Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/324

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Fuller
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Fuller

equally coloured by spite, gives some confirmation. The rising under Penruddock in 1655 caused a proclamation from Cromwell forbidding the exercise of their ministry to the ejected clergy. Fuller still preached under sufferance, and was helpful to less fortunate fellow-sufferers. Some time afterwards he was summoned before the 'triers,' when he succeeded in satisfying them, owing, as it seems, to the judicious management of John Howe (Calamy, Memoirs of Howe, 1724, pp. 20, 21). In March 1658 he was presented to the rectory of Cranford, near Hounslow, by George Berkeley (1628-1698) [q. v.], first earl Berkeley, whose chaplain he also became. In 1659 Heylyn published his 'Examen Historicum,' the first part of which attacks Fuller's 'Church History.' He discovered 350 faults in Fuller's book; he condemned the 'scraps of trencher-jests interlaced in all parts' of the book; he ridiculed the multitude of dedications, and he was severe upon Fuller's tolerance of sectaries. Fuller replied with characteristic candour and good temper, though not without some smart retorts, in his 'Appeal for Injured Innocence.' An appended letter to Heylyn courteously proposes an amicable agreement to differ. Heylyn answered in the appendix to his 'Certamen Epistolare, or The Letter-combate.' They had afterwards a personal interview at Heylyn's house at Abingdon and parted on friendly terms.

In February 1660 Fuller published a pamphlet by 'a lover of his native country' in support of the demand for a free parliament, which went through three editions, the third with Fuller's name. Soon afterwards he published his 'Mixt Contemplations in Better Times,' dedicated to Lady Monck, from 'Zion College, 2 May 1660.' Fuller appears to have accompanied Lord Berkeley to meet Charles II at the Hague, and celebrated 29 May by a loyal 'Panegyrick' in verse (Worthies, Worcestershire, i. 84). He judiciously promises in the 'Worthies' to write no more poetry. Fuller, with some other divines, was created D.D. in August 1660 by letter from the king. He resumed his old lectureship at the Savoy, where his friend Pepys, who heard him, records on 12 May 1661 a 'poor dry sermon.' He also resumed his possession of the prebend at Salisbury, the income of which would, as he hoped, enable him to publish his 'Worthies.' At Broadwindsor he found one John Pinney in possession. Fuller, having heard him preach, allowed him to remain in the charge, apparently as curate. Pinney, however, was dismissed before January 1662. Fuller was also appointed 'chaplain in extraordinary' to the king, and further preferment was anticipated. In the summer of 1661 he went to Salisbury, and, soon after his return, was attacked by a fever. It was probably typhus (Bailey, p. 689); he was bled profusely; and died at his lodgings in Covent Garden 16 Aug. 1661, crying out, as one account says, 'for his pen and ink to the last.' He was buried next day in the church at Cranford. His wife was buried in the same church 19 May 1679.

The 'Worthies' was published posthumously, with a dedication to Charles by John Fuller, the author's son, who had been admitted at Sidney Sussex College in 1657, and became a fellow in 1663.

The most authentic portrait of Fuller was engraved for Mr. Bailey's work, from the original in possession of Lord Fitzhardinge at Cranford House. An engraving prefixed to the 'Worthies,' and frequently reproduced, is apparently from another original. An engraving (showing a very different face) is in a few copies of the 'Abel Redevivus.' Another was prefixed to the anonymous 'Life.' Fuller is described as tall and bulky, though not corpulent, well made, almost 'majestical,' with light curly hair, rather slovenly in dress and often absent-minded, and careless 'to seeming inurbanity' in his manners. He was sparing in diet and in sleep. He seldom took any exercise except riding. His powers of memory were astonishing, and gave occasion for many anecdotes. He could, it was said, repeat five hundred strange names after two or three hearings, and recollect all the signs after walking from one end of London to the other. His anonymous biographer declares that he used to write the first words of every line in a sheet and then fill up all the spaces, which Mr. Bailey thinks 'not a bad method.'

Fuller's modern critics have generally confined themselves to simplifying Coleridge's phrase, 'God bless thee, dear old man!' He has been called 'dear Thomas,' and 'quaint old Tom Fuller,' with a rather irritating iteration. His power of fascinating posthumous as well as contemporary friends is easily explicable. His unfailing playfulness, the exuberant wit, often extravagant, rarely ineffective and always unforced, is combined with a kindliness and simplicity which never fails to charm. If not profound, he is invariably shrewd, sound-hearted, and sensible. He tells a story admirably, as Lamb observed, because with infectious enjoyment. His humour is childlike in its freedom from bitterness. His quick sense of the ridiculous, combined with a calm and cheerful temperament, made fanaticism impossible. It tempered his zeal instead of edging his animosi-