THE
LIFE AND TIMES
WILLIAM LAUD, D.D.
LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
BY
JOHN PARKER LAWSON, M.A.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR C. J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD,
AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL.
MDCCCXXIX.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY R. GILBERT,
ST. JOHN'S-SQUARE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII,
1633.
PACE
Scottish affairs The Scottish Episcopal Church Its con-
stitutionProved to be the National Church of Scotland
Evasive conduct of the Presbyterians The Scottish
Liturgy Opinions of the Scottish Bishops Conduct
of Laud Defence of his conduct Rapacity of the
Scotch Reforming noblemen The Church-lands The
tithes Political situation of the Scots Visit of Charles
I. to Scotland Laud accompanies that monarch His
reception at Edinburgh Preparations for the Coronation
Palace of Holyrood Laud attends the Coronation
Dissatisfaction of the Scots Character of the Presby-
terian preachers Their disgusts Meeting of the Scot-
tish Parliament Laud's sermon in the Chapel Royal-
Erection of the Bishopric of Edinburgh Account of it
Progress of the King through Scotland Journey of
Laud Preservation of the King He leaves Scotland
His arrival at Greenwich Political affairs of Scotland
Death of Archbishop Abbot His character Removal
of Laud to the Primacy Conduct of the Papists Laud
is offered a Cardinal's Hat His refusal His motives
examined The Church of Rome Its corruptions-
Observations 142
VOL. ii. a
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
1638.
PAGE
The Archbishop's Diary His cognizance of the Isles of
Jersey and Guernsey He publishes the second edition
of his Conference Libellous language of his enemies
The Archbishop converts Chillingworth Notice of him
Vigilance of the Archbishop against Socinianism He
converts John Hales the " Ever Memorable" Notice
of him His noble conduct His interview with Laud
His troubles Notice of his works Restraint of the
p ress Holland The Geneva Bible New England
Intolerant conduct of the Sectaries there Plans of the
Archbishop His visitation of Merton College *266 291
CHAPTER XVIII.
16381639.
The Scottish Covenanters Their practices The Marquis
of Hamilton sent to Scotland His sentiments on the
state of the kingdom Violence of the Covenanters
Arrival of Hamilton His treatment The castle of
Edinburgh seized Remarkable acts of violence Let-
ters of Hamilton to Laud State of Scotland Disorders
in Edinburgh Hamilton opens his commission De-
mands of the CovenantersHamilton returns to Lon-
don Conduct of the Covenanters during his absence
His return Noble conduct of the Glasgow Clergy-
Libels of the Covenanters against the Bishops Remark-
able instance of their profane hypocrisy Concessions
of the King Recantation of a Jesuit The prophetess
CONTENTS. ix
BAGB
of the Covenanters The Glasgow Assembly Account
of its members Their practices Disorders of the As-
sembly Its illegal acts Is dissolved by Hamilton
Continues to sit Treason of the Covenanters Flight
of the Scottish prelates Death of Archbishop Spottis-
woode His character : 291329
CHAPTER XIX.
16391640.
Commencement of the Civil Wars by the Scots Order of
the Privy Council to the Archbishop to raise supplies
The Earl of Traquair sent to Scotland as Commissioner
Libels against Laud His presents to the University
of Oxford His translations of the Liturgy He induces
Bishop Hall to write the treatise " Episcopacy by Divine
Right" Plan of the original MSS. Observations of
the Archbishop Publication of the work Analysis of
it Controversy it occasioned Practices of the Puritans
Anecdote of the Archbishop Meeting of the Par-
liament Its dissolution Indications of the Archbishop's
ruin The Convocation It continues to sit The Ca-'
nons of 1640 Anxiety of the Archbishop Remarks on
the legality of the Convocation Libels against the Arch-
bishop The mob attack Lambeth Palace, and St. Paul's
Their disorders Practices of the Puritans Renewed
indications of his ruin Death of Archbishop Neile -
His character 329373
CHAPTER XX.
16401641.
Meeting of the Long Parliament Proceedings of the mem-
, bers Their practices against the Archbishop Im-
CONTENTS.
PAGE
peachment of Strafford Impeachment and flight of Lord
Keeper Finch and Secretary Wuidebanke Arrest of
Strafford Examination of the Archbishop Deprivation
of the Bishops Debates on the Canons Practices of
the Scottish Presbyterians Impeachment of the Arch-
bishop Speeches of various members of the Commons
Arrest of the Archbishop Remarkable injustice of
his enemies Articles exhibited against the Archbishop
The Primate's reply His defence His committal
to the Tower Practices of the Puritans Their libel-
lous publications Farther injustice of the Archbishop's
enemies Aspect of the times S73 409
CHAPTER XXI.
16411643.
Trial of Strafford His execution Conduct of the Arch-
bishop He resigns the Chancellorship of Oxford
Persecution of the Archbishop by the Commons Hy-
pocrisy of the Sectaries They excite tumults against
the Clergy Misfortunes of the Archbishop He is
insulted in the Tower Chapel Plunder of Lambeth
Palace Injustice of his enemies Motions for his ba-
nishment overruled Orders of the Commons Impru-
dent conduct of the King His mortifications Arrival
of the Scottish army Meeting of the Westminster As-
sembly of Divines Persecutions by the Covenanters-
Natural intolerance of the Presbyterians Their enmity
to toleration Their persecution of the Independents-
Triumph of the Sectaries Their hatred to the fine
arts They profane Cathedrals and Churches Hard-
ships of the Archbishop Libels against him Death
ofHampdenandPym 409452
CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER XXII.
16431644..
PAGE
Conduct of William Prynne Preparations for the Arch-
bishop's trial Preliminary proceedings Flagrant in-
justice of the Archbishop's enemies Commencement of
the trial The Articles of Impeachment Defence of the
Archbishop's conduct Investigation of the Articles
The Archbishop's reply Gross injustice of his enemies
Insolence of his judges General history of the pro-
ceedings The Archbishop is found guilty 452 488
CHAPTER XXIII.
16441645.
Condemnation of the Archbishop by the Commons to die
as a traitor Reluctance of the Peers to sanction the
sentence The pardon of the King disregarded Injus-
tice of the sentence Alteration of the sentence to be-
heading The Archbishop prepares for death His con-
duct on the night before his execution He is led out to
the scaffold His address to the spectators His dying
discourse His prayers on the scaifold His devotion
and magnanimity His conduct on the scaffold Inhu-
man behaviour of his enemies His last prayer His
death Conclusion 488 512
CHAPTER XXIV.
16441645.
Fall of the Church Character of Archbishop Laud His
patronage of great men Remarks on his religious prin-
ciples His burial His last Will Conclusion of the
History 51 2 546
LIFE AND TIMES
OF
WILLIAM LAUD, D.R
CHAPTER XIII.
1633.
Scottish affairs The Scottish Episcopal Church Its constitu-
tion Proved to be the National Church of Scotland Evasive
conduct of the Presbyterians The Scottish Liturgy Opi-
nions of the Scottish Bishops Conduct of Laud Defence of
his conduct Rapacity of the Scotch reforming noblemen
The Church-lands The Tithes Political situation of the
Scots Visit of Charles I. to Scotland Laud accompanies
that Monarch His reception at Edinburgh Preparations for
the coronation Palace of Holyrood Laud attends the coro-
nation Dissatisfaction of the Scots Character of the Pres-
byterian preachers Their disgusts Meeting of the Scottish
Parliament Laud's sermon in the Chapel Royal Erection
of the Bishopric of Edinburgh Account of it Progress of the
King through Scotland Journey of Laud Preservation of
the King He leaves Scotland His arrival at Greenwich
Political affairs of Scotland Death of Archbishop Abbot
His character Removal of Laud to the Primacy Conduct
of the Papists Laud is offered a Cardinal's Hat His refusal
His motives examined The Church of Rome Its corrup-
tions Observations.
THE affairs of Scotland now claim our attention,
and its history from this period is most important.
VOL. II. B
o LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
Since the accession of Charles in 1625, that king-
dom had been in a state of considerable tranquillity,
few events of any importance having occurred, and
few indications being given of that seditious spirit
by which the country was afterwards 'destined to be
agitated. The Episcopal Church, though still the
object of hatred to the Presbyterians, retained its
eminence ; its prelates, at the head of whom was
Archbishop Spottiswoode, the wise and virtuous
metropolitan, were distinguished for their learning,
and they were unpopular only with those nobles
who disliked to be united with ecclesiastics in the
administration of state affairs, because they were
an obstacle to their measures for the attainment of
temporal grandeur ; and with those of the people,
who were led by the Presbyterian preachers, who still
clamoured against the Five Articles of Perth, studi-
ously cherishing the popular prejudice against the
Bishops, charging them with Popery, Arminianism,
and neglect of the Sabbath. Being devoted, more-
over, to the Church of England^ from whom the
Scottish Episcopal clergy received their ordination,
they consequently were attached to the Liturgy
and ritual of that Church, which attachment, in
the eyes of the zealots for Presbytery, was as cri-
minal as a regard for all the ceremonies of the
Popish superstition \
With the exception of the Five Articles of Perth,
the King's approval of them, and of the ecclesiasti-
1 Bishop Burner's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 29.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 3
cal government then established 1 , the Church of
Scotland, though essentially as Episcopal in its con-
stitution as that of England, had been hitherto
virtually Presbyterian in its public worship 2 . The
King's continental affairs had forced him to postpone
the consideration of a Liturgy, and his parliamen-
tary disputes up to this period had still farther
tended to make him overlook the northern Church.
The Scottish clergy, consequently, imitated the
Presbyterians in extemporary prayers and preach-
ing, and it is not improbable that the enthusiasm of
the people would have gradually subsided, and they
would have paid sufficient deference to the Church,
had they not been excited by Presbyterian fanatics,
who, being deprived of arbitrary power in their
General Assemblies, were engaged in practising upon
them, and in inflaming their resentment 3 . Nay, even
during the establishment of the Episcopal Church,
the clergy had their Presbyteries, Synods, and Ge-
neral Assemblies, in which, however, instead of the
present mode of pro tempore election, the Bishop
of the diocese, or the Archbishop of the province,
was perpetual moderator. In almost every other
respect, with the same confession of faith -as the
standard both of Episcopacy and Presbyterianism,
until that put forth by the Westminster Assembly,
which is now the formulary of the legal (Presbyte-
1 Life of Archbishop Spottiswoode, apud Wodrow MSS.
vol. iii. p. 101, 102. Row's MS. Hist. p. 21.
3 Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.
3 .Skinner's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. ii.
B 2
4 LIFE AND TIMES [163S.
rian) Church of Scotland, the ecclesiastical govern-
ment was that against which no moderate Presby-
u-riun could have urged objections.
A liturgy/is no essential requisite of Episcopacy,
for the Genevans, since Calvin's time, and the
Dutch at this day, though not Episcopalians, have
a prescribed form of worship. But the necessity
of a liturgy is plain and obvious, and besides,
it is sanctioned by the Church of the Jews, by
the practice of our divine Saviour and his Apos-
tles, by the general consent of the primitive times,
and of the Church in all ages. Wanting a liturgy,
therefore, the Church of Scotland was radically de-
fective. But there are various historical facts to be
noted on this subject. Before the Reformation was
established in Scotland in 1560, it was opposed by
Mary of Lorraine, the widow of James V., then
Queen Dowager and Regent. Devotedly attached
to the Romish Church, she sought the destruction
of the Scottish Reformers, whose turbulence and
insolence had frequently mortified her ; and her con-
nexion with France procured for her an army from
that country, to aid her in subduing the refractory
heretics. The Scots, however, at all times jealous
of foreign troops, became the more resolute in
their opposition ; but the Dowager was too power-
ful for them without the aid of England. They
accordingly applied to Elizabeth, to assist them in
expelling the French from their country, and for
this service, among other things, they obliged them-
selves, by a solemn subscription, to adopt the liturgy,
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 5
ritual, and constitution of the Church of England
in the Scottish Reformed Church l .
This is a remarkable fact, which has been fre-
quently overlooked, because by it we can judge how
far the opposition of the Presbyterians to the
Church was justifiable. For, if it be admitted or
held forth by them, that forms are not essential to
salvation, then it must follow that their non-adhe-
rence to this solemn subscription involved them in
rebellion, without any farther proof, from the day
that Elizabeth granted them assistance, when they
failed to perform their engagements. In Knox's
time, this resolution was in part adopted, for we
find the Reformers enacting, that in all the parishes
of the kingdom, the Common Prayer and Lessons
should be read weekly on Sundays and other Festi-
vals 2 . But when the Presbyterians prevailed during
James' minority, the present fashion of extempo-
rary prayers, aided by the inflammatory conduct of
Andrew Melville, brought that liturgy into disre-
pute. After the re-establishment of the Episcopal
Church, James took into his consideration the res-
toration of the Book of Common Prayer, but he
died before his measures were in a condition to be
carried into effect. Charles, however, resolved to
1 Buchanan, who bore a hearty hatred to the whole Episco-
pal order, does not disguise the fact. " Religionis cultui, et
ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserunt." Hist. Rer.
Scot. lib. xix. edit. 1582. Edin. folio.
2 Bishop Keith's History of the Church and State of Scot-
land, folio, p. C6.
6 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
pursue Ins father's plans with respect to Scotland,
and he accordingly instructed the Scottish bishops
to prepare a liturgy. Dr. John Maxwell, afterwards
bishop of Ross, a privy councillor of Scotland, and
extraordinary Lord of Session, and successively
Bishop of Killala and Archbishop of Tuam \ was
sent to London in 1629, to have an audience of the
King on this subject. Charles referred him to Laud,
with a message to that prelate, that it was the King's
pleasure that Bishop Laud should receive instruc-
tions from some bishops of the Church of Scotland
concerning a public liturgy for that Church, and
that Dr. Maxwell was employed in this business by
Dr. John Spottiswoode, the primate of St. Andrew's,
and other members of the Episcopal College. Laud
informed Dr. Maxwell, that if the King was resolved
to have a liturgy in the Scottish Church, different
from what that Church already possessed, it would
be well to adopt that of the Church of England
without any variation, that the service of the two
Churches might be uniform ; and he added, that
he thought it would tend greatly to the welfare of
the state, and the advancement of religion. Dr.
Maxwell, however, replied, that his opinion was
very different, and that he spoke the sentiments of
all the Bishops in Scotland when he said, that the
Scots would be better pleased with a liturgy of their
own, approximating, nevertheless, as nearly as pos-
1 Bishop Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, Edin. 1755,
4to. p. 119, 120.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 7
sible to the English. The matter was then reported
to the King, who inclined to the introduction of the
English Service Book ; while the Scots, on the
other hand, alleged, that a liturgy drawn up 'by
their own clergy would be more acceptable to the
Scots, who were extremely jealous of the indepen-
dence of their Church, and, were the English liturgy
adopted, would be inclined to believe that the Scot-
tish Church was reduced to a dependence on that
of England. Thus the matter rested till the pre-
sent year, 1633. The Scottish bishops were averse
to adopt the English Liturgy, though now it is uni-
versally adopted in the Scottish Episcopal Church
with the exception of a few congregations north of
the Tay, by whom the ancient Scottish Communion
Office is still retained l .
I am the more particular on this subject, because
it was one of the charges brought against Laud,
that he composed the Scottish liturgy, that it was
through his influence it was imposed on the people ;
that he was the " prime cause on earth" of the
" innovations in religion" introduced into Scotland :
" First, some particular alterations in matters of
religion pressed upon the Scots without order, and
1 Scottish Episcopal Magazine, vol. iii. p. 488. Laud's Trou-
bles and Trials, p. 1-68, 169. Heylin, p. 222. Collier, vol. ii.
p. 755. King Charles' Declaration, &c. London, 1639, folio,
p. 16. Wodrow MSS. folio, apud Life of Spottiswoode, p. 165.
Crawford's Scottish Officers of the State, p. 174, 175. Cla-
rendon's Hist. vol. i. p. 63, 64. Burnet's Memoirs of the
Dukes of Hamilton, p. 30.
8 LIFE AND TIMES [16SS.
against law, contrary to the form established in their
Kirk. Secondly, a new book of canons eccle-
siastical. Thirdly, a Liturgy, or Book of Com-
mon Prayer, which did also carry in it many dan-
gerous errors in matters of doctrine V This charge
was made by Prynne and other enthusiasts, and is
still held forth by writers of a certain class, whereas
no charge is more fallacious and unfounded : though,
had Laud been the framer of the Scottish Liturgy,
it would have been an additional monument of his
piety, for, instead of containing " dangerous errors
in matters of doctrine," it has been allowed, by some
of the greatest divines of the English Church who
have filled the Episcopal chair, to be a master-piece
of excellence ; and, without disparaging the admi-
rable service of their own Church, some of them
have declared that, had they their choice, they
would make use of the Scottish Episcopal Commu-
nion Office in preference to any other 3 . So far
from Laud having had any hand in framing the
Scottish liturgy, the Bishops at last prevailed upon
the King to have the task of compiling it themselves,
and " carried it," says Laud, " against me, notwith-
standing all I could say or do to the contrary"
The King commanded him to give his assistance,
which he did with very great reluctance ; but no
alteration did he make of his own accord, and no sug-
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 166. Prynne, Hidden Works of
Darkness, &c. p. 155, &c.
3 Dr. Russell's edition of Bishop Keith's Catalogue, 8vo.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 9
gestion did he offer, without consulting the King, or
writing his remarks in his Sovereign's presence l .
I leave, however, this subject till the events of the
year 1637, a year famous for Scottish fanaticism and
turbulence, are introduced. The only transaction
worthy of notice at present is the revocation of the
tithes, a measure strictly just, and necessary for the
support of the Church. At the Reformation, no
support had been made for the clergy until they re-
ceived a grant of the third of all the Popish bene-
fices in the kingdom, and we find Knox more than
once denouncing the rapacity of the nobles, who
had seized upon all the church lands, and who
termed the remonstrances of the Reformed preachers
" dreams of devout imaginations V Only a mise-
rable pittance was afforded for the maintenance of
the clergy, which in many cases was hardly paid.
The object of the turbulent nobles of Scotland was
to enrich themselves by appropriating the property
of the Church, to which they had not the slightest
claim. At the Reformation, also, many of the
abbeys had been erected into temporal lordships,
their superiors thus securing the property by com-
plying with the disposition of the times ; and such
lands as did revert to the crown were bestowed by
James on his favourites with no sparing hand. The
fanaticism of the Presbyterians, on the other hand,
increased the rapacity of the nobles, and the
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 168.
2 Knox's Historic of the Scottish Reformatioun, p. 434, fol.
London edit. 1644.
10 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
preachers were used only as instruments to further
their own aggrandizement. Every thing, in short,
conspired to depress the Scottish Church, to deprive
it of its temporalities, to which, as established on.
the ruins of Popery, it was justly entitled ; and
even the regulations which James had made during
his visit to Scotland, tended neither to relieve the
poverty of the clergy, nor to diminish their depen-
dence ! .
Thus there was a Protestant Church in Scotland
unable to support the clergy, who were conse-
quently poor, depressed, and the vassals, if I may
so speak, of those rapacious men who had enriched
themselves and their families by taking advantage
of the turbulence of the first Reformers. But,
though deprived of their just revenues, the Scottish
prelates still kept their eyes on their ancient patri-
mony. The Episcopal College met in 1627, for
the specific purpose of forwarding an application to
the King ; and, by the royal assistance, they anti-
cipated a recovery of their tithes. They had begun
to discourse in public on the unjust detention of their
inheritance; and, finally, they had been entrusted
with the duty of estimating the tithes impropriated
in the different parishes. From these impropria-
tions many disadvantages had resulted to the com-
munity. The tithes were frequently possessed by
1 As an instance of the conduct of the Scottish nobles, when
the avaricious Regent Morton presented John Douglas to the
Archiepiscopal See of St. Andrew's, he allowed him only 100/.
per annum, and appropriated the revenues to his own use.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 11
persons who had not the slightest claim to them, or
to the estate out of which they were paid ; and as
the Scottish law prohibited the removal of the
crops from the fields by the proprietors till the
tithes had been carried away by the titulars, the
grain, which might have been safely deposited in
the store-houses, was not unfrequently destroyed,
in consequence of neglecting to remove it when the
weather was favourable. The titulars of the tithes,
too, instead of paying the clergy, literally did that
which was right in their own eyes ; they gave them
whatever sum they chose, and without regard to
regularity of payment. Thus they were kept con-
tinually poor, and in many cases unable to discharge
their sacred duties.
The revocation of the tithes, and the restitution
of the patrimony of the Church, were, as might
have been expected, by no means agreeable to the
Scottish nobles. Although in almost every case
they received a fair valuation, yet they perceived
that their influence was diminished, and transferred
to a body who would prove powerful opponents to
their own selfish purposes. The regulations sub-
mitted by the King, on the ecclesiastical property,
although just, and tending to the advancement of
the public prosperity, irritated those who had long
enjoyed the church lands, and who imagined that
the King's intention was to wrest them from the
possessors, and bestow them on their rightful
owners. Hence, from these and other causes, on
which it is needless here to enlarge, arose mutual
12 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
jealousies between the nobles and the Church, which
in the issue were attended with injurious conse-
quences, and enabled the enthusiastic faction which
opposed Episcopacy to preserve its influence.
During those domestic transactions, the Scots
had acquired on the Continent an unparalleled mili-
tary reputation, which was farther enhanced by the
popular cause in which they were engaged. From
theit enterprising or vagrant disposition, they had
sought that distinction among foreigners which
they could not obtain in their own country. A re-
giment raised by the Highland chieftain, Mackay,
Lord Reay, for the service of the King of Denmark,
had been honourably discharged at the conclusion
of two unsuccessful campaigns against the Imperial
forces. The renowned Gustavus Adolphus at that
time attracted the attention of all Europe ; and the
regiment, instead of being dispersed, enlisted under
the banners of that invincible monarch. His bounty
had been experienced by several Scottish officers ;
others of their countrymen hastened to acquire
glory under a prince who led them to victory ; and
thus, at length, several regiments were completed,
which were all united as a national brigade. The
Swedish monarch invaded Germany, and Charles,
who was still anxious to restore the Palatinate, en-
gaged to aid him with 6000 men. This army was
raised by the Marquis of Hamilton, and the Scots
willingly flocked to the standard of the chief of that
illustrious House. A succession of victories attended
the arms of the Scots in the service of Gustavus,
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 13
who fell, however, in battle before Lutzen, in 1632,
while his troops were gaining an immortal victory.
Before this last battle Hamilton had returned to
England, but the Scottish officers and soldiers had
acquired such a knowledge of military tactics by
their foreign service, and, withal, most extravagant
notions concerning civil and religious liberty, tinc-
tured, moreover, with the enthusiasm of the times,
as made them formidable enemies when they turned
their arms against their sovereign, and began an
unnatural war with sectarian violence.
Such was the situation of the Scots, when
Charles, having procured tranquillity by the disso-
lution of his turbulent Parliaments, prepared to
visit his native kingdom, and there to receive the
Scottish crown by a public inauguration. Though
this journey proved the prelude to his future mis-
fortunes, he had many inducements to undertake
it. His presence in Scotland had been long ex-
pected, it was necessary for him to be crowned in
a kingdom which was yet independent ; and his
delays had been interpreted to his disadvantage by
some, who gave out, that if he did not think the
Scottish crown worthy of a journey into the king-
dom, there might be some other way for its dis-
posal l . The religious distractions, too, powerfully
influenced the King, who wisely reflected, that, if his
presence could allay those fermentations, and pro-
mote an harmonious uniformity in both Churches,
1 Archdeacon Echard's History, vol. i. p. 101, 102.
u LIFE AND TIMES [1683.
the national troubles would subside, and the two
kingdoms would become firmly consolidated l . Not
that he was inclined to yield to the Presbyterian
faction, the leaders of which were too deeply in-
fected with enthusiasm, to behold any thing which
did not favour their own extravagance ; but he
naturally thought, that he might be enabled to
adopt those measures in person, which would at
least enjoin peace and obedience on those discon-
tented men. On the 13th of May, 1633, the
King left London for Scotland, accompanied by
Laud, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earls of Nor-
thumberland, Arundel, Pembroke, Southampton,
Holland, and other distinguished persons. Having
advanced by slow and easy journeys, on the 24th
he made a magnificent entrance into the ancient
archiepiscopal city of York, and on the Scottish
border he was met by a splendid cavalcade, who
attended him in his farther progress. On the 10th
of June, Charles entered Edinburgh, the metro-
polis of the kingdom, by the gate called the West
Port. At this gate a speech was addressed to him,
flattering and complimentary, from a temporary
theatre, and the keys of the city were presented to
him by the Provost. In his progress through the
city towards the palace, at that part of the High-
street named the Lucltenbooths, the monarch was
accosted by another orator, who, with a due pro-
fusion of Scottish vanity, edified him by tracing
1 Collier, vol. ii. p. 754.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 15
his genealogy from his reputed ancestor Fergus I.
At the Cross, which is (or was) a few yards distant,
an image of Bacchus was seen, discharging, ex ore,
the copious wine. Farther down the street, where
stands the Tron Church, they had erected a Par-
nassus, on which the Nine Muses appeared at the
King's approach, and at the Nether-Bow Gate
was an imitation of the planetary system. Mean-
while the bells, which were not then, and are not
to this day, remarkable for their agreeable har-
mony, were rung, cannon discharged, and musical
instruments sounded in every street. Poets and
poetasters equally exercised their wits in invoking
the propitious Muse 1 . The extraordinary pomp
and magnificence, the illustrious retinue which ac-
companied the monarch, the presence of royalty,
of which the Scots had been long deprived, and
a Prince, too, the representative of their own
native monarchs, to whose House the loyal parties of
them were enthusiastically attached, once more in
that ancient city, where his ancestors for three cen-
turies had swayed the sceptre, and resided as citi-
zens in the venerable halls of Holyrood, these con-
siderations affected the Scots; they forgot for the
moment their religious distractions, when they gazed
on the most virtuous prince of the House of
Stuart. Loud acclamations were raised by the mul-
titudes : the civic authorities, attended by two hun-
dred and sixty armed youths, dressed in doublets
1 Sir James Balfour's Annals, vol. i. edited by Mr. J. Haig of
the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh.
7
,,; LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
of white satin, and black velvet breeches, received
the King. " Through streets hung with carpets and
tapestry, lined with the trained bands of the city,
and decorated with pompous, expensive, and absurd
pageantry, tliey conducted him to the palace 1 ."
Addresses, speeches, and every expression of
profound respect, were proffered to the King 2 : it
seemed, in short, as if a temporary cessation had
been given to the turbulence of the Scots ; their
propensity to which, and the troubles they have
occasioned, have caused their nation, in those days,
to be most appropriately designated, " the empire
of fanaticism and hypocrisy, of tyranny and re-
bellion 3 ."
On the 15th of June, a court was held at Holy-
rood House, and Laud was sworn a Privy Coun-
sellor of Scotland on that occasion. On the 18th,
the ceremony of the coronation took place. The
chapel-royal of Holyrood House, founded by David
I. surnamed the Saint, was the place where the
King was inaugurated. A splendid procession from
the Castle, which is more than a mile distant from
the palace, was exhibited ; the regalia of Scotland
were removed from that fortress of Pictish anti-
1 Arnot's History of Edinburgh, 4to. Edinburgh, 1779, p.
103. The King's entry cost the city 41,459/. 7s. Scots, or
about 3500 J. sterling. Register of the Town Council, vol. xiv.
p. 329.
3 EISOAIA Edinensium in Caroli Regis, Musarum Tutani,
Ingressu in Scotiam. Edin. Excud. Haeredes Andreac Hart.
1C33.
3 Arnot's History of Edinburgh, 4to. p. 104.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 17
quity, carried, in splendid cavalcade, by the Mar-
quis of Hamilton, an office which still belongs to
that nobleman, as Premier Duke in Scotland, while
the great officers of state followed in the train.
Never, since the days of Mary, had such an illus-
trious retinue assembled in the chapel-royal, that
venerable structure, which was destined to be dila-
pidated by the sacrilegious hands of Presbyterians.
The sermon was preached by Dr. David Lindsay,
Bishop of Brechin, from the passage, " And all the
people said, God save King Solomon." The vir-
tuous Archbishop Spottiswoode of St. Andrew's,
metropolitan and primate, performed the ceremony
of the coronation, which was concluded by the most
extravagant demonstrations of public joy from the
assembled spectators l .
An incident occurred, however, during this cere-
mony, which, being connected with Laud, must not
be omitted. Dr. Patrick Lindsay, Archbishop of
Glasgow, presented himself at the inauguration
without those vestments worn by the bishops, and
Laud, it is said, with indecent violence thrust him
from the left hand of the King, and made his place
to be taken by Dr. Maxwell, Bishop of Ross 2 . But,
it is to be remarked, that what Laud's enemies term
an- indecent violence, was nothing more than a mere
1 Laud's Diary, p. 48. Echard, vol. i. p. 104. Heylin,
p. 226.
2 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 182. W. Spalding's History of Scot-
tish Troubles, 12mo. vol. i. p. 23. Frankland's Annals, Lond.
1681.
VOL. II. C
18 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
hint to the Archbishop ; and it need hardly be observ-
ed, that Lindsay's mingling with the attendants, and
standing near the King's person, without his canoni-
cals, amounted almost to a positive insult. If he hesi-
tated to appear in the ecclesiastical habit, he ought
to have absented himself altogether, and not to
have given occasion for dispute by visionary and un-
tenable scruples. Laud only wished to preserve that
order which was indispensable on the important
occasion, and it may be assumed that there was as
much attention to form in Lindsay's scruples, as if he
had appeared splendidly arrayed. Yet, with all his
moderation, and Archbishop Lindsay was unques-
tionably a moderate prelate, it did not save him
from being excommunicated in 1638, by the Pres-
byterian Assembly, and, like the rest of his bre-
thren, deprived of his See ! .
The pageantry and the splendor of this royal
visit had led the nobility into expences, which, after
the departure of the King, only increased their
opposition. It involved them in pecuniary diffi-
culties, and fostered their discontentment, which,
not long after, broke out with an overwhelming
violence 2 . But the spirit of opposition was chiefly
encouraged by the religious zealots. The English
Liturgy was read at divine service in the chapel-
K< ith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops, p. 157.
9 Clarendon's History, vol. i. p. 79. Rushworth, vol. ii. p.
181, 18i>. Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 18. Burnet's History
of his own Times, vol. i. p. 25. Echard, vol. i. p. 104.
Wodrow MSS. vol. iii. ut sup. p. 13.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 19
royal, and it gave great offence to the people. Be-
lieving that nothing was acceptable to the Deity,
save long and extemporaneous effusions,, they
viewed the public worship of the Church of Eng-
land as little better than idolatry. They placed it
on the same level with the Popish Missal the office
of the Holy Communion was to them another form
of the Mass. And they beheld with regret that
Presbytery was treated with contempt, and that its
adherents were studiously neglected.
This dissatisfaction was especially cherished by
the preachers, whose intolerance had been kept in
check since the re-establishment of the Church, and
the ratification of the Perth Articles. Their own
conduct, indeed, had made them the merited ob-
jects of suspicion ; nor will the candid mind, which
studiously and impartially weighs the subject, won-
der that the King should bp determined to restrain
the polity of Geneva. It must be recollected,
that in arrogant pretensions to divine institution
and assumption of plenary power, the Presbyte-
rianism of Scotland did not yield, in the seventeenth
century, to the Papacy of Rome. If the Pope
claimed a spiritual supremacy over every prince in
religion, the Presbyterians stoutly disclaimed any
dependence upon them. If, during the tyranny of
the Romish Church, it was reckoned a damnable
crime to arraign a churchman before a legal tri-
bunal ; the Presbyterian also asserted that, in reli-
gion, he was amenable only to the Presbytery :
nay, if even treason, or impiety, in the most daring
c 2
. )() LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
forms should be uttered in the pulpit, the King and
Council had no power to interfere, but must reserve
it for the cognizance of the spiritual court ; and, it
is well known, that the Scottish preachers of the
seventeenth century, when in the zenith of their
power, have presumed not only to repeal acts of
Parliament, but to declare that they were an inde-
pendent body, and, as such, held meetings, and
passed acts, without the consent, and often in defi-
ance of, the royal authority. Thus, there was not
only an imperium in imperio, but a power erected
in the state more arrogant and intolerable than
any Romish tribunal. They were, in reality, inqui-
sitors, and they had every thing connected with
Popery but the name.
This, however, was not all. The most eminent
Presbyterian preachers, or rather the most sedi-
tious, (for, in the days of Charles, the words were
synonymous,) were imitated by the inferior grade,
whose poverty precluded them from enjoyments,
and whose moroseness rendered their conduct more
intolerable. Without opulence and learning, they
indulged in the most refined pride and austerity.
With them the luxuries of life were criminal, its
comforts contemptible ; unrestrained by religious
forms, and abhorring every appearance of external
splendor, they .acquired a reputation for sanctity
among the vulgar, which at once inflamed their
enthusiasm. They inculcated the radical principles
of supererogation, by teaching their adherents that
it was highly meritorious to deny themselves even
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 21
innocent gratifications. " They considered," says a
Scottish writer " the deepest guilt, or the highest
exertions of piety, to consist in matters to the last
degree trifling or absurd. Their divines gave scope
to their imagination, in directing those ideal in-
stances of godliness or iniquity. The second and
the fourth commandments were the favourite topics
of their declamation. They could perceive idolatry
in the disposition of a lady's head-dress *, or the
adjusting of her clothes, and multiply, to an incon-
ceivable extent, the variety of transgressions of the
Decalogue. The strict observance of the Sabbath
they inculcated in its most gloomy austerity. To
go on that day to the threshold, or to walk through
one's own house, if with a view to any worldly pur-
pose, or even idly, was held a deeper crime than
deliberate murder."
Under the control of such political enthusiasts
for the Presbyterian preachers were deep politicians
it is not surprising that the votaries of Calvinism
should have relapsed into their wonted fanatical
moroseness, when the novelty of the royal visit
subsided. Already offended at the use of the Eng-
lish Liturgy, another circumstance inflamed their
passions to a greater degree. The Magistrates of
Edinburgh gave an entertainment to the King,
1 James Durham on the Ten Commandments, p. 251, &c. In
treating of the second commandment, that enthusiast defines the
different modes of sinning against it, which, with his arguments
and numerical divisions and subdivisions, amount to upwards
of seven hundred and fifty I
.j.j LIFE AND TIMES [1683.
which, happening to be on a Sunday, as the most
advantageous day before the King's departure, was
prolonged during the afternoon. This entertain-
ment was he^d in the Parliament House, and it
prevented the afternoon service in the neighbouring
Church of St. Giles. Thus disappointed in not
hearing some favourite orator declaim against the
court and the Episcopal Church, their resentment
knew no bounds ; they cherished their disgusts, and
brooded over revenge.
Two days after the coronation, the Parliament
assembled, and Archbishop Spottiswoode preached
the opening sermon. At first, the presence of
royalty imposed submission, and the members were
disposed to be harmonious. Although the Parlia-
ment sat only a few days, no less than thirty-two
acts were passed. The supplies were liberal; a
tax of 400, OOO/. Scots, being granted on land for
six years. The King's revocation and restitution
of the church lands received its sanction, and, not
without some difficulty, the Episcopal Church was
finally established. An act was also passed, though
it met with considerable opposition, regulating the
ecclesiastical habit. These two last acts inflamed
the resentment of the Presbyterian party, and it is
asserted that the King shewed them a list of the
whole assembly, saying, " Gentlemen, I have all
your names here, and I well know who will do me
service, and who will not, this day." Thirteen
tablemen and as many burgesses expressed their
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 23
dissent. On the 28th of June the Parliament was
dissolved, having sat only eight days.
Laud's attendance on the King had excited the
suspicions and the jealousies of the Presbyterians.
As they were no strangers to his character, and
knew well his opposition to the Calvinistic notions,
they were convinced that their favourite projects
were hopeless while he preserved his influence.
They were more on their guard, and beheld him
with greater enmity, from his performing divine
service. On the 30th of June, Laud preached
before the King, in the chapel-royal at Holyrood
House, " which," says Lord Clarendon, " scarce any
Englishman had done before him V He discoursed
chiefly on the utility of conformity, and reverence
for the institutions of the Church. He was heard
throughout by a most crowded audience with great
attention and applause 2 , although the Presbyterians
have foolishly endeavoured to deny that fact, by
asserting that the audience consisted chiefly of cour-
tiers, because the prejudices of the people against
the liturgy were too strong to induce them to at-
tend 3 . But the applause of courtiers was no source
of gratification to Laud, and, therefore, the assertion
of Dr. Cook, in his History of the Church of Scot-
land, that " Laud was so much gratified by this ap-
1 Lord Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, 4to. vol. i. part 1.
Oxford. 1816. p. 127. Diary, p. 48. Echard, vol. i. p. 105.
2 Clarendon, utsup. p. 127, 128.
3 Dr. George Cook's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii.
p. 342, 343.
o, LIFE AND TIMES I.163J
,,lause, that he lost no time in urging those changes
which it was one design of the King's visit to Scot-
land to hasten or to accomplish," is completely at
variance with his previous conjecture, that "his
audience probably consisted chiefly of courtiers 1 ."
The remarks of the noble historian seem to be de-
cisive on this subject, and to refute the Presbyterian
evidence, which abounds so much with the spirit of
party. " Many were then and still are of opinion,
that if the King had then proposed the liturgy of
the Church of England to have been received and
practised by that nation, it would have been sub-
mitted to without opposition ; but, upon mature
consideration, the King concluded that it was not a
good season to promote that business V
But the Presbyterians were more exasperated at
the erection of Edinburgh into an Episcopal See,
which was done at this time. Hitherto, as the noble
historian remarks, " Edinburgh, though the metro-
polis of the kingdom, and the chief seat of the King's
own residence, and the place where the council of
state and the courts of justice still remained, was
but a borough town within the diocese of the Arch-
bishop of St. Andrew's, and governed in all church
affairs by the preachers of the town ; who, being
chosen by the citizens from the time of Knox, had
been the most turbulent and seditious ministers that
could be found in the kingdom." The benefices of
1 Dr. Cook's Hist, ut sup.
* Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. i. part 1.
p. 128.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 2.5
Edinburgh were reckoned the best in the Church ;
and the most eminent, or rather the most seditious,
ministers were certain to be found there, as is
proved from their fanatical and treasonable conduct
during the minority of James, and before his acces-
sion to the English crown 1 . The jurisdiction of
the Archbishop of St. Andrew's was most extensive.
Besides the boundaries north of the Forth, it em-
braced the greater part of the southern counties,
and extended to the English border. In Popish
times, the government of those parts of this exten-
sive diocese south of that great estuary, was en-
trusted by the primate to two dignitaries, termed
the Officials of Lothian and Teviotdale ; after the
fall of the superstition, they were managed by simi-
lar individuals appointed by the primates 2 . Edin-
burgh, however, was solely under the control of the
preachers ; elected by the people, they frequently
dictated to the civic authorities, and it was dange-
rous to oppose them. To suppress this insolence,
and to ease the primate in his laborious duties,
Charles left behind him a monument of his piety by
erecting this necessary bishopric.
Nor was Archbishop Spottiswoode less reluctant
to forward the King's intentions. Although his
revenues suffered materially from this erection, yet
the pious primate was willing to resign this part of
1 Spottiswoode, p. 320. 321. 324. 330, 334. Dr. Robertson's
Hist. vol. ii. p. 95. Scott's Hist, of Scotland, folio, p. 494, 495-
Law's Memorials, 4to. Edin. 1817.
2 There were eight Deans belonging to the diocese of St. An-
drew's, and nine to that of Glasgow.
. jr> LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
his power and income. The new diocese extended
from the Frith of Forth to the neutral town of
Berwick, bounded by the sea on one side, and
on the other by the bishopric of Galloway, and
comprehended the three counties of West, East,
and Mid-Lothian. And that the Bishop might
have a suitable revenue, the King purchased part
of the estates which had belonged to the priory
of St. Andrew's from the Duke of Lennox, that
nobleman disposing of them at a more moderate
price to further the King's piety. The venerable
edifice of St. Giles, founded before the year 854 l ,
and in more early times merely a parish church, of
which first the Bishop of Lindisferne, or Holy Island,
in Northumberland, then the Abbot and Canons of
Dunfermline, and, finally, the magistracy of Edin-
burgh, were successively patrons, was constituted
the cathedral 2 , and Dr. William Forbes, a " very
1 Simeon Dunelmensis de Gestis Aug. ad An. Dom. 854.
* " Et ad hunc effectum ereximus, tenoreque praesentis
chartae nostrae erigimus Ecclesiam Sancti JSgidii (lie Saint Giles'
Kirk} in Ecclesiam cathedralem : ac ordinamus eandem fore ca-
thedralem ecclesiam dicti nostri erecti Episcopatus ac damus
et concedimus eidem omnes libertates, privilegia, et praeroga-
tivas cathedrali ecclesiae incumbere." Charter of Erection, apud
Bishop Keith's Catalogue, p. 30. This edifice, which at pre-
sent is divided into four parish churches, is a splendid Gothic
building. Its length from east to west, outside the walls, is 206
feet; its breadth, at the west-end, is 110 feet, in the middle
129 feet, but at the east only 76 feet. It is adorned with a
lofty square tower, which is elevated to the height of 161 feet,
beautifully ornamented, and at the top, by four arches, inter-
secting each other, resembles an imperial crown.
1633,] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 27
eminent scholar," says the noble historian, " of a
good family in the kingdom, who had been educated
in the University of Cambridge, was nominated the
first Bishop in this his new city." A dean was also
chosen, " of good fame and learning," and other
persons appointed as the canons or prebends of the
new cathedral, with a proper maintenance for each
from the revenues of the see. And this the King
did, "hoping the better to prepare the people of the
place, who were most numerous and richest of the
kingdom, to have a due reverence to order and go-
vernment, and at least to discountenance, if not
suppress, the factious spirit of Presbytery which had
so long ruled there V* But " so unfortunate," re-
marks Heylin, " was his Majesty with that stubborn
nation, that this was also looked upon as a general
grievance, and must be thought to aim at no other
end than tyranny and Popery, and what else they
pleased 2 ."
These and other acts of the King, especially the
preferment of Archbishop Spottiswoode to the office
of Lord Chancellor, and some other prelates as Lords
of the Privy Council, irritated the Scots, and, in par-
ticular, the Presbyterian faction. Though perhaps
unseasonable promotions, they were nevertheless
in one view judicious. I have already observed
1 Lord Clarendon's History, vol. i. part i. p. 131, 132.
3 Heylin, p. 227. Wodrow MSS. p. 132135. Bishop
Robert Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops, p. 2830.
Echard, vol. i. p. 105. Bishop Burnet's History of his Own
Times, vol. i. p. 27. Neal'sHistory of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 241.
o 8 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
that there had been hitherto little more than the
name of Episcopacy in Scotland ; and we have the
authority of the noble historian, among numerous
others, for the fact. They had no power to reform
their own cathedrals ; they rarely appeared in the
episcopal habit, lest they should inflame the fanati-
cism of the zealots, and, in point of jurisdiction, they
were frequently vanquished by the General Assem-
bly. These disadvantages were improved, in the
meanwhile, by the Calvinistic preachers, who were
strengthening themselves, and extending their in-
fluence. It was to counteract their practices that
Charles adopted these measures ; and we must judge
of the motives, in the first instance, before we dis-
cuss the unhappy effects.
After disposing of honours with no sparing hand,
granting no fewer than twenty new patents for no-
bility, and erecting several towns into royal bo-
roughs, the King undertook a journey through
various counties. From Edinburgh he proceeded
to Linlithgow, and after a short residence in the
magnificent palace there, now a melancholy ruin,
where his unfortunate grandmother, Mary, was
born, the heiress of the misfortunes of her ancestors,
he visited Dunfermline, where he himself was born,
where was then a royal palace, and sacred as being
the burial place of Malcolm III. and his Queen, the
pious Margaret, but still more sacred for containing
the sepulchre of the heroic Robert Bruce. From
that town he proceeded through Fife to Falkland,
\\hcru is the magnificent and stately palace, the
7
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 29
most modern of the Scottish royal residences, and
from Falkland to Perth, a city famous in Scottish
story. At Dupplin Castle, the splendid mansion of
the Earl of Kinnoull, Charles and his retinue were
sumptuously entertained by that nobleman, and
thence he returned to Falkland. Laud accompanied
Charles in these journies, occasionally visiting, how-
ever, some of the neighbouring towns. On July 1,
we find the prelate at Burntisland, in Fife, and on
the 2d at St. Andrew's, the archiepiscopal residence
of the primate. There the monuments of reforming
fanaticism, effected by Knox, met his eye, in the
sacrilegious demolition of the venerable cathedral.
On the 3d, he crossed the Tay to Dundee, and on
the following day he returned to Falkland, and
Joined the King. Accompanying the monarch to
Perth on the 7th, he proceeded, on the 8th, to
Dunblane, an ancient episcopal city, erected by
David II., and then governed by Dr. Adam Bel-
lenden, its Bishop ; and thence to Stirling, the fa-
vourite residence of the Scottish Kings. In his
Diary, he notes his " dangerous and cruel journey,
crossing part of the Highlands by coach, which was
reckoned a wonder there." From Stirling, he jour-
nied to Linlithgow, on the 9th, and thence to the
Scottish metropolis, which is 17 miles distant.
That Laud was not with the King during the
whole of this progress, is evident from his notation
of Charles' dangerous passage from Burntisland to
Edinburgh, on the 10th. On that day the King
left Falkland, and arrived at Burntisland, a delight-
; > LIFE AND TIMES [16S3.
ful town on the coast, overlooking the fertile plains
of the Lothians. There the counties of Fife and Mid-
Lothian, are divided by that great estuary or arm
of the sea, called the Frith of Forth, which re-
ceives the waters of the river Forth, the Bodotria
of the ancient Romans. In this estuary, which
expands from two to nearly twenty miles in
breadth, frequently rage dreadful storms, render-
ing its passage at times extremely hazardous. One
Scottish monarch, Alexander III., had narrowly
escaped its dangerous waves, and the monument of
gratitude for his safety is still, although a ruin, on
the island of Inchcolm. Frequently, too, storms
suddenly arise in this estuary, overtaking the pas-
senger ere he is aware. Charles and his attend-
ants embarked at Burntisland in open boats, but, in
crossing, a violent storm arose. His life was in
extreme jeopardy. One boat, which conveyed some
of his attendants, and contained his plate and
money, was engulphed before his eyes. After con-
siderable exertion, he landed in safety at Leith,
and proceeded to Edinburgh. He speedily left
the metropolis, to return to England. On the
16th of July, the King arrived at Berwick, and
four days afterwards he joined the Queen's court
at Greenwich, after an absence of little more than
two months 1 .
Numerous were the congratulations which Charles
received on his safe return. Poems and odes were
1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. i. part ii. p. 179 184.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 31
written, some of them by the most distinguished
men of that age l . The King, however, felt disap-
pointed, for his visit to his ancient kingdom had
not conciliated the people. The nobles began to
feel the effects of that expensive splendour in which
they had indulged with a profusion exceeding their
scanty resources, while the Presbyterian preachers,
and their adherents, were exasperated because their
enthusiasm had not been encouraged. The pro-
motion of Archbishop Spottiswoode and other pre-
lates to the helm of affairs, was a cause of their
deeply-cherished hatred, nor did they fail to in-
flame the people who listened to their harangues.
Politics were introduced into their extemporary
prayers, their sermons abounded with expressions of
their prejudices ; their gloomy moroseness, and
their unconquerable pride, aided their dangerous
fanaticism. In the following year, too, the share
which the primate had in procuring the condem-
nation of Lord Balmerino, on a charge of lease-
making, served still more to exasperate the people.
That nobleman's life was indeed spared by the in-
tercession of Laud, but the people forgot the King's
1 Soils Brittanici Perigseum, sive Itinerantis Carol! auspica-
tissima Periodus. Oxon. Excud. Jolian. Lichfield et Gul. Tur-
ner, Ann. Dora. 1633, 4to. Rex Redux, sive Musa Cantabri-
giensis voti damnando mcolumitate et felici reditu Regis Caroli
post receptam Coronam, Comitiaque peracta in Scotia, Cantab.
1633, 4to. p. 88. Summus Dux, cum Duce Redux. 4to. p. 1.
Vivat Rex, sive UpoaevKriKov, &c. 4to. Aberdonise, 1633,
p. 9.
.jo LIFE AND TIMES
humane disposition in the ebullitions of enthu-
Masm, and the fermentations fostered by religious
zealots *.
The Marquis of Hamilton was entrusted by the
King with the levying of the taxes a nobleman,
who, a steady royalist, was deservedly popular,
though suspected of being partial to the Presby-
terians. It was not, however, imagined by the
King that much had been done to allay the pub-
lic discontentment. The appointment of Spottis-
woode to the Chancellorship, although he was a
prelate, learned, wise, pious, and of long experi-
ence, was rather premature; and the conduct of
the Bishop of Ross, who solicited the Lord Trea-
surer's office, deeply offended the Earl of Traquair,
who had been long a secret enemy to the Church.
Indeed, it may be doubted, whether the Scottish
Bishops acted at this juncture with prudential cau-
tion, considering their peculiar circumstances, and
the faction opposed to them ; for, though the Pres-
byterian assertion, that the younger prelates were
anxious to ensure Laud's favour, and, therefore,
zealous for innovation, as they are pleased to term
it, must be received with considerable doubt, inas-
much as Presbyterians have very peculiar notions on
innovation, nevertheless, in some instances, it must
be admitted that there was an undue stretch of
power in their transactions with the opposing reli-
gionists. Yet, there is this fact to be considered,
Burnet, vol. i. p. 31. State Trials, p. 291.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 33
that the Church could not tamper with the Pres-
byterians, the latter were even beyond the possibility
of reconciliation ; to yield to them in one particu-
lar, was to afford a pretext for future demands ; in
short, the two parties were diametrically opposite,
nor did they wish to be reconciled.
Before the King's departure, he appointed a com-
mittee of the Bishops to compile a Liturgy, and to
correspond with Laud on the subject. In the mean
time, not to anticipate, Laud, having no particular
cause to hasten home, did not return from Scotland
to his palace of Fulham, till the 26th of July. There
he employed himself for a few days in the arrange-
ment of his domestic concerns.
But an event at this time took place, which at
once marked the commencement of a new era in the
life of Laud. On the 4th of August, 1633, Arch-
bishop Abbot finished his unhappy primacy, at his
palace of Croydon, in the seventy-first year of his
age. Having already said much on the conduct of
this celebrated primate, it is unnecessary here to en-
large. That his laxity of government in the archi-
episcopal see, and his public patronage of the Pu-
ritan faction, tended to the overthrow of the Church,
cannot be questioned; his government, in truth,
entailed on his successor a series of misfortunes.
Had Abbot prosecuted those measures adopted by
Whitgift and Bancroft ; had he zealously drawn the
line of demarcation between the Church and the sec-
taries, and had he made it an invariable rule to admit
none into the Church of whose attachment he was
VOL. II. D
;{j. LIFE AND TIMES [16SS.
not well assured, it would have made head against
all its adversaries, and, under the government of
Laud, it would have presented to its factious ene-
mies an impenetrable phalanx, which they might
perhaps have assailed, but assailed in vain. And,
whatever might have been his own notions concern-
ing predestination, had he refrained from counte-
nancing the Calvinistic subtleties, which excited so
many distractions in the nation ; and had he been
actuated less by a vindictive spirit towards those
who denied the predestinarian tenets, against whom
he continually declaimed as semi-papists, he would
have merited well of the Church of England, though,
doubtless, he would have received less of sectarian
praise. But his procedure all along was the very
reverse ; and to his unhappy primacy may be traced
the origin of many of those evils which afterwards
distracted the kingdom. That he was pious and
sincere, cannot be questioned ; his learning was ex-
tensive, and his works, which yet remain, are ho-
nourable to his talents and acquirements. But he
was infected with enthusiasm ; in his haste to recede
from Popery he fell into the opposite extreme of
Puritanism, and in his old age his house became a
constant resort for the heads of that faction, who,
because they visited him by night, received the ap-
pellation of Nicodemites. His inveterate hostility
to Laud, which he manifested throughout life, from
the first appearance of the latter at the University,
will be condemned by every liberal mind ; and it
may be greatly doubted, if the comparison were
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 35
drawn between these two prelates, whether the
charge of bigotry ought not to be applied with more
propriety to the mild and liberal low-churchman,
Abbot, than to the alleged intolerant and illiberal
high-churchman, Laud. Few, indeed, do I find
among the writers of that age, Sectarians and
Puritans excepted, who do not unite in condemn-
ing Abbot's laxity ; and from the noble historian
he has received a censure no less severe than
merited '.
Intimation of the Primate's death reached the
court that very day, and the King lost no time in
appointing his successor. The first time Laud ap-
peared at court, he was accosted by the King in
these words, " My Lord's Grace of Canterbury, you
are very welcome." On the 6th of August he was
promoted to the primacy ; on the 25th his election
was returned to the King at Woodstock, and on the
19th of September he was formally translated, having
secured the appointment of his friend and fellow-
student, Dr. William Juxon, to succeed him in the
diocese of London 2 .
At this time a remarkable offer was made to Laud,
1 Clarendon, vol. i. part i. p. 134 136. Wood's Athen.
Oxon. vol. i. col. 585. Fuller, book xi. p. 128. Sir Roger
L'Estrange's Charles I. p. 127. Sanderson, p. 531. Aubrey's
Antiq. of Surrey, vol. iii. p. 287. Heylin, p. 229231.
and History of the Presbyterians, p. 389. Fuller's Worthies of
England Surrey, p. 83. Lloyd's State Worthies, p. 749.
2 Echard, vol. i. p. 105. Diary, p. 49. Whitelock's Memo-
rials, p. 1 8.
D 2
;{( LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
on which his enemies have expatiated with great
indecency. On the very morning of Abbot's death,
a person came to him secretly, and offered him a
cardinal's hat, protesting, at the same time, that he
was able to obtain what he then proffered to the new
primate. On the 17th of August, the offer was re-
newed, and on both occasions Laud informed the
King. His answer to the person who made this
offer was, " that something dwelt within him, which
would not suffer that, till Rome was otherwise than
it was at the present time 1 ." His second refusal
was decisive.
The charge that Laud was affected towards Po-
pery, is now almost given up even by his most viru-
lent enemies, and the motives which could induce
the Papists to make this offer remain in obscurity.
It may be doubted whether it actually proceeded
from Rome, or whether some of the Jesuits had not
merely adopted the expedient to ascertain how far
Laud was inclined to tolerate the Papists. They
well knew that he was their most virulent enemy,
but yet the acceptance of the Hat would not have
been derogatory to Laud as Primate of the Church
of England. For though it would indeed have been
a wonderful circumstance to have seen a Protestant
a member of the College of Cardinals, still, the ho-
nour would have been merely nominal, and in the
same light as temporal princes sometimes enjoy the
title of Bishop. The King of England is Arch-
1 Diary, p. -ID.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 37
Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire, but it does
not follow that he must be a member of the Roman
Catholic Church.
It is impossible to believe that the Papists hoped
by this measure to reconcile Laud to the Church of
Rome, otherwise they were most erroneous specu-
lators. " A cardinal's cap," says our Church histo-
rian, " could not fit his head who had studied and
written so much against the Romish religion. He
who formerly had foiled Fisher himself in a public
disputation, would not now be taken with so silly a
bait, but acquainted the King therewith. Timuit
Romam, vel donaferentem, refusing to receive any
thing till Rome was better reformed." Whitelocke
imputes to Laud another motive for his refusal,
which is extremely superficial. " Laud," says he,
" was offered a cardinal's cap from Rome, but he re-
fused, being as high already as England could ad-
vance him, and he would not be second to any in
another kingdom." This reason, however, carries
with it its own refutation. Already had Laud a
superior in the person of the King, whose temporal
supremacy the Church acknowledges in ecclesiastical
matters ; nor, had Laud really accepted the offer,
would it at all have interfered with his station as
Primate and Metropolitan of the Church of Eng-
land. But he refused from other and more honour-
able motives; he would accept nothing, he said,
from Rome, " till it was otherwise than what it
was."
This Jesuitical offer, granting that it was sincere,
8 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
was intended, it appears to me, as an experiment. It
is to be remarked, that the conduct of the Puritans
had given occasion to.those sophistical proceedings.
While the Church of England admitted that the
Church of Rome was a true Church, the Puritans,
on the other hand, denied this fact, and asserted
that it u as not only Antichrist, and the Beast of the
Apocalypse, but that its communion was damnable,
it was one entire mass of corruption and idolatry.
This opinion was the result of their outrageous fana-
ticism. Popery is indeed bad ; it abounds with
numerous errors, and errors which are lamentably
dangerous and delusive to all its votaries, whether
enlightened or ignorant : yet, were Protestants to
reject all that Papists believe, they would speedily
reject Christianity. With the Puritans, however,
this was inconceivable. They affirmed, with the
most unparalleled bigotry, that Papists were not
Christians, that they believed not one single doc-
trine of the gospel, that they were gross idolaters.
The Scotch Calvimsts had made the notable disco-
very, that Popery had not such high claims to an-
tiquity as Judaism, that Mahommedanism was a
religion infinitely preferable to Roman Catholicism ;
and, therefore, they denounced all who presumed
even to hold converse with them, as sharers in ido-
latrous commerce. The same monstrous notions
prevailed amongst the English Puritans, which were
the effects of those opinions they entertained re-
specting the polity of the Church. While the Epis-
copalian avoided this phrensy, he struck at Popery
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 39
a more deadly blow. That the Church of Rome is
a true Church, cannot be denied ; in fundamentals
it agrees with every Protestant : it has equally one
faith, one hope, one baptism ; but it is woefully cor-
rupt, overwhelmed in superstition ; and its politics
are directly subversive of a well-regulated state,
unless controlled by the strong and salutary arm of
power. Its transubstantiation, purgatory, prayers
for the dead, vain and mechanical ceremonies, invo-
cations of saints, assumption of plenary power and
of universal rule, restriction of the priesthood, and
investment of the Bishop of Rome with the head-
ship of the Church on earth, these, and many
other untenable and absurd superstitions, do not
militate against the assertion that it is fundamen-
tally a true Church. They prove it to be woefully
degenerate and corrupt, but do not prove it false ;
nay, though it were one entire mass of leaven, still
its ordination is sacred and apostolic : but much
more is it a true Church, amidst all its declensions
and apostacies, when it admits and asserts the
fundamental doctrine of the Trinity, and holds our
divine Saviour to be the Son of God. And if it be
divested of this character of a true though a cor-
rupt Church, where, then, is the Church of Eng-
land ? Where the validity of the sacred office of
ordination ? Where that apostolical transmission
of its orders, which Dissenters and Schismatics
affect to treat as visionary and absurd ? Believ-
ing much more to be implied in valid ordination
than what Dissenters are taught to believe, or
40 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
are willing to allow, it appears to me that were
the Church of England to deny that the corrupt
communion of Rome is a true Church, it would
immediately degenerate into a mere sectarian asso-
ciation.
Nor does this concession to the Church of Rome
in the least degree countenance its declension and
apostacy: on the contrary, it places that Church
in a far more dangerous situation ; it charges it with
wilful perversion of the canon of inspiration, with a
crafty admission of vain and fabulous traditions,
with an unjust and a merciless domination over the
bodies and the souls of men. Such were Laud's
sentiments ; and, while he admitted that it was a
true church, he denied its supremacy and exclusive
Catholicism. Nay, so far from his being enticed
by the title of Cardinal, in his book against Fisher,
he objects to this title, and asserts, in the most
unqualified manner, the absurdity of the Pope's
supremacy, as the successor of St. Peter, who was
vested with no other power than the other apostles
and bishops of the Church. His rejection of the
offer, therefore, in these significant words, " till
Rome should be other than it now is;" to which
his Puritan enemy, Prynne, maliciously and falsely
added, " and then he would not refuse" is not
only honourable to himself, but at once proves that
he had not, as Neal asserts, " an imaginary scheme
of uniting the two Churches of England and
Rome," and that he deprecated any reconciliation
till the work of reformation had begun in Rome,
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 41
and swept away every erroneous doctrine and vain
superstition 1 .
1 Rome's Masterpiece, written by William Prynne, with the
Archbishop's Notes, apud Dr. Henry Wharton's edition of the
Troubles and Trials," &c. p. 596, 597.
42 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
CHAPTER XIV.
16331635.
Enthronement of Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury Remarks
on his general character' Libels against him Is elected
Chancellor of the University of Dublin -His vigorous pro-
ceedin<*s Directions on ordinations Revival of the Book of
Sports Remarks William PrynneHis prosecution In-
stance of his cunningness The Archbishop's primary visita-
ti on f] ie Communion-table Remarks on the primate's con-
duct Bishop Williams Absurdity of some Puritan objections
The foreign congregations Laud's proceedings History
of the affair Defence of his conduct The London Clergy
Their situation in the reign of Charles I. Their hardships
The Irish Church Bishop Bedell Correspondence between
Laud and Lord Wentworth The Archbishop's state appoint-
ments His remarkable disinterestedness.
WE have now followed Laud throughout the his-
tory of his eventful life, to his elevation to the
Metropolitan See of Canterbury, when he was sixty
years of age. On this important occasion, in an-
swer to a letter of congratulation from his chosen
friend and confident, Wentworth, he thus feelingly
and piously writes, " I heartily thank you for your
kind wishes to me, that God would send me many
and happy days where I now am to be. Amen ! I can
do little for myself, if I cannot say so ; but truly,
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 43
my Lord, I look for neither : not for many, for I
am in years, and have had a troublesome life, not
for happy, because I have no hope to do the good I
desire/." We have seen this great man neglected
in his youth, and permitted to languish on a Fel-
lowship, none of the most lucrative, at St. John's
College, till the vigour of his days was almost
past, and then we see him discharging with applause
the arduous and important duties of three succes-
sive dioceses, while he was at the same time actively
employed in numerous important avocations. " He
was always maligned and persecuted," says the noble
historian, " by those who were of the Calvinistic
faction, which was then very powerful, and who,
according to their usual maxim and practice,
call every man they do not love Papist, and, under
this senseless appellation, they created him many
troubles and vexations, and so far suppressed him,
that, though he was the King's Chaplain, and
taken notice of for an excellent preacher, and a
scholar of the most sublime parts, he had not any
preferment to invite him to leave his poor College,
which only gave him bread, till the vigour of his
age was past ; and, when he was promoted by King
James, it was but to a poor bishopric in Wales,
which was not so good a support for a bishop, as
his College was for a private scholar, though a
Doctor 2 ."
1 Stafford's Letters, vol. i.
2 Lord Clarendon, vol. i. part 1. Oxford Edit. 4to. p. 136,
137.
44 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
It is gratifying to find such a testimony borne by
the noble historian to Laud's uprightness, talents,
and exemplary virtues. " His promotion to Can-
terbury was, long foreseen and expected," says he,
" nor was it attended with any increase of envy or
dislike V* It might have been reasonably thought,
that the elevation of Laud, a prelate so totally
opposed to his predecessor's notions, would have
been a measure attended with some popular excite-
ment : but it was the reverse ; the Puritan faction
was either wearied with its fruitless opposition,
or revolving in secret, which is most likely, its
dark and rebellious designs. Not, indeed, that his
enemies were at all disposed to peace. Shortly
after his promotion, a fanatic, named Boyer, was
brought*! into the Star Chamber, and censured
for libelling him in the most abusive manner ;
and another was committed to Newgate for ap-
pearing at St. James' with a drawn sword, swear-
ing that the King should do him justice, or he
would take the law into his own hands 2 . In De-
cember following, we also find him hinting, in a
mysterious manner, of the falsehood and treachery
practised against him by one of his pretended
friends, of which the King himself gave him notice.
Yet, notwithstanding these acts of religious phrensy
and false friendship, we find him serene and un-
1 Lord Clarendon, ut sup. p. 136.
Diary, p. 49. " All the wrong I ever did this man was,
that being a poor printer, I procured him of the Company of
Stationers 51. a-year during his life."
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 45
moved, expressing himself with pious feeling, con-
scious of his own integrity of heart.
On Laud's removal to Lambeth, an accident
occurred, which the superstitious vulgar afterwards
remembered as a prognostication of his fate. When
he first went to Lambeth, after his promotion to
the primacy, on crossing the Thames, his " coach,
horses, and men," were plunged into the river, by
the overloading of the ferry boats. Luckily, how-
ever, no lives were lost. This escape he has men-
tioned in his Diary as a signal deliverance l .
Laud, elevated to the highest dignity in the
Church, employed himself zealously to correct the
negligence of his predecessor. No man could re-
strain him in f his salutary measures, and few, in-
deed, ventured to oppose him ; though, previously
to this period, he had little interposed in matters
of state. The University of Oxford sent him a con-
gratulatory letter, bearing date the 12th of Sep-
tember 2 , and, on the 14th of that month, he was
elected Chancellor of the University of Dublin 3 .
Thus vested with the government of the Church,
and at the head of two famous Universities, he
possessed an influence which had fallen to the lot
1 Diary, p. 49.
2 Echard's History, vol. i. p. 106. " Reverendiss. Antistes,
summopere gratulamur fortunse nostrse quod nunc demum Epis-
tolam lecturus es, nee agnoscentem nee rogantem beneficia nee
gratiarum actione blandam nee ambitu molestam," &c. Reg.
fol. 706. Oxon.
3 Diary, p. 50.
1( ; LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
of few before him, who had filled the metropolitan
see. These elevations, however, prove that he was
expected to do much for the Church of England,
and that the eyes of its sincere well-wishers were
turned towards him.
The first direction which the Archbishop received
from the court was a letter from the King, refer-
ring to candidates for ordination ; and, in compli-
ance with the royal injunction, he published an
injunction, which is now enforced by the Church,
that no person should be admitted into priest's
orders without a title. This injunction to the suf-
fragans is dated the 18th of October, requiring
them, " at all times of ordination, that they be
careful to admit none into holy orders, but such
men as for life and learning are fit, and who have
a title for their maintenance according to the laws
and the ancient practice of the Church :" assuring
them " that his Majesty had commanded him to
let them know, that he would not fail to call for an
account of those his letters, both from him and
them ; and, therefore, that he did not doubt but that
they would have a special care, both for the good
of the Church, and his Majesty's satisfaction V
Letters were also sent by the King to Neile, Arch-
bishop of York, and by that excellent prelate were
communicated to his four suffragan bishops. This,
though not the origin, as the Puritans alleged, was
the establishment, of a law, which has ever since
1 Heylin.p. 240, 241. Collier, vol. ii. p. 7/57, 758.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 47
been regularly enforced in the Protestant Episcopal
Church.
Yet, it is a remarkable fact, that, though this law
contained nothing which was not set forth in the
Canon of 1603, which, grounded on the old canons,
expressly declares, " that no person shall be ad-
mitted into holy orders, except he shall exhibit to
the bishop, of whom he desires ordination, a pre-
sentation to some ecclesiastical living then vacant in
the diocese," or that he is to serve a cure of souls,
either in a Cathedral or a Collegiate Church, or
that he be a Fellow or Chaplain to some College,
or a Master of Arts of five years standing, and re-
siding in the University at his own expence,"' it
was as much excepted against, as if it had been a
" new decree," a serious innovation. The reason
is obvious. It had been enacted, that " if any
bishop do ordain a man without a title to a cure of
souls, or the discharge of particular ecclesiastical
duty, he shall be obliged to maintain such person
till he be presented to a benefice, under pain of
suspension from granting orders for one year ;" but
the bishops of those dioceses whose revenues were
by no means proportionate to their wants, had ad-
mitted into the priesthood, for their own benefit,
men who had no title, and sometimes no merit,
" by means of which," observes Dr. Heylin, " the
Church was filled with indigent clerks, who either
thrust themselves into gentlemen's houses to teach
their children, and to act as chaplains at table, or
undertook some stipendiary lecture, wheresoever
48 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
they could find it, to the great fomenting of faction
in the state, the danger of schism in the Church,
and the ruin of both." This laxity of discipline
was consequently productive of the very worst con-
sequences in the Church, and tended to degrade
the ecclesiastical order, by causing it to be over-
run by men, whose indigence would naturally
prompt them not to be over-scrupulous about their
employment, and who, in the matter of lecture-
ships, would become time-servers to those in whom
the right of election was vested. But, by this law,
the presentations, and the candidate's testimonials,
were laid before the bishop, sufficient time was
given to investigate their validity, and the merit of
the person applying for ordination ; and it was
doubly necessary in that age of enthusiasm, when
zealots were every where undermining the Church,
and erecting themselves into a powerful party. The
unhappy primacy of Abbot had admitted many of
those individuals into the Church, who, in the issue,
united with sectarians and fanatics in overthrowing
the civil and ecclesiastical constitution.
The principal design of the injunction, however,
seems to have been to restrain the lecturers, towards
whom Charles and the Archbishop entertained a
merited dislike. For this purpose, a presentation or
election to a lectureship was not reckoned a valid
title, because a lectureship is not a cure of souls,
the meaning of a valid title being a prospect of
some immediate maintenance, to prevent the Church
irom being overrun by indigent, itinerant, and
7
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 49
unqualified ministers. Laud, therefore, declared
what would be sufficient to constitute a valid title,
and in this he acted strictly according to the law and
ancient practice of the Church, namely, 1. " A pre-
sentation to some ecclesiastical preferment : or, 2.
a certificate undoubted, that the candidate is .pro-
vided with some church in the diocese then vacant :
or, 3. A grant of a canon's place in a cathedral or
collegiate church : or, 4. A Fellow, or in the right
of a Fellow, in some college of Oxford or Cam-
bridge ; or, 5. A chaplaincy in some of the colleges :
or, 6. A Master of Arts of five years standing, living
at his own charge in either of the Universities : or,
7. The intention of the Bishop that ordains shortly
to admit him to some benefice or curacy then vacant."
And it was farther provided, that no person admitted
a curate should be deprived by the incumbent, unless
for immoral conduct by him committed after his
ordination l .
The wisdom of these injunctions is sufficiently
obvious ; and this first act of the Archbishop denotes
his zealous care for the Church. For, as I have al-
ready said, the lecturers, being the proteges of po-
pular election, were liable to be dismissed at plea-
sure by their patrons, and thus reduced to indigence ;
and in like manner, those who were chaplains were
equally under the control of those who entertained
them. It no doubt struck at the very root of po-
pular election, which is so much extolled by certain
Dissenters ; but that species of patronage is neither
1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 213 215.
VOL. II. E
50 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
sanctioned by the Church in primitive times, nor at
any subsequent period. To those, indeed, whose
religion, like that of the Puritans and Presbyterians,
consists in i}ere preaching, popular election is of
importance, as otherwise they cannot have their in-
dividual taste for declamatory harangues gratified ;
and the exaltation of the most illiterate mechanic or
the most factious demagogue to be the patron of his
minister, is gratifying to the pride of ignorance and
self-sufficiency. But when we recollect, that preach-
ing, as a mere act, is vastly inferior to almost all the
other ecclesiastical duties ; that sermons are nothing
more than the mere opinions of a frail, erring, and sin-
ful man ; that preaching, characterized by ignorance,
declamation, enthusiasm, and a peculiar phrase-
ology, often encourages spiritual pride, fostersfana-
tical prejudices, and, in all such cases, makes " the
enticing words of man's wisdom" to be held in more
estimation than the " word of God, which maketh
wise unto salvation," we shall at once be convinced,
that the notions of those are most erroneous, who
make a boast of their independency, and exult in
what they facetiously term popular calls and elec-
tions. On the other hand, when we recollect, that the
public devotional services of the Church are far su-
perior to any sermons or lectures however excellent,
because they are all grounded upon the canon of in-
spiration, and, in reality, inspiration itself; when we
recollect, that the administration of the holy sacra-
ments is perhaps the chief end of valid ordination, we
shall at once admit the wisdom of Laud in establish-
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 51
ing these injunctions. Preaching or lecturing is not
the essential part of a minister's duty ; in truth, any
man may do either of these, but who will dare to
call himself a member of the Church, and perform
its regular ecclesiastical duties, without having re-
ceived its ordination ?
On the very day on which those injunctions were
transmitted to the suffragans by Archbishop Laud,
to be adopted, in all future time, as the law of the
Church, appeared the King's Declaration concerning
Lawful Sports, which the Archbishop was charged
with having revived and extended. This excited
against him the violent hatred of the Puritans and
other sectaries, who failed not to remember it on a
future occasion. At this time the Sabbatarian con-
troversy was revived by one Theophilus Bradburne,
a clergyman in Suffolk ; who, in a book which he
published and dedicated to the King, advanced cer-
tain Jewish notions concerning the fourth com-
mandment of the Decalogue. He maintained that
the commandment is strictly moral ; that Christians
as well as Jews are bound to observe it ; that Sun-
day is a mere working day, deserving no pre-
ference, and that it is will-worship and supersti-
tion to keep it with the solemnity of a sabbath.
For these opinions, and more especially for dedicat-
ing his book to the King, who was by no means de-
sirous of being regarded as the patron of such
extravagances, he was called before the High Com-
mission, where he met with a severity which com-
pelled him to abstain from the publication of his
E 2
52 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
unseasonable sentiments, and to conform to the
Church during the remainder of his life. Those
notions, however, had been disseminated throughout
the country, and the Justices in Somersetshire
signed a petition to the King to suppress Church-
ales, Clerk-ales, Wakes, &c. But before this peti-
tion was delivered, the Declaration concerning
Sports, published in the last reign, with a supplement
by the King, appeared, which at once excited the
discontent of the people ! .
It is to be observed, that the professed design of
King James' Book of Sports was to restrain the in-
tercourse with other parishes on the Sundays, and
to remove that erroneous idea which the Papists had
conceived respecting the Protestant religion, from
the gloomy and morose conduct of the Puritans.
This, it must be confessed, was a dangerous expe-
dient to allure the Romanists ; but it is certain that
this Declaration would not have been revived, had
it not been for the extravagant zeal of the Lord
Chief Justice Richardson, who, in the year 1631, had
assumed the power in his own person of prohibiting
every amusement, and who commanded his order to
be published at the door of the parochial churches.
This being an encroachment on the functions of the
Bishop of the diocese, without whose knowledge it
was done, Laud complained of it to the King ; but
Richardson, so far from revoking his order, made it
1 Collier, vol. ii. p. 768. Fuller, book xi. p. 144. Heylin,
p. 243. Neal, vol ii. p. 250.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 53
more rigorous than before. Laud afterwards wrote
tp the Bishop of Bath and Wells, to transmit to
Court a full account of the feasts called Wakes, and
whether the disorders arising from them might nbt
be remedied, without prohibiting the feasts them-
selves. The Bishop returned an answer, certified
by upwards of seventy of his clergy, that " the an-
cient custom of those feasts was laudable and inno-
cent, that the late suppression was unpopular, and
that their restitution would be acceptable to the
people at large." This, and other remonstrances
from the county of Essex, caused Richardson to be
reproved at the Council Table, for an assumption
of authority which did not belong to him ; and so
severely was he rebuked by Laud, in particular, that
he ran out exclaiming, " That he had been almost
choaked with a pair of lawn sleeves." At the next
assizes he was compelled to revoke his order, which
he did with considerable reluctance.
The extreme of Puritanism on this subject drove
the Government into a contrary one, which in its
effects was more unfortunate ; for the King, ha-
rassed by petitions from numerous parties of enthu-
siasts, and by the puritanical notions of the Sabbath,
tending to absolute Judaism, resolved to follow his
father's example ; and the Book of Sports made its
appearance, when it gave greater offence, because the
Clergy were compelled to publish the Declaration,
under penalty of cognizance by the High Commis-
sion. No sooner was it published, than the Puri-
tans commenced a universal clamour. Some abused
54 LIFE AND TIMES [1633
the King, and termed the Declaration a " profane
edict," a " maintaining of his own honour," " a to-
leration for profaning the Lord's Day ;" while others
charged Archbishop Laud with the whole affair,
" and mad/it," says Heylin, " the first remarkable
thing which was done presently after he took pos-
session of his Graceship, as Burton remarked
wittily in his pulpit libel." At his trial it was
brought against him with increased malignity, but,
though he denied it, he admitted that he was not an
enemy to innocent recreations on Sundays. " That
some are lawful," says he, "after the public service
of God is ended, appears by the practice of Geneva,
where, after evening prayer, the elder men bowl,
and the younger train * ;" and this was done even in
Calvin's time, who did not want authority to denounce
those practices had he been so inclined. And, in proof,
he quotes that remarkable passage from Calvin's
Institutes, " That those men who stand so strictly
on the morality of the Sabbath, do, by a gross and
carnal sabbatizing, three times exceed the super-
stition of the Jews .* :" adding, also, remarks the
Church historian, that, " though indulging liberty
to others, in his own person he strictly observed
that day a self-praise, or rather self-purging,
because spoken during his life, which, uttered with-
out pride, and with truth, was not clearly confuted.
Indeed, they are the best carvers of liberty on that
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 343.
a Ibid, ut sup. p. 345. Institut. c. viii. 34.
OF ARCHBISHOP AUD. 55
day, who cut most for others, and keep least to
themselves V
Although the clergy were not positively enjoined
in the Declaration to publish it in their churches,
many were silenced, and called to account, who re-
fused to comply ; but it is remarkable, that none
were called into the High Commission on this occa-
sion who were not chargeable with other acts of con-
tumacy and turbulence. These proceedings will be
afterwards noticed ; yet it may be here observed,
that various were the shifts and evasions to which
those had recourse whose consciences restrained
them from compliance. Some left it to their curates
a miserable subterfuge, as if, granting that the
order was grievous, the sin of it could be removed
by thus recommending it to them ; others read it,
but immediately after proclaimed the fourth com-
mandment ; while others positively refused. Yet it
is no less remarkable, that in Archbishop Laud's
own diocese, though he was charged with the whole
transaction, only three prosecutions took place, and
these were individuals against whom other accu-
sations were laid. His enemies, no doubt, alleged
this as policy on his part, and not as any inclination
towards lenity, in order that his own purposes might
be served, while the other prelates appeared the
active agents. They knew well, however, that they
were libelling his character ; for, even had Laud been
endowed with supernatural foresight, he would have
1 Fuller's Church History, book xi. p. 147, US.
5(J LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
disdained such dastardly conduct ; much more so,
when he conscientiously believed he was doing his
duty, and when there were no indications of his
future troubles. If, as the noble historian remarks,
" he designed that the discipline of the Church
should be felt, as well as spoken of, and that it
should be applied to the greatest and most splendid
transgressors, as well as to the punishment of smaller
offences, and meaner offenders, and thereupon called
for or cherished the discovery of those who were
not careful to cover their own iniquities, thinking
they were above the reach of other men, or their
power or will to chastise ;" if such was the case, can
it be thought that this great primate would have re-
course to sinister practices, to gratify himself, and
yet endeavour to secure himself from odium, or
from the aspersions of the Puritans, whom he de-
servedly disliked, and viewed as the most dangerous
innovators ? The whole course of his life is a prac-
tical denial of the charge.
Although the Puritan notions were most extrava-
gant on religion, yet, at the same time, I greatly
doubt whether it was altogether prudent to revive
the Book of Sports, nor am I disposed to defend
the measures then adopted to compel the clergy to
read the Declaration, which, although Laud might
not have had any active hand in it, was nevertheless
sanctioned by his silence. It is not that I believe
this Declaration to have encouraged profanation,
for if men are inclined to licentiousness, they will
gratify themselves without the countenance of a
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 57
royal declaration, or a " Book of Sports." It is
evident, too, that there was little real religion among
the Puritans, and that they employed themselves
more in exciting the turbulence of their associates
than in advancing rational piety. Religious pre-
tence is often unhappily used as a specious garb,
which can be employed for a variety of purposes by
dangerous and designing men, and the religious
zealot is seldom an humble Christian. But it
caused complaints against the King and the Arch-
bishop ; it made the people charge the public admi-
nistration with irreligion and profaneness, insomuch
that, though the Declaration was soon forgotten, it
was wished by many that it had never been revived.
I have now, however, to notice an affair of a
very different description, in which Laud was en-
gaged at this time, as a member of the Star-Cham-
ber and High Commission Courts. Prynne, the
author of the famous Histrio Mastyx, had been
committed to the Tower for being the author of that
work, and Heylin had been appointed to analyze it,
and lay all the obnoxious passages before the At-
torney General. This unfortunate 'and fanatical
author of nearly two hundred volumes, the undi-
gested offspring of an undisciplined understanding l ,
1 This is corroborated by the ludicrous epitaph which Wood
has inserted in his Oxon. Athen. vol. iii. col. 876, edit, by Bliss,
" which," says he, " was made upon the voluminous Prynne,"
when he died, in 1669.
Here lies the corpse of William Prynne,
A bencher late of Lincoln's-Inn,
Who restless ran through thick and thin.
58 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
was to suffer for his seditious and dogmatical folly.
Whitelocke most appropriately terms him, " busy
Mr. Prin." His enormous quarto of more than a
thousand pages was accordingly investigated by
Heylin, who /was no friend to Prynne, though the
latter asserts that Heylin produced passages not
warranted by his book ; but, as Wood remarks,
" those two gentlemen were well matched." Heylin
delivered the result of his investigation to Sir John
Cook and to Laud, who was then Bishop of London ;
and Noy, the Attorney-General was instructed by
Laud to commence a prosecution *.
Prynne's volume is indeed a literary curiosity; and,
This grand scripturunt paper-spiller,
This endless, needless, margin filler,
Was strangely tossed from post to pillar.
His brains' career was never stopping,
But pen with rheume of gall still dropping,
Till hand o'er head brought ears to cropping.
Nor would he surcease such themes,
But prostitute new virgin reams
To types of his fanatic dreams.
But while he this hot humour hugs,
And for more length of tedder tugs,
Death fang'd the remnant of his lugs.
I may remark, as a specimen of Prynne's literary insanity,
that he quotes above a hundred authors to prove the " unlove-
liness of love-locks."
Wood says, that Laud " did soon after, on a Sunday morn-
ing, go to William Noy, the Attorney-General, and charged him
to prosecute Prynne for the said booke." Wood's Atlien. Oxon.
vol. iii. col. 146.
7
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 59
though it was dangerous in that age of enthusiasm,
yet, perhaps, the punishment exceeded the offence
of this remarkable political fanatic. It is a work of
great learning, there being upwards of a thousand
authors quoted : but it is destitute of judgment ;
and these authors are classed together without the
slightest attempt at arrangement. " Prynne," says
a popular modern writer, te scarcely ventures on
the most trivial opinion, without calling to his aid
whatever had been said in all nations and in all
ages; and Cicero and Master Stubbs, Petrarch
and Minutius Felix, Isaiah and Froissart's Chro-
nicle, oddly associate in the ravings of erudition 1 ."
It appears, from the deposition of Dr. Goode, a
licenser, at the trial, that this ponderous volume
consisted originally of a single quire of paper ; and
Dr. Harris, another licenser, deposed, that seven
years before, Prynne came to him to get a treatise on
stage-plays licensed, which he (Dr. Harris) refused.
It was then " young and tender," but " it is grown
seven times bigger, and seven times worse." It
occupied the author seven years, and it was four
years in the press. It was licensed by Buckner,
chaplain to Archbishop Abbot, for which he also was
prosecuted at the trial. It is probable, however,
that Prynne had practised a little of his craftiness
on the chaplain, by withholding part of the manu-
script, or by other methods, by which he wearied
Disraeli's Calamities of Authors, vol. ii. p. 113, under the
division, " A Voluminous Author, without judgment."
60 LIFE AND TIMES [1633.
the licenser's patience : for Buckner positively de-
clared that he had only licensed " part of the book,"
and when he heard that it was published, " he en-
deavoured to suppress it;" "he approved of the
Church," he^aid, " without any scruple, and of all
the ceremonies of the Church of England : and for
those censures against ecclesiastical persons in this
book, he doth, and ever did, abhor and detest
them V The bookseller, Michael Sparkes, a well
known publisher of Puritan sedition and rhapsody,
who was also prosecuted, declared that it had cost
him 300/. but it was proved that he had said, " that
it was an excellent book, which would be called in,
and then sell well 2 ;" and that he and Prynne had
cozened Dr. Buckner to licence the book, or at least
sixty-four pages 3 .
Prynne had been refused bail, and he accordingly
lay in the Tower from Feb. 1, 1632-3, to Feb. 17,
1633-4, when he was brought before the S tar-
Chamber, after he had been condemned by the
members of the Inns of Court, who, to shew their
contempt for his fanaticism, invited the King and
Queen to a grand masque, as already noticed ;
which, besides being intended for this purpose, was
also a congratulation to the King on his return from
Scotland, and for the birth of a prince, afterwards
James IT. whom Laud baptized at St. James', on
the 24th of November. Laud had by this time
' Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 323. 2 Ibid. p. 234.
3 Ibid. p. 233.
1633.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 61
been raised to the metropolitan See. Noy, the At-
torney General, was the prosecutor ; Atkins, Hoi-
born, and Herne, were counsel for Prynne.
The speech of Noy is a specimen of the contents
of the Histrio*Mastyx. "Finding the Church,"
says the Attorney General, " so deeply wounded by
Mr. Prynne, I do leave her to avenge herself of
him, and to inflict such punishment on him as he
deserves. There are divers particulars wherewith
he is not charged within the information by way of
crime, and so it is not proper now to bring him
unto question for them, as, for mentioning of cere-
monies, the discipline of the Church, the complaint
of newly- erected altars. I wonder what altars he
means : I hope the Church will examine him in
due time, as also what he means by his modern in-
novations in the Church, and by cringing and
ducking to altars, a fit term to bestow upon the
Church. He learned it of the Canters, being used
among them. As for the music in the Church, the
charitable terms he giveth it are, not to be a noise
of men, but rather a bleating of brute beasts, cho-
risters bellow the tenor, as it were oxen, bark a
counter-point, as a kennel of dogs, roar out a
treble, like a sort of bulls ; grunt out a bass, as it
were a number of hogs. Bishops he terms silk and
satin divines. Christmas is the Devil's Christmas;
he enters into an argument to induce men to become
Puritans, and asserts, in his Index, that Christ
himself was a Puritan * /"
1 Rushwortb, vol. ii. p. 233, 234.
( J2 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
The Judges delivered their opinions with great
severity on the uirfartunate Prynne. Lord Cot-
tington declared, tha^m the writing of this book,
the devil had either assisted him, or he the devil.
" Shall not all who hear these things," said his
Lordship, " think that it is the mercy of the King
that Mr. Prynne is not destroyed ? Have we not
seen men lately condemned to be hanged and quar-
tered for far less matters ?" Judge Richardson de-
clared, that " if he (Prynne) had been turned over
to his tribunal, he must have been left to a jury,
from whom no mercy could be hoped for so great an
offence." Secretary Cooke, however, delivered the
most temperate speech. He pointed out all the
absurd erudition of the book. " By this vast book
of Mr. Prynne's, it appeareth he hath read more
than he hath studied, and studied more than he
hath considered ; whereas, if he had read but one
sentence of Solomon, it had saved him from the
danger into which he is likely to fall. There is a
good spirit that is meek, tempered with modesty
and humility, with mildness and equity ; and such
a spirit is always tender not to destroy, root up,
and overthrow, but to bind, repair, and preserve.
But there is another fiery spirit, which is always
vomiting fire, nothing but damnation and destruc-
tion ; certainly, such a spirit ever tends to its own
confusion. And, if this be well observed, every
man shall find it true, that such a spirit ever cometh
before destruction. I think if Mr. Prynne had
been asked the question that Naaman did to the
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 63
prophet, he would not at all have bid, Go in peace ;
he would have threatened heU^and destruction. I
am very sorry he hath so carrfed himself, that a man
may justly fear he is the Timon that hath a quarrel
against mankinfl. But I love not too much to
aggravate offences, which of themselves are heavy
enough. He calleth his book Histrio Mastyx, but
therein he sheweth himself like unto Ajax, an
Anthropomastix, as the Grecians called him, the
scourge of all mankind; the whipper, and the
whip V
The Lords were, perhaps, stimulated more by
passion than reason in their sentence of Prynne.
He was condemned to pay a fine of 5000/. to the
King, to be expelled from the University of Oxford,
and also Lincoln's Inn ; to be for ever degraded
or disabled from his profession at the bar ; to stand
in the pillory, first at Palace Yard, Westminster, and
three days after at Cheapside, in each place to lose
an ear : to have his book burnt before his face by
the common executioner ; and to be a prisoner for
life. His case occupied the Lords three days, and on
the third day they did not end their deliberations
till three in the afternoon 2 , a proof, at least, that
his case was fairly investigated, and his coun-
sel fully heard in mitigation. Buckner, the licenser,
was sentenced to be severely admonished, to be
1 Rushvvorth, vol. ii. p. 231238, &c.
2 Wentworth's State Papers, Garrard to Wentworth, Feb.
27, 1633, vol. i. p. 207.
(ji LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
subjected to a temporary imprisonment, and to pay
a fine of 50/. Sparkes, the publisher, was fined 500/.
and condemned- to stifcd in the pillory, with a paper
prefixed, declaring his offence ! .
The sentence of Prynne was recorded in Fe-
bruary, and it was executed on the following May,
1634. The Histrio Mastyx was burnt under his
nose, till it almost suffocated him : in Palace Yard
and Cheapside his ears were cropt, but he lost only
a very small portion of them ; for this part of the
sentence was almost remitted in the execution * ; on
the 29th of April he was expelled from the Uni-
versity 3 , and he was conducted back to prison, to
suffer perpetual imprisonment.
1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. 234?.
a Wood's Athen. Oxon, vol. iii. col. 846. This leniency
occasioned a report to be spread among his friends (for Prynne
willingly gave out that he had lost his ears,) that his ears had
grown again to his head, (Garrard to Wentworth, June 20,
1634,) which was eagerly believed by the Puritan faction, who,
indeed, believed any thing. The truth is, that this part of the
sentence was hardly inflicted, but his books were so highly
valued by the enthusiasts, that a lady, who died shortly after
the sentence, bequeathed a legacy to Sion College, to purchase
books, and enjoined that Prynne's Works should be first bought.
Garrard to Wentworth, as above. Lord Dorset's Speech, apud
Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 241.
3 In'a Convocation held on the 29th of April. It is a singu-
lar fact, that Prynne destroyed the form of his degradation by
the University, by tearing out the leaves from the accounts of the
Convocation, which contained the record, when that book and
the Register were transmitted to the Long Parliament to be
ransacked for charges against the Archbishop. The beginning
1 634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 65
In these punishments we must not forget the
customs of the age. Although we should revolt in
the present day at the practice, even in the case
of the vilest criminal, yet it was then a customary
punishment to cut off the ears and to slit the nose.
On the same principle, numbers of deranged old
women were burnt as witches in that century, espe-
cially in Scotland, and for practices, which at pre-
sent, perhaps, would hardly procure them a few
hours in the stocks. When the conduct of this
political fanatic is considered, who was dignified by
his party with the title of William the Conqueror,
and whose firmness and obstinacy, it is said, in-
duced the King himself to bestow upon him the title
of the Cato of Ms Age when it is recollected that
he became a most violent incendiary, an implacable
enemy to the government, whether civil or ecclesi-
astical, that he was the idol of the rabble, and
and the end of the entry still remains, however, though it is
scored and deciphered. It is as follows : " Convocatione habita
29 Aprilis An. D'ni 1634, cujus causa erat (sic enim praefabatur
Vicecancel.) ut egregius ille Histrio-Mastyx prcelii stupor et
idolum vulgi Gulielmus Prinne, e Camera Stellata justissimo
fulmine percussus, gradu Academico quem infamavit exueretur.
Dum enim non tantum in fabulas, sed in res et personas
in candidissimos principum mores, in bonos et literates pene
singulos (tanquam mundus totus ageret histrionem) iisdem
furiis debacchatus est, ipse tandem factus est fabula, cujus actus
primus a degradatione incipit infeliciorem postea habitura ca-
tastrophen. Quanam vero nobis in piaculari hac victima mac-
tanda partis relictae sint, ex decreto Curise ad nos transmisso
intelligetis." Vide Gutch's Oxford, vol ii. part i. p. 393 595.
VOL. II. F
66 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
" eager for any thing that was put into his head,"
in short, when it is recollected, that his Histrio
Mastyx was a violent, abusive, and indelicate at-
tack on tty? nation at large, always excepting the
zealots who abetted his phrensy, the sentence for
these libels, since his ears were hardly touched,
was not remarkably severe, although it excited the
turbulence of the rabble, with whom Prynne was
popular to excess. It is a curious fact, that this
indefatigable scribbler recanted the opinions ad-
vanced in the Mastyx before he died. In 1649, a
work appeared in 4to. entitled, " Mr. William
Prynne his Defence of Stage Plays, or a Retrac-
tion of a former book of his called Histrio Mastyx."
This provoked a reply from one of his opponents,
entitled, " Prynne against Prynne ;" but our Mas-
tyx was always on the alert, for in the same year
he published, " Prynne the Member reconciled to
Prynne the Barrister, an Answer to a Pamphlet
entitled Prynne against Prynne," 1649.
Prynne, being conducted back to prison, was
closely confined, and denied the use of writing ma-
terials; which, indeed, from his excessive inclina-
tion for scribbling, he seems to have considered a
greater punishment than the loss of his ears. This
he especially notices in the detail of his grievances,
which he supposed proceeded from Archbishop
Laud. " Point out," says he, " that the prohibiting
of me pens, ink, paper, and books, is not against
all law ;" and he enters into a lengthened argument
to prove, that the abuse of any thing is no sufficient
1034.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 67
reason to withhold it. Having procured these,
however, he straightway composed a libellous letter,
which he dispatched to Archbishop Laud, in which,
after many fulminations, he charged the primate as
the cause of his troubles. On the llth of June,
Laud received this letter, which abounded with nu-
merous misrepresentations ; for the Archbishop had
acted only as an individual member of the court,
and, indeed, had not sustained such a share in its
proceedings T as the Earl of Dorset, LordCottington,
and Judge Richardson, nor could he have much
influence with the two latter, as there was then a
variance between him and them. On the 26th, Laud
shewed the letter to the King, who commanded
him to refer it to Noy, the Attorney General.
Prynne was accordingly ordered from prison, and
brought before Noy ; but he seems to have been by
this time aware of his rashness, and he resolved to
practise some of his knavery. Noy asked him if
the letter was in his hand-writing, or if he admitted
that he was the author. Prynne cunningly replied,
that he could not answer that question, unless he
saw the letter, and read the same. Noy, willing
to give him an opportunity to escape another
punishment, the letter being a gross libel, and,
probably, instructed to that effect by the Arch-
bishop, who could easily have prosecuted him had
he pleased, but whose chief motive was to silence
him, and to shew him his danger, put the letter
1 Diary, p. 50. Wood, Athen. vol. iii. cols. 846, 847.
F 2
68 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
into his hands, and turned his back. Prynne in-
stantly tore the letter, and threw the pieces over a
window, saying, that it should never rise up in
judgment Against him. Noy immediately acquainted
the court with Prynne's conduct; but this inge-
nuity saved him a prosecution. Noy had taken a
copy of the letter, but it could not be received as
legal proof, there being no other evidence for
the misdemeanor but the original. For this, how-
ever, Prynne was brought into the Star Chamber ;
" where all this," says Laud, " appeared with
shame enough to him." The Archbishop, pitying
his extravagances, desisted from all farther proceed-
ings, not wishing to be too severe. " I there,"
says Laud, " forgave him." But this lenity was of
little avail to Prynne, whose calumniating pen was
again to procure for him punishment, with other
two political fanatics, Burton and Bastwick, whose
conduct will be noticed in another place.
At the beginning of the year 1634, Archbishop
Laud resolved upon his first metropolitan visitation,
the proceedings of which were the same as those of
the following year. He had some suspicions, we
are informed, of Brent, his Vicar-General, and he
therefore associated with him Dr. Heylin, as a joint
commissioner. But having become satisfied that
Brent was attached to the Church in sincerity, he
entrusted him alone with the visitation. The Arch-
bishop's suspicions of this person were, however, well
founded, when he saw him act as an evidence against
him. In this visitation, cognizance was taken of the
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 69
churches of the Diocese, and especially of the com-
munion table. It had received that name, instead
of altar, at the Reformation, as, from the mode
adopted by the Papists in the celebration of their
worship, the people might perhaps be led to con-
clude that there was little difference between the
idolatry of the Popish Mass and the Holy Commu-
nion of the Church. But the words table and altar,
although perhaps necessary to be distinguished
when superstitious associations were powerful, are
arbitrary words, and, in some cases, are synonymous.
Bishop Ridley, in 1550, seeing that disputes were
likely to arise amongst the ignorant, which, as the
first indications of Puritan fanaticism, began early to
appear, issued an injunction, in which he ordered
the communion table or altar to be removed from
the east end, the place which primitive antiquity
had invariably assigned to it, to the chancel of the
church, and he exhorted " the curates, churchwar-
dens, and questmen, to erect and set up the Lord's
Board, after the form of an honest table, decently
covered, in such place of the choir or chancel as shall
be thought most meet by their discretion and agree-
ment, so that the ministers with the communicants
may have their places separated from the rest of the
people." This simple mode, which militates against
the Presbyterian fashion of having moveable tables,
was nevertheless disregarded when the enthusiasm
began to spread. It has been justly observed, that
a contempt for the temples consecrated to divine
service, and of those things which are employed in
70 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
that sacred service, in many cases induces a con-
tempt for the great object of universal reverence ;
and, under the Christian dispensation, an affected
stoicism w^th respect to those outward signs which
set forth man's salvation, is an indication rather of
obstinate pride, than of a desire for primitive sim-
plicity. On the same principle, the man who can
employ the Christian temple for profane purposes,
who feels no emotions when he enters it as erected
for the public worship of his Maker, who can use
for carnal or selfish ends those peculiar objects
which it contains, without any feeling that his rash-
ness is deserving of the punishment of heaven ; such
a man, be he Puritan, Presbyterian, Quaker, or sec-
tarian of any description, has yet to learn the first
principles of religion ; and, perhaps, when his reason
triumphs over his enthusiasm, he will find that the
practices of neither Puritanism, Presbyterianism,
Quakerism, nor any other modern schism, are defensi-
ble upon any principles of genuine religion ; and this
also will he discover, that an affected dislike to every
primitive custom is no proof of orthodoxy, but
rather an evidence that reason is obscured by igno-
rance or fanatical zeal. For does it not frequently
happen, that when men leave the church of their
fathers, enticed by schismatical novelties, no limits
can be placed to their wild enthusiasm, and they are
speedily beyond the reach of argument and reason ?
And, as in practical religion, they who " run well
for a season," do frequently " draw back unto per-
dition," and make " shipwreck of faith, and of a
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 71
good conscience," so in religion generally, and the
Church in particular, they whose minds are capti-
vated by novelties, whether in doctrine or polity,
are those in whom error is inveterate, and prejudice
incurable.
Much has been said, by those who affect to be
liberal, on Archbishop Laud's conduct concerning
the external ceremonies of the Church, and to meet
all their objections would require an extended dis-
cussion, which at present is impossible. But I am
prepared to shew, that his orders with respect to the
communion table were not only wise and salutary, but
highly necessary for the purposes of devotion ; for,
not to speak now of the authority which he had from
the apostolic and primitive Church, nothing is more
evident than this, that, if there be no excitements to
devotion, and no regard paid to the place where the
holy mysteries of our faith are administered, from
the nature of the human constitution, a philosophical
religion must ensue, as fatal in its effects as super-
stition ; and the plain and palpable doctrine, that the
holy sacraments are the means of conferring grace,
is supplanted by the schismatical notion, that they
are mere rites of commemoration. Let the candid
reader only reflect: When Archbishop Laud made his
primary and second visitations, he found the churches
and the communion table grossly desecrated and
profaned, in consequence of that laxity of govern-
ment, and that encouragement to the notions of
Puritanism, which Abbot's unhappy primacy had
extensively generated. On the communion tables
72 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
the church-wardens kept their accounts, and em-
ployed them for the transaction of parish business ;
school-boys were taught to read and write upon
them, and Deposited upon them their hats and books;
during sermon they were employed as seats ; dogs
denied them ; those who happened to be repairing
the -church would drive them full of nails ; nay, such
were the habitual carelessness and irreverence of those
concerned, that in one place a dog actually seized
and made off with the whole of the sacramental
bread, and in other places, the wine had been brought
to the holy table in pint pots and bottles l , and this
was defended by the Puritans, by their superstitious
argument of spiritual worship. Never, perhaps,
was there a more lamentable representation of the
Temple of Jerusalem in the days of our divine Sa-
viour, than in the wretched times of which I now
write, when, in many cases, God's house, instead of
being a " house of prayer," became literally " a den
of thieves."
Bishop Williams of Lincoln had at first, "when he
was in good humour," as Heylin expresses it, taken
due cognizance of these matters, and had made
very material alterations in St. Martin's, Leicester;
and the altar of his own chapel was more splen-
didly decorated than many in the kingdom. But,
being now determined to oppose Laud by every
expedient, he, on the 13th of December, 1633,
thought proper to abrogate this in a particular in-
1 Heylin, p. 269. 272.
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 73
stance, whereby he directly encouraged those acts
of profaneness. Fortunately, however, Laud was
metropolitan, and Williams one of his suffragans,
so that the former was possessed of a power which
enabled him to rectify abuses. Williams' conduct
was certified to Laud, and, accordingly, in his visi-
tation, he suspended the jurisdiction of the Bishop
of Lincoln during its continuance. The Bishop
opposed this act, which appeared to him an unwar-
rantable assumption of power; and in a letter to the
Archbishop, he writes, that, in examining the records
of several registers, he found that his diocese had
never been visited since 1285, during the episco-
pate of Dr. Robert Grosthead, and never afterwards,
but by a bull from the Pope, or, since the Refor-
mation, by a letter of assistance from the King,
because the revenues of the bishopric had been
seized by the Duke of Somerset in the reign of
Edward VI., and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction
being re-modelled, his fees, arising thence, were his
chief support ; moreover, this metropolitan visita-
tion would be much more grievous to him, as it was
the year of his own triennial visitation. Archbishop
Laud replied, that he would not do him injustice,
but that he was resolved to assert his own metro-
politan rights. It was agreed to refer the matter
to the Attorney- General, who decided in favour of
the primate, and Laud produced sufficient proofs
that his procedure was according to ancient metro-
politan law. The objections of the bishop, how-
ever, were heard by the Privy Council, and were
74< LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
proved to be groundless ; the Vicar- General pro-
ceeded in his visitation, which was more vexatious
to Williams, because his old enemy Sir John Lamb,
now Dean of the Arches, presided, and endeavoured,
as far as possible, to enjoin the commands of the
Church, leaving the Bishop to see that these in-
junctions were observed. But no sooner had the
Vicar-General removed into another diocese, than
Williams proceeded to visit his own diocese in per-
son, bestowing especial marks of favour towards
those who were of the Puritan faction. " Inso-
much," says Heylin, who relates the above facts at
length, " that meeting in the archdeaconry of
Buckingham with one Dr. Bret, a very grave and
reverend man, but one who was supposed to be
inclined that way, he embraced him with these words
of St. Augustine, ' Quamvis Episcopus major est
Presbytero, Augustinus tamen minor est Hiero-
nymo V "
'Heylin, p. 269, 270, 271. The circumstances of this visi-
tation excited Williams to publish his " Letters to the Vicar of
Grantham," which he had written in 1627, though at first he
did not intend to publish them. They were answered by Dr.
Heylin, in a work entitled, " A Coal from the Altar." To this
the Bishop replied, in his " Holy Table, name and thing, more
anciently, properly, and literally used under the New Testament,
than that of Altar, written long ago by a Minister in Lincoln-
shire, in answer to Dr. Coal, a judicious Divine in Queen
Marie's days. Printed for the use of the Diocese of Lincoln,"
1637. 4to. Dr. Heylin answered this in his Antldotum Lin-
colinense, which the Bishop intended to review, but was pre-
vented by his misfortunes.
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 75
It may be here remarked, that all the Archbishop
required them to do in his visitations was, to remove
the table to the eastern extremity of the church, to
elevate it a little above the level of the pavement>
and to rail it in, to protect it from profanation. He
proceeded on this fundamental principle, that there
should be a difference between the placing of the
communion table in the church, and the disposal of
a man's table in his own house : having, moreover,
the law on his side, as set forth by the injunctions
of Queen Elizabeth, that the table should be where
the altar formerly stood. No reasonable man will ob-
ject to these regulations. Even supposing that he is
puritanically inclined, if he be a sincere worshipper,
the communion service will not be the less effica-
cious because it is towards the east ; and in oppos-
ing it he is equally dogmatical ; as if indeed there
could be no right communion unless it were in the
middle of the church. The elevation of the place
where the table stands is of little consequence, and
the arguments against it are lame and objection-
able. Prosecutions, no doubt, followed, against
those who refused compliance, and it is admitted,
that in some instances they were severe ; but it
must not be forgotten that this severity origi-
nated from the obstinacy of the parties in fault.
If they were so violently opposed to the Church,
why did they not leave it ? No man is compelled
to remain in any religious communion : Christi-
anity, or rather the Church, is a voluntary associa-
tion ; but he who enters it pledges himself to con-
76 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
form to its regulations. Was it to be expected
that the Church should resign the customs of anti-
quity, which the Puritans themselves acknowledged
were not essential to salvation, to gratify the fan-
cies of a few, who obstinately persisted in attaching
themselves to its communion, while, at the same
time, they were undermining its constitution ? The
integrity of such persons may be justly questioned.
At least, the law of the Church is not to be changed
at will, nor is it to become subservient to the pre-
judices of a few, who knew that law before they
received its ordination who pledged themselves
that they would obey their rulers, and who, being
rational men, were expected to be guided by their
reason in their adherence to, or choice of, the
Church of England, as resulting from a conviction of
its apostolical constitution. Let not these remarks
be misconstrued. Should the argument be turned
against me on the conduct of the Reformers in
departing from the Church of Rome, whose valid
ordination they had received, I beg it to be under-
stood, that I am not here alluding to doctrines, but
to things which are acknowledged to be absolutely
not essential to salvation ; yet even the Reformers
abandoned the Popish Church not so much for its
doctrines, as they agreed with it in fundamentals,
as for the abuse of those doctrines by crafty subtle-
ties and cunning inventions. Archbishop Laud, it
may be safely alleged, acted in no way which he was
not warranted to do by Scripture and the practice
of the primitive Church.
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 77
In the visitation which the Archbishop performed
by his Vicar-General, Sir Nathaniel Brent, the French
and Dutch congregations were taken under his cogni-
zance, and those members of them who were born in
England were enjoined to attend the parish churches,
being English subjects, while those who were fo-
reigners, whether ministers or laymen, were enjoined
to use the liturgy translated into their respective
languages. But among them, also, perverseness had
its influence, and many of them rather than comply
quitted the kingdom. Now, though such an interfe-
rence would be injudicious in the present day, it was
not so in the reign of Charles I. Those congrega-
tions were only tolerated by the Government,
though they consisted of foreigners ; and it was at
least possible, that from them might emanate that
Calvinistic spirit of faction, to which the Puritans
were so prone, as those congregations were erected
on " Calvin's model." By Laud's vigorous exertions,
the foreign chaplaincies had been at length brought
under the jurisdiction of the Church, so that fo-
reigners would no longer in derision inquire, what
religion the English professed, since they had found
in one factory, or military chaplaincy, Calvinism ;
in another, Independency ; in a third, Anabaptism ;
in a fourth, Doctrinal Puritanism, and every fashion-
able sect ; all professing themselves to be of the
Church of England, while the conscientious minis-
ters of the Church were few in number. But in
England the foreign congregations stood aloof and
dismembered from the Church, which was essentially
78 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
Protestant ; their condition, therefore, was very dif-
ferent from that of the English congregations abroad,
which were some of them in Roman Catholic coun-
tries, and all of them attached to factories or em-
bassies, whereas those in England were not in that
situation, their members having established them-
selves on this side of the channel under no patron-
age, and solely for their own aggrandizement. Here,
then, was an open encouragement to Puritanism.
If those congregations of native foreigners were of
the Protestant faith, why not of the Church of Eng-
land ; and if they used a liturgy, as they professed
to do, why not the liturgy of the Church ? But if
they were not of the Church, then unquestionably
some account was to be taken of them, and if the
opinions they inculcated were in opposition to it,
they could not expect a greater toleration than the
Papists; their opinions, perhaps, being not less
dangerous and pernicious.
In Archbishop Laud's conduct, then, there was both
reason and prudence. We must not confound the
practice of the nineteenth century with that of the
seventeenth, nor judge of the latter by the former.
It is needless to mince the matter : it was enforcing
a test it was insisting on conformity ; and yet I
find an author, whose party is by no means remark-
ably attached to the Church, and who has affected
a wondrous zeal for what that party terms " civil
and religious liberty all over the world," confessing,
that, in certain circumstances, not only ought the
press to be restrained, lest it disseminate fanaticism
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 79
and sedition, but also that tests are at times neces-
sary for the peace of society l . Although he has
contradicted this admission frequently in his discus-
sions, yet he has admitted what I now state, that at
no period were these more necessary than in the
reign of Charles I. The case, therefore, is obvious.
Those foreigners might have inculcated opinions di-
rectly contrary to the state, civil and ecclesiastical ;
and yet, if cognizance was taken of them, they might
have cried out, " Liberty of conscience, we are fo-
reigners, it is the faith of our country." Were there
sufficient reasons to prevent the Church from keep-
ing a watchful eye over them, or would the Puritan
have been satisfied if the same excuses had been made
in his conventicle ? Or, were the King of England
to be denounced as a heretic by a congregation of
foreign Papists established here, would it be an
exculpation that this is the notion of the Popish
Church ? Or, were opinions subversive of the Church
from whom they enjoy protection, to be publicly
taught in a foreign Protestant congregation, are
they beyond the reach of law because they are fo-
reigners ? or are foreigners, like the ancient Israel-
ites, entitled to do that which is right in their own
eyes ? If foreigners were not pleased with the
terms by which they were to be protected, why did
they come to this country at all, or why did they not
take their departure ?
The enthusiasm of the times, however, which re -
Hallam's Constitutional History of England, 4to. vol. ii.
7
80 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
quired to be especially restrained, induced the Arch-
bishop to make certain inquiries respecting these
congregations ; and accordingly, before his first me-
tropolitan year had ended, he proposed to them some
queries, which they were expected to answer. " 1.
What liturgy they used ? whether it was the French
or Dutch ? 2. How many of them had been born
within the realm ? and 3. Whether those who were
subjects by birth would conform to the Church of
England ?" These questions were proposed to the
foreign congregations at Canterbury, Sandwich, and
Maidstone, on the 14th of April 1634, and they were
allowed to the 5th of May to prepare their answers.
At the time appointed, after producing a list of ex-
emptions, they intended to report that they used that
liturgy which the French Reformed Church both in
France and Holland had used since the Reformation,
and which they had used for sixty or seventy years,
since their first settlement ; that they did not use
the French translation of the English liturgy ; and
that they knew not whether it was translated into
Dutch. About a third part, they alleged, of the
heads of families were natives, the others having
arrived within a few years ; and they begged to be
excused from answering the third question, since it
would disunite their churches, and render burden-
some their maintenance of the poor. On consult-
ing, however, with their adherents in London, they
resolved not to present these answers, but claimed
exemptions by the protections granted in the reigns
of Edward VI., Elizabeth, and King James.
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 81
This was mere evasion, for the foreign congrega-
tion to which Edward VI. had granted a protection
when governed by Alascus, had departed on the
death of that prince ; and none of the foreign con-
gregations then existing could pretend to be the
same, or that the protection extended to persons
not only in esse, but in posse. They could not,
therefore, plead, that they were exempted from
archiepiscopal jurisdiction, because they had no au-
thentic original charter on which they rested their
exemptions. On these grounds Laud enjoined, that
all members of the foreign congregations, who were
natives born, should attend their parish churches,
and that those who were not natives should use
the Liturgy of the Church translated into their
own language. This order was issued on the 19th
December, and on the 15th of March, 1634-5, they
were expected to conform. In the interval, how-
ever, they assembled a Synod in London, and re-
solved to address the Archbishop. They accord-
ingly laid before him their reasons of dissent, which
having been duly considered, received this reply :
" That he had resolved to make a general visita-
tion of his province, and that he would begin at
home that he did nothing without the consent of
the King and Council that the letters patent of
Edward VI. were no proofs that their churches
were nurseries for schism, which it was his duty
to prevent that it were better there were no
foreigners in England, than that the Church should
be endangered that they endeavoured to exalt
VOL. II. G
82 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
themselves as a state within a state, and had
boasted that they feared not his injunctions, that
he governed solely by the canons, and, as long as
he did so, the King would maintain him in his
authoritythat their congregations, and the silence
of two or three preachers, were not to be balanced
with the peace and happiness of the Church of Eng-
land that their ignorance of the English language
was no excuse, as they knew it very well to trans-
act their ordinary business and that he was re-
solved they should ^comply with his injunctions at
the appointed time 1 ."
They had recourse to various methods to avoid
this injunction, and a petition was forthwith got
up to be presented to the King ; the petitioners, in
the mean time, exerting themselves as much as pos-
sible to procure influence at court. But when this
petition was examined, it was found to contain
nothing satisfactory; neither did they condescend
to specify the peculiar discipline of their churches,
resting chiefly on their alleged grounds of exemp-
tion. The King, therefore, insisted on the first
injunction ; and the Archbishop qualified the second,
by ordering that those who were foreigners by birth
should still attend their own peculiar worship. This
temperate measure, however, was by no means
satisfactory, and the French congregation in Can-
terbury stimulated the Mayor of that city to use his
1 Heylin, p. 260264. Troubles and Trials, p. 165. 374.
Ncal, vol. ii. p. 269.
7
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 83
exertions with the Archbishop, that, as in all pro-
bability the foreigners would depart, great incon-
venience would result from an additional number of
paupers being thrown on the city, which they had
hitherto supported. Finally, they practised so well
by delays, that, in 1635, they obtained an addi-
tional proviso, that the foreigners should con-
tribute to the support of their ministers, and the
maintenance of their poor, and that a protection,
if they desired it, would be obtained from the King,
against all who should molest them in their manu-
factures ! .
The Bishop of Norwich vigorously enforced his
metropolitan's injunctions, but we have only the
authority of Roger Coke, a violent Puritan, for
the assertion, that by them many thousands of
families were frightened, and induced to emigrate
to New England, to the ruin of the trade of
Ipswich and other places. Certain it is, that the
Puritan faction secretly abetted the turbulent fo-
reigners, who seem not to have comprehended the
Archbishop's intentions, and whose obstinacy af-
forded considerable grounds for suspicion. So un-
settled, however, were the people, and so much
had the leaven of Puritanism increased their op-
position, that all the wise designs of Laud were in
many cases frustrated by the remissness of those
who managed the parochial matters. If the foreign
congregations were eventually broken up, it was
1 Heylin, p. 264, 265. Echard, vol. ii. p. 114.
G 2
84 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
not so much the fault of Laud as of themselves ;
and one thing at least is certain, that they did not
depart from the kingdom, until they had been
enriched by successful trading. The grand design
of the Archbishop was peace and unity ; he wished
to see the Church strengthened against all its ene-
mies, whether Papists or sectaries ; and in order to
effect this, he allowed the clergy the utmost lati-
tude of interpretation, that is, he insisted not, like
the Puritans, that they should preach certain doc-
trines, and adopt a certain phraseology, but, as
long as they held fast the fundamental doctrines of
Christianity, all he required was conformity to dis-
cipline. It was otherwise with the Puritans ; those
who did not preach predestination were denounced
as Papists and Atheists : toleration formed no part
of their creed ; their champion Abbot had declared
against it ; they themselves had often opposed it,
and like their brethren, the Scotch Covenanters,
they declared it " a hideous monster." Yet, even
for political reasons, Laud was completely justifi-
able in his conduct towards those foreign sectaries
in that age of fermentation : arid, though it was
afterwards alleged against him as a crime, because
he had, according to the veracity of his accusers,
' traitorously endeavoured to cause division and
discord between the Church of England and other
reformed churches, and to that end hath suppressed
and abrogated the privileges and immunities, which
had been by his Majesty and his royal ancestors
granted to the French and Dutch churches in this
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 85
kingdom," yet, had not the minds of his enemies
been miserably perverted, it appears to me, that
the satisfactory answer which Laud gave to this
charge was completely conclusive on the subject.
With scorn he repelled the accusation, that he had
endeavoured to create such an invidious division :
had he done so, he said, it would have been an un-
christian and unworthy act ; but, even admitting
it, he denied that it was treason, as his accusers
alleged. He proved that those foreigners had not
used their privileges in a becoming manner ; and the
reasons he assigned for his conduct were the most
cogent and satisfactory. " 1. Thus living as they
did," says he, " and standing so strictly to their
own discipline, wrought upon the party in England
which were addicted to them, and made them more
averse than otherwise they would have been, to the
present government of the Church of England. 2.
That by this means they lived in England, as if
they were a kind of God's Israel in Egypt, to the
great dishonour of the Church of England, to which
at first they fled for shelter against persecution.
And in that time of their danger, the Church of
England was in their esteem not only a true but a
glorious Church ; but by this favour which their
church received, it grew up, and encroached upon
us, till it became a Church within a Church, and a
kind of state within a state. And this I ever held
dangerous, how small soever might be the begin-
ning. 3. That they live here, and enjoy all free-
dom, arid yet for the most part scorn to learn the
8(j LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
language, or to converse with any, save for the
advantage of bargaining : and will take no English-
man to be their apprentice, nor teach their manu-
factures, which I did then, and do still think, un-
reasonable 7 . 4. That for religion, if, after so many
descents of their children born in the land, and
therefore native subjects, these children of theirs
should refuse to pray and communicate with the
Church of England, into whose bosom their pa-
rents fled at first for succour, I thought then, and
do still think, that no state could with safety or in
wisdom endure it. And this concerning their chil-
dren was all that was desired by me 1 ." It is,
moreover, a remarkable fact, that though the dio-
cese of Norwich, according to Roger Coke and
other Puman enthusiasts, was the scene where
many severities were practised, the Archbishop
actually received a letter dated 14th of September,
1635, from the ministers and elders of the French
and Dutch churches in the city of Norwich, thank-
ing him for the conduct he had displayed in all
those proceedings, which letter the Archbishop de-
clared he had in his own possession *.
But those who condemn Laud for his discipline
and love of order, either through their spurious
liberality, or their limited comprehensions, lose
sight of the grand object he had in view. This was
no other than to make the Protestantism of the
1 History of Troubles and Trials, p. 165, 166.
2 Archdeacon Echard's History, vol. i. p. 114.
1634.] . OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 87
Church of England completely to supplant the
Popish superstition : in truth, it was his design,
whether visionary or not, I will not say, but at
least desirable, to pave the way for the fall of
Popery, by erecting on its ruins the Catholic Epis-
copacy of England. We are informed, " that it
was hoped there would be a Church of England in
all the courts of Christendom, in the chief cities of
the great Mahometan princes, and in all the known
parts of the world, by which it might become as
diffused and catholic as the Church of Rome ;"
and " he had considerable success in this design.'*
Nor was this the result of a spirit of proselytism,
for Laud was not the man to stoop beneath his
dignity as a Protestant Bishop, even for the ad-
vancement of the Church to which he was zealously
attached ; but it resulted from his love of the doc-
trines of the Protestant Reformation, in the dis-
semination of which he had employed his talents,
his influence, and his personal labours.
The see of Canterbury will never be a sinecure ;
nor was Laud disposed to take his ease in this im-
portant situation. No man better understood the
duties of a Christian bishop : he was moved, doubt-
less, by something of that spirit which induced the
Apostle of the Gentiles to exclaim, that he had
" the care of all the churches ;" nor had Laud,
from the day on which he first entered upon an
active life, known what it was to enjoy peace in the
domestic circle. It was not that he delighted in
bustle ; but the times were too troublesome, and
88 LIFE AND TIMES [1634
he hesitated not as to the conduct which it became
him to pursue. This year we find him employed
in improving and settling the revenues of the
London clergy, which had been heretofore barely
sufficient for their maintenance in the metropolis
of a great kingdom. When it is considered, that
the expences in a large city greatly exceed those of
a country benefice, that in the dense population of
city parishes, where there are people of all orders
and conditions, the duties are laborious and unceas-
ing, it will readily be conceded, that, especially in
such a city as London, the clergy are entitled to
greater remuneration than those who are beneficed
on a country cure. Moreover, London, having in
the days of Laud, as is the case at this time, an
important influence on the whole kingdom, the city
being the emporium of commerce, trade, and ma-
nufactures, and having great influence upon every
other city and province, it was necessary that it
should be reduced to that conformity which would
render it an object of imitation to others. On ac-
count of the poverty of the beneficed clergy, they
were compelled to do many things derogatory to
their dignity; to accept of lectureships, which
otherwise they would not have done ; to connive at
many things, that they might not disoblige their
chief parishioners. The lecturers, in the mean
time, who were what Dr. Heylin aptly terms them,
creatures of the people, as must always be the
case where a minister is elected by popular suffrage,
assiduous in underrating the labours of the
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 89
regular clergy, endeavouring, by mean submission
and flattery, to obtain the favour of the wealthy
citizens; and besides, these very lectureships were
maintained at the expence of the regular clergy,
and on the tythes and offerings which had always
been their due. It was doubtless right, if the in-
habitants of a parish wished to have a lecturer, that
there should be one, always making a proviso, that
the regular incumbent was not to suffer in his legal
revenues ; and it was the duty of the bishop first to
ascertain whether the proposed lectureship was ex-
pedient ; secondly, how it was to be maintained ;
and, thirdly, that the person appointed was well
affected towards the Church. But when, setting
aside the fact, that those popular lecturers were in
general violent Puritans, who hated the Church,
not those who were disposed to support it, it was
proved that the regular clergy were sufferers by
them in every respect, it was time to take into
consideration to what purpose the parochial dues
were appropriated, and who received the benefit of
them, whether the legal and qualified incumbent,
or the upstart favourite of popular election.
It is an established principle, however much it may
be clamorously disputed by Dissenters, that popular
election must inevitably bring along with it a desire
to accommodate itself to the prevailing taste, and
on this principle it is easy to account for the nume-
rous sects which have every where sprung up in
Protestant countries, and in some places obtained
the mastery ; for the malecontents, well knowing that
90 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
their passions will not be inflamed, nor their enthu-
siasm gratified, in the Church, by the wildness of
declamation and the extravagance of rhetorical ha-
rangues, betake themselves to those expedients by
which they/ can be satisfied, and flatter their pride
by the power which they assume over the person
whom they appoint as their minister. The Church
indeed is a gainer by the departure of those discon-
tented men from its pale, but it is not just that it
should be a loser in its temporalities by their extra-
vagance : for, although liberty of conscience may be
conceded to every man, yet the ecclesiastical consti-
tution is not to be reduced and modified according
to the vagaries of every succeeding generation who
choose to enter their dissent, not perhaps so much on
account of doctrines, as on account of forms which
they at the same time acknowledge to be of minor
importance. In the primitive, and most certainly
in the apostolical, times, there was no such thing as
popular election. The apostles, the first bishops of
the Church, sent whom they pleased as presbyters
to the individual churches, without consulting the
people, and this practice was continued in the early
ages ; and I have all along been convinced, that no
man who reads the Acts of the Holy Apostles, and
the Epistles of St. Paul, can advocate the polity, if
it may be called so, of Independency. However,
without further digression, when the Archbishop set
himself to make inquiry respecting the revenues of
the London benefices, *he found them in a state
which well deserved his consideration. In the time
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 91
of Henry VIII., the sum of 2s. 9d. per pound was
agreed to be paid by the citizens of London to their
clergy, but so many evasions were made, that the
clergy in the reign of James I. were compelled to
have recourse to the Exchequer, and it was decided
by that court that this tythe on houses justly be-
longed to the benefice. Still the clergy had to con-
tend with the refractory citizens, who being inflamed
by Puritanism, were now more obstinate in their
opposition. In the petition which they were forced
to present this year to the King, they declared, that
they were " very poor and mean, many of the bene-
fices not worth 40/. per annum, most not 100/.,
only one, Christ Church, a city impropriation, worth
3501. ;" and they declared, that they had no means
" to discover the true value of their said rents, by
the oath of the parties, for many London landlords
(to the defeating of the petitioners, and endangering
their own souls) had, and did daily continue double
leases, or they made provision, by which they called
some part of the house rent by the name of rent,
and all the rent, which, being paid quarterly, by the
name of fine, income, or the like V The case was
remitted by the King to the Archbishop, and along
with him, to the Lord Keeper Coventry, the Earl
Marshal, the Bishop of London, Lord Cottington,
Secretary Windebank, and the Chief Justice Rich-
ardson, or to any five or three of them, the Arch-
bishop always to be one, to examine into the busi-
1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 2G9.
92 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
ness, and to rectify abuses *. Little, however, was
done till the promotion of Bishop Juxon to the office
of Lord Treasurer, when the condition of the clergy
was considerably improved ; and doubtless the Arch-
bishop would have succeeded in his benevolent in-
tentions had not those troubles commenced, the
preludes to future disasters, when the attention of
the court was turned to other matters connected
with the city of London. Yet the Archbishop's
concern in this important business was afterwards
one of the crimes alleged against him 2 ; for this
reason, no doubt, that " they who conceived 2000/.
of yearly rent not enough for an alderman, think
100 L per annum, (as was affirmed by one of their
number) too much for a minister 3 ."
This year, too, the Archbishop, unwearied in his
assiduity, did great service to the Irish Church, by
obtaining for its clergy from the King, a grant of all
the crown impropriations ; but on this subject
let us hear the old historian : " At this time mi-
serable was the maintenance of the Irish clergy,
where scandalous means made scandalous ministers.
And yet, a Popish priest would grow fat in that
parish where a Protestant would be famished, who
has not a livelihood on the oblations of those of his
own religion. But now such impropriations as were
in the crown were restored to the Church by the
King, to a great diminution of the royal revenue,
1 Rushwortli, ut sup. p. 270 272.
8 Troubles and Trials, p. 251, 252. 3 Heylin, p. 268.
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 93
though his Majesty never was sensible of any loss
to himself, if thereby gain might redound to God
by his ministers. Bishop Laud was a worthy in-
strument in moving the King to so pious a work,
and yet this his procuring of the Irish, did not
satisfy those who were discontented at his opposition
of the English impropriations ; thus, those conceived
to have done hurt at home, will hardly make repa-
ration by other good deeds done at a distance V
On the subject of Ireland, I enter a little into de-
tail, only, however, connected with the Archbishop.
That island, famous to this day as the strong-hold
of Popish superstition and Popish turbulence, had
attracted the attention of the last Parliament, and
in the Remonstrance of the House of Commons, it
had been specially noticed. " For Ireland," said
the King in reply, " we think, in the matter of re-
ligion, that it is not worse than Queen Elizabeth left
it ; and for other affairs, it is as good as we found
it, nay, perhaps better ; and we take it for a great
disparagement of our government that it should
be voiced, that new monasteries, nunneries, and
other superstitious houses, are erected and reple-
nished in Dublin, and other great towns of the king-
dom." The Remonstrance of the Commons, never-
theless, induced Laud to turn his attention towards
this kingdom, and accordingly he wrote to Bedell,
Bishop elect of Kilmore, to transmit to him a com-
1 Fuller's Church History, book xi. p. 149. Troubles and
Trials, p. 297, 298.
04 LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
pleto account of the state of the Church and king-
dom. Lord Falkland was then Lord Deputy, and
on one occasion, Usher, the primate, and others of
the bishops had signed a protestation against the
toleration of Popery. Usher being a rigid Cal-
vinist, though in the latter part of his life, as I
have remarked, he entertained other sentiments,
had done his utmost to introduce the Lambeth
Articles into that kingdom. On the first of April
1630, Dr. Bedell returned an answer to Laud's
letter, in which he delineated the Romish practices.
" That there was a Popish clergy more numerous
by far than the English clergy ; that they were in
full exercise of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction by their
Vicars-General and Officials, who were so confi-
dent as to excommunicate those that came to the
courts of the Protestant Bishops." In short, that
the Protestant Church was in a miserable condition
when compared with the Popish, though the former
was certainly not worse since the King's Accession.
Laud was not unmindful of the distressed state
of Ireland, and the appointment of his friend, Lord
Wentworth, as Lord Deputy, enabled him to pro-
mote the welfare of that Church. Accordingly,
we find Laud, while as yet Bishop of London, thus
writing to Wentworth, after his arrival in Ireland :
" I heartily and humbly pray you to give me leave
to recommend these particulars following, both to
your memory and your justice, so soon as it pleases
God you shall be settled in Ireland, and that you
will be pleased to consider so many particulars as
1634.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 95
concern the Church and religion, with as much
favour as justice can give way unto you. 1. I hum-
bly pray your Lordship to remember what you
have promised me concerning the church at Dub-
lin, which hath for divers years been used for a
stable by your predecessors, and to dedicate it to
God's service, as you shall there examine and find the
merits of the cause." Two other particulars follow
relating to private matters, then he adds, " 4. That,
in the great cause of impropriations, which are yet
remaining in his Majesty's gift, and which he is
most graciously willing to give back to God, and
his service, you will do whatsoever may justly be
done for the honour and service of our two great
masters, God and the King, that you would coun-
tenance and assist the Lord Primate of Armagh,
(Usher,) in all things belonging to this great ser-
vice : and particularly for the procuring of a true
and just valuation of them, that the King may
know what he gives to that Church. I pray, my
Lord, be hearty in this, for I shall think myself
very happy, if God be pleased to spare my life
to see this business ended." After desiring
Wentworth to claim a debt from the Bishop of
Waterford, Dr. Michael Boyle, of 351. due by him
to St. John's College, Oxford, " as appears by a
note under Dr. Juxon's hand, then President of
the College," which Laud presumes he will not
deny ; but, fearing a denial, " I here send your
Lordship the bond itself, which he entrusted to the
College, according to course, when he was made
< )G LIFE AND TIMES [1634.
Fellow, and two letters which he himself sent to
me, while I was President, acknowledging the debt,
and demanding forbearance," and, after desiring
Wentworth that he " will be honourably pleased to
receive the/ College money," he observes, " I fur-
ther pray your Lordship to take notice by the Lord
Primate of Armagh, of the readiness of the Lord
Chief Justice of Ireland to set forward the main-
tenance of the ministers of religion in that king-
dom, and to encourage him to advance the same.
As also, to move the Lord Chief Justice for his
opinion, what legal course he shall think best to be
held for the present means of curates out of these
impropriations in Ireland 1 ."
This is the first letter written by Laud to Went-
worth, after the removal of the latter to Ireland, and
is dated London, 30th April, 1633 ; for Laud was
then in that see. But, that he had determined to
do something in this matter, is evident from " the
things which he had projected to do, if God blessed
him in them," and which he had recorded in the
rude order already before the reader, about the
year 1630. One of these things, it will be re-
collected, was, " to procure King Charles to give
all the impropriations yet remaining in the crown
within the realm of Ireland to that poor Church,"
to which, in an after period, he has added, " Done,
and settled there." It matters not whether he was
1 The Bishop of London to the Lord Deputy of Ireland,
April 30, 1633. Stafford's Letters, vol. i.
J635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 97
first prompted to this by Archbishop Usher 1 : still
the merit of that great service to the Protestant reli-
gion belongs to him, restrained as that religion has
been since the days of Laud, by the tricks and the
cunning of priests and others in Ireland. The cor-
respondence between Laud and Wentworth at this
period is most interesting, as from it we at once as-
certain the secret feelings of those two great men.
Long extracts might perhaps be deemed tedious, and
therefore I forbear : but these letters are doubly inte-
resting, because they disclose to us that entire con-
fidence, and union of heart and soul, which are so
conspicuous in their intercourse, and which can be
ascertained far more easily by this correspondence
than by a bare recital of facts.
On the 24th of September, 1633, Laud had been
chosen Chancellor of the University of Dublin, and on
the 13th of May, 1634, he received the seals of office.
This brought the Archbishop into a closer connexion
with Ireland, and made him more alive to the
interests of the Irish Church, that its " juris-
diction might be maintained," as he observes in the
letter to Wentworth, already quoted, " against re-
cusants, and all other factionists whatsoever." On
his election to the Chancellorship, the Archbishop
thus writes : " As for the College, I am very sorry
they have chosen me Chancellor, and if they will
follow the directions I have given them by my Lord
Primate, I hope they will send me a resignation,
1 Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 749.
VOL. II. H
98 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
that I may give it over, and your Lordship be
chosen, being upon the spot, and able to do them
much good. As for their statutes, if they need any
revisal, I shall not refuse that pains ; but, before
I can enter/ upon that service, if they have a confir-
mation of their statutes under the Broad Seal of the
kingdom, or this, I must have a commission under
the same Seal, to authorize me to alter or do what
I think proper with them, else I may not interfere.
If this shall be thought fit, I will presently send
for a copy of their statutes, and such exceptions as
the wisest men in that society can make against
them, and so proceed ." But, although the Arch-
bishop thus expresses a reluctance to accept the
office, both on account of his numerous other duties,
and from a modest diffidence, that, because he was
not on the spot, he would not be able to do the
University much good ; yet that Society is also in-
debted to him in no ordinary degree. His proposal
for the statutes was carried into effect, and,
among his " projected things," we find this one :
" A new charter for the College near Dublin, to be
procured of his Majesty, and a new body of statutes
made to rectify that government ;" to which in an
after period he added, " Done" Again, in another
letter on this subject, he remarks, " Concerning the
College at Dublin, since they have made me Chan-
cellor, and your Lordship approves of them in so
Archbishop Laud to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, March
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 99
doing, I will begin to take them to task, and, if I
have so much leisure, there comes a letter with
them to the College, which I pray command to be
delivered." And, in the same letter, after sportively
remarking, " By St. Dunstan, if it were not for
swearing l , I see you guess unhappily, that your
friends can tell how to be merry as well as serious
together, and you shall not need to intreat us to
continue it, for we have no other purpose ;" the
good Primate then adds, " From your mirth, you
leap into those directions which at your entreaty I
gave, and I am glad you will so soon take order that
divine service be read throughout all the churches,
be the company that vouchsafe to eome never so
few. Let God have his whole service with reve-
rence, and he will quickly send more to help to
perform it. For the holding of two livings, and
but two with cure, since you approve me in the
substance, I will yield to you in the circumstance
of time. Indeed, my Lord, I knew it was bad,
very bad, in Ireland, but that it was so stark naught
I did not believe. Six benefices not able to find the
minister in cloaths ! In six parishes scarce six to
come to church ! Good God ! Stay the time you
must, till there be some means, and some more con-
formable people V
It were easy to multiply extracts from this inte-
resting correspondence, which would more fully
1 The Archbishop, in this and other 'letters, ridicules the de-
testable vice of profane swearing.
2 Archbishop Laud to the Lord Deputy, May 14, 1634.
H 2
LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
evince Laud's care of the Irish Church. Yet one
or two must not be omitted. In the Earl of Cork's
business about the removal of the monument which
that nobleman had set up at the east end of St.
Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and which Wentworth,
at Laud's recommendation, had ordered to be re-
moved, the Archbishop writes thus : " Now for
your question, what will my Lord of Cork say ? I
cannot tell : but sure I am, so many of the frater-
nity as think it Popery to set the communion-table
at the end of the chancel, and for the prebends to
come in their formalities to church, are either
ignorant or factious fools. But I warrant you,"
continues he, " that I am thought as odd an Arch-
bishop as you can be a Deputy, for my Lady Davies
prophesies against me, that I shall not many days
outlive the fifth of November." And he then in-
forms Wentworth of the individual who had pro-
claimed him a traitor, which he has noted in his
Diary, and of " another mad fellow, that comes
into court with a great sword by his side, and rails
upon the Archbishop, God knows for what, and
says, He will have justice of the King against me,
or take another course for it himself 1 ." To this
1 Archbishop Laud to the Lord Deputy, 15th of November,
1C33. Diary, p. 49. Heylin, p. 250, 251. This writer has
given the anecdote of Lady Davies at length. " And that the
other sex," says he, " might whet their tongues upon him also,
Lady Davies, widow of Sir John Davies, Attorney-General for
Ireland in King James' reign, scatters a prophecy against him.
This lady had before spoken something unlucky against the
Duke of Buckingham, importing that he would not live till the
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 101
Wentworth, after detailing to the Archbishop the
state of the Church, and that " to start aside
for such panic fears, or fantastic apparitions, as
a Prynne or an Elliot shall set up, were the
meanest folly in the whole world :" facetiously
adds, <f It contents me exceedingly to under-
stand of your Lordship's full health, which may
God long continue ; and, if sometimes a prophet
be not believed in his own country, then such a
end of August, which raised her to the reputation of a cunning
woman among the ignorant people : and now she prophesies of
the new Archbishop, that he should live but few days after the
5th of November, for which, and other prophecies of a more mis-
chievous nature, she was brought before the High Commission,
the woman being so mad, that she fancied the spirit of the prophet
Daniel to be infused into her body. And this she grounded on
an anagram which she made of her name, viz. Eleanor Dames
Reveal, Daniel : and though the anagram had too much by
an S, and too little by an L, yet she found Daniel and reveal
in it, and that served her turn. Much pains was taken by the
Court to dispossess her of this spirit, but all would not do, till
Lamb, then Dean of the Arches, shot her through and through
with an arrow borrowed from her own quiver : for whilst the
Bishop and divines were reasoning on the point with her from
Holy Scripture, he took a pen into his hand, and at last hit
upon this excellent anagram, Dame Eleanor Davies, never so
mad a lady ; which having been proved by the rules of art,
' Madam,' said he, ' I see you build much on anagrams, and
I have found out one which I hope will fit you.' This said,
and reading it aloud, he put it into her hands in writing, which
happy fancy brought that grave court into such a laughter, and.
the poor woman thereupon into such a confusion, that afterwards
she grew wiser, or was less regarded."
102 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
prophetess as the Lady Eleanor shall surely find
none but perfect infidels amongst us -V
It is enough to observe, however, on the subject
of Ireland at present, that in the convocation held
at Dublin, the Thirty-nine Articles were received
by the Irish Church. Usher, indeed, from his Cal-
vinistic notions, appears to have been reluctant to
admit them, preferring rather the Lambeth Arti-
ticles, and the Archbishop thus writes to Wentworth
in anticipation: " I knew how you would find my
Lord Primate affected to the Articles of Ireland,
but I am glad the trouble that hath been in it will
well end there, without advertising of it over to us.
And, whereas you propose to have the Articles of
England received in ipsissimis verbis, and leave
the other as no way concerned, neither affirmed or
denied, you are certainly in the right, and so says
the King (to whom I imparted it) as well as I.
Go, hold fast, and you will do a great service 2 ."
But Usher, on the whole, appears to have desired
this uniformity with the English Church, only
fearing that there might be some dispute at the
introduction of these Articles. In this Convocation
they accordingly declared, that " they received and
approved the Book of Articles of Religion, agreed
upon by the Archbishops and Bishops, and the
1 The Lord Deputy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dec.
1633.
8 The Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lord Deputy, Oct.
20, 1634.
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 103
whole Clergy, in full convocation holden at Lon-
don, Anno 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of
opinions, and for the establishing of consent touch-
ing true religion. And, therefore, if any, hereafter
shall affirm, that any of those Articles are in any
part superstitious and erroneous, or such as he may
not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let him
be excommunicated, and not absolved before he
makes a public recantation of his error V Never-
theless, though such was the declaration of the
Irish Convocation, Usher and the Calvinistic party
were not satisfied, but pressed for subscription to
the former articles, which breathed the ultra-sub-
lapsarianism of Geneva, along with the articles of
the Church of England, which they had received.
It required Wentworth's management to prevent
disputes, Usher having applied to him for an act
of Parliament to ratify the former declaration.
" There were some hot spirits," says he, " some of
thunder among them, who moved that they should
petition me for a free Synod, but, in fine, they
could not agree among themselves who should put
the bell about the cat's neck, and so this likewise
vanished. It is very true, that for all the primate's
silence, it was not possible but he knew how near
they were to have brought in those Articles of
Ireland, to the infinite disturbance and scandal of
the Church, as I conceive ; and certainly could
have been content if I had been surprised. But
1 Collier's Eccles. History, vol. ii. p. 763. Heylin, p. 257.
LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
he is so learned a prelate, and so good a man, that
I do beseech your Grace it may never be imputed
to him." /And then, anticipating the clamours
which the Puritan zealots would make on these
proceedings, he adds afterwards, " I am not igno-
norant that my stirring herein will be strangely re-
ported and censured, and how I shall be able to
sustain myself against your Prynnes, Pyms, and
Bens, with the rest of that generation of odd names
and natures, the Lord knows. Sure I am, I have
gone herein with an upright heart, to prevent a
breach, apparent at least, betwixt the Churches of
England and Ireland V
It will hardly be credited that the Archbishop's
conduct in the affair of impropriations was alleged
against him as a heinous crime. But such was the
case, and so well qualified were religious fanatics to
judge on what really constituted a criminal charge.
" The first proof alleged," says the Archbishop,
" was a passage out of Bishop Montague's Book,
that tithes were due by divine right, and then no
impropriations might stand. And this Prynne
witnessed very carefully, that this book was found
in my study, and given me by Bishop Montague.
And what of this ? Doth any Bishop print a book,
and not give the Archbishop a copy ? Or must I
answer for every proposition contained in every
book in my library, or that any author gives me ?
The Lord Deputy of Ireland to the Archbishop of Cantcr-
Imry, IGth of December,
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 105
And if Bishop Montague be of opinion, that tithes
are due by divine right, what is that to me ? They
were nibbling at my Diary in this, to shew that it
was one of my projects to fetch in impropria*
tions, but it was not fit for their purpose. And as to
the King's impropriations in Ireland, to the Church
there, which Mr. Nicholas, in his gentle language,
calls " robbing of the crown," the case was this.
The Lord Primate of Armagh wrote unto me, how
ill conditioned the state of that Church was for
want of resources, and besought me that I would
move his Majesty to give the impropriations there,
which yet remained in the crown, for the mainte-
nance and encouragement of able ministers to live
among the people, and instruct them, assuring me,
they were daily one by one begged away by pri-
vate men, to the great prejudice both of crown and
church. I acquainted the King's great officers, the
Lord Treasurer, and the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer with it. And, after long deliberation, the
King was pleased, at my humble request, to grant
them in the way which I proposed : which was,
that when they came into the hands of the clergy,
they should pay all the rents respectively to the
King, and some consideration for the several re-
newals. The truth of this appears in the deeds :
so here was no robbing of the crown. For the
King had all his set rents received to a penny, and
consideration for his casualties beside. And, my
Lords, the increase of Popery is complained of in
106
LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
Ireland. Is there a better way to hinder this growth,
than to place able clergy among the inhabitants ?
Can an able clergy be had without means ? Are
any means better fitted than impropriations re-
stored ? My Lords, I did advance this, as holding
it the best way to keep down Popery, and to ad-
vance the Protestant religion : and I wish, with all
my heart, I had been able to have done it sooner,
before so many impropriations were gotten from
the crown into private hands 1 ."
To this eloquent refutation of their calumnies, a
feeble reply was offered by the Archbishop's enemies.
But perhaps I have dwelt too long on the subject
of the Irish impropriations, though I conceived it
better to present the matter to the reader in the
Archbishop's own language. On the 5th of Fe-
bruary 1634-5, he was appointed a member of the
Committee of Trade, and for the improvement of
the King's revenue, and on the 14th of March fol-
lowing, he was appointed one of the Commissioners
of the Treasury, after the death of Richard Weston,
Earl of Portland, Lord High Treasurer, on which
occasion the management of the Treasury was, by
letters under the Broad Seal, committed to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Lord Cottington, Chancellor
of the Exchequer ; Sir John Cooke, and Sir Francis
Windebanke, principal Secretaries of State, and
others. Two days afterwards, Archbishop Laud
1 History of Troubles and Trials, p. 297, 298.
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 107
was appointed a member of the Foreign Committee,
and to him was committed the sole disposal of ec-
clesiastical matters l .
These appointments could not fail to induce po-
litical envy towards the Archbishop. He had no
great cause to regret the death of the Lord Trea-
surer, who had, since Buckingham's death, mani-
fested the utmost jealousy at his interest with the
King, and had endeavoured to lessen it in various
ways. Heylin informs us, that the cause of his being
nominated a Commissioner of the Treasury was his
vigilance in detecting abuses, for in the year 1631,
he had discovered that there was some mismanage-
ment ; he perceived that certain individuals had
more the aggrandisement of themselves than his
Majesty's interest at heart, and that when the King
was made acquainted with these abuses, he " did
much estrange his countenance from the principal
of them," the Lord Treasurer himself. Suspicions
fell upon him, that he had discovered their proceed-
ings and given due information, and Weston fos-
tered that secret enmity towards him which he had
long felt. His death, however, closed this political
animosity, nor had the private misrepresentations of
the Archbishop's enemies hurt him in the King's
favour. The noble historian, however, informs us,
that the Archbishop had reason to be sorry for his
1 Diary, p. 51. Heylin, p. 284, 285. Lord Clarendon,
vol. i, p. 146.
108 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
appointment, " because it engaged him in civil bu-
siness and matters of state, wherein he had little
experience^ and which he had hitherto avoided.
But being obliged to it now by his trust, he entered
upon it with his natural earnestness and warmth,
making it his principal care to advance and improve
the King's revenues by all the ways which were
offered, and hearkened to all intimations and pro-
positions of that kind ; and not having had expe-
rience of that tribe of people who deal in that traffic,
(a confident, senseless, and for the most part, a
naughty people) he was sometimes misled by them
to think better of some projects than they deserved ;
but then he was entirely devoted to what would be
beneficial to the King, that all propositions and de-
signs which were for the profit (only or principally)
of particular persons, how great soever, were op-
posed and crossed, and very often stifled and op-
pressed by his power and authority, which created
him enemies enough in the court, and many of abi-
lity to do mischief, who knew well how to recom-
pense discourtesies, which they always called inju-
ries. The revenue of too many of the court con-
sisted principally in inclosures, and improvements of
that nature, which he still opposed passionately,
except they were founded upon law ; and then, if
it would bring profit to the King, how old and ob-
solete soever the law was, he thought he must justly
advise the prosecution. And so he did a little too
much countenance the commission concerning depo-
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 109
pulation, which brought much charge and trouble
upon the people, and was likewise cast upon his ac-
count V*
Such are the impartial remarks of the noble his-
torian, honourable to the Archbishop in the exercise
of his authority. Whatever may be the inferences
drawn from them, his integrity, his opposition to
political intrigues and corruptions, and that loyalty
which was the cause of all his sufferings, are
triumphantly established.
1 Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vol. i. p. 1 46,
147.
110
LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
CHAPTER XV.
16351637.
Archbishop Laud's Regulation of the Cathedrals Account
of their state Munificence of the Archbishop at Oxford
He procures the Caroline Charter Proceedings of the Pa-
pists Public contribution for the Palatinate Appointment
of Bishop Juxon to the Treasury Dissatisfaction it ex-
cited Honourable motives of the Archbishop Character of
Bishop Juxon Claims of the Archbishop over the Universi-
ties Disputes The King and Court visit Oxford Account
of the entertainments Prosecution of some Puritan ministers
Noble conduct of the Archbishop State of affairs Prose-
cution of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton Notices of the two
latter History of the proceedings Their sedition Libels
against Laud Their sentence Laud's speech in the Star-
Chamber Account of the punishment Heroism of Prynne
Blasphemy of Burton.
IN the year 1635, we find the Archbishop taking
cognizance of the cathedral churches which had
fallen in to decay, or which had been neglected during
the government of his predecessor, and all of which,
indeed, bespoke in their appearance, more or less,
the opinions of the bishop who then governed the
diocese. He began with his own cathedral of Can-
terbury. He caused to be provided for the service
of the holy communion those things necessary in
the celebration of that sacred rite, which regulation
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. Ill
of the Archbishop the Puritans afterwards aspersed
with their accustomed malevolence. He prepared
a new body of statutes for that metropolitan cathe-
dral, " which was sent thither," says his chaplain,
" under the Great Seal, with his own hand subscribed
to every leaf." One of those statutes made it im-
perative, that the deans, prebends, and other eccle-
siastical persons, " at their coming in and going out
of the choir, and at all approaches to the altar,
should bow towards it, and make due reverence to
Almighty God." This was also termed Popery by
the Puritans ; it could arise, says the Puritan histo-
rian, " from nothing but a belief of the real pre-
sence of Christ in the sacrament or altar, or from a
superstitious imitation of the pagans worshipping
towards the east 1 ." Neal, however, as usual, is
unhappy in his inference ; he and his party might
have known, that it was neither a belief in the real
presence, nor an imitation of the superstitious no-
tions of the pagans, but an act of reverence and
worship to the Divine Being, who though every
where present, yet is more peculiarly so in the tem-
ples consecrated to his service. It was a bowing
ad altare, towards the altar, not ad altare, to the
altar, as if divine worship was terminated there ; and
there was a difference between what was supersti-
tious, and what was lawful and necessary in all ap-
proaches in the house of prayer 2 . But these re-
1 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 258.
2 Fuller's Church History, book xi. p. 150, 151.
2
112
LIFE AND TIMES [1635
gulations of course were opposed by many. " Such
as disliked the gesture/' says the Church historian,
" could not or would not understand the distinction,
as in the suburbs of superstition 1 ."
The other cathedrals were also noticed by Laud ;
for Winchester a book of statutes was compiled ;
the disorders in Chichester cathedral were rectified ;
the statutes of Hereford were remodelled, and sanc-
tioned under the Broad Seal ; Lincoln, Norwich,
Gloucester, Lichfield, and Worcester cathedrals
were also repaired, and the public services properly
conducted. In short, by the Archbishop's zealous
1 These distinctions are ably set forth by Bishop Morton,
who had succeeded the excellent Bishop Neile in the See of
Durham, in a work published by him in 1631, in folio, entitled,
" Of the Institution of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of
Christ, by some called the Mass of Christ," which was reprinted
this year, 1635, with large additions. Concerning the Papists,
he observes, " The like distinction may be discerned between
their manner of reverence in bowing towards the altar, for ado-
ration of the Eucharist only, and ours in bowing, as well when
there is no Eucharist on the table, as when there is, which is
not to the table of the Lord, but to the Lord of the table, to
testify the communion of all the faithful communicants there-
with, even as the people of God did in adoring him before the
ark his footstool," Psal. xcix. And yet, few will venture to
assert, that Bishop Morton was superstitious, or inclined to
Popery, who had exercised his pen more than any man living
against its corruptions, as witness his " Full Satisfaction eon-
ci mini; a double Romish Inquisition," 4to. 1606. " Apologia
Catholica," 8vo. 1606, and Part II. 4to. same year. " The
Grand Imposture of the (now) Church of Rome manifested,"
4to, 1628 ; and his " Antidotum adversus Ecclesiam Romam,"
1637.
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 113
superintendence, aided by Bishops Davenant and
Morton, " the cathedral churches recovered once
more their ancient splendour, and served as an
example to the parish churches which related to
them V
But while the Archbishop was thus employed in
superintending the cathedral churches, he was no
less active and disinterested in his private arrange-
ments. When he went first to Lambeth, after his
removal to the Primacy, he found the chapel of
that venerable palace in a state which sufficiently
evinced the notions of his predecessor. The win-
dows broken and defaced, the stained glass patched
up with ordinary glass ; all things in it were in
such a state, as to make him declare, " that he was
ashamed to see it, and he could not enter it without
disdain." He repaired this chapel at a very con-
siderable charge, though great offence was taken
at it, and it was even alleged against him as a
crime at his trial 2 . His chapel at Croydon he also
repaired : and to this place he frequently retired to
enjoy a relaxation from fatigue and anxiety. Such
was the public spirit of this great man : whose ec-
clesiastical revenues were solely devoted to works
of public and private munificence ; whose genero-
sity was as unbounded as his mind was vast arid
comprehensive.
In the accounts of his province transmitted yearly
by the Archbishop to the King, we discern at once
1 Heylin, p. 276. 2 Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 273.
VOL. II. I
LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
his diligence in the discharge of his duties. These
accounts are extremely valuable, and exhibit, in a
striking manner, the state of religion at that period.
From these accounts it appears that Laud exercised
his authority with great moderation, dismissing se-
veral who refused to subscribe to the Articles of the
Church only with a gentle or canonical admonition.
The lecturers, also, seem to have been specially ob-
served, and the reports of the different Bishops to
their Metropolitan evince that general desire which
prevailed amongst them to strengthen the Church
against the attacks of the Puritan faction. These
accounts, which extend from 1633 to 1639, are
inserted by the learned Henry Wharton in his edi-
tions of the History of the Archbishop's Troubles
and Trials.
But in these details of the Archbishop's actions,
we must not forget the University of Oxford, of
which he was the unwearied benefactor. In De-
cember, 1634-5, he procured from Sir Kenelm
Digby a large collection of valuable MSS. for the
public Library, which he sent thither with these
intimations : first, that Sir Kenelm did not wish to
subject " those MSS. to the strictness of Sir Tho-
mas Bodley's statutes, but would have liberty given
for any man of worth, that would be at the pains and
expence of printing any of those books, to have them
out of the Library, upon good security given to that
purpose, and no other. Secondly, that he (Sir Kenelm)
vyould reserve liberty to himself during his natural
life, to borrow any of those books for his own private
7
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 115
use, whensoever he should ask them." The Uni-
versity, with a just sense of the value of this muni-
ficent benefaction, wrote a letter of thanks to the
Archbishop as Chancellor, for his labour in pro-
curing those MSS. and to Sir Kenelm Digby, for
his generosity in bestowing them on the University
of Oxford l .
In 1635, the Archbishop's munificence was yet
farther displayed to this venerable seat of learning.
He gave various MSS. to the University, fourteen
Hebrew volumes, fifty-five in Arabic, seventeen in
Persian, four in Turkish, six in Russian, two in
Armenian, twelve in the Chinese, forty-four in
Greek, three in Italian, three in French, forty-six
in English, and above two hundred Latin, besides
forty-six others from the University of Wentzberg,
taken in the Swedish war. In acknowledgment
of this unprecedented liberality, he received a letter
from the University, dated May 28, in which the
members set forth their gratitude 2 . Nor was this
all : for this year he procured a Prebendal Stall to
be oettled on the University Orator and his succes-
sors, for which he received another letter of thanks
from the University 3 . This year, also, he procured
from the King a charter of confirmation of the an-
cient liberties and privileges of the University,
1 Gestis Regist. Cancel. Laud. fol. 12, 1030.
2 Ibid. 109. Gest. Cane. 88, 89. " Reverendissime Can-
cellarie, dum verbis te fragilem fateris, et factis immortalem
te comprobas," &c.
3 Gestis Cancel. 97, 98.
I 2
I1(; LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
known by the name of the Caroline Charter, which
was finally ratified, and published in Convocation,
on the 2^d of June, 1636 l . This last, it will be
recollected, was one of the things which this noble
prelate had " projected to do, if God blessed him
in them." For in that list he thus writes, " To
procure a large charter for Oxford, to confirm their
ancient privileges, and obtain new ones for them, as
large as those of Cambridge ; which the latter had
gotten since the reign of Henry VIII. but which
Oxford had not." To this he afterwards added the
word, "Done." This charter is a lasting memorial of
the Archbishop's disinterestedness and munificence.
It came to Oxford in March 1635, after being explain-
ed, on the petition of the Chancellor and Scholars,
to the King at Woodstock, Its preamble sets forth,
that it is " A grant whereby his Majesty doth confer
to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the Uni-
versity of Oxford, and their successors, all their
ancient charters and liberties formerly conferred by
the late Queen Elizabeth." It is divided into
twenty-two heads, or sections. 1. Cognizance of
Pleas. 2. Court of Record. 3. Removing of
Causes from other Courts. 4. Court Leets. 5. Or-
ders and By-Laws to bind the Town. 6. Buying
and selling of Victuals and Wares. 7. Coroners.
8. Felons' Goods. 9. Assize of Bread, Beer, and
Wines, of Weights and Measures, Stalls, and
Standing-Places in the Market. 10. Toll in the
1 Diary, p. 53.
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 117
Market. 11. Licensing of Vintners and Alehouses.
12. To enquire of and seize corrupt Victuals. 13. To
search suspected houses, and bear a mandate to the
Mayor. 14. Townsmen answerable for such as they
harbour. 15. The town inhibited from building
without the leave of the Chancellor. 16. Anatomy
Lecture. 17. Taxing or rating privileged persons.
18. Immunities to privilege men from Customs. 19.
From Muskets and Salt-petre. 20. Payment of
Subsidies, &c. 21. Feats of Arms, Plays, &c. 22.
Impanel on Juries. 23. Printers. Lastly, an exem-
plification and amplification of an act of Parliament
of 13th Elizabeth, for confirming all the lands,
hereditaments, privileges, and possessions, of the
University of Oxford, which they then had, that it
may extend to all which hath fallen to the said Uni-
versity since that time, such as endowments of public
lectures, of the Library, and common schools, and
the like, with a general mandate, especially to the
Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of Oxford, " for
the due observation of these his Majesty's letters
patent now made to the University of Oxford. Sub-
scribed by Mr. Attorney General. His Majesty's
pleasure signified by the Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury, and by him procured 1 "
The annotations in the Diary for this year are
not of great importance. On the 18th of May
we find the Archbishop with the Queen at Green-
1 Vide the Caroline Charter, apud Gutch's edit, of Wood's
Annals of Oxford, vol. ii. part. i. p. 399402.
118
LIFE AND TIMES [1635,
wich, transacting some private business. On the
SOth'of August, 1634, he makes this entry. " At
Oatlands, Ue Queen sent for me, and gave me
thanks for a business with which she entrusted me :
her promise then, that she would be my friend,
and that I should have immediate access to her
when I had occasion." On the 18th of May,
1635, he thus writes, " My account to the Queen
put off till Trinity Sunday, May 24. I then gave
her, by myself, an assurance of all that was desired
by me." This private business remains unexplained,
nor do I find any account of it in the Archbishop's
papers. Probably it was not of much consequence,
and the short notice which Heylin gives of it
appears worthy of attention, because he was a con-
temporary, and intimate with the Archbishop him-
self, from whom he probably received it. It is
well known, that at this time the Queen held a
greater influence over the King than she had for-
merly done, and it is likely that she wished to
make the Archbishop her friend, by admitting him
to a part of her councils. In the Christmas Holi-
days, 1635, a deputy appeared in England from
the Pope, named Panzani, to reconcile a schism
which had taken place between the regulars and
the secular priests of the Romish Church. But,
with that craftiness for which the Popish emissa-
are remarkable, he at length contrived to ob-
tain the favour of Cottington, Windebank, and
others, and he finally made this proposal to them,
whether his Majesty would permit the residence of
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 119
a Catholic Bishop of the English nation, to be
nominated by his Majesty, and not to exercise his
functions but as his Majesty should permit. Some
of the Bishops, however, at Court, proposed this
question to him in return, ' Whether the Pope
would allow of such a Bishop of his Majesty's nomi-
nation as held the oath of allegiance lawful, and
should permit the taking of it by Catholic subjects.'
Panzani declared that he had no authority to decide
on this matter, nevertheless, he so far succeeded,
that the King, with the advice of his council, per-
mitted an agent of the Pope to remain with the
Queen, on this condition, that he should not be a
priest. " This," says Heylin, " might possibly be
the sum of this account which the Archbishop
tendered to the Queen at Whitsuntide, after the
arrival of Panzani, which, as it seems, was only to
make way for Con. I cannot tell whether I am
right or not in these particulars, but sure I am,
that he resolved to serve the Queen no farther in
her desires, than might consist both with the ho-
nour and the safety of the Church of England, upon
which, as it was his greatest charge, he bestowed
his sole cares and thoughts." These remarks are
farther confirmed by the fact, that the Archbishop
had a dispute with the Queen in October 1637,
which he thus enters in his Diary, " My free speech
to the King concerning the increase of the Romish
party, the freedom at Denmark House, the carriage
of Mr. Walter Montague, and Sir Toby Matthews.
The Queen acquainted me with all I said that
120 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
very night, and was highly displeased with me, and
so continues V
On the 4d of September the Archbishop was with
the King at Woodstock, whence he went to Cuds-
den, to see the palace which Dr. Bancroft, Bishop of
Oxford, had built at his recommendation, to belong
to that see. On the 3d, he went privately to St.
John's, Oxford, to witness the progress of the build-
in o-, where he remained only two hours, making
arrangements for the finishing of the structure.
September 23d, the indefatigable primate was su-
perintending the repairs of St. Paul's, London ;
and towards the end of the year we find him enter-
taining Prince Charles, the Elector Palatine, and
nephew to the King, at Lambeth. On the 2d of
January 1635-6, the Archbishop baptized the
princess Elizabeth, who was born on December 28,
at St. James's Palace ; and on the 28th of February,
he consecrated Dr. Roger Manwaring, Bishop of
St. David's, whom the Puritan zealots had so vio-
lently persecuted, along with Bishop Montague and
Dr. Sibthorpe, in the third Parliament 2 .
It is now time, however, to turn to the Arch-
bishop's conduct as connected with the state. This
year a public collection was made for the clergy of
the Palatinate, at the intercession of the King's
sister, the Queen of Bohemia, which the Archbishop
1 Heylin, p. 286, 287. Diary, p. 55.
Di:iry, p. 5153. Le Neve's Fasti Anglicanae Ecclesise,
p. 514.
1635.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 121
promoted with great assiduity. Those ministers
were in a miserable condition, having been forced
to abandon their country on account of their reli-
gion. Permission was granted by the King to
make a public collection ; but Laud objected to
various expressions in the brief with great justice.
Those ministers were termed of the same Church,
which Laud denied, both because they were Cal-
vinists, and had not received Episcopal ordination ;
and also, as they had termed the Church of Rome
an Antichristian yoke, Laud most nicely remarked,
that, if such were the case, it would follow that its
ordinations are not valid, and the orders of the
Church of England would be of no avail, nor differ
from those of the Puritans. The King assented to
Laud's alterations ; a new brief was issued, and he
promoted the collection, till the Puritan faction,
by their fanatical zeal, opened his eyes to their
crafty practices 1 .
The promotion of the Archbishop to the commis-
sion of the Treasury was not altogether agreeable
to him, and though he engaged in the duties of the
office with his accustomed earnestness, yet he found
many obstacles in his way which he had not con-
templated. He engaged in disputes with Lord
Cottington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had
never been his friend, and, what perhaps had a
greater effect upon him, his friend Sir Francis Win-
debank, adhered to Cottington's party. He was
1 Collier's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 271. Heylin, p. 2SG 2UO.
122 LIFE AND TIMES [1635.
resisted and thwarted by the party who opposed
him, more especially as Cottington understood the
nature of the Treasury, and was studious to impose
on Laud's inexperience. The Archbishop soon
began to grow weary of this business, and to feel
its toil and vexation, " as all other men are," observes
the noble historian, " of the delays which are in all
dispatches in that office, whilst it is executed by
commission." Nevertheless, he remained a full year
in the Treasury, investigating all its secret concerns,
and its advantages ; and the place, we are informed
by Dr. Heylin, he found to be worth 7000/. per
annum, without defrauding the King, or seizing the
property of the subject.
The office of Lord Treasurer being the most
lucrative in the kingdom, a considerable sensation
was excited concerning the person to be appointed.
Cottington was casting wistful eyes towards it,
the Earls of Bedford, Hertford, Essex, and Lord
Say, " and the greatest of the nobility, who were
in the chief employments, looked upon it as the
prize of one of them, such offices commonly making
way for greater preferments." Whether, however,
the disputes which had taken place between the
Archbishop and Cottington in the months of May,
June, and July, had encouraged the former to de-
feat, if possible, the wishes of that nobleman ; or
whether he believed, that in the interest he had suc-
cessfully made, he had procured the office for the
only man in the court of known integrity, certain it
is, that he neither consulted his present peace, nor
1635-6.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 123
his future safety. But be this as it may, Dr. Juxon,
Bishop of London, Laud's friend and fellow-student,
was appointed to the office of Lord Treasurer of
England, on the 6th of March 1635-6 l .
This appointment gave great dissatisfaction to
the people in general, and more especially to those
ambitious nobles, who, thirsting for power, were
exasperated at being supplanted by an ecclesiastic,
who had hitherto been little known, and who, they
scrupled not to declare, was devoted to the Primate
his patron. " The Bishop of London was a man
so unknown," says the noble historian, " that his
name was scarce heard of in the kingdom, and had
been within two years before but a private chaplain
to the King, and the president of a poor college in
Oxford. This inflamed more men than were angry
before, and no doubt did not only sharpen the edge
of envy and malice against the Archbishop, (who
was the known architect of this new fabric), but
most unjustly indisposed many towards the Church
itself, which they looked upon as the gulph ready
to swallow all the great offices, there being others
in view of that robe, who were ambitious enough
to expect the res t."
It cannot be doubted that the Archbishop was
guided by the most upright motives in promoting
the appointment of Dr. Juxon to the office of Lord
Treasurer. " He was infinitely pleased with what
1 Diary, p. 53. Heylin, p. 286, 287. Lord Clarendon, vol. i.
p. 148.
2 Lord Clarendon, vol. i. 4to. p. 148,
12i , LIFE AND TIMES [1635-6.
done," adds the noble historian, " and unhap-
pily believed he had provided a stronger support
for the Church ] ," nor did he, after this appointment,
act in any other manner than as he was stimulated
by his own consciousness of integrity, and the natu-
ral enthusiasm of his disposition. Lord Clarendon's
remark is confirmed by the Archbishop's own words.
" March 6. Sunday," says he, in his Diary, " Wil-
liam Juxon, Lord Bishop of London, made Lord
High Treasurer of England. No churchman had
it since Henry VII.'s time. I pray God bless him
to manage it so, that the Church may have honour,
and the King and the state service and contentment
by it ; and now, if the Church will not hold up
themselves, under God, I can do no more." His
principal object was, " to do the Church and the
State service," and the experience which he had ac-
quired while in the Treasury Commission, made it
necessary that a disinterested man should fill that
office. This is confirmed by a passage in his Diary,
dated July 12, 1635. At Theobald's, the soap
business was ended, and settled again upon the now
corporation, against my offer for the old soap-boilers.
Yet my offer made the King's profit double, and to
that, after two years, the new corporation was raised.
How it is performed, let them look, whom his
Majesty shall be pleased to trust with his Trea-
surer's staff 2 ." It was charged against him at his
1 Clarendon, vol. i. 4to. p. 148. ut sup.
- Diary, p. 51.53. Heylin, p. 286.
1636.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 125
trial, and asserted to be treason, but this he indig-
nantly repelled, declaring, that though the share he
had in the appointment was comparatively small,
he had no other aim in it than " the service of the
King, and the good of the Church 1 ."
It is clear, therefore, that the Archbishop was
not so much swayed in this business by private
friendship, as by the belief that the appointment
would be beneficial to the nation. Unlike many of
his predecessors in that office, Juxon had no family
to exalt to grandeur, no wife and children for whom
it might have been expected that he felt an honour-
able solicitude. The Archbishop had known him
long and intimately, and no man was better qualified
for the office. Like the Archbishop, he was eminent
for his integrity, piety, loyalty, and attachment to
the Church ; " and had nature," remarks Sir Philip
Warwick, who knew both those distinguished pre-
lates, <e mingled their tempers, and allayed the
latter by the prudence and foresight of the former,
or invigorated the former with the zeal and activity
of the other, she had formed a finer mass than
she usually does in her most exact workmanship
about mankind." Meek and steady in judgment,
Juxon's profound knowledge of the civil law, which
he had successfully studied, capacitated him for
secular business ; and though he found the Treasury
much diminished, yet he acted with such modera-
tion, as not only to support the dignity of the royal
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 289.
126 LIFE AND TIMES [1636.
household, and to administer uniform justice in all
public business, but he also reduced the debts
of the cr</wn, and made the Treasury rich in a
surplus sum. Fewer complaints were made against
him than had been made against any of his prede-
cessors ; his conduct was so calm and circumspect,
and his ad vice at all times so judicious, that the
King himself declared, that Dr. Juxon never gave
his opinion freely in his life, but when he had it, he
was always the better for it. It was indeed feared,
and perhaps ardently hoped, by some, that he
would be unable to fulfil the arduous duties of his
office, and, as Heylin observes, " sink under the
burden of it, as Williams did under the custody of
the Seals." But his mildness and prudence obtained
for him such a reputation, that though he was a
Bishop, which was crime enough in the eyes of the
Puritan zealots, and in that capacity united the
office of Lord Treasurer, two most dangerous offices
in that age of fanaticism, he was neither envied, nor
subject to the caprice of the times. Lord Falkland
bore witness to his integrity and moderation in the
Long Parliament, when he declared, that Juxon,
" in an unexpected place and power, expressed
an equal moderation and humility, being neither
ambitious before, nor proud after, either of the cro-
zier or the white staff." It was by means of his
admirable temper and conduct," says Sir Philip
Warwick, " that he weathered the most dreadful
storm that ever the nation felt, and at last rode
triumphantly into the harbour, without any ship-
1636.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 127
wreck of his honour or principles. Never was
there a more fortunate pilot, or a more upright
man." Such was the man for whose appointment
Archbishop Laud was charged with treason a
man whom his very enemies were compelled to
admire and reverence. But with political enthusiasts
every thing is a crime which is not sanctioned by
their party ; and, with religious enthusiasts, that
churchman is nevertheless worldly-minded, who
does not aid and encourage their spiritual rhodo-
montade. Stimulated by such principles, men
forget themselves ; they are transported by passions
destructive of civil order.
Thus conceiving, as undoubtedly he had a right,
so far as human foresight extended, that he had
done his duty towards Church and State by the
promotion of Juxon, Archbishop Laud entered with
his wonted ardour into his duties, alike regardless
of the smiles of friends or the hatred of his enemies.
To him, the rich and the poor were on the same
equality : he knew no distinction, save merit com-
bined with honourable birth. His enemies at court,
however, were indefatigable in their opposition, and
Cottington, in particular, " a master of temper, and
of the most profound dissimulation," had resolved
to employ every exertion to diminish the Arch-
bishop's influence. Laud's temper was naturally
warm, and he had been accustomed to deliver his
opinions with a freedom which could not silently en-
dure contradiction ; and, when any one dissented
from him, he often expressed himself in a manner
,., s LIFE AND TIMES [1636.
which excited his grief afterwards/ and which made
him at those times ready to acknowledge with re-
gret. Cot&igton took advantage of these occa-
sions, by contriving to lead the Primate into a mis-
take, and, although not unlikely lie was pursuing the
very same measures as Laud himself was employ-
ing, he excited his anger, and then exposed him to
the persons present. And, we are informed by
Lord Clarendon, that he always endeavoured to do
this ill-office to the Archbishop in the presence of
the King.
I have already mentioned the Archbishop's soli-
citude for the Cathedral churches. It was one of
his projected things, " to settle the statutes of all
the Cathedral Churches of the new Foundations ;"
that is, those founded in the reign of Henry VIII.,
after the dissolution of the monasteries. These are
Canterbury, Winchester, Ely, Worcester, Norwich,
and Rochester, and the bishoprics founded by him
were Oxford, Gloucester, Bristol, Peterborough; and
Chester, with those of Durham and Carlisle, which
three, with Chester, are in the province of York.
The Cathedrals of the old Foundation are, Lon-
don, Chichester, Salisbury, Exeter, Wells, Lich-
field, Hereford, Exeter, and the four bishoprics in
Wales, all in the province of Canterbury, while in
the other province, the archiepiscopal see of York
only existed, the prelates of which not only go-
verned the four suffragan dioceses as their own, but
anciently laid claim also to Episcopal jurisdiction
over the Scottish Church. The Cathedrals of the old
163G.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. J29
Foundation required no alteration in their statutes
except Hereford, but the others were all imperfect,
and had never been confirmed, which occasioned
many disputes between the Deans and the Preben-
daries. The Archbishop resolved to rectify this,
had not his misfortunes, induced by the Scottish
insurrections and the English rebellion, restrained
him from this noble undertaking. The only Cathe-
dral whose statutes he was enabled to rectify was
Canterbury, and he has duly recorded the service
he did to that venerable and ancient metropolitan
See.
Nor was Archbishop Laud's attention confined
solely to those matters. He insisted, this year, on
his^right, as Metropolitan, to visit the Universities,
which occasioned a dispute between him and the
Heads of Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge ; the
former claiming his right jure metropolitico, the
latter insisting, that this right was vested in the
King alone. A contest accordingly took place, and
the cause was heard before the King, on the 21st of
June, at Hampton Court. The Archbishop stand-
ing at the right hand of the King, declared, " That
by letters he had acquainted the two Universities
that he conceived he had power to visit them, as
being within his province and metropolitan juris-
diction, and desired to know their answers. To this,"
said he, " a civil answer was returned from Oxford
and Cambridge, that to yield to such a proposition
by their own power, without a command from his
Majesty, were a wrong to the Universities." He
VOL. If.
K
, ;50 LIFE AND TIMES [1636.
then delivered a petition to the King, imploring a
hearing, " for the Church of England would never
be able to et things right, without some control
over the Universities." He was opposed by the
Earl of Holland, Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, who hoped " the King would not resign
his ancient privilege." The cause was argued at
great length by the Attorney General on the part
of the Archbishop, the Recorder of London on the
part of the University of Cambridge, and Sergeant
Thin for Oxford. It was at length finally adjudged
to belong to the Archbishop, under certain restric-
tions ; but the troubles of the nation, which shortly
afterwards succeeded, precluded him from exercis-
ing his metropolitan right. " My troubles," says
he, " began then to be foreseen by me, and I visited
them not 1 ."
It is evident that the Archbishop did not insist
1 Diary, p. 53. Troubles and Trials, p. 307, 308. Rush-
worth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 324 332. Here, however, we
must notice a trick of the voluminous Prynne. " The Arch-
bishop," says die learned Henry Wharton, " had collected
many papers, decrees, and precedents, to assert his privilege
of visiting the Universities, in right of his See, about the
year 1635, which, being seized by Prynne, among his other
papers at Lambeth, were by him, after the Archbishop's death,
published, in Aw own name, with this title, " The Plea of the
I'liivcrsity of Oxford refuted," London, 1637, in quarto. The
pamphlet now lies before me; it consists of 164 pages, and
bears incontestible proofs that it was not written by Prynne, as
it contains a kind of logical arrangement which is in vain sought
for in his fanatical writings.
1636.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 131
upon this right of metropolitan visitation from any
wish to exercise his power; otherwise he would
have speedily given commission to Brent, his Vicar-
General, to act for him, had he been unable to un-
dertake the visitation in person. His grand object
was to connect the Universities with the Church ; a
measure which will always be regarded as salutary
and indispensable, otherwise religion must infallibly
suffer, or, to say the least, always presupposing
that there is an Established Church, which is neces-
sary from the very nature of things, the religion
which is professed by the majority of the nation,
must be exposed to the risk of being brought into
contempt by factious and fanatical men. We have
seen that the English Universities could hardly re-
strain the current of Puritanism in the reigns of
Elizabeth and James I., nor in this reign were they
altogether free from the fermentations which the
Presbyterian notions excited. But, if ^the Church
had not been able to control them, that turbulence
would have been increased by the wildest enthu-
siasm, which would have known no limitations.
Laud probably foresaw the evils which would arise
from their not being altogether under the control of
the Church ; he indeed declares that he foresaw
them ; and wished that cognizance should be taken
of all Schismatics and Dissenters, who, though they
continually declaimed against the Church, could not,
or would not, depart from its communion, but who
continued to disturb it, till they impiously effected
its overthrow.
K 2
132
LIFE AND TIMES [1636.
Our attention, however, must again be directed
to Oxford. On the 9th of July, 1636, a Convoca-
tion was hel<l, in which was read a letter from the
Archbishop, dated June 16th, with some farther
gifts from the munificent prelate l . On the 19th
1 Gestis Cancel. Lond. p. 109, 110. Reg. 128. " Mitto
autem," says Laud, "Libros non uno ex idiomate descriptos, quos
spero sacrabit Deus. Sunt autem, ni fallor, Hebraici octodecim>
Persici quatuordecim, Arabic! quinquaginta, Armenicus unus,
Ethiopici duo, Chinensis unus, Grseci duodecim, Latini sex-
aginta quinque, Anglican! duodecim, Gallic! quatuor, Hi-
bernici duo. Quos omnes non sine sumptu intra anni proxime
elapsi spatium cogessi, et nunc in Bibliothecam Bodleianam re-
ponendos mitto. Cum his, mitto Astrolatinum Arabicum aere
Persiori descriptum, quo me ditavit vir omni eruditionis genere
instructissimus, et olim Academise nostrse Alumnus, nunc
decus, Johannes Seldenus. Mitto etiam effigiem Sereniss.
Regis Caroli, ne fama ejus sere perennior suo aere destitue-
retur. Nullibi autem melius locari potest Rex Musarum Pa-
tronus, quam apud vos et inter Musas. Volo autem ut in claus-
tris illis ubi libri mei MSS. siti sunt collocetur caput hoc nun-
quam satis venerandum, ut in memoriam vestram revocet, cujus
dignatione (sub Deo) factum est, ut ilia, qualia qualia sunt, quae
in vestram gratiam facta sunt, praestare possem. Et ut veluti
inspector ibi stet, nequis libros, quasi sub intuitu Regis po-
sitos, ullo modo violare ausit. Nummi mihi non sunt. Ea in
re S. Petro fere sequalis sum. Numismata tamen quaedam
diuturna solicitudine conquisivi. Acernum nolui vobis mittere,
sic enim usui nulli sunt, nisi videre, et numerare ad studiosos
pertineat. Redegi itaque omnia quae paravi in seriem eamque
doctrinalem, ut per eandem ordinem saeculorum, et temporum
positis uno quasi intuitu aspicere et per Reversa, ut vocantur,
maxima, quasque nummorum imperatorum actiones, et tempo-
rum vices, et accidentia rerum publicarum planius videre, &c.
Insuper, etiamsi ab Idololatria abhorret animus, tamen, quo
1536.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 133
of August, after an escape from an accident, he
prepared to set out for the University, where he
arrived six days before the end of August, that he
might make preparations to receive the King and
Queen, who purposed to visit the city. On the
29th, the King entered Oxford in great state,
" there," says the Archbishop, "to be entertained
by me as Chancellor of the University." The Arch-
bishop, the Vice-Chancellor, and various of the
Heads of Houses and Doctors, met the King
near Woodstock, and there joined the royal caval-
cade. On returning, the procession assumed a
regular form, and entered the city. Various speeches
were, delivered; the usual ceremonies were per-
formed of delivering up and restoring the insignia
of authority. Through Northgate-street and Fish-
street, the procession proceeded (" lined," says An-
tony Wood, es with scholars of all degrees, in their
formalities, yet neither they nor the citizens made
any expression of joy, or uttered, as the manner is,
Vivat Rex : ") until the King arrived at Christ
Church gate, where he was addressed in an elo-
quent and modest oration by the University Orator.
After which the Archbishop, as Chancellor, in the
name of the University, presented to the King a
Bible, richly ornamented, and a pair of gloves. To
the Queen he also presented a similar pair of
vobis contemptui sit magis Gentium vecordia, duo accipietis
superstitionis ludibria, Idola duo ; unum /Egyptiorum vetus,
alterum Hesternum Indorum Occidentalium."
1JU LIFE AND TIMES "
, . , the Prince Elector, the King's nephew,
** UnivLity, especially Bitten by
.
Sir's Commentaries, by Sir Clement Edmonds.
Tte Queen was then conducted to her lodgings,
and the King afterwards proceeded to divine service
in the Cathedral, attended by the Chancellor and
the nobles in his suite. .
The King and Queen were lodged in <
Church, and, after supper in the evening, a comedy
W as acted in the splendid hall of that College.
title, we are informed by the industrious Wood, was
Passion calmed, or the Settling of the Floating
Island," writtenby Strode, the University Orator. "
was such an one," says our indefatigable antiquary,
" that had more of the moral than the poet in it ;
and though it was well penned, it did not take so
well with the courtiers as it did with the togated
crew." From the description of the scenery,
dresses, and other apparatus of dramatic represen-
tations, it appears to have been splendidly per-
formed by the Scholars ; and the fact may be here
noticed by the way, that we are indebted to the
Scholars of Oxford alone for all the improvements in
scenic exhibitions. The following day was devoted
to public duties. The King heard a sermon in the
Cathedral, preached by the Senior Proctor, from
1636.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 135
Luke xix. 38. after which, in the Convocation, be-
fore it was dissolved by the Chancellor, the Princes
Charles and Rupert, with some of the nobility,
were admitted Masters of Arts. After visiting the
Chancellor's buildings at St. John's, the royal party
dined in that College. The Archbishop enter-
tained his Sovereign with due magnificence. " I
thank God," said he, " I had the happiness that
all things were in good order, and that no man
went out of the gates, courtiers or others, but con-
tented, which was a happiness beyond expecta-
tion V
In the afternoon, another play was acted in the
Hall by the Scholars of St. John's, entitled, " The
Hospital of Lovers," written by Wilde, a Fellow of
that Society. The King then proceeded to Christ
Church, where, in the evening, there was a third
dramatic representation in the Hall, written by a
member of the House, entitled, " The Royal Slave."
The proceedings of that day gave universal satis-
faction : and never, perhaps, often as Oxford has
been honoured by the presence of royalty, was there
so much genuine English feeling evinced, as was
at this royal visit during the Chancellorship of Arch-
bishop Laud. "It was the day of St. Felix," says
he, " and all things went happily V
On the following day, August 31, their Majesties
departed towards Winchester, after thanking the
1 Gestis Cancel. Laud, p. 122 128.
2 Diary, p. 53.
LIFE AND TIMES [1036.
University for their loyal hospitality, and on Sep-
tember the/ Chancellor returned, after having
entertained all the Heads of Houses together V
But the state of parties at this period requires
to be noticed. The Puritan enthusiasts were pro-
ceeding silently, though steadily, in their opposition.
The Book of Sports had given great offence, and
unfortunately afforded a theme for those political
fapatics to declaim against the Church. Though
its principal design was to reduce the refractory
ministers to uniformity, the prosecutions which fol-
lowed only stimulated them in their sedition. Va-
rious of the Puritan preachers were suspended, some
by the Archbishop himself, others by one or two of
the suffragan Bishops. Those who were suspended
by the Archbishop may be noticed well-known
zealots, and seditious men. Richard Culmer, mi-
nister at Goodneston, in Kent, the author of that
fanatical and lying pamphlet, entitled " Cathedral
Newes from Canterbury," published in 1644, in
which he pretends to shew " the Canterburian Ca-
thedrall to bee in an Abbey-like, corrupt, and rotten
condition :" the second, John Player of Kennington,
Surrey; the third, Thomas Hieron, minister of
Thornhill, in the same county, and, according to
Prynne, " godly ministers of the word." They pe-
titioned the Archbishop for a release, but they were
ered, " that if they knew not how to obey, he
know not how to grant." A fourth was Thomas
1 Diary, p. J3.
1636.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 137
Wilson, " a godly learned minister/* says Prynne,
who experienced the like deprivation l .
While it is to be regretted that the Book of
Sports was ever revived, in which, be it remarked,
the Archbishop had only a secondary concern, it
cannot be denied, that the Puritans overcharged
the account of the proceedings against their enthu-
siastic associates, and were by no means scrupulous
about the truth of their statements. Prynne, in the
year 1636, published a tract, which he thought
proper to term, " A Divine Tragedie lately acted,
or a Collection of sundry memorable examples of
God's judgments upon Sabbath-breakers and other
like Libertines, in their unlawful sports, happening
within the realme of England, in the compass of
only two years last past, since the Book was pub-
lished," and its contents prove him in this instance
to have been the most credulous and superstitious
fanatic of his party. Henry Burton, in his sedi-
tious sermon, which he entitled, " For God and the
King," was pleased to observe, that the persecu-
tion was greater than that of Queen Mary's reign.
Wren was at that time Bishop of Norwich, and he
was foully libelled by this enthusiast. But great
as the clamour was against Dr. Wren's proceedings,
and though he was compared by Williams of Lin-
coln to a " wren mounted on the wings of an eagle,"
and alleged by him to have sent out " letters of
persecution," it appeared that out of the 1500
1 Canterburie's Doome, p. 148, 149. Heylin, p. 290.
13 8 LIFE AND TIMES [1636.
ecclesiastics who were then in that diocese, including
the lecturers, not above nineteen were suspended ;
that out of that number eight were released, and
six only altogether suspended, and of these, some
were suspended for other and more notorious acts
of non-conformity. In short, not above thirty were
involved in any kind of ecclesiastical censure, and
these were all of them well-known enthusiasts and
discontented factionists ; and yet, with this know^
ledge, Burton had the hardihood to assert, " that
in all Queen Mary's time there was not so great a
havoc made (in so short a time) of the faithful mi-
nisters of God, in any part, yea, of the whole land."
To silence the Arminian controversies, and to
insist that men should not preach the subtle dogma
of predestination or election, were considered by
those enthusiasts as awful crimes. Their extempo-
raneous effusions, termed by them prayers, were
made the vehicles, as is frequently and indeed must
of necessity be the case in extemporaneous effu-
sions, of conveying their own private prejudices
and angry passions : some prayed as they pleased,
others prayed sedition : all, in general, abounded
with ignorance, irreverence, obscenity, and a total
misconception of the nature of that Being whom
they so daringly, and, in the pride of a false perfec-
tion, addressed. For taking cognizance of these
extravagances, the Bishops were traduced, and es-
pecially, as we are informed by Heylin, Dr. Peirce,
the Bishop of Bath and Wells. " His crimes"
that writer, were, that he had commanded
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 139
the ministers of his diocese to catechise their pa-
rishioners on the Sunday afternoons, from the au-
thorized catechism in the Book of Common Prayer,
and that he had suppressed the lecturers in most
parts of his diocese." These, with the Puritans,
were damnable crimes, though that prelate had
done no more than his duty in following the royal
instructions. In the latter instance, he was after-
wards justified by the Archbishop, " who took the
blame of it," says our author, " upon himself, if any
thing were blameworthy in it, though then a pri-
soner in the Tower, and exposed to the malice and
the power of his enemies : for such was his un-
daunted spirit, that when Ash, a member of the
House of Commons, demanded of him in the Tower,
whether the Bishop of Bath and Wells had received
directions from him ? he answered, that he had,
and that the Bishop had done nothing in it, but
what became an obedient diocesan to his metropo-
litan. So careful was he of preserving those who
acted under him, that he chose rather to augment
the number of his own misfortunes, than occasion
theirs V
During the remainder of the year 1636, little
occurred of any interest connected with Archbishop
Laud, and, indeed, I am compelled to pass over
some proceedings connected with the Church and
the University, that I may proceed to more im-
portant details. On the 10th of June, 1637, the
1 Heylin, p. 294. Canterburie's Doome, p. 99, 100.
,, () LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
Archbishop completed a work which he had previ-
ously classed among his projected things, namely,
" A book cc/ntaining the records which are in the
Tower, and concern the Clergy." He was at the
sole charge of getting this book transcribed on fair
vellum, and it was brought to him finished on the
above day, and he deposited it in his library, as he
says, for the service of posterity. This collection
extends from the 20th year of Edward I. to the
14th of Edward IV., and is now in the Library of
Lambeth Palace.
But this year is perhaps the most lamentable in
English history. Although the nation was seem-
ingly at peace and prosperous, although the court
was magnificent and virtuous, the Church elevated
by the piety, the munificence, and the learning of
its governors and clergy, the kingdom wealthy,
commerce extended, and the Universities flourish-
ing by the cultivation of letters and the renown of
their several members, there had been long che-
rished a secret spirit of dissatisfaction; religious
extravagance and hypocrisy had been quieted but
not subdued. Puritanism, since its first introduc-
tion in the reign of Elizabeth, had made rapid pro-
gress in this age of fanaticism, and a flame was
destined to break out this year, which was to deso-
late the three kingdoms, and to afford a temporary
triumph to ambition and treason. This may be
said to be the first calamitous year in Charles' un-
huppy reign ; the beginning of his disasters which
in his martyrdom ; the discontented in Scot-
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 141
land held up the affairs of that kingdom as the
ostensible origin of treason and rebellion, which
were fomented by their English confederates. The
fierce and stern enthusiasts of the North resolved
on devastation, and the Calvinistic war was to rage
with desperate fury. " Although the people (in
Scotland) were averse from Episcopacy, although
this aversion was fomented by the harangues of their
preachers, yet the religious tenets of the people,
and the offence which they entertained were not the
cause, but the engine of those troubles which dis-
tracted the nation during this period of our history,
which indeed may be termed the empire of fana-
ticism and hypocrisy, of tyranny and rebellion V
Before I proceed, however, to this important,
though at present necessarily very rapid detail,
some other transactions must be noticed. This year
some factious and refractory men had resolved to
establish their enthusiasm on the shores of America,
and amid the forests of New England, whither, they
had previously avowed, the gospel had departed,
to act without the restraints of law, as it respects
religion. Those disorderly emigrations, without a
royal licence, it was thought expedient to restrain,
" because of the many idle and obstinate humours,
whose only or principal end was to live without the
reach of authority." Eight ships were stationed in
the Thames, to convey a host of zealots across the
Atlantic, but they were stopped by an order of
1 Arnot, p. 104.
IfJ
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
Council ; and as many of the Puritan ministers, re-
gardless of the amorpatria, resolved to gratify that
extravaganc^ which they could not indulge in their
own country, and were ready to follow that which
they termed " the gospel/' into New England. An
order of Council also prohibited " all ministers un-
conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the
Church of England ; and that no clergyman should
be suffered to pass to the foreign plantations with-
out the approbation of the Archbishop of Canter-
bury and the Bishop of London." These orders
were founded on obvious reasons of state, but they
increased the factious discontentment. Oliver Crom-
well, it is said, was among those intended emi-
grants thus stopped, who, with some others, had
resolved to seek his fortunes beyond the Atlantic.
He returned to his associates, to indulge in his
hypocrisy and fanaticism.
The symptoms of dissatisfaction were drawing to-
wards a crisis, and some prosecutions of this year
accelerated the national calamities. The first case
is the trial of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, in the
Star-Chamber, which, after considerable delays, took
place on the 14-th of June, during Trinity Term.
Prynne has already been introduced to the notice
of the reader. He had been prosecuted for his
seditious insolence in 1633, but the punishment
had no effect in reducing him to obedience. In
1635, and the two following years, he published
several books, worse than the Histrio-Mastyx ; one
he termed, " A Looking-Glasse for all Lordly Pre-
7
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 143
lates," 1636, 4to. ; a second, " The Unbishoping
of Timothy and Titus," 1636 ; a third, " Certain
Queries propounded to the Bowers at the Name of
Jesus, and to the Patrons thereof," 1636 ; a fourth,
" A Divine Tragedie lately acted," already referred
to ; and a fifth, " A Quench-Coale, or a Brief Dis-
quisition and Inquiry in what place of the Church
or Chancel the Lord's Table ought to be situated,"
which he designed as an answer to a tract of Dr.
Heylin's, entitled " A Coal from the Altar," written
in reply to Bishop Williams's " Letter to the Vicar
of Grantham." This Brief Disquisition extends
to no less than three hundred and fifty-eight closely
printed quarto pages, besides seventy-eight pages
of an introduction. But that which was properly
the cause of the prosecution against him was another
publication, published in 1636, entitled, * e News
from Ipswich," in which he reflected on Bishop
Wren, the learned and pious Bishop of Norwich,
who resided in that city, and other prelates, in the
most scandalous manner. The Archbishop also was
treated in no very gentle manner by this fanatical
Mastyx, and he descants on his " arch-piety, arch-
charity," terms him " arch-agent for the devil"
that " Beelzebub himself had been Archbishop, and
the like to those, a most triumphant arch, indeed,
to adorn his victories." The Bishops are generally
termed " Luciferian Lord Bishops, execrable trai-
tors, devouring wolves," and Bishop Wren is f< a
bloody persecutor."
The ravings of this man might, perhaps, in another
, , , LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
age have been treated with contempt, but the reign
of Charles I. was not one for such leniency, more
especially aS the book was strictly punishable by
law, as a gross and impious libel, and rendered
more criminal by the daring conduct of the author,
who was at the time a state prisoner. He was,
therefore, served with an indictment. Of his two
companions, who, with himself, were men of furious
passions, and were convicted of printing and publish-
ing sedition, schism, and daring libels on Church and
State, I here insert an account.
John Bastwick was born at Wrottle, in Essex, in
1593 1 , and entered of Emanuel College, Cam-
bridge, 19th May, 1614. Having left the University
without a Degree, he travelled on the Continent for
nine years, and at length took the degree of Doctor
of Medicine at the University of Padua. When he
returned to England, he settled at Colchester,
where he practised physic ; but being afflicted with
a mania against Popery, he commenced author, and
wrote violently against the Popish Church 2 . In
the year 1 633, while he was in Holland, Bastwick
published a work, which he termed " Elenchus Reli-
gionis Papisticae," also, " Flagellum Pontificis et
Episcoporum Latialium," which he circulated
throughout England with great assiduity. Although
it was specially pretended to be a confutation of one
1 Fuller's Church History, book xi. p. 151.
a Lord Clarendon's History, vol. i. Fuller, ut sup. White-
locke's Memorials, p. 22.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 145
Short, who had maintained the dogmas of the Ro-
man Catholic Church, and although he himself
declares in the Dedication, that he intends not to
animadvert upon those Bishops who held their
authority from temporal princes, yet, as the
Church historian aptly remarks, " he exposed his
character to the Latin bishops beyond the Alps,
and our English prelates reckoned themselves
touched therein." For these productions, he was
summoned in 1633, before the High Commission ;
on the 12th of February, fined 1000/., excommuni-
cated, degraded from his practice of medicine, and
his books condemned to be burnt ; to pay the costs,
and to be imprisoned till he retracted his opinions.
Two years he remained in the Gatehouse, where,
being a man of violent temper, instead of express-
ing contrition, he published " Apologeticus ad
Praesules Anglicanos l " published at London, in
octavo, 1636. This book, being written in pure
and elegant Latin, was not productive of much mis-
chief, but he followed it up by one in English, enti-
tled, " The Letany of John Bastwicke, Doctor of
Physicke, London, 4to. 1637," in which he abused
the Church, charged the Bishops with introducing
Popery, and attacked the government, especially the
Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts, with
ig TUV 'ETTIO-JCOTTWV, sive, Apologeticus ad Praesules An-
glicanos criminumEcclesiasticorum in Curia Celsee Commissionis.
Accedunt ad calcem, ejusdem autoris duae Epistolae, una de
Papisticae Religionis futilitate, altera de Romanae Ecclesiae fal-
sitate. 8vo. 1636.
VOL. II. L
, }( ; LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
great virulence. " A piece it is," remarks Heylin, " so
silly and contemptible, that nothing but the sin and
malice which appeared in every line thereof, could pos-
sibly have preserved it from being ridiculous." The
abuse which it contained, however, was of a nature
which could not be passed over in silence, as among
the enthusiasts of that age, every extravagance was
eagerly adopted, and attended with dangerous con-
sequences. According to Bastwick, " the prelates
are invaders of the King's prerogative royal, con-
temners and despisers of the Holy Scriptures, ad-
vancers of Popery, superstition, idolatry, and pro-
faneness ; also, they abuse the King's authority, to
the oppression of his most loyal subjects, and therein
exercise great cruelty, tyranny, and injustice; and
in execution of those impious performances, they
shew neither wit, honesty, nor temperance. Nor
are they either servants of God, or of the King, but
of the devil, being enemies of God, and the King,
and of every living thing that is good. All which,"
adds Whitelocke, " he (Bastwick) is ready to main-
tain 1 ."
In perusing the " Apologeticus," I find these re-
marks strictly verified, though, as the work is in
Latin, it was not capable of such obvious construc-
tions as the " Letany." The usual exceptions against
Episcopacy, which have been urged and refuted a
thousand times, are made ; the work, however, dis-
1 \Vhitclocke's Memorials, p. 26. Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 38l,
382. Hcylin, p. 309. Nalson's Collections, vol. i. p. 499506.
Collier, vol. ii. p. 771 . Clarendon, vol. i. p. 200.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 147
plays considerable learning, and its author was
master of a pure and easy Latin style. " Dicam
quod res est," says Bastwick, " in ipso terrore cir-
cum frementis me exitii, hominum tamen miserebar
oblitorum veteris praecepti, Non dices falsum tes-
timonium; et negligentium novi, Quod tibi fieri
non vis.alteri ne feceris. Quis enim in ilia judicum
classe de nomine, fama, fortunisque suis ab eodem
accusatore, teste, judice, decerni sequus patiatur ?
Sed in hanc nos patientiae sortem Deus allegit.
Redibunt forte beatiora tempora, cum Christi lex
reverentius, Humanitatis aBquabilius habebitur."
He then proceeds : " Articuli prodibant concatenati
triginta.et septem, quorum hi maxime capitales;
beasse me virum bonum geminis frui Beneficiis
Fas esse genu flectere ad mentionem nominis Jesu
Fas esse genibus flexis manducare panem et bibere
vinum in sacra ccena me proborum Episcopis indi-
disse agnomentum Grollorum me multo cum
prasconio publicasse librum Loitonii mihi in votis
fuisse ponere osculum cruentis Loitonii vulneribus
cum aures illi raperentur, ut olim piis factitatum
erga laniatos martyres. Me vulgato typis libro
Presbyteri et Episcopi paritatem asseruisse V He
then proceeds to comment on those articles, and
afterwards discourses on the subject in no very mo-
derate language, but he is peculiarly abusive under
the head which he entitles, " Sylloge usurpationum
quibus Episcopi imminuerunt praerogativam Regis
1 Apologeticus, p. .5, 6.
L 2
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
contra disertas regni leges et statute," where after
quoting cap/. 15. 27th of Henry VIII. he exclaims,
Quicquamne apertius pro ministrorum pantate
Quicquamne in pravaricatores gravius minari possit
Nee deterret tamen vos hujus edict! severitas Prae-
sules, seu visitantes, seu in Consistoriis praesidentes,
a fabricandis constitutionibus novis, caeremoniis
Canonibus, articulis jurisjurandi formulis, qua? rege
inconsulto, nullo accepto mandate typis divulgatis,
ecclesiarumque Gardianis observanda exequendaque
committitis, praascriptis tantum nominibus et auto-
ritate vestris, tanquam Legislatoria potestas sum-
ma sit penes vestrum ordinem, tantumque monarchi-
chaj dominationis in illo supersit, quantum in ipso
rege prsesidente comitiis. Cujus insolentiae fastus
omnem vestro saeculomm vel adaequat vel egreditur
cleri contumacis superbiam, et Art. 34. Ecclesias
Anglicans repugnat '." -
Let us, however, turn to the " Letany," in which
there is " An Universall Challenge to the whole
world, to prove the parity of ministers not to bejure
dh'ino" and which Bastwick says, is " a booke very
usefull and profitable for all good Christians to
read, for the stirring up of devotion in them like-
wi>c, Prov. chap. xxv. ver. 2. Printed by the
speciall procurement, and for the especiall use of
our English prelates, in the yeare of Remembrance,
anno 1637." There is a libel in the very title page,
but he fulminates most lustily in the opening epistle,
1 Apologeticus, p. 146, 147.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 149
which he entitles, " John the Phisitian to the ver-
tuous and elect Lady, the Lady Walgrave, at her
house in Worminford, in Essex." " I dare boldly
maintaine," saith this Medico-Mastyx V, " they (the
Bishops) are more disobedient and worse than the
devils themselves, to say nothing in passion and
perturbation. Of all creatures, bishops, priests, and
deacons, are most wicked, ungratefull, disobedient,
and rebellious. The Lord Jesus saith, Bring
those mine enemies to mee hither, that I may slay
them that would not that I should rule over them.
If slaughter to a kingdom be the preservation of it,
then the prelates are the maintainers of it, for of
all creatures they are most rebellious and impious.
Nay, I peremptorily affirm, that the prelates are
worse than the devil." They are " rook-catchers,
soule murdering hirelings, atheists, a commonwealth
of rats." " The truth is," says he, " they are God's
rebels, and enemies, both by the law of God and the
land, to God and the King, and, like the giants of
old, warre against the clouds, and if to say so be a
scandall, I will live and die in it." " To say no-
thing of the Bishop of London, who was put into
his office with such supreme dignity and incompar-
able majesty, as he seemed a great king or mighty
emperour, to be inaugurated and installed in some
1 This is a title which is given him in another of his books, en-
titled, " Medico-Mastix, or a Pill for the Doctor, being a short
Reply to a late vindictive Letter sent to Mr. Vicars, in the name
of Dr. Bastwick, concerning Lieut.-Col. John Lilburne, by E, A.
a She-Presbyterian." 4to. 1645.
150 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
superlative monarchy ; see the prelate of Canter-
bury, in his ordinary garb, riding from Croydon to
Bagshot, with forty or fifty gentlemen well mounted
attending upon him, two or three coaches, with four
and six horses," &c. and in this style he proceeds in
his railing, till he signs himself the virtuous and
elect lady's " poore orator." But the other parts
are, if possible, still worse. He talks of " Father
William of Canterbury, his Holiness, and William
London, Magnificent Rector of the Treasury,"
the " Prior of Canterbury there, William the Dra-
gon, and your Abbey lubber of York, the oracle of
the north." " I will stand to," says he ; " I am re-
solved never to leave the field by flying, but to
join battle, and fight against the great dragon,
Father Antichrist, and against Gog and Magog, as
long as I can stand upon my legs. For had I as
many lives as I have haires on my head, I would
be prodigal of them all in this cause ; and had I
as much blood in my veines as would swell the
Thames, I would spill it every drop in the quarrel
I am now embarked' iti. If Father William of
Canterbury think that I am afraid of him, he is
metropolitanically mistaken, for I neither fear nor
love him, neither is there any affection or passion
in me so contemptible, that I deem him, or any
prelate in England, worthy to be an object of it."
The Archbishop is styled his " reverend Highness
of Croydon," and, " had not the prelates lived
under a gracious prince, they would have been
for their doings." ' The Attorney-General
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 151
is termed " Doctor Satan, the accuser of the bre-
thren." Bishop Wren, " Saint Wren, now Pope-of
Norwich," and the office of a Bishop is " the office
of Satan, and Judas that Archbishop and Primate
of traytors." In short, so hardened was this medi-
cal fanatic in his wickedness, that he ends his
Litany in these words : " Heare is the end of the
First Part of the Letany of Doctor Bastwick, there
are seven parts more of it yet to come."
I have quoted thus largely from, or rather ana-
lyzed, this singular performance, which is a pre-
cious specimen of Puritanical nonsense and sedi-
tion, in order to shew the necessity of punishing
those fools for their egregious folly. Yet had
there been only folly here, " John the phisitian,"
would have remained unmolested in " Limbo Pa-
trum :" but when we recollect, that this was a
daring insult to the government from a person
already a state prisoner, that it libelled both Church
and State, and abused the personal character of
individuals, besides the fact, that such fanaticism
would be greedily swallowed by the factious zealots
of that age, we shall admit that they deserved no
ordinary punishment, more especially as Bastwick
was so obstinate, that none of his friends could
prevail upon him to expunge the offensive passages 1 .
1 It may be proper to mention here, that a second edition of
Bastwick's Elenchus Religionis Papisticae was printed at Lon-
don, 1641, in 12mo. At the beginning, there is a letter of thanks
to the King, the parliament, and the people, in which he bit-
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
Messrs. Bogue and Bennet call the punishment of
the three religious fanatics, " a woeful tragedy."
This is to be expected, for Prynne, Bastwick, and
Burton, are exalted by them to the honours of suf-
fering saints, while they are in a phrensy when
they name the Archbishop ; they candidly say, that
it is impossible to name him without a term of dis-
respect. This is Puritan liberality the essence,
doubtless, of non-conformity i but I am confident
that Messrs. Bogue and Bennet, like their great
oracle Neal, never read those effusions : otherwise
they could not have disputed the adage of the wise
man, " Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest thou also be like unto him."
Leaving " John the phisitian," his third compa-
nion, Henry Burton, next presents himself, whom
Heylin justly terms " the great master-piece of
terly abuses Archbishop Laud, and it concludes with three let-
ters, one to a Protestant who had recanted to Popery, a second
to one St. John, on the absurdity of the Popish religion, the
third to one Coleman, denying that the Church of Rome is a
true Church. The book is an answer to three questions, whe-
ther Christ constituted St.Peter monarch, or supreme head of the
Catholic Church, nay, whether St. Peter was ever Bishop of
Rome? Whether the Pope (if he is a Bishop) as Bishop of
Rome, has authority and jurisdiction over his fellow Christians
or not ? Whether the Popish Bishops are true Bishops ?" These
ns, he conceives, are refuted by Matt. xx. 25, 26. Mark
13, I !. ; Luke xxii. 25, 26. ; Acts xx. 29. ; Tit. i. 5.;
' l : 1 1'et.v. 1,2.; and he finally concludes, that
Bttboptare not true Bishops.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 153
mischief." This furious enthusiast was born at
Birdsall, in Yorkshire, and was entered of St. John's
College, Cambridge. In 1612, he was incorporated
Master of Arts at Oxford, and afterwards proceeded
Bachelor of Divinity l . He was at first employed
as tutor to the sons of Lord Carey, afterwards Earl
of Monmouth, and through the interest of that
nobleman, he was promoted to be Clerk of the
Closet to Henry, Prince of Wales, and, after his
death,rto Prince Charles. He was appointed in
1623, to attend the Prince into Spain, but this
appointment was cancelled, for reasons unknown,
after his luggage had been shipped. He did not
forget this disappointment, but probably he would
have remained in silence had his ambition been
gratified : for, on Charles' accession, he was mor-
tally offended at not being continued Clerk of the
Closet, Dr. Neile, Bishop of Durham, who had
filled that office under James I. being continued.
These two disappointments excited his hatred, and
he revenged himself by a continual course of oppo-
sition and abuse to the Church. In* 1625, he was dis-
missed the Court, for some misdemeanour, and for
presuming to write a letter to the King, charging
Bishops Neile and Laud as inclined to Pope'ry.
About the same time he was presented to the rectory
of St. Matthew's, Friday Street, London, but the date
of his institution is not known. Being leagued
1 Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. i. col. 192, 207. Fuller, book
xi. p. 152.
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
with the Puritan faction through mere revenge ; (for
he afterwards became a furious Independent, and
opposed his^ quondam associates Prynne and Bast-
wick, who were as furious in their Presbyterian
notions ;) he made the pulpit of St. Matthew's the
place for vaunting his puritanical extravagances,
and became one of the most violent factionists of
his party. In 1624 he began to publish his opi-
nions ; and his works, which are seventy in number,
are enumerated in the Bodleian Catalogue, and by
the industrious Antony Wood. These have in ge-
neral the quaint and ludicrous titles for which the
Puritan rhapsodies were so much distinguished. His
first work is " A censure of Simony," London, 1624.
2. " A Plea to an Appeal, traversed Dialogue wise."
1626. 3. " The Baiting of the Pope's Bull," 1627.
4. " Trial of Private Devotions, or a Dyal for the
House of Prayer," 1628. 5. " Israel's Fasts,"
.1628. 6. Seven Vials," 1628. 6. " Babel no
Bethel, or the Church of Rome no true visible
Church of Christ." 7. Truth's Triumph over
Trent," 1629, &c. &c ! .
Burton had been always known as a factious
zealot, but it was. not till the year 1636 that he
became remarkable. On the 5th of November, he
preached two sermons in St. Matthew's Church,
which he afterwards published, entitled, For God
and the King," f or which he was summoned in
Clarendon, vol. i. p . 20 0. Wood, ut sup. col. 685 ;
-col.m. Bodleian Catalogue, vol. i.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 155
December before the Commissioners for ecclesias-
tical causes. The oath being tendered to him ex
qfficio, he refused to take it, and appealed to the
King. This served him nothing, for the same
commission soon after met at Doctors Commons,
by whom he was suspended and deprived of his
benefice. He thought it expedient after this to
conceal himself in his own house, and he published
his sermons with an apology.
These sermons were founded on Prov. xxiv. 22.
and are in the same style as the effusions of his
associates Prynne and Bastwick. He assails the
bishops, whom, instead of fathers, he styles step-
fathers, caterpillars instead of pillars, whose houses
are haunted, and their episcopal chairs poisoned, by
the spirit that bears rule in the air. " They are,"
he says, " the limbs of the beast, even of Anti-
christ, taking his very courses to bear and beat
down the hearing of the word of God, whereby
men might be saved. Their fear is more towards
an altar of their own invention, an image or cru-
cifix, the sound and syllable of Jesus, than towards
the Lord Christ. They are miscreants, traps and
wiles of the dragon dogs ; like flattering tales, new
Babel-builders. Blind watchmen, dumb dogs,
thieves, robbers of souls, false prophets, ravening
wolves, factors for Antichrist, anti-christian mush-
Tumps." He then clamours about Popery, which
he flatly charges the bishops with attempting
to introduce, that the spirit of Rome breathes
in them that they wish <( to wheel about to their
15 6 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
Roman mistress/' that they are confederated with
" priests and Jesuits to rear up that religion." And,
therefore, m his Apology, which being published
at his leisure, makes his sedition or treason the
more notorious, they are styled "jesuited poly-
pragmatics, and sons of Belial." Dr. White, Bishop
of Ely, is charged with railing, perverting, and
fighting against truth. The learned Montague of
Chichester, is "a tried champion of Rome, and
devoted votary of the queen of heaven :" Wren, of
Norwich, meets with no quarter from this Puritan
Rabshekah ; and, finally, he falls upon the Arch-
bishop, upon whom he bestows plentiful abuse, and
declares, " that he had a papal infallibility of spirit,
whereby, as by a divine oracle, all questions in re-
ligion are finally determined." " These," says
Heylin, who quotes numerous other expressions,
" are the principal flowers of rhetoric which grew
in the garden of Henry Burton, sufficient, without
doubt, to shew how sweet a champion he was likely
to prove of the Church and Gospel."
These extracts require little comment. When
we reflect, that instead of calling sinners to repent-
ance, and expounding the Scriptures faithfully, those
Puritan enthusiasts used the pulpit as a place from
which to utter their scandalous invectives ; that the
holy office of prayer was prostituted in their ex-
temporaneous effusions ; that they harangued their
hearers continually on topics of the like nature, and
thereby stimulated to sedition and rebellion no
language is too strong in reprobation of these men.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 157
And this is not a rare case. No : frequently did
they indulge in the same licentiousness of speech:
hardly was there an exception ; and every one, more
or less, according to his natural temper, indulged
in seditious language. All were deep politicians :
like their brethren in Scotland, they were literally
so many popes the pulpit constantly resounded
with their slander and abuse. Nor were they
content with thundering their invectives against
a general system ; they descended to personalities ;
held up individuals to public ridicule and odium
against whom they indulged private hatred. Was this
preaching the gospel? Will the modern admirer
of those enthusiasts, whether he be sectarian or not,
whether he looks with admiration on English Puri-
tans, or zealots not less dangerous, Scottish Cove-
nanters will he assert, that this was in accord-
ance with that religion, about the purity of which
they clamoured so violently ? But is it not clear,
that the men who could preach and write this in-
sufferable sedition, had other objects in view than
their alleged defence of gospel truth? Religion
and liberty were indeed their pretexts ; the former,
of a truth, entitled to all reverence, the latter to
all regard ; but will it be said that they were ani-
mated by those noble objects, who dared to profane
the Christian temple by their unhallowed hatred
towards men whose opinions were, to say the least,
entitled to as much reverence as their own ; to ex-
asperate when they could not otherwise vanquish ;
or shall that law, severe as it confessedly was, be
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
utterly condemned, which silenced the incendiaries
in the midst of their foul upbraidings ? It is, in-
deed, indisputable, that the Puritans had all along
revolved their plans ; they wished from the first to
obtain the mastery; they were all the factious spi-
rits, whose march of mind was stopt in its career by
the domination of unruly passions men, whose
craftiness or hypocrisy was proportionable to the
desire for that ascendancy which they wished to
obtain.
On the 1st of February, 1636-7, a Sergeant-at-
Arms, with several attendants, having a warrant
from the S tar-Chamber, forcibly entered Burton's
house, searched his study, and carried him off to
prison. The following day, by order of the Privy
Council, he was conveyed to the Fleet, where he
was closely confined several weeks. Here, instead
of moderating his conduct, he farther insulted the
government, by writing " An Epistle to his Ma-
jesty," a second " to the Judges," and a third to the
" true-hearted Nobility." For these, and the two
sermons before mentioned, an information was laid
against him on the llth of March.
It appears from Rushworth, that all the Judges
met at Sergeant's Inn, together with the King's
Counsel, to consider whether these writings did not
amount to high treason. The Judges agreed,
however, in the absence of the Counsel, that nothing
could be high treason, unless charged on the 25th
I. (1 ward III. This opinion was delivered by the
Lord Chief Justice to the King and Council, and it
7
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 159
remained undecided, till at length it was resolved
to proceed against them in the Star Chamber l . {
After an interval of several days, the cause came
on at Trinity Term, when Prynne, Bastwick, and
Burton, were severally charged with " printing and
publishing seditious, schism atical, and libellous
books against the hierarchy of the Church, and to
the scandal of the government 2 ." Prynne, however,
fearing, or pretending to fear, that they would not
have liberty to reply to the information ; after
having drawn up, with his companions, some an-
swers, which were in themselves so scurrilous that
no counsellor would sign them, as was customary
in the court, exhibited a cross information against
the Archbishop and others, in which they were
charged " with usurping his Majesty's prerogative
royal, with innovations in religion, licensing of
Popish and Arminian books," and other imaginary
crimes; but this information being signed solely
by themselves, it was refused by Lord Keeper
Coventry as inadmissible. A variety of exceptions
were now made by the defendants : they desired
that they might have their answers signed with their
own hands, according to the ancient custom of the
court, and that they then would abide its censure.
In fine, after having had six weeks allowed them to
prepare their answers, and having neglected so to
do, they were held as pro confessis ; and Burton's
1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 324.
5 Rushworth, ut sup. p. 380. " A New Discovery of the Pre-
lates' Tyranny," 4to. 1641. p. 17, &c.
160
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
obstinacy in particular was reckoned self-conviction.
On the 14th of June, sentence was passed upon
them : Prynne, the most inveterate offender, was
condemned to be fined 5000/. to lose the remainder
of his ears in the pillory, to be branded in both
cheeks with the initials of Slanderous Libeller, and
to be imprisoned for life in Caernarvon Castle. Bast-
wick and Burton were sentenced to pay the same
fine, and were to lose their ears in the pillory, to be
imprisoned, the one in Launceston and the other
in Lancaster Castles. Prynne and Bastwick had
already been degraded in their several professions ;
Burton was also degraded from the ministerial func-
tions, his benefice forfeited, his degrees at the Uni-
versity rescinded, writing materials were prohi-
bited to him, and he was to have no communication
with any individual except his jailor l .
The defendants, and particularly Bastwick, pro-
tested against this censure. He alleged that he
could not justly be taken pro confesso, charged his
counsel with timidity, as being afraid to sign his
answer, lest they should offend the prelates, and
still offered it signed by himself, which was of course
refused. " My Lords," said he, " I most humbly
beseech your honours to accept of it, for it is pre-
tended that it is taken pro confesso, as if we had
failed on our parts, either out of contempt to the
1 Fuller, ut sup. book xi. p. 152155. Collier, vol. ii. p.
771, 772. Rushworth, vol. ii. p, 382. Whitelock's Memorials,
ii,'. New Discovery of the Prelates' Tyranny, p. 40, &c.
MSS. 493.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 161
order, or negligence, both of which on my part, I
am free from : and if your honours will refuse it,
then I protest before men and angels this day, that
I will put this answer of mine in Roman buff [Xatin^
and send it throughout the whole Christian world,
that all men may see my innocency, and your illegal
proceedings, and this I shall do though I die for it."
He then threw the paper into court, and, after
the Lord Keeper remarking that he was determined
to let the court have his answer, he proceeded, " I
shall presume to say to your honours, as St. Paul
spake unto the Centurion, when they were about
to whip him, What, saith he, will you whip a
Roman ? So, my good Lords, let me say to your
honours, What, will you cut off a true and loyal
subject's ears, for doing his duty towards his King
and country ? Will you cut off a scholar's ears ?
Will you cut off a Doctor of Physic's ears, able to
cure lords, peers, kings, and emperors ? Will you
cut off a Christian's ears ? Will you make curs of
Christians, my Lords ? Will you cut off a Catholic,
Apostolic, a Roman's ears ? Men, brethren, and
fathers, what an age do we live in, to be exposed
to the merciless fury of every malignant spirit !"
The Archbishop had been grossly attacked, along
with the other prelates, and his speech on this
occasion is happily preserved, having been com-
manded to be printed a few days after the censure
by the King l , and it is perhaps unequalled for its
' Diary, p. 54.
VOL. II. M
LIFE AND TIMES '[1687.
mast or1y eloquence and temperate spirit*. "And
first " says/he, in his Dedication to the King, for
my own profession, I humbly beg your Majesty to
think, that Burton hath not in this many followers,
and I am heartily sorry he should take the lead.
The best is, your Majesty knows what made his
. rancour swell. I will say no more 2 . And for the
law, I truly honour it with all my heart, and be-
lieve Prynne may seek all the Inns of Court, (and
with a candle, too, if he will,) and scarce find such
a malevolent as himself against Church and State.
Frequently hath he thrust law into those pamphlets,
to wrong the governors of the Church, and; abuse
your good and well-disposed people, and he makes
Burton and Bastwick utter law, which, Godjmows,
they understand not, for I doubt his pen is in all
the Pamphlets. And for physic, the profession is
honourable and safe, and I know the possessors of
it will remember that corpus humanum is that
about which their art is conversant, not corpus ec-
clesiasticum or politicum. But the proverb in
the Gospel is all I will say to him, Medice, euro,
trips um ; and yet, let me tell your Majesty, I be-
lieve he hath gained more by making the Church a
patient, than by all the patients he ever had beside.
1 A Speech delivered at the Star Chamber, on Wednesday, the
1 1th day of June, 1G37, at the censure of John Bastwick, Henry
Burton, and William Prynne, concerning pretended innovations
in the Church, by the Most Rev. &c. 4to. London. 1637.
9 The Archbishop here alludes to Burton's revenge on account
of his disappointment in court favour.
1657.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 163
Both myself and my brethren have been very
coarsely treated by the tongues and pens of these
men, yet shall I never give your Majesty any evil
counsel. I shall rather magnify your clemency,
that proceeded with these offenders in a court of
mercy as well as justice, since, as the reverend
judge then declared, you might have justly called
the offenders into another court, and put them to it
in a way that might have exacted their lives for
their stirring, as much as in them lay, mutiny and
sedition."
The whole speech, which occupies seventy-seven
pages, it is unnecessary to lay before the reader.
One or two quotations, however, I here adduce.
" There were times," says the Archbishop, " when
persecutions were great in the Church, even to
exceed barbarity itself. Did any martyr or con-
fessor in those times libel the governors ? Not one
of them, to the best of my remembrance. Yet these
men complain of persecution, without any shew of
cause, and in the mean time libel and rail without
measure. So little of kin are they to those who
suffer for Christ, or the least part of Christian reli-
gion. My lords, I can say it clearly and surely, as in
the presence of God, I have done nothing as a pre-
late, to the uttermost of which I am conscious, but
with a single heart, and with a sincere intention for
the good government and honour of the Church,
and the maintenance of the orthodox truth and
religion of Christ professed, established, and main-
tained in this Church of England. For my care of
M 2
1(;1 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
this Church, the reducing of it to order, the up-
holding of the etxernal worship of God in it, and
the settling of it to the rules of its first reformation,
are the causes, and the sole causes, whatever else
is pretended, of all this malicious storm which hath
lowered so black upon me, and some of my bre-
thren. And in the mean time, they who are the
only, or the chief, innovators of the Christian world,
have nothing to say, accuse us of innovation ; they
themselves and their accomplices being actually the
greatest innovators that the Christian world hath
ever known. I deny not that others have spread
more dangerous errors in the Church of Christ ;
but no men, in any age of it, have been more guilty
of innovation than they, while they cry out against
it, Quis tulerit Gracchos ? And I shall say, Quis
tulerit Gracchos ? for it is most apparent t o any
man who will not wink the matter, that the inten-
tion of these men and their abettors, was and is to
cause a sedition, being as great incendiaries in the
State as they have ever been in the Church, when
they get power. Our main crime is, (would they
all speak out, as some of them do) that we are
bishops. Were we not so, some of us might be as
passable as other men. And a great trouble it is
to them that we maintain our calling as bishops to
\wjitn* dii'hio. Enough has already been said in
Leighton's case, only it may be here remarked, that
this calling is jure divino, though not all the ad-
juncts to the calling. And this I say, in direct
opposition to the Church of Rome, as well as to the
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 165
Puritan humour. And I say farther, that from the
Apostles' times, in all ages, and in all places, the
Church of Christ was governed by Bishops, and lay
elders never heard of till Calvin's new-fangled decree
at Geneva. Now, this is made by these men as if
it were contra regem, in right or power. But
that is an ignorant shift; for our being bishops,
jure divino, takes nothing from the king's right or
power over us. For though our office be from God
and Christ immediately, yet we cannot exercise our
office either of order or jurisdiction, but as God
hath appointed us, that is, not in his Majesty's or
in any Christian King's kingdoms, but by and
under the power of the King given us so to do.
And were the argument against us valid, as bishops,
it must also be so against priests and ministers, for
they themselves grant that their calling is jure
divino, and yet I hope they will not say that to be
priests and ministers is against the King or any of
his royal prerogatives.
" But, suppose our calling as bishops could not
be made good jure divino, yet, jure ecclesiastico,
it cannot be denied. And here, in England, the
bishops are confirmed both in their power and
revenues by Acts of Parliament, so that we stand
in as good condition as the laws of England can
make us, and so we must stand till the laws shall
be repealed, by the same power that made them.
Therefore, supposing we had no other argument
(I say, suppose this, but I grant it not), yet no man
can libel our calling, as these men do, be it from
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
the pulpit, in print, or otherwise, but he libels the
King an4 the State by whose laws we are estab-
lished. All these libels, then, so far as they are
against our office, are also against the King and
the law, and can have no other purpose than to stir
up the people to sedition. If these men had any
other intentions, or if they had any Christian or
charitable desire to reform any thing amiss, why
did they not modestly petition his Majesty about
it, that in his princely wisdom, he might set all
things right in a quiet and orderly manner. For
one clamours from the pulpit, and all of them from
the press, and, in a most virulent and unchristian
manner, set themselves to make a heat among the
people, and so by mutiny to effect that which by
law they cannot, and by most false and unjust ca-
lumnies to defame both our office and persons.
But for my part, I pity their rage, and heartily
pray God to forgive their malice.
" No nation hath ever appeared more jealous of
religion than the people of England, and their zeal
for God's glory hath been, as it is to this day, their
great honour. But the main tendency of these
libels is to kindle a jealousy in men's minds that
there are some great plots in hand, dangerous
plots, as Burton says expressly, to change the or-
thodox religion established in England, and to
bring in I know not what Romish superstition in
its room, as if the external worship of God could
not be withheld in this kingdom without introduc-
ing Popery. Now, by this device of theirs, allow
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 167
me to say, that the King is most desperately abused
and wounded in the minds of his people, and the
prelates shamefully. The King most desperately,
for there is not a more cunning trick in the world
to withdraw the hearts of the people from their
sovereign, than to persuade them that he is changing
true religion, and about to introduce gross super-
stition ; and the prelates shamefully, for they are
charged as seducing, laying the plot, and the instru-
ments."
The Archbishop, after exonerating the King,
thus proceeds, " And for the prelates, I assure
myself they cannot be so base, as to live prelates in
the Church of England, and labour to introduce
the superstitions of the Church of Rome. And if
any should be so base, I do not only leave him to
God's judgments, but, (if these libellers, or any
others, can discover his base and irreligious con-
duct) to shame also, and punishment from the State ;
and no man's hand shall be sooner raised against
him than mine shall be. But for myself, to pass
over all the scandalous reproaches which they have
most injuriously cast upon me, I say this only.
First, I know of no plot, nor purpose of altering
the established religion. Secondly, I have always
been far from attempting such a thing that may
truly be said to tend that way in the least degree,
and to these two I here offer my oath. Thirdly,
if the King had a mind to change his religion, which
I know he hath not, and God forbid he should ever
have, he must seek for other instruments ; for as
168
LIFE AND TIMES [1637,
basely as these men conceive of me, I thank God,
I know my duty well, both to God and the King :
and I know that all the duty I owe to the King is
under God : and my great happiness it is (though
not mine alone) to live under a gracious and a re-
ligious King, who duly appreciates the service of
God. But were the days otherwise, I thank Christ,
I yet know not how to serve any man against the
truth of God ; and this I trust I shall never learn 1 ."
Such is a specimen of this truly eloquent oration,
which, when compared with the fanatical rhapsodies
of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, the intolerance
and revenge which breathe throughout their Pu-
ritan effusions, cannot fail to be admitted as a noble
testimony to the honour, piety, and integrity of this
noble prelate. He proceeds in the same masterly
style, making use of his great learning, in refuting
the alleged innovations of those enthusiasts, in
which he proves to a demonstration the malevolence
and folly of the charges. There is one thing, how-
ever, which must not be omitted. The Archbishop
has got all the odium for the sentence of those en-
thusiasts, and sectarians have reprobated his me-
mory as if he had been the original proposer of it.
This, however, is not the fact. He was merely a
member of the court, he delivered his speech in
vindication of himself, but he did not deliver an
opinion in the court ; he did not openly coincide
s |H-rdi in the Star-Chamber, ut sup. p. 215. Rush-
!, vol. ,i, p. 38:* 385, and Appendix.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 169
with the sentence, whatever he may have privately
thought. He expressly says, in the last paragraph
of the said speech : "But because the business hath
some reflection upon myself, / shall forbear to
censure them, and leave them to God's mercy and
the King's justice V 1 In confirmation of this,
though the sentence produced, in the year 1641,
' ' A new Discovery of the Prelates' Tyranny in their
late prosecutions of Mr. William Prynne, Dr. John
Bastwick, and Mr. Henry Burton," from the pen of
Prynne, in which he charges the Archbishop and
others with the sentence, though in his " Canter-
burie's Doome," written by the same Prynne, and
published in 1646, it is asserted, that the censure of
the three enthusiasts was by " Laud's prosecu-
tion, for opposing his Popish innovations 2 ;" yet
it is evident that he acted merely as a private mem-
ber of the court, and even refrained from expressing
his opinion. For, first, setting aside the Arch-
bishop's express declaration in the speech, which is
surely as much entitled to credit as the opposite
one of men supersaturated with malevolence, I find,
in an account of the trial preserved among the
Lansdowne MSS. 3 that the Archbishop spoke not
a single word to the prisoners, and nothing except
the Speech, because " the business had some reflec-
tion on himself," and the discourse was principally
carried on between them and the Lord Chief Jus-
1 Speech, ut sup. p. 77.
2 Canterburie's Doome, p. 110 114. 488497. 513520.
3 Lansdowne MSS. 493.
170 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
tice Finch, the Lord Keeper Coventry, Lord Dorset,
Lord Arundell, Lord Carey, and Lord Cottington.
Secondly, though they aver that they were prohi-
bited from speaking in defence, I find in the same
authority, the following address to Prynne, by the
Lord Keeper : " Mr. Prynne, the business of this
day is to proceed against you that are prisoners at
the bar, and lest you should say that you had no
liberty to speak, the court will give you leave to
speak what you can in your defence, and they will
hear you, if you keep within the bounds of modesty,
and from libellous speeches," and they all answered
" that they hoped so to order their speeches that
they should be free from libels." But what was the
consequence? No sooner had Prynne commenced
than he opened with a libel ; Bastwick began his
defence with this rhapsody, " My honourable lords,
mcthinks you look like an assembly of gods, ye are
called the sons of God ;" and he ended in violent
declamation. Burton "began a discourse in vindi-
cation, of which the following is the recital. " Mr.
Burton," said the Lord Keeper, " what say you ?"
" My good lords," replied Burton, " your honours,
it should seem, do determine to censure us, and
take our cause pro confesso, although we have
laboured to give your honours satisfaction in all
things. My lords, what have you to say against
my book ? I confess I did write it, yet did I not
any thing out of intent of commotion or sedition.
I delivered nothing but what my text led me to
say, being chosen to suit with the day, namely, the
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 171
5th of November, the words were these" Here he
was stopped by the Lord Keeper, who told him
that there was no necessity to name texts of scrip-
ture, nor was he sent for to preach, but to answer
those things objected against him. A conversation
then ensued, after which he was asked, if he were
guilty or not, and he declared that, as a minister,
he had a right to say what he pleased in the pulpit ;
he denied that a minister ought always to proceed
in a milder strain : " I being the pastor of my
people," quoth he, "whom I had in charge, and
was to instruct, I supposed it was my duty to
inform them of those innovations that are crept
into the Church, as also of the danger and ill con-
sequences of them." Thirdly, I find in an account
of the same proceedings preserved among the Har-
leian MSS. professedly written by one of their
friends, and entitled, sf A Briefe Relation of cer^
tayne speciall and most materiall passages and
speeches in the Starre Chamber, occasioned and
delivered June the 14th, 1637, at the censure of
those three ivorthy gentlemen, Dr. Bastwicke, Mr.
Burton, and Mr. Prynne, as it hath beene truely
and faythfully gathered from their bwne mouthes
by one present at the sayed censure 1 ," that the
Archbishop is not mentioned at all, as interfering.
Fourthly, it appears that Lord Cottington proposed
the general sentence, and that the Lord Chief
Justice Finch added the branding of Prynne as his
1 Harleian MSS. 6865.
\:-2
LIFE AND TIMES [1637
additional punishment, being the most inveterate
offender, and to this censure " all the court agreed V
And lastly, the Archbishop expressly declared at his
own trial, and it was not refuted, " In the giving of
this sentence I spake my conscience, and was com-
manded to print my speech, but I gave no vote,
because they had fallen so personally upon me, that
I doubted many men might think that spleen and
not justice had induced me 2 ." Finally, though
Bastwick, in the edition of his book which he calls,
" Eleuchus," printed at London 1648, rails against
the Archbishop, it is evident that it proceeded more
from hatred to the Church of England in general,
than from any real evidence that Laud was his per-
secutor; and the reader will moreover recollect,
that no man was more grossly abused than was the
Archbishop in the " Letany," "published by this
Medico-Mastix.
Indeed, Prynne knew all this well ; for though
he has the assurance, common indeed to his faction,
to charge the Archbishop with the whole proceed-
ings, saying, that he and his two associates " were
brought into the Star Chamber by the Archbishop's
prosecution, and there most inhumanly censured
for opposing his Popish innovations," that " the
books for which they were censured were neither
scandalous, seditious,nor schismatical," that "their
prosecution proceeded principally from him," and,
1 I/msdowne MSS. 493. Harleian MSS. 6865.
2 Troubles and Trials, p. 144, 145.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 173
above all, that the questioning for these books
" was originally his act alone, not the court's, which
did nought in it but by his instigation 1 " with in-
numerable other falsehoods and misrepresentations,
yet, had not his vindictive passions blinded his judg-
ment, or made him forget the truth, he could not
fail to be conscious that he was uttering falsehoods.
For the court expressly declared the act as their
own, by Lord Keeper Coventry, who, when Prynne
demanded that the prelates should be removed from
the court, " because we know," said he, f< they
are our adversaries, and it is neither agreeable to
nature, reason, nor justice, that those who are our
adversaries should be our judges." " In good
faith," replied the Lord Keeper, "it is a sweat
notion, is it not ? Herein you are become libellous,
and if you should thus libel all the honourable
lords, all the reverend judges, as you do the most
reverend bishops, by this your plea, you would leave
none to pass sentence upon you for libelling, be-
cause they are all parties*" Again, the same
Prynne charges Laud with having advised the
court to hold them pro confesses, whereas he well
knew that they had six weeks to prepare their de-
fence, and that the Lord Keeper informed them of
a case in which the party had only six days, which,
being neglected, the parties were held pro con-
fessis. He charges the Archbishop with having
1 Canterburie's Doome, p. 110. 496. 517.
2 Lansdowne MSS. 493.
174 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
stimulated the Lord Keeper to reject the cross bill
exhibited against him ; whereas, if he knew any
thing of law at all, he could not be ignorant that
the court was not bound to depart from established
usage for his convenience, to admit cross bills, or
answers not regularly filed by counsel. He asserts,
that the Archbishop was not only " the cause and
contriver" of the sentence "before it was given,"
but that " he approved and thanked the Lords for
it in his speech, when it was given :" whereas, first,
the speech was delivered, no 'doubt, before the sen-
tence was pronounced; but he expressly declared,
he would not censure them, because the business
had some reflection upon himself; and, secondly,
if he had read the speech, published that very year,
on the 25th of June, he did not thank the Lords,
but merely observes, " I humbly crave your Lord-
ships' pardon for my unnecessary length, and give
you all hearty thanks for your noble patience, and
your just and honourable sentence upon these men,
and your unanimous dislike of them, and defence
of the Church." In short, the same Prynne, after
writing these and similar passages, completes his
falsehoods by actually acknowledging, in the same
breath, that the Archbishop gave no vote on the
censure itself 1 .
On Friday, the 30th of June, those " three libel-
lers," as the Archbishop terms them, underwent
their sentences ; and, as their behaviour exhibits a
Canterburie's Doonic, p. 406.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 175
strange compound of fanaticism and obstinacy, their
speeches are worthy of notice. The punishment
took place in the presence of a vast concourse of
spectators, for though, as the noble historian writes,
" none of them was in interest or any esteem with
the worthy part of their several professions, having
been formerly all looked upon under characters of
reproach," yet, " when they were all sentenced,
and for the execution of that sentence brought out
to be punished, as common and signal rogues, ex-
posed upon scaffolds, to have their ears cut off, and
their faces and foreheads branded with hot irons,
men began no more to consider their manners, but
the men." To the same effect Heylin has an ap-
propriate remark. " It was a great trouble to the
spirits of many moderate and well meaning men,
to see the three most eminent professions in all the
world, divinity, law, and physic, so wretchedly
dishonoured in the persons of the malefactors, as
was observed by the Archbishop himself, in his
epistle to the King." It appears, from the account
in the Harleian MSS. already referred to, that the
multitude " came with tender affections to behold
those three renowned soldiers and servants of
Jesus Christ } who came with undaunted and mag-
nanimous courage thereunto, having their way
strewed with sweet herbs, from the house out of
which they came to the pillory, with all the honour
that could be done unto them.'*
Bastwick appeared first, and, meeting with Bur-
ton, he embraced him, rejoicing that they had both
7
176
LIFE AND TIMES [1637,
met at such a place, and on such an occasion.
Their enthusiasm, as may be easily conceived,
amounted almost to madness, and they really ima-
gined themselves elevated among the saints and
martyrs of old ; so easy is it to make enthusiasm
subservient to prejudice, and to assume a merit for
suffering even in a bad cause. Prynne appeared
last, and was saluted by his two companions in the
same manner. Bastwick's wife attended him, and,
kissing her when he mounted the scaffold, " Fare-
well, my dearest," said he, " be of good comfort.
I am nothing dismayed l "
Bastwick commenced a most singular speech.
" There are many/' said he, " that are this day
spectators of our standing here as delinquents,
though not delinquents. We bless God for it. I
am not conscious to myself wherein I have com-
mitted the least trespass, to take this outward
shame, either against my God or my King. The
first occasion of my troubles was by the prelates
for writing a book against the Pope, and the Pope
of Canterbury said, I wrote against him, and there-
fore questioned me ; but if the press were as open
to us as formerly it has been, we would shatter his
kingdom about his ears. But be ye not deterred
by their power, neither be affrighted at our suffer-
ings. I know there are many here who have set
many days apart for our behalf, (let the prelates
take notice of it), and they have sent up strong
1 Harleian MSS. 68G5.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 177
prayers for us to heaven : we feel the strength and
benefit of them at this time. In a word, so far I am
from fear, base fear, or caring for any thing they
can do, or cast upon me, that had I as much blood
as would swell the Thames, I would shed it every
drop in this cause. This plot of sending us to re-
mote places was first consulted and agitated by the
Jesuits, as I can make it plainly appear. O see
what times we *are fallen into, that the Lords must
sit to act the Jesuits' plots. For our own parts,
we owe no malice to the persons of any of the pre-
lates, but would lay our necks under their feet to
do them good as they are men, but against their
usurpations, as they are bishops, we do profess our-
selves enemies till doomsday V
In this seditious speech, the latter part of which
is so opposite to Bastwick's sentiments, as expressed
in the Litany, about the persons of the prelates,
where he advises the King " to hang them all 8 ,"
he is truly nothing daunted by the punishment : in
his way of reasoning, however, to hang a man for
being a bishop was no crime. Prynne followed
next, and he professed to lay down the law of
libel, as it was punished in the reigns of Mary and
Elizabeth. He then began to abuse the Church,
and attack the jus divinum of the Episcopal order.
" I make the challenge," said he, " against all the
1 Harleian MSS. 6865. Lansdowne MSS. 493. Fuller, book
xi. p. 155. New Discovery of the Prelate's Tyranny, part ii.
p. 34, 35.
2 Litany, p. 15.
VOL. II. N
178 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
prelates in the King s dominions, and all Christen-
dom, to maintain that their calling is jure divino.
If I make it not good, let me be hanged up at the
hall gate. You all see there be no degrees of men
exempted from suffering. Here is a reverend di-
vine for the soul, a physician for the body, and a
lawyer for the estate. I had thought they would
have let alone their own society, and not been mis-
led with any of them. Gentlemen, look to your-
selves, if all the martyrs that suffered in Queen
Mary's days, are accounted and called schismatical
heretics and factious fellows, what shall we look
for ? and such factious fellows are we, for disco-
vering a plot of Popery. Alas! poor England! what
will become of thee, if thou look not the sooner into
thine own privileges, and maintain not thine own
lawful liberty ?"
The executioner having come to Prynne to in-
flict the sentence, " Come," said the enthusiast,
" come, friend, come : hew me : cut me. I fear
not. I have learned to fear the fire of hell, and not
what man can do unto me. Come, scar me, sear
me. I shall bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus." So close were his ears cut by the savage
executioner, that a part of his cheek was taken
away. Nevertheless, this intrepid man flinched not.
" The more I am beat down," said he, " the more
I am lifted up." He was courageous from his na-
ture, while Bastwick was so from obstinacy, and
Burton from fanaticism.
Burton conducted himself in a similar manner.
7
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 179
On account of his sacred profession, his censure was
exceedingly unpopular. At his punishment there
was great murmurings among the spectators x . He
made a very long speech, extremely incoherent, and
abounding in rhapsodies, the chief design of which
was to establish a parallel between his sufferings
and those of our Saviour. There were three pil-
lories set up, and his happened to be the centre ;
before he was brought out, looking from the apart-
ment into the Palace-Yard, he said, " Methinks I
see Mount Calvary, where the three crosses, one
for Christ, and the other two for the two thieves,
were pitched." This was the height of enthusiasm :
here he compares himself to Christ in language
bordering on profaneness : his allusions, however,
to the two other pillories, crosses, in his opinion,
destined, in his religious allegory, for the two
thieves, was no great compliment to his two asso-
ciates in suffering, Bastwick and Prynne, more
especially, if we observe his farther expressions,
" If Christ," said he, " was numbered among
thieves, shall a Christian for Christ's sake, think
much to be numbered among rogues, such as we
are condemned to be ? Surely, if I be a rogue, I
am Christ's rogue, and no man's." Turning to
his wife, he said, " Wife, why art thou so sad ?"
" Sweetheart," replied she, " I am not sad."
" No,'* said he, " see thou be not ; for I would
1 Garrard to Wentworth, July 24, 1637, apud Stafford's
Letters, vol. ii. p. 85.
N 2
180 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
not have thee dishonour this day by shedding one
tear, or fetching one sigh ; for behold there for thy
comfort, my triumphant chariot, on the which I
must ride, for the honour of my Lord and Master.
And never was my wedding day so welcome and
joyful as this. And so much the more, because I
have such a noble captain and leader, who hath
gone before me with such undaunted courage, that
he saith of himself, ' I gave my back to the smiters,
my cheeks to the scoffers, they pluckt off the hair.
I hide not my face from shame and spitting/ for
the Lord God will help me." When he was put
into the pillory, he exclaimed, " Shall I be ashamed
of a pillory for Christ, who was not ashamed of a
cross for me ? Good people, I am brought hither
to be a spectacle to the world, to angels, and men,
and howsoever I stand here to undergo the punish-
ment of a rogue, yet, except to be a faithful ser-
vant to Christ, and a loyal subject to the King, be
the property of a rogue, I am no rogue. I glory
in it." A bee happening to alight on a nosegay he
held in his hand, " Do you not see this poor bee ?"
he exclaimed, " It hath found out this very place
to suck sweetness from these flowers, and cannot /
suck sweetness from Christ ?" He then proceeded
in a strain of enthusiasm to compare himself with
Jesus Christ. One asked him if the pillory were
not uneasy for his neck and shoulder. " How can
Christ's yoke be uneasy," he replied : " this is
Christ's yoke, and he bears the heavier end of it."
At another time, on calling for a handkerchief, he
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 181
said, " It is hot, but Christ bore the burden in the
heat of the day." With numbers of his friends he
held conversation, who seem to have been all im-
bued with the same enthusiasm, and to have ex-
ulted in his extravagant expressions. One of the
guards had a rusty halberd, the iron of which was
fixed to the staff with an old crooked nail. " What
an old rusty halberd is that," exclaimed one : to
which Burton replied, " This seems to me to be
one of those halberds which accompanied Judas
when he went to betray his Master.*' A friend asked
him, if he would have gladly dispensed with his
suffering, " No, not for a world," was his reply *.
After their sentence, those three unfortunate
men were removed to prison 2 . Prynne, on the
1 Harleian MSS. 6865. Lansdowne MSS. 493. New Dis-
covery, &c. p. 46 56.
2 On Prynne's return to the Tower by water, after the exe-
cution of the sentence, he composed the well-known distich,
which is not wanting in beauty and poetical expression.
" Stigmata maxillis referens, insignia laudis,
Exultans remeo victima grata Deo."
It has been thus translated, (Biog. Brit. vol. vi. Part 2. p. 146.)
From suffering for my country I return,
Exulting in that cause to bleed and burn.
A Puritan poetaster, however, has favoured us with a different
version. (Harleian MSS. 6865.)
S. L. Laud's scars.
Triumphant I returne, my face descryes
Laud's scorching scars, God's grateful sacrifice.
But the wit of this loses its effect. Prynne did not blame
182 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
27th of July, was sent to Mount Orgueil Castle, in
the Island of Jersey, where he continued till he was
released by the Long Parliament in 1640. Bast-
wick was sent to St. Mary's Castle, in the Island of
Scilly, and Burton to Cormet Castle, in Guernsey.
They both remained prisoners till the same period,
when they were released by the said Parliament ;
their sentence reversed ; reparation and damages
awarded to them for their punishments, and 5000/.
voted to Bastwick, and 6000 to Burton, out of the
estates of the Archbishop, the Bishop of London,
the Earl of Arundell, the Earl of Pembroke, Sir
Henry Vane, Sir John Cook, and Sir Francis Win-
debank, who had all signed the warrant in the Star
Chamber. The ensuing disasters, however, pre-
vented the payment of the money.
In commenting on these proceedings, it must not
be denied that the punishments exceeded the
offence, and that they are revolting to our modern
opinions of the punishment for libel. But when
we recollect the times, we shall be more cautious
in expressing our condemnation. That it was a
tragedy may be allowed; but all public punish-
ments are tragical, because the unhappy persons
are sufferers ; but severity is a term liable to
Laud exclusively for the sentence. (Canterburie's Doome,
p. 49 G.) And the motion for branding Prynne originated with
Chief Justice Finch, (Lansdowne MSS. 4-93, c.) Dr. Heylin
is peculiarly happy in his motto prefixed to the Elegy on this
^rcat prelate, " Dignwn, Laude, virum musa vetat mori."
Horat. lib. iv. 8.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 183
various interpretations ; the individuals, their influ-
ence, and the tendency which their actions is likely
to have on society, must not be forgotten. The
sentiments of Laud on this subject are indisputable,
that the " King was most desperately abused," for
" there is not a more cunning trick in the world to
withdraw the hearts of the people from their sove-
reign, than to persuade them that he is changing
true religion, and about to introduce gross super-
stition." The case is to the point : Prynne, Bur-
ton, and Bast wick, were not only inveterate offenders
and dangerous political fanatics, but they were
sowers of sedition, they all intermeddled in subjects
with which they had no concern ; and their sedi-
tion was the more dangerous in that age of enthu-
siasm, as tending to estrange the affections of the
people from their sovereign. And in every case
where the sovereign and his ministers are treated
with licentious freedom ; where the institutions,
whether sacred or civil, of the nation, are brought
into contempt, and made the subject of unholy de-
rision, slander, and abuse, the safety of the state
requires an exemplary punishment. I hold, how-
ever, that no part of this sentence was severe, except
the cutting off of the ears, which, it must not be
forgotten at the same time, was the custom of the
age, when the criminal law was not reduced to the
modern established code ; and, therefore, whatever
may be the opinions of the present age on these
transactions, we ought especially to guard against
carrying all our existing prejudices and prevalent
184 LIFE AND TIMES \_16S7.
customs into the history of the past, which many
of our modern affectors of liberality and evangelism
have yet to learn. No judgment can be formed
on these grounds : no standard can be erected as a
criterion ; men were then only in advancing civiliza-
tion ; at the period of which I now write, a century
had not elapsed since the national emancipation
from the delusions and superstitions of Popery.
That man is the most likely to discover truth, and
to become the candid historian, who conceives
himself living at the period he is attempting to
delineate ; and who delivers his investigations to
posterity, unheated by party, divested of fanaticism,
untainted with sectarian prejudices ; not surely he
who, like the Puritan Mastyx, plunges into the his-
tory of the past, furious, passionate, and revengeful ;
carrying with him his animosity and hatred to exist-
ing institutions, which even the hand of time has
rendered sacred and national ; and who is anxious
to discover facts which will afford him an oppor-
tunity to utter his preconceived opinions. In the
present case, one thing at least is certain, that the
three political enthusiasts had their revenge. "As
to the sufferers," observes Echard, " they gloried in
what they had done and endured, and became more
turbulent than ever ; and Prynne became so impla-
cably furious, that he never rested till he had taken
off the Archbishop's head, ruined episcopacy, and
involved the nation in the most dreadful confusion.
But at length, having seen a thousand unexpected
calamities, and growing weary of himself, when he
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 185
had in a manner no enemies to engage him, he
began to look up, and to repent his former career,
wishing, that when they had cut off his ears, they
had cut off his head"
Burton's extravagant language, however, must
not be forgotten. It is indeed lamentable to ob-
serve the irreverence and profaneness with which
the Puritans talked of the Supreme Being. Prynne
had declared on one occasion that Christ was a
Puritan. Here we have a man, one of their great
predestinarian champions, publicly comparing his
sufferings to those of Jesus Christ, and, to make the
parallel complete, observing, that as our Saviour
was crucified between two thieves, so was he pu-
nished between two rogues. His enthusiasm is
revolting and daring; it is not the language of
those holy men of old, nay, even of the holy martyrs
of the English Church, to whose immortal names
and glorious triumph every sincere member of the
Episcopal Church, and indeed every true Chris-
tian, can point with reverence and deeply-cherished
regard ; but it is the language of that fanatical
spirit resulting from dangerous notions of spiritual
perfection ; that enthusiasm which the Calvinistic
dogma is so apt to engender respecting the perse-
verance of the saints, and the infallible certainty of
individual election. In perusing this extravagant
language, it would hardly be supposed that it could
proceed from one who had so little of Christian
love, as to rail against his fellow-men within the
walls of the sanctuary, who was unquestionably an
186 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
offender against the laws of his country. Not one
of the martyrs of old was ever so extravagant;
not one of those whose deaths were embittered by
every torment which pagan or popish cruelty could
devise. But Burton had not so learned Christ.
He exalts himself at once to the honours of martyr-
dom ; he is pleased with the idea that " the day
will never be forgotten V How lamentable his
language, and that too when he was suffering
merely a temporary punishment, when there was
no rack nor stake before his eyes ; when, had he
restrained the licentiousness of his tongue, he would
never have been noticed ; when, in short, his violent
passions alone had exposed him to this puritan
martyrdom!
The report of this punishment, aggravated by all
the glosses which sectarian hatred and ingenuity
could devise, quickly spread throughout the king-
dom, and the bishops were most unjustly charged
as the great abettors. The zealots took the oppor-
tunity to calumniate the Archbishop. " I had libel
upon libel," he says, " scattered in the streets, and
posted upon walls. Upon Friday, July 7, 1637, a
note was brought to me of a sheet posted on the
cross of Cheapside, that ' the arch- wolf of Canter^
bury had his hand in persecuting the saints, and
shedding the blood of martyrs.' Now, what kind of
saints and martyrs these were, may appear by their
libellous writings; courses with which saints and
1 Hark'ian MSS. 6865.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 187
martyrs were never acquainted. And most certain
it is, that howsoever the times went then, or go
now, in Queen Elizabeth's time Penry was hanged,
and Udal condemned and died in prison, for less
than is contained in Burton's book, as will be evi-
dent to any one that compares their writings toge-
ther ; and these saints would have lost their lives
had they done that in any other Christian state
which they did against this 1 ." The Presbyterians
in Scotland, too, who in their zeal for covenanting,
had already identified the English Puritans with
themselves, practised with the latter in their hatred
towards the Church 2 . For two months this libel-
lous system was pursued. One libel was sent to the
Archbishop by the Lord Mayor of London, which
had been found at the south gate of St. Paul's,
purporting that the devil had let that house to him.
Two days afterwards another was brought to him,
which had been posted on the north gate of St.
Paul's, declaring, " that the government of the
Church of England is a candle going out in a
stench;" and on the same day, the Lord Mayor
sent him another found in Cheapside, having his
speech in the Star Chamber set in a pillory. Four
days afterwards he received a poetical effusion of
the like nature 3 . Such were the despicable prac-
tices of a faction to ruin a man by whom their ex-
travagance and sedition had been often defeated.
1 Diary, p. 54. History of Troubles and Trials, p. 145.
2 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 315. 3 Diary, p. 54, 55.
188 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
Another individual, a most furious zealot, was
also punished at this period. This was the famous
John Lilburne, a man, though poor, of a good
family, infected with Puritanism from his youth,
and afterwards Lieutenant Colonel in the rebellious
army sanctioned by the Rump Parliament. He
had been tutored, moreover, by Bastwick, whose
Litany so captivated him, that he carried it over
to Holland, and printed it there, and commenced
libeller on his own account. He was also in the
service of Prynne, and under such auspices he
could not fail to improve in his puritanical enthu-
siasm. He was concerned in the printing and
publishing of the " News from Ipswich ;" he was
tried for the same, and condemned to be whipt
with one of his associates, Wharton, from the Fleet
to Old Palace-Yard, Westminster, placed in the
pillory for two hours, fined 500/. and obliged to
find security for his good behaviour, and to be
imprisoned in the Fleet till he conformed to the
rules of Court. As his behaviour at his trial had
procured for him the epithet of Free-born John,
so his incorrigible obstinacy and insolence when
undergoing the punishment, induced the Puritan
zealots to bestow on him the title of Saint. During
the punishment of whipping, he uttered fierce in-
vectives against the Church : and when placed in
the pillory, his hands being free, he scattered sedi-
tious pamphlets among the people. This induced
the ministers of justice to bind him, and gag his
mouth; but the zealot thereupon stamped with
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 189
his feet, to manifest his unconquerable hatred. In
the prosecution of this fanatic, however, Archbishop
Laud had no concern. He was imprisoned till the
Long Parliament began : and from the time of his
enlargement, until the day of his death in 1657,
he exhibited all that diversity of character in poli-
tics and religion, which characterized the Puritan
leaders. He became a Leveller, a Modeller, in
every thing a ringleader, as violent an opposer to
Cromwell as he had been to the King, a declared
enemy " to the powers that be," whatever they
were, a violent incendiary, and at last he died a
Quaker, after a life of singular vicissitudes. This
enthusiast, in short, " had the inveterate spirit of
contradiction, an antichristian temper which no
pretence of honesty, justice, or a good cause, can
vindicate."
But the most remarkable prosecution, and one
with which I shall close the proceedings of this
year, remains to be noticed. This was the prose-
cution of Bishop Williams, though, from what has
been already said concerning him, it is impossible
at present to enter into detail. This statesman
had long been in disgrace, and the King and the
Archbishop entertained towards him an insuperable
dislike. His own conduct had induced this feeling.
His former life had been one of courtly favours,
and .his connexion with a noble family had opened
to him many advantages. But great as was his
genius and aspiring ambition, his mind was subtle
and insidious, and many questioned his honesty
|i. LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
from his political craftiness. He evidently wanted
the manly sincerity of the Archbishop, who knew
not how to flatter, or to act against the dictates of
his conscience.
In proof of these remarks, I would direct the
reader's attention to several facts in the political
life of Bishop Williams, to shew that he frequently
adopted the Jesuitical maxim, that the end justifies
the means, and that his subtlety and inclination to
intrigue at times led him into glaring inconsis-
tences. In the first place, his due regard for his
own interest must not be forgotten. When he was
Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal,
Dean of Westminster, Chaunter of Lincoln, Rector
of Dinam, Walgrove, and Grafton, prebend of Pe-
terborough, Nonnington, with three other benefices,
which made Dr. Heylin aptly remark, that he was a
perfect diocese within himself, he actually applied to
the Duke of Buckingham for the Bishopric of Lon-
don, 1 , and soon afterwards, on occasion of Abbot's
misfortune in Bramzal Park, he applied for the pri-
macy a . It must be admitted, however, that in some
respects he had reason to wish for his removal, if the
account which he has himself given be correct ; for
in a letter to the Duke of Buckingham he says,
" My charge is exceeding great, my revenues very
little : my bishopric, deanery, and other commen-
davies, do not clear unto me above a thousand a
year at the utmost." He also declares that his
1 Cabala, p. 54, 55. " Ibid. p. 56.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 191
office as Lord Keeper had not produced him " one
shilling these two years past V But, in the second
place, his intrigues and servility were notorious :
we find him grossly flattering Buckingham : he
wished to have no honours but what came from
him ; he declares himself his vassal : he lives only in
the Duke's favour : the Duke's enemies and friends
are his : in short, he resolves to regulate himself
by the movements of his patron 8 .
Dr. Williams succeeded the illustrious Bacon as
Lord Keeper, and his ambitious character soon be-
gan to appear. " His spirit," says Pennant, " grew
beyond the control of ministers ; for, with un-
daunted courage, he persisted in all that was right,
and being subject to the failings of his country,
great pride, passion, and vanity, sometimes in what
was wrong 3 ." This writer adds, that " he always
resisted the unreasonable demands of Bucking-
ham," but in this few, I conceive, will agree with
him ; for if the preceeding quotations from the
" Cabala" be correct, no minister could be more
intriguing and selfish. But it is not probable the
man who could counsel his sovereign, that " a
King had a public and private conscience," as he
did in the case of Strafford, whom he cordially hated,
could be a wise minister, and a good man. He has
been charged with an inclination to Puritanism,
and as being a promoter of that party ; so far as
he loved the faction, the charge is groundless, but
1 Cabala, p. 85. s Ibid. p. 8385. 88. 94. 100103. 107.
* Pennant's Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 309.
]92 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
unquestionably, after his disgrace, he patronised their
extravagances, not from inclination, but because it
gratified his prejudices against Archbishop Laud.
Williams, however, was an eminent prelate, but
no two characters could be more dissimilar than
those of Williams and Laud, and unhappily they
did not understand each other till it was too
late. Both great and aspiring, their dissensions
increased with their years, and at length ripened
into mutual aversion. But Williams, whose con-
duct towards Laud had been always distinguished
for regard to his own interest, loses by the com-
parison. His temper was complying and insinuat-
ing; and he was too often governed by circum-
stances, making his private inclinations subservient
to the times. Laud was of a different disposition :
his was an unchanging policy, to lay down the law,
and to make men obedient to it ; not to bend the
law to the factious and turbulent dispositions of
men. The former imagined that persuasion was
the best method with the Puritans : the latter un-
derstood them better, and knew them to be men
beyond the reach of argument or reason ; which in-
duced him to insist on compulsion and authority.
" Laud," says Archdeacon Echard, " was like a
bold pilot who would steer his vessel directly into
harbour, though there were many rocks and shoals
in the way : but Williams knew better how to
avoid those hazardous places, and by proper wind-
ings and turnings, could more safely arrive in the
harbour. Laud's rigid honesty made him fit for
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 193
primitive times, but Williams' policy taught him
how to manage the infirmities of his own : the one
being fit to govern saints, the other to deal with
men, which is the more difficult task. To conclude
all in the language of the Scriptures, which is pro-
per for the characters of churchmen, Laud had
always the innocence of the dove, but not so much
of the wisdom of the serpent ; Williams had very
much of the latter, but we have reason to fear not
the full perfection of the former."
It is impossible, however, to go into detail at
present in the proceedings of this trial. Archbishop
Laud has noted in his Diary, that Dr. Williams
was censured in the Star Chamber on the llth of
July, for tampering and corrupting of witnesses in
the King's cause ; in other words, he was tried for
revealing the King's secrets on the information of Sir
John Lamb and Dr. Sibthorpe ; for scandalous lan-
guage reflecting on the King and his ministers ; and
for refusing to pay the tax of ship money, which
had been levied to pay the expences of the navy ;
which complaint had been lodged against him in
1636, by the High Sheriff of Huntingdonshire.
The prosecution for revealing the King's secrets,
contrary to his oath as a privy councillor, had been
commenced against Bishop Williams in 1627, but
he had contrived to stop or delay the proceedings
for ten years by shifts and evasions. The Attor-
ney-General, fearing a defeat in the evidence, set
aside this charge, and preferred a new bill against
him for tampering with the King's witnesses, on
VOL. u. o
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
which bill he was condemned. The trial excited
great interest, and the Archbishop delivered a
speech on the occasion. In this speech he declared
his sorrow that the Bishop of Lincoln had been
found to deserve the censure of the court ; that he
was grieved for this on account of his profession,
on account of the speculation which it would excite
among the enemies of the Church, and on account
of his own great abilities. He declared that five
several times he had made intercession to the King
for him on his knees. " I delivered for him," said
the Archbishop, " several petitions myself into the
King's own hand, and I then did that which, had I
known what now I do, I should not have done ; I
sent him under my own hand the King's answers
upon every petition. And after all these five seve-
ral services, I must tell you, my Lords, I was but
coarsely dealt withal, nay, ill-requited. Yet was I
overcome to move again at Christmas last, and I
have it under his own hand, or if his secretary wrote
the letter, his own hand and name is underscribed,
that he had better hopes by my once moving the
King, than he formerly had, by the solicitations
and means of all the friends he had at court. And
no longer ago than at Christmas last, I moved the
King my master again in his behalf, and then had
he solicited that which was intended for his good,
and prosecuted the same with submission, it had in
all likelihood gone better with him than he could
have expected, nay, I think, as the case stood, than
he then deserved. But a cross business came just
7
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD, 195
in the way at the very time, of which your lord-
ships, or the most part of you, I am sure, are privy
to, and had not I then interposed myself, the King
being then so exasperated against him, he had
fallen. But I let pass my desires, and the earnest-
ness I used, lest my public aspersion should have
been opened, and such as could not have been wiped
away, but needs must have left a stain upon my
coat V
I have said that it is not my intention to detail
this trial, because my limits will not permit. On
a review of the proceedings, although I neither
justify its severity, nor defend the measures, I am
convinced that Laud was not actuated by any private
resentment towards Williams, with whom he had
just cause to be offended ; and that, as Williams
was in no respect Laud's patron, as has been often
alleged, the charge of ingratitude brought against
the Archbishop by his enemies is utterly false and
gratuitous. Williams was sentenced by the whole
court, and the first mover of the sentence was Lord
Cottington, to pay a fine of 10,000/. to the King,
to be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's
pleasure, and to be suspended by the High Com-
mission Court from all his offices, preferments, and
functions ; which was accordingly done on the 24th
of July, and his goods were seized at his palace of
Bugden, to the value of the fine. Another infor-
1 Archbishop Laud's Speech, apud Rushworth, vol. ii.
p. 438445.
o 2
196 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
mation was laid against him in February 1638-9,
for holding/a correspondence with Lambert Osbal-
distone, Master of Westminster school, whose letters
were found in his own house at Bugden, written by
that individual to him in 1633, in which Archbishop
Laud was grossly libelled, and styled " the little
urchin," [[alluding to the Archbishop's diminutive
staturej " the little meddling Hocus Pocus." For
this he was sentenced to pay 5000/. more, and
3000/. to the Archbishop; and Osbaldistone was
fined 5000/. to the King, 5000/. also to the Arch-
bishop, and for his seditious allusions in his corres-
pondence, to be deprived of his preferments, impri-
soned during the King's pleasure, to stand in the
pillory, and his ears to be nailed to the posts.
Osbaldistone consulted his safety by a timely flight,
which occasioned the jest, that he had gone beyond
Canterbury. Bishop Williams continued in the
Tower till 1640, when he was liberated, and shortly
afterwards was reconciled to the King *.
In July, 1637, we find the Archbishop procur-
ing a decree to be passed in the Star Chamber to
regulate the printing of books, that a certain
number only should be published, and that none
should be printed till they were licensed by himself,
as Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lon-
don, or their chaplains, or by the Chancellors and
1 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 416449. vol. iii. p. 306. Diary,
p. 54. Phillips' Life of Archbishop Williams, 12mo. p. 193
213. Hacket's Life of Williams, p. 115, 116, 117, &c. Lord
Clarendon, vol. i. 317, c. Heylin, p. 323 327.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 197
Vice-Chancellors of the Universities. On the 22d
of October, this year, he made a speech against the
Papists, which gave great offence to the Queen.
By the practices of Walter Montague, a younger
son of the Earl of Manchester, and Sir Toby Mat-
thews, son to the late Archbishop Matthews of
York, (an undeserving son, says Heylin, of a wor-
thy father,) the Countess of Newport had been
seduced to the Popish Church. The conduct of
those two incendiaries had been long notorious,
and their insolence was increased by the patronage
and countenance of the Queen. The Archbishop
had hitherto refrained from interfering ; but he de-
termined, at length, to endure it no longer. Ac-
cordingly, in a speech delivered with his usual
warmth, and addressed to the King at the Council
table, he spoke on the increase of the Papists, their
open and unsufferable misdemeanours, practising
upon the people, and resorting to Denmark House
in great numbers. The Queen was informed of
the Archbishop's speech that very night, and made
no secret of her displeasure. But it availed little :
Montague and Matthews we're dismissed from the
Court; the Popish Party was thereby weakened,
and the Queen, after some expostulations with the
Archbishop on the subject, was compelled to con-
ceal her resentment.
In some of these details I have anticipated a few
events for the sake of connexion, and perhaps I
have been unnecessarily prolix in the account of the
Star-Chamber proceedings, with the exception of
198 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
the trial of Bishop Williams, on which I have for
obvious reasons, refrained from making any com-
ment. But I trust that I have laid the history of this
important period before the reader fairly and impar-
tially, and it has been my sole endeavour to vindi-
cate the Archbishop from those aspersions and
calumnies which have been constantly heaped upon
him by the abettors of Puritanism. The affairs of
Scotland now demand our consideration.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 199
CHAPTER XVI,
1637.
Affairs of Scotland The Scottish Church Outline of its his-
tory from the Reformation Imprudence of the Scottish Pre-
latesProceedings of Laud He corresponds with the Scottish
Bishops Injudicious publication of the Scottish Canons
The Liturgy Fury of the Presbyterians Their practices
The Earl of Traquair His treachery First reading of the
Scottish Liturgy Dreadful riot at Edinburgh Practices of
the Presbyterian leaders Henderson, Dickson, 8?c. Pro-
ceedings of the Privy Council History of the disorders
Letters to Laud Discussion on the Scottish Liturgy, fyc,
Proved to be written by the Scottish Bishops Observations
Proceedings of the Presbyterians History of their crafty
intrigues Letters of the Magistrates of Edinburgh to Arch-
bishop Laud State of the kingdom Riot at Glasgow
Conduct of the Presbyterian leaders Daring riots of the
Presbyterians at Edinburgh Flight of the Scottish Privy
Council Royal Proclamations Establishment of the Tables
Prelude to the Covenant Its institution Is sworn at Edin-
burgh Blasphemy of the Covenanters Remarkable anec-
dotes Defeat of the Covenanters at Aberdeen Observations.
EVERY sincere member of the Church of England,
(I will not say every sincere Christian, lest I be
charged with bigotry) must feel an interest in the
annals of Scottish Episcopacy. A flourishing
Church, which had to contend with enthusiasts
for nearly a century, at the memorable Revolution
200 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
supplanted by Presbyterianism, its clergy rabbled
out (as the Presbyterians expressed it) from their
livings by fanatical mobs, and made the sport and im-
pious mockery of Covenanters and factious zealots :
while the great names which have adorned its
communion are now, alas ! forgotten, " unnoticed
and unknown," by an ungrateful country ; these
are facts which evince the instability of human af-
fairs, and the misfortunes which attend all national
Revolutions, even when these are eventually pro-
ductive of beneficial consequences, where there are
a few upright, though it may be mistaken, men, who
look upon loyalty to their legitimate sovereign as
unworthy to be put in competition with their own
private interests. Let me not be misunderstood in
admiring the conduct and disinterestedness of the
Scottish prelates in 1688.
It would require volumes to detail and discuss
this interesting subject, which yet, even in this
prolific age of literature, remains to be discussed ;
and, did it come within my present plan, I would
shew, that the Episcopal Church of Scotland was
from the very first the legitimate and national
Church of that kingdom ; that Presbytery is con-
sequently a plant of a foreign soil ; that if the
Covenanters were persecuted, they were persecuted
by the State, and not by the Church ; that all
along the Episcopal clergy were devoted loyalists ;
that they were, in general, men of piety and learn-
ing ; and that the conduct of the prelates, when
they were deprived of their dioceses, has entitled
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 201
those noble and ill-requited men, who endured
innumerable privations, sufferings, and hardships
from the Presbyterian victors, to the admiration of
every genuine Episcopalian and lover of his country;
in short, I would trace the secret history of rebel-
lion, fanaticism, and covenanting treason, dignified
as these have been, and still are, by the epithets of
freedom, religion, and liberty ; these would I trace
in connexion with the English Puritans, and place
in its true light the history of a Church which has
been falsely asserted to have been as persecuting
and intolerant as its Popish predecessor. But I
must refrain at present, for the subject is too copious
and important. That Church has now fallen
fallen, I mean, so far as its rights are concerned ;
though not fallen from its primitive order and go-
vernment ; and, I must say it, to tlie disgrace of
England, its clergy are suffered to languish in
neglect, while even the Presbyterian ministers in
Ireland are aided by the State.
It was otherwise, however, in the days of Arch-
bishop Laud. That illustrious prelate in his regard
for religion, and in his desire to establish the Re-
formed Church secure from the attacks of Papists
and malcontents, was not neglectful of the Scottish
Church, and I have already discussed his transac-
tions with the northern clergy. To him it appeared,
that the Church should present the appearance of
a well-compacted body, not subject to the conten-
tions of zealots and the dissatisfactions of designing
men. He was no stranger to the outrages of en-
202 WFE AND TIMES [1637.
thusiasm, and he knew too well that the powers
which the Presbyterian assemblies of the 17th cen-
tury arrogated to themselves were not exceeded by
those of the Vatican.
After the departure of Charles from Scotland,
the Bishops were commanded to correspond with
the Archbishop of Canterbury upon the ecclesias-
tical affairs of that kingdom. We find an order
from the King to Dr. Ballentine, Bishop of Dum-
blane, then Dean of the Chapel Royal at Holyrood
Palace, respecting the use of the English Liturgy in
that Chapel, both because such had been the com-
mand of James I., and because, as attached to the
palace, the King had a right to have divine service
performed as he pleased in his own household. The
directions, bearing date the 8th of October, 1633,
are seven in number, and a letter was also written
at the same time to Archbishop Laud by the King,
requiring him to hold correspondence with the said
Bishop of Dumblane, that the said Bishop might
from time to time receive his Majesty's directions
for ordering of such things as concerned the service
in that Chapel.
It has been already observed, that the rapacity
of the Scottish nobles in seizing the revenues of
the Church, was overlooked by the Scottish Re-
formers. This seizure was in the reign of Mary,
before the Parliament of 1560, and finally before
that of 1567, which ratified the destruction of the
Popish Church. They had appropiated to them-
selves a considerable portion of the ecclesiastical
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 203
estates. It was in vain that even John Knox remon-
strated with those selfish peers on this injustice,
and even denounced against them the judgment of
Heaven ; he was met by sneers, mockery, and ridi-
cule, and was compelled to receive the scanty
pittances awarded to himself and his brethren by
those task-masters ] . In the ensuing reign, during
the minority of James, the lands attached to the
cathedrals and religious houses, and which had
been annexed to the Crown by Act of Parliament 2 ,
were all appropriated to noble families, by the con-
nivance, if not the co-operation, of the ambitious Earl
of Moray, and the other Regents, especially the
avaricious Morton ; and these families, thus pos-
sessed of the regalities and tythes, ruled the unfor-
1 In Knox's History, p. 275, 276, there is a curious passage
on this subject. " Every thing," says Knox, " that repugned
to their corrupt imaginations, was termed in their mockage, de-
vout imaginations. The cause we have before declared ; some
were licentious, some had greedily griped the possessions of the
Church, and others thought that they would not lack their part
of Christ's coat, yea, and that before he was crucified, as by the
preachers they were oft rebuked. The chief great man that
professed Christ Jesus, and refused to subscribe the Book of
Discipline was the Lord Erskine. And no wonder, for besides
that he had a very evil woman to his wife, if the poore, the
schooles, and the ministerie of the Church had their owne, his
kitchen would lack two parts, and more of that which he' now
unjustly possesseth. There were more within the realm, more
unmercifull to the poore ministers, than were which had great-
est rents of the Churches. But in that we have perceived the
old proverb to be true. Nothing can suffice a wretch, and again,
the belly hath no ears."
3 James VI. Pad. ii.
201 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
tunate serfs of the soil with no lenient hand. Some
remarks, however, have already been made on this
subject ; suffice it for the present to observe, that
the Act of Charles in restoring to the Church the
lands of which it had been so unjustly deprived by
those rapacious and insolent nobles, excited their
hatred towards the Clergy, which made them resolve
to embroil the Court on the very first opportunity.
The promotions of the Scottish prelates, more-
over, to some of the most influential places in the
kingdom, farther increased their discontentment.
They, indeed, cordially despised the Presbyterian
ministers, whose fanaticism and intolerance they
held in supreme contempt, but as those individuals,
in their anxiety for power and influence, laid no
claim to the ecclesiastical revenues with which those
haughty nobles were enriching themselves, and be-
sides, as those nobles were in general men of no
religio.n, they preferred them infinitely to the Bi-
shops, who had become formidable opponents to
their ambition. They also observed, with regret,
that it was the intention of the King to raise the
Scottish Church to splendor and eminence : it was
enough for them that their rapacity had been dis-
appointed.
I have already admitted, that the promotion of
some of the Bishops was perhaps hasty and injudi-
cious ; it must also be confessed, that some of the
subsequent measures were also rash and ill-chosen.
This was particularly the case in the matter of the
Book of Canons, necessary in themselves, but which
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 205
ought not to have preceded the Liturgy.
Scottish prelates had evinced considerable repug-
nance to adopt the English Book of Common
Prayer ; and accordingly, Spottiswoode, the Arch-
bishop of St. Andrew's ; Dr. Patrick Lyndsey, Arch-
bishop of Glasgow; Dr. James Wedderburne,
Bishop of Dumblane, who had been removed from
an English benefice to this bishopric; Dr. John
Guthrie, Bishop of Moray ; Dr. John Maxwell,
Bishop of Ross ; and Dr. Walter Whiteford, Bishop
of Brechin, were the prelates who framed the
Scottish Liturgy *, and the canons, which they were
enjoined to transmit for revisal to Laud, who was
assisted in that duty by the Bishop of London, and
Wren, Bishop of Norwich, " a man," says the
noble historian, " of a severe, sour nature, but very
learned, and particularly versed in the old Liturgies
of the Greek and Latin Churches V
There was unquestionably a want of unity .among
the Scottish prelates, who were all of them learned
men, which very much tended to mislead the Arch-
bishop in his Scottish directions. So anxious was
he that nothing should be done in opposition to the
laws and statutes of the kingdom, that he had
always declared to the Scottish Bishops, " that it
was their part to be certain that they should propose
nothing to the King in the business of the Church,
contrary to the laws of the land, which he could
1 Heylin, p. 222. Hist, of Troubles and Trials, p. 1 68, 1 69.
3 Lord Clarendon, vol. i. p, 153.
200 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
not be thought to understand : and that they should
never put atiy thing in execution without the con-
sent of the Privy Council." But, from a fatal in-
advertency, and from a false and most erroneous
opinion entertained by the prelates who had been
promoted to the Scottish Sees during Laud's public
life, that they would please the English Primate by
a ready compliance, and by fallacious representa-
tions that there would be no opposition, in which
they totally misunderstood his nature, they ne-
glected thiswise admonition, and even acted contrary
to the advice of their more experienced brethren.
Accordingly, in the year 1635, the Book of Canons
was finished, after a complete revisal by the Arch-
bishop, and the Bishops of London and Norwich,
and on the 23d of May, that year, a royal procla-
mation was issued, commanding them to be duly
observed within the kingdom of Scotland l .
Those Canons were judicious and highly neces-
sary, but the great error lay in causing them to be
published before the Liturgy. It is to be recol-
lected, however, (although the Presbyterians choose
to forget the fact,) that the undertaking was war-
ranted by the Act of Assembly held at Aberdeen,
in 1616, which also ratified the publishing of a
Liturgy, and which had been delayed to the pre-
sent time by the intervention of many important
1 Lord Clarendon, vol. i. book ii. p. 154, 155. Heylin, p. 280,
281. Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 763, &c. Wod-
row's MSS. vol. iii. Life of Spottisvvoode, p. 134. 141, 142.
Hush worth, vol. ii.p. 206.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 207
affairs. But, in the present state of the kingdom,
those humours ought to have been gratified, and
the Scottish prelates, as Lord Clarendon wisely ob-
serves, ought not to have " inverted the proper
method, and first presented a body of canons to
precede the Liturgy, which was not yet ready,
choosing to finish the shorter work first." It was,
moreover, set forth in one of the Canons, that those
persons should be censured and excommunicated,
who should affirm that the worship contained in the
Book of Common Prayer and administration of the
Sacraments contained any thing repugnant to the
Scriptures, or was corrupt, superstitious, or un-
lawful in the service and worship of God. Another
canon declared, that " every presbyter shall, either
by himself or by another person, lawfully called,
read, or cause divine service to be done, according
to the form of the Book of Common Prayer, before
all sermons, and that he should officiate by the said
Book of Common Prayer before all sermons, and
that he should officiate by the said Book of Common
Prayer in all the offices, parts, and rubrics of it."
Now, here was the misfortune : these orders were
issued when no person in Scotland had seen the
Liturgy, except the Bishops who had compiled it ;
and consequently they were' peculiarly apt to excite
a speculation among the enthusiasts for Genevan
parity.
It will thus appear, however, that these com-
pilations were altogether Scottish, and that great
injustice was done to Archbishop Laud in charging
208 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
them upon him. I have said the canons were judi-
cious and necessary, had they only been preceded by
the Liturgy ; and I prove the assertion by the rea-
sons assigned by the King in his Royal Declaration.
" First, that he (his Majesty) held it exceedingly
imperative, that there should be some book extant
to contain the rules of the ecclesiastical government ;
so that the clergy as well as the laity might have
one certain rule to regulate the power of the one,
and obedience and practice of the other. Second,
that the Acts of General Assemblies were written
only, and not printed, and therefore could not come
to the knowledge of many ; so large and volumi-
nous, that it was not easy to transcribe them, inso-
much that few of the Presbyters themselves could
tell which of them were authenticated, which not ;
so unsafely and uncertainly kept, that they knew
not where to address themselves for consulting
them. Thirdly, that by reducing those numerous
Acts (and those not known unto themselves,) to such
a paucity of canons, published and exposed to the
public view, no man could be ensnared by igno-
rance, or have just reason to complain of their mul-
tiplicity. Finally, that not one in all that kingdom
did either live under the obedience of the Acts of
those General Assemblies, or did know what they
were, or where to find them." In short, the whole
would have been right, had not the fatal inadver-
tency of their preposterous promulgation been com-
mitted, because by this means the Presbyterian
preachers got time to examine, to find out defects,
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 209
and to persuade weak men that they were in-
tended for the introduction of Popery. "It was
strange/' observes the noble historian, "that canons
should be published before the Liturgy was pre-
pared, which was not ready in a year after, or
thereabouts, when three or four of the canons were
principally for the observation of, and punctual
compliance with, the Liturgy, which all the clergy
were to be sworn to submit to, and to pay all obe-
dience to what was enjoined by it, before they knew
what it contained ; whereas, if the Liturgy had
been first published, with all the circumstances, it
is possible that it might have found a better recep-
tion, and the canons have been less examined."
Those canons contained little more than what
had been agreed to by the Perth Assembly, when
the Five Articles were sanctioned ; and, of course,
they were peculiarly obnoxious to the Presbyterian
faction. But what particularly offended the leading
enthusiasts, was the power which the King assumed
over the ecclesiastical assemblies, prohibiting them
to be called except by royal authority. They had
maintained with an inquisitorial intolerance, the
Presbyterian dogma, now indeed disclaimed by the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the King
had no power in ecclesiastical matters ; that there
was a distinction between temporal and spiritual
jurisdiction, the one pertaining to the King, the
other to the Church; in other words, that they
had a right to do as they pleased, to speak, act,
convene, and dissolve Assemblies, when they thought
VOL. II. P
210 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
proper ; that their proceedings were not even to be
reviewed b^ Parliaments ; that, in short, as minis-
ters, they were independent of all civil authority.
This was to the point; here was a body of re-
ligious zealots legislating as they thought proper,
who set law at defiance, who, moreover, in the
plenitude of those powers which they so insolently
arrogated to themselves, were as officious enthu-
siasts in politics as they were in religion, and who
indulged in the most extravagant notions respecting
spiritual affairs. But it was a death-blow to their .
intrigues, their practices, and their love of decla-
mation, when they were told that they were not to
meet without the King's authority. It was indeed
a most dangerous dogma, as their own former con-
duct had sufficiently proved, destructive evidently
of all civil order in an age of hypocrisy and enthu-
siasm, when men consulted their passions and pre-
judices more than their reason ; it was only paral-
leled by the pretensions of the Church of Rome,
nay, in some cases it exceeded these ; for in arro-
gating pretensions, heaven-derived powers, perfec-
tion, infallibility, the Presbyterianism of Scotland
yielded not to the Church of Rome. And as they
had in times past disclaimed the King's authority
either in calling their Assemblies, or in the acts and
proceedings thereof, pretending that they had suffi-
cient power in themselves, because they conceived
themselves, in their phraseology, to be acting "for the
Lord Jesus Christ," it was not to be supposed that
they would yield obedience to this injunction, or, in
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 211
fact, to any of the canons, about which they had
never been consulted, and on which they had no
opportunity to display their rhetoric. " But," says
Heylin, " as they had broken the rules of the Pri-
mitive Church, in acting as sovereigns themselves,
without the King's approbation or consent in former
times, so were they now upon the point of having
those old rules of theirs broken by the King, in
making canons, and putting laws and constructions
upon them for their future conduct, to which they
had never consented. And therefore, though his
Majesty had taken so much care, as himself observed,
for facilitating their obedience by furthering their
knowledge in those points which before they knew
not, yet they did generally behold it, and exclaimed
against it, as one of the most grievous burdens
which had hitherto been laid upon them."
Yet, notwithstanding those clamours, Scotland
was apparently tranquil ; no public outrage or burst
of indignation from the discontented zealots attended
the proclamation of the canons. But they had dark
and seditious designs in progress ; this silence was
an effort of their crafty prudence. The enthusiastic
leaders contemplated in private the success of those
schemes they had revolved in their minds ; their
future excesses of riot and rebellion arose before
them in joyful anticipation ; were they to ruin their
schemes, by exciting the popular fanaticism against
the canons, when the Liturgy was yet to appear ?
To tolerate, or to feign a compliance with, those
injunctions, was the most certain method for causing
p 2
212 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
a tremendous burst of popular fury and madness.
Such were /the practices of those " godly saints ;"
they infused jealousies into the minds of the people,
by all those artifices which they knew so well how
to employ. " Yet they would not suffer, (which
shewed wonderful power and wonderful dexterity)
any disorder to break out upon this occasion, but
all was quiet, except spreading of libels against the
Bishops, and propagating that spirit as much as
they could by their correspondence in England,
where they found too many every day transported
by the same infusions, in expectation that these seeds
of jealousy from the canons would grow apace, and
produce such a reception for the Liturgy as they
wished 1 ."
For one grand object, then, they reserved all
their strength. In the month of July, (the 23d),
the Liturgy, after having been revised by Arch-
bishop Laud, Bishops Juxon and Wren, was com-
manded by royal proclamation to be read in all the
churches of the kingdom. On the preceding Sun-
day, it was announced in all the churches of Edin-
burgh, but no indications of tumult or dissatisfac-
tion appeared. The inhabitants of that city, in-
deed, were no strangers to it, as set forth in the
English Book of Common Prayer. For twenty
years, that admirable Liturgy had been read in the
chapel royal of Holyrood, then used as the parish
church of the Canongate, (within which borough
Lord Clarendon, vol. i. book ii. p. 158. Bishop Guthrie's
Memoirs, p. 1C.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 213
and parish the Palace is situated,) and frequented
by people of all ranks. In the cathedral, too,
it had been used; at Aberdeen, that venerable
Episcopal city, and famed even yet for its adherence
to primitive order ; at St. Andrew's, the seat of the
primacy, and in St. Mary's, or the Divinity Col-
lege of that University, founded by Archbishop
James Beaton. Moreover, when the King had
been in Scotland, it was used in all the churches
which he attended. Yet so deep was the design^
and so well contrived was the intended profane riot,
that on the very Sunday of its announcement the
Liturgy was highly extolled by many of those very
zealots who were afterwards the ringleaders in the
Covenant.
The previous Easter had been the time appointed
for the first reading of the Liturgy, but on the
representation of the Earl of Traquair, the Scottish
Lord High Treasurer, who corresponded with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, it was delayed till July,
under the pretence that in the interval the people
might become more disposed to its reception. This
was a fatal mistake ; for by this delay, which seems
to have been a device of Traquair, who was by no
means well affected towards the Church, the factious
had time to revolve their designs. Had the Liturgy,
since unfortunately it did not precede the Book of
Canons, immediately followed, had orders been
issued thereupon that every clergyman should con-
form, and had the bishops, in short, exerted them-
selves diligently to silence the schismatical and
214 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
refractory, there can be little doubt that every
attempt at disturbance would have been defeated,
and the fanatical Covenant might, perhaps, never
have had an existence. Decision is the only course
with sectaries, among whom there is little differ-
ence between the leniency which tolerates and the
resolution which expels : for they, being actuated
by a thorough malevolence and perversity, are not
to be won by measures which counteract or hu-
mour their inclinations. It was by this very delay
that the discontented party were enabled to gather
strength, and to mature their plans : a clamour was
raised against the Scottish Bishops, that " religion
was undermined by a conspiracy between them and
the English Archbishop, and that they, being sti-
mulated by him, were about to introduce the Mass."
It was industriously circulated by the Presbyterians,
that the forthcoming Liturgy was a translation of
the Missal, consequently, all who sanctioned it were,
in their language, " idolaters, and abettors of su-
perstition :" in their conventicles, and in private con-
versation, they declaimed against it; they wrought
upon the prejudices of the people ; and, had an angel
from heaven appeared with the Liturgy, so inve-
rate was their hatred, and so blind and perverted
their understandings, that it may reasonably be
supposed he would have met with the same recep-
tion from those zealots as did the members of the
Episcopal Church of Scotland.
Lord Clarendon is inclined to vindicate Tra-
quair, but it is evident from that nobleman's con-
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 215
duct, from the opposition he manifested in secret
towards the bishops, and from the private encou-
ragement he gave to the Presbyterians, that he was
secretly aiming at the overthrow of the Church.
Bishop Guthrie and others represent him as trea-
cherous and ungrateful : he owed his advancement
to Laud, who relied upon the honesty of his com-
munications : it was on his account that the advice
of the venerable Spottiswoode was neglected, who,
perceiving the danger that had arisen from the Ca-
nons first appearing, now wished for a farther delay.
Traquair, however, wrote at one time that the work
should proceed, and then, before Easter, he wrote
for a delay : he asserted to the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, " that there was no danger to be appre-
hended, only the old bishops were timorous men,
and feared where there was no cause of fear : in
proof of which, if his Grace would move the King
to -lay his commands upon him, upon his life he
would carry through the business, without any dis-
turbance" And yet, while writing thus, Traquair
was practising against the younger bishops, was
conscious that there would be opposition, and thus
misled Laud by fallacious representations, to pursue
a course which otherwise he would have avoided.
It was by Traquair 's influence, in short, that the
order of 23d July was procured ; nor did he take
any steps to inform the government of the state of
the public mind, even when he knew that Edin-
burgh, on the previous week, was filled with sedi-
tious zealots, who industriously circulated libellous
216 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
papers and inflammatory discourses, preparing the
people for /the meditated tumult, but protested,
" upon his life, that he would carry through the
business without any disturbance"
By this delay, the Presbyterian leaders found
leisure to facilitate their designs. Alexander Hen-
derson, minister of Leuchars, in the county of Fife,
and one Dickson, from the western county of Ayr-
shire, two chiefs of the opposing faction, repaired
to Edinburgh in the month of April, before the
introduction of the Liturgy, and held a convention
of their friends. This was the famous Henderson
who afterwards was defeated in the well known dis-
pute he held with the King on the jus divinum of
Episcopacy, a man of some learning, but of low
cunning and vast ambition, whose fanaticism was
tempered by a peculiar regard for his own inte-
rest. He was a renegade from Episcopacy, and
having originally been a Professor in the University
of St. Andrew's, he applied himself to secure the
favour of Archbishop Gladstanes, who, deceived by
his flattery, presented him to the benefice of Leu-
chars. Disappointed, however, in his ambition, he
went over to the Presbyterian party, and soon be-
came their leader and head. On this occasion, Hen-
derson and Dickson, being delegated by the fac-
tious in their several counties, communicated with
Lord Balmerino, the nobleman who had in a former
year experienced the King's mercy, for which he
made this ungrateful return; Sir Thomas Hope,
the King's Advocate, and others. Having tutored
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 217
some fanatical old women (for they scrupled at no
expedients) to commence an uproar in the church
when the service began, assuring them that the
business would be speedily taken out of their hands
by men stationed for the purpose, they departed to
their respective places of abode, calmly waiting the
general issue of their practices.
On Sunday, the 23d of July, the Scottish Li-
turgy was first read in St. Giles' church, Edin-
burgh, agreeable to the royal proclamation. In
the previous week, Henderson and others proceeded
to Edinburgh to witness the defeat of the Church,
and the success of their fanatical sedition. The
Dean of Edinburgh prepared to officiate in St.
Giles', and the Bishop of Argyle in the church of the
Grey friars, a parish in the southern quarter of the
city. To increase the solemnity of the service, or
rather, to shew that it was sanctioned by the men
of influence in the nation, many of the members of
the Privy Council, the two Archbishops, some of
the Bishops, the members of the College of Justice
called the Lords of Session, and the magistrates of
the city, with a vast concourse of people, attended
at St. Giles' church. The Presbyterians, in the
mean time, had not been idle : they had tutored
the old women to commence the uproar ; and men,
disguised in women's apparel, mingled among the
auditors in the church. It was then the custom
for the poorer classes to carry with them small seats,
or stools, on which they sat during the service. The
utmost silence prevailed till the Dean of Edinburgh
218 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
appeared in the reading-desk with his surplice, and
began the /service, when immediately an old wo-
man, named Janet Geddes, (for the dignity of his-
tory must descend to record her name as connected
with this adventure), began the tumult, and uttered
against him the most profane imprecations l . The
Dean, however, courageously proceeded, till the
noise became absolutely deafening. The old wo-
men, stimulated by the future Covenanters in dis-
guise, began their horrid croaking : clapping of
hands, hisses, imprecations, roarings, and curses,
completed the profane riot, and made every sen-
tence totally inaudible. An attack was made by
the sybils and their abettors on the Dean in the
reading-desk, and with difficulty he escaped being
torn to pieces, by disengaging himself from his sur-
plice, and leaving this trophy of victory in their
hands. The Bishop of Edinburgh, Dr. David Lind-
sey, who was that day to preach, then ascended the
pulpit, hoping to appease the tumult, by entreating
the people to recollect the sacred place in which
they were assembled, and the duty they owed to
God and their sovereign. But the appearance of
the prelate only increased the ferment : sticks*
stones, and other missiles, were discharged at the
pulpit, a stool was actually aimed at him, which, had
" Out, out, thou false thief, dost thou say mass at my lugg."
Defoe's Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 179. Arnot's
History of Edinburgh, p. 108. Bishop Keith's Catalogue of
the "Scottish Bishops, p. 39.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 219
it not been averted by a friendly hand, would have
killed him upon the spot. Spottiswoode, the Arch-
bishop, now interfered : he called from the gallery
on the magistrates to exercise their authority, and
with great difficulty the fanatical rabble were thrust
out, and the doors made secure. The service was
then resumed by the Dean, but the rioters, though
they had been expelled from the Church, renewed
their activity. The exclamations, " A Pope ! a
Pope ! Antichrist! pull him down, stone him !" were
uttered with the utmost vehemence ; they attacked
the doors, broke the windows, and seemed resolved
to commit the most dreadful excesses. Amidst this
noise and tumult the service was concluded. When
the prelates left the Church, they were insulted in
the grossest manner : the Bishop of Edinburgh was
dragged from the staircase of his own house, and
would have fallen a sacrifice to their fury had he
not been rescued by some attendants of the Earl of
Wemyss. i
Nor was the Liturgy much better received in the
other churches of the city. In one adjoining to
St. Giles', there was indeed less uproar, but suf-
ficient indications of disapprobation. In the Grey-
friars' church, it was interrupted by sobs, groans,
hisses, and loud lamentations, and was at length
given up, after the general confession and absolu-
tion had been read. The minister of Trinity Col-
lege church, founded by Mary of Gueldres, al-
though he had engaged to perform it, delayed to
do so till he had learned its reception in the other
7
220 I^FE AND TIMES [1657;
churches, and at length preferred the extempora-
neous form,/for his own safety.
Before the afternoon service, a meeting of the
Council was held at the residence of Archbishop
Spottiswoode. The provost and magistrates of the
city attended, and such precautions were taken as
prevented any disturbance in the afternoon. But
after evening prayer, the tumult was greater in the
streets than in the morning. The Bishop of Edin-
burgh, suspected to be the most active promoter of
the affair, was again attacked, and though he was in
the Earl of Roxburgh's coach, who was exceedingly
popular, and who was suspected to favour the riot, he
escaped with great difficulty. The coach was pelted
with stones, and though driven at full speed, it was
saved from being torn to pieces only by Roxburgh's
servants, who kept off the rioters with drawn swords.
In other parts of Scotland, the Liturgy met with a
similar reception, except at St. Andrew's, and in the
cathedrals of Brechin, Ross, and Dunblane l .
On the following day, a meeting of the Privy
Council was held, which was attended by the ma-
1 Burnet's Memorials, p. 31. History of the Duke of Ha-
milton, p. 31. Arnot's History of Edinburgh, 4to. p. 107109.
Lord Clarendon, vol. i. p. 160164. Peck's Desiderata Cu-
riosa, vol. ii. p. 50. King's Declaration, p. 2325. Rush-
worth's Collections, vol ii. p. 387389. Crawford's Officers
of State, folio, p. 181, 182. Heylin, p. 327, 328. Collier's
Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 777. Whitelock's Memorials, p. 27.
Bishop Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 19, 20. Wodrow MSS. p. 145,
HG. Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland, 4to.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 221
gistrates. They expressed their indignation at the
tumult, and appeared anxious to bring the rioters
to punishment, but it is somewhat strange that
none of them were apprehended, which could have
been easily done on Sunday, when they were in
the excess of their insolence. There was here a
remarkable neglect of duty, for had a few of the
ringleaders been taken into custody, and punished
according to their deserts, it would not unlikely
have had an important effect on the minds of the
people. It might have saved the blood which was
afterwards shed ; it might have taught the enthu-
siasts, who cunningly excited this commotion, a
salutary lesson ; and had cognizance been taken of
such men as Henderson, Dick, and Cant, the ora-
cles of sedition might have been silenced in due
time. Secret despatches were in the mean while
sent to the King, and his instructions implored as
to the future proceedings.
It is somewhat singular, that the two great
tumults of the Scottish Church, which were preg-
nant with the most momentous consequences,
should have been begun by mean and unworthy
agents. The Presbyterians, indeed, termed it the
" finger, of the Lord," as " opening the mouths of
the simple to testify against corruptions ;" but it is
remarkable, that both tumults were stimulated by
fanaticism, and carried on by the mob. The first
happened at Perth, under the auspices of JohnKnox,
in 1560, " who arrived in that city," says Bishop
Keith, " in the very nick of time," and edified a
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
vast multitude by one of his furious tirades against
the Romish/ Church, by which he stimulated them
to the unhallowed act of destroying the monasteries
and religious edifices. After his harangue, a priest
prepared to celebrate mass, and, uncovering the taber-
nacle, on the altar, displayed the utensils for the ser-
vice. A lad, doubtless previously instigated by some
of the zealots, standing near the priest, exclaimed,
that such open contempt of God's word was into-
lerable, for which he was deservedly chastised by
the priest. In a state of mind not willing to submit
to this conceived affront, he aimed a stone at the
altar, which was the signal for universal havoc :
and the unfortunate priest escaped with difficulty
from their unhallowed hands. In like manner,
under the auspices of Henderson, a renegade from
Episcopacy, and others, some infuriated old women,
led on by Janet Geddes, first stimulated to war and
national rebellion. Unworthy instruments, truly,
for the commencement of what the Presbyterians
are pleased to term " the second Reformation,"
and an admirable prognostication of that cause in
which they were to be engaged. The extrava-
gances of those zealots excited the ridicule of many.
" Salute the sisters," says the author of a bitter
satire against the Presbyterians, " with a holy kiss :
to whom you do but your duty when you acknow-
ledge your cause much indebted unto them, and
that in those your Esthers and Judiths your work
had but a small beginning : and when men durst
not resent the beginnings, it is usually observed by
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 223
one of you, that God moved the spirit of those
holy women to scourge the buyers and sellers
out of God's house, and not to suffer the same to
be polluted with that foul Book of Common
Prayer. Those holy matrons, who waste themselves
with fasting, have deserved so well at your hands,
that you should exhort them as Paul did Timothy,
f to take a little wine to strengthen them/ and to
encourage them to proceed zealously in your cause,
for they are the weaker vessels, and wine will
strengthen them therein 1 . 7 ' Lamentable, however,
as was this tumult, and unworthy of any people,
whatever may have been their opinions, except
fanatics, and though popular prejudice is still ex-
isting, apart indeed from outward acts of vio-
lence, as it was on this unhappy occasion, few, it is
conceived, will vindicate the dastardly practices of
Henderson and his associates, who, to gain their
purposes, scrupled not to violate the sanctity of a
Christian church, to profane the day set apart for
public worship, and to excite the prejudices and the
worst passions of an ignorant rabble on that holy
day. The exploits of those sybils and their abettors
have been recorded with Presbyterian exultation ;
they have been regarded as decisive in the refutation
of liturgical worship, but the candid and liberal mind
will agree with the following remark, that " the
1 The Epistle Congratulorie of Lysimachus Nicanor, of the
Societie of Jesus, to the Covenanters in Scotland, wherein is
paralleled our sweet harmony, and corresponding in divers ma-
terial points of doctrine and practice, 1640, p. 73.
224 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
question of a liturgy for the public worship of God
is not decided by the consequences of a violent and
vulgar riot excited by Janet Geddes V
1 Scottish Episcopal Magazine, vol. iii. p. 488, in the Life
of Laud. This holy matron is said to have done penance on the
stool of repentance, the Sunday previous to this exploit, for
her licentious life, but as she was, according to the Covenanters,
one of the elect, the greater the sinner, the greater the saint.
In the MS. History of the Church of Scotland, by John Row,
Minister at Carnock, Fifeshire, and preserved in the Advocates'
Library, Edinburgh, there is the following account of the tu-
mult, long known in Scotland by the epithets of " Stoney Sunday,"
and " the casting of stools." " So soon as the Bishop began to
open the service-book, and to read therein, and the people per-
ceiving the Dean opening his book also, all the common people,
and especiallie the women, rose up with such a loud clamour,
and uproare, so that nothing could be heard : some cryed, Woe !
woe ! some cryed, Sorrow ! sorrow ! for this dolefull day ! that
they are bringing in Poperie among us ! others did cast their
stooles against the Deanes face, others ran out of the kirk with
a pitifull lamentation, so that the reading upon the service-book
was then interrupted. The Archbishop of St. Andrew's, now
also Chancellor, and the rest of the Bishops who were in the
kirk, cryed for peace and quietness, but were not heard, there-
fore the Bishop left him reading, and taught a sermon, but a
very short one. After sermon, when the Bishop came out of
the pulpit, and went out of the Kirk, he found the street full
of people, who ran about him, crying that he was bringing in a
new religion among them, and bringing in Poperie upon them.
The Bishop, put in greate fear, ran up the nearest staire to have
gotten into my Lord Weemes' ludging, crying to the people that
he had no wyte [blame] of the matter, yet the people had ra-
ther been in hands with the Deane, who helped himself in the
kirk, till the great tumult was appeased." It may be remarked,
that the writers of that period have described it in the most igno-
rant and contradictory manner.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 225
The tidings of this outrageous tumult gave great
offence to the court, and it appears that Laud was
fully convinced that it might have been checked,
had the civil authorities vigorously interfered, and
made examples of some of the rabble. In a letter
to the Earl of Traquair, dated August 7, he com-
ments on the riot with his usual ability, and in such
a manner as Traquair could not fail to apply to him-
self, although he was absent on the occasion. Nor
was the Archbishop less severe on the clergy, whom
he charged with great imprudence in their manage-
ment of the affairs of the Church l . In this, indeed,
Traquair cordially acquiesced with the Archbishop,
as appears from a letter of the former to the Marquis
of Hamilton, in which he lays the whole blame of
the miscarriage on the Bishops, though he evidently
writes from private resentment : " for certainly,"
says he, " some of the leading men amongst them
are so violent and forward, and many times without
sound and pure judgments, that their want of
right understanding how to compass business of
this nature and weight, doth often breed us many
difficulties, and their rash and foolish expressions,
and sometimes attempts, both in public and private,
have bred such a fear and jealousy in the hearts of
many, that I am confident, if his Majesty were
rightly informed thereof, he would blame them,
1 The Archbishop of Canterbury to the Earl of Traquair,
apud Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 329. 390.
VOL. II. Q
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
and justly think, that from these and the like pro-
ceedings, arise the grounds of many mistakes among
us V Had Traquair, however, reflected for a mo-
ment on the faction opposed to the Church, and
the dark practices employed by its leaders to in-
flame the passions of the vulgar, he would not have
written in a strain which so well applied to himself.
But he owed the Clergy a private grudge, because
Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, had competed with him
for the office of Lord High Treasurer, and because
" they complained that the former ages had taken
from them many of their rents, and had robbed
them of their power and jurisdiction."
The magistrates of Edinburgh, in the mean time,
wrote most submissively to Archbishop Laud, pro-
testing their own innocence, and declaring that in
all things they had been obedient to their sovereign,
as the Earl of Traquair, the Bishops of Galloway
and Dunblane, could bear witness 2 . The Arch-
bishop was gratified by this letter ; and, in another
letter to the Earl of Traquair, dated September 11,
he says that he had laid their " very full and dis-
creet" letter before his Majesty, and " wrote the
city an answer by the return, and given them his
Majesty's thanks, which indeed he commanded me
The Earl of Traquair to the Marquis of Hamilton, apud
Rushworth, p. 391. and Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of
Hamilton, p. 31, 32.
3 The Magistrates of Edinburgh to Archbishop Laud, 19th
August, 1637. Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 393, 394.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 227
to do very heartily, and, in truth, they deserve it,
especially as times stand 1 ." In a letter to the
Archbishop of St. Andrew's, dated September 4,
we find Archbishop Laud retracting his remarks on
the clergy, which he had made in his letter to Tra-
quair of August 7, and which probably the Scottish
Primate had disclaimed as proceeding on wrong in-
formation. " Touching the tumult," says Laud,
" I can say no more than I have already said, and
for the imputing of any fault to your Grace, and the
rest of your brethren, as if the thing were done
precipitately, I think few men will believe that ;
but that which is thought here is, that though you
took advice among yourselves, yet the whole body
of the Council was not acquainted with your deli-
berations till it was too late, and that, after the
thing was done, you consulted together, and sent
up to the King without calling a council, or uniting
the lay lords with you ; whereas all was little
enough in a business of this nature, and so much
opposed by some factious men gathered, it seems,
purposely at Edinburgh, to disturb this business 2 ."
Without, how r ever, following the correspondence
of Archbishop Laud with the Scottish prelates and
nobles, to whom the government of the state had been
committed, great was the joy of the Puritan faction
in England, when the leaders had learned the nature
1 Archbishop Laud to the Earl of Traquair, Sept. 11, 1637.
Archbishop Laud to the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, Sep-
tember 4. 1637.
Q 2
LIFE AND TIMES [1G37.
of this tumult 1 . Notwithstanding Laud's moderation
during the ^hole business, all the odium fell upon
him, and it was afterwards alleged against him at his
trial as a most heinous crime. I have in another
place remarked, and proved, that the composition
of the Liturgy was the work of the Scottish pre-
lates, and this is admitted by the Presbyterian
writers themselves 2 . I do not intend here to
dispute, whether it was expedient to prepare a
Liturgy for the Scottish Church or not : were^I to
state my own private opinion, I would assert, that its
rejection was the utmost height of fanaticism, and
the mode of its rejection the most daring rebellion.
Unhappily the work miscarried ; the love of novelty
prevailed over primitive truth, and the indecent
coarseness of Presbyterianism was more consonant
to the designs of enthusiasts, than a mode of wor-
ship sanctioned by the Church universal, which re-
strained them from indulging in those personal in-
vectives to which they were so much addicted. All
that I maintain is, that the composition was Scot-
tish, that Laud, with Bishops Juxon and Wren,
only revised it, and that the fanatical Covenanters
asserted an abominable falsehood, when they al-
leged, that the primate was the author and urger of
some particular things which made great disturb-
ance among them, " and that" the " prelate of
Canterbury" was the "prime cause on earth," of
Archbishop Laud to Traquair, ut sup.
2 Dr. Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii.
p. 35G. 366.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 229
" many dangerous errors in doctrine," and " inno-
vations in religion."
It is impossible to give an abstract of the Scottish
Liturgy in these pages, and the subject is too impor-
tant to be passed over in a cursory manner. Arch-
bishop Laud was positively charged with being
instrumental to the introduction of Popery, as being
the compiler t according to them, of a Liturgy, which
contained " dangerous errors in doctrine." This
allegation was aggravated by additional falsehoods,
and with all the colourings which Covenanting fury
could devise, in the " Charge of the Scottish Com-
missioners against Canterburie," printed in 1641,
and inserted in the Archbishop's History of his own
Troubles and Trials, where it is answered in every
paragraph by himself, in his own masterly manner J .
Kirkton, one of the enthusiasts of the Covenant, has
indeed asserted, that " the King, to beget Scotland
into the likeness of England, sent down a Liturgy,
which was a great deal nearer the Roman Missal
than the English Service-Book was. / have seen"
says he, ( ' the principal book, corrected with Bishop
Laud's own hand, wherein, in every place which he
corrected, he brings the word as near the Missal as
English can be to Latin 2 ." But who does not see
1 History of Troubles and Trials, p. 87 143. Rushwortli,
vol. iii. p. 1370. The charge was published by the Scots them-
selves, in 1640. 4to. and it is in Prynne's Breviat, p. 31. Heylin
p. 4G6.
2 Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland, edited from
the original MSS. by C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq. 4to. p. 30.
230 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
the contradictions of this prejudiced and intempe-
rate jargon 1 If the King sent down the Liturgy to
Scotland, it was first sent up to England ; and as
to the assertion that it was corrected with Bishop
Laud's own hand, which Kirkton alleges to have
seen, and the words brought " as near the Missal as
English can be to Latin," the book itself, which is
still extant, is a refutation. And what if it were ?
Would the Presbyterian zealot place the Missal on
the same level with the Koran of Mahomet ? Will
he pretend to say, that the essential truths of Chris-
tianity are not to be found in the Missal, though
accompanied with abundance of error ? Is there
not a single passage in the Missal which the most
devoted enemy to Rome might employ without
straining his conscience ? Is scriptural truth to be
rejected because it is mingled with, and accompanied
by, Popish errors ? Or will it be maintained, that
Papists believe no truths of Christianity at all ? and
because there might be some approximations to the
Missal in phraseology, which, nevertheless, is denied,
do these prove the truth of what the Scots advanced,
that when the Archbishop corrected the Liturgy, he
had the Missal lying before him ? Let me not be
misunderstood ; I repeat it again, that Popery is
bad morally, politically, and spiritually bad ; but if
Protestants choose to reject all that Papists believe,
they must inevitably reject Christianity. I will
not press the argument ad verecundiam, but in the
zeal of the Covenanters to affirm that the Church
ol Home was an entire mass of corruption, that
1037.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 231
there was no truth to be found within its pale at
all, would they have been gratified at being told
that they themselves had no religion ? Yet such is
the conclusion, and, moreover, yielding this, what
their religion was, requires little delineation.
But even if Archbishop Laud had composed this
book, or had attempted, as was falsely asserted, to
impose a religion of his own on the Church of Scot-
land, it would not have made him liable to the
abominable charge of Popery, which Puritans, In-
dependents, Gospellers, Anabaptists, Familists, and
Covenanters, have advanced against him; and,
therefore, I will maintain before any competent
authority, that there is less of Popery in the Scot-
tish Liturgy of King Charles I. than there is in any
one of the offices of the Book of Common Prayer
of the Church of England used at this moment in
England, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, and
every where in the British Dominions. The Scot-
tish Communion Office is alone used, instead of the
English, in some of the Episcopal congregations
north of the Tay, though it is not the same as that
of King Charles' Liturgy ; and I maintain, and I
have the authority of Bishop Horsley and others
for the fact, that it is an admirable and truly apos-
tolic compendium ; according to that distinguished
prelate, indeed, it is superior to the English Office,
for he declares, that were it in his power, he would
give the Scottish Communion Office the preference
to the English. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical His-
tory, has enumerated all the differences between
LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
the Scottish Liturgy and the English Book of Com-
mon Prayed, and he has also given us an account
of the manner in which the Liturgy was framed '.
The same will be found in the King's " Large De-
claration 2 :" but the perusal of Hamon L'Estrange's
" Alliance of Divine Offices," will at once shew
wherein the Scottish Liturgy agreed, and wherein it
differed, even in the least instance, from the Liturgy
of the Church of England ; and to this work I refer
the reader, who wishes to judge with impartiality,
and whose mind is not perverted by religious en-
thusiasm 3 . Let us note, in short, who made the
charge against Laud that he was introducing Popery ;
men, as the noble historian remarks, whose " reli-
gion consisted in an entire detestation of Popery,
in believing the Pope to be Antichrist, and hating
perfectly the persons of Papists ;" Covenanters,
Gospellers, Puritans, and a score of visionary and
phrensied sectaries, who were as little able to judge,
either from their natural talents or their learning,
of the real and essential difference between Popery
and Protestantism, as they were incapable of re-
straining their evil passions, and reasoning with
calmness and moderation ; men, in the language of
Bishop Burnet, " who were all of a sort. They
1 Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 767 769, com-
pared with Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 208, 209.
3 King Charles' Large Declaration, p. 17 19.
' L'Estrange's Alliance of Divine Offices, folio, 1659, parti-
cularly pp. 65, 66. 68. 70. 85, 86. 89. 92, 93. 107. 109, 110.
162. 164169. 195. 201209. 303.
1637.] ,OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 233
affected great sublimity in devotion ; they poured
themselves out in their prayers in a loud voice, and
often with many tears ; they had an ordinary pro-
portion of learning among them, something of He-
brew, and very little Greek ; books of controversy
with Papists, but, above all, with Arminians, was
the height of their study. A way of preaching by
doctrine, reason, and use, was what they set upon ;
and some of them affected a strain of stating cases
of conscience, not with relation to moral actions, but
to some reflections on their condition and temper,
that was occasioned chiefly by their conceit of pray-
ing by the Spirit, which every one could not attain
to, or keep up in the same heat at all times."
After all, while on this subject, since the rebellion
of the Covenanters, with all their subsequent trea-
son, was occasioned, according to them, by imposing
upon them a form of worship, it may well be asked,
in what religious service there is no form ? even a
form of prayer, whether it be conducted in the phi-
losophical simplicity of Presbyterianism, the solemn
and primitive custom of the Church of England, or
in the pompous ritual of the Church of Rome. An
extemporaneous prayer (as has been remarked) of
necessity must be a form ; the minister has either
composed it, or he has acquired the habit of employ-
ing a certain phraseology ; the psalms and hymns
which Presbyterians and other sectarians sing in
public worship, are forms of prayer, especially if
they employ the Psalms of David ; but to be con-
sistent, instead of having always the same psalms,
23 i LIFE AND TIMES- [1637.
as they object to the same prayers in the Church of
England, they should have new psalms for every
act of worship. The apostolical benediction is
a form, and yet they also employ it. The Presby-
terian mode of worship is, unquestionably, in the
same sense, as much a form as the Episcopal ; and
indeed there is a greater aim at effect in the Presby-
terian mode, because the preacher will not be at-
tended by the vulgar in shoals, except he preach to
gratify their taste, and because their religion consists
in preaching, not in prayer and praise. The use of
the Geneva cloak is as essentially Popish, as is the
surplice, if the latter is to be regarded as Popish ;
so also are the Presbyterian bands, so is the peculiar
dress in which clergymen ordinarily appear. Sitting
at the communion is a form ; it is a posture of the
body as well as kneeling ; it is, moreover, the pos-
ture of the Pope. I maintain, therefore, that it
was not Laud, but the Presbyterians, whether Pu-
ritans or Covenanters, who were sticklers for forms
and ceremonies ; who imagined they saw a merit
placed in things which had actually none ; who
disputed as much about the mere act of genuflexion,
as if it involved their salvation : that in the inde-
cent rudeness of Presbyterianism there is a greater
attempt at effect than in the national and primitive
ritual of the Church of England ; that, in fine, in
the public worship of Dissenters in general, not even
excepting the fanaticism of the Quakers, if indeed
their practice can be termed public worship, there
is not an essential difference from the Church of
7
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 235
Rome, with this qualification, that the former are at
one extreme and the Papists at another ; yet both pre-
tend self-denial, and both imagine that their outward
acts of devotion are exclusively spiritual and holy.
While a detail of the tumults at Edinburgh was
laid before the King, and while measures were in
progress relative to future proceedings, the Presby-
terians did not cease their private intrigues. It
appears that the government of Scotland had been
confided to a few individuals with whom the King
consulted, all Scotsmen, and Lord Clarendon de-
clares, that "there was so little curiosity either in the
court or the country to know any thing of Scotland,
or what was done there, that when the whole nation
was solicitous to know what passed weekly in Ger-
many and Poland, and all other parts of Europe,
no man ever inquired what was doing in Scotland,
nor had that kingdom a place or mention in one
page of any gazette ; and even after the adver-
tisement of this preamble to rebellion, no mention
was made of it at the Council Board, but such a
dispatch made into Scotland upon it, as expressed
the King's dislike and displeasure, and obliged the
Lords of the Council there to appear more vigo-
rously in the vindication of his people, and suppres-
sion of those tumults." In the mean time, the fac-
tion increased in strength and virulence ; the very
women were practised on by them ; and some of
their ladies of rank and influence entered the lists
against the Church, in this " holy" cause. They
declared themselves in favour of the tumult, and
236 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
stimulated their husbands also to engage in the
warfare ; and so successful were those devout ma-
trons, that the prelates were compelled to betake
themselves to their several dioceses, to avoid public
insults, in a city where even their lives were in
danger. It is almost incredible to relate the extent
of this female phrensy, which the leaders of the
faction found of the utmost advantage to their cause :
nor are those devout matrons spared by Lysimachus
Nicanor, " of the Society of Jesu," who in his
" Epistle Congratulatorie to the Covenanters of Scot-
land," has exposed them by a satire as just as it is
indelicate. " This violence of the women," says Ly-
simachus to the Covenanters, " hath the seeds of
a holy mind, and they, being free citizens, ought to
have full freedom ; their tongues are their own ;
what lord can controul them l ?" It must be con-
fessed, that the epistolary correspondence which
the Scottish preachers carried on with the female
enthusiasts of that age, is deserving of the severest
reprobation; religion was brought into contempt
by the ideas mutually entertained by those " devout
matrons," and their " spirit-stirring confessors" of
the Covenant ; and the language of some of them,
particularly of Livingstone and Rutherford, speci-
mens of whose elegantice might easily be pro-
duced from their printed letters, was not only ex-
1 The Epistle Congratulatorie, &c. 4to. 1640. p. 73, 74, 75.
This production, I find, was written by a Scotsman named Cor-
bet, who was afterwards a Clergyman of the Irish Church.
Carte's Ormond, folio, vol. i. p. 96,
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 237
travagant, but gross and licentious in no ordinary
degree l .
1 To prove what I assert, without again referring to the Epistle
Congratulatorie, or to the fanatical preacher who openly insulted
King James from the pulpit, and descended from the same, leaving
the Kirk, together with the whole wives present, a female enthu-
siast thus writes to Livingstone : " We long ernestly for you,
if ye disappoint me I will say na mair. Cum and mak us
amends for all faults. John Gray, your young bab, longs for
the pap, blessed be God for that change. We have all neid of
you. If you cum not, it will grieve me, therefore mak na ex-
cusis. Pray ernistly for us, never sic need." She adds, as
an additional excitement to the preacher, " Your clais are heir,
quilk ye left us to mak us the mor sur of you, and yet ye faild
us. Do not so now, for fear me poind your nicht-cap" This
letter is dated June, 1629, and addressed " to my worthy and
loving brother, Mr. John Livingston, preacher of the word of
God." (Note apud Kirkton, by C. K. Sharpe, Esq. p. 51.)
Kirkton, a famous apostle, when publicly praying for a woman,
exclaimed, " A wholesome disease ! good Lord ! a wholesome
disease ! Lord ! for the soul. Alas ! few in the land are trou-
bled with the disease ! Lord, grant that she may have many
fellows in this disease !" The women, moreover, during the
Covenanting rebellion, frequently stimulated their husbands to
die for the " gude auld cause" But the " Letters" of the famous
Samuel Rutherford, Professor of Divinity at St. Andrew's, whom
Swift, in his notes on Burnet, asserts to have been half-fool,
half-mad, are the most remarkable. Both these and his ser-
mons are a mass of blasphemy, obscenity, and nonsense, parti-
cularly his epistles to the " godlie ladies." The reader will find
proofs in a small and rare volume, entitled, " Presbyterian Elo-
quence displayed," the author of which has by no means exag-
gerated. Rutherford's " sublimities in devotion" are scarcely
equalled, even by the extravagant sectaries which sprang up after
the fall of the Church in England. Rutherford was called by his
fanatical brethren " the flower of the Church," and the follow-
038 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
The riot at St. Giles's was countenanced and
commended by the Presbyterian ministers, who re-
ing specimen of his nonsense, blasphemy, and obscenity, will
shew this Presbyterian flower in his true light, regarding his
pulpit eloquence. " The saints hes set up stoupps and way
marks in every lair, and cryes ryd aboot, howbeit, fooles too
many will throw at the nearest, and stick there : the saints going
before is a benefit to us, we see the pooles and stanks [ditches]
that encumbered them. Hold off adulterie, David stuck in
that laire. Hold off drunkenness, Noah and Lot weat their
feet in that dub. Beware to persecute and mock the saints.
Paul's ship had almost sunk in that sand. See the dead carcases
lying in the gate, Judas, Demas, Hymeneus, and Philotes, brak
their necks in making a visit to Canaan. Mak this use of holy
men's lives, here condemned, that followed the devil's cloud of
witnesses, the world, and the fashions thereof, Rom. xii. Be not
ye conform to the world, follow not their guyses, and yet we
can Justine all the ill we doe. Wherefore is vanities in mar-
riages and banquets, it is the fashion, say they. Wherefore vanitie
of apparel, so that women are turned guysers and monsteres.
It is the fashion, say they. O proud and poor Scotland ! men
cutted out to the skin, and women wants not vanity ; but they
are not cutted to the bone, wherefrae comes whoring, swearing,
drinking. Whom see ye otherwise ? says they, is not this the
fashion of this age ? but if ye but follow such a cloud of
witnesses, let me conclude, run to hell too, for I assure you
that is the fashion. ' Let us run the race.' Demas gal-
lopped awhile after the gospel, and Paul thought it a hungrie
gate, and the world crossed his gate, the world in her silks and
velvets, like a faire strumpet, ran in his way, and gave him a
kiss, and he to the gate, sorrow of his part of any more of the
gospel. The third sort is those that hes some more love to
this race, and yet they cannot away with the world, like a young
man (Matt. xix. 2. 22.), that ran to Christ and said, he keeped
the commandments from his youth ; when Christ bad him goe
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 239
fleeted upon it with peculiar satisfaction. It was
extolled from their pulpits, and the actors in it
were declared " the most heroic spirits that ever
God inspired and raised in this last age of the
world :" thanks were actually offered for " the
happy mouths and hands which God had honoured
that day with the beginning of their blessed refor-
mation." A royal proclamation had enjoined that
for every parish two of the Books of Common
Prayer should be purchased, and, as this order was
enforced, a petition was presented against it by
Henderson and other chiefs of the faction, who had
been practising among the people with great secresy
and diligence. This petition was secretly encou-
raged by Traquair, though it was ably answered
by the Bishop of Ross, who informed them, that
though " they pretended ignorance of what is con-
tained in the book, it appears, by their many ob-
jections and exceptions to almost all parts of it,
that they are too well versed in it, but have abused
and sell all he had and give it to the poor, and come and follow
him; he went away with his head in his hose, looked as if his
nose wer bleeding, for he had great possessions. Wilt thou
mak Christ a pack-horse to carrie thy clay and thy lusts ? how
long is it since he behoved to carrie thy pockmantie ? believe
me, he is no cadger horse ; Judas, and Demas, and the like,
that would have ridden upon Christ with all their bags of clay,
ken ye how Christ did wi' them ? he flang them and their clay
aff at the road-side, and let them ly ther, and posted away."
Sermon by that flower of the Church, Mr. Samuel Rutherford,
4to. What a contrast between the above nonsense, which is a'
fair specimen of the Presbyterian devotions of that age, and the
\vorks_of the English Clergy of the same period !
240 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
it pitifully: that not the General Assembly, which
consists of multitude, but the Bishops, have au-
thority to govern the Church, and are the repre-
sentative Church of the kingdom: that they
(Henderson and his associates,) will never be able,
(do what they can) to prove what is contained in
the Service- Book to be either superstitious or ido-
latrous, but that it is one of the most orthodox and
perfect Liturgies in the Christian Church 1 ." These
remarks were, of course, unpalatable to this Pres-
byterian convert ; although the petition was re-
ceived with more respect than it deserved, he de-
sisted not from his intrigues : two of the ministers
of Edinburgh, named Rollock and Ramsay, had
been suspended for not reading the Liturgy, and
these two assisted in influencing the public mind.
Matters were hastening to a crisis : the malecontents
had by this time determined not to be reconciled on
any terms : they had seized the favourable moment ;
arid their plans had been long matured.
Some farther disturbances took place at Edin-
burgh in the month of September, not, however, of
serious consequence ; on which occasions the magis-
trates wrote to Archbishop Laud, " thanking his Grace
for his kind letter from their hearts," and informing
him, " that since their last (letter) there hath been
such an innumerable confluence of people from all
corners of this kingdom, both of clergy and laity,
and of all degrees, by reason of two council days,
1 Rusluvorth, vol. ii. p. 394, 395.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 241
and such things suggested to these poor ignorant
people, that they had erased what they (the magis-
trates), by great and continual pains, had implanted
in their minds, and diverted them altogether from
their former resolutions :" at the same time assur-
ing the Archbishop of their resolution to co-operate
with all his Majesty's wishes, not doubting but they
would ultimately prevail, and beseeching his Grace
that he would recommend them to his Majesty's
favour. This letter having been received about the
time that a petition had been forwarded to the
King against the Liturgy, he thence inferred that
those malcontents had other designs than the mere
remonstrance against his royal proclamation ; at all
events, it was a justification and approval of the
disgraceful riot to petition at such a juncture.
These petitions were, consequently, coldly received :
the King blamed the Scottish Council for timidity
or backwardness in not punishing this rebellion ;
commanded that every bishop should order the
Book of Common Prayer to be used in his diocese,
and that no person should be chosen to fill any civil
office who would not conform to his injunctions.
I am not altogether disposed to blame this pro-
cedure. It was, perhaps, peremptory and impolitic ;
nevertheless, the zealots who countenanced the riot,
were not disposed to be satisfied with moderate
compliances. To gratify their humours was to en-
courage their sedition ; and, as they aimed at the
destruction of the Church, there was no middle
course to be adopted. Had the people not been
VOL. II. R
21-2 LIFE AND TIMES [1G37.
practised on and deluded by the false representa-
tions of the Presbyterian preachers, they would
have offered little opposition to a service so admi-
rably calculated to encourage purity of devotion ;
and they would, doubtless, have become gradually
attached to a Church, whose ministers, residing
among them, would have trained them to that
purity of sentiment which the enthusiasm of the
opposite party had so fearfully counteracted. For I
hold, that the excellence of the public Liturgy the
more plainly appears the oftener it is perused ; and,
consequently, a restraint would have been laid on
those extravagances which the enthusiasm of the
times was so apt to engender. The magistrates of
Edinburgh, in their letter to Archbishop Laud, had
rightly observed, that the people had received im-
pressions from designing men. Hitherto those civi-
lians had laboured to promote the introduction of
the Liturgy with the greatest zeal, and their con-
duct had received the Archbishop's express appro-
bation. These facts were well known to the popu-
lace, who, at the instigation of their leaders, had
actually intruded themselves into their council
room, and declared that they would not depart, till
they were assured that the magistrates would sign
their intended supplications. This led them to alter
their measures, and in their letters to the Arch-
bishop, before cited, they found it necessary to ex-
plain their peculiar circumstances '.
1 The Magistrates of Edinburgh to Archbishop Laud, 26th
September, 1637.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 243
The rural occupation of the harvest had produced,
however, a temporary tranquillity, and the employ-
ments of the sickle and the labours of the husband-
man, suspended for a while the popular exaspera-
tion. But it had not subsided : that indignation
was only slumbering, which was to burst forth with
redoubled fury: and, although there was a partial
calm, the opposition to the Liturgy had increased
throughout the kingdom. Men in the fields talked
of their future exploits, and cherished their animo-
sity : it was the language of the peer, the merchant,
and the husbandmen : the women joined in the
almost universal execration : and the preachers, in
their weekly extemporaneous effusions, inflamed
their zeal by their wild and ranting declamations. A
minister in the diocese of Glasgow, that renowned
country for covenanting chivalry, had preached a
sermon at the opening of the provincial synod by
the appointment of the Archbishop, in which, with
great learning and moderation, he defended the
Liturgy. His exhortations, however, were heard
by the ignorant zealots with bursts of indignation.
In the evening of that day he was attacked by a
band of enraged women, and with difficulty escaped
from being sacrificed on the spot, a victim to their
fanaticism 1 .
But no sooner were the labours of the harvest
brought to a close, than vast multitudes resorted to
the Scottish metropolis. It had been rumoured that a
1 Wodrow MSS. v61. iii.
* R 2
244 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
royal answer would be received to their petitions on
the 18th of October, and this report having been in-
dustriously circulated, it was believed that this an-
swer would be decisive. Alarmed at this threaten-
ing assemblage, the Scottish Privy Council issued
three proclamations, in the hope of preserving the
public peace. The first declared, that a royal pro-
clamation had prohibited the Privy Council to in-
terfere in ecclesiastical affairs ; and that the Council
should be dissolved on that day, (October 17,) and
all strangers were ordered to depart from Edin-
burgh within twenty-four hours, except those who
had warrant to remain from the Lords of the Coun-
cil. The second proclamation made known, that
the Council and Session were, by order of his Ma-
jesty, removed first to Linlithgow, and then to
Dundee, during his Majesty's pleasure; and the
third was against a seditious book which had been
most widely circulated, published in 4to, entitled
" A Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies
obtruded upon the Kirk of Scotland/' which " had
been sent abroad and dispersed in this kingdom,
purposely to stir the hearts and affections of his
Majesty's subjects from their due obedience and
allegiance," and threatening punishment against
those who should afterwards be found to have it in
their possession ! .
But to the first proclamation no attention was
paid by the congregated multitude. Their leaders,
1 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 400 405.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 245
too, had assembled, under the auspices of Lords
Balmerino and Loudon, with Henderson and Dick-
son, who had taken due care to be attended by
others of their brethren. They had determined to
resist, and at once to declare their opposition to the
clergy, to whom they ascribed the proclamations.
It was resolved that a paper should be drawn out,
and subscribed by all those who would make a com-
mon cause with Balmerino; and Henderson pre-
pared one paper, Loudon and Dickson another.
One of these was adopted after some slight altera-
tions, and was speedily circulated throughout the
kingdom, to indicate those designs which their
leaders had in contemplation l .
No man can doubt that this tumult was preme-
ditated ; the deliberation, the caution, the intrigues
of the Presbyterian preachers, evince their sedition.
Had it been the burst of the moment, when the
judgments even of the best of men are liable to
be perverted, and to err from mistaken motives ; or
when, unable to restrain their enthusiasm, their
passions obtain a transient triumph over their rea-
son, there had been some excuse, and in moments
of calm reflection they would at least have paused
before they took arms against their sovereign. The
mistaken motives of such a procedure would have
entitled men to respect. But this was a faction,
composed of violent men, who deliberately met to
involve their country in rebellion ; who, stimulated
1 Bishop Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 26.
246 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
by the principles directly opposed to that religion
they professed, scrupled not to disseminate their
sedition, to excite to war and bloodshed; it was
planned and executed with the most consummate
wickedness of intention ; it was to inflame the pas-
sions of the ignorant by false representations.
While these rebellious schemes were in progress,
the metropolis again became the scene of tumult and
disgraceful riot. On the 18th of October, the day
after the proclamation had been issued, the multitude
displayed their vengeance. Dr. Thomas Sydserf,
Bishop of Galloway, in passing along the streets,
was beset by the ferocious rabble, who first treated
him with hootings and execrations, and then op-
posed his progress to the chamber of the Privy
Council. Thither with difficulty the prelate at
length arrived ; but, instead of finding there a se-
curity from Presbyterian fury, he found the other
members of the Council in the same situation as
himself, besieged by a daring mob, who threatened
their destruction, and especially that of the bishop,
whose person they demanded with loud and cla-
morous outcries. The Earls of Traquair and Wig-
ton, hearing of the prelate's danger, to the former
of whom he had been preceptor, hastened to his
assistance, but they were received in nearly a similar
manner. As this formidable riot seemed to increase,
and as there was no possibility of escape, the noble-
men sent to the magistrates to inform them of their
distressing situation, and to crave assistance. But
these civilians were in no better situation them-
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 247
selves ; they happened that day to be holding a
common council, and as the chief magistrate was
peculiarly obnoxious to the rabble, the outrage had
extended to him and his brethren. A disorderly
body of rioters, who patroled the streets, surrounded
the building, and forcibly entered the council room,
where they vowed the immediate destruction of the
civic authorities, if they would not that moment sign
their paper against the Service-Book, and restore
the suspended ministers. Resistance in such a situa-
tion was vain, and they complied with their de-
mands. Traquair and Wigton, when the answer
was returned to them, at the hazard of their lives
went in person to the council room, where they
found the exasperation of the rioters assuaged by
the magistrates' signing the paper. Thinking that
the outrage would now be quelled, those noblemen
returned to protect the Bishop ; but no sooner did
they appear, than they were furiously attacked.
Terrible outcries were raised : " God defend those
that defend God's cause !" they wildly exclaimed,
" God confound the Service-Book, and all its main-
tainers !" Men and women actually skipped in the
streets, actuated by this religious madness. In-
stantly Traquair was attacked with outrageous fury ;
his hat and cloak were pulled off, the white rod of
his office, as Lord Treasurer, was broken in pieces ;
he was thrown down in the street ; and, had he not
been aided by his attendants, who raised him, and
carried him back to the Privy Council, he would
have been trodden to death. Both the magistrates
248 LIFE AND TIMES [1637.
and the members of the Council were now closely
besieged in ifheir several chambers, and they were
at length compelled to seek aid from some of those
noblemen who were favourable to the rioters. At
the command of their leaders, the multitude dis-
persed, and the members of the Council were es-
corted home in safety ; the Bishop of Galloway to
his own residence, and the Earl of Traquair to the
palace of Holyrood House *.
This was the second exploit of the Presbyterians
in their intended reformation, which, they declared,
" God even to a miracle had prospered in their
hands." The example was speedily followed in
other parts of the kingdom, with the exception of
Aberdeen, where the clergy and people still held
fast their loyal integrity. On the afternoon of this
day, a proclamation was issued from the palace of
Holyrood-house,by the Privy Council, for repressing
these disorders in future. It had, however, no
effect. On the following day, public deputies from
the people presented two petitions ; the one from
the noblemen, barons, burgesses, and commons ; the
other from the men, women, and CHILDREN, of
the city of Edinburgh, against the Canons and the
Book of Common Prayer. The former was trans-
1 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 400 404. Heylin, 331, 332. Bi-
shop Guthrie, p. 24, 25. Large Declaration, p. 3438. Hard-
wick's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 95. Burnet's Memoirs of the
Dukes of Hamilton, p. 33. Arnot's History of Edinburgh,
4to. p. 110, 111.
1637.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 249
mitted to London ; while the Earls of Roxburgh
and Traquair proceeded to the King, to inform
him of these disorders. The leaders of the faction,
in the mean time, proceeded in their schemes with
alacrity. A proposal was made by Henderson,
aided by Balmerino, and Sir Thomas Hope, the
King's Advocate, that though they had formerly
opposed only the Service-Book, they should now
include the Bishops, as enemies to religion, and de-
mand that justice might be done against them.
This proposal, a sufficient indication of the designs
of Henderson and his associates, was at first opposed
by many, who declared, " that they had no quarrel
with the bishops, but merely wished to be freed from
the Service-Book." Threats and promises, however,
were held out, and at length the proposal was for-
mally adopted. It was subscribed by those present,
and ordered to be circulated throughout the king-
dom, that it might receive an universal sanction,
and be remitted on the ensuing fifteenth of Novem-
ber. The preachers returned home, and during
the interval conducted themselves in the most out-
rageous manner. They preached damnation from
the pulpits to those who would not subscribe ;
while the most awful anathemas were pronounced
against the regular clergy. On the appointed day,
a vast multitude repaired to Edinburgh with their
several petitions. These were headed by some of
the nobles, and all the seditious zealots in the land.
The famous Marquis of Montrose, afterwards a
martyr for his loyalty, formed one of this conclave ;
1
250 LIFE AND TIMES [ICSff.
and his military fame was a source of considerable
disquietude/to the Church. ,
The Privy Council no longer met at Edinburgh,
but was ordered to Linlithgow, and thence to Stir-
ling, both ancient and venerable seats of Scottish
royalty. The return of Traquair to Scotland un-
folded the measures of the court ; the advices of
that nobleman to the English government had been
suspected, and, though, perhaps, his designs went no
farther, it was not without sufficient grounds that
he was viewed as a secret member of this opposi-
tion \ The King had recourse to a proclamation,
which was issued at Stirling on the 19th of Fe-
bruary, 1638. Here, for the first time, he expe-
rienced an act of deliberate rebellion. To issue
proclamations to fanatics was truly useless ; they
spurned at the language of the King. Though he
solemnly protested that he abhorred all the super-
stitions of Popery, and intended to do nothing con-
trary to the ancient laws of the kingdom, they set
at defiance his injunctions to conduct themselves
peaceably, and to abstain from outrage. The pro-
clamation was opposed by a protest at Stirling that
very day, and the protest was repeated on two succes-
sive days at Edinburgh and Linlithgow. Wherever,
in fact, the royal proclamation was published, the
zealots were ready with their protest. The King's
authority was abjured, and the combination now
declared its intentions. Their protest consisted of
1 Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 33.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 251
six particulars, all sufficiently treasonable. Armed
men assembled under their auspices ; Calvinism
was triumphant ; and schism and rebellion, its twin
sisters, went hand in hand *.
In pursuance of the designs of the abettors of
this extraordinary and daring conduct, they now
began to erect a government of their own ; which
may well vie with any despotism which ever existed
on earth. The multitude of enthusiasts which re-
sorted to Edinburgh, rendered it necessary that
they should be divided into classes, which they
termed Tables, from which deputies were elected,
who together composed a General Table for the
superintendence of the deliberations of the inferior
ones. Of the subordinate, there were four Tables :
one for the ministers, one for the nobility, one for
the gentry, and one for the boroughs. No tyranny
could be more complete than that exercised by the
deputies ; they issued their orders without control,
and these every where received the most implicit
obedience. It was expressly declared, too, that
their government was to be independent of the
King. No individual connected with it was to be
answerable to the laws 2 .
Had Charles followed up his proclamations by a
powerful army; had he, instead of allowing the
enthusiasts to imagine that he was afraid and timid,
1 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 730 734. Large Declaration, p.
5052. Lord Clarendon, vol. i. 4to. p. 163. Heylin, p. 333.
2 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 32, 33. Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 734.
Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 27. Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 27.
7
252 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
put in practice the most salutary punishments, aided
by a strong military force, there can be little doubt
that the refractory zealots would have met with a
complete discomfiture. But the King's amiable
and humane disposition was the occasion of his mis-
fortunes. He imagined that the first outrage was
the act of enthusiasm ; that the fear of punishment
kept the leaders together, and that tranquillity
would be restored if this fear was removed. This
moderation and leniency were unhappily misapplied,
and the King had recourse to force when it was too
late ; when the English Puritans made a common
cause with the Scottish fanatics ; when the crown
was insulted, and his life at stake.
This was the first step towards the introduction
of the well known Solemn League and Covenant.
For this mode of procedure, the Scots had from
the first a decided predilection. Under the auspices
of Knox various covenants had been formed, by
which the Lords of the Congregation associated
together in their opposition to the Romish Church.
Whatever might have been the necessity of it in
those days, the present circumstances rendered the
conduct of the insurgents altogether unwarrantable.
Though they adopted the inflammatory manifestoes
published by Knox and his brethren against the
Queen Regent, they forgot that there was not, in
the present case, the most distant similarity. Then
there was an attack on their liberties ; now there
was none : then the superstitions of Rome were
forcibly maintained ; now that Church had fallen
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 253
for ever. Here, however, let me introduce the senti-
ments of the learned historian of the Church of Scot-
land ; himself a minister of the Presbyterian Church.
" There was," says this eloquent writer, " an essen-
tial difference in the situation of the first Reformers
and that of their successors. The intrepid men
who attacked the Popish establishment long con-
tended only for toleration ; and when this was de-
nied, they were compelled to struggle for liberty,
without which their consciences would have been
shackled, their religion persecuted, and they them-
selves deprived of property, of honour, and of life.
Infatuated as Charles was, he threatened no such
evils. In the ardour of party zeal, it was indeed
strongly insinuated, that he was steadily prosecuting
the design of restoring Popery, but there is not the
slightest evidence to support the insinuation. The
amount of the religious calamities which the inha-
bitants of Scotland had to dread was the conti-
nuance of Episcopacy, or the attempt to continue
it ; but it surely may be doubted how far this was,
at the commencement of the disturbances, a suffi-
cient cause for actually resisting the sovereign.
Many of the clergy who joined in opposition to
government had at this period no idea that Episco-
pacy was subversive of Christianity ; all of them
had sworn obedience to the bishops in whose dioceses
they ministered ; and some of them expressly dis-
tinguished between Episcopacy as it existed in the
time of Knox's superintendence, and the Episcopacy
which now was opposed, affirming that both indeed
254 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
ought to be removed, but that the former ought
not to be abjured V
In this pretended zeal for religion, the insurgents
now came to a desperate conclusion. As I have 1
observed, they had sufficient precedents to fortify
their covenanting notions. No sooner, therefore,
was the idea proposed, than the device, says Bur-
net, took as if it were an oracle. It was the object
of the insurgents to promote that enthusiasm for
their cause which had been widely disseminated ;
and they contrived this device, which succeeded to
a miracle. King James had caused a confession to
be drawn up, containing a renunciation of the
Popish errors, which he himself signed, and was
followed by the people. This confession or cove-
nant was now renewed ; but while the enthusiasts
asserted, with their usual confidence, that it was the
same as the original, they had altered it to suit
their fanaticism and sedition, though they still de-
nominated it by its former title a cunning expe-
dient, in unison with their general conduct: " by
which imposition," says the noble historian, " people
of all ranks, supposing it might be a means to ex-
tinguish the present fire, with all alacrity engaged
themselves in it ; whereas in truth, they had inserted
a clause, never before heard of, and quite contrary
to the end of that covenant, whereby they obliged
themselves to pursue the extirpation of bishops,
1 Dr. Cook's (formerly Minister of Laurencekirk, now Pro-
fessor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrew's),
History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, vol. ii.
p. 415, 416.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 255
and had the confidence to demand the same in
express terms of the King, in answer to a very gra-
cious message the King had sent them 1 ." In this
state of things the prospect was deplorable ; enthu-
siasm is contagious, among ignorant zealots it soon
reaches to rebellion.
Of this celebrated Covenant and Solemn League,
one of the most treasonable and impious bonds
which was ever devised, I shall say little. Mr.
Archdeacon Echard asserts, that the original is pre-
served in Trinity College, Cambridge. I have,
however, seen it with all the original signatures in
the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh.
This monument of sedition and bloodshed, which
is still beheld by the Presbyterian sectaries in
Scotland, and enthusiasts of that creed in general,
as the triumph of their faith, was ushered in by a
command issued by the Tables, that a solemn meeting
should be held in Edinburgh, where they resolved to
try the expedient. A fast was also appointed, and
the preachers were not forgetful of the " good old
cause." The Covenant was prepared by Henderson,
and a lawyer named Archibald Johnston, afterwards
exalted to a temporary peerage by the usurper
Cromwell, by the title of Lord Warriston, and
revised by the Earl of Rothes, Lords Balmerino,
and London. Framed to defy the royal power,
and to encourage bigotry and fanaticism, the King's
Advocate, Sir Thomas Hope, nevertheless, aided it,
though it was the duty of that functionary to punish
1 Lord Clarendon, vol. i. p. 163.
256 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
the enthusiasts. It consists of a renunciation of
Popery, expressed in a violence of language and
invective, cunningly adapted to inflame the resent-
ment of the people, scarcely one of whom under-
stood what he was renouncing, or had any idea of
the nature of the epithets employed by the sedi-
tious leaders against the Romish Church. It pro-
fessed to contain a declaration of the Reformed faith,
and to enumerate all the errors of popery. A bond
was added, compelling the subscribers to resist all re-
ligious innovations under the general names of Po-
pery, heresy, and superstition ; they were to swear
that they would defend each other against all who
should oppose them ; and this they impiously said
was for the glory of God, and the honour and safety
of their King and country, while the most terrific
denunciations and execrations were uttered against
those who opposed the Covenant, or refused to sub-
scribe 1 .
On the 1st of March, 1638, this Solemn League
was subscribed in the Greyfriars' church, Edinburgh,
after it had been read aloud to the enthusiastic mul-
titude. Henderson insulted Heaven by offering
an extemporaneous prayer for a blessing, after
which the Earl of London made a long hypocritical
address on the importance of the Covenant 2 . No-
1 King's Declaration, p. 57 66. Bishop Guthrie's Me-
moirs, p. 30.
2 This nobleman, one of the great lay chiefs of the Cove-
nanters, was a man of bad morals ; and Bishop Burnet assures us,
that his wife, to whom, being an heiress, he was indebted for all
his fortune, threatened him with a process for adultery, of which
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 257
thing more was requisite to excite the passions A
parchment scroll was kept for the insertion of
names, and the enthusiasts pressed forward to sign
it, as if it was an insertion of their names in the
Book of Life. Some of the enthusiasts, as I have
seen in the original document, were so zealous, that
they added after their signatures, " till death"
This example was followed in many places of the
kingdom : yet, in some parts, the Covenant was
coldly received. In the city of Glasgow, the clergy
she had undoubted proof, if he would not assist the Covenanters,
and break certain engagements he had made to the King while he
was in England. See also Lament's Diary, p. 38. Yet Samuel
Rutherford scruples not to address this most unprincipled no-
bleman in the following blasphemous terms : " You come out
to the streets with Christ on your forehead, when many are
ashamed of him, and hide him under their cloaks as if he were
a stolen Christ" And again, in an epistle dated Jan. 4, 1638,
this enthusiast writes, " Blessed are ye of the Lord : your name
and honour shall never rot nor wither in heaven (at least), if ye
deliver the Lord's sheep that have been scattered in a dark and
cloudy day, out of the hands of strange lords and hirelings,
who with rigour and cruelty have caused them to eat the pas-
tures trodden upon with their foul feet, and to drink muddy
water, and who have spun out such a world of yards of indiffer-
ences in God's worship, to make and weave a web for the Anti-
christ, (that shall not keep any from the cold) as they mind no-
thing else but that by the bringing in of the Pope's foul tail
first upon us (their wretched and beggarlie ceremonies), they
may thrust in after them the Antichrist's legs and thighs, and
his belly, head and shoulders, and then cry down Christ and
die gospel, and up the merchandise and wares of the great
whore."
VOL. II. S
258 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
not only shewed a disinclination to subscribe it, but
even censured the enthusiasts ; in St. Andrew's, it
was resisted by the influence of the primate : while at
Aberdeen, it met with most decided opposition from
the influence of the University, which remained un-
shaken in its loyalty. The missionaries of the Co-
venant were now dispatched throughout the country
on a regular crusade against the government : the
pulpits of the fanatics every where resounded with
their impious declamations. Prynne had declared
in England that Christ was a Puritan: in Scotland
it was actually said that Christ was a Covenanter ;
he was the " covenanted Jesus," and they talked
most whiningly to the vulgar of their " covenanted
God" and " covenanted Kirk :" they had, they said,
" a covenanted bridegroom," and they would have
a " covenanted King." A fanatic named Cant,
one of their few partizans in the north, in a sermon
at Glasgow, told the people, that " he was sent to
them with a commission from Christ to bid them
subscribe, it being Christ's contract : that he came
as a wooer for the bridegroom, to call upon them
to be hand-fasted, by subscribing the contract : that
he would not depart till he had got the names of
all refusers, of whom he would complain to his
Master V' Every where threats, promises, and all
kinds of inducements, were employed to prevail
1 This enthusiast, according to Mr. Addison, (Spectator, vol.
ii. No. 147.) was the author of canting, and the specimen above
is conclusive of the fact, that is, of speaking unintelligible jargon.
1C38.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 259
upon the people to sign the bond. The venerable
Archbishop Spottiswoode declared on this occa-
sion, " Now all that we have been doing for
these thirty years past is thrown down at once."
The Covenant, in short, was their idol : no Papist
ever looked with more reverence on the mass, than
the Presbyterians did on their Solemn League :
their faith consisted in it, they actually thought
there was no salvation without subscribing it ; no
relics were ever cherished by a devotee with more
devotion than was the Covenant by the Scottish
Presbyterians. They were told by their preachers
" to acquit themselves like men;" curses were thun-
dered against those " who went not out to help
the angel of the Lord against the mighty ;" libels
were dispersed throughout England, since the pul-
pits could not convey their sedition fast enough,
justifying their proceedings to their Puritan bre-
thren, who, as Archbishop Laud well remarks, "held
a correspondence with them :" the English nation
were incited to the like great achievement : a fana-
tic refused to pray for the chief magistrate of Edin-
burgh, then dying, because he had not subscribed
it : the preachers refused to administer the holy
communion to those who did not idolize that se-
ditious bond, and, in their exhortations at their com-
munion tables, termed them unblushingly, " Adul-
terers, Atheists, Slanderers, Blasphemers." One
fanatic declared from the pulpit, that the " non-
subscribers to the Covenant were Atheists ;" a se-
cond exhorted his hearers not to desist till the King
s 2
260 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
was in their power, and then he would see what
good subjects they were. Some declared, that
" the Service-book was framed at Rome :" and
one preacher maintained " that the wrath of God
would never leave the kingdom till all the prelates
were hanged up before the Lord, like the seven
sons of Saul." Their pulpits they termed " chairs
of truth :" as for themselves, they were " the Lord's
elected people," and one of them had the assurance
to declare, that the " Covenant was an offering to
God!"
But the most extraordinary mission of those
enthusiasts was directed towards Aberdeen ; for
throughout the north their hypocrisy had always
been detested, and, amid all the changes, that city
and University remained firm in Episcopal loyalty.
This mission was composed of Henderson, the high
priest of the Covenant, Dickson, and Cant, who
were all three thereafter termed the Apostles of the
Covenant; the Earl of Montrose, Lord Coupar, and
Lord Kinghorn. The inhabitants of the northern
counties were as enthusiastic in their attachment
to Episcopacy, as the zealots of the southern were to
Presbytery, and they accordingly manifested the
greatest opposition. Henderson and his associates
repaired to the University of King's College, and
there held long disputations with the doctors of
that once famous Episcopal establishment, founded
by the venerable Bishop Elphinstone in 1491. In
vain, however, were those theologians assailed by
the Covenanting zealots: the groaning, whining,
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 261
eloquence of the latter was despised ; in a solemn
dispute all their arguments against Episcopacy were
refuted. This controversy was published, and the
Covenanters so well remembered this defeat, that
they forced those theologians, a short time after-
wards, to consult their safety by flight. Aberdeen
at that time contained a Forbes and a Scougall. It
was in vain that Henderson urged the divine autho-
rity of Presbytery ; he was soon dislodged from his
positions : his sophistical logic was easily detected
and exposed. The heads of the University proved
the Covenant to be impious and illegal, and utterly
incompatible with the principles of government. It
was easier, however, to refute those men, than to
silence them. The account of this disputation is still
extant, and reflects great honour on the memory of
the learned and loyal men who at that time adorned
this northern seminary. Henderson and his col-
leagues made few converts in that quarter, and
they returned in great haste to the districts which
abounded with their devotees l .
Thus I have given a hasty sketch of those im-
portant transactions, necessary in this place, be-
cause they occurred in the times of Archbishop
Laud, and because that prelate has been charged as
the cause of driving the Scots to this Covenant, by
endeavouring to impose on them " a religion of his
own." Of the Covenant I shall yet have occasion
to speak. From this time, till the year 1660, hy-
1 Bishop Outline's Memoirs. Spalding's History, vol. i.
262 LIFE AND TIMES 1 [1658.
pocrisy and fanaticism triumphed in Scotland for
more than twenty years but what eventful years !
Over these transactions of impiety and rebellion, as
well as the blasphemous language of their authors,
the veil ought to be drawn. It is not my province
to inquire whether Scotland has gained by this
transaction, or whether she has gained by the then
transient and at length final fall of the Episcopal
Church in 1688, when that Church ceased to be
established by law. It is matter of considerable
doubt ; at best, however, it would now be one of
idle speculation. By a wise dispensation of Pro-
vidence, the most tremendous revolutions, and the
most signal national calamities, are frequently at-
tended with advantages, or, at least advantages, re-
sult from a combination of causes. That Church
still exists, though no longer national ; poor, in-
deed, and humble, but primitive in its forms, its
clergy steadily maintaining apostolical order and
truth; and, (notwithstanding the fulminations of
Covenanters,) precious, I know well, are the associa-
tions of that humble communion to its members ;
dear to them are its altars ; they preserve towards
it the affection and devotion of children to a pa-
rent. And the review of those scenes of violence
and fanaticism now recorded, teaches us most im-
portant and salutary lessons. They disclose to us
the mutability of human affairs ; the dangerous ten-
dency of faction, sectarianism, and schism. From
them we learn that religion may be perverted, and,
instead of becoming the promoter of peace and
7
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 263
good-will, be made the pretext for the most daring
and desperate designs ; and that they alone are the
lovers of their country, who lend not an ear to novel-
ties, but look with respect and reverence on the
venerable institutions of their fathers. No guilt could
be greater than that of the Covenanters ; it was a
dark and daring plot, it was what they had been
long preparing with indefatigable diligence. They
deceived the ignorant by hypocritical professions of
regard to the sovereign's person, while at the same
moment they declared that over them he had no
control. They termed it loyalty, while with the
same breath they inculcated treason : they said it
was for the defence of pure religion, while their ha-
rangues and their writings abounded in blasphemy,
folly, and obscenity. It was well termed by the
King a " lewd Covenant and seditious bond annexed
to it," and " the first dung which from these
stables was thrown upon the face of authority and
government." No man, then, can peruse this me-
lancholy history without pitying a monarch whose
generous purposes were frustrated by fanatics : and
if, in the midst of this fermentation, we observe
aught of heroism and magnanimity in the zealots,
this must also be ascribed to the obstinacy which
religious enthusiasm never fails to induce. Amid
those unhappy ravages of passion, fallen magnifi-
cence meets our eye ; and fanaticism stalks abroad
with fearful and rapid progress. To doubt that
many of them were sincere, would be to do them
injustice : yet enthusiasm is not truth, nor is the
264 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
bigotry of party a proof of soundness of faith.
Those men/, nevertheless, are alone worthy of all
honour and all renown, who, sincere in their reli-
gion, and tempered by v the maxims of rational
philosophy, know how to bridle their passions, to
conquer their prejudices, and to avoid the dangerous
extremes into which headstrong men are liable to
rush ; who preserve their judgment uncorrupted
and uninfluenced by party. But those wild enthu-
siasts, on the other hand, forget themselves, they
grovel on the earth, and lick its dust, adoring the
caprices and the power of tyrants, who are under
the control of ignorant or factious zealots, whose fa-
naticism is equally dangerous to religion and to civil
order. Man is bound by divine and human laws to
give due obedience to his superiors ; from the mo-
ment of his birth he swears a tacit oath that he will
not rebel ; and if he does rebel, he has committed
an outrage which demands summary punishment.
There may be circumstances, indeed, which render
resistance necessary ; but those, too, have bounds,
beyond which the injured cannot pass. But when
prejudice triumphs over reason, and the fierceness
of hate supplants the gentler sentiments ; when
there is a deaf ear turned towards every remon-
strance ; when human authority is despised and de-
rided, and the madness of religious zeal perverts the
mind, then it is that men become the slaves of their
passions ; an angel from heaven could not convince
them. Thus it was in this covenanting association.
Supported by fanatics, concessions made them only
1
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 265
the more violent ; and, by their blasphemous ap-
peals to Heaven, and daring execrations on the
heads of those who partook not of their profanity,
they terrified the weak-minded into a blind com-
pliance. It was not a covenant of mutual defence
only, but of war and extermination : toleration was
declared a " hideous monster ;" Scripture was cited
for religious persecution. But, stimulated by reli-
gious madness and hypocritical cunning, what will
not men do ? Such excesses they imagine to be
acceptable to a merciful Deity. Frantic with this
unbridled spirit, the swprd soon accompanies their
sedition; their reason is obscured; their under-
standings are distracted ; every plan for the public
welfare is deranged ; and their blood-thirsty fana-
ticism can only be appeased by destroying the ob-
jects of their detestation.
266 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
CHAPTER XVII.
1638.
The Archbishop's Diary His cognizance of the Isles of Jersey
and Guernsey He publishes the second edition of his Con-
ference Libellous language of *"$ enemies The Archbishop
converts Chillingworth Notice of him Vigilance of the
Archbishop against Socinianism He converts John Hales
the " Ever Memorable" Notice of him His noble conduct
His interview with Laud His troubles Notice of his Works
Restraint of the Press Holland The Geneva Bible
Nero England Intolerant conduct of the Sectaries there
Plans of the Archbishop His visitation of Merton College.
I NOW turn to the Diary of the Archbishop, who
has introduced this year by the following record :
" April 29. The tumults in Scotland about the
Service-book offered to be brought in, began July
23, 1637, and continued increasing by fits, and hath
now brought that kingdom in danger. No question
but there is a great concurrence between them and
the Puritan party in England. A great aim there
to destroy me in the King's opinion."
Before, however, referring again to Scotland,
there are some events of this year, in the Archbi-
shop's history, which are worthy of notice. It appears
that a transient calm was then enjoyed in England,
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 267
from the Puritan party being apparently weakened
and silenced. The metropolitan visitations had done
much to compose disorders, while the vigilance of
the Bishops carried into effect those instructions
which their metropolitan had transmitted for the
government of the Church. So indefatigable was
the Primate, as we learn from Heylin, that he took
cognizance of the islands of Jersey and Guernsey,
on the coast of Normandy, and meditated an extra-
ordinary visitation there in the ensuing spring, had
not the affairs of Scotland rendered it impossible.
Nevertheless, he was the means of inducing the King
to establish some Fellowships at the Universities
for students from those islands. " The islanders,"
says Heylin, " were in the habit of educating such
of their sons as were designed for the ministry
either at Lausanne or Geneva, whence they returned
well seasoned with the leaven of Calvinism. No
better way was there to purge that old leaven out
of the islands, than to allure the people to send
their children to Oxford or Cambridge, for what
else would ensue upon it, but that the educating
of some such scholars from those islands at the
University, where they might thoroughly acquaint
themselves with the doctrines, government, and
forms of the Church of England, and return to their
native islands, inviting the inhabitants to conform,
which, doubtless, would be done with honour to the
King, content to himself, and satisfaction to the
people l ?"
1 Heylin, p. 335, 336.
268 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
Nor was the Primate less indefatigable in his
opposition t6 the Popish party. He was already in
disgrace with the Queen on account of the speech
which he had made against Walter Montague and
Sir Toby Matthews, both of whom he had compelled
to quit the country: nor did he less oppose the
intrigues of Con, who had endeavoured in vain to
ensure his favour. The malicious libels which had
been published against him probably made him
at this time hasty and passionate : but, certain it
is, that he was more than usually active against the
emissaries of Rome. This year he enlarged and
reprinted his famous Conference with Fisher the
Jesuit, which added much to his reputation. It
was presented to the King on the 4th of February,
and exposed for sale the ensuing day. I have
already noticed it at great length, and it is unne-
cessary now to enter into detail. L'E strange, who
was by no means a friend to Laud, declares, that
" it was the most exact masterpiece of polemic
divinity then extant, in which he had for ever dis-
abled the Papists from being so much their own as
before."
Yet the dastardly enemies of this great man were
relentless in their hatred. Dr. Heylin, his chaplain,
had preached two masterly discourses against Po-
pery, which occasioned the remark, " That the
Doctor in those two sermons had pulled up Popery
by the very roots.'* The Archbishop's work had
just appeared, and a reply was made to this obser-
vation, " That the Archbishop might print, and the
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 269
Doctor might preach, what they pleased against
Popery, but neither of them would be thought less
a Papist, for so they would always be held V This
was truly the refinement of hatred, and the relation
of it requires no other comment or aggravation.
Yet this was not the utmost of the hatred mani-
fested towards the Archbishop. Though his " Con-
ference" had remained unanswered, even by the
learned Jesuits and Priests of the Romish Church,
and though it was universally admitted to be unan-
swerable, a volume appeared against him, entitled
" A Reply to a Relation of the Conference between
William Laud and Mr. Fisher the Jesuit, by a
Witness of Jesus Christ." Had it not been for the
fanatical designation which its ignorant author gives
himself, it might have been thought to come from
the pen of some learned ecclesiastic of the Romish
Church. It is, however, a piece of Puritan ab-
surdity and ignorance, only paralleled by the pre-
sumption of the author, who dedicates it to the
King. Heylin declares that its author was a Pres-
byterian Scot, or, at least, it was rumoured to that
effect.
But the Archbishop did not confine his labours,
solely to oppose Popery. It may here be observed,
that it is owing to Archbishop Laud's exertions
that the Church of England can claim the celebrated
William Chillingworth as one of its illustrious sons.
This learned man was born in the parish of St.
1 Heylin, p. 338, 339.
270 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
Martin's, Oxford, in 1602; he was admitted Scholar
of Trinity College in 1618. In 1620, he was ad-
mitted B.A. in 1623, M.A. and in 1628, Fellow of
that society. At this period several Romish priests
resided about Oxford, and among the rest Fisher,
who had held the disputation with Laud. Chilling-
worth's reputation made Fisher anxious for his ac-
quaintance, and the Jesuit at length succeeded in
converting him. He was persuaded to retire to the
College of the Jesuits at Douay ; as the change of
his religion made him resign his Fellowship, though
he would have got better promotion from the Pa-
pists had he continued among them. Laud, who
was his godfather, was not disposed thus to lose
sight of him, and accordingly, while he was Bishop
of London, in a correspondence which he held with
him, he so pressed upon his notice the fallacies of
the Romish Church, that he persuaded him to re-
turn to the Church of England. Chillingworth,
by the advice of Laud, after leaving Douay, retired
to Oxford, where, after thoroughly examining the
Reformed doctrines, he published a refutation of the
arguments by which he had been seduced ; yet
such, we are told, was the love of truth in this
good man, that he scrupled not to re-examine the
Protestant doctrines, in a letter to Dr. Sheldon,
(afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,) which occa-
sioned a report that he had turned Papist and Pro-
testant a second time. The Presbyterian zealots,
indeed, afterwards maintained, that he was always
a Papist at heart. About the end of the year 1637,
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 271
he published his " Religion of Protestants a safe
Way to Salvation," in which he had been engaged
for nearly three years 1 . During that interval he held
several disputes with the Papists, but this book was
designed as a reply to a Popish work written by
Edward Knott, a Jesuit, who published it as a
Reply to Dr. Potter's (Provost of Queen's College,
Oxford,) excellent production, entitled, " Want of
Charitie justly charged on all such Romanists as
dare (without truth or modesty) affirme, that Pro-
testantism destroyeth Salvation, in Answer to a late
Pamphlet entitled ' Charity Mistaken/ " &c. which
that Jesuit had published in 1634. The Jesuit's
work, which called forth Chillingworth's treatise,
was published in 1634,, and is entitled, " Mercy and
Truth, or Charity maintained by Catholiques, by
way of Reply upon an Answer lately framed by Dr.
Potter, to a Treatise which had formerly proved
that Chanty was mistaken by Protestants : with the
want whereof Catholiques are unjustly charged for
1 " The Religion of Protestants, a safe way to Salvation, or an
Answer to a book entitled Mercy and Truth, or Charity main-
tained by Catholiques, which pretends to prove the contrary, by
William Chillingworth, M.A. of the University of Oxford." This
admirable production has gone through many editions, the first
is 1638, at Oxford ; the second, the same year, at London ; the
third, in 1664; the fourth, in 1674; the fifth, in 1684. In
1687, an edition of it was abridged and published by Dr. John
Patrick, at the request of the Diocese of London. The sixth
edition appeared in 1704 ; the seventh, in 1719 ; the eighth, a
year or two after ; and the ninth in 1727. This last is printed
from the edition of 1664. The tenth and last is that of 1742,
with the life of the author, by the Rev, Thomas Birch.
272 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
affirming that Protestancy destroys Salvation. Di-
vided into two Parts." A very animated discussion
arose between Chillingworth and his Popish oppo-
nents, which was carried on with considerable warmth
on both sides for some time, through the medium
of the press. This learned man published various
other pieces under the title of Sermons, and parti-
cularly some masterly essays on the divine institu-
tion of Episcopacy. His MSS. which have not
been published, are in the Library at Lambeth
Palace, and are preserved among the MSS. of
Henry Wharton, procured by Archbishop Tennison.
These MSS. are extremely valuable ; but I only
give the titles of a few of them, as drawn up by
Wharton himself, in the Catalogue he prepared, in
which he observes that the volume marked M, is
Volumen Chartaceum, in folio, and contains, " A
Collection of Papers formerly belonging to Arch-
bishop Laud, many of them written with his own
hand, but most of them indorsed with his own hand,
together with some papers of the Archbishops Shel-
don and Sancroft, and many of Mr. Chilling-
worth." These are generally on controversial sub-
jects. There is one, "A Treatise against the Scots;"
a second, " Passages extracted out of the Declara-
tions of the Scots ;" a third, " Observations on the
Scottish Declaration ;" and a fourth, " A Treatise
on the unlawfulnesse of resisting the lawful prince,
although most impious, tyrannical, and idolatrous."
These treatises, however, are numbered by Wharton
from four to eight of Chillingworth's papers. It
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 273
may be proper to mention, that, in 1638, he was
made Chancellor of Sarum, with the Prebend of
Brixworth, Northamptonshire, annexed ; and about
the same time he was appointed to the Mastership
of Wigstan's Hospital, Leicester. In 1640, he was
proctor for Sarum in the Convocation. He was
zealously attached to the King, and died a devoted
Protestant loyalist in 1643-4. It was the recol-
lection of what he had done for Chillingworth and
others, which made Archbishop Laud disclaim with
virtuous and noble indignation the charge of Po-
pery, with which the tyrannical Parliament falsely
accused him at his trial. Upwards of twenty per-
sons he enumerates, most of them of the first rank
and consequence, among whom were the Duke of
Buckingham, the Marchioness of Hamilton, Lord
Mayo, Sir William Webb, his kinsman, two of
his daughters, and two daughters of Sir Richard
Lechford, in Surrey. " Mr. Chillingwood's learn-
ing and abilities," said he to his inhuman judges,
te are sufficiently known to your Lordships : he
went and excelled at Douay. My letters brought
him back, and he lived and died a defender of the
Church of England. And that this is so, you can-
not but know, for Mr. Prynne took away my let-
ters, and all the papers which concerned him, and
they were examined at the Committee V
1 History of Troubles and Trials, p. 221227. Prynne, in
commenting on this part of the Archbishop's defence, (p. 56, of
Canterburie's Doome, as is noted by the learned Henry Whar-
ton,) with his usual regard to truth, terms Chillingworth " a
VOL. II. T
071 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
While the Archbishop was thus watching sedu-
lously against the prevalence of the Romish super-
stition, he was no less mindful of the ravages of sec-
tarianism. The impieties of Socinianism had begun
to extend universally among the Puritans, as they
did rapidly among their descendants in the succeed-
ing century ; and indeed it could hardly fail to be
otherwise, for Calvinism, which is in reality reli-
gious necessity, if carried to the extreme, is apt, as
in the well known case of Dr. Priestley, to land its
votaries eventually in the principles of pure Deism.
And yet it is not easy to see how a man can be
what is termed a moderate Calvinist, which is a
mode of phraseology current among our modern
evangelicals ; in other words, a moderate Calvinist,
is one who believes in predestination, and who does
not believe in it ; for the phrase literally signifies
this absurd contradiction. A man must either admit
desperate apostate Papist." For various accounts of Chil-
lingworth, see Wood's Athen. Oxon. vols. i. and ii. Historical
and Critical Account of the Life and Writings of William Chil-
lingworth, &c. by M. De Maiseaux, London, 8vo. 1725. Ful-
ler's Worthies of England, edit. 1662. Lacy's " Judgment of
an University Man," &c. 4to. 1639, (this author was a Jesuit.)
Bulstrode Whitelock's Letters, Rushworth's Collections, Re-
mains of Archbishop Laud, vol. ii. Barlow's Genuine Re-
mains. Digby's Letters. Birch's Life, prefixed to his edit of
" The Religion of Protestants." Knott's Works. Nalson's
Impartial Collections, vols. i. and ii. Wharton MSS. Lord Cla-
rendon's History of the Rebellion. Tillotson's Sermons, vol.
xii. Sermon VI. Hare's Scripture Vindicated. Locke's Col-
lections, Pieces, &c. &c. and Chillingworth's own Works.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 275
Calvinism to the full extent, there being no middle
course, or he must reject it altogether : for to say
that there is redemption for all men who hear the
gospel, if they repent and believe, and also to say
that, nevertheless, none but the elect will be saved, is
an absurd contradiction. Laud had converted the
learned and rational Chillingworth from the errors
of Popery ; the other great man whom he recovered
was no other than that excellent divine and critic,
John Hales, surnamed the " Ever Memorable"
whom he caused to renounce the bold and damning
errors of Socinianism, and to renounce those pre-
judices which he had imbibed against the apostolic
constitution of the Church. This distinguished man
was descended from an ancient family in Somerset-
shire, and was born in the parish of St. James,
Bath, in 1584. In 1597, he was entered Scholar of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took his
first degree in Arts with great applause. By the
persuasion of Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton
College, who was anxious for the honour of that
Society, he removed thither, and, in 1605, his merit
procured for him the election of Fellow. Here he
superintended an edition of St. Chrysostom's Works,
in which he gave the most satisfactory proofs of his
abilities, and of his profound knowledge in Greek
literature. He was shortly afterwards appointed
Greek lecturer to the College, and, in 1612, he
received the appointment of public lecturer of
Greek to the University. In 1613, he was chosen
by the University to deliver the funeral oration
' T 2
276 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
over that illustrious man, Sir Thomas Bodley, th'e
founder of the Bodleian Library, of whom his
country was deprived on the 13th of January, and
Hales delivered the oration on the 29th of March.
On the 24th of the following May, being in Holy
Orders, he was admitted Fellow of Eton, and had
the reputation of being one of the most eloquent
preachers of his age. In 1618, he followed Sir
Dudley Carleton, ambassador to the Hague, as chap-
lain, which gained him admission to the Synod of
Dort, though he was not a member. At this time
he was a rigid Calvinist, but the proceedings of that
Synod gave him a disgust for the predestinarian
dogmas ; he became an Arminian, and the disciple
of the learned Episcopius. It is said, in a letter
written by one of his friends, that when Episcopius
pressed on the Calvinists, St. John iii. 16, Hales
" bid John Calvin good night." There is an
anecdote, moreover, related by Dr. Walker, in the
General Dictionary, that a friend of Hales, finding
him one day perusing Calvin's Institutes, asked him,
" If he was not yet past that book ?" to which
Hales answered, " In my younger days I read it to
inform myself, now I read it to reform Calvin." It
is not unlikely that he meditated a reply to that
performance of Calvin, which the Puritans received
with as much reverence as they did the Holy Gos-
pels. We find Hales, in various places, expressing
his opinions on predestination, particularly in his
sermon on Rom. xiv. 1 . printed in his " Golden
Remains," where he advises his hearers " to think
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 277
that these things which, with some shew of proba-
bility, we adduce from Scripture, are at the best but
our opinions, for that this peremptory manner of
setting clown our own conclusions under the high
commanding form of necessary truths, is generally
one of the greatest causes which keep the Christian
Church this day so far asunder ; whereas a gracious
receiving of each other by mutual forbearance in
this kind might peradventure bring them nearer
together." His open disposition was well known,
and Bishop Pearson informs us that " his chamber
was a church, and his chair a pulpit." It was about
this time that he became infected with Socinianism,
or, at least, he was a Latitudinarian, probably be-
cause he had not thoroughly divested himself of his
former tenets, as appears from his tract on Schism,
which he wrote for his friend Chillingworth about
the year 1636. Being informed that Archbishop
Laud was displeased with it, he wrote a vindication
of himself, and sent it to the Primate as a letter.
In 1638, his Grace sent for him to Lambeth, where
he had a conference with him for several hours.
Dr. Heylin was present at this conference, and I
therefore lay his account of it before the reader.
" There had been published," says that learned
writer, " a discourse called Disquisitio Brevis, in
which some of the principal Socinian tenets were
cunningly inserted, pretending that they were the
best expedients to appease some controversies be-
tween us and Rome : the book was commonly as-
cribed to Hales of Eton, a man of extensive reading
278 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
and great ingenuity, free in discourse, and as com-
municative pf his knowledge as the celestial bodies
of their light and influence. There was circulated
also a discourse on Schism, not printed, but trans-
mitted from hand to hand in written copies, like the
Bishop of Lincoln's Letter to the Vicar of Gran-
tham, intended chiefly for the encouragement of
some of our great masters of wit and reason, to de-
spise the authority of the Church, which being dis-
persed about this time (1638,) gave the Archbishop
occasion to send for him to Lambeth, in the hope
that he might gain the man, with whose abilities he
was well acquainted when he lived at Oxford, an
excellent Grecian in those days, and one whom
Savile made great use of in his Greek edition of St.
Chrysostom's Works. About nine in the morning,
Hales came to Lambeth to know his Grace's plea-
sure, who took him along with him into the garden,
commanding that none of the servants should inter-
rupt him on any account. There they continued
till the bell rang for prayers, after prayers were
ended, till the dinner was ready, and after that, too,
till the arrival of Lord Conway, and some other
persons of distinction, made it necessary that some
of the servants should inform his Grace that the
time had passed away. So they came in, high co-
loured, and almost panting for breath, enough to
shew that there had been some heats between them,
not then fully cooled. It was my chance to be at
the Palace that day, either to know his Grace's
pleasure, or to render an account of some former
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 279
commands, I remember not at present which, and
I found Hales glad to see me, as he was a stranger,
and unknown to all. He told me afterwards that he
found the Archbishop, whom he knew before to be
a nimble disputant, to be as well versed in books as
in business : that he had been ferreted by him from
one hole to another, till there was none left to
afford him shelter any where that he was now re-
solved to be orthodox, and to declare himself a true
son of the Church, both for doctrine and discipline,
that to this end he had obtained leave to call
himself his Grace's chaplain, because, by naming his
lord and patron in his public prayers, the greater
notice might be taken of the alteration."
From the narrative of this interesting event, in
which two great and noble minds were brought
into collision, we see the infallible characteristics
of such minds, namely, a disdain of all dogmatism
and subterfuge, a willingness to learn and receive
instruction, and a candid confession of error, a
yielding to the force of truth, so ably drawn forth
by Laud's vigorous genius ; a determination to love
and revere that truth, and the Church in which it
was maintained. The Archbishop offered Hales any
preferment he pleased, and had this great prelate
done nothing more, this was a victory of no com-
mon order, worthy of the governor of the Church
of England, worthy of the primate of that Church
which has been, and which every one will fervently
pray, ever may be, the great bulwark of the Pro-
testant Reformation, the strength and the protec-
280 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
tion, under Heaven, of every Reformed Church in
Christendom. But Hales' conversion has been
impugned by malice, and the memory of him who
was justly called the " Ever Memorable," has been
branded by false reproaches : he has been charged
with having respect to the lucre of the world, and an
eye to high preferment. It has been asserted, that
he was gained by such motives. " This," says
the learned writer, in the Scottish Episcopal Maga-
zine, " would indeed render the acquisition of little
value. The Dissenters are, notwithstanding, eager
to claim him as their own, and as he certainly was
theirs in principle, previous to his conference with
Laud, did we suspect the slightest ground for the
insinuation, which we have mentioned, theirs he
should remain, in full property, with our most cor-
dial consent. But the accusation is utterly ground-
less, for he suffered, not long after, the severest
privations, and he suffered as a willing confessor for
the cause of that Church which at one period he
despised and disregarded. Penwarden, who suc-
ceeded him in Eton, being afterwards troubled in
conscience for the wrong he had done so worthy a
person by eating his bread, made Hales a voluntary
tender of it again ; but he utterly refused to be restored
by the authority of what he considered a rebellious
Parliament. He was reduced, in fact, to a state
approaching to absolute beggary. Yet he never re-
pined ; and he died a true and suffering son of the
Church, in 1656, as steady and true in its fallen
and persecuted state as in possession of that prefer-
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 281
ment which was, with equal meanness and falsehood,
pretended to be the price of his conversion V
1 As a confirmation of this passage, (Scottish Episcopal Ma-
gazine, vol. iii. p. 493, 494. from the pen of the Rev. Dr.
Walker, of St. John's College, Cambridge, Senior Minister of St.
Peter's Chapel, Edinburgh, and Professor of Divinity in the Scot-
tish Episcopal Church,) though any thing coming from such a
quarter requires no other proof, I beg leave to state the simple
facts. The Archbishop pressed preferment upon Hales, whom
he made his chaplain, which he modestly declined : nevertheless,
a canonry of Windsor was urged upon him in such a manner,
that he could not decline it without offending his munificent
patron. This fact is proved by a passage in a note, p. 236, of
vol. vii. of the General Dictionary, to the following effect :
" As to Mr. Hales being discontented, he was so far from it,
that he would willingly have waved the canonry of Windsor,
when it was sent to him, knowing nothing of it from Archbishop
Laud, and he would have refused it, but it was presented to him at
a public dinner, among many friends, who persuaded him to the
contrary. Archbishop Laud did also send for him, and told him
he might have what preferment he pleased, and he answered,
* If it please your Grace, I have what I desire.' Hales enjoyed
this prebend little more than two years ; he was installed
June 27, 1639, and was deprived at the beginning of the Civil
War in 1 642, when his tract on Schism was reprinted without his
consent, it being thought to favour the sectarian rebels. A little
before the Archbishop's death, he retired from his college to a
private apartment at Eton, where he lived retired and unknown,
and in such poverty, that for three months he spent only six-
pence a week, living upon bread and beer : and, as he had for-
merly fasted from Tuesday to Thursday night, he lived then
only on bread and water. When he heard of the Archbishop's
murder, he burst into tears, and wished that his own head had
been taken off to save that great and good prelate from his mis-
fortunes. He was ejected from his Fellowship at Eton for not
swearing to the Engagement, as it was termed, an impious oath,
282 LIFE AND TIMES [l6S8i
About this period, Archbishop Laud was parti-
cularly active in repressing Socinian books, and
enacted in 1648-9, requiring the person solemnly to declare that
be would be faithful to the Commonwealth. Steady in his loyal
principles, when a compliance with the iniquity of the times
would have placed him in affluence, Hales retired to the house
of a lady near Eton, named Salter, sister to Dr. Duppa, Bishop
of Salisbury, from whom he accepted a small salary, and his com-
mons free, for instructing her son. Here he officiated as chaplain,
with Dr. Henry King, the ejected Bishop of Chichester and
others, faithfully performing the service according to the Liturgy
of the Church of England. He was compelled, however, to
abandon this retirement by the rigor of the rebels, and he took
refuge in the house of a woman whose husband had formerly
been his servant. Reduced now to want and poverty, he was
forced to sell his valuable library, for a part of which he re-
ceived from a London bookseller 700/. ; yet such was his gene-
rosity, that he shared this money with suffering clergymen and
scholars. He died, like a Christian and a philosopher, on the
19th of May, 1656, in the 72d year of his age, in this humble
retreat, and was buried in the church-yard of Eton, where a
monument was erected to his memory." " It is not one of the
least ignominies of that age," says Andrew Marvell, (in his Re-
hearsal Transported, p, 175, 8vo. edit.) " that so eminent a
person should have been, by the iniquities of the times, reduced
to those necessities under which he lived." The posthumous
Works of Hales are, 1. His " Golden Remains," published in
1659, 4to. and in 1673, with numerous additions, and also in
1688. 2. " Four Sermons," published in 1673. 3. In 1677,
appeared in 8vo. " Several Tracts by the Ever Memorable John
Hales, of Eton College." For accounts of this great man, see
Bishop Pearson, apud " Golden Remains." Wood, Athen. Oxon.
vols. i. and ii. Heylin's Life of Laud. Bates' " Vitas aliquot Sec-
torum," printed in 1613, and 1681. 4to. General Dictionary,
vols. v. and viii. Des Maiseaux's Account of Hales' Life and
Writings. Limborch, apud " Praestantium ac Eruditorum Vi-
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 283
" it is remarkable/* observes the noble historian,
" that the canons of 1640, which were imputed to
the Primate as a heinous crime, contain more de-
clarations against Socinianism than were ever made
by any other Church." This Lord Clarendon has
fully proved, in his " Animadversions upon Mr.
Cressy's book, entitled, Fanaticism fanatically im-
puted to the Catholic Church, by Dr. Stillingfleet,
and the imputation refuted and retorted," published
in 1672. And as it was of the utmost importance
in that age of licentious and seditious enthusiasm,
to exercise a vigilant care over the press, which had
often become the engine of blasphemy, fanaticism,
and seditious libel, the Archbishop was resolved to
enforce that decree which he had procured on
July 1, 1637, respecting printing and the abuses of
the press, which enacted that no work should here-
after be published unless duly licensed by the
competent authorities. This restriction, not only
salutary, but in that age highly necessary, though it
did not at once restrain the cunning practices of the
malecontents, tended at least to counteract and cor-
rect that daring spirit which they had often mani-
rorum Epistolse Eccles. et Theolog." folio, 1684. Walker's
Sufferings of the Clergy. Bishop Stillingfleet, in his Irenicum,
Preface to Remarks on Eccles. Hist. vol. i. Heylin's Quin-
quarticular History. Echard's History of England, vol. i.
Marvell's Rehearsal Transported. Le Neve's Monumenta
Anglicana, 8vo. 1718. Sir John Suckling's Fragmenta Aurea,
1658. Rowe's Life of Shakspeare. Dr. Thomas Smith in his
Account of the Greek Church. Fuller's Worthies of England,
&c. &c.
284 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
fested, and for which some of their leaders were
deservedly/though severely punished.
Holland, however, was the great resort of the
Puritan faction. Finding every thing so congenial
to their wishes in that country Calvinism openly
recognised and established a freedom from every
restraint under which they laboured in England ;
above all, those doctrines openly taught by Von
Harmen or Arminius, and defended by the learning
of Grotius andEpiscopius, condemned and execrated
with the usual intolerance of the Calvinistic creed,
the disaffected beheld that country as the most
highly favoured on earth, and they seriously be-
lieved that in it, and the American province of New
England, whither they affirmed the gospel had
departed from the mother country, were the only
regions where that gospel was professed in its pu-
rity. Holland was beloved by them, however, on
another account. Thither they repaired with many
of their pestilent productions, printed, and then
imported them into England, to edify the faction,
and insult lawful authority. In particular, that
translation of the Bible called the Genevan, was
industriously circulated from the United Provinces.
To this translation James had manifested a pecu-
liar antipathy, chiefly on account of the notes and
expositions with which its translators thought proper
to accompany it, and thus impose their own opinions
as the infallible illustrations of the oracle of truth.
These notes, as will be seen on a perusal of the
Genevan Bible, inculcate, in language sufficiently
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 285
energetic, disobedience to princes, which is equiva-
lent to rebellion, and even pronounced the murder
of them a praiseworthy exploit, if they should be
what the faction chose to conceive idolaters. The
most pernicious and abominable tenets of Popery
were there cunningly averred and set forth by a
faction, not less intolerant and arrogant in its pre-
tensions to heaven-derived authority. According
to those zealots, every sacred bond or promise was
to be broken and disregarded, if it should be thought
to have a tendency to hurt the gospel ; only ano-
ther modification, and one not less revolting, of the
Popish dogma, that no faith ought to be kept with
heretics, and not very different from the Jesuitical
maxim, that "the end justifies the means." Episco-
pacy was openly attacked, the jus divinum of Pres-
bytery was cunningly set forth on every occasion ;
the prelates were charitably designated, "the locusts
of the Apocalypse," and the fanaticism of the Ana-
baptists was also displayed, in denouncing all men
who enjoyed academical degrees. The wisdom of
James had led him to prohibit the printing of these
Bibles, and he resolved that the new translation
should be unaccompanied by any comments or
glosses, which gave great offence to the Noncon-
formists. Nevertheless, they were still printed in
Holland, and vast quantities were imported into
England. It was in this year that the Archbishop
received intelligence from Sir William Boswell,
ambassador at the Hague, that a large impression
of the Genevan Bible, and exclusively intended for
1
LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
England, had been stopped by the terror of his
decree on unlawful printing ; and he so effectually
managed matters by means of the ambassador at
the Hague, that a proclamation was issued by the
States-General of the Provinces, against those who
published seditious and libellous books against the
Church of England, and the government of the
kingdom.
Concerning the province of New England, whi-
ther many of the enthusiasts betook themselves, I
insert only a few hasty notices. Unfortunately, the
government of the mother country paid little atten-
tion to that colony, and the inhabitants made ample
use of the indulgence granted them to establish any
government they chose ; and the settlers being gene-
rally disappointed enthusiasts, who carried with their
extravagant follies the intolerance of Presbytery,
the phrensy of the Anabaptists, the licentiousness
of the Brownists, and the fanciful notions of the
Independents, who had declared the co-operation,
but not the subordination, of several churches, as
set forth by Robinson, their apostle, and who were
therefore not less hostile to Presbytery than the
latter was to them ; all concentrated together in
one incongruous mass. Accordingly, the adminis-
tration of this colony partook of all the follies and
evils incidental to prejudices and wild imaginations,
accompanied, nevertheless, with severe restraint.
Adultery, perjury, witchcraft, blasphemy, and filial
revenge, (that is, cursing and striking parents,)
were all made capital crimes. Those who were
1638.1 OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 287
detected in falsehood, drunkenness, or dancing ,
were to receive a public castigation ; but while these
were strictly prohibited and punished as crimes,
they contrived to sanction indulgences, and a person
might indulge in swearing by paying a fine of 1 l%d.
per oath ; break the Sabbath for 21. 19s. 9%d. ;
prayer might also be neglected upon the payment
of a fine. They most absurdly enacted laws against
the worship of images, though they were all violent
zealots against Popery, which was punishable by
death ; and the same punishment was to be awarded
to Roman Catholic priests, who, being banished
from the colony should presume to return. In later
times, those sectaries were almost equally hostile
towards the Quakers, who, if they returned after
banishment, were to be whipped, branded, and ex-
pelled ; and he who was so bold as to hold any
communication with them, was to be punished by
an enormous fine.
This was the conduct of the New England sec-
taries, who fled from their country, because, as they
alleged, they were persecuted, and because civil and
religious liberty was dearer to them than their ex-
istence. Amongst them all, however, Calvinism
preponderated more or less ; so true is it, that sec-
tarianism contains the essence of intolerance ; that
. every sect is persecuting, when it obtains the mas-
tery, and that it rests not merely in victory, but in
a resolution to " compel all men to believe," accord-
ing as it believes. Nor does it unfrequently happen,
that those very men who in a state of subjection
7
2 gg LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
are the loudest declaimers for liberty of conscience
become the/mselves, when exalted, worse than those
whom they inveterately oppose. In New England,
there were some, more moderate than their bre-
thren, who ventured to deny the absolute power of
the civil magistrate to punish in religious matters.
These were persecuted by the very preachers who
had fled from England rather than submit to the
Church ; it was considered as blasphemy, and they
actually proposed a law, which exposed those who
dissented from it to dreadful oppressions, to establish
a general unanimity of opinion, and inflict a capital
punishment on every one who should presume to
think for himself. The reader will find, in the
famous work of Thomas Edwards, himself a Presby-
terian minister, entitled " Gangraena," the First Part
of which was published in 4 to, at London, 1645,
the Second and Third Parts in 1646, a most lament-
able catalogue of blasphemies, follies, and extrava-
gances of the sectaries, in which are set forth, as
the imprimatur to the First Part rightly observes,
" the mischief of ecclesiastical anarchy, the mons-
trousness of much affected toleration." It is ob-
served by Dr. Heylin, that, from the notorious
anarchy and fanaticism which prevailed in New
England, that colony being " a constant receptacle
of discontented, dangerous, and schismatical per-
sons," drawing to it " many sad, sullen, and offen-
sive humours," it was proposed this year to send a
bishop for their " better government, and to back
him with some forces to compel, if he were not other-
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 289
wise able to perstfade obedience." If this were the
case, though it might have been desirable, it was
not surely at that time expedient. No other notice
is given of such a design, though Heylin's authority,
considering that he lived at the time, and was inti-
mate with Laud and other prelates, is not to be
disregarded. Many plans, doubtless, were frus-
trated by those melancholy disasters which the
Scottish Covenanters occasioned.
In the month of June this year, we find the
Archbishop, as Chancellor of the University of Ox-
ford, making a visitation of Merton College, which
he adjourned to the second of October, on which
date he farther considered the affairs of that Col-
lege, which occupied him three days, and which
he then adjourned till the 1st of July, in the en-
suing year, " inter horas primam et tertiam, Lam-
Itcth? Of this College the Archbishop was the im-
mediate Visitor in right of his See. The affair which
caused this particular visitation related to the prac-
tices of those who inclined to Puritanism, and riot
only adhered with pertinacity to their own notions,
but wished to allure others to patronise their en-
thusiasm. The visitation in June he had made by
proxy in the person of the Dean of the Arches, but
he himself heard the cause in October. Yet, while
his moderation was remarkable towards Sir Natha-
niel Brent, his Yicar-General, and at that time
Warden of the College, he experienced the base
return of ingratitude from that individual, who, on
VOL. II. U
290 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
a future occasion, was unmindful of the favours he
had received from his generous patron.
The Diary contains few records of private events
this year, and, perhaps, towards its close, this was
the only year of tranquillity in the Archbishop's life.
Not that he was inattentive to affairs of state,
or to the Scottish troubles, but his enemies, at this
time, seem to have made a momentary cessation
from their hostility, though it was destined to break
out with new and disastrous fury in the ensuing
year.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 291
CHAPTER XVIII.
1638.
The Scottish Covenanters Their practices The Marquis of
Hamilton sent to Scotland His sentiments on the state of the
kingdom Violence of the Covenanters Arrival of Hamilton
'His treatment The castle of Edinburgh seized Remark-
able acts of violence Letters of Hamilton to Laud State of
Scotland Disorders in Edinburgh Hamilton opens his com-
mission Demands of the Covenanters Hamilton returns to
London Conduct of the Covenanters during his absence
His return Noble conduct of the Glasgow Clergy -Libels
of the Covenanters against the Bishops Remarkable instance
of their profane hypocrisy Concessions of the King Re-
cantation of a Jesuit The prophetess of the Covenanters
The Glasgow Assembly Account of its members Their
^ practices Disorders of the Assembly Its illegal acts Is
dissolved by Hamilton Continues to sit Treason of the Co-
venanters Flight of the Scottish prelates Death of Arch-
bishop Spottiswoode His character.
THE year 1638 is not yet concluded. We must turn
our attention to the North, and there behold those
contentions which began in tumult, and ended in
rebellion and blood. The fame of the Scottish Co-
venanters speedily spread over Europe, and France
exulted in the troubles which threatened the British
king. Cardinal Richelieu, by his agents, contributed
much to keep alive the flame of discontentment,
and the Jesuits were overjoyed at a commotion
u 2
292 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
which gave them hopes of ultimate success in re-
establishing their power. Knowing well the hos-
tility of the King and the Archbishop to the Popish
religion, they had always entertained a most im-
placable hatred towards the Church of England ;
and though the Monarch and the Primate were
openly branded by the opposite faction as secret
Papists, the priests well knew the falseness of the
charge. They scrupled, not, therefore, to join with
the Puritans and Covenanters in promoting this
Revolution : and the invectives published by the
latter against their sovereign, were cordially ap-
proved of by the Romish emissaries. In England,
they found the Puritan faction alive to the interests
of the Scottish insurgents : the ship-money and
the prosecutions in the Star-Chamber were main-
tained to be grievous and tyrannical ; those who
had been disobliged, or who had imagined them-
selves disobliged, by the government or the Church,
joined in the universal clamour, and studiously en-
deavoured to fan that flame which had been excited
by the stern enthusiasts of the North.
Without entering into very minute details of
those practices which were adopted after the Cove-
nant had been sworn at Edinburgh, it may be
proper to observe, that nothing, after the adoption
of this measure, was farther from the intention of
the Covenanters than to agree to any terms of re-
conciliation. The fanatical combination had become
so general, especially in the Lowlands, (which com-
prehend all the counties south of the river Tay, and
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 293
the Ochil Mountains north of the Forth, which extend
from the Tay, till they communicate with the stu-
pendous ridge of the Grampians,) and, withal, so
violent, aided by the public declamations of the
preaching zealots, that the King became alarmed
at the threatening aspect. Charles, though he had
received ample provocation, was still peaceably in-
clined ; a secret attachment towards his native
kingdom yet remained, and this regard prompted
him to propose terms of accommodation, rather
than to shed the blood of his subjects and his coun-
trymen. The guilt, then, the moral guilt of the
rebellion, rests with the Covenanters. The King
w r as the last to take up arms ; nor did he do so until
his crown was threatened, and his honour insulted
by illiterate and seditious enthusiasts.
The Marquis of Hamilton was appointed by the
King his commissioner in Scotland, and vested with
ample powers to treat with the Covenanters. It is
not my intention here to discuss the opinions of
different writers concerning the conduct of that
nobleman. His sincerity has been disputed, and he
has been branded as a secret friend to the rebels.
Whatever were his principles, one thing, at least, is
certain, that the Covenanters viewed him as an
enemy ; and his melancholy fate ought certainly to
vindicate him from the charge of having secretly
cherished that enthusiasm which he was dispatched
to allay. Although attached to the King, he was
not publicly connected with either party. His father
had promoted the Articles of Perth, and he him-
294, LIFE AND TIMES [1C38.
self had remained firm in his loyalty to the throne.
After his return from the continent, he had taken
no part in the distractions of his country, and when
he was nominated to the arduous mission, though
he conceived it his duty to comply, he candidly in-
formed the King that success was hopeless, and the
employment pregnant with danger. His life and
fortune, he said, were at his sovereign's disposal,
and these he would never hesitate to hazard for his
service ; but he was totally unacquainted with the
Scottish leaders, and he could not but foresee that
it would endanger that, which, next his salvation,
he valued most, the continuance of his sovereign's
favour ! .
Yet I am inclined to think, that Hamilton did
not act with that decision of mind which he was
called upon to exercise, neither do I think that his
jealousy of the Marquis of Montrose is at all justi-
fiable. If the venerable Bishop Guthrie of Moray
is to be credited, his conduct was indeed most
blameable ; and it may, perhaps, be asserted, that
he first gave cause to Montrose to suspect his mo-
tives. I am not disposed to set aside the testimony
of that excellent and truly pious prelate. Montrose
was at this time a rigid Covenanter, he had unre-
strained intercourse with the chiefs of that party;
and, when he returned to his loyalty, he might have
publicly proclaimed the infamous designs which the
faction had long contemplated.
1 Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 38.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 295
On the 26th of May, 1638, as the Archbishop
has recorded in his Diary, to which he has added a
pious prayer, the Marquis left the Court for Scot-
land. His instructions are inserted at large in
Bishop Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamil-
ton. On the 4th of June he arrived at the neutral
town of Berwick, where he was met by the Earls of
Roxburgh, Lauderdale, and Lord Lindsay, who
informed him of the demands of the Covenanters.
He did not, however, think it prudent so soon to
propose any terms : and he was anxious to proceed
that he might open his commission. No sooner had
the ^Covenanters heard of Hamilton's approach,
than, suspecting that there would be proposals for
an accommodation, their preachers declaimed against
him. It was publicly declared that his arrival be-
tokened no good ; sermons were delivered in oppo-
sition to his supposed intentions: they charged
the King with treachery, and warned the people to
refuse every treaty, as a snare laid for their destruc-
tion. It was a plan, they said, of the English Arch-
bishop, still farther to subvert their religion, as
the introduction of Popery, according to them, was
the aim of that prelate : this senseless notion was
accompanied with every denunciation of terror
which their ingenuity could devise, to deter the
people from attempting any thing contrary to the
approbation of the whole faction ; they were told,
that if they submitted they would be perjured
traitors, betrayers of Jesus Christ, and the true
religion : their souls' salvation, they impiously de-
290 LIFE AND TIMES [lCi>8.
clarcd, was at stake ; and, lest the pulpits should
not be sufficient for these exhortations, seditious
addresses and resolutions were circulated through-
put the kingdom with incredible dispatch. New
committees were appointed, and, to complete their
treasonable objects, measures were taken to procure
a supply of arms.
An incident occurred at this time, which farther
excited their sedition. The Castle of Edinburgh,
built on an almost inaccessible rock at the west of
the city, and on the summit of the ridge on which
the old city is built, impregnable on every side ex-
cept the east, where the entrance is defended by
various batteries, was at this time the most import-
ant fortress in the kingdom, commanding the city
and the adjoining country, as Dunbarton com-
mands the river Clyde, and Stirling the entrance
to the Northern Highlands. In this fortress there
i^ always a considerable supply of arms, and to the
possession of it the Covenanters turned their wistful
eyes. At this juncture a vessel arrived in the road-
stead of Leith, in the estuary of the Forth, which the
Castle overlooks and commands, having on board
arms and ammunition for the garrison. The rage of
the Covenanters was immediately excited ; although
two hundred muskets, as many pikes, and a small
quantity of powder, were all the military stores on
board, the zealots quadrupled the number ; and
they resolved to seize the vessel next day, which
they could easily have done, as it was not a ship of
war. But the Earl of Traquair, aware of their
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 297
intentions, commanded the military stores to be
conveyed to land in boats during the night, and
disembarking them at Fisherrow, a village about
six miles from the sea-port of Leith, he conveyed
them to Dalkeith, the castle of which belonged to
the King. When the Covenanters discovered their
disappointment next day, their rage amounted to
fury. It was proposed that they should march to
Dalkeith, and seize the military stores by force, a
motion which was overruled by the more moderate.
Nevertheless, to prevent the supplies from reaching
the garrison, they stationed guards around it, and
at all the gates of the city. And they scrupled not
to publish abroad, that these stores were inten-
tionally ordered to Dalkeith by the Marquis, and
that he designed to invite them thither to a con-
ference, and there dispatch them by a gunpowder
explosion l .
With the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Marquis
preserved a continual correspondence ; and we have
the authority of Burnet for saying, that " whatever
that prelate might have done formerly in Scottish
affairs, being abused by persons who did not truly
represent them to him, he was a good instrument
this year, which appears from his letters to the
Marquis, with the copies of his returns, which are
extant." When Hamilton arrived in Scotland, he
found the country in rebellion. Sixty thousand
insurgents had assembled at Edinburgh ; the
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 52.
298 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
preaching zealots had prohibited any from waiting
upon him. The dangers with which he was beset
were numerous and threatening. Many of the
nobles openly favoured the Covenant ; and Sir
Thomas Hope, the King's Advocate, a zealot for
the cause, was one of his greatest obstacles. That
lawyer defeated him by points of law to which the
Marquis was a stranger, and not one of the lawyers
could he get to declare that the Covenant was trea-
sonable. Perceiving, before he left Berwick, that
treating with those enthusiasts would be of no avail,
he dispatched a messenger to the King, to prepare
him for violent measures, and advised him to send off
expresses to the Continent to prevent the purchase
of arms by the emissaries of the Covenant.
Fifteen hundred men guarded the gates of the
metropolis, and the magistrates had been deprived
of the keys of the city by the chiefs of the Tables; the
Castle was also secured, at least possession of it would
have been easy if the insurgents had been inclined,
from the want of ammunition ; but they contented
themselves with setting vigilant guards at the gates,
by which it was rendered useless : moreover, it was
publicly threatened by the zealots, that they would
compel the Marquis, the Council, and the Session
to subscribe the Covenant. Hamilton approached
Dalkeith, six miles south from the metropolis,
almost as a private individual ; and reckoning it
unsafe to proceed farther, he there took up his resi-
dence. He called a council, to whom his com-
mission was read and registered. Deputies arrived
7
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 299
from Edinburgh, entreating him to reside at the
palace of Holyrood-house, which he refused to do,
unless those deputies became bound for the peace
of the citizens, and unless the guards at the gates,
and before the Castle, were dismissed. This being
agreed to, he left Dalkeith to reach the me-
tropolis by the coast. Proceeding by the beautiful
village of Inveresk, he entered the town of Mussel-
burgh, about four miles from Dalkeith, and six by
the coast from the city, attended by the Lords of
the Privy Council, and such of the nobles and gen-
tlemen as were devoted to their sovereign. No
sooner, however, had Hamilton entered Mussel-
burgh, in his progress towards the capital, than he
found 60,000 enthusiasts assembled to meet him,
on the common termed the Links, adjoining the
shore, (the curvature of which forms Musselburgh
Bay), headed by the whole of their leaders, and by
numbers of their preachers, who rejoiced at this
ostentatious display of their power. Four of the
most zealous fanatics had resolved to edify him
with speeches, and one, in particular, wished to dis-
burden his mind l . But Hamilton knew well the
nature of their harangues, and declined the compli-
ment. Attended by this tumultuous assemblage,
he was conducted to the palace, amidst loud exe-
1 " We had appointed Mr. William Livingstone, the strongest
in voice and austerest in countenance, to make him a SHORT wel-
come." Baillie, vol. i. p. 61.
300 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
crations against Popery, Bishops, and the Book of
Common grayer ! .
Hamilton now opened his commission. He re-
quired to know from the Covenanters the extent of
their demands, and what the King might consider
as an evidence of their return to obedience, which
he said could only be done by first renouncing the
Covenant. To this it was answered, that nothing
would satisfy them but a General Assembly and a
free Parliament; they absurdly denied that they
had ever departed from their allegiance ; they de-
clared they would as soon renounce their baptism
as abate one syllable of the Covenant ; that they
esteemed it more useful and available than all the
laws enacted since the reign of Fergus their first
king, and they invited the Marquis himself to sub-
scribe it, informing him " with what peace and
comfort it had filled the minds of all God's people ;
what resolutions and beginnings of reformation of
manners were insensibly perceived in all parts of the
nation, above any measures they had ever before
found, or could have expected ; how great glory the
Lord had received thereby, and their confidence that
God would make Scotland a blessed kingdom V
And to complete their hypocrisy, they gave notice
to the Marquis, that if the English Liturgy, used for
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 54. Large Declaration, p. 85, 86.
Bishop Guthrie, p. 33.
2 Large Declaration, p. 88.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 301
twenty years in the chapel-royal, was read there on
the ensuing Sunday, the officiating clergyman would
never read it more.
To treat with such enthusiasts was utterly hope-
less, nay, residence among them was dangerous.
In this posture of affairs the Marquis wrote to the
King and Archbishop Laud. The King expressed
his grief that the insurgents had possessed them-
selves of Edinburgh Castle, and he had little hopes
of Stirling. He instructed him to possess himself,
if possible, of these two fortresses, and not to consent
to a General Assembly or Parliament till the Cove-
nant was given up. " Your chief end," said he, " is
to win time, that they may not commit public follies
until I be ready to suppress them. When I consi-
der that not only my crown, but my reputation for
ever lies at stake, I must rather suffer the first,
which time may help, than this last, which is irre-
parable. This I have written for no other end than
to shew you I will rather die than yield to those
impertinent and damnable demands, as you rightly
call them." In a postscript, the King advises the
Marquis, not to declare the Covenanters traitors
until he should receive notice that his fleet had sailed
for Scotland '.
In his letters to Archbishop Laud, the Marquis
gave the Primate a statement of the situation ia
which he was placed. The King had resolved on
force, if no other expedients would avail, and he
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 55. Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 752*
LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
entreated the Archbishop to bestow his attention on
Scottish affairs. He had resolved not to declare the
Covenant &>r the present a traitorous bond, he said
to the Archbishop, for the hazard would be a com-
plete rupture, and the ruin of the King's friends ;
whereas, on the other hand, if there were any hazard,
it would risk his own head, which he was willing at
any time to lose for the King's service. The Co-
venanters, in the mean time, on learning that the
Covenant must be disavowed, or there could be no
treaty, were furious in their declamations ; they
declared that faggots were prepared for the
Marquis in hell, and that they would not resign the
Covenant but with their lives *.
The demands for a General Assembly and a Par-
liament increased, and as Hamilton had no power to
grant these, he obtained permission from the King to
return to London. On the 6th of July he departed,
informing the Covenanters that he would endeavour
to procure them, promising that he would return by
the end of August, and in the mean time obtaining
from them a promise, that they would preserve the
public peace till the expiration of that period. When
he arrived at Greenwich, he laid before the King
the real state of affairs ; and he suggested that the
renewal of the confession of faith subscribed at the
Reformation, and afterwards by his royal father,
might be a means of weakening the faction ; and he
proposed to the King whether it would not be pru-
* Burnct's Memoirs, p. 56.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 303
dent, at the present crisis, to comply in some degree
with their demands. This was sanctioned, the
Covenant of 1580 was renewed, larger concessions
were made, and, armed with more extensive powers,
the Marquis returned to Scotland on the 9th day of
August.
But during his absence, though they had made
no public breach of the peace, the zealots were not
idle. Their preachers from the pulpit were busy in
propagating their enthusiasm, which they daringly
identified with religion, and studiously promoting
their influence over the people. They aimed at
much greater concessions than they had formerly
presumed to anticipate ; and nothing now would
serve them but the total abolition of the Episcopal
Church ; the establishment of their intolerant and
seditious assemblies, and a public acknowledgment
that their Presbyterianism was the only form of
church government warranted by the Scriptures.
And, in fine, they did not scruple to publish that the
Marquis had himself sanctioned the Covenant, or at
least approved of it, in the manner they had pre-
sented it to him ; which falsehood had a wonderful
effect on the people in their itinerating journies
through the Lowland counties to procure additional
subscriptions ! .
Hamilton accordingly found that the demands of
the faction had exorbitantly increased during his
absence. They rejected with disdain his proposals to
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 68. Large Declaration, p. 1 1 1 , 1 1 2,
&c. Whitelocke^ Memorials, p. 28.
304 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
call a General Assembly and Parliament, and threat-
ened, if he would not listen to their proposals, they
would themselves call these by their own authority.
He undertook another journey to court, having ob-
tained a farther promise from the insurgents that
nothing should be done till his return, which he
declared should be before the 20th of September.
About the end of August, the Marquis proceeded
to England, and on his way he stopped at Brox-
mouth, in Roxburghshire, to consult with the Earls
of Roxburgh, Traquair, and Southesk. Here cer-
tain articles were agreed to and drawn up, to be
presented to the King. They proposed to revoke
the Book of Canons and the Liturgy ; that the
Court of High Commission should be abolished ;
that the Five Articles of Perth should be cancelled ;
that the confession against Popery and the bond
annexed to it, passed in the reign of James, should
be subscribed ; that a free pardon and act of obli-
vion should be passed for all late offences ; and they
concluded with stating, that, if his Majesty would
ratify these, " should any be so foolish or mad still
to disturb the peace of his Majesty's government,
they [^Hamilton, Traquair, Roxburgh, and South-
esk] humbly made offer of their lives and fortunes
to assist his Majesty or his Commissioner in sup-
pressing all insolencies and insolent .persons V
It is impossible to peruse the account of the pro-
ceedings of Hamilton without expressing disappro-
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 70, 7$
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 305
bation. I am far from insinuating that he was
treacherous to his sovereign, for it appears to me
that Bishop Burnet has established the loyalty of
this unfortunate nobleman in the most satisfactory
manner. When we consider that the King's letters
to him evinced the confidence of the monarch, and
that those of Archbishop Laud also commended his
prudence, " in the active part in the commixture
of wisdom and patience l " it cannot be doubted for
a moment that he acted according to the best in-
tentions, hoping to serve his sovereign in the most
effectual manner. Yet, making every allowance
for the unhappy circumstances in which he was
placed, the faction opposed to him, and the fearful
fanaticism by which he was every where surrounded,
it cannot be denied, that this temporizing policy
was obviously calculated to enable the discontented
zealots to strengthen themselves, this timidity the
means to increase their seditious insolence. These
delays were imputed by them to fear, and therefore
they became the more emboldened ; and the first
concessions of the King encouraged them to more
unreasonable demands. They had no right to over-
throw the Church, or to petition for its overthrow ;
because the Church had been established and ratified
by the states of the kingdom. But though they
had all sworn obedience to their several bishops,
they scrupled not to perjure themselves, on the
tenets which they assumed, that no oaths were bind-
1 Letters apud Burnet's Memoirs, p, 108 110.
VOL. II. X
306 I4FE AND TIMES [1638.
ing which they conceived contrary to the gospel.
If, however, that compound of sedition, fanaticism,
and prejudice, which every discontented zealot
chooses to utter, is to be called the gospel, the
order of government is defeated, confusion and
rebellion inevitably follow. But I cannot help co-
inciding with the sentiments of Heylin, which he has
somewhere expressed, however much they may be
reprobated by some, that " if the King had backed
his original proclamation to the Scots with a power-
ful army, according to the custom of his predeces-
sors, kings of England, it might have done some
good among them. But proclamations of grace
and favour, if not backed by arms, are like cannons
charged with powder, without bullets, making more
noise than execution, and they serve no other pur-
pose than to make the rebels insolent and the prince
contemptible."
The Marquis proceeded to court, and the King
sanctioned these articles, not without great reluc-
tance. In truth, Charles must have known that
this was virtually authorizing the sedition of the
zealots, and creating in their minds a greater con-
tempt for his authority. The Marquis hastened
back to Scotland, and arrived at the palace of Holy-
rood-house, three days before he was expected. In
his progress, he met with those Scottish prelates who
had taken refuge in England from the fanatical rage
of the Covenanters. Thus were all the Scottish
bishops forced into exile, with the exception of four,
Ramsay of Dunkeld, Fairley of Argyle, and Graham
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 307
of Orkney, who, to their disgrace signed a recanta-
tion to the Covenanters, and the venerable Bishop
Guthrie of Moray, who would not purchase his ease
at so dear a rate. He would neither flee nor recant,
but remained nobly enduring insults, sufferings,
privations, imprisonment, excommunication, and
every indignity, asserting the divine authority of
Episcopacy till his death. The exiled prelates, on
learning from Hamilton that he was authorized to
call an Assembly to which they were to be amenable,
besought him to reflect on this dangerous measure,
on the mischief which would arise to Church and
State from this injudicious conduct ; and entreated
him to suspend his proceedings till one of them
should represent the case completely to the King.
Notwithstanding their warm remonstrances, the
Commissioner proceeded on his journey. After his
arrival, he made known by proclamations the King's
intentions, hoping to allay the public ferment. He
cancelled the Book of Canons, discharged the Li-
turgy, and the High Commission, revoked the Five
Articles of Perth, and the acts for their establish-
ment, appointed a General Assembly to meet at
Glasgow on the 21st of November, and summoned
a Parliament to meet in the following May, 1639.
Yet it will hardly be believed, for certainly the
case has few parallels, that all these acts of the
King were treated with the most supercilious disdain
by the haughty fanatics. Wherever the royal pro-
clamations were published, they were encountered
by protests, and by the most cunning attempts to
x 2
308 LIFE AND TIMES [1G38.
misinterpret their meaning, and render them of no
effect. This opposition was manifested under the
veil of the 7 most hypocritical sanctity. The clergy
of Glasgow, in their letter to the Commissioner,
thanking his Majesty for the appointment of the
Assembly, termed the King " their crown of rejoic-
ing, and the breath of their nostrils." To do them
justice, the clergy of that city were peculiarly mo-
derate, and the whining, groaning rhetoric of Cant,
who preached the Covenant among them, had not
been remarkably successful. But the interested and
hot-headed leaders, both among the preachers and
the laity, easily perceived that they would gain
nothing without an illegal election ; and they ac-
cordingly proceeded to order it in such a manner,
that none but the most rigid of the faction should be
chosen. This was what those men pretended would
constitute a free General Assembly. The reader
will observe, that, though the acts for Scottish
Episcopacy had never been repealed, yet the craf-
tiness of Andrew Melville had provided that the
members of the General Assembly should consist of
an almost equal number of clergy and laymen.
But when James, after assuming the reins of govern-
ment, wished to establish the Protestant Episcopal
Church, not only on the basis of the old acts of
Parliament, which had ratified Episcopacy from the
time of the Culdees, but also on such a basis as he
hoped would render that Church, as it had already
become, national, he deprived the laymen of their
seats in the ecclesiastical court, not only because he
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 309
dreaded their violent enthusiasm in exciting com-
motions, but also because it was a practice unparal-
leled that laymen should legislate for the Church in
matters of doctrine; and, moreover, the Church
could not become essentially Episcopal and primitive,
while laymen, who generally were then sufficiently
ignorant, constituted a part of the ecclesiastical
court. The leaders of the Covenanters, however,
thought proper to assume to themselves a sovereign
power, and the Tables restored these unprecedented
proceedings. They commanded that a lay elder
from every parish should attend the minister, and
give his vote for the election of a minister to the
Assembly. Now, as the ministers who were nomi-
nated could not themselves vote, and as the number
of ministers and elders was equal, it followed that
the whole election fell into the hands of the lay-
voters. Then, again, the sages of the Tables adopted
another expedient, which, in effect, proves that elec-
tion by the unrestrained suffrages of the people at
large, (to speak plainly, popular election,) seldom
answers the purpose. They contrived, I say, to
render even this election a mere farce, by their no-
minating all the members themselves ; and in pri-
vate, they ordered that every elder should be bound
by an oath not to vote for any member who had not
been previously approved by the Tables. And if,
after all these devices, any one should be nominated
whom they chose to consider malignant, they had a
plan prepared to rid themselves of him, by prefer-
ring a libel against him to the Assembly, no matter
LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
whether true, false, or even probable, and thus the
person accused could not demand a vote till his
alleged accusation was declared groundless *.
As the bishops were the objects of their impla-
cable hatred, the zealots dispatched them in a sum-
mary manner. I have said that they never inquired
whether the libels were true or false ; accordingly, the
two Archbishops, and all the Bishops of Scotland,
were accused and libelled, individually, as guilty
of " excessive drinking, whoring, gaming, profana-
tion of the Sabbath ; contempt of public ordinances
and family worship ; mocking at prayer, preaching,
and spiritual conference ; also, of bribery, simony,
dishonesty, perjury, oppression, adultery, and in-
cest 2 //" and that this very modest libel might have
1 Large Declaration, p. 189. 191. 207. 218.225. 283.
a As a farther instance of the dispositions of those men who
opposed their King, and overthrew the Church, Samuel Ruther-
ford, one of their greatest saints, whose writings, as I have ob-
served, are a compound of blasphemy, hypocrisy, obscenity,
falsehood, calumny, and nonsense, had the presumption and
villainy to accuse Archbishop Spottiswood of St. Andrew's, the
most learned, virtuous, and pious prelate that ever adorned the
primacy of Scotland, or perhaps of any Church this venerable
prelate, I say, is actually accused by that fanatic of incest with
his own daughter. See Rutherford's Lex Rex, preface, p. 6,
published at London, 4to. 1644. Yet it is a remarkable fact,
that this Presbyterian saint, who is yet canonized by the zealots,
and whose " Letters" contain the most disgusting and blasphe-
mous ribaldry which can be conceived, was himself not remark-
ably chaste, nor free from licentiousness ; for he was compelled
to resign an office he held in the University of Edinburgh, in the
year 1625, for " some scandal on account oj his marriage ."-
Crawford's History of the University of Edinburgh.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 311
greater publicity, it was ordered to be read from all
the pulpits in Edinburgh, immediately after the
celebration of the holy eucharist, which these im-
pious zealots dared to profane by this indulgence
of their furious passions ; nay, on account of the
time occupied in the celebration of the Communion,
and the lateness of the day, they actually omitted
the thanksgivings and prayers that they might pub-
lish this atrocious libel ; adding, that whoever sub-
scribed the King's covenant and confession were
perjured villains. Yet it is remarkable, that when
the Assembly was held, and the prelates summoned,
so conscious were the Covenanters of the falsehood
and malignancy of the charge, and of the infamy
which induced it, that they made not the slightest
attempt to prove a libel, which was in reality an
awful mockery of, and insult to, religion, to its au-
thorized ministers, and to common sense.
Although it might have been expected that the
royal concessions would have appeased the insur-
gents, and although the moderate party among
them was fully satisfied of the fairness of the
King's intentions, this was not the case with the
violent leaders, who began to be equally unsparing
in their abuse of their less violent brethren. It was
declared from the pulpit that the Covenant was in-
fallible, and that " it was approved from Heaven
by rare and undeniable signs." The King's confes-
sion was termed the " the depth and policy of Satan."
Their influence, too, increased. Lord Lome, or
rather the Earl of Argyle, who afterwards received
LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
the reward of his rebellion and treachery, by this
time a zealot for Presbytery, had engaged all his
feudal dependents in the cause, and the ignorant
Highlanders of the counties in which his influence
prevailed, were ready to unsheath the sword at the
command of their superior. This, however, though
an accession of strength to the cause, was no ac-
cession of popularity : for those feudal dependents,
as is well known, were ever ready to follow their
chieftain, in whatever contention he engaged. But,
that no device might be omitted to further the Co-
venant, the zealots scrupled not to call in other
aids, which sufficiently indicate their dispositions
and designs.
The first was the conversion of a person named
Abernethy, who from a Jesuit became a violent Pres-
byterian ; thus giving some proofs that the opinions
of Lysimachus Nicanor, in the " Epistle Congra-
tulatorie," were not altogether void of foundation.
" This man," says Bishop Burnet, " had learned
as much of falsehood in the Jesuits' school, as to
forge a story of the Liturgy of Scotland being sent
to Rome to some Cardinals, to be revised by them,
and that Con had shewed it to him there. Upon
the report of this, Hamilton wrote to Con, who was
then in London ; but Con protested solemnly he
never so much as heard of a Liturgy designed for
Scotland till he came last to England, and that he
had only once seen Abernethy at Rome, but finding
him light-headed, he took no farther notice of him.
Yet Abernethy's story had a ready belief, as well as
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 313
a welcome hearing, though the lightness and weak-
ness of the man became afterwards so visible,, that
small account was made either of him or his story,
which at this time took wonderfully V
But the most singular contrivance of the Co-
venanters, was their calling to their aid a pro-
phetess. A woman named Mitchelson, a clergy-
man's daughter, and a zealous Covenanter, who was
subject to hysterical affections, became worse from
the contagion of religious enthusiasm. She soon pre-
tended to divine inspiration, and poured forth the
most blasphemous and incoherent rhapsodies. As
these were accompanied by fits, and distortions of
the body, the crowds of zealots who visited her
were lost in fear and reverence. To the house of a
zealous Covenanter she was removed, where she
farther exhibited her frantic gestures. All her rap-
tures were about the Covenant, which was her per-
petual theme. It was ratified in Heaven, she said,
but the King's covenant was an invention of Satan.
When she spoke of the Saviour of the world, she
blasphemously termed him the Covenanted Jesus.
The Bishops were the objects of her perpetual ex-
ecrations. Rollock, one of the preachers, was ad-
vised to pray for her by some spectators who sus-
pected the imposture : but the Presbyterian said,
" That he durst not ; he could not speak to her,
while his master, Christ, was speaking in her." At
times only the prophetess delivered herself, at other
times she was obstinately silent. Soon was the joy-
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 83.
314 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
ful report spread abroad, and thousands of all ranks
repaired to see her, as if she had been a second
Messiah. Those whom the crowded apartments
could not hold, clung to the walls of the house, to
catch the sound of her voice. She was under the
operation, it was said, of the Holy Spirit ; her fran-
tic blasphemies were heard and received as the
oracles of truth, and the assembled fanatics de~
parted, confirmed in the faith of the Covenant, and
" rejoicing in hope l "
On the 21st of November, the Assembly convened
at Glasgow, " which," says Archbishop Laud in his
Diary, " made many strange acts." Its members
had already assumed to themselves a power which
equalled, if not exceeded, the pretensions of the
Church of Rome a Church to which, truly, we
need not exclusively refer for proofs of intolerance
and insufferable arrogance. A doctrine was now
received, totally destructive of all government,
which, though the wisdom of James had compelled
them to abandon, was in reality the creed of all true
Presbyterians of those days, that " the ecclesias-
tical power was independent of the civil." No man
needs to be told of the evils which this pernicious
dogma has induced ; but such had been, in common
with the Papists, the secret, and was now the public,
belief of the Scottish Covenanters. They were par-
ticularly fond of comparing the Assembly and the
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 83. King's j Declaration, p. 227.
Hume's History, vol. vi.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 315
Parliament -to Christ and the King; and as the
former was held to be composed of the servants of
the greater master, they boldly asserted their in-
dependence of, and sometimes their superiority
over, the latter. This is publicly set forth by Sa-
muel Rutherford, in that production of his entitled
" Lex Rex," where, after abusing Maxwell, Bishop
of Dunblane, for denying " that the crown and
sceptre are under any co-active power of Pope or
Presbytery," the political fanatic stoutly maintains,
" that Presbyteries hold kings to be under the co-
active power of Christ's keys of discipline, and that
prophets and pastors, as ambassadors of Christ,
have the keys of the kingdom of God, to open and
admit believing princes, and also to shut them out,
if they rebel against Christ ; for," quoth he, " the
law of Christ excepteth none, if the king's sins be
remitted in a ministerial way 1 ." These pernicious
tenets, which the Covenanters insolently maintained
from first to last, in all the stages of their rebellion,
both before and after the Restoration, to say the
least, equalled those pretensions by which the Ro-
man Pontiffs had for centuries distinguished them-
selves. Yet these men, we are told, struggled for
liberty; they were the patriots of their country,
saints and martyrs ! But the tyranny of numbers
of fanatical zealots, who could unblushingly assert
that Presbyteries have power to open the gates of
heaven to believing princes, and also to shut them
1 Lex Rex, preface, p. 8.
31(5 LIFE AND TIMES [1G38.
out, is most impious. Here was indeed a despotism,
pretended,/ too, to be sanctioned by the Holy Scrip-
tures. It can hardly be denied, that, in all the
annals of the Church, there is no instance of the
Popes arrogating to themselves greater power than
that assumed by the Presbyterians of Scotland.
A vast multitude resorted to Glasgow, where
many of the seditious nobility and gentry appeared
in the capacity of elders and assessors. There were
about 260 commissioners and assessors ; for every
presbytery from two to four and upwards, who pre-
tended to give no vote, but only to give assistance
by their advice. We may form a notion of the cha-
racter of this tumultuous rabble, who were to judge
of heresy, and what they chose to term Arminianism,
from an observation of Bishop Burnet, " that
many of them could neither read nor write, but
depended solely on the leaders who legislated for
them V Many of the lay-elders also came armed
with swords and daggers. A sermon was preached
at the opening, in which the usual fulminations
were uttered against Episcopacy, and which suffi-
ciently indicated the spirit in which they intended
to conduct their proceedings. Let it be recol-
lected, too, that this Assembly was composed of
men who had already predetermined the causes ;
who had pledged themselves to abolish Episcopacy.
The issue of it could not fail to be anticipated, and
perhaps we may date the beginning of the King's
1 Burnct's Memoirs, p. US.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 317
misfortunes from the moment that he consented to
call this tumultuous rabble of enthusiasts. Certain
it is, that from that day forward he encountered a
series of disasters.
It might have been expected that the Cove-
nanters would have paid some little attention to
forms of law, since they were conscious of possess-
ing not only the influence, but the unrivalled autho-
rity and the unanimous suffrages of their assembly.
It was, however, quite otherwise ; they proceeded in
the most daring manner against all rules of decorum.
Moderation formed no part of their creed : they de-
sired not to pursue truth but victory, which they
were resolved to obtain at every hazard. The first
day was spent in matters of form, such as receiving
the members ; but even then they were engaged
in cabals, and openly threatened to seize the person
of the King's commissioner. The King had nomi-
nated six lords of the Privy Council as assessors to
the Marquis, but the zealots positively refused to
admit them, declaring, that if the King himself were
present he would have but one vote, and that not
a negative. In a long speech, Hamilton exhorted
them to peace and moderation ; but his advice was
in vain. On the second day their temper became
apparent. After hearing the King's letter read,
the commission desired that they would also hear
the protest and declaration of the Bishops. This
they refused to do, till they were constituted. Hen-
derson was chosen Moderator, and now began
the tumultuous proceedings. The Marquis pro-
318 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
tested against their refusal to admit his assessors,
and perceiving their disposition, he sent off a trusty
messenger to the King, to advise him to prepare
for war. After sitting eight days, in which the com-
missioner was compelled to protest against all their
proceedings, he conceived that his reputation would
be sacrificed were he to continue there longer.
With the most unparalleled absurdity, Henderson
admitted the King's power over Assemblies, and in
the same breath denied it. Every motion was car-
ried with the violence of zeal and enthusiasm. On
the 28th of the month, the Marquis proceeded to
their place of meeting, and in a speech in which he
lamented their proceedings, he dissolved the As-
sembly l .
But the zealots were prepared for this. The
infamous defection and intrigues of Argyle had
drawn over to their party a number of Covenanting
lords, who now employed all their influence to pro-
mote the seditious meeting. Henderson replied in
a speech, in which, while he acknowledged the King
to be " universal bishop of all the churches in his
dominions," he at the same time denied the royal
prerogative in matters ecclesiastical. The Marquis
made a short reply, in which he exposed their illegal
conduct, and, declaring the Assembly dissolved, he
proceeded to Edinburgh.
1 Burnet's Memoirs, p. 98 105. King's Declaration, p.
239246. Whitelocke's Memoirs, p. 29. Rushworth's Col-
lections, vol. ii. p. 842 857.
7
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 319
It was not, however, the intention of the zealots
to disperse ; indeed, they flatly told the Marquis so,
and they continued to sit by their own authority.
Soon were all the acts of former Assemblies declared
abrogated, since James' accession to the English
throne. Episcopacy was declared abolished ; the
Liturgy, the Articles of Perth, the Book of Canons,
were all voted antichristian ; the bishops were de-
prived and excommunicated, and after sitting by
their own authority twenty days from their legal
dissolution, the Assembly rose in triumph.
It is needless farther to pursue these details.
War was inevitable, and war was proclaimed ; me-
lancholy indeed is the record of future disasters.
It is impossible not to feel for the unhappy situation
of Charles. With the best intentions, he found him-
self invariably misrepresented and frustrated by
zealots, nay, even betrayed by those on whom he
had heaped the greatest favours. His partiality to
his own countrymen was notorious, and history well
testifies the base ingratitude which he experienced
in return. " By the Scots about his person," remarks
Heylin, " the King was so deceived and betrayed,
that, as far as they could find his meaning by words,
signs, and circumstances, or the silent language of
a shrug, it was posted off into Scotland ; nay, some
of his Bed-Chamber had grown so bold and insolent,
that they used to ransack his pockets while in bed,
to transcribe such letters as they found, and send
copies to their countrymen by the way of intelli-
gence a thing so well known about the court, that
320 LIFE AND TIMES [1638.
the Archbishop of Canterbury, in one of his letters,
gave him this memento, that he should not trust it
in his pockets. For offices of trust and credit they
were as well accommodated as with those of ser-
vice. Hamilton, Master of the Horse, who stocked
the stables with that people ; the Earl of Morton,
Captain of the Guard ; the Earl of Ancrum, Keeper
of the Privy Purse ; the Duke of Lennox, Warden
of the Cinque Ports, and Constable of Dover Castle ;
Balfour, Lieutenant of the Tower, the most impor-
tant fortress in the kingdom; Wemyss, Master-
Gunner of the Navy, who had the issuing of stores
and all the ammunition. Look on them in the
Church, and we shall find so many of that nation
beneficed and preferred in all parts of the kingdom,
that their ecclesiastical revenues could not but
amount to more than all the yearly rents of the Kirk
of Scotland ; and out of these scarce one in ten who
did not cordially promote and espouse their cause
among the people."
It is impossible to contemplate the proceedings
of this Assembly without lamenting that enthusiasm
which hurries men into the most dangerous excesses.
A self-constituted body to be allowed to sit and
legislate in a free state in open defiance of the civil
power ; to rescind Acts of Parliament ; to destroy
the venerable establishment of religion ; to arrogate
to themselves the most incontrolable and heaven-
derived powers ; and to presume to dictate to their
sovereign in whatever language they pleased ; these
were proceedings destructive to the country's wel-
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 321
fare. Yet such is the feature of the Presbyterian
conclave of 1638. Not only did its self-elected
members set aside Acts of Parliament, but they ac-
tually restrained the liberty of the press throughout
the country ; they had the boldness to ordain, that
no treatise should be printed within the kingdom
on any controversial topic, " or any other treatise,"
say they, " whatsoever, which may concern the
Church of Scotland or God's cause in hand/' without
the express licence of one of their own adherents 1 .
Here was a tyranny of no common kind, though
completely in the spirit of Calvinism. In all the
persecutions which they falsely allege to have un-
dergone, the King and the Bishops of Scotland never
enacted such a regulation ; otherwise the obscenities
and blasphemies of Rutherford, Cant, Shiels, and
Livingstone, would have procured for their authors
that punishment which they so richly deserved.
If the private opinions of an individual or a fac-
tion are to be made the standard of government,
deplorable and imbecile must be that administra-
tion ; if the individual, whenever he thinks he is
aggrieved, declares that he has a right to complain,
where are justice, order, subordination ? And if in
religion, the fanaticism of one party is to be grati-
fied at the expence of another, what dreadful convul-
sions must take place ! For men will fight for
their religion, when no other cause, their country,
perhaps, excepted, will call them to the scene of
: Large Declaration, p. 323. Printed Acts of Assembly, 1638.
VOL. IT. Y
322 LIFE AND TIMES [1G38.
contention ; that holy cause is identified with their
early associations and their most endearing ties ;
their fathers, their wives and children, are all in-
volved ; for God, first, and then for their country,
is the maxim of patriotic men. But how liable are
even such men to perversion and to private prejudice !
He who is imbued with that worst of all mental
affections, fanaticism, who is attracted by novelty,
who is led by designing zealots, is with one party
to-day, another to-morrow. He looks with con-
tempt on the institutions of his fathers ; he says
he fights for liberty, but in reality he is the dupe
of rebellion. And it is beyond the possibility
of a doubt, that those who clamoured violently
against our constitution in Church and State, who,
animated by an affected liberality, or a sectarian
desire of reformation, set themselves studiously to
oppose and to thwart those measures which calmness
and moderation had adopted, or those establishments
which the hand of time had rendered venerable and
sacred, who proposed the adoption of their own
visionary and untried projects, in preference to those
maxims which have been respected amidst the most
tremendous convulsions ; those men, I say, were
other than what they seemed, and while their hos-
tility was ostensibly directed against certain institu-
tions, they were aiming their poisonous weapons at
the monarchy itself.
It is not my intention farther to comment at
large on the proceedings of the Covenanters ; per-
haps another opportunity will be afforded me to
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 323
detail at length the secret history of this momentous
era. They prepared for war ; their preachers for-
tified their proceedings by their misinterpretations of
the Holy Scriptures ; they termed their war defen-
sive, by one of their usual perversions of language ;
they surprised the fortress of Edinburgh Castle; the
famous Leslie, who had acquired a deserved reputa-
tion in the Swedish wars, was appointed their gene-
ral ; Dalkeith was attacked ; there they found the re-
galia, and an ample supply of military stores. They
erected a fortification at Leith, and the very women
were animated by their enthusiasm ; emissaries were
dispatched to London, to intrigue with the Puritan
leaders ; they received assistance from the French
minister, Richelieu, with whom they scrupled not
to carry on a treasonable correspondence ; they
appointed every fourth man in Scotland to bear
arms ; the most nefarious schemes were adopted to
raise money, and were defended with unblushing
effrontery from the pulpit by the champions of the
Covenant ; they proposed a tax on various goods,
after they had drained the coffers of merchants who
afterwards died beggars ', and they would have suc-
ceeded had not the design been unpopular. Those
who were suspected of loyalty, or, in their language,
malignancy, were ordered to lend them two hun-
dred pounds sterling, or more, according to their
1 They contrived to obtain no less than 20,000/. from a mer-
chant in Edinburgh named Dick, whose vanity they flattered by
making him chief magistrate, and afterwards draining him of
other sums, he died a beggar.
Y 2
324 LIFE AND TIMES [1638
circumstances, and if they refused, it was doubled.
On this device they valued themselves highly ; it
was a notable way, they said, for reaching heart-
malignant s ! .
And here let it not be forgotten, that all this was
done before the King appeared against them with
his forces ; even before he had proclaimed them
traitors, and the Covenant treasonable. Who, then,
were the' first aggressors, who the first inciters of
the scourge of civil contentions ? The conclusion
is obvious ; and, though it be granted that Charles
had hitherto assumed despotic powers, which re-
mains to be proved, the moral guilt and crime now
rested on the Covenanters. The sum of the King's
offence, if it may be called so, was his wish to esta-
blish a Scottish Liturgy in the Scottish Church ; if
he wished to impose it on them, the rebels did no
less with their Covenant. But the Covenanters
might have perceived, that those who opposed their
Covenant were just as conscientious as themselves ;
the intolerance on both sides was equal, if a Liturgy
is to be admitted as a grievance. But the Liturgy
had this advantage over the Covenant, that while it
contained a summary of Christian devotions and
scriptural truth, the latter was the offspring of pri-
vate hatred and disappointed ambition, abounding
with impious declamations, and dreadful threaten-
ings of damnation to those who would not subscribe.
1 Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 42 63. Hume's History, vol. vi.
p. 272. Rushwortli, vol. ii. p. 840. Whitelocke, p. 28, 3133.
Lord Hailca* Memorials, vol. ii. p. 41.
1638.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 325
The Covenanters, then, must be divested of their
claims as defenders of liberty ; they wished, and they
attempted, to impose their Covenant on all without
exception, and they excommunicated those who re-
fused, and termed them enemies of religion. Charles
did no more, but he did not excommunicate ; in the
King it was at the utmost, perhaps, imprudent ; in
the Covenanters it was the most refined intolerance
and persecution.
The Bishops retreated to England, with the ex-
ceptions of Bishop Guthrie, who nobly braved the
danger, and those three who ignominiously signed
their recantation. Many clergymen were deposed,
and fanatics appointed in their stead ; the theologi-
cal chairs in the Universities were purified of ma-
lignancy, and filled by Rutherford, Cant, and their
associates, to train up a fry of violent enthusiasts.
*' The pulpits," says Bishop Burnet, " sounded with
the ruin of religion and liberties, and that all might
now look for Popery and bondage, if they did not
acquit themselves like men. Curses were thun-
dered out against those who went not out to help
the angel of the Lord against the mighty, so oddly
was the Scripture applied ; and to set off this the
better, all was carried with so many fasts and prayers.
By this means it was that the poor and well-meaning
people were animated into great extremities of zeal,
resolving to hazard all in pursuance of the cause."
In proportion as they advanced in power, and the
war in violence, the unparalleled cruelties of the
Covenanting leaders increased. They glutted their
326 UFE AND TIMES [1639.
eyes with the executions of malignants, and one
fanatical Covenanting minister, after witnessing one
hundred executions of malignants, declared, "This
wark gaes lonnilie on"
The venerable Archbishop Spottiswoode, now in
his 73d year, retired to London. On the 27th of
December, 1639, he died, worn out with grief, care,
and sickness, and was buried in Westminster Abbey,
where there is a monument erected to his memory.
He lived not to witness the disasters of a sovereign
whom he h -d fai.thfully served, nor yet the misfor-
tunes of his own family, which his son, Sir Robert
Spottiswoode, (a most worthy son of a most wor-
thy father,) Lord President of the Court of Session,
and one of the most accomplished lawyers of his age,
encountered, when Covenanting fury and hatred
brought him to the block at St. Andrew's, that
ancient city which had long been the residence of
his father. He was the most virtuous, pious, and
learned primate who ever filled the metropolitan see
of Scotland, and his great employments sufficiently
indicate his abilities. His administration has been
unjustly blamed, without considering the age in
which he lived. The Covenanters traduced him, in
common with the other prelates, as guilty of enor-
mous crimes, while they themselves were licentious,
obscene, and blasphemous. His great offence was,
that he despised that gloomy and hypocritical sanctity
which the Presbyterians so much affected, and which
exposed religion to ridicule and disgrace ; animated
by its genuine power, in manners he was easy,
7
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 327
affable, and refined, pious without ostentation, and,
like the metropolitan of England, who was his inti-
mate friend, a scholar without pedantry. His lite-
rary eminence rests on a solid basis. More learned
than many of his contemporaries, his History of the
Church of Scotland, from the year 203 to the death
of James VI. of Scotland, (published in folio, Lon-
don, 1655,) has secured for him a lasting fame.
Elegant in style, minute in detail, cautious in au-
thorities, and generally exact in dates, he gives a
faithful history of that Church, over which he pre-
sided with so much applause, tracing its history and
revolutions with the ability of a master. Without
the coarse ribaldry, low buffoonery, and indecent lan-
guage of Knox, the credulity of Buchanan, the arro-
gance and enthusiasm of Calderwood and Kirkton,
and others of the Presbyterian school, he is clear,
concise, and moderate. The Covenanters heaped
upon his memory the most indecent abuse ; but
loyalty in those wretched times was reckoned a
damnable crime. His death was peaceful and affect-
ing, and worthy of a Christian bishop. His last
words were addressed to the Marquis of Hamilton,
whom he conjured not to desert the King and the
Church. His venerable remains were interred, at
the King's command, with a solemnity due to his
exalted rank, and the ancient family from which he
was descended. The nobility and gentry of the
kingdom, then at London, followed him to the
grave. Eight hundred torches blazed during the
solemn ceremony, and the Dean and Prebendaries
328 LIFE AND TIMES [i 6 S9.
of Westminster celebrated his obsequies in the
affecting service of the Church of England.
Such, then, is a brief history of the first melan-
choly fall of Scottish Episcopacy.
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 329
CHAPTER XIX.
16391640.
Commencement of the Civil Wars by the Scots Order of the
Privy Council to the Archbishop to raise supplies The Earl
of Traquair sent to Scotland as Commissioner Libels against
Laud His presents to the University of Oxford- His trans-
lations of the Liturgy He induces Bishop Hall to write the
Treatise " Episcopacy by Divine Right" Plan of the original
MSS. Observations of the Archbishop Publication of the
work Analysis of it Controversy it occasioned Practices
of the Puritans Anecdote of the Archbishop Meeting of the
Parliament Its dissolution Indications of the Archbishop's
ruin The Convocation It continues to sit The Canons of
1640 Anxiety of the Archbishop Remarks on the legality
of the Convocation Libels against the Archbishop The mob
attack Lambeth Palace, and St. Paul's Their disorders
Practices of the Puritans Renewed indications of his ruin
Death of Archbishop Neile His character.
AMIDST these national calamities, while the King was
preparing to chastise the insolence of the Scottish
Covenanters, no individual incurred greater odium
than the Archbishop of Canterbury. Although
the fanatics were the first aggressors, although it
had been long their intention to try their strength
by arms, although they had attended the rebel-
lious and counterfeit Assembly at Glasgow armed
with swords and daggers, and had entered into
330 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
those treasonable connexions and practices which
have been /already recorded, although, in short,
they had resolved to maintain the idol they had set
up by an armed force, they affected to term the
war an Episcopale Bellum, blamed the Archbishop
for all their alleged persecutions, libelled him as the
chief adviser of the King for warlike preparations,
while, in reality, his advice was for peace, for he had
alleged, though in this he was grievously mistaken,
that the controversy might be settled " by ink in-
stead of blood."
While the King was preparing his army, an order
was issued by the Privy Council, to which were
prefixed the signatures of the Lord Keeper Coven-
try, the Lord Treasurer Juxon, the Earl of Man-
chester, Lord Privy Seal, the Duke of Lennox, the
Lord Chamberlain Arundel, the Earls of Dorset,
Pembroke, Holland, Lord Cottington, Sir Henry
Vane, the Treasurer of the Household, Cooke and
Windebank, the Secretaries of State, requesting the
two Archbishops to write to their several suffragans,
to transmit orders to the clergy of the dioceses, " to
aid and assist his Majesty with their speedy and
liberal contributions, and otherwise, for defence of
his Royal Person and of this kingdom, against the
seditious attempts of some in Scotland V Accord-
ingly, on the 31st of Jan. 1638-9, the Archbishop
addressed a circular letter to all the bishops of his
province, wherein he exhorted them and their clergy
1 Hcylin, p. 357. Original Col. MSS. vol. i. p. 643.
1689.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 331
to contribute liberally towards the raising of an
army, recommending to every beneficed clergyman
to give at the rate of 3s. Wd. per pound of the
valuation of his living or preferment in the King's
bcoks, and to remit the same to the Lord High
Treasurer; and also to transmit a list of those who
refused to aid the subsidy l . We are informed by
Heylin, who took an active share in these proceed-
ings, that the contributions were eminently suc-r
cessful, " even those who wished well to the Scots
seeming as forward in it as any other;" that of the
Diocese of Norwich amounting to no less than
2016/. 16s. 5d. and of the Archdeaconry of Win-
chester to 13Q51. 5s. Sd. Soon after this the King
published a Declaration, in which he narrated at
length the proceedings of the Covenanters, and,
finally, a Proclamation, explaining the motives which
induced him to undertake the war; and, on the
27th of March, 1639, his coronation-day, he put
himself at the head of his army, and proceeded to
Scotland a .
The Archbishop's share in this transaction, though
he did no more than what he was compelled to do
by the warrant of the Privy Council, procured for him
afterwards the modest appellation of " incendiary,"
of one that " laboured to set the two nations into a
bloody war." Let us, however, hear his own decla-
1 Heylin, p. 357, 358. Coll. MSS. fol. vol. i. p. 657.
2 Heylin, p. 358, 359, Diary, p. 56.
332 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
rations on the subject, after he was in prison, which
none of his/enemies controverted. " God knows,"
says he, " I laboured long for peace, till I received
a great check for my labour. And particularly at
the beginning of these tumults, when the miseries
of a war first began, in the year 1638, openly at
the Council Table, at Theobalds, my counsel alone
prevailed for peace and forbearance, in hope that
the Scots would think better of their obedience ! ."
After a variety of transactions, generally unfor-
tunate for the King, a temporary pacification was
agreed to, on the 17th of July, and ratified by the
King on the 18th, after which he returned to Lon-
don, nominating the Earl of Traquair his Lord
High Commissioner. Nevertheless, the mutual jea-
lousies had not subsided ; no sooner was the treaty
concluded than it was broken by the Covenanters,
and the war commenced the following year with re-
doubled violence. Our attention, however, must
be more immediately confined to the Archbishop.
On the 3d of April we find him reconciled to the
Queen, with whom he was now on terms of inti-
mate friendship 2 . On the 4th of June he received
two seditious and scurrilous papers, written by Lil-
burne, then in the Fleet prison ; the one abusing
him to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the other
inciting the Apprentices of London to attack his
palace. These he delivered to the Lords of the
1 History of Troubles and Trials, p. 76. 78. = Diary, 76.
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 333
Council the 5th of June, but his moderation seems
to have inflicted no farther censure on this fierce
and daring enthusiast *.
But, in the midst of these national commotions
and attacks of fanatical hatred, it is pleasing to find
this great man unmoved, and still appearing the
patron of literature and learned men. On the 28th
of June, he sent 576 volumes of Manuscripts to Ox-
ford, being what he calls the remainder, and above
100 of these were Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic.
te I had formerly sent them," says he, " above 700
volumes V Such was his zeal for literature, that
he spared no expence to benefit that venerable seat
of learning, where he himself had first been taught
to appreciate the value of knowledge.
Another of the Archbishop's actions this year
must not be forgotten. He had already caused the
Scottish Liturgy to be translated into Latin ; for,
as that language, though it had long ceased to be
vernacular, was still the language of learned men, he
wished the whole world to judge of the conduct of
the Scots, as to the truth of their allegations that it
was Popish. The work, unfortunately, though
finished, was never published, his troubles coming
on apace. Still, there was the Liturgy of England,
in many respects the same, translated into various
languages, by which an adequate judgment could
be formed of the conduct of the Scottish schismatics.
1 Diary, p. 56. Remains, fol. vol. ii. p. 178, 179, 180.
2 Diary, p. 56. Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. Heylin, p. 379,
380.
334 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
It had undergone various translations : the first,
that of King Edward VI. into Latin, by Alexander
Alice, or Afesius, a learned Scotsman, of the Uni-
versity of St. Andrew's, who fled from the ven-
geance of Archbishop Beaton, at the commencement
of that tumultuous Reformation; the second Li-
turgy of that prince, at the command of Elizabeth,
by Dr. Walter Haddon, the learned President of
Magdalen College, Oxford. It had also been trans-
lated into French, for the use of Jersey, Guernsey,
and the other Norman British Isles : while Dr.
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, when Lord Keeper,
procured its translation into Spanish. Our Arch-
bishop was not behind, and Petley, of Oxford, at
his instance, translated it into the Greek language,
" that so," says Heylin, " the Eastern Churches
might have as clear information of the English piety
as the Western V
But had Archbishop Laud done nothing more,
his procuring and recommending the famous Dr. Jo-
seph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, to write his immortal
treatise, entitled, " Episcopacy by Divine Right
Asserted," and published in 1640, is sufficient to
endear his memory to the lovers of apostolical and
primitive order. The Scots had publicly branded
Episcopacy as unlawful and antichristian, and it was
to counteract this that Laud prevailed upon Hall
to undertake the work. It failed, doubtless, to con-
vince those enthusiasts ; but it is an invaluable de-
1 Heylin, p. 377, 378.
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 335
posit delivered to the Church of England, by one
of the most pious and illustrious of its sons.
The first sketch of the work was transmitted to
the Archbishop at Lambeth, in October, 1639. In
this original draught, which Hall sent to the Pri-
mate in manuscript, he laid down two proposi-
tions, 1. That Episcopacy is a lawful, most ancient,
holy, and divine institution, and, therefore, where it
hath obtained, it cannot be violated without a ma-
nifest contempt of God's ordinance. And, 2. That
Presbyterianism hath no authority in Scripture, or
from the practice of the Church for 1500 years,
though it be disguised with the fallacious names of
Christ's kingdom and ordinance ; and though it may
be useful in some cities and countries wherein Epis-
copal government, through the iniquity of the times,
cannot be had, yet to obtrude it upon a Church
otherwise settled, is utterly incongruous and unjus-
tifiable." In the illustration of these propositions,
he laid down fifteen postulata, to the following ef-
fect : that apostolical institution must be divine
that the government recommended by the apostles
must be apostolical that if the apostles were in-
spired, what they instituted must be designed for
continuance that the universal practice of the
Church in the ages succeeding the apostles, is the
best comment on the practice of the apostles and
their successors that the opinion is most irre-
verent which induces us to believe, that the Saints
and Fathers would immediately establish a polity of
their own, in opposition to that of the apostles
330 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
that had they done so, still, in the very nature of
things, it could not have been universal that the
writings of the first Fathers of the Church are more
worthy of credit than those of modern theologians
that those whom the primitive Church and Fathers
condemned as obstinate heretics, are not to be fol-
lowed as authorities for church government that
the accession of titles and distinctions makes no dif-
ference in the fundamental truth that the tenets
which are new and unheard of in the previous his-
tory of the Church are justly liable to suspicion in
short, that " to depart from the practice of the Uni-
versal Church of Christ from the time of the apos-
tles, and to betake ourselves to a new custom, cannot
but be odious and highly scandalous V
These postulata were certainly conclusive, as
were also the two propositions ; but the acuteness
and sagacity of Laud led him at once to perceive
the advantage which the Presbyterians would take
over them, for, though the postulata were undeni-
able, yet the second proposition, if it could be got
over in no other way, would be immediately attacked
on the ground of expediency. He accordingly sug-
gested a variety of alterations to Hall, which were
adopted, and which made Neal, after his usual
manner, declare that the treatise was altered con-
trary to the Bishop's inclination, though he has pur-
posely forgot to inform us of the reasons for Hall's
acquiescence. The letter which he sent to the
1 Heylin, p. 374, 375.
1G39.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 337
Bishop, containing his suggestions, is given by
Heylin, his own chaplain, and I extract part of it,
that the reader, on comparison with the foregoing
analysis of the original plan, may see and appre-
ciate the acuteness of Laud. " You say, under the
first head," says Laud, " that Episcopacy is an
ancient, holy, and divine institution. It must be
holy and ancient, if divine. Would it not be more
conclusive, went it thus, that because of its anti-
quity, it is of divine institution ? Next, you define
it as being joined with imparity and superiority of
jurisdiction, but this seems short, for so is every
Archpresbyter's or Archdeacon's place, and so is
Henderson's chair at Glasgow, unless you will de-
fine it by a distinction of order. I draw the supe-
riority not from the jurisdiction which is ascribed
to Bishops jure positive, in their administration of
ecclesiastical matters, but from that which is in-
trinsical and original in the powers of excommuni-
cation. Again, you say, in the first head, that
where Episcopacy hath obtained, it cannot be ab-
dicated without violation of God's ordinance. This
proposition, I conceive, is inter minus habentes, for
never yet was there a Church where it hath not
obtained. The Christian faith was never planted
any where, but the very first feature of the Church
was by or with Episcopacy, and wheresoever Epis-
copacy is not now suffered to be, it is by such an
abdication, for certainly there it was a principio.
In your second head you grant that Presbyterianism
may be of use, where Episcopacy may not be had.
VOL. II. Z
338 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
^
First, I pray you consider whether this admission be
not needless here, and in itself of dangerous conse-
quence. Next, I conceive there is no place where
Episcopacy may not be had, if there be a Church
more than in title only. Thirdly, since they affirm
their Presbyterian faction to be Christ's kingdom
and ordinance, (as you yourself express), and reject
Episcopacy as opposed to it, we must not use any
mincing terms, but unmask them plainly. Nor
shall I ever refrain from declaring honest truth,
though it be against Amsterdam or Geneva."
The primate then proceeds to the postulata, and
objects to the two first as restrictive. " For," says
he, " Episcopacy is not so to be asserted into apos-
tolical institutions, as to restrain it from looking
higher, and claiming as its founder Christ himself,
though it perhaps was modified (formalized) by the
Apostles. Here, however, give me leave to enlarge.
The adversaries of Episcopacy are not only the
furious Arian heretics, from whom are now raised
Prynne, Bastwick, and our Scottish masters, but
some also of milder and cunning alloy, both in
the Genevan and Roman faction. And it will be-
come the Church of England, so to vindicate her-
self against the furious Puritans, that she may not
be wounded by either of the two more cunning and
learned adversaries. Not by the Roman faction,
for they are content that the Church shall be juris
divini mediati, by, from, and under the Pope, that
so the Church may be monarchical in him, and not
immediati, which makes the Church monarchical
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD.
in the Bishops. This is the Italian rock, not the
Genevan ; for the Romanists will not deny Epis-
copacy to be juris divini, so you will take it, ut
suadentis vel approbantis, but not imperantis, for
then they do as they please, which is their usual
practice. Nay, if I forget not, Beza himself is
said to have acknowledged Episcopacy to be juris
divini imperantis, so you will not take it as uni-
versaliter imperantis, for then Geneva might es-
cape, and citra consider ationem durantis ; for,
though they had it before, yet upon wiser thoughts,
they may be without it, which Scotland says now,
and whoever pleases may say after. This I am bold
to add, because in your second postulatum I find
that Episcopacy is directly commanded ; but you do
not altogether meet this subtlety of Beza, which is
the great rock in the Lake of Geneva V
The Treatise, thus amended, was published. It
is not my intention to offer an analysis of this in-
comparable production. The venerable Bishop
comments, with great severity, on the conduct of
Graham, Bishop of Orkney, who had given in his
recantation to a pretended Assembly at Edinburgh,
and craved pardon for having accepted it, as if he
had committed some heinous offence. In Section I.
entitled, " An expostulatorie entrance into the ques-
tion," he thus begins : " Good God ! what is this I
have lived to hear ? A Bishop in a Christian Assem-
bly renounce his Episcopal functions, and cry out
1 Heylin,p. 375 377.
34-0 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
mercy for his now abandoned calling. Brother that
was, whoever you be," exclaims the venerable pre-
late to Graham, " I must have leave a little while
to contest seriously with you. The act was yours,
the concernment that of the whole Church. You
could not think so foul a deed to escape unques-
tioned. The world never heard of such a penance ;
you cannot blame us if we receive it both with
wonder and expostulation, and tell you that it had
been much better you had never been born, than
to give such a scandal to God's Church, so deep a
wound to his holy truth and ordinance. If the
Tweed that runs between us were an ocean, it could
neither drown nor wash out our interest or your
offence. For me, I am now breathing towards the
end of my race, the goal is already in mine eye,
young men may speak out from ambition, or pas-
sionate transportations : I, that am now setting
foot over the threshold of the house of my age,
what aim can I have, but of the issue of my last
account, whereto I am ready to be summoned before
the Judge of quick and dead? Neither can you
look, as is likely, to be long after me. Say, there-
fore, I beseech you, before God and his elect angels,
say, what is it, (besides, perhaps, the fear of plun-
dering a fair temporal estate by the furious multi-
tude,) say what it can be, that induced you to this
awful, this scandalous repentance ? How weary
should I be of this rochet, if you can shew me that
Episcopacy is of any less than divine institution !
Win him by your powerful arguments who is so far
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 341
from being wedded to the love of this misconceived
pomp, that he envies the sweet sleep of his infe-
riors. Let me tell you, it is your person that ag-
gravates your crime. For a sheep to stray is no
wonder, but for a shepherd, yea, a guide and di-
rector of shepherds, (such God and the Church
hath made you,) not only to wander himself, but
to lead away his flock from the green pastures, and
comfortable waters of divine truth, to the dry and
barren deserts of human invention, cannot but be
shameful and dangerous. That some poor seduced
souls of your ignorant vulgar should condemn that
calling which they were never suffered to look at,
but with prejudiced eyes ; or that some of your
higher spirited clergy, out of ambition for this dig-
nity and rage at a repulse, should snarl at the de-
nied honour ; or that some of your great ones, who
do no less love the lands than they envy and hate
the pre-eminence of Bishops, should cry down that
sacred function, could be no other than might in
these evil times be expected and even anticipated.
But for a man held once worthy to be graced with
the chair of Episcopacy, to spurn that once honoured
seat, and to make his very profession a sin, is so
shameful an indignity, as will make the wise of
succeeding ages shake their heads, and not men-
tion it without just indignation V
The venerable prelate then proceeds to invite
Graham to the controversy, for it is to him that the
1 Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted, p. 1 5.
342 LIFE AND TIMES [1639.
whole Treatise is ostensibly directed, " not in a
vain affectation of victory, like some young sophis-
ters, but as sober divines, in a fervent pursuit of
that truth, which God and his purer Church have
left and consigned to us." " But," says he, " ere
we enter the lists, let me advise you, and your now
master, the faction, not to deceive yourselves with
the hope of hiding your heads under the skirt of
the authority of those divines and churches abroad,
which retain that form of government whereunto
you have submitted ; for know, their case and yours
is widely different. They plead a necessity for that
condition which you have willingly chosen. They
were not, they could not be, what you were and
still might have been. Did any of them forsake and
abjure that Episcopacy which he might freely have
enjoyed, with the full liberty of professing the re-
formed religion ? If the last Bishop of Geneva had
become a Protestant, and consented in matters of
doctrine to Calvin, Farret, Viret, have you or any
man living just cause to think that the city would
not gladly have retained his government, and still
thought themselves happy under such a protection ?
No man that hath either brain or forehead will af-
firm it ; since the world knows the quarrel was not
at his dignity, but at his opposition to the intended
reformation. But because this is only a suggestion
of a then future conditionate contingency, and may
perhaps meet with some stubborn contradictions,
hear what Calvin saith for himself, and his copart-
ners. ' If they would/ saith he, ' bring unto us
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 343
such an hierarchy, wherein the Bishops shall so rule,
as that they refuse not to submit themselves unto
Christ, that they may depend upon him as their
only head, then surely if there be those that shall
not submit themselves reverently to that hierarchy,
I confess there is no anathema of which they are
not worthy V Do you hear your doom from your
own oracle ? Lo ! such and no other was that hie-
rarchy in Scotland] wherein you lately bore a part,
and which you have now condemned. Note well,
therefore, the merit and danger of Calvin's ana-
thema. Yet, again, the same author, in his Confes-
sion of Faith, written in the name of all the French
Churches, speaking of the depraved state of he
Roman Churches, then in the fieri of reforming,
plainly writes thus, ' Yet, in the mean time, we
would not have the authority of the Church, or of
those pastors or superintendents to whom the charge
of governing the Church is committed, taken away ;
we confess, therefore, that those Bishops or pastors
are reverently to be heard, so far as according to
their function they teach the word of God V And
1 Calvin. De Necessitate Eccles. Reform. " Talem si nobis
hierarchiam exhibeant, in qua sic emineant Episcopi ut Christo
subesse non recusent, ut ab illo tanquam unico capite pendeant,
&c. ad ipsum referantur, &c. turn vero nullo non anathemate
dignos fatear, si qui erunt, qui non earn reverentia summaque
obedientia observant."
3 Interea tamen, Ecclesiae authoritatem vel pastorum et su-
perintendentium, quibus Ecclesiae regendae provincia mandata
est, sublatam volumus. Fatemur ergo Episcopos sive pastores
7
344 WE AND TIMES [1689.
yet more plainly, ' Certainly (saith he, speaking even
of Popish Bishops, if they were true Bishops,) I
would yield them some authority in this case, not
so much as themselves desire, but so much as is re-
quired to the due order of the policy or government
of the Church V Lastly, for it were easy to heap
up this measure, in an Epistle of his, wherein this
question is discussed, what is to be done if a Popish
Bishop shall be converted to the Reformed reli-
gion ? he so determines it, that it 'is for such an one
first to renounce his Popish powers of sacrificing,
and profess to abstain from all the superstitions of
the Romish religion, then that he must do his ut-
most endeavours that all the churches which be-
long to his bishopric may be purged from their
errors and idolatries, and at last concludes that his
possessions and authority should be left him, by
virtue whereof he must take order, that the minis-
ters under him do duly preach God's word, as him-
self must always do 2 ."
I shall quote only one other truly eloquent pas-
sage from this incomparable treatise, addressed to
the Scots. " Say no more, therefore, that you have
conformed yourselves to the pattern and judgment
reverenter audiendos, quatenus pro suse function! s ratione ver-
bum Dei decent."
1 " Sane si veri Episcopi essent, aliquid in hac parte authori-
tatis habuerem, non quantum sibi postulant, sed quantum ad
politiam Ecclesiae rite ordinandam requiritur." Calv. Instit.
lib. iv. c. x.
3 Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted, p. 69.
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 345
of some other reformed Churches : this starting
hole is too strait to hide you. We can at once ten-
derly respect them, and justly censure you. Acts
done out of an extremity can be no precedents for
voluntary and deliberate resolutions. It was not so
with you when those holy men, -Patrick Hamilton
and George Wishart, sowed the first seeds of Refor-
mation among you in their own blood, with that
spirit the Holy Ghost endued them of patience and
constancy, crowned with martyrdom, not of tumult
and furious opposition, to the disquiet of the state,
and hazard of the Reformation itself, or to the ab-
juring and blaspheming of an holy order in the
Church, and dishonouring of Almighty God, while
they pretended to seek his honour. This was their
case, but what is this to you l ?" Such are speci-
mens of this treatise, written in a style of impas-
sioned eloquence, which it would be a degradation
to name with the absurdities of Henderson, who in-
terfered more with politics than did the whole bench
of Scottish Bishops ; the blasphemy, impiety, ob-
scenity, and fanaticism of Rutherford, Livingstone,
Cant, Shiels, Peden, Bruce, Dickson, Kirkton, and
the host of Covenanting zealots.
Yet the work of Bishop Hall did not remain un-
answered. Several Presbyterian preachers, under
the signature of Smectymnus, entered into a con-
troversy with the prelate, on the jus divinum of
Episcopacy, and the antiquity of Liturgies. In all
1 Episcopacy by Divine Right, p. 17 19.
346 LIFE AND TIMES [1639
1
the discussions the Bishop has the superiority; and
when the question was referred to several learned
theologians in France, Holland, and Germany, they
were either silent, or returned answers favourable
to the Bishop. The reader will find the positions
discussed at large in Bishop Hall's " Humble Re-
monstrance to the High Court of Parliament, 1640 :"
the answers to this, by Smectymnus, entitled,
" Answer to an Humble Remonstrance of a Dutiful
Son of the Church, with a Vindication of the same,
1641 :" Bishop Hall's reply, entitled, " A short
Answer to the tedious Vindication of Smectymnus,
1641 :" in the reply to this, " A Vindication of
the Answer to an Humble Remonstrance, 1641 ;"
and in the Bishop's rejoinder, entitled, " A Defence
of the Humble Remonstrance against Smectymnus,
1641."
I have dwelt long enough, however, on this sub-
ject, though it is of great interest, and perhaps it
was almost superfluous for me to have taken any
lengthened notice of such a work as " Episcopacy by
Divine Right Asserted/' which, though now scarce,
ought to be in the hands of every individual, the
production of a man " whose praise is in all the
Churches." But the connexion which our great
Primate had with it, at whose instance and recom-
mendation it was exclusively undertaken, is a suffi-
cient apology for any prolixity of detail. It may be
observed here, that the Archbishop, who had always,
since his removal to the metropolitan see, presented
the King with a yearly account of his province,
1639.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 347
which he required from the clergy with great punc-
tuality, made this year the last of these reports. It
was signed by him, Jan .2, 1639, and countersigned
by the King, Feb. 10, 1639-40 l .
But, notwithstanding these noble exertions of the
Archbishop to support and strengthen the Church
over which he presided, the Puritan leaders were
no less indefatigable in laying their plans for its
overthrow. For this purpose, a lawyer of the Mid-
dle Temple, named Bagshaw, being chosen Reader
by the Temple Lawyers for the Lent vacation, be-
gan some discourses founded on the statute of 25th
Edward III. in which he questioned the right of
the Bishops to sit in Parliament as Lords Spiritual,
and also animadverted in severe terms on the High
Commission. No sooner had the Archbishop got
notice of this cunning and seditious plot, than he
informed the King, who gave orders to the Lord
Keeper to silence the Reader. Bagshaw, finding it
impossible to proceed, went to Lambeth, and gain-
ing admittance, he was informed by the Archbishop
that he had " fallen upon a subject neither safe nor
seasonable, which would stick closer to him than he
was aware." He began to defend and exonerate
himself in a sophistical manner, but the Archbishop
decided at once by a firm reply, " That his Majesty
was otherwise resolved in it, and that perhaps it
had been better for the Reader himself to have de-
sisted at first, than to have incurred his Majesty's
displeasure by that unseasonable adventure 2 ."
1 Remains, vol. i. p. 558 564. 2 Heylin, p. 38 1 383.
318 ^ IFE AND TIMES [1639.
Much has been already said about the Archbishop's
alleged inclination to Popery, nor do I intend at
this time to resume the subject, for the purpose of
vindicating him from the calumny. Except by a few
obstinate and ignorant enthusiasts, the charge is
now abandoned, and I anticipate the day as not far
distant when due honour will be done to the memory
of this illustrious, virtuous, and learned prelate.
Yet there is an anecdote related by Heylin, who was
himself a party in it, which it does not become me
to omit on this occasion. In the forcible though
quaint style of that learned writer, I lay it before
the reader. " In the November of this year," says
Heylin, tf I received a message from him to attend
him the next day, at two in the afternoon. The
key being turned which opened the way into his
study, I found him sitting in a chair with a paper in
his hand, and his eyes so fixed upon the paper that
he did not observe my entrance. Finding him in
that posture, I thought it fit manners to retire, but
the noise I made in my retreat rousing his atten-
tion, he recalled me unto him, and told me after a
short pause that he well remembered he had sent
for me, but he could not tell for his life what it was
about. After which he was pleased to say (not with-
out tears in his eyes), that he had then just received
a letter, acquainting him with the apostacy of a
person of quality in North Wales, to the Church of
Rome ; that he knew these frequent conversions
tending to the increase of Popery would be ascribed
to him and his brethren the bishops, who were least
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 349
guilty of the same ; that, for his part, he had done
his utmost, so far as was consistent with the rules of
prudence and the preservation of the Church, to
suppress that party, and to bring its leaders to con-
dign punishment. To the truth whereof, lifting up
his wet eyes to heaven, he took God to witness,
conjuring me, as I would answer it to God at the
day of judgment, that if ever I were promoted to
any of those places which he and his brethren, by
reason of their great age, were not likely long to
hold, I would employ the abilities which God had
given me to suppress the Romish party, who by
their open undertakings, and secret practices,
were likely to prove the ruin of this flourishing
Church 1 ."
We now, however, approach another important
period, namely, the year 1640. The rebellion of the
Scots, which it is foreign to my present purpose to
detailthoughout all its stages from the establishment
of the Covenant, was now assuming an alarming-
aspect, increased by the practices of the Puritan
schismatics in England, and also by the secret de-
signs of the Romish emissaries. Traquair had been
nominated the King's High Commissioner to Scot-
land, but the ambiguous conduct of that nobleman
laid him open to the suspicion that he was favourable
to the Presbyterian enthusiasts. The King, wearied
and mortified by his disappointments, resolved at
last to call 'a Parliament.
1 Heylin, p. 386, 387.
350 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
The first proposers of this Parliament were the
Archbishop/ of Canterbury, Went worth, now Earl
of Stafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and the
Marquis of Hamilton ; and at the same time it was
voted at the council table, that the King should be
assisted in every manner, if the Parliament should
prove refractory and refuse supplies l . This is a
remarkable fact, and tends at once to shew the
falsehood of the assertion, that it was the intention
of Laud and Wentworth to establish a despotism,
and to make the King independent of the people ;
for Laud was by no means ignorant of the feeling
which would most likely be displayed in the Parlia-
ment, since every day produced fresh libels against
him. Yet, in the midst of this opposition, we find
him the original mover for a Parliament, which in
all probability would contain a considerable number
of his avowed enemies. Is it possible, then, to con-
ceive, that the man who acted thus, in the view of
impending danger, (for certainly, had he consulted
his own interest, he would have deprecated such a
measure,) could be stimulated by any sinister motives
to enslave his country, or that he and Stafford were
in league to supplant the fundamental principles of
the constitution ? Here was a display of virtue ; a
preference of public good to private safety ; for let
it be recollected, too, that the very words which he
used at the Council Table, he having proposed that
extraordinary supplies should be voted if the Par-
1 Diary, p. 57. Troubles and Trials, p. 230.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 351
liament proved peevish, were afterwards imputed
to him as an enormous crime, and animadverted
upon with the usual display of Puritan illiberality
and intemperate malignity.
On the 13th of April, 1640, the Parliament as-
sembled, specifically called to consider Scottish
affairs. The opening sermon was preached by the
Bishop of Ely, and on the following day the Con-
vocation met in the chapter-house of St. Paul's.
The King, in a short speech to the Parliament, ac-
quainted them with the rebellious designs and pro-
ceedings of the Scottish Covenanters, and hoped that
their co-operation would not be wanting to reduce
them to obedience. Opposition, nevertheless, was
manifested from the first. Notwithstanding the
luminous speech of the Lord Keeper Finch, and the
urgent necessity of affairs, the Commons launched
out into the most extravagant complaints, and in-
sisted that their grievances should be redressed, and
a committee be appointed to investigate religion,
before any supplies could be granted to the King.
This was a sufficient proof to the Archbishop that
his ruin had been determined ' ; for, in their com-
mittee of religion, they would, as a matter of course,
commence a clamour against him, without investi-
gating the foundation of their opposition. This
they had done before, and the issue proved that
they were resolved still to proceed in the same
manner. It was to no purpose that they were told
by the King, that there was never a prince who had
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 230, 231.
352 LIFE AND TIMES [1040.
greater cause to call together his people than him-
self; they ^began to question the proceedings of the
last parliament, particularly the conduct of Sir John
Finch, the Speaker, and they had debated six days
on their own affairs, without considering the object
for which they were assembled. That they had
contrived the ruin of the Archbishop is undeniable,
and this they could not otherwise promote than in
their committee for religion. Strafford, also, was
not forgotten, and him they determined to look after
in due time. On the 24th of April, a discussion
arose in the House of Lords, whether the King's
affairs or the alleged grievance of the subject should
be first debated ; when the former was voted. This
gave great offence to the Commons ; they com-
menced a clamorous dispute about the violation of
their privileges, insisted that the House of Lords
had no right to vote supplies, and declared that they
would proceed in no business till they had received
satisfaction from the House of Peers, which they
demanded next day in a public conference. The
Upper House indeed made an apology, asserting,
that all supplies ought first to begin in the Com-
mons, and that, after being passed by the Peers, it
was the usual procedure to return the Bill to the
Lower House, who were then to present it to the
King by the Speaker. This, however, had no effect.
A committee was instantly appointed to examine
precedents, and in the mean time all business was
ordered to be suspended till that committee should
report.
1040.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 353
These ridiculous and unseasonable proceedings
could not fail to irritate the King. Those men
might hav known, that by their cunning delays
they were virtually involving the King in perplexing
difficulties ; in truth, they were guilty of openly
sanctioning that seditious and rebellious spirit which
it was their duty to suppress. After having sat three
weeks, the King made his last request through his
secretary, Sir Henry Vane, a man who has the in-
famous character of betraying his sovereign, of the
necessity for a sudden supply; a debate ensued,
which occupied two days, and the eloquence of
Glanville the Speaker had almost proved effectual,
when Vane, by a falsehood as bold as its malice was
unfathomable, frustrated every attempt towards a
compliance with the King's defriands. The temper
of the Parliament was now too evident, and on the
5th of May it was dissolved by royal proclamation.
The King afterwards published a vindication of him-
self, entitled, " His Majesty's Declaration to all his
Loving Subjects, of the causes which moved him to
dissolve the last Parliament," printed at London,
4to. 1640.
It is impossible to reflect on the proceedings of
this Parliament, without a feeling of grief for the
unhappy situation of the King. An assembly of
this kind the nation had not beheld foj many years ;
we are informed, indeed, that the people had almost
forgotten the nature and uses of that great delibe-
rative council, and now their expectations were
raised that harmony would be restored. Such,
VOL. n. A a
LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
1
however, was not the intention of the Puritan fac-
tion : their /agents, who sanctioned the Scottish re-
bellion, were busy in promoting their designs, and
the elections had been distinguished for more than
an ordinary display of fanatical violence. There is
not the slightest evidence to prove, that their de-
mands would not have been partly conceded, had
they first turned their attention to the King's
necessities ; even StrafFord, whose admirable govern-
ment of Ireland procured a vote of thanks from that
turbulent nation to the King, for placing over them
so just, wise, and vigilant a governor, had given his
advice that all ought to be relinquished, rather than
make a breach ; and this, at least, is evident, that
the King's subsidies ought first to have been consi-
dered, before they adventured, in those times of
hazard and distress, to discuss their own grievances,
one half of which were visionary, or to appoint com-
mittees on religion, thereby entering on a subject,
the opinions on which were multifarious, and on
which they had as little ability as legal right to
decide.
The Convocation, nevertheless, continued to sit,
but not before the Archbishop had satisfied himself
as to the legality of its continuance. For this he
had the authority of the Lord Keeper Finch, and
several other distinguished lawyers, and also a pre-
cedent in the Convocation of 1586. They had con-
tinued to sit, because, having agreed to aid the
King by six subsidies, payable in six years, amount-
ing in all to 120,000. the King was not in a situa-
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 355
tion to lose that sum. The Archbishop, indeed, had
resolved to dismiss the Convocation, and had ac-
tually sent to do so; but, recollecting that he had
not the King's writ to that effect, he found it ne-
cessary to be possessed of the same authority for
dismissing which he had for convening it; and
when he sought the King to issue the writ, he
received a reply that the subsidies could not be
lost, that its continuance was legal, and that it
could not be dissolved. Still the Archbishop was
not satisfied ; and well knowing the disposition of
the times towards him, it was not until he received
a document, signed by Finch, Manchester, Bram-
ton, Littleton, Whitfield, Bankes, and Heath, mem-
bers of the Privy Council, or barristers, that he
would proceed. This warrant testified, that the
Convocation called by the King's writ, under the
Great Seal, doth continue, until it be dissolved by
writ or commission under the Great Seal. " This
judgment," says the Archbishop, " of these great
lawyers, settled both Houses of Convocation, so we
proceeded according to the power given us under
the Broad Seal, as is required by the statute of 25th
Henry VIII. c. 19. In the Convocation thus con-
tinued, we made up our act complete for the gift of
six subsidies, according to ancient form in that be-
half, and delivered it under seal to his Majesty.
This passed, nemine refragante, as may appear,
apud acta. And we followed a precedent in Arch-
bishop Whitgift's time, anno 1586, who was known
to be a wise and a prudent prelate, and a man not
A a 2
35G LIFE AND TIMES , [1640.
given to do boisterous things, against the laws of
the realm, and the prerogative of the crown V
In this Convocation seventeen canons were passed,
which, as Lord Clarendon observes, (as formerly
quoted) bear more against Socinianism than the
acts of any other Christian assembly. They were
published in 4to. this year, under the authority of
the Great Seal, and are entitled, " Constitutions
and Canons Ecclesiastical, treated upon by the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Presidents of
the Convocations for the respective Provinces of
Canterbury and York, and the rest of the Bishops
and Clergy of those Provinces," and are accompa-
nied by a royal proclamation. The titles of the seve-
ral heads are, 1. Concerning regal power. 2. For
the better keeping of the day of his Majesty's most
happy inauguration. 3. For suppressing the growth
of Popery. 4. Against Socinianism, which is termed
a " damnable and cursed heresy," a " wicked and
blasphemous heresy." 5. Against sectaries, to-wit,
" Anabaptists, Brownists, Separatists, Familists, or
other sect or sects." 6. An oath enjoined for
the preventing of all innovations in doctrine and
government 2 . 7. A declaration concerning some
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 79, 80.
2 Ecclesiastical Canons, 4to. London, 1640. p. 33, 34. "I,
A. B. do swear, that I approve the doctrine and discipline, or go-
vernment, established in the Church of England, as containing
all things necessary to salvation. And that I will not endeavour
by myself, or any other, directly or indirectly, to bring in any
Popish doctrine, contrary to that which is established. Nor will
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 357
rites and ceremonies. 8. Of preaching for con-
formity. 9. One Book of Articles to be used at all
parochial visitations. 10. Concerning the conse-
cration of the clergy. 11. Chancellors' patents.
12. Chancellors alone not to censure any of the
clergy in sundry cases. 13. Excommunication and
absolution not to be pronounced but by a priest.
14. Concerning commutations, and the disposal of
them. 15. Touching concurrent jurisdictions. 16.
Concerning licences to marry. 17. Against vexa-
tious citations l .
The Convocation sat till the 29th of May, and rose
after establishing these canons, a subscription to which
was scrupled by the Bishop of Gloucester. Though
these canons are not only judicious, but positively
unobjectionable, yet they occasioned much trouble to
the Archbishop, and many specimens of Puritan rhe-
toric against them and the oath were exhibited in the
I ever give my consent to alter the government of this Church,
by Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, and Archdeacons, &c. as it
stands now established, and as by right it ought to stand, nor yet
ever to subject it to the usurpations and superstitions of the See
of Rome. And these things I do plainly and sincerely acknow-
ledge and swear, according to the plain and common sense and
understanding of the same words, without any equivocation or
mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. And this I do
heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the faith of a Christian. So
help me God, and Jesus Christ."
See Ecclesiastical Canons, 4to. 1640. Collier's Ecclesias-
tical Hist. vol. ii. Nalson's Collections, vol. i. p. 545. As also,
" A Grant of the Benevolence or Contribution of the Clergy of
the Province of Canterbury." 4to. London, 1640.
358 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
ensuing Parliament, which passed an act declaring
them illegaji and void, as containing in them " many
matters contrary to the King's prerogative, to the
fundamental laws and statutes of the realm, to the
right of Parliament, to the property and liberty of
the subject, and matters tending to sedition and
of dangerous consequence V But nothing could be
more absurd than this censure, for, in reality, they
were so condemned, because it had previously been
resolved to condemn them; and, so far fr&m contain-
ing any thing contrary to the laws, had the religious
zealots only studied them, they would have found
them strictly guarding the rights of the subject and
the welfare of religion. But in those wretched times
the Puritans had not learned moderation. Nay, so
admirable were they thought by some, that one of
the most violent opposers of the ship-money blessed
God that he had lived to see such good effects of a
Convocation. Yet they were afterwards imputed to
the Archbishop as a heinous crime ; and his enemies,
not content with this, gave him the whole credit for
the Parliament's hasty dissolution, ' ' of which," says
he emphatically, " I was not guilty." Their charge
was, that he had voted subsidies to the King in the
Convocation ; and it availed not to tell them that the
act was not his, but that of the whole Convocation,
for which he had sufficient warrant. Concerning
the canons, he thus forcibly remarks : " If by any
inadvertency, or human frailty, any thing erroneous
1 Rushworth, vol. iii. p, 1365.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 359
or unfit has stepped into these Canons, I humbly
beseech your Lordships to remember that it is an Ar-
ticle of the Church of England that General Coun-
cils may err, (Art. XI.) and therefore this national
synod may mistake." " As for the oath/' says he
in another place, " so bitterly spoken of at the bar,
and in the Articles, either it was made according to
law, or we were wholly misled by precedent, and
that, too, as had never been excepted against in any
former time. For in the canons passed during the
reign of King James, there was an oath made against
simony, (Can. 40.) an oath for church-wardens,
(Can. 8.) an oath about licences for marriages, (Can.
103.) and an oath for judges in ecclesiastical courts,
(Can. 127.) and some of these oaths as dangerous
as this is reckoned, yet established by no other
authority than these ; while neither these canons
nor oaths were ever declared illegal by any ensuing
parliament, nor the framers of them accused of any
crime, much less of treason V
The charge, however, resolved itself generally
into this, that it was against law for the Convoca-
tion to sit when the Parliament was dissolved.
Now, as the Archbishop himself remarked, this was
not the fact, for the Bishops were summoned to the
Convocation by a different writ from that which
called them to Parliament. If it be granted, as
indeed it must, that the power of dissolving the
Parliament rests in the King ; that it can neither
1 History of Troubles, p. 71), 80, 81.28028-1.
7
360 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
meet until summoned by a formal writ, and cannot
sit without /rebellion after it is prorogued or dis-
solved, nor discontinue its sittings except by the
same authority, it follows, that the same power can
be exercised over the Convocation, which, though
an ecclesiastical or spiritual assembly, yet, as com-
posed of men who are still the subjects of civil go-
vernment, is also under the same control. If the
King found it ncessary to dissolve the Parliament
for injudicious conduct, it does not follow that he
ought to have dissolved the Convocation, the mem-
bers of which did not imitate the Parliament. It is
clear that the Convocation could not discontinue its
sittings, till dismissed by the same authority which
permitted it to assemble ; and the anxiety of the
Archbishop to know whether or not the clergy were
acting legally, is sufficient evidence of the malice of
the accusation against him. If there was an error,
(which remains to be proved,) the error rested with
the King, who withheld the writ under the Great
Seal, not with the clergy, many of whom had consi-
derable scruples ; and not so much with the King,
who had a right to prolong the Convocation till the
subsidies were arranged, as with those legal advisers
whose names, along with that of the Lord Keeper
Finch, are affixed to the warrant transmitted to the
Archbishop for the continuance of the Convocation.
To this it may be answered, that, after the disso-
lution of the Parliament, the Convocation had no
right to enact canons, and that these were not valid
without the ratification of Parliament. But this is
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 361
saying that the Convocation was under the control
of Parliament, and could do nothing but what the
latter pleased ; an assertion which is characteristic
of those who would arrogate to parliaments those
monstrous powers which would, if possible, trample
on the prerogatives inherent in the throne. It is
not denied that the acts of the Convocation must
necessarily be sanctioned by the national assembly,
but certainly those acts only which tend to mate-
rial alterations in the ecclesiastical constitution. For
the alteration of the Church from Episcopacy to any
species of sectarianism, whether Presbyterianism,
Independency, or Popery, is a very different thing
from enacting Canons against Socianism, Popery,
and the other subjects to which these seventeen Ca-
nons relate. In the one case, the sanction of par-
liament is indispensable, because there is a change
affecting the community at large ; in the other, the
royal sanction is all that is required, because these
Canons are enacted on the received doctrines of the
Church. The Convocation was strictly as inde-
pendent as the Parliament, both existing by the same
authority, that of the King. Hence, the former
court was only recognizable by Parliament, when its
members presumed to alter the constitution of the
Church, which, of course, had a civil tendency ; or
to introduce new doctrines, such as had never been
received or ratified by the Parliament at any for-
mer period. In the present case, therefore, it was
not against law to sit after the dissolution of Pur-
3(j-2 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
liament, and it was malevolent in the extreme to
charge it upon the Archbishop. It must not be
forgotten that the parliaments of this reign assumed
the most unwarrantable powers ; that it is compa-
ratively of little importance whether tyranny be
exercised by one individual or a body of individuals,
if unhappily it be exercised; and we have abundant
evidence in the case of the Long Parliament, that
a national assembly, when it sets at defiance the
salutary restraints of law, can exhibit one of the
most perfect specimens of tumultuous despotism
which the page of history records. The intention
of such men, in plain language, is to contract the
regal power for the purpose of extending their
own.
One remark more respecting the Canons. They
received the approbation of the Privy Council, were
subscribed by the two Houses of Convocation, (ac-
companied by thirty-six protests,) and also by the
Convocation of the province of York, and then ra-
tified under the Great Seal. Neal, the Puritan his-
torian, asserts, that in the canon against Socinianism,
those heretics are not once mentioned. This, how-
ever, is wilful perversion of language. The pro-
noun they under the canon " against Socinianism,"
cannot be misunderstood. That writer, as well as
Hume, ridicules the fyc. in the oath, as unintelli-
gible. This too is sophistical quibbling. It means
as a matter of course, the Church of England as
governed by archbishops, bishops, &c., which Lord
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 363
Digby well understood, when in an inflammatory
and fanatical speech, he termed it " the bottomless
perjury of an et cetera?
The feeling, however, entertained by the sedi-
tious enthusiasts against the Archbishop, was not to
be silenced by reason and moderation. He was
charged with being the sole cause of the Parliament's
dissolution; whereas, he had hardly a single vote
in the measure; which he offered to prove on his
trial, but which his enemies of course prohibited.
For the Lords of the Council were summoned, as he
himself tells us, by the King, and on Tuesday, the
5th of May, they met in the Council-Chamber, at
six in the morning. The Archbishop was warned to
be in attendance from Lambeth at seven o'clock, by
a mistake of the messenger, who ought to have sum-
moned him at six, which he also offered to prove,
but was as usual refused. When he did arrive, he
found the resolutions already taken : Lord Cot-
tington being in the middle of his speech when the
Archbishop entered. " All votes," says he, " con-
curred by the ending of that Parliament save two :
the persons dissenting were the Earls of Northum-
berland and Holland. I co-operated nothing to
this breach but my single vote V
Yet on the following day, libels were exhibited
against the Archbishop in various parts of London 2 .
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 78, 79.
" Libels were set up in divers parts of the city, animating
and calling together Apprentices and others to come and meet in
LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
The furious and seditious Lilburne caused a paper to
be posted op the Old Exchange, on the 9th of May,
inciting the Apprentices of London to attack and
burn Lambeth Palace on the following Monday;
and the members of the Convocation were in such
continual danger of being drawn out during their
sittings, and butchered by the rabble, that it was
found necessary to place a guard at Westminster
Abbey, where they were sitting. On Monday, May
llth, the day mentioned by Lilburne, about 500
persons assembled, and proceeded to Lambeth, but
the Archbishop, having had previous notice of their
atrocious intentions, secured the Palace as well as he
could, and retired for a few days to his apartments at
Whitehall ; otherwise he would have been undoubt-
edly sacrificed to their rage. The next day, he
procured some pieces of cannon, which he planted
at the great gate of the Palace, and at other places
opening towards the garden, to serve as objects of
terror, lest another attack should be meditated.
Some of the rioters were apprehended, and com-
mitted to Southwark prison ; but, three days after,
the confederates assembled, broke open the prison,
and set their associates at liberty. One, however, was
taken, and it having been proved that the rioters
assembled with unlawful intentions by beat of drum,
he was condemned for treason, May 21, on the
statute of 25 Edward III. and was hanged, drawn,
St. George's Fields, for the Hunting of William the Fox, for the
breach of the Parliament."
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 365
and quartered ; which seasonable punishment put
an end to the insurrection '.
The libels against the Archbishop, however, were
not restrained by the punishment of this seditious
rioter. The Covenanting rebels of Scotland ad-
vanced into England, allured by the Puritan faction
with a promise that Presbyteranism would become
the established form of the Church of England ;
and the King proceeded against them, bravely en-
countering the almost overwhelming difficulties in
which he was involved. This expedition ended in
the treaty of Ripon. In the mean time, during the
King's absence, a libel was found in Covent Garden,
on the 22d of August, inciting the soldiers and ap-
prentices to fall upon the Archbishop. It produced,
however, no commotion, the rabble being probably
restrained by the terrors of justice. On the 21st
of September he also received a letter signed by a
person unknown, in which the writer intimated, that
while he was travelling through the Bishopric of
Durham, he heard it openly declared by the Cove-
nanters, that they hoped to see him shortly meet the
dark fate of the Duke of Buckingham ; and the writer
concluded by advising him to be on his guard.
Fearing that the rabble would give him another visit
at Lambeth Palace, he ordered the High Commis-
sion Court to assemble at St. Paul's. His appre-
hensions were not groundless ; for on the 22d of
October, about 2000 fanatics, named Brownists, or
1 Heylin, p. 424, 425. Diary, p. 57, 58. Nalson, vol. i.
folio, London, 1682, p. 343, 344.
360 MFE AND TIMES , [1640.
Independents and Anabaptists, commenced a tumul-
tuous uproap in the Court, destroyed the benches
in the Consistory, and exclaimed that they would
have no Bishops, no High Commission. Here, also,
it was found necessary to station a guard to repel
the furious Puritans, who had now, observes Hey-
lin, " grown so audacious in these disorders, partly
from the near approach of the Parliament, but
principally by the invasion of the Scots, that they
contemned the law, and defied the magistrates V
These were all sufficient indications to the Arch-
bishop of his approaching ruin, and indeed he
seems to have been long aware that he would fall
a victim to fanatical schism and rebellion, and to
have prepared himself for it with heroic fortitude.
" Now verging," says his chaplain, " towards the
age of seventy years, the period which the Psalmist
has assigned to the life of man, there wanted not
many sad presages of his fall and death." Long had
his ruin been meditated by the Puritans. From
the first moment of his entrance into public life,
their persecutions and calumnies had been bitter
and unrelenting. His enemies were many and power-
ful : the faction to which they adhered every day ac-
quiring strength by the wild fanaticism and rebel-
lion engendered by the northern Covenanters. The
whole of the Puritans were arrayed against him,
whether Presbyterians, Anabaptists, Independents,
Familists, Gospellers : the Jesuits, too, had in-
trigued against him who was the greatest enemy
1 Heylin, p. 125. Diary, p. 58, 59. Whitclock, p. 34, 35.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 367
which Rome ever had since the days of Luther ; and
Puritans, Monks, and Covenanters, all united in
one common cause. Many of the nobility, and al-
most the whole of the Scottish nation were leagued
against him ; several of whom forgot the signal ser-
vices he had rendered them, in their haste to exult
ingloriously over the ruin of an upright man, vene-
rable from his age, his virtues, and the sanctity of
his Episcopal character. The Puritans, who charged
him with what they were pleased to term innova-
tions in religion, and who falsely alleged that he
was the original promoter of the troubles, because
he had so often restrained their seditious practices :
the Jesuits, because his vigorous conduct had de-
feated their designs, and his learning had produced
a volume which Rome has felt, and will never cease
to feel, while she retains her deluding superstitions
and her destructive politics : the nobility, because
his integrity made him disdain the petty artifices of
courts, and the dastardly intrigues of faction, and
because his zeal for justice sometimes transported
him into an incautious and hasty warmth of expres-
sion, by which he refused to listen to the insinua-
tions of corruption : and, finally, the Scottish Co-
venanters, among whom the Calvinistic tenets had
widely spread, exasperated because they conceived
him to be the main instrument in maintaining the
apostolical order of the Scottish Church, and falsely
charging him with the composition and introduc-
tion of that admirable Liturgy, which the misera-
ble old women, stimulated by Henderson, Dickson,
LIFE AND TIMES , [1640.
Cant, and others, were the ignoble and inglorious
agents in Defeating by riot, tumult, profanation,
and rebellion. All these, dissimilar and opposite as
they were in their sentiments and dispositions, com-
bined together for the destruction of this great and
illustrious man.
These portentous appearances could not fail to
fill the mind of the venerable Primate with appre-
hensions, and the pious ejaculations in his Diary
sufficiently evince his composure, notwithstanding
the disasters he had in prospect. Yet these appear-
ances indicated not the ruin of this venerable man
alone. The Church of England was identified with
him that Church whose welfare he had so much at
heart; the holy doctrines and apostolical constitution
of which it had been invariably his endeavour to
maintain ; day and night had this Church been the
object of his solicitude; for it he had shed tears in
public and in private ; " a glorious fabric," says
Echard, " which, with frequent repairings, had
stood the full age of mankind, fourscore years, with
all the appearance of strength and firmness ; but
now its ruin began to be apparent, hastened by the
unskilfulness of the late artificers, and the treachery
of some of the workmen, as well as all the violent
attacks from without."
If, in recording the actions of the now venerable
Laud, it be lawful, without incurring the charge of
weakness, to notice other appearances which indi-
cated his misfortunes and his martyrdom ; these, it
appears, were not wanting, nor did they fail, in this
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 369
his present state of excitement, to make an impres-
sion upon his mind. It has indeed been thence
insinuated, from certain entries in the Diary, that
in private he was superstitious to excess, and that
his notations of dreams and other occurrences prove
his mental failings. To remind such persons of the
dreams and visions of the night, through which the
Divine Being revealed his will to his ancient ser-
vants under the Old Testament ritual, would per-
haps call forth a profane sneer and attack on divine
revelation itself : and yet there are times when even
a dream can rouse the fears of the most courageous.
The Archbishop himself says, while he has noted the
remarkable dream he had of his father, Jan. 24, 1639,
who appeared, and beckoned him away, that, though
he was not moved with dreams, he thought fit to
remember it. On another occasion, he has thus
written : " October 27, (1640,) Tuesday, St. Si-
mon and St. Jude's eve, I went into my upper study
to see some MSS. which I was sending to Oxford.
In that study hung my picture, taken to the life,
and entering, I found it fallen down upon the face,
and lying on the floor, the string being broken by
which it was suspended against the wall." Then fol-
lows a remark, which even a stoic philosopher might
have made on this unexpected circumstance, and in
the Archbishop's peculiar situation, without incur-
ring the censures of his sect " I am almost every
day threatened with my ruin in Parliament, God
grant this be no omen." Here, surely, there was no
VOL. II. B b
370 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
superstitious leaning to what are termed omens ;
the remark was natural and consistent.
It may be replied, that the Archbishop's conduct
in this respect was weak and unworthy of him : but
to this it is answered, that allowances must be made
for the age, nor do I pretend to say that he was free
from mental failings. This, however, is no proof of
weakness, nor does it justify the sneer of ridicule ;
still less does it prove that his religion was mixed
with superstition. It is admitted that these remarks
in his Diary are to be accounted for from his excite-
ment of mind, from which no man can always claim
exemption ; but there is riot the slightest evidence
that Laud was ever a believer in supernatural ap-
pearances. The insinuation is a libel on the me-
mory of a great man ; and it must not be forgotten,
that his enemies, the Papists, and the so much com-
mended Puritans and Covenanters, were believers
in the most extravagant supernatural absurdities
witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, and every ridi-
culous superstition, being equally received by their
credulity. And who will pretend to charge that re-
ligion which Laud professed as tinctured with super-
stition? The greatest men are liable to peculiar
failings in this state of imperfection : the recording,
magnifying, exulting in them, and drawing unwar-
rantable inferences from them, though set off by
an affected display of enlightened feelings, are the
certain characteristics of a weak and pusillanimous
mind. Finally, and chiefly, it must not be for-
7
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 371
gotten, that the Puritans themselves were the prin-
cipal observers of, and believers in, those occurrences,
which they afterwards remembered as signs from
Heaven of the Archbishop's fall, and which afforded
themes for their poets, and their fanatic preachers.
In this respect Heylin himself has been misled. On
the 27th of December, 1639, a violent storm arose,
which made havoc among the boats on the Thames.
One of the Archbishop's servants was fortunately
detained from home in London, for the wind blew
down two chimnies above his chamber, which would
infallibly have killed him by the fall. On that
night, too, a pinnacle fell from the steeple of Croy-
don church, and beat in the roof; damage was
also done to the Cathedral at Canterbury, as also
in various places of the kingdom ; yet a furious
enthusiast, whom the learned Henry Wharton well
termed a " notorious villain," in that lying and
scandalous pamphlet of his, entitled, " Cathedral
Newes from Canterbury," (published in 4to.
London, 1644,) has the impiety to assert, that
these were all judgments sent from Heaven on the
Archbishop, to indicate his fate. Prynne, in his
Breviat, not unwillingly copied Culmer's falsehoods,
which misled Heylin in many particulars.
But not one of the least of the Archbishop's mis-
fortunes this year was the death of his venerable
friend, and the patron of his fortunes, Dr. Richard
Neile, Archbishop of York. This singularly virtu-
ous and pious prelate had been his friend and con-
fident on every emergency, had co-operated with
B b 2
372 LIFE AND TIMES > [1640.
him in every plan for the welfare of the Church
and the advancement of religion ; and Laud had
repaid his kindness by many signal acts of grati-
tude. This venerable prelate died, full of years and
honour, only three days before the meeting of the
Long Parliament happy, since he lived not to wit-
ness the misfortunes of the primate, and the down-
fall of the Church, happy, too, since he witnessed
not the disasters of a prince whom he loved, and
the persecutions . of the clergy, to whom he had
been invariably a kind and lenient governor, the
overthrow of primitive order and civil government,
the triumph of fanaticism, hypocrisy, and rebellion.
His merits had procured for him remarkable pro-
motions. " He had passed," says a writer, " through
all the degrees and orders of the Church of Eng-
land, having been schoolmaster, curate, vicar, par-
son, chaplain, Master of the Savoy, Dean of West-
minster, Clerk of the Closet to two kings, succes-
sively Bishop of Rochester, Lichfield and Coventry,
Lincoln, Durham, and Winchester, and finally
Archbishop of York." The end of this excellent
prelate was peaceful and affecting, imploring a
blessing on the Church which he loved, and on the
doctrines which it had received. Well was it, indeed,
for those who died at the verge of this unnatural
ferment, while the clouds of rebellion were lowering
over our constitution, ready to burst with over-
whelming violence, when the chilling and pernicious
blasts blew fearfully from the North.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 373
CHAPTER XX.
16401641.
Meeting of the Long Parliament Proceedings of the members
Their practices against the Archbishop Impeachment of
Str afford Impeachment and flight of Lord Keeper Finch and
Secretary Windebanke Arrest of Strafford Examination of
the Archbishop Deprivation of the Bishops Debates on the
Canons Practices of the Scottish Presbyterians Impeach-
ment of the Archbishop Speeches of various members of the
Commons Arrest of the Archbishop Remarkable injustice
of his enemies Articles exhibited against the Archbishop
The Primate's reply His defence His committal to the
Tower Practices of the Puritans Their libellous publica-
tions Farther injustice of the Archbishop's enemies Aspect
of the Times.
WE have now arrived at the era of the Long Par-
liament that republican assembly, the leaders
of which began their iniquity by murdering the
noble Strafford, and the venerable Laud, and com-
pleted their crimes by the murder of their sove-
reign, the overthrow of the constitution, the esta-
blishment of usurpation and popular despotism.
My details, however, are now drawing to a close :
and I strictly confine myself to the Archbishop's
misfortunes, and to his tragical end ; feeling assured
that there are few who, after a candid investigation
374 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
of Archbishop Laud's conduct and care for religion,
will refuse the tear of sympathy for his fate, or deny
him the appellation given him by the learned Henry
Wharton, who has appropriately termed him " that
blessed saint and martyr, William Laud."
" See the world's glory once now sits forlorn,
Exposed to foreign and domestic scorn
Britannia, who so many foes withstood,
Her bowels torn by her own viperous brood.
Her sons, most damnably religious grown,
Canted the Diadem and Mitre down,
And zealously usurp'd both Church and Crown.
Behold the axe, stained with the royal gore,
A crime unknown to Pagans heretofore ;
Whence they their own fanatic zeal applaud
On loyal Strafford and on pious Laud V
Previous, however, to this meeting, the public
mind had been wrought up to the highest pitch of
excitement. A parliament, summoned at such an
emergency, and while the nation resounded with
discontent and clamour, was sure to employ men's
eager expectations "a parliament," says Mr. Hume,
" which, from the situation of public affairs, could
not be abruptly dissolved, and which was to execute
every thing left unfinished by former parliaments :
these views, so important and interesting, engaged
the attendance of all the members, and the House
of Commons was never observed to be, from the
beginning, so numerous and frequent V
1 Nalson.
3 Hume's History, vol. vi. p. 367, edit. 1773. London.
*640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 875
The most vigorous preparations had been made
towards a change of government. Pym, Hampden,
and others, entertaining an implacable hatred to-
wards the Court, had long watched with secret sa-
tisfaction the progress of opposition. Their ambi-
tion having been disappointed in their attempts to
be employed in offices of trust, and imagining them-
selves injured by some proceedings against them,
which their turbulence had made necessary, it was
natural for those men to league with the factious,
and to plot the destruction of those in autho-
rity. For this purpose Hampden had proceeded
yearly to Scotland, and Pym made a like excursion
through the English counties ; private meetings
had been held to mature their schemes, and the
elections exhibited those appearances of faction
which demagogues study to promote when they
would inflame the passions of the people. Religion
was their principal pretence ; and the answer of
Hampden is a complete index to their designs,
who, when asked by a friend why they pretended
religion, when liberty, property, and temporal mat-
ters, were their real objects, replied, " Should we
not use the pretence of religion, the people would
not be persuaded to assist us."
It is needless, however, to comment at large on
the characters of those Parliamentary Reformers.
While some of them were undeniably distinguished
men, they had all proceeded to Parliament with
their prejudices deeply rooted, resolved to accom-
plish their dark designs, without regard to principle
376 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
or rectitude. Lenthall, a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn,
was chosen speaker, who was influenced more by the
command of the King to accept the office, than by
any desire of his own 1 . Four days had the Commons
sat discussing smaller matters, when at once the
storm arose, couched in the language of complaints
and grievances.
As in those days a Committee for Religion was
reckoned indispensably necessary by the Parliament,
that Committee was speedily appointed. A similar
Committee was also appointed for Irish affairs. Pe-
titions were forthwith presented from the enthu-
siasts, whose sedition had involved them in punish-
ment and exile, from Leighton, Bastwick, Prynne,
Burton, and Lilburne ; those grand incendiaries,
doubtless, well knowing the disposition of the Par-
liament. Various harangues were afterwards deli-
vered by the Reformers. Pym commenced the dark
proceedings by an oration of two hours, which > he
divided into three heads, and reduced, like the ser-
mons of the Puritans, to numerous subdivisions.
Sir Benjamin Rudyard followed, and commented
on " innovations in religion," and was followed in
the same strain by other members. After appoint-
ing some other committees, they resorted to their
usual expedient a fast ; thus prostituting that re-
ligion, which is long-suffering and gentleness, to
cover their hypocrisy, and those designs which they
had fostered, and contrived to promote.
1 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i. p. M, 15, 16.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 377
The Archbishop had long been aware that his ruin
was determined ; but the first decided intimation
was given in the speech of Sir Edward Bering, his
bitter enemy, who hoped " by the help of the House,
that before the year terminated, his Grace would
either have more grace, or no grace at all ; for our
manifold griefs," said he, " do fill a mighty and vast
circumference, yet so, that from every part our lives
of sorrow do lead to him, and point at him the
centre, whence our miseries in this Church, and
many of them in the Commonwealth, do flow."
But this was a matter which required their cautious
dexterity, and, therefore, as a prelude to their designs
for destroying the King's ministers, they entered
upon a business " which may be regarded," says
Hume, " as decisive."
This was the impeachment of the Earl of Strafford.
That distinguished statesman had made himself
peculiarly obnoxious to the faction by his loyalty.
By an unfortunate combination, he was beheld by
the three nations at once as a capital enemy. So
implacable were the Scots against him, that they
had actually refused to send commissioners to treat
with the King at York, because they saw him lieute-
nant-general of the royal forces. For eight years
he had governed Ireland with boldness, prudence,
and activity ; he had repressed numerous disorders
in that turbulent kingdom ; he had compelled the
Scots of Ulster to renounce their idol, the Covenant ;
he had proclaimed the Covenanters rebels and trai-
tors ; and, by his indefatigable exertions, had sus-
378 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
tained the dignity of the crown at the hazard of his
life. He hacj been urged by the King to appear in
Parliament much against his inclinations; and he
was only persuaded by the repeated entreaties of his
royal master, who declared to him, that he was able
to protect him from danger, and that the Parlia-
ment should not touch a hair of his head.
The faction had been long sensible of Stafford's
abilities, and this made its leaders declare, that if they
could persuade the King to part with him, he would
deny them nothing. Accordingly, on the llth of
November, a concerted attack was made against
him in the House of Commons by Pym, as soon as
his arrival in London was known. The debate was
carried on with closed doors, nor would they admit
a messenger from the Peers, because they were at
that time, they said, employed in the agitation of
weighty and important business ; and it was finally
moved, that Lord Digby, Sir John Clotworthy, Sir
Walter Erie, Pym, St. John, Strode, Grimston, and
Hampden, be appointed a committee to prepare his
impeachment in the House of Lords.
In the mean time they continued their practices
against the Archbishop . Secretary Windebanke was
accused, and he probably saved his life by flight. Sir
George Radcliffe was committed to prison, and nu-
merous clergymen, among whom was Heylin, were
severally served with articles of impeachment. Nor
was the Lord Keeper Finch forgotten. He was
impeached of high treason, and, perhaps, escaped
the block by a timely retreat to Holland.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 379
At the appointment of a sub-committee for reli-
gion, Sir Edward Bering again commenced a furious
harangue against the Archbishop, in which he was
followed by Sir John Wray l . But the indications
of the Archbishop's ruin were farther evident from
Stafford's fate. No sooner had that nobleman been
introduced into the House of Peers and taken his
seat, than Pym carried up the impeachment to the
Lords, and Stafford, unprepared for this speedy
prosecution, was immediately ordered into custody.
Having thus secured Strafford, their attention
was next directed to the Archbishop, first, to pro-
hibit him from the King's councils, then to confine
him to his diocese, and lastly, to deprive him of his
authority. Five days after the committal of Straf-
ford, the Archbishop's old enemy,* the Bishop of
Lincoln, not long afterwards promoted to the Arch-
bishopric of York, was released from the Tower, and
restored to his place in the House of Peers, at the
secret instigation of the faction, who imagined they
would find in him an able auxiliary. Prynne, Bur-
ton, and Bastwick were also recalled from exile.
Those incendiaries entered London amidst the ap-
plauses of thousands, who, in the height of their
seditious zeal, celebrated this inflammatory triumph
by bitter exclamations against the Bishops for so
unmercifully persecuting those godly men !
On the 4th of December the Archbishop was ex-
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. .538 540. Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i.
p. 55, 56.
380 LIFE AND TIMES [1G40.
amined in Stratford's case, who had by this time
been committed to the Tower. A motion had been
previously made, that no bishops should have any
vote in the present case, under the pretence that,
by virtue of their office, as is set forth in some an-
cient canons, they were prohibited, because it was
in causa sanguims. This was a crafty expedient,
and sufficiently indicated the contrivances of the
faction ; for though the prelates, by asserting their
peerage, were under no such restraint, and though
they were entitled, as spiritual peers, to judge in all
civil cases which came before the House of Lords,
yet the incendiaries were uncertain as to the issue
of these proceedings if their votes were allowed.
Moreover, they had matured a bill both against
bishops, and their right to seats in the Upper House;
thereby manifestly setting the law of England at
defiance, and rendering all preceding parliaments
illegal; for nothing can be more evident than the
position, that if an individual votes on any question
when he is not qualified, although the act passes
.into a law, still that law is abrogated, by the dis-
qualification of the voter. Here then was a most
cunning expedient. It at once declared all the
former parliaments of England to be illegal, because
there never had been a parliament in which the
bishops did not sit, their seats being as legal and
fundamental as those of the lords temporal ; an ab-
rogation, in short, of the great Charter of English
liberty, which has made the summoning of the spi-
ritual peers inseparable from the constitution of the
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 381
monarchy, and the privileges of the Upper House.
But this scheme could not be managed at once, and
therefore the seditious reformers thought it more
advisable to commence with these exceptions, which,
if they received the King's consent, as in this case
they did, would pave the way for the accomplish-
ment of their ultimate designs.
But while they were thus aiming their deadly
blows at the foundation of the monarchy, though
ostensibly against Strafford and Laud, and setting
forth their cant and hypocrisy in a paper entitled,
" A Particular of the manifold evils, pressures,
grievances, carried, practised, and occasioned by the
prelates and their dependents 1 /' on the 14th of
December and two following days, they began to
debate on the late Convocation and Canons ; and
their harangues were expressed in language abound-
ing with more than ordinary violence. On the 16th,
these were condemned as contrary to the laws of the
constitution, " the rights of Parliament, the pro-
perty and liberty of the subject," and as containing
" matters tending to sedition, and of dangerous con-
sequence." On this occasion a committee was ap-
pointed to consider and examine who were the pro-
moters of the new canons, and who the principal
actors ; " and to consider, in particular, how far the
Archbishop of Canterbury hath been an actor in all
the proceedings of them, and in the great design of
1 Nalson's Collections, vol. i. p. 164, 665. (the pages here
are erroneously numbered). Rushworth, Par iii. vol. i. p.
9396.
382 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
the subversion of the laws of the realm, and of the
religion ; and/ to prepare and to draw up a charge
against him and such others as shall appear of-
fenders V
The venerable Primate's fate was now decided; as
indeed it had been previously concerted with that of
Strafford. This committee was to inquire into all
his actions, he was held to be the author of the
Canons, and a " subverter of religion." Here, in
the first instance, there was manifest injury done
him, because every individual of the Convocation,
whose signature was affixed, was as criminal (if
crime there was) as the Archbishop ; and, secondly,
the sages who composed this committee were his pro-
fessed enemies, who had previously ascribed to him
the whole odium of the Canons, and, consequently,
incapable of judging with impartiality. It is alleged
by Heylin, that at first his enemies designed nothing
farther than to confine him to his diocese, to pro-
hibit him from attending the royal councils, that
they aimed not at his life but at his removal ; and
the Archbishop seems to have been so persuaded,
as he himself informed that writer 2 . I confess I
cannot agree with this opinion. For when we con-
sider all the injurious libels circulated against him,
the speeches of the members of this Parliament, in
which their dark practices were fully indicated, the
remark of Prynne in the Tower, that the Archbishop
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. 679, 680. Rushworth, ut sup. p. 100
113. Diary, p. 59, 60. Heylin, p. 434, 435.
81 Heylin, p. 435.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 383
would yet be a prisoner in that very place, which he
hoped to see, in short, the motion of some, at the
appointment of this committee, to have the Arch-
bishop impeached without any further ceremony,
doubtless anticipating that he would accompany
Strafford to the scaffold ; I cannot help being per-
suaded, that his death had been determined, and
that these were only gradual steps towards its ac-
complishment l .
This appears farther evident from the fact, that
on this very day the Archbishop was impeached by
the Scottish Commissioners in the House of Lords as
an incendiary, in the prelude to their false and hypo-
critical paper, entitled, " The Charge of the Scottish
Commissioners against the Prelate of Canterbury."
This paper, as I have already said, is answered in
every paragraph by the venerable Primate himself,
in the affecting " History of his own Troubles and
Trials 2 ," and therefore I need not enlarge upon it ;
suffice it to say, that " the novations in religion,"
according to those enthusiasts, were, " 1. Some
particular alterations in matters of religion, pressed
upon us without order, and against law, contrary
to the forms established in our Kirk. 2. A new
book of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical.
3. A Liturgy, or Book of Common Prayer, which
did also carry many dangerous errors in matters of
doctrine ; with all which we challenge the Prelate of
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. 630. * History, ut sup. 87 143.
384 LIFE AND TIMES > [1640.
Canterbury as the prime cause on earth V Could
it be possible that the faction in the Commons knew
nothing of this charge, or \vhen it was to be made ?
Had they no conversation with the Commissioners ?
Did they proceed to the Upper House of their own
accord, without informing their partisans of their
intentions ? Nay, it is beyond a doubt, since the
charge was produced in writing, that it was pre-
viously concerted amongst them, because it contains
a singular mixture of Puritan and Covenanting zeal.
I maintain that the charge was not written in Scot-
land ; and that the fanatics wished to involve the
Archbishop in Strafford's ruin. This is evident
from the fact, that these commissioners on that very
day exhibited a charge against the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, asserting in the outset, that " in these de-
clarations they had joined with Canterbury the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, whose malice had set all his
arts and power to work, to devise and to do mischief
to their Kirk and country ;" and also, because the
members of the committee employed to impeach the
Archbishop were enjoined " to have power to. send
for parties, witnesses, papers, books, records, and to
do any other act which they in their judgment shall
think best to conduce to the business 2 ."
While engaged in these dark practices, St. An-
3 Published at London, 4to. 1641. Nalson, vol. i. p. 681
686. Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i. p. 113119.
a Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i. p. 113. Nalson, vol. i. p. 686
688
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 385
toline's church in London was given to the Scottish
Commissioners for the exercise of their Presbyterian
rites, and multitudes of fanatics resorted thither to
be instructed in the cant and enthusiasm of the
Covenanters. Two puritanical ministers preached
seven hours before the House of Commons. One of
them, Burgess, from the text, (Jer. 1. 5.) " They
shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thither-
ward, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the
Lord by a perpetual covenant" The altar of St.
Margaret's, Westminster, was removed to the
centre of the church ; the communion service inter-
rupted by psalm-singing ; the phrase, spiritual lords,
was omitted in Acts of Parliament ; the clerk of the
Upper House turned his back on the Bishops when
reading bills ; the temporal peers took precedence
of the spiritual ; the regular clergy were insulted in
the public streets by mobs of incendiaries ; and the
Liturgy, in their language, was termed quenching
the demonstrations of the Spirit ; furious Puri-
tanism predominated a crisis was at hand.
While the Scottish Commissioners exhibited in
the Upper House their pretended " Charge" against
the venerable Primate, whose hairs had grown
grey in the service of his Sovereign, their allies, who
were employed in drawing up the impeachment in
the Commons, were not the less indefatigable in
their share of the plot. Prynne and his associates
employed all their influence to inflame the people
against the Church, that incendiary circulating
about the city all kinds of libels and ballads, abound-
VOL. ii. c c
386 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
ing with scurrility against the Bishops, and espe-
cially against the Archbishop. The rhetoric of the
reformers in Parliament was not less inflammatory,
abounding in all manner of falsehood, invective, and
abuse. On the 18th of December, a debate took
place on the Archbishop's conduct ; the plot being
now fully matured between the Covenanters and
the Puritans. On that occasion, the very anni-
versary of the day on which the Primate was con-
secrated to his first bishopric of St. David's, Har-
bottle Grimston, one of the members for Colchester,
offered his reasons why they should proceed a little
farther against the Archbishop than a bare seques-
tration, " take up a resolution to do somewhat,"
and " strike while the iron is hot." " Mr. Speaker,"
said the enthusiast, " long introductions are not
suitable to weighty affairs. We are now fallen on
that great man, the Archbishop of Canterbury; look
upon him as he is in his highness, and he is the
stye of all pestilential filth that hath infected the
state and government of this Commonwealth. Look
upon him in his dependencies, and he is the man, the
only man, that hath raised and advanced all those
that, together with himself, have been the authors
and causes of all our ruins, miseries, and calamities,
we now groan under. Who else but he only that
hath brought the Earl of Strafford to all his great
places and employments ? a fit spirit and instru-
ment to act and execute his wicked and bloody de-
signs in these kingdoms. Who is it but he only
that brought Secretary Windebanke into this
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 387
place of service of trust, the very broker and pander
of the whore of Babylon ? Who is it, Mr. Speaker,
but he only that hath advanced all our Popish
Bishops ? I shall name but some of them, Bishop
Manwaring, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the
Bishop of Oxford, and Bishop Wren, the last of all
those birds, but one of the most unclean ones ?
These are the men that should have fed Christ's
flock, but they are the wolves that have devoured
them : the sheep should have fed upon the moun-
tains, but the mountains have eaten up the sheep.
It was the happiness of our Church, when the zeal
of God's house ate up the bishops, glorious and
brave martyrs, that went to the stake in defence of
the Protestant religion ; but the zeal of the bishops
has only been to persecute and eat up the Church.
Who is it, Mr. Speaker, but this great Archbishop
of Canterbury, that hath sitten at the helm, to
steer and to manage all the projects that have been
set on foot in this kingdom these ten years past,
and, rather than he would stand out, he hath most
unworthily kicked and chaffered in the meanest of
them, as, for instance, that of tobacco, wherein
thousands of poor people have been stripped and
turned out of the trades, for which they have served
as apprentices ; we all know he was the compounder
and contractor with them for the licences, putting
them to pay fines, and a fee farm rent to use their
trade. Certainly, Mr. Speaker, he might have
spent his time much better, and more for his Grace,
c c 2
388 LIFE AND TIMES [1G40.
in the pulpit, than thus sharking and raking in the
tobacco shops. Mr. Speaker, we all know what he
hath been charged with here in this House, crimes
of a dangerous consequence, and of a transcendent
nature, no less than the subversion of the govern-
ment of this kingdom, and the alteration of the
Protestant religion ; and this is not upon bare in-
formation only, but much of it is come before us
already upon clear and manifest proofs, and there is
scarce any grievance or complaint come before us
in this place, wherein we do not find him mentioned,
and as it were twined with it ; like a busy angry
wasp, his sting is in the tail of every thing. We
have likewise this day heard the report of the con-
ference yesterday, and in it the accusation of the
Scottish nation, and we do all know he is guilty of
the same, if not more, here in this kingdom V
In this specimen of the oratory of those politi-
cians, the language is deplorable, the charges false,
the invective low, and altogether unworthy to be
heard in the English House of Commons. The
sophistry, too, is most remarkable, for it is evident
that this enthusiast had already, in common
with his associates, prejudged the Archbishop. It
was a mere mockery to bring him afterwards to
trial: he was already condemned; such a speech
from a judge, in his charge to the jury, even after the
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. 690, 691. Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i.
p. 122, 123.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 389
criminal has been convicted on the clearest evidence,
would have been unjustifiable ; much more as com-
posing part of a debate for the mere investigation
of a man's actions. If it be one of the most distin-
guished attributes of British law, that every man,
against whom an information is lodged, is presumed
to be innocent (at least there being only presumptive
evidence of his guilt) until he be fairly and legally
convicted by his country, then it is clear, granting
for a moment that their falsehood holds of the Pri-
mate's crimes, that he was only presumed to be
guilty until he was legally tried and convicted by
his peers. This, however, formed no part of Pu-
ritan justice. They said he was guilty, they con-
demned him, and then, by a singular absurdity,
they proceeded to impeach him. It is easy, indeed,
to triumph over misfortune : the coward exults
over a fallen enemy.
On this day, therefore, the House of Commons
voted the Archbishop a traitor, and Denzil Holies,
second son to the Earl of Clare, and brother-in-law
to the Earl of Strafford, (with whose impeachment,
however, he would have no concern,) carried up to the
House of Lords the order for the Primate's commit-
tal. The members of that House were of course pre-
pared. Holies assured the Peers that the impeach-
ment would be proved in due time, and demanded
that the Archbishop should be sequestrated, and
committed to custody. The Scottish Commissioners
then produced their pretended " charges," and he
390 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
was immediately committed to the custody of Max-
well, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod l .
The Primate was now called to the bar of the House
as a criminal, but the intrepidity of conscious inno-
cence did not forsake him. He merely desired per-
mission to proceed to Lambeth, and prepare his de-
fence from his papers. This was granted, under the
conditions that it should be done in the afternoon,
in presence of the Gentleman Usher, and that he
should return to his custody that night ; and in the
mean time the House decided, that no member should
visit the Archbishop without its permission. He
stayed at Lambeth, he informs us, till the evening,
to avoid the vulgar gaze, and went to evening prayers
in his own chapel. " The Psalms of the day," says
this venerable prelate, " Psalms xciii. and xciv. and
the fiftieth chapter of Isaiah, gave me great comfort.
God make me worthy of it, and fit to receive it."
When he proceeded to his barge in the evening, he
was met by hundreds of his "poor neighbours,"
who had often experienced his bounty, who with
sorrowful hearts witnessed his misfortunes, and in-
voked Heaven for his safety and speedy return to
the Palace 2 .
Having thus secured the Archbishop and Straf-
ford, the enemies of the former now proceeded to
1 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i. p. 123. Nalson, vol. i. p. 691.
Diary, p. 60. Troubles and Trials, p. 86. 144. Canterburie's
Doome, p. 22.
2 Diary, p. 60.
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 391
disclose their vengeance. " The tender mercies,"
says the Psalmist, " of the wicked are cruel :" and
a fine inflicted on the Primate shews the truth of
the inspired adage. Sir John Villiers, eldest bro-
ther to the Duke of Buckingham, had married, as
his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William
Slingsby, of Yorkshire ; but she commenced a crimi-
nal intercourse with Sir Robert Howard, fifth son
of the Earl of Suffolk, to whom she bore a child,
during her husband's illness, under the assumed
name of Mrs. Wright, in a retired house. The
criminal intercourse transpired, and the guilty lady
was brought into the High Commission. In that
Court, on the 19th of December, 1627, she was
found guilty of adultery, and sentenced to do pe-
nance at St. Paul's Cross. Although the Arch-
bishop suffered the whole odium of this just sen-
tence, yet there were present and concurred in it,
besides the Archbishop, who was then Bishop of
Bath and Wells, the Lord Keeper Coventry, the
Earl of Manchester, Lord President, the Earls of
Pembroke, Montgomery, and Dorset, Lord Viscount
Grandison, the Bishops of London, Durham, Nor-
wich, Rochester, Secretary Cook, Sir Henry Mar-
tin, Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, Balcanquall,
Dean of Rochester, and four others. The lady,
however, contrived to e^ape, and, after the storm
was over, her paramour conveyed her to Shropshire,
where they openly cohabited, and had several chil-
dren. "At length, they presumed to reside in Lon-
392 LIFE AND TIMES [1640.
don, and Howard lodged her in Westminster, not
far from the palace. This of course was no secret.
" The King and the Lords," says the Archbishop,
" took notice of it, as a thing full of impudence,
that they should so publicly adventure to outface
the justice of the realm in so foul a business." One
day the Archbishop waited on the King, when the
Monarch informed him of the affair, and wondered
that he did not perform his duty, and apprehend
the guilty pair. The Archbishop replied, that the
lady was the wife of a peer of the realm, and that
without the royal authority he could not proceed,
but that, since he knew the King's pleasure, he
would endeavour to apprehend her. He was suc-
cessful : the lady and her paramour were both
taken ; the former imprisoned in the Gatehouse,
the latter in the Fleet. She was ordered to do pe-
nance on the second Sunday after ; but Howard
effected her escape to France in man's apparel.
Next day he was ordered by the High Commission
to remain in confinement, in which he continued for
a few months. It may be supposed that he bore
an implacable hatred towards the Primate, and ac-
cordingly, on the 21st of December, 1640, he
brought an action against him for false imprison-
ment ; upon which the House of Lords condemned
him to pay a fine of 500/. and Sir John Lamb
and Sir Henry Martin 2501. each, to the said How-
ard ; and with such rigour was it exacted, that the
Archbishop was compelled to sell his plate to
1640.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 393
discharge it, he having only two days allowed to
make payment *.
After a session of two months, in which the par-
liamentary zealots had prepared to sacrifice their
victims, the Commons adjourned for ten days, at
the end of the year. During this period the Arch-
bishop was in the custody of Maxwell, obliged to
defray his own expences, and here he was confined
for ten weeks, at the rate of twenty nobles a day,
which in that space amounted to 466/. 13*. 4>d.
before any specific charge was brought against
him. Nay, so little regard had his enemies for
his great age and debilitated body, that he was
compelled to petition them for permission to enjoy
the benefit of fresh air daily, while in this confine-
ment. Yet his patience and meekness seem to have
had some effect on his enemies, for he received in-
formation from a member of the Committee, that
the House of Lords was so well pleased with his
moderate behaviour, that there were considerable
indications of favour towards him. " I was glad/'
says he, " to hear of any favour, considering the
times, but considering my innocence, I did not hold
this for favour. And I could not but observe to
myself what justice I was to expect, since here was
a resolution taken among the leading men in the
House, what censure should be laid upon me, be-
1 Heylin, p. 251, 252. Diary, p. 60. Troubles and Trials,
p. 145147.
394 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
fore any charge, so much as a general one, was
brought up against me V
The zealots, however, were in the meanwhile
busy with the articles of the Archbishop's impeach-
ment. On the 26th of February, 1640-1, these
articles, to the number of fourteen, were carried up
to the House of Lords from the Commons by the
notorious Sir Henry Vane the younger, successively
a Presbyterian, Independent, Anabaptist, Fifth Mo-
narchy Man, and always an enthusiast, who was
himself overtaken by justice after the Restoration,
and beheaded on Tower-hill, and on the very spot
where those illustrious men suffered in whose con-
demnation he was so actively concerned. Rush-
worth affirms, that the articles were carried up by
Pym, Hampden, and Maynard, and he inserts
Pym's speech at the presenting of them 2 . It is
probable that they accompanied Vane, who was the
principal person 3 . Pym's speech, after his usual
manner, contains a comment on every article ; and
they concluded the articles by craving time to prove
all the charges, entreating that the Archbishop
might still be kept in safe custody 4 .
As a specimen of the justice of Laud's accusers,
it may be proper to mention, that the deliberation
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 147. Diary, p. 60.
8 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i. p. 195202. Canterburie's
Doome, p. 23, 24.
8 Diary, p. 60, 61. Rushworth, ut sup.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 395
for his impeachment did not occupy half an hour.
As soon as the articles were exhibited, he was or-
dered to attend the House, when they were seve-
rally read to him at the Bar. The aged prelate
rejected the charge of treason with indignation.
Advancing forward, and drawing up his bending
and emaciated body, he fixed his eyes on the House,
and craved permission to address them. This was
granted, and he then proceeded : " My Lords, this
is a great and a heavy charge, and if it be proved
against me, I am unworthy to live : for it makes
me against God in point of religion, against the
King in point of allegiance, and against the public
in point of safety, under the justice and protection
of law. And though the King be hardly, if at all,
mentioned, yet I am bold to name him, because I have
ever been of opinion that the King and his people
are so joined together in one civil and politic body,
as that it is impossible for any man to be true to
the King as King, who shall be found treacherous
to the State established by law, and to the subver-
sion of the people, though, perhaps, every one that
is so, is not able to see through all the consequences
by which one depends upon the other. So my charge,
my Lords, is exceeding heavy in itself, though I as
yet do not altogether feel its weight : for it is
yet, as your Lordships see, only general ; and gene-
ral assertions may make a great noise, but are no
proofs ; whereas, it is the proof upon particulars
that makes a charge heavy against any man. My
Lords, it is an old and a true rule, Errare contin-
396 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
git descendendo, error doth most often happen,
and best appear, when men descend to particulars ;
and when I shall be charged with them, I hope my
innocence will furnish me with a sufficient answer
to any error of mine that shall be thought crimi-
nal, or worthy the cognisance of this high and
honourable Court. As for human frailties, since
I cannot acquit myself of them, so I presume your
Lordships will be favourable judges : since in the
transaction of all the business which passed my
hands, men, abler than ever I can be, have been
subject to them, to as many and as great. But
for corruption, in the least degree, I humbly praise
my God for it, I fear no accuser who will speak
the truth. Yet, my Lords, that which goes nearest
unto me among these articles is, that I should be
thought foul and false in the profession of my reli-
gion, as if I should profess with the Church of
England, and have my heart at Rome, and labour
by all cunning ways to bring Romish superstitions
upon the kingdom. This, my Lords, I confess,
troubles me exceedingly, and if I should forget
myself and grow warm upon it, I should only be
in the case in which St. Jerome confessed he was,
when he knew not how to be patient under the
charge of falsehood in religion. And yet that is
nothing to the charge which is brought against me,
not only as basely false myself, but as labouring
withal to spread the same falsehood over the whole
kingdom."
Thus did this noble prelate repel, with virtuous
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 397
indignation, the falsehoods of his accusers, and, in a
style of impassioned eloquence, excite the blush of
shame in those who thirsted for his blood. He
could endure the other charge, at least in conscious
innocence he trusted to a patient investigation ; but
when his religion was questioned, when termed an
impostor and deluder, like the holy martyrs and
fathers of old, he disclaimed the wicked insinuation.
This was the unkindest charge of all : this was
what pierced his very soul. He, whose monuments
of piety and munificence were many and noble,
whose pen had produced the most masterly pro-
duction of modern times in defence of the Refor-
mation, compared to which the canting and fana-
tical productions of Puritans and Covenanters sink
into insignificance whose life had been an un-
wearied round of toil and anxiety to guard against
superstition and infidelity in the Church, to be
thus vilely and falsely slandered before his country
by hypocrites, demagogues, republicans, and schis-
matics. Can we wonder that his virtuous soul re-
pelled the foul charge with warm indignation ?
It was the impulse of a noble mind. For what
character can be more despicable, what heart more
depraved, than his, who is insincere in his religion, or
who has no religion at all ? And the man without re-
ligion, like the historian who professes to be without
country, without party, without friends, is the most
hollow and heartless of mortals. Be he who he may,
such a man is reckoned vile by the vilest of men.
And how much more so the minister of its holy
398 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
mysteries, who assumes it as a means of gratifying
his worldly/ ambition, or of accomplishing his in-
trigues, while he either disbelieves it altogether, or
feels nothing of its animating power ? For the
want of religion no accomplishment or intellectual
greatness can compensate but the hypocrite in
religion commits an outrage on society, which,
when discovered, will make him the object of me-
rited execration.
It is needless here to recapitulate the articles ex-
hibited against the Archbishop; suffice it to say,
that he was charged as being the sole cause of all
those evils which afflicted the kingdom, although in
reality they were justly chargeable on the Puritan
faction. These fourteen articles he has separately
answered in the affecting history of his " Troubles
and Trials," and with inimitable eloquence and clear-
ness. In reply to the first charge, that " he hath
traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental
laws and government of the kingdom, and instead
thereof to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical go-
vernment," he distinctly declared the fallacy of the
whole. At the Council Table he had invariably
followed the opinions of the great lawyers who had
there a seat ; for the truth of which he appealed to
the learned counsel who had conducted the cases of
their clients. He denied that he had advised the
King to levy money at his own pleasure from the
subject, but he admitted, that, " howsoever it stands
by the law of God, for a King, in the just and ne-
cessary defence of himself and his kingdom, to levy
1C4L] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 399
money from his subjects, yet, where a particular na-
tional law doth intervene in any kingdom, and is
settled by mutual consent between the King and his
people, their money ought to be levied by and ac-
cording to law." He demanded to know what his
enemies meant by the fundamental laws of England,
which they pretended he had subverted, and about
which they clamoured so violently ; he said these
ought to be known to all men, that they might see
their danger, and subvert them at their peril. But it
was not so ; at that time the laws of England had no
text at all ; many celebrated lawyers could not
exactly define what the law was; by which, as the
Archbishop remarked, the judges had liberty to re-
tain more of it in scrinio pectoris than was fitting.
In every other government, he said, there was a
text a corpus juris, written and laid down, save
in England ; arid yet the same punishment was to be
awarded to a man who had unconsciously offended,
as if the law had been regularly embodied. In such
a case, it was clear that prejudiced judges could
make any thing law at the moment ; there was no
restraint upon them ; and hence, if they chose to
consider certain actions unconstitutional, they must
be so, whether they were really so or not. And he
recommended, that it would be worthy of Parliament
to make a digest of the common law, to submit it
to the opinions of the judges, and to ratify it by a
solemn act as fundamental, and then, said he, let
any man subvert the laws at his peril.
But the venerable Primate's reply was most volu-
400 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
minous to the tenth charge, which pretended that
he had traitorously and wickedly endeavoured to
reconcile the Church of England to that of Rome.
This he distinctly denied, which he proved in nine
divisions. He appealed to the book which he had
written against the Jesuit, which, he said, must
either acquit him of this calumny, or prove him a
villain to the world. He appealed to those whom
he had restrained from recanting to the Romish
Church; to the hatred which the Recusants in
England and abroad bore towards him ; to his great
age, great, considering the active life he had led ; to
the ease with which he could have ensured popular
favour, which, he said, he disdained, because he held
it to be the utmost baseness to frame religion to
serve turns, " to be carried about with every wind
of vain doctrine, to serve and please other men's fan-
cies, and not a man's own understanding and con-
science." He thus speaks : " I think the greatest
enemies I have are of opinion, that, had I turned to
the Romish party, especially if I had been such a
champion for them as this article sets forth, I would
not only have been welcomed but rewarded by them;
at least, I would have lived in credit, if not in ho-
nour. This being granted, fain would I know what
could stay me here, save my conscience and the
truth. Surely not a concern for wife and children,
for I have them not ; and since this calamity has
overtaken me, I most humbly and heartily bless my
God, that I have not any of these to increase my
misery. Not the greatness of my place, for if in
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 401
this present fall, any thing be put either upon it or
me that a knowing conscience ought to check, the
world shall soon see how little I value Canterbury
when my conscience is at stake 1 . Nor yet the
honour of my place, for if I stood upon that, well
do I know how malice hath laid it in the dust, or
lower, if that can be. Who can conceive that I
would endure so much hatred, and so many base
libels, as have filled the streets against me, and such
bitter revilings in print, as the gall of some pens
have cast upon me, when I might elsewhere go, and
live with content and reputation ? Nothing but
conscience could stay me here in this condition.
Nor yet the wealth to be got in my place, for the
archbishopric of Canterbury is very far short of its
alleged value, as I have given a faithful account to
my sovereign. But were it never so wealthy in
revenues, every benefit, over and above my ne-
cessary and decent expences, I have refunded back
upon the poor, the public, or the Church whence I
had it, as churchmen in better times than these were
wont to do. Here, then, could be no external motive
to induce me to remain here, save my conscience ;
and my conscience not being that way set, no man
can so much as think that I would, at the hazard of
my life, my honour, and all that I hold dear, practise
the change of religion, and that against my con-
science. But hard am I beset. The Pope's agent
1 The Archbishop alludes to the report that he was to be
confined to his Diocese.
VOL. II. D d
402 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
(as it is said) plots my death, on the one hand l , be-
cause I wiH not be induced to aid and countenance
the Romish superstition ; and the Parliament, on the
other, attempts to overthrow me, pretending that
I am in league to introduce the superstition. So
that I am in the prophet David's case. ' For I
also have heard the blasphemy of the multitude,
and fear is on every side, while they conspire toge-
ther against me, and take their counsel to take
away my life. But my hope hath been, and is, in
thee, OLordV"
The Primate then demanded a trial, but it was not
the purpose of his enemies to satisfy him so soon ;
and accordingly, on the first of March, 1640-1, he
was committed to the Tower. He was carried thither
by Maxwell, in that officer's own coach. He wished
to go thither in the evening, to avoid the gaze of
the populace, but Maxwell's duties would not permit
him to comply, and he was conveyed in the fore-
noon, when the citizens were at dinner, that being
thought the fittest time for privacy. From Max-
well's house, which was at Charing Cross, he pro-
ceeded to Cheapside unmolested, but there an indi-
vidual discovered him, (" one apprentice," says he,
" first hallooed out") and raised the fanatical outcry,
so that by the time he got to the Exchange, the rab-
ble had increased to a great assemblage. They fol-
1 Alluding to the plot, (real or pretended,) made known by
Andreas ab Harnenfield, and communicate'd by Sir William
Boswell, ambassador at the Hague.
* Troubles and Trials, p. 160 165.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 403
lowed him with their insults and reproaches to the
gates of the Tower,, to the grief of Maxwell, who
respected the fallen primate. Thus it is always
with the mob ; the sons of Shimei with savage fe-
rocity delight to see greatness in distress ; their
dastardly incendiaries feed the flame. But who can
trust to their vile passions ? The man who is to-day
the idol of popular applause, whose praise is in the
mouth of every political fanatic, may to-morrow be
led out to execution amid the groans, revilings, and
execrations of the same ignorant and perverted
rabble.
After the committal of the Archbishop to the
Tower, where already was the illustrious and loyal
Strafford, his enemies expressed their hatred with-
out restraint. Numerous libels and ballads against
him were circulated in London and Westminster ;
they were even thrust into the hands of the members
at the door of the House of Commons with marks of
approbation ; abusive pictures were also exhibited,
characteristic of sectarian invective and abuse. The
Puritan fanatics, headed by Prynne, who with the
other incendiaries, Burton and Bastwick, instead of
being tamed by their rigorous punishments, showed
an anxiety to repeat their offences, commenced the
sectarian revenge ; all the seditious poetasters in the
kingdom sent forth their contemptible effusions.
" The pulpits," says Mr. Hume, " delivered over to
puritanical preachers and lecturers, whom the Com-
mons arbitrarily settled in all the considerable
churches, resounded with faction and fanaticism.
P d 2
404 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
Vengeance was fully taken for that long silence and
restraint, iji which, by the authority of Laud and the
High Commission, these preachers had been retained.
The press, freed from all fears or reserve, swarmed
with productions, dangerous by their seditious zeal
and calumny, more than by any art or eloquence of
composition. Noise and fury, cant and hypocrisy,
formed the sole rhetoric, which during this tumult
of various prejudices and passions could be heard or
attended to V
To enumerate the productions of Puritan hatred
and fanaticism against the Archbishop would be
almost impossible. Yet, as a specimen, I may men-
tion a few which I have seen. Prynne, as has been
said, was busy in the work. This year he edified
the enthusiasts with " A new Discovery of the Pre-
lates' Tyranny." Burton preached and published
what he calls " A most godly Sermon preached at
St. Albany 4to. " The Sounding of the Two
last Trumpets, the sixth and seventh," 4 to. " Eng-
land's Bondage and Hope of Deliverance, a Sermon,"
4to. and " A Divine Tragedy lately acted." Bast-
wick thought proper to exhibit his " Confessions,"
in which he termed himself the most faithful witness
of Jesus Christ. A poetaster set forth " An Answer
to the most envious, scandalous, and libellous
pamphlet, entitled, Mercure's Message, or a Letter
sent to William Laud in the Tower/' 4to. " All to
Westminster, or news from Elysium/' 4to. " Can-
Hume, vol. vi.'p.J377.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 405
terburie's Will, with a serious Conference between
his conscience and him/' 4to. "A Parallel, or
Briefe Comparison of the Liturgie with the Masse-
Book," 4to. " Rome's A. B. C., being a short Per-
ambulation or rather auricular accusation of a late
tyrannical oppressor," 4to. " A Canterbury Tale,
translated out of Chaucer's old English, whereunto
is added, the Scots Pedlar/' 4to. <f Ladensium
Autokatakria, the Canterburian's Self Conviction,"
4to. This is intended as an answer to the Epistle
Congratulatorie of Lysimachus Nicanor, who is
described as a " prime Canterburian," and was pub-
lished at Edinburgh, April 1, 1641, with the impri-
matur of Archibald Johnston, clerk to the Cove-
nanting Assembly, afterwards one of Cromwell's
peers. " A large Supplement to the Canterburian
Self-Conviction." " Rome for Canterbury, dedi-
cated to all the Arminian Tribe, or Canterburian
faction, in the yeare of grace, 1641." " Copy of a
Letter sent to William Laud, late Archbishop of
Canterbury, now prisoner in the Tower." " A new
Play called Canterburie his Change of Diet." This
singular pamphlet was written by a scribbler named
Walker, who also produced two other fanatical effu-
sions, entitled, " The Report of the Bishop of Can-
terburie's Dream," and " Canterburie's Pilgrimage,
in the testimony of an accused conscience for the
blood of Mr. Btrrton, Mr. Prynne, and Doctor Bast-
wicke." " The Bishop's Potion, or a Dialogue be-
tween the Bishop of Canterbury and his Physician."
"A Second Message to William, Archbishop of
406 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
Canterburie, in behalf of Mercurie." " A Disco-
very of the notorious proceedings of W. Laud,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in bringing innovations
into the Church." As might be expected, the friend-
ship between the primate and Str afford afforded
abundant cause for the enthusiasts to exercise their
wit. Among other productions, after the murder
of Strafford, appeared a poem in 4to. entitled,
" The Discontented Conference between William,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the late Earl of
Strafford."
These pamphlets, besides others which it is need-
less to enumerate, all appeared in 1641, after the
Archbishop's committal to the Tower. His enemies
now proceeded to the prelude of their crimes. In
the months of March and April, the Archbishop,
along with others who had given their votes in the
Star Chamber, was ordered to make satisfaction and
reparation to Prynne and the other incendiaries,
for their sentence and imprisonment. Their sen-
tences were all voted illegal, and Dr. Heylin was
ordered to be impeached, " for promoting the suit
in the Star Chamber against Prynne." Leighton's
case was taken into consideration, and it may be here
remarked, as a farther proof that the Archbishop was
not concerned in this trial, that he is only mentioned
as ordered to give satisfaction to that incendiary for
" his damages sustained by fifteen weeks imprison-
ment in Newgate on the said Bishop's warrant.'*
Burton was voted 6000/., Bastwick and Prynne
5000/. each, out of the estates of the Archbishop
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 407
and the other commissioners sums, however, which
were never paid 1 .
The injustice of the Archbishop's persecutors did
not stop here. On the 27th of April, a bill was
read a second time in the Commons, " for punishing
and fining the Members of the late Convocation of
the province of Canterbury." By this bill it was
intended to fine the clergy of the Convocation
200,000/., a sum which exceeded the value of their
whole estates. The Archbishop was fined 20,000
the deceased Archbishop of York (Neile), 10,000/.,
Bishop Wren, 10,000/., towards whom those en-
thusiasts had a peculiar antipathy, the Bishop of
Chester 3,000/. and the rest in proportion 2 .
Such were a few of the proceedings of this tre-
mendous popular tribunal,which exercised a tyranny
and a despotism far exceeding the proceedings of
the most complete absolute monarch. Strafford
and Archbishop Laud, the two most powerful mi-
nisters of the King cast into prison, while no pro-
tection could be afforded them by their sovereign ;
the Lord Keeper Finch, and Secretary Windebank,
compelled to avoid a similar fate by flight ; the
Bishop of Ely, Dr. Cozens, Dean of Peterborough,
Dr. Heylin, and other clergymen attacked on ac-
count of pretended innovations; every person, in
short, who had distinguished himself for his loyalty,
was visited with an impeachment or imprisonment.
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. 780. 783. 788. 794. 798, 799, 800.
2 Nalson, vol. i. p. 806, 807. Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 85.
235.
408 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
A jurisdiction was erected which assumed the most
unwarrantable powers ; a tribunal, determined to
fortify itself by terror, to make its opposers tremble,
and to establish itself by overthrowing the constitu-
tion. The King was compelled to remain passive
under these violent proceedings; his faithful ser-
vants were filled with fear and astonishment. The
Scots were voted 300,000/. and were honoured
with the title of brethren. A petition was pre-
sented to the House for an alteration in church
government by Alderman Pennington, the city
member, from London, to which it was pretended
15,000 signatures were annexed. This was the
famous Root and Branch Petition, which Archbishop
Usher attacked in a tract, proving the apostolical
institution of Episcopacy, from Ignatius, Irenagus,
Justin Martyr, and other Fathers ! . It was re-
jected, indeed, in the Upper House, but was soon
succeeded by a bill for the total abolition of
Episcopacy. Thus did Puritanical Calvinism tri-
umph. The same spirit which doomed the mild
though mistaken Servetus to the flames, now
animated these zealots with a sway only the more
severe ; schism, sedition, rebellion, the offspring of
Calvinism, walked lovingly together over the king-
dom, and accelerated the deeds of murder and
blood which the Puritan enthusiasts were destined
to commit ; and to fill the measure of their guilt
by that most horrible of all crimes laying their
hands on the sacred person of their King.
1 Collier's Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 808.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 409
CHAPTER XXI.
1641.
Trial of Strafford His execution Conduct of the Archbishop
He resigns the Chancellorship of Oxford Persecution of the
Archbishop by the Commons Hypocrisy of the Sectaries
They excite tumults against the Clergy Misfortunes of the
Archbishop He is insulted in the Tower Chapel Plunder
of Lambeth Palace Injustice of his enemies Motions for
his banishment overruled Orders of the Commons Impru-
dent conduct of the King His mortifications Arrival of the
Scottish army Meeting of the Westminster Assembly of
Divines Persecutions by the Covenanters Natural intoler-
ance of the Presbyterians Their enmity to Toleration
Their persecution of the Independents Triumph of the Sec-
taries Their hatred to the Fine Arts They profane Cathe-
drals and Churches Hardships of the Archbishop) Libels
against him Death of Hampden and Pym.
THE commencement of this year is most remark-
able for the trial and execution of Wentworth,
Earl of Strafford. He and his friend the Arch-
bishop had been singled out as especial objects of
parliamentary vengeance r the latter, however, was
reserved for a more convenient season. On the
22d of March, 1640-1, Stratford's trial began at
Westminster.
The Committee employed to. draw up the charge
against this unfortunate nobleman, was vested, as
410 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
in the case of the Archbishop, with the most am-
ple powers to examine, scrutinize, and investigate
every part of the Earl's conduct and behaviour
during his past life. The Committee, moreover,
was composed of his implacable enemies. It was
impossible, in this case, that either Strafford or
Laud could escape, for, as Hume observes, " after
so general and unbounded an inquisition, exercised
by such powerful and implacable enemies, a man
must have been very cautious, or very discreet, not
to afford, during the whole course of his life, some
matter of accusation against him." But it would
appear that the zealots had a deeper design con-
cealed. They distrusted, perhaps, their ability to
prove any specific charges against Strafford, un-
less they made the term of his presumed treason-
able proceedings indefinite : moreover, Strafford had
the King's warrant in his pocket for every action
of his Irish government, and they, therefore, could
not condemn for high treason, unless the King dis-
owned these warrants ; hence the meaning of their
expression, ' f that if they got the King to part with
Strafford, he would deny them nothing."
A debate had taken place in the Upper House
concerning the right of the Bishops to vote in cri-
minal cases. Williams, Bishop of London, now
liberated from the Tower, and reconciled to the
King, had already signalised himself by seconding
Lord Say's speech against his old antagonist Arch-
bishop Laud in the House of Lords thereby giv-
ing room to suspect that he rejoiced in the vene-
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 411
rable Primate's misfortunes. In this affair, however,
he defended the right of the bishops, asserting that
their seats in that House, during any proceedings,
was according to the constitution ; that all acts of
the House were of no avail if the spiritual lords
were prohibited from voting, and that no act could
be passed without their concurrent votes. But, at
the same time, he declared, that their attendance in
this case was merely optional ; and he expressed
himself willing, in the name of his brother prelates,
to withdraw when that business came before the
House. Here, indeed, was a singular inconsistency,
first to assert a right, and then to deny it ; and
hence the truth of Clarendon's observation is unde-
niable, that this prelate had betrayed a fundamen-
tal right of the whole order, to the great prejudice
of the King, and to the taking away the life of that
person who could not otherwise have suffered. In
truth, Williams' conduct, and the advice he gave
the King to sign the warrant for Stafford's execu-
tion, plainly indicate that he secretly wished this
friend of the Archbishop to be out of the way;
and that it is more than probable that he secretly
stimulated the Earl's enemies, and even assured
them of the King's sanction.
Strafford was impeached, attainted, and con-
demned : the first extensive act of infamy which the
Parliament committed. When we recollect that
the committee of inquiry consisted of his personal
enemies, that an oath of secresy was administered to
them, which, as Hume justly remarks, " gave them
412 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
the appearance of conspirators more than ministers
of justice," that his enemies had so contrived, that
it was impossible for him to elude their vigilance,
or even prepare his defence, in short, when we
recollect the many infamous proceedings in which
those affected champions of liberty engaged before
the noble Strafford became their victim, it is not
possible to withhold a reprobation of that most atro-
cious and inhuman execution. Every one has heard,
too, of the sophistry of Bishop Williams. He it
was who persuaded the King to sign the warrant ;
otherwise Strafford had not suffered. " A king,"
said he to Charles, " has a public and a private con-
science, and he might do that as a king for his public
conscience, which militated against his private con-
science as a man." This is despicable casuistry,
unworthy to proceed from the lips of any man, still
more unworthy to come from a Christian Bishop.
Contrasted with Bishop Juxon, how does this ambi-
tious theologian sink in our esteem ! That venerable
prelate advised the King, thereby giving a proof of
the most heroical integrity, that " he ought to do
nothing with an unsatisfied conscience upon any
consideration in the world." Every one has heard,
too, of Strafford's eloquent defence. Even Pym,
implacable as he was, trembled before that noble
victim to republican tyranny ; and his enemies were
compelled to do homage to his greatness.
On the fatal morning that Charles signed the
warrant for Strafford's execution, he signed his
own : at that very time he signed the bill for making
4041.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 413
the Parliament perpetual. On the 12th of May,
1641, Stafford was led out to execution on Tower-
hill, an illustrious martyr for Church and State, a
victim to the implacable enmity of parliamentary
zealots. If i; ed as he lived, great in death as he
had been in life ; his conduct worthy of his illus-
trious name. Loyalty was his crime ; his faithful
attachment to his Sovereign the cause of his misfor-
tunes. The night before his execution he desired to
have an interview with his illustrious and venerable
friend the Archbishop ; but he was told by the Lieu-
tenant of the Tower that this could not be granted
without an order from the Parliament. " Sir,"
replied he to the Lieutenant, " you may hear what
passes between us ; it is not now a time for me to
plot treason, or for him to plot heresy." The
Lieutenant, however, said that he was prohibited,
but entreated his Lordship to apply to the Parlia-
ment for an order. " No," he replied, " I have
gotten my dispatch from them, and will trouble
them no more ; I am now petitioning a higher
court, where neither partiality can be expected nor
error feared. But, my Lord" continued this heroic
nobleman, turning to Archbishop Usher, Primate of
Ireland, who attended him on the occasion, " I
will tell you what I would have spoken to my Lord
of Canterbury. Desire the Archbishop to aid me
by his prayers this night, and to give me his bless-
ing when I go abroad to-morrow, and to be at his
window, that when I pass, by my last farewell, I
may give him thanks for this and all his other
414 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
former favours." Usher proceeded to the aged Pri-
mate's apartments, and delivered the message of his
friend, and returned with this reply from the sor-
rowful Archbishop, that " in conscience he was
bound to do the first, and in duty and obligation
to the second ; but he feared his weakness and grief
would riot lend him sight to behold his destruction."
On the following morning, attended by Usher, and
several persons of distinction, among whom was his
brother, Sir George Wentworth, the noble Straf-
ford was led out to execution. Approaching the
Archbishop's prison in his progress, he stopped, and
looking up, he did not perceive that beloved friend.
" Yet," said he to the Lieutenant, " though I do
not see the Archbishop, give me leave, I pray you,
to do my last obeisance towards his room." The
aged Primate, however, appeared at the casement,
and with hands uplifted, while the tears rolled
down his venerable cheeks, supplicated in behalf of
the noble sufferer. Strafford was deeply affected,
and, bowing to the ground, exclaimed, " Farewell,
my Lord, may God protect your innocency." But
the scene was too much for Laud, and, overcome
with grief, he sunk upon the ground, " as if his
soul," as it has been beautifully remarked, " would
have forced a way to join that of the Earl in its pas-
sage to eternity." Yet, fearing that this might be
deemed weakness, he afterwards observed, " That
he hoped, by .God's assistance and his own inno-
cence, when he came to his own execution, (which
he now daily expected,) that the world would per-
7
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 415
ceive he had been more sensible of Strafford's loss
than of his own ; and good reason, for that noble-
man had done more service to the Church, not to
mention the State, than either himself, or all the
other churchmen put together."
Thus fell Strafford, whose head was struck off at
one blow a noble victim for his loyalty, and whose
life had indeed been offered to him, if he would
abjure the Church, and advise the King to abolish
Episcopacy ; but whose answer was, that he would
not buy his life at so dear a rate. The French mi-
nister, Richelieu, well knew his abilities, and won-
dered at the folly of the English, " who would not
allow the wisest head among them to remain upon
its own shoulders." Like Laud, he fell a sacrifice
to the practices of the Covenanting enthusiasts of
Scotland, who saw their Presbyterian Covenant in-
secure while Strafford lived. Pym and Vane, how-
ever, were the principal contrivers of his death.
" The speech which he made at his end," (says his
friend and fellow-martyr,) " was a great testimony
of his religion and piety, and was then printed ; and
in the judgment of those who were men of worth,
and of those who were upon the scaffold, and saw
him die, he made a patient, pious, and courageous
end ; insomuch that some doubted whether his death
had more of the Roman or the Christian in it, it was
so full of both : and notwithstanding this hard fate
which fell upon him, he is dead with more honour
than any of those will gain who thirsted for his
LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
blood. Thus ended the wisest, the stoutest, and
every way the ablest subject that this nation hath
Jiad these many years. The day was afterwards
called by divers, Homicidium Comitis Straffordice,
the day of the murder of Strafford ; because, when
malice itself could find no law to put him to death,
they made a law on purpose for it. May God for-
give all, and be merciful * !"
The Archbishop received himself a due share of
the odium which the blood-thirsty zealots attached
towards Strafford. " Before his death," says he in
another place, " the libels came out thick, and very
malicious against him: and all this to whet the
malice that was against him, and make the people
more desirous of his death. But no sooner had he
gone to his rest, than the libellers, who during that
time reviled him, fell upon me ; and, no doubt, with
the same intentions. And the libels and ballads
against me, were frequently spread through the
city, and sung up and down the streets. But, I
thank God for it, they were as full of falsehood
as of gall. Besides, they made pictures of me,
putting me into a cage, and fastening me to a post,
by a chain at my shoulders, and the like. And
divers of these libels made men sport in taverns
and alehouses, where too many were as drunk with
malice, as with the liquor they sucked in. Against
which my only comfort was, that I had fallen into
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 178.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 417
the same case with the prophet David, Psal. Ixix.
' For they that sat in the gate spake against me,
and I was the song of the drunkard.'"
The Primate's confinement was rendered more
severe by his emaciated and debilitated state of
body. He had never, indeed, been robust, and the
severe illness to which he had been frequently sub-
ject in his infancy, had left in his frame the seeds
of feebleness and disease. He was several times
afflicted with the ague whilst in prison, occasioned,
doubtless, by the rigour of his confinement, in his
advanced age. Yet, in the midst of his " Trou-
bles and Trials," he still preserved that magnani-
mity for which he had always been distinguished,
expressing his trust and confidence in the Divine
Protection, and the innocence of his cause.
We find the Archbishop, however, nobly prepar-
ing himself to encounter the vengeance of his enemies.
He had, indeed, distinctly intimated that such would
be his fate when he saw Strafford led to execution,
and accordingly he prepared himself by the order-
ing of his affairs. On the 23d of June, he gave
notice to the King by the Bishop of London, that
he had answered all complaints made against him
concerning the University of Oxford, and that he
intended to resign the office of Chancellor. The
King approved his reasons, and on the 25th, he
sent his resignation to the University, to be pub-
lished in Convocation. It may readily be imagined,
that this circumstance grieved him not a little. To-
wards Oxford he had manifested the utmost affection
VOL. II. E e
418 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
and regard; the monuments of his magnificence
were numerous in that noble University : it was the
place of his education, where he had long resided,
ere he was called into the business of public life.
" God bless the University," says he, " and grant
that they may never have need of me, now unable
to help them." This letter to the University, con-
taining his resignation, is eloquent and affecting.
It is dated from the Tower, June 28, 1641. " My
present condition is not unknown," says he, " to
the whole world, yet by few pitied or deplored.
The righteous God knows best the justice of my
sufferings, on whom, both in life and death, I
will conscientiously depend ; the last of which shall
be unto me most welcome, in that my life is now
burdensome unto me, my mind attended with a
variety of sad and grievous thoughts, my soul con-
tinually vexed with anxieties and troubles, groaning
under the burden of a displeased Parliament, my
name aspersed and grossly slandered by the multi-
plicity of seditious pamphlets, and myself debarred
from wonted access to the best of princes, while it
is vox populi that I am Popishly affected. How
earnest I have been in my disputations, exhorta-
tions, and otherwise, to quench such sparks lest
they should become coals, I hope after my death
you will all acknowledge. Yet in the midst of my
afflictions, there is nothing more hath so nearly
touched me as the remembrance of your free and
joyful acceptance of me to be your Chancellor, and
that I am now shut up from being able to do you
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 419
that service which you might justly expect from
me. When I first received this honour, I intended
to have carried it with me to my grave, neither were
my hopes less, since this Parliament, (called by his
Majesty's royal command,) committed me to this
royal prison. But still, by reason of matters of
greater consequence yet in hand, as the Parliament
is pleased to procrastinate my trial, I do hereby as
thankfully resign my office of Chancellor, as ever
I received that dignity ; entreating you to elect
some honourable person, who, upon all occasions,
may be ready to serve you, and I beseech God
send you such an one as may do all things for his
glory, and the furtherance of your famous Univer-
sity. This is the continual prayer of your dejected
friend and Chancellor, being the last time I shall
so write."
The Earl of Pembroke succeeded the Archbishop
as Chancellor, who had long intrigued for the of-
fice, and who blushed not to abuse the venerable
Primate, whose Chancellorship had been so bene-
ficial to the University. Laud endured, however, a
greater misfortune, in the sequestration of his juris-
diction by the House of Peers on the 23d of Octo-
ber, when the government of the arch-diocese was
entrusted to his inferior officers. This was done
at the instigation of Williams, now Archbishop of
York ; " by his importunity," says the learned
Henry Wharton, " he obtained it, to the great
prejudice of the Church, and no small infamy of
himself" " a bitter revenge, which no art or colour
E e 2
420 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
can defend." It was also ordered that this seques-
tration was/to continue till the Archbishop was con-
victed or acquitted of the charge of high treason ;
" and farther, concerning those ecclesiastical bene-
fices, promotions, or dignities that are at his dis-
posal, he shall present to this House the names of
such persons as shall be nominated by him to the
same, to be approved of by this House, before they
be collated or instituted." The manifest injustice
of this requires no comment, and the infamy of
Archbishop Williams, in this dastardly revenge,
and in pursuing with unrelenting fury a fallen ene-
my, are equally incapable of vindication.
The King was at this time in Scotland, but his fate
was also in progress. While with the most knavish
hypocrisy, the leaders declared to the unfortunate
monarch " that they would make him as glorious
a potentate and as rich a prince as any of his pre-
decessors," they were more securely laying their
plans, by which it was impossible he could escape
their snares. The Scots, of course, were held as in-
valuable auxiliaries by the republican enthusiasts ;
their affected zeal for religion was an indication of
their holy dispositions : yet it is a singular fact,
that many of the most fanatical lay-champions of
the Covenant, nay, some of the preachers, were
grossly licentious in their public and private lives.
The contemptible voluptuousness of the Earl of
Rothes, the dissolute morals of the Chancellor Lou-
don, whose wife, " a godly lady," threatened him
with a process of adultery, which she could very
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 421
well prove, if he would not take the Covenant
the treason, moreover, of that nobleman, and his
vile hypocrisy, were notorious ; and other instances
might be adduced. Yet such men as these, utterly
destitute of principle, were addressed by the en-
thusiastic and obscene preachers of the Covenant,
to wit, Samuel Rutherford, Livingstone, Cant, and
other enthusiasts, as the most devoted saints; their
licentiousness was overlooked, their adherence to
the Covenant covered a multitude of sins. Nay,
Rutherford, in a letter to Loudon, makes that no-
bleman certain of heaven for his " good deeds."
This, of course, the Covenanted Presbyterians could
easily do, who blushed not to assert that the con-
clave termed the Presbytery could keep out or
admit into Heaven, as they pleased ; and, therefore,
the same power, doubtless, could be exercised to-
wards believing noblemen *.
The English Parliament proceeded rapidly in the
path of opposition. The two preaching enthusiasts,
Burgess and Marshall, possessed greater influence
in the two Houses than had Laud at any period in
the Court; while the northern Covenanter, Hen-
derson, with his brethren, interfered more in poli-
tics, than the whole Scottish Bishops. The affected
sanctity of the enthusiasts was no less cunning : it
was truly the reign of sectarian inquisition. A
weekly fast was held every Wednesday, which, with
1 Scot's Staggering State of Scotch Statesmen, p. 24. Bishop
Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 44. Lament's Diary, p. 38.
Letters of Samuel Rutherford, dated January 4, 1638, &c.
422 LIFE AND TIMES [] 641 .
the King's fast every Friday, allowed only four days
weekly for /business. A proclamation was issued
to stop public diversions, and a general monthly
fast, (in addition to the weekly one appointed by
the Parliament,) with a lecture every morning at
seven o'clock, was appointed in their stead. " No
barber," says a writer, " would shave on Sunday,
no ferryman would carry a passenger across the
Thames, nor could a man even sit undisturbed at
his own door. We doubt not that in these devo-
tions and decencies there was much genuine piety,
and so far they are worthy of our admiration : but
it is a melancholy truth, that the heart may sing
psalms, and yet be deceitful above all things. On
one occasion, 8th of August, 1641, this same godly
Parliament, pleading necessity, sat all Sunday for
the dispatch of business. What would they have
said had this been done by the opposite party ?
The Prynnes, Pyms, Burtons, and enthusiasts of
that age, would have thought it the most awful
crime, and worthy of itself to be visited with re-
bellion. How easily do men excuse to themselves
those very faults which they condemn in others V
On the 25th of November the King returned from
Scotland, and in London he was received with ex-
traordinary demonstrations of joy. This, however,
was of no long continuance. The Commons, finding
they could not now be dissolved without their own
1 Johnson Grant's English Church and Sects, vol. ii. p. 184,
185. (An admirable work.)
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 423
consent, daily made rapid advances in tyrannical
power. Any proceedings they thought fit to under-
take were termed " a branch of their privileges,"
and the slightest objection was quickly visited with
censure as "a breach of their privileges." The
conduct of this tremendous tribunal was the most
refined tyranny. Their grand design was in the
mean time against the Church, as they easily per-
ceived that while the Church stood secure, their
triumph was only half gained. A bill had been al-
ready introduced against the votes of the Bishops,
which had been rejected in the House of Lords, but
a second bill was introduced into the Commons,
" for the utter eradication of all bishops, deans, and
chapters, with all chancellors, officials, and officers
belonging to them." This bill had met with no
better success than the former, although, at the
second reading, when the whole House resolved
itself into a Committee, the zealots had thrust the
celebrated Earl of Clarendon, then Mr. Edward
Hyde, into the chair, to prevent his obstruction of
their designs by speeches, as he was a decided enemy
to the bill. These defeats, however, by no means
discouraged the faction. The prelates were every
where insulted and treated with contempt. Mobs
of fanatics, headed by the preachers, and secretly
encouraged by the Commons, beset the House of
Peers, exclaiming, "No Bishops, no Popish Lords !"
Pym, rejoicing in these seditious tumults, said,
" God forbid they should by any means dishearten
people from obtaining their just demands in such a
424 LIFE AND TIMES [1G41.
way." With the most unparalleled absurdity it was
declared in /the House, by the sages, that " Popery
and Prelacy had ruined trade." The Bishops were
insulted in their way to the House of Lords ; coming
by water to the House on St. Stephen's day, they
were assailed by a shower of stones from the
rabble, and with some difficulty escaped the fate
of that protomartyr. The usual outcry of " No
bishops," resounded on every side ; sometimes a
scuffle ensued between the King's servants and the
rude assailants, as on that occasion when one of the
officers of the King's Guard, at Whitehall, named
David Hyde, threatened to cut the throats of those
round-headed dogs who bawled against bishops,
whence arose the terms .Cavaliers and Roundheads,
which distinguished the two great parties before the
Restoration. To complete their folly, the Com-
mons received a petition against Bishops from the
Apprentices of London.
The Courts of Star Chamber and High Commis-
sion had been abolished shortly after Stafford's
murder ; and it was now resolved to get rid of the
Bishops in a summary manner. Thirteen of their
number had been impeached as having a share in
the late canons, but they were allowed three months
to prepare their defence. The insolence, however,
to which the prelates were subjected was intolerable,
and Williams, in the name of twelve of his brethren,
addressed the King, protesting against all the pro-
ceedings of Parliament during their compulsory
absence. This was an enormous offence ; the pro-
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 425
testing Bishops were immediately arraigned for
high treason, and sent to the Tower, with the ex*-
ception of Hall of Norwich, and Morton of Dur-
ham, who were committed to the custody of the
Black Rod. After eighteen days' imprisonment, ten
of the prelates were released ; but the flagrant out-
rage was completed on the 6th of February 1641,
by the passing of the bill in both Houses, that the
Bishops should have no votes in Parliament, nor
interfere in civil affairs. The triumph was cele-
brated in London by bonfires and the ringing of
bells. In a fatal moment the King signed the bill,
according to some, at the entreaty of the Queen ;
but it matters not who recommended it : the unfor-
tunate monarch was already marked out as a
victim 1 .
It may readily be supposed that the Primate did
not behold these things unmoved. His own misfor-
tunes had proved his regard for the Church, yet
he expresses himself with moderation on the subject,
and in the language of resignation. te If it prove
that the King and kingdom may have joy in it,"
says he, " it is well : but it may be that the effects
of this eclipse may work farther than is now ima-
gined, and the blackness of it darken the power of
the temporal lords more than is anticipated." His
enemies, however, in the multiplicity of their occu-
pations, had not forgotten him. Though he had
now been fifteen months a prisoner, most unjustly
Rushworth, Part iii. vol. i, p. 276, c.
4-j(> LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
confined for no specific crime, and there was no
rumour of /his intended trial, yet the parliament
kept him in remembrance. On the 20th of January,
the Lords ordered the cannon at Lambeth Palace,
which he had provided at the expence of 300/. to
be taken away by the London sheriffs 1 . As the
Puritan preachers were every where intruded into
the parishes, the zealots persecuted the Archbishop
for refusing to collate them to his own livings.
By a wise precaution, he had permitted all his be-
nefices as they became vacant since his confinement,
to relapse into the crown. He was compelled to
present an enthusiast named Smith to the parish of
St. Leonard, Foster Lane, a benefice which had
relapsed into his gift by the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster, in whose gift it is ; and the Bishop
of London refused to collate during the time ap-
pointed by law, the incumbent, Ward, having been
forced to resign by a parliamentary committee, on
account of some pretended innovations. The rec-
tory of Stisted, in Essex, with the benefice of Bock-
ing and Lackingdon, in the same county, all in his
gift, had also become vacant. To the former he
wished to collate Richard Hewlett, Bachelor in
Divinity, and a clergyman of the Irish Church, who
had been compelled to leave that country by the
atrocious rebellion of 1641, induced by the example
of the Scottish Covenanters ; and whose wife was
his own near relation. One Clarke, however, was re-
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 187.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 427
commended to Stisted, at the instance of the Earl
of Warwick, but the Archbishop refused to collate
him, and the rectory lapsed to the King. At the
command of the House of Lords, he collated Dr.
Gauden to Bocking, and he succeeded, through the
interest of Lord Kimbolton, in securing Lackingdon
for Hewlett, who was at this time in a state of great
destitution.
The Archbishop's troubles, however, were not
confined to these vexations. He was insulted in the
Tower chapel by the Puritan preachers in their ser-
mons, who took that opportunity to increase the
trials of this venerable man. They selected inflam-
matory texts of Scripture, and with that fanatical
cowardice which delights to triumph over virtue in
distress, they indulged in a strain of invective,
thereby polluting and profaning that religion which
inculcates long- suffering and charity. On the 19th
of August his Palace of Lambeth was forcibly en-
tered by a company of soldiers, and was plundered
of all the fire-arms, though in the order formerly
issued by the House of Lords, it had been expressly
specified, that " a fit proportion of arms" was to be
left at the Palace for its defence. On the 15th
of October all the revenues of the Archbishopric
were seized by the Parliament " for the use of the
Commonwealth," and on the 9th of November,
Lambeth Palace was occupied by a party of sol-
diers ; under the pretence of keeping it for the
public service, that venerable edifice was exposed
to the plunder of the military rabble, and his ser-
428 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
vants were robbed of all their money ; while on the
24th of that month, the military zealots broke into
the chapel, and profaned it by their rude indecen-
cies. He was also prohibited in the Tower from
holding communications with any person save in
the presence of the Warden ; and his servants were
prohibited from going into the city on any pretence,
except for the purchase of provisions. On his own
petition, indeed, to the House of Lords, his books
and his other effects were ordered to be preserved ;
but on the 3d of December the incendiary Leighton,
who had been liberated from the Fleet, came to him
with a warrant from the Commons, demanding the
keys of the Palace ; and on the 5th of January it
was converted into a prison, under the superintend-
ence of Leighton, and his moveable goods were
seized by the soldiers l .
Such proceedings, before the Archbishop, let it
be remembered, was brought to trial, reflect on
the Parliament indelible infamy and disgrace. To
expect justice after those atrocities was out of the
question ; nor is it necessary to comment on pro-
ceedings so directly contrary to law and equity. For,
according to the constitution of England, and the
law in criminal cases, no man's goods can be seized
before he be condemned, if he is imprisoned on a
charge for which the law demands forfeiture ; con-
sequently, while the Archbishop was imprisoned
only on presumptive charges, the conduct of his
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 196198.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 429
enemies was utterly unjustifiable. He had peti-
tioned again and again for a trial, but had been
refused ; nay, even when the Earl of Holland moved,
in the House of Lords, for an investigation of the
charges brought against him, (for which he received
the Primate's grateful acknowledgments,) that he
might be punished, if guilty, or otherwise released
though it caused a message to be sent to the Com-
mons, the worthies of that House did not bestir
themselves in the matter. The above hardships,
however, were not all which the Commons inflicted.
On the motion of the infamous regicide, Hugh
Peters, and others, it was proposed to banish him
and Bishop Wren to New England; but it was re-
jected, a more summary vengeance being in reserve.
After the sequestration of his revenues, he was of
course left utterly destitute of any maintenance,
and yet it was expected that he should defray his
expences. Reduced to poverty, he was compelled
to petition the Parliament, on the 23d of May,
1643, for a maintenance, " humbly praying that
their Lordships would take his sad case into their
honourable consideration, that something might be
allowed him out of his estate to supply the neces-
sities of life, assuring himself that in honour and
justice they would not suffer him to beg or starve."
But, to the infamy of the Parliament, it was re-
fused, merely because he would not collate one of
their enthusiastic zealots to a benefice. Property to
the amount of 200/. he had in Lambeth Palace, and
when he desired that some of it might be sent
LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
to the Tower for his use, he also received a refusal
from his enemies. All his goods in the Palace were
sold for scarcely a third part of their value : his
books and papers were seized ; the windows of his
chapel at Lambeth were defaced and broken ; the
steps to the communion table torn up ; and an
order was issued, prohibiting him from any exer-
cise, or from leaving his own apartments in the
Tower without the attendance of his keeper ; and
a few days afterwards the Parliament issued another
order, prohibiting him from bestowing any benefice,
" but with leave and order of both Houses V
Thus far had the Archbishop's enemies pro-
ceeded, " tearing him piece-meal/' as Heylin ex-
presses it, before they were ready for his trial. And
it is impossible to pass over this part of the Primate's
troubles and trials, without animadverting on the
gross injustice of his enemies. In all the actions of
those boasted and so highly applauded champions
of liberty and the rights of the people, the same
tyranny was invariably displayed: and no better
proof can be adduced that a popular tribunal is the
most liable to dreadful excesses. They clamoured
about the rights of the subject, and yet their own
acts were direct outrages on that liberty. They
had imprisoned the Archbishop, but for what?
They said it was for high treason, but how could it
be proved ? He had never appeared in arms against
1 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. ii. p. 320. Troubles and Trials,
p. 198. 203,204.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 431
his sovereign,, nor had he endeavoured at any time
to excite rebellion. Setting this aside, however, it
was despotism unheard of and unknown, to punish
him before he had been found guilty, and they
gave evident demonstrations that no property would
be secure, the owner of which had incurred their
resentment ; nor did they imagine, with all their
pretexts for religion and liberty, that these viola-
tions were in reality so many encouragements to
incendiaries to proceed in their daring and impious
practices, satisfied that they would be protected if
they adhered to the zealots. And what are we to
think of men who could thus prove themselves so
utterly abandoned, while at the same time they
were mocking the Deity by their professions of re-
ligion ?
The Archbishop himself had not so acted in the
days of his prosperity; for though he had neces-
sarily aided in silencing schismatical incendiaries, he
had respected the rights of the subject, and pu-
nishment was not inflicted on their persons until
they had been formally condemned. But when
the factious demagogues acquired the ascendancy, it
was otherwise managed. And how easy is it to mis-
lead the unthinking and the wrong-thinking by po-
pular clamour ? If, in the height and the exultation
of that power which they had so craftily arrogated
to themselves, they had been distinguished by mo-
deration, and a real desire to rectify alleged abuses,
different indeed would have been the estimation of
their characters; they would have been entitled to the
AND TIMES [1641.
praise of patriotic men. But when we find that religion
and liberty were only the watchwords for dark de-
signs; that/the cant of Presbyterianism, and the no-
tions of Independents,Gospellers, and other sectaries,
were equally employed to further the cause of rebel-
lion that the sovereign was insulted, his ministers
marked out as victims of their vengeance, and a
tribunal erected before which men trembled in de-
spair, those men must be divested of those ho-
nours which the violence of modern partisanship
has so liberally awarded to them. " Some persons,"
says Mr. Hume, " partial to the leaders who now
defended public liberty, have ventured to put them
in balance with the most illustrious characters of
antiquity, and mention the names of Pym, Hamp-
den, and Vane, as a just parallel to those of Cato,
Brutus, and Cassius. Profound capacity, indeed,
undaunted courage, extensive enterprise in these
three particulars, perhaps, the Romans do not sur-
pass the English patriots. But what a difference,
when the discourse, conduct, conversation, and pri-
vate as well as public behaviour, of both are in-
spected ! Compare only one circumstance, and con-
sider its consequence. The leisure of these noble
ancients was totally employed in the cultivation of
polite letters and civilized society; the whole dis-
course and language of the moderns were polluted
with mysterious jargon, and full of the lowest and
most vulgar hypocrisy."
In all probability, however, the Archbishop would
have been brought to his trial, for his grand enemy
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 433
Prynne was at this time indefatigable, had not the
attention of Parliament been directed to other ob-
jects. The King, enraged that all his concessions
had only increased their insolence that they scru-
pled not to calumniate him in the vilest manner
that they had allured the Scots to England,
ariJ fostered the fanaticism of the Covenanters,
had instructed his Attorney- General to impeach
Lord Kimbolton, Holies, Hazlerigg, Hampden,
Strode, and Pym, in the House of Commons.
Those incendiaries averted a fate which thej- pro-
bably would have received, and which they had
incurred, by receiving private information that the
King was to demand them in person in the House
of Commons, and they prudently withdrew. They
betook themselves into the city, which was then the
strong-hold of sedition ; they roused their partisans,
and a tumultuous rabble proceeded to Westminster
in the pride of seditious fanaticism. The unhappy
monarch, sensible of his rashness, retired to Hamp-
ton Court, and abandoned himself to grief. The
disasters which followed it is foreign to our purpose
to detail. On the 26th of Jan. 1642-3, the bill for
abolishing Episcopacy passed in the Upper House,
on which occasion the Archbishop has remarked,
" Go(J be merciful to this sinking Church." That
bill had been previously passed in the Commons, on
the 1st of September, and in the House of Lords
on the 10th, previous to the enactment already
alluded to, that " all rents and profits of all
Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, and
VOL. ii. F f
434 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
other delinquents, should be sequestrated for the use
and sendee of the Commonwealth." The royal
standard was raised at Nottingham ; the King was
thus driven into the unnatural war. The loyalists
rallied round their sovereign ; but it was in vain to
struggle against the overwhelming torrent of re-
bellion.
The Scottish Covenanters, at whose instance the
Archbishop had been imprisoned, fearing that they
would yet lose their victim, now commenced their
practices. An army of Presbyterian enthusiasts
arrived from Scotland to aid their " dear brethren"
in England against the King, at the invitation of
the Parliament, having first, however, received an
assurance that their Covenant would be taken, and
their old enemy the Archbishop brought to trial.
An Assembly of Divines, as they were termed, was
empowered to sit at Westminster, to consult on
religion, composed of furious Calvinists, Presbyte-
rians and Puritans " an excellent conclave !" says
the Primate, " but I pray God that befall not them
which Tully observes fell upon Epicurus, Si qua
corrigere volmt,deteriora fecit." It is, however, al-
most superfluous to mention these events here. The
Covenant was sworn in St. Margaret's, Westminster,
by the combined enthusiasts, after a sermon prgached
by Coleman to justify its piety and lawfulness, and
yet it stipulated that Popery and Prelacy were to be
extirpated by tlie sword, and the Presbyterianism
of Scotland established with all the horrors of Cal-
vinism, the intolerance of Presbytery, and the arro-
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 435
gance of its heaven- derived powers. The Covenant
was made imperative to be taken or sworn by all
ranks. The persecutions which followed the refusal
of this Calvinistic oath are innumerable. " Certain
I am," says Heylin, in his quaint though forcible
style, ec that if all such as died in the war on that
account may not go for martyrs, all such as irre-
coverably lost their estates and livings for the refusal
of it, may be called confessors. Others, with no
unhappy curiosity, observing the number of the
words which make up their Covenant, abstracted
from its preface and conclusion, found them amount-
ing in the total to 666, neither more nor less, which
being the number of the Beast in the Revelation,
pursued with such an open persecution, and prose-
cuted to the loss of so many lives, the undoing of so
many families, and the subverting of the government
in Church and State, may very justly entitle it to
so much of Antichrist, as others have endeavoured
to confer on the Popes of Rome. For if the Pope
shewed any thing of the spirit of Antichrist, by
bringing Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop
of Canterbury, to the stake, at Oxford, this Cove-
nant, and the makers of it, did express no less in
bringing the last Protestant Archbishop to the block
in London."
There is more truth in the last part of the pre-
ceding remarks than may at first sight appear. It
seems indisputable that the Archbishop like Straf-
ford, fell a sacrifice to the intolerable fanaticism of
the Scots Covenanters. From all the documents
Ff 2
LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
which exist on the subject, it is evident that this
career of blood was accelerated by them, for his trial
was either hastened or delayed according to the
movements of their army in England. Nay, Edmund
Ludlow, a famous ring-leader of the Republican
party, candidly says, that he was " beheaded for the
encouragement of the Scots V But the most con-
vincing proof that he fell a victim to Covenanting
fury is to be found in the fourth stipulated article
at the swearing of the Covenant in St. Margaret's ;
which is not only a virtual condemnation of the Pri-
mate before his trial, but an express declaration that
he was to be put to death, whether innocent or not.
In that article it was agreed, " That they should,
with all diligence and faithfulness, discover all such
as have been or shall be incendiaries, malignants,
or evil instruments, by hindering the reformation of
religion, dividing the King from his people, or one
of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction
or parties amongst the people, contrary to this
League and Covenant, that they may be brought to
public trial, and receive condign punishment, as the
degree of their offences shall require or deserve ; or
the supreme judicatories of both kingdoms respec-
tively, or others from them, for that effect shall
judge convenient."
The triumph of the sectaries was now complete,
and, in particular, of the most intolerant of all sects,
the Presbyterians, who yielded not in that respect
1 Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 83.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 437
to the Papacy of Rome. Of all the sects which ob-
tained the mastery in that age of fierce contention,
the most tolerant were the Independents ; for which
they were bitterly reviled by the Presbyterians.
Although the ephemeral triumph of the latter in
England was marked by a very different feature
from Scottish Presbytery, inasmuch as they acknow-
ledged the supremacy of the civil power in spiritual
matters ; yet they denied the Independents separate
places of worship, before their domination was termi-
nated by Cromwell. The intolerance of Presbytery
was a consequence of its arrogant pretensions ; for its
votaries not only valiantly asserted that their church
was the true Church, but they converted the mode-
ration of the Independents into an argument for
intolerance ; while by this very argument they were
virtually condemning their own schism from the
Episcopal Church. It is doubtless true, that Popery
and Prelacy were excluded from the Independents'
toleration ; but the Solemn League and Covenant
not only voted the extirpation of these, but also of In-
dependency, Erastianism, Arminianism, in short, of
every sect. Hence they received a just and merited
reproof from the Independents. " It is hard," say
the latter, " that we should be deprived of toleration
in separate worship and discipline, on account of
our coming so near our brethren. The Presbyte-
rians think there is no middle way betwixt uniformity
and utter confusion, and that the civil sword is an
ordinance of God in their hands to determine all
controversies in theology." This last feature of
438 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
Presbytery is strictly just ; the Independents might
have concluded by drawing a parallel between the
pretensions of the Presbyterians and those of the
Papists.
In thus commenting on the ridiculous pretensions
of the Presbyterians of that age, there is no advocat-
ing of Independency, but candour obliges to confess
the truth. And to shew that I do not libel the
Presbyterians, to whom one of the most virtuous
metropolitans of England fell a victim, I would refer
the reader, in the first instance, to the tyrannical rule
of their great apostle, Calvin at Geneva ; secondly,
to the conduct of John Knox in Scotland ; thirdly,
to the furious zeal of the Melvilles and their asso-
ciates ; fourthly, and perhaps chiefly, to the Solemn
League and Covenant ; fifthly, to the rebellion they
excited both before and after the Restoration ; and
lastly, after their triumph in Scotland in 1688, to
the persecutions they inflicted upon the Scottish
Episcopal clergy, after the insurrections of 1715
and 1745, the only crime of whom was a just, though
it may be, a mistaken principle of loyalty towards
an exiled House. On all these points it is impos-
sible for me at present to press the arguments ad
verecundiam. Yet to shew farther that there is no
lack of authorities in proof, with respect to the era
of which I now write, I would refer to the works
(among others) of their oracle, Samuel Rutherford,
not only to his " Lex Rex," but to the sermon with
which he edified the House of Commons on Jan. 31,
1643, published in l-to., and particularly to his
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 439
" Free Disputation against pretended Liberty of
Conscience/' 4to. London, 1649. It is needless to
take notice of the absurd productions of the pre-
tended Covenanting martyrs after the Restoration.
Some other productions of this period on this sub-
ject are only briefly enumerated. There is the Letter
of the London Ministers, who were then Presbyte-
rians, to the Assembly of Divines, against Toleration,
(4to. 1645.) A letter from " the Ministers about
Colchester," on the same subject, (fol. 1645.) " Anti-
Toleration, or a Modest Defence of the London
Ministers to the Reverend Assembly of Divines,"
(4to. 1646.) " Proper Persecution, or the sandy
foundation of a General Toleration discovered,"
(1646.) " Real Persecution, or the foundation of a
General Toleration displayed," (1647.) " A Tes-
timony from the Kirk of Scotland against Tolera-
tion," (1649.) The curious reader, who inclines to
pursue this subject farther, and to examine the nu-
merous pamphlets, will find it treated with great
ingenuity, though with much satire and virulence,
in the productions of this period, particularly in
" The Nativity of Sir John Presbyter, compared
with the Rodulphine and Lamberger Tables," (4to.
1645.) " The Burden, or the Tyrannical Power
and Practices of the Presbyteriall Government in
Scotland," (4to. 1646.) " The Scotch Presbyterian
Weather-cock perched upon our English steeples,"
(4to. 1647.) " A gilded Pill for a new-moulded
Presbyter," (1647.) " The last Will and Testament
of Sir John Presbyter, also his Epitaph," (1647.)
440 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
" The Lamentation of the Ruling Lay Elders, be-
moaning the death of Sir John Presbyter deceased,"
(1647.) " ^he Ghost of Sir John Presbyter," (1647.)
" Sir John Presbyter not dead," (Gehenna, 1647.)
It is needless to refer to the numerous productions
of the Cavaliers and Independents before and after
the Restoration. Perhaps that remarkable pamphlet
ought not to be omitted, " The Scotch Presbyterian
Eloquence, or the Foolishness of their Teaching
discovered from their books, sermons, and prayers,"
which was first printed at London in quarto, 1693.
We have seen that the triumph of the sectaries was
now complete the inevitable consequence of the
fall of the Church, and of the establishment of the
Covenant. And here I would refer the reader to
the well-known work of Thomas Edwards, himself
a Presbyterian, entitled " Gangraena, or a Cata-
logue and Discovery of many of the Errors, He-
resies, Blasphemies, and Pernicious Practices of the
Sectaries of this Time." The first part of this work
was published in 1645, and the author of it asserts,
in the title-page, that the Errors, &c. had been
" vented and acted in England in these four last
years" that is, from 1640-1, the very years in
which the Covenanters entered England. This is
a remarkable fact. This writer, one of their party,
declares, that they were guilty of all manner of out-
rages ; and not less than one hundred and seventy-
six blasphemous and heretical tenets are enumerated
by him *. The picture he gives, though perhaps
1 Gangraena, 4to. edit. 164-5, p. 1636.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 441
high coloured, and at least not altogether appli-
cable to modern Dissenters, is truly deplorable. In
the Epistle Dedicatory " to the Right Honourable
the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament,"
he thus exclaims, " O cursed be the silence and
flattery that are in such a time as this : For now
things are grown to a strange pass, (though nothing
is now strange,) and every day things grow worse
and worse, and you can hardly conceive and ima-
gine them so bad as they are ; no kind of blasphemy,
heresy, disorder, confusion, but either is found among
us, or is coming in upon us ; for we, instead of a
Reformation, are grown from one extreme to an-
other, fallen from Scylla into Charybdis, from
Popish innovations, superstitions, and prelatical ty-
ranny, to damnable heresies, horrid blasphemies,
libertinism, and fearful anarchy; our evils are not
removed and cured, but only changed." " You
have, most noble senators," says he, " done wor-
thily against Papists, Prelates, and scandalous mi-
nisters, in casting down images, altars, crucifixes,
throwing out ceremonies, &c. but what have you
done against other kinds of growing evils, heresy,
schism, disorders, Seekers, Anabaptists, Antino-
mians, Brownists, Libertines, and other sects ? You
have destroyed Baal and his priests, but have you
been zealous against the golden calves, and the
priests of the lowest of the people ? are not these
grown up, and daily increasing among you ? are
any effectual means used against them ? You have
made a Reformation, and blessed be God who
442 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
put it into your hearts to do such things ; but
with the Reformation have we not a Deformation ;
and worse things come upon us than ever we had
before ? Were any of those monsters heard of here-
tofore who are now common amongst us, as deny-
ing the Scriptures, pleading for a toleration of all
religions and worships. Yea, for blaspheming,, and
denying there is a God. You have put down the
Book of Common Prayer, and there are many
among us have put down the Scriptures, slighting,
yea, blaspheming them. You have broken the
images of the Trinity, Christ, Virgin Mary, and the
Apostles; and we have those who overthrow the
doctrine of the Trinity, oppose the divinity of Christ,
speak evil of the Virgin Mary, slight the Apostles.
You have cast out bishops and their officers, and
we have many that cast down to the ground all mi-
nisters in all the Reformed Churches. You have
cast out ceremonies in the sacraments, as the cross,
kneeling at the Lord's Supper ; and we have many
cast out the sacraments baptism, and the Lord's
Supper. You have put down saints' days, and we
have many making nothing at all of the Lord's day
and fast days. You have taken away the super-
fluous excessive maintenance of the Bishops and
Deans, and we have many take away and cry down
the necessary maintenance of ministers. In the
bishops' times, Popish innovations were introduced,
as bowing at altars, &c. and now we have anointing
the sick with oil ; then we had bishopping of chil-
dren, now we have bishopping of men and women
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 443
by strange laying on of hands. The worst of the
prelates, in the midst of many Popish, Arminian
tenets, and Popish innovations, held many sound
doctrines, and had many commendable practices,
yea, the very Papists hold and keep to many articles
of faith and truths of God, have some order among
them, encourage learning, have certain fixed prin-
ciples of truth, with practices of doctrines and good
works 1 ; but many of the sects and sectaries of our
days deny all principles of religion, are enemies to
all holy duties, order, learning, overthrowing all,
being vertiginosi spiritus; and the great opinion of
an universal toleration tends to the laying all waste,
and dissolution of all religion and good manners.*'
In another place, Edwards tells us that " there are
swarms of all sorts of illiterate mechanic preachers,
yea, of women and boy preachers."
As a natural consequence, too, of this reign of
enthusiasm and parliamentary rebellion, the most
Vandal ferocity was exhibited towards the fine
arts. A furious ordinance was passed in Parlia-
ment against pictures, altars, fonts, crosses, images,
surplices, and organs : this ordinance was faithfully
obeyed, and even Neal admits that " the beauty of
Cathedrals was somewhat defaced." The coinci-
dence between these proceedings and those in Scot-
land at an earlier date under the auspices of Knox,
is no less remarkable. The sacrilegious invaders
were English Presbyterians commanded by Scots
1 Calvini Instructio, adversus Libertines, cap. iv.
444 LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
Covenanters. I have already mentioned the rude
attacks made on Lambeth Chapel, which the Arch-
bishop notices in his Diary ; but it will hardly be
believed that the body of the venerable Parker,
Archbishop of Canterbury, buried in his own Cha-
pel at Lambeth Palace under a tomb erected by
himself, was torn from its resting-place by the
regicide Scott, and thrust into a hole near an
out-house, while he sold the leaden coffin to a
plumber. There lay those sacred remains till the
happy Restoration of 1660, when the excellent
Archbishop Juxon procured their re-interment.
Scott had got possession of the Palace, and he
piously turned the chapel into a ball-room. It is
right, however, to mention, that this disgraceful
transaction took place in 1648 l . This year a
band of military rebels broke the windows of painted
glass in St. Margaret's Westminster, (it being with
the utmost difficulty that the grand east window was
secretly preserved), and defaced the tombs and mo-
numents in the Church 2 . The Cross in Cheapside,
an ancient and glorious monument of Christianity,
was laid prostrate by Puritanical fury, " with sound
of trumpet," says the author of Mercurius Aulicus,
" and the noise of several instruments, as if they had
obtained some remarkable victory over the greatest
enemies of the Christian faith." In Westminster
Abbey, that hallowed pile, sacred as the resting-
1 Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker. Aubrey's Hist, and
Antiq. of Surrey, vol. v. p. 275.
2 Mercurius Aulicus, p. 228.
1641.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 445
place of kings and princes, and men who were the
glory of their several ages, every spot of which is
fi holy haunted ground, not cast in vulgar mould,"
abominations were committed under the sanction
of this godly Parliament, which may well vie with
the fury manifested by the northern hordes who
overran the Roman Empire. The tombs were mu-
tilated and broken; the stone crosses defaced; the
brutal soldiery burnt the altar rails as they stood,
and then sat down to drink ale and smoke tobacco
with the Presbyterian preachers on the communion
table.
In Canterbury, organs, robes, velvet cloths, altar-
rails, every thing was destroyed. On the hangings
were wrought, in the finest workmanship, several
figures of Christ : the impious soldiers swore they
would stab him, and rip up his bowels, which they
actually did : and at an image of our Lord they dis-
charged forty muskets, raising their profane shouts
when the face was disfigured. Exeter Cathedral
was profaned and polluted by those enthusiasts with
the most shocking indecencies. The like was done
at Worcester, and in addition they burnt the Bibles
and Prayer-books. At Winchester they demolished
the furniture of the choir, the glass windows, and
tombs. The brutal Puritan Reformers in the Ca-
thedral of Chichester, plucked out the eyes from a
statue of Edward VI., because he had established
the Liturgy : they seized the communion vessels ;
and when one cup was requested out of the spoil,
44G LIFE AND TIMES [1641.
to administer the Eucharist, a wooden dish was
tauntingly recommended. In Lichfield Cathedral,
they demolished the monuments and windows,
stabled their horses in the chancel, tore up the
pavement, hunted cats with hounds through the
church, and, to add to their wickedness, brought a
calf to the baptismal font, and sprinkled it with water
in the name of the blessed Trinity, as a mockery
of the holy sacrament. Similar profanation was
bestowed on Lincoln by Oliver Cromwell, that
patron of sectaries. Exeter, Peterborough, Salis-
bury, Gloucester, the chapels of the University of
Cambridge, besides the collegiate and parochial
churches, all received visitations from those sons of
Belial. The incomparable Chapel of Henry VII.
at Westminster was also profaned by those sacri-
legious enthusiasts : the windows of the Royal Cha-
pel at Whitehall were dashed to pieces, and the
communion table broken ! . The sum of 6000/., col-
lected to build St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, was
seized, and 400J. demanded from Guildford Hospi-
1 How appropriate the language of the inspired King of Is-
rael ! " Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy congregations,
and set up their banners for tokens. He that hewed timber
afore out of the thick trees, was known to bring to it an excel-
lent work. But now they break down all the carved work
thereof with axes and hammers. They have set fire upon thy
holy places, and have defiled the dwelling-place of thy name,
even unto the ground. Yea, they said in their hearts, Let us
make havock of them altogether : thus have they burnt up all
die houses of God in the land," Psalm Ixxiv. 59. Ut quid,
Deus?"
1642.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 447
tal, Surrey, to promote their rebellion i. And to
aid this war against every venerable decoration and
sacred edifice, a pamphlet was circulated, entitled,
" The Holy Harmony, or a Plea for the abolishing
of organs, and other music out of the Protestant
Churches of Great Britain, and demolishing of su-
perstitious and idolatrous monuments, with a ple-
nary expression of the Parliament's Piety, the City's
Charity, and the Country's Constancy 2 ."
During these triumphs of fanaticism, the vener-
able Laud was languishing in prison, subject to ri-
gorous confinement, and actually subsisting on the
charity of his friends, since all his revenues had
been sequestrated to fill the coffers of his enemies 3 .
The enthusiasts were indefatigable in circulating
libels against him, of the most scandalous and dis-
graceful kind. In 1642, appeared in 4to. " A
Copie of a Letter written from his Holiness' Court
at Rome, to his Grace of Canterburie's Palace, now
in the Tower." "An Examination of his Life,"
was published in a tract, 1643, as also a pretended
petition of his " to both Houses, wherein he desires
not to be transported to New England," (4to.
1643.) The same year a pamphlet was printed,
addressed to him in the form of a letter, " On his
Inclination to Popery." As might be expected,
these productions are supersatured with falsehood
and malevolence. It was by them, indeed, that the
1 Sir William Dugdale's Short View of the Late Troubles in
England, Oxford, folio, 1681. p. 553 562.
2 Printed at London. 4to. in 1643. 3 Heylin, p. 481.
448 LIFE AND TIMES [1642.
public feeling was kept alive against him, and the
ignorant or fanatical really believed every falsehood
which the enemies of this great prelate cunningly
circulated.
Perhaps the most scurrilous, however, of the
libels which appeared against the Archbishop in this
or the preceding years, is that entitled "A New Dis-
putation between the two lordly Bishops, Yorke and
Canterbury," which is declared to be " very neces-
sary for observation, and well worth the reading V
1 A small 1 8mo. " written in English Prose by L. P. Feb. the
2<1, 1642," with this motto prefixed,
" The simple sort live most at rest,
While lordly Bishops are distrest."
There are wood-cuts of Laud and Williams, the former as if in
chains, and it concludes with a song in eight stanzas, to the tune
of " Banks his bill of fare." As a specimen of it, I may intro-
duce a short quotation. To a question about the Cross in Cheap-
side, asked by the Primate, Williams is made to reply, " If it
please your graceless Grace, my little Lord, you know that I
ever hated Papistry from the beginning, for which cause you
caused me to suffer a long time imprisonment. Moreover,
you thought to have seen me end my life, but now I may chance
to live to see your end." The Primate says, " You talk like one
overjoyed, but tell me one thing at your leisure, have you given
in your answer to the charge which was the other day laid
against you at the Parliament, or have you never seen the
Welshman's petition ?" " I would have you answer to this ques-
tion," replies Williams, " and then I shall answer you the better.
What news do you hear from Rome ? hath your ghostly father
the Pope ever a pardon in store for you ? Are you sure that
when you die you shall be canonized for a saint ? resolve me
that question, Canterbury." " Methinks," says the Archbishop,
1642.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 449
This pamphlet was written and published in 1642,
at the time when Williams and his brethren were
committed to the Tower by the Commons, the
consequence, if the noble historian is to be credited,
of the imprudence of Williams. " He carried him-
self so violently in the House and out of the House
to all persons, that he became much more univer-
sally odious than ever the other Archbishop Laud]]
had been, having many more enemies than he, and
few or no friends, of whom the other had abun-
dance : and the great hatred of the man's person
and behaviour was the greatest invitation to the
House of Commons to revive so irregularly the bill
to remove the Bishops, and was their chief encou-
ragement to hope that the Lords, who had rejected
the former, would now pass and consent to the bill."
This, though perhaps a little high coloured, is
probably near the truth : certainly the behaviour
of Williams at this juncture was the source of many
misfortunes and calamities to the Primate.
Among the many remarkable persons who died
this year, were two of the Archbishop's inveterate
enemies, John Hampden and William Pym. The
former was slain in an engagement between the
royalists and the parliamentary rebels on Chalgreave
" your tongue runs a little too fast, Yorke. Have you any more
questions to ask me ?" " Yes, more I think than you will be
willing to answer." " Let me hear," says Laud, " your excellent
wit," &c. &c. (p. 56.) Such is a specimen of the low ribaldry
in which the zealots indulged, and which was swallowed with
avidity by the enthusiasts of that age.
VOL. II. G T
450 LIFE AND TIMES [1642.
Field. In the army of the latter he held a com-
mand. This individual has been famed for his al-
leged patriotism, and the worshippers at his shrine
have not scrupled to exhibit him as a specimen of
all that is great, and good, and illustrious. He cer-
tainly was a great man, and his remarkable conduct
attracted the attention of the nation ; but his claims
to high and lofty patriotism will be diminished in
the estimation of those who remember the fact,
that had any attempts been made to gain him, he
would have turned a zealous royalist, and that his
particular ambition was to be appointed governor
to the Prince of Wales. After the rash conduct of
the King, however, in the House of Commons, in
impeaching the five members, the hatred of this man
became implacable. Towards the Church he had
a peculiar enmity; a furious republican in prin-
ciple, he obscured his abilities by his warmth in
opposition ; of great address and imagination, his
cunning was proportionable to that bland appear-
ance which he thought proper to assume while he
wore the mask. He was an admirable soldier, a
man of great penetration, vigilance, and industry ;
in short, the opinion which the noble historian has
expressed of this justly celebrated man is sufficiently
comprehensive. " He had a head to contrive, a
tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute, any
mischief."
William Pym was a man hardly less remarkable
than Hampden, by whom he was much influenced in
his conduct. So great had been Pym's authority,
1642.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 451
that he was familiarly styled ' King Pym.' His con-
duct towards the Earl of StrafFord, whom he pursued
to the block, entails on his memory indelible in-
famy. He was not at first an absolute patriot,
that is, a violent republican enthusiast, being greatly
controuled by the Earl of Bedford ; but, after the
unfortunate death of that nobleman, who would
have saved StrafFord, Pym became connected with
the Earl of Essex, whose influence at once fixed his
principles. Both he and Hampden sought the de-
struction of the English monarchy ; and however
praiseworthy and virtuous might be their private
life, it remains yet to be proved, that they possessed
those qualities which are necessary to make good
citizens. Pym was the idol of the populace, which
of itself is calculated to render his political conduct
suspicious. His associates buried him with extra-
ordinary pageantry in Westminster Abbey, and his
funeral sermon, which occupied two hours in deli-
very, was preached by a Puritan zealot, who com-
pared him to St. John the Baptist the forerunner
of our Saviour !
G g 2
452 LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
CHAPTER XXII.
16431644.
Conduct of William Prynne Preparations for the Archbishop's
trial Preliminary proceedings Flagrant injustice of the
Archbishop's enemies Commencement of the trial The Arti-
cles of Impeachment Defence of the Archbishop's conduct-
Investigation of the Articles The Archbishop's reply
Gross injustice of his enemies Insolence of his judges Ge-
neral history of the proceedings Tlie Archbishop is found
guilty.
THE venerable Laud, now almost seventy-three
years of age, had languished in prison nearly three
years, ere his enemies brought him to his trial.
During that time he had suffered innumerable hard-
ships and privations ; the Parliament had literally
despoiled him of all he possessed ; they had harassed
him by their unjust and tyrannical injunctions ; they
had imprisoned him before they had specified his
pretended crimes ; they had sequestrated his reve-
nues, sold his goods, and taken possession of his
Palace, before he was even tried. These were indi-
cations to the venerable and afflicted Primate of the
treatment he was to expect a species of treatment
which has few parallels in the annals of civilized
nations.
1643.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 453
In my former details I have anticipated a few
events. On the 31st of May, 1643, the Arch-
bishop's implacable enemy, William Prynne, having
a warrant from what was termed the Close Com-
mittee 1 , entered his apartments in the Tower, as
soon as the gates were opened. Two soldiers were
stationed at the Primate's door with loaded muskets,
and three others entered the apartment with the
fierce enthusiast. The Archbishop was in bed, as
were also his servants. " I presently," says the
pious and aged Primate, " thought upon my blessed
Saviour, when Judas led in the swords and staves
about him." Prynne proceeded to search his room for
papers, and even rifled his pockets. The Archbishop
demanded a sight of the warrant for this dastardly
proceeding, which Prynne produced. The enthusiast
carried away the Primate's Diary, containing all the
occurrences of his life, [[which Prynne afterwards
published infamously mutilated, under the title of
" A Breviat," but for the authentic copy of which the
world is indebted to the learned Henry Wharton ;3
a copy of the Scottish Service-book, and his book
of Private Devotions, with twenty-one parcels of
papers which he had prepared for his defence 2 .
Prynne promised faithfully to restore the papers
within three or four days, but such was not his in-
tention ; and five months afterwards he returned
only three of the parcels, out of the twenty-one
1 Warrant apud Prynne's Breviat, p. 28.
3 Troubles and Trials, p. 205, 206.
454 LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
which he had so illegally taken from the Arch-
bishop *. Laud's refusal to comply with the orders of
Parliament respecting collations and institutions to
his benefices, had caused that nefarious sequestra-
tion which left him not only in absolute poverty,
but even without fees to pay his counsel 2 .
Being the victim of the Scots, no sooner was the
Covenant sworn, than his trial was brought on, to
gratify those enthusiasts. Prynne having perused
his papers, " by this time," says the Archbishop,
" his malice had hammered out something." Four-
teen articles had been exhibited against him in 1641 ;
to these were now added ten more, much to the
same import, the substance of which was, that he
had endeavoured to introduce an arbitrary govern-
ment, by causing the dissolution of the Parliament ;
that he had endeavoured to subvert the fundamental
laws of the kingdom ; that he had restrained the
civil judges in the administration of their duty;
various other minor matters were enumerated, par-
ticularly the affair of impropriations, and the Con-
vocation of 1640, which was altogether ascribed to
him 3 .
These articles, being now in a somewhat digested
form, were presented to the House of Lords by a
lawyer named Wilde, on the 23d of October, and
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 21 1 .
2 Ibid, ut sup. Heylin, p. 481.
3 Heylin, p. 489. Articles of the Commons, 4to. black let-
ter, 1643.
1643.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 455
on the same day the Archbishop was served with a
notice from the House of Lords to prepare his an-
swer before the 31st of the same month. Here was
another instance of flagrant injustice. His revenues
had been seized ; he had subsisted upon the charity
of his friends ; it was not to be expected that he
could employ and fee counsel, and prepare an an-
swer to twenty-four articles in the space of seven
days, especially after his papers had been taken
away by Prynne. He was compelled to petition
the Peers, beseeching them that longer time might
be allowed him, that counsel might be assigned
him, and that two lawyers, named Chute and
Hearne, might be his counsel, and have liberty of
access to him at all times, and that money might
be allowed him out of his estate ' e to fee his counsel,
and defray his other charges, he having been for the
last year very burdensome to his friends V
As if ashamed of their flagrant injustice, the
Archbishop's enemies complied with his petition, and
he was ordered to prepare his defence by the 6th day
of November following. On the 31st of October
he was compelled to petition for a longer time, and
they assigned to him the 13th of November ; and
on the 10th of that month, a warrant was issued to
bring him before the House of Peers on that day.
On the 13th of November he appeared at the bar of
the House. The trial was again delayed, and at
2 Heylin, p. 481. Canterburie's Doome, p. 41, 42. Rush-
worth, Part ii. vol. ii. p. 291 .
456 LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
length it commenced on the 12th day of March,
1643-4.
The transactions previous to the trial were marked
by the same illegal and ungenerous conduct. His
enemies had so framed the articles, that it was utterly
impossible to distinguish them, and this was a source
of infinite perplexity to his counsel. Prynne's con-
duct, too, with regard to the witnesses, was suffi-
ciently infamous. That enthusiast had the manage-
ment of the case against him, and it appears that
he had previously corrupted some of the witnesses,
keeping what the Archbishop terms " a school of in-
struction for those whom he could trust." Nay, so
atrocious was Prynne's conduct, that a lawyer made
this declaration, " The Archbishop is a stranger to
me, but Prynne's tampering with the witnesses is
so palpable and foul, that I cannot but pity him and
cry shame." Describing the witnesses, the Arch-
bishop says, " Many of the witnesses brought against
me in this business are more than suspected sectaries
and separatists from the Church, which by my place
I was to punish, and that exasperated them against
me ; whereas by law, no schismatic ought to be re-
ceived against his bishop. And many of these were
witnesses in their own causes, and pre-examined be-
fore they came into court ; at which pre-examination
I was not present, nor any one for me, to cross inter-
rogate. A pack of such witnesses as were never
produced against any man of my place and condi-
tion, messengers and pursuivants, such as have re-
nounced or changed their religion again and again ;
1613.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 457
i
pillory men and bawds. And these the men that
must prove my correspondence with priests V
The Archbishop's counsel were John Hearne,
Chaloner Chute, Richard Gerrard, and Matthew
Hale, lawyers ; the last afterwards the celebrated
Lord Chief Justice. The opposite counsel were,
John Wylde, Serjeant-at-Law; John Maynard, Ro-
bert Nicholas, and Samuel Browne. Prynne acted
as solicitor. The Archbishop's solicitor was his own
secretary 2 .
It is remarkable, that in this famous trial, which
lasted five months, and during which the Arch-
bishop was heard twenty days in his own defence,
there were never above fourteen peers present at
one time, generally about twelve ; and one-third of
these, we are informed, left the House every day
before the business was half concluded. He ap-
peared before his judges with the boldness of con-
scious innocence, venerable by his years and the
sanctity of his Episcopal character ; though the
long period of his imprisonment had reduced him to
great feebleness. Nevertheless, the vigour of his
mind was unimpaired, and he prepared to defend
himself with his wonted calmness.
The Archbishop appeared at the bar on the 12th
of March, and Wilde opened the proceedings by a
speech of some length, and concluded by informing
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 414. 417.
s Rushworth, vol. v. p. 821. 825. Troubles and Trials,
p. 216. Wood. Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. col. 60.
458 LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
their Lordships that he presented to them " a great
man, who, like Naaman, was a leper." The Arch-
bishop replied, in a speech wherein he repelled the
charge of treason with virtuous indignation, as also
the allegation that he was affected towards Popery.
He enumerated the converts that he had made from
that faith, and he challenged any clergyman to pro-
duce such incontestible proofs of his attachment to
the Reformed Religion. It is needless to enumerate
the various arguments : they are to be found at
large in the Archbishop's " History of his Troubles
and Trials." His principle of defence against the
charge of treason is indisputable, that a crime such
as treason, cannot be established by any accumula-
tion of charges, no one of which is treasonable, or,
as his counsel stated it, " if the generals be not
treason, the particular instances cannot be ; and,
on the other side, if the instances fall short of trea-
son, the application to those generals cannot make
them treason V
A few of the general accusations, however, de-
mand a particular notice. The seventh pretends to
set forth, that the Archbishop had traitorously en-
deavoured to alter and subvert God's true religion,
by law established in this realm, and instead thereof
to set up Popish superstitions and idolatry that
he had urged and enjoined divers Popish and su-
perstitious ceremonies without any warrant of law,
1 See the Speech of the Archbishop's Counsel, History of
Troubles and Trials, p. 423431.
1643.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 459
and cruelly persecuted those who opposed the same.
The eighth declares, that he promoted in the Church
those only who were " Popishly affected, or other-
wise unsound and corrupt in doctrine and manners."
The ninth, " that for the same traitorous and
wicked intent, he employed such men to be his chap-
lains whom he knew to be notoriously disaffected to
the Reformed Religion, grossly addicted to Popish
superstitions, and erroneous and unsound both in
judgment and practice." The tenth, that he en-
deavoured to reconcile the Churches of England
and Rome, and " consorted and confederated with
divers Priests and Jesuits." The eleventh, that
" he in his own person, and his suffragans, chan-
cellors, &c. have caused divers learned, pious, and
orthodox preachers of God's word to be silenced,
suspended, deprived, degraded, excommunicated,"
that "he hath hindered the preaching of God's
word," "increased and cherished ignorance and
profaneness among the people, that so he might the
better facilitate the way to the effecting of his own
wicked and traitorous design of altering and cor-
rupting the true religion here established."
Holding the speech and the argument both of
the Archbishop and his counsel quite conclusive to
refute the absurd charge of treason for the alleged
civil offences, so much has been already said on al-
most all the above charges, which, let it be noted,
constitute the general articles of impeachment for
high treason, that it is needless here to resume the
argument. From the above allegations, the truth
7
460 LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
of Echard's remarks will appear, that " a heap of
crimes and failings were brought against him by his
accusers, who reached and examined into all the
great and trifling actions of his life ; every personal
infirmity, every indiscreet action, and every hasty
word that could be remembered, were sifted and
aggravated, and the best and noblest of his per-
formances were perverted with all imaginable spite
and malice." Yet, in justice to the memory of this
most virtuous and learned prelate, who, like St.
Paul, was never permitted to answer for himself, a
specimen of the manner in which this trial, so dis-
graceful and so infamous to the actors, was con-
ducted, appears not to be out of place.
I. It was first alleged against the Archbishop, that
he had a particular partiality for images, pictures,
and stained glass windows in churches, which he
evidently manifested in the repairs of his chapel in
Lambeth Palace, contrary to the statutes 3d and 4th
Edward VI. and the injunctions of Elizabeth ; that
he had erected crosses, and placed a statue of the
Virgin in St. Mary's, Oxford and that he had
summoned Sheffield before the Star-Chamber, for
defacing the window of a church in Salisbury. The
last assertion was a gross falsehood, for Sheffield
had been summoned by the Bishop of the diocese ;
moreover, he was censured for destroying the deco-
rations of a church without the authority of the
Bishop. The Archbishop replied, that images were
in the churches earlier than the time of Constan-
tine ; that a congregation is mentioned by Tertul-
1643.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 461
lian, who had a representation of Christ on the
communion cup. Calvin himself was not averse to
pictures of scriptural subjects, for he says, " Neque
tamen ea superstitione teneor, ut nullas prorsus
imagines ferendas censeam, sed quia sculptura et
pictura Dei dona sunt, purum et legitimum utrius-
que usum requiro J :" that the Homilies allowed
historical representations 2 ; that images were in
the church windows when he found them ; that
he only repaired the windows which were broken,
which he did not from any mass-book, but from
comparing the broken fragments, that he repaired
them at his own expence, and at very great cost, on
account of the extreme disorder of the chapel, that
stained windows are not forbidden by 3d Edward
VI. c. 10. but statues only, that the repairing a
glass window was no high treason, that the statue
of the Virgin had been set up by Bishop Owen,
that they could not prove that he (the Archbishop)
was even aware of its existence, that he never ap-
proved of pictures of God the Father 3 .
To this conclusive defence his enemies replied,
that he did not find those historical representations
complete and entire, (and here, let it be remarked,
Laud never asserted so,) that his confessing he did
not, amounted to an admission of his guilt ; that in
the stained windows, he himself gave directions to
the workmen ; that these representations were in the
' Institut. lib. i. c. xi. 12. 2 P. 64, 65.
3 Rush worth, part ii. vol. .p. 2i 74, 275. Troubles and Trials,
p. 332, 333, 334.
AND TIMES [1G43.
Missal, and, therefore, he must have taken them
from it, whether he admitted it or not; that he
hnd perverted Calvin's language, who merely af-
firms, that he is not so superstitious as to think it
altogether unlawful to make any images of men
or beasts for a civil use, since painting is the gift
of God ; and he farther says, in the very same pas-
sage, " Purum et legitimum utriusque usum re-
quiro, ne quae Dominus in suam gloriam, et bonum
nostrum nobis contulit, ea non tantum polluantur
prsepostero abtisu, sed in nostram quoque per-
niciem convertantur. Deum effingi visibili specie
nefas esse putamus, quia id vetuit ipse, et fieri sine
aliqua gloriae ejus deformatione non potest ;" and,
speaking of images in churches he says, " Non
judicio aut delecta, sed stulta et inconsiderata cu-
piditate :" that the third part of the Homily
against the Peril of Idolatry affirms it unlawful to
make the picture of Christ, much more to set them
up in Churches that Justin Martyr, Clemens
Alexandrinus, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Minutius Felix,
Origen, &c. expressly assert, that there were no
images in the churches of the primitive Christians,
that Lactantius and other primitive Christians
assert, that, " without doubt there can be no re-
ligion at all wheresoever an image is ; and that
Epiphanius, in holy indignation, rent the image of
Christ, or some saint, which he found in a church
depicted on a piece of cloth" that if the book De
Pudicitia be Tertullian's, which some doubt, the
Archbishop had wrongly quoted him, for his words
1643.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 463
are, " Sed a parabolis licebit incipias ubi est ovis per-
dita a Domino acquisita, &c., picturae calicem ves-
trorum, &c.," not nostrorum; and that this Father
hath written a whole book against Idolatry, which
he has entitled De Idololatria that the setting up
of glass windows is not simply high treason by the
statute, but as it may tend to subvert our religion,
laws, and introduce Popery, it may amount to high
treason that the statute 3 Ed. VI. c. x. extends
not only to images, but to glass windows, as do
also the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, and the
statute of 3 James I. c. v., which reckons them
among the relics of Popery, and enjoins them to
be defaced 1 .
Now, it were an easy matter, indeed, to prove
the absurdity of this reply, but I conceive that it is
so self-evident as to be needless. Perhaps the reader
will affirm that these ridiculous charges are un-
worthy of notice ; in this I agree, but it must be
recollected, that it was in consequence of these the
Archbishop was murdered. In this manner the trial
proceeded, the Archbishop never being allowed
to examine the pleadings of his antagonists, but
having merely time for a short and unpremeditated
reply. Miserable sophistry it was to attempt to
prove high treason from such premises. But if the
Archbishop had indeed repaired his chapel windows
from a Missal, where was the crime? It appears
1 Rushworth, ut sup. p. 276, 277. Canterburie's Doome,
p. 5962.
4(54, LIFE AND TIMES [1643.
that such a repair was unlawful, because the win-
dows had been defaced at the Reformation ; as if
the actions/of an ignorant and fanatical rabble are
never to be called in question. The statutes to
which the enthusiasts referred are, for their argu-
ment, singularly unfortunate. That of 1st Elizabeth
refers to 3d Edward VI. but it orders things to
remain as they were when that statute was enacted ;
and the act of Edward VI. commands only the de-
struction of images, in wood, stone, or alabaster,
but says nothing of stained windows, and even ex-
pressly enjoins the preservation of images and mo-
numents, if these were not saints, or worshipped as
such. These acts, therefore, were in Laud's favour.
It was mere sophistry to talk of Elizabeth's injunc-
tions ; for the act was passed in 1558, the Injunc-
tions in 1559 ; and the latter, after commanding the
destruction of images, enjoins, te preserving, never-
theless, and repairing, both the walls and glass
windows." As to^the Homily against'Peril of Ido-
latry, it is there expressly declared, that " Images,
or pictures in glass, or hangings, are expressly and
truly said not to be idols till they are worshipped''
II. The next charge brought against the Arch-
bishop was superstition in the consecration of
churches, and the two famous instances were ad-
duced of St. Catherine Cree, and St. Giles 1 in the
Fields. "This," says Pyrnne, "was wholly abo-
lished upon the Reformation of religion in King Ed-
ward's days, by the express statutes of 3d and 4th
Edward VI. c. i. 5th and 6th Edward VI. c. i. ; and
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 465
after that by the statutes of 1st of Elizabeth, c. ii.
and 8th Elizabeth, c. i. which abrogate all rites,
ceremonies, and consecrations whatsoever, but those
comprised in the Book of Common Prayer and
Ordination of Ministers V This last admission is
singularly unfortunate for Prynne. He affirms, too,
that it was contrary to the opinion of Bishop Pil-
kington of Durham, and of Archbishop Parker 2 .
But these prelates condemn Popish consecrations,
as appears from the very passages to which Prynne
has referred.
The consecration of altars, chalices, &c. the de-
dication of churches to saints and angels, and com-
memoration feasts, were all alleged as crimes by the
Archbishop's accusers 3 . To these things the Arch-
bishop replied, that consecration was first practised
by Moses, who hallowed the tabernacle, and also by
Solomon, who set apart the temple; that Christian
churches were consecrated when they were first
built, which was in the reign of Constantine; and
Eusebius, who flourished A.D. 310 4 , mentions that
of Tyre : that the Feast of the Dedication, (John
x. 22.) was the anniversary of the Dedication, Ezra
vi. 16, 17. that Archbishop Parker condemns
Popish consecrations only 6 , and that he (Laud)
made use of Bishop Andrews' Consecration Book.
These facts the Primate's accusers could not well
1 Canterburie's Doome, p. 114. 2 Ibid. p. 115, 116.
3 Ibid. p. 115. 497. 4 Eusebius, Hist. lib. x. c. iii.
* Antiquitates Ecclesise Britannicse, p. 8-5 87.
VOL. II. H ll
466 LIFE AND TIMES [164*.
deny; they met them, therefore, by a direct assertion,
that consecration was absolute Popery, and they
objected to all his illustrations from the Jewish
history. They declared that the book of Bishop
Andrews was only another form of the Missal, and
that, therefore, it was Popish ; though they chose
to forget, and indeed would not have admitted, that
there is no lack of sound doctrine in the Romish
Missal, though it be mixed with abundance of error.
Finally, they rejected all the Archbishop's illustra-
tions as unworthy of credit. It is evident, how-
ever, that he was right in his principle, though
he may have carried it to excess ; but it is to
be remarked, that he distinctly denied the re-
presentations which had been given of the con-
secration of St. Catherine Cree and St. Giles' in
the Fields.
III. The removal of the communion table, and
the alteration of its name to altar, were the next
grounds of complaint. Having already animadverted
on this subject, a few remarks are only introduced
here, to shew the gross injustice of arraigning a man
on a charge of life and death for the interpretation
of language, which in every case is arbitrary. The
Archbishop's accusers objected first to the term
altar, yet what does it simply mean ? An elevated
place, on which the ancients used to celebrate the
mysteries of their religion, (and, be it remembered,
the Eucharist was anciently termed an holy mys-
tery,) derived from aASw, and the Latin altitudo :
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 467
hence ara, an altar, is frequently used to signify
a lofty place, the top stone, rocks, or eminences \
In truth, the word altar, in ecclesiastical phraseo-
logy, means nothing more than table ; and, there-
fore, Laud's accusers, in their disputations on the
difference between altar and table, were arguing
against objections they themselves raised ; and the
assertion of Bishop Williams 2 , that the name table
was solely used for 250 years after Christ, is com-
pletely erroneous. For St. Ignatius terms the com-
munion table ev Ovaiaarripiov 3 , (from 0v<rtaw, to sa-
crifice, to immolate,) which means altare, sacra-
rium ; as do also Irena3us and Origen. The com-
munion table is termed by Tertullian ara Dei et
altare; and St. Cyprian uses the words without
any distinction. These writers lived in the second
and third centuries. As to the others of that age,
Lactantius, Origen, &c. who affirm that Chris-
tians had neither temples nor altars, they manifestly
refer to the heathen edifices, and altars on which
animal sacrifices were offered ; for they tell us of
their own Ovaiaarripiov, and their jSw^oc avaipaKTOs,
bloodless altar, which bear hard against the Popish
notion of the mass, or unbloody sacrifice, as the
Papists choose to term it ; and even when the fa-
thers employ rpair^, mensa, a significant adjective
1 Hence Virgil, jEn. i. 113. " Saxa, vocant Itali mediis
quse fluctibus aras"
2 " The Holy Table, Name, and Thing."
3 Ignat. Ep. adEphes. n. 5.
H h 2
468 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
is always used, such as ayiaapa, pvarucoQ, the former
especially by Eusebius *.
It is evident, then, that the charge of high trea-
son made against the Archbishop on this head was
altogether absurd, and that the arguments his ene-
mies adduced are totally untenable and inconclusive.
Let us, however, attend to the other division of this
charge, namely, the removal of the altar or com-
munion table from the middle to the east end of
the church, which was declared to be an enormous
crime. It was stated that the altar stood anciently
in the choir, or middle part of the Jewish and
Christian churches, which has been proved by
Bucer, Jewel, and others ; and that this was their
original position in England is proved from the tes-
timonies of the Venerable Bede and Archbishop Aus-
tin of Canterbury, that our Lord celebrated the
eucharist at an ordinary table, (which is the Scotch
notion, and hence the Presbyterian argument for
that peculiar attitude), that the word choir has
its name from those who stood round the altar,
that those who stood round the altar were an-
ciently prayed for, and, therefore, it could not be
close to the wall finally, that the injunctions of
Elizabeth enjoined the communion table to be fixed
where the altars formerly stood, which Bede and
Austin prove to have been in the choir, that this
position is set forth by the Rubric and Canon Ixxxii.
4 Bingham's Ecclcs. Antiquities, vol. iii. edit, London, 1711.
p. 188192.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 469
of 1603 ; consequently, its removal was a Popish
innovation, and high treason !
Now, in all these assertions, there is a cluster of
the most unfounded and ridiculous statements. It
matters not whether they are set down logically or
not, but such were a few of their proofs of high
treason. The Archbishop never attempted to re-
store altars. The antiquity of their position in the
chancel is proved on the clearest evidence. " We
find it described in a letter of Theodosius and Va-
lentinian," says Bingham, " at the end of the Council
of Ephesus, and inserted also in the Theodosian
Code, where, speaking of churches as places of re-
fuge, they divide them into these three parts :
1. The Ovaiaarripiov, the altar part, or sanctuary.
2. The EVKrrjptov TOV \aov rsrpaywvov, the four-
squared oratory of the people ; and 3. The remain-
ing part from that to the outer doors of the church 1 ."
These divisions, here given on the most undoubted
evidence by this learned writer, are to the following
effect : the first, or chancel, anciently called jSr^a,
or tribunal, a word of various significations ; some-
times denoting merely the reading-desk, and some-
times the altar, sometimes the seat or throne of the
bishop and presbyters,, and sometimes the whole
space where the altar stood 2 . In this last sense it
is used by St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, the former
Father intimating, that it was approached by an
1 Bingham's Ecclesiastical Antiquities, vol. iii. c. v. p. 163,
164.
2 Ibid. vol. iii. c. vi. p. 177.
470 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
ascent. The Greeks called the j3r>a, or tribunal,
a-ytov, or holy, hence the altar is termed a-yiov ayi&iv,
the holy of holies, which term is employed by Euse-
bius *, and also ayiaa^a, the word employed in the
Septuagint. The Latins termed it sacrarium, the
sanctuary ; it was also termed by the Greeks the
altar-part (Qvaiaar^wv).
Such being the case in the apostolic and primitive
ages, let us now observe the nature of the Puritan
and Presbyterian objections. The first Council of
Bracara prohibits laymen from entering the sanc-
tuary to communicate. In like manner, the Council
of Varson, and the fourth General Council of Car-
thage, and the Councils of Laodicea and Trullo.
The Council of Laodicea, moreover, forbids women
to come within the Qvaiaarypiov, or altar-part, and
enjoined none but the cepart/coi, or clergy, to com-
municate there. So also the Council of Trullo ;
and hence the altar-part received the names of
a|3ara and aSvra by the Greek writers, and adyta
by the Latins inaccessible, that is, inaccessible to
the people. Here, then, let us notice the canon ;
as a prohibition to communicate in the altar-part
did not mean that the people were not to enter the
chancel at all, but the altar or bema was railed in,
as Eusebius declares 2 ; and hence it was called
cancelli by the Latins, from which our English
word chancel. In some places it is also termed the
1 Euseb. lib. x. c. iv. p. 381.
Ibid. lib. x. c. iv. wg a.v etr) TOIC TroXAoig afiara, arro
7Tfplt(f)()a.TT SlKTOtf, &C.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 471
chorus l , hence the word quire or chancel. Thus,
the altar-part was that within the rails 2 , from which
the people were always excluded ; and Socrates,
Theodoret, Sozomen, and others relate, that even
the Emperor Theodosius was excluded by St. Am-
brose from the altar-part 3 , and that the people
always communicated without the rails. The se-
cond division of the church was termed the vaoq,
hence nave, or oratory ; the third, the naithex, or
porch. So much, then, for the assertion of Laud's
enemies, that the communion table stood anciently
in the body of the church.
Nor was the inference which they drew from the
Venerable Bede and Austin of Canterbury more
fortunate or conclusive. For in the ancient churches
the communion table always stood in the upper end
of the chancel, but seldom, if ever, close to the wall.
The throne or seat of the bishop, and those of the
presbyters, were placed behind the altar. It was
the same in Britain during the days of Austin and
the Venerable Bede ; and hence the allusion of the
former to the sacred mensa as in medio constituta,
that is, in the middle of the chancel, or choir, not
in the nave ; or rather, in the middle of the altar-
part, (j3r?pa, or Ovaiaarripiov} which was railed in,
and none admitted to enter but the bishops, pres-
1 Cone. Tolet. iv. c. 17. Sacerdotes et Levitae ante altare
communicent, in choro clerus, extra chorum populus.
2 Mede's Commentary on the Apocalypse, p. 479.
3 Socrat. lib. i. c. 11. Theodor. lib. i. c. 14. Sozomen, lib.
vii. c. 24.
472 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
byters, and deacons. " This explanation once ad-
mitted," says Grant, " all the learning of the ma-
nagers dismayed in their modus coronte, and their
bishops encircling the altars, and their people stand-
ing round about the altars, as introduced to prove
the altar to have stood anciently in the body of the
church, is but idle prattle wasted in the air."
I may add a single remark on the charge of inno-
vations brought against the Archbishop, respecting
Elizabeth's Injunctions. They admitted that these
Injunctions commanded the communion table to be
placed where the altar formerly stood. Here they
were guilty of a most egregious contradiction. This
will be sufficiently proved by quoting these Injunc-
tions. " Whereas, in many parts of the realm the
altars be removed, and tables placed for the admi-
nistration of the holy sacrament, according to law ;
and in other places the altars be not removed, in
the order whereof, saving for uniformity, there
seerneth no matter of great moment, so that the
sacrament be duly and reverently ministered, yet,
for observation of one uniformity throughout the
realm, and for better imitation of the law in that
behalf, it is ordered, that no altar be taken down,
but by oversight of the curate and churchwardens ;
and that the holy table in every church be decently
made, and set in the place where the altar stood,
and there commonly covered as thereto belongeth ;
and when the sacrament is to be distributed, to be
placed within the chancel 9 so that the minister
may conveniently be heard, and the communicants
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 473
communicate with him ; after the communion done
from time to time the same holy table to be placed
where it stood before."
It therefore appears, that the Archbishop's enemies
were, in this instance, guilty of glaring falsehood,
as they also were in their interpretation of the 82d
Canon of 1603, which says, " either within the
chancel or within the church." They had indeed
adopted the idea, that, as masses were always said
in the chancel of the Popish churches, therefore it
was Popery to remove the table thither ; but this is
absurd, for masses could be said as well in 'the nave,
as in the chancel. It is evident, however, that the
Presbyterian posture of irreverence, tumult, and
insubordination at the holy table had completely
divested the zealots of all respect for antiquity.
The unhappy primacy of Abbott had encouraged
many disorders, and bitterly did Laud atone for
that prelate's imprudence. It is unnecessary to
notice the charge of Laud's accusers against the
furniture of the altar. It is too ridiculous to be
received for a moment. In fine, the Archbishop's
love of order and solemnity in public worship was
reckoned by his enemies a prodigious crime; as
actually inferring high treason. Wretched indeed
were those times, in which men could so wantonly
sport with life, and inflict at pleasure the punishment
of death, thus glutting their eyes on the murder
of those whom they daringly designated " state
malefactors," alleging pretended crimes, which, in
truth, were no crimes, but, at the utmost, themes of
474 LIFE AND TIMES [1G44.
literary research, by the most contemptible, contra-
dictory, and fallacious arguments.
IV. The /bowing at the name of Jesus was reck-
oned another heinous crime, as " subverting the
laws and religion of the realm." With this were
coupled other alleged charges of high treason, such
as standing at the Gloria Patri, reading the second
service at the communion table, church music, (to
which those sages had a rooted antipathy,) and
the wearing of copes. The Archbishop defended
bowing from various passages of Scripture, from
the practice of the primitive Church, from the 12th
Injunction of Elizabeth, and from the 18th Canon
of 1603 ; the 24th Canon of that year also enjoins
the wearing of copes ; the use and necessity of
church music require no comment.
The Primate's accusers, however, were by no
means satisfied with this explanation. This part,
I presume, was specially conducted by Prynne, who
had written a tract against those primitive customs.
They declared that bowing at the name of Jesus
encouraged transubstantiation ; that it was only in-
troduced in 1431 ; they now pretended that the
Canons of 1603 were not valid, because they had not
been ratified by Parliament ; moreover, they were
now supplanted by the Homilies and Book of Com-
mon Prayer ; that standing at the Gloria Patri was
introduced with the Mass; that there was no injunc-
tion to read the second service when there was no
communion ; that the table was designed only for the
communion ; that there is no authority for copes in
7
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 475
the Books of Common Prayer and Ordination ; that
the Canon of 1603 enjoins the chief minister only to
wear one at the communion, but the Archbishop had
commanded them to be worn by all clergymen.
These absurd positions might easily have been
refuted; but the Archbishop was prohibited from
making a reply. Setting aside the proofs from
Scripture and from the Fathers, he might have in-
formed them, that if there was no command to read
the second service, when there was no communion,
in the Canons of 1571 and 1603, there was no prohi-
bition, and the same may be said about the wearing
of copes ; nevertheless, with respect to the latter,
the statute of 1548 enjoined hoods to be worn by
all graduates ; in 1551, an act was passed repealing
this, in a degree ; but in the first year of Elizabeth
the statute of 1548 was confirmed, and the following
year, 1559, ratified the wearing of those ecclesias-
tical garments which had been worn in Edward
VI.'s reign. The 58th Canon of 1603 expressly
commands the wearing of surplices and hoods in all
churches, and by all the clergy.
It is unnecessary to dwell on some of the other
charges brought against the Archbishop, because
they have already come partially under our ob-
servation. These were, that he had encouraged
Popish and Arminian errors : that he had refused
to license certain orthodox books : that he had
persecuted Puritans for preaching against Popery
and Arminianism : and that he had endeavoured
to reconcile the Churches of England and Rome,
476 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
The last charge excited in him a virtuous indigna-
tion. He repelled the charge with disdain, and in
a spirit of poignant satire. " I have converted,"
said he, " several from Popery ; I have framed an
oath against it ; I have made a canon against it ; I
have written a book against it ; I have held a con-
troversy against it ; I have been twice offered a cardi-
nal's hat, and refused it ; I have been twice in danger
of my life from a Popish plot ; I have endeavoured
to reconcile the Lutherans and the Calvinists ; and,
therefore, I have endeavoured to introduce Popery !
As to particulars, the titles bestowed by the Uni-
versities were trifles ; let it be proved that I assumed.
Popish power. The Queen's conversion was prayed
for in a factious manner, and in a spirit of bitter-
ness. I do believe the Church of Rome, to be a
true Church. She never erred in fundamentals,
for fundamentals are in the creed, and she denies it
not. Were she not a true Church, it were hard
with the Church of England, since from her the
English Bishops derive their apostolical succession*
She is therefore a true b?it not an orthodox Church.
Salvation may be found in her communion, and her
religion and ours are one in the great essentials. I
am not bound to believe each detached phrase in
the Homilies, and I do not think they assert the
Pope to be Antichrist, yet it cannot be proved that
I ever denied him to be so. As to the charge of
unchurching foreign Protestants, I certainly said
generally, according to St. Jerome, No bishop, no
church : and the Preface to the Book of Ordination
1644. j OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 477
sets forth that the three orders came from the
Apostles. After all, what was my crime with re-
spect to the French and Dutch Churches in Eng-
land ? To insist that those alone of the second ge-
neration, born in this country, should receive the
English Liturgy! I never had correspondence with
Popish priests, and it can be shewn that I informed
the King of the late plot, as soon as I myself had
intelligence of it."
To this noble and admirable defence, the adver-
saries of the Primate made a miserable reply. They
could not deny that he had endeavoured to suppress
Popery, and yet they affirmed that he was a Papist.
They said that the Church of Rome was abominable,
corrupt, and damnable ; that its clergy were not
true ministers, and that, in short, it was Antichrist.
On the 29th of July, 1644, after a continuance
of three months, during which, as has been said,
the Archbishop was heard twenty days in his own
defence, the trial concluded. No man, after a
candid perusal of the whole proceedings, will pre-
sume to say, that this venerable Primate had even
common justice : and his enemies utterly failed to
prove that any of his actions were treasonable, ac-
cording to the laws and constitution of the king-
dom. Four things were clearly proved, 1. That
in those charges on religion, the Archbishop was
not only right himself, but had the Scriptures,
and the sentiments of the Church in every age on
his side. 2. That, although he had not been right,
it could not be proved that his design was to intro-
478 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
duce Popery. 3. That, though he had in reality
so attempted, it was not high treason ; and, 4. That,
on the civil charges, as many of the acts imputed
to him were not his individually, but those of
the government, it was unjust to condemn him for
them individually; and, moreover, as not one of
the civil charges amounted in itself to high treason,
no combination of such charges could establish that
crime.
On the 21st of September following, the Arch-
bishop was permitted to make what he terms his
recapitulation. He thanked the Peers for the pa-
tience with which they had heard him ; he trusted
to their justice in pronouncing him innocent of
crime, and to their clemency in making due allow-
ance for the common frailties of man. He besought
them to review the charges with care, and with the
respect due to his rank, age, long imprisonment,
sufferings, and patience in his affliction. He com-
plained that he had not sufficient time to pre-
pare his defence, and trusted that a day would be
appointed for the hearing of his counsel before sen-
tence was pronounced. He reminded them of the
malicious seizure of his Diary and papers by his
enemy, Prynne, and also the seizure of even his
prayer-book, though he blessed God there was no
disloyalty in the one, nor Popery in the other. He
reminded them of the crafty and unjust methods
pursued to procure evidence against him ; he main-
tained that the charges were general and vague.
Hasty language, the acts of other men, the decrees
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 479
of courts and councils, had all been imputed to him
as crimes, as were also the repairing of St. Paul's,
and reforming the statutes of the University of
Oxford, for which he conceived that he deserved
praise instead of blame. He had been over-
whelmed, he said, by 150 witnesses, schismatics and
sectaries, some of them three, four, six times ap-
pearing against him, contrary to the injunctions of
the civil law> which expressly declares, that " the
judges should so moderate things, that no man
should be oppressed by the multitude of witnesses,
which is a kind of proof, too, that they who so do,
distrust the truth and goodness of their cause V
He reminded them of what had been advanced by
his enemies at the bar on the 16th of last April,
" that they did not urge any of these particular ac-
tions as treason against him, but the result of them
all together amounted to treason ;" which he main-
tained was absurd. " And now, my Lords," said he
in conclusion, " I do in all humility lay myself low
at God's mercy-seat, to do with me as he pleases,
and, under God, I shall rely upon your Lordships'
justice, honour, and clemency, of which I cannot
doubt, and without being farther tedious to your
Lordships, (who have with honourable patience
heard me through this long and tedious trial,) I
1 Judices moderentur, &c., ne effraenata potestate ad vexan-
dos homines superflua multitude testium protrahatur. Adde et
x hanc rationem, quod qui praedicta licentia abutuntur, veniunt
in suspicionem, quod non satis confidunt veritate. Gloss. H.
L. 21. Tit. xxi.
480 UFE AND TIMES [1G44-
shall conclude with that which St. Augustine said
to Romanianus, a man, like myself, who had expe-
rienced prosperous and adverse fortune, ' If the
Providence of God reaches down to us (as most
certainly it doth), it must so be done with thee, and
so with me also, as it is done/ And under that
Providence, which will, I doubt not, work to the
best to the soul that loves God, I repose myself V
On the llth day of October the Archbishop's
counsel were heard : the defence was drawn up by
the famous Matthew Hale, though it was delivered
by Hearne 2 . The argument proceeded on the law
of treason, and investigation of the statute of 25th
Edward III. and of statutes passed in the reigns of
succeeding monarchs 3 . After this the Archbishop
had a few days rest ; but, on the 22d of October,
his apartments in the Tower were again searched,
and shortly after, on the 28th of October, a peti-
tion was presented to the House of Commons, at
the instigation of Prynne, from the rabble about
London, praying for justice against Delinquents ;
and the Archbishop alone was mentioned with the
Bishop of Ely. On the 2d of November he was
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 412421.
2 " The Lord Chancellor Finch told me," says Wharton,
" that this argument was not Mr. Hearne's, though he delivered
it, for he could not argue, but it was Mr. Hale's, afterwards
Lord Chief Justice ; and he said farther, that being then, a
younger lawyer, he stood behind Mr. Hearne, when he spoke at
the bar of the Lords' House, and took notes of it." Note, apud
Troubles and Trials, p. 422.
3 Troubles and Trials, p. 423431.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 481
brought to the bar of the House of Commons,
and again on the llth, when he made an admi-
rable and eloquent defence. He went over all the
charges against him in a clear and comprehensive
manner. He reminded them of his great age, and
the feebleness of his body ; that, in the course of
nature, his death could not be far distant. " It
cannot/' said he, " but be a great grief unto me, to
stand at these years thus charged before you. Yet
give me leave to say thus much without offence :
whatsoever errors or faults I may have committed
by the way, in any of my proceedings, through
human infirmity, (for who is he that hath not
offended, and broken some statute laws, too, by
ignorance, or misapprehension, or forgetfulness, at
some sudden time of action ?) yet, if God bless
me with so much memory, I shall die with these
words in my mouth, that I never intended, much
less endeavoured, the subversion of the laws of the
kingdom, nor the bringing in of Popish superstition
upon the true Protestant religion, established by
law in this kingdom V
The Archbishop requested the House to hear his
counsel, but this was refused. On November 13,
Brown, one of the opposite counsel, replied to his
answer, on which occasion the Archbishop was sum-
moned to attend. After hearing this, he was or-
dered to the Tower, and immediately after his
departure, without hearing his counsel, or any
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 432440.
VOL. II. I i
482 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
argument, he was voted guilty of high treason.
" And yet," says he, " when I came that day to
the House, all men, and many members of the
House themselves, did much magnify my answer
before given. I forbear to set down the language,
because it was too high, as no time can be fit for
vanity, at least such a time for me as the present ;
and vain I must needs be thought, should I here
relate what was told me from many and good hands ;
but it seems the clamour prevailed against me 1 ."
Thus ended this most unjust and illegal trial ; in
which the Archbishop is allowed even by his enemies
to have conducted his defence in an admirable man-
ner. Even Prynne, his implacable enemy, whom
Wood justly terms, "the stigmatized and crop-eared
Presbyterian," bears testimony to his conduct.
" And to give him his due," says that incendiary,
" he made as full, as gallant, as pithy a defence of
so bad a cause, and spake as much for himself, as
was possible for the wit of man to invent, and that
with the greatest art, sophistry, vivacity, oratory,
audacity, and confidence, without the least blush, or
acknowledgment of guilt in any thing 2 ." So re-
solved were his enemies on his destruction, that
when the trial was proceeding, and it seemed
hopeless to prove him guilty of high treason, a
member of the Commons replied to one of his friends,
who lamented his situation, that were he never so
innocent, he must be condemned for their own
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 441 . 2 Canterburie's Doome, p. 462.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 483
sakes ; and the citizens of London also declared,
though he had defended himself well, he must suffer
for the honour of the House V There was not
one of the religious crimes imputed to him, but was
openly practised without control after the Restor-
ation. " But when hatred doth accuse, and malice
persecute," says Antony Wood, " and prepossession
sit upon the bench, God help the innocent. They
called him often to the bar, both before and after ;
caused a strict inquisition into all his actions, win-
nowed him like wheat, and sifted him to the very
bran, which was, you know, the devil's work ; they
had against him all advantages of power and malice,
and witnesses at hand on all occasions ; but still they
found his answers and resolution of so good a temper,
his innocence and integrity of so bright a dye, that
as they knew not how to dismiss him with credit,
so neither could they find a way to condemn him
with justice. And though their consciences could
tell them that he had done nothing which deserved
either death or bonds, yet, either to reward or
oblige the Scots, who would not think themselves
secure while his head was on, they were resolved to
bring him to a speedy end ; only they did desire, if
possible, to lay the odium of the murder upon the
common people ."
In addition, however, to the general injustice of
the trial, this noble Prelate was treated by his ac-
cusers with studied indignity. Sergeant Wylde,
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 441.
2 Wood, Athen. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 132.
I i 2
484 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
who conducted the prosecution, after having aggra-
vated to the utmost his alleged offences, concluded
by saying, " that he was guilty of so many and no-
torious treasons, so evidently destructive of the
commonwealth, that he marvelled the people did
not tear him in pieces as he proceeded between his
barge and the Parliament House." Yet this was
spoken before he was condemned, and without any
censure from the judges. He was exposed every
day to the ignoble gaze of the fanatical rabble ;
compelled to wait for hours among menials in an
anti-room ; checked and interrupted in the course
of his defence ; while he was doomed to hear all
the scurrility which his enemies uttered against
him. Yet, he preserved his dignity, and disdained
a mean submission ; thus verifying the remark of
the ancient sage, that to see a good and a great
man struggling with misfortune, is a sight on
which the gods might look with complacency.
On one occasion, while he made some remarks on
one or two of the witnesses, he was insultingly told
to speak respectfully of gentlemen, aldermen, and
men of rank. " That is nothing," was his firm and
noble reply. " Gentlemen, and men of all condi-
tions are separatists, and there is not a separatist in
England, but his hand is against me." Again,
when Nicolas, one of the law managers, bestowed
on him the epithet of " pander to the whore of
Babylon ;" " Good Master Nicolas," replied the
Primate, " pray do not dispense with all whores
but the whore of Babylon!" The reply was in point.
1614.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 485
It happened that one of this enthusiast's chief wit-
nesses was a vile and notorious procurer.
From the consideration of this trial it appears,
that if Laud was innocent, the guilt and infamy of
the Puritans were of the deepest dye. It is need-
less, however, to extend these remarks. In the
affecting " History of his own Troubles and Trials,"
the reader will perceive the injustice of his enemies ;
indeed, a defence of this part of the " tender mer-
cies" of the Puritans, is now given up even by their
admirers. The time is surely at hand, when this
illustrious prelate will receive the honour and vene-
ration which he so well deserves. Monuments have
been raised and epitaphs inscribed to the memory
of men, many of them, doubtless, the renown and
the glory of their several times; some of them,
nevertheless, having doubtful claims to these dis-
tinctions. But he of whom it has been justly said,
that, had he lived, venerable as he was at this time
in years, and still more venerable for his learning,
piety, and the sanctity of his Episcopal character,
" St. Paul's cathedral had silenced the fame of an-
cient wonders, our English clergy had been the
glory of the world, the Bodleian Library at Oxford
had daily outstript the Vatican, and his public struc-
tures excelled the Escurial," even he is in this en-
lightened age, the object of contumely (I had
almost said execration), not so much to sectarians
and schismatics, which may excite little surprise,
but to the affected and self-styled Evangelists of
that Church, of which he was the illustrious orna-
486 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
ment, and for his attachment to which he was con-
demned as a traitor to his country. Yet I greatly
fear, that this vain-glorious affectation of liberality
contains in reality the essence of schism ; and at least
it has its reward, in securing the ignoble applause
of wandering and prejudiced zealots, who mistake
a certain phraseology for true religion, and appear-
ance of zeal and earnestness as those in reality. To
such men it may be said, in the words of Holy Scrip-
ture, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are
of." * Let the industrious Wood, with all his par-
tialities, bear testimony to the virtues of this noble
Primate. " Whosoever," says he, " shall read over
the Diary of his life, penned by himself for private
use, but purposely published by his inveterate
enemy, William Prynne, with his rascally notes and
diabolical reflections thereon, purposely to render
him more odious to the common people, (followed
therein by another villain ',) will find that he was a
man of such eminent virtues, such an exemplary
piety towards God, such an unwearied fidelity to
his gracious sovereign, of such a public soul towards
this Church and State, of so fixed a constancy in
what he undertook, and one so little biassed in his
private interests, that Plurarch, if he were alive,
would be much troubled to find a sufficient parallel
wherewith to match him, in all the lineaments of
perfect virtue."
1 Lewis Du Moulin, in his " Patronus Bonae Fidei, in Causa
Puritanorum contra Hierarchies Anglicanos." London, 1672,
8vo. in cap. vel. lib. Specimen contra Durellum, p. 62, 63, &c.
7
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP, LAUD. 487
The last, however, the closing scene yet remains,
and more accurately and justly will the Archbishop's
character be estimated, when it is known, that, on
the very day he was condemned, the Parliament
passed an act, prohibiting in all times coming, the
use of the Book of Common Prayer.
" Nor deem, when Learning her last prize bestows,
The glittering eminence exempt from foes.
See, when the vulgar 'scapes, despised or awed,
Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on LAUD.
From meaner minds tho' smaller fines content,
The plundered palace or sequestered rent.
Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,
And fatal learning leads him to the block.
Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep."
DR. JOHNSON.
4,88 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
CHAPTER XXIII.
16445.
Condemnation of the Archbishop by the Commons to die as a
traitor Reluctance of the Peers to sanction the sentence
The pardon of the King disregarded Injustice of the sen-
tence Alteration of the sentence to beheading The Arch-
bishop prepares for death His conduct on the night before
his execution He is led out to the scaffold His address to
the spectators His dying discourse His prayers on the
scaffold His devotion and magnanimity His conduct on the
scaffold Inhuman behaviour of his enemies His last prayer
His death Conclusion.
THE trial of the Archbishop was now ended, and
it remained with his enemies to decide his punish-
ment. His death they had indeed resolved upon,
but it was a difficult thing to complete the tragedy
under pretence of justice.
It is said, that, during some periods of the Arch-
bishop's imprisonment, his energies had afforded
him opportunities to escape, of which he refused to
take advantage. Certain it is, that while his con-
finement was severe or gentle, according to the
movements of the Scots in England, he had some
opportunities of escape afforded him, of which a few
of his accusers would have been glad if he had availed
himself ; but having gone so far as they did, they
1644.] QF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 489
had resolved to complete their iniquity and injus-
tice by bringing him to the scaffold. The Arch-
bishop indeed says, that after his being kept three
years a close prisoner, he was brought to his trial ;
but here, perhaps, he speaks generally, that he was
confined, as will appear from the following facts.
The celebrated Dr. Edward Pococke, the most
profound Oriental scholar of his age, was nominated
by the Archbishop to the Arabic Lectureship which
he had founded at Oxford in 1636. Pococke, when
he received the appointment, was at Aleppo, but
he hastened home, and on the 8th of August that
year, he opened the lecture. Shortly afterwards,
however, he was dispatched by the Archbishop to
the East to procure Manuscripts, in which he was
aided by the famous Patriarch Cyril of Constanti-
nople, who was the Primate's friend and corres-
pondent- In 1639, he received letters from the
Archbishop, pressing him to return, and accordingly
he embarked at Constantinople for Italy, and pro-
ceeded thence to Paris, where he met with Hugo
Grotius, whom he informed of his intention to
translate his Treatise on the Truth of the Christian
Religion into Arabic. But when Pococke arrived
in London, in 1640, he found his illustrious patron
committed to the Tower. Hastening thither, he
had an interview with the Archbishop, to whom he
delivered a message from Grotius. The Primate's
committal had excited a considerable sensation at
Paris, especially among the learned, and Grotius, in
particular, lamented his misfortunes. When he was
490 LIFE AND TIMES [1C44.
himself, at one time, in the like circumstances, by
the persecution of the Calvinists, he had probably
saved his life by escaping from the place of his con-
finement in the fortress of Louvestein, in Holland ! *
He therefore enjoined Pococke to inform the Arch-
bishop, " that it was his (Grotius') humble request
and advice, that his Grace would find out some
way, if possible, to escape out of the hands he was
now in, and pass to some place beyond seas, there to
preserve himself till better times ; at least to obtain
some present security from the malice of his bitter
enemies and the rage of a deluded people." Po-
cocke, moreover, informed the Archbishop that Gro-
tius had particularly recommended this course, and
had advised him so to counsel him, as soon as he ob-
tained access to him ; and he hoped that no oppor-
tunity would be lost in carrying the suggestion into
effect.
It was true, indeed, that the Archbishop was not
without examples to induce him to take this step.
The Lord Keeper Finch and Secretary Winde-
bank had both saved themselves by a timely flight,
and the noble historian asserts that it was by the
connivance of their enemies. But the Primate no
sooner heard it, than he gave it his decided oppo-
sition. " I thank my good friend, Hugo Grotius,"
said he, " for the care he has thus expressed of my
safety, but I can by no means be persuaded to com-
1 He was conveyed out in a chest, under the pretence that it
was full of books. Baugny's Life of Grotius, p, 78, 79.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUi). 491
ply with his advice. An escape, indeed, is feasible
enough ; yea, it is, I believe, the very thing which
my enemies desire ; for every day an opportunity
for it is presented to me, a passage being left free,
in all likelihood for this very purpose, that I should
endeavour to take advantage of it; but they shall
not be gratified by me in what they appear to lortg
for. I am almost seventy years old, and shall I
now go about to prolong a miserable life, by the
trouble and shame of flying ? And were I willing
to be gone, whither should I fly ? Should I go to
France, or any other Popish country, it would be
to give some seeming ground to that charge of
Popery they have endeavoured with so much in-
dustry, and so little reason, to fasten upon me. But
if I should get into Holland, I should expose my-
self to the insults of those sectaries there, to whom
I am odious, and have every Anabaptist come, and
pull me by the beard. No, I am resolved not to
think of flight, but, continuing where I am, pati-
ently expect and bear what a good and wise Pro-
vidence ,hath appointed for me, of what kind soever
it may be V
I return, however, to the Archbishop. After the
conclusion of his trial, it appears that he must
either be left to the verdict of the House of Peers,
or to that of a Middlesex Jury ; but, fearing that
the former wonld not comply with their wishes, his
1 Dr. Twell's Life of Dr. Edward Pococke, p. 20.
492 LIFE AND TIMES [1644.
prosecutors would not venture on the latter ; for,
though they would doubtless have impanelled a
jury to find a bill, yet, by a clause in the attainder
of the Earl of Strafford, they had bound themselves
not to hold those actions as high treason on .any
future time for which he was condemned. They
resolved, therefore, to complete their injustice, by
making a cruel and almost unparalleled outrage on
all law, by passing an ordinance themselves for his
attainder *.
The Archbishop had been brought to the bar of
the House of Commons on the llth of November,
but this, as Heylin remarks, was merely " for
fashion's sake ; not without magnifying the favour
of giving him leave to shew some reason why the
bill should not pass against him." The ordinance
was accordingly passed with only one dissenting
voice, and transmitted to the Peers ; but, whether
from " some sparks of humanity," from a fear of
the injustice of this ordinance, as dangerous to them-
selves, or because some of them, who had not been
present during his trial, were ignorant of the charges
and evidence given against him, the debate on this
ordinance was delayed. On the 4th of December
it was ordered in the House of Peers, that " all the
books, writings, and evidence, which concerned the
trial, should be brought before the Lords in Parlia-
1 Wood, Athen. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 133, 134. Heylin,
p. 492, 493. Rushworth, part iii. vol ii. p. 834. Troubles and
Trials, p. 441, 442.
1644.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 493
merit," that they might consider the whole charges
severally before they came to a decision l .
This was by no means relished by the Commons.
Fearing that the Archbishop would yet escape their
vengeance, some of the leaders began to insinuate,
that, if they began to delay, a bill would ,be intro-
duced into the Lower House, to deprive them of all
their places of trust and emolument in the army.
This, however, had no effect. On the 22d of No-
vember, the Earl of Pembroke, animated by the
most ungrateful hatred towards the Archbishop, had
publicly termed him in the House of Peers " rascal"
and " villain," and indulged in the most indecent
abuse ; informing them, that if they delayed their
consent to the ordinance, the citizens would assem-
ble, fall upon them, and call for justice, as they did
in the case of the Earl of Strafford. The Commons,
also, had devised another expedient, which was to
unite the two Houses, by which they were certain
the Peers would be outvoted 2 .
The House of Peers, however, proceeded to ex-
amine every article of the charges, and, on the 24th
of December, informed the Commons, that they had
found the Archbishop guilty of the charge relating
to matters of fact ; but they desired time to consider
whether those matters, in point of law, amounted to
treason. On the delivery of this message, a com-
1 Rushworth, ut sup. p. 834. Heylin, p. 493, 494. Wood,
vol. iii. col. 134.
2 Wood, vol. iii. col. 134. Heylin, p. 494. Troubles and
Trials, p. 441, 442,443.
494 LIFE AND TIMES [1645.
mittee was appointed by the Commons to satisfy
the House of Peers, and on the 4th of January the
attainder Was ratified, and it was decreed that he
should suffer death as a traitor. On the 6th of Ja-
nuary, it was ordered by both Houses that the Arch-
bishop be led out to execution on the 10th of Ja-
nuary, and that the manner of his death should be
that which is usually inflicted on traitors l .
To the honour of the House of Peers it must be
recorded, that while there was only one dissenting
voice in the Commons against this infamous pro-
cedure, no more than six of the Peers concurred
with the sentence, which was passed chiefly by the
violence and threats of the Earl of Pembroke, and
by the furious conduct of Stroud, one of the Con>
mons ; (" he that made," says Wood, " all the
bloody motions,") who threatened them, in one of
his messages from the Lower House, that a petition
would be presented from London, signed by 20,000
persons, to obtain the sanction of that ordinance ;
and though this threat formed no part of his mes-
sage from the Commons, so completely had the
Peers forgotten their dignity, that Stroud was
not so much as reproved. The six Peers, who by
their concurrence in this transaction have entailed
on themselves infamy and disgrace, were Philip Earl
of Pembroke, Henry Earl of Kent, William Earl of
Salisbury, Oliver Earl of Bolingbroke, Dudley Lord
North, and William Lord Grey of Warke, all of
1 Rushworth, ut sup. p. 834.
1645.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 495
them Presbyterians. It was indeed reported that
another, the Lord Bruce, a Scottish nobleman;
(Earl of Elgin in Scotland,) also gave his vote on
this sentence ; but that nobleman afterwards denied
it, and publicly, on all occasions, expressed his ab-
horrence and detestation of the whole transaction *.
On this very day, too, the Parliament abolished
the Book of Common Prayer, and established that
effusion of Presbyterianism intitled the " Directory
for Public Worship," which emanated from the
ghostly Westminster Assembly of Divines. The
coincidence here is remarkable, and from this ame
we may date the fall of the Church of England ;
for there is undeniable proof that, while Laud lived,
the enthusiasts were afraid to introduce - their fana-
ticism ; that he completed that melancholy fall by
his blood. With justice, therefore, may Archbishop
Laud be said to have died a martyr for the Church
of England ; the Presbyterians evincing to all the
world " how little hopes they had of settling their
new form of worship, if the foundation of it were
not laid in the blood of this famous prelate, who had
so stoutly maintained the Church against all novelty
and faction during the whole course of his life."
No attention was paid to a pardon from the King,
which was rejected with fanatical and rebellious dis-
dain. To comment on the injustice and iniquity of
this sentence is needless. It is a fundamental law
of that constitution, in the defence of which those
1 Heylin, p. 494.
490 LIFE AND TIMES [1645.
sectarian tyrants pretended to take up arms, and
the very first in Magna Charta, that " the Church
of England'shall be free, and have all its rights and
privileges inviolable." It is a fundamental law,
" that no person shall be taken or imprisoned with-
out cause shewn, or be detained, without being
brought unto his answer in due form of law :" and
this is ratified not only by the Great Charter, but
by the Petition of Right. It is a fundamental law
" that no man shall be deprived of his freehold or
liberty, but by the known laws of the land." It is
a fundamental law, " that no man shall be con-
demned, or put to death, but by the lawful judg-
ment of his peers, or by the law of the land ;"
that is, according to the forms of law, by which any
act passed by Parliament, without the King's con-
sent, is undeniably null and void. Finally, it is a
fundamental law, set forth in the statute 25th of
Edward III. " that if any other cause, which is sup-
posed to be treason, (than that recited in the sta-
tute) do happen before any of his Majesty's jus-
tices, the justices shall delay their judgment till the
case be shewn and declared before the King and his
Parliament, whether it ought to be judged treason
or not." Yet here we have this prelate condemned,
without even the ordinary forms of law, to make way
for which act the Spiritual Peers were deprived of
their seats in Parliament, and the temporal Lords were
forced to assent by demagogues and revolutionary
enthusisasts. He was imprisoned ten weeks before
any charge was produced, and confined for nearly
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 497
four years before he knew his accusation his reve-
nues were seized ; he was deprived of his estate
his goods were sold, before lie was convicted ;
condemned to die without the royal assent to the
warrant in fine, led out to execution upon a new
charge of treason, " the first that ever suffered
death by the shot of an ordinance, as he well ob-
served in his dying speech on the scaffold V
The enemies of the Primate had condemned him
to die on the gibbet a mode of punishment which
his lofty soul abhorred. With the most magnani-
mous composure he heard his doom ; but the man-
ner of his death was more painful to him than
death itself. It was not till after his repeated peti-
tion that the sentence was altered to beheading.
The House of Lords immediately agreed, but the
Commons violently refused till his second petition
was presented, praying that, from his being a di-
vine, a bishop, one who had had the honour to sit
in the House of Peers, a member of the most
honourable Privy Council, &c. he might not be
exposed to an ignominious death, but that the
mode of his execution might be changed into deca-
pitation. He had petitioned, too, that his chaplains,
Doctors Stern, Heywood, and Martin, would be
allowed to attend him : which was also in part re-
fused. Dr. Stern was permitted ; but two Presby-
terian enthusiasts, Marshall and Palmer, were de-
1 Heylin, p. 495, 496.
VOL. II. K k
498 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
puted to tender to him their peculiar consolations,
which he nobly declined ! .
And noW, when this venerable prelate approached
his last moments, a victim to sectarian violence and
blood-thirsty ambition, did he evince the animating
power of that religion which he had preached and
professed. No murmurs or lamentations escaped
him : in prayers and supplications he bowed himself
before Heaven ; though he was long prepared for
that blow, which was neither sudden nor unex-
pected. " So well," says his chaplain, " did he
know how to die, (especially by the last and strictest
part of his imprisonment,) that by continual fast-
ings, watchings, prayers, and such like acts of
Christian humiliation, his flesh was almost changed
into spirit, and the whole man so fitted for eternal
glory, death brought the bloody but triumphant
chariot to convey him thither ; and he that had been
so long a confessor, could not but think it a release
of miseries to be made a martyr."
On the night before his death, the Archbishop,
after refreshing himself with supper, retired to rest,
and sank into a profound slumber till the morning,
when he was roused by his servants ; so little did he
fear his approaching fate. He felt that the malevo-
lence of his enemies was at an end ; aged and feeble,
his days could not at the farthest be many ; and
to him death was welcome, since the Church had
3 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. ii. p. 834.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 499
fallen, since learning had been supplanted by the
dark fanaticism of revolutionary zealots. Yet he
could not fail to mark well that thirst for his blood
which his enemies had manifested : almost verging
on the grave, why lead him to the scaffold, when he
was under their power, and when imprisonment
would soon have released him from their persecuting
hatred ? Not that he wished to live. To beg his life
by humiliating submissions, to drag out an existence,
miserable as it must have been to him in that age
of sectarian triumph ; to have become the sport
and mockery of enthusiasts : his lofty soul dis-
dained the revolting idea. To the brave man death
has no terrors ; to the innocent no fearful anticipa-
tions ; to the Christian, harassed by persecution, it
is at all times welcome.
On the fatal morning, the 10th day of January,
this heroic prelate, with the utmost composure,
proceeded to his devotions at an early hour. Thus
he continued till Pennington, Lieutenant of the
Tower, and other officers appointed by his enemies,
came to conduct him to the scaffold. It was erected
on Tower Hill. He had already prepared himself for
death, and its bitterness was past. He had " com-
mitted his cause to Him who judgeth righteously.'*
A vast concourse of people assembled to be-
hold the last moments of this great man. The
mournful procession left the Tower, and the Arch-
bishop was conducted to the scaffold. On his way
he was exposed to the abuse of the infamous rabble,
who indulged in the most indecent invectives, as if
K k 2
500 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
wishing to embitter the death of a man whom they
hated. Yet there were among that motley assem-
blage those who pitied his sufferings, and whose
secret prayers were raised in his behalf; who, re-
membering him in his prosperity, could not un-
moved behold this melancholy vicissitude, affected
by those feelings which the sight of greatness in dis-
tress fails not to excite. The venerable sufferer him-
self seemed, least of all, to feel his own misfortunes.
His undaunted courage and cheerful countenance,
imputed by his friends to his innocence, by his un-
charitable enemies to his hardihood in guilt, be-
spoke his inward complacency. With an apparent
joy he mounted the scaffold, " as if," says Fuller,
" rather to gain a crown than to lose a head,"
" and, to say the truth, it was no scaffold, but a
throne a throne whereon he shortly was to receive
a crown, even the most glorious crown of martyr-
dom 1 ."
The venerable Primate's enemies, however,
seemed resolved to annoy him. They had crowded
beneath the scaffold, and when he ascended it, they
endeavoured to discompose him by looking upwards
through the holes and crevices, with the most inhu-
man and indecent exultation. Yet his wonted hu-
mour and presence of mind did not forsake him.
He besought the attendants to fill those crevices
with clay ; for he did not, he said, wish his inno-
1 Fuller's Churcli History, book xi. p. 215. Wood, A then.
Oxon. vol. iii. col. 142.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 501
cent blood to fall on the heads of those deluded
people.
Before he prepared for death he addressed the
multitude in what has been termed a sermon speech,
or his funeral sermon, preached by himself; and,
as he feared neither the frowns of the vulgar enthu-
siasts who surrounded him, nor in that situation
valued the applauses of his friends, he disdained any
attempt to excite the sympathy of the beholders.
From a written paper he read this address, com-
mencing with the two first verses of the twelfth
chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, " Let
us run with patience the race which is set be-
fore us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith ; who, for the joy that was set before
him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
The Archbishop commenced by entreating his
hearers to pardon his making use of papers, on ac-
count of his great age, and the mournful occasion.
It was, he said, an uncomfortable place to preach,
yet he would begin with that text of holy Scripture.
He had been long in his race, he observed, and
how he had looked unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of his faith, was best known to Him. He had
now come to the end of his race, and he found the
cross a death of shame ; but the shame must be
despised, or there was no coming to the right hand
of God. He then proceeded to discourse in a re-
markably pious and unaffected strain. He prayed
to God that the eyes of the people might be opened
502 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
to behold their delusions. He acknowledged, in all
humility, that he had often erred both in word and
deed; but lie doubted not of the Divine mercy for
him as well as for other sinners. He had searched
his heart, and, whatever sins he had committed, he
found none deserving of death by the laws of this
kingdom. He charged nothing upon his judges ; and
in this he entreated to be rightly understood ; for it
was their duty to proceed by proof, and in that way
any person might be condemned. Yet, he thanked
God, though his sentence lay heavy upon him, he
felt no fearful anticipations. He was not the first
Archbishop who had died in that way ; and some of
his predecessors had lost their lives, though not by
the same process. Elfegus was hurried away, and
was murdered by the Danes ; Simon Sudbury fell
a victim to the fury of Wat Tyler and his as-
sociates. Long before those, St. John the Baptist
was the victim of a licentious woman ; and St. Cy-
prian, Archbishop of Carthage, nobly submitted
his neck to the sword of his persecutors. These
and other examples taught him patience, and he
hoped his cause would be otherwise judged by
Heaven than it had been on earth. He had heard of
the clamours agaainst him, that he wished to intro-
duce Popery, yet he fervently hoped the Pope
would not come in by the sectaries. In the mean
time, " by honour and dishonour, by good and evil
report, as a deceiver, yet true," was he now leaving
the world.
The Archbishop then divided his discourse into
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 503
four topics. In the first, he vindicated the King
from the charge of Popery ; in the second, he la-
mented the delusions of the citizens of London,
and the miserable clamours which they had lately
raised for justice, by which they would bring the
blood of many innocent persons on their own heads ;
in the third, he lamented the situation of the Church
of England, which, after having withstood all the
contrivances of Jesuits and other Popish priests, was
now rent in twain by faction, and betrayed in the
house of its pretended friends. The last parti-
cular (for he was not willing to be tedious, since
he wished to hasten out of this miserable world,)
concerned himself; and he besought all who were
within the reach of his voice to observe, that he
died in the bosom of the Church of England, in
which he was born and baptized, and in the profes-
sion of the Protestant religion of that Church, in
which he had always lived, and in which he now
came to die. He had been accused of high treason
by the Parliament ; a crime which his soul abhorred :
in the presence of Almighty God, and the holy an-
gels, he solemnly protested, that he never endea-
voured the subversion of the laws of the realm, or
of the Protestant religion ; and he desired all to re-
member this his solemn protest, both on these and
all manner of treasons whatsoever. He had been
accused as an enemy to Parliaments ; which he de-
nied. He understood them too well, and the be-
nefits derived from them : but he objected to their
abuses and corruptions, since there was no corrup-
504 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
tion in the world so bad as that which is best, for
the better the thing is in nature the worse it is
when corrupted. He then said he had done : he
forgave all the world, and his bitter enemies who
had doomed him to this death : he besought for-
giveness of God, and then of every man whom he
might have offended *.
Having finished his dying address, the Arch-
bishop then desired the people to join with him in
prayer, and, kneeling down, he thus expressed him-
self:
" O Eternal God and merciful Father, look
down upon me in mercy ; in the riches and fulness
of all thy mercies look down upon me, but not till
thou hast nailed my sins to the cross of Christ.
Look upon me, but not till thou hast bathed me in
the blood of Christ ; not till I have hid myself in
the wounds of Christ ; that so the punishment that
is due to my sins may pass away and go over me :
and since thou art pleased to try me to the utter-
most, I humbly beseech thee, give me now in this
great instant full patience, proportionable comfort,
a heart ready to die for my sins, the King's happi-
ness, and the preservation of this Church ; and my
zeal to these (far from arrogance be it spoken,) is
all the sin, human frailty excepted, and all incidents
thereunto, which is yet known of me in this parti-
1 Rushworth, Part iii. vol. ii. p. 835838. Fuller's Church
History, book xi. p. 216. Heylin, p. 497 500. Wood. Athen.
Oxon. vol. iii. col. 142. Speech, &c. reported by John Hinde,
4to. 1 644.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 505
cular, for which I now come to suffer ; but other-
wise my sins are many and great. Lord, pardon
them all, and those especially which have drawn
down this present judgment upon me ; and when
thou hast given me strength to bear it, then do
with me as seems best to thee ; and carry me
through death that I may look upon it in what
visage soever it shall appear to me, and that there
may be a stop 'of this issue of blood in this more
than miserable kingdom. I pray for the people,
too, as well as for myself. O Lord, I beseech thee,
give grace of repentance to all people that have a
thirst for blood ; but if they will not repent, then
scatter their devices, and such as are or shall be
contrary to the glory of thy great name, the truth
and sincerity of religion, the establishment of the
King, and his posterity after him in their just rights
and privileges, the honour and conservation of Par-
liament, in their ancient and just power, the pre-
servation of this poor Church in the truth, peace,
and patrimony, and the settlement of this distracted
and distressed people under their ancient laws and
in their native liberties. And when thou hast done
all this in mere mercy for them, O Lord, fill their
hearts with thankfulness, and with religious dutiful
obedience to thee and thy commandments all their
days. Amen, Lord Jesus, and I beseech thee re-
ceive my soul into thy bosom, Amen. Our Fa-
ther," &c.
After these devotions, the Archbishop arose, and
gave his papers to Dr. Stern, his chaplain, who
500 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
accompanied him to the scaffold, saying, " Doctor,
I give you this, that you may shew it to your fel-
low-chaplains, that they may see how I went out of
the world, and God's blessing and mercy be upon
you and them." Then turning to a person named
Hinde, whom he perceived busy writing the words
of his address, he said, " Friend, I beseech you,
hear me. I cannot say I have spoken every
word as it is in my paper, but I have gone very
near it, to help my memory as well as I could, but
I beseech you, let me have no wrong done me :"
intimating that he ought not to publish an imper-
fect copy. " Sir," replied Hinde, " you shall not.
If I do so, let it fall upon my own head. I pray
God have mercy upon your soul." " I thank you,"
answered the venerable sufferer ; " I did not speak
with any jealousy as if you would do so, but only,
as a poor man going out of the world, it is not
possible for me to keep to the words of my paper,
and a phrase might do me wrong."
The Archbishop now prepared for the block, and
observing the scaffold crowded with people, he said,
" I thought there would have been an empty scaf-
fold, that I might have had room to die. I beseech
you, let me have an end of this misery, for I have
endured it long." When the space was cleared, he
said, " I will pull off my doublet, and God's will
be done. I am willing to go out of the world ; no
man can be more willing to send me out, than I am
willing to be gone."
Yet, in this trying moment, when he was dis-
7
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 507
playing a magnanimity not exceeded by the holy
martyrs of the primitive ages, he was beset by, a
furious enthusiast, one of those revolutionary de-
magogues who had brought him to this melancholy
end. Sir John Clotworthy, a follower of the Earl
of Warwick, and an Irishman by birth, irritated
because the revilings of the people made no im-
pression on this renowned prelate, propounded to
him certain questions, with the hope of exposing
him to his associates. fe What special text of Scrip-
ture," asked he, " is now comfortable to a man in
his departure ?" " Cupio dissolvi, et esse cum
Christo? was the Archbishop's meek reply. " That
is a good desire," said the enthusiast, " but there
must be a foundation for that divine assurance."
" No man can express it," replied the Archbishop,
" it is to be found within." " It is founded upon a
word, nevertheless," said Clotworthy, " and that
word should be known." " That word," replied
the Archbishop, " is the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and that alone." Perceiving, however, that there
would be no end to this indecent interruption, the
Primate turned to the executioner, and giving him
some money, said, " Here, honest friend, God
forgive thee, and do thine office upon me in mercy."
He was then desired by the executioner to give
some sign when he should strike, to which he re-
plied, " I will, but first let me fit myself."
The Archbishop then knelt down before the block,
and thus prayed : " Lord, I am coming as fast as
I can. I know I must pass through the shadow of
508 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
death before I can come to thee; yet it is but umbra
mortis, a mere shadow of death, a little darkness
upon nature,/ but thou, by thy merits and passion,
hast broke through the jaws of death. So, Lord,
receive my soul, and have mercy upon me, and bless
this kingdom with peace and with plenty, and with
brotherly love, and charity, that there may not be
this effusion of Christian blood amongst them, for
Jesus Christ's sake, if it be thy will."
Having thus prayed, the Archbishop laid his head
upon the fatal block, and when he had said, " Lord,
receive my soul," which was the signal for the exe-
cutioner, his head was struck off at one blow.
Such was the melancholy but triumphant death
of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, aged
seventy-one years, thirteen weeks, and four ~ days.
Thus he died, a victim to revolutionary faction
and sectarian enthusiasm, a sacrifice to Presby-
terian schism and Covenanting rebellion. The
multitude, a part of whom came to scoff, and some
to pray, had no sooner beheld the murder, than
their eyes filled with tears ; and many of them who
had witnessed this his Christian, magnanimous, and
triumphant death, returned with their prejudices
alleviated, their passions calmed, their resentments
mollified. Stern enthusiasts did indeed glory in
the crime ; and his fanatical enemies, like the Jews
of old, thought they had done God service by this
deed of infamy and blood. His friends, however,
embalmed his body with their tears, and proceeded
to perform the last offices of Christian duty with
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 509
reverence to his memory and his exalted virtues.
Thus he died, " if, indeed, he may be said to die,
the great example of whose virtue shall continue
always, not only in the minds of men, but in the
annals of succeeding ages, with renown and fame."
Thus died this most reverend prelate, " the King's
and the Church's martyr ; a man of such integrity,
learning, devotion, and courage, as, had he lived
in the primitive times, would have given him ano-
ther name ; whom, though the cheated multitude
were taught to misconceive, (for those honoured
him most who best knew him,) yet impartial poste-
rity will know how to value him, when they hear
that the rebels sentenced him on the same day
they voted down the Liturgy of the Church of
England V
Laud fell, and with him those works of splendour
and magnificence which his lofty genius had de-
signed ; works which, had he lived, would have been
the boast of England, the admiration of foreign na-
tions. Avarice was no part of his disposition ; the mo-
numents of his munificence yet remain ; his enlarged
soul disdained sordid aggrandizement ; his country
was to him the object of his unwearied solicitude, the
Church of England the heir to all his fortunes.
Laud fell, and with him the Church, that Church,
the piety and learning of whose clergy have hitherto
been unparalleled, and never will be exceeded,
that Church, the bulwark of the Protestant Refor-
1 Wood, A then. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 143, 144.
510 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
mation, established in the blood of its venerable
Reformers, overthrown by the death of him, its
illustrious a#d venerable son. Then was the triumph
of sectarianism complete ; religion and learning*
wept over the melancholy ruins ; hosts of fanatical
sectaries, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists,
Gospellers, Famillists, Seekers, and others, a vulgar
herd, overran the kingdom; mechanics, soldiers,
boys, and women, supplanted those scholars of re-
nown, whose works are imperishable, whose names
are immortal in the annals of our country. All was
a scene of horrible confusion, of revolutionary strife,
and lawless ambition. Yet happy was Laud in this
his triumphant fall ; he saw not that overwhelming
inundation of fanaticism and rebellion which swept
away the noble constitution of the English mo-
narchy ; the ruin of the clergy ; the murder of his
beloved and gracious sovereign ; the exile of the
Royal House ; the triumph of regicides ; and the
despotism of an hypocritical usurper.
" Tu felix, ILLUSTRISSIME ANTISTES, non vita?
tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis ;
ut perhibent qui interfuerunt novissimis sermonibus
tuis, constans et libens fatum excepisti, tanquam
pro virili portione innocentiam populo donares.
Sed NOBIS, prseter acerbitatem parentis erepti, auget
moestitiam, quod assidere valetudini, fovere deficien-
tem, satiari vultu, complexu, non contigit. Exce-
pissemus certe mandata vocesque, quas penitus ani-
mo fingeremus ; noster hie dolor, nostrum vulnus ;
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 5H
Si quis piorum manibus locus ; si, ut sapientibus
placet, non cum corpore extinguuntur magnse ani-
mae, placide quiescas, nosque, domum tuam, ab infir-
mo desiderio, et muliebribus lamentis, ad contem-
plationem virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque
lugeri, neque plangi, fas est ; admiratione te potius,
temporalibus laudibus, et, si natura suppeditet,
militum decoremus. Is verus honos, ea conjunctis-
simi cuj usque pietas. Quicquid, ILLUSTRISSIME AN-
TISTES, ex te amavimus ; quicquid, mirati sumus,
manet ; mansurumque est in animis hominum, in
aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. Nam multos
veterum velut inglorios et ignobiles oblivio obruet :
LAUDUS, posteritati narratus et traditus, superstes
erit 1 ."
1 Tacit, in Vita Agricolae, Opera Omnia, fol. Antwerp. 1585,
p. 238.
512 LIFE AND TIMES [1G44-5.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1644-5.
Fall of the Church, Character of Archbishop Laud His pa-
tronage of great men Remarks on his religious principles
His burial His last Will Conclusion of the History.
THE history of this great and illustrious prelate is
now brought to a conclusion. We have traced him
from his earliest years, throughout all the vicis-
situdes of his life : so much has been said, that an
attempt in this place to delineate his character is
almost superfluous.
In charging the murder of the Archbishop on the
Scottish Covenanters, it appears, from every circum-
stance, that the fact is undeniable. Not indeed
that the sectaries of England, and, in particular,
the English Presbyterian faction, were not as viru-
lent as the other enthusiasts against him ; but, either
from a respect for his Episcopal character, or a con-
sciousness of the innocence of his life, it is evident
that their violence would have been restrained, had
they not been influenced by their " dear brethren"
the Scots. When we consider the character and
practices of the latter enthusiasts, we shall be at no
loss to account for their guilty proceedings. " The
Presbyterians, by whom," says the noble historian,
" I mean the Scots, formed all their counsels by the
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 513
inclinations and affections of the people, and first
considered how they might corrrupt, and seduce,
and dispose them to second their purposes, and
how far they might depend upon their concurrence
and assistance, before they resolved to make any at-
tempt ; and this made them in such a degree submit
to their senseless and wretched clergy, whose in-
fectious breath corrupted and governed the people,
and whose authority was prevalent upon their wives,
and in their domestic affairs : and yet they never
communicated to them more than the outside of
their designs V By demagogues of this descrip-
tion, (and it is not over-coloured,) no limits
were assigned to their dark and daring practices ;
their passions were violent, and their hatred was
fierce.
Yet, generally speaking, the murder of the Arch- '
bishop is chargeable on all the revolutionists of that
age, although the Scots were the primary cau&e, as
is confessed by the republican Ludlow. And if
the Archbishop was innocent, the guilt of the Pu-
ritans was of the deepest dye. Whatever may be
thought, in the abstract, at the present time of the
Archbishop's conduct, whether it be condemned as
foolish, tyrannical, or unjust, it must not be for-
gotten, that the acts on which his enemies founded
their false and distorted accusations were not his
alone, but the joint acts of the Privy Council, Star
1 Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Oxford edit. vol. iii.
p. 153.
VOL. II. L 1
514 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
Chamber, and High Commission, in which he was
only an individual ; that they were sanctioned by
the greatest men of the age, and that they were
authorized by the laws of the times. The injustice
of his enemies in charging him alone with the whole
odium of their pretended grievances, he felt most
acutely during his imprisonment. " I have," said
he, " a long time found, by sad experience, that
whatsoever some men disliked, was presently my
doing :" and again, " I humbly conceive that I
ought not, by law, nor by usage of parliamentary
proceedings, be charged singly for those things
which are done in public courts V It has indeed
become fashionable with certain men, to identify
patriotism with Puritanism, to represent Laud as a
furious bigot, and his royal master as an arbitrary
tyrant. To such men the House of Stuart is the
foundation of all their political resentments ; their
judgments have become perverted by this furious
indulgence of their factious passions. Loyalty in
those days is with them a crime; they affect to
ridicule legitimacy, and the defenders of hereditary
right. Yet in this ridiculous assumption of libe-
rality, there is a hollowness which denotes its su-
perficial character ; and, being too enlightened to
be influenced by religion, which they utterly con-
temn, while they profess to be actuated by a mild
philosophy, they are fostering vain delusions among
the ignorant, and strengthening that malevolent
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 107. 245, 252, 253. 415. 437.
7
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 515
spirit which sets at nought the ordinances and in-
stitutions of God and man.
It is observed by Lord Clarendon, who knew him
intimately, that the Archbishop's " learning, piety,
and virtue, have been attained by very few, and the
greatest of his infirmities are common to all, even
to the best of men." It is needless to quote the
sentiments of other writers. He was pious without
ostentation ; his theology was uninfected by the
sectarian prejudices of the times, and he well knew
the dangerous tendency of those opinions which
then prevailed, alike destructive to civil and eccle-
siastical order. In the practice of his devotions he
was equally conscientious. His Diary has been con-
demned as weak and superstitious, but I greatly
fear that those who thus ex cathedra pronounce
this opinion, are themselves the weakest and the
most superstitious. Consisting, as it does, of brief
annotations on the most remarkable passages of his
life; mere references, by initials, to persons and
transactions, which no one could understand but
himself 1 , and never intended to meet the public
eye, it is unjust to draw such inferences as those set
forth by his modern enemies. It is remarked by
Fuller, who also knew the Archbishop well, that
" he can hardly be an ill husband who casteth up
his receipts and expences every night ; and such a
soul is, or would be, good, which enters into a daily
1 For example, he says, " Hope was given to me of A. H."
&c. (Diary, p. 2.) Such annotations frequently occur.
L 1 2
516 UFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
scrutiny of its own actions." Indeed, his friends
condemned him for keeping such a register in those
dangerous days ; yet it goes far to prove the piety,
innocence, and religion in private, which he so often
manifested in public, through " good and evil re-
port 1 ."
Nor was the Archbishop less exemplary in the
practice of moral duties. His strict integrity raised
against him many enemies : his life was regular,
chaste, sober, temperate, and humble in his private
carriage. In his Diary, he asserts that he was un-
fortunate with E. B., on which his inveterate enemy,
Prynne, remarks, that " perchance he was unclean
with E. B." Such was the charitable construction of
his accusers. But whatever was the error which he
committed, he observed the day thereof ever after-
wards as an anniversary humiliation. " An exact
Diary," says Fuller, " is a window into his heart
who maketh it, and therefore pity it is that any
should look therein but either the friends of the
party, or such ingenuous foes as will not (especially
in things doubtful) make conjectural comments to
his disgrace. But, be E. B. male or female, and the
sin committed of what kind soever, his fault whis-
pers not so much to his shame, as his solemn humili-
ation sounds to his commendation V
In the same manner he disliked covetousness and
avarice, which is undeniable from his many acts of
munificence. Nor was he partial to his own rela-
1 Fuller, book xi. p. 218. 2 Ibid, ut sup. p. 2 1C.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 517
tions, unless he saw in them some indications of
genius and talent. Fuller informs us that he knew
one of his kinsmen in the University,, a good scholar,
but idle and lazy, whom on no consideration he
would prefer till he saw signs of amendment.
Gaudy ostentation was what he also disliked, and
he administered severe reproofs to those clergymen
who appeared in rich and gaudy apparel. He has
the merit of first discouraging this display. The
Church historian has recorded an anecdote which is
remarkably characteristic. When Bishop of Lon-
don, at a Visitation in Essex, a clergyman of good
family and estate appeared in a " very gallant habit,"
whom Laud publicly reproved, telling him to ob-
serve the plainness of his own dress. " My Lord,"
said the clergyman, " you have better clothes at
home, and I have worse." This answer pleased, the
Bishop, who always admired a good humoured
reply.
In stature the Archbishop was low, of slender
appearance, though strongly formed ; of a cheerful
countenance, penetrating eye, clear judgment, and
tenacious memory. His natural disposition was
full of vivacity, zealous in whatever he undertook,
though sometimes hasty and imprudent in his expres-
sions. It is said that he was indiscreet and some-
times obstinate, pursuing with the same zeal things
important and indifferent, and often pronouncing
judgment on causes which he imperfectly under-
stood. These, however, are errors incidental to
518 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
humanity ; no man is perfect : they are ' ' common
to all, even to the best of men."
The distinguishing feature of the Archbishop's
public character was his opposition to the Puritans.
He hated them heartily, and he was no less heartily
hated by them. His great business was to check
their extravagant, absurd, and dangerous notions,
which in that age could not be accomplished with-
out some acts of severity. If, however, he carried
himself too far against them, they amply retaliated
by bringing him to the block. His grand object
was uniformity a measure unquestionably imprac-
ticable. But he did no more than the Puritans
and Presbyterians ; if he wished all men to conform
to the Church, the Presbyterians insisted in the
same way with their Covenant ; and went farther,
by declaring that salvation was impossible unless it
was established ; they swore to enforce it by the
sword ; their object was " an uniformity of doctrine
and discipline in the three kingdoms." By this hope
the Scots were allured into England, this induced
them to excite commotions in Ireland ; and so fearful
was the tyranny of Presbyterianism during its ephe-
meral triumph in England, that it exceeded in ar-
rogance and terror the fiery intolerance of the
Roman Catholic Church.
The conduct, however, of this illustrious Primate
appears still more striking when we consider the
many great men who owed their advancement to
his patronage, although he differed from them in
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 519
some of their principles. By his influence Usher
was advanced to the primacy of the Irish Church,
though a Calvinist ; the learned Morton was also
advanced to the See of Durham ; and Montague,
whose admirable learning is confessed even by his
virulent enemies, owed his promotion to this great
nr-an '. The distinguished orientalist, Dr. Edward
Pococke, to whom he gave the Arabic lectureship,
which he founded at Oxford, was indebted to his
munificence and liberality ; with the venerable Hall,
Bishop of Norwich, whom he persuaded to write
the admirable treatise, <f Episcopacy by Divine
Right," he was on terms of great familiarity, and
promoted his removal from Exeter to Norwich.
The celebrated Dr. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of
Lincoln, one of the most learned casuists of his age,
was, on Laud's recommendation, appointed chap-
lain in ordinary to the King, thus happily for his
country drawn out from that privacy in which he
had unostentatiously lived 2 . Selden, justly termed
" the glory of England," also experienced the Arch-
bishop's friendship, though he did not agree with
him in temper or in principles ; it was by Laud's
persuasion that he wrote the famous treatise,
" Mare Clausum," against the well known treatise
of Hugo Grotius, "Mare Liberum," in which he
vindicated the sovereignty of the English monarchs
over the British Seas, in opposition to the arrogant
pretensions of the Dutch. The celebrated Edward
1 Selden, De Diis Syris, p. 362. 2 Walton, p. 15.
520 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, found in Laud his first
patron ; and to the honour of the Primate it must be
recorded, that the free remonstrances and reproofs
which he received from that distinguished nobleman
made him conceive for him a stronger attachment.
Archbishop Sheldon, one of his illustrious successors
in the metropolitan see, was first promoted by Law?,
who gave him the rectory of Newington in Oxford-
shire, 1633. Somner, an eminent antiquarian, and
author of the Saxon Dictionary, received an eminent
promotion in the ecclesiastical courts from the Pri-
mate, whose virtues and learning he has gratefully
expressed in the Dedication to his " Antiquities of
Canterbury," published in quarto, 1640. Sir Henry
Spelman was also recommended to the King by the
Archbishop, and it was by his joint recommendation
that he wrote the learned work, " The History of
the English Councils." He brought the services of
the excellent Bishop Juxon to benefit his country,
although that measure was the origin of implacable
hatred and malice toward him. His connexion and
influence with John Hales, " the ever-memorable,"
and the famous Chillingworth, have already been
mentioned.
These are only a very few of the illustrious men,
the glory and the renown of their age, the boast of
England, whom this illustrious prelate either brought
into notice, or patronized by his munificence and
friendship. The matter of Uniformity, which brought
on him the odious imputation of Popery, deserves
now a special consideration. It is to be observed,
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 521
that the charges alleged at his trial were exhibited
in the highest colour of aggravation. He was con-
demned as a Papist, because he repaired the win-
dows of his chapel with stained glass ; possessed a
Bible with Popish pictures, and had similar pictures
in his gallery at Lambeth Palace ; used copes in
churches ; insisted on reverence in devotion, and
on that strict ecclesiastical discipline without which
there can be no right ministration of the offices
of religion. Prynne, Burton, Bastwick, and a
host of other enthusiasts, appeared in the lists,
whose conduct has already been detailed, the
former publishing an edition of his Diary, without
his consent, with infamous notes, falsehoods,
and mutilated statements. Others followed the
example of this despicable incendiary, and among
these various foreign writers. Thus, Lewis Du
Moulin, (whom Wood most appropriately terms
another villain,) contributed his share to circulate
the odious allegation in France. In his " Patronus
Bona? Fidei in Causa Puritanorum contra Hierarchos
Anglos," (8vo. 1672,) after the "Prafatio ad Reve-
rendos Pastores Ecclesiarum Reformatarum in Gal-
lia," in which he indulges in an ignorant tirade
against the Church of England, he proceeds, in
the " Specimen Confutationis Vindiciarum Du-
rellianarum," to give a brief account of the
Archbishop's life, evidently taken from Prynne's
infamous Breviat. " Vix Laudo serpserat prima
lanugo per genas," says he in the outset ', " cum
1 Specimen, &c. p. 62.
522 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
mitro hujus seculi, pene solus se opposuit torrenti
Puritanorum, qui ubique numero et gratia valebant
in Anglia, in aula, in regni consiliis, imprimis in
sacro Regina3 consistorio atque Academiis, omnibus
in locis, uniformitate vix caput exerente, aut lacer-
tos movente," &c. Then proceeding to recapitulate
the events of Laud's life, as published in the Breviat,
he thus proceeds : " Porro nunquam illustrius se
prodidit, hinc mains, abjectus, degener et inglorius
animus et mala mens Laudi, odiumque in pietatem
et pietatis vindices et cultores Puritanos, illinc vero
optima mens, constans et generosa indoles, turn acris
impetus, non solum ad pia, sed ad grandia, fortia
et generosa facta, quibus testandis nulla par oratio
datur, nullaB imagines, nulla monumenta satis digna
erigi et prsedicari possunt." " Nam altare erat
idolum Laudi, circa cujus cultum et vindicias ratio-
nesque quibus ilium aestruebat, insaniebat plusquam
infans, ut decent argumenta futilia, quibus hunc
cultum firmat, et quae profert oratione habita in
Camera Stellata contra triumviratum tantopere
celebrem Burtonum, Prynne, et Bastwick." These
(for it is needless to quote at large) are specimens
of the details of Lewis Du Moulin.
It requires no argument to shew the utter igno-
rance of this writer on English history, and of the
faction which he so extravagantly extols. But there
are other parts which prove at once the futilia
argumenta he employs in his assertions, that the
Archbishop was inclined to Popery, which must not
be omitted. Thomas Gage, an Irishman, and a
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 523
monk of the Spanish Jacobins, was sent on a mis-
sion to the Philippine Islands in 1625. Having
remained there for some time, he acquired pro-
perty, returned to England, and joined the Puritan
enthusiasts ! . He published, among other things, a
" History of the West Indies," which appeared in
folio, published in London, 1648, and a French
edition of it at Paris, in two volumes octavo, 1677.
In the octavo edition the twenty-second chapter was
suppressed, which is inserted in the edition of 1648.
This chapter was published in a pamphlet, which is
now exceedingly rare, 1712, entitled, " Some Re-
markable passages relating to Archbishop Laud,
particularly of his Affection to the Church of Rome;"
and it contains the following story.
Gage, on his return to England, resorted to
some of the churches in London, " to see the ser-
vice performed, and to hear the word of God
preached," but so, as he pretends, " that he might
not be seen, known, or discovered by any Papist ;"
and when he heard the organs and music, the
prayers and collects, he could perceive little differ-
ence between the two Churches. Then he became
acquainted with one Price, superior of the Bene-
dictine Monks, who, he affirms, was a familiar
friend of the Archbishop, and that priest told him,
that he hoped soon to be made Parish Priest and
Curate of Covent Garden, nay, ultimately a Bishop
in England ; and that he trusted he would yet raise
1 See his " Recantation Sermon," 4to. 1642.
524 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
Gage to the same rank *. After a variety of ad-
ventures, Gage says he proceeded to Rome, and de-
livered letter^ to certain cardinals, one of whom was
Francisco Barberini, who appeared to know much
of the state of England, and who asked him several
questions concerning the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who, he feared, would excite some great disturbance
in the kingdom. The said Cardinal declared, that,
for the Archbishop's sake, the King had dissolved
the last Parliament ; he inquired what were the
dispositions of the English nation towards the Arch-
bishop, and whether they suspected he had any
communication with Rome, and observed, that the
creation of one English Cardinal would be of great
advantage for the conversion of the whole king-
dom. " I laid up in my heart," says Gage, " all
this discourse, and well perceived some great mat-
ters were in agitation at Rome, and some secret
compliance from England with that Court, which
I purposed to discover more at large among some
friends there."
Then follows the " discovery." This same Gage
was soon afterwards invited to dinner at the Eng-
lish College, by the Rector, Father Fitzherbert,
and, after some conversation, the discourse turned
on England, and Archbishop Laud. After praising
Laud, as he pretends, for his moderation to Papists,
and vilifying Abbot, his predecessor ; " the now
Archbishop," said the Jesuit, " is not only favourable
\ New Survey, &c. folio, 2d edit. London, 1C55. p. 205.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 525
to us there, but here desireth to make daily de-
monstrations of his great affection to this our court
and Church, which he shewed not long since in
sending a Common Prayer-Book, which he had
composed for the Church of Scotland, to be first
mewed and approved of by our Pope and Cardi-
nals, who perceiving it, liked it very well, for Pro-
testants to be trained in a form of prayer and ser-
vice." The worthy Jesuit, however, had his doubts on
the expediency of the measure, considering the state
of Scotland and the tenets of the people ; the Car-
dinals, therefore, sent it back to the Archbishop,
with thanks for his " dutiful compliance" with their
wishes, but advised him not to send it to Scot-
land, because they understood " the Scots disliked
all set forms of prayer, and would not be limited
to the invention of man, having, as they conceived,
the true and unerring Spirit of God in them ;" all
which the said Father Fitzherbert declared was
truth, he being witness thereof, being " sent for by
the Cardinals," to give them his opinion on the
measure. " And this most true relation," says
Gage, " of William Laud, late Archbishop of Can-
terbury, (though I have often spoken of it in pri-
vate discourse, and publicly preached it at the
lecture in Kent,) I could not in my conscience
omit here, both to vindicate the just censure of
death which the now sitting Parliament have passed
upon him, for such like practices and compliances
with Rome, and to reprove the ungrounded opinion
and error of those ignorant and malignant spirits,
526 HFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
who, to my knowledge, have, since his death, ex-
alted him, and cried him up for a martyr ."
On this story Du Moulin takes his ground for
assuming that Archbishop Laud was secretly a
Papist. " Sed nemo Thoma Gageo viro integerrimo
parentibus Anglis et Pontificiis, qui 20 anno fuit
Franciscanus in America> in sua Historia Indiae
Occidentalis, locupletior est testis consiliorum Laudi
eo spectantium ut Angliam reconciliaret Roma3,
quemadmodum comperiit cum Romse esset ex col-
loquiis cum Cardinal! Francisco Barbarino et Fitz-
herbert Jesuita." And again : " Sed nee fuit haec
vox duntaxat Pontificiorum. Baro Fackland et Dr.
Warmstrey inter Protestantes Anglos eadem tes-
tantur de Laudo et tota Laudensium cohorte 1 ."
Now, here it may be observed, that to adduce
the idle talk at Rome about the creation of an
English Cardinal as proof, is utterly absurd : and
the whole story is proved to be false from the fact,
that the Scottish Service Book was not compiled
by Laud, but by the Scottish Bishops. On this
simple fact the whole story rests, and this being
kept in remembrance, will prove the falsehood of
the story. I have already shewn, that so far from
wishing to compile a new Liturgy for Scotland,
Laud was opposed to any other than the English,
that he had no share in its compilation ; and I
again maintain, that this said Liturgy (now disused)
is as far removed from Popery as is the Scottish
1 Specimen, c. p. 11. 13.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 527
Presbyterian Confession of Faith. Let it be ob-
served, too, that this rumour had reached the ears
of the Marquis of Hamilton when he was first sent
as commissioner, that he wrote to Con, the noted
Popish emissary then in London, to ascertain its
truth, (and Gage often refers to this Jesuit, telling
us that his house in Long Acre was the chief re-
sort of the Papists,) and that Con offered solemnly
to declare upon oath, in a letter to the Marquis,
that it was utterly false, that he was at Rome
at the time of the introduction of the Scottish Li-
turgy, and heard not a syllable of the affair,
that the Pope had never been consulted, and that
no such thing as a Liturgy was ever mentioned
there. This is unquestionably a complete refuta-
tion of Gage's story, even were there no other evi-
dence, as it is not to be supposed that Con, who
was himself a Scotsman, and connected with one
of the best families in that country, could be igno-
rant of, or would deny, had it been true, an affair
which was productive of such momentous results to
the kingdom.
To the same purpose, also, other writers have
added their testimony, either misled by, or infected
with, the enthusiasm of the Puritans and Cove-
nanters. Sir Edward Peyton declares, that the
imposition of the Book of Common Prayer on the
Scots was " a stratagem by the artifice of Laud,
Archbishop of Canterbury, to bring into the country
the Episcopal Government, to unite both kingdoms
in one form of Church, in something agreeable
528 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
with Rome, as a bridge over which he might bring
both people to Popery, to ingratiate himself with
the Pope foYp, Cardinal's hat 1 ." Now, in refutation
of this, it is to be observed, that Scotland was es-
sentially Episcopal for fifty years before the riot
about the Liturgy, and that Laud had the offer of a
Cardinal's hat four years before the Liturgy was
compiled. It is not likely, therefore, that this
could be his motive, since he could have obtained
that elevation, had he been so disposed, without
sustaining any part in the Scottish troubles. It
is declared by Monsieur De Wicquefort 9 , that
" he who wrote the history of those times on the
best authority says, that the Archbishop of Canter-
bury himself was much inclined thereto (to Popery,)
and resolved to follow Rosette, (the Popish agent
here,) to Rome, if Cardinal Barberirii would have
insured him of a pension of 48,000 livres 3 ." A
miserable recompence, doubtless, for such a sacri-
fice ; but who the person was who wrote the history
of those times on the best authority, Wicquefort
does not inform us a testimony, therefore, of no
consideration.
1 Divine Catastrophe of the House of Stuart, 12mo. London,
1652, p. 9.
3 L'Ambassadeur et ses Fonctions, 4to. Hague edit. 1671.
p. 37.
3 " Celuy qui a escrit 1'histoire des temps, sur de fort bons
memoires, dit que 1'Archevesque de Canterberry mesme y estoit
fort dispose, et resolu de suivre Rosette a Rome, si le Cardinal
Barberin eust voulu 1'asseurer d'une pension de quarent huit
mille livres."
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 529
It is somewhat singular that " among those ig-
norant and malignant spirits who extolled the Arch-
bishop as a martyr/' not a single Papist is to be
found ; and surely they would by no means be silent
on a subject which so evidently concerns themselves.
Let us, however, turn our attention to other writers,
who were no great admirers of the Archbishop
or his principles. " He so little thought," says
one, " of restoring the Roman Catholic Church
in England,] that, on the contrary, he hoped, by
that external appearance he gave to every thing, to
allure the [^Roman] Catholics of the kingdom into
the Communion of the Church of England, and to
dissolve that unity which kept them attached to
the Chair of St. Peter 1 ." The historian Rapin
thus expresses himself. " The Presbyterians had
got into their heads that a project was formed to
re-establish the Roman religion in England. They
imagined that the King's ministers, the Council,
Bishops, and particularly the new Archbishop of
Canterbury, were the authors of this project. For
my part, I verily believe that neither the King, nor
the Archbishop, nor the ministers, for the most
1 Salmonet, Histoire des Troubles de la Grande Bretagne,
1661, p. 26. " II pensoit si peu a y restablir la Communion
Catholique, qu'au contraire il esperoit par cette face exterieure
qu'il donnoit a toutes choses, et qui resembloit fort a celle des
premiers temps de 1'Eglise, d'attirer les Catholiques de ce Roy-
aume-la a la Communion Anglicane, et de rompre ce lieu d' unite
qui les tient attachez a la chaire unique de St. Pierre."
VOL. II. M m
530 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
part, ever formed such a design. At least, in all
that has been said on this subject, I have not met
with any proof which to me seemed, I will not say
strong enough to convince, but even to have the
least probability. Nevertheless, it is certain that
this opinion prevailed more and more among the
people, and the Presbyterians used their endeavours
to gain it credit. I do not know whether they
believed it themselves, or whether they only thought
it would be for their advantage to throw this reproach
upon the Church of England, that they might
strengthen their party, in which they succeeded
beyond expectation 1 .'* Wilson, in the History of
his own Life, details a conversation he had at Bru-
ges, 1637, with a Dr. Weston, to the following
effect. " The little Archbishop of Canterbury," says
Wilson, " he (Weston) could not endure. I pulled
a book out of my pocket, written by the Provincial
of the English Friars, Joannes de Sancta Clara,
which tended to reconcile the Church of England
and the Church of Rome, if we would come up a
step to them, and they come down a step to us.
( I know the man,' observed Weston, ' he is one of
Canterbury's trencher-flies, and eats perpetually at
his table a creature of his making.' ' Then,' said
I, ' you should better approve my Lord of Canter-
bury's actions, seeing he tends so much to your
way.' ' No,' replied he, ' he is too subtle to be
1 Rapin's History, 8vo. edit. vol. x. p. 273.
3644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 531
yoked ; too ambitious to have a superior. He will
never submit to Rome. He means to frame a
motley religion of his own, and to be lord of it him-
self V"
Other testimonies might be produced to the same
effect. I might quote the admirable expostulatory
letter which the Archbishop wrote to Sir Kenelm
Digby on his recantation to the Church of Rome,
which redounds so much to his honour 2 : I might
quote from his own works, and from his repeated de-
clarations. Yet there are two testimonies that must
not be omitted. The one is that of the celebrated and
learned John Evelyn,who was at Rome when the news
of the Archbishop's murder, and a copy of his sermon
on the scaffold, arrived in that city. The priests, he
declared, read the sermon with great contempt, and
looked upon him as one of their greatest enemies s .
This he gave under his own hand, believing himself
called upon, in justice to the Primate's memory, to
give this illustration. Sir Henry Mildmay told the
Archbishop himself, that he was the most odious
man at Rome who had sat in the See of Canterbury
since the Reformation ; and his brother, Antony
Mildmay, declared that to the Jesuits he was par-
ticularly obnoxious*. Finally, Whiston, vicar of
1 Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii. book xii. p. 22.
8 Dated Lambeth, 27th of March, 1636. Troubles and Trials,
p. 613616.
3 Troubles and Trials, p. 616.
4 State Trials, vol. i. p. 897.
M m 2
532 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
Bethenden, in Kent, attested, under his own hand,
on the 28th of September, 1694, that when he was
chaplain to /Sir Lionel Tollemache, in 1666, he
heard him relate, that in his younger days when
he was at Rome, in 1644-5, he was acquainted
with a certain Abbot, who asked him on one occa-
sion, whether he had heard any news from England ?
On being answered in the negative, " Then," said
the Abbot, " I will tell you some ; Archbishop Laud
is beheaded." " You are sorry for that, I presume,"
said Sir Lionel ; but the Abbot replied, " that
they had more cause to rejoice, that the greatest
enemy of the Church of Rome in England was now
cut off, and the greatest champion of the Church
of England silenced."
The munificent actions of this illustrious prelate
have already been detailed, and it would be super-
fluous to repeat them here. What he did for the
University of Oxford alone, will remain a lasting
monument of his genius and pious care. His works,
though detached, are numerous ; some of them were
published during his life, others at a much more
recent period. Those which he superintended him-
self are, 1. Seven Sermons, preached on public
occasions, in 1621, 1622, 1625, 1626, and 1628,
published in 4to. in their respective years, and re-
printed in one volume at London, in 1651. 2. His
celebrated Conference with Fisher the Jesuit, pub-
lished in folio, London, 1624, under the name of
R. B. Richard Bay lie, who married his niece, at
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 533
that time his chaplain, and afterwards President of
St. John's College 1 . 3. "An Answer to the Remon-
strance of the House of Commons in 1628." TrnY
is a reply to the charges which the Commons brought
against him and Bishop Neale of being Popishly
inclined, and the patrons of " Arminian errors." 4.
" A Speech delivered in the Star Chamber, on
Wednesday, the 14th of June, 1637, at the censure
of John Bastwick, Henry Burton, and William
Prynne, concerning pretended innovations in the
Church." London, 4to. 1637. The following were
published after his death. " Annotations, or Me-
morables of King James I." published by Prynne,
in 1644 : it is to be found in the first volume of
Rushworth's Collections, only two pages, folio.
2. " The Diary of his Life," which was first pub-
1 This Conference was afterwards printed in 1637 and 1673,
with his own name. It was answered by a Jesuit named Tho-
mas Carwell, or Thorold, a native of Lincolnshire, in a folio
volume, entitled " Labyrinthus Cantuariensis, or Dr. Laud's
Labyrenth, being an Answer to the late Archbishop of Canter-
bury's late Conference between himself and Mr. Fisher," &c.
Par. alias London, 1658, which was answered by Dr. Meric
Casaubon, and Edward Stillingfleet. Fisher himself appears
to have written a reply, under the signature of A. C. which Laud
answered, in a reply to the " Exceptions of A. C.," which is now
printed with the Conference. This performance, however, was
answered in 1640, by a Presbyterian fanatic, in a volume en-
titled, " A Replie to a Relation of the Conference betweene
William Laude and Mr. Fisher the Jesuite, by a Witnesse of
Jesus Christ. Imprinted anno 1640," 4to. It consists of four
hundred and five small pages, besides a most presumptuous
dedication to the King.
534 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
lished by Prynne, in September, 1644, and entitled,
" A Breviat," shamefully mutilated by that enthu-
siast, after h6 had seized his papers. For the pub-
lication of this work, which appeared in its authentic
state in a folio volume, 1695, the world is indebted
to the learned Henry Wharton. It appears that all
the Archbishop's papers, and the Diary among the
rest, remained in Prynne's possession till his death,
which took place after the Restoration. Archbishop
Sheldon, knowing that these papers had been seized,
and unjustly detained by that incendiary, procured
a warrant from the King and Privy Council to
search his house. Sir William Dugdale and others
were deputed to this business, and delivered to
Archbishop Sheldon all the papers and documents
which they found, though diminished in number,
and much injured since they had been seized by
Prynne's ravenous hands. Whether the original
copy of the Diary was then found, or procured by
the Archbishop in some other manner, is uncertain ;
but, when he obtained possession of the papers, he
consigned them to the care of Dr. Sancroft, then
Dean of St. Paul's, requiring him to arrange and
publish them. Dr. Sancroft undertook the task,
but, on perusing the history, found it so much mu-
tilated that he could not publish it till the original
was found. After a laborious search it was at last
found in the Library of St. John's College, Oxford.
While Archbishop Sheldon was meditating its pub-
lication, he was overtaken by a sickness which proved
mortal ; but before his death he commanded Whar-
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 535
ton to publish the History. In this volume, besides
the Diary, there are the History of the Archbishop.'s
Troubles and Trials, written by himself during his
imprisonment in the Tower, containing 443 folio
pages, the Speech delivered by the Archbishop on
the Scaffold, which was published also by Hind, in
1645, the original MS. of which is preserved in the
Library of St. John's College l : the Archbishop's
Last Will and Testament ; an Answer to the Speech
of Lord Say and Scale, touching the Liturgy, which
he finished in the Tower ; the Annual Accounts of
1 This Speech provoked a number of fanatics to reply to,
and review it. Burton, the Archbishop's implacable enemy,
took the lead, and wrote a wretched pamphlet, entitled, " The
Grand Impostor Unmasked, or a detection of the notorious hy-
pocrisy and desperate impiety of the late (so styled) Archbishop
of Canterbury," &c. London, 4to. 1644, p. 20. "When the
fox preacheth, let the geese beware." There also appeared,
" The Life and Death of William Laud, late Archbishop of Can-
terbury, by E. W. who was acquainted with his proceedings at
Oxford," &c. 4to. London, 1644, p. 42. " Four Queries touch-
ing the late Archbishop," London, 4to. 1644, p. 16. "A Charme
for Canterburian Spirits," 4to. London, 1644, p. 8, which has
this motto,
" Laud played the devil on the earth so well,
That he is since installed viceroy of hell."
" A full and satisfactory Answer to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury's Speech or Funeral Sermon, wherein is a full and plenary
Discourse to satisfy all those who have been startled with his
subtle and Jesuitical fancies in the said Speech," 1645, 4to.
" The last Advice of William Laud, late Archbishop, to his Epis-
copal Brethren, and especially to Bishop Wren, who still remains
prisoner in the Tower," &c. 4to. London, 1644, p. 8.
536 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
his Province, from 1633 to 1639, with the King's
marginal annotations. Notes on Rome's Master
Piece, whicji is there reprinted, or the Plot re-
vealed by Andreas ab Habernfield l . Several Let-
ters, one to Dr. Baylie, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford,
dated August 29, 1637 ; and another to Dr. Frewen,
Vice-Chancellor, February 7, against the Jesuits,
and his admirable Letter to Sir Kenelm Digby.
3. His Select Remains, being the second volume of
the above, published in folio, 1 700, and contains an
historical account of all transactions relating to the
University of Oxford, from the year 1630, when
the Archbishop was elected Chancellor, to 1641,
when he resigned the office 9 . 4. Officium Quoti-
dianum, or a Manual of Private Devotions, pub-
lished in Svo. 1650 and 1663 a truly admirable
and pious work, and worthy of its illustrious author.
5. A Summary of Private Devotions, published at
London, 1667, from the original MS. preserved in
the Library of St. John's, Oxford.
Many of the private papers of the Archbishop are
preserved in the Library of his own college, and in the
Bodleian Library, Oxford ; some of them are in the
Library of Lambeth Palace, and some in the British
Museum. Many of his letters have been published
1 This was published in August, 1643, by Prynne, after he
had seized the Archbishop's papers. It was sent to the Primate
in the Tower, where he wrote the notes.
2 Published by the Rev. Edmund Wharton, (father of Henry
"Wharton) Rector of Saxlingham, in Norfolk. It contains much
valuable information relative to the University of Oxford.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 537
at various times, chiefly letters of state, in the Ca-
balas and other works. Fourteen to his friend the
Earl of Str afford, are printed in the " Letters and
Dispatches" of that nobleman, edited by Dr. William
Knowler, (folio, 1739,) several in Dr. Richard Parr's
collection of letters to and from Archbishop Usher,
and in Ellis's Collection of Original Letters, illus-
trative of English History ; besides others in various
books of historical collections and illustrations.
There are also eighteen letters of the Archbishop
inserted in a folio volume, published in 1690, and
collected by Colomesius, entitled, " G. J. Vossii et
Clarorum Virorum ad eum Epistolae V There are
many of his letters preserved in the archives of
the University of Oxford, particularly in the " Re-
1 On these Letters the celebrated Limborch has remarked :
" Sed imprimis admirabilem se ostendit reverendissimus Archie-
piscopus Cantuar. Gulielmus Laudus, ob causam religionis a
fervidis zelotis securi percussus : qui adeo graviter impetitus,
tot calumniis oneratus, in familiarissimis ad Vossium Epistolis,
nullum contra ferocissimos inimicos maledictum profert, sed ad
Servatoris sui exemplum, cum malediceretur, non maledixit,
et cum peteretur, non comminatus est, sed maledicentibus bene-
dixit, et pro sequentibus se ardentissime precatus est. Hie ab
immani criminatione, qua ab infensissimis inimicis coram toto
orbe palam et odiose est traductus, quasi Papatum in Ecclesiam
Anglicanam reducere moliretur, adeo plene purgatur, ut ne ipsa
quidem SiafioXri quicquam quod admordeat reperire possit.
Extant hie continuatae ipsius flagitationes, vel decies in epistolis
ejus repetitae, ut Vossius provinciam Baronium confutandi in se
suscipiat adeo quidem ut id urgere nunquam destiteret." In
Praefat. ad Praestant. ac Erudit. Viror. Epist. Eccles. &c. 2d edit.
538 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
gister," respecting the -foundation of his Arabic Lec-
ture, and in the " Res Gestae Cancellarii Arch.
Laud V
These enumerations prove that the Archbishop's
fame for learning is well deserved. His muni-
ficent gifts are recorded in the annals of the Uni-
versity. No fewer than 1300 volumes of MSS. in
various languages did he present to that distin-
guished seat of learning, and in the Library they
are enumerated with an appropriate inscription,
" Ex Dono Reverendissimi in Christo Patris D.
Gul. Laud, Cantuar. Archiep. Academ. Oxon.
Honoratissimi Cancellarii." He also procured the
MSS. of Sir Kenelm Digby, for the University 2 .
His patronage of Oriental literature has never been
surpassed; in this he was munificently liberal.
Before the foundation of his lectureship, Oriental
literature had not indeed been neglected at Oxford.
In the beginning of the 17th century, Matthias
Pasor, son of George Pasor, a professor at Herborn,
Germany, and author of a valuable Greek Lexicon,
came to Oxford. He had been educated both at
Herborn and at Heidelburg, in which latter place
he became professor of mathematics. At Oxford
he was incorporated M.A., and twice a week he
read an Arabic lecture, during term, in the Divinity
1 Letters to the Heads of Colleges on the Arabic Lecture,
Regist. R. fol. 109, b. 128, a, 130, b. Cancel. Laud, vol. ii.
Tanner's Copy in the Bodleian Library.
2 Rer Gest. p. 114.
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 539
School, for which he was remunerated by his audi-
tors, by whom he was greatly esteemed. He pub-
lished, " Oratio pro Linguae Arabicse Professione,
publice ad Academicos habita in Schola Theologica
Universitatis Oxon. 25 Oct. 1626," Oxford, 1627.
But Laud has the merit of first establishing a per-
manent lectureship. Recollecting, probably, the
fate of Cardinal Wolsey, he endowed it in the days
of his prosperity with lands in the parish of Bray,
Bucks. During the absence of Dr. Edward Pococke,
the lecture was read by Thomas Greaves, M.A.
Fellow of Corpus Christi College.
Few notices now remain to be detailed of this
illustrious and martyred Prelate. He was buried
in a leaden coffin, in the church of Allhallows,
Barking, near the Tower, a church in his own pa-
tronage, by his friends, according to the forms of
the Church of England, which had then become
proscribed, and the use of which amounted to high
treason. There did his venerable remains repose
till the happy Restoration, when they were removed
to a more honorable cemetery in the chapel of his
own College. On the 24th of July, 1663, he was
interred in a vault under the great altar of St. John's
Chapel, on which occasion his funeral oration was
pronounced by George Gisbey, B.D., Fellow of
St. John's, and Vice- President, in the presence of
the Vice- Chancellor, some Heads of Houses, and
all the members of the College. On a brass plate
against the wainscot, in the south side of the chan-
cel, is the following inscription :
7
540 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
. In hac cistula conduntur exuviae Gul. Laud.
Archiep. Cantuar. qui securi percussus,
Immortalitatem adiit die decimo Jan. anno Dom. 1644-5.
JStatis autem suae 72, Archiepiscop. 11.
Qui fui in extremis fortunara expertus utramque
Nemo magis felix et magi nemo miser.
Jam portum inveni, fluctantia secla valete,
Ludite nunc alios, pax erit alta mihi.
Memoriae Domini sui in ^Eternum
Honorandi posuit Guil. Dell.
Servus Mrestissimus.
And as in life Laud associated with the illustrious
of his age, so in death he now rests with those whom
he revered. Under the altar, there are four brick
vaults. In one towards the north, are the bones of
Sir Thomas Whyte, the illustrious founder of a
College which is itself a glorious monument of that
Maecenas of his age. He died llth February, 1566,
aged 72. Adjoining to this are the bones of Laud.
On the south side lies the body of his beloved friend
and fellow-student, Archbishop Juxon ; and adjoin-
ing to it, in the fourth vault, is the body of Dr.
Richard Bay lie, President of the College, who mar-
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. John Robinson,
Archdeacon of Nottingham, and niece of Archbishop
Laud. In the Library of the College there is a por-
trait of the Primate, and another in the Picture
Gallery, by Vandyke, in his episcopal habit, with
this inscription : " Gul. Laud. Archiep'us Cantu-
ariensis, hujus Academic Cancellarius, ab an. 1630,
ad resign. 1641. decap. 1645, aet. 72. Ex dono
nepotis sui D. Johannis Robinson, Equitis et Ba-
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 541
ronnetti, et Turns Regalis Londinensis locum tenen.
1674." It may be remarked, that it was Laud's
particular desire to be buried in the Chapel of St.
John's ; at least, he hoped that, should he die a pri-
soner, he would not be buried in the Tower l .
It only remains to notice the contents of the
Archbishop's Will, as proved by Dr. Baylie, his ex-
ecutor, on the 8th of January, 1661. It is inserted
in the History of his Troubles and Trials, but there
is a more complete copy of it in Baker's Collections,
(Harleian MSS. 4115.) at the end of which is
written by the Collector, " This copy of the Arch-
bishop's Will contains several particulars omitted
or abbreviated in the copy printed in the History of
the Troubles and Trials of William Laud, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury." After declaring his religious
faith, and that he died a true member of the Pro-
testant Church of England, he bequeaths 800/. to
the repair of St. Paul's, " if," says he, " it ever go
on, while the party trusted with it lives ; but my
executors are not charged with this ; it is safe, and
in other hands." To the King he leaves 1000/. and
he revokes the debt which he owed him of 2000/.
To St. John's College he leaves all his chapel plate
and furniture, his books, and 500/. to be expended
in the purchase of lands, and the rent of it to be dis-
tributed every fourth year, on the 17th of October,
among the Fellows and Scholars. " Something else,"
says he, modestly, "I have done for them already,
according to my ability ; and God's everlasting bless-
1 Troubles and Trials, p. 454.
542 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
ing be upon that place and that Society for ever."
To the Duchess of Buckingham he leaves WOL to the
Duke of Buckingham his chalice and patten of gold,
which he desires him to accept, as a " memorial of
him who had a heart to love, and the honour to be
beloved of his father." To his relations he bequeaths
as follows : to Henry Robinson, son to his brother
Dr. Robinson, 200/. ; to his brother, Dr. John Ro-
binson, 2001. ; to their sister, Lucy, WOl. ; to their
sister, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Baylie, WOl. ; to Dr.
Cotsford, WOl. ; to Dr. Edward Layfield, 100,
having already provided well for them ; to his niece,
Elizabeth Holt, 50/. ; to his nephew, William Bole,
501., with a revocation of the debt he owed him ;
to another niece, 50/. ; to his chaplains, Dr. Thomas
Turner, Dr. Thomas Walker, Dr. Edward Martin,
Dr. William Heywood, Dr. John Oliver, Mr. John
Alsopp, Mr. George Wilde, and his " ancient friend
Mr. Thomas Maye," rings or watches ; to the poor
of several parishes, with which he had been con-
nected, 51. each ; to the poor of Canterbury, Lam-
beth, and Croydon, JO/, each; to twenty-seven
servants who were with him at the commencement
of his troubles, several sums from 50/. to 51. ; to an
upper servant, Richard Cobb, 5QL, with his organ
at Croydon, his harp, chest of viols, and the harp-
sicord at Lambeth. The remainder of his estate
he charges his executors to expend on land, on the
same conditions as he had settled his property at
Bray upon the town of Reading. The several sums
of 50/. he bestows on the towns of Ockingham,
1644-5.] OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 543
Henley-upon-Thames, Wallingford, and Windsor;
all above 200 he bequeaths to Dr. Baylie, and his
family. To his successor in the metropolitan see,
he leaves his organ in the chapel at Lambeth, for
the use of the Archbishops ; his barge and furni-
ture ; his pictures in the gallery : but if the see be
dissolved they are to be added to his estate. To his
servant Cobb, an additional sum of 501. ; and to two
other servants 10/. each; to Dr. Baylie, the charge
of his books and papers, and 200/, for his trouble
as chief executor ; he leaves 100/. for the purpose
of translating his book against Fisher into Latin,
that " the Christian world may see and judge of his
religion." He makes Bishops Juxon, Curie, Wren,
and Duppa, overseers of his Will, with 10Z. each for
their trouble. " Thus," says he, " I forgive all the
world, and heartily desire forgiveness of God and
the world, and so again commend and commit my
soul into the hands of God the Father who gave it,
in the merits and mercies of my blessed Saviour
Jesus Christ, who redeemed it, and in the peace and
comfort of the Holy Ghost, who blessed it ; and in
the truth and unity of his Holy Catholic Church,
and in the communion of the Church of England,
as it yet stands established by law."
In concluding the eventful history of this illus-
trious Primate, I purposely refrain from any length-
ened remarks. In it, however, we behold strikingly
pourtrayed the mutability of human affairs, and that
to those with whom prejudice and habit are invete-
rate, no limits can be assigned in their thirst for
544 LIFE AND TIMES [1644-5.
revenge. From it are most especially manifest the
evils of faction,, the designs of turbulent men, the
strife of revolutionary demagogues, the dreadful con-
sequences of unrestrained enthusiasm and schism.
The Puritans seriously believed that the Archbishop
was Antichrist ; and, like the fabrications of the
Church of Rome against Luther, they daringly in-
vented and retailed similar disgusting and fanatical
absurdities. But his memory will ever be preserved
in the Church of England, as one of its most able
and illustrious defenders. To him it is indebted
for those admirable laws which distinguish it above
every other reformed communion ; for the enforce-
ment of those doctrines and rituals which had been
pondered with pious care by its venerable and holy
martyrs. While the names of his furious and re-
lentless enemies are forgotten, or remembered only
with the feelings they deserve for the blood which
they shed, that of Laud will not cease to be vene-
rated by every lover of pure and rational religion,
by all who revere the institutions of their country,
or know how to value the pursuits of learning and
science. His lot was cast in days of peril, and wor-
thy he was to have lived in a more enlightened age.
His religion was unmixed with superstition ; no sec-
tarian feeling characterized his actions ; his spirit
was as catholic as the religion he professed, and the
Church over which he presided. A victim to fac-
tion, and murdered by men who scrupled not to
consummate their crimes and rebellion by imbruing
their hands in the blood of their virtuous sovereign,
644-5.J OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 545
his fate demands our compassion, while his heroic
and magnanimous end commands our admiration.
His death was as glorious as his life had been pious
and beneficent; on that awful occasion he rose
above himself, and evinced to his enemies how
little their hatred' could affect his soul. As he
himself said of Stafford, his friend and fellow-
martyr, 'it is difficult to ascertain whether the Roman
or the Christian prevailed ;' like St. Cyprian of old,
he nobly died for the Church ; or, like the holy
proto-martyr, he preserved his composure when his
enemies stopped their ears against him, and ran
upon him gnashing their teeth in fiendish rage.
Such is the effect of conscious innocence, of virtue
and integrity ; of that religion which alone can ensure
" a peace which the world cannot give," and which
it " cannot take away." Happy, nevertheless, was
his end in this, that he died for the Church of Eng-
land, the reformation of which had not been effected
without sacrifices no less melancholy and afflicting ;
happy, that he beheld not the overthrow of the
Church he loved so well, and the misfortunes of a
sovereign whom he served with scrupulous fidelity ;
happy, in conclusion, that he witnessed not the abso-
lute but short-lived triumph of those numerous sec-
taries who, like locusts, overspread the kingdom ;
who, by the excitement of their ungovernable fury,
spurned the salutary restraints which preserve men
in peace and in necessary subjection, as the subjects
of order and civil government ; the accomplishment
of whose daring purposes was marked by a convul-
VOL. ii. N n
546 UFE AND TIMES, &c. [1644-5.
sion, fearful in its consequences, criminal in its pur-
poses, and sufficiently disastrous, till the reign of
fanaticism, hypocrisy, and usurpation was brought
to a close.
INDEX.
A.
ABBOT, Dr. George, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, favours the Puritans, i. 33 ; op-
poses Laud, ib. ; his hatred to Laud, 35 ;
his errors, 37; his conduct towards
Laud, 119. 133; succeeds Bancroft in
the primacy, 144; mischievous effects
of his advancement, 14G, 147. 174.190;
notice of his life, 147 150 ; his flattery,
151 ; his attachment to Calvinism, 152,
153 ; .abuses Laud from the pulpit, 157,
158; his attempts to ruin Laud, 189
191 ; his misfortunes, 192 ; he commits
casual homicide, 193; investigation of
his case, 195, 196 ; his pardon, ibid. ;
opposes Charles' marriage with the In-
fanta, 240, 241 ; his harsh treatment of
Laud, 247, 248 ; his letter to the King,
ib. ; officiates at the coronation of Charles
L, 292 ; is disgraced at court, 3G8 ;
causes of it, 370; is suspended, ib. ;
is received into favour, 373 ; his laxity,
494 49G ; royal instructions to, 497 ;
his death, ii. 33 ; his character, ib.
Abbot, Dr. Robert, Bishop of Salisbury,
opposes Laud, i. 132, 133 ; his charac-
ter, 155 ; his death, 183.
Aberdeen, its firm adherence to loyalty
and Episcopacy, ii. 2GO.
Abernethy, Bishop Burnet's account of
him, ii. 312.
Albigenses, or Waldenses, remarks on, i.
33.
America, Episcopal Church in, i. 64, 65.
Ancient writers, opinions of, on Passive
Obedience, i. 353, 354.
Andrews, Dr. L. of Winchester, high re-
putation of, i. 150 ; moderation of, 269 ;
death of, 336 ; his learning, ib. ; his
works, 337.
Arminius, James, i. 31. 407-
Arminianism, falsely so called, i. 30 32 ;
ignorance of the Puritans on, 401 ; doc-
trines of, 403 407 ; misrepresentations
of, 407, 408 ; more favourable to liberty
than Calvinism, 411.
Array, Dr. Henry, opposes Laud, i. 118,
119.
Articles of the Church, remarks on, i. 29
31. 8588.
Assembly at Glasgow, riotous proceedings
of, ii. 316319.
Augustine, St. i. 28.
B.
BAGSHAW, reader of the Middle Temple,
his seditious sermon, ii. 347 ; ls silenced
by Laud, ib.
Balmerino, Lord, supports Henderson and
his associates, ii. 245.
Bancroft, Dr. Archbishop of Canterbury,
i. 126 ; his abilities, 126, 127 ; death of,
136 ; character pf, 137141 ; anec-
dotes of, 143, 144.
Baptism, doctrine of the Church on, i. 106,
107.
Barlow, Dr., his narrative of the Hampton
Court Conference, i. 74. 76.
Barnard, Nathaniel, extravagance of, i.
504.
Bastwick, John, account of, ii. 144, 145;
his " Letany," 145151 ; his trial,
159 ; his speech on receiving punish-
ment, 176.
Bellarmine, Cardinal Robert, i. 103105.
Berengerius, i. 33. 35.
Bigotry, true nature of, i. 510.
Bishops, Scottish, consecration of, at West-
minster, i. 172-
r . j persecution, and imprisonment of,
ii. 424 ; their office abolished, 433.
N n 2
INDEX.
Blount, Charles, Earl of Devonshire, i. 91 ;
Story of his marriage, ib.
Bogue and Bennett, remarks on their mis-
statements, i. 210, 211, note.
Boswell, Sir William, letter of, i. 416, 417-
Bradburne, Theophilus, revives the Sab-
battarian Controversy, ii. 51.
Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, letter of, i.
418.
Bristol, Earl of, impeaches Buckingham,
i. 310.
Buchanan, George, i. 46 ; ingratitude of,
ibid.
Buckeridge, Dr. John, Bishop of Ely, i.
8 ; notice of him, ib. ; his character, 9 ;
Bishop of Rochester, 132.
Buckingham, Duke of, i. 226 ; notice of
him, 228, 229 ; becomes prime minister
to Charles I. 266 ; impeachment of, 308 ;
account of his collection of pictures, 317,
note; his expedition to Rochelle, 379,
380 ; clamours against him, ib. ; im-
peached in the Third Parliament, 394 ;
is assassinated at Portsmouth, 427, 428;
his death and character, 433436.
Burton, Henry, a furious enthusiast, his
character, ii. 152 ; his violent publica-
tions, 154, 156; his trial, 159; his
speech and behaviour when receiving
punishment, 179 181, remarks on his
address, 185.
C.
Calvin, his concession respecting rites and
ceremonies, i. 88 ; held the doctrine of
a true and real presence in the Eucha-
rist, 322, note; his notions concerning
Christ's descent into hell, 440 ; remarks
on his ideas of predestination, 401 ; his
declaration respecting Episcopacy, ii.
343, and note.
Calvinism, unhappy effects of on the Church
of England, i. 14, 15. 22, 23. 26, 27.
29 32; first introduced into Scotland
by Andrew Melville, 51 ; opposition of
Laud to, 108, 109, &c. ; tenets of, 400,
401, intolerance of, 409; James I.,
issues directions respecting the preach-
ing of, 215.
Calvinists, Irish, practices of, i. 571-
, practices of, in 1625, i. 280,
281.
Carleton, Lord Dudley, his account of
Buckingham's murder, i. 428430,
note.
CartwrightjThomas, (ofCambriclge,) death
of, i. 45, 46, note; reconciled to the
Church, i. 46.
Canons, Book of, for Scotland, injudiciously
published before the Liturgy, ii. 204
207,208. 211.
Canting, origin of the word, ii. 258, and
note, ib.
Ceremonies of the Church of England,
folly of objecting to, i. 8385. 541 ; ii.
70.
. , in general, remarks on, i.539
541 ; ii. 70, 71-
Chancey, Vicar of Ware, fanaticism of, i.
505.
Chaplains, regulations respecting, i. 503,
504.
Charles I. letter of, i. 228 ; extraordinary
adventure of, in Spain, 231 235 ;
anecdote of, 246 ; accession of, 265 ;
political feelings in the reign of, 265,
&c. ; marriage of, 269; thwarted by
the Puritans, 283 ; issues a proclama-
tion against Popish recusants, 284 ; eo-
ronation of, 292, 293 ; defence of his
conduct, 366 ; speech to his third par-
liament, 391 ; court of, 482 ; character
of, ib. ; instructs the Scottish Bishops to
prepare a Liturgy, ii. 6 ; proceeds to
Scotland, 14; enters Edinburgh, 15;
his progress through the kingdom, 28 ;
his dangerous passage from Burntisland,
30 ; revives the Book of Sports, 53 ;
visits Oxford, 133; his entertainment
there, 134; the commencement of his
troubles, 140 ; experiences the first op-
position at Stirling, 250 ; appoints the
Marquis of Hamilton his commissioner
in Scotland, 293 ; his transactions with
the Covenanters, 294 307; is forced
to take up arms against them, 319 ;
treacherous conduct of the Scots in
the royal household, ib. and 320; is-
sues an order for a collection of money
in aid of his measures against the Scots,
330 ; calls a Parliament, 350, 351 ; re-
fractory temper of the Parliament, 351,
352 ; signs the warrant for the execu-
tion of Strafford, 412 ; returns to Lon-
don, from Scotland, 422.
Charles II., birth of, i. 511 ; baptized by
Laud, 512.
Chillingworth, William, reclaimed by Laud,
270 ; account of him, 269273.
Church, authority of the, i. 15, 16. 85, 86 ;
its constitution, 107 HO; Church and
State, connection between, valid, i. 484,
485.
of England, remarks on, i. 14, 15.
2527 J state of in 1602, ib. ; misinter-
I N D E X.
pretation of its Articles, i. 29 32; nei-
ther Calvinistic nor Arminian, 402, 403.
406.
of Scotland, Episcopacy ratified in,
479,
i. 54.
Clamour, popular, remarks on,
480.
Clergymen, remarks on, as civil rulers, i.
484486.
Coke, Sir Edward, absurd reasoning of,
i. 399.
Committees, religious, appointed by the
Parliament, i. 276, 277. 308.
Common Prayer, the Book of, abolished,
ii. 495.
Consecration of Churches, remarks on, i.
538540.
Cooke, Secretary, his speech at the trial of
Prynne, ii. 62.
Couper, John, a Scotch Presbyterian, inso-
lence of, i. 169.
Cromwell, Oliver, observation of, i. 472.
Crown, poverty of the, at the accession of
Charles I., i. 279281.
D.
DALE, CHRISTOPHER, of Merton College,
i. 91.
Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury, Sermon of,
i. 513; is summoned before the Privy
Council, 514.
Davis, Lady, anecdote of, ii. 100. note.
Deering, Sir Edward, his observation on
Laud's Conference with Fisher the Je-
suit, i. 226; and on his repairs of St.
Paul's, 561 ; his invectives against Laud,
ii. 377-
Digby, Sir Kenelm, MSS. given by him to
the University of Oxford, ii. 114.
Divorce, opinions on the law of, i. 114.
Dissenters, errors of respecting ordination,
i. 38, 39.
Dickson, the associate of Alexander Hen-
derson, ii. 1 6.
Dort, Synod of, meeting of, i. 184. 259.
note. 411.
Downham, Dr., Bishop of Derry, his trea-
tise on the Perseverance of the Saints
suppressed by royal proclamation, i. 571.
Duppa, Dr. Bryan, Dean of Christ Church,
extract from his letter to Laud, i. 565.
Du Moulin, Lewis, animadversions on his
censure of Laud, ii. 522.
E.
EDINBURGH erected into an episcopal see,
ii. 24 ; extent of the diocese, 26 ; extra-
ordinary tumult there, at the first read-
ing of the Liturgy, 217 224.
Edward's, Gangraena, ii. 288. 440.
Election, unconditional, remarks on the
doctrine of, i. 212, 13 ; James I. issues
directions respecting the preaching of,
215, 216.
Elector of Saxony, difficulties of, i. 192.
202. 230.
Elizabeth, Queen, death of, i. 40 ; cha-
racter of, i. 41, 42.
Elliot, Sir John, violence of, i. 471 ; pu-
nishment of, 476, 477.
England, New, emigration of discontented
enthusiasts thither, ii. 141. 288.
Enthusiasm, its mischievous tendency, i.
264. 292. 500. ii. 321-2.
Episcopal Church of Scotland, remarks on
it, i. 65 7 the ancient and legitimate
Church of that nation, 200 ; depressed
state of its clergy, 2001. 262.
Episcopacy, observations of Dissenters
upon, i. 64; refutation of them, 65;
abolished, ii. 433.
Erastian tenet respecting Church govern-
ment rejected by the later Presbyterians,
i. 60.
Evangelism, modern, i. 128.
Evelyn, John, his testimony in favour of
Laud, ii. 531.
Eucharist, doctrine of, i. 322, 323.
Extemporaneous prayer, ii. 233.
Extravagance, religious, carried too far, i.
290, 291.
F.
FELTON, JOHN, a fanatic, assassinates the
Duke of Buckingham, i. 427, 428 ; his
reasons for it, 431, 432 ; trial and exe-
cution, 441 445.
Finch, Lord Keeper, impeachment of, ii.
378 ; and escape, ibid.
Fisher, John, the Jesuit, i. 217; his dis-
putation with Laud, 218, 219; account
of the publication of the Conference, ii.
533, note.
Forbes, Dr. William, first Bishop of Edin-
burgh, ii. 26.
Foreign congregations in England, orders
respecting, i. 583; history of, 586
592.
France, war with, i. 3?8. 381.
Fuller, Thomas, his remarks on Laud's
Diary, ii. 515.
INDEX.
G.
GAGE, THOMAS, anecdote of, concerning
Laud, ii. 522.
Geddes, Janet, her concern in the tumult
at Edinburgh, in the case of the Liturgy,
ii. 218.
Geneva, polity of, i. 14 ; spread of the te-
nets of, i. 22 ; effects of, i. 23, 24.
Glasgow, tumultuous assembly of the Co-
venanters there, ii. 316.
Goodman, Dr. sermon of, i. 320 ; his opi-
nions, 321, 322; anecdote of 323.
Grimston, Harbottle, his speech against
Laud, ii. 386.
Grodus, (quoted) i. 354. 357, 358. 361,
&c. ; his message to Laud, ii. 489.
H.
HALES, JOHN, the " ever memorable,"
reclaimed by Laud, ii. 275 ; account of
him, 275281.
Hall, Dr. Bishop of Norwich, letter from to
Laud, i. 120, 121 ; writes his treatise on
Episcopacy by Laud's recommendation,
ii. 334 ; replies to it, under the title of
Smectymnus, 345.
Hamburgh, members of the factory there,
embrace Calvinism, i. 583; regulations
respecting them, ibid, and 585 589,
590.
Hamilton, Marquis of, character of, i. 488 ;
notice of, ib. ; appointed commissioner
in Scotland, ii. 293; his transactions
with the Covenanters, 293.
Hammond, Dr. Henry, quoted, i. 451,
452.
Hampden, John, his opposition to the
Court, ii. 375 ; his death, 449 ; his cha-
racter, 450.
Hampton Court Conference, i . 72, 73 ; its
effects, 73, 74 ; conduct of the Puritans
at, 75, 76. 8589.
Harsnet, Archbishop of York, i. 514.
Henderson, Alexander, his plot for the de-
feat of the Liturgy, ii. 216; his charac-
ter, ib. ; his intrigues against the Church,
245 ; is defeated at Aberdeen, 260 ; he
excites a tumult at Glasgow, 317 319.
Henrietta Maria, of France, marriage of,
i. 270 ; her arrival in England, ib. cha-
racter of, 483, 484.
Henry, Prince of Wales, death of, i. 124.
Heylin, Dr. Peter, anecdote of, concerning
Laud, i. 4, 5. note, 389 ; attacks the im-
propriations, 551 ; his anecdote of Lady
Davies, ii. 100, note; and of Laud, 348.
Hill, Thomas, seditious sermon of, i. 563,
564.
Holland, the great resort of the Puritans,
ii. 284.
Holland, Dr. John, of Exeter College, con-
duct of, i. 18; his character, 108, note;
his death, 155.
Holies, Denzil, fined, i. 477.
Hugonots, French, assisted by Cbarles I.
i. 377-
Hume, remarks of, on the ceremonies of
the Church, i. 542; and on the Long
Parliament, ii. 374 ; his character of the
Earl of Stratford's judges, 410. 412.
Humphries, Dr. Lawrence, Puritanical opi-
nions of, i. 16 ; notice of his life, 17,
18.
Huss, John, i. 34.
I.
Impropriations, history of, i. 549 554.
Incendiaries, practices of, i. 351, 352.
Independents, observations on them, ii.
43?.
Ireland, state of, in the time of Laud, ii.
93.
J.
JAMES I. accession of, i. 43 ; state of par-
ties at, 44 46 ; the Church of Eng-
land, 47 ; the Puritans, ib. ; the Pa-
pists, ib. ; proceedings at his accession,
49, 50 ; slanders of the Puritans against,
56 61 ; remarks on his conduct, 61
65; his remarks on religion, in his
speech to his first Parliament, 92 ; his
visit to Scotland, 173; his return, 183;
political errors of, 184, 185; his diffi-
culties, 202205 ; death of, 252 ; his
character, 252262.
Jesuits, proclamations against, i. 284, 285.
Jesuit, opinions of one, on Puritanism, i.
413416.
Jewish Scriptures, historical examples of,
not applicable to modern times, i. 348,
349 ; erroneous notions on, ib.
Jones, an enthusiast, conduct of, i- 437
438.
Juxon, Dr. William, promoted, i. 5?4;
advanced to the see of London, ii. 35 ;
appointed Lord Treasurer, 123 ; his
character, 125.
INDEX.
K.
KNIGHT, seditious sermon of, at Oxford,
i. 209 ; is reproved, 210.
Knox, John, his opinions on church go-
vernment, i. 51, and note, ib. and 52,
53 ; and on the English Liturgy, 587,
588 ; his remarks on the rapacity of the
Scottish nobles, in seizing the revenues
of the Church, ii. 208. note.
LAKE, Dr. Arthur, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, death of, i. 328.
Lamb, Sir John, i. 339, 340.
Lamb, Dr. assassinated at London, i. 443.
Laud, William, Archbishop of Canterbury,
birth of, i. 1 ; family and connections,
2 7 i juvenile years, 8 ; sent to St.
John's College, Oxford, ib. ; obtains a
Scholarship, 9 ; proceeds in his degrees
in arts, ib. ; conduct at the University,
10, 11; takes Holy Orders, 11, 12;
reads the Divinity Lectures of Mrs.
Maye's foundation, 28 ; his opinions, 32;
refutes Archbishop Abbot, 37; is^chosen
Proctor for the University, 70 ; Chap-
lain to the Earl of Devonshire, 91 ; pro-
ceeds B.D. 102; disputes at Oxford,
102, 103; is attacked by the Puritans,
103; opinions of Laud," 105, 106; he
celebrates the marriage of Lord Devon-
shire, 111; history of that transaction,
111116; his repentance, 116, 117;
prayers on, ib. ; slanders of his enemies,
117 ; is persecuted by the Oxford Pu-
ritans, 118; his preferments, 130; his
generosity, 131 ; President of St. John's,
133, 134, 135 ; proceedings at the elec-
tion, ib. ; is Dean of Gloucester, 154 ;
he preaches before the University, 156 ;
clamours of the Puritans, ib. ; abused
by Dr. Robert Abbot, 157, 158; he
reforms Gloucester Cathedral, 140 ; and
the University of Oxford, 162; he ac-
companies James I. to Scotland, 175;
his return, 183 ; clamours against him,
185 ; is Prebendary of Westminster,
186 ; Bishop of St. David's, 188 ; re-
signs the Presidency of St. John's, 198 ;
his Primary Visitation, 207, 208 ; his
dispute with Fisher the Jesuit, 218; he
publishes an account of it, 219: ex-
tracts from it, 219226 ; he is recom-
mended to the Duke of Buckingham,
227 ; he becomes chaplain to that no-
bleman, 229 ; corresponds with Buck-
ingham while in Spain, 237, 238 ; in-
sinuations of his enemies, ib.,; breach
between Laud and Williams, 245, 246 ;
appointed to preach before Charles I.
267 ; slanders against him, 268 ; his
sermons, 270 ; officiates at the corona-
tion of Charles I. 287; his care of the -
regalia, 289 ; accused of altering the
coronation oath, 293 305 ; clamours
against him, 303 316 ; is removed to
Bath and Wells, 328 ; manages the sub-
sidies for the King, 329331 ; impru-
dence of, 332 ; is made a Privy Coun-
cillor, 381 ; anecdote of, 389, 390 ; per-
secuted by the Parliament, 397399 ; is
removed to the See of London, 421 ;
his munificence at Oxford, 445, 446;
his presents to the University, 447, 448 ;
theological opinions of, 466, 467 ; libels
against, 478 ; is chosen Chancellor of
Oxford, 508 ; his patronage of litera-
ture, 510, 511; defence of Laud in
Leighton's case, 534 537 > consecrates
St. Catherine Cree Church, ib. ; his
magnificent plans, 545, 546 ; opposes
the Impropriations, 553, 554 ; enlarges
St. John's College, Oxford, 555 ; re-
pairs St. Paul's, 558560 ; his govern-
ment of Oxford, 562, 563; his care of
the Church, 573 575 ; prosecutes the
King's printers, 575, 576 ; his advice to
Dr. Maxwell respecting a Liturgy for
Scotland, ii. 6 ; accused of causing it to
be imposed upon the people, 7, 8 ;
preaches before Charles I. at Holyrood
Chapel, 23 ; appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury, 35 ; a cardinal's hat offered
to him, 36 ; elected Chancellor of the
University of Dublin, 45 ; regulations
respecting candidates for ordination, 46 ;
charged with causing the revival of the
Book of Sports, 55 ; concerned in the
trial of Prynne, 57 ; who writes a libel-
lous letter against him, 67 ; commences
his first metropolitan visitation, 68 ; his
regulations with respect to the Commu-
nion Table, 69; suspends Bishop Wil-
liams for contumacy, 73; his regula-
tions respecting the French and Dutch
congregations, 77- 80 82; threatened
by the Puritans, 83, 84 ; reaulates and
improves the revenues of the London
clergy, 88. 91 ; and lectureships, ib. ;
his services to the Irish Church, 925 ;
his letters to Wentworth, 94 ; obtains a
new charter for the University of Dub-
lin, 98 ; anecdote of Lady Davies, 100, <
note ; Irish impropriations, 104 ; ap-
pointed Member of the Committee of
I N D E X.
Trade, and a Commissioner of the Trea-
sury, 106 ; and of the Foreign Com-
mittee, 107 takes cognizance of the
Cathedral Churches, 1 10 ; procures va-
luable MSS. for the University of Ox-
ford, 114; and a large charter, 116;
his interview with the Queen, 118; Mis-
sion of Pansani from the Pope, ib. ;
promotes a collection from the clergy for
the Palatinate, 120 ; causes Juxon to be
appointed to the office of Lord Trea-
surer, 123 ; claims the right of visiting
the Universities, 129 ; proceeds to visit
Oxford, where he entertains the King
and Queen, 133 ; his speech after the
trial of Prynne, Bast wick, and Burton,
161 8 ; various libels against him,186,
187 ; his speech at the trial of Bishop
Williams, 194 ; speech on the increase
of Popery, 197 > unjustly charged with
the framing of the Scottish Liturgy and
Canons, 207; writes to the Earl of
Traquair respecting the tumult in Edin-
burgh, 255 ; takes cognizance of the
islands of Jersey and Guernsey, 267 ;
reclaims Chillingworth, 269 273 ; and
John Hales, 275; his efforts against
Socinianism, 282 ; his exertions to col-
lect money for the war against the Scots,
330, 331 ; is reconciled to the Queen,
332 ; urges Hall, Bishop of Exeter, to
write his treatise in Defence of Episco-
pacy, 334 ; his comments on it, 337
339 ; his expostulation with Graham,
Bishop of Orkney, 339 ; perceives plain
indications of his approaching misfor-
tunes, 351 ; is accused of neglecting to
dissolve the Convocation, 358, 359 ; and
of causing the dissolution of the Parlia-
ment, 363 ; his palace at Lambeth at-
tacked, 364 ; anecdote respecting his
picture, 369 ; is examined in Strafford's
case, 379; enquiry respecting his con-
cerns in the Canons, 381 ; charge against
him, 383 ; proceedings against him,
384 ; case of the Lady of Sir JohnVilliers,
391 ; his speech on his impeachment,
395400 ; is committed to the Tower,
402 ; his demeanour at the execution of
Stratford, 413, 414; sends his resigna-
tion to the University of Oxford, 417;
his jurisdiction sequestrated by the
House of Peers, 419 ; his sufferings and
privations while in prison, 427 432 ;
his sufferings owing to the Scottish Co-
venanters, 435, 436; his trial, 456;
analysis and examination of the charges
against him, 460; his reply to the
charge that he endeavoured to reconcile
the Churches of England and Rome,
476 ; conclusion of the trial, 482 ; his
reflections on the attempt to escape, sug-
gested to him by Grotius, 490 ; his sen-
tence, 497 ; his dying address and exe-
cution, 499 508 ; reflections, 509 ; re-
mark on his Diary, 516 ; his character,
515 518; advances several learned
men, 519 ; vindication of his character,
529 ; account of his publications and
benefactions, 532 ; his burial, 539 ; epi-
taph, 540; his will, 541543; brief
review of his character, 544.
Lecturers, regulations respecting them, i.
497 ; three classes of them, 501, ii. 89.
Lecturers, Puritan, practices of, i. 552, 553.
Leighton, Dr., story of, i. 515, &c. ; sedi-
tion of, 516 ; prosecution of, 518 ; sen-
tence of, ib. ; escapes from prison, 521 ;
is retaken, ib. ; punishment, ib.
Lilburne, John, his seditious publications,
and punishment, ii. 188-9 ; excites a
tumult against Laud, 364.
Lindsay, Dr. Patrick, Archbishop of Glas-
gow, conduct of, at the coronation of
Charles I. in Scotland, ii. 17-
Liturgy, revision of, at the Hampton Court
Conference, i. 73 ; a liturgy no essential
requisite of episcopacy, ii. 4 ; necessity
of, ibid. ; singular fact concerning its
adoption by the Scots in the reign of
Elizabeth, ibid.
Liturgy, proclamations on, i. 76, 77> 78.
London, bishopric of, its importance, i.
382, 383.
London, Lord Mayor of, and Aldermen,
fined, i. 443.
Long Parliament, account of, ii. 373 ; they
deprive the Bishops of the power of
voting in the case of the Earl of Strafford,
380.
M.
MAGAZINE, Scottish Episcopal, quoted, i.
419, 420. 422, 423.
Mainwaring, Dr. Roger, his sermons, 344 ;
erroneous notions of, 345 ; censure of,
ib. ; punished by the parliament, 395.
Matthews, Dr. Toby, Archbishop of York,
death of, i. 385, note; his diligence,
386 ; his character, ib.
Maxwell, Dr. John, Bishop of Ross, re-
ferred to Laud by Charles I. respecting
a Liturgy for Scotland, ii. 6.
Melville, Andrew, introduces Calvinism
into Scotland, &c. i. 51 54 ; violence
INDEX.
of, 129; his insolence to Archbishop
Bancroft, 171 ; epigram of, ib. ; his ba-
nishment, 172; his crafty regulations of
the General Assembly, 308.
Millenary Petition, i. 48 69 ; opposed by
the Universities, 70 ; cunning practices
of the petitioners, 71 > 72.
Montague, Dr. Richard, opposes the Pa-
pists, i. 250 ; is persecuted by the Par-
liament, 276, 279, 307 ; is consecrated
to Chichester, 437.
Montaigne, Dr., Bishop of London, i. 3G7 ;
is removed to Durham, 385 ; to York,
387 ; death of, ib.
Morton, the Regent, establishes Episco-
pacy in Scotland, i. 54.
N.
NEAL, the Puritan historian, misrepresen-
tations of, i. 54 57 ; inconsistencies of,
7183; 374, note; 378, note; 460,
note.
Neile, Dr., Archbishop of York, his friend-
ship to Laud, i. 154. 381 ; persecuted
by the Parliament, 397399; trans-
lated from Winchester to York, 574;
his death, ii. 371.
Non-resistance, authorities from the heathen
writers of antiquity in support of it, i.
353-4 ; and from the Scriptures, 359
363.
Noy, Attorney-General, his speech against
Prynne, ii. 61.
O,
OATH, Coronation, of Charles I. i. 295; of
Edward II., 296; proved not to have
been altered by Laud, 297305.
Ordination, errors of Dissenters on, i. 38,
39, 40 ; importance of valid, ib.
Oxford, University of, directions for the
government of, i. 162, 163 ; brief sum-
mary of Laud's benefactions to it, ii.
538.
P.
PALATINE, the Elector, distresses of, i. 230.
Panzani, his mission from the Pope, ii. 1 18.
Papists, practices of, i. 217, 218; insolence
of, 248, 249.
Parliament, first, of King James, i. 92;
speech of James at, 92, 93 ; meeting
of, in 1624, 247-
Parliament, first, of Charles I., i. 270;
conduct of, 275279; censure of, 279,
281; hypocrisy of, 281.
Parliament,- second, of Charles I., meeting
of, i. 806 ; dissolution of, 312, 313.
Parliament, third, of Charles I., meeting
of, 390; speech of the King to, 391,
392 ; conduct of, 394399 ; proroga-
tion of, 420 ; meeting of, 455 ; protest
of, 459 ; observations of Laud on, 462
464 ; debates of, 473, 474 ; breach be-
tween the King and, 474, 475 ; disor-
ders of, 476 ; dissolution of, 477.
Parliament, Scottish, meeting of, i. 177 5
punishment of the Presbyterians by,
ibid.
Passive Obedience, discussion on, i. 351
362 ; ignorant charge against the Epis-
copal clergy for preaching, 363 366.
Perth, Articles of, i. 178 ; General Assem-
bly at, 180; ratification of the Articles
of, 181, 182.
Pococke, Dr. Edward, appointed professor
of Arabic at Oxford, by Laud, ii. 489 ;
anecdote of him, ibid.
Pole, Cardinal, i. 95.
Popular elections of ministers, mischievous
effects of, ii. 89.
Potter, Dr., a violent Calvinist, promoted,
i. 453.
Preachers, seditious, silenced, i. 501, 502 ;
restored by Abbot, ib. ; extravagance of,
505, 506 ; expelled from Oxford, i. 547-
Preaching, regulations concerning, i. 215,
216 ; of secondary importance, 498
501 ; ii. 50.
Predestination. See CALVINISM. Fallacy
of that doctrine, 212, 213. 404, 405 ;
Royal Declaration against, 448 ; fanati-
cism of the Puritans for, 449.
Presbyterians, their treatment of James I.
i. 59 ; their insolence to him, 169, 170,
171 ; their corrupt interpretation of a
Scripture passage, 350 ; their hostility
to the Episcopal Church, and their efforts
to excite the Scots against the Articles
of Perth, ii. 2, 3; arrogance of, 19;
character of their preachers in the days of
Charles, i. 20 ; their secret designs for
the defeat of the Liturgy, 211 ; narra-
tive of the tumult excited by them on
the occasion of introducing the Liturgy,
217 224 ; their unfounded objections
to forms of prayer, 234 ; their riotous
proceedings, 245260 ; their pernicious
tenets respecting ecclesiastical power,
314-15; their intolerant spirit, 437;
their furious ordinance against cathe-
drals, altars, pictures, &c. 443.
NDEX.
Presbyterianism unknown in the Church
till Calvin's time, ii. 200 ; its intolerant
spirit, 437.
Primitive Christians on Passive Obedience,
i. 359, 360 ; modern writers on, 360,
361.
Private interpretation, remarks on, i. 62 ;
denounced, 365.
Public opinion, unknown in the ancient
republics, i. 355.
Puritans, their practices, i. 10. 13, 14. 19.
44. 57, 58. 70, 71. 107, 108. 163-4.
201. 207 ; their errors respecting church
government, 88. 141 ; effects of their
opinions at Oxford, 212 ; mischievous
effects of their tenets, 264. 292 ; differ-
ence between them and Papists, with
respect to ceremonies, 540; Holland,
their great resort, ii. 284 ; their extra-
vagant notions, ib. ; anecdote of, 350.
Prynne, William, abuses Laud, i. 236. 314.
441, note ; 462. 508, note ; attacks Dr.
Montague, 324326 ; notice of his life,
577 ; his works, 578 ; his Histrio-Mas-
tyx, 580 582 ; imprisonment of, ib. ;
ludicrous epitaph upon, ii. 57, note;
his Histrio-Mastyx, ib. ; character of
the work, 58-9 ; is brought before the
Star-Chamber, 60 ; Noy's speech against
him, 61 ; his sentence, 63 ; punish-
ment, 64 ; remarks on it, 65 ; writes a
libellous letter to Laud, 67 ; publishes
several abusive works, 142 ; for which
he is indicted, 144 ; his trial, 159 ; his
speech and behaviour when receiving
punishment, 177-8 ; his poetical effusion
after his punishment, 181, note ; recalled
from exile, and enters London in tri-
umph, with Burton and Bastwick, 379 ;
his unfeeling treatment of Archbishop
Laud, 453.
Pym, William, his speech in the Committee
for Religion, ii. 376 ; his death, 449 ;
his character, 450.
II.
REGENERATION, baptismal, the doctrine
of, asserted, i. 105107.
Reynolds, Dr. John, i. 20 ; character of.
i. 21, 22.
Rhe,Isle of, unfortunate expedition against,
Rich, Lady, story of, i. Ill 113.
Richardson, Chief Justice, his extravagant
zeal against popular amusements, ii. 52.
Rome, the Church of, a corrupt but true
Church, ii. 3, 39.
Rouse, Francis, fanatical speech of, i. 457,
458.
Rutherford, Samuel, letters of, ii. 237,
note ; slanders Archbishop Spottiswoode,
316, note; extracts from his "Lex
Rex," 315.
S.
SABBATARIAN controversy, ii. 51.
Sabbath, importance of, i. 257, 258 ; Puri-
tan errors on, ib.
Scotland, present Episcopal Church of, L
6567.
Scotland, visit of James I. to, i. 165 ; state
of the country, 166 168 ; union of,
with England, abandoned, 168.
Scots, their high military renown, ii. 12 ;
rebellion, 349.
Scottish .Bishops, averse to the English
Liturgy, ii. 7-
Scottish Commissioners, their proceedings
against Laud, ii. 382.
Scottish Covenanters, ii. 291 312 ; call in
the assistance of a " prophetess," named
Mitchelson, 313 ; their tumultuous As-
sembly at Glasgow, 316-17; their en-
mity to Strafford, 377 ', licentiousness of
the lives of some of them, 420 ; their
violent proceedings, 434.
Scottish Episcopal Church, state of, at the
accession of Charles I. ii. 2.
Scottish Liturgy, injudiciously published
after the Book of Canons, ii. 2041 1 ;
secret designs of the Presbyterians to
defeat it, 211 ; is revised by Laud,
Juxon, and Wren, 212; unhappy mis-
management respecting it, 213-14 ; nar-
rative of the unsuccessful attempt to
introduce it in Edinburgh, 217-
Sermons, popular, errors of, i. 498.
Sherfield, Henry, prosecution of, i. 570.
Sibthorpe, Dr. Robert, preaches against
the Puritans, i. 338, 339 ; publishes his
sermons, 366, 36?.
Sixtus V., anecdote of, 5. 5.
Smith, Dr. Miles, his character and con-
duct, i. 160-1.
Smith, Richard, Popish Bishop of Chalce-
don, interdicted, i. 453.
Solemn League and Covenant, origin of. ii.
252 ; remarks on, 255.
Spain, negotiations with, i. 230.
Sports, Book of, establishment of, 257;
censure of, ib. ; object of, ii. 52. 136-7.
Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St. Andrew's,
spirited conduct of, i. 180; appointed
Lord Chancellor of Scotland, by Charles
INDEX.
I., ii. 27; exposed to great danger dur-
ing the tumult at Edinburgh, on the
occasion of introducing the Liturgy, 219;
withdraws to London, 326 ; death of,ib. ;
his character, 326-7-
Star Chamber, and High Commission
Courts, abolished, ii. 424.
Strafford, Earl of. See WENTWORTH ; his
impeachment, ii. 377; his committal,
379 ; his trial, 409 ; Hume's character
of his judges, 410 ; his execution, 413 ;
his character, 415.
St. John's College, Oxford, description of,
i. 555558.
St. Paul's, repairing of, i. 558, 559.
Superintendent system established in Scot-
land by the Scottish Reformers, i. 53.
Symmons, Dr. Charles, censure of, i. 523
529.
T.
" TABLES," the Scottish enthusiasts divided
into classes, so called, ii. 251.
Tours, Council of, condemns the creed of
the Waldenses, i. 33; remark of Mr.
Hume on its proceedings, ib. note.
Traquair, Earl of, secretly abets the
schemes of the Presbyterians against the
Liturgy, ii. 213215.
True religion, nature of, i. 500.
U.
UNIVERSITIES, Scottish, vanity of, i. 174.
Usher, Archbishop, favours predestination,
i. 569, 570; ii. 102; prefers the Lam-
beth Articles to the Thirty-nine Articles,
ibid.
V.
VISIBILITY of the Church, Archbishop
Abbot's fanciful theory of the, i.32, 33,
34 ; its errors, i. 3537 opinions of
Laud on, i. 40.
Walsingham, Sir Francis, conduct of, i. 19,
20 ; censure of, ibid.
Welsh, John, Presbyterian minister, anec-
dote of, i. 1 70.
Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, i. 455 ; cha-
racter of, 489, 490. 493; is made Lord
Deputy of Ireland, 572.
Weston, Sir Richard, i. 455.
Westminster, bishopric of, i. 382 ; is dis-
solved, 383.
Whiston, Vicar of Bethenden, testimony
of, concerning Laud, ii. 532.
White, Dr. Francis, his disputes with the
Papists, i. 224.
Whitgift, Archbishop, i. 47 ; prayer of, i.
48, note ; his death, i. 93 ; notice of his
life, 9498; his character, 100102;
anecdote of, ibid.
Whitgift, Robert, Abbot ofWellow.i. 94.
Whyte, Sir Thomas, founder of St. John's,
i. 11.
Wickliffe, i. 33.
Williams, Dr., Bishop of Lincoln, selfish-
ness of, i. 187, 188; his ambition, 195;
his hatred to Laud, 245 ; is disgraced at
court, 284 ; encourages the Puritans,
339 ; is prosecuted in the Star Chamber,
341 ; opposes Laud, ii.72; is suspended
for contumacy, 73 ; favours the Puritans,
74 ; prosecution against him, 189 ; his
character and conduct, 189 193 ; his
trial, 1935, and sentence, 195; re-
leased from the Tower, 379; advises
Charles I. to sign the warrant for the
execution of Strafford, 412; causes the
sequestration of Laud's jurisdiction, 4 19.
Windebanke, Secretary, his impeachment,
ii. 378, and escape, ibid.
Wood, Antony, his observations on Laud's
Diary, ii. 486.
Wren, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, ii. 137;
his character, 205.
Y.
Young, Dr., Bishop of Rochester, his
prognostications of Laud, i. 13.
W.
WALDENSES, i. 33. 36.
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396 The life and times of
L3L38 William Laud
1829
v.2
