monks and friars, and most of the reft mere laymen, having neither ordination nor jurisdiction, befides that which the queen and parliament could give them; commonly, therefore, called the parliament bishops, and patent prelates." Legacy left to Poteftants, p. 83-4-5.

ith this account that of Heylin feems in a great measure to agree. "Nor could the queen's defign, fays he, to bring about the reformation of religion, be fo closely carried, but that fuch lords and gentlemen as had the management of elections in their feveral counties, retained fuch men for members of the house of commons, as they conceived moft likely to comply with their intentions for a reformation. Amongst which none appeared more active than Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, whom the queen had taken into her council, Henry Fitz-Allen, Earl of Arundel, whom she continued in the office of lord steward, and Sir William Cecil, whom she had reftored to the place of secretary, to which he had been raised by Edward VI. befides the queen was young, unmarried, and like enough to entertain fome thoughts of an hufband. So that it can be no great marvel, not only, if many of the nobility, but fome even of the gentry alfo, flattered themselves with poffibilities of being the man whom she might chufe to be her partner in the regal diadem, which hopes much. fmoothed the way to the accomplishment of her defires, which otherwife might have proved more rugged and unpaffable than it did at the prefent. Yet, notwithstanding all their care, there wanted not fome rough and furious fpirits in the house of commons, who eagerly oppofed all propofitions which feemed to tend unto the prejudice of the church of Rome." Hift. of Queen Eliz. fol. 107.

There were but fifteen bishops then actually in England, all the other fees being vacant by the death or flight of their poffeffors, of whom fourteen were deprived for refufing to take the oath of fupremacy to the queen. Kitchin alone, bishop of Landaff, took it," who," fays Heylin," having formerly fubmitted to every change, refolved to fhew himself no changeling in not conforming to the pleasure of the higher powers." Ib. p. 114.

I will here fubjoin the account given by the above anonymous author, of the manner of providing fucceffors to thofe deprived bishops, because it is particular, and feems authentic, and the book in which it is contained is not eafily met with.

"I know," fays he, "they have tried many ways, and feigned an old record, to prove their ordination from catholic bishops; but it is falfe, as I have received from twq certain witneffes, the former of them was Dr. Darbyshire, then dean of St. Paul's, and nephew to Dr. Bonner, bishop of London, who almoft fixty years fince lived at Meufe-pont, then an holy religious man, very aged, but perfect in fenfe and memory, who fpeaking what he knew, affirmed to myself and another with me,

that

CHAP. IV.

Sir Arthur Chichester's government.

IN the year 1605, "Lord Deputy Chichefter, (who'

had been a pupil of the famous arch-puritan Cartwright,

'Presbyterian Loyalty, p. 161.

that like good fellows, they made themselves bifhops at an inn, because they could get no true bishops to confecrate them. My other witness was a gentleman of known worth and credit, dead not many years fince, whofe father, a chief juftice of England, vifiting archbishop Heath, permitted by queen Elizabeth to live in Surry, at the parfonage house of Cobham, faw a letter, sent from bifhop Bonner out of the marfhalfea by one of his chaplains to the archbishop, read whilft they fate at dinner together, wherein he merrily related the manner how these new bishops (because he had diffuaded Oglethorp, bifhop of Carlisle, from doing it in his diocese) ordained one another at an inn, where they met together; and whilft others laughed at this new manner of confecrating bifhops, the archbishop himself gravely, and not without tears, expreffed his grief to fee fuch ragged companions, come poor out of foreign parts, appointed to fucceed the old clergy in rich deaneries, prebendaries, and canons places, who had fuch ill luck in meeting with difhoneft wives, as an ordinance was put out by the queen and parliament, that no woman fhould, for a wife, be commended to any minifter, without her honesty withal could be fufficiently teftified unto him. And many who had been clergymen before, were urged either to take wives, or lofe their benefices, as many were content to do, and follow thefe bifhops example." A Legacy to Proteftants, p. 85.

Heylin himfelf owns, "that partly by the deprivation of thefe bishops, deans, prebends, &c. there was not a fufficient number of learned men to supply the cures which, fays he, filled the church with ignorant, illiterate clergy, whose learning went no farther than the liturgy or the book of homilies. And that many were raised to great preferments, who having spent their time of exile in fuch foreign churches as followed the platform of Geneva, returned fo difaffected to epifcopal government, as not long after filled the church with fad diforders."

Queen Eliz. fol. 115.

Hift. of

What wonder then, if men fo principled and needy, would fubmit to be made bishops in the manner above-mentioned, meerly for the fake of the temporal emoluments and dignity, and without any real regard to the facredness of the order?

2

This Cartwright was fo ftaunch a non-conformist, even as

to

wright, and was himself a great patron and encourager of that fect,) having 2 ordered the Roman catholic aldermen, and some of the principal citizens of Dublin, to be called before the council, exemplified under the great feal, and publifhed the above-mentioned act of uniformity; in regard," fays my author," there was found to be a material difference between the original record and printed copies; that none might pretend ignorance of the original record; and added thereto the king's injunction for the obfervance of it."

Mr. Carte has difcovered no lefs ignorance than partiality in his manner of juftifying the execution of this penal ftatute, at that juncture." The Irifh catholics," fays he, " became accidentally fubject to the fmall pecuniary penalties of it, forty years after it was `made, upon their feparation from the public worship of the (established) church of Ireland; and it was reasonable to imagine, that fuch a fudden defection should have irritated the government, and put them upon fome wholesome severities, to ftop it in the beginning." Here is a caufe affigned for inflicting this penalty, which never exifted but in the hiftorian's brain. For their feparation, and fudden defection, from the public worfhip of the church of Ireland, neceffarily fuppofes their former

2

Harris's Hift. of Dublin.

3 Life of Ormond, vol. i.

to ceremonials, that in his reply to Archbishop Whitgift, he makes ufe of thefe words: "Certain of the things we ftand upon are fuch, that if every hair of our heads were a life, we ought to afford them, for the defence of them." Sir George Paul, in his life of Archbishop Whitgift, tells us, "that in his prayer before his fermons," he ufed to fay," because they (meaning the bifhops) which ought to be pillars of the church, do band themselves againft Chrift, and his truth, therefore, O Lord, give us grace and power, as one man, to fet ourselves against them." p. 47.

Yet, in another place, he owns, "that the penalties of this act were raised for the private gain of minifters; and had always occafioned a clamour abroad, of a terrible perfecution; and if rigorously executed (adds he) it would be a force upon the confciences of the poor ignorant Irifh, as they ftood informed." Cart. Orm. vol. i. fol. 523.

former agreement and conformity to it; but this he could not fuppofe of the Irish in general, without a barefaced contradiction to known facts. For fo ftedfaftly did these people adhere to their antient religion in that, and the former reign, notwithstanding the many alluring offers, and terrifying punishments made use of to withdraw them from it, that Chichefter himself, who had often employed both means of feduction, was heard to exclaim, in the rage of disappointment,+ " that he believed the very air and foil of Ireland were infected with popery." The barbarous incivility, already mentioned, which the young Earl of Defmond met with from his countrymen, and followers, after they were convinced of his conformity to the public worship of the church of Ireland, is a fufficient refutation of this mistake.

6

C

The king about this time,' fent inftructions to the ftate, for ministering the oath of fupremacy to the catholic lawyers and juftices of peace; and for putting the laws against recufants in strict execution. Accordingly, "of fixteen aldermen and citizens of Dublin, fummoned before the privy council, nine were cenfured in the caftle chamber; and fix of the aldermen were fined, each in one hundred pounds; and the other three, in fifty pounds each; and they were all committed prifoners to the castle, during the pleasure of the court. It

↑ Analecta Sacra.

5 Carte ubi fupra, vol. i. fol. 21. Harris ubi fupra.

"It is notorious," fays Abbe Geoghegan, " that notwithftanding the feverity of the laws made in Ireland against the Roman catholic religion, during the reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. and Elizabeth, even to that of James I. not fixty of the Irish embraced the proteftant religion, though Ireland contains more than two millions of fouls." Hift. of Irel. p. 422.

And when the fame deputy made a prefent of a fine horfe to the king, being afked by his majefty, whether it was of Irish breed, and being anfwered in the affirmative, his majesty fwore aloud, that then certainly it must be a papift, for that he believed all things produced in Ireland, even the very animals were papifts. Analect. Sacra.

It was at the fame time ordered, that none of the citizens fhould bear offices until they had conformed. For which reafon the cities and towns were obliged to take up with very unfit perfons for magiftrates. In the year 1614, Edward O'Molownie, an alderman of Dublin, was chofen to be mayor of that city, but becaufe," fays my author," he would not go to church, nor take the oath of fupremacy, he was laid afide, and Richard Fofter, a young man, was permitted to take the office upon him. And when, on the accustomed day, he was prefented at the exchequer bar, Sir William Methold, lord chief baron, in his fpeech, on that occafion, faid among other things," that this mayor had leapt a falmon-leap, for that he faw many grave and grey-headed men there standing about him, whofe turn was to have been mayors before him; but he said the caufe of their not being mayors, in plain terms was, because they would not take the oath of fupremacy, which he was forry for."7

On this occafion, "all the old English families of the pale, took the alarm, and boldly remonftrated against the feverity of thefe proceedings. They denied the legality of the fentence by which thefe feverities were inflicted, and urged, that by the ftatute of 2d of Elizabeth, the crime of recufancy had its punishment afcertained, and that any extenfion of the penalty was illegal and unconstitutional. Their remonftrance was presented to the council by an unusual concourfe of people, but the chief petitioners were confined in the caftle of Dublin; and Sir Patrick Barnwell, their great agent, was, by the king's command, sent in cuftody into England." da

The

7 Defid. Cur. Hib. vol. ii. p. 284-5. Lel. vol. ii. p. 421-2.

The zeal of this deputy (Sir Arthur Chichester) was fo intemperate and forward, that even the king and council of England found it neceffary to restrain it. In a letter of July 3d, 1606, to him, containing fome complaints against his adminif tration by Sir Patrick Barnwell (then prifoner in the tower for having made such complaints), viz. the deputy's fending for those precepts under the great feal, to compel men to come to church, the denying private men to fee their indictments, and of raising

new