him reconciled with Lauderdale, but without effect Dr Burnet had now no alternative but to resign his professorial chair, and seek a settlement in England, or by going- back to Scotland, put himself in the pewer of his enemies. He did not long hesitate, and would have found at once a quiet settlement in London, had not the electors of the church he had in view been deterred from choosing him by a sharp message from the king. This, though at the time it had the aspect of a misfortune, he ever after spoke of as one of the happiest incidents of his life ; as it at once set him free from the entanglements of a corrupt court, whose services he had been so far engaged in, that, without some such accident, he might never have escaped from them.
He had now an otter of the living of St Giles, Cripplegate, from the Dean and chapter of St Pauls. As he, however, had learned, that it was originally their intention to bestow the living upon Dr Fuller, afterwards bishop of Gloucester, he thanked them for the offer, but declared himself not at liberty to accept it. Through the recommendation of Lord Hollis, he was next year appointed preacher to a Chapel by Sir Harbottle Grimston, master of the rolls, though the court sent first a bishop and afterward secretary Williamson to inform Harbottle that he was a preacher highly unacceptable to the king. In this chapel he remained nine years, during which time he was elected a lecturer at St Clements, and was one of the most admired preachers in town. In 1676, he printed an account of a conference which himself and Dr Stillingfleet held with Coleman and the principal of the Romish priests; and in 1679, appeared the first volume of his history of the Reformation, which procured him a vote of thanks from both houses of parliament, with a request that he would prosecute the work to its completion, without loss of time. Two years after this, he published the second volume, which met with the same general approbation as the first. Having at this time no parochial cure, Dr Burnet was not in the practice of visiting the sick, as a part of his regular calling; but he was always ready to attend those who requested his visits. Among these happened to be a lady, who had been criminally connected with John Wilmot earl of Rochester, and the manner in which the Dr conducted himself towards her, excited a strong desire in his lordship to see and converse with him. This led to a weekly meeting of Dr Burnet and Lord Rochester for a whole winter, which ended first in the conviction, and latterly it is to be hoped the conversion of that singular libertine. An account of the whole affair was published by Dr Burnet in 1681, which, Dr Johnson says, " the critic ought to read for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the saint for its piety." During the time of the inquiry into the popish plot, Charles seems to have been softened down considerably, and often sent for Dr Burnet, and consulted with him on the state of the nation. His Majesty made also another attempt to bring him over, by offering him the bishopric of Chichester, at that time vacant, provided he would come entirely into his interests; Burnet, with an honesty that we fear is but too seldom practised, told the king he knew the oaths that in such a case he must take: these he would observe religiously, but must be excused from giving any other engagements. He of course was not installed in the bishopric; but he embraced the opportunity of writing a letter to the king, which does him more real honour than if he had held in his single person, all the bishoprics in England. This letter, so full, so free, so faithful, and so affectionate, we regret that our limits forbid us to insert. We must also leave it to general history, to detail the endeavours he made to save the lives of Staley and the Lord Stafford, on occasion of the popish plot. By his conduct with regard to the exclusion of the Duke of York, and the scheme of a Prince Regent in lieu of that exclusion, he lost the favour of both parties, perhaps not unde-
