and at the same time, laid before them such propositions as their Lordships had agreed upon, for which thanks were returned, in a set speech, by Sir Dudley Diggs.

The interest of bishop Laud was now so great at court, that he drew up a scheme of instructions, which having the king's name at the head of them, were, in the month of December 1629, transmitted to his Grace, under the pompous title, His Majesty's instructions to the most reverend father in GOD, George, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, containing certain orders to be observed ' and put in execution, by the several bishops in his 'province.' These instructions his Grace communicated to his suffragan bishops, in which, as Heylin observes, he acted ministerially; but to shew that he still meant to exercise his own authority in his own diocese, he restored Mr. Palmer and Mr. Udnay to their lectureships, after the dean and archdeacon of Canterbury had suspended them, and, in other respects, softened the rigour of those instructions, which were contrived to enforce the particular notions of a prevailing party in the church, which the archbishop thought a burden too hard to be borne by the tender consciences of those who made the fundamentals of religion their study, and were not so zealous for forms.

His conduct, in this and other respects, is said to have made his presence unwelcome at court; and so indeed it seems to have been, for upon the birth of Charles, Prince of Wales, (afterwards King Charles II.) which happened on the twenty-ninth of May 1630, Laud, then bishop of London, had the honour to baptize him, as dean of the chapel, notwithstanding that the Archbishop of Canterbury is the ordinary of the court; and the king's household, wherever it is, are regarded as its parishioners; so that this was visibly as much a slight upon the archbishop, as an act of favour towards his antagonist. The archbishop, however, was proof against all such accidents as these, and went on doing his duty without fear or favour; and yet one of the last acts of his life plainly shews, that he was very far from being so indifferent towards the discipline and ceremonies of the Church of England, as some have represented him. He followed them as stated rules for order, (for no church can subsist without some order) not as essentials of Christianity : And, without doubt, the archbishop, as well as many other good men, would most gladly have embraced any

other

other ritual, which could have composed differences and promoted charity, if such a ritual had been devised.* This act of his was an order, dated the third of July 1633, requiring the parishioners of Crayford, in Kent, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on their knees, at the steps ascending to the communion-table. We may well style this one of his last acts, since a month afterwards, viz. on the fourth of August in the same. year, he deceased at his palace of Croydon, worn out with cares and infirmities, at the age of seventy-one. He was buried, according to his own express direction, in the church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, in his native town of Guildford, in Surry.

What has been said sufficiently proves, that he was a man of great natural parts, and those sufficiently improved, for the worthy performance of whatever his high station in the church required. He shewed himself, in many circumstances of his life, a man of great moderation towards all parties, a steady friend to the protes tant religion, an honest, though perhaps not an humble courtier, and one who was desirous that the clergy should

*STRYPE has preserved a curious paper, written by our Archbishop, and found among the MSS. of Archbishop USHER. It does too much honour to the healing and uniting spirit of the great CALVIN to be omitted. "Perusing some papers of our predecessor, Matthew Parker, "we find, that JOHN CALVIN, and others of the protestant churches of "Germany and elsewhere, would have had Episcopacy, if permitted; "but could not, upon several accounts, partly fearing the other princes "of the Roman catholic faith would have joined with the Emperor and the rest of the popish bishops, to have depressed the same; partly, "being newly reformed, and not settled, they had not sufficient wealth "to support their Episcopacy, by reason of their daily persecutions. "Another, and a main cause was, They would not have any POPISH "hands laid over their clergy. And whereas John Calvin had sent 66 a letter, in King EDWARD VI.'s reign, to have conferred with the "clergy of England, about some things to this effect, two popish "bishops, viz. Gardiner and Bonner, intercepted the same, whereby "Mr. Calvin's overture perished; and he received, an answer, [proba"bly from Gardiner and Bonner] AS IF IT HAD BEEN from the reformed "divines of those times, wherein THEY CHECKED HIM, AND SLIGHTED HIS "PROPOSALS. From which time, JOHN CALVIN and the CHURCH OF ENG"LAND were at variance in several points; [i. e. of church discipline] which, otherwise, through God's mercy, HAD BEEN QUALIFIED, if those "papers of his proposals had been discovered to the queen's majesty "[Queen ELIZABETH] during John Calvin's life. But, being not dis"covered until, or about the sixth year of her majesty's reign, her "majesty much lamented they were not found sooner; which she "expressed before her council, in the presence of her great friends, "Sir Henry Sidney and Sir William Cecil." See STRYPE's Life of Archbishop Parker, p. 70.

should have attracted the reverence and esteem of the laity, by the sanctity of their manners, and the uprightness of their behaviour, rather than have claimed them as necessarily annexed to their function. These notions of his, squaring little with the humour of some writers, has drawn upon him many reflections that he

did not deserve.

Some of them censured him for a puritan, and a ringleader of the sectarian faction; and others, of indolence for not suppressing it. But Fuller very justly observes, that the ill-will he received from the court, and from those who were high in their notions of church-polity, principally arose from bishop Laud, who either aimed at his station for himself, or wished to drive so moderate a man out of it. They, moreover, could not endure his Calvinism, which began to grow out of fashion at court; nor admire his spirit, which could not promote persecution for the nonsensical trumpery which Laud afterwards introduced, and which men of all sorts might use, without having one spark of vital Christianity within them. The late speaker, Onslow, has given a strong vindication of his character, which may be seen in his life, distinctly published from the Biographia Britannica, to which is annexed his will, containing his numerous benefactions. Dr. Welwood, who was justly esteemed for his great knowledge of the English History,' and for his impartiality, gives a fair and candid account of our prelate, which we ought not to with-hold from our readers. Archbishop Abbot (says he) was a per⚫ son of wonderful temper and moderation; and, in all ' his conduct, shewed an unwillingness to stretch the 'Act of Uniformity beyond what was absolutely ne'cessary for the peace of the church; or the prerogative of the crown, any farther than conduced to the good of the State. Being not well turned for a court, though otherwise of considerable learning, and genteel education, he either could not, or would not, stoop to the humour of the times; and now and then, by an unseasonable stiffness, gave occasion to his ene'mies to represent him as not well inclined to the prerogative, or too much addicted to a popular interest; and therefore not fit to be employed in matters of government.'

6

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His charity and public spirit ought, certainly, to have been set in a clearer light than hitherto they have been,

by

by the friends to the church; the rather, because a writer, remarkable for his keenness, has been pleased to assert, that marks of his benefaction we find none, in places of his breeding and preferment;' which is at once an unjust and unchristian aspersion.

In regard to his learning, succeeding ages may judge thereof from his WRITINGS upon various subjects, of which the following is a list, as they were published.

I. Quæstiones sex, totidem prælectionibns in Schola Theologica Oxoniæ, pro forma habitis, discussæ et disceptata anno 1597, in quibus è sacra Scriptura et Patribus, quid statuendum sit definitur. Oxoniæ 1598, 4to. It. Francoforti 1616, 4to. This second edition was published by the famous Abraham Scultetus. II. Exposition on the Prophet Jonah, in certain Sermons preached at St. Mary's church in Oxford. London, 4to. 1600. And again, 1613. III. His Answer to the Question of the Citizens of London, in Jan. 1600, concerning Cheapside Cross. London, 1641. IV. The Reasons which Dr. Hill hath brought for the upholding of Papistry, unmasked and shewed to be very weak, &c. Oxon. 4to. 1604. This Thomas Hill quitted the church of England for that of Rome, and wrote this book to vindicate that change. V. A Preface to the Examination of George Sprot, &c. VI. A Sermon preached at Westminster, May 26, 1608, at the Funeral of Thomas, Earl of Dorset, late Lord High Treasurer of England, on Isaiah xl. 6. by George Abbot, Doctor of Divinity, and Dean of Winchester, one of his Lordship's Chaplains. London, 4to. 1608. VII. Translation of a part of the New Testament, with the rest of the Oxford divines, printed in 1611. VIII. Some Memorials, touching the Nullity between the Earl of Essex and his Lady, pronounced September 25, 1613, at Lambeth, and the difficulties endured in the same.* To this is added, Some observable things since September 25, 1613, when the sentence was given in the cause of the Earl of Essex, con

cerning

*This treatise makes fifty-six pages in twelves, and has the following remarkable attestation at the end of it. "This narration is wholly "written with mine own hand, and was finished October 2, 1613, being the eighth day after giving the sentence. And I protest before Almighty God, that I have not willingly wrote any untruth therein; but have delivered all things fairly to the best of my understanding, "helping myself with such memorials and notes, as I took from time to time, that if there was occasion, I might thus set down at large the "truth to posterity; when this case shall be rung from Rome gates, of "the fact hereafter be questioned.

"GEORGE, Cunt."

tinued unto the day of the marriage, December 26, 1613, which appears also to have been penned by his Grace, or by his direction; and to it is annexed, The Speech intended to be spoken at Lambeth, September 25, 1613, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, when it came to his turn to declare his mind concerning the nullity of the marriage between the Earl of Essex and the Lady Frances Howard. IX. A brief Description of the whole World; wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies, Empires, and Kingdoms of the same, with their Academies, &c. by the Most Reverend Father in GoD, George, late Archbishop of Canterbury. London, 8vo. 1634. Of which work there have been many editions. X. A short Apology for Archbishop Abbot, touching the Death of Peter Hawkins, dated October 8, 1621. XI. Treatise of perpetual Visibility and Succession of the true Church in all ages. London, 4to. 1624. His name is not to this book, only his arms, impaled by those belonging to the see of Canterbury, are put before it. Dr. Heylin acquaints us with the reason of his writing it, but does not tell us why he did not own it. XII. A Narrative, containing the true Cause of his Sequestration, and Disgrace at Court. In two Parts. Written at Ford in Kent, 1627. Bishop Hacket assures us. that he had seen this manuscript in the bishop's own writing, and had several of the facts contained in it from the archbishop's own mouth. XIII. History of the Massacre in the Valtoline. XIV. His Judgment of bowing at the Name of Jesus. Hamburgh, 1632, Svo. Besides many instructions to the bishops of his diocese, speeches in parliament, letters, and other occasional compositions. He had also a great share in the re-publication of the great Bradwardine's admirable book, De CAUSA DEI, in conjunction with the very learned Sir Henry Savile.