A letter writ by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, to the Lord Bishop of Cov. and Litchfield, concerning a book lately published, called, A specimen of some errors and defects in the History of the reformation of the Church of England, by Anthony Harmer Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. 1693 Approx. 46 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A30378 Wing B5824 ESTC R7836 11635376 ocm 11635376 47950 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A30378) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 47950) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 484:35) A letter writ by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, to the Lord Bishop of Cov. and Litchfield, concerning a book lately published, called, A specimen of some errors and defects in the History of the reformation of the Church of England, by Anthony Harmer Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. [2], 29 p. ; 21 cm. Printed for Ric. Chiswell, London : 1693. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Lloyd, William, 1627-1717. Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695. -- Specimen of some errors and defects in The history of the reformation of the Church of England. Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715. -- History of the reformation of the Church of England. 2003-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-12 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2004-12 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER WRIT BY The Lord Bishop of Salisbury , TO THE Lord Bishop of Cov. and Litchfield , CONCERNING A Book lately Published , called , A Specimen of some Errors and Defects in the History of the Reformation of the Church of England , by Anthony Harmer . LONDON : Printed for Ric. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard . M DC XC III. A LETTER Writ by the L d. BISHOP of SALISBURY , To the L d. Bishop of Cov. and Litchfield , Concerning A Book lately Published , called , A Specimen of some Errors and Defects , &c. MY LORD , A Book lately published , under the Title of a Specimen of the Errors and Defects in my History of the Reformation , calls upon me to say somewhat in Justification of that Work : Which I intend to do in the same Method in which I composed that History ; and address it first of all to you , and then to the Publick , after it has past under your Censure ; in which I know you will use the same friendly and plain Freedom that you did in perusing the other ; and let nothing pass , to which you find any just , or even plausible exception . And indeed , if there are such Errors in that Work , as this Specimen pretends to discover , and puts the world in expectation of more , this being offered but as a sampler , that does not amount to above a Third part of what may come afterwards ; your Lordship must submit to bear some part of the blame . You know well , that you were the Person that prest me most to undertake that work ; and to encourage me to it , you promised me two very valuable things ; the one was , The Copying-out of all your Collections relating to that time : The Value of this can only be judged by those who have seen with what an amazing Diligence , and to how vast an Extent , and in how exact a Method , all those many Volumes , I had almost said , that Library of Collections , is digested . No part of this pleased me more , than that Criticalness which is so peculiar to your self , in marking all Dates so punctually ; this being one of the most necessary , but withal one of the most unacceptable ( to me at least ) of all the Labours of a Historian . All this , as far as concerned my Design , I had the free use of , and I found my Work much shortned by it . Your other Promise was no less exactly performed by you , of revising my first Draughts with that Censorious Severity that became your Zeal for Truth , and for that Great Work , and also that most obliging Friendship with which you had honoured my self . And you did acquit your self in all Points as became an Honest Man , and a Faithful Friend . You spared me in nothing ; you made both Rasures , Additions , and Alterations , with so much Reason , and so true a Judgment , that I all along felt what I can never enough acknowledge , how happy I my self was , and how great Advantages that work received from the share that you were pleased to take in it . So that I hope you will suffer me to say , that you ought to take some share likewise in the Fault that is found with the History , and the Reproaches that are cast both on it and on my self . Your Friends have hitherto often blamed you , for being so minutely Critical in all you do , which as they do rightly judge , has deprived the world of a great deal that might have been otherwise expected from you ; and no man has taken the liberty to complain more of this than my self , who have seen the almost incredible Compass and Fulness of your Collections , which indeed seems to be beyond what the longest life of any one man could lay together ; and has made me often say , That if you could be but at half the pains to bring out your Learning , that you have been at to lay it up , never man should merit so much of the Learned World , as you might do . This I confess made me the more secure in Publishing my Work , when it was so strictly sifted by you ; for I do still preserve the Copy that was so carefully perused by you . The greatest part of it was examined by you when you were in the Countrey , out of the Town , and out of that vast Application in which you laid your self so intirely out upon the greatest Parochial Cure of England , that it took up the whole Day constantly ; and tho you gave the best part of the Night to your Study , yet I could not have expected , that a Work , in which every thing was to have been weighed , could have had such a share in those hours as it required : But you reserved it for your Retreats into the Countrey , and there you answered , and even exceeded my Expectation . You saw there was need of more than ordinary care , since we could not but expect , that every thing of a work of this nature would be enquired into . I confess we expected it from other hands . We thought they of that Church which was most concerned to blemish the Honour of the Reformation , would have taken some pains to have discredited its History , especially when they saw it had the Reception which this Author confesses the World gave it ; he is pleased to add , justly ; but it seems this was meant only to gild the Pill , for he has been at a great deal of pains to lessen the Credit of it ; with what Success , let the world judge . I do not believe that he did this to ingratiate himself with them whom he chiefly gratifies in this : But I do acknowledge , I looked for nothing of this strain , from one of our own Communion . It was no small addition to the Credit of the Work , that in the late Reign , in which the Book and the Author both were in such Publick Disgrace , yet nothing was then Published to lessen its Esteem , and that it was appealed to by our best Writers , as often as Matters of Fact were under Debate . But Quod non fecerunt Barbari , fecerunt Barberini . I may be pardoned to quote from Pasquin , since he that deals thus with me vouches Athenae Oxoniensis . I do not trouble my self to find out the Author . I am assured that the Name in the Title page of Anthony Harmer is a feigned one ; nor , as I hear , does the Stationer for whom it is printed , know any thing concerning him . But this is a matter of no Consequence . I am only concerned to consider what is said , and not who says it . And what Reason soever I may have to lay my conjectures on the true Author , yet that is not to enter into the present discourse : only I must crave leave to say , That a Man who pretends to have many Papers in his Hands , and to affirm a great many things upon his Single Word , without saying upon what authority he grounds most of his Corrections , ought to have named himself True , and to have told how he came by his Informations : that if we must take his word for every thing that he says , without searching into the truth of it , yet at least we might have been able to quote our Author , in those things for which he is pleased to give us no other Author but himself . He treats me always with so much slighting and contempt , that if things of that kind could provoke me much , I should be obliged to watch over both my Thoughts and Pen for fear they should run too quick . He owns those low Thoughts of me , that do indeed very well become me to entertain of my self , but look not so decent in another , whom to my knowledge I never injured ; and whom , if I guess right , I have endeavoured to serve . But it is of no great consequence how meanly soever , he or any others may think of my Judgment or Learning , so long as that work is like , for ought I see or can learn , to remain still as entire in its reputation as ever , after such a keen attempt as he has made upon it . The Scorn he lays upon me , and the injuries he does me , in charging me with falshood so often , give me very little disturbance : And the prejudices that arise from such a way of Writing , are likelier to turn upon himself , than to do me much hurt . Those things do very ill become Scholars and Christians , but worst of all Men of our Profession , who ought never to be overcome of Evil , but to overcome Evil with Good. And therefore tho' the station I am in , did not reach him the regards that he owed it , how little soever I may deserve them , yet it obliges me to write in a Stile that becomes it , rather than in that which he has deserved from me . Only in one particular I desire not to be mistaken , as if the softness with which I treat him , was intended to Manage and Cajole him , and so to prevent his going on with those farther Discoveries with which he threatens me : For he says this was but a Months work at a destance from his other helps , and that he has only Noted what his Memory and present Collections suggested to him : Tho' by the way , ones Memory is no very good Voucher , in things of this kind : I published that Work on design to undeceive the World , and to give true relations of things ; therefore I am very well pleased to be informed my self , and to have the World told , tho' at my cost , if I have been mistaken in any thing . Truth is great and must prevail : Therefore I do so earnestly desire to see all that he can say of this kind , that if he brings out no more , I shall be much disappointed of my hope , and shall complain more of that , than of all the ill usage he has given me . As to the charge of Falshood that comes over so often , that it is plain by his frequent repeating of it , that he intended it should stick . I can and do affirm it , that to my knowledge , I did not willingly mistake , or misrepresent , nor so much as suppress any one particular relating to that great Transpaction : If I were called on to say this , with the highest solemnities of Religion , upon Oath , or at the Sacrament ; I am sure I can do it with a good Conscience . I have also sent for Mr. Angus of St. Dunstans , who was then my Amanuensis , not having leisure or other opportunities at present to enter into the retail of smaller Matters ; and have asked him if he can imagine , how there should be so many mistakes about Dates in the transcribing of the Records ; for this Author scarce allows one of them to be true . And therefore he thinks little Credit is due to the History , and that the Records will be of little value if once there appears just reason to suspect the Care , or the Fidelity of the Transcriber . And assures he the Reader , That of those Dates which he has examined , he has found near as many to be false as true . Mr. Angus was amazed at this , and said he was ready to take his Oath upon it , that tho' he himself used his utmost diligence , to examine every Paper that he copied out ; yet I was never satisfied with that , but examined all over again my self : So that I may sincerely say , what I once writ on a very solemn occasion , at the making of my Will when I went out of England , that I writ that Work , with the same fidelity that I should have given an Evidence upon Oath in a Court of Judicature . All this I think necessary to be said upon this occasion ; for I do hereafter expect to see this Specimen often brought out by those of the Roman Communion to overthrow the credit of that History , which no doubt they will urge with a sort of Triumph , since one who seems zealous for our Church , does charge it with so much falshood . For all this , I do not suspect this Writer of any leaning to Popery , his zeal for justifying the Marriage of the Clergy , upon which subject he seems to have taken some pains , is enough to cover him from all such suspicions . But yet he seems so sharpned against me , that rather than not vent his spleen , he would furnish them with a Weapon that they will not fail to make use of on many occasions . He seems indeed to have some zeal for one of the worst Bodies of the Roman Communion , the Monks of the later Ages : and is concerned for the Reputation both of their Morals and of their Learning ; tho' for their Morals , where he censures me most severely for charging them with Incontinence , he is pleased in the very next Leaf to brand them with such Crimes as are not to be named among Christians . For their Learning , tho' he is pleased to enter the Lists against me , yet I have reason to believe that he is no admirer of it . His studies have been much that way , and it is natural for Men to value that much on which they have bestowed much of their time : and perhaps he has been Infected by the Rudeness and Maledicence that runs through their Writings , to imitate so bad a Patern . He prevents one Objection to which he saw how open he was , that he was sensible somewhat was to be said to it . I had invited all that could give me a further light into those Matters , to communicate their Remarks or Discoveries to me , and promised both to Retract my Mistakes , and acknowledge from whose hands I had received better Imformation . But in answer to this , he sends me to a passage in the Second Part of the Athenae Oxonienses . I confess I did not expect to see a Writer of his Rank , descend so low as to cite such a Scribler , especially upon such an occasion . That poor Writer has thrown together such a tumultuary mixture of Stuff and Tattle , and has been so visibly a Tool of some of the Church of Rome , to Reproach all the greatest Men of our Church , that no Man who takes care of his own Reputation , will take any thing upon trust that is said by one that has no Reputation to lose : He who has laid together all that the malice of Missionaries could furnish him with , to blemish the Work of one of the greatest Men of our Church , who was the lasting Honour of that See which I do now so unworthily possess , I mean Bishop Jewell , does but follow his stroke when he Calumniates my History : and he who has so barbarously attackt the Memory of my immediate Predecessor Bishop Ward , who was in so many respects one of the greatest Men of his Age , but that had appeared with too much zeal against Popery , to be spared by one of their Faction : he , I say , does but like himself , when he endeavours to blacken me with his Calumnies . But what is it that this angry Correcter is pleased to take upon the word of such an Author ? He says Mr. Fulman complained much that I had not dealt faithfully with him in Publishing his Correction of my first Volume . I have not that despicable Book now by me , so I cannot quote the words , but this is the sense of them : and upon this the Author of the Specimen depends so intirely , that he thinks he is by it excused from using me in that friendly way that I had proposed , or in that Charitable method which the Gospel directs . It happens that I have in this Instance a great variety of proo● to shew the falshood of this Calumny . You know , My Lord , in particular , that it was Bishop ●ell of pious and blessed Memory , that engaged Mr. Fulman to send up his Corrections to me . You your self , and indeed every body else , thought they were not of that moment , that they deserved so publice a notice as I took of them : I confess I was of that mind my self , but I thought it was fit for me upon that occasion , to behave my self so as to encourage all others to set me right , if they found I was mistaken in any particular ; and that I might make as much advantage from Mr. Fulman as was possible , I bore with an odd strain of sourness that run through all his Letters . Bishop ●ell had prepared me for that ; and I took every thing well at his hands . I in conclusion drew a short Abstract of all his Corrections , and sent it down to him to have his approbation of it , before it should be Printed : for it would have been too tedious to have published them so largely as he had sent them to me . I staid long for his Answer , till the Carrier that brought his Letters to me , had come up a second time , from those parts where he lived . It happened to be in the Month of February , before the Sitting of the Oxford Parliament : and Mr. Chiswell thought it might be of some Consequence in the Sale of the Work , to have it ready to appear at that time : so he pressed a dispatch : for all stuck at the return which I expected from Mr. Fulman . But the second Carrier bringing me no Answer , I took it for granted , that he was satisfied with the Abstract that I had sent him ; so I put it in the Press . But before it was Printed off , the third Carrier came , and brought me his Answer . He was satisfied with the main of what I had prepared , only he desired that some Alteration might be made in four or five Articles : and so careful was I to gratifie him in every thing , that tho' these things were of no Consequence , yet I would needs have all to be reprinted : his Corrections happened to be all in one Leaf , so that Leaf was only reprinted , and pasted to the other half of the Sheet : and this will be found in the greatest part of the Copies of the First Edition of my Work , not in them all , for I stopt the Press which was working , and reprinted a Leaf for all that were wrought off ; and the rest were Printed with those Amendations . So that both from Mr. Fulman's own Letters , which I still do keep , and from this real Evidence , it appears how unjustly this is laid upon me ; and how weak an excuse this will prove for the method in which this Author has thought fit to deal with me . Since I had in that very Instance which he gives , used that Person with a Candour , that gave me a right to expect fair dealing from all others . Yet after all this and a great deal more that I might well urge , if I intended to aggravate matters , I must say that I have not seen any one thing , relating to my History , that has pleased me so much as this Specimen does . It is plain that here is a Wrirer who has considered those times and that matter with much application : And that he is a Master of this Subject ; he has the Art of writing skilfully , and how much soever he may be wanting in a Christian Temper , and in the decency that one who owns himself of our Communion , owed to the Station I hold in it ; yet in other respects he seems to be a very valuable Man , so valuable , that I cannot without a very sensible regret , see such Parts , and such Industry , like to be soured and spoiled with so ill a Temper : All the Heresies and Schisms in the Church have been either started or carried on by Men who have been pussed up with their Knowledge , and have not tempered it with that Charity which edifieth . As he is a Man capable of making the severest Observations that the subject will bear : so he shows that he is so much set on it , and so inclined to disparage both me and my work , that no body who reads his Specimen , will believe that he is tender of me , or that he has spared me in any one thing . So many Remarks that are so very trifling , force a Reader to believe , that he had a mind to make a great Muster , and that it was meerly want of Matter that led him t● make so much of things , on which no body , as far as I can hear , besides himself , sets any value . I confess I my self value his Book much more than I find any of the more judicious Readers tell me they do . I value it so much , that I do earnestly desire that all those who have my Book , will likewise procure this , as the best Apology that I know can be made for it . Since in all this Collection , there is not any one material fault , relating to any of the Transactions of the Reformation ; and among those that he pretends to find , there is not any one in which , even he himself ▪ who is liberal in accusing me of Falshood , yet can charge me with any Fraud or ill Design : So that how much soever ▪ the reputation of my own Learning or Exactness may be lessened by this Specimen , there is nothing brought to overthrow the Truth of the History , in any important Matter : and if in things of no moment there was not all that exactness used that was possible , the fault is the more pardonable . And after all , so the Credit of that Work stands unshaken , let the Credit of the Historian take its venture , and stand or fall as men may be disposed to be kind to him , or severe upon him . But after all that has been said in general , it is time now , that I should come to speak more particularly to the things contained in his Book : I once intended to have examined every one of all his Remarks ; but your Lordship , as well as the rest of my Reverend Brethren with whom I spoke upon this Subject , were of opinion that his Reflections on my History , were not such as could deserve , that either I my self should spend that time upon them which they will require , and that may be certainly much better improved ; or that I should publish any thing of that kind , the reading of which must needs be both flat and tedious : Since in that great variety which he has affected to bring together , there is not any one Instance that seems to be of any Consequence . Thirteen Years are now past since I finished that Work , so that now many of the things that I writ are quite out of my Head : Yet I have taken care to preserve all the Notes I then made , so carefully , that without seeking for it elsewhere , I am confident , I could say enough in my own Defence , if I should again open my Papers . But the things excepted to here are such trifles , that I had much rather that the world should believe all that he says is true , than engage into so fruitless a Controversie . Therefore in Compliance with your Advice , and which my own Inclinations too , I shall decline this ingrateful Work , and shall only offer somewhat on the several Heads on which he exercises his Censure . Which may be reduced to these four . The First are the Recapitulations that I make of the State in which things were before the Reformation ; in which he triumphs often over me , as Ignorant of the Antient English History : and not having so much as a competent knowledge of it , nor being conversant enough among the writings of the Monks and other Authors that lived in the dark Ages , which preceded the Light. Indeed I am not at all out of Countenance to own that I have not much studied those Authors : The little that I have studied , did not encourage me to go further , than to carry in my mind a true view of the state of the Church in those times , from which I might be able to judge of the Necessity of a Reformation . The barbarous Stile , the mixture of so much Fable , the great want of Judgement , and the gross partiality that runs thro the Writings of the Monks , has so disgusted me at their Works , that I confess I could never bring my self to read them with Pleasure . If any one that has more Patience than I , can think it worth the while to search into that Rubbish , let him write Volumes of Anglia Sacra , and have the Glory of it for his Pains : And even these two Pompous Volumes have not at all changed my Tast. To dig in Mines were not to me a more ingrateful imployment . I am contented to take these things from second hand , and am no more out of ●ountenance to own this , than to own that I have no Arabick , or that I have not read the Talmud : A study after all that I should vastly prefer to the other , i● my Genius and Leisure should favour it . After all this , he that Recapitulates , as I do in the places for which I am censured , gives only general views of things , to furnish ordinary Readers with some general Notions ; so that no man expects an accuracy in this . Nor does the Historian here , deliver any thing upon the credit of special Vouchers , but only draws from other Books a short state of past times , to give an Introduction to what he himself is to open : He neither pretends to be exact nor particular : and so the view he gives is upon the main true ; this is never to be ●urther canvassed . This Author has very probably examined the M●nastick Writers , and especially in the point of the Celibacy of the Clergy , more minutely than I have done : and so he is very full of disdain , and comes over with it very often , that I am ignorant of the Ancient English History : I own it , as to that part in which he charges me , and if I had not been engaged in that Work , I should have continued still much more ignorant than I am ; without either remorse or shame . I confess that made me go further than otherwise I should ever have done , and much further than ever I shall do again : but he is not satisfied with my proficiency , and I must bear his displeasure . But , after all this , I must now say somewhat to your Lordship , and by the good leave of my Most Learned brother , My Lord Bishop of Worcester , to him likewise , whom I take the liberty to call in here for my excuse , without asking his leave ; he being now at such a distance . It was on you both , that I chiefly depended as to the Correction of my Work : and all the World knows how exact you both are in those matters . I remember well I desired you to look particularly into those Recapitulations , that went into the dark Ages . I thought I had good Authority for all I said , but I left it to you to judge whether I had or not : I am sure I never pretended to justifie any thing after either of you found fault with it . I had all reason to believe that you had all possible zeal for having our Reformation so opened , that its History should appear with credit , and be liable to few exceptions : you both had also given me good reason to believe that you had some care of my part in it , so that I conclude that either this Critick is mistaken in some of his Remarks ; or , that you did not think such a minuteness was necessary , when a short Abstract was only proposed . It seems by this Author , that your Lordship , whom I have often thought too exact , and by Consequence too slow in all that passes through your hands , has been in this too hasty , and too superficial : and perhaps you will receive this as a sort of Reprimand , which may oblige you hereafter to be yet more exact and more slow than you have hitherto been . But there is no need of all this Caution , since I hope all the World will impute the looseness and omissions which are blamed by the Specimen , and that were let pass by you . , rather to your true Judgment , that led you to conclude that too full an exactness in such a part of History , is as vicious an Abundance , as the fullness of the account in what is to be related , is ncessary and indispensable . Yet it is no small comfort to my self , and no little honour to the Work , that in so vast a variety of Recapitulations , as are made in both Volumes , he could find so little , and that too so inconsiderable , for an entertainment to his Ill Humour : but I must not build too much on this , till I see what the rest of his performances may produce , which I must again tell him , I expect from him ; otherwise I shall not take him for a a man of his word . A second Head of Censures is the many Dates that he finds to be amiss , upon which he gives other dates , without descending so low as to tell from whence he had them : which is a way of writing that no man ought to assume , when he is censuring another , especially when he appears under a disguised name . As for the dates he questions , I confess I cannot tell what to say to them , unless I should enter a new upon that whole matter : Many of them I had from your Lordship , and I am sure yours are right , if the Authors from whom you took them , are not in the wrong . Others I took out of the several Offices , from which I gathered my Materials : I might have writ them wrong , or Collationed them too negligently ; or perhaps he is in the wrong when he pretends to set me right . He says he has made his Observations upon the Second Edition , which in the Title page is said to be Corrected : Yet he who will teach us all exactness , should have held to the first , for it was that only that I took care of , and left all Editions since to the Booksellers care : So I am only answerable for the first . Probably the Errata I drew out in the first , were Corrected in the Second Edition , and upon that account it might be said to be Corrected : but more new ones might have crept into it , especially in Figures . When any thing of moment seems to depend upon a Date , it is in that case necessary to use great Caution for fixing it right : but in the Course of a History , where ordinary Transactions occurr , about which there has been no Controversie , one may safely take Dates from the common Writers . If then I have often followed either Fox or Goodwin , I do not think my self lyable to a just Censure , tho' the Date should be found to be wrong . But there is one thing , that does very much offend this Author , that I have questioned the Exactness of the Clerks in the enrolling of Dates : for he thinks that the Honour of the whole Nation is much concerned in the Truth of Records . I confess , I thought the Honour of Nations was not struck at as oft , as the Diligence of any Clerk was questioned . We know that notwithstanding the Religious Care of the Copiers of Bibles , many of whom have been Monks , and so they are more particularly under this Author's Protection ; yet the different Readings make a competent Volume ; and tho' the Dates of the Roman Laws have been , and that justly too , esteemed one of the surest Helps of Chronology ; yet the Learned Gothofred , and Baluze have undertaken to prove that very many of them are wrong , even in the correctest Copies . When these Matters were fresher with me , ▪ than they are now , I could have given him many Proofs of , that Assertion , which yet is no Asseveration , as he is pleased to call it : nor do I assert any thing of the Record there in question , but say only in general , that the Enrolments are not always exact as to Dates ; and he must love Contradiction for Contradiction's sake , that will quarrel with this . If one dictates to another , it is easy to mistake thirty for thirteen , or to write eighteen for twenty eight , or thirteen for twenty three ; or sometimes to omit the Decimal Figure . After all , no designed Mistake appears to be among all these that he reckons up : so there is neither Fraud in all this , nor Falsity , a word that some of his Friends think it would have become him to use more sparingly . But to conclude this Head , I promise you , that as soon as he has gone through with his whole Undertaking , and that he gives me reason to believe that his Correction of Dates is well-grounded , I will take care that none of them shall be forgotten , but will correct all by them , if my History comes to be printed again ; for I desire nothing so much as to find out the Truth , even in the smallest and the least important Matters : And I shall not decline to own my Mistakes , whensoever a full Conviction is offered me , though it be accompanied with all the Rudeness , of which this Specimen has given so many blunt , but designed Stroaks . The third Head to which these Censures do belong , is the Conjectures that I was put to make in some places , where my Materials were defective : Upon some of these he falls , and thinks that he has evinced that they are groundless . If he had overthrown what I had affirmed as certain , there had been some cause of Triumph : But I cannot imagine what harm it can do , either to a Man or to his Work , that when he is put to guess , it is found that he guessed wrong in some few Particulars : Yet after all , if I had a mind to value my self upon my Conjectures , it is plain , that many of those I made in the first Volume , are justified in the Second ; and many of the Defects that he supplies by the Papers which he has found , and that I never saw , justify others of my Conjectures : So that if it appears from his Specimen , that I guessed sometimes wrong , it is no less evident that I was much oftner right in my Conjectures . Nor is it a fair way , when one studies to expose another , for guessing wrong , only to attack the Conjecture it self , without examining the Grounds on which it was made : for if the Grounds were but specious and plausible , they may serve to justify the Conjecture , even where there appears better reason to lay it aside . He is offended , because Judgments that I gathered in the first Part , happen to be contradicted by what is related in the Second . Now a more candid Censurer would rather have made an Inference from that in favour of my Sincerity ; and have gathered from it , that I was not biassed by any partiality to my own prejudging , but that I tell Truth , even though it happens to disparage or detract from what I had formerly writ . In fine , he thinks I say many things as Embellishments to my History , that are not well-grounded . These are indeed small Matters , and they prove to be yet much smaller , when they are doubtfully proposed : and whatever the strict importance of the words no doubt may be , which has drawn such an angry Remark from him , yet in common use , it signifies no more than a Conjecture , of which one believes himself pretty well assured . But one Prejudice still remains against all Conjectures in History , since it ought to be a severe recital of Matters of Fact , without the intermixture of Conjectures and Inferences : Which not being certain , as they ought not to be received , so they ought not to be proposed neither , since they prepossess and often mislead the Reader . It were enough , in answer to this , to cite the Authority of the most esteemed Writers of History that have frequently practised it ; in particular of Padre Paulo , whose History of the Council of Trent I acknowledg I made my Pattern : And that I might copy after it with some Resemblance and Success , I read it over five or six times before I set about that Work. If a Man is to write Memoirs , he must keep close to his Vouchers ; but when he writes a History , on a Subject of much Consequence , and that was transacted long before his own Time , and that it is visible that many of the most valuable Papers relating to it , are lost , but that enough remains to give him a right view of the whole , and a Thread to guide him in it , he may certainly find many Hints of Things , which since he cannot lay before his Reader as Historical Facts , he may and ought to suggest them as Probabilities . And he who forms a true Character of a Man , from some of his secretest Papers , can frame Judgments , and see Likelyhoods that could never come in the way of one who only reads his Work ; but does not dwell so long upon it , nor turn it so much in his Thoughts as he himself has done : And yet the offering of these may be necessary , since they may be of use to let his Reader see further than he would do without them . For instance , he is angry for my taking notice of Bonner's writing to his Friends for Puddings and Pears . I must desire you to observe his Ingenuity in this , since my Reflection did not fall upon these words of Bonner , but on his adding , that if his Friends did not furnish him with them , he would give them to the Devil , to the Devil , and to all the Devils . Now this from a Bishop in Affliction , writing to his private Friends , shewed a strange kind of Brutish levity ; and the observing of that was not below the Majesty of History , since Bonner acted so great a Part , during the whole time that I write upon ; so that such a Stroke as this , in my poor Opinion , ought not to have been suppressed . I come now to the fourth and last Head of the Specimen which relates to those additional Discoveries that he has made . He calls them the Defects of my History ; how justly I leave to you , who are a true Critick in the use of Words . According to my sense , a Defect is a vitious want of that with which one might have supplied himself , if he had not been too careless . I cannot see what I could have done more than I did , to be well Informed . I put Advertisements in Gazettes , desiring the assistance of all that could furnish me with Materials . I let two Years and a half pass between the publishing my first , and second Volume . I did in the first desire the assistance of all the Learned and Curious Men of the Nation : I went through all the Offices and Records that were about London or Westminster : I went to Cambridge , when I understood that Arch-Bishop Parker's Manuscripts were there . I was upon going to Oxford , had not Bishop Fell let me know that he was informed , they had nothing worth my Journey , that was not already printed . I met with great Assistances from many Learned Men , all which I gratefully and publickly acknowledged , and made the best use of them that I could . I do not see what more I could do . Your Lordship and several others of my worthy Friends , set all Persons that you thought capable of assisting me , on work for Materials . That Great and good Man who was then Lord Chancellour , the late Earl of Nottingham , did on many Occasions recommend the procuring Materials for me in the most effectual manner . Their Majesties most deserving Attorney General that now is , was pleased without my presuming to give him the trouble , to visit and examine some Offices for me in the Countrey . If our Author has been an Inquisitive Man of so long a standing , ( he pretends to be longer , for he tells us of what he observed 20 Years ago ) he could not but hear of all this , so there was occasion offered , and Time given for him to have contributed out of his store . If I had refused any help that had been offered me , or had not look'd out and got together all that could be had ; If I had either called for no Assistance , presuming on my own Industry ; or if I had made so much haste , that I had prevented even the diligence of Learned Men , here had been great occasion for Censare . But he has got a Council-Book of the last four Years of King Edward the sixth's Reign , and this must be brought out with great Pomp to reproach the Defects of my Work. I had the Book of the first two Years of that Reign . But though it was freely given me , I thought it did of right belong to the Crown , and delivered it in to be kept among the Council-Books : if this Author does the same with his , then his Quotations out of it may be examined . They make indeed the Valuablest part of his Book . But neither these , nor any thing else he says , can be of any value , till he gives himself his true Name , that 〈◊〉 one may know how to look into , or examine those things that he pretends to have in his Hands . I have now gone as far as I can in so general a way ; when your Lordship or any other Person whose Judgment is of weight with me , advises me to descend into further Specialties , I shall not decline it . Yet if I had any Inclination to it , I think still it is best to make one Work for all , and to stay till he brings forth that which he has in Reserve ; for I will still hold him to it : he must either give the World a great deal more , or he must expect to be thought to have insinuated that which he cannot perform . Only when he writes next , I wish he may do it with a better Spirit , and in a decenter Stile . He who knows so much , cannot judg so ill , as not to see that the attacking a Man's Reputation , but especially a Bishop's , in so great a Point , as is that of his Truth and Fidelity , upon which the Success of all his Labours , and the Credit of his whole Life and Ministry does depend , is not a slight thing , and is not to be attempted , unless one is very well assured , that what he objects , is not only just in it self , but that it is incumbent on him to do it . The Fame of a Man is a most valuable thing ; and the Rules of Charity , and against Detraction and Slander , are delivered in such weighty Strains in the New Testament , that it is no small matter to make so bold with them . The Years I have spent in the Service of the Church , the Labours I have undergone , and the Station I am in , deserve at least a modest and decent treatment : and my Diligence in that History , the Designs I pursue through it all , and that Sincerity and Candor that even Enemies do acknowledg , appears in its Contexture ; the great Additions I had made to what was formerly known , and the general Acceptance with which it has been entertained , both at Home and Abroad , ought to have made a Man to have thought well of what he did , before he had attack'd it at all : but if he was so full of his Matter , that he was not to be restrained , at least he ought to have writ it in another manner , with another Air , and in a Strain of Civility ( I had almost said Respect ) sutable to the Subject , and such as my way of Writing had deserved . If this Author is so made , that nothing of all this touches him ; I am sorry for it , I will not treat him more roughly ; but must despair of working on him so as to do him good : I should think it a very particular Happiness , to be able to turn such a Man to a better Mind , from that Sourness which prevails over him at present . He seems capable of better and greater things ; but till his Capacity and his Industry are sanctified to him , at another rate than this Specimen shews , he is a much worse Man for them , and will have a much greater Account to make at the last Day . I ask your Pardon for having given you so long a Trouble . I am , with all possible Esteem and Respect , My LORD , Your Lordship 's most Affectionate Brother , and most humble Servant , Gi. Sarum . Windsor , Feb. 23. 1692 / 3. FINIS . Books Sold by Richard Chiswell . BOOKS written by GILBERT BURNET , D. D. now Lord Bishop of Sarum . THE History of the Reformation of the Church of England , in 2 Volumes . Folio . — Abridgment of the said History . Octavo . — Vindication of the Ordinations of Church of England . Quarto . — History of the Rights of Princes in disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church-Lands . Octavo . — Life of William Bedel , D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland ; togewith the Copies of certain Letters which passed between Spain and England in matter of Religion , concerning the general Motives to the Roman Obedience : Between Mr. James Wadsworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition in Sevil , and the said William Bedel then Minister of the Gospel in Suffolk . Octavo . — Some Passages of the Life and Death of John late Earl of Rochester . Octavo . — Examination of the Letter writ by the late Assembly-General of of the Clergy of France to the Protestants , inviting them to return to their Communion ; together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction . Octavo . — A Collection of seventeen Tracts and Discourses written in the Years 1687 to 1685 , inclusive . Quarto . — A Second Volume , or a Collection of eighteen Papers relating to the Affairs of Church and State during the Reign of King James the Second . With twelve others published a little before and since the late Revolution , to Christmas , 1689. — Fast Sermon at Bow-Church ; March 12 , 1689. Luke 19. 41 , 42. — Fast Sermon before the Queen ; July 16 , 1690. On Psal. 85. 8. — Thanksgiving-Sermon before the King and Queen ; Octob. 19. 1690. On Psal. 144. 10. 11. — Fast-Sermon before the King and Queen ; April 19 , 1691. On Psal. 82. 1. — Thanksgiving-Sermon before the King and Queen ; Nov. 26. 1691. On Prov. 20. 28. — Sermon at the Funeral of Robert Boyle , Esq Jan. 7. 1691. On Eccles. 11. 26. — A Discourse of the Pastoral Care. Octavo . 1692. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A30378-e150 Pag 161. Pa● . 26. P. 9. 10 , 1● , 2● . Pag. 3. P. 28 , 121 , 153. P. 127. Pag. 51. P. 140. 141. Pag. 87.