No More Learning

The pariia- But in that which the king had principally re-
wiiiing to commended to them, the confirmation of the act of
the act of oblivion and indemnity, they proceeded very slowly,
indemnity, ^^ly, an( j unwillingly, notwithstanding the king's
frequent messages to them " to despatch it, though
" with the delay of those other things which they
" thought did more immediately concern him. "
They had many agents and solicitors in the court,
who thought that all that was released by that act
might lawfully be distributed amongst them ; and
since the king had referred that whole affair to the
parliament, he might well leave it to their judg-
ments, without his own interposition. But his ma-
jesty looked upon himself as under another obliga-
tion both of honour and conscience, and upon the
thing itself as more for the public peace and security,
than any thing the parliament could provide instead



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 99

thereof; and therefore was very much troubled and I6G1.
offended at the apparent unwillingness to pass it. ~~
And thereupon he went himself to the house of
peers, and sent for the commons, and told them,
" that it was absolutely necessary to despatch that The king

, . . . i * i i i -,r> * * i strenuously

:< bill, which he himself had sent to them near two urges them

" months before :" for it was now the eighth of [ r c(

July. His majesty told them, " that it was to put

" himself in mind as well as them, that he so often,

" as often as he came to them, mentioned to them

" his declaration from Breda. " And he said, " he

" should put them in mind of another declaration,

" published by themselves about that time, and

" which he was persuaded made his the more ef-

" fectual, an honest, generous, and Christian de-

" claration, signed by the most eminent persons,

" who had been the most eminent sufferers ; in

" which they renounced all former animosities, all

" memory of former unkindnesses, vowed all ima-

" ginable good-will and all confidence in each other. "

All which being pressed with so much instance by

his majesty prevailed with them : and they then whereupon

forthwith despatched that bill ; and the king as soon firm it.

confirmed it, and would not stay a few days, till

other important bills should be likewise ready to be

presented to him.

And there cannot be a greater instance of their
desire to please his majesty from thenceforth, than
that before that session was concluded, notwith-
standing the prejudice the clergy had brought upon
themselves (as I said before) upon their too much
good husbandry in granting leases, and though
the presbyterian party was not without an interest
in both houses of parliament, they passed a bill for

H 2



100 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. the repeal of that act of parliament, by which the

"bishops were excluded from sitting there. It was

first proposed in the house of commons by a gentle-

man, who had been always taken to be of a pres-

The com- byterian family : and in that house it found less

b-^for"^-* opposition than was looked for; all men knowing,

slops to*"' that besides the justice of it, and the prudence to

their seats w ip e out the memory of so infamous an act, as the

in parlia-

ment; exclusion of them with all the circumstances was
known to be, it would be grateful to the king.

But when it came into the house of peers, where
all men expected it would find a general concur-
rence, k met with some obstruction ; which made a
discovery of an intrigue, that had not been suspect-
ed. For though there were many lords present,
who had industriously laboured the passing the for-
mer bill for the exclusion, yet they had likewise
been guilty of so many other ill things, of which
they were ashamed, that it was believed that they
would not willingly revive the memory of the whole,
by persevering in such an odious particular. Nor in
truth did they. But when they saw that it would
unavoidably pass, (for the number of that party was
not considerable,) they either gave their consents, as
many of them did, or gave their negative without
noise. The obstruction came not from thence. The
catholics less owned the contradiction, nor were
Which is guilty of it, though they suffered in it. But the
inthe Ctei truth * s > k proceeded from the mercurial brain of



house of the ear j o f Bristol, who much affected to be looked

lords by

the eari of upon as the head of tlie catholics ; which they did

Bristol. *

so little desire that he should be thought, that they
very rarely concurred with him. He well knew that
the king desired (which his majesty never dissem-



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 101

*
bled) to give the Roman catholics ease from all the I66J,

sanguinary laws ; and that he did not desire that "~
they should be liable to the other penalties which
the law had made them subject to, whilst they
should in all other respects behave themselves like
good subjects. Nor had they since his majesty's re-
turn sustained the least prejudice by their religion,
but enjoyed as much liberty at court and in the
country, as any other men ; and with which the
wisest of them were abundantly satisfied, and did
abhor the activity of those of their own party, whom k
they did believe more like to deprive them of the li-
berty they enjoyed, than to enlarge it to them.

When the earl of Bristol saw this bill brought
into the house for restoring the bishops to their
seats, he went to the king, and informed his ma-
jesty, " that if this bill should speedily pass, it
" would absolutely deprive the catholics of all those
" graces and indulgence which he intended to them ;
" for that the bishops, when they should sit in the
" house, whatever their own opinions or -inclinations
" were, would find themselves obliged, that they
" might preserve their reputation with the people,
" to contradict and oppose whatsoever should look
" like favour or connivance towards the catholics :
" and therefore, if his majesty continued his former
" gracious inclination towards the Roman catholics,
" he must put some stop (even for the bishops'
" own sakes) to the passing that bill, till the other
" should be more advanced, which he supposed might
" shortly be done ;" there having been already some
overtures made to that purpose, and a committee

k whom] which
H 3



102 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

r-
1661. appointed in the house of lords to take a view of all

"the sanguinary laws in matters of religion, and to
present them to the house, that it might consider
further of them ! . The king, surprised with the dis-
course from a man who had often told him the ne-
cessity of the restoring the bishops, and that it
could not be a perfect parliament without their pre-
sence, thought his reason for the delay to have
weight in it, and that the delay for a few days
could be attended with no prejudice to the matter
itself; and thereupon was willing the bill should
not be called for m , and that when it should be under
commitment, it should be detained there for some
time ; and that he might, the better to produce this
delay, tell some of his friends, " that the king would
" be well pleased, that there should not be over-
" much haste in the presenting that bill for his royal
" assent. "

This grew quickly to be taken notice of in the
house, that after the first reading of that bill, it had
been put off for a second reading longer than was
usual, when the house was at so much leisure ; and
that now it was under commitment, it was ob-
structed there, notwithstanding all the endeavours
some lords of the committee could use for the de-
spatch ; the bill containing very few words, being
only for the repeal of a former act, and the expres-
sions admitting, that is, giving little cause for any
debate. The chancellor desired to know how this
came to pass ; and was informed by one of the lords
of the committee, " that they were assured that the
" king would have a stop put to it, till another bill

1 of them] of it m for] upon



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 103

" should be provided, which his majesty looked for. " 1661.
Hereupon the chancellor spake with his majesty, 7~
who told him all the conference which the earl of
Bristol had held with him, and what he had con-
sented should be done. To which the other replied,
"that he was sorry that his majesty had been pre-
" vailed with to give any obstruction to a bill, which
" every body knew his majesty's heart was so much
" set upon for despatch ; and that if the reason were
" known, it would quickly put an end to all the pre-
" tences of the catholics ; to which his majesty knew
" he was no enemy. " The king presently con-
cluded that the reason was not sufficient, and
wished, " that the bill might be despatched as soon
" as was possible, that he might pass it that ses-
" sion ;" which he had appointed to make an end of
within few days : and so the next day the report
was called for and made, and the bill ordered to be
engrossed against the next morning ; the earl not
being at that time in the house. But the next
morning, when the chancellor had the bill engrossed
in his hand to present to the house to be read the
third time, the earl came to him to the woolsack,
and with great displeasure and wrath in his coun-
tenance told him, " that if that bill were read that
" day, he would speak against it ;" to which the
chancellor gave him an answer that did not please
him : and the bill was passed that day. And from But is at
that time the earl of Bristol was a more avowed and af
declared enemy to him, than he had before professed
to be ; though the friendship that had been between
them had been discontinued or broken, from the
time the earl had changed his religion.

The king within few days came to the parlia-
H 4



104 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1G61. ment, to give his royal assent to those bills which

~" were prepared for him ; and then told them, " that

" he did thank them with all his heart, indeed as

" much as he could for any thing, for the repeal of

" that act which excluded the bishops from sitting

" in parliament. " He said, " it was an unhappy

" act in an unhappy time, passed with many un-

" happy circumstances, and attended with miserable

" events ; and therefore he did again thank them

" for repealing it : and that they had thereby re-

" stored parliaments to their primitive institutions. "

The pariia- This was upon the thirtieth of July 1661, when the

journtd. " parliament was adjourned to the twentieth of No-

vember following.

Because we have mentioned the gracious purposes

the king had to his Roman catholic subjects, of

which afterwards much use was made to his disser-

vice, to which the vanity and presumption of many

of that profession contributed very much ; it may

The true not be unseasonable in this place to mention the

the klng'-s ground of that his majesty's goodness, and the rea-



sons wnv ^at P ur Pse of his was not prosecuted to
catholics }j e p ur p 0se it was intended, after so fair a rise to-
wards it, by the appointment of that committee in
the house of peers, which is remembered above.

It is not to be wondered at, that the king, at the
age he was of when the troubles began in England,
and when he came out of England, knew very little
of the laws which had been long since made and
were still in force against Roman catholics, and
less of the grounds and motives which had intro-
duced those laws. And from the time that he was
first beyond the seas, he could not be without hear-
ing very much spoken against the protestant religion,



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 105

and more for extolling and magnifying the religion i6fil.
of the church of Rome ; neither of which discourses
made any impression upon him. After the defeat
at Worcester, and his escape from thence into
France, the queen his mother (who had very punc-
tually complied with the king her husband's injunc-
tions, in not suffering any body to endeavour to per-
vert the prince her son in his religion, and when he
came afterwards into France after he was king,
continued 11 the same reservation) used much more
sharpness in her discourse against the protestants,
than she had been accustomed to. The liberty that
his majesty formerly had in the Louvre, to have a
place set aside for the exercise of his religion, was
taken away : and continual discourses were made
by the queen in his presence, " that he had now no
" hope ever to be restored to his dominions, but by
" the help of the catholics ; and therefore that he
" must apply himself to them in such a way, as
" might induce them to help him. "

About this time there was a short collection and
abridgment made of all the penal laws, which had
been made and which were still in force in England
against the Roman catholics ; " that all priests for
" saying mass were to be put to death ;" the great
penalties which they were to undergo, who enter-
tained or harboured a priest in their house, or were
present at mass, and the like ; with all other envi-
ous clauses, which were in any acts of parliament,
that had been enacted upon several treasons and
conspiracies of the Roman catholics, in the reigns of

11 continued] her majesty con- jesty's return and escape from
tinned Worcester the queen used

used] but after his ma-



106 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. queen Elizabeth and king James. And this collec-
tion they caused to be translated into French and
into Latin, and scattered it abroad in all places,
after they had caused copies of it to be presented to
the queen mother of France, and to the cardinal :
so that the king came into no place where those pa-
pers were not shewed to him, and where he was not
seriously asked, " whether it was a true collection
" of the laws of England," and " whether it was
" possible that any Christian kingdom could exer-
" cise so much tyranny against the catholic reli-
" gion. " The king, who had never heard of these
particulars, did really believe that the paper was
forged, and answered, " he did not believe that there
" were such laws :" and when he came to his lodg-
ings, he gave the chancellor the paper, and bade him
read it, and tell him, " whether such laws were in
" force in England. " He had heard before of the
scattering of those papers, and knew well who had
made the collection ; who had been a lawyer, and
was a protestant, but had too good an opinion of the
Roman catholics, and desired too much to be grate-
ful to them.

The chancellor found an opportunity the next
day to enlarge upon the paper to his majesty, and
informed him of " the seasons in which, and the
" occasions and provocations upon which, those laws
" had been made ; of the frequent treasons and con-
" spiracies which had been entered into by some
" Roman catholics, always with the privity and ap-
" probation of their priests and confessors, against
" the person and life of queen Elizabeth ; and after
" her death, of the infamous and detestable gun-
" powder treason to have destroyed king James and



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 107

" his posterity, with the whole nobility of the king- 1661.
" dom : so that in those times, the pope having ex-
" communicated the whole kingdom, and absolved
" the subjects from all their oaths of fidelity, there
" seemed no expedient to preserve the crown, but
" the using these severities against those who were
" professed enemies to it. But that since those
" times, that the Roman catholics had lived quietly,
" that rigour had not been used : and that the king
" his father's clemency towards those of that pro-
" fession (which clemency extended no further than
" the dispensing with the utmost rigour of the laws)
" was the ground of the scandal of his being po-
" pishly affected, that contributed as much to his
" ruin, as any particular malice in the worst of his
" enemies. "

The king hearkened attentively to all that was
said, and then answered, " that he could not doubt
" but there was some very extraordinary reason for
" the making such strange laws : but whatever the
* { reason then was, that it was at present and for
" many years past very evident, that there was no
" such malignity in the Roman catholics, that should
" continue that heavy yoke upon their necks. That
" he knew well enough, that if he were in England,
" he had not in himself the power to repeal any act
" of parliament, without the consent of parliament :
" but that he knew no reason why he might not
" profess, that he did not like those laws which
" caused men to be put to death for their religion ;
" and that he would do his best, if ever God re-
" stored him to his kingdom, that those bloody laws
" might be repealed. And that if there were no
" other reason of state than he could yet compre-



108 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. " hend, against the taking away the other penalties,
~" he should be glad that all those distinctions be-
" tween his subjects might be removed ; and that
" whilst they were all equally good subjects, they
" might equally enjoy his protection. " And his ma-
jesty did frequently, when he was in the courts of
catholic princes, and when he was sure to hear the
sharpness of the laws in England inveighed against,
enlarge upon the same discourse : and it had been a
very unseasonable presumption in any man, who
would have endeavoured to have dissuaded him from
entertaining that candour in his heart.

With this gracious disposition his majesty re-:
turned into England ; and received his catholic sub-
jects with the same grace and frankness, that he did
his other : and they took all opportunities to extol
their own sufferings, which they would have under-
stood to have been for him. And some very noble
persons there were, who had served his father very
worthily in the war, and suffered as largely after-
wards for having done so : but the number of those
was not great, but much greater than of those who
shewed any affection to him or for him, during the
time of his absence, and the government of the
usurper. Yet some few there were, even "of those
who had suffered most for his father, who did send
him supply when he was abroad, though they were
hardly able to provide necessaries for themselves :
and in his escape from Worcester, he received ex-
traordinary benefit, by the fidelity of many poor
people of that religion ; which his majesty was never
reserved in the remembrance of. And this gracious
disposition in him did not then appear ingrateful to
any. And then, upon an address made to the house



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 109

of peers in the name of the Roman catholics, for 1661.
some relaxation of those laws which were still in~
force against them, the house of peers appointed A commit-
that committee which is mentioned before, to ex- lords for re -
amine and report all those penal statutes, which p^afiLw
reached to the taking away the life of any Roman " mnst lhe

' J Roman ca-

catholic, priest, or layman, for his religion ; there not thoiics.
appearing one lord in the house, who seemed to be
unwilling that those laws should be repealed. And
after that committee was appointed, the Roman ca-
tholic lords and their friends for some days diligently
attended it, and made their observations upon seve-
ral acts of parliament, in which they desired ease.
But on a sudden this committee was discontinued,
and never after revived ; the Roman catholics never
afterwards being solicitous for it.

The argument was now to be debated amongst
themselves, that they might agree what would
please them : and then there quickly appeared that The Roman
discord and animosity between them, that never disagree*
was nor ever will be extinguished ; and of which ^
the state might make much other use than it hath
done. The lords and men of estates were not satis-
fied, in that they observed the good-nature of the
house did not appear to extend further, than the
abolishing those laws which concerned the lives of
the priests, which did not much affect them : for
besides that those spectacles were no longer grateful
to the people, they were confident that they should
not be without men to discharge those functions;
and the number of such was more grievous to them
than the scarcity. That which they desired was,
the removal of those laws, which being let loose
would deprive them of so much of their estates, that



110 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

16C). the remainder would not preserve them from po-
~" verty. This indulgence would indeed be grateful to
them ; for the other they cared not. Nor were the
ecclesiastics at all pleased with what was proposed
for their advantage, but looked upon themselves as
deprived of the honour of martyrdom by this remis-
sion, that P they might undergo restraints, which
would be more grievous than death itself: and they
were very apprehensive, that there would remain
some order of them excluded, as there was even a
most universal prejudice against the Jesuits ; or that
there would be some limitation of their numbers,
which they well knew the catholics in general would
be very glad of, though they could not appear to de-
sire it 1.

There was a committee chosen amongst them of
the superiors of all orders, and of the secular clergy,
that sat at Arundel house, and consulted together
with some of the principal lords and others of the
prime quality of that religion, what they should say
or do in such and such cases which probably might
fall out. They all concluded, at least apprehended,
that they should never be dispensed with in respect
of the oaths, which were enjoined to be taken by all
men, without their submitting to take some other
oath, that might be an equal security of and for their
fidelity to the king, and the preservation of the
peace of the kingdom. And there had been lately
scattered abroad some printed papers, written by
some regular and secular clergy, with sober propo-
sitions to that purpose, and even the form of an oath
and subscription to be taken or made by all catho-

P that] and that 1 it] Not in MS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. Ill

lies; in which there was an absolute renunciation 1661.
or declaration against the temporal authority of the ~~
pope, which, in all common discourses amongst the
protestants, all Roman catholics made no scruple to
renounce and disclaim : but it coming now to be the
subject-matter of the debate in this committee, the
Jesuits declared with much warmth, " that they
" ought not, nor could they with a good conscience
" as catholics, deprive the pope of his temporal au-
" thority, which he hath in all kingdoms granted
" to him by God himself," with very much to that
purpose ; with which most of the temporal lords, and
very many of the seculars and regulars, were so
much scandalized, that the committee being broken
up for that time, they never attended it again ; the
wiser and the more conscientious men discerning, that
there was a spirit in the rest that was raised and
governed by a passion, of which they could not com-
prehend the ground. And the truth is, the Jesuits,
and they who adhered to them, had entertained
great hopes from the king's too much grace to them,
and from the great liberty they enjoyed ; and pro-
mised themselves and their friends another kind of
indulgence, than they saw was intended to them by
the house of peers. And this was the reason that
that committee was no more looked after, nor any
public address was any further prosecuted.

And from this time there 1 " every day appeared so upon which
much insolence 8 and indiscretion amongst the impru- n ,utwTs~
dent catholics, that they brought so many scandals JU
upon his majesty, and kindled so much jealousy in
the parliament, that there grew a general aversion

r there] there was

* appeared so much insolence] so much insolence appeared



112 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. towards them. And the king's party remembered,
with what wariness and disregard the Roman ca-
tholics had lived towards them in the whole time of
the usurpation ; and how little sorrow they made
show of upon the horrid murder of the king, (which
was then exceedingly taken notice of:) and they who
had been abroad with the king remembered, that
his majesty had received less regard and respect
from his catholic subjects, wherever he found them
abroad, than from any 1 foreign catholics; who always
received him with all imaginable duty, whilst his
own looked as if they had no dependance upon
him. And so we return to the parliament after its
adjournment.
The pariia- The parliament, that had been adjourned upon

ment meets . . . .

again. the thirtieth of July, met again upon the twentieth
of November, with the same zeal and affection to

*

advance the king's service. And the king himself
came to them upon the same day they met, and told

The king's them, " that he knew that visit was not of course ;

8peec ' " yet if there were no more in it, it would not be
" strange, that he came to see what he and they had
" so long desired to see, the lords spiritual and tem-
" poral, and the commons of England, met together
" to consult for the peace and safety of the church
" and state, by which parliaments were restored to
" their primitive lustre and integrity :" his majesty
said, " he did heartily congratulate with them for
" that day. " But he told them withal, " that he
" came thither upon another occasion ; which was
" to say somewhat to them on his own behalf, to
" ask somewhat of them for himself, which was

1 any] any other



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 113

" more than he had done of them, or of those who 1C6I
" met before them, since his coming into England. "~
" Nor did he think, that what he had to say to them
" did alone, or did most concern himself: if the un-
" easy condition he was in, if the straits and neces-
" sities he was to struggle with, did not manifestly
" relate to the public peace and safety, more than
" to his own particular, otherwise than as he was
" concerned in the public, he would not give them
" that trouble that day ; he could bear his necessi-
" ties which merely related to himself, with patience
" enough. "

He told them, " that he did not importune them
" to make more haste in the settling the constant
*' revenue of the crown, than was agreeable to the
" method they had proposed to themselves, nor to
" consider the insupportable weight that lay upon
" it, the obligations it lay under to provide for the
" interest, honour, and security of the nation, in an-
" other proportion than in any former times it had
" been obb'ged to : his majesty well knew, that they
" had very affectionately and worthily taken all that
" into their thoughts, and would proceed in it with
" expedition : but that he came to put them in mind
" of the crying debts which did every day call upon
" him, of some necessary provisions, which were to
" be made without delay for the very safety of the '
" kingdom, of the great sum of money that should
" be ready to discharge the several fleets when they
" came home, and for the necessary preparations
" that were to be made for the setting out new fleets
" to sea against the next spring. These were the
" pressing occasions which he Was forced to recom-
" mend to them with all possible earnestness, and

VOL. II. I



114 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. "he did conjure them to provide for as speedily
" as was possible, and in such a manner as might
" give them security at home, and some reputation
" abroad. " His majesty said, " that he made this
" discourse to them with some confidence, because
" he was very willing and desirous that they should
" thoroughly examine, whether those necessities
" which he mentioned were real or imaginary, or
" whether they were fallen upon him by his own
" fault, his own ill managery, or excesses, and pro-
" vide for them accordingly. He was very willing
" that they should make a full inspection into his
" revenue, as well the disbursements as receipts ;
" and if they should find that it had been ill ma-
" naged by any corruptions in the officers he trusted,
" or by his own unthriftiness, he should take the
" advice and information they should give him very
" kindly. "

He told them, " that he was very sorry that the
" general temper and affections of the nation were
" not so well composed, as he hoped they would
" have been, after so signal blessings from God Al-
" mighty upon them all, and after so great indul-
" gence and condescensions from him towards all in-
" terests. But that there were many wicked instru-
" ments still as active as ever, who laboured night and
" day to disturb the public peace, and to make all peo-
" pie jealous of each other : it would be worthy their
" care and vigilance to provide proper remedies for
" the diseases of that kind ; and if they should find
" new diseases, they must study new remedies. For
" those difficulties which concerned matters in re-
" ligion," his majesty confessed to them, " that they
" were too hard for him ; and therefore he did re-



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 115

" commend them to their care and discretion, which I6G1.
" could best provide for them. "

The two houses were abundantly pleased with all
that his majesty had said to them, and immediately
betook them to the consideration of those particu-
lars, which he had principally recommended to them.
And though for the present they looked upon that
clause of his majesty's speech, wherein he referred
to them to make an inspection into his revenue and
his expenses, but as a generous and princely conde-
scension, which would not become them to make use
of, (nor indeed had they at that time the least pre-
judice to or jealousy of any, who were of the nearest
trust about his majesty ;) yet four years after, when
the expenses had grown to be much greater, and it
may be all disbursements not so warrantable, and
when the factions in court and parliament were at a
great height, and men made use of public pretences
to satisfy their private animosities and malice, they
made use of that frank offer of his majesty, to en-
title themselves to make inquisition into public and
private receipts and disbursements, in a very extra-
ordinary manner never practised before.

Let no man wonder, that within so little time as The reasons
a year and a half, or very little more, after the j^s 'debts
king's return, that is, from May to November in the w r e e so
next year, and after so great sums of money raised
by acts of parliament upon the people, his majesty's
debts could be so crying and importunate, as to dis-
turb him to that degree as he expressed. It was
never enough understood, that in all that time he
never received from the parliament more than the
seventy thousand pounds towards his coronation ; nor
were the debts which were now so grievous to him

I 2



116 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. contracted by himself, (though it cannot be supposed
"but that he had contracted debts himself in that
time:) all the money that had been given and
raised had been applied to the payment of the
land and sea forces, and had done neither. Parlia-
ments do seldom make their computations right,
but reckon what they give to be much more than is
ever received, and what they are to pay to be as
much less than in truth they owe ; so that when all
the money that was collected was paid, there re-
mained still very much due to the soldiers, and
much more to the seamen : and the clamour from
both reached the king's ears, as if they had been le-
vied by his warrant and for his service. And his
majesty understood too well, by the experience of
the ill husbandry of the last year, when both the
army and the ships were so long continued in pay,
for want of money to disband and pay them off,
what the trouble and charge would be, if the several
fleets should return before money was provided to
discharge the seamen ; and for that the clamour
would be only upon him.

But there was an expense that he had been en-
gaged in from the time of his return, and by which
he had contracted a great debt, of which very few
men could take notice ; nor could the king think
fit to discover it, till he had first provided against
the mischief which might have attended the disco-
very. It will hardly be* believed, that in so warlike
an age, and when the armies and fleets of Eng-
land had made more noise in the world for twenty
years, had fought more battles at land and sea, than
all the world had done besides, or any one people
had done in any age before ; and when at his ma-



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 117

jesty's return there remained a hundred ships at 1661.
sea, and an army of near threescore thousand men"
at land ; there should not be in the Tower of Lon-
don, and in all the stores belonging to the crown,
fire-arms enough, nor indeed of any other kind, to
arm three thousand men ; nor powder and naval
provisions enough to set out five ships of war.

From the death of Cromwell, no care had been
taken for supplies of any of the stores. And the
changes which ensued in the government, and put-
ting out and in new officers ; the expeditions of
Lambert against sir George Booth, and afterwards
into the north ; and other preparations for those
factions and parties which succeeded each other ;
and the continual opportunities which the officers
had for embezzlement ; and lastly, the setting out
that fleet which was sent to attend upon the king
for his return ; had so totally drained the stores
of all kinds, that the magazines were no better re-
plenished than is mentioned before : which as soon
as his majesty knew, as he could not be long ig-
norant of it, the first care he took was to conceal
it, that it might not be known abroad or at home, in
how ill a posture he was to defend himself against
an enemy. And then he committed the care of
that province to a noble person, whom he knew he
could not trust too much, and made sir William
Compton master of the . ordnance, and made all the
shifts he could devise for monies, that the work
might be begun. And hereby insensibly he had
contracted a great debt : and these were part of the
crying debts, and the necessary provisions which
were to be made without delay for the very safety
of the kingdom, which he told the parliament.



118 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1661. Arid in this he had laboured so effectually, that at
~ the time when the first Dutch war was entered into,
all the stores were more completely supplied and
provided for, and the ships and all naval provisions
in greater strength and plenty, than they had ever
been in the reign of any former king, or in the time
of the usurper himself.

That part of the king's speech, of the distempers
in the nation by the differences in religion, which
he confessed were too hard for him, and recom-
mended the composing them to their care and deli-
beration, gives me a seasonable opportunity to enter
upon the relation, how that affair stood at that time,
and how far the distractions of those several factions
were from being reconciled, though episcopacy seem-
ed to be fully restored, and the bishops to their votes
in parliament ; which had been looked upon as the
most sovereign remedy, to cure, reform, or extin-
An account guish all those maladies. The bishops had spent

oftherevi- C

sai of the the vacation in making such alterations in the
Book of Common Prayer, as they thought would
make it more grateful to the dissenting brethren,
for so the schismatical party called themselves ; and
such additions, as in their judgments the temper of
the present time and the past miscarriages required.
It was necessarily to be presented to the convoca-
tion, which is the national synod of the church ; and
that did not sit during the recess of the parliament,
and so came not together till the end of November :
where the consideration of it took up much time ;
all men offering such alterations and additions, as
were suitable to their own fancies, and the obser-
vations which they had made in the time of confu-
sion.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 119
The bishops were not all of one mind. Some of



them, who had greatest experience, and were in Solueofthe
truth wise men, thought it best " to restore and bish P s &

against all

" confirm the old Book of Common Prayer, without alterations

" any alterations and additions ; and that it would turgy.

" be the best vindication the Liturgy and govern-

" ment of the church could receive, that after so

" many scandals and reproaches, cast upon both, and

" after a bloody rebellion and a war u of twenty

" years, raised, as was pretended, principally against

** both, and which had prevailed and triumphed in

" the total suppression and destruction of both, they

" should now be restored to be in all respects the

" same they had been before. Whereas any altera-

" tions and additions (besides the advantage it might

" give to the common adversary, the papist, who

" would be apt to say that we had reformed and

" changed our religion again) would raise new scru-

" pies in the factious and schismatical party, that

" was ashamed of all the old arguments, which had

" so often been answered, and stood at present ex-

" ploded in the judgment of all sober men ; but

" would recover new spirits to make new objections,

" and complain that the alterations and additions

" are more grievous and burdensome to the liberty

" of their conscience, than those of which they had

" formerly complained. "

Others, equally grave, of great learning and un- others of
blemished reputation, pressed earnestly both for the earnestly"
alterations and additions ; said, " that it was a com- fo '
" mon reproach upon the government of the church,
" that it would not depart from the least unneces-

11 a war] wars
I 4



120 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 66 L " sary expression or word, nor explain the most in-



" significant ceremony ; which would quiet or re-
" move the doubts and jealousies of many conscien-
" tious men, that they did in truth signify somewhat
" that was not intended : and therefore, since some
" powerful men of that troublesome party had made
" it their earnest request, that some such alterations
" and additions might be made x , and professed that
'*. it would give great satisfaction to many very good
" men ; it would be great pity, now there was a fit
" opportunity for it, which had not been in former
" times of clamour, not to gratify them in those
" small particulars, which did not make any impor-
" tant difference from what was before. " It may be
there were some, who believed that the victory and
triumph of the church would be with the more lus-
tre, if somewhat were inserted, that might be un-
derstood to reflect upon the rude and rebellious be-
haviour of the late times, which had been regulated
and conducted by that clergy : and so both additions
and alterations were made.

The former But the truth is, what show of reason soever and
m P orepn^ e appearance of charity the latter opinion seemed to
dent. carry with it, the former advice was the more pru-
dent, and would have prevented many inconve-
niences which ensued. Whatever had been pre-
tended or desired, the alterations which were made
to please , them did not reduce one of them to the
obedience of the church ; and the additions raised
the clamour higher than it had been. And when it
was evident that they should not be left longer
without a Liturgy, they cried aloud for the same

x be made] Omitted in MS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 121

they had before, though they had inveighed against J6G1.
it for near a hundred years together.



It is an unhappy policy, and always unhappily T
applied, to imagine that that classis of men can be Baking 7 '
recovered and reconciled by partial concessions, or ^ n t " e ss ^ s ns
granting less than they demand. And if all were senters -
granted, they would have more to ask, somewhat as
a security for the enjoyment of what is granted,
that shall preserve their power, and shake the whole
frame of the government. Their faction is their
religion : nor are those combinations ever entered
into upon real and substantial motives of conscience,
how erroneous soever, but consist of many glutinous
materials, of will, and humour, and folly, and kna-
very, and ambition, and malice, which make y men
cling inseparably together, till they have satisfaction
in all their pretences, or till they are absolutely
broken and subdued, which may always be more
easily done than the other. And if some few, how
signal soever, (which often deceives us,) are sepa-
rated and divided from the herd upon reasonable
overtures, and secret rewards which make the over-
tures look the more reasonable ; they are but so
many single men, and have no more credit and au-
thority (whatever they have had) with their com-
panions, than if they had never known them, rather
less; being less mad than they were makes them
thought to be less fit to be believed. And they,
whom z you think you have recovered, carry always
a chagrin about them, which makes them good for
nothing, but for instances to divert you from any
more of that kind of traffick.

y make] makes z whom] who



122 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1661. And it is very strange, that the clergy did not at



this time remember what had so lately befallen the
poor church of Scotland, upon the transmission of
their Liturgy, which had been composed with this
very prospect that now dazzled their eyes. " To
" receive a Liturgy from England was below the dig-
" nity of that nation, which were governed by their
" own laws, without a dependance upon any other.
" Besides there were many errors in that Liturgy
" that they could never submit to, and some defects
" which ought to be supplied ; and if such a one
" should be compiled, in which all those exceptions,
*' which were well enough known, might be provided
" for, they would gladly receive it. " All this was
carefully performed ; and what reception it had af-
terwards is too well known, and will ever be remem-
bered by the scars which still remain from those
wounds. And then the great objection that was
most impudently urged was, " that it differed from
" the Liturgy of the church of England, which they
" were ready to have received, and would have de-
" clared to the world, that the two nations had but
" one religion ; whereas the book sent to them would
" have manifested the contrary, and was the pro-
" duct of a few particular men, to whose spirit and
" humour they would not sacrifice their native li-
" berty of conscience. "

None of the They of the same fraternity in England at this
gaTneTby present governed themselves by the same method,
the conces- though, God be thanked, not yet with the same suc-

sions now

made. cess. And there is great reason to believe, that the
very men, who laboured so much for the alterations

a without] with



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 123

which were made, and professed to receive so much 1661.
satisfaction in them, did it for no other end, but to~
procure more opportunity to continue and enlarge
the contentions ; and to gain excuse and credit to
the ill things they had done, by the redress and re-
paration that was given them in the amendment of
many particulars, against which they had always
complained. There was not one of them who had
used that importunity and made that profession,
who afterwards was conformable to the government
of the church, or frequented those churches where
or when the Liturgy was used.

Whilst the clergy was busy and solicitous to pre- 1662.
pare this remedy for the present distempers, the preachers
people of all the several factions in religion assumed much* H-
more license than ever they had done. The pres- cense -
byterians in all their pulpits inveighed against the
Book of Common Prayer that they expected, and
took the same liberty to inveigh against the govern-
ment of the church, as they had been accustomed
to before the return of the king ; with reflections b
upon the persons of the bishops, as if they assumed
a jurisdiction that was yet at least suspended. And
the other factions in religion, as if by concert, took
the same liberty in their several congregations.
The anabaptists and the quakers made more noise
than ever, and assembled together in greater num-
bers, and talked what reformations they expected in
all particulars. These insolences offended the par-
liament very much : and the house of commons
expressed much impatience, that the Liturgy was so
long in preparation, that the act of uniformity might

b reflections] reflection



124 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. without delay be passed and published; not with-
~ out some insinuations and reflections, that his ma-
jesty's candour, and admission of all persons to resort
to his presence, and his condescension to confer with
them, had raised their spirits to an insolence insup-
portable ; and that nothing could reduce them to the
temper of good subjects, but the highest severity.

It is very true, from the time of his majesty's
coming into England, he had not been reserved in
the admission of those who had been his greatest
enemies, to his presence. The presbyterian ministers
he received with grace ; and did believe that he
should work upon them by persuasions, having been
well acquainted with their common arguments by
the conversation he had had in Scotland, and was
very able to confute them. The independents had
as free access, both that he might hinder any con-
junction between the other factions, and because
they seemed wholly to depend upon his majesty's
will and pleasure, without resorting to the parlia-
ment, in which they had no confidence; and had
rather that episcopacy should flourish again, than
that the presbyterians should govern. The king
had always admitted the quakers for his divertise-
ment and mirth, because he thought, that of all the
factions they were the most innocent, and had least
of malice in their natures against his person and his
government : and it was now too late, though he
had a worse opinion of them all, to restrain them
from coming to him, till there should be some law
made to punish them; and therefore he still called
upon the bishops, to cause the Liturgy to be expe-
dited in the convocation. And finding that those
distempers had that influence upon the house of



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 125

commons, that the displeasure and jealousy which ifi62.
they conceived from thence did retard their coun-~~
sels, and made them less solicitous to advance his
service in the settling his revenue, they having sat
near three months after their coming together again
upon their adjournment, without making any con-
siderable progress in it; he sent for the speaker and The king
the house of commons to attend him at Whitehall, the house of
where he spake unto them, though very graciously, Jo "ttend
in a style that seemed to have more of expostulation w '," {J ha)1
and reprehension than they had been accustomed to. March '
He said, " he spake his heart to them when he His s P eech

'to them.

" told them, that he did believe, that from the first
" institution of parliaments to that hour, there had
" never been a house of commons fuller of affection
" and duty to their king, than they were to him ;
" never any that was more desirous and solicitous
" to gratify their king, than they were to oblige
" him ; never a house of commons, in which there
" were fewer persons without a full measure of zeal
" for the honour and welfare of the king and coun-
" try, than there are in this : in a word," he said,
" he knew most of their persons and names, and
" could never hope to find better men in their places.
" Yet after all this, he could not but lament, and
" even complain, that he and they and the kingdom
" were yet without that present fruit and advantage,
" which they might reasonably promise themselves
" from such a harmony of affections, and unity in
" resolutions to advance the public service, and to
" provide for the peace and security of the kingdom ;
" that they did not expedite those good counsels,
" which were most necessary for both. He knew
" not how it came to pass, but for many weeks past,



126 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 662. even since their last adjournment, private and par-
" ticular business had almost thrust the considera-
" tion of the public out of doors ; and he did not
" know that they were nearer the settling his re-
" venue, than they had been at Christmas. He was
" sure he had communicated his condition to them
" without reserve ; what he had coming in, and
" what his necessary disbursements were. And," he
said, " he was exceedingly deceived, if whatever
" they gave him were any otherwise given to him,
" than to be issued out for their own use and be-
" nefit ; and if they considered it well, they would
" find that they were the richer by what they gave,
" since it was all to be laid out that they might en-
" joy the rest in peace and security. "

He said, " he need not put them in mind of the
" miserable effects, that had attended the wants and
" necessities of the crown ; that he needed not to
" tell them, that there was a republican party still
" in the kingdom, which had the courage still to
" promise themselves another revolution : and he
" thought he had as little need to tell them, that
" the only way, with God's blessing, to disappoint
" their hopes, and indeed to reduce them from
" those extravagant hopes and desires, was, to let
" them see that they had so provided for the crown,
<( that it had wherewithal to support itself, and
" to secure his people ; which he was sure was all
" he desired, and desired only for their preserva-
" tion. Therefore he conjured them, by all the pro-
" fessions of affection which they had made to him,
" by all the kindness which he knew they had for
" him, that they would, after all their deliberations,
" betake themselves to some speedy resolutions, and



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 127

" settle such a real and substantial revenue upon 16G2.
" him, as might hold some proportion with the ne-~~
" cessary expenses he was at for the peace and be-
" nefit and honour of the kingdom ; that they who
" looked for troubles at home might despair of their
" wishes ; and that our neighbours abroad, by seeing
" that all is well at home, might have that esteem
" and value of his majesty, as might secure the ho-
" nour and interest of the nation, and make the
" happiness of the kingdom and of that city once
" more the admiration and envy of the world. " _

He tpld them, " that he heard that they were
" very zealous for the church, and very solicitous
" and even jealous that there was not expedition
" enough used in that affair : he thanked them for
" it, since he presumed that it proceeded from a
" good root of piety and devotion. But,", he said,
" that he must tell them, that he had the worst luck
" in the world, if after all the reproaches of being a
" papist while he was abroad, he was suspected to
" be a presbyterian now he was come home. He
" knew they would not take it unkindly, if he told
" them, that he was as zealous for the church of
" England as any of them could be, and was enough
" acquainted with the enemies of it on all sides ; that
" he was as much in love with the Book of Common
" Prayer as they could wish, and had prejudice
" enough to those who did not love it, who he hoped
" in time would be better informed, and so change
" their minds ; and they might be confident, he did
" as much desire to have an uniformity settled, as
" any man amongst them. He prayed them to trust
" him in that affair, and promised them to hasten
" the despatch of it with all convenient speed ; they



128 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. " might rely upon him in it. " He said, " he had
~~" transmitted the Book of Common Prayer, with
" those alterations and additions which had been
" presented to him by the convocation, to the house
" of peers with his approbation, that the act of uni-
" formity might relate to it ; so that he presumed
" that it would shortly be despatched there : and
" that when they had done all they could," he said,
" the well settling that affair would require great
" prudence and discretion, and the absence of all
" passion and precipitation.
"

His majesty concluded with assuring them, " that
" he did promise himself great fruits from that con-
" versation he had with them, and that they would
"justify the confidence he had in their affections,
" by letting the world see, that they took his con-
" cernments to heart, and were ready to do what-
" soever he desired for the peace and welfare of the
. " kingdom. "

The Liturgy When the Book of Common Prayer was, by the
king's command, presented to the house of lords by
* ne * w archbishops (for it had been approved c by



king's cou- th e convocation of the province of York, as well as

nriuation;

by d that of Canterbury) confirmed by his majesty
under the great seal of England ; the book itself
took up no debate : only the earl of Northumberland
proposed, " that the old Book of Common Prayer
" might be confirmed without any alteration or ad-*
" dition, and then the same act of uniformity,
" that had been in the time of queen Elizabeth,
" would be likewise applied to it ; whereas a new
" act of uniformity might take up much time and

c approved] approved as well. ' by] of



. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 129

*' raise much debate, all which would be avoided by 1 662.
" adhering to the old. "

Whatever that lord's opinion was, he was known
to be of the presbyterian party. And it was answer-
ed, " that if that proposition had been heartily made
" when the king came into England, it would have
" met with a general approbation, and prevented
" much sharpness and animosity, which had since
" risen by those who opposed that excellent form.
" But after the clergy had so bitterly inveighed
" against many parts thereof, and prevailed with
" his majesty to suspend the use of it till it might
" be revised, as by his declaration of the five and
" twentieth of October he had done, and thereupon
" had granted his commission under the great seal
" of England to several bishops and other divines,
" to review the Book of Common Prayer, and to
" prepare such alterations and additions as they
" thought fit to offer;, and that afterwards his ma-
" jesty had been pleased to authorize the convoca-
" tions of both the provinces of Canterbury and
" York, called and assembled by his majesty's au-
" thority, to review the said Book of Prayer, and
" the Book of the Form and Manner of the making
" and consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ;
" and that now after the bishops and clergy of both
" provinces had, upon great deliberation and upon
" reviewing those books, prepared and consented to
" some alterations, and to the addition of several
" prayers to be used upon emergent occasions, all
" which his majesty had already ratified and con-
" firmed ; it could not but be understood matter of
" great levity and offence, to reject this book, that
" was now with all this ceremony and solemnity

VOL. II. K



130 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

16G2. " presented, for no other reason but because they

~ " liked better the old book, which had been for

" twenty years discontinued and rejected. " And

therefore it was moved, " that there might not be

" such an affront put upon the convocation, and

And con- " upon the king himself. " And so with little more

by n them! public contest the book itself was consented and

submitted to.

But then the act of uniformity depended long,
and took up much debate in both houses. In the
house of peers, where the act first began, there were
many things inserted, which had not been con-
tained in the former act of uniformity, and so seemed
Debates to carry somewhat of novelty in them d . It admitted
the f act oT " no person to have any cure of souls or any eccle-
(( siastical dignity in the church of England, but
" such who had been or should be ordained priest
" or deacon by some bishop, that is, who had not
" episcopal ordination ; excepting only the ministers
" or pastors of the French and Dutch churches in
" London and other places, allowed by the king,
" who should enjoy the privileges they had. "

This was new ; for there had been many, and at
present there were some, who possessed benefices
with cure of souls, and other ecclesiastical promo-v
tions, who had never received orders but in France
or in Holland; and these men must now receive
new ordination, which had been always held unlaw-
ful in the church, or by this act of parliament must
be deprived of their livelihood, which they enjoyed
in the most flourishing and peaceable time of the
church. And therefore it was said, " that this had

d in them] in it



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 131

" not been the opinion of the church of England ; iGG2.
" and that it would lay a great reproach upon all v on the
" other protestant churches who had no bishops, as clau f e re -

* . quiring

" if they had no ministers, and consequently were episcopal
" no churches : for that it was well known the church r<
" of England did not allow reordination, as the an-
" cient church never admitted it ; insomuch as if
" any priest of the church of Rome renounces the
" communion thereof, his ordination is not ques-
" tioned, but he is as capable of any preferment in
" this church, as if he had been ordained in it. And
" therefore the not admitting the ministers of other
" protestants to have the same privilege, can proceed
" from no other ground, than that they looked not
" upon them as ministers, having no ordination ;
" which is a judgment the church of England had
" not ever owned : and that it would be very im-
" prudent to do it now. "

To this it was answered, " that the church of
" England judged none but her own children, nor
" did f determine that other protestant churches
" were without ordination. It is a thing without
" her 8 cognizance : and most of the learned men of
" those churches had made necessity the chief pillar
" to support that ordination of theirs. That neces-
" sity cannot be pleaded here, where ordination is
" given according to the unquestionable practice of
" the church of Christ : if they who pretend foreign
" ordination are his majesty's subjects, they have no
" excuse of necessity, for they might in all times
" have received episcopal ordination, and so they
" did upon the matter renounce their own church ;

f did] did not * her] their

K 2



132 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. " if they are strangers, and pretend to preferment in
~~ " this church, they ought to conform and to be sub-
'* ject to the laws of the kingdom, which concern
*' only those who desire to live under the protection
" thereof 11 . For the argument of reordination, there
" is no such thing required. Rebaptization is not
" allowed in or by any church : yet in all churches
" where it is doubted, as it may be often with very
" good reason, whether the person hath been bap-
" tized or no, or if it hath been baptized by a mid-
" wife or lay person ; without determining the vali-
" dity or invalidity of such baptism, there is an hy-
" pothetical form, ' If thou hast not been already
" baptized, I do baptize,' &c. So in this case of or-
" dination, the form may be the same, * If thou hast
" not been already ordained, then I do ordain,' &c.
" If his former ordination were good, this is void ; if
" the other was invalid or defective, he hath reason
" to be glad that it be thus supplied. " After much
debate, that clause remained still in the act : and
very many, who had received presbyterian orders in
the late times, came very willingly to be ordained
in the manner aforesaid by a bishop ; and very few
chose to quit or lose a parsonage or vicarage of any
value upon that scruple.
A clamour There was another clause in the bill, that made

afterwards

raised about very much more noise afterwards, though for the
present it took not up so much time, and in truth
was little taken notice of: that is, a form of sub-
scription that every man was to make, who had ' re-
ceived, or before he received, any benefice or prefer-
ment in the church ; which comprehended all the

h thereof] Omitted in MS. * had] Not in MS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON.

governors, superiors, and fellows, in all the col- 1662.
leges and halls of either university, and all school-""
masters and the like, who are subservient towards
learning. Every such person was to declare " his
" unfeigned assent and consent to all and every
" thing contained and prescribed in and by the book
" entitled The Book of Common Prayer," &c. The
subscription was generally thought so reasonable,
that it scarce met with any opposition in either
house. But when it came abroad, and was to be
submitted to, all the dissenting brethren cried out,
" that it was a snare to catch them, to say that
" which could not consist w T ith their consciences k . "
They took great pains to distinguish and to make
great difference between assent and consent : " they
" could be content to read the book in the manner
" they were obliged to do, which shewed their con-
" sent ; but declaring their unfeigned assent to every
" thing contained and prescribed therein would im-
" ply, that they were so fully convinced in their
" judgments, as to think that it was so perfect, that
" nothing therein could be amended, which for their
" part they thought there might. That there were
" many expressions in the rubric, which they were
" not bound to read ; yet by this assent they de-
" clared their approbation thereof. " But after many
tedious discourses of this tyrannical imposition, they
grew by degrees ashamed of it ; and were persuaded
to think, that assent and consent had so near the
same signification, that they could hardly consent to
do what they did not assent to : so * that the chiefest

k consciences] conscience ' so] Not in MS,

K 3



134 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. amongst them, to avoid a very little inconvenience,



subscribed the same.

The bin But there was shortly after another clause added,
the lords, that gave them trouble indeed. When the bill had
passed the lords' house, it was sent of course to the
commons ; where though all the factions in religion
had too many friends, for the most contrary and op-
posite one to another always were united and recon-
ciled against the church, yet they who were zealous
for the government, and who hated all the other fac-
tions at least enough, were very much superior in
number and in reputation. And the bill was no sooner
read there, than every man according to his passion
thought of adding somewhat to it, that might make
it more grievous to somebody whom he did not
love ; which made the discourses tedious and vehe-
ment and full of animosity. And at last they agreed



meats made , i i , t ,1 i ,

by the upon a clause, which contained another subscription

commons.





an( ^ declaration, which every man m was to make
before he could n be admitted into any benefice or
ecclesiastical promotion, or to be a governor or fellow
in either of the universities. He must first declare,
'* that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatsoever,
" to take arms against the king ; and that he doth
" abhor that traitorous position of taking arms by
" his authority against his person, or against those
" that are commissioned by him ; and that he will
" conform to the Liturgy of the church of England,
" as it is now by law established. " And he doth
declare, " that he doth hold there v lies no obligation
" upon him, or on any other person, from the oath

m man] Omitted in MS. or] of

" could] can P there] that there



v EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 135

" commonly called The solemn League and Covenant, 1 662.
" to endeavour any change or alteration of govern-""
" ment, either in church or state ; and that the same
" was in itself an unlawful oath, and imposed upon
" the subjects of this realm against the known laws
" and liberties of the kingdom ;" with some other
clauses, which need not be mentioned, because they
were afterwards left out. And with this addition, The bin re-
and some other alterations, they returned the bill the lords.
again to the lords for their approbation.

The framing and forming this clause had taken
up very much time, and raised no less passion in the
house of commons ; and now it came among the
lords, it was not less troublesome. It added to the
displeasure and jealousy against the bishops, by
whom it was thought to be prepared, and com-
mended to their party in the lower house. Many
lords, who had taken the covenant, were not so
much concerned that the clergy (for whom only this
act was prepared) should be obliged to make this
declaration ; but apprehended more, that when such
a clause should be once passed in one act of parlia-
ment, it could not after be disputed, and so would
be inserted into all other acts which related to the
. function of any other offices, and so would in a short
time be required of themselves. And therefore they Debates

. . . , upon the

opposed it warmly, " as a thing unnecessary, and amend-
" which would widen the breach, instead of closing y e " h s n
" up the wounds that had been made ; which the
" king had made it his business to do, and the par-
" liament had hitherto concurred with his majesty
" in that endeavour. That many men would believe
" or fear, (which in such a case is the same,) that
" this clause might prove a breach of the act of in-

K 4



e com-
mons.



136 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. " demnity, which had not only provided against in-
"~" dictments and suits at law and penalties, but
" against reproaches for what was past, which this
" clause would be understood to give new life to.
" For what concerned the conformity to the Liturgy
" of the church as it is now established, it is pro-
" vided for as fully in the former subscription in this
" act, and therefore is impertinent in this place.
" That the covenant contained many good things
" in it, as defending the king's person, and main-
" taining the protestant religion : and therefore to
" say that there lies no obligation from ^ it, would
" neither be for the service of the king or the in-
" terest of the church ; especially since it was well
" known, that it had wrought upon the conscience
" of many to serve the king in the late revolution,
tf from which his majesty had received great advan-
" tage. However it was now dead, all men were
" absolved from taking it, nor could it be imposed
" or offered to any man without punishment ; and
" they, who had in the ill times been forced to take
" it, did now inviolably and cheerfully perform 11
" the duties of allegiance and fidelity to his majesty.
" If it had at any time produced any good, that was
" an excuse for the irregularity of it : it could do
" no mischief for the future ; and therefore that it
" was time to bury it in oblivion. "

Many men believed, that though they insisted
principally on that part which related to the cove-
nant, they r were in truth more afflicted with the
first part ; in which it was declared, " that it was
" not lawful, upon any pretence whatsoever, to take

i from] upon r they] that they



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 137

"arms against the king; and that he doth abhor 1662.
" that traitorous position s of taking arms by his au- ~~
" thority against his person :" which conclusions
had been the principles which supported their rebel-
lion, and by which they had imposed upon the peo-
ple, and got their concurrence. They r durst not
oppose this, because the parliament had already by
a former act declared the law to be so in those par-
ticulars : yet this went much nearer to them, that
by their own particular declaration (for they looked
upon it as that which in a short time must be their
own) they should upon the matter confess them-
selves to have been traitors, which they had not yet
been declared to have been ; and no man could now
justify the calling them so.

They who were most solicitous that the house
should concur with the commons in this addition,
had fieldroom enough to expatiate upon the gross
iniquity of the covenant. They made themselves
very merry with the allegation, " that the king's
" safety and the interest of the church were provided
" for by the covenant, when it had been therefore
" entered into, to fight against the king and to de-
" stroy the church. That there was no one lawful
" or honest clause in the covenant, that was not
" destroyed or made of no signification by the next
" that succeeded ; and if it were not, the same obli-
" gation was better provided for by some other
" oaths, which the same men had or ought to have
" taken, and which ought to have restrained them
" from taking the covenant : and therefore it may
" justly be pronounced, that there is no obligation

i
s position] proposition



138 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. " upon any man from thence. That there was no
~~ " breach of the act of indemnity, nor any reproach
" upon any man for having taken it, except what
" would result from his own conscience. But that
" it was most absolutely necessary, for the safety of
" the king's person, and the peace of the kingdom,
" that they who had taken it should declare, that
" they do not believe themselves to be bound by it :
" otherwise they may still think, that they may
" fight against the king, and must conspire the de-
" struction of the church. And they cannot take
" too much care, or use too much diligence, to dis-
" cover who are of that opinion ; that they may be
" strictly looked unto, and restrained from doing
" that which they take themselves obliged to do.
" That the covenant is not dead, as was alleged, but
" still retains great vigour ; was still the idol to
" which the presbyterians sacrificed : and that there
" must and would always be a general jealousy of
" all those who had taken it, until they had de-
" clared that it did not bind them ; especially of the
4< clergy, who had so often enlarged in their pulpits,
** how absolutely and indispensably all men were fc
" obliged to prosecute the end u of it, which is to de-
" stroy the church, whatever danger it brings the
" king's person to. And therefore they of all men
" ought to be glad of this opportunity that was of-
" fered, to vindicate their loyalty and obedience ;
" and if they were not ready to do so, they were
" not fit to be trusted with the charge and care of
" the souls of the king's subjects. "

And in truth there were not any more importu-

1 were] are " end] ends



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 139

nate for the enjoining this declaration, than many 1662.
who had taken the covenant. Many who had never Thelcrds
taken it, and had always detested it, and paid consen * to

* most of llic

soundly for being known to do so, were yet very amend -

. nients.

sorry that it was inserted at this time and in this
place ; for they foresaw it would make divisions,
and keep up the several factions, which would have
been much weakened, and in a short time brought
to nothing, if the presbyterians had been separated
from the rest, who did perfectly hate and were as
perfectly hated by all the rest. But since it was
brought upon the stage, and it had been the subject
of so much debate, they believed the house of lords
could not now refuse to concur with the commons,
"without undergoing some reproach and scandal of
not x having an ill opinion enough of the covenant ;
of which as they were in no degree guilty, so they
thought it to be of mischievous consequence to be
suspected to be so. And therefore, after they had
expunged some other parts of that subscription
which had been annexed to it, and mended some
other expressions in other places, which might ra-
ther irritate than compose those humours which al-
ready boiled too much, they returned the bill to the
house of commons ; which submitted to all that they The com-
had done : and so it was presented to the king, who JriuTthT*
could not well refuse his royal assent, nor did in his lords '

. . . The king

own judgment or inclination dislike what was offered confirms

, . the bill.

to him.

By this act of uniformity there was an end put to
all the liberty and license, which had been practised
in all churches from the time of his majesty's re-

* not] Not in MS.



140 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. turn, and by his declaration that he had emitted
~~ afterwards. The Common Prayer must now be con-
stantly read in all churches, and no other form ad-
mitted : and what clergyman soever did not fully
conform to whatsoever was contained in that book,
or enjoined by the act of uniformity, by or before
St. Bartholomew-day, which was about three months
after the act was published ; he was ipso facto de-
prived of his benefice, or any other spiritual promo-
tion of which he stood possessed, and the patron was
to present another in his place, as if he were dead:
so that it was not in the king's power to give any
dispensation to any man, that could preserve him
against the penalty in the act of uniformity.

This act was no sooner published, (for I am will-
ing to continue this relation to the execution of it,
because there were some intervening accidents that
were not understood,) than all the presbyterian min-
isters expressed their disapprobation of it with all
The presby. the passion imaginable. They complained, " that

terian min- r J r

isters com- " the king had violated his promise made to them
" in his declaration from Breda," which was urged
with great uningenuity, and without any shadow of

ration. right; for his majesty had thereby referred the
whole settlement of all things relating to religion, to
the wisdom of parliament ; and declared, " in the
" mean time, that nobody should be punished or
" questioned, for continuing the exercise of his re-
" ligion in the way he had been accustomed to in the
" late confusions. " And his majesty had continued
this indulgence by his declaration after his return,
and thereby fully complied witji his promise from
Breda ; which he should indeed have violated, if he
had now refused to concur in the settlement the



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 141

parliament had agreed upon, being in truth no less 1662.
obliged to concur with the parliament in the settle- ~~
ment that the parliament should propose to him,
than he was not to cause any man to be punished
for not obeying the former laws, till a new settle-
ment should be made. But how evident soever this
truth is, they would not acknowledge it ; but armed
their proselytes with confident assertions, and un-
natural interpretations of the words in the king's
declaration, as if the king were bound to grant li-
berty of conscience, whatever the parliament should
or should not desire, that is, to leave all men to live
according to their own humours and appetites, let
what laws soever be made to the contrary. They
declared, " that they could not with a good con-
" science either subscribe the one or the other de-
" claration : they could not say that they did assent
" or consent in the first, nor declare in the second
f< that there remained no obligation from the cove-
" nant ; and therefore that they were all resolved to
" quit their livings, and to depend upon Providence
" for their subsistence. "

There cannot be a better evidence of the general The act '"

general well

affection of the kingdom, than that this act of par- received,
liament had so concurrent an approbation of the
two houses of parliament, after a suppression of that
form of devotion for near twenty years, and the
highest discountenance and oppression of all those
who were known to be devoted or affected to it. And
from the time of the king's return, when it was law-
ful to use it, though it was not enjoined, persons of
all conditions flocked to those churches where it
was used. And it was by very many sober men be-
lieved, that if the presbyterians and the other fac-



142 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. tions in religion had been only permitted to exercise

~ their own ways, without y any countenance from the

court, the heart of all the factions against the church

would have been broken, before the parliament did

so fully declare itself.

Reflections And there cannot be a greater manifestation of

on the be- D

of the distemper and license of the time, than the pre-
- sumption of those presbyterian ministers, in the
opposing and contradicting an act of parliament;
when there was scarce a man in that number, who
had not. been so great a promoter of the rebellion,
or contributed so much to it, that they had no
other title to their lives but by the king's mercy ;
and there z were very few amongst them, who had
not come into the possession of the churches they
now held, by the expulsion of the orthodox min-
isters who were lawfully possessed of them, and who
being by their imprisonment, poverty, and other
kinds of oppression and contempt during so many
years, departed this life, the usurpers remained un-
disturbed in their livings, and thought it now the
highest tyranny to be removed from them, though
for offending the law, and disobedience to the go-
vernment. That those men should give themselves
an act of oblivion of all their transgressions and
wickedness, and take upon them again to pretend a
liberty of conscience against the government, which
they had once overthrown upon their pretences ;
was such an impudence, as could not have fallen
into the hearts even of those men from the stock of
their own malice, without some great defect in the
government, and encouragement or countenance

v "without] with 7 there] that there



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 143

from the highest powers. The king's too gracious 1662.
disposition and easiness of access, as hath been said ~~
before, had from the beginning raised their hopes
and dispelled their fears ; whilst his majesty pro-
mised himself a great harvest in their conversion, by
his gentleness and affability. And they insinuated
themselves by a profession, " that it was more the
" regard of his service, than any obstinacy in them-
" selves, which kept them from conformity to what
" the law had enjoined ; that they might still pre-
" serve their credit with their parishioners, and by
" degrees bring them to a perfect obedience :" where-
as indeed all the corruption was in the clergy ; and
where a prudent and orthodox man was in the pul-
pit, the people very willingly heard the Common
Prayer.

Nor did this confidence leave them, after the pass- They have
ing and publishing this act of uniformity : but the access^
London ministers, who had the government of those th
in the country, prevailed with the general (who
without any violent inclinations of his own was al-
ways ready for his wife's sake) to bring them to the
king, who always received them with too much cle-
mency, and dismissed them with too much hope.
They lamented " the sadness of their condition,
" which (after having done so much service to his
" majesty, and been so graciously promised by him
" his protection) must now be exposed to all misery
" and famine. " They told him " what a vast num-
" ber of churches" (five times more than was true)
" would become void by this act, which would not
" prove for his service ; and that they much feared,
" the people would not continue as quiet and peace-
" able as they had been under their oversight. " They



144 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. used all the arguments they thought might work
~~ upon him ; and he seemed to be the more moved,
because he knew that it was not in his power to
help them. He told them, " he had great compas-
" sion for them ; and was heartily sorry that the
" parliament had been so severe towards them,
" which he would remit, if it were in his power ;
" and therefore that they should advise with their
" friends, and that if they found that it would be in
" his power to give them any ease, they should find
" him inclined to gratify them in whatsoever they
" desired :" which gracious expressions raised their
spirits as high as ever ; and they reported to their
friends much more than in truth the king had said
to them, (which was no new artifice with them,)
and advised their friends in all parts " to be firm to
" their principles," and assured them, " that the ri-
" gour of the act of parliament should not be pressed
" against them. "

It cannot be denied, that the king was too irre-
solute, and apt to be shaken in those counsels which
with the greatest . deliberation a he had concluded,
by too easily permitting, or at least not restraining,
any men who waited upon him, or were present
with him in his recesses, to examine and censure
what was resolved ; an infirmity that brought him
many troubles, and exposed his ministers to ruin :
though in his nature, judgment, and inclinations, he
did detest the presbyterians ; and by the experience
he had of their faculties, pride, and insolence in
Scotland, had brought from thence such an abhor-
rence of them, that for their sakes he thought

a deliberation] declaration



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 145

better of any of the other factions. Nor had he any ] 662.

kindness for any person whom he suspected to ad-

here to them : for the lord Lautherdale took all
pains to be thought no presby terian ; . and pleased
himself better with no humour, than laughing at
that people, and telling ridiculous stories of their
folly and fold corruptions. Yet the king, from the
opinion he had of their great power to do him good
or harm, which was oftentimes unskilfully insinuated
to him by men who he knew were not of their*
party, but were really deceived themselves by a
wrong computation and estimate of their interest,
was not willing to be thought an enemy to them.
And there were too many bold speakers about the
court, too often admitted into his presence, who be-
ing without any sense of religion, thought all rather
ought to be permitted, than to undergo any trouble
and disturbance on the behalf of any one.

The continued address and importunity of these
ministers, as St. Bartholomew's day approached
nearer, more disquieted the king. They enlarged
with many words " on the great joy that they and
" all their friends had received, from the compas-
" sion his majesty so graciously had expressed on
" their behalf, which they would never forget, or
" forfeit by any undutiful carriage. " They confessed
" that they found, upon conference with their friends
" who wished them well, and upon perusal of the
" act of parliament, that it was not in his majesty's
" power to give them so much protection against
" the penalty of the act of parliament, as they had
" hoped, and as his great goodness was inclined to
" give them. But that it would be an unspeakable
" comfort to them, if his majesty's grace towards

VOL. II. L



146 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. " them were so manifested, that the people might
" discern that this extreme rigour was not grateful
" to him, but that he could be well content if it
" were for some time suspended ; and therefore they
" were humble suitors to him, that he would by his
" letters to the bishops, or by a proclamation, or an
" act of council, or any other way his majesty should
" think fit, publish his desire that the execution of
" the act of uniformity, as to all but the reading of
" the Liturgy, which they would conform to, might
" be suspended for three months ; and that he would
" take it well from the bishops or any of the pa-
" trons, who would so far comply with his desire, as
" not to take any advantage of those clauses in the
" statute, which gave them authority to present as
" in a vacancy. They doubted not there would be
" many, who would willingly submit to his majesty's
" pleasure : but whatever the effect should be, they
" would pay the same humble acknowledgments to
" his majesty, as if it had produced all that they
" desired. "

Whether his majesty thought it would do them
no good, and therefore that it was no matter if he
granted it; or that he thought it no prejudice to
the church, if the act were suspended for three
months ; or that he was willing to redeem himself
from the present importunity, (an infirmity he was
too often guilty of;) true it is, he did make them a
The king positive promise, " that he would do what they de-
" sired ;" with which they were abundantly satis-

d, and renewed their encouragement to their
friends " to persevere to the end. " And this pro-
mise was solemnly given to them in the presence of
the general, who was to solicit the king's despatch,



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 147

that his pleasure might be known in due time. It 1662.
was now the long vacation, and few of the council
were then in town, or of the bishops, with whom
his majesty too late thought it necessary to confer,
that such an instrument might be prepared as was
fit for the affair. Hereupon the king told the chan-
cellor (who was not thought friend enough to the
presbyterians to be sooner communicated with) all
that had passed, what the ministers had desired,
and what he had promised ; and bade him " to
" think of the best way of doing it. "

The chancellor was one of those, who would have
been glad that the act had not been clogged with
many of those clauses, which he foresaw might pro-
duce some inconveniences; but when it was passed, he
thought it absolutely necessary to see obedience paid
to it without any connivance : and therefore, as he
had always dissuaded the king from giving so much
countenance to those applications, which he always
knew published more to be said than in truth was
ever spoken, and was the more troubled for this
progress they had made with the king ; he told his
majesty, " that it was not in his power to preserve
" those men, who did not submit to do all that was
" to be done by the act, from deprivation. " He
gave many reasons which occurred, why " such a
" declaration as was desired would prove ineffectual
" to the end for which it was desired,, and what
" inconveniences would result from attempting it. "
His majesty alleged many reasons for the doing it,
which he had received from those who desired it,
and seemed sorry that they were no better ; how-
ever concluded, " that he had engaged his word, and
" that he would perform what he had promised ;"

L 2



148 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. and required him not to oppose it. The chancellor
~~ had always been very tender of his honour ; and ad-
vised him " to be very wary in making any promise,
" but when he had made it, to perform it, though
" to his disadvantage :" and it was no new thing to
him, to be reproached for opposing the resolving to
do such or such a thing, and then to be reproached
again for pursuing the resolution.

The king was at Hampton-court, and sent for
the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London
and of Winchester, to attend him, with the chief
justice Bridgman, and the attorney general : there
were likewise the chancellor, the general, the duke
of Ormond, and the secretaries. His majesty ac-
quainteol them with " the importunities used by the
" London ministers, and the. reasons they had of-
" fered why a further time should be given to them
" to consider of what was so new to them ; and
" what answer he had given to them ; and how they
" had renewed their importunity with a desire of
" such a declaration from him as is mentioned be-
" fore, in which he thought there was no inconve-
HC endea- " nience, and therefore had promised to do it, and

vours to

fulfil his " called them now together to advise of the best
" way of doing it. " The bishops were very much
troubled, that those fellows should still presume to
give his majesty so much vexation, and that they
should have such access to him. They gave such
arguments against the doing what was desired, as
could not be answered; and for themselves, they
desired " to be excused for not conniving in any
" degree at the breach of the act of parliament,
" either by . not presenting a clerk where themselves
" were patrons, or deferring to give institution upon



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 149

" the presentation of others b : and that his majesty's 1 662.
" giving such a declaration or recommendation would ~~
" be the greatest wound to the church, and to the
" government thereof, that it could receive. "

The chancellor, who did really believe that the
king and his service would suffer more by the breach
of his word and promise, than either could do from
doing the thing desired, confessed " that he believed
" it would do them little good, which would not be
" imputed to his majesty, when he had done all he
" could do ; and that it would be a greater conform-
" ity, if the ministers generally performed what they
" offered to do, in reading all the service of the
" church, than had been these many years ; and that
" once having done what was known to be so con-
" trary to their inclinations, would be an engage-
" ment upon them in a short time to comply with
" the rest of their obligations : and therefore," he
said, " he should not dissuade his majesty from do-
" ing what he had promised ;" which indeed he had
good reason to think he was resolved to do, what-
ever he was advised to the contrary. The king de-
manded the judgment of the lawyers, " whether he
" could legally dispense with the observation of the
" act for three months;" who answered, " that not- But finds it
" withstanding any thing he could do in their fa-pwer.
" vour, the patrons might present their clerk as if
" the incumbents were dead, upon their not-perform-
" ance of what they were enjoined. " Upon the
whole matter the king was converted; and with
great bitterness against that people in general, and
against the particular persons whom he had always

b of others] Not in MS.
L 3



150 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. received too graciously, concluded that he would not
~" do what was desired, and that the connivance should
not be given to any of them.

The bishops departed full of satisfaction with the
king's resolution, and as unsatisfied with their friend
the chancellor's inclination to gratify that people,
not knowing the engagement that was upon him.
And this jealousy produced a greater coldness from
some of them towards him, and a greater resent-
ment from him, who thought he had deserved better
from their function and their persons, than was in
a long time, if ever, perfectly reconciled. Yet he
never declined in the least degree his zeal for the
government of the church, or the interest of those
The great persons ; nor thought they could be blamed for their
uuiTy ofthe sever *ty against those ministers, who were surely
presbyte- ^he proudest malefactors, and the most incapable of

nan mm- i

isters. being gently treated, of any men living. For if any
of the bishops used them kindly, and endeavoured
to persuade them to conformity, they reported " that
" they had been caressed and flattered by the bishops,
" and offered great preferments, which they had
" bravely refused to accept for the preservation of a
" good conscience :" and in reports of this kind, few
of them ever observed any rules of ingenuity or
sincerity.

They en- When they saw that they were to expect and
ndsedis- undergo the worst, they agreed upon a method to
the people! ^ observed by them in the leaving and parting with
their pulpits : and the last Sunday they were to
preach, they endeavoured to infuse murmur, jealousy,
and sedition, into the hearts of their several audito-
ries ; and to prepare them " to expect and bear with
" patience and courage all the persecutions which



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 151

** were like to follow, now the light of the gospel 1662.
" was so near being extinguished. " And all those""
sermons they called their farewell sermons, and
caused to be printed together, with every one of the
preachers' pictures before their sermons ; which in
truth contained all the vanity and ostentation with
reference to themselves, and all the insinuations to
mutiny and rebellion, that could be warily couched
in words which could not be brought within penalty
of law, though their meaning was well understood.

When the time was expired, better men were put
into their churches, though with much murmuring
of some of their parishes for a time, increased by
their loud clamour, " that they had been betrayed
" by the king's promise that they should have three
" months longer time :" which drew the like clamour
upon them by those, who had hearkened to their
advice in continuing their obstinacy in confidence of
a dispensation ; whereas otherwise they would have
conformed, as very many of their party did. And
many of the other who were cozened by them, and
so lost the livings they had, made all the haste they
could to make themselves capable of getting others,
by as full subscriptions and conformity as the act of
uniformity required. And the greatest of them, At length
after some time, and after they found that the pri-JJ^ "on-
vate bounty and donatives, which at first flowed in form -
upon them in compassion of their sufferings and to .
keep up their courages, every day begun to slacken,
and would in the end expire, subscribed to those
very declarations, which they had urged as the
greatest motives to their nonconformity. And the
number was very small, and of very weak and in-
considerable men, that continued refractory, and

L 4



152 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1662. received no charge in the church: though it may
""without breach of charity be believed, that many
who did subscribe had the same malignity to the
church, and to the government of it ; and it may be
did more harm, than if they had continued in their
inconformity.

Great ani- The long time spent in both houses upon the act
of uniformity had made the progress of all other
public business much the slower; or rather, the
multitude of private bills which depended there,
(and with which former parliaments had been very
rarely troubled,) and the bitterness and animosities
which arose from thence, exceedingly disquieted and
discomposed the house ; every man being so much
concerned for the interest of his friends or allies,
that he was more solicitous for the despatch of those,
than of any which related to the king and the pub-
lic, which he knew would by a general concurrence
be all passed before the session should be made;
whereas if the other should be deferred, the session
would quickly follow, (which the king by frequent
messages desired to hasten, having received news
already of the queen's having been at sea many
days,) and the benefit of those pretences would be
lost, and with greater difficulty be recovered in a
succeeding session. Then as those private bills were
for the particular benefit and advantage of some per-
sons, which engaged all their friends to be very so-
licitous for their despatch ; so for the most part they
were to the loss and damage of other persons, who
likewise called in aid of all their friends to prevent
the houses' consent: and by this means so many
factions were kindled in both houses, between those
who drove on the interest of their own or of their



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 153

relations, who mutually looked upon one another as 1662.
enemies, and against those who for justice and the""
dignity of parliament would have rejected all or most
of the addresses of that kind ; that in most debates
which related to neither, the custom of contradic-
tion, and the aversion to persons, very much dis-
turbed and prolonged all despatch.

It cannot be denied, that after a civil war of so
many years, prosecuted with that height of malice
and revenge ; so many houses plundered and so
many burned, in which the evidences of many estates
were totally destroyed, and as many by the unskil-
ful providence of others, who in order to preserve
them had buried their writings so unwarily under
ground, that they were taken up so defaced or rotted,
that they could not be pleaded in any court of jus-
tice ; many who had followed the king in the war,
and so made themselves liable to those penalties
which the parliament had prepared for them and
subjected them to, had made many feigned convey-
ances, with such limitations and so absolutely, (that
no trust might be discovered by those who had power
to avoid it,) that they were indeed too absolute to
be avoided by themselves, and their estates become
so much out of their own disposal, that they could
neither apply them to the payment of their just
debts, or to the provision for their children ; I say,
there were many such cases, which could be no other
way provided for but by an act of parliament, and
to which an act of parliament, without too much
severity and rigour, could not be denied. And
against any of those there appeared none or very
little opposition to be made.

But the example and precedent of such drew



154 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF -

1662. with them a world of unreasonable pretences ; and
"they, who were not in a condition to receive relief
in any court of justice, thought they had a ground
to appeal to parliament. They who had been com-
pelled, for raising the money they were forced to pay
for their delinquency, to sell land, and could not
sell it but at a very low value, (for it was one spe-
cies of the oppression of that time, that when a
powerful man had an aspect upon the land of any
man who was to compound, and so in view like to
sell it, no other man would offer any money for it,
so that he was sure at last to have it upon his own
price ;) now all that monstrous power was vanished,
they who had made those unthrifty bargains and
sales, though with all the formalities of law, by fines
and recoveries and the like, (which is all the secu-
rity that can be given upon a purchase,) especially
if the purchaser was of an ill name, came with all
imaginable confidence to the parliament, to have
their land restored to them c . Every man had
raised an equity in his own imagination, that he
thought ought to prevail against any descent, testa-
ment, or act of law ; and that whatever any man
had been brought to do, which common reason
would make manifest that he would never have
done if he could have chosen, was argument suf-
ficient of such a force, and ought to find relief in
parliament, from the unbounded equity they were
masters of and could dispense, whatever formalities
of law had preceded or accompanied the transaction.
And whoever opposed those extravagant notions,
which sometimes deprived men of the benefit of the

c them] him



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 155

act of oblivion, was thought to be without justice, 1662.
or which to them was worse, to be without any""
kindness to the king's party.