22
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[2 U * S. N 2., JAN. 12. '50.
oath whatsoever. But in the progress of the debate I
changed my mind, when I understood that the non-
swearing bishops did not pray for the king and queen by
name; but only prayed for theking without naming him,
which was plainly the praying for King James, and so it
was generally understood". Now it seemed contrary to
the rules of government to suffer men to minister in holy
things, and to be in such eminent stations, who con-
sidered themselves under another allegiance. Upon this
I changed my mind. By these things I fell under great
prejudices; but that which was the greatest of all was,
that it was generally thought that I could have hindered
the change of the government of the Church that was
made in Scotland, and that I went into it too easily. The
truth was, the king desired me to let the clergy of Eng-
land understand the necessity he lay under to consent to
it, since the whole episcopal party, a very few only ex-
cepted, went into King James's interest ; and, therefore,
since the presbyterians were the only party that he had
there, the granting of their desires at that time was un-
avoidable ; but he assured me he would take care to
moderate the violence of presbytery. And this was like-
wise promised very solemnly to me by Melvill, who I
believe did intend it at first; but he, seeing that those
who were engaged in a faction against him, built their
hopes chiefly on their interest in that party, he resolved
to take the party out of their hands, and that he knew
could not be done but by proceeding with great rigour
against all the ministers of the episcopal persuasion ; and
in order to this, he entered into a close correspondence
with the Earl of Crawford, whom he got to be made pre-
sident of the parliament. And it being universally un-
derstood that he had Melvill's secret, he came to bear
great sway, though he is a very weak and passionate
man in his temper, and is become furious by his prin-
ciples ; so he, upon every address, turned out ministers,
and encouraged the rabble to fall on such as gave no
occasion of complaint against them Complaints of
all these things came to England much aggravated ; and these gave a new quickening to the hatred that was gene- rally borne to the dissenters here ; for it was in every man's mouth, that it was both unreasonable and unsafe for us to show any favour to a party that acted so severely against all those of our persuasion, where they had power. And because I had, to a great many of the clergy, ex- cused what the king had done in Scotland from the ne- cessity of his affairs, and had assured them that the king would moderate the fury of presbytery, this gave very bad impressions of me to the whole body of the clergy."
Disposal of the Vacant Sees. The printed ac-
count, in bis History of his Own Time, of the dis-
posal of what he calls the vacant sees at the Re-
volution, differs so materially from his own version
written at the time, that we have transcribed the
original from the Harl. MS. (6584., p. 314.) for
the benefit of the ecclesiastical student. It is a
curious fact, that the bishop has suppressed, in his
printed account, all notice of Dr. Beveridge's re-
fusal to accept the see of Bath and Wells :
" The king named Dr. Tillotson to the see of Canter- bury; and the Archbishop of York dying soon after, Sharp, now Dean of Canterbury, was promoted to that see ; so that these two sees were in a month's time filled with two of the greatest prelates, the best preachers, and the wisest and worthiest men that perhaps ever sat in them. Patrick was translated from Chichester to Ely ; Grove was made Bishop of Chichester; Cumberland was
made Bishop of Bath and Wells. That see had been
offered to Beveridge, who is a man of great learning, a
very practical preacher, and a devout man, and in the
monastic way too superstitious and singular. He ac-
cepted of it, but he leaned much to the other side ; and
when he understood that Ken, who held that see, was
resolved to continue in possession, he afterwards refused
it : he is a very weak man, and very rough, but honest
and sincere. Stillingfleet had been made the year before
Bishop of Worcester ; and Hough, that was president of
Magdalen College, was made Bishop of Oxford. Iron-
side, that had been Vice-chancellor of the University of
Oxford, had been made Bishop of Bristol. Chester and
Bangor had fallen vacant that first year of the reign
[1689], and Stratford and Humphreys had been pro-
moted to those sees. Thus, in two years' time, the king
had made fifteen bishops ; and excepting what has been
said as to myself, it is visible that they are the worthiest
and learnedest men, the best preachers, and the men
of the gentlest and prudentest tempers that could be
found."
Marlborovgh 's Disgrace. We will, for the
present, conclude these extracts with the follow-
ing, which is Burnet's account of the disgrace of
the Duke of Marlborough, as originally written.
This Macaulay (vol. iv. p. 167.) contrasts, as a
plain tale told while the facts were recent, with
the shuffling narrative which Burnet prepared for
the public eye many years later, when Marl-
borough was closely united to the Whigs :
" About the end of the session of parliament in Eng- land, the king called for Marlborough's commission, and dismissed him out of his service. The king said to my- self upon it, that he had very good reason to believe that he had made his peace with King James, and was en- gaged in a correspondence with France. It is certain he was doing all he could to set on a faction in his army and the nation against the Dutch, and to lessen the king as well as his wife, who was so absolute a favourite with the princess [Anne], that she seemed to be the mistress of her whole heart and thoughts, and alienating her both from the king and queen.
" The queen had taken all possible methods to gain her sister, and had left no means unessayed except the purchasing her favourite, which she thought below her to do ; but that being the strongest passion in the prin- cess's breast, all other ways proved ineffectual : so a visible coldness grew between the sisters. Many rude things were daily said at that court, and they studied to render themselves very popular, though with very ill success. For the queen grew to be so universally be- loved, that nothing could stand against her in the affec- tions of the nation.
" Upon Marlborough's disgrace, his wife was ordered to leave the court. This the princess resented so highly, that she left the court likewise ; for she said, she would not have her servants taken from her. All persons that had credit with her, tried what could be done to make her submit to the queen; but to no purpose. She has since that time lived in a private house ; and the dis- tance between the sisters has now risen so high, that the visiting the princess is looked on as a neglect of the queen's displeasure : so that she is now as much alone as can be imagined. The enemies of the government began to make a great court to her, but they fell off from her soon ; and she fell under so great a neglect, that if she did not please herself in an inflexible stiffness of humour, it would be verv uneasv to her.
