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THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE SET EN BISHOPS. 
 
THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS 
 
 COMMITTED TO THE TOWER IN 1688. 
 
 ENRICHED AND ILLUSTRATED WITH PERSONAL LETTERS, 
 
 NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, 
 
 FROM THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY. 
 
 J 
 
 AGNES STRICKLAND, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF EXGLA2TD,' 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET, AND 
 6, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1866. 
 
hahso 
 
 .57 
 
 THE LIBRARV 
 lOF CONGRESS 
 
 IWA8HINOTOK 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The lives of the seven bishops, whom James II. 
 committed to the Tower in June, 1688, are now 
 offered, to the historical reader, in one volume, in- 
 cluding many valuable original letters and papers 
 from the Bodleian library. 
 
 This series of episcopal biographies, commencing 
 with the birth of Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 in 1617, and closing with the death of Trelawny, 
 Bishop of Winchester, in 1720, occupies upwards of 
 a century — a century of the most stirring changes 
 and remarkable events ; a century marked with civil 
 war, and the intrusion of military dictators in the 
 universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
 The struggles of those distinguished ornaments of 
 the Christian Church, Sancroft, Ken, Turner, Lake, 
 and White, when inexorably driven forth by Crom- 
 well's Ironsides from their colleges, are touching 
 and instructive episodes in the domestic history of 
 England during the Commonwealth. We trace the 
 proceedings of these learned and zealous divines 
 as parish priests .after the Bestoration, and their 
 respective elevations to the hierarchy. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 Their conscientious resistance to the unconstitu- 
 tional attempt of James II. to abrogate the penal 
 laws by his personal authority, their committal to 
 the Tower, trial and acquittal, are clearly but briefly 
 set forth from public records. 
 
 The refusal of Bancroft, Ken, White, Lake, and 
 Turner to take the oaths to William and Mary, 
 their consequent ejection from their bishoprics, and 
 the close of their lives in virtuous poverty, are faith- 
 fully recorded, with much that is new to the general 
 reader. 
 
 The biographies of Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, 
 and Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, who 
 took the oaths to William and Mary, and rejoiced in 
 a succession of rich sees, close the series. Lloyd and 
 Trelawny survived to witness the accession of George 
 I., and the sure establishment of the Protestant Reli- 
 gion in Great Britain, 
 
LIVES 
 
 SEVEN BISHOPS OF THE TOWER. 
 
 SANCEOFT, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CAKTEBBUBT. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 The revolution which drove the male line of the 
 Royal House of Stuart from the throne of Great 
 Britain was precipitated by the courageous resistance 
 of seven intrepid prelates to the unconstitutional 
 exercise of the royal prerogative attempted by James 
 II. — a fact no one who dispassionately studies the 
 events of that period can doubt. These seven 
 prelates were William Sancroft, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, Thomas Ken. Bishop of Bath and "Wells, 
 Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, Thomas White, 
 Bishop of Peterborough, John Lake, Bishop of Chi- 
 chester, William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, and 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol. 
 
 They were fondly styled the Seven Lamps of the 
 Church, and invested by popular feeling with the 
 attributes of patriots and martyrs. Their lives form 
 a singularly instructive chain of historical biography, 
 
 B 
 
Z LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 illustrating in a remarkable manner, not only the 
 public events, but the domestic manners and customs 
 of England from the reign of Charles I. to that of 
 George I. 
 
 William Sancroft, with whose life we commence 
 this series, was the second son of Francis Sancroft, 
 Esq., of Fressingfield, and Margaret, daughter and 
 coheiress of Thomas Boucher, of Wilby, in Suffolk. 
 He was born on the 30th of January, 1617, at 
 Ufford Hall, an ancient white mansion in the parish 
 of Fressingfield, with quaint clustered chimneys and 
 a long range of broad casement windows, shaded by 
 two gigantic yew-trees which flank the gate that 
 opens into the court, and overtop the low-eaved roof 
 of the edifice. 
 
 Ufford Hall, which is now degraded into a farm- 
 house, was then the property and residence of the 
 Sancrofts, and was probably derived from a matri- 
 monial alliance with some female descendant of the 
 ancient Suffolk family whose name it bears. A 
 stately chimneypiece of elaborately carved oak, 
 moulded into three pillared arches, each arch over- 
 hanging a leopard's head, remains in the large 
 dining-hall, emphatically termed, by the agricultural 
 occupants of the mansion, u the ancient room." It 
 has formerly been panelled with oak, ending in a 
 curiously-carved cornice, of which some portions yet 
 remain ; also two doors on either side the chimney- 
 piece of the same rich and curious work. The 
 ceiling is supported and adorned with noble cross- 
 beams of oak, with fluted sides. 
 
 In this antique mansion, which then was sur- 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 3 
 
 rounded with primrose-studded meads, the childhood 
 of William Sancroft was spent under the paternal 
 care, in happy companionship with his brother and 
 six sisters. 
 
 He received his education at the grammar-school 
 at Bury, where he distinguished himself no less by 
 his rapid advance in his studies, in which his pro- 
 gress far exceeded the expectations of his masters, 
 than by his exemplary conduct and early piety. 
 
 In his eighteenth year he was matriculated at 
 Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which his uncle, 
 Dr. William Sancroft, was then master. Persevering 
 in the steadfast career of virtue and diligence he 
 had commenced at school, he acquired great pro- 
 ficiency in the various branches of classical learning, 
 poetry, and history, but spent the greater portion of 
 his time in the study of theology. He took the 
 degree of bachelor of arts in 1637, being then in his 
 twenty-first year, and continued to pursue his studies 
 with unremitting fervour at the University. 
 
 He subsequently experienced a severe affliction in 
 the loss of a beloved friend and companion, whose 
 death he mentions to his own father in a touching 
 letter, dated Emmanuel College, May 27, 1641, in 
 which he says — 
 
 " Dear Father, — The sad news which I shall tell 
 you you know already ; but give me leave to weep it 
 over again into your bosom, and that will be some 
 ease to mine. I have lost the companion of my 
 studies, my friend by choice, my brother in affection, 
 I shall sum up all if I tell you I have lost my dearest 
 Arthur Bownest.* * * * 
 
4 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 "Besides those abilities, natural and exquisite, 
 wherewith God had enriched him — besides that 
 virtuous disposition and those many powerful attrac- 
 tions in his carriage, whereby he won the love and 
 affection of all who had the happiness of knowing 
 him — he possessed deep and unfeigned piety. 
 
 " I was at his burial, and helped to lay him in the 
 bed of rest ; and now there is nothing left for me to 
 do but to love his memory and imitate his virtues, 
 which God give me grace to do. He was mortified 
 to all worldly things long before he died. Yet, 
 father, I know he found not more difficulty to part 
 with anything than with me, his unworthy friend, so 
 dearly did he love me. I know he is now a glorious 
 saint in heaven, and it is but self-love that makes 
 me thus bewail his loss. Sleep on, blessed soul, 
 upon the downy lap of eternity ! Thy name shall 
 always be to me as an ointment poured forth, and 
 when I forget thee, let this be my punishment, to 
 feel another as great a loss." 
 
 Bancroft received the degree of master of arts in 
 the spring of 1641, and became a candidate for holy 
 orders in the autumn of the same year. The spirit 
 of profound humility and love in which the accom- 
 plished young scholar devoted his talents, his learn- 
 ing, and energies to the duties of his sacred vocation, 
 are thus expressed in filial confidence to his father, 
 in a letter dated September 10, 1641 : — 
 
 " I have lately offered up to God the first-fruits of 
 that calling which I intend, having common-placed 
 twice in the chapel ; and if, through your prayers 
 and God's blessing on my endeavours, I may become 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 5 
 
 ail instrument in any measure fitted to bear His 
 name before His people, it shall be my joy and the 
 crown of my rejoicing in the Lord. I am persuaded 
 that for this end I was sent into the world, and 
 therefore if God lends me life and abilities, I shall be 
 willing to spend myself and be spent upon the work." 
 
 William Sancroft in the same letter communicates 
 an offer that had been made to him of the situation 
 of a family tutor, on terms which, in these days, 
 would have been considered with contempt by a 
 butler ; yet he recites them with complacency, in 
 these words : " Within this fortnight our master 
 proffered me a place ; he would have had me to live 
 in an earl's house, where I should have had 30?. per 
 annum, and a gelding to ride abroad on upon occa- 
 sion. My work should have been only to teach two 
 of his children grammar, for there is a chaplain in 
 the house already. I durst not accept the place be- 
 cause I knew not your mind, and that was my answer 
 to our master. However, I am infinitely obliged to 
 him, for I had the first offer of it in the college." 
 
 Probably he acted by the paternal advice in not 
 accepting a situation offering so poor a compensation 
 for a young man combining such distinguished 
 talents and brilliant acquirements with high moral 
 rectitude of thought and action. In another letter 
 to his father, William Sancroft speaks of having been 
 recommended by his friend Mr. Weller to undertake 
 the care of a rich London merchant's son, whom his 
 father proposed sending beyond sea. "I like the 
 person," observes our future primate, who certainly 
 was no tuft-hunter, " better than if he had been 
 
6 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 what Mr. Weller mistook him for, noble. For then 
 he would have looked for more respect and attend- 
 ance, nor should I have had so much influence upon 
 him for his good. Briefly, I should then have been a 
 servant and not a master, or at least a companion ; 
 there would have been much expected and perhaps 
 but little done, for generally these great ones prove 
 unruly abroad.' 9 
 
 Who does not admire the sound sense and inde- 
 pendent spirit which dictated observations like these? 
 The situation, however, was. not accepted. William 
 Bancroft had another vocation to fulfil. 
 
 The following year he endeavoured to obtain a 
 fellowship in Emmanuel College. His kind uncle, 
 Dr. Bancroft, was dead, but the mastership of that 
 College was in the hands of the learned and loyal 
 Dr. Holdsworth, whom our young divine regarded 
 with scarcely less love and reverence, and with 
 whom he was on the most affectionate and con- 
 fidential terms. There was a circumstance which, to 
 the tender conscience of William Sancroft, opposed 
 an obstacle to his enjoyment of the desired fellow- 
 ship, which is thus explained by his own pen in his 
 letter to his father of the 4th of April, 1642 :— 
 
 " When I was in the country you know there was 
 an overture of assigning some lands to yourself and 
 me. Now if it should please God. to dispose of me 
 in a fellowship in the college (which is yet doubtful), 
 you know the statute, that none can be a fellow who 
 hath 20?. per annum. Now my quaere is, whether 
 this assignment (though but in trust), especially if 
 the trust be not mentioned in the instrument, will 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 7 
 
 not invest me with such an estate as will disable me 
 from taking this preferment in the college. That 
 nobody knows of it I weigh not, for I desire more a 
 thousand times to approve myself to God and my 
 own conscience, than to all the world beside. If it 
 be not done, I pray, sir, think upon it before you do 
 it ; if it be done, and you find it will touch upon 
 the statute, let it be undone. I would not be too 
 scrupulous nor too bold with my conscience. If it 
 be a needless scruple, I had rather show myself to 
 have no law than no conscience." 
 
 The divine maxim, "He that is faithful in the 
 least will be faithful in the greatest," was fully 
 exemplified from first to last in the character and 
 career of William Sancroft. 
 
 He obtained his fellowship in the year 1643, but 
 he had fallen on evil times ; his loyalty to his king 
 and attachment to the liturgy of the Church of 
 England effectually barred him from preferment. 
 The Scotch Covenant was tyrannically imposed upon 
 both universities this year at the point of the sword, 
 and many of the fellows were most illegally ejected 
 for refusing to fetter their consciences with this 
 unconstitutional obligation. The parliamentary 
 leader, the Earl of Manchester, visited Cambridge, 
 and rudely deposed the master of Emmanuel College, 
 Dr. Holdsworth, .who was also the vice-chancellor, 
 from all his offices, and cast him into prison. San- 
 croft, though known to be the particular friend of 
 the master of Emmanuel, was overlooked in this first 
 attack on the liberties of the university; yet he 
 made no secret of his courageous determination to 
 
8 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 resist the oppressive edicts of the so-called cham- 
 pions of liberty. 
 
 "We live," writes he to his deposed and in- 
 carcerated master, Dr. Holdsworth, "in an age in 
 which to speak freely is dangerous; faces are 
 scanned, and looks are construed, and gestures are 
 put on the rack, and made to confess something 
 which may undo the actor ; and though the title be 
 liberty, written in foot and half-foot letters upon the 
 front, yet within there is nothing but perfect slavery, 
 worse than Kussian." 
 
 After bemoaning the desolation of Emmanuel 
 College, deprived of its head and many of its fellows, 
 he glances at the peril of expulsion with which 
 himself and those yet remaining were threatened, 
 unless they submitted to the power that had invaded 
 their academic shades. 
 
 "And what then?" he intrepidly asks. "Shall I 
 lift up my hand? I will cut it off first. Shall 
 I subscribe my name ? I will forget it as soon. I 
 can at least look up through this mist, and see the 
 hand of my God holding the scourge that lashes ; 
 and with this thought I am able to silence all the 
 mutinies of boisterous passions, and to charm them 
 into a perfect calm." 
 
 So much respected and beloved was he, and so 
 free from personal enemies, that he remained un- 
 molested in his fellowship for several years, and took 
 the degree of bachelor of divinity in 1648. 
 
 Sancroft bewailed the murder of the king with 
 impassioned eloquence in a letter to his father, who 
 fully participated in the feelings of grief, indigna- 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 9 
 
 tion, and horror with wliich he regarded that crime. 
 The tender ties of affection and sympathy, which 
 united the father and son in the most perfect and 
 holy of friendships, were severed by the death of the 
 elder Sancroft, in February, 1649. 
 
 " What I feared is come to pass," writes Sancroft 
 to Mr. Holdsworth. " It hath pleased God to take 
 away from us my dear father, the sole prop of this 
 now ruined family. His tender sense and appre- 
 hension of the public calamities, together with the 
 burthen of sixty-eight years and a violent fever with 
 which it pleased God to visit him, have ended the 
 life in which all ours were bound up. On Sunday 
 night, about ten of the clock, he went hence. 
 Yesternight, at eight, I made hard shift to get 
 hither, where I found a sad family, and mingled up 
 my tears with theirs. Good friend, let me have thy 
 prayers to assist me in this saddest loss that ever I 
 sustained in this world. I shall haste out of this 
 sad place as soon as the duty I owe to the comfort of 
 the widow and orphans, and some care I must share 
 in gathering up the broken pieces of this shattered 
 family, shall be over ; haply both may yet exact a 
 fortnight. In the meantime, I prithee, redouble 
 thy care for my pupils, especially for the sick." 
 
 Sancroft now held the post of tutor at Emmanuel 
 College, and the friend to whom he writes was at 
 this season acting as his deputy. 
 
 On Sancroft's return to Cambridge, a fresh trial 
 awaited him. The dominant faction usurping the 
 name of Parliament, supported by the army, had 
 framed an oath called the Engagement, more strin- 
 
10 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 gent and even less excusable than the Covenant, for 
 the purpose of supporting them in their illegal and 
 despotic authority. By this oath all persons were 
 required to swear to maintain the Government as it 
 was then established, without king or House of 
 Lords, and those who refused were declared in- 
 capable of holding any office in Church or State. 
 This oath was pressed upon both universities. San- 
 croft steadily refused to take it, though assured that 
 the loss of his fellowship and all his academical 
 employments would be the result. 
 
 So greatly, however, was he respected and beloved 
 in the college, that the penalty was not enforced for 
 a while. 
 
 "Some would persuade me," writes he to his 
 brother, Thomas Sancroft, " that I have some secret 
 friend who doth me good offices, though I know it 
 not. How r ever, brother, it is a comfort to me that I 
 am sure of a friend in you, and if the worst happen, 
 which I still expect, that I have a retreat with you, 
 which still you so lovingly proffer. I thank you for 
 your readiness to entertain my pupil with myself, 
 but I shall not make use of your kindness in that 
 particular if I may avoid it, for if I go hence I desire 
 privacy above all." 
 
 His ejection from his fellowship, though long 
 delayed, finally took place. 
 
 In July, 1651, he was driven from Cambridge, 
 after having been an honoured resident there for 
 seventeen years. He resided for a time at Triplow, 
 in Cambridgeshire ; then retired to his native village 
 in Suffolk, and took up his abode with his brother 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 11 
 
 Thomas. He alludes to the perfect solitude of this 
 place in one of his letters to his friend Mr., after- 
 wards Sir Henry North, in these words : — 
 
 " From hence you cannot expect I should tell you 
 anything, but that I have here thick shades and cool 
 walks, but no company in them, except that of my 
 own thoughts." 
 
 He spent five or six years at Fressingfield, and 
 occupied his leisure in writing a satirical work en- 
 titled, " Modern Policies, taken from Machiavel, 
 Borgia, and other choice authors," for the purpose 
 of holding up to deserved contempt the political 
 villanies of the successful party. He also success- 
 fully controverted the Antinomian doctrines then so 
 prevalent, in a treatise entitled " Fur Prcedestinatus" 
 which excited great attention. His most important 
 avocation was assisting in a collation of the Vulgate 
 translation of the Xew Testament with those of Beza 
 and other modern theologists of the Geneva school. 
 He w r as now deprived of the income derived from his 
 fellowship, and cut off from increasing his pecuniary 
 resources by the college tutorship, no one who re- 
 fused to take the oath of Engagement being allowed 
 to reside at either of the universities. He had in- 
 herited a small estate at Fressingfield at his father's 
 death, and on this his economical habits enabled him 
 to live, and to extend his beneficence to many of his 
 distressed friends, who, like himself, had been ejected 
 from their fellowships and collegiate homes for con- 
 science' sake ; and were destitute of private means of 
 maintenance. 
 
 During his residence in Suffolk he was seriously 
 
12 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 uneasy at the unwise engagement into which one of his 
 sisters had entered after her first husband's death, to the 
 great vexation of her family, having set her mind on 
 marrying a covetous, ill-tempered, worthless fellow. 
 One evening, when William Sancroft had visited her, 
 she slily slipped an orange stuck full of cloves into 
 his pocket, intending it as a little surprise, and for him 
 afterwards to roast and sift sugar over it, in order to 
 make a drink familiarly called a bishop, by putting 
 it into a jug of claret when it should be sufficiently 
 roasted. Her philosophical brother, pretending not 
 to understand the pleasant joke, took the opportunity 
 of addressing a metaphorical letter to her on the cir- 
 cumstance, deprecating the unsuitable alliance of a 
 sour bad orange with excellent cloves. No one who did 
 not understand the preparation of an orange that was 
 intended to make a bishop, would be able to enter 
 into the gist of the following quaint fraternal letter 
 which is thus indorsed by Sancroft : — 
 
 * To my sister Frances, token I feared she would 
 marry T. Brock.* 
 
 "Deak Sister, 
 
 u Though, when I saw you last but once at your 
 house, you were in the humour of giving much and 
 receiving nothing again for it ; yet, because I sup- 
 pose it was your particular disposition in favour of 
 one person only, I shall count myself obliged to 
 return some acknowledgments at least for the present 
 I found the other night in my pockets, from your 
 
 * Tanner, lii. 77. 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 13 
 
 kind hand, as I verily believe. And truly I can 
 heartily thank you for the cloves, so good they are, 
 and sweet, so pure and bright : but, to deal freely 
 with you, the orange is, in my opinion, quite nought. 
 How fair soever it may seem to you, who can see 
 no farther than the outside, 'tis to be suspected near 
 at the heart. You may, perhaps, persuade yourself 
 'tis a sweet orange ; but I fear, whoever tries it 'twill 
 prove a very crab. 'Tis indeed of the largest size, 
 and bigger than most oranges ; yet I should rather 
 choose a less, so it were a Civill (Seville orange). And, 
 which is worst of all, 'tis so miserably dry (at least, 
 as far as the spices can read) that it will suck up all 
 the juice of the cloves, which will not get a drop 
 of moisture back again. So that, although I dare 
 not disjoin what your hand alone hath joined, yet, 
 since I hope you have not made them for sure, but 
 they may be severed, I could wish you would part 
 them, and let the cloves keep their sweetness to them- 
 selves ; and then how fragrant and precious will they 
 be to all that come within the scent of you ! But 
 if it must be otherwise, I shall sadly stand by at a 
 distance, and see the event, which I fear will be this : 
 the cloves being exhausted, and robbed of their sweet 
 juice and fragrancy, will wither away, and fall out of 
 their places. While the orange, being thus enriched, 
 and further secured by his thick and tough rind, will 
 gape for another, and perhaps after that another set 
 of cloves, which will be all served in the same manner. 
 And what pity 'tis so sweet a spice and so sour a 
 fruit met, let all that are impartial judge. 
 
 "I have done ; and if you either understand not, or 
 
14 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 believe not what I have written, I could heartily wish 
 you did both as fitly as I do ; which, God knows, I 
 wdsh not for any interest of mine own (for what can 
 it be ?), but merely and only for your good ; and be- 
 cause I cannot, to the best of my apprehension, any 
 other way more approve myself, 
 
 " Your faithful friend, and truly loving brother, 
 
 «w. a 
 
 '« Fres. April 9, —55." 
 
 Sancroft was residing with a family in Lincoln, 
 some time in the year 1655. He writes from thence, 
 in reply to a long letter from his eldest brother, who 
 had been detailing family news, on which his com- 
 ments are very amusing, especially in regard to the 
 valetudinarianism of their sister Grenling, a young 
 widow in comfortable circumstances, but who made 
 every one very uncomfortable with her needless 
 domestic labours and complaints of bodily sufferings 
 and delicacy of health. " For my sister Grenling, 
 if tenderness grows upon her, which is not strange in 
 so thin a body, she must meet it with proportionable 
 care of hersel£ As far as I may have leave to put in 
 my conjecture at such a distance, I should attribute 
 her rheums and colds either to her Sunday journeys, 
 when she goes hot into church and sits herself cold 
 there with wet feet, or to her every day dairy 
 dablings so early in the morning. A good double 
 gelding (meaning a strong horse that w r ould carry 
 double) would remedy the first, the keeping another 
 servant the second ; and why she should deny herself 
 
SANCBOFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 15 
 
 either of thern, and more ease in all regards than 
 hitherto she hath allowed herself, especially having 
 wherewithal to maintain all this, and more, God be 
 thanked ! and none that depends on her to be 
 provided for, I cannot divine. Charge her, therefore, 
 that she be not nice to take her portion of what God 
 hath given her, and that she make much of herself, 
 if not for her own sake yet for so many of her friends 
 that love her ; that she cherish her tender body with 
 warmth this winter season ; and since she hath not 
 domestic company, that she bid her friends welcome 
 that come to see her out of compassion or affection ; 
 and assure her from me, than ease, warmth, good diet, 
 and cheery company, there can be no better remedy 
 till a husband come. 
 
 " I am glad you had so merry an hour at the 
 warming the shop. I wish heartily your choir had 
 been fuller, not only by those who should have come 
 and would not, but by one who would gladly have 
 been there if he might. Present my loving respects, 
 I pray, to all who were pleased to remember me 
 there, and particularly to the housekeepers. Tell 
 my brother Drowett that my suit fits well ; only desire 
 him to pay the tailor, which I see by the bill he hath 
 not done ; for it being uncertain when I shall come 
 into the country I am loth the poor man should stay 
 so long for his money." Sancroft does not forget 
 a kind mention of his father's widow, for he says, 
 "I am glad my mother was at your meeting at 
 Stradbroke ; I pray present her my humble duty, 
 and tell her I wish her all contentment and happiness 
 in her new abode." 
 
16 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 He then adverts to the melancholy subject of 
 public affairs, and gives a shrewd but cautious hint 
 of the grinding military tyranny under which the 
 once free and happy realm of England was at that 
 time suffering, and dared not complain ; since the 
 boasted constitutional la^s were overthrown, trials by 
 jury at an end, and all ranks of people were coerced 
 by local courts-martial under the domination of 
 Cromwell's major-generals, who inflicted fines, for- 
 feitures, imprisonment, and even death at pleasure. 
 Modern historians scarcely deign to mention these 
 facts, and instead of describing the domestic miseries 
 of civilized society, the loss of commerce and decay 
 of trade, the absence of manufactures, the want of 
 useful and ornamental employment, and the utter 
 collapse of literature and art under the Protectorate, 
 they extol the merits and virtues of Cromwell and 
 his Ironsides. It is only in the local histories, the 
 diaries, and private letters of that dark period, we 
 see what their doings actually were, and marvel at 
 the ignorance of their eulogists ! 
 
 In November, 1657, William Sancroft left England, 
 having made up his mind to travel. On his arrival 
 in Holland, his first resting-place, the fame of his 
 learning and eloquence having preceded him, he 
 was honoured with an invitation to preach a sermon 
 before the eldest daughter of his late royal master, 
 Princess Mary of Orange, mother of William III. 
 There was some idea of appointing him to be one 
 of her chaplains, but it was not carried into effect. 
 
 While he was residing at Utrecht, in the spring of 
 1659, he wrote the following beautiful letter to his 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 17 
 
 brother, on the death of their stepmother, his father's 
 second wife : — 
 
 " May 30, 1659. 
 "Dear Brother, 
 
 "Yours of May 3 I received the 18th of the 
 same ; and in it, as I ought, lamented the news of 
 my mother-in-law's death. 'Tis an object I will fix 
 and charge upon my memory, and often represent 
 to my thoughts my dear father lying buried between 
 his two wives ; and though I am now ready to wander 
 farther from you, yet will I hope one day to return 
 and find my last home at his feet, which is my 
 desire. 
 
 " Upon the news you send me, it cannot be un- 
 seasonable to reflect a little upon our mortality, 
 especially there being now none left upon earth who 
 gave to us those superior relations of father and 
 mother, scarce of uncle or aunt ; so that we stand 
 in the front of the battle, and in order of nature must 
 look to be the next spoils of death's all-conquering 
 dart. Let us not then flatter ourselves, brother ; for 
 in earnest we grow old ; and 'tis strange that of so 
 many as we are, none have yet laid their heads in 
 the dust ; which we shall do with greater confidence 
 and comfort if betimes we provide and prepare for 
 it ; nay, and with joy too, if we consider how wretched 
 a world we bid farewell to. God Almighty send the 
 next generation a more comfortable pass through it 
 than we are like to see." 
 
 At this time his narrow finances were improved by 
 the posthumous payment of a debt of 200?. due to 
 
 c 
 
18 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 him from a Mr. John Gayer, who bIso bequeathed 
 an annuity of sixty pounds a year to him for life. 
 
 He was thus enabled to indulge his munificent 
 spirit by relieving many of the destitute English 
 exiled divines, and among others the learned Dr. 
 Cosin, who, when preferred, after the Restoration, to 
 the bishopric of Durham, failed not to testify his 
 grateful remembrance of the aid he had received in 
 his time of need from the generous William Bancroft. 
 
 In company with his friend, Mr. Eobert Gayer, 
 who bore all the expenses of their tour, Sancroft 
 travelled through Italy, rested at Geneva on the 
 w r ay, visited Venice, and made a considerable stay at 
 Padua, where he entered his name as a student at 
 the university. 
 
 While at Rome, in May, 1660, he received the 
 joyful tidings of the Restoration, and returned to 
 England early in the autumn of the same year. 
 Sancroft was selected to preach the sermon in West- 
 minster Abbey, November 18, 1660, on the conse- 
 cration of his friend, Dr. Cosin, to the bishopric of 
 Durham, and of six other bishops. This was his first 
 public appearance, and his preaching was greatly 
 admired. He was then in his forty-fourth year, in 
 the full vigour of intellect, improved and chastened 
 by the sweet uses of adversity, and was modest and 
 retiring in his manners. 
 
 He was immediately chosen by his grateful friend, 
 Cosin, Bishop of Durham, for his domestic chaplain ; 
 and the next year appointed as one of the royal 
 chaplains by Charles II., having materially assisted 
 in the revision of the Liturgy which was then made. 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 19 
 
 He was one of the three supervisors of the press 
 when the New Book of Common Prayer, containing 
 the alterations and the Services for the Restoration 
 and the Martyrdom of King Charles I., was printed. 
 Burnet affirms that Bancroft was the author of these 
 services, but of this there is no proof. A very in- 
 teresting letter from William Sancroft to his elder 
 brother is preserved in the Bodleian Library, which 
 shows the lively interest he took in family matters 
 at home. 
 
 " London, March 10, 1661.* 
 " Loving Brother, 
 
 " Tis long since I wrote to you, and long since 
 I thought to have come immediately to you. But 
 you will excuse me for both when you shall know 
 how powerfully I have been hindered. On Saturday 
 I sent to take a passage in the Cambridge coach, and 
 meant to have come thence immediately to you, God 
 permitting ; but before I slept, I found myself stopped 
 by those who have right to command me. I know 
 not well when this new business will be at an end, nor 
 can foresee whether I shall be licenced to attend my 
 lord into the North, when he goes, which will be pre- 
 sently after Easter. And yet I confess I have invi- 
 tation enough to go thither ; he having now made 
 me a prebend of Duresme, and given me one of the 
 best livings in that country, which lies very con- 
 veniently for me, within 4 miles of Duresme, in the 
 pleasantest and healthfullest place of the bishopric. 
 The revenue is competent and fair, and there is 
 nothing to be wished amended in all, but that it 
 stands so far from the sun and my dearest relations. 
 * Tanner, xlix. 148. 
 
20 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 I shall hope to tempt some or other to go along with me, 
 at least when I shall be settled there ; without which 
 I shall lose much of the contentment I should other- 
 wise promise myself there. If nobody will be so 
 kind to me, at least I shall be so kind to myself, and 
 you all, as some time every winter to see you, my 
 oath obliging me to attend the king my master one 
 month every year, which at present is January, and 
 not like to be altered. God send you, and my sister, 
 and us all, joy of your young daughter, Katherine, 
 in naming of whom did you look forward to the coming 
 Queen? or back to our great-grandmother? or to 
 her Godmother present ? or all ? However it were, 
 God bless her, and all yours, and all our dear friends 
 about you, whom I pray salute particularly in my 
 name. If it be possible, I will see you before I go 
 northward, though I do but see you. I have for- 
 gotten at what time that 100?. due from my brother 
 Jacob is payable by his bond; but would gladly 
 have it payed in as soon as it shall be due (or sooner, 
 if that day be long hence), and returned hither, for I 
 have great occasion for money, and had rather make 
 use of mine own than borrow. If this letter finds you 
 at Harleston, and he be there, send me word next 
 post what I am to expect from him. With my loving 
 and heartiest remembrance to yourself, and all friends, 
 I commend you all to God's grace, and remain 
 
 " Sir, 
 " Your very affectionate brother, 
 
 " W. S. 
 " To my very loving brother, 
 
 Mr. Thomas Sancroft, 
 
 of Fressingfield, in Suffolk'' 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A new era in Bancroft's life now commenced. 
 Honours and preferments were showered in quick 
 succession on the impoverished recluse of Fressing- 
 field. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him at 
 Cambridge by the royal recommendation, preparatory 
 to his taking possession of the rich rectory of Hough- 
 ton-le-Spring, and his installation as a canon of the 
 cathedral of Durham, to which he had been collated 
 by the bishop. His venerable patron, in one of the 
 very friendly letters which he wrote to him on this 
 occasion, adroitly recommended a wife to him in 
 these words: — 
 
 u I pray tell the gentlewoman, whom you name in 
 the end of your letter, that I take her message and 
 acknowledgment sent to me very kindly from her, 
 of whom I have a very good opinion ; and, if you 
 have so too, I think you cannot choose a better com- 
 panion and housekeeper, both at Houghton and Dur- 
 ham, than so virtuous a person as she is like to 
 make." 
 
 Sancroft's reply to this letter has not been dis- 
 covered; but he appears to have stated obstacles 
 which he considered insuperable against contracting 
 
22 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 a marriage with the lady recommended by the bishop, 
 for whom, however, he expresses both affection and 
 respect ; also that he had promised to give a home 
 to his sister, who was to live with him ; for the bishop 
 writes, on the 3rd of September, 1661: "That vir- 
 tuous person, whom we have now twice mentioned, 
 I think will make a good companion for you and 
 your sister both. The great care and affection you 
 have for her, and the just regard that she hath again 
 for you, may, in good time, prevail with you to alter 
 your resolution which you formerly had to live 
 single ; but do as you think fit to do, and as God 
 shall incline your mind. In the meanwhile, I take 
 not the difficulties which you mention to be invin- 
 cible, either on her part, or much considerable on 
 the part of them on whom you say she depends ; and 
 truly there cannot be a greater act of charity done 
 for her, than to take her out of the danger wherein 
 she lives, and prevent her falling into the fire." 
 This alludes to something in the private history 
 of the lady, of which the biographer of Bancroft can 
 give no explanation, as the bishop leaves it a 
 mystery. Sancroft, however, decided on continuing 
 a single life. His sister Catharine lived with him. 
 Both their portraits are preserved at Gawdy Hall, 
 the seat of his collateral representative, Sir. Holmes. 
 He was chosen Master of Emmanuel College, by 
 the fellows, on the 14th of August, 1662, although 
 the puritanical party were very considerably in the 
 majority there ; but the liberality of his sentiments, 
 conscientious principles, and great learning and piety 
 commanded such universal respect that his election 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 23 
 
 to the mastership was unanimous, unsought for, and 
 wholly unexpected by him. He found the college in 
 a state of great disorganization, and projected con- 
 siderable reforms ; but, being called to more im- 
 portant labours in the Church, he resigned the 
 mastership of Emmanuel at the end of three years. 
 He prepared, however, a design for a new chapel, 
 and eventually contributed nearly six hundred pounds 
 to its erection, as the registers of the college testify. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1664 he was nominated 
 by the king to the deanery of York, and, having been 
 elected by the chapter, he was installed on the 26th 
 of February. He was at great expense in repairing 
 the ruinous deanery, and rebuilding some portions 
 where repairs were impracticable, and after all only 
 held the preferment ten months, being called, by the 
 king's appointment, to the deanery of St. Paul's, 
 through the earnest recommendation of Sheldon, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Humphrey Hench- 
 man, Bishop of London. He was also appointed to 
 the prebendship of Oxgate in the same cathedral. 
 These splendid preferments were gratefully received 
 by Sancroft, but with anything but pleasure. He 
 had won the affections of the people of York, and 
 contemplated ending his days amongst them, and, 
 having had the trouble and expense of repairing and 
 fitting up the deanery, it was painful to him to leave 
 it and encounter the like fatigue and greater outlay 
 for a new home. " Only," writes he to his brother, 
 one comfort is that now I shall sit down, and may 
 justly be confident that my next r remove will be to 
 the grave." 
 
24 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Sancroft had to stem a troubled sea ere he gained 
 that tranquil port where "the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the weary are at rest." Never, how- 
 ever, had any man, on whom prosperity and honours 
 were suddenly and unexpectedly showered, fewer 
 enemies than the mild apostolic dean, or friends more 
 loving. 
 
 It was about this time that the following touching 
 letter was addressed to Sancroft by the widow of his 
 friend Wright : — 
 
 " Thurcaston, Leicestershire, 
 June 8, 1668. 
 "Beverend Sir, 
 
 " The great and due respect and honour which 
 my dear husband ever had for your worthy self, 
 invites me at this time to communicate the notice 
 of his death to you, who I know will condole with 
 me the loss of so excellent and worthy a person ; 
 for this sad stroke of Divine Providence (without, 
 vanity or flattery I hope I may now safely affirm) 
 hath reached further than myself, even to all his 
 friends and acquaintance, and to the Church of God 
 also, the prosperity of which was at all times his 
 prayers and his joy. I hope, sir, it will not be 
 unpleasing to you, as it will be always comfortable 
 to me, to mention the manner of his death, which 
 was thus : on May-day last he fell ill, and departed 
 the 22nd of that month, all which time he con- 
 tinued without any, or with very little pain or sick- 
 ness, which he esteemed a great evidence of the 
 Divine favour, in regard he had much desired and 
 prayed for an easy passage, whereby he enjoyed his 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 25 
 
 memory and understanding perfect to the last instant, 
 and thereby, in a most heavenly and comfortable 
 way, he was enabled to bequeath his blessing to his 
 children, his entire love to his friends and relations, 
 and his soul into the hands of Almighty God who 
 gave it; and so I cannot say that he is perished, 
 but rather, like the dawn into the day, his mortality 
 was swallowed up of glory, leaving a dear and 
 precious memory to me, his disconsolate widow, 
 and three tender children, viz., two sons and one 
 daughter. And now, sir, I shall presume further to 
 tell you that we find this bitter cup much sweetened 
 to us, in the assurance of all friendly favour and 
 countenance, as occasion and opportunity shall be, 
 from all those in whom he had secured any interest 
 of friendship, and in particular from your worthy self. 
 His youngest son, that bears his name, he always 
 designed for the ministry ; but being now young, not 
 six years old, he must wait for your future assistance 
 in that way, and in the mean time, till he shall be 
 capable, treasure up the assurance of your favour as 
 a most precious jewel. For his library, my intent, 
 in correspondence to his directions, is to sell it as 
 soon as conveniently I can ; in order to which I have 
 sent a catalogue of the books to Mr. Allestry, a book- 
 seller in London, whom I have desired to communicate 
 the catalogue to you, beseeching your advice in the dis- 
 posing of them, as I shall ever dispose myself to be, 
 "Sir, 
 * Your true honoured, and humble servant, 
 - To the much honoured, and ' Dobothy Weight. 
 Reverend Dr. Sancroft" 
 
26 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 The first great object that engaged Sancroft's 
 attention in his new position was the very important 
 one of repairing and restoring the ancient metro- 
 politan church, old St. Paul's Cathedral. That 
 primitive Christian temple, where the gospel was 
 first preached to the people of London, had been 
 wantonly desecrated during the Commonwealth, and 
 appropriated to the base purpose of a barrack and 
 horse quarters for the roundhead soldiers; the 
 parliament of 1643, having seized the money and 
 materials which the then dean and chapter had pro- 
 vided for the repairs of this time-honoured structure, 
 and removed the scaffoldings that were erected for 
 that purpose. Thus, in consequence of neglect and 
 misusage, the whole of the building had become 
 dilapidated, and portions of the roof had fallen in. 
 
 Sancroft's plans for the restoration of this cathedral 
 were interrupted by the terrible visitation of the 
 plague, which ravaged London in the summer of 
 1665. In the following year the great fire, com- 
 pleting the work of destruction commenced by the 
 roundhead spoilers, left old St. Paul's a scorched and 
 blackened shell. 
 
 Very energetic, nevertheless, were the efforts which 
 the dean and chapter made for the preservation of 
 at least a portion of this relic of antiquity, and for 
 nearly two years they carried on their work of 
 reparation at great expense ; the architect selected 
 and employed by Sancroft for this purpose being no 
 other than his friend Sir Christopher Wren, then Dr. 
 Wren, professor of astronomy at Oxford. 
 
 In his ardent desire to save the old cathedral, 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 27 
 
 Sancroft had disregarded the opinion of Wren, that 
 the attempt would only end in disappointment, and 
 he writes, April 25, 1668, the following particulars 
 of the fulfilment of Wren's prediction : — 
 
 "What you whispered in my ear at your last 
 coming hither is now come to pass. Our work at 
 the west end of St. Paul's is fallen about our ears. 
 Your quick eye discerned the walls and pillars gone 
 off from their perpendiculars, and I believe other 
 defects, too, which are now exposed to every common 
 observer." He ends by entreating Wren to come 
 and bring his excellent designs. 
 
 Finally, it was agreed to abandon the hopeless 
 attempt of repairing the ancient ruinous . structure, 
 and to erect a new cathedral suited to the wealth 
 and increased importance of the metropolis of the 
 British empire. Sancroft contributed from his private 
 means the sum of fourteen hundred pounds, probably 
 his all of ready money, to the subscription that was 
 opened for commencing the work, besides devoting a 
 liberal annual sum from the emoluments of the dean 
 and chapter of St. Paul's, which, through his 
 frugal, judicious, and conscientious management, 
 were daily increasing. It was an arduous and an 
 anxious time for him, as London was almost bereft 
 of churches. 
 
 Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and the ancient cross 
 in Chepe, those useful stations around which the 
 wayfaring, houseless poor, the ragged, barefoot 
 children of misery, undeterred from the privilege of 
 public worship by the imposition of pews and the 
 insolence of pew-openers, had been wont to congre- 
 
28 LIYES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 gate, under the canopy of heaven, to hear the gospel 
 preached in the good old times, had been demo- 
 lished by the destructives of the commonwealth ; and 
 Sancroft perceived the urgent necessity of hastening 
 the erection of St. Paul's Cathedral, if only to supply 
 the people with a spacious place of worship in some 
 measure adapted to their wants and their spiritual 
 destitution. 
 
 The first stone of the stately fane, which now 
 excites the admiration not only of England but the 
 whole world, was laid in 1675, under the superin- 
 tendence and care of Sancroft. Neither delays nor 
 the base system of jobbing, which in the present 
 century pollute national works and national charities, 
 were permitted by him to interfere with the erection 
 of the metropolitan cathedral of the reformed Church 
 of England. The work was performed conscien- 
 tiously, quickly, and well. The glorious structure of 
 modern St. Paul's rose from the ashes of its lamented 
 predecessor with such wonderful celerity, that in ten 
 years the whole plan of the edifice was developed, 
 the walls of the choir and aisles were finished, toge- 
 ther with the north and south porticoes, and the great 
 pillars of the dome carried to the same height. 
 
 Sancroft also rebuilt the deanery of St. Paul's at 
 the same time, and bestowed his attention in supply- 
 ing the spiritual destitution of the populous hamlet 
 of Shadwell, which had then no endowment for a 
 minister of its own, and formed a part of the populous 
 parish of Stepney, where it was impossible for one 
 church to accommodate the inhabitants. In conse- 
 quence of his unwearied exertions, an Act of Parlia- 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 29 
 
 ment was procured in the year 1670, constituting 
 Shadwell a separate parish. Sancroft gave up a 
 portion of his estate as Dean of St. Paul's for the 
 churchyard and parsonage. 
 
 His zeal for the augmentation of the poorer 
 livings, which occasionally fall to the lot of the most 
 deserving of the English clergy, induced him at this 
 time to add to the miserable endowment of the 
 vicarage of Sandon, in Hertfordshire, of which he was 
 now the patron. Seven poor livings were in like 
 manner enriched by this disinterested ecclesiastic. 
 He also endeavoured to use his personal influence 
 with many of the rich clergy by writing persuasive 
 letters, entreating them to assist their poorer brethren 
 from their~ abundance. One glorious light of our 
 English Church, Dr. Isaac Barrow, followed the 
 example of his friend. Our Church has reason to 
 remember Sancroft with gratitude, for his self-denial 
 and charitable ' exertions led the way to the institu- 
 tion of " Queen Anne's Bounty." Burnet daringly 
 claimed the credit of inducing Queen Anne to her 
 Act of Bounty, but Sancroft's well-known facts speak 
 for themselves, as to who suggested it by the irre- 
 sistible argument of example. 
 
 The Archdeaconry of Canterbury had been con- 
 ferred on Dr. Sancroft by the king in 1668, but he 
 held it only two years, finding it interfered with his 
 arduous duties as Dean of St. Paul's. He was also 
 Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation. 
 
 On the death of Sheldon, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, which occurred somewhat unexpectedly, Novem- 
 ber 9, 1677, the king — who had, during the building 
 
30 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 of St. Paul's Cathedral, peculiar opportunities of 
 becoming acquainted with the conscientious and 
 unworldly character of the apostolic dean, his zeal 
 for the service of the Church, great learning, modesty, 
 and mild temper, and prudent management of eccle- 
 siastical property — pitched on him as the most proper 
 man in the realm to be invested with the primacy of 
 England. In this opinion the Lord Chancellor and 
 other members of the Council fully coincided. His 
 Majesty, intending to communicate his intention to 
 Sancroft in a private interview, directed Chiffinch to 
 let the Dean of St. Paul's know that he required his 
 attendance immediately at Whitehall. The dean, 
 who was no courtier, and, as usual, busily occupied in 
 distributing his alms and spiritual comfort to the 
 needy poor in the east of London, could not at first 
 be found, at any rate in the purlieus of the palace, at 
 a time when the vacant see of Canterbury rendered 
 Whitehall the centre of attraction to all the more 
 worldly-minded clergy. 
 
 Sancroft happened to be at the Bishop of London's 
 house when Chiffinch traced him out, and told him 
 " that his Majesty must speak to him that afternoon, 
 at the office at the foot of "Whitehall Stairs." So 
 little did Sancroft anticipate the brilliant preferment 
 awaiting him, that he was a little alarmed at the 
 royal message, imagining perhaps that some of his 
 charities had been misrepresented at Court, and he 
 had been considered guilty of comforting and re- 
 lieving the king's enemies, for he exclaimed, 
 " His Majesty wants to speak to me ! what have I 
 done ?" 
 
SANCR0FT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 31 
 
 At five o'clock that day, December 30th, he 
 attended, in obedience to the King's command, at 
 Mr. Chiffineh's parlour, and received, to his great 
 surprise, the announcement that it was his Majesty's 
 pleasure to appoint him to the primacy. He replied, 
 with characteristic humility, that he was most unfit 
 for so important an office ; pleaded his solitary 
 habits, his poverty, and ignorance of courtly life, and 
 concluded by entreating his Majesty to bestow this 
 great appointment on one who knew better how to 
 comport himself regarding it. King Charles listened 
 to all these genuine expressions of noli episcopari, 
 and then replied pleasantly, " You must take it, as 
 you are quite homeless, for I have given away 
 your deanery of St. Paul's over your head to Dr. 
 Stillingfleet." 
 
 Sancroft then fell back on his poverty with this 
 most naive declaration : — 
 
 " I was a rich man once," observed he to his king, 
 "for I had fifty pounds beforehand in the world. I 
 put it in the hands of a merchant of the city of 
 London, to be ready when wanting. He broke, and 
 lo ! I lost it all. From that time I resolved never to 
 be worth one penny again. I have not a farthing at 
 present ; therefore I must be relieved from the 
 burden of this high preferment. I have not where- 
 withal to pay the crown its fees and first-fruits." 
 
 These the king graciously promised to excuse, and 
 further assisted him in some of the expensive items 
 requisite to his new dignity, by presenting him with 
 a state barge and a coach, both veterans, to be sure, 
 in the service of royalty, but possessing the capa- 
 
32 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 bilities of being rendered, by new painting and* 
 emblazoning, fit for the use of this primitive arch- 
 bishop, who protested his inability to provide the 
 outward things necessary for the unwelcome dignity 
 that was thrust upon him. This reluctance was 
 finally overcome, and his consecration as Archbishop 
 of Canterbury took place in Westminster Abbey, 
 January 27, 1678. 
 
 Dryden, in his political poem, " Absalom and 
 Achitophel," introduces the character of Sancroft 
 under the name of Zadoc the priest, and commemo- 
 rates his meek, unworldly spirit, and the king's 
 reasons for elevating him to the primacy, in these 
 lines : — 
 
 " Zadoc the priest, when shunning power and place, 
 His lowly mind advanced to David's grace." 
 
 Great disappointment among the ambitious church- 
 men of that day was the result of Bancroft's appoint- 
 ment. The soldier-prelate, Compton, did not conceal 
 his anger. O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, recently con- 
 verted from Eomanism, thought proper to fling a 
 dart of his Irish wit at Compton, when conversing on 
 the new primate in company with the Bishop of 
 Durham. "My lords," said he, as they came from 
 the Chapel Royal at Whitehall, " you have all been 
 played a Newmarket trick ; but you see, God Al- 
 mighty's rule doth sometimes hold. He has exalted 
 the humble and meek, and kept down the mighty 
 from the seat." 
 
 It has been invidiously asserted by Bishop Burnet 
 and his copyists that Sancroft owed his elevation to 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 33 
 
 the primacy to the influence of the Duke of York, 
 who considered him a fit person to further his designs 
 in favour of Komanism — an assertion wholly incon- 
 sistent with the zealous and unwelcome attempt made 
 by Sancroft, soon after his consecration, to induce the 
 duke to return to the communion of the Church of 
 England. Sancroft requested the venerable Dr. 
 Morley, Bishop of Winchester, who was much be- 
 loved and respected by the king and the Duke of 
 York, having attended Charles I. during all his 
 troubles, and after his murder followed the royal 
 family into exile, and faithfully continued his unpaid 
 ministration to them and their servants at Paris and 
 Breda, to accompany him to the conference which his 
 Royal Highness consented to hold with them on this 
 all-important subject. Sancroft was the speaker, and 
 addressed the duke in a very eloquent and persuasive 
 speech, from which the following is a brief extract : — 
 " What we are now about to say to your Highness 
 is that which Heaven and earth have long expected 
 from us that we should say, and what we cannot 
 answer it to God or man if we omit or neglect, when 
 we have an opportunity, which your Royal Highness 
 is pleased at this time to afford us. And, therefore, 
 hearken unto us, we beseech you, that God may 
 hearken unto you ; and let it be no grief nor 
 offence unto you, if, with that freedom which be- 
 comes good Christians, loyal subjects, and true 
 Englishmen, we lay before you at this time some 
 of the many grievances and just complaints of 
 our common mother, the holy, but most afflicted 
 Church of England." 
 
 D 
 
34 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 After a just eulogium on that Church, as the purest 
 and best on earth, he makes this touching appeal to 
 the duke's feelings for having forsaken her : — 
 
 " You were born within her then happy pale and 
 communion, and were baptized into her holy faith. 
 You sucked the first principles of Christianity from 
 her, the principles of the oracles of God, that sincere 
 milk of the Word, not adulterated with heterogeneous 
 or foreign mixtures of any kind. Your royal father, 
 that blessed martyr of ever glorious memory, who 
 loved her, and knew how to value her, and lost his 
 all in this world for love of her, even his life, too, 
 bequeathed you to her at the last. 
 
 "When he was ready to turn his back upon an 
 impious and ungrateful world, and had nothing else 
 left him but this excellent religion (which he thought 
 not only worth his three kingdoms, but ten thousand 
 worlds), he gave that to the queen in legacy amongst 
 you. For thus he spake to the king, your brother, 
 and in him all that were his : ' If you never see my 
 face again, I require and entreat you, as your father 
 and as your king, that you never suffer your heart to 
 receive the least check or disaffection from the true 
 religion established in the Church of England. I tell 
 you that I have tried it, and after much search and 
 many disputes, have concluded it to be the best in 
 the world.' " 
 
 After this powerful appeal to James's filial love 
 and reverence for his royal father's opinions, San- 
 croft adverted to his early attachment to the 
 Church of England, and the satisfaction his assiduous 
 attendance at public worship had given to the 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 35 
 
 ministers of the Church. " You stood," observes the 
 eloquent primate, " as it was meet, next to the throne, 
 the eldest son of this now despised Church, and in 
 capacity to become one day the nursing father of it ; 
 and we said in our hearts, it may so come to pass 
 that under his shadow, also, we shall sit down and be 
 safe. But alas ! it was not long before you withdrew 
 yourself by degrees from thence (we know not how, 
 nor why ; Cod knows) ; and though we were loath at 
 first to believe our fears, yet they proved at last too 
 mighty for us ; and when our eyes failed with looking 
 up for you in that house of our Cod, and we found 
 you not, instead of fear, sorrow filled our hearts, and 
 we mourn your absence ever since, and cannot be 
 comforted." 
 
 Sancroft scrupled not in plain words to reproach 
 James for always withdrawing from the House of 
 Lords when prayers were read. " Now," proceeded 
 he, with pathetic earnestness, "you stab every 
 one of us to the heart. Now, you even break our 
 hearts, when we observe (as all the world doth) that 
 we no sooner address ourselves to Heaven for a bless- 
 ing upon the public counsels (in which you have 
 yourself, too, so great and high a concern), but 
 immediately you turn your back upon us. We 
 pray," continued he, " for your Eoyal Highenss by 
 name, and can you find it in your heart, sir, a heart 
 so noble and generous, so courteous, too, to throw T 
 back all these prayers, and renounce them as so 
 many affronts and injuries to Heaven and to you. If 
 We who now stand before you, sir, should declare (as 
 we do at present, and we hope it misbecomes us not) 
 
36 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 that we do now actually lift up our hearts, with our 
 hands, unto God in the heavens, that he would be 
 pleased to endue you with His holy spirit, to enrich 
 you with His heavenly grace, to prosper you with all 
 happiness, and to bring you to His everlasting 
 kingdom ; can you withhold your soul from going up 
 together with our souls, one entire sacrifice to Heaven 
 to so good and so holy a purpose ? Or, if you can, 
 which seems indeed to be the sad state of the case, nor 
 is that action of yours (withdrawing from the prayers), 
 in the common acceptation of mankind, capable of 
 fairer construction, blessed God, what shall we say ?" 
 
 After some indignant remarks on the narrow and 
 exclusive views of the Church of Rome, Sancroft added: 
 " It is more than time, sir, that you consider seriously 
 between God and your own soul, when you two meet 
 together alone at midnight, what you have done, and 
 where you are ; that you remember whence you are 
 fallen, and repent ; that at length you open your eyes ; 
 and we beseech Almighty God (who only can) to open 
 your heart to better and more impartial information. 
 * * * ' Search the Scriptures whether these things be 
 so or not.' " 
 
 He then respectfully offered his own assistance and 
 that of the other bishops to the sailor prince, whose 
 skill in the science of theology was, as he shrewdly 
 suspected, but small, to explain the differences 
 between the two Churches, and assures him they would 
 make the conference as short and easy as possible. 
 " A plain text or two of Scripture," continued he, 
 "and a plain obvious matter of fact, recorded in a 
 hundred books that are in our own language, and in 
 
SAXCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 37 
 
 every man's hand, are all we shall trouble your Royal 
 Highness with ; and from these so few and humble 
 promises, we doubt not, by God's assistance, to be 
 able to evince that your Eoyal Highness is bound in 
 conscience, and as you tender the welfare of your 
 immortal soul, immediately to quit the communion 
 and guidance of your stepdame, the Church of Rome, 
 and then to return to the bosom of your true, dear, 
 and holy mother, the Church of England." 
 
 The duke listened attentively, and with his wonted 
 courtesy to Bancroft's exhortation, which occupied in 
 all nearly half-an-hour, without offering the slightest 
 interruption; but as soon as he had concluded, ob- 
 served, " that it was painful to be pressed on the 
 subject of his religion just before the meeting ot 
 parliament, as anything of that kind must increase 
 the prejudices now prevailing against him." He then 
 asked Sancroft whether he had come by the order of 
 the king, or at the suggestion of the bishops. San- 
 croft replied, " that his Majesty knew of their inten- 
 tion, but that it originated with the bishops." 
 
 The duke observed, " that he had not the slightest 
 dotlbt of the good intentions of himself and some 
 others of their order, but could not help suspecting 
 that those who had urged that measure intended to 
 do him an injury." He added, " that it would be 
 presumptuous in an unlearned man like himself to 
 enter into controversial disputes with persons of their 
 profound erudition and eloquence ; but he would 
 have acquainted them with the reasons of his con- 
 version if he had thought the occasion a proper one 
 for so doing, and his leisure had permitted." He 
 
38 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 then begged them not to take it amiss that he was 
 compelled, by the great pressure of business, which 
 at that time claimed his time and attention, to dismiss 
 them without entering further into the subject they 
 pressed on his attention. 
 
 The popular delusion and agitation excited by 
 Titus Oates' monstrous fulminations, false accusations, 
 and perjuries, purporting to be revelations of a 
 Popish plot for the murder of the king and destruc- 
 tion of the Protestant religion, broke out soon after 
 Bancroft's failure to induce the Duke of York to 
 return to the communion of the Church of England. 
 The natural alarm excited by the unfortunate seces- 
 sion of the heir presumptive of the crown to the 
 Eomish creed, caused the absurd fictions of Oates to 
 pass muster with the multitude. Even good, con- 
 scientious men overlooked the discrepancy of his 
 statements, and believed them. 
 
 The jails were crowded with persons whom Oates 
 denounced as agents and suborners of the pretended 
 plot, and several persons were pronounced guilty and 
 executed on very shallow grounds. 
 
 William Howard, Viscount Stafford, an aged 
 Eoman Catholic peer, was arrested and lodged in the 
 Tower, and very strictly confined, on the accusation 
 of being one of the principal contrivers of this alleged 
 plot. The king requested Sancroft, on the 21st of 
 January, 1678-9, to visit that unfortunate nobleman 
 and hear his confession, for he had sent word to his 
 majesty that he had something of great importance 
 to reveal, which he would communicate to no one 
 but the king or the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 39 
 
 Sancroft has left a curious holograph record of the 
 interview, which has rested unpublished among the 
 Tanner MSS.* for nearly two centuries, but as an 
 authentic document of that momentous period is not 
 unworthy of attention. 
 
 " I took the warrant to the lieutenant," records 
 Sancroft, " and asked whether his Majesty would 
 command me to say anything to the Lord S. 
 from him ? He answered ' No. I was only to 
 receive what he (Lord Stafford) told me, and imme- 
 diately acquaint his Majesty with it.' When I came 
 to the Tower, and had access to the Lord S., he 
 called his servant out of his inner chamber, and 
 desired the guard to keep him without the door, that 
 he might not overhear w T hat was spoken. Then 
 seating me and himself as far from the door as he 
 could, and speaking in a low voice, desiring me to 
 do so too, he by all this caution raised in me great 
 expectation of some mighty discovery. 
 
 "He began with a profession of 'his great and 
 deep sense of his Majesty's favour in tendering him 
 so long since his precious pardon, which he should at 
 all times thankfully receive, with all the dutiful 
 acknowledgments which a loyal heart is capable of; 
 but that he could not accept of it as it was then 
 tendered, without wronging truth and himself, in 
 confessing a crime of which he was wholly innocent ;' 
 and this he desired me to tell the king, and to beg 
 his excuse therein." 
 
 This certifies a fact not generally known, that 
 
 * Vol. xxxix., Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
40 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Charles II. had been persuaded that there was a real 
 plot, sufficiently to offer Lord Stafford a pardon 
 before he was brought to trial, provided he would 
 acknowledge the crime of which he was accused, and 
 disclose all he knew about the designs of the con- 
 spirators. " Conditions which, as an innocent man," 
 he truly declared " it was impossible for him to 
 comply with." "He went on," continues Sancroft, 
 "to say that he took it very unkindly; and here 
 his tears broke out and interrupted his discourse 
 awhile ; but having resettled his countenance, he 
 w r ent on, that he took it. very unkindly, that having 
 known the king and been known of him ever since 
 the king was seven years old, and having had ever 
 since a personal love and affection to him, the 
 king should now use him so severely as to commit 
 him to close prison, not suffering his wife and 
 children to come to him, nor allowing him the air of 
 the Tower, which he complained had injured his 
 health." Sancroft replied "that he ought not to 
 blame the king for any unkindness in the matter, 
 since he was accused of the deadlv and horrible 
 treason of conspiring to compass the king's death, 
 and that all persons so accused were subjected to the 
 like rigorous imprisonment ; for though to be accused 
 did not make a man guilty, yet it subjected him to 
 all the sad restraints of which he complained." 
 
 The unfortunate nobleman protested his innocence 
 of all concern or knowledge of the alleged conspiracy ; 
 on which Sancroft, who certainly appears to have 
 been possessed with a strong idea of his guilt, told him 
 "that he had not said anything different from what 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 41 
 
 he had previously done to the lords of the council 
 who had been to examine him, but that he had led 
 the king and himself to suppose that he had some- 
 thing to disclose which would be worth coining so 
 far to hear." 
 
 Then the noble prisoner began to speak of Dates, 
 and the infamous life he had led before he pretended 
 to become a Catholic ; but Sancroft stopped him, by 
 bidding him reserve all such matters till his trial, 
 where he would have full scope for everything he 
 could say against Oates to invalidate his testimony. 
 "Hereupon," continues Sancroft, "he told me there 
 was one thing he could not help informing the king of. 
 That a little before Tongue and Oates first discovered 
 the plot to the king, they two and a third, whose 
 name he knows not, and one Digby (to whom the 
 late Earl of Bristol gave a legacy, and said in his 
 will that he deserved much more) and Mr. Blood, 
 met day after day, for some time, at a house about 
 the Hay market (an alehouse, he thinks), where their 
 business was not eating or drinking, but writing and 
 copying papers, burning some and transcribing 
 others, and that one was overheard to say to the 
 rest, ' We must make them agree.' 
 
 " I asked him who heard these words, but he could 
 not, or would not tell. He desired me, with much 
 earnestness, to tell the king of this. I told him 
 that I had a higher obligation to do that than his 
 request, for the king had commanded me to go back 
 directly to him and tell him what should pass 
 between us. He then desired me to beg of the 
 king that he would conceal this information, for if he 
 
42 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 should be so happy as to be acquitted at his trial, 
 Blood, if he knew he had mentioned it, would cut 
 his throat." 
 
 Stafford bitterly complained that he was denied 
 en, ink, and paper, to which Sancroft replied it was 
 the usual consequence of close imprisonment. Stafford 
 then said he " desired only to write to the king in 
 the presence of the lieutenant, and for him to take 
 away the letter as soon as closed, together with the 
 pen and ink." " I the rather consented to ask of the 
 king this liberty for him," observes Sancroft, " because 
 I had a surmise, that being checked by me in his 
 career against Oates, he might possibly have a 
 design to communicate something more of it, or 
 something of more moment, which he thought not fit 
 to trust me with, by letter, to the king. In con- 
 clusion, he repeated his protests of his innocence, 
 and said that when he should come to die, for he 
 verily believed that would be the event of his trial, 
 notwithstanding the caution he had used before, lest 
 Mr. Blood should harm him after his being acquitted, 
 he would at the last gasp use the same protestations 
 and die in them." 
 
 Poor Stafford's melancholy presentiment of the 
 event of his trial was only too truly verified in 
 the end. Possibly the strange want of sympathy 
 manifested by the otherwise just and compassionate 
 primate showed him how little he had to expect 
 from the peers temporal of England. 
 
 Sancroft told him " that if, as he professed, he did 
 indeed believe that the accusation would cost him 
 his life, he, as a Christian, ought to improve the 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 43 
 
 rigorous confinement of which he complained as a 
 happy opportunity of searching his conscience and 
 preparing himself for death ; and that if he felt he 
 had incurred the horrible guilt of which he was 
 suspected, it was necessary to confess it." When 
 the unfortunate prisoner again protested his utter 
 innocence of the charge, Sancroft bade him re- 
 flect "whether he had not some unrepented crime 
 on his conscience, w T hich might provoke a just God 
 to bring him to a grievous punishment." Stafford 
 replied "that he had never wronged any one." 
 Among the complaints he desired to be represented 
 to the king, was that he had not the liberty of 
 serving God as he desired. Sancroft then told him 
 that if he served God in the best way he could, 
 it might prove more beneficial than the way he 
 proposed. 
 
 The national monomania of " the Popish plot," as 
 it was called, ran its delirious course ; but the only 
 concern Sancroft had with it was the above conversa- 
 tion with the Viscount Stafford, in the Tower. That 
 he was prepossessed with a belief in the guilt of the 
 unfortunate old man/ and offended by his protesta- 
 tions of innocence, no one who reads his narrative of 
 their conversation can doubt ; and that the same delu- 
 sion pervaded the majority of the peers who sent the 
 hapless victim to the block, is the only apology 
 that can be pleaded for their votes as men and 
 Englishmen. 
 
 One of Sancroft's first cares, after his accession to 
 the primacy, was the restoration of the chapel at 
 Lambeth, which had been wantonly desecrated by 
 
44 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Thomas Scott, the regicide, to whom the archie- 
 piscopal domain had been granted by the Bound- 
 head parliament in reward of his crimes. Scott 
 scrupled not to profane this place of worship, 
 by turning it into a carousing place for the 
 inebriate orgies of himself and his companions in 
 guilt, where, though professedly fighting in sup- 
 port of "the true evangile," they habitually danced 
 with the wanton and disorderly women who resorted 
 to them there every night. 
 
 Not contented with defacing and removing the 
 tomb of the venerable Archbishop Parker, who was 
 interred there, Scott basely violated the remains of 
 the holy man, for the paltry gain of selling the lead 
 in which his body was enclosed, and had his bones 
 flung on a dunghill. 
 
 Sancroft caused diligent search to be made for the 
 insulted relics of his worthy predecessor, and when 
 he had succeeded in collecting them he piously 
 restored them to their original resting-place, and 
 caused a Latin sentence to be engraven on a marble 
 slab to mark the spot. The broken monument was 
 restored at his expense and placed in the vestibule of 
 the chapel, with the addition of a brass plate, inscribed 
 with elegant Latin lines of his own composition, indig- 
 nantly recording the outrage that had been offered 
 to the remains of this good and great man, whom all 
 sincere Protestants are bound to venerate as one of 
 the Fathers of the Reformation. 
 
 Though Sancroft w r as unfeignedly devoted to the 
 welfare of the Church of England, he was greatly re- 
 spected by Catharine of Braganza, Charles II.'s Eoman 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 45 
 
 Catholic queen, who paid due attention to all his 
 recommendations in the distribution of her charities. 
 
 Henry, Earl of Clarendon, writes to Sancroft, 
 from Newmarket, September 9th, 1681 : — " As 
 soon as I acquainted the queen with what you 
 wrote, her Majesty very readily condescended to 
 give her letter to Mr. Bradshaw r , being fully 
 satisfied she could not place her charity better 
 than on the person whom your grace thought fit 
 to recommend. Their Majesties will be at White- 
 hall on Wednesday next, and the very next day, 
 God willing, I will wait on your grace with the 
 queen's letter. In the mean time, I shall give you 
 no farther trouble, but most humbly to beg your 
 benediction." 
 
 Sancroft' s time was unremittingly devoted to the 
 duties of his high vocation, and his revenues to the 
 augmentation of the small livings of the Church. He 
 secured to the curate and preacher of Maidstone, a 
 thickly populated, but miserably endowed parish, a 
 better maintenance. The living of his native Fressing- 
 field he considerably augmented, and founded and en- 
 dowed a parish school, which proved of great benefit to 
 that neighbourhood. Instead of renewing the lease of 
 the impropriated rectorial tithes of Postling, in Kent, 
 he devoted it for the permanent improvement of the 
 inadequate income of the vicar. It was to objects of 
 this nature that he appropriated the mighty revenues 
 of Canterbury ; but with all his munificent charities, 
 his self-denial, and unremitting endeavours to 
 assist the hard-working servants of the Church, he 
 had the mortification of finding himself misrepre- 
 
46 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 sented and traduced by those who could not imitate 
 his virtues. 
 
 He speaks with some bitterness on this subject, in 
 a letter written July 5, 1683, to his friend the compt- 
 roller : — " To do well and even for so doing to be 
 evil spoken of, is many times in this world the por- 
 tion of well-meaning men. That a suit concerning 
 tithe pay is commenced or threatened by my par- 
 ticular direction, or by any direction at all from me? 
 is a great and foul slander upon me, whoever is the 
 author, of which pray inform yourself particularly. 
 And that I intend an augmentation of the chapelries 
 to be had out of the purses of the inhabitants, is a 
 most malicious calumny. God Almighty knows 
 (and better than any man but myself, you know), that 
 what I should receive upon the renewing of this 
 lease, I intended should be bestowed for the good 
 (the spiritual good) and welfare of those inhabitants ; 
 and when their heats are over, and their eyes a little 
 cleared to look upon things as they are, I hope," 
 adds he sarcastically, "they will forgive me this 
 wrong. They may consider, if they please, that wise 
 men never throw away an opportunity of doing 
 themselves good, which for aught they know will 
 never return. And sure I am they cannot be certain 
 that the next archbishop will, frankly and unasked, 
 throw a thousand marks into their laps, to be ex- 
 pended entirely for the good of their souls. And yet 
 I am prepared and resolved to do this for them ; but 
 under my former express proviso, that if they expect 
 I should do for them what I am no ways obliged 
 to, they should do something also for themselves. 
 
SANCR0FT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 47 
 
 For both God and man justly abandon those that will 
 not help themselves when they may. Had I 
 designed my own worldly advantage, I might have 
 spared myself and you a great deal of care and 
 trouble, and concluded the matter with my tenant, 
 without noise, and long since have taken the money 
 into my pocket. But I thank God my charity 
 to them showed me a more excellent wav. And 
 though I am not by them handsomely rewarded for 
 it, yet I know who it is that accepts intentions 
 and endeavours (if they be real and sincere), and 
 writes them up in His book of attempts as actual 
 performances. But, though I can thus satisfy 
 and comfort myself, I am infinitely unwilling to 
 give over a design in which God may have some 
 glory and men some benefit, because of the fro- 
 wardness of those I have to deal with about it. 
 There are a sort of men to whom we must do 
 good whether they will or no ; and therefore I will 
 give them time to bethink themselves, by holding 
 to the resolution I have constantly declared to the 
 Lord Cheyney, never to renew the lease, unless it 
 may be to the advantage of these unendowed 
 chapelries." 
 
 Very closely did the cases of all unendowed 
 churches and chapelries lie to the heart of the 
 apostolic primate, and strenuously did he labour to 
 assist and encourage the disinterested ministers by 
 whom they were served. In the meantime he was a 
 liberal contributor to all national charities. He con- 
 tributed a thousand pounds towards the establishment 
 of Chelsea College. His hospitality was unbounded. 
 
48 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and the poor of Lambeth were almost entirely fed 
 from his kitchen. 
 
 Mild and benevolent as he was in his personal 
 demeanour, Sancroft was nevertheless a strict enforcer 
 of clerical discipline, and vigilantly put down all 
 abuses that came under his observance. He scrupled 
 not to suspend Dr. Wood, Bishop of Lichfield and 
 Coventry, from the exercise of his episcopal functions, 
 on account of his neglect of his diocese and other 
 misdemeanours, although Wood was under the espe- 
 cial patronage of the Duchess of Cleveland, whose 
 son, the Duke of Southampton, was married to his 
 niece. Sancroft, however, performed his duty with 
 the conscientious intrepidity which formed one of his 
 leading characteristics, and the king manifested no 
 displeasure. 
 
 The Archdeacon of Lincoln being convicted of 
 simony, petitioned the king for pardon, and on his 
 Majesty referring the petition to the consideration of 
 the archbishop, his grace, in his reply, uses the fol- 
 lowing energetic language : — 
 
 " Sire, the crime he stands convicted of, is a pesti- 
 lence that walketh in darkness, too often committed 
 but very seldom found out. And now there is a 
 criminal detected, if your Majesty thinks fit, which 
 God forbid, to rescue him from the penalty, the 
 markets of Simon Magus will be more frequented 
 than ever. Much rather, since he hath the courage 
 to appeal to the delegates, to the delegates let him 
 go ; which yet, with all the rest, is humbly submitted 
 to your Majesty's wisdom and justice." 
 
 When Charles II. lay in his death-agony, Sancroft 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 49 
 
 endeavoured to awaken him to a sense of his spiritual 
 danger, by urging the necessity of self-recollection 
 and repentance of his sinful and sensual life, and 
 warning him " that he was about to appear in the 
 presence of One who was no respecter of persons." 
 His eloquence was unavailing; Charles had deter- 
 mined to die in the communion of the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
 E 
 
50 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BlfeHOPS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A path of peculiar difficulty lay before Sancroft on 
 the accession of James II. to the throne of Great 
 Britain. The new sovereign was an avowed member 
 of the Church of Rome, but nominally the defender 
 of the Reformed Faith by law established. Sancroft 
 was at the head of the hierarchy of the Church of 
 England, to which he was fervently attached, and 
 was prepared to maintain it in all its integrity. King 
 James had, however, quieted the apprehensions of 
 his people by a voluntary declaration to his council, 
 on the day of his accession, that it was his intention 
 to protect and cherish the Church of England. Thus 
 assured, Sancroft performed the solemnity of crowning 
 King James and his Queen. No other alteration was 
 made in the service than the omission of the commu- 
 nion. It was, with that exception, the same precisely 
 as the form used by Cranmer at the consecration of 
 Edward VI. 
 
 A large fine falling to the archbishop this year, he 
 devoted it to the endowment of the chapelries in 
 the populous parishes of Rochdale, Blackburn, and 
 Whalley, in Lancashire, and providing and paying 
 proper ministers, which were greatly needed. He 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 51 
 
 also founded and endowed an excellent parish school 
 at Harleston, in Norfolk. 
 
 The first attempt at providing, in a small degree, 
 for the spiritual wants of the English colonies in 
 America had been made in the reign of Charles II., 
 and apparently under the apostolic care of Sancroft, 
 which facts are to be gathered from the petition of 
 the people of Maryland, that his grace would inter- 
 cede with James EL, to supply them with funds to 
 build a church at Colvert Town, in that province, and 
 to grant them a minister to supply the place of the 
 one sent out by Charles EL, whose death was regarded 
 as a great calamity. This petition is backed by a 
 letter to the primate from Mrs. Mary Taney, who 
 gratefully acknowledges the sympathy and aid the 
 colony had received from him. 
 
 " To the Most Reverend the Archbishops and the rest 
 of the Might Reverend the Bishops* 
 
 " The humble Petition of Mary Taney, on the 
 behalf of herself and others his Majesty's sub- 
 jects, inhabitants of the Province of Maryland. 
 
 " Sheweth, 
 
 "That your Petitioner in her Petition to the 
 king's Majesty, setting forth, That the said Province 
 being without a church or any settled ministry, to 
 the great grief of all his Majesty's loyal subjects there, 
 his late Majesty King Charles the Second (of blessed 
 memory) was graciously pleased to send over thither 
 
 * Tanner, xxxi. 13S. 
 
52 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 a minister, and- a parcel of Bibles, and other church 
 books of considerable value, in order to the settle- 
 ment of a church and ministry there. 
 
 " That the said Minister dying, and the Inhabit- 
 ants (who have no other Trade but in Tobacco) 
 being so very poor that they are not able to maintain 
 a Minister, chiefly by reason of his Majesty's Customs 
 here upon Tobacco are so very great, which causes 
 the Inhabitants (who are not able to send it hither) 
 to sell it there to the merchants at their own rates. 
 By means whereof so good a work as was intended 
 by his said late Majesty is like to miscarry, to the 
 utter ruin of many poor souls, unless supplied by his 
 Majesty. Praying his Majesty that a certain parcel 
 of Tobacco (of one hundred hogsheads or thereabouts) 
 of the growth or product of the said Province may be 
 custom free, for and towards the maintenance of an 
 orthodox Divine at Colvert Town, in the said province, 
 or otherwise allow maintenance for a Minister there. 
 
 Your Petitioner, therefore, most humbly prays 
 that your Lordships will be pleased, not only 
 to mediate with his Majesty, and in your pe- 
 titioner's behalf to request Him to grant her her 
 desire in the said Petition, But likewise that 
 your Lordships will vouchsafe to contribute 
 towards the Building of a Church at Colvert 
 Town aforesaid, as your Lordships in Charity 
 and Goodness shall think meet. 
 
 And your Petitioner (as in duty bound) shall 
 ever pray. 
 
SANCR0FT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 53 
 
 « July the 14, 1685.* 
 
 "May it please Your Grace, 
 
 " I am now to repeat my request to your Grace 
 for a church in the place of Maryland, where I 
 live ; but first I humbly thank your Grace that you 
 were pleased to hear so favourably and own my 
 desires very reasonable, and to encourage the inha- 
 bitants to make a petition to the king. Our want of 
 a minister, and the many blessings our Saviour 
 designed us by them, is a misery which I and a 
 numerous family and many others in Maryland have 
 groaned under. We are seized with extreme horror 
 when we think that for want of the Gospel our 
 Children and Posterity are in danger to be condemned 
 to infidelity or to apostacy. We do not question 
 God's care of us, but think your Grace and the right 
 Reverend your Bishops the proper Instruments of so 
 great a blessing to us. We are not, I hope, so foreign to 
 your Jurisdiction but we may be owned your stray 
 flock; however, the commission to go and baptize 
 and teach all nations is large enough. But I am 
 sure we are, by a late custom upon Tobacco, suffi- 
 ciently acknowledged subjects of the Bang of Eng- 
 land, and therefore beg his protection, not only 
 of our persons and estates, but of what is more dear 
 to us, our Religion. I question not but that your 
 Grace is sensible that without a temple it will be 
 impracticable, neither can we expect a minister to 
 hold out to ride ten miles in a morning, and before 
 he can dine ten more, and from house to house in 
 
 * Tanner, xxxi. 140. 
 
54 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 hot weather will dishearten a minister, if not kill 
 him. Your Grace is so sensible of our sad condition, 
 and for your place and piety's sake have so great an 
 influence on our most Religious and Gracious King, 
 that if I had not your Grace's promise to depend 
 upon I could not question your Grace's intercession 
 and prevailing. 500Z. or 600?. for a church, with some 
 small encouragement for a minister, will be extremely 
 less charge than honour to his Majesty ; and if I 
 may in this case mention his Majesty's Interest, one 
 church settled according to the Church of England, 
 which is the sum of our Request, will prove a nursery 
 of Religion and Loyalty through the whole Province. 
 But your Grace needs no arguments from me, but 
 only this, — it is in your power to give us many 
 happy opportunities to praise God for this and other 
 innumerable mercies, and to importune His good- 
 ness to bless his Majesty with a long and prosperous 
 Reign over us, and long continue to your Grace 
 the great blessing of being an instrument of good 
 to His church. And now that I may be no more 
 troublesome, I humbly entreat your Pardon to the 
 well-meant zeal of 
 
 " Your Grace's most obedient servant, 
 
 " Mary Taney." 
 
 When King James erected his unpopular Eccle- 
 siastical Court, Archbishop Sancroft was appointed 
 as one of the commissioners, but he prayed to be 
 excused from acting on account of his age and 
 infirmities, having nearly completed his seventieth 
 
SANCR0FT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 55 
 
 year. Sancroft's refusal to involve himself with 
 these proceedings displeased the king, who is said to 
 have intimated that his appearance at Court would 
 be unwelcome. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the Princess of Orange 
 thought proper to address the following flattering 
 letter to him, by the advice of her clever almoner, 
 Dr. Stanley: — 
 
 " The Princess of Orange to Archbishop Saner oft. 
 
 "Loo, Oct 1, 1687. 
 
 "Though I have not the advantage to know 
 you, my Lord of Canterbury, yet the reputation you 
 have makes me resolve not to lose this opportunity 
 of making myself more known to you than I could 
 have been yet. Dr. Stanley can assure you that I 
 take more interest in what concerns the Church of 
 England than (in) myself; and that one of the 
 greatest satisfactions I can have is to hear how that 
 all the clergy show themselves as firm to their 
 religion as they have always been to their King ; 
 which makes me confident God will preserve His 
 Church since He has so well provided it with able 
 men. I have nothing more to say, but beg your 
 prayers, and desire you will do me the justice to 
 believe I shall be very glad of any occasion to show 
 the esteem and veneration I have for you. 
 
 " Marie. 
 " To the Archbishop of Canterbury r ." 
 
 The tone of Sancroft's answer, instead of savouring 
 
56 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 of disaffection, rather pleads apologetically for his 
 misguided sovereign : — 
 
 "It hath seemed good to the Infinite Wisdom/' 
 wrote the archbishop, " to exercise this poor Church 
 with trials of all sorts and of all degrees. But the 
 greatest calamity that ever befel us was that wicked 
 and ungodly men, who murdered the father (Charles 
 I.), likewise drove out the sons, as if to say to them, 
 ' Go, serve other gods,' the dreadful effects of which 
 we feel every moment." 
 
 This was as true as it was reasonable. The youth 
 of the sons of Charles I., spent among Eoman 
 Catholics in the places of their expatriation, had 
 predisposed them to the religion with all its entice- 
 ments of sight and sound that they witnessed around 
 them in early life. The Stuart princes did not seek 
 the Eoman religion, but were driven into it. 
 
 " And though," Bancroft continues, "this (were it 
 much more) cannot in the least shake or alter our 
 steady loyalty to our Sovereign and the Eoyal 
 Family, yet it embitters the comforts left us, it 
 blasts our present joys, and makes us sit down with 
 sorrow in dust and ashes. Blessed be God, who hath 
 caused some dawn of light to break from the eastern 
 shore in the constancy of your Eoyal Highness and 
 the excellent prince." 
 
 Sancroft speaks of himself as an old man sinking 
 under the double burden of age and sorrow. He 
 continues with tender and paternal expressions to the 
 princess, who, like Mary, had chosen the better part, 
 and signs himself "her daily orator at the throne 
 of grace." 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 57 
 
 The next communication between Mary and San- 
 croft was in the beginning of the year 1688, when 
 the Princess of Orange had received that remarkable 
 letter from her father, describing to her his alteration 
 of religion. He was certainly led by her mother, his 
 first wife, Anne Hyde, into the Eoman Catholic pro- 
 fession, and confirmed in it by the long and virulent 
 sermons against it, the only spiritual pasture provided 
 by Dr. Tillotson. The princess was very proud of 
 her skill in controversial argument, and very desirous 
 that the Archbishop of Canterbury should admire it 
 as much as she did herself. But her former letter, 
 pretty and condescending as it was, had not been 
 responded to according to her expectations. The 
 Princess of Orange had, however, at last, an almoner 
 who suited her much better than saintly Ken or 
 apostolic Hooper, or even than quaint simple old 
 Covel. The courtly Dr. Stanley undertook the 
 chaperonage of the private and confidential letters 
 between the father and the daughter, which he 
 hereby offers to the perusal of one whom all circum- 
 stances led to be a violent opponent of the father. 
 How could the princess and her present spiritual 
 adviser doubt that showers of praises must fall upon 
 her from the pen of Sancroft ? 
 
 " Dr. Stanley to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 " The Hague, Jan. 24, 1687-8. 
 
 " I suppose your Grace hath heard that the King 
 hath not been wanting to press his daughter here 
 to be favourable to popery ; but lest you should have 
 
58 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 heard more than is true, I presume to acquaint your 
 lordship with what hath passed, her Eoyal Highness 
 being pleased to make me privy to it, and giving me 
 express leave to communicate it to your Grace. 
 Whatever reports have been raised, King James hath 
 scarcely ever either spoken or written to our excel- 
 lent princess, to persuade her to popery, till our 
 excellent princess," continues Dr. Stanley, " seeing 
 this letter, written with the king's own hand, was 
 resolved to write an answer herself, as her father 
 desired, without consulting any of us (her chaplains), 
 that he might see she was very ready to give an 
 account of herself. The very next day being post 
 day, she made haste, and wrote a letter to King 
 James of two sheets of paper (which she afterwards 
 read to me), which truly I can, without flattery, say 
 was the best letter I ever saw r , treating King James 
 with that respect which became her father and her 
 King, and yet speaking her mind freely and openly, 
 as became the cause of religion, and that she hoped 
 that God would give her grace to live and die in that 
 of the Church of England." 
 
 Dr. Stanley kindly offered the primate the copy 
 of this letter ; indeed he must have sent it to him, 
 for he begs that his grace would be pleased to write 
 his commendations of the princess, and secretly send 
 them to Dr. Tillotson, who would forward them to 
 her Koyal Highness ; " and if your grace doth take 
 some notice of her carriage in this affair, as I have 
 related it, I believe it will be very acceptable to 
 her." Stanley eulogized the controversial abilities 
 of the princess, and intimated that "she would be 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 59 
 
 highly gratified by Sancroft writing somewhat in 
 commendation of her letter." 
 
 The archbishop shrank from the impropriety of 
 discussing the private correspondence between the 
 royal father and daughter. With all his caution, it 
 was, however, impossible to avoid a collision with the 
 king. James, who was governing without a parlia- 
 ment, thought proper to reiterate his '" declaration for 
 Liberty of Conscience " in the spring of 1688, and, by 
 an order in council, dated May 4, required his bishops 
 to send it to their clergy, with orders for it to be 
 read in all churches on Sunday, the 27th of May. 
 This declaration amounted to an announcement that 
 it was the king's pleasure, by the exercise of his 
 royal prerogative, to dispense with the penal laws 
 and acts of uniformity, leaving every man free to 
 worship God according to his own conscience. But, 
 as it was no part of the duty of the clergy to pro- 
 mulgate the royal declaration, and as the unhappy 
 fact that the sovereign was not a member of the 
 Church of England caused his motives to be regarded 
 with suspicion, Sancroft called a meeting of prelates 
 and eminent churchmen at Lambeth, in which, after 
 long and earnest consultation, they resolved to 
 address a petition to the king, " praying to be ex- 
 cused from reading or distributing his late declara- 
 tion for Liberty of Conscience," stating " that their 
 objections proceeded neither from want of duty or 
 affection to his service, but from motives of conscience, 
 because it was founded on a dispensing power which 
 had been declared illegal by parliament," 
 
 The petition was drawn up and written by Sancroft 
 
60 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 himself, and signed by him ; Lloyd, Bishop of St. 
 Asaph ; Turner, Bishop of Ely ; Lake, Bishop of 
 Chichester; Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells; White, 
 Bishop of Peterborough; and Trelawny, Bishop of 
 Bristol. 
 
 Late as it was, the last-named six prelates passed 
 over to Whitehall, but without the archbishop, who 
 was in ill-health. The object of the six prelates was 
 to obtain a preliminary conference with the Earl of 
 Sunderland, to acquaint him with their intention of 
 petitioning the king to excuse them from reading 
 the declaration, and to get him to ask his Majesty to 
 appoint the time and place for them to have the 
 honour of presenting it. They earnestly entreated 
 Sunderland to read the petition himself, that he 
 might explain its purport to the king beforehand, to 
 avoid taking his Majesty by surprise. This, if Sun- 
 derland had been a faithful minister, he would gladly 
 have done, in the hope of softening matters so as to 
 avert a collision between the king and his hierarchy ; 
 but, being a secret-service man of the Prince of 
 Orange, he did his utmost to precipitate the rupture, 
 refused to look at the petition, and induced the king 
 to see the prelates the same evening, though it was 
 ten o'clock. Thus it was that the petition was pre- 
 sented by Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, instead of 
 Archbishop Sancroft. 
 
 On being introduced into the royal closet, the six 
 bishops knelt and presented the petition. The king 
 received it with a gracious countenance, and, looking 
 upon it, observed, " This is my lord of Canterbury's 
 handwriting." 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 61 
 
 " Yes, sir, it is his own hand," replied the 
 bishops. 
 
 The king read the paper, and perceiving the in- 
 tention to resist his order, folded it up, and said, 
 " This is a great surprise to me ; here are strange 
 words. I did not expect this from you. This is a 
 standard of rebellion." 
 
 " We would lose the last drop of our blood," re- 
 plied the presenter of the petition, Bishop Lloyd, 
 of St. Asaph, " rather than lift up a finger against 
 your Majesty," and this sentiment was echoed by 
 the rest. 
 
 " I tell you this is a standard of rebellion," repeated 
 the king. 
 
 Down fell Trelawny, the Bishop of Bristol, on his 
 knees, exclaiming, "Bebellion, sir! I beseech your 
 Majesty not to say so hard a thing of us. For God's 
 sake do not believe we are, or can be, guilty of re- 
 bellion. It is impossible that I, or any of my family, 
 should be so." 
 
 "We rebel, sir!" exclaimed Turner, Bishop of 
 Ely. " We are ready to die at your feet." 
 
 "Do you question my dispensing power?" de- 
 manded the king, angrily. " Some of you here 
 have printed and preached for it, when it was for 
 your purpose." 
 
 " Sir," replied White, Bishop of Peterborough, 
 " what we say of the dispensing power refers only to 
 what was declared in parliament." 
 
 " The dispensing power," observed the king. " was 
 never questioned by the men of the Church of 
 England." 
 
62 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " We are bound," said the Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, "to fear God and honour the king. We 
 desire to do both. We will honour you ; we must 
 fear God." 
 
 James, with increasing wrath, exclaimed, " Is this 
 what I have deserved, who have supported the Church 
 of England, and will support it ? I will remember 
 you that have signed this paper. I did not expect 
 this from you, especially from some of you. I will 
 be obeyed in publishing my declaration." 
 
 He dismissed them in anger, with this haughty 
 speech : " God hath given me this dispensing power, 
 and I will maintain it." 
 
 The same night the petition of the bishops, pro- 
 testing against the dispensing power assumed by the 
 sovereign as illegal, was vociferated by hawkers 
 through the streets of the startled metropolis, in the 
 same way as is now done by the vendors of the even- 
 ing papers when any remarkable public event has 
 occurred, a practice which was then without pre- 
 cedent. 
 
 The king, who was exceedingly offended at this 
 undesirable publicity being given to what had passed 
 in the privacy of his closet, regarded it as an outrage 
 on the part of the prelates. He sent a stern inti- 
 mation of his displeasure to Sancroft, complaining of 
 it as a treasonable misdemeanour. Sancroft replied 
 with an expression of deep regret and surprise at 
 what had occurred, protesting, at the same time, 
 " ignorance of the matter, and great perplexity as to 
 how the petition could have got abroad, since he had 
 written it out with his own hand to prevent any 
 
SANCRORT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 63 
 
 treachery on the part of a secretary, so that there 
 was no copy, only the original document, and that 
 was in his Majesty's own possession." It was, how- 
 ever, certain that the petition was sent to press im- 
 mediately the bishops left the royal presence : their 
 audience did not commence till ten, and before twelve 
 their petition was bawled about the streets. There 
 were three persons whose after conduct leads to the 
 conclusion that the copy was supplied by one of 
 them — Lloyd, Trelawny, or Sunderland ; pro- 
 bably the last, to whom the king, though he 
 pocketed the petition, would naturally submit it 
 for consideration on the departure of the bishops. 
 The publication of this document rendered the 
 breach between the king and the bishops irrecon- 
 cilable, and was in the end the means of depriving 
 him of the throne. 
 
 Nine days were suffered by the king to elapse 
 before he took any decided step tending to demon- 
 strate his displeasure with the bishops. At one time, 
 as he has himself recorded, he had determined to 
 pass the matter over in silence ; but his ill-conditioned 
 lord chancellor, Jeffreys, persuaded him that it was 
 incumbent on him to punish them for disobedience 
 and contempt of his royal authority. The minds of 
 the people were so greatly inflamed by the publica- 
 tion of the petition, that the king, regarding the 
 manner in which this had been done as a most un- 
 justifiable breach of confidence, was, in an evil hour, 
 induced to summon the archbishop and the other 
 subscribing prelates to appear before the council on 
 the 8th of June, to answer to such matters of mis- 
 
64 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 demeanour as should be objected against them, then 
 and there. 
 
 In the interim, the petition was approved by five 
 other bishops, who had not arrived in time to sub- 
 scribe with the other prelates, but now added their 
 signatures. 
 
 On Friday, June 8th, at five in the afternoon, the 
 appointed time, his Majesty came into the council 
 chamber, and the archbishop and the six bishops 
 were called in. 
 
 " The king received them graciously," says San- 
 croft in his MS. narrative of this eventful scene, and 
 the lord chancellor took a paper then lying on the 
 table, and showing it to the archbishop, demanded of 
 him, " Is this the petition that was written and signed 
 by your grace, and which these bishops presented to 
 his Majesty ?" The archbishop received the paper, 
 but without taking any notice of the lord chancellor's 
 query, addressed himself to the king in these words : 
 — "Sir, I am called hither as a criminal, which I 
 never was before in my life, and little thought I ever 
 should be, especially before your Majesty ; but since 
 it is my unhappiness to be so at this time, I hope 
 your Majesty will not be offended that I am cautious 
 of answering questions. No man is obliged to answer 
 questions that may tend to the accusing of himself." 
 
 Provoked by this implied distrust, James so far 
 departed from his wonted courtesy as to exclaim, 
 " Why this is downright chicanery ! I hope you do 
 not deny your own hand." 
 
 " Sir," said the archbishop, " though we are not 
 obliged to give any answer to this question, yet, if 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 65 
 
 your Majesty lays your command upon us, we shall 
 answer it in trust upon your Majesty's justice and 
 generosity that we shall not suffer for our obedience, 
 as we must if our answer should be brought in evi- 
 dence against us." 
 
 " No," said James, " I will not command you. If 
 you will deny your owtl hands, I know not what to 
 say to you." 
 
 The lord chancellor then desired them to withdrawn 
 In a few minutes they were called in again, and after 
 they had acknowledged their respective signatures, 
 the lord chancellor informed them that it was his 
 Majesty's pleasure to have them proceeded against 
 for writing and publishing a seditious libel, but that 
 it should be with all fairness, in Westminster Hall, 
 and required them to enter into recognizances for 
 their appearance. Sancroft refused to do so, claim- 
 ing their privileges as members of the House of Peers. 
 The king told them it was offered as a favour, and to 
 save them from any imprisonment, for they might 
 return peacefully to their respective places of abode 
 if they would enter into recognizances, and he w r ould 
 accept the very smallest amount, making them merely 
 nominal. They w r ere, however, firm in refusing to 
 give them, and were again ordered to retire. 
 
 They were presently joined by the Earl of Berkeley 
 from the Council Chamber, who endeavoured to per- 
 suade Sancroft and the other prelates to enter into 
 the recognizances ; but finding them immovable, he 
 returned to the council, and in about half an hour 
 the sergeant-at-arms came out with a warrant to 
 arrest them, and take them to the Tower ; and with 
 
 F 
 
66 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 another warrant addressed to the lieutenant of the 
 Tower, commanding him to receive their persons 
 into safe custody till they should be delivered by due 
 course of law. 
 
 When the populace, who were in a most excited 
 state, thronging the purlieus of Whitehall to await 
 the event of the summons of the seven bishops before 
 the Privy Council, saw them led out as prisoners under 
 a guard of soldiers, and embarked at Whitehall stairs 
 to be lodged in the Tower, they exhibited the most 
 passionate demonstrations of sympathy and affection. 
 Even the soldiers appointed to guard them knelt and 
 implored their benediction. 
 
 The venerable archbishop, whose boundless charities 
 and hospitality, during upwards of ten years' residence 
 at Lambeth, had endeared him to the hearts of the 
 poor, and won the affection and respect of all sorts 
 and conditions of people, endeavoured to calm their 
 passionate indignation at seeing him injuriously 
 treated. He and his companions in durance en- 
 treated them " to preserve their loyalty to their sove- 
 reign, for they were bound not only to fear God, but 
 to honour the king." 
 
 When they entered the barge that was to convey 
 them to the Tower, scarcely could the people be 
 restrained from rushing into the water after them in 
 their enthusiasm. They were cheered from the 
 banks as they proceeded down the river, and when 
 they reached the Tower, and landed at the Traitors' 
 Gate, they were received with more than royal 
 honours, for all the garrison, officers as well as 
 privates, with a simultaneous burst of feeling, knelt 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 67 
 
 and begged their blessing. Such a scene was never 
 witnessed there before, and probably never will again. 
 Love for the Church of England was the prevailing 
 sentiment, and these seven bishops were regarded 
 as its champions. 
 
 It was the hour of evening service, and the 
 captive prelates were permitted by the lieutenant of 
 the Tower the solace of entering the chapel. What 
 a sensation it must have created when these words in 
 the second lesson were read, " I have heard thee in 
 a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I 
 succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time ; 
 behold, now is the day of salvation." 
 
 The right reverend prisoners were treated with 
 the utmost respect by the lieutenant, and allowed 
 the liberty of the Tower, and to see any one they 
 pleased. They were visited the next day by a 
 concourse of the nobility and persons of distinction, 
 who had free access to them. 
 
 Twice had the Princess of Orange and Dr. Stanley 
 laid siege in good earnest to the loyalty of Sancroft. 
 The Tower imprisonment was hailed by them as the 
 best chance in their favour that the rashness of the 
 king had given them. Such treatment they natu- 
 rally concluded would excite a desire of revenge in 
 the primate's bosom. Dr. Stanley addressed a letter 
 to him by command of the Prince and Princess of 
 Orange, expressive of their admiration of the con- 
 duct of himself and his fellow-prisoners, and their 
 sympathy for their sufferings. Sancroft made no 
 response to it. 
 
 : A11 men," wrote Dr. Stanley, "that love the 
 
 u 
 
68 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Eeformation do rejoice in it and thank God for it, as 
 an act most resolute and every way becoming your 
 places (bishoprics we suppose he means). But espe- 
 cially our excellent prince and princess were well 
 pleased with it (notwithstanding all the king's envoy 
 here could say) ; they have both vindicated it before 
 him, and given me command in their names to 
 return your grace their hearty thanks for it, and 
 at the same time to express their real concern for 
 your grace and all your brethren, and for the good 
 cause in which your grace is engaged. And your 
 refusing to comply with King James II. is by no 
 means looked upon by them as tending to disparage 
 the monarchy, for they reckon the monarchy to be 
 undervalued by illegal actions. Indeed we have 
 great reason to bless and thank God for their High- 
 nesses steadiness in so good a cause." 
 
 No response did all these notes of exultation 
 elicit from the venerable patriarch of the Anglican 
 Church. Bowed down with sorrow, mourning over 
 the wounds that beloved church was receiving from 
 the king, whose duty it was to protect her, he 
 anticipated no very great amelioration of them from 
 a foreigner whose belief varied between deism and 
 fatalism. 
 
 The imprisonment of the bishops only lasted seven 
 days. They were removed from the Tower, on 
 Friday, June 15th, by a writ of habeas corpus, to the 
 Court of King's Bench, being brought thither by the 
 lieutenant of the Tower about eleven o'clock. They 
 were received with great respect by the bench, and 
 immediately accommodated with chairs, a civility 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 69 
 
 without precedent in cases where the crown prose- 
 cuted. The information against them charged 
 William, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the other 
 six bishops with consulting and conspiring one with 
 another to diminish the royal authority, prerogative, 
 and power, by maliciously and scandalously fabri- 
 cating and writing, under the pretence of a petition, 
 a pernicious and seditious libel, and causing it to be 
 published, in manifest contempt of the king and 
 against his peace. 
 
 The archbishop stood up, and offered a paper to 
 the court, containing a plea in behalf of himself and 
 the other six, that they should not be compelled to 
 answer to the charge at that time, but be allowed 
 sufficient time to prepare their defence. This 
 request, though contrary to the practice of the court, 
 was granted, and the attorney-general gave notice 
 that their trial would come on that day fortnight. 
 The court admitted them to bail on their own recog- 
 nizances, which they did not then refuse to give. 
 The archbishop was bound to appear under a penalty 
 of 200Z., and each of the bishops in 100?. They 
 were then permitted to return to their own homes. 
 They were received by the crowd outside the court 
 with rapturous acclamations, bonfires were made in 
 the streets at night, and enthusiastic demonstrations 
 of popular rejoicing continued till morning. 
 
 Short as the imprisonment of Bancroft and the six 
 bishops had been, it was productive of the most 
 disastrous consequences to James II., by producing 
 an irreconcilable feud between him and the Church, 
 at that time so dear to the people of England. It 
 
70 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 was the more ill-judged on his part because it 
 deprived the birth of his son — which occurred two 
 days after their arrest — of the most important and 
 unquestionable of witnesses, the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury ; for if Sancroft had been present on that 
 occasion, and deposed that he was in the chamber 
 when the prince was born, no one would have dared 
 to impugn his testimony. As it was, the Orange 
 faction took occasion to convert his enforced absence 
 into a presumptive evidence that a spurious child 
 had been imposed on the nation. 
 
 The trial of the seven bishops came on at the 
 appointed time, June 29th. Westminster Hall and 
 all its approaches were thronged with anxious 
 spectators. The bishops, when they entered, were 
 accompanied by upwards of thirty gentlemen of the 
 highest rank. The trial lasted the whole day. The 
 jury, being unable to agree, were locked up during 
 the night, without fire, candle, or food, to consider 
 their verdict. At six in the morning they sent word 
 to the lord chief-justice they were agreed. He and 
 the other judges accordingly took their places on the 
 bench, and at ten o'clock the aged primate, who with 
 his fellow-prisoners had waited in a state of trying 
 uncertainty all night, were brought into court. 
 When the jury, through their foreman, Sir Eoger 
 Langley, returned the verdict of " Not guilty," the 
 Marquis of Halifax, waving his hat over his head, 
 cried " Huzza !" The lords and gentlemen took up 
 the shout from him. In an instant it filled the vast 
 hall, and was repeated by the crowds waiting in 
 Palace Yard and round Westminster Abbey, from 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 71 
 
 whence, like the roll and roar of thunder, it was 
 carried in and through the city of London, and 
 thence, as fast as it could fly, over the whole kingdom. 
 
 Surrounded by gratulating friends, and followed 
 by shouting thousands and tens of thousands, the 
 emancipated prelates left Westminster Hall. It was 
 St. Peter's day, and the bells were chiming for 
 morning prayers. The venerable primate extricated 
 himself from the ovations of the excited populace by 
 entering the Chapel Royal at Whitehall, attended 
 by the six bishops who had been imprisoned, tried, 
 and acquitted with him. They now united with him 
 in offering up their prayers, praises, and thanks- 
 givings for the mercies lately accorded to them. 
 The portion of Scripture for the day, substituted for 
 the epistle, was part of the twelfth chapter of Acts, re- 
 cording St. Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison. 
 The acclamations and rejoicings of the people con- 
 tinued all day, and were prolonged through the night. 
 
 Illuminations in those days were chiefly done by 
 vast voluntary bonfires. The lord mayor did all he 
 could to suppress them, but in vain. The window 
 illuminations were generally in the form of seven 
 golden candlesticks, of which the longest, in the 
 middle, represented Archbishop Sancroft, the six, 
 surrounding, the bishops. 
 
 A large silver medal was designed and struck on 
 the occasion, having a half-length portrait of Arch- 
 bishop Sancroft in the centre, and those of the 
 six bishops associated with him in his imprisonment 
 and trial grouped round him. 
 
 The original oil painting from which this popular 
 
72 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 group was taken is in the collection of Walter Strick- 
 land, Esq., of Cokethorpe Hall, in Oxfordshire, a 
 most valuable historic relic, as preserving contempo- 
 rary portraits of these seven distinguished prelates, 
 who were at that time the objects of popular idolatry. 
 
 The Prince of Orange failed not to send the most 
 flattering congratulations to the primate and the 
 other six bishops, through Compton, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, with whom he was in constant correspondence. 
 They returned a polite answer by the same prelate, 
 but without in the slightest degree forfeiting their 
 dutv to their sovereign. 
 
 During the four stormy months that succeeded 
 these events, San croft carefully avoided entangling 
 himself with politics, and employed all his thoughts 
 and energies in the maintenance of order in the 
 Church, and the extension of education. He was 
 also desirous of effecting a bond of union with all 
 the more moderate grades of Protestant Dissenters, 
 by making such concessions as would remove some 
 of their objections to join in the worship of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 He expressed this generous liberality of feeling in 
 a letter to his clergy, dated July 26th, 1688, wherein 
 he exhorts them — 
 
 " To have a tender regard to our brethren the 
 Protestant Dissenters, when occasion offered to visit 
 them at their houses, and to receive them kindly in 
 their own, and warmly and most affectionately to 
 entreat them to join with us in daily fervent prayer 
 to the God of peace for a universal and blessed union 
 of all reformed churches, both at home and abroad." 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 73 
 
 The hostile preparations of the Prince of Orange 
 interrupted, and indeed prevented, the progress of 
 Sancroft's apostolic project " for a comprehension with 
 the Dissenters." King James became aware too late 
 of the ill-advised course he had been running, and 
 issued a command to Sancroft to come to Whitehall, 
 accompanied by all the bishops who were in town, and 
 give him their candid advice in the present emer- 
 gency. The conference took place on the 3rd of 
 October, when Sancroft, having obtained full liberty of 
 speech, entreated his royal master to desist from the 
 unconstitutional acts which had displeased his people 
 and placed him in the present painful predicament. 
 He went on to recite a long list of grievances, which 
 the king promised should be redressed. The arch- 
 bishop was then requested by his Majesty to prepare a 
 form of public prayer, to be read in all the churches, 
 for averting the dangers which threatened the nation. 
 
 The king sent for Sancroft and the bishops on the 
 2nd of November, to show them a passage in the 
 Prince of Orange's declaration, stating " that he had 
 been invited over by several of the lords spiritual 
 and temporal." "I am fully satisfied of the inno- 
 cence of my bishops," said the king, " yet I think it 
 only proper to acquaint you with this statement." 
 
 Sancroft, after thanking his Majesty for his good 
 opinion so graciously expressed, protested that " the 
 assertion as regarded himself was utterly false, for 
 that he had never held the slightest communication 
 with the Prince of Orange, nor could he believe that 
 any of his episcopal brethren had given him any 
 such invitation. For my part," continued he, "I 
 
74 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 have but one king, him to whom my allegiance is 
 naturally due, and which I have voluntarily renewed 
 in oaths of homage and supremacy." 
 
 The king, on this, pressed Sancroft and the other 
 bishops to draw up and sign a paper expressing their 
 abhorrence of the Prince of Orange and his designs. 
 This they declined doing, though all verbally pro- 
 tested their innocence of having invited him, with 
 the exception of Compton, Bishop of London, who 
 had really done so, *and now evasively observed, 
 " I have given his Majesty my answer yesterday." 
 It was couched in these prevaricating words, " I am 
 confident that the rest of the bishops will as readily 
 answer in the negative as myself." 
 
 The king requested Sancroft and the other 
 prelates to come to him again on the 6th of Novem- 
 ber, and eagerly demanded if they had brought the 
 paper he required. Sancroft said, " They had not, 
 for they were men of peace, and would not mix 
 themselves up with politics,'' and reminded the king 
 how hardly they had been treated only for signing 
 and presenting a petition to himself couched in the 
 most deferential terms. He took, at the same time, 
 the opportunity of complaining of a literary affront 
 they had received on the trial from one of his 
 Majesty's judges, who had endeavoured to expose 
 them to ridicule by criticising the petition as a 
 composition, alleging " that they did not write true 
 English, and it was fit they should be convicted by 
 Dr. Busby of false grammar." 
 
 " My lord," rejoined the king, " this is querelle 
 £ Allemand, a matter quite out of the way. I 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 75 
 
 thought this had been all forgotten. For my part 
 I am no lawyer. I am obliged to think what my 
 judges do is according to law. But, if you will still 
 complain on that account, I think I have reason to 
 complain too. I am sure your counsel did not use 
 me civilly." 
 
 In conclusion, the bishops said they were ready to 
 serve his Majesty, either in parliament or with their 
 prayers ; and so they parted. 
 
 That Sancroft was of himself inclined to comply 
 with the king's request, is proved by a document 
 among his papers solemnly denying the allega- 
 tion of the Prince of Orange in his declaration, 
 but he was probably dissuaded by the Bishop of 
 London and the other secret-service men of the 
 prince from putting it forth. The feebleness of old age 
 rendered him unwilling to act on his own judgment. 
 
 The only occasion on which Sancroft united in an 
 address to the Prince of Orange was when the king, 
 having sent the queen and infant Prince of Wales 
 over to France, quitted London secretly to follow 
 them, leaving everything in a state of confusion ; 
 and, in consequence of the excited state of the popu- 
 lace, it was considered expedient by the peers and 
 bishops then in town to assemble themselves at 
 Guildhall to deliberate on what was best to be done 
 in this emergency. It was then " agreed, as the 
 king had withdrawn no one knew whither, to request 
 the Prince of Orange to summon a parliament, for 
 the purpose of preserving the public peace and 
 calming all disorders." Sancroft and the other 
 prelates who were at this meeting signed the 
 
76 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 address, wisely deeming the assumption of the reins 
 of government by the Prince of Orange, when the 
 chariot of state was left without a ruler, would 
 be preferable to anarchy. He manifested, how- 
 ever, his loyal affection to King James, by being 
 one of the first to wait on him and welcome him 
 on his return to Whitehall. This was their last 
 meeting.* 
 
 On the arrival of the Prince of Orange in London, 
 Sancroft was urged to wait on him, but firmly de- 
 clined. Neither would he attend the Convention or 
 take his place in the House of Lords, even when a 
 
 * The assertion that Sancroft ever joined in inviting the Prince 
 of Orange to assume the reins of government, is satisfactorily dis- 
 proved by the following letter from Dr. Stanley, Chaplain to the 
 Princess of Orange, to Dr. Hickes, written in 1713, twenty years 
 after Sancroft's death. 
 
 "May 26th, 
 '■ Sir, 
 
 " I do not remember that I ever heard that the late good Arch- 
 bishop Sancroft was thought to have invited the Prince of Orange 
 over into England. If any one did charge him with it, I believe it 
 was without grounds. All that I can say as to the matter is that, 
 Anno 1687, when I came into England from Holland, I confess I 
 did desire the archbishop to write to the Princess of Orange, on 
 whom I had the honour to attend, to encourage her still to give 
 countenance to the Church of England ; but he was pleased not to 
 write to her. And afterwards, when we were come over into Eng- 
 land, and a report being spread abroad that some of the lords 
 spiritual, as well as temporal, had invited the Prince of Orange into 
 England, in my communing with the archbishop, I remember he 
 said to me, ' I am now glad I did not write to the princess, as you 
 desired, for if I had written to her, they would have said that I had 
 sent to invite them over.' This is true, and this is all I can say 
 of that affair, 
 
 " I am, sir, your faithful Mend, &c, 
 
 "William Stanley." 
 
SANCEOFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 77 
 
 message was sent to liiin from the peers requesting 
 him to come. 
 
 Notwithstanding the feebleness of his constitution 
 and general delicacy of health, Bancroft regularly 
 attended prayers in the chapel at Lambeth at six in 
 the morning, twelve at noon, three in the afternoon, 
 and nine at night. He was most sparing and ab- 
 stemious in his diet, and temperate in his way of life, 
 which has been turned to his reproach by his calum- 
 niator Burnet, who styles him " a man of monastic- 
 strictness and abstraction from the world, dry, peevish, 
 and reserved ;" falsely adding, " so that none loved 
 him, and few esteemed him ;" whereas it was scarcely 
 possible for any man to be more deeply venerated 
 and tenderly beloved. In proof of the universal 
 esteem in which he was held, be it recorded that, in 
 the midst of these agitating scenes, Bancroft received 
 the high compliment of being elected Chancellor of 
 the University of Cambridge. He declined this 
 honour, pleading his age and infirmities as an excuse, 
 and recommended the Earl of Clarendon as a more 
 suitable person. The university, however, would 
 have no one but the beloved archbishop, and kept 
 the post vacant for upwards of two months, in the 
 hope of prevailing on him to be installed, but he was 
 inflexible. 
 
 He declined the appointment of privy councillor 
 to "William, and refused to consecrate Dr. Gilbert 
 Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, which refusal fully 
 accounts for the false and malicious statements of 
 which that unscrupulous writer has been guilty with 
 regard to him. It must also be remembered that 
 
78 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Sancroft had previously incurred Burnet's enmity by 
 declining to sign an order granting him access to the 
 Cottonian collection of historical MSS. John Evelyn's 
 indignant complaints of the loss he had sustained in 
 consequence of having rashly lent some of the 
 autograph letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, to 
 Dr. Burnet, afforded cogent reason to Sancroft for 
 that exclusion. 
 
 The very day the Prince and Princess of Orange 
 were proclaimed king and queen, the princess sent 
 Dr. Stanley and another of her chaplains to Lambeth 
 Palace, to solicit the archbishop's blessing for her. 
 " Tell the princess," replied the uncompromising 
 primate, " to ask her father's ; without that I doubt 
 mine would not be heard in Heaven." The chaplains 
 had another errand to perform, that of attending 
 service in the chapel, to report whether prayers were 
 offered there for King James, his queen and son, or 
 for the newly-proclaimed sovereigns. Henry Whar- 
 ton, the archbishop's chaplain, understanding they 
 were to be present, came to the archbishop and asked 
 him for his instructions. "I have no new instruc- 
 tions to give," replied Sancroft, meaning that no 
 alterations were to be made ; but Wharton, who had 
 resolved on taking the oaths of allegiance to William 
 and Mary, and perhaps thought he was rendering the 
 archbishop shrewd political service by affecting to 
 misunderstand him, prayed for King William and 
 Queen Mary in the chapel. After the service the 
 archbishop sent for him in great displeasure, and told 
 him " he must either desist from praying for William 
 and Mary or cease to officiate in the chapel ; for as 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 79 
 
 long as King James was alive, no other persons could 
 be sovereigns of the country." 
 
 William, anxious to conciliate a person so de- 
 servedly high in the esteem of all good men as the 
 archbishop, nominated him one of his privy coun- 
 cillors, but he never acted as such. 
 
 Sancroft was earnestly entreated by the Earl of 
 Danby and other members of the new cabinet to 
 officiate at the coronation of William and Mary, but 
 he positively refused either to crown them or take the 
 oaths required. " How can he, who hath sworn that 
 King James II. is the only lawful king of this realm, 
 or that he will bear faith and true allegiance to him, 
 his heirs and successors, take those oaths to an 
 usurper ?" wrote Sancroft, in a remarkable paper, 
 entitled " The Present State of the English Govern- 
 ment Considered," January, 1688-9. 
 
 To those friends and well-wishers who represented 
 the injury that would result to his worldly fortunes 
 if he persisted in this determination, he replied with 
 a smile, "Well, I can live on fifty pounds a year." 
 This was less, in fact, than his patrimony in Suffolk. 
 A man has little to fear whose pecuniary requisitions 
 are limited to so low a scale. 
 
 The court, aware of the affection and reverence of 
 the nation for the apostolic primate, hesitated to 
 proceed to extremities with him, and merely sus- 
 pended him from his office on the 1st of August, 1689 ; 
 but the queen, finding him at the end of six months 
 immovable in his determination not to violate his 
 conscience by taking the oaths of allegiance to her 
 and her consort, executed the sentence of deprivation 
 
80 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 on the 1st of February, 1690, against William, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. She deprived, at the same time, 
 Turner, Bishop of Ely ; White, of Peterborough ; Lake 
 of Chichester ; Ken, of Bath and Wells ; Lloyd, 
 of Norwich ; and Frampton, of Gloucester, for the like 
 offence. Lloyd, of St. Asaph, and Trelawny, of Bristol, 
 were the only two of the seven prelates committed 
 by James II. to the Tower who forfeited their oaths of 
 allegiance to him by transferring their fealty to 
 William and Mary. The political conduct of these 
 prelates gave rise to the popular saying, " King 
 James sent seven bishops to be tested at the Tower.* 
 Five were proved to be true gold, and two only 
 prince's metal." Lloyd was preferred to the see of 
 Worcester, Trelawny to that of Winchester. 
 
 Dr. Beveridge, who was nominated to supply the 
 place of Ken, in jhe see of Bath and Wells, asked 
 Sancroft's advice how he should act. " Though 
 I should give my advice, I do not believe you will 
 follow it," replied Sancroft. Beveridge assured him 
 that he would. " Why, then, when they come to 
 ask, say nolo ; and say it from the heart. Nothing is 
 easier than to resolve yourself what is to be done in 
 the case," answered the uncompromising primate, 
 drily. Beveridge refused to accept the see. 
 
 Systematic attempts w T ere made by the base pam- 
 phleteers of the period to inflame the passions of the 
 mob against the archbishop and his nonjuring 
 brethren. They styled them " the Holy Lambeth 
 Club," and accused them of designs to bring in 
 
 * Where the mint and apparatus for the assay of metals for the 
 coinage then was. 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 81 
 
 popery, of inviting the King of France to invade 
 the realm, holding a correspondence with M. de 
 Croissy for that object, and composing prayers for 
 the success of King James in Ireland. Sancroft 
 and the other nonjuring bishops determined to treat 
 these calumnies with silent contempt, but the dis- 
 semination of a pamphlet of a decidedly murderous 
 tendency, entitled, "A Modest Enquiry into the 
 Causes of the Present Disasters," convinced them 
 that if they regarded the safety of their persons, they 
 must no longer permit such calumnious imputations 
 to remain unnoticed. They accordingly published a 
 vindication, in which, after mentioning the charges 
 that had been put forth against them, they deny the 
 whole in these w r ords : — 
 
 " We do here solemnly, as in the presence of God, 
 protest and declare that these accusations cast upon 
 us are all of them malicious calumnies and diabolical 
 inventions ; that we are innocent of them all, and 
 we defy the libeller to produce if he can any legal 
 proof of our guiltiness therein. . . . Who the author 
 of this libel is we know not ; but whoever he is, we 
 desire, as our Lord hath taught us, to return him 
 good for evil. He barbarously endeavours to raise 
 in the whole English nation such a fury as may end 
 in De- Witting us (a bloody word, but too well under- 
 stood). But we recommend him to the Divine mercy, 
 humbly beseeching God to forgive him." 
 
 This allusion to the ferocious massacre of those 
 great and good men, the pensionary De Witt, and 
 his brother the admiral, in Amsterdam, by the 
 Orange mob, who had been incited to its perpetra- 
 
82 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 tion by a false and incendiary accusation, points too 
 plainly at the Dutch king, as the suborner of the 
 pamphlet, to be misunderstood in those days when 
 that dark tragedy was fresh in the minds of men. 
 
 Bancroft did not acknowledge the authority of 
 William and Mary, and paid no heed to their sen- 
 tence, but continued at the palace, exercising his 
 accustomed hospitality and charity, merely observing, 
 "that he had committed no crime that could justly 
 cause his degradation ; so if the Queen wanted his 
 house at Lambeth, she must either come, or send, 
 and thrust him out of it by personal violence ; for 
 leave it in obedience to her mandate he would not." 
 
 His see was filled up by the appointment of Dr. 
 Tillotson, April, 1691, to the primacy; but Sancroft 
 continued to keep possession of Lambeth Palace. 
 On the administration of the holy communion in the 
 chapel after the appointment of his successor, San- 
 croft performed the office of consecrating the bread 
 and wine himself, one nonjuring clergyman reading 
 the prayers, and another . preaching before him. 
 Feeling, however, that it would be necessary for him 
 soon to withdraw from the palace, he sent for his 
 two chaplains, Needham and Wharton, into his 
 chamber, and after thanking them for their faithful 
 services, told them " the time was now come when 
 they must part." 
 
 Needham respectfully inquired, "Why his grace 
 said so ?" He replied, " A successor to my benefice 
 is now appointed, and 1 can do you no more good, 
 while it may be both prejudicial and dangerous to 
 yourselves if you remain in my service." 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOr OF CANTERBURY. 83 
 
 They had taken the oaths to the existing govern- 
 ment, and he wished not to be a barrier to the pre- 
 ferment which would doubtless reward their com- 
 pliance ; but with a burst of affectionate feeling, 
 Needham exclaimed, "I differ, indeed, from your 
 grace in matters of opinion concerning the state, but 
 I fear no danger from attending on your person, and 
 shall only be too happy if I may be permitted under 
 any circumstances to serve you, and I believe my 
 brother Wharton is of the like mind." To this 
 Wharton assented. 
 
 " Will ye so ?" replied Bancroft. " Then go on in 
 God's name !" And both remained as long afterwards 
 as he would allow them, and paid him the most 
 dutiful attention. 
 
 The archbishop, on the 20th of May, received a 
 peremptory order from the queen to quit the palace 
 within ten days. To this order he paid no sort of 
 regard, and the process of ejectment by law was 
 begun without delay. He was cited to appear before 
 the Barons of the Exchequer on the first clay of 
 Trinity Term, June 12th, to answer a writ of intrusion 
 brought against him in the king's name, in which he 
 was accused of " having entered vi et armis into 
 Lambeth House, part of the king's possessions, in 
 the vacancy of the see, and forcibly taken and held 
 possession of it." He appeared by his attorney 
 several times, but always avoided putting in any 
 plea in which the names of the present sovereigns 
 were mentioned, or their title acknowledged. Judg- 
 ment, of course, passed against the nonjuring arch- 
 bishop, and he retired from Lambeth Palace the 
 
84 LFVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 same evening, June 23rd, attended by his nephew, 
 Mr. Sancroft, who was the steward of his household, 
 Dr. Painan, the friend of his youth, Mr. Nicholls, and 
 Mr. Jacob, not having so much as acquainted his 
 chaplains with his intention. He took a boat at 
 Lambeth-stairs, and crossed over to the Temple, 
 where he went to a private house, called the Pals- 
 grave's Head, in Palsgrave Court, near Temple Bar, 
 to which he had previously sent his books and 
 papers. 
 
 The next morning his two chaplains, Needham 
 and Wharton, came to wait upon him. He received 
 them affectionately, and asked them to read the 
 service of the day, which they did, and continued to 
 officiate daily before him for some time. He re- 
 mained in that house, of which he only occupied the 
 second floor, about six weeks. While there, the 
 loyal Earl of Aylesbury coming to visit him, he 
 opened the door of the apartment himself to admit 
 him. Struck with this token of the reverse of 
 fortune that had befallen the deprived primate, and 
 the contrast between his present humble abode and 
 its mean furniture, from the state with which he was 
 accustomed to see him surrounded at Lambeth, the 
 noble visitor burst into tears ; and as soon as he had 
 conquered his emotion enough to speak, he told 
 Bancroft how deeply he was affected at the change 
 he saw, and how unable he was to repress his grief. 
 
 "Oh, my good lord," replied the deprived arch- 
 bishop, "rather rejoice with me, for now I live 
 again." 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Archbishop Sancroft went forth from Lambeth, 
 after he had been in the receipt of its large revenues 
 fourteen years, poor as when he first entered it, 
 taking nothing with him but his staff and his books. 
 He had devoted all the incomings of his see to the 
 noble objects of amplifying small livings, assisting in 
 rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral and founding Chelsea 
 College, in liberal hospitality to the clergy, and bound- 
 less charity to the poor, almost entirely feeding those 
 of Lambeth. The day after he left the palace he sent 
 them a farewell present; his household establish- 
 ment there was broken up at the same time, and 
 his steward paid all his servants up to the following 
 Michaelmas. 
 
 Sancroft left London for ever on the 3rd of 
 August, 1691, and arrived at his native village of 
 Fressingfield, in Suffolk, on the 5th; thus perform- 
 ing the journey, a distance of ninety miles, in two 
 days, an uncommonly quick rate of travelling for 
 that period. 
 
 " When once I got into the coach," writes he to 
 his friend, Sir Henry North, " I resolved, according 
 to my usual impatience, to push on the journey, 
 
86 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and play it off as fast as I could endure it, and 
 accordingly we went at tlie utmost stretch, as you 
 have heard. My weariness soon went off, but 
 inethinks some weakness still remains." 
 
 In another letter he says : — 
 
 " Our health, G od be thanked, is as it used to be, 
 or rather better. The sweet air and quiet of this 
 place is much to be preferred to the smoke and noise 
 of London." 
 
 His Lambeth chaplain, Henry Wharton, came to 
 visit him two days after his arrival at Fressingfleld, 
 and found him well and cheerful. Both Wharton 
 and his own cousin, the Eev. Mr. Green, offered to 
 attend him as chaplains in his retreat, but he replied, 
 with thanks, " I must now be my own chaplain ; it 
 suits not with my present condition still to keep up 
 that piece of state." Besides, the old house was 
 too full to have room to accommodate any super- 
 numeraries. 
 
 The old paternal mansion, Uflford Hall, to which 
 he had returned in his old age, appears, during the 
 long term of years that had elapsed from the period 
 when he left it in 1657 to travel on the continent, to 
 have been the home of his brother and other 
 members of his family. Unwilling to disturb the 
 domestic arrangements of his married nephews, 
 Bancroft had ordered a cottage to be erected for 
 himself at the end of the garden, where he might 
 live near them, without interrupting them or being- 
 disquieted by the noise of their children. This 
 cottage home was progressing when the deprived 
 archbishop arrived, but not so near its completion as 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 87 
 
 he could have wished, for the workmen had deserted 
 their hods, trowels, hammers, and saws, for the more 
 agreeable occupation of working in the hay- and 
 harvest-fields. 
 
 " We build not," writes Sancroft, "at the rate we 
 travelled at, though, hay and harvest being in, we 
 have recovered all our gang. Yesterday we had 
 thirty or forty at the raising of the gallery, and it 
 stands now in my view, from the window I write by, 
 like the bones of a dead body which you have read 
 upon at Chirurgeons' Hall, tacked together with 
 wires ; but it will take so much time to daub and 
 tile, to clothe and cover it, and St. Bartholomew is 
 so near with his dews and mists, that I despair of 
 dwelling in it this winter." 
 
 On the 11th of Xovember the deprived primate 
 writes : — 
 
 " Our work without doors ended with the last 
 month ; which, had it been as severe as October 
 sometimes is, we could not have finished in this 
 month; but we have a winter's work still to do 
 within doors, in paving, and planchering (Suffolk for 
 flooring), and daubing, and ceiling, and plastering. 
 and glazing, and wainscoting, making doors, laying 
 hearths, etc., etc. ; so that we find it a very trouble- 
 some thing to bring a new (as well as an old) house 
 over our heads. In the meantime, the old tenement 
 is packed as close as it can well be, from end to end, 
 with ourselves, and children, and servants, and 
 workmen. Yet our contentment here is as great, 
 and I should be unthankful should I not acknow- 
 ledge that our health is rather better than else- 
 
88 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 where ; our food plainer, but eaten with a better 
 appetite ; our course of employment and action the 
 very same, only not scened so illustriously, nor set off 
 with such good company and conversation. The 
 trouble of visits is well abated, and the hard weather 
 and ill ways which are at hand will put an end to 
 them, and we shall be in as great retirement and 
 solitude as our enemies, or we ourselves, could wish. 
 We make shift to say our prayers together daily, 
 though not in so much company nor in so proper 
 a place as at Lambeth ; but God, I trust, will 
 accept us." 
 
 In a previous letter he tells his friend his cough is 
 not so loud or troublesome to himself or others as it 
 used to be at Lambeth; and now he says, "My 
 native air hath been very kind to me." 
 
 Sancroft felt much solicitude for his friend the 
 deprived Bishop Ken. 
 
 "It grieves me," he writes, "to have missed, 
 when I was so nigh it, the seeing of my reverend 
 brother of Bath and Wells. I am not surprised to 
 hear that his innocency and courage was so bold as 
 to appear openly, but am, I confess, that he did it 
 safely. In that condition Gocl preserve him and the 
 rest, especially my dear brother of Norwich." 
 
 For himself he refused the proffered civility of a 
 friend of having his foreign correspondence trans- 
 mitted through the secretary of state's office, or 
 franked by any of the government officials. All the 
 nonjuring clergy were objects of suspicion, but more 
 especially the deprived primate who headed that list. 
 
 " The spirit of calumny," writes he, " the perse- 
 
SANCR0FT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 89 
 
 cution of the tongue, dogs me even into this 
 wilderness." 
 
 In reference to the secluded life he had been 
 leading at Fressingfield ever since he had retired to 
 Ufford Hall, he says : — 
 
 " I was never so much as once out of this poor 
 house and the yards and avenues since I came first 
 directly from London into it." 
 
 Those yards and avenues, to which the venerable 
 archbishop confined his walks, are still distinctive 
 features in the aj3proach to that secluded mansion. 
 In consequence of the enclosure of the park-like 
 green which then surrounded the house, those 
 avenues have now become lanes between cultivated 
 fields, but the yards remain unchanged; and we 
 could almost realise the form of the venerable 
 primate pacing beneath the spreading branches of 
 the picturesque yew-trees flanking the entrance-gate 
 of the front court, under whose shadow he had 
 sported in infancy and boyhood with his brother and 
 sisters. 
 
 After he retired into his native Suffolk he allowed 
 his beard to grow, which, becoming very long, gave 
 him a hermit-like appearance. So much was he 
 beloved and revered in that neighbourhood, that 
 whenever he appeared in the village the people 
 were accustomed to kneel to him for his pastoral 
 benediction. 
 
 It is an extraordinary fact that he inspired with 
 the most ardent enthusiasm, at this period, one of 
 the hardest and earthiest of all mortal minds that 
 had been shone on by the light of genius — that of 
 
90 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Jonathan Swift, who commemorates the primate's 
 noble self-sacrifice in his " Ode to Truth," a poem 
 little known, but well deserving of being rescued 
 from oblivion. We give the following brief quo- 
 tation : — 
 
 " Thus Sancroft, in the greatness of retreat, 
 Shows lustre that was shaded in his seat ; 
 Dim glimmerings of the prelate glorified, 
 Which all his purple robings served to hide. 
 
 " Oh, whatsoe'er our levellers deem, 
 
 There are degrees above, I know, 
 The angel-muse, herself, 
 
 Has told me so, 
 Where souls of purest truth throned in the day, 
 Sit clad in light of brighter- woven ray. 
 There some high place to Sancroft will be given 
 In the metropolis of heaven ; 
 Chief of the mitred saints, 
 And from archprelate here, 
 Translated to archangel there." 
 
 The crowded state of Ufford Hall was unfavourable 
 to his studious and reflective habits, and Sancroft 
 found it expedient, on the advance of winter, to 
 provide himself with a temporary abode till his 
 cottage should be completed. The instrument by 
 which he appointed Dr. Lloyd, the deprived Bishop 
 of Norwich, his vicar in all ecclesiastical matters, is 
 dated from his " hired house at Fressingfield, Feb- 
 ruary 9, 1691(2)." 
 
 Sancroft did not allow the legality of his de- 
 position from the primacy by William and Mary, 
 whose title to the sovereignty of England he always 
 refused to acknowledge in any way. In the deputa- 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 91 
 
 tion of his office to Dr. Lloyd, he states "that, 
 having been driven by a lay force from the house of 
 Lambeth, and not finding in the neighbouring city a 
 place where he could conveniently abide, he had 
 retired afar off, seeking where in his old age he 
 might rest his weary head ; but as there were many 
 affairs of great moment to be transacted in the 
 Church which could be best ordered by one resident 
 in London or its vicinity, he appoints Dr. Lloyd his 
 vicar, and commits to him all the authority belonging 
 to his archiepiscopal office." 
 
 The Eeverend Baptist Levenge, Bishop of Sodor 
 and Man, though he had taken the oaths to William 
 and Mary, could not refrain from expressing his 
 respect and admiration for his old friend and late 
 ecclesiastical superior, the deprived nonjuring primate, 
 to whom he addressed the following affectionate and 
 reverential letter : — 
 
 « March 28th, 1691. 
 
 "May it please Your Grace, 
 
 " Being to take a tedious journey, upon Easter 
 Monday I intend to set out to my desolate place, 
 my Patmos, your grace used to term it, I cannot 
 but send this to beg your blessing and good prayers 
 along with me, these dangerous times. 
 
 " I had, ever since I had the honour to know you, 
 a very high veneration and respect for your grace, 
 nor is my value at all lessened for you by the 
 diminution of your fortunes. Calamity is but the 
 touchstone of your virtues, and through this cloud 
 your sincerity, your constancy, and other excellent 
 endowments shine the brighter, and thereupon 
 
92 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 heighten my esteem for the most pious and admir- 
 able owner of them. I dare say no more, for your 
 grace's modesty permits it not ; yet still give me 
 leave to love and honour you, and, as an abundant 
 compensation, be pleased to bestow your benediction 
 
 U P° n « My lord, 
 
 " Your grace's most dutiful son, and 
 " Most obliged humble servant, 
 
 "B. S. M."* 
 
 It was not till the 17th of September, 1692, that 
 Sancroft's cottage was so far completed as to allow 
 of his taking up his abode there. On the 27th of 
 that month he writes to. Sir H. North : — 
 
 " I have now slept ten nights in my new lodging, 
 and would gladly say, if it so please God, in nido meo 
 moriar ; but the changes of the world are so many, 
 and the malice of men so great, my lot may be that 
 of the prophet, ' Arise and depart, for this is not your 
 rest.' If so it be, God's will be done. Behold the 
 servant of the Lord, be it unto me according to His 
 word." 
 
 His intense desire of peace and quiet in this 
 obscure corner of England did not prevent the de- 
 prived archbishop from being an object of suspicion 
 to the Court, and he was often accused of seditious 
 meetings and secret correspondence with the agents 
 of his old master. 
 
 * Tanner MSS., vol. xxvi., Bodleian Library. Baptist Levenge 
 was appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man, in 1684, when Dr. Lake 
 was translated to Bristol. Levenge died in 1698. 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 93 
 
 " I think if I should immure myself between four 
 walls," writes the venerable recluse, " I should, not- 
 withstanding, be thought to send and receive letters 
 and intelligence, I know not whether by the pigeons 
 of Aleppo or Leyden, or perhaps by the old romantic 
 post, Sir Pacolet on his wooden horse. It is some- 
 what strange that I should be accused to one prince 
 of having invited his Highness of Nassau to invade 
 my native country, and to another of inviting his 
 cousin the King of France hither ; wdiereas I should 
 as soon have consulted the witch of Endor, were she 
 to be found, to bring about anything I desired, as to 
 have made either of those addresses. 
 
 Queen Mary could not be satisfied without sending 
 spies occasionally to see how the deprived primate 
 was engaged. Sometimes her agents found him 
 employed in his garden, but mostly in arranging his 
 predecessor Archbishop Laud's diary and papers for 
 publication. 
 
 Sancroft had wholly weaned his mind from all care 
 for the pomps and state which necessarily surrounded 
 him at Lambeth. 
 
 " It is long since," wrote he to his friend, " that I 
 said of that great pile, even while I was in it, the old 
 Leonine verse — ' Nunc mea, nunc hujus, sed post ea 
 nescio cujus? When I was suddenly driven out of it 
 at eight or nine o'clock at night, I wish it were 
 known how cheerfully I turned my back upon it, and 
 how soundly I slept the night following under another 
 man's roof. But, now in this cottage of my own 
 building (this lodge in a garden of cucumbers, questa 
 povera mia capanna), I am as well to my contentment 
 
94 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 as the greatest lie qui late et laxe et magnifice habitat. 
 All my fear is, lest I should be forced from hence 
 too, for I would fain say, if I durst, as holy Job did, 
 ' in nido meo moriar? But, alas ! he was mistaken, 
 and so may I, should I say so ; and therefoie I lay 
 my hand upon my mouth and say nothing ; but as it 
 pleaseth God so come things to pass. Sufficient to 
 the day is the evil thereof, as wisdom itself said. 
 . . . Afford me your prayers, dear friend, that when 
 I remove from hence (and that cannot be far off), I 
 may, by God's mercy, have a building of God, a 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 Sixteen years previously, Sancroft, ever mindful of 
 the one great event which must happen to all living, 
 had, when Dean of St. Paul's, paid a flying visit to 
 his friends and kindred in " the old house at home," 
 and chosen the quiet nook in the green churchyard 
 of Fressingfield, in the angle between the eastern 
 side of the church porch and the southern wall of the 
 church. He had thus provided, with a view of pre- 
 venting the improper fashion being followed in his 
 own case, then and till within the last few years so 
 prevalent, of desecrating the house of God with the 
 remains of corrupt mortality. 
 
 Nearly opposite to that spot which, while in sound 
 health, he had chosen for his domus ultima, Sancroft 
 caused a comfortable cottage to be built for the 
 parish-clerk, and also a sort of temperance hostelry 
 for the shelter and accommodation of persons who 
 came from the distant parts of that large scattered 
 parish to attend divine worship at Fressingfield 
 church, so that they might bring their cold provi- 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 95 
 
 sions there, and take their meal in the recess between 
 morning and evening services. These primitive 
 edifices still remain in good repair, and greatly add 
 to the picturesque effect of that beautiful church- 
 yard, which hangs on a gentle green swelling hill. 
 The vicarage, with its pretty garden and fruitful 
 orchard bowers, is pleasantly seated on an opposite 
 eminence above the road, and a little rill runs below 
 the white-railed causew T ay. Sancroft 's school is close 
 at hand, and has been a blessing to the rising gene- 
 rations for nearly two centuries; and under the 
 judicious superintendence of the present learned and 
 benevolent vicar, the Eev. W. E. Colbeck, for- 
 merly tutor of Emmanuel College, continues to 
 flourish. 
 
 Sancroft had seen spring twice fling her green 
 mantle over the pastoral meads of Fressingfield since 
 he had been ejected from his archiepiscopal palace, 
 and found rest from the turmoils of public life in his 
 native village. The infirmities of age now increased 
 rapidly upon him, and he was desirous of devising 
 his paternal inheritance to his beloved nephews 
 without making a will, which would require to be 
 proved in the courts of the new Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, the legality of whose title he never 
 acknowledged. 
 
 While in this perplexity, Mr. Eoger North, who 
 had been the steward of his archiepiscopal courts, 
 came to visit him in his Fressingfield cottage, and 
 advised him to evade this difficulty by making a 
 deed of gift of the property to his nephews, reserving 
 a life interest in it for . himself. Sancroft gladly 
 
96 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 availed himself of this suggestion, and immediately 
 acted upon it by requesting Mr. North to draw up 
 the deed then and there. Much surprised was that 
 gentleman at the small amount of property which he, 
 who had been nearly fourteen years primate of 
 England, had to devise. " It touched my spirits 
 extremely to see the low estate of this poor old 
 saint," is Mr. North's comment on the glorious 
 poverty of the deprived archbishop. 
 
 In the commencement of August, 1693, Sancroft 
 began seriously to apply himself to the self-imposed 
 task of editing the diary and papers of Archbishop 
 Laud. But it was all too late. The brain at seventy- 
 seven is not in a state to support severe literary 
 labour, even when undertaken con amove. The 
 original of Laud's diary, with many of the papers 
 relating to it, lay before him on his desk, and he was 
 earnestly employed in noting down his comments 
 and observations, when he was stricken, August 25th, 
 with the slow, intermittent fever, which put a stop to 
 his work and confined him to his bed. 
 
 Anticipating a fatal termination to his illness, he 
 expressed an earnest desire to see his late chaplain, 
 Henry Wharton, for the purpose of consigning to 
 him the completion of his task. Wharton, in the 
 mean time having heard of his illness, hastened to 
 visit him, and arrived at Fressingfield on the 31st of 
 October. Sancroft told him " that he had often de- 
 signed to prepare the papers of Laud for publication, 
 and having at last set about it in good earnest, he 
 had been interrupted by an attack of sickness, that 
 would probably end in death, and feeling his own 
 
SANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 97 
 
 inability to complete the design, he wished to be- 
 queath it to his care." He then caused the papers, 
 together with all the notes and collections he had 
 made on the subject, to be placed in Wharton's 
 hands. Fatigued with this exertion, his voice be- 
 came indistinct, and on Wharton requiring infor- 
 mation on several points, especially how the papers 
 came into Archbishop Sheldon's hands, from w T hom 
 Sancroft had received them, he answered, "These 
 are material questions, but I am weary with speak- 
 ing ; my spirits are faint, and I cannot at present 
 tell you more — you must come again." 
 
 Wharton revisited him on the 21st of November, 
 and perceived that he w T as rapidly drawing near his 
 end. Sancroft himself had from the very commence- 
 ment of his illness looked death calmly in the face. 
 In his greatest sufferings he was accustomed to call 
 to mind the example of the Saviour's patience, and 
 would say, " As a lamb carried to the slaughter, He 
 was dumb and opened not His mouth." 
 
 " That which came nearest to a complaint," re- 
 cords the narrator of his closing scene, " was only a 
 description of his wasting condition, in these pious 
 words, ' Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night, 
 my moisture is like the drought in summer.' I am 
 low, but must be brought lower yet, even to the dust 
 of death ; but though He kill me, yet will I trust in 
 Him." 
 
 On the occasion of Wharton's last visit, Sancroft 
 bade him look over his papers, which had not been 
 opened or put in order since his removal from Lam- 
 beth. Wharton commenced the investigation in the 
 
 H 
 
98 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 presence of his dying patron, and continued it till he 
 observed so unmistakable a change come over him, 
 that he thought it better to desist and retire from 
 the chamber. Sancroft roused himself from the 
 death-like faintness that was creeping upon him, and 
 took his last leave of Wharton with the kindest de- 
 monstrations of affection, giving his blessing twice in 
 the most solemn manner as he knelt by his bed-side. 
 He expressed, in the most humble manner, " repent- 
 ance of all his sins, and his hopes and assurance of a 
 better state of existence." 
 
 Henry Wharton scarcely survived his beloved and 
 revered patron sixteen months, having only lived to 
 publish the first volume of Archbishop Laud's diary 
 and remains. He gave the whole credit of his ex- 
 traordinary success in his literary and theological 
 career to the encouragement and assistance he had 
 derived from Archbishop Sancroft, to whom, notwith- 
 standing the opposition in their opinions in regard to 
 the settlement of the government, he continued 
 tenderly attached. 
 
 The arrival of his other faithful chaplain, Mr. 
 Needham, was peculiarly welcome to the dying arch- 
 bishop, for he had empowered him, at his last visit, 
 to fulfil his intention of presenting his choice and 
 valuable library of classic and scientific books to 
 Emmanuel College, Needham having taken upon 
 himself the care of removing them from the ware- 
 house at Lambeth, whither they had been sent by 
 him previous to his ejection from the palace. The 
 mission had been performed satisfactorily by Need- 
 ham, who was the bearer of a letter of thanks fron) 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 99 
 
 the master of Emmanuel College, gratefully acknow- 
 ledging this important gift and token of the affection- 
 ate remembrance of their learned and beloved arch- 
 bishop. Sancroft was exceedingly pleased with the 
 letter, and signified his wish that the more learned 
 and scientific portion of his library at Fressingfield, 
 which he had retained for his own use, should, after 
 his death, be added to his gift to Emmanuel College ; 
 observing, " that he intended part of his books to be 
 left for the use of the family there, for instance, so 
 much of history, geography, and the arts as might 
 form a good library for a gentleman, but that books 
 of learning should be sent to the college, there to be 
 kept entirely together as a monument of his great 
 affection for learning, and the delight he had taken 
 in it all his life ; adding, that he was very unwilling 
 to have that library dissipated, the collection of which 
 had been one of the greatest comforts and pleasures 
 of his life." 
 
 After solemnly bestowing his blessing on Needham, 
 the dying primate said : " You and I have gone 
 different ways in these late affairs, but I trust 
 heaven's gates are wide enough to admit us both. 
 What I have done I have done in the integrity of 
 my heart," 
 
 Mr. Needham modestly attempted to explain the 
 motives which had influenced his conduct, to which 
 Sancroft replied : " I always took you for an honest 
 man. What I said concerning myself was only to let 
 you know that what I have done I have done in the 
 integrity of my heart. Yea, in the great integrity of 
 my heart." 
 
100 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 He had intended to receive the sacrament from 
 Mr. Edwards, the ejected minister of Eye ; but Dr. 
 Trumbull, who had formerly been his chaplain, and 
 was now a nonjuror, came accidentally to see him the 
 day before he died, and he thankfully availed himself 
 of his ministry. 
 
 About an hour before his death he told those who 
 stood round him that he retained the same thoughts 
 of the present state of affairs as those under which he 
 had acted ; and that if it were to do again, he should 
 quit all he had in the world rather than violate his 
 conscience. He concluded by putting up these two 
 hearty and earnest petitions to God, " that He would 
 bless and preserve His poor suffering Church, which 
 by the revolution is almost destroyed, and that He 
 would bless and preserve the exiled king, the queen, 
 and the prince, and in due time restore them to their 
 just and undoubted rights." 
 
 A short time before he expired he called for the 
 Book of Common Prayer, and though one was brought 
 to him of the smallest print, he himself turned to the 
 commendatory prayer in the office for the sick, and 
 ordered it to be read. This done he solemnly com- 
 posed himself for death, and gently breathed his last 
 sigh a little after midnight on the morning of Friday, 
 November the 24th. 
 
 He was interred on the night of Monday, Novem- 
 ber the 27th, in the spot he had chosen sixteen years 
 before, in Fressingfield churchyard. 
 
 A plain, handsome, altar-shaped tomb, with his 
 armorial bearings, his mitre, and crosier sculptured 
 on the black marble slab that surmounts it, covers 
 
SANCKOFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 101 
 
 the remains of the venerable primate. The sides are 
 faced with white polished marble, veined with grey, 
 and bear the following inscriptions, which he had 
 prepared with his own hand, with instructions for 
 placing them. On the right side : — 
 
 " P.M.S. 
 LECTOR, WILHELMI, NUPER ARCHIPR^SULIS 
 
 (qui NATUS in vicinia), 
 
 QUOD MORTI CECIDIT, PROPTER HUNC 
 
 MURUM JACET ; ATQUI RESURGET : 
 
 TU INTERIM SEMPER PARATUS ESTO, NAM HORA QUA 
 
 NON PUTAS DOMINUS VENTURUS EST. 
 
 OBIlt 24° NOV. ANNO DOMINI 1693 ; 
 
 ^tatis su^ 77." 
 On the left side : — 
 
 " P.M.S. 
 
 " William Sancroft was born in this parish. After- 
 wards, by the providence of God, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury ; who, after he had lost all which he could 
 not keep with a good conscience, returned hither to 
 end his life, where he began it ; and professeth here, 
 at the foot of his tomb, that, as naked he came 
 forth, so naked he must return. The Lord gave, and 
 the Lord hath taken away ; as the Lord pleaseth, so 
 come things to pass. Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Over his head the following verse from St. Mat- 
 thew, xxiv. 27 : — 
 
 "As 'the lightning cometh out of the east and 
 
102 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of 
 the Son of Man be." 
 
 Though upwards of a century and a half have 
 passed away, the tomb and its autobiographical in- 
 scriptions remain in perfect preservation. His memory 
 is held in traditional veneration bv the villagers of 
 Fressingfield, whose forefathers owed their civilizing 
 education to his munificent care. A square space, 
 richly carpeted with green turf, has been railed off 
 to preserve this monument from accidental injuries. 
 
 The entry of Archbishop Sancroft's death is pre- 
 served in the parish register of Fressingfield, as well 
 as the record of his birth. The assertion of his un- 
 scrupulous libeller, Burnet, of his having raised a 
 large estate out of the revenues of Canterbury, and 
 left it to his family, has been fully disproved in 
 Sancroft's documentary life by Dr. D'Oyley, who 
 had access to the family papers of his representative, 
 Mr. Holmes, of Gawdy Hall. 
 
 The small silver chalice and patina used by San- 
 croft in his domestic chapel, and his little clock in 
 a black and gold case, are in the possession of Mrs. 
 Hopper, one of his collateral descendants, at Starston 
 vicarage. His episcopal carved oaken chair, a por- 
 tion of his library, together with his most interesting 
 portrait in middle life, are preserved at Gawdy Hall, 
 the seat of his youthful representative, Sancroft 
 Holmes, Esq. 
 
 Swift, a keen and observant contemporary, has 
 written this indignant comment in the margin of his 
 copy of "Burnet's History of His Own Times," 
 " False as hell," against the statement that " Sancroft 
 
BANCROFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 103 
 
 was too intent on enriching his nephew, to have 
 courage to oppose the measures of the court." But 
 the best contradiction is supplied by Burnet himself, 
 in the following heartless sneer at Bancroft's poverty, 
 and the frugality necessitated by his narrow means. 
 " He died in the same poor and despicable manner 
 as he had lived for some years." Truly, false wit- 
 nesses require good memories. 
 
 The books presented by Archbishop Bancroft to 
 Emmanuel College were valued at 2500Z. In these, 
 and in building and furnishing the cottage, which he 
 compared to a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, the 
 savings of his long life were invested. 
 
 His small estate in Fressingfield was his patri- 
 monial inheritance. 
 
 We can scarcely conclude his biography more 
 appropriately than with the following lines on his 
 last years and death, by the late Rev. William Mit- 
 ford, literary editor of the "Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine :" — 
 
 " He left high Lambeth's venerable towers ] | 
 For his small heritage and humble bowers. 
 * * * * 
 
 Now with his staff on his paternal ground, 
 Amid his orchard trees he may be found ; 
 An old man, late returned, where he was seen 
 Sporting, a child, upon the village green. 
 How many a changeful year had passed between, 
 Blanching his scattered hair, yet left him there 
 A soul kept young by piety and prayer ! 
 That to his mourning friend could meekly tell, 
 * Be not for me afflicted, it is well, 
 It was in my integrity I fell.' " 
 
104 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 DE. JOHN LAKE, 
 
 BISHOP SUCCESSIVELY OF SODOR AND MAN, OF BRISTOL, 
 AND OF CHICHESTER. 
 
 John Lake was born at Halifax, in Yorkshire, and 
 was baptized on the 5th of December, 1624. He 
 was educated at the Grammar School of his native 
 town, and made so rapid a progress in his studies 
 that he was admitted into St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge, in his thirteenth year. His tutor at St. 
 John's was the learned Mr. Cleveland, whose life he 
 subsequently wrote, and whose works, in conjunc- 
 tion with Dr. Drake, Kector of Pontefract, he edited 
 and published in 1687. He took his degree of B.A. 
 at a very early age, and distinguished himself no 
 less for loyalty than learning. He was arrested, 
 together with a considerable party of ardent young 
 royalists, by the Parliamentary Commissioners, for 
 refusing to take the Covenant, and put into strict 
 confinement — not being suffered to stir without the 
 gates, or to take the slightest exercise or recreation. 
 
 During the time of his restraint young Lake 
 sedulously pursued his studies. At last he escaped, 
 and, repairing to Oxford, entered the king's service 
 as a volunteer. He distinguished himself at Basing 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTEK. 105 
 
 House by his intrepid conduct in several successful 
 sallies, and became one of the undaunted defenders 
 of that stronghold of loyalty. He was so fortunate, 
 however, as to escape the sanguinary massacre 
 inflicted by Cromwell on the valiant garrison, who 
 were for the most part put to the sword, in revenge 
 for their gallant defence and the contempt with 
 which they had treated his summons to surrender. 
 
 Unintimidated by the fate of his brave com- 
 panions in arms, young Lake continued to fight gal- 
 lantly for King Charles in the defence of Walling- 
 ford, and served four years, with dauntless courage in 
 that hopeless cause, as a stripped and impoverished 
 cavalier. 
 
 His love of learning induced him to return to his 
 academic studies. He refused to take the Engage- 
 ment with no less firmness than he had rejected the 
 Covenant. He succeeded, however, in 1647, in 
 obtaining ordination from one of the deprived pre- 
 lates, and entered publicly and fearlessly on his 
 interdicted vocation. 
 
 He preached his first sermon in his native town of 
 Halifax, July 26, 1647. Not being suffered to 
 remain there without taking the Engagement,, he 
 removed to Oldham, whence, after a warm con- 
 troversy, he was ejected by the Puritan party, and 
 effectually silenced for a time. 
 
 To render his case the worse, our adventurous 
 young cavalier divine, on leaving the army for the 
 Church, had married, and in addition to his personal 
 struggle for subsistence, had at this anxious crisis a 
 wife and young helpless family to support. 
 
106 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 On the death of the incumbent of Leeds he was 
 presented to the vicarage of that town, but met with 
 so much opposition from the Puritan party, who 
 wished to introduce Mr. Bowles, that it was found 
 necessary to call in a company of soldiers to secure 
 his induction into the church, the doors having been 
 barred against him by some of the more violent of 
 his congregation. As this took place before the 
 Eestoration, Lake must have had some powerful 
 and influential friends on the other side, notwith- 
 standing his well-known affection to the royal cause. 
 
 At a post-Eestoration entertainment given by 
 Bishop Gunning to the members of St. John's 
 College, Lake, over whose head the wear and tear of 
 twenty years had not passed in vain, appeared as one 
 of the guests without being recognised, but his agree- 
 able conversation induced the bishop to inquire 
 whether he belonged to that college. ■ 
 
 "Yes," replied Lake ; "I studied here very hard 
 without once going out of the gates." 
 
 This led to the explanation that he was one of the 
 young cavalier students who had suffered a long 
 imprisonment there on account of their principles. 
 Lake w^as recommended, in 1661, by the royal letter 
 of Charles II., to have the degree of D.D. conferred 
 on him by the University of Cambridge, which was 
 accordingly done. 
 
 Lake preached his first synod sermon at York, 
 with which the dean was so greatly pleased, that he 
 sent a copy, without the author's knowledge, to 
 Dr. Sheldon, Bishop of London. That prelate sent 
 for Lake, and collated him to the rectory of St. 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 107 
 
 Botolph's, Bishopsgate, May 22, 1663. He was 
 made prebend of Holbourn, June 11, 1667, and 
 formed a friendship with Sancroft which lasted as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 The following letter was addressed by Lake to 
 Sancroft, when the latter requested him to preach as 
 his substitute on Passion Sunday in cne of the 
 city churches, before the rebuilding of St, Paul's 
 Cathedral : — 
 
 "Honoured Sir, 
 
 " It was my unhappiness to be from home when 
 you called upon so obliging an account this day. 
 The favours which you have heaped upon me from 
 time to time suffice not, unless you accumulate them 
 with honours also, for it is the greatest to be your 
 Lunodamonum. With such as I have, therefore, I 
 shall appear in your place, not stead ; not as your 
 representative, but your foil. In earnest, sir, it will 
 be a passion sermon to all that expected you, and 
 find me there ; and give me leave to say, in the 
 words of truth and soberness, there can scarce be 
 a greater disparity or disappointment. However, 
 I accept it as a pledge of that undeserved value 
 which you are pleased to set upon me, and that I 
 may not too much reproach your judgment, I shall 
 study the more to deserve it. It is almost enough to 
 make me able that my lord of Hereford and your- 
 self have considered me so ; at least it is my duty 
 to try. 
 
 " My lord, I would have attended you myself if 
 you had thought fit, but that I am to preach at a 
 
108 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 solemn funeral on Wednesday. So soon as that is 
 over I shall not fail to wait upon you if your journey 
 prevent it not, or upon my lord of Hereford if it do, 
 and then give him the assurance which I hereby 
 give yourself, that I am, 
 
 " Your great honourer, 
 
 " And humblv devoted servant, 
 
 " Jn. Lake. 
 
 "March 15, 1668." 
 
 In the following autumn Lake obtained the rich 
 living of Prestwich, in Lancashire. Soon after, his 
 clerk falling dangerously ill caused a report of the 
 death of that official ; whereupon, as it was a place 
 which included many advantages, a gentleman of the 
 name of Clifford got a much-valued friend of Lake's 
 to make interest . with him for the appointment, 
 which he did, sending various testimonials of Clif- 
 ford's merit. 
 
 Lake, who was at that time enjoying a tour in 
 Lancashire, did not receive the letter till long after 
 date, which, together with the impossibility of com- 
 plying with the request, elicited the following frank, 
 yet complimentary letter of apology from him :— 
 
 " Eeverexd Sib, 
 
 u As you upon all occasions are ready to testify 
 your undeserved respects to me, so I would not seem 
 guilty of the least disrespect towards a person whom 
 I so much and deservedly honour. It is, therefore, 
 a double trouble to me, both that I make so slow a 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 109 
 
 return to yours, on behalf of Mr. Clifford, which, 
 through my ramblings up and down amongst several 
 friends in Lancashire, came slowly to my hands, and 
 that I cannot make a satisfactory one now ; and it is 
 a further circumstance of trouble to me that you 
 should think there needed any testimony but your 
 own. Your simple testimony, w T hich did me so much 
 service and reputation not long since, might, both in 
 justice and gratitude, suffice with me. After all, it is 
 my unhappiness to be somewhat entangled already. 
 Not that I have made any promise of the place, for 
 I would not seem to bury my clerk alive, but having 
 buried about eleven or twelve weeks ago a prudent, 
 sober, and faithful servant, who collected my tithes, 
 and the clerk lying sick and weak as he still doth, I 
 have retained one Mr. Hunt to do it, who was clerk 
 of St. Antholin's before the fire, and now liveth 
 within my parish, and I know hath the clerkship in 
 his eye, and if he shall prove his fidelity to me I can 
 scarcely look off him. This, sir, is the very truth of 
 the case, and, therefore, I hope I shall have your 
 excuse if I do not make Mr. Clifford a certain 
 promise; but if the place become void in my time, 
 and Mr. Hunt succeed not in it, I hereby assure it to 
 Mr. Clifford, for the nomination, by the custom of 
 the parish, as well as by canon, is wholly in myself, 
 and I shall be glad of such an opportunity to testify 
 myself — 
 
 " Your humbly devoted servant, 
 
 " J. Lake.* 
 "November 16, 1668." 
 
 * Tanner MSS., vol. xliv. 61, Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
110 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Lake was next made prebendary of Fridaythorpe, 
 in the cathedral of York, and given other prefer- 
 ments, not one of which was of his own seeking. 
 
 His zeal for the restoration of good order and 
 discipline in the church, especially his determination 
 to abolish the irreverent custom into which the 
 people had fallen, of walking about the aisles of the 
 cathedral and talking during the celebration of divine 
 service, excited great ill-will among the vulgar. 
 This broke out with great violence in October, 1680, 
 on his being installed archdeacon of Cleveland, when 
 the most painful scene in his life occurred. The 
 rabble forced themselves into the church in great 
 numbers, wearing their hats, and raised a tumultuous 
 riot. 
 
 Lake, whose courage was indomitable, rose from 
 his seat, and taking off the hats of those who were 
 within reach, admonished them on the sacrilegious 
 nature of their proceedings in the house of God, 
 bidding them either remain and join in the service, 
 or leave the church. Awed by the impressiveness 
 of his language they retired, but presently after a 
 fresh crowd collected and burst open the south door, 
 and defied him in the most brutal language, and 
 endeavoured to provoke him to strife. Lake, how- 
 ever, preserved his temper, even when, without the 
 church, they followed him home, and but for the 
 courageous promptitude of Captain Honeywood, the 
 deputy-governor, would have plundered and pulled 
 down his house. 
 
 The following Shrove Tuesday a fresh outbreak 
 took place, in consequence of Lake's determination 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. Ill 
 
 to stop the heathenish license claimed on that day 
 by the sturdy apprentices and young men of York. 
 It had been their custom from very ancient times to 
 ring one of the cathedral bells, which they called 
 the Pancake bell. This practice obtained in other 
 places in Yorkshire, for in Dr. Lake's native town 
 there was a popular rhyme circulated as a proverb, 
 in reference to the inauguration of Shrovetide fes- 
 tivities — 
 
 " When Pancake bell begins to ring, 
 All Halifax lads begin to sing/' 
 
 But Lake was determined that in York Cathedral 
 no singing should be tolerated, save to the glory of 
 God. The dean and chapter advised him to wink at 
 the saturnalia, and not to stir up the rabble by con- 
 testing the privilege which they had enjoyed from 
 time immemorial, of having the minster, from crypt 
 to tower, thrown open for the pleasure of themselves 
 and their country cousins on Shrove Tuesday. Lake, 
 however, courageously endeavoured to prevent the 
 desecration of the minster, first by reproving the 
 rabble, and then by taking steps for their expulsion. 
 They assailed him, as before, with brutal ferocity, 
 and would have torn him to pieces, if some of the 
 more moderate had not interposed and advised him 
 to retire, unless he wished to be slain on the spot 
 M I have faced death too often in the field," he 
 replied, " to shrink from the danger of martyrdom 
 in the performance of my duty : I should be sorry if 
 any of your lives were to be endangered through 
 your cruel and cowardly attack on me; but leave 
 
112 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 the ground at your bidding I will not." He was 
 with difficulty rescued by the governor and his assist- 
 ant force. 
 
 Though Dr. Lake might have retired to either of 
 his livings, his high spirit would not cower before 
 the storm ; and he continued, at the imminent peril 
 of his life, to reside in York till he had convinced his 
 ferocious adversaries that they were not to convert 
 the house of God into a place of idle riot. His firm- 
 ness and courage finally conquered. 
 
 Through the friendship of the Earl of Derby, 
 Lake was nominated to the bishopric of Sodor and 
 Man, and consecrated in December, 1682. It was a 
 very poor see, but he cheerfully undertook the office, 
 though at no small self-sacrifice, as he had to give up 
 much more lucrative preferment at York for the 
 sake of this almost barren mitre. His enemies at 
 York could not believe that he would actually resign 
 the rich prebend he held in that city for the empty 
 dignity of the Manx bishopric ; and one of his great 
 adversaries, Mr. Stainforth, who was making interest 
 to obtain his house and preferment, promulgated an 
 invidious report that Dr. Lake meant to retain his 
 prebendal residence and living there. Lake frankly 
 mentions this invidious rumour in a confidential letter 
 to his friend Bancroft, to whom he thus writes in 
 reference to the injurious rumour : — 
 
 " I am so far myself from the least thought of keep- 
 ing my residentiary place at York, that a design hath 
 been for some time driving on for Mr. Stainforth to suc- 
 ceed me in it, and he and I were discoursing of it at that 
 very time when your grace's letter came to my hands ; 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 113 
 
 and on all hands it is submitted to my lord of York, 
 and if I am capable of doing any other good office 
 to Mr. Stainforth, I shall cheerfully requite the bad 
 offices which I know he hath done to me with that 
 also. I shall add no more to your trouble, save 
 only to assure your grace that it is a very great 
 satisfaction to me that I am coming under your more 
 immediate conduct ; and whatever cometh in my way, 
 whilst I may have your advice and assistance, I can 
 neither faint nor miscarry. 
 
 " I beseech God long to continue your grace an 
 ornament and a blessing to His Church, and to re- 
 turn into your bosom all those undeserved favours 
 which your grace hath reflected upon your most 
 obedient and most humbly devoted servant, 
 
 "Jo. Sodor." 
 
 . Lake was much valued by the Archbishop of York, 
 who considered his talents and learning deserved a 
 more extensive sphere and a better reward than 
 the bishopric of Sodor and Man, as we learn from 
 his confidential letter to his friend Bancroft, — 
 
 " March 31, 1684. 
 " I intended your grace," he says, u the trouble of 
 a few lines, to beg your prayers and blessing be- 
 fore I set out for the Isle of Man in May next ; but 
 am now engaged to give your grace trouble upon 
 another occasion, to which I am invited and encou- 
 raged by my lord of York ; otherwise the reverence 
 which I have for your grace, and the consciousness of 
 my own defects, would effectually have restrained 
 the presumption. 
 
 I 
 
114 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " The occasion, may it please your grace, is this. 
 The late Bishop of Carlisle being dead, my lord of 
 York, ex mora motit, hath prompted me to put in for 
 the bishopric, and hath promised all his favour and 
 furtherance, which I took myself obliged to accept ; 
 but still with this difference, if your grace shall not 
 only approve but please to promote it also ; for as 
 there is no hope of succeeding in it without such 
 concurrence, so I can religiously profess that I 
 affect not to be, or have anything which stands 
 not with your good liking. I am, therefore, bold to 
 offer this to your grace, but presume not to urge 
 it at all ; and may I but continue in your good opinion, 
 it will abundantly suffice your grace's most humbly 
 devoted and most obedient servant, 
 
 "J. SODOR."* 
 
 But higher preferment awaited Lake. Charles II., 
 who, whatever were his own faults, seldom nominated 
 any other than worthy men to his hierarchy, had 
 once been deeply impressed by a sermon on the 
 death of the good, pious, and loyal citizen, Deputy 
 William Cade, w 7 hich Lake preached before him at 
 Whitehall, on the anniversary of his Eestoration, so 
 far back as May 29th, 1671. This sermon had been 
 published subsequently, under the title of the " True 
 Christian's Character and Crown ;" and was so much 
 approved by his Majesty, who had been previously 
 much interested in the youthful adventures and 
 loyal achievements of the preacher as an Oxford 
 cavalier, that he declared he would make an English 
 
 * Tanner MSS., xxxiv. 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 115 
 
 bishop of him when a suitable opportunity oc- 
 curred. 
 
 Thirteen long years had however passed away since 
 the royal declaration was uttered, and it was not till 
 Bancroft induced Dr. Turner, who was then Bishop 
 of Eochester and chaplain to the Duke of York, to 
 mention Dr. Lake to his Eoval Highness, and solicit 
 his influence with the king in his behalf, that he 
 might be appointed to the bishopric of Bristol. 
 
 Turner wrote from Windsor to Sancroft that Charles 
 remembered his promise : — 
 
 " April 20th, 1684. 
 
 "According to your grace's directions, I have moved 
 his Eoyal Highness and the king in favour of the 
 Bishop of Man for Bristol. His name is received 
 by our princes with so much kindness as will facili- 
 tate his nomination. I have also performed your 
 grace's commands in representing this business to 
 the Earl of Eochester, who very readily meets your 
 grace's motion for this worthy person, though I 
 perceive his lordship's inclinations are leaning towards 
 another. But my lord Duke of Beaufort not coming 
 yesterday to Windsor, all I can do is to write my 
 good Lord Clarendon such an account of the present 
 design, for removing Dr. Lake to Bristol, as may be 
 showed to his grace, which is but necessary ;" the 
 Duke of Beaufort having named a friend of his for 
 the bishopric of Bristol, which see, small as its emo- 
 luments were, was just at that time eagerly sought. 
 
 "I shall take the bishopric of Bristol, if it falleth 
 to my share, not only contentedly, but joyfully and 
 thankfully," writes Lake to Dr. Paman, April 30th, 
 
116 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 1684, " if it can be but so contrived that I may be 
 entitled to another year's profits of the bishopric of 
 Man, which I shall be perfectly at or before Michael- 
 mas next, that is so soon as the harvest is cut 
 down ; but otherwise I shall be a great loser by the 
 one, and I doubt a greater by the other. To make 
 this appear more clear and reasonable, not only the 
 small value of the bishopric of Bristol is to be con- 
 sidered, in respect whereof, for thirty-two years 
 together, in Queen Elizabeth's time, it had no proper 
 bishop of its own, but was held in commendam by the 
 bishops of Gloucester ; but that hitherto I am entitled 
 but to the year's profits of the bishopric of Man, and 
 these amounting but to 282?., whereof I have yet 
 received but 4:1. 5s., and I shall not receive the rest 
 without much trouble and expense, and shall lose 
 part of it after all, for the poverty of that island is 
 very great, and not to be conceived by any but those 
 who have been upon the place. I know my Lord of 
 Derby may, if he pleaseth, favour me in this ; but I 
 cannot tell whether I may expect it in this case, and 
 therefore would not be left to his courtesy, if either 
 by dispensing with me to hold the bishopric of Man 
 so long (and I am far from desiring to hold it any 
 longer), or by deferring my translation to Bristol. As 
 to the finishing acts of it, if it could be helped, sir, I 
 would not insist at all, much less so far upon this, if 
 my case and condition did not require it. But if 
 this cannot fairly be obtained, or not without too 
 much concern to my lord of Canterbury, I shall, 
 nevertheless, go on with a cheerful freedom, and rely 
 upon that Providence which hath carried this matter 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 117 
 
 on so far against my own inclination, and ever be 
 what you have made me, 
 
 " Your zealously devoted friend and servant, 
 
 "J. Sodor."* 
 
 A week after the date of this letter Lake, who was 
 then at York, received a most kind and satisfactory 
 letter from Sancroft, announcing his appointment to 
 the bishopric of Bristol by the king's express desire, 
 through the recommendation of his Eoyal Highness 
 the Duke of York, to which Lake replied : — 
 
 " York, May 1th, 1684. 
 "I received your grace's (I know not whether 
 more kind or condescending) letter, with the most 
 grateful sentiments of which a soul no larger than 
 mine was capable. Not that the bishopric of Bristol 
 itself was so surprising and transporting, but the 
 mediation of his Boyal Highness, his Majesty's ready 
 favour and grace, the cheerful and unanimous con- 
 sent of all the other honourable persons present, and 
 I had almost said, above all, your grace's peculiar 
 respects, did affect me w T ith equal wonder and delight, 
 and it will be the engagement of my whole life to 
 walk in some measure worthy of them. This would 
 also inspire me with courage enough to encounter 
 all the difficulties that lie in my way, if the greatest 
 difficulty of all, the discharge of my duty and the 
 consciousness of mine own defects, were not too just 
 an alloy to it. However, I shall go on, cum bono Deo, 
 and may the end be prosperous and happy, for which 
 
 * Tanner MSS., xxxii. 45, Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
118 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 I shall humbly commit myself to that wise and 
 gracious Providence which hath brought me on 
 hitherto I matter not the way."* 
 
 Unfortunately for Lake he had the ill-luck, on 
 being consecrated Bishop of Bristol, to inherit a fierce 
 quarrel w T hich had been going on for several years in 
 this very poor but stormy diocese, between his pre- 
 decessor the late bishop and two very bellicose 
 members of the chapter. One of these was the 
 dean, Mr. Samuel Crossman, a person apparently 
 well worthy of his name ; the other, Mr. Prebendary 
 Kichard Thompson, who had almost tormented the 
 late bishop out of his life. One of their annoyances 
 to the late bishop was to let out the canon's little 
 marsh, contiguous to the episcopal palace, as a dock 
 for the repairing and building of ships ; against which 
 nuisance the bishop vainly protested, and finally 
 petitioned the king, declaring "that the noise and 
 evil smells occasioned by this proceeding was most 
 injurious to his health, and that it would be impos- 
 sible for him to continue to reside there, and the 
 revenues of his see were too small to admit of his 
 hiring another house ; and that Mr. Crossman had 
 refused to pay the customary dues; so that the 
 Bishop of Bristol, having neither lands nor revenues 
 to pay for servants, must be his own slave and wait 
 upon himself." 
 
 All, however, was calm on Lake's first arrival, 
 as we find from his letter to his friend the pri- 
 mate, dated Bristol, September 18th, 1684, in which 
 
 * Tanner MSS., xxxii, 50, Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICIIESTEK. 119 
 
 he says, "I was so perfect a stranger to all per- 
 sons and things at Bristol, that I found nothing 
 to advertise your grace, save what was not worthy 
 of your grace's notice, rny safe arrival there, and 
 my reception more civil and kind than I could 
 expect." He then proceeds to lament the unhappy 
 divisions and distractions he found in the city of 
 Bristol, inflamed and distracted as they were by Sir 
 John Knight, a most troublesome busybody, who was 
 always stirring up strife, and had been the means 
 of inducing one Mr. Roberts to take orders while 
 lacking seven months of the canonical age. Mr. 
 Roberts had imposed on the Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, and also on the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 himself, by producing false testimonials of his age ; 
 and being supported by the Duke of Beaufort in 
 person, he obtained institution to the living against 
 the wish of the parishioners, who had set their hearts 
 on a different person. They proceeded against 
 Roberts in the Court of Arches. 
 
 Matters w T ere carried on stormily, and the poor 
 bishop was rendered very uncomfortable amongst the 
 contending parties. In the midst of the strife the 
 bellicose dean died, but, unhappily for all lovers of 
 peace and quiet, he was succeeded by the equally belli- 
 cose prebendary, Thompson, and the king declared in 
 his favour, although he had treated Sancroft with per- 
 sonal disrespect. There were ecclesiastical irregula- 
 rities in his institution to the deanery, to which the 
 bishop and the more orthodox portion of the chapter 
 objected ; but his violence overbore every one. He 
 was accustomed, when any difference of opinion 
 
120 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 occurred in the Chapter House, to strike his hand 
 upon the table, and maintain his own, by crying in 
 an authoritative voice, " / lay it down for a maxim. 
 I am Dean of Bristol." He set his face against 
 weekly communions in the cathedral, which Lake 
 desired to establish ; drove one of the minor canons 
 out of Bristol by his injurious treatment, and perse- 
 cuted another till he took to his bed with illness 
 brought on by a series of insults and vexations. 
 
 Lake found himself less able to withstand this 
 ruffianly dean than to cope with the pancake rabble 
 of York. His letters to Bancroft are many and 
 piteous on the subject of the annoyances to which he 
 was constantly exposed by this person, whom neither 
 concessions could mollify nor courage daunt. 
 
 To increase the difficulties of the bishop's position, 
 the choir of the cathedral was in a dilapidated 
 condition, and the chapter almost in a state of 
 insolvency ; so that, as Lake pithily observed, " there 
 is much needed to be done, and very little to do 
 it with." 
 
 In the midst of these disquiets Charles II. died. 
 The ceremony of proclaiming his successor, James, 
 Duke of York, king, is thus communicated to Arch- 
 bishop Sancroft, by Lake : — 
 
 "February 8th, Bristol. 
 
 " May it please youk Gkace, 
 
 " We received the news of the death of his late 
 sacred Majesty this morning, with that regret which 
 became our loyal duty. Immediately thereupon the 
 mayor of this city called the magistracy together 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 121 
 
 and resolved upon proclaiming his present Majesty, 
 James II., with all expedition; and it was ac- 
 cordingly performed about four of the clock this 
 afternoon, with all the ceremony and solemnity which 
 this place and the time admitted. The magistracy 
 were all in their^ scarlet, I present with them in my 
 robes, the militia of the city all drawn together; 
 a vast crowd of people, drums beating, trumpets 
 sounding, and as loud and hearty acclamations as 
 could possibly be imagined. In this posture this 
 leave th the city full of peace and joy, and the ma- 
 gistracy, who are very zealous for his Majesty's 
 honour and interest, I doubt not will from time to 
 time give a good account of it. I presume, by an 
 express which goeth to the Duke of Beaufort, to 
 signify thus much (though in scribbling haste) to 
 your grace. 
 
 " Begging your grace's blessing, I am, 
 
 " Your grace's most heartily devoted servant, 
 
 " Jo. Bkistol." 
 
 Matters proceeded more peacefully, even in 
 stormy Bristol, during the first few days of the new 
 reign ; but, within the month, when Lake writes to 
 Sancroft touching an exchange with the bishop of 
 Durham in the duty of preaching at Whitehall, he 
 says, "I shall not fail, cum bono Deo, to be in 
 London upon Saturday, the 28th of this month, 
 March, and shall then crave leave to lay before your 
 grace the state of our cathedral. At present all 
 things continue as I formerly represented them. 
 
122 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 The dean (if I may call him so) neither acts nor 
 appears. Whatever applications are made to him, or 
 the necessities of the church require, he will do 
 nothing ; and what he designeth, unless to decline 
 my visitation, passeth all understanding but his 
 own." 
 
 The dean at last thought proper to write a long 
 letter of apology and explanation to Sancroft, in 
 which he said : " The commencement of the differ- 
 ences between himself and the late Bishop of Bristol 
 originated in their dispute on the case of one 
 Mrs. Allis, who had been baptized at Glasgow by 
 an unqualified layman, the butler of Sir John 
 Home ; and that she, having scruples as to the 
 validity of baptism so administered, was desirous of 
 being re-baptized, for she had felt herself sorely 
 disquieted by three sermons preached by him, 
 Eichard Thompson, before his institution to the 
 deanery, on the sacrament of baptism ; that the late 
 bishop had urged it, but he, Bichard Thompson, 
 considered it not only unnecessary, but profane, and 
 had used very strong language against both the late 
 bishop and the present, who had reiterated the 
 opinion of his predecessor on the case of Mrs. Allis. 
 But, in conclusion, he (the dean) signified his great 
 regret that he had suffered himself to use such 
 intemperate expressions towards the bishop, and 
 declared his readiness to make any apology that 
 should be required of him, and to submit to his 
 visitations and such regulations in the cathedral as 
 his lordship deemed necessary." 
 
 A truce being thus proclaimed by the belligerent 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 123 
 
 dean, Sancroft gladly availed himself of the services 
 of his friend, Dr. Lake, on whose stainless principles 
 lie well knew he could confide, for the purpose of 
 restoring ecclesiastical order and discipline in the 
 diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and afterwards in 
 that of Salisbury, in which arduous commission he 
 was associated with the Bishop of Kochester and 
 other eminent dignitaries of the Church. 
 
 Lake was summoned to London in consequence of 
 Monmouth's rebellion. King James considered the 
 presence of this loyal prelate would be very service- 
 able in keeping so important a place as Bristol quiet, 
 and requested him to proceed thither without loss of 
 time. Lake, who was at that time confined to his 
 bed with a severe fit of the gout, unable to move 
 hand or foot, hesitated not to yield prompt obedience 
 to his sovereign's command, though under the ne- 
 cessity of being carried to his coach. He was in 
 great danger of falling into the hands of the in- 
 surgents by the w r ay, but safely accomplished the 
 hazardous and painful journey. He gives the fol- 
 lowing account of his arrival in a letter to Sancroft, 
 dated July 8th, 1685 :— 
 
 " I found the city in a great ferment," writes he, 
 " the rebels being within five miles, on the Somerset- 
 shire side; and the next day the alarm was still 
 hotter, they being within four miles, on the Glouces- 
 tershire side, where the city seemed less defencible ; 
 ever since that we have been on our guard, being 
 fully satisfied that their eye was mainly upon this 
 city ; and if the Duke of Beaufort had not been 
 timely sent hither, and conducted himself with all 
 
124 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 prudence and diligence ever since, it had certainly 
 become a cheap and easy prey to them. 
 
 " At present we are celebrating, with all expres- 
 sions of joy and triumph, the late happy victory 
 obtained against the rebels, who are now totally dis- 
 persed ; and this, accumulated with the news that the 
 late Monmouth and Grey are taken in Dorsetshire, 
 which is newly brought to the Duke of Beaufort ; 
 but of this he waiteth a confirmation. 
 
 "And now may it please your grace," continues 
 Lake, " I hope it will not be unseasonable to com- 
 mend Mr. Heath to his Majesty for the vicarage of 
 St. Nicholas ; and the case seemeth to require dis- 
 patch, for the dean and chapter of Bristol, who are, 
 indeed, the proper patrons, have presented already ; 
 but a lapse having occurred to the king, Mr. Heath 
 is willing to try the king's title with the presenters 
 at his own peril, and I shall take truce with the 
 presentation until we know the result. 
 
 " If I durst take confidence, I would presume, with 
 respect to myself, to tell your grace that I have been 
 advertised this day that the Bishop of Chichester is 
 dead, and if your grace could think fit to move for 
 that bishopric for me, it would be more convenient 
 than Peterborough ; but in this, as in all other things, 
 I must refer myself wholly to your grace." 
 
 Sancroft recommended his old friend earnestly 
 to the king, who cordially acceded to his request, 
 and appointed Lake to the vacant see of Chichester ; 
 in a happy hour for him, as the dean had just made 
 a fresh break out, and even proceeded so far as to 
 publish a virulent pamphlet of abuse against him. 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 125 
 
 Lake alludes to this attack in his grateful letter of 
 thanks to the primate for the welcome appointment 
 to the see of Chichester : — 
 
 " I shall hasten up with all convenient speed," 
 writes he, " and reckon it amongst my deliverances 
 to be freed from the impertinence and insolence of 
 our dean ; who, by way of further answer to my 
 articles of visitation, hath exhibited such a rhapsody 
 of libellous and scandalous matter as seemeth to 
 emulate if not outvie the d[ean] of Sarum." 
 
 Lake's translation to the see of Chichester took 
 place in October, 1685. After announcing his safe 
 arrival in that city to Archbishop .Sancroft, he pro- 
 ceeds to consult him on various important points 
 connected with his episcopal arrangements : — 
 
 " The sermons," observes he, " in our cathedral 
 were wont to be in the body of the church, until 
 Bishop Carleton, for wise and just reasons, removed 
 them into the quire, and I have hitherto continued 
 them there, and was not prophet enough to foresee 
 any occurrence which might incline me to a thought 
 to the contrary. But as this city is singularly factious 
 and fanatic, and may be very prone to set up their 
 conventicles again, and the Quakers have set up for 
 themselves already, and the great William Penn is 
 expected to speak amongst them to-morrow, so I 
 would prevent it in the more sober and moderate 
 sort of them, if possible ; and I think one proper 
 expedient to that purpose is the returning of the 
 sermons into the body of the church, where is both 
 much more room and much better accommodation for 
 hearing (wherein the religion of those men mainly 
 
126 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 consisteth) than the quire doth. I dare not be con- 
 fident that this will attain the end ; but it hath a 
 tendency to it, and it will at least stop the mouth of 
 a very plausible pretence, viz., that there is not a 
 sermon in the whole city on Sunday forenoon, but 
 only in the cathedral, and that the quire will not 
 receive the third part of the people if they should 
 generally come in ; nor is there any sermon con- 
 stantly in the afternoon, except in that part of the 
 cathedral which is applied to the use of a particular 
 parish, nor another living that is in any measure com- 
 petent to maintain a constant preacher. All which 
 is most undoubtedly true. 
 
 "I therefore humbly offer this to your grace's 
 consideration, and shall wait your direction in it, but 
 what we do we must do quickly. For mine own part 
 I humbly conceive that it may not be amiss to try 
 the experiment ; and with some other expedients that 
 perhaps may be found out, I hope, that with some 
 losses, we may prevent greater inconveniences. If 
 it be thought advisable, I shall take it upon me as 
 mine own act and deed." 
 
 In his next letter Lake notifies " that conventicles 
 are set up in most of the great towns in the diocese, 
 and that papists are very busy to make proselytes, 
 but with little success. They have indeed gained four 
 or five," continues he, " in one parish, but they are 
 poor, mean persons, who bring neither credit nor 
 advantage to their church ; nor do I hear of so many 
 in the whole diocese beside, and yet divers of the 
 most considerable persons in our part of the country 
 are zealous that way." 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 127 
 
 " One other little errand this hath, to introduce a 
 son of mine, who, on his way to Cambridge," con- 
 tinues Lake, " is emulous to beg your grace's bene- 
 diction, as I also do, in the name and behalf of 
 
 " Your grace's, in all humble duty and obedience, 
 
 "Jo. ClCESTR." 
 
 In a letter, dated June 18th, 1686, Lake, after 
 thanking Sancroft for conferring the living of All- 
 hallows, Barking, on Mr. Gaskarth, a worthy clergy- 
 man in whpse behalf he had interested himself, pro- 
 ceeds to give a very curious account of his first visi- 
 tation, which he had extended as far as Rye, the 
 utmost limit of his diocese, and apparently a sort 
 of terra incognita, which none of his predecessors 
 since the Reformation had ventured to enter, so 
 completely was it considered out of the region of 
 civilized beings. Lake himself, as he says, " did not 
 proceed thither without some difficulty, by reason of 
 the ways thither ; where " continues he, " no man 
 alive hath seen a bishop before. In my passage by 
 the sea coast I saw some churches wholly destroyed, 
 and the parishes depopulated ; some others in great 
 decay, almost all poor and mean, and in disorder 
 enough, inasmuch that some parishes have never 
 yet had surplice or service book since the happy 
 Restoration. One, which hath indeed but one family, 
 and that of quakers, belonging to it, though the par- 
 sonage is worth at least forty pounds per annum, 
 hath nothing but naked walls, and these not in the 
 best repair ; and such lumber as the quaker hath no 
 place in his house bad enough for, he layeth there. 
 
128 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " On my return, I thought to have passed through 
 the wild, and to have confirmed East Grinstead, 
 Horsham, and some other places ; but there I was 
 bid stand, though perhaps I went further than a 
 wiser man would have done, and so must remit that 
 until the ways are in better condition." 
 
 After this melancholy description of his episcopal 
 progress in that decayed and desolate district of his 
 bishopric, Lake concludes his letter by mentioning 
 u that since his return to Chichester the mayor of Eye 
 had sent him copies of some extraordinary passports 
 which had been presented by foreign gentlemen 
 coming to Eye, on their passage to France ; the 
 passports being sealed with a Benedictine seal, a 
 bishop in his habit, with his crosier, and the pope's 
 escutcheon." These were probably some of King 
 James's foreign Eoman Catholic friends, whose ap- 
 pearance and singular credentials caused so much 
 astonishment, not only to the Mayor of Eye, but to 
 the learned Bishop of Chichester. 
 
 Lake, during the three years he held the see of 
 Chichester, succeeded in establishing weekly com- 
 munion in the Cathedral, in restoring the sermons to 
 the body of the church, and also in drawing great 
 numbers of conscientious dissenters to the worship of 
 the Church of England. 
 
 He was one of the seven bishops who, in June, 
 1688, incurred the royal displeasure for petitioning 
 to be excused from reading the king's declaration of 
 Liberty of Conscience ; for which offence he also was 
 committed as a prisoner to the Tower. The par- 
 ticulars of that event having already been related in 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 129 
 
 the life of Archbishop Sancroft, need not be repeated 
 here. 
 
 Lake continued to exercise his episcopal functions 
 quietly in his diocese till the landing of the Prince 
 of Orange brought him again on the arena of public 
 life as a spiritual peer. He then united with the 
 primate, and others of his faithful brethren, in en- 
 deavouring to persuade the king to take such mea- 
 sures for the security of the Church and constitution 
 as would probably, if adopted in time, have preserved 
 the crown to the male line of the Eoyal House of 
 Stuart. The vacillation of James, and the treachery 
 of some of his less conscientious advisers, rendered 
 the judicious counsel of his prelates unavailing. 
 
 Lake was one of those who subsequently advocated 
 a regency in behalf of James's son. The votes w T ere 
 so closely balanced that the crown was bestowed on 
 William and Mary by only a majority of two. Lake 
 gave his vote in favour of the regency ; and then 
 retired to his diocese, refusing to transfer his homage 
 to the new sovereigns. 
 
 This refusal excited great animosity against the 
 conscientious bishop. He was assured by his friends 
 and well-wishers that, if he persisted in his deter- 
 mination, his suspension would take place on the 1st 
 of August, and his deprivation would follow on the 
 1st of February. 
 
 "No matter," he replied. "I will not take oaths 
 which my conscience condemns. The hour of death 
 and the day of judgment are as certain as the 1st of 
 August and the 1st of February." 
 
 The 1st of August came, and he was suspended ; 
 
 K 
 
130 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 but his time on earth was now short. On the 27th 
 of the same month he was seized with shivering fits, 
 accompanied with convulsions: a malignant fever 
 followed. When his physicians, who saw the alarm- 
 ing nature of his symptoms, administered very strong 
 and painful remedies, the deprived prelate smiled at 
 their solicitude. " And is life worth all this at three- 
 score years and five ?" asked he. Nothing, he knew, 
 could arrest the fever, and he prepared for death with 
 unruffled serenity. To the weeping friends who at- 
 tended him he made a declaration of the principles 
 which had governed his life in these impressive 
 words : — 
 
 " Being called by a sick, and I think, a dying bed, 
 and the good hand of God upon me in it, to take the 
 last and best viaticum, the sacrament of my dear 
 Lord's body and blood, I feel myself obliged to 
 make this short recognition and profession. That 
 whereas I was baptized into the religion of the Church 
 of England, and sucked it in with my milk, I have 
 constantly adhered to it through the whole course of 
 my life, and now, if so be the will of God, I shall die 
 in it. And whereas the doctrines of non-resistance 
 and passive obedience I take to be the distinguishing 
 character of the Church of England, I have incurred, 
 in consequence of my adherence to these principles, 
 a suspension from the exercise of my office, and ex- 
 pect deprivation. I find in so doing much inward 
 satisfaction, and if the oath had been tendered with 
 peril of my life, I could only have obeyed by suffer- 
 ing. I desire you, my worthy friends and brethren, 
 to bear witness of this on occasion, and to believe it 
 
LAKE, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER. 131 
 
 as the words of a dying man, who is now engaged in 
 the most sacred act of conversing with God in this 
 world, and may, for aught he knows to the contrary, 
 appear with these very words in his mouth at the 
 dreadful tribunal." 
 
 Lake entered into his rest three days after this 
 profession of his principles, departing this troublous 
 life peacefully on the night of August 30, 1689. 
 Thus he escaped deprivation, as he died in the 
 interim between his suspension and the day ap- 
 pointed for his ejection. 
 
 Dr. Patrick, his successor in the see of Chichester, 
 expressed lively satisfaction that he was not called 
 upon to supersede any of the deprived bishops, but 
 was nominated to a see that was vacated by the 
 natural death of its last possessor. Dr. Lake was 
 interred in St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, simply 
 and without pomp. 
 
132 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 DE. 'THOMAS WHITE, 
 
 BISHOP OF PETEKBOKOUGH. 
 
 The name of Thomas White claims honourable 
 remembrance among the worthies of the Church of 
 England distinguished by the emphatic title of the 
 " Seven Bishops of the Tower." He occupies, it is 
 true, a less prominent position on the page of public 
 history than either of the six prelates with whom he 
 conscientiously united in petitioning to be excused 
 from executing the unconstitutional mandate of their 
 short-sighted sovereign, James II. ; but so immacu- 
 late was his character, that not even political malice 
 ventured to assail him as an individual. 
 
 He was born of respectable parentage, at Allington, 
 in Kent, in the year 1630, and being early deprived 
 of a father's care, had to work his own way in life. 
 His widowed mother, a grave and holy matron, 
 found a home in the house of a wealthy kinsman, 
 Mr. Brookman, of Bichborough, in Kent, through 
 whose influence probably she was enabled to place 
 her fatherless boy, in the first instance, in the royal 
 foundation of King's School, Canterbury. 
 
 That well-known theologian, the Bev. John John- 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 133 
 
 son, vicar successively of Margate, Cranbrooke, and 
 Appledore, who, as a contemporary, could scarcely 
 have been mistaken, when preaching the anniversary 
 serraoji for Kings School in the year 1716, and 
 recapitulating the names of the distinguished men 
 who had benefited by that institution, observed, 
 " It produced in the last century two mitred heads, 
 for I am well assured that the memorable Thomas 
 White, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, was a 
 scholar here, and I need not tell you that he was one 
 of those seven prelates who made so notable a stand 
 against arbitrary power in the year 1688 ; and yet 
 afterwards, by his conduct, made it appear that his 
 love to English liberty had not at all tainted the 
 affection which he bore to his own natural lord and 
 sovereign."* 
 
 It could, however, have only been the rudiments 
 of his education that Bishop White received at 
 King's School, Canterbury, since it is certain that 
 he was early removed to the Grammar School at 
 Newark-on-Trent, where he speedily distinguished 
 himself by his genius, industry, and learned attain- 
 ments, and was remarked for his singular personal 
 strength, courage, and pugilistic skill. He was 
 accustomed to say "that he ever looked back to 
 his school days, at Newark, as the pleasantest and 
 happiest of his life." 
 
 After completing an honourable scholastic career 
 at Newark, he was entered as a sub-sizar at St. 
 John's College, Cambridge. His talents, industry, 
 
 * Quoted by the Rev. J. S. Sidebotham, M.A., in his valuable 
 little work, "Memorials of King's School, Canterbury." 
 
134 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and learning dignified this lowly position, and finally 
 elevated him above it. On taking holy orders he 
 obtained, though in the days of the Commonwealth, 
 the lectureship of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and became 
 noted as one of the most eloquent preachers in 
 London. 
 
 After the Eestoration he was preferred to the 
 Eectory of Allhallows, Barking, in Thames Street, 
 where he was admired and followed by crowding 
 thousands as the most popular preacher of that 
 day. 
 
 It is stated, in a contemporary MS. in the British 
 Museum, that he was once in attendance on the 
 Bishop of Bochester when that prelate was to 
 officiate for the first time at Dartford, on which 
 occasion a ruffianly trooper of King Charles II.'s 
 guard insulted them both, and treated the bishop 
 with brutal and unprovoked insolence ; and when Dr. 
 White reproved him for his irreverent conduct, he, 
 presuming on his gigantic figure, challenged them 
 both to fight it out with him ; on which White, re- 
 membering his own unrivalled prowess in his school- 
 boy days, as a personal champion, was so far provoked 
 as to depart from clerical dignity by inflicting con- 
 dign chastisement on the ill-mannered bully, and 
 compelled him to ask the bishop's pardon for his 
 incivility, and lead his lordship's horse to the stall, 
 which he had previously prevented him from ap- 
 proaching. 
 
 King Charles was highly amused at the story, 
 of which he had heard only an apocryphal report, 
 and facetiously told Dr. White "that he shodd 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 135 
 
 impeach him of high treason, for committing a 
 personal assault on one of his guards.'' But when 
 Dr. White explained the provocation he had received, 
 and the unprovoked insolence with which the trooper 
 had treated both the Bishop of Bochester and 
 himself, the king greatly commended him "for the 
 spirit and personal courage with which he had acted 
 in teaching the fellow better manners," and pro- 
 mised to remember him when an opportunity of 
 conferring a suitable preferment occurred. 
 
 The living of Bottesford was presented to Dr. White 
 by the Earl of Butland, and he actually attained 
 the happiness of becoming the vicar of Newark, that 
 dearly-loved town to which he owed the precious 
 boon of a liberal education — the education that 
 had been to him more than an inheritance of silver 
 and gold, by enabling him to fight the battle of 
 life victoriously, and to gladden the heart of a 
 widowed mother by his scholastic fame and the 
 honourable place he had won as a dignitary of the 
 church, for the Archdeaconry of Nottingham was 
 also conferred upon him. 
 
 On the marriage of the Lady Anne, the daughter 
 of the Duke of York, to Prince George of Denmark, 
 he was made her domestic chaplain. As the Lady 
 Anne occupied the important place in the royal 
 succession of heiress-presumptive to the throne, after 
 her father and childless elder sister, the Princess of 
 Orange, the appointment of so firm a churchman 
 and excellent a character as the apostolic, learned, 
 and eloquent Dr. White, became a matter of general 
 satisfaction. All England, indeed, looked anxiously 
 
136 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 to him as the person on whose influence the religious 
 principles of their future sovereign in a great 
 measure depended. 
 
 Dr. Thomas White had in his youth and early 
 manhood seen many calamities befall the Church of 
 England. The lesson he had learned from this 
 adversity was, that to give the poor good sound 
 instruction, and for her clergy to train them in 
 practical observance of the precepts of the Church, 
 was the way of heal and weal alike for Church and 
 people. Considering the paucity of the education 
 and mind of Queen Anne, she seems to have worked 
 out these principles after her accession to the crown 
 to the utmost extent of her ability. 
 
 Her fostering conduct to the Church is the best 
 part of her career in life, and this was assuredly 
 owing to her spiritual adviser, Dr. Thomas White. 
 There was no other holy and purely disinterested 
 person who enjoyed her confidence in opening life 
 excepting White, whose influence could have worked 
 on her mind for good. Neither her preceptor, Comp- 
 ton, Bishop of London, nor her tutor, Dr. Edward 
 Lake, were characters likely to induce abnegation of 
 selfishness, or to render her what she truly became, 
 the nursing mother and generous benefactress of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 Dr. White was consecrated Bishop of Peterborough 
 October 25th, 1685. He was, on the suspension of 
 Compton, Bishop of London, appointed, with the 
 Bishop of Durham, and Sprat, Bishop of Bochester, 
 to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the diocese of 
 London. . This was both a delicate and difficult 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 137 
 
 office, and the Bishop of Rochester expressed lively 
 satisfaction that so holy and wise a man, as Dr. White, 
 was associated with him in its responsibilities. 
 
 White, on his return to Peterborough, considered 
 it his duty to investigate the state of his see, and was 
 shocked on discovering how greatly the number of 
 pluralities had increased since the Reformation, and 
 in the course of years extended to an amount highly 
 detrimental to the good of the Church, and the in- 
 crease of Christian congregations. After serious re- 
 flection on the evils to which this practice gave rise, 
 he submitted to the primate, Archbishop Sancroft, 
 the following list of cases which he regarded as serious 
 abuses, and entreated his counsel for reforming abuses 
 of the kind. 
 
 " What limitations," he asks, "are to be given to 
 pluralities in the cases following ? 
 
 • 1. When one man has from one to three or four 
 and five curacies to supply, and they do not altogether 
 make up a competent livelihood ? Many of which are 
 I believe to be found in the northern parts of Lin- 
 colnshire. 
 
 " 2. Where one man holds a curacy and a vicarage 
 or rectory, and perhaps lives at neither, but yet sup- 
 plies them both by turns ? 
 
 " 3. Where one man has two benefices with cure, 
 and devolves them both upon curates to supply ; he 
 himself not being detained from them by any other 
 employment, but chooseth some city or great town 
 to reside in for his secular convenience ? 
 
 " 4. Where pluralities belong to a residentiary in 
 some cathedral church, and are supplied by curates, 
 
138 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 the incumbent never residing, or hardly ever seeing 
 his parishes for several years." 
 
 " I believe," adds White sadly, " there will be in- 
 stances met with of all these cases in that great 
 circuit, and I shall humbly beg your grace's instruc- 
 tions and commands about them, which I shall choose 
 to follow rather than my own weak judgment, and 
 in this and all other my understandings do most ear- 
 nestly crave the aid of your grace's prayers and your 
 blessing." * 
 
 Bishop White continued to devote unremitting at- 
 tention to the reform of ecclesiastical discipline in his 
 diocese ; and although he had always been treated 
 with especial courtesy by King James, he joined heart 
 and hand with Archbishop Sancroft and the other five 
 prelates who signed the petition, praying that sove- 
 reign to excuse them from reading and promulgating 
 the royal declaration of Liberty of Conscience. He 
 also was one of those who presented that petition to 
 the king ; he was subsequently committed to the 
 Tower, as one of the seven, and was tried and trium- 
 phantly acquitted with them. 
 
 Anxious to avoid all political excitement he retired 
 to his diocese, and occupied himself wholly and 
 solely in the zealous performance of his episcopal 
 duties during the stormy period of the Revolution 
 which transferred the throne of England to William 
 and Mary. 
 
 It was naturally expected that White, as the 
 favourite chaplain of the Princess Anne, would 
 
 * Tanner MSS., vol. xxxi., p. 289., Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 139 
 
 remain attached to the fortunes of his illustrious 
 patroness ; but nothing could induce him to forfeit 
 the oath of allegiance he had sworn, or to counte- 
 nance her unfilial conduct to her royal father, who, 
 whatever had been his faults as a man and a sove- 
 reign, had ever been the tenderest and most indul- 
 gent of parents to her. 
 
 White was not a^man to hesitate between duty 
 and expediency. However painful the sacrifice was, 
 he gave up the service of the Princess Anne, and all 
 the prospects it opened, in no remote vista. He 
 refused to take the oaths of allegiance to the new 
 sovereigns, was suspended on the 1st of August, 
 1689, and finally ejected from his bishopric and 
 deprived of all his other preferments on the 1st of 
 February, 1690 — in a word, reduced from affluence 
 to absolute indigence. 
 
 He had made no provision for himself from the 
 revenues of the rich benefices he had enjoyed, con- 
 sidering himself as merely the steward and distributor 
 of the goods of the Church for the benefit of the poor 
 and the extension of scholastic institutions. 
 
 The whole of the property, real and personal, 
 which this self-denying and conscientious prelate 
 had amassed, during the thirty years he had received 
 the wages of the Church, did not amount to more 
 than 2000?. ; and that this was devoted to charitable 
 objects, the following extracts from the will he made 
 after his ejection from the see of Peterborough afford 
 satisfactory testimony. He was at that time in very 
 ill health, and looking forward to his demise at a 
 much earlier period than it occurred. This docu- 
 
J 40 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 ment is so truly edifying, in the spirit of Chris- 
 tian humility, love of God, and zeal for His service, 
 that it cannot be otherwise than interesting to the 
 reader : — 
 
 u In the name of God, Amen ! I, Thomas White, 
 D.D., late Bishop of Peterborough, have reflected 
 often upon the occurrences of my former life, and 
 often looked forward to the end of it, whither I am 
 hasting through several infirmities of body which 
 now afflict me, and the burden of almost sixty-two 
 years of age ; but being of sound understanding 
 and memory, do make and constitute this my 
 last Will and Testament, in manner and form fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 " First, I commend my soul into the hands of God, 
 giving most humble thanks unto Him not only for the 
 manifold mercies which He hath vouchsafed me in 
 order to the comfortable passage of my life — but for 
 the infinite love He hath shown to the world in send- 
 ing His only Son Christ Jesus to be the Redeemer of 
 mankind ; and particularly that I, being born in a 
 Christian country, was early admitted into the holy 
 Catholic Church of Christ, and have enjoyed the 
 privileges and benefits thereof through life, and 
 more especially that by Divine grace and favour I 
 was instituted and brought up in that religion which 
 is professed and established in the Church of Eng- 
 land, which, after due inquiry and examination, I 
 esteem the best constitution and safest way to 
 heaven which is in the world (oh, that my deluded 
 countrymen would think so too !), being far from the 
 dangerous corruptions of Popery and the many im- 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 141 
 
 perfections which other parts of the Keforniation are 
 subject to. 
 
 " I do, moreover, beg of God, my Heavenly 
 Father, full and perfect pardon for all my sins, being 
 conscious to myself of manifold neglects and mani- 
 fold violations of my duty ! For Thy Son our Lord 
 Jesus Christ's sake forgive me all that is past, and 
 grant that all the defilements I have contracted 
 through the lusts of the flesh, the vanities of the 
 world, and the temptations of the devil, may be 
 cleansed and done away with, and the remainder of 
 my life may be wholly devoted to Thy service and 
 glory, that I may be presented unto Thee without 
 spot and blameless at the last day !" 
 
 He devises 10?. for the benefit of the poor of the 
 parish in the which he should happen to die. To the 
 poor of Peterborough, Bishop White gives 24:01. to 
 be laid out in land ; 10?. out of the rents being for 
 the poor of that parish, and the remainder for the 
 minister as a reward for his pains in the distribution 
 of the 10?. (devoted) to the poor of the parish. The 
 107. was directed to be distributed in the church- 
 porch on the 14th of December annually, to twenty 
 poor families (reckoning the husband and wife for 
 one person), who shall exactly and distinctly repeat 
 the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten 
 Commandments^ without missing or changing one 
 word therein. 
 
 " And," continues the bishop, rt I do desire 
 withal it may be observed that I do design this 
 gift not only as a corporal, but as a spiritual alms to 
 do good unto the souls as well as the bodies of the 
 
142 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 poor, having with sorrow of heart taken notice of 
 the inconceivable ignorance which prevails amotig 
 the poor people that they are (at least very many of 
 them) Christians only in name, but know not why 
 they are so — nor what it is to believe, or practise, 
 or pray for, or to answer the demands of the 
 Christian profession. 
 
 " To encourage them, therefore, to learn the 
 foundations of the Christian religion, I have be- 
 queathed this charity. 
 
 " My further will is, that this part of my last will 
 and testament be transcribed by the parish above 
 mentioned, and be locked up in the parish chest ; and 
 that on the last Sunday in November, after morning 
 service, the rector, vicar, or incumbent do read this 
 part of it to the poor and the inhabitants of the said 
 parish in the church-porch." 
 
 The like sum, with the same provisoes, he be- 
 queaths to the parish of Newark-upon-Trent, that 
 well-beloved home of his school-days, and to which 
 his labours in the cure of souls were devoted with 
 spiritual joy in early manhood. Moreover, he left 
 to the library of the church of Newark 1200 volumes 
 for the use of the town, in consideration of his 
 attachment to it as the place of his early education. 
 
 White recovered from the complication of com- 
 plaints under which he was suffering at the period 
 when he made this will. 
 
 He alludes to the nature of his peculiarly painful 
 and dangerous malady in the following interesting 
 letter to his beloved friend, the deprived Archbishop 
 Sancroft : — 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 143 
 
 " Eaton, July 29th, 1692. 
 
 " May it please your Grace, 
 
 " Being acquainted with Dr. Banian's intention 
 to wait on your grace, I am desirous he should carry 
 with him some signification of my deep respect and 
 duty, which I know not how to express better than 
 by congratulating that settled and uninterrupted 
 health which I hear you enjoy at seventy-five years 
 old, and that greatness and constancy of mind which 
 makes you happy in the loss of everything which all 
 the world understands and admires. 
 
 " I had about a month ago an account that my 
 brother of Bath and Wells [Ken, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells] was in a good state, and have received 
 two letters from my brother Robert of Gloucester 
 [Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester], full of cheer- 
 fulness and generosity of temper, that show his 
 sufferings make no other alteration on the bravery 
 of his spirit, but only to improve it. Among other 
 things, he rejoices that, with the loss of his bishopric, 
 he has likewise lost his gout, and looks on it as a 
 happy exchange. He seemed very desirous to know 
 how he might write to your grace, to which I gave 
 him some directions, and therefore suppose you may 
 have heard of him by this time. Dr. Paman will 
 tell you how severely I have been handled with a fit 
 of the stone in the kidneys very lately, but, blessed 
 be God, the pain is gone off, and I have been at 
 more peace in my bladder the last week than I have 
 enjoyed these two years and upwards. 
 
 " I wish your grace the continuance and, increase 
 
144 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 of all good things, and humbly beg your blessing and 
 prayers in behalf of, 
 
 " My lord, 
 
 " Your most obedient and dutiful servant, 
 
 " Tho. Petribourg." 
 
 White assisted two of his brethren, the deprived 
 Bishops of Norwich and Ely, on the 23rd of Feb- 
 ruary, 1695, in consecrating Thomas Wagstaff, the 
 nonjuring Chancellor of Lichfield and ejected rector 
 of St. Margaret Pattens, to the office of suffragan 
 Bishop of Milford. White was at that period lodging 
 in the house of the Rev. Mr. Giffard, in Southgate, 
 and the ceremony was performed there, in the 
 presence of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, the uncle of 
 the Queen and her sister the Princess Anne. 
 
 Wagstaff derived no emolument from the office to 
 which he was thus appointed. He had studied 
 physic before his admission into holy orders, and 
 after his deprivation he practised the healing art 
 with great sucess for a subsistence, but continued to 
 wear his clerical gown to the end of his life. 
 
 The meek and heavenly-minded Thomas White 
 survived his ejection from the see of Peterborough 
 upwards of eight years, living in great privacy a 
 devout life of poverty and self-denial, held in 
 great reverence by his friends, and disarming the 
 malice of his political opponents by the blameless 
 and apostolic tenor of his conduct. 
 
 His last public appearance was by the side of Sir 
 John Fenwick, when that unfortunate gentleman 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 145 
 
 mounted the scaffold on Tower Hill, the 28th of 
 January, 16 ( JG-7, to suffer the death to which he had 
 been illegally and unconstitutionally doomed by the 
 revival of the old Tudor iniquity of condemnation by 
 attainder. 
 
 The more reflective of the people regarded with 
 patriotic indignation so gross a violation of the 
 boasted privileges of British subjects, resorted to by 
 those who professed to have become the champions 
 of the laws and liberties of Great Britain. 
 
 Great disgust was also expressed when it w 7 as 
 knowm that the new primate Tennison, with Comp- 
 ton, Bishop of London, Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury. 
 and others of the prelates of the Revolution, had 
 broken through the humane custom which had 
 hitherto prompted the lords spiritual to withdraw 
 from the House on such occasions, and had un- 
 clerically given their votes for the bloody doom 
 which sent their illegally-condemned countryman to 
 the block in the flower of his days. 
 
 The murmurs deep, not loud, that pervaded the 
 spectators of the tragic scene were hushed to affec- 
 tionate awe when they saw the attenuated form of 
 the deprived Bishop of Peterborough, whom many of 
 them well remembered as the eloquent rector of All- 
 hallows, Barking, the most popular preacher of the 
 day, and venerated as one of the holiest of men, who 
 had renounced rank, riches, and political power for 
 conscience' sake, appear by the side of the victim, 
 whom he came to comfort and support in that 
 dread hour. 
 
 Nothing could be more gallant and courageous 
 
 L 
 
14(3 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 than the demeanour of Sir John Fenwick as he 
 stepped on the fatal scaffold. Looking calmly round, 
 he gracefully saluted the gentlemen who came to see 
 him die ; but he spoke to no one but the deprived 
 Bishop of Peterborough. Earnestly they two prayed 
 together for their country and for their king, whom, 
 however, they did not mention by name. 
 
 The last time the rich voice of Dr. White — once 
 so familiar in that district to the listeners who had 
 been wont to hang on every word that proceeded 
 from his lips — was heard, was when he invoked his 
 solemn benediction on his death-doomed friend. 
 
 Sir John Fenwick expressed his wish to make trial 
 of the block. He kneeled down, and ascertained 
 the best way of placing himself for the stroke of 
 death. He rose again, and took an affectionate leave 
 of the Bishop of Peterborough. It seems that this 
 devout Christian had forbidden his penitent to be 
 accessary to his own death by making any signal for 
 the descent of the axe ; for Sir John Fenwick, when 
 he finally placed his neck on the block, said to the 
 executioner, " Man, I am ready for aught that may 
 be done to me, but expect no signal from me." 
 
 Sir John Fenwick then said fervently a short 
 prayer, at the end of which the headsman skilfully 
 despatched him with one blow. A few months after 
 this solemnity Dr. White entered into his rest. He 
 died in London, on the 30th of May, 1698, having 
 lived in great retirement ever since his deprivation. 
 
 His funeral was solemnized on the 5th of June. 
 He was buried in St. Gregory's churchyard vault, in 
 St. Paul's. 
 
WHTIE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 147 
 
 His remains were attended by the nonjuring 
 bishops, Francis Turner of Ely, Lloyd of Norwich, 
 and the Irish Bishop of Kilmore, who with two others 
 of the deprived brethren supported the pall. Forty 
 of the ejected clergy, and several of the Jacobite 
 nobility and gentry followed the hearse; but on 
 the request of Turner, that he or some other of the 
 nonjurors should read the burial service, being re- 
 jected by the Dean of St. Paul's, who appointed a 
 conforming minister to officiate, the whole of the 
 mourners withdrew. 
 
 Turner, Bishop of Ely, gives an account of the cir- 
 cumstances, in the following curious letter to his 
 brother, which is now for the first time unfolded to 
 the general reader : — 
 
 '•Most dear Sir, 
 
 " I acquainted you with the sad occasion of my 
 being in town last week. There I stayed till yester- 
 day, that I might attend the funeral on Saturday 
 night. It was earnestly desired by many that I 
 should perform the office at the grave (in St. Gre- 
 gory's, i.e., in the churchyard, for there is no church). 
 I yielded, if it might be permitted, which I told them 
 would hardly be, and that my poor name would never 
 pass muster. Yet the curate of the place agreed 
 with all the ease and respect imaginable. But his 
 de facto dean, Dr. Sherlock, coming to know it, for- 
 bade it expressly, nor could any intercessions prevail 
 with him to suffer any one of the dejDrived, not the 
 most obscure or least obnoxious, to officiate. This did 
 not hinder me nor anybody else from waiting on the 
 
148 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 corpse to the grave, the Bishop of Kilmore and my- 
 self with four others holding up the pall. As soon 
 as our bearers set down we made our exit ; and all 
 the clergy with most of the gentry followed. 
 
 " The great reason alleged by Dr. Sherlock for re- 
 fusing it was the daring imprudence of the Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells (Ken) for burying Mr. Kettlewell 
 even in his habit. Is not this a precious manikin 
 of a dean ?" * 
 
 The passage in the deprived bishop's will, in which 
 he leaves his unostentatious directions for his funeral, 
 is peculiarly touching : — 
 
 " Having commended my soul unto the mercy and 
 grace of God, I do appoint my body to be buried in 
 the churchyard of the parish w r herein I shall die, with- 
 out any funeral pomp, sermon, or expenses above ten 
 pounds ; and without any monument or inscription, 
 saving this upon a little stone, if it may be allowed. — 
 6 The body of Thomas White, D.D., late Bishop 
 of Peterborough, deprived of that bishopeic 
 for not taking the oaths of allegiance and 
 supremacy established in 1689, is buried here 
 in hopes of a happy resurrection." 
 
 Meekly and simply as the saintly Bishop of Peter- 
 borough set down the facts he desired to have en- 
 graved on the " little " stone that was to record his 
 numble " Sicjacet" it seems they were too strong for 
 the prosperous Bishop of London to admit into the 
 Cathedral of St. Paul's ; for his dust has namelessly 
 
 * Indorsed " for the Rev. Dr. Turner, President of Corpus Christi 
 College, Oxford/' Tanner MSS., Bodleian Library. 
 
WHITE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 149 
 
 mingled with that of the parishioners of St. Gregory,* 
 the adjunct to the stately metropolitan church. But 
 such a fact would not vex the soul of a man who left 
 only ten pounds to bury his body, and the rest of his 
 slender store to the poor. 
 
 * Brown Willis says in liis ' Cathedrals/ that Bishop WTiite was 
 buried in St. Gregory's Church, now part of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 without any monument. 
 
150 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 FEANCIS TUENEK, 
 
 BISHOP OF ELY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Francis Turner was more intimately connected 
 with the Court than either of the seven prelates 
 whose memorials are progressively unfolding in these 
 pages. His mother, Margaret Windebanke, was the 
 daughter of Sir Francis Windebanke, Secretary of 
 State to Charles I. His father, Dr. Thomas Turner, 
 successively Dean of "Rochester and Canterbury, was 
 chaplain to that unfortunate prince, whom he accom- 
 panied to Scotland and attended in many of his 
 wanderings. Two of Francis Turner's maternal 
 uncles were in the service of the king, who made 
 the eldest Governor of Blechendon House. To the 
 king's great surprise and mortification, Windebanke, 
 surrendered this important stronghold to Cromwell, 
 the lieutenant-general of the Parliament, with the 
 great store of arms and ammunition it contained, 
 conduct for which no reasonable excuse could be 
 assigned. He was tried by a military commission, 
 found guilty of treason and cowardice, and con- 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 151 
 
 demned to be shot. Notwithstanding the great in- 
 terest of Sir Francis Windebanke, this sentence was 
 executed, on which Lieutenant-Colonel Windebanke, 
 his younger brother, threw up his commission, be- 
 came a deadly foe to the royal cause, and finally 
 attained great political power and influence in the 
 cabinet and councils of William III. 
 
 Francis Turner was born at Canterbury, in the 
 year 1636, just before the breaking out of the great 
 rebellion, and was trained from infancy in principles 
 of loyal affection to his Church and king. His father 
 was, in consequence of his ardent attachment to 
 both, ejected from all his preferments, so that the 
 early days of Francis Turner were overshadowed 
 with care and disciplined by adversity ; the depriva- 
 tion of income subjecting the family to the misery of 
 stinted meals, and all the privations consequent on a 
 reverse from ease, comfort, and luxury, to absolute 
 want. 
 
 He received his education in the college of Wil- 
 liam of Wykeham, at Winchester. While there he 
 formed a tender friendship with the celebrated 
 Thomas Ken, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 a friendship that endured through life. They were 
 united by a reciprocity of sentiment and pursuits as 
 schoolboys — both were poets — both were studious, 
 enthusiastic, and loyal — both distinguished them- 
 selves by their ardent love for learning — both were to 
 become bishops, patriotic champions of the Church, 
 and finally martyrs to their principles. Francis 
 Turner, being one year older than Ken, was the first 
 to leave Winchester for New College, Oxford, in the 
 
152 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 year 1655. He was soon followed by his beloved 
 friend ; their intimacy was increased by time and 
 sympathy, and became a source of mutual happiness 
 to both. 
 
 The degree of B.A. was taken by Francis Turner 
 in the year 1659, of M.A. in 1663, of B.D. and D.D. 
 in 1669. He had been previously admitted into holy 
 orders at the Restoration, when the preferments of 
 his father, Dr. Thomas Turner, were restored. The 
 living of Therfield, in Hertfordshire, was presented 
 to Francis Turner in the year 1663. 
 
 Dr. Isaac Brassine, writing June 31, 1667, to 
 the father of Francis Turner, tells him "he sends 
 his lately published book for a new year's gift, and 
 shall commend it to the good care of your worthy 
 son, Francis Turner, a person precious to us for his 
 piety and learning beyond his years." 
 
 Therfield was formerly dependent on the royal 
 abbey of Rumsey. The church was a noble struc- 
 ture, but had suffered much during the civil wars, 
 and w r as almost in a state of ruin w r hen Francis 
 Turner was inducted into the rectory. At his own 
 expense the youthful rector restored the choir and 
 chancel, erected a groined roof over the chancel, and 
 paved the floor with polished marble. 
 
 He was doubtless assisted in his work of restora- 
 tion by the suggestions of his friend, Sir Christopher 
 Wren, who was occasionally his guest Eulogistic 
 Latin verses were addressed to Francis Turner on his 
 munificent improvements to his church, by Thomas 
 Wright. 
 
 While resident at his beloved rectory, Francis 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 153 
 
 Turner indulged bis poetic feelings by writing lines 
 " On the Prospect of the University of Cambridge, 
 from the top of the hill near my house at Ther- 
 iield." 
 
 " Hail, to those sacred mansions soaring high, 
 Me thinks a glory near each chapel dwells ; 
 Christ's colours streaming there of crimson dye ! 
 Each offering like the balm of Gilead smells, 
 Which, mixed with odorous gums, all meaner scents dispels. 
 ******* 
 
 " Let thy good angels, Lord ! the place frequent — 
 Send from thy treasures of celestial grace 
 Those gifts thy Holy Spirit oft has sent ; 
 
 Send them, blest Father, on that chosen place, 
 Lift up thy light serene on those that seek thy face. 
 
 " Thou bad'st thy heavenly meteor take its stand 
 On thy travailing temple, in the way 
 Where Moses led them through the barren sand ; 
 As thou wert in the meteor, so I pray, 
 Through yonder sacred roofs dart thine inspiring ray. 
 ******* 
 
 " Son of the Father, who the world didst frame, 
 
 And didst redeem the world with thine own blood, 
 And tak'st away our sin, O thou, the Lamb ! 
 To that blest colony of thine be good ; 
 Wash them from earth for heaven with thy rich purple flood !'* 
 
 There is a very primitive letter, in the Eawlinson 
 MSS., from the old Dean of Canterbury, Francis 
 Turner's father, to his son Thomas, afterwards the 
 Master of Corpus Christi, Oxford, announcing that 
 their mother had sent half a dozen shirts between 
 him and his brother, and was desirous of being cer- 
 tified that her maternal present had been safely 
 received in Oxford. 
 
 Francis Turner was collated to the prebend of 
 
154 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Sneating, in St. Paul's, in 1669. In the following 
 year he was elected Master of St. John's College, 
 Cambridge, where he was greatly honoured and be- 
 loved. 
 
 He assisted in fostering the genius of Matthew 
 Prior, whom he first brought into notice wlien an 
 undergraduate at St. John's College. Prior had 
 addressed in the first instance some very elegant 
 lines to his accomplished master, entreating him to 
 inspire an obscure and unfriended muse. 
 
 " So to the blest retreats she'll gladly go, 
 Where the saint's palm and muse's laurel grow ; 
 Where, kindly, both in glad embrace shall twine, 
 And round your brows their mingled honours twine ; 
 Both to the virtue due, which could excel 
 As much in writing, as in living well." 
 
 The high moral tone of Francis Turner's conduct, 
 character, and works, had indeed w r on for him such 
 universal respect in St. John's College, that this 
 gratefully-turned sentence might be regarded as a 
 well-merited tribute, rather than a compliment, for 
 it was the truth. 
 
 Excessive study and a solitary life were inimical 
 to his health, and he writes to his mother in the 
 year 1674, confessing "that he had been ill from 
 overburdening his mind and giving up bodily exer- 
 cise ; but was resolved to follow her advice, and 
 bestow more time on his body to keep it in better 
 plight; that he feels his solitary evenings, but 
 labours daily to resign himself to the wall of Him 
 who hath promised that all things shall work for good 
 to those who love Hini." 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 155 
 
 The next thing our learned recluse did, was to 
 relieve his dulness by falling in love, considering that 
 his Heavenly Creator had not thought it good for 
 man to be alone, even in Paradise. 
 
 There was a strong friendship between Francis 
 Turner and the apostolical Peter Gunning, his prede- 
 cessor in the see of Ely. To this worthy prelate he 
 confided his desire of marrying Anna Horton, a most 
 charming and exemplary young lady, maternally 
 descended from the noble family of Ferrars, and 
 fairly endowed with fortune. 
 
 He had now been fourteen years in holy orders, 
 and being of a melancholy disposition, was weary 
 of celibacy, especially after he had seen the fair 
 Anna Horton, and became acquainted with her good 
 qualities. 
 
 In the autumn of the year 1676, he announces 
 the approaching change in his condition to his friend, 
 Archbishop Sancroft, in the following quaint and 
 original terms : — 
 
 " October 14, 1676. 
 "Honoured dear Sir, 
 
 " The deference my father* enjoined his sons to 
 have for you and your particular kindness, oblige 
 me to acquaint you with a great concern of mine, 
 and to desire your blessing and your prayers for me ; 
 for I am, to-morrow, with God's leave, to marry one 
 Mrs. Horton, in the chapel at Ely House, and so 
 receive the Church's benediction from the sacred 
 hands of my lord bishop himself, my spiritual 
 father, without whose participation, consent, and sa- 
 tisfaction, I have not done this thing; nor without 
 
156 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 the maturest consideration of all my own circum- 
 stances and of the person I am about to marry. My 
 great inducements were, a thousand pounds' debt 
 was contracted by my building in so many places, 
 though scarce anybody knew of this but my good 
 lord of Ely (to whom I owed good part of it), and 
 then my own natural and habitual melancholy was 
 another more prevailing consideration. But nothing 
 wrought in me more than the great security (if I 
 may communicate it of one that is so near being my 
 wife) of a person that, if the world be not extremely 
 mistaken, is of good piety and good nature, as well 
 as kindness ; at least all men speak well of her. I 
 refer you to Dr. Stillingfleet to assure you of this, 
 for he is not unacquainted with her, though alto- 
 gether ignorant of my affair till Thursday last, when 
 he asked me, and I did not deny it, although I 
 desire your leave till I declare it, as I will by the 
 conveying her to Therfield, with your leave, within 
 these four days. 
 
 " I did not intend to finish it so hastily, but some 
 prudential reasons make it necessary." 
 
 The bridal of Francis Turner and Anna Horton 
 took place, as specified by him, in St. Etheldreda's 
 Chapel, on the 1 8th of October, the marriage service 
 being solemnized by Bishop Gunning, and the wedded 
 pair went to reside at Therfield Bectory. 
 
 Francis Turner resigned the mastership of St. 
 John's College on his marriage, and gave himself up 
 to the comforts of domesticity. The union was most 
 felicitous, and for upwards of two years the young 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 157 
 
 divine was in the enjoyment of perfect happiness ; 
 but in the beginning of the year 1G78 he was 
 bereaved of his young, lovely, and beloved wife. 
 Mrs. Turner died in childbed, on the 28th of January, 
 and her death was attributed to the unskilful treat- 
 ment of the Quaker nurse or midwife by whom she 
 was attended. 
 
 Mrs. Turner was only in the twenty-eighth year of 
 her age, and inexpressibly dear to her husband. He 
 buried her ' in the chancel of Therfield Church, and 
 composed and preached her funeral sermon. The 
 fair tomb he erected to her memory is a touching 
 memorial of his love and grief. The elegiac Latin 
 verses with which it is inscribed are his own compo- 
 sition, commemorating her virtues and singular en- 
 dowments, and " entreating the tears of the reader 
 for his bereavement and sorrow at the loss of this 
 honoured and holy matron." 
 
 It is impossible for anything to be more loving and 
 reverential, than the following touching letter, w^hich 
 was addressed to him by his wife's mother, about 
 seven weeks after their mutual bereavement : — 
 
 "March 28. 
 " Deae Son, 
 
 u I hope these may now find you safe and well 
 at London. My inquiries must ever pursue you, for 
 I cannot satisfy myself, nor may, without apparent 
 ingratitude, forbear continually to renew my thanks, 
 which become every day more and more due, for 
 your multiplied favours. The abundant kindness in 
 your last letter, as an addition to all the former, con- 
 
158 LIVES OF THE SEVExH BISHOPS. 
 
 stantly followed by real endeavours to oblige us all, 
 justly claims more acknowledgments than can pos- 
 sibly here be inserted. 
 
 "I were unworthy the name of a Christian, or, 
 indeed, of a human creature, if my concern were 
 other than what it is for your happiness. That I 
 have borne a great part with you in this affliction is 
 really true, and might that have been any ease to 
 vours I should with more cheerfulness have under- 
 gone it ; for my daily infirmities remind me it will 
 not be long before I may hope to meet this my dear 
 child, who is but gone before me, and then we need 
 never more fear parting; but that you may live 
 happily many years upon earth, not only I, but all 
 are concerned to pray. The God of Heaven bless 
 and prosper all your undertakings for His glory, and 
 the good of His church and kingdom. 
 
 " I was troubled to hear of your disappointment in 
 the dream of your resting-vault, but there is a Provi- 
 dence in everything, and by the ordering of this 
 affair you have not only approved the greatness of 
 your love to the deceased, but also given, I think, 
 an unparalleled example of the conquest over your- 
 self, in composing and delivering her funeral sermon, 
 the copy of which, if you please to intrust me with, it 
 is .most just I should observe your injunction, which 
 I here faithfully promise, and whilst 1 live shall never 
 part with it. 
 
 " I am mighty well satisfied to hear our dear little 
 girl continues in a healthful and thriving condition, 
 and beseech God Almighty to bless her and give you 
 much comfort of her * 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 159 
 
 "My sons at Oxford shall be ready to attend you 
 when or wherever you please to command them. I 
 am sure they can never be in better and more de- 
 sirable company. There shall be care had of your 
 horse to be ready against the time you speak of send- 
 ing ; but the men say it is not safe to take him from 
 grass into the stable till about ten days before his 
 journey, because they are fearful of his feet, though 
 now he runs they appear well. 
 
 " It is time now to put an end to this scrawl and 
 vour trouble, for which I beg your pardon, and shall 
 add no more, but that I am, 
 
 "Dear sir, 
 " Your most unfeignedly affectionate 
 " Mother and servant, 
 
 "D. HORTON.* 
 
 "I must not omit my dearest service to my 
 honoured good sister. My husband, and daughter 
 Davy, and all here, speak abundance of love and 
 service to you, of which they beg your acceptance. 
 
 " For the Reverend and Worthy Dr. 
 Tamer, at his house in Amen 
 Corner, at the end of Paternoster 
 Row, London, Tliese" 
 
 The fondly loved and early lost wife of Francis 
 Turner left one infant girl, named Margaret, on whoni 
 the desolate widower lavished the unbounded affec- 
 
 * Rawlinson MSS., Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
160 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 tion of his heart. Francis Turner never married 
 again. 
 
 He ceased not, however, to cultivate his poetic 
 talents. His ' Hymn before Sleep ' is worthy of 
 becoming better known than it is, for the sweet spirit 
 of devotion that pervades it. It is too long for inser- 
 tion, but the following verses may serve as a speci- 
 men : — 
 
 The Sleep Hymn. 
 
 " Our day's labour at an end. 
 
 Now 'tis time to take some ease, 
 Sleep, our nature's gentle friend, 
 Waits our weary limbs to seize. 
 
 *' Minds, in tempests all the day 
 
 Backed with cares, and overprest ; 
 Drenched in deep oblivion, they 
 All the nigbt lie charmed to rest. 
 
 " 'Tis the God of Nature's will 
 To bestow this sweet repose — 
 This soft medicine to distil — 
 Balm of human pains and woes. 
 ****** 
 
 " Tired with labours of the day, 
 
 Though our bodies sleep controls, 
 Hearts awake, to Christ shall pray, 
 Kest and centre of our souls." 
 
 • These words are more musical sung than recited. 
 Try them to the melody of the New Year's Hymn — 
 
 u Whilst with ceaseless course the sun." 
 
 As the son of the loyal Dean of Canterbury, 
 Francis Turner was well known to the king and 
 the Duke of York, and at the recommendation of 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 161 
 
 Sancroft he was appointed chaplain to his Koyal 
 Highness, for although the duke had unhappily 
 joined the communion of the Church of Koine, he 
 always kept a chaplain of the Church of England in 
 his household ; not only because it was an indispen- 
 sable matter of royal etiquette that he, the heir- 
 presumptive to the crown, should do so, but for 
 the sake of the Protestant portion of his establish- 
 ment, and the ladies of the Church of England 
 in the service of the duchess and the Princess 
 Anne. 
 
 Turner was in attendance during the duke's exile 
 in Scotland, and found himself treated not only with 
 liberality, but very great kindness and even confi- 
 dence ; moreover, his Koyal Highness promised of his 
 own accord to use his influence with the king his 
 brother, that Turner might have the appointment of 
 Dean of Windsor and Royal Almoner on the decease 
 of the present incumbent of those offices, who was 
 not either aged or ill at that time. " Yet," writes 
 Turner to Sancroft, "I perceive by his Highness, 
 who must be allowed the character of the best master, 
 that ho presses the business on farther to the secre- 
 tary than I wished during the Dean of Windsor's 
 good health, which I pray God to increase, and 
 beseech your grace to believe. As I do not set my 
 heart or thoughts upon this thing, so I would rather 
 go without it (though my name be up) than push for 
 it indecently. But having this occasion to touch upon 
 the affair, I will presume to acquaint your grace that 
 I now better understand what I may expect from my 
 lord Bishop of London than I did when I took my 
 
 M 
 
162 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 leave of your grace ; for I have received by my 
 brother (his lordship's chaplain) a very obliging 
 message, ■ that, though considering what Dr. ex- 
 pected from him, he could not think it proper for 
 him to be active for anybody else, yet he would be 
 perfectly indifferent, and would be very well satisfied 
 if your grace would fix it for me, and that he is very 
 sorry he could not appear for me actively.' 
 
 " I think fit to inform your grace of this, as it would 
 have troubled me if your grace and my lord of 
 London had but seemed to differ in a business where 
 I was concerned. 
 
 " My lord, for want of other company I have more 
 discourse with the duke than otherwise should come 
 to my share, and upon all occasions I find he places 
 his hopes altogether upon the episcopal party, and 
 mainly upon the bishops themselves, your grace 
 especially ; wishing and desiring that your grace will 
 take all opportunity of encouraging the king (that 
 was the duke's own word) to be steady in well 
 chosen resolutions, and laying before his Majesty how 
 fatal a thing it would be now to trace back aa'ain the 
 ground he has gained, and how mighty safe to stick 
 by his old friends and the laws. 
 
 " I send this by the black box, which cannot mis- 
 carry." What a wonderful box that must have been ! 
 "I have nothing," continues Turner, "to entertain 
 your grace withal from hence, unless it be this, that 
 our John a Leyden party grows not more numerous 
 to appearance, but more extravagantly wild in their 
 notions, and divided into many hopeful schisms among 
 themselves. On the other side our Common Prayer 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 163 
 
 Books do sell, the booksellers tell me, in great 
 numbers in Edinburgh." And this in spite of Mrs. 
 Anderson the kings printers widow's patent mono- 
 polising the printing and selling of all Bibles and 
 Prayer Books, and the shameful types and absurd 
 errors of the press which pervaded all those printed 
 in her office. 
 
 If the Duke of York did no other good in Scotland, 
 he at least put an end to this dreadful abuse of the 
 royal privilege, and threw open the Bible and Prayer 
 Book monopoly to the people of Scotland. No doubt 
 his learned and zealous episcopal chaplain, Dr. 
 Francis Turner, was an active instrument in this 
 admirable work. 
 
 The Duke of York instructed Turner to write to 
 Sancroft in behalf of Mr. Gordon, a missionary chap- 
 lain of the Church of England, who had been work- 
 ing very hard, in the then English colony of New 
 York, for the propagation of the Gospel. 
 
 "I give your grace this trouble," writes Turner, 
 from Edinburgh to Sancroft, August 19th, 1681, u by 
 the duke's command, in favour of this bearer, Mr. 
 Gordon, a clergyman born in this country, but one 
 who has served his Boyal Highness several years at 
 his plantation of New York, for which the duke, like 
 a gracious master, thinks he owes him some kindness ; 
 but besides this public service, he is now in hard 
 circumstances, for when he was very young he was so 
 ill advised as to give a bond to my Lord Privy Seal 
 that he would resign a small living, which his lord- 
 ship conferred upon him, if his resignation were 
 demanded. Now, upon my lord's entering into the 
 
164 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 faction against the duke, this bond is threatened to 
 be sued." 
 
 To what paltry exercises of spite did the party 
 against the brave royal admiral descend, that 
 even a hard-working missionary clergyman of the 
 English Church was marked out for ruin by that 
 mean-souled faction, because his services had been 
 acknowledged and appreciated by the duke, although 
 he was unhappily of a different communion. 
 
 Gordon was not, however, devoid of friends. " The 
 good Bishop of Winchester, in whose diocese the living 
 is," continues Turner, " encourages him, as he assures 
 me, to stand the trial whether such a bond be valid 
 or not, and some great men are forward enough to 
 stand by him. His Highness gives me order to 
 make it his request to your grace that you will 
 confer some employment upon him, or procure him 
 some from the king, for his support and mainte- 
 nance." 
 
 Lucky Mr. Gordon ! The unprovoked and most 
 unkind persecution of my Lord Privy Seal, seeking to 
 deprive him of his poor incumbency, was the means 
 of interesting the most illustrious patrons in his 
 behalf, who had both the power and the will to 
 endow him with ecclesiastical preferments of which 
 he had never before ventured to dream. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 165 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 After a pleasant sojourn in Scotland, Francis Turner, 
 on the Duke of York's recal to England, returned 
 with him to London, and took up his abode in his 
 prebendal house at Amen Corner. 
 
 He was appointed Dean of Windsor and Lord 
 Almoner to King Charles early in 1683, and on the 
 3rd of July the same year, he writes in the following 
 grateful strain to Sancroft, who had recommended 
 him to the king for the vacant see of Rochester. 
 
 " My heart is so full that I shall go down to the 
 Oxford entertainments with too great a load upon it, 
 unless, with your grace's permission, I may ease it to 
 you. My lord, let me state my case to you thus in 
 short. I have eaten your bread these eighteen years 
 at Therfield, for that living, in equity, was yours. 
 When you left a deanery and a living it w r as your 
 condescending goodness to make it mine. 
 
 " Though I owed my place in St. Paul's to the king 
 and the duke's favour, yet the kindness with which 
 your grace managed that business for me with my 
 lord of London, and your treating me ever since with 
 that high rate of obligingness, particularly in this 
 
166 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 affair of Windsor, has made me think thanks, rather 
 than be troublesome with so many express acknow- 
 ledgments. And on last Sunday morning your grace 
 did so perfectly surprise me with another heap of 
 favours, that I have scarcely yet recovered my amaze- 
 ment, so as to go along with my discourse on the 
 subject. I had rather go to my knees, and beseech 
 Almighty God to make me and keep me humble, and 
 able in some measure to serve the Church, and your 
 grace. 
 
 " I will say no more, but only repeat one passage in 
 a letter, which I did presume to write to your grace 
 upon your promotion, that if the good old Dean of 
 Canterbury, who is now in Heaven, were as your 
 grace is now, at Lambeth, I could not pay him truer 
 duty and service than I was resolved to pay your 
 grace ; wherein I did but fulfil the will of the dead, 
 for he directed me to do so, and to be ever advised 
 by you, as he commanded my two younger brothers 
 in his written will, leaving an estate between them, 
 that if any unhappy difference fell out between them, 
 they should not offer to go to law, but should be 
 determined by his most honoured friend Dr. Sancroft, 
 [then] Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 " My lord, I think fit to acquaint your grace that 
 two persons of note in the duke's family have, within 
 these two days, sifted me at such a rate as (though I 
 sent them away no wiser than they came), I am apt 
 to suspect that my master, in the overflowings of his 
 affections, may have given out some intimation of 
 this business, of which his Highness and your grace 
 discoursed in his closet. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 167 
 
 " 1 think that you may please to consider whether 
 my lord of Clarendon should not be told something 
 of it by your grace, rather than it should come to 
 his knowledge by some other way ; besides, he may 
 prepare his noble brother to be directed in it by your 
 grace. 
 
 "I shall only add, that if your grace persists in 
 your favourable opinion that I am capable of serving 
 you at Eochester, I shall be very well contented if 
 St. Paul's may be left for my winter quarters in case 
 my way to Westminster should be obstructed. But 
 to make room for the most worthy Dr. Beveridge, 
 and for my own sake too, I cannot but wish the 
 design of my succeeding at Westminster may not 
 fail." 
 
 A delay of two months occurred before the day 
 of Francis Turner's consecration to the bishopric of 
 Eochester was appointed. The appointment caused 
 general satisfaction ; but it was hailed with peculiar 
 joy by his venerable friend, Peter Gunning, Bishop 
 of Ely, who wrote to congratulate him on his acces- 
 sion to the hierarchy, in the following affectionate 
 terms : — 
 
 "Sept. 3, 1683.* 
 " My dear Lord and Brother, 
 
 " I have longed for this day now these many 
 weeks since, and hearing of it weekly from 31r. 
 Everard, and yet still the hope deferred was almost 
 the only personal sickness I have felt, so that you 
 may believe that my health and business will not 
 
 * Tanner MSS. 
 
168 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 only permit me, but be promoted by this slow journey 
 to you, to be a glad witness of your promotion. Your 
 election, my good lord elect, seems everywhere, to all 
 your friends and enemies, if there be any such, so 
 welcome, and such good tidings, that it is easily be- 
 lieved to have been (as the word of the canonists is) 
 " electu per spiritu sanctu" You are no less welcome, 
 I assure you, to the Church than to the Court. God 
 be blessed, that He hath put it into the heart of the 
 king and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 "My feeble hands, such as are the hands of a poor 
 man, full of infirmities, I have lift up unto God for 
 you, that He would bless, direct, and prosper you in 
 your procedure, and by all degrees of ecclesiastical 
 honour and spiritual, joy, till you come into that 
 everlasting. 
 
 " Surely, therefore, if God bless and keep me in my 
 journey, you shall most readily have not only pro- 
 tensur manur, but also the friendly embraces of my 
 arms. I hope to be in London on Thursday night, 
 the 13th of this instant, in order to the 1 6th. 
 
 "My humble and hearty service to your good 
 mother. I rejoice in her joy, and comfort now of 
 her old age. God bless your young daughter. One 
 St. Peter had no more that was read of after his 
 apostolate. 
 
 " I thank you for my venison, which we intend here 
 to spend on Sunday next, the day of our thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 " God be ever most gracious to you, my dear 
 brother, and bring us together to partake eternally 
 in the ioys of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and, in order 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 169 
 
 thereunto, make us, in our united stations, serviceable 
 unto His Church, with acceptable services to our great 
 master, in whom I rest. 
 
 " Your most faithful, affectionate servant, 
 " Friend, and brother, 
 
 " Peter Ely." 
 
 This most interesting letter of the aged prelate 
 concludes with a postscript, relating to the recent 
 destructive fire in Ely, which, though of more per- 
 sonal connection with the biography of its future 
 bishop, Francis Turner, is well worthy of record as a 
 contemporary document of that event, and indicative 
 of the pious feelings of his venerable friend and cor- 
 respondent, who communicates the following par- 
 ticulars : — 
 
 " By a high wind leaping from one street to another 
 at a quarter of a mile distant, our fire at Ely, so 
 dangerous in more places than one, yet through God's 
 great mercy, was seasonably stopped after some 
 fifteen houses, such as they were, were burned ; God 
 very graciously staying His rough wind, and turning 
 it towards the fields, outwardly, not upon the town or 
 churches, which otherwise had been in great danger. 
 
 "Indorsed. — To the Right Reverend 
 Dr. Francis Turner, Lord Elect 
 Bishop of Rochester. — These.' 3 
 
 The consecration of Francis Turner as Bishop of 
 Bochester duly took place, but, in consequence of 
 his office of Lord Almoner to the king, he was much 
 
170 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 oftener at Court than would otherwise have been the 
 case. He writes to Sancroft from Windsor, in July, 
 1684, about the Bishop of Lichfield, whom the primate 
 had suspended for misconduct, notwithstanding the 
 avowed patronage of the Duchess of Cleveland, whose 
 son, the Duke of Southampton, had married his niece. 
 The duchess therefore, as a mother, of course would 
 endeavour to misrepresent the matter to the king. 
 Sancroft had requested Turner to explain the real 
 state of the case to Charles. 
 
 "I thought it of importance enough to trouble your 
 grace," writes Turner, " with a short account how I per- 
 formed your commands in the Bishop of Lichfield's 
 affair. I discoursed it largely with the duke, and it 
 was his opinion that I should wait upon him to his 
 Majesty to tell the story. Accordingly, his Royal 
 Highness beckoned me in the drawing-room, and the 
 king, whose hand the Bishop of Bristol (Lake) and 
 I had lately kissed, demanded of me, pleasantly, 
 ' What news of the reverend father ? ' I did in few 
 words acquaint his Majesty with the case, and he 
 well approved what had been done, and spake of the 
 man with the utmost contempt. All this was aloud 
 and openly in the circle. 
 
 " Then followed a great deal of raillery upon the 
 sordidness and refractoriness of the unhappy man. 
 Your grace has nothing more to secure in this busi- 
 ness, except matters of form at the Commons, unless 
 the cause be removed into Westminster Hall, where 
 I am told the delinquent places all his hope of 
 success, which he is not likely to get at Whitehall or 
 London, 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 171 
 
 " The Lord Keeper assures me that he has spoken 
 to the king extremely home in this business, and his 
 Majesty declares he will do nothing to the prejudice 
 of the Church and its discipline." 
 
 Sancroft carried his point triumphantly in respect 
 to the suspension of the simoniacal bishop. 
 
 Turner, in his next letter to Sancroft, mentions a 
 personal request the Princess Anne had preferred in 
 behalf of her chaplain ; " the first she had made for 
 anything of the kind, and this entirely her own, and 
 by no means to be represented as a suit of the duke 
 her father." 
 
 On the death of his loved and venerated friend, 
 Peter Gunning, Francis Turner was translated to 
 Ely, where he was most affectionately received ; and 
 went to reside with his widowed mother and promising 
 child Margaret, who was the sole joy and comfort of 
 his widowed heart. 
 
 The death of Charles II. occurred soon after his 
 consecration to the see of Ely. Francis Turner was 
 appointed to preach the coronation sermon at the 
 inauguration of his old master and royal friend 
 James II. 
 
 Soon after his arrival at the episcopal palace of 
 Ely, a series of curious and deeply interesting letters 
 were addressed to him by a poor Quaker, who had 
 been incarcerated for more than five years in the 
 jail of that town. The name of this unfortunate 
 person who had been cruelly torn from his wife and 
 family, and prevented from exercising his harmless 
 trade for their maintenance, was Samuel Cater ; he 
 was apparently a man of good education, and of 
 
172 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 infinitely less formality than persons of his com- 
 munity generally were at that period, since he 
 scruples not to address the bishop by his title, and 
 speaks of the king and other dignitaries by theirs ; 
 which renders them documents of great interest, 
 especially as it is perfectly original matter never 
 before published. 
 
 This is the opening of Samuel Cater's first 
 letter : — 
 
 " For the Bishop of Ely. 
 
 " Friend, whereas it is come to pass that thou art 
 come to this great place to be bishop of this diocese 
 of Ely; whereby, as I understand, thou hast great 
 power in this country, either to keep in prison or to 
 set at liberty such as are cast in and committed upon 
 such cases as relate to matter of conscience or con- 
 scientious scruples relating to the worship of God. 
 However, of this I am satisfied, through long expe- 
 rience, that which way thou dost incline, either to 
 show favour and gentleness towards them that dissent 
 from your way of worship in this country, or desire 
 to have the laws severely put in execution, that way 
 I find them that are the more inferior officers under 
 thee will and do observe to carry themselves towards 
 us who are in their hands ; therefore I thought it 
 expedient to lay before thee my condition, w T ho am in 
 present sufferings at this time in this prison in Ely, 
 and for no other cause than conscience." 
 
 It is certain that Turner extended some kindness 
 to the poor prisoner, from the testimony of the follow- 
 ing letter which is here given : — 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 173 
 
 "Right Reverend Father in God! My most 
 Reverenced Lord of Ely ! Right Honourable and most 
 Honoured Lord High Almoner to the King ! I did 
 think that the proper duty of the season (betwixt my 
 last letter and this) was prayer to God, to assist you 
 with His Holy Spirit of grace and wisdom in the con- 
 cerns w T herein your lordship was engaged upon the 
 great change that the God unchangeable had made 
 (in the face of the earth under us and the sky above 
 us), yet with the least change of the estate of the 
 poor of England that probably could be expected 
 or hoped for. Blessed be the Lord our God who has 
 the hearts of kings at his command ; and blessed be 
 our sovereign lord the king for his contributing so 
 cheerfully to the same by a gracious wise compliance. 
 We did read in the prints how happily the solemnities 
 of the king and coronation did proceed ; and I read 
 in your printed sermon (conveyed unto me by my 
 Lord Hewett's servant this week) an excellent com- 
 posure of pious and religious eloquence and prudence. 
 In this you were concerned as sole and chief, though 
 in the former as a star in a constellation of 
 heavenly lights. 4 The reading of that makes me 
 afraid to send anything penned by myself to the 
 sight of your lordship, and to the censure of your 
 lordship's judgment. But yet T hope the maturity 
 of your lordship's wisdom will be ready both to 
 pardon the follies of youth and the dotages of a 
 decayed old age. And in a good degree of confident 
 assurance of this, I present unto your lordship my 
 humblest thanks for all your former favours bestowed 
 upon me innumerate, and my joyful congratulation 
 
. 
 
 174 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 at the happy dispatch of all your parts in both the 
 parts of the coronation solemnity — I mean what con- 
 cerned both the regal magnificence and the religious 
 prudence required to make it excellent. 
 
 * I know not what I need to insert but a tender of 
 most humble duty to your lordship's reverend mother 
 and her dear grandchild. I will pray for no cause 
 nor thing then but for my conscience towards God, 
 for through the help and assistance of His grace I 
 have so carried myself in my conversation amongst 
 my neighbours and countrymen, as that I can with a 
 good conscience say, what hath any man against me, 
 except it be for the law of my God and for my 
 obedience unto Jesus Christ, as I believe I ought to 
 obey him ; for which cause, about five years and four 
 months since, I was summoned by the bailiff to appear 
 at the quarter sessions ; and when I was there I was 
 asked whether I would take the oath of allegiance ; 
 but I being conscientious of an oath, told them that 
 for conscience' sake I dare not swear at all ; for Christ 
 Jesus, whom I desire to obey, commands us not to 
 swear at all, Matthew the 5th chapter, verse the 
 34th ; also, James the 5th chapter, verse the 12th ; 
 upon which the jailor w r as commanded to take me 
 away and to keep me close prisoner, which command 
 he observed with great severity. 
 
 " After which, through the instigation of some whom 
 it would have become better to have manifested a 
 more Christian spirit, he stirred up the bishop 
 against me, so that while I was kept a close pri- 
 soner upon the other commitment as before, the 
 writ {capias capiendo) was brought ^against me and 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 175 
 
 delivered into the jailor's hands; upon the which I 
 was kept about three years so close that I might 
 not go home to my family but twice all that time. 
 Once I had leave from the bishop to see my wife 
 when she was like to die, and another time upon 
 the like occasion by the leave of another ; but after 
 these three years' close confinement the late bishop 
 grew more gentle towards me, and either by his 
 order, or his permission, I had liberty to go home 
 some day every week to take care of my family, and 
 to go to my market to buy firkins of butter for the 
 cheesemongers in London, by whom I am employed 
 as a factor for several of them, as it is well known to 
 the country ; which liberty continued until near the 
 time of thy coming to town, and then Robert Maw r of 
 Littleport threatened the jailor, as he saith, that if he 
 did not keep me a close prisoner he would complain 
 to the see. I was then called in, and have been kept 
 ever since from going to my market, or to my har- 
 vest, or into country to take up moneys upon returns, 
 which is a great hindrance to me in my business, 
 and a wrong to them I am employed for. 
 
 " Now it is upon me to lay this my suffering con- 
 dition before thee, not knowing whether thou may est 
 know whether there be such a one now in bonds ; 
 or if thou hast heard of it, it may be from some 
 that may endeavour to render things at the worst, 
 which is not well for any so to do, let them pre- 
 tend what they will, for love worketh no ill to 
 his neighbour, but it is said, Romans the 13th 
 chapter and verse the 10th, 'love is the fulfilling 
 of the law.' And now, having laid this my suffer- 
 
176 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 ing condition before thee, I shall leave it to thy con- 
 sideration, hoping that a spirit of moderation and 
 tenderness towards them that are in suffering may 
 appear in thee, that I may receive some ease by thee 
 from the straitness of my bonds, which if I do, I shall 
 take it kindly at thy hands ; and I do believe thou 
 wilt never have cause to repent thee, for Christ saith 
 ' blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.' 
 u From him that truly desires the good of all men. 
 
 "Samuel Cater. 
 
 " Ely prison, the 5th day of the seventh month, 
 commonly called September, 1685.* 
 
 " For the Bishop, at his Palace in Fly. 
 These." 
 
 * Tanner MSS., Oxford. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 177 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 The unthankful office of attending the unfortunate 
 Duke of Monmouth on the scaffold, in conjunction 
 with Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Dr. Tenison, 
 and Dr. Gilbert Burnet, was assigned to Turner. 
 Both Turner and Ken have been severely censured 
 for urging the duke to express some signs of contri- 
 tion for the bloodshed and miserv of which his 
 rash enterprise had been the cause ; but he was 
 perfectly callous to the sufferings of his devoted 
 followers, and to everything but his own personal 
 troubles. Instead of expressing the slightest peni- 
 tence for his misconduct as a husband, he gloried in 
 his illicit attachment to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, 
 for whom he had forsaken his ill-treated wife, while 
 he lavished her wealth on his paramour. It was not, 
 therefore, surprising that ministers of the gospel 
 endeavoured to awaken the self-deluded man to a 
 sense of his guilt, in order to prevent him from enter- 
 ing into eternity without praying for pardon and 
 peace for the breach of God's commandments against 
 adultery and homicide, for whoever incites rebellion 
 is undoubtedly guilty of a breach of the sixth article 
 of the Decalogue. It is possible that Francis Turner, 
 
 N 
 
178 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 who was of an ardent, impetuous nature, might allow 
 his feelings to carry him too far ; but he was no 
 time-server, for he incurred the displeasure of his 
 royal master, King James, by a very strong sermon 
 against the errors of the Eomish Church, which he 
 preached on the 5th of November following. 
 
 Lady Eussell writes to her spiritual adviser, Dr. 
 Fitzwilliam : — "Lord Bedford expresses himself 
 hugely obliged to the Bishop of Ely, your friend, to 
 whom you justly give the title of good, if the cha- 
 racter he very generally bears justly belongs to 
 him." 
 
 Even Burnet, " that accuser of the brethren," as 
 he has been shrewdly styled by an ecclesiastical 
 writer of the period, speaks of this prelate in the 
 following terms : — " Turner, Bishop of Ely ; sincere 
 and good-natured, but of too quick imagination and 
 too defective judgment." This appears to have been 
 pretty near the truth. 
 
 The following quaint letter was addressed to 
 Turner soon after this by the Bev. Barnabas Oley : — 
 
 "Eight Eeverend Father in God, my most 
 Honoured and Worthy Lord, 
 
 "I know not whether it be the greater in- 
 civility, to forbear congratulating your coming to 
 settle at your London palace, where you will find 
 store of great employments to waste those spirits 
 which you have re-collected at your Bromley retire- 
 ment, or to crowd in this (vain parenthesis of a 
 letter of mine) amidst those throngs of businesses 
 and addresses which will so press upon your lordship 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 179 
 
 as to be troublesome, if they were not tokens of 
 authority to your lordship, and joy at your felicity. 
 But my lines shall be few only to tender my must 
 humble duties of bounden thanks to your good lord- 
 ship for all your signal favours bestowed upon my un- 
 worthy self, and to beg more ; namely, your episcopal 
 blessing when you read these rude lines, and your 
 daily remembrance of me in those prayers you make 
 for miserable sinners. I beseech your lordship to 
 present my most humble duties to your dear and 
 venerable mother. Give me leave to insert my due 
 respects to all your domestics that were servants to 
 my good lord your holy predecessor. There is a 
 disciple, Mrs. Clark, widow, a convert of my lord's, 
 at Whitehall, that has been sore exercised in afflic- 
 tions. I pray Mr. Ouldham or Mr. Binks to visit her. 
 I do it sometimes by letters ; but they be not power- 
 ful (a§> St. Paul's was), no more would my conference 
 be if I was personally present. The Papists will 
 not fail to assault her anew if they have the least 
 notice that she be not assisted. I do know my duty, 
 Lord make me fit to do it. I pray daily for your 
 lordship, your order, your dear mother, and your 
 little daughter, motherless, as to her immediate 
 mother, but well provided for in the doubled cares 
 of father and grandmother. 
 
 u To the Right Reverend Father 
 in God, Francis, Lord Bishop of 
 Fly, my much honoured lord, at 
 Ely House, in HoTbom, London. 
 Humbly present this" 
 
ISO LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 There are a great many more of Oley's quaint 
 letters to his loved and venerated bishop, Francis 
 Turner, among the Tanner Collection in the Bodleian 
 library, but rather elaborate and prosy, though va- 
 luable specimens of the style of old-world clerical 
 correspondence. The death of old Barnabas Oley, 
 which occurred the year after Francis Turner's conse- 
 cration to the bishopric of Ely, was deeply lamented 
 in his parish, where he was succeeded by the Reve- 
 rend Thomas Jessop, a parson of the Trulliber class. 
 It is impossible to refrain from smiling at the cata- 
 logue of his misdeeds and unclerical conduct which 
 Mr. Charles Cesar, a gentleman in the next parish, 
 placed before Bishop Turner, in reply to his inquiries 
 as to the manner in which the said unworthy succes- 
 sor of Barnabas Oley performed his parochial duty. 
 
 " Great G-ransden, May 31st, 1686. 
 " My Lokd, 
 
 "In obedience to your command, I have made 
 some inquiry how Mr. Thomas Jessop performs his 
 duty in his own parish. But it is a hard task to 
 give your lordship a particular account whether he 
 curtails and mangles the divine service in his own 
 church, or reads it as he ought to do. For, my lord, 
 there is not one in his parish but goes to plough and 
 cart, and those, too, so ignorant, being bred and 
 taught by his doctrine and example four-and-thirty 
 years, that there are few or none can read the psalms 
 alternatively, or make the responses as the Church 
 enjoins us. And good Mr. Oley hath taught us in 
 Great Gransden that it is our duty to keep our own 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 181 
 
 parish church, and for that reason I have not 
 employed any but those of his own parish to watch 
 him ; and this is all I can find by them. That before 
 Mr. Oley died he (Jessop) never wore the surplice but 
 upon communion days, and that was but twice a 
 year. Christmas and Easter days ; and now since my 
 complaint of him he doth wear it every Sunday, and 
 also upon Whitsunday he had a small communion. 
 And Saturday last. May 29th. his bells chimed in by 
 nine o'clock in the morning, because he was to go to 
 Potton Market, which he does every Saturday, and 
 hath always one chamber there, where the country 
 peuple borrow money of him from bl. to 100?., where 
 he gets money also by writing of bonds for himself 
 and others. And he keeps this custom in his parish. 
 For the dead — if their friends pay him ten shillings 
 he will preach a funeral sermon. If ten groats, the 
 corpse shall come into the middle alley of the church 
 while evening prayer, or only the psalms and lesson 
 appointed be read. But if they will not pay him 
 os. M., then he will only meet the corpse at the grave, 
 and make a quick dispatch for the common fee for 
 burial. But I cannot hear that he ever met the corpse 
 at the church gate, reading those places of scripture 
 as the Church commands, or ever wore the surplice 
 at burial of the dead before my last complaint to 
 your lordship. I am glad, my lord, that my com- 
 plaint has made him more mindful of his duty than 
 formerly, but I doubt it is more formidine jxence, 
 than virtutis amove. However your lordship deals 
 with him in his lifetime, it is very probable that your 
 lordship may present a more deserving clerk at his 
 
182 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 death, for he is sixty-four years old ; and upon this ac- 
 count I humbly presume to make a motion to your 
 lordship, which, if I could be so happy to obtain, in 
 getting a conditional promise from your good lord- 
 ship, that if Mr. Jessop should die when you are 
 Bishop of Ely, that your lordship would please to 
 present Mr. Willis Atkins, our deserving vicar of 
 Great Gransden, to be rector of Little Gransden, 
 which would cause him to leave his fellowship at 
 Clare Hall College, and live constantly amongst us ; 
 which would be a great obligation not only to me, 
 but to my neighbours in both parishes, and to Sir 
 John Hewett, your kinsman, for Sir John and Mr. 
 Atkins began their acquaintance at Clare Hall, both 
 of them eating their commons at table there. And 
 truly, my lord, it will be esteemed a civil respect to 
 the memory of our dear friend, the Eeverend Mr. 
 Oley, for I am sure it was his great desire that his 
 successor might reside constantly in our parish, and 
 if he could have had any assurance of this from 
 Clare Hall College, he had given fifty pounds yearly 
 augmentation to our vicarage for ever ; but now, my 
 lord, Gransden has lost the benefit of Mr. Oley's 
 good intention, and the college will not make any 
 augmentation to our vicar, though they have the 
 rectory and a lordship too in our parish. But if your 
 lordship will be so merciful and charitable to make 
 this conditional promise aforesaid, to our large parish 
 with a small vicarage of 30Z., it will revive our 
 drooping spirits, and make us all pray most heartily 
 for the prosperity and long life of your lordship ; and 
 then Mr. Oley's large vicarage house may be made 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 183 
 
 use of, and do more charitable good deeds, which 
 now is likely to stand empty and cost our vicar some 
 charge to repair it. 
 
 " Mr. Say well, the rector of Willingam, hath bor- 
 rowed Mr. Atkins' pulpit for next Sunday, and we do 
 all expect a funeral sermon for our late reverend 
 vicar. Mr. Atkins hath persuaded S. Wright, a 
 Bachelor of Arts, an ingenious man, to be our school- 
 master in Gransden, if Mr. Thursby will encourage 
 him with a yearly allowance, which is warranted by 
 Mr. Oley's last will ; and I am very confident it was 
 Mr. Oley's design, when he built the brick school- 
 house chiefly at his own charge. Good my lord per- 
 suade Mr. Thursby to do this great piece of charity 
 to poor Gransden. 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " My lord, 
 " Your lordship's most humble and faithful servant, 
 
 " Charles Cesar. 
 
 " These to the Right Honourable 
 Francis, Lord Bishop of Ely, at Ely 
 House, near St. Andrew s Church, 
 in Holborn, London — Present." 
 
 A still more amusing description of Parson Jessop's 
 manner of performing his duties is given by Mr. 
 Cesar a few months later ; an account difficult to read 
 without laughing, though doubtless it was a matter 
 of grievous vexation to all the parishioners of Little 
 Gransden, and their learned bishop, Dr. Francis 
 Turner. 
 
184 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Mr. Cesar appears to consider Parson Jessop's 
 conduct on the 5th of November peculiarly atrocious ; 
 though possibly his employing himself in leeching 
 his poor neighbour's inflamed eyes was a much more 
 charitable occupation than anathematising Christians 
 of a different creed for the abortive plot of a party of 
 fanatic lunatics in the reign of King James I. Be 
 this as it may, Cesar's commentaries are too racy to 
 be omitted. 
 
 " Great Grransden, Nov. 18, 1686. 
 "My Lokd, 
 
 Having had the honour and encouragement to 
 receive two kind letters from your lordship, I am 
 bold to trouble you with a third concerning my 
 near neighbour, Mr. Thomas Jessop, rector of Little 
 Gransclen, in Cambridgeshire, in your lordship's 
 diocese and jurisdiction. My lord, since the death 
 of our late reverend vicar, we are very sensible of 
 that great and inestimable loss of Mr. Barnabas Oley, 
 for now we have no settled vicar to live with us ; we 
 never have the happiness to see a clergyman but on 
 Sundays ; none to visit our sick and bury our dead ; 
 no public prayers on fasting days or holidays, which 
 makes us desirous to walk to Little Gransden church 
 for the benefit of public prayers ; and we should be 
 most heartily glad if we had a reverend, learned, 
 and orthodox clergyman there ; but our case is not 
 so happy. For upon Friday, the fifth of this No- 
 vember, I designed to go thither, and did order my 
 servants to give me notice when it began to chime at 
 that church ; but hearing nothing till my clock struck 
 eleven, I went immediately, and found all the doors 
 
TURNER, BISHOr OF ELY. 185 
 
 of that church and chancel shut. I went then to a 
 farmer's house near the churchyard, and inquired. 
 They told me that the second peal was rung about 
 nine o'clock, but no bells stirred since. Then I sent 
 to Mr. Jessop, to know if he intended a sermon, 
 homily, or prayers, appointed for the Gunpowder 
 Treason. His answer was, ' that he had been hindered 
 by a patient that wanted eye-sight,' and Mr. Jessop 
 was then setting of horse-leeches to the man's ears, 
 but he promised to hasten to church. And I do 
 verily believe that it was past noon before we began 
 morning prayer, and then he hurried it over, loud 
 and fast, more like a schoolboy than a grave divine, 
 without sermon or homily. Yet it wanted but six 
 minutes of one o'clock when I came home to dinner. 
 A festival turned into a fast-day. In the prayers for 
 the royal family, he named King Charles, but pre- 
 sently said King James ; and for tke Princess Anne 
 of Denmark, he said, Anne, the Princess of Den- 
 mark. My lord, I humbly beg your pardon for this 
 trouble from 
 
 " Your most faithful, humble servant, 
 
 " Char. Cesar. 
 
 " These to the Right Honourable 
 Francis, Lord Bishop of Ely, at 
 Ely Souse, in Holborn, London, 
 Present." 
 
 How the parishioners of Little Gransclen settled 
 matters with their droll vicar, no existing evidence 
 appears. 
 
 Turner was much troubled with two of his maternal 
 
186 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 uncles, sons of Mr. Secretary Windebanke, who ap- 
 pears to have had a very numerous progeny, two of 
 whom were unprovided, and in great poverty. 
 
 Christopher and Francis Windebanke were constant 
 beggars to their nephew, the Bishop of Ely. They 
 were residing in France, and appear to have become 
 Roman Catholics, but that did not prevent the bishop 
 from ministering to the necessities of his sick and 
 suffering kinsmen. Francis Windebanke says, in one 
 of his letters, " We are both full of acknowledgments 
 for your lordship's charity to us, This is the more 
 obliging, as it proceeds from your generous heart, 
 and without any solicitation on our side, and we can- 
 not but bless God with all our souls, who moves your 
 good nature to succour your poor distressed uncles, 
 whom all other assistance fails." 
 
 Francis Windebanke writes again in March, 1686, 
 acknowledging further charity from the bishop, and 
 complaining of the unkindness of their prosperous 
 brother, Dr. Windebanke, one of the court physicians, 
 in misrepresenting matters to him, lest he, too, should 
 have to render his aid. 
 
 " Your lordship's continual favours and charity to 
 my brother, as well as to myself, oblige me to per- 
 petual acknowledgments, and most humble thanks 
 for your last of the 15th of February, which has been 
 infinitely welcome, and the more, because it was less 
 expected, it being beyond expectation, that, so soon 
 after your great charity of ten pounds, by Mr. Hill, 
 you should please to augment the sum by this last 
 supply. There is none but your generous heart, so 
 
TURNEK, BISHOP OF ELY. 187 
 
 full of piety and goodness, that could invent so many 
 ways to exercise your liberality towards your poor 
 old uncle, who owes you the preservation of his life, 
 bv the subsistence you please to furnish him. I dare 
 promise that he employs every moment of it in beg- 
 ging of Almighty God to reward as bountifully so 
 many good works, and in this duty be certain I shall 
 ever join with him. I have given him your lord- 
 ship's letters, that he may consult his friends about 
 the performance of the good advice you give, to make 
 his design succeed, and I shall give you an account 
 of that by the post, which may, perhaps, come sooner 
 to your hands than this, that I intend to send by Mr. 
 Hill ; and henceforward I shall make use of Sir 
 William Trumbull's packet to send to your lordship, 
 and beseech you to convey yours to me by the same 
 way, for he is extraordinary civil to my brother, and 
 has sent me a compliment, that he will come to see 
 me, with his lady ; and I doubt not, he will be careful 
 to send me your letters. The gentleman to whom 
 you addressed this last packet, made me pay 36 sols 
 for it, and I believe the other way will be cost free. 
 
 "I am glad your lordship has inquired into my 
 Spanish (?) sister's debts, and that you have discovered 
 by her son that they are not so formidable as my 
 brother, the doctor, did heretofore report to you ; 
 which, I confess I never believed, but saw, as plainly 
 as I do now, that it was a mere fiction of his to 
 hinder my poor brother Christopher's return, for fear 
 of being burthened with him there ; w T hich appears 
 visibly by what your lordship writes, that her son 
 assures that whatsoever debts she has, they are to 
 
188 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 such persons as will never require them of her hus- 
 band ; but I never showed the doctor's letter to my 
 brother here, for fear of increasing his affliction." 
 
 This letter, from Francis Windebanke, is quickly 
 succeeded by the following from Christopher. 
 
 "Paris, May 14, 1687. 
 * My Lord, 
 
 " A month at the least, after the date of your 
 lordship's letter of the 7th of March, it was given me 
 by a very honest gentleman, Mr. Cresset, governor 
 to the Lord Hinchingbrook, with the enclosed succour, 
 bearing date the 26th February ; for both which I 
 must always acknowledge myself extremely obliged 
 to your lordship. It is a charity towards a poor rela- 
 tion, unfortunate and undone, not otherwise by his 
 own means, than by his offence against Almighty 
 God. Indeed, I did want that assistance very much, 
 as it came very seasonably, and I render your lord- 
 ship my most hearty thanks for it, and the more 
 because I receive none from anybody but yourself. 
 My Lady Hales is in good health, and accompanies 
 her true affections, with my sister's and mine, to your 
 lordship, my most dear sister, and all the rest of 
 our relations. Mademoiselle de Coursillon hath left 
 the convent long since, but not her correspondence 
 with nor her kindness to my sister, who she writes 
 very often to, and sends her, for me, a bottle of wine 
 sometimes, or some such little testimony of her kind- 
 ness, though I never had the honour to see her ; but 
 whenever she desired it. I have been very dilisrent 
 
TURNER. BISHOP OF ELY. 180 
 
 in going on her errands to Mr. Temple and others. 
 I deferred giving your lordship this trouble till the 
 arrival of Mr. Hill, in hopes, as your lordship men- 
 tioned in yours, he would have brought a letter from 
 your lordship for my sister, that our answers might 
 have returned together. We condole the loss of my 
 Lady Eochester, whose sickness we find hindered 
 your lordship from giving my sister that satisfaction, 
 which to her, is the greatest imaginable. We are 
 both very much joyed that my most dear sister, your 
 lordship's mother, is so vigorous and in so perfect 
 health. That God Almighty will be pleased to con- 
 tinue it to her, to your lordship, and the pretty lady, 
 your lordship's daughter, with all the rest of our 
 relations and friends, is the daily prayer of, 
 
 " My most dear lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's most affectionate 
 
 " Humble servant, 
 
 " Chris. Windebanke." 
 
 There was no end of these family begging letters. 
 Neither Colonel Windebanke, nor the court physician, 
 Dr. Windebanke, would be troubled with them, or do 
 anything to assist their unprosperous brothers and 
 sisters, so the dead weight of those insatiable beggars 
 fell entirely on the bishop. Even after his depri- 
 vation, his uncles Christopher and Francis Win- 
 debanke continued to importune him with their 
 begging letters, and to acknowledge his charitable 
 benefactions in reply. 
 
 His widowed mother and motherless daughter con- 
 
190 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 tinued to reside with Francis Turner at the palace 
 at Ely as long as it continued to be his home. 
 
 The following interesting particulars of both are 
 thus communicated to the bishop, during his absence 
 in London, by a female relation who was staying at 
 the palace at Ely with Mrs. Turner. It must be 
 remembered that " Poor Miss/' as she calls Margaret 
 Turner, could not have been older than nine years 
 at the time when worthy Mrs. Grigg appears so ap- 
 prehensive that her good manners should be marred 
 by her three boisterous cousins. 
 
 "My Loed,* 
 
 " Had not Mr. Archdeacon and Mr. Koj)er been 
 exact in giving your lordship an account of all that 
 could have justified my taking the liberty to write, I 
 should not have permitted myself to have been silent ; 
 though I confess it would have pained me to dis- 
 turb your lordship's peace with the ill news of Mrs. 
 Turner's indisposition, whose heart bears up bravely 
 under what creates fears in all about her, who must 
 needs be sensible how great a loss it will be when 
 God re-demands her. The hopes she has of seeing 
 your lordship next Monday revives her, and indeed 
 all at Ely House. Poor Miss has a great cold, but 
 it no ways disturbs her play. I tell her she has dis- 
 carded all discipline but what comes from Martin ; 
 and that she had spent her time better in educating 
 her dear lord's ducks, than she has done these two 
 months under the government of her three cousins, 
 
 * Kawlinson MSS., letter 98. 
 
TURNER, BISnOP OF ELY. 191 
 
 who are pretty children, but most unsuitable com- 
 panions for a brisk virgin whose wit and growth 
 make it higli time to guard her from ill impres- 
 sions. Her tender-hearted grandmother is so sensible 
 of the injury her late diversions have done her, that 
 I dare say she will choose to have her darling at 
 Eichmond next year if the same sparks return to 
 Holborn, where I own I have done penance, finding 
 it impossible to signify anything to a child I sincerely 
 wish as well to as to my own soul, and for her sake 
 long to be gone." 
 
 In her postscript, Mrs, Grrigg observes : — 
 " The Papists loudly proclaim my lord of Ely a 
 seditious preacher. God Almighty protect his lord- 
 ship and all that are like him." 
 
 During his prosperity Turner exercised unbounded 
 charity in almsgiving, and rendered liberal and 
 effective service to the French refugees. He estab- 
 lished a church and ministry for them at Thorney 
 Abbey, enabling them to exercise their own worship 
 without conforming to the liturgy of the Church of 
 England. Not withstanding this great liberality, the 
 report was circulated that he intended to force con- 
 formity to the Church of England upon them. " No," 
 replied the bishop, "I never mean to thrust our 
 prayers upon them, or our orders on their ministers, 
 against their wills." 
 
 He had visited their settlement at Thorney Abbey, 
 and conferred with Monsieur Le Pla, their leading 
 man in that district, about the appointment of a 
 learned minister from among themselves, who would 
 
192 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 not oppose the Church of England, especially as 
 many of them had, since their arrival in England, 
 received ordination at their own solicitation, from the 
 Bishop of London and himself. 
 
 " M. Le Pla," writes Turner to a clergyman in his 
 diocese, near Thorney Abbey, " assured me I should 
 be very well satisfied in the person, which surprised 
 me the more to hear of one fixed there almost a 
 "year before I had the least account of him, and at 
 last to see him in a grey coat." 
 
 On the whole, Turner, notwithstanding his mild- 
 ness and apostolic conciliation, found this foreign im- 
 portation of Lutheran and Calvinistic sectarians a 
 queer and somewhat troublesome charge in his dio- 
 cese, especially as stormy times for the Church were 
 at hand. After mentioning the sensible behaviour of 
 the French ministers recently ordained by himself, 
 Turner says, a They have voluntarily proceeded to 
 officiate to congregations where the Common Prayer 
 Book had never been so much as heard of; but he 
 will not importune, nor so much as invite the French 
 minister, to whom he had just been introduced at 
 Thorney Abbey, to follow their worthy example. 
 They," continues he, "understand our Church and 
 themselves. Since this gentleman is unwilling, I 
 shall not be forward to press him, nor easy to admit 
 him to orders, since he is so indifferent. But, as 
 they never consulted me before they settled him, so I 
 hope they will give themselves and me no further 
 trouble in the matter. They have a man in whom 
 they are satisfied, and, whether I am or not, they 
 reck not, and, I suppose, will not much concern 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 193 
 
 themselves, as long as I am no way uneasy to them, 
 which, if I could, yet I would not be." 
 
 Though Francis Turner ow r ed nearly all his pre- 
 ferments to the generous friendship of his royal 
 master, King James, when Duke of York, to whom 
 he was personally attached, he steadily opposed the 
 unconstitutional proceedings of that monarch after 
 the suppression of Monmouth's rebellion. Neverthe- 
 less, James, presuming on their former intimacy, 
 made some attempts to tamper with him after he 
 and the other six bishops were released from the 
 Tower, before then- trial. 
 
 Turner was, however, firm and uncompromising, 
 and no less earnest in his resistance than Sancroft 
 and the others ; yet, when the king was driven from 
 the realm, he deeply regretted that matters had been 
 pushed so far. He testified the greatest concern 
 for his calamities, and was deeply moved on reading 
 the letter the fugitive monarch left on the table at 
 Rochester, stating the reasons which impelled him to 
 leave England. 
 
 From that moment Francis Turner laboured to 
 effect a counter-revolution. There was great diver- 
 sity of feeling among the hierarchy on that point. 
 Turner thus expresses himself in a confidential letter 
 to Sancroft, January 11, 1689 : — 
 
 " We came home from Lambeth four bishops in 
 my coach, and we could not but deplore our case 
 that we should disagree in anything, and such a thing 
 as the world must needs observe. But their observing 
 this, and insulting thereupon, makes it necessary for 
 us in our own vindication to find out something on 
 
 o 
 
194 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 which we can agree." He goes on to tell the arch- 
 bishop that there is to be a meeting that afternoon 
 at Ely House of the most considerable clergymen, to 
 deliberate what was to be done at that crisis, and to 
 listen to Dr. Burnet's arguments on the forfeiture. 
 "I enclose to your grace/' he says in conclusion, 
 " another paper which ought to be kept very private, 
 but may be published one day, to show that we have 
 not been wanting faithfully to serve a hard master 
 in his extremity." He proved the sincerity of his 
 professions at the expense of his fortunes, by refusing 
 to transfer his allegiance to William. 
 
 On the arrival of the Princess of Orange, Turner 
 told her uncle, the Earl of Clarendon, " that he and 
 some others of the bishops who disapproved the change 
 intended to go out of town, that they might be found 
 at theiQptations." 
 
 Dr. E&yd, Bishop of St. Asaph, visited him before 
 he left Hatton Garden, to learn all he could, and do 
 his best to influence him to the cause of the new 
 king and queen. Dr. Erancis Turner replied, " that 
 he would never take an oath to any monarch during 
 the life of James II." When St. Asaph urged the 
 question of what he would do if King James were 
 dead? "It is possible," replied Francis Turner, "I 
 might take the oath to his successor." Evidently I 
 meaning to his son. 
 
 " On the last day of 1689 the Bishop of Ely was 
 with me," says Henry Lord Clarendon, "and told 
 me that a few days since the Bishops of London and 
 St. Asaph had been with my lord of Canterbury, 
 pressing to know what he and the rest could do 
 
195 
 
 to prevent "himself and the others being deprived. 
 Could they make no steps towards the government?" 
 To which Ely and Norwich replied, " We can do 
 nothing. If the king thinks fit, for his own sake " 
 (here he evidently meant King James), " that we 
 should not be deprived, he must make it his business 
 to devise expedients. We cannot vary from what we 
 have done." 
 
 In the meantime the juring bishops frequently 
 met their nonjuring brethren at Lord Clarendon's 
 hospitable board, and discussed the state of public 
 affairs. Dr. Tenison owned one day that there had 
 been irregularities in the settlement of the govern- 
 ment ; that it were to be wished it had been other- 
 wise, but we were now to make the best of it for fear 
 of worse. The Bishop of St. Asaph said " it was 
 known while things were in debate he had voted 
 against abdication and for a regency, but now things 
 being as they are, and the Prince of Orange crowned 
 king, he looked upon acquisition to be just right." 
 Upon which Clarendon interposed with great heat, 
 saying, " If you preach such doctrine it must not be 
 to me." Words getting high the Bishop of Ely in- 
 terposed, and made them change the subject. 
 I In order to preserve his aged mother and his 
 ^beloved child from the excitement and clanger to 
 which a continued residence at his episcopal palace 
 at Ely might possibly expose them, Turner removed 
 these helpless but precious objects of his tender 
 affection from that beloved abode to a less distin- 
 guished residence till the revolutionary crisis should 
 be over. 
 
196 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Margaret, then just turned of eleven, was permitted 
 to accept an invitation from friends of her father, 
 Dr. and Mrs. Blomer, to stay with them at Bexley, 
 in Kent. The following pretty, unaffected letter, 
 addressed by her to her grandmother, will doubtless 
 be read with pleasure. 
 
 April 15th, 1689. 
 " Most dear Grandmother, 
 
 " I hope you will pardon my not writing sooner. 
 It is a duty I confess should have been paid long 
 since, but my being unable to express myself so well 
 as I wish, makes me slow in writing letters ; but I 
 beg you, dear grandmother, to believe that I will 
 endeavour so to improve my understanding, that you 
 may with more pleasure receive the acknowledgments 
 I am sure are due to you from me. I hope this fine 
 sunshine will last, that so we may reasonably hope 
 to see you and my dear father speedily. 
 
 " I beg both your blessings and your prayers that I 
 may not fail to live as becomes a Christian, and 
 
 " Your most obedient granddaughter, 
 
 " Margaret Turner. 
 
 " Dr. Blomer and Mrs. Blomer present you their 
 service; they are very kind to me, and I cannot 
 forbear saying that Bexley is a sweet quiet place. 
 
 " Indorsed. — For Miss Turners most 
 dear Grandmother — These." 
 
 Turner was heard occasionally to express passionate 
 regret that he and his six episcopal coadjutors had 
 carried their resistance to King James so far, and 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 197 
 
 had not entered into recognisances for each other, 
 instead of provoking that misguided prince to send 
 them to the Tower. 
 
 Notwithstanding his uneasiness at the state of eccle- 
 siastical affairs and his personal insecurity at this un- 
 settled period, we find Turner continued to add to his 
 already large library ; for a literary friend, J. Moord, 
 whom he had commissioned to purchase books for him 
 at an auction, gives the following account of the suc- 
 cessful manner in which he had executed a commis- 
 sion for him. 
 
 u The other day I was at the auction-house, where I 
 found ' Lilius ' and ' Gyraldus,' and bought for you, 
 the first at 30s. and the other at 13s. 6d., both very 
 reasonable rates, and the ' Lilius ' fairly bound and gilt 
 on the back, in two volumes, the other fair, but not so 
 well bound, and have given order that they shall be 
 sent to Oxford on Thursdav next." * 
 
 Then follows a very interesting notice of the deaA 
 of Viscount Dundee, with particulars not generally 
 known. " Dundee, as we have the story, died bravely. 
 He charged through Mackay's troops, and through 
 them back again, in which last charge he received a 
 mortal wound by a bullet in his thigh ; this he 
 concealed, and commanded the next officer to pursue 
 the victory, while he went a little aside ; but as soon 
 as he was out of sight he lay down, in a cloak hehad 
 commanded his man to spread, and died in less than 
 half a quarter of an hour, charging him to conceal his 
 death till the day was over and the victory complete." 
 
 * Letter from J. Moord to Turner, Aug. 13, 1689, Rawlinson 
 MSS., Bodleian Library. 
 
198 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 The new sovereigns had observed with uneasiness the 
 absence of the Bishop of Ely from their coronation, 
 and the unconcealed attitude of loyalty he had 
 assumed towards King James. William departed 
 for Ireland, and Mary caused the oath of allegiance 
 to her consort and herself to be tendered to Turner 
 and the other nonjuring bishops, on the 1st of 
 August. It was unhesitatingly rejected by Turner, 
 and his suspension from his episcopate followed as a 
 iftatter of course. 
 
 Then the bishops of London and St. Asaph were 
 commissioned to tell him and the other nonjuring 
 bishops, that if they would only remain quiescent, 
 their Majesties, King William and Queen Mary, 
 would not proceed to extremities with them, but, 
 refraining from appointing successors to supersede 
 them in their sees, would leave them in quiet pos- 
 session of their revenue, and dignities ; but they 
 took no notice of this conciliatory intimation. 
 Sentence of deprivation followed in consequence, on 
 the 1st of February, 1690. Turner boldly protested 
 against the validity of this sentence in the market- 
 place of Ely, and courageously continued to preach 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 190 
 
 in his robes every Sunday, in the chapel of Ely House, 
 llatton Garden. His ministry was attended by 
 thronging crowds, among whom the queen's uncle, 
 the Earl of Clarendon, always appeared in a con- 
 spicuous place. 
 
 In the absence of King William, Queen Mary 
 thought it more prudent, instead of taking active 
 measures, to send Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, to tell 
 Turner privately, "that their Majesties having been 
 informed of the great resort of people to his chapel, 
 were highly displeased, and he advised him therefore, 
 as a friend, to shut it up for the time to come." 
 
 The deprived bishop did not submit till a second 
 intimation of the peril he was incurring by his con- 
 tumacity. 
 
 " On Tuesday, February 11th," notes the Earl of 
 Clarendon in his diary, "the Bishop of Ely dined 
 with me. He told me that 'the Bishop of St. As^ph 
 had been with him again, and told him plainly he 
 must let no more company come to his chapel ;' so 
 that I perceive all people are to have liberty of con- 
 science, but those of the true Church of England." 
 
 The queen next assumed a threatening attitude, 
 and although he was her uncle, proceeded to arrest 
 the Earl of Clarendon, the ostensible friend and 
 comforter of the nonjuring bishops, committed him 
 to a prison-lodging in the Tower, and ordered his 
 door to be padlocked. 
 
 Francis Turner fearlessly came to visit his in- 
 carcerated friend on the 18th of July, but was only 
 permitted to see him in the presence of a warder. 
 He came again on the 21st and 25th, but was told 
 
200 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 that the queen had expressly forbidden his access to 
 the noble prisoner, and he was never again admitted. 
 Instead of becoming more cautious in his demeanour 
 after this warning, Turner's impulsive proceedings 
 often caused uneasiness to the more prudent among 
 his deprived brethren, in evidence of which is the 
 following passage in a letter from Frampton, Bishop 
 of Gloucester, to Thomas Turner. 
 
 " To your good brother, if you can send it without 
 peril to yourself, my hearty and kind respects, as he 
 sent to me from my lord of Norwich. I was offended 
 with his letter into France in all our names as well 
 as his own, because I thought it was most rash and 
 unjustifiable; but I have digested it long ago, and 
 now am as perfectly his as he can be mine." 
 
 By the loss of the bishopric of Ely, Turner was 
 delivered from the harassing turmoil of a weary law- 
 suit that had been going on ever since the days of 
 Queen Elizabeth, between the Hatton family and the 
 bishops of Ely, for the valuable demesne of Hatton 
 Garden and Hatton House. Cox, Bishop of Ely, 
 having been compelled, in the twentieth year of that 
 sovereign, to grant a lease to her then favourite, Sir 
 Christopher Hatton, of the spacious London palace of 
 the diocese of Ely, with the garden, which was four 
 hundred feet long and almost as many broad, and 
 fourteen acres of pasture at the end thereof, at almost 
 a nominal rent for the term of twenty-one years. 
 Not content with this, Sir Christopher told the queen 
 that he had laid out 19,905?. in repairing the house, 
 and he feared he should lose the money unless the 
 bishop or his successors were compelled to pay or bind 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 201 
 
 themselves to pay that sum. Whereupon the queen 
 wrote to Cox, " that he should make the premises 
 over to her until he or his successors had paid the 
 money claimed by the tenant, and whatever he should 
 please lay out on the estate." 
 
 Besistance was long made to this illegal claim and 
 tyrannical behest. At last it was conceded; but 
 Hatton being indebted to the crown in the sum of 
 40,000Z. at the time of his death, for his deficits as 
 receiver of the rents of Fee Farm, the queen seized 
 the episcopal mansion and estate in Holborn belong- 
 ing to the diocese of Ely, and sold it for 7000Z. to 
 Lady Elizabeth Hatton, the niece of her great minis- 
 ter, Burleigh. 
 
 The succeeding bishops of Ely vainly endeavoured 
 to obtain restitution of this valuable estate. At last 
 it was decided that the Hatton family should pay 
 somewhat by way of compensation. Turner's suc- 
 cessor, Bishop Patrick, agreed to submit to the award 
 of Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, Halifax, and 
 others, including Lord Nottingham himself, the father- 
 in-law of the then Lady Hatton, namely, for her to 
 keep the disputed episcopal property, on paying a 
 hundred a year and giving the site for a new church 
 — terms which had been refused by Turner with con- 
 dign contempt. 
 
 A formidable plot against the government and life 
 of the Dutch king was discovered next, in which the 
 complicity of the deprived Bishop of Ely was asserted 
 on the credit of two letters which were found among 
 Lord Preston's papers, when he and Mr. Ashton were 
 arrested, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Bedding, sup- 
 
202 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 posed to be intended for the deposed sovereign, king 
 Jaines, and his queen. 
 
 The crown lawyers strove to prove that not only 
 Turner, but all the nonjuring bishops were impli- 
 cated in the design of restoring the deposed sovereign 
 and his family, from the following expressions in the 
 letters, attributed to the deprived prelate : — 
 
 " I speak in the plural, because I write my elder 
 brother's sentiments as well as my own and the rest 
 of the family ; though lessened in number, yet if we 
 are not mightily out in our accounts, we are growing 
 in our interest that is in Jesus." 
 
 In the other letter much the same is repeated. 
 That these letters were written by Turner there was 
 not the slightest proof ; but they furnished a pretext 
 for issuing a proclamation for his apprehension, 
 together with that of William Penn. Both were so 
 fortunate as to escape. Burnet observes " that the 
 discovery of this correspondence gave the king a 
 great advantage in filling the vacant sees." This is 
 speaking plainly enough. 
 
 The plot was discovered in December. The trials 
 of Lord Preston, Mr. Ashton, and Sir John Friend 
 came on, and they were all condemned to die. Pres- 
 ton purchased his life by betraying his associates; 
 the others perished on the scaffold. The brave Earl 
 of Dartmouth died in the Tower. Clarendon, against 
 whom, as the queen's uncle, it was not considered 
 decent to push the charge of high treason to the 
 death, was released. 
 
 When adverting to the dangerous predicament in 
 which his friend, the Bishop of Ely, stood at the time 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 203 
 
 the proclamation was issued, Sancroft observes " that 
 it would be wonderful, considering my lord of El) 7 's 
 very remarkable appearance, if he escaped." Francis 
 Turner was singularly handsome, of a commanding 
 height, withi a finely formed Roman nose, lofty and 
 expansive forehead, expressive dark eyebrows and 
 eyes, black hair, and a clear complexion. Notwith- 
 standing these personal peculiarities, the deprived 
 bishop obtained a safe retreat from the peril with 
 which he was threatened. 
 
 He expresses his solicitude for his aged mother 
 and beloved daughter, at this anxious time, in a most 
 interesting letter to his brother, Thomas Turner, the 
 President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, dated 
 January 18th, 1690-1 :— 
 
 " Do your utmost to keep up my mother's spirits, 
 which I hope will never droop, and then I com- 
 fort myself in some confidence of seeing her again. 
 For my part, I am vigorously in health, and sanguine 
 in my expectations of better times. Commend 
 me, with abundance of love, to my dearest daughter, 
 and tell her that I assure myself God will bless 
 her the better for her father's calamity, if we both 
 do but bear it as Christianly as we ought. 
 
 " God Almighty be most gracious to you all. If 
 you once hear that I am forced to fly, pray write to 
 Tom Newcome about the sale to you, and direct him 
 to advise very privately with your useful friend and 
 mine, Mr. Gilbert, to make a deed valid in law." 
 
 The brother of the deprived bishop was then in 
 treaty for the purchase of the reversion of the es- 
 tate in which their widowed mother was jointured, 
 
204 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 that being the property of Francis Turner after her 
 death. 
 
 The next day the following letter was addressed by 
 the fugitive bishop to his uncle, Colonel Windebanke, 
 a person high in the favour of the reigning sove- 
 reigns, and deep in their confidence : — 
 
 " Monday Night, Jan. 19th, 1690. 
 
 " Most deae Uncle, 
 
 " The last thing I do in this world, or at least 
 in this part of the world, is to take my leave of you 
 by this hasty letter. It is not possible for me to see 
 you, and if it were, it would not be convenient for 
 either of us. But I have ordered the matter so as 
 this shall not be delivered nor sent you for three or 
 four days, and if by that time you hear of no great 
 inconvenience befallen me, you may conclude me 
 arrived at a place of safety, or at least gotten far 
 enough out of harm's way. 
 
 "I give you this trouble (which I hope can never 
 bring you the least danger) because you are the 
 fittest, and indeed, the only friend I can rely upon 
 to administer comfort to your good aged sister, 
 my mother, which I entreat you to do by letter 
 to my dear brother, the president ; for while I lie 
 under such prejudices as I do, it will be some 
 consolation to persons so much concerned for me 
 that I am far enough off, and mighty secure 
 under God's holy protection. I desire my friends 
 will believe that I am not fled for any fear I had 
 of a speedy, fair, open trial, but of a close, expen- 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 205 
 
 sive, odious imprisonment, which would almost cer- 
 tainly have overthrown my crazy, weak constitution 
 (which nobody knows better than you do). I dreaded 
 not any sentence of condemnation, which, from the 
 justice of the government, I had no reason to appre- 
 hend. 
 
 " When you go to Whitehall prayers (as you used 
 to do), commend me with my best respects to my 
 good lord Bishop of St. Asaph. I assure myself he 
 is still my friend, because I am certain I am his as 
 much as ever, and that I was always very truly and 
 kindly. I need not entreat his good offices and his 
 prayers ; I know I have both, as he never wanted 
 mine when he needed them. 
 
 "Tell him for anybody now to pursue me with 
 greater hardships, as marks of infamy, forfeitures, 
 &c, would be next to carrying enmity into the other 
 world ; for I am not likely to be farther engaged 
 with this, unless it should please God to restore me 
 in more settled times. His will be done by me and 
 upon me. 
 
 " When I am where I would be (if it be God's 
 good pleasure to preserve me), I will give you a 
 better account, and I hope to do it speedily, for the 
 way I go is open enough at this time, and I am' 
 under good conduct. I must entreat it, and expect 
 it from your favour and friendship, that you will not 
 suffer this letter of mine to go out of your hands 
 (unless you send it to Oxford, which is best of all), 
 nor let any copy be taken of it ; for though I care not 
 who knows I am now out of reach (so that of that 
 you need make no mystery nor secret), yet I am 
 
206 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 advised, for many reasons, to leave the rest to conjec- 
 ture, and give no aim against myself. And so, most 
 dear sir, a long farewell to you. God Almighty be 
 your exceeding great reward for all the tenderness 
 you have always had for me. May it please Him to 
 support and strengthen you too, who have felt your 
 share of afflictions, and to bless all yours, and may 
 He, who is the Father of the Fatherless, be gracious 
 to all mine, and more than supply to them the want 
 of me. Once more adieu. 
 
 a Most dear sir, 
 " I am your most affectionate nephew, and 
 " Much obliged humble servant, 
 " Fran. Ex-Elien. 
 
 " Impart this (I pray) to Tom Newcome (who 
 knows nothing of me), that he, as my steward, may 
 pay what I owe, which is little." 
 
 His next letter to his uncle is peculiarly interest- 
 ing, and is only dated one week later than the pre- 
 ceding. He says : — 
 
 « Most dear Sir, 
 
 " I pray beat down any report may be raised 
 of my being gone into France (which is false). 
 
 "I will take it for granted that a letter which I 
 left for you, of January 19th, was received ; in that I 
 promised a further account of myself when I was 
 there where I would be. And I take the first oppor- 
 tunity to tell you I am now past the pikes, and in 
 no danger neither of falling into any of the dikes • 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 207 
 
 a word is enough to the wise. I avoid writing 
 more plainly, lest this should fall into any disin- 
 genuous hands ; for could any legal proof be made of 
 my being out of the kingdom, some laws, which else 
 may sleep long enough, may be waked and let loose 
 upon me. I make no matter of it that it should be 
 known to all that I am marched off, but that none 
 should be able to convict me of it. For this, and 
 many other reasons (as because kings have long 
 hands), I neither yet tell the way I am gone nor the 
 place whither I am going ; only this much. For the 
 little time that I was abroad heretofore, the air of a 
 German toivn agreed with me far better than that of 
 France. Where I shall fix or settle is somewhat 
 uncertain ; but if it please God to give me my own 
 choice, it will be where I may hope to live cheapest 
 and most incognito ; to have least to do with the 
 world, and most freedom of access to a library, or at 
 least to a few books, but those the best. Hitherto 
 the companion of my flight has been Homer's 
 Odysses ; where the story of Ulysses being known at 
 his return, not to his son, but his old dog, set me 
 a-smilino- and a-thinkins" whether mv daughter or her 
 donne would be the likelier to know me, as I am 
 transformed. All my trouble is that I must not yet 
 expect to hear from any of ray friends, because I 
 cannot assign any place where their letters might way- 
 lay me. I heartily pray for their healths and yours, 
 and let me beg of you, sir, now to lay out your 
 thoughts solicitously for the preservation of your 
 good sister's life, that I may see her face with joy 
 once more in this world (if it be God's heavenly will). 
 
208 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " When you meet my good lord of St. Asaph, be 
 pleased to give him my hearty respects and services. 
 Impart as much of this letter to him as you think 
 proper ; all of it, without any reserve, if you find him 
 as I left him, my kind friend. (On second thoughts 
 pray do not show it as anything of my writing.) And 
 then do me the favour to transmit (nor let any but 
 our friends at Oxford read it) this, for the satisfaction 
 of my friends at Oxford, to Corpus Christi. But not 
 by the post. Tom Neweome can send it safe, and 
 pray let him have this enclosed. I think not fit at 
 present to write to any of my other relations. These 
 few lines may assure them and you, sir, to ease all 
 your solicitude, that through the tender mercy of God 
 I enjoy a constant vigorous health of body, and a 
 quiet contented mind, and shall do so by the grace 
 of God as long as He of His goodness, whatever He 
 lays upon me, enables me to bear it. I neither want, 
 nor am like to want anything, but the company of 
 my best friends, and yet I am not even now unac- 
 companied, and I have the world before me, as Mr. 
 Milton says our first parents had when they were 
 driven from Paradise. 
 
 "Bemember me, pray, with all kindness to all that 
 were ever mine, and to all yours. I am yours most 
 affectionately." 
 
 Turner's next letter is to his faithful man of busi- 
 ness, whom he always addresses as Honest Tom. 
 
 " Honest Tom, 
 
 " I trust in God you received mine of 
 January 26, the only letter I have writ to you. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 209 
 
 was to assure you that I was got into a secure har- 
 bour, though to go a great deal further." 
 
 The fugitive prelate proceeds to communicate the 
 following interesting particulars of himself. 
 
 "I am in my winter quarters, though not there 
 whither I told you in my last I designed ; for the 
 weather proving very hard, with a kind of second 
 winter, and finding a very good reception from an 
 honest family of my own country and my own re- 
 ligion, I resolved to lie still some weeks (or months 
 perhaps) to expect the spring and better days, and 
 to refresh myself; I do not say to recover myself, 
 for my finger has never ached, much less my heart, 
 since I saw you. I live in hopes of seeing you all 
 again, but that as God pleases. 
 
 " You'll not wonder if I do not name the place 
 from whence I write this, for fear of a miscarriage 
 by sending the bearer, for I pass here by another 
 name, and it would be mischievous, perhaps, if my 
 quality were known in the place where I am, and I 
 might be pursued hither with ill offices, at least from 
 my own countrymen ; where, as I am now', I'm much 
 at ease, and can live cheap, for I keep no servant, 
 and at present need none, those of the family being 
 very ready to do all the little services for me." 
 
 He makes the following sensible reflection on the 
 propriety of his beloved daughter conforming her 
 habits and personal expenses to the present change 
 in her fortunes : — 
 
 " By the way, since I am my own valet de chambre, 
 I leave it to my good mother whether it will be 
 decent for my daughter to have a servant to wait 
 
 p 
 
210 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 upon her when her father has none ; especially when 
 there are enow in the family to dress her, and more 
 especially since herself, without an attendant, will 
 be charge enough to her grandmother and uncle till 
 I am in condition to reckon with them. But my 
 great consideration," he impressively adds, " is for 
 the good of my child, who ought to learn how to 
 want as how to abound." - 
 
 The deprived bishop, does not disdain to take into 
 consideration the welfare of the faithful attendant 
 whom he thinks it proper, from economical motives, 
 to dismiss from his daughter's service. " I hope," 
 he says, "Mrs. Cliff may be easily recommended to 
 some other service. I'm only sorry she did not dis- 
 pose of herself heretofore, as I was abler to have 
 done better by her. All I can do for her now is (if 
 she goes, and sure 'tis necessary she should) to assign 
 her five pounds by you, and to promise her (if it ever 
 please God to restore me) to give her more." 
 
 He enters at large on the necessity of disposing of 
 his landed property, to preserve it from forfeiture, 
 and promises, " when the sums at which it is valued 
 shall have been realized, he will tell him where the 
 sum of 500/. in old gold has been deposited in the 
 hands of a friend, with whom he left it for security on 
 his hasty flight, taking only a few guineas with him 
 for present use." 
 
 " These sums put together," he says, " will amount 
 at least to 2000?., which, by the advice of Mr. Gilbert, 
 I desire to place abroad at five per cent, at least, for 
 I would be loth, for my poor dear child's sake, to go 
 deeper than needs be into the main stock." 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY, 211 
 
 " As for the goods at Ely, and Ely House," con- 
 tinues he, "it were best they were all, except the 
 lumber, removed and sold outright, saving the 
 wrought bed and plate, and whatever my mother 
 desires to have saved. Speed, and all possible 
 privacy, are necessary in their removal, and I urge 
 their sale, not only for fear of a seizure, but lest the 
 next episcopal usurper should press upon the goods 
 and household stuff for dilapidations. I shall not be 
 so civil to account with such a successor on such a 
 score, and yet I will be just to the bishopric." 
 
 He naturally desires his friend to ascertain whether 
 there have been any steps taken towards forfeiture or 
 outlawry in his case. "They talked," observes he, 
 "of a proclamation coming out for me. If there be 
 any such thing, we shall find it in the foreign 
 'Gazette,' where they box me about bravely, and I 
 as securelv lau^h at them." 
 
 He next refers to matters of peculiar interest to 
 him as an author and a scholar. 
 
 "My heart," continues he, "though it be not 
 heavy, would be much lighter if I knew all my books 
 and papers were well disposed of and secured by that 
 worthy friend of mine own I desired to undertake it. 
 I would be glad too, and very glad, to* be sure my 
 divinity notes and paper-books (I do not mean as yet 
 to have those boxes sent me which are of Cranmer's 
 transcribing, but those in my own hand) which are 
 in one of the great library boxes, to which you have 
 a key, were sent superscribed to the linen merchant. 
 When they be there he will take his time, and that 
 way they'll come the safest, though, perhaps, not the 
 
212 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 soonest. My linen friend knows where I would have 
 the boxes of linen and paper-books to meet me in due 
 time. But as for letters and money, let those come 
 a shorter cut." 
 
 A somewhat mystified direction, through what 
 channel his correspondent was to send to him, fol- 
 lows, and then he shrewdly adds, " As for yourself, 
 'tis best you should know no more, lest you be ques- 
 tioned." In conclusion, he expresses solicitude for 
 " the poor condemned lord," meaning Preston, being 
 unconscious of the base means to which that un- 
 happy man had resorted for the preservation of his 
 life. 
 
 Bishop Turner remained not long in his hiding- 
 place, but stole over to Banstead Downs, where his 
 next letter to his brother is dated. 
 
 Ban*, July 22nd, 1690. 
 "Most deak Sir, 
 
 " Yours of the 17th, a pregnant letter, came to 
 me late yesternight. I shall transmit Dr. W.'s to 
 his countryman, together with these from you. I 
 had our own printed papers from London, and send 
 you a parcel of them, though I take it for granted 
 . you have seen them already ; they may serve to make 
 this a packet. What effects they will have, or have 
 had, I can hardly tell at this distance. I am informed 
 tnat some persons are rather incensed by this means, 
 because (by God's mercy) disappointed ; but that 
 the generality were appeased before our vindication 
 appeared. They said, with some sense of humanity, 
 * The " stead " is erased in the MS. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 213 
 
 'that devilish charge must needs be a damnable 
 forgery/ though all moral industry was used to make 
 the rabble credit it, among whom it was distributed 
 gratis, being first abbreviated into half a sheet, and 
 tickets dispersed to set the time and place for Mr. 
 Multitude to meet and perform the execution. 
 Blessed be God who hath delivered, and doth deliver, 
 in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, 
 
 " I had special leave, at the request of my brethren, 
 to step for a day or two to Lambeth, to consult and 
 concur with them in this exigency. They made them- 
 selves cheerful with me in the midst of this dreadful 
 calamity, to see how fat and fresh a man may look that 
 has Banstead Downs for his prison, whither I returned 
 next day, and never once crossed the water to Ely 
 House. I can be nowhere better or easier than I am 
 here, praised be God, who supports me in the day of 
 my distress, so as nothing does greatly disturb me. 
 
 " I heartily wish I could give you as comfortable 
 an account of my friend and brother of Bath and 
 Wells as I can of myself. I sent yesterday to see 
 him, but can hear of no amendment. The doctors 
 bleed him often ; my lord's grace apprehends they do 
 it too frequently. He would fain get hither again, if 
 he could recover but any tolerable health: may it 
 please God, in whose tender mercy he trusts, not to 
 add sorrow to our sorrow. 
 
 " I shall not fail your kind expectations of hearing 
 weekly from me ; but be mighty careful what any of 
 you write to me ; let nothing reflecting or complaining 
 come, though never so securely, for all the snares 
 of death compass me. A word is enough to the wise. 
 
214 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " Now I suppose the time of your journey to the 
 place of your residence is at hand ; upon which I have 
 something to say to you, which I have long thought 
 on, and it is this. I understand your resolution to 
 protest against the new election (which sure is not 
 far off) ; but I do earnestly dissuade you from doing 
 any such thing. It will do me no good, and you 
 the greatest mischief. It will be thought but the 
 partial affection of a brother, and be a little for your 
 credit, but not at all for my honour or the good of 
 the Church, that not one clergyman in my diocese, 
 besides my own nearest relation, should make such 
 a stand. Most of them lately very kindly, without 
 my knowledge, petitioned for my restoring ; but I 
 have reason to expect the same men would present 
 an Address of Abhorrence, if I myself should protest 
 my right in opposition to a conge $ elire. I shall 
 take another course in due time, by the help of God, 
 and a more effectual. Meanwhile, if I have any 
 authority, either as your bishop or your brother, I 
 must employ it with you to prevent your undoing 
 yourself to no great purpose. God forbid you should 
 concur, or any way countenance such proceedings. 
 Be absent at your choice, and as stiff in the knees 
 afterwards as you please. 
 
 " All this advice comes not only from me, and has 
 been well considered. Pray show Mrs. Grigg all this, 
 because it answers a passage in her last to me, that 
 you were resolved to jail with me. For the rest of her 
 very friendly Christian letter, the next I send shall be 
 one of thanks to her. Meantime, give her my hearty 
 respects, and to my good mother much duty and 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. ^15 
 
 services. My blessing on the poor child, now a per- 
 fect orphan, but that you are a father to her. I am, 
 
 " Most dear brother, 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 "Brother in Christ. * 
 
 " I hear great offence is taken at our subscribing 
 episcopally to our paper." 
 
 Turner's next letter is to his man of business, from 
 which we learn that he and William Penn were, for 
 a while, companions at hide and seek. 
 
 " Honest Tom, 
 
 " My last to you, dated the 8th of this month, 
 gave you some hint that I was a little indisposed, 
 but it was only for want of blood-letting in the 
 Spring ; and now I have done it, I thank God I have 
 recovered perfect good temper, and live in hopes of 
 letters from you, full charged, from Oxford. My great 
 solicitude is still for Mr. Price's master, though yours 
 to me speaks comfortably ; pray carry him or send him 
 my sincerest best wishes and services, and whenever 
 you intend me a letter, first see Mr. Price, and in- 
 form yourself how matters stand. As for my friend, 
 his fellow-sufferer, it grieves me to hear how he loses 
 himself, dreaming to drink away sorrow. There are 
 two other gentlemen, with whom I was joined for a 
 third (to my great honour, so I count their re- 
 proaches). The two I mean are William Penn and 
 James Graham. If you can learn what is become of 
 
 * Signature erased in MS. 
 
216 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 them, and whether or no, the former, especially, 
 has offered any bail, or be still under hatches, I 
 should the better know what to expect myself, though 
 I look for nothing but hardships ; the best is, I am 
 out of their clutches. 
 
 " I do not now write to my brother, for I know 
 not where he is ; I suppose keeping his residence ; 
 nor do I write again to Oxford, because I assure 
 myself their answers are coming towards me. If 
 my brother be in the Fens, then when you have 
 read this send it to Oxford, safe to my mother, with 
 all my duty to her, and all kindness to all that are 
 hers and mine there. My brother being at my house, 
 may take order about removing the best goods and 
 selling the lumber. I am never like to use them, 
 and believe that the danger of seizing is not over. 
 
 " I daily expect to hear of a successor, and then too 
 late you may feel a seizure ; an order, at least, to stir 
 nothing, and then all is lost. The pretence of dilapi- 
 dations sweeps all like a Christmas-box. Whatever 
 comes of that or any other oppression, I am resolved, 
 by the help of God, to be very patient, and never give 
 way to melancholy. I study not only to be contented, 
 but cheerful, in a very low way of living. If I were in 
 a condition to keep a servant where I am, I would 
 have none but honest William ; and I have kept him 
 hitherto in some hopes of my return to my station, 
 but of that there is no prospect (though I have no 
 despair of it in God's own time) ; but, in the mean 
 time, he is out of business. Pray commend me to 
 him, and allow him as you do, till he gets some good 
 service or employment. Assure him, if I am ever so 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 217 
 
 happy as to recover myself into tolerable condition, 
 then, if it be to his advantage, I will not only take 
 him again, but give him some place in recompense 
 of his faithful services. 
 
 " On second thoughts, you were best sell my chariot, 
 else it will be spoilt, unless my good friends at Oxford 
 have any use of it. If it will do them any service 
 let them have it ; if not, get the most you can for it. 
 I should be glad to be sure they had made even with 
 you at Hanslop, and you must ply them at Sandhurst. 
 I trust you receive the small interest from Mr. Griffin. 
 
 " Farewell, and pray for 
 
 u Yours, &c. 
 "April 20, 1691. 
 
 " My respects to all that remember me with any 
 favour. Assure them that I (by God's mercy) was 
 never in better health or in better heart." 
 
 There can be no doubt that after Francis Turner's 
 return to England he carried on a secret correspond- 
 ence with the Court of St. Germains, and was deep in 
 Sir John Fenwick's plot. While that bold Northum- 
 brian baronet stood at bay, nearly hunted to the death, 
 the government blood-hounds were keen on the scent 
 of one Grascomb, a nonjuring clergyman, who had 
 hitherto defied all their efforts in tracking his where- 
 abouts. Although the most active of all the pam- 
 phleteers who stirred up the fire of insurrection in 
 those times, Grascomb walked invisible through all 
 plots. At last he was ascertained to be in the house 
 of a French silk-weaver, in Spitalfields. The king's 
 
218 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 messengers surrounded the house with an armed force 
 then went in and captured a gentleman, who gave 
 his name as Harris. He was, however, identified by 
 several persons there as the deprived Bishop of Ely, 
 Dr. Francis Turner. When he was questioned and 
 asked to give an account of himself, the bishop said, 
 very coolly, " that he had no other account to give, 
 but that he came there to dine, for he did not live 
 there, his lodgings were at Lincoln's Inn." 
 
 When he found that the government officials 
 meant to detain him, he wrote to Secretary Vernon 
 (who details this odd adventure in his letter to the 
 Duke of Shrewsbury) and demanded his freedom, 
 alleging "that he held a pass to go to France if 
 he chose, but he had made no attempt to avail 
 himself of it." Secretary Vernon and the other 
 state minister, Windebanke (to whom the bishop like- 
 wise appealed), referred him to Sir William Trumbull. 
 The oddity of the case was, that the Bishop of Ely 
 knew as well as they did that the prime minister, 
 Shrewsbury, w r as himself deep in plot, and was only 
 watching the signs of the times to declare for King 
 James II. The result was that Sir William Trum- 
 bull set the dauntless clerical Jacobite at liberty. 
 
 He retired to his lodgings in Lincoln's Inn, where 
 he rested perdu, varying the monotony of seclusion 
 by occasional visits to Moorpark, that fair oasis in 
 the Southern Highlands of England, cultivated and 
 improved by Sir William Temple. All the doings 
 therein were completely isolated from the rest of the 
 island, excepting the near town of Farnham, by the 
 deep sands of the wild Surrey heaths. Here Francis 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 219 
 
 Turner was received with great affection by that 
 mysterious statesman, Sir William Temple. We can 
 trace the Christian prelate's influence for good on the 
 mind of Temple's protege, Jonathan Swift. His 
 noble ode to Truth, written in memory of Saneroft, 
 is endorsed as composed at the request of Dr. Turner, 
 Bishop of Ely. 
 
 Turner's next abode was with his aged mother, 
 near Bedford Row r , as we learn from a quaint letter to 
 his brother, in which it appears that he was again re- 
 united to his dearly -loved daughter. His care about 
 the household goods Honest Tom had removed from 
 the palace at Ely is amusing. 
 
 " Most deak Sir, 
 
 "I salute you from my little new habitation, 
 where I have lodged these two nights, but it will be 
 two or three weeks ere we get into any settled condi- 
 tion. I think you were best superscribe to James, at 
 Mrs. Turners house, two doors beyond the sign of the 
 1 wo Brewers in Bedford Bounds, by Bedford Bow. 
 This is prolix, but I cannot shorten it. I thank you 
 for your last, and your promise to send up such of the 
 goods as we need, viz., the least of the feather-beds, 
 the best of the sarcenet quilts, the tiuo stained quilts, 
 the grey curtains, all the blankets. As for the other 
 feather-bed and the hangings, pray give them house- 
 room and use them. 
 
 " Jane cannot come at her note, nor hardly tell 
 where it is mislaid. Yet she remembers several 
 pairs of sheets for servants (four pairs she supposes), 
 and these will be necessary. Your niece, as well as 
 
220 LIYES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 her father, is much concerned not to find her 
 mother's pictures in miniature (except the crucifix) 
 among all our things that are brought from Cam- 
 bridge. Do me the kindness to inquire of the little 
 gentlewoman (to whom I shall write my acknowledg- 
 ments), and entreat her to recollect and help my 
 aged memory, or rather your niece's forgetfulness, 
 what is become of them, and where any of them 
 were bestowed when taken down from hanging in 
 your chamber at the old perch. Mr. Phipps wad 
 very punctual in the payment of the five guineas, for 
 which God reward you. Mr. Mason accepts your 
 charity with all his blushing modesty, yet with equal 
 gratitude. Your goddaughter presents her duty and 
 services. We are of opinion, since the weather is 
 open, the lumber may come time enough by water, 
 but redouble your kindness by hastening these mat- 
 ters up to us. If I have anything worth imparting 
 it shall come toward you another way. 
 
 "So, adieu." 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 221 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The venerable mother of Turner departed this life 
 August, 1692, after a long illness. This event is 
 mentioned to his brother Thomas in a quaint but 
 affectionate letter from Cambridge, by an intimate 
 friend, who only signs with a monogram. He says, 
 " I heard last week from Mr Newcome the sad news 
 of Madame Turner's death, which had been more sad, 
 but at such a great age and so long a sickness it 
 was not surprising. It is lamented by every one to 
 whom I tell it here. Sure Heaven must be a strong 
 place, and earth a very happy one, if half the world 
 did but understand, and do their business as well as 
 she did hers in all those several states of life unto 
 which God was pleased to call her." 
 
 The decease of his beloved and revered friend, the 
 deprived Archbishop of Canterbury, is thus mentioned 
 by Turner in a letter to his brother. 
 
 " The death of that blessed man, the good Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, I bewail with all my heart ; not for his 
 sake, for he was full of years and ripe for Heaven 
 (having left an admirable example to all the world), 
 but for our own, who have need of such examples 
 for the continuance of them among us had God been 
 pleased. But blessed be His holy name in all things, 
 
222 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 who can supply our hard loss when He pleaseth, 
 though we have no probability of it." * 
 
 Turner amused himself in his hours of adversity 
 by translating ' Prudentius ' from the Latin. He had 
 originally recommended this task to Matthew Prior, 
 when a student at St. John's College. The deprived 
 bishop's beautiful paraphrase from the Latin, on the 
 proneness of man to sin, was justly admired by his 
 contemporaries, and though too long for insertion 
 as a whole in this brief biography, it is impossible to 
 refrain from the quotation of a few lines as a spe- 
 cimen. After illustrating his subject with the me- 
 taphors of the course of a polished ivory ball rolling 
 down a steep slippery descent, the progress of a 
 flaming brand among straw, the career of an un- 
 bridled colt, and the rush of a swollen stream that 
 has broken its bank, he thus sums up : — 
 
 " Foolish man, these emblems suit 
 You, or your frail flesh at least ; 
 You, that live so like a brute, 
 
 The rolling ball, the ranging beast, 
 The untamed colt, the flaming straw, 
 The foaming flood, that knows no law, 
 " Describe the risks you run in sin, 
 Your body does your soul betray, 
 You've a great work to do within, 
 
 Strike into the narrow way ! 
 ' Stop your vain course/ true wisdom cries, 
 1 Or endless death will be your prize.' 
 " Thou that with healing in tby wings, 
 
 Blest Sun of Kighteousness ! didst rise ; 
 All sovereign balms thy advent brings, 
 
 Enough to cure the world of vice ; 
 Souls once baptized and clear from stain, 
 Let not the foul fiend soil' again." 
 
 * Rawlinson MSS. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 223 
 
 The time and thoughts of the deprived bishop were 
 unfortunately too much taken up with political sub- 
 jects. His vigorous and fearless pen was the terror 
 of the king, queen, bishops, peers, and senators of the 
 Kevolution. He gives a very lively and graphic 
 account, in a letter to his brother, of the formidable 
 riots in London that took place in the spring after 
 Queen Mary's death, in consequence of the perse- 
 verance of the Dutch king in pressing seamen for 
 his navy, and the abhorrence of the Londoners to 
 
 that tyrannical imposition. 
 
 * 
 
 "April, 11th, 1695. 
 
 " These two last nights," records Turner, " we have 
 had terrible uproars, and an innumerable city mob 
 pulling the pressed men out of the marshals' houses, 
 and gutting two of their houses, and then burning 
 them. It is reported they found several dead bodies 
 there interred, in gardens or cellars, and divers of 
 their prisoners in a dying condition for hunger, 
 whom they released. This, true or false, exasperates 
 strangely. Yesternight they burned the prison in 
 Finsbury Fields, and set all free there. To-night 
 they threaten to do as much at the Savoy. 
 
 " All night we heard beating of drums, and all the 
 trainbands were up, but no restraint to the torrent. 
 My lord of Oxford's troops came down upon them, 
 but a vast rabble got behind these and pelted them off 
 their horses with showers of stones, till all the troops 
 rode away as if every one had cried, ' the devil take 
 the hindmost.' 
 
 " A justice of peace, venturing among them in his 
 
224 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 coach, was drubbed and dragged. All the constables, 
 with their watch, guarding those places, quitted their 
 posts to the fury of the multitude. 
 
 " They go about the streets exclaiming, ' the 
 nation has been abused,' and ask ' why the Dutch 
 troops do not come down? but they wisely kept in 
 their quarters. They demand a general indemnity 
 upon the queen's death. It is believed they have fur- 
 nished themselves with as many cases of pistols and 
 swords as they could buy up on the sudden. What 
 will be done in the end of this ? This is ill-timed, 
 and may produce great disturbances, it being just 
 upon the king's going off for Flanders." * 
 
 The deprived bishop removed himself and his 
 daughter, in the year 1699, into a small house in 
 the country. All his furniture from the episcopal 
 palace at Ely had remained ever since his expul- 
 sion under the care of his brother, the Principal of 
 Corpus Christi, at Oxford. He playfully reproves his 
 brother for having paid for a black bed which 
 was missing. "Had I understood it," he says, "I 
 should have refused your money for such a frippery. 
 There is nothing in your custody we shall need in a 
 wainscoted little house, where you shall always find 
 . a lodging. For your inquiry after the mystery of 
 the peace (of Eyswick), if there be any in it, and if 
 secret articles be imagined touching our old master. 
 King James, — on my conscience there are none, nor 
 himself, nor any of his race or party in the least con- 
 sidered." 
 
 * Kawlinson MSS., Bodleian, Oxford. 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 225 
 
 On another occasion the bishop says, in reference 
 to the peace of Ryswick, " I have lately seen a very 
 sensible letter from one of the family at St. Germains. 
 It relates how much they are mortified that their 
 master and mistress bear it decently and sedately ; 
 that the king, upon too loud complaints of his ser- 
 vants against the peacemaker, was fain to declare 
 openly, that whoever railed (that was the word) 
 against the French king should neither continue in 
 his favour, nor at St. Germains ; that the little prince, 
 when he read in the ' Gazette ' how the most Christian 
 king owned King William, beat his brows and tore 
 the ' Gazette ' in pieces ; that the generality of the 
 French nation were amazed and ashamed of the 
 peace, insomuch that their king too, publicly, as he 
 was at dinner, perceived that his subjects were dis- 
 pleased with the peace." 
 
 Turner was very anxious about his daughter's 
 health in the year 1698. She was very ill with 
 small-pox, but the skill of his uncle, Dr. Windebanke, 
 restored her. The bishop removed her for change of 
 air to Bagshot, and as she was forbidden, on account 
 of her eyes, to read or write, he watched over her, 
 acted as her secretary, and read to her. 
 
 The following letter, undated, to his brother, ap- 
 pears to have been written at the crisis of her malady 
 by the anxious father : — 
 
 "Most dear Sir,* 
 
 "If I could forget the promise I made this 
 
 morning, that I would not fail you by this night's 
 
 * Tattered letters and papers of Bishop Turner among the 
 Rawlinson MSS. 
 
 Q 
 
226 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 post, you have a little remembrancer who forgets 
 her pains to put me in mind of it, so extreme kindly 
 does she take your godfatherly care of her. I bless 
 God our comforts increase by seeing this day well 
 over ; and now she feels her sorrow grow upon her, 
 as was to be expected, yet her patience does not 
 lessen. She presents a great deal of duty, and thanks 
 for your company too. In these acknowledgments I 
 very heartily join, and hope this will find you safe 
 at Oxford, whither I pray God I may send you no 
 worse account by Saturday night's post. Meantime 
 and ever, I am yours. 
 
 " About nine on Thursday night" 
 
 The deprived bishop was spared the anguish of 
 weeping over the loss of his last and dearest earthly 
 treasure. Margaret slowly recovered, but it was to 
 experience the pang of learning the un worthiness of 
 her affianced lover, the eldest son of the bishop's 
 maternal uncle, Colonel Windebanke, to whom, with 
 the consent of all their friends, she had been for 
 some time engaged. 
 
 The father and daughter were living at Leighton- 
 stone, when a confidential letter from Colonel Winde- 
 banke to the bishop, deploring the misconduct of his 
 son, and expressing the bitterest indignation at the 
 reckless course the unprincipled profligate was pur- 
 suing, interrupted the peaceful tenor of their lives. 
 
 Deeply shocked at the communication of the un- 
 worthiness of his nephew, and the probable perils 
 to which his Margaret might have been exposed by 
 matrimonial union to one so unmeet to be her hus- 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 227 
 
 band, the bishop tenderly broke the matter to her, 
 and explained the painful circumstances that ren- 
 dered it expedient to put an end to the engagement. 
 
 Poignantly as poor Margaret felt the pang of 
 severing the tie, she meekly and unhesitatingly 
 acquiesced in her father's decision, and even assumed 
 an appearance of cheerfulness to conceal her pain. 
 
 "She bears this disappointment with all the even 
 temper of her mother," observes the bishop, in re- 
 lating this domestic sorrow to his faithful brother. 
 
 Colonel Windebanke was so greatly incensed at the 
 misconduct of his son, that he threatened to disin- 
 herit him, from which the bishop kindly dissuaded 
 him, and interceded for his forgiveness, though 
 firmly determined to separate him from Margaret. 
 "He is coming ere long to London," writes the 
 bishop, " but I have forbidden his visits, and his own 
 father allows that I have just reason for it. Poor 
 young man ! his ruin is, I doubt, inevitable, but I'll 
 take care somebody else shall not be ruined with 
 him." The bishop hints that "he understands his 
 worthless nephew has some very bad connections in 
 France ; and that his friends feared he had entangled 
 himself with some other woman in a promise of 
 marriage. w T hich he was now desirous of recalling. 
 You may be sure," continues the bishop, " it is more 
 than a promise, for a thousand such engagements 
 or oaths signify nothing in his mouth." 
 
 Turner gives his daughter great credit for the 
 virtuous and discreet manner in which she had 
 conducted herself during her engagement to her 
 unworthy cousin, and fervently adds, " God send her 
 
228 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 good deliverance. I am sure I shall account it a 
 very good one to get rid of this lewd young man 
 and all his pretences." 
 
 Colonel Windebanke and. his lady were unremit- 
 ting in their efforts to induce the bishop and his 
 daughter to overlook the misconduct of the young 
 man, and renew their engagement. The bishop 
 steadily refused to accept his libertine nephew for a 
 son-in-law and Margaret to become his wife. 
 
 Margaret Turner had just attained her twenty-first 
 year when this trial occurred. The tender sympathy 
 of her father did much to console her. She was 
 gifted with a very sweet voice, and possessed great 
 taste and skill in music, w T hich is thus noticed by a 
 friend, who had been staying with them, in a letter 
 to Dr. Thomas Turner : — 
 
 " To your young, fair, hopeful niece, the Lady 
 Philomela, which name I bestowed upon her for the 
 many innocent songs and anthems with which she 
 pleased me, you must give my most hearty respects, 
 with my blessing in God on her." 
 
 After the termination of her engagement with her 
 cousin, the bishop, in order to divert her mind from 
 so painful a subject, engaged the famous musician 
 Nichole to give her lessons. Nichole was charmed 
 with her voice, " and," writes the bishop to his 
 brother, "did make this bargain at entrance, that 
 she should not break off from her learning till he had 
 taught her his manner (as the word is) for at least 
 some months; on that condition making her this 
 compliment, ' that if she did not, in process of time, 
 sing the best of her sex in England, it should be his 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 229 
 
 fault, not hers ;' so much pleased he appeared to 
 be with her voice. But I hope she can distinguish, 
 at these years, between courtliness and the strictness 
 of truth/' 
 
 It is impossible to refrain from quoting some 
 passages from the amusing letters of Eichard Allyn, 
 from Holland, whither he had been sent by Dr. 
 Thomas Turner, the brother of the deprived bishop, 
 to purchase books cheaper than they could be pro- 
 cured in Oxford. 
 
 He speaks with infinite contempt of the Dutch. 
 "The chief subject of their discourse," he says, "is 
 the unkindness and ingratitude of sending home 
 their troops ; and I find it would be as difficult a 
 matter to convince a Dutchman of the reasonableness 
 of our doing it as it would be to persuade him to 
 be religious or not to love money. 
 
 "It is not yet known," continues Allyn, "whether 
 his Majesty (William III.) has any farther design in 
 coming over hither than to hunt about Loo, and to 
 endeavour to divert himself from that uneasiness 
 and disturbance which the last sessions of parliament 
 gave him. He passed through this city (Amsterdam) 
 about a fortnight ago, but in much greater haste than 
 some few years since he went through Oxford, for he 
 would not so much as suffer the burgomasters to wait 
 upon him with their compliments, but drove through 
 as fast and with as little ceremony as any ordinary 
 traveller would have done. 
 
 " Whether this proceeded from an aversion in his 
 temper towards appearing in public, or an unwil- 
 lingness to put the town to trouble or expense, or 
 
230 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 -ft dislike to the place, is variously discoursed ; but 
 most people impute it to the latter, knowing that he 
 cannot have forgot the attempts which this place 
 hath heretofore used to suppress his authority in 
 these provinces. He lives, they say, very splendidly 
 at Loo ; but he never appears so much like a king as 
 when at the Hague, where his Court doth as much 
 exceed what he usually keeps in England, as his 
 English Court is greater than what he kept when he 
 was only stadtholder. His palace there is, I am 
 told, very magnificent, and is richly furnished with 
 the spoils of Hampton Court and Kensington, some 
 of which are to be found in his other houses in this 
 country, of which he hath a great many." 
 
 JRichard Allyn's estimate of the Dutch character 
 did not improve by a longer residence at Amsterdam, 
 for on September 1st he writes : — 
 
 " These men of this country are so far influenced 
 by the prince of it as to deny their toleration to that 
 worship which alone is worthy of the glorious title 
 of religion. The service of the Church of England 
 is too heathenish, too superstitious to be suffered, 
 though frequent and earnest petitions have been 
 made by some honest English that reside here 
 for the use of it in their assemblies. Yet, at the 
 same time, heresies of all sorts, and all the name- 
 less croaking spawn of fanaticism, all manner of 
 rascallv vermin, such as tend to the scandal and 
 reproach of religion, meet with public allowance. 
 Nay, I doubt if this very people would stick at 
 selling the best church they have to the Mogul, for 
 an idol temple to worship the devil in, if they could 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 231 
 
 but thereby establish a greater trade in his Indies; 
 and I have too much reason to think so of them, 
 having myself seen a stately reverend old church in 
 Utrecht let out to hire bythis worshipful govern- 
 ment during three weeks, to have a fair kept in it, 
 without making any distinction in days, for as soon 
 as their minister had concluded his evening sermon, 
 the boxes and shops were opened, and their vile 
 wares were exposed to sale." 
 
 These racy, yet matter-of-fact letters of honest 
 Richard Allyn, were doubtless highly appreciated by 
 the nonjuring Bishop of Ely and all the Oxford 
 Jacobites, as fully justifying their objection to a 
 Dutch head of the Church of England. 
 
 Meantime, the fair Margaret Turner, having over- 
 come her ill-placed affection for her cousin Winde- 
 banke, consented to become the wife of Richard 
 Goul stone, Esq., a gentleman of family and fortune, 
 of Widdyall, in Hertfordshire, with whose parents she 
 and her father had long been on terms of intimate 
 friendship. Her marriage with this gentleman took 
 place early in 1700, with the consent and full appro- 
 bation of the bishop, who writes to his brother, 
 May 21 : — "Our young people are full of duty and 
 acknowledgment of all favours, and no one is more 
 sensible of all your good nature than I am." 
 
 But Francis Turner's days were drawing to a close. 
 This summer, 1700, he complains of a severe 
 cough, and fears it will be aggravated by the air of 
 smoky London. " Our young people," he says, 
 " have returned to Widdyall. They live very happily 
 with me ; but all are thinking of taking a new house." 
 
232 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 His cough became worse as the year waned, not- 
 withstanding the great increase to his happiness the 
 marriage of his daughter had caused. 
 
 A most agreeable engagement, for the invalid 
 father and his daughter and son-in-law to spend 
 some time with Dr. Thomas Turner, was prevented 
 by the severe and painful illness of the poor bishop 
 on June 29, 1700, and he writes the following piteous 
 letter to explain the impossibility of coming : — 
 
 "I wish you could see my heart, how much it 
 troubles me that I am still necessitated to defer the 
 visit I designed you. But the plain truth is always 
 the best excuse, though good King Charles II. 
 would commonly say 'that all excuses were lies.' 
 But it is too true. 
 
 " Yesterday I had a desire to try my strength how 
 I could endure Mr. Goulstone's coach as far as Putney, 
 but it cost me no little anguish. To-morrow a new 
 operator promises to bring me an implement, if not 
 more effectual, yet less uneasy and more safe. I pray 
 God, if it be His blessed will, to make it successful, 
 that I may spend the little residue of my life in 
 some tolerable ease, and not die often as they do who 
 linger out a long life and a painful. 
 
 " My uncle, Dr. Windebanke, is extreme obliging 
 on this untoward occasion. I trust Mr. Wagstaflf too ; 
 and can't help fearing to confess what I ail except to 
 well-known physicians or friends. This makes me 
 loth to go farther off from them in this condition ; 
 besides, intending this purely as a visit of friendship 
 to you and pleasure to myself, I would not bring a 
 sick man to you, though I have no reason to despair 
 
TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY. 233 
 
 of recovering apace. Will Collins was bespoken to 
 drive us down, and he came this morning to know 
 our day. I have obtained a week's respite to see how 
 it will please God to deal with me. Meantime and 
 ever I am yours most affectionately. 
 
 " Mr. Goulstone and his spouse are your servants." 
 
 He writes, with much satisfaction, October 14, of 
 having met the young people in London, but adds, 
 by way of postscript, after that date : — 
 
 "The birthday of my unfortuate royal master, 
 who now writes 68." 
 
 When he wrote this Turner was unconscious that 
 King James had already departed this life. His 
 own summons was near approaching, for he did not 
 survive the date of this letter three weeks. He 
 expired the 2nd of November, 1700. He was in- 
 terred in the parochial church of Tberfield. In 
 compliance with his oft-expressed desire, his , remains 
 were deposited by the side of his lamented wife, 
 without any other memorial for himself than his 
 name and the word Uxpergistur, " I shall awake." 
 
 His son-in-law, Mr. Goulstone, writes, November 
 23, 1700, " I and my wife are removed to Lincoln. 
 She is in good health considering her situation. I 
 am settling all accounts, to show my respect to that 
 incomparable man who is gone to Heaven before us." 
 
234 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 THOMAS KEN, 
 
 BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 What Christian bosom but warms with a glow of 
 loving veneration at the name of the heavenly-minded 
 author of those sweet lyrics of the Church, the 
 Morning Hymn and the Evening Hymn ! They 
 have been for nearly two centuries familiar to the 
 lips of the infants of the flock as to the hoary-headed 
 elders of the congregation, and yet they tire not — 
 they never can tire — for they are in their sublime 
 simplicity suited to the comprehensions and adapted 
 to the wants of all, from the youngest to the most 
 mature, from the highest to the lowest. The hearts 
 of rich and poor, the learned and the ignorant, alike 
 swell for a moment as the successive appeals, so full 
 of the fervour and the poetry of prayer, thrill from 
 the ear to the soul. 
 
 Thomas Ken was the descendant of a cadet branch 
 of an ancient and honourable family, Ken, of Ken 
 Place, in Somersetshire, whose wealth had been 
 carried by an heiress into the noble house of Paulet 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 235 
 
 of Hinton.* He was the youngest son of his father, 
 a highly respectable attorney, of FurnivaTs Inn, and 
 was born and baptized at Berkham stead, in Hertford- 
 shire, in the month of July, 1637. His mother 
 dying when he was scarcely four years old, the 
 bereaved infant was adopted by his eldest sister, 
 Anne, the wife of the afterwards celebrated Izaak 
 Walton, the author of the ' Complete Angler,' and 
 that lovely series of biographies, Lives of Donne, 
 Wootton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson. Izaak 
 Walton, at that time ennobling the trade of a 
 haberdasher, occupied a small house at the Fleet 
 Street end of Chancery Lane, with his wife, whom he 
 was accustomed to call " My Kenna," and took great 
 delight in her sweet voice. Thomas Ken was also 
 gifted by nature with a beautiful voice, and there 
 can be little doubt that his taste and skill in music 
 were fostered and cultivated by his early domestica- 
 tion with his sister and her husband. From the 
 latter he would also imbibe the refined and devotional 
 cast of thought which gives so great a charm to all 
 his writings, that delight in all things that were 
 lovely, holy, and true, which taught him, while 
 dwelling on the charms of creation, to " look through 
 nature up to nature's God." 
 
 Izaak Walton, perceiving evil days approaching, 
 and having acquired a moderate competence, with- 
 drew, with his beloved Kenna and her motherless 
 little brother, their adopted child, from the uncon- 
 
 * The daughter of Christopher Keri, of Ken Place, cousin to our 
 apostolic bishop, married John, son of Sir Anthony Paulet, one of 
 the most devoted followers of his unfortunate sovereign Charles I. 
 
236 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 genial atmosphere of the metropolis, in 1644, to that 
 peaceful cottage on the banks of the Dove, in 
 Staffordshire, where he was able to pursue his 
 favourite recreation and indulge his literary tastes 
 unmolested, and enjoyed the privilege of affording a 
 safe and unsuspected refuge during the civil wars 
 to Morley, Bishop of Winchester, and other loyal 
 gentlemen. 
 
 It was probably through Morley 's influence that 
 Thomas Ken received his education at the Wykeham 
 College, at Winchester. He was sent there at 
 thirteen, and acquitted himself so diligently that he 
 was in the following year chosen a scholar on that 
 foundation. While at Winchester a close and 
 tender friendship was formed between Thomas Ken 
 and Francis Turner, that lasted through life, and was 
 only dissolved by the death of Turner. Both were 
 poets, and though Francis Turner, as the son of the 
 Dean of Canterbury, and grandson of Charles I.'s 
 secretary of state, was born in a higher position than 
 Thomas Ken, the storms of civil w r ar had reduced 
 him to an equality with any poor scholar in the 
 college. It is certain that he and Thomas Ken lived 
 there on terms of brotherly love. Their names 
 remain inscribed on the stone buttress of the south- 
 east cloister, with the date of the last year they were 
 together there — 1656. Turner's name was only 
 recently traced out by the present learned master of 
 Wykeham College, Dr. Moberly. 
 
 After a most honourable career as a Wykehamite, 
 Ken was superannuated in 1656, according to the 
 rules of the institution, having entered his nineteenth 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 237 
 
 year. He followed his friend, Francis Turner, to 
 Oxford, but as there was no vacancy for him at New 
 College, he was not at first allowed the happiness of 
 joining him, being compelled to enter Hart Hall, 
 afterwards Hertford College, where Magdalen Hall 
 now is. The following year, however, the wish of his 
 heart was gratified ; he was admitted as a proba- 
 tioner at New College, and became a fellow-student 
 with his beloved school companion. 
 
 The Warden of New College was, at that time, 
 George Marshall, who had been illegally obtruded 
 by the parliamentarian visitors in defiance of the 
 statutes, which prescribed that none other than a 
 Wykehamite and a duly elected fellow should hold 
 the w 7 ardenship of New College. George Marshall 
 was neither. His claims consisted in having been 
 chaplain to the godly garrison of the parliament and 
 the dictation of General Cromwell. 
 
 The fellows stoutly protested against the illegal 
 intrusion of an unqualified warden, but after a brave 
 resistance, found themselves compelled to succumb 
 to military despotism. Their college had been 
 marked by Cromwell for spoil and suppression, and 
 was only preserved by Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes 
 venturing, at the risk of his own life, to disobey the 
 mandate of his unscrupulous commander for its de- 
 struction. 
 
 In defiance of puritanical supremacy, a musical 
 society was established at Oxford, in 1657, of which 
 Ken was a member, and occasionally sang his part 
 and performed on the lute, viol, and organ. He 
 remained at New College till after the Eestoration, 
 
238 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 distinguished himself by his learning, probity, and 
 piety, and gained the love and esteem of the society 
 by his endearing qualities. As soon as he was in 
 circumstances to testify his regard for the college, he 
 subscribed one hundred pounds towards the expenses 
 of their new buildings and improved gardens. 
 
 It was probably during his residence at New 
 College that his longest poetic work was commenced, 
 although a later date has, by some of his more recent 
 biographers, been assigned to this almost unknown 
 production of Ken, which bears the unmistakable 
 marks of a young inexperienced writer. 
 
 ' Edmund,' an epic poem, on the martyrdom of 
 the East Anglian king by the pagan Danes, at 
 Hoxne, as it is now called ; but Ken has adopted the 
 ancient name of Hegelsdune or Eaglesdune. It is 
 formed on the model of Tasso's Gierusaleme, having 
 nothing local or historical belonging to it. Neither 
 does the author seem aware of the rich and imagina- 
 tive traditions, which enshrine the memory of our 
 Anglo-Saxon royal saint, retained with wondrous love 
 and fidelity by the Suffolk peasantry, although his 
 shrine has been broken and his stately abbey made 
 desolate. Many a church is dedicated to St. Edmund, 
 Martyr and King, and decorated with his elegant 
 open coronal intersected with the two Danish 
 arrows. Moreover, showing greater love in those 
 days, many public-houses and hostelries on the road 
 from Eaglesdune to Bury St. Edmunds bear the 
 same for signs. But vain it is to look in Ken's 
 c Edmund ' for the fanciful dramatis personce still 
 remembered at the scene of the royal Christian's 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 239 
 
 martyrdom. The treacherous bridegroom who be- 
 trayed him seeing the glitter of his gold spurs under 
 the bridge over the Waveney ; the malediction which 
 keeps all East Anglian brides and bridegrooms from 
 crossing Hoxne bridge to this day ; how, after the 
 pagan Hubbar nailed him to the oak, and caused him 
 to be shot to death by the cruel Danes with arrows, 
 and cut off Ins head, a she wolf (peradventure it was 
 the king's own faithful wolf-dog) ran away with 
 King Edmund's head between her paws, and hid it 
 in the deep dell of Eaglesdune, and the darksome 
 den became radiant with phosphoric light; while the 
 raven, some say the head, cried "here, here;" and 
 then when his sorrowing friend went to inter head 
 and body, carrying them on a bier of oak boughs 
 to Bury, the wolf walked as chief mourner, and the 
 more wolfish Danes, converted by so many rather 
 doubtful miracles, followed penitent, with trailing 
 lances. But not one word have we in the ' Edmund ' 
 of Ken, from quaint tradition, or picturesque chro- 
 nicle, or pastoral landscape, the winding Waveney, 
 or the darksome dell of Eaglesdune. 
 
 The poem bears the character of a mere collection 
 of boyish exercises, wherein poetic enthusiasm leads 
 the tyro to gain skill in his own language — all 
 that juvenile poems are good for, with very few 
 exceptional cases. Nay, in the only good passage, 
 those familiar with Winchester will recognise re- 
 semblance to some well-known ancient verses, current 
 throughout the southern diocese, in this rather grand 
 portrait of the requisites of a perfect priest. We see 
 the Wintonian therein, and will say no more, lest 
 
240 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 scorn should befal the only good extract we can find 
 in ' Edmund.' 
 
 A perfect Servant of God. 
 
 " Give me the priest these graces to possess — 
 Of an ambassador the just address, 
 A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care, 
 A leader's courage, who the cross can bear ; 
 A ruler's awfulness, a watcher's eye, 
 A pilot's skill the helm in storms to ply ; 
 A fisher's patience and a labourer's toil, 
 A guide's dexterity to disembroil ; 
 A prophet's inspiration from above, 
 A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love ; 
 Give me in him a light upon a hill, 
 Whose rays that whole circumference can fill ; 
 In God's own word and sacred learning versed, 
 Deep in the study of the heart immersed ; 
 Who in sick souls can the disease descry, 
 And wisely fit restoratives apply ; 
 To beautiful pastures leads his sheep, 
 Watchful from hellish wolves his fold to keep." 
 
 Immediately after the Restoration Ken took the 
 degree of B.A., and was admitted into holy orders. 
 He received the degree of M.A. early in 1663, and 
 was appointed his chaplain by Lord Maynard, who 
 also presented him with the living of Easton Parva, 
 in the hundred of Dunmow, in Essex. This was 
 Ken's first church preferment. The parish church of 
 Lit$e Easton is just without the park at Easton 
 Lodge, the seat of Lord Maynard, a most exemplary 
 nobleman, who, with that admirable woman, Lady 
 Margaret, his wife, lived on the most intimate terms 
 of friendship with Ken, and seconded all his endea- 
 vours for the good of his flock during the two happy 
 years he held the rectory of Little Easton. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 241 
 
 Being summoned to a more extended sphere of 
 usefulness by the Bishop of Winchester, he resigned 
 his living in Essex, and repaired to Winchester, 
 where he was invited by the bishop to take up his 
 abode in the palace, in 1665. Ken now enjoyed the 
 happiness of being domesticated with his beloved 
 brother-in-law, Izaak Walton, whom Bishop Morley, 
 in grateful remembrance of the shelter, hospitality, 
 and solace accorded by him and Kenna in their 
 cottage by the Dove, in the days of adversity and 
 persecution, now gratefully requited, by inviting them 
 with their son and daughter, to partake his prosperity 
 when restored to his episcopal palace, by living with 
 him in peace and affluence for the rest of their 
 days. 
 
 Kenna did not long survive this auspicious change 
 in their fortunes ; she died soon after her removal to 
 the Winchester palace, to the great affliction of her 
 husband and her brother, Thomas Ken, who ever 
 repaid her maternal care of his bereaved infancy and 
 childhood with the dutiful affection of a son. Izaak 
 Walton continued, by the bishop's desire, to reside in 
 the palace, where he wrote the lives of Herbert, 
 Hooker, and Sanderson. In all these the sweet spirit 
 of Ken may be traced. 
 
 The unanimous votes of the fellows of Winchester 
 College, meantime, had elected Ken to the first 
 fellowship that was vacated by death after the 
 Restoration, and he became resident in the Wyke- 
 hamist House. While there, he took upon himself 
 gratuitously the duty of preaching at the neglected 
 church of St. John in the Soke, for which there was 
 
 E 
 
242 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 neither minister nor endowment. This he called his 
 cure, and God so blessed his labour of love, that he 
 was the means of bringing many Anabaptists and 
 Socinians into the Church of England. These he 
 always baptized himself. 
 
 So devoted was Ken to the improvement of his 
 time, that he never made but one sleep, always rising 
 from his bed when he awoke, even if it happened as 
 early as three o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Bishop Morley marked his appreciation of Ken's 
 zealous labours in the service of the Church and the 
 poor by making him his domestic chaplain, and 
 bestowing upon him first the living of Brightstone, 
 in the Isle of Wight. At Brightstone his name is 
 still held in loving veneration, and the local tradi- 
 tion of the fair isle asserts that his favourite walk, 
 while composing his devotional poetry, was under the 
 tall yew hedge that bounds the rectory garden, 
 sheltered from bitter winds and open to the cheering 
 beams of the sun. 
 
 In this peaceful and congenial scene of Ken's 
 thoughtful life, now advancing to its meridian, that 
 series of hymns so dear to the Christian Church, the 
 Morning, the Evening, and the Midnight Hymns, 
 were written. 
 
 The Midnight Hymn having deeper spirituality 
 in it than could be appreciated in those days, was 
 almost forgotten for more than a century after the 
 death of Ken, but has been latterly rescued from 
 oblivion, and published, with the Morning and the 
 Evening Hymns, by the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, in a cheap form — a cheap 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 243 
 
 boon to restless invalids during the lonely vigils of 
 nights of bodily or mental suffering. 
 
 Ken always commenced his devotional exercises, 
 on leaving his bed, by singing the Morning Hymn to 
 his own accompaniment on the lute, and concluded 
 them at night, the last thing before retiring to his 
 pillow, with the Evening Hymn. 
 
 He possessed great musical skill as well as a very 
 rich voice. There is a most interesting portrait ot 
 him about this period of his life, in possession of Sir 
 Richard Colt Hoare, which has been engraved for 
 his life by the Rev. W. L. Bowles, showing that he 
 possessed both personal and intellectual beauty. 
 
 Two very happy years were spent by Ken at his 
 peaceful rectory at Brightstone, a pleasant little 
 village about four miles from Carisbrook Castle, with 
 a statelv church and a fair sea-view, but sheltered 
 from cold winds by overhanging hills. 
 
 In the course of those years he was occasionally 
 summoned, as the chaplain of Bishop Morley, to 
 attend in that capacity during his lordship's residence 
 at his palace at Chelsea. 
 
 There are several interesting notices in the diary 
 of the pious Lady Warwick, of the impression made 
 on her by Ken's preaching at Chelsea church, where 
 it was her good fortune to hear him, she residing in 
 that parish. 
 
 On Sunday, 9th of February, 1668, she makes the 
 following note in her diary : " I went to church to 
 hear Mr. Ken preach. His text was, * Behold thou 
 art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing 
 come on thee.' It was a very good sermon, and 
 
244 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 God was pleased much to affect my heart with it ; 
 and whilst he was preaching on that passage, 'sin 
 no more/ God was pleased to make me, with strong 
 desires and many tears, to beg power against sin for 
 the time to come." 
 
 Bishop Morley recalled Ken to Winchester, and 
 preferred him to the dignity of a prebendary of 
 Winchester Cathedral, and he was installed, April 
 12, 1669. In the following month the bishop gave 
 him the Kectory of East Woodhay. 
 
 As it was contrary to Ken's principles to hold two 
 livings, he resigned Brightstone the same day he 
 was collated to Woodhay. He held the living of 
 Woodhay from the 28th of May, 1669, to the 8th of 
 November, 1672, when he resigned that preferment 
 for his friend, George Hooper, and came to reside 
 entirely at Winchester, where he resumed his labours 
 for the neglected parishioners of St. John's Church 
 in the Soke, and attracted great crowds to his unpaid 
 ministry. 
 
 He made the tour of Italy, and visited Borne in 
 the year of the jubilee, 1675, accompanied by his 
 nephew, young Izaak Walton, and was absent almost 
 a year -in examining the classical and historical anti- 
 quities of that interesting portion of Christendom. 
 
 The simple but refined taste of Ken was naturally 
 offended by the vestiges of pagan idolatry which he 
 everywhere detected in the gorgeous processions and 
 exuberant ceremonials of the Eternal City and the 
 pompous ritual of the Papal Church. 
 
 On their return, Ken said " he gave God thanks 
 that he had been permitted to undertake this journey, 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 245 
 
 since what he had seen had confirmed him in his love 
 for the Reformed Church, of the excellency and 
 purity of which he was more than ever convinced." 
 This remark he was accustomed to repeat to the end 
 of his life. 
 
 He took his degree of B.D. in 1678, and of D.D. 
 the following year, when he was appointed chaplain 
 and almoner to the Princess of Orange, at the 
 Hague. Ken's friend, Dr. Hooper, had just resigned 
 that office in disgust, on account of the uncivil treat- 
 ment he had received from the Prince of Orange, 
 whose hostility to the Church of England was at that 
 time open and undisguised, and induced him to do 
 violence to the conscience of the princess, by com- 
 pelling her to desert her own chapel and the English 
 liturgy, to attend the Dutch schismatic service with 
 him. 
 
 While at the Hague, Ken's ministry succeeded in 
 winning a convert to the Church of England, whom 
 he names with much satisfaction to his friend the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury in the following letter : — 
 
 " My very good Lord, 
 
 " I should not dare to make this invasion on 
 your grace but that my duty enforces me, and the 
 ambition I have to send news which I know will be 
 extremely welcome to your grace ; and the rather be- 
 cause it is of a convert to our Church, and of a con- 
 vert who is no less a person than Col. Fitzpatrick ; 
 who, upon a deliberate inquiry, is so fully satisfied 
 with our Church, that he communicates with us next 
 Lord's day in the Princess's Chapel. 'Tis not to be 
 
246 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 imagined how much both their Highnesses are 
 pleased with the colonel's happy resolution, and the 
 prince commanded me to give my lord of London a 
 particular account of it, which I have done. 
 
 "On Monday his Highness goes for Germany. 
 The pretence is hunting, but the chief thing which 
 he proposes to himself, we understand, is to discourse 
 with the German princes about the present posture 
 of Europe, and to take accurate measures to expose 
 the common enemy. 
 
 (i I most earnestly beg your grace's benediction. 
 My good lord, your grace's most obedient and most 
 humble servant, 
 
 " Tho. Ken. 
 
 " Hague, September ldth, 1680." 
 
 Dr. Ken prevailed on the princess to remain steady 
 to the faith in which she had been baptized and con- 
 firmed. This drew upon him the ill-will of the 
 prince, who hated him still more than he had done 
 his predecessor, and took every opportunity of testify- 
 ing his dislike. 
 
 The Princess of Orange, who was much comforted 
 and edified by the ministry of Ken, confided to him 
 her distress at the trouble and disgrace in which her 
 beautiful English maid of honour, JVIiss Jane Worth, 
 was likely to be involved, in consequence of the per- 
 fidious conduct of Count Zulestien, an illegitimate 
 uncle of the Prince of Orange, and one of his especial 
 favourites, who had effected the ruin of the young 
 lady under a solemn promise of marriage, which he 
 now basely refused to fulfil, and was encouraged in 
 
KEN, BISHOr OF BATH AND WELLS. 247 
 
 his dishonourable conduct by the prince, his master. 
 Ken was deeply concerned at this information, for 
 the young lady was the niece of his beloved friend 
 and patron Lord Maynard, whose sister Anne was her 
 mother, so that Jane was probably well known to 
 him during his chaplaincy to that nobleman and his 
 ministry at Little Easton. Anxious to preserve both 
 the unhappy girl and her family from disgrace and 
 sorrow, Ken immediately sought an interview with 
 Count Zulestien, to whom he represented the turpi- 
 tude and cruelty of his behaviour to the unfortunate 
 girl, and described her anguish in such moving terms, 
 that Zulestien was touched with compunction, and 
 declared his willingness to repair his wrong as far as 
 he could by marrying her as soon as an opportunity 
 should occur. A few days afterwards the Prince of 
 Orange w r ent on business to Amsterdam, and the 
 princess, availing herself of his absence, allowed Ken 
 to marry Zulestien to Jane Worth in her chapel. 
 
 When the Prince of Orange learned what had 
 taken place during his absence, he was so much dis- 
 pleased that he rated his consort, and used the most 
 unbecoming language to Dr. Ken, telling him he 
 would not suffer him to remain anv longer in his 
 present office. 
 
 Ken replied, " that it was his desire to resign it, 
 and requested permission of the princess to return to 
 England ;" but she implored him not to desert her, 
 and her tears and lamentations gave so serious a turn 
 to the affair, that the prince, not wishing the story 
 to be repeated to his disadvantage in the English 
 Court, condescended to request Dr. Ken to remain 
 
248 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and resume his duties in the princess's chapel. Ken 
 reluctantly (jomplied, for he had no respect for the 
 prince, and was impatient of witnessing his ungracious 
 behaviour to the princess. 
 
 "Dr. Ken was with me," writes Sidney in his 
 journal, March 21st, 1680 ; " he is horribly unsatisfied 
 with the Prince of Orange. He thinks he is not 
 kind to his wdfe, and is determined to speak to him 
 about it, even if he kicks him out of doors." 
 
 Sidney, who was a strong political partizan of 
 William, does not say a word in defence of his conduct 
 as a husband, but quotes the testimony of Sir Gabriel 
 Silvius, a Dutch gentleman, the husband of one of 
 Mary's ladies, in addition to that of Dr. Ken, in these 
 words, about a month later in his private journal : — 
 " Sir Gabriel Silvius and Dr. Ken were both here, 
 and both complain of the prince, especially of his 
 usage of his wife. They think she is sensible of it, 
 and that it doth greatly contribute to her illness." 
 
 Despairing of doing anything to improve the con- 
 dition of his royal mistress, and at the same time 
 suffericg from the noxious effects of the climate, Dr. 
 Ken returned to England in 1680, broken alike in 
 health and spirits. King Charles, though aware of 
 his disagreement with the Prince of Orange, gave 
 him a gracious reception, and testified his approbation 
 of his conduct at the Hague, by promising to appoint 
 him to be one of his own chaplains as soon as a 
 vacancy should occur. 
 
 In the summer of 1682, Ken was summoned to 
 attend the death-bed of his beloved and honoured 
 friend, Lady Maynard, who desired to receive the 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 249 
 
 last offices of the Church for the sick and dying from 
 him who had been for more than twenty years her 
 spiritual confidant and adviser. 
 
 He administered the holy communion to her on 
 Whitsunday, and shortly after she entered into" her 
 rest. Ken was requested to preach her funeral 
 sermon, which he did on the 30th of June, 1682, 
 rendering a deserved tribute to her virtues, piety, and 
 tender charity to the sick and suffering poor. This 
 sermon was printed, and universally read and ad- 
 mired. 
 
 He composed and published his excellent " Manual 
 of Prayers for the Scholars in Winchester College, 
 and other devout Christians," the preceding year. 
 
 Early in the summer of 1683, Ken was entreated 
 by Lord Dartmouth to accompany him in his own 
 ship as chaplain-in-chief of the fleet that was going 
 out to demolish the fortifications of Tangier, on 
 which Charles II. had expended a very large sum 
 annually, in the vain hope of rendering it a service- 
 able port. 
 
 " I think it of the highest importance," wrote the 
 noble admiral, " to have the ablest and best man I 
 can possibly obtain to go with me, both for the service 
 of God and the good government of the clergy that 
 are chaplains in the fleet. My most earnest request 
 to you is, that if it be not too great an inconvenience, 
 you would do me the honour and favour to go with 
 me this short voyage. I beg it of you for God's sake, 
 and as I am to answer to Him for the preservation 
 of so many souls as He hath been pleased to put 
 under my care. I have nothing more but to beg 
 
250 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 your prayers and blessing, with pardon for this con- 
 fident desire." 
 
 Ken was not the man to whom this earnest appeal 
 could be made in vain. He was aware that nothing 
 could be more deplorable than the condition, and too 
 often the moral characters, of naval chaplains as a 
 body ; but the idea that it might possibly be in his 
 power to improve their practice by accompanying the 
 expedition, was sufficient to induce him to condescend 
 to the office so earnestly pressed on his accept- 
 ance. 
 
 Pepys, the Secretary of the Admiralty, who was 
 in the commission, was delighted at Ken's accepting 
 the appointment, and records in his diary very san- 
 guine anticipations " of his happiness in making the 
 voyage in company," as he says, " with a worthy leader, 
 Lord Dartmouth, and conversing with companions who 
 were of first-rate talents in divinity, law, and science, 
 as Dr. Ken, Dr. Trumbull, Dr. Lawrence, and Mr. 
 Sheres. We shall enjoy," adds Pepys, " concerts much 
 above ordinary of voices, flutes, and viols, good- 
 humour, good cheer, some good books, the company 
 of my nearest friend, Mr. Hewer, and a reasonable 
 prospect of returning home in two months." 
 
 Such was the pleasant programme of Dr. Ken's 
 summer voyage up the Mediterranean ; but, un- 
 fortunately, the hopes so agreeably set forth by the 
 journalist of the expedition were not realized. Foul 
 weather set in from the day of their embarkation, 
 August 8th, and on the 22nd they were fain to cast 
 anchor in Plymouth Sound. Dr. Ken enjoyed the 
 relief of going on shore for a few hours, with Pepys 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 251 
 
 and some others of the gentlemen, to see Mount 
 Edgecumbe. They were hospitably received by the 
 lady of that beautiful domain ; but, unluckily, her 
 husband, Sir Eichard Edgecumbe, took that oppor- 
 tunity of visiting Lord Dartmouth on board the 
 " Grafton," where they indulged in such a deep 
 carouse, that his lordship was compelled to keep his 
 cabin during the chief part of the voyage, from its 
 effects. Unfortunately, intemperance was the be- 
 setting sin of the brave admiral, which alone would 
 render the voyage irksome to one of Ken's calm and 
 holy manners. 
 
 On Sunday, September 2nd, Pepys records, " that 
 after Dr. Ken's performance of the usual services, 
 they were at supper in Lord Dartmouth's state cabin, 
 when the discourse turned on spiritual agencies and 
 the appearance of ghosts, in which Ken asserted his 
 belief. This was denied by himself and the others, 
 and the argument being continued from day to day, 
 had not concluded on the 12th of the month, when 
 they reached Tangier." 
 
 It happened, however, that Dr. Trumbull and some 
 of the warmest of Ken's opponents being lodged in 
 the citadel, were annoyed with such unaccountable 
 nocturnal disturbances, that Lawrence told Pepys 
 " he was now fully convinced of the existence of 
 spirits, this disturbance having continued for some 
 time, and appearing every three or four nights." It 
 is very tantalizing that either Dr. Lawrence did not 
 tell, or Pepys did not note down, what appearances 
 there were, for noises cannot be said to appear ; and 
 Kirke's garrison was so outrageous, that noise, either 
 
252 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 by night or day, was by no means to be considered 
 supernatural. 
 
 The first Sunday spent at Tangier Dr. Ken 
 preached in the church there, "making a most 
 excellent sermon," says Pepys, " full of the skill of 
 the preacher, but nothing of the natural philosopher." 
 Certes, the discussion of natural philosophy, however 
 valuable at proper times and seasons, it was no voca- 
 tion of Dr. Ken to introduce in the pulpit, for the 
 edification of Kirke and. his myrmidons. Indeed, 
 Pepys professes himself in pain for the feelings of 
 those worthies, saying, very naively, in reference to 
 one of Ken's sermons, preached before this respect- 
 able audience : "To church, a very fine and season- 
 able, but unsuccessful argument from Doctor Ken, 
 particularly in reproof of the vices of this town of 
 Tangier. I was in pain for Governor Kirke and his 
 officers about us in church, but I perceived they 
 regarded it not." That is, they, comporting them- 
 selves like deaf adders, never listened to the preacher, 
 if he preached ever so wisely, and therefore could not 
 hear and mark the sermon. No adders are so deaf 
 as the inattentive. And Pepys, who listened and 
 applied our apostolic Ken's reproofs — to his neigh- 
 bours — took so little heed for himself, that he has 
 this remark for the afternoon service that day : 
 "Immediately from dinner to church. A foolish 
 sermon from Mr. Hughes, but had the pleasure of 
 again seeing fine Mrs. Kirke, better dressed than 
 before, but yet less than I have known her." 
 
 Certainly, Ken was not favoured with a very hope- 
 ful congregation at Tangier ! 
 
KEN T , MSIIOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 253 
 
 Notices occur from time to time of Ken's sermons, 
 and from so severe a sermon-critic as Pepys they may 
 be considered very favourable. It was not long before 
 the evil Governor Kirke and the apostolic Ken came to 
 collision. In the first place, Ken opposed the intru- 
 sion of a swearing, drinking clergyman, one after Go- 
 vernor Kirke's own heart, and disreputably connected 
 among his familiars, who was to succeed Mr. Hughes 
 in the ministry of the parish church at Tangier. 
 High words afterwards occurred between Governor 
 Kirke and Dr. Ken, who withstood the ferocious 
 soldier to his face concerning the excessive blasphemy 
 and oaths that resounded on all sides. Dr. Ken had 
 preached against it that morning; as usual, Kirke 
 had heard the sermon as though he heard it not, and 
 then Dr. Ken tried individual remonstrance. Pepys 
 says he took part on the side of Dr. Ken, After this 
 we hear little of Ken, excepting that he suffered from 
 the climate, and had to keep his chamber with fever 
 and headache, which seems to have been endemical 
 among the English that autumn at Tangier. Dr. 
 Trumbull lost his self-command, owing to his terrors 
 of some undefined danger from demons. Dr. Ken 
 was extremely urgent with Lord Dartmouth that 
 this gentleman should be sent home, fearing for his 
 reason. 
 
 Ken finished his epic poem of ' Edmund ' while at 
 Tangier and on the voyage home. He sailed with 
 the fleet on the 5th of March, 1684, for England, 
 and landed at Portsmouth the first week in April. 
 He hastened at once to Winchester ; but his revered 
 brother-in-law, Izaak Walton, had expired in his 
 
254 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 absence, in his ninety-first year, and had been 
 buried three months in Prior Silkstead's Chapel, in 
 the cathedral. His epitaph is said to have been 
 written by Ken. It is as follows : — 
 
 " Alas, he's gone before, 
 Gone to return no more ! 
 Our panting breasts aspire 
 After their aged sire ; 
 Whose well-spent life did last 
 Full ninety years and past. 
 But now he hath begun 
 That which will never be done ; 
 Crowned with eternal bliss, 
 We wish our souls with his." 
 
 Izaak Walton had bequeathed a memorial ring to 
 Ken, thus inscribed : — " For my brother, Dr. Ken. 
 A friend's farewell. I. W." The date of the vener- 
 able donor's death, "Obiit, 15th Dec, 1683," was 
 added to the inscription. 
 
 The blood-stone ring, which had been the much- 
 prized legacy of Dr. Donne to Walton, with the 
 effigy of the blessed Saviour on the cross, in the 
 form of an anchor, the emblem of hope, was also 
 delivered to Ken ; probably it had been promised to 
 him by his venerable brother-in-law. Almost all 
 Ken's subsequent letters are sealed with it, and also 
 his will. This precious relic was inherited by the 
 son of Izaak Walton, who in like manner sealed his 
 will with this memorial of Dr. Donne, Izaak Walton, 
 and Bishop Ken. We hope it is still in existence. 
 
 In the succeeding October, Ken was summoned to 
 Farnham Castle, to perform the melancholy duty of 
 attending the death-bed of his venerated friend and 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 255 
 
 patron, Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, whose 
 departing spirit he soothed with his prayers and filial 
 attentions. Morley scarcely survived his old friend 
 Izaak Walton ten months. 
 
 Ken was appointed as one of the royal chaplains 
 by Charles II., who, bad as he was himself, enter- 
 tained a sincere respect for the truthful simplicity 
 and blameless life of this apostolic man. 
 
 One Sunday, when Ken was going to preach at 
 Whitehall, the Merry Monarch quitted the circle of 
 his vicious flatterers, with the remark, " I must go 
 and hear Ken tell me of my faults." 
 
 The same summer, his Majesty proposing to spend 
 some time at Winchester, Ken was placed in an un- 
 pleasant dilemma by Nell Gwynn taking possession of 
 his prebendal house for her lodgings, it being very 
 conveniently situated in close proximity to the 
 temporary abode of her royal paramour, whom, she 
 flattered herself, the newly-appointed chaplain would 
 not wish to offend. 
 
 Greatly, however, had she mistaken the uncom- 
 promising integrity of the man; for when he was 
 advised to allow her to remain, as it would be well- 
 pleasing to the king, Ken indignantly replied, " Not 
 for his three kingdoms," and instantly sent a stern 
 message to warn the bold intruder " that no woman 
 living in open defiance of God's law should abide 
 under the shadow of his roof." 
 
 Finding him so much in earnest, Nell Gwynn 
 angrily withdrew, and carried her complaints to the 
 king. Ken was about to justify his exclusion of the 
 royal favourite, but Charles, with his usual blunt 
 
256 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 frankness, exclaimed, " Odds fish, man ! though I 
 am not good myself, I can respect those who are !" 
 
 So far from testifying displeasure at the un- 
 compromising spirit with which Dr. Ken had acted, 
 he astonished a circle of time-serving courtiers, who 
 were suggesting successors to the see when the bishop- 
 ric of Bath and Wells became vacant, by asking, with 
 some vivacity, " Where is the good little man who 
 refused the lodging to poor Nell?" Then, in a 
 graver tone, he impressively observed, " I intend the 
 bishopric of Bath and Wells for Dr. Ken, and it is 
 my own especial appointment." 
 
 No one was more surprised at the royal appoint- 
 ment than Ken himself, who thus commemorates his 
 unexpected elevation to the hierarchy in the dedica- 
 tion of his hymns to his friend Dr. Hooper : — 
 
 " Amongst the herdsmen, I, a common swain, 
 Lived, pleased with my low dwelling on the plain ; 
 Till up, like Amos, on a sudden caught, 
 I to the pastoral chair was trembling brought." 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 257 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Ken was now a bishop designate ; but so indigent 
 was he at the time of his nomination to the see of 
 Bath and Wells, that he was wholly destitute of the 
 means requisite to meet the expenses attendant on 
 entering od the episcopate and providing an equi- 
 page suitable to the dignified position he was unex- 
 pectedly appointed to fill. The means of doing this 
 were generously supplied by Francis Morley, the 
 nephew of his early patron and friend, George 
 Morley, the late Bishop of Winchester. Aware 
 of the state of Dr. Ken's finances, Francis Morley 
 voluntarily offered to assist him with a loan of the 
 sum necessary for his present exigencies. This was 
 the only debt Ken ever incurred, and' he faithfully 
 repaid it, obliging himself to the most rigorous course 
 of self-denial till it was done, even abstaining from 
 the exercise of his accustomed offices of charity ; tell- 
 ing his chaplain "that it behoved him to be just 
 before he could enjoy the happiness of ministering to 
 the necessities of others, for while he was in debt he 
 had nothing of his own, and must himself be reckoned 
 among the poor." 
 
 Ken was consecrated at Lambeth Palace on St. 
 
258 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Paul's day, January 25. His early friend and school- 
 fellow, Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, assisted at this 
 solemnity, and was one of the prelates who, with 
 Archbishop Sancroft, placed their hands upon his 
 head to confer the blessing. The sermon was 
 preached by another of his early friends and fellow 
 students at Wykeham College, the Eev. Edward 
 Young, who had become a prebendary of Salisbury. 
 The text was from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to 
 Timothy, chapter i. verse 6 : — " Wherefore I put thee 
 in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God 
 which is in thee by the laying on of hands." 
 
 Ken was eight-and-forty when thus raised to the im- 
 portant dignity of a bishop. It had been usual for every 
 newly-consecrated bishop to give a splendid dinner 
 to the nobility, privy councillors, and clergy who 
 honoured him by accepting his invitation to become 
 his guests on that occasion ; but Ken, following the 
 example of Dr. John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, devoted 
 the sum it would have cost to honour this custom to 
 the fund for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 The fact is thus recorded in Dugdale's ' History of 
 St. Paul's Cathedral:' — " January 26th. Among the 
 list of contributors, Dr. Thomas Ken, Lord Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells, in lieu of his consecration dinner 
 and gloves, 100Z." 
 
 The sudden and alarming illness of the king, who 
 was attacked with apoplexy on the 2nd of February, 
 just eight days after Ken's consecration, caused an 
 immediate delay in the new prelate's induction into 
 the temporalities of his see. 
 
 Intent only on the performance of his duty as a 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 259 
 
 faithful chaplain, Ken permitted neither cares nor 
 thoughts, connected with personal business, to divide 
 his attention from the spiritual weal of his dying 
 sovereign. 
 
 He took occasion, when the Duchess of Portsmouth 
 entered the room, to offer a serious remonstrance to 
 the king, and to represent so effectually his miscon- 
 duct to the queen, that he succeeded in prevailing on 
 his Majesty to dismiss the duchess, and send for his 
 injured consort for the purpose of entreating her 
 pardon. Nor did the bold bad woman again venture 
 to cross the threshold of the chamber of death. 
 
 For upwards of three days and nights Ken watched 
 with unremitting solicitude the fluctuations of the 
 fatal malady, and finally took upon himself the solemn 
 duty of informing the king of the awful change that 
 awaited him, and warning him of the necessity of 
 penitence and prayer. Even Burnet acknowledges 
 that Ken " laboured to awaken the king's conscience, 
 and spoke like a man inspired." 
 
 While reading the office for the sick and dying 
 from the Book of Common Prayer, Ken paused, and 
 asked the king if he repented of his sins ; and on 
 Charles declaring his contrition, proceeded to pro- 
 nounce the absolution, but vainly entreated him to 
 receive the sacrament. This the dying monarch 
 evasively declined. 
 
 When the royal chamber was cleared by the order 
 of the Duke of York, Ken was compelled to with- 
 draw with the other prelates and nobles, and Father 
 Huddlestone being privily introduced through the 
 door leading from the back stairs into the alcove, 
 
260 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 where the royal bed stood, administered the last rites 
 of the Church of Rome to the expiring king, whose 
 hearing had already begun to fail. 
 
 As the demise of King Charles occurred before 
 Ken had been legally inducted into his diocese, fresh 
 instruments were required from the new sovereign to 
 enable him to do so. These were granted by James II., 
 who graciously observed — "Dr. Ken is by far the 
 best preacher among the Protestant divines." 
 
 As a mark of his respect for Ken's principles and 
 character, and also, perhaps, to conciliate his regard, 
 James appointed him to the distinguished honour of 
 being his right hand supporter at the royal solemnity 
 of his coronation. 
 
 The king, when he took his oath, rose from his 
 chair, and attended by the Lord Great Chamberlain, 
 and supported by the two bishops (Ken and Crew), 
 with the sword of state carried before him, went 
 to the altar, and laying his hand on the Evangelists, 
 he took the oath following : " The things which I 
 have before promised I will perform and keep. So 
 help me God and the contents of this book." And 
 then he kissed the book.* 
 
 Burnet, who never misses an opportunity of de- 
 tracting from Ken, says " he had a very edifying way 
 of preaching, but it was more apt to move the 
 passions than to instruct, so that his sermons were 
 rather beautiful than solid, yet his way in them was 
 very taking." 
 
 In the winter of 1685, Ken delivered a series of 
 Lent lectures on the Church catechism, in the chapel 
 
 * 'King James II.'s Coronation,* by Sandford. Folio, 1689. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 261 
 
 dedicated to St. Etheldreda attached to the episcopal 
 palace of his friend, Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, 
 where his eloquence and persuasive manner attracted 
 great crowds to attend his ministry. This series on 
 the catechism afterwards expanded into one of his 
 most admired prose works. So great an impression, 
 indeed, was created by his eloquence, that the curi- 
 osity of the Princess Anne of Denmark was excited, 
 and she addressed the following note to the Bishop 
 of Ely, signifying her intention of coming privately 
 to hear Dr. Ken, and requesting that some place 
 might be provided where she might do so without 
 being recognised. These are her words : — 
 
 " I hear the Bishop of Bath and Wells expounds 
 this afternoon at your chapel, and I have a great 
 mind to hear him ; therefore I desire you to do me 
 the favour to let some place be kept for me where I 
 may hear and be the least taken notice of, for I shall 
 bring but one lady with me, and desire I may not be 
 known. I should not have given you the trouble, 
 but I was afraid if I had sent anybody they might 
 have made a mistake. Pray let me know when it 
 begins." 
 
 From motives of Christian love, Ken avoided con- 
 troversy as unprofitable, and tending to engender ill- 
 will between persons of different ways of thinking, 
 delighting rather in promoting peace and love be- 
 tween all members of the Church universal. 
 
 He now devoted himself to his pastoral duties, 
 and was unremitting in his labours for the instruction 
 of the children of the poor, by the establishment of 
 parochial schools and lending libraries stocked with 
 
262 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 useful books. In the summer time he went often to 
 some great parish, where he would preach twice, 
 catechise, and confirm. When at home on Sundays 
 he would have twelve poor men or women to dine 
 with him in his hall ; always endeavouring, while he 
 refreshed them with a plentiful meal, to comfort their 
 spirits with some cheerful discourse, in which he 
 endeavoured to convey useful instruction. When 
 his humble guests had dined, he had what was left 
 divided among them to carry home to their families. 
 
 The poor at Wells being very numerous, he earn- 
 estly desired to improve their condition, for which he 
 often tried to devise expedients. One of his favourite 
 plans was the establishment of a workhouse ; not the 
 much abused parochial poorhouse of modern times, 
 but an institution for providing the honest and indus- 
 trious with employment, for which they were to be 
 paid the full value of their work, and relieved from 
 the oppression of the tradesmen, who took advantage 
 of the necessities of the poor to pay them very scan- 
 tily for their labour, and grew rich at their expense ; 
 but he was too short a time in possession of his 
 benefice to carry out his wise and benevolent pro- 
 jects. 
 
 It was his practice, when any poor person begged 
 of him on the highway, to pause and examine whether 
 he or she could say the Lord's Prayer and the Creed ; 
 but found so much ignorance in regard to spiritual 
 things, that he feared little good was to be done with 
 the adults of his diocese ; " but," said he, " I will try 
 to lay a foundation to make the rising generation 
 better." This was the origin of his zeal for the es- 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 263 
 
 tablishment of parochial schools, of which he was so 
 great a founder. 
 
 In the Monmouth rebellion he was unwearied in 
 his exertions for the relief of the poor prisoners, daily 
 visiting those who were confined in Wells, and minis- 
 tering to their necessities both with food and prayer ; 
 all which being reported to the king, his Majesty, far 
 from harbouring any jealous thoughts of him in con- 
 sequence of his humane attentions to those unfortu- 
 nate sufferers, which he " rightly judged proceeded 
 not from disaffection to his person or government, 
 but from motives of compassion to so many distressed 
 brethren whom he saw in danger of perishing both 
 soul and body, thanked him for what he had done." 
 As a proof of his full confidence in the loyalty of Ken, 
 James appointed him to attend the Duke of Mon- 
 mouth, with Turner, Bishop of Ely, and prepare him 
 for death. 
 
 Burnet's invidious misrepresentations of Ken's be- 
 haviour on that painful occasion have been too fully 
 disproved in ' Biographia Britannica,' ' Ken's Life by 
 a Layman,' and other erudite and truthful works, to 
 require entering into the subject in this necessarily 
 brief biography. 
 
 The ' Exposition of the Church Catechism, or Prac- 
 tice of Divine Love,' composed by Bishop Ken for his 
 diocese of Bath and Wells, was published this year, and 
 in consequence of its being considered too favourable 
 to the doctrine of Transubstantiation, it was altered 
 by him, and republished with a declaration " that he 
 willingly submitted to the censure of the Church of 
 England, to whose Articles he desired all his writings 
 
264 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 to be conformable, and he had therefore changed 
 those expressions that were considered objectionable, 
 as liable to be misunderstood, this work not being 
 intended for disputation but devotion." He also 
 published a little ' Manual of Prayer/ for the use of 
 the sick who resorted to Bath to drink the waters. 
 
 Ken's ' Seraphical Meditations ' were recommended 
 to Rachel Lady Russell, by their mutual friend Dr. 
 Fitzwilliam, who offered to present her with a copy. 
 She replied, " that she had not yet seen the ' Sera- 
 phical Meditations,' by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 but would be glad to do so," and thankfully accepted 
 a copy of the book. 
 
 ' Hymnotheo, or the Penitent,' Ken's great poem, 
 though too abstruse and deep for modern readers, was 
 much admired at the time ; it contains many pas- 
 sages of great beauty, and is pervaded with the sweet 
 spirit which characterizes all his writings. 
 
 At the time of the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nantes he had just received a fine of four thousand 
 pounds ; the whole of this large sum he munificently 
 devoted to the relief of the persecuted Protestant 
 refugees w r ho had been rendered homeless. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to imagine a more delicate situ- 
 ation than that in which the conscientious Protestant 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells was placed by the visit of his 
 zealous Roman Catholic sovereign, James II., to Bath, 
 attended by his staff of priests and officers of state ; 
 on which occasion his Majesty caused a hasty notice 
 to be published, " that he intended to exercise the 
 royal gift of touching, for the cure of the evil, in the 
 abbey on Sunday, after morning prayer." 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 2G5 
 
 The alleged gift of curing this distressing malady, 
 by the imposition of the royal hand, had been claimed 
 and practised by every sovereign of England, good or 
 bad, from the days of Edward the Confessor, on whom 
 this miraculous gift was supposed to have been first 
 conferred, and from him transmitted to his successors 
 in the regal office, although he left no posterity. It 
 was a gift exercised after the Eeformation by Queen 
 Elizabeth, and in some of the old prayer-books may 
 still be seen the service appointed to be used for that 
 purpose, entitled "The Office of Healing." King 
 James, however, chose to have a new Office pre- 
 pared and published for his use, which Office was in 
 all probability only the restitution of the ancient form 
 used by his predecessors prior to the Eeformation. 
 
 . Ken, who was then at Wells, was not only deeply 
 annoyed but seriously perplexed when informed of 
 what was about to take place in the abbey ; but he 
 had no means of stopping it without creating an up- 
 roar, as it was known that an immense concourse of 
 people were coming in hopes of receiving a cure, or 
 at least obtaining the angel of gold, which his 
 Majesty was accustomed, in imitation of his royal pre- 
 decessors, to bind on the arm of every patient. 
 
 It has been erroneously related by Warner, in his 
 ' History of Bath,' " that Ken was present on this occa- 
 sion; that Father Huddlestone denounced all here- 
 tics; and that Ken, at the close of his fulmination, 
 mounted the pulpit and exposed his fallacies in a 
 strain of such impressive eloquence as delighted the 
 congregation and confounded Huddlestone and the 
 royal bigot." 
 
206 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 There is no foundation for this statement, which if 
 correct must have created a veiy great sensation 
 throughout England, and would, of course, have been 
 mentioned by Ken himself in the following letter, 
 which he esteemed it his duty to write to his friend 
 Sancroft, relating the use the king had made of the 
 abbey, and observing that he had himself considered 
 it most prudent under the circumstances to remain 
 wholly passive. He says : — 
 
 " All Glory be to God. 
 
 "My very good Lord, 
 
 " Though I have always been very tender of 
 giving your grace any trouble, yet I think it my duty, 
 having this opportunity of a safe conveyance, to 
 acquaint you with one particular which happened at 
 Bath, and to beg your advice for the future. When 
 his Majesty was at Bath there was a great healing ; 
 and without any warning, unless by a flying report, 
 the Office was performed in the church between the 
 hours of prayer. I had not time to remonstrate, and 
 if I had done so it would have had no effect but only 
 to provoke; besides I found it had been in other 
 churches before, and I know of no place but the 
 church capable to receive so great a multitude as 
 came for cure, upon which consideration 1 was wholly 
 passive. But being well aware what advantage the 
 Bomanists take from the least seeming compliances, 
 I took occasion, on Sunday, after the Gospel, the sub- 
 ject of which was the Samaritan, to discourse of 
 charity ; which I said ' ought to be the religion of thd 
 whole world, wherein Samaritan and Jew were to 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 267 
 
 agree ; and though we could not open the church doors 
 to a worship different from that we paid to God, yet 
 we should always set them open to a common work of 
 charity, because in performing mutual offices of 
 charity one to another there ought to be an universal 
 agreement.' 
 
 " This was the substance of what I said upon that 
 action, w 7 hich I humbly submit to your grace's judg- 
 ment, and it was the best expedient I could think 
 of to prevent giving scandal to our own people, and 
 to obviate all the misrepresentations the Eomanists 
 might make of such a connivance. 
 
 " I am very sensible of your grace's burthen, and 
 do beseech Almighty Goodness to support you under 
 it. And I earnestly crave your blessing, being ambi- 
 tious of nothing more than to be one of the meanest 
 of your companions in the kingdom and patience of 
 Jesus. My good lord, 
 
 " Your grace's 
 " Most obedient son and humble servant, 
 
 " Tho. Bath and Wells. * 
 " Aug. 26, 1687." 
 
 From the whole tenor of this letter it is apparent 
 that the circumstances described by Warner in his 
 6 History of Bath,' as occurring immediately after the 
 Office of Healing had been performed by the king, are 
 apocryphal. 
 
 In the following spring, Ken was appointed to 
 preach the afternoon sermon in the Chapel Eoyal at 
 Whitehall, on Passion Sunday, April 1st, 1688. 
 
 * Tanner MSS., vol. xxix., Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 
268 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 The morning sermon was preached by Dr. Stilling- 
 fleet, and Holy Communion followed, but was in- 
 terrupted by the rude breaking in of multitudes 
 eager to hear the sermon to be preached in the after- 
 noon by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. " In the 
 morning service," records Evelyn, in his diary, " the 
 latter part of that Holy Office could hardly be heard, 
 or the sacred elements be distributed without great 
 trouble." Crowds pressed in to secure seats, so that the 
 chapel was full to overflowing before the arrival of 
 the Princess Anne, who came with her attendants at 
 the proper time, and took their places in the royal 
 gallery. 
 
 Her Eoyal Highness was seated on the left hand of 
 the king's chair, which was empty. Prayers being 
 over, the bishop ascended the pulpit, and took his text 
 from the 7th chapter of Micah, verses 8, 9, 10, " Ke- 
 joice not against me, mine enemy ; when I fall I 
 shall arise ; when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be 
 a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the 
 Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He 
 plead my cause and execute justice for me. He will 
 bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His 
 righteousness." 
 
 The Church of England the bishop represented as 
 Judah, the Eoman Catholics as the Babylonians, and 
 the dissenters as the Edomites ; and lamented that 
 " he had not, like Micah, the happiness of having the 
 king himself for an auditor ; therefore his discourse 
 might possibly be misrepresented to him, since the 
 very Scripture itself might be perverted by insidious 
 men." 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 269 
 
 The thing foreseen by Ken literally came to pass. 
 Distorted reports of his eloquent and forcible sermon 
 were immediately carried to the king, who being 
 much displeased, sent for him into his closet, and ex- 
 pressed both surprise and displeasure at his having 
 presumed to inculcate seditious doctrines from the 
 pulpit in the very Chapel Royal at Whitehall. 
 
 " If your Majesty had been happily present in 
 your proper place, mine enemies would not have had 
 the opportunity of bringing a false accusation against 
 me," replied Ken, pointedly ; which implied reproach 
 put the king out of countenance, and he dismissed the 
 uncompromising prelate without another word. 
 
 The misguided 'sovereign ran his reckless course, 
 encouraged by the prospect of a child who, whether 
 boy or girl, would be " born in the purple." He, not 
 contented with the hope of the queen bringing forth 
 a son, had the folly to declare it would be so, which 
 provoked the partizans of his daughters Mary and 
 Anne to circulate injurious doubts of the reality of 
 the queen's alleged situation. 
 
 It was on the very eve of this event, so fondly and 
 proudly anticipated by their Majesties, that James 
 provoked that most perilous collision with his hier- 
 archy, which has already been explained in the life of 
 Sancroft, by endeavouring to compel them to read and 
 promulgate his royal declaration of liberty of con- 
 science throughout their dioceses ; an act which, how- 
 ever liberal and proper it undoubtedly would have 
 been on the monarch's part, if sanctioned by parlia- 
 ment, it was most unreasonable to expect the bishops 
 to be the instruments of publishing. Ken, who was 
 
270 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 hastily summoned to Lambeth by Sancroft, to consult 
 with him and other dignitaries and worthies of the 
 Church of England in this emergency, courageously 
 united with the primate and the bishops of Ely, Peter- 
 borough, Chichester, St. Asaph, and Bristol in signing 
 the petition which was drawn up by the archbishop, 
 requesting his Majesty to excuse them from reading 
 and promulgating his royal act for liberty of con- 
 science. He was one of the six by whom that peti- 
 tion was presented to King James at Whitehall. He 
 was subsequently arrested and committed prisoner to 
 the Tower with them, and shared in their trial and 
 acquittal. 
 
 Ken endeavoured to escape from the excitement 
 of the crisis by returning as usuaFto his diocese, and 
 employing himself in the regulation of his parochial 
 schools and other ecclesiastical business. At last 
 the preparations of the Prince of Orange for the 
 invasion of England roused the king from his vain 
 dreams of effecting a reconciliation between his 
 realm and the see of Eome. James remembered the 
 good services he had received from the bishops when 
 Duke of York, and that the intrigues of the exclu- 
 sionist faction to deprive him of his just place in the 
 royal succession had mainly been defeated by the firm- 
 ness and integrity of the hierachy. He therefore 
 made an ineffectual attempt to conciliate that wise 
 and virtuous fraternity by applying to them for 
 counsel. Sunderland, by the royal command, wrote 
 to Ken, stating that the king wished to confer with 
 some of his bishops, and therefore required his at- 
 tendance on the 28th of September. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 271 
 
 Ken yielded prompt obedience to the summons, 
 and came up to London, and as Sancroft was ill, 
 proceeded with five other prelates to Whitehall, 
 where they had audience of the king. Unfortunately 
 James had altered his mind, and confined himself to 
 generalities, and reminding them of their duty and 
 loyalty to his person. 
 
 Ken could not refrain from expressing his disap- 
 pointment "that his Majesty should have required 
 them to come so far in order to repeat to them what 
 they so well understood before." James pleaded 
 ♦vant of time to enter into any particulars, and dis- 
 missed them. 
 
 Sancroft waited on the king the next day, to re- 
 quest another audience for himself and the other 
 prelates, that they might explain themselves on the 
 present emergency. The 3rd of October was ap- 
 pointed by the king, who received them courteously ; 
 the archbishop read the paper containing the articles 
 of advice they entreated him to adopt, and left it 
 for his royal consideration. 
 
 Ken, perceiving no good could be expected from 
 his remaining in London, returned once more to 
 Wells to resume his spiritual duties there. 
 
 James having required the prayers of the Church 
 of England, Ken read the form which the archbishop 
 had prepared, " beseeching God to give Bis holy 
 angels charge over the king, to preserve his royal 
 person in health and safety, to inspire him with 
 wisdom and justice, and to fill his heart w T ith a 
 fatherly care of all his people." Also a prayer "for 
 peace, and the prevention of bloodshed in the land, 
 
272 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 for the reconciliation of all differences and dissensions, 
 and for the preservation of our holy religion, our 
 ancient laws and government, and for universal 
 charity in the same holy worship and communion." 
 
 When the Prince of Orange landed at Torbay, 
 Ken, receiving intelligence that he was advancing to 
 Wells, immediately left the town, and wrote the 
 following earnest letter, explanatory of his conduct, 
 to Saner oft : — 
 
 "All Gloky be to God. 
 
 "May it please your Grace, 
 
 " Before I could return any answer to the letter 
 with which your grace w r as pleased to favour me, I re- 
 ceived intelligence that the Dutch were just coming to 
 Wells ; upon which I immediately left the town, and 
 in obedience to his Majesty's general commands, took 
 all my coach horses with me, and as many of my 
 saddle horses as I well could, and took the shelter of 
 a private village in Wiltshire, intending, if his Majesty 
 had come into my country, to have waited on him and 
 to have paid him my duty. But this morning we are 
 told that his Majesty is gone back to London, so that I 
 only wait till the Dutch have passed my diocese, and 
 then resolve to return thither again, that being my 
 proper station. I would not have left the diocese in 
 this juncture, but that the Dutch had seized houses 
 within ten miles of Wells before I went ; and your 
 grace knows that I, having been a servant to the 
 princess, and well acquainted with many of the 
 Dutch, I could not have staid without giving some 
 occasion of suspicion, which I thought it more ad- 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 273 
 
 visable to avoid ; resolving, by God's grace, to con- 
 tinue in a firm loyalty to the king, whom God direct 
 and preserve in this time of danger ; and I beseech 
 your grace to lay my most humble duty at his 
 Majesty's feet, and to acquaint him with the reason 
 of my retiring, that I may not be misunderstood. 
 God of His infinite mercy deliver us from the cala- 
 mities which now threaten us, and from the sins 
 which have occasioned them. 
 
 " My very good lord, 
 
 " Your grace's very affectionate servant and brother, 
 
 " Tho. Bath and Wells. 
 
 "Nov.2±, 1688." 
 
 When it was known King James had actually 
 quitted the realm, his best friends were in great 
 perplexity as to the line of conduct it would be best 
 to adopt. Sancroft wrote to Ken and others of the 
 bishops, to come to him at Lambeth with all con- 
 venient haste, that they might afford him their advice 
 on the present emergency. 
 
 Ken had, however, given notice that he was about 
 to hold an ordination in his cathedral, which he 
 esteemed a paramount duty to any political move- 
 ment ; and he also determined to keep the Christmas 
 holidays as religious festivals, according to his in- 
 variable custom, without any leaven of public busi- 
 ness. He came up to London in the beginning of 
 the new year, on being summoned to take his place 
 in the House of Lords ; and when at last the peers 
 concurred with the small majority of the convention 
 
 T 
 
274 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 of the Commons in voting the crown to William and 
 Mary, he joined with the minority in a protest against 
 that resolution. 
 
 This was Ken's last appearance as a spiritual peer 
 and legislator, and his final vote. . He retired to his 
 diocese, to avoid taking the oaths to the new sove- 
 reigns, and occupied himself diligently in the business 
 of his episcopal character. But although Ken had 
 declared himself firmly resolved never to depart from 
 the fealty he had sworn to King James, his inten- 
 tions were suspected, not merely by his time-serving 
 foes, but also by persons who ought to have known 
 him better. Even his oldest and dearest friend, 
 Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely, dreaded that the in- 
 fluence of Dr. Hooper, the parson of Lambeth, with 
 whom Ken was wont to take up his abode, might 
 induce him to take the oaths to William and Mary. 
 Turner expresses natural but causeless apprehensions 
 to that effect, in the following letter to Sancroft : — 
 
 " May it please youk Grace,* 
 
 " When I took my leave yesternight, I had no 
 thought of waiting upon you till yesterday se'nnight. 
 But when I came home I found a letter to Mrs. 
 Grigg from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, with this 
 advertisement in it for me ; ' tell my friend that I will 
 meet him at dinner at Lambeth upon Saturday' I 
 suppose he does not know that your grace has left off 
 dining publicly (as you have great reason to do). 
 But since, my lord, you are pleased to give every one 
 of your sons a day (as you obligingly express it), I 
 * Tanner, xxviL 31. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 275 
 
 must needs say the sooner we meet our brother of 
 Bath and Wells the better ; for I must no longer in 
 duty conceal it from your grace (though I beseech 
 you to keep it in terms of a secret) that this very 
 good man is, I fear, warping from us and the true 
 interest of the Church toward a compliance with the 
 new government. I received an honest letter from 
 him, and a friendly one, wherein he argues wrong, to 
 my understanding, but promises and protests be will 
 keep himself disengaged till he debates things over 
 again with us, and that he was coming up for that 
 purpose. My lord Bishop of Norwich has seen such 
 another letter from him to my lord of Gloucester. 
 And upon the whole matter, our brother of Norwich, if 
 your grace thinks fit, will meet us on Saturday ; and 
 I must needs wish my lord of Chichester would be 
 there to help us, if need be, for it would be extremely 
 unhappy should we at this pinch lose one of our 
 number. I apprehend your parson of Lambeth has 
 superfined upon our brother of Bath and Wells, and if 
 he lodges again at his house I doubt the consequence ; 
 for which reason I will come over on Saturday morn- 
 ing to invite him to my country house. 
 
 " Dated Ascension Day." 
 
 A report having been circulated that King James 
 had executed a deed transferring Ireland to the "King 
 of France, Ken, in his first surprise and indignation, 
 drew up a declaration of his intention, provided this 
 were indeed true, to take the oaths to the new 
 sovereigns, and enjoin the clergy in his diocese to do 
 the same ; but on his arrival in London he found he 
 
276 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 had been imposed on by a political falsehood, and 
 burned the paper which, in the excitement of the 
 moment, he had drawn up, and resolved to persevere 
 in his determination to suffer deprivation rather than 
 forfeit his allegiance. 
 
 Dr. Gilbert Burnet, who had recently been ap- 
 pointed to the bishopric of Salisbury, wrote an imper- 
 tinent letter to him on his persevering refusal to take 
 the oaths, in which he says: — 
 
 " I am the more surprised to find your lordship so 
 positive, because some have told myself that you had 
 advised them to take that which you refuse yourself, 
 and others have told me that they read a pastoral 
 letter which you had prepared for your diocese, 
 and were resolved to send it when you went to 
 London. Your lordship, it seems, changed your 
 mind there, which gave great advantage to those 
 who were so severe as to say that there was some- 
 thing else than conscience at the bottom. I take 
 the liberty to write thus freely to your lordship, for 
 I don't deny that I am in some pain till I know 
 whether it is true or not." 
 
 Ken calmly replied "that he had declared his 
 mind too fully in his diocese concerning the oath to 
 be misunderstood ; that the pastoral letter to which 
 Burnet alluded had been prepared in consequence 
 of a confident assurance that had been made to him 
 of that which was not true ; and that when, on his 
 arrival in town, having discovered the incorrectness 
 of the statement, he had burned the paper, and ad- 
 hered to his original determination." 
 
 u If this," continues Ken, " is to be called a change 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 277 
 
 of mind, and a change so criminal that people who 
 are very discerning, and know my own heart better 
 than I do myself, have pronounced sentence upon 
 me, ' that there is something more than conscience 
 at the bottom/ I am much afraid that some of those 
 who censure me may be chargeable with more no- 
 torious charges than that; whether more conscien- 
 tious or not, God only is the judge. If your lordship 
 gives credit to the many misrepresentations which are 
 made of me, and which I, being so used to, can easily 
 disregard, you may, naturally enough, be in pain for 
 me ; for to see one of your brethren throwing himself 
 headlong into a wilful deprivation, not only of honour 
 and of income, but of a good conscience also, are 
 particulars out of which may be framed an idea very 
 deplorable. But though I do in many things betray 
 great infirmity, I thank God I cannot accuse myself 
 of any insincerity ; so that deprivation will not reach 
 my conscience, and I am in no pain at all for myself. 
 I perceive that, after we have been sufficiently ridi- 
 culed, the last mortal stab designed to be given us is 
 to expose us to the world for men of no conscience ; 
 and if God is pleased to permit it, His most holy will 
 be done ; though what particular passion of corrupt 
 nature it is which Kes at the bottom, and which we 
 gratify in losing all we have, it will be hard to de- 
 termine. God grant such reproaches as these may 
 not revert on the authors." 
 
 This letter is dated October 5th, 1689. Ken was 
 at that time sojourning in the house of his old friend 
 the rector of Lambeth, Dr. Hooper, who had taken 
 the oaths to the parliamentary sovereigns, and 
 
278 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 daily and hourly entreated him to condescend to the 
 like compliance. Ken at length silenced him with 
 these impressive words : — 
 
 " I question not but you and several others have 
 taken the oaths with as good conscience as I shall 
 refuse them, and sometimes you have almost per- 
 suaded me to comply by the arguments you have 
 used ; but I beg you to use them no further, for 
 should I be persuaded to comply, and after see reason 
 to repent, you would make me the most miserable 
 man in the world." 
 
 As Ken persisted in his refusal to take the oaths, 
 he was served with a writ of ejection on the 1st of 
 February, 1689. Like his friend Turner, Bishop of 
 Ely, he publicly protested against the legality of his 
 deprivation, and expressed himself in severe tones on 
 the conduct of the queen, who was at that time carry- 
 ing on the government in the absence of her royal 
 consort. 
 
 " You tell me," writes Ken to the Rev. Mr. Harbin,* 
 formerly chaplain to Francis Turner, the deprived 
 Bishop of Ely, and now chaplain to Lord Weymouth, 
 " that Mr. Pitts censures the deprived bishops for not 
 asserting their rights in a public manner at their 
 deprivation. If he puts me among the number he 
 does me wrong ; for I, at the time, in my cathedral, 
 which was the proper place, from my pastoral chair, 
 publicly asserted my canonical right ; professing that 
 I esteemed myself the canonical bishop of the dio- 
 cese, and that I would be ready on all occasions to 
 
 * Hound's 4 Prose Works of Ken.' Letter to the Eev. Mr. Har- 
 bin, p. 44. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 279 
 
 perform my pastoral duties. This I did when all 
 were devoted to the Revolution, and waited for sugges- 
 tions which they might inform of. Particularly it was 
 then urged, s that I said I was the lawful pastor,' in- 
 somuch that I was fain to appeal to some less biased, 
 whether my word was not canonical, which I judged 
 as most proper, and a word that the law was a 
 stranger to. I professed, 'that not being able to 
 make this declaration to the whole diocese, I made it 
 virtually to all by making it in the market square." 
 
 Mary, who had probably flattered herself with the 
 hope of submission from her old chaplain, sarcasti- 
 cally observed, " Dr. Ken is desirous of martyrdom in 
 the nonjuring cause, but I shall disappoint him." 
 She prudently took warning by her father s rash pro- 
 ceedings against the seven bishops, of whom Ken 
 was one of the most justly honoured, and ventured 
 not to touch his person, though she rigorously exe- 
 cuted her threat of ejecting him from his benefice. 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Grigg, Ken says, " My brother 
 of Gloucester], Dr. Frampton, the nonjuring bishop, 
 against whom a malevolent party had been got up, 
 is, I hear, out of harm's way in Wales at the present, 
 but I have heard nothing from him. 
 
 " My best respects to my good mother, Mrs. Tur- 
 ner," whom he was accustomed to call by that en- 
 dearing title, " and to dear Miss (Margaret Turner), 
 who, I doubt not, behaves herself with all decency, 
 piety, and humility, as becomes not only the daugh- 
 ter of a bishop, but a bishop in affliction." 
 
 " Dr. Kidder is now said to be my successor, or 
 rather supplanter. He is a person of whom I have 
 
280 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 no knowledge. God of His infinite goodness multiply 
 His blessings on yourself, and on my good friends 
 with you, and enable us to do and suffer His most 
 holy will." 
 
 The see of Bath and Wells was first offered to a 
 faithful son of the Anglican Church, Dr. Beveridge, 
 whose dialogue with his primate (Sancroft) has been 
 recorded in the life of that great and good man. Dr. 
 Beveridge truly followed the archbishop's advice, and 
 refused that rich mitre,* which was eagerly accepted 
 by Dr. Kidder, in an evil hour for himself and his 
 wife. 
 
 The whole of Ken's personal property at the time 
 of his deprivation amounted only to seven hundred 
 pounds, his beloved books, with which he never 
 parted, a silver watch by Tompion, and a small silver 
 coffee-pot. The coffee-pot and watch are still in ex- 
 istence, and are mentioned by one of his biographers, 
 the Bev. W. L. Bowles, as being in the possession of 
 the Bev. Dr. Hawes, of Salisbury, the grandson of 
 Ken's nephew, Dr. William Hawkins. 
 
 Ken on his first deprivation retired to the house 
 of his nephew, the Bev. Isaac Walton, residentiary 
 prebend of Salisbury, where he found a temporary 
 home, until a permanent asylum w T as offered to 
 his acceptance by his former college companion, 
 Thomas Thynne, whom Charles II. had raised to the 
 peerage by the title of Viscount Weymouth. This 
 nobleman, being possessed of a large fortune and 
 liberal heart to use the blessed power which God 
 
 * Beveridge died Bishop of St. Asaph, a comparatively humble 
 benefice, in 1707. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 281 
 
 had given him of doing good, prevailed on Ken to 
 inhabit, and henceforth to consider his own, a suite of 
 apartments in the upper storey of the stately mansion 
 of Longleate, in Wiltshire, commanding a noble and 
 extensive prospect, and far removed from the noise 
 and bustle of the rest of the house. 
 
 Ken's room at Longleate is still shown. It is a 
 spacious, airy apartment, and was in his days fitted 
 up with book-shelves, on which his own library was 
 arranged, and many of Lord Weymouth's books ; for 
 he had the use of the whole of the literary treasures 
 there, to remove to his own sanctum at pleasure, and 
 the society also of the Eev. Sir. Harbin, the friend, 
 and formerly the chaplain, of Turner, Bishop of Ely, 
 but now the family chaplain at Longleate. 
 
 Nothing could be more sweet and pleasant than 
 Ken's abode at Longleate. In order to save him 
 from pecuniary cares, and at the same time to relieve 
 him from any sense of dependence, Lord Weymouth 
 consented to receive his seven hundred pounds, and 
 allow him eighty pounds per annum, in payments of 
 twenty pounds every quarter, to preclude the de- 
 prived bishop from lavishing the whole at once on 
 some case of distress among the nonjuring clergy, 
 which haply ho might deem more urgent than his own. 
 
 Longleate House was a congenial abode for a 
 poet ; it stands in a rich, picturesque valley, sur- 
 rounded by lovely wood-crowned hills. The gardens 
 are still arranged in the antique style of that period ; 
 probably the same walks still exist in which Ken 
 and Harbin walked and spake of holy things, and 
 exchanged tender recollections of departed friends. 
 
282 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Longleate was distant about twenty miles from 
 Ken's episcopal palace at Wells, and he occasionally 
 visited some of his poor old pensioners in that neigh- 
 bourhood, and the village schools he had founded. 
 
 When his own slender resources failed, Ken was 
 accustomed to travel through the country to collect 
 subscriptions for the support of his distressed brethren 
 and their destitute families. These expeditions were 
 at first performed by the deprived bishop on the old 
 white nag, which had been formerly accustomed to 
 carry him when he made his unostentatious pastoral 
 visits # to the villages in his district, to observe how 
 his clergy performed their respective duties. When 
 that humble steed became from age unable to bear 
 his venerable master, Ken travelled on foot, with his 
 staff in his hand, making short stages, catechising 
 and teaching in the schools he had established, and 
 not unfrequently preaching to his old congregations 
 on Sundays, by the wayside or on the village green. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that Dryden, in his 
 modernized version of Chaucer's ' Pilgrims,' intro- 
 duced the portrait of Ken into the description of the 
 'Good Parson.' The following lines have no place 
 in the original, and were easily recognised as por- 
 traying the characteristics of the nonjuring Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells : — 
 
 " Kich was his soul, tho' his attire was poor, 
 As God had clothed his own ambassador, 
 For such on earth his blessed Kedeemer bore. 
 Of sixty years he seemed, and well might last 
 To sixty more, but that he lived too fast ; 
 Eefin'd himself to soul, to curb the sense, 
 And made almost a sin of abstinence. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 283 
 
 ■ With eloquence innate his tongue was armed, 
 Though harsh the precept, yet the preacher charmed : 
 For, letting down the golden chain from high, 
 He drew his audience upward to the sky. 
 And oft with holy hymns he charmed their ears, 
 A music more melodious than the spheres : 
 For David left him, when he went to rest, 
 His lyre, and after him he sang the best/' 
 
 After this graceful compliment to Ken's sacred 
 poetry, the deprived laureate enlarges on the loving 
 doctrine preached by the ejected prelate, and the 
 noble consistency of his conduct : — 
 
 " The proud he tamed, the penitent he cheered, 
 Nor to rebuke the rich offender feared ; 
 His preaching much, but more his practice wrought, 
 A living sermon of the truths he taught." 
 
 The allusion to Ken's preferring his conscience to 
 his bishopric is illustrated with such consummate 
 skill, that persons unacquainted with Chaucer's 
 original text have not detected the daring interpola- 
 tion of these noble lines by the Jacobite poet : — 
 
 " The tempter saw him with invidious eye, 
 And, as on Job, demanded leave to try. 
 He took the time when Richard was deposed, 
 And high and low with happy Harry closed ; 
 This prince, though great in arms, the priest withstood, 
 Near though he was, yet not the next of blood. 
 Had Richard unconstrained resign'd the throne, 
 A king can give no more than is his own, 
 The title stood entaiFd had Richard had a son. 
 
 " Conquest, an odious word, was laid aside : 
 Where all submitted, none the battle tried. 
 He joined not in their choice, because he knew 
 Worse might, and often did, from change ensue. 
 Much to himself he thought, but little spoke ; 
 And undeprived his benefice forsook. 
 
284 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Now, through the land his cure of souls he stretched, 
 
 And like a primitive apostle preached ; 
 
 With what he begged his brethren he relieved, 
 
 And gave the charities himself received — 
 
 Gave while he taught, and edified the more, 
 
 Because he showed, by proof, 'twas easy to be poor. 
 
 This brilliant is so spotless and so bright, 
 
 He needs no foil, but shines by his own proper light." 
 
 Ken's travels sometimes extended as far as London, 
 where he occasionally visited his friend Francis 
 Turner, the deprived Bishop of Ely, and Margaret 
 Turner, in whom he took almost paternal interest. 
 He writes to Bancroft the following record of his visit 
 to Frampton, the nonjuring Bishop of Gloucester. " I 
 made, as I told you I intended, a visit to our good 
 brother of Gloucester, who was not a little joyed to 
 see me. He is very cheerful, and being past eighty, 
 does not only daily expect, but like St. Paul, longs 
 for his dissolution. He has many infirmities of old 
 age, but his eyes are very good, and he uses no 
 spectacles. With all the tenderness imaginable he 
 remembers your lordship. 
 
 " Dr. Bull being in my way, I called upon him, 
 which he took the more kindly because he thought 
 we had as much abandoned him as he seems to have 
 abandoned us ; and the respect I paid him I perceive 
 surprised him, and the rather because he never has 
 taken any notice of our deprived brethren ; but he 
 has reason to value his old friends, for his new have 
 little regarded him." 
 
 This letter has no other date than September 17th, 
 and is only signed " B. and W." 
 
 It is well known that James II., after the death of 
 
KEN', BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 285 
 
 Archbishop Sancroft, was desirous of nominating 
 Ken to the primacy, but Ken declined the shadowy 
 honour. 
 
 Meek and mild as Ken was, and separate from all 
 political excitement, his strong sense of moral justice 
 impelled him to address a stern remonstrance to the 
 new Archbishop of Canterbury, Tenison, in the form 
 of a printed letter, on the eulogistic account of Queen 
 Mary's death-bed contained in the courtly primate's 
 funeral sermon for that princess ; reproaching him 
 with having acted the part of an unfaithful minister, 
 by crying "Peace, peace," when there was no peace, 
 instead of moving her to penitence for her sins and 
 prayers for pardon. 
 
 " You knew her well," he says ; " you had full 
 opportunity of representing to her her need for 
 repentance, and you were no stranger to her story. 
 Did you know of no weighty matters which ought to 
 have touched the princess's conscience? Were you 
 assured that she was in charity with all the world ? 
 Did you know of no enmity between her and her 
 father? no variance between her and her sister? 
 Was the whole Eevolution managed with that purity 
 of intention, that perfect iunocence and exact justice, 
 that tender charity and that irreproachable equity, 
 that there was nothing amiss in it, no remarkable 
 failings that might deserve one penitent reflection? 
 You cannot, you dare not say it ; and if you should, 
 out of your own mouth I can condemn you ; for you 
 yourself, in your serious intervals, have passed as 
 severe a censure on the Revolution as any of those 
 they call Jacobites could do. You have said more 
 
286 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 than once 'that it was all an unrighteous thing.' 
 Why then did you not deal sincerely with this dying 
 princess, and tell her so ? when you must be 
 sensible that in steering her conscience wrong you 
 shipwrecked your own. What was it, sir, that moved 
 you to act thus notoriously against your own con- 
 science ? Was it the fear of losing the favour of the 
 Court which made you rather venture the indignation 
 of Heaven, when that fear was vain ? for it had been 
 no offence against the government to have persuaded 
 a dying daughter to have bestowed one compassionate 
 prayer on her afflicted father, had he been ever so 
 unnatural ; though here the case was quite differ- 
 ent, for he was one of the tenderest fathers in the 
 world, .... 
 
 "You tell us she was one whom you are well 
 assured had all the duty in the world for other 
 relations, which after long and laborious considera- 
 tions she judged consistent with her duty to God and 
 her country 
 
 " But what do you mean, sir, by other relations ? 
 Her royal father, her mother-in-law, and her brother ? 
 k All the duty in the world ' is a comprehensive term ; 
 but wherein, sir, did any part of her duty appear ? 
 Why are you not so just to her and to yourself as to 
 give us some of those expressions of filial duty which 
 flowed from her ? Why do you not preserve some 
 instances of her mildness and mercifulness to her 
 enemies whom you know she treated as such, although 
 their only crime was being her father's friends ? It 
 would have been much for her honour, and convinced 
 the world that the manner of her death had been in 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 287 
 
 all respects truly Christian ; it would have been 
 much for your reputation, and much for the credit of 
 the Revolution, in which you are as great a zealot as 
 a gainer." 
 
 The primate did not venture to reply to these 
 home strokes ; they were indeed unanswerable, and 
 therefore silence in that case was wisdom. 
 
 The government looked with an evil eye on the 
 deprived bishop, and watched for occasions against 
 him ; but the only pretext they could find for annoy- 
 ing him was on the score of his charitable collections 
 for the ejected nonjuring clergy and their destitute 
 families. They cited him to answer for this misde- 
 meanour before the Privy Council. 
 
 Ken, who was at that time suffering under a severe 
 and painful bodily complaint, was residing in the 
 house of one of his sisters, in a secluded country 
 village, when the king's messenger arrived. Ken 
 immediately surrendered himself, and notwithstand- 
 ing the state of his health, which rendered travelling 
 both painful and dangerous at that season, agreed 
 to accompany him to London without the slightest 
 hesitation. He presented himself at once at the door 
 of the Privy Council Chamber without being admitted. 
 On the second occasion he was served with a warrant 
 citing him to appear on the 28th of April, 1696. 
 
 With the courageous firmness and moral dignity of 
 a martyr, Ken appeared before the Privy Council at 
 the appointed time, in his patched and threadbare 
 episcopal dress, and answered all the interrogatories 
 that were addressed to him by their lordships. The 
 printed paper, called " A model of a fund of charity 
 
288 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 for the needy suffering," subscribed by the deprived 
 bishops, being shown him, he was asked, " Did you 
 subscribe that paper?" 
 
 " My lords, I thank God I did," replied Ken ; 
 " and it had a very happy effect, for the will of my 
 blessed Eedeemer was fulfilled by it, and what we 
 were not able to do was done by others ; the- hungry 
 were fed, and the naked were clothed ; and to feed 
 the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to visit those 
 who are sick or in prison, is that plea which all your 
 lordships, as well as I, as far as you have had oppor- 
 tunity, must make for yourselves at the great day ; 
 and that which you must all plead at God's tribunal 
 for your eternal absolution, shall not, I hope, be 
 made my condemnation here." 
 
 " No one here condemns charity," said his accusers, 
 " but the way you have taken to procure it. Your 
 paper is illegal." 
 
 "My lords," returned Ken, "I can plead to the 
 evangelical part. I am no lawyer, but I have been 
 very well assured that it is legal. The first person 
 who proposed it to me was Mr. Kettlewell, that holy 
 man who is now with God. I subscribed it, and went 
 into the country to my retirement in an obscure 
 village, where I live above the suspicion of giving 
 umbrage to the government. My lords, I was not 
 active in making collections in the country, but good 
 people of their own accord sent me towards fourscore 
 pounds, of which about one half is still in my own 
 hands. 
 
 " I beg your lordships to observe this clause in our 
 paper, 'as far as in law we may; ? and to receive 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 289 
 
 such charity as in law we may, and to distribute it is 
 a thing also, I presume, which in law we may." 
 
 It was then objected, that some persons of ill lives 
 had been relieved from this money. To this charge 
 Ken intrepidly rejoined : — 
 
 11 My lords, in King James's time there were about 
 a thousand or more imprisoned in my diocese who 
 had been engaged in the rebellion of the Duke of 
 3Ionmouth, and many of them were such as I had 
 reason to believe were ill men and devoid of all 
 religion, and yet for all that I thought it my duty 
 to relieve them. It is well known in the diocese 
 that I visited them night and day, and I thank God 
 I supplied them with necessaries myself so far as I 
 could, and encouraged others to do the same, and yet 
 King James never found the least fault with me. 
 If I am now charged with misapplying what was 
 given, I beg of your lordships that St. Psul's aposto- 
 lical rule may be observed, ' Against an elder receive 
 not an accusation but before two or three witnesses,' 
 for I am sure none can testify that against me. 
 What I gave was in the country, and I gave to none 
 but those who did both want and deserve it. The 
 last that I gave was to two poor widows of deprived 
 clergymen, one whereof was left with six, the other 
 with seven small children." 
 
 It was then objected that the paper was of the r 
 nature of a brief calculated to supersede briefs issued 
 by the king's authority ; and that by promulgating 
 the said paper he had usurped ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction. 
 
 u 
 
290 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " My lords," rejoined the deprived prelate, " I 
 never heard that begging was a part of ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction ; and in this paper we are only beggars, 
 which privilege I hope may be allowed us. 
 
 " I doubt not," he added, " but your lordships may 
 have had strange misinformation concerning this 
 paper ; but having sincerely told you what part I 
 had in it, I humbly submit myself to your lordships' 
 justice. I presume you will come to no immediate 
 resolution concerning me, and having voluntarily 
 surrendered myself — the warrant never having been 
 served on me till I had twice attended here, this 
 being the third time — and my health being infirm — 
 I beg this favour of your lordships, that I may return 
 to my sister's house, where I have hitherto lodged, 
 which is a place the messenger knows well, and that 
 I may be no otherwise confined till I have received 
 your lordships' final resolution." 
 
 The council acceded to his request, and he with- 
 drew ; but they sent their messenger after him to tell 
 him that they required him to send a copy of his 
 answers in writing. Ken complied with their demand 
 as well as he could, by writing down from memory a 
 minute of what had passed in the council chamber, 
 prefacing it, as he did all his letters and papers, with 
 this sentence, " All glory be to God," and signing it, 
 " Tho. Bath and Wells, deprived." 
 
 The government was ashamed, or more probably 
 afraid, of offering him any further molestation, and 
 he pursued his labours of love uninterrupted, save by 
 the bodily sufferings to which his constitutional 
 malady subjected him. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 291 
 
 The Reverend John Kettlewell, to whom Ken 
 alluded "as now with God," was one of the most 
 celebrated of the nonjuring divines. He had drawn 
 up the model of a charitable fund for the mainte- 
 nance of the ejected clergy, and recommended the 
 deprived bishops to issue a pastoral letter, inviting 
 all good Christians to contribute to the support of 
 those sufferers for conscience' sake. Kettlewell, who 
 was then in declining health, died before his plan was 
 acted upon. Ken attended him in his last illness, 
 and administered the sacrament to him. After his 
 decease, Ken read the burial service over him, wear- 
 ing his lawn sleeves and episcopal robes. It was the 
 last time he publicly performed any of the offices of 
 the Church in this dress. 
 
 During his weary nights of agonizing unrest, Ken 
 endeavoured to improve the time by the composition 
 of poems, which he entitled ' Anodynes/ which bear 
 affecting testimony to his patient endurance of the 
 pains with which he was at times visited. 
 
 Ken composed an epistle dedicatory to his gene- 
 rous friend, Lord Weymouth, in which some bio- 
 graphical notices occur ; for he draws a comparison 
 between his own adverse fortunes and the sacred 
 hymnist, Gregory, one of the earliest lyric poets of 
 the Greek Church, who, forced to forsake his 
 ministry by the furious and factious controversies 
 that even then began to corrupt the primitive 
 Christian Church, retired to his own paternal inherit- 
 ance, and quietly employed himself in providing 
 and organizing an hymnology, both words and 
 music, for the Church he dearly loved. 
 
292 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Ken observes to his beneficent protector, that he 
 had " no cottage " wherein to seek shelter. Perhaps 
 he thought of his brother Sancroft's paternal ground 
 in Suffolk — for Gregory's inheritance suggested no 
 such words as these : — 
 
 t; When I, my lord, crushed by prevailing might, 
 No cottage had where to direct my flight ; 
 Kind Heaven me with a friend illustrious blest, 
 Who gave me shelter, affluence, and rest. 
 In this alone I Gregory outdo ; 
 That I much happier refuge have with you ; 
 •Where to my closet I to hymns retire, 
 And I on this side Heaven have nothing to desire. 
 
 " Two annual weeks* it is, and more, since pain 
 Within my tender nerves began its reign ; 
 Between my couch and chair my days I waste, 
 And of a book have but a vapid taste. 
 As thirsty deer at Mle's refreshing brink, 
 E'er they forsake his bed, by snatches drink ; 
 Still rolling to and fro their tremulous eyes, 
 Lest the leviathanf should them surprise ; 
 Thus, I at author's sip can make no stay ; 
 Pain from attention forces me away — 
 Pain hunting me — I seek the sacred muse — 
 Yerse is the only laudanum I use." 
 
 This narcotic had, by the physicians of Louis XIV., 
 been introduced contemporaneously with the youth 
 of Ken, to still the tortures of patients in acute 
 pain ; but we think, by the foregoing observation, 
 that Ken had found — what all invalids will sooner 
 or later — that the reaction of opiates is worse than 
 any disease. 
 
 * Fourteen years. f Crocodiles. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AXD WELLS. 293 
 
 He continues his biographical notices : — 
 
 44 1, by a stranger from my fold exiled, 
 While ray flock stray in the unguarded wild ; 
 Still for my charge the tenderest care retain, 
 Exposed to latitudinarian bane. 
 Like Gregory of St. Paul, Id learn to teach, 
 And warn in hymns all souls within my reach." 
 
 The prosperous bishops of the dominant Revolu- 
 tion are, under this autobiographical poem, figured 
 in comparison with those who, in the throes and 
 troubles of the primitive Christian Church, had tor- 
 mented her early hymnologist, Gregory. 
 
 " Who, with proud, noisy prelates tired, 
 
 Whose antichristian spite his fall conspired ; 
 
 Who had shook off their Master's badge of love, 
 
 Who chose the serpent and despised the dove ; 
 
 These mitred traitors the Church exposed, 
 
 And with the world's time-serving factions closed ; 
 
 Led the broad way to dire eternal fate. 
 ***** 
 
 Then Gregory prayed for Jesus to provide 
 For the dear flock he left a worthy guide ; 
 A pilot learn'd, and wise, and faithful, grave, 
 And fit for steerage o'er the troubled wave." 
 
 The introduction to his grand and latest course of 
 hymnology presents the lovely picture of a southern 
 woodland chapel dressed with the flowers that grow- 
 in the healthful air and refresh the barren soil. 
 
 Eloquently, and with that sweet simplicity which 
 is the great charm of sacred poetry, does Ken de- 
 scribe this humble flower-decked chapel in the woods 
 of South Anglia. Pope need not have been ashamed 
 of the lines — 
 
 " There is a vale which shady woods surround, 
 Where the sweet air perfumes the barren ground ; 
 
294 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 No savage man or beast that place infests — 
 
 No impious oath the conscience there molests ; 
 
 To this a humble oratory joined, 
 
 With greens and fragrant flowers each morning lined ; 
 
 A bible on a little altar lay, 
 
 Paten and chalice were of whitened clay." 
 
 There is nothing more touching in Ken's four 
 volumes of devotional poetry than these four per- 
 sonal lines, written as it were on the brink of the 
 grave : — 
 
 " I, the small dolorous remnant of my days, 
 Devote to hymn my great Kedeemer's praise ; 
 And nearer as I draw toward heavenly rest, 
 The more I love the employment of the blest." * 
 
 * ' Works of the Eight Keverend Learned and Pious Thomas 
 Ken, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.' 4 vols. 1721. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 295 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Whenever Longleate House was full of gay festive 
 company Ken used to retreat to Naish House, at 
 Portishead, six miles from Bristol, the residence of 
 two of his old friends, maiden ladies of the name of 
 Kemeyse, who had given up the world and devoted 
 themselves to a life of devotion and charity, and 
 were infinitely happy to relieve and cherish the 
 deprived bishop, whom they greatly reverenced for 
 his devoted piety, and often employed him to distri- 
 bute relief to the distressed deprived clergy and their 
 families. 
 
 Ken lamented, and was desirous of healing the 
 schism which the conscientious scruples of himself 
 and his nonjuring brethren had unavoidably created 
 in the Church of England. 
 
 The deprived Bishop of Norwich, William Lloyd, 
 wrote a very earnest letter to him on the death of 
 William III., entreating him to hasten to London, 
 to consult with their nonjuring brethren for their 
 comfort and assistance in that conjuncture. 
 
 But Ken, who was struggling with an agonizing 
 malady, and earnestly desired to avoid all political 
 agitation, replied, addressing his letter as he always 
 did all communications to that prelate under the 
 
296 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 feminine designation of Mrs. Hannah Lloyd, intimat- 
 ing " that his counsel and assistance were not worth 
 a London journey, which was consistent neither with 
 his purse, his convenience, health, nor inclination; 
 that he had quite given over all thoughts of re- 
 entering the world, and nothing should tempt him to 
 any oath ; but he heartily desired an expedient could 
 be found for putting an end to the present schism." 
 
 Lloyd wrote to him in an expostulatory strain, 
 commenting on some points of his letter, which had 
 greatly disappointed the expectations of the more 
 ardent members of their party. Ken replied again, 
 briefly, but decidedly, declining to come forward in 
 the manner desired. His allusion to his straitened 
 means is interesting. 
 
 "When I told you," writes he, "that a London 
 journey was not agreeable to my purse, it was no 
 pretence, but a real truth. I am not able to support 
 the expense of it, which all that know my condition 
 will easily believe. I thank God I have enough to 
 bring the year about while I remain in the country, 
 and that is as much as I desire. I have been often 
 offered money for myself, but always refused it, and 
 never take any but for to distribute, and in the 
 country I have nothing now for that good use put 
 into my hands." 
 
 The learned historical antiquary, the Kev. Dr. 
 Thomas Smith, one of the nonjuring clergy, being 
 deprived of his fellowship and all the church prefer- 
 ment which had hitherto supported him, and enabled 
 him to extend his benevolence to many who had 
 known better days, was in his old age reduced to 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 297 
 
 absolute indigence. Ken from his narrow means 
 occasionally relieved, and frequently wrote to cheer 
 him. They were ancient friends, and maintained a 
 confidential correspondence to the end of their days. 
 Dr. Smith in a letter to Ken, dated London, 7th of 
 June, 1707, after acknowledging a kind letter and 
 generous present which he had lately received from 
 him, and returning humble and hearty thanks for 
 both, observes: — 
 
 " I wish I had had the courage ten or twelve years 
 ago to have acquainted you with the course of my 
 studies at that time, in order to have received your as- 
 sistance. Having then, and for several years after, the 
 full and free use of the Cottonian Libraiy, I designed 
 to have written at large the history of the life and 
 reign of that unfortunate great lady, Mary Queen of 
 Scotland, out of original letters and other authentic 
 papers containing all the secret consultations and 
 transactions of state relating to the kingdom and 
 Church of Scotland at that time ; of which an im- 
 perfect account is given by Archbishop Spottiswood, 
 through his want of knowledge of those missives, and 
 a very false, malicious, and scandalous one by those 
 furious incendiaries, Buchanan and Knox. And ac- 
 cordingly I began to lay in store of materials in 
 order to the foundation and superstructure of that 
 work, transcribing myself as much and as far as 
 my weak eyes would suffer, or employing an aman- 
 uensis to do this drudgery for me. But the growing 
 charge and expense being above my narrow fortune, 
 and my modesty not permitting me to address to 
 any rich lord or gentleman, though of virtuous, honest, 
 
298 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and loyal principles, as dreading a repulse, which 
 would have been to me an intolerable kind of morti- 
 fication, I quitted that design, though not without 
 great regret, and betook myself to other studies 
 which were little or no ways chargeable, and which 
 lay within the compass of my own single and un- 
 assisted industry. But I have repented, and I do 
 still heartily repent and am troubled for that culpable 
 omission. My great age, having this week entered 
 upon the seventieth year of my life, my ill eyes, and 
 the loss of those conveniences I enjoyed during the 
 lifetime of my excellent friend Sir John Cotton, and 
 my present peprlexed circumstances, putting me as 
 it were out of a possibility, by rendering me altogether 
 incapable of retrieving that lost game." 
 
 All lovers of historic truth must regret it too, and 
 that the noble design of this worthy documentarian 
 should have been prevented by grinding poverty — 
 poverty incurred for conscience' sake. 
 
 Ken in his reply laments that the letter, having 
 unfortunately been sent to Bristol after he had left, 
 did not reach him so soon as it might otherwise have 
 done. He had mentioned Dr. Smith's distress to 
 Lord Weymouth, who had sent him ten pounds. 
 " As for your design in writing the life of the Queen 
 of Scots," continues Ken, " I am not sorry for your 
 disappointment ; for you would have been engaged to 
 have made some severe reflections, though just, on 
 Queen Elizabeth, which would have given offence, she 
 being the darling of the people ; and I had rather that 
 the odium should fall on another than on yourself." 
 
 In answer to this, Dr. Smith observes, " For the 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 299 
 
 history which formerly I had designed to have 
 written, I believe that I should have done good 
 service to the Church and to religion in exposing the 
 traitorous, the sehismatical, the seditious, and re- 
 bellious principles and practices of the Scotch Pres- 
 byterians ; but I should have had a tender regard to 
 the fame and memory of Queen Elizabeth, whose 
 glorious reign received great blemishes from her 
 indulging her favourite courtiers in their sacrilegious 
 invasions of the revenues of the Church, and from 
 the death of the unfortunate queen, her kinswoman. 
 Eagion di Stato, and the incessant, importunate, and 
 united addresses of parliament and people, and 
 opinions of judges and lawyers, will, I fear, be no 
 good plea at God's tribunal." 
 
 Ken in his reply tells Dr. Smith " that Lord Wey- 
 mouth, with whom he had been talking on the subject 
 of Smith's projected history of Mary Queen of Scots, 
 had assured him he was in possession of papers which 
 would justify all the severe reflections that could be 
 made on Queen Elizabeth." " Yet," continues Ken, 
 * considering how much an impartial relation will 
 disgust the prevailing many, I wish it rather published 
 by another than yourself, she is so much the heroine 
 of the multitude. I doubt not but that she had many 
 and great provocations, but the way she took to free 
 herself will not appear excusable." 
 
 It is no slight proof of the difficulties that impede 
 the course of truth on subjects which are connected 
 with political controversy, when w r e find even the 
 conscientious Ken dissuading his impoverished friend, 
 Dr. Smith, from writing a truthful history of the 
 
300 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 calumniated Mary Queen of Scots, lest it should 
 offend popular prejudices, that were so passionately- 
 entwined with the memory of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 draw attacks on him for unveiling the dark side of 
 the heroine of the ignorant ; while at the same time 
 apprising him of the discovery of documents which, 
 he had been told by his noble patron, would fully 
 justify the view he was disposed to take of that highly 
 eulogised sovereign. Ken himself had probably 
 been taught in childhood to venerate Elizabeth as a 
 nursing mother of the Keformed Church, which doubt- 
 less she was an instrument in the hand of God for 
 establishing in this realm. 
 
 Ken was on a visit to his nephew, Dr. Walton, at 
 Salisbury, during the autumn of 1703, when the tre- 
 mendous storm occurred which caused the death of 
 Bishop Kidder and his wife, who were both killed by 
 an antique stack of chimneys falling that awful night 
 through the roof of their bedchamber — the same pre- 
 viously occupied by Ken, whose ejection from the 
 bishopric saved him from a death horrible for human 
 nature to contemplate. 
 
 Ken's letters to Lloyd, the nonjuring Bishop of 
 Norwich, on the subject of this storm, are peculiarly 
 interesting. After his usual preface, 
 
 "All Gloky be to God," 
 he thus commences : — - 
 
 " My good Lord and dear Brother, 
 
 " I return you my thanks for both yours. I have 
 no news to return, but that last night there was here 
 the most violent wind that ever I knew. The house 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 301 
 
 shaked all the night ; we all rose and called the family 
 to prayers, and by the goodness of God we were safe 
 amidst the storm. It has done a great deal of hurt 
 in the neighbourhood to all about, which we cannot 
 yet hear of; but I fear it has been very terrible at 
 sea, and that we shall hear of many wrecks there. 
 Blessed be God who preserved us. I hope your 
 lordship and your family have suffered no harm, and 
 should be glad to hear you are well. I beseech God 
 to keep us in His holy fear." 
 
 This letter is dated November 27. Two days later 
 Ken had heard the awful tragedy which had occurred 
 in the episcopal palace at Wells, for on the 29th he 
 again writes to his brother in adversity, the deprived 
 Bishop of Norwich : — 
 
 " The storm on Friday night, which was the most 
 violent, I mentioned in my last ; but I then did not 
 know what happened at Wells, w T hich was much shat- 
 tered ; and that part of the palace where Bishop Kid- 
 der and his wife lay was blown down in the night, and 
 they were both killed and buried in the ruins, and 
 dug out towards morning. It happened on the very 
 day of the cloth fair, when all the country were spec- 
 tators of the deplorable calamity, and soon spread the 
 sad story. God of His infinite mercy deliver us from 
 such dreadful surprises. I am assured that no one, 
 either in the palace or the whole town, besides them 
 had any hurt. God keep us in His holy fear, and our 
 dwellings in safety !" 
 
 In his next letter to the Bishop of Norwich, he 
 says : — 
 
302 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " Blessed be God who preserved us both in the late 
 storm ; it is a deliverance not to be forgotten. I 
 hear of several persons who solicit for my diocese, 
 whom I know not, and I am informed that it is 
 offered to my old friend the Bishop of St. Asaph,* and 
 that it is declined by him. For my own part, if times 
 should have changed, I never intended to return to 
 my burden, but I much desire to see the flock in 
 good hands, and I know none better to whom I may 
 entrust it than his; for ^hich reason I write to him 
 this post to let him know my desire that he should 
 succeed, with which I thought good to acquaint your 
 lordship." 
 
 In his letter of the 18th of December, Ken again 
 alludes to the subject of his late preservation from 
 the fury of the memorable storm which had immo- 
 lated the intrusive successor to his diocese. 
 
 " I think I omitted," he observes to the Bishop of 
 Norwich, " to tell you the full of my deliverance in 
 the late storm ; for the house being searched the day 
 following, the workmen found that the beam which 
 supported the roof over my head was shaken out to 
 that degree that it had but half an inch hold, so that 
 it was a wonder it could hold together ; for which 
 signal and particular preservation God's holy name 
 be ever praised ! I am sure I ought always thank- 
 fully to remember it." 
 
 In this awful storm the Eddystone Lighthouse was 
 destroyed ; twelve ships of the line in the royal navy 
 were wrecked, besides many vessels in the merchant 
 service ; colliers, and fishing boats perished at sea, 
 
 * Not Lloyd, but Dr. Hooper. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AXD WELLS. 303 
 
 and the general computation was that more than a 
 thousand lives were lost. 
 
 Ken pursued his journey to Xaish House, where he 
 spent several quiet weeks, while the queen was soli- 
 cited on every side for the appointment of the bishop- 
 ric of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Anne sent for Dr. Hooper, and told him she 
 intended the see for him, but he nobly requested her 
 Majesty to restore it to Bishop Ken. She thanked 
 Hooper for mentioning it, and ordered a nobleman to 
 tell Ken he might return to his see without any oaths 
 being required of him. 
 
 Two great obstacles to Ken s resumption of his for- 
 mer place on the episcopal bench were removed — 
 James II. and "William III. were both dead. Queen 
 Anne's affection to the Church of England was warm 
 and genuine, so that no conscientious objection could 
 be felt to her supremacy. She was both a nursing 
 mother and a generous benefactress to the Church. 
 Yet he firmly but gratefully declined her invitation 
 to resume the bishopric of Bath and Wells, alleging 
 his age and bodily infirmities as the reason of his 
 negation. 
 
 Hearing soon after that the see had been offered 
 to his friend Dr. George Hooper, then Bishop of St. 
 Asaph, and that Hooper had refused to accept it out 
 of feelings of delicacy towards himself, Ken addressed 
 the following noble letter to his conscientious friend, 
 in order to overcome his scruples ; feeling that Hooper 
 could not be otherwise than a blessing to his beloved 
 diocese, for which he had always cherished the pater- 
 nal affection of a true shepherd. 
 
304 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 11 All Glory be to God. 
 
 "My very good Lord, 
 
 " I am informed that you have had an offer of 
 Bath and "Wells, and that you have refused it, which 
 I take very kindly, because I know you did it on my 
 account ; but since I am well assured that the diocese 
 cannot be happy to that degree in any other hands 
 than in your own, I desire you to accept of it, and I 
 know that you have a prevailing interest to procure 
 it. My nephew and our little family here present 
 your lordship their humble respects, and will be over- 
 joyed at your neighbourhood. 
 
 "I told your lordship long ago at Bath how 
 willing I was to surrender my canonical claim to a 
 worthy person, but to none more willingly than to 
 yourself. 
 
 " My distemper disables me from the pastoral duty, 
 and had I been restored, I declared always that I 
 would shake off the burden and retire. I am about 
 to leave this place, but if need be, your archdeacon 
 can tell you how to direct to me. My best respects 
 to your good family. God keep us in His holy 
 fear! 
 
 "My good lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's most affectionately, 
 " T. B. and W. 
 
 "Dee. 6th." 
 
 Hooper, on receiving this tender and earnest 
 entreaty from his apostolical friend, the deprived 
 bishop, ceased to reject the offered diocese which 
 courted his acceptance. The following letter, which 
 
KEX, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 305 
 
 Ken addressed to his friend and worthy successor, is 
 a touching evidence of the paternal interest with 
 which he continued to regard his flock after so many 
 years of banishment : — 
 
 "My VERY GOOD LOED, 
 
 "The last post brought me the news I earnestly 
 expected, and which your lordship's letter gave me 
 hope of, and I heartily congratulate the diocese of 
 Bath and Wells on your translation ; for it was the 
 good of the flock and not my friendship for yourself 
 which made me desire to see you in the pastoral chair, 
 where I know you will zealously 'contend for the 
 faith once delivered to the saints,' which in these 
 latitudinarian times is in great danger to be lost. 
 
 " I could easily foresee that by my concern for you 
 I should incur the displeasure of some of my breth- 
 ren ; but this is not the first instance in which I have 
 dissented from them, and never had cause to repent of 
 it ; and the good of the diocese supersedes all other 
 considerations. I have another wish for the good of 
 the diocese you are to leave, and it is that Dr. 
 Edwards might succeed you there, though he is a 
 person I do not know so much as by sight. 
 
 " My best respects to your good lady, whose pains 
 I can the more tenderly condole from what I feel 
 daily myself. God keep us in Bis holy fear! 
 
 " My good lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's most affectionately, 
 
 " T. K. 
 "Dec. 20th: 9 
 
306 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 After the consecration of his friend Hooper to the 
 see of Bath and Wells, Ken, for the first time, dis- 
 continued his episcopal style and title which he had 
 hitherto persevered in using, and now signed himself 
 " Thomas, late Bishop of Bath and Wells." In the 
 poetical dedication of ' Hymns to the Attributes/ 
 Ken addresses these lines to Hooper : — 
 
 " Forced from my flock, I daily saw with tears 
 A stranger's ravage two Sabbatic years ;* 
 But I forbear to tell the dreadful stroke, 
 Which freed my sheep from their Erastian yoke. 
 But Heaven was superfluently kind 
 In sending them a pastor to my mind, 
 In whom my spirit feels the like repose 
 As old Valerian when he Austin chose." 
 
 Dr. Hooper was equally acceptable to the diocese, 
 from which he never would remove, though offered 
 the bishopric of London on the death of Compton, 
 and subsequently the archbishopric of York, on 
 the decease of Archbishop Sharp, but he refused 
 both. 
 
 Ken's resignation of his canonical title of Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, in favour of Dr. Hooper, exposed 
 him to many bitter attacks from his own party ; for it 
 was treated by the more violent among them as an 
 unworthy concession to the powers that be. It was 
 to no purpose that he mildly explained that his 
 desire to heal the schism, which was producing ruin- 
 ous effects on the Church, rendered it expedient that 
 he should set an example of conceding rights that 
 
 * A Sabbatic year comprehends the period of seven years. Dr. 
 Kidder had occupied the see of Bath and Wells fourteen years. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 307 
 
 were merely nominal, for the sake of securing the 
 services of an unexceptional prelate for his beloved 
 diocese. He was tormented beyond measure by the 
 ignorant, narrow-minded zealots, who even made use 
 of the name of his old friend, the nonjuring Bishop 
 of Norwich, to annoy him, by circulating provoking 
 animadversions which they pretended had been made 
 on his cession. These troublesome busybodies finally 
 succeeded in interrupting the long friendship that had 
 been for so many years established between these 
 holy brothers in adversity, so that Ken suffered him- 
 self to be provoked into writing angrily to his deprived 
 friend, upbraiding him with his supposed unkindness 
 in making such unjust reflections on his conduct. 
 
 More than one unkind letter was exchanged 
 between them, but a little explanation served to set 
 matters right, and produced mutual apologies and 
 hearty reconciliation. 
 
 Queen Anne, by the recommendation of her lord 
 treasurer, Godolphin, settled a pension of two hundred 
 pounds per annum on Ken. His surprise, and the 
 grateful feeling it excited, are thus expressed in his 
 reply to the letter of Hooper, communicating the 
 royal bounty. 
 
 "All Glory be to God. 
 
 " My good Loed, 
 
 " Your lordship gave a wonderful surprise when 
 you informed me that the queen had been pleased 
 to settle a very liberal pension on me. I beseech 
 God to accumulate the blessings of both lives on her 
 Majesty for her royal bounty to me, so perfectly free 
 
308 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and unexpected ; and I beseech abundantly to reward 
 my lord treasurer, who inclined her to be thus 
 gracious to me, and to give him a plentiful measure 
 of wisdom from above. 
 
 " My lord, let it not shock your native modesty if 
 I make this just acknowledgment, that though the 
 sense I have of her Majesty's favour in the pension is 
 deservedly great, yet her choosing you for my suc- 
 cessor gave me much more satisfaction ; as my con- 
 cern for the eternal welfare of the flock exceeded all 
 regard for my own temporal advantage, being so 
 truly conscious of my own infirmities as I am 
 assured of your excellent abilities, of which the 
 diocese, even at your first appearance, signally reaped 
 the fruits. 
 
 " God, of His infinite goodness, keep us in His re- 
 verential love, and make us wise for eternity. 
 
 " My lord, 
 " Your lordship's most affectionate friend and 
 
 " Brother, 
 " Tho. Ken, late Bath and Wells. 
 
 " June 1th, 1704." 
 
 The pension now regularly paid to Ken by Queen 
 Anne entirely relieved him from the pecuniary 
 cares that had for so many years beset him. He 
 was now enabled to indulge his benevolent inclina- 
 tions to extend relief to many cases of distress ; but 
 even then his charity occasionally outran his means, 
 and compelled him to resort to his old plan of solicit- 
 ing others to co-operate with him in extending aid in 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 309 
 
 cases of necessity when his own supplies failed. He 
 writes with affectionate freedom to his successor in 
 the episcopate at Bath and Wells, his dear familiar 
 friend, Dr. Hooper, for wine for a sick patient in whom 
 both were interested, and who had previously been 
 assisted by Hooper : — 
 
 " I have sent my servant to beg of your lordship 
 two or three bottles of canary for a sick friend, 
 which the doctor commends to him. Your lord- 
 ship gave the whole family so seasonable and 
 sensible a consolation, that it revived the whole 
 family, and it gave me very great satisfaction to see 
 my friend do an act of so great, so free, and so 
 well-timed a charity. The good man is full of 
 resignation to the Divine will, and has an humble 
 confidence of a blessed immortality. He has slept 
 this night as well as could be expected, and is asleep 
 now, and his pulse, which for some days was unper- 
 ceivable, is now become tolerable. He has strength 
 to turn in his bed, so weak as he is, and to expecto- 
 rate, and is sensibly mended, and I hope God will 
 restore him, which will be a blessing next to miracu- 
 lous. He has his understanding perfectly. 
 
 " My best respects to your good lady, and to the 
 three young gentlewomen, and to Mr. Guilford. 
 
 " I beseech God to make us wise for eternity. 
 
 " My good lord, 
 " Your lordship's most affectionate friend and 
 
 " Brother, 
 "Tho. Ken, late Bath and Wells."* 
 
 * Bound's * Prose Works of Ken/ 80. 
 
310 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Ken had been much let and hindered in his 
 friendly and charitable journeys by the death of his 
 old white horse, and when Dr. Hooper, who saw 
 with much concern how unfit he was to perform the 
 part of a pedestrian, even for the shortest stage, pre- 
 vailed on him to purchase another, it does not appear 
 to have been a very sturdy or serviceable steed. 
 
 "I am now at Sarum," writes Ken, to the nonjur- 
 ing Bishop of Norwich, " where I have been detained 
 by a lame horse, but I hope to be gone, God willing, 
 to-morrow, and to be at Naish on Saturday or 
 Monday, there to spend my Lent."* Here the vener- 
 able Christian forgets to dwell on the trouble and 
 inconvenience the disability of his steed had caused 
 him, and expresses the comfort he felt at his worthy 
 choice of a successor to his episcopate. 
 
 " You cannot imagine," pursues he, " the universal 
 satisfaction expressed for Dr. Hooper coming to my 
 see ; and I make no doubt but that he will rescue 
 the diocese from the apostacy * from the faith once 
 delivered to the saints ' which at present threatens us, 
 and from the spirit of latitudinarianism, which is a 
 common server of all heresies imaginable ; and I 
 am not a little satisfied that I have made the best 
 provision for my flock which was possible in our 
 present circumstances. God keep us in His holy 
 fear." 
 
 This letter is dated February 21st. He writes 
 again on the 27th, to express his commiseration of 
 the paroxysms of pain his deprived brother of Nor- 
 wich had been suffering from some bodily complaint, 
 
 * Bound's ' Prose Works of Ken,' 81. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 311 
 
 the particulars of which had been communicated in 
 a letter Ken found waiting for him at Naish, where 
 his arrival had been delayed for several days by the 
 aforesaid lame horse. 
 
 On the deaths of Frampton of Gloucester, in 1708? 
 and subsequently Lloyd of Norwich, January 1st, 
 1710, Ken was left the last survivor of the deprived 
 bishops. 
 
 A few days after the death of Lloyd he received 
 a letter from Dodwell, one of the leaders of the non- 
 juriug churchmen, suggesting the propriety of filling 
 the sees of the deceased prelates, and requesting him 
 to declare whether he so far claimed his rights as to 
 justify the continuance of separate communions on 
 his account. 
 
 " In that you are pleased to ask me whether I 
 insist on nw episcopal claims," replied Ken, " my 
 answer is that I do not ; and that I have no reason 
 to insist, in regard that I made cession to my 
 present most worthy successor, who came into the 
 fold by my free consent and approbation. As for 
 any clandestine claim, my judgment was always 
 against it, and I had nothing to do with it, foreseeing 
 that it would perpetuate a schism, which I found 
 very afflicting to good people scattered in the 
 country, where they could have no divine offices per- 
 formed. I was always tender of the peace of the 
 Church, especially in this age of irreligion." 
 
 To Eobert Xelson, who also wrote to ask the like 
 question, similar answers were returned by Ken ; on 
 which both Dodwell and Kelson went to church, with 
 many other nonjurors, on the 26th of February, the 
 
812 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 first Sunday in Lent This important step towards 
 healing the schism which for upwards of twenty 
 years had rent the reformed Church of England was 
 a soothing nunc dimittis to Ken. Up to the beginning 
 of that year he had continued his apostolical labours 
 in visiting and catechising his schools, regardless of 
 weariness and bodily suffering ; but the state of his 
 health required him to go to Bristol for the benefit 
 of the hot wells. He remained there all that 
 summer and part of the autumn without experienc- 
 ing much, benefit, 
 
 In November he removed to Leweston, near Sher- 
 borne, in Dorsetshire, the seat of his friend, the 
 Hon. Mrs. Thynne, sister-in-law to Lord Weymouth. 
 There he was stricken with dead palsy, which 
 disabled one side, and confined him to his chamber 
 till March, 1711, when he determined to»go to Bath, 
 under the idea that the waters there might restore 
 him, though he was now afflicted with dropsy. 
 Neither the remonstrances of his physicians, who 
 perceived how unfit he was to undertake the journey, 
 nor the persuasions of his kind hostess, could prevail 
 on him to give up the attempt. Mrs. Thynne sent 
 him in her own coach as far as Longleate, where he 
 paused to rest on the Saturday, March 9th. He 
 occupied himself that evening in arranging his papers, 
 and burning many which he did not consider it 
 desirable to keep. The following day he was not so 
 well. On the Monday he was entirely confined to 
 his bed, which he never left again. 
 
 Dr. Mere wet her of Bath, and Dr. Bevison of 
 Devizes, attended him. His case was hopeless from 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 313 
 
 the first. Iii answer to his inquiry, " how long he 
 had to live," they told him " not more than two or 
 three days." 
 
 * God's will be done," was his reply. 
 
 When he perceived his last hour drew nigh, he put 
 on his shroud, which had been prepared for years and 
 was always at hand, and prepared himself with holy 
 calmness for death. 
 
 He appeared desirous to send a message to his 
 Mend Bishop Hooper, by his servant, but his speech 
 had ceased to be intelligible. 
 
 He dozed much the last day or two before he died, 
 and peacefully departed this life on the 19th of 
 March, 1711, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. 
 
 He bequeathed all his books, save those of which 
 his lordship had duplicate, to his friend and bene- 
 factor, Lord Weymouth, to whom he expressed the 
 most lively gratitude for his signal kindness. 
 
 The proceeds of a legacy, which a faithful friend 
 had left him a short time before his death, enabled 
 him to testify his regard to a few dear ones, to whom 
 he would otherwise have been unable to bequeath 
 anything but his loving remembrance. His will con- 
 tains, above all, the following noble confession of 
 his faith : — 
 
 "As for my religion, I die in the Holy Catholic 
 and Apostolic faith professed by the whole Church 
 before the disunion of East and West; more 
 particularly, I die in the communion of the Church 
 of England, as it stands distinguished from all Papal 
 and Puritan innovations, and as it adheres to the 
 doctrine of the Cross." 
 
314 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Ken always carried a Greek Testament in his 
 bosom; it is still in existence, and the fact that it 
 opens of itself at the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, 
 testifies that his favourite study was on the resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 He was buried March 21st, two days after his 
 death, under the chancel window of the church of 
 Frome, Selwood. The remains of the deprived bishop 
 were attended to the grave by true-hearted mourners ; 
 the children from the village school he had established 
 and taught followed in silence and tears. 
 
 His funeral was solemnized according to the ritual 
 of the Church of England, and took place at dawn of 
 day. Just as the last spade of earth was cast on the 
 grave the sun rose, and the children spontaneously 
 broke forth with one voice into that holy and familiar 
 strain, "Awake, my soul, and with the sun," from 
 the Morning Hymn of the departed prelate, which 
 thus appropriately closed his obsequies. A plain 
 iron grating, shaped like a bier, surmounted with a 
 recumbent mitre and pastoral staff, marks his resting- 
 place. Some generous persons in 1844 enclosed it 
 within a Gothic railing. 
 
 A quotation from the original and touching lines 
 with which Lord Houghton, better known to the 
 lovers of poetry and moral justice as the Honourable 
 Monckton Milnes, M.P., has commemorated his visit 
 to the grave of Bishop Ken, cannot be otherwise than 
 acceptable to our readers. 
 
 " Let other thoughts, where'er I roam, 
 Ne'er from my memory cancel, 
 The coffin-fashioned tomb at Frome 
 That lies behind the chancel ; 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 315 
 
 11 A basket-work, where bars are bent, 
 Iron in place of osier ; 
 And shapes above that represent 
 A mitre and a crosier. 
 
 " Those signs of him that slumbers there 
 The dignity betoken ; 
 Those iron bars a heart enclose 
 Hard bent, but never broken. 
 
 11 This form portrays how souls like his, 
 Their pride and passions quelling, 
 Preferr'd to earth's high palaces 
 This calm and narrow dwelling. 
 
 61 There with the churchyard's common dust 
 He loved his own to mingle ; 
 The faith in which he placed his trust 
 Was nothing rare or single. 
 
 " Yet laid he to the sacred wall, 
 As close as he was able ; 
 The blessed crumbs might almost fall 
 Upon him from God's table. 
 * * * * 
 
 " But preciously tradition keeps 
 The fame of holy men ; 
 So there the Christian smiles or weeps 
 For love of Bishop Ken." 
 
 Ken's epitaph, written during his life, for himself, 
 with his own hands, is as follows : — 
 
 "May the here-interred Thomas, late Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells (uncanonically deprived for not 
 transferring his allegiance), have a perfect consum- 
 mation of bliss both in body and soul at the Great 
 Day, of which God keep me always mindful." 
 
 William Hawkins claimed the privilege of editing 
 the posthumous papers of Ken, from verbal leave 
 given him by the author at Leweston. He had no 
 
316 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 other authority, as he expresses himself in his epistle 
 dedicatory to Thomas, the second Lord Weymouth, 
 "than his own sacred promise'' that such was the 
 case. 
 
 They were printed very incorrectly in 1721, with 
 an epistle dedicatory to Thomas, the second Lord 
 Weymouth, great nephew to Ken's old friend and 
 benefactor, and a loving friend himself to his uncle's 
 honoured guest, as we may gather from the preface. 
 The first edition, avowedly printed from manuscript, 
 was published for William Hawkins, Esq., and sold 
 by John Wyatt, at the Eose, St. Paul's Churchyard. 
 Hawkins was a Temple barrister and nephew to Ken. 
 The wish of Ken's heart was fulfilled by the love and 
 reverence with which the Anglican Church, and even 
 those of its careless and time-serving supplanters, 
 welcomed these four volumes ; so exquisite is the 
 lustre of the gems that radiate through the heaps of 
 incorrectness or of printer's mistakes with which they 
 are loaded, owing to the inexperience of his editor. 
 Very soon the Georgian Church lamed his hymns. 
 The Morning Hymn, for instance, is reduced to four 
 verses. Supposing fourteen verses too long, wHo would 
 leave in the dust of ages thoughts and poetry so pre- 
 cious? Who would not use them in a separate sacred 
 lyric to hymn the Most High with change of thought 
 and words ? Surpassing beauty there is in the omitted 
 portion of Ken's Morning Hymn. Let us remember 
 they were composed for the morning invocation of a 
 school then the most celebrated in England, as the 
 Alma Mater of the best ornaments of our Church. 
 Why should they not be restored to their original 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 317 
 
 intent ? Here are many allusions that refer to the 
 training in piety and purity a young fold of Christian 
 children ; not the denizens of dens full of wolf-cubs, 
 as the public schools of the last century too often were. 
 
 Omitted Verses of the Morning Hymn, by Bishop Ken. 
 " All praise to Thee who safe has kept, 
 And hast refreshed me while I slept ; 
 Grant, Lord, when I from death awake, 
 I may of endless life partake. 
 
 " Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart, 
 And with the angels bear a part, 
 Who all night long unwearied sing 
 High praises to the Eternal King.* 
 
 " I wake, I wake, ye heavenly quire ! 
 May yonr devotion me inspire, 
 That I, like you, my time may spend, 
 Like you, may on my God attend. 
 
 " May I, like you, in God delight, 
 Have all the day my God in sight ; 
 Perform like you my Maker's will ; 
 Oh, may I never more do ill ! 
 
 "Heaven is, dear Lord, where'er Thou art; 
 Oh, never from my mind depart ; 
 For, to my soul 'tis hell to be 
 But for one moment void of Thee. 
 
 " Lord, I my vows to thee renew, 
 Dispel my sins as morning dew ; 
 Guard my first springs of tliougM and will^ 
 And with Thyself my spirit fill. 
 
 " Direct, control, suggest this day, 
 All I design, or do, or say ; 
 That all my powers and all my might 
 In Thy sole glory may unite." 
 
 * The exquisite melody of this verse sometimes finds it a voice in 
 our Church. 
 
 t This beautiful line proves the truth of the purpose for which 
 Ken composed this hymn. 
 
318 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Our Church lyrist celebrated the saints' days, 
 remembering the communion with saints is enjoined 
 by our Church, but keeping the skilful pilot's hand 
 on the helm, and thus steering clear of worship- 
 ping those blessed fellow-creatures. The first of our 
 specimens has an innocent pretty quaintness, won- 
 derfully pleasing to those children to whom it has 
 been read. 
 
 On God's Holy Innocents. 
 
 " Bless'd Jesus, on the babes who bled 
 For His sole sake, high favours shed ; 
 
 By happy deaths secure, 
 
 From ills they might endure ; 
 Of losing Heaven from danger freed, 
 To Heaven sent with early speed. 
 
 " Those guardians, children sent to aid, 
 Came down like doves array'd ; 
 
 (Their innocence to paint) 
 
 Each took his infant saint 
 'Twixt their soft wings, to Heaven they swam, 
 Like cygnets on the feather'd dam." 
 
 St. Stephen, the first Christian Deacon and Martyr. 
 
 "I sing, my God, the saint this day, 
 Who led the suffering host the way, 
 To rise to glory most sublime — 
 The martyr prime. 
 
 " He, joy was wont, for sinners' sake, 
 In humble charities to take ; 
 St. Stephen kept our Lord in view — 
 And pattern drew. 
 
 " In his Lord's love this saint up train 'd, 
 Would humble deacon be ordain'd ; 
 To human woes still condescend — 
 And poor attend. 
 
KEN, BISIIOr OF BATH AND WELLS. 319 
 
 " May I, my God, by faith have sight 
 Of Jesus standing on Thy right ; 
 And ready, when this world I leave — 
 Me to receive. 
 
 " May I, like him, the influence feel 
 Of faith, love, patience, courage, zeal ; 
 Forgive my foes, for Heaven prepare — 
 And die in prayer/' 
 
 St. James, the first Bishop. 
 " James on the cross saw Jesus dead, 
 And made a vow to eat no bread 
 Till the Lord risen he beheld ; 
 And when our Lord death's shades dispell'd, 
 To this disciple early he appear'd, 
 Dissolv'd his vow, and his sad votary cheer 'd. 
 
 " Bless'd Peter, by the angel freed, 
 Dispatch'd a messenger with speed, 
 Who should to holy James relate 
 The opening of the iron gate. 
 He, to the mother church due deference taught, 
 And the first news was to her bishop brought. 
 
 " In the first synod James alone — 
 Who sat on the Arch-shepherd's throne — 
 The last decisive vote express'd, 
 In which the Christian saints all acquiesc'd. 
 'Twas Jesus' rule, not Peter's, which then sway'd, 
 And Peter to bless'd James submission made. 
 
 '• Oh, happy saint in Jesus' chair, 
 
 Of the Lord's grace giv'n liberal share ; 
 
 You from bless'd Jesus' borrow'd light, 
 
 Shined an example bright ; 
 E'en Jews your righteousness would own, 
 You, by their name of James the Just were known. 
 
 " When at the Paschal feast, your eye 
 
 Could the whole Jewish race espy — 
 
 You on the temple took your stand, 
 
 Jesus you preach'd to all the land ; 
 
 Till by a bitter, hell-directed blow, 
 
 You were forced headlong on the ground below." 
 * * * * * 
 
320 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 St. Philip and St. James. 
 " Bless'd James and Philip on one day, 
 When martyr d, met upon the way, 
 In ether, as they soared to bliss, 
 They join'd in holy kiss ; 
 The bless'd receiv'd them in embraces dear, 
 And joy was doubled o'er the heavenly sphere. 
 
 " We double praises, too, oh Lord ! this day, 
 To Thee, for thy two pillars, pay ; 
 
 For strength — the faith in Asia gain'd, 
 
 Where Philip saving truths explain'd ; 
 For James — by saints most worthy judg'd to be 
 First bishop of the first establish'd see. 
 
 " In preaching Philip spent his might, 
 And little leisure had to write ; 
 
 James a divine epistle penn'd, 
 
 Both had the same salvific end. 
 May we, like them, Thy sacred truth embrace, 
 With strength of faith and stablishment of grace." 
 
 The ardent wish of Ken's heart, to become the 
 Hymnologist of the Anglican Church, was fulfilled. 
 Many of those sweet and holy songs from the gifted 
 musician and lyrist, Charles Wesley, were inspired by 
 the study of these four volumes. His hymn of the 
 Kenewed Heart, often sung with infinite delight in 
 the Church of England, is almost a transcript from 
 Ken's hymn on the same subject. 
 
 The last composition of our saintly prelate may 
 be considered as his Death Hymn. It is the most 
 touching of the collection he called ' The Anodyne,' 
 with which he raised his soul above the tortures of the 
 body, agonized with the lingering dreadful disease of 
 stone. How long he had to endure these sufferings * 
 he has recorded as the " final friend " drew nigh. 
 
 * Twenty years. 
 
KEN, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. 32 L 
 
 " Two lustres* now are well-nigh flown, 
 Since pain has my familiar grown ; 
 
 She haunts me day and night — 
 
 Wounds me with sting and bite ; 
 She on my tender membranes preys, 
 No medicine can reach her where she stays." 
 
 Here are some of the latest thoughts that engaged 
 his mind : — 
 
 " Pain keeps me waking in the night, 
 
 I longing lie for morning's light ; 
 Methinks the tardy sun 
 Forgets he this day's course must run. 
 
 Oh, heavenly torch ! why this delay 
 
 In giving us our wonted day ? 
 * * * * 
 
 " I feel my watch, 1 1 tell the clock, 
 
 I hear each crowing of the cock ; 
 
 Sweet ease, oh whither art thou fled ? 
 
 With one short slumber ease my head. 
 " My curtain oft I draw away, 
 
 Eager to see the morning ray ; 
 
 But when the morning gilds the skies, 
 
 The morning no relief supplies. 
 
 a God's favours darkest clouds dispel, 
 By pains He frights our souls from hell, 
 Melts us to humble tears, 
 And His true love each pang endears ; 
 When, gracious God, I strive to please, 
 I never want for light or ease. 
 
 " Sun, mend not then for me your pace, 
 
 But at your will defer your race ; 
 I am refreshed with light, 
 Than you a thousand times more bright ; 
 
 For when towards chaos you decline, 
 
 I shall have light and joy divine !" 
 
 * Twenty years. 
 
 t This watch was constructed so as to enable him to ascertain the 
 time by feeling the works round the rim. 
 
 Y 
 
LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 DE. WILLIAM LLOYD, 
 
 . BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH, OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY, AND OF 
 WORCESTER. 
 
 William Lloyd belonged to an ancient Welsh 
 family ; he was the grandson of David Lloyd, Esq., of 
 Henblas, Isle of Anglesea— his father w r as Richard 
 Lloyd, B.D., and rector of Tilehurst and Sunning, in 
 Berkshire. William was born at the rectory, August 
 18, 1628. He had no other tutor but his father, who 
 made him an infant prodigy of learning. His pro- 
 gress at eleven years old in Latin and Greek, and 
 even Hebrew, was something marvellous. His father 
 had him entered as student at Oriel College, Oxford, 
 in the Lent term, 1639 ; the year following he ob- 
 tained a scholarship at Jesus College, that resort of 
 Welsh students, when be had only attained the age 
 of twelve years. He rivalled the fame of Wolsey as 
 boy-bachelor, for he was admitted as Bachelor of Arts 
 at Jesus, October 25, 1642, when he had only just 
 entered his fourteenth year. 
 
 Scarcely had William Lloyd snatched his early 
 degree when troublesome times ensued. Oxford was 
 garrisoned for King Charles I. Many , a young 
 graduate threw off cap and gown, and fought for 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 323 
 
 King, for Church, and Alma Mater. " We used to 
 relieve the king's night-watch by bands volunteered 
 among the students and graduates when the royalist 
 soldiery were o'er-wearied. Many a winter's night 
 have I passed in the trenches," says Dr. Arthur 
 Bury, Rector of Exeter College, when some years 
 afterwards there was an insurrection in his college 
 against the visitation of Bishop Jonathan Trelawny. 
 
 William Lloyd was neither old enough or loyal 
 enough to care for any of these things. He renewed 
 his study of Oriental languages with his father, and 
 soon after became tutor to the children of William 
 Backhouse, Esq., of Swallowfield, a celebrated judicial 
 astrologer and alchemist. 
 
 When the Presbyterians and Independents had 
 got their own way at Oxford, young; William Llovd 
 returned to his college. He took, in 1646, the de- 
 gree of Master of Arts, and was ordained by Dr. 
 Skinner, Bishop of Oxford, a very loyal divine. Yet 
 he accepted the rectory of Bradfield, when Dr. 
 Pordage was expelled from that living by the Pres- 
 byterian committee sitting at Oxford. Lloyd gave 
 their " triers," as they were called, complete satis- 
 faction, and was presented to the living by his friend, 
 Elias Ashmole, Esq. But as disputes were raised 
 regarding the right of Ashmole to the patronage, 
 young Lloyd thought it most prudent to resign the 
 preferment. 
 
 Ashmole was subsequently respectably connected 
 with literature, as author of the ' History of the 
 Order of the Garter,' but at this period chiefly noted 
 for his magical, astrological, and alchemical pursuits. 
 
321 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 His intimacy with the learned young orientalist of 
 Jesus College had more influence over the mystical 
 bias of that person's mind than has hitherto been 
 noticed. 
 
 One fact is certain, that Lloyd contrived to foresee 
 very well all that was most profitable for his own 
 interest. While he remained on excellent terms with 
 the Calvinists, he received priest's orders from Dr. 
 Brownrigg, the deprived Bishop of Exeter, in 1656. 
 The same year he went to Wadham College as go- 
 vernor to John Backhouse, Esq., the eldest of his 
 young pupils, who was entered there as a gentleman 
 commoner. And at Wadham the Bestoration found 
 William Lloyd. 
 
 Then commenced that extraordinary shower of 
 preferments which continued to fall on him for forty 
 years. The first was the prebend of Bipon ; then the 
 prebends of Woodford and Willsford, in the cathe- 
 dral of Salisbury, and the presidentiary of Sarum 
 followed. He wrote at this period some remarkable 
 tracts against Popery. He became Dean of Bangor, 
 Vicar of St. Mary's, Beading, Archdeacon of Meri- 
 oneth, and chaplain in ordinary to the king. 
 
 Lloyd next published a book in defence of the 
 Church of England Catholic ; or rather, to use Sir 
 Allan Apsley's actual words, of those of her sons re- 
 proachfully termed " Church Catholics " — Lancelot 
 Andrews, Usher, Jeremy Taylor, besides the eminent 
 Christians who are commemorated in Izaak Walton's 
 inimitable biographies. One would have thought 
 such men, ornaments of that century, required little 
 championizing. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 325 
 
 The design of Dr. Lloyd's book is to distinguish 
 between English Church Catholics and Roman Ca- 
 tholics. He had the rare good fortune to please not 
 only the most distinguished churchmen of the day, 
 but even the Duke of York, who crossed the House 
 of Lords one day to congratulate Dr. Lamplugh on 
 his promotion to the see of Exeter, and inquired who 
 was his successor to the living of St. Martin's-in-the- 
 Fields? 
 
 "Dr. Lloyd," replied the bishop. On which his 
 Royal Highness said, " Dr. Lloyd is a learned and 
 worthy man, and has lately written a very excellent 
 book." Lamplugh was surprised that the duke, 
 who had never spoken to him before, should do it 
 then, only to praise Dr. Lloyd and his book. 
 
 The principal transaction preserved of Dr. Lloyd, 
 as rector of this now densely-populated parish of 
 St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, was his negotiation with 
 Richard Baxter for his meeting-house. Some curious 
 traits of the times are revealed by it. Oxenden Street 
 was then building, and Richard Baxter erected there 
 a place of worship for the use of his sect, but found 
 the speculation disastrous, for Mr. Secretary Coventry 
 instigated the guards of Charles II. to come under 
 the windows and flourish their trumpets and beat 
 their drums whenever Richard preached. Finding 
 that not a word he said could be heard, and that 
 remonstrating with these gentry was dangerous, 
 Baxter sought to dispose of the buildiug. Dr. Lloyd 
 kindly introduced the affair to the vestry of St. Mar- 
 tin's. By his mediation poor Baxter obtained the 
 handsome rental of £40 per annum for the building 
 
326 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 from the vestry, and it was forthwith consecrated as 
 a " Tabernacle "* to St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. 
 
 The death of the Duke of York's infant son, in 
 1677, directed the attention of the nation and of the 
 Church of England to the Lady Mary of York, lately 
 married to William, Prince of Orange, her cousin. 
 The princess, both by inclination and education, had 
 been attached to the Church of England Catholic 
 when she left her native country. There was great 
 anxiety regarding the bias she was likely to take 
 when left to her own guidance in Holland, where the 
 prevalent worship was opposed to all she had been 
 accustomed to venerate. Unfortunately Dr. Lloyd 
 was appointed, by the influence of her late preceptor, 
 Compton, Bishop of London, as the chief of her 
 chaplains. Lloyd, to the great vexation of the or- 
 thodox divines of the Church of England,! induced 
 the princess to attend several times the services in a 
 place of worship called the English Congregationists, 
 where the tenets of the fanatic fatalists called 
 Brownists were prevalent. Though Lloyd was re- 
 called on this account, the popularity of his book 
 supported him, and he was welcomed on his return 
 to England as one of the warmest champions of the 
 Church. 
 
 When Titus Oates brought forward his marvel- 
 lously expanding budget of contradictory perjuries, 
 denouncing a " Popish plot for the destruction of all 
 good Protestants," Lloyd not only maintained its 
 credibility, but blew up popular fury to its fiercest 
 
 * Evidently meant as a Chapel-of-Ease. 
 t Lake's Diary. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 327 
 
 flames by liis funeral sermon on Sir Edmondbury 
 Godfrey, the supposed victim of the Eoman Catho- 
 lics. To give effect to this able piece of oratory, 
 which was delivered to an overflowing congregation 
 by Dr. Lloyd in his own church, St. Martin's-in- 
 the-Fields, two tall able-bodied clergymen mounted 
 guard on either side of his pulpit, as his personal 
 defenders, in case the Popish armies, his friend Titus 
 Oates had sworn were making their way under ground, 
 should effect an eruption, and suddenly work upwards 
 into the church, and demolish the preacher before 
 the face of that congregation. 
 
 Dr. Lloyd was greatly censured for refusing the 
 sacrament to Berry, the porter of Somerset House, 
 one of the victims of Titus Oates. Berry declared 
 himself a Protestant, and passionately entreated to 
 be allowed to communicate, according to the rites of 
 the Church of England, before he suffered, solemnly 
 affirming at the same time his innocence of the crime 
 for which he had been condemned to death. The 
 countenance Lloyd bestowed on Turbeville, one of 
 the false witnesses, whose perjured evidence brought 
 the venerable Lord Stafford to the block, was also 
 considered highly disgraceful. Indeed through the 
 whole of that agitating period he made himself very 
 busy, till Charles II., in the hope of getting him out 
 of the way, made him Bishop of St. Asaph. He was 
 consecrated at Lambeth, October, 1680. 
 
 In due time the Popish Plot went out of fashion, 
 and even Lloyd felt mortified at being identified with 
 the party that had encouraged and patronised its 
 authors ; and he wrote an uneasy letter to Sancroft 
 
328 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. ' 
 
 on the subject, partly attributing his countenancing 
 their incredible inventions to fear. 
 
 "I have received," he says, "two letters from Sir 
 Koger L'Estrange concerning Prance, who, it seems, 
 is now in custody ; and I have written him all that I 
 know and can think of on that subject. He also 
 asked me some things concerning Sir Edmondbury 
 Godfrey, which I have answ r ered truly, I am sure I 
 know not how satisfactorily. The reason I have to 
 doubt is, because I frankly told him, concerning that 
 gentleman's death, I am still of the same opinion that 
 I was when I preached at his funeral. I confess I am 
 not able to answer the arguments that I used then, 
 nor I have not yet seen anything to alter my opinion 
 but the informations of Oates, Bedlow, and Prance, 
 which I could never reconcile with what I knew of 
 that story. And their tales, which I durst not contra- 
 dict, I did never countenance or encourage. 
 
 " I write this to your grace, because I was told 
 last night by a gentleman of my neighbourhood that 
 the Roman Catholics of this country have got a story 
 among them of a letter that Oates has written to me, 
 to thank me for the maintenance I have given him 
 in prison, which they say has been lately intercepted. 
 They that hide can find. If there be any such thing 
 it would be sport for Oates to hear that they believed 
 it, and much more to see me treated as they would 
 have me that were the authors of that letter. But 
 perhaps there is nothing in all this but fiction. I 
 let it pass for such. But I acquaint your grace with 
 it, that you may not be surprised if you should hear 
 of any such story. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 329 
 
 "I heartily lament the death of our good friend, 
 my lord of York. He was very useful to the king 
 and the Church in that province. God direct his 
 Majesty in the filling of that see. It is some comfort 
 to me to hear it said that Dr. Jeffreys is like to come 
 into the order upon occasion of this vacancy, though 
 I have not heard in what see. He is a right worthy 
 good man, and the likeliest to keep an ill man out 
 of the order, and therefore I cannot but wish well 
 to his promotion. And what I think I write to your 
 grace, according to the freedom you have given me. 
 With the same freedom I make bold to acquaint your 
 grace that my friend, Dr. Beynell, of Corpus Christi, 
 in Oxford, has told me that without doubt it would 
 be either Dr. Jeffreys, or your grace's chaplain, Dr. 
 Maurice, or Dr. Humfreys, the Dean of Bangor. 
 The first of these has the best interest, but I believe 
 he would not make use of it for this nor perhaps for 
 any bishopric. The second has by much the best 
 parts of all the three. The third is a singular good 
 man, and of all others best knows the diocese, and 
 would be the most acceptable of all men to the clergy 
 and people that live in it. 
 
 " This I say to your grace perfectly out of duty, 
 for I know not whether any of these three, if they 
 knew it, would thank me for saying what I do. But 
 there is another thing wherein I humbly crave leave 
 to speak for my friend ; though I trust I shall never 
 do that, but when it may be for the service of the 
 Church, in my opinion, which I hold always with 
 submission. I speak now for Mr. Jonathan Blagrave, 
 who having married my sister, and buried her with- 
 
330 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 out any child, went afterward to serve the Princess of 
 Orange. He served her Highness five years, in the 
 place of second chaplain, with great acceptance, and 
 would scarce have had leave to come away but that 
 Mrs. Langford had a son that was ready to come into 
 the place. Both while he was there, and since his 
 coming away, her Eoyal Highness has written several 
 letters in his behalf to the Bishop of London, to my 
 Lady Clarendon, and to the Earl of Rochester. Last- 
 summer his Majesty was pleased to take notice of his 
 service, and to promise that he would be kind to 
 him. God be thanked he is not in want, for he has 
 two livings that he got by evicting the incumbents 
 of 'simony, and they are both of them near Oxford, 
 and within ten miles of one another. But he would 
 be glad to have something on her Highness's ac- 
 count, and particularly desires to have a prebend of 
 Worcester, because the living on which he resides is 
 within a little day's journey of that place. I would 
 not ask this for him, but that I know he is a worthy 
 man, and will well become the place, and has a fair 
 pretension to it by the things that I have written. 
 Knowing this, I make bold to beg your grace's favour 
 to him, and what assistance you shall think fit to give 
 in such a matter. 
 
 " I beseech God to preserve your grace's health, 
 now especially while it is so needful to the Church, 
 and to direct and bless all your counsels and endea- 
 vours. I humbly crave your blessing and take leave. 
 
 " Your grace's most obedient son and servant, 
 
 " W. Asaph."* 
 
 * Tanner, xxx. 24. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 331 
 
 It was probably through the instrumentality of this 
 brother-in-law that Lloyd carried on his unsuspected 
 correspondence with the Prince of Orange so long 
 and secretly. He had, however, plenty of hard and 
 difficult work in his obscure Welsh diocese, especially 
 to find clergymen who could preach in the language 
 understood by the people. He makes the following 
 statement to Sancroft, of one among the many dilem- 
 mas in which he found himself involved in the con- 
 duct of his see : — 
 
 "May 4, 1683* 
 
 " There is," writes he, " a nephew of my prede- 
 cessor, one Mr. Thomas Clopton, whom his uncle 
 preferred as well as he could in this diocese from the 
 time of his entering into orders, which was but three 
 or four years before his uncle's death ; that is, he 
 gave him a prebend of about 20Z. per annum, two 
 sinecures worth each of them about 60Z. per annum, 
 and a rectory with cure of souls of about 100?. per 
 annum. 
 
 " This rectory is called Castle, which lies in Mont- 
 gomeryshire, not far out of England, and yet not a 
 third part of the people understands any English ; 
 and though Mr. Clopton, to qualify himself for it, 
 made his uncle believe he had learned Welsh (and 
 he did indeed learn so far as to read a "Welsh sermon 
 once in a parish church, that he might be able to say 
 he had preached in Welsh ; but he read it so that 
 none that heard him could understand anything in it 
 no more than himself), he came thither, and still 
 
 * Tanner, xxxiv. 31. 
 
332 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 continues unable to perform any Church-office in the 
 Welsh language. The people were very much dis- 
 contented at this, as they had cause ; and they sent 
 me their complaint of it at my first coming into the 
 diocese. Thereupon I desired him, as soon as I saw 
 him, to learn their language, and to make himself 
 useful in his cure. He promised he would do what 
 he could ; but said he found it so difficult, that he 
 would take it for a very great favour if I would save 
 him the trouble, by finding him a living of 200?. a 
 year or better in England ; for which, with many 
 thanks, he would resign all he had in this diocese. I 
 promised him I would endeavour to do it ; and lately 
 it has pleased God to give me an opportunity beyond 
 his or my expectation. 
 
 " Dr. Pell, the mathematician, had the next ad- 
 vowson of Malpas given him by the Lord Brereton, 
 who was the patron of it ; and hearing of the death 
 of Mr. Bridge, the last incumbent, the Doctor sent 
 me an earnest request that I would find him a sine- 
 cure of 100?. a year or better, that he might have in 
 exchange for the living of Malpas, which is worth 
 above 300Z. I presently acquainted Mr. Clopton 
 with it, who gladly embraced the condition, and de- 
 sired me to bring it to effect. I told him that when 
 he parted with his sinecures to Dr. Pell, he must not 
 think to make a sinecure of Castle. He was content 
 to part with that also, and desired to keep nothing 
 but his prebend, which I willingly allowed. 
 
 " Thereupon I got him Dr. Pell's presentation, 
 which he has now in his hands. But since I hear, 
 and have reason to suspect, that he intends privately 
 
LLOYD, BISHOr OF ST. ASAPH. 333 
 
 to get a dispensation, and so to hold Castle with 
 Malpas. Such would be a greaf dishonesty in him, 
 and a defeating of my design, which is truly for the 
 service of the Church. I therefore write this to pre- 
 vent him, and make it my humble suit to your grace 
 that he may have no dispensation. If your grace 
 will be pleased to lay aside this letter for him, in 
 case he should come for a dispensation, I humbly 
 desire that this may be given him for his answer." 
 
 At a later period of his episcopate Lloyd writes 
 earnestly, in reply to Sancroft's injunction that 
 undergraduates- should not be ordained for holding 
 livings in the Church, in Wales. There seems both 
 truth and reason in the poor bishop's observations on 
 the difficulty of supplying the ministry. His com- 
 munication is very instructive as to the state of the 
 Church in Wales. 
 
 u I must crave leave," he writes, " to remind your 
 grace that I excepted against the restraint from or- 
 daining them that are not graduates in the university, 
 as being not practicable in our Welsh diocese. We 
 have a great many more cures of souls than we have 
 graduates in this country ; and as most of the people 
 understand nothing but Welsh, we cannot supply 
 the cures with any other but Welshmen. But yet 
 of those whom I have ordained, the graduates have 
 not been always the best scholars. I have more than 
 once seen them shamefully outdone by men that 
 never saw the university. And I never ordained any 
 but them that could perform the exercise required 
 by the 34th Canon of the Synod in 1603. 
 
 " For the state of the Church in Xorth Wales, I 
 
334 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 bless God I do not know any reason we have to com- 
 plain. I am well assured that in these six counties 
 there are not six persons fewer in the communion of 
 our Church than there were in the beginning of his 
 Majesty's reign. And for them that are in the Church 
 communion, who are the generality of our people, I 
 thank God I do not find that they grow worse. I 
 hope they rather grow better ; and that w 7 hich is my 
 greatest comfort, I do not know of one scandalous 
 churchman in this diocese. All seem to be very sen- 
 sible of the great blessing we have in our primate ; 
 and promise themselves that as he had no hand in 
 the breach that has been made in our Church, so 
 he will do all that is possible for him to do toward 
 the repairing of it, and that meanwhile toward the 
 preventing of those hurtful effects that it threatens. 
 
 " I beseech God long to continue this blessing to 
 us, and to make it more and more beneficial to His 
 Church. 
 
 " I humbly crave your blessing, and remain, 
 
 " Your grace's most obliged, and 
 
 " Most obedient son and servant, 
 
 "W. Asaph."* 
 
 Lloyd had now time and leisure for completing 
 his great ecclesiastical work — the 'History of the 
 Government of the Church in Great Britain and Ire- 
 land when they first received Christianity/ 
 
 He was busily engaged in writing and printing at 
 
 * Tanner, xxx. 124. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 335 
 
 the same time, when unseasonably interrupted, first 
 by a summons from Lord Clarendon to attend to 
 ecclesiastical affairs in town, and then by a request 
 to undertake the Lent preaching at Whitehall for 
 Sancroft, Mrs. Lloyd being dangerously ill at the 
 same time. Under these circumstances he writes the 
 following letter and excuse to Sancroft : — 
 
 t; May it please your Geace,* 
 
 " If it had not pleased God to stay me here, bv 
 putting my wife's life in danger for some time, and 
 keeping her ever since in so great uneasiness that I 
 thought my presence with her necessary, otherwise I 
 should have been at London ten days ago, to attend 
 a business t>f my Lord Clarendon's, in which the 
 Bishop of Ely is concerned with me ; and therefore 
 he might very well inform your grace, as he did, that 
 I am to be shortly at London. 
 
 "I thank God at present I do not apprehend my 
 wife to be in danger of her life ; and though she is 
 still in a very low condition, yet, being used to 
 affliction, she is the better able to endure it. I do 
 therefore intend, if matters continue as they are, or 
 be not worse, with God's leave, to go for London on 
 Monday next ; and when my business is over, for 
 which I presume a few hours will suffice, I hope on 
 Thursday to wait on your grace at Lambeth. On 
 Friday I intend to return, being obliged to make 
 all the haste I can, that the press may not stand 
 idle in my absence, and a further delay be put to the 
 work, which has lain too long already on my hands. 
 * Tanner, xxix. 143. 
 
336 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 I shall, as your grace is pleased to require, bring 
 the printed sheets along with me, by which it will 
 appear that I have not been idle, and that it is not 
 nothing which I stuck at, though indeed I do not 
 think it worth the time I spent about it. 
 
 " God be blessed, there remains no other difficulty 
 that I know of, and I am sure there cannot arise any 
 other stop, except from God or his Majesty. The 
 press has not stayed an hour for me these two 
 months ; but I cannot hope to be so much before- 
 hand in my work as to have another week to spare 
 after this that I have promised my Lord Clarendon. 
 Therefore I must entreat your grace to excuse me 
 from preaching at Whitehall. That would take up 
 two weeks at least of my time, one for study, and 
 another for the journey. And though I would throw 
 away my work rather than your grace's health should 
 be exposed to the hazard, as I know it must be in 
 preaching at Whitehall (I know not what I would 
 not suffer rather than this) ; yet since there is no 
 necessity of it, if I should not come, my good brother 
 my lord of Ely being so near at hand and ready to 
 help ; or if no bishop could be had, your grace's 
 chaplains being so very sufficient, I must beseech 
 your grace to order the supply to be made by one 
 of these, or some other whom you shall judge fit. I 
 fear the post is going, and therefore I make haste to 
 crave your blessing and take leave." 
 
 Early in James II.'s reign Lloyd's book appeared, 
 which, although as might have been expected 
 from an author of his imaginative temperament 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 337 
 
 and strong political bias was replete with erro- 
 neous statements, was greatly admired by a very 
 strong party, and procured great popularity for the 
 right reverend author, although the work was vehe- 
 mently answered by the celebrated George Macken- 
 zie, who pointed out all its blunders and misrepresen- 
 tations with unsparing severity. This mattered not ; 
 the book was in great public favour, and Lloyd's zeal 
 against Popery, and ardent expressions of affection 
 for the Church of England, obtained for him the full 
 confidence of Archbishop Sancroft and the rest of the 
 hierarchy, and he received another request from the 
 primate to preach for him at Whitehall, from which 
 duty he excused himself on account of his attendance 
 by the sick bed of the Bishop of Chester. The fol- 
 lowing particulars are very interesting : — 
 
 "Dec. 27, 1685.* 
 
 "May it please your Geace, 
 
 " I have received your order to preach at White- 
 hall on the 21st of February next, which order 1 
 am most willing to obey, and shall do it, w T ith God's 
 permission, if the parliament meet on the 10th of 
 February, or soon after that time. But if there 
 should be a longer prorogation, I must humbly beg 
 your grace's excuse, that I may not be put to that 
 expense of money and time which so long a journey 
 requires, on no other account but only to preach a 
 Lent-sermon. But this, I presume, was your grace's 
 intention in laying this duty upon me, and therefore 
 I am in no fear of being put to the trouble of an un- 
 * Tanner, xxxi. 242. 
 
 Z 
 
338 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 necessary journey to London. I put in that last- 
 word with reflection upon a journey that I made on 
 Christmas Eve as far as Chester without any neces- 
 sity, but, as I thought, to take leave of my Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. By the best information I 
 could get, his excellency was to go from thence im- 
 mediately to Dublin. But I had the satisfaction to 
 know, when I came thither, that he intends to go by 
 land to Holyhead, and in his way thither to honour 
 my house with his company on Monday next. Be- 
 sides this, I had the satisfaction at Chester to see the 
 good bishop, and to find him much better than he 
 was when I saw him in October last. Then, as I 
 acquainted your grace, he considered himself as now 
 dying, and desired me to present his duty to your 
 grace, with his suit in behalf of his chaplain, Mr. 
 Allen, for whom he has been able to do nothing 
 toward his settlement in all the ten years that he 
 had lived with him ; and now he humbly begged your 
 grace would take him into your care. This, which 
 seemed to be his dying request, and which I knew 
 was made for one of great merit, I took upon me to 
 recommend to your grace, which he took very thank- 
 fully, but he could not express it, though he laboured 
 for words, nor could I make him understand what I 
 said more. Now at this visit I found him in his 
 bed, very sensible, and very well able to express him- 
 self. 
 
 " The first thing he asked me was concerning your 
 grace, how you did, and whether you remembered 
 him. When I answered him according to his desire 
 he was sensibly revived with it, and spoke with great 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 339 
 
 warmth of affection, how happy we were in such a 
 primate, and he in such a friend. And when I told 
 him what your grace was pleased to say upon his 
 request for Mr. Allen, he said it gave him great ease 
 in that which was the greatest pain to his mind, and 
 desired me to mind your grace of it when there 
 should be occasion. 
 
 " I think I told your grace what a sermon I hap- 
 pened to hear from Mr. Allen when I was last before 
 this at Chester. He preaches there often, without 
 any obligation, for he has nothing in the world but 
 his fellowship : and yet, though he preaches extra- 
 ordinary well, it is not much more his study than his 
 business. While the Bishop of Chester was well and 
 could study, it was Mr. Allen's business to read for 
 him and to study with him. When he fell into his 
 present disability he committed all his papers of all 
 sorts (which are in many kinds very considerable) to 
 Mr. Allen's care, with allowance to publish what he 
 thought fit. Ever since his great illness he has taken 
 no physic but out of his hand, and is ruled by Mr 
 Allen as a child is by its nurse, and regards not what 
 is said by any other, so that the poor man cannot be 
 spared from his attendance one day, nor many hours 
 of it together. I write this to show your grace that 
 at present he cannot take a cure of souls, though he 
 is very fit for it. But if your grace could find any- 
 thing else for him, that would consist with his at- 
 tendance, the news of it I believe would be the best 
 cordial the bishop could take. I judge so by what I 
 saw of the operation it had when I told him he was 
 in your thoughts. I had besides a great deal of dis- 
 
340 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 course with him concerning other things, but nothing 
 of learning ; and to everything he spoke very perti- 
 nently, and wanted not words. But I was fain to 
 speak so loud, because of his deafness on one side of 
 his head and great difficulty of hearing on the other, 
 that after half-an-hour I was forced to give over for 
 weariness. His physicians think he may continue 
 thus for some years, but they have little hope that 
 he will ever be able to go on with his work ; only for 
 the things that ask no great thought he does them 
 sufficiently. 
 
 " I have here enclosed sent your grace an account 
 of my ordinations at the last of the four times. You 
 will see all things else according to your grace's in- 
 junctions, except the ordination of one Mr. Maesmore, 
 an undergraduate, whom I ordained deacon about 
 three years ago, and now priest. He is exceedingly 
 improved in learning and knowledge within this 
 time, and a pious, sober man, but so poor that he had 
 not wherewith to pay his ordinary fees. I preferred 
 him from Mwyn Clawdd chapel, in Wrexham parish, 
 where he had 11. ill paid, to Meliden, where now he 
 will have 101. a year. But he must do half-a-year's 
 service before he will receive anything. And there 
 has not been a sacrament there since Whitsuntide 
 last for w r ant of a priest in that cure, nor would have 
 been now at Christmas if I had not ordained him. 
 But I was fain to ordain him wdthout your grace's 
 dispensation, for though I would have been at the 
 charge of sending for it, I had not time. The poor 
 man did not offer himself to be ordained because he 
 could not be at the charge. But when I heard that 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST, ASAPH. 341 
 
 that church wanted sacraments, and I knew that 
 there was not a priest to spare in the diocese, I sent 
 for him to be examined when it was too late to send 
 for a dispensation. I beg your grace's pardon for 
 this ; for though what I did was not against any law, 
 it was against an article which, upon your grace's 
 proposal, I agreed to, though I had before objected 
 to it, as being likely to perplex the AVelsh bishops, 
 and those others that are far distant from London 
 and have very poor cures to provide for. I humbly 
 propose, for their sakes, that your grace would be 
 pleased to interpret the word dispensation, that it 
 may be in writing under your hand, without the 
 affixing of any seal, that it may be the sooner dis- 
 patched, and without charge to the persons concerned 
 in it. 
 
 " I did not intend to have written so much as I 
 have done, but I had not time to think what I had to 
 write, that I might have brought it into a less com- 
 
 " I beseech God to add many more years to this, 
 which is near an end, and many more blessings to 
 every year that we enjoy of your grace's truly fatherly 
 government over us. And I beg your grace's 
 blessing on your most obliged and most obedient 
 son and servant, 
 
 "W. Asaph." 
 
 In his next letter Lloyd gives a more favourable 
 account of the Bishop of Chester to Bancroft, but re- 
 ports the dangerous illness of the Bishop of Bangor. 
 He 
 
342 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 " Of my neighbours, I hear the Bishop of Chester 
 gathers strength, and is hoped to be in a fair way of 
 recovery ; but the Bishop of Bangor is lately fallen 
 very ill, and keeps his bed. There is reason to fear 
 he may not be long-lived, because he has been very 
 infirm ever since his last London journey. 
 
 " Upon this occasion, and on all of this kind, I 
 hold it my duty to speak freely to your grace, and 
 to give you my opinion of things in which the Church 
 is concerned, entirely submitting it to your grace's 
 judgment, if this see should be void the fittest man 
 to fill it." 
 
 It is almost amusing to observe how vigilant and 
 unremitting Lloyd is in his observations on the de- 
 clining health of other prelates, especially those who 
 were in possession of richer sees than his own poor 
 Welsh benefice. In July, 1686, he has at last the 
 satisfaction of announcing to the primate the depar- 
 ture of two of these worthy prelates, with suitable 
 lamentations : — 
 
 " And now I am come upon a subject that makes 
 my heart ache to think of it. Before my letter 
 comes your grace will have heard of the death of that 
 most pious, learned, useful man, the Bishop of Ox- 
 ford, who died on Saturday, the 10th instant ; and of 
 that most excellent Bishop of Chester, who died, as 
 I am told, the Thursday following. What wounds 
 are these to the poor Church in her sorrow and weak- 
 ness ! What breaches in the holy order, and when 
 and how to be filled up ? 
 
 " What fresh loads of cares must this bring upon 
 your grace, that are so much overladen already ! 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 343 
 
 God in mercy support you, that His Church may not 
 sink in your arms. If those also should be taken 
 away, how or by whom can she subsist ? God knows. 
 But if it be His gracious will to preserve her, He will 
 do it by such ways and means as He sees best : and 
 oftentimes He raises up those which men see not till 
 He shows them in His work. 
 
 " If there be upon this or any other occasion any 
 service that I can do for the Church, I am ready to 
 receive your grace's commands, and to do what I can, 
 without reckoning the cost of any kind, though liter- 
 ally cost is the thing that I am most unable to bear. 
 And therefore I have spared myself in the subscrip- 
 tion for the French Protestants, and subscribed only a 
 promise that what I do already I will do as long as I 
 am Bishop of St. Asaph, that is, to allow one of their 
 distressed ministers his board and a pension of 20Z. a 
 year. The whole subscription of this small diocese 
 amounts to little more than 350Z. My secretary is 
 now from home. As soon as he returns I will send 
 your grace the whole account of the collection in this 
 diocese. I humbly crave your blessing, and remain, 
 
 " My most honoured lord, 
 
 " Your grace's most obliged and 
 
 " Most honoured servant, 
 
 "W. Asaph."* 
 
 Neither of the two fat sees, whose vacation he an- 
 nounced in the above letter, fell to Lloyd's share ; 
 and all the compliments with which he was accus- 
 
 * Tanner MSS., xxx. 3. 
 
o44 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 tomed to season liis letters to the primate were 
 wasted. Lloyd was undoubtedly a very able letter- 
 writer, and never omitted an opportunity of writing 
 agreeable things to his superiors. In one of his let- 
 ters to Sancroft he says, " The good God that has 
 raised you to that place for public good, long continue 
 you in it, and prosper all your endeavours for His 
 glory." A happy sentence, and without flattery, which 
 renders it the more pleasing. 
 
 He testifies much sympathy for the troubles of the 
 Vicar of Croydon, an unlucky and very poor Welsh- 
 man, in whose behalf he writes to interest Sancroft, 
 in the hope of getting him removed from so trouble- 
 some and expensive a place (where he had been sorely 
 persecuted with vexatious suits by Dr. CI avers) to 
 some other, " where,' 9 continues Lloyd, " he may live 
 quietly, and lick himself whole of the hurts he has 
 got in these wars. I know, for his own part, he would 
 rather be banished into his own country than con- 
 tinue where he is, but his wife is not well made for 
 the rough air of our country ; and, besides, there are 
 very few places in my gift where he can ever hope 
 to recover the charge that he must be at in removing. 
 " I have a scurvy quality of delaying things till it 
 is almost too late to set about them, that makes me 
 now in danger of losing the post. I crave your bless- 
 ing and take leave." 
 
 Lloyd also solicits Sancroft in favour of Monsieur 
 Allix, one of the refugee French ministers, who had 
 at his own desire been admitted into Church of Eng- 
 land orders, and was a candidate for an English 
 living ; to which Sancroft had very properly objected, 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 345 
 
 because he could not preach intelligibly in English, 
 and had not been naturalized. Lloyd considered 
 these matters of no importance, and thus vehemently 
 urges Sancroft on the subject : — 
 
 " Shall such a man as this is — the learnedest man 
 that they had beyond the seas, and the best as far 
 as I am able to judge, the best affected to our Church 
 without controversy, when, having declined all foreign 
 invitations, he has thrown himself into the arms of 
 our Church, and taken her orders, and thereby made 
 himself more hers, and her more his mother than 
 his own — shall he and all his family be suffered to 
 want necessaries in her bosom ? But who can help 
 it ? If I could I should not Have troubled your grace 
 with this request. But I have in my family a minis- 
 ter and a scholar of the refugees. They are my sole 
 charge. I had another minister, whom I have main- 
 tained till of late that he is taken off my hands by 
 the Bishop of Ely. I cannot do anything more that 
 is considerable ; nor, if I could, he would not receive 
 it in the way of eleemosynary charity. And for 
 livings in my diocese, there is not any worth his ac- 
 cepting, nor scarce any sinecure, but of these I have 
 promised the next that shall fall. The next after 
 that he shall have if I live and the law has its course. 
 I should add, if it falls within these three harvests ; for 
 after the third I lay my life he will have no need of 
 it. The meanwhile, that this next harvest may yield 
 him bread it is in your grace's power, and that is it 
 which I humbly propose. I have proposed it twice, 
 I will not do it a third time, for fear your grace 
 should be angry with me, as indeed you have cause 
 
346 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 when I am importunate with you in a thing which, as 
 far as it is of private concernment, is wholly yours ; 
 and as it is of public concernment, which God knows 
 I only consider, yet, so I cannot deny it is much 
 more your grace's concernment than mine. I would 
 add nothing more on this subject, but for an 
 objection or two that were moved on this occa- 
 sion. One was, as I remember, that he was not 
 naturalized. That has not been a bar to others 
 against coming into Church livings, and it ought 
 not to be a bar to him, for he is denizened by his 
 Majesty, which is as much as can be done for him 
 in that behalf, without an Act of Parliament. The 
 other objection was, that he has not the English 
 tongue. I confess he does not pronounce it well, nor 
 speak it without Frenchisms. But this objection lies 
 against one that should be obliged to reside there, 
 and not against one that shall be dispensed with 
 for non-residence, as all rectors have been hitherto, 
 except one that was born in that or as bad an air. 
 What I say now is from the Bishop of Bochester, 
 who said it by chance upon some discourse that hap- 
 pened about Dr. Stradling, without any knowledge 
 of my suit to your grace for Monsieur Allix. Whom 
 having named a second time, I do (as the Friar 
 says, in the ' Conformities/ one ought to do upon 
 every mention of the name of St. Francis) lick my 
 lips, and so humbly leave this matter to your grace's 
 consideration." 
 
 A more agreeable notice follows : — 
 
 " On Friday morning I had the honour to kiss his 
 Majesty's hand, and to receive some gracious ex- 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 347 
 
 pressions, of which your grace will have an account 
 from my Lord of Ely. I pray with a most ardent 
 affection for your grace's good health and long 
 life." 
 
 Assuredly Sancroft must have been weary of 
 Lloyd's perpetual importunity in behalf of one per- 
 son or other. In the spring of 1688 he writes to 
 solicit a place for a man who, when he was the rector 
 of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, had never missed prayers. 
 He says : — 
 
 "I confess it does me good to see your grace's 
 hand now and then, especially when I have no other 
 way to be informed that you are well. But I would 
 not have that satisfaction to myself on those terms 
 that your grace should be uneasy for it one moment, 
 as I judge by myself that every one must be, when 
 he is writing unnecessary letters. 
 
 "I write now at the request of one Mr. Prince, a 
 mercer (as I think) in Paternoster Eow, who has 
 married the widow of Mr. Godfrey that was formerly 
 known to your grace. He desires to succeed Mr. 
 Godfrey in the same place that he had in your grace's 
 favour. And truly I think he is very capable of it. 
 He is that man that scarce ever missed prayers, but 
 never a sacrament, while I lived at St. Martin's. 
 His piety was a great ornament to the Church. It 
 was a jewel set in a ring of all other virtues, which 
 made it shine very much in the esteem of all that 
 knew him. Dr. Tenison, I doubt not, will give him 
 the same testimony for the time that he lived with 
 him in that parish. But I believe this is more than 
 his matter requires. It is more, I am sure, than 
 
348 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 his modesty would allow, if he knew what I had 
 written."* 
 
 So entirely had Lloyd won the confidence and 
 esteem of Archbishop Sancroft, that on the memo- 
 rable occasion of the bishops presenting the petition 
 to the king, praying to be excused from reading or 
 causing the Act for Liberty of Conscience to be read 
 in their respective dioceses, he acted as the substi- 
 tute of the aged primate, whose severe cough inca- 
 pacitated him from exposing himself to the night air 
 in crossing the river from Lambeth to Whitehall. 
 
 The circumstance of Lloyd's secret league with the 
 Prince of Orange, and his own intimate acquaintance 
 with all the business of the press, renders it extremely 
 probable that he was the party who caused the pe- 
 tition, together with a circumstantial detail of what 
 passed between the bishops and their sovereign in 
 the privacy of the royal closet, to be printed and 
 hawked through the streets of London and Westmin- 
 ster at midnight, which so highly incensed the king, 
 and mortified and perplexed the worthy primate and 
 the other prelates who were not in the secret, and 
 felt their honour compromised, that circumstance 
 being in all probability the cause of their imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 Lloyd was at that time employed in preparing a 
 political pamphlet to discredit the reality of the 
 birth of the anticipated heir to the crown. The un- 
 welcome infant was brought into the world two days 
 after the committal of the seven bishops to the 
 Tower, and Lloyd became so greatly excited at the 
 
 * Tanner, xxviii. 15. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 349 
 
 idea of the Princess of Orange being superseded as 
 presumptive heiress of the realm by a popish heir 
 apparent that he determined to leave no stone un- 
 turned to invalidate the claims of her infant rival. 
 
 It is not difficult to trace the organization of all 
 the indelicate scandals regarding the asserted impos- 
 tures, which were published in his book, to the visits 
 Lady Clarendon made to the Bishop of St. Asaph 
 during his imprisonment in the Tower. Lady Cla- 
 rendon was the wife of the Princess of Orange's 
 uncle. She w r as a very lively Court gossip, in 
 which accomplishment she was at least equalled by 
 Bishop Lloyd of St. Asaph. The two met to discuss 
 the most scandalous chronicles regarding the new- 
 born Prince of Wales. Lady Clarendon feeling eager 
 that her husband's nieces should be elevated to the 
 throne, industriously collected a budget of marvellous 
 stories tending to discredit the parentage of their 
 infant brother. These Bishop Lloyd strung together 
 in a pamphlet, which was peppered too highly even 
 for the historical taste of Bishop Burnet, to whom 
 it was shown. 
 
 Lloyd was much caressed by the populace after 
 the trial and acquittal of the seven, but experienced 
 great uneasiness when he learned King James's in- 
 tention of summoning all the witnesses, both ladies 
 and gentlemen, Protestants and Bomanists, who had 
 been present at the birth of the Prince of Wales, in- 
 cluding the queen dowager, and making them depose 
 to the reality of that event before the Privy Council. 
 Sancroft's presence was especially required at that 
 council, and Lloyd, in order to prevent him from 
 
350 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 attending, addressed the following artful letter to 
 him, in the hope of deterring him from listening to 
 the evidence : — 
 
 " Oct. 26, 1688. 
 "My most honoured Lord, 
 
 " I was told the last night as a secret that his 
 Majesty intends to send for all the lords that were 
 present at the examination of witnesses concerning 
 the prince's birth, and to require them to subsign 
 the examinations. This is agreeable enough with 
 that which is printed in the ' Gazette,' viz., that a full 
 and particular relation of this matter will be made 
 public. For the hands of all that were present will 
 add very much to the authority of the relation. I 
 need not say what it will seem to import. Your 
 grace has that to say for yourself which perhaps few 
 others can say that were present. You did not hear 
 a great part of what the witnesses said. If that will 
 pass for a sufficient excuse, your grace has no cause 
 to complain of the badness of your hearing. But 
 surely it will be better for the public if such an ex- 
 cuse can be found as will suffice for all that were 
 present, and if all could agree to give the same ex- 
 cuse. 
 
 " It should seem by the calling of you thither, that 
 either there is, or there is like to be, a dispute con- 
 cerning the birth of this child ; and whensoever that 
 matter comes to be tried you are like to be judges. 
 But if the judges are called to set their hands to an 
 examination of witnesses ex parte, before the cause 
 comes to be heard, it is a strange kind of preoccu- 
 pation that will make all the world of the plaintiff's 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 351 
 
 side, and be rather a prejudice than an advantage to 
 the cause. I hope his Majesty will be aware of this, 
 and will therefore spare you this unnecessary trouble. 
 Howsoever I thought it a part of my duty to let your 
 grace know what I have heard. 
 
 i; With my daily prayers I humbly crave your bless- 
 ing and take leave, 
 
 " My good lord, 
 
 ••' Your grace's most obliged and 
 
 "Most obedient son and servant, 
 
 * W. Asaph.* 
 
 " I want Moses ben Haehman on •' Daniel,' and 
 Levi ben Gerson on the same prophet. If your grace 
 has them, I desire to borrow them for a fortnight/' 
 
 Lloyd failed in his object of preventing Bancroft 
 from attending the^ council. The archbishop was an 
 honest and intrepid man. He knew it was his duty 
 to attend the council and hear the evidence on the 
 birth of the Prince of Wales. He did go, and was 
 convinced by the testimony of the witnesses, both 
 Roman Catholics and Protestants, that the attempt 
 to dispute the reality of the event was the base fiction 
 of political agitators, who scrupled not to violate both 
 truth and probability in the absurd calumny they 
 had invented to invalidate the rights of the unwel- 
 come male heir of the crown. 
 
 We mav imagine how 7 indignant the conscientious 
 Bancroft would have been could he have known how 
 
 * Tanner, xxviii. 212. 
 
352 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 busy the right reverend writer of that letter had been 
 in the collection and circulation of the disgraceful 
 falsehoods that were prejudicing the public mind 
 against the royal infant. 
 
 When the Ee volution of 1688 was accomplished, 
 the Bishop of St. Asaph became excessively busy in 
 persuading his brothers of the episcopacy, who had 
 shared the Tower imprisonment, likewise Queen 
 Mary's uncles, Lords Clarendon and Rochester, to 
 swear allegiance to William and Mary. 
 
 " He told me," says Clarendon, " that I was free 
 from my oaths to King James ;" adding, " that he 
 could very well take the new oaths, and that as 
 things were, he took himself to be quite free from 
 any obligation. Strange doctrine, as I thought, from 
 a bishop." 
 
 Lloyd spoke again to Clarendon, a month before 
 the coronation, about the oaths, having himself taken 
 them the week before. Clarendon told him " he had 
 well considered the matter, and could not take them, 
 and begged him not to mention them again." Cla- 
 rendon asked " if he intended to assist at the corona- 
 tion?" to which Lloyd hypocritically replied, "By 
 no means ; for, by the grace of God, he would have 
 no hand in making kings and queens." "At which," 
 observes Clarendon, " I could not but laugh. I then 
 asked him ' if he thought he had done the Church 
 service in making Burnet Bishop of Sarum ?' At 
 which, after a long pause, too habitual with him, he 
 asked me, ' why I thought he had made him ?' I told 
 him ' that was answering me with another question ; 
 but since he did so, I would give him a direct answer, 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 353 
 
 hoping he would do the like to me.' and so I told 
 him, ' I had from good hands that when King Wil- 
 liam was spoken to about that bishopric, and put in 
 mind that he had promised it both to Sir Jonathan 
 Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, and Dr. Patrick, he said, 
 1 Indeed he had promised it to Bristol, but that the 
 Bishop of St. Asaph was so pressing upon him that 
 he could have no quiet from his importunity till he 
 had given it to Burnet.' To this Lloyd merely re- 
 plied, after one of his pauses, ' that he could not tell 
 what King 'William might say,' but did not deny it." 
 
 Notwithstanding his remarkable reply to Queen 
 Mary's uncle, Clarendon, Bishop Lloyd made his ap- 
 pearance on the platform at Westminster Abbey as 
 one of the few bishops who assisted at the coronation. 
 Double work there was to do, and three-fourths of 
 the bishops resolved not to assist in it, Lloyd per- 
 formed the duty of the absent primate at the recog- 
 nition, by presenting Queen Mary to the people. 
 
 A very animated sermon was preached by Lloyd 
 on the anniversary of Gunpowder Treason and Plot, 
 November oth, 1690, before the king and queen and 
 Court, commemorating the birthday and the landing 
 of the Prince of Orange at Torbay, which he treated 
 as the climax of all the marvellous deliverances of 
 the Church of England from popery. 
 
 He received, as the reward of his pains, either im- 
 mediately before or soon after the coronation, the 
 office of Lord Almoner to King William — a thorough 
 sinecure, as connected with distributing the contents 
 of the royal charity purse of that sovereign. 
 
 Nothing can be more contemptible than Lloyd's 
 
 2 A 
 
354 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 letter to Mr. Dodwell, dated November, 1695, re- 
 lating to the events of the last years of James II., in 
 which he defends the false pretences used by William 
 in his declaration denouncing the spurious birth of 
 the Prince of Wales. 
 
 "You ask," he says, "why that matter was not 
 brought before the parliament. The reason is plain in 
 the Act of the Succession. The present king does not 
 pretend to an hereditary right. He had the right of 
 conquest over King James, which, being confirmed 
 by the consent of the nation, thus gives him a lawful 
 right to the monarchy. But why did the Prince of 
 Orange pretend that this should be examined in par- 
 liament ? or where did he pretend it ? Never but in 
 his declaration. There, indeed, he did insist upon 
 this, to have the witnesses examined, and that fright- 
 ened them away. The queen and her midwife are 
 gone. Did the Prince of Orange ever pretend to ex- 
 amine any other witnesses ?" 
 
 When Pepys, who had been arrested for high trea- 
 son in 1691, was liberated on bail, Bishop Lloyd 
 ventured to enlighten him with writing to him one of 
 his prophecies founded on the Apocalypse. Evelyn, 
 thinking, it may be presumed, that he would prove a 
 friend at court, wrote to Pepys the following rather 
 sly letter : — 
 
 " John Evelyn to Samuel Pepys. 
 
 « August, 1690. 
 
 " This hasty script is to acquaint you that my 
 lord Bishop of St. Asaph will take it for an honour 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 355 
 
 to be thought able to give Mr. Pepys any light in 
 those mysteries you and I have discoursed of. He 
 would himself wait upon you, but I did not think it 
 convenient for you to receive that compliment at first. 
 ' To-morrow,' his lordship says, ' eating no dinner, he 
 shall be alone, and ready to receive your commands 
 if it be seasonable to you.' I suppose about three 
 o'clock in the afternoon may be a convenient time to 
 wait on you to the Bishop of St. Asaph, or what other 
 sooner (earlier) hour you appoint. 
 
 "J. E. 
 
 "P.S. — The lords in the Tower, against whom 
 there is no special matter chargeable, are to be freed 
 upon bail. My Lord Clarendon is also within that 
 qualification, as the Bishop of St. Asaph tells me."*" 
 
 Lloyd discontentedly accepted the bishopric of 
 Lichfield and Coventry in 1699. The same year he 
 published a ' Chronological Life of Pythagoras and 
 other famous men, his contemporaries ' — a very quaint 
 whimsical production. Soon after this publication he 
 was translated to the bishopric of Worcester, January 
 22nd, 1699 (old style). 
 
 Little quiet ensued either for himself or the flock 
 over which he extended his crosier. Worcester, both 
 city and shire, had continued passionately loyal, and 
 Lloyd was sent there to alter and crush down all 
 chivalrous feeling in the gentry, all lurking jaco- 
 bitism lingering in the Church. 
 
 The last year of the seventeenth century was dis- 
 
 * Pepys' Correspondence. 
 
356 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 turbed with rumours of insubordination among the 
 powers of darkness. Witches were much given to 
 misbecoming conduct, and the English prime minis- 
 ter found it requisite to call the bishops of several 
 dioceses in England to account for the same. Wor- 
 cestershire was pre-eminent among the disturbed dis- 
 tricts, and as its diocesan made pretence to prophetic 
 and other supernatural gifts beyond the claims of 
 regular-going Church of England clergymen, the 
 Duke of Shrewsbury charged his secretary, Vernon, 
 to remonstrate with him on the turbulence of the 
 witches. Here w r e have the report of a secretary 
 of state's despatch to his principal, dated 1699, 
 June 8 : — 
 
 " I told the Bishop of Worcester that his diocese 
 is infested with notions about witches," writes Vernon. 
 " He told me that he intends his clergy shall rectify 
 their mistakes in that particular. But he is far from 
 controverting the power of devils in the Gentile 
 world, and that some of their extraordinary opera- 
 tions may still take place where paganism is preva- 
 lent; yet he thinks the Gospel has destroyed the 
 powers of the devil wheresoever it extends and is 
 acknowledged. And that those mortals who have 
 embraced the hope of grace can never be injured by 
 infernals neither in their own persons, those of their 
 children, or their goods. And though a man may be 
 so profligate as to give himself to the devil, yet he 
 can receive no assistance from him to harm his 
 Christian neighbour or anybody else in a supernatural 
 way. I think," adds Vernon somewhat slyly, " we 
 may assent to the latter part of his disquisition, and 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 357 
 
 leave the pagans and the devil to settle their affairs 
 their own way among themselves." 
 
 Still, Mr. Secretary Vernon, as one of William III.'s 
 faithful officials, was now and then troubled with 
 Satanic freaks, particularly at the witches choosing 
 perversely to unsettle the constitutional law of evi- 
 dence, and voluntarily declaring themselves " male- 
 ficient." Two days before he had the curious col- 
 loquy with the bishop he wrote to the Duke of 
 Shrewsbury : — 
 
 " I have the honour of your grace's letter of June 
 3, 1699.* I think the noise of witches breaks, out 
 like the plague in several places at divers times. If 
 these miserable creatures are in haste to die by other 
 people's hands, and w T ill confess, they certainly will 
 be served as they are in Scotland, where the judges 
 tell them they don't believe them, yet sentence them 
 to be burnt." 
 
 They were burnt there long after the commence- 
 ment of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Rather a stormy diocese was the Tory county and 
 city of Worcester to Bishop Lloyd, and continual 
 were his contests therein, but more with loyal cava- 
 liers of High Church principles than with the witches 
 of Worcester. Vernon soon after reports that the 
 Bishop of Worcester was going to law, hard and fast, 
 on a matter of libel. A pamphlet had made its ap- 
 pearance, reproaching him with his perpetual change 
 of diocese for the purposes " of bettering himself." 
 Bishop Lloyd was very desirous of catching and 
 caging the pamphleteer. Mr. Secretary Vernon, 
 * Stepney MS. of the above date. 
 
358 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 however, manifested no sort of sympathy, because of 
 a dispute pending between them ; for it seems a 
 canonry had fallen at Worcester, which this Mr. Sec- 
 retary Vernon wanted for some other of the name of 
 Vernon. The bishop pounced on it for one of his 
 sons ; and severe is the tirade which Mr. Secretary 
 bestows on " Bishop Lloyd's avarice, nepotism, and 
 self-seeking/' 
 
 " The printer of the pamphlet against the Bishop 
 of Worcester is ordered to be prosecuted," writes 
 Secretary Vernon to his patron, June 15, 1699. His 
 accusation is founded on the pages wherein he de- 
 clares "that frequent translations and removes of 
 bishops are scandalous to the Church, disgraceful to 
 the king, and that, as in Ireland, the lowest of the 
 people have been graced with the highest preferments 
 in the Church." 
 
 The accession of the Princess Anne of Denmark to 
 the throne healed uone of the feuds in Worcester- 
 shire. 
 
 Parnell, one of the knot of poets who brandished 
 literary weapons of brightness and fine temper in de- 
 fence of the Anglican Church, enumerates the new 
 Bishop of Worcester among the junto that sat secretly 
 to perplex the friends of Queen Anne. In the really 
 elegant poem, ' Faction Displayed,' he draws this 
 portrait of Lloyd ; the verses were attributed to 
 Swift, but have his vigour without his coarseness :— 
 
 " Then old Mysterio shook his silver hairs, 
 Loaded with learning, prophecy, and years, 
 Whom factious zeal to fierce unchristian strife 
 Had hurried — in the last extreme of life — 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 359 
 
 Strange dotage ! thus to sacrifice his ease 
 
 When nature whispers man to spend his days 
 
 In sweet retirement and religious peace ! 
 
 For knowledge struggled in his heaving breast 
 
 Ere he in these dark terms his mind express'd : 
 
 4 The stars roll adverse and malignant shine 
 
 Some dire portent ! some horror I divine ; 
 
 That Anna to the Beast will be inclined, 
 
 I plainly in the Kevelations find. 
 
 Howe'er, though she and all her senate frown, 
 
 I'll wage eternal war with Packington, 
 
 And venture life and see to pull him down.' " 
 
 The allusion to the name of Packington requires 
 explanation. It refers to the violent and illegal op- 
 position of the bishop and his son to the re-election 
 of the cavalier baronet, Sir John Packington, as 
 knight of the shire for Worcestershire. They pub- 
 lished the most vituperant libellous papers against 
 him, denouncing him " as a vicious fellow from a 
 vicious stock," and exhorted the clergy to oppose him 
 in every possible way. 
 
 The bishop scrupled not to threaten his own tenants, 
 in case they presumed to vote for Sir John Packing- 
 ton, that he would not renew their leases, and would 
 even punish their children after them; with many 
 other furious menaces peculiarly disgraceful from a 
 prelate, and offensive to the county of Worcester- 
 shire ; for Sir John Packington was the representative 
 of a line of old English magnates peculiarly dear to 
 their country, and Sir John was the gem of his race, 
 the fine old cavalier from whom Addison drew the 
 character of Sir Roger de Coverley. He was not a 
 knight of the shire likely to be ousted from his seat 
 by an oft-translated prelate new to Worcestershire, 
 
360 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 though an old political agitator. Sir John Packing- 
 ton retained his seat, and the bishop lost his place as 
 Royal Almoner, for the House of Commons debated 
 on the proceedings of William, lord Bishop of Wor- 
 cester, and his son and his agents, in order to hinder 
 the election of a knight of the shire for the county of 
 Worcestershire, and declared them " malicious, un- 
 christian, and arbitrary, in high violation of the 
 liberties and privileges of the Commons of England," 
 and resolved that a humble address be presented to 
 her Majesty that she will be pleased to remove the 
 lord Bishop of Worcester from being Lord Almoner 
 to her Majesty." 
 
 Queen Anne complied, nothing loth, with the 
 prayer of her faithful Commons. 
 
 Unfortunately Hartlebury Castle, the country resi- 
 dence of the Bishop of Worcester, and Westwood 
 Park, that of the Packingtons, are in too close vicinity 
 for persons to abide in peace and quiet who are not 
 amicably disposed to each other. Hartlebury, about 
 nine miles from Worcester, was the chief abiding- 
 place of Bishop Lloyd, and Westwood Park only four 
 miles from Hartlebury. 
 
 Not feeling himself comfortable in the uncongenial 
 diocese of Worcester, the bishop frequently deserted 
 it for the Court, and, notwithstanding his dismissal 
 from the office of Lord Almoner, "Old Mysterio" 
 took every possible opportunity of pestering her 
 Majesty with calling for audiences, in which he ex- 
 pounded all knotty points of unfulfilled prophecy, and 
 communicated his prophetic inspirations on public 
 events. 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 361 
 
 The Earl of Dartmouth, who was present, gives an 
 amusing account of a scene which took place in the 
 year 1712, when the old bishop told the queen "he 
 thought it his duty to acquaint her that the Church 
 of Eome would be utterly destroyed, and the city of 
 Eome consumed by fire in less than four years, which 
 he could prove beyond contradiction, if her Majesty 
 would be graciously pleased to hear him upon the 
 subject." The queen appointed him an audience the 
 next morning. Lloyd came, accompanied by the 
 Bishop of London, and called for a great Bible, w r hich 
 was all, he said, that would be wanting. 
 
 The queen had commanded the attendance of the 
 Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earls of Oxford and Dart- 
 mouth, and Dr. Arbuthnot. The bishop, who was 
 proud of the opportunity of exercising his gift of 
 prophecy in such company, showed more knowledge 
 than sound judgment of Scripture, and held forth at 
 great length, till the Earl of Oxford offering to give 
 another interpretation to one of his texts, he gave 
 way to an irrepressible burst of passion, which 
 rendering him forgetful of the ceremonials due to 
 royalty, he turned to the queen and exclaimed, " So 
 says your treasurer, but God says otherwise, whether 
 he like it or no." The queen, seeing him so angry 
 and rude, turned away, and asked if her dinner were 
 not ready ! 
 
 The bishop was too much excited to take the hint 
 that her Majesty was weary of the discussion and 
 hungry besides. He returned undauntedly to the 
 charge, and told her that " if what he said was not 
 truth he did not know any truth, and was a very un- 
 
362 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 fit person to be trusted with explaining the gospel to 
 the people, and offered to forfeit his bishopric if it 
 did not prove true. ,, In conclusion he said some- 
 thing to the queen in so low a voice that no one 
 could hear what it was, but she afterwards told Lord 
 Dartmouth that " it was an assurance that at the end 
 of four years Christ would come to reign personally 
 on the earth for a thousand years." 
 
 Swift, in his ' Journal to Stella,' gives the following 
 version of the above scene, or one very similar : — 
 
 " Yesterday the old Bishop of Worcester, who pre- 
 tends to be a prophet, went to Queen Anne, by ap- 
 pointment, to prove to her Majesty, out of Daniel 
 and the Revelations, that five years hence (1716) 
 there will be a war of religion, that the King of 
 France would be a Protestant and fight on their side, 
 and that the Popedom would be destroyed. The 
 prophesying bishop, moreover, promised at the end 
 of a lengthy harangue in this strain, that if it fell 
 out otherwise he would be content to give up his 
 bishopric. 
 
 " Lord Treasurer Harley, who stood by, entered into 
 the controversy, and defeated the Hebraist prophet 
 with his own learning — no great triumph, by-the- 
 by, since the aged prelate was between eighty and 
 ninety." 
 
 Lloyd was eminent all over Europe for his skill in 
 chronology. Calamy, speaking of his prophetic 
 genius, says : — " He foretold the return of the Vau- 
 dois to Piedmont, which fell out according to his 
 words. But it stood solitary among many futile pre- 
 dictions which he was constantly uttering." 
 
LLOYD, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH. 3G3 
 
 Two young men of the Vaudois had spent some 
 time in England, where they were much petted and 
 patronized by Bishop Lloyd. Before they returned 
 to their native land the prophetic prelate vented 
 another prediction, telling them that " if they lived 
 to the year 1716 they would have the happiness of 
 standing on the tops of their native mountains and 
 enjoying the sight of Rome in flames. IS ay, if they 
 held out their hands they might warm them with the 
 heat of her burnings." Such felicity, however, neither 
 Bishop Lloyd or his proteges enjoyed, though they 
 lived past the year 1716. 
 
 Bishop Lloyd survived his royal mistress, Queen 
 Anne, upwards of three years. He died at Hartle- 
 bury Castle, August 30th, 1717, in the ninety-first 
 year of his age, retaining all his faculties to the last. 
 He was buried on the 10th of September, in the church 
 of Fladbury, of which his son was rector. 
 
 A monument in the chancel sets forth that " he 
 w^as an excellent pattern of virtue and learning, of a 
 quick invention, firm memory, exquisite judgment, 
 great candour, piety, and gravity, a faithful historian, 
 accurate chronologer, and skilled in the knowledge of 
 the Scriptures to a miracle, very charitable, and dili- 
 gent and careful in the discharge of his episcopal 
 office." 
 
364 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS, 
 
 SIE JONATHAN TEELAWNY, 
 
 LOED BISHOP OF BRISTOL, OF EXETER, AND OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 Eakl, or baron, or baronet, had not in the Church of 
 England ever blended the duties of the temporal 
 with the ecclesiastical noble before the time of Sir 
 Jonathan Trelawny. Besides the weight of the 
 three mitres which he wore successively, he had to 
 support the dignity of one of the most ancient and 
 remarkable families in this country. Enough work 
 for any man's life it might be thought. And if Sir 
 Jonathan, the Cornish chief, and Dr. Jonathan, the 
 bishop, found his tasks in life somewhat incompatible, 
 it may be said in his behalf that he had no prece- 
 dent or chart whereby to guide his course. 
 
 The antiquity of the British line of Trelawny 
 of Trelawne is traced clearly to the aborigines of 
 Britain. It had looked down with contempt from its 
 Cornish castellated palace on the Saxon invaders. 
 Britain had been changed into England by the 
 Angles, its language into Teutonic, and its Celtic 
 population into serfs. However, the Trelawnys of 
 Trelawne, with some other brave chieftains, held 
 them at bay in the w T est ; and under their banner of 
 
TEELAWNY, BISHOP OF BIUSTOL. 365 
 
 the British wolf, statant, succeeded in keeping Cornish 
 land intact from the foot of the Saxon invader, and 
 British speech uncorrupted on the lips of Cornish 
 men. Nor did these bold British chiefs alone defend 
 the temporal happiness of their country. " The 
 Christianity of the West" was especially guarded 
 by their swords from the worshippers of Saxon 
 fiends, from the onslaughts of the priests of Thor 
 the Thunderer, and Wooden the Wild, who craved 
 for human victims. 
 
 So passed the dim dark ages, when Trelawne never 
 lacked a Trelawny to defend the " Christianity of 
 Exeter " and Cornwall. At last better times arrived, 
 and throughout their Angle-land the dominant Saxon 
 pagans submitted to the Cross, and the whole island 
 became Christian ; yet the Trelawnys remained the 
 head of a people peculiarly British and exclusive 
 during the royalty of our Anglo-Norman kings. 
 
 It was the policy of the warlike and astute Henry V. 
 to make friends with the aborigines of the land, and 
 employ in his French wars the Britons of the west as 
 well as those of Wales. One of his favourite leaders 
 was Sir John Trelawny of Trelawne. He rebuilt his 
 gateway with his French spoils, over which might be 
 seen the statue of Henry V. An ancient rhyme in 
 Gothic characters beneath expressed the saying of 
 the king, in a request for Cornish recruits : — 
 
 1 ' He that will do aught for me, 
 Let him love well Sir John Trelawne." 
 
 It is somewhat singular that the Britons of the 
 West of England at first did not live in harmony with 
 
366 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 the restored line of British kings, the royal Tudors. 
 All Cornwall was up under the Trelawny flourishing 
 in the time of Henry VII., when Perkin Warbeck 
 claimed their loyalty, as Eichard Duke of York, the 
 distressed son of Edward IV. Sir John of Trelawne 
 led his Cornish tens of thousands to the so-called 
 skirmish (which we greatly suspect was a very stout 
 battle) at Blackheath. Trelawny of that Ilk was 
 captured, and consigned to durance in the Tower. 
 All the West was in an agony of rage and excitement. 
 Ballads were made, and are sung even now, of Corn- 
 ish men knocking at London gates to inquire news 
 of Trelawny, whose head was considered to be in 
 danger : — 
 
 " And have they fixed the where and when, 
 And must Trelawny die ? 
 Then thirty thousand Cornish men 
 Will know the reason why." 
 
 The first Tudor monarch fortunately loved the chink 
 of angels and nobles better than the dull clang of the 
 headsman's axe ; and, moreover, he had Celtic feel- 
 ings concerning pedigree and tongue in common with 
 an ancient Briton. So Trelawny of Trelawne paid 
 his fine, and was released from durance in London 
 Tower. 
 
 Lord Clarendon has done good justice to the bravery 
 and loyalty of Sir John Trelawny, the bishop's grand- 
 father, and related how he distinguished himself in 
 the gallant partisan warfare maintained by Sir Ealph 
 Hopton in the West, fighting through the civil war 
 by the side of Sir Beginald Mohun, of Boconnock, 
 his friend and father-in-law. When all was done 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 367 
 
 that "man could do, he retreated to his stronghold 
 at Trelawne, and brought up his numerous family 
 as well as the impoverishing times of Cromwell 
 would permit. His eldest son, Sir Jonathan Tre- 
 lawny, w r as the husband of Mary, daughter of Sir 
 Edward Seymour, of Bury Pomeroy, Devon. 
 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny had a very numerous family, 
 certainly six sons. Jonathan, the third (born at 
 Pelynt, in Corn Avail, 1650), w r as brought up to "the 
 Church, educated at Westminster School, entered at 
 Christ Church, Oxford, in 1668, and became student 
 the year afterwards, Avhen he was nineteen. We have 
 no precocious attainments to record of Jonathan 
 Trelawny. 
 
 Whilst he was pursuing his scholastic career, his 
 father was in the household of the Duke of York, 
 and domesticated with the duke and duchess at the 
 old house called the Treasury, at Deptford, when the 
 duke was sojourning there, practically superintending 
 some of his great naval improvements and inventions 
 at the neighbouring dockyard. Life w T as young and 
 hope was high. Very merrily were the duke and Anne 
 (Hyde) his duchess spending their evenings with their 
 family circle, only the ladies and gentlemen of their 
 household, in that dilapidated, half-furnished house. 
 
 Old Sir Jonathan was of so irascible a temper, that 
 during the stormy debates in the House of Commons 
 on the Test Act and the Bill for disabling Papists from 
 sitting in parliament, high words arose between him 
 and Mr. Ashe, when the fiery Cornish cavalier dealt 
 his opponent a thundering box on the ear, who re- 
 turned the blow. Sir Jonathan flashed out his 
 
368 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 sword ; Ashe likewise drew. The belligerents were 
 dragged apart by the gentlemen in their vicinity. 
 Ashe, as the least in fault, was only consigned to the 
 Black Rod, and very severely reprimanded by the 
 Speaker ; but Sir Jonathan was sent to the Tower. 
 
 The Duke of York appointed little Anne Tre- 
 lawny as the attendant of his daughter, the Lady 
 Mary of York, to be brought up with her as her 
 friend and first maid of honour. The young princess 
 loved this companion of her infancy most entirely. 
 Anne Trelawny was her first and only female friend. 
 When the Lady Mary of York married her cousin, 
 the Prince of Orange, the young lady of Trelawne 
 left England with her princess, and lived in Holland 
 with her as her favourite maid of honour. 
 
 While the Prince of Orange was trying the spirit- 
 breaking process with his wife, to crush down her 
 affection to her father and family, he was told all his 
 endeavours were useless while she had her friend 
 Anne Trelawny near her. After the remarkable 
 palace occurrence, when the hero of Orange, by his 
 own account * of affairs, picked Dr. Covell's desk, 
 and read his quaint letter, describing his own beha- 
 viour to the princess, he finished by sending the 
 young lady of Trelawne home very abruptly, although 
 she had not the least concern in the offence given. 
 Miss Anne Trelawny was escorted home by Mrs. 
 Langford, the nurse of the princess, and by quaint old 
 Dr. Covell, the princess's Church of England chap- 
 lain. Mary never supplied the place of Anne Tre- 
 
 * See his letter to Charles II. in Henry, Lord Clarendon's letters, 
 ete. 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 369 
 
 lawny, but lived and died without any other female 
 friend. 
 
 When James II. ascended the throne of Great 
 Britain, his old friend and domestic, Sir Jonathan 
 Trelawny, had sunk under his numerous tribulations. 
 Among others, in 1680, he had lost his two eldest 
 sons. They died childless. The old cavalier was suc- 
 ceeded in the baronetcy and extensive domain of 
 Trelawne by his third son, the Rev. Jonathan Tre- 
 lawny, then .Rector of St. Ives and Southill, Cornwall. 
 
 The rev. baronet complained bitterly of poverty, 
 and a few years afterwards, on being appointed by 
 James II. to the bishopric of Bristol, he addressed the 
 following most original letter to the Earl of Roches- 
 ter, then Lord Chancellor : — 
 
 J* Sir J. Trelaivny to the Earl of Rochester. 
 
 " July 10th, 1685. 
 
 " Give me leave to throw myself at your lord- 
 ship's feet, humbly imploring your patronage, if not 
 for the bishopric of Peterborough, at least for Chiches- 
 ter, if the Bishop of Exeter cannot be obliged to ac- 
 cept of that now vacant see, which he seemed to 
 incline to when his removal to Peterborough was 
 proposed ; and I am assured from those about him, 
 that if the king should be pleased to tell him he is 
 resolved on his translation to Chichester, he will 
 readily close with it ; and let me beseech your lord- 
 ship to fix him there, and to advance your creature to 
 Exeter, w T here I can serve the king and your lordship. 
 
 " I hear his Majesty designed me for Bristol, which 
 
 2 B 
 
370 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 I should not decline was I not already under such 
 pressure by my father's debts, as must necessarily 
 break my estate to pieces if I find no better prop 
 than the income of Bristol, not greater than 300Z. 
 per annum ; and the expense in consecration, first 
 fruits, and settlement, will require 2000?. 
 
 " If Peterborough and Chichester shall be both re- 
 fused me, I shall not deny Bristol, though my ruin 
 goes with it, if it be the king's pleasure, or any way 
 for his Majesty's service that I should accept it. 
 
 u But I hope the king (James II.) will have more 
 tender compassions on his slave, and that your lordship 
 will vouchsafe a better lot to, my lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's 
 
 " Most humble and devoted servant, 
 
 "J. Tkelawny." 
 
 Notwithstanding the pathos of this appeal, poor 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny was forced to abide by des- 
 pised Bristol, instead of getting it exchanged for 
 either of the richer sees he coveted. 
 
 His dissatisfaction and complaints greatly displeased 
 Sancroft, insomuch that he was in some danger of 
 losing even this paltry benefice, and worse than that, 
 the spiritual peerage it would confer on its possessor. 
 After nearly two months' consideration, the Bev. Sir 
 Jonathan, who had retired to his family estate in 
 Cornwall, addressed the following letter to Dr. Fran- 
 cis Turner, lately Bishop of Bochester, who had been 
 
 * The letter above is edited by Mr. Singer, among the letters and 
 journals of Henry, Earl of Clarendon. 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 371 
 
 preferred to Ely, entreating his intercession with the 
 offended primate, and signifying his intention to 
 accept Bristol, and betraying fears of losing it. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I humbly desire your lordship to become my 
 patron to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in averting 
 his grace's displeasure from me for not being more 
 forward to go into that great honour his Majesty hath 
 been pleased to design me to, his grace to allow of, 
 and to which I hope God himself hath called me. 
 
 "My lord, had this delay proceeded from any 
 slight to the meanness of the revenue, and regret 
 that my lot had not fallen into a better soil, I should 
 have been so far from presuming to address your 
 lordship for your application to his grace in my be- 
 half, and from imploring his grace's pardon, that I 
 should have forbad myself the hopes of it, and not 
 have dared to have asked it of his grace or your lord- 
 ship ; but since it is owing wholly to necessity, I have 
 the confidence to believe I may be suffered to make 
 at least that advantage of it, to gain a full pardon for 
 the supposed crime, and compassion of those circum- 
 stances which forced it. 
 
 "Your lordship must needs know the income of 
 Bristol is too mean to give a man credit for so large 
 a sum as is required before I can be seated there, and 
 the condition of my estate will not easily help me to 
 it. However, I have so managed my affairs as to be 
 able shortly after Michaelmas to master the expenses 
 at and previous to the consecration ; so that now the 
 sharpest pain I am under is the sense I have of his 
 
372 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 grace's resentments, which, if your lordship can mo- 
 derate, you will do a very charitable office, in giving 
 me peace at home, by assuring it to me from his 
 grace. 
 
 " My lord, give me leave to say that it shall be, in 
 great measure, his grace's and your lordship's fault if 
 I do not come up to that expectation which will fol- 
 low from my being clothed with that sacred and 
 weighty order of a bishop ; for I am resolved, by 
 prayers and earnest application, to use my best en- 
 deavours to come up to the fulness of his grace's and 
 your lordship's commands, strictly to observe and 
 execute all orders and directions which shall be 
 vouchsafed, either as a rule to my own behaviour or 
 that of those committed to my care and observance. 
 I most earnestly beseech your lordship's prayers, as 
 well to bless my endeavours as your counsel to direct 
 them. And let me add this, that whatever imperfec- 
 tions and failures human nature may subject me to, 
 it shall not make me fail in any part of the obedience 
 enjoined me by his grace or your lordship. I desire 
 your lordship to render my duty acceptable to his 
 grace, and to believe me to be, with all truth, my 
 lord, 
 
 " Tour lordship's 
 
 " Most devoted humble servant, 
 
 "J. Trelawny.* 
 66 Trelawne, September 22nd" 
 
 Up to this period the Kev. Sir Jonathan Trelawny 
 had attained no higher degree than M. A. ; but on his 
 
 * Tanner, xxxi. 207. 
 
TEELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 373 
 
 acceptance of the see of Bristol, King James, by 
 royal diploma, required the University of Oxford to 
 confer the dignity of Doctor of Divinity upon him, 
 which was done October the 26th. He was conse- 
 crated Bishop of Bristol, November 9th, at Lambeth 
 Chapel, by Archbishop San croft, and had the honour 
 of being introduced into the House of Peers by Ken, 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Trelawny had behaved so unclerically in his exer- 
 tions to put down the Monmouth rebellion, that he 
 had flattered himself with anticipations of a very 
 rich reward for his active zeal from King James. 
 Consequently he never forgave him the leanness of 
 the see of Bristol, but assumed an ultra-Protestant 
 tone in all his sayings and doings. 
 
 After taking possession of his see, and diligently 
 noting all the shortcomings of his predecessors, he 
 withdrew for a season from his episcopal labours to 
 refresh himself at Trelawne, his paternal inheritance, 
 whence he wrote a long account to Sancroft of his 
 observations during his late visitation. 
 
 " The chiefest neglects," he says, " w 7 hich I found 
 were the backwardness of people to be confirmed, oc- 
 casioned by the neglect of constantly instructing the 
 children in the words and meaning of the Church cate- 
 chism ; the ill custom of private christenings, through 
 the minister's compliance with the richer sort of their 
 parish ; the disuse of visiting the sick at their houses, 
 proceeding chiefly from the custom, which is very 
 frequent, of reading most part of the form of the visi- 
 tation of the sick when they are prayed for in the 
 
374 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 church ; the confused and irregular way of reading 
 the prayers, in some ministers, either through their 
 own dissatisfaction at them, or fear of others dissatis- 
 fied with them ; and the ill condition which most of 
 the churches were in, by reason the parishes are not 
 put in mind, or else unwilling to assess themselves 
 for their reparation. The ministers, of whose faults 
 in their disordered reading and praying I could make 
 myself acquainted from good hands, I have taken 
 care to punish, and I hope to their amendment. 
 
 " And now, having done with the affairs of my own 
 diocese, I beg leave to tell your grace (who, I am 
 sure, must own yourself the defender of the Church 
 and all the bishops) what I observed at Salisbury. 
 
 "By reason of the dean's supporting the choir 
 against the bishop, there is a scandalous neglect in 
 their performance of the service. The day I rested 
 in the town, the singing men refused to sing an 
 anthem which was then desired by the bishop's 
 nephew and Canon Hill, and in the afternoon the 
 organist (which they say happens often) was absent, 
 and the prayers performed without the organ. I 
 cannot suppose this as done to me, being a stranger 
 to them, but wholly intended to the bishop, to whom 
 I made my visit as being his friend. 
 
 " I find in Dorsetshire that the Dean of Sarum has 
 many peculiars, but whether through his indisposi- 
 tion or temper I know not ; they were never visited 
 by him, and are the most factious, not to say worst, 
 places in the country. I need not instance in any 
 other than Lime and Bemister, though others are 
 very ill, to the occasioning, if not of example, yet, 
 
TBSLA.WNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 375 
 
 at least, of excuse, which I met with from some 
 of my clergy, who would have extenuated their 
 own faults by the practice of their neighbours in 
 these peculiars. 
 
 " Having laid these things before your grace, I 
 will only further beg the continuance of your direc- 
 tions and advice, with your constant prayers for 
 
 " Your grace's 
 
 " Most dutiful and obedient servant, 
 
 " J. Bristol.* 
 » Trelaume, June 1st, 1686." 
 
 To do Sir Jonathan justice, he agreed far better 
 both with the dean and chapter and the corporation 
 of Bristol than either of his episcopal predecessors 
 had done. But whenever he found that stormy city 
 waxing warmer than was agreeable, he rushed down 
 to his pleasant family residence at Trelawne till all 
 was calm again. fSometimes he considered it neces- 
 sary to frame a plausible reason to the primate for 
 his frequent retreats to the more congenial atmo- 
 sphere of Cornwall. 
 
 On one occasion he seems to consider the proba- 
 bility of a general election rendered it his imperative 
 duty to fix himself at Trelawne, to withstand the in- 
 fluence of the lord-lieutenant of the county, and 
 encourage the gentry to act with proper indepen- 
 dence in returning good churchmen for members. 
 
 The following letter, though undated, is well worthy 
 of attention : — 
 
 * Tanner "MSS.. xxx. 
 
376 lives of the seven bishops. 
 
 "May it please your Grace, 
 
 " Having this opportunity of my cousin Tre- 
 lawny (the bearer) going to London, I held myself 
 obliged to present you with my duty, and the reason 
 of my coming into my country. We have had fre- 
 quent alarms that a parliament is speedily intended, 
 to which Cornwall sends forty-four [members]; and 
 knowing myself to have a good interest in the gentry, 
 I was resolved to see what inclinations they had, and 
 what courage to support them in case of an attack 
 from the lord-lieutenant ; and I was glad to find the 
 gentry unanimous for the preserving the Test and our 
 laws ; and what pleased me much, resolved to appear 
 in their several corporations, and not suffer so many 
 foreigners to be put upon them, as were returned 
 hence by the wheedle of the Earl of Bath, the lord- 
 lieutenant, whom now they will attend in a body 
 upon his coming into the country, and, with the 
 decency of a compliment, desire that they them- 
 selves may be permitted to serve the king in parlia- 
 ment ; which, if his lordship will not yield to, but 
 answer that he has the king's command for the re- 
 turn of such as his Majesty named to him, the gentry, 
 at least a great part of them, will attest their parti- 
 cular intentions in such boroughs as have depen- 
 dences upon them, and try whether the Earl of Bath 
 will, with a high hand, turn out such mayors and 
 magistrates as will not comply with his nominations, 
 disoblige the gentry, and endanger the kingdom. I 
 have one thing more to acquaint your grace ; that 
 being with several of our gentry when the news came 
 that the several lord-lieutenants should call together 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 377 
 
 their respective deputies and the justices of their 
 counties, and know of them whether they would or 
 w r ould not take off the Test ; my opinion was that 
 they should not give a plain answer whether they 
 would or would not, but only in general, that if they 
 were chosen they would be governed by conscience 
 and reason ; for should they say downright they would 
 not take off the laws and the Test, there would be a 
 positive command that all such as had declared them- 
 selves of that opinion should not be chosen. I am, 
 
 " Your grace's 
 
 " Most dutiful servant, 
 
 "J. Bristol."* 
 
 The expected parliament was not called, so the 
 Eight Eev. Sir Jonathan Trelawny, after a long 
 pause returned to Bristol, to attend to the affairs of 
 his see, instead of the more racy occupation of elec- 
 tioneering. He was visited by Bishop Ken in March, 
 by whom he wrote the following letter to Sancroft, 
 giving some account of his differences with that 
 notorious busy-body, Sir John Knight : — 
 
 " May it please your Grace, 
 
 " My very good friend, the Bishop of Bath and 
 Wells, giving me the favour of his company here, 
 and withal of letting me know he is going hence for 
 London, I should have been very uneasy had I parted 
 with him before I had put into his hands this address 
 of my duty to your grace, and the assurance that I 
 
 * Tanner, xxviii. 139. 
 
378 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 am not wanting in my prayers for the preservation 
 of our threatened Church, and in my best exhorta- 
 tions for the keeping this city very firm to its estab- 
 lishments ; and I thank God hitherto all the designs 
 of addresses and other prejudices have fallen like 
 water upon oil-cloth, smoothly received, and going 
 off without making any impression. 
 
 "Having given your grace this faithful assurance 
 of my own and this city's steadfastness, I shall take 
 the confidence of laying before you the enclosed 
 opinions, to satisfy you of the mistaken complaint 
 Sir John Knight troubled your grace with this last 
 summer, against Mr. Eainsthorpe, a prebendary of 
 this cathedral, for holding two livings in this city, 
 and to justify myself for suffering him to hold them ; 
 and because I would be sure of his capacity by the 
 laws, I took the opinions of Dr. Jones, my chancellor, 
 in the civil, and of Mr. Pollexfen in the common-law ; 
 and though both could not quiet the unreasonable 
 scruples of Sir John Knight, they shall me, if your 
 grace acquiesceth in them. Could I eject Mr. Eains- 
 thorpe, it must be of the living to which this city is 
 patron, and Mr. Wade, the town-clerk, would not slip 
 the opportunity for the having Father Petre's recom- 
 mendation of a priest to gain Popery an interest here, 
 which wants a maintenance to encourage the footing, 
 as well as a number to give any countenance to the 
 abode of a priest among them. And I think this 
 is not a time to make gaps for a busy enemy, who 
 is too forward to force breaches where he has no 
 invitation. I'll do all I can to keep the priests hence : 
 no courage shall be wanting ; and if I err in prudence 
 
TEELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 379 
 
 and conduct it must be your grace's and my order's 
 fault in not helping me with directions, having reso- 
 lutions entirely fixed not to do anything which may 
 reflect on the interest or honour of our Church, in 
 which as I had the blessing of initiation by the bap- 
 tism of water, I am ready to go out of it with the 
 other of blood. I desire your grace's prayers, and 
 to believe me ; as I am, 
 
 " Your grace's 
 
 " Very dutiful servant, 
 
 " March 20th, 1686." * J$ Bristol -* 
 
 Trelawny found it as difficult a matter to deal 
 with Sir John Knight as ever Lake had done ; for Sir 
 John would interfere in ecclesiastical arrangements 
 over which he had no other control than his incorri- 
 gible love of meddling. He treated the legal opinions 
 of Dr. Jones and Mr. Pollexfen with contemptuous 
 disregard, defied the bishop, and bent all his ener- 
 gies to the object on which he had set his mind — 
 of expelling Eainsthorpe from one if not both of his 
 livings. He pestered Sancroft with letters on the 
 subject, and misrepresented the replies so as to per- 
 suade the citizens of Bristol that the primate re- 
 garded Eainsthorpe as an intruder who had no 
 claim to receive the wages of the Church. At the 
 end of the year we find the Eight Eeverend Sir Jona- 
 than still battling the point with Sir John Knight, 
 without any chance of settling the dispute. 
 
 In a letter to Sancroft, complaining of the con- 
 
 * Tanner, xxix. 147. 
 
330 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 duct of Sir John Knight in this affair, the bishop 
 recommends his chaplain for preferment, and makes 
 piteous complaints of his own want of means to 
 reward his faithful services. 
 
 "Let me beseech your grace's favour," he says, 
 " to Mr. Jeames, my chaplain, if anything falls with- 
 in your disposal not worth the acceptance of such 
 to whom relation or service may render it due. He 
 hath been with me ever since I came to this see, and 
 I have nothing in my power wherewith to acknow- 
 ledge his services. He hath really been very useful 
 to me in keeping this city in the order and upright- 
 ness in which hitherto I have held it, maugre very in- 
 dustrious endeavours, and a charge to a purpose I 
 hope will never be accomplished. I do not regret 
 the expense of my residence, though it hath exceeded 
 1500?. more than my income, the city and the con- 
 flux being great. But it does grieve me that I can- 
 not make any suitable return to his services, so much 
 as by the prospect of a reversion. I do therefore the 
 more presume to implore your grace's kindness in 
 case of the refusal of those who may have a title to 
 it, and you will not be so much his patron as mine." 
 
 Many of Trelawny's letters are lively, energetic, 
 and powerfully written, especially that in which he 
 describes the state of Bristol, and alludes to the 
 attempts that had been made on his life by an inimi- 
 cal brother. 
 
 " The fanatics here," he says, " are very numerous, 
 and their meetings great and frequent, but chiefly of 
 women and of the meaner sort of people ; those of the 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 381 
 
 better rank, even among the Presbyterians, as yet re- 
 fusing to contribute any money to the building of their 
 meeting-houses, and their company to the filling them. 
 And some of them have been very angry with their 
 teacher, Weekes, for putting their hands to the 
 address without their knowledge or leave to do so. 
 The magistracy of this city are wholly averse to the 
 fanatical mode of addressing, and one of them assures 
 me, ' if offered from above it will be rejected.' My 
 clergy, God be thanked, bravely refused it, only two 
 in Dorsetshire giving their hands to it. The one is 
 Pelham, the son of a Cromwellian major, and he did 
 so out of a natural hatred of the Church, and to show, 
 though he lived by her, he was not so truly hers as his 
 father's son. The other subscriber was a curate to a 
 person who I hope will prevent my dismission of him. 
 " I have given God thanks for this opportunity the 
 begging address hath given me of declaring to the 
 public that I am firmly of the Church of England, 
 and not to be forced from her interest by the terrors 
 of displeasure or death itself, which some are endea- 
 vouring should befal me from the hand of an un- 
 natural brother, whose liberty is now laboured from 
 that imprisonment to which he was confined for his 
 often attempts on my life. But the same God who 
 hath wonderfully delivered me from him I trust will 
 still deliver me, especially if my safety shall be re- 
 commended to the Almighty by the prevalence of 
 your prayers, which are earnestly desired by 
 
 " Tour grace's 
 
 " Most obedient servant, 
 
 "July 1st, 1687." " J ' Bristol - 
 
382 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Notwithstanding the chivalric loyalty of his noble- 
 minded father, and the affronts the young lady of 
 Trelawne had endured from the Orange hero, and 
 her insulting expulsion from the Hague, the Eight 
 Beverend Sir Jonathan Trelawny had become an 
 adherent and secret correspondent of the Orange 
 faction. 
 
 During the momentous interview with the sove- 
 reign, when the petition was presented, Sir Jonathan 
 did not comport himself with the dignity of his epis- 
 copal brethren ; for when King James termed the 
 petition a standard of rebellion, he fell down on his 
 knees, exclaiming — 
 
 " Kebellion, sire ! I beseech your Majesty do not 
 say so hard a thing of us, for God's sake ! Do not 
 believe we are or can be guilty of rebellion ! It is 
 impossible for me or any of my family to be guilty of 
 rebellion ! Your Majesty cannot but remember that 
 you sent me to quell the Monmouth rebellion, and I 
 am as ready to do what I can to quell another."* 
 
 To a cousin of Burnet, one of the Johnstone family, 
 he is reported to have said, while the matter was 
 pending, " If King James sends me to the Tower, I 
 know the Prince of Orange will come and take me 
 out." 
 
 After the acquittal and enfranchisement of the 
 seven bishops, Mr. Henry Sidney, the English favou- 
 rite of the Prince of Orange, came from Holland, 
 ostensibly with " a compliment ' ; of congratulation 
 from his master and mistress on the birth of the un- 
 fortunate Prince of Wales. In reality, Henry Sidney 
 
 * ' History of Cornwall/ by Gilbert, from MSS. of the Tre- 
 lawny family. 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 383 
 
 came to try who were disposed to raise the standard 
 of revolution. Among others, he found Lord and 
 Lady Churchill, and their intimate friend, Colonel 
 Henry Trelawny, ready and willing to betray the 
 king and to forswear his infant heir. Colonel Tre- 
 lawny answered for his brother, Sir Jonathan, the 
 Bishop of Bristol. The Tower lodgment and trial 
 had of course plunged Sir Jonathan still deeper than 
 ever in pecuniary embarrassments. The process of 
 pulling down the king w r ho had not had " tender 
 compassions on his slave " was by no means unpleas- 
 ing, as the poor slave had had to accept Bristol, with 
 only 300?. per annum, instead of Chichester, Peter- 
 borough, or even Exeter, for which he had vainly 
 sighed and vainly implored. 
 
 He was one among the very few bishops who 
 assisted at William and Mary's coronation ; then 
 everybody saw that he and his colleague, Dr. Lloyd, 
 Bishop of St. Asaph, swam with the revolutionary 
 current. They had to endure the witty taunt of. the 
 Royalists, " That King James had sent seven of his 
 bishops to the Tower to be tested, that five had 
 been proved pure gold, but that Sir Jonathan of 
 Bristol and Dr. Lloyd of St. Asaph had turned out 
 only prince's metal." 
 
 The Bight Bev. Sir Jonathan was fiercely attacked 
 in one of the libellous political squibs of the period, 
 entitled 'The Tribe of Levi,' an evil ephemera of 
 that era of unscrupulous abuse, written in bitter 
 energetic verses by some clever but uncompromising 
 partisan of the dethroned sovereign James II. against 
 the seven bishops. It is rather curious that Sancroft 
 
384 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 and Trelawny are the only two with whose antece- 
 dents the author appears in the slightest degree 
 acquainted. For the sake of charity it is to be hoped 
 he has exaggerated the vengeful doings of Trelawny 
 at the Monmouth rebellion, for which King James 
 made so poor a return as the lean bishopric of 
 Bristol. 
 
 " Unhappy James, preposterous was the fate 
 
 That brought on thee the clergy's frown and hate. 
 * * * # # 
 
 I'll mention but one more, and then have done, 
 
 'Tis fighting Joshua, the son of Nun ! 
 
 Though he to men of sense is a buffoon, 
 
 He serves to make a spiritual dragoon ; 
 
 What, though he cannot preach, or pray, or write, 
 
 He 'gainst his country and his king can fight. 
 
 What wonders in the field were lately done 
 
 By fighting Joshua, the son of Nun ; 
 
 He bravely Monmouth and his force withstood, 
 
 And made the Western land a sea of blood ; 
 
 There Joshua ,did his reeking heat assuage, 
 
 On every sign-post gibbet up his rage ; 
 
 Glutted with blood, a really Christian Turk, 
 
 Scarcely outdone by Jeffreys or by Kirke. 
 
 Yet now this priest is grown a rebel too, 
 
 And what Monmouthians did is doing now ; 
 
 Since he, like theni, is equally to blame, 
 
 Their fate was to be hanged, be his the same !" 
 
 It is a stern comment on contemporary history, 
 that neither the cruelty of Churchill, the activity of 
 Jonathan Trelawny, nor the intrepid humanity of 
 Ken, are even hinted at in the pamphlets published 
 of the western rebellion, under the name ' Bloody 
 Assizes/ or in the books of the paid partisan, Old- 
 mixon| or his authority, the local writer, Atcherley. 
 If Sir Jonathan himself had not boasted of his doings, 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 385 
 
 who in the present day would have known aught 
 about them ? 
 
 Sir Jonathan hastened to gather in the reward of 
 his painstaking in revolutionary affairs. He had the 
 pleasure of realising his ardent aspirations for the 
 see of Exeter. Only three days after the coronation 
 of William and Mary, April loth, 1689, it was allotted 
 to him, and his nomination by the new king was 
 confirmed. Sir Jonathan of Bristol became Sir 
 Jonathan of Exeter by favour of his old master's 
 supplanters, and he set out in June, 1689, to take 
 possession of the good things he had earned from 
 them. In his progress to the great see of the west, 
 he made a visitation to Exeter College, at Oxford, 
 and very stormy was the reception he met with 
 there. Exeter College was not only malcontent but 
 mutinous, and his approach raised something like an 
 insurrection, as the fellows were nearly divided for 
 and against him. The rector of the college, Dr. 
 Arthur Bury, with a strong party of the fellows 
 hostilely encountered the Bishop in the open quad- 
 rangle, and there protested vehemently against his 
 nearer approach. As for " Sir Kingston," apparently 
 the college chaplain, it must be said, par parentkese, 
 he behaved too contumaciously to have his conduct 
 entered into by the decorous pen of the pamphleteer 
 who had the defence of the bishop printed at the 
 press of the schools, Oxford.* 
 
 Feuds ran awfully high, when the new bishop and 
 his fellows, and the rector with all his refractory 
 
 * Tracts, British Museum. Printed June, 1690. The events 
 seem to have occurred the preceding year. 
 
 2 c 
 
386 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 fellows got all together into the hall. Everybody's 
 orthodoxy or moral character was impugned, and 
 everybody had the advantage of having his sins con- * 
 fessed in sonorous Latin very audibly by his neigh- 
 bour. Much good ! Latin was likewise expended 
 in tracts and handbills, which had been prepared 
 for the arrival of the new bishop ; and vigorously 
 all the fellows of Exeter scolded each other in 
 that learned language. "'Twasn't decent," and 
 "'Tisn't decent,", the favourite phrases of the his- 
 torian 'Burnet, were the only attempts made at utter- 
 ing our poor humble English. Whig or Jacobite 
 was in every individual's heart, party rage loured on 
 every brow, while sins against orthodoxy, and lower 
 scandals even, were shouted by every tongue. 
 
 To do Bishop Sir Jonathan Trelawny justice, he 
 conducted himself in the midst of the uproar in the 
 most gentlemanly manner. The only interruption 
 he gave to Dr. Arthur Bury, who had some very 
 vituperant Latin protest to read against his authority, 
 was to request him to sit down instead of standing 
 while he read it in the hall. But sturdy Arthur 
 Bury refused the courtesy with the following rather 
 neat repartee — "No, I will stand by what I say." 
 Yet, soon after, placing the protestation in the hands 
 of one of the fellows of his party to read, he flung 
 contemptuously out of the hall. So mighty a con- 
 fusion of tongues then ensued, that very little could 
 be heard of what the reading " fellow " had to utter. 
 Such is a slight specimen of the squabbles which 
 were of every day occurrence among a divided peo- 
 ple. There was no outward protest against the 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 387 
 
 royalty of the sovereigns who placed Sir Jonathan 
 Trelawny in episcopal authority, but shrewd signs 
 were given of deep and bitter discontent. 
 
 The great family influence he had in the west 
 insured Sir Jonathan better welcoming in his city of 
 Exeter ; but, after all, his much-coveted see comprised 
 no little personal danger. For in the succeeding 
 summer the victorious French fleet rode unopposed 
 down the Channel, and, according to Narcissus Lut- 
 trell's dull diary, French ships threatened the western 
 coast from the Start Point between Dartmouth and 
 Plymouth. The country people had to watch night 
 and dav lest thev should make descents. General 
 Trelawmy, one of the bishop's brothers, guarded 
 Bristol with three regiments. His right reverend 
 brother had to take care of Exeter as well as he 
 could. Such employment was more in unison with 
 his natural vocation than things spiritual, and no 
 enemy made any inbreak on the temporalities under 
 his guardianship. 
 
 The disgraceful quarrels between 3Iary and Anne, 
 the daughters, and William and George, the sons- 
 in-law of the exiled king, broke out into open en- 
 mity in the winter of 1691-2. The house of Tre- 
 lawny sided with the Princess Anne ; her favourite's 
 husband, Lord Churchill, who had been rewarded 
 with court places and the earldom of 3Iarlborough, 
 was unexpectedly deprived of his post as lord-in- 
 waiting, and his follower, Harry Trelaw r ny, shared 
 his disgrace. 
 
 Of Sir Jonathan Trelawny's ecclesiastical acts as 
 Bishop of Exeter, one onlv has survived him, his no- 
 
 2 D 
 
388 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 tation of his re-consecration of his own old chapel at 
 Trelawne, which had been the place of devotion for 
 his ancestors since the time when it was rebuilt in 
 Henry VI.'s reign. Surely to re-consecrate a place, 
 consecrated by so many ages of family prayer, was a 
 work of supererogation. He did it, however, accord- 
 ing to the inscription therein, with much solemnity, 
 on Sunday, November 23rd, 1701. 
 
 The accession of Queen Anne, and the triumphant 
 career of his friends, the Marlboroughs, with their 
 faction, brought new hopes and honours to Sir Jona- 
 than. The mighty see of Winchester became vacant 
 by the death of Bishop Mew, and this favourite of 
 fortune was blessed with the luckiest translation he 
 had yet experienced. 
 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny was declared Bishop of 
 Winchester, June 3rd, 1707, and was consecrated and 
 took the oaths as such, June 14th, at Bow Church, 
 Cheapsicle, " which," says Burnet, " gave great disgust 
 to many, he being considerable for nothing but his 
 birth and his election interest in Cornwall. The lord- 
 treasurer had engaged himself to him, and was sen- 
 sible that he was much reflected upon for it ; but he, 
 to soften the censure that was brought on him, had 
 promised that for the future preferments should be 
 bestowed on men well principled to the present con- 
 stitution and on men of merit."* 
 
 Prelate of the Order of the Garter is a dignity 
 attached to the great see of Winchester, and the 
 insignia of that splendid order is always worn with 
 the episcopal robes, giving unwonted richness to the 
 
 * Burnet's ' History of the Keign of Queen Anne.' 
 
TRELAWNYj BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 389 
 
 sober vestments of our Church. We think the broad 
 ribbon of blue is much nearer to the original azure of 
 the Plantagenet Order than is seen on the knights 
 since the Hanoverian dynasty altered the colour to 
 a darker hue. From this ribbon depends an effigy 
 in gold of St. George on horseback killing the dragon, 
 richly enamelled in their colours " proper." 
 
 Trelawny, as Bishop of Winchester, preached a 
 thanksgiving sermon at St. Paul's, November 12th, 
 before Queen Anne and both Houses of Parliament, 
 for the successes that had been granted her Majesty's 
 forces, both by land and sea, under the command of 
 the Earl of Marlborough, her general in the Low 
 Countries, and Sir George Eooke, her admiral at Vigo. 
 Also for the recovery of his Royal Highness Prince 
 George of Denmark from a dangerous illness. The 
 sermon, from Joshua xxii., was published by her 
 Majesty's especial command. 
 
 This prelate had an inveterate habit of swearing, 
 for which he was one day reproved by a less fortu- 
 nate member of the Church, who told him " it was 
 very unbecoming in a bishop to swear." " I do not 
 swear as bishop," rejoined the right reverend violator 
 of the third commandment, with shameless facetious- 
 ness ; " when I swear it is as Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 
 a country gentleman and a baronet." The year after 
 Sir Jonathan's great preferment, he made an altera- 
 tion, doubtful as to its wisdom, in the customs of the 
 famous school at Winchester. Surely, a boy might 
 make his own bed, and yet not be " servile," sweep 
 away a little dust, and yet not be " foul." The bishop 
 had better have charged tneir warden to see that they 
 
390 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 performed their purifications effectually. Here are 
 his ideas on the subject : — 
 
 " Letter of Trelawny, Lord Bishop of Winchester, to 
 the Warden of Wykeham School. 
 
 "Sept. 16*A, 1708. 
 
 " When I was last at Winchester I thought it would 
 be much for the health and cleanliness of the children 
 of the college that there should be bedmakers ap- 
 pointed by the warden for them, and the children be 
 relieved from the servile and foul office of making 
 their own beds and keeping their chamber clean. 
 And also that during the winter half year, between 
 Michaelmas and Lady-day, they should not be obliged 
 to rise before six o'clock in the morning." 
 
 The rebuilding of the episcopal palace at Winches- 
 ter, which was commenced by Bishop Morley, was 
 finished by Sir Jonathan Trelawny with great mag- 
 nificence during his episcopate. He likewise erected 
 in the cathedral a vast throne of Grecian architecture 
 for his own especial use, and a pulpit to correspond. 
 Both of them were ostentatious blots, taking up more 
 room than their share in Winchester Cathedral. Un- 
 fortunately, the Grecian style of architecture is still 
 less in harmony with that of Gothic in dark wood 
 than in stone. Most of these anomalies have, by the 
 better taste of the present day, been expelled. The 
 throne and pulpit of Sir Jonathan were removed 
 from Winchester Cathedral, and have been replaced 
 by those in present use, which, though modest in size 
 
TEELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 891 
 
 and appearance, are exquisite in carving and design, 
 and withal beautifully harmonious with all around. 
 The said throne and pulpit of the Eight Eeverend 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny were carefully stowed away 
 in the depositorium for the lumber ecclesiastical 
 of the last two centuries, within the sacred precincts 
 of Winchester. 
 
 Dr. Atterbury dedicated his sermons to Bishop Tre- 
 lawny, and the fact bears peculiar significance. Atter- 
 bury speaks thus of his former co-collegian : — 
 
 * He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, wiiere 
 he had those principles instilled into his mind which, 
 whosoever has once imbibed, seldom forsakes ; and 
 whosoever forsakes not, must inevitably adhere to 
 the interests of the Church and monarchy." 
 
 The bishop spent much of his time, particularly in 
 the decline of his life, at his own hereditary family 
 seat in Cornwall. Its natural advantages and many 
 centuries of cultivation have made it truly delicious, 
 although most of the venerable antiquities, as the 
 gate-house of Henry V., the terraces and castellated 
 turrets, have disappeared, according to the hateful 
 taste of the last century. 
 
 Sir Jonathan Trelawny married Eebecca, co-heiress 
 of Thomas Hele, of Bascombe, Devon, by whom he 
 had a large family. Four sons and three daughters 
 were married ; they were brought up in wealth and 
 ease. His sons were amply gifted by fortune and by 
 nature, and had rich sinecures both in Church and 
 state ; yet in two descents every male heir of the 
 right reverend baronet failed. 
 
 Sir Jonathan died at Trelawne, July 19th, 1721, 
 
392 LIVES OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 at the age of 71. The bishop-baronet was buried at 
 Trelawne. His coffin, of very great size, is in the 
 vaults there. The plate is inscribed with the 
 words — 
 
 SIR JONATHAN TRELAWNY, 
 
 EIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 If he had any other funeral memorial, we have not 
 yet discovered it. There is no monument to him at 
 Winchester or Farnham. Granger gives him the 
 following eulogium : — " He was friendly and open, 
 generous and charitable, a good man and a good 
 companion." The latter part of the panegyric in 
 Granger's time too often signified that, like Arch- 
 bishop Seeker, he was a u boon companion." 
 
 The traditions of Trelawne affirm that his two 
 daughters lived with him. One of them was de- 
 formed, so much so, that when she died her corpse 
 was placed in a square box instead of a coffin. But 
 however unkindly dealt with by nature, she was an 
 angel of kindness and charity, for the memory of her 
 goodness yet liveth. Letitia, her sister, the beauty 
 of the West, still lives in her exquisite portrait — 
 bright dark eyes, ebon hair, ivory complexion, and 
 slender form, agree with her appellation of "the 
 beauty of the West." Many of her letters are extant. 
 She signs herself " Myrtilla," an affected sentimen- 
 tality among young ladies of that era. 
 
 Trelawne is situated in one of the most beautiful 
 districts in England for scenery, about three miles 
 from the Leuve river. The view down the valley of 
 Trelawne Mill is exquisite. In the drawing-room are 
 
TRELAWNY, BISHOP OF BRISTOL. 393 
 
 to be seen many fine portraits, at a time when por- 
 trait-painting was at its height. A portrait of the 
 bishop, by Kneller, is there, and without the disguis- 
 ing wig, afterwards universal. Sir Jonathan resided, 
 when required to be near London, at the episcopal 
 palace at Chelsea, now in the dust. We saw the last 
 of it in 1841. 
 
 An incident which has lately occurred revived for 
 a short time the long-forgotten memory of the lord 
 bishop Sir Jonathan Trelawny. The present Sir 
 John Trelawny, well known for his parliamentary 
 agitation concerning church rates, politely requested 
 that the throne erected by the Eight Eeverend Sir 
 Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Winchester, might be 
 consigned to him. His desire was courteously com- 
 plied with by the dean and chapter, and Sir John 
 Trelawny is in actual possession of the throne of his 
 maternal ancestor, the last survivor of the seven 
 bishops of the Tower. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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