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hift. cent.

XVIII. b. x. p. 87.

health, ufed in the fummer to go to Hampshire for the fake of recreation, and being invited by lord Zouch to hunt in his park at Bramzill, he met there with the greatest misfortune that ever befell him, for he accidentally killed my lord's keeper, by an arrow from a crofs-bow which he fhot at one of the deer. This accident threw him into a deep melancholy, and he ever afterwards kept a monthly fast on tuesday, the day on which this fatal mifchance happened, and Fuller's ch. he fettled an annuity of 201. on the widow. There were feveral persons who took an advantage of this misfortune, to leffen him in the king's favour, but his majesty said, " An angel "might have miscarried in this fort." His enemies alleging, that he had incurred an irregularity, and was thereby incapacitated for performing the offices of a primate; the king directed a commiffion to ten perfons to enquire into this mat、 The points referred to their decifion, were 1. Whether the archbishop was irregular by the fact of involuntary homi cide. 2. Whether that act might tend to fcandal in a churchman. 3. How his fhould be restored in cafe the comgrace miffioners fhould find him irregular. All agreed, that it could not be otherwise done, than by reftitution from the king; but they varied in the manner. The bifhop of Winchefter, the lord chief juftice, and Dr. Steward, thought it fhould be done by the king, and by him alone. The lord keeper and the bishops of London, Rochester, Exeter, and St. David's, were for a commiffion from the king directed to fome bifhops. Judge Dodderidge, and fir Henry Martin, were defirous it should be done both ways, by way of caution. The king accordingly paffed a pardon and difpenfation, by which he affoilied the archbishop of all irregularity, fcandal or infamation, and declared him capable of all the authority

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like a noble princess, had profeffed to her husband, not to leave herself one jewel, rather than not to mainOurtain fo religious and righteous a

I know not; yet I will hope the
best certainly if countenance be
given to the action, many brave
fpirits will voluntarily go.

great maiter, in fufficient want of
money, gave fome aid to the duke
of Savoy, and furnished out a pretty
6 army in the caufe of Cleve, must
try once again what can be done in
this bufinefs of a higher nature, and
all the money that may be fpared
is to be turned that way. And
perhaps God provided the jewels
'that were laid up in the tower, to
be gathered by the mother for the
prefervation of her daughter, who,

.

caufe. You fee that lying on my bed I have gone too far; but if I were with you, this should be my language, which I pray you humbly and heartily to reprefent to the 'king my mafter, telling him, that when I can stand, I hope to do his majefty fome fervice herein. So commending me unto you, I ' remain

Your very loving friend,
GEORGE CANT."

of

was

of a primate The archbishop thence forward feldom affifted Sounderfon's at the council, being chiefly hindered by his infirmities; but continuat. of Rymer's fœin the king's laft illness he was fent for, and attended with dera, vol. great conftancy, till his majesty expired on the 27th of March, XVII. p. 1625. He performed the ceremony of the coronation of king 337. Charles I. though very infirm and much troubled with the gout. He was never greatly in this king's favour, and the duke of Buckingham being his declared enemy, watched an opportunity of making him feel the weight of his displeasure. This he at laft accomplished, upon the archbishop's refufing to license a fermon preached by Dr. Sibthorpe, to justify a loan which the king had demanded. This fermon preached at Northampton, in the Lent affizes, 1627, before the judges, and was tranfmitted to the archbishop with the king's direction to license it, which he refused to do, and gave his reasons for it; nevertheless, the fermon was licensed by the bishop of London. On the 5th of July, lord Con- Rushworth's way, who was then fecretary of state, made him a visit and collect. v. 1. intimated to him, that the king expected he should with- P. 438. draw to Canterbury, which the archbishop declined because he had at that time a law fuit with that city, and defired he might rather have leave to go to his house at Ford, five miles beyond Canterbury, which was granted; and on the ninth of October following the king gave a commiffion to the Bifhops of London, Durham, Rochester, Oxford, and Bath and Wells, to execute the archiepifcopal authority, the cause affigned being no more than this, that the archbishop could not at that time in his own perfon attend those services, which were otherwife proper for his cognizance and direction. The archbishop did not remain long in this fituation, for a Ib. vol. I. parliament being abfolutely neceffary, his grace was fent for 435about Christmas, and reftored to his authority and jurifdiction. The intereft of bifhop Laud being now very confiderable at court, he drew up inftructions, which having the king's name were tranfmitted to the archbishop, under the pompous title of his majesty's inftructions to the most reverend father in God, George, lord archbishop of Canterbury, containing certain orders to be obferved and put in execution by the feveral bishops in his province. His grace communicated them to his fuffragan bishops, but in feveral respects he endeavoured to foften their rigour, as they were contrived to enforce the particular notions of a prevailing party in the church, which the archbishop thought too hard for those who made the fundamentals of religion their study, and were not fo Heylin's life zealous for forms. His conduct in this and other respects of abp. Laud,

made

Ib.

P. 195.

made his prefence unwelcome at court, fo that upon the birth of the prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II. Laud had the honour to baptize him, as dean of the chapel. The archbishop being worn out with cares and infirmities, died at Croydon, the 5th of Auguft, 1633, aged feventy-one years, and was buried in the chapel of our lady, within the church dedicated to the Holy Trinity at Guilford. A ftately monument was erected over the grave, with the effigy of the archbishop in his robes. He fhewed himself, in moft circumftances of his life, a man of great moderation to all parties, and was defirous that the clergy fhould attract the esteem of the laity by the fanctity of their manners, rather than claim it as due to their function. His notions and principles, however, not fuiting the humour of fome writers, have drawn upon him many fevere reflections. Fuller, in his Cent. XVII. church hiftory, fays, " that he forfook the birds of his own bxip 128. feather to fly with others, generally favouring the laity more than the clergy, in caufes that were brought before "him." Mr. John Aubrey having tranfcribed what is faid of the archbishop on his monument, adds, "Notwithstanding this moft noble character tranfmitted to pofterity, he was, though a benefactor to this place, no friend to "the church of England, whereof he was head, but

Antiquit of
Surrey, vol.
III. p. 287.

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fcandaloufly permitted that poifonous fpirit of puritanism "to spread over the whole nation by his indolence, at leaft, "if not connivance and encouragement, which fome years

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after broke out and laid a flourishing church and state in "the most miferable ruins, and which gave birth to those principles, which unless rooted out will ever make this nation unhappy." The earl of Clarendon fpeaks of him thus: "Ab6 bot confidered the chriftian religion no otherwife than as it abhorred and reviled popery, and valued thofe men moft "who did that most furiously, For the ftrict obfervation "of the difcipline of the church, or the conformity of the "articles or canons eftablished, he made little enquiry and took "lefs care; and having himself made a very little progress in "the ancient and folid ftudy of divinity, he adhered only "to the doctrine of Calvin; and, for his fake, did not think "fo ill of the difcipline as he ought to have done. But if men prudently forbore a publick reviling and railing at the hierarchy and ecclefiaftical government, let their opinions and private judgment be what it would, they were not only "fecure from any inquifition of his, but acceptable to him, "and at leaft equally preferred by him and though many "other bishops plainly difcerned the mischiefs which daily

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"broke

"broke in, to the prejudice of religion, by his defects and remiffness, and prevented it in their own dioceses as much as they could, and gave all their countenance to men of other parts and other principles; and though the bishop of "London (Dr. Laud) from the time of his authority and "credit with the king, had applied all the remedies he could

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Oxon. 1707

to thofe defections, and from the time of his being chan"cellor of Oxford had much discountenanced and almost fuppreffed that spirit, by encouraging another kind of learning and practice in that univerfity, which was indeed according to the doctrine of the church of England; yet that temper "in the archbishop, whofe houfe was a fanctuary to the most ❝eminent of that factious party, and who licensed their most pernicious writings, left his fucceffor a very difficult work to "do, to reform and reduce a church into order,that had been fo long neglected, and that was fo ill filled by many weak, " and more wilful churchmen." Dr. Wellwood has done Hift. of the more juftice to the merit and abilities of our prelate: "Arch- rebellion, "bifhop Abbot, fays he, was a perfon of wonderful tem- 8vo. p. 88, "per and moderation, and in all his conduct fhewed an un- 89. "willingness to stretch the act of uniformity beyond what "was abfolutely neceflary for the peace of the church, or "the prerogative of the crown any farther than conduced "to the good of the ftate. Being not well turned for a "court, tho' otherwise of confiderable learning and genteel "education, he either could not, or would not ftoop to the "humour of the times; and now and then by an unfeafon"able stiffness, gave occafion to his enemies to represent "him as not well inclined to the prerogative, or too much "addicted to a popular interest; and therefore not fit to be "employed in matters of government." As to the arch- Memoirs, bishop's learning and abilities as a writer, pofterity may judge 8vo. 1700. thereof from his writings upon various fubjects, of which we fhall give, in a note, a lift as they were published (ƒ)•

(f) 1. Quæftiones fex, totidem prælectionibus in fchola theologica Oxoniæ pro forma habitis, difcuffæ et difceptatæ, anno 1597, in quibus e facra fcriptura et patribus quid ftatuendum fit definitur, Oxoniæ, 1598, 4to. Francoforti, 1616, 4to.

2. Expofition on the prophet Jonah, in certain fermons preached in St Mary's church in Oxford; Løndon, 1600.

AB

3. His answer to the questions of the citizens of London, in January, 1600, concerning Cheapfide cross; London, 1641. The crofs in Cheapfide was taken down in the year 1600, in order to be repaired, and upon this occafion the citizens of London defired the advice of both univerfities, Whether the crofs fhould be re-erected or not?, Dr. Abbot, as vice-chancellor of Oxford, faid, that

the

P. 38.

ABBOT (Robert) brother to the archbishop, was born alfo in the town of Guilford, in the year, 1560, and bred up under the same schoolmafter there. He was afterwards fent to Baliol college in Oxford. In 1582, he took his degree of mafter of arts, and foon became a celebrated preacher, and to this talent he chiefly owed his preferment. Upon his firft fermon at Worcester, he was chosen lecturer in that city, and foon after rector of All-faints in the fame place. John Stanhope, efq; happening to hear him preach at Paul's-crofs, was fo pleas'd with him, that he immediately presented him to the rich living of Bingham, 11 Nottinghamshire. In 1597, he took his degree of doctor in divinity, and in the beginning of king James's reign was appointed chaplain in ordinary to his majefty, who had fuch an opinion of him as a writer, that he ordered the doctor's book, de antichrifto, to be printed with his own commentary upon part of the Apocalypfe. In 1609, he was elected master of Baliol college, which truft be discharged with the utmost care and affiduity, by his frequent lectures to the scholars, by his

the crucifix with the dove upon it should not be again set up, but approved rather of a pyramid or fome other fimple ornament. This determination was confiftent with his own practice, when in his faid office he caufed feveral fuperftitious pictures to be burnt in the market-place in Oxford.

4. The reasons which Dr. Hill hath brought for the upholding of papistry, unmasked and fhewed to be very weak; Oxon. 1604.

added, fome obfervable things fince September 25, 1613, when the fentence was given in the caufe of the earl of Effex, continued unto the day of the marriage, December 26, 1613, which appears also to have been wrote by his grace; and to it is joined, the fpeech intended to be spoken at Lambeth, September 25, 1613, by the archbishop, when it came to his turn to declare his mind concerning the nullity of the marriage.

9. A brief defcription of the whole

5. A preface to the examination of world; London, 1634. George Sprot.

6. A fermon preached at Weftminster, May 26, 1608, at the funeral of Thomas earl of Dorfet, late lord high treasurer of England, on Maiah xl. 6. London, 1608.

7. Translation of part of the New Teftament, with the rest of the Oxford divines, 1611.

8. Some memorials touching the nullity betwixt the earl of Effex and his lady, pronounced September 25, 1613, at Lambeth, and the difficulties endured in the fame. To this is

10. A short apology for archbishop Abbot, touching the death of Peter Hawkins, dated October 8, 1621.

11. Treatife of perpetual vifibility and fucceffion of the true church in all ages; London, 1624, 4to.

12. A narrative containing the true cause of his fequeftration and disgrace at court, 1627.

13. Hiftory of the mafface in the Valtoline.

14. His judgment of bowing at the name of Jefus; Hamburgh, 1632,

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