its lord, the Bishop, on Michaelmas- day, went again on board Captain Richmond's vessel at Liverpool, and " landed next day at Douglas : Deo gratias." His son may have been also with him, for he was certainly in the island on Christmas- day, assisting his father at Ballaugh to administer the Eucha- rist. He was still a deacon only, and the remaining time of his probation as such he appears to have spent in the island, until he had to return to England as a candidate for priest's orders. Part of the time he did duty at St. Matthew's, in allusion to which long after he calls himself "Anthony's curate0." The Bishop as usual enriched the clerical libraries, bring- ing home with him Law's " Christian Perfection," one of his m See Note (D) at the end of the chapter. n Holy Dying, c. iv. § vii., near the end. ° See Note (E) at the end of the chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 717 favourite books. And lie was just in time to perform an- CHAP, other material service for them. XX I. " Oct. 9. Mr. Taubman acquainted me that the Governor and Comptroller had sent for books from England for the academic youths, and designed to pay for them out. of the academic moneys. I told him that I would not consent they should be paid for out of the moneys, and that they should read such books only as I or the academic master should direct them." He might be excused for some little excess of suspicion after the case of the " Independent Whig." Mr. Brideson, the Bishop's old opponent, was now in course of rapid promotion, for what kind of merit we have seen. Oct. 17, he resigned his rectory of Kirk Bride, (on which he had entered only on May 15,) and took institution at Ballaugh, to be Walker's successor, and the Bishop's next neighbour. But the field of fierce debate now was the appointment of a new Vicar- General. a new Vicar- General. There was small choice, and the v business could not well brook any further delay ; so on Oct. 3, only three days after his landing, "I gave," he says, "Mr. Woods, Jan." (i.e. the Vicar of Malew's son, who seems to have been a much superior man to his father, and had been for some time Curate of Kirk Michael) "a licence to be my Vicar-General in the place of Dr. Walker deceased. God grant he may discharge it faithfully." The tone of mis- giving is unmistakable, and not hard to be accounted for. Mr. Woods, though a priest of about eight years' standing, — he was ordained in 1721, — had hardly the age and experience for such an office. And his father, the Vicar of Malew, had been indeed the Bishop's faithful and courageous fellow- sufferer, but was not to be compared with Walker either in abilities or in attainments. A glance at the documents bear- ing his name will prove this. Moreover the Bishop had had occasion twice at least to warn him of grave official errors. Nov. 28, 1724, he notes "a letter to my Register about his neglecting to search the records for people that want copy." And within the last twelvemonth, March 20, he had had, as we have seen, to write him " a sharp letter, for giving the blessed Sacrament to a great criminal on his death-bed." 718 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. He was in pecuniary difficulties : this we learn incidentally — — — — from an entry in young Wilson's journal, June 11, 1732: — " A letter from Mr. Woods of Castletown, begging something towards his house, but the person I was to speak to (Madame Levinz) being dead, I do not thiuk I am obliged out of my own pocket to do anything for one who has formerly made but an ill use of charity." Circumstances these, which must have considerably, though indirectly, damaged the Bishop's cause in the dispute which was now commencing; but the event, I believe, fully justi- fied his choice. There was unrelenting opposition at first : — " Oct. 25. Having sent Mr. Woods, Jun., (whom I had nomi- nated one of my Vicars-General,) to have him sworn in one of the council, and his commission enrolled, the Governor told him that he had my Lord Derby's positive orders not to do it ; so that now I am to have no substitute if this is to go on. This Mr. Woods told me this day." Nov. 5, being it seems in circuit at Peel, the Bishop had an opportunity of conferring with the Governor himself on the subject, and was still met with the same reply : no law nor usage alleged, but simply the Earl's having forbidden it. Three months afterwards, Feb. 5, the application was for- mally made : — • "Mr. Woods, Jun., went to the Governor with my commission for him to be Yicar-General, which he refused to accept of, or to swear him, or to enroll," &c. Therefore, Feb. 13, the Bishop took the matter into his own hands : — " Mr. Woods, Jun., was this day sworn in my court one of the Vicars-General of this isle, by a commission from me." His grounds for this, which to some may appear at first sight a strong step, are explained in a letter of the same date to Mr. Curghey : — "Mr. Vicar-General Curghy, — Having had very many com- plaints made to me, that for want of a Vicar-General in the room of Dr. Walker, deceased, the execution of justice in the ecclesias- tical courts was delayed, orphans' goods not secured, and many others became sufferers, besides that, there being no official yet appointed by the Archdeacon, the whole burden of the office is not LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 719 only, as yon justly complain, a sore fatigue to one of your age and C II A P. infirmities, but also the travelling to Kirk Braddan upon all occa- " sions a very great hardship on the people of the north side : I therefore thought proper to nominate and authorize the Rev. Mr. Woods, Jun., to be my substitute and your associate in the office of Vicar-General. And although I found it had been practicable and expressly ordered by the then Governor and Bishop, Dr. Bar- row, (as you will see by the record annexed, bearing date July the 3rd, 1668,) that the oath of Vicar-General be administered here- after by the Ordinary or his assignment ; which was accordingly then done, and no objection ever made to such order, or to the per- sons then sworn, who continued in that office during their lives : yet notwithstanding, being informed that the Vicars-General had been sometimes sworn in the temporal courts as well as the spi- ritual, that there might be no occasion of dispute, I ordered him, the said Mr. Woods, together with yourself and my Register, to wait upon the Governor, that the oath for that purpose might be administered to him, and his commission enrolled by the Comp- troller. Upon which application accordingly made on the last chancery day, viz. the 5th instant, the Governor it seems was pleased to refuse admitting him to be sworn in the temporal court. For these reasons, besides the assistance I want daily in adminis- tering the discipline of the Church, I am constrained to require that you administer the oath of Vicar-General to him, the said Mr. Woods, in the usual form, pursuant to the commission I have already given him. And let your order be secured on record. Given under my hand this 13th day of Feb., 1729. " Tho. Sodok and Man. "At Kirk Michael, Feb. 13, 1729, pursuant to the above injunc- tion, the oath of Vicar-General was this day administered to the Rev. Mr. John Woods in open court. " John Ctjrghey." At Michaelmas the Bishop had resumed his attendance on the Circuit Courts, and patiently took his part in their busi- ness, and from time to time had visible encouragement to persevere in what remained of the old way, under all disad- vantages. Mr. Harley of Castletown — we may hope not the same who professed such good Churchmanship in the Arch- deacon's case — after years of suspicion, did about this time incur imprisonment and penance, submitted to it, and was absolved. A woman at Rushen " cleared herself at the Chapter Court with lawful compurgators, 720 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and it appeared that it was a scandal raised against her by the YYT . — — person who was accused of sinning with her, who had a design to marry her, she being an heiress." Yet on the whole there was a perceptible falling off in the amount recorded of disciplinary causes. The parochial li- braries and charities of the several parishes were revised, but the jurisdiction began to feel sadly the result of the Earl's and Horton's policy. The year closed with the death of two of the Bishop's most respected friends, — Dr. Thomas Bray, " our great benefactor," on Feb. 15 ; and ten days before, Dr. Nathanael Marshall, the excellent author of " The Penitential Discipline of the Primitive Church," one in every respect worthy to be asso- ciated with him in the great revival of that time ; in whose several pulpits in London he had from time to time preached ; who shared with him the Queen's favour, being a E-oyal Chaplain and Canon of Windsor, and whose name appears forward among those who made offei'ings to help in the burden of his great cause. Dr. Marshall it was who in- formed him of that subscription, and kindly undertook the management of it. The Earl The new year set in with painful indications of the con- remits tinued spirit of encroachment on the part of the Earl of Heywood s r A forfeitures. Derby and his representatives. And here — since we seem to have arrived at the general result of this part of the Bishop's doings and interests, namely, disappointment, at least for the life of the then Lord Derby — it may be as well to relate consecutively what is known of the progress of the several disputes which were rife at the beginning of 1730. The most important, as directly involving principle, was that on the exemption of the Lord's retainers from Church disci- pline, which had arisen on the case of Heywood. Emboldened perhaps by the failure of the Keys' petition, Lord Derby, April 20, 1730, signed an order to the Governor and officers, in which he first distinctly recites his supposed feudal claim for his military retainers to be exempt from Church dis- cipline, employed as they were at his expense, in forts, gar- risons, and otherwise within the isle, for the necessary safety and defence thereof. And these all he affirms to have been LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 721 time out of mind exempt from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction CHAP. within the isle — none of them to be called in question for - — — any spiritual offence committed by them within the isle, or punished, except by the Lord or those authorized by him. "Nevertheless," he proceeds, " Thomas Wilson, now Bishop of Sodor and the said isle, usurping to himself jurisdiction over such officers, has presumed to denounce Thomas Heywood, who then and for some time before was duly commissioned by the said Earl, and acted under him as Captain of his fort of Douglas, to be ex- communicated and cut off from the Church of Christ for the sin of fornication, and contumacy to the Bishop's pretended authority." Then, — stating that the sentence, if valid, would have in- ferred sundry penalties and forfeitures to the Earl, and also personal disabilities, and that it may be a hindrance to Hey- wood in his office of Captain and may affect him in his civil rights, — the Earl " doth absolutely and for ever pardon and remit unto Captain Hey- wood all and every pain, penalty, forfeiture, disability, and incapacity whatsoever alleged to have been thus incurred ; and he restores to him all civil rights, abilities, and capacities whatsoever, within the said isle, which he at any time had, or was, or may be at any time entitled to within the said isle, the said sentence notwithstanding." On May 16, ensuing, Heywood produced this document at Castle Rushen, and obtained an order from Governor Hoi ton, by and with the advice of the officers and Deemsters, to have it read and published, both in English and Manx, in the parish church of Kirk Braddan, by Mr. John Curghey, Vicar and one of the Vicars- General, on the Sunday follow- ing ; and in English the same day by the Archdeacon in the Chapel of Castletown. A copy to be sent for registration to Mr. Woods, to be lodged with the sentence against Heywood in the Church Records. After the registration, Mr. Woods to acquaint the Lord Bishop with that fact, " that he and all others may take notice and govern themselves accord- ingly." On the following Sunday, May 31, Vicar-General Curghey transmitted these papers to the Bishop, having read the order, as directed, that morning in Kirk Braddan Church. Probably Curghey, if left to himself, would have gone all lengths in concession ; for he was far too easy for a minister 3 A 722 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, of discipline, as is proved by an entry in Episcopalia dated XXI — — this same year, April 1 : — "I am this day informed (by Mr. M.) that Mr. Curghy, the Vicar of Braddan, has married several persons . . . privately in houses. This to be forthwith enquired into." More than a year afterwards lie gave occasion to the Bishop to write to him again on a clandestine marriage. And it is but too plain, from many entries at divers times, that he was far from having children "not accused of riot or unruly," although three at least of his near kindred were in Holy Orders. He continued many years an instance of what had always been one of the Bishop's greatest difficulties — the all but total want of persons to understand him and act cordially under him. That he did publish the Governor's order appears from the ensuing letter to him p : — " Lest the order you thought good to read in your church the last Sunday should be misunderstood, as I am informed it has been, to take off Captain Tho. Heywood's excommunication, which as I apprehend it does not, but only the temporal or civil penalties consequent thereupon, you are therefore hereby required, pursuant to Canon lxv., openly and in time of Divine Service, the next Lord's day, to declare both in English and Manx that the said Captain Tho. Heywood stands still excommunicate, and to exhort your people (as by the 5th Constitution of our own Church you are by law obliged to do) to refrain the company of the said person, upon peril of being partaker with him in his sin and punishment. Given under our hand this 4th of June, 1730. "Tho. Sodor and Man.". The This he followed up bv a strong remonstrance to the Bishop's Governor ._ remon- strance " Bishop s Court, June 9, 1730. Heywood "^° tm3 H°n- Tho. Horton, Esq., Governor of this Isle. &c. "Having received an order of our Right Hon. Lord's, bearing date April 20, 1730, with another of yours upon it of May 26th, from my Register, and by your order ; by him therefore I beg leave to observe to you, that although the Lord of the Isle can by himself do no wrong, (because what he does, he does by his officers, who are under the obligation of the strictest oaths to act faithfully >' Reg. Episc. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 723 betwixt him and his people,) yet it is but too plain his Lordship CHAP may be misinformed, as I fear he has been in this affair, touching " ' • the exemption of officers and soldiers from the episcopal juris- diction, (as well as in some other cases which regard both his honour and interest) ; or else I verily believe his Lordship would not have given such an order ; this being one of the complaints laid before his Lordship by the twenty-four Keys, in these express words : — 'Your governor and officers have attempted to destroy and overturn the ancient legal authority and jurisdiction of the eccle- siastical courts of this isle by taking upon them to exempt feed men from the spiritual jurisdiction,' which complaint amongst others, as I am informed, lieth now before his Majesty in council, and is not yet determined. Besides this, when his Lordship or- dered Mr. Edward Stanley, with the Deemsters and officers, August 23, 1725, to take a hearing of this matter, though [ ? they] all declared, in the first place, that they did not intend to obstruct us in our purely spiritual powers ; we at the same time declaring that for the temporal powers lodged in our hands by the laws of this land we referred ourselves to the said laws, being ready at all times to join in having any of them regulated by the legislature. And the said Mr. Stanley was so well satisfied with this, and seemed, at least to us, to be so fully convinced with the laws, reasons, and precedents then produced on our side, to support the ecclesiastical authority over all persons within this isle, without exception, that he assured us there should be an end put to that controversy the very next meeting of the Deemsters and twenty- four Keys ; as will, we hope, appear upon your own records. " Thus, Sir, this affair has stood ever since, until this order of our Lord's, declaring that we assume a power contrary to the laws of this isle, and in contempt of his authority; the very thoughts of which we abhor and detest. " But that which is the hardest part of our present case, and which we presume his Lordship did never intend, is, that this order (for so you have commanded) be published in the church, contrary to an express rubric, confirmed by law, (which no arbi- trary precedents can set aside,) requiring ' That nothing shall be published in the church during the time of Divine Service but by the minister, nor by him anything but what is enjoined by the king' (not any inferior magistrate) ' or by the Ordinary of the place.' And that which makes our case still more miserable is, your ordering it to be read in the church by a magistrate, who was advised with, and concurred in the lawfulness of this censure, (which is here called illegal,) and published it in pursuance of 3 a 2 724 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. his oath and duty ; and consequently must act against knowledge — and conscience, or be subject to fines and imprisonment at your pleasure. " You have been apprised, that by an order of his late Majesty in council, your jurisdiction in matters of this nature has been de- clared void, when j'ou have not the concurrence of the twenty-four Keys with you, if demanded (as has often been done since that order without effect) to deem the law. "And you cannot but be sensible how God and His laws are more and more dishonoured every day, and by those people whom 3'ou desire to exempt from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, some of them having lived in adultery without any satisfaction made to the Church, or to the parties they have injured, as our laws and the Christian religion require ; and others by their bad examples con- tinue boldly in the most abominable wickedness, without being made sensible of their dancer. You know how long- one man has lived in the same town with two wives, and continues to do so without the least disturbance from the civil power ; as two others did very lately, who stood excommunicate by the Bishop of Chester for in- cest ; Avhich could not have given so much scandal had the eccle- siastical jurisdiction been permitted to have had its due course ; nor could popery have got to such a head as you see it has done within these few years, there being twenty for one more of those people than we had twenty years ago. " You know how often I have complained of and protested against the injury done me and my successors, by taking out of my hands the power of appointing my own summoners, for whose fidelity in taking care of orphans' and decedents' goods I and my Vicars- General stand by law accountable ; and how often, but in vain, I have demanded the benefit of the law, before I was deprived of a right which I and my predecessors had been in peaceable possession of, at least since the Restoration, as I am able to make appear before a competent authority. " I am disturbed upon another head, of an unalienable right of appointing my own Vicars-General, who are to act in mj- name, and are through all our laws styled 'The Bishop's Substitutes;' and yet you have, by an order of June 4th instant, required Mr. AYoods, appointed by me, not to act as Vicar-General at his utmost peril, because, as you say, he has not been sworn into that office, when as you might have known that he has been sworn by my appointment, the Attorney-General being present, pursuant to an express order upon record of the Governor and Bishop Barrow, never controverted to this day, and ns may be seen below : and LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 725 you know likewise, that to avoid all occasions of dispute, I sent him CHAP. twice to he sworn and enrolled in your office, and you would not . permit it, alleging that you had my Lord's orders so to do. " These, and many more, are the hardships I labour under, and with which I am perpetually distracted, when I should be taking care of the flock committed to my charge, and for which I am soon to give an account. " And which still adds to my affliction, whenever I but offer to defend the rights of my See, I am represented as an enemy to my Lord Derby, his rights and prerogatives, (which I am sworn to maintain, and will do so to the utmost of my power) ; whenas, Sir, you know that the meanest subject in England can assert and pro- secute his rights against the Sovereign himself, and be heard with favour and be redressed, if there can be reason for it ; and this without the least imputation of undutifulness or disrespect to his person or authority. " I would not complain and apply to you after this manner if the things I complain of were not true and known to yourself, and that I intend this (with all deference to your just authority) as a protest against all invasions of the episcopal rights established by law, until I, or my successors, shall obtain legal redress, which we should not fail soon to do, if our right honourable Lord were truly apprised of the real grounds of these complaints. " For my own part, whatever misinformations his Lordship may have had of my conduct, my sincere aim is his Lordship's peace and the peace of this place, and a good understanding amongst all in authority, and that his Lordship may never have the reproach of anything done amiss in his name. " Tho. Sodok. and Man." What success this remonstrance had in other points will be noticed presently. As to Captain Heywood, strong in the innocence and worthiness with which the Lord of the Isle's absolution had invested him, he lost no time in com- mencing a course of visits to the several Churches of the island, claiming to be received everywhere as if nothing had happened. His first experiment seems an over-bold one, especially as it was made within a week of the Bishop's letter : — " June 15," (so it stands in Episcopalia,) " Captain Heywood, the Attorney-General, and Mr. Quayle came to my house : the Captain told me he would come to Church, and I told him the service could not go on, &c, for that he still stood excommunicate, notwith- standing Lord Derby's order." 726 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. This was on a Monday, and on the following Sunday, — — — : — June 21, the Captain, not daunted, presented himself at Braddan Church. It was in the forenoon ; but as he went into the Church, "the "Vicar left off the service. In the afternoon he came again with soldiers," &c. What ensued we are not told, for the Bishop simply adds, " See the Vicar's letter." It rather seems as if Mr. Curghey had given way in this instance also. For at the Tynwald, June 24, the Governor was for carrying matters with an unusually high hand : — " He brought Captain Heywood into St. John's Chapel. I told him that being excommunicate we could not go on with the Ser- vice while he was there. The Governor told me he should be there, and wherever he went, in spite of me ; that he defied me, and that if any of the clergy refused to read prayers where he was, they should do it at their peril : with much more rude language. How- ever, we had no service." The next week — "Mr. Curghey complained that Captain Heywood continues to disturb the public worship of God, accompanied with soldiers with their swords, &c. A letter to him" (Curghey) " upon this head." Which letter probably referred him to the churchwardens as the proper authority to deal with the matter. For ten days afterwards, July 11, the Bishop gave " directions to Mr. Curghey, (upon the churchwardens being afraid of doing their duty, and the Governor refusing, &c.) how to be- have himself." And he again tantalizes us with " See the directions." Whatever they were, no result for many months appeared ; but from time to time there are unequivocal tokens of the de- moralizing effect of Hey wood's profligacy and importunity : — " July 13, Germain. I am informed that the last week Mr. Tear" (the schoolmaster) " was drunk — he challenged Captain Heywood or any one else to drink with him for £10 ; that he neglects the school, 8tc." Sept. 12. Mr. Seddon, who had professed before to submit to penance, now refused. " Oct. 27, Jurby. The Vicar complains that the churchwardens refuse to do their duty, and though often called on and admonished LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. 727 both by him and by myself — that tbey did not their duty last c II A P. year, refused to make an assessment, and to collect it, though re- quired, &c." Their punishment is curious : — " They were therefore con- tinued this year." "Feb. 25, Arlory. Mary Tildesly appeared ; refused to give satis- faction " (for slander) " to her injured neighbour. Told that if in fourteen days she submitted not to censure, the Church would pro- ceed to excommunication." But,— "March 11, Mr. Quaile, the Vicar, informs me that she forces herself into the Church, and continues contumacious. I ordered her to be cited to appear the 24th instant, and to shew cause why the Church should not proceed to excommunication ; and that this is the last notice she is to expect." On the same day the Bishop wrote a letter to Mr. Quayle, concerning this unruly woman, " not to suffer her to stand god mother. " Heywood himself continued his troublesome proceedings, at least as low down as the 4th of June in the following year, 1731 : — " Braddan. Mr. Curghy having acquainted me that the Governor and Captain had threatened him if he repelled Heywood from the Sacrament, to which he resolved to come on Sunday next, I sent [to] the Vicar not to admit him at his peril. See copy of his letter and mine." But on March 14, near the close of 1731, — " Dr. Ball, a most atheistical man, died, not without just suspicion of having taken opium on purpose to destroy himself, he being well before ; and in his drunken fits that day declared that the letters he expected that day (and which came before night) would bring him either a gaol delivery or a dead warrant. " The letters were found in the morning torn in pieces, and him- self senseless and in the agonies of death. " g^= N.B. This man some years ago took upon him most pro- fanely to absolve Captain Heywood from his sentence of excom- munication upon the Lord's Day, and in a company of lewd, wicked fellows in masquerade, whom I then censured, &c. See Kirk Brad- dan Presentments, March 15, 172G." 728 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. As the Bishop wrote this date, it occurred to him, and lie — — — : — made a memorandum, — " That it was the same month, and day of the month, that he (Ball) was presented for the above crime." Hey wood's Very remarkable and unexpected is the entry which im- ' mediately follows this in the Episcopalia, dated only four days after : — " Braddan, March 19, Midlent Sunday. " N.B. I received Captain Thomas Hey wood, Capt. of Peel Castle, into the peace of the Church, after having absolved him from the sentence of excommunication upon his public acknow- ledgment of his sins of fornication and contumacy, and confessing his sorrow for the same, and for continuing so long under that sentence, and earnestly desiring to be restored : and this in a full congregation of Kirk Michael Church." How long good influences may have been at work in that apparently hardened conscience, we cannot of course judge: but it certainly does seem as if the fearful end of his com- panion's career had at least decided Heywood to act upon any good resolutions which he had formed. The difficulty must have been great, considering the prominent part which he had taken against discipline — that he was even the cham- pion of that side, and must have been keenly alive to the bitter scorn and disgust which he had so often inflicted on others, and was now drawing down upon himself. He knew how Henry Halsal had been treated, yet he was just tread- ing in his steps. Considerations such as these may seem to justify the Bishop, especially in the now relaxed state of dis- cipline, for not insisting in this case upon that formal penance in all the churches which he had undoubtedly been used to exact of far minor offenders. The moral penance — the sacri- fice of feeling and prejudice — might not unreasonably seem more than equivalent to the white sheet, the station at the market- cross, and the other humiliating ceremonies. No penitent surely could ever be more welcome to the absolver. The Bishop, partly perhaps because of his rela- tionship to good Mrs. Heywood, had all along plainly taken a deep personal interest in him : and the event must have been felt as the sorest discouragement by the upholders of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 729 Lord Derby's cause. The moral effect would be greater c it a than that of the most favourable decision on appeal. And x on the whole, the good Bishop must have found in this event, this one " brand plucked out of the burning," (if in- deed the man's penitence continued,) more than a recom- pence for all the distress of the struggle. One is reminded of the scene between the terrible Innominato and the saintly Cardinal in Manzoni's noble story. Other cases kept occurring from time to time of persons called respectable spontaneously yielding themselves to dis- cipline, enough to keep Heywood in some sort of counte- nance. Such an one was Walter Awbery of Castletown, who in August, 1730, submitted to imprisonment. The Bishop wrote to him in St. Germains, and after his release he did penance three times, and then wrote a humble peti- tion, which was thus answered by the Bishop : — " Bishop's Court, Sept. 10, 1730. " I am not forward to break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax, but bless God for the faintest prospect of repentance ; at the same time I cannot but fear for those for whom I must give an account, when I remember how many the most solemn promises and resolutions have come to nothing, through the impatience of penitents, who will not bear to be long under reproof and censure, and so provoke God to leave them to themselves. I pray God it may not be so now, and that this indulgence may not be repented of : that will be seen by the fruits it produceth. In the meantime let the petitioner perform public penance in the Church, and the Sunday following be received into the peace of the Church accord- ing to Order for Receiving Penitents. "To the Rev. Mr. Woods, Vicar of Kirk Malew, &c, &c." Within a month after we find entries to the same effect regarding another person of much consideration in the island, Mr. Sanforth ; if not the same who had a little before been Deputy-Governor, yet in all probability a near relation of his : — " Sept. 4, Braddan. Letter to Mr. Sanforth on his falling into the sin of fornication. " Sept. 17. Mr. Sanforth ordered to perforin public penance, and to be received into the Church." 730 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap. But Mr. Sedden, under the same circumstances, was pro- — *-J—1— vokingly disobedient: — " Sept. 12. Malieio. Sumner certifies that he charged Mr. Sedden to do penance : he refused. Directions to Mr. Woods to require him a second time, and to cite him to appear the next Church Court." A while before, May 20, the Bishop records, — "A letter to Mr. Sedden, sen., when confined in St. Germans for fornication, N.B." But, unfortunately, then comes a second N.B. — " Mr. Sedden imposed upon me, he was not in prison." It was a sad lawless state of things ; but evidently there was yet lingering in the island a disposition to keep up a kind of voluntary discipline, and a feeling that it could not be done without. Smnpgiing The Bishop went on acting upon the hint which either in drinkino-. a dream or in reality he had received through Hey wood in 1727, to be more diligent in his warnings against the con- traband trade. In July of that year, having to preach first at Peel and afterwards at Kirk Michael, on "At Thy word I will let down the net," he had inserted some very striking paragraphs, directly levelled at that form of dishonesty. They do not appear in former editions, but will be found in the Addenda to his Sermons in the last volume of the present one. Now, in the summer of 1731, he repeated the warning at Kirk Michael ; and in the following winter it was awfully illustrated and verified. " Dec. 23. Letters to the Eector of Kirk Bride, Vicar of Maug- hold, Curate of Peel, and Chaplain of Douglas, vipon the sad occa- sion of the loss of six persons, who perished a few days ago in the running trade, all belonging to Ramsea : praying them to lay before their people out of the pulpit the great sin of the trade, and the judgments they feel and ought to fear, &c. See the letter." But the letter is unfortunately lost. He of course readily and constantly co-operated, in spite of all their differences, with an effort of the Governor to re- strain and reform the public-houses. As far back as April 5, 1728, an order had come out to the coroners "to require the ministers of parishes to assist the coroners and captains LITE OF BISHOP WILSON. 731 to nominate alehouses, and such as were fit to sell ale." CHAP. Thenceforward in the memoranda of the Chapter Courts we find such entries as the following : — "Jan. 26. 1730, Arbory. Entertaining a fiddler on Sunday, pro- faning the day : fined 2s. each, and the Governor made acquainted with the disorderly house they keep, and the company to be re- proved plena Ecclesia." Again : — " June 9, Maiighold. Several boats presented for going off the island with brandy on the Lord's Day." Again : — " Oct. 26, 1731. Marowne. A most disorderly wicked house, on Sundays, &c. The Curate is required to wait upon the Governor with these presentments against the disorderly house- keepers, and to give me notice forthwith how far these censures have been obeyed." It is pleasant to find the two men acting together for one practical and useful purpose at least. Later in life Bishop Wilson used expressions which almost look as if he had come absolutely to condemn all ordinary use of spirits. In his " Private Thoughts," under the head " Brandy," he says, — "Any person who will not believe that the love and practice of drinking these liquors will in the end bring him to hell, — all other reasons will signify nothing." In his eighty-second year he addressed his clergy as follows : — "Bishop's Court, July 27, 17441. " Good Brother, — I understand that there are, of late, great quantities of brandy and other spirituous distilled liquors landed, and to be landed amongst us. This, in all probability, will bring those pernicious liquors, and the drinks made of them, to their former low price amongst us. " Our duty therefore will oblige us to forewarn our younger people of the sad mischiefs which may attend their being tempted to taste them in any shape, mixed or unmixed, lest they fall in love with them unawares, and at last bring themselves to untimely ends ; i This letter, which has no address, of Douglas. It was apparently a cir- was communicated to the Editor by cular to some or all of his clergy, the kindness of the Rev. S. Simpson, 732 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, scores of instances of which we have had amongst us within these XXI. - — — few years. I have therefore sent you a few little pieces proper to be put into the hands of such thoughtful young people as you hope will profit by them. This, with a little of your good and serious ad- vice, may, through the blessing of God, save many a soul from ruin. And I hope every clergyman in the diocese will take this occasion, in his Sunday evening's catechetical lectures, to exhort both young and old of the danger of coming within the borders of this destruc- tive poison, as they value the health of their bodies or the salva- tion of their souls. " As for such as are already in the snare, there is little hopes of extricating them by this way ; it must be a miracle of mercy and providence, if they shall be reclaimed by any the severest methods, and brought to repentance and amendment of life. I am, your affectionate friend and brother, " Tno. Sodor and Man." But this is anticipation. Returning to the years at which our narrative left him, we find him busied with an important course of eight sermons, begun in 1729, but not completed until 1732. His son has placed them first among those which he selected for publication, — partly, no doubt, because their subject appears to claim that place for them, since taken all together they form a sort of treatise on the true way of profiting by the public instruction and worship of the Church, and the misery of not attending to it. But in part, it may be, they owe their place to the circumstance that the young man was with his father at the commencement of the course, and through the greater part of it ; and it would seem that he was doing all he could, surely with good reason, to withdraw him in some measure from the anxieties of his fast-failing discipline, and induce him to publish something for the benefit of the whole Church. Certainly the island was no tempting place, ecclesiastically speaking, at that time. The grievances on the part of the civil power Mere rather increasing than abating. Dec. 6, 1731, the Governor without law or precedent sequestered the tithes of Kirk St. Anne, and ordered the people not to pay anything to the Curate ; a direct encroachment on the episcopal jurisdiction, and an additional wrong done (as the Bishop says) to "the worthy Curate," who had been in the preceding July " most unworthily supplanted and turned LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 733 out of his cure of souls" by a person who had accepted in- CH V E. stitutiou and induction from the Government, " which he — — — — ought to repent of all the days of his life." His clergy, with the exception of his new Vicar-General "Woods, (who thoroughly justified his appointment,) and two or three others, were no very great help to him. A Mr. Birkit came over from England, and was ordained deacon, and licensed as chaplain and schoolmaster at Douglas, but he never went on to Priests' orders, and the only other entry concerning him shews him somewhat ignorantly interfering in behalf of a verv gross offender. The following note is curious, as shewing what quaint A poetical applications the Bishop was liable to : — " 1731, September. A son of one Deason, who had been edu- cated among the dissenters, came to me, and earnestly pressed me to ordain him, for that he had left that party on account of some Antichristian and Arian principles propagated among them. I found him a forward young man, impatient of preferment, fond of his own poetical performances, (which were very poor at the best) ; and accordingly I referred him to the Bishop of the diocese (Down) where he had been bred." The word " poetical," in Bishop Wilson's mouth, opens up a set of unusual associations, and some might like to know what would be his standard of taste. " In the younger part of his life," says Cruttwell, " he had a poetical turn, but afterwards be laid aside such amusements, as thinking them inconsistent with his episcopal character." It so happens that he has left behind him one, and one only, composition in verse — an imitation of an ode of Horace, dated in the MS. 1692 r, at which time he was twenty-nine years old, still Curate of Winwick, but on the point of removing to Knowsley. I give it here at the risk of its interrupting the course of the weary narrative somewhat unseasonably. Rude as the lines are, there is a flow and spirit about them which shews that the writer, had he given his mind to such work, might have proved no very unsuccessful imitator of the then fashionable manner of Dryden : — r Sacra Private, MS. 1. 208, 209, in Mr. Cruttwell's hand. 734 LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. C**AP- In imitation of Horace's \Ath Ode, Lib. I., (ivherein, under the ■ allegory of a ship, he laments the distractions of the State.) " O GeoDLT Ship, that once didst ride The stateliest Admiral of all the tide, How I regret, and all good men, To see thee, now thy Pilot's lost, By roughest waves of faction tost, And quite disabled e'er to reach thy port again ! " Thy foes, alas ! have spied The weakness of thy side ; How scarce of hands thou art, How poor, defenceless, thin, iu every part ; " Thy lofty masts by northern winds are torn ; Thy yards, by adverse storms outworn, Do seem to sigh at thy distress ; And by thy breaking cables we may guess, (Those nerves which move thy course, And to thy keel give all its force.) How much thou art in danger to be o'erborne. " Thy very sails, those ensigns of thy pride, Are lopp'd down to thy humble side : Nay more ; thy guardian Angels fly From thy pathetic cry, And will not help, though danger be so nigh. " They all forget thy ancient name, • The strength and beauty of thy frame. Nor dare the seamen now rely Upon the arms and flag thou bear'st so high : Thy ammunition growing scant, There's little comfort to be had in paint s. " But let the dangers of the sea (Unless thou hast a mind To be to every puff of wind, To every wave, a prey) Warn thee, at last, to quit that coast Where rocks and shelves annoy thee most ; I mean the Belgick ' ; ere a wreck Beyond repair thy cordage crack, And challenge Fate itself to bring thee back ! "T. W. 1692." s " Nil metis timidus navita puppibus Fidit." 1 This expresses, I suppose, a com- William was absent and waging very mon feeling at that time, when King unsuccessful war in Flanders. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 735 Horace, whom he quotes now and then, was evidently his CHAP XXI. favourite classic. The state of the Bishop's health began now to interrupt his work more than had been usual in former years. In November, Mr. Wilson writes to Sir John Phillips, " My father has been very much afflicted with the gout of late ;" and it is a coincidence, that in Episcopalia, Oct. 25, he speaks of " Directions to my (new) Vicar-General, going the circuit when I could not go myself." The parish of Kirk Andreas continued to disquiet him. " 1730, Jan. 8. A letter to the Curate, and orders to the church- wardens to present such as are of age and have not qualified them- selves for Confirmation ; — that none of them shall be married ; — that I am ready to come when he has a competent number. He tells me (to the shame of every Archdeacon and his Curates) that they have not been accustomed for a long time to have young people catechized in church. A second letter to Mr. Moor on this subject, Jan. 13, 1730." In the same year, Oct. 20, he had found it needful to issue an order to all the clergy to observe strictly the rubric before the office of Public Baptism ; and that the whole Morning or Evening Service be read whenever any child shall be baptized on any other day besides Sundays or holy days, "lest the Holy Sacrament of Baptism degenerate into a formal cere- mony, and be rendered contemptible by being administered contrary to the wholesome orders of the Church." And in February 15, not being able himself to attend the Lent Courts, he administers through his Vicar-General a reproof on a subject very near his heart : — " Mr. Vicar-General Woods, — I do desire and require that in the circuit you are now upon, you put my brethren of the clergy in mind, that by the IXth Article of the Laws and Constitutions made in the year 1703, it is provided, 'That every Rector, Vicar, and Curate shall the first week of every quarter visit the school of his parish, and take an account of the improvement of all the chil- dren, to be produced as often as the Ordinary shall call for it :' let them know, therefore, that such account will be called for upon all proper occasions, and that I have reason to fear that this law has not been generally and conscientiously observed, forasmuch as several who have applied to me for books, have not been able to 736 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. say oven the Catechism and prayers so well as might reasonably — have been expected. " I am, your affectionate brother, " Tho. Sodok and Man." Family More friends pass away from him. "My dear brother ancTsqm- Joseph/' he writes, died " June 8, 1730, aged 74 ;" having rations. for some time left Burton, and resided at Great Saughall. By the courtesy of Mr. W. "Wilson of Chester I have an abstract of his will, which is interesting as an additional monument of the cordial love] which subsisted to the end among the brothers and sisters of that family, and also of the blessing which rested on it in temporal matters. He leaves an estate and house at Saughall, purchased by himself, to his widow first, and then with all the rest of his property to his eldest son, Nathaniel, to educate and maintain his other children until their marriage or coming of age, and then to pay each .£100. If his own issue fail, the estates to be sold and the proceeds shared between his surviving brothers and sister, (the widow Faulkener,) and the families of those who had died. There follow in the Bishop's Obituary two names con- nected with the island as well as with his wife's family, and each of them very dear to him. To lose such at that time would add greatly to his forlorn feelings : — " I am left alone, and they seek my life." These were two of the Murreys of Douglas ; one very ancient, Mrs. Elizabeth Murrey, who died Jan. 6, 173°, aged 89 ; the other, "My dear cousin, Susannah Murrey, March 17," following. To both he paid the tribute of a funeral sermon; in both instances urging a topic, most seasonable on such occasions for those who have any affec- tion in their hearts, yet not so very often remembered in our spiritual consolations : — " Be persuaded, good Christians, to leave your friends this com- fortable legacy when you die ; namely, the comfort, the sure and certain hope, that you are going to a place of rest, and peace, and happiness, where you will be out of the reach of trouble, of temptations, and of danger, and out of a possibility of dis- pleasing God any more." There remain other tokens, not unworthy of mention, of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 737 the affectionate interest which the Bishop took in the Murrey CHAP, family. Thus : — — " 1732, April 27. Braddan. I joined in the holy state of matri- mony Mr. Michael Samson, of Dublin, and Ellenor Murrey, daughter of Mr. John Murrey, merchant, of Douglas, in the chapel of the said town ; all friends and relations present or consenting. May the blessing of God be with them n." And, — " 1739, Aug. 7. Douglas Chapel. I then married Mr. Aigoin and Cousin Susanna Murrey, her father and friends present." Some time later the Bishop wrote as follows, probably to one of the Murrey family : — " Bishop's Court, July, [1745 ?] " My dear Cousin, — I am favoured with your kind letter, which puts me to the blush, that you have not had one first from me, but the weakness of my eyes must be my excuse. I am satisfied your affairs do necessarily require your presence in Dublin, and therefore you shall not want my prayers for yours and your dear children's safe voyage, and the blessing of God to direct you and your friend in management of your own and your children's concerns. I know your temper, and therefore I take the liberty to beg of you to leave your affairs to the judgment of your friends, and not to [suffer?] your temper to lead you to hurt yourself and child by an unrea- sonable doing anything hard or unkind, since indeed [you are not ?] a competent judge in affairs either [?] concerning your own or your children's rights v. Let my great regard for you and them be my excuse for my saying so much upon this head. " I write with difficulty at this time, and can only tell you that I have just received two letters from my son from the Bath. The air and the waters agree with him and his wife, and he finds benefit by them. Mrs. Heywood gives her kind respects to you and your children. May the blessing of God attend you, and preserve you from dangers and all sad accidents whenever you take your voyage, and bring you back in peace, and in the meantime grant you good success in settling your own and your children's rights. My kind- est respects to them. Both you and they shall have a share in my prayers for your happiness in this world and in the world to come. " I am your affectionate friend and kinsman, " Tno. Sodoe and Manw." n Episcopalia. son of Douglas. Among Dr. Wilson's T In the Bishop's MS. here there is papers is a letter from Mr. William plainly an omission from inadvertence. Murrey, April 26, 1745, in which he w The Editor received this letter, says, " Miss Betty Murrey proposes to among many favours, from Mr. Simp- go and make some stay at Bishop's 3 B 738 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Again ; in Mr. Wilson Patten's library is a copy of XXI. " Ostervald's Arguments of the Books and Chapters of the Old Testament, &c," 1716, in which is preserved the fol- lowing note, addressed to another daughter of Mr. John Murrey : — " Feb. 3, 174±. " My dear Cousin, — Your dear mother was a lover and constant reader of the Holy Scriptures ; I am persuaded you follow her pious example ; as an instance, therefore, of the great regard I have for her memory, and for your eternal happiness, and that we may one day meet in the paradise of God, I know you will kindly accept of this useful book from your affectionate friend, " Tho. Sodok and Man. " To Miss Betty Murray1." The book has his name and motto, — " Tho. Sodor and Man. Tuta et Parvula." It seems unfortunate, and must have been a real disap- pointment, when the Bishop's only son, who had been with him in the island at least since Christmas 1729, made up his mind to give up every notion which he might have entertained of continuing near his father and working under him. The Bishop had always from his childhood intended him to be a clergyman, and his spending so much of his diaconate there might be partly intended as a kind of experiment whether that field of labour might suit him. It failed, how- ever, for reasons which the son explains in a letter to Mr. afterwards Dr. Hales, a true friend to the Wilsons and their benevolent designs, Oct. 4, 1732. " I presume my father's intentions" (in regard of seeking a pro- vision for him) " are grounded upon this. He has made it always a resolution with himself to lay out his whole revenues in charitable uses, and to promote hospitality. Having no family estate, all that is left for me is a small portion of my mother's, which he is appre- hensive would be a mean provision for me, and being advanced in years, is under some concern for me, much more than I am for myself, who have, experienced the Divine goodness in so many remarkable instances, that I hope I shall never distrust the con- Court, and afterwards to go to Dublin x This lady married a gentleman of with her sister Sampson, who has her the name of Smith, and was living as own affairs to settle there; and to see a widow in Bath in 1781, with a niece their sister Aigoin's children." This of the name of Murrey ; as appears may be the voyage referred to in the from Mr. P. Moore's letters to Dr. Bishop's letter. Wilson. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 739 tinuanee of it ; and I am better pleased with the blessing that will CHAP. undoubtedly be left me by my father than thousands. I should in- XXI. deed much rather be doing my duty than living idly in a college. As for any great preferment, I neither desire nor deserve it. As for the Isle of Man, I am not master enough of the language to perform my duty as I ought. And this Lord Derby has too great an aversion to the father, ever to prefer the son to any benefice there." The Bishop's own view was expressed a short time after to Auditor Harley, an old and true associate of his good works : — " Isle of Man, Dee. 14, 1732. " My most honoured Friend, — I hope this application will not be counted too presumptuous. I have taken upon me to write to my Lord Chancellor (not being altogether unknown to him) on the account of my only son. He is of a good standing, and Student of Christ Church, Oxon., and in Holy Orders, and I hope in some good measure qualified, as well as disposed, to serve God in the ministry, to which in my intention he was devoted from his childhood. Now my humble request is that you will be so good as to recommend him to my Lord Chancellor, or to whom else you may think proper, that, if it shall please God, I may see him settled before I die in some small parish, with such a moderate competency that he may not be tempted to hunt after preferment, to leave a flock which he has once taken the charge of, nor, without absolute necessity, accept of a plurality, which he knows I have ever been averse to. " I should not have been constrained to have given any of my friends this trouble, but that my thirty-five years' residence has worn out my English acquaintance, and his education abroad un- fitted him, for want of the language, to assist me here. As for his character, it is well known to my Lord Bishop of Oxford, who ordained him both deacon and priest, and has often spoke well of him, to my comfort ; he is also well known to several worthy men in London ; so that I have some assurance that you will, if you suc- ceed, have the pleasure of having done a work acceptable to God. As to the part you will think fit to take in doing this, I do leave entirely to you, and shall rest satisfied, whatever is the conse- quence, being well assured you will do what is fit to be done for, " Honoured Sir, " Your affectionate and most obliged humble Servant, " Tho. Sodor and Man t." y For this valuable letter I am in- Douglas, and to an unknown friend debted to the Rev. S. Simpson of of his. 3 b 2 740 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap. A keen eye might perhaps discern in what remains of Mr. — "Wilson's correspondence another reason for the way in which this matter was decided. ITis fragmentary journal, July 27, 1731, mentions a letter from a friend named Moreton, (of C. C. C, Oxford,) " in which he tells me that he has heard something against me both at Warrington and at Liver- pool." Aug. 7, he writes to the Bishop about " a vile story told Tom Moreton at Warrington, that I set my father "against the clergy of Man," &c. He had not "endured hardness" enough to pass off lightly their rude and coarse ways, and the comparatively uncivilized state of the island ; nor yet, we may be certain, had he the discretion to keep his views on such matters quite to himself. On grounds therefore such as have been ..detailed, Mr. Wilson set out from "Douglas, Sept. 13, 1731, at 3 o'clock p.m., in a Wexford sloop, Capt. Scalian," to pass into Eng- land and present himself at the Christmas ordination at Oxford. The tender-hearted Bishop deeply felt the sepa- ration. This is his memorandum, dated nearly a week earlier : — "Sept. 7, 1731. I parted with 'my dear child, he going for Eng- land. May our gracious God send us a happy meeting in this or a better world !" Clergy To the young deacon's credit it must be recorded that he Widows' ieft. Dehmc[ him a most valuable result of this his brief so- and Or- phans' journ in his native isle : if indeed Cruttwell is correct in attributing to him the first thought of the admirable charity for the widows and orphans of the clergy in his father's diocese, " which was the more necessary, as from the small- ness of the livings few were able to make provision for their families." Few indeed, since the fifteen vicarages, the royal bounty included, did not average above £25 a-year z. The Bishop's entries on the subject are : — " June 22, 1730. Madam Levinz, my predecessor's widow, sent to my brother" (Mr. William Patten, of Milk-street, Cheapside,) " fifty pounds, at my son's instance a. * Hist, of the Isle, Cruttwell, i. 485. * See Note (F) at the end of this chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 741 " Sept. 22. Sir John Phillips, at the request of my son, sent me C H A-P. £30 towards a sum for the widows and children of my clergy. The XXI' widow of Bishop Crow, at my son's_ instance, sent £100 Irish for the same use. "November, 1731. Lady Betty Hastings has sent my son twenty- five guineas for the widows, &c. Towards which good work I have given this year £100, which I pray God accept from His servant." By May 3, 1732, £200 was invested in Bank stock, and the first half-year's dividend, £6, paid. Oct. 4, the Bishop's son writes to Mr. Hales, who had sent £20 more : — " My father is of opinion that our fund is sufficient for our pre- sent exigencies ; and you have so many worthy designs that will call for all your friends' charity, that we rest contented and thank- ful to Almighty God for raising up so many worthy friends." Other sums, reaching to <£105, are acknowledged by the Bishop in 1735. It seems plain that in the opinion just quoted he was thinking, after his considerate way, more of what it was fair to ask of his friend, than of what was needed for his own immediate object. His son continued through life to take deep interest in this good work, and in 1774 very considerably enlarged it by purchasing from the Duke of Athol, with the assistance of some friends, the impropriate third of the tithes of Kirk Michael, and assigning them for the same purpose. It seems that in 1826 the income of the charity was about £116 b. Whatever littlenesses may have betrayed themselves after- Hints from wards in Mr. Wilson's character, his reverence and love for ~~5",„ T' " * son s j( his father was evidently most genuine, and never flagged. nal- Here are his reflections on the Bishop's birthday, Dec. 20, this very year, dated from his room at Christ Church, two days after he had been ordained priest : — " I this day with grateful acknowledgments remember the birth- day of my ever dear and honoured father, whom I pray God long to preserve for the good of His Church, and as the best friend I can ever have under God; who has always treated me with the utmost tenderness, compassioncd my frailties, and touched them gently with a hand anointed with balm. May I copy after so b Isle of Man Charities, p« 49- lour- 742 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, bright an example, and never do anything that shall grieve him, '. having afflictions enough, God knows, from other quarters, great enough to sink any other spirit but his." Here, too, is what he wrote on the evening of his ordi- nation, Dec. 19 : — " Was ordained priest by the Bishop of Oxford (Potter) in the cathedral church. God enable me to perform those solemn vows I then laid myself under. May His good Spirit enable me to do my duty as a minister of God to the flock that may be committed to my charge, that none may perish for want of my care ; that I may take no indirect methods to gain preferment, and when I have any, constantly reside upon it ; that I may rather study to be good than great, looking upon that state to be dreadfully dangerous, to be pitied rather than admired ; that when it pleases God I am ad- mitted to a cure of souls, I study to lay out my whole time in saving my own soul and those committed to my charge." There is a touch of his father again in his birthday thoughts, when he was twenty-nine years old, Aug. 24, 1732:— " I pray God I may make a better use of my time for the future, and dedicate the remainder of my life to His honour and glory. Alas, Quot dies perdidi ! Almost the whole of it spent in doing very little good ! " Still more in the Bishop's vein is his way of commemo- rating God's signal mercies to himself, particularly in his escape after shipwreck, Jan. 1725. As thus, New Year's Day, 1731 :- " Thanks to God for the greatest deliverance that ever man had, six years ago." And Sept. 11 :— " A very high wind for three days. I pray God have mercy on all that are at sea, and that I may never forget His great good- ness to me." On the whole it is no unpleasing nor unamusing picture which the Journal gives of his landing among the scenes and households most familiar to both his parents, and doing his father's errands among them on his way to the place of his ordination. Everywhere he finds his friends more and more impressed with the hopelessness of the Bishop's LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 743 obtaining any redress or concession from the present Lord CHAP • • • YYI Derby. Thus he dines at Liverpool with a Mr. Stanley, a L- clergyman, and akin to the Earl, " by ourselves," and gives him " a full account of the unhappy differences in relation to the Church of Man, which he pitied us for, but would not meddle in them." In London (which he reaches in six days from Chester) he was very kindly received by Bishop Gibson, and " had a long discourse about the island, much to the same purpose as he formerly wrote to my father." As if everything was to go against them, he waits upon Lord Ashburnham, and finds the young Lady (Lady Harriet, pre- sumptive-heiress of Man after Lord Derby) not well. And he seems to have had no scruple in coolly conversing with her father on the prospects of the island in case of her demise. The Bishop's letters were quite as discouraging. The two great grievances of the island seemed gradually growing worse. As to smuggling, on March 25, 1732, Mr. Wilson reports, — " A letter from my father dated the 12th ; wrote an answer the same day by way of "Whitehaven, he having received none of my former. The running trade goes on briskly, especially tea from France in abundance." And on Oct. 30, the Maughold Chapter had to censure " six persons for drawing brandy out of the cellars to their boat on Sunday at noon, as the people were coming from the public wor- ship of God, to their offence." As to the decay of discipline, — " June 7. I received a letter from my father, dated Ascension Day. Corn scarce in the island, when they had malt enough a year ago (if not basely consumed among themselves) to buy them meal enough. The Governor has filled up the body of the twenty- four Keys with eleven of his own men, and gained his point. This seems a leading stroke to the further and entire loss of those poor people's liberties. Wickedness of all kinds increases there, since the indignities offered to ecclesiastical discipline." The next event, Aug. 12, is the expected death of Lady Harriet : — " Read in the News that last Tuesday my Lord Ashburnham's daughter died, to our great seeming loss, the island in all proba- 744 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, bility devolving after Lord Derby to a Scotch family, who have . „ L_ generally a notion of vassalage, and [are] no very good friends of the Church." In the last-mentioned point the Bishop's judgment seems to have been more favourable than his sou's. He had before him at that very time a case of incontinence, charged upon, and afterwards confessed by, Mr. John Bignall, a merchant of Ramsey, who was presented by the wardens of Maughold. The Bishop (Oct. 15, 1732) had to write him "a most serious letter upon a gentlewoman's coming to him from Scotland big with child, exhorting him to marry her," Sec. And afterwards, Nov. 20, — " a friendly but home letter to Mr. Allen, the Vicar, for his and his churchwarden's neglect in not prosecuting Mr. Bignal upon the most common fame of fornication and relapse." He owns his crime on the Bishop speaking to him, but ex- cuses his not marrying her upon his engagement to another. His formal censure he meets with the plea, that — " being sincerely sorry and penitent, to make all the satisfaction that lay in his power he had left his place of residence and went into North. Britain, and there made public penance where the crime was committed ; of which the Church there being well satisfied, ac- quitted and discharged him." The Bishop's indorsement, avoiding distinct recognition of the Scottish penance, orders the man, however, to be restored to communion, on condition of his solemnly confessing his sin on his knees, asking pardon and promising amend- ment, the next Sunday in Kirk Maughold Church. It was a grievous case, and the Bishop had been long in private communication with him, as the Episcopalia shew. Elsewhere he speaks still more to the point, as regarding the Presbyterian discipline : — " The Church of Scotland (whatever other defects she labours under) has kept out playhouses, masquerades, gladiators, &c, by asserting her right of discipline as inherent in her pastors." In general, the memoranda of this time shew the Bishop making the most of the scanty remnants of discipline which prevailed, and lead indisputably to the reflection that it was LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 745 far better to do so than to give up the whole matter as obso- CHAP. • XXI lete : amongst other things he was enabled to deal with the : — more than half-heathen superstition, which still lingered in the north of the island especially. At Kirk Andreas and Kirk Bride two were censured for sorcery, and at Kirk Lonan the Michaelmas presentments in 1732 are curious, as indi- cating on the one hand an attention to Christian offices such as we seldom now see in villages, on the other an unques- tionable relic of Paganism : — " Nov. l, 1732. " The curate presents a general neglect of his whole parish in attending divine service upon the feasts of the Church, excepting those families in the neighbourhood. — To be admonished from the pulpit. " The curate and wardens represent to the Court, that there is a superstitious and wicked custom, which is yearly continued and practised in this and the neighbouring parishes, by many young people (and some of riper years) going to the top of Sneafell Mountain upon the first Sunday in August, where (as they are in- formed) they behave themselves very rudely and indecently for the greatest part of that day. Therefore they crave that the Rev. Court may be pleased to order what method must be taken to put a stop to this profane custom for the future. Being they cannot make a regular presentment in the case, since the persons that are guilty in this respect cannot be found out, or their actions known. " John Allen, Curate, (with the Wardens and Questmen). " Ordered, that publication be made yearly on the two last Sun- days in July, by the minister for the time being, after the Nicene Creed, that whoever shall be found to profane the Lord's Day after this wicked and superstitious manner, shall be proceeded against with severe ecclesiastical censures ; and the minister and wardens are hereby required to do their utmost endeavour in discovering the persons guilty in this particular, and to make presentment thereof. "Tno. Sodor and Man. John Woods, V.-G." NOTE (A), p. 704. A. Halsal, recommended early to the Bishop by the voluntary sacrifice of his impropriate tithes, was made Deacon March 24, 1716, and before November in the same year had become Chaplain and Schoolmaster of Douglas. Of the trust reposed in him Ave may 746 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, judge by the following fragment of a paper preserved in Bishop — : — Wilson's register : — " Pursuant to the desires of the inhabitants of Douglas expressed in the annexed petition, I have prevailed with a person every way qualified, and recommended to me, to undertake the charge of the school and office of a chaplain. To the end therefore that he may meet with all just encouragement to discharge his duty faithfully, I do hereby, according to their desire and consent in the said peti- tion, require and appoint as followeth : — "First, that all the youths in the highest class, viz. such as read Greek, shall duly pay two shillings and sixpence a quarter to the said Master ; that all such as read any of the classics in Latin, shall pay two shillings a quarter ; and that all others shall pay eighteen- pence the quarter, except such as learn English, which shall be obliged to pay only twelvepence a quarter, as long as he shall think fit to teach such ; but if his gi-ammar- school shall increase to such a number as that it will be inconvenient for him to attend both, it shall be at his own choice whether he will teach English or not. And forasmuch as the Rev. Mr. Kippax, late Archdeacon of this isle, has given upwards of £50 in charity towards this good work, on condition only that the inhabitants of Douglass do con- tribute something themselves towards maintaining their own chap- lain as becomes his character, I do hereby order that two of the most substantial of the inhabitants, such as shall be yearly ap- pointed by the Ordinary, shall collect the voluntary contributions of all such as, having no children taught at the grammar-school, do therefore propose to contribute after this way towards the main- tainance of the said chaplain." Besides the unvarying confidence reposed in Halsal by Bishop Wilson in public matters, he had the training of Philip Moore, and in some degree, I suspect, of the Bishop's son ; and he plainly had many points of a noble character. But his earnest zeal for the re- dress of wrong may have sometimes carried him away from ordinary duties. Moore, who was of another temperament, left the follow- ing entry concerning him in the register book of St. Matthew's Chapel : — " All or most of the above baptisms were during the period of the Rev. Mr. A. Halsal's chaplainship : who having many unhappy disputes both of a public and private nature on his hands, was often abroad, by which many baptisms were neglected to be registered." Halsal was residing in Liverpool when T. Wilson came there in 1 731, and soon after became master of a grammar-school at Crosby. " In 1735 he accompanied Bishop Wilson to London, and was pre- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 747 sented to the incumbency of Crosby by the Rev. Thomas Egerton, CHAP Rector of Sefton, and was a faithful and zealous parish priest for — twenty-three years." So says Mr. Stowell, (p. 259). His monu- ment, which carefully records his connection with our Bishop, adds that he died in 1755, aged 62. He had a sister, Catherine Halsal, mentioned before in this compilation ; who was also a true friend to Bishop Wilson, and a faithful servant to God and to His Church. She died and was buried near her brother in 1758; bequeathing a considerable sum for education in Castletown. (See Isle of Man Charities, pp. 43, 44.) NOTE (B), p. 705. The last act of discipline in which Walker is recorded as having taken special part bears out this character of him : — "1726. "John Tear, late parish clerk of Ballaugh, having for his re- peated crimes of fornication, &c., stood at the church door in peni- tential habit several Sundays and holidays during the whole time both of morning and evening service, and having both by his out- ward behaviour, which was very exemplary, and likewise by all possible demonstrations of an inward sense of his guilt, induced us to believe him a real penitent ; he is therefore hereby humbly re- commended to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of this Isle, to have such further penance appointed him as his Lordship shall see meet for his soul's health, and in order to his being restored to the peace of the Church. " W. W." " This person's crimes having been very great, and the offence he has given having spread very far, it is fit that the satisfaction he is to give be in some measure proportionable. He is therefore to perform four penances. " T. S. M." Two penances certified ; then a petition signifying " a firm reso- lution that his repentance shall end with his life, and not with the performance of the holy Church's censure ;" then, " Having good hopes, as well from the serious assurances and protestations of this and his former petitions, as also from the testimony of others, par- ticularly of his pastor, that the petitioner will not abuse this in- dulgence, but will by the grace of God make good the promises he has laid himself under of becoming a new man, I do therefore permit and desire that he may be received into the peace of the Church, after having done penance in the Church of Ballaugh. 748 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. XXI. NOTE (C), p. 708. " Some native bard of that period composed an interesting poem in the Manks language, in honour of this excellent man, of which a few fragments are yet found among the aged inhabitants of the parish. The composition is not altogether in the spirit of Ossian's Poems, yet it has obtained its full share of rustic praise, and has been sung and sung again in unison not with the harp of former days, but with the less melodious notes of the spinning-wheel. The fol- lowing verse, so descriptive of his character, is often repeated with strong marks of admiration : — ' Bannaght ny Moght, Scaa ny Mraane treoghe, Fendeilagh chloan gyn air, Da ny annooine Dreem nagh goghe Veih Treanee dewil aggair." ' He to the poor a blessing prov'd, Their refuge and their friend, The orphan's and the widow's cause Still ready to defend c.' " NOTE (D), p. 716. Those who are interested about Burton may like to read the fol- lowing particulars of the situation of the Church, with which the writer has been favoured by one who has both an eye and a me- mory for such things : — " There is the estuary of the Dee, the bank rich with the beau- tiful yellow marine poppy. Between Burton Park and the river is the Salt Marsh, famous for its good duck-shooting. Then the ground rises to the village, which stands on rock — the sandstone cropping out in all directions. The cottages are mostly lath and plaister, thatched, and many of them reached by a flight of steps, picturesquely cut in the red rock. Behind the church, which we reached by a steep little winding path, through briars and bram- bles, was a pretty wood, and behind that, quite a bare high knoll. About the top of this stands a windmill, very old, what is called in the country a peg-m\\\, because it is supported by a peg ; that is, the whole trunk of an oak tree ; — thought the peg must have been there two hundred years or more ; and we pictured to our- selves the Bishop as a boy, waiting at that mill with his father's wheat. It was a grand place for breezes, and such a view, all along the estuary, which, when the tide comes in, is beautiful — Wales, and Flint with its castle, visible. The Heswold hills, rich c Stowell, pp. 418, 419. (Mr. Stowell was a successor of Walker at Ballaugh.) LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 749 in botanical treasures, stretch up towards Burton. I remember CHAP. the ground there carpeted in some places with a little creeping XXI. wild rose." NOTE (E), p. 716. "Alfred House, Bath, Oct. 29, 1780. " From Dr. Wilson (in his 78th year) to Mr. Philip Moore. " Does your Bishop [Mason] honour the pulpit at Douglas ? My father often did, as I remember with pleasure, when I was Anthony's Curate, and lay in your room. Greater joy than ever Courts gave me, which have hardly left any traces behind them. To say no more, the happiest part of my life was the younger part of it in the Isle of Man, and if I had studied Manx, and been enabled to preach in it, it might have been better for me to have served some Church there, than the gaudy ones I have been too uselessly employed in since, and [to have] merited the character my father has given of the good old Mr. Allen, whose funeral sermon you will have the pleasure of reading in the second volume of his Works. This, and many other of his divine thoughts, have had by the grace of God a pleasing effect, and taught me many lessons to my good comfort. For many of his sermons, to my shame, I had never read in MS. I have made you my confessor, not in private, for I care not if all the world knew my present sentiments, so different from my former folly. Pray for me, that through the mercy of a blessed Saviour we may meet in the paradise of God. Amen and Amen." NOTE (F), p. 740. " To Madam Levinz, at Oxford. " Madam, — We, the Bishop and Clergy, met at our annual Con- vocation, beg leave to return our most sincere thanks for your noble charity to our widows and children, by the hands of the Rev. Mr. Wilson. " We doubt not but your worthy husband, our late Pit. Rev. Prelate, would have been a great benefactor to a design of this nature, but as God was pleased to deprive us of him, your ladyship has in some measure made up for that loss, by a present which will endear both your memories to our latest posterity ; and oblige us all with grateful hearts to offer up our prayers to the throne of Grace, that you may enjoy all the happiness this world affords, and at last partake of the joys promised to those that do so much good in their generation. (" Signed by the Bishop, Archdeacon, and sixteen of the Clergy.") 750 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAPTER XXII. LAST TWO VISITS TO ENGLAND. THE "INTRODUCTION TO THE LORD'S SUPPER." DEATH OF JAMES EAEL OF DERBY. 1733—1735. CHAP. The Manx discipline having, as it were, lost itself in the XXII . . . — sands, and small chance remaining of its revival, now that the unbelieving party had obtained a majority among the Keys, the Bishop's mind turned the more unreservedly to other kinds of work, which seemed to be providentially awaiting him in England. And in the course of 1731, two deaths had occurred in his wife's family, which would draw him the more towards those who yet survived. "William Hay ward, a gentleman of Stoke Newington, who had mar- ried his niece Mary, daughter and heiress (as it appears) of his " most dear brother, William Patten," is registered in his obituary, Dec. 11, 1731. The Bishop's son in his journal calls this Mr. Hay ward " my dearest friend," adding — " He departed this life without a sigh or a groan, as if God would begin the happiness of the next life in an easy transition out of this. He was really a most excellent Christian, the best of friends, and kindest husband in the world. May my latter end be like his!" The event occurring but a few days before young "Wilson's ordination to the Priesthood, had no doubt a powerful in- fluence on his thoughts then and his career afterwards. This loss the Bishop would feel chiefly for his son's sake. The next in the family was that of a very old friend and kinswoman. "Jenny Patten, Feb. 13, 1731; a good Chris- tian •" such is his simple memorandum. Eleventh Altogether it must have been a real and great refreshment, England" when at last he found himself at liberty to set out for Eng- land again : — " June 18, 1733. I went off with Oliver Gardiner, and after a rough passage of twenty-four hours landed at Liverpool. Blessed be God !" The journey had been in contemplation at least a year before, as appears by a letter of young Wilson's to a cousin LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 751 at Warrington, May 23, 1732. After contradicting a report CHAP, that he was on the point of marriage, and that the Bishop XXI1, being displeased was coming over very soon to prevent it if he could, he adds, — " When I parted from my father, I solemnly assured him that I would never make any steps towards a married life without first acquainting him with it. And this I have inviolably observed, and he will always be the first person that knows anything of it. And I hope I have too much religion ever to do anything of that kind without his free consent. So that his friends may be very easy, his journey into England being pui*ely to pay a visit to Lady Betty Hastings. For anything relating to me, a line would be as deter- mining as a thousand words from his mouth." The notices on the sermons preached that summer in England do not range far from Warrington. One of his wife's sisters-in-law, Margaret Patten, still survived, and kept house in " the Lane," as young Wilson occasionally calls it ; i. e. Patten Lane, yet known by that name in War- rington. To that spot, as was natural, his love of the dead and of the living would attract him, as to the place in Eng- land most like his own home. From it he would make ex- cursions now and then (among other places) to Newchurch, the place in which he had first officiated as curate under his uncle, Dr. Sherlock : and there is a characteristic little anec- dote of him, recorded on good authority, which must be re- ferred either to this, or more probably to his latest residence in England, about two years after. It seems that he used sometimes to come and. stay at a farmhouse at Newchurch, in which was living a little girl, then about seven years old, who in after years was accustomed to relate, that — " Every morning when the Bishop went out, he used to say to her, ' God bless you, my dear little girl.' ' I,' she would add, ' was rather pert at that time, and one morning after receiving his usual blessing, turned round and said, ' And God bless you too, Sir.' The Bishop immediately replied, ' Thank you, my dear little girl : I do not doubt but that your blessing will do me as much good as mine will do youd.' " d For this anecdote the compiler has has heen told, was afterwards a Mrs. to thank the Rev. R. C. Gibson, some- Lygoe. In illustration of the Bishop's time Curate of Winwick. The child, he love of little children may be quoted 752 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. The Bishop, however, may have found time to pay his visit XXII . — - — — to Ledstone that year, though I have met with no memoranda Intended Qf ^ j>u{. there are letters enough to shew what ample chanties < ° A of Lady E. occasion there might be just then for a conference with the astings. ({ (jevou^ an(j honourable" lady, and substantial fruits remain of the counsels which they were continuing to take together. A year and a-half previously, she had indicated to him seve- ral projects of religious charity on a large scale, on which she wished him to advise her : — " My Lord, — I have reproached myself a number of times for not acknowledging the favour of your last letter, and am ashamed to urge as some excuse the hopes you gave me of that being soon followed by another, with some passages out of a book of Erasmus's, which your Lordship says entirely agrees with the doctrine laid down by Mr. Law in his ' Call to a Devout Life.' I am very glad I was so happy as to name a book to your Lordship that so highly meets your approbation ; but am grieved you suffer so much from the Governor, &c, and have lost your good Vicar-General, — a true fellow-labourer with you. The ill consequences that attended your absence from your diocese in '29 leaves me very little hopes of your return to England, or consequently of the happiness of seeing you here ; and I believe little good could be hoped even by an appeal to the King and council in this Lord Derby's time, who, the more he is opposed, the more he piques himself to obstruct all your wise and pious designs for the good of your diocese. " When I last saw your Lordship you let me know that so small a thing as £20 per annum, to commence at my decease, applied to the petty schools in your isle, might be made a very useful charity. I beg by the first post your direction in what manner I shall be- queath it ; whether in particular or in general terms. " You also hinted at a new method of paying schoolmasters. In the several manors I am possessed of, I design leaving about £12 per annum to a schoolmaster to teach the poor children, but I fear they won't have above 50s. by any other children that will be put to them, — that what I give must be fixed, in order to engage a master to settle amongst them. perhaps a letter from Matthew Henry three inches of a yard high." The in Thoresby's Correspondence, vol. i. p. date is Feb. 1, 1702-3 : and Mr. Pres- 433 : — " Mr. Prescot of Chester, besides cot, Registrar of the Diocese of Chester, his ancient rarities, shewed me a new was a friend of Bishop Wilson's, as one, which was a horse of four years old, appears by the Life of Sherlock. None sent him tbe day before out of the Isle so likely as the Bishop to have sent of Man, for his little son ; ... it was of the " little wonder." just proportions, and yet wanted about LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 753 " I leave the advowsons of three livings to my trustees. Mr. CHAP • • XXII Nelson had a scheme of a promise of preferment to such ministers " * L as had gone as missionaries to the East or West Indies, and had distinguished themselves by their zeal. " I leave six Exhibitions of £20 per annum to Edmund Hall in Oxford, for as many clergymen's sons, till they are of Master of Arts' standing. Could anything of this be improved, so as to pro- mote the real conversion of infidels, particularly in the East Indies ? " I likewise leave £100 per annum to each of those designs. " 1 beg your thoughts as soon as you can on these things, and ask pardon for the haste in which I am obliged now to write, because I am going very soon to make some alterations in my donations to charitable uses. " I beg the continuance of your prayers, that am, with the truest esteem, your Lordship's most obliged and most humble servant, " E. Hastings. " I beg my service to Mr. Wilson, and thanks for his letter. " Feb. 6, 173?e." The results belong rather to the history of the Bishop's Personal next sojourn in England. Of the present one, his son's wel- ^j^ s fare (notwithstanding the disclaimer above quoted) was cer- Bishop's tainly one main object. The young priest had been moved, especially by his friends in the Christian Knowledge Society, to take part in a colonial mission. "Nov. 15, 1732. I received," he writes, "a letter from New- man," the secretary to that Society, " inviting me to go to Georgia." His answer was, " Were I in my own power, my inclination would lead me where you mention, but having hinted it to my father, he seemed so uneasy that I could press it no further ; his great age, and the difficulties he meets with in his diocese from the enemies of religion, making it necessary to have one in England whom he can trust, in order to apply for advice and protection for him, if they should proceed to extremities, as they have often done. His great tenderness for me, and the former hazards I have met with at sea, weighs much with him, and makes him tremble to think I should venture again." But he was naturally anxious for a clerical home and maintenance in England. Jan. 15, 173|, he records " A letter from my dear father ; two inclosures, one for the Lord * From the Episcopal Register. 3 c 754 LIFE Of BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Chancellor, the other" (given here above) "for Auditor Harley ; XXII • — - 1_ recommending me to their favour." And from this time forward a great part of what remains of his Journal is occupied with the one topic of preferment — ■ what introductions he obtained, who spoke for him, how he prospered in his interviews with dispensers of Church patron- age, and the like. It very soon appears that he had another motive in this besides the simple wish to " better his con- dition." By degrees it comes out that the report which he had so plaintively contradicted was at worst only premature ; that he had become attached to his cousin Mary, the widow of his friend Hayward. He pays long visits at Newington, and succeeds so well that the matter was virtually settled before the Bishop's landing at Liverpool, June 19, 1733. He writes to him from Oxford on the 23rd, and if the Bishop had any objections it is plain they had now given way, for a few days after the Haywards come down there to pay Mr. Wilson a summer visit, and according to the laudabilis con- suetudo of the place, he shews them all round, accompanies them to the Act, (when they were in the Theatre from eleven to half-past six,) takes them to St. Mary's on Act-Sunday, to hear " an excellent sermon from Dr. Seeker :" besides an oratorio and an excursion on the water. The Bi- This was in July: in September he went down to his turn. father in Lancashire, and accompanied him to the ship ; for the Bishop writes, — " Sept. 14, 1733. Having the day before parted with my son and dear friends at Lirpool, {sic,) I landed this day after twenty-two hours, with Captain Richmond, at Douglas. D. Gr." A few more months passed in diligent application to great persons, wherein the principal event is thus recorded : — " Oct. 10, 1733. Went to Court; introduced to the Queen by Lord Grantham ; said she would be glad to see my father in London; kissed her hand, &c." But as only vague promises and compliments were forth- coming,— " I returned to Newington, wrote to my father, setting forth in the fullest manner the reason of my request to him." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 755 Iri reply came a promise to allow liira £50 per annum, in CHAP, addition to what lie had of his own, for two or three years. if no preferment came in that time. So having finished and settled all his affairs and paid his debts in Oxford, he first " opened his mind, freely" to Mr. Hay ward, the lady's father- in-law, " who gave his consent very freely, and will be glad, he says, to live with us here" at Newington ; then " wrote to his father that he accepted his offer with thanks ;" and, lastly, " waited upon his uncle and aunt, her parents, who at last gave their assent," waiving their objections, which it seems turned upon difference of ages as well as want of preferments At last, — "Feb. 4, 1733-4, I was married by the Bishop of London Mr. Wil- (Gibson) at Whitehall Chapel to dear Molly, which, by the bless- s?n's mar" ing of God, will be the happiest day I ever saw. God grant that I may be for ever thankful, and sensible of the blessing of so ex- cellent a wife. There were by Father Patten, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Hayward, and Billy." Mrs. Jackson being probably a relation to the bride's mother, whose maiden name was Jackson. He then proceeds, quaintly enough, to set down the presents he made to his wife, and his own wedding apparel, and the cost of each. The marriage appears to have been a happy one : but Publica- there is another event far more interesting to us, connected «iJ,°ro!. e with this visit of the Bishop to England — the publication of Auction to the Lord's the " Short Introduction to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper." Supper." The earliest mention that I find of it occurs in the Diary, 1733 : — " May 23. Beceived my father's book upon the Sacrament, and design to shew it a Friday to Sir Jo. Philipps." " 25. Bead over my father's little book to Sir John, and wo altered a few words : he desires it may be printed soon." And no time was lost : — " 26. At Mr. Downing's (the printer). Gave him a copy, and he promises me a proof sheet the next week, and I am to correct the press." The Bishop, it seems, leaving the work entirely to him, f The young widow had also a son, ward. This was no doubt the " Billy" who is mentioned now and then in the who was at the wedding, journal by the name of Master II ay- 3 c 2 756 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, though he was himself to be in England within the month. XXII. ^ Then, — " June 7. Mr. Downing brought ine the first sheet ; looked it over and corrected it." Bishop Wilson was a very reluctant publisher, and it is remarkable that of all his productions the only two which he sets down in his list of " Special Favours " are the " Manx Catechism " and the " Directions to an Academic Youth" — both portions of his own diocesan work. Probably we are indebted to his son's unwearied prompting for all else that came out during his lifetime, as after his death for the Sermons and devotional remains. In another way the son's influence will appear to some to have been less wholesome. It was a great point with him that his father's manuals, whether of instruction or devotion, should be such as might be used by all denominations of Protestants. It was his own statement some years after, regarding the " Instruction for the Indians :" — " You see it is upon a Catholic plan, and our view is, to unite all Protestants (though they may differ in lesser matters) to con- sider the promoting the Christian Religion as a common cause, which they ought to join heartily in." Thus he writes to the Presbyterian Leland, (with whom he had a particular intimacy,) Jan. 6, 1742; inviting him to propose any alteration which might make it " more useful for the purpose intended." The same influence no doubt had been brought to bear on the former publication : the Bishop in his charity accepting the idea, and in his humility leaving the MS. somewhat unreservedly to his son's correction. This will quite account for any discrepancy, or rather in- adequacy of expression on some devotional subjects, which may appear in the text of these his avowed works as com- pared with what we know from many unquestionable notes, devotional and theological, here and there in the body of his MSS., to have been his deliberate and solemn opinions. No unfair omissions, much less insertions, on the part either of his son or of the Society, which speedily adopted the works, ought for a moment to be thought of. For instance: in the first edition of his collected works, LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 757 among the " Directions and Devotions'' appointed to be said in cha p. VVT T secret, immediately after the Prayer of Consecration, is the — - — - Form of Invocation from the Clementine Liturgy, as trans- lated by Brett, with some slight alterations. Doubtless this was in the Bishop's own MS. as it lay before the Editor; but neither is there the least doubt that it was absent from the copy which by the Bishop's consent was transmitted for publication to England in 1733, and reproduced all along by the Society in its reprints. In this as in other passages of the same cast are recorded unquestionably his real deliberate opinions. In their absence from the copies so distinctly au- thorized by himself we see that he did not think it neces- sary at that time to force those opinions on the attention of ordinary Christians engaged in the most solemn of all de- votional acts. The Bishop left England in September, but the publication lingered until the next year ; partly perhaps on account of the arrangements connected with the marriage of Mr. Wilson, who seems to have taken on himself the pecuniary risk both of this and of the following publication ; not quite to his father's satisfaction, who in 1741 wrote, — " I have but few things to add or alter in my book of the Lord's Supper. Pray have a care how you reprint at your own cost : such books will go off but poorly, I fear. What I have to add, I hope will go by the next. I am not elated with the letters you en- close me : if any good is like to be done, far be it from me to take the praise to myself ; let it be ascribed to the good Spirit of God : and let me take the shame to myself for the many faults I plainly see in it, and for the negligence with which it is performed. May God forgive me these, and pardon the things I have been wanting in, and the good I might, and have not, done, in the way of my duty, in a long, long life, and in my proper calling ! and I shall bless His name for ever." Yet it would appear that the book from the beginning met with no small nor tardy encouragement. It was published in 1734, with the well-known and very thoughtful dedica- tion "To our Unknown Benefactress/' explained by Dr. Wilson, near fifty years afterwards, to mean " Mrs. Grace Butler, who had laid out very considerable sums of money in purchasing Bibles and other good books for the use of 758 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. c n A P. the people of the Isle of Man." The Bishop himself, in one ■=— — — of his thankful memoranda, dated June, 1735, styles her dif- ferently. " Dr. Hales sent me £20 from an unknown Lady (the Lady Grace Butler) to buy Bibles, &c." Dr. Stephen Hales was fifty-one years minister of Teddington, near Hamp- ton Court, a person distinguished in his time as a philosopher aud experimentalist of the same stamp as Robert Boyle, and earnest like him in the promotion of all such good works as our Bishop delighted in. There are many letters from him among the younger Wilson's papers, and in his Journal he (Dr. W.) relates a visit which he paid at Teddington, Nov. 17 and 18, 1735, and how they went together to Twickenham, — " and waited upon Lady Blount and her two sisters, Mrs. Butlers. One of which is the unknown benefactress to whom my father dedicated his book upon the Sacrament. Lady B.," he adds, " has a fine closet of rarities and a well chosen study of pious books. I told the ladies of my father's persecution, and my own shipwreck, &c." The Bishop himself, who had paid the same visit in the pre- ceding June, having doubtless avoided conversing on his personal matters. The other sister, Elisabeth, is named in the Bishop's obituary, June 9, 1741 : " a most pious lady and a great benefactress to this diocese, aged 55." But now as to the fortunes of his first publication within the twelvemonth. On April 1, one of the first days of 1735, it was admitted on the catalogue of the Christian Knowledge Society. The minute stands thus : — " 'A Short and Plain Instruction for the better Understanding of the Lord's Supper, with the necessary preparation required, by the Bight Reverend the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man,' having been perused and recommended by four subscribing members : it was agreed by balloting to be dispersed occasionally." And in the following June^, " One Mr. Williams gave my son .£16 to be laid out in my books on the Sacrament." Mr. Williams paid it, it seems, at the Society, as from an b P>y young Wilson's Journal it Kirk Onchan in the Isle of Man, and should be July 23, 1731, and £16' 16s. gave it me the 30th instant, with an He adds, " Mr. W. has promised me inscription, Deo Sacrum." a silver salver for the new church of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 759 unknown benefactor, towards purchasing a number of the CHAP. Bishop of Man's late treatise upon the Sacrament, and dis- ' persing them in the Isle of Man, among the poor. It was altogether a successful work. Editions appeared one after another, at least ten iu the author's lifetime, including one in 1755, the year of his death. The " Short Morning and Even- ing Prayers for Families and for Particular Persons," which had accompanied the " Principles and Duties of Christianity " in 1707, were appended to this tract also; and won the ap- probation especially of Dr. Isaac Watts, with whom, then living at Stoke Newington, the Bishop's son had become intimate : — "I visited him," says Mr. Wilson, "Dec. 31, 1735. He com- mends my father's book upon the Sacrament, especially that last sentence in the page of the Evening Prayer for a Family, ' Vouch- safe us an interest in all the prayers of Thy holy Church, which have been this day offered to the Throne of Grace.' " The Bishop meanwhile, on returning to his island in Sep- Tokens of tember, 1733, had found some reason to hope that things o^6^115 were taking a less unfavourable turn. Very shortly, an Governor's event happened which might have been expected to increase the confusion. Oct. 6, his old fellow- sufferer — one can hardly call him his fellow-labourer — John Curghey, Vicar of Brad- dan and Vicar-General, died, aged 77, and having been twenty-nine years in office ; a person respectable no doubt in many things, but unable as he was to " rule his own house, how could he take care of the Church of God ?" The Bishop lost no time in filling up both places : — that first, which was likeliest to give him trouble. " Oct 11. Then appointed Mr. John Coslmahan one of my Vicars-General." This was the son, and ought to have been the successor, of a late Vicar of Kirk St. Anne, whose vacancy as usual Lord Derby had been slow in filling up, and when he did so, it was in a way which caused the good Bishop to write, — " July 2, 1731. Institution and induction given to Mr. *** *** to this vicarage ; when he most unworthily supplanted and turned the worthy Curate, Mr. Coshnahan, out of his cure of souls. For which lie ought to repent all the days of his life." In this nomination therefore the Bishop had the sense of 760 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. repairing a wrong ; and he followed it up, Oct, 30, by col- ■ lating Cosnahan to the vicarage of Braddan also. And not only did the former appointment pass unquestioned (so far as Ave are told) for more than half a year, including the Mi- chaelmas and Lent Courts, and so thoroughly introducing the new Vicar- General to the diocese, but on May 28, 1734, the time of Convocation drawing on, — " Capt. "W. Christian, of Jurby," (so the Bishop writes,) " brought me a message from the Governor, that the Vicars-General named by me were to act as formerly in my name, as the Vicars- General of all other Bishops do, and this by Lord Derby's order ; but that they were not to be sworn and enrolled in the Castle as of my Lord's Council. The very thing I looked upon to be a hardship, that my Vicars- General should be obliged to take an oath before the temporal officers." It was a great and most unexpected relief, and he recorded it in Sacra Privata among " mercies and extraordinary de- liverances \" — "May, 1734. From the troubles threatened and in some measure begun by our unreasonable Governor If orton, denying me the right of appointing my own Vicars-General ; which {sic) Lord Derby, as he says, has restored me to my rights without my applying to him. May God make the Governor sensible of the great evil he has done, in putting a stop to justice, Sec, and me ever thankful to Him for His mercies to those that call upon Him in their distress." The Bishop's tone indicates that he supposed the relenting to be in the Earl, not in the Governor, and that to him it was, humanly speaking, unaccountable. The Earl's mood may have been fitful and capricious, and this time (as the manner of such is) it may have taken a right direction. Not but there had been glimmerings also lately of some improvement in Horton himself. A little before the Bishop's voyage he had concurred with him and the Keys in an Act for a new church and parsonage at Kirk Lonan ; the Bishop's services being acknowledged in the Act, and the whole matter referred to his direction. And in little more than a month from his return, Oct. 24, he was busy marking out the ground there for a parish church and churchyard, pursuant to the Act : — LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 761 " The length of the church within 63| feet, the breadth within CHAP. I9i; church-yard, 44 x 34 yards. The church set due east and XXII. west." And then (what must have been very comfortable) he no- tices as present, Capt. Herjwood, Mr. W. Murrey, Capt. W. Christian, the Curate, and Undertakers, &c. : — " May it be for the honour of God and the good of His people !" It may not be irrelevant to add, as one somewhat en- couraging symptom, that at the Tynwaldof 1733, from which the Bishop was unavoidably absent, Horton took an un- usually active part. His predecessor had literally done nothing, and himself had assisted in one enactment only, and that as far back as 1726; but now we find his name to acts for the rectification of the copper money of the island, and in the following year, for repairing harbours, limiting the number of retail beer-shops, and (most significant of all) for encouragement of a fund to provide parsonage houses. With any other Governor this would have been a matter of course, but in this case even so much interest shewn in the real business of the island betokened an improvement, and gave grounds of hope. Indeed the last-mentioned act was framed upon a direct application from the clergy in their Whitsuntide Convocation of 1731. To be sure it took three years to obtain it from the Government, but the enactment, when it did take place, was in its substance and most of its wording just what the Convocation had suggested, as may be seen on comparing the Bishop's Register with the Statute- book \ Accordingly, the Bishop with evident satisfaction records, " July 27, 1734, I signed an act for building of Church houses, for securing of parochial libraries, and for abolishing corbs," or certain customary payments, due from clergy dying or retiring to their successors, over and above what equity might require for dilapidations. The principle of the mea- sure is, (the preamble reciting the obligation laid on the clergy to reside by an act made in 1696, and the difficulty of fulfilling it, "in respect several of the vicarages and one h Mills, pp. 228—230 762 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap, of the rectories " — Kirk Bride — " now and for some ages XXII. . ■ past have not had houses upon them for the residence of the incumbents, and some others being in a ruinous condition for want of proper means and encouragement to keep them in repair,") to allow to any incumbent or his representatives, when he vacates the cure, two-thirds of what he may have laid out in building, improvements, or repairs ; a just account upon oath being given of the same to a jury of four sufficient men, to be appointed by process from the Bishop or Arch- deacon, and sworn upon the premises for that purpose. And the successor again to receive one-third of the first sum from his successor. Dilapidations to be appraised by four sworn men in like manner. As to the Parochial Libraries : " whereas several well-dis- posed persons have given a number of useful and practical books to the several parishes of this isle," to prevent em- bezzlement, and to satisfy future benefactors, the clergy in each parish are made accountable for those books, and every one on his admission or licence is to make a new catalogue of those in his cure, and deliver the same to the Episcopal llegistrar. The Act bears date July 16; the Bishop therefore was evidently absent from the Tynwald, but took a pleasure in affixing his signature afterwards. I observe, too, that in confirming that spring he had gathered the candidates from several parishes to Braddan ; a change due probably to his increasing infirmities. His unabated interest in the temporal well-being of the isle, notwithstanding the scornful way in which he was put aside by those entrusted with it, is curiously shewn by some remarks wkicn occur in Episcopalia about this time : — '■'•June, [1734]. The Governor acquainted Deemster Nich. Christian that my Lord Derby had received several complaints against him for great immoralities, for oppressing his people, &c, and that his Lordship had ordered an enquiry to be made into the truth of them. The Deemster desired to see the particulars of the complaint, and to know the persons that had complained, that he might be able to justify himself if he had been wronged, or to own his fault if justly accused. But this was denied him, and in the meantime people were sent abroad to encourage all that had any complaint to come in, and they should be heard. This the Deemster LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 763 thought very hard measure, and so did many more — to charge a CHAP. man with crime, and then to hunt out for proofs. And if the XXII. Deemster acted arbitrarily, as he was accused to have done, his prosecutors cannot free themselves altogether from that great crime. " The Deemster appeared according to order, and desired a copy of his complainants' charges, and time to answer them. This was utterly denied him, and he was told, that they had orders to receive complaints, and to send them to Lord Derby. Some of these com- plaints he proved off-hand to be false and groundless, &c. At last being tired out with this way of proceeding, and seeing that what they aimed at was his commission, he gave it up. " The truth is, Ave have for ten years past had two Deemsters, (both of them put in to serve particular ends, and to do such dirty work as was then to be done,) of such immoral lives as no heathen (much less Christian) country on earth, I believe, can parallel. And a great grief it has been to all thoughtful people, that the lives and fortunes of 20,000 persons should be in the hands of such wretches, given over to all manner of debaucheries ; which I durst not set down, were it not known to God to be true. One of them still con- tinues in that post, being prepared to act anything he shall be di- rected to do, as is manifest from his former practices, though scarce a day passes in which he goes sober to bed. He is one of my flock, and I most earnestly pray God for his conversion. The other, through God's grace, I hope, will make a good use of this affliction : to which end I have wrote to him, (even before this trial came upon him,) and will apply to him again and again, — he being a man of sense, though of bad morals ; but the other wants both grace and understanding. May the gracious God, in whose hands are the hearts of princes, turn these things for the good of this poor nation." The results of such trifling with law and justice appeared abundantly in the following year. That year, however, began with an encouraging event, of which the Bishop thought a good deal: — "Lady-Day, March 25, 1735. I consecrated the Church of Kirk Lonan by the following form," (the sentence was indorsed on a copy of his Consecration Office,) " in the presence of a numerous congregation, to whom I preached and administered the Lord's Supper, and ordaiued Mr. Thomas Christian priest, and Mr. Nath. Curghey deacon." The progress of the building had been, for church-work, 761 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C II A P. tolerably rapid, the ground having been only marked out, — ^ — 1— Oct. 24, 1733. His sermon contained a very earnest warn- ing against " two of the greatest national sins," (so he terms them,) "running of goods, and defrauding God of His tithe :" whereby he tells them that they were not only forfeiting " the blessings of the seas," but doing what might prove " fatal to Church and State." The deed of consecration, like that of the new St. Patrick's, forbids the church to be used as a school-room, and the dead to be buried in it or within one yard of it. Last Easter-day fell that year on the 6th of April, and on the EifaUnd° Monday fortnight the Bishop started for his twelfth and last and return, voyage to England, embarking this time not on a Sunday; and the result was not encouraging : — " April 28, 1735. The 21st, I took ship with Capt. Richmond, (Coz. Murray, &c.) We met with a very great storm that night, and were driven to Peel Foudray ', where we stayed till yesterday, when setting sail we met with another storm, (in which a small bark and two men were lost,) but blessed be God we came safe to Liverpool. May I never forget God's repeated favours to me." It is plain from what remains of Mr. Wilson's fragmentary Journal, that he, the son, was the chief, if not the sole object of this his father's last visit to England. He came partly to see him in his family, for he now kept house at Stoke New- ington, and had become on the 18th of the preceding March the father of a little boy, Thomas Wilson the third, so chris- tened as soon as born, and received into Newington Church, April 18, the Bishop standing to him by proxy ; from which one may gather that he did not disapprove of such an arrangement, unwarranted as it is by any express rubric or canon. We cannot follow him from place to place in England, as in former visits, by indorsements on his ser- mons, for he seems rarely to have preached at all there; but as he was a fortnight getting to London, he no doubt stayed at Warrington on his way. A few extracts from his son's Journal may give a sufficiently distinct notion of his movements : — 11 May 1735, Newington, 12, Monday . Went in a chariot and 1 On the left as you sail into Morecambe Bay from the Irish Channel. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 765 met my" dear father at St. Albans, and brought him home in good CHAP, health, I thank God. XXII. " 13. My father Patten met my father, and we dined at home. " 14, Wednesday. Went in the morning to Sir John Philipps, who promised to do all in his power. " 15, Thursday. Waited upon the Bishop of London (Gibson) ; not at home. Saw the Bishop of Llandaff at Whitehall, waited upon my Lord Ashburnham — offered to introduce us to Court. My father was presented by the Duke of Manchester, Lord of the Bed- chamber in waiting, and had the honour to kiss his Majesty's hand. He afterwards went to the Queen's side, who immediately came up to him, and promised she would be kind to me. She afterwards told a lady that stood by her, that ' nobody envied that honest man his bishopric' Upon which my father said, that ' neither did he envy anybody, or desire their bishoprics.' Upon which she said, ' I believe you : you are a very honest man.' " Friday. Went to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, saw the Bishop of London, who told my father we must no longer rest in generals, and desired he would come and talk with him at Fulham next Thursday. Dined with Sir John Philipps, who promised to go with us next Thursday to Sir Robert Walpole. " 17, Saturday. At home. " 18, Sunday. My father preached for Dr. Knight at St. Sepulchre's. " 19, Monday. My Father, Molly, and I went to see my Lord Burlington's fine house and gardens at Chiswick, and dined with his steward and Mr. Brown." And as the climax of all, — " 22, Thursday. Waited upon Sir Robert Walpole in St. James's- square : very kindly received, and he promised to do anything for me in his power, and advised to consult with the Bishop of London what was fit to be asked." Afterwards they dine with the Bishop of Durham, Chandler, Bishop Wilson's fellow-collegian, " who promised to be kind to me, and set me down in his book the fourth." A curious little note adds, " Saw the Bishop of Winchester," (Hoadley) — " coole." It seems a wonder how anything could have been expected from Hoadley. But the candidate for preferment was now in full career, and from no quarter, as it seems, could it come amiss to him. He takes the Bishop to Court again 766 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. chap, on the Sunday, where he is introduced to Prince Frederick XX II — — — — and the Royal familyj ; and in the course of the week, upon a hint from Bishop Gibson, our Bishop prepares a memorial to the Queen specifying certain canonries which, if they were vacant, would be acceptable, and Lord Ashburnham writes to say that he had presented it, and that her Majesty re- ceived it very graciously. And on Saturday, May 31, — " My father and I went to the Court at Kensington : the Queen was pleased to promise us the first of the above preferments, when they should become vacant, which my father will acquaint the Bishop of London with, as her Majesty ordered him to do." And so on, from time to time, during the Bishop's visit, which lasted nearly to the end of July. He had no scruples in applying for his son, although for himself he never thought of such a thing. Once during his stay being laid up with the gout, he permits Mr. Wilson to send a message in his name : — " The Bishop of Man, being confined to his bed, humbly begs leave to intimate to the Queen's most excellent Majesty that a Canonry of Christ Church, in Oxford, is likely to become vacant very soon, and hopes your Majesty will have the goodness to re- member his son." Perhaps the Queen felt as if there was rather too much of this, for on the Bishop's taking leave of her at Ken- sington, July 23, though she said she had spoken of the matter to the Bishop of London, there was something which made the younger Wilson write, " I am afraid she will not be so much my friend as I could wish." Yet it was either then or at some one of their preceding interviews that the little dialogue took place, so often quoted, and so charac- teristical of both parties k : — " Queen Caroline was very desirous of keeping Bishop Wilson in England ; but though he was much bound to her Majesty's good- ness, he would not be persuaded. One day as he was coming to pay his duty to the Queen, when she had several Prelates with her, she turned round to her levee, and said, ' See here, my Lords, is a Bishop who does not come for a translation.' 'No, indeed, > "May 25. Sunday. Went to Court to the Princesses, by Lady Bell Finch ; at Kensington; my father was intro- and met with a very gracious recep- duced by my Lord Baltimore to the tion. He dined with Lord Shannon." Prince ; to the Duke, by Mr. Poyntz ; k Cruttwell, p. xcii. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 767 an't please your Majesty,' said our good Bishop, ' I will not leave CHAP, ray wife in my old age because she is poor.' " — The Queen apparently could see the difference between the elder Wilson and the younger. But the Bishop had sometimes more congenial engage- ments. Twice he preached for Mr. Thoresby at Newing- ton : once " My father went on horseback to see Dr. Hales at Teddington ;" and on June 20, — "My father administered the Sacrament to Auditor Harley in Lincoln's Inn ; very devout ; his modesty was so great that he did not feel qualified for partaking of that Holy Mystery ; though his whole life has been one preparation for futurity." Two months afterwards, " he was very low-spirited, and wanted that inward comfort, though nobody has lived so useful and innocent a life." This was on Aug. 27, and on the 30th of that month the Bishop's Obituary says, " My worthy friend Edw. Harley, Esq., died, setat. 71." Another taken of his "fellow workers unto the kingdom of God," whose loss he always espe- cially felt l. The Bishop was himself at this time, if his son's statement may be relied upon, engaged in a work for which he could hardly be supposed to have strength. " On his return from this visit to England," says Cruttwell, "he visited the pro- vince of York at the earnest request of Archbishop Black- burn, and confirmed upwards of 15,000 persons." The number at any rate must be greatly exaggerated. For " my dear father," says Mr. Wilson, " Monday, July 28, left us on his journey to the North. We went with him as far as Hicks' End, and dined there and took leave of him." And on Sept. 7, the Bishop himself tells us, he embarked for the island. If he had confirmed every day, Sundays in- cluded, he must have administered the rite on an average to about 357 daily during those six weeks ; besides that it would have taken him two or three days, as travelling then was, to get into the province of York. And metropolitical visitations were not so very common at that time, nor so easily trans- ferable at any time to any friend of whom an Archbishop might ask such a favour. It further appears that the Bishop was ill on his journey. 1 See Note (A) at the end of this chapter. 768 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " Aug. 6. A letter from my dear father, complaining of an ex- XXlI- ceeding bad and wearisome journey. At Park Gate the 3rd inst., feverish, &c. I pray God restore him to his health." And on the 11th he hears of his father's being only a " little better." Probably the Bishop having to see Lady E. Hastiugs on his way home, — his farewell visit it must have been, — undertook some Confirmation work for his Me- tropolitan, who had just shewn his goodwill by giving his son his option of the Rectory of Rothbury, in Northumber- land ; and the son, when he had many years afterwards to furnish materials for his father's life, had but an indistinct remembrance of the transaction. It would not be the only mistake he fell into. Whatever the Bishop's work was in England during this his farewell visit, it was ended by Sunday, Sept. 7, on which day, (he writes,) "I went on board Oliver Gardiner's new vessel, and with great difficulty and not without some danger we lauded at Derby Haven the day following in thirty hours." That day week he had preached his last sermon in England, at Liverpool, on St. Luke xii. 48. Pastoral Shortly before the Bishop left London, he had felt himself certain called on for an unusual exercise of pastoral care over his Executions distant diocese. Until within a few years past, common m the . . ... Island. thievery had been comparatively a rare evil in the island, as among other Celtic races. Cruttwell was " very credibly in- formed, that before this time the Bishop had never had a lock on his outer dooi*, nor any other fastening than a latch." But now, — such a thing, it would appear, not having happened for thirty years, " some unhappy persons being condemned to death in the Isle of Man for the crimes of robbery and housebreaking, occasioned the Bishop to send from England circular letters of exhortation, and prayers to the clergy :" — "July 18, 1735. "Gentlemen, — Whereas William Clucas, William Kelly, and James Clucas, prisoners in Castle Rushin, are under. the sentence of death for burglary and robbery by them committed, it is neces- sary that this should be signified to our congregations, that they may seriously join in praying to God for these poor souls, under LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 769 such mournful circumstances ; that the}' may make the best use of CHAP. XXII the few days they have to live in this world. — — " Tou are therefore, in the meantime, to use the prayer set forth in the year 1705, upon the like occasion; which (because some of you may not be provided with it) we have here sub- joined. " You will also take this opportunity of speaking very plainly to your people against robbing and stealing, as also those evil ways and courses that lead to such sins ; namely, idleness, drunkenness, neglecting the ordinances of God and His worship, covetousnese, distrusting God's providence, injustice in their dealings, and dis- contentedness in their respective stations of life. " Let them know the necessity of abstaining from all appearance of evil ; and that repentance and restitution are necessary duties, and yet much more difficult than is laid to heart ; — that they who turn a deaf ear to your admonitions, and despise the means of grace appointed for their salvation, do thereby provoke God to take from them His Holy Spirit, and leave them to themselves ; and that if people will not glorify God by their lives, He will be glori- fied in their condemnation and destruction. " Set before them the terrors of the Lord, what a sad and shameful end these unhappy wretches have brought upon them- selves, and what concern, what infamy, what ruin, upon their name and poor families. " Let them be assured that the evil which pursueth sinners will most certainly overtake and lay fast hold on them in sad judgments here, and much worse hereafter, if not prevented by a timely, a serious, and bitter repentance. " And above all, put them in mind that they cannot do this, or anything that is good of themselves ; and that it is absolutely necessary to obtain and secure the assistance and grace of God, by praying for and rightly improving these His favours. " This will be a word in due season ; and these truths pressed home upon the consciences of your people, as you in prudence shall think proper, will,' it may be hoped, make them bethink themselves in good earnest to bring up their children in the fear of God, and set them an example of living godly, righteously, and soberly. " But this we are sure of, that by thus doing our part, and re- membering them in our private devotions, we shall have the com- fort of delivering ourselves. And may God Almighty direct, assist, and prosper our endeavours in His service !" It seems that with the prayer subjoined lie sent a copy of 3d 770 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, the invitation with which he had prefaced it in his own — — — — pulpit in 1705 : — " Christian Brethren, — There heing some persons under the sentence of condemnation, you are earnestly desired to assist them with your devout prayers under these sorrowful circumstances ; that God, who in justice has delivered them up to an untimely temporal death, may in mercy deliver them from death eternal. " To this end let us in Christian charity pray for them, that they may make the best use of those few days they have to live in this world. " That God, who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, may graciously dispose and fit them for another life. " That they may become deeply sensible of their crimes, and truly repent of them ; and that God would for Christ's sake accept of their repentance. " So that whatever punishment they have deserved, they may have it in this world.; that in the next they may escape the judg- ment of an offended God. " That they may give glory to God in submitting patiently to the punishment laid upon them as the due reward of their de- servings. And that this bitter cup, which is so much abhorred by flesh and blood, may be a wholesome medicine for the saving of their precious souls, through the merits of Jesus Christ. " And that we may offer up our prayers with greater devotion, let us consider that we have all of us many ways offended God, and it is His great mercy that we have not before this felt His judgments. " Let us therefore pray for these poor prisoners ; and let us pray also for ourselves, our children, and families ; that we may all live in the fear of God, serving and obeying Him as we ought to do ; that His grace may always prevent and follow us ; and that He may never be provoked to give us up to the government of the devil, to be led captive by him at his will. " Let us also pray for this whole land, that all evil practices may be discountenanced, and that by the grace of God we may have few of -these examples to lament hereafter. " So that all being warned by this mouimful instance, these poor creatures may make some amends by their death for the evils of their lives. " Let us then, my beloved brethren, with one heart and soul offer up our prayers on their behalf, trusting in God's goodness, that He will be merciful unto them in the fonnveness of all their LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 771 sins ; and for the loss of this life, comfort them with the hopes of C H A P. a better, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ. Amen. __U — L. "Prayer for the Prisoners. " 0 God, whose judgments against all obstinate offenders are most severe and terrible, and whose mercies are infinite towards all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto Thee ; look clown, we beseech Thee, with an eye of pity on these persons now lying under the sentence of death ready to be exe- cuted upon them. " In the midst of judgment remember mercy, and let Thy power and tender compassion be shewed in their conversion, as Thy jus- tice has appeared in their condemnation. " Give them a true sense of all the transgressions of their lives past, and especially of those sins that have brought this" judgment upon them ; that their consciences being awakened by the near approach of death, they may call their ways to remembrance, and turn to Thee in weeping, fasting, and prayer. And the gracious God be merciful unto them in the free pardon of all their sins. " Blessed God, and lover of souls, let the sorrowful sighing of prisoners come before Thee, and by the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to die. We know, O Lord, that there is no word impossible with Thee, and that it is not always much time and knowledge, but Thy grace, which fits men for heaven ; which we humbly pray Thee to vouchsafe to these Thy poor creatures, who have no hopes but in Thy great mercy in Jesus Christ ; for whose sake we pray God to hear us ; and at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, good Lord deliver us ! " And sanctify, we most humbly beseech Thee, these examples to this whole land, that we may all see that it is indeed an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord ; and that we may teach our children and our households to fear God always, that they may continue Thine for ever, until they come to Thine everlasting kingdom ; through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen." Now, in 1735, he thought fit to provide his clergy with a form of exhortation also, which they might read to their people, giving it, I suppose, as a message from their Bishop. It will be found at the end of this chapter1". The matter dwelt greatly on his mind, so that when lie was again in the island, he repeated his warnings in a most earnest sermon on the eighth Commandment — that which stands fifty-second in his Works. He preached it, Nov. 2, at m See Note (B) at the end of this chapter. 3 d 2 772 LIFE OF BISHOr WILSON. CHAP. Lezaire, and in returning home that day his chair was over- XXIL turned : but, " blessed be God," he says, " I took no hurt." A fortnight afterwards he preached the same sermon at Kirk Michael. He directed also fresh injunctions to his clergy ; in the tone of which there is something which would lead one to suspect that they had hardly exerted themselves as he could wish in answer to the requirements of the former pastoral. " Bishop's Court, Oct. 16, 1735. " Brother, — We should not be able to answer it to God, or to our countrv, if we should omit this melancholy occasion of warning our congi-egations against such crimes as have brought so many, and are bringing more, to shameful and untimely ends. " I do therefore hope and require you, for more than one Lord's Day next to come, to lay before your people the great guilt as well as shame of these crimes, and the causes which lead to them, which are plainly these following : — " First, The profaning of the Lord's Day : forasmuch as they who will not go to God's house to learn their duty and to beg His grace, are prepared to run into any wickedness the devil shall tempt them to. " Secondly, The great neglect of parents in not correcting their children, and in not giving them a Christian education, but too, too often setting them a bad example. " Thirdly, The. leading of an idle life, which bringing men to poverty, they are often tempted to become thieves to supply their wants. " Fourthly, The common and growing sin of drunkenness, which leads men to spend more than they can pay for without taking these unrighteous ways. " Fifthly, Wicked and profane companions, who lead them to cast off all fear of God, and of His judgments, and consequently all religion. " Lastly, Disorderly ale-houses, which are the very nurseries of thieves and pilfering servants ; and the keepers of them are as guilty as the thieves themselves. "If these things be laid before your people with a zeal and plain- ness which the subject requh-es, one would hope that such people would be brought to see their duty and their danger, and this nation would recover its ancient reputation. " To this end I beseech you (brother), for God's sake, do all that lieth in your power to imprint the fear of God and family religion, and the • due observation of the Lord's Day, amongst your people, LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. "773 by obliging them to say some prayers witb their children ; if it be CHAP. but the Lord's Prayer only, it might be a check upon them from — '— taking evil courses. " Make your people sensible of the necessity of restitution, and the great difficulty of doing a duty so necessary to salvation, where people fall into these sins. " Exhort servants to keep at the greatest distance from the too common sin of pilfering their masters' goods, which often leads to greater crimes ; and all others from tempting them to a crime, which is downright thievery, whatever they think of it. " Make people sensible, if possible, that as sure as God and His Word is true, damnation will be the end of these sins, un- repented of. " And forget not to put your people in mind of the all-seeing providence of God, which one time or other will bring such hidden works of darkness and injustice to light, by ways which the cun- ningest thieves can neither foresee nor prevent, as has fatally ap- peared to every observing body. " Lastly, oblige your wardens to present the common sin of drunkenness, [as by the law and their oaths they are bound to do,] and such as keep disorderly houses of entertainment : it being a common observation, that these crimes, as well as profaneness and wickedness of every kind, have mightily increased since the discipline of the Church has fallen into contempt and been despised. " May the blessing of God be with you, as you faithfully observe these directions of your Bishop and affectionate brother, "Tho. Sodok and Man." And his Episcopalia, 1735, are headed as follows: — " N.B. This year two thieves broke prison and got off the island ; three were executed for housebreaking'; four were pardoned on ac- count of becoming evidences against the rest, and abjured the island ; three were sent off as being petty criminals, four are now under the sentence of death ; in all sixteen. And several others who were partners in their wickedness. " I cannot but ascribe this surpassing growth of wickedness, of this and all other kinds, to the gi-eat contempt that of late has been put upon the discipline of the Church, even by some in authority, whose duty it had been to have countenanced it, as it is the law of Christians as Christians. But Erastianism and wickedness go hand in hand and prevail." Yet Chapter Courts continued to be held, though it would 771 LIFE OF BTSHOP WILSON. C II A P. seem that there were oftentimes no presentments, and of- XXII • — — — — fenders were censured, and committed, and did penance from time to time: and if the discipline was rare and ex- ceptional, yet what there was of it had the advantage of beiug more voluntary than in former days. Of course the sentences were lighter : thus Marjory Cain of St. Anne, a woman of very evil character indeed, is admitted into the peace of the Church, May 1.2, 173-1, after only seven days* imprisonment and doing penance in five churches ; the time of her absolution being left to her pastor Mr. Creb- bins' discretion, — " who is desired to have an especial eye to her future behaviour, that if she does not live as becomes a sincere penitent, she may be treated with a severity such as her crimes deserve." In her case, as in some others, one may perceive trans- gressors wincing especially at the thought of exclusion from the Easter Communion. It was a feeling which lingered in minds which had little else of penitence in them ; even as yet among ourselves many a light and careless person is made seriously uneasy by any demur about Confirmation. The clergy as a body do not seem to have strengthened the Bishop's hands much at this time. He notices a vacancy which occurred during his absence in his own parish of Kirk Michael : — "Mr. John Allen, Curate of Kirk Lonan, having (contrary to my earnest advice and exhortation) accepted of a presentation to this parish, and thereby turned out a worthy person," (Mr. John Woods,) " who had the cure of souls for seventeen years, he sickened immediately after his taking possession thereof, and died." He has to complain of them for irregular marriages, for contemptuous absence from visitation, for " hasty reading of the prayers, &c," for wasteful neglect of the Parochial Libraries and Church plate; and what seems very signifi- cant, he enters on one of those occasions that the person admonished " gave him thanks, and promised faithfully" to do better. So passed the winter in the Isle of Man. In London Mr. Wilson continued his diligence in watching ecclesiastical vacancies, and waiting upon patrons ; and composed and LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. • 775 published a tract against spirituous liquors. Nov. 18, he CHAP says, " I called on Vertue in Brownlow-street — just begun my father's picture ;" that is, I suppose, the well-known en- graving. As far back as 1732, Sept. 16, his journal says, "Wrote to Mr. Freke in Salisbury- court, Fleet-street, about my father's picture." He may mean that from which Vertue was engraving : or the Bishop perhaps may have been pre- vailed on to sit during his late visit to London. It is difficult to trace or verify the several portraits of him known to be ex- tant. Of one the history is given by Mr. Stowell, as follows : — " Soon after his coming to the diocese, a portrait-painter with whom he had been formerly acquainted in England came to visit him, and was kindly and hospitably received. During the visit, the artist earnestly and repeatedly importuned his host to permit him to draw his picture ; but the Bishop could not be persuaded to gratify his guest in this particular. The painter, however, being resolved not to be disappointed, took the opportunity, when his Lordship was officiating in the parish Church of Kirk Michael, to draw him in his robes." Taken under such circumstances, the portrait was not likely to be very satisfactory. But that now in the posses- sion of Colonel Wilson Patten, besides any merit which it may have as a work of art, corresponds well in its ex- pression of thoughtful benignity and grace with the idea one should naturally form of our Bishop, with his " silver tongue " and silver locks, now in his seventy-second year. Jan. 24, 1735, Mr. Wilson chronicles " A letter from my father, dated St. Stephen's Day, in which he tells me he has been much out of order, but, I thank God, much better. That there have been lights in the air coming as it were out of the earth or sea, and for a few seconds as light as day." Bishop Wilson seems to have made much, upon principle, of all phenomena of that kind, and to have kept his mind prepared (if need were) for any preternatural interpretation of them. The next event is one which had been long looked forward Dcatli of to, and speculated on rather by his friends than himself: — Earj 0f "Feb. 1, 1735. Died James, Earl of Derby, Lord of this Isle, in Derb^ the seventy-second year of his age." CHAP. XXII. 776 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. NOTE (A), p. 767. In Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," i. 431, is an interesting account of this excellent man and his works, for the facts of which the col- lector refers to the inscription on his monument in the churchyard of Titley, in Herefordshire ; Ey wood, the seat of Mr. Harley, being situated in that parish. He was second son of Sir Edward Harley, K.B., of Brampton Brian, and brother of the famous Earl of Oxford ; born June 7, 1664 ; married one of the Foleys of Whitley ; was M.P. for Leominster near thirty years, and Recorder thereof forty ; Au- ditor of the Imprest from 1702 to his death ; in which place he was enabled to make some important and lasting improvements in the way of keeping the public accounts. " Yet his assiduity in civil employments neither lessened his attention to religion nor inter- rupted his daily course of devotion : his discharge of his duty as a Christian was the source and centre of all his desires From his known zeal to promote Christian knowledge, and particularly the instruction of youth, he was chosen, in 1 725, Chairman of the Trustees of the Charity Schools in London." As a writer he holds no mean place, his principal work, published in 1730 and repub- lished in 1735, being "An Abstract of the Historical Part of the Old Testament, with References to other Parts of the Scriptures, &c, 8vo., 686 pp., with an Introduction signed E. Harley, inscribed to the Pounders, Benefactors, and Tru&tees of the Charity Schools." The second edition, enlarged to 2 vols., contained also Bishop "Wilson's Observations on the same books, printed in his Works > an Essay for Composing a Harmony between the Psalms and New Testament; and a Harmony of the Gospels. These three additions appear to have been printed so as to be had each sepa- rately ; and the Bishop in 1735 wrote in a copy of them now pre- served in Kirk Michael, " The Hon. E. Harley, his gift to the Parochial Library of Kirk Michael, upon the representation and request of Tho. Sodor and Man, 1735." The book is called " Harmony between the Psalms and other Parts of the Scripture. London: Downing, 1732." " The Prayers out of the Psalms," the pious author says, " were composed in the time of my great affliction, when, in the years 1715, 1716, and 1717, I saw the family, of which I was the most inconsiderable part, pursued to destruction. And although my person was not under confinement, yet was it to undergo a pro- secution, which was carried on with the utmost malice and perse- cution. In the time of my afflictions the prayers in the Psalms were my great support ; and I found by experience that it was LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 777 not in vain to seek the protection and favour of the Almighty ; CHAP, for our deliverance was in such a manner, that we had the highest • reason to say, with the Psalmist, in Psalm xxxi. 19, ' O how great is Thy goodness,' " &c. " The Harmony of the Gospels extends to 456 pages, with an Introduction of 79 pages, equally creditable to the learning, the piety, and the unaffected modesty, of the worthy author." NOTE (B), p. 771. " And now we have charitably offered up our prayers to God on behalf of these poor prisoners, it will be a proper time to speak of the crime for which they are to suffer death. And it is a matter to be seriously lamented by this generation, that the vice of steal- ing, which was not heretofore known in the Isle of Man, is now become too common. God grant that this generation may be warned by this judgment, and that this sin may not be known in the ages to come. " Now, that nothing may be wanting on our part towards curing this evil, I will in as plain a manner as may be shew you, first, the great evil of this vice ; secondly, how it comes to pass that too many are given to it ; thirdly, how by God's grace it may be hindered from spreading. "I. And first: — This is a grievous sin on many accounts. It does great dishonour to the providence of God, as if God could not provide for His creatures without their taking evil courses to get what they want. " "We know what a reproach it would be to a master of a family if his servants should steal to get themselves bread ; and will not God be as much displeased with His servants, when they bring so great a scandal upon His providence, which takes care of all His creatures, and does the best for them ? "It is true God has made some poor and some rich ; but then He has commanded tne rich to take care of the poor out of the plenty He has given them ; which if they do, He will reward them, and if they neglect to do so, they will suffer for it. On the other hand, He has commanded the poor to be contented with their con- dition, and not desire by unjust ways to better it, but to depend upon His providence and promise, that they shall not want what is needful for them, and that He will make them a great amends in the next world for what thejr want in this. " Now if men will not believe God, nor trust His promises, but will take evil courses for what they want, they provoke Hi in to leave them to their own ways, and then they soon bring reproach 778 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, and ruin upon their name and family ; they for the most part con- • tinue poor besides ; and what is most sad, they take the way to make the next life more miserable than this. " On the other side, it is well pleasing to God when a poor family is contented and honest in a low condition ; it is a sure sign they have their hopes in heaven ; and indeed they have the best title to the promises of the Gospel. ' H earken, my beloved brethren,' (saith St. James, ch. ii. 5,) 'hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath pro- mised to them that love Him ?' Why, every man in his right mind must acknowledge that all the riches or pleasures on earth are not to be compared to this preference which God seems to have given the poor honest man above his neighbour. So that when such a man becomes dishonest, he does not only displease God, but he loses one of the best titles to the kingdom of heaven. " II. But there is another thing which should make all men to abhor this vice, and that is, the great difficulty of repenting truly of it. Most people hope, some time or other, to repent them of their sins, though few consider how hard it is to forsake any one vice to which one is accustomed ; but especially, truly to repent of this sin is very hard ; for it is difficult, very difficult to flesh and blood, to ask forgiveness, to restore ill-gotten goods, or to make satisfaction to those who have been wronged ; and yet this is a part of true repentance, that people should, as much as is in their power, undo what they have done amiss. " Therefore when we consider how few do these things, we have great reason to lament the sad condition of such as are guilty of this sin, and to beg of Almighty God to give all men grace to shun it, as they hope to see the face of God in peace. " Is it needful to tell you that this vice is grievous upon another account; that it causes unchristian quarrels, heart-burnings, and discontent amongst neighbours ; is an occasion that honest people are without cause suspected, and evil reports raised on such as do not deserve them, to the breach of charity and good neighbour- hood ? " In short, it brings sin and shame, and sometimes death, you see, upon people here ; and, without repentance, death eternal hereafter. "And though those people who are addicted to pilfering do always hope never to be discovered, yet few escape ; sooner or later the providence of God brings them either to shame or punish- ment. From which consideration we pass to the " Second head, to enquire into the causes of this vice. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 779 " And they are, first, a great neglect in too many parents to teach CHAP. their children their duty, as if they brought them into the world XXII. only to live and eat and drink a few years, and that to be the end of them ; and yet their love for them while they live, and their concern and affliction for them when they come to an untimely end, looks as if they valued them more than the beasts that perish. And their trouble would be much greater, if they did but consider that the punishments of the next life are far more grievous than can possibly be inflicted in this. "But many parents do not only neglect to teach their children their duty, but do give them bad examples themselves ; a thing so frequent, and yet so sad, that words cannot express the con- cern a good man has when he considers it. " For a parent to love his children, to wish them well, to have taken pains to bring them up through many years of infancy, child- hood, and youth, and then to set them an example of vice, to cor- rupt, to shame, and to ruin them soul and body, this is surprising indeed, and yet, God knows, it is too common. " So is it for parents to neglect to give their children due cor- rection ; they are often too careless, or too indulgent to their lesser vices, till, sin increasing with their years, they become too stubborn or too wicked to be taught and governed. " These are some of the causes of this sin ; but that which en- courages people most is this : they think it is easy for a man to be content with small things, and to leave off when he pleases ; but this is a sad mistake. Nothing but God's grace can keep us from the greatest sins ; if once we provoke him to give us up to our own heart's lusts, there is nothing will restrain us ; neither reason nor religion, neither the fear of death, nor the terror of damnation. And if the drunkard and the common swearer find it exceeding hard to leave those vices, be assured it is as difficult to leave off pilfering when once it is become habitual. " III. Let us therefore consider how, by the grace of God and men's good endeavours, this vice may be prevented. " And first, let those to whom God has given the good things of this world be very liberal to such as really want them, that the poor may have no temptations to steal to relieve their necessities. " God has provided enough for us all ; and that we may none of us hoard up His blessings while our poor brother wants what is needful for him, God has so ordered it, that we shall carry no- thing along with us when we die ; and even those we leave it to shall not enjoy it, if we have defrauded God and His poor of what was their due. 780 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAT. " Therefore let those look to it who have this world's good, and YYTT . , '— see their brother have need, and shut their compassion from him ; their poor brother may be tempted to dishonesty, but they will bear a share in the blame and punishment. " As for such as are able to get an honest livelihood, and will set themselves in no good way, it is a fault to spare them, and true kindness to their souls to make them sensible of their error. " But the most effectual way of curing this vice, as well as most others, is, to let people see the necessity, the satisfaction, and the advantage of bringing up their children and servants in the fear of God, and under a sense of His all-seeing eye. " Shame and death are dreadful things ; but yet they are not of power to keep men from sin without the fear of God be in their hearts. " And if people are not bred up in the fear of God, it is next to a miracle if ever they come to aught ; so that rich and poor should all aim at this, to teach their children the ways of piety and virtue. " Peoj)le may be poor, and not able to give their children learn- ing ; but in a Christian country none can possibly want means of having them instructed in things necessary to salvation ; for want of which many are ruined without suspecting the danger. " The poorest man can bring his children constantly to God's house, can see that they say their prayers, and can pray for them himself: and if all people would but do this, we should soon see the blessed fruits of it ; for being accustomed to this, they would learn to know that God is to be feared and served ; that He sees and hears, and will reward or punish all our actious. " If to this, people would take care to punish and discountenance all appearances of this evil we are speaking of, many would live orderly who are now a burthen to the land. But, God knows, there are some seeds and branches of this evil which men do not think fit to discountenance ; not considering that the greatest sinners begun at first with lesser crimes. Judas was at first a thief, at last he betrayed his Master, and then hanged himself. So surely does one vice make way for another if not in time prevented, which should be a warning to such as live, or suffer their children to live, in a course of sin without advice and correction. " Remember well the advice of Solomon, ' The rod and reproof give wisdom ; but a child left to himself bringeth his parents to shame.' " Let them learn from your example to shun, to hate a vice which is so dangerous and so shameful. " But above all, let them know that it is a sin which will ruin LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 781 their souls. It is true it is a sad thing to be exposed to shame, to CHAP, come to an untimely end, but it is much more dreadful to be shut out of heaven. " To conclude : — without the grace of God all your endeavours will be to no purpose ; therefore do not fail to pray constantly for your children, that the fear of God may ever be with them, to keep them from every evil way. " And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen." CHAPTEE XXIII. THE ATHOLS IN MAN. THE IMPROPRIATIONS CAUSE. THE FAMINE OF 1741.— 1735— 1752. Bishop Wilson appears all along to have kept up the golden English rule that the Lord of the Isle could do no wrong. Misinformation, and a mind made up to trust un- worthy persons, are the worst he ever charges him with. Is it not so much the more remarkable that his Episcopalia simply mention the fact and date of the Earl's death ? not one stroke of the vigorous and effective pencil which in other cases had told so much in so little. The Bishop surely must have wished to say of him as much at least as he has said of Governor Home, that " he was not of himself an ill man ; . . . it was by information from people then here, who had no regard to truth, or for me." But he has not said it ; and I fear his silence is significant. His son's journal adds two circumstances to our know- ledge of this second Earl James, each in its way charac- teristic. As far back as Sept. 25, 1732, "Lord Derby, I hear, has given j£50 a-year for ever to the trustees of the colony of Georgia/' in which missionary undertaking the "Wilsons were particularly interested; but he took care to guard his gift from any taint of " superstitious purposes ;" it was " for encouragement of botany." Again, March 20, 1736 :— " Mr. Verney, Chief Justice of Chester, sent for me and told me that he was a near relation of the Countess of Derby's, and con- cerned for her ; that he desired me to write to my father to send 782 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, him word, whether there are any traces, before or since the Act of James the First, of any widow Countess having dower in the Isle of Man ; whether the late Lord had any estate in the island of his own purchasing ; and the laws and customs of the island relating to widows in genei'al. He told me that the Countess was in a manner kept a prisoner, not allowed above a room or two, and about a hundred a-year for her maintenance ; that she has now the whole estate absolutely her own to dispose of, and two or three very good livings, and that she will have dower of my Lord's estates in Lancashire." The poor man's home does not appear to have been much better looked after than his feudal kingdom. The Athol That kingdom passed, as is well known, to James Murray, succession. seC01Ki J_)ake of Athol, great- grandson of James Stanley, the Great Earl of Derby, by his third and youngest daughter, the Lady Amelia Sophia ; the original grant by Henry IV. having been made to Sir John Stanley and his heirs-general, and an arrangement made by Parliament in 1610, which transferred the succession to James Lord Strange, afterwards the Great Earl, and his heirs-general. So the lordship or feudal royalty of Man became separated from the Earldom of Derby, which title, with the honours and estates annexed to it, passing of course in the male line, devolved on Sir Edward Stanley of Bickerstaffe, Bart., near Ormskirk, as nearest male representative of Thomas, first Earl of Derby, through Sir James Stanley of Cross-hall, his second grand- son; which Edward was direct ancestor of the present Earls of Derby. As for Duke James of Athol, he inherited the island, as he did the dukedom, in consequence of the at- tainder of his elder brother William, Marquis of Tullibardine, who had sided with the Stuarts in 1715. The Bishop, through his son, had been for some time in communication with the Duke, as having become heir-pre- sumptive on the death of Lady Harriet Ashburnham. Mr. Wilson, ever ready to avail himself of any opportunity of the kind, as he had before visited the Ashburnhams, so, May 9, 1733,— "I waited," he says, "upon the Duke of Athol, gave him a short account of the place, paid my father's and the clergy's com- pliments to him ; was mighty kindly received, and [he] promised LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 783 us his favour and countenance when he hecomes our lord. That CHAP, he would himself come over and settle all our differences. "Wrote XXIII> my father word of this." On Feb. 3 they are again in conference : — " This day I waited upon the Duke of Athol, who told me that he had an express the day before of Lord Derby's death ; that now he was Lord of Man ; that he should take my father's advice about all affairs relating to the isle ; that he should go down there him- self this summer. By all which I cannot see that he intends to sell it to the Crown. I wrote this afternoon an account of the matter to my father." Also, " March, 1. The Queen's birthday. The Duke of Atholl gave me an instrument making me his chaplain, which was the first act [he did] as Lord of Man and the Isles." And, "March 10. At the Duke of Atholl's : he shewed me three letters he had received from my father, which he was much pleased with, as having brought the island to submit to him as rightful sovereign. I had a letter at the same time, which I communicated to his Grace. I hope everything will be made easy in that place, especially to my father." It seems that the Athol succession was not undisputed. Mr. Wilson was told, March 20, that " the present Earl of Derby designs to sue for the island," and of course for the 13arony of Strange, which was claimed in like manner for the heirs-general. He did put in his claim for the barony, but the Committee of Privileges, quickly for such matters, disposed of it. Just within the twelvemonth, March 14, 173*,— " The Duke of Athol got his cause in the House of Lords, and is to take his seat as Baron Strange to-morrow. March 16," (of course) " I was to compliment his Grace on his late success." In the meantime the Murrays had not been slow to take actual possession of Man. The Bishop, March 23, 1731, writes : — " This day Capt. James Murray was sworn Governor of this isle under his Grace the Duke of Athol, and the Duke proclaimed, &c. " N.B. His Grace favoured me with the first letters he wrote hither, and by my advice took all the steps already made, and by the grace of God I will never lead him into an error knowingly. And God be praised that we are delivered from the bondage of a Governor who has carried on most arbitrary doings, under plea of 784 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, his Lord's commands, when we know that the Lord (who would ~Y\ T TT — — — hear but one side") knew nothing of his irregular actions." Act of Such had been the demeanour of Horton and his imrae- for"edress diate predecessors, that mere common fairness and civility ofgriev- on the part of the Lord and his deputies seemed a rare boon £LHCCS> and a matter of special thanksgiving. But the beginnings of the Athol government came to more than this : — "■June 15, 1736. The Duke of Athol landed at Castletown this morning, and sent his compliments to me in a letter of the Governor's, and desired to see me on Thursday." On Midsummer Day, as usual, he was solemnly installed on the Tynwald Hill, and seems with his council to have set to work in earnest for redress of some of the principal grievances which the Manxmen had been long complaining of. He stayed in the island until Aug. 7, and then left it for Scotland; and only four days afterwards, the Manx legis- lature passed a most important measure. The various re- forms, which from time to time had been indicated and urged by successive generations of Keys in their remon- strances and petitions, had been now taken into real con- sideration, and the result was not so much an Act as a sort of Code comprehending fourteen several Acts. A Bill of Bights it might perhaps be called, with at least as much reason as the Act of Settlement goes by the name of the Manx Magna Charta. The general preamble is so worded as to shew that the movement was substantially the same as that of 1725, in which the Bishop had so heartily co- operated : — "Whereas upon the application of the twenty-four Keys, the most noble and puissant Prince James Duke of Athol, Lord of Man and the Isles, out of his tender regard to the happiness of his people of the said isle, and in order to their better government, hath been graciously pleased to condescend not only to the revisal of the old laws and customs of the said isle, and the abrogating of such as are obsolete and hurtful, but likewise to the making of such new laws as should be thought necessary and agreed upon for the preservation of their liberties and properties, and the establishment of the same upon a firm and lasting foundation, conformable to the eccssities of their circumstances, to the public good, and to the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 785 present state of affairs in general in the said island ; and whereas CHAP, the Governor, Officers, Deemsters, and Keys of the said island, XXIII. having accordingly assembled, and on consultation agreed that the several laws and ordinances hereafter mentioned (as being at pre- sent thought to be most necessary) be now immediately passed into laws, hoping the same will greatly contribute to the advancement of his Grace's honour and interest within the said isle, and per- petuate the peace, welfare, and tranquillity of the people : May it therefore please his Grace that it be enacted, and be it ordered, or- dained, and enacted by the most noble James Duke of Athol, Lord of the said Isle, by and with the advice and consent of the said Governor, Council, Deemsters, and Keys, in this present court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows." The importance of the statute, and Bishop Wilson's pro- bable share in it, might justify a more minute analysis, but it will be enough to say that of its fourteen sections, four may be said by a rough division to pertain to the adminis- tration of criminal justice, four to causes between man and man, three to finance and commerce, and three to Church discipline. And under each head, concessions important to popular freedom as then and now understood are conveyed or recognised. As " That no court, judge, or magistrate within this isle shall have power to inflict fine or punishment on account of any criminal cause, without conviction by the verdict or presentment of four, six, or more men, upon some statute law;" nor to imprison without proper complaint and affidavit, reserving only power to commit in flagrant breaches of the peace or contempt of court. Again, in reference to certain encroachments of the island chancery, i. e. of the governor himself, which had been long matter of com- plaint, it was enacted that the commencement of suits for title of lands and tenements of inheritance should always be " by action at common law, and tryable by Shead- ing Juries, Traverses, and the Keys, as accustomed ;" the Chancery to be applied to only in cases where special fraud is alleged, and then not to decide without a report on examination by certain of the Keys commissioned for the purpose. There are provisions also for shortening actions, protecting juries, forbidding sequestration of the profits of real estates without consent of the Governor, Officers, Deem- 3 E 786 LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, sters, and Keys. The time allowed for appeals, hitherto in- — — definite, was limited to six months from the judgment. All fairs and markets were decreed to be free and open to all buyers and sellers, whether strangers or natives, "to barter* buy, sell, and export all manner of goods/' whether of home or foreign product, " without let, stop, or molestation." And last but not least, "whereas the present book of rates for the export and import duties hath not hitherto had the concurrence of the twenty-four Keys," the said book is now ratified with certain specified alterations, and hereafter no order restraining exports or imports is to be made without their consent. Thus the principle is virtually laid down that the power of the purse should be henceforth in the hands of the representatives of the people. Modifica- In the Ecclesiastical Laws three important changes are Church made. By Act 11, the custom of delivering over persons Law- excommunicate, body and goods, to the Lord of the Isle, is entirely to cease; but any such continuing obstinate for three months to be confined three mouths in one of the castles. But this not to be understood to take off the censure, "any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." By Act 12, the Church Courts and officers are for- bidden to tender the oath ex officio, or any other oath whereby persons may be bound to accuse or purge them- selves of any criminal matter; allowing it, however, where persons come voluntarily to clear their reputations with lawful compurgators. By Act 13, when persons charged refuse to appear, in- stead of imprisonment for contempt by the Spiritual Court, the Governor is to grant a soldier to bring them before the Court, and they shall have a reasonable fine set on them. Whether these concessions (so to call them) met with the Bishop's cordial assent, or whether he merely accepted them as gracefully as he could, being the most favourable terms he could get, we have no means of positively knowing. His name does not appear, nor the Archdeacon's either, at the foot of the statute of August 11 ; and his absence would not seem to have been caused by ill health, for on the fourth of the same month he was present at a meeting of the clergy LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 787 in St. John's Chapel. His entry too in JEpiscopalia, Aug. 7, C H A P. " Duke of Athol went for Scotland out of this isle," has not — - exactly the comfortable and cordial sound which might have been anticipated from former expressions. On the other hand, the enactments in civil matters correspond well enough with the recommendations which the Bishop in concert with the chief tenants had year by year been urging on the Lord of the Isle, and the ecclesiastical claims waived are no more than he must have been prepared to give up, when, as we have seen, he expressed himself as willing to submit every- thing of the kind to a serious and fair examination. And in following Tynwalds he attended, signed the proceedings, and evidently acted cordially with the same Governor, in carry- ing out like measures of reform. The only ecclesiastical point, indeed, in the series of statutes, which would be likely to give him real annoyance, is the prohibition to require compurga- tion. Yet even an that head we may gather, I think, from his manner of pleading before the council, that the course of things had prepared him for the change, and that he would rather feel grieved at the want of faith which made such a pro- cess unpractical, than aggrieved at its being interfered with by the civil power. It was something too to obtain an express sanction of that kind of evidence when offered spontaneously, whereas'the British law did but tacitly allow it. There is another and a more probable way of accounting The Duke for any brief coolness which may have then arisen between wh0ieof Bishop's Court and Castle Eushen. Unfortunately one of the impro- . priate the very first steps of the new Lord on taking possession was Tithes, such as most seriously to endanger the temporalities of the poor Church of Man. Before he had been two months in the island, he laid formal claim to the whole of the impropriate tithes comprised in the settlement of November 1, 1666, by Earl Charles and Bishop Barrow, for the benefit of the clergy and schools. We may judge of the severity of this blow by recalling some particulars of the deed so suddenly annulled. That instrument, conceived in the most considerate and kindly spirit, notices first, " that many of the ministers are en- forced to live in mean condition, far unbecoming their call- 3 e 2 /OO LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ings, and to betake themselves to mean and inferior employ- — — ments." To lessen this evil, the Earl as impropriator agreed. to surrender the rectories appertaining to him, that is, the tithe of ten out of the seventeen parishes. But in the existing impoverishment of the house of Derby the entire surrender might have been too great. Bishop Barrow there- fore made applications in England, and when he had raised somewhat more than £1,000, the transaction was completed in the form of a lease for 10,000 years to the Bishop and. Archdeacon and their assigns, reserving certain quit-rents, with a fine of ,€130 payable every thirty years, (of which mention has been made before). The sacrifice on the Earl's part was less than might appear at first sight, the whole of the tithes being then in lease, and many of them for three lives ; eventually six out of the ten estates did not come into the purchasers' hands until dates ranging from twenty-five to fifty-seven years after the sale. The schools are included, in the benefit, as was equitable, the Abbey tithes having been especially "set out for education of youth." The Bishop and Archdeacon for the time being, with two others to be nominated by the Earl and his heirs, are to distribute the income at their discretion. In the deep poverty of the Manx clergy it might well seem hard to disturb such an arrangement as this, after so long continuance. They met, as has been noticed, at St. John's, and remonstrated accordingly ; addressing the Governor, as the Duke was just leaving the island : — " At a meeting of the clergy at St. John's Chapel the 4th of August, 1736. " To the Honourable James Murray, Esq., Governor of this Isle. " Whereas the clergy concerned in the impropriations of this isle have represented unto us that they have been served with a writing by Mr. William Christian, Attorney-General, in the name and be- half of his Grace the Duke of Atholl, Lord of Man and the Isles, warning and requiring them not to pay the profits of the impro- priated thirds of tithes to the clergy of the diocese or their trustees for the future, but that for the present current year, and so always for every year afterwards, as long as they are concerned, that they are to be accountable and responsible for the amounts of the said thirds of tithes and their appurtenances unto the said Lord of LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 789 Man, or his agent, or receiver for his Grace's use ; and this at CHAP their peril :— XXIII. " We, the Bishop and "Archdeacon of this isle, beg leave to acquaint your Honour that the Eight Honourable Charles, Earl of Derby, by an indenture of lease, anno 1666, to the then Lord Bishop and Archdeacon, and their successors as trustees for the clergy of the diocese of Sodor and Man, and for the maintenance of schoolmasters, did grant the several impropriations, rectories, and tithes therein mentioned, as by the said deed may more fully appear. In consideration of which the said Bight Honourable Charles, Earl of Derby, had paid unto him the sum of one thousand pounds, the receipt whereof appears iu the comptroller's office, at- tested by the then officers both spiritual and temporal. Besides which there is the sum of sixty-six pounds, three shillings, and two pence per annum, reserved rent, and a hundred and thirty pounds fine every thirtieth year, for a continuation of the said lease, the last of which was paid within these ten years ; notwithstanding that several of the said impropriations were in lease before for three lives, and reverted to us as the other expired. "We do further desire to observe to your Honour that several of our chancels have from time to time been rebuilt and repaired by us out of the said impropriations ; that the maintenance of the clergy does in a great measure depend upon them, together with the free school in Castletown, and thirteen petty schools in several parishes ; which schools must entirely be laid down, there being no other provisions for them. And that the clergy will suffer consi- derably, and be reduced to very great difficulties, by being thus dis- turbed in the possession of a lease enjoyed seventy years without interruption : out of which we do presume they are not to be ejected without legal trial. We do therefore desire that your Honour will upon consideration of the premises be pleased to in- terpose so as the abovesaid requirement of the Attorney-General may be countermanded, or otherwise that the matter may be heard and determined by law, as usual in the like cases." Yet it is quite plain that Bishop Wilson and his son very Why the soon ceased to feel aggrieved at the Duke's proceeding, if claim indeed they were so at first. " The Duke's claim," says caused no breach Cruttwell, " was incontestable," and " the distress was very with the considerably alleviated by his kindness." His claim was in- Cler^y- contestable, as any one may perceive who reads the documents attentively, even without a lawyer's eye. The donation of Henry IV. to the founder of the Derby family, and the re- 700 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. enactment and modification of the same by Parliament in the reign of James I., had both specified the tithes so far as they were impropriate, no less than the other properties annexed to the Lordship of Man, as descendible to the heirs- general of the then grantees or possessors : and the very same title which made the Duke lord of the isle, made him also owner of those tithes. In default of male heirs, the whole was entailed upon the Lady Amelia Stanle}r, first Marchioness of Athol, and her representatives; and nothing had been done to cut off the entail. As a deed of alienation, there- fore, the Act of Earl Charles was null and void. Neverthe- less it might seem very ungracious — a kind of sum/mum jus — for the Murrays to avail themselves of this flaw ; unless in- deed they were just then in very great pecuniary embarrass- ment, as a Scottish nobleman might well be. But Bishop Barrow's deed contained a clause which looks as if it was intended to meet this very case : — " The Eavl of Derby " (Charles) " covenanted to grant and assure to the trustees lands and hereditaments within the county of Lan- caster, of the value of £2000, as a collateral and further security for the quiet enjoyment of all the said rectories and tithes, in case the trustees should be interrupted in the same by Charles Earl of Derby, or by any lawfully claiming under him or James Earl of Derby." By a subsequent indenture of lease and release, his Lord- ship did so grant his manor of Bispham, near Fleetwood, with the farm and tenement of Methop. This was part of the property annexed to the Earldom, and so limited to the heirs male, and had accordingly come into possession of Edward, now Earl of Derby. Thus, when the Duke entered on the tithes and rectories in question, the trustees might have their remedy — they might enter on Bispham and Me- thop, and reimburse the clergy out of the profits thereof. The Bishop and clergy probably had this clause in mind, when they met on the 4th of August ; since a full month before that time, July 2, (so early had the Duke begun to move in the matter,) the Bishop's son, dining with Mr.Verney, Chief Justice of Chester, was told by him " that the clergy of the Isle of Man must sue my Lord Derby for Bispham, as a counter-security fur the rectories in the island." And LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 791 it appears by an order subjoined to their memorial in the CHAP. Episcopal Register, that they considered the matter at that - *' time likely to be soon decided by the Deemsters and Keys, and the probable cost no more than might be met by some money already lodged with the Bishop towards the payment of the next thirty years' fine. But alas ! when they came to make out their title, the deeds of conveyance were not forthcoming. The originals, which had been recorded in Chancery, and were believed to be in the Rolls Chapel, could not for a long space be recovered by the best efforts of the Bishop and his son. The copies had disappeared from the records of the island. " To such great distress were the clergy driven, that unable to contest their rights by law, they would have taken a very trifling consideration for their loss." The Duke considerately allowed them time for their search, permitting them to receive the tithes as before, upon giving him bonds of indemnification. But this of course could not be expected to avail but for a short time ; and the matter seemed to grow more and more hopeless. At last, late in 1737, the Bishop could insert in his " Sunday Lauds," — " By a letter from, my son, he has with exceeding pains found the deeds for securing to my clergy the impropriations, which are en- rolled in the Chancery records in the Chapel of the Rolls." It was a bright day to him, for the same post brought him Lady E. Hastings's offer (of which more hereafter) for the endowment of his petty schools. " At the same time that I received your Ladyship's letter .... I had a letter from my son, giving me an account that by his own indefatigable pains and the kindness of Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, he has at last got intelligence of the deeds we had given over for lost, which he has found to be enrolled in the Re- cords of the Chancery of England. So that we may hope that when the Earl of Derby, who has possessed himself of the lands given in England as counter-security, knows this, he will do us justice without the expence and difficulty of contending with too powerful an adversary." In this hope he was much too sanguine. The Earl and the Their suit Clergy went on in their several attitudes, he fencing them ^.j E^rl off and they shrinking from nearer approach, for nearly of Derby. 792 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. three years and a-half longer, i. e. until the time of the Manx Convocation in 1741 ; six days after which the clergy and schoolmasters, assembled at Douglas, not under the pre- sidency, but doubtless under the direction, of their Bishop, venture to approach Lord Derby, evidently for the last time, not as claimants, but as humble suppliants : — ■ "Douglas, May 27, 1741. "Right Honourable,— We, the Clergy and Schoolmasters of the diocese of Sodor and Man, whose names are underwritten, are con- strained by hard necessity to become your Lordship's most humble supplicants in behalf of ourselves, our children, and our families ; and to represent unto your Lordship that the impropriate tithes of this isle having been purchased by the charity of many of the nobility and bishops, and of other well-disposed persons within the realm of England, have been the great support of most of the clergy and schoolmasters, our predecessors for above seventy years, until his Grace the Duke of Atholl took possession of them as of right be- longing to him. And although in great compassion to so many families, he has been pleased to permit us to enjoy the profits of the same hitherto, upon our giving bonds to repay him, when we shall receive the value of them, out of the estates settled for our security, which are now in your Lordship's possession ; yet we are given to understand that this favour is not to be continued to us much longer. " We do therefore most humbly beseech your Lordship to con- sider our case, and to give relief to so great a number of otherwise miserable families. " This is all that our distant situation and mean circumstances will permit us to do, and in order to obtain your Honour's favour and speedy redress, we have presumed to enclose a true state of the case of " Your Lordship's most humble and distressed Petitioners." They annex a precise statement of their case, delicately however reminding his Lordship of what he very well knew, that the original indentures were in the Chapel of the Rolls, and that it was their poverty, not any defect in their right, which prevented their suing him at law. They had to wait for an answer till towards the end of the year, and when it came it was very unpromising. March. 9, 17-41, the Bishop wrote to his son, — " What we can do with regard to the impropriations I cannot LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 793 possibly tell. We would be content to take any reasonable con- CHAP, sideration rather than lose all. Lord Derby offered £1,000, a sum XXIII. very inadequate to their value." Very inadequate indeed, since seventy years before his predecessor had accepted £1,100 for about half the same property. The greatness of the trouble may be judged of by the Bishop's prayer composed in reference to it : — " Impropriations. O God of truth and justice, restore this Church to her just rights. Pardon our sins, which have brought this calamity upon us. Bless the endeavours of all such as shall assist us to recover our rights ; and of Thy goodness touch and turn the hearts of those who would deprive us of them ; for Jesus Christ His sake. Amenn." All this while the clergy were subsisting iu great measure on the sufferance of the Duke of Athol. The following, written shortly after the Earl of Derby first answered the clergy's application, and when things looked least encourag- ing, " will shew," says Cruttwell, " the nature of the obli- gation the clergy lay under to his Grace." We may add that it shews also the Duke's conduct in advantageous con- trast with the Earl's : — " Bistwp's Court, April 5, 174-2. "May it please your Grace, — We beg leave to lay before your Grace the hardships and misery that most of the clergy and schools of your isle do and are like to labour under, occasioned by the Earl of Derby's denying us the equivalent for the impropriations. We were advised to^ represent our case to him after a true and humble manner, which we did a great while ago ; and it is but lately that we received an answer, which was to this purpose : that he thinks himself not well used by the clergy, in surrendering the tithes to your Grace, without previous communication with his Lordship, who was concerned in that affair. And that the clergy appear to have received both principal and interest for what was laid out in the purchase ; which is as much as in equity he thinks himself concerned about ; and if the law will oblige him to more, he must submit. " As to recovering our right by law, his Lordship knows that we are not able to contend with him ; and as for having received an equivalent, besides the difference of land and money fourscore years n Sacra Privata, vol. v. p. .35. 794 LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ago, the tithes then purchased were most of them in lesses for XXIII • . — — three lives ; and some continued in lease for more than fifty years before we reaped the least benefit by them. " This, may it please your Grace, is our unhappy case ; and if no expedient can be found to extricate us out of it, not only the present clergy and schools, and their families, must sink under it, but the island itself will for ever lose a very considerable income. " As for ourselves, we have not the least foundation of hope left, unless your Grace shall think it advisable to take our cause into your own hands. Your Grace's council have seen our case, the right we have, and the manner we are to be reimbursed if ever we should recover our rights. And though the law does not generally give costs equivalent to the charges, yet one would hope that our case would be considered as the case of paupers, for so in truth it is. And the clergy will be content that your Grace should hold the lands in England, and the profits of the tithes here, till you shall be fully satisfied. " Very thankful they all are for your Grace's exceeding good- ness and favours hitherto shewn them, not on'y for the great com- passion your Grace has had for them, in suffering them to enjoy the benefit of the impropriate tithes, upon giving their notes to repay the same when they shall receive the value out of the estates settled for their security : but also they beg your Grace will accept of their most solemn thanks for permitting them to hold the said impropriate tithes by a yearly setting. Humbly praying, that your Grace will be pleased to continue that favour to the clergy, upon their giving good security to pay the rents yearly into your Grace's treasury. " This will make their condition more tolerable, by having the pi"eference of such tithes as lie nearer their vicarage-houses, and will be most convenient ; and which they could not always expect, if the setting of the tithes were in the hands of laymen. " This is all that we have, in behalf of the clergy and our schools, to propose to your Grace. " Begging of God to direct both your Grace and us in this truly deplorable case, we are your Grace's most humble, most dutiful, most obliged, and obedient servants, " Tho. Sodoe axd Max ; Johx Kippax ; JoN. CoSNAHAN ; EDW. MOOEE." It does not appear what the Duke said to the Bishop's request that he would aid the clergy in their suit. The trustees, at any rate, took heart, and commenced legal pro- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 795 ceedings in earnest. In Nov., 1742, they exhibited in chap. Chancery0 their bill against Edward, Earl of Derby; James, — . L Duke of Athol, and Isaac Clopton, the personal represents tive of Bishop Barrow ; " praying on behalf of the clergy and schoolmasters that they might be decreed to have the benefit of the collateral security." The question appears to have lain really between the Athol and Derby families ; it being ad- mitted, on verification of the deeds, that the clergy had a right either to the tithes themselves, or to the supposed equivalent in England. For "Edward, Earl of Derby, filed his cross bill, to establish a title to the said isle, rectories, and tithes," which tithes, if he were the true heir of Earl Charles, he must have taken subject to the lease for 10,000 years. The causes, we may dutifully believe, were more or less in- tricate, for the. High Court of Chancery could not decide them until 1751. In that year, July 12, 13, 15, they were Decision heard before Lord Hardwicke, who confirmed the claim of 0fthe°Ur the heirs-general, and consequently the Duke of Athol's Clergy. title to the island and to the abbey tithes. So that the lease for 10,000 years was set aside. But the Chancellor also decreed that the collateral security was valid, and the clergy entitled to the benefit of it. The computation of the money value of that benefit was referred to a Master in Chancery, but his report was not forthcoming until July 7, 1757, more than two years after Bishop Wilson's death. In pursuance of that Report, a certain sum was paid by successive Earls, until Easter, 1809, when proceedings took place which issued in the Earl commuting the charge on Bispham and Methop for £16,000, to be invested in land for the Manx clergy and schools ; who are supposed now to enjoy the benefit of the same. It is pleasant to read, that notwithstanding this lawsuit, " from the time of the discovery of the documents in the Rolls Chapel, a good understanding subsisted between the Earl of Derby and the clergy, effected chiefly by the amiable and polite conduct and behaviour of the Bishop, to whose care the chief management was committed p." It is pleasant also to mark Dr. Wilson's satisfaction on contemplating his own good fortune iu making the dis- 0 Isle of Man Charities, p. 12. i' Cruttwell. 796 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A r. covery ; though, as nothing human is perfect, it was some- — — what damped by the coolness of the Manxmen. Thus he writes to Mr. Philip Moore, from Bath, Nov. 16, 1751 : — " I wonder you mention nothing of the great event in the clergy's success against Lord Derby. It gave me such a joy as I have not felt for some years. I expected to have heard that the clergy were in raptures, and that a public thanksgiving had been appointed for so great and providential an escape out of the hands of so powerful an adversary. For though it may be some time before the Master makes his report, the great difficulties are over. How could you avoid telling me what joy this must have given to your brethren ? or else a friend of theirs has been anxious to little purpose, if he has not so much as the thanks of one of his countrymen, for the pains he took, though very privately, yet with success in the end." The Bi- It may not be irrelevant to insert here some account of shop h"T an evil incidental to this uncertain state of Church stipends, censes Lay _ x Readers, (and, I suppose, of Church patronage also,) which soon began to make itself felt. The Bishop, writing to his son on St. John's Day, 1742, explains how much duty was thrown upon him just then, and why: — " I have little reason to complain of any indisposition but what always attends old age. I preached yesterday at Kirk Michael Church, and am ready to do so next Sunday. Mr. Christian of Jurby died a week ago, when I served at his church. So that we are sadly put to it for proper persons to serve the churches ; the fear of losing the impropriations for ever discouraging parents from educating their children for the ministry.''1 Perhaps the same account may in part be given of any comparative laxity which may be found in the Bishop's dis- cipline over his clergy at that time : of which more will be said by and by. Certainly it may help to explain his resort- ing in some instances to a kind of minor order. Thus, Dec. 9, 1740, William Gell, Yicar of Kirk Conchan, writes a touching letter, requesting that in consideration of his impaired sight and health his son Samuel, aged 20, and for some years an assistant to Mr. Philip Moore in teaching school, might be permitted to assist him so far as his Lord- ship should think proper. The young man being certified LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 797 by Mr. Moore and the Vicar-General to be " a careful, dili- CHAP. . XXIII gent, grave, and sober youth/' the Bishop replies, — " Bee. 11, 1740. "Mr. Gell, — I am truly concerned for the infirmities of age coming on you so soon : may God of His mercy sanctify them to your eternal salvation. " I am very well satisfied that your son should assist you as far as it is fit for one not in Holy Orders, as reading the Lessons and Psalms, and now and then an homily ; all the rest you may through God's help perform yourself. Tou will, I hope, take especial care that he reads very distinctly, and observes the proper points and stops, which young people are too apt not to mind. I hope you have the Homilies, as the law requires. And you will take care that he reads a section of the Catechism in Manks distinctly every Sunday evening, which I require of every minister in the diocese. I pray God support and comfort you, and am your affectionate friend and brother, " Tno. Sodok, and Man." For a like cause, in 1749, he gives a similar licence to a parish clerk i : — " To all whom this may concern blessing and peace be multiplied. Whereas the Rev. Mr. Mathias Curghey, Rector of Kirk Bride, by reason of his great age and defect of his sight is rendered incapable of performing the whole service of the church in person, and not being able at present to procure one in Holy Orders to assist him : We have thought fit, and do accordingly appoint the parish clerk and schoolmaster of the said parish, Win. Kewin, a person recom- mended to us of a sober life and conversation, to assist the said Rector in reading the first service of the Church morning and evening on Sundays and Holy-days ; hoping that, by the assistance of his relations and friends amongst the clergy, he will be able to supply his church once or twice a month with proper persons to perform the whole duty of the Church, which he cannot himself always discharge. Given under our hand and seal manual this 14th day of Oct. a.d. 1749, and fifty-second year of our conse- cration. " Tno. Sodor and Man." The year following came a humble petition from the " chief inhabitants " of Kirk Marown, the tenor of which may be understood by his reply here following : — "Whereas the parishioners of Kirk Marown have by their church- wardens, as by the annexed petition appears, represented unto us i Communicated by the Rev. S. Simpson, from a copy in the Bishop's handwriting. 798 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, that the Rev. Mr. Tho. Christian, their present Vicar, hath through • a weak state of health and sickness been rendered incapable for near a year past of performing by himself or his good brethren the ministerial duties of his parish, we have therefore thought it neces- sary, with the advice of our Vicars-General, &c., (necessity so re- quiring it,) to appoint some such fit person as can at present be found to help and assist him. We do therefore appoint and em- power Mr. John Christian, son of the aforesaid Mr. Tho. Christian, one of our academic scholars, and now preparing himself for Holy Orders, to assist his father in performing such parts of the service of the Church as is consistent with his present circumstances, viz. reading the Prayers, Psalms, Lessons, Hymns, &c, as appointed in the liturgy of the Church ; the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper strictly except, as also the prayer immediately after the Confession at Morning and Evening Prayers, and such other parts of the service as are only proper for ministers in Holy Orders. He is also empowered and required in cases of necessity to bury the dead, and carefully to catechize the children, and to read the Homilies of the Church, or such other pious books as shall be di- rected by the Ordinary, and all other duties as from time to time shall be directed by the Ordinary, when applied to [in] any doubt. " Given under our hand and seal manual this 31st day of January, a.d. 175t, and in the fifty-fourth year of our consecration. "T. Sodob and Man." And one of his last ministerial acts was a commission to the same effect, not limited to any one parish, and so an- swering more nearly to the notion of a minor ecclesiastical order : — " Thomas, by Divine permission, Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man. " To our well-beloved in Christ, Henry Corlet, Academic Student, now at Bishop's Court. " The present necessities of the Church requiring, We do by these presents tolerate you the said Henry Corlet to read the prayers and service of the Church as by law established, as also to read an Homily or some other practical or instructive book, as you shall be directed by the Vicars- General of the Isle for the time being, in such churches or chapels as you shall be desired by the said Vicars -General, to whom we require you to give all due obe- dience. And for your trouble herein you are to receive such satisfaction as shall be allowed you. " Given under our hand and seal episcopal this seventh day of August, 1754." LIFE or BISHOP WILSON. 799 This young man was staying in the Bishop's house, and CHAP, was a comfort to him in his last illness. The same difficulty had led him a little before to apply to his Metropolitan for permission to ordain deacons at an earlier age : — "At our annual convocation, May 30, 1751, our Bight Rev. Diocesan acquaints his clergy in convocation assembled, that con- sidering the necessities of this Church, and that there are not any youths intended for the service of the Church at canonical years fit for ordination, that he wrote to his Grace the Archbishop of York acquainting him with our present situation ; upon which his Grace thought proper to dispeuse with his Lordship's ordaining any persons qualified for the ministry provided they be twenty-one years of age, but not under." While this trouble of the impropriations was hanging The Bi- over the island, another and a far greater one had come on [n'°cPommon and passed away. That " poor place," as the Bishop more things. than once expressively calls it, had continued such hitherto, notwithstanding its real progress in agriculture through his Act of Settlement, and the scarcely less important aids of his example and influence in innumerable ways. For he had his eye and his mind open to all common things — to every sort of physical and social improvement : in this as in some other respects anticipating the notions of pastoral work which have become popular in this generation. For instance, in his " History of the Isle of Man," 1722, it appears that he had ascertained the height of Snaefell, the chief of the Manx mountains, by the barometer ; a pro- cess then comparatively recent, having been made known first by Halley, who was the Bishop's contemporary1". In the same tract he mentions the black marble of Poolvash, near Castletown, as " fit for tombstones, and for flagging of churches;" adding that some quantities have of late been sent to London for those uses, but omitting to say that he was himself the sender, and they were an offering to St. Paul's Cathedral, where they now form the steps to the two main doorways s. He looked at the old wood-work of Castle Eushen with the eye at once of an antiquary and of a builder : — r Stowell, 284. s dimming, Isle of Man, 132. 800 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " Bishop Wilson was of opinion that all the timber in Castle XXIII — Rushen was had from Wales ; and I remember,", says one who knew him well, " to have heard his Lordship say, he had seen or been told of a charter between the King of Man and the King of Wales, whereby the latter was to furnish the former with as much timber as would be sufficient for the building of his castles, and in return the King of Man was to furnish him with a certain number of vessels of war1." Dr. Hales above-mentioned, no inconsiderable " virtuoso/' (as lie would be called in those days,) used to consult the Bishop on his theories and inventions. July 5, 1742, writing to Dr. Wilson, he says : — " Pray my service to the Bishop, and acquaint him with my proposal to dry corn-mows, (by a sort of cradle perforating them to insure ventilation) ; it may be of service to him if it should prove a wet harvest." Again, Dec. 19, 1743, having published a treatise on ven- tilation by a plan of his own devising, of which treatise he was " very clear in his own mind" that it would be " the most extensively useful and beneficial to the world of any that has been published these many years, as to temporal affairs," he writes : — " The reason why I omitted in my book the making of salt with my ventilators, as the Bishop ingeniously proposed, was, that on seeing the salterns near Portsmouth, I found that a surface of several hundreds of acres was needful to make their salt, whence I calculated that a pair of ventilators moved by water would not make above thirty tons of salt in a year." How attentive Bishop Wilson was to the minutice of rural economy may be seen in a little circumstance related by Mr. Cumming : — " He used to keep pigeons, which he would not kill till they were past three years old ; in order to know them, at the end of the first year he cut off one toe, at the end of the second year another. Those which had three toes cut off, were ready for killing"." A memorandum of his own shews the like exactness in furniture v : — ' From a letter of the Rev. James u Story of Rushen Castle and Wilkes, Vicar of Kirk Michael, com- Rushen Abbey, Loud., 1857, p. 17. municated by the Yen. Archdeacon T Episcopalia. Moore. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 801 " 1739, Nov. 2. I gave to my Register, Mr. Ed. Moor, fi new, CHAP. XXIII. large, and strong press, with proper shelves and divisions in it, in . order to have the public accounts preserved safe, and in an orderly and regular manner. The former Registers either never had such necessary conveniences, or have appropriated them to the uses of their families. This is marked with the letters T. S. M. within and without, and the whole laid in oil colours." To the same account we may perhaps set down the un- usual and sometimes quaint, but always sweet and cheerful, forms of his ever-wakeful benevolence. Mr. Philip Moore, in a letter to Crutwellx, full of hints for the biographical sketch which the latter was then undertaking, mentions "the good Bishop's unwearied charity; his employing an agent at every fair to buy up russetts, and flannel, and coarse linens, to clothe the poor." In this liberal design he was sometimes deceived, till he fell on the notion of relieving none without a certificate of the object's poverty and particular wants, whether clothing or money, &c. : — " I myself was once present when he was giving two or three poor people each a pair of spectacles. At which expressing my surprise, as I was sure none of them knew a letter in the alphabet, his Lordship, with that placid smile that ever set on his amiable countenance, said, ' No matter ; they'll find use enough for them.' I was still at a loss to [know] what, till he condescended to explain himself; viz., that the spectacles would help them to thread a needle and mend their clothes, and not only that, but to keep themselves and their apparel clean and free from vermin. This, I believe, is a species of charity that no man before himself ever thought of; and for this he had always several dozens of common spectacles by him." This, with another well-known little anecdote, standing, I believe, on Mr. Stowell's authority, may serve well to shew his peculiar way of " disporting himself," as it were, in doing good. Once in the latter years of his life, — " having given orders to his tailor to make a cloak for him, he desired that he would merely put a button and loop in it to keep it together. ' My Lord,' says the tailor, ' what would become of x Douglas, Jan. 21, 1780. 3 F 802 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, the poor button-makers and their families, if every one thought in __ !_ that way ? they would be starved outright.' ' Do you say so, John ?' says the Bishop. ' Yes, my Lord, I do.' ' Then button it all over, John.' " The famine But alas ! the Bishop was the only baron in the island. ' Five or six with hearts and resources like himself, acting together, might have done wonders. As it was, I know of no one considerable landed proprietor ; and what capital there was, and the energies of the working men, were strongly diverted in two other directions : to the herring fishery, always attractive to a Manxman; and especially to- wards the contraband trade, more nourishing than ever, and more mischievous in proportion to the augmented commerce and taxation of Great Britain. The Bishop, both in his letters to his son and in his sermons, had for many years been anticipating God's judgments upon the island for this notorious sin, now so common and shameless that it might be truly called national. From time to time it had brought with it its proper scourge ; the comparative neglect of agri- culture, in a country which never quite maintained itself, caused every unfavourable season to be more pinching than it need have been. At length, in 1739, the crops, both of corn and grass, were mostly starved for want of rain, and as the harvest months came on, they found nothing to ripen. July 15 the Bishop writes to his son : — " The severest drought that ever I knew. A great deal of corn will never be mowed or reaped ; and the poor farmers not being able to dispose of their cattle, will many of them be ruined, I fear;"— and in the autumn so it came to pass. In ordinary failures they might have help from England ; but now England was itself in heavy distress. The " severe drought" was fol- lowed by as severe a season of cold. It froze from Christ- mas until the latter end of February : — " Tents and booths were pitched on the Thames : watermen and fishermen could earn nothing : many persons were chilled to death : open-air labour and many kinds of manufacture interrupted : all sorts of provisions almost at famine prices ; even water was sold in the streets of London y." y Smollett's Hist, of England, b. ii. c. vi. § 38. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 803 An embargo of course was laid on the exportation of corn ; md the Bishop soon saw his flock in extremity of want. There was but one thing to be done — to buy wherever he could, and husband it as well as he could : — " It pleased God," he writes to his son, June 11, 1741, " to bless me last year with an unexpected crop of barley, having not less than 6 i/O bushels, which, together with what I have purchased, both from England and Ireland, with the assistance of some pious and charitable ladies, has enabled me to support several hundred families." His method was first to give away all his own corn, and then having bought up what he could at a very high price, to sell it cheaply to the poor in small quantities. April 2, 1741, he writes to his sou : — " What I give at home to poor people I give gratis ; having, through God's blessing, about 150 Winchester bushels to spare. But my method in the four towns has been to buy it at the market price, (which is high enough indeed,) and to order it to be sold at half prime cost, but only to poor people, and not above two pecks to any one body." Months before that date it had come to a regular famine. Feb. 2, 1740, he had written, — " We have just now an account that Garner, with whom our letters went, was lost on Wednesday last with eleven or twelve passengers, Charles Killy, Peter Moore, &c, all drowned on Formby Sands. The two merchants were going to London, and had with them some hundreds of pounds, which it is said were saved. Douglas is a melancholy town, not only on this account, but on account of the famine. Never was such a scarcity of corn. A ship laden with barley was put in by bad weather. I would have bought £50 worth, but it could not be sold, the master having given large bonds to land it at Whitehaven ; but he was cast away going thither. What this poor place will do, God only knows. I shall give as long as I have any, and money, if any to be bought." In Sacra Privata he pronounces it " a very great famine. Corn and all other necessaries of life not only at an excessive price, but hardly to be gotten from other countries." He goes on to specify : " Wheat 8s. or 9s. a bushel ; barley at 5s.; oats at 2s. and 2s. 6d., &c. •" prices which sound as nothing 3 v 2 801 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, in comparison with what some may yet remember at the — — beginning of this century — wheat, for instance, at 120s. a quarter : but the nominal cost of everything was then enhanced by the suspension of cash payments. The Manx famine had now begun to bring something like its usual attendant, pestilence. From November, 1739, at least until the spring of 174|, "a violent epidemical flux and diarrhoea continued to carry off a great many, especially on the south side." In his character of physician of the island the Bishop writes, " The medicine which I find most ser- viceable in this disease is liquid laudanum, given in large and repeated doses." The Manxmen, more and more distressed, apply to their lord the Duke of Athol, and to their Bishop's son, now Dr. Wilson, (for he had gone out Grand-Compounder, as having a fortune in his own right, May 10, 1739,) to obtain for them a relaxation of the embargo : the Act having left his Majesty a dispensing power. This failed at first, and then Dr. Wilson bethought him of sending for some corn from Holland, and prevailed on the Duke of Athol to purchase two ship-loads; himself giving bonds of indemnification for the vessels and cargoes. Before they arrived, he had renewed his applica- tion to the Government, this time petitioning the King him- self, with whom he had some personal interest. Observe the sort of pious dexterity with which he introduces his father's name : — " To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. " The humble petition of Thomas "Wilson, D.D., in behalf of his father the Bishop of Man, and the inhabitants of the island, humbly sheweth, " That by the late embargo, and an Act of Parliament just now passed, corn and provisions ai'e prohibited from being exported to the Isle of Man from any port of the three kingdoms, by which means your petitioner's father, and the inhabitants of that place, labour under the inexpressible want of provisions, especially bread corn ; so that if not speedily relieved, many thousands are in im- minent danger of being starved ; and what adds to their melan- choly circumstances is, that it has pleased God to afflict them with a pestilential flux, owing in a great measure to the want of wholesome food. " In this deplorable case they have no other way left but to LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 805 apply to his Sacred Majesty, the father of his people, that be will CHAP, be graciously pleased to order a certain quantity of bread-corn from ~ the ports of Liverpool or Whitehaven, they giving security that it shall be landed and expended only for the use of the inhabitants of the Isle of Man. The granting of which will for ever lay the said Bishop and inhabitants under the most lasting sense of gratitude, and the sincerest acknowledgments for a favour to which they are to owe their health and their lives." An order in Council was made accordingly, by which the embargo was taken off for a certain time, — to March 25, as it seems by a letter presently to be quoted, — and for a cer- tain quantity, in favour of the Isle of Man. Meanwhile the Duke's ships arrived in Douglas, but only just in time to save the inhabitants from starving. This appears curiously in a letter of thanks to Dr. Wilson from some of the Keys, March 17, 17 -It. After informing him that a meeting of the insular Government had been ap- pointed for the following Thursday at St. John's Chapel, to provide (among other things) " that the Duke may be no loser on account of his generous favour to us," — at which time "your father, our good Lord Bishop, has promised to meet us with his best advice and assistance," — they report what has been done in the island. Importuned by the Keys, the Council had issued orders to oblige the farmers to bring their corn to market, and to prohibit the malting of barley ; but all to no effect : — " However, since our first letter to you, an affair has happened here which we hope will enable our people to subsist till the Duke's corn arrives ; namely, a small vessel with a cargo of Welch oats, bound to Dumfries on account of Provost Curiae of that place, was about the middle of February put in here twice by contrary winds., and detained so long, that the master finding his corn beginning to heat and spoil, was obliged to go to Castletown to protest against wind and weather. " In the meantime the populace of this town, enraged by famine, and grieving to see the means of their preservation perishing before their faces, boarded and took possession of the vessel without re- sistance. The action, though riotous, was conducted with some good order, for they measured out the corn with great exactness, stored it in the school-house, of which they likewise took forcible possession, and compelled the churchwardens to take the care and 80G LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, custody thereof; by whom it has been carefully sold at the prime ' cost, according to the master's report, whom they have paid his freight, and oblige themselves to be accountable to the proprietor for the value of his corn as sold by them. " As the Provost is a humane, good-natured man, we hope this affair will be easily accommodated with him, who, in fact, is rather a gainer than aggrieved by this accident ; for the corn was so hot when our people seized it, that in four days' time it would have been utterly unserviceable either to him or us. However, bad as it is, it is better than no bread, and has been a very seasonable relief to our poor people. " As my Lord Advocate of Scotland is Member of Parliament for those boroughs, he may probably have influence and authority enough to prevail with Mr. Currie to take what can be got for his corn. But this we leave to your management and address. " The only apprehension our poor people are under is, lest the Custom-house bond should be prosecuted, by which all exporters of corn oblige themselves to deliver it at the port for which they clear out. But if ever this comes to be sued in the Court of Ex- chequer, we must beg of you to use your endeavours in that case for our poor people, who have nothing but poverty and the most extreme necessity to plead, against which, we presume, there is no law." They add,— " As we are in daily expectation of this," (the Duke's ship) " which will be sufficient to supply all our wants, we hope there will be no occasion to make use of his Majesty's most gracious permission of importing grain from England, where we hear it is excessively dear ; especially as our people had that unforeseen pro- vidential relief from the Welch oats, without which many of them must have perished for want." Heywood and W. Murrey write again, April 21, 1741, to say that the Duke's vessel did not arrive until Sunday, April 5, and then not in Douglas, as had been ordered, but in Ramsey Bay : the plea for which was a letter from the owner, saying, that as his ship was so very sharp built that she could not take the ground, he looked on that bay as the safest place for her to ride in. This however being a mistake, an order was signed by the Deputy Governors directing the captain, who was called Emerton, to proceed to Douglas : — " Upon which he flew out in a most unbecoming manner, insist- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 807 ing that if he went into Douglas harbour, his ship was so built that C she would never bear up herself upon the ground. " It was then proposed he should discharge in the Bay of Douglas, where a ship was then discharging of a much greater burthen than his ; but even with this he would not comply, alleging that he was credibly informed he could not ride there with half a cable's length. " But what we presume more principally induced him to adliere so much to Ramsea, was, a Guinea cargo of a considerable value he was to discharge there, part of which lay under the corn ; and by the taking it on board, no less than eighteen lasts of the corn were left behind ; for by his Grace's letter unto the Deputies, there were seventy lasts of corn ordered to be shipped, and by the bill of lading there appears to be only fifty-two lasts taken on board z. " Captain Emerton still insisting against going to Douglas, he proposed having two hundred bolls of his corn taken on shore in Ramsey Bay, which would lighten him so, as that he might with the greater safety proceed to Douglas. " This was immediately agreed to by the Deputies, &c. ; but no sooner was Captain Emerton returned to Ramsea, whether through the instigation of the people there, or through his own obstinate and perverse temper in not complying with what he had before agreed to, he was then for entering his protest against the Deputies, and so proceed without landing his corn to some part of England, to acquaint his owner with what was done ; and accordingly, he lodged minutes of his protest with the Notary Public. This gave great uneasiness to the Deputies, and all the rest that were concerned, who knew too well the exigencies of the country, and not knowing how or where to be so immediately relieved, should any accident befal the corn through the ill-conduct of the Captain, which we had great reason to be jealous of from his contemptuous behaviour at St. John's, which would have been resented had it not been for the errand he came upon, Sec, as we doubt not but you will have a full account of it from our Lord Bishop, who was then present. " Upon this the Attorney, Captain Christian, met the Comptroller at this town, and consulting with some friends here, it was agreed on to take the corn ashore from him, even in Ramsea Bay, at all hazards ; for which reasons they were constrained to order boats and wherries from all parts of the island down to Bamsea Bay, to take in the corn there, which has put the country to an unknown expense, and in very great hazard of their lives, as they were all 1 A last of corn is ten quarters. XXIII. 808 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, our small fishing boats, and only one wherry could come alongside XXIIT- to get a load." They add, what implies some mitigation of the famine, — " We are in great hopes that our corn had the luck of being pur- chased upon the fall of the market, which, as we are advised by private letters from Holland, was no less than 30 per cent." They could not however do without supplies from Eng- land, and the embargo must have been further relaxed ; for so late as June 11, the Bishop reports, — " We have had, and have even yet, a dreadful time of it. If we had not had the order in Council, many, very many, must have died for want of food ; and even as it is, many will find it difficult to see the first week in August, which is the earliest time we can hope for the least new corn. I sent for 120 bushels of barley from Liverpool, and Mr. Murray for the same quantity, but we shall want the whole allowed us, except the wheat." Summing up the whole matter, July 25, he writes : — " I have given this year about 500 bushels of barley, which have been the support of very many families as well as private persons, which otherwise must have perished, I verily believe." Pastoral He had accompanied these his supplies with another Letter for measure an(j wno s\m\[ say that it was not of more profit Perambu- J r lation. than they all ? Ascension Day drawing on, he sent out this pastoral letter : — " To the Reverend the Archdeacon, and the rest of the Clergy of the Diocese of Sodor and Man. " My Brethren, — The last Convocation but one, you were put in mind of a very considerable omission, in not going every Holy Thursday the boundaries of your several parishes, or some part of such as are large, which hath been practised till of late, time out of mind. " In order therefore to the keeping up this laudable custom, you are hereby required to give notice to your parishioners on Roga- tion Sunday, May 3, that you purpose (God willing) to walk the boundaries of your parish, or some considerable part of them, on Holy Thursday following, and desire the people to meet you at prayers, and to accompany you. " And that they may be better disposed to do so, you shall inform them, that besides the great advantage of settling and securing the LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 809 boundaries of parishes, the great design is to give public and CHAP, national acknowledgment and thanks to God, for all His blessings both by sea and land, and especially for the fruits of the earth, ■which at this time begin to appear ; as also to beg of God to send us such seasonable weather, as that we may receive the fruits thereof, to our own comfort, and for the relief of such as are in want ; and lastly, to beseech God of His mercy to preserve us from all infec- tious diseases and unusual mortality amongst men and beasts, and from the rage of enemies. You shall further inform them how necessary this is, to keep up a constant sense of our dependance upon Almighty God for every blessing we enjoy or hope for, whether peace or plenty, or security from our enemies, or health to enjoy th blessings. " Now the manner of observing this laudable custom has been at certain places to read distinctly and leisurely the 103rd Psalm by the minister only. And in other places to pronounce openly the curse set down, Deut. xxvii. 17, Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour' s landmark : that is, who defrauds his neighbour of any of his rights, either by fraud or force, or going to law without just cause. " At the same time people should be exhorted to beware of the great sin of covetousness, and to be content with the blessing God has given to their own honest labours : that better is a little that the righteous have, such as they have gotten by righteous ways, than great riches of the ungodly, which they have gotten wrong- fully : and that God will never bless such possessions as are gotten, or defended, or kept by unjust means. Here also it will be very becoming a clergyman to warn his people against the great sin of litigiousness, by which Christian love and charity are broken, and men hazard the loss of an heavenly inheritance to gain some trifle, very often, in this world. " There is a cursed practice carried on secretly by Satan and his instruments, which I beseech you, my brethren, take this proper occasion to speak upon : both to terrify those that practise it, and to confirm people's faith in God, against any hurt that the devil or his agents can do them. "Many complaints have been brought into our courts against people using foolish and wicked charms and arts, either to injure their neighbour in his goods, or to transfer them to themselves, to the great dishonour of God, who alone can increase the fruits of the earth to our comfort, or withhold them for our sins. " And indeed it is for want of a true faith in God's power and goodness that makes men afraid of what such wretched instru- % 810 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, ments of Satan can do, since even the devil himself cannot hurt the XXIII — persons or goods of such as put their trust in God, and pray daily (as they should be exhorted to do) for God's protection and bless- ing upon themselves, their children, their goods, and their labours, which if Christians neglect to do, no wonder if Satan by a righteous judgment of God, gets a power over them, to hurt them by his wicked instruments. " I hope, my brethren, you will consider these things, and say something upon all these heads. And may the blessing of God go along with you. — Dated at Bishop's Court the 24th of April, 1741. " Tho. Sodoe, akd Man. " Collects to be used on the Perambulation : — Collect for Quin- quagesima Sunday, Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent, Collect for Septuagesima Sunday, The Prayer for Rain, if then needful, In Time of Dearth and Famine, In Time of War. In the Litany the two last petitions, — viz. ' That it may please Thee to give and preserve to our use,' &c. ; ' That it may please Thee to forgive us all our sins,' &cc. Aoid the prayer in Mr. Nelson's Book, ' For Roga- tion "Week3." ' Severe as this lesson of Providence was, it was lost upon that people, so far as their passion for smuggling was con- cerned. The very next year, 1742, June 29, he has to say : — " Our people are mighty intent upon enlarging their harbours at Peel, Ramsea, and Douglas. They have laid a small duty on all vessels, which brings in some monies to be laid out among the poor labourers." (He alludes to an act of Tynwald, Oct. 1, 1739, "for the better collecting and applying the fund settled for the repairing of the sea-ports and harbours of this isle,' ' at the foot of which his name appears, and which had been now nearly three years in force b.) "But," he goes on, "the iniquitous trade carried on by some people, especially that of running tobacco, &c. to the ex- cessive damage of the Crown c, will hinder other blessings of God from falling upon us." Thus it continued through Wilson's time and long after. The full remedy of this great evil could not be applied until _ a See the three Homilies for Roga- (1764-) stated the loss to the King's tion-week, and the Exhortation which revenue by this illicit trade to amount followeth. those homilies. See also Mr. to about £350,000 per annum, and the Nelson on the Fasts and Feasts, in the value of seizures made on the coast title Rogation, p. 514. of Ireland from the island to be about b Mills, p. 262. £10,000 annually." Train, i. 248. c " The Commissioners for Customs LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 811 1829, when the feudal privileges of the Lord became finally CHAP, and unalienably vested in the English Crown. - The first cited letter of the Keys to Dr. Wilson contains Cardinal a passage which may help us to the date of a very interest- Orderfa ing anecdote in the Bishop's life : — favour of the Isle of " If you have any fears of the Duke's ship and cargo falling into Man- the enemy's hands, may not she be insured, or ordered to come north about, as a passage of greater security than through the King's channel, which, we are told, is very much infested with privateers." Now Cruttwell, doubtless from Dr. Wilson's information, informs us, but without any date, that " Cardinal Fleury wanted much to see him, and sent over on pur- pose to enquire after his health, his age, and the date of his con- secration ; as they were the two oldest Bishops, and he believed the poorest, in Europe ; at the same time inviting him to France. The Bishop sent the Cardinal an answer, which gave him so high an opinion of him, that he obtained an order that no French pri- vateer should ravage the Isle of Han." Evidently no such order was known of at the time the above letter was written, March 17, 174t, and Fleury died — the war still continuing — in January 174§. The correspond- ence alluded to, between the Cardinal and the Bishop, must have passed, and the order been given, in the interval ; and it seems very likely that some friend of the island, and of Wilson, aware of what the Keys apprehended, may have contrived to make known its forlorn condition to Fleury. A word or two concerning the Bishop would naturally be added ; and how could the result be other than it was ? Mr. Feltham says, but without explaining it, that even in his own time, 1796, there wanted not instances of the favour borne by the French to the inhabitants of Man. The Cardinal may, nay must, have recollected the in- stinctive forbearance of Marlborough and Eugene, and their soldiery, when in 1710-11 the demesnes of Cambray were at their mercy, and out of reverence to Fenelon, and fear of what might happen if he or his people should suffer wrong, not a single farm or storehouse was plundered; the property was guarded as if it had belonged to the Sovereigns of the 812 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, allied armies; and when those armies were themselves in — want, and the temptation became too great to help them- selves from stores in Chateau-Cambresis, the Archbishop's principal estate, which lay at their mercy, Marlborough de- sired Fenelon to send waggons for all the corn that was there, and made' his men escort it into Cambray, to the head-quarters of the French army d. The two passages taken together form one of those bright and pleasant gleams, too rare, alas ! in history, when one age or country makes a signal for good to another far away, and the answer comes promptly and cheerfully. These public transactions have carried us on many years : we must now return to matters personal and professional. CHAPTER XXIV. THE DISCIPLINE UNDER THE ATHOL DOMINION. 1736—1750. It would be an interesting question, but not easy to an- swer, how the discipline of the island was affected by the change of dynasty and the new enactments. On the one hand, those distressing and unseemly disputes between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts disappear altogether from the records. And not only so, but a case occurred in 1741, exactly calculated to elicit any claims of that sort which might be lurking in the mind of any who regretted the old Case of oppressive ways. No less a personage than " John Christian, Christian. Esq., Major-General of His Grace the Duke of Atholl, his Forces and Garrisons within this Isle, and Constable of Peel Castle," makes " a humble remonstrance" to the Bishop, alleging — "That your remonstrant on Whitsunday, the 17th of this inst. May, 1741, attended Divine Service in St. Peter's Church in order to partake of the Blessed Sacrament then to be administered by the Rev. Mr. Edward Moore of the parish of St. Michael, Vicar-General of this isle. That your remonstrant did there in the most humble and seemly manner approach the altar in order to receive that Di- vine ordinance so essentially necessary to salvation, and having joined in the general confession, and having received the absolu- d Hist, de Fenelon, par De Bausset, t. iii. 204. Paris, 1S09. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 813 tion pronounced by the said Rev. Mr. Moore, did continue in prayer CHAP. till the form appointed for consecration of the elements, when to ' "* — your remonstrant's great consternation and surprise the said Rev. Mr. Moore told your remonstrant, in the presence of the congrega- tion, that he could not and durst not administer the Sacrament to your remonstrant, and to your remonstrant's unexpressible grief he was thereby deprived of the most valuable blessing in the Christian religion, and exposed in a most melancholy instance to the reproach of well-disposed communicants. That your remonstrant, to prevent any disorder in so religious a worship, did withdraw himself in the most peaceable manner, with a heart oppressed with the deepest sorrow and contrition. That your remonstrant being not conscious of having any way fallen under the displeasure of the Church, since he has frequently partook of that divine ordinance, administered to your remonstrant so lately by the Rev. Mr. Matt9. Curghey, is at the greatest loss how to be relieved in an insult of so black a dye ; and an insult in that parish where his Grace the Duke of Atholl has done your remonstrant the honour to preside as Constable of his garrison. That your remonstrant cannot yet make himself acquainted with any canon or order of the Church that gives any priest a dis- pensing power of depriving any well-disposed Christian from par- taking of a means of grace so materially essential to his well-being in this world, and to happy futurity through the mediation of our blessed Saviour promised in the life to come. That your remon- strant apprehends that injuries of this kind have in all ages of the Church been punished with the utmost severity, being destructive of the well regulating of Christ's Church here upon earth, deroga- tory to all laws divine and human, and most hurtful to the common weal of society. " Your remonstrant being fully sensible of your Lordship's great carefulness to promote and keep up the Christian religion in its utmost purity, and of your Lordship's willingness to preserve the people of your diocese in the greatest harmony, your remonstrant will not assume to prescribe in what manner your remonstrant can obtain, or is to receive, adequate satisfaction for an injury so conspicuously flagrant and uncharitable. To this end your re- monstrant begs leave to lay before your Lordship this his re- monstrance, hoping your Lordship in your usual candour will fall upon such means of punishing so notorious an offender as will save your remonstrant the expense and trouble of finding relief elsewhere, being necessitated to support himself as a true member of the Church of Christ ; as he is determined to approve himself a sincere member of the State. 814 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " [He therefore prays] that your Lordship will be pleased to take XXIV. this his remonstrance, containing the above-mentioned insult and injury, into your paternal consideration ; whereby means may be found of punishing so heinous an offender, and giving your re- monstrant due satisfaction ; and in the meantime to deprive the said Rev. Edward Moore, agreeable with the express letter of the canon, supported by sundry Acts of Parliament, from exercising his functions in the church, according to your Lordship's usual wisdom. " And your Lordship's remonstrant, as in duty bound, shall for your happiness ever pray." This petition had been answered beforehand, Mr. Moore having sent the matter to the Bishop the very day after it took place : — " Kirk Michael, May 18, 1741. " May it please your Lordship, — " Being to administer the Holy Sacrament in St. Peter's Church of Peeltown upon Whitsunday, the 17th of this inst., after I had so ordered the elements as directed in the rubric before the prayer of consecration ; and that the congregation, excepting those who were minded to receive the Holy Communion, were withdrawn ; observing Major John Christian in the seat next me, I whispered him in a private manner, and not perceived by the people, that I could not give him the Saci'ament. And this I did with great un- easiness of mind, looking upon myself to be under a necessity either of doing so, or of falling under censure for a greater crime. And my reasons for this were these : — ■ "At a Court of Correction in Feb. 1739, the Wardens of Malew having presented Cath. Clucas as pregnant, the woman, having brought forth an illegitimate child, appeared at a Chapter Court in that parish in May, 1 740 ; where, after she was seriously pre- admonished and required to declare the truth, because she would be obliged to father her child upon oath, she declared that Major John Christian was father of her child, and prayed the Court to give her a token to charge the Major before us, which was granted in order to the affiliation. " And that the said Major Christian might be made acquainted with the crime laid to his charge, the Court required the Arch- deacon's Register to send a copy of the presentment, with the woman's declaration, to the Rev. Mr. Curghy, Vicar of the parish where the Major lived, with directions to shew him the same, that he might have an opportunity of vindicating himself, and remove LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 815 the offence given, and lest in the meantime he should offer himself CHAP. at the Lord's Table. XXIV- " In the month of April last, the woman aforesaid made com- plaint in court that she could not get Major Christian to appear before us to father her child, at which time she persisted in her charge as before, and praying for further authority, she obtained an order in writing to charge the said Major to the next Consistory Court in Kirk Michael (which has not yet been held) in order to the filiation. " This, my Lord,* is truth, as near as I can recollect at present, the fame whereof is public, acknowledged by himself, and I believe known to every man in the diocese. "And under these circumstances, if I administered the Sacra- ment to Major John Christian, I presumed I could neither answer it to God, to your Lordship, nor to the Church of Christ. All which is pursuant to the rubric. Certified by, my Lord, " Your Lordship's most dutiful obedient servant, " Edw. Moore." The Bishop was thus enabled quickly to settle the affair : — " Bishop's Court, May 25, 1741. " Sir, — The above are the reasons which my Vicar-General, Mr. Moore, gave me for his not admitting you to the Lord's Supper on Whitesunday last, while you lay under the public fame of so great a crime as adultery, without endeavouring to clear yourself; and I am of opinion his reasons are such as will justify him to every man who wishes well to the Church of Christ, the souls of men, and the rules of the Gospel. If you think otherwise I shall be ready to hear what you have to say against what he has done. In the meantime I am, your sincere well-wisher, your friend and servant in Christ, "Tho. Sodok and Man. " To Major John Christian of Lezaire." Had not the old claim of exemption for the Lord's re- tainers been finally abandoned, this complaint, I imagine, would have been magnified into a grievance, instead of being quietly dropped as it was. Again ; although one at least of the regulations to which Disciplin- the Bishop had attached most importance — the power, ^crease'in namely, of tendering the oath ex officio — had been entirely number. done away, neither his own writings, nor his son's, so far as I have seen, contain any word lamenting it, or complaining 816 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, of the result. The only one of his remaining sermons, known XXIV. . — : — to have been composed after the change, which dwells at all on the discipline, speaks of the law of excommunication as yet in full force, and only liable to the opposition of indi- viduals— I mean the sermon now numbered 89, which was preached in Douglas Chapel, Sept. 23, 1739, when Philip Moore was ordained Priest. And my extracts from the Episcopal Register exhibit nearly the same number of ex- communicates in proportion to the time :. it is nine in the first period, of twenty-eight years, from 1708 to 1736, against six in the second period, of nineteen years, from 1736 to the Bishop's death in 1755. On the other hand, the minor censures registered in the same two intervals are as 108 to 18 ; which gives to the later period only one-fourth of what it should have to keep up its proportion. And when we turn to the Episcopalia, which might be regarded in some sense as the Bishop's own private register, the disproportion is perfectly marvellous. From 1720 to 1736 the number of persons dealt with as subjects of the Manx Church criminal discipline, mostly in the Chapter and Con- sistory Courts, a few perhaps in foro domestico by the Bishop or his substitutes apart, appears to be not less than 1,450: from 1736 to 1755 the number of the names is only about sixty- eight. The diminution may in part be thought due to the change in the law touching compurgation ; which change, whatever its merits in itself, was of course so much taken from the quantity of available evidence in a great many cases. It would lessen the chances therefore both of attack and defence, and would occasion many causes to be left off before they were meddled with. The Parochial Chap- ters would have a ready excuse for declining to present, and the spiritual officers for dismissing the charges easily. There are tokens of its being more difficult to get the Questmen together. Conviction on the one hand, and satisfactory acquittal on the other, would be harder to attain, and the whole system would tend to become gradually obsolete. Although therefore the Courts continued in action, and were acknowledged by the Government and legislature as in old times, yet the interest of all persons in them could hardly fail to be much diminished. Old age too was growing on LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 817 the Bishop, and his health failing. Many tokens of occa- CHAP sional indisposition may be gathered from his own memo - randa and his son's letters, especially after his last visit to England. His pupil, Philip Moore, indeed, writing long after his death, speaks of his health as a good omen for that of his son, who by that time had become a most anxious vale- tudinarian : — " My spirits were sunk fifty degrees below the freezing point, in apprehensions for our worthy friend the Doctor. . . . He is made of good stuff, for his venerable father was heart of oak ; his mother rather delicate." And all his life long Bishop Wilson was himself in the habit of daily acknowledging among God's good gifts, that of " a sound and healthful body." Whatever might be the amount of the illness which came upon him in England in 1735, he Avas enabled to write to Lady E. Hastings in Sept., 1737, "I bless God, I enjoy as good a state of health as I have done this twenty years past." Yet the letter to which this is an answer, making mention of a severe fit of the gout, which the Bishop had had in the preceding July, or earlier, and " hoping that it might be a means of his enjoying much better health for the future," implies that his friends were not altogether free from care on that point. And so it goes on for several years. Under these circumstances he would naturally leave more to his substitutes, they would spare him as much as they could, and he would less trouble himself to set down all that they reported to him. For one branch however of his discipline the records of Many that time are but too ample — his proceedings, namely, with censures delinquent clergy. Clergy- An ominous paper appears in the Register, Sept. 1, 1739 : — " Forasmuch as it hath been observed that some of the young persons who have been lately ordained deacons have not been so careful of their conduct, neither have applied themselves to their studies so well as was expected, and as they solemnly promised to do : It is judged necessary to give them this notice, that such of them as shall not endeavour to qualify themselves for the priest- hood in a reasonable time, that the Church may be supplied with 3g 818 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, proper pastors ; and this by a diligent application to their studies, . '— in order to their examination as the canon requires ; as also by a sober, virtuous, pious, and religious conversation, so as to pro- cure the testimonials required by the canon both from grave minis- ters, and other credible persons who have known their life and con- versation;— it is resolved that such of them as shall not regard this wholesome intimation for their own souls' good, and for the honour of the Church of God, shall be removed from their respective curacies, and that others who shall have preserved their characters as persons who desire to answer the ends of their sacred calling, shall be put into their places. — Given under our hands this first day of September, 1739. " Tho. Sodob. and Man. John Woods. John Kippax. Edw. Moore. John Cosnahan. " They are also to take notice, that they are to be examined in Latin according to the Thirty-nine Articles, as the canon requires, (Can. 34, &c, which they are desired to consult,) and in English according to the Homilies of the Church, Bishop Pearson on the Creed, and the Bishop of Man's Catechism." " Sept. 20, 1739. " According to the directions given, copies of the within monition are sent to the Reverend Nathaniel Curghy, Curate of Lonan.Thos. Allen, Curate of Kirk Andrews, and to Nicho. Christian, Curate of Trinity, Rushin, by me "Edw. Mooke, Ep. Reg." The tenor of the records for some years after this is too nearly what one might expect. Among the twenty or twenty-four ministers which formed at that time the eccle- siastical staff of the island, there occur in those nineteen years six suspensions, two indeed of the same clerk for sundry faults. Of one, the earliest in time of these cases, a good many details may be gleaned ; which put together form a curious specimen of the sort of materials the Bishop was forced to employ. One of his old friends had divers un- ruly children, one of whom the Bishop reluctantly admitted (he being at the age of nineteen, " very backward both in Greek and Latin,) into the roll of "Academic Youths." After nearly a year and a-half's trial, Oct. 25, 1729, " I admonished of his idle life, and assured him he should never be ordained. N.B. This is the third admonition." Next the Bishop has to notice " a very scandalous letter " to a LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 819 fellow-student ; and then " his offering another student CHAP. some pieces of silver, like the cover of a tankard, and de- — siring him to sell them for him." It is to be supposed that in the following years there was a reform in the young man's conduct, for five years afterwards the Bishop made him a deacon. By and by he has to write to his Vicar-General " to order the wardens to take the Communion plate into their cus- tody, &c. And to admonish the Curate, Avho takes no notice of my orders nor advice, that I shall be forced to sequester the tithes, having repeated accounts of his making ill use of them, setting the same tithes to two or three persons at one time," &c. And further on in the same year, the Deemster of that time reports " that this same Curate had been thirteen times cited before him, and fined for disobedience, or brought by a soldier." And, "Feb. 21. A poor man of this parish, when I asked him for the Curate, he gave me this answer, " He is very poor ; he drinks all he gets/ " Before long, as might be expected, comes the formal act of suspension : — " , Deacon and Curate of , having refused to ap- pear before us at our last Convocation, without any reason offered for such absence, appeared this day before us, and being charged with several great irregularities, immorality, &c, had nothing to say for himself: particularly for having married" two couples in an uncanonical way, " without consent of parents, &c. He is there- fore suspended ab officio for three years according to canon. " The other crimes laid to his charge were his several disobe- diences to the civil magistrate, for which he was often fined, brought by a soldier, his crime and fines published before the people of his parish, — faults which none but the most scandalous of the people are guilty of; secondly, despising both the many [? the many both] private and public admonitions by letter that have been given him ; thirdly, his setting of the same tithes to several persons, to the great scandal and vexation of the people ; fourth, his making the most solemn promises of payment of his debts, and scandalously breaking them — his notorious lies on many occasions, buying of horses, and forcing people to take them of him by force, for want of payment," Sec, &c. One result of this sentence is curious : — " I was standing with the Governor at Mr. Murray's door ; 3 g2 820 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, several of the people of gave me a petition, complaining of " the want of the public service, Sec, on the Lord's clay. I put them in mind of a petition signed by them aud the wardens in favour of their suspended Curate ; they declared that that petition was never signed by them or the wardens, &c, and consequently their names were forged. I understand by these people that the Curate hath taken up the rents due at Easter next." This sets in a strong light the difficulty in which the eccle- siastical authorities were placed, to provide for the public service at all : one element in which, of course, was the necessity of finding persons who could speak Manx. And it tends to excuse the next entry, which otherwise might be perfectly amazing, not to say scandalous : — " Whereas, for the preservation of the discipline of this Chur -b, we were obliged to suspend from the exercise of the office of a deacon : Being, upon the solemn and repeated promises which he has made, inclined to believe that he is heartily sorry for the errors of his life, and the offence which he has thereby given : now, our great and only view by that censure being for his refor- mation and to remove all occasions of reproach and scandal, as also to deter others from falling into such miscarriages, we therefore do hereby declare that the said censure of suspension is taken off, and that he the said is restored to the exercise of his office and duty of a Curate in that parish, viz. in reading the service of the Church, and the Homilies, upon all such Sundays as another clergyman cannot be procured to preach in that congregation, as also to perform all such ministerial duties as appertain to the office of a deacon according to the canons, rubrics, and constitutions of this Church ; and this to continue until Easter next." It did continue after Easter, doubtless for want of any other to take the duty. But the indulgence seemed to be thrown away. The neighbour who officiated as Priest for him had to complain that he had never been paid, in spite of solemn promises. And he (the neighbour Priest) " assured me, that when he went to visit any of the sick of this parish, the Curate would not go with him to receive the Sacrament." On one Sunday " the Curate sent to another neighbour to change with him, and then did not go to his church, so that the parish was left without any service. N.B. Both went to Laxy to drink that day." And soon after, " I sent for the Curate, and admonished him about the affair above, and he LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 821 told me a notorious lie, as appeared by what was said in C II A P. . * . XXIV. Court. At the same time the Vicar-General acquainted me — - — — that he could not get the charity out of his hands, that was collected in church for the poor people. I pray God touch his heart, or assist me to get us rid of him." After some more about fraudulent setting of tithes, and em- bezzlement of charity money, " it was proved that at one time he caused a child to be kept dead in the church a day or two, for want of Christian burial : and that he was ex- ceeding offensive in his life ; often (even on Ascension-day, to all appearance,) in drink." This is the last we are told of his irregularities : and as his name appears some years after among the signatures of the clergy on three several public occasions, once as Curate, and twice as Vicar of his parish, (whereby it seems that he must have somehow ob- tained Priest's Orders,) we may hope that the Bishop's prayer was granted in its better alternative. There was also a Curate of Rushen who continued a trouble A Curate to the Bishop and a scandal to the diocese for a long time. °wjceUsus- The course taken with him was this. He had been presented pended. in Consistory, Nov. 6, 1740, for that, "upon Monday the 27th of October last, in company with a man of a most infamous character, he disturbed the inhabitants of the town of Castletown by firing of guns in the dead of night upon a mountebank's stage ; the truth of all which is now in court acknowledged by the said , confessing also that he was the person who fired the guns. And whereas we have hitherto several times by letter, and also in the hearing of our Vicars- General, after the most fatherly manner admonished him for his disorderly life ; and that by a monition dated the 1st of September, 1739, signed by myself and the officers of the Spiritual Court, he was required to qualify himself for the priesthood, as well by a dili- gent application to his studies as by a sober and religious conver- sation ; and that he has shewed no regard to our admonitions : For the preservation of the discipline of this Church, and to re- move the offence given to all good Christians by his evil conduct," he is suspended for three years, " unless we find good cause upon his reformation to mitigate this censure." A month after, the principal inhabitants of Rushen, "humbly conceiving that he is now very much afflicted, and having 822 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C Tl A P. good hopes by his behaviour since that this fatherly chas- — tisement will be a sufficient means to prevent his slipping into such inconsiderate extravagancies for the future," beg the Bishop "to restore to them the said Curate in his office." The Bishop replies : — " I have considered your petition, and the difficulties you labour under on account of the censure lately passed upon the Curate of your parish ; and I rejoice to find you so much concerned for a minister of Christ, and so desirous to have him converted and restored to the performance of his duty, and so well disposed as to hope that, by the grace of God, the methods already used will be sufficient to bring him to a sense of his late and former miscarriages, and to a life and behaviour becoming a minister of the Lord. But that we may be no more deceived by repeated promises of amend- ment, nor kept a stranger to his life and conversation if he should (which the Lord forbid) fall into a careless way of living, and forget his present promises and resolutions ; we do expect that in order to our suspending his censure (which is for three years), he is to procure the hands of three neighbouring clergy, viz. the Reverend the Archdeacon, the Academic Professor, and the Vicar of Maliew, to the annexed engagement ; as also six of the principal men of the parish of Ryshen." (He seems to have added the names.) The required stipulations were made, and within the twelvemonth the need of them became manifest. " Some very improper actions were acted," and some of the ap- pointed watchers were resolved to write to Bishop's Court; but he came with almost tears in his eyes, and good pro- mises, and prevailed on them to put off the matter. This happened twice ; the third time they reported to the Bishop a terrible outbreak of drunkenness and violence, at the same time testifying that for six months before " they could say nothing of him, either in relation to his life and conversa- tion or to the discharge of the duties of his function, but what is just, regular, and serious, and becoming the character of an honest clergyman." They desire accordingly his longer continuance among them. His acts of inconsideration having been of late, they say, " but seldom, and at distant intervals." The Curate is convened, and objects to some parts of the com- plaint. The parties are summoned for another Consistory, and the case being heard, the following sentence is passed : LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 823 surprising surely from its leniency, if one did not bear in CHAP, mitid the great scarceness of clergy in the island : — — — — " Forasmuch as it is manifest that Mr. aforesaid, since he was under his former censure, has given great occasion of of- fence hy his disorderly life, that he frequents alehouses, and that his conduct has in many instances been very unbecoming a minister of Jesus Christ, as the gentlemen his parishioners have represented unto us : Upon his acknowledgment, that his behaviour has been very blameable, and that he solemnly promises by the grace of God to amend his life, we do further suspend his censure, and admit him to the exercise of his office for the present, and do hereby signify unto him, that before he can be admitted to the order of priesthood he must behave himself after so holy and Christian a manner, as to obtain the testimony of those worthy gentlemen as well as of the neighbouring clergy." This clergyman appears in some tolerable measure to have fulfilled the good hopes entertained of him ; for there are tokens of his having retained the good-will of his parishioners, and he was after some years found worthy to be ordained Priest by Bishop Wilson : although in the meanwhile he had brought on himself another suspension, and that for no com- mon delinquency : — " At a Consistory Court in Kirk Michael, the 19th June, 1746, — " It appearing upon trial that Mr. , Deacon, Curate of Rushin, upon the 10th of May last, after an irregular manner entered into the church of Kirk Arbory, and with doors locked upon him, profaned the holy office for the solemnization of matri- mony by pretending to join together in wedlock, by that form, William Cashin, jun., of Arbory, and Isabel Lowee of Rushin, who were both children under age, incapable of understanding the vows and obligations of a married state ; and that this was done without the consent or knowledge of the mother of the said orphan, and without any authority to that purpose, but merely to compass the selfish views of cunning and intriguing people ; and that the said Isabel, being now come to fourteen years of age, dissents from such marriage, and declares her abhorrence thereof, producing in Court a child's baby," [or doll,] "which she said was given her to entice her : — " This being a matter which has given great offence, and attended with many mischievous consequences, that parents are thus deprived LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, of the authority which God hath given them over their children ; — — children exposed to ru;n, and made a prey to cunning and design- ing persons ; that the holy name of God is thus taken in vain ; and the institution of the Almighty rendered ridiculous : for his pre- sumption and irregularity we suspend the said ab officio, and do hereby declare him to be suspended accordingly." On Aug. 11 the man submits himself with great seeming penitence, but pleads for a relaxation of the sentence, alleg- ing " the inconveniency of his worthy and sympathizing parishioners, the trouble and fatigue of the kind good neigh- bour" who had to do his duty, and "the urgent necessities of his poor family." The Bishop, Aug. 14, suspends the censure, "upon consideration of the necessities of the Church, and in hope that the methods already taken may be sufficient to awaken the petitioner, and to bring him to a life and be- haviour becoming a minister of the Gospel." Afterwards he found it desirable to explain that he had intended in this sentence to leave open the question of the validity or nullity of the marriage. The cause may be traced lingering in the island records until after the Bishop's death, when tokens appear of its having been transferred to York, on appeal from a sentence which the Bishop had pronounced, May 6, 1751, in favour of the marriage. The Curate had the less excuse, as the attention of the clergy had been especially drawn to the need of canonical obedience in the matter of marriage by a decree of Convoca- tion on Thursday in Whitsun-week, no further back than in 1743 :— " For the more effectual preventing of clandestine marriages, and the sad consequences of such irregular and unlawful contracts, whereby the laws of God and of the Church are broken, and the honour and authority of parents and guardians violated : that no person whatever may be ignorant of the severe penalties which the law inflicts in such cases ; nor be surprised to be present at such illegal meetings ; it is resolved upon in Convocation, and accordingly ordered, that the laws provided in that behalf be published in the several churches and chapels of this diocese upon the Lord's Day immediately after the Nicene Creed, within one month after the date hereof. Which are as follows : — " Customary Law, 40 : ' That when a minister makes a clandes- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 825 tine marriage, he that married the couple, and all present at CHAP. the marriage, shall be committed into St. German's prison, and — excommunicated ipso facto.' Customary Law, 41 : 'That when a minister doth marry man and woman without license or banns of marriage according to the rubric, he is to be suspended three years ab officio et beneficio, according to the canons of the Church, unless the ordinary upon submission and bonds of reformation mitigate or remit the same.' "And that the wholesome discipline of the Church in these re- spects may be duly -observed, the minister, churchwardens, and chapter- quest in their several parishes are hereby admonished and required to make presentment of all such offenders, according to their oath and the articles of their charge." And the registry preserves the memorandum in the Curate's own hand, of his having published this order in Rushen Church " in the presence of a throng congregation." Besides, he had before him a recent example of the en- Another forcement of that order in a far less flagrant case. Robert clandestine ° marriage. Radcliffe, Vicar of Kirk Patrick, (with whom we have seen the Bishop in particular communication,) wrote to his Lord- ship, March 7, 174§, owning that he had rashly and inad- vertently officiated in a clandestine marriage : — " I was ensnared," he says, " and imposed upon by being too credulous, and thereby betrayed to the commission of an offence which grieves my heart, and for which I shall condemn myself as long as I live : and therefore for the peace of my mind and for the satisfaction of the Church I leave myself entirely to your Lord- ship's mercy." The Bishop sending the case to the Vicars- General, with Mr. Radcliffe's " very submissive letter, wherein with great humility he acknowledges his fault and prays to be admitted to give satisfaction to the Church," directs them to cite him, and if he himself cannot be present, by his authority to de- clare him suspended. They did so, March 9, and before April 3 Mr. Radcliffe asks for restoration, pleading his sor- row, his voluntary submission, and that he had been un- happily made to believe an untruth, adding mention also of "the necessities of the Church." The Bishop's reply 826 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, must have made him feel that he was taking the matter — a little too easily : — " Sir, — Your late breach of the canon and of the laws of this land (attended with some circumstances more cvdpable than per- haps you remember) hath given me very great trouble and concern both on your account and my own. The dispensing with the dis- cipline of the Church, and shortening the penalty of the canon on account of necessities the Church is under, will too probably open a gap to even greater breaches, if greater can be, and be a means of making new precedents for future favours where there are less reasons. However since the necessities of the Church doth require it, I must be content to bear the reproach of such do not know the reason of doing what I am constrained to do ; and do therefore hereby take off the censure which with grief I passed upon you, and do hereby restore you to the exercise of your ministry. — Given under my hand this third day of April, in the year of our Lord 1744." He thought however so well of Mr. Radcliffe, that on the next vacancy he made him one of his Vicars-General. Another Another deacon, quite a young man, incurred the like suspension, sentence in 1746 for another very scandalous sin. The forimmo- J rality. wardens present, and the curate acknowledges the truth of the presentment : — "And forasmuch as by the sin of fornication — Mrhich is scanda- lous in all, but most notoriously so in a minister of the Gospel, who was in a state of probation and preparing himself by an holy and exemplary life and conversation for the order of priesthood — he hath given great occasion of offence, brought a reproach upon the Church of Christ, an indelible stain upon his character, and the guilt of sin upon his own soul : — to remove as much as possible the offence hereby given to all good Christians, that the ministry may be pre- served blameless, and not be evil spoken of through the corrupt lives and wicked examples of unworthy clergymen, we do suspend him, the said , Deacon, ab officio et beneficio." In this instance, beyond all question, the holy discipline by the grace of God did its work. The censure lasted two years and six months, and was thus withdrawn : — " Whereas the said by petition of the 9th of January last, lamenting his unhappy condition, prays to be restored to the exercise of his office : LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 827 " And that the said petition is recommended to us by the Vicar CHAP, and several of the inhabitants of the parish, as also by the Rector xx*Vj of , and Curate of ; wherein it is certified that the be- haviour of the petitioner during the time of his suspension hath in all appearance been so sober, regular, and devout, that they be- lieve him to be a true penitent, and that by the grace of God he will lead the remainder of his life as becometh a faithful minister of the Gospel : " On consideration of so very ample testimonies exhibited in his behalf, and in good hopes that the discipline of the Church hath had its desired effect upon him, that he will for the time to come lead an holy and exemplary life, to the glory of God and the edification of his people ; We do, in the Name of God, hereby restore him, the said to the exercise of the office of Deacon in the Church of Christ ; and order that this our act be published in the church of — — before the congregation on the next Lord's Day." The young man (I will not name him, though I might perhaps do so honoris causa, for is not honour clue to a cou- rageous and exemplary penitent?) proved afterwards, I be- lieve, no common blessing and ornament to the Church of Man. Although so many suspensions are disappointing, yet on comparison with the earlier part of his episcopate, it is no small thing to find this one only for that flagrant kind of sin. These four (for one may not count Radcliffe's) are the only cases of censure on clergymen at this period of Bishop Wilson's discipline which have in them grave scandal, pro- perly so called. For that description can hardly be thought to apply to the misconduct of Mr. Thomas Christian, Curate of Marowne, which alone remains to be detailed. His case associates itself in a manner with the old scandal of Jacobit- ism among the Manksmen, and moved the good old Bishop accordingly to a little more of something like fierceness than might have been otherwise expected from him. The years since 1736 had been years of public calamity, A series more or less, every one of them ; and the notices in Sacra °ro^leg° Privata shew how deeply such things sank into his benevo- lent heart. In 1737, "A cold and fever carries off very many in all parts of the island." In 1739, "A violent epidemical 828 LIFE OP BISHOr WILSON. CHAP, flux carried off a great many." The scarcity and sickness of 2^z — '— 1740 had been immediately followed by the Spanish war and the war of the Austrian succession : the death of Fleury in 1743 lessened the chances of peace; and that year, in Man at least, was a year of " contagious fever, many dying, and whole families taking it." Of the harvest in 1744 his ac- count is : — " It was so difficult to be saved, that it has reduced us to as great straits as we were in four years ago, only we have the liberty of having corn from England and Wales brought to us, but at an ex- cessive price ; and, which is still worse, there is among the people very little moneys to purchase it. I have already given most of my old stock of all sorts of grain," (the letter is dated June 14, 1745,) " and I believe I shall be obliged to lay out £20 or £30 more be- fore August. £10 worth of barley Mr. Murray has promised me this week, and I hope for as much more. It is generally sold for 24 shillings our boll ; but before this came in some of our wicked farmers sold it for upwards of 80, or 5 or 6 shillings a Winchester bushel. " We have also had a very great loss of black cattle and sheep through the whole country, occasioned by the badness of the fodder, and the cold and wet season, having had scarce three days together without rain or snow since September last. In short, I can foresee nothing but distress of one kind or other." Sept. 15, he writes again, — " A most sad, dear year, even as hard with the poor as 1741 ; for though there is corn enough (at a very dear rate), yet the people have no moneys. We are perfectly drained. I have bought already near a hundred bushels, and shall make it up that quantity before new corn comes in, besides my own growth. No prospect of a fishery. A fine crop upon the ground, except the mountains and the Curragh." The next month, to crown this heap of troubles, came " a rebellion in Scotland, begun Aug. 10. The Pretender's son landed. An invasion threatened from France and Spain e." The Bi- We see in the Bishop's devotions that all this came home state'S to ^*m ^ie a Pr^vate calamity. And his register shews him Prayers. e Sacra Privata, in Works, v. 325. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 829 anticipating the directions of the Government for solemn CHAP. . . XXIV penitential services : — — - — — " To the several Rectors, Vicars, Chaplains, and Curates of the diocese of Sodor and Man. " My Brethren, — "We think it proper in these times of trouble and distress to put you in mind of consulting the fifteenth canon of our Church, and to require you to act conformable thereunto, viz. to give notice on Sunday next, by reading this order, that prayers, at least the Litany, with the Commination Office, beginning at the 51st Psalm, will be read every Wednesday and Friday, and that the bell shall be tolled at the most proper time, that every house within convenient distance may send one at least to join with you : to implore God*s pardon for our manifold transgressions, that He may turn away His displeasure from us, and avert those judgments which we have most justly deserved, and have reason to fear; as also that He will have compassion upon our Christian neighbours, who now suffer under the terrors and calamities of the sword. — Dated at Bishop's Court, this 4th of November, 1745. "Tho. Sodor and Man." A fast was proclaimed by the Governor and Council (the Bishop being of the Council, and signing the order) for the 18th of December, which day had been set apart in England for imploring a blessing on his Majesty's arms. But it was expressly left to the Bishop to give " proper and necessary directions to the clergy to read this order," &c, for " Divine Service and prayers annexed, with sermons and such other proper instructions and exhortations as he shall think fit and suitable." What he thought suitable then is not re- corded, but in 1739, war with Spain having been declared Oct. 23, the following Pastoral had come out, Jan. 2, from Bishop's Court : — "My Brethren, — This brings you His Majesty's proclamation for a General Fast and Day of Humiliation, in order to beg the pardon of God for our sins, and the blessing of God upon His Majesty's fleets and armies ; as also an order of our Government for the same good purposes. You are, therefore, hereby required to give notice of this on Sunday next, that Wednesday, the 9th following, is the day appointed for this solemn fast, and you will take care to see it observed with all sobriety, decency, and humility. And note those that do not so observe it. " It is required also, that there be a sermon on this solemn occa- 830 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, sion, (or at least that the homilies of repentance, in our Book of XXIV. Homilies, be devoutly read by all the Deacons) ; and although the notice may be short, yet it will be expected, and is required, that your several congregations be put in mind of the judgments of God hanging over our heads, not only on account of the war that is begun in these nations, to which we belong, but also on account of a very contagious distemper, which has carried off a great number of our people already, and spreads exceedingly fast. You will also do well, and as becomes faithful pastors, to put your people in mind of the great and crying sins, which if not repented of and forsaken, will certainly draw down God's judgment upon this nation ; such are the sins of drunkenness, tippling, whoredom, swearing, cursing, profaning the Lord's Day, — a mere formal religion, without any visible effects upon the lives of its professors, — a spirit of disobe- dience to Government, — a disregard to the sanctity of oaths, and a too general proneness to litigiousness, and too little regard to jus- tice and honesty betwixt man and man. You will have a good occasion of saying something home, plain, and affecting upon all these heads, and in so short a manner as may be remembered ; and may God give His blessing to what you shall say upon these heads. " Proper Psalms on this occasion are the 6th, 25th, and 70th. First Lesson, Levit. xxvi. ; Second Lesson, St. Luke xiii. to verse 10. " Instead of the Collect for Horning and Evening Service, the following Prayer shall be used : — "Most righteous and merciful God, we most humbly confess that for our many and grievous sins we might justly expect Thy severest judgments, and it is of Thy great mercy that we have hitherto escaped the punishment we have deserved. May Thy judgments, O God, that are in the world awaken in us a deep sense of our transgression, and may Thy goodness and long-suffer- ing lead us to a sincere repentance, that our iniquities may not be our ruin in this world, or in the world to come. Root out from amongst us all growing vices, and rebuke all such as make a mock of sin, all such as delight in wickedness, and lead others by their evil examples and wicked discourses into atheism and impieties. Give Thy holy grace to every soul of us, that we may fear thee and keep Thy commandments, be just in our dealings, obedient to our governors, peaceable in our lives, sober and chaste in our conversa- tion, and charitable one towards another, that truth and righteous- ness being found amongst us, we may be safe under Thy protection from the dangers that surround and threaten us. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 831 " Iii a most especial manner we beseech Thee, 0 God of Hosts, CHAP. to hear our prayers for our gracious King, for his forces by sea — — and land ; bless, preserve, and prosper both him and them in all their undertakings for peace, justice, and the prosperity of these nations. Bless, we beseech Thee, the Lord and Governor of this isle, by Thy special providence. Save us from the dangers that we are exposed to during this present war, and from the spreading sickness with which we are visited, that we may acknowledge Thy great goodness and mercy to us, and ever give Thee thanks, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. " Immediately after the Litany shall be said the whole Com- mination Service. The Epistle, 1 St. Peter v. from verse 6 to 12. The Gospel, St. Luke vi. from verse 20 to 29. Evening Service, Psalms xcvii. and cxliv. First Lesson, Deut. xxviii. ; Second Les- son, 1 Peter iv." What he may have added in relation to the "rebellion" we may partly guess by his private prayer of that date : — " Enlighten the minds of such as through simplicity have en- gaged in an unrighteous cause. Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish Thou the just." He used without scruple his episcopal liberty in such mat- ters : warranted, I suppose, by the omission of the name of the island in the Act of Uniformity. Philip Moore, writing to the younger Wilson in 1 776, says : — " If your worthy father was alive, or these public disturbances had fallen out in his time, some public notice would have been taken of such a visitation, and a pious Pastoral Letter sent forth suitable to the occasion : he would not have waited, and never did, for oi-ders from the other side ; but considering this as a National Church, he took his measures and issued out his directions accord- ingly, in the style and language of an inspired Apostle." The Form of Thanksgiving after Culloden was simply sent over from England, and adopted : only the Bishop's autho- rity for it is distinctly recognised as necessary in the Govern- ment order. It uses many hard names, and has no sort of appearance of having issued from Bishop Wilson. However such being his mind on the subject, it was ofmanergy" course very annoving to find one of his clergy charged with charged with Jaco- bitism. 832 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, disaffection at that very time. May 10, he had to write to - his Sumner-General, that a King's officer " had made information to the Government against the Rev. Thos. Christian, Yicar of Marowne, for affirming that the Pretender was and is the right heir to the crown of Great Britain. This heing matter of the greatest concern to us, and which we cannot men- tion without the utmost abhorrence ; to remove as much as in us lieth the offence given, and to prevent any mischiefs that might ensue from such wicked and dangerous assertions," he is to appear at Kirk Michael, May 14; on which day, — "Upon consideration of the examinations taken, and the witnesses sworn at Castle Rushen the 6th of this instant May, before the Honour- able P. Lindesay, Esq., Governor of this Isle, and by him trans- mitted to us ; it appears that the said Mr. Christian advanced such rash and scandalous discourses as tended to mislead the minds of ignorant people, and to give one of the witnesses cause to charge him with a good-will for the interest of the Pretender, insomuch that he was so sensible that he had given occasion to suspect his loyalty, that he thought himself obliged to vin- dicate himself with profane oaths. As therefore the said Mr. Christian hath hereby given very great offence and cause of scan- dal, lest an undeserved reproach should through his fault be brought upon a most loyal Church and nation, we find ourselves obliged to suspend him the said, Thomas Christian, Vicar of Marown, ab officio, and he is accordingly suspended until it shall be considered in Consistory what reparation he ought to make for the injury done, and the offence given by his licentious way of talking, and meddling with matters which no way aj^ertain to his duty. — Dat. ut supra, and in the forty-eighth year of our con- secration." On June 28 he makes an apology, which is accepted : — " Bishop's Court, June 28, 1746. " Upon Mr. Christian's declaration of the loyalty of his principles to His Sacred Majesty King George, and his abhorrence of the doc- trines of the Church of Rome," (which he had called superstitious and idolatrous,) " he is restored to the exercise of his office. And for the satisfaction of such as have been offended by his indiscretion in talking to ignorant people upon subjects which they did not understand, it is ordered that this declaration of his loyalty and principles be published on Sunday the 29th instant, in the Chapel of Douglas." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 833 According to a memorandum in the Register, " all he had CHAP, said was, that the Pretender was next heir to the crown, and :. that his father lost it for him." " My Lord Bishop" (another memorandum says) " acquaints the clergy in Convocation with the censure on Mr. Christian. They are well pleased, expressing their loyalty . . . with their utter abhorrence of all popish doctrines and a popish Pretender." Notwithstanding all this, the Bishop had once more occa- The Bi- sion to vindicate his own lovaltv, and that of his diocese : shoP'sme- J " mortal to the imputation of Jacobitism in those days being like one of George II. those odours, foul or fragrant, which no time seems to wear out. So late as 1750 he felt it his duty to draw up and for- ward the following memorial : — " Isle of Man, March 19, 1750. " May the King's most excellent Majesty be graciously pleased to permit his most dutiful subject the Bishop of Sodor and Man to address his most sacred Majesty, on the behalf of himself, his brethren, and native people of this diocese, in order to satisfy your Majesty concerning many misrepresentations in a memorial of one Mr. Thomas Foley, laid before your Majesty, very infamous and pre- judicial to the character of the native people of this isle ; wherein they are represented as disaffected to your Majesty's person and Government, favourers of the Pretender and his cause, with many other accusations wrongfully laid against them, that tend to make whole nation of people obnoxious to your Majesty's person and Government ; whereas they are in every respect the reverse of what is laid against them, as I, who have been resident in this diocese upwards of fifty years, can assure your Majesty ; during which time I have made it my constant endeavours, with the assistance of my clergy, to instruct the people by the providence of God committed to our care, in the true principles of the Christian religion, and of loyalty to your Majesty and your predecessors. " That the inhabitants of this island consist chiefly of natives and some strangers, who come hither from the neighbouring nations on account of trade or some misfortunes. " As for the natives, they are in general an orderly, civil, and peaceable people, well instructed in the duties of Christianity as professed in the Church of Eugland, more constant and regular in their attendance on the public worship of God, and behaving with more seriousness and decency there, than in many other places where there are better opportunities of learning and instruction. 3 H 834 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. " And so fav are they from being disaffected to your sacred • Majesty and royal family, that I can assure your Majesty (so far as consists with my own knowledge or the best enquiry I could ever make) that I do verily believe, and solemnly declare as in the presence of Almighty God, that there are not three persons of the natives who are of disloyal or disaffected principles, or that were ever guilty of such unbecoming excesses and disrespect, as [in ?] that memorial is laid against them. " That during the time of my residence in this isle there have been two rebellions in-Great Britain, and yet on the strictest en- quiry I cannot find that any one man of the natives was ever con- cerned against your Majesty, or your late royal father, but, on the contrary, many of them had served and lost their lives both in your Majesty's fleet and armies ; so that in the said memorial the people of this isle are exceedingly injured and abused by the said Mr. Foley, who, as he was not above four days upon the island, could not possibly in that time have any knowledge of the genius, morals, or disposition of the people ; yet he most grievously accuses the whole body of the natives with such irregularities and enormities as I never knew any of them, or even strangers, guilty of within this isle ; an individual of whom, if guilty, would most certainly have been punished, either by the ecclesiastical or civil Government, as severely as in any of your sacred Majesty's dominions. " I attest all this as solemn truths, and beg the continuance of your Majesty's favours and protection to the so much injured natives of this isle ; and am bold to subscribe myself, " Your Majesty's most obedient, faithful, and dutiful subject and servant, " Tno. Sodok and Man." Course of Passing from these clergy censures to ordinary discipline, dLcipime we ^nc* ^ne f°U°wmg noticeable entries in the Register during the Bishop's remaining years. About April 12, 1736, (and therefore before the Duke of Athol's reforms,) he has to reply to a petition from one in St. Germain's for unchastity, who professes himself truly penitent, but says, " the young woman's father stops the marriage, which may cause a great dale of harm to both, for there is many solemn promises and engagements betwixt us, unaccountable to be expressed/' The Spiritual Court re- quiring him to give bail not to speak to the said young woman, nor to be in her company but in church and market, that, he says, "is a thing your petitioner (if in prison for LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 835 ever) can never get, for nobody will bail him on that account ; CHAP. but as for giving bail to perform censure, your petitioner is — — ready to do so at any time, but especially before Easter, that he may receive the blessed Sacrament/' The Bishop's indorsement is, — " The petitioner has been presented in no less than three parishes for his lewd, scandalous, and wicked behaviour with this woman, to the great offence of all good Christians, and in defiance of every thing that is decent and modest among honest people. Therefore until he gives good security not to converse with her but as the Court has ordered, we cannot let him be at liberty to be a scandal to public order and Christianity, as he has hitherto been, notwith- standing the good advice and order given him. — Dated at Bishop's Court, April 12, 1736." In September of the same year, a couple not presenting themselves, but being presented by the Rector and Wardens of Ballaugh, for antenuptial fornication, the woman is enjoined, as in former instances, to receive admonition, and make open acknowledgment before Churching ; the man to perform one penance at the same time. In October a sad story occurs. A man who had been censured, and had seemed very penitent, twenty-two years before, — " having, to the scandal of the Christian religion, for his relapse into adultery, been a long time under the censures of the Church, without any sign of amendment, but rather going on to add sin to sin, as appears by a presentment of the Minister and wardens of Lezayre, whereby we were given to understand that on Easter-Day last he, with several other loose persons, did most scan- dalously profane the Lord's Day, by meeting in an ale-house during service of that solemn festival, and did there drink and riot in such a manner that an unhappy young man was wounded, and in danger of being murdered — for which crime the said offenders have been censured without any great prospect of their reformation, and for which, with his other enormities, the said ■ ■ has most justly made himself liable to the dreadful sentence of excommuni- cation ; — but forasmuch as the Church is not willing to proceed to this last remedy for his amendment and salvation, we do hereby give him notice and time until the nest Court of Correction, to con- sider and lay to heart the great danger he is in of being cut off from the Church, which is the Body of Christ, and from all hopes 3 II 2 836 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, of salvation, if he shall not by a timely and true repentance return • to his duty and a sober life. In the meantime he is prohibited from coining nearer than the doors of any of the Churches of this isle, and we desire and require the Minister and wardens, and other sober and grave persons of the parish, to observe his behaviour, that they may not, as they will answer it to God, give such cer- tificates as the law requires, without a moral assurance of his re- formation during the time above-mentioned." It may be accidental, but it seems rattier a disheartening circumstance, that in none of these instances is any sub- mission or absolution of the offenders recorded. Perhaps there was a vague idea gone abroad of the law having been relaxed by the new statute, and people thought they might take liberties. In after years, as the true amount of the change came to be understood, the submissions follow the sentences as before. Thus at Kirk Marowne, June 17, 1739, a relapsed penitent having stood for four Sundays in the prescribed habit at the church door, is to be received in the usual form; the Bishop adding in a significant tone (for he had not much confidence in the minister) : — "I desire you to observe her way of life for the future, as you value her soul and your own, lest for want of proper advice, ad- monition, and insti'uction, she fall into the sin she has repented of." To another clergyman, of whom he had a higher opinion, lie writes in a like case more trustfully, accepting his as- surance that the offender had performed his first penance in all appearance after a hopeful manner, and that he was very desirous to communicate at Easter. " This, at his very earnest request, is laid before your Lordship, to have directions in the case to your Lordship's very dutiful son, " Hen. Allen." " March 18, 1740. " Sir, — You will act in this case as God shall direct you for His glory and the offender's salvation ; and I hope you will have an eye to his future conduct, and whether he behaves himself as a penitent ought to do. And may Almighty God give him a true sense of his sins, which are not less damnable because so common, to the scandal of Christianity and the ruin of souls. "I am, your affectionate friend and brother, " Tho. Sodok and Man." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 837 Here may be not improperly inserted a rule which he c H A P. had laid down many years before, in his memoranda for the — — — Con vocation of 1725 f : — " To shew the ill consequence of receiving penitents too hastily. They ought not to he received (after they notoriously broke their baptismal vow) till they have given such tokens of repentance, by an holy life, as would be sufficient to warrant their being baptized, if they had been till then in a state of heathenism." Episcopalia supplies another and a more serious case, — John Macnameer, of Lezaire, sentenced to penance through all the churches on the north side of the island, for adultery with his wife's sister. He submitted and was received, Dec. 13, 1737. Of the excommunications during the same period — six in Excommu- number — we may say that all seem to have done their work, under the humanly speaking, in bringing the parties to repentance. Atho1 First, Catherine Crow, an unhappy woman of Kirk Maughold, ment: who for many years had been leading a most profligate life, ^rst of. brings down upon herself the last sentence of the Church by Crow. bearing a fourth child out of wedlock while under censure for former relapses. And the Bishop in declaring the sen- tence explains, (for the benefit doubtless of the poor ignorant class to which the woman herself belonged,) that by it " she is prohibited from going into any church or chapel where God is worshipped, and if she shall presume to do so any Sunday or holy-day in time of Divine Service, the Minister is to forbear proceeding in his ministrations till the wardens shall put forth so unworthy a person from among them. And we do hereby strictly require our brethren of the clergy, to whom these presents shall come, to signify to their respective congregations what methods we have been obliged to take, and to make them sensible of the evil and dangerous condition of the offender, whilst she continues under this dreadful censure. And they are likewise to exhort their people to avoid her company, and not to converse with her on any account, except it be to endeavour to convince her of her sin, and to reduce her to a better state, lest they also be partakers of her wickedness, and draw upon themselves the like just sentence and punishment." f Preserved at the end of Episcopalia. 838 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. This is dated June 10, 1740 : and by Feb. 16, the Saturday XXIV- before Lent, Mr. Allen being enabled to certify " that he is in good hope that the said offender is become sensible of the dangerous condition she is in, by being cut off from the ccm- munion and society of Christian people, as also that he believes her to be truly sorrowful for her sinful life, and resolved, by the grace of God, to avoid all temptation for the time to come ; the Church being always willing and desirous mercifully to receive all such as have fallen into sinful practices, when they return to their duty, and where there is any hopes of amendment of life : " Cath. Crow aforesaid is admitted to stand at the church door in penitential habit on the Lord's Day, which course of penance she is to begin the next Sunday, and so to continue until Palm- Sunday ; and then, after she has given very sufficient testimony of her repentance, she is to be received into the peace of the Church." The Bishop accompanies this with a more private note to the Yicar : — " Mr. Allen, — You will call to mind that this unhappy woman was complained of for frequenting of several houses where she gave great offence and unquietness : you will admonish her of this, not only in private, but openly when you receive her into the peace of the Church; and let her know that if ever she should be presented again, she can- not be received into the Church till her death, if then. At the same time you will comfort her with an assurance that it is with great pleasure and joy that she has given us this occasion of receiving her into the family of Christian people, which is the Church of God, where, if it is not her own fault, she will have all the means of salvation. Advise her to keep constantly to the service of God on the Lord's day, the breach of the Sabbath being generally the beginning of all wickedness. You will take especial care to re- ceive her by the Form for Receiving Penitents. I pray God give His blessing to you and your labours. " I am, your affectionate friend and brother, " Tho. Sodok and Man." A Jew cen- About the same time he had to issue a document, which Wasphemy. wou^ nave ^een a sentence of excommunication had it re- lated to a Christian : — " At a Consistory Court held in Kirk Michael, Nov. 7, 1740. " Whereas Bernard Frank, a Jew, who travels about the coun- try as a pedlar or chapman, has been convicted before us of utter- ing at several times most daring and execrable blasphemies against LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 839 our Blessed Saviour, such as were never heard of before, and can- not be mentioned without the greatest abhorrence, and which we find he has taken pains to propagate, in order to stagger and cor- rupt the faith of our people : "We have thought fit to order, and do accordingly require you to make publication in your respective con- gregations, that no person whatever shall presume to keep company or converse with the said Bernard Frank, (except to relieve the necessities of life,) under pain of the severest ecclesiastical censure. And of this all ministers and churchwardens are to take especial notice, that presentment may be made of such persons as shall eat, drink, or converse with the said blasphemer. — Dat. ut supra. " Tho. Sodor and Man. John Cosnahan. Edward Moore." " To the several Bectors, Vicars, Chaplains, and Curates of this Diocese." By the man's name he was a German Jew. He answered by a humble petition, the result of which is not on record : — " Your poor petitioner, in the most extreme distress both of body and mind, throws himself at your Lordship's feet, beseeching you, by the love of God and all His holy prophets, to shew your peti- tioner mercy and compassion, which Christianity and our common Scriptures teaches to extend even to our greatest enemies. Brov. xxv. 21, 22. " That the censure against your petitioner being more grievous than death itself, must shortly affect his life with sorrow and misery, his punishment being greater than he is able to bear. " That notwithstanding this, your petitioner is clear before God and his own conscience from ever entertaining the least irreverent thought of Jesus Christ, whom I always esteemed a messenger of God, and His great Brophet sent for the good of mankind, and to teach them the way to God. " That your petitioner cannot pretend to justify himself against the positive oaths of two men, who in drink might have misappre- hended your petitioner's discourse, (as is very possible for people in drink to do,) and at the same time exclaiming highly against the Jews, might have urged your petitioner in passion to say that thing he meant not, remembers not, thought not, believes not. "Your petitioner therefore begs leave to assure your Lordship that he is so far from being an enemy to the name Jesus, that he is heartily sorrowful, and begs God's pardon, your Lordship's, and every good Christian's, for the great offence he might have un- wittingly committed, of which, as the great God shall judge him 840 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C II A P. and his enemies, lie is not in the least conscious that any such ' • wickedness was ever in his mouth, much less in his heart. 'Tor your Lordship's further satisfaction herein, and the ease of your petitioner's mind, he also beseeches that he may be admitted into your Lordship's presence with one or both of the Vicar-Generals to explain himself further to your Lordship ; which he hopes to do in such a manner as may induce your Lordship to remove the heavy burden, under the intolerable load of which his anguish is unutter- able both in soul and body ; and your petitioner as in duty bound shall for your Lordship's welfare and prosperity ever pray, &c." "N.B. Thomas Christian was censured and punished for enter- taining the above-named Bernard Frank in contempt of the order dated Nov. 7, 1740." Excom- The next case is that of a " popish priest," for celebrating of a Popish a clandestine marriage in 1743, in a private house in Douglas, Priest. without banns, licence, or consent of parents. The man having disappeared was declared excommunicate ipso facto, "until by his submission and acknowledgment of his offence, and the scandal given to this part of the Holy Catholic Church, he shall make satisfaction." (Observe how carefully by this expression the Bishop claims reality for both Communions.) This sentence bears date Nov. 2. The bride and bridegroom and witnesses to the marriage had long before submitted themselves to discipline, declaring that at the time of their marriage they knew not that it was illegal, much less that it would incur excommunication; and the affair closes with the following memorandum from the Vicar of the parish, who was also Vicar- General : — " Kirk Braddan, Sept. 4, 1743. " The petitioners having this day behaved themselves after a be- coming manner plena Ecclesia, and acknowledging themselves sorry for the offence given, regard being had to their youth, their igno- rance, and penitence, their transgression is forgiven. And by direc- tion to me from our Right Reverend Diocesan, they are accordingly received into the peace of the Church. " John Cosnahan." The contract of course was valid ; the Marriage Act of George II., and its acceptance by the Manx people, dating several years later. of the par- The tllir(i case is one witll hicl Bishop Wilson had not ties to an r incestuous seldom to do, and which he ever speaks of with the deepest marriage. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 811 dread and abhorrence — a man cohabiting with his wife's CHAP. XXTV sister. The parties had been years before presented for this '— incest, — had made acknowledgement and promises, and sub- mitted to censures. But now, Aug. 9, 1744, — "forasmuch as the godly methods taken by the Church to awaken and reclaim these sinners have not had the desired effect upon them ; that they are incorrigible, hardened in sin, and regardless of their souls, though their crimes are so great as to give offence to all sober Christians, and even cry to heaven for vengeance : " In the Name of God, and by the authority committed to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, we pronounce and declare the said John Kinley and Jony Shimin to be excommunicated and shut out from the communion of all faithful Christians ; and may Almighty God, who by His Holy Spirit hath appointed this sentence for removing of scandals and offences out of His Church, and for reducing of sin- ners to a sense of their sin and danger, make this censure effectual to all the good ends for which it was ordained." Then follow the usual directions about exclusion from the Church and avoidance by the faithful. By the 14th of January the}r had asked for penance and reconciliation, and their repentance being well attested by the Vicar and Wardens of their parish, (Malew) : — " In great hope," (says the Bishop to the Vicar,) " that by the good Spirit of God these persons are truly affected with a sense of their sin and danger, and that their promises and resolutions will by the grace of God be sincere and lasting, as we followed the ex- ample of the Apostle in casting them out of the Church for their obstinacy and impenitency, we are willing to follow the same Apo- stle's advice when we are persuaded of the sincerity of their repent- ance. They are therefore, with a meekness becoming persons sen- sible of their great crimes, to observe the following directions : The woman (whom we have cause to believe gives great tokens of penitency) is admitted and ordered to stand at the church door in penitential habit, on the Lord's Day during the time of Divine Service, which course of penance she is to begin forthwith, and so to continue until Palm Sunday, and then, provided she does during this time give very sufficient testimony of repentance, she is to be received into the peace of the Church, according to the form ap- pointed for receiving penitents." The like directions follow for the man. " And may God Almighty give a blessing to you and your labours." 8i2 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. » CHAP. We come now to a history which might well be called — '- — tragical if it were not too shocking : — Of a father and daugh- " John Cowle of Kirk Andrew's having been guilty of the abomi- ter, for in- . . . J cest. nable sin of incest, and that in the most unnatural manner, and dreadful to be mentioned, with Christian Cowle, his own daughter, who has borne a child unto him ; the said sin acknowledged by them both in court, where upon their knees they lamented their unhappy condition with bitter wailing and with tears, praying for mercy from God, and the forgiveness of all good Christians, whom they had offended by so very grievous a crime ; as this is a sin dreadful to be named, and which, if not censured with severe and exemplary discipline, may draw down upon us the righteous judg- ments of Cod, because of such vile and detestable impurities com- mitted in our land ; that we may do all that in us lieth to save this Church and nation from the vengeance of so crying a sin, that we may excite a just terror in the hearts of our people against the very dangerous and unseen mischiefs of the sins of unclean- ness, and that these unhappy sinners may be awakened to a true sense of their guilt and danger : " In the Name of God, and by the authority committed to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, we pronounce and declare the said John Cowle and Christian Cowle to be excommunicated and shut out from the communion of all faithful Christians." The clergy are further required " very seriously to warn their congregations against the dangerous and dismal conse- quences of the sins of uncleanness, and that we have great reason to fear that those very sins have been a temptation to murders, and to perjuries, and to many other crying sins." Dated Bishop's Court, March 13, 1749. Circumstances afterwards drew out strongly the feel- ings of the tender-hearted judge towards these wretched criminals : — " Kirk Michael, May 12, 1749. " On consideration of the poverty of this poor unhappy man, he is after four days in confinement to give bonds of £3 ad us urn Domini, that he will not hereafter converse, or accompany, or be seen with his daughter Christian Cowle upon any pretence what- ever ; as also that he will attend at the church door in the most humble and devout manner every Sunday and Holy-day for a twelve- month to come, lamenting his unhappy condition, and shewing signs of true repentance, and likewise that he will undergo such LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 843 further censure as the Church shall see good to order, for the glory CHAP, of God, and the eternal welfare of his soul. XXIV. " Edw. Mooee." " To the Constable of Peele Castle." Half a year after : — " Kirk Andrew's, November 12, 1749. " Sir, — The poor unhappy woman that was guilty of the heinous sin of incest has departed this life under the just sentence of ex- communication. To what is proper to be done in the case I am a stranger, therefore must beg your directions per bearer. " I am, Sir, your most humble servant, "Vm. MrLKEA," [Curate of Kirk Andrew's.] [To the Rev. E. Moore.] " Nov. 12, about eight o'clock at night. " Dear Sir, — I must refer you to the rubric before the Office for the Burial of the Dead for directions in the unhappy case you men- tion, where you will find it thus : ' Here is to be noted, that the en- suing office is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excom- municate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.' This is the rule laid down by the Church, and as long as we act accordingly we are not to be blamed. " I am, Sir, your brother and servant, " Edw. Moore." [To the Eev. W. Mylrea.] "To the Eight Reverend Father in God, Tho. Sodor and Man, Lord Bishop of this Isle. " The humble petition of the relations of Christian Cowll of Kirk Andrews, viz. Phill Kenred, Tho. Lace, Win. Cowll, &c. J " Sheweth, " That the abovesaid Christian Cowll has (as well to your peti- tioners' as all other true Christians' sorrow) departed under the dreadful sentence of excommunication for the most unnatural and heinous sin of incest, from which God of His mercy deliver us all. However this unhappy woman by all the parish was looked upon in all her behaviour to be but a mere idiot, therefore have the charity to attribute this her dreadful miscarriage thereto ; yet in her performance of penance at the church door, and especially upon her death-bed, in all appearance [she] shewed deep marks of con- trition, and a fervent desire to be buried among Christians ; which inclines the subscribers to think that she deserves to have at least 844 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, the room of a grave in the outermost part of the churchyard, [such] XXIV- as may be no way offensive to any of her parish, and altogether re- mote from other graves : and that this may be granted is the humble desire of your sorrowful petitioners, which granted will oblige their devotions for your Lordship's health and happiness. " We humbly certify that we, as well as other people, alway looked upon the deceased to be a poor ignorant woman, as witness our names, Nov. the 13th, 1749." (Signed by the wardens.) " To the Wardens of Kirk Andrew's. " On consideration of what is represented to us in this petition, and that we are very credibly informed that this poor unhappy woman has expressed great sorrow for her very heinous sin, and that she submitted to the censure which the Church had laid upon her in order to her being admitted into Christian communion, by standing in penitential habit without the church door, with great humility, as testified to us by some good Christians, we think fit to suffer her corpse to be buried in some remote part of the church- yard, according to the prayer of this petition. — Dated at Bishop's Court, November 14, 1749. " Tho. Sodor and Man." It seems to have been understood by all parties that ex- communicated persons ought not even to be buried in the churchyard. A year after, the Curate and Wardens state that the man has so far performed his penance : " but with what inward contrition is hard to certify, nature having not endowed him (nor his daughter) with common sense like other people." They remind the Bishop (who they seem to think would need a good deal of persuasion) of God's giving Samuel "liberty to tell the Israelites, even when they had added to their sins, that, they should not fear, if they would thence- forth serve the Lord with all their heart. Let it be your Lordship's good pleasure also to say the same to this poor penitent, who in all appearance is by God's assistance re- solved to beg His pardon, and to serve Him truly all the remaining time of his uncomfortable life." Mr. Mylrea adds, — " My Lord, — I have repeatedly both in public and private ad- monished the within petitioner John Cowle, whose humble and submissive behaviour, with tokens of contrition during the per- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 845 formance of his most justly deserved censure, induceth me to be- CHAP. . XXIV. lieve him sincerely penitent." — '— The Bishop, March 8, 175*, writes :— " It will be a proper time to receive this unhappy man into the peace of the Church towards the latter end of this solemn fast. Let him therefore be received the Sunday next before Palm-Sunday, and may our merciful God give him a sense of his sin and a re- pentance answerable to the measure of reason and understanding he has received ! I hope you will admonish your Wardens to have an eye to his frequenting the church after he shall be received, which will be the best proof he is like to give of his penitence, considering the slowness of his understanding." This case, like that of Katherine Kinread, long before, The last seems to shew how discipline might help us to deal with ™ f*" •_ persons of very slow understanding, yet not quite bereft of cations, responsibility. The two which remain are nearly identical womeu> with the first. Two women, the one of Peeltown, St. Ger- main's, the other of Kirk Maughold, are excommunicated after frequent relapses ; in the first case, after many down- falls extending over many years, in spite of Church censures, and great pains taken to reclaim her. Yet the Bishop, on her earnest petition, writes, — "In great hope that her promises and resolutions are sincere, and that she may be satisfied that the Church has no other end in inflicting this censure but the saving of her soul from eternal death ; and that it will be cause of great joy to us and to all good Chris- tians to receive her again, when we can be persuaded of the sin- cerity of her repentance ; we have thought fit to order, that for four Sundays next to come, the petitioner is to stand without the church door during the time of Divine Service, giving all possible tokens of repentance ; at which time the minister is to lay before her the sad estate she hath fallen into, and the necessity of forsaking her sins, and of leading a new life. He is also to advise her to ob- serve constantly the service of God on the Lord's Day, the breach of the Sabbath being generally the beginning of all wickedness. After she has submitted to this, in order to her being absolved, and received into the peace of the Church, she is with a meekness and humility becoming one truly sensible of her errors, in penitential manner to perform four Sundays' penance within the church, when, if she behave herself to the satisfaction of the Minister, the War- 816 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, dens, and the good people of the parish, she is to be received into Christian communion." And all was duly performed. The last of Bishop Wilson's excommunications, — indeed his last definite act of discipline, as far as the records inform us, — took place March 8, 175t. The subject of it was Margaret Joughin, of Kirk Maughold, — such another apparently as Catherine Crow above-mentioned, — who had been sentenced for lewdness and stood at the church-door for three Sundays in 1745. The good-natured Vicar, Henry Allen, and the "Wardens, believed her penitent. The Bishop granted relief, but not without misgivings : — " Oct. 10, 1745. " ITr. Allen, — That this unhappy woman may not deceive herself, the Church, nor you her pastor, by a false penitence, you will, I hope, think it your duty to enquire strictly into her future behaviour, for- asmuch as if she relapseth into this or any other crying sin, for which she shall be presented, her next censure must be excommu- nication, the greatest punishment the Church can inflict. In the meantime she is to perform penance in your church on Sunday next, and the Sunday following she may be received into the Church according to the Form established for Receiving Penitents.'''' The italics seem to indicate that the clergyman addressed was not always exact in rubrical forms, as the whole letter does that he was a very indulgent person. The misgivings were amply justified. The poor woman spent the next five years so, that on June 15, 1750, the Bishop was obliged to excommunicate her ; the sentence reciting that " notwithstanding the many admonitions given her, and the great pains taken to reclaim her, she continues to lead a very lewd and scandalous life without any tokens of reformation — having while under the censures of the Church been guilty of a third relapse in the sin of fornication ;" and that " for the removal of the great scandal hereby given to the Church of Christ, and that the sinner may be awakened to consider the danger she is in, that she may by a true repentance make her peace with God, and that her soul may be saved in the day of the Lord, we find ourselves obliged to de- nounce the dreadful sentence." After a time she seemed to repent in earnest, and the Register of 175t contains her petition to be admitted to penance and restored, sent in probably about the beginning LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 847 of Lent. She professes to have " continued since last May CHAP. • XXIV Courts under fearful apprehensions of being called to ac- — count before she could have given satisfaction for the great scandal she has so often given." The Vicar, now* a Mr. Thomas Allen, the third successively of that surname, and the four Wardens, add their testimony, and the Bishop con- sents, but with a significant admonition : — " Reverend Sir, — I am very much concerned that I did not see the presentment made of this unhappy woman's second relapse into this sin of fornication : I would hope that, through the grace of God, we might have prevented this third. I beg you will let your people know that in order to discountenance these most scandalous crimes in a Christian country, we shall be obliged to use the same method with all such as shall fall into such crimes as these a second time ; and it will be your Wardens' duty (and I know it will be yours) to have a watchful eye over this person's conduct for the future, that it may witness for the sincerity of her petition, lest God should give her up to a reprobate mind, and she be ruined for ever, which God forbid ! "You know the discipline of this Church requires that first she is to stand in penitential habit at the door of the church, and there to be admonished, and the Sunday following to do penance in the church, and afterwards to be received into the peace of the Church, if her behaviour be such as becomes a sincere penitent. " I do not question, but upon this mournful occasion you will say something very awakening to your people, for I see this wicked- ness is too too common in your parish. May Almighty God bless your endeavour to put a stop to these damning wickednesses. " I am, your affectionate friend and brother, " Tho. Sodou and Man. " The above Margaret Joughin received into the peace of the Church by Thos. Allen, Vicar." And thus we take leave of Bishop Wilson as an adminis- trator of Church discipline. This, as far as the records tell us, is his farewell word in that capacity, — uttered in the eighty-eighth year of his age, but bearing no mark, that I can see, of decay or feebleness. I wish it could be said, that in respect of the occasion which called them forth, we in this civilized enlightened England of ours needed them less than the poor rude Manxmen did then. 848 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAPTEE XXV. THE BfcSHOP ADVISING LADY E. HASTINGS. PETTY SCHOOLS AND OTHER CHARITIES IN MAN. 1737—1748. CHAP. Whatever might be the shortcomings of the clergy — or others entrusted with Church discipline in the island, the Bishop, it is clear, went on bravely so far as his health would allow. The Episcopalia failing us, we have no regular report of his doings, but we may trace him from time to time, always the same, in the annual Convocations, in educational work, and in such fragments as remain of his correspondence and family history. Whether or no he had missed his in- tended visit to Ledstone Hall in 1735, there is no doubt that he was constantly in communication with its noble-minded mistress, especially on the plans which filled her heart for making the most of her property when she should be gone. Dr. Wilson (who perhaps entered more entirely into his father's views on matters of that kind than on points of Church doctrine and discipline) notes a conversation be- tween himself and a legal friend, Mr. Verney, Chief Justice of Chester : — "July 2, 1736. He told me that any person may leave what sum he will to corporations or otherwise, and leave it entirely to their honour whether they will lay it out in land in perpetuum or no, but nothing of that must be mentioned in the deed or will of bequest. This must be the method that Lady Hastings, &c. is to take." He refers [inter alia) to her engagement recorded by his father six years before : — " Sept. 20, 1730. The Lady Betty Hastings, by my desire, has promised twenty pounds per annum, after her death, to the petty schools in my diocese s." One letter of hers on this subject has been already given : two others, of a much later date, are also preserved in the Kirk Michael Registry. It appears that the Bishop had written to her early in 1737, at which time the trouble in the Church of Man concerning the impropriations was at its * Cruttwell, p. xdv. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 849 height, with this sore aggravation, that it came just when CHAP, a breathing time had been looked for in consequence of the — XXV' change of dynasty. This is her reply : — "Ledstone, May 19, [1736.] " My Lord, — Yours of the 14th of April I received two posts ago, for which you have my most sincere thanks. I am grieved you yet struggle under such difficulties in regard to the state of your diocese. There has been a report, but whether it had any founda- tion I know not, that the King was about purchasing the Isle of Man h. If so, I should hope your Lordship would be made easier in every respect. But however that is, I am persuaded all is working toge- ther for your greater degree of glory in a better life ; and the ex- ample you give of Christian courage, of strong faith, and patient resignation to the Divine will, must, I trust, have a happy influence on all that either see or hear of it. " Sometime after I wrote last to your Lordship, I received a letter from Mr. Wilson in relation to the pious work you are now upon, and I blame myself for not having sooner informed you of my readi- ness to be a contributor to it. But as I have set apart some of my estate for uses of piety and charity, will it not be as well to leave a charge of £5 per annum, or bushels of wheat to that value, out of my estate, as to leave £100 in money to be laid out for that purpose in your island ? If not, apprise me of it. I will, as long as you and I live, my Lord, answer £5 yearly, whenever you acquaint me such a sum is wanted, for the widows or children of clergymen in your diocese. " I shall observe your directions in regard to what I leave to your petty schools, and shall be vastly obliged to your Lordship for the rules and orders you have given to the masters of the free school you have erected and endowed at Burton, in Cheshire, and beg I may receive them with your first conveniency. " I have determined my exhibitions to Queen's College, and not to Edmond Hall. I can't pretend to oblige the exhibitioners to go as missioners ; but would give all the encouragement I could to those who shewed so much zeal for the cause of religion as to do it. " The great and good Mrs. Asbell died at .Chelsea the 9th of this month ; she was five days actually a-dying. Lady Catherine Jones was with her two days before her death ; she then begged to see no more of her old acquaintance and friends, having done with the world, and made her peace with God ; and what she had then to do was to bear her pains with patience, cheerfulness, and entire h Cf. Dr. Wilson's expression, p. 783, — " I can't see that he intends to sell it to the Crown." 8 i 850 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, resignation to the Divine will. Lady Catherine adds that she be- xxv- lieves her words were turned into as perfect an exercise of those virtues as ever mortality arrived at. She was carried off in less than two months, of a dropsy or swelling tympany. She had made a vast progress in the spiritual life for the last two or three years she lived. " I have the truest sense of the many marks you give me of your favour and friendship, and am, with the sincerest esteem, my Lord, your most obliged and most humble servant, " E. Hastings." " Lady Ann, Frances, and Margaret Hastings desire their com- pliments to your Lordship, and I beg mine to Mr. Wilson. I be- lieve you know Miss Fox is married to a worthy son of the good Lord Digby." Lady E. Hastings' economy. The mention of Queen's College relates to a transaction, conducted under Bishop "Wilson's advice, which brings out strongly one characteristic point in this admirable woman, — her considerate, highly-principled economy. Placed, in the very bloom of her youth, virtually at the head of a noble family, she cared for the members of it not only with hos- pitable thought, but with something like parental care, as a sort of chieftainess. " As her house and table were generally adorned by some parts of her family, so she made them all parts of herself, and embraced all her relations according as they stood in the several degrees of blood, with the truest and most tender affection : and she would moreover enquire after and seek out any of the withering and drooping branches of her family, and place them in a new light and a better situation : directing her aim by kindnesses of this nature, to bring them into the lucid path of virtue and religion. And she would do honour to the names and memories of remote ancestors, and inform herself of their public benefactions, and make them of more extensive use and service from her own pious muni- ficence. " But the care of all her cares was the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow ; the needy and he that hath no helper ; the lame, the halt, and the blind." These were her ordinary charities : " Her still larger applications were fixed pensions upon reduced families, exhibitions to scholars in the Universities, the maintenance of her own charity school, her contributions to others, disbursements to the religious societies, for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. OO I Parts, and for Promoting Christian Knowledge at home ; for erec- CHAP. tion, decoration, and augmentation of churches. Add . . . free and . ' . frequent remission of debts in cases of straitness or insolvency ; and flowing plenty and all becoming magnificence ever upheld in the house, and mighty acts of generosity to relations, friends, and to those that were neither. . . . This," adds the formal but plainly not untruthful memorialist, " may be illustrated by instances innu- merable : £500 a-year given to one relation, £3,000 in money to another : three hundred guineas, all the money that at the time was within her reach, and large promises of more, to a young lady who had very much impaired her fortune by engaging in the South-Sea scheme, &c, &c." "All this," we are assured, " was done out of an estate short of £3,000 a-year : a fine part of which yet resteth in her family1." Here, of course, is implied an unwearied attention and a rare skill, to make the most of God's temporal gifts in the way of doing good. Accordingly when her health failed, " her employment very much was, to provide that all her settlements" for after times "might be secured from prosti- tution, and fenced about against spoil and depredation ; and that all her holy, wise and good purposes might be attended with execution and effect. To this end, with unwearied in- dustry she digested, improved, enlarged, and altered several respective schemes, rules, orders, and provisions, and very much from her own dexterity and wisdom." As a specimen of her work in this kind, the biographer Her ex- subjoins the codicil whereby she eventually completed the af Qu°'en-S benefaction to Queen's College of which she speaks in the College. above-quoted letter to the Bishop ; in the body of which document she distinctly acknowledges him as her adviser. Its main provisions therefore, curious in themselves, are doubly entitled to a place here, as recording his deliberate judgment on many material points in Church education. She devises all her manors, lands, and hereditaments in AVheldale, in the West Riding, to the Provost and Scholars of Queen's College in Oxford for ever, subject however to a term of ninety-nine years, determinable upon the lives of certain annuitants; which being expired, £140 a-year is to be paid from the clear rents and profits to maintain five poor scholars, ' Barnard's Historical Character of Lady E. Hastings, pp. 38 — 43, ed. 174-2. 3 i 2 b0.ti LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, each to have £28 per annum. They are to be selected from '— eight schools in Yorkshire — Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford, Beverley, Skipton, Sedbergh, Ripon, and Sherborne ; two in Westmoreland — Appleby and Haversham ; and two more in Cumberland — St. Bees and Penrith. Each to send a candi- date every five years ; not to Oxford, (by reason of the ex- pense,) but to Aberford in Yorkshire, as a convenient place for the electors : the foundress making it her earnest request to three Rectors and four Vicars of parishes in that neigh- bourhood, (Berwick, Spofforth, and Bolton Percy ; Leeds, Ledsham, Thorp- Arch, and Collingham,) to meet there, ex- amine the candidates according to a form minutely specified, and report the result to the College. It was indeed to be a competition not of the individual boys only but of the schools, for the head master of each school was to send with his scholar " a certificate that he had distinguished himself above the rest of the same rank in his school for his morals and learning :" as much as to say, " I send you the flower of my school." Also that he was " well grounded in the principles of the Church of England as by law established ; that he hath competent parts and remarkable industry/' (observe the preference of the heart to the head) ; " and that he hath applied himself to the reading of Greek authors at least four years." He was not to be less than eighteen years old nor more than twenty-one : capable on the one hand of making up his mind to be a clergyman, (for that was the destination of them all,) yet not such an one as might have loitered in doing so. The mode of election is worth trans- scribing, were it ouly for its quaintness and singularity : — " The Rectors and Vicars, at the expiration of every five years, for ever to meet together at the best inn in Abberforth, in the same county, namely, on Thursday in Whitsun-week, before 8 a.m." (The Bishop had chosen the same day for his Convocations : in both instances doubtless having respect to the great Gift of the week.) " Also all the boys to meet at the said best inn at Abber- forth the night preceding the day of nomination, in order to be ready to begin their exercises the next morning. And I intreat the Rectors and Vicars aforenamed will be there half an hour be- fore seven, that they may choose the boys' morning exercise, and put them upon beginning the same by eight of the clock. And my LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 853 will is that their exercise be a part of an oration in Tally, not ex- CHAP, ceeding eight or ten lines, to be translated into English ; and part XXV. of an oration of Demosthenes, about the same number of lines, to be translated into Latin; and two or three verses of the Latin Testament to be translated into Greek. . . . The afternoon's exer- cise shall be upon two subjects : one of practical divinity out of the Church Catechism ; upon which each boy shall give his thoughts in Latin in not fewer than eight lines, nor more than twelve : the other subject, some distinguished sentence of a classic author, upon which each boy shall write two distichs of verses. All which trans- lations and compositions are to be written out fair upon one sheet of paper, and signed with the name of the boy they belonged to ; and then shewed to every nominating Rector and Vicar, who are desired impartially to weigh and consider, and return ten of the best of the said exercises to the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College, . . . who are to choose out of them eight of the best ; which done, the names subscribed to those eight shall be fairly written each in a distinct paper, and the papers rolled up and put into an urn or vase by the Provost, or in his absence by the Vice-Provost or senior Fellow, and after having been shaken well together in the urn, shall be drawn out of the same by some person whom he or they shall appoint. And those five whose names are first drawn shall to all intents and purposes be held duly elected. . . . And though this method of choosing by lot may be called by some superstition or enthusiasm, yet as the advice was given me by an orthodox and pious Prelate of the Church of Eng- land, as leaving something to Providence, and as it will be a means to save the scholars the trouble and expense of a journey to Oxford under too great an uncertainty of ever being elected, I will this method of ballotting be for ever observed." I know not whether this arrangement, evidently designed with all its complications to do the best for the poor scholar with the least outlay of toil and money, was ever acted on throughout, nor how it was found to answer, so far as it was tried. At any rate, it is now quite at an end. Lady Elisabeth's " for ever" has proved no longer in duration than that of other founders and benefactors : I mean in respect of the appeal to Providence, and the examination in the district for which the benefit was intended. The principle indeed of doing away with local preferences, so largely acted on in many collegiate reforms, was happily waived in this instance — happily, I say, for such surely must be the feeling of those 854 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C H A P. who love and revere the foundress and her adviser. As the — — — - — matter is now regulated, the same schools are entitled to send candidates, and the exhibitions (the number of which is doubled, and their annual value shortly to be raised to .€75 each at least) are not to be thrown open except through posi- tive insufficiency in all the candidates : the measure of which is, their not being likely to pass with credit ail the University examinations for the B.A. degree. Arid the charitable pro- vision for saving them expense of travel is so far continued, in that it is made lawful for the college to allow £o or under on that account to each or any of the four best unsuccessful candidates. Neither does it appear — what perhaps might have been most apprehended from the general tenor and spirit of our late academical reforms — that the original purpose of bring- ing them all up to the sacred ministry has been interfered with. Only a very general clause has been substituted for the special directions of the codicil. The ordinance merely says,— " The exhibitioners shall be subject to such regulations only, as to study and instruction, as the Provost and Fellows shall de- termine : provided that such regulations shall always include the study of divinity, according to the principles of the United Church, &c." We may be thankful for the last clause, implying as it does that the foundation is not secularised ; and we need not enquire too nicely whether the word " only" was meant to supersede the directions, surely not unwise nor unsea- sonable, of the foundress : — " As my intention in continuing the exhibitions to each person for five years is to take away from them all necessity of entering precipitately into Holy Orders, and to give them an opportunity of laying in some sort a sound foundation of divine as well as human learning : so my desire is, that for the first four years they apply themselves, as they shall be directed in their College and Univer- sity, chiefly to the arts and sciences, but that the fifth year be em- ployed wholly in divinity, Church history, and the Apostolical Fathers in the original tongues. And it is further required, that from their first admission into the college they be obliged to spend one hour every morning in the study of the Holy Scrip- LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 855 tures, and to write their own explications of such particular CHAP. • XXV places and passages of Holy Scripture as their tutors shall think !_ proper to appoint them ; and which their tutors are required to call for at proper times. And that in a convenient time before the expiration of their fourth year each of them shall be obliged to translate into English such a portion of St. Chrysostom's book Be Sacerdotio (published by Mr. Hughes, or any other better edition if such shall hereafter be published) as the Provost or their tutors shall appoint ; or, if it be thought feasible, to make an abstract of the whole. And I beg of the Provost to recommend this in a par- ticular manner to their tutors. It is also enjoined that as soon as any of them shall have taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts, they shall forthwith apply themselves to the Provost and tutors for their particular directions in their theological studies to qualify them for Holy Orders, and be obliged to make proper abstracts or observa- tions in writing from the several authors they are appointed to read ; which at the end of each term, or at least every half-year, shall be carried by them to the Provost, that he may be a witness of their proficiency, or punish them for their neglect." What is there in all this too medieval, or such as must needs be obsolete ? The one other point in which the ordinance may seem to disturb the original foundation relates to the disposal of any possible surplus. The codicil specifies that " coals are supposed to be in the estate ;" and it directs that when such surplus " shall amount to £60 the Provost shall pay it to any one of the exhibitioners whom he thinks in all respects most deserving of it, at the end of his five years, on his consenting to stay another year in the college to pursue his studies in Divinity : and so on for every additional £60." The rents, as distiuct from other profits, to be applied to the increase of the exhibitioners' stipends. " For experience shews that as the value of land increases the value of money de- creases." The ordinance, in general terms, empowers the college to apply the surplus " in increasing the number of exhibitioners, or to any other purpose connected with the foundation which the Visitor shall approve :" omitting all reference to the special purpose of encouraging theological study. Lady Elisabeth's settlement bears date April 21, 1739, only eight months before her death : so long time had she 856 , LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C FI A P. taken to consider with the good Bishop the particulars of XXV" this charity. It will have been observed that he had sug- gested the founding of missionary scholarships — thereby fol- lowing up what we know to have been all along one of his favourite ideas; and that the suggestion is declined without any reason alleged. But she gave at one time <£500 to the Society for Propagating the Gospel. Returning now to 1737 : the Bishop in reply to her ques- tion, what form her permanent benefaction to his diocese should assume, had preferred an investment in England to one in the island. This appears by her rejoinder : — " Ledstone, Sept. 12, [1737]. " My Lord, — I really rejoice to find, by yours of the 20th of July, that you have had a severe fit of the gout, hoping it will be a means of your enjoying much better health for the future, which, on many accounts, I most ardently wish you, if it be God's will. "As it is most advisable to have the lands in England, I will settle £20 a-year rent-charge out of some lands in this neighbour- hood, for such appointments as you shall direct, and be so good to write to me on that head the first opportunity ; and to prevent loss of time, write also to my counsel, Mr. John Ward, at Capeston in Shropshire, if you can convey a letter safe to his hands. I just saw Mr. Wilson, in the few days I was in London, but the hurry I was in, joined to the excessive heat of the weather, quite exhausted my spirits, and prevented my enjoying any one's company as I wished to have done. I hope that gentleman is now in the wray of prefer- ment. The following paragraph I had the 5th of July last, in a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, [Potter] : — ' No living hath, I think, fallen to the disposal of his Majesty since your Lady- ship was pleased to recommend Mr. Wilson ; but I am in good hope he will succeed on the first vacancy : the contrary, however, shall not happen through any want of my assistance to him.' " I must beg your Lordship's prayers in a particular manner for Lady Catherine's husband, Mr. Wheler, who enters into Priest's orders the next Ember-days. Pie had, in a manner, promised his good father to do it before his death, and I hope he is preparing for the work of the ministry in a right manner. My dear sister says she thinks she ought to esteem herself much more honoured by being united to her dear Mr. Wheler by this accession, than if he had had the greatest of temporal preferment bestowed on him. — I beg your prayers, my good Lord, that all my intentions LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 857 and designs may be overruled by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, CHAP, and that Almighty God will vouchsafe to make me an instrument of some good in the world. " I am with true esteem, my Lord, your Lordship's most faithful and most humble servant, " E. Hastings. '•' Capeston is near Knutsford, in Cheshire, not Shropshire." It so happens that the Bishop's reply to this letter is also forthcoming J : — " Isle of Man, Oct. 21, 1737. " Most honoured Lady, — I had not the honour of your Ladyship's of Sept. 12, till the day before yesterday ; I hope this of mine will have a speedier passage, that it may be no detriment to your Lady- ship's most pious design and charity for this poor place. At the same time that I received your Ladyship's letter, and noble intention for the poor schools and children of my diocese, I had a letter from my son, giving me an account that by his own indefatigable pains, and the kindness of Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, he has at last got intelligence of the deeds we had given over for lost, which he has found to be enrolled in the Records of the Chancery of England : so that we hope when the Earl of Derby, who has possessed himself of the lands given in England as counter-security, knows this, he will do us justice, without the expense and difficulty of contending with too powerful an adversary. " My son, as well as I myself, are exceedingly obliged to your Ladyship for your great concern for his future welfare and settle- ment in the Church. He tells me that he had an offer very lately made him from his Majesty of a living in the fenny parts of Lin- colnshire11, which he has been obliged to decline, both upon his own and wife's account ; ou hers, being of a poor weak constitu- tion, and on his own, having laid himself under obligations to serve a cure of souls himself, and not by a curate, lest, as old Bishop Latimer told King Edward VI. in a sermon, his chaplains, he feared, keeping curates, would go to heaven only by proxy ; which sermon, he tells me, his grandmother had often read to me (sic). He has made the best apology to the Duke of Newcastle he can ; and let what will be the consequence, the motives being laudable, both he and I must be satisfied. Unreasonable pluralities and non- j Through the kindness of the pre- Journal, Sept. 1, 1737: — "Mr. Stone" sent Vicar of Aberf'ord, the Rev. C. P. (the Duke of Newcastle's private Eden, who procured it for the Editor secretary) "told me of the living of from the representatives oi' Lady E. Sutterton being supposed to be vacant Hastings. very soon : bid me enquire about it." k Sutterton, near Boston. In T. VV.'s 858 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, residence were what I instilled into him the hatred of from his ' " ' youth, and I am glad he remembers it. Pursuant to your Lady- ship's most pious intentiou and directions, I have sent this day a copy of the inclosed to your Ladyship's counsel, Mr. Ward, and which I hope will come safe to his hand, and if in your Ladyship's opinion anything be wanting to make effectual your worthy inten- tions, I beg your Ladyship will add it. " I will not forget your Ladyship's requests l relating to Mr. Wheler. Such instances of humility and piety in this age of infi- delity, as they are very rare, they are worthy of great regard. I cannot but mention what I once had from the worthy Mr. Pinch, who upon a certain occasion said, ' I value myself more upon being a priest of the most high God, than for being the son of the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord High Chancellor of England.' " I am abashed at your Ladyship's concorn for the health of so worthless a creature as I know myself to be ; I bless God I enjoy as good a state of health as I have done this twenty years past ; but old age will bring us to our end without many ailments, and as a penitent criminal under the righteous sentence of death, I hope I shall resign my life a sacrifice of obedience, in union with that of my Saviour's, at what time and manner God pleases ; beseeching Him that we may one day meet in Paradise in hopes of a blessed resurrection. " My most humble service to the honourable ladies your Lady- ship's sisters, and if I do not presume too much upon your Lady- ship's goodness, my kind respects to Mrs. Sarah Hole, if alive and with your Ladyship, for whom she had the justest respect and duty. I beg your Ladyship will pardon the hurry in which I am obliged to write, or miss this opportunity. " I am, most honoured lady, your Ladyship's most obliged and most humble servant, " Tho. Sodok and Man. " To the Right Hon. the Lady Elisabeth Hastings, at Ledstone, near Leeds in Yorkshire. Turn at Warrington, Hallyfax Bagg." Dec. 14, 1738, Lady Elisabeth executed a deed of settle- ment of certain manors, lands, and tenements in Collingham, Shadwell, and Burton Salmon, in the West Riding, for the following among many other charitable uses : — " Being informed that several petty schools within the diocese of the Isle of Man are very meanly provided for, the masters and 1 "Commands" was the first word — it is traceable in the blot under "re- quests." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 859 mistresses having little or no encouragement to do their duty, inso- CHAP. much that many of the people being poor, their children are desti- • tute of instruction and such learning as is even necessary for the meanest Christian ; and it having been also represented to the said Lady E. Hastings that it would be a work of charity very accept- able to God to contribute towards remedying so great a calamity ; she therefore appoints the yearly sum of £20 to be paid to the Bishop of Man for the time being, in trust, to be by him distributed every year at Easter, (and during the vacancy of a Bishop, or for want of the Bishop's direction, by the two Vicars-General,) to such masters or mistresses of petty schools there as do not receive the Royal bounty, who shall produce certificates yearly, under the hands of the Vicar or Incumbent, and Churchwardens of their parish, of their diligence in discharge of their duties for the petty schools of the said isle hereinafter mentioned, (the others being provided for by the Royal bounty) ; viz., the petty schools of Kirk Michael, Jurby, Lezayre, Maughold (the school to be kept near the Church), Lonan, Onchan, Braddan (the school to be kept near the Church), Marown, Santan, Malew, Arbory, Rushen, Patrick, and German (the school to be kept in some convenient place remote from the town of Peel), on such conditions as are hereinafter men- tioned and contained." [The conditions are the same as in the decree touching the legacy, shortly to follow.] Evidently the good Bishop had few things nearer his heart impulse than the welfare of these humble institutions, the petty or f^,ec" t ° dames' schools which he had provided for by canon in every i» Man. parish. Here is his licence to the first teacher of Mrs. Margaret Christian's endowed school at Sulby, in Lezaire parish : — " These are therefore to authorize you, Jane Curghy, to teach school in that part of the parish aforementioned, and to instruct the children in learning and good manners. We expect you will be diligent in teaching them the Church Catechism and their prayers, and that you will from their childhood bring them up in the fear of God. And for your encouragement in so doing, you are hereby empowered to demand and receive the interest of the £40 aforenamed as the same becomes due quarterly or yearly. As also to receive from the parents or guardians of the children such sums as you can further agree upon. This license is to continue during our pleasure, and whilst you shall behave as becometh. — Given under our hand and seal at Bishop's Court this 29th October, 1739." XXV 860 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C HA P. Evidently also this (of village schools) was a point on which he met with unusual sympathy from his flock : much more, I fear we must confess, than he could have looked for in a Saxon population. Especially when the noble Lady's endowment, doubling the annual pension, begins to take place, there is a perceptible increase in the number of entries touching schools in the Register. She died Dec. 22, 1739, and in the Convocation of the ensuing year at Bishop's Court, May 29, her bequest was promulgated : — " At the annual Convocation held at Bishop's Court on Thurs- day in Whitsun-week, May 29, 1740. " The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop does now signify to the clergy in Convocation, that the Right Honourable Lady Elizabeth Hastings has in her will left the sum of £20 per annum towards the maintenance of petty schools within this diocese upon the fol- lowing conditions : — " 1st, That the masters of the said schools do constantly do their duty according to the purport of the license granted by the Bishop of Man or his substitutes ; and that this may be known, every master or mistress shall yearly and every year apply to the vicar or in- cumbent of their respective parishes (who are by law obliged to visit their schools the first week in every quarter) for a certificate in these words, viz. ' that such vicars or incumbents have respec- tively visited the said schools in their respective parishes according to the laws and constitutions of 1703, and that the children have been carefully taught, and do improve in learning and good man- ners, are taught to say their prayers and Catechism, and do duly attend the public service of the Church ;' which certificate is to be signed by such vicar or incumbent. And if such masters or mis- tresses shall not desire and obtain, and bring every year to the Bishop, or in his absence, to his Vicars-General, such certificates, then the part of this charity appointed for the master or mistress so neglecting shall be divided amongst such masters and mistresses as shall bring the same. " 2ndly, That this chai'ity shall not upon any pretence whatever lessen the payment of forty shillings a-year to the said schools out of the impropriations, whenever they or the value of them shall be recovered or restored to the Church ; nor shall this charity be un- derstood to excuse such parents as are able from paying such sums quarterly as the law appoints, or shall be agreed upon betwixt the masters or mistresses and parents of such children. " That these conditions may be strictly observed, his Lordship LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 861 does now further signify to the clergy, and require them to give CHAP. particular notice of these rules (by reading the same) to their re- ' spective masters or mistresses, and to observe the same themselves upon pain of ecclesiastical censure ; and further to acquaint them that his Lordship is fully resolved, that no part of this charity, nor of the Royal bounty, shall be given to any of such masters or mis- tresses but to such as shall obtain a certificate quarterly according to the conditions within-mentioned. " A copy hereof is to be sent from the Vicar of Kirk Michael to the Rector of Ballaugh, and so on in course from one clergyman to another, who are to take copies till the same is brought to the Episcopal Registry ; and the several clergymen are to read these rules to their respective masters and mistresses, that the same may be duly observed." Presently people's consciences begin to be more awake to the need of educational reform in their several villages. From Marowne, e. g., a complaint is got up that the school- mistress is incompetent, not being able really to teach the children to divide syllables nor (consequently) to make them read English. The Vicar, they say, had imposed upon his Lordship, and wronged both parents and children by recom- mending her ; " to which your petitioners tamely submitted at that time for want of a better, . . . but now feel the melan- choly effects thereof." And they " throw themselves at the Bishop's feet," beseeching him " for the love of Jesus Christ" to allow them a fit person to discharge that office : " whom," they add, " with submission we will recommend to your Lordship." In this latter clause the pith of the matter seems to lie ; for when the Bishop in reply had directed his Vicar- General Cosnahan to visit the school, and the enquiry had taken place in presence of the principal inhabitants, the answer was as downright as possible : — " The Vicar has not imposed upon your Lordship. Anne Callin has been publicly examined, and is qualified to teach an English school. It appears that she has been diligent beyond some school- masters, because her scholars read well, and repeat the Catechism distinctly." Plainly the movement was a sort of parochial job, to get some favoured person into the place. On another point which they objected to the good dame they got an answer 862 LIFE OF BTSHOP WILSON. CHAP, which probably they little expected. They had complained — — of her house being situate in a remote corner of the village ; upon which — "Mr. Vicar-General was to signify to the parishioners that it is expected that a school-house shall he built in a convenient place near the church within a reasonable time : otherwise, that Lady Eliz. Hastings her bounty cannot be continued unto them." In consequence they propose to erect a school-house in the churchyard. The parishioners of Malew petition at the same time, evidently shewing both by their syntax and orthography that there had indeed been some great neglect of school- keeping among them. One of their allegations is curious: — • " Robert Quayle keeps no school, though he yearly receives the salary ; which they would not much mind, could they but have the liberty at their own expense to put their children to one who would teach them : but when they try to do so, the said Quayle sues the other teacher at law. . . . Would he be at the pains to teach our children, and as careful to get them taught as he is to hinder their teaching, we would have a good school." It would seem that the episcopal licence was understood to convey a monopoly of teaching. In this case, apparently, the complaint was better grounded. " Robert Quayle faithfully promised to be very diligent," and some of the petitioners to provide a school-house near Ballasalla, until a new one might be built. The Bishop at the same time was turning his mind towards his own parish of St. German : his own, because it was the place of his see, and in his patronage, and he all along had shewn a peculiar interest in it. On May 9, 1740, he signi- fied to the parishioners that there being no public school- house, and a small legacy for a school, they should choose on Holy Thursday six persons who with the Curate should fix upon a site ; that a parcel of land had been offered for the purpose as a gift, in a situation which he approved, and that he would himself contribute forty shillings if they would build there a decent and durable house. Perhaps he felt that it was likely to be a case of leaving all to one cheerful giver, and this may account for the seeming scantiness of his first otter. It proved eventually that the site could only be had LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 8G3 " for a certain consideration," which (as no doubt was an- CHAP. ticipated) the Bishop himself had to provide : and not until ' the end of two years were "undertakers" nominated "to take the voluntary contributions of the people either in day's labour or in money." It was remote from the town of Peel, Lady Elisabeth having so stipulated by the Bishop's request. The "Isle of Man Charities" (1831) mentions no school which answers the description, except it be the parochial school, St. John's Chapel. While this work was going on, the great need of qualified masters as well as of schools had been exemplified in the same parish in the case of one William Tear, master of the petty free school, called Christian's School, in the town of Peel itself. This man had been presented by the Vicar and wardens as a person addicted to drunkenness, and that after many admonitions from the Bishop both personal and by letter, and by monitions through the clergy. It was a scan- dal not only in this place, but in other parts of the diocese. Being cited before a Consistory in his own school-house, he (not being then very sober) declared he would teach no longer, and that my Lord Bishop might put in whom he would, and so forth. He was suspended for six months, with distinct hope of restoration held out if he went on well during that time ; the Bishop however fearing that he was too incorrigibly proud and drunken ever to be restored. Yet upon his keeping himself sober for a few months, after a very commonplace acknowledgment of his fault, the Bishop restores him to his office and stipend ; " during our plea- sure," and with a request and expectation that the clergy and wardens, and principal inhabitants, " as they tender the welfare of the place, the education of their children, and our good intent," watch and report the effect of this indulgence. One plea for dealing with him thus gently was, that "we see the behaviour of the children who were lately under his care is much altered, and not so orderly and becoming since his suspension as before." They had been under the care of the head scholar, the patrons of the school clearly not having much choice. Yet one might have expected ample compe- tition for the place, which had, for that time, a large endow- ment, a clear .€18 per annum. 8G1 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. Ramsey school again at this juncture has a history of its XXV' own : not the petty school of Kirk Maughold parish, which had only just now begun to exist by virtue of Lady Elisa- beth's legacy, but a sort of grammar-school in the town of Ramsey, endowed (as was supposed) since the time of Bishop Barrow, with £10 per annum payable by the Cholmondeleys of Vale Royal, Cheshire. Traces of this stipend appear from time to time in the Registry. It seems to have been re- covered by our Bishop when in danger of lapsing as long ago as 1710m. He being then in Warrington and the neigh- bourhood on account of the Customs, spoke on the 15th of November to Mr. Charles Cholmondeley of Vale Royal, — " About the £10 per annum which he is to pay to Ramsea School. He shewed me a memorandum in one of his father's books, to this purpose ; that he had received from the Bishop of St. Asaph [Bar- row] £170, odd moneys, for the use of the Isle of Man, for which he had given security out of the tithes of Wilford (or some such name), and that he was to pay £6 per cent, for it. And the pre- sent Mr. Ch. Cholmondley assured me that the interest should be paid for the future." Nevertheless, in three years' time the payments to the school were interrupted, and the Bishop had to write to his kinsman in Warrington one of those mingled letters of business and courtesy which flowed from him so naturally : — " Bishop's Court, Dec. 28, 1713. " Dear Cousin, — My cousin Murray favoured me with a sight of your letter concerning Mr. Knipe's moneys. I wras in hopes Mr. Cholmondley would have made no further scruple after he found it in a memorandum in his father's books and own handwriting, (which he was pleased to shew me,) that his father had the moneys, and that he had given security for it. I have now enclosed you all the papers that I have at present by me, with a note of them, which after you have shewed them unto Mr. Cholmondley's steward, I desire you'll keep them safe till I call for them, or order one to call for them out of your hands. ... I pray pardon this great trouble which you have had on this account, and put it on the score of your good actions, which I hope will be paid you hereafter. " I am, with great reason and truth, your very affectionate friend and kinsman, " Tno. Sodoe and Max. " To Mr. Thomas Patten, Merchant, in Warrington." m See Note (A) at the end of this chapter. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 865 All went on duly (as far as we are told) until Feb., 1721. CHAP, when the Bishop notes in Episcopalia, — '. — — " Ramsea school, Mr. Ja. Knipe master. His salary is £10 and the Royal bounty. Then £10 payable by Mr. Chohnondley of Vale Royal, in whose hands (as Mr. Th. Chohn. himself told me) Dr. Barrow, or, by his directions, Bishop Bridgman, put £200, for which he was to pay £10 per annum. But I cannot find out where the bond is, after all my search." In 1739, April 26, he gives " Mr. James Knipe" (whom one may suppose to be the son of the before-mentioned) "a li- cence to teach a Latin and English school at Ramsey." But in the following year (the year of school reform) the Vicar and wardens allege that the school is wholly useless because of Mr. Knipe's disorder and incapacity. The poor man, it seems, was deranged in his mind. The Bisbop is " well satisfied of the truth of this complaint, and of the great inconvenience the town labours under," but says that since he is " licensed he must have a regular hearing, and forwards a token accordingly." Upon examination, long neglect appears, and " such unseemly behaviour as makes it too visible that he is much disordered in his intellects, and by no means in a condition to instruct children, insomuch that the parents have been constrained to take away their children for fear of ill consequences, and do now absolutely refuse to commit tbern to the tuition of a person who is guilty of very silly and extravagant actions." And as he does not mend upon admonition, " we look upon him to be in- capable of acting as schoolmaster any longer, and therefore declare his licence void, and the school vacant." Who shall say that this Bisbop loved arbitrary dealing, who treats the licence of a poor half-witted schoolmaster with so much more respect than the licences of unbeneficed pastors have been hitherto treated by the practice of re- formed and constitutional England ? Knipe's dismissal bears date July 10, 1740; and he lost no time in shewing how richly it was deserved. July 28, the Bishop writes, " We have this day given Henry Callister a licence to teach school in Ramsea, &c." This Henry Callister is shewn by papers of his yet extant to have been a Manxman of much respectability in the isle : but so per- 3 K 866 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, verse were the Ramsey people, that Knipe, it appears, was • able for some months to hold his ground against him, and to go on teaching school in the chapel of the town, as the manner was. This went on till November 25, or longer ; for on that day Bishop Wilson answered a complaint which had been transmitted to him from the new-made master11 : — " Nov. 25, 1740. " Mr. Calister, — I am truly concerned for the disturbance you meet with. But if neither the Vicar nor wardens will concern themselves to make things easy to you, it is not in my power to redress you. [them ?] Mr. Knipe has nothing to do to go into the chapel, nor to teach school, nor to keep any books belonging to it. And the wardens have a power and orders to take them from him. I was at a great deal of trouble to hear their complaints, and found it necessary to withdraw his licence, and now they are indifferent to put my orders in execution. And if they shall want a regular school, they may thank themselves. In the meantime I am your friend, " Tho. Sodor and Man." " For Mr. Calister, Master of the School of Barnsea." Callister retired subsequently to Douglas, and prepared to emigrate. A friend in Ramsey wrote to him to win him back : " Mr. Knipe," he said, " declines to keep school any longer in chapel :" but Callister had made up his mind. In 1741 or 1742 he went over to America, settled at Oxford, Maryland, as " merchant and King's attorney," and married an ancestor of the family which now (1853) has possession of his papers. " He seems" (so my informant goes on) " to have brought with him a heart full of reverence for his Bishop, as manifested in his correspondence with his home friends, of which he kept duplicates." Although he " writes with much content of his prospects in the New World, which he says he would not change for all the schools in the Isle of Man, he never forgot the Bishop of Man : and when, after three or four years, Mr. Bacon" (presently to be mentioned) " came from that island, and was settled as pastor of Callister' s own parish, this was the climax of the praise he gave him, ' He is the " Thus described \>y the kind com- St. James, Maryland. Presented by rminicator: — "Copy of an autograph Miss Goldsborougb, of Myrtle Grove, letter of Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and near Easton, Talbot County, Eastern Man, in the cabinet of the College of Shore of Maryland." LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 867 worthiest minister I ever saw, a strong vindicator of T. S. M., and CHAP, a potent advocate for him. " . l_ With these particulars the compiler was favoured by the present Bishop of Maryland, Dr. Whittingham, who obtained them from a lady in his diocese. Another curious circum- stance is mentioned, — that among Callister's friends and correspondents at home occurs the name of that William Henderson, described as King's Officer (i. e. Collector of Cus- toms) at Ramsey, whom we have met with once or twice in this narrative as one of the Bishop's most constant adver- saries ; an introducer of the " Independent Whig/' and the person who lent his boat in 1727 to convey Hey wood on his errand of mischief to Lord Derby. This man, no longer back than 1739, had incurred censure from the Church in a very singular way : — "At a Consistory Court held in Kirk Michael, July 17, 1739, — Mr. William Henderson, the King's Officer in Ramsey, having complained to this court that he has been impeached by Mr. Davis of drinking the devil's health, it appears by the depositions of Mr. Mathias Christian, Mr. Edward Christian, and Mr. Richard Good- man, that the said Davis, as he expressed himself, meant and in- tended no more than that Mr. Henderson had the night before drank to the health and memory of Oliver Cromwell ; and whereas the said Henderson does not only acknowledge the charge, but de- clares in the face of the Court that he gloried in drinking to the memory of Oliver Cromwell, and that he had frequently done so on his knees ; and that he the said Henderson persists in requesting the judgment of this Court in that case ; — We therefore find our- selves obliged to condemn the drinking such an health or memory, as an action vile and impious, an affront to Government, and a re- flection upon the wisdom of the legislature ; and do hereby ad- monish the said Henderson to behave himself as becometh a good Christian, and a loyal subject to his Majesty King George II. And if he or any other person shall offend so for the future, we require the wardens to make presentments thereof, that such practices may be discountenanced and suppressed. " John Cosnahan. " Edw. Mooke." " To the Vicar of Maughold, these to publish." There was so far at least impartiality in these proceedings, that if a curate is suspended for asserting the Chevalier's 3 k2 868 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, legitimacy, a revenue officer is reprimanded for canonizing — — — — Oliver Cromwell. But it may have helped to continue that spitefulness in Henderson to which the Callister letters bear witness. Therein we are told, " his unrestrained abuse of the Bishop painfully illustrates the persecution he [the Bishop] was subjected to by what seems to have been a small but very virulent opposition." His presence in such a position in Ramsey may partly account for the disposition in that town to support even such a man as Knipe against the Bishop's admirer : although the latter personally, as the letters shew, continued on good terms with Henderson. The school sub- sists yet in Ramsey, and the care of it was united in 1831 with that of St. Paul's Chapel, a recent foundation. In contrast with the frowardness of the Ramsey people, the Bishop's register contains a paper professing unusual submission; — a father not venturing to entrust his children to a tutor, even in the most private way, without the epi- scopal licence. John Gelling of Kirk Braddan states, — " That he has been favoured with the blessing of two or three children, whom he is egregiotisly desirous ... to send to school . . . but as it persists that there is no school kept at the parish school- house, which was purposely erected by your Lordship and the parishioners, . . . which is now become quite obsolete, and the school is kept at the clerk's dwelling ... at a prodigious distance from your petitioner's residence : . . . Your Petitioner supplicates your Lordship may be pleased to grant one John Clarke (who is capable to instruct youth) authority to indoctrinate your peti- tioner's three children only, until they shall be able to travel to some better school." There is no date : but in 1727, 30th January, there was a petition from the inhabitants of Braddan in want of a petty school; and, Feb. 26, an order made, both that the master diligently attend the school, and the parishioners send their children, and the churchwardens to make present- ments accordingly. Yet the parish school-house was only in progress in 1736. Between which two dates John Gelling probably made his application — more perhaps for his own convenience than out of any extraordinary reverence for the Bishop. Still the wording, like that in the Malew case, LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 869 sounds as if the Episcopal licence were required for all C H A P. teachers. . — — The Bishop's last special interference in behalf of a petty- school, noticed in the register, bears date March 3, 174f. It intimates, but not so undoubtingly as in a former in- stance, the right of the vestry to tax the inhabitants for the purpose : — " To the Reverend Mr. Quayle, Vicar of Kirk Malew. " We are given to understand, from all hands, that the public school-house of Castletown is falling into ruins, to the great con- cern of all such as have any regard to learning, and to the reproach of that place especially ; and upon making a more particular en- quiry about it, we are informed that a moderate sum would be suf- ficient to repair it, if taken in time, and such as might probably be raised, either from the voluntary contributions of such as have been, or who hope to have their children educated there, or by a general cess, or as shall be thought most agreeable to law and equity. " In order to this, you are hereby required to call a vestry, and the Church and Chapel wardens, and to conclude upon some method or other of repairing the said school-house, that a school may be regularly kept in it. And that there may be no reasonable objection made, the inhabitants may be assured, that if the present licensed master, either through age or infirmity, cannot attend it there, a proper and well-qualified usher, with a salary, shall be ap- pointed to perform the duty. I do therefore recommend this affair to yourself, the Archdeacon, and to the rest of the gentlemen of your town and parish, to forward so commendable a work ; and I shall not be wanting to add my assistance when once the work is like to go forward." Pleasant or unpleasant, this at least goes straight to the mark. By way of completing this subject, I may add that the last Charge he regularly delivered to his clergy was mainly on the duty of catechizing ; and his latest order in Con- vocation, as it appears in his Register, bearing date 1751, is this : — " His Lordship likewise pressingly enjoins his clergy to visit the petty schools of their respective parishes according to the consti- tutions of 1703." One of the latest of his business letters (if not the very 870 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, latest) preserved in the same way, is thus endorsed in his — own hand : — "Copy of my letter to Mr. Edward Kean, (May 10, 1745,) touching the Academic Moneys, by Mr. Wilks. " Good Mr. Kean, — Your great regard for everything that relates to this island, and your particular respect for myself, gives me hopes that you will not deny me your best advice and direction to the bearer, the Rev. Mr. Wilks, whom I have sent on an affair of great consequence to this Church and diocese. There is a fund of £650 for the support of an academic master in this place, £400 of which hath been secured upon a long lease, and is still pretty safe. But there is £250 in the hands of one Mr. Phil. Walker, who was by the trustees (Mr. Cholmondley of Valeroyal, and Mr. Legh of Lime,) empowered to receive and lay it out at interest on land, or the best security that could be gotten. Instead of this, he has kept it in his own hands for six or seven years, paying the interest duly, but neither giving nor procuring security for the principal. Mr. Wilks [, who ?] cannot be supposed to be so well versed in matters of this nature, and in a country where he is so much a stranger, will wait upon you with this, and in confidence of your regard for me and this place, will entirely rely upon your direction and [? on] the steps he shall take, and the counsel you shall advise him to bring this affair to as speedy an end as possible. It being a public concern, every one shifting off the concern for himself, the greatest trouble will fall upon me, who, at the age of eighty-one, cannot well go through a law-suit, if there should be occasion for such a thing, as I hope there will not. I acknowledge your great and x-epeated re- spect for me, both in my son's and in Mr. George More's letters ; I shall always endeavour that so much regard shall not be lost or forgotten by, kind Sir, " Your most obliged, grateful, and affectionate friend, "Tho. Sodoe. and Man." New en_ Passing to another field of charity, we may observe that fndTne-ntS' ^e year of distress smce 1735, — distress aggravated to his creased clergy by the state of the Impropriate Fund, — was the time alms! chosen by him to augment their permanent endowments; preferring, of course, the four vicarages in his own patron- age. For Kirk Patrick and Kirk German, in 17fg, he pur- chased a tenement in Peel, and lands in the neighbourhood, of which lands he sold a portion " by the advice and desire of the present Vicars of Patrick and German" (Mr. Kadcliffe LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 871 and Mr. Woods) for £40, to be appropriated (it is not said CHAP, how nor in what proportion) for the benefit of them and — — — '■— their successors. But the remainder of the lands and the house in Peel, " out of a zeal for the honour of God, and for the better support and maintenance of the Vicars of Kirk German for ever," were added to the endowment of that vicarage, which was and still is the poorer of the two. The Vicars " are to read prayers and catechize the youth of the parish every Lord's Day in the afternoon according to the directions of the canon and rubric." The lands thus granted amount to a little above nine acres and a-half, and were valued in 1831 at £13 rent. By way of dimensions, the deed of gift describes the arable fields by so many days' " ploughing," and the meadow as " containing about three 'day-math' of hay." It bears date April 30, 1739. His memorandum in Sacra Privata is, " I gave £20 for a glebe to Kirk Patrick and German," — meaning probably £20 to each. On one of the last days of the same year, March 20, 1739, " I gave," he writes, " £20 towards buying a glebe to Kirk Braddan ; with £35 of Mr. Thompson's." The deed, bear- ing date April 30, 1740, calls it " the lands of Ballacretney," and annexes the same condition, of catechizing. Near two years after, "March 23, 1741, I gave £15 towards building a new house for the Vicarage of Kirk Braddan." The site of this had to be obtained by exchange, for which an Act of Tynwald was granted on the application of the Bishop, April 19, 1742 ; himself having been first solicited by the Vicar and parishioners, and Mr. Cosnahan engaging to find the remainder of the money. It was stipulated that the new house was to be of the same dimensions as that at Kirk Lonan, as itself the next year was made the measure of one to be built at Kirk Michael, on an additional piece of glebe (eighteen acres) provided there also by Bishop Wilson at the desire and expense of his son. There remains the church of Jurby, which had to wait for a similar favour until 1748, when the Bishop endowed it also with a meadow in Lezaire parish, bringing in £2 a-year. The secret of his being thus enabled to increase his alms 872 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. C HA P. as the times grew worse is doubtless to be found in the fol- — lowing sentence of his devotions : — " Easter Bag, [April 6,] 1735. St. Luke xix. 8 : ' BeJiold, Lord, the half of Thy goods (for indeed they are Thine, and of Thine own) I do give to Thee and to Thy poor.1 The Lord having con- vinced me by an experience of more than forty years, that He will be no man's debtor, and having in every station of life in which His Providence has placed me given me much more than was necessary for a decent support : in an humble gratitude to my gracious Benefactor, I do from henceforth dedicate one-half of my rents to pious uses ; as also the whole interest of all my moneys ; one-tenth, in corn, of the profits of the demesnes, and of all customs paid in moneys." This, it will be observed, was just the year before the great pressure on the island began. CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUDING PASTORAL LETTER. END OF CONVOCATION WORK. 1738—1749. Bishop For all these good works, of discipline, education, endow- last set of ment, and the rest, although he never again had a Walker to clergy. ne]p him, yet neither was he troubled with any one so in- efficient as Walker's colleague. Young Mr. Woods, as Vicar- General, more than answered his expectations. Being also curate of Kirk Michael, (which benefice it had been Lord Derby's policy or caprice to keep open for an indefinite time,) he Mas for a good while close to the Bishop, who had thus become aware of his good qualities, and evidently the more lie saw of him the more he loved and trusted him. In 1730 he collated him to Kirk German Vicarage, and in 1731 gave him special directions on his going the Michaelmas circuit when he could not go himself: and the returns following appear as accurate and careful as if they had been made by the Bishop in person. But his health failed, and his Diocesan, to his great grief, soon had to inscribe his name and the date of his death in the roll of those whom he wished to comme- LIFE OP BISHOP WILSON. 873 morate : — " Mr. Vicar-General John Woodes, April 17, 1740." CHAP. In Episcopalia he embalmed his memory in words not easily — - to be forgotten : — " This morning, after a two year's lingering sickness, died the reverend and worthy Mr. John Woodes, Vicar- General, and Vicar of St. Germains. A man of singular sobriety, integrity, veracity, probity, and piety. The good God grant us a number of such per- sons to supply the necessities of this poor Church in these days of growing vices and corruption, for Jesus Christ His sake. Amen." Mr. Cosnahan, Woods' colleague, was also much trusted by the Bishop, as we have seen : but he too was taken away about 1746. Of the other Vicar-Generals during Wilson's incumbency, Edward Moore of Kirk Michael seems to have been the most satisfactory : Radcliffe, of Kirk Patrick, and Matthias Curghey, of Lezaire, had both been under disci- pline, though in very different degrees, before they were called on to administer it. It has been said that Bishop Wilson proved himself no great administrator, by not leaving a set of persons prepared to take up his mantle and continue his system in the island. This saying hardly, I think, makes allowance for the scanti- ness of the materials he had to work with, and for his ex- ternal difficulties in dealing effectively with them. He was limited in his choice to the few who could speak Manx, and by two most untoward circumstances besides : the one, that three-fourths of the Churches had been so long at the dis- posal of one who delighted to embarrass him ; the other the precariousness of so much of the little income allotted to the Manx Church, which caused his candidates for ordination to be very few. The wonder is how he and his clergy could get on so well as they did. Besides the sad breaches of direct discipline already noticed in not a few of them, they were constantly needing interference in minor matters, and we feel what a weary work it must have been to keep them at all up to the mark. This will appear in what I have now to add of his official dealings with them. It has been seen that his two chief seasons for addressing them col- lectively were the beginning of Lent, — the time of the Courts of Correction, — and the Convocation day, Thursday in Whitsuu Week. 874 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP. In 1738 he took advantage of the first of these seasons XXVI . — — to issue the following Pastoral Letter, which has been pre- 1738°™ ° servea" by Mr- Stowell0. He might be the more anxious to address them in that way, as he found himself becoming unable to keep up his rule of four parochial visitations in the year, and his custom of presenting himself suddenly on a Sunday morning now in this parish now in that, preach- ing or otherwise assisting in the duty, and " looking round about upon all things p." " Bishop's Court, the Evening of Ash- Wednesday, 1738. " Dear Brother, — This solemn season gives me occasion to put you in remembrance of some things which I have more than once mentioned in Convocation ; which, because spoken to all in general, was, I suppose, the reason that there was not due regard paid to them ; as I hope there will be to this letter, which is addressed to you in a particular manner. Whoever lays anything to heart, must see plainly that even within our own parishes libertinism and wickedness have much increased amongst us, and seem to call for national judgments. For my part, I can attribute this to nothing so much as to the negligence and irregularity of some of the clergy, (God forbid that I should say so of all,) and particularly with re- gard to your reading the service of the Church after an hasty, care- less, and indecent manner, and to your way of preaching. With regard to the first, this is a certain truth, that such prayers as do not come from lips expressing the earnest desire of a devout heart, will never touch the heart of those who hear and seem to join in them with any serious devotion ; which is one reason that there appears so little true devotion amongst the common people. Where- as if the prayers and the whole service was read with great delibe- ration, observing the proper pauses and full periods, (without which I am sure no one can read prayers intelligibly,) people's under- standings might go along with the minister, and in their hearts say Amen to all the petitions as they ought to do, and they would be attentive to and edified by the Psalms, Chapters, and Hymns, and other parts of the service. But when the Prayers, Psalms, and Lessons are hurried over, neither he that reads nor they who hear can possibly be affected, (I am sure it has been so with myself,) as people ought to be who are in the presence of God and His holy angels, and asking favours without which they must be miserable. And though this may seem a small matter to those who do not ° pp. 138—142. p Cruttweil, 92; Stowell, 97. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 875 consider how, by imperceptible steps, sin and profaneness get CHAP, ground, I am confident a great deal depends upon it. " Our people believe that we ourselves are in good earnest by the zeal and devotion we discover, and by [our?] imprinting upon their souls a reverential sense of the presence of the angels of God, though not seen amongst them, and [this ?] would prevent the mocking of God by heartless prayers. " And then the haste that is made, without a decent pause, be- twixt the end of one prayer and the beginning of another, looks so much like a man's being tired of the service and glad to get it over, that he may get out of the presence of God as soon as he can ; this is what any good and prudent person would avoid, if it was but to escape the observation of the common people and their reproach, which I do profess I have heard made with my own ears. " There is another notorious indecency, which every serious man must observe, and that is, many of the clerks hurry over the re- sponses, and Psalms and Hymns, as fast as ever they can clatter them over, and lead the people into the same error, and to think that he is the bravest scholar who gets soonest to the end of a verse or answer. I hope every one who hath any regard for the honour of God, and His service, and for my advice, will see this amended, both in the clerks and people that can read ; or I must endeavour to do it after another manner. As to sermons, I am confident that a great deal may be done towards hindering the growing sins of these times, if all the clergy would but seriously lay to heart the real and present necessities of their own people, and speak to them after a plain and affecting manner, and not make their sermons harangues and their own peculiar fancy. And withal, they ought to be pious instructions, to lead men to heaven and save them from hell. If they would shew them, for instance, from plain Scriptures, that there is a necessity, as ever thev hope for salvation, of dealing with others as they themselves would be dealt with ; of forbearing to harass one another with frivolous and vexatious lawsuits, wast- ing their time, their money, and health ; if they would, in a few plain words, not in tedious discourses, shew them the damnable sin of taking rash oaths, or by turns leading others to perjure them- selves ; if they were often and often admonished of the great sin of disobeying the magistrates, whether ecclesiastical or civil, of censuring their orders and despising their authority, as far as they can do it with impunity, while considering and while knowing that they are in the place of God here on earth ; lastly, if the guilt of drunkenness, common swearing, and profaning the Lord's Day, in some particular towns and parishes, were a little insisted on after 876 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, some short, plain, and pious manner, and presentments were made :L as conscientiously as formerly they have been : I question not but yet we should soon see a manifest change in the manners of our people for the better ; especially if every clergyman would so be- have himself as he might shew he is in good earnest concerned for the souls of his people, and could with some humble confidence say with St. Paul, ' Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ.' " As for such as care not what life they lead, or example they give, (God forbid that there should be many such,) I pray God to touch their hearts most powerfully from above, if they may repent and be converted, or be hindered from giving offence to others, the enemies of God, of the clergy, and of the Church, who are zealous and busy in every corner to promote infidelity, contempt of holy things and persons. If we are careless and unconcerned for the honour of our God and Saviour, we shall have but a poor account to give. I have intimated these things after a private, friendly, brother-like manner, both to deliver my own soul and to put you in remembrance of these duties. After this, you will not take it ill nor wonder, if I ask you questions upon these heads, and enquire how they are observed. I am sure they are matters of consequence, or I should not have given you or myself the trouble of writing this letter. "I am, with daily prayers for you, your affectionate brother and servant in Christ Jesus, " Thomas Sodok and Man." This eminently " home letter," as the Bishop might him- self have called it, is addressed, it will be seen, privately to each one of his clergy; and even at this distance of time, and from such mere fragments of information as we have, we may discern how pointed are some of its allusions. And what is better, we have it on undoubted authority that his re- peated admonitions and instructions to his clergy were not without effect. " Several of the persons to whom they were addressed implicitly followed the plans recommended," (this relates especially to Paro- chialia,) " and were exemplary in their whole life and conversation. Their attachment to him was strong and permanent. It was a mixture of love and veneration. They regarded him as their father and their friend. Some of them, whose conduct constrained him to exercise a degree of necessary severity towards them, were so fully persuaded of the purity of his motives and the kindness of hit intentions, that they felt no resentment ; but through life retained LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 877 unbounded respect for his memory, and ever spoke of him with CHAP, the highest gratitude and esteem. At the expiration of nearly half *__ 1 a century after his decease, aged ministers have been heard to re- count the virtues of Bishop Wilson with tears of affection trembling in their eyes. The memories of the descendants of the last race of clergymen in the Isle of Man are deeply impressed with the good report which they have heard from their fathers of this revered Prelate." So far Mr. StowelH, writing in 1819. The few notices extant of subsequent Convocations, down Notices to 1747, contain injunctions of his on the following subjects, convoca- First, on Confirmation. In 1738 it is ordered, — " That the tion Book- names of all persons confirmed shall for the future be re- corded in the Church registeries." A matter of more tem- poral consequence in the Isle of Man at that time, than among ourselves, seeing that by one of the Canons of 1703, no non-communicant, and consequently no unconfirmed per- son, could be admitted, without special dispensation, to Holy Matrimony. But for higher reasons it appears surely very desirable that both every Confirmation and every first Com- munion should be thus authoritatively recorded : nor would there be, apparently, any serious objection to a regulation of that sort, should our superiors think fit to make one. Again, in the Convocation of 1742, — " The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop requires that the clergy shall for the future recommend none to Confirmation but such as are fifteen years of age complete, and well-instructed in the Christian religion ; as also fitted for the Lord's Supper." In his son's case, as we have seen, he had allowed Con- firmation at thirteen. This further restraint was probably adopted by him at this time as a means of guarding mere boys and girls from being inveigled or forced into marriage. In 1746 such a complaint came before Convocation, and thereupon " the clergy were required to be very careful in giving certificates to obtain licences for marriage." It has been already mentioned that down to this time, and for some years later, there was some degree of uncer- i Page 144. 878 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, tainty concerning the right of succession to the island, and of — course to the Lord's ecclesiastical patronage also, as between the Athol and Derby families ; and this possibly may account for so many livings continuing vacant, after the preteuce had ceased which was alleged by Earl James and Horton, that the Bishop would not allow certain anti-Jacobite oaths to be taken, which they thought it their duty to insist on. For one cause or another, the Bishop still felt himself obliged to leave several of the parishes provisionally in the care of deacons, and it became necessary to make some rule for securing sacerdotal offices to the people, and for the preser- vation of the parsonage houses. So it was resolved and agreed upon, that for the future deacons and curates of the vacant livings should pay yearly 20s. to the officiating priest, " and that 40s. should be sequestered out of the livings to be laid out upon the repairs of their respective curacies, by proper persons to be appointed by the Ordinary. And this pursuant to an order in Convocation, 1727." The last clause is noticeable, as shewing that the Bishop, like a true man of business and not a party man, had willingly adopted many years before a proposal of Lord Derby's to the same effect, though he disputed his authority to enact it r. The proceedings of 1739 give no very exalted notion of either the acquirements of the younger clergy or the in- dustry of the elder. " June 14. The Right Rev. the Bishop orders, that the Curates of vacant livings, being deacons, shall for the future on the Lord's Day, at Morning Service, plainly, distinctly, and audibly read one of the Homilies of the Church, standing in the reading-desk. And this to be continued two Sundays in every month." Again, for their seniors, he enforces the constitution of 1703:— " The Rectors and Vicars are frequently to visit the schools, and at Michaelmas and Lady-day return to him the number of scholars, books read, and proficiency. And that due care may he taken, the incumbents are to take with them one or two of the wardens, with some neighbouring clergy." In 1741 (himself apparently absent) he "orders the clergy to call together their wardens and Chapter Quest once every r See p. 677. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 879 month, to be examined upon the articles of their charge, in CHAP, order to make presentments; and that for the future they xxvr- do signify the same in their returns at our Chapter Courts." This, to secure the assiduity of the lay helpers. At the same time, "his Lordship desires the Archdeacon that sometime this summer he will make a parochial visitation through the diocese, in order to enquire into the state of the fabrics, the utensils, and ornaments of the churches ; and that a par- ticular account thereof be returned/' The Convocation memoranda for that year and onwards, such as remain, (with one exception,) look very much like heads of Charges, taken down by some one as the Bishop spoke, probably by Mr. Philip Moore, who writes thus of them to Dr. Wilson : — " I hope you will publish your excellent father's Convocation Charges ; many of which I have heard, with pleasure and profit, delivered by himself, with the divine pathos, energy, and affection of an inspired Apostle. On such occasions our hearts have burnt within us, whenever we heard him speak." " He continued to de- liver his Charges," says Cruttwell, " till the year before he died ; but they appear (in his own handwriting) more like sketches of what he intended to say than as exhortations written in full ; which, considering the infirmities naturally attending his great age, and the disorder in his hand, may be very well accounted for8." Thus in 1744 :— "1. At this Convocation, the Lord Bishop recommends to his clergy to have the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper more frequently administered in the parish churches, with the great blessings which may be expected from frequent Communion. "2. He recommends also a religious observance of the fasting- days appointed by the Church, as very necessary to be observed ; at this time especially, when we are threatened with God's judg- ments by war. "3. His Lordship expressly requires that, for the future, the parochial clergy be very punctual in reading the Psalms of David once every month, on the Lord's Day, in the Manks language. And that, by the minister only, in the following order : — For three months, on the first Sunday in the month ; for three months, on the second Sunday in the month ; and for three months on the third Sunday, and for three months on the fourth or last Sunday * Cruttwell, p. lxxxvi. 880 LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. CHAP, of the month. That the congregation may thus have the benefit XXVI . . — \ '— of hearing that most edifying and excellent part of the Church ser- vice in their own language. " 4. The deacons having hitherto had several admonitions, both public and in private, to qualify themselves for priest's orders, are now also admonished by his Lordship to prepare themselves by a sober life and conversation, and a diligent application to their studies ; otherwise the younger deacons, behaving themselves as becometh, are to be preferred before them. " 5. Decency of habit is recommended to the clergy according to the Canon, and the usage of grave and sober clergymen." The qualification in No. 3, " by the minister only," was probably required, because there existed no Manx version which the people might have in their hands. How they could have gone on so long without a Psalter of their own really seems marvellous. That it was so seems plain from what we read in the Appendix to Bishop Hildesley's Life, that the translators of the Psalms were the Rev. Philip Moore and the Rev. Mr. Teare ; nothing is said of any pre- vious version which might be a groundwork. Cruttwell * seems to say that the plan " originally concerted" between the Bishop and Walker, when prisoners in Castle Rushen, for translating the New Testament into the Manx language, had only come to be "settled" a little before 1745. The regulation just quoted might well occur to the Bishop when his attention was so employed. But " he did not live to see a further progress made in this great work than the trans- lation of the Gospels," (Moore says, of the Acts also,) " and the printing of St. Matthew." That he did see so much is certain. Moore told the Christian Knowledge Society that they were " first printed from an unrevised copy which was found amongst Bishop Wilson's papers." The biographer of Hildesley says, Dr. T. Wilson " essentially forwarded the good work, by giving up such parts of it then in his pos- session as had been printed or translated under the inspec- tion of his father"." St. Matthew's Gospel was printed for the Bishop in London, 1748 : the name London standing as " Lunnyng" in the title-page v. 1 Page Ixxxii. u Memoirs of Hildesley, pp. 253, 235, 43. v The compiler's memorandum of this fact does not give the authority for it. LIFE OF BISHOP WILSON. 881 How near this work was to our Bishop's heart appeared C H A P. long afterwards, by what Philip Moore, writing to Dr. Wilson XXV1- in 1780, calls " Your great and good father's prophecy, found in the blank leaf of some of those books you gave the public library, and brought to his successor, That he hoped and prayed for the time when it would please God to put it into the heart of some future Bishop of this diocese to give the people the Scriptures in the mother tongue of the country. ... It was this that fired and inflamed Bishop Hildesley, like a coal from the altar," There are no special memoranda of Convocation in 174* ; Pastoral hut in the latter year he felt himself bound to send a cir- °,n a co,n" * denmed cular letter to his clergy on a rare and sad occasion. " John murderer. Bridson, of Ballasalla, murdered a young woman who was pregnant by him, for which he was condemned and exe- cuted." Presently was heard a voice from Bishop's Court : — " My very dear Brethren, — We having at this -time a mournful instance before us of an unhappy man under the righteous sentence of condemnation for the dreadful sin of murder, attended with un- common circumstances of the most barbarous cruelty ; let us con- sider, I beseech you, what God will expect, especially of us his ministers, upon this occasion ; what good we may probably do, and what future evils we may hope, through the grace of God, to pre- vent, by plainly and affectionately laying before our people the true causes which lead to such dreadful sins. " The Apostle tells us, that when men will not retain God in their knowledge, but have cast off the fear of God, God will give them up to a reprobate mind, or a mind void of judgment ; so as to Rom. i. 28. commit all iniquity with greediness. " This was the case of this unhappy man : he had grieved the Holy Spirit of God, by which he had been sanctified at Baptism and Confirmation ; he cast off the fear of God, and grieved His Holy Spirit, till he was left to himself, and to that evil spirit who goes about seeking whom he may ruin, finding them from under God's especial protection ; and we see how it ended. " And this, or some such sad consequence, will be the case of every sinner who, casting off the fear of God, continues to live in any known sin whatever. "If people will take themselves from under God's protection, by leaving off to pray daily to God ; if they fall into a careless and 3l 88.2 LIFE OF BTSIIOP WILSON. CHAP, idle way of living, run into loose and wicked company, hear pro- XXVI. fane pe0pie ma]