Chaplain to King Charles II. His fidelity in reproving the prevailing vices in the Court, both at the Hague and in London, made him both feared and revered; yet his forcible denunciations, although expressed in most eloquent terms, made for him many irreconcileable foes. The King treated his reproofs so slightingly, that he remarked on leaving his courtiers on one occasion, "I must go and hear Ken tell me of my faults."
In 1683, the King, attended by the Court, visited Winchester. Ken had been one of the Prebends there for some years. Charles took up his quarters at the Deanery, and immediately opposite was Ken's prebendal house. The officer of the Lord Chamberlain fixed upon this as a lodging for Nell Gwyn, at that time the King's favourite mistress; but he fearlessly refused her admittance, and he declared that "a woman of ill repute ought not to be endured in the house of a clergyman, especially the King's Chaplain;" accordingly, "she was forced to seek other lodgings." The "merry monarch" was so far from being offended at this proof of honesty and courage, that two years afterwards, when the see of Bath and Wells became vacant, he at once resolved that Ken should be appointed. "Where," said he, "is the good little man that refused his lodgings to poor Nell?" and himself gave order for a congé d'élire to pass the seals "for his election." The King survived the consecration of Ken only a week, during which time, the holy man of God was constant in his endeavours to bring the King to confess and repent of manifold transgressions.
A trial of no small magnitude overtook the good Bishop when the Romanizing James II. ascended the throne. Ken resisted the daring action of the King in trying to reintroduce Popery. His opposition, supported as it was by the Metropolitan, Bancroft, and five suffragan Bishops besides himself, was commenced by refusing to read the King's declaration in their cathedrals. Nor did the fury of the King move them from their purpose. They were even sent to the Tower; but the sympathies of the nation were with them, and opposed to the King's assumption. After a trial in Westminster Abbey, the seven Bishops were acquitted, and the honour of Protestant England was defended by their sufferings. The overthrow of the
