COPY

OF A LETTER WRIT TO

MR. IZAAK WALTON,

BY DOCTOR KING, LORD BISHOP OF CHICHESTER

HONEST IZAAK,›

THOUGH

HOUGH a familiarity of more than forty years continuance, and the conftant experience of your love, even in the worst of the late fad times, be fufficient to endear our friendship; yet, I muft confefs my affection much improved, not only by evidences of private refpect to many that know and love you, but by your new demonftration of a public fpirit, teftified in a diligent, true, and ufeful collection of fo many material pafsages as you have now afforded me in the Life of venerable Mr. Hooker; of which, fince defired by fuch a friend as yourself, I fhall not deny to give the teftimony of what I know concerning him and his learned books; but fhall firft here take a fair occafion to tell you, that you have been happy in choofing to write the Lives of three fuch perfons, as pofterity hath juft caufe to. honour; which they will do the more for the true relation of them by your happy pen: of all which I fhall give you my unfeigned cenfure.

1 Dr. HENRY KING, Bishop of Chichefter, fon of Dr. John King, Bishop of London, and great nephew of Robert King the first Bishop of Oxford, and the laft Abbot of Ofney, was the author of a new metrical tranflation of the Pfalms, of which he has given a modeft account in a letter to Archbishop Ufher, dated Oct. 30, 1651;-(Usher's Letters. p. 567.)—and also of poems, elegies, paradoxes, fonnets, divers Latin and Greek poems, with fome fermons and religious tracts. Whilft he was Dean of Rochefter, he was fufpected of favouring the Puritans: The king, defirous of gratifying that party, made him Bishop of Chichefter: But during the time of Cromwell's ufurpation, he fuffered with his brethren, and was compelled to go abroad. He returned at the Reftoration, and furviving that event nine years, died Oct. 1, 1669. He was advanced to a bishopric, when Epifcopacy was in a finking fiate; "It being conceived," fays Jacob," the moft effectual method for the "reftitution of that order, to prefer perfons not only of unblamable “lives, and eminent for their learning, but fuch as were generally be "loved by all difinterefied people. The king's choice amongst thefe "was very happy in this great divine, who lived a moft religious life, "and did not die till after his order was reftored."

I fhall begin with my most dear and incomparable friend Dr. Donne, late Dean of St. Paul's church, who not only trufted me as his executor, but three days before his death, delivered into my hands thofe excellent Sermons of his, now made public; profefsing before Dr. Winniffm, Dr. Monford", and, I think, yourfelf then prefent at his bed-fide, that it was by my reftlefs importunity, that he had prepared them for the prefs; together with which (as his beft legacy) he gave me all his fermon-notes, and his other papers, containing an extract of near fifteen hundred authors. How thefe were got out of my hands, you, who were the mefsenger for them, and how loft both to me and yourself, is not now seasonable to complain: But, fince they did mifcarry, I am glad that the general demonftration of his worth was fo fairly preferved, and reprefented to the world by your pen in the hiftory of his life; indeed fo well, that befide others, the beft critic of our later time (Mr. John Hales of

m Dr. THOMAS WINNIFF, fuccefsively Dean of Gloucefier and of St. Paul's, was promoted to the bishopric of Lincoln in 1641, on the tranflation of Dr. Williams to York. His mildness, meeknefs, and humility, were equalled only by his learning, integrity, and eloquence. He experienced vexation and trouble in his promotion, and was under the necessity of retiring to a country parish, Lambourn in Efsex, where he died in 1654. A monument was there erected to his memory, on which he is defcribed as one," Ex eorum numero Epifcoporum, quibus "incumbebat nutantis Epifcopatûs molem pietatis ac probitatis fuæ Ful"cimine fuftentare." He has been cenfured, along with Uher, Prideaux, and others, for the moderation which he always difplayed towards the Puritans, and indeed towards all thofe who were not well affected to the church of England. But furely fuch a moderation is more commendable than the harshness and acrimony of intemperate zeal. Lord Clarendon naming four other divines, who were appointed bishops at the fame time with Dr. Winniff, characterises them as, "of great eminency in the "church, frequent preachers, and not a man to whom the faults of the "then governing clergy were imputed, or against whom the leaft objection could be made."

Dr.THOMAS MOUNTFORT, a Refidentiary of St. Paul's, died Feb. 27, 1632. It appears from Strype's Life of Whitgift, that this perfon was fufpended for having clandeftinely married Edward, Earl of Hertford, and Frances Pranel, widow of Henry Pranel, Efq. without bans or licenfe. Upon his fubmiffion and earnest defire to be abfolved, he obtained absolution from Archbishop Whitgift himself.

The ever memorable JOHN HALES, Greek Professor in the University of Oxford, and afterward Fellow of Eton College, from his vaft erudition, called " The Walking Library," was efteemed to be one of the greateft fcholars in Europe. Having attended the Ambassador of James I. to the Synod of Dort, he composed in a series of letters, a regular and moft faithful narrative of the proceedings of that afsembly. His adherence to the royal caufe, involved him in diftrefs.. Obliged to fell his most valuable collection of books at a low price, he died in extreme poverty, May 19, 1656, aged 72 years. It is jufily remarked, "it was none of the leatt injuries of thofe times, that fo eminent a man as Hales fhould live and die under fuch neceffities as he did, by which bis life was fhortened."

Eton College) affirmed to me, he had not feen a life written with more advantage to the subject, or more reputation to the writer, than that of Dr. Donne's P.

After the performance of this task for Dr. Donne, you undertook the like office for your friend Sir Henry Wotton; betwixt which two there was a friendfhip begun in Oxford, continued in their various travels, and more confirmed in the religious friendship of age: and doubtlefs this excellent perfon had writ the life of Dr. Donne, if death had not prevented him; by which means his and your pre-collections for that work fell to the happy manage of your pen; a work which you would have declined, if imperious perfuafions had not been ftronger than your modeft refolutions againft it. And I am thus far glad, that the first life was fo impofed upon you, because it gave an unavoidable caufe of writing the fecond: if not; it is too probable, we had wanted both; which had been a prejudice to all lovers of honour and ingenious learning. And let me not leave my friend Sir Henry, without this teftimony added to yours; that he was a man of as florid a wit, and as elegant a pen, as any former (or ours, which in that kind is a most excellent) age hath ever produced.

And now having made this voluntary obfervation of our two deceased friends, I proceed to fatisfy your defire concerning what I know and believe of the ever-memorable Mr. Hooker, who was Schifmaticorum Malleus, fo great a champion for the Church of England's rights, against the factious torrent of Separatists, that then ran high against church-difcipline; and in his unanswerable books continues to be fo against the unquiet difciples of their fchifm, which now under other names ftill carry on their defign, and, who as the proper heirs of their irrational zeal) would again rake into the fcarce-clofed wounds of a newly-bleeding ftate and church.

And first, though I dare not fay that I knew Mr. Hooker; yet, as our Ecclefiaftical Hiftory reports to the honour of St. Ignatius', "that he lived in the time of St. John, and had seen him in his childhood," so I also joy, that in my minority I have

P This was fpoken of the first edition of Ifaac Walton's Life of Dr. Donne, which was printed in 1640; and not, as Wood affirms, in 1653.

a The Separatifts from the Church of England, were originally called by a general term, "Puritans." Split into parties, they were foon difcriminated by the various appellations of " Prefbyterians," "Independents," "Brownifts," Familifis," &c.

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r IGNATIUS, Bifhop of Antioch, is in the lift of the Apostolic Fathers, among whom were placed fuch Chriftian doctors as had converfed with the apoftles themselves, or their difciples. This pious and venerable man, who being expofed to wild beafts by the order of Trajan, fuffered martyrdom with the utmoft confiancy, was educated under the apofile and evangelift St. John, and intimately acquainted with St. Peter and St. Paul.

often feen Mr. Hooker with my father, who was after Bishop of London; from whom, and others, at that time, I have heard most of the material pafsages which you relate in the Hiftory of his Life; and from my father received fuch a character of his learning, humility, and other virtues, that like jewels of invaluable price, they ftill caft fuch a lustre, as envy or the ruft of time fhall never darken.

From my father I have also heard all the circumftances of the plot to defame him; and how Sir Edwin Sandys out-witted. his accufers, and gained their confeffion: and I could give an account of each particular of that plot, but that I judge it fitter to be forgotten, and rot in the fame grave with the malicious authors".

I may not omit to declare, that my father's knowledge of Mr. Hooker, was occafioned by the learned Dr. John Spencer; who, after the death of Mr. Hooker, was fo careful to preferve his invaluable fixth, feventh, and eighth books of" Ecclefiaftical Polity," and his other writings, that he procured Henry Jackfon, then of Corpus Chrifti College, to transcribe for him all Mr. Hooker's remaining written papers; many of which were imperfect: for his ftudy had been rifled, or worfe ufed, by Mr. Chark, and another, of principles too like his. But these papers were endeavoured to be completed by his dear friend Dr. Spencer, who bequeathed them as a precious legacy to my father, after whose death they refted in my hand, till Dr. Abbot ", then Archbishop of Canterbury, commanded them out of my cuftody, by authorizing Dr. John Barkeham to require, and bring

The writer of this letter experienced, in his own perfon, a pleasure equal to any, of which human nature is capable, that of vindicating the injured fame of a beloved parent. When Dr. John King, Bishop of London, a man of folid gravity and piety, and of fuch an excellent volubility of tongue as well as invention, that James I. denominated him "the King of Preachers," was traduced as having abjured that religion, which in the courfe of a long life he had uniformly defended and adorned, this his fon detected the falfehood of the accufation, and in a fermon at St. Paul's Crofs, clearly expofed the artificers of an infamous, but at that time no unusual calumay.

Prefident of Corpus Chrifti College in Oxford. After the death of Mr. Hooker he published the five books of the Ecclefiaftical Polity, with an excellent preface, fubfcribed I. S. the initial letters of his name, (See Wood's Ath. Ox. vol. I. p. 393.)

u The character of this prelate, juftly to be admired for his truly Chriftian moderation and mildness, has been moft happily pourtrayed by the pen of the Right. Hon. Arthur Onflow, for many years the venerable Speaker of the British Houfe of Commons, in "The Life of Dr. George Abbot, &c. reprinted with fome additions, &c. Guildford, 1777."

x Chaplain to Archbishop Bancroft, as well as to his fuccefsor, Dr. Abbot, and Dean of Bocking in Essex: an able divine, and an amiable man. To his knowledge in divinity he added other literary accomplish

ments,

them to him to his palace in Lambeth; at which time, I have heard, they were put into the Bishop's library, and that they remained there till the martyrdom of Archbishop Laud; and were then, by the brethren of that faction, given, with all the library, to Hugh Peters, as a reward for his remarkable ser. vice in thofe fad times of the Church's confufion: And though they could hardly fall into a fouler hand; yet there wanted

ments, being an accurate hiftorian, well skilled in coins and antiquities, and fo great a proficient is heraldry, that he is generally fupposed to have been the author of that celebrated work, which was published in the name of John Guillim. He was alfo the editor of Crakanthorpe's book againft the Archbishop of Spalato, entitled "Defenfio Ecclefiæ, &c. Speed, at the conclufion of his Hiftory of Great Britain, gratefully acknowledges "The most acceptable helps both of books and collections (efpecially in matters remoter from our times) from that worthy di vine, Matter John Barkeham, a gentleman compofed of learning, ver "tue, and courtefie, as being no leffe ingenioufly willing, than learnedly "able, to advance and forward all vertuous endeavours." He be queathed his valuable coins to Archbishop Laud, through whofe munificence they were deposited in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

▾ HUGH PETERS, a man of loofe morals, having been expelled in the earlier part of his life from the University of Cambridge, became afterward an itinerant preacher in New England, Holland, and other coun fries, and was at length appointed one of Oliver Cromwell's Chaplains, and a Colonel in the army. He and Dr. Burgefs are claffed among thofe precious-gifted teachers, to whom Butler alludes in the heroical epifle of Hudibras to his Lady, ver. 305,306. He occafionally preached the lecture at Stepney, and from thence was called by William Greenhill, the noted Independant, "The Evening Star of Stepney." Many infances are recorded of the violence of his zeal against monarchy. When Oxford was surrendered in 1646, for the ufe of the Parliament, he was one of the chaplains who, by propagating the most feditious doctrines in the town and in the univerfity, endeavoured to feduce the inhabitants and the young scholars from their allegiance.In the pulpit he not un2 frequently acted the part of a buffoon or merry-andrew. He uled to fay, that it would never be well till 150-" The three L's, the Lords, the Le "vites, and the Lawyers," were put down. He preached divers fermons to perfuade the army to deftroy the King, whom he compared to Barabbas. I was given in evidence againfi him, that he was wont to call the King tyrant and fool; and that, on the Sunday after his Majefty was brought to his trial, in the course of his fermion, he uttered thefe words,—“ Lord, now letteft thou thy fervant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy falvation."

Such was the man who got poffeffion, not only of the Archbishop's library at Lambeth, but alfo of the invaluable one which belonged to the King. A commifsion was granted by Charles II. dated Sept. 10, 1660, to Thomas Rois, tutor to the Duke of Monmouth, and Elias Aitimole, Elquires, empowering them to examine Hugh Peters concerning the books and medals which he was fulpected of having embezzled. It was well known that he had ranfacked the royal library and clotet, and that their mon valuable curiofities were taken out, and difperfed over Europe. In his examination (Biogr. Brit. vol. 11. p. 230. K.) he declared, that he gave up the key and cutlody of them to Major General Ireton.Of his behaviour, during his trial and at his execution, fer the State Trials.

B