strange charge: "My Lords, I never heard that begging was a part of ecclesiastical jurisdiction: and in this Paper we are only beggars, which privilege I hope may be allowed us."
Ken left the account behind him signed with his own name, and dated April 28 1696.[1] The government must have been under some very erroneous impression to pursue so singular a course. Nothing could have been more harmless than the plan adopted by the Bishops: and, therefore, I am convinced, that some prejudiced persons must have persuaded the authorities to take up the matter, and summon Ken to London to answer the interrogatories of the council. The Clergy were in a starving condition; yet some persons were unwilling that the hand of charity should be opened for their relief. The council must have felt the reproof conveyed by the fact, that Ken had relieved the persons who had been implicated in Monmouth's rebellion, and that King James did not complain of his conduct.
All the Bishops were in very narrow circumstances. This was especially the case with Turner, who was chiefly dependent on the charity of others. The man, who, by adhering to the new Sovereigns and taking the Oath, might have ended his days amidst an abundance of earthly blessings, was actually sustained, in his declining years, by the bounty of those who sympathized with him in his distresses. Yet this man was exposed, while living, to all kinds of charges: and after his death, his memory was traduced by a set of men, whose principles allowed them to adopt any line of conduct in support of their worldly ink
- ↑ Hawkins's Short Account, pp. 48—56. Kettlewell. Appendix, pp. xxviii-ix. Biog. Brit. Art. Ken.
