to his diocese, in which case Kidder would have been removed to another see. He declined, however, on the ground of age and health, and probably because he was not satisfied about the Oaths. This latter supposition, indeed, appears more than probable; for it is stated that Ken refused on taking a new exception to the Oath of Abjuration. On Kidder's death he persuaded Hooper to accept it. In an original letter published by Mr. Bowles, Ken says: "I hearing yt ye Bishop of St. Asaph was offered Bath and Wells, and that on my account he refused it, wrott to give my assent to it. I did it in regard to ye diocese, yt they might not have a latitudinarian traditor imposed on them, who would betray the baptismal faith."[1] On the 6th of December 1703, he thus writes to Hooper: "I am informed yt you have had an offer of Bath and Wells, and yt you refused it, which I take very kindly, because I know you did it on my account: but since I am well assured yt ye diocese cannot be happy to yt degree in any other hands than in your owne, I desire you to accept of it. I told you long agoe at Bath how willing I was to surrender my canonical claim to a worthy person, but to none more willingly than to yourselfe." On the 20th of December Ken writes to congratulate Hooper on his acceptance of the see. Some of the Nonjurors were displeased at Ken's resignation: and he alludes to them in this letter. "I could easily foresee," says he, "yt by my concerne for you I shd incurre ye displeasure of some of my brethren, but this is not ye first instance in wch I have dissented from them, and never had cause to repent of it." When the Queen proposed the see to Hooper, he
- ↑ Bowles's Ken, ii. 242.
