Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/82

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Morley
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Morley

in the same capacity at Antwerp, where he was entertained by Sir Charles Cotterell [q. v.] He was in Antwerp for some time in 1653, where he formed a high opinion of Henry, duke of Gloucester, and had much conversation with Colonel Joseph Bampfield [q. v.], about which he wrote to Sir Edward Nicholas (Nicholas Papers, ii. 21). He was at Düsseldorf in October 1654, when the Duke of Neuburg entertained the king there. A malicious story, afterwards proved to be false, was set abroad about his indiscreet behaviour at the duke's table (ib. pp. 154, 170). He also visited Breda, where 'he was gallantly entertained,' and did not return to the Hague until April 1655 (ib. pp. 244, 251; Cal. of Clarendon Papers, ii. 333). Shortly before the Restoration he was sent over to England by Hyde to prepare the presbyterians to forward the king's return, and specially to contradict the report that Charles was a Roman catholic. He had great success, for he let his Calvinistic opinions be known, and spoke of his hopes of peace and union (Wood; Calamy, Abridgment, p. 569). He proposed to meet the presbyterians' demands with reference to the negative power of the presbyters and the validity of their orders, either by silence, or in the case of the latter demand, by a hypothetical re-ordination (Clarendon State Papers, pp. 727, 738).

At the Restoration Morley regained his canonry, and in July was made dean of Christ Church. When his former pupil, Anne Hyde, duchess of York [q. v.], was delivered of a son on 22 Oct. 1660 he was sent for, and put questions to her establishing the legitimacy of the child (Clarendon, Life, i. 333). On the 28th he was consecrated to the see of Worcester. He preached the sermon at the coronation on 23 April 1661, being then dean of the chapel royal. At the Savoy conference in May he was 'prime manager,' and the chief speaker of the bishops (Calamy, Abridgment, pp. 154, 171). In September he visited Oxford with the Earl of Clarendon, the new chancellor of the university (Wood, Life and Times, i.411). Having refused to allow Richard Baxter [q. v.] to resume his ministry at Kidderminster, he went thither himself, and preached against presbyterianism. Baxter replied by publishing his 'Mischief of Self-ignorance.' In 1662 he was translated to the see of Winchester. Rich as that bishopric was, Charles, who knew Morley 's munificence, declared that he would never be the richer for it. Besides giving away large sums, he was extremely hospitable. Among his guests was Isaac Walton [q. v.], who appears to have been much under his roof. The king and the Duke of York rather abused his hospitality, for Farnham Castle was conveniently situated for their hunting, and for the king to overlook the progress of his building at Winchester, and the bishop is said once to have asked Charles whether he meant to make his house an inn (Prideaux, Letters, p. 141). At Winchester he was brought into close relations with Thomas Ken [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Bath and Wells. On the Christmas day following his translation he preached at Whitehall, and 'reprehending the common jollity of the court . . . particularized concerning their excess in plays and gaming.' Pepys thought he made but a poor sermon, and others laughed in the chapel at his rebuke (Diary, ii. 84, 85). He was appointed a governor of the Charterhouse in May 1663 (information received from the master of the Charterhouse). In 1664 he visited the five Oxford colleges of which he was ex officio visitor, finding apparently no trouble except at Corpus Christi, where he ' bound some to their behaviour,' and had to punish a gross case of contempt of his authority (Wood, Life and Times, ii. 16-19). When an impeachment was drawn up against Clarendon in November 1667, Morley was sent to him by the Duke of York to signify the king's wish that he should leave the country (Clarendon, Life, ii. 484). Clarendon's fall for a time brought Morley into disgrace at court. Pepys heard that both he and the Bishop of Rochester, John Dolben [q. v.], afterwards archbishop of York, and some other great prelates were 'suspended,' and noted that the business would be a heavy blow to the clergy (Diary, iv. 297). Morley certainly withdrew from court for a season. In common with some other bishops, he was consulted by the ministers in 1674 with reference to measures to be taken against popery (Burnet, History, ii. 53). Some reflections were made upon him in a letter published in the 'Histoire du Calvinisme' of a Roman catholic priest named Maimburg, with reference to the cause of the conversion to Roman Catholicism of Anne, late duchess of York, whose spiritual adviser he had been. By way of vindicating himself, he published in 1681 a letter that he had written to the duchess in 1670 on her neglect of the sacrament (see under Anne, Duchess of York; Evelyn, Correspondence, iii. 255, 257; Burnet, History, i. 537, 538). Not long before his death he is said to have sent a message to the Duke of York (James II) that 'if ever he depended on the doctrine of non-resistance he would find himself deceived' (ib. ii. 428 n.) He died at Farnham Castle on 29 Oct. 1684, in his eighty-eighth year, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

He was, Clarendon says, a man 'of emi-