A Memorial Offered to John Williams, Part of biography 2 · Letter 12
Moſt Reverend, &c.
TO that Apoſtyle touching my Diſpenſation to reſide upon the Deanry of Weſtminſter, the ſaid Deanry being, as all Commenda's are in the Eye of the Law, united for the time of my Incumbency upon this poor Biſhoprick, I can ſay no more than what your Grace knoweth as well as I, that I uſe the ſaid Diſpenſation very modeſtly and ſparingly, and that I am reſolved in this, and every thing elſe, to give His Majeſty all Satisfaction, in a due and reaſonable order to his Royal Orders; which no Biſhop doth yield more exactly than myſelf. He breaks no Law who pleads a Privilege; nor doth that Subject tranſgreſs in Order, who produceth a juſt and lawful Diſpenſation to exempt him from the ſame, as your Grace by daily experience well knoweth. For other matters, that proceed from wrong and ſiniſter Informations, I do intend to procure one or other of my good Lords of the Council, to let His Majeſty underſtand how theſe things are miſconcerved, as ſoon as I can: As firſt, to repreſent unto His Majeſty, that no L. Keeper can iſſue forth a Diſpenſation of this nature, nor any other perſon whoſoever, but either His Majeſty, immediately by his Regal Right, and Eminency of Power, or your Grace by the Act of Parliament: So as my being Lord Keeper did contribute no more to this Patent, than it did to all others; that is to ſay, Wax and Impreſſion. Your Grace may call to mind, we were four Governours of ſeveral Colleges made Biſhops at one time, and two of theſe had their Colleges put into their Commenda's, as well as myſelf. And in your Graces Memory alſo, in the moſt exact times of Eccleſiaſtical Government, when thoſe Promotions were manag'd with the Advice of that great and wiſe Prelate the Lord Bancroft, a Biſhop of Briſtol kept the Deanry of York together, and a Biſhop of Rocheſter this of Weſtminſter, during his Incumbency, with many others the like. Neither did the then L. Keeper procure the Faculty to hold this Deanry; for the late King, my dear Maſter, of Bleſſed Memory, was not about London, but at Rutford in Nottingham-ſhire, when he granted me this gracious Favour. Nor, to deal ingenuouſly with your Grace, was it gained by mine own Power, or Intereſt with His Majeſty, but by the Mediation of His Majeſty now reigning, and by the Duke of Buck. together with ſome inducement of the deceaſed King, not unknown to ſome yet living; and howbeit my Faculty is without diſtinction of Time, yet am I no chaſer of mine own Time, but do confine my ſelf to thoſe particular ſeaſons, which the local Statutes of the Colledge, and my expreſs Oath to perform the ſaid Statutes, do enjoyn me: That is to ſay, the two Chapters, and the great Feſtivals. All which ſpace of time doth not, being taken in the diſjunct ſpaces, make a Biſhop a Non-reſident by any Law I know of, nor conſequently infringe his Majeſties Inſtructions, though a man had no Diſpenſation; which Inſtructions require only that Biſhops ſhould reſide: but we preſume that it is no part of his Majeſties gracious intention, that they ſhould be confined, or as it were impriſoned in their Biſhopricks. I hope to procure a fair repreſentation of theſe particulars to his Majeſty, and thereby to obtain his gracious approbation, of as much reſidence as I intend to make in the Deanry. Where (as your Grace knoweth as well as I) in regard of Juriſdiction Eccleſiaſtical and Temporal, of preventing Ruins and Dilapidations, of Hoſpitality, of Suits in Law, of the Church, the School, the Colledge, and the like, I have no leſs neceſſity of abiding ſometimes then upon my Biſhoprick, and ſomewhat more, becauſe of my Oath.
So moſt humbly, &c.
This was enough to ſatisfie both Statute and Reaſon. Unto which it may be ſaid, as Politian wrote to Herm. Barbarus of a Queſtion wherein he had pleaded for himſelf, Ita argutum ut defendendi, ita defenſum ut arguendi non ſit locus, Ep. p. 260.
89. Can he that hath run over theſe Paſſages imagine, but that ſuch as encamped againſt the Biſhop would beat up his Quarters no more to make him fly his Deanery? It is the worſt of Miſeries to be incurable, the heighth of Malice to be implacable. The ſtubborn Spartans had a Proverb, ſays Plutarch Vit. Agis & Cleom. foreign, Though they were in a wrong purſuit, it was baſe to give Ground. For this work was never like to be given over, but was ſhifted after a few years into new hands. Theſe were a few of the Prebendaries of the later Inſtalment. Volucres ad juſſa paratae, winged Poſts that would fly as far as they were ſent, who may as well be known by Character, as by their Names. foreign, as Aeſchylus would ſay no more of a Fool, but that he was his ſelf-undoing. Another, whom I have heard call'd General Wrangler, the Challenger that undertakes all Modern Writers, of as much ingenuity as Tertullian's Hermogenes, Maledicere ſingulis officium bonae conſcientiae judicat. Theſe prefer'd Articles to his Majeſty, and the Lords of the Council, againſt their Dean for … government, three dozen of Articles (yet none to the vantage) that their number might ſupply the nothingneſs of their weight; a few Auger-holes are of too ſmall a bore for a Neſt of Waſps to breed in; add theſe Alledgments, though Archbiſhop Laud did manage them at the hearing, were of no tack to hold, yet ſharpned againſt all Modeſty with Inſultations and Revilings. Some of great magnanimity have been heart-broken, that they were drawn to conteſt for their Honour with a Faction of Grooms, or a Conſpiracy of more honourable Impeachers. To begin with Scipio; ſays Quintil. lib. 11. Prior Affricanus Patrià cedere, quàm cum tribuno plebis humillimo contendere de innocentiâ ſuâ malluit: He would retire, and leave his Country, rather than contend with a Plebeian. L. Philip Chabot Admiral of France, took ſuch grief, ſays Thuanus, at the unkindneſs of Francis the Firſt, to let his Chancellor Poet ſift him for Treſpaſſes committed in his Office, who had ever been moſt noble and faithful, that he ſickned and died. It is no longer ſince than the Twentieth of King James, ſays Archbiſhop Spotſwood, Hiſt. p. 541. that Information being put on by the Lord Ochiltry againſt Sir Gideon Murray, Treaſurer-Deputy, and remitted to the Trial of certain Counſellors, Sir Gideon having ever given great proof of his Integrity, contracted ſo deep a Melancholy, as neither Comfort nor Counſel could reclaim him, and in a few days he departed this Life, the King ſorrowing that ever he had given ear to ſuch Delations. Aemilius Scaurus ſped better with his Judges in the Roman Senate, that let him ſay nothing, but caſt a Scorn upon his Adverſary Varius, and acquitted him. Varii Sucronenſis atrociſſimam calumniam Aem. Scaurus ſummâ gravitate contempſit, ſolo contemptu refutavit; which Jo. Camero oppoſeth in his own behalf againſt one Elias an Advocate of Paris, Oper. p. 855. Our Biſhop did not look for the Priviledge of Scaurus, but was held to his Anſwer, which did no more diſquiet his Spirit, then to ſay the Pater-noſter, nor one grey hair grew on his head the ſooner; but made himſelf merry with the Conceit, how eaſie it was to ſtride over ſuch Urchin Articles. No Man would find leiſure to read the whole 36, they are ſo frivolous. Taſte them all in theſe. Firſt, They complain that he came not always in his Habit, and came late to Divine Service. (Anſwer, ſometimes both, not always.) 2. He ſtays Singing-men with him at Bugden. (He did not invite them, and they came with the Sub-deans leave.) 4. He is not reſident often. (The Charge in former days was, that he reſided there too much.) 5. He did not preach in propria perſoná; (becauſe he was frown'd at if he were there in propriá perſonâ). The 15th, The Dean and Treaſurer did not ride progreſs to keep Courts; (who was not to ride otherwiſe by Statute, than ſi velit.) 23. He made Dr. Hacket his Vicar in the Election 1632. (The three Electors may chooſe their Vicar, whom they will at their own pleaſure.) 24. Verſes were not hung up in the Hall upon the King's day, Anno 1634. (The Scholars were corrected for the Fault.) 26. He calls the Schoolmaſter often away, keeps him many weeks in the Country, and imploys him in his great Affairs, to the neglect of his Scholars. (He never ſtaid with the Biſhop above two nights at a time: his great buſineſs he doth is to buy a Book, or to convey a Letter; and the School by his Attendance is in an excellent caſe.) The daring Courage of Mr. Osbalſton troubled the Biſhops ill-willers, more then all his Friends beſide that did negotiate for him. For, as my Lord Bacon obſerves, A bold perſon may ſerve for great uſe at the direction of a wiſer man. All the reſt of the Articles were goll-ſheaves, that went out in a ſuddain blaze, and the Biſhops triumph was, Adverſis rerum immerſabilis undis, Hoart ep. l. 1. But becauſe there is nothing new under the Sun, I will pluck for a parallel to this in the Life of Padre Paulo: Soto and Archangelo his profeſt Enemies objected againſt him to Cardinal Severino the Grand Inquiſitor: Firſt, That ſometime he kept Company with Hereticks. 2. That he wore a Cap upon his head. 3. That he wore Slippers after the French faſhion 4. That he did not recite Salve Regina at the end of the Maſs. Flea-bites, like the former, of which you can ſee no mark in an hour. But ſays St. Auſtin Serm. … de diver. Quid refert utrum te plumbum premat, an aren…? Nay, with good leave, it is not all one. The Lead will not be removed ſo ſoon, as the Wind may blow the Sind into their faces that laid it. To ſtay no more upon this; the Articles flew away over the Abby, like a flock of Wild-geeſe, if you caſt but one ſtone among them: yet the Promoters were not one whit diſmaid; they had laid their Betrs ſo ſure, that they would get, whether the Game were won or loſt. If their Articles ſucceeded, they got the day: if otherwiſe, it would be worth a Hen and her Chickens to bid defiance to their Dean. For every one of his Adverſaries had a Recompence given them, like a Coral to rub their Gums, and make their Teeth come the faſter.
90. Readers impartial muſt judge of theſe things, and will be tried at the great Aſſize of common Diſcretion, whether he that had been ſo liberal to the ſtructure of the Church and Library, had erected ſome Scholarſhips, their number being a great deal ſhort of the Foundations of Eaton and Wincheſter, whether he deſerv'd that they ſhould fly at his Throat to worry him, who had as much relation to the place as himſelf, where theſe good Deeds were done. But there is a Writer, (and not one year ſcapes him, but that he publiſheth ſomewhat to beſpatter the Biſhop of Lincoln's good Name; Odimus accipitrem quia ſemper vivit in armis, Ovid. Art. Amand.) he it is that would cover all the Monuments of his Bounty with one Blot, if he could find Readers, ſuch as he wiſh't, that would take all that he vents without examination. Mr. Fuller in his Church Hiſtory of Britain, after he had given ſome unhandſome Scratches to this Biſhop, parts with him thus; Envy it ſelf could not deny, but that whit herſoever he went, he might be traced by the foot-ſteps of his Benefaction—That he expended much in the repair of the Abby-Church of Weſtminſter, and that the Library was the effect of his Bounty. This is truth, and praiſe-worthy in the Hiſtorian; and yet I ſay not the Biſhop is beholding to him for it, becauſe it is truth. That's Politian's judgment in an Epiſtle to Baptiſta, p. 197. Pro v…ris laudibus, hoc eſt pro ſuis, nemo cuiquam debet. Quis enim pro ſuo debeat? But what ſays one of the Swallows to it, that built under the roof of the Abby? Juſt like a Swallow, carried all the filth he could pick up to his Neſt. But worſe then a miry Swallow, he reſembles thoſe obſcene Birds that uſe to flutter about the Sepulchres of the Dead, and inſults extreamly over the Grave of the Deceaſed in his Animadverſions upon the Church Hiſtory, p. 273. That Lincoln received ſo much out of the Rents of the Colledge, in the time when he was Lord Keeper, four years and more, that the Surpluſage of all that he paid out in ſeveral ſums reſpectively, amounted to more then he laid out upon the Church and Library. foreign, ſays Demoſt. orat. foreign. about the end; The very Enemies of the dead ceaſe to hate them when they are dead. But as Anabaptiſts and Quakers ſay they are above Ordinances, ſo it ſeems the Conſcience of ſome Divines is above moral Niceties. As to the Calumny, ſqueeze it, and in round Ruſſian Language you ſhall wring out a great lye. Firſt, before the Dean was Lord Keeper, or dreamt of that honour, that is, before the Chapter had committed the Rents to his management, he had repaired the great Ruins of the ſouth ſide of the Church, abutting upon the ſtately Chappel of Henry the Seventh. If the Animadverter knew this, why did he not ſeparate it from that which was expended in thoſe four years wherein he lays his Challenge… If he did not know it (for it was done ten years before he was hatcht into a Prebend) then when blind men throw ſtones, whoſe head is not like to be broken? For that which was laid out by the Lord Keeper to ſtrengthen and beautifie the north ſide of the Abby, to the end that the right Pay-maſter may be known, and the mouth of all Detraction ſtopt, the Chapter ſhall teſtifie in their Act, as followeth: Whereas there hath lately been divulged, as we have heard, an unjuſt report, that the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord-Biſhop of Lincoln our Dean, ſhould have repair'd and new-built our Church on the north ſide of the ſame, and ſouth ſide of the Chappels belonging to it, out of the Diet and Bellies of the Prebendaries, and Revenues of our ſaid Church, and not out of his own Revenues; We therefore the Prebendaries of the ſame, with one conſent do affirm, That we verily believe the ſame to be a falſe and injurious Report. And for our ſelves we do teſtifie every man under his own Proteſtation, that we are neither the Authors nor Abettors of any ſuch injurious Report, untruly uttered by any mean man with intention to reflect upon his Lordſhip. And this we do voluntarily record and witneſs by our Chapter Act, dated this preſent Chapter Decemb. 8. 1628. Theo. Price Sub-Deacon, Chriſtopher Sutton, George Darrel, Gabriel Grant, Jo. King, Rob. Newell, John H…lt, Gr. Williams. Whether will we believe eight men in their right minds, or one in his rage?—To ſlight the Biſhops erecting ſuch a beautiful Pile, the Library of St. John's Colledge (and put that of Weſtminſter with it) he is as froward as a Child that hath worms in his Stomach, and tells us that it poſſibly coſt him more Wit than Money, many Books being daily ſent unto him; Vis dicam tibi veriora veris; Martial. It was not only poſſible, but very true. For what Library, no not the Bodleian, the choiceſt of England, but grew up, and doth grow by contributory Oblations? as Athenaeus ſays Lib. 8. foreign. The Symbols or Portions that many Friends bring in to furniſh a publick work, have good influence into it, but the Founder is the Lord of the Aſcendant. A great deal of the like the Author hath crowded into a few Leaves: I do not accuſe it for want of Salt, it is a whole Hogſhead of Brine. Wiſely and mildly Melanchthou was wont to ſay, Anſwer not Slanders, but let them vaniſh; Et ſi quid adhuc in hujus ſaeculi levitate quaſi innat at, brevi interiturum eſt cum autorum nominibus, Camer. p. 79. The worthy Works of the Biſhop's exceſſive coſt at Weſtminſter, and in both Univerſities, will ſtand, when Pamphlets ſhall be conſum'd with moths. The liberal deviſeth liberal things, and by liberal things he ſhall ſtand, Iſai. 32.8. A fair Walnut-tree the more it bears, the more it is beaten, as it complains in the Greek Epigram, foreign. But ſuch as yield the fruits of good works in this world, ſhall become Trees of Life hereafter: as I have read it from ſome good Pen, He is well that is the better for others, but he ſhall be happy for whom others are the better.
91. Method hath digeſted the troubles about the Deanry altogether, which is the reaſon why this Paragraph recoils five years back, that is, to 1630 to make a tranſition into the next diſturbance. A Commiſſion was directed this year to very honourable and knowing perſons, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Arundel, Vicount Wimbleton, Lord Wentworth, Sir Hugh Middleton, Sir W. Slingsby, Sir Hen. Spelman, Ed. Aſcough, Th. Brett, Th. Bridgman, to queſtion the oppreſſion of exacted Fees in all Courts and Offices, Civil and Eccleſiaſtical, throughout all England. A noble Examination, and full of Juſtice, if due and convenient Fees thereupon had been ſtraitned and appointed; which was fruſtrated two ways: Firſt by indigent and craving Courtiers, who enquired after ſuch as were ſuſpected for Delinquency, and of great Wealth, with whom they compounded to get them Indempnity, though not a Doit of a Fee were abated. Secondly, By vexatious Proſecutions of abundance, that were Innocent, before Sub-committees, where Promoters got a great livelyhood to themſelves, to redeem them from chargeable Attendance; which deſerves ſuch a Complaint as Budaeus makes of his Maſter's Court. That it was a Divine Priviledge of the Kings of France, that they had the gift of healing, and could cure the Stromoſi by the touch of their hand; Si dediſſet providentia ut conſilia publica auſpicatò inirentur, and if they could thruſt away flattery and falſe clamours with their hand, it would be the happieſt Government in Europe, Lib. 2. Pandec. fol. 36. This Commiſſion ſitting, the Biſhop of Lincoln's Adverſaries thought they had him ſure, and had found his Laire, preſuming they could ripen ſome Treſpaſſes of his in that kind for a Sentence in the Star-Chamber. Jungant ur tum gryphes equis, &c. that had been ſtrange to catch him in an over-ſight about the Mammon of Iniquity: For the Elogy which Grotius gives, Lib. 1. Hiſt. Belg. to William of Naſſau, was as much this Biſhop's, as it was that great Prince's, Crudelitas, & avaritia nullo ab ingenio longiùs abfuere. But what cannot great Men bring about, when there are no Parliaments to overlook them? As Tully ſays of Brutus, Philip. 12. Multis in rebus ipſe ſibi Senatus ſuit; All muſt be as Brutus will, if Brutus will be as abſolute, as if himſelf were a Parliament. Who but Mr. Ratcliff the King's Attorney for York (and we know the Oreſtes to whom this Pylades was ſo dear) was inſtructed to prepare a Bill to be put into the Star-Chamber againſt the Biſhop, who had laid his ear to the ground to hark after the digging of the Mine, and knew the Subſtance of it, before the Draught was fully penn'd. Such, as are ſo fortunate in their Diſcoveries, and have intelligence of all Practices againſt them, are the Moral of thoſe fabulous People that are called foreign in the Greek Tongue, ſome of a ſtrange plantation, that could cover all their body with their Ears. The charges upon which mr. Ratcliff was deviſing an Information, were two; the one about the Fees of the Clerk of the Hamper, (which is, according to Sir H. Spelman's Gloſſary, Sport a grandior cui inferuntur pecuniae è ſigillatione diplomatum, brevium, chartarum regiarum proveni…ntes, which were as good as fixt before he came to be Lord Keeper The other was about Fees in the Epiſcopal Regiſtry at Lincoln, preſented for undue in the perſons of ſome Officers, but without reflection on the Biſhop, whom one thing puzzled; for he knew not whether there were a Myſtery▪ or Madneſs in it. A Prelate or twain were conſulted about this Bill of extorted Fees, and they bid it good ſpeed; which was no leſs than to pull an old Houſe upon their own heads; for the Sums, according to the Tables of their own Regiſtries, were the ſame or greater. Did they think he would not plead it? Communis culpae cur reus unus agor? Proper. l. 2. el. 10. Did they conceive but he would declare his Cauſe was theirs, and theirs was his? Or would they blow up themſelves upon their own Deck to blow up him? As Juſtin ſhews how deſperate the Boeotians were in their malice againſt the Phocians, lib. 8. Baeotii tanto odio Phocenſium ardentes, ut perire ipſi, quàm non perdere eos praeoptarent. Better had it been for the Reverend Fathers of Holy Orders, rather to ſtrengthen, than to weaken one another; for the Kite might come (O holy Lord he came to ſoon) who would make but one Morſel of them altogether.
92. But before any Suit could begin, the Biſhop repreſented the Caſe in a Letter to the King: