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BISHOP BURNETs

HISTORY

OF

His own Time.

FROM THE

Restoration of King CHARLES II„

T O T H E

Conclusion of the Treaty of PEACE at Utrecht, in the Reign of

Queen ANNE.

To which is prefixed,

A Summary Recapitulation of Affairs in Church and State, from King James I. to the Restoration in the Year 1660.

Together with

The AUTHOR'S LIFE, by the Editor, And fome Explanatory Notes. The wlipl? revifed and corrected by him.

IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. L

LONDON :

Printed for A. Millar, in the Strai.i

MD

C^LIII.

ill

THE

L I

O F T H E

A U T H O R:

By the Editor

THOMAS BURNET, Efq;

^^^^^^^ T were to be wilhed, that the Authbr himfelf had Hved to have compleated

his whole Defign, and as he made Thuanus his Pattern in Hiftory, Hke him to have clofed his Work with an Account of his own Life : That he intended fo to have done, is evident both from his laft Will, and from a rough Draught or imperfed: Sketch of this nature, left behind him. He aded fo confiderable a Part in the World, in fo many different Stations ; he met with fo large a Ihare of Favour from fome, and fo much Cenfure from others •, and in a Life, where the Scenes were fo various, there muft be fo many Occurrences, which will be both ufeful and entertaining ; that 1 feared the Publick would fcarce forgive me, as an Editor, if I fliould not endeavour to fupply this only Part of the Author's Plan, Yfhk\\ he himfelf did not live to execute.

A 2 'Ihft^

iv The L I F E of the A U T H O R .

Tho' the producing Authorities for the feveral fads, alTerted in the following Sheets, might per- haps have exempted a writer from future cavils : yet the inferting vouchers for every particular *, would have rendred a work of this nature both dry and tedious ; i have only done it, where the inatter related feemed very eflential, and the ori- ginal papers themfelves mighf prove an agreeable entertainment. I have carefully avoided repeating all thoie parts of the Author's Life, which are already related in the Hillory of his own Time : They are only tranfiently mentioned here, fo as to continue the thread of my narration, and the Reader is referred, for farther information, to the Hiftory itfelf. '" ' ' '

Theau- Our Author, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, was born thor's at Edinburgh on the eighteenth day of September paraiSge.^" the year 1643. Hi^ father was the younger * brother of a family, very confiderable for its an- tiquity as well as intereft, in the Ihire of Aberdeen -, and was bred to the civil law, .which he ftudied for feyen yea^s in France. His exceffive niodefty fo far deprefs'd his abilities, that he never made a fhining hgure at the bar, tho' he was univerfally efteemed a man of judgment and knowledge in his profelTion -, he was eminent for probity and ge- nerofity in his praftice j infpmuch that near orte half of it went in ads of charity and friendlhip : From the poor he never took a fee, nor from a Clergyman, when he fued in the right of his Church. In the year 1637, when the troubles in Scotland were breaking out, he was fo difgufted at the condud of the governing Bilhops there, he cenfured them with fo much warmth, and was, at the fame time, fo remarkable for his ftrid and

* Thofe fac\s for which no vouchers is alledgcd, are taken from the Bifliop''s manufcript noces of his own life. A-nd can be further fupportitl by other Ttftiwionies, if pccalion ibpuld le- l^uire,

exemplary

The LIFE of ifhe AUTHOR.

exemplary life, that he'was generally called a Pu- ritan : But when he faw, that inilead of reform- ing abufes in the Epifcopal Order, the Order itfelf was ftruck at, he adhered to it with great zeal and conftancy ; as he did to the rights of the Crown, without once complying with that party, which afterwards prevailed in both nations. For tho' he agreed with Barclay and Grotius (with the latter of whom he had been intimately acquainted) as to their notions of refiirance, where the laws are broke through by a limited fovereign 5 yet he did noC think that was then the cafe in Scotland.

Our author's mother was very eminent for her piety and virtue •, fhe was a Vvarm zealot for the Prelbyterian Difcipline •, her education that way had been very ftrift : fhe was filler to the famous Sir Archibald Johnftoun, called Lord Warriiloun, who, during the civil wars, was at the head of the Prefbyterians •, and was too often hurried av/ay, by his attachment to them, into exceffes that were not fuitable to his natural temper ; which was juft, generous and felf-denying : Infomuch that he left behind him but 2t very fmall provifion, for a family of thirteen children, though for many years he had been entrufled with the whole government of Scot- land. He was ih zealous in the interefts of his party^ that neither friendfhip nor alliance could dif- pofe him, to Ihew favour to thofe, who refufed the folemn league and covenant. Our author's father therefore, perfifting in this refufal, at three feveral times was obliged to quit the kingdom, and at one of them to remain an exile for five years : And, when his return v/as afterwards connived at, as his principles would not permit him to renew the pra6tice of the law, much lefs to accept of the preferments in it, offered him by Oliver Cromwell, he lived retired in the country upon his own eftate, till the Reftoration •, when he was made one of the Lords of the feplon.

A ^ His

vi The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

His Edii- His father's retirement from bufinefs proved a cation. confiderabie advantage to our author's education, which was wholly under his care, and fo managed by him, that at ten years old his fon was mafter of the Latin Tongue : he was fent at that age to the college of Aberdeen, where he perfe<?:ed him- felf in Greek, and went through the common methods of the Ariftotelian Logick and Philofo- phy with applaufe j he commenced Mafter of Arts before he was fourteen, and then applied himfelf to the Law, much to the regret of his father, who had always defigned him for a Clergy- - man. He continued ftudying the Civil and Feudal Law for above a year, by which he laid in fuch true notions of fociety and government, as are feldom found amongft Divines •, he then changed his refolution, and determined wholly to dedicate himfelf to the Church : Thereupon he purfued a very hard courfe of fludy ; he went through the Old and New Teftament, with all the feverai com- mentaries upon the different parts of it, then in repute ; he examined into the moft noted authors in controverfy, and read Bellarmine and Chamier, in oppofition to each other, quite through ; he perufed fome of the moft received fyftems of School-Divinity, but was foon difgufted at the , fubtlety of thofe v/riters, and readily obferved, how little all their dilputes, which the jargon of the fchcols rendred endlefs. could tend towards making m.en wifer or better. In his hours of amufement, he ran through m.any volumes of hiftory : And it is fcarce conceivable, what a pro- grefs he had made in thele ft"udies, before he was eighteen, by an application, which feldom fell fliort of fourteen hours in a day. ITe is ad- At that age, he was put upon his trial, as a mitted as Probationer or expe6tant preacher; who, after a Proba- having pals'd examination, is at liberty ta preach wherefoever he is defired, but has no particular

Church,

tioner.

the LIFE of the A U T H O R. rii

Church, to which he is attendant. This is the firft ftep in Scotland, towards an admiffion into orders, and was praftifed both under the Epifcopal and Prefbyterian Oeconomy. The method obferved in it has fomething fo dififerent from what is cuilo- mary in England, that it may perhaps be worthy the reader's notice. Thefe Probationers are firlt appointed to preach praftically on a text afllgned them ; next, critically upon another, the fenfe of which is controverted ; and then a mixed Sermon, of criticifm on the text, and pradical inferences from it, is expected from them. After this, the examiners allot a head of Divinity to each, on which they are to make a Latin oration, and to give out Thefes upon it, which they undertake to defend in pubJick : Then a Hebrew pfalm and a portion of the Greek Teftament is given them, to- render into EngliOi extempore ; and lafb of all comes the queftionary trial, in which every minifter of the diilri^l is at liberty to put fuch queftions to the perfon under examination, as occur to him, out of the Scripture or Body of Divinity. Before any one can be admitted to this, he mull produce a teftimonial of his good life from the minifter of the parifh where he lives ; and if during his trial, which lafts for three months, any fcandal can be proved upon him, he is laid afide as unfit for the Church.

This probation our author went through, at the Rgfufe^ a age of eighteen ; about which time his father was prefenta- made a Lord of the Sefnon, and his Coufin Ger- ^i«" ^^ » man. Sir Alexander Burnet, gave him the pre- ''^'^2- fentation to a very good benefice, where his family refided, and which lay in the center of all his Kindred. There is no law in Scotland, that limits the age a Minifter muft be of; but our author thought his ov/n fo unfic for a Cure of Souls, that he abfolutely refufed to accept of ^^.t,- notwithftanding the repeated importunities of all Bs • , A 4 relations.

Yiis The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

relations, except his father, who left him wholly to his own difcretion. His fa' In the year 1661, his father died; and foon

^del'h Tid ^^^^^ ^^^ brother Robert, who was then become his further Very eminent at the bar, as his other brother purfuit of Thomas was afterwards in Phylick : Upon the his ftudies, occafion of his brother's death, our author was much follicited, by his mother's relations, to re- turn to his former ftudy of the law, wherein he was aflured of the greateft encouragement j but he perfifted in his former refolution, of devoting his life to the fervice of the Church, in which he was confirmed by Mr. Nairn, Minifter of the Abbey Church at Edinburgh. Mr. Nairn was then the admired preacher of that country, re- markable for accuracy of ftyle, as well as ftrength of reafoning and fublimcnefs of thought : Him our author purpofed to make his pattern, in this branch of the Paftoral OfHce ; and was not a little furprized to find, that he always preached ex- tempore. For though all Sermons in Scotland were delivered without book, yet were they premedi* tated Difcourfes, firft written and then learn'd by heart •, which was a lofs of time Mr. Nairn could not fubmit to, and he foon put our author upon Jlttempting the fame method of preaching, which h^ continued to practife all the reft of his life *.

He

* I fhall only mention two remarkable inflances in relation to his preaching without book. In 1691, when the Sees, vacant hy the deprivation of the Nonjuring Bifhops, were filled up, Bifhop Williams was appointed to preach one of the confecra- tion fermons at Bow-Church. But being detained by fome ac- cident^ the clerk had twice fet the pfalm, and ftill the preacher did not appear. Whereupon the Archbifhop of Canterbury deiired Dr. Burnet, then Bifhop of Sarum, to fupply his place, which he did ; and, as the Archbifhop declared, gave them the beft fermon he ever heard him preach. In 1705, he was ap- pointed to preach the Thankfgiving Sermon before the Queen at St. Paul's; and it was the only difcourfe he had ever wrote beforehand, fo this was the only time that he was ever at a

paufe

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. k

He attained to an eafinefs in it, chiefly by allott- ing many hours of the day to meditation upon all forts of fubjedts, and by accultoming himfelf, at thofe times, to fpeak his thoughts aloud, ftudy- ing always to render his expreflion correct. Mr. Nairn led him likewife into a new courle of read- ing, by recommending to his perufal Smith's Seledt Difcourfes, Dr. Moore's Works, and the Writ- ings of Plato and his followers ; but no book pleafed him more than Hooker's EcclellaflicaJ Polity, from the principles of which he never de- parted.

In the year 1662, the Scotch Bifhops, who had been confecrated at Weftminfter, made a pompous entry into Edinburgh, and, by the pride of their firft appearance, gave no good omen of their fu- ture condud:. Biihop Leightoun, though one of their number, would have no fhare in the ftate they took upon them, on this occafion : He foon became acquainted with our author's growing fame, and as he conceived a great affection for him, he took a peculiar pleafure in overlooking his ftudies. By his advice, he became converfant with all the Primitive Writers, going through the' apologies and other treatifes of the Fathers of the three firft centuries, and Binnius's Colledion of Councils, down to the fecond Council of Nice.

At the fame time, our author contrafted an intimacy with another eminent Divine, Mr. Charteris, a man of great prudence, joined to an unaffeftedfimplicity of Behaviour: He was not only very knowing in his own profeffion, but was likewife. a great Matter of Hiftory, both antient and modern, of Geography and Books of Travels, and not a little Ikilled in Mathematical Learning. Thefe three perfons, by their converfation and advice,

paufe in preaching, which on that occafion laded for above a minute. Thefe two incidents were fo publickly known and fpoke o(, that I think it needJefs to alledge any particular au- thority for them, unlefs they ftiould be queilioncd.

contri-

X The L I F E of the A U T H O R.

contributed towards finifhing an education, which had been fo happily begun. And indeed, what might might not be expected from fuch early- helps, where nature had lain in materials, fo fit to be wrought upon ? For there was a robuft con- ftitution, capable of the hardefl labour and ftudy, an apprehenfion that took things quickly, and a memory that retained them long, an imagination rather too lively, and a natural fluency of ex- preflion. j^js joijj.. In the year 1663, our author took a Ihort tour ney to into England : He firfl vifited the two Uni- England. verfities -, at Cambridge, he had an opportunity to know and admire the extenfive learning of Dr. Cudworth, the judgment and moderation of Dr. Pearfon, the fine luxuriant imagination of Dr. Burnet (Author of the Theory) and the Free- thinking of Dr. Henry More, one of whofe fayings, with relation to rites and ceremonies, then made great imprefiion on him ; " None of thefc,'* faid he, " are bad enough to make men bad, and " I am fure none of them are good enough to " make men good." At Oxford our author was much carefs'd, on account of his ready knowledge of the Councils and Fathers, efpecially by Dr. Fell, and Dr. Pocockj that great m.aller of Ori- ental Learning ; he v/as much improved there in his Mathematicks and Philofophy by the inftruc- tions of Dr. Wallis, who likewife gave him a letter of recommendation to the learned and pious Mr. Boyle at London. Upon his arrival there, he was introduced to all the moll noted Divines, fuch as Tillotfon, Stillingfieet, Patrick, Lloyd, Whitchcot, and Wilkins, whofe charafters are faithfully drawn by him in the hiftory. But no converfation proved a greater advantage to him, than that of Sir Ro- bert Murray, not only as he brought him into the beft company, but as he alfo acled the part of a faithful monitor, in reproving him for any errors or indifcretions his youth might betray him into. I After

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xi

After a ftay in England of about fix months, which, being fpent in the manner I have men- tioned, could not but be highly ufeful, he return- ed to Scotland, where he was again prefs'd to enter into Orders, and accept of one of the beft benefices in the Weft.

Sir Robert Fletcher of Saltoun, who, during Delays his ftay at Paris, had received many obligations accepting from his Father, hearing fo great a charader of g^^^^^^^^g^ the fon, invited him down to his feat, and had no fooner heard him preach, than he offered him that Church, the Miniflrer of it being nominated to one of the vacant Bifhopricks. Our author would have excufed himfelf, as having determined for fome months to travel beyond Sea -, and fol- licited the Living for his friend Mr. Nairn ; but Sir Robert would admit of no denial ; and as the prefent incumbent was not to be confecrated im- mediately, refolved to keep the Benefice vacant, till his return from his Travels.

It was in the year 1664, that our author went His Tr- over to Holland ; where, after he had feen what ^els into was remarkable in the Seven Provinces, he fixed ^"^"^^^""^ his refidence at Amfterdam. There, by the help France. of a learned Rabbi, he perfe6led himfelf in the Hebrew Language ; he likewife became acquainted with the leading men of the different Perfuafions tolerated in that Country ; as the Arminians, the Lutherans, the Unitarians, the Brownifts, the Anabaptifts, and the Papifts : Amongft each of whom, he ufed frequently to declare, he had met with men of fuch real piety and virtue, that there he became fix'd in that ftrong principle of univerfal Charity, and of thinking well of thofe that differed from him, as likewife in an invincible abhorrence of all fevericies, on account of religious diffenfions, which hath oftei:i drawn upon him the bitterefl cenfures from thofe, who, perhaps by a narrower Educanon, were led into a narrower way of Think- ing. - '

From

xii The LIFE of the A U TH O R.

From Holland he pafl thrdiigh the Netherlands into France ; he remained for fome time at PafiSj and converfed often with the two famous miniiters of Charenton, Daille and Morus ; the one re- nowned for his learning and judgment, the other for his bright parts and eloquence. He thought there entered too much of the gefture of the theatre into Morus's delivery -, his fermons were full of fire and of turns, which being out of the common road, at once furprifed and pleafed his au- dience i but when thefe flights, which paft current in a pathetick difcourfe, came to be coolly con- fidered, they would hardly bear the teft : So that as our author found in him much that deferved imitation, there was flill more that required cor- redion. His ftay in France was the longer, on account of the great freedom and kindncfs, with which he was treated by the Lord Holies, then AmbalTador at the French Court. Towards the end of the year he returned to Scotland through London, where he was introduced, by the Pre- fident Sir Robert Murray, to be a member of the Royal Society. Is fettled Soon after his arrival at Edinburgh, Sir Robert as Minifter Fletcher came thither, and carried him down to atSaltoun, Saltoun, giving him the Prefentation to that condudl Church ; but he declined taking it abfolutely at there. firft, and refolved to continue there four months, performing all the funftions of a Minifter, without engaging himfelf to the Parilh, till he fhould have the joint requeft of all the parifhioners ^ which he afterwards had, without one fingle exception ; and thereupon he was ordained a Prieft by the Bilhop of Edinburgh in the year 1665. During the five years he remained at Saltoun, he preached twice every Sunday, and once more on one of die week days ; he catechifed three times a week, fo as to examine every parifhioner, old or young, thrice over in the compafs of a year •, he went round his parifh, from houfe to houfe, inftrucling, reproving

or

The LIFE of the AUTHO R. xul

or comforting them, as occafion required j thofe that were fick, he vilited twice a day ; he ad- miniftred the Sacrament four times a year, and per- fonally inftrufled all fuch, as gave notice they in- tended to receive it ; all that remained above his own neceffary fubfiftence (in which he was very frugal) he gave away in charity. A particular inftance of his generofity that way, a perfon * (who then lived 'with him, and afterwards was in his fervice at Salilbury) ufed to recount : One of his parishioners had been in execution for debt, and came to our author for fome fmall rejief, who en- ,j quired of him, how much would again fet him up in his trade ; the man named the fum, and he as readily called to his fervant to pay it him. " Sir, " faid he, it is ail we have in the houfe." " Well, •* well, faid our author, pay it this poor man ; f ' you <io not know the pleafure there is, in making " a man glad." Thus as he knev/ the concerns of his whole parifh, as he treated them with ten- dernefs and care, and as he fet them a fair example of every article of that duty, which he taught them, he had foon gained the affections of them not excepting the Prelbyterians •, tho' he was then the only man in Scotland, that made ufe of the prayers in the Liturgy of the Church of England.

As his ftudies were chiefly bent upon the pafto- ral care^ in which he endeavoured to inllrufl him- felf from the befl writers, concerning the confti- tution of the Primitive Church, during the firft Centuries, among whom St. Cyprian was the chief J he obferved, that the Bifhops, who govern- ed in Scotland, though they derived the ftrongeft' arguments for their order, from thefe very books, yet neglefted all the rules prefcribed in them. He therefore drew up a memorial of their abufes, of which fome relation is given in the Hiftory, as

* This was a ftory commonly well known at Salifbury, and wluch the Editor le^rut frgm Mr, Waflefield, a Genileman now ■living there.

likewife

■k\v The L I F E of the A U T H OR.

likewife of the harlh treatment he met with, upon that occafion. However, as this ftep had made forae noife, and might be imputed to ambition, or a defire of becoming popular ; he refolvcd to live in a more retired manner, than he had done hither- to : A abftradting himfelf from all mixt com- pany, confining himfelf wholly to ftudy and the duties of his fundlion, he entred into fuch an afcetick courfe, as had well nigh put an end to his life -, for his bad diet, joined to hard ftudy, had fo corrupted the mafs of his blood, that in two fucceffive fevers he was given over by the Phy- ficians. Much In the year 1668, as the government of Scot-

confulred j^nd, both in Church and State, was put into the niftrv^in^^ hands of moderate men, among whom Sir Robert Scotland. Murray was a principal leader, our author was fre- quently fent for and confulted by them ; he was afterwards employed, as one of the chief mana- gers for the Church, in negociating the fcheme of an accommodation, between the Epifcopal and Prefbyterian Parties ; of which a full account, is given in the Hiftory. He was, upon that occafiop, introduced to the Dutchefs of Hamilton ; who, though her inclinations lay toward Prefbytery, pro- fefled herfelf a friend to m.oderate Counfels. By her he was invited, the year following, to Hamilton, where he contracted an acquaintance with the . Regent of the Univerfity of Glafgow ; who con- ceived fuch an efleem for him, that, their Chair of Divinity being vacant, he propofed our author, as the perfon moft proper to fill it ; and he re- commended this m fo effeftual a manner, that in a few days after, he brought over to Hamilton, the Decree of the Univerfity, eieding him their Is made ProfeiTor. As this matter had been wholly tranf- Profeffor acled without his knowledge, fo was he, for fome of Divi- time, in fufpenfe what refolution to take ; his GMoQw. '^^^^"^s were all earneft in perfuading him to ac- cept of it, his parilhioners at Saitgun, for whom

he

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xv

he had a moft tender regard, were no lefs anxious to retain him : At length the authority of Arch- bilhop Leightoun prevailed, and he removed to Glafgow in the year 1 669, where he continued four years and a half, in no fmall exercife of his patience. The Prefbyterian zealots hated him, as appre- hending that his fchemes of moderation would, in , the end, prove the fure way of eftablilhing Epifco- pacy amongft them : The Epifcopal party, on the other hand, could not endure a man, who w^as for exempting the DifTenters from their Profecutions.

As his principal care, in this new ftation, was His con- to form juft and true notions in the Students of d"*-^ j" Divinity •, he laid down a plan for that purpofe, to ^^^^^ which no other objedion could be offered, but that it feemed to require the labour of four or five, inftead of one man •, yet he never failed exe- cuting every part of it, during his refidence at Glafgow. On Mondays he made each of the ftudents, in his turn, explain a head of Divinity in Latin, and propound fuch Thefes from it, as he was to defend againft the reil of the Scholars •, and this exercife concluded with our author's decifion of the point, in a Latin Oration. On Tuefdays he gave them a Prcledlion in the fame language, wherein he purpofed, in the courfe of eight years, to have gone through a compleat Syftem of Divinity. On Wednefdays, he read them a Le6ture, for above an hour, by way of a critical commentary on St. Matthew's Gofpel, which he finifhed before he quitted the chair. On Thurfdays the exercife was alternate ; one Thurfday he expounded a Hebrew Pfalm, comparing it with the Septuagint, the Vulgar and the Englilh Verfion ; and the next Thurfday, he explained fome portion of the Ritual and Conftitution of the Primitive Church, making the Apoftolical Canons his Text, and reducing every article of pradice, under the head of one or other of thofe Canons. On Fridays he made each of his Scholars^ in courfe, preach a (liort

" ' ■ Sermon^

xvi The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

Sermon, upon fome Text he affigned ; and when it was ended, he obferved upon any thing, that was defedive or amifs, Ihewing how the text ought to have been opened and applied. This was the labour of the mornings ; in the evenings, after prayer, he every day read them fome parcel of Scripture, on which he made a lliort difcourfe, and v/hen that was over, he examined into the pro- grefs of their feveral ftudies, incouraging them to propofe their diiHculties to him, upon the Sub- jects they were then reading. This he performed, during the whole time the Schools were open j thereby anfwering the duty of a Profefibr, with the affiduity of a School-mafler : and in order to acquit himfelf with credit, he was obliged to ftudy hard from four till ten in the morning ; the reft of the day being of neceffity allotted, either to the ufe of his pupils, or to hearing the complaints of the Clergy ; who, finding he had an intereft with the men in power, were not fparing in their ap- plications to him. He under- In times of vacation, our author made frequent takes to viiits to Hamilton j and was eafily engaged by writs the ^-j^g Dutchefs to undertake the tafk, of examining of ihe^" ^^^ putting in order all the papers that related to Dukes of her Father's and ner Uncle's Miniftry : fhe had Hamilton, kept thefe carefully together, but had not hitherto found a perfon, whom fhe thought fafe to be en- trufted with the perufal of them ; yet now fhe had fo entire a confidence in hirn, that fhe put then! all into his hands. The Earl (afterwards Duke) of Lauderdale no fooner heard that he was com- piling Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, than he wrote to Scotland, earneftly prefTing him' to come up to Court, in order to receive fuch in- formations from himfelf, concerning the Tranf- aftions of thofe times, as he was able to furnifli. Our author thereupon went to London, where he was received, by the Earl of Lauderdale, with fuch marks of confidence, as made it e^vident, tliat had

hQ

4

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xvii

he purfued the common methods of cultivating an intereft, he might have raifed himfelf to a great fortune : But as he was a conllant enemy to all thofe artifices of a Court, whereby men ufualiy rife, fo was he naturally of too frank a fpirit, to bear with the Earl's imperious temper. All the ufe therefore he made, of his freedom of accefs, was in negotiating and concluding a reconciliation, between him and Duke Hamilton ; who had affignations given him, on the revenues of the Crown, in fatisfaction of thofe pretenfions, of v/hich our author had found authentick vouchersj among the papers entrufted to his care ; and the Duke, in return, promifed to concur with the meafures of the Court, in the enfuing Parliaments Four Bilhopricks in Scotland becoming vacant at He re- this time, our author was offered his choice of ^^,^" ^. , them •, but he declined accepting a flation, for -^^ g°^[^^ which he thought his years were unfit, in which land. he forefaw, he fhould be much entangled, and in all probabiUty would be capable of doing Uttle good.

Soon after his return to Glafgow, he married the His mar- Lady Margaret Kennedy, a Daughter of the Earl ^iage with of Caffiiis, who lived in great intimacy andfnkiid- ^^^^^^^ fhip with the Dutchefs of Hamilton : She was a Kennedy, Lady of diftinguilhed piety and knowledge ; her own fentiments inclined ftrongly towards the .Prefbyterians, with whom fhe was in high credit and eileem ; yet was fhe far from entering into the rigid and narrow zeal of fome of their leaders. As there v/as fome difparity in their ages, that it might remain without difpute, that this match was wholly owing to inclination, not to avarice or ambition, the day before their marriage, our author delivered the lady a Deed, whereby he renounced all preteniion to her fortune, which v/as very confiderable, and muft otherwife have fallen into his hands, ihe herfelf having no intention to fecure it.

Vol. I. a In

xviii The LlP E of the A U T H O R.

In the year 1672, Duke Lauderdale was ftn down, as the King's CommifTioner, to hold a Par- liament in Scotland, and our author was confider- ed as the Perfon, who had the greateft influence over him ; which was wholly employed in doing good offices to needy fuitors, and in preventing a breach between him and Duke Hamilton ; for which he was much exclaimed at, by the party then oppohng the Court, who could have no hopes of prevailing, unlefs the latter would put himfelf at their head. About this time, he publifhed his " Vindication of the Authority, Contlitution, and " Laws of the Church and State of Scotland •," Again re- wherein he flrongly maintained the caufe of Epi- fufes a Bi- fcopacy, and the illegality of refiftance, merely or^ wkKe' account of Religion. This was thought, in that promife oijunflure, fuch a publick fervice, that he was again the next courted to accept of a Biflioprick, with the pro- Archbi- jp^jfg Qf i-j-^e j^ext Archbirtioprick, that fhould be ^op"<^ • YQJj . J3yt. j-jg fj-jii perfifted in his refufal. His favour In 1 673, he was obliged to take another jour- at Court, ney to London, in order to obtain a Licence, for publilhing his Memoirs of the Dukes of Ha- milton ; he went likewife with a fliU defign, to break off from farther meddling in matters of State ; he faw that Popery was at bottom the pre- vailing interell at Court, and that the Sacramental Teft, whereby the Duke of York, the Lord Clif- ford, and other Papifts in employment had been excluded, was a meer artifice of King Charles, to obtain money for carrying on the war that fummer with Holland. He fufpefted that the defigns of the Court were both corrupt and defperate; he therefore ufed all the freedom, he decently could, with the Duke and Dutchefs of Lauderdale ; he pointed out to them the errors of their manage- ment in Scotland, and the ill effeds it would have, both upon themfelves, and upon the whole nation -, and when he faw no difpofition to redlify their meafures, he rejedled all offers of preferment made

The L IF E of the A U T H O R. xis;

to himfelf; though he could not decline being fworn one of the King's Chaplains, which, as it ' was a poll of no profit, fo it was confer*d upon him at his Majefty's exprefs nomination, upon having heard him preach. As Duke Lauderdale's enemies were foon informed of the franknefs with which he had remonftrated to his Grace, againft the methods of Adminiftration, he was then pur- fuing ; and as they knew his friendship and attach- ment to the Hamilton family, they induftrioufly magnified his credit in Scotland, to fuch a degree, that his Majefty often fent for him in private, and the Duke of York much oftner. He made no other ufe of the high favour Ihewn him by the latter, than firft to introduce Dr. Stillingfleet to him ; and afterwards to propofe a conference, to be held in his Royal Highnefs's prefence, between them tv/o and the chief of the Romilli Priefts : though there was little reafon at that time to hope, .that any arguments would be able to effed: the Duke's Converfion, and the very propofal of fuch a difpute, was in a great meafure fenouncing all pretenfions to preferment. He likewife fought no other advantage, from the great freedom with which the King received him, than only to awaken in that Prince a Senfe of Religion, and to roufe him from that lethargy of vice and indolence, in which his natural great talents feemed wholly bu- ried. This is fo much the reverfe of the condudt of afpiring Clergymen, it lies fo direftly out of the road to power, riches, or dignity, that I hope it ~- may acquit him from all imputation of ambition.

As foon as the Memoirs of the Dukes offiisbfeacH Hamilton were licenfed by Mr. Secretary Coventry; with Duki which was the longer delayed, becaufe the King Lauder,- and many of the Minillers were defirous to read them in manufcript •, our author returned to Scot- land : And on his arrival at Edinburgh, finding the animofity between the Dukes of Hamilton and Lauderdale, rifen to a height not to ht compofed, a 2 he

XX The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

he retired to his ftation at Glafgow, and refufed to ftir from thence all that winter. This, joined to the jeaioufy, the favour fhewn him at London had raifed, drew upon him a florm, which pur- fued him for many years after, with the utmoft violence. The meafures of the Court proving imfuccefsful in Parliament, Duke Lauderdale threw the load of his ov/n mifcarriage upon our author, whom he reprefented as the caufe and inftrument, tinder hand, of all the oppofition he had met with. This accufation made it incumbent on him, once more to return to Court in the year 1674. The King received him coldly, and ordered his name to be ftruck out of the Lift of Chaplains ; yet, at the Duke of York's intreaty, he admitted him to offer, what he thought proper in his own jufti- lication : He thereupon gave his Majefty fo clear and fatisfaftory an Account of his condudb, ap- pealing for the truth of all his affertions to Duke Hamilton, that in the end the King feemed con- vinced of his innocence, and ordered him home to Glafgow. But the Duke of York difTuaded him from returning thither, 'till his Peace ihould be Entirely made ; for he affured him, that otherwife he would be clap'd up in prifon, and detain'd there perhaps as long as the fame intereft prevailed at Court ; his Royal Highnefs likewife ufed his ut- moft endeavours to have reconciled him with Duke Lauderdale -, but that he found imprafticable : the latter infifting, that our author fliould abandon his belt friends, and difcover all the Secrets he had hitherto been in ; and the other, as firmly per- lifting in his adherence to thofe, who had ftiewn him friendfhip, or repofed a confidence in him. is forced Thus it became neceffary either, by going back to quit hJs to Scotland, to put himfelf in the power of ene- nrofefior- mies, who Were not likely to treat him with any QufTn i"egard to juftice or his own innocence, or elfe to " '^ " refign his Profelfor's Chair, and fettle in England. Fie chofe the latter, if it may be called a choice -, i and

Th« LIFE of the AUTHOR. xxl

and fought an eftablifhment in London : in which he met with all the oppofition, the"Miniftry could give hinn ; particularly in one Church (as he him- felf relates it in the Hiftory) where the Elc6lors were difpofed to have chofen him, had they not been deterred by a very fevere meflage, in the King's name. Though the being thus in a man- ner turn'd a-drift, could not at the time but feem a misfortune, yet he ever fpoke of it as the hap- pieft event of his life. He was but thirty years old, and though the charms of ambition had not that influence over him, which is ufual at thofe years ; yet he thought it a fignal bleiling, that any accident had difentangled him, from the fnares of fo corrupt a Court, in whofe fervice he had been fo far engaged, that he could not otherwife have been eafily delivered from them.

The fituation he was now in, might furely have Refufej a excufed his embracing the firft provifion that 2°°^ ^^- ofFered; yet he could not be tempted by it, to!?^^^^^^^ overlook the niceft pundiiio's of juftice or honour ; refolved rather to fuffer the utmoft perfonal diffi- culties, than purchafe preferment at the leall ex- pence of his character. He therefore generoufly declined accepting the living of St. Giles's Cripple- gate, which about this time was vacant * ; it was in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, who had exprelTed fome inclination to bellow it upon Dr. Fowler (afterwards Billiop of Gloucefter) but being made acquainted with the circumftances of our author, and the hardfhips he had undergone, they fent him an offer of the Benefice : He thanked them for the favour, but faid, that as he had been informed of their intention of conferring it upon fo worthy a Divine, he did not think himfelf at liberty to take it. After this, in the year 1675,

* This faft Mr. Mackney, a Gentleman now living at Salif- bury, affured me he had from the Biihop's own moith And the fame was confirmed to me by the Reverend Mr, John Craig, yAo lived with Dr. Burnet at the time when it hnpper;ed,

. a 3 h^ ,

xxii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

he was recommended by the Lord Holies to the

friendfhip of Sir Harbottle Grimfton, Mafter of

the Rolls, by whom he was appointed preacher

to the Chapel there ; and though the Court fent

firft a Bifhop, and then Mr. Secretary Williamfon,

to perfuade Sir Harbottle to difmifs him, as one

highly unacceptable to the King, yet he perfifted

in the nomination he had made. By this means.

Is made q^j. author obtained a fettlement in London, in

at the ^ which he Continued above nine years •, he was foon

Rolls, and after chofen a Lecturer at St. Clement's, and grew

Lefturer to be one of the moft followed Preachers in town.

% ^' ^ His Sermons had not in them the ftudied phrafes Clements. , , , . , , . , , ^

or the rounded periods, which were then too

much in vogue ; but there was a force in his

reafoning, a warmth in his expreffion, and a

dignity in his manner, joined to a gracefulnefs in

his perfon, which commanded attention •, and as

the heart always fpoke in him, fo it feldom failed

of fpeaking to the hearts of his audience.

Writes the As the apprehenfions of Popery grew daily

^'^^^'''J.°' llronger, the m. eft eminent Divines of the Church

jnatlon. of England fignalized themfelves in the Romifh

Controverfy : Nothing of that kind v/as more

taken notice of, than the Account our author

printed in the year 1676, of a Conference, which

himfelf and Dr. Stillingfieet were engaged in with

Colem.an and the principal of the Romifli Priefts :

This ir.ade him confidered, as one who ftood in

the very front of the Oppofition to Popery. His

reputation, upon that account, was foon after raifed

to the higheft pitch, by that great performance.

The Hiftory of the Reformation ; in which, as he

took a method wholly new, fo was it univerfally

applauded. The firft volume lay near a year, after

it was finilhed, for the perufal and correction of

friends -, fo that it was not publifhed till the year

1679, when the affair of the Popifli Plot was in

agitation. This Book procured our author an

Pionour, never before or fince paid to any writer 5

6 ' he

The L I F E of the AU T H O R. iXiii

he had the Thanks of both Houfes of Parliament, v/ith a Defire that he would profecute his under- taking and compleat that vaiuabl* Work. Ac- cordingly, in iefs than two years after, he printed the fecond volume, which met with the fame ge- neral approbation, as the firft r and fuch was his readinels in com.pofing, that he wrote the hiftorical part, in the compafs of fix v/eeks, after all his materials were laid in order.

As our author, though he had at this time no His con- Parochial Cure, refufed not his attendance to any verfion of fick perfon, who defired it ; he was fent for, amongft' ^^^^o^^ others, to one, who had been engag'd in a criminal Rocteft 3 amour with Wilmot Earl of Rochefter : The man- ner he treated her in, during her iilnefs, gave that Lord a great curiofity of being acquainted with him : Whereupon, for a whole winter, in a Con- verfation of at lead one evening in a week, he went over all thofe Topicks with him, upon which Scepticks and Men of loofe Morals are wont to attack the Chriftian ReHgion.. The effect this had, firft in convincing that Earl's judgment, and after- wards in making him a fincere penitent, is fo fully related in the account of it pubiftied in i 68i, that it will be needlefs to add any thing here upon that Subjea *.

During

*

The Editor here fubjoins a letter from that Lord, before his death ; the original of which is in his hands.

Woodftock-Park, 25 June, 16S0.

** My moft honoured Dr. Burner,

" My fpirits and body decay fo equally together, that I (hall

" write you a letter as weak as I am m perfon. 1 begin to

'' value Churchmen above all Men in the world, and you above

" all the Churchmen I know in it. If God be yet pleafed to

" fpare me longer in this world, I hope in your converfation to

" be exalted to that degree of piety, that the world may fee,

" how much I abhor, what I fo long loved, and how much I

" glory in repentance, in God's fervice. Beftow your prayers

'* upon me, that God would fpare my life, if it be his good

^f wilj, to Ihew a true repentafice and amendment of )ife for the

a 4 »' time

%kH The life of the author.

Refufes During a great part of the time, when the en- Jj^ ^!" quiry into the Popifh Plot was on foot, our author of°Cht ^^^ frequently fent for by King Charles, and con- cheller. fulted by him as to the ftate of the nation : His Majefty made him an offer of the Bifhoprick of Chicheiler then vacant, provided he would " en- *' tirely come into his interefts.'* He anfwered, *' That he did not know what might be meant by " that expreffion -, and he was unwilling to fuffer *' any one, even to deceive themfelves by what he * " fhould fay. He knew the Oaths he was to " take on fuch an occafion, thefe he would re- " iigioufly obferve ^ and defired to be excufed ^' from any further engagements or general pro- " miles, which were liable to different con- " ftruftions." But if his free accefs to the King did not procure him that preferment, which very fevv' vVith the fame opportunities would have mifs'd ; it engaged him to write his Majefty fuch a Letter, as may perhaps offend the delicacy of fome, yet in juftice to his memory ought not to be fup- prefs'd.

29 Jan. 1 6||-. May it pleafe Your M a jest y t?

His letter << T Have not prefumed to trouble Your Majefty to ihe te J^ fQj- (q^q months, not having any thing '* v/orthy your time to offer *, and now I choofe '^ rather this way, fmce the infinite duty I owe you

*^ time to come. Or elfe, if the Lord pleafeth to put an end *' to my woTdiy Being now, that he would mercifully accept of *' my death-bed Repentance, and perform chat prbmife he hath " been pleafed to make, That at what time foever a fainer doth " rcpeut, he would receive him. Put up thefe prayers, mcli '» dear Doiftor, to Almighty God, for

'■'' Your moft obedient, and

" larjguiHiing fervant,

** Koch ESTER."

Kins;.

f The original of this Letter is now in the Editor's hand, wrote by tbeBifsop, with a memorandum how it was deliveredj, ^ad when : And how :: was received.

?'■ puts

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xxv

" puts mc under reftraints in difcourfe, which I " cannot fo eafily overcome. What I fhall now *' fuggeft to your Majefty, I do it as in the pre- " fence of Almighty God, to whom I know I " muft give an account of all my actions : I there- " fore beg you will be gracioufly pleafed to accept " this moft faithful zeal of your poor fubjed, who " has no other defign^t, than your Good, and the " difcharsre of his own conlcience.

" I muft then firft alTure your Majefty, I never *' difcovered any thing like a defign of railing " Rebellion, among all thofe with whom I con- " verfe •, but 1 ftiall add, on the other hand, that " moft people grow fuUen, and are highly dif- *' fatisfied with You, and diftruftful of You. *' Formerly your Minifters, or his Royal High- " nefs, bore the blame of things that were un- *' grateful ; but now it falls upon Yourfelf, and " time, which cures moft other diftempers, en- " creafes this. Your laft Speech makes many *' think, it will be eafy to fetch up petitions from *' all parts of England : This is now under con- ** fultation, and is not yet determined ; but I find *' fo many inclined to promote them, that as far " as I can judge, it will go that way. If your " Majefty calls a new Parliament, it is believed, " that thofe who have promoted the Petitions will *' be generally elected -, for the inferior fcrt of *' People are much fet upon them, and make their *' judgment of men, from their behaviour in that '^ matter. The foberer fort of thofe, who are ill *' pleafed at your Conduit, reckon that either the *' ftate of your affairs beyond Sea, or of your *' Exchequer at home, will e'er long neccffitate " your meeting your Parliament ; and that then *' things muft be rectified : and therefore they ufe ** their utmoft endeavours to keep all quiet. . If " your Majefty has a feflion in April, for fup- " porting your allies, I find it is refolved by many, i^ That the money neceiTary to maintain your Al-

j^ lianceS|

jHCvi Tlie LIFE of the AUTHOR.

" liances, fhall be put into the hands of the Com- *'' miffioners, to iilue it as they fhall anfwer to the '* two Houfes ; and thefe will be fo chofen, that *' as it is likely, that the perfons will be very im- *' acceptable to You, fo they being trufted with *' the money, will be as a Council of State, to " controul all your Councils. And as to your " Exchequer, I do not find any inclination to *' confider your Neceffity, iinlefs many things be '* done to put them into another difpofition, than " I can obferve in them. The things that will be *' demanded, will not be of fo eafy a digeftion, as "• that I can imagine You will ever be brought to *' them, or indeed that it will be reafonable or " honourable for You to grant them. So that, *' in this diforder of affairs, it is eafy to propofe ♦' difficulties, but not fo eafy to find out that, which *' may remove thern.

*' There is one thing, and indeed the only " thing, in which all hone ft men agree, as that " which can eafily extricate You out of all your *' troubles ; it is not the change of a Minifter, or *' of a Council, a new alliance, or a ielBon of *' Parliament, but it is (and fuffer me. Sir, to "" fpeak it with a more than ordinaiy earneftnefs) '^ a change in your own heart, and in your *' courfe of life. And now. Sir, if You do not *' with indignation throw this paper from You, " permit m.e (with all the humility of a fubjecb *' proftrate at your feet) to tell You, That all the '' diftrull your people have of You, all the ne- " ceffities You now are under, ail the indignation " of Heaven, that is upon You, and appears in " the defeating ail your Councils, flow from this, *' That You have not feared nor ferved God, but " have given yourfelf up to fo many finful pleafures. * " Your Majefty may perhaps juftly think, that *' many of thofe that oppofe You have no regard " for Religion, but the Body of your people con- '* fider it more than you can imagine. I do not

" defire

The L I F E of the A U T H O R. xxvii

' defire your Majefty to put on a hypocritical ■ fhew of religion, as Henry the Third of France • did, hoping thereby to have weathered the florms of thofe times. No! that would be foon feen through, and as it would provoke God more, fo it would encreafe jealoufies. No ! Sir,* it muft be real, and the evidences of it fignal : All thofe about You ?who are the oce:a- fions of fin, chiefly the women, mull be re- moved, and your Court be reformed. Sir, if You will turn You to Religion fincerely and ferioufly. You Ihall quickly find a ferene Joy of another nature pofi!efs your mind, than what arifes from grofs pleafures ; God would be at peace with You, and dire6t and blefs all your Counfels ; all good Men would prefently turn' ' to You, and ill men would be alhamed, and ^ have a thin party. For I fpeak it knowingly, there is nothing has fo alienated the body of your people from you, as what they have heard of your life, which difpofes them to give an eafy belief to all other fcandalous reports. " Sir, this Counfel is now almoft as neceflary for your affairs as it is for your foul ; and though You have highly offended that God, who has been infinitely merciful to You, in preferving You at Worcefter fight, and during your long exile, and v/ho brought You back fo miracu- loufly, yet he is ftiil good and gracious ; and will, upon your fincere repentance, and change of life, pardon all your fins and receive You into his favour : Oh, Sir, what if You fhould die in the midft of all your Sins ^ at the great Tribunal, where You mull appear, there will be ho regard to the Crown You now wear ; but it will aggravate your punifliment, that being in fo eminent a ftation. You have fo much dilhonoured God. Sir, I hope, You believe there is a God, and a Life to come, and that Sin Ihall not pafs unpunilhed. If your Majefty

" will

xxviii The LIF E of the A U TH O R.

'« will refleft upon your having now been twenty " years upon the throne, and in all that time «' how little You have glorified God, how much " you have provoked him, and that your ill *' example has drawn fo many after You to fin, *« that men are not now alhamed of their vices, ** You cannot but think, that God is offended «' with You : And if You confider how ill your *' Councils at home, and your Wars abroad have " fucceeded, and how much You have loft the " hearts of your people. You may reafonably " conclude, this is of God, who will not turn " away his anger from You, till You turn to " him with your whole heart.

" I am no enthufiaft, either in opinion or temper; *' yet I acknowledge, I have been fo prefs'd in ** my mind to make this addrefs to You, that I "■ could have no eafe till I did it : And fmce " you were pleafed to dire6t me to fend You, *' through Mr. Chiffinch's hands, fuch informa- *i' ..tions as I thought fit to convey to You, I hope " your Majefty will not be offended, if I have *' made this ufe of that liberty. I am fure I can " have no other defign in it, but your good ; for I " know very well, this is not the method to ferve ♦-^ any ends of my own. I therefore throw myfelf " at your feet, and once more, in the Name of " God, whofe fervant I am, do moft humbly be- " feech your Majefty, to confider of what I have ^' written, and not to defpife it for the meannefs *' of the perfon, who has fent it ; but to apply " yourfelf to religion in earneft : And I dare ^' afTure you of many blefTmgs both temporal and " fpiritual in this life, and of eternal glory in the " life to come : But if You will go on in your *' fins, the judgments of God will probably purfue " You in this life, fo that you may be a Proverb ''V to after-ages •, and after this life. You will be *' for ever miferabie ; and 1, your poor fubje<5t ?^ that now am, fhaii be a v^itnefs againft You ia ^: , ^^the

The LI F E of the AU T H O R. xxk

*' the great day, that I gave you this free and *' faithtul warning.

" Sir, no perfon alive knows, that I have v^ritten *' to You to this purpofe: and I chofe this evening, *' hoping that your exercife to-morrow may put *' you into a difpofition to weigh it more carefully. ** I hope your Majefty will not be offended with " this fincere expreffion of my duty to You ; for *' I durft not have ventured on it, if I had not *' thought myfelf bound to it, both by the duty " I owe to God, and that which will ever oblige " me to be,

" May it pleafe your Majefty, &c."

This is the letter, of which fome mention is made in the fecond Volume of the Hiftory, as likewife of the efteft it produced : it con- veys to the reader a much ftronger idea of the author's character, than any defcription can give and I prefume, it will fcarce be thought a ftep, which any Clergyman would have taken, who aimed more at preferment than the ftridl difcharge of his duty.

The unprejudiced part our author a6led, during the whole time that the nation was inflamed with the difcovery of the Popiih Plot j his candid en- deavours to have faved the lives of Staiey and the Lord Stafford, both zealous papifts •, his temperate conduft in regard to the exclufion of the Duke of York, and the Scheme of a Prince Regent, propofed by him, in lieu of that exclufion ; are all fufficientiy related in the Hiftory : This only may be farther obferved, that his behaviour, in this critical jun6ture, was fo impartial, as to difpleafe both the Court and the Country Party ; whichj, when animofities run high, will always be the fate of thofe few, who follow the dictates of their own judgment and confcience, without entring into the concerted meafures of any one fet of Men. A /charader as valuable as it is rare.

In

XXX The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

His firm In 1682, when the adminiftration was wholly to wr""^ changed, in favour of the Duke of York, the friends. Courtiers thought themfelves at Hberty to rail at our author j as if his writings and fermons againft Popery had been only calculated to facilitate the projed: of the exclufion. Yet fo little did the Court regard the - refleftions which were thrown upon him, that it being likely the Mafterfhip of the Temple would be foon vacant, the Earls of Halifax and Clarendon obtained the King's pro- mife of it for him : Upon which he was again fent for by his Majefty, and received with peculiar marks of favour and kindnefs. But thefe were foon withdrawn, and he himfelf waved the promife made him ; when he found it was expedted, he Jhould break off correfpondence with fome of his beft friends. And as, during the debates concerning the Exclufion, he had loft all his intereft with Lord Shaftefbury and the country party, on account of his intimacy with the Earl of Halifax, and his endeavours tojuftify, or at leaft excufe the Earl's condufl in that affair : So now he chofe rather to facrifice all the advantages, he might reap from that Lord's great power at Court, than to abandon the fociety of the Earl of Effex, the Lord Ruffel, and Sir William Jones. As he was, at this time, much reforted to by perfons of all ranks and parties, in order to avoid the neceffity of returning vifits, he built a Laboratory, and for above a year went through a courfe of chemical Experiments ; which, as it ferved to enlarge his Philofophical Notions, and was in itfelf an ufeful, as well as an innocent Amufement, fo it furnilhed him with a proper excufe for ftaying much at home. The Earl ffoon after created Marquis) of Halifax complains of this retirement in a letter, which I fhall here in- fert,

*' S I R,

ic

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. X3td

"SIR, * Oa. i6j 1682.

T Hough I was tender in advifmg you to wave any thing you might think advan- tageous for you, yet fince you have thought fit to do it, I am at liberty to approve it : And I only deGre you will not make too hafty reib- lutions concerning yourfelf, and not be carried fo far by the fudden motions of a felf-denying generofity, as to fhut the door againft thofe ad^ vantages, which you may expeft with jufticej and may receive without indecency. Only a little patience is requifite, and in the mean time no greater reilraint upon your behaviour and converfation, than every prudent man, under your chara6ler and circumftances would chufe voluntarily to impofe on himfelf. For what concerns me, or any part I might have, in en- deavouring to ferve you, I had rather you fhould hear it from any body, than from myfelf ; and though you Ihould never hear it from any body, I expert from your juftice you fhould fup- pofe it. Your withdrawing yourfelf from your old Friends, on this corrupted fide of the Town, is that which I can neither approve for my own fake, nor for yours : For befides many other objedions, fuch a total feparation will make you by degrees think lefs equally, both of men and things, than you have hitherto pro- felTed to do, in what relates to the Publick. I have no jealoufies of this kind for myfelf in par- ticular, being refolved, at what diftance foever, to deferve your believing me unalterably

" Your faithful humble fervant,

« Halifax."

* Tbe original letter is in the Editor's hands.

Net

xxxu

Refufes a living on the terms of not refiding: there.

How he avoided being in- volved in any plots.

The L I F E of the AUTHOR,

Not long after this, a Hving worth three hundred pounds a year, which was in the gift of the Earl of EfTex, becoming void, he offered the prefenta- tion to our author, upon condition he would pro- mife flill to refide in London -, adding, " That in " the prefent pofture of affairs, his friends could " not permit him to be abfent from the Town." He thereupon told the Earl, " That in cafe he was " prefented to a Cure of Souls, he muil think him- " felf under fuch an obligation to refidence, as no " other confiderations could difpenfe with." And for this reafon the Benefice was given to another.

In the year 1683, when the Rye Plot broke out, and the Earl of EfTex and Lord RulTel were taken into cuftody, all who knew his long and ftri6t friendfhip with thofe Great Men, concluded he would have 'been involved in the fame accufation. But as it had been his conflant principle, that re- fiftance was not lawful, on account of fingle a6i:s of injuftice or opprefTion, unlefs the very bafis of theConflitution was flruck at j fo in order to avoid being drawn 'into fecrets he could not approve, he had declared to all thofe he convers'd with, that 'till he fhould be convinced that refiftance was warrantable, he fhould think it his duty to difclofe all confuitations, which he was made privy to, tending to that end. By this declaration, his moil intimate friends, when they entered into cabals of this nature, were fufticienrly warned againft com- municating their defigns to him. And this now proved his fecurity.

■ His behaviour at the Trial of the Lord RufTel ;. his attendance, on him in prifon, and afterwards xipon the fcaffold, at the time of his execution •, the examination he underwent before the Council, in relation to that Lord's Dying Speech, and the, boldnefs with which he there undertook to vindicate! his memory ; as alfo the indignation the Court ex- prefe'd againft him, upon that occafion ; are all., fully fet rorth in the Hiftory. Thither I muft like-,

wife

Thfe LI F E of the A U T H O R. xxxU

wife refer the reader, for an account of the mort tour our author took to Paris, and of the unufual civilities there fnewn him, by the King of France's exprefs diredion. His friends at Court would indeed have perfuaded him to a longer ilay there ; they apprehended great feverities were preparing For him at home, which they reprelented in the ftrongeft light : But neither their mtreaties, nor the menaces of his enemies could prevent his returning to London. He faid, " That as he was confcious ^'^ of no crime, which could be truly laid to his " charge, fo he would not alarm himfelf, with the ^'^ continual apprehenfion of what falfe witnefies " might invent againft him : That how fatal fo- ^' ever his return might prove, he could not think " himfelf at liberty to be abfent from the duties " of his fundtion." This objeftion was indeed foon after removed -, for he was, that very year. Is difmif- difcharged from his Ledure at St. Clement's, in ^\'^ ^^°'^ purfuance of the King's mandate to Dr. Hafcard, and"f?om * Reftor of that parim : And in December 1 684, the Rolls, by an extraordinary Order from the Lord Keeper North to Sir Hirbottle Grimfton, he was forbid preaching any more in the Chapel at the Rolls.

Thus at the time of King Charles's death, he His travels was happily difengaged from all thofe ties, v/hich beyond might have rendered his ftay in England any part of his duty. Upon King James's acceffion to the Crown therefore, he defired his leave to go out of the Kingdom -, v/hich the Marquis of Halifax cafily obtained, the Court regarding him as one, whom they had no profpeft of gaining, and whom it was their interefb therefore to keep out of the way^ He firft went to Paris, where he lived in great retirement, in order to avoid being involved in any of the Confpiracies, which the Duke of Monmouth's friends were then forming in his favour. When that rebellion was at an end, having contradled ar^ acquaintance with Brigadier Stouppe, 9 Proteitant Officer th^n in the French fervice, he

Vol. I^ b was

Xxxir; ^ The LIFE oF the AUTHOR.

was prevailed upon to take a journey with him into 'Italy ; though many of his friends thought it a bold venture, confidering how remarkably he had fignalized himfelf, in the controverfy with the .Romifli Church. But as he was not himfelf of a Conftitution, very fubjett to fear, fo the advice of the Lord Montague, who was then at Paris, en- couraged him to embrace this opportunity of feeing Rome.

The relation of thefe travels is fo amply given, in the Letters our Author publifhed in the year 1687, that there will be no occafion to add any thing here concerning them j except as to one par- ticular, which may ferve as a proof, both of the great regard paid him abroad, and of his own uni- form zeal for Toleration. He was much carelTed and efteemed by the principal men of Geneva r He faw they infifted Itrongly upon their Confent of Doctrine *, which they 'required all thofe to fubfcribe, who were adm.itted into Orders. He therefore employed all the eloquence he was .mafter of, and all the credit he had acquired amongft them, to obtain an alteration in this pradice : He reprefented to them the folly and ill confequence of fuch fubfcriptions ; whereby the . honefleft and worthieft men were frequently reduc- ed to the necefllty of quitting their native Country, ^^nd feeking a fubfiftance elfewhere -, whilft others of iefs virtue were induced to fubmit, and comply againft their confcience, and even begin their mi- niftry with mental equivocations. The warmth, with which he expreffed himfelf on this head, was - fuch, and fuch was the weight of his charafter, that the Clergy at Geneva were afterwards releafed from thefe fubfcriptions, and only left fubjed: to punifhment or cenfure, in cafe of writing or preaching againft the eftabliflied doflrine.

* This is a Formulary commonly known by the name" of the "Confenfus. ' ' •♦ ■

^ After

The L t F E of the A U T H O H, xxjcif

After a tour through the Southern parts of Is well re- prance, then under periecution upon the repeal of'^^^p'^.'^y the Edi6t of Nantes, through Italy, Switzerland, ^^^ jiJU^^ and m^ny places of Germany, our author came to cefs of Utrecht in the year 1686, with an intention to Orang^,- have fettled in fome quiet retreat within the Seven Provinces : But at his arrival there he found Letters, from fome of the principal Minifters of State at the Hague, intreating him to fix upon no fettle- ment, 'till he fhould have fetn the Prince and Princefs of Orange. "When he was firfl; admitted to an audience of themj he perceived that his triends in England, efpecially ' the Marquis of Halifax, and the Lady Ruffe! , had given him fuch a character, as not only enfured him a moft gracious reception, but foon after procured him an entire confidence^ When he was made acquainted with the fecret of their Councils, he advifed the putting the Fleet of Holland immediately into fuch order^ as might give courage to their friends in Great Britain, in cafe matters there fhould come to ex- tremities ♦, he prevailed upon both their HighneiTeSi to write a letter to King James, in favour of the Bifhop of London, who was then under fufpcnfion j he ventured to propofe to the Princefs, the explain- ing herfelf, upon that nice but neceifary point, of the Chare the Prince was to expecSt in the Govern- ment, in cafe the Britifh Crown fhould devolve on her ; and when it was determined to fend over Mr. Dyckvelt, as AmbafTador to England, our author was employed to draw his fecret inflruc- tions, of v/hich the rough draught is flill extant^ in his own hand.

The high favour nov/ fhewn him at the Hague^ King alarmed King James, who was much incenfed James in- againfl him, for the account he had printed Qfbdbe f J his Travels j in which he had fo flrongly difplayed bid that the miferiesj thofe nations groan under, where Courts Popery and Arbitrary Power prevail, that it feem- ^d to^have a fenfible effed on the people of Eng- b 2 land.

xxxvi

Is profe- cnfcd '"n Scotland and Rug Iknd for i-.igh- Treafon.

the State: refufe to deliver kim up.

The LIFE of* the AUTHO R.

land. The King wrote two fevere letters againft him to the Princefs of Orange j and when the Marquis d'Albeville vms fent Envoy to Holland, he had orders to enter upon no other Matter of Treaty, 'till our author was nrft forbid the Court there ♦, which, at his importunity, was done -, but he continued to be trufted and employed in the fame manner as belore ; Halewyn, Fagel, and the reft of the Dutch Minifters confuking him daily.

The report, that he was then on the point of marrying a confiderabie fortune at the Hague, having reached the Englifh Court ; in hopes to divert this, a profecution of High-Treafon was fet on foot againfl him in Scotland.- Before notice of this profecution came to the States, he had been naturalized in order to his marriage : When there- fore he undertook, in a letter to the Earl of Middletoun, to anfwer all the matters laid to his charge, he added, "That being now naturalized " in Holland, his allegiance during his flay there^ " was transferred from his Majefty to the States.'* This exprefTion was immediately laid hold of. So ■ that dropping the former profecution, they now proceeded againil him for thefe words, as guilty of High-Treafon ; and a fentence of outlawry pafs'd on him. D'Albeville thereupon, firfl de- manded him to be delivered up -, and when he faw this demand was like to prove incffeftual, he infifled that he lliould be baniihed the Seven Pro- vinces, in purfuance of an article in the lafl treaty betv/een the two Nations, which related to Rebels and Fugitives, though it could not be pretended that he came within either of thefe defcriptions. The States, in their anfwer" to ,the Britifh Envoy's ; Memorial, faid, " That as Dr. Burnet, by Natu- " ralization, was become a Subject of their own, " they could not banifh him, unlefs fome crime " was legally proved upon him ; if his Britannick "" Majefly had any thing to lay to his charge, they ** wefuld compel him to anfwer it j and if his

Judges

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xxxvu

" Judges pronounced him guilty, they would ** punifh him according to their Laws •, this wa« " all that in reafon or juftice could be demanded - '* of them." As this anfwer put an end to all farther ajjplication to ciie States, fo it gave occa- fion to fome unwarrantable defigns of feizing his perfon, and even deftroying him if he could not ^^5^?"' f" betaken. Of this our author had notice given ^^^^^ "P°" him from feveral hands, and one in particular, by th6 following Letter from Captain Ba^xter, a Gentleman of unqueftioned honour and reputa- tion, whofe father was at that time fteward to the Duke of Ormond's Eftate.

*« Pear SIR,* .Hague, March 14, 1688.

** rr^Hough I have no acquaintance with you, *' X y^^ ^^^ cfteem I have for your charader^ ** and the benefit I have received by your works, '* obliges me to tell you the proceedings againll '* you in England. I happened the other day to ** go into the Secretary's Office, where I faw an " order for three thoufand pound, to be paid the " perfon, that fnall deftroy you. I could hardly •' believe my eyes, that I faw the paper, it feemed *' fo ftrange to me : This I communicated in pri- *' vate to my Lord OfTory, who told me, it was *' true, for he had it from Prince -George. My *' Lord defired me to be private in the thing, 'till " I came to Holland •, and then, if 1 pleafed, to *' tell you of if. Sir, I am your friend, and my " advice to you is, to take an efpecial care of " yourfelf, for no doubt but that great fum will " meet with a mercenary hand. Sir, you fhall " never want a friend, where I am.—'*

Some months before this, our author had mar- His ^ar- ried Mrs. Mary Scott, a Dutch Lady of a large "«§« to

* This letter is in the Editor's hands, with the Bifliop's own memorandum how he came to the knowledge of the perfon who wrote it, and of his character,

b 3 fbrtun»

KXxviii The LIFE of the A U T H O R,

fortune and noble extraction. Her anceftor, on the father's fide, was a younger brother of the family of Buccleugh, who, upon a quarrel in Scot- land, went over to Holland ; his fon was a Bri^ gadier-General at the fiege of Middleburgh in the year 1574, and afterwards Deputy for the Province of Zealand in the AiTernbly of the States General 5, his grandfon, Apollonius Scott, who was this Lady's Grandfather, was Prefident of the High Court of Juftice at the Hague, and by marriage allied to the nobleft Houfes in Zealand : On the mother's fide, who was a De Ruyter, fhe was re- lated to the principal families in Guelder. With thefe advantages of birth, fhe had thofe of an ej^- tremely agreeable perfon : fhe was well fkilled in ^11 forts of mufick ; drew and painted in great; perfeftion -, (he fpoke Dutch, Englilli, and French equally well ; fhe had a fine underftanding, and- a fweetnefs of temper, that charmed all her ac- quaintance ; her knowledge in matters of Religion was fuch, as might rather be expefted from a Student in Divinity, than from a Lady. In her, our Author, during the whole courfe of her life, found a religious, difcreet and loving friend, a du-^ tiful wife, ■ a prudent miftrefs of his family, a care- ful manager of his affairs, and a tender rnother of his children. ?A^°"u "^^^ important lliare our Author had in the Kevok- ^ whole conduft of the Revolution ; his feafonabje tipn. Counfels in every ftep of that great affair ; the early notice he gave of it to the Court of Hanover, intimating that the fuccefs of this enterprize muft naturally end, in an entail of the Britifh Crown upon that illulfrious Houfe ; the unreferved con- fidence repofed in him, both by the Prince of Orange, and by the malecontents in England ; the ^ffillance he gave in drawing that Prince's Declara^ • tion, and the other publick Papers, written to juftify the undertaking •, his courage in bearing a fhare in %hphzza,vd of that expedition, notwithftar^ding the

pccuhar

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. xxxix

peculiar circumftances of danger he was in ; the AfTociation propofed and drawn by him at Exeter ; the good offices he endeavoured to do King James* while detained at Feverfham in the hands ot a rude multitude ; the care he took to protect the Papift-s and Jacobites, from the infults of the army and populace, when the Dutch Troops arrived at London; his faithful adherence to the interefts of the Frincefs of Orange, in the affair of the Settlement 'of the Crown : Thefe, as well as the other fignal fervices, our Author rendered his Country, when the Abdication of King James made it requifite to eftablifli a nev/ Government, are too fully related in the Hiftory, to need any farther mention here.

Dr. Crew, then Bifhop of Durham, had adted r>ecline3 fuch a part in the High Commiflion in King orthe^Bi- James's Reign, that he thought it would be no ill ftoprickof compoiition, if he could indemnify his Perfon at Durham, the expence of his Spiritual Preferment •, which he purpofed to refign to our Author, trufting to his generofity for an allowance of a Thoufand Pounds a-year out of the Epifcopal Revenue, during his life : He fent the Lord Montague * with this pro- pofal to the Prince of Orange •, but when the mef* fage was carried to our Author, he abfolutely re» fufed to accept of the See upon thofe terms, which he thought might jullly be conftrued criminal. He was indeed fo little anxious after his own Pre- ferment, that when the Bilhoprick of Salifbury became void, as it did foon after King William and Queen Mary were eftablilhed on the Throne, he follicited for it, in favour of his old friend. Dr. Lloyd then Bilhop of St. Afaph : The King an* fwered him in a cold way, " That he had another *' perfon in view," and the next day he hirafeif was nominated to that See,

* This is takejti from the Bifliop's MS. notes ; and Is con^ firmed by a lettcj, from one who was Secretary of State, in King WilHam''s reign.

b 4 ^ When

xl The LIFE ot the AUTHOR.

When the famous Bill, for declaring the Right? and Liberties of the Subjeft, and fettling the Suc- ceflion of the Crown, was brought into the Houfe of Lords, as our Author had firil intimated to the; Houfe of Hanover the probability of a limitation in their favour, King William, in preference to all his Minifters, appointed him to be the Perfon^ that fhould propofe the naming the Dutchefs (after- wards EleCtrefs) of Brunfwick, next in Succeffion after the Princefs of Denmark and her .Iflue. Tho* this Settlement did not then take effeft, otherwife than as it feemed imply'd in the exclufion of all Papifts v and was not explicitly eftablifhed till after the Duke of Gloucefter's Death in 1701, (when our Author had the farther merit of being Chair- man of the Committee, to whom the Bill was re- ferred) yet.it made that illuftrious Houfe from thenceforth confider him, as one firmly attach'd to their interefts, and with whom they might there- fore enter into the drifteft confidence. Accord- ingly, from that time her late Royal Highnefs the His fervi- Princefs Sophia began a correfpondence with him, hrcorre-"^ ^^"^^ lafted to her death, and of which above fpondence ^^ty lettcf-s are extant, all written in her own hand.' with the Two of thefe I fliall here infert, the one written in Houfe of 1689, foon after the propofal of naming her in the Hanovei. ;^^ ^f Succefilon had been made -, the other in 1701, when that nomination took effect.

V Monfieur, ^ ** My Lord,

*^ /^Omrjie j'ai tou- *f A ^ I ever had a

*' V^ jours eu une ef- " jl\, moil: particular

*^' time ires particuliere, '' efteem for your merit,

•^ pourlemeritedevotre " and have fancied my-,

'"' reverence, & que j'ai *' felf acquainted with

*' cru la connoitre par " you by your writings,'

*' fesecrits,y. R.pourra " you may eafily judge

'^ aifement juger par la, *' by that, how agreeable

" com- ' . " thft

;'■■,.• ., M

^ The original letter is in the Editor'p han4s.

The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

x!i

combien les marques de votre amitie m'ont ete agreables. Jevous affeure, que je les eltime tres particulie? remeht, & que je Tuis fort reconnoiifante de la'Ferveur, qu'il yous a plu temoigner pour mes interefts, ce qui eft une aufli grande fatisfat^ion pour ma perfoBne, que fi vos bonnes; iptentions eufient mieux reiiffi. Car je ne fuis plus d*une age a penfer a d'autre royaume, que celui des Cieux; & pour mes fils, ils doi- vent toujours eftre de- diez au Ray & au Royaume. Monfieur iSchutz m'amandeque V. k. etpit perfuade, qu(^ fa Majefte auroit pour agrealple, que j'en fis voir un en An- gleterre -, &' comme mon fecond fils m'a voitdeja mande, qu'il ferbit bien aife dial- ler, apres la cam- pagnei pour feliciter le Roi, fur fon avene- ment a la Coiironne, & qu'il en demande^ roit la permiiTion a TEmpereur, dont il dt major - genepl 5

<c

<t

the marks you have given me of your friendfliip muft have been. I affure you I elleem them in a very particular manher,an4 am very grateful for '^ the warmth, you hav^ " been pleafed to ^eftin " fy for my interefts, " which is as great a " perfonalfatisfadlionto '^ me, as if your good " intentions had been " more fuccefsful. For I *' am nolongerofanage " to think of any other *' kingdom, than that of " heaven; and as for my " fons, they ought al- " ways to be devoted tQ " the King and king- " dom. Mr. Schutz has " informed me, that you " were of opinion, that " his Majefty would be " pleafed, if I fent one " of them into Eng- *' land ; and as. my fe- " cond fon had already, *' acquainted me, that " he ftiould be glad ta " go, after the ' cam- '^ paign, to congratu- " late the King, upon " his acceflion to the " crown, and that he would afk the Ein- peror's leave for it,, a Major Ge- " neral

cc

bei-rig-

Ixii

The L I F E of the A U T H O R.

" j'ofe prier V. R. de ^« Taffifter de vos con- *' feils, pour bien faire " fa cour, lors qu'il fe- ** ra ce voyage. S'il '*'' cut voulu changer de •** Religion, il auroit fort *^ bien reiiffi dans ces ♦* 'affaires aupres de ** i'Empereur, rriais il a " trop de fon oncle, *' le Prince Rupert, ** ■ pour n*eftre pas ferme «* dans fa Religion. II *' eft vray qu'elle porte •* 'Ife nom de Luthere, ^' mais nos Ecclefiaf- .•^'tiques d'Hanovre la ^' difent conforme a la *^ Religidn Anglicane, *' & auroient voulu me •**'donner le Sajnt Sa- ""^ cremettt, dans la ** Croyance oil je fuis. '5^ Mais je ri'ai pas vou- *' lu donnier de fcan- ** dale a ceux -de ma ""Religion, dont je "^crois que V. R. ap- •* pi'ouvera. Cependant «* je dois la feliciter, " qu'il a plu a Dieu de *^ vous dohner un Roi *'| & une Reine d*un ** ifterite infini : Je le *^ prie de vous I'es cdn- *' ferve'r^' & de donner, ** a moi : la ■ fati'isfadtion, •*'^"de tem'oighera vous, ^ Be a tout ce qui vous

'* neral in his fervice ; *' I dare beg you to af- " fift him with your '* advice, how to make " his Court well, when *' he takes that journey. " If he would have " changed his Religion, " he might have fuc- " ceeded well in his af- " fairs at the Imperial " Court, but he has " too much of his un- " cle Prince Rupert, " not to be firm in his " Rehgion. It is true, " it bears the name of " Luther, but our Di- " vines at Hanover fay, '* 'tis conformable to " that of the Church " of England, and " would have given me " the Holy Sacrament " in the Belief I am in. " Bat I would not give " any fcandal to thofe of " my 'Religion, which " I believe you will ap- " prove. However, I " oiight to congratulate '' yoLi, upon its having «'■ pleafedGod togiveyou " a King and a Queen " of infinite merit: I pray " hini topreferve them " to you, arid to give " me the fatisfadtion'of " tieftifying to'5^ou, and < « levVry one that is dear

The LIFE of the AUTHOR,

Ixiii

*« eft cher, par des fer- *'■ vices agreables, com' ** bien je fuis -

*' Tres Affeftionee

' " a vous fervir,

" Sophie Palatine. " Sophia Palatine,

" to you, by agreeable " fervices, how much " lam

" moft afFedionate " to ferve you.

* Herenhaufen, 22 Juin, 1701. *' \ 7OUS avez bien '" V de la bonte, *' Monfieur, de prendre *' part a tout ce qui re- *' garde la grandeur de «' la maifon, ou je fuis " entree ; Et je dois *' vous remercier en par^ "* ticulier de Taffedion, *'( que vous m'avez te- *V moigne, dans I'afFaire *'• de la fucceflion, qui ^' exclut en meme temps ^' tous les Heritiers Ca- *' tholiques, qui ont '' toujours caufe tant de " defordres en Angle- ^' terue. Je fuis par '' malheur trop vielle, *' pour pouvoir -jamais *•= etre utile a la nation *' & a mes amis, ce qui ^^ me feroit pourtant ** . beaucoup aimer U vie. " Cependant je fouhai- *' terois, que ceux qui ^^ viendront apres moi, *' fe rendilfent dignes ^' de I'honneurj qu'ils f^-auront: Et que je

Herenhaufen, 22 June, 1701,

" X/'OUare very ob- *' take

liging, Sirj to

thing,

part in every that reo-ards the grandeur of the " houfe,intowhichIam " married ; and I ought " to thank you in par- '' ticular for the affec- " tion, which you have " teftified to me, in the " affair of the fucceflion, " which excludes at the ", fame time all Catho- *^ lick Heirs, who have " always caufed fo many « diforders in England^ *' I am unfortunately " too old, ever to be " ufeful to the nation, " and to my friends, " which if I could be, it " would make me much *' in love with life. How- " ever, I fhall wifh, that " thofe who are to come *^ after me, may render " themfelves worthy of " the honour they v/ill^ " have : And that I

f fl^e origin^ is in the Editor's hands.

2»ay

slh' T!ie LIFE of the AUTHOR.

'' pyifle au moins trou- " may at leaft find fomc

*^ ver lieu de vous te- . " occafion of tcftify-

*' moigner, par des fer- " ing, by my fcr vices,

*•' vices, reftime que j'ai «< the efteem I have for

** de votre merite. " your merit.

Sopm-E Electrice. Sophia Electress.

• Our author maintained an unlhaken credit with King William and Queen Mary, during their whole reign ; indeed the King's favour was fometimes interrupted, with Ihort difgufts, at the uncourtly Ijberty he took of fpeaking his mind, even upon fome fubjeds that he perceived were difagreeable •, but the real efteem thofe Princes had for him, will appear beyond conteft, from fcveral fads in the Hiftory, too numerous to be recapitulated here, and from fome others, which I fhall hereafter have occafion to mention, The ufe he made of this credit, is the principal point, a writer of his life muft be concerned tor: It is that alone, muft fettle his real Charac- ter, which I am fatisfy'd has been too commonly miftaken -, andnever more egregioufiy, than by thofe His cba- '^^^o have reprefented him as an inveterate Party- rafter as man. That he was ftcdfaft to his firft ppnci- to Party- pies ; that in all his conduft relating to the Pub- Matters, jj^^j^^ jj^g ^35 rigidly ftrift to thefe ; is a truth too much to his honour, for me to difpute : But it will be eafy to demonftrate^ that his own parti- cular way of thinking, as to Party-Matters, had no influence over him, either in his friendlhips, in his charities, or in his preferments, where the Publick v/as not immediately concerned. It might be tedious, I am fare it would be volu- minous, here to infert all the evidences in my hands, from whence it appears, how frequently his whole intereft was. exerted in favour of men, who neither from their publick nor their private conduct, had any |eafon to exped fuch fervices

from

the LIFE of the AtJTHOR. xW from him. * Some inflarices of this nature, I fhall have occafion elfewhere to produce ; but J Ihall concent myfelf here with one, which is very remarkable, and may alone be flifEcient to efta- blilh his reputation on this head. Some of the harlheft treatment, he had met with in the twp former Reigns, had pafs'd through the hands of the Earl of Rochefter ; no two men ever differed more widely in their principles, both in Church and State ; yet the firft good offices done, that Earl, with the King and Queen (after all other applications for intrbdudlion had failed) their entire reconciliation to him, and the firft advan- tages he reaped in confequence of that reconcilia- tion, were owing to our Author. And when the Earl of Clarendon was afterwards unhappily en- gaged in the confpiracy, again ft the Government, in 1690 ; and fome hotter Whigs were for the levereft methods, the Bifliop becan;ie a hearty and liaccefsful advocate in his favour. TThefe matters are but curforily mentioned in the Hiftory, but will more fully appear from the four follow- ing original Letters ', the firft written by the Countefs of Ranelagh, the other three by the Earl of Rochefter himfelf.

' * The hiftory mentions the fhare the Eifhop had in Sir John Fenwick's trial ; this Letter, of which the original is ia thfc editor's hands, ftews how ready he was to do aiSs of per/onai liindnefs to thofe whofe defigns he had the greatefl averfion- tq^

^' My Lord> Newgate, January aa.

" My wife has acquainted me with your charitable afilftafiiJ^ " yefterday, for an order for Biftiop White to come to jn? for *' which 1 humbly thank your Lordfhip ; but much to my trot^- *' ble to day, fhe tells me, I .am refufed him. Icannot think- the " King would do fo hard a thing to a dying man, as to refufe " him one, he can have moll fatisfaftion in, for the good of •' his Soul. Since I did not intend any pffenCe to the Governi- *• ment^ in afking for him, your favour in procuring an order " for him to come to me will much oblige ^ ^

•• Your LordJhip's moil humble Servant^ ' '

J, Fenwiclr,

Mr

IxYi The tr?E of the AUTHOR, ,

My Lord, *

*' \7' OUR Lordfhip knows that by my Lord *' j[ Rochefter's defiringme to help him to thank *' you, for your forwardnefs to do him favours 2f with their Majefties, (out of the fenfe he had, ■ ' that he ought to be more grateful for them, r' becaufe he had not at all deferved them from ** your Lordfhip): he had informed me, that you *' had done him fuch favours : And when, pur- *' fuant to his defire, I began to give you hum - " ble thanks for him (who is a perfon in whom I *' can be very fenfibly obliged) I told your Lord- *' fhip I was pleafed in paying this duty^ as ^^ much upon your account, as upon his Lord-- *« fhip's, as having attempted to conquer hirn by *' weapons, -fit to be ufed by one, of your pro- !*« feflion apd chgrafter ; and I hoped he might ««. be advantaged, as well by being :gained by «« you, as by reaping good fruits of your Media- «* tion,, with their Majefties. And now I prefent ' ** your Lordfhip, in the enclofed, with what ap- *' pears to me an Evidence j that my hopes of " his making ingenuous returns, for your gene- *' rous advances towards a friendfhip with himj *' were not groundlefs. Since he would fure ne- " ver have pitched upon you, to manage an appli- *' cation of his, about an intereft wherein the vifible « fubfiflence of his family is fo deeply concerned, *« if he did not firmly believe the reality of your '* intentions towards him ; though he have, no *« merits of his towards you, or any thing elfe, *' but your Chriftian beginnings towards him, .*« to build that faith upon. Nor can he, in my 1*' - poor opinion, give you a clearer proof of his *' being already overcome by you, than in chu- *Vfing you to be the perfon* to whom he would *« in fuch an interefl be obliged : Since he there- *« by puts himfelf upon the peril of being faith-^

*■ The original is in the Editor's hands. ^

^ i' fully

The LIFE oF the AUTttOR. Ixvii

*' fully yours j or a Very unthankful man 5 which *' I do fo much affure myfelf he W4II not be, " that I humbly beg your Lordfhip' to put this *' obligation upon him, to perfect what you have *' already begun to do for him, of a like nature, '* and to the fame Royal Perfon. Who would *' not, I think,' adt unbecoming herfelf, nor the *' eminent llation, God has placed her in, in *' afrifting five innocent children, who have, the ** honour to be related to her Royal Mother, *' who did ftill, with great tendernefs, confidgr '* her own family, when Ihe was moft raifed " above it •, elpecially when, in a/Iifting them, ** her Majefty will need only to concern herfejf, *' to preferve a property, made theirs by the " Law of England, which as 'QjOeen of ;thjs " kingdom Ihe is obliged to maintain.

" I fend your Lordfhip my Lord Rochefler's " letter to me, that you may fee Ke has thoughts " that juftify what I have faid here for him, and " has exprefs'd then;i much better than I can doj V fo that as an argument to gain your pardon j, " for this cdnfu'fed fcribble of mine, I prefent yp,u " with his good writing. I am, '

Your Lordiliip's humble and

affectionate Servant, '

July 13th, 1689. K. RanelagFi, -

My Lord, * " 'np^ H E good offices, your Lordfhip has told " X "^^' y^^ have endeavoured to do me ** with the Queen, of your own accord ^ and ge- " nerofity, incline me to be defirous to be obli- " ged to your Lordfhip, for the favour of pre- *' fenting the enciofed Petition to her Majefty, .*' Your Lordfhip will fee, by the reading it, the ■.•*, occafion and the fubjed of it j and I am fure

* The original is in tbc Editor's hzhdi:

^* I need

xlviii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.-

*'• I need notfuggeft any thing to your own kincf f ' thoughts, to add at the deHvery of it, fave " only this, which I thought not proper to touch *' in the Petition^, that I have certainly as good sL *' title in law to it, as any man has to any thing *' he poflefles ; as likewife that the Penfion is ap- *' propriated, to be paid out of a part of the *' revenue, which never was defigned by any '' Ad; of Parliament, for any publick Ufe of the ^' Government : which 1 think has fomething of *' weight and reafon, to diftingiiifli it from thofe *' Penfiohs, that are placed on the niore publick ** branches of the Revenue. "I know not, whether the Qiieen can do me *' any good in this affair, but I will believe her '' ISiajelly cannot but wifh fhe could -, however, "' I think, 1 Ihbuld have been very wanting to *' my Children, ilF I had not laid this cafe moll ** humbly before her- Majefty : Left at one time " oir other, Ihe herlclf might fay, I had been too " negligent in not making applications to her,; *' which having now done, I leave the reft, with " all poffible fubmiflion, to her own judgment, *' and to the reflexions, that fome good-natured *' moments may incline her to make towards my *' family. 1 Ihould fay a great deal to your ** jtiOrdftiip, for my own confidence, in addref- ** ling all this to your Lordlhip, fome pafFages " of my Life having been fuch, as may very *' properly give it that name : But, I think, *' whatever, you would be content to hear on that " fubjeft, will be better exprefTed by the Perfon, " who does me the honour to deliver this to your ** Lordfhip, from

My Lord,

Your Lordlhip's moft obedient Servant,

July 13. 1689. Rochefter*

*' My

The L I F £ of the AUTHOR^ xiix

My Lord, *

PON what Account foever it is, that your Lordfhip is pleafed to let me '' hear from you, I take it to be fomething of '' good fortune, whatfoever ill eaufe there may be ''in it too. Therefore I humbly thank your "-LordHiip for the honour of yours of the i8th ''from Sahfbury ; which was fent m.e to this '' pretty Place, where I love to be, as much as " you do at your Palace; and though I cannot " do fo much Good to others, as your Lordfliip " does there to all that are near you, yet I do " more to myfelf, than I can do any where elfe. " Quid fentire putas, quifl credis, amice, 'precari ? •' Sit mihi quod nunc eft, etiam minus, ut mini " vivam Quod fupereft aevi. Forgive this.tranf- "-'igrelTipnal Rapture, and receive . my Thanks, **"' v/hich I pay your 'Lordfhip again, foi* your " " kind Letter. For indeed I do take it very " kindly, that you were lb inuch 'Concerned, as " to give me a kind hint of that unfeafonable " Difcourfe, you came to be acquainted with, " when you were laft in London- :" I will make " the beft ufe of it, I can ; to prevent the like " for the future, if I have any Credit. And in " the mean time I muft make ufe of this oppor- " tunity, to cahn ■ and foften your Refentments, " towards this Friend of mine, as you call him " in the beginning of your Letter. I will allow " you as a Servant to the King and' Queen, and - " a Subjed to their Crown, to have" as great a " deteftation of the contrivance, as you can " wifh ; and upon my word, I can accompany " you in it. But when I confider you,' is once " .you were, a concern'd Friend of this Lord, to " have a refpedl for his Family, and partico- *' larly for my Father, who loft not only all the " honours and preferments of this World, but

* The original is in the Editor's hands.

Vol. I. c eyen

The LIFE of the AUTHOR, even the Comforts of it too, for the integrity and uprightnefs of his Heart : You mull for- give me, if I conjure you, by all that's facred in this generation in which we live together, by the character that you bear, and by the re- ligion you profefs, that you do not (as much as in you lies) fuffer this next Heir of my good Father's name and honour, to go down with forrow to the grave. I would not flat- ter myfelf, that your Lordihip fhould be moved with any fondnefs of mine, to endea- vour to bring to pafs, what is not fit for a wife and a good man to propofe •, that would be to make a very il4 ufe of your friendihip to me, and I would rather be corre6led myfelf in my own defires, than expofe your Lordfhip on fuch an account. But I hope that they, who are the fupreme diredlors of this matter under God, may in their great wifdom and goodnefs judge, that it may prove as much to their honour and fafety too, to pafs over this particular, as if they fhould purfue the ftrideft meafures of juftice in it. Though I am a brother, if 1 did not, upon the greateft refieftion I can make, think I fhould be of the fame opinion, if I were none, I would not prefs this matter upon you. For I cannot but think, that the Queen would do, and would be glad to avow it too, a very great thing for the memory of that gentleman, fo long in his grave. It is upon his account, I am '* begging of your Lordfhip, to do all that's " pofTible, to preferve every part and branch *' and member of his family, from the leaft tran- " lient ftain of infamy and reproach. And if *' God was prevailed with by Abraham, to have " faved a whole City for < the fake of ten righ- " teous men, I hope there may be as charitable " an inclination, to fpare the Debris of our bro- ken

i&

The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

" ken family, for the fake of him who was the " raifer of it.

*' I ajfk your Lordlhip's pardon, for being thus " importunate; fori have great need of your " help, and I hope I fhall have it from you. " Lofles of many and good friends I have born, " and fubmitted with patience to the pieafure of " Almighty God : But a calamity of this nature, " that 1 now deprecate, has in it fomething fo " frightful, and on fome accounts fo unnatu- " ral ; that I beg you for God's fake, from an " angry man yourfelf, grow an advocate for me " and for the family on this account. I am " ever.

My Lord,

Your Lordlhip's mofl: faithful humble fervant,

New-Park, March 21. 1690-gi. ROCHESTER.

" My Lord,*

Was warm, I confefs, in the laft letter I gave your Lordihip the trouble of, and I thank you for reproving the vehemence of my ftile, in your laft of the 28 th-, I am grown, cooler, and acknowledge my fault ; neither did 1 commit it with an apprehenlion that your Lordfhip was inexorable, or that it would be fo much as needful to defire your afliftance in that matter. But you may remember, you had ufed a word to me, when you were here, an attainder ; that I acknowledge founded very harfh to me, and when 1 had refle6ted a little more upon it, as likewife that your Lordihip did not ufe to fpcak by chance, and confe- quently that you had good ground for what you faid, I own it heated me all over ; which made me exprefs my thoughts to you, with

* The original is in the editor's hands,

c 2 more

lii The L IFE of the AUT H OR.

" more tranfport than was fit, and I will fay no

'* more of them, for fear of running into new

*' exceffes. What your Lordfiiip propofes for

' *' my Lord Clarendon to defire, is perfeclly

•" agreeable to my mind ; but I know not, whe-

" ther it be riot a little too early, and that fuch

'* a petition might be prefented with a better

'" grace, if he were once out of the Tower upon

" bail, than it would be while he is under this clofe

*' confinement. But as your Lordfhip fays,

*' the affair of Mons muft for the prefent put a

*' Hop to every man's private thoughts, for that

''* is a matter of 'fuch vaft importance to the

. " Publick, that it is but very fit, that all par-

" ticular confidcrations fhould give way to it,

" and wait the determination of that great point ;

" I cannot but believe the French are matters

*' of it before now, becauie all the letters, that

" came by the lafl poll, that I could hear of,

" looked upon it, as a thing imprafticabie to

*' relieve it, but we have had no letters,/fi|ice

,'' .Saturday. What the French will do'ilext,

. '^ whether fend their m.en into quarters for tvv^o

''months, or try to follow their blow, is what

*' men are now moft anxious about. One of my,

" old friends, with whom of late I have renewed

" my.acquaintance, fays upon all thefe mighty oc-

" cafions, Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caligi-

'' nofa no6le premitDeus Ridetque fi mortalis ultra

*' Fas trepidat. But I confefs to you, I cannot be

.' " quite fo overcome with philofophy, as not to be

" concerned beforehand, at what this dark night

" is to bring forth. One private concern, in the

*' midfl of all thefe publick ones, has given me

. *' a great deal of uneafmefs, and I doubt not

" will do fo to your Lordfhip, when I tell you

'* how very ill my Lady Ranelagh has been thefe

*' two or three days, with' a fever, which has

" almoft quite deftroyed her ; I am afraid Itill

for

The L I F E of the A U T HO R. M

for her : the laft night llie had a little reft ; but (he is fo weak, and, you know, of late has been fo very tender, that I am in great pain for her. I know your Lordiliip will be troubled to lofe a very good friend and humble fervant of _your O'vvn, as v/eli as a moft wonderful good perfon, to all that knew her. For my own part, I know no body alive, to whom I have fo many obligations, which I am forry to fee how lictle I can return, v/hen there is moft TiCed of ferving her. Amongft all her favours, one that I fliail never forget was, her defire and endeavours, not only to renew for me the ac- quaintance, I formerly had with your Lordfhip, but to knit it clofer into a friendfhip ; in which' I am always to own your Lordfhip's ready con- currence ; and I hope, i ftiall not fail, as faith- fully to perform all the part, that belongs to,

" My Lord, " Your Lordftiip's moft faithful

" humble fervant, April 2, 1691. • " Rochester.'*

Hitherto the reader has view'd our author, as a Divine, only in the private character of a Mi- nifter in his Parifh, a FrofefTor in his Chair, or a Preacher in his Leclure ; but we muft now obferve his condu6l in a higher function. As foon as the Seffion of Parliament in 1689 ^^^ eaded, he v/ent down to his Diocefe -, where he formed fuch a plan, for executing the duties of his Epifcopal Office, as he feldom afterwards had occafion to alter.

. His primary vifitation could only be regulated, m^ i^, by the praftice of his predecefibrs, who contented hours in themfelves with formal Triennial vifitations of his Dio- their Diocefe, in which they ufed always to con- g ^^^^^ ^^ firm ; but when he perceived the hurry, the dif- funaion. order and noife, that attended thefe publick meet- ings, he thought them wholly unfit for folemn ads

c 3 of

iiv The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

of Devotion : They feemed much propercr, for the exercife of an Ordinary's Jurifdiftion according to Law, than for the performance of the more Chriftian funftions of a Bifhop : Thefe were in- confiltent with that pomp and lliew, which perhaps the other required. He had always looked upon Confirmation, as the hkeheft means of reviving a Spirit of Chriftianity •, if men could be brought to confider it, not as a mere Ceremony, but as an a6l v/hereby a man became a Chriftian from his own choice -, fince upon attaining ro the ufe of reafon, he thereby renewed for himfelf a Vow, which others had only made for him at Baptifm. He wrote a fhort Directory, containing proper rules how to prepare the Youth upon fuch occa- fions ; this he printed, and fent copies of it, fome months beforehand, to the Minifter of every Parifh, where he intended to confirm. He every fummer took a tour, for fix weeks or two months, through fome diftrift of his Bifhoprick, daily preaching and confirming from Church to Church, fo as in the compafs of three years (befides his formal Tri- ennial Vifitation) to go through all the principal livings in his Diocefe. The Clergy, near the places he pafTed through, generally attended on him •, therefore, to avoid being burthenfom.e in thefe Circuits, he entertained them all at his own charge. He likewife for many years, entered into conferences with them, upon the chief heads of Divinity : One of which he ufually opened at their meeting, in a difcourfe that lafted near two hours •, and then encouraged thofe prefent,. to ftart fuch queftions or difficulties upon it, as occur'd to them. Four of thefe difcourfes againft Infidelity, Socini- anifm. Popery and Schifm, were printed in the year . 694. When our Author had publifhed His Expofition of the Thirty-nine Articles, conferences of this nature feemed in fome meafure needlefs : He therefore difcontinued them, in order to apply himfelf wholly to the Work of Confirmation. To

be

The L IF E of the A U T H O R.' i?

be more ufeful in it, he difpofed his annual progrefs, during the laft ten years of his life, in the follow- ing manner. He went through five or fix of the - confiderable Market-towns every year : he fix'd himfelf for a whole week in each of them : and though he went out every morning to preach and confirm in fome Parifh, within feven or eight miles of the Place ; yet at the Evening-prayer, for fix days together, he catechifed the youth of die town, in the principal Church there, expounding to them fome portion of the Church Catechifm every day, 'till he had gone through the whole: And on Sunday, he confirmed thofe, who had been thus examined and inftrufted, and then inviting them all to dine with him, he gave to each a ufeful prefent of Books. As the Country flocked in, from all parts to hear him ; he was in hopes this would encourage the Clergy to Catechife more, and would raife an emulation in Chrifl:ian Know- ledge,' among the inferior fort of people, who were ignorant to a fcandal.

In the intervals of Parliament, when the Bilhop was not upon this progrels, his ufual refidence was atSalifbury; there he preached the Thurfday*s ledlure, founded at St, Thomas's Church, during the whole time of his flay ; he likewife preached and confirmed every Sunday Morning *, in fome Church of that City, or of the neighbourhood round about it : And in the evening he had a

* He was fo punclual in this, that no change of Weather could ever induce him, to difappoint any Congregation where he was expelled : And this afuduity had well nigh coft him his life, in the year 1698. For having appointed to preach and confirm, at the Parilh Church of Dinton, within twelve miles of Salilbury, on a prefixed Sunday ; the Rains, that fell on that day, and for fome days before, had fo fwelled a Brook, which he was to crof% that his coach was over-turned in the water, and his own life hardly faved by a Miller, who jumped in and drew the BiPiop out of the water j for which feafonable fervice, our Author paid him a yearly gratuity all the reft of his life.

c 4 lefture

Ivi^ ^ The- L IF E of the AUTHOR.^

leflure inhi^ own Chapel, to" which great crouds relorted J wherein he explained fome portion of ScriptuVe, out of the gofpels and epiftles in the liturgy.' He generally came down fEom London, fome days before Lent, on purpofe to prepare the youth ot the two great Schools for Confirmation ; by catechizing them every Y\^cek, during that feafon, in- the Cathedral Church, and inftrufting them in the fame manner, as he did thofe in the other Towns of his Diocefe. And to render this taflc of inflruftion more eafy to the reft of his Clergy, he 'at length publiflied an Explanation of the Church-Catechifm in the year 1710.

The Bifnop's confiftorial court, being much cry'd out againft, as a grievance both to the Clergy and Laity, he endeavoured to reform it, and for fome years went thither in perfon •, but though he might do fome little good by this attendance, it was fo little, that he at laft gave it over ; for the true foundation of complaints v/as, the dilatory courfe of proceedings, and the exorbitant fees, which the Bifhop had no authority to corred: : Nay, he could not even difcharge poor fuitors, who v/ere opprefs'd there with vexatious profecutions, any otherwife than by paying their fees himfelf, as he frequently did.

No part of the Epifcppal Office was more ftridly attended to by him, than the examination of thofe, who came- for Orders : in this matter the Law has left the Bifhop entirely at liberty, to admit or refufe. He never turned them oyer to the care of a Chaplain - or Archdeacon, farther than to try their fkill in the learned languages. He examined them him- felf as to the proofs of the Chriftian Religion, the authority of the Scriptures, -^and the nature of the ■> Gofpel- Covenant. If they were deficient in thofe, he difmifs'9. them at once, with proper direftions how to be better prepared for a fecof.d trial : But if they were competently knowing in thefe elTential points, . he went through the other heads of.Di-'

vinity

The L I F E of the AU TH OR. Ivii

vinity with lefs itriftnefs. When he was once fa- tisfied with their capacity, he next direfted his •difcourfe to their Confcience : He laid before them the bafenefs of taking up a Sacred ProfefTion, merely for the lucre or fubfillence it might afford ; he rave them a diftindt view of all the branches of the Faftoral Care, (of which he publifhed a Trea- tife, for the ufe of his Diocefe, in 1692 ;) and en- .

deavoured ftrongly to diffaade them from entring into Holy Orders, unlefs they v/ere firmly refolved to perform all the duties of their fundlion ; more particularly to lead fuch lives as might not contra- dift the doftrines, they were to teach. A day or two before Ordination, he fubmitted all thofe whom he had accepted, to the examination of the Dean and Prebendaries, that fo he might have their approbation.

In the admiflion of Prefentees, he could not be fo ftrift ; the Law having in fome meafure taken the Judgment of their Quahfications out of the Ordinary -, yet in this he went unufual lengths, of which I fhall mention one fingular inftance *. In the latter part of the Reign of Queen Anne, the Lord Chancellor prefented the younger Son of a noble family in Oxfordfhire to a parfonage within his Diocefe, which was in the gift of the Crown. Upon trial, our author found him fo ignorant, that he refufed • to inilitute him •, the Miniltry threaten'd him with a Law-fuit, but finding him refolute, they at length acquiefced under the re- fufal. Thereupon the Bifhop fent for the young Gentleman, and told him, " That as his Patrons " had given up the conteft, and he had no defign " to do him any perfonal injury, if he could pre- " vail on his friends, to keep the Benefice vacant, " he himfelf would undertake the charge of quali- " fying him for it." Accordingly he took fuch happy pains in his Inftrudion, that fome months

* This I had from Mr. Mackney, as a fa6t well known to himfelf, and to fome others now alive.

after.

Iviii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

after, the Prefentee pafs'd examination with ap- plaufe, and had inftitution given him to the Living.

As the Paftoral Care, and the admitting none to it, who were not duly quahfied, was always uppermofl in his Thoughts, he concluded that he could not render a more ufeful fervice to Religion, to the Church, and more efpecially to his own Diocefe, than by forming under his eye a number of Divines, well inftruAed in all the articles of their duty. He refolved therefore, at his own charge, to maintain a fmall nurfery of ftudents in Divinity at Salifbury, who might follow their ftudies, till he fhould be able to provide for them. They were ten in number, to each of whom he allowed a falary of thirty Pounds a- year : They were admitted to him once every day, to give an account of their progrefs in Learning, to propofe to him fuch difficulties as they met with, in the courfe of their reading, and to hear a lefture from him, upon fome fpeculative or praflical point of Divinity, or on fome part of the paftoral Function, which lafted above an hour : During the Bifhop's abfence, the learned Dr. Whitby fupplied his place, in overlooking gnd directing their Studies. By this means, our author educated feveral young Clergymen, who proved an honour to the Church ; but as this came to be confidered as a prefent pro- vifion, with fure expeftations of a future fettle- ment, he v^as continually importuned, and fome- times impofed upon, as to the perfons recommend- ed to be of this number : And the foundation it- felf was fo malicioully exclaimed at, as a defign'd affront upon the method of education at Oxford, that he was prevailed upon, after fome years, to lay it wholly afide.

Our Author was a warm and conftant enemy to Pluralities of Livings, not indeed where the two Churches lay near each other, and were but poorly endowed, for in that cafe he rather encouraged

them ;

The L I FE of the A UT H O R. lix

them •, as knowing the " Labourer was worthy *' his hire." But whenfoever Non-relidence was the confequence of a plurality, he ufed his ut- moft endeavours to prevent it, -and in fome cafes even hazarded a fufpenfion, rather than give infti- tution. In his charges to the Clergy, he exclaimed againft pluralities, as a facrilegious Robbery of the revenues of the Church -, a remarkable effe6t of his Zeal upon this fubjed may not be improper to be here related *. In his firft vifitation at Salif- bury, he urged the authority of St. Bernard, who being confulted by one of his followers, whether he might not accept of two Benefices, reply'd, " And " how will you be able to ferve them both ?" " I " intend (anfwered the Priell) to officiate in one " of them by a Deputy." " Will your Deputy be " damn'd for you too ? (cry'd the Saint.) Believe " me, you may ferve your Cure by proxy, but " you muft be damn'd in perfon." This expreffion fo affefted Mr. Kelfey, a pious and worthy Clergyman there prefent, that he immediately re- figned the reftory of Bemerton, worth two hundred pounds a-year, which he then held with one of a greater value. Nor was this Chriftian Aft of felf- denial without its reward ; for though their prin- ciples in Church Matters were very oppofite, the Bilhop conceived fuch an efteem for him, from this adion, that he not only prevailed with the Chapter to eled him a Canon, but likewife made him Archdeacon of Sarum, and gave him one of the beft Prebends in the Church.

In the point of refidence, our author was fo ftrid:, that he never would permit his own Chaplains to attend upon him, after they were once preferred to a Cure of Souls, but obliged them to be con- ftantly refident at their Livings. Indeed he con-

* This faft was told me by Mr. Waftefield, and is well known

at Salifbury.

iidered

Ix The^I^I 1^ E of the A U T H O R,

fidered himfelf, as under the fame obligation, as Paftor of the whole Diocefe, and never would be abfent from it, but during his neceiTary attendance on \Parliament ; from which, as foon as the prin- cipal bufinefs of the nation was difpatch'd, he al- ways obtain'd leave to depart, in order to return to his Fun6lion. And though King William, upon his going over to Ireland or Flanders, always en- joined him to attend upon -Queen Mary, and affift her with his faithful Council on all emergencies •, yet he would not, upon fuch occafions, accept of lodgings at- Whitehall, but hired a houfe at Windfor, in order to be within his own Bi- fkoprick, and yet near enough to the Court, to pay his duty twice a week, or oftener, if bufmefs required it. His uni- No Principle was more deeply rooted in him, verfal |.},gj^ that of Toleration •, it was not confined to P"^!;'?^ any Sect or Nation, it was asuniverfal as Chrifti- ration ex- anity itlelr': He exerted it m favour or a Nonjuring tends to Mccting-houfe at Salifbury, which he obtained the Nonjuror. • j^Qy a] permiffion to connive at; and when the Preacher there. Dr. Beach, by a feditious and treaionable Sermon had incurred the Sentence of the Law,' odr' author not only faved him from punifhment, but even procured his pardon, with- out the terrris of a publick Recantation, upon which it was firll granted ; as may be collefted from the following letters, the one from the Earl of Nottingham, then Secretary of State, the other from Dr. Beach himfelf.

"MyLord,* , Whitehall, 29 March 1692.

" "' Tj" Have acquainted the Queen, at the Cabinet " X Council, with what your Lordfb'\p writes in *' behalf of Dr. Beach •, and though her Majefty " is always inclined to iliew Mercy, and efpecially " to fuch as your LordHiip recommends to her

* The origihal is in the Editor's hands.

favour ;

The L I F,E of the A U T H OR, . Ixi

«< favour ; yet fmce die. crime, and the fcandal of '« it, has been very pubiick, her Majeily thinks " the acknowled^ifient'Of it ihould be fo too: ** And therefore would have him make it in the «' Church. When this- is done, your Lordfhip's t' intercelTion will eafily prevail. I am, with great «' refped,

"My Lord, *' Your Lordfhip's moll humble ^* and faithful fervant,

<« Nottingham."

" My Loi-d, * , •

" ^ "1 7" IT H all due deference of honour, and 4« YY vvith all xherelpectful regard, that can " be correfpondent to the no lefs generous, th^n. "^ acceptable .meflage, which I received from your " Lordfhip by Dr. Geddes, I humbly tender this " to your Lordfnip, hoping it may be favourably " received, in lieu ot my perfonal attendance, ** which Ihail be readily paid (as it is due) at any " time. Dr. Geddes has delivered me the defirable " tidings of your Lordiliip's free refolution, to " refcue me, from the farther profecution of that " unhappy verdi<5i, I labour under. It is my " defire, being freed from this troublefome ftorm, " to live in peaceand quiet, without disturbance of " the government in general, and of any perfon m *' particular. And I cannot but deeply refent " your obliging readinefs to relieve me, becaufe " it is not clogged with any bitter conditions or " referves, that would leflen the favour. Wh,at " your Lordfliip has refolved, is what I humbly " defire, and do not doubt but your I.ordfliip.wiU " purfue. The fooner the favour can be accom- " plifhed, and with the lef^ noife before Term,

* The original is in the Editor's hands.

« the

Ixii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

" the more it will be endeared to, and challenge " all gratitude from,

« My Lord,

" Your much obliged

" and obedient fervant,

" Wm. Beach."

Yet when this fpirit of Moderation, of which" , the Nonjurors felt the good effedts, was extended to the Diflenters, our Author's enemies reprefented him, as betraying the Church into their hands ; though he was really taking the moft effedtual means to bring them over, not indeed by com- pulfion, but by the more Chriflian methods of charity and perfuafion : In which he was fo fuc- cefsful, that many Diffenting Families, in his Diocefe, were by him brought over to the Com- munion of our Church, in which they ftill con- tinue ; and of two Prefbyterian Preachers, who were well fupported when he firft came to Salif- bury, one was foon after obliged to quit the place, and the other but poorly fublifled in it. His He perceived that the chief ftrength of the

icheme Sedlaries lay in the market-towns -, the livings for aug- |-]^gj.g ^gj-e nioil commonly in the gift of the Lord poor lif. Chancellor •, and as the Lord Somers, during his ings in his enjoyment of the Seals, left the nomination to own Dio-thofe in the Diocefe of Sarum, to the Bilhop ; he • endeavoured to place in them none but learned, pious, and moderate Divines, as being the beft qualified to prevent the growth oC^^hifm, But as the Benefices were generally fmall, and a poor Church will be too often ferved by as poor a Clerk ; our Author determined to obviate this difficulty, by bellowing upon thefe Cures the Prebends in his gift, as they became vacant ; and till fuch a va- cancy happened, out of his own income he allowed the Minifter of every fuch Church a penfion of 6 twenty

The L I F E of the A U T H O R. Ixiii

twenty pounds a-year * : When the Prebend itfelf was conferred upon him, the Bilhop infilled on his giving a Bond to refign it, if ever he quitted the Living. Though this matter had been laid before the mofb eminent Prelates and Divines of our Church, as well as the molt learned among the Canonifls, who highly approved the defign ; yet it was fo warmly oppofed by fome of the Clergy, that in order to raife no farther flrife in the Church, our Author was prevailed on to relinquilh this projed, and give up all the bonds he had taken. But as he could not, without the tendereft concern, behold the deftitute condition of thefe poor Benefices, moft of which were attended with the largefl Cure of Souls ; fo his difappointment in this fcheme, he had formed for his own Bi- fhoprick, only gave occafion to a more univerfal '

plan, which he projedted for the improvement of all the fmall Livings in England, and which was liable to no exception. This he prelled forward with fo much fuccefs, that it terminated at length in an A6t of Parliament, pafs'd in the fecond year of Queen Anne, " for the Augmentation of " the Maintenance of the poor Clergy.'*

He had firft laid this propofal before Queen His Mary, who had undertaken to obtain the Kine's^'^^^™^^*'^ approbation and content; after her death, the i^r^jl^jj^ profpe6t of Peace in i6g6, and the actual conclu- poor liv- fion of it in 1697, feemed to furnilh a proper op- ings i" portunity, for offering the fame Scheme to King ^"S'*" • William, which he did by the two following Me- morials.

* This appears from his Steward's accounts, and was con- firmed to me by Mr. Waftefield.

MEMO-

Ixiy The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

MEMORIAL concerning the fir ft Fruits and Tenths. Given in to the King in January 1696

*

"^T^HE Tenths and Firft Fruits were.firft " X ^^^^ ^^ by Popes, on pretence of fupport- ' " ing the Holy War ; in the twenty-fixth year of " the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, thefe " were given to the Crown •, and fmce that " time have been granted away in Penfions, by " dormant warrants. They are now in the hands «' of the Duke of St. Albans, Countefs of Ph- " mouth, Countefs of Briftol, Earl of Bath, Earl " of Oxford, and a few others. This revenue may " juftly be called in quefdon, as unlawful and fa- *' crilegious in its nature ; the applying it to a *' good ufe is the beft way to juftify it.

" The condition of many Livings in this king- " dom is moft miferable , m.any have not twenty " pounds, and in fome places, three of them put " together do not amount to forty pounds a-year. *' A poor Clergyman may be fcandalous, but he *' muft be contemptible and ignorant. To this, " in a great meafure, we owe the Atheifm and *' Impiety, the Sects and Divifions, that are fpread *' over the nation.

" It would be a noble demonftration, both of *' zeal for the honour of God and Religion, and *' afFe6lion for the Church of England, if the King '*\ would appropriate this revenue, to the railing ot '** the Livings in this nation to fome juft propor- *' tion, beginning at thofe in Corporations, and *' thofe within the King's gift, but not ex- " eluding others, upon condition that the King *' fhall have his turn in prefenting, in proportion *' to the augmentation that Ihall be made by this 5' provifion,

* The Memorial in the Bilhop's own hand, with a Memo- randum when it was delivered, is in the Editor's hands.

« A Cor-

the LI F E of the A U TH O Ro Ixv

*' A Corporation might be fettled, as was from ** the Reign of Queen Elizabeth down to that of " Charles the Firft, with power to receive the ** gifts of charitable perfons, to the fame pious " end : And all Biihops, Deans and Chapters, " might be obliged to pay towards it a fourth or " fifth of every Fine that they received.

" This, by the BlefTing of God, would make " the concerns of Religion and of the Church put " on another face, it would much raife his Ma- *' jelly's Name and Character in the prefent, and *' in ail fucceeding ages ', by this the King gives " away nothings that is in his own poffeffion ; hfe " only gives away the power of granting fuch neW " penfions, as may be vacant in his time. And *' there is little doubt to be made, (befides a blef- " fmg from God, which may be expected upon " lb noble a delign) that this would be made up " to the Crown by Parliament : And would alfo *' give fuch an imprefiion of the King, as would " have good effect on all his affairs."

A Second MEMORIAL concerning the Tenths and Firfl Fruits. Given in to the King in De- cember 1697 *.

*' ¥T is humbly propofed, that his Majefty would *' J^ be pleafed to coniideri how proper it will be *' at this timCj to declare his Refolution of apply- *' ing the Firfl Fruits and Tenths to mending the " flate of the poor Livings in England.

" The Peace being now concluded j this will " be a noble beginning of his Majefly's Reign " in Peace, and a fuitable return to God, for " his great blefTmgs on his Royal Perfon and *' affairs -, it will gain him the hearts of all *' true friends of the Church, of England; and

* The Memorial in the Bifliop's own hand, with a memo- fandu-m when he delivered it, is in the Editor's hands.

Vol. L d *' fince

Ixvi The L IFE of the AUT H O R.

" fince the Burroughs are generally - the worft - " ferved, their Livings being univerfally very " fmall, this may probably have a great effedl- " on all the King's affairs, perhaps on the fuc- " ceeding ele6lions of Parliament.

" If his M^yefty be refolved to do it, it is " humbly fuggefted, that he would declare his " refolution in the treafury, and appoint the Com- " miffioners to acquaint the Houle of Commons " with it, who will no doubt very quickly make " it up to the Crown. Upon this, it is propofed, " that the King will order a CommifTion for ma- •' naging this fund, and making it moft effectual *' to the end intended by it.

" The perfons proper for fuch a Commiffion, " would be the two Archbifhops, with two other " Biihops, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy- " Seal, the two Secretaries of State, the firft Com- " miffioner of the Treafury, the Chancellor of " the Exchequer, the two Chief Juftices, the Chief *' Baron, and the King's Attorney-General."

Though this Propofal was highly acceptable to the King ; though it was ftrongly feconded by the Princefs of Denm.ark, who defired Copies to be given her of the two foregoing Memorials ; yet underhand it met with fuch oppofition amongft the Miniftry, as fora time obftruded the execution of it. The Bifliop would not however be difcouraged in it; but renewed his follicitations upon this head, fo powerfully, in the year 1701, that nothing but the death of King William could have pre- vented its then taking effect. He had' concerted his meafures upon this occafion, with the Earl of Godolphin (who aftei-wards carried this defign into execution) and with the Lord Somers, whofc Let- ter upon that fubjed: I (hall here infert.

"My

ThcLIFEof the AUTHOR. Ixvli

" My Lord, * 22 Nov. 1701.

" T Acknowledge the honour of your Lordfhip's " X letter of the 17th, with great thankfulnels ; " I wifh it may lie in my power to contribute to " the excellent defign you propofe ; no man will " enter into it more willingly, nor fhall labour in *' it more heartily. The Point of the Firfl Fruits *' and Tenths is what I have propofed feverai " times, with much earneftnefs, but without fuc- " cefs. When I have the happinefs of feeing your *' Lordfhip, we fhall, I hope, difcourie at large " upon the whole fubjed:. In the mean time *' allow me to affure you, that I am with great and *' fincere refpedtj

" My Lord, " Your Lordjfhip's moft obedient

'' humble Servant,

" SOMERS."

Having thus given a fhort account of every principal part ot our Author's condu6t, that pro- perly relates to his Epifcopal Charader, of which I thought the reader would be beft able to judge, if it were laid before him in one general view, with- out any ftridt regard to the feries of time -, I fhall ' now return to the thread of my' narration, by re- lating the other remarkable incidents of his life, in the order in which they happened.

The year 1694 proved greatly unfortunate torhedeatk him, I might have laid to the whole nation, by the of Queen death of Archbiihop Tillotfon; a name too weir'^J^^>' ^"^^ , known to need an encomium •, whofe funeral fermon (Tipp^y'jjr our Author preach'd, and whofe vindication he un- lotfon. dertook, againfb a Writer who had virulently at- tacked his memory. This great lofs to the Church was foon after followed by a greater, that of the excellent Queen Mary, who had always honoured

* The original is in the Editor's handf.

d 2 our

kviii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

our Author with a high degree of favour and con- fidence. The ftrong impreffion her uncommon talents and fhining quaUties had made upon him, occafioned that Eflay on her Character, which he pubhfhed in the year 1695, He is one During her hfe, the affaii^s and promotions in the clefiartical ^hurch had wholly pafs'd through her hands ; it Comm ffi- was an article of government, for which the King on to re- thought himfelf unqualified, yet was unwilling to commei.d commit to the care of his Minifters : Upon her ^'jg '^^' death therefore, a Commiffion was granted to the two Archbifhops, to our Author, and to three other Prelates j whereby they, or any three of them, were appointed to recommend to all Bi- fhopricks. Deaneries, or other vacant Preferments in the Church, fignifying the fame to his Majefty, X by writing under their hands : And during the King's abfence beyond Sea, they were empowered, of their own authority, to prefent to all Benefices in the gift of the Crown, that were under the value of an hundred and forty pounds a-year. A like Commiffion was granted in the year 1700, and the Billiop of Salifbury continued (till to be of the number. It would be tedious here to enumerate the feveral marks King William gave him of his friendfhip, during the whole courfe of his Reign ; but tho' he obtained of his Majefty employments, penfions^ and gratuities for others, even to the value of ten thoufand pounds to One Perfon now living i yet there was not one fingle inftance, ■wherein he foUicited a favour for himfelf or his family : On the contrary, he declined preferment when it was ofiered to him. Is made In the year 1698, when it became neceffary to Prgcepcor fgj-i-ie ^i^Q Duke of Gloucefter's family, the King Duke of ^^^^ ^^^ •'^^^^ ^^ Sunderland with a meflage to the GlojiefterPrincefs of Denmark, acquainting her, " That he " put the whole management of her Son's houfhold *' into her hands, but that he owed the care of his *•' . ■• r-jtion to himfelf and his people, and there-

vours to ne.

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. Ixlx

" fore would name the perfons for that purpole.'* Accordingly the Earl of Marlborough being nomi- nated his Governor, the Biihop of Salifbury was appointed his Preceptor. He was then retired into his ■ Diocefe, having lately loft his Wife by the Small Pox. He took that occafion therefore to Which he wave the offer of this important charge ; though ^"'^^^ he was affured, the Princefs had teftify'd her ap- V^^l^ probation of the King's Choice. He wrote to the Earl of Sunderland, to ufe his intereft, that he might be excufed, and in return received from him the following letter.

" My Lord, * . June 29.

I Am extremely troubled for your lofs, it beings by all that 1 have heard, a very great one : But you muft not leave ferving the Publickj upon any private confideration. I intend to be in town next week, and if I have any credit at all, you may be alTured that you fhall be fent for, and fhall come thither, unlefs you will fall out with all your friends, and with the King in the firft place. I am, with great truth,

" My Lord,

** Your moft faithful

" humble Servant,

^' Sunderland,"

Our Author wrote hkewife to his friend Arch* bifhop Tennifon, defiring him to wait on the King in his name, and intreat his Majefty, to allow him to decline this employment : The Arch- bilhop replied, and offered many arguments to perfuade him to accept of it ; which only produ- ced a fecond letter, ftronger than the former, and to the fame purpofe : To which his Grace, by King William's direction, returned the following anfwer,'

• The original letter is in the Editor's hands,

d 3 - ♦« My

IxJC The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

" My Lord, * . Lambeth, June 28,1698.

'' T Received your fecond, in which you feem to ** A i^^^ft ^^ ^^^ contents of the firft •, upon that *' account, I waited on the Iving, not being wiUing " to decHne doing, what you fo earneftly prefs'd. " The King exprefs'd himielf with great tendernefs " upon this fubjejd •, he commanded me to let you *' underfland, that he had fent for you, before this " time, if this misfortune had not happened -, and " that he ftill defires you to come, as foon as with ** decency you can. He looks upon you, as a " Divine, who in (ucli cafes had comforted many, *' and thinks it will look beft, not to fuffer fuch a *' crofs, to get fuch power over you, as to make ^' yu decline fo publick a fervice. He fpoke to " this effedl, without my urging my private opi- " nion, which is, what it was in my firft. I '' heartily pray for you, I pity you as my own ^' Brother, but I cannot bring myfelf in this, to ''be oi your Lordfhip's opinion. It is true, if ^' no fteps had been made in this affair, your ex- ^' Gufe would the eafier have made its way ; but '' feeing things are fo far advanced, it feems not " proper to go back. If upon this, that hopeful *' Prince Ihail fall into fuch hands, as are unfit, " your Lordfhip would then refieft, upon your ^' haying declined the Service, with pain and " grief. Pray, next poft, let me have fome an- ?' fwer, our good Mafter the King may be pleafed ^' with, I am,

" My Lord,

^^ Your afFe(5lionate Brother,

" Tho. Cantuar.'*

. As the reft of the BKhop's friends concurrecjl in the fame ftrain, earneftly preffing him not to re- fufe a ftatiqn, wherein he might do his Country

f The original ii in the Editor's hands.

'■'"■"■ fuch

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. Ixxi

fuch fignal fervice, as in the right education of the puke of Gloucefter; he thought it might be c(*i- ftrued obftinacy not to fubmit. He therefore fignified his comphance, in his anfwer to the Archbilhop of Canterbury ; who thereupon wrote him another Letter, which I lliall here infert.

. " My Lord, * Kenfington, July 4, 1698.

*' T ATE laft night the King fpoke again about " JLi/ your coming up ; the time you mention *^* (Friday fortniglit) he thinks much too long ; he '^ therefore commanded me tp fend an exprefs to *' you, in order to your coming up as foon as pOfTi- " bly you can : He having time, litfele enough to " fettle that matter, before his going beyond Sea ; " which will not now be long ; becaufe the Parlia- " ment may fpeedily end, perhaps this day. He con- *' fiders very gracioully the commendablenefs of *' your fubmilTion in thefe circumfbances, which is " indeed worthy of you. Pray haften as much as '" you pofilbly can, and may God bring you fafely *' hither. I am

^^ Your afFedionate Brother,

" Tho. Cantuar."

P. S. *' The Parliament rifes to-morrow, and the " King goes foon to Windfor, where you may " wait on his Majeily.

f When our Author, upon his arrival at Windfor, had his firil audience of the King, he affured his Majefty it was no longer his intention to decline fo honourable an employment, as the educating a Prince fb nearly related to the Crown, fmce his Royal Mafter thought him worthy of that Truft i but as the difcharge of his duty in, thi^

* The original is in tlie Eelltor's hands.

f This fa-ft was related to the Editor by Mr. Mackn^y, who then attended the fiifhop to Windfor, and had it from his owa

4 4 ft^tio>^

Ixi^ii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

ftation muft confine him conftantly to Courts which was inconfiftent with his Epifcopal Fundlion, he defired leave to refign his Bifhoprick. The King was much iurprized at the Propofal, to which he would by no means confent: However, finding our Author perfifted in it, he was at length prevailed on, to agree, that the Duke Ihould re- fide all the fummer at V7indfpr, and that the Bifhop Ihould ha^-e ten Weeks allowed him every year, to vifit the other parts of his Diocefe. '

The method he purfued in the Duke of Glou- cefcer's education, and the amazing progrefs made in it, during the ihort time that Prince was under his care, are mentioned in the Kiftory : To which I fhall only add, that he conduced himfelf in fuch a manner, that the Princefs of Denmark ever after retained a peculiar regard for him, of which he received fome fenfible marks, when ihe came to ihe Throne, even at times when he was engaged in a publick oppofition to the meafures of her Minifters. His mar- The affiduous attendance our author was obliged M^^ E - ^°' w^i^^ he was Preceptor to the Duke, and the kele'y. tender age of his own children, made it requif^te to look out for a proper miftrefs to his family. He fix'd upon Mrs. Berkeley, a Lady pf uncom- mon degrees of Knowledge, Piety and Virtue •, as may appear from Her Method of Devotion, which bore feveral impreffions in her Life- time -, and was reprinted after her death, with an account of her Life, by Dr. Goodwyn, (the, late Archbi/hop of Cafhels in Ireland) which renders it unneceiTary he're to enlarge upon her charafter. He writes In the year 1699, our Author publifhed His an Expo- Expofition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the theThh-tv '^^^^^'^ of England. He was firft engaged in this nine Ar Undertaking by Queen Mary, who had fo highly tick?, approved of his Four Difpourfes to his Clergy, and his Treatife of the Paflorai Care, that She, as well as AfchbiOiop Tillotfon, judged no man ■ ■ ■ '■ Ho

The L I E E of the A U T H O R. IxxUi

(o proper as himfelf, to render this important fer- yice to the Church. At their intreaty therefore, he undertook this laborious taflc, which he per- form'd in lefs than the compafs of a year, though he kept it by him five years, for corredion. It was firft revifed, and in many places altered by Dr. Tillotfon, whofe opinion of this performance \yil] bell be learnt frorn one of his own letters .

" My Lord,* Lambeth-Houfe, Oa. 23, 1674.

T Have with great pleafure and fatisfaflion X read over the great volume, you fent me ; and ani aftonilh'd to fee fo vaft a work, begun and finilh'd in fo Ihort a time. In the article of the Trinity you have faid all, that I think can be faid upon fo obfcure and difficult an argument. The Socinians have juft now pub- lifhed an anfwer to us all ; but I have not had a fight of it. The negative articles againft the Church of Rome, you have very fully ex- plained, and with great learning and judgment. Concerning thefe, you will meet with no op- pofition amongft ourfelves. The greateft dan- ger was to be apprehended from the points in difference between the Calvinifts and Remon- ftrants, in which you have Ihewn, not only great lldll and moderation, but great prudence in contenting yourfelf, to reprefent both fides irrvpartially, without any pofitive declaration of your own judgment. The account given of Athanafius's Creed, feems to me no-wife fatisiaftory ; I wiHi we were well rid of it. I pray God long to preferve your Lordfhip, to cio more fuch fervices to the Church. I am, " My Lord,

?^ Yours moft affedionately,

' *' Jo. Cant."

f An atteiled copy of this letter. In the hand-writing of the f>refent Afchbifliop of Dublin, is in ih<E Edijor's aauds,

Thisi

toiv The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

This work was afterwards pcrufed and approv- ed by Archbilhop Tennifon, Archbifhop Sharp, Biihop Stillingfleet, Patrick, Lloyd, Hall and "Williams : The laft of thefe ftrongly recommends ed, the conlidering them only as articles of peace, in which men were bound to acquiefce without contradiftion ; not as articles of faith, which they were obliged to believe. There might per- haps be reafon to wifh, that they had only been impofed as fuch, but there was nothing in our Conftitution to warrant an expofitor, in giving that fenfe to them : The book likewife pafs*d through the hands of many learned men in both Univerfities, and was generally applauded. Up- on its iirfl appearance in print, it was univerfally well received ; thofe, who had been employed to -criticife every work the Bifhop had publifhed for Tome years, were filent as to This. Indeed when the Convocation met, and the two Houfes were warmly engaged in difputes, relating to their re- .Ipedtive privileges, in which our Author bore a confiderabie fhare -, the Lower Houfe, in refent- ment, brought up a general cenfure of his Expofi- tion, but refufed to point out the particulars, upon which it was grounded : Though the Upper Houfe remonftrated, how neceflary that was, in in order to enable them to concur in the cenfure, which they could not pretend to do, till they were informed of the re^fons for it.

For five or fix years before his death, our Au- thor grew more abllracted from the world, than the fituation he had been in, during the former parts of his life, had permitted. To avoid the diftradion of ufelefs vifits, he fettled in St, John's Court in Clerkenwell, and kept up only an intercourfe with his moft fele6c and intimate acquaintance : Their names will be an honour to his memory, and therefore I beg leave to men- tion the moft confiderabie amongft them. Such were the late Dukes of Marlborough, Newcaftk

and

The L I F E of the AU THORo fey

and Shrewfbury ; the Earls of Godolphin, Cow- per and Hahfax ; the Lord Somers and Pelham : And the prefent Dutchefs Dowager of Marlbo- rough, the Dukes of Montrofe and Roxburgh ; the Lord Townlliend, the Lord King, the Maftcr of the Rolls Sir Jofeph Jekyll, the Lord Chief Juftice Eyre, and Mr. Baillie of Jervifwood, who, as he was his near relation, fo he always lived with him in the friendfhip and freedom of a brother.

I have faid nothing in relation to the part our Au- His dill- thor a6ted in Parliament, in Convocation, or in the p"^^ f.^* feveral matters of ftate, wherein he was confulted Jj^jJJ -^^ and employed •, this is fully and impartially fet London, forth in the Hiftory itfelf. Yet I ought to inform the reader, that the Bifhop's neceffary attendance on the Houfe of Lords, in the winter feafon, was not a means of abating his diligence in the duties of his calling, though it diverted the exercife of it, from the proper fcene, his diocefe. For whilft he ftaid in town, he failed not of preach- ing every Sunday morning, in fome church or other in London •, and as he was much followed, he was generally engaged for charity fermons, at which he himfelf was always a liberal contribu- tor : In the Sunday evening, he had a Lefture in his own houfe, upon fome feleft portion of Scrip- ture ; to which many perfons of diftinftion re- forted, though at firil; it was only intended, for the benefit of his own family.

As he lived to fee the turn, which the affairs of Great Britain, I might fay of Europe, took upon the death of Queen Anne, for whom he had al- ways the higheil perfonal veneration, but whom he thought unwarily engaged in meafares, which might have proved fatal : I need not fay, with what comfort he faw a fucceiHon take place, of which he himfelf had been the firll mover , and a Family eftablifhed, in whofe intereits. he had been fo ftedfait and zealous, and by whom he ." ' had

Ixxvi The LIFE of the AUTHO R.

had been fo much entrufted. He publifhed a Writes a third Volume, as a fupplement to his two for- third vo- jj^gj. q£ j.j^g Hiftory of the Reformation, at the fupple- ^^^^ of ^is late Majefty*s arrival in England, to jnent to whom it was dedicated. And as if his life had iis Hifto- only been prolonged to fee this great work com- Reforma- P^^^^» ^"^ ^^^ proteftant intereft in a fair prof" tion. pect of fecurity, he died foon after. His do- Thus I have endeavoured to give fome ac- roeftick count of our Author's behaviour, in all the charaaer. different ftations he pafs'd through in publick : it may be exped:ed, I Ihould fay fomething of him, in domeftick life. His time His time, the only treafure of which he feem- how em- ed covetous, was employed in one regular and P °^^ ■ uniform manner. His conftant health permitted him to be an early rifer ; he was feldom in bed later than five a-clock in the morning during the fummer, or than fix in the winter. Private me- ditation took up the two firft hours and the laft half-hour of the day. His firft and laft appear- ance to his family was, at the morning and evening prayers, which were always read by him- felf, though his chaplains were prefent. He -drank his tea in company with his children, and took that opportunity of inftrudting them in re- ligion ; he went through the Old and New Tefta- ment with them three times, giving his own comment upon fome portion of it, for an hour every morning. When this was over, he retired to his ftudy, where he feldom fpent lefs than fix, often more than eight hours in a day. The reft of his time was taken up with bufinefs, exercife and neceffary reft, or beftowed on friendly vifits and chearful meals. As he kept an open table, in which there was plenty without luxury, fo no man was more pleafed with innocent mirth thtre, no man encouraged it more, or had a larger fund of entertainment to contribute towards it. His equipage, like his table, was decent and plain ;

an4

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. kxvii

and all his expences denoted a temper generous, but not profule. The Epifcopal palace, when he came to Salifbury, was thought one. of the worft.; and when he died, was one of the belt ia England.

The chara6ter I have given his wives, will An affec- fcarce make it an addition to his, that he was a "°!]f^^, moil affectionate hulband. His tender care of the firft, during a courfe of ficknefs, that iafted for many years ; and his fond love to the other two, and the deep concern he exprefs'd for their I0I5, were no more than their juft due, from one of his humanity, gratitude and difcernment.

His l6ve to his children, perhaps accompanieB His care with too much indulgence, was not exerted in ,^? ,^ laying up for them a hoard of wealth, out of the educa- revenues of the Church, but in giving them a tion. noble education; though the charge of it was wholly maintained out of his private fortune. At feven years old, he entered his fons into Latin, giving each of them a diltind tutor, who had a falary of forty pounds a-year, which was never leflen'd on account of any prebend the Bifhop gave him. After five or fix years had perfected his fons in the learned languages, he fent them to the Univerfity -, the eldeft a Gentleman Com- moner to Trinity College in Cambridge, the other two Commoners to Merton College in Ox- ford ; where, befides the college tutor, they had a private one, to affift them in their learning, and to overlook their behaviour. In the year 1706, he fent them abroad for two years to finifh their ftudies at Leyden ; from whence two of them took a Tour through Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The eldell and youngell, by their own choice, were bred to the law, and the fecond to divinity.

In his friendfliips, our Author was warm, open- ^'^ firm- hearted and conftant : From thofe I have taken ^^^^ J? ^^' the liberty to mention, the reader will perceive, i^^^'

that

Ixxviii The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

that they were formed upon the rnoft prudent choice, and I cannot find an inflance of any one friend he ever loft, but by death. It is a com- mon, perhaps- a juft obfervation, that a hearty friend is apt to be as hearty an enemy ; yet this rule did not hold in our Author. For though his ftation, his principles, but above all his ftedfaft adherence to the Hanover SuccefTion, raifed him many enemies 5 yet he no fooner had it in his power, to have taken fevere revenges on them, than he endeavoured, by the kindeft good officeSj. to repay all their injuries, and overcome them, by returning good for evil. I have already given fome inftances of this nature here, and m.any more will occur to the reader in the Hiftory.

The Bifliop was a kind and bountiful m^after duel to ^o ^^^ fervants, whom he never changed, but thofe in with regret and through neceffity : Friendly and employ- obliging to all in employment under him, and Bienc an- pecyii^rly happy in the choice of them ; efpeci- ally in that of the ftewardto the Billioprick and his courts, WilHam Waftefield, Efq; (a gentle- man of a plentiful fortune, at the time of his accepting this poft) and in that of his domeftick fteward Mr. Mackney. Thefe were both men of approved worth and integrity, firmly attach'd to his interefts, and were treated by him, as they well deferved, with friendfhip and confidence. To them, 1 muft appeal, for the truth of many fafts here related, particularly thofe concerning his labours in his diocefe ; from them I likewife had an account of his extenfive charities. His chari- This was indeed a principal article of his ex- ties, pence, impofTible now to fix as to all the parti- culars ; our Author being as fecret, as he was liberal, in thofe charities, which he diftributed with his own hands : Yet the greateft part c^ them could not be hid from the perfons who were entrufted with the management of his af- fairs. His gifts, for the augmentation of fmall

livings.

The LIFE of the AUTHOR. Ixxix

livings, of an hundred pounds at a time ; his conftant penfions to poor clergymen, to their widows, to ftudents for their education at the Univeriities, and to induftrious families, that were Itruggling with the world ; the frequent fums given by him, towards the repairs or building of Churches and Vicarage-Houfes ; his liberal con- tribution, to ail publick colledions, to the fup- port of charity- fchools (one of which for fifty children at Salifbury was wholly maintain-ed by him,) and the many apprentices, at different times put out to trades at his charge, were chari- ties that could not be wholly concealed. Nor were his alms conJSned to one nation, feft or party ; want and merit in the obje<5t were the only meafures of his Hberality. Thus when Mr. Martin (minifter of Compton Chamberlein) for refufing to take the oaths to the Government, foon after the Revolution, had forfeited his Pre- bend in the Church of Sarum ; the Bilhop, out of his own Income, paid him the yearly value of it, during his life. His ufual allowance for cha- rity was five hundred pounds a-year, which he often exceeded -, particularly in the two years that he was Preceptor to the" Duke of Gloucefter, in which time this article amounted to one and twenty hundred pounds. In a word, no object of chrif- tian compaiTion ever came within his knowledge, without receiving a proportionable relief. He looked upon himfelf, with regard to his epifco- pal revenue, as a mere Truftee for the Church, bound to expend the whole, in the maintenance of a decent figure fuitable to his ftation, in hofpi- tality, and .in ads of charity. And he had {o faithfully bal lanced this account, that at his death no more of the income of his Bifhoprick remain- ed to his family *, than what was barely fufficient for the payment of his debts.

* This Mr. Mackney his fteward affursd lue appeared jn his accounts.

4 But

Ixxx The LIFE of the AUTHOR.

His Care But if he was thus hberal of his own purfe, hfe of the re- ^^^ ^^^ j^jp^ ftridb in preferving the revenues of the See. ^^^ ^^^> ^^^ ^^^ benefit of his fuccefTors, of which this remarkable inftance may fufEce ** One of his predeceflbrs had converted a large eftate at Monckton Farley, held of the Bilhop, from a leafe of one and twenty years, into an eftate for three lives, and had received a valuable confideration for fo doing. Our Author refolved, if poflible, to reftore it to the former tenure, as being much more advantageous to the See : when therefore one of the lives fell, he refufed to re^ new ; and when, the other two lives being very unhealthy, Sir John Talbot offered him a thou- fand pounds for the renewal of that one life, and the change of the other two, he ftill perfifted in his refufal : Till at length the tenant, apprehend- ing the whole eftate would have fallen in, agreed to accept of a leafe for one and twenty years, for which the Biftiop would take no more than four hundred pounds Fine to himfelf ; but made it part of his agreement, that the tenant fliould pay ten pounds yearly rent, to the minifter of the parifti, as a perpetual augmentation to that poor Living, be- iides the lifual referved rent to the See. His death. In March 17 14- 15, being the fevcnty-fecond year of his age, our Author was taken ill of a. violent cold, which foon turned to a pleuritick fe- ver ; he was attended in it, by his worthy friend and relation Dr. Cheyne, who treated him with the utmoft care and fkill : But finding the diftem* per grew to a height, which feemed to baffle all remedies, he called for the affiftance of Sir Hans Sloane and Dr. Mead, who quickly found his cafe was defperate. His charader was too well known, to induce any one to conceal from him

* This I had from the minifter of Monckton Farley, and many others at the time, and it was confirmed to me fmce by Mr. Waftefield and Mr. Mackney.

the

The L I F E of the AU THOR. Ixxxi

Mie danger his life v/as in. He bore the notice of it, with that calm refignation to Providence, which had always fupported him under the fe- vereft trials. As he preferved his fenfes to the laftj fo he employed the precious remnant of life,' in continual afts of devotion, and in giving the beft advice to his family ; of whom he toolv leave, in a manner, that Ihewed the utmoft ten- dernefs, accompanied with the firmed conftancy of mind. And whilfl he was fo little fenfible of the terrors of death, as to embrace its ap- proach with joy ; he could not but exprefs a con- cern, for the grief he faw it caufed in others. He died on the feventeenth day of that month.

It would be a prefumption in me to attempt the drawing his chara6ler ; when it has been done by fo elegant a hand, as that of the late Marquis of Halifax : As this beautiful Piece, I believe, has never been made publick, the Reader will pardon my inferting it here.

** Dr. Burnet * is like all men, who are above f^jj ^^^, " the ordinary level, feldom fpoke of in a mean, raaer, by " he muft either be railed at or admired ; he has ^"^ ^^i- "' a fwiftnefs of imamnation, that no other man ^'^1-'

£c J u Ji II Halifax,

" comes up to -, and as our nature hardly allows

" us to have enough of any thing, without having

" too much, he cannot at all times fo hold in his

" thoughts, but that at fome time they may run

" away with him-, as it is hard for a veffel, that

" is brirn-full, when in motion, not to run over ;

" and therefore the variety of matter, that he ever

" carries about him, may throw out more, than

" an unkind critic would allow of. His firfl

" thoughts may fometimes require more digeftion,

" not from a defeft in his judgment, but from

" '* Th'ef. topy from \\hich this is printed^ -wis-- taken from ^*ie--given to the Bifliop, ia the Marquis of Halifax's o*h iiiftai-vf/rking, which wasi in the Editoi's h^pi's-^pat is- at ^refeat

Vol. I. e " the

Ixxxii The LIFE of the AUTHOR,

" the abundance of his fancy, which furnifhes top. " fall for him., His friends iove him too well,/tQ " fee fm all ianlts •, or if they do, think that hi? ^.' great;er talents give him a privilege of ftraying ^' from the ftridt rules of caution, and exempt him *' from the ordinary rules of cenfure. He pro- *' duces fo fail, that what is well in his writings " calls for admiration, and what is incorred; de- " ferves an excufe •, he may in feme things require " grains of allowance, which thofe only can deny " him, v^ho are unknown or unjuft to him. He 5' is not quicker in difcerning other men's faults, ^' than he is in torgiving them -, fo ready, or rather '* glad to acknowledge his own, that from . *' blemifhes they become ornaments. All the re- ". peated provocations of his indecent adverfaries, " have had no other effeft, than the fetting his *' good-nature in fo much a better light ; fince his *' anger never yet went farther than to pity them. *' That heat, which in mofl other men raifes " fharpnefs and fatire, in him glows into warmth " for his friends, and compalTion for thofe in ^' want and mifery. As dull men have quick *' eyes, in difcerning the fmaller faults of thofe, *' that nature has made fuperior to them, they d^ *' not mifs one blot he makes : and being beholden *' only to their barrennefs for their difcretion, they *' fall upon the errors, which arife out of his ^^ abundance ; and by a miftake into which their ^' malice betrays them, they think that by finding ^' a mote in his eye, they hide the beams, that are ^' in their own. His quicknefs makes writing fp "^*^ eafy a thing to him, that his fpirits are neither ^*- wafted nor foured by it : The foil is not forced, *' every thing grows, and brings forth without ^' pangs ', which diftinguifhes as much what he *' does, from that which fmells of the lamp, as ^^ a good palate will difcern between fruit, which ^^ comes from a rich mould, and that which taftcs ^ gf the \inrci?anly p^insj that h.d,ye ^een beftowed

1* vjpeft

The L I F E of the AU T H O R. Ixxxiii " upon it. He makes many ginemies, by fetting 1676. ** an ill-natured example of living, which they <u»v^o " are not inclined to follow. His indifference for *' preferment, his contempt not only of fplendor, *' but of all unneceflary plenty, his degrading him- *' felf into the loweft and moft painful duties of " his calling -, are fuch unprelatical qualities, that '* let him be never fo orthodox in other things, *' in thefe he muft be a Diffenter. Virtues of fuch *' a ftamp are fo many herefies, in the opinion of *' thofe Divines, who have foftened the primitive '' injunftions, fo as to make them fuit better with " the prefent frailty of mankind. No wonder then, *' if they are angry, fmce it is in their own de- *' fence, or that from a principle of felf-prefer- ** vation they fhould endeavour to fupprefs a man, ♦• whofe parts are a fliame, and whofe life is a <' fcandal to them,"

A LIST

A List of BiOiop BURNET's V/orkg\

Dia,ioo;ue between a Conformift

Non Conformift.

andl

^A Vindication of the Conftitution- of the ( .--•ChurGh and. State of Scotland. • — 5 The Myfiery pt Iniquity unveiled. —

'An Account given by T. Ken a Jefuit of \ the Truth of- Religion examined. — j

.Men:cirs of Duke Hamilton, in Folio. - ' An Account of a; Conference with Cole- } ,..^an, &c. r.n'j-.: ,. , — i

The Hiftory of the Reformation. Firft i

Volume . ■— 1 — — — 5

Second Volume. — — -— —

Third Volume.

}

'The Abridgement of the Hrftqry pf the }

Reformation, -r~. 3

An Account of the Earl of Rochefter's Death.

The Life of Sir Matthew Hale. -

The Method of Converfion by the Clergy

of France examined

The Hiftory of the Regale. — —

TheTranllation of SirThom.as More's Utopia The Life of Billiop Bedell. — — The Tranflation of Ladtantius's Deaths of i

the Pcrfecutors. 5

Letters concerning Dr. Burnet's Travels. -

The Paftoral Care. — —

Four Difcourfes to his Clerev.

' Effay on the Character of Queen Mary — Vindication of Archbilhop Tillotfon. — Expofition of the Thirty-Nine Articles of i

the Church of England. — — 5 A Coilecrion of Sermons and Pam-7 from

phlets (in three Volumes in Quarto) 3 to The Church Catechifm explained. — Seripons preached on feveral Occafions. — The Hiitory of his own Time. Tv;o Volum

Folio. A jPofthumous V\^ork,

T'H-^

O F

My Own Times.

•iv w »»< »iv 'iff >>ff f «v ♦»» ?)rr •>». <» 7;«f sr» -it '> •;» >» »»f »;;? »Sp 's> •» »iv t,« «» ■> j« »«» »». »»» w »*» '«f

THE

P R E F A C

^^^ A M now beginning to review and r^^Sfe write over again the hiftory of my own time, which I firft undertook twenty years ago *, and have been '^WM. continuing it from year to year ever fince : And I fee fome realbn to re- view it all. I had while I was very young a greater knowledge of affairs than is ufual at that age ; for my father, who had'-been engaged in great friend-

* This Killory he writ fome time before the year 1705, but how long, he has not any where told; only it appears it- was then finiiheJ, becaufe in the beginning of the reign of King William and Queen Mary he dates the concinuation of his hifto- ry on the firft day of May, 170$.

Vol. L B fhips

The PREFACE.

ihips with men of both fides, living then retired from all bufinefs, as he took my education wholly into his own hands, fo he took a fort of pleafure to relate to me the feries of all publick affairs. And as he was a man fo eminent for probity and true piety ' that I had ail reafon to believe him, fo I faw fuch an impartial fenfe of things in him, that I had as little reafon to doubt his judgment as his fmcerity. For tho' he adhered fo firmly to the King and his fide, that he was the fmgular inftance in Scotland of a man of fome note who from the beginning to the end of the war never once owned or fubmitted to the new form of govenment fet up all that while ; yet he did very freely complain of the errours of the King's Government, and of the Bilhops of Scotland. So that upon this foundation I fet out at firft to look into the fecret condud of affairs among us.

I fell into great acquaintance and friendlhips with feveral peribns who either were or had been Minifters of ftate, frorn whom when the fecret of affairs was over I ftudied to know as many parti- culars as 1 could draw from them. I faw a great .deal more among the Papers of the Dukes of Ha- milton than was properly a part of their memoirs, or fit to be told at that time : For when a licence was to be obtained, and a work was to be publilhed fit for that family to own, things foreign to their Miniltry, or hurtful to any other families, were not to be intermixed with the account I then gave of the late wars. And now for above thirty years I have lived in fuch intimacy with all who hav€ had the chief condud: of affairs, and have been fo much trufted, and on fo many important occafions employed by them, that I have been able to pene- trate far into the true fecrets of counfels and de- . figns.

This made me tw'enty years ago write down Jl relation of all that I had known to that timei Where I was in the dark, I pail over all, and on-

The PREFACE.

jy t^ened thofe tranfadlions that I had particular feccafions to know. My chief defign in writing was to give a true view of men and of counfels, leaving pubHck tranfaclions to Gazettes and the publick hiilorians of the times. I writ with a de- fign to make both my felf and my readers wifer and better, and to lay open the good and bad of all (ides and parties, as clearly and impartially as I my felf underftood it, concealing nothing that I thought fit to be known, and reprefenting things in their natural colours without art or difguife, without any regard to kindred or friends, to par- ties or interefts : For I do folemnly fay this to the world, and make my humble appeal upon it to the great God of truth, that I tell the truth on all oc- cafionsi as fully and freely as upon my befb inquiry I have been able to find it out. Where things ap- pear doubtful I deliver them with the fame incer- tainty to the world.

Some may perhaps think that inftead of favour- ing my own profeflion, I have been more fevere upon them than was needful. But my zeal for the true intereft of Religion and of the Clergy made me more careful to undeceive good and well mean- ing men of my own order and profelTion for the future, and to deliver them from common preju- dices and miflaken notions, than to hide or exqufe the faults of thofe whx^ will be perhaps gone off the ftage before this work appeir on it. I have given the charaders of men very impartially and copi- oufly ; for nothing guides onesjudgment more truly in a relation of matters of faft, than the knowing the tempers and principles of the chief aftors.

If I have dwelt too long on the affairs of Scot- land, fome allowance is to be made to the affetSti- on all men bear to their native country. I alter nothing of what I wrote in the fir ft draught of this work, only I have left out a great deal that was perfonal to my felf, and to thofe I am defcended B 2 from:

the PREFACE.

from : So that this is upon the matter the fame work with very httle change made in it.

I look on the perfe6ting of this work, and the carrying it on thro' the remaining part of my life, as the greateii fervice I can do to God and to the world i and therefore I fet about it with great care and caution. For I reckon a lie in hiflory to be as much a greater fm than a lie in common difcourfe, as the one is like to be more lafting and more ge- nerally known than the other. I find that the long Experience I have had of the bafenefs, the malice, and the falfhood of mankind, has inclined me to be apt to think generally the worft both of men and of parties : and indeed the peevifhnefs, the ill na- ture, and the ambition of many clergymen has Iharpned my fpirits perhaps too much againft them : So 1 warn my reader to take all that 1 fay on thefe heads with fome grains of allowance, tho' I have watched over my felf and my pen fo carefully that I hope there is no great occafion for this apology.

I have fhewed this hiltory to feveral of my friends, who were either very partial to me, or they elteemed that this work (chiefly when it fhouldbe over and over again retouched and poiilhed by me, which very probably I Ihall be doing as long as I live) might prove of fome ufe to the world, i have on defign avoided all laboured periods or artificial ilrains, and have writ in as clear and plain a ftyle as was pofTible, chufing rather a copious enlarge- ment, than a dark concifenefs.

And now, O my God, the God of my life, and of all my mercies, I offer this work to thee, to whofe honour it is chiefly intended •, that thereby I may awaken the world to juft refleftions on their own errours and follies, and call on them to ac- knowledge thy Providence, to adore it, and ever to depend on it.

THE

THE

I S T O R Y

O F

My Own Times.

BOOK I.

A fummary Recapitulation of the ftate of Affairs in Scotland, both in Church and State ; from the beginning of the Troubles, to the Reftoration of King Charles the Second, 1660.

H E mifchiefs of civil wars are fo

great and kiting, and the effe6ts of them branching out by many acci- dents, that were not thought on at firft, much lefs intended, into fuch milchievous confequences, that I have thought it an enquiry that might be of greati ufe both to Prince and People, to look carefully into the firft beginnings and occahons of them, to obferve their progrefs, and the errours of both Jiandsj the protocations that were given, and the

B 3 jealoufies

6 A S u M M A R Y of Affairs

jealoufies that were raifed by thefc, together with the excelles into which both (ides have run by turns. And tho' the v/ars be over long ago, yet fince they have left among us fo many feeds of lafting feuds and animofities, which upon every turn are apt to ferment and to break out a-new, it will be an ufeful as well as a pleafant enquiry to look back to the firft original of them, and to obferve by what degrees and accidents they gathered ftrength, and at lall broke forth into a flame. The dif- ^^^^ Reformation of Scotland was popular and traaions parliamentary : The Crown was, during that time^^ during either on the head of a Qiieen that was abfent, or ?'"S ^ of a King that was an infant; During his minority iiinority^^- matters were carried on by the feveral Regents, fo as was moft agreeable to the prevailing humour of the Nation. But when King James grew to be of age, he found two parties in the kingdom. The one was, of thofe who wiifhed well to the in- tereft of the Qiieen his Mother, then a prifoner in England : Thefe were either profeiTed Papills, , or men believed to be indifferent as to all religions. The reft were her inveterate enemies, zealous for the Reformation, and fixed in a dependence on the Crown of England, and in a jealoufy of France. When that king faw that thofe who were moft in his interefts we're likewife jealous of his authority, and apt to encroach upon it, he hearkned firft to the infmuations of his Mother's party, who were always infufing in him a jealoufy of thefe his friends ; faying, that by ruining his Mother, .ari4 fetting hirri in her room while a year old^ they had ruined monarchy, and made the Crown fub- jeft and precarious j and had put him in a very unnatural pofture, of being feized of his Mother's Crown while fhe was in exile and a prifoner-, ad- ding, that he was but a king in name, the power being in the hands of thofe who were under the management of the queen of England.

Their

before the R e s t o r a t i o n. 7

Their infinuations would have been of lefs force. The prac- if the Houfe of Guife, who were his Coufin Ger- ^Jfcfofths mans, had not been engaged in great defigns, of ^^^if^ transferring the Crown of France from the Houfe of Bourbon to themfelves i in order to which it was neceffary to embroil England, and to draw the king of Scotland into their interefts. So under the pretence of keeping up the old alliances be- tween France and Scotland, they fent creatures of their own to be Ambafladours there j and they alfo fent a graceful young man, who, as he was the King's neareft kinfman by his father, was of fo. agreeable a temper that he became his favourite, and was made by him Duke of Lenox. He was known to be a Papift, tho' he pretended he changed his religion, and became in profelTion a Proteftant.

The court of England difcovered all thefe arti- fices of the Guifians, who were then the moil im- placable enemies of the Reformation, and were managing all that train of plots againft Queen Elizabeth, that in conclufion proved fatal to tha Queen of Scots. And when the Englifli Minifters faw the inclinations of the young King lay fo ftrongly that way, that all their applications tq gain him were ineffedlual, they infufed fuch a jea- loufy, of him into all their party in Scotland, that both Nobility and Clergy were much alarmed a; it.

But King Jamei learnt early that piece of King- craft, of difguifing, or at leaft denying every thing fhat was obferved in his behaviour that gav.e, offence.

The main jnftance in which the French manage- ment appeared, was that he could not be prevailed pn to enter into any treaty of marriage. It was notfafe to talk of marrying a Papift •, and as long as the Duke of Guife lived, the King, tho' theri three and twenty and the qtA^ perfon of his fami- B4"" ^ " . ly,

8 A ,S u M M A R y of Affairs

ly, would hearken to no propofition for marrying a Proteftant. King But when the Duke of Guife was killed at Blois,

James in and that- Flenry the third was murdered foon after, the inter- jq ^^j^^t Henry the fourth came in his room, King eitot jing- j^j^gg ^^s j^Q rnore in a French management : So prefently after he married a Daughter of Denmark,^ and ever after that he wa:s wholly managed by Queen Elizabeth and her Minifcers. I have feen- • many letters among Walfingham's papers that dif- cover the commerce between the Houfe of Guile: and him* :<■ But the mpft valuable ofthefe is along paper of infirudlions to one Sir Richard Wigmore, a great man "for hunting, and for all fuch fports, to which King James Was out of meafure addifted. The Queen ahtonted him-'pubiickly : Upon which' he pretended he could live no longer in England,' and therefore withdrew t6 Scotland. But all this was a contrivance of Wailingham^i-' who thought him a fit perfon to get into that King's favour: So that affront was deiigned to give him the more credit, i :He was very particutariy inftruftedin-all the proper methods to gain upon the King's con- fidence, and to obferve and give an account of all he faw in hirn ; which he did very faithfully, -'^By thefe inl^r unions it appears that Wailingharn thought that King was either inclined to turn Pa- pift, or to' be of no religion. And when the court of England faw that they could not depend on him, they raifed all poffibk oppofition to him in Scotland^ 'infufing llrong jealoufies into thole 'who were enough inclined to receive them.- -• -'', '^ '-^- '■ A cenfare This is the great defect that runs thro* Ardhbi- pFSpotf- fliop Spotfwood's hiftory, whefe tnuch of^the rude wood's oppofition that King met with, particularly from ■'y°^^' the Affemblies of the Kirk, is fet forth ; but the true ground of all the jealoufies they 'Were pOf- feffed-with is fuppreffed by him. After his-Hiar- riage they fliudied. to remove thefe fulpicions all t ■:, * That is, between the Ho!uf^ of Guife and King James.

' ' "■ ■ ' that

before the R e s t o r a t i o n'. 9

that was poffible -, and he granted the Kirk all the. laws they defired, and got his temporal authority to be better eilablifhed than it was before : Yet as the jealoufies of his ficklenefs in religion were ne- ver quite removed, fo they gave him many new difgufts : They wrought in him a moll inveterate hatred of prefbytery, and of the power of the Itirk i and he fearing an oppodtion in his fucceed- . ing to the Crown of England, from the Papift party, which, tho' it had little llrength in the Houfe of Commons, yet was very great in the Houfe of Lords, and was very conliderable in all . the northern parts, and among the body of the people, employed feveral perfons who were known to be Papifts tho' they complied outwardly. The.. chief of thefe were Elphinfton, Secretary of State, whom he made Lord Balmerinoch -, and Seaton,- afterwards Chancellour andLarl of Dunfermhng..j "^ „ By their means, he ftudied to afiureihe Papifts that died to ' he would connive at the'm. A letter was alfo writ' gain the to the pope by him giving affurance of this, which '^^r^^^s. when it came to be publiihed by Bellarmin, upon the profecution of the recufants after the difcovery of the Gunpowder Plot, Balmerinoch did affirm, that he out of zeal to the king's fervice got his hand to it, having put it in the bundle of papers that were figned in courfe, without the King's knowing any thing of it. Yet when that difco-' covery drew no other feverity but the turning him out of office, and the paffing a fentence condemn- ing him to die for it (which was prefently par- doned, and he was after a fhort confinement reftored to his liberty,) all men believed that the King knew of the letter, and that the pretended confeffi- on of the Secretary was only, collulion, to lay the jealoufies of the King's favouring Popery, which ftill hung upon him notwithftanding his writing cm the Revelation, and his afFed:ing to enter on all pccallons into controverfy, aflerting in particular that the Pope was- Antichrift, ■ - ' ■'■ " • ■' ■ ■ ' As

lO A Summary of Affairs

And to fe- As he took thefe methods to manage the Popilli cure the party, he was much more careful to fecure to him- to the' ^^^^ ^^^ body of the EngUfh nation. Cecill, af- Crown of terwards Earl of Salifbury, Secretary to Queen England. Elizabeth, entred into a particular confidence with him : And this was managed by his Ambaffador Bruce, a younger brother of a noble family in. Scotland, who carried the matter with fuch addrefs and fecrecy, that all the great Men of England, without knowing of one another's doing it, and without the Queen's fufpeding any thing concern- ing it, figned in writing an engagement to affert and ftand by the King of Scots right of fucceflion. This great fervice was rewarded by making him Mafter of the Rolls, and a Peer of Scotland : And as the king did raife Cecil and his friends to the greateft pofts and dignities, fo he raifed Bruce's family here in England. Tnat When that king came to the Grown of Englanct

King's er- j^g difcbvered his hatred to the Scotifh Kirk on mas. Govern- ^^ occalions, in which he gratified his refentment ment. without confulting his interefts. He ought to have put his utmoft ftrength to the finilhing what he but faintly begun for the union of both King- doms, which was loft by his unreafonable partiality in pretending that Scotland ought to be confidered in this union as the third part of the Ifle of Great Britain, if not more. So high a demand ruined the defign. But when that failed, he Ihould then haveftudied to keep the affedions of that Nation firm to him : And certainly he, being fecure of that Kingdom, might have fo managed matters, as to have prevented that disjointing which hap- pened afterwards both in his own reign, and more tragically in his fon's. He thought to effe6t this by his profufe bounty to many of the Nobility of that Kingdom, and to his domeftick fervants : But as moft of thefe fettling in England were of no further ufe to him in that defign, fo his fetting up Epifcopacy in Scotland, and his conftant aver-!

fioi^

before the R e s t o r a t i o n. n

fipn to the Kirk^ how right foever it might be in it (elf, was a great errour in policy ; for the poor- er that Kingdom was, it was both the more eafy to gain them, and the more dangerous to offend them. So the terrour which the affedtions of th^ Scotch Nation might have juftly given the En|^ilh was foon loft, by his engaging the whole govern- ment to fupport that, which was then very contra- ry to the bent and genius of the Nation.

But tho* he fet up Billiops, he had no revenues He fet «p to give them, but what he was to purchafe for. EpiCcopa- them. During his minority all the tithes and the j^^'^^'^^''' church lands were vefted in the Crown : But this was only in order to the granting them away to the men that bore the chief fway. It is true, when he came of age he according to the law of Scot- land paft a general revocation of all that had been done in his infancy : And by this he could have refumed all thofe grants. He, and after him his ion, fucceeded in one part of his defign : For by ad: of Parliament a Court was eredled that was tp examine and fequefter a third part of the tithes in every parifh, and fo make a competent provilion put of them to thofe who ferved the cure ; which had been referved in the great alienation for the iervice of the church. This was carried at firft to a proportion of about thirty pounds a year, and was afterwards in his fon's time raifed to about iifty pounds a year ; which confidering the plenty and way of living in that country is a very liberal provifion, and is equal in value to thrice that fum in the fouthern parts of England. In this he had jbijth the clergy and the body of the people on his fide. But he could not fo eafily provide for the Bilhops : They were at firft forced to hold their former cures with fome fmall addition.

But as they aftlimed at their firft fetting up little With a 3c- tnore authority than that of a conftant prefidentoffigntocar- the preft)yters, fo they met with much rough op- ^ "^/^tters {^pfition. The King intended to carry on a con- ' '- ■ " ' ■ ' formity

12 . A S u jvi M A R y of Affairs

formlty in matters of religion with England, and he begun to buy in from the Grantees many of the eftates that belonged to the Bilhopricks. It was alfo fena6ted, that a form of prayer Ihould be drawn for Scotland : And the King was autho;- rizeS to appoint the habits in which the divine offices were to be performed. Some of the chief, holy-days were ordered to be obferv'd. The Sa- crament was to be received kneeling, and to be given to the fick. Confirmation was ena6ted ; as alfo the ufe of the Crofs in Baptifm. Thefe things were firft paft in general afiemblies, which were compofed of Bifhops and the deputies chofen by the Clergy, who fat ail in one houfe : And in it they reckoned the Bifhops only as fmgle votes.- Great oppofition was made to all thefe Heps : And the whole force of the Government was llrained. to carry elections to thofe meetings, or to take off thofe who were chofen; in which it was; thought that no fort of pradlice was omitted. . It was pre- tended, that fome were frighted, and others were corrupted. Erroursof' The Bilhops themfelves did their part very ill, the Bi- They generally grew haughty: They neglecfled °?^* their functions, and were often at Court, and lofl all efteem with the people. Some few that were ftridter and more learned did lean fo grolly to Popery, that. the heat and violence of the Refor- mation became the main fubjed of their fermona and difcourfes. King James grew weary of this oppofition, or was fo apprehenfive.of the ill effedls that it might have, that, what through floth or fear, and what by reafon of the great diforder into which his ill conduft brought his affairs in England in his latter years, he went no further in his de- figns on Scotland. ■ .■ l

Prince He had three children. His eldeft, Pripce

Henry Henry, was a Prince of great hopes ; but fo very was be- i[jj-^]e Jj|^g j^jg father, that he was rather feared thm hJmilon-^^^^^ by hipQ. tie was fo zealous -a Vxgt^Mnti cd. that*

before the R e s t o r a t i o isr. i^

that, when his father was entertaining proporti- ons of marrying him to popifh PrinceiTes, once to the Archduchefs, and at another time to a daughter of Savoy, he in a letter, that he wrote to the King on the twelfth of that Odtober in whi'ch iie died (the original of which Sir William Cook fhewed me) defired, that if his father married him that way it might be with the youngeft perfon of the two, of whofe converfion he might have hope, and that any liberty Ihe might be allowed for her religion might be in the privateft manner poflible. Whether this averfion to Popery haften'd his death or not I cannot tell. Colonel Titus af- fured me that he had from Kins; Charles the firfl's own mouth, that he was well affured he was poi- foncd by the Earl of Somerfet's means. It is cer- tain, that from the time of the Gunpowder Plot, King James was fo ftruck with the terror of that danger he was then fo near, that ever after he had no mind to provoke the Jefuits ; for he faw what they were capable of.

And fmce I name that confpiracy which the Pa- TheGun- pifts in our days have had the impudence to deny, F^der- and to pretend it was an artifice of Cecill's to en- gage fome defperate men into a Plot, which he managed fo that he could difcover it when he pleafed, I will mention what I my felf faw, and had for fome time in my poffeffion. Sir Everard Digby died for being of the Confpiracy : He was

■ the Father of the" famous Sir Kenelm Digby. The family being ruined upon- the death ot Sir Ke- nelm's Son, when the executors were looking out for writings to make out the titles of the eilates they were to fell, they were direfted by an old fer- vant to a cupboard that was very artificially hid,

; in which fome papers lay that fhe had obferved Sir Kenelm. was oft reading. They looking int6 it

' found a velvet bag, within which there werfe two other filk bags : (So carefully v^^ere thofe rel'icks

■ kept :) And there was within thefe a colledion of

all

t4 A. S u M M A R y of Affairs

all the letters that Sir Everard writ during his itti- prifpninent. In thefe he exprefles great trouble^ tecaufe he heard fome of their friends blamed |:l}eir undertaking : He highly magnifies it -, and fays, if he had many lives he wowld willingly have facrificed them ail in carrying it on. In one paper he fays, they had taken that care that there wer6 not above two or three worth faving, to whom they had not given notice to keep out of the way i And in none of thofe papers does he exprefs any fort of remorfe for that, which he had been engaged in, and for wliich he fufFered. King Upon the difcovery of that Plot there was a ge-

James was neral profecutlon of all Papifts fet on foot: But th f - -^^"g James was very uneafy at itj which was jliiits. much encreafed by what Sir Dudly Carlton told him upon his return from Spain, where he had been AmbalTadour v (which I had from the Lord Hollis, who faid to me that Sir Dudly Carlton told it to himfelf, and was much troubled when he faw it had an effe<5t contrary to what he had in- tended.) When he came home, he found the King at Theobald's hunting in a very carelefs and unguarded manner : And upon that^ in order to the putting him on a more careful looking to him- felf, he told the King he muft either give over that way of hunting, or flop another hunting that he was engaged in, which was Prieft hunting : For he had intelligence in Spain that the Priefls were comforting themfelves with this, that if he went on againfl them they would foon get rid of him : Queen Elizabeth was a woman of form, and was always fo well attended, that all their plots againfl her failed, and were never brought to any effedl : But a Prince who was always in woods or . forefls would be eafily overtaken. The King fent - for him in private to enquire more particularly into this : And he faw it had made a great imprefTion on him: But wrought otherwife than he in- tended. For the King, who refolved to gratifie his 4 humour

before the R e s t o r a t i o n. i c

humour in hunting and in a carelefs and irregular way of life, did immediately order all that profe- cution to be let fall. I have the minutes of the Council Books of the year 1 606, which are full of orders to difcharge and tranfport Priefts, fome- times ten in a day. From thence to his dying day he continued always writing and talking againft 4^ Popery, but ading for it. He married his only daughter to a Proteftant Prince, one of the moft zealous and fmcere of them all, the Eleftor Pala- tine ; upon which a great Revolution happened in the affairs of Germany. The eldeft branch of the The Elec- Houfe of Auftria retained fome of the impreffions tor Pala- that their Father Maximilian 11. ftudied to infufe J'.^"^'^'^"' into them, who as he was certa,inly one of the beft * and wifeft Princes of thefe latter ages, fo he was unakerably fixed in his opinion againft perfecution for matters of confcience : His own fentiments were fo very favourable -to the Proteftant dodlrine, that he was thought inwardly theirs. His brother Charles of Grats was on the other hand wholly managed by the Jefuits, and was a zealous patron of theirs, and as zealoufly fupported by them, Rodolph and Matthias reigned one after another, but without ilTue. Their brother Albert was then dying in Flanders : So Spain with the popifh in- tereft joined to advance Ferdinand, the fon of Charles of Grats : And he forced Matthias to re- fign the Crown of Bohemia to him, and got him- felf to be elefted King. But his government became quickly fevere : He refolved to extirpate the Protcf- tants, and began to break thro' the privileges that were fecured to them by the laws of that kingdom. "

This occafioned a general infurredion, which The Af- was followed by an aflembly of the States, who ^^'""^ '*^, together with thofe of Silefia, IVforavia and Lufe- ^°^^"^^'»- tia joined in depofing Ferdinand^ And they offer- ed their Crown firft to the Duke of Saxony who refufed it, and then to the Eletflor Palatine who accepted of it, being encouraged to it by his^'two,

"uncles

\6 A" S t; M M A R Y of Afelrs

iincles Maurice Prince of Orange and the Duke of Boullion. But he did not afk the advice of King James : He only gave him notice of it when he- had accepted the offer. Here was the probableft' occafion that has been offered fince the Reforma- tion for its full eflablifhment.

The Englifh Nation was much inclined to fup- port it : And it was expedted that fo near a con- junftion might have prevailed on the King : But he had an invincible averfion to war -, and was fo poffeffed of the opinion of a divine right in all Kings, that he could not bear that even an eledlive and limited King fhould be called in queflion by his fubjecls : So he would never acknowledge his fon- in-law King, nor give him any alfiftance, for the fupport of his new dignity. And tho' it was alfo reckoned on, that France would enter into any defign that fhould bring down the houfe of Au- ftria, and Spain by confequence, yet even that was diverted by the means of De Luynes j a worth- lefs but abfolute favourite, whom the Archduchefs Ifabella, Princefs of the Spanilh Netherlands ■ gained, to oblige the King * into a neutrality by giving him the richefb^heirefs then in Flanders^ ' the daughter of Peguiney, left to her diipofa-1, ■ whom he married to his brother. Thedifor- Thus poor Frederick was left without any afTift" dersin ance. The jealoufy that the Lutherans had of the Holland, afcendant that the Calvinifts might gain by this accefTion had an unhappy fhare in the coldnefs which all the Princes of ^that confeflion fhewed to- wards him ; tho' Saxony only declared for Ferdi- nand, who likewife engaged the Duke of Bavaria at the head of a catholick league to maintain his interefts- Maurice Prince of Orange had em- broiled Holland by the efpoufing the controverfy about the decrees of God in oppofition to the Ar- minian party, and by ere6ting a new and illegal court by the authority of the States General to It is'plairi here mull be meant b/ Kisg the King of France.

judge

c

before the Restoration, judge of the affairs of the Province of Holland % ' which was plainly contrary to their conftitutioni by which every Province is a Sovereignty within itfelf, not at all fubordinate to the States Genera], who ad: only as Plenipotentiaries of the feveral Provinces to maintain their union and their com* hion concerns. By that affembly Barnevelt was condemned and executed : Grotius and others were condemned to perpetual imprifonment : And an , iaflembly of the minifters of the feveral Provinces met at Dort by the fame authority, and con- demned and deprived die Arminians. Maurice's enemies gave it out that he managed all this on dc- fign to make himfelf mailer of the Provinces, and to put thofe who were like to oppofe him out of the way. But tho' this feem a wild and groundr lefs imagination, and not poITible to be compalled i yet it is certain that he looked on Barnevelt and his party as men who were fo jealous of him and of a military power, that as they had forced the truce with Spain, fo they would be very unwilling to be- gin a new war ; tho' the difputes about Juliers and Cleves had almoft engaged them, and the truce was now near expiring ; at the end of which he hoped, if delivered from the oppofition that he might look for from that party, to begin the war anew. By thefe means^ there was a great fermentation over all the Provinces, fo that Maurice was not then in condition to give the elefted King any conliderable afTiilance -, tho' indeed he needed it much, for his conduft was very weak. He affe6ted the gran- deur of a regal court, and the magnificence of a crowned head too early : And his Queen fet up fome of the gay diverfions that fbe had been accuftomed to in her father's court, fuch as balls and maflcs, v/hich very much difgufted the good Bohemians, who thought that a revolution made on the account of religion ought to have put on a greater appearance of ferioufnefs and fimplicity. Thefe particulars I had from the children of fome who belonged to that court. The eleded King Vol. I. C was

1 S A S u M Jvi A R Y of Affairs

v/as quickly overthrown, and driven, not only out of chore his new dominions, but likewife out of his hereditary countries : He tied to Holland, where he ended his days. 1 will go no farther in a mat- ter fo v/ell known as King James's ill conduft in the whole feries of that war, and that unheard-of practice of fending his only Son thro' France into Spain, of which the relations we have are fo full that I can add nothing to them. Some paf- I will only here tell fome particulars with rela- fages of tion to Germany, that Fabricius, the wifeft divine the Reli- j l^new among them, told me he had from Charles U^"g° Lewis the Eiedor Palatine's own mouth. He Princes, faid, Frederick 11. who firfl reformed the Palati- nate, whofe life is fo curioufly writ by Thomas Hubert of Liege, refolved to iliake off Popery, and to fet up Lutheranifm in his country : But a counfellour of his faid to him, that the Lutherans would always depend chiefly on the Houfe of Sax- cny ', fo it would not become him who was the firft Eleftor to be only the fecond in the party : It was more for his dignity to become a Calviniil : He would be the head of that party : It would give him a great intereft in Switzerland, and make the Huguenots of France and in the Netherlands depend on him,. He w^as by that determined to declare for the Helvetian confefTion. But upon the ruin of his family the Duke of Newburgh had an enterview with the Eleftor of Brandenburgh about their concerns in Juliers and Cleves : And he perfuaded that Eledor to turn Calviniil ; for fince their tamily was fallen, nothing would more contribute to raife the other than the efpoufing that fide, which would naturally come under his pro- teftion : But he added, that for himfelf he had turned Papill, fince his little Principality lay fo near both Auftria and Bavaria. This that Ele6tor told with a fort of pleafure, when he made it ap- pear that other Princes had no. more fenfe of reli- gion than he himfelf had.

3 Other

before the jR-ESTORATiONi 19

Other circLimftances concurred to. make King King James's reign inglorious. The States having bor-- ■^''^J^^^ rowed great fums of money ot Queen Elizabeth, ^itj, rjig they gave her the Brill and Flufhing, with feme cautiona- other places of lefs note, in pawn till the money ry'^ owns. Ihould be repaid. Soon after his coming to the Crown of England he entered into fecret treaties with Spain, in order to the forcing the States to a peace : One article was, that if they were obfti- nate he would deliver thefe places to the Spaniards, "When the truce was made, Barnevelt, tho' he had promoted it, yet knov/ing the fecret article, he faw they were very unfafe while the keys of Holland and Zealand were in the hands of a Prince^ who might perhaps fell them, or make an ill ufe of them : So he perfuaded the States to redeem the mortgage by repaying the money that England had lent, for which thefe places v/ere put into their hands : And he came over himfeif to treat about it. King James, who was profufe upon his favourites and fervanrs, was delighted with the profpedl of fo much money ^ and immediately, without calling a Parliament to advife with them about it, he did yield to the propofition. So the money was paidj and the places were evacuated. But his profufe- nefs drew two other things upon him, which broke the whole authority of the Crown, and the dependence of the Nation upon it. The Crown had a great eftate over all England, which was all let out upon