The provost to be changed. New body of statutes for the university. them, and so proceed. For the provost, if he be a weak one, the fault is not mine: for, when the Bishop of Kilmore was preferred from that government, I was resolved to make the Dean of Cashel, that now is, his successor; and though my Lord Primate writ very earnestly for a native and his kinsman, that now is provost, with assurance of his sufficiency; and though two of the fellows came over and petitioned his majesty; yet all this should hardly have taken me off, had not the Dean of Cashel at that time absolutely refused me and, if now your lordship think him as fit for the place as I do, I will join with you for the preferring of the present provost; and, to be revenged of his former refusal, put in the Dean of Cashel, alway provided, that for his better encouragement, he may hold his deanery"." Some of the foregoing topicks will fall again under our notice hereafter. For the present, it may be stated with respect to the last paragraph of Archbishop Laud's answer, that the statutes of the university having been referred to his consideration, he drew up a body of laws for the university of Dublin, as he had already done for that of Oxford, and procured the royal authority for their establishment and with respect to the provostship, that the Dean of Cashel, William Chappel, afterwards promoted to the united bishopricks of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, was, in the year following the date of this correspondence, placed at the head of the academical Robert Ussher body, on the removal of Robert Ussher, son of the former Primate of that name, and cousin of the actual Primate, to the See of Kildare. The removal of Ussher to this superior station in the Church may be judged not unmerited, if he has been correctly reported by his biographer, "as a prelate orthodox, unblameable, learned, of a meek, modest, conscientious, and gentle behaviour; constant and assiduous made Bishop of Kildare. 7 Strafford Letters, i. 212. as a preacher, and eminent for his abilities in the pulpit":" although he may have been deficient in "the vigour and activity," for which his successor in the provostship was conspicuous, and "which he showed in enforcing uniformity and strict Church discipline in the college, in opposition to the schism and fanaticism of the times; in his eminent knowledge of the science of government, and his exact temper in the administration of it, which appeared in the mildness and regularity of his management of the society, and in the perfect obedience of the scholars to the rules and statutes of the house"." William Chap pel, his successor as provost. sion court. Here also it may be convenient to mention, as High commisresulting from this correspondence, that a high commission court was at no distant period established in Dublin, after the pattern of that in London, and possessed of similar powers, the principal of which are specified in the concluding paragragh of the Lord Deputy's letter to the archbishop. But the appointment of this court was suspended, according to the intention there indicated, until after the meeting of the parliament at that time in contemplation. cedence between of Armagh and Dublin. In the mean time, it was determined to hold a question of preparliament, and withal a convocation of the clergy: the Archbishops and as a preliminary, to settle the question concerning the precedence of the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, which had not been agitated since the reign of Queen Mary, who restored to Archbishop Dowdall the primacy, of which he had been deprived by King Edward. Recently it had been again revived by the Archbishops of Dublin, first by Thomas Jones, and then by Lancelot Bulkeley; the 8 WARE'S Bishops, p. 392. 9 Ib., p. 567. Rights of his sce maintained Hampton. latter of whom, soon after his consecration, took up the controversy with Primate Hampton, and now again resumed it with Primate Ussher. The ground, on which he rested his claim, was the presumption, that "a Protestant king and council would confirm the patent, granted by a Protestant king to his predecessor, Archbishop Browne, and abolish that of a Popish queen to Primate Dowdall.” Against each of these claimants in succession, by Archbishop Archbishop Hampton maintained the rights of his see to precedence, both in parliament and in convocation. Among the MSS. of Trinity College, Dublin, are extant in his own hand-writing all the proofs which he drew on this occasion, and which he thus concludes: "I am weary, and a little ashamed, of spending so much time in matters merely formal. The Archbishop of Dublin hath compelled me. He challengeth that which is not due to him. I defend the long-continued right of my see. My defence is necessary: his challenges and encroachments are superfluous, and more than needed.” By order of the king, 1626. The claims examined by Lord Wentworth. June, 1634. The death of Primate Hampton caused at that time the suspension of the dispute. But, on its resumption against Ussher, King Charles the First, on the 8th of July, 1626, directed letters to the Lord Deputy, Viscount Falkland, and the privy council, to examine into and finally determine the difference, that the scandal, arising from such an unseemly contention between prelates, might be avoided. But nothing was done in execution of this command until June, 1634, a little before the meeting of parliament: when the Lord Deputy, Viscount Wentworth, summoned the two archbishops before the council board, and during two successive days narrowly examined into the differ ences; viewed the records; and heard all the allegations on either side". He then declared, "that it appeared from divers evidences, that from all antiquity the See of Armagh had been acknowledged the prime see of the whole kingdom; and the archbishop thereof reputed, not a provincial primate, like the other three metropolitans, but a national; that is, the sole Primate of Ireland, properly so called. That in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Dublin did constantly subscribe after the Archbishop of Armagh. That in the statute for free-schools, in the 12th of Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Armagh is nominated before the Archbishop of Dublin, as he is in that of the 27th of Elizabeth, where all the archbishops and bishops were ranked in their order, as appeared by the Parliament Rolls. For which reasons he decreed, that the Archbishop of Armagh, and his successors for ever, should have precedency, and be ranked before the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors, as well in parliament and convocation house, as in all other meetings; and in all commissions, where they should be mentioned; and in all places, as well within the diocese or province of Dublin, as elsewhere; until upon better proof, on the part of the Archbishop of Dublin, it should be adjudged otherwise." And thus was finally concluded this dispute, which had from time to time perplexed and disturbed both Church and State for many hundred years. It may be here incidentally noticed, that the same dispute having been perpetuated between the two titular archbishops, as late as the year 1670, the question was referred to the See of Rome; when the 15 WARE'S Bishops, p. 79. His decision in favour of Armagh. matter was solemnly considered, in a full meeting of Cardinals; and the congregation de propagandá fide, with the approbation of the Pope, decided, that "Armagh was the chief see and metropolis of the whole island"." SECTION V. Acts of Parliament for Improving the Temporal Estates of the Church. Convocation. Petition to the King in behalf of the inferior Clergy. Proposed adoption of the ThirtyNine Articles of the Church of England. Difficulty of carrying it, surmounted by the Lord Deputy. Conduct of Primate Ussher. Proceedings in Convocation. Canon for manifestation of Agreement between the two Churches. Effect on the former Articles of the Irish Church. Subscription to them abandoned. Proposal to adopt the English Canons. Composition of a new Book committed to Bishop Bramhall. Wherein differing from English Book. Omissions. Additions. Publication of the Canons. Congratulatory Letter of Archbishop Laud. Parliament and ON the 14th of July, 1635, a Parliament met, and also a Convocation of the Clergy. Convocation, Acts for improving the temporal estates of the Church. In this Parliament several acts were passed for improving the temporal estates of the Church, more, it has been said, than in any other parliament. The first was for the maintenance and execution of pious uses; obliging all archbishops and bishops to perform every such trust, according to the true intent of the deeds, in that behalf made or to be made. The next was a statute for confirmation of leases, made by the Lord Primate and other prelates of Ulster, of such endowments as had been granted by King James to the sees of Armagh, Derry, Clogher, Raphoe, and Kilmore; giving them power, at any 11 STUART'S Armagh, p. 365. |