Wi|\ biFE Of 
 
 Archbishop Laud 
 
 mwt< 
 
 
 
 ^ii<i<ii 

 
 Lm/^ 
 
 L 
 
 xi.^'7< 
 
 \7(\ 
 
 ny)-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ Lr^'^^f^ \ i^"^"-^) J 
 
 >t/ft^ru^ 
 
 -^L
 
 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD.
 
 GU-LL : QJUQNDAM AKCH. CANT ; 
 
 Lcrid mc hut one poorc tcarc,whcn mow Jo'stfcc, 
 This wretched Tourtraict o/jiist mi/crie , ' 
 I was Oreat Innovator ,lj^ran , Toe 
 'To Church, Qs'State, all Times- shall call mc so . 
 But since, I'm Thundcrstrikcn to the Ground 
 hcarnc how to stand, mfult not o^e my wound. 
 
 -^ W At fculp:
 
 ^A LIFE OF 
 
 ARCHBISHOP LAUD 
 
 BY 
 
 "A ROMISH RECUSANT." 
 
 " Laud, who stands upon the historic stage halfway between culprit 
 
 and martyr." 
 
 Romanes Lecture, i8Q2, 
 By the Right Hon. IV. E. Gladstone, M.P. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT FROM A RARE ENGRAVING BY W. MARSHALL, PREFIXED 
 TO "THE RECANTATION OF THE PRELATE OF CANTERBURY," 
 PRINTED IN 164I. 
 
 LONDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER e^ CO., Ltd. 
 
 PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD. 
 1894 
 
 lll\
 
 The Author wishes it to he distinctly understood that 
 his unqualified application of the word Archbishop, ajid 
 other ecclesiastical titles, to the clergy of the Established 
 Church of England, in no way implies any recognition 
 on his part of the validity of Anglican orders.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I VENTURE to claim for the following biography that it is 
 one of the least original ever written. A great, if not the 
 greater, part of it consists of extracts from the writings of 
 others, chiefly contemporaries of its subject, and bearing 
 directly or indirectly upon his history. Where I felt so 
 disposed, I have written on my own account, and written 
 freely; in other places, I have introduced my authorities and 
 stood by while they told their own story in their own words. 
 I hesitated long as to whether I should call this book a 
 " Life of Laud," or " Materials for a Life of Laud," and it 
 was only the clumsiness of the latter title which deterred me 
 from making use of it. 
 
 In making quotations from old books or manuscripts, it is 
 a question whether the better course is to give them as they 
 stand, or in modern spelling and phraseology. Some critics 
 object to the former as wearisome, others to the latter as too 
 commonly inaccurate. I have adopted both ; but, for the 
 most part, I have given the literal rendering ; partly because 
 the English of the period with which I had to deal was not 
 so different from our own as to present difficulties, or prove 
 unpalatable to the modern reader, and partly because a 
 moderniser, like a translator, rarely succeeds in leaving all 
 its original freshness and force in the work which he 
 manipulates. 
 
 I anticipate accusations from my critics of having gone too 
 far afield in my attempts to throw side-lights upon the 
 career of Laud. It may be that on this count I am guilty. 
 If so, my excuse must be that I have sinned in an honest 
 endeavour to illustrate his life and character by recalling to
 
 vi . Preface. 
 
 the minds of my readers the times in which he lived and the 
 people with whom he was brought into contact. 
 
 All this has been easy to say : I must now tread upon 
 more delicate ground. A life of a Protestant Archbishop 
 written by a Catholic and a convert is likely to be looked 
 upon by the majority of English readers as an attack from 
 the enemy ; moreover, an idea still largely prevails in this 
 country that Catholics are never to be trusted when they 
 deal with historical subjects, and that converts are invariably 
 bitter. As to the two last mentioned imputations, while I 
 should be sorry to think it necessary to reply to the first of 
 them, I have something to say about the second. A convert 
 from the Anglican to the Catholic Church may regard the 
 establishment which he has repudiated in one of two lights. 
 He may either look at it with feelings of resentment as an 
 heretical body which long kept him away from what he 
 believes to be the true Church, by counterfeiting its authority, 
 its doctrines, and its ceremonies ; or he may see in it an 
 heretical body, it is true, but one retaining many valuable 
 vestiges, traditions, and principles of the ancient Church, to 
 which, by the grace of God, they led him when followed to 
 their logical conclusions, and he may reflect that whither 
 they have led him, they may also lead others. 
 
 In attacking what they consider the errors of Anglicanism, 
 Catholics, like other combatants, cannot fight in silken gloves ; 
 the weapons they use, be they logic, invective, or even satire, 
 may be sharp and may cause pain ; but in order to prove that 
 the feelings of Catholics towards Anglicans need not neces- 
 sarily be bitter, I will copy some words used by the head of 
 the Catholic Church upon earth. I have already said that 
 much of this book will be found to consist of quotations ; let 
 the first be from the writings of the Holy Father.^ 
 
 In a letter to the English Bishops, dated 27th November 
 1885, Pope Leo XIII. says : — 
 
 1 If any quotation should appear on the title page and it should be objected 
 that it took precedence of the Pope's, I would reply that usually, and certainly 
 in the present instance, the title page is not the first to be written, but absolutely 
 the last.
 
 Preface. vii 
 
 " In your country of Great Britain we know that besides 
 yourselves very many of your nation are not a little anxious 
 about religious education. Tbey do not in all things agree 
 with us ; nevertheless, they see how important, for the sake 
 of society and of men individually, is the preservation of that 
 Christian wisdom which your forefathers received through St 
 Augustine from our predecessor, St Gregory the Great ; 
 which wisdom the violent tempests that came afterwards 
 have not entirely scattered. There are, as we know, at this 
 day many of an excellent disposition of mind who are dili- 
 gently striving to retain what they can of the ancient faith, 
 and who bring forth many and great fruits of charity. As 
 often as we think of this so often are we deeply moved, for 
 we love with a paternal charity that island, which was not 
 undeservedly called the Mother of Saints, and we see in the 
 disposition of mind of which we have spoken the greatest 
 hope, and as it were a pledge, of the welfare and prosperity 
 of the British people." 
 
 From the writings of a Pope I will turn to those of a 
 Prince of the Church and an honoured Englishman. In 
 1890, Cardinal Vaughan (then Bishop of Salford) wrote 
 in England's Conversion by the Power of Prayer (pp. 8, 9) 
 that the Anglican Establishment had "changed its temper 
 and attitude. Its bishops, ministers, and people are busily 
 engaged in ignoring or denouncing those very articles which 
 were drawn up to be their eternal protest against the Old 
 Religion." " Societies are formed, tracts and books are written, 
 lectures are delivered all over the country, to prove to the 
 people that the past three hundred years have been a dismal 
 mistake." " In a word. Catholic doctrines and practices are 
 being reinstated all over the land, and the old heresies cast 
 out. The arch has been turned, the keystone alone is want- 
 ing. When a sick man is in a crisis of suffering, we pray the 
 more for him, because he is near to death or to a cure." 
 " While some of us have been straining our minds and hearts 
 in one direction, shaking our heads and lamenting because 
 the conversions are so few, — behold, the whole country has
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 become half converted without observation, I do not say 
 that half the people, or any considerable section of the 
 people, are yet cojiverted ; but I say that the decay of pre- 
 judice, the advance of truth, the change in sentiment and 
 policy, and in faith and practice, justify us in saying that 
 England is half converted from what she was during the last 
 three centuries, — and this both within the Establishment and 
 without." 
 
 Surely the words of this Pope and of this Cardinal, here 
 quoted, may, in the first place, dispose Catholics to look back 
 with some interest to the earlier history of the Establish- 
 ment, including that of Laud, and, in the second, lead 
 Anglicans to hope that Catholic writers, in dealing with 
 their Church and Churchmen, may not be altogether 
 ungenerous foes. 
 
 And well may converts look with a kindly spirit upon 
 their Anglican neighbours ; for, if they consider it an inestim- 
 able privilege to have been received into the Holy Catholic 
 Church, it behoves at least the less distinguished in virtues 
 and attainments to reflect with modesty and gratitude upon 
 the extraordinary miracle of mercy which selected them — so 
 few out of so many — to see the " Kindly Light " and to follow 
 it, while the vast majority of their former co-religionists, 
 some of them immensely their superiors in mental ability, 
 in the extent of their studies, and even, perhaps, in heroic 
 works of charity and self-denial, have not had this grace 
 given to them.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Principal events from 1573 to 1589- 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Parentage of Laud — Birth — Boyhood — Schools in his times — 
 Children's literature — Reading — Loyalty — Queen Elizabeth 
 — Puritans and Jesuits — Martyrdom — Catholic Bishops who 
 had resigned their Sees — The Spanish Armada — Execution of 
 Mary Queen of Scots — Death of Leicester — Laud goes to 
 Oxford— St John's College— Sir Thomas White— His Scholar- 
 ships for Reading, &c. ..... i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 15S9 to early in seventeenth century. 
 
 Oxford at the end of the sixteenth century — Disorders — The old 
 Scholastic Philosophy abolished — Contests for Chancellorship 
 — Buckeridge — Condition of the Anglican Church — Bitterness 
 of the Puritans — Animosity of the Anglicans — Rival parties 
 in the Establishment — Hatred of orders — Ridley, Hooper, and 
 Laud — No Consecration thought necessary by Cranmer — 
 Macaulay on the Founders of the Anglican Church— Arch- 
 bishop Bancroft — Andrews — His private chapel — Bishops 
 Morton and Cooper — Comprehensiveness of Anglicanism a 
 later discovery . . . . . . .13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Late in sixteenth century to 1605. 
 
 Abbott — Laud obtains St John's Scholarship — Undergraduate life 
 — St Philip Neri — Persecution of Catholics — Laud takes his 
 Degree — Becomes " Grammar Reader " — Edict of Nantes — 
 Juxon — Death of Laud's Mother — Ordained Deacon — Execu- 
 tion of Essex — Divinity Lectureship — Differences with Abbott 
 — Chaplaincy to Earl of Devonshire — Marries him to the 
 divorced Lady Rich — Gunpowder Plot — Opinion of the Arch- 
 priest upon it . . . . . . .36
 
 X Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1606 and various periods. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Quarrel with Dr Ayry — Attack on Laud in a sermon by Abbott's 
 Brother — Laud on the Eucharist — On Purgatory — On Apos- 
 tolical Succession — He said Lutherans had Bishops, though 
 not in name — In his opinion, intention not necessary for 
 validity of a Sacrament — Foreign ministers appointed to posts 
 in the Anglican Church without re-ordination — Laud never 
 used wafer bread, but Andrews did — Laud heard confessions 
 — Reconciliation with Rome— Clarendon calls Laud an enemy 
 to Popery — His severity to Catholics — Declared himself a 
 Protestant on the scaffold — He considered Rome an elder 
 sister ........ 36 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1607 — 1615. 
 
 Benefices and Advowsons — John Milton — Laud preaches before 
 James I. — His sermons — His style of preaching — Illness- 
 Presidentship of St John's — Suit about it — George Abbott — 
 King James — Makes Laud one of his Chaplains — Sir T. 
 Bodley — Spanish Ambassador on James I. — Death of Henry, 
 Prince of Wales — Marriage of Elizabeth, Princess of Wales, 
 to Frederick, Elector Palatine — Apology from Abbott's 
 brother ........ 46 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1616 — 1621. 
 
 Death of Shakespeare — James takes Laud to Scotland — There 
 Laud gives offence — Made Dean of Gloucester — Quarrels with 
 the Bishop of Gloucester — Execution of Sir Walter Raleigh — 
 The Archbishop of Spalatro — The latter obtains preferment 
 in the Anglican Church — Anglican orders — Reunion with the 
 East — Natural Science at Oxford — Speculum Mundi — New 
 Professorships at Oxford — Death of the Queen — Her funeral- 
 Coronation of Princess Elizabeth as Queen of Bohemia — Her 
 dethronement — Abbott urges James to support her cause — 
 Laud and Buckingham ..... 57 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1621 — 1624. 
 
 Williams — said to have recommended Laud for Bishopric of St 
 David — Conversation with the King — James's opinion of Laud 
 — Laud made Bishop of St David's — Abbott's accidental
 
 Contents. xi 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 homicide — The Lawyers and Theologians on the question 
 — First Episcopal Act of Laud's to ask for a contribution 
 from his clergy towards the War in the Palatinate — Fisher and 
 the Countess of Buckingham — Laud's controversy with — 
 Dean Hook and Mr Benson on it — Laud"s Labyrinth . 68 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 1622. 
 
 Intimacy with Buckingham — Confessor to him — Advancement at 
 Court — His prayer for Buckingham — Jealousy of Abbott — 
 Visitation of St David's — Questions to Clergy — Ordered to 
 write account of Conference with Fisher — His First Ordin- 
 ation — Expedition of Prince Charles and Buckingham to 
 Spain — Anger in England when publicly known — Laud 
 favoured the Spanish match ; Abbott opposed — Laud con- 
 sequently rises in royal favour — Cabals in England against 
 Buckingham — Failure of Expedition . . .81 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 1623 — 1625. 
 
 Wihiams, now Lord Keeper, quarrels with Laud — Makes it up — 
 Laud persuades Buckingham to relieve Members of Con- 
 vocation from heavy subsidies — Abbott's anger — Laud sits 
 up with Buckingham when he is ill— Accident to Lord 
 Mansfield when tilting on Good Friday — Accidents to Laud 
 — His passion by blood— Bishop of Norwich accused of 
 Popery — Controversy with a foreigner — Laud's Dreams — 
 His Superstitions — Death of King James — His Appearance — 
 His Character — Calvinism and Arminianism — Laud's in- 
 fluence over James — Catholicism and Arminianism . . 90 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 1625 and various periods. 
 
 Accession of Charles I. — Shows favour to Laud — The O. and P. 
 Schedule — Laud ordered to consult Andrews — Andrews and 
 auricular confession — Illness of Bishop of Durham, and Laud 
 made Clerk of the Closet until his recovery — Funeral of James 
 — Marriage of Charles — Arrival of Queen — The Pestilence — 
 Fast — Laud stays with Windebank — Charles I. hears Mass — 
 The Parliament at Oxford — Assaults on Buckingham — Parlia- 
 ment Dissolved in Twelve Days — The Pious Petition — Dr
 
 xii Contents. 
 
 Montagu — A New Gag for an Old Gospel — Appello C^sarem 
 — Montagu fined — Montagu made Bishop of Chichester — 
 Brought up against Laud at his trial .... 102 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1625 — 1626. 
 
 Illness — Second Visitation of St. David's — Coach overturned — 
 Consecrates his domestic chapel — Mistake in the day — Only 
 one candidate for ordination, and he unfit — Birth of a son to 
 Duke of Buckingham — Quarrels between King and Queen 
 about her chapels and chaplains — Laud probably had nothing 
 to do with them — An alibi — Laud and the Queen — Laud 
 turned out of his London quarters to make way for the 
 French Ambassador — Preparations for the Coronation — 
 Williams, Dean of Westminster, being out of favour, the 
 King deputed Laud to make the arrangements — The Crucifix 
 — The Queen refused to attend the Coronation — Coronation — 
 The sword, Curtana — Despondency of Williams — Death of 
 Bacon . . . . . . . .114 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 1626 — 1627. 
 
 Charles falls from his horse — He scolds the Bishops — Laud made 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells — Promised Archbishopric of 
 Canterbury — He tutors Charles — Made Dean of the Chapel 
 Royal — Death of Andrews — Enmity between Buckingham 
 and Bristol — Buckingham's visit to Paris, his extravagant 
 dress, and his love-makings with Anne of Austria — Laud and 
 Buckingham visit Cambridge together — The King and 
 Queen's curtain lecture — Bassompierre's diplomacy — Irrita- 
 tion of the King of France — Charles champions the liberties 
 of the Reformed Churches, and sends Buckingham with an 
 expedition to the coast of France — Laud made Bishop of 
 London — Despair of Duchess of Buckingham at her hus- 
 band's infidelities — Defeat of Buckingham by the French . 124 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1627 — 1629. 
 
 Quarrel of Laud and Abbott about Sibthorp's sermon. Abbott sus- 
 pended by Charles for refusing to license it — The Parliament 
 of 1628 — Laud falls in getting out of his coach — The Parlia-
 
 Contents. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ment censures both Laud and Buckingham — Dr Cozen's 
 Devotions — Prynne's censure — A son of Belial and a solicitor 
 — Bishop Mountain — Dr Smart — Illnesses — Assassination of 
 Buckingham by Felton — Laud threatens Felton with the 
 rack — The death of Buckingham makes Charles more de- 
 pendent on Laud — The Parliament " broken up " — Salisbury's 
 sermon — John Fraske . . . . . • I34 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1629— 1630. 
 
 Lady Eleanor Davies — Birth and Death of a Prince of Wales — 
 Laud's longest illness — Behaviour of congregations during 
 divine service — The observance of Lent — The chapel at 
 Hammersmith — Lord Mulgrave — Dr Aylett — Death of Pem- 
 broke, Chancellor of Oxford, and appointment of Laud in his 
 place — Sermons at Oxford against Laud — Laud gives nearly 
 six hundred manuscripts to the University — Birth of the 
 Prince of Wales — Laud baptizes him — Assessment of printers 
 towards the repair of St Paul's — Predestination — Leighton 
 and " Sion's Plea" — His trial — Escape — Punishment — Beale's 
 Almanack — Peter Heylin . . . . .144 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 1631 — 1632. 
 
 Consecration of St Catherine Creed - Church — The Devil's 
 Winnowing — His Majesty's great Case of Conscience — The 
 New Buildings at St John's — A schismatic — A bantering 
 letter — The Bishop of Durham and Cozen — Disorderly 
 Proctors — Birth of Princess Mary — The Queen of Bohemia ; 
 the Thirty Years' War ; Charles and Laud — Sir Thomas Roe 
 — Chillingworth — He becomes a Catholic and apostatizes — 
 Suicide of the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge — Laud gets 
 Windebank made Secretary of State, and Juxon Clerk of the 
 Closet — Laying of the foundation stone of the Queen's Catholic 
 Church — Death of the King of Bohemia . • • I55 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1633- 
 Charles goes to Scotland, accompanied by Laud — Irregularities in 
 York Minster— Coronation at Holyrood — Scottish Parliament 
 —Ill-feeling in Sccftland towards Laud— Death of Abbott—
 
 xiv Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Laud made Archbishop of Canterbury — Clarendon on Laud — 
 Laud and funds for repairing St Paul's — The " sale of Indulg- 
 ences " — Reputed offer of a Cardinal's biretta to Laud — Con — 
 The Book of Sports — Chief Justice Richardson and his be- 
 haviour with regard to it — Laud and the judges . . [66 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 1633- 
 The Inns of Court— Ordinations of men without titles — Immoral 
 clergymen — Cockfighting in church — A Capuchin on the 
 Anglican clergy — Powers of search for schismatics — Fines 
 of Printers — -Laud's accounts of his Province to the King — 
 The King's remarks in the margins — St Asaph — Lady Falk- 
 land — Laud's coach, horses, and men sunk in the Thames 
 when being ferried from London to Lambeth — Lady Eleanor 
 Davies prophesies Laud's death in the following November — 
 Birth of another Prince — Ireland — Wentworth — Lord Cork 
 and his family monument in St Patrick's Cathedral — Laud 
 Chancellor of Dublin ...... 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1633. 
 
 Scheme for a great Protestant Union — Roe — John Durie — Diet of 
 Frankfort — Laud advocates an Evangelical Alliance — So good 
 a cause — Love to the work — Brothers in Christ in the Pala- 
 tinate, &c. — Lutheran churches — Want of " oyl " — Private life 
 at Lambeth — Was Laud musical.'' — Laud's appearance — His 
 tortoise — His portraits ...... 191 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1633— 1634. 
 
 William Prynne — " Histrio-mastrix" — Trial of Prynne — Sen- 
 tences of his various judges — His letter to Laud — His second 
 trial, with Bastwick and Burton — His punishment — A badly 
 tipped executioner — Prynne laid everything to Laud's charge — 
 Offending clergy and laity — Converts to Catholicism — How 
 Laud treated them — Especially ladies — The Walloon congre- 
 gation — French Protestants in England — Green's opinion 
 about — Laud's conduct justified — Attributed to wrong causes 
 by Green — Various Catholic local rites — How treated in other 
 countries — Queen of Bohemia's dislike of Laud — Laud forced 
 Communion on members of other churches . . • 2or
 
 Contents. xv 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 1634. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Laud and communion-tables — Table-wise or altar-wise — Clarendon 
 on subject — St Gregory's Church — Trial of the case before the 
 King — Laud rails at his kind patron, Neale — Laud's metro- 
 political visitation and Williams, Bishop of Lincoln — Modern 
 clergymen who have removed their communion-tables — Non- 
 kneelants — Laud brings some of his brother bishops to book 
 — Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, wants a coadjutor — An 
 Oratorian sent to England from Rome — Good feeling be- 
 tween Laud and the Queen . . . . .214 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 1634 — 1635 and later years. 
 
 Laud and Wentworth — The Thirty-nine Articles too high for the 
 Irish Bishops — A chapel with no communion-table in it — 
 Laud and Wentworth got ^30,000 a year refunded to the 
 Anglican Church in Ireland — Laud's income — Laud and 
 Wentworth's correspondence — The case of Adderley Church . 226 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1636. 
 
 Montague and Panzani — Negotiations for reunion — Pope Urban — 
 Cardinal Barberini — Laud and the Duchess of Buckingham — 
 Only three Anglican bishops in England averse to union with 
 Rome — King doubtful — Laud cautious— Panzani accused at 
 Rome of having exceeded his commission — Bray or Gray — 
 Popularity of the Papal Legate at Court — Father Preston and 
 the Oath of Allegiance — Father Leander and Laud — Modern 
 prospects of reunion considered .... 236 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1635 — 1636 and later years. 
 
 Marriage of the Duke of Buckingham's daughter, at which the 
 Catholic grandmother refuses to be present — Laud put on the 
 Committee of Trade and the Committee of Foreign Affairs, 
 and made a Commissioner of the Exchequer — His provisions 
 against the purchase of lay impropriations — How Cottington 
 played a trick upon Laud and put him into a false position 
 with the King — Laud's love of bricks and mortar — The Queen 
 of Bohemia endeavours to get Laud to obtain a bishopric for 
 one of her chaplains— She enlists his services on her son's 
 behalf with her brother — Their correspondence . . 249
 
 xvi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1636. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reappearance of the plague in London — The Queen and artists 
 and poets — King Charles and the fine arts — His love of them 
 gave great offence in England — Laud and Charles — Finance 
 — Fines — Ship-money — John, Hampden — Death of Portland, 
 Lord Treasurer — Laud gets Juxon, now Bishop of London, 
 appointed in his place — Visit of the King and Queen to 
 Oxford, as Laud's guests — Provisions sent as presents — Laud's 
 journey from Croydon to Oxford — His reception of Cottington 
 — Speeches on the arrival of the King — Lack of enthusiasm — 
 Entertainments at St John's — Services — Theatricals — Cost — 
 Unfavourable comparison with the visit of Queen Elizabeth . 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 1636. 
 
 Question of the Archbishop's right of Visitation at the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge — Sir Kenelm Digby — His con- 
 version — His letter to Laud — Laud's reply — Their unbroken 
 friendship — Digby does Laud a good service during his im- 
 prisonment — An Oxford undergraduate suspected of " Romish 
 leanings " — How treated by Laud and his Vice-Chancellor — 
 Laud threatens to close the University Press — The Mitre 
 Hotel a nest of Papists — The opening of the Queen's chapel — 
 Exposition — Large numbers of confessions and communions . 271 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 1637- 
 
 The Devout Life by St Francois de Sales — Adapted — Its " falsifi- 
 cations " restored — Trials about it — Eleven hundred copies 
 burned — Father Morse — He consumes the B. Sacrament, 
 although not fasting — Laud's treatment of him — Laud speaks 
 freely against converts of high position at the Council — Sir 
 Thoby Matthews — Wentworth's action towards Catholics in 
 Ireland — Persecution — Extreme Protestantism of Usher — 
 Libels against Laud — Severe sentence on Lilburn — Laud 
 confiscates the Genevan Bible — The New Englanders — Laud 
 thinks of sending a bishop to them, backed up by an armed 
 force — Their own cruel persecution of the Quakers . . 285
 
 Conte7its. xvii 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 1637. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, summoned before the Star Chamber 
 for suborning witnesses — The Attorney General's prosecution 
 — Cottington's sentence — Laud's long sentence — Williams in 
 the Tower — Hales — Laud summons him to Lambeth on 
 account of his unorthodox book — He walks about the garden 
 arguing with Hales most of the day — He obtains a canonry of 
 Windsor for him — Eleanor Davies and her Holy Water ; she 
 is put into a lunatic asylum — Lady Purbeck and Sir Robert 
 Howard — She escapes to France — Sir Robert obtains damages 
 for false imprisonment from Laud during the Long Parliament 
 — The form of penance for the reconciliation of an apostate . 298 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 1637— 1638. 
 
 Scotland — The Liturgy — To what extent Laud had to do with 
 the framing and enforcing of the Scotch Prayer Book — The 
 present Scotch Communion Office — Dean Stanley on the 
 question whether it is less or more Protestant than the 
 Anglican — Introduction of the •'Buke"in the Cathedral at 
 Edinburgh— Rough treatment of the Bishop — Riot about the 
 Liturgy at Glasgow — Laud's reception of the news of its failure 
 — He is taunted by Archie, the court jester, and procures his 
 dismissal — Lord Traquair — The question whether he was 
 honest and whether he blundered — The Scottish Council sus- 
 pends the use of the Liturgy — The Tables — The Covenant — 
 Lord Loudon — The Marquess of Hamilton — He is sent as 
 Royal Commissioner to Scotland — His failure — Preparations 
 for war . . . . • • • • 3 ^ ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 1637, 1638, and other years. 
 
 Comparisons between Laud and Richelieu — Richelieu wishes to 
 secure the neutrality of England whilst France seizes the 
 maritime towns of the Netherlands— He sends D'Estrades to 
 the English Court for this purpose — Interviews with Henrietta 
 Maria and Charles— Failing with the King, he gives support 
 to the Scotch Covenanters — Macaulay's statement concerning 
 Wentworth's non-responsibility as to the enforcement of the 
 Scotch Liturgy liable to misconstruction — Correspondence 
 between Laud and Wentworth about Scotch affairs . . 323 
 
 b
 
 PAGE 
 
 XV Hi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 1638 — 1640. 
 
 Charles and his army advance towards Scotland — Laud urges the 
 clergy to give 3s. lod. in the ;^i of their incomes towards the 
 war — Sir K. Digby institutes a collection for the same purpose 
 among the Catholics — Bad management, as well as treachery, 
 in the King's army — The murderous Marchioness of Hamilton 
 — Douglas on Episcopacy being orthodox in England and 
 heretical in Scotland — The " Pacification " — Laud's dis- 
 approval of the terms — Destruction of the Spanish Fleet by 
 the French — Disgrace of England — Success of Richelieu's 
 diplomacy — Necessity of a Parliament to impose fresh taxes 
 — Infirmity of Laud — Parliament meets — Laud is abused in 
 it — Its refusal to make a grant towards subduing the Scottish 
 Rebellion — Dissolution of Parliament — Popular indignation 
 against Laud — Attack upon his palace at Lambeth by the 
 Mob ........ 333 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Very varying dates. 
 
 People with whom Laud had to do — Nicholas Ferrar — Little 
 Gidding— The first Anglican monastery — Encouraged both 
 by Laud and Williams — Patronised by Royalty — Pasting- 
 printing— Polyglots — George Herbert — Dr Donne — Isaak 
 Walton — Lord Pembroke— Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury 
 — Influence of Herbert, Ken, and Keble, as poets, upon 
 Anglicanism — Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland — Sweetness 
 and Light, and Sweetness and Delight . . . 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 1639 — 1640. 
 
 Laud's correspondence with Johnson, the Queen of Bohemia's 
 Chaplain at the Hague, about a report that he favoured the 
 Socinians — Disputes between the University and the Civic 
 Authorities at Oxford — Objections to sermon preached on the 
 Real Presence, before the King by Goodman, Bishop of 
 Gloucester — Convocation illegally sits after Parliament has 
 risen and makes Canons — Bishop of Gloucester refuses to 
 sign them — He signs them — He is imprisoned — He died a 
 Catholic — Charles scolds Laud for oppressing the Catholics — 
 The " Et Cetera " oath — The Scotch army crosses the Border 
 — The King proceeds in haste to the North with the English 
 army — Laud is frightened . . . . -355
 
 Contents. xix 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 1640. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Parliament assembles — -Timidity of Charles — Death of Laud's 
 old patron, Dr Neile, Archbishop of York — Convocation — 
 Wentworth made Earl of Strafford — Impeachment of Strafford 
 — Sir Henry Vane and his son — Their "contrivance"— 
 Release of Williams — Also of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton 
 —The " Root and Branch Petition " — Ballads deriding Laud 
 cried and sold about the streets of London — Direct charges 
 made against him in the House of Commons — Impeached for 
 High Treason — Arrest— Return to Lambeth to get some 
 books and papers — Committed to the charge of Maxwell, 
 Usher of the Black Rod . . . . . 366 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 1 64 1. 
 
 Laud "a silly fellow to hold talk with a Lady" — Exorbitant 
 charges for his keep — Taken to the House of Lords — Com- 
 mitted to the Tower — Reviled by the " Raskle Rabble " on his 
 way thither — Grotius sends Pococke to advise Laud to 
 escape— He refuses — Wrath of Laud at the preponderance of 
 lay votes in a Committee appointed to examine into Innova- 
 tions of Doctrine and Discipline in the Anglican Church — 
 Laud in the Tower — Trial of Strafford — Faithlessness of 
 Charles — Sentence on Strafford — He is not allowed to see Laud 
 — Interview between Laud and Strafford through the window 
 on the way to execution — Execution of Strafford — Clarendon 
 on Strafford .....•• 37^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 1641. 
 
 " Libels " against Laud — Tertian Ague— Resigns Chancellorship 
 of Oxford — Charles " rode away Post into Scotland " — Laud 
 loses his Steward— Williams persuades the Lords to sequester 
 Laud's jurisdiction as Archbishop — Charles returns from Scot- 
 land—Williams and nine other Bishops imprisoned in the 
 Tower — Complacency of the Head of their Church — Rumours 
 that the Queen is to be impeached— Charles has some of the 
 Parliament impeached — His order not obeyed — Charles's 
 authority set at naught by the Commons — The Queen goes 
 to Holland— Question whether, in the Tower, Laud con- 
 templated escape, a flight to Rome, and becoming a Catholic
 
 XX Co7itents. 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 — Charles refers the consideration of the Government and 
 Liturgy of the Church to the Wisdom of Parliament — Anger 
 of Laud ........ 387 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVL 
 
 1641— 1643. 
 
 Laud receives a visitor vi^ho tries to extort a bribe from him — Laud 
 strains a tendon — Very lame for two months — Preached at in 
 the Church in the Tower — Laud's arms taken away from 
 Lambeth Palace— "The Bishops were voted down in the 
 House of Commons " — Their " Rents and Profits " seques- 
 trated — Bill passed abolishing Episcopacy — Lord Brooke shot 
 at Lichfield — Threat of sending Laud to New England — 
 Order from the King to place all his Church patronage at 
 the royal disposal^Prynne searches Laud's room at the 
 Tower — Laud again preached at — The " Synodical Men" — 
 Laud and the Scotch Prayer Book — His theories as to the 
 Real Presence and the necessity of Intention in Sacraments 400 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 1643. 
 
 "Rome's Master Piece" — Andreas ab Habernfield — Con — Siege 
 of Reading — The Covenant in England — Charles's declaration 
 just before receiving Communion of his exceeding Protes- 
 tantism — Laud applies for Counsel and Funds for his trial — 
 Ordered to appear in Forma Pauperis — His request for 
 distinguishment as to which charges are to be regarded as 
 High Treason and which as mere Misdemeanour — Railed at 
 on his way to the House of Lords — He receives a visit from a 
 New England Minister . . . . .413 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 1644. 
 
 The King sends Laud a sealed Pardon before his trial — Articles 
 of Impeachment — Sergeant Wilde's opening speech for the 
 Prosecution — Laud's reply — He is baited in the ante-chamber, 
 after the first day's trial, by a clergyman — Sometimes taken 
 to the House of Lords from the Tower for trial, and sent back 
 again untried — Expenses of trial ; each time he goes to the 
 House of Lords it costs him £fi or £'] — Death of Richelieu 
 — ^^Rise of Cromwell — Abolition of the " Book of Common 
 Prayer" — Change in appearances of the streets of London . 425
 
 Contents. xxi 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 1644. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Heylin's contrasted with Prynne's description of Laud's trial — 
 Clarendon's — Witnesses' evidence against Laud — Santa Clara 
 — Laud, for the most part, conducts his own case — His 
 courage in his defence — Mr Nicholas — Mr Pincen — Mar- 
 riages in the Tower— Laud's treatment of Foreign Reformed 
 Churches in England — Laud's doctrine as to the ordination 
 of a priest by a priest, and not a bishop, in casii necessitatis — 
 Laud and Apostolical Succession and the Real Presence— A 
 copy of his Diary in a " Blue Coat " given to " every Lord 
 present" — No Popery ...... 43^ 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 1644 — 1645. 
 
 Laud's Recapitulation — He gives vent to some sarcasms — His 
 nose bleeds, and he takes it as an ill omen — Mr Brown makes 
 " a Summ or brief of the Charge " — Mr Nicholas wants him to 
 be hanged, unheard — Laud's Counsel, Hern of Lincoln's Inn, 
 argues his case on technical grounds — Laud summoned 
 before the Commons — His annoyance at — Ordinance drawn 
 up to attaint him of High Treason — Brown gives another 
 summary of the charge against him — Laud allowed ten days 
 to reply — His reply — His opinion of Epitomes — Laud's 
 courage in speaking of Separatists — Hearsay evidence — The 
 Commons vote the Ordinance making Laud guilty of High 
 Treason — Its reception by the Lords — Pembroke's " canker'd 
 Humour against " Laud — Conference between Lords and 
 Commons — Christmas Eve — Fast on Christmas Day — Bill of 
 Attainder passed in the House of Lords — Laud's reception of 
 the news — What Peers passed the Ordinance — Clarendon on 
 the Ordinance ....... 446 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 1645. 
 
 Laud condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered — Lords 
 would commute for beheading ; the Commons refuse — The 
 Commons yield — Laud prepares a written sermon to preach 
 on the scaffold — Laud's last day and night — William Laud 
 and St William of Bourges — The procession to the scaffold — 
 The surroundings — Five executions in six weeks — Laud's 
 sermon — Prayer at the end . . . . 45^
 
 PAGE 
 
 xxii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 1645. 
 
 Laud's defence of the King in his sermon— His conduct contrasted 
 with that of Charles — His prayer partly addressed to the 
 bystanders — The reporter — He takes off his doublet — People 
 under the scaffold — An Irishman torments him — Arrange- 
 ments with the executioner — Final prayer — Execution — 
 Funeral at All Hallows, Barking — People said he had painted 
 his face — A ghastly comedy — Catholics and their doctrine as 
 to those who die in good faith — Question whether Laud 
 helped to bring his friends also to the scaffold — Question 
 whether Laud injured or benefitted the Church to which he 
 belonged — His Erastianism — Poems on his death — His Anti- 
 Catholicism — Divisions of opinion in the Anglican Church — 
 A wife might have saved Laud — His benevolence — He did 
 not owe his advancement to personal charms or literary style 
 — Rude to the rich but obsequious to a few great potentates 
 — He did not live in times devoid of personal holiness — 
 Eulogy ........ 467
 
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 Hist. — The History of the Troubles and Tryal of The Most Reverend 
 Father In God, and Blessed Martyr, William Laud, Lord Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. Wrote by Himselfe, during his Imprisonment 
 in the Tower. Preface by Hen. Wharton. London, 1795. 
 
 Diary — [To the above] is prefixed The Diary of His Own Life Faithfully 
 and entirely Published from the Original Copy. 
 
 Gyp. Ang.- — Cyprianus Anglicanus, or The History of the Life and Death 
 of The Most Reverend and Renowned Prelate William, By Divine 
 Providence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, &c. By Peter 
 Heylin. 
 
 Benson — William Laud, some-time Archbishop of Canterbury. A Study. 
 By A. C. Benson, B.A. London : Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 
 1887. 
 
 Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom. — Calendar of State Papers, Domestic. 
 
 Die. Nat. Bio.— A Dictionary of National Biography. By Sidney 
 Lee. 
 
 Hist. Reb. — The History of the Great Rebellion. By Edward Earl of 
 Clarendon. Oxford : Printed at the Theater, 1707. 
 
 Laud's Lab. — Labyrinthus Cantuariensis, or Doctor Laud's Labyrinth, 
 &c. By T. C. Paris, 1658. 
 
 Lib. Ang.-Cath. Theol. — Library of Anglo-CathoHc Theology. Ox- 
 ford : John Henry Parker, 1846. 
 
 S. P. O.— State Paper Office. 
 
 Eng. Univ. — The English Universities. From the German of V. A. 
 Huber. Edited by F. W. Newman. 
 
 Rec. Eng. Prov. S. J. — Records of the English Province of the Society 
 of Jesus, &c. By Henry Foley, S. J. 1877. 
 
 Ency. Brit. — Encyclopaedia Britannica. 8th Edition. 
 
 Scrinia Reserata — Scrinia Reserata : A Memorial offer'd of the Great 
 Deservings of John Williams, D.D., &c., &c.. Lord Archbishop of 
 York. Written by John Hackett, late Bishop of Litchfield and 
 Coventry. 1692. 
 
 Panzani — Memoirs of Gregorio Panzani, Envoy from Rome to the 
 English Clergy. Translated from the Italian Original by the 
 Rev. Joseph Berington. 
 
 Rushworth — Rushworth's Historical Recollections. 
 
 Hist. Coll.— Do. do. 
 
 Conf. with Fisher — A Relation of The Conference between William 
 Laud, late Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mr Fisher the Jesuit, 
 &c. With an Answer to such exceptions as A. C. takes against 
 it. Oxford : At the University Press, 1839.
 
 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 My hero was the son of a tailor. One of his bitter enemies, 
 and he had many, describes him as a man of very low birth, 
 '' E faece plebis" \ on the other hand, Heylin, who acted as 
 his Boswell, says : — " If Laud's father was a tailor, he also 
 kept not only many Lomes (looms) in his house, but many 
 Weavers ; " ^ and he adds that his mother was actually so 
 aristocratic as to be "sister to a Lord Mayor of London." 
 Moreover, we should remember that the scope of the tailor's 
 art was much wider in the sixteenth century than it is in the 
 nineteenth. Who has not read of that great tailor's son, of 
 fiction, Sir Piercie Shafto .? with his "murrey-coloured double- 
 piled Genoa velvet, puffed out with ciprus," his " rich crimson 
 silk doublet, slashed out and lined with cloth of gold, with 
 baldric and trimmings to correspond," and his " four suits of 
 as pure and elegant device as ever the fancy of a fair lady 
 doated upon, every one having a treble and appropriate 
 change of ribbons, trimmings, and fringes, which, in case 
 of need, may, as it were, renew each of them, and multiply 
 the four into twelve." ^ Obviously, a tailor, especially a 
 tailor who was also a weaver, might not only have been 
 a man of taste and skill, but also of at least very substantial 
 means, in the sixteenth century. As a matter of fact, when 
 Laud's father died, he left him ^1200, the equivalent of a 
 
 1 " Cyp. Angl.," p. 42. - " The Monastery," by Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 t"3
 
 2 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1573- 
 
 very comfortable little capital in our own days, besides 
 his stock in trade, his house in Reading, and two houses 
 at Swallowfield. 
 
 "I was born Octob. 7, 1573, at Reading^' says Laud in 
 his diary.^ 
 
 He was the only child of a second marriage,^ and a 
 delicate baby ; for he says of himself : — " In my Infancy 
 I was in danger of Death by Sickness." There is a tradi- 
 tion that he was born in a house situated on the north 
 side of Broad Street, which was noticeable for " the semi- 
 circular termination of the brick front in the upper storey."^ 
 Mr Coates, from whom I quote, attempts to prove, and 
 apparently with success, that Prynne's assertion that he 
 was born "at a cottage just against the Cage" is utterly 
 false. Broad Street was not very far from the modern 
 railway stations, on the northern side of the town. And 
 here it may be well to observe that the biographer of Laud 
 has frequently to balance his opinion somewhere between 
 the calumnies of Prynne, blended as they are with a certain 
 amount of truth, and the exaggerated panegyrics of Heylin,. 
 and some of his other admirers, both contemporary and 
 modern. 
 
 Mr Bruce, in his interesting but unfinished essay, prefixed 
 to the " Life of Laud " in Dean Hook's Lives of the ArchbisJiops 
 of Canterbury^ tells us that, at Reading School, Laud " so 
 distinguished himself, that his master foretold his fuuret 
 eminence, and expressed a hope, that when Laud should 
 become a great man, he would not forget how much he owed 
 to the training he received at Reading School [Lloyd's 
 ' Memoires ']. His master was severe in discipline, but came 
 to the conclusions just mentioned from observing the strange 
 dreams, witty speeches, generous spirit, great apprehension, 
 and notable performances of his pupil." 
 
 It is easy to imagine the sharp, intelligent boy, rendered, 
 perhaps, more precocious by the delicacy of his early child- 
 hood, his inability to join in ordinary children's games, and 
 
 1" Hist. W. L.," p. I. = Benson, p. 12. 
 
 . ^ Coates's " History of Reading," p. 411. * Vol. xi. p. 4,
 
 1573-87] Life of Archbishop Laud. 3 
 
 his consequently increased intercourse with older people, 
 attracting the attention of the schoolmaster. Then, a clever 
 little boy, for William Laud was small in stature, is apt to 
 receive more credit than he deserves, when he excels much 
 bigger boys of his own age. His face, again, if never 
 handsome, was noticeable. His portraits show us bright, 
 piercing eyes, with remarkably high eyebrows, which give 
 a half-surprised, half-supercilious expression to his coun- 
 tenance, and we read that he had a high, harsh, irritable 
 voice, and a nervous, impetuous manner. A master might 
 well be both interested and amused with a lad of this 
 description. 
 
 If a pedagogue was considered "severe" in those days, 
 great indeed must have been his severity. The floggings of 
 the period were serious matters, judging from the fact that 
 early in the seventeenth century, a son of the Bishop of 
 Bristol committed suicide in order to avoid one.^ 
 
 A use of the rod, considered excessive even at the latter 
 end of the sixteenth century, may have helped to produce in 
 Laud that stoical contempt for such corporal punishments 
 as the pillory, whippings, ear-croppings, and nose-slittings, 
 which he exhibited in the Court of High Commission and 
 the Star Chamber, in later years. At the same time, we 
 must remember that, even in his school-days, there was 
 something of a reaction from the brutal severity of peda- 
 gogues. In 1 581, the headmaster of Merchant Taylor's 
 School wrote : — " For gentlenesse and curtesie towards 
 children, I do thinke it more nedefuU than beatinge ; "^ and, 
 somewhere near the same time, Brinsley, the author of 
 Piieriles ConfabulatiitnailcE, went so far as to suggest that 
 the birch-rod should be replaced by a " lytel twigge." 
 
 Already, too, books of the Reading-zvithoiit Tears type 
 had begun to come into fashion. Four years before the 
 birth of Laud, a book was published, entitled A delysious 
 Suriipe newly clary fed for yonge scholars y^ thurste for the 
 swete lycore of Laten speche. In the same year, William 
 Hay ward wrote his Grammer Warre, in which Aino, king 
 
 1 *'Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1611-18, p. 120. " Mulcaster's "Positives," Brit. Mus.
 
 4 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1573-87- 
 
 of the verbs, and Poeta, king of the nouns, have a battle, 
 and the pronouns are called in as allies. Very nearly at the 
 same date, if a trifle earlier, Roger Ascham published his 
 famous ScJioolemaister, or Plaine and perfyte ivay of teaching 
 children to understand zvriting and speakyng the Latin tong, 
 but specially purposed for the private Bringing up of youth in 
 Jentleinens and Noblemen s houses ; and so long as forty 
 years before Laud's birth, an Eton master (Udall), had 
 written a book called Floures of Latyn Spekynge} In respect 
 to religious instruction, it may be worth mentioning that 
 Dean Nowell of St Paul's, the successor of the famous Dean 
 Colet, published, three years before the birth of Laud, a 
 Catechism which became the standard work of its kind, and 
 remained so for many years.^ 
 
 It is far from unlikely that Laud might have studied a 
 children's reading-book which was much in fashion in his 
 youth, entitled, A Booke zVz Englyssh ineti'e of the great niar- 
 chaunt man called Dyves Pragmaticus, very pretye for chyldren 
 to rede, wherby they may better and more readyer rede and 
 write Wares and Implements in this worlde contayned ; or 
 a book some thirty years older. The Secret of Secrets of 
 Aristotle . . . very go de to teach cliildren to read English ; or 
 a child's book of about the same period, Andrew Borde's 
 Introduction to Knowledge, in which run the lines : — 
 
 " I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here. 
 Musing in my minde what raiment I shall were." 
 
 But one of the best known books for children, that 
 appeared immediately before Laud was born, was The Schoole 
 of Vertue, which was for long used as a lesson book and was 
 even reprinted in the early part of the present century. It 
 taught good manners and, with one or two of its fellows, 
 provoked a wicked writer to publish a sort of parody, called 
 The School of Slovenrie, the style of which may be judged 
 by the following couplet : — 
 
 " When thou art set, devoure as much as thou with healthe canst eate, 
 Thou therefore wert to dinner bid, to help away his meate." 
 
 1 See " The Child and his Book," by Mrs Field, p. 149. '- lb. p. 143.
 
 1573-87-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 5 
 
 I mention these books to show that a great step had been 
 made in juvenile literature just before Laud's birth and in 
 his early childhood. 
 
 Among certain classes, a clerical career is regarded as an 
 important social advancement. The smallest Scotch farmer 
 hopes that his first-born son may some day "wag his 
 pow" in the pulpit; the Irish cotter that his boy may live 
 to be addressed as " yer riverence " ; and in England, the 
 burgher sets before himself the sending of his son to college 
 and his subsequent "ordination," as the highest object of his 
 ambition. What more natural, therefore, than that Laud, 
 the tailor, should make up his mind to send his only child to 
 Oxford, with a view to his becoming a clergyman, and his 
 thoughts may have been directed towards churches and 
 benefices by the duties of his office of churchwarden, an 
 honour which he obtained only a couple of years before he 
 sent his son to college. 
 
 At a time when public feeling was beginning to run high 
 between the supporters of " Church and Queen " and the 
 Puritans, even boys would place themselves on one side or 
 the other ; many of us have seen little lads giving and 
 enduring bloody noses, for the sake of religious tenets which 
 they but very partially understood ; and it is probable that 
 at a town like Reading the tendency was towards the school 
 of thought then held to be orthodox by the loyal and the 
 influential. 
 
 Of politics, again, much would no doubt be heard and said 
 at Reading. When we consider how many roads converge 
 on Reading on their way to London, it becomes evident that 
 that town must have been an important local centre of news 
 and gossip ; although it must be admitted that the London 
 road was then so bad near the town, and, owing to its low 
 level, so subject to floods, as to be sometimes impassable for 
 a month or six weeks together.^ Even in the early years of 
 the present century, my father's schoolmaster used, during an 
 illness of the then reigning monarch, to go every day to the 
 nearest post-town, await the arrival of the London coach at 
 
 ^ Coates's " History of Reading," p. 458.
 
 6 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1573-87- 
 
 the inn where the horses were changed, and call out in a 
 pompous voice, as it drew up ; — " Well, guard, and how is 
 poor king ? " Much more must coachmen and travellers have 
 been pestered for news, in days when newspapers had only- 
 just been invented, and that scarcely more than in name, and 
 even stage-coaches and guards were yet things in the dim 
 future. 
 
 And here it may be worth inquiring what subjects of 
 common conversation are likely to have come within the 
 hearing of, and to have influenced, the boy in whose career 
 we are interesting ourselves ; for, if a dull, or even an ordi- 
 nary, lad cares little as to what anybody, except himself and 
 his play-fellows, are doing, a sharp, thoughtful, imaginative 
 boy, such as Laud is represented to have been, would listen 
 with pricked ears to his elders retailing " the news." Fathers 
 in our time can learn what is going on all over the world, as 
 they sit in silence with their newspapers ; or impart their 
 ideas by writing to them ; when Laud was a boy, on the con- 
 trary, political information was chiefly obtained by hearing 
 and communicated by speaking. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was reigning in her full glory. Laud's 
 historian would naturally like to imagine that he might have 
 seen her pass through Reading, accompanied by an impos- 
 ing retinue, and consider the effect such a spectacle would 
 produce upon an excitable boy, engendering in him those 
 strong opinions upon the Divine Right of monarchs for which 
 he afterwards became so conspicuous ; but truth compels me 
 to say that the queen, after making some stay at Reading when 
 he was three years old, an age at which her appearance can 
 scarcely have made much impression upon him, did not visit 
 that town again, so far as I can ascertain, until he was nineteen 
 and probably at Oxford. Nevertheless, a regal sojourn at a 
 provincial town would leave many traditions behind it for 
 several years, and little William would be brought up in an 
 atmosphere of stories about his excellent and almost super- 
 human queen and "governess," as she was called. It is 
 pretty certain, too, that he would be congratulated on living 
 in the" reign of good Queen Bess, so escaping the " fires of
 
 1573-87] Life of Archbishop Laud. 7 
 
 Smithfield" and "Bloody Mary" by fifteen ye^rs. The very 
 founder of the " Church of England, as by law established," 
 of which he was to become so prominent a member, had been 
 living within twenty-six years of his own time, and within 
 twenty-seven, the great hero of the Reformation, Martin 
 Luther himself Laud was born only a year too late to be 
 a contemporary of a man whose name became odious to him 
 — the notorious John Knox, and he can scarcely have failed 
 to hear a good deal concerning him in his boyhood. He 
 would hear also of another man remarkable in the religious 
 world, who had died seven years before his own birth ; I 
 mean Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Founder of the Society 
 of Jesus. A lad then unknown to fame, but one who was 
 destined to be celebrated in the history of the Church, Saint 
 Francis of Sales, was six years older than Laud ; and a boy 
 much nearer home, and three years yet older, whose name, 
 William Shakespeare, was, if possible, even less known, was 
 to become far more famous than the subject of my memoir. 
 
 A boy at a grammar school in the early years of Laud 
 might possibly, I will not venture to say would probably, 
 hear some strong expressions used concerning an event which 
 had been brought to a conclusion just ten years before his 
 birth. This was the great Council of Trent, of which he had 
 much to say and to write as he grew older, and there is 
 every reason for believing that he had been brought up to 
 regard it with hatred and scorn. 
 
 In alluding to things ecclesiastical, it may be worth 
 observing that, at the time of his birth, the occupant of the 
 Archdiocese, to which he was one day to succeed, was 
 Archbishop Parker, concerning the validity of whose orders 
 there has been so much and such bitter wrangling. 
 
 Perhaps, at seven years old, Laud may not have been 
 too young to at least partially comprehend the prevailing 
 gossip about the persecution of the Puritans, which was 
 then being carried on at the order of their fierce enemy, 
 Queen Elizabeth. As a set-off against this, when he was 
 eight, Father Campion, the Jesuit, was put to the torture. 
 When he was twelve, the following Act of Parliament was
 
 8 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [I"'i2. 
 
 passed : — " 27 Eliz. cap. 2, sect. 3." I do not hesitate to 
 quote it at some length, as it was fraught with exceedingly- 
 serious consequences. 
 
 " And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, 
 that it shall not be Lawful to or for any Jesuit, Seminary 
 Priest, or other such Priest, Deacon, or Religious Ecclesiastical 
 Person whatsoever, being borne within this Realm, or any 
 other Her Majesty's Dominions, and heretofore since the 
 said Feast of the Nativity of St John Baptist, in the first 
 year of Her Majesty's Reign, made, ordained, or professed 
 or hereafter to be made, ordained, or professed, by any 
 Authority or Jurisdiction, derived, challenged, or pretended 
 from the See of Rome, by, or of what Name, Title, or Degree 
 so-ever, the same shall be called or known, to come into, be, or 
 remain in any part of this Realm, or any other Her Highness 
 Dominions, after the end of the same forty days, other than 
 in such special Cases, and upon such special Occasions only, 
 and for such time only, as is expressed in this Act ; and if 
 he do, then every such Offence shall be taken and adjudged 
 to be High Treason ; and every Person so offending, shall 
 for his Offence be adjudged a Trayter, and shall suffer, lose 
 and forfeit, as in case of High Treason. And every Person, 
 which after the end of the same forty days, and after such 
 time of departure, as is before limited and appointed, shall 
 wittingly, and willingly receive, relieve, comfort, aid, or 
 maintain, any such Jesuit, Seminary Priest, or other Priest, 
 Deacon or Religious or Ecclesiastical Person, as is aforesaid, 
 being at liberty, or out of hold, knowing him to be a 
 Jesuit, Seminary Priest, or other such Priest, Deacon, or 
 Religious or Ecclesiastical Person, as is aforesaid, shall also 
 for such offence be adjudged a Felon, without Benefit of 
 Clergy, and suffer Death, lose and forfeit, as in Case of one 
 Attainted of Felony." 
 
 A lad of twelve would hear his elders rejoicing over the 
 passing of this Act with awe and interest, and the tone of 
 their remarks would probably have much in common with a 
 passage in Sir Edward Coke's " Institutes,"^ wherein he states 
 
 1 Lib. 3. cap. 37.
 
 IS73-87-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 9 
 
 that "these Jesuits and Romish Priests coming daily into 
 and swarming within this Reahn, instilling " " Poison into 
 the Subjects Hearts," " Her Majesty made it Treason," for 
 any Jesuit or priest to come into her kingdom, " Intending 
 thereby to keep them out of the same, to the end, that 
 they should not infect any other Subjects, with such 
 Treasonable and Damnable Persuasions and Practises, as 
 aforesaid." 
 
 Close at hand were monuments of the stern usage applied 
 to the professors of these " Damnable Persuasions." Just 
 thirty-four years before Laud's birth, the Lord Abbot of 
 Reading Abbey — and a great Abbot was he, mitred and by 
 right a peer of parliament, only ranking, it is said, after the 
 Abbots of Glastonbury and St Albans, — was drawn, hanged, 
 and quartered, with two of his monks to keep him com- 
 pany, at the pleasure of King Henry VHI., " for denying the 
 king's supremacie." This martyrdom would, no doubt, be 
 represented as a mete and decent " execution " to the boy. 
 Laud. Had not the excellent Cromwell written to the very 
 bishop of the diocese himself, when he had remonstrated : — 
 " I can take your writing, or thys heate of your stomach, 
 every whyt as well as I can, I trust, beware of flatterers." 
 By King Henry VHL and his admirers, it seems to have 
 been somewhat reluctantly admitted, that the first power 
 was the Almighty ; but they were equally certain that the 
 second was the King's Gracious Majesty, and the third the 
 bishops, subject to the pleasure of the king. 
 
 At Laud's birth, there were still living three of the old 
 Catholic bishops who had resigned their sees — as they all 
 had done, to a man — rather than adopt the new religion. 
 These were Heath, Archbishop of York ; Watson, Bishop 
 of Lincoln ; and Gold well, Bishop of St Asaph. Only eleven 
 years before Laud was born, Jewell wrote to Peter Martyr: 
 " The Marian Bishops are still confined in the Tower."^ The 
 last of these bishops (Gold well) died when Laud was twelve 
 years old. 
 
 When Laud was fourteen, the national fury was stirred up 
 
 ^ " Queen Elizabeth and the CathoHc Hierarchy." Bridgett and Knox, p. 40.
 
 lo . Life of Archbishop Laud. \^&l\i,. 
 
 against the Catholics by the news that that very Catholic 
 king, Philip of Spain, had sent a great Armada to take 
 possession of England and depose its queen. When the 
 English shores, with those of Scotland and Ireland, had 
 been strewn with its helpless wreckage, although a mad joy 
 took the place of frenzied terror, the popular animosity 
 against the co-religionists of its author in no degree abated. 
 In the opinion of most loyal Englishmen, the destruction 
 of King Philip's great ships in the seas surrounding these 
 islands was as much a divine judgment upon the wicked, as 
 that of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea ; and as Philip 
 meant Popery (by the way, almost his first war had been 
 against the Pope), it was also a divine judgment, nay, more, 
 a divine decision and pronouncement upon the wickedness 
 and falseness of that religion. So thought the English 
 Protestants; and I would ask every fair-minded Catholic 
 to make due allowances for my hero, if, at the impressionable 
 age of fourteen, when he heard of the approach to his native 
 land of a dreaded power, with the professed object of over- 
 throwing its monarchy, government, and religion, in the 
 name of a religion other than his own, he began to hate 
 that religion, and if, when he heard of the utter rout of the 
 enemy, he thought that, once crushed, it should never again 
 be permitted to raise its head, and that every Englishman 
 who professed it was a dangerous rebel. 
 
 Earlier in the same year, another blow had been struck 
 at Catholicism in this country, in the execution of Mary, 
 Queen of Scots. Popular feeling in our own days is, on the 
 whole, rather in favour of that unfortunate queen ; but it is 
 highly improbable that much sympathy would be felt for her 
 misfortunes in the unromantic home of an English burgher, 
 loyal to Queen Elizabeth, in her own times. He would 
 regard her as a traitorous rebel, who would upset the then 
 ruling powers if she could, and any disturbance of the ruling 
 powers might disorganise the woollen and tailoring trades, 
 and lessen the profits of Mr William Laud. On the arrival 
 of the news that her head had been severed from her body, 
 the bells were rung, and bonfires were lighted in and about
 
 [^^t^j. Life of Archbishop Laud. ii 
 
 London, nor is it likely that so happy an incident would 
 escape public recognition at loyal Reading. 
 
 There was perhaps more heartfelt joy throughout the 
 country in the following year, at the death of the queen's 
 favourite, Leicester, who held, among others of greater 
 importance, the post of Chancellor of Oxford, which many 
 years later fell to the lot of Laud. 
 
 We now come to a very important period in Laud's life, 
 his career at Oxford. Probably because the mayor and civic 
 authorities had the right of nomination to a scholarship 
 there, he was sent to St John's College. It was then a very 
 new establishment, having been founded only thirty-four 
 years earlier by Sir Thomas White; and it was just a year 
 younger than Trinity. The spirit of these two new colleges 
 was supposed to be rather in the direction of a variety of 
 knowledge than of theology and the classics, and Sir Thomas 
 Pope, who founded the last named, said : — " I remembre, 
 when I was a young scholler at Eton, the Greek tongue was 
 growing apace, the studie of which is now alate much de- 
 cayed." When the advantage of a classical education was 
 advocated, he replied : — " This purpose I will lyke ; but I 
 fear the tymes will not bear it now." 
 
 Laud's father would feel an additional interest in sending 
 his son to St John's, because its founder had followed the 
 same trade as himself in the same town of Reading. Having 
 left it for London, of which city he became Lord Mayor, and 
 in it distinguished himself for his services during the rebellion 
 of Sir Thomas Wyatt, receiving knighthood as a reward 
 from the hands of Queen Mary, Sir Thomas White amassed 
 a large fortune, and is understood to have first intended to 
 build a college at Reading, but afterwards to have decided to 
 do so at either Oxford or Cambridge. I dwell upon some 
 details here because the name of Laud is so intimately 
 connected with St John's College, and if Sir Thomas White 
 founded it. Laud did much for it in the way of building and 
 adornment. 
 
 The story goes that White dreamed that he should build 
 a college at a place where he should find two elms of equal
 
 12 Life of ArchbisJiop Lazid. L^t. 15. 
 
 height growing out of the same tree, and a third near them, 
 of lower stature ; that he went to Cambridge and failed to 
 find them, but afterwards discovered them " without the 
 North Gate of the City of Oxford," on the site of the present 
 college of St John the Baptist.^ Eventually he erected that 
 college at which he gave elective scholarships to the towns 
 of Reading, Coventry, Bristol, and Tunbridge. 
 
 1 Coates's "Hist, of Reading."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Laud was fortunate enough to escape being at Oxford 
 under the chancellorship of Leicester, by two years ; but that 
 chancellor's works remained. As Huber says of him : — 
 " The character of this chancellor and his coterie is enoug-h to 
 explain even the worst phenomena of Oxford ; nor can we be 
 surprised that as soon as he recognised in the University a 
 useful tool, he used it unscrupulously. He bestowed upon 
 his servants and creatures all academic influence and emolu- 
 ments, without care for the rights and claims of men or 
 things." ^ 
 
 It is difficult for us to realise the condition of Oxford at the 
 end of the sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth 
 centuries. The author just quoted tells us that only in 1638 
 was the principle introduced " of a real examination as a 
 preparation for the academic degree, the granting of which 
 had until then depended upon a plurality of votes, although 
 nominally upon the old scholastic exercises, which for a long 
 time had become a practical nullity ; " and he adds in a foot- 
 note : — "Real examinations may have taken place in Oxford 
 up to the thirteenth century ; but they had completely fallen 
 into disuse at all events after the end of this century." 
 
 As to the discipline prevailing at Oxford, an undated 
 document among the Domestic State Papers,^ but assigned 
 to the time of Laud's boyhood, may give some idea. 
 
 " 12 or 15 persones, most M" of Arte,"— Masters of Arts, 
 and not undergraduates, be it observed — " of Christe's 
 Church, standing in y" highwaye, there cam by them in 
 God's peace and the Queue's, a pore myllner a horse backe, 
 
 ^The "English Universities." From German of V. A. Huber. Ed. F. W. 
 Newman. 
 
 ^ Vol. xxiv. 19. 
 
 13
 
 14 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Srie'^^' 
 
 th 
 
 w five and six small gristes under him, whome they torned 
 besides his horse, and threwe the same griste downe, some in 
 one place and some in another, and some in wet and fowle 
 places ; and as many of them as could ryde on the said horse 
 got uppone him, and rode up and downe ye towne; and the 
 poore miller went after them, desyrenge them to have his 
 horse agayne, for that he was a servaunt, and shold have 
 blame for his long taryeinge." " Beinge also requested 
 gentlye to delyver the poore myller his horse, by divers 
 honest inhabytants of the towne, they gave them very evyll 
 and opprobrious words, unmete to be repeated." " Havinge 
 had their pleasure in rydeinge, they whipped the poore 
 fellowe w' his own whippe." "Yet not so contente, they 
 tooke his hat oute of his hand, and rent yt all in peeces, and 
 so departed away, levinge the poore myller w*out recom- 
 pense for his injuries, being a very evill example." And 
 further on — " No man's servant nor the M" himself, can sit at 
 their owen dores, nor goe about their busynes in the eveninge 
 quietly, but he shalbe beaten, and havinge any thing in his 
 hand, y' shalbe taken awaye frome him, as wyne and wyne-pot. 
 And yf a man goe w* a lanthorne to see his waye, yt shalbe 
 smytten out of his hand and broken, and the party beaten.' 
 Moreover, " certeyne of the University," " w"" swords and 
 bucklers and clubs, and other weapons," " went up and downe 
 the streats, misusinge both men and women, w"" opprobryous 
 words, they lienge in their beds, neythur thincking nor doinge 
 any harm to them ; and all (as y' should seme) was to 
 begynne a new ryot, or rather an insurrection." 
 
 The most violent town-and-gown rows of modern times 
 were nothing to these, and it would be easy to multiply 
 evidence that a spirit of wild and coarse lawlessness pre- 
 vailed among the members of the university for many years 
 after Leicester's chancellorship had ended. As time went 
 on, and Laud himself became chancellor, strong measures 
 were taken to repress this disgraceful condition of things. 
 
 In the days of Elizabeth, the old scholastic philosophy 
 was tabooed at Oxford, as was everything that was sup- 
 posed to have any Catholic tendency. Under Leicester's
 
 arca_is9o.j Lifc of Arckbishop Laud. 15 
 
 influence, Puritanical teaching- was encouraged there, al- 
 though his royal mistress would have had it otherwise ; but 
 it was difficult to regulate the religious tone of a university 
 to the exact taste of a queen of whom De Silva could write : 
 — " The Catholics hate her because she is not a Papist, the 
 Protestants because she is less furious and violent in heresy 
 than they would like to see her." ^ 
 
 Shortly before Laud's arrival at Oxford, there was a fierce 
 contest as to the election of a successor to Leicester in 
 the chancellorship. The champion of the Puritanical party 
 in the Church of England was the Earl of Essex, that of the 
 High Churchmen was Lord Chancellor Hatton. The latter 
 obtained most votes in Convocation and was elected ; 
 but his reign was short, as he died in 1591, and Lord 
 Treasurer Buckhurst became chancellor in his stead. 
 
 Either the religious views of Laud were greatly influenced 
 by his tutor, or they were two men of singularly sympathetic 
 ideas. Buckeridge belonged to a party, already in existence 
 and gradually increasing in power and numbers, which 
 endeavoured to take its stand midway between Puritanism 
 and Catholicism, a party which, even in our own days shows 
 no signs of failing ; on the one hand, it declaimed against 
 Calvinism, and on the other against " Popery." Each of its 
 clerical members had, as it were, awakened with the sudden 
 discovery, "Hullo! I am a priest!" The rest — the "sacra- 
 mental grace," the "apostolical succession," the "power of 
 absolution," the " branch-of-the-Catholic-Church " theory, and 
 so on, followed as corollaries. 
 
 There had indeed been much to bring about a reaction 
 from the state of things which had been tolerated by the 
 indifference of the new Church. Queen Elizabeth wrote to 
 Archbishop Parker of " the unclean and negligent order and 
 spare keeping of the houses of prayer," a thing that " breedeth 
 no small offence and scandal to see ;" and of the "unmeet 
 and unseemly tables with foul cloths, for the communion of 
 the Sacrament ; " and of " the place of prayer desolate of all 
 cleanliness and of meet ornament for such a place, whereby 
 1 Froude's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. xi. p. 292.
 
 1 6 Life of Archbishop Laud. [itiTibeth. 
 
 it might be known a place provided for divine service." I 
 quote from Mr Froude. The same author tells us that the 
 Bishop of London, a few years before Laud's time, complained 
 of the Protestant exiles who came from other countries and 
 leavened the newly-made Church of England, as " for the 
 most part facinorosi, ebriosi, et sectariir And, about a year 
 later. Lord Sussex wrote to Cecil : — " The people without 
 discipline, utterly devoid of religion, come to service as to a 
 May game ; the ministers for disability and greediness, be 
 had in contempt ; and the wise fear more the impiety of the 
 licentious professors than the superstitions of the erroneous 
 Papists." 
 
 The bitterness of the Puritans, again, was in itself sufficient 
 to awaken a reaction. Two black-letter fly-sheets - of about 
 the year 1571, speak of " abolishinge and abhoringe all 
 tradicions and inventions of man whatsoever," of " the fylthye 
 cannon lawe," the " abominable " " reliques of Anti-Christe," 
 " the filthyness and pollution of these detestable traditions," 
 this " idolatrouse trash," and " them that have receaved these 
 markes of the Romysh beast." The writer of one of them 
 goes on to say : — " I will not beautifie with my presence 
 those filthy ragges which bryng the heavenly worde of the 
 Eternell our Lorde God into bondage, subjection, and slaverie." 
 " They," the Episcopalians, " glad and strengthen the papists 
 in their errour, and greve the godlie." " God geve us 
 strength styl to stryve." A supplication to the queen, which 
 accompanies them, beseeches her " now in the thirteenth 
 year of her reign," to "imitate Jehosaphat, and cast down 
 idolatry." Let her " cut down, root out, and utterly destroy 
 all monuments of idolatry, as forked caps and tippets, sur- 
 plices, copes, starch-cakes, godfathers, and godmothers," &c. 
 
 Nor was all the strong language used on the Calvinist 
 side. One of the opposite party, when it got into full power, 
 wrote : — " We " " have kept ourselves warm with the hopes 
 of rubbing, fubbing, and scrubbing those scurvy, filthy, dirty, 
 nasty, lousy, itchy, scabby," " stinking, slovenly," " logger- 
 
 1 Froude's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. p. 468. 
 
 - "Cal. Sta. Fap.," vol. xx. Nos. 107, 107 i., 107 ii.
 
 xvithcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop La2Ld. 17 
 
 headed, foolish, insolent, proud, beggarly, impertinent, absurd, 
 grout-headed, villainous, barbarous, bestial, false, lying, 
 roguish, devilish, long-eared, short-haired, damnable, atheisti- 
 cal, puritanical crew."^ I have omitted the strongest adjectives. 
 
 No life of Laud would be complete without some notice of 
 the position of the rival parties in the Church of England 
 during his university career, and this must be my apology 
 for dwelling upon it at some length. 
 
 It should be remembered that less than twenty years 
 before Laud's time, one Anglican bishop, Ridley, who had 
 died for his cause, had knocked down the altars in the 
 churches of his diocese, and substituted tables in the middle 
 of the buildings, which the Catholics called " oyster-boards " ; 
 that Bishop Hooper, who had also been put to death, had for 
 a long time refused altogether to wear any Episcopal vest- 
 ments ; and that Bishop Ponet had wished that the title of 
 bishop should be abandoned."-^ About a dozen years before 
 the birth of Laud, Bishop Jewel showed his opinions pretty 
 plainly in his letters. " We have exhibited," he says, " to 
 the queen all our articles of religion and doctrine, and have 
 not departed in the least degree from the confession of 
 Zurich." This is pretty strong, considering the opinions at 
 Zurich ! " As to your expressing a hope that our bishops 
 will be consecrated without any superstitious and offensive 
 ceremonies ; you mean, I suppose, without oil, without chrism, 
 without the tonsure. And you are not mistaken ; for the 
 sink would indeed have been emptied to no purpose if we had 
 suffered these dregs to settle at the bottom. Those oily, 
 shaven, portly hypocrites we have sent back to Rome, whence 
 we first imported them."^ 
 
 In a publication, entitled A Retentive to Stay, &c., London, 
 1580, is to be found the following elegant profession of faith : 
 — " With all our heart we abhore, defie, detest, and spit at 
 your stinking, greasy, anti-Christian Orders." Nor must the 
 opinions of the Anglican bishops shortly preceding Laud's 
 days be overlooked. Archbishop Cranmer, having been 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pap.," vol. cccxxiv. No. 50. 
 ^Macaulay's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. i. chap. i. ^ " Zurich Letters," xxii, 
 
 B
 
 1 8 Life of Archbishop Laud. \jl^M\\. 
 
 asked a question by Henry VIII., replied : — " The civil 
 magistrates under the King be Lord Chancellor, Lord 
 Treasurer, admirals, sheriffs ; the ministers of God's Word 
 under his Majesty be bishops, parsons, vicars, and such 
 other priests as be appointed by his Highness to that 
 ministration ; as for example, the Bishop of Canterbury, the 
 Bishop of Durham, the Parson of Winwiche, &c., all the said 
 officers be appointed, assigned, and elected in every place by 
 the laws and orders of kings and princes. In the admission 
 of many of these offices be divers comely ceremonies and 
 solemnities, and which be not of necessity, but only for a good 
 order and seemly fasJiion ; for if such offices and ministrations 
 were committed without such solemnity, they zvere nevertheless 
 duly committed, and tJiere is no more promise of God that grace 
 is given in the committing of the ecclesiastical office than it is in 
 the committing of the civil office.'' 
 
 When asked : — " Whether in the New Testament be re- 
 quired any consecration of a bishop or a priest, or only 
 appointing to the office be sufficient .'' " he answered : — " In 
 the New Testament he that is appointed to be a bishop or a 
 priest needeth 7io consecration by the Scripture, /"cr election or 
 appointment is sufficientr And to the same question. Bishop 
 Barlow, who is reputed to have consecrated Archbishop 
 Parker, through whom all the Anglican clergy claim their 
 orders, replied : — " Only the appointing." ^ Besides all this. 
 Barlow, when he was Bishop of St David's, is reported to 
 have said that " if the King's Grace, being Supreme Head of 
 the Church of England, did choose, denominate, and elect 
 any layman being learned to be a bishop, that he so chosen 
 would be as good a Bishop as he is or the best in England." '-^ 
 
 These quotations show that neither Cranmer nor Barlow 
 believed in Apostolical succession, and it follows that they 
 cannot have had the intention of imparting that which they 
 not only claimed to have no power to impart, but did not 
 even believe to exist. As Macaulay says : — " The founders 
 
 1 Burnet, quoted by Fr. Gallwey, pp. 449, 450, 451, in his "Lectures on 
 Ritualism." 
 - "Kennet Collection," vol. xlvi., quoted by Fr. Gallwey.
 
 xvith Cent.] Life of A rchbishop Land. 19 
 
 of the Anglican Church had retained episcopacy as an 
 ancient, a decent, and a convenient ecclesiastical polity, but 
 had not declared that form of church government to be of 
 divine institution." 
 
 On the other hand, it is a mistake to dwell too much upon 
 the High Church Orthodoxy of Laud, as if he had been the 
 inventor, or originator of that school of religious thought and 
 ceremony. Archbishop Bancroft, who occupied the See of 
 Canterbury, had zealously " muzled " the " Puritan faction," 
 as Heylin tells us ; ^ and if, as was undoubtedly the fact, 
 many clergymen never used a surplice when they administered 
 the communion at their " oyster-boards " in the middle of 
 their churches, others " did in the ministration of the Sacra- 
 ments bestir themselves in a White Vesture." ^ 
 
 If any single bishop can be justly called the founder of 
 High Anglicanism, it should be rather Andrews than Laud. 
 In his reply to Bellarmin, Bishop Andrews says : — " We 
 acknowledge a presence as true and real as you do, but we 
 determine nothing rashly as to the manner of it."^ In his 
 writings he affirms that to bishops were " transferred the 
 chief part of the Apostolic function, the oversight of the 
 Church ; and the power of commanding, correcting, and 
 ordaining." ^ It is evident, however, that he considered these 
 special powers to have been " transferred " to them more 
 for the sake of discipline and convenience, and as a sort of 
 afterthought under unexpected circumstances, than as hav- 
 ing any supernatural character. Accordingly he proceeds to 
 add : — " The occasion which caused the apostles to appoint 
 bishops seemeth to have been schisms." It necessarily 
 follows, of course, that without the schisms no bishops would 
 have been required. 
 
 Heylin tells us that Andrews introduced the custom for 
 the clergy of making an " obeysance towards the East, 
 before they betook themselves to their seats " in church.^ In 
 Canterburies Doojne, by Wm. Prynne, page 134, there is a 
 description of Bishop Andrews' private chapel, with an 
 
 ^ " Cyp. Angl.," pp. 57-8. ^ /^^ p_ g. 3 lb. p. 23. 
 
 ■* "Lib, of Angl. Cath. Theol, Andrews," p. 356. ^ .< Cyp. Angl." p. 16.
 
 20 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvithcem. 
 
 elaborate plan. On the communion table, leaning against 
 the wall, is a very large cushion, with a great alms-dish 
 resting against it, an arrangement which still prevails, or till 
 lately prevailed, in certain English cathedrals. On either 
 side was a candle-stick and candle, although, be it observed, 
 he states in his writings, that " the burning of tapers in their 
 churches at noon-day is altogether a pagan custom." ^ At 
 the north and south ends of the table were " stuffed kneeling 
 stools." A few feet from the communion-rails, right in the 
 middle of the chapel, and in front of the lectern, which was 
 apparently the most honoured thing in the building, and 
 was raised on three steps, stood a table " for music." On 
 this music-table was a censer and incense boat, " wherein y® 
 clarke putteth frankincense at y" reading of the first lesson." 
 Among the other properties of the sanctuary was a silver-gilt 
 canister for wafers. Possibly, like the candles, the wafer- 
 canister and the censer were for ornament and not for use ; 
 otherwise, Bishop Andrews was rather an advanced ritualist 
 for his day. But, like not a few modern ritualists, he was 
 very " low " in some respects. For instance, it is clear that 
 he did not encourage weekly " celebrations," and would not 
 tolerate them except on Sundays. " The sacraments," he 
 says, " and discipline are for the Sabbath day, but not for 
 every Sabbath.^ Again, he would not admit that either the 
 Catholics or the Easterns could possibly interpret Scripture 
 aright. He says : — " And so both jointly and severally their 
 grounds are false, and ours are the only true means of inter- 
 pretation."^ Like many of the loftiest of modern High- 
 Churchmen, too, he hated Catholics, and especially Jesuits. 
 " I conceive," he observes, that " the Jesuits " " resemble 
 the heathen priests of the Indians, called brachmans, men- 
 tioned by Osorius ; he saith, ' these heathen clergy-priests 
 also study philosophy and the mathematical arts, insomuch 
 that by their learning and counterfeit holiness they continue 
 all their lifetime the singular contrivers of all fraud and 
 viUany.'"^ 
 
 J "Lib. of Angl. Cath. Theol. Andrews," p. 372, - lb. p. 163. 
 
 » lb. p. 61. " lb. p, 373.
 
 xvithcent.) Life of Archbishop Laud. 21 
 
 Besides his candlesticks and wafers, and censers and 
 incense, he had taken a high flight in drawing up, and using 
 with some ceremony, forms for the consecration of churches 
 and chahces. Now I want the reader specially to bear in 
 mind all these High-Church practices of Andrews. To say 
 that Laud " revived," or introduced most of these things 
 into the Church of England is a mistake. In all his life 
 he never did anything " higher " than Andrews had done, 
 unless it were the putting of a cross, and, in at least 
 one instance, a crucifix, over a communion-table. Cer- 
 tainly he greatly spread and even enforced some of the 
 ritualistic customs of Andrews, and, what was more, he 
 was abused for them, and he suffered for them ; but, so 
 far as I have been able to ascertain, he never made a 
 single step in advance of Bishop Andrews, or probably of 
 one or two other bishops who preceded or were contempor- 
 aneous with him, either in doctrine or in ritual. Laud was 
 energetic, determined, and thorough ; but he was not re- 
 markable for originality, nor can I find that he sought out 
 Catholic usages and endeavoured to implant them in the 
 new Anglican establishment. Early in the seventeenth 
 century, he obtained the friendship of Andrews, became 
 devotedly attached to him, and took his theology and ritual 
 as his model. When impeached for high treason many 
 years later, on account of teachings and practices which 
 were said to be popish, his chief defence was that he had 
 only taught and done things which Bishop Andrews had 
 done and taught before him. 
 
 Another bishop, "high" as to the real-presence, was Bishop 
 Morton. He says " that the question betwixt us and the 
 Papists is not concerning the Real Presence, which the 
 Protestants (as their own Jesuites witness) do also profess." ^ 
 It must, indeed, have been puzzling for the faithful Anglican 
 to know in which of his pastors to believe, when another 
 bishop, Bishop Cooper, " in language remarkably clear and 
 strong," maintained, "that no form of Church government is 
 divinely ordained, that Protestant communities, in establish- 
 
 1 "Cyp. Angl."
 
 2 2 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [xvithcem. 
 
 ing different forms, have only made a legitimate use of their 
 Christian liberty ; and that Episcopacy is peculiarly suited 
 to England because the English constitution is monarchical."^ 
 It may not be unnatural for outsiders to retort that there 
 are even more dissensions in the Anglican Establishment 
 now than there were then. This I do not deny ; but, since 
 then, three hundred years have given it a certain stability, 
 dignity, and maturity, and time has proved to its rival schools 
 that they can co-exist within it without shattering its fabric ; 
 moreover, not a few, nor they the least influential, of its 
 members, pride themselves more upon its comprehensiveness 
 than upon any other of its virtues. That particular virtue 
 had not been discovered at the period of which I write. 
 
 ^ Macaulay's "Hist, of Eng.," vol. i. chap. i.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 If Buckeridge, Laud's tutor at St John's, was "the leading 
 controversialist in sacramental matters,"^ on the High-Church 
 side, other, and higher authorities in the university were of 
 a very different stamp. Abbot, who afterwards became 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, was Master of University College. 
 As Mr Benson says of him ^ : — " His favourite tenet was the 
 descent of the visible Church, not through the main unmis- 
 takable channel, but through by-waters and side-streams. 
 That a man should have gravely held the truth to have 
 passed through Berengarians, Albigenses, Wicklifites, Hus- 
 sites, to Luther and Calvin, is nearly incredible ; yet this was 
 the text of Abbot." Another strong Calvinist, and a corre- 
 spondent of Calvin himself, was the President of Magdalen, 
 Dr Lawrence Humphrey, the Regius Professor of Divinity, 
 and a disciple of Zwinglius. When such a man was lecturing 
 in the divinity schools, the theological tone at Oxford was not 
 likely to be very Episcopalian. The President of Corpus 
 Christi College, Dr Rainolds, was also a strong Puritan. 
 
 The year after his arrival, Laud obtained the coveted 
 scholarship in his college. Learning and science were at this 
 time beginning to make rapid strides, and to the very year 
 in which Laud was elected a scholar, is commonly attributed 
 the invention of one of the most important instruments of 
 science — the microscope, although it was probably known in 
 a primitive form before that date. 
 
 Of Laud's undergraduate life we know little. Wood 
 describes him as " a very forward, confident, and zealous 
 person." He was made a fellow of his college in his fourth 
 year at Oxford, when he was a few months under twenty. 
 Early in the following year, his father died, and although his 
 ^ Benson, p. i8. ^ lb. p. 19.
 
 24 Life of Archbishop Lmtd. [xvithCem. 
 
 mother was to have the income of her husband's property 
 for her life, his own fortune, if a small one, was assured, and 
 he was in no danger of becoming one of the penurious clergy 
 so common at that period. 
 
 "A gentle squier would gladly entertaine, 
 Into his house some trencher chaplaine : " 
 
 " he would contented be 
 
 To give five markes and winter liverie." 
 
 Bishop Hall. 
 
 Or as Peacham says in his Complete Gentlema7i : — " If they " 
 (English gentlemen) "can procure some poure Bachelor of 
 Arts from the Universities to teach their children to say 
 grace, and serve the cure of an impropriation ; who, wanting 
 means and friends, will be content upon the promise of ;^io 
 a yeare ; at his first coming to be pleased with £s-" ^ 
 modern writer says : — " Harrison admits, with a sigh, that 
 the lower ecclesiastics were generally despised ; but he seeks 
 to explain the fact, less by their ignorance, and immorality, 
 than by their poverty."^ Laud had the good fortune not to 
 be one of these. 
 
 The mention of the clerics of the period, reminds me of one 
 professing a different religion, who died the year after that of 
 Laud's father's death. I am thinking of St Philip Neri, the 
 founder of the Congregation of Oratorians. Everyone knows 
 the story that whenever he met the students of the English 
 College in the streets of Rome, he used to take off his hat 
 and salute them. He could not but know that those among 
 their number who should return as priests to their native 
 shores would be in imminent danger of death ; that, in 
 fact, such a return would of itself be a capital offence ; and 
 many of them, as they returned his salute, might well have 
 exclaimed : — " Morituri te salutant." 
 
 As Lingard says ^ : — " From the defeat of the Armada till 
 the death of the queen, during the lapse of fourteen years, 
 the Catholics groaned under the pressure of incessant per- 
 secution. Sixty-one clergymen, forty-seven laymen, and two 
 
 ^ Huber's " Eng Univ.," vol. i. p. 341. 
 
 ^ Lingard's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vi. p. 257.
 
 xvithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 25 
 
 gentlewomen suffered capital punishment for some or other 
 of the spiritual felonies and treasons which had been lately- 
 created." Besides these, many Catholics were imprisoned, 
 or fined, or whipped, or had their ears bored with a hot iron, 
 or were racked, or otherwise tortured for the sake of their 
 religion. Yet in spite of all these persecutions, Mr Froude 
 tells us that shortly before Laud's first arrival at Oxford, it 
 was a nursery for Jesuits.^ Father Edmund Campian, the 
 Jesuit, had been a Fellow of Laud's own college, Father 
 Parsons had been a Fellow of Balliol. I may observe, in 
 passing, that Oxford has continued to be a " nursery for 
 Jesuits " ; at the present moment, one exceedingly able Jesuit 
 Father is a Fellow of Laud's beloved St John's itself, and a 
 good many others are, or have been. Fellows, or Masters or 
 Bachelors of Arts at Oxford. But to proceed. " Oxford 
 became a perpetual recruiting ground from which year after 
 year flights of students passed over to Rheims or to another 
 college which the Pope had erected at Rome."- Only three 
 years before Laud went to St John's a correspondent of 
 Walsingham's wrote : — " Those who are seminary priests 
 learnt not their papistry abroad, but carried it with them 
 from their colleges at Oxford."^ Mr Froude says: — "The 
 pupils whom Campian and his friends had trained at Oxford 
 had caught and retained his spirit. They grew from boys 
 to men. They took their degrees and became fellows, and 
 Holt of Oriel, Arden of Trinity, Garnet, Bryant, Sherwin, 
 Emerson, and many more, wandered together by Cherwell 
 and Isis, brooding over their master's teaching, and resolving 
 one by one to break the ties of home and kindred and devote 
 their lives to the cause of the Catholic faith." 
 
 Laud took his degree of Bachelor of Arts when he was 
 twenty-one. At twenty-three he had a serious illness, and 
 the next year another. When he was twenty-five he took 
 his Master's degree, and in the same year he was appointed 
 " Grammar Reader," shortly after which he " fell into a great 
 sickness." Possibly these three successive illnesses may 
 
 1 Froude's "Hist, of Eng.," vol. xi. 308, 12. - lb. 
 
 3 Domestic MSS., 1585.
 
 26 Life of Archbishop La2id. S^.t-.T'^' 
 
 have interfered with his theological studies, although the 
 preparation for Anglican ordination was not a very serious 
 matter in those days ; or it may be that he was engaged for 
 some time in educating others ; at any rate, he was not made 
 a deacon until he was twenty-seven, nor a " priest " until he 
 was twenty- eight. 
 
 In the meantime, when he was twenty-five, Protestants 
 throughout Europe were encouraged by the famous Edict of 
 Nantes, by which Henry IV. of France granted toleration 
 to his Protestant subjects. To Laud, this might appear a 
 somewhat qualified blessing ; for, in France, Protestantism 
 meant Calvinism, which he hated, and an edict which in that 
 country threw open posts of trust, profit, and honour to Cal- 
 vinists in France, might encourage men of their way of think- 
 ing in England. The horrible and detestable " massacre of St 
 Bartholomew " had taken place in the year preceding Laud's 
 birth, and perhaps he may have reflected that French 
 guarantees of security and freedom to Protestants were not 
 always to be trusted, especially as King Henry, who granted 
 the edict, had abjured Protestantism and become a Catholic 
 only five years earlier. 
 
 In the same year as that in which the Edict of Nantes was 
 promulgated, a young man was elected to be one of his 
 brother fellows, on whose career he was to exercise con- 
 siderable influence. This was Juxon, who became his 
 intimate friend, and eventually succeeded him in the Pre- 
 sidency of St John's, the Bishopric of London, and the 
 Archbishopric of Canterbury. Like Andrews, Juxon was 
 an Anglican bishop who held very high views and had the 
 good luck to suffer very little for them. Laud was made the 
 scapegoat. 
 
 Laud's mother died the year that he was made deacon, so 
 he then became possessed of the whole of his little fortune. 
 
 Both his deacon's and his priest's " orders " were received 
 from the hands of Dr Young, the Bishop of Rochester. 
 That ecclesiastic " found his study raised above the system 
 and opinions of the age, upon the noble foundation of the 
 Fathers, Councils, and the ecclesiastical historians, and
 
 Circa 1601 
 
 •] Life of ArcJibisJiop Laud. 27 
 
 presaged that, if he lived, he would be an instrument of 
 restoring the Church from the narrow and private principles 
 of modern times." ^ That Laud had read considerably 
 amoncf the works of the Fathers — in each of whom he 
 appears to have seen an Anglican — and that he had at 
 least dipped into the writings of more modern Catholics, 
 including those of a living theologian who was then 
 attracting considerable attention — Bellarmin — is evident 
 from his Conferences ivitJi Fisher. 
 
 The year in which Laud received Anglican priests' orders 
 the famous Earl of Essex was executed, and, in the next, a 
 beginning of many changes important to Laud was caused 
 by the death of Queen Elizabeth. But at that time, what- 
 ever his secret ambition or aspirations may have been, he 
 was not a courtier, and the death of a queen did not much 
 affect his daily life. Far more important events to him must 
 have appeared his appointment to the Divinity Lectureship 
 at St John's in the year the queen died, and to the Proctor- 
 ship of the University of Oxford in the following year, when 
 he himself was thirty. In his divinity lectures, he publicly 
 displayed his colours. He lectured, says Heylin, on "the 
 perpetual Visibility of the Church of Christ, derived from 
 the Apostles to the Church of Rome, continued in that 
 Church (as in others of the east and south) till the Reforma- 
 tion." ^ Such a doctrine was certain to rouse the ire of 
 Abbott, the Vice-Chancellor, since, as the same author tells 
 us, he traced his Church " from the Berengarians to the Albi- 
 genses, from the Albigenses to the Wickliilists, from the 
 Wicklififists unto the Hussites, and from the Hussites unto 
 Luther and Calvin." Coming from so prominent a member 
 of the university as the Proctor of the year, Laud's lecture 
 would appear the more atrocious in Abbott's eyes, and the 
 two principal officers of Oxford were thus placed in violent 
 opposition to each other. To the enmity between Abbott 
 and Laud I shall have to refer presently. Nor was the 
 Vice-Chancellor his only opponent. Scarcely had his term 
 
 1 A quotation (authority not mentioned) in Mozley's Essay on Laud. 
 
 2 «'Cyp. Angl.,"p. 49-
 
 28 Life of Archbishop Laud. [St'o""'- 
 
 of Proctorship ended before he was " shrewdly ratled by Dr 
 Holland," ^ for maintaining, when he " performed his exercise 
 for Bachelor of Divinity," that "there could be no true 
 Church without Diocesan Bishops." Evidently, Dr Holland 
 thought that to follow the lead of the Vice-Chancellor was 
 a very safe policy, and Laud found himself practising what 
 a modern writer has called "the gentle art of making 
 enemies." 
 
 Six months after he had been elected Proctor, Laud was 
 appointed Chaplain to the Earl of Devonshire, — a man of 
 quite a different family from the later Earls of Devonshire, 
 and the present Duke, — who had but just received that 
 title from King James I., together with the Garter. This 
 nobleman had held a command in the fleet which opposed 
 the Armada ; he had also been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 and had put down a rebellion at the Battle of Kinsale. 
 
 To enter the service of so distinguished a man, was a step, 
 and indeed the first, for Laud in a secular direction. The 
 appointment to such a post would have an additional 
 attraction to him, because his patron, if Camden is to be 
 trusted, was nearly as eminent for learning as for valour, 
 having in those respects, " no superior, and but few equals," 
 and Moryson, his secretary, describes him as " beautiful in 
 person, as well as valiant ; and learned, as well as wise." 
 Unfortunately, his morals were not so unimpeachable as his 
 bravery, his learning, or his wisdom. When a young man, 
 he had fallen in love with the sister of no less a person than 
 the great Earl of Essex, who was beheaded for high treason 
 at the Tower three years before Laud obtained the chap- 
 laincy ; he had asked her to marry him, and she had con- 
 sented ; but her friends had forced her to marry Lord Rich, 
 afterwards Earl of Warwick, as Lord Devonshire, or Charles 
 Blount, as he was at that time, was only a younger son with 
 no great prospects. While his wife, she had three sons and 
 four daughters ; but it is to be feared that, owing to her 
 guilty love for Blount, she was anything than faithful to him. 
 Relations between the husband and wife became more and 
 
 1 "Cyp. Angl."
 
 arcai6o5.j ^^y^ of Arckbiskop Laud. 29 
 
 more strained, and some four or five years after Lord Rich 
 had been present at the sacking of Cadiz, he divorced 
 Penelope — for that was her name. 
 
 Clergymen, who enjoy the patronage of influential and 
 clever magnates with loosish morals, sometimes find them- 
 selves placed in difficult positions. To Laud, who, by the way, 
 had lately been dignified by the title of Bachelor of Divinity, 
 Lord Devonshire one day presented himself, and asked him 
 to marry him to Lady Rich. This was a couple of years 
 after he had been appointed to the chaplaincy. Many 
 clergymen would have winced at such a request ; but to a 
 High-Churchman it must have been exceptionally odious. 
 Some authorities maintain that Laud was threatened ; that 
 he was what Americans call "cornered" in some way, is 
 almost certain. At any rate, " serving my ambition and 
 the sins of others," as he says, he gave way, and consented. 
 The thought that he was doing exceedingly wrong must 
 have sorely seared his conscience ; but more excruciating 
 still must have been the reflection that his conduct could 
 only be justified on the most extreme Calvinistic grounds. 
 Would not people say : — " Is Saul also among the prophets .'"' 
 Would not every good Churchman turn his back upon him, 
 and would not every Puritan chuckle on hearing what he had 
 done .'' Well might he write in his diary — " My cross about 
 the Earl of Devon's marriage, Decemb. 26, 1605, die JovisT 
 And at such a holy season, too, to commit such an act ! one 
 can almost hear him saying to himself in mournful tones. 
 
 If he sinned, he repented ! A well-known Jesuit author 
 writes to me : — " In the first editions of my * * * * j had 
 a note reflecting strongly on Laud for having married Lord 
 Devonshire to Lady Rich in the lifetime of her husband. 
 But when I found that he so regretted it in his after life, 
 and kept its anniversary as a fast day, I struck his name 
 out of the note on p. loi of my third edition." It was 
 doubtless of this false step that Laud wrote : — " Lapidatus 
 non pro sed a peccato " — " Stoned not on account of a sin, 
 but by a sin " ; for it was on St Stephen's day that this 
 particular sin was committed.
 
 30 Life of Archbishop Land. [^^32'.^°^" 
 
 Nor v/as the offence without its temporal punishment. 
 King James, the theologian, ecclesiastical lawyer, and pedant, 
 was furious. The unfortunate earl wrote him an apology ; 
 but His Majesty's ire was so implacable as to cause the de- 
 linquent to die of " the spleen " within a year. As to Laud, 
 it is probable that to this event must be attributed the 
 slowness of his advancement during the next few years, so far 
 as regal favour was concerned. Mr Benson in his brilliant 
 " Study " of Laud, says : — " I came, the other day, upon the 
 actual petition of Lord Rich for divorce, filed among the 
 Lambeth papers." (The very mention of the Lambeth papers 
 makes a biographer of Laud almost wish that, like Mr 
 Benson, he were the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury !) 
 'And there is also a curious relic, attributed by tradition to 
 the time of Laud, which has undoubtedly reference to the 
 same event. This is a portrait, rather stiff and Flemish in 
 style, which hangs in the great corridor of the palace, of a 
 sweet-faced, gentle lady, her bunches of auburn hair standing 
 out very strongly against a pale-green background. On the 
 back, in large old letters, are traced the words, ' A Countess 
 of Devonshire.' It cannot be doubted which." ^ If this 
 portrait was brought to Lambeth by Laud, one would 
 have thought that he might have hung many a pleasanter 
 memento upon his walls. 
 
 Sixteen years after he had committed his fault, he per- 
 formed a curious penance for it. It so happened that he 
 had to preach before the court, in the very chapel in which 
 the so-called marriage had been performed. The subject he 
 chose for his sermon was the peace of the Church, and in 
 the course of it he said : — " Yet will I do the people right ; 
 for though many of them are guilty of inexcusable sin, as 
 sacrilege, so too many of us priests are guilty of other as 
 great sins as sacrilege." - Perhaps he thought that his con- 
 gregation would expect him to make what is called "■ some 
 allusion in his sermon " to the incident which would naturally 
 be in the minds of all his hearers, and he may have said this 
 to satisfy them. 
 
 1 Benson, p. 35. - lb., p. 35, note.
 
 arca^i6o6. J j^ ^jr^ ^jT ^ rcJibiskop Laud. 3 1 
 
 It would seem that the Earl of Devonshire had printed a 
 defence of his conduct, and at the same time aired his 
 heterodox views upon the subject of divorce ; for there is an 
 entry in the Calendar of State Papers : — " Censures on the 
 Earl of Devonshire's Tract touching Marriage and Divorce, 
 by Wm. Laud."^ And the very next entry runs: — 
 "Dissertation on Matrimony, Divorce, &c., from Matt. 19, 
 V. 6 ; probably connected with the above." If the dates are 
 correct, Laud's censure of his patron's tract must have been 
 written only four months after the unlucky marriage 
 ceremony. 
 
 He wrote a very good private prayer of contrition for the 
 part he had taken in the unhappy business, and there can be 
 no doubt that he was heartily ashamed of it, and heartily 
 sorry for it. 
 
 Less than two months before Lord Devonshire's marriage, 
 the whole of England had been excited by the discovery 
 of the horrible gunpowder plot. It would be difficult to 
 exaggerate the effect that is likely to have been produced 
 upon Laud by such an incident at such a time. It should 
 be remembered that he had only been four years in priest's 
 " orders," that, at thirty-three, he was beginning to attain 
 some celebrity, as one of the leading young clergymen of 
 the High-Church School at Oxford ; and that he had 
 just been Proctor, and had had the courage to brave the 
 displeasure of the Vice-Chancellor himself for the sake of 
 his advanced views. Placed in the forefront of the battle 
 against Puritanism and Calvinism, he could scarcely help 
 reflecting upon the source from which he had derived, if 
 not stolen, his weapons : indeed, he boldly asserted that 
 the Anglican Church had obtained her orders through Rome ; 
 what would be more natural, therefore, than that he should 
 be inclined to consider the claims of the Catholic Church ? 
 Let us assume this to have been the case ; I make the 
 assumption in no unfriendly spirit towards his memory ; 
 let us suppose that he was beginning to think that, after 
 all, Rome might not be quite so black as she was painted. 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1603-10, 1606, April? Nos. 53 and 54.
 
 o 
 
 2 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^it^^' 
 
 And then, what happened ? News came to him that a most 
 diaboHcal conspiracy to destroy the whole ParHament by 
 means of the cowardly and dastardly medium of an 
 explosion of gunpowder had just been discovered ; that 
 the object was the overthrow of the prevailing Protestant 
 powers and the introduction of Catholic powers ; that the 
 conspirators were all what are termed " good Catholics ; " 
 that one of them was the owner of large properties in three 
 of the midland counties ; that another was not only a 
 knight of high character and great estates, but very highly 
 connected, and, worst of all, that two Jesuit priests had been 
 privy, and even consenting, to the plot. Here would be 
 a nice story for a man considering the attractions of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 We, of course, know that the gunpowder plot, although 
 undertaken by Catholics, was a freak as mad and as un- 
 authorised as it was wicked ; that about four months before 
 its discovery, the General of the Jesuits himself, Father 
 Aquaviva, had written " very earnest letters " to the Jesuit 
 afterwards accused, Father Garnet, " wherein he saith that 
 he writeth in mandato Papce, that we were expressly com- 
 manded by His Holiness to hinder by all possible means all 
 conspiracies of Catholics " ; ^ and that both this same Father 
 Garnet and Father Blackwell, the archpriest of England, 
 did all they could to make these wishes of the Pope's gener- 
 ally known among English Catholics. We also know that 
 Catesby had twisted the Pope's exhortation, of some five or 
 six years earlier, when the succession to the English Crown 
 was in dispute, to support the Catholic claimant, into a very 
 different thing, namely an exhortation to depose the Protest- 
 ant monarch, when he was no longer a claimant but a king ; 
 that he had asked Father Garnet " whether, in case it were 
 lawful to kill a person or persons, it were necessary to regard 
 the innocents which were present, lest they also should 
 perish withal," to which Father Garnet had replied that "in 
 all just wars it is practised and held lawful to beat down 
 houses and walls and castles, notwithstanding innocents were 
 
 1 Hatfield MS.
 
 Grca^i6o5.j ]^jjr^ of ArcIibisJiop Laud, 33 
 
 in danger, so that such battering were necessary for the 
 obtaining of victory," ^ and that, in conversation with his 
 accomplices, he had exaggerated this reply into the consent 
 of a Jesuit to the gunpowder plot. We know that, a little 
 later, he had revealed the plot to Father Green way under seal 
 of confession, giving him permission to inform Father Garnet 
 also under seal of confession;- and that both these fathers 
 had done all they could to dissuade him from his purpose 
 without avail, and had suffered intense misery of mind in 
 consequence, but had considered themselves bound by the 
 inviolable seal of the confessional not to reveal the matter to 
 others. We also know that while Father Greenway was 
 undoubtedly bound by that seal. Father Garnet, after his 
 arrest, wrote to the latter : — " To testify that I do and 
 always did condemn the intention, and that indeed I might 
 have revealed a general knowledge had of Mr Catesby 
 out of confession, but hoping of the Pope's prevention, 
 and being loth to hurt my friend, I acknowledge to 
 have so far forth offended God and the King, and so ask 
 forgiveness " ; ^ the " Pope's prevention " referring to a letter 
 he himself had written to the General, requesting him to beg 
 the Pope to forbid all Catholics in England to take up arms 
 against the Government, on pain of excommunication.'* We 
 know, too, that, instead of having confessed himself guilty, 
 without reserve, as was given out, what Father Garnet really 
 wrote was : — " I, Henry Garnet, of the Society of Jesus, 
 priest, do here freely protest before God, that I hold the late 
 intention of the powder action to have been altogether un- 
 lawful and most horrible, &c. &c. I also protest that I was 
 ever of opinion, that it was unlawful to attempt any violence 
 against the King's Majesty and Estates after he was once 
 received by the realm. And I acknowledge that I was 
 bound to reveal all knowledge that I had of this or any 
 other treason out of the sacrament of confession. And 
 
 1 Hatfield MS. 
 
 - Green way's Relation, Stonyhurst MS., p. 109. I quote from " Father Henry 
 Garnet and The Gunpowder Plot," by the Rev. J. H. Pollen, S.J- 
 ^ Hatfield MS., 115, fol. 154. 
 
 ■* Father Pollen's " Father Garnet and the Gunpowder Plot," p. 13. 
 
 C
 
 34 Life of Archbishop Laud. [It? 32.^°^* 
 
 whereas partly upon hope of prevention, partly for that I 
 would not betray my friend, I did not reveal the general 
 knowledge of Mr Catesby's intention, which I had by him, 
 I do acknowledge myself highly guilty, to have offended 
 God, the King's Majesty, and estate, and humbly ask of all 
 forgiveness, exhorting all Catholics that they no way build 
 upon my example."^ We also know, as, for that matter, 
 every Catholic knew then, that to profane the sacrament by 
 receiving Holy Communion, with the intention of perpetrat- 
 ing an atrocious crime, would be a fearful sacrilege and to 
 eat and drink damnation. 
 
 The opinion of the arch priest (the chief ecclesiastic of 
 the Catholic Church at that time in England), on the gun- 
 powder plot may be worth quoting. Dr Hook writes- that, 
 on Nov. 28, he " published a letter to the English Papists, in 
 which he condemned the late plot as ' a detestable and 
 damnable practice, odious in the sight of God, horrible to 
 the understanding of men.' He exhorted them ' not to 
 attempt any practice or action, tending, in any degree, to the 
 hurt or prejudice of the person of our sovereign lord the king, 
 the prince, nobility, counsellors, and officers of state, but 
 towards them, in their several places and degrees, to behave 
 as becomes dutiful subjects and religious Catholics.'"^ 
 
 But all that I have to do with this matter, on the present 
 occasion, is to consider what the effect of the news of the 
 horrible affair would be, or be likely to be, at the time, upon 
 a man with some inclinations towards the Catholic Church, 
 as I am assuming may have been the case with Laud. Let 
 us endeavour to imagine the feelings with which high 
 Anglicans would receive the news that a band of Catholics, 
 containing some desperadoes, but also comprising two or 
 three well-known country gentlemen, if not a peer or so, 
 and a couple of the Jesuit fathers at Farm Street, had almost 
 succeeded in blowing up with dynamite the principal 
 Government buildings in London, with the intention of 
 
 ^ P. R. O. Dom. James I., xx. 12. 
 
 2 " Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," vol. v. p. 226. 
 - ^ Collier, vii. 320.
 
 Circa j6o5. J ^ jjT^ qJ ^ rcJibishop L aiLd. 3 5 
 
 placing England under Irish rule. Would such news be 
 conducive to conversions to the Catholic Church among 
 respectable High-Church Anglicans ? I ask the question in 
 order to do justice to the subject of my biography ; and it is 
 only on his account, and with a view to a right understand- 
 ing of his conduct, that I introduce the subject of the 
 execrable gunpowder plot into my pages.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 * 
 
 Laud's life was destined to be a stormy one. The tempest 
 about the part he had taken in Lord Devonshire's marriage 
 was still raging, when another burst forth about a different 
 subject. This was a sermon. The notice of it in the Diary- 
 is as follows: — '' Amio 1606. The Quarrel Dr Ayry picked 
 with me about my Sermon at St Mary's, Oct. 21, 1606." 
 He was now in hot water once more with a Vice-Chancellor, 
 for Airy had succeeded Abbott. Heylin says that Dr Airy 
 stigmatised the sermon for " ' containing in it sundry 
 scandalous and Popish passages ' ; the good man making 
 all things to be matter of Popery, which were not held forth 
 unto him in Calvin s Listitictes." ^ As Mr Gardiner says, 
 Laud " escaped a public recantation ; but became a marked 
 man, as Popishly inclined." ^ 
 
 Not only was Laud attacked foj'- sermons : he was also 
 attacked m sermons. I may allude here, although chrono- 
 logically it should be noticed rather later, to a virulent 
 onslaught made upon him by Abbott's brother, in a sermon 
 from the university pulpit. Having described Laud's teach- 
 ing, he apostrophised the teacher of it, and staring straight 
 at the place where Laud was sitting, he exclaimed : — 
 "What art thou, ROMISH or ENGLISH.? PAPIST or 
 PROTESTANT.? Or what art thou.? A mungrel, or 
 compound of both .? " ^ And then he went on to call him 
 " a Protestant by ordination ; a Papist in point of free will 
 and the like!" " A Protestant in receiving the sacrament; 
 a Papist in the doctrine of the sacrament ! " " What ! " cried 
 he, with passionate vehemence. " Do you think there are 
 two heavens .? " He was now pretending that our Lord was 
 
 1 " Cyp. Angl." - «' Diction, of Nat. Bio.," Latid. 
 
 3"Cyp. Angl." pp. 57, 58. 
 36
 
 xviithcent. ] J^if^ of Archbishop Land. ^y 
 
 speaking. " If there be, get you to the other, and place 
 yourself there ; for into this, where I am, you shall never 
 come ! " 
 
 So strong was the feeling against him, that " it was a 
 heresy," he wrote, " to be seen in my company, to salute me 
 in the street." 
 
 It may be well, at this stage, to consider how far Laud 
 merited the accusation of " Popish inclinations." As I have 
 already said, he did not " go further," to use a modern term, 
 in his High-Churchism than Andrews, or several others of his 
 contemporaries. Indeed, some of his pronouncements would 
 be considered very moderate indeed by high Anglicans of 
 our own days. " All sides agree," he says, in his Conference 
 with Fisher, " in the faith of the Church of England, that in 
 the most blessed sacrament the worthy receiver is by his 
 faith made spiritually partaker of the true and real body and 
 blood of Christ truly, and really, and of all the benefits of 
 his passion. Your Roman Catholics add a manner of this 
 his presence, transubstantiation, which many deny, and 
 the Lutherans a manner of this presence, consubstantiation, 
 which more deny." " It is safer communicating with the 
 Church of England than with the Roman or Lutheran, 
 because all agree in this truth, not in any other opinion."^ 
 Here he appears to claim a lower view, as to the real 
 presence, for the Anglicans than for the Lutherans. Again 
 he says : — " Protestants of all sorts maintain a true and real 
 presence of Christ in the eucharist ; and then, where is any 
 known or damnable heresy here } - Surely this was making 
 no high claim — to put his Church on the same footing with 
 other Protestant Churches as to the eucharist ! In a note on 
 the same page, he quotes the article xxviii. : — " The body of 
 Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the supper (of the Lord) 
 only after an heavenly and spiritual manner." On the fol- 
 lowing page he quotes Cranmer: — "If by this word really 
 you understand corporaliter, corporally in his natural and 
 organical body, under the forms of bread and wine, it is 
 contrary to the holy word of God." Then he quotes Ridley, 
 
 1 " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, 1839, p. 241. - lb., p. 247.
 
 38 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvmhcent. 
 
 and says : — " And for Calvin, he comes no whit short of 
 these." 1 He keeps harping on the point that Lutherans 
 and Calvinists and Anghcans all hold variations of the same 
 doctrine on the real presence, all of them being diametri- 
 cally opposed to that of the Catholics. " As for the 
 Lutherans, they neither deny nor doubt of his true and real 
 presence there ; and they are Protestants. And as for the 
 Calvinists, if they might be rightly understood, they also 
 maintain a most true and real presence, though they cannot 
 permit their judgment to be transubstantiated ; and they are 
 Protestants too."- We are all Protestants, and our differ- 
 ences of opinion as to the real presence, are much the same 
 as those 'twixt tweedledum and tweedledee ! he seems to 
 say. 
 
 On the subject of purgatory, again, he is what the 
 majority of my fellow-countrymen would call " very sound." 
 The Primitive Church, says he, never did " acknowledge a 
 purgatory in a side-part of hell." ^ He is equally " sound " 
 on baptism ; for he continues, in the same sentence : — " nor 
 make the intention of the priest of the essence of baptism," 
 And, for all his talk about getting orders through the 
 Church of Rome, he was at heart " sound " on the question 
 of Apostolical succession. " Most evident it is," says he, 
 " that the succession which the F'athers meant is not tied 
 to place or person, but it is tied to the verity of doctrine." ^ 
 And, again : — " For succession in the general I shall say this ; 
 it is a great happiness where it may be had visible and 
 continued, and a great conquest over the mutability of this 
 present world. But I do not find any one of the ancient 
 Fathers that makes local, personal, visible, and continued 
 succession, a necessary sign or mark of the true Church in 
 any one place." ^ It is quite clear, therefore, that Laud, who 
 was naturally fond of ceremonial, decency, and order, and 
 such like things, was of Cranmer's opinion, already quoted, 
 that " In the admission of many of these offices be divers 
 comely ceremonies and solemnities, and which be not of 
 
 ^ "Conference with Fisher," Oxford, 1839, p. 249. ^ lb,, p. 246. 
 
 3 lb., p. 275. 4 lb., p. 323. 6 /^_^ p_ 322.
 
 xvnthcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop Latid. 39 
 
 necessity, but only for a good order and seemly fashion ; for 
 if such offices and ministrations were committed without 
 such solemnity, they were nevertheless duly committed." 
 And that " appoyntement whiche the Appostels by necessyte 
 made by common election and sometyme by their owne 
 several assignment, could not then be doon by Christen 
 princes, bicause at that tyme they were not ; and nowe at 
 these dayes appertayneth to Christian princes and rulers." 1 
 
 Very strong evidence of his opinion on the question of 
 the necessity of consecration and Apostolical succession in 
 bishops is given on page 141 of his own History. He 
 writes : — " Neither is Episcopacy in all the Parts and Poivers 
 of it, that zuhich it was in time of Popery, and still is in the 
 Roman Church." (The italics are his own.) " Ahr is the 
 other Form of Government " (i.e., Presbytery) " received, main- 
 tained, and Practised in all other Reformed Churches ; unless 
 these men be so straightlaced, as not to admit the Churches 
 of Sweden, and Denmark, and indeed, all, or most of the 
 LutJierans, to be Reformed Churches. For in Siveden they 
 retain both the Thing and the Name ; and the Governours 
 of their Churches are, and are called Bishops. And among 
 the other Lictherans the Thing is retained, though not the 
 Name. For instead of Bishops, they are called Superin- 
 tendents. And yet even here too, these Names differ more 
 in sound than in sense. For Bishop is the same in Greek, 
 that Superintendent is in Latin. Nor is this change very 
 well liked by the Learned. Howsoever, LutJier, since he 
 would change the Name, did yet very wisely, that he would 
 leave the Thing, and make choice of such a name as was not 
 altogether unknown to the Ancient Church." '^ 
 
 Here, therefore, we have it in black and white, in Laud's 
 own writing, that in their Superintendents, the Lutherans had 
 the Thing, Bishop. That the Thing had not been honoured 
 with the " divers comely ceremonies," commonly called con- 
 secration, that the Thing had no pretension to orders, made 
 no difference : it was Bishop, quite as much as the Anglican 
 
 ^ I quote from Estcourt's "Question of Anglican Ordination," pp. 70, 71. 
 - " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of Will. Laud," p. 141.1
 
 40 Life of Archbishop Laud. [IvmhCent. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury was Bishop. If words mean any- 
 thing, Laud's words mean this, and they show how far he 
 believed in Apostolical succession, and in any orders, for 
 that matter. When we add to this that he distinctly denied 
 the necessity of intention for the validity of a sacrament ; 
 that he even denied the necessity of a "purpose to do therein 
 as the Church doth," ^ adding, " nor is the intention of either 
 bishop or priest of absolute necessity to the essence of a 
 sacrament," we begin to realise how far Laud was doctrinally 
 a High-Churchman. 
 
 The Anglican position in his days is thus described by one 
 of Laud's modern x'\nglican biographers : — " There is more in 
 Episcopacy than a form of government. But this was not 
 seen at first ; the primary impression of many of the Refor- 
 mers being that they were all, episcopal or otherwise, on an 
 equal footing. This will account for the evident unwilling- 
 ness on the part of the rulers of the English Church at the 
 time of the Reformation to commit themselves to any state- 
 ment on the subject of orders, which might have the effect of 
 cutting off the foreigners from communion. This was only 
 natural, for foreigners were invited and encouraged to come ; 
 it would have therefore been most unmannerly to have 
 passed any enactment against them. The validity of orders 
 conferred by the foreign consistories was therefore looked 
 upon as an open question. Many who had received no other 
 ordination were admitted to livings, and divines, sound in 
 the main, were unwilling to pass any decided opinion. Even 
 Hooker takes no higher ground than the lawfulness of 
 episcopacy, and allows necessity as justification of ordination 
 by Presbyters ; while the more advanced in the new doctrine 
 thought this an unnecessary limitation, and that under all 
 circumstances Presbyters were equal to Bishops. Hence the 
 uncertainty in which the question was enveloped in Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign." - A few lines further on, he says that 
 Cosin wrote : — " If a Minister so ordained in these French 
 Churches came to incorporate himself with ours, and to 
 
 1 " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, 1839, p. 229. 
 
 ^ " Life of Laud " by the Rev. John Baines, p. 125.
 
 xvmhcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 41 
 
 receive a public charge or cure of souls among us in the 
 Church of England (as I have known some of them to have 
 done of late, and can instance many others before my time), 
 &c.," "nor did our laws require more of " them "than to 
 declare " their " consent to the religion received among us, 
 and to subscribe the Articles established." Bishop Cosin 
 was more than twenty years younger than Laud, and a 
 High-Churchman, who got into trouble for his extreme views. 
 
 Obviously, in the opinion of the most orthodox Anglican 
 divines of the time, it was the same in the case of the clergy 
 as in that of the bishops. If the foreign ministers had not 
 got the Name of priests, they had the Thing, and as to priest, 
 presbyter, and minister, "these names" differed "more in 
 sound than in sense." 
 
 When one asks oneself why Laud should have been 
 selected as the object of attack by the Puritanical party, one 
 can only reply that it was probably for the same reason that 
 one ritualist clergyman is chosen for prosecution by the 
 Church Association instead of another, in these days. 
 Chance, no doubt, has much to do with it ; aggressiveness, 
 or at least self-assertion, may have more; personal distinc- 
 tion, in some cases, perhaps, most of all, while personal 
 charms may save many. The late Mr Machonochie was not 
 so " high " as certain of his unprosecuted fellow-clergy, and 
 Bishop Andrews, who used wafer-bread for communion, was 
 left in peace, while poor Archbishop Laud pleaded, without 
 avail, as he stood, a prisoner, at his trial — " P'or Wafers, I 
 neither gave, or received the Communion but in Ordinary 
 Bread." 1 
 
 Much was made by Laud's enemies of his prayers for the 
 canonical hours ; but these, which are given in his Devotions, 
 have practically nothing in common with the Divine Office 
 of the Catholic Church. Nor were any of his prayers of 
 a particularly Catholic tone, and it is a matter for surprise 
 that one who had such an inclination towards the Church's 
 ceremonies did not avail himself to a greater extent of her 
 devotions. 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Trial nnd Troub. of Will. Laud," p. 342.
 
 42 Life of Archbishop Laitd. [IvmhCem. 
 
 Perhaps Laud reached his " highest " point when he 
 " approved Auricular Confession," as HeyHn tells us.^ In 
 the nineteenth century, it strikes one as curious that his 
 enemies dwelt less on this point, when accusing him of what 
 are now termed "popish leanings," than on little ceremonies 
 and ritual observances which are now practised in the most 
 evangelical of churches. 
 
 The question of his attitude towards the Catholic Church 
 itself will necessarily present itself from time to time, as we 
 proceed ; and we shall find that it varied considerably at 
 different periods of his life, more, perhaps, on account of 
 political than religious causes ; therefore, in dealing with it 
 in the present chapter, I will be somewhat brief 
 
 First let his own Boswell speak for him. Having alluded 
 to the question of a reconciliation of the Anglicans with 
 Rome, he proceeds ^ : — " Admitting, as we may say, that 
 no such Reconciliation was upon the Anvil," he "had some 
 thoughts (and I have reason to believe it) by Conferences 
 first, and if that failed, by the ordinary course of Ecclesiasti- 
 cal censures, of gaining Papists to the Church ; and therefore 
 it concerned him in part of Prudence, to smooth the way, by 
 removing all such Blocks and Obstacles which had been laid 
 before them by the Puritan Faction." In another place he 
 says^ : — " Seeing the Puritans grown so strong even to 
 endangering of our Peace both in Church and State, by 
 the negligence and remissness of the former Government, 
 he thought it necessary to show some countenance to the 
 Papists ; that the ballance being kept even between the 
 parties, the Church and State might be preserved (as indeed 
 they were) in the greater safety." And again * : — " It was the 
 Petulancy of the Puritans on the one side, and the Pragma- 
 ticalness of the Jesuites on the other, which made the breach 
 wider than at first ; and had those hot spirits on both sides 
 been calmed a while, moderate men might possibly have 
 agreed upon such equal terms, as would have laid a sure 
 foundation for the peace of Christendom." 
 
 An important witness to the staunchness of his Protes- 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 390. - lb., p. 391. ■' lb., p. 386. " Ih., p. 388.
 
 xvuthcent] L^f^ of Archbishop Laud. 43 
 
 tantism is his friend, Lord Clarendon, who declares that " no 
 man was a greater or abler enemy to Popery."^ Again, he 
 speaks of " the Protestant Religion " being " more advanced 
 against the Church of Rome (without prejudice to other useful 
 or godly labours) especially by those two Books of the late 
 Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his Grace," i.e.. Laud, " and 
 of Mr ChillingivortJi, than it had been from the Reformation." 
 Yet he admits that Laud "was always maligned, and 
 persecuted by those who were of the Calvinian Faction, 
 which was then very powerful, and who, according to their 
 usual maxim, and practice, call every man they do not 
 love, Papist." ^ 
 
 Laud's great enemy, Prynne, is scarcely fair or accurate in 
 making out that he invariably tolerated priests and Jesuits, 
 although " he hath bin so careful! that a poore man could 
 not goe to a neighbour Parish to heare a Sermon, when he 
 had none at home, could not have a Sermon repeated, nor 
 prayer used in his own Family, but he was a fit subject for 
 the High Commission Court ; yet the other," that is to say 
 the toleration and encouragement of Catholics, " hath beene 
 done in all parts of the Realme, and no notice of it by any 
 Ecclesiasticall Judges or Courts." •' 
 
 There is plenty of evidence on the other side. Li the 
 WJiiteivay Diary., in the British Museum, there is an entry, 
 " 22 Oct. 1634. I heard Allison, a Coachman, and Robins, 
 an alderman of Yarmouth, censured in the Star Chamber for 
 slandering the present Archbishop of York, Dr Neile, as if 
 in the king's return from Scotland last year he should have 
 petitioned him for a toleration of Popery." Allison was 
 sentenced to be fined i^iooo to the king, and ;^5oo to the 
 archbishop, and to be whipped in the pillory at York, 
 Yarmouth, and Ipswich. In passing sentence, " Dr Lawde, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke wittily and bitterly." 
 We read in the same diary, on "4 Dec. 1623. At this 
 time a Popish lawyer about London was censured at the 
 Star Chamber, for saying that King Henry VIII. did . . . 
 
 1 Clarendon's " Hist, of the Rebellion," book iv. p. 572. 
 - lb. book i. p. 90. =* "Canterburies Doome," p. 30.
 
 44 J^if^ of Archbishop Latid. [xviuhcent. 
 
 the Protestant religion [an indelicate expression] to have his 
 ears cut off, Ms nose split, his forehead marked with B for 
 blasphemy, zvJiipped about London, and fined ^i 0,000 to the 
 king." And again, " 25 Feby. 163!. The City of London 
 was fined in the Star Chamber at ;^70,ooo, for suffering of 
 Papists to plant in their plantation of Londonderry in 
 Ireland," &c.i 
 
 I merely make these quotations in order to show that, 
 in the Star Chamber, Catholics were not unduly favoured 
 in Laud's time, and I may, for the same purpose, quote 
 Lingard, who says that Laud published a letter, which was 
 also signed by the Bishop of Rochester, " directing that not 
 only Catholic priests and the harbourers of priests, but all 
 persons in possession of papistical or heretical books, all 
 who had been, or were suspected of having been, present 
 at the celebration of mass, all whose children had been bap- 
 tised or were taught by popish priests, or had been, or were 
 about to be sent to popish seminaries, should be appre- 
 hended and brought before His Majesty's commissioners 
 for ecclesiastical matters." '" 
 
 From this it is obvious that Laud did not hesitate to 
 persecute the Catholics ; questions and instructions in his 
 visitations, when a bishop, afford similar evidence ; on the 
 other hand, he seems to have taken more pleasure in 
 persecuting the Puritan and "the precise." 
 
 Even on the scaffold, as the writer of the supplement to 
 his History says, " his great care was to clear his Majesty 
 and the Church of England, from any inclination to Popery." ^ 
 In his speech, which had been written beforehand, the poor 
 old man said : — " I have always lived in the Protestant 
 Religion established in England, and in that I come now 
 to Die."'* Yet even then his stronger antipathy to the 
 Puritans than to the Catholics came out, when he said : — 
 
 ^ I quote from "Records of The English Province S. J.," by Henry Foley, 
 pp. 7i> 72. 
 
 - Lingard's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. p. 223. 
 
 3 " Hist, of the Troubles and Tryal of Will. Laud," p. 446. 
 
 4/^., p. 450.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 45 
 
 " The Pope never had such an Harvest in England since the 
 Reformation, as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions 
 that are amongst us." ^ 
 
 As I have said before, it is in his Conference tvitJi FisJier 
 tliat we can best judge of his feeHngs towards the Catholic 
 Church. Here he says : — " Rome and other national 
 churches are in this universal Catholic house as so many 
 daughters." " Rome is an elder sister." - " The Protestants 
 did not get that name by protesting against the Church of 
 Rome, but by protesting against her errors and superstitions."^ 
 And again, " I heartily pray that he" (God) " will be pleased 
 to give all of you " (Papists) " a light of his truth and a love 
 to it, that you may no longer be made instruments of the Pope's 
 boundless ambition, and this most unchristian brain-sick 
 device, that in all controversies of the faith he is infallible." ^ 
 
 No. Whatever he may have been, William Laud was not 
 a Catholic, and it is very doubtful whether he ever had much 
 inclination towards Catholicism. Protestants, and perhaps 
 Catholics also when judging Protestants, are apt to forget 
 that a love of ceremonial and ecclesiastical pomp and power 
 do not necessarily betoken any leaning towards the Church of 
 Christ. Many excellent Catholics, nay, many great saints, 
 have had no taste for music, architecture, or painting, have 
 cared little for ceremonies, and have shunned all offers of 
 power and place as if they were the plague. 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troubles and Tryal of Will. Laud.," p. 443. 
 
 2 " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, p. 262. '^ Ib.,-^. \\\. ^ lb. p. 320.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Having disposed of Laud's quarrel with Dr Airy, we 
 come, in the next year, 1607, to his presentation and 
 induction to his first benefice, " the Vicaridge of Stanford 
 in Northamptonshire^ 
 
 Five months later, he writes : — " The Advowson of North- 
 Kilworth in Leicestershire given to me, April 1608." He 
 now began "to get on," to use a modern phrase. "I pro- 
 ceeded Doctor in Divinity in the Act, anno 1608." He was 
 then thirty-five. Almost more important, so far as his 
 advancement was concerned, was his appointment in August, 
 of the same year, as chaplain to Dr Neile, then Bishop of 
 Rochester, a man of tact and amiability.   Moreover, he had 
 some influence with the king, and, by its use, he was enabled 
 to direct the future of Laud into a new and most important 
 channel. 
 
 In the same year was born the greatest ornament of the 
 school of thought which Laud most detested. John Milton 
 was as opposite to him in character as in creed ; but, what- 
 ever his influence upon his time, he will not figure much, if 
 at all, in this biography. 
 
 Within fourteen months of his appointment to Dr Neile's 
 chaplaincy, a great event occured in the life of Laud — his 
 first sermon preached before the king. If he had what is 
 called " a bad manner," he knew well enough how to act the 
 courtier in the pulpit. In one of his sermons before the 
 king, we find this passage, which may serve as a specimen of 
 many others : — " And, Sir, as you were first up, and have 
 sounded an alarum in the ears of your people ; not that they 
 should ' fast and pray,' and ' serve God ' alone, but go with 
 you into the house of the Lord ; so go on to serve your 
 Preserver. Your merit, and the nobleness of your heart will 
 46
 
 xviithcent] Life of Archbishop Lazid. 47 
 
 glue the hearts of the people to you. And your religious 
 care of God's cause and service will make Him, I doubt not, 
 ' arise,' and haste to the ' maintenance ' of your cause, as of 
 * His own.' " 
 
 One of his latest, and, I might add, one of the best of 
 his biographers, Mr Benson, says of his sermons in general 
 that they " are curiously difficult reading ; they are closely 
 argued, emphatically stated, but have not the quality of 
 permanence. I know of no reading where the attention so 
 persistently wanders and is so rarely enchained." ^ In truth, 
 his style was not very exhilarating. For instance, he begins 
 the sermon from which I have just made an extract : — 
 " This psalm in the very letter is a complaint of the waste 
 that was made upon the city of Jerusalem, and the profana- 
 tion of the Temple that was in it. And these go together ; 
 for when did any man see a kingdom, or a great city, wasted, 
 and the mother church left standing in beauty? Sure I 
 think never. For enemies when they have possessed a city 
 seldom think themselves masters of their own possessions, 
 till they have, as they think, plucked that god out of his 
 house, which defended the city." And he ends with : — " As 
 we have therefore now begun, so let us pray on as the 
 prophet did, that God, even our gracious Father, will be no 
 longer like unto one that sleeps " (and then he continues with 
 " thats " — that he will do this, that he will do that, and that he 
 will do the other, for about half a page, finally winding up 
 with : — " That after the ' maintenance of His own cause ' here, 
 we may in our several times be received up to Him in glory, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with the Father, 
 &c." In short, it is impossible to read Laud's published 
 sermons from end to end without being reminded of that 
 barrel-organlike tone which characterised the preaching 
 common in Anglican pulpits forty years ago. He was very 
 fond of parading his knowledge of the Fathers, after this 
 fashion :— " So the ancient Fathers, Justin, Tertullian, Origen, 
 Athanasius, and the rest, are clear, and upon very good 
 grounds, &c." 
 
 1 " Archp. Laud," A. C. Benson, p. 199.
 
 48 Life of Archbishop Laud. [S's;.^'"" 
 
 A court preacher, in those days, of course, would have 
 been nothing if not quasi-astrological and classical; ac- 
 cordingly we find him saying things of this sort: — "Join 
 them, and 'keep the unity of the Spirit,' and I will fear no 
 danger though Mars were ' lord of the ascendant ' in the very 
 instant of his ' session ' of Parliament, and ' in the second 
 house,' or joined, or in aspect, with the ' lord of the second,' 
 which yet Ptolemy thought brought much hurt to common- 
 wealths." And, again : — " As you may see in that brag of 
 the heathen in Minutius Felix." 
 
 In order " to be near my Ld. of Rochester," he exchanged 
 his advowson of North Kilworth for West Tilbery in Essex, 
 in the year in which he first preached before the king, and in 
 the following, " My Ld. of Rochester gave me Cnckstonc in 
 Kent, Mali 25, 1610." About four months afterwards he 
 resigned his Fellowship of St John's College. " Left Oxford," 
 he says, "the 8th of the same month " (October 1610). And 
 doubtless not a few of the authorities at Oxford would be 
 heartily glad to get rid of him. 
 
 Less than a month after he had left Oxford, he wrote : — 
 " I fell sick of a Kentish Ague, caught at my Benefice, 
 Novemb. 5, 16 10, which held me two months." Perhaps this 
 made him anxious to quit so unhealthy a living, at any rate, 
 before the month was out, or his fit of ague over, he " left 
 Kuckstom, and was inducted in Norton, Novemb. 1610 by 
 Proxy." 
 
 With the above, stands the entry, " In the midst of this 
 Sickness, the Suit about the Presidentship of St John's 
 began." His old tutor, Buckeridge, who had for some time 
 held the presidentship, resigned it, and he was proposed in 
 his stead. Party feeling ran very high on either side ; but 
 he had many staunch friends in his old college, and in May 
 he was elected. Whether by accident or design — it was said 
 that one of the fellows tore it from the bursar's hand and 
 burned it — the paper on which was written the result of the 
 scrutiny Avas destroyed. Lord Chancellor Ellsmere, incited 
 by Abbott, then Archbishop of Canterbury elect, objected to 
 Laud's appointment, and appealed to the king.
 
 S['38.*"] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. 49 
 
 In the Calendar of State Papers,^ we find the Bishop of 
 Winchester, Bilson, writing in June to King James, as to 
 " illegal methods pursued in the election of Dr Laud as 
 President of St John's College, Oxford," and a reply from 
 the king, inquiring " whether the illegality in Dr Laud's 
 election proceeded from faction or misconstruction of the 
 Statutes," adding that, " the Council on both parties are to 
 be re-heard for a final decision." In August, King James 
 heard the case at Tichbourne, in person, sitting three hours 
 over it, and confirmed the election. A few weeks later, we 
 find him writing to the Bishop of Winchester, that he " con- 
 siders the election of Dr Laud as President of St John's 
 College, Oxford, was no further corrupt or partial than all 
 elections are liable to be ; therefore wishes it to stand, and 
 clearer interpretations of the Statutes to be made for the 
 future. "2 
 
 According to Heylin, Laud felt no ill-will towards his 
 opponents at his election. " To the other fellows," he says, 
 " who had opposed him in his election, he always showed a 
 fair and equal countenance, hoping to gain them by degrees ; 
 but if he found any to be intractable, and not easily to be 
 gained by favours, he would find some handsome way or 
 another to remove them out of the college, that others, not 
 engaged either side, might succeed in their places." This 
 is not exactly the disposition commonly assigned by his- 
 torians to Laud ; but it should be studied for what it is 
 worth ; nor should we forget that to " remove " his enemies 
 " out of the college " was not unconducive to his own interests, 
 or that unless this had been done in a " handsome way," the 
 obnoxious fellows would have refused to go. 
 
 It was not so much to any of the fellows as to Abbott 
 that he attributed the opposition to his election. On May 
 10, 161 1, he wrote in his Diary: — "The Archbishop of 
 Canterbury was the original cause of all my troubles." 
 
 Among the Stonyhurst MSS. {Anglia, vol. iii. n. 103) is 
 a letter written during the same month by the Jesuit, Father 
 Coffin or Cuffyn, alias Hatton, alluding to this same Arch- 
 
 1 P. 43, June 14, 161 1. - lb., p. 76, Sept. 23, 161 1. 
 
 D
 
 Circa 1611. 
 
 50 • Life of Archbishop Laitd. St?38.' 
 
 bishop in the following terms : — " To Bancroft the pseudo 
 Archbishop of Canterbury succeeds George Abbot, a brutal 
 and fierce man, and a sworn enemy of the very name of 
 Catholic." And what follows shows the strong anti- 
 Catholic spirit then prevailing. " The King meditates the 
 extermination of all Catholics ; the prisons are everywhere 
 crammed ; the Catholics hide themselves in caves and holes 
 of the earth, and others fly before the face of the persecutors 
 into these parts. An infinite number of pursuivants riotously 
 pass through every county of England, and it is incredible to 
 tell how they harass and afflict the most innocent men ; for, 
 entering the houses and lands, they carry off everything 
 — beds, tables, covers, clothes, chests, trunks, and especially 
 money. If they find the master of the house they thrust the 
 infamous oath of supremacy upon him, and if he refuses to 
 take it, they carry him off to the nearest gaol, there in 
 poverty and chains, in darkness and squalor, in hunger and 
 nakedness, — vcl ditcat vitani, vel animam agat. The tim.es 
 of Elizabeth, although most cruel, were the mildest and 
 happiest, in comparison of those of James."^ 
 
 Another testimony to Abbott's persecution of Catholics 
 is to be found in the CJironological Notes of the English 
 Congregation of the Oi^der of St Benedict^" by Dom Bennet 
 Weldon, O.S.B. of St Edmund's, Paris. He gives an account 
 of the martyrdom of Father Maurus, a Benedictine monk. 
 " He was banished and so went to Douay, from whence 
 returning to England, he was soon taken and pursued to 
 death by the aforementioned George Abbot, Titular Bishop 
 of London, to whom he was carried to be examined. The 
 chief proof of his priesthood urged against him was that as 
 he came by water from Graves End, that he might not be 
 discovered he flung into the Thames a little bag where his 
 Breviary, faculties, medals and crosses were, which a fisher- 
 mai^. catching in his net, carried to George Abbot, Titular 
 Bishop of London {iiozv become) Titular Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. As soon as Father Maurus heard the fatal 
 sentence, he answered with a loud voice, ' Thanks be to God, 
 
 ^ " Records of the Eng. Prov. S. J.," series i, p. 70. - Chap, xxvii.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Latid. 51 
 
 never any news did I ever more wish for, nor were there ever 
 any so welcome to me, &c.' ' But be you all witness I pray 
 you, that I have committed no crime against his Majesty 
 or the country : I am only accused of Priesthood and for 
 Priesthood condemned.' This said, he returned to prison 
 as unconcerned as if nothing had been done against him, 
 whereas the said Titular Bishop, George Abbotj who sat 
 with the Judges to hear him condemned, withdrew from the 
 company like a man possessed with Orestes' furies. R. F. 
 Maurus gave up his life on Whitsun Eve on the 9th of June 
 (16 1 2) very courageously with Mr Newport a Secular Priest." 
 
 I dwell the more upon Abbott's persecution of Catholics ; 
 because I wish to show that Laud, when, in course of time, 
 he succeeded Abbott in the archbishopric, although guilty 
 of occasionally persecuting them, nevertheless to some ex- 
 tent curbed the zeal of the pursuivants, and that he even 
 threatened one of them, who had made himself notoriously 
 obnoxious, with a whipping. 
 
 It seems probable that the hearing of the appeal against 
 Laud's election to the Presidentship of St John's raised him 
 in King James's estimation ; for, within little more than a 
 couple of months, he made him one of his own royal 
 chaplains. It is, more or less, from this date, that Laud's 
 court life may be said to have begun. His presidentship, 
 together with the inheritance which had befallen him on his 
 mother's death, gave him tolerable wealth for a bachelor, and 
 he had no reason to be afraid of the expenses which his 
 visits to the royal palaces might entail upon him. Of the 
 monarch at that time presiding over the court, it is not 
 necessary that I should say much : everybody knows him to 
 have been a clever fool, and an intolerable prig ; everybody 
 is aware that he was as ugly as he was vain, as shrewd as 
 he was unpractical, as drunken as he was religious, and as 
 bombastic as he was cowardly. 
 
 His finances were already in a low condition. Indeed, in 
 the very year that he made Laud his chaplain (161 1), he 
 endeavoured to raise the wind by means of the ingenious 
 device of a new dignity, which he offered, to the number of
 
 Circa 1611. 
 
 52 Life of ArcJibishop Lmid. S^'^ss* 
 
 two hundred patents, to any gentlemen of good family, or 
 possessed of clear annual incomes of ;^iOOO, who would 
 provide him with the monetary equivalent of thirty soldiers 
 for three years ; that is to say, ^1095. The dignity was to 
 be termed a Baronetcy. This honour was not so greedily 
 sought for as had been expected, and at the end of six years 
 less than half of the two hundred patents had been sold, 
 the amount thus realised being about ^101,835. 
 
 Laud had not been many months President of St John's 
 College, before a death occurred which made some stir in 
 his university. Like Laud, Sir Thomas Bodley had been 
 fellow of his college (Merton), had served the office of 
 proctor, and had risen to royal favour ; but, after being em- 
 ployed in several embassies, he had fallen into disgrace, and 
 in 1597 retired into private life. He then set to work to 
 restore the public library at Oxford, which he rebuilt. The 
 first stone of this library, which now bears his name, was 
 laid the year before Laud was made President of St John's, 
 and the year afterwards Bodley died. It is merely to show 
 that even great public benefactors have their detractors, 
 and with no desire to lessen the credit of a celebrated name, 
 that, in addition to the panegyric of Isaac Wake in a letter 
 to Carleton, announcing the death of Sir Thomas Bodley — 
 " leaving all lovers of learning sorrowful bemoners of their 
 owne loss in his,"^ I quote a few extracts from the State 
 Calendar recounting letters from Chamberlain to Carleton, 
 during the months succeeding his death : — " Death of Sir 
 Thomas Bodley. Particulars of his will. He has left 
 legacies to great people, ;^ 7000 to his library, and ^200 to 
 Merton College ; but little to his brothers, his old servants, 
 his friends, or the children of his wife, by whom he had all 
 his wealth." " Sir Thomas Bodley's executors cannot excuse 
 him of unthankfulness to many of his relatives and friends, 
 he being ' so drunk with the applause and vanitie of his 
 librarie, that he made no conscience to rob Peter to pay 
 Paul.' " " The great funeral at Oxford is the last act of Sir 
 Thomas Bodley's vanity, whose ambition appears in many 
 
 ■1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1611-18, p. 16S.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 53 
 
 ways."^ Be all this, however, as it may, Bodley's example, 
 and the sensation made by his death and imposing funeral, 
 so soon after Laud had taken up his position as President 
 of St John's, is not unlikely to have imbued the latter with 
 an ambition to distinguish himself, as he subsequently did 
 by adding to the literary treasures of his university. 
 
 A period at which Laud was rising in court favour may 
 not be unfitting for a notice of a criticism by a foreign 
 ambassador on that court and sundry other English matters. 
 If Sir John Digby, writing from Madrid,- is to be trusted, the 
 Spanish Ambassador sent home the following report of the 
 English court : — " That the King grows too fat to be able to 
 hunt comfortably ; spends much time in reading, especially 
 religious works, and eats and drinks so recklessly that it is 
 thought he will not be long lived ; he is obstinate in his 
 religious opinions." " That the Prince is a fine youth of 
 sweet disposition, and, under good masters, might be easily 
 trained to the religion his predecessors lived in." " That 
 Catholics are persecuted by the Archp, of Canterbury " 
 (Laud's great enemy, Abbott) " and Bp. of London, and by 
 the King, in hope to propitiate Parliament into granting 
 subsidies, and that he may have their forfeitures to give to 
 his servants." Anti-Catholicism, therefore, would appear to 
 have been the best method of rising in court favour at 
 that particular time. About the same period, Laud writes of 
 more than one " unfortunateness " which he had with people 
 whose names are only hinted at by initials. It is just 
 possible that these " unfortunatenesses " may have been the 
 result of his refusing to join in the violent no-popery cry 
 then evidently in repute at court. 
 
 In the court, as at Oxford, death carried away an 
 important personage at the end of the year 161 2. Sir 
 Thomas Lake wrote to Carleton,^^ in November, of the 
 " death of the Prince of Wales in the pride of his years, 
 on the anniversary of a memorable deliverance, and the 
 eve of his sister's marriage. The king, apprehending the 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," various letters. - lb., vol. Ixxiv. No. 58. 
 
 3 lb., vol. Ixxi. No. 31.
 
 Circa 1612. 
 
 54 Life of Ai%hbishop Laud. St'^J.' 
 
 worst, and not enduring to be so near the place, removed 
 to Theobalds, and kept his bed." We see something of 
 the character of James I. here. " The queen is at Somer- 
 set House. They have not seen each other ' for feare to 
 refresh the sense of the wound.' " 
 
 The " sister's marriage " here spoken of was destined to 
 give Laud some trouble in the future. Prince Frederick, 
 Elector Palatine, had just come to England to marry the 
 Princess Elizabeth, when Henry, Prince of Wales, was taken 
 ill and died. This approaching marriage was eagerly 
 encouraged by the Puritan and Calvinistic party in this 
 country. To Laud's enemy, Abbott, it must have been 
 especially grateful, and we find him feasting the bridegroom 
 and all his followers. About seven weeks after the death 
 of Prince Henry, the betrothal took place, and received 
 Abbott's benediction, for which he in his turn received a 
 present of plate from Prince Frederick, worth ^1000.^ On 
 the fourteenth of the following February, he married the 
 royal couple in the chapel at Whitehall. 
 
 Some notes, in Laud's handwriting, attributed to the same 
 year, refer to, and are placed with, some satirical papers 
 " relating to the foundation of a Mock College for Innocents 
 or Fools, to be called Gotam College, Oxford." - His notes 
 are indorsed upon a complimentary ode, addressed to 
 himself 
 
 Dr Neile, now Bishop of Lincoln, continued to patronise 
 Laud. The year after the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, 
 that is to say in 1614, Laud being then forty-one, he gave 
 him the Prebendary of Bugden. During the same year. 
 Laud suffered from "a most fierce salt Rheume," in his "left 
 Eye, like to have endangered it." ^ In the following year, he 
 reached a higher ecclesiastical grade, being made Archdeacon 
 of Huntingdon by the Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 It was somewhere about this time that Abbott's brother, 
 then Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, made the violent onslaught 
 upon Laud, mentioned in a previous chapter, from the pulpit 
 
 ^ Howe's "Chron.," p. 1007. 
 *-• "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," vol. Ixxv., Nos. 56-66. ^ oi^ry, p. 3.
 
 Mu^f-^^"^'] Life of Archbishop Latui. 55 
 
 of St Mary's, calling him a " mungrel," and asking him 
 whether he was a Papist or a Protestant. The matter 
 appears to have been referred to the king, for the following 
 entry of a letter occurs in the Calendar of State Papers 
 (Domestic) in June 161 5.1 "The King permits Dr Laud's 
 return to Oxford, having made an end of all those matters, 
 the Archbishop having acknowledged the error of his brother 
 in it, and Dr Abbot having apologized by saying that all 
 the University understood Dr Laud's remarks were meant 
 for him. Imperfect. Indorsed [by Laud], 'What His 
 Magistye sayd concerninge Dr Abbot's sermon against 
 
 me.'" 
 
 To have wrung an apology from' Archbishop Abbott, or 
 at least an acknowledgment of the error of his brother, was 
 a great triumph for Laud. Perhaps his patron, the Bishop 
 of Lincoln, may have aided him ; nor is the latter unlikely 
 to have been in the royal favour just at that time, as he was 
 then engaged in pressing his clergy to furnish arms to the 
 king. In the very same month he wrote to the following 
 effect, to one, John Lambe. " The clergy of the diocese, 
 being less forward than was hoped in the benevolence, they 
 are no longer to enjoy exemption from providing arms for 
 the musters. Requests him to search the old books, and 
 give notice to them of what is required of each. Those 
 whose livings are below £AfO are to be spared ; those of 
 ^40 and ;!^50 to be put two to a musket ; of £60, two 
 to a corslet; of £^0 to ;^ioo, muskets; ^100 to ^140, 
 corslets; £^^o to ^200, petronels ; and above ^200, 
 lances."^ Abbott, however, wrote to Neile commending 
 his action. 
 
 As court chaplain, Laud was summoned from Oxford to 
 Woodstock, in 1616, to preach before King James ; and he 
 "preached, with great applause" (sic) "from Miriam's leprosy, 
 as a warning to detractors against Government." ^ Next to 
 his God, Laud worshipped his king, and how far he did this 
 on principle, and how far with a view to obtaining royal 
 
 ^ "Cal, Sta. Pa. Dom.," vol. Ixxx., No. 124. " lb., vol. Ixxx., No. 123. 
 
 ^ lb., vol. Ixxxviii., No. 61.
 
 Circa 1616. 
 
 56 Life of Aj'chbishop Laud. \^Mt\l 
 
 patronage is a question upon which his various biographers 
 have differed considerably. Without committing myself un- 
 conditionally to either opinion on the matter, I may say that 
 I am inclined to think that his faith in the Divine Right 
 of Kings, and especially of English kings, was almost as 
 strong as his faith in Christianity.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 In the year 1616 — that of Shakespeare's death, by the 
 way, an event probably of little interest to Laud, whose 
 nature was anything but poetical — the subject of my story 
 had so far advanced in royal favour as to be taken to 
 Scotland by King James I. The feeling in that country 
 towards anything like High-Church practices may be under- 
 stood when I say that Laud gave great offence there, by 
 once wearing a surplice at a funeral.^ Chamberlain writes 
 to Carleton : — " Exceptions taken by the Scotch at Dr Laud, 
 for putting on a surplice at a funeral, and at the Dean of St 
 Paul's for commending the soul of the deceased to God, which 
 he was forced to retract. They are so averse to English 
 customs, that a Scottish bishop. Dean of the King's chapel, re- 
 fused to receive the sacrament with His Majesty, kneeling."- 
 
 The king, himself, did little to make Laud popular 
 by telling the Scotch divines that " he had brought some 
 English theologians to enlighten their minds." ^ As Mr 
 Benson very truly says, " Had Laud known it, on this 
 occasion was sown that vast unintermitting Scottish hatred 
 of the man that was so great a factor in his fall." * 
 
 It was, to all intents and purposes, a religious republic 
 that King James attempted to reform in Scotland. Without 
 denying that King Charles was chiefly responsible for his 
 own overthrow, it may be pretty safe to assert that James 
 did much to prepare it by his treatment of ecclesiastical 
 matters in the North. He began by selecting thirteen 
 clergymen of what he considered orthodox views, and 
 appointing them to the vacant Scottish bishoprics. For the 
 moment, however, we will take our leave of Scotch affairs 
 
 ^ Nichol's Progresses. 2 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1611-1S, p. 473. 
 
 ^ Mozeley's "Essays," vol. i. p. 129. ■* " Archp. Laud," Benson, p. 37.
 
 Circa 1616. 
 
 58 Life of A rchbishop Laud. S^i^^^l 
 
 to notice those of Laud. While he was yet in Scotland, 
 the deanery of Gloucester fell vacant, and was bestowed 
 upon him by the king. 
 
 This appointment showed what a step he had made in 
 the king's graces. Only three or four years earlier he had 
 apparently made so little progress, and was so little noticed 
 by the king, that he was on the point of altogether retiring 
 from court, and contenting himself with Oxford life, when his 
 friend and patron, Neile, dissuaded him and induced him to 
 make another trial. This was rewarded by the journey with 
 the king to Scotland and the " Deanry " of Gloucester, 
 
 This deanery, however, was not found to be a bed of roses. 
 The Bishop of Gloucester, Dr Miles Smith, was a great 
 Hebrician, and a translator of the so-called " Bishop's 
 Bible " ; but very Calvinistic in his views. One of the first 
 things that his new dean did, was to remove the communion- 
 table from the " middest of the quire " ^ and place it altarvvise 
 against the east wall. 
 
   The Bishop was furious. " No sooner had he heard what 
 the new Dean had done about the Communion Table, but he 
 expressed his dislike of it." " He is said to have protested 
 unto the Dean, and some of the Prebends, that if the 
 Communion Table were removed, or any such innovations 
 brought into that Cathedral, he would never come more 
 within those walls." ^ He deputed his chaplain to write 
 about the matter to the chancellor of the diocese, acquainting 
 him " with the strange Reports which were come unto them 
 touching the situation of the Communion Table in the place 
 where the High Altar stood before, and that low obeysances 
 were made to it, assuring him how much the secret Papists 
 would rejoyce." He went on to express his astonishment 
 " that no man should have any spark of Elias Spirit to speak 
 a word in God's behalf, and the Preachers should swallow 
 down such things in silence, and that the Prebends should be 
 so faint-hearted as to shrink in the first wetting, especially 
 having the Law on their side against it." ^ 
 
 Whatever " the Law " may have been, Laud had a power- 
 
 1 -" 
 
 Cyp. Ang." p. 63. 2 /^_^ p. 54_ 3 /3_
 
 xviithcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop La2id. 59 
 
 ful precedent for his treatment of the communion-table, in its 
 position in the king's own chapel, to say nothing of many 
 of the cathedrals, and he held his own against the bishop, 
 who is said never to have re-entered his own cathedral on 
 account of the objectionable situation of what he termed the 
 " Nehushtan." I do not suppose that Laud broke his heart 
 at his absence. It is often thrown in the teeth of ritualists 
 that, unlike the early High-Churchmen of the Anglican 
 Establishment, they refuse to obey their bishops when they 
 object to their advanced proceedings. In the conduct of 
 Laud towards the Bishop of Gloucester, they have a 
 valuable precedent. Among the state papers, is a letter 
 to Laud, ^ in which his correspondent complains of a libel, 
 in much the same tone as that expressed in the letter of 
 the bishop's chaplain already quoted, and advises that the 
 attention of the Court of High Commission should be called 
 to it, attributing the whole matter to " that scismaticall faction 
 of the Puritanes." 
 
 Laud had not long been Dean of Gloucester when another 
 living was given to him, that of Ibstock in Leicestershire. 
 The following year, he received a reminder that court 
 favourites did not invariably come to a happy end, in the 
 execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, whose courageous conduct 
 on the scaffold was, as it were, a sort of precursor of his 
 own. 
 
 About the same time, or a trifle earlier, arrived in England, 
 an ecclesiastic whose presence did a good deal to encourage 
 the king in his theological designs. Much as James, his son 
 Charles after him, and Laud also, desired to make the 
 Puritans " conformable," the great wish of their hearts was, 
 that the Catholics should acknowledge the Anglican Estab- 
 lishment to be the Catholic Church in England, and that 
 they should become, what Mr Froude terms, Catholics with- 
 out the Pope. It is almost needless to say that the majority 
 of the Catholics in England, that is the majority of the 
 English people, had lost, or shall I say been robbed of, their 
 Catholicism and become Protestants in the days of Edward 
 
 ^ Domestic, vol. xc, No. 75.
 
 6o Life of Archbishop Land. [Circa 1616-22. 
 
 VI. and Elizabeth ; indeed, it was their tendency to go too 
 far in this direction, which was the principal religious trouble 
 of the Stuart kings; but what the latter most anxiously sought 
 for, was that the remnant still faithful to their Catholicism 
 should come to the Anglican churches, receive communion in 
 them, and acknowledge the king as head of the Church in this 
 country. 
 
 King James flattered himself that many English Catholics 
 would be led to do this by the example of an illustrious 
 Roman Catholic foreigner, Marco Antonio de Dominis, no 
 less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Spalatro, 
 who came to England and joined the Established Church of 
 the country. 
 
 He had the reputation of being a good mathematician and 
 man of science, and he is said to have been the first to pro- 
 mulgate the true theory of the rainbow. He was consecrated 
 Bishop of Segni, and was afterwards raised to the Arch- 
 bishopric of Spalatro. There the spirit of reform overcame 
 him, and, having offended the Pope, he had to fly from his 
 archdiocese. At Venice, he became acquainted with the 
 Anglican Bishop Bedell, who was then acting as chaplain to 
 the English Ambassador, Sir Henry Wotton. Bedell brought 
 him to England, where he published a book and dedicated it 
 to King James.^ 
 
 So far as ecclesiastical rank was concerned, he w^as the 
 richest " take " of any foreign convert since the establish- 
 ment of the Anglican Church, and possibly the chief 
 authorities in that body may have flattered themselves that 
 if an Italian Archbishop had joined it, there were hopes that 
 the Pope himself might follow him. To Laud and James 
 his " conversion " must have been a matter of unqualified and 
 intense satisfaction. 
 
 In the year 161 8, Brent wrote a letter'^ to Carleton, be- 
 ginning by saying that the king was in bed with the gout, 
 and going on to inform him that the Archbishop of Spalatro 
 had been made Master of the Savoy. He was "printing a 
 book more strongly against Rome than ever." Nine days 
 
 ' " Ency. Brit.," 8th Ed., vol. vii. p. loo. -Dom., vol. xcvi. No. 51.
 
 •^t. 43-59] Life of ArcJibishop Latid. 6i 
 
 later/ the archbishop himself wrote to the receiver of the 
 above letter, sending a copy of his book, and informing him 
 that the king had made him not only Master of the Savoy, 
 but also a Prebend of Canterbury, and Dean of Windsor. 
 
 The estimation among Catholics of the validity of Angli- 
 can orders is well known ; but a somewhat different com- 
 plexion might be put upon the question, if this Catholic 
 bishop actually consecrated any Anglican bishops, at any 
 rate so far as their own individual successors are concerned. ^ 
 Chamberlain wrote to Carleton, in Dec. 1617 : — -" The Archbp. 
 of Spalato assisted the Archbp. of Canterbury and other 
 Bishops in laying hands on the new Bishops of Bristol and 
 Lincoln, Drs Felton and Montaigne." ^ Yet there is nothing 
 in this to show that he was the consecrating bishop : the 
 inference, indeed, would be exactly the contrary. 
 
 Nearly a year later, we find a letter between the same 
 correspondents saying that the archbishop had "sunk in 
 estimation, by intruding into a parsonage in the gift of the 
 Dean and Chapter of Windsor."'^ In fact, Laud's great 
 friend, Montague, said that de Dominis was so greedy of 
 preferment that he would " be circumcised and denie Jesus 
 Christ, if the Grand Signior would make him chiefe Muftie." 
 
 This dignitary only affects my biography in so far as 
 the joining the Anglican Church by so exalted a Catholic 
 ecclesiastic was an important event during the life of Laud, 
 and, although it obliges me to anticipate, I will dispose of 
 him as shortly as I well can. 
 
 In March 1622, Locke wrote : ^ — "The Bishop of Spalato 
 has resigned the Deanery of Windsor," and there is a 
 document of a date but little later, of still greater importance.^ 
 It reports that the archbishop requested the king for his 
 
 ^ Dom., vol. xcvi. No. 62. 
 
 - The difficulty, however, would still remain, that " in the ordination of a priest 
 or bishop," " there was then no express mention made hi the words of ordaining 
 them, that it was for the one or other office. In both it was said, ' Receive the 
 Holy Ghost, in the name of, &c.' " (Burnet's " Hist, of Ref." ii. b. i., p. 252, ed. 
 Pocock). It was not until 1662 {see Keeling's " Liturgise Britannicce ") that the 
 words, " Receive the Holy Ghost, for the office and work of a Bishop, &c.," were 
 added. 
 
 3 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," i6ii-i8,p. 504. '^ lb., p. 595. 
 
 •V3., p. 366. 6/^., p. 367.
 
 62 Life of Archbishop L mid. circa 1616-22. 
 
 dismissal, when the Bishops of London and Durham, and the 
 Dean of Winchester, were sent to him by His Majesty to 
 accuse him of holding intercourse with the Pope. He denied 
 that he had held direct intercourse ; but he said that he 
 wished to go to Rome in the hope of promoting " the good 
 of England by persuading the Pope to allow of the Oath of 
 Allegiance ; also that he thought, as both Churches agreed 
 on fundamentals, a reconciliation might be effected." " He 
 said he desired the union of the two religions by mutually 
 yielding; gave his opinion on transubstantiation, the worship 
 of the Virgin, &c." A series of communications between 
 the king and himself was carried on through letters and 
 messengers. Then Abbott, Archbishop of Canterbury, went 
 to him and censured him " for returning to a Church which 
 he had called Babylon." He replied that Pope " Gregory 
 XV. was a good man, and many things were now reformed, 
 but he would always protest the Church of England to be 
 orthodox in fundamentals. Then they told him that the 
 King did not grant him leave to depart, but ordered him to 
 begone from the realm in twenty days, never to return at his 
 peril." 1 There is no evidence that Laud had anything to do 
 with this peremptory dismissal ; but it sounds rather in his style, 
 and we know that he was at that time in favour at court. 
 
 A curious letter- exists from the Archbishop of Spalatro 
 to Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria. Protestant re-unionists 
 then, as now, turned to the East, and apparently with as 
 little success. The summary of the letter runs: — "Long 
 groaned under the Egyptian bondage of the Church of Rome, 
 but at last escaped a year before to Goschen, which is 
 England, where, under a wise and pious King, true defender 
 of the faith, the cause of Christ triumphs. Sends him a copy 
 of the first part of his work on ecclesiastical republics. 
 Vindicates therein the Eastern Church from the calumnies 
 of Rome. Interests him to become an agent in healing the 
 disunion between the Eastern Church and that of England, 
 and to communicate any difficulties that he may see therein 
 to the Archbp. of Canterbury or to himself" 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1619-23, jDp. 367-8. - lb., p. 369.
 
 ^t. 43-59-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 63 
 
 In the same year, he returned to Rome and was reconciled 
 to the Catholic Church. It is of this period, that, in his 
 famous Conference zvith Fisher, Laud wrote to that Jesuit : — 
 " When you had fooled the archbishop of Spalatro back to 
 Rome, there you either made him say, or said it for him (for 
 in print it is, and under his name), that since it is now defined 
 by the Church, a man is as much bound to believe there is a 
 purgatory, as that there is a trinity of persons in the Godhead, 
 How far comes this short of blasphemy, to make the Trinity 
 and purgatory things alike and equally credible."^ 
 
 The archbishop, however, once again changed his mind, 
 and wrote letters to England, recanting the recantation of 
 his recantation. These epistles were intercepted, and the 
 heretic was imprisoned in the Castle of St Angelo, where he 
 died.- Shortly before that event, the then Rector of the 
 English College at Rome is reported to have said of him to 
 Sir Edward Sackvill : — " He was a Male-content Knave when 
 he fled from us, a Railing Knave while he lived with you, 
 and a Motley, parti-colour'd Knave now he is come again." ^ 
 
 Laud was a good deal at court during the years in which the 
 king was so much interested in this archiepiscopal /w/t-^/, and 
 theveryunsatisfactoryoutcomeof the whole business would not 
 be likely to make him hope much for the future of the Anglican 
 Establishment from renegade bishops of the Church of Rome. 
 
 We must now go back to the period of Laud's life at which 
 we left it to consider the incident of the conversion to 
 Anglicanism of this Sicilian dignitary. 
 
 Great changes and developments were beginning at Oxford, 
 especially in the direction of natural science. These advance- 
 ments were chiefly owed to the energy of Laud, Saville, 
 Camden and Aldrich, and the first of them, the Professorship 
 of Natural History, was founded in 16 18. The need of 
 increased knowledge of natural history in those days may be 
 judged from a work that was published more than sixty 
 years later. The whole book is full of curiosities ; I can 
 
 1 " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, p. 298. 
 
 2 "Ency. Brit.," 8th Ed., vol. viii. p. 100, and Beeton's " Ency.," vol. i. 
 ^ " Scrinia Reserata," by John Hackett, p. 104.
 
 64 Life of ArcJibisJiop La2id. [Circa 1619. 
 
 only give here a few specimens. It tells us that swallows in 
 winter either "joyn bill to bill, wing to wing, and foot to foot, 
 hanging together in a conglomerated mass," and sink into 
 the sea, or else they go to warm "countreys" where "they 
 have been found naked and without their feathers." "As for 
 the Cameleopardus, he is begotten by a mixt generation 
 between the Camel and Leopard, or Panther." " As for your 
 mimick Dogs, it is supposed that they come from a com- 
 mixtion of Dogs with Apes." The long streaming spiders' 
 webs sometimes seen stretching from railings, are meteors, 
 and not things " spun from the spider's bowels," according 
 to the " fond opinion," " engrafted among the ignorant." 
 Birds of Paradise " have no wings, neither do they fly, but 
 are borne up in the air by the subtility of their plumes and 
 lightness of their body." ^ At the same time, it is only fair 
 to say that science was rapidly advancing, and that at about 
 the very time of the establishment of the chair of Natural 
 History at Oxford, Harvey made his great discovery con- 
 cerning the circulation of the blood. 
 
 A Professorship of Geometry was founded at Oxford in 1619, 
 one of Moral Philosophy in 162 1, one of Ancient History in 
 1622, one of Anatomy in 1626, and one of Music in the same 
 year ; Botany followed in 1632, and Arabic four years later. 
 
 Laud was seldom long without an illness or seizure of some 
 sort, and, in the year 1619, he says that he "fell suddenly 
 dead for a time at Wickham," on his " return from London." 
 
 Laud was now, and had been for some little time, a 
 courtier, and to courtiers this year, 16 19, was a memorable 
 one. First came the death of the queen, on the second of 
 March. There were long delays before the funeral, which 
 did not take place until May. On March 27th, Chamberlain 
 writes to Carleton that the queen's funeral is " postponed, 
 because the Master of the Wardrobe will not pay double 
 prices, as are usually charged now, for want of ready money " ;2 
 and again, nearly a month later : — " The delay in the Queen's 
 funeral causes remarks ; the charge is to be more than three 
 times that of Queen Elizabeth's, though money is so scarce 
 
 ^ Speculum Mundi, " " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1619-23, p. 27.
 
 A:t. 46] Life of ArchbisJiop Lmici, 65 
 
 that her plate will have to be coined." Then he mentions 
 " contests for precedency among the Lady Mourners." ^ And 
 when it is over, he writes, on May 14th : — "The procession 
 at the Queen's funeral was very dull." '^ To Carleton, also, 
 Brent writes that the cost would be " more than ;^40,ooo." ^ 
 
 In the meantime, " the King had a violent attack of the 
 stone." "^ Within a month of his wife's funeral, he returned 
 in state to Whitehall. " He was gaily dressed and attended, 
 which will seem strange to the Ambassadors in mourning, 
 come to condole [on the Queen's death]." ^ And Brent 
 writes : — " The Ambassador of Lorraine came in mourning 
 to condole, and found mourning cast off; the King said he 
 should have come sooner."*^ 
 
 Another momentous event to the English court in 1619, 
 and one which indirectly affected Laud, was the coronation 
 of the Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James (who 
 had been married some few years previously to the Elector 
 Palatine Frederick) as Queen of Bohemia. The Emperor 
 Ferdinand had not long been crowned, before he was 
 deposed, and the Elector Palatine was elected King of 
 Bohemia in his stead. 
 
 The coronation of his daughter gave James little, if any, 
 pleasure. The great wish of his heart was that his son, 
 Charles, should marry the Infanta of Spain, and the Spanish 
 Ambassador persuaded him that the elevation of his daughter 
 and son-in-law to the throne of Bohemia was a skilfully con- 
 trived plot to oblige him to break off his attempted alliance 
 with Spain and go to war on behalf of his daughter, Elizabeth. 
 
 Archbishop Abbott urged him strongly to wage war for 
 his child and the Protestant faith ; but he refused even to 
 countenance his son-in-law's election and coronation ; say- 
 ing that it was the " work of a faction ; — that his subjects 
 were as dear to him as his daughter, and therefore he could 
 not consent to embroil them in an unjust war." " 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom,," 1619-23, p. 39. - //'., p. 45- 
 
 3/*., p. 44. ■»/<^.,p. 27. 
 
 5 73., p. 51, Chamberlain to Carleton. "^ lb., p. 54. 
 
 7 Green's "Lives of the Eng. Princesses," vol. v. p. 310; and Nichols, 
 vol. iii. p. 569. 
 
 E
 
 66 Life of Archbishop Laud. gt?';'"' 
 
 This matter chiefly concerns my biography in its relation 
 to Laud and his enemy, Abbott ; for, as will be seen by-and- 
 bye, while Abbott was dead against the Spanish alliance, 
 Laud favoured it. 
 
 The year after Frederick and Elizabeth had been crowned 
 King and Queen of Bohemia, they were driven out of that 
 country. On hearing the news, King James sent his 
 daughter ^20,000, asked subsidies for his son-in-law's 
 restoration from Parliament, and talked about shedding his 
 blood to that end, if necessary ; but when he heard that his 
 dethroned daughter and her dethroned husband intended to 
 pay him a visit in England, he sent instructions to his Am- 
 bassador to hint to them his " mislike of such a course," and 
 that nothing could possibly " be more displeasing unto " him 
 than to receive them as guests. 
 
 While her royal father was showing such scant affection, 
 the ex-Queen of Bohemia left open in her reception-room, 
 with the obvious intention that it should be read, a letter 
 which she had received from Abbott, after writing to ask his 
 advice as to the acceptance of the crown of Bohemia ; in this 
 epistle, the archbishop not only replied in the afhrmative, 
 but advised that, even if King James refused his consent, it 
 should be accepted, as he would be certain to support her 
 when once the deed was done.i Abbott could scarcely have 
 acted in a more dangerous manner than to write such a letter, 
 for, if discovered, it would bring him into terrible disrepute 
 with his king. On the other hand, Abbott's loss of favour 
 proportionately exalted his rival, Laud, and the opposition 
 to James's policy both in Bohemia and Spain by Abbott, 
 and the encouragement of it by Laud, probably went far 
 towards making the good fortune of the latter. 
 
 If Laud praised the king and all his doings, not so all 
 other divines. Chamberlain writes that the king " has 
 committed Shingleton, of Oxford, for declaiming against his 
 court, and ridiculing his Latinities, in a sermon at Paul's 
 Cross." 
 
 In 162 1, we find the following entry in Laud's Diary : — " I 
 
 ^ Goodman's "Court of James I.," vol. i. p. 236.
 
 %Zf] L ife of A rchbiskop L and. 6 7 
 
 was installed Prebendary of Westminster, Januar. 22, 1620, 
 comp. Angl., having had the Advovvson of it Ten Years the 
 November before." 
 
 Laud was now gradually attaining an advantage which 
 was to have an immense influence on his career — his in- 
 timacy with Buckingham. At this time that royal favourite, 
 although not yet duke, was in the zenith of his power, so far 
 as the reign of James I. was concerned, for, in the opinion of 
 some people, including Clarendon, he fell somewhat in the 
 estimation of that monarch after his expedition to Spain. 
 
 No more important friendship than that of Buckingham 
 could have been contracted at the time of which I am 
 writing. His power was enormous ; his own ascent had 
 been " so quick, that it seem'd rather a Flight than a growth, 
 and he was such a Darling of Fortune, that he was at the 
 Top, before he was well seen at the Bottom ; " ^ and his power 
 was equalled by his zeal in furthering the interests of his 
 friends ; " His Kindness, and Affection to his Friends was so 
 vehement," says Clarendon, " that they were as so many 
 marriages for better and worse, and so many leagues 
 offensive and defensive ; as if he thought himself obliged 
 to love all his Friends, and to make war upon all they 
 were angry with, let the cause be what it would." - 
 
 It was not until a year after the time with which I am 
 now dealing (1620-21), that Laud's great intimacy with 
 Buckingham was thoroughly established, and it is difficult 
 to ascertain exactly when their warm friendship first began. 
 There is evidence, however, that in 1620 and 1621 they were 
 already on at least good terms. 
 
 Early in June 1621, King James hinted to Laud that he 
 intended to bring him to the front when opportunity should 
 offer. We find a memorandum in Laud's Diary: — "The 
 King's Gracious Speech to v[\q, Jtme 3, 1621, concerning my 
 long Service. He was pleased to say : He had given me 
 nothing but Gloucester, which he well knew was a Shell 
 without a Kernel." There were clearly better things coming ! 
 
 ^ " Hist, of the Reb.," Clarendon, book i. p. 34. " lb., pp. 31, 32.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I NOW come to a most important event in the history of 
 Laud — his elevation to the Episcopal bench. It is said to 
 have come about in a curious manner. As will be seen, 
 by-and-bye, I say " said " advisedly. 
 
 Dr Williams, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, was also 
 Dean of Westminster. He had been nominated for the 
 Bishopric of Lincoln, and he had good grounds for believing 
 that if he should resign his deanery, it would be given to 
 Laud. Now to Laud and his " views " he had an intense 
 dislike, and he was most anxious that such a man should 
 not be appointed to so influential a post as the Deanery 
 of Westminster. Nevertheless, he could not conceal from 
 himself the fact that the king was determined to push him 
 on, and the best course appeared to be to induce His 
 Majesty to give him high preferment in some place where 
 he could do as little harm as possible. When, therefore, the 
 Bishopric of St David's fell vacant a few weeks after the 
 king had apologised to Laud for not having yet presented 
 him to anything better than the Deanery of Gloucester, Dr 
 Williams went to King James in order to induce him to 
 dispose of Laud, once for all, by sending him to that out-of- 
 the-way diocese. At any rate, this is one view of Williams' 
 conduct. 
 
 According to Bishop Hacket's account of their interview,^ 
 the king was by no means disposed to go to the length of 
 making Laud a bishop, although, judging from his late pro- 
 fessions of good intentions, as reported by Laud himself, one 
 feels inclined to suppose that Hacket's account of the con- 
 versation between King James and Dr Williams must be 
 exaggerated, to say the least of it ; nor is it improbable that 
 
 ^ I quote from Mr Benson, pages 41 and following. 
 
 68
 
 Mt'^s^"''^ Life of Archbishop Land. 69 
 
 the exaggeration, if any, was originated by Dr Williams, 
 who was given to fibbing,^ in recounting the incident. On 
 the other hand, it is possible that the king may have had 
 his own reasons for pretending to be unwilling to advance 
 Laud too hurriedly. 
 
 " ' 2 Well,' said the king, ' I perceive whose attorney you 
 are ; Stenny ' " (Buckingham) " ' hath set you on.' " " ' Was 
 there not a certain lady who forsook her husband, and 
 married a Lord that was her paramour } Who knit that 
 knot t Shall I make a man a Prelate, one of the angels 
 of my Church, who hath a flagrant crime upon him .'' ' " 
 
 " ' Sir,' said Williams, * you are a good master ; but who 
 will dare serve you if you will not pardon one fault, though 
 of a scandalous size, to him who is heartily penitent } I 
 pawn my faith to you that he is heartily penitent ; and there 
 is no other blot that hath sullied his good name.' " 
 
 " ' You press well," replied the king, * and I hear you with 
 patience. Neither will I revive a trespass which repentance 
 hath mortified and buried. And because I see that I shall 
 not be rid of you, unless I tell you my unpublished cogita- 
 tions, the plain truth is, I keep Land back from all place of 
 ride and anthority because I find he hath a restless spirit and 
 cannot see when matters are well, but loves to toss and change, 
 and to bring things to a pitch of reformation floating in his 
 ozvti brain, which may endanger the steadfastness of that 
 which, God be praised, is at a good pass. I speak not at 
 random : he hath made himself known to me to be such an 
 one. For when, three years past, I had obtained of the 
 Assembly of Perth to consent to five articles of order and 
 decency in a correspondence with this Church of England, 
 I gave them promise that I would try their obedience no 
 further anent ecclesiastical affairs. Yet this man hath pressed 
 me to invite them to a nearer conjunction with the Liturgy 
 and Canons of this nation ; but I sent him back again, with 
 
 1 Clarendon's "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. iii. p. 345. 
 
 ^ I quote chiefly from Mr Benson's very ably modernised rendering of Racket's 
 account in " Scrinia Reserata," except where I specially mention that I refer to 
 the original.
 
 yo Life of Archbishop Laud. [Circai62i. 
 
 the frivolous draft that he had drawn. And now, your im- 
 portunity hath compelled me to shrive myself thus unto you, 
 I think you are at your furthest, and have no more to say for 
 your client.' " 
 
 " ' May it please you, sir,' answered Williams, ' I will speak 
 but this once. You have convicted your chaplain of an 
 attempt very audacious and very unbecoming. My judg- 
 ment goes quite against his : yet I submit this to your 
 sacred judgment, that Dr Laud is of a great and tractable 
 wit. He did not well see how he came into his error ; but 
 he will presently see the way to come out of it. Some 
 diseases, which are very acute, are quickly cured.' " 
 
 " ' And if,' said the king, ' there is no whoe ' (way) ' but 
 you must carry it, then take him with you, but, by my soul, 
 you will repent it.' " And so, the narrative informs us, he 
 " went away in anger, using other words of fierce import, too 
 tart to be repeated." 
 
 King James's opinion of Laud, as here quoted, has been 
 generally accepted as genuine ; as to Williams's share in the 
 conversation, historians differ, some going so far as to doubt 
 whether he recommended Laud for the Bishopric of St 
 David's at all. 
 
 The doubts as to the veracity of the account of the 
 conversation between Williams and the king are chiefly 
 based upon a sentence in Clarendon,^ in which he speaks 
 thus of the former : — " He had a faculty of making relations 
 of things done in his own Presence, and discourses made to 
 himself, or in his own hearing, with all the circumstances of 
 answers, and replies, and upon Arguments of great moment ; 
 all which, upon Examination, were still found to have nothing 
 in them that was Real, but to be the pure effect of his own 
 Invention." 
 
 And now, I will venture, with all humility, to give my own 
 opinion on the question. It is that Williams neither re- 
 commended Laud to the king for the Bishopric of St 
 David's, out of any goodwill towards him, nor to keep for 
 himself the Deanery of Westminster, but solely in order to 
 
 ^ " Hist, of the Reb.," vol. iii., p. 345.
 
 yEt. 48] Life of Archbishop Laud. 71 
 
 curry favour with Buckingham, who had urged him to do it. 
 Buckingham wanted a rochet for his friend Laud, and, as I 
 shall show, had found himself foiled in his own attempts to 
 persuade James to bestow one, by the ill-offices of Arch- 
 bishop Abbott ; he determined, therefore, to endeavour 
 to turn the scale in favour of his own nominee by induc- 
 ing a divine to recommend Laud, as if he were doing so 
 spontaneously. 
 
 Here is Bishop Racket's account, in his Life of Wil- 
 liams : — ^ Laud, he says, " a Learned Man, and a Lover of 
 Learning," " had fasten'd on the Lord Marquess to be his 
 Mediator, whom he had made sure by great Observances, 
 But the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had so opposed him, and 
 represented him with suspicion (in my judgment improbably 
 grounded) of Unsoundness in Religion, that the Lord Marquess 
 was at a stand, and could not get the Royal Assent to that 
 Promotion. His Lordship, as his Intimates know, was not 
 wont to let a Suit fall, which he had undertaken ; in this he 
 was the stiffer, because the Arch-Bishop's Contest in the King's 
 Presence was sour and supercilious. Therefore he resolved 
 to play his Game in another hand ; and conjures the Lord 
 Keeper to commend Dr Laud strenuously and importunately 
 to the King's good Opinion, to fear no Offence, neither to 
 desist for a little Storm. Accordingly he watch'd when the 
 King's Affections were most still and pacificous ; and be- 
 sought his Majesty to think considerately of his Chaplain the 
 Doctor, who deserved well when he was a young Man in his 
 Zeal against the Millenary Petition ! And for his Licorruption 
 in Religion, let his Sermons plead for him in the Royal 
 Hearing, of which no Man could judge better than so great 
 a Scolar as His Majesty." 
 
 Then followed the conversation given above, in the very 
 first sentence of which, it will be remembered, James was 
 sharp enough to tell Williams he was quite sure that Bucking- 
 ham had put him on to plead Laud's cause. 
 
 The remarks made by Bishop Hacket, when he has ended 
 his account of the conversation, may be worth giving. " So 
 
 1 " Scrinia Reseiata," p. 63.
 
 72 Life of Archbishop Lmui. [Circai62i. 
 
 the Lord Keeper procured to Dr Land his first Rochet, and 
 retained him in his Prebend of Westminster, a Kindness which 
 then he mightily valued ; and gave him about a year after 
 a Living of about £\20 per annum in the Diocese of St David's 
 to help his Revenue : Which being unsought, and brought to 
 him at Durham-House by Mr William Winn, his expression 
 was, ' Mr Winn, my Life will be too short to requite your 
 Lord's Goodness,' But how those scores were paid, is 
 known at home and abroad." 
 
 Laud's own account of his appointment is to be found in 
 his Diary : — " June 29. His Majesty gave me the Grant of 
 the Bishoprick of St David's, being St Peter s day. The 
 general expectation in Court was, that I should then have 
 been made Dean of Westminster, and not Bishop of St 
 David' sr This bears out the possibility of Williams's desire 
 to prevent his obtaining it by getting him appointed to St 
 David's. Laud then goes on to say :— " The King gave me 
 leave to hold the Presidentship of St John Baptist's Colledge 
 in Oxon, in my Commendam with the Bishoprick of St 
 Davids : [But by Reason of the strictness of that Statute, 
 which I will not violate, nor my Oath to it, under any colour, 
 I am resolved before my Consecration to leave it.]" Accord- 
 ingly, we find an entry in the Diary : — " Oetod. 10. I was chosen 
 Bishop of St Davids, Octob. 10, 162 1. I resigned the President- 
 ship of St Johns in Oxjord, Novemb. 17, 162 1." Considering 
 the pluralities of those days, to his credit be it spoken. 
 
 It was otherwise with Dr Williams. He need not have 
 been so afraid that Laud would get his deanery of West- 
 minster. In August there was issued a " Grant to John 
 Williams, Dean of Westminster, Bp. Elect of Lincoln, and 
 Keeper of the Great Seal, of licence to retain his Deanery in 
 commendam, because the usual residence of the Chancellor 
 being otherwise employed, he has no other residence near the 
 Court ; also of dispensation from personal attention to the 
 duties of the Bishopric and Deanery, as long as he holds the 
 Great Seal, on condition of his taking care that they be not 
 neglected." ^ The contrast between the conduct of Williams 
 
 o 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1619-23, p. 283.
 
 ^t.48.] Life of Archbishop Lait,d. J2) 
 
 and my hero in these cases is remarkable, but requires no 
 comment. 
 
 A later memorandum in Laud's Diary runs : — " I was 
 consecrated Bishop of St Davids, Novemb. i8, 1621, at 
 London-House Chappel, by the Reverend Fathers, the Lords 
 Bishops of London, Worcester, Chichester, Elye, La)idaffe, 
 Oxon. The Arch-Bishop being thought Irregular for casual 
 Homicide." ^ 
 
 As this case of " casual homicide " to a considerable extent 
 crippled the power of one of Laud's greatest enemies, it 
 merits some notice here. The fact is briefly recorded in a 
 letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, July 28, 1621.- "The 
 Archp. of Canterbury going into Hampshire to conse- 
 crate a chapel for Lord Zouch, has had the misfortune to 
 kill his keeper, when shooting at a deer." And, again, 
 on August 4, " The Archp. of Canterbury, immediately on 
 his misfortune, sent to inform the King, who sent him a 
 gracious answer, that such an accident might happen to any- 
 one. The verdict on the coroner's inquest was, that [the 
 Keeper died] 'per infortunium sua; propriae culpae.' " ^ On 
 August 5th, the Archbishop himself wrote to Lord Zouch,^ 
 in whose park the accident took place : — " thanks for his 
 entertainment at Bramsell. His counsel do not consider the 
 verdict given on the coroner's inquest to be legally drawn up ; 
 requests him to resummon the coroner and jury to supply all 
 defects, the credit of his profession being involved, and the 
 enemies of the gospel too ready to slander him." He wrote 
 to him again, on the 29th, that ^ his " unhappy accident has 
 been a bitter potion, on account of his conflict in his 
 conscience, for what sin he is permitted to be the talk of 
 men, to the rejoicing of the Papist and insulting the Puritan." 
 About a week later, Locke wrote to Carleton '^ that the 
 " Archbishop has kept secluded ever since the accident " ; but 
 three days afterwards that " the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 has attended the King to the sermon, for the first time since 
 the accident " ; and in another four days that " Archbishop 
 
 1 Diary, p. 4. - " Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1619-23, p. 279. ^ lb., p. 281. 
 
 4 lb., same page. ^ lb., p. 285. " lb., p. 287.
 
 74 Life of Archbishop Laud. [circaiezi. 
 
 Abbot has been again with the King, and it is hoped all will 
 now go well with him." 
 
 From the time of the announcement of the accident itself, 
 King James had taken a very kindly and sympathetic view 
 of it. " His Majesty," says Bishop Hacket,i " who had the 
 Bowels of a Lamb, censured the Mischance with these words 
 of melting Clemency, That an Angel might have miscarried 
 in that sort." 
 
 Early in the following month (October) a commission 
 was given by the " King ^ to the Lord Keeper, Bps. of London, 
 Winchester, and Rochester, and others. To inquire into the 
 nature of the accidental killing of the keeper in Bramsell 
 Park, by Geo. Abbot, Archp. of Canterbury, whether it 
 amounts to an irregularity or otherwise, in a person of his 
 rank in the church, and to consider the scandal that may 
 have arisen thereon." 
 
 On one side it was argued that an archbishop had no 
 right to be hunting at all, and that his offence consequently 
 was murder, in the same manner that a poacher aiming at a 
 stag, to which he had no right, and accidentally killing a 
 keeper, would have technically committed that crime. The 
 great legal authority. Coke, thought otherwise. An old 
 book on the law relating to game says : — " Every Lord of 
 Parliament, Spiritual or Temporal, sent for by the King, may 
 in coming and returning kill a Deer or two in the Kings 
 Forest, Chase, or Park, through which he passeth." "And 
 Sir Edward Coke, treating of this Law observes. That although 
 Spiritual Persons are prohibited by the Canon Law to hunt 
 Game ; yet by the Common Law of the Land for their 
 Recreation, and to make them fitter for the Performance of 
 their Office, they may use the Diversion and Exercise of 
 Hunting."^ In addition to this, "he dragged to light an 
 immemorial statute that a bishop's morte of hounds was to 
 escheat to the king on his decease, not to the natural heirs. 
 Ergo, argued Coke, he may hunt with them while he is alive, 
 if they are to pass to some one else on his death." * 
 
 1 "Scrinia Reserata," p. 65. - lb., p. 295. 
 
 ^ " The Game Law," pub. 1727, p. 3. * Benson, p. 46.
 
 ^t. 48] Life of Archbishop Land. 75 
 
 On November loth Chamberlain wrote to Carleton that 
 " the Commissioners on the Archp. of Canterbury's case 
 were equally divided, but the Bp. of Winchester, siding 
 with the four lawyers so forcibly against the other five 
 Bishops, turned the scale in his Grace's favour. The King 
 absolved him ; the new Bishops " (one of whom would be 
 Laud) " are so unwilling to receive consecration from his 
 hand, that he has commissioned three other Bishops to con- 
 secrate for him." ^ 
 
 In the same month we find a " Commission to the Bp. 
 of Lincoln, Lord Keeper, the Bps. of London, Winchester, 
 Norwich, Ely, Bath and Wells, and Chichester, to grant a 
 dispensation to the Archp. of Canterbury, for the death 
 of Peter Hawkins, casually slain by him."^ 
 
 In spite of his dispensation, Abbott's power was on the 
 wane ; but I do not think that his disgrace was so much owing 
 to his accidental homicide, as his opposition to the policy 
 of King James, especially in the matter of the Spanish match 
 and the crown of Bohemia, in both of which policies Laud 
 supported the king. Part of Abbott's powers may have been 
 put in commission; yet we find him performing many clerical 
 and even episcopal acts ; such as preaching before the king, 
 and at Queen Anne's funeral, banishing Jesuits, and granting 
 a dispensation to Sir Edward Conway, " for himself, his wife, 
 and two others whom he may choose, to eat flesh at prohibited 
 times, as fish does not agree with his health, on condition of 
 his doing it privately, to avoid scandal, and paying 13s. 4d. 
 a year to the poor of his parish ; " ^ yet he remained out of 
 favour at court, and without much influence, for the rest of 
 his life. Nevertheless, he still retained the power of making 
 himself disagreeable, as we shall see by-and-bye. 
 
 The first episcopal act of the new Bishop of St David's 
 was a thankless one — the sending to his diocese of his own 
 and the archbishop's letters demanding, at the king's order, 
 a contribution from the clergy towards the expenses of the 
 war in the Palatinate. He did not visit his diocese until 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1619-23, p. 308. " lb., p. 31 1- 
 
 3 lb., 1623-5, p. 542.
 
 76 Life of Archbishop Laud. [It?^.^''- 
 
 seven or eight months after he had been made its bishop. 
 In the meanwhile, we read in his Diary of his preaching 
 before the king and going to an entertainment given by 
 Count Swartzenbergh. Five months after he had become a 
 bishop, " Being the Tuesday in Easter week, the King sent 
 for me, and set me into a course about the Countess of 
 Btickinghani, who about that time was wavering in point of 
 rehgion." ^ 
 
 Mr Edward Cardwell, in his preface to the 1839 edition 
 of Laud's Correspondence with Fisher (the edition to which I 
 refer throughout), after stating that although the king had 
 denounced such crimes as exercising the office of a priest 
 and " seducing his subjects from the religion established," 
 his " real intentions were interpreted more from his acts of 
 forbearance than from his threats of punishment," says '^ : — 
 " Among the emissaries whom the Romanists employed at 
 this time in England, one of the most active and intelligent 
 was a Jesuit of the name of Piersey, who has been better 
 known under the assumed appellation of Fisher. He had 
 obtained admission to the countess, mother of Villiers, who 
 was afterwards Duke of Buckingham, and had made some 
 progress in converting her to the Romish faith, in the hope 
 that through the influence of her son, she might be able to 
 obtain further indulgences from the court in favour of the 
 Roman Catholics." 
 
 A rather differently worded account of the matter is given 
 in an old manuscript at Stonyhurst ^ : — " The Viscount de 
 Purbeck, brother of the Marquis of Buckingham, having been 
 converted to the Catholic faith, and reconciled to Holy 
 Church, by Father John Perseus, S.J., betook himself to 
 the Countess his mother, and gave her so good an account 
 of the said Father, and of the consolation he had received of 
 him, that she greatly desired to speak to him, and sending 
 him to call the Father, she heard him discourse fully of the 
 Catholic faith, asking of him also many doubts, and in the 
 end she rested so entirely satisfied," &c. 
 
 She asked Fisher, as we will call Father John Percy, since 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 5. ^ P. v. ^ Stoneyhurst MS., Anglia., vol. vii.
 
 arca^i624.-j j^^jT^ of Arclibiskop Land. yj 
 
 that was the aHas by which he was best known — " F. Fisher, 
 a notorious Jesuite"^ — to write out for her the substance of 
 this conversation, and, on receiving it, she showed it to the 
 king, who determined to have it refuted in her presence by an 
 Anglican theologian, and for this purpose summoned a Dr 
 White (afterwards Bishop of Carlisle), as well as the Jesuit 
 himself to dispute the matter before his own royal presence 
 and that of the Countess. White had Father Fisher's 
 document to study for ten days before the conference took 
 place. " The minister," said Father Fisher, " only said a few 
 words, the King did nearly all the speaking," - and, when it 
 was over, " the Countess complained that nothing had been 
 said respecting the claim which the Romanists make to a 
 visible and infallible church." ^ A further controversy being, 
 therefore, necessary, " it was determined that a third confer- 
 ence should be held, and Dr Laud, then Bishop of St David's, 
 who was distinguished for his theological learning, and had 
 recently given the king evidence of his great skill in com- 
 position, was appointed to conduct the argument on the side 
 of protestantism." ^ 
 
 Laud's own account of this controversy was not published 
 until about two or three years later, in reply to one that had 
 been written by, or was at least attributed to, Fisher, under 
 the initials " A. C. " ; but it will be more convenient to us 
 to dispose of the subject altogether, now that we have 
 embarked upon it. 
 
 Of Laud's Relation of the Conference, Dean Hook writes : 
 — " He would be a bold man who at the present time should 
 engage in doctrinal controversy with Rome without first 
 perusing a work which has long occupied the first place in 
 the theological literature of England." ^ Another Anglican, 
 Mr Benson, the son of no less a person than the present 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, takes a very different view of 
 this work. He writes of it in one place as " a nearly unread- 
 
 1 Gee's " List of Romish Priests and Jesuits about London." 
 
 " " Records of the Eng. Province S.J." series i, p. 531. 
 
 3 Laud's «' Conf. with Fisher," Preface, p. vi. -• Ih. 
 
 5 Hook's " Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," vo). xi. pp. 55, 56.
 
 yS Life of Archbishop Laud. [ius/'''" 
 
 able folio," ^ and in another as "justly forgotten." - Where 
 two good Anglicans differ so greatly, it becomes an outsider 
 to stand respectfully silent ; but it may be permitted to me 
 to say that if the book is wordy and heavy, and that if the 
 reader may smile when the author says that he leaves " all 
 gall out of his ink," it contains here and there some spirited, 
 if not exactly fine, passages. 
 
 I will quote part of a panegyric on the Bible, as an 
 instance in point : — " See the riches of natural knowledge 
 which are stored up there, as well as supernatural : consider 
 how things quite above reason consent with things reason- 
 able : weigh it well, what majesty lies there hid under 
 humility ! what depth there is, with a perspicuity unimi- 
 table ! what delight it works in the soul that is devoutly 
 exercised in it ! how the sublimest wits find in it enough to 
 amaze them, while the simplest want not enough to direct 
 them." 3 And then he proceeds to draw an entirely false 
 conclusion from all this, but that is a matter on which I do 
 not intend to enter. 
 
 Nor have I either the space or the inclination to enter here 
 upon the question of the theological merits of either side in 
 this controversy ; but I will venture to express my surprise 
 that none of the biographies of Laud that I have read take 
 any notice of an ably written reply which was published in 
 Paris, some thirty-six years after the actual controversy took 
 place. It is called " Labyrinthus Cantvariensis or Doctor 
 Lauds Labyrinth. Beeing an answer to the Late Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbvries Relation of a conference between 
 Himselfe and Mr Fisher, &c. Wherein the true grounds of 
 the Roman Catholiqve Religion are asserted, the principall 
 Controuersies betwixt Catholiques and Protestants thoroughly 
 examined, and the Bishops Meandrick windings throughout 
 his whole worke layd open to publique view. By T. C." 
 
 It seems that the book had been written some years before 
 it appeared ; but at that particular time, the Anglican Church 
 was " in so bleeding a condition, that it might have been 
 
 ^ Benson, p. 95. ^ ///., p. 200. 
 
 ^ Laud's " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, 1839, p. 93.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Land. 79 
 
 thought unhandsome to impugne it." ^ The author found 
 "in perusall of the Bishop's book," "many affected windings 
 and artificial! meanders." - 
 
 It is but fair to say that Laud apparently held much the 
 same opinion of Fisher's book. "A. C, having, as it seems, 
 little new matter, is at the same again, and over and over 
 it must go ; " and presently he says :— " To all which I have 
 abundantly answered before. Marry then he infers, &c." 
 And in another place: — "A. C. may ask everlastingly, if 
 he will ask the same over and over again. For, I pray, 
 wherein doth this differ from his first question, &c. ? " And 
 yet again : — " Good God ! whither will not a strong bias 
 carry even a learned judgment ! " 
 
 On the opposite side, the reply accuses Laud of " citing of 
 nominatives without verbs," and thus evading the question 
 " by a nimble turn." 
 
 Then Laud accuses his opponent of misquotation : — " So 
 A. C. out of St Bernard. But St Bernard not so. For these 
 last words, ' of all the Christian churches in the world,' are 
 not in St Bernard." 
 
 A similar charge is brought against Laud by the author 
 of the LabyrintJi, as m.ay be seen by looking at even the 
 headings of the chapters, such as : — " Bellarmine miscited ; " 
 " Vincentius Liringensis falsified thrice at least ; " " Occham, 
 St Augustin, Canus, Almain and Gerson, either miscited, or 
 their sense perverted by the Bishop;" "St Iraenaeus not rightly 
 translated by the Bishop ; " " St Epiphanius miscited and 
 mistaken by the Bishop." ^ 
 
 Per contra, Laud accuses Fisher of hoping "his cunning 
 malice would not be discovered."'* " There is a great deal of 
 cunning," he says, " and as much malice in this passage, but 
 I shall easily pluck the sting out of this wasp."^ The author 
 of the Labyrinth again appears to think Laud not altogether 
 free from malice when he says that he makes " a pretty 
 sleight to blast the credit of his adversary." 
 
 1 Lab. Cant., Pref. - lb. 
 
 3 " Laud's Lab.," several places. * " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, p. 316. 
 
 ^ lb., p. p. 314.
 
 8o Life of Archbishop Laud. xviithcent. 
 
 Laud constantly charges Fisher with a false, or at least an 
 inaccurate, account of the actual verbal controversy which 
 took place between them, and, towards the end of his book, 
 he says, in well-feigned despair : — " What ! not one answer 
 perfectly related ! " ^ 
 
 The writer of the Labyrinth uses very similar language 
 about Laud's work. " Now in that whole place which I 
 have perused very diligently, there are neither those cited 
 words, nor anything like them. What is there then } Marry, 
 the quite contrary." ^ 
 
 I merely give these few quotations in order to show that 
 if Laud's accusations of inaccuracy and cunning against 
 P'isher are to be entertained, there is also another side to the 
 question. To judge of the merits of the controversy itself, 
 A Relation of the Conference between William Laud and Mr 
 Fisher the fesuit and Lands Labyrinth should be read 
 together. 
 
 1 " Conf. with Fisher," Oxford, p. 236. 2 c< Laud's Lab.," p. 78.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I NOW come to one of the recognised landmarks in the h'fe 
 of Laud, — his friendship with Buckingham. In most respects, 
 few men could have been more different. Laud, a rather 
 plain, red-faced, clumsy-gaited little man, with a hard, harsh 
 voice, blurting out his opinions with little respect of persons, 
 was a strong contrast to the handsome, graceful, courteous 
 and diplomatic Buckingham. The former, whatever may 
 have been his failings, was at least a celibate, against whose 
 purity of life no whisper of scandal is known to have been 
 ever raised ; the latter was foul-tongued, a faithless husband, 
 and an abandoned profligate. Laud was plain and modest 
 in his attire, even for a clergyman ; as to Buckingham, " it 
 was common with him at any ordinary dancing to have his 
 cloaths trimmed with great diamond buttons, and to have 
 diamond hat-bands, cockades and earings ; and to be yoked 
 with great and manifold yokes of pearls."^ 
 
 As I have already observed, it is difficult to assign an 
 exact date to the commencement of the friendship between 
 Laud and Buckingham ; and its origin remains a matter of 
 surmise. On June 9, 1622, Laud writes in his Diary: — 
 " Being WJiitswiday, my Lord Marquess of Buckingham was 
 pleased to enter into a near Respect to me. The particulars 
 are not for paper." To rush to the conclusion that this was 
 the occasion of the beginning of their great intimacy would 
 be hasty ; for the two following entries sufficiently describe 
 the cause of the "near Respect." "June 15. I became C." 
 (confessor) "to my Lord of Buckingham. And June 16. 
 Being Trinity Sunday^ he Received the Sacrament at 
 Greenwich^ Probably their relations as confessor and 
 penitent would increase their intimacy to a greater or less 
 
 1 MS. Harleian Lib. B.H. 90, c. 7, fol. 642. 
 
 F 81
 
 82 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. *[Circai622. 
 
 extent ; although in the Catholic Church many penitents go 
 to confessors for years without any personal friendship : 
 indeed, it not uncommonly happens that they are un- 
 acquainted with each other outside the confessional. Of 
 course, where the confessor and penitent were already 
 personal friends, the case might be somewhat different, 
 although I think that many Catholics would bear me out in 
 saying that it is possible to be on friendly terms with a 
 confessor and chaplain, without necessarily becoming more 
 intimate or more friendly through the confessional ; for in 
 confession only sins, and those the penitent's exclusively, need 
 be mentioned, and even in relation to these, no names of 
 persons should be given. Protestants are apt to forget that 
 the confessor cannot make the slightest allusion to anything 
 said in the confessional, when speaking to his penitent out- 
 side of it, unless the penitent gives him special and formal 
 leave to do so. 
 
 My own impression is that Laud's strong friendship 
 with Buckingham owed its rise to the conference with 
 Fisher. It may be that Buckingham himself had been half- 
 convinced by Father Fisher's arguments, and that he was 
 only too grateful to Laud for enabling him to persuade him- 
 self that in the Anglican Establishment he had " got every- 
 thing," including confession, that he would be able to get 
 if he became a Catholic, and that it was quite unnecessary, 
 nay that it would be absolutely sinful, to take a step which 
 would be the ruin of his then proud position as the most 
 influential personage in the kingdom. 
 
 About a fortnight after King James had first spoken to 
 Laud about a conference with Fisher, Laud went to the 
 court at Greenwich, " and came back in Coach with the Lord 
 Marquess BuckingJiam. My promise then to give his 
 Lordship the Discourse he spake to me for." Their con- 
 versation during this drive was clearly on the question of 
 Anglicanism versiis Catholicism ; for, nine days afterwards, 
 he writes : — " I delivered my Lord Marquess Btcckingham 
 the Paper concerning the difference between the Church of 
 England and Rome, in point of Salvation, &c." Five days
 
 ^t.49] Life of Archbishop La7id. 83 
 
 later " the Conference between Mr Fisher, a Jesuit and 
 my self, before the Lord Marquess Buckinghain, and the 
 Countess his Mother " took place. Buckingham's first 
 confession to Laud came off within a month, and this looks 
 as if Laud had said to him : " If you only want to be a 
 Roman Catholic in order to go to confession, why not come 
 to me?" Until his mother became a Catholic, Buckingham 
 does not appear to have shown any theological tastes or 
 inclinations ; and it may be worth noticing that now, as then, 
 Anglicans who have never exhibited the slightest interest in 
 their own Church, until one of their nearest relatives has left 
 it for the Catholic Church, after that event, often suddenly 
 discover that they love it with an ardour which puts filial 
 affection to the blush, and overflow with a temporary zeal 
 and short-lived piety. 
 
 If the smart courtier obtained spiritual advancement 
 through their intimacy, the ecclesiastic obtained temporal. 
 As Professor Mozley puts it : — " Laud wedged his passage 
 further and further through this dense mass," i.e., the difificul- 
 ties and obstacles in the way of royal favour, " and found 
 himself at last approaching something like a centre, and 
 penetrating within the inner circle, in which stood the great 
 man himself — the wielder of court power, the dispenser of 
 court favours — Buckingham. The proximity once begun 
 became rapidly closer, till the two fairly met, and Laud and 
 Buckingham made a coalition."^ 
 
 There has been considerable scoffing at poor Laud's 
 prayer for a continuation of the good graces of Buckingham. 
 It is headed " Pro Duce Buckinghamiae," and contains the 
 petition, " continue him a true-hearted friend to me thy poor 
 Servant whom thou hast honoured in his eyes." This is 
 considered by some people to be the prayer of a cringing 
 toady ; but, after all, the favour of such a man as 
 Buckingham was a matter of immense importance to a man 
 desiring promotion ; and if prayers for temporal blessings are 
 to be made at all, surely a prayer for his friendship was quite 
 justifiable, on this score at least. 
 
 ^ Mozley's " Essay on Laud," p. 129.
 
 84 Life of Archbishop Land. [arcai622. 
 
 Some historians regard Laud in the light of an ambitious 
 character, whose sole object was to work his way to supreme 
 power, not only in the State Church, but also in the State 
 itself. This appears to me to be looking at his history from 
 a false standpoint. I do not think that his nature was a 
 selfish one. It is true that his greatest admirer cannot 
 fairly defend him from the charge of having been self- 
 opinionated ; but that is a very different thing from being 
 self-interested. Perhaps his greatest fault in the way of self- 
 pleasing was his excessive love of power. Professor Mozley, 
 whom I have so lately quoted, writes of his " natural turn 
 for the exercise of power, for tactics, for managing — so strong 
 a taste in a mind that feels itself to have it." ^ He might 
 even have said "so strong 2. passion^ 
 
 The very influence obtained by means of his friendship 
 with Buckingham, which we have just been considering, was 
 not used solely for personal purposes. The treasury was 
 then desperately empty, and it was sought -to replenish it 
 by alienating the lands belonging to the Charterhouse — 
 already alienated, so far as that goes, from their rightful 
 owners. Laud strongly opposed this second robbery, and 
 induced Buckingham to prevent it. 
 
 Nothing could have been more unfair than Archbishop Ab- 
 bott's remark — "There he" (Laud) "sits privately whole hours 
 with Buckingham, feeding his humours with malice and spite.'" 
 
 Laud is said to have written out speeches for Buckingham. 
 Dry indeed must they have been, if this be true ! In a 
 speech in Parliament, some four years later than the time 
 of which I am writing, Buckingham " acknowledged how 
 easy a thing it was to him in his younger years and 
 inexperienced, to fall into thousands of errors, but still he 
 hoped the fear of God, his sincerity in the true religion 
 established in the Church of England (though accompanied 
 with many weaknesses and imperfections, which he was not 
 ashamed humbly to confess), &c." It was but natural 
 that, when they heard this, his audience should look at each 
 other with a smile and whisper — " Laud." 
 
 ^ Mozley's "Essay on Laud," p. 126.
 
 ^t-49] Life of Archbishop Laud. 85 
 
 But we must take leave of Buckingham to accompany 
 Laud on his first visitation to his out-of-the-way diocese. 
 On July 5th he "first entered Wales." Heylin calls St 
 David's "a poor city, God wot." In the middle ages it 
 had been one of some importance, owing to its enormous 
 concourse of pilgrims — to say nothing of the famous 
 shrine of St David himself, the whole neighbourhood 
 was full of holy wells and chapels — and there had been a 
 splendid bishop's palace ; but even in Laud's time, it had 
 become the " decayed Episcopal city " that it has remained 
 ever since. Nor would a bishop from London be over- 
 eagerly welcomed, for there were few places in Wales where 
 the distinction between the Welsh and the English were 
 more jealously observed. 
 
 It may be interesting here to look at one or two of the 
 " Articles to be inquired of in the first visitation of the 
 Right Rev. Father in God, William Laud, Bishop of St 
 Davids, 1622." ^ 
 
 " Have you a convenient and decent communion table, 
 with a carpet of silk, or some other decent stuff, continually 
 laid upon the table at the time of divine service, and a fair 
 linen cloth upon the same, at the time of the receiving of 
 Holy Communion .'' And whether is the same table placed 
 in convenient sort within the chancel, and whether is it so 
 used out of divine service, as is not agreeable to the holy 
 use of it, and by sitting on it, throwing hats upon it, writing 
 on it, or is it abused to other profaner uses : and are the Ten 
 Commandments set up on the east end of your church or 
 chapel, where the people may best see and read them : and 
 other sentences of holy Scripture written on the walls for 
 that purpose ? " 
 
 It was the mark of a High-Churchman to have the com- 
 mandments put up over his communion-table in Laud's days, 
 be it observed ! 
 
 Here is another interesting inquiry, intended for church- 
 wardens.- " Doth your minister, being a preacher, endeavour 
 
 ^ "Lib. of Ang, Cath. TheoL," Part v., vol. vi, pp. 37S and foil. 
 -7,^., p. 380.
 
 Circa 1622. 
 
 86 Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^49' 
 
 and labour diligently to reclaim the popish recusants in his 
 parish from their errors {if there be any such abiding in 
 your parish) ? Or whether is your parson, vicar, or curate, 
 over-conversant with, or a favourer of recusants, whereby 
 he is suspected not to be sincere in his religion?" Let it be 
 remembered that the Welsh, unlike the English, had not, as 
 a nation, accepted the newly-coined religion, and that they 
 so far " dissented " from it as to remain in their old Catholic 
 faith, although priestless, saying their Catholic prayers, and 
 meeting in their huts or on the hill-sides, to worship together 
 and sing psalms and hymns, as best they could. The days 
 of the Wesleys and their Methodism were yet to come. 
 
 Laud began his " Visitation at the Colledge of Brecknocker 
 This would be Christ's College, of which the Bishop of St 
 David's was, ex officio, dean. There he preached. A fort- 
 night later he was at his cathedral city and preached there 
 also. Ten days afterwards he " visited at Cauiarthen, and 
 Preached. The Chancellor and " his " Commissioners visited 
 at Emlyn, &c., July 16, 17, and at Haverford-West, July 
 19, 20. Aug. 15," he "set forward towards England from 
 Carmarthen^ 
 
 In a fortnight he was at Windsor, talking over his late 
 conference with Father Fisher, " in the presence of the King, 
 the Prince, the Lord Marquess Buckingham, his Lady, and his 
 Mother." For the next two or three months, he occupied 
 his leisure in writing, at the king's command, his Relation of 
 the conference with Fisher. He seems to have been pleased 
 at being able to write in his Diary, " I was three times with 
 the King this Christmas^' and he ended the year 1622 high 
 in royal favour, as well as in that which was almost as 
 important, the favour of Buckingham. 
 
 Early in 1623, he wrote: — "I ordained Edmund Provant 
 a Scot Priest. He was my First-begotten in the Lord." 
 Equally gratifying must it have been to be " instituted at 
 Peterborough to the Parsonage of Creeke." This was by no 
 means his " first begotten " piece of church-patronage. 
 
 We now come to an entry in his Diary of some moment : — 
 '' Febr..iy,Mtinday, the Prince and the Marquess Buckingham
 
 ^'t^y.^'3-] Life of Archbishop Land. 87 
 
 set forward very secretly for Spaing Laud was one of the few 
 and select in the secret that Prince Charles and Buckingham, 
 under the names of John and Thomas Smith, accompanied 
 by only three attendants, had gone to Spain to try to bring 
 about a match with the Infanta. 
 
 Not only had the King of Spain, but King James also, 
 as well as Buckingham, sent messengers to Rome to induce 
 the Pope (Gregory XV.) to grant a dispensation for the 
 "mixed marriage." His holiness had refused to grant it 
 unless the King of England would relieve the Catholics in 
 his own country from the pressure of the penal laws. This 
 James consented to do, and he gave orders to Lord Keeper 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, to grant pardons under the 
 great seal to such Catholic recusants as should be able and 
 willing to give security for their appearance if required. He 
 also promised, on the word of a king, that, provided mass 
 was said only in private houses. Catholics should practise 
 their religion unmolested in his kingdom. 
 
 Unfortunately, King James had made use of an expression, 
 in a certain theological treatise, which was not likely to 
 incline the Holy Father to look very favourably upon the 
 marriage of a Catholic princess with his son. He had called 
 the Pope Antichrist ! In this dilemma, Laud came to the 
 rescue, by suggesting that James should excuse himself by 
 pretending that he had merely used the term " argument- 
 atively," " as a man might say." 
 
 When the Spanish expedition became known in England, 
 it was commonly thought that it would lead to the conversion 
 to the Catholic faith of the heir to the British throne. It 
 was reported that Laud had been privy to the project of the 
 expedition from the first, and that he had been the author 
 of the king's quasi-retraction of his Pope-Antichrist theory. 
 A strong feeling set in against him in consequence, and his 
 list of enemies was greatly increased from that time. 
 
 The prince and Buckingham had not started more than 
 four days before Laud wrote a letter to the latter, and, shortly 
 afterwards, he received one from Buckingham. It is a little 
 difficult to reconcile his exceeding Anglicanism with his
 
 88 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [Circai623. 
 
 complacency at the proposed marriage of the heir apparent 
 to the English crown with a Papist, especially when we 
 consider that he aided and abetted it by attempting to 
 extricate the king from his difficulty about that unlucky 
 " Antichrist " remark. Perhaps the fury of his enemy, 
 Abbott, on the other side may have had something to do 
 with his zeal in promoting it. Indeed, nothing could well 
 have been stronger than Abbott's exhortation to the king, in 
 giving him advice directly opposite to that of Laud. 
 
 " By your act," he wrote, " you labour to set up that most 
 damnable and heretical doctrine of the church of Rome." 
 This was pretty strong language for a subject to use to a 
 monarch, nor very likely to please him ! " You show your- 
 self," he went on, " a patron of those doctrines which your 
 conscience tells yourself are superstitious, idolatrous, and 
 detestable. Add to this what you have done in sending your 
 son into Spain, without the consent of your council or the 
 privity of your people" (and, still worse, with the consent 
 and the privity of that abominable Laud, he no doubt added 
 mentally). " Believe it, sir, howsoever his return may be 
 safe, yet the drawers of him to that action will not pass 
 away unquestioned, unpunished." (That Laud was in his 
 mind when he wrote this, can scarcely be doubted, and must 
 have been apparent to the kmg.) " Besides," he continued, 
 " this toleration which you endeavour to set up by proclama- 
 tion, it cannot be done without a parliament, unless your ma- 
 jesty will let your subjects see, that you will take to yourself 
 a liberty to throw down the laws of your land at pleasure." ^ 
 
 On reading such a letter as this, it would be only natural 
 in the king, to contrast the conduct of the two bishops in 
 the matter ; nor is it unlikely that he would show the angry 
 letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Bishop of St 
 David's, and the scene that would then be likely to follow 
 can easily be imagined. 
 
 Uninfluenced by the tirade of his archbishop, King James 
 made Buckingham a duke during his absence, sent jewels, 
 officers, and chaplains (probably of Laud's choosing) to 
 
 ■* Rushworth, p. 85.
 
 ^t. so.] Life of Archbishop Land. 89 
 
 Prince Charles, and promised not only to keep the proceed- 
 ings of the adventurers from the knowledge of his Council, 
 but to ratify any treaty they might make with the Spanish 
 minister.^ "The king," wrote Chamberlain, "keeps all close, 
 and burns the letters as fast as he reads them." ^ In another 
 letter he wrote to Carleton : — "The Prince's servants and 
 chaplains are to follow him with chapel furniture, Latin 
 prayer-books, &c. The service is to be performed in Latin, and 
 the Communion celebrated with wafer cakes and wine and 
 water." Does not this sound very like a suggestion of 
 Laud's > Most certainly it would not be Abbott's ! " But," 
 goes on Chamberlain, " it will be to no purpose, as the 
 Spaniards will not come near." ^ I hope I may not be thought 
 irrelevant in noticing an allusion in one of these two letters 
 to another marriage, as it is a curiosity. " Sir Hen. Fiennes, 
 half-brother to the late Earl of Berkshire, is fined ;^2000, for 
 contracting a marriage, de futuro, before his wife's death." 
 
 There was one element which the king overlooked, or of 
 which he may have been ignorant, and that was the mutual 
 and extreme jealousy between Buckingham and Digby, Earl 
 of Bristol and English Ambassador at the court of Spain. 
 This did much to hamper the negotiations, which were further 
 complicated by the artifices of the Spanish Minister, Olivarez, 
 and delayed by the death of the Pope. 
 
 Nevertheless, an agreement that " the marriage should be 
 celebrated in Spain, and afterwards ratified in England ; that 
 the children should remain till the age of ten years under the 
 care of their mother ; that the infanta and her servants should 
 possess a church and chapel for the free use of their religion ; 
 and that her chaplains should be Spaniards living under 
 canonical obedience to their own bishop,"'* was eventually 
 signed by King James and the Lords of the Council, including 
 Archbishop Abbott, in spite of his letter. " Now I must tell 
 you miracles," said the king ; " our great primate hath 
 behaved himself wonderfully well." -^ James alone signed, also, 
 
 1 Hardwicke Papers, 410, 417, 419. - " Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1619-23, p. 585. 
 
 =' //'., p. 554. -1 Lingard's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. iii. 
 
 5 Har. Papers, i. 428.
 
 90 Life of Archbishop Laud. grso.''" 
 
 a private treaty, in the house of the Spanish Ambassador, 
 before four witnesses. 
 
 During his absence, Buckingham's enemies in England 
 were not idle. Laud wrote to tell his friend that cabals were 
 being formed against him. In Spain, his quarrels with both 
 Bristol and Olivarez made his position odious. Political 
 questions connected with the Palatinate, again, hindered the 
 marriage, as James and Charles were asking the King of 
 Spain to help to restore it to Frederick, and on the 5th of 
 October, Prince Charles and Buckingham returned from 
 their fruitless errand. " Oct. 6, Munday^' wrote Laud, "they 
 came to London. The greatest expression of Joy by all sorts 
 of People, that I ever saw." 
 
 Weary of the delays and intrigues at the court of Spain, 
 Prince Charles had left Madrid, and, on the point of setting 
 sail from the coast of Spain, he had written a declaration to 
 the effect that unless King Philip would make good terms 
 with regard to the Palatinate, he would not become his son- 
 in-law.^ After his return, too. King James said that he " liked 
 not to marry his son with a portion of his daughter's tears." 
 
 Laud continued to rise in the royal favour. On the other 
 hand, we read, in a letter from Chamberlain, that " on 
 Christmas Day, the Bishop of London's sermon, probably 
 from its length, displeased the King, and he grew so loud 
 that the Bishop was obliged to end abruptly." ^ In the 
 meantime. King James had been putting a bridle on " the 
 abuses and extravagances of preachers." " None below the 
 degree of Dean " were " to enter on the deep points of 
 election or universal redemption, &c." " None " were " to 
 fall into invectives against either Puritans or Papists." " All 
 transgressors of these directions to be suspended." ^ So 
 arbitrary was the king to his clergy, that, Avhen Prince 
 Charles had gone to Spain, he imprisoned a clergyman for 
 praying for his safe return as if there could possibly be any 
 question, or need of prayers, on the subject. * 
 
 ^Green's "Lives of the Princesses of Eng.," vol. v. p. 415. 
 
 - " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom. ," 1619-23, p. 479. ^ lb., pp. 436, 437. 
 
 •'Green-'s "Eng. Princesses," vol. v. p. 405.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Shortly before the return to England of Prince Charles 
 and Buckingham, Laud discovered that Williams, the Lord 
 Keeper, was very jealous of his friendship with the last 
 named, and that he had done him some "very ill offices."^ 
 A few days after the newly-made duke had come home, he 
 wrote : — " 1 acquainted my Lord Duke of BuckingJiani with 
 that which passed between the Lord Keeper and me." 
 How much this quarrel preyed on his mind is shown by 
 his mentioning in his Diary that he " did Dream " about it. 
 Several entries follow concerning his disagreements with him, 
 and early in the following year is one : — " My Lord Keeper 
 met with me in the with-drawing-Chamber, and quarrelled 
 me gratis^ - This evidently depressed him ; for four days 
 later, he wrote : — " It was Sunday . I was alone, and 
 languishing with I know not what sadness. I was much 
 concerned at the Envy and undeserved Hatred born to me 
 by the Lord Keeper." Within a month, however, the 
 quarrel was patched up. ^' Februar. i8, my Lord Duke of 
 Buckingham told me of the Reconciliation and Submission 
 of my Lord Keeper ; and that it was confessed unto him, 
 that his Favour to me was a chief Cause. Invidia quo tendis ? 
 &c. At ille de novo f<2dus pepigitr And a month later 
 he wrote : — " Lord Keeper his Complementing with me." ^ 
 
 Williams's knowledge that he could ill afford to make 
 enemies just at that particular time may have led him to 
 make the reconciliation. Sir Francis Englefield had accused 
 him of bribery. It is true that for this, Englefield had 
 been fined ;^3000 in the Star Chamber ; ^ but it was 
 not the only charge against him. There was also an 
 
 1 Diary, p. 7. 2 ji,_^ p_ § 
 
 "^ lb., p. 10. 4 ><Cj,i_ t^ta. Pa. Dom.," 1623-5, p. 165. 
 
 9t
 
 92 Life of Ai^chbishop Laitd. [Circai624. 
 
 accusation of a false judgment in Chancery,^ and Nethersole 
 wrote that Lady Darcy's case was " embarrasing, the House 
 being distracted what to do with the Lord Keeper." ^ Yet 
 he was striving to the best of his abihty to please James 
 and Buckingham, and when efforts were being made to 
 " rate the subsidies high, the Lord Keeper said, that for 
 any man to disguise his wealth was to sin against the Holy 
 Ghost, like Ananias and Sapphira."^ 
 
 Laud's quarrel with Williams was scarcely made up before he 
 got into another ; indeed Williams was partly the cause of it. 
 
 The members of Convocation had been subsidising the 
 king to the extent of one fifth of their incomes. On Holy 
 Saturday, Laud went to his friend, Buckingham, and re- 
 presented to him how terrible was this tax to many 
 clergymen with small incomes, and he obtained from him 
 a gracious promise of redress. Delighted at this, on Easter 
 Monday he went to Williams and told him what he had 
 said to Buckingham, and with how favourable a result. 
 Williams replied that "it was the best Office that was done 
 the Church this Seven Years. And so said my Lord of 
 Durham." "* Then Williams, and the Bishop of Durham 
 also, persuaded Laud to go to Abbott and tell him the 
 good news. Now, as after events proved, Williams loved 
 Laud little better now than when they had been quarrel- 
 ling, and it is not impossible that he may have suggested 
 to him that he should do this, with a view to getting 
 him into hot water. He was a shrewd, clever man, and 
 he may have been already aware of Abbott's views on 
 the subject. Here is Laud's own account of what actually 
 happened. " His Grace was very angry. Asked, what I 
 had to do to make any Suit for the Church. Told me, 
 never any Bishop attempted the like at any time, nor would 
 any but my self have done it. That I had given the Church 
 such a wound, in speaking to any Lord of the Laity about 
 it, as I could never make whole again. That if my Lord 
 Duke did fully understand what I had done ; he would 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1623-5, p. 171. ^ /^_^ p_ 346. 
 
 ^ lb;, p. 292. Chamberlain. ■* Diary, p. 11.
 
 ^t. 5I-] Life of ATcJibishop Laud. 93 
 
 never indure me to come near him again. I answered : I 
 thought I had done a very good Office for the Church ; 
 and so did my Betters think. If his Grace thought other- 
 wise, I was sorry I had offended him. And I hoped, being 
 done out of a good Mind, for the support of many poor 
 Vicars abroad in the Country, who must needs sink under 
 Three Subsidies in a Year, my Error (if it were one) was 
 pardonable."^ The following addition is significant: — "I went 
 to my Lord Duke, and acquainted him with it ; lest I might 
 have ill Offices done me for it, to the King and the Prince." 
 
 Within a couple of months he was visiting Buckingham 
 for a very different purpose, namely to sit up with him during 
 an illness. This was apparently a sort of seizure, or succes- 
 sion of seizures, of some kind. One " was the first Fit, that 
 he could be perswaded to take orderly." Two days later, 
 " he took his Fit very orderly." ^ Another night, " My Lord 
 Duke of BuckingJiani missed his Fit." Perhaps one would 
 scarcely have expected a gay courtier like Buckingham to 
 have selected Laud for a sick nurse, highly as he seemed 
 to respect him as a confessor and a theologian ; but the 
 weary nights thus spent together would greatly increase 
 their intimacy. 
 
 I may mention that, on the Good Friday of the same year, 
 Laud was much scandalised at Lord Mansfield's having 
 tilted on that day. " With the shock of the meeting, his 
 Horse, weaker or resty, tumbled over and over, and brake 
 his own neck in the place ; the Lord had no great harm. 
 Should not this day have other Imployment .'"'^ He, him- 
 self, also received a slight injury from a horse, a few months 
 later. " My Horse trod on my foot, and lamed me : which 
 stayed me in the Country a week longer than I intended."* 
 Less than three weeks earlier, he complains of something 
 worse — " My passion by Blood, and my fear of a Stone, &c." 
 In the same year, he also mentions a riding accident to 
 a greater person than either himself or Lord Mansfield : — 
 " Prince diaries his grievous fall, which he had in hunting."^ 
 
 1 Diary, p. ii. ' Il>., p. 12. '^ lb., p. n. 
 
 * lb. " lb., p. 13.
 
 94 'J^^f^ of ArcJibishop La2td. [Circai625. 
 
 Reverting to his own ills, he writes in October: — '' Sunday, 
 I fell at Night m Passionem Iliacam ; which had almost put 
 me into a Fever. I continued ill fourteen days."^ Shortly 
 before this he had gone " to lye and keep House, and Preach,"^ 
 at the livings which he held in cominendam. 
 
 Laud was not the only bishop accused of Popish inclina- 
 tions and practices. In the same year " a complaint is made 
 against the Bp. of Norwich for forbidding all preaching on 
 Sunday forenoons in the 32 churches there, and confining 
 it to the cathedral, which will not hold a fourth of the 
 usual hearers, and for other things tending to Popery." ^ 
 And again, " Sir Edw. Coke reported the accusations brought 
 in the House of Commons against the Bp. of Norwich, viz.," 
 " excommunication of persons for not turning their faces to 
 the east in praying, which is a usurpation of Papal power," 
 *' and his excommunication of seven persons for attending a 
 private catechetical meeting held by a clergyman, whom he 
 compelled to acknowledge himself wrong in holding it. He , 
 is suspected of inclining to Popery." ^ It is well to observe 
 that this was before any evidence appears of similar stringency 
 on the part of Laud. Nor was this ecclesiastical policy 
 without royal favour. " The Lord Keeper will not have the 
 King's speech at the breaking up of Parliament published, 
 on account of some passages not very pleasing relative to 
 the Puritans, whom he accused of careless traducing of the 
 Bp. of Norwich."^ 
 
 The conversation in the ante-chambers of great personages 
 was a not inconsiderable feature in political life in Laud's 
 days, as in later. Early in January 1625, Laud, while 
 waiting for an audience of the Duke of Buckingham, "fell 
 in speech with"*^ Secretary Calvert "about some differences 
 between the Greek and the Roman Church." As I have already 
 had occasion to remark, so long ago as this, Anglicans seem 
 to have looked for countenance, if not for intercommunion, 
 in the East. "Then also, and there," continues Laud, "a 
 
 1 Diary. " lb. 
 
 ^ Nethersole to Carleton. " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1623-5, P- 238. 
 * Ih., p. 246. ^ lb., p. 267. Locke to Carleton. '' Diary, p. 14.
 
 ^t. 52.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 95 
 
 Young Man, that took on him to be a Frenchman, fell into 
 discourse about the Church of England. He grew at last 
 earnest for the Roman Church ; but Tibi dabo clavcs, and 
 Pasce oves : was all he said, save that he would shew this 
 proposition in St Aiigustin, Romana Ecclesia facta est caput 
 omnium Ecclesiartini ab instante mortis Christi. I believe 
 he was a Priest ; but he wore a lock down to his shoulders." 
 Evidently, the momentous passages quoted by this French- 
 man conveyed little idea of their import to the mind of 
 Laud. 
 
 One of the first things that would strike a casual reader of 
 Laud's Diary would be the trouble he took to record his 
 dreams and the importance which he attached to them. A 
 specimen of these occurs in the Diary in the month from 
 which I have just made a quotation. It runs : — '' fanuar. 30. 
 Stinday Night, my Dream of my Blessed Lord and Saviour 
 fcs?ts Christ. One of the most comfortable passages that 
 ever I had in my Life." As a rule, on the contrary, his 
 dreams were singularly devoid of "comfortable passages;" 
 things were always going wrong in them, from small ones, 
 such as that he was going to marry someone and could not 
 find the marriage service in his book, to regular howling 
 nightmares. Indeed, on reading the frequent notices of 
 horrible dreams in his Diaries, one wishes that peaceful sleep 
 could have been invoked for the restless (and probably 
 bilious) little bishop, in the words of his own contemporaries, 
 Beaumont and Fletcher :— 
 
 " Care-charming Sleep, thou easer of all woes, 
 Brother to Death, sweetly thyself dispose, 
 On this afflicted " (Laud). " Fall Uke a cloud 
 In gentle showers ; give nothing that is loud 
 Or painful to his slumbers ; easy, light. 
 And as a purling stream thou son of night 
 Pass by his troubled senses ; sing his pain, 
 Like hollow-murmuring wind or silver rain ! 
 Into this" (Laud) " gently, oh gently slide, 
 And kiss him into slumbers like a bride." 
 
 They might have written them on purpose for him ! 
 There was certainly a strong element of superstition in
 
 96 Life of Archbishop Land. [xviithCent. 
 
 his character. Some of the entries in his Diary incline 
 one to fancy that he may have even half-beheved in 
 astrology. 
 
 " May I, E. B. Marryed. The Sign in Pisces." ^ 
 Some readers consider the following to have been looked 
 on as a mysterious and solemn portent: — "'Aug. 25. Friday^ 
 Two Robin red-breasts flew together through the Door into 
 my Study, as if one pursued the other. That sudden motion 
 almost startled me. I was then preparing a Sermon on 
 Ephes. ^, 30, and Studying."- And in the year 1628 there 
 seems a suspicion of celestial augury in : — " January 30. 
 Wednesday, My Lord Duke of BuckingJiavi s Son was born, 
 the Lord George: New Moon die 26." In 1636 he wrote : — 
 " Octob. 14, Friday Night, I Dreamed marvelously, that the 
 King was offended with me, and would cast me off, and tell 
 me no cause why. Avertat Dens. For Cause I have given 
 none." In October 1640, the only thing he thought worth 
 recording in his Diary for twelve days, was : — Oct. 27, Tues- 
 day, Simon and Jude's Eve, I went into my upper Study, to 
 see some Manuscripts, which I was sending to Oxford. In 
 that Study hung my Picture, taken by the Life ; and coming 
 in, I found it fallen down upon the Face, and lying on the 
 Floor, the String broken, by which it was hanged against the 
 Wall. I am almost every day threatened with my Ruine in 
 Parliament. God grant this be no Omen."^ In 1642, he 
 recorded a dream in which he thought he saw his old college 
 in ruins, and he added : — " God be merciful." ^ 
 
 It naturally strikes a CathoHc as somewhat singular that 
 a religious-minded man, with a tendency to give credit to 
 supernatural agencies acting through the medium of natural 
 objects, especially a man living so near the times when his 
 own country was Catholic, and himself claiming many of the 
 practices and ceremonies of Catholics for his own Church, nay 
 even maintaining that that Church was identical w^ith the 
 Church which had prevailed in England before the Reforma- 
 tion, should apparently have placed no faith in any efhcacy 
 of relics, blessed objects, or communion with saints. Accord- 
 
 1 Diary, p. 12. - lb., p. 35. ^ /^_^ p_ .g_ 4 jf,_^ p_ g^^
 
 Circa j6,5.j Life of ArcJibiskop Lattd. 97 
 
 ing to him, the sign of pisces might possibly influence a 
 wedding, but not so the prayer of a saint in heaven ; he 
 thinks much of a couple of cock-robins flying into his room, 
 yet pays no heed to guardian angels ; and he regards the fall 
 of a picture, through the two very natural causes of the wear- 
 ing away of a string by pressure and the force of gravitation 
 as a sign from heaven. 
 
 We now come to an historical event which had a consider- 
 able influence upon the career of Laud. '^ Anno 162^. March 
 27. Midlent Sunday, I Preached at WJiite-Jiall. I ascended the 
 Pulpit, much troubled, and in a very melancholy moment ; 
 the Report then spreading, that his Majesty King /rt/;^^.y, of 
 most Sacred Memory to me, was Dead. Being interrupted 
 with the dolours of the Duke of Buckingham, I broke off 
 my Sermon in the middle. The King died at Theobalds 
 about three quarters of an hour past Eleven in the fore- 
 noon. He breathed forth his Blessed Soul most Religiously, 
 and with great constancy of Faith, and Courage. . . . 
 The King fell Sick, March 4, on Friday. The Disease 
 appeared to be a Tertian Ague. But I fear it was the Gout, 
 which by the wrong application of Medicines, was driven 
 from his feet to his inward vital parts." ^ K post-mortem 
 was made with a view to ascertaining the true cause of 
 his death, and the verdict of the experts was that his head 
 " was very full of braines ; but his blood was wonderfully 
 tainted with melancholy." - 
 
 It may, perhaps, be expected that I should say a good 
 deal concerning the monarch who first admitted Laud to his 
 court, and, to some extent also, to his intimacy ; but I will 
 content myself by quoting the following description of him. 
 " He was of a middle stature, more corpulent throghe his 
 clothes than in his bodey, yet fatt enouch : his clothes 
 ever being made large and easie, the doubletts quilted for 
 stiletto proofe, his breeches in grate pleits, and full stuffed. 
 He was naturally of a timorous disposition, which was 
 the gratest reasone of his quilted doublets. His eyes 
 large, ever roulling after any stranger cam in his presence, 
 
 1 Diary, p. 15. - Harleian MSS., 389 ; Ellis's " Letters," ccciv. 
 
 G
 
 98 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [Circai625. 
 
 in so much as maney for shame have left the roome, as 
 being out of countenance. His beard was werey thin ; 
 his toung too large for his mouthe, and made him drinke 
 werey vncomlie, as if eatting his drinke, wich cam out into 
 the cupe in each syde of his mouthe. His skin vas als softe 
 as tafta sarsnet, wich felt so because he never washt his 
 hands, onlie rubb'd his fingers ends slightly vith the vett 
 end of a napkin. His legs wer verey weake ... he was 
 not able to stand at sevin zeires of age ; that weaknes made 
 him euer leaning on other men's shoulders." ^ 
 
 Although James brought Laud forward and made him a 
 bishop, it is doubtful whether he thoroughly trusted him. 
 It is difficult to know what value should be set upon his 
 conversation with Williams, recorded in a previous chapter ; 
 but it is certain that for a long time after he had made Laud 
 a royal chaplain, he did nothing further for him. King 
 James acted as if it was his place to teach and not to learn 
 from his clergy, and, fond as he was of indecent buffoonery^ 
 he prided himself upon his knowledge of theology and canon 
 law. After a fashion, too, he was able and learned — " the 
 wisest fool in Europe," as the Duke of Sully called him. 
 His death rather helped than hindered both the ecclesiastical 
 and political progress of Laud, as we shall see in due course. 
 He may have been " of most sacred memory to " Laud ; but 
 so shrewd a man could scarcely have failed to form a fairly 
 accurate judgment of his far from noble character. Until 
 his acquaintance with Laud, James had held views which 
 were a mixture of High-Churchism with Calvinism, and 
 Laud partially succeeded in eliminating the latter element ; 
 in short, King James relinquished Calvinism and adopted a 
 sort of quasi-Arminianism. 
 
 Laud may not have found it a very arduous task to convince 
 King James of the error of the Calvinistic theory that " the 
 Church '^ is an independent body, having ample powers of 
 self-legislation, and yielding no privilege to princes except 
 that of protecting it. Equally easy would it be to persuade 
 a king, who loved the power of Church patronage, that the 
 
 1 Balfour, ii. 108.
 
 ^t. 52.] Life of Archbishop LaiLci. 99 
 
 doctrine that all the clergy are of equal rank and authority- 
 is a heresy. James would be pretty certain to consider 
 himself excepted from Calvin's dogma that no man can merit 
 through his own works, although he might cordially approve 
 of the doctrine that if the predestinated, such as himself 
 for instance, fell into sin, they could not be damned. From 
 a logical point of view. Laud might soon induce James, who 
 was intelligent enough in many respects, to adopt the 
 theory of Arminius that predestination consists in the fore- 
 knowledge of God, from the creation of the world, of the 
 conduct of every individual that should ever be born ; as well 
 as several other Arminian doctrines which had much in 
 common with those of the Catholic Church ; such as that 
 Christ died for all men ; but that only the faithful should be 
 saved ; that all good works are attributable to the Holy 
 Spirit, which nevertheless does not force men to perform 
 them without their own free will ; and that God will give the 
 truly faithful grace to resist sin. 
 
 It ought to be carefully remembered that the Arminian 
 doctrines in the time of King James should not be confused 
 with certain developments of Arminianism which began some 
 five years after his death ; the latter chiefly took the direction 
 of building the hope of salvation mainly on morality and good 
 works ; the theory that everyone had a right to interpret 
 Scripture for himself, even to the extent of what is now called 
 free thought, and a denial of the necessity of any help from 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Laud was often called an Arminian, and in one sense he 
 may have deserved the name ; for we should not forget that 
 most modern High-Churchmen hold views which would have 
 been called Arminian in the latter part of the reign of James L; 
 whereas a few years later, when he eagerly repudiated the title, 
 Arminianism implied doctrines which most Anglicans would 
 now condemn as heterodox. Due allowance for this fact is 
 not, perhaps, always made by those who maintain that Laud 
 introduced and encouraged Arminianism in this country, 
 although in the sense of the teaching of Arminius himself, 
 it may be true that " the Arminian system has very
 
 lOO Life of Archbishop Laud. [Circai625. 
 
 much prevailed in England since the time of Archbishop 
 Laud." 1 
 
 It may not be altogether unworthy of mention here 
 that, in the very year of King James's death, died also 
 Maurice, Prince of Orange, a great patron of the Calvinists, 
 who had driven the Arminians out of Holland, and that 
 after his decease they were readmitted and began to build 
 churches in that country, as well as a college at Amsterdam. 
 
 To the English Puritans, everything that was not extreme 
 Calvinism was Arminianism, and they were exceedingly 
 jealous of the High-Church clergy, who held views opposed 
 to their own, and yet enjoyed influential favour. When 
 asked what the Arminians held, a divine replied : — " All the 
 best bishoprics and deaneries in England,"- The Calvinists 
 went further, and asserted that the Catholics encouraged 
 Arminianism among the English in order to draw them 
 towards the Church ; but it is improbable that they took 
 the trouble, and pretty certain that they had not the 
 opportunity, of so doing ; although it is likely enough that 
 they would prefer the increase of Arminian doctrines to that 
 of Calvinistic ; much as modern Catholics, on the whole, are 
 gratified at the spread of certain Catholic doctrines and 
 practises among the Anglicans, because they hope that some 
 of those who adopt them may be dissatisfied until they have 
 accepted the whole teaching of the Catholic Church ; as has 
 already happened in very many instances. In the well-known 
 clumsy forgery called " A letter founde amongst some 
 Jesuites, lately taken at Clerkenwell, London, directed to 
 the Father Rector at Bruxelles," of which there are many 
 copies, the writer is made to say : — " Nowe wee have planted 
 that soveraigne drug Arminianisme, which wee hope will 
 purge the Protestants from their heresie, and flourishe and 
 beare fruyte in due season." By the Puritans, in fact, 
 Catholicism and Arminianism were classed together ; thus 
 we find an entry in the WJiiteway Diary, in the British 
 Museum : — " 20th Jany. 1629. This day the Parliament 
 
 1 " Ency. Brit.," vol. iii. p. 617, 8th Ed. 
 ^ Macaulay's " Hist.," vol. i. chap. i.
 
 ^t. 52.] Life of Arckbiskop Laud. loi 
 
 met again at Westminster . . . The House resolved to settle 
 religion and to provide for the Suppression of Popery and 
 Arminianism before they could conclude any other business." 
 • Except that the two words were without the convenient 
 alliteration of Ritualism and Romanism, Arminianism and 
 Catholicism were coupled together by the extreme Low- 
 Church party in Laud's times quite as glibly as the same 
 party couples the two former " isms " in our own^ — to the 
 disgust of the professors of both ; but I have never been able 
 to find, in any seventeenth century writings, traces of the 
 better-be-one-thing-or-the-other tone, so often used by old- 
 fashioned Protestants when speaking of Ritualists in these 
 days ; nor have I met with the case of an Anglican in Laud's 
 times, saying : — " Well, after all, I am glad he is a Catholic 
 and not one of those damned Arminians," as I have known 
 one to say in my own, with the last word altered for Ritualist.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 There can be little doubt that Mr Gardiner is correct in 
 saying that with " the accession of Charles I., Laud's real 
 predominance in the Church of England began." On the 
 fourth day of the new reign, a command from the king was 
 delivered by the Lord Chamberlain (Pembroke) to Laud, to 
 prepare a sermon to be preached before his Majesty and the 
 House of Lords, and, on the eighth, Laud delivered to 
 Buckingham, at his request, " a Schedule, in which were 
 wrote the Names of many Church-Men, marked with the 
 Letters O. and P.," of which O. stood for Orthodox, and P. 
 for Puritan. " The Duke of BuckingJiain had commanded 
 to digest their Names in that method ; that (as himself said) 
 he might deliver them to King CJiarlesy^ This, of course, 
 would be with a view to future preferment and its contrary. 
 All, however, was not secure ; for the duke informed Laud 
 that a certain person had " blackened " his name to the king, 
 reminding him of the little bishop's former misdemeanour in 
 going through the form of marriage between the Earl ' of 
 Devonshire and a divorced woman twenty years earlier. 
 Nevertheless, this blackening process seems to have done 
 Laud no great harm ; for, on the very day that he heard of 
 it, he received a royal command to go to Andrews, Bishop of 
 Winchester, "and learn from him, what he would have done 
 in the Cause of the Church ; and bring back his answer, 
 especially in the matter of the Five Articles, 6^^."^ After 
 fulfilling this order, he went with Andrews to the country- 
 house " which John Lord Bishop of RocJiester hath by 
 Bromley." ^ They " Dined there ; and returned in the 
 Evening." As I have already said, Andrews had at least 
 
 - 1 Diary, p. i6. '^ lb. ^ Ib.,^. i8.
 
 Mt'V.^"'-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 103 
 
 as much claim to be considered the founder of modern 
 High-Churchism as Laud. 
 
 "Auricular confession," says D'Israeli, "however con- 
 demned as a point of Popery, was still adhered to by 
 many." ^ And he goes on to say that " Bishop Andrews 
 would loiter in the aisles of Paul's to afford his spiritual 
 comfort to the unburtheners of their conscience." Perhaps 
 no Anglican ecclesiastic was more of one mind with Laud, 
 and judging from the way in which he speaks of him, it is 
 probable that Laud was more influenced by Andrews than 
 by any other theologian except his first tutor at Oxford. 
 He calls him ''Lancelot Andrews, the most worthy Bishop of 
 Winchester, the great Light of the Christian World." ^ 
 
 Three weeks after the accession of Charles I., a piece of 
 good fortune threw Laud into greater intimacy with him. 
 This was the fact of " the Bishop of Durham being Sick," on 
 which occasion, at that bishop's own desire, he was appointed 
 "to wait upon his Majesty in the quality of Clark of the 
 Closet," until his recovery. In the meantime the grave and 
 the gay were being freely intermingled. 
 
 On " May 7. Saturday, we Celebrated the Funeral of King 
 JamesT^ On the ist of that month, the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham had started " early in the morning " and " in great haste " 
 " towards the Sea-side, to pass over into France to meet 
 Queen Maiy ; " and on the i ith, " the Marriage " (by proxy 
 of course) " was Celebrated at Paris, between his Majesty 
 King Charles, and the most Illustrious Princess Henrietta 
 Maria of France, Daughter of Henry IV." 
 
 " Sir George Goringe," says an old letter, " hath sent 
 her divers of our Common Prayer Books, in French, which 
 some suppose to give hope of her conversion ; but others 
 much doubt it, she having a Bishop and twenty-eight Priests, 
 resolute Papists, as are all her servants ? " "* 
 
 Within three weeks, Laud tells us, " King Charles set 
 forward toward Canterbury, to meet the Queen," and twelve 
 days later still, " it was Trinity Sunday, Queen Mary cross- 
 
 ^ " Life and Reign of Charles I.," vol. i, p. 162. " Diary, p. 36. 
 
 3 lb., p. 17. -iHarleian MSS., 389 ; Ellis's "Letters," cccvii.
 
 104 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Circai62s. 
 
 ing the Seas, Landed upon our Shore about Seven a Clock 
 in the Evening. God grant, that she may be an Evening 
 and an Happy Star to our Orb." He was never at his best 
 when he tried to be poetical ! 
 
 Laud makes no mention of the facts that the marriage had 
 been celebrated by the Cardinal of Rochefoucault on a 
 platform before the large doors of the Cathedral of Paris,^ 
 and that the contract was repeated in the great hall at 
 Canterbury ; this arrangement would certainly annoy him, 
 as he would naturally wish the marriage to be performed 
 with the full rites of his own Church in the Cathedral at 
 Canterbury, if at Canterbury it was to be ; but he describes 
 the arrival in London with some detail. 
 
 "June i6. T/mrsday,Xh.e King and Queen came to London. 
 They arrived at Court at five a Clock. It was ill weather, and 
 the day cloudy." (There was a heavy thunderstorm, say other 
 writers.) " When they came by the Tower of London (for 
 they came by water instead of coach)," each in " green suits," ^ 
 he might have added, " the King led out the Queen to the 
 outside of the Barge, that she might see the People and the 
 City. But at the same time, a violent shower of Rain falling 
 down, forced them both to return into the inward part of the 
 Barge. The shower continued, until they had entred White- 
 Hall ; and then ceased."-^ Those of us who make hay know 
 only too well how it can rain in this country during " leafy 
 June ; " but for that matter, so it can in Paris and its neigh- 
 bourhood, therefore the new queen may not have been much 
 surprised at the " ill weather." Laud does not mention that 
 on the queen's entrance to London certain people got 
 drenched through another cause than rain, one of the barges 
 bearing spectators having been upset for want of ballast, 
 thus immersing above a hundred persons in the waters of 
 the Thames. 
 
 A couple of days after the royal entry, Laud mentions "the 
 Pestilence, which then began to be very rife," in consequence 
 of which " the King omitted the pomp usual upon " the day 
 
 iSomers's Tracts, iv. 95 ; and Balfour, ii. 119-25. 
 ^Harleian MSS., 389 ; Ellis's "Letters," cccxiii. ^ Diary, p. 19.
 
 ^t-52i Life of Archbishop Laud. 105 
 
 of the opening of Parliament, " lest the conflux of People 
 should be of ill consequence" ; and Laud's sermon, which was 
 to have been " Preached in Westminster Abbey at the 
 beginning of this Session," was delivered instead on the 
 following day, " in the Chappel at WJiite-Halir He writes 
 that at the opening of Parliament there was a French and, of 
 course. Catholic, Bishop, present, " who Attended the Queen." 
 It is almost impossible that Laud can have looked upon 
 him with other than jealous eyes. 
 
 In consequence of the pestilence, the king and queen left 
 London and went to Hampton Court, where they practically 
 passed their honeymoon. " The King," says Laud, " Com- 
 manded the Archbishop of Canterbury, with six other 
 Bishops, whom he Named, to advise together concerning a 
 Publick Fast, and a Form of Prayer, to implore the Divine 
 Mercy, now that the Pestilence began to spread, and the 
 extraordinary wet weather threatened a Famine." 1 Laud was 
 one of the bishops selected. He records that in one week 
 there died at "London 1222 Persons." No wonder, then, 
 that he was glad to get out of the plague-stricken city : 
 he writes, " I went into the Country, to the House of my 
 good Friend Francis Windebank." This future Secretary of 
 State had become a favourite of Laud's when he was an 
 undergraduate at St John's, Oxford, and he was to owe to 
 Laud, in a great measure, the rapid advancement which 
 was so soon to fall to his share. 
 
 After a couple of days' stay with Windebank, Laud went 
 on to Windsor, " to perform some Businesses committed to " 
 his " trust by the Right Reverend Bishop of Durham." 
 " The Court was there at that time." He returned that night 
 to Windebank's, and went to Windsor again two days after- 
 wards, and " stood by the King at Dinner-time ; Some 
 Matters of Philosophy were the subject of the Discourse." 
 The same evening, he says : — " I Eat in the House of the 
 Bishop of Gloucester.'' We saw lately that the queen had her 
 bishop with her, and the king may have thought it well to be 
 protected by bishops of his own ! " The next day one of the 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 20.
 
 io6 Life of Ai'chbishop Laud. [xviith cem. 
 
 Bishops Servants, who had waited at Table, was seized with 
 the Plague. God be mercifid to me and the rest." ^ He 
 was glad to go back to Windebank's that evening, having a 
 swelled leg, as to the cause of which he was uncertain, but 
 inclined to the opinion that it might have been brought 
 about " by the biting of Buggs." To find such fellow-visitors 
 in a royal palace seemed hard ; but Laud would probably 
 look with suspicion upon the members of the queen's French 
 retinue, and think that the presence of the " Buggs " could 
 easily be accounted for. On the twentieth of July was the 
 public fast, and Laud preached that day, and also on the 
 following Sunday, at Windebank's parish church of Hurst. 
 
 If Laud experienced no sensations of jealousy at the 
 presence of a real bishop and priests at the English court, 
 he must have been more than human. Most trying of all 
 must it have been to him when the news reached him that 
 King Charles had actually attended mass — if indeed he 
 ever did so ; I quote from a small book '^ published in the 
 middle of the seventeenth century — " He had been publickly 
 seen at mass " it states, " at Somerset house thinking to have 
 gul'd the world, when he was placed in the Queen's Lobby." 
 "At length in comes the Earle of Dorset with a just indigna- 
 tion, not reflecting on None-SucJi Charles as on a Prince ; 
 and faining not to heed his quality kept his hat on, and 
 hardly taking it off, hee said (as if it had bin to some indifferent 
 person) God save you Sir, you have this morning forfeited 
 fifteen shillings : Why Dorset, said the King, doe you speake in 
 S7ich termes ? To which Dorset answered ; the fifteen shillings 
 Sir, make three Crowns, which you have forfeited, and your 
 three Kingdomes to boote, by your having been seen at Masse, 
 where of there are a thousand witnesses : For that all the 
 whole congregation saw you, and knozv it, and thus have you 
 publickly transgressed against the Fundamentall Laws of your 
 Land. P'or the which that Lord was put into the Courts 
 black-book." 
 
 Everyone who could had left London, on account of the 
 plague, and the Parliament was to meet at Oxford. Laud 
 
 ^Dkry, p. 21. ^ "None-Such Charles, his Character," p. 131.
 
 arca^z625.j ^ 'jT^ ^jT ^ rckbisJiop Land. 1 07 
 
 also went thither from Windebank's, on the Friday. On the 
 Sunday, he was in the parlour of the President's lodging at 
 his old College of St John's, when he suddenly fell down, 
 how he did not know, and hurt his left shoulder and hip. I 
 think that a modern doctor would infer, from his own 
 description of his tumble, that it must have been caused by 
 a fainting fit, or a vertigo of some sort. At least one other 
 fall that he had in after life also sounds as if it had pro- 
 ceeded from some such attack, and it seems not unlikely 
 that if he had not been executed, he might have died of 
 apoplexy. 
 
 Parliament was opened at Oxford the next day, and 
 immediately " a great assault was made " in it against the 
 Duke of Buckingham, a thing that would be highly displeas- 
 ing, if not alarming, to Laud. In twelve days, however, " the 
 Parliament was dissolved ; the Commons not hearkening, as 
 was expected, to the King's proposals." This was the 
 beginning of discontent and troubles, but they were not to 
 reach their climax for many years to come. Laud told the 
 truth in saying that the Parliament was dissolved because it 
 would not listen to the king's proposals, but the appearance 
 of the pestilence at Oxford was made the ostensible pretext. 
 
 The session, which may be said to have begun in London 
 and ended at Oxford, was rendered stormy by other causes 
 besides the refusal of the Commons to grant the subsidies 
 demanded by the king. One was "a pious petition" pre- 
 sented by the House to the king, imploring him to put 
 into immediate execution the existing laws against all 
 Catholic priests and recusants. As his Majesty had but 
 just married a Catholic princess, such a petition, however 
 pious, was neither graceful nor well-timed, especially as he 
 had bound himself by a treaty to be indulgent within his 
 realms to those of his wife's faith, and his palace was at 
 that moment crowded with Catholic noblemen from France. 
 He was prudent enough, however, to give as gracious an 
 answer as circumstances permitted. 
 
 Another bone of contention in the House of Commons 
 was a book written by Dr Montagu. As this was a matter
 
 io8 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Xemp. james i. 
 
 in which Laud was mixed up, I shall dwell on it at some 
 length, and, although it will oblige me to anticipate (and 
 to look back, also, for that matter), I will dispose of it 
 altogether while I am about it. 
 
 In the reign of James, Richard Montagu, Chaplain in 
 Ordinary to the king, Fellow of Eton, and Canon of 
 Windsor, had been also Rector of Stanford-Rivers in 
 Essex. Not very far from his rectory, stood by itself in 
 a lonely field a house which, after having been long un- 
 occupied, was taken by a stranger of whom none of the 
 neighbours seemed to know anything. By day, the building, 
 to all appearances, might still have been untenanted, but 
 at night figures were occasionally observed going to or 
 from the house. By degrees, it was whispered that the 
 mysterious old place had several residents, and that these 
 were Jesuits, who were attempting to make converts in the 
 surrounding country.^ 
 
 Montagu, who was a High-Churchman and fond of con- 
 troversy, by some means intimated to the inhabitants of 
 the lonely grange that he knew who and what manner of 
 men they were, and that he would be delighted to dispute 
 with them about religion, adding that, if they could convince 
 him, he would strike his flag and join their Church. 
 
 In a short time, a little pamphlet, entitled A New Gag 
 for an Old Gospel was dropped in the night through his 
 study window, with a note, begging for a reply, attached 
 to it. 
 
 Finding that the pamphlet attacked, not the High-Church 
 party to which he belonged, but Calvinism, or, at any rate 
 the Calvinistic element in Anglicanism, and represented 
 that Calvinistic element to be the orthodox religion of the 
 Church of England as by law established, Montagu was as 
 furious as a modern Puseyite might have been if a Catholic 
 priest had attacked him for holding the most extreme 
 evangelical views. He wrote a lengthy reply, which King 
 James advised him to publish, and it appeared, in due 
 course, under the title of TJie Gagger Gagged. 
 
 •^ Benson, p. 75.
 
 Temp. James I.] Life of ArchHshop Laucl. 109 
 
 Nothing could possibly have been more anti-Catholic. 
 Its very title-page is enough to prove this. "A Gagg for 
 a new Gospell } No : A new Gagg for an old Goose, who 
 would needes undertake to stop all Protestant mouths for 
 ever, with 276 places out of their owne English Bibles, or 
 An Answer to a late Abridger of Countrouversies and Belyar 
 of the Protestants Doctrine." He writes about the "jugling 
 tricks" and the "puppet playes " at " Lauretto." "As for 
 Miracles, Visions, and such Hobgoblin Stufife, I am con- 
 tented you appropriate for your owne." He addresses the 
 author of the opposition pamphlet as " Silly Man," and tells 
 him things which are " enough to shame you, if you be not 
 past grace of shame." "I have discovered," he says, "your 
 false play," " your cousening trick," and your " ridiculous 
 interpretation " ; and he politely adds : — " If I have any 
 occasion hereafter to speake of learned and moderate men, I 
 will except you and yours." As to the " Councels of Trent, 
 of Florence, of Lateran," he considered them of no more 
 authority than the " synods of Gapp and Dort." 
 
 Strange to say, it was not with the Catholics, but with the 
 Puritans that this book was to get its author into trouble. 
 His repudiation of Calvinist doctrines gave intense annoy- 
 ance to their many ardent professors among the Anglicans, 
 and, in his controversy with the Jesuits, he raised the wrath 
 of the whole Puritan faction in his own Church, by defending 
 the use of images, the sign of the cross, the use of the word 
 altar, the real presence, confession, absolution, and, in a 
 certain limited sense, apostolical succession and orders. 
 Moreover, although "farre from the lesuites fancie," on the 
 subject, Montagu professes that he "agreeth in part with 
 the Councell of Trent," and he thinks that " the markes of 
 the Great Antichrist fit the Turkish Tyrannic every way as 
 well as the Papacy." 
 
 There was a terrible outcry against the book, whereupon, 
 Montagu wrote another which he called Appcllo Cissarevi, 
 " A IVST APPEALE from Two Vniust Informers." Un- 
 fortunately for him, his patron, King James, died about that 
 time, and the first Parliament under King Charles had not
 
 no Life of Archbishop Laud. [St?^.^''' 
 
 been opened niany days before the Committee of Religion 
 which had been immediately appointed, took in hand Dr 
 Montagu's books and prepared a charge against him to be 
 delivered to the House of Lords. He had committed the 
 terrible crim.e of admitting that the Church of Rome, although 
 in error, was nevertheless a true Church. At Oxford, on the 
 2nd of August, Laud, with two other Anglican bishops, wrote 
 to King Charles pleading on Montagu's behalf^ It may 
 easily be understood how Laud would sympathize with a 
 High-Church clergyman, who, like himself, had written a 
 book of controversy against a Jesuit. The Parliament, how- 
 ever, was bent on punishing him, and notwithstanding Laud's 
 entreaties, the king refrained from any interference in the 
 matter. Fortunately for Montagu, the sudden dissolution 
 of the Parliament, recorded above, saved him for the 
 moment from further trouble. 
 
 The matter, however, was not allowed to rest there. On 
 one of the first days of the following year. Laud wrote in his 
 Diary that, " by the King's Command, a Consultation was 
 held, what was to be done in the Cause of Richard Montag2ie. 
 There were present, the Bishops of London, DitrJiavi, Win- 
 chester, Rochester, and St Davids^ ^ At the same time he, 
 with the other four bishops, wrote to Buckingham, not only 
 pleading in behalf of Montagu, but defending his books.^ 
 
 The dispute over Montagu and his works went on, at inter- 
 vals, for about three years. Finally, the House of Commons 
 fined him ^2000, and condemned him to imprisonment* 
 At this King Charles was offended. Montagu was one of 
 his own royal chaplains, and he did not admit the right of 
 the House of Commons to punish members of his house- 
 hold. One of the many unpleasant tiffs between the king 
 and his Commons ensued. The latter were obdurate ; had 
 not the affair, said they, been put into the hands of the 
 Committee of Religion, and had not that Committee con- 
 demned Montagu and his writings .-' 
 
 Laud now came to the rescue. He saw that the king's 
 
 1 " Die. Nat. Biog.," Laud. By S. R. Gardiner. - Diary, p. 26. 
 
 2 "Die. Nat. Bioij.," Laud. * Benson, p. 79.
 
 arca^i628.-j ^^^^ of Arckbisliop Laud. 1 1 1 
 
 dignity was hurt by the interference of the odious House of 
 Commons with one of his own domestic officials ; so he 
 eagerly seized the opportunity, and struck while the iron was 
 hot. The See of Chichester happened to be vacant, and he 
 persuaded the king to give it to Montagu, and thus, by 
 making him a peer, place him above the reach of the Lower 
 House. The Commons were furious ! Unquestionably, it 
 was a very smart piece of strategy — if not of sharp practise — 
 on the part of Laud, and a glorious victory over his enemies ; 
 but it increased their spite against him, and probably their 
 number also. 
 
 Having made a bishop of Montagu, the king thought it 
 wise to pardon the new dignitary for his objectionable 
 writings in a somewhat ostentatious manner, and he was 
 prudent enough to have a pretty broad hint conveyed to him 
 that he must be more careful for the future. The Attorney 
 General was chosen for the purpose, and he fulfilled his 
 errand by means of a letter. " As commanded by the King, 
 he has prepared a pardon for the Bishop, but not having the 
 customary warrant in writing, has not caused the bill to be 
 engrossed. Haply this pardon may set him free mforo civili, 
 but the Parliament may call things past in question, not- 
 withstanding this pardon, nay perhaps, by the pardon, they 
 will rather be stirred to question him. He is now a father of 
 our Church, and as a father will tender its peace and quiet. 
 Alas ! a little spot is seen upon that white garment, and a 
 little fire, nay a spark, may inflame a great mass. We are 
 bound in conscience to prevent occasions of strife. Suggests, 
 therefore, that he should review his book, and take away the 
 acrimony of the style, and explain things left doubtful, so 
 that his own pen may remove all scandal, and a stop be given 
 to this unhappy difference and jealousy, which otherwise may 
 trouble the quiet of our Church, and occasion the disquiet of 
 the commonwealth. Wishing that a clearing of these clouds 
 may proceed from the Bishop, and then the pardon would 
 seasonably follow."^ In short, it would appear, that if the 
 bishop should do what he was told, " then " the Attorney 
 
 i"Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1628-9, P- 346.
 
 112 Life of Archbishop Lattd. [lt?55.^'^' 
 
 General would happen to have by him a copy of " the 
 customary warrant in writing." 
 
 Perhaps Montagu did not act upon this good advice ; for 
 three months later we find a " Proclamation for suppressing 
 the book written by Richard Montague, now Bishop of 
 Chichester, then Bachelor of Divinity, entitled ' Appello 
 Caesarem, or An Appeal to Csesar,' which was published in 
 the year 1625, and was the first cause of those disputes which 
 have since troubled the quiet of the Church." \Coll. Procs., 
 Car. /., No. 99].^ This was much as if the Pope had first 
 made a man a bishop, and then promptly put his writings on 
 the Index. 
 
 I have dwelt the longer on Montagu's books, because, not 
 only did Laud take an active part in defending both the 
 works themselves and the writer, but his countenance and 
 even his possession of copies of them was eventually brought 
 as a charge against him at his trial for high treason. 
 
 In his own account of his defence, he writes : — " The 
 Fourth Charge, To the Licensing of Sales, and other Books 
 wJnch had Popery in them, &c. . . . The Sixth Instance was 
 in Bishop Montagne's Books, the Gagg, and the Appeal. Here 
 they said, that Dr White told Dr Featly, that five or six 
 Bishops did alloiu these Books. But he did not name me to 
 be one of them. Then Mr P?yn urged upon his Oath, that 
 these Books zvere found in my Study. And I cannot but bless 
 myself at this Argument. For I have Bcllarnwie in my 
 Study; Therefore I am s. Papist : Or I have the Alcaron in 
 my Study ; Therefore I am a Turk, is as good an Argument 
 as this : I have Bishop Montague's Books in my Study ; 
 Therefore I am an Arminian. May Mr Pryn have Books of 
 all kinds in his Study, and may not the Archbishop of Canter- 
 biiry have them in his } Yea, but he says, tJiere is a Letter of 
 the Bishops to me, submitting his Books to my Censure. This 
 Letter hath no date, and so belike Mr Pryn thought he 
 might be bold both with it and his Oath, and apply it to 
 what Books he pleas'd. But as God would have it, there are 
 Circumstances in it as good as a Date. For 'tis therein 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa.," 162S-9,, p. 451.
 
 arca^i644] Lifc of ArcJibisliop Lttud . 113 
 
 expressed, that he was now ready to remove from Chichester 
 to Norwich. Therefore he must needs speak of submitting 
 those his Books to me, which were then ready to be set out, 
 which were his Origines Ecclesiastica, not the Gagg, nor the 
 Appeal, which are the Books Charged, and which were 
 Printed divers Years before he was made a Bishop." ^ 
 
 Of course Laud knew well enough that he had defended 
 Montagu with regard to both The Gag diXid The Appeal ; but 
 when he was on trial for his life, he was quite justified in 
 endeavouring to evade the charge instead of admitting that 
 he had approved of the books. I cannot understand any 
 reasonable person blaming a prisoner, being tried on a capital 
 charge, for resorting to such a mild evasion as this if the 
 opportunity presented itself — unless the prisoner happened 
 to be a Jesuit, in which case I know from experience that 
 the average English reader of history would condemn such a 
 proceeding as casuistry, falsehood, and, in the very worst 
 sense, Jesuitism. 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," pp. 363-5. 
 
 H
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 In order to discuss the Montagu affair, we left Laud at Oxford, 
 where we must now return to him. It will be remembered 
 that on the 31st of July 1625 he had had a sudden attack of 
 illness in the President's lodging at St John's College ; the 
 next day " Parliament began at Oxford," ^ and, on the 12th 
 of August, " the Parliament was dissolved." For August 
 15th, there stands the following entry ^ : — "My Relapse, I 
 never was weaker in the judgment of the Phisician. It was 
 Mnnday. The same day I began my journey towards 
 Wales." 
 
 When we consider what the roads were like in those times, to 
 start on a journey of more than two hundred miles, with a view 
 to making a visitation of his diocese, says much for the deter- 
 mination and courage of a delicate man, on the very day that 
 he had suffered a relapse and had been pronounced weaker 
 than he had ever been in his life by his doctor ; and his 
 Oxford doctor would probably have had much experience of 
 his constitution. Nevertheless, the journey seems to have 
 done him more good than harm ; for six days later, that is to 
 say on the following Sunday, he "Preached at Brecnock," where 
 he stayed a couple of days, " very busie in performing some 
 business." ^ Although well enough to preach and work, either 
 the fatigue of his long journey or the unwholesomeness of the 
 food he obtained on it, disturbed his slumbers, and he describes 
 his dreams, which appear to have been unpleasantly vivid. 
 
 The next Wednesday, he arrived safely (" thanks be to 
 God ") at his own house, or palace at "■ Aberguille','' in spite of 
 liis coach having been " twice overturned that day "; the first 
 time he "was in it ; but the latter time it was empty." * 
 
 Since he had last visited his diocese, just three years 
 
 1 Diary, p. 21. "lb. '^ lb., p. 22. "^ lb. 
 
 114
 
 arca^i625.-| Life of Ai^ckdiskop Laitcl 115 
 
 earlier, he had had a domestic chapel, or oratory, built 
 at his palace, at his own expense, and it was now ready 
 for use ; he " named it the chappel of St John Baptist 
 in grateful remembrance of St Jo/m Baptist's Colledge in 
 Oxford^' of which he had been " first Fellow, and afterwards 
 President." Like not a few modern High-Church Anglicans, 
 he just a little over-reached himself in his endeavours to be 
 Popish ; for, after his own fashion, he " consecrated " it. Even 
 his hagiographer, Heylin, writes that " it was objected that 
 neither Gratian, nor the Roman Pontifical, conceive such Con- 
 secrations necessary to a Private Chappel." ^ To be stormed 
 at by Puritans, and to be laughed at by Catholics, for this 
 performance, must have been very trying to the temper of 
 the High-Church bishop, in his attempts to be ultra-orthodox. 
 To make matters worse, after everything had been arranged 
 for the consecration, he was "intent on prayer" the very 
 evening before the Sunday on which it was to take place, 
 when it suddenly struck him — with that peculiar force with 
 which exterior things have a way of striking us, when we 
 imagine ourselves to be praying — that it must be very near 
 the date of the beheading of St John the Baptist; so 
 "when Prayers were finished," he "consulted the Calendar." 
 To his vexation he found that the beheading of St John 
 the Baptist fell "upon Mtinday, to wit," and not upon 
 Sunday as he " could have wished." In fact, the feast 
 would come the day after the fair. He hoped that this would 
 be " of no ill Omen,' and he comforted himself by reflecting 
 that the day on which he was to consecrate the chapel to 
 St John the Baptist was the selfsame on which King James 
 had sat " for three hours together at least," hearing his 
 cause about his election to the Presidentship of St John's, 
 and with very happy results ; he appears to have considered 
 that, after all, for practical purposes, James, the king, was 
 of more service to him than John, the saint, and as he did 
 not believe in the invocation of saints, this was natural 
 enough. 
 
 Poor man, he had very bad nights in Wales, " valde 
 
 i"Cyp. AngL," p. 88.
 
 ii6 Life of ArcJibisJiop Laud. ^^t.t^^' 
 
 turbatus sum per insojnnia" he writes, gloomily. In the 
 course of his dreams, " all seemed to be out of order," as 
 things, indeed, not uncommonly appear on such occasions. 
 There is something truly pathetic in this, and who has 
 not experienced that wretched sensation on a restless 
 dreamy night } After describing his nocturnal miseries and 
 nightmares, he writes devoutly : — " God grant better 
 things." 1 
 
 His description of the candidature for Anglican ordination 
 in his diocese is grotesquely lamentable : — " One only Person 
 desired to Receive Holy Orders from me ; and he found to 
 be unfit, upon Examination." - " I sent him away with an 
 Exhortation, not Ordaining." Small wonder, after the 
 experience of examining this solitary Welsh aspirant for 
 orders, that he dreamt worse than ever — of people " cloathed 
 in flourishing green Garments," and of a bishop with " his 
 Head and Shoulders covered with Linen." 
 
 One day, he " went on Horseback up to the Mountains," 
 and so fine and warm was the weather for the time of year 
 (October loth) that when he returned, he and his "Company" 
 picnicked "in the open Air" instead of dining in the country 
 house of his Registrar, where he appears to have been 
 staying. 
 
 A month later he started for England, after spending but 
 little short of three months in his diocese. It took him ten 
 days to get to " Honye-Lacye in Herefordshire," and four 
 days after that he reached the house of his " great Friend 
 Fr. Windebanke. There the Wife of my Friend (for himself 
 was then at Court) immediately as soon as I came, told me, 
 that the Duke of BiickingJiam (then negotiating for the 
 Publick in the Lozv- Countries) had a Son born ; whom God 
 bless with all the good things of Heaven and Earth." ^ 
 I firmly believe that in writing this he was thoroughly 
 sincere. Whatever may be said against him, he was capable 
 of strong attachments, and he was exceedingly fond of 
 Buckingham, Windebanke, and Strafford ; but with respect 
 to the two kings, James I. and Charles I., while it is certain 
 
 i Diary, p. 23. " Jb. » /^.^ pp. 24.5.
 
 circy626.j Life of Archbishop Laud. 117 
 
 that to each he was a faithful servant, the extent of his 
 affection, apart from his loyal devotion, is not quite so easy 
 to gauge ; although, on the whole, I am inclined to think 
 that it was very considerable in the case of Charles. 
 
 If Laud was open to the charge of being usually absent 
 from his diocese, he certainly was not guilty of laziness 
 about preaching. There are constant entries in his Diary as 
 to sermons. " I Preached at CarniartJien ; " " I Preached at 
 Honye-Lacye ;'' "I Preached at Hurst;'' and, again, "I 
 Preached at Hurst upon Christinas day ; " and so on. 
 
 On the first day of 1626, he was at Hampton Court. 
 Everything had not gone quite smoothly in the royal family 
 since he had been last at court. And now it is my purpose 
 to try to prove for him an alibi. 
 
 It is well known that Charles guaranteed to the queen the 
 free practise of her religion, a chapel for her private use in the 
 royal palaces, and the privilege of her attendant confessor, 
 and chaplains : it is equally notorious, that within six weeks 
 of her arrival in England, her confessor, the Abbe Sancy, was 
 sent back to France by the king, and that the latter 
 endeavoured to reduce her chapel and her religious privileges 
 within the narrowest possible limits. At Whitehall, instead 
 of a handsome room for her oratory, she was only allowed 
 "the most retired chamber in the palace."^ At her first 
 mass, " the queen, at eleven o'clock, came out of her chamber 
 in a petticoat, and with a veil over her head, supported by 
 the Count de Filliers, her chamberlain, followed by six of her 
 women, and the mass was mumbled over. Whilst they were 
 at mass, the king gave orders that no Englishman or woman 
 should come near the place." ^ The same authority tells us 
 that when pressed for better accommodation, the king re- 
 plied : — " If the queen's closet, where they now say mass, be 
 not large enough, let them have it in the great chamber ; and 
 if the great chamber be not wide enough, they may use the 
 garden ; and if the garden were not spacious enough to serve 
 their turn, then was the park the fittest place." It is, how- 
 
 ' Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of Eng.," vol. viii. p. 32 
 Ellis's " Historical Letters."
 
 1 1 8 ^-ifa of Archbishop Laud. [Circai626. 
 
 ever, but fair to say, that among the State Papers ^ exists a 
 " Warrant to pay Daniel du Plessis, Bishope of Mende, chief 
 x^hnoner to the Queen, ^2000 a year " — a large sum in those 
 times — " for charges incident to the Queen's chapel and 
 oratory, and all ecclesiastical persons and servitors belonging 
 to the same." The question is, Was it paid ? 
 
 Charles, in fact, became very soon tired of the French 
 priests and all the Monsieurs, or " Monsers " as he called 
 them. He wrote to Buckingham, who was then abroad, of 
 " the maliciousness of the monsers, by making and fomenting 
 discontentments in my wife. I could tarry no longer from 
 advertising you that I mean to seek for no other grounds to 
 cashier my vioiisers. That you may (if you think good) 
 advertise the queen mother " — this, of course, was Marie de 
 Medicis — "of my intention." 
 
 Now it might not unnaturally be supposed that Laud, 
 being jealous of the presence of foreign and Catholic 
 ecclesiastics about the court, influenced the king against 
 them and induced him to send them all back to France, 
 Bishops, Confessors, " Monsers," " Bugges," and the whole 
 company ; but, with the exception of being presented to the 
 queen with the rest of the bishops who happened to be at the 
 time in London, and spending part of two days at Windsor, 
 and a few days at Oxford, he does not appear to have been 
 near the court for six months, and it is probable that when 
 he was at Oxford, the king would spend most of his time at 
 Woodstock. More than half of the first six months of the 
 king's married life was spent by Laud in Wales, or on his 
 journey to or from it ; about seven weeks of it he spent at 
 Windebank's, and part of it in London, while the royal 
 family were at Hampton Court. On the day that King 
 Charles wrote his angry letter to Buckingham, threatening 
 to cashier the " monsers," Laud was in Herefordshire. I 
 think this makes it pretty clear that to whatever extent 
 Charles may afterwards have been guided by Laud, he 
 acted independently of him for the first half-year of his 
 married life. Whether Laud encouraged the king in his 
 
 ^ "Domestic Sta. Pa.," vol. iv. July 20, 1625.
 
 ^t. 53] Life of Archbishop Laud. 1 19 
 
 dislike of priests and French people, or not, is another 
 question ; but, to my mind, there is evidence, or to say the 
 least, an alibi, in support of the theory that he did not 
 engender it. 
 
 As to the queen herself. Laud was actually charged, at his 
 trial, of having been an instrument in her hands, instead of an 
 enemy. All that he himself admitted was that: — "Upon 
 occasion of some Service done, she was graciously pleased to 
 give me leave to have immediate Access unto her, when I had 
 Occasion." ^ Upon the whole, the queen and he appear to 
 have lived upon very good terms with each other. Possibly 
 he might have been more popular if he had been less in- 
 timate with her. From the first, Henrietta Maria and her 
 French retinue were looked on with suspicion, if not with 
 absolute dislike, by the majority of the English. Chamberlain 
 wrote to Carleton '-^ of " the Queen's train, poor pitiful women, 
 not worth looking after," and of one of them in particular, 
 the Duchess of Chevreuse, that she is " fair, but paints foully." 
 He then proceeds to say that " they begin to mutter about 
 religion, and the king having promised that he would never 
 marry with conditions derogatory to protestantism. Com- 
 plaints of ill management, &c." 
 
 One day after Laud had rejoined the court, Sunday, the 
 first of January 1626, he was named with other bishops to 
 consult together on the following Wednesday, at Whitehall, 
 concerning the ceremonies to be used at the approaching 
 coronation. At the same time, he heard a piece of news that 
 did not please him, which was that " the bigger part of the 
 Bishop of DiirJiavis House was appointed for the Residence 
 of the Ambassadour Extraordinary of France^ ^ Now Laud 
 " had abode as a Guest for Four Years compleat " at this 
 very house with his " good Friend the Bishop of Durham" and 
 the new arrangement not only obliged him to turn out, but 
 " forced " him " to make over much haste " in so doing. On 
 the Tuesday he " fixed " himself at his " own House at West- 
 minster" ; his servant having already brought all his things 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 382. 
 
 2 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1625-6, p. 48. ^ j^\^yy^ p. 25.
 
 I20 Life of Archbishop Laud. [circai626. 
 
 there, " save only " his books, and the fetching of these, and 
 placing " them in order in " his " Study " appears to have 
 fussed and worried him not a little. 
 
 When the bishops met to arrange the ceremonies for the 
 coronation, they examined the service-book used at that of 
 King James, and " were fain to mend many slips of the Pen, 
 to make Sense in some places, and good English in other. 
 And the Book being trusted with me, I had Reason to do it 
 with my own Hand." ^ This afterwards gave rise to the 
 accusation against Laud of having tampered with the 
 coronation service and made it more Popish. 
 
 The same night, the Lord Chamberlain, Pembroke, came 
 to Laud with an order from the king to preach a month later 
 at the opening of Parliament. There was another meeting of 
 bishops about the ceremonial for the coronation, and Abbott, 
 the archbishop, had the task — an ungrateful one to such an 
 enemy of Laud's — of informing him that it was the king's wish 
 that he should act at the ceremony instead of the Dean of 
 Westminster, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, whose presence on 
 the occasion his Majesty refused to tolerate ; for, as I observed 
 in a former chapter, Williams had got into disgrace when 
 Lord Keeper. The Duke of Buckingham took Laud to the 
 king to show him the notes and alterations that had been 
 made in the office for the consecration. He says, himself: — 
 " The other Bishops sent me, being Puny, to give the 
 Account." Whether puny or not, every private interview he 
 had with the king gave him an opportunity of increasing his 
 intimacy with, and influence over, him. 
 
 Two days before the coronation, the king not only summoned 
 the bishops and peers that were to take part in the ceremony, 
 but also had the regalia brought for his inspection. Then 
 they seem to have had a sort of private rehearsal. Charles 
 " put on St Edivard's Tunicks," and made Laud " read the 
 Kubricks of direction." ^ 
 
 Representing the Dean of Westminster, it fell to Laud to 
 make all the arrangements in the abbey. " Finding the old 
 Crucifix among the Regalia, he caused it to be placed on 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 321. ^ Diary, p. 27.
 
 iEt. 53-] Life of Archbishop Latcd. 121 
 
 the Altar, as in former times ; " ^ says Heylin, and this was 
 urged against him by his enemies many years later, when he 
 appears to have forgotten it. " They say," writes Laud, 
 " there was a Crucifix among the Regalia, and that it stood 
 upon the Altar at the Coronation, and that I did not 
 except against it." "I remember not any there." ^ Laud 
 was also accused of altering the coronation oath, by adding 
 the words — " agreeable to the King's Prerogative," and 
 omitting : — " which the People have chosen, or shall choose." 
 To this he replied that if any alteration were made in it at all, 
 it was certainly not made by him, and that the oath was 
 tendered, not by himself, but by Abbott, then Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. 
 
 The coronation of Charles L was destined to bring trouble 
 to another person besides Laud. This was the queen. 
 Henrietta Maria refused to be crowned by an heretical arch- 
 bishop. The bishop she had with her claimed the right of 
 crowning her ; but this Abbott, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 would not allow. ^ Finding that she was not to be persuaded, 
 the king tried to induce her to be present within the abbey, 
 without taking part in the ceremony. When she refused this 
 also, he begged her, at least, to attend in a latticed box, ^ so 
 placed that she could not herself be seen ; but she positively 
 refused to be present in the abbey at all. Instead of doing 
 so, according to Miss Strickland, she watched the proces- 
 sion, both going and coming, from the bay window of the old 
 gate-house, which formerly stood over the roadway leading 
 from Whitehall to the abbey — Sir B. Rudyerd writes to 
 Nethersole that she "stood in a window at Sir Abraham 
 Williams's, to see the show";^ but he may have lived in 
 this part of Whitehall — and it was said that as the pompous 
 procession took its stately way from the palace of Whitehall, 
 the queen's French ladies-in-waiting were seen frisking and 
 frolicing around her in the window from which they were, so 
 
 1 " Cyp. Angl.," p. 148. 2 << Hist, of Troub. and Tryal of W. L.," p. 318. 
 
 3 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1625-6, p. 225. 
 
 •• Strickland's " Queens of Eng.," vol viii. p. 37. 
 
 5 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1625-6, p. 246.
 
 122 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Circai626. 
 
 to speak, watching the fun, with no outward signs of reverence. 
 This was not calculated to send Charles to the great function 
 in the best of tempers, or with the happiest of hearts. 
 
 Everything else, however, seems to have gone well. Here 
 is the account of the ceremony in Laud's Diary : — " The King 
 entred the Abby-Church a little before Ten a Clock ; and it 
 was past Three, before he went out of it. It was a very 
 Bright Sun-shining Day. The Solemnity being ended, in the 
 great Hall at VVestviinster, when the King delivered into my 
 hands the Regalia, which are kept in the Abby-Church of 
 Westminster, he did (which had not before been done) deliver 
 to me the Sword called Cnrtana, and two others, which had 
 been carried before the King that day, to be Kept in the 
 Church, together with the other Kegalia. I returned, and 
 Offered them Solemnly at the Altar in the Name of the King, 
 and laid them up with the rest." 
 
 This was an opportunity for one of those little functions, 
 not provided for in the Anglican Liturgy, which Laud so 
 much enjoyed ; but the solemn offering of the sword 
 " Curtana, and two others," was charged against him as a 
 serious crime, some eighteen years afterwards. 
 
 " In so great a Ceremony," he continues, " and amidst an 
 incredible concourse of People, nothing was lost, or broke, or 
 disordered." And he presently adds, with evident, and per- 
 haps justifiable, pride at his own good management, that he 
 " heard some of the Nobility saying to the King in their 
 return, that they never had seen any Solemnity, although 
 much less, performed with so little Noise, and so great 
 Order." 
 
 It must have been bitter to Williams, the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, to hear how successfully his rival had filled his place 
 at the king's coronation. A few days after it, he wrote to 
 Charles, saying that " the King's gracious speeches to him 
 when he took his leave, and his own conscious innocence, 
 have comforted him in the affliction of being enjoined from 
 his Majesty's presence — the only Heaven wherein his soul 
 delights," ^ and he added that he had endured with patience 
 
 '" Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1625-6, p. 249.
 
 i«t. 53] Life of A^'chbishop Laud. 123 
 
 "his sequestration from the coronation;" more abject still, 
 and exceedingly impious, is a sentence in the same letter, in 
 which he describes himself as " a poor Bishop who has ever 
 honoured his Majesty's person above all objects in the world 
 to come." 
 
 Williams must have been reminded that he was not the 
 only Lord Keeper who had got into trouble, by the death, 
 about that time, of Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans, who 
 had been sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of ^40,000 
 for corruption and bribery while holding that very office, 
 some half dozen years earlier. Of Bacon, Laud's biographer, 
 Heylin, writes, that he was " a man of good and bad qualities 
 equally compounded, one of a most strong brain, and a 
 Chymical head."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 As the year 1626 progressed, Laud was more and more with 
 King Charles. Within a month of the coronation, he heard 
 that the king had had an alarming fall : — " Feb. 27. Mtinday, 
 The Danger which hapened to King Charles from his Horse ; 
 which having broken the two Girts of the Saddle, and the 
 Saddle together with the Rider fallen together under his 
 Belly, stood trembling, until the King, having received no 
 hurt, &c."^ This does not say very much for the evenness of 
 the balance of Charles I. in his saddle, and it reminds me of 
 a criticism of his horsemanship to the effect that " he did not 
 ride like a Prince but like a post-boy." " 
 
 If he was disposed to be guided by Laud, the king was 
 not wholly bishop-ridden. In April he sent for all the 
 bishops that were in London to come to him at four o'clock 
 one afternoon. Fourteen came, and then, says Laud, "his 
 Majesty chid us, that in this time of Parliament we were 
 silent in the Cause of the Church, and did not make known 
 to him what might be Useful, or was Prejudicial to the 
 Church ; professing himself ready to promote the Cause of 
 the Church." s 
 
 Very soon Charles had an opportunity of proving his good- 
 will towards Laud, ''May 4. Thursday, Arthur Lake Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells Died at London." * The bishopric thus 
 made vacant was much more valuable than St David's, and, 
 on the 20th of June, Laud tells us " His Majesty King 
 Charles named me to be Bishop of Bath and Wells." Two 
 months later he was "elected"; on the i8th of September, 
 
 Diary, p. 29. 
 - " Life of Charles I.," vol. iii. p. 114. D'Israeli calls the man who said this 
 'a coarse libeller." 
 3 Diary, p. 32. * lb., p. 33. 
 
 124
 
 ^rca^i626.j Ltfc of Arckdiskop Ldiid. 125 
 
 his election was confirmed, and the next day he swore 
 homage to his Majesty "who there presently restored to me 
 the Temporalities, from the death of my Predecessor." ^ Of 
 these " temporalities " the Crown would get its share. Among 
 the State Papers is a " grant to Bishop Laud of Bath 
 and Wells, of the instalment of the first fruits of the said 
 Bishopric, to be paid by him in four years." ^ 
 
 So far as I can ascertain, he never visited his diocese of 
 Bath and Wells ; and he did not hold the bishopric for more 
 than about eight months. Buckingham persuaded the king 
 to appoint a man named Theophilus Field to St David's in 
 the place of Laud, and the new bishop said, or wrote, to his 
 predecessor, Laud, that the Duke of Buckingham behaved 
 remarkably like the Almighty, who " very oft, as he passeth 
 by and seems to turn from us, leaves a blessing behind." ^ 
 
 Laud's election to the bishopric of Bath and Wells had 
 only been confirmed eight days, when another great post was 
 offered to him. The Duke of Buckingham came to him on 
 the last day of September, and told him that the king had 
 determined to make him Dean of the Chapel Royal, in the 
 place of the Bishop of Winchester. " It never rains, but it 
 pours," and, a couple of days later, the duke hinted to him 
 that, if Abbott should die, the king intended to make him 
 Archbishop of Canterbury ! 
 
 Laud was not deterred by the promise of royal favours from 
 doing what he believed to be his duty, and within six weeks 
 of his appointment to the Deanery of the Chapel Royal, 
 he ventured to tutor King Charles in a style from which 
 probably every other prelate in England would have flinched, 
 
 " Taking occasion," he says, " from the abrupt both 
 beginning and ending of Publick Prayer on the fifth of 
 November, I desired his Majesty King Charles, that he 
 would please to be present at Prayers as well as Sermon 
 every Sunday ; " — surely even most country squires would 
 have objected to be lectured like this! — "and that at what- 
 soever part of the Prayers he came, the Priest then officiating 
 
 1 Diary, p. 33. ^ Domestic, Appendix, 1626, Nov. 8. 
 
 3 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1627-8, Preface, p. 16.
 
 126 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Circai626. 
 
 might proceed to the end of the Prayers." Charles must 
 have taken the first suggestion very meekly, or Laud would 
 not have dared to proceed to the second. Nothing, however, 
 succeeds like success, as the saying goes, and " the most 
 Religious King not only assented to this Request ; but also 
 gave me thanks." In short, he kissed the rod. " This had 
 not before been done from the beginning of K. Javiess Reign 
 to this day. Now, thanks be to God, it obtaineth." ^ 
 
 Laud's influence and importance, in the September of this 
 year, is demonstrated by a little incident recorded in the 
 Domestic State Papers.- The king had written to Abbott 
 and others, commissioning them " to require and collect a 
 loan for the King's use from persons able to lend, or dwelling 
 within the County of Middlesex," and it seems to have been 
 desired that Abbott should urge the other bishops to make 
 similar endeavours in their own dioceses. Abbott wrote 
 to Secretary Conway, and consulted him as to the king's 
 pleasure with regard to the method of communicating with 
 the bishops, as it would be undesirable that papers detailing 
 so delicate a matter should " fall into the hands of ill willers 
 as well as of those that wish well." The very next day, 
 Conway sent the archbishop's letter to the very last man to 
 whom he would have wished it to be referred, namely, Laud, 
 and asked his opinion of it. The same evening Laud sent 
 his answer. " Thinks the instructions, which are to be sent 
 to every minister, should be printed ; that they should be in 
 the form of a little book ; that a charge should be given to 
 the printer for secrecy, and the like to the ministers who 
 receive them, and to the officers who deliver them." When 
 Abbott asked Conway what was the " king's pleasure," he 
 most certainly did not intend to inquire what was Laud's 
 pleasure; but so far as the pleasure of the king was concerned, 
 it is difficult to believe that Conway would have referred the 
 matter to Laud, unless Charles had expressly desired that 
 he should do so. Curiously enough, Conway consulted him 
 on the very day that Buckingham informed him that he was 
 to be made Dean of the Chapel Royal. 
 
 1 Diary, pp. 36-7. 2 Vol. xx.wi.
 
 ^t. 53] Life of Archbishop Lmid. 127 
 
 Laud's gratification at his own rapid advancement must 
 have been qualified by the death of Lancelot Andrews, Bishop 
 of Winchester, whom he succeeded as Dean of the Chapel 
 Royal. It was in recording his death in his Diary, that he 
 wrote of him as " the great Light of the Christian World." 
 Indeed Laud may be said to have been rather a disciple 
 of Andrews, than the originator of what are sometimes 
 spoken of as " Laudian views." 
 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, seems to have " pitifully, 
 and to the great detriment of the Church of England, 
 signified to the King " ^ that certain papers written by 
 Andrews " concerning Bishops, that they are Jure Divino," 
 ought not to be printed, and Laud went to Charles and 
 persuaded him to the contrary. 
 
 If all was prospering now with Laud, not so with his 
 friend, the Duke of Buckingham. There was bitter enmity 
 between the latter and the Earl of Bristol, and both were 
 accused of high treason in Parliament, each maintaining that 
 the other was guilty of it. There were "perpetual Heats in 
 the House ; " and in May,- " King Charles came into the 
 Parliament House ; and made a short Speech to the Lords, 
 concerning preserving the Honour of the Nobility against 
 the vile and malicious Calumnies of those in the House of 
 Commons, who had accused the Duke." Then he says that 
 there were eight members "who in this matter chiefly 
 appeared." " The Prologue, Sir Dudley Digges, the Epi- 
 logue, John Elliot, were this day by the King's Command 
 committed to the Tower. They were both dismissed thence 
 within a few days." 
 
 Laud's principal penitent had not of late been living in 
 the odour of sanctity. When he had gone to Paris to bring 
 the princess to England, Buckingham left his piety at home, 
 appeared at the French court in a white velvet suit set all 
 over with diamonds, said to be worth ;,r 80,000,^ to say 
 nothing of twenty-seven other very rich suits, and made love 
 to the young queen, Anne of Austria. 
 
 Laud might well pray " pro Duce Buckinghamia^," at this 
 
 ^ Diary, p, 38. " lb,, p. 33. ^ Hardwicke Papers, i. 571 ; Ellis, iii. 189.
 
 128 Life of Archbishop Land. [circaiez?- 
 
 juncture. Nor does his penitence, if he pretended any, 
 appear to have been very genuine ; for he tried hard to get 
 another invitation to the French court, and was actually 
 appointed ambassador at Paris, but was objected to by 
 Cardinal Richelieu. 
 
 It seems anomalous to read of one of the king's ministers 
 being able to afford to wear eighty thousand pounds worth 
 of diamonds at a time when the commissioners at Plymouth 
 were writing to the Council of " soldiers forced to keep their 
 beds for want of clothes." ^ 
 
 Buckingham, none the less, remained on intimate terms 
 with his confessor, and we read of his showing to him a 
 paper upon the Invocation of Saints^ which had been put 
 into his hands by his Popish mother. He was made 
 Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and on going 
 thither for that purpose, he took his favourite bishop with 
 him. 
 
 Laud writes : ^ — " I was there incorporated ; and so I was 
 the first who was presented to the most Illustrious Duke, 
 then sitting in the Congregation House. The Duke was 
 treated by the University in an Academical manner, yet 
 splendidly." 
 
 Within a fortnight, Buckingham's only son died — it will 
 be remembered that he was born during Laud's second 
 visitation at St David's — and Laud conducted the funeral 
 "about mid-night" on "the Eve o{ Palm-Siinday." 
 
 Laud carefully avoids any mention in his Diary of the 
 disputes between the king and queen regarding her French 
 chaplains and attendants ; possibly he may not have been 
 consulted in the matter ; but their expulsion can scarcely 
 have failed to be gratifying to him. It is needless to repeat 
 the well-known story, recounted by the king himself, of the 
 family row and curtain-lecture, which took place one night 
 when the royal couple were " a-bed ; " or to describe how all 
 the queen's French attendants were sent to Somerset House, 
 and eventually to their native land. " Force them away, 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1625-6, p. 227. 
 -2 Laud's Diary, p. 37. 3 //,^ p ^^^
 
 /Kt. 54] Life of Archbishop Laud. 129 
 
 dryvc them away, lyke so manie wylde beastes ; and so the 
 devill goe with them " was the royal order.^ Bassompierre, 
 who came to England as ambassador extraordinary, smoothed 
 down the ruffled feathers of both the king and the queen 
 with wonderful tact, and it was arranged that Henrietta 
 Maria should have a bishop, a confessor and his companion, 
 and ten chaplains, provided they were neither Jesuits nor 
 Oratorians (as a matter of fact they were Capuchins), and 
 arrangements were made with regard to her chapels. Bassom- 
 pierre also obtained the release of all the English priests, 
 seventeen in number, who were at that time imprisoned for 
 their religion in London. I may take this opportunity of 
 saying that the English translation of the Bassompierre 
 papers describing his experiences in this country, accom- 
 panied as it is by voluminous notes, forms an interesting 
 and amusing little volume, which should be read by every 
 student of the reign of Charles I, 
 
 Instead of being complimented for his skilful manage- 
 ment, on his return to France, Bassompierre was very coldl}^ 
 received by Louis XI IL, who intimated that he had com- 
 promised the dignity of his nation by not insisting upon 
 the full performance of the articles of the marriage between 
 Charles and Henrietta Maria, and it was even hinted among 
 the courtiers that the ambassador had either been hood- 
 winked by -the flatteries of Buckingham, or bribed by the 
 presents of King Charles. Some historians, Lingard - 
 among others, doubt whether Louis's displeasure was real or 
 assumed ; it is certain that he did not repudiate the terms 
 made by his envoy ; but when the latter requested that 
 Buckingham might be allowed to return to Paris, he refused 
 point blank, with haste and indignation. 
 
 The irritation felt by the French king at the dismissal, by 
 his royal brother-in-law, of his sister's chaplains and servants 
 was increased by Charles's ostentatious promises of protection 
 to Louis the Thirteenth's Protestant subjects. It must not be 
 forgotten, of course, that the English Parliament was very 
 jealous of the admission of Catholic priests to the English 
 
 1 Ellis, iii. p. 224. 2 " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. iv. 
 
 I
 
 130 Life of Archbishop Land. [Circai627. 
 
 court and of the relaxation of the penal laws against English 
 Catholics. It should also be remembered that Charles con- 
 sidered himself defrauded by the French of the alliance, 
 defensive and offensive, which he had expected to be ratified 
 after his marriage with the sister of the King of France. The 
 ill-feeling continued on both sides, but it for the first time 
 took a practical form when Charles declared himself the 
 champion of the liberties of the Reformed Churches, and 
 sent Buckingham in command of a fleet of forty-two ships 
 of war, thirty-four transports, an army of seven regiments 
 of nine hundred men each and a squadron of cavalry, to the 
 coast of France. 
 
 On the eve of the start of this expedition. Laud accom- 
 panied " King Charles from London to Sonthwick by Ports- 
 mouth," and, with his Majesty, " dined a-board the Triumph." ^ 
 To have his king and his confessor on board his ship must 
 have inspirited Buckingham, before sailing with his fleet. 
 
 Not long before he went with the king to visit Bucking- 
 ham on board ship, Laud had been made a Privy Councillor 
 — a great step in power, and he himself writes of it : — " God 
 grant, it may conduce to his Honour, and to the good of the 
 Kingdom and the Church." ^ 
 
 But a still further advancement befell him while he was 
 with the king at Southwick, superintending the despatch of 
 the fleet and army. " The Bishoprick of London was granted 
 me," he writes. With this appointment came a great in- 
 crease in his influence, together with a proportionate addition 
 to his unpopularity. He was now both feared and hated. 
 
 It is melancholy to find a letter from the Duchess of 
 Buckingham to her husband, written only a few days before 
 he sailed, begging him not to deceive her and to love her 
 only. She tells him that it would be impossible for any 
 woman to love a man more than she loves him. ^ He had 
 promised her that he would not undertake the expedition at 
 all, and when he had broken this promise, he made another 
 to go and bid her farewell, which he also broke. 
 
 Here are a few modernised quotations from another letter 
 
 1 Diary, p. 41. " lb. ^ "Dom. Sta. Pa., Charles I.," vol. Ixvii., No. 60.
 
 ^t. 54-] Life of ArcJibishop Land. 131 
 
 which she wrote to her pious husband, just about the time 
 that he had got his confessor at the port from which he was 
 to embark, and in the ship in which he was to sail. " I have 
 been a very miserable woman hitherto, that could never keep 
 you at home. But now I will ever look to be so, until some 
 blessed occasion comes to draw you quite from the Court." 
 " God, of his mercy, give me patience, and if I were sure my 
 soul would be well, I could wish myself to be out of this 
 miserable world." " Never whilst I live will I trust you 
 again, nor never will put you to your oath for anything again. 
 I wonder why you sent me word by Crow " (Treasurer of the 
 Navy, who had formerly been Keeper of the Privy Purse to 
 the Duke) " that you would see me shortly, to put me in new 
 hopes ; I pray God never woman may love a man as I have 
 done you, that none feel that which I have done for you." 
 
 Of course there was a P.S., in which, among other things, 
 she writes, " Burn this, for God's sake." What would have 
 been the poor woman's feelings had she known that, instead 
 of being burned, it would be docketted among the National 
 State Papers, where v/e find it more than two hundred and 
 sixty years after it was written, to say nothing of its being 
 printed and published in the Calendar } 
 
 Before Buckingham's fleet weighed anchor, " We," the king 
 and Laud, "came to London^' and two days later, Laud 
 received the royal command " to go all the Progress." In 
 five days, " the Duke of BuckingJuiui set forwards towards the 
 Isle of Ree',' and in three more, " the Progress began to Oat- 
 lands." Laud accompanied the king, and mentions his losing 
 a jewel, worth i^iooo, out hunting. 
 
 On the seventh of July, he made the following curious 
 entry in his Diary : — " Satiirday-nigJit, I dreamed that I had 
 lost two Teeth. The Duke of Buckingham took the Isle of 
 Ree." 
 
 Presently four entries relating to the Duke and his expedi- 
 tion come in succession : — July 29. The first News came 
 from my Lord Duke of his Success : Sunday, August 12. 
 The second News came from my Lord Duke to Windsor : 
 Sunday, August 26. The third News came from my Lord
 
 132 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [Circai627. 
 
 to Aldershot : Simday, September. News came from my 
 Lord Duke to Theobalds : The first fear of ill Success : " 
 
 Well might Laud have " fears of ill success " for his friend 
 and patron ; for a French flotilla of fourteen ships had burst 
 through the boom and revictualled the fortress, and Bucking- 
 ham, having received a reinforcement, ordered a general 
 assault, which failed. 
 
 To increase the despondency of Laud, the Dean of Canter- 
 bury not only said to an acquaintance of his (who repeated 
 it to Laud), " that the business could not go well in the Isle 
 of Ree ; " but added that " there must be a Parliament," and 
 that " some must be sacrificed " to the popular discontent, and 
 that, among these. Laud " was as like as any." Laud also 
 heard that " Sir Diidlye Diggs',' whom it will be remembered 
 the king had lately sent to the Tower for censuring Bucking- 
 ham in the House of Commons, had made a similar remark. 
 
 In October, Laud makes the melancholy entry : — " The 
 Retreat out of the Isle of ReeT 
 
 Buckingham had determined to withdraw his troops. 
 There was, however, a French corps between his own camp 
 and the place of embarkation, and in order to reach the sea 
 he was obliged to march along a narrow causeway across 
 the marshes to a bridge, which connected the little island 
 of Oie with the larger one of Rhe. He sent his small body 
 of cavalry to cover his retreat; but it was broken up by the 
 French, consequently the confusion and slaughter on the 
 causeway was terrible. Buckingham, it was said, lost twelve 
 hundred men in the course of the day; but he managed to 
 embark the remains of his army, and he displayed con- 
 siderable personal courage, being the last man to leave the 
 shore. 
 
 Laud reports, " My Lord Duke's return to Court," if with 
 sadness at the failure of his expedition, no doubt with joy at 
 his return. His friend, patron, and penitent received a letter 
 from his duchess after his arrival, beginning : — " My Lord, 
 Since I heard the news of your landing, I have been still every 
 hour looking for you, that I cannot now till I see you, sleep 
 at nights, &c.," and ending with "your true loving and obedient
 
 ^t.54-] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. 133 
 
 wife." 1 He also received a letter from his Romanist mother, 
 who had tried to tempt his pure soul to Popery with a tract 
 on M\Q Invocation of Saints. She says, "at your departure 
 from me, you told me you went to make peace, but it was not 
 from your heart." You " embroil the whole Christian world 
 in wars, and then declare it for religion." " You know the 
 worthy King your Master never liked that way." " God hath 
 blessed you with a virtuous wife and sweet daughter, with 
 another son, I hope, if you do not destroy it by this way you 
 take ; she cannot believe a word you speak, you have so much 
 deceived her." - 
 
 So much for Laud's pious convert, saved from Fisher, his 
 mother, and " Romanism." And this may be a favourable 
 opportunity for quoting a curious entry from Laud's Diary,"^ 
 especially as it was made during the period dealt with in this 
 chapter. It runs : — March 8, TJnirsday, I came to London. 
 The Night following I dreamed, that I was reconciled to the 
 Church of Rome. This troubled me much ; and I wondered 
 exceedingly, how it should happen. Nor was I aggrieved 
 with my self only by Reason of the Errors of that Church, 
 but also upon account of the Scandal, which from that my 
 fall, would be cast upon many Eminent and Learned Men 
 in the Church of EnglandT 
 
 ^ S.P.O. Dom. Charles I., vol. Ixxxiv. No. So. 
 - Ib.^ vol. Ixxxv. No. 22. P. 39.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Laud and Abbott were destined to be ever in conflict. A 
 certain Dr Sibthorpe preached a sermon at Northampton to 
 prove the legality of a forced loan. This, of course, gave 
 satisfaction in high places, and, in order to give it greater 
 authority, the archbishop was asked to allow it to be printed 
 with his special license. Laud, however, writes of " the 
 Exceptions, which the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had Ex- 
 hibited against Doctor Sibihorp's Sermon." In fact, Abbott 
 distinctly refused to give any sort of imprimatur to it. Laud, 
 on the contrary, licensed it, to the great gratification of the 
 king, who suspended and sequestrated the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury for refusing to do so, and commissioned the 
 Bishops of London, Durham, Rochester, Bath and Wells, 
 and Oxford, to administer his archdiocese. Such an act on 
 the part of Charles I. was high-handed to the last degree, 
 and a biographer of Laud would naturally like to know 
 whether he had any part in advising the king to follow such 
 a course. We are aware that Buckingham was a bitter 
 enemy of Abbott, and the sequestration might likely enough 
 have been at his suggestion, had he not been away from 
 England on his expedition to the Isle of Rhe, during the 
 three months preceding the appointment of the Commission 
 of the five bishops to execute archiepiscopal jurisdiction. Be 
 this as it may, Abbott's refusal was a most uncourtierlike 
 step, and practically ruined him. 
 
 Nor were the inferior clergy more delicately handled than 
 their archbishop. An order was issued that no clergyman 
 was to make any allusion to the ill-fated expedition to the 
 Isle of Rhe, a thing odious to many of their parishioners.^ 
 One preacher, anxious to curry court favour, said in his 
 
 1 D'Israeli's " Life of Charles I.," vol. ii. p. 76. 
 134
 
 arca^i6.8.j j^-jT^ of ArcJibisJiop Laud. 135 
 
 sermon that people ought not to complain at having to make 
 any sacrifice for his Majesty, as all they had was "the King's 
 by divine right." The sermon was approved of in the quarter 
 desired, and it was published ; but the preacher's house was 
 burnt down by his less loyal neighbours. 
 
 In January 1628, Lord Carleton wrote ^ to Laud from the 
 Hague, apologising for having in " a previous letter con- 
 gratulated him on some preferment which had been errone- 
 ously conferred upon him by rumour." Very possibly this 
 may have been the Archbishopric of Canterbury, on a 
 report that Abbott had resigned. He begs " him to accept 
 the congratulation provisionally until the suggested prefer- 
 ment really falls upon him." Further on he says that 
 Scottish ministers have been trying to introduce among 
 the English regiments in Holland, a liturgy between the 
 English and the Dutch ; and he adds that the Hague " has 
 served as a refuge for ministers who would not conform, but 
 it is noways fit that it should become a nursery for non-con- 
 formists." Anglican ecclesiastical matters in Holland were 
 destined to give Laud some trouble, and I shall have occasion 
 to refer to them by-and-bye. 
 
 Want of money induced Charles I. to summon a Parlia- 
 ment early in 1628. He restored Archbishop Abbott to the 
 exercise of his authority in order that he might attend it, 
 and he also set free Williams and the Earl of Bristol for the 
 same purpose. Laud preached at the opening. Six weeks 
 earlier he had had the misfortune to strain a back sinew of 
 his right leg when he was with the king at Hampton Court. 
 Of an accident which had taken place a few months earlier, 
 he had written that, in getting out of his coach, " my foot 
 stumbling, I fell headlong, I never had a more dangerous 
 fall ; but by God's mercy, I escaped with a light bruise of my 
 Hip only." '^ But this back-sinew affair was more serious. It 
 was all he could do to make " a shift to go and Christen my 
 Lord Duke's Son, the Lord George, at Wallmgford House." 
 This was the son whose expected arrival Buckingham's 
 mother had hinted at in her letter quoted in the last 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1627-8, p. 514. " Diary, p. 41.
 
 136 Life of Archbishop Lcuid. ['628. 
 
 chapter. When he had to preach at the opening of Parlia- 
 ment, he " had much ado to stand," and he " continued lame 
 long after " the accident. 
 
 The new Parliament not only censured Buckingham, but 
 Laud, himself, also. " I was complained of by the House of 
 Commons^'' he says, " for warranting Doctor Mainwaring's 
 Sermons to the Press." The House of Lords had censured 
 Dr Mainwaring for a sermon, which it pronounced to be 
 " against the liberty and propriety of the subject." Williams 
 was privately sent to Bishop Montaigne, who had licensed 
 the sermon, to inquire whether any warrant or message had 
 been sent on the subject from Laud ; but nothing could be 
 discovered ; so Laud was eventually " acquitted in open 
 Parliament." ^ 
 
 But the Commons had not yet done with him. Later on 
 the very same day, they "were making their Remonstrance 
 to the King," as he tells us, and one heading was " Innova- 
 tion of Religion. Therein they Named my Lord Bishop of 
 Winchester and my self." An honourable member then got 
 up and said : — " Now we have named these persons, let 
 us think of some causes why we did it." Whereupon, Sir 
 Edward Coke replied : — " Have we not named my Lord of 
 Buckingham without showing cause, and may we not be as 
 bold with them .? " 
 
 The hostile spirit exhibited towards Laud by the Parlia- 
 ment may have induced him to use his influence with the 
 king in favour of dispensing with it. The Commons were 
 evidently bent on his ruin ; the king might possibly have 
 remained on his throne if he had continued to summons a 
 Parliament ; but Laud would have fallen. If the long 
 interval, which presently followed, without a Parliament was 
 chiefly owing to Laud, he certainly obtained for himself a 
 lengthened period of power and prosperity ; he assured for 
 himself, however, a terrible retribution at the end of it. 
 
 Laud also got into trouble about this time for the counte- 
 nance he gave to A Collection of Private Devotions, or The 
 Hours of Prayer, a book written by Dr Cozens, a Prebend 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryals of \V. Laud," p. 23S.
 
 ^t.53-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 137 
 
 of Durham. It contained the " Seven Sacraments, Three 
 Theological Virtues, Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, Seven 
 Deadly Sins and their Contrary Virtues, Forms of Prayer 
 for the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Hours, Vespers and Compline, 
 Preparation for Holy Communion, &c." There could be no 
 doubt from whence the " List of Contents " of such a book 
 had been taken, whatever its interior might be. It was, in 
 fact, the forerunner of many Anglican manuals of a kindred 
 nature which have been published within the last quarter of 
 a century. This book, like Dr Mainwaring's sermon, had been 
 licensed by Bishop Montaigne, who might, therefore, have 
 been expected to be an exceedingly High-Churchman, and 
 orthodox and zealous to the backbone ; but Heylin describes 
 him as "a man unactive and addicted to voluptuousness, and 
 one that loved his ease too much to disturb himself in the 
 concerns of the Church."^ 
 
 This book of devotions was published in 1627, and in 1628 
 appeared a reply by Prynne, entitled A Brief S^irvey and 
 Censure of Cozens his Cozening Devotions, declaring that book 
 to have been framed in general according to the " Horaries 
 and Primers of the Church of Rome," particularly " Our 
 Lady's Primer or Office," and that it was " Popish trash 
 and trumpery, taken out of Popish Primers and Catechisms." 
 Before this reply came out, in September 1627, a document 
 is entered among the State Papers,^ containing "observa- 
 tions on Dr Cosin's Book of Hours of Prayer, principally 
 with respect to the publication of a reprint of a first im- 
 pression, which was called in, because it contained a prayer 
 for a man after his soul is departed." It is indorsed, in 
 Bishop Laud's hand, " Delivered to my Lord Conwaye, 
 God knowes bye whome, and by his Lordship sent to his 
 Majesty." It does not require much reading between the 
 lines to conjecture from this that his Majesty was not over 
 pleased about the matter, and that Laud wished that " God- 
 knowes- whome " had not been so officious. Yet the king 
 must have been pacified, for some time afterwards, when 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.," p. 164. 
 ' "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1627-8, p. 342- 
 
 X
 
 138 Life of Arckbiskop Lm(d. [circaieas. 
 
 the Deanery of Peterborough was vacant, and Laud named 
 four of the royal chaplains to him for the post, "the king 
 pitched upon Dr Cozens," the reason given being that "he 
 had but Forty Pounds a year by his Headship in Peter-House 
 to maintain himself, his Wife and Children." 
 
 Cozen writes to Laud, in 1628,^ complaining that " a son 
 of Belial and a solicitor" had "invented an incredible 
 slander" against him, "and informed it to Mr Attorney 
 General." This seems to have been repeated to Charles L, 
 for Cozen " is burdened with grief, that, while he labours to 
 serve God and the King, his Majesty should be prejudiced 
 against him, and he be reckoned among those offenders and 
 spurners against authority whom he ever abhorred." 
 
 The recent mention of Bishop Mountain, or " Montaigne," 
 Laud's predecessor in the See of London, reminds me of an 
 expression of the " Nolo episcopari," or rather of the " nolo 
 archiepiscopari," which may be worth quoting : - — " Bishop 
 Montaigne, of London, to George Duke of Buckingham. 
 Has received certain intelligence of the Archbishop of York's 
 death. Reminds the Duke of the writer's earnest suit and 
 of his gracious answer when the Duke did the writer the 
 honour to see him, his sick servant, the last time at his 
 house, which he shall never forget. It is the place and 
 house where he was born. Besides, the world will see that 
 he is still where he was by such an eminent favour, which 
 he values far above the commodity and honour of the 
 bishopric." That is to say, if words mean anything, that 
 Montaigne valued the privilege of being a favoured servant 
 of Buckingham " far above " that of being a favoured servant 
 of God. We can now better understand why Heylin wrote 
 of him as one who " loved his ease." 
 
 I must return to Cozen; to show that he and Laud were 
 on friendly terms. Five weeks after the latter had been in 
 actual possession of the Bishopric of London, Cozen wrote to 
 him concerning a Dr Smart, a Prebend of Durham, who had 
 preached a sermon in that cathedral which gave great offence. 
 The dean and chapter had already written^ to Laud about the 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa.," 162S-9, p. 390. 2 /^_^ p_ ^^^ 3 //,_^ p_ 243.
 
 Mt.ss-] Life of Arc hbisJiop Laud. 139 
 
 matter to " crave his assistance and preservation from obloquy 
 and contempt ; " but Cozen wrote ^ privately at great length, 
 and added that " Smart preferred four indictments at the last 
 Assizes in Durham ; one that they placed the communion 
 table the wrong way ; another, that they stand up and sing 
 the creed after the Gospel "—there is plenty of evidence 
 that until very near the period of which I am writing, in the 
 reformed Anglican Church, it was usual to sit during the 
 creed — "a third that they use wax lights and tapers; and 
 a fourth that Mr Burgoyne has set up an altar in his church 
 at Wearmouth, — all by Smart supposed to be superstitious 
 ceremonies, and contrary to the Act of Uniformity. A great 
 noise there was about it." The grand jury threw out the 
 bill, and the judge gave Dr Smart a lecture, "adding, that 
 the man deserved no small punishment who, in this un- 
 wonted sort, had gone about to disgrace the Church, and 
 dishonour the solemnity of God's service there, where he 
 himself had been an eye and ear witness that all things 
 were done in decency and in order." 
 
 This was all very well ; but, says Cozen, " Smart sticks 
 not to profess that he will fetch them all into higher courts." 
 
 It is impossible to read this without being reminded of 
 certain appeals, in ritual cases, from the Court of Arches to 
 the Privy Council, within comparatively recent memory, and 
 perhaps a smile may be excusable. 
 
 Laud's Diary in 1628 contains the usual memoranda of his 
 aches and pains. One day, he has " a terrible salt Rheum 
 in " his left eye. On another he " fell Sick," and " came Sick 
 from Hauipton-Courtr On a third, he was " sore plucked" 
 with his sickness. On a fourth, he was " forced to put on a 
 Truss " for the ailment generally requiring such a remedy, 
 although he did not know how it had been " occasioned, 
 unless it were with swinging of a Book for my Exercise in 
 private." From this it appears that he was in the habit of 
 using a heavy volume as a dumb-bell. 
 
 A very short entry records a very momentous event : — 
 "August 23. Saturday, St Bartholomews Eve, the Duke of 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1628-9, p. 259.
 
 1 40 L ife of A rchbishop L ami ^Mt^t^' 
 
 Buckingham slain at PortsvwutJi by one Fdton about Nine 
 in the Morning." ^ 
 
 The news reached Laud on the following day at Croydon, 
 where he, with three other bishops, was engaged in " the 
 Consecration of Bishop Montague for ChicJiestev, with my 
 Lord's Grace." " My Lord " was evidently Buckingham, 
 so that Montague became Bishop of Chichester, not by the 
 Grace of God, but by the Grace of Buckingham. Indeed it is 
 impossible to study the history of Laud without perceiving 
 that to him Buckingham was " Very Duke of Very Dukes," 
 as Lord Brougham said of a very different person. 
 
 It may surprise some people to read of Laud's threaten- 
 ing a prisoner with the rack. When Felton, who had 
 assassinated Buckingham, was called before the Council, he 
 was pressed - " to confess who had set him on work to do 
 such a bloody act, and if the Puritans had no hand therein ; 
 he denied they had ; and so he did to the last, that no person 
 whatsoever knew any thing of his intentions, or purpose to 
 kill the duke, that he revealed it to none living. Dr Laud, 
 Bishop of London, being then at the Council-table, told him, 
 if he would not confess, he must go to the rack. Felton 
 replied, if it must be so, he could not tell whom he might 
 nominate {sic) the extremity of torture ; and if what he should 
 say then must go for truth, he could not tell whether his 
 lordship (meaning Laud), or which of their lordships, he 
 might name ; for torture might draw unexpected things from 
 him. After this he was asked no more questions, but sent 
 back to prison." 
 
 Within a month of his death, the following epitaph was 
 suggested for the Duke of Buckingham : — - 
 
 "Enigma Mundi Minor, 
 Omnia fui, nee quicquam habui ; 
 Patriae parens et Hostis audio ; 
 Deliciee idem et ludibrium Parlamenti ; 
 Qui dum Papistis bellum infero, insimulor Papista ; 
 Dum Protestantium partibus consulo, occidor a Protestante."'^ 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 43. 
 '■^Rushworth, vol. i. p. 63S. ^ g_ p_ q., Charles I., vol. cxvii. No. 29.
 
 circa^i629.-j ]^ijr^ of ArcJibisJiop Limd. 141 
 
 The last word alludes to the fact that his murderer, 
 Felton, was a Protestant. Laud wrote to Secretary Conway 
 that " he had the news of that accursed fact " (the death of 
 Buckingham) "to his great sorrow and grief of heart. It is 
 the saddest accident that ever befel him, and should be so for 
 all good Christians." ^ 
 
 Undoubtedly he must have grieved greatly over the death 
 of his friend, and the downfall of so important a patron, 
 especially at a time when his enemies were declaring them- 
 selves with greater and greater courage, would make him 
 nervous about his own future ; but he evidently received 
 great consolation in the loss of his pet penitent and dear 
 ord, " from a very Gracious Message from his Majesty, upon 
 my Lord Duke's death," " very Gracious Letters from the 
 King's Majesty, written with his own Hand," and, on the first 
 occasion of his court, after Buckingham's death, "the Gracious 
 Speech, which that Night the King was pleased to use to 
 me." In short the death of Buckingham had the effect of 
 strengthening rather than of weakening Laud's power ; as 
 it made the king depend more exclusively upon his advice ; 
 moreover, there had been of late a strong, and daily increas- 
 ing, animus against the great royal favourite, and if the 
 Commons could have succeeded in effecting his overthrow, it 
 is probable that Laud also would have been crushed in the 
 ruin. As it was. Laud rose higher in the king's favour, and 
 the end of the year 1628 saw him becoming one of the most 
 powerful factors in the State. 
 
 The first quarter of 1629 showed that the Commons were 
 bitterly opposed to the Episcopal favourite. " The Parlia- 
 ment, which was broken up this MarcJi 10," he writes, 
 " laboured my ruin ; but, God be blessed for it, found nothing 
 against me." There were other signs, however, of his un- 
 popularity. "■ MarcJi 29. Sunday, Two Papers were found in 
 the Dean of Paul's his Yard before his House. The one 
 was to this effect concerning my self ; Laud, look to thy 
 self; be assured thy Life is sought. As thou art the Fountain 
 of all Wickedness, Repent thee of thy monstrous Sins, before 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 162S-9, p. 269.
 
 142 Life of Archbishop Laud. circa 1629. 
 
 thou be taken out of the World, &c. And assure thy self, 
 neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor 
 to live, or such a Whisperer ; or to this effect." ^ 
 
 Laud took this matter very seriously. "Mr Dean delivered 
 both Papers to the King that Night. Lord I am a grievous 
 Sinner ; but I beseech thee, deliver my Soul from them that 
 hate me without a Cause." 
 
 The anti-Laudian spirit found its way into the pulpit. A 
 certain Mr Salisbury, in a sermon on Matthew xxiv. 6, 
 " deplored the changes introduced into the Church, and the 
 unhappy dissensions in Parliament, and urged upon his 
 hearers to suffer all things in a passing fortitude rather than 
 permit the least impairing of the national liberties." Laud 
 apparently sent notes of this sermon to Lord Chief Justice 
 Hyde, and asked his advice. The reply came that " Lord 
 Chief Justice Hyde has advised with the rest of his brethren, 
 and they utterly condemn Mr Salisbury of much folly and 
 indiscretion, and hold him worthy to be proceeded against, 
 but advise that he should be convented before the Ecclesias- 
 tical Commissioners."^ 
 
 If any proof were wanting that a strong and outspoken 
 party existed in opposition to Laud, it would be found in the 
 fact that a clergyman, and apparently one with something 
 against his character, could venture to hint that he would 
 threaten to join it unless Laud would give him preferment. 
 Here is an instance in point ^•. — " John Traske to Bishop Laud, 
 of London. Will not think so vilely of his venerableness as 
 that he should be so implacably cruel against a man unseen, 
 unheard, unknown, and never spoken with to this day. 
 What if he once erred .-* Plow long was it .'' How long 
 since relinquished } Has confessed by authority in pulpit 
 and in print. Can bring large testimony for his orthodox 
 teaching. The late King gave charge for his preferment to 
 the then Lord Chancellor. Is loath to be of that number 
 who go railing up and down against bishops for bare main- 
 tenance. Knows no law to starve any, and he knows no way 
 to live out of his callings," 
 
 ' Diary, p. 44. - " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1628-9, p. 551. ■' lb., p. 576.
 
 ^t. 56] Life of Archbishop Lmid. 143 
 
 As to what was " orthodox teaching," there was more than 
 one opinion. Certainly the House of Commons held a very 
 different one from that of Laud. In the already mentioned 
 " Remonstrance," the House submitted that " some prelates 
 near the king, having gotten the chief administration of 
 ecclesiastical affairs under His Majesty, discountenance 
 and hinder the preferment of those that are orthodox, and 
 favour such as are contrary ; " ^ and then Laud is expressly 
 mentioned, as also is the Bishop of Winchester. Threatening 
 indeed were the clouds which were beginning to gather on 
 Laud's horizon, although he was basking in the full sunshine 
 of the royal patronage and pleasure. 
 
 So far as danger threatened Laud from the Parliament, it 
 was destined to be held in suspense for a period of eleven 
 years. Early in March 1629, while Holies was suggesting a 
 protest in the House of Commons, the first section of which 
 was " Whoever shall seek to bring in popery, Arminianism, 
 or other opinions disagreeing from the true and orthodox 
 church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to this kingdom 
 and commonwealth," the king came into the House of Lords 
 and sent for the sergeant-at-arms. The Commons would not 
 allow him to obey. He then sent the usher of the black rod 
 to deliver a message to it, and he was refused admission, 
 whereupon he commanded the captain of the guard to break 
 open the door ; but when he reached it he found that the 
 Commons had adjourned till the tenth. On that day, the 
 king went to the House of Lords, and, without even sum- 
 moning the Commons, dissolved Parliament. The houses 
 were not again convoked until 1640, the interval being the 
 longest in the whole parliamentary history of this country. 
 
 •^ "Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1628-60," Gardiner, 
 p. 15.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Two births, interesting to Laud, took place in the spring 
 of the year 1629. The first was that of a posthumous son of 
 his dear Lord Duke of Buckingham, which he christened 
 when about three weeks old. The second was one of greater 
 importance. 
 
 The queen was expecting to become a mother, and, 
 anxious to know the result, she consulted a lady who pro- 
 fessed to be a prophetess. This was Lady Eleanor, a 
 daughter of the Earl of Castlehaven, and the wife of Sir 
 John Davies, the Attorney General. Lady Eleanor seems 
 to have been half-clever, half-mad. The foundation of her 
 claim to prophetical powers was the discovery that the 
 letters composing her names — her christian name and her 
 maiden surname — twisted into an anagram, formed the 
 words " Reveal, O Daniel," and this she interpreted to mean 
 that the mantle of that prophet had descended upon her 
 shoulders. She had the good luck to foretell her first 
 husband's death ^ correctly, and this happy hit established 
 her reputation. One day when she was in waiting, the 
 queen asked her whether she should have a son, and her 
 reply was that she should indeed have a son, but that it 
 " would be born, christened, and buried all in one day ! " 
 I should not mention this matter were it not that I shall have 
 to show, a little later, how Lady Eleanor Davies tried her 
 hand at forecasting the future of Laud himself, and with 
 what result. I should observe, here, that in venturing to 
 prophesy to the queen, she greatly offended the king, who 
 said to her : — " How now. Lady Eleanor ; are not you the 
 person who foretold your husband's death in three days 
 before it happened ? It was the next to breaking his heart." 
 
 1 Ballard's " Celebrated Women." 
 144
 
 circa^i629.-| ^ ^jr^ ^jT ^ rcJibisJiop Laud. 145 
 
 On the thirteenth of May, writes Laud, "about Three of 
 the Clock, the Queen was delivered before her time of a 
 Son."i 
 
 Miss Strickland - tells us that " a contest took place between 
 Charles I. and the queen's confessor, whether the heir of 
 Great Britain should be baptized according to the church 
 of England, or the church of Rome ; but the king carried 
 his point, and the boy was named Charles James, by Dr 
 Webb, the chaplain in attendance," The child was in a very 
 languid condition from the moment of its premature birth, 
 and about an hour after its baptism it died. Laud describes 
 these events as follows : — " He was Christened, and Died 
 within short space, his Name Charles: This was Ascension 
 Eve. The next Day being Maij 14. Ascension Day, 
 Paiilb post niediani Noctein, I Buried him at Westnnnster.''' 
 And then follows an atrocious pun. " If God repair not 
 this loss ; I much fear it was Descension-day to this 
 State." 
 
 The year 1629 was not one of the most eventful in the life of 
 Laud. During the latter half of it he was in ill-health. On the 
 14th of August, he says : — " I fell sick upon my way towards 
 the Court at Woodstock. I took up my Lodging at my ancient 
 Friend's House, Mr Francis Windcbank. There I lay in a 
 most grievous burning Fever, till Munday Sep. 7;" " On which 
 Day I had my last Fit." He was " brought so low," as to be 
 unable to return to his own house in London until the 29th 
 of October. His first act on his recovery was to present his 
 " humble Duty and Service to his Majesty at Denmark-House!^ 
 For some time after this he " had divers Plunges, and was not 
 able to put" him "self into the service of" his "Place till 
 Palm-Sunday, which was March 21 " in the following year. 
 This was one of the longest, indeed I think quite the longest, 
 illness that Laud had in his whole life. 
 
 While the subject of our biography is lying in bed, we 
 may notice some letters and documents written about that 
 time, demonstrating the condition of his Church. One is an 
 order by another bishop " to be affixed in all parish churches 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 44. " " Lives of the Queens of England," viii. p. 55. 
 
 K
 
 146 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Irse.^'^' 
 
 within his jurisdiction, for reforming certain abuses."^ "The 
 abuses are : — That during Divine service young men, misled 
 by the example of their elders, sit covered. That men walk 
 up and down, and talk before and after Divine service, and 
 keep ales and drinking within the Church, and write their 
 rates upon the Communion Table, &c." The communion- 
 table would, of course, be in the body of the church. In 
 what part of the church the " ales and drinking " took place 
 is not stated. 
 
 A proclamation was issued from Hampton Court, 
 ordering that " fish days, and especially Lent, are to be duly 
 observed, ' the ancient and laudable custom' of abstinence 
 from suppers on Fridays and the ' eves of feasts commanded 
 to be fasted ' is ordered to be kept in all taverns and 
 ordinaries." ^ 
 
 While Laud was still invalided, one of his clergy wrote to 
 him complaining that the people were " over much addicted 
 to ' hearing the word,' as they call it, to the neglect of God's 
 service and worship,"^ and recommending him to silence a Mr 
 Hooker, whom, he says, Bishop Andrews had suppressed in 
 his diocese. A few days later, Laud received a letter signed 
 by forty-nine beneficed clergy, stating that they " esteem and 
 know Mr Hooker to be for doctrine, orthodox, for life and 
 conversation, honest, and for disposition, peaceable, no ways 
 turbulent or factious. Recommend him to the Bishop's 
 favour, and intreat his continuance." * 
 
 Worries came to him again, in his convalescence, from 
 " the Inhabitants of Hammersmith, in the parish of Fulham," 
 who wrote ^ begging " him to consider the length and 
 foulness of the way between Fulham and that place, in 
 winter most toilsome, sometimes over ploughed lands, and 
 almost unpassable ; " and they ask leave to build a chapel 
 of ease at Hammersmith. Edmund, Earl of Mulgrave, adds 
 a letter supporting their cause. He had " thought to have 
 attended him, to have moved him in that particular, and 
 also to have congratulated him on his recovery from long 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1629-31, p. 141. ^ lb., p. 348. 
 
 '^Ib., p. 87. *Ib., p. 92. 5 /^_^ p_ ii5_
 
 circa^i629.-| j^^j^ of ArcJibisJiop Lmtd. 147 
 
 sickness, but the Earl is himself suffering from dangerous 
 disease." 
 
 Laud wrote in reply ^ that " the relics of his fearful disease 
 have stuck so close, that he has not been able to visit his 
 Lordship." " Shall look that the chapel be built as other 
 churches are, east and west, without tricks." From this 
 " without tricks," it would appear that Laud felt some doubts 
 as to the orthodoxy of Lord Mulgrave and the people of 
 Hammersmith, especially as he goes on to say that " some 
 men under the title of ' able and conformable ministers,' 
 bring in notorious disturbers of the peace of the church ; 
 therefore, the Bishop suggests that the appointment of 
 minister should be left to him." 
 
 Lord Mulgrave wrote in answer that " the chapel shall 
 stand east and west, without tricks, as was ever intended." 
 As to " the nomination of the minister, none of them distrust 
 the Bishop, but who knows how he may be succeeded. 
 Craves that some few of the inhabitants may present one 
 or more to his approbation, who, giving him good testimony 
 of life, doctrine, and conformableness, will, it is hoped, be 
 as acceptable to the Bishop as if he had made the election. 
 Suspects that some one has possessed the Bishop with an 
 opinion that some of them aim to bring in some busy- 
 headed or factious man." 
 
 Occasionally, Laud's letters were more cheering. A 
 couple of months after his correspondence with Lord 
 Mulgrave, a Dr Aylett wrote to him : ^ — "Was last Tuesday 
 at Chelmsford lecture, where Mr South of Writtle preached, 
 who spake so pertinently against the schism of inconformity, 
 and so gently advised them to peace, that a lawyer said as 
 he came out, ' A few such excellent sermons would bring 
 again the people in love with conformity.' Was bold to 
 thank the preacher in the Bishop's name." But he adds 
 significantly : — " Saw there no conformity in hood or 
 surplice. Offers to give a lecture if directed." 
 
 Almost simultaneously with Laud's complete recovery, 
 occurred a convenient death : — " The Earl of Pembroke, Lord 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1629-31, p. 118. ^ /^_^ p_ jg^^
 
 148 Life of Archbishop Laud. "Cit^^}"- 
 
 Steward, being Chancellor of the University of Oxford, died 
 of an Apoplexie." This " apoplexie " cleared the way for 
 Laud. Only two days after the death of Pembroke, " the 
 University of Oxford chose me Chancellor ; and word was 
 brought me of it, the next Morning, Altinday." Scarcely any 
 post could have been more to his liking. 
 
 Every rose, however, has its thorn ; nor was this particular 
 rose an exception. " I was welcomed into my Chancellor- 
 ship of Oxford," he says, " with two very ill accidents ; in 
 either sermon one." ^ " The first, I hear, was committed by 
 one of Exeter College ; who preached directly against all 
 obeisance, or any devout gesture in receiving of the com- 
 munion. And if this be true, we shall not kneel neither. I 
 would not be too sour at my first coming in ; and yet I 
 would not have sermons of such ill-example lead the way 
 into my government there." 
 
 Laud's influence at Oxford had been great for m^any years, 
 and his election was the consequence of his concordance with 
 the heads of the colleges. His chancellorship was remark- 
 able for his personal interest in the affairs of the university 
 and his management of them, even when absent from it, and 
 one of the first things he did was to arrange that the vice- 
 chancellor should send him a detailed account of what was 
 going on at Oxford, twice a week.^ 
 
 To his credit be it spoken, although he sought to advance 
 his own ecclesiastical polity, as he conceived it to be his duty, 
 he none the less introduced useful reforms both in discipline 
 and in study, and he presented the university with nearly 
 six hundred valuable manuscripts in Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, 
 and Latin, during the first five years of his chancellorship,^ 
 
 We must now return to the queen. Lady Eleanor Davies 
 had prophesied again, foretelling that Henrietta Maria 
 would have another son and a strong one, and bonfires were 
 actually lighted in honour of the delivery of such a prophecy 
 by that silly woman. It so happened that the prophetess 
 
 ^ " Libr. of Anglo-Cath. Theol.," vol. v. part i. p. 15. 
 
 ^ " Eng. Univ.," by Huber. Trans. F. W, Newman, vol. ii. part i. p. 43. 
 
 2/^., p. 45.
 
 Circa I630.-J ^ -j-^ ^jT ^ rcJibisJiop L mid. 1 49 
 
 was again right. On the 29th of May 1630, a baby, and an 
 ugly baby, prince was born. The king sent a formal intima- 
 tion to Laud. " The King to Bishop Laud. It having 
 pleased God to vouchsafe unto the King a son, according to 
 the laudable custom of his royal progenitors, he makes known 
 the joyful tidings to him, as Bishop of London, by Sir William 
 Segar, Garter." ^ Laud tells us in his Diary that he had been 
 in the house three hours before the child was born, and that 
 he "had the Honour and the Happiness to see the Prince, 
 before he was full one hour old." 
 
 The very morning of its birth, the king rode in state to 
 Laud's own cathedral, St Paul's, to return thanks ; ^ but 
 whether Laud was present does not appear. 
 
 Laud was commanded to christen the child in the king's — 
 not the queen's — chapel at St James's. A draft exists ^ of 
 the " Orders for the christening of the Prince. The chapel 
 and all rooms through which the procession was to pass 
 were to be hanged with tapestry ; an organ was to be 
 brought into the chapel ; a stage was to be erected in the 
 middle of the chapel and the font to be set thereon ; after 
 the christening the infant to be carried to the King and 
 Queen to receive their blessing ; the bishops and clergy to 
 attend in their copes ; the mayor in his velvet, the aldermen 
 in their scarlet gowns ; artillery to be shot off at the Tower, 
 and by the shipping, immediately after the christening, and 
 bonfires to be made at night." 
 
 Besides royal functions and attendances at court. Laud 
 had plenty of letters and episcopal work to occupy him 
 about this time. I may give a few specimens of his corre- 
 spondence. The Bishop of Durham wrote to him concerning 
 the weary length of the services in his cathedral, one beginning 
 at eight A.M. and continuing till eleven, and suggesting "the 
 propriety of dividing the Sunday Morning service prescribed 
 by the Prayer Book into several parts to be read at different 
 hours in the forenoon." ^ 
 
 i"Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1629-31, p. 269, 
 
 ^Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of Eng.," vol. viii. p. 58. 
 
 ^ " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1629-31, p. 283. ■* lb., p. 541.
 
 I50 Life of Archbishop Land. [11?';.^'°- 
 
 Lord Wentworth wrote to recommend his chaplain, who 
 had been in his house nearly twenty years, for a vacant 
 prebend at Durham. He was a man " infinitely happy 
 in his conversation," and there was " not a learneder 
 man on the north of Trent, nor a priest of better temper 
 or hfe."i 
 
 The Council wrote to Laud, announcing that the pro- 
 clamation regarding abstinence, referred to above, had been 
 " much contemned in inns and such like places, as seems 
 very strange to his Majesty and this Board ; " and " it is his 
 Majesty's pleasure that the ecclesiastical court shall take 
 effectual order that the offenders be punished, &c." ^ 
 
 The very next entry in the Calendar of State Papers 
 is a " List of the Master Printers of London, with a 
 sum placed against each of their names in the handwrit- 
 ing of Bishop Laud, and headed ' To St Paul's ; ' — to the 
 repair of St Paul's, The sums assessed run from " £6 up 
 to £^o. 
 
 Then there is a letter from Laud himself to a Dr Samuel 
 Brooke, " respecting his intended tract on Predestination." 
 Laud considers that " somewhat about those controversies is 
 unmasterable in this life, neither can he think any expression 
 can be so happy as to settle all these difficulties. Doubts 
 whether the King will have these controversies further stirred, 
 which now begin to be more at peace." ^ One cannot doubt 
 that a " Theological paper indorsed by Bishop Laud, as 
 containing * Mr Mady's doctrine about election,' " ^ would be 
 answered in a similar tone. 
 
 But in ecclesiastical matters, the person whose case in- 
 terested Laud chiefly in the year 1630, was Dr Leighton, 
 of whom Laud's biographer, Heylin, writes as follows.^ 
 " Leighton, a Scot by birth, a Doctor of Physic by Profession, 
 a fiery Puritan in Faction, dedicated a most pestilent book 
 unto them, called Sion's Plea. In this Book he incited them 
 to kill all the Bishops, and to smite them under the fifth Rib, 
 inveighing also against the Queen, whom he branded by the 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1629-31, p. 354. ^ /3_^ p_ ^79. 
 
 3 lb., p. 405. ■» lb., p. 528. 5 <. cyp_ Angl.," p. 187.
 
 circa^,63o.-j Life of Arclibisliop Laitd. 151 
 
 name of an Idolatress, a Canaanite, and the Daughter of 
 Heth." 
 
 At Laud's instigation,^ Leighton was brought before the 
 Star Chamber, where he was condemned to pay a fine of 
 ^10,000 ; to be publicly whipped ; to be placed for two 
 hours in the pillory, and to have an ear cut off, a nostril slit 
 open, and a cheek branded with the letters S.S. (Sower of 
 Sedition) ; and, a week later, to be again whipped, to be 
 again put in the pillory, to lose the other ear, to have the 
 other nostril slit, and to have the other cheek branded. 
 When this extraordinarily severe sentence had been passed, 
 Leighton gave " thanks to God, who had given him the 
 victory over his enemies." It is said that from this trial 
 dates the friendship of Laud and Wentworth. ^ 
 
 The notes in Laud's own Diary, ^ relating to Leighton, 
 may be worthy of quotation here : — " Noveinb. 4. Thursday, 
 Leighton was degraded at the High Commission. Noveinb, 
 9. Tuesday, That Night Leighton broke out of the Fleet. 
 The Warden says, he got or v,'as helped over the Wall ; 
 the Warden professes, he knew not this till Wednesday 
 Noon. He told it not me till Thursday Night. He was 
 taken again in Bedfordshire, and brought back to the Fleet 
 within a Fortnight. Noveinb. 26. Friday, Part of his Sentence 
 was executed upon him at Westminster^ 
 
 Laud seems to have thought it necessary to counter- 
 balance this severity upon a Puritan by a show of at least 
 strictness towards Catholics ; for it was probably at his 
 advice that the king forbade any English Catholics to hear 
 mass in the queen's chapels, enjoined the enforcement of 
 the existing laws against the Jesuits, and offered a reward 
 of ^100 for the apprehension of a Catholic bishop known to 
 be in London. ^ It is true that only one priest Avas martyred 
 about the time of which I am now writing, and that this took 
 place through the over-zealous haste of a certain judge ; but 
 many priests suffered long terms of imprisonment, a few 
 dying while undergoing this treatment. 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol. vii. chap. iv. - " Die. Nat. Biog.," Laitd, by S. R. Gardiner. 
 2 Diary, p. 45. ■* Lingard, vol. viii. chap. iv.
 
 152 Life of Archbishop Land. [it?58.^^'" 
 
 Five months after his recovery from his long illness, Laud 
 " was taken with an extream Cold and Lameness " and was 
 laid up for a week. This was only about a fortnight before 
 the trial of Leighton, and, if the " Lameness " proceeded 
 from gout, it may help to account for the severity of the 
 sentence upon Leighton, especially if the " extream Cold " 
 drove it in. He is, indeed, likely to have had the gout, if he 
 drank the " Metheglins " then so popular, or " a pleasant and 
 wholesome drink," composed of honey and " small Ale," 
 recommended by his friend, Sir Kenelm Digby.^ 
 
 The next year Laud again showed his zeal against the 
 Puritans. This time, instead of letting his great admirer, 
 Heylin, tell the story, I will depute that office to Prynne, a 
 gentleman who regarded Laud and his policy from a some- 
 what different point of view." "In the year 1631, William 
 Beale, servant to Master Henry Gellibrand, Professor of 
 Mathematics at Gresham College, London, set forth an 
 Almanacke for that yeare, . . . agreeing with the Kalendar 
 before Master Fox his Acts and Monuments printed oft 
 times by publicke authority, without the least exception 
 both in Queen EHzabeth's, King James, and King Charles's 
 Reignes, in which Almanacke, the names of the Popish 
 Saints canonized by Popes and thrust into our Kalendars 
 were omitted, and the names of reall Saints and Martyrs 
 mentioned in the Booke of Martyrs, inserted, just as they are 
 in Master Fox his Kalendar." And then, after saying some- 
 thing about Laud, he continues : — " This Prelate being then 
 Bishop of London taking great exception against this Al- 
 manacke, brought both Mr Gellibrand and his man into the 
 High Commission for compiling and publishing it, where he 
 prosecuted them with great violence." He then describes 
 Gellibrand's defence, and says that, on its conclusion. Laud 
 "stood up in a great passion, and publicly informed the 
 Court, That the Queen her selfe sent for him, and specially 
 complained against this Almanacke, which gave great offence 
 to those of her religion ; and desired him to prosecute the 
 
 ^ "The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knt. Opened." 
 - "Canterburies Doome," p. i86.
 
 Circa .630.J j^'j^ of Arc/ibisJiop Laud. J 53 
 
 Author of it, and suppresse the Book ; and therefore he hoped 
 he should not passe unpunished in this court." 
 
 Strange to say, the court acquitted the prisoner; where- 
 upon Laud " stood up again in a fury, and said to Mr 
 Gellibrand, ' Sir, Remember that you have made Faction 
 in this court, for which you ought to be punished ; and 
 know that you are not yet discharged hence. I will sit in 
 your skirts, for I heare you keepe Conventicles at Gresham 
 College after your Lectures there.' Whereupon he gave 
 Order for a second prosecution against him in the High 
 Commission, Avhich so affected this good man, that it put 
 him in a Feaver fit, whereof he died." 
 
 I will spare my readers Prynne's inferences and moralizings 
 upon these incidents. 
 
 Before ending this chapter, I will mention Laud's appoint- 
 ment, in the year 1630, of Peter Heylin, who was to become 
 his own biographer and the fierce opponent of Prynne, as one 
 of his private chaplains. He had been appointed historical 
 lecturer, and had become a writer on geographical and his- 
 torical subjects, soon after taking his degree, and later he 
 had studied theology, after which he had attracted the 
 attention of Laud, as well as that of many adverse critics, by 
 maintaining that " the Church of England came from the 
 Church of Rome, and not from the Waldenses, Wycliffites, 
 and Hussites,"^ in opposition to the Regius Professor of 
 Divinity at Oxford, who took the opposite and, at that time, 
 more usual view, A year after Laud had made him his 
 chaplain. Laud's enemy, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, refused 
 to institute him to a living in his diocese, for which the king 
 had recommended him. " The king retaliated by appointing 
 Heylin to a prebend of Westminster," " of which Williams 
 was dean. From that time forward it was one of Heylin's 
 favourite occupations to annoy Williams, who was in disgrace 
 at Court, and make himself an instrument of the royal ven- 
 geance." ^ In this pursuit he is not likely to have received 
 much discouragement from Laud, Like his master, Heylin 
 was a strenuous advocate of the theory that communion-tables 
 
 ^The Bishop of Peterborough's article on Heylin ; " Die. Nat. Bio." '^ lb.
 
 154 Ltfe of A rchbisJiop Laud. [^^57.^^°' 
 
 should be placed " altarwise," and he discovered, and anathe- 
 matized in a pamphlet, called A Coal from the Altar, a letter 
 written by Williams'to one of his clergy, in which he said that 
 they should be placed " not altar-wise, but table-wise ; " 
 whereupon Williams, under the veil of " a Lincolnshire 
 clergyman," wrote a book in reply, entitled The Holy Table, 
 Name, and Tiling. To this Heylin retorted with another book, 
 Antidotnm Lincolniense, and so the game went merrily on, 
 until "Williams was suspended and Heylin thereby made 
 happy.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 On the 1 6th of January 163 1, Laud performed an act which 
 afterwards brought him into trouble. " I Consecrated," 
 he says, " St CatJierine Creed- Church in London." 
 
 Here is Rushworth's description of the beginning of the 
 ceremony. ^ " At his approach to the West door of the 
 church, some that were prepared for it, cry'd out, Open, Open, 
 ye everlasting Doors, that the King of Glory may enter in, and 
 presently the doors were opened ; and the Bishop coming 
 in and falling upon his Knees, with his Eyes lifted up, and 
 his Arms spread abroad, uttered these words : This Place is 
 holy, the ground is holy, &c." This was said by his enemies 
 to have been taken from the Roman Pontifical ; but Laud 
 declared that he only used a form of consecration which had 
 been practised by Bishop Andrews. At his trial, he said that 
 one of the witnesses had accused him, on this occasion, of 
 using " many Bowings and Cringings " ; and he protested 
 that " for my kneeling down at my entrance to begin with 
 Prayer, and after to proceed with Reverence, I did but my 
 Duty in that, let him scoffingly call it Cringing, or Duckitig, 
 or what he please." - 
 
 Whether Andrews or Laud drew up this form of consecra- 
 tion is not of much consequence ; what is certain is that 
 it was something of an adaptation of the Roman Ritual. 
 " Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye ever- 
 lasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in,"^ are 
 the words used when a Catholic bishop is at the threshold 
 of a church which he is about to consecrate, and, if any one 
 will take the trouble to compare Rushworth's description of 
 
 1 " Hist. Coll.," vol. ii. p. 69. - " Hist," p. 340. 
 
 ^" Order for the Dedication or Consecration of a Church." Manresa Press, 
 Roehampton, p. 8. 
 
 153
 
 156 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^^58.^'" 
 
 Laud's proceedings on this occasion with the Roman rite, 
 he will find many other points of similarity. The going 
 through this performance, on the part of Laud, was surely 
 very like " playing at church " ; for it was quite unauthorized 
 by his own religious body. 
 
 Laud continues : — " The same witness said ' that at the 
 beginning I took up Dust, and threw it in the Air, and 
 after used divers Curses.' This witness had need look 
 well to his Oath ; for there was no throwing up of Dust, 
 no Curses used throughout the whole Action." 
 
 "Then it was urged at the Bar, TJiat a prayer wJiicJi I used, 
 tvas like 07ie that is in the Pontifical. So in the Missal are 
 many Prayers like to the Collects used in the English 
 Liturgy r 
 
 " Said Mr Brozvn, but the Treason is, To seek, by these 
 Ceremonies, to overthrozv the Religion Established. Nor was 
 that ever sought by me : And God of his Mercy Preserve 
 the true Protesta^it Religion amongst us." 
 
 Continuing his defence for using certain old Catholic 
 prayers and ceremonies in the consecration of St Catherine's 
 Cree, he said, " We have separated the Chaff, shall we cast 
 away the Corn too } If it come to that, let us take heed 
 we fall not upon the DeviVs Winnowifig, who labours to 
 beat down the Corn ; 'tis not the Chaff that Troubles him, 
 S. Lnc. 22." 
 
 Exactly. And I have no doubt that it was on this 
 principle that I once saw a High-Church Anglican clergy- 
 man celebrating the communion service with a large copy of 
 the Book of Common Prayer on the desk on the communion- 
 table, and a very small copy of the Garden of the Soul, 
 opened at "The Ordinary of the Mass," lying beside it. 
 I asked him, afterwards, his reasons for this, and he said 
 that he read aloud the prescribed order for holy communion 
 out of the Anglican prayer book, and interposed, in a 
 whisper, such prayers out of the Roman Missal as he 
 thought good, adding that this was a common practice 
 among clergymen of his school. Like Laud, he probably 
 fancied that he was separating the chaff without casting
 
 ^Tss.^^'] Life of Archbishop Land. 157 
 
 away the corn, and as to the "Devil's Winnowing," he 
 would say that, of the two books upon the communion- 
 table, " it is not the Book of Common Prayer ' that Troubles 
 him,' S. Luc. 22.' " Both Laud and my friend appear to 
 have forgfotten that such Catholic corn as the Order for the 
 Consecration of Churches and the Ordinary of the Mass had 
 long ago been cast among the chaff by the Church to 
 which they belonged ; or it may have been that they were 
 uncomfortably conscious of the fact that the Anglican 
 winnowing machine was apt to scatter the grain indis- 
 criminately with the husk. 
 
 The intimacy between Laud and King Charles continued 
 to increase. ''■March 20. Sunday" he writes, " His Majesty 
 put his Great Case of Conscience to me, about arc. Which 
 I after answered." What the case of conscience was is not 
 recorded. 
 
 The king had granted Laud a quantity of timber from 
 Shotover to be used in enlarging the buildings at St John's 
 College, and into this work he threw his whole heart. This 
 project he " published " " to the Colledge about the end of 
 March" 163 1, having "resolved on it in November last." 
 The President "and others" of St John's replied that "if 
 their gratitude were mute, the very stones of their college 
 would, like the statue of Memnon, commemorated by Taci- 
 tus, give forth music to his glory." ^ The first stone was laid 
 on the 26th of July, and the work appears to have gone on 
 apace, for just a year later, much had evidently been done 
 when Dr Juxon wrote to Laud, saying that" "if he please 
 to disburse ;^3200, the quadrangle of St John's will be 
 absolutely uniform, without the least eye-sore, more than 
 the tops of the tunnels of the chimneys in the east range 
 of the old quadrangle, the cloisters being of the largest 
 size that art can allow, and the pillars of the best stone, 
 under marble, growing {sic) in that part of England. The 
 cloister is of a form not yet seen in Oxford (for that 
 under Jesus College Library is a misfeatured thing), there- 
 fore he wishes a little extraordinary charge might be 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-2, p. 11. ^ lb., 1631-3, p. 287.
 
 158 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1^58.^^'' 
 
 bestowed there, that that wherein they are singular might 
 be eminent." 
 
 Laud had plenty of business to occupy him in London 
 also. He received a letter from Bishop Hall of Exeter, who 
 ' wrote last week to give information about a bus}^ ignorant 
 schismatic, lurking in London. Now hears that there are 
 eleven several congregations of separatists about the city, 
 furnished with their idly-pretended pastors, who meet to- 
 gether in brew-houses every Sunday." ^ What would not a 
 Bishop of London give in these days to know that there were 
 only eleven congregations of separatists in the metropolis .-' 
 
 Judging from the letters existing from different parsons, 
 begging Laud not to believe reports of their misbehaviour, 
 he must have kept his clergy in very considerable awe. As 
 to the laity, Laud sometimes wrote to them in a tone of 
 ironical banter. Thus we find a letter from him in April 
 163 1 to "Sir John Lambe at Rowell, co. Northampton," in 
 which he stated that he " was confident without his promise, 
 that Sir John would never call the writer ad testificandum, 
 but if he had been ready for mirth, might have made good 
 sport with he knows whom about it, * for that 's the way to 
 Winchester.' " (There was a rumour shortly afterwards that 
 Laud was to be translated from London to that see. So, at 
 least, says Nicholas in a letter to Pennington.) " Observes 
 that he has become a great courtier of late. Green's Norton 
 being in the King's gift, he can give the Bishop notice of the 
 sickness of the incumbent; but Sudborough being in the 
 poor Bishop of London's gift, and under Sir John's nose at 
 Rowell, he can send him no word of it, though the parson be 
 as dangerously sick as he of Green's Norton. To make 
 amends, begs him to ride over to Sudborough, and if the 
 living be void, to send exact word how far it is distant from 
 Brackley." 2 
 
 In the provinces, as well as in his diocese and at Oxford, 
 Laud had his worries. His friend. Cozen, together with a 
 Dr Lindsell, Dean of Lichfield, seems to have spoken his 
 mind to Laud, at Fulham, about the Bishop of Durham, Cozen's 
 
 1 "Gal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-3, p. 74. -' lb., p. lo.
 
 ^■j^^J.^^i.] Life of Archbishop Laitd. 159 
 
 bishop. Whereupon Laud wrote a letter to the latter on the 
 subject ; for Cozen informed Laud that the Bishop of Durham 
 " declared his great displeasure against Dr Lindsell and the 
 writer, for the speech they had with Bishop Laud at Fulham, 
 which he calls 'Accusations and articles preferred against 
 him,' and after answering them caused Bishop Laud's letter 
 to be publicly read, calling it a libel and a saucy letter," ^ 
 Cozen " hopes it will not offend Bishop Laud if he legally 
 refuses Bishop Howson's censure, he having already declared 
 himself against the writer." 
 
 Laud seems to have used his influence with the king on 
 Cozen's behalf against his bishop ; for the latter (the Bishop 
 of Durham) wrote to Laud, saying that " his Majesty also 
 required Bishop Howson to desist from his proceeding against 
 Dr Lindsell and Dr Cozen, upon pretence of ordering the 
 public prayers, wherein his Majesty has been misinformed." ^ 
 He goes on to say that he " conceives that he has suffered 
 more than ever was offered to a Bishop of Durham." 
 
 As the summer of 163 1 advanced, there were "great dis- 
 orders " 2 at Laud's beloved Oxford. An appeal was made 
 by " Mr Foord of Magdalen Hall, and Mr Thome of Baliol 
 Colledge," against some decision given by Laud's own vice- 
 chancellor, and the two proctors had actually had the 
 effrontery to receive their appeal, " as if it had not been 
 pertiirbatio pads, cSr." This, of course, was very shocking, 
 and the vice-chancellor appealed to the king. " The King 
 with all the Lords of his Council then present, heard the 
 Cause at Woodstock, Aug. 23, 1631, being Tuesday in the 
 After-noon." Mr Foord, Mr Thorne, and a Mr Hodges of 
 Exeter College, were " banished the University," and " both 
 the Proctors were commanded to come into the Convocation 
 House, and there resign their Office." Besides this, the 
 Rector of Exeter and the Principal of Magdalen Hall 
 " received a sharp admonition for their misbehaviour in this 
 business." Therefore the Oxford Dons were given pretty 
 clearly to understand that Laud intended to be obeyed and 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-3, p. 152. - lb., p. 190. 
 
 ^ Diary-, p. 46.
 
 i6o Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^58.^^'" 
 
 respected, as their chancellor, and that the king would 
 support him in all that he did. 
 
 On the fourth of November,, the queen had another child, 
 " the Lady Mary, Princess, born at St James s, inter horas 
 quintam and sextani matiitinas. It was thought, she was born 
 three weeks before her time."^ Laud baptized her, in the 
 chapel at St James's.- 
 
 The court had worries about this time concerning the king's 
 sister, the Queen of Bohemia. Her husband, the ex-king 
 of that country, had not only lost his crown and kingdom, 
 but also his own dominions in the Palatine. The terrible 
 Thirty Years' War had begun, and Gustavus Adolphus, 
 King of Sweden, was just at this time showing " himself 
 one of the greatest leaders that ever commanded an army," ^ 
 at the head of the Protestant League. England had not yet 
 joined in the war ; but many Englishmen and Scotchmen 
 were serving in the Swedish army, and there was a strong 
 feeling in England in favour of the Protestant cause, which 
 was increased by the interest which was felt in the fate of 
 the Queen of Bohemia, sister to King Charles. Without 
 formally joining in the war, Charles prevailed upon the 
 Marquess of Hamilton to levy 6000 men, with which, at 
 Charles's expense, he was to join the army of Gustavus 
 Adolphus. Hamilton took an active part in the campaign 
 terminating with the battle of Leipsic ; but, not content with 
 this, Gustavus Adolphus asked Charles to send to his assist- 
 ance an English army of 20,000 foot and 5000 horse, a request 
 with which he was unable to comply, very greatly to the 
 annoyance of his sister, the Queen of Bohemia. Immediately 
 after the birth of his thirteenth child, * the King of Bohemia 
 set forth to join Gustavus Adolphus in the war: About this 
 time Sir Henry Vane, as ambassador from King Charles, 
 attempted to negotiate with Gustavus Adolphus for the 
 restoration of the Palatinate to the King of Bohemia. 
 Much unpleasantness resulted between Charles and his 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 46. " Strickland, " Lives of the Eng. Queens," chap. viii. p. 61. 
 
 ^ Freeman's "General Sketch," p. 281. 
 
 ■* Green's "Princesses of Eng.," vol. v. p. 493.
 
 ^^38.''"] I- ifc of A rchbislwp Laud. 1 6 1 
 
 sister as to the conditions offered. Charles wanted one thing 
 and his sister another ; the terms thought good enough by 
 the former were considered very offensive by the latter. The 
 foundation was thus laid for affairs into which Laud was to 
 be drawn by-and-bye ; and already, even in December 1631, 
 the Queen of Bohemia had begun to enlist the services of 
 Laud on her own behalf with her brother, King Charles ; for 
 Laud writes that he " has always been ready to do her 
 service with the King his master. No brother can be fuller 
 of kindness and care for her good and that of her children, 
 and hopes she will have joy in the end for his wise and 
 prudent and affectionate care of them." ^ 
 
 How far his correspondent appreciated her brother's 
 "kindness and care for her good" maybe inferred from a 
 letter which she wrote in the same year to Sir Thomas Roe, 
 whom she addresses as " Honest Tom." Speaking of her 
 "dear brother," she says: — "we are not made acquainted 
 with anything that he treats there though they say that it is 
 for our good. You may judge what comfort that is to us " 
 (that is to say her husband and herself), " to be used as little 
 children that cannot keep counsel ; for when we desire to 
 know what is treated, we are answered that it is not fit, that 
 such things should be divulged abroad." 2 
 
 Laud was much interested in a more private matter nearer 
 home. A godchild of his own, Chillingworth, a son of a 
 mayor of Oxford, and a Fellow of Trinity, was employed 
 by Laud as a spy and commissioned to send him a weekly 
 budget of information from Oxford. It was by means of a 
 letter from him that Laud obtained the conviction and the 
 passing of a tremendous sentence upon Alexander Gill, an 
 usher of St Paul's School, and a tutor of Milton's. Of this 
 matter, even an admirer of Laud's like Mr Benson, says : — 
 " It is rather a revolting story : it argues that if Chilling- 
 worth was nothing more than indiscreet in writing it. Laud 
 was nothing less than unscrupulous in using it." ^ 
 
 About the year 1630, this pet instrument of Laud's 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-3, p. 196. 
 ^ German Correspondence, 1631. ^ Benson, p. 95.
 
 1 62 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Srss.^^'' 
 
 greatly misbehaved himself. I will let Wood ^ describe what 
 happened. " Being unsettled in his thoughts, he became 
 acquainted with one who went by the name of John Fisher" — 
 this was the Father Fisher with whom Laud had had his famous 
 controversy — "a learned Jesuit and sophistical disputant, 
 who was often conversant in these parts. [Oxford.] At 
 length by his persuasions, and for the satisfaction of some 
 doubts which he could not find among our great men at 
 home, he went to the Jesuit College of St Omer, forsook his 
 religion, and by these motives following, which he left among 
 them under his own hand, became a Roman Catholic." 
 
 His "Ten Reasons" form no part of a Life of Laud; but 
 he afterwards wrote a kind of Apologia, and to this Laud 
 replied by personal letters, with the result of inducing him 
 to return to Oxford. So, at least, says Mr Benson ;2 but 
 Wood's account is " that he finding not that satisfaction from 
 the Jesuits concerning various points of religion, or (as some 
 say) not that respect which he expected (for the common 
 report among his contemporaries in Trinity College was that 
 the Jesuits, to try his temper and exercise his obedience, did 
 put him upon servile duties far below him), he left them in 
 the year 163 1, returned to the Church of England (though 
 the Presbyterians said not, but that he was always a Papist 
 in his heart), and was kindly received by his godfather, Dr 
 Laud, then Bishop of London." 
 
 Some light is thrown upon the subject by a letter written 
 to Laud in March 1632, from which, by the way, it would 
 appear that Chillingworth had not yet formally returned to 
 the Church of England, by Dr Juxon, afterwards himself 
 Bishop of London, and one who would not be likely to 
 minimise the value of Chillingworth's restoration to Angli- 
 canism if he could honestly avoid doing so. \r\ his opinion, 
 Chillingworth is " Ambitious to be Bishop Laud's convert ; 
 for," he thinks, " all liis motives are not spiritual, protest he 
 never so much. " ^ 
 
 Mr Benson admits that, after his return to Anglicanism, 
 
 1 Wood's " Athen. Oxen.," vol. ii. pp. 40 and following, Ed. 1721. 
 ^ Benson, p. 95. '^ " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-3, p. 290.
 
 Mt':^9^''] Life of Archbishop Lattd. i6 
 
 o 
 
 " he had scruples about subscription " ; but he states that 
 " Laud overcame them, and made him Canon of Sahsbury 
 and master of a hospital at Leicester." The contemporary 
 Jesuit, Father Knott, wrote of him, that " the profession of 
 Catholic religion not suiting to his desires and designs, he fell 
 upon Socinianism, that is no religion at all." ^ 
 
 In 1632, Laud received a letter which must have caused 
 him scandal as well as annoyance. ^ It informed him that 
 the vice-chancellor at the sister university had committed 
 suicide. The letter is recorded thus : — " To Bishop Laud. 
 Relates the history of the suicide of Dr Butts, Vice-Chan- 
 cellor of Cambridge." " On Easter Sunday he lay in bed, 
 but said he was well and cheerful, bade his wife go to church, 
 and when she was gone, charged his servants to go down for 
 half an hour, for he would take a rest. He then rose in his 
 shirt, bolted the door, took the kerchief about his head and 
 hanged himself." 
 
 In June 1632, to Laud's great delight, " Mr Francis 
 Windebancke my Old Friend was sworn Secretary of State ; 
 which place I obtained for him of my Gracious Master King 
 Charles." ^ Undoubtedly, Laud would not have obtained 
 this post for him, could he have foreseen that he would 
 become a Catholic. Windebank, however, had for a long 
 time, been a great friend to Catholics,'* and the very entry 
 above quoted was brought in evidence against Laud at his 
 trial. He was accused of " his familiarity and commerce 
 with the Jesuits, priests, and those most affected to the 
 Popish faction. The first was Secretary Windebank, the 
 greatest and most visible protector of the priests."^ Indeed, 
 only three years after his appointment as Secretary of State, 
 we find him giving a discharge for Laud's old enemy, Father 
 Fisher, who was then imprisoned for being a Jesuit in Eng- 
 
 1 " A Direction to N. N. being an admonition to Mr Chillingworth to attend 
 to his own Arguments," by Father Edward Knott, S.J. 
 
 ^ " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1631-4, p. 302. Also, partly in Masson's "Life of 
 Milton." 
 
 * Diary, p. 47. 
 
 "* " Records of the Eng. Prov. S.J." Series i, p. 252, Note. 
 
 ^ "Kingdom's Intelligencer." King's Pamphlets, No. 167. British Museum.
 
 1 64 Life of Archbishop Land. [Srsg.^'"" 
 
 land. " Theis are to will and require you forthwith to 
 enlarge and sett at liberty the body of John Peers [Percy, 
 als Fisher, now prisoner in your charge, for w"*" this shall 
 be y' warrant. — Fran. Windebank." ^ 
 
 Within a month of his success in obtaining the Secretary- 
 ship of State for Windebank, Laud had the satisfaction of 
 writing as follows in his Diary. " Doctor Jiixon, then Dean 
 of Worcester, at my suit sworn Clark of his Majestie's 
 Closet. That I might have one I might trust near his 
 Majesty, if I grow weak or infirm ; as I must have a time." 
 
 Juxon was a man who had the good luck to live through 
 troublous times without incurring much personal trouble, 
 although a High-Churchman. He held several important 
 offices, became Bishop of London, and attended Charles L 
 on the scaffold. Then, instead of being prosecuted or 
 persecuted, he went quietly to an estate he possessed in 
 Gloucestershire, and became a master of hounds. At the 
 Restoration, he returned to London and was made Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, eventually dying at the age of eighty- 
 one. 
 
 In September 1632, a religious function took place in 
 Laud's diocese, which can scarcely have failed to give him 
 intense annoyance. This was the laying of the founda- 
 tion stone of a Catholic church, in the tennis-courtyard of 
 Somerset House,^ Another Catholic church was begun at 
 St James's, and, a year or two later, mass was said in these 
 two chapels with more ceremony than had been possible in 
 England for a long period ; but of this I will say more in 
 due course. 
 
 The year 1632 closed quietly for Laud. It is true that 
 the king had small-pox on the second of December ; but, 
 Laud tells us, " he had a very gentle disease of it," and he 
 was sufficiently recovered by Christmas day for Laud to 
 preach to him. The court, however, was in mourning, the 
 King of Bohemia having died in the previous month, and 
 
 1 Dom. Charles I., vol. ccxcv. No. 57, 1635. 
 
 ^ Pery's "News Letter;" Ellis's "Original Letters," New series, vol. iii., 
 p. 271. .
 
 1^59'''] Life of Archbishop Laud. 165 
 
 Laud wrote on the 27th of December : — " The Earl of 
 Arundel set forward towards the Low Countries, to fetch the 
 Queen of Bohemia and her children." On the whole, although 
 there were incidents in plenty connected with Laud's affairs, 
 they were not of any great or immediate importance to him- 
 self, personally. It was very different in the year 1633.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1633, Charles I. started for Scotland, 
 taking Laud with him. The ostensible object of his journey 
 was to be crowned king of that country. He was attended 
 by an imposing train of English noblemen, and the whole 
 expedition was one great state progress. He had intended 
 to make a triumphal entrance into the great northern city of 
 York ; but " the Day was extream Windy and Rainy, that 
 he could not " ; and here Laud makes one of his wretched 
 attempts at a joke : — " I called it York-Friday^ 1 
 
 Even in passing through York, Laud had an eye to 
 furthering his own ecclesiastical policy. A letter, written in 
 the hand of his secretary, copied from one by the king to the 
 Dean and Chapter of York immediately after his visit, can 
 scarcely be doubted to have been the result of Laud's own 
 suggestion. It may be, indeed, that this was the original 
 draft written at Laud's dictation, for the king's approval and 
 use. It says that ^ " the King, when lately in the Chapter of 
 St Peter, in York, there to give God thanks for his safety thus 
 far onward of his journey, observed " that houses were built 
 against the very walls of the cathedral, and one inside it. 
 "The King commands that the persons addressed neither 
 build nor suffer any dwelling-house or stable to be erected 
 within or without the cathedral ; and that the house within 
 the cross aisle be forthwith pulled down." He also observed 
 "when he came into the quire," that, " there had been a 
 removing of seats which were placed there for the use of 
 the wives of deans and prebendaries, and other women of 
 quality." These were to be taken away at once; "a fair 
 seat " was " to be left or made upon the north side of the 
 quire above the stalls, for the Lord President's lady and her 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 48. - " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. 72. 
 
 166
 
 feof"] Life of Archbishop Land. 167 
 
 company, and no other." We have all been accustomed to 
 hear that Cromwell made a stable in this church or the 
 other ; but, from the above, it would appear that precedents 
 had been set for such desecrations under the monarchy. 
 
 On arriving at Edinburgh, the king received an enthusiastic 
 welcome; but the Bishop of the Isles was injudicious enough 
 to say to him at dinner, that the Scots were likely enough to 
 imitate the Jews, and that their hosannas at his entry might 
 be changed, by-and-bye, for " Away with him, crucify him," 
 whereupon the king became very serious and ate no more.^ 
 
 Of the coronation itself, Laud says : — " Tuesday after 
 Trinity -Sunday, King Charles Crowned at Holyrood-Church 
 in EdinburgJi. I never saw more expressions of Joy than 
 were after it." Of this memorandum in Laud's Diary, 
 DTsraeli writes as follows - : — " Laud was too poor a poli- 
 tician, in the impetuosity of his temper, when on this very 
 occasion he pushed aside one of the Scottish Bishops who 
 would not be clad in the sacred vestments — to detect the 
 serpent which was sleeping under the flowers." This is put 
 strongly ; but it is difficult to deny that there is a modicum 
 of truth in it. 
 
 The coronation ceremony was performed by the Bishop 
 of St Andrews, and there were no great obstacles in the 
 way of carrying it out with some pomp and show of 
 ecclesiastical order ; for, although the cathedral churches of 
 Scotland had fallen into neglect, " the King's own Chappel 
 at Holy-rood- House had still been maintain'd with the comeli- 
 ness of the Cathedral Service, and all other Decencies used 
 in the Royal Chapel." ^ 
 
 The day after his coronation, the king opened the Scottish 
 Parliament, in which friction soon began to make itself 
 manifest. When the Parliament was asked to confirm the 
 Statutes empowering the Crown to regulate the apparel of 
 the clergy, a stout resistance was made. Pointing to a paper 
 which he held in his hand, Charles said : — " Your names are 
 
 ^ MS. Letter of 1633, quoted by Lingard. 
 
 2 " Life and Reign of Ch. L," vol. iii. p. 207. 
 
 3 Clarendon's " Hist, of the Reb.," vol. i. p. 82.
 
 1 68 Life of Archbishop Lmtd. [^ry.^'^' 
 
 here ! to-day I shall see who are willing to serve me." As 
 D'Israeli points out, Laud may not have shown very delicate 
 tact in his behaviour in Scotland ; but can more be said for 
 his royal master ? 
 
 On his last Sunday in Edinburgh, Laud preached before 
 the king " in the Chappel in Holyrood- House." The next 
 day he started for a tour through the country, visiting St 
 Andrews, Dundee, Falkland, St Johnston, Dunblain, Stir- 
 ling — in travelling to which town he had a " dangerous and 
 cruel Journey, crossing part of the HigJdands by Coach, which 
 was a Wonder there," — " Lithgow, and so to Edinburgli " 
 again. Two days later he started for London. 
 
 In this expedition to Scotland, Charles, as Clarendon tells 
 us/ " proposed nothing more to himself, than to Unite his 
 three Kingdoms in one Form of God's Worship, and publick 
 Devotions." " To that end, the then Bishop of London, Dr 
 Laud, attended on his Majesty throughout that whole journey, 
 which, as he was Dean of the Chapel, he was not obliged to 
 do, and no doubt would have been excus'd from, if that 
 Design had not been in view ; to accomplish which he was 
 no less solicitous than the King himself, nor the King less 
 solicitous for his advice. He Preach'd in the Royal Chapel 
 at Edenbourgh (which scarce any English-n\2.rv had ever 
 done before in the King's presence) and principally upon 
 the benefit of Conformity, and the reverend Ceremonies of 
 the Church." Or as D'Israeli describes it : — " By the side of 
 Charles stood his evil genius — the Kirk-party scowled, as 
 the Bishop of London in his rochet preached on the benefit 
 of Conformity and the sacredness of Ceremonies, from that 
 pulpit, whence Knox had thundered on their eternal aboli- 
 tion." 2 AH this was better received than might have been 
 expected, and Clarendon remarks that " many Wise Men " 
 were of opinion that "if the King had then propos'd the 
 Liturgy of the Church of E7igland to have been then receiv'd 
 and practised by that Nation, it would have been submitted 
 to without opposition." Instead of doing this, Charles 
 
 1 "Hist, of the Rebellion," vol. i. p. 82. 
 
 - "Life and Reign of Ch. I.," vol. iii. p. 206.
 
 circa^i633.] ^ ^jT^ ^y" ^ rchbiskop Land. 1 69 
 
 hesitated. " Laud, indeed," says Lingard,^ " laboured strenu- 
 ously to establish at once the English liturgy ; but his 
 reasoning and influence were compelled to yield to the 
 obstinacy of the Scottish bishops, who deemed it a disgrace 
 to their country to owe either the service or the discipline of 
 their Church to their English neighbours." The king, ac- 
 cordingly, assigned the task of compiling a new code of 
 ecclesiastical law, as well as a liturgy, to four of the Scotch 
 bishops, and their efforts were to be submitted for revision to 
 Laud, and two other English bishops. 
 
 It took Laud a fortnight and a day to travel from Edin- 
 burgh to London : the king arrived there a day or two 
 before him. 
 
 Eight days after Laud's return to Fulham, an event 
 occurred of the greatest importance to him. He writes an 
 account of it somewhat abruptly. "-Aug. 4. Sunday, News 
 came to Court of the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury' s 
 Death ; and the King resolved presently to give it to me. 
 Which he did Aug. 6." 
 
 Clarendon describes this at great length.^ After saying 
 that Laud went to see the king on his return, he adds : — 
 " His Majesty entertained him chearfuUy with this Compela- 
 tion, My Lords Grace of Canterbury, _>'<?« are very welcome, 
 and gave order the same day for the despatch of all the 
 necessary forms for the Translation : so that within a Month 
 or thereabouts after the death of the other Arch-Bishop, he 
 was compleatly invested in that high Dignity, and settled in 
 his Palace at Lambethr A few lines further on, he says, 
 " that his Promotion to Canterbury was long foreseen, and 
 was expected ; nor was it attended with any increase of envy 
 or dislike." Perhaps he thought that there had been enough 
 of each already. 
 
 The paragraphs which follow bear so much upon the 
 subject of my biography that I shall venture to make a 
 few quotations from them, and I shall do so the more 
 readily, because the threshold of his greatest advancement 
 in life seems a fitting occasion to consider his character. 
 
 1 " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v. ^ Vol. i. p. 89.
 
 ijo Ljfe of Archbishop Laud. [&t.lo^^^' 
 
 " He " (Laud) " was a Man of great Parts, and very ex- 
 emplary Virtues, allay'd and discredited by some unpopular 
 natural Infirmities ; the greatest of which was (besides a 
 hasty, sharp way of expressing himself) that he believ'd 
 Innocence of Heart, and Integrity of Manners, was a guard 
 strong enough to secure any Man in his Voyage through 
 this World, in what Company soever he travell'd, and 
 through what Ways soever he was to pass : and sure never 
 Man was better supplied with that Provision." I beg my 
 readers carefully to consider this criticism, as it is one to 
 which my own studies of the history of Laud greatly 
 incline me. 
 
 A little later he says: — "When he came into great 
 Authority, it may be, he retain'd too keen a memory of 
 Those who had so unjustly, and uncharitably Persecuted 
 him before ; and I doubt, was so far transported with the 
 same Passions he had reason to complain of in his Ad- 
 versaries, that, as they accus'd Him of Popery, because he 
 had some doctrinal Opinions which they liked not, though 
 they were nothing ally'd to Popery ; so he entertain'd too 
 much prejudice to some Persons, as if They were Enemies 
 to the Discipline of the Church, because they concurr'd with 
 Calvin in some doctrinal Points ; when they abhorr'd his 
 Discipline, and reverenced the Government of the Church, 
 and pray'd for the peace of it with as much Zeal, and 
 Fervency as any in the Kingdom ; as they made manifest in 
 their Lives, in their Sufferings with it, and for it." 
 
 I am afraid that there is some truth in what Clarendon 
 says as to his having been " transported with the same 
 Passions he had reason to complain of in his Adversaries." 
 The natural man in Laud was good, straightforward, and 
 honest ; but he was sadly lacking in what Catholics term 
 supernatural grace. 
 
 But to continue : — " He was a Man of great Courage and 
 Resolution, and being most assur'd within himself, that he 
 propos'd no end in all his actions and designs, but what 
 was Pious and Just (as sure no man had ever a heart more 
 entire to the King, the Church, or his Country) he never
 
 mI'Io.^^^'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 1 7 1 
 
 studied the easiest ways to those ends : he thought, it may 
 be, that any art or industry that way would discredit, at 
 least make the Integrity of the end suspected, let the cause 
 be what it will. He did court Persons too little ; nor cared 
 to make his designs, and purposes, appear as candid as they 
 were, by showing them in any other dress than their own 
 natural beauty, though perhaps in too rough a manner ; and 
 did not consider enough what men said, or were like to say 
 of him. If the faults, and Vices were fit to be look'd into, 
 and discover'd, let the Persons be who they would that were 
 guilty of them, they were sure to find no connivance of 
 Favour from him. He intended the Discipline of the 
 Church should be felt, as well as spoken of, and that it 
 should be applied to the greatest and most splendid 
 Transgressors, as well as to the punishment of smaller 
 Offences, and meaner Offenders." And he goes on to say 
 that " Persons of Honour, and great Quality, of the Court, 
 and of the Country, were every day cited into the High- 
 Commission Court, upon the fame of their Incontinence, 
 or other Scandal in their lives, and were there prosecuted 
 to their Shame, and Punishment : " — it is almost impossible 
 to help reflecting how busy he would have been on this 
 score, had he lived in the reign of Charles II., instead of in 
 that of Charles I. — " and as the Shame (which they call'd 
 an Insolent Triumph upon their Degree and Quality, and 
 levelling Them with the common People) was never for- 
 gotten, but watch'd for revenge ; so the Fines impos'd there 
 were the more question'd, and repin'd against, because they 
 were assign'd to the rebuilding, and repairing St PauPs 
 Church ; and thought therefore to be the more Severely 
 impos'd, and the less Compassionately reduc'd and excus'd : 
 which likewise made the jurisdiction and rigour of the Star- 
 Chamber more felt, and murmur'd against, and sharpen'd 
 many men's humours against the Bishops, before they had 
 any ill Intention towards the Church." 
 
 Some of my readers, whose clergymen are engaged in 
 restoring their churches, may be able to sympathize with 
 these people of " Quality," if they will try to imagine their
 
 ^12 Life of Archbishop Land. [^it'eo.^"- 
 
 parsons empowered to fine them, and devoting the fines so 
 obtained to their building fi.inds. Could anything be more 
 galling ? 
 
 The contrast between these fines wrung from angry 
 offenders, and the method by which funds were raised for the 
 erection of many Catholic cathedrals is very great. I am 
 referring to the so-called " sale of Indulgences ! " The 
 Church has, at times, published to her children, in her exercise 
 of that power of the Keys given to Peter and his successors, 
 that the temporal penalties, or canonical penances, due for 
 their sins — these being first duly repented of and forgiven — 
 were by her commuted, wholly or in part, for other works of 
 piety, amongst the rest for alms given towards the building 
 of a Church or Hospital. Surely voluntary penitential offer- 
 ings of this kind were more likely to lead to the benefit of 
 the souls of the sinners than Laud's fines ! 
 
 Everybody was not of the king's opinion that Laud was 
 the man best fitted to be appointed to the See of Canter- 
 bury. A certain Justinian Paget writes to his cousin : ^ — 
 " You may be confident that Dr Laud is Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; for his conge cT eslire was returned the last week, 
 and it is said the king hath given his royal assent ; but it 
 seems every man hath not ; for it is said that a preacher in 
 London, in his prayer, prayed God not to send a Bonner or 
 a persecutor of the Church among them ; as if he thought 
 Dr Laud would be such an one." 
 
 The very day that fortune favoured Laud by the death of 
 Abbott, he was offered, he tells us, a still greater honour than 
 an archbishopric, namely, to be made a Prince of the Catholic 
 Church. He writes : — '■' A2ig. 4. That very Morning, at Green- 
 wich, there came one to me, Seriously, and that avowed 
 ability to perform it, and offered me to be a Cardinal : I 
 went presently to the King, and acquainted him both with 
 the Thing, and the Person." 
 
 It is one thing to avow that one can obtain a favour for a 
 triend, and another to do so ! Let me quote Laud's ortho- 
 dox modern Anglican biographer, Dean Hook, on this in- 
 
 ^ " Court and Times of Charles I.," vol. ii. p. 227.
 
 Mt'lo^'"'] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. i -;- 
 
 cident.i " It is difficult to believe that the person who made 
 this offisr acted with authority ; it was probably a trap to 
 make the bishop, now almost expecting the primacy, commit 
 himself to the contempt of the Romanists and to the increased 
 malevolence of the Puritans." 
 
 In this I so far agree with Dean Hook that I cannot believe 
 the offer of a cardinal's hat to have been made with authority. 
 Very likely some Catholic — possibly, nay, not improbably, 
 the queen herself may have said something of this sort : — 
 " If you will become a Catholic, I have no doubt I can get 
 the Pope to send you a Cardinal's biretta ! " His formal 
 abjuration of the Anglican heresy would obviously have been 
 a sine qua non. 
 
 Heylin quotes Andreas ab Habernfield to the effect that 
 Con " had a command to make offer of a Cardinal's cap to 
 the Lord Archbishop in the name of the Pope of Rome ; and 
 that he should allure him also with higher promises," — this 
 he well might, by those of heaven and eternal happiness, 
 which are much higher things than " Cardinals' caps " ; but 
 the only higher earthly honour could be the Popedom, which 
 even the Pope himself would not have it in his power to offer 
 — " that he might corrupt his sincere mind ; yet a fitting 
 occasion was never offered whereby he might insinuate him- 
 self into the Lord Archbishop, &c." " All this, I think with 
 Dean Hook, should be accepted with great reservation, if, 
 indeed, with any credence whatever. The opinion of Lingard, 
 as the principal Catholic English historian, is worth quoting 
 on this question. After giving certain evidence on the sub- 
 ject, he winds up by saying* : — " I am inclined to think that 
 the proposal of the cardinal's hat came to the new archbishop 
 from Queen Henrietta, under the notion that there might be 
 some truth in the reports, which had been so long current, of 
 Laud's secret attachment to the Roman Catholic creed." 
 
 In considering this question, it should be borne in mind 
 how apt foreign Catholics are to rush to the conclusion that 
 
 ^ Hook's "Lives of the Archps. of Cant.," vol. xi. pp. 231-2. 
 
 ' " Cyp. Ang.," pp. 386 and foil. 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap, v., Footnote.
 
 174 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Ireof^^' 
 
 Anglican clergymen are on the very threshold of the Church, 
 when they hear of their practising ceremonies not unlike our 
 own, or using Catholic devotions ; we English Catholics know 
 better; but most probably Henrietta Maria thought that 
 Laud only wanted the touch of a feather, as it were, to 
 turn him over, so delicately may she have believed him to 
 have been balanced on the extreme edge of High-Church 
 Anglicanism. 
 
 As to the Cardinal's hat itself, had Laud become a Catholic, 
 he need not have been ordained priest in order to obtain it. 
 How soon he might have been made a cardinal is another 
 question altogether ; but when we reflect that Manning and 
 Newman were made cardinals in the nineteenth century, it 
 seems not improbable, that, had Laud become a Catholic, 
 he would have been made a cardinal in the seventeenth. 
 
 The offer which had been made to Laud on August 4, was 
 renewed, he tells us, on the 17th, /'a serious offer to be made 
 a cardinal," he calls it ; but, he adds that he answered, " some- 
 thing dwelt within me, which would not suffer that, till Rome 
 were other than it is." In short, he could not make up his 
 mind to become a Catholic. As Mr Benson says on this very 
 point ^ : — " The answer was a very genuine one. Laud was 
 hardly nearer Rome than he was to Calvinism. He was far 
 too real an Erastian at heart, far too earnest a believer in the 
 interdependence of Church and State to lie down either with 
 the Pope or Luther." Herein Mr Benson has made an 
 admirable criticism. Laud, and he might have added Laud's 
 followers, even down to the present day, are, in principle^ 
 hardly nearer to Rome than to Calvinism, however " high " 
 their views, or gorgeous their vestments ; their position is one 
 of negation ; they will not lie down either with the Pope or 
 Luther ! To an Englishman there is nothing so dear as the 
 spirit of compromise, and they represent the theological 
 incarnation of it. 
 
 It was in this year of 1633 that the king revived, as is 
 always supposed at Laud's instigation, the famous Book o 
 Sports. It is our pleasure, it enjoined : — " That the Bishop of 
 
 ^ Benson, p. 109.
 
 S-t."J.^^^] Life of Archbishop Lmtd. 175 
 
 the Diocese take the like strait order with all Puritans and 
 Precisians within the same, either constraining them to con- 
 form themselves or to leave the country according to the laws 
 of our kingdom and canons of our Church ; and so strike 
 equally on both hands against the contemners of our authority 
 and adversaries of our Church ; and as for our good people's 
 recreation, our pleasure is, that after the end of the divine 
 service our good people be not disturbed letted or discouraged 
 from any lawful recreation, such as dancing, either men or 
 women, the archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other 
 harmless recreation, nor from having of May-games, Whitsun- 
 ales, and Morris-dances ; and the setting of May-poles and 
 other sports therewith used : so as the same be had in 
 due and convenient time, without impediment or neglect of 
 divine service," &c. Bear-baitings and bull-baitings, however, 
 were forbidden. 
 
 It should be remembered that this publication had been 
 provoked by " An Act for punishing divers abuses committed 
 on the Lord's day called Sunday," and also by another, 
 entitled an Act for "the further reformation of sundry abuses 
 committed on the Lord's day commonly called Sunday." 
 
 Laud was no rigid Sabbatarian. Prynne tells us ^ that 
 " this profane Archbishop," when Bishop of London, insisted 
 upon the revocation of a sentence passed upon a poor old 
 woman for selling apples in St Paul's churchyard on a 
 Sunday, and also upon the withdrawal of a proclamation 
 of the Lord Mayor of London against those "who profane 
 the Sabbath Day by buying and selling ; " although it is but 
 fair to say that he only took exception to the latter on the 
 ground that it intruded upon his own episcopal jurisdiction. 
 
 Chief Justice Richardson, in defiance of the Book of 
 Sports, issued an order for the suppression of Sunday games 
 and popular festivals. This was a bold step, and immediately 
 plunged him into hot water. He was summoned before the 
 Council Board, where Laud not only required him instantly 
 to withdraw his order, but gave him such a wigging, that, on 
 meeting Lord Dorset when leaving the Board, and being 
 
 ■• "Canterburies Doome," p. 132.
 
 176 Life of Archbishop Laud. 
 
 asked how he had got on within it, he said, with tears in his 
 eyes : — " Very ill, my Lord, for I have been choked with a 
 pair of lawn sleeves." ^ 
 
 Laud, indeed, never hesitated to speak his mind about 
 judges. A few months before he was made Archbishop, the 
 judges in the Court of Common Pleas had offended him by 
 " tendering two rules," of which he disapproved. They appear 
 to have been withdrawn ; but Laud alluded to them in the 
 Court of High Commission. Standing at the council table,^ 
 " ' If this prohibition,' quoth he, ' had taken place, I hope my 
 Lord's Grace of Canterbury ' " (Abbott) " ' would have excom- 
 municated throughout his province all the judges who should 
 have had a hand therein. For mine own part, I will assure 
 you, if he would not, I would have done it in my diocese, 
 and myself in person denounced it both in Paul's church 
 and other churches of the same, against the authors of so 
 enormous a scandal to our church and religion.' " 
 
 Occasionally he received from the judges "as good as he 
 gave " ; Cottington, in particular, was fond of teasing him, 
 so Laud may have been glad to seize an opportunity of 
 letting their lordships know that a spiritual lord was greater 
 than a legal. 
 
 i"Cyp. Ang.,"p. 243. 
 
 - Rev. Joseph Mead to Sir M. Stuteville. "Court and Times of Chas. I.," 
 vol. ii. p. 120.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Laud's appointment to the archbishopric greatly increased 
 his labours, and at the same time, his influence at court ; 
 and the State Papers contain many of his letters, written 
 " at the king's command," in which there is every appearance 
 of his having rather " commanded the king." There had 
 been some puritanical goings-on in the Inns of Court ; Laud, 
 therefore, wrote to the " two Societies of the Temple that ^ 
 " foreseeing that almost all young gentlemen spend part of 
 their time in one or other of the Inns of Court, and after- 
 wards, when they return to live in their several countries, 
 steer themselves according to such principles as in those 
 places are preached unto them, His Majesty therefore has 
 commanded the writer to signify to the persons addressed 
 that though he will not infringe any of their just and ancient 
 privileges, nor have the writer to write this as if he should 
 take it on him by his ordinary jurisdiction to intromit himself 
 there, yet he requires them to take order that their minister 
 do every Sunday and holiday, in his surplice and hood, 
 morning and evening, read the whole entire service before 
 the sermon, as it is ordered in the Common Prayer Book, 
 and that the preacher also, once at least every quarter, read 
 the whole divine service, in his surplice and hood, as is 
 before required of the curate." As a matter of fact. Laud 
 found considerable difficulty in inducing many clergymen 
 to wear surplices, or " whites," as they were termed, at all. 
 
 Certain bishops had got into a lax habit of " laying hands " 
 upon men who had no title. Laud procured a royal letter to 
 all the bishops, intimating that " his Majesty would call into 
 the High Commission Court every bishop who should presume 
 to give orders to any man that had not a title." - Very odd 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. 340. "^ lb., p. 21. 
 
 M 177
 
 178 Life of A rchbishop L and. [1^6;.^''' 
 
 sort of men, indeed, were the parsons made by some of the 
 bishops. We read that one of them, the Rev. Robert Revell, 
 Vicar of Dronfield, Co. Derby, had been " convented " and 
 enjoined pubhc penance for a grave breach of morahty. Be- 
 sides this,^ " being distempered with drink he drew a rapier 
 and threatened Francis Bullock therewith ; " and " on Ascen- 
 sion Day, 1632, being at home drinking, he sent his son to bid 
 the clerk read the prayers to the congregation, which he did." 
 
 In 1637, articles were exhibited against the churchwardens 
 of Knotting, Co. Bedford.^ " It is objected against them 
 that " " in the chancel of the said church, in or about the 
 sacred place where the Communion-Table stands, there were 
 fighting-cocks brought thither and cock-fightings there held, 
 and many persons assembled to behold the same, and to bet 
 and lay wagers thereon ; and particularly they " (the church- 
 wardens) " and Mr Alney, minister of Knotting, and some of 
 his sons, and many others, both youths and men and others, 
 were present as actors and spectators, and laughed and sported 
 thereat, and most profanely abused the said consecrated 
 place." 
 
 Here was plenty of opportunity for Laud's reforming 
 energy. To remove the communion-table at all was bad 
 enough, in his opinion ; but to remove it to make room for a 
 cock-fight was going, as it is the fashion to say now, " a little 
 too far." Yet, in the face of such facts as these, existing when 
 the Anglican Church had been under weigh for many years, 
 people talk of the low state into which the Catholic Church 
 in England had sunk in the days of Henry VIII., and of 
 " reforms " being necessary. 
 
 But I wish to be fair, nor to write of the lower depths 
 into which the Established Church sank, as if they were 
 its highest, or even its average, level. 
 
 In order to show that Laud brought about a better state 
 of things, I will make a quotation from the writings of Father 
 Cyprien, one of Henrietta Maria's chaplains.^^ Archbishop 
 
 1 .<! 
 
 3 (< 
 
 Cal, Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. 203. "- lb., 1637, p. 508. 
 
 ' Memoirs of the Mission in England of the Capuchin Friars," Colburn's Ed., 
 PP- 332-3-
 
 xviithcent.i Life of Archbishop Land. 179 
 
 Laud, " under the authority of the King, undertook to effect 
 a uniformity of the Protestant rehgion throughout Great 
 Britain, which comprises England and Scotland, resolved to 
 introduce the ceremonies into the Church, and ordered the 
 clergy to wear the surplice in the performance of their duty. 
 To back this prelate several ministers began to preach pub- 
 licly quite the contrary of what had before been believed — 
 such as the following truths : that the Pope is not Anti- 
 Christ ; that ceremonies are necessary in the Church ; that 
 auricular confession is obligatory on every one who has 
 sinned ; that in the Christian religion there must be altars. 
 Nor content with proclaiming these truths from the pulpit, 
 they composed divers books, which were printed, published, 
 and distributed in all quarters, I leave you to conceive with 
 what consolation to the Catholics ; while the Puritans, that 
 is to say, the Calvinists, were inflamed with wrath, fury, and 
 rage. Peccator vidcbit ct irascetur ; dentibiis siiis fremet et 
 tabescet. At that time we were much visited by Protestant 
 ministers, who conversed very familiarly with us, willingly 
 listened to the reasons of our belief, inquired concerning our 
 ceremonies, came to the queen's chapel to learn the practice 
 of them, admitted that the Catholic was the true Church, but, 
 withheld by the consideration of their benefices and their 
 wives, imagined that they could be saved in the Protestant 
 Church, having, they said, the same fundamental points as 
 the Church of Rome." 
 
 Substitute the word " vestments " for " surplice," and " Low- 
 Church people" for "Puritans" and "Calvinists," and we 
 have almost exactly what an Italian Capuchin, who had lived 
 for some years in England, once said to me, in my own house. 
 The following remarks of Father Cyprien's might also have 
 come from his mouth ; indeed he often said something very 
 like them : — " England is full of various sects opposed to one 
 another, and all hostile to the Catholics." They " all boast 
 of following the genuine doctrine of Jesus Christ, and which 
 nevertheless, attack, and are at irreconcilable enmity with 
 one another." And more than this, the religious differences, 
 he says, are not only between sect and sect ; but " between
 
 i8o Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvmhcent. 
 
 family and family, between servant and servant, between 
 sister and sister, between brother and brother, of the same 
 sect." 
 
 To show how differently different people regard the same 
 thing, after giving Father Cyprien's encomiums of Laud and 
 his followers, I will quote another author who wrote shortly 
 after Laud's death. ^ ''YJxMXq Hocus Pocus'' (a blasphemous 
 parody of the words of consecration in the Mass, Hoc est 
 Corpus'), " Little Hocus Pocus, Canterbury, did most assidu- 
 ously countenance the idolatrous stoopings, cringings, and 
 papist-like, Chappell boysterous roarings out of Creed, and 
 Prayers." 
 
 If Laud had been content simply " to raise the tone," as 
 High-Churchmen say, of the doctrines and ceremonies of his 
 Church, he might have escaped serious trouble ; unfortunately 
 he insisted on hunting out and persecuting those who even 
 secretly, or in semi-secrecy taught lower doctrines and prac- 
 tised a plainer form of worship than he approved. He would 
 not allow proceedings of which he disapproved quietly to die 
 out ; they must needs be stamped out. Even where two or 
 three were gathered together in God's name, to worship in 
 an " uncomformable " manner, there would he, in the person 
 of his pursuivant, be in the midst of them. 
 
 A paper, dated Lambeth, ^ was probably suggested by its 
 occupant (Laud), although it professed to emanate from the 
 Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Causes. It is addressed to 
 " all Justices of the Peace, Mayors, and other Officers of the 
 Peace," "There remain in divers parts of the kingdom 
 sundry sets of separatists, novalists [sic'\ and sectaries, as 
 namely- — Brownists, Anabaptists, Arians, Taskites, Familists, 
 and some other sorts, who, upon Sundays and other festival 
 days, under pretence of repetition of sermon.s, ordinarily use 
 to meet together in great numbers in private houses and 
 other obscure places, and there keep private conventicles and 
 exercises of religion by law prohibited, to the corrupting of 
 sundry his Majesty's good subjects, manifest contempt of his 
 Highness's laws and disturbance of the church. P"or re- 
 
 1 " None-such Charles," pp. 128-9. " "Cal. Sta. Fa. Dom.," 1637, p. 538.
 
 i;?'^6o.^33-] ^ ifg of j{ rchbishop L and. 1 8 1 
 
 formation whereof the persons addressed are to enter any 
 house where they shall have intelligence that such conventicles 
 are held, and every room thereof search for persons assembled 
 and for all unlicensed books, and bring all such persons and 
 books found before the Ecclesiastical Commission as shall be 
 thought meet." 
 
 It will be observed that, under these instructions, an officer 
 of the peace might enter any house in which he suspected 
 that a few friends might be meeting together to read the 
 Bible and pray, as used to be so common a few years ago in 
 Evangelical families. 
 
 Among other matters to which Laud devoted great 
 attention, was the press. The king's printers " had been 
 faulty in the English print with which they " had been en- 
 trusted, so "his Majesty" had "resolved," writes Laud to 
 them, ^ " to punish them " ; and the king writes to Laud, 
 probably at his own suggestion, to say that a fine of ^300, 
 which the High Commissioners had just imposed upon them 
 for this offence (" base and corrupt printing of the Bible ") 
 should be spent in buying good Greek type. " Power is 
 given to the Archbishop to mitigate the fine according to the 
 printer's diligence in advancing the work." 
 
 "■ Arch-Bis Jiop Laud's Account of his Province'-^ sent to the 
 King for the Year 1633, zvith the King's Ap ostitis, in the 
 Margin " throws some light on his doings. \\\ his own diocese 
 of Canterbury, he hears " of many things amiss " and that 
 some of "my Peculiars in London are extreamly out of order." 
 Before giving up his Bishopric of London, he had "proceeded 
 against Nathaniel Ward, Parson of Grondon in Essex, to 
 Excommunication and Deprivation, for refusing to subscribe 
 to the Articles." 
 
 After describing the condition of three other dioceses, he 
 comes to " Repon " where the Bishop of Coventry and 
 Lichfield had suppressed a " Seditious Lecture," " and divers 
 Monthly- Lectures, with a Fast and a Moderator," "as also 
 a Running Lecture, so called because the Lecturer went from 
 
 ' "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1637, p. 423. 
 
 " " Hist, of the Troubles and Tryal of W. L.," p. 525.
 
 1 82 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Steo.^''- 
 
 Village to Village." " They say this Lecture was ordained 
 to Illuminate the Dark Corners of that Diocese." The king 
 has written in the margin of this " C. R. If there be Dark 
 Corners in this Dioces ; it were fitt a true Light should 
 Illuminate it ; and not this that is fake and uncertaine." 
 
 The happiest bishop noticed in this report is St Asaph, 
 who "returns, that all is exceedingly well in his Diocess, 
 save only that the Number and Boldness of some Romish 
 Recusants increaseth much in many Places, and is incouraged 
 by the Superstitions and frequent Concourse of some of that 
 Party to Holy- Well, otherwise called St Winifred's Well." 
 The poor Bishop of St Asaph of to-day finds that the 
 Number and Boldness of the Romish Recusants " increaseth 
 much " more ; for he has two large Jesuit Colleges, one 
 English, and one French, one Capuchin Monastery, several 
 convents of nuns of various orders, at least three Jesuit 
 Missions, and very many others under secular priests, within 
 the limits of his diocese. 
 
 Now that I am noticing Laud's annual report for 1633 to 
 the king, I may as well include one or two others. 
 
 In one, he reports that the Bishop of St Asaph "hath 
 little to return " ; and I am sure that I shall make the present 
 Bishop of St Asaph's mouth water when I add that the 
 occupant of his See, in Laud's days, reports that throughout 
 his diocese " there is nothing but common Peace, and 
 universal Conformity."^ But this was before the days of the 
 Wesleys and the Methodists ; the Bishop, however, " heartily 
 wishes, that " his people " might be as well acquitted of 
 Superstition and Prophaneness." As a matter of fact, the 
 Welsh people clung on to their " Popery " as best they could, 
 without priests to guide them, until the followers of the 
 Wesleys succeeded in inducing them to join their sects and 
 branch sects. 
 
 Long after priests had disappeared in North Wales, the 
 people, especially in retired places, continued to practise the 
 religion that had been handed down to them from their fore- 
 fathers, each generation being less and less instructed, and 
 
 1 "Archp. Laud's History," p. 552.
 
 ^Jf ^6„^.^33] ^ ifg of A rchbisliop Latici. 1 8 
 
 J 
 
 their faith becoming vaguer and vaguer, until in many places 
 a hazy Christianity, with a few devotions such as hymn-sing- 
 ing, the saying of a few familiar prayers, the invocation of 
 certain saints, prayers in burial grounds for the dead, and 
 visits to holy wells, were all that was left of it. Yet these 
 people would have nothing to do with the State Church, 
 and it was among these sheep without a shepherd that 
 the Wesleys evangelized with such success. 
 
 One entry in the Annual Accounts, presented by Laud to 
 King Charles, relates to " that wild Young Gentleman Mr 
 SoutJi^' who had committed an atrocious crime and been 
 summoned in consequence before the High Commission by 
 Laud. Here Laud makes a bad pun, saying, " I hope your 
 Majesty will give me leave to make South blow West for 
 St Paurs ; " and the king makes one still worse, by scribbling 
 in the margin " C. R. The South-West Wind is commonly 
 the best, therefore I will not hinder the blowing that way." 
 One trembles at the thouglit of what Laud must have been 
 in society, if he tried to be funny in the style which he 
 sometimes adopted with his pen. 
 
 In Norwich, writes Laud, " one Mr Bridge rather than he 
 would Conform, hath left his Lecture and two Cures, and is 
 gone into Holland." Beside this, Charles puts a marginal 
 note : — " C. R. Let him goe : Wee are well ridd of him." 
 
 In one account (1634), Laud writes: — "I conceive under 
 favour, that the DutcJi Churches in Canterbury and Sandwich 
 are great Nurseries of Inconformity in those parts." Where- 
 upon the king scribbles : — " Put mee in mynd of this at 
 some convenient tyme, when I am at Council, and I shall 
 redress it." In fact, Charles seems to have been ever ready 
 to carry out Laud's wishes. On another matter Laud asks 
 whether his Majesty approves, and there is a marginal 
 note : — '' C. R. I doe, and will express my Pleasure (if need 
 be) what way you will." 
 
 The language used in the pulpit by some of the puri- 
 tanical clergy shocked Laud, as well it might. He reports 
 a curate to the king for having " used this base and Un- 
 christian passage in the Pulpit, That God so loved the
 
 i84 Life of Archbishop Laud. LireJ'"" 
 
 worlds that for it he sent his Sou to live like a Slave, and dye 
 like a Beast." King Charles caps this — as I grieve to say 
 reHgious people usually do cap profane stories, whenever 
 they are able — by writing in the margin : — " C. R. This is 
 not much unlike that which was not longe since uttered 
 elsewhere," and thereupon quotes something even more blas- 
 phemous and offensive. 
 
 Once more we have the Bishop of St Asaph and his holy 
 well. He has reported that he has " no Complaint, but the 
 usual." Lady Falkland " and her Company came as Pilgrims " 
 to St Winifrid's Well, " who were the more observed, because 
 they travelled on Foot, and Dissembled neither their quality, 
 nor their Errand." Laud had already " complained of this in 
 open Council " to the king, and he now begged that his 
 Majesty would " be graciously pleased that the Order then 
 resolved on for her confinement may be put in execution." 
 Charles's note to this is laconic and to the point : — " Itt is 
 done." It is needless to say that this was a case of pure and 
 simple persecution of Catholics on Laud's part and also on 
 Charles's. There was no excuse whatever for interference 
 with this pious and inoffensive lady. 
 
 I must not forget to mention that on Laud's first going to 
 Lambeth, the day before his " Translation," his " Coach, 
 Horses, and Men sunk to the bottom of the Thames in the 
 Ferry- Boat, which was overladen, but I Praise God for it, I 
 lost neither Man nor Horse." 
 
 And now Lady Eleanor Davies reappears upon the scene, 
 rousing the ire of Laud by prophesying " against me, that I 
 should very few Days out-live the Fifth of November." It 
 was all very well to prophesy evil things of kings and queens, 
 but very dangerous to do so of archbishops ; at any rate of 
 an archbishop of the type of Laud. 
 
 Some lines ^ among the State Papers reflecting upon Laud, 
 are thought by Mr Bruce- to be perhaps " the rhapsodical 
 compositions of Lady Eleanor Davies, who was called in 
 question in November 1633, for prophesying that the arch- 
 
 ^ S. P. O. Dom., vol. ccxlviii. No. 93. 
 ■^ " C^l. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. 266.
 
 ^Teo^^^'] L ife of A rchbiskop Land. 185 
 
 bishop should outlive the 5th November but a very few days. 
 The lines are entitled, ' Handwriting, October 1633. Exaudi 
 Deus. Psalm 55,' and in the margin there is a deduction of the 
 same number 55 out of the name LaVd." He adds that 
 their exact meaning " is difficult to discover." The punctua- 
 tion is peculiar. 
 
 " God of the Earth. Earth is England, 
 out of Earth, Comes a Beaste, 
 breed of the first, by the Sea Sand 
 of Evils not the Least, 
 two Horns like to a Lambe, not wilde 
 like Yorke, & Lambeth Looke, 
 oath giueth all, as Dragon milde 
 righte Hand, bidds Laye on Booke. 
 
 " Six Hundred-Sixtie-six, accounte 
 the Beast, His number tolde. 
 to fifftie five years, doo amounte. 
 So many moneths, is olde 
 Marke, Moneths, read of the Man of sinn 
 Whose Howers Last doo runn 
 Six Hundred-Sixtie, six beginn. 
 to counte His Moneth, to come. 
 
 even so come. Lord Jesus Amen." 
 
 Lady Eleanor Davies seems to have sent a sort of pro- 
 phetical memorial to the king.^ She wrote under her maiden 
 name of " Lady Eleanor Tuchet " (her father was the Earl 
 of Castlehaven), and she announced that " Early in the morn- 
 ing the B. [Bishop T\ beast ascended out of the bottomless 
 pit, with seven heads (seven years having made war), hath 
 overcome and killed them. Books sealed by the prophets, by 
 the Bishop of LambetJi are condemned to be burned at Paul's 
 Cross, where our Lord pictured was also crucified. This is 
 the third day their dead bodies throwed in loose sheets of 
 paper, lie in the streats of the great city, more cruel hard- 
 hearted than other tongues and nations, who will not suffer 
 them to be buried." 
 
 Instead of being treated like a lunatic, this poor woman 
 
 ^ S. p. O. Dom., vol. cclv. No. 20.
 
 t86 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Ireo.^'^' 
 
 was fined ^3000, and kept a close prisoner in the Gate- 
 house. It was said that she was far more overwhelmed by 
 a remark of the Dean of Arches, at her trial, than by her 
 sentence. It will be remembered that she founded her claims 
 to be a prophetess chiefly upon a discovery that the letters of 
 her name, " Eleianor Audeley " — her father had been Baron 
 Audley before being created Earl of Castlehaven — could be 
 twisted into the anagram, " Reveale O Daniel." The dean 
 was seen writing on a piece of paper, when he suddenly looked 
 up to the prisoner and said : — " Madam, I see you build much 
 on anagrams, and I have found one which I think will fit you 
   — Never so Mad a Ladie." There was a roar of laughter in 
 the court, and Heylin says that she afterwards either " grew 
 wiser, or less regarded." 
 
 More sane antagonists, however, than Lady Eleanor attacked 
 Laud, and he was obliged to " aduertise his Majesty of the 
 Falsehood and Practise that was against him." But one other 
 half-mad ill-wisher "came into the Court at St James's, with 
 a great Sword by his Side, swearing, the King should do him 
 Justice against me, or he wou'd take another course with 
 me." 
 
 With his unpopularity among certain people. Laud's favour 
 with the king seemed to increase. Charles's third son, or 
 second living son, born on the 13th or 14th (see Evelyn) of 
 October was christened James at St James's on the 24th of 
 November, by the archbishop, and created Duke of York by 
 the king. 
 
 Earlier in this chapter I have quoted from a letter written 
 to Laud from Ireland. The condition of ecclesiastical 
 matters in that country greatly distressed him, as well it 
 might ; for the Anglican clergy were, and had for many years 
 been, anything but a credit to their religion. Even at the 
 close of the sixteenth century, Spenser gave the following 
 opinion of them. ^ " Whatever disorders you see in the 
 Church of England, you may find these, and many more 
 [in Ireland], namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness, 
 fleshly incontinency, careless sloth, and generally all dis- 
 ^ I quote from Baine's " Life of Laud," p. 150.
 
 S'eJ.^''"] Life of Archbishop Laud. 187 
 
 ordered life in the common clergymen. And besides all 
 these, they have their particular enormities ; for all the Irish 
 Priests which now enjoy the church livings, they are in a 
 manner mere laymen, saving that they have taken holy 
 orders ; but otherwise they go and live like laymen, follow 
 all kinds of husbandry and other worldly affairs, as other Irish- 
 men do. They neither read the Scriptures, nor preach to the 
 people, nor administer the communion ; but baptism they 
 do, for they christen, yet after the Popish fashion." 
 
 Whether any improvement had been made in this con- 
 dition of things thirty or forty years later, I do not know ; 
 but it seems pretty clear that the Protestant Church in 
 Ireland was in a state very repugnant to the mind of Laud, 
 and that he determined to remedy it. Fortunately, he had 
 an instrument, on the spot, well qualified for that purpose. 
 Lord Wentworth, who had been one of the most conspicuous 
 members of the House of Commons in condemning the 
 exactions of Charles, in that king's third Parliament, had since 
 then been won over to the royalist cause, and in 1632 he was 
 appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland. He had already 
 become a warm friend of Laud's and consulted him as to 
 the management of Church matters in the land which he was 
 now to govern. It would take me too far afield to give even 
 a rough sketch of his arbitrary rule over the Irish Parliament 
 and people ; moreover it is too well known to require descrip- 
 tion here ; it may suffice to say that in the year 1634 he wrote 
 to Laud saying that he had succeeded in making the king 
 as absolute a monarch in Ireland, as any in the universe.^ 
 Laud thought it of the highest importance to have the Irish, 
 as well as the Scottish Established Church, under exactly the 
 same discipline as the English, greatly to the vexation of the 
 Irish Protestant prelates, who considered their Church distinct 
 and independent, and were perfectly satisfied with their own 
 articles of religion, which were much too Calvinistic to be 
 pleasing to Laud. Wentworth, guided by Laud, ordered 
 Archbishop Usher to draw up a canon authorizing the 
 English articles of religion, and when the canon did not 
 
 ^ Wentworth to Laud, i6th Dec. 1634.
 
 I S8 Life of Archbishop Land. [SreJ.'^^" 
 
 satisfy him, he drew up another, himself, in its place, and 
 sent it to the House, with instructions that no debate should 
 be allowed upon it, and that if any members voted against 
 the measure, their names should be reported to him. 
 
 In one of his letters to Wentworth ^ Laud writes : — " I have 
 known the Bishop of Waterford long, and when he lived in 
 College ; he would have done any Thing, or sold any Man for 
 six Pence Profit." He " was ever full of Jests, and would at 
 any Time lose a Friend rather than spare it." 
 
 In another letter to Wentworth,- in 1634, he makes one 
 remark which is so excellent and so much to the purpose 
 that I cannot forbear to quote it : — " That the Divine Service 
 may be read throughout the Churches, be the Company that 
 vouchsafe to come never so few. Let God have his whole 
 Service with Reverence, and He will quickly send in more 
 to help to perform it." 
 
 It was not only through Wentworth that Laud interfered 
 with Church matters in Ireland. Bramhall, Wentworth's 
 chaplain, reported to him that the Earl of Cork had erected a 
 monument over his family vault, in St Patrick's Cathedral, 
 on the very place where the high altar had formerly stood, " as 
 if it were contrived to gain the worship and reverence which 
 the chapter and whole church are bound by special statute 
 to give towards the East." Lord Cork received an intima- 
 tion from Laud that he must forthwith pull it down, where- 
 upon he wrote to Laud to say that his wife's family had for a 
 long time had the privilege of burying beneath the site of the 
 high altar, and that " in accomplishment of her dying desire 
 who was the mother of fifteene Children," he had " pro- 
 pounded unto the Lord Archbishop of Dublin, and the Deane 
 and Chapter of St Patrick's," to purchase the place for a 
 " Sellar," or family vault, and erect a tomb over it ; that, 
 until then, the floods and " raynes " had come into the 
 chancel and " anoyed withall," especially as the " flower " 
 (floor) of it was only of earth ; but that he had paved it and 
 drained it, so that the communion-table now stood " very dry 
 and gracefully " ; and he declared that the building of this 
 
 ^ " Strafford Papers," vol. i. p. 212, anno 1633. - //'., p. 254.
 
 %7.%o^^^'] Life of A7'chbishop Land. 189 
 
 monument, which was thirty feet high, and the paving and 
 draining, had cost him at least a thousand pounds. 
 
 In support of Lord Cork, the Archbishop of Dubh'n wrote 
 to Laud that the communion-table, which used to stand on a 
 " floore of earth," and was often " drowned with water " " in 
 former times," was now, thanks to the earl, on a pavement 
 of " faire hevven stones," and was placed with more decency ; 
 and that " his Lordship has in hand to set up a faire Skrine 
 of timber, somewhat distant from the monument," " in which 
 skrine the Decalogue shal be fairely painted ; and the Com- 
 munion Table shall bee placed close to the same, more decently 
 then it has ever been," and that the earl had exhibited ex- 
 emplary " meritts " and very great zeal in advancing the 
 interests of true religion. (Observe, in passing, that the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin hoped to please Laud by this promise that 
 the Decalogue " shal be fairely painted " in " the skrine." 
 There is plenty of evidence that, in those times, to have the 
 ten commandments painted above the communion-table was 
 considered the summit of High-Church orthodoxy.) 
 
 To this letter, says Prynne,i " this Arch-Prelate returned 
 this waspish insolent answer " : — " I am very glad to hear from 
 your Lordship of his [Lord Cork's] zeale for the advance- 
 ment of true religion : but I may not conceale from your 
 Lordship that I have likewise heard from others that hee 
 hath gotten into his hands no small proportion of the 
 Church's means. And if that be so, any man may see his 
 end in advancing true Religion. But such a Zeale that pore 
 Church hath little need of" As for " the Tombe which 
 occasioned all the rest," he said he could not judge without 
 seeing it, and that the matter must be left to the decision of 
 authorities who should be authorised to examine into the 
 matter on the spot. 
 
 At first sight, the interference of an English archbishop in 
 Irish ecclesiastical affairs may appear anomalous ; but it 
 should be remembered that Laud had been made Chancellor 
 of Dublin ; so that he was acting well within his rights. It 
 almost appeared as if excuses were made to give him power 
 
 ^ " Canterburies Doome," p. 85.
 
 I90 Life of Archbishop Lmcd. grso.^'^" 
 
 wherever possible, and what he writes in jest to Wentworth, 
 might have been said more seriously^ : — " I was fain to write 
 nine Letters yesterday into Scotland. I think you have a 
 Plot to see, whether I will be a Universalis Episcopus, that 
 you and your Brethren may take occasion to call me Anti- 
 Christ." 
 
 1 <( 
 
 Strafford Papers," vol. i. p. 271.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 I HAVE been demonstrating that Laud, far from confining 
 his proceedings to his own country, much less his own arch- 
 diocese, endeavoured to hold the reins of management, both 
 of Scotland and Ireland ; it will now be my business to 
 show that he wished to extend his influence very widely 
 beyond even those limits. 
 
 His scheme was to unite all Protestant bodies in one large 
 Church, each sect to be more or less under the discipline of 
 its own laws and canons, but federated to all the rest in 
 certain points common to all ; in short, he seems to have 
 wished to oppose a more or less compact Protestant Church 
 to the Catholic Church. 
 
 This scheme was put into shape by Sir Thomas Roe, 
 formerly ambassador at Constantinople, and a man named 
 John Durie, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland and an 
 ardent re-unionist. Their project is described by Mr Bruce ^ 
 as " a union of recognition and brotherhood among all 
 Protestant Churches." Modern High-Church admirers of 
 Laud may do well to make a note of this ! " Durie, with 
 the archbishop's concurrence, had drawn two letters, one 
 proposed to be addressed by the Archbishop to the Lutheran, 
 and the other to the Calvinistic Churches in Germany, as 
 testifying Laud's desire to promote the scheme of union." ^ 
 
 That is to say, Archbishop Laud desired to promote a 
 union between the Established Church of England and two 
 German Churches, which repudiated orders and apostolical 
 succession. 
 
 It was arranged that Durie should attend the Diet of 
 Frankfort with a view to furthering this great Protestant 
 amalgamation. Before he started. Laud gave him letters to 
 
 ^ Preface to " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. xxxv. - lb., p. xxxvi. 
 
 191
 
 192 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [xviithcem. 
 
 carry with him, which Durie declares he found " emphatical 
 enough, and full of strong expressions of love towards the 
 work"^ — the work of a great Protestant union between the 
 Anglican, Lutheran, and Calvinistic Churches ! 
 
 It is quite clear that it was essentially a Protestant Union, 
 and not a Union of all nominal Christians, whether Catholic 
 or Protestant, that was aimed at ; nay more, that it was a 
 Union of Protestants versus Catholics ; for, in his recapitula- 
 tion, at his trial before the Lords, Laud says ^ : — " Lastly, there 
 have been above Three-score Letters and other Papers, brought 
 out of my Study into this Honourable House ; they are all 
 about composing the Differences between the L^Uherans and 
 the Calvinists in Germany. Why they should be brought 
 hither, but in hope to charge them upon me, I know not ; and 
 then the Argument will be thus : I laboured to reconcile 
 the Protestants in Germany, that they might unanimously 
 set themselves against the Papists ; therefore I laboured to 
 bring Popery into England!' It is true that nothing is said 
 here of the union of the Anglicans with the rival Protestant 
 sects abroad; but it shows the spirit in which his "recon- 
 ciliations " were proposed. 
 
 When it came to a question of paying Durie's expenses, 
 Laud said : — " If I had been in this see twenty or twenty- 
 two years, as my predecessor was, I could, perhaps, be able 
 to allow you seven or eight score pounds a year, but now I 
 am. not able : therefore, if this which I am ready to do, can 
 serve your turn, you may make use of it."^ He then pro- 
 ceeded to make Durie the offer of a living in Devonshire, 
 which was to provide him an income while he laboured 
 to promote the great " Evangelical Alliance." When 
 Durie obiected that he could not, at the same time, be 
 at his " cure and abroad," Laud replied, " You may 
 have a curate." Durie found, however, that, after paying 
 a curate out of the emoluments of the living offered, the 
 balance would be very small. 
 
 King Charles does not appear to have entered into the 
 
 1 Preface to " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. xxvii. "- " Hist.," p. 419. 
 
 3 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. xxxviii.
 
 %\'X^^''-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 193 
 
 scheme with quite so much cordiahty as Laud ; for the latter 
 writes to Sir Thomas Roe^ that "His Majesty has been 
 acquainted with the business Roe writ of, and has given a 
 very pious and a prudent answer, though it reach not home 
 in all circumstances to that which is desired." 
 
 Nevertheless, in a measure he encouraged it ; for we find 
 Roe writing^ some months later to Windebank that : — ■" His 
 Majesty has declared his liking, [for the project] the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury has taken the direction, the foreign 
 churches seek to him, and will obey him." He declares that 
 " the work is far improved above hope, above the means, 
 above the exquisite skill and labour of princes and learned 
 men in the former age, and Roe must conclude that it is 
 Gods only blessing \_sic\ and that he will perfect it, if they be 
 worthy of the blessing." Further on he says that " the peace 
 of the reformed church can never be secure while it is divided 
 and the enemy concur in one end and head. Unity will 
 prevail." 
 
 Later, again, there seemed to be difficulties with the king. 
 Durie wrote to Roe,^ that he had been to see Archbishop 
 Laud, who had told him that he might " come when he would 
 and should always be welcome." He added, however, " that, 
 as for the king, he found not that he was willing to declare 
 himself as yet, for causes which he kept to himself, and that 
 Durie had done well in writing hitherto nothing unto them, 
 lest in writing before things be resolved upon, he should be 
 forced to retract ; that between this and spring things would 
 frame themselves otherwise in those parts, and according to 
 their state a course may be taken." 
 
 About the same time Roe wrote to the Bishop of Durham,^ 
 " how Durie, a Scotch minister, was employed into Germany for 
 the reconciliation of the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches." 
 ■" He has come home with many letters to the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, signifying the desire of the Germans, and 
 imploring his Majesty's assistance as mediator. Now it 
 depends on what we will do here. Fears we shall rather quit 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1833-4, P- 197- "^ lb., p. 403. 
 
 ■* lb., p. 406. '^ lb., p. 430. 
 
 N
 
 1 94 L ife of A rchbisJiop Laud. [S? eJ.^^'' 
 
 it with shame than prosecute it with zeal. The Archbishop 
 has promised to assist, but he is so cautelous, and refers to 
 his Majesty, that it is a doubt it will perish by being in hands 
 that cannot intend it \i.e., attend to it]." Roe prays the 
 Almighty "to show his Majesty in a true light what is fit 
 for him, his church, and people." The project "has already 
 cost ^400, and they must seek help of good men." Sad 
 to say, good men helped but little, and, to use a modern 
 phrase, the grand scheme for a Protestant Union eventually 
 " languished for want of funds." 
 
 A few months later than the date of the letter quoted 
 above, Roe wrote ^ to Baron Oxenstiern urging him " to press 
 forward the project for union of the churches, with respect to 
 which the king waits to ensjage himself until he is informed 
 of the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor Oxenstiern." And 
 when, in 1634, the Diet was sitting at Frankfort, he wrote ^ 
 from Bulwick to Archbishop Laud, begging him " to take 
 care that some instructions be given to the king's representa- 
 tive there to avow Durie's person or the negotiation. 
 Durie is confident that God will give His church peace, 
 that this is the time and that the Archbishop may have 
 the honour." 
 
 Then came a letter^ from Laud himself to Roe, mentioning 
 the project as " so good a cause." " That it succeeded not 
 was no fault of the Archbishop." " Concerning Durie's 
 return to the Diet, the Archbishop's letters have lain by him 
 long since, one to such Lutherans, and the other to such 
 Calvinists, as wrote to him. In those letters the Archbishop 
 has expressed himself so far as it can be anyways fit, and 
 Durie has free leave to go to the Diet to be held in May. 
 His success there the Archbishop wishes may be happy. "^ 
 This proves Laud's personal sympathy with the undertaking. 
 " The writer has moved his Majesty several times, but though 
 the king highly approves the work, yet will he not publicly 
 avow either Durie or his negotiation ; neither doth he hold 
 it fit so to do, where the Princes upon the place have not 
 
 ^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1833-4, p, 320. "-lb., p. 544. 
 
 ■^ lb., p. 562.
 
 M?X''''] ^ ife of A rchbishop Lmid. 195 
 
 publicly declared themselves." " He has spoken his mind to 
 his Majesty in private, and that is all he can do." 
 
 Laud still continued to further the cause bv sendincr, witli 
 another, two letters ^ to Durie, " one to be showed to the 
 Reformed and the other to the Lutheran churches." In a 
 letter to Roe,^ Durie says that Laud had written him letters 
 which he found " emphatical enough, and full of strong ex- 
 pressions of love to the work, and some commendation of 
 Durie's labours." 
 
 There can be no question of Laud's desire for the promotion 
 of the scheme, nor is it unlikely that he may have conceived 
 the idea of one day becoming, himself, a sort of Protestant 
 Pope over all the Reformed Churches of the world ! 
 
 Even later than any of the letters already quoted on the 
 subject, Laud wrote to Durie,^ acknowledging the receipt of 
 " letters directed to him from brothers in Christ in the Pala- 
 tinate, Biponto, Hesse, and elsewhere in Germany " — surely 
 these must have been the forefathers of the " dear, dissenting 
 brothers " talked of by modern Evangelicals — " from which 
 he understands how diligently Durie has prosecuted the busi- 
 ness of restoring the peace of the Church. Urges him to 
 proceed, assures him of his prayers, and his aid at the proper 
 time. Meanwhile he is pressed by many burdens, but wishes 
 Durie to salute for him all who are solicitous for the peace of 
 the Church, and especially the distinguished theologians who 
 have written to him, but whose letters he is unable to answer 
 on account of the pressure of other business." 
 
 It is interesting, at the present time, to consider what 
 Laud's ideal great Protestant Church would be like now, if 
 his wishes had been realised. Anglicans when on the Con- 
 tinent could not in that case be going, as they frequently do 
 now, to high masses, vespers, benedictions, and other func- 
 tions in Catholic cathedrals and churches, but would have to 
 content themselves with those Lutheran, French Protestant, 
 Vaudois, and such like Reformed conventicles with which 
 they would be legally allied. 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1833-4, p. 566. " lb., p. 309. 
 
 3 lb., 1634-5, p. 148.
 
 196 Life of Archbishop Latid. [St'eJ.^''- 
 
 So seldom, at present, do high Anghcans attend services in 
 Lutheran churches, that it may be well to call their attention 
 to Laud's consistency in inclining towards that body. In its 
 churches, the altars stood " as of old " much more than in 
 the highest of the High Anglican ; for they were not only 
 placed " altarwise," but at least so far as the substructure 
 was concerned, consisted, I believe, of the actual altars 
 themselves, and not, as in England, of mere communion- 
 tables placed where the altars formerly stood ; moreover, 
 the very side-altars, in many cases, were left standing. A 
 fine example of this may be seen at the present day in 
 the Lutheran Church at Nuremberg. It is true that the 
 Lutheran clergy did not " wear whites " ; but, if they wore 
 blacks instead, they left the crucifixes on the altars and 
 lighted the candles. As to the absence of bishops, it has 
 already been shown that, in Laud's opinion, bishops were 
 actually present in the Lutheran Church, under another 
 name. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of the Universal Protestant 
 Church, which Laud so much desired, it may be well to give 
 a quotation from Heylin which bears upon it.^ In reply to 
 some assertions that Laud inclined rather towards Catholicism 
 than Protestantism, he says : — " Had he directed his en- 
 deavours to suppress the Protestants, he would not have 
 given so much countenance to Dury, a Scot, who entertained 
 him with some hopes of working an Accord betwixt the 
 Lutheran and Calvinian Churches. In which service, as he 
 wasted a great deal of time to little purpose ; so he received 
 as much encouragement from Canterbury as he had reason to 
 expect. Welcome at all times to his Table, and speaking 
 honourably to him upon all occasions, till the times were 
 changed, when either finding the impossibility of his Under- 
 taking, or wanting the supply of that Oyl which maintained 
 his Lamp, he proved a true Scot as the rest of the Nation, 
 laying the blame of his miscarriage in it, on the want of 
 Encouragement ; and speaking disgracefully of the man 
 which^had given him most." 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 343.
 
 ^^0.^33.] j^ife of Archbishop Laud. 197 
 
 I had already hinted that the project practically failed for 
 want of "Oyl." 
 
 Let us for a time disregard external matters and consider 
 Laud's life at his own palace at Lambeth, now that he was 
 settled there as archbishop. 
 
 He rose early, often by candle-light, and spent an hour or 
 so in devotion and spiritual reading. Then he took a plain 
 breakfast of bread and water. He was quite an exception in 
 drinking this unintoxicating fluid at such an hour, as ale was 
 then the usual beverage at breakfast. After his breakfast, 
 he received his secretary and chaplain, and at ten o'clock he 
 went to the service in his chapel, which was attended by his 
 household of more than a hundred people, consisting ex- 
 clusively of men. Not long after the morning service, came the 
 great meal of the day, dinner ; so the lightness of Laud's break- 
 fast was no proof of extreme asceticism. At the archiepiscopal 
 dinner, open house was kept, and it was served in the hall, 
 the archbishop and his more important guests, which often 
 included members of the court, sitting at the cross-table at 
 the upper end of the room. Mr Benson tells us ^ that Laud 
 dined in his rochet, and wore it when out walking and at 
 court, rarely taking it off, except in his study or garden, and 
 he has doubtless good authority for saying so ; certainly in 
 most of Laud's portraits he is thus represented and with a 
 square college-cap on his head ; in the portraits of Bishop 
 Andrews the same dress is worn ; but the bishops of the 
 period do not appear to have invariably worn their rochets ; 
 for in the frontispiece to Hackett's Life of Archbishop 
 Williams, a black gown and square cap are given, and in 
 two engravings, one of which will be noticed presently, Laud 
 wears a black cassock and close-fitting black cap, although 
 it is but fair to say that both represent him after his deposi- 
 tion. 
 
 After dinner, Laud commonly went to the Council or the 
 Star Chamber, jn his barge, his pike-bearers attending him.'^ 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.,"p. 158. 
 
 '■^ The pikes are still at I>ambeth. See Benson, p. 159, from whom I take 
 most of this account of Laud's daily life.
 
 1 98 Life of ArchbisJiop Land. [ireo'"' 
 
 If he did not leave the palace, he gave audiences. These fre- 
 quently took place in the garden, if the weather permitted, or, 
 •if it did not, in the gallery, while he paced up and down for 
 the sake of exercise. At about four or five o'clock, he went 
 to Evensong in his chapel. After that, he took a time of 
 quiet study, unless more immediately important duties de- 
 manded his attention. Then followed his supper, which he 
 took in private, and, soon afterwards, he went to bed. 
 
 Laud's recreation is said by some of his biographers to 
 have been music. Mr Benson maintains this opinion, chiefly 
 on the strength of " a harp, a chest of viols, and a harpsico 
 in his parlour at Lambeth," being mentioned in his will. He 
 put an organ in each of the houses which he inhabited ; but, 
 as Mr Benson very fairly says, that he should do so is not 
 surprising when we consider his liturgical inclinations. 
 
 While we are looking at him in his home, we may observe 
 his small stature, his red and plump, if not exactly fat, face, 
 with its high eyebrows, its moustache a little turned up at 
 the ends, and its imperial, his hair, unlike that of most of the 
 people about the court of Charles L, cut very short, his restless, 
 jerky, imperious manner, and his hard, rasping, disagreeable 
 voice. Probably his most striking features were his glittering, 
 intelligent eyes, and his strongly-bridged nose — a nose with 
 a good deal of decision of character visible in its not very 
 pointed end. 
 
 So far as I can ascertain, he never took a holiday or 
 allowed himself any recreation ; on the other hand, such 
 things would not be Hkely to be recorded in a concise, and 
 rather irregularly kept, diary ; nor would a contemporary 
 biographer, such as Heylin, be likely to make any mention of 
 them. We know, however, that he went to court, and the 
 very anterooms of the great men whom he must have had 
 constant occasion to visit were the scenes of what amounted 
 to social gatherings, in which, while awaiting his turn for 
 audience, he could talk politics, hear the freshest and raciest 
 gossip, or discuss the latest poems of Milton, Ben Jonson, or 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Unencumbered by a wife or family, he was free to concen-
 
 Mt':lo^^^'] Life of A^'chbishop Laud. 199 
 
 trate all his thoughts and energies upon ecclesiastical and 
 political affairs. If he had no wife, or child, or recreation, 
 or hobby, properly so called, he had none the less plenty of 
 variety of interest to pass his time and entertain him. His 
 secular posts and appointments must have occupied him 
 almost as much as his ecclesiastical, his correspondence with 
 Wentworth and others was probably no less a pleasure and 
 an amusement than a duty and a labour, and it is pretty 
 clear that he enjoyed nothing so much as the exercise of 
 power, of which he had an extraordinary share. 
 
 Perhaps his chief amusement was his garden in the front court 
 of Lambeth Palace, Here he himself planted some fig-trees, 
 and here a tortoise, about sixty years old, which had been given 
 to him long before at Oxford, used to appear from its winter 
 hiding-place at the first burst of spring, and crawl stiffly 
 about. Mr Benson ^ tells us that he found, among a number 
 of dusty rel'ics in the palace, a tortoise-shell, on which was 
 fastened a piece of paper, inscribed, " The shell of a tortoise 
 which was put into the garden at Lambeth in the year 1633, 
 where it remained till the year 1753," the remainder of the 
 almost illegible writing appearing to imply that it then met 
 with its death through some accident or negligence. 
 
 On one side of the garden were the great gates, destined to 
 be assaulted by rioters some years later ; on the other were 
 some high elms, under which Laud used to pace up and down 
 when giving interviews to clergy or to statesmen ; and the 
 middle of the court was covered with grass. 
 
 There are several engraved portraits of Laud, one of the 
 best being the frontispiece in his Troubles and Tryal ; but 
 his face has been perhaps most faithfully presented to pos- 
 terity by Vandyke, in the oil painting hanging in the guard- 
 room, now used as the dining-room, at Lambeth Palace. 
 
 " Again and again," ^ says Mr Benson, " I have heard people 
 ask, 'And who is that very extraordinary-looking person.-" 
 and, on being told who it is, say in a tone of incredulous be- 
 wilderment, ' TJiat Laud ! ' " As a criticism of the portrait, 
 he presently adds : — " If faces betray character, this man had 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.,"p. II. -P. 8.
 
 200 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [It?^.^^^' 
 
 little of the saint about him." One of the least known, but 
 most interesting-, of his portraits, is an engraving by Marshall, 
 in a very rare little book, or tract, called Laud's Recanta- 
 tion. In this he wears a sort of cassock and girdle, a ruff 
 round his neck, and the plain black cap on his head, which is 
 to be seen below the square college-cap in the pictures repre- 
 senting him in his rochet and lawn-sleeves. He wears a 
 similar dress in the picture of his trial, in Prynne's Breviate. 
 In Marshall's engraving there are the same raised eyebrows 
 and turned-up moustaches as in the portrait in his Diary ; 
 but the stern, prosperous expression has given place to one 
 of sorrow and regret, or, as a much abler critic than myself 
 puts it, "great astonishment at the plight in which he finds 
 himself" My readers, however, can judge for themselves, as 
 a copy of it forms the frontispiece to this volume. 
 
 L-
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 We left Laud in the peaceful dignity of his palace at Lam- 
 beth ; we must now accompany him to the more stirring 
 scene of the Star Chamber. 
 
 A certain William Prynne, the son of a farmer living be- 
 tween Clifton and Henbury (probably a sheep-farmer on 
 Durdham Downs, and later an agent for a property near 
 Bath, belonging to Oriel College, Oxford), and his wife, 
 Marie (a daughter of Sherston, Mayor of Bath, and member 
 of Parliament for that city for four years), became an under- 
 graduate at Oriel, and afterwards a student at Lincoln's Inn. 
 He inherited from ^150 to ^200 a year from his father — a 
 good income in those days — and had every prospect of a 
 comfortable, prosperous, and honoured life. 
 
 Unfortunately, he could not leave well alone ; but must 
 needs write and publish a book of above one thousand pages, 
 called Histrio-inastrix, against theatres, balls, hunting, 
 " Christmas-keeping," May-poles, bonfires, public festivals, 
 the erection of altars in churches, " cringing and ducking to 
 altars," "silk and satin divines," and the "barking," and 
 " roaring," and " grunting " of choristers. 
 
 As a specimen of the style, I may quote the following 
 extract from the part which treats of theatricals : — " God 
 forbedd that any whoe have beene dipped in the sacred laver 
 of Regeneracion, any that have been bathed, &c., should 
 prove such desperate incarnate devills, such monsters of 
 ympiety, such atheisticall Judases to their lord and Master, 
 such perjured cutt throates to their Religion, such apostates 
 or undeplored enimyes to their owne salvation, or such will- 
 full bloody murtherers to their owne soules, as to approve or 
 justifye or to practise these stage playes." 
 
 For publishing this "libellous volume," Prynne was sum-
 
 202 Life of Archbishop Land. [St?^.'"" 
 
 moned before the Court of High Commission in the Star 
 Chamber ; his trial lasted three days, and, on the fourth, the 
 Court proceeded to pass sentence. 
 
 Lord Cottington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, began. 
 Mr Prynne, he said, had published a volume of libels express- 
 ing, in a manner, a malice^ "against all mankind, and the 
 best sort of mankind, against King, prince, peer, prelates, 
 magistrates and governors, and truly in a manner against all 
 things. But that which hath been more remarkable, is, his 
 spleen against the church and government of it." 
 
 Lord Cottington's sentence was a very long one. When 
 he came to the practical part, he ordered him to be disbarred, 
 " and because he had his offspring from Oxford (' now,' with a 
 lov/ voice, said the bishop of Canterbury, ' I am sorry that 
 ever Oxford bred such an evil member ') there to be degraded. 
 And I do condemn Mr Prynne to stand in the pillory in two 
 places, in Westminster and Cheapside, and that he shall lose 
 both his ears, one in each place ; and with a paper on his 
 head, declaring how foul an offence it is." " And lastly (nay, 
 not lastly) I do condemn him in i5^5000 fine to the King. 
 And, lastly, perpetual imprisonment." 
 
 The next judge fined him another ;^5000, and ordered him 
 to " be restrained from writing, neither to have pen, ink, or 
 paper ; yet let him have," said he, " some pretty prayer-book, 
 to pray to God to forgive him his sins." 
 
 The third judge fined him " ;^io,ooo, which is more than 
 he is worth, yet less than he deserveth," and ordered him to 
 be branded in the forehead and slit in the nose, as he feared 
 that he might conceal the disgrace of his cropt ears by forcing 
 ^'his conscience to make use of his unlovely love-locks on 
 both sides." 
 
 Laud merely remarked that he was "sorrye that a man 
 that hath been so prayerfull and had soe good breed inge 
 should soe ill bestowe his labour to such haynous endes."^ 
 Yet it was with Laud that Prynne was most angry, and 
 to whom he attributed his arrest, conviction, and cruel 
 punishment. 
 
 1 " Slate Trials," vol. i. p. 417. "^ Official Summary of the Trial.
 
 St"/.'^^'*] Life of Archbishop Laud. 203 
 
 On the nth of June 1634, Laud writes in his Diary: — 
 " Mr Prynne sent me a very Libellous Letter, about his Cen- 
 sure in the Star-CJiamber for his Histriomastrix, and what I 
 said at that Censure ; in which he hath many ways mistaken 
 me and spoken untruth of me." 
 
 This letter, which is written from prison, where Laud had 
 obtained for him the favour of writing materials, is a very 
 long one ; it will be sufficient that I should quote its ending.^ 
 
 "And thus desiring God of his infinite mercy to pardon, to 
 purge out all the venome, malice, and violence of your heart 
 against myself and others, and put bowells of mercy, pitty, 
 meekness, and affection towards good men into you, and to 
 give you grace unfainedly to repent of all your violent, unjust, 
 extravagant, oppressive, vexatious, despitefull courses and 
 proceedings which crye aloud for vengeance against you, and 
 will certainly end in misery, ruyne, if not in hell itself, if you 
 runne on madding in them, without restraint or feare, I 
 humbly take my leave, and rest Your Grace's oppressed one, 
 seeking, not grace, but justice from you, 
 
 " William Prynne." 
 
 A letter written in such a tone was not very well calculated 
 to soften the heart of an oppressor, and Laud simply showed 
 it to the king, who commanded him to hand it to " Mr 
 Atturney Noye^ ^ Laud shall tell us what followed. "■ Junij 
 17. Mr Atturney sent for Mr Prynn to his Chamber; 
 -shewed him the Letter, asked him whether it were his hand. 
 Mr Prynn said ; he could not tell, unless he might read it. 
 The Letter being given into his hand, he tore it into small 
 pieces, threw it out at the Window, and said, that should 
 never rise in Judgment against him : Fearing, it seems, an 
 Ore teniis for this." 
 
 "Junij 18. Mr Atturney brought him, for this, into the 
 ■S tar-Chamber ; where all this appear'd with shame enough to 
 Mr Prynn. I there forgave him, &c." 
 
 So far, so good ; but I must anticipate by saying that in 
 
 ^ "Documents relating to \Vm. Prynne." S. R. Gardiner, p. 56. 
 3 Diary, p. 50.
 
 204 Life of Archbishop Lattd. [It? 64.^"" 
 
 1637, Prynne, with Bastwick and Burton, was again brought 
 before the Star Chamber "for their Libells against the 
 Hierarchy of the Church." 
 
 This time, something Hke twenty judges passed sentence 
 upon him ; some adding penalties, others merely confirming,. 
 or expressing their approval of, the sentences already passed. 
 Juxon, then Bishop of London, "condempnes the booke to 
 the fyer." Lord Dorset says : — " This man wilbe affrighted at 
 a three-cornered capp, sweate at a surplus, sighe to heare 
 musicke, swounde to the signe of the crosse, yett will make 
 noe conscyence to lye, forsweare, and perjure him selfe, and 
 for the advantage of the common cause to rayle upon the- 
 Kinges estate, and instructe treason. Hee is all purple 
 within, all pryde, all mallyce, all spite." 
 
 Much time must already have been occupied by those 
 sentences, yet when it came to Laud's turn he occupied two 
 hours in delivering his judgment. " Hee spake two howers 
 out of a note booke prepard for that purpose," ^ and he 
 divided his matter into fourteen heads. \\\ the course of it, 
 he contrived to give a side thrust at the Bishop of Lincoln's 
 " book lately publisht, the Bishopp of Lincoln being present 
 to heare it, when his Grace said the Bishopp was mistaken,, 
 and that as learned as himselfe were of that oppinion. His 
 Grace past no sentence, but he gave the lords thankes that 
 did passe sentence upon those delinquents." 
 
 He was heard to remark to another of the Council, how- 
 ever, that there was still a good deal of Prynne's ears that 
 would bear cropping, and that at his first execution, the 
 hangman had merely cut away " the seams " ; an observation 
 which Prynne, if he overheard it, would certainly consider 
 ill-natured, as well as suggestive. Although Laud, in neither 
 sentence, assigned any actual bodily penalty to Prynne, he 
 incurred his bitter hatred ; and Prynne may have believed,, 
 nor without reason, that while, as a bishop, he considered it 
 more seemly to leave the sentencing to bodily pains to the 
 secular arm, he took good care to instruct the secular arm as- 
 to the ghastly details. 
 
 ^ News Letter from C. Rossingham, 15 June 1637.
 
 ^Tel^^^'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 205 
 
 Undoubtedly Prynne was a very unsatisfactory character ; 
 but, as he, rightly or wrongly, attributed all his sufferings, 
 which were great and many, to Laud, it is scarcely a matter 
 for surprise that he should have felt ill-will towards him. It 
 is true that John Selden said : — " Men cry out upon the 
 high commission, as if only clergymen had to do with it ; 
 when I believe there are more laymen in commission there, 
 than clergymen. If the laymen will not come, whose fault is 
 that ? So of the star-chamber, the people think the bishops 
 only censured Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick, when there 
 were but two there, and one spoke not in his own cause." ^ 
 
 On the other hand, another writer - says : — " The King and 
 Queen did nothing direct against him (Prynne) till Laud set 
 Dr Heylin (who bore a great malice to Prynne for confuting 
 some of his doctrines) to peruse Prynne's book, &c. The 
 archbishop went with these notes to Mr Attorney Noy, and 
 charged him to prosecute Prynne, which Noy afterwards did 
 vigorously enough in the Star Chamber, &c." 
 
 The second sentence passed on Prynne had much in 
 common with the first ; but, in effect, it was more severe ; 
 for when he was in the pillory on the two first occasions, he 
 promised the hangman five pieces of silver, if he would use 
 him " kyndly," ^ so that official had merely snipped off a 
 little of the rim of his ears, and performed the other dis- 
 agreeable duties as mercifully, and with as much considera- 
 tion for the comfort of his patient, as was possible under the 
 circumstances. After the operation was over, however, " Prin 
 gave him but halfe a crowne, in six pences," instead of five 
 shillings, which was the amount which the hangman had 
 understood by Prynne's offer of five pieces of silver. When 
 Prynne was put into the pillory, four years later, the " haing- 
 man was quitt with him." He " burnt Prin," says the autho- 
 rity above quoted, " in both the cheekes, and, as I heare, 
 because hee burnt one cheeke with a letter the wronge waye " 
 (owing, no doubt, to the sixpences instead of shillings), " hee 
 burnt that againe ; precently a surgeon clapt a plaster to take 
 
 1 Seidell's "Table Talk," ed. 1892, p. 45. 
 2 Whitelock, "Memorials," p. 18. ^ S. P. O. Dom. vol. ccclxii. No. 42.
 
 2o6 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Srei.^^*' 
 
 out the fire. The haingman hewed off Prin's eares very 
 scurvily, which putt him to much paine, and after hee stood 
 longer in the pillorye before his head could be gott out." 
 The sixpences had probably something to do with this also. 
 
 I may mention, in passing, that several other prisoners were 
 tried in the Star Chamber at the same time as Prynne. One 
 of them was condemned by Cottington to stand in the 
 pillory in St Paul's churchyard. " It is a consecrated place," 
 exclaimed Laud. " I cry your grace's mercy," said Lord 
 Cottington ; " then let it be in Cheapside." ^ 
 
 The severities of the Court of High Commission, so far as 
 they affected ecclesiastical and religious offences, were almost 
 universally attributed to Laud. I will give a few examples 
 of the cases of such a nature that came before it. 
 
 The Rector of Tretire with Michael Church, co. Hereford, 
 was accused of having seldom read the Litany except in 
 Lent, and of having omitted parts of the service, " as for ex- 
 ample, when he came to the Psalms, or to one of the Lessons, 
 he would leave reading and fall to expounding." " That 
 done," he would go up to the pulpit and begin his sermon. 
 In expounding, he inveighed by name against some of his 
 parishioners with whom he was offended. For these, and 
 sundry other irregularities, " the court pronounced him a 
 man incorrigible," as, indeed, he appears to have been, 
 " and ordered him to be deprived and suspended from his 
 mmistry. - 
 
 The Vicar of Poslingford, Suffolk, when preaching, " in his 
 gesture " " feigns some man whom he aims at, throwing out 
 his arm against the said party." ^ Augustine Moreland, 
 of Stroud, Kent, gentleman, " was much given to excessive 
 drinking, and at such times swore most desperate oaths and 
 blasphemed the name of God." * The Court " ordered him 
 to make acknowledgement at his parish church in certain 
 words to be set down by the commissioners, fined him ;^500 
 to the King, and condemned him in costs. Lastly, he was 
 committed to the gate-house till he gave bond with sureties 
 
 1 " Celebrated Trials," vol. i. p. 420, 
 « " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634-5, p. 263. ^ /^,^ p. 315. 4 /^_^ p_ 330,
 
 Grca^i634.j Lifc of Archlushop Laucl. 207 
 
 to perform the order of the court." This was very different 
 from the five shillings and costs usual for drunkenness, and 
 what the police call "ofifuU language," in these days. 
 
 One, George Gayre, appears to have been a Catholic, at 
 whose house chalices and vestments had been seized ; for the 
 Court made the following pronouncement: — "The massing- 
 stuff and chalices ordered to be defaced and delivered to the 
 owner if he will come into the court and require them." ^ 
 
 John Etkins, of Isham, was "charged with irreverent 
 behaviour in wearing his hat during divine service, in causing 
 ^100 to be told over upon the communion-table" inpayment 
 for some land, " and in saying in the streets of Isham in scorn 
 that a ploughman is as good as a priest. Fined ;!^ioo, 
 ordered to make a public submission in the church of Isham, 
 and condemned in costs." - 
 
 The Vicar of Brigstock had resorted to the mean trick of 
 causing " the clerk to lock the church door to keep in the 
 whole congregation in the winter time to hear him preach 
 until dark night." ^ I have only read the depositions, 
 without taking the trouble of finding out what sentence was 
 passed upon him. Certainly he deserved a heavy one ! 
 
 We find a Sir William Hellwys brought up for deserting 
 his wife and misbehaving himself ^ " He was ordered to do 
 penance, more penitentiali, in a white sheet," in the churches 
 of the two parishes " where the greatest scandal had been given 
 by him." He was also fined j[^^oo and costs. 
 
 Trials before the Court of High Commission were by no 
 means confined to the sterner sex. We have already seen 
 how Lady Eleanor Davies was treated, and, on another 
 occasion, Laud wrote to the king asking his leave to summon 
 Lady Falkland before it. ^ And here we shall see how he 
 treated converts to Catholicism. He wrote to the king : — 
 
 " Lord Newburgh has acquainted the writer that Mrs 
 Ann and Mrs Elizabeth Cary, two daughters of the late 
 Lord Falkland, are reconciled to the Church of Rome, 
 not without the practise of their mother. Presumes his 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634-5, p. 322. " lb., p. 26S. 
 
 a lb., p. 415. ^ /^.,p. 553. « lb., p. 159.
 
 2o8 Life of A7xhbishop Lmid. ^^^\f.^'- 
 
 Majesty remembers what suit Lord Newburgh made at 
 Greenwich, and what command his Majesty sent by Sec. 
 Coke to the Lady, that she should forbear working on 
 her daughters' consciences, and suffer them to go to their 
 brother, or any other safe place where they might receive 
 such instruction as was fit for them. The Lady trifled out 
 of these commands, pretended her daughters' sickness, till 
 now they are sick indeed, yet not without hope of recovery, 
 for as Lord Newburgh informs the Archbishop they meet 
 with some things there which they cannot digest and are 
 willing to be taken again by any fair way. The Archbishop 
 has taken hold of this, and according to his duty has done 
 what he could think fittest for the present, but the greatest 
 thing he fears is that the mother will still be practising, and 
 do all she can to hinder. Prays his Majesty's leave to call 
 the old Lady into the High Commission if he find cause so 
 to do, and further as he was so is he still an earnest suitor 
 that she might be commanded from Court, where if she live 
 she is as like to breed inconvenience to his Majesty as any 
 other." 
 
 Obviously there was not much " leaning towards Rome " 
 on Laud's part. 
 
 If he was quite prepared to hold out the right hand of 
 fellowship to the various Protestant Churches abroad, and to 
 unite with them in one great Non-Catholic Church, he ex- 
 pected all their members, when in this country, to conform 
 as much as possible to the Established Church of England. 
 
 A Walloon congregation had established itself at Maid- 
 stone, and Laud sent his vicar-general, Brent, to look after 
 it. He reported to Laud ^ that he had seen the minister and 
 " some of the principal of the Walloon congregation, to 
 whom " he had " intimated that all the natives of their con- 
 gregation must resort to the parish church of Maidstone, 
 together with the English, to hear divine service and sermons, 
 and to perform all duties of parishioners ; and that as well 
 minister as people of the same Walloon congregation which 
 are aliens born shall have and use the Liturgy or Book of 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634-5, p. 366.
 
 circa^,634.j Llfc of ArckbisJwp Laucl. 209 
 
 Common Prayer used in the English churches, as the same 
 [is] or may be faithfully translated into French." 
 
 Some months later, we find Brent making his report to 
 Laud of the French and Dutch ministers.^ He has made 
 them all promise that " they will obey his commands as much 
 as possibly they can ; that is, they will repair often to the 
 English churches to hear both divine service and sermons, 
 and persuade their congregations so to do ; and say that 
 they hope to induce them to receive the blessed Eucharist 
 some times every year in the English churches also, and will 
 do whatsoever else may be done without the utter dissipation 
 of their own congregations." Presently he admits that he 
 " could not get them to set down under their hands, because, 
 as they said, they did not know what they should be able to 
 persuade their several congregations unto." 
 
 A careful study of Laud's action in relation to the foreign 
 Protestant Churches in England leads me to the conclusion 
 that a rather mistaken view of it has been taken by several 
 historians to whom I look up with the greatest respect. I 
 almost tremble at the idea of questioning the opinion of 
 that most charming writer, the late John Richard Green. In 
 most respects his short summary of Laud's character is un- 
 surpassed - : — " Cold, pedantic, superstitious as he was," 
 " William Laud rose out of the mass of court-prelates by 
 his industry, his personal unselfishness, his remarkable 
 capacity for administration. At a later period, when im- 
 mersed in State-business, he found time to acquire so com- 
 plete a knowledge of commercial affairs that the London 
 merchants themselves owned him a master in matters of 
 trade. Of statesmanship he had none." And much else in 
 the same style is excellent. But when he proceeds to say ^ 
 that he aimed at " the severance of whatever ties had hitherto 
 united the English Church to the Reformed Churches of the 
 Continent," and that " in Laud's view episcopal succession 
 was of the essence of a Church ; and by their rejection of 
 bishops the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches of Germany 
 
 ^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634-5, p. 575. 
 2 " Hist, of the Eng. People," vol. iii. p. 157. ^ /^^^ p_ j^g^ 
 
 O
 
 2IO Life of Archbishop Land. [S/.^''*' 
 
 and Switzerland had ceased to be Churches at all," I cannot 
 follow him. As we have already seen, Laud distinctly says ^ 
 that although the Lutherans had not retained the name of 
 bishops, they had retained " the Thing." " For instead of 
 Bishops they are called Superintendents." 
 
 Mr Green writes : — " The freedom of worship therefore 
 which had been allowed to the Huguenot refugees from France 
 or the Walloons from Flanders, was suddenly withdrawn ; 
 and the requirement of conformity with the Anglican ritual 
 drove them in crowds from the southern ports to seek tolera- 
 tion in Holland." 
 
 It is perfectly true that Laud pressed the descendants of 
 the members of the Dutch and French Churches, who had 
 settled in England, to conform to the Church of the country, 
 but not on the score of their having no bishops. If we read 
 carefully through his address to the Lords " concerning the 
 Dutch and French Churches in England," we shall not find a 
 word about any want of apostolical succession. His reasons 
 for desiring that they might be obliged to attend the Anglican 
 Churches were very different. He says " that when they were 
 persecuted in their own countries, " it was honour and piety in 
 this State, when at the first way was given for those Churches, 
 both in London and some other parts of the kingdom " ; but 
 he conceives that it was never intended that if the descendants 
 of the members of those Churches remained in England and 
 obtained the privileges of British citizens, they should retain 
 religious exemptions denied to other British citizens, and con- 
 stitute " a Church within a Church " — observe that he does 
 not deny that each of the foreign bodies was a Church ; on 
 the contrary, he uses the very words commonly used by High 
 Anglicans when objecting to the existence of the Catholic 
 Church in England ; yet they never question its " Episcopal 
 Succession " — and he says that they would " in time grow to 
 be a kind of another commonwealth within this," and be " an 
 absolutely divided body from the Church of England estab- 
 lished, which must needs work upon their affections, alienate 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 141. 
 " "Libr. Ang. Cath. Theo.," vol. vi. part i. pp. 25, 26.
 
 S'a."''-] Life of Archbishop Land. 2 1 1 
 
 them from the State, or at least made them ready for any 
 innovation that may sort better with their humour." He 
 suggested that if they must needs " continue as a divided 
 body from both State and Church, that they be used as 
 strangers, and not as natives. That is, that they may pay 
 all double duties, as strangers use to do, and have no more 
 immunities than strangers have, till they will live and con- 
 verse as other subjects do." 
 
 Moreover, when, in his trial for high treason, he was 
 charged with having " Trayterously endeavoured to cause 
 Division and Discord between the Church of England and 
 other Reformed Churches ; and, to that end, hath Suppressed 
 and Abrogated the Priveleges and Immunities, which have 
 been by his Majesty and his Royal Ancestors granted to the 
 French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom," ^ he replied — 
 " All which I did concerning those Churches, was with this 
 Moderation, that all those of their several Congregations, in 
 London, Canterbury, Sandivick, Norwich, or elsewhere, which 
 were of the second Descent, and born in Enghmd, should 
 repair to their several Parish Churches, and Conform them- 
 selves to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Liturgy of the Church 
 of England, and not live continually in an open Separation, 
 as if they were an Israel in Egypt, to the great distraction of 
 the Natives of this Kingdom."- 
 
 In proof of my contention that Laud's desire that the 
 members of the French and Walloon Protestant Churches 
 should conform themselves to the Church of the country did 
 not necessarily imply any objection to those Churches in 
 themselves, I may point to the custom of the Catholic Church 
 with regard to the members of local churches, with peculiar 
 rites and uses, but in communion with, and under obedience 
 to Rome, when they visit or take up their permanent abode 
 in other countries. I believe that I am correct in saying that 
 supposing, for instance, a party of miners from a country in 
 which the Slav rite is in use, were to come over to work in 
 the Cheshire salt mines — as indeed actually happened some 
 years ago — if one of their own Slav priests came with them, 
 
 1" Hist.," p. 374. 2 7^.^ p. 378.
 
 2 12 Life of Archbishop Laud. [it'ei'^^'* 
 
 and were allowed the use of an altar, or a church, for the 
 performance of his native rite, they would be instructed to 
 attend his ministrations ; but if no Slav priest were within 
 reach, then they would be told to attend those of the ordinary 
 Catholic priest of the parish. If, however, they were to settle 
 for good and all in the country, and their children were to 
 become British subjects, the Catholic Church would not allow 
 a permanent Slav Church to be established in Cheshire under 
 Slav priests, but would expect the descendants of the original 
 settlers to conform themselves to the uses of their Catholic 
 neighbours and fellow-citizens. Yet this would not imply the 
 least question of either the validity of Slav orders, or the 
 orthodoxy of the Slav liturgy or discipline, all three of which 
 Rome fully recognises and approves. It is true that at Rome 
 there is a permanent altar, or church, for every rite ; but, as 
 pilgrims from all countries go constantly to Rome, the centre 
 of Christendom, the case is exceptional. 
 
 I do not pretend that such instances as the above are exact 
 parallels to that of Laud and the foreign Protestant Churches 
 in England ; but I submit that there is enough in common 
 between them to justify Laud's action towards the French 
 and Walloon Congregations without the necessity of suppos- 
 ing that he objected to those churches in themselves. 
 
 Again, Mr Green wrote ^ : — " The same conformity was re- 
 quired from the English soldiers and merchants abroad, who 
 had hitherto attended without scruple the services of the 
 Calvinistic churches." ^ But Laud's wish appears to have 
 been to have English chaplains attached to the regiments, 
 and that their appointment should be in the hands of the two 
 English archbishops. Certain " unconformable " clergymen, 
 who had been turned out of their own livings or cures at home, 
 had gone abroad and persuaded the colonels of English 
 regiments to engage them as chaplains. Against such as 
 these Laud waged a fierce war. " The several colonels in the 
 Low Countries should entertain no minister as preacher to 
 their regiments, but such as shall conform in all things to 
 the Church of England established, and be commended unto 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 378. ' " Hist, of the Eng. People," vol. iii. p. 158.
 
 Mt'X\^''] L ife of A rchbishop L aud. 2 1 3 
 
 them from your Lordships by advice of the Lords Archbishops 
 of Canterbury or York for the time being." " The company of 
 merchants residing there, or in other foreign parts, shall admit 
 no minister as preacher to them, but such as are so qualified 
 and so commended as aforesaid." It seems also that the Eng- 
 lish Protestants were singular in respect to their conduct in 
 Holland ; for Laud says ^ : — " It is to be observed that the 
 French and High German congregations in the Low 
 Countries do all observe the Liturgy of their own Mother 
 Churches ; only the English observe neither their own, nor 
 any other uniformity." When the English soldiers and 
 English merchants were observing " neither their own nor 
 any otJier uniformity," it did seem time that something should 
 be done to bring them into some sort of order, especially as 
 they were engaging, as preachers, disorderly and " uncon- 
 formable " clergymen whom the English bishops would not 
 tolerate at home. It is well known that the nonconforming 
 clergy, who afterwards went to America and founded the 
 State of New England, went first to Holland, and that it was 
 Laud's energy, recorded above, which prevented them from 
 obtaining employment in the Low Countries. I make bold 
 to believe that these were the reasons, and not the want of 
 apostolical succession in the Lutheran and Calvinistic 
 Churches, which made Laud so anxious that English subjects 
 in Holland should have duly authorized English chaplains. 
 
 Laud's conduct towards the Foreign Protestants in England, 
 more especially towards those from the Palatinate, greatly 
 annoyed the Queen of Bohemia. Sir Thomas Roe had 
 written to her, that Laud was " an excellent man," - adding : 
 — " If your Majesty have no relation to him, I wish you 
 would be pleased to make one, for he is very just, incorrupt, 
 and above all, mistaken by the erring world. For my part I 
 do esteem him a rare counsellor for integrity, and a fast 
 friend, and one that hath more interest in his Majesty's 
 judgment than any man." 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, replied ^ : — " For my Lord of 
 
 1 "Lib. Ang. Cath. Theo.," vol. vi. pari i. p. 25. 
 ^ S. P. O. Dom., vol. cclxxviii. No. 32. ■^ lb., vol. cclxxxiii. No. 36.
 
 2 14 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^i^X^'"'' 
 
 Canterbury, I am glad you commend him so much, for there 
 are but few that do it. He hath indeed sent me sometimes 
 a cold compliment, and I have answered it in the same kind. 
 I have now written to him, at the entreaty of the Adminis- 
 trator, in the behalf of the poor preachers of the Palatinate." 
 
 As Mr Bruce says in his preface to the volume of the 
 Calendar of State Papers for 1633-4^: — "The Archbishop's 
 watchfulness, it will be seen, extended to all persons and all 
 classes. Churches of English people resident in Holland, 
 chaplains of English regiments in the service of the presby- 
 terian Hollanders, the formless and, as he esteemed it, irrev- 
 erent Church of Scotland, and the churches in England of 
 protestant refugees, who had fled hither for conscience sake, 
 all came under his attention at once." 
 
 As to the Protestant refugees, he was disposed to tolerate 
 a good deal, if they would but " receive the blessed 
 Eucharist some times every year in the English churches 
 also " : it was even hinted that Catholics would not be much 
 interfered with if they would do the same. Herein is 
 shown the extreme anti-Catholic spirit of Laud ; for, whereas 
 the Catholic Church has ever guarded its Holy Communion 
 with the greatest jealousy, restricting it exclusively to its own 
 children, Laud endeavoured to press the communion of his 
 Church upon everybody, whatever his faith and creed might 
 be. The late Dean Stanley was blamed by High- Churchmen 
 for admitting people, who did not believe in the Divinity of 
 our Lord, to communion ; yet the great champion of their 
 own school, Archbishop Laud, would not only have admitted 
 them, but would have exempted them from penalties in return 
 for their compliance. 
 
 ^ P. xxiv.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Perhaps there is nothing for which Laud is better known 
 than his removal of the communion-tables from the body of 
 the churches to the places in the chancels where the high 
 altars had formerly stood. 
 
 As a protest against the sacramental teaching of the Catholic 
 Church, the ministers of the new Church of England, in the 
 latter part of the sixteenth century, had placed their com- 
 munion-tables in the body of the church, without any cover- 
 ings upon them, and allowed them to be put to many ex- 
 ceedingly queer uses. 
 
 Heylin tells ^ us that it was ordered in the visitation of the 
 diocese of Canterbury, that the communion-table should " be 
 placed altarwise, for it was urged that ' should it be permitted 
 to stand as it before did, Church Wardens would keep their 
 accounts on it, Parishioners would despatch the Parish busi- 
 ness on it, Schoolmasters will teach their boys to write upon 
 it, the boys will lay their hats, satchels and books upon it, 
 many will sit and lean irreverently against it in sermon time, 
 the Dogs will . . . and defile it, and Glaziers would knock it 
 full of holes.'" "By which means he" [Laud] "prevailed so 
 far, that of 469 Parishes which were in that Diocese, 140 had 
 conformed to his Order in it, before the end of the Christmas 
 holidays of the present year, 1635, without any great reluctancy 
 in Priest or People." 
 
 This is a bold boast ; but does it not seem wonderful that 
 in the archdiocese of so determined a man as Laud, after he 
 had occupied it two years, there should be 329 churches out 
 of 469, in which the communion-tables were left in the body 
 of the churches and not placed " altarwise," in direct defiance 
 of his orders. Such a fact seems most inconsistent with our 
 
 1 "Cyp.Ang.,"p. 271. 
 
 21S
 
 2 1 6 Life of A re kins hop Land. ^i^Xf^^' 
 
 ideas of Laud's autocratic rule ! It is not an uncommon 
 thing-, when some modern instance of lax ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline is mentioned, to hear people say, " Archbishop Laud 
 would have made short work with a case of that kind ! " 
 The 329 "table-wise" communion-tables make one inclined 
 to doubt it. 
 
 In his own days, however. Laud was considered over stern 
 in enforcing his favourite rubrics, or rather his interpretation 
 of them. Clarendon, who sympathised with him, did not 
 allow his action in the matter to pass altogether uncriticised. 
 
 ^ " The removing the Communion Table out of the body 
 of the Church, where it us'd to stand," says he, " and fixing 
 it to one place " — this implies what is well known, namely, 
 that it used to be moved about and only brought out when 
 the communion service was going to be celebrated — " in the 
 upper end of the chancel, which frequently made the buying 
 a new Table to be necessary, the inclosing it with a Rail of 
 Joyners work, and thereby fencing it off from the use of Dogs, 
 and all servile uses ; the obliging of all Persons to come up 
 to those Rails to receive the Sacrament, how acceptable 
 soever to grave and intelligent Persons, who lov'd Order and 
 Decency (for acceptable it was to such) yet introduc'd first 
 Murmurings among the People (upon the very Charge and 
 Expence of it), and if the Minister were not a man of dis- 
 cretion and reputation to Compose, and Reconcile those 
 Indispositions (as too frequently he was not, and rather 
 inflam'd, and increas'd the Distemper) it begot Suits, and 
 Appeals at Law." Suits and appeals at law must have been 
 a good deal cheaper than they are now, if they cost less than 
 "Joyners work! " As to Laud, himself, Clarendon says that 
 "guided purely by his Zeal, and Reverence for the Place of 
 God's Service, and by the Canons, and Injunctions of the 
 Church, with the custom observ'd in the Kings Chapel, and 
 in most Cathedral Churches, without considering the long 
 intermission, and discontinuance, in many other Places," he 
 "prosecuted this Affair more Passionately than was fit for 
 the season ; and had Prejudice against Those, who out of 
 
 ^ " Hist, of the Rebellion," vol. i. p. 95.
 
 %7X^^''] Life of Archbishop Laud. 217 
 
 fear, or foresight, or not understanding the Thing, had not 
 the same Warmth to promote it." 
 
 In other dioceses, as well as Canterbury, there were constant 
 wrangles about the moving of the communion-tables. An 
 action was brought in the Court of Arches ^ against one of 
 the proctors, the clerk, and the public notary of St Gregory's 
 Church, "next the i Cathedral of St Paul," for the offence 
 of removing the communion-table " from its ancient and 
 accustomed place in the middle of the chancel " — this was 
 rather an exceptional case, as the table was usually, not in 
 the chancel, but in the body of the church — " and placed the 
 same altarwise along the east wall of the chancel." In about 
 a fortnight there was an " Order of the King in Council made 
 on debate of the difference which grew about removing the 
 communion-table in St Gregory's Church, &c," - " from the 
 middle of the chancel to the upper end, there placed altar- 
 wise, in such manner as it stands in the cathedral and mother 
 church, as also in all other cathedrals, and his Majesty's own 
 chapel, and as is consonant to the practice of approved 
 antiquity." It will be observed that there were two opinions 
 ^as to ancient use on this point. 
 
 " The King took the book " ^ (containing an injunction of 
 Queen Elizabeth) " into his own hand and read it, which was 
 that, at Communion times, the table should stand in the 
 body of the church, or chancel ; the King declared that it 
 was his mind that it should not stand in the body of the 
 church, but middle of the chancel at Communion times. Dr 
 Neyle or Neale being then Archbishop of York, said, if it 
 please your Majesty, where I and Bishop Buckeridge have 
 jurisdiction, we do so. Dr Laud stood up and said, I did 
 not think that my Lord of York had been guilty of such a sin, 
 and prayed God to forgive him ; " — this was strong language, 
 considering that Neale had long been one of Laud's friends 
 and patrons ; — " then he called on Dr Duck, a learned 
 lawyer to speak, but he urging nothing material for its 
 standing altarwise, the Archbishop affirmed that, upon his 
 
 1 S. P. O., vol. ccxlviii. No. i8. 
 - "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1633-4, p. 273. ^ //,.^ 1641-3, p. 532.
 
 2i8 Life of Archbishop Laud. [irei'.^'"' 
 
 reputation, the Communion Table was always called an 
 Altar in the primitive church" (as most undoubtedly it was, 
 for that matter), " and that the parishioners had fitted the 
 chancel up with pews to set themselves and their wives 
 above the Communion Table, but he would have none set 
 above God Almighty in his own house ; then the King 
 said, refer it to the discretion of the minister and church- 
 wardens to take down at Communion times. Laud said 
 that they would have it down to vex their minister, that they 
 would not kneel, and they were but a few Puritans, who, 
 when the example of the cathedral churches and your 
 Majesty's chapel was urged, said that though your Majesty 
 suffer idolatry in your chapel, they will not do so in their 
 church, &c." On the next page it is stated that Laud said 
 that " when strangers came from beyond sea and saw the 
 table stand altarwise in Paul's and went but out at the door 
 and saw the table stand otherwise in St Gregory's, what a 
 disunion would they say was in the Church of England," a 
 remark which might possibly be made by strangers "from 
 beyond the sea " at certain varieties observable in different 
 Anglican churches even to-day. 
 
 Laud sent his Vicar-General, Brent, to make an archiepis- 
 copal visitation in the diocese of Lincoln, of which his old 
 enemy, Williams, was bishop. Williams stoutly objected, 
 and the matter was referred to Noy, the Attorney-General. 
 
 There is an entry in the Calendar of State Papers ^ of an 
 " Order or award of Attorney General Noy in a dispute 
 between Bishop Williams of Lincoln and Archbishop Laud. 
 Bishop Williams claimed an exemption of his diocese from 
 being metropolitically visited, and from the payment of 
 procurations, and also that if the Archbishop could of right 
 visit the diocese of Lincoln, he ought not to do so this year, 
 being the year of the Bishop's triennial visitation, and that if 
 he did, the archiepiscopal visitation should not interfere with 
 the Bishop's exercise of his ordinary jurisdiction. The 
 Attorney General states at length the grounds and proofs on 
 all these points, and finally determines: — i. In favour of the 
 
 1 1633-4, p. 523.
 
 arca^i634.j Lifc of Avchbiskop Laud. 219 
 
 Archbishop's right to visit. 2. That procurations ought of 
 right to be paid to him on such visitation. 3. That he might 
 visit when the Bishop is to make his triennial visitation, 4. 
 He advised the Bishop to forbear to exercise jurisdiction 
 ecclesiastical during the visitation metropolitical." 
 
 Laud, therefore, got the better of Williams on every point 
 in dispute. 
 
 On one of these "visitations metropolitical," Laud's Vicar- 
 General found that Williams had put the communion-table, 
 which had been removed to the east end of the chancel and 
 placed altarwise, back into the middle of the church. Laud 
 had it removed to the east end once again, and, as he could 
 not touch Williams personally, he marked his displeasure by 
 suspending his six archdeacons. ^ 
 
 I had just been reading (in the year 1893) several old 
 accounts of the removal of the communion-tables from the 
 bodies of the churches to the chancels, at Laud's command, 
 when I happened to take up a religious newspaper- of the 
 week, which showed how history repeats itself ; for therein I 
 read : — " The following paper was read by the Rev. T. Davies, 
 Vicar of St John's, Harbourne, Birmingham, on Sunday 
 morning, before commencing the sermon. — Most, if not all, 
 of the congregation will have observed on Sunday last that 
 our communion-table has been removed some distance from 
 the wall at the east end, and I feel it due to the congregation 
 that I should briefly explain why this has been done. 
 Originally, that is, at the Reformation " — there is something 
 very fine in this, and a remarkable definition of ancient use, 
 as well as of the Biblical phrase, "In the beginning" — 
 " Originally, that is, at the Reformation, the tables generally 
 stood in the body of the church, as the rubric before the 
 communion service directs, and this, says the present Bishop 
 of London, would be quite in accordance with the law. 
 But in this church, as in many others, it is impossible to place 
 it there. Until the days of the Romanising Archbishop 
 Laud, the table was placed as a table. But he, anxious 
 
 ^ Mozley's " Essay on Laud," p. 171. 
 2 The English Churchinan and St James' s Chronicle, January 12, 1893.
 
 2 20 Life of Archbishop Laud. [jan 1893. 
 
 to substitute the altar of Romanism for the table of our 
 Protestant Church, had the table placed against the east wall 
 that it may there appear to be an altar. Its position there is 
 not, and never has been, according to the rubric. The faith- 
 ful clergy of the Church of England have not hitherto desired 
 to alter its position, but since what is known as the Lincoln 
 judgment many of them have decided to place the table in 
 the body of the church where possible, and in other cases to 
 draw it so far from the east wall that it shall be to all intents 
 and purposes a table such as the Prayer Book directs. In 
 the recent judgments it was stated by the Archbishop and 
 the Privy Council, that all those ceremonies, bowings, kneel- 
 ings, making signs of the cross, &c., were ' meaningless,' and 
 we thank the Archbishop for the word." ..." We do by 
 this action," — i.e., the removal of the communion table from 
 the east wall — " We do by this action most emphatically 
 declare that the Church of England knows nothing of an 
 altar, nothing of a sacrifice, except that of praise, and thanks- 
 giving and service, that there is no shadow of sacerdotalism 
 attached to the office of her ministers," &c. 
 
 In the same newspaper it is stated that " the Rev. Basil D. 
 Aldwell, another tried champion of the Protestant cause, has 
 also moved the communion-table into the middle of the 
 chancel of St Luke's Church, Southsea, of which he is the 
 incumbent. Mr Aldwell now stands behind the table at 
 communion time, with his face towards the congregation." 
 So also does the Pope, when he says mass at the high altar 
 of St Peter's at Rome ; but that is apart from the question 
 with which I am dealing. 
 
 I will now dismiss the subject of the position of the com- 
 munion-tables to notice another of Laud's reforms, not so 
 generally known, namely, the suppression of what were 
 then termed " non-kneelants." In many districts, where a 
 puritanical spirit prevailed, the congregation, in order to show 
 that they did not attribute anything supernatural to the bread 
 and wine in the sacrament, received it standing or sitting, 
 instead of kneeling. Laud gave orders that this custom should 
 be abolished. His Vicar-General writes from Ipswich, that
 
 ^te'.^^*] Life of Aj'chbisJiop Laud. 221 
 
 he has " suspended one Mr Cave, a precise minister of St 
 Helen's, for giving the sacrament of the Eucharist to non- 
 kneelants." ^ Again from Northampton : — " Mr Ball, the 
 chief minister of the town, was accused to have given the 
 sacrament of the Eucharist to non-kneelants." ^ Once more 
 from Coventry : — " I suspended one Mr Moore, minister of 
 Franktcn, for administering the holy communion to non- 
 kneelants." ■' " One Goodwin," he writes, " saith that to kneel 
 at the receiving of the communion is idolatry." ■* Of this 
 gentleman he has "taken order." 
 
 A petition was presented to Laud's Vicar-General by the 
 rector of St Mary Bothaw, stating that the Lord Mayor, 
 some fifty years earlier, had erected certain rows of seats 
 whereby he had " so streightened the place that they have 
 left no convenient room for placing forms for the more ready 
 administration of the holy communion, so that the communi- 
 cants receiving in the seats, where their boards to kneel 
 against are set so shelving that they must of necessity rest 
 upon their seats, it cannot well be discerned who kneel 
 according to order or who do not." ^ On the other hand, 
 at Boston, it was proved that the congregation were " con- 
 formable," and that " many for want of room to kneel were 
 forced to stand or sit at the receiving" of the communion; 
 but " if any of defendants have received otherwise than 
 kneeling it was from no dislike of that gesture."*^ 
 
 The crime, as Laud considered it, of non-kneeling was not 
 confined to the lower classes. " Sir Henry Vane also," writes 
 Garrard to Lord Conway,'^ " hath as good as lost his eldest 
 son, who is gone into New England for conscience' sake ; he 
 liked not the discipline of the Church of England ; none of 
 our ministers would give him the sacrament standing ; no 
 persuasions of our bishops nor authority of his parents could 
 prevail with him." 
 
 Stern as was Laud in enforcing his ecclesiastical injunc- 
 tions, not a few clergymen dared to set them at defiance. 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1635, P- ^xxii. 2 /^_^ p_ ^5. 
 
 2 //'., p. xxxix. * Ih., p. xxxviii. ^ Ib.^ 1634-5, p. 327. 
 «/^.,p. 422. 7 /^., p. 385.
 
 2 22 Life of Archbishop Laud. S^e/.^^*' 
 
 For example, in May 1634, a presentment to him was made 
 against their minister, by the churchwardens and sidesmen of 
 the parish of Holy Trinity, Shaftesbury, for various irregu- 
 larities in the conduct of divine service, and for preaching 
 against the Book of Sports, " in a most high kind of ' terrifi- 
 cation,' as if it were a most dreadful thing, and near damn- 
 able ; if not absolute damnation, to use any recreations on 
 the Sabbath or Lord's day." ^ 
 
 Nor did the laity show much inclination to please Laud by 
 subscribing to his pet object, the repair of St Paul's. A cor- 
 respondent, at Little Horsley, near Colchester, writes to Laud,^ 
 that it grieves his " spirit to see how dull and backward his 
 neighbours near Colchester are in aiding the repair of St 
 Paul's. A great parish near him very lately gave 6d., and 
 some nothing at all, and the best gave not so much as was 
 spent in persuading them." There is a deep note of pathos 
 in the latter complaint ! A certain Mr Ball, he says, ' did 
 much hinder the service at the beginning," when a collection 
 for St Paul's was being made. " Not so few as 100 were 
 present straining courtesy who should make a beginning" by 
 tendering a donation, when " ' Marry,' said Ball, * that will 
 I !' and in a scornful posture threw I2d. upon the board, he 
 being a great rich man. This was a pattern for the most 
 there present, that do not hold it good manners to exceed their 
 betters." And then the writer throws out the following- sig-- 
 nificant hint: — "Although this will not be cause to question 
 Ball ; yet he to enlarge his court and garden with a part of 
 the churchyard will be worthy of an inquisition." He ends 
 by saying that his only object in writing is to further "our 
 loving lovely King's desire." 
 
 Others went further and roundly abused the archbishop. 
 A Mr Parsons spoke of Laud as " that unsanctified rascal the 
 Bishop of Canterbury." ^ One, Lodowick Bowyer, who had 
 " slandered Laud," was condemned, in the Star Chamber, by 
 Lord Cottington, in a sentence thus summarised ** : — " ;!f 3000 
 fine, stand pillory here, in the palace, with a paper ; stand in 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634.5, p. 2. 2 /^_^ p_ 352. 
 
 » lb., 1633-4, p. 467- ^ lb., p. 287.
 
 arca^i634.j ^ ^j^ qJ ^ rckbiskop Laud. 223 
 
 Cheapside likewise ; at Reading likewise, with his ears nailed ; 
 if he be quit from the felony to return to perpetual imprison- 
 ment in some house of correction. To this Lord Chief Justice 
 Richardson added, to be ' whipt ; imprisonment in Bridewell ; 
 burning in the face, R or L.' " 
 
 In the year 1634, an instrument attributed to Laud himself, 
 but professedly " Charles R. Instructions for the most 
 Reverend Father in God, our right Trusty, and right entirely 
 Beloved Councillor William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 concerning certain Orders to be observed and put in Execu- 
 tion by the several Bishops of his Province," ^ gave great 
 offence to some of his episcopal brethren. These bishops 
 had contracted a habit of leaving their dioceses to take care 
 of themselves and living in London, so as to keep well in view 
 in the hope of further advancement of some kind, now that 
 Laud was putting clerics into various important posts hitherto 
 occupied by laymen. 
 
 The first of these instructions ran : — " I. That the Lords 
 the Bishops respectively be commanded to their several Sees, 
 there to keep Residence ; excepting those who are in necessary 
 Attendance at our Court." 
 
 It would appear, also, that some of them had been en- 
 deavouring to increase their incomes by cutting down timber ; 
 for the second instruction enacts that they are not to " wast " 
 their "Woods where any are left." 
 
 These " instructions," believed to have been suggested to 
 the king by Laud, made him several enemies on the bench of 
 bishops. 
 
 Nor did Laud hesitate to scold a brother bishop well, on 
 occasion. Thus he writes ' to Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, 
 who had written to him asking for a coadjutor, and hinting that 
 he might perhaps resign his bishopric if the king would give 
 him the livings which he held before he got it, or some others 
 equally good: — "first, concerning a coadjutor, his Majesty 
 thinks " " that it is a very unadvised notion," As to his in- 
 tention "to petition his Majesty that he may resign his 
 
 1 "Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 520. 
 •^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1634-5, p. 20S.
 
 2 24 Life of Archbishop Lazed. [^t'e/.^'^" 
 
 bishopric ;" " to this the King commanded the Archbishop to 
 give answer : That he should be very well advised what he 
 did, for if Goodman tendered his Majesty a resignation he 
 would accept it " ; but he makes it very evident that, in that 
 case, he must not expect to get a rich living instead of it. 
 Laud " will tell him plainly, that he is very ill advised to 
 think of resigning his bishopric." "And since Bishop Good- 
 man knows that resigning his bishopric will not put ofTthe 
 Bishop, it will be a fine contemptible thing for him, in a 
 settled church as this is, to bring himself and his calling 
 into such scorn. Therefore, once again the Archbishop prays 
 him to think no more of his resignations ; but if he will need 
 do himself that wrong, the Archbishop prays Goodman to 
 trouble him no more with it." 
 
 It may be interesting, considering the present popularity 
 of the Oratorians in England, to remember that, shortly after 
 the year of which I am writing, an Oratorian Father was sent 
 from Rome to inquire into the state of affairs in England ; 
 but "on no pretext whatever to allow himself to be 
 drawn into communication with the new Archbishop of 
 Canterbury." ^ 
 
 Laud's favour at court was no longer limited to the king. 
 '^ Aug. 30," he writes in his Diary,- in 1634, ''Saturday, At 
 Oatlands the Queen sent for me, and gave me thanks for a 
 Business, with v/hich she trusted me ; her Promise then, that 
 she would be my Friend, and that I should have immediate 
 address to her, when I had Occasion." Possibly the queen 
 may still have cherished hopes of inducing Laud to become a 
 Catholic : if she did, they were vain ; far from inclining more 
 and more towards the Catholic Church, he was becoming 
 more and more ambitious and hopeful for the welfare and 
 extension of the Established Church of England. 
 
 Heylin, in writing of the year 1634, says^ : — " It was now 
 hoped there would be a Church of England in all Courts of 
 Christendom, in the chief cities of the Turk, and other great 
 Mahometan Princes, and in all our Factories and Plantations 
 
 1 Barberini's Despatch of 13th March 1635. - P. 50. 
 
 3 .<Cyp. Angl.,"p. 260.
 
 Mt.Vu^^'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 225 
 
 in every known part of the world, by which it might be 
 rendered as dififused and Cathohck as the Church of Rome." 
 
 The Church of England made Catholic, and the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury its Pope ! Such may have been a day-dream 
 of Laud's. 
 
 Yet his wildest imagination could scarcely have realized 
 the number of Anglican churches which now exist, not only 
 in most of the countries known in his own time, but also in 
 many since discovered. Certainly the Church of England 
 has been " dififused " : would to God that it had also been 
 rendered " Catholick."
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Laud and Wentworth were in constant correspondence about 
 ecclesiastical and other matters In Ireland. There is no doubt 
 that they had a secret cipher, and various attempts have been 
 made to explain it ; but it has never been satisfactorily- 
 interpreted, and the chief difficulty in reading their letters 
 is to determine when they are written in cipher and when 
 otherwise. 
 
 Sometimes there can be no question about the use of 
 cipher ; as, for instance, when Laud writes : — " In the next 
 place, you begin to be merry with your Heifer, and I wonder 
 you have so little pity as not to let it rest when I have 
 plowed with it " ; in other places it is more doubtful. 
 
 Laud is disgusted with the condition of Church matters 
 in Ireland. One of the archbishops had no communion- 
 table whatever in his chapel. " And truly," writes Laud to 
 Wentworth, " I would wonder that a chapel should have 
 never a communion table in it, save that I knew some 
 divines are of opinion, that nothing belonging to the Sacra- 
 ment is aught extra usum, and do therefore set the table aside 
 in any corner (good enough for it) save only at the time of 
 administration." ^ 
 
 So angry was he with the Irish bishops, that he tells Went- 
 worth to " warn them," to " trounce " them, and to " give my 
 Lord of Cashell a little of his Irish physic." 
 
 And truly there were some abuses which might well worry 
 him. Bramhall writes to him^ that he finds one parochial 
 church converted into a stable, another into a nobleman's 
 dwelling-house, the choir of a third into a tennis-court, while 
 the vaults under the principal church in Ireland are con- 
 
 1 " Lib. Ang. Cath. Theol.,"vol. vi. part i. p. 551. 
 2 See Baine's " Life of Laud," pp. 155-6. 
 
 226 U
 
 Srei.^^'] Life of Ai-chbishop Laud. 227 
 
 verted into " tippling rooms for beer, wine, and tobacco," and 
 " so much frequented in time of divine service, that though 
 there is no danger of blowing up the assembly above their 
 heads, yet there is danger of poisoning them with the fumes." 
 He also says that, in the same cathedral, " the table used 
 for the administration of the blessed sacrament in the midst 
 of the choir," is " made an ordinary seat for maids and 
 apprentices." 
 
 In doctrine, also, Laud attacked the Irish bishops and 
 clergy. He imposed the thirty-nine articles upop them, 
 much against their will. It is difficult to realize that these 
 same Articles of Religion, which the modern ritualist clergy 
 speak of as " forty stripes save one," should have been 
 objected to as intensely Popish by the Irish clergy. 
 
 " Property worth ^30,000 a year was actually refunded to 
 the Church in Ireland under Strafford's administration." ^ 
 It had been quite a common thing for a dignitary to hold 
 half a dozen or more preferments, and one bishop had leased 
 his palace to his son for fifty years.- 
 
 The correspondence between the English Archbishop and 
 the Lord Deputy in Ireland is not limited to ecclesiastical 
 and political affairs. Laud asks Wentworth to get him a 
 gown lined with the skins of pine-martens, which were then 
 common in Ireland, and tells him confidentially that he has 
 saved ;^i3,ooo in nine years. His income was now ^6000 
 a year.2 Occasionally he tries to say something funny in 
 his letters, and fails lamentably in so doing. " You 
 think," he writes, " to stop my mouth with some of your 
 hung beef out of Yorkshire ; which to your skill and com- 
 mendation be it spoken, was the worst I ever tasted, and as 
 hard as the very horn the old Runt wore when she lived. 
 But I wonder you do not think of providing or drying 
 some of your Irish venison, and send that over to bray 
 too. Well, there's enough of this stuff." And, of a truth, 
 there is ! 
 
 In one letter, Laud gently remonstrates with Went- 
 worth for having married his third wife, and makes a poor 
 1 Benson, p. 64. 2 jj,^ 3 p, 56.
 
 228 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Ire/.^^''' 
 
 joke about his having himself taken in marriage official 
 drudgery. 
 
 Wentworth was fond of writing about his children. " Nan, 
 they tell me, danceth prettily. Arabella is a small prac- 
 titioner that way also, and they are both very apt to learn 
 that or anything that they are taught. Their brother is 
 just now sitting at my elbow, in good health, God be 
 praised." In a letter to Laud, from Dublin Castle, he writes : 
 — " In good earnest, I should wax exceedingly melancholy 
 were it not for two little girls that come now and then to play 
 with me." 
 
 In their rule of Ireland, it is probable that neither Went- 
 worth nor Laud fully realised the troubles which they were 
 laying up for themselves, or that in a very few years a com- 
 mittee of both Houses of Parliament would print and publish 
 a " Declaration against the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 Lieutenant of IrelaJtd" containing such words as these : — • 
 " That as they did reserve those of their Own Country who 
 had been Incendiaries between the two Kingdoms, to be 
 proceeded against in their Own Parliament, so they desired 
 no other Justice to be done against these Two criminal Per- 
 sons but what should seem good to the Wisdom of the 
 Parliament." ^ 
 
 When Laud was being tried for high treason, he was 
 accused of " procuring from the King such Impropriations in 
 Ireland, as were in the King's Power, to the Church of Ire- 
 land.'^ In his defence, he says of this : — "Which Mr Nicolas 
 (in his gentle Language) calls ' Robbing the Crown.' My 
 Lords, the Case was this. The Lord Primate of Armagh \^x\\. 
 unto me, how ill Conditioned the State of that Church was 
 for want of Means, and besought me that I would move his 
 Majesty to give the Impropriations there, which yet remained 
 in the Crown, for the Maintenance and Incouragement of 
 able Ministers to Live among the People, and Instruct them. 
 Assuring me, they were daily one by one begged away by 
 Private Men, to the great prejudice both of Crown and 
 Church. . . . And after long deliberation, the King was 
 
 ^ Clarendon's "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. i. p. 190.
 
 ^Tel^^"^] Life of Archbishop Land. 229 
 
 pleased, at my humble Suit, to grant them in the way which 
 I proposed. . . . And, my Lords, the increase of Popery is 
 complained of in Ireland. Is there a better way to hinder 
 this growth, than to place an Able Clergy among the Inhabi- 
 tants ? Can an Able Clergy be had without Means ? Is any 
 Means better than Impropriations restored ? My Lords, I 
 did this, as holding it the best Means to keep down Popery, 
 and to advance the Protestant Religion. And I wish with all 
 my Heart, I had been able to do it sooner, before so many 
 Impropriations were gotten from the Crown into Private 
 Hands." 
 
 If Laud was stern in reducing the Irish clergy to obedience 
 to his orders as to doctrine and ritual, he did the best he 
 could for them in the matter of emolument. 
 
 I will now recount an incident in his own country, to show 
 how the king and the Church (as by law established) were 
 ever the objects dearest to his heart. It entailed the petition 
 of a royalist peer against a parliamentary squire, and an 
 addition and improvement to a church, and therefore at once 
 obtained his sympathy. I shall enter somewhat fully into the 
 matter, as it is characteristic of Church disputes in the time 
 of Laud, and it shows both that ecclesiastical litigation was 
 carried on with bitter energy, and that appealing from one 
 court to another in such cases is no new thing. In writing a life 
 of so energetic an archbishop as Laud, one is tempted to quote 
 many cases of this kind to illustrate the spirit and to show 
 the condition of Church law in his time, and I shall dwell the 
 longer on this particular instance, because I have determined 
 that it shall be the only one which I shall notice at any length. 
 It is also important from having been made the foundation of 
 one of the charges against Laud at his trial for high treason. 
 
 In a northern corner of Shropshire lived two families — 
 great families ! as all Shropshire families always are and 
 always were — the Corbets and the Needhams. They were 
 very near neighbours and fiercely jealous of each other. At 
 last they came to an open rupture about a little piece of land 
 of the annual value of twelve shillings and sixpence. Now 
 the parish church (Adderley church) was in the patronage of
 
 230 Life of ArchbisJwp Laud. [Sre'^'*' 
 
 the Corbets, and the Needhams could not endure to pray in 
 the nave, while their bitter enemy, the patron, was praying in 
 the exalted atmosphere of the chancel. On one side of this 
 chancel was a pew for the patron ; on the other was one for 
 the rector. Perceiving how strained were the relations be- 
 tween the two great men in his parish, the well-meaning 
 rector made the excuse of being a bachelor and requiring no 
 pew, to place his own in the chancel at the disposal of the 
 Needhams ; so for a time there was an armed neutrality. 
 
 On the accession of Charles I., Sir Robert Needham was 
 made a peer, as Viscount Kilmorey, which increased the 
 jealousy of Sir John Corbet, Worse still, the rector 
 married, and although his wife allowed the Kilmoreys to 
 continue to sit in her pew, they disliked being there 
 simply as her guests. Lord Kilmorey then went to his 
 bishop and asked his permission to rebuild his own private 
 and domestic chapel, which had fallen into ruin. This was 
 close to his own house, and he desired to be allowed to have 
 service there instead of attending the parish church. The 
 bishop was advised by counsel that the leave of the patron 
 and the incumbent of the parish would be necessary to do 
 this. Failing such leave, the bishop suggested that a pro- 
 clamation should be made in the church to the effect that the 
 chapel would be re-built, promising to grant a license unless 
 an objection should be lodged. The proclamation was duly 
 read, no objection was lodged, the license was granted, the 
 private chapel was built, and, in 1629, it was consecrated 
 by the bishop. 
 
 Eight months later, Sir John Corbet instituted a suit in the 
 Court of Arches, on the ground that the rights of the parish 
 church had been infringed, and a year later, the Dean of 
 Arches annulled the consecration " in its plenary sense," but 
 declared " the chapel to have been duly and validly conse- 
 crated ' for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, for Divine 
 prayer, for preaching the Word of God therein purely and 
 sincerely ; ' and, in that limited sense, he pronounced it 
 valid." ^ 
 
 1 (< 
 
 History of Shavlngton," p. 39.
 
 ^I'l:'"'-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 231 
 
 To all intents and purposes, this was a victoiy for Lord 
 Kilmorey ; nevertheless, he deeply resented the decision, 
 and at once gave notice of appeal. Shortly afterwards, he 
 died ; but the quarrel was carried on quite as fiercely by his 
 son, the new Lord Kilmorey. 
 
 In due time a commission was appointed to hear the 
 appeal. The commissioners met in a neighbouring parish 
 church, and reversed the decision of the Court of Arches, 
 declaring the consecration of the chapel valid in all respects. 
 
 The viscount, therefore, triumphed ; but Sir John Corbet 
 had another card to play. One of his footmen died (an Irish 
 footman), and he persuaded the rector to let him bury him in 
 the chancel, " in a shroud, and not coffined," about four feet 
 above the place where the body of the late Lord Kilmorey 
 lay. 
 
 The living Lord Kilmorey was furious. He took counsel's 
 opinion, asking what remedy he could have ; whether he 
 should apply to the Earl-Marshal's Court, or to the High 
 Commissioners, or to the delegates in the appeal in the Court 
 of Arches, or to the Star Chamber. 
 
 The counsel consulted sent a long reply, ending with this 
 very remarkable P.S., " Sir John Lambe is yesterday made 
 judge of the Arches soe as if you have any interest in him he 
 may doe yo"" hono' better rights." 
 
 Lord Kilmorey, however, appealed to the Earl-Marshal, 
 with whom he apparently had some " interest " ; as he signs 
 himself " Your Lord''^ very afifecconate frend." The Earl- 
 Marshal ordered Sir John Corbet to dig up and remove the 
 bones of his footman, and he also wrote to the bishop about 
 Lord Kilmorey and Sir John Corbet, exhorting him "to 
 endeavoure to reconcile them in love and friendshipp." 
 
 Lord Kilmorey had now got everything his own way ; yet 
 he sighed for fresh victories, and, not content with his private 
 chapel, wanted to build an aisle or transept for himself in the 
 parish church. Once again he asked counsel's opinion, writ- 
 ing to Noy, the Attorney-General, who replied : — " No man 
 of the pish of what condcon soer may buyld an Isle or demo- 
 lysh pt of ye church for ye purpose without consent of the
 
 232 Life of Archbishop Laud. [lt?62.^''- 
 
 byshop and the patron and the incumbent, and also of the 
 pshioners." 
 
 Not long afterwards, fortune favoured Lord Kilmorey. 
 Sir John Corbet, it was said at Laud's instigation, was im- 
 prisoned in the Fleet for joining in the famous Petition 
 of Rights which he had read at the sessions in his own 
 county. 
 
 Lord Kilmorey took this opportunity of appealing direct 
 to the king, diplomatically ending his letter with the words, 
 i f the lords grace of Canterbury your worthy metropolitan 
 (upon reference to him) shall think fit." 
 
 Mr Harrod, in his History of SJiavingto7i} says : — " The 
 concluding reference to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Laud) 
 makes it probable that this petition was prepared in view of 
 the metropolitan visitation of the Archbishop, which was 
 made in 1634-5. At all events, the Viscount then ap- 
 proached the Archbishop on the subject. Laud was the 
 very man for the work. He would have no nice scruples 
 about the legal rights of patrons, and would highly approve 
 of the addition to the parish Church of a suitable family 
 chantry." 
 
 In 1635, Laud gave Lord Kilmorey the license he desired 
 for the erection of the aisle, in a long document," beginning : — 
 "GULIELMUS providen dio Cant archiepus totius Angliae 
 primas et metroponus ad quem ominnis et ommoda, &c." 
 
 Sir John Corbet was safe in prison, and could not, there- 
 fore, appear to object to the building of the transept, as 
 patron of the living. 
 
 The transept, or chapel, which is a striking feature of Adder- 
 ley church, was duly erected and was ready for use in 1637, 
 when Lord Kilmorey wrote to the " principall secretary to the 
 Reverend ffather in God the Lord Archbishope of Canter- 
 bury," saying that he had taken "a little more in bredthe 
 and a greate deale less in length than " was allowed him, 
 and asking Laud's leave to have it consecrated. 
 
 In reply, came a still longer document from GULIELMUS ; 
 the transept was consecrated, and it was occupied by Lord 
 
 ^ P. 5^* " "Muniments of Shavington," § viii. v. 551.
 
 Siref'"'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 233 
 
 Kilmorey for four or five years in peace. There were, none 
 the less, troubles ahead. 
 
 Sir John Corbet became a Member of Parliament, and 
 during his absence in London, his wife, who had neither 
 forgotten the quarrel nor forgiven the enemy who had got 
 the best of her husband, took the law into her own hands. 
 The parliamentary party were now getting into power, and 
 royalists like Lord Kilmorey were considered fair game. On 
 the 6th of March 1642, she had the courage to enter Lord 
 Kilmorey's transept, with her family and servants, and occupy 
 his seats throughout the service. Fortunately, the Kilmoreys 
 had a service that morning in their private chapel at home, 
 so no harm came of it. 
 
 On the 30th of the same month, however, there was a day 
 of General Humiliation, and Lord Kilmorey, after the service 
 in his own private chapel, went to the afternoon service at his 
 parish church. On going to his transept, he found four of 
 Sir John Corbet's servants sitting in it.^ " The service was 
 proceeding, and a Psalm was being sung, so Lord Kilmorey 
 entered the chapel and quietly told the men to leave. They 
 made no reply, nor would they move from their position, 
 and Lord Kilmorey, who no doubt thought it well to be 
 well attended, sent in some of his people, with orders to 
 remove the men as quietly as possible. As they were armed, 
 and made a desperate resistance, this was impossible, and a 
 terrible melee ensued, but eventually the men were, with great 
 difficulty, dislodged, and the Kilmoreys occupied the pew to 
 the close of the service." 
 
 Nor was this the only battle. " On the 8th May, being 
 Sunday, about twenty men, armed with swords and staves, 
 took possession of the chapel and approaches, and kept out 
 the servants sent by Lord Kilmorey to take possession. 
 They remained there until Lady Corbet came, who, with her 
 family, seated herself in the chapel. The residue of the 
 servants placed themselves in the passage between the 
 church and the chapel, and kept out Lord Kilmorey's ser- 
 vants. In the afternoon. Lady Corbet came again, with at 
 
 ■* " History of Shavington," p. 70.
 
 234 Life of Archbishop Laud. [St?V''" 
 
 least forty men, all armed, and kept out Lord Kilmorey's 
 servants from the chapel and from their seats in the body of 
 the church." 1 
 
 Lord Kilmorey then drew up a petition and sent it to 
 Laud, begging him to assist him in recovering possession of 
 his chapel. Laud, however, was then in the Tower ; Sir 
 John Corbet, as a Member of Parliament, was a privileged per- 
 son, and, some four years later, the estates of Lord Kilmorey, 
 who was an ardent royalist, were sequestrated. 
 
 As I said at starting, there is something more to be considered 
 in this case with regard to Laud. It concerns accusations 
 which were brought against him, at his trial for high treason. 
 The charge ran thus - : — " That the said Arch-Bishop about 
 Eight Years last Past, being then also a Privy-Counsellor to 
 his Majesty, for the End and Purpose aforesaid, caused Sir 
 John Corbet of Stoake in the County of Salop Baronet, then 
 a Justice of Peace of the said County, to be committed to the 
 Prison of the Fleet, where he continued a Prisoner for the 
 space of half a year or more ; for no other Cause but for call- 
 ing for the Petition of Right, and causing it to be Read at 
 the Sessions of the Peace for that County, upon a just and 
 necessary Occasion. And during the Time of his said Im- 
 prisonment, the said Arch-Bishop, without any Colour of 
 Right, by a Writing under the Seal of his Arch-Bishoprick, 
 granted away Parcel of the Glebe-Land of the Church of 
 Adderley in the said County, whereof the said Sir Jo. Corbet 
 was then Patron, unto Robert Viscount Kilmurry, without the 
 consent of the said Sir John, or the then Incumbent of the 
 said Church ; which said Viscount Kilmurry, Built a Chappel 
 upon the said Parcel of Glebe-Land, to the great prejudice of 
 the said Sir John Corbet, which hath caused great Suits and 
 Dissentions between them." 
 
 In his defence, Laud made the following reply to these 
 charges ^ : — " Sir John says, he was sent for about Reading the 
 Petition of Right, at a Session, in the Country, and that the 
 Earl of Bridgwater should say, he was disaffected to the King. 
 
 ' "Historyof Shavington," and " Muniments of Shavington," § viii. v. 555-7- 
 - "Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 242. =' Jb., p. 251.
 
 ^"69^'] L^fi of Archbishop Laud. 235 
 
 This concerns me not in any thing. He says, That for this 
 he was Committed^ lay long in the Fleet, and was denied Bail: 
 But he says it was denyed by the whole Board. So by his 
 own Confession, this was the Act of the Council, not mine." 
 
 " For the He built by the Lord Viscount Kibnurrye, the 
 Grant which I made was no more, than is ordinary in all such 
 Cases ... so there is nothing at all done to the prejudice 
 of Sir John's Inheritance : For if we cannot Grant it by 
 Law, then the Grant is voided by its own words." These 
 words were " Quantum in nobis est, et de Jure possunius^ 
 " And whereas 'tis alledged, That I made this Grant without 
 the consent oj'' " the Patron, or the then Incumbent ; Sir 
 John acknowledges, like a Gentleman, that I sent unto him 
 for his consent, if it might be had." [As the consent was 
 evidently not given, it is difficult to see the force of this 
 plea.] " And this I foresaw also, that if I had denyed the 
 Lord Viscount that which was not unusual ; then the Com- 
 plaint would have fallen more heavy on the other side, that I 
 made Persons of Quality in a manner Recusants, by denying 
 them that conveniency which was in my power to grant. So 
 I must be faulty, whatever I do." 
 
 The fact that Lord Kilmorey was a royalist and that Sir 
 John Corbet was a zealous supporter of the opposite faction 
 is, of course, entirely ignored by Laud.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 I MUST now refer to Montague, whose antipathy towards the 
 Church had apparently softened considerably since he wrote 
 his Appello Ccesarein. He was now actually trying to nego- 
 tiate a union between Anglicanism and Catholicism, with Pan- 
 zani, the envoy from Rome. This action on his part would 
 not much affect my memoir, were it not that he is stated to 
 have assured Panzani "that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 was entirely of his sentiment, but with a great allay of fear 
 and caution." Laud had his faults ; but fear and caution are 
 not generally supposed to have been the most conspicuous. 
 My quotations are taken from the Memoirs of Gregorio 
 Panzani, translated from the Italian original, by the Rev. 
 oseph Berington. 
 The interview with Panzani was of Montague's own seeking.^ 
 " When they met, he " (Montague) " immediately fell upon the 
 project of an union." " He signified a great desire, that the 
 breach between the two churches might be made up, and 
 apprehended no danger from publishing the scheme, as things 
 stood." Presently he said "that he was satisfied both the 
 archbishops, with the bishop of London and several others of 
 the episcopal order, besides a great number of the learned 
 inferior clergy, were prepared to fall in with the Church of 
 Rome as to a supremacy purely spiritual : That, for his own 
 part, he knew no tenet of the Church of Rome to which he 
 was not willing to subscribe, unless it were the article of 
 Transubstantiation, which word, he had reason to think, was 
 invented by pope Innocent III., after the council of Lateran 
 was risen. He owned, he had some scruples concerning 
 communion in one kind ; but as for particular points, he 
 thought the best method would be to chuse moderate men 
 
 ■^ " Panz.ini Memoirs," pp. 237 and following;. 
 236
 
 '^'"t.Vj^^-] Life of Archbishop Land. 237 
 
 deputies on both sides, to draw up the differences in as small 
 a compass as they could, and consider about them." He 
 then suggested that such a committee, or congress, might be 
 most conveniently held in France. 
 
 " Panzani modestly replied, that he did not know but his 
 Holiness might approve of the scheme he had laid, but he 
 could say no more to it till the motion were made, either by 
 the king, or by some of the chief of the ministry in his name." 
 
 At parting, Montague told Panzani that " he would take the 
 first opportunity to discourse the primate," Laud, " on the 
 subject ; but insinuated he was a cautious man, who would 
 make no advances unless he were well protected." 
 
 Panzani reported this interview to Rome. " The Italians 
 were extremely pleased with it ; and it was a subject of great 
 joy to understand that several of the Protestant bishops and 
 clergy were ready to join with the universal church in the 
 article of a spiritual supremacy." Panzani was ordered to 
 tell Montague that "as for looking into particular con- 
 troversies, or specifying the terms of communion, it was too 
 soon to speak of those matters. At present, it would be 
 more advisable to dwell upon generals ; and especially the 
 Protestant bishops and clergy ought to examine the motives 
 which first occasioned the breach from Rome, which being 
 found human and unwarrantable, it would be their duty to 
 come forward and sue for a reconciliation." 
 
 " Above all things, Panzani was advised never to favour 
 the discussion of particular points," " The supreme point of 
 a supreme judge " must be " first settled, for then other matters 
 would come in of course," " In a word, authority and 
 doctrinal points were the two capital objects." In " practices 
 out of the limits of the jus divinuvi, which were disagreeable 
 to the English nation, as it was in the power of the church to 
 alter them, so they should meet with all the tenderness 
 imaginable." 
 
 On their next meeting, Panzani complimented Montague, 
 and told him that he was much admired in Rome for the 
 steps he had taken. " The bishop, who was not a little vain, 
 relished the compliment, and returned it, as far as was con-
 
 238 Life of Archbishop Latid. [it?y.^^'' 
 
 venient, upon his admirers." It was then that he informed 
 Panzani " that the Archbishop of Canterbury was entirely of 
 his sentiment, but with a great allay of fear and caution." 
 
 Panzani now observed that he had orders not to " give en- 
 couragement that there should be any relaxation on the 
 Catholic side, as to the credenda or fundamentals of religion, 
 that the union designed was not only to be poHtic and 
 ceremonial, but real and in unitate fidei, without any mixture 
 of creeds. — The bishop assured him, that he aimed at a total 
 union." 
 
 " Montague then having occasion to mention his character 
 and priesthood said, he looked upon them as unquestionable. 
 — Panzani judging this to be too intricate a point, and know- 
 ing what exceptions some learned men made against it, would 
 not deliver his opinion, but passed to another matter." 
 
 The writer of the Memoirs then says " it was pretty plain 
 that there was a great inclination in many of the eminent 
 Protestant clergy to re-unite themselves to the see of Rome ; " 
 but that there was no united action among them, and that 
 they feared the king ; " for they imagined the spiritual 
 supremacy was a prerogative he would not easily part with." 
 It was noticed, at court, that when Pope Urban, or Cardinal 
 Barberini, was mentioned, " he discovered an extraordinary 
 affection for them ; but his praises running mostly upon their 
 personal qualifications, and generous behaviour to the Eng- 
 lish nation," they could form no opinion as to whether he 
 merely wished to keep on a satisfactory diplomatic footing 
 with Rome, or desired a union with the Catholic Church. 
 One remarkable piece of evidence is given, that " Dr George 
 Leyburn assured Panzani, in verbo sacerdotis that the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury encouraged the Duchess of Buckingham 
 to remain contented, for, in a little time, she would see Eng- 
 land re-united to the see of Rome." If this is to be believed, 
 it is a very important incident in the life of Laud ! I do not 
 question Dr Leybourn's word ; but may not the Duchess 
 have either misunderstood Laud, or unconsciously exagger- 
 ated in repeating what he said .-* 
   At the next interview between Panzani and Montague, the
 
 Mt%l!'^^-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 239 
 
 latter stated that there were only three Anglican bishops 
 who " could be counted violently bent against the church of 
 Rome, viz., Durham, Salisbury, and Exeter; the rest, he said, 
 were very moderate." These three bishops were Morton, 
 Davenant, and Hall. 
 
 At this conference, Montague again referred to the validity 
 of his own orders, maintaining that he derived them in direct 
 descent from St Augustin, the apostle of England, although 
 he admitted that Catholics "made little account of Protestant 
 ordinations. — Panzani managed as before, telling him, it was 
 a tedious, intricate controversy, the particulars whereof he 
 was a stranger to." Montague then said he had often heard 
 the king remark " that there was neither policy, Christianity, 
 nor good manners in not keeping a correspondence with 
 Rome," and he expressed his own desire to be selected for 
 that purpose. " ' Then,' replied Panzani, * the world would 
 immediately conclude, that you were going over to the 
 Church of Rome.' — ' And what harm would there be in 
 that } ' said the Anglican bishop." 
 
 Panzani next observed that the difficulties in the way of 
 union were very great ; whereupon Montague " solemnly de- 
 clared, that both he and many of his brethren were prepared 
 to conform themselves to the method and discipline of the 
 Galilean Church, where civil rights were well guarded ; 'and 
 as for the aversion we discover in our sermons and printed 
 books, they are things of form, chiefly to humour the popu- 
 lace, and not to be much regarded.' " 
 
 This was, indeed, a candid admission, especially in the 
 mouth of a man who, in his " printed books," had accused 
 Catholics of " cosening tricks," called the Catholic " the 
 Roman exorbitant Church," described its miracles, and 
 visions as " hobgoblin stuffe," and stigmatised its priests as 
 " Beelzebub's attendants." ^ Such expressions, it seems, were 
 mere "things of form," only "to humour the populace, and 
 not to be much regarded." 
 
 Panzani's Memoirs'^ in addition to their mention of the 
 fruitless overtures of Montague, state that "among those of 
 
 1 " A Gagg for the New Gospell." -V. 248.
 
 240 Life of Archbishop Lmtd. Lit'e/.^^^' 
 
 the episcopal order who seemed to desire an union, none 
 appeared more zealous than Dr Goodman, of Gloucester, 
 who every day said the priest's office, and observed several 
 other duties as practised in the church of Rome." This 
 Anglican bishop was a forerunner of the many modern ritualist 
 clergymen who have said the divine office, or at least a 
 portion of it. 
 
 Of the Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, I shall have a good 
 deal to say, in direct connection with Laud, in a later chapter. 
 It will be sufficient, here, to add that he died a Catholic.^ 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain how far there was ever any real 
 support given by the other Anglican bishops to Montague's 
 proposals for union with the Church. Panzani received a 
 letter of instructions from Cardinal Barberini, in which, after 
 referring to some suggestions of Windebank, to the effect - 
 " That the church of Rome should give up some of her 
 articles, viz., communion in one kind, the celibacy of her 
 clergy, &c.," he said that such ideas " would never please at 
 Rome ; that the English ought to look back upon the breach 
 they had made, and attend to the motives that induced them 
 to it ; and that the whole world was against them as to the 
 points mentioned." 
 
 It seems that Panzani had been accused of exceeding 
 his commission, and he replied that certain priests had 
 unfortunately excited by their action " the archbishop of 
 Canterbury against the proposal." How far Panzani managed 
 the matter to the best advantage seems doubtful. He was 
 not on the best of terms with the religious orders, and it 
 must be remembered, as it ought to be candidly admitted, 
 that the very difficult question of the most advisable tem- 
 porary ecclesiastical rule for the Catholics in England, now 
 that the hierarchy was suspended in that country, had given 
 rise to differences of opinion among good men, as difficult 
 questions are ever apt to do. 
 
 Lingard, while admitting the authenticity of the Panzani 
 
 1 Fuller's " History of the Church," p. 170. Also "Memoirs of Panzani," 
 pp. 248 and 260. 
 ^ Panzani, p. 174.
 
 arca^i636.] Life of Arckbis/iop Laud. 241 
 
 Memoirs, which he has himself used to some extent, says ^ : — 
 " It appears plain that Charles had no idea of a re-union 
 between the churches ; and that, if Laud ever cherished such 
 a project, he kept it to himself. Panzani never saw him ; nor 
 is there anything in the correspondence except the assertion 
 of Montague, to make it appear that the archbishop was 
 favourable to it." 
 
 Laud's contemporary, friend, and biographer, Heylin,^ 
 deserves to be heard on this matter, both as to the time 
 when Panzani was in England and also as to that of his 
 immediate successor, who was to carry on his work. " The 
 Pamphlet called TJie Pope's Nuncio, Printed in the year 
 1643, hath told us, 'That Panzani at his being here, did 
 desire a conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 but was put off and procrastinated therein from day to 
 day; That at the last he departed the Kingdom without 
 any speech with him.' The like we find in the discovery 
 of Andreas ab Habernfield, who tells us of his Conl' — 
 Conn was the legate who succeeded Panzani in London — 
 "that finding the King's judgment to depend much on the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, his faithful servant, he resolved to 
 move every stone, and bend all his strength to gain him to 
 his side, being confident he had prepared the means. For he 
 had had a command to make offer of a cardinal's cap to the 
 Lord Archbishop in the name of the Pope" — this is a more 
 than doubtful assertion — "and that he should allure him also 
 with higher promises, that he might corrupt his sincere mind ; 
 yet a fitting occasion was never offered whereby he might 
 insinuate himself into the Lord Archbishop, to whom free 
 access was to be impetrated by the Earl and Countess of 
 Arundel," (in another place Habernfield calls this lady "a 
 strenuous she-champion of the Popish religion "), " as also by 
 Secretary Windebank, all whose intercessions he neglected, 
 and did shun (as it were the plague) the company and 
 familiarity of Con. He was also solicited by others of no 
 mean rank, well known to him, and yet he continued im- 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v. 
 ^ " Cyp. Ang. ," pp. 385 and following. 
 
 Q
 
 242 Life of Archbishop Laud. g^V-^'^' 
 
 moveable." "And whereas," says Heylin, "some found a way 
 to help at last by making Windebank Internuncio betwixt him 
 and them, that only serves to make the matter rather worse 
 than better, there being a great strangeness grown betwixt 
 him and Windebank, not only before Con's coming into 
 the Realm ; but before Panzani had settled any course of 
 intelligence in the court of England." 
 
 Politically, Charles endeavoured to make capital of the 
 civilities shown by Rome through Panzani and Conn to 
 obtain the Pope's intervention on behalf of his nephew, 
 the Palatine ; and, on his own part, he sent Sir William 
 Hamilton to Rome, not only to endeavour to secure the 
 Holy Father's good offices on behalf of his sister's son, but 
 also to persuade him to favour and encourage a marriage 
 between her daughter and the King of Poland, as well as to 
 induce him to consent to the English Catholics taking the 
 oath of allegiance, either in its then form, or in some other 
 which would be acceptable to the English Government. On 
 the other hand, Panzani, to some extent, and, to a greater. 
 Conn, obtained Charles's promise that the English Catholics 
 should be relieved from the annoyance of domiciliary visits 
 from pursuivants. If Charles vacillated on this point, we 
 may fairly hope that Laud may have said a good word for 
 his Catholic fellow-countrymen ; for he was certainly no 
 great lover of pursuivants, as the following extract from an 
 old newspaper ^ will prove. 
 
 A certain priest was seen by a pursuivant, named Bray, 
 who "went about to apprehend him, but was abused by the 
 priest, who told him he had a protection from Sir Francis 
 Windebanke, of which the said Bray going to Lambeth to 
 complaine to the Archbishope of Canterbury, he would not 
 speake with him, but was answered that he could not attend 
 to such frivolous businesses ; whereupon the said Bray said, he 
 hoped to see better dayes. For which the Archbishop com- 
 plained of him in the Star Chamber, and caused him to be 
 imprisoned fourteen weeks ; and when the said Mr Braye's 
 
 ^ London's Intelligencer, July 17, 1644. King's Pamphlets (British 
 Museum), No. 167.
 
 Mt.V''^'] Life of Archbishop Laicd. 24 
 
 3 
 
 wife petitioned him for her husband's release, he threw it 
 away and said he would have nothing to doe with such priest- 
 catching knaves. And afterwards before the setting High 
 Commission Court openly threatened the other pursuivants, 
 that if they employed the said Gray " — in the course of the 
 accounts he is called Gray, Bray, and Braye — " in catching 
 of priests, he would not only imprison them, but pull their 
 coates over their eares. It was further alledged against him " 
 — this was at Laud's trial for high treason — "that he had 
 discouraged one Anne Hussey, who discovered a dangerous 
 plot against the Kinge and kingdome. The plot was that a 
 Jesuite declared, there were seven thousand in private pay to 
 cut the throats of the Protestants, and that the King should 
 be killed. He told her that she was mad, and hired by 
 Londoners, and that she should be rackt." 
 
 On this ground I infer that when Charles yielded on the 
 question of the pursuivant to Panzani or Conn, it may have 
 been at Laud's advice. That very able judge, Lingard, how- 
 ever, on the strength of a MS. abstract of Conn's despatches, 
 which was in his own possession, takes a different view.i 
 Conn " was able," he says, " by his remonstrances on different 
 occasions, to check the zeal of Archbishop Laud, who, through 
 anxiety, as it was reported, to shake off the imputation of 
 Popery cast upon him by the Puritans, sought to establish 
 the belief of his orthodoxy by the rigorous enforcement of 
 the penal laws." 
 
 That Laud was not supposed in Rome to have done much 
 to alleviate the sufferings of Catholics may be gathered from 
 the sworn testimony of a witness, to the effect that " the 
 Honourable Sir Lionel Tohnach Baronet," related that when 
 he was in that city immediately after Laud's execution, " a 
 certain abbot " had observed " that the Greatest Enemy of 
 the Church of Rome in England was cut off, and the Greatest 
 Champion of the Church of England silenced : Or in Words 
 to that purpose." John Evelyn, who happened to be in 
 Rome at the same time, testified that he was " in the Com- 
 pany of divers of the English Fathers," when the news arrived 
 
 ' " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v.
 
 244 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvmhcent. 
 
 of Laud's death, and that they " looked upon him as 
 one that was a great Enemy to them, and stood in their 
 Way." 
 
 The papal legate, although he was in England nominally 
 on a purely private footing, became rather the fashion. He 
 " resided at London in great Part," ^ says Clarendon, " pub- 
 lickly visited the Court ; and was avoAvedly resorted to by 
 the Catholicks of all conditions, over whom he assum'd a 
 particular jurisdiction ; and was caress'd by the Ladies of 
 Honour who inclin'd to that Profession." 
 
 Some direct communications certainly took place between 
 Father Preston, a Benedictine Priest, and Laud's chaplain, 
 Mr William Heywood, concerning one of the subjects of 
 negotiation between Charles and Panzani — the approbation 
 by Rome of the oath of allegiance. Some priests were of 
 opinion that it was impossible that anything could be done 
 in the matter; others thought something might, and among 
 these was Father Preston. He writes - to the " Rev. and 
 much respected Sir," Laud's chaplain : — " The Italian 
 Oratorian [Panzani] sent hither from Rome, signified to me 
 that some had informed him that I was printing a book in 
 favour of the Oath, which would hinder the fair course then 
 intended betwixt his Holiness and the King ; for then he 
 made show to procure of his Holiness some moderation or 
 moderate declaration concerning the Oath, &c." " But now 
 I perceive that they intend at Rome no such moderation 
 concerning the Oath, and that deponibility, which is the only 
 chief thing denied in the Oath, must not be meddled withal." 
 Indeed, Preston had himself got into trouble by his efforts to 
 please the king in the matter. " Our Procurator sent me 
 word that the Pope's nephew our protector told him his 
 Holiness and the Lords Cardinal were grievously offended 
 with me." He sends some of his writings on the question 
 for his correspondent "to peruse with your good leisure," 
 and he would willingly have them printed, " if it may stand 
 with my Lord Graces " [Laud's] " good liking," and he says 
 
 ^ " Hist, of the Rebellion," vol. i. p. 149. 
 
 ^ " Records of the Eng. Prov. S. J.," series i, pp. 256-7.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 245 
 
 "when you have perused them, I pray you acquaint my 
 Lord's Grace." 
 
 So long as Rome left the question undecided officially, 
 Preston stuck to his own opinion ; but when it had spoken, 
 " he submitted, before being visited by any express censure 
 or declaration."! Gee^ the informer, in his list of priests says 
 that " hee hath by one engine or another, of late seduced great 
 multitudes to Popery," and the Jesuit writer, Brother Foley, 
 says there is " every reason to hope that he died a martyr in 
 vinculis for the faith." 
 
 This would appear to be the proper place to notice the 
 interviews between Laud and a celebrated Benedictine monk. 
 A young man, named John Jones, connected with the 
 Scudamores of Kentchurch in Herefordshire, was an under- 
 graduate with Laud at St John's, Oxford, where he became a 
 Catholic.'-^ He afterwards went to Spain, joined the Order of 
 St Benedict, and eventually returned to England, as Father 
 Leander of St Martin. My remarks about him are chiefly taken 
 from a book ^ written by Dom. Bennet Weldon, a Benedictine 
 monk, who was born less than thirty years after the death of 
 Laud. Father Leander was " skilled in all the oriental 
 languages," " an accomplished rhetorician, poet, grecian, and 
 latinist." "He rendered the Catholic cause great services 
 when upon the marriage of Charles L with Henrietta of 
 France there appeared an aurora of England's conversion, the 
 Queen being Catholic and attended with a Chapel splendidly 
 served by a great retinue of Priests, both Secular and 
 Regular ; the King inclining and the famous Dr Laud, that 
 renowned protestant archbishop of Canterbury (the best of 
 them who have occupied that See since error hath prevailed 
 in England), steering his course directly to the old and only 
 Faith, guided and directed by his dear friend and old intimate 
 acquaintance the R. F. Leander, to whom he gave a College 
 in Kent. They had been colleagues together at Oxford, and 
 not only this Reverend Father was so highly prized by Dr 
 
 1 "Records of the Eng. Prov. S. J.," series i, p. 258. - //'., p. 254, note. 
 
 »"A Chronicle of the English Benedictine Monks." Ed, 1881, pp. 
 100-102.
 
 246 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Srei'.^'"' 
 
 "Laud, but also by others of that heterodox misery, so that 
 once in those most desperate times he had a special Royal 
 Grant or leave to go into England. The last time he went 
 he was called by the aforesaid good friend Dr Laud who 
 wanted to confer with him about some points of controversy. 
 But he had not been long in England when he fell sick and 
 died the 27th of December 1635, &c." A modern Benedictine 
 writer, the . Rev. Dom. Edmund Ford says^: — "In 1634 
 Fr. Leander of St Martin, then president, came to England 
 as the accredited agent of the Papal Court, to treat, among 
 other matters, with his old college friend Laud about a 
 union between the two Churches." Whether they ever actu- 
 ally discussed the subject seems doubtful ; but Laud was 
 charged at his trial with "holding correspondence" with "a 
 Benedictine monke Father Leander." ^ For my own part, I 
 cannot see, in any of the evidence adduced with regard to 
 Father Leander, proof of Laud's having entered into any 
 negotiations with a view to a union of the Anglican with the 
 Catholic Church. Father Leander may have hoped to discuss 
 the question of the reconciliation of the English with him ; 
 possibly Laud may have even consented to talk the matter 
 over with him, as an old college friend ; but I do not think 
 that more than this can be made of the facts that I have been 
 able to collect. 
 
 In discussing the subject of these attempts at an union of 
 the Anglican with the Catholic Church, it may be well to 
 consider the probable cause of their failure. Panzani attri- 
 buted it chiefly to the absence of any concerted action on 
 the part of the Anglican bishops and clergy, and the in- 
 difference exhibited towards the whole matter by the king 
 and the Government. 
 
 It is but natural that we should ask ourselves whether the 
 same difficulties would be likely to present themselves, were 
 a movement to be set on foot for the same purpose, in our 
 own days, by one or two of the Anglican bishops, with the 
 
 ^ " Notes on the Origin and Early Development of the Restored Eng. Ben. 
 Congregation," p. 51. 
 
 3 <( 
 
 Mercurius Civicus," July 1644.
 
 xixthcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. 247 
 
 tacit approval of many of the others, as well as the eager 
 support of a large number of the clergy. 
 
 At first sight there would be several encouraging features 
 connected with the question of such a re-union. The 
 material advantages to the Catholic Church would be 
 enormous. As to details, there are already several Eastern 
 Churches united, or re-united, to Rome, which are allowed to 
 continue to enjoy some of the principal desiderata claimed 
 by Anglicans. I am not forgetting that the position of a 
 schismatical Church, which had continued the use of a liturgy 
 antecedent to its schism, is very different from that of a Church 
 which deliberately altered and expurgated the liturgy of the 
 Catholic Church in order to fit it to the tastes of some of the 
 eldest-born children of the Reformation. Anglicans might 
 reply that their Church had at least retained, and fondly 
 clung to, much of the Catholic liturgy, and that they would 
 gladly see it re-catholicized, if they might be permitted to 
 use, as much as possible, the words and forms to which they 
 have been accustomed since their childhood. On such ques- 
 tions as these, it would ill become the writer to express any 
 opinion of his own ; should they ever present themselves in 
 a practical form, loyal Catholics would be silent on the sub- 
 ject until Rome had spoken. My point, in the above remarks, 
 has only been that it is not so much on the details of discip- 
 line, ceremony, and liturgy, that difficulties loom. 
 
 The doctrinal difficulty is, of course, a great one ; yet there 
 are many Anglicans who hold most of the dogmas of the 
 Catholic Church. If, however, it came to be a matter of uniting 
 the whole body of the members of the Established Church of 
 England to the Catholic Church, the doctrinal difficulty would 
 assume such prodigious proportions as to appear to bar the 
 way for once and for all. It is true that, in the days of Laud, 
 various opinions were more or less tolerated within the sphere 
 of the Anglican Church ; that it contained Arminians, Cal- 
 vinists, and a rising school of which Hales and Chillingworth 
 were the leaders, three parties which may be said to have 
 been the forerunners of the High, the Low. and the Broad 
 Church of to-day ; but, even allowing for a few variations of
 
 248 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xixthCent. 
 
 opinion among the members of the Arminian, Calvinistic, and 
 free-thinking sections of Anglicanism, in Laudian times, what 
 were these few schools of thought in comparison to the num- 
 berless divisions and subdivisions of parties in the Estab- 
 lished Church at the end of the nineteenth century. Few 
 things are more indefinite, at present, than the term a High- 
 Churchman ; the very use of which provokes the question, 
 " What sort of a High-Churchman ? " For of High-Church- 
 men there are endless varieties. 
 
 The term Low-Church may mean almost anything, and 
 there seems to be little that the term Broad-Church may not 
 include. To unite the Established Church to the Catholic 
 Church, all these varieties and sub-varieties would have to 
 be satisfied, or at least to be reckoned with. Could we expect 
 more concerted action among them, or their leaders, than 
 that which was found in the period of Montague and Laud } 
 
 With regard to the attitude likely to be assumed towards 
 a re-uiiion movement by the sovereign, we should now have 
 to substitute the word government for sovereign. Let us 
 assume for a moment that the government encouraged such a 
 movement ; that it supported a bill for its achievement ; that 
 it went so far, if you will, as to make it a ministerial measure. 
 This is a wild assumption, but let us make it. Well, even 
 then, it is as likely as not, that, on the question of some 
 amendment in committee, ministers might get beaten, and 
 then — out goes the government, and good-bye to the Pope 
 and re-union. 
 
 Long, however, before politicians could be induced to 
 meddle with such a question, many hundreds of conflicting 
 interests implicated in the possibility of re-union would be 
 anxiously and suspiciously weighed by both Unionists and 
 Radicals, and were either of those great parties to make up 
 its mind to promote re-union — a most unlikely contingency — 
 the very fact of its so doing would determine the other great 
 party, en bloc, to oppose it to the very utmost of its power 
 and ability. Charles I. may have been unstable ; but he 
 was an immoveable rock in comparison with the constantly 
 changing rule in Downing Street.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 The year 1635 began in London with a remarkable frost. 
 The Thames was frozen on the fifth of January and continued 
 so until the third of February, when there was " a mighty 
 Flood at the Thaw." 
 
 On the eighth of January, Laud married Lord Charles 
 Herbert to a daughter of the Duke of Buckingham. Her 
 mother, whom Laud had endeavoured to keep in the Estab- 
 lished Church, by his conference with Fisher, brought her to 
 the chapel door, but would not enter it, an action which must 
 have been rather galling to the archbishop. Honours, how- 
 ever, continued to be showered upon him. On the fifth of 
 February, he " was put into the great Co7nmittee of Trade and 
 the King's Revenue " ; on the fourteenth of March, he " was 
 Named one of the Commissioners for the ExcJieqiier, upon 
 the death of Richard Lord Weston, Lord High Treasurer of 
 England" and, on the sixteenth, he was " called " " into the 
 Forrain Committee, by the King." ^ 
 
 In a former chapter I said that Laud made the impropria- 
 tions in Ireland his special care ; he looked after them even 
 more eagerly in England. The Puritans conceived the 
 scheme of buying up a large quantity of lay impropriations, 
 with a view to obtaining ecclesiastical power in their own 
 hands. They formed a committee of thirteen men, clergy- 
 men, lawyers, and citizens, for this purpose, and they de- 
 spatched emissaries into different parts of the country to 
 collect money. Laud heard of this plot and formed his own 
 plans accordingly. He consulted with the king. The subject 
 having been mooted, Cottington, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 and Coventry, Privy Seal, had a dispute about the disposal 
 of the benefices belonging to the king. Coventry claimed 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 51. 
 
 249
 
 250 Life of Archbishop Laud. \.MtM'^'- 
 
 his share ; Cottington refused to recognise that claim. While 
 the two ministers were fighting, says Heylin, " Laud ended 
 the difference by taking all unto himself." He advised the 
 king " that many had served as chaplains in his Majesty's 
 ships, and should have some reward given them for their 
 services past. It was cold venturing upon such hot services 
 without some hope of reward. He takes occasion, therefore, 
 to inform his Majesty, that till this controversy be decided, 
 he might do well to take these livings into his own disposal. 
 Which proposition being approved, his Majesty committed 
 the said benefices unto his" [the archbishop's] "disposal." 
 Heylin goes on to say that " Cottington was not at all dis- 
 pleased at the designation . . . being more willing that a 
 third man should carry off the prize from both, than to be 
 overstepped in his own jurisdiction." 
 
 Lord Cottington was not always so well satisfied with 
 Laud. On the contrary, if the two men found it the best 
 policy to be apparently on good terms with each other, there 
 was never much love lost between them. Cottington was 
 even known to have gone so far as to " drav/ " the archbishop. 
 I beg forgiveness for making use of this slang word. 
 
 It came about in this way. King Charles, who was very 
 fond of hunting, wished to make a large park for red, as well 
 as fallow, deer, between Hampton Court and Richmond, where 
 he owned great pieces of waste land and some extensive 
 woods ; but here and there were a few farms which it would 
 be necessary for him to purchase at a very high price, to 
 carry out this scheme, and the wall which would surround 
 the whole park would obviously add immensely to the ex- 
 pense. His best counsellors strongly advised him to abandon 
 the scheme. 
 
 The owners of the small properties, intermingled among 
 the woods and wastes, were by no means inclined to sell 
 them, and when they saw that the wall, which was to enclose 
 the great park, had been begun before the in-lying farms had 
 been purchased, they feared that the enforesting of their 
 lands would be compulsory, and they complained in loud 
 terms. An outcry raised so near London soon became a
 
 Mt':%2^^''] Life of Archbishop Land. 251 
 
 subject of gossip in the metropolis itself, and uncompli- 
 mentary things began to be said concerning the conduct of 
 the king in the matter. This was an additional objection to 
 the proposal in the minds of the king's advisers. 
 
 From the very first, Lord Cottington, as Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, had protested strongly against the king's idea of 
 making this park, as a piece of unwarrantable extravagance, 
 especially at a time when the royal purse was in anything 
 but a flourishing condition. The price of the lands would 
 be enormous ; the cost of a wall for so large a park would 
 be prodigious, and the discontent of the vendors, obliged to 
 sell against their wills, might possibly prove a still more 
 serious obstacle. Therefore, says Clarendon,^ he " endea- 
 vour'd by all the ways he could, and by frequent impor- 
 tunities, to divert his Majesty from pursuing it, and put all 
 delays, he could well do, in the Bargains which were to be 
 made ; till the King grew very angry with him and told 
 him * He was resolv'd to go through with it, and had already 
 caused Brick to be burn'd, and much of the Wall to be 
 built upon his own Land : ' upon which Cottington thought fit 
 to acquiesce." 
 
 Perceiving how obstinate the king was about his hobby, 
 and smarting from the scolding which he had just received 
 for trying to dissuade him, it occurred to Cottington that it 
 would be at least amusing, and possibly profitable, to entice 
 the archbishop into the trap into which he himself had fallen. 
 He knew that Laud was no less opposed than himself to the 
 foolish and expensive project, and that he would not be 
 likely to mince his words if interrogated upon the subject. 
 
 Accordingly, Cottington opened the question of the king's 
 project, in a conversation with Laud, who told the Chancellor 
 confidentially that '^ " He should do very well to give the King 
 good Counsel, and to withdraw him from a Resolution, in 
 which his Honour, and Justice was so much call'd in ques- 
 tion ; " and he " spake with great warmth against " the king's 
 pet, but, as he thought, foolish whim. 
 
 Cottington did not say a word to imply that he had already 
 ^ "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. i. pp. loo-i. " lb., p. loi.
 
 2 52 Life of A rchbishop Laud. [S" e^'"'" 
 
 done everything in his power to dissuade King Charles from 
 his folly. Quite the contrary. He assumed a shocked and 
 serious expression, and said, with a shake of the head, " that 
 the thing designed was very Lawful, and he thought the King 
 resolv'd very well, since the place lay so conveniently for his 
 Winter Exercise, and that he should by it not be compell'd 
 to make so long Journies, as he us'd to do in that season of 
 the year for his Sport, and that no body ought to disswade 
 him from it." 
 
 Laud was completely taken in. Instead of suspecting 
 that Cottington was not speaking sincerely, as he well might 
 have done, since he had been " inform'd " that Cottington 
 "dislik'd" the scheme, he "grew into much Passion," and 
 told him, in a rage, that " such Men as he would Ruin the 
 King, and make him lose the affections of his subjects ; that 
 for his own part, as he had begun, so he would go on to 
 disswade the King from proceeding in so ill a Counsel, 
 and that he hop'd it would appear who had been his 
 counsellor." 
 
 Cottington was delighted. He had scarcely hoped " to see 
 him so soon hot, and resolv'd to inflame him more." Speak- 
 ing " very calmly," he said " that he thought a Man could 
 not, with a good Conscience" — this was a sharp thrust — 
 " hinder the King from pursuing his Resolutions, and that it 
 could not but proceed from want of Affection to his Person, 
 and he was not sure that it might not be High Treason." 
 
 This did not frighten Laud, who asked him "in great 
 anger " " from whence he had receiv'd that Doctrine .'' " 
 
 Cottington replied, with irritating coolness, that " they who 
 did not wish the King's health could not love him ; and they 
 who went about to hinder his taking Recreation, which pre- 
 serv'd his health, might be thought, for ought he knew, guilty 
 of the highest Crimes." 
 
 " Upon which the Arch-Bishop in great Rage, and with 
 many Reproaches left him." 
 
 Laud pushed his way still further into the trap. On the 
 very first opportunity, he told the king that " he now knew 
 who was his Counsellor for making the Park," and, having
 
 ^'Tel^^^'^'] Life of Archbishop Laitd. 253 
 
 given an account of his conversation with Cottington, abused 
 him roundly. 
 
 For once in his life, Laud got laughed at and scolded by 
 the king who was usually so obedient to his advice. 
 
 " My Lord," said Charles, " you are deceiv'd. Cottitigton is 
 too hard " (sharp) " for you ; upon my word he hath not only 
 disswaded me more, and given more Reasons against this 
 Business, than all the Men in England have done, but 
 hath really obstructed the Work by not doing his Duty, 
 as I commanded him, for which I have been very much 
 displeased with him : you see how Unjustly your Passion 
 hath transported you." 
 
 To be spoken to in such a manner, and to find that he had 
 been — to use a vulgar phrase — "made a fool of" by Cotting- 
 ton was most humiliating to Laud, who cherished great 
 resentment against the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 
 consequence. 
 
 It was no doubt of this that Lord Conway wrote to 
 Wentworth, in the November of the same year : ^ — " We say 
 here in Court that there is a mortal quarrel between the 
 Archbishop and my Lord Cottington ; but Cottington hath 
 gained in the King's Favour and the Bishop lost." 
 
 From time to time Laud's rancour towards Cottington 
 manifests itself " In this business " {i.e., some legislation 
 in respect to the privileges conceded to the soap-boilers, he 
 says in his Diary 2) " and some other of great consequence, 
 during the Commission for the Treasury, my old Friend, 
 Sir F. W." — probably Sir Francis Windebank — " forsook me, 
 and joyned with the Lord Cottington : Which put me to the 
 exercise of a great deal of patience." 
 
 The concluding paragraph of the first book of Clarendon's 
 history is so pertinent to the period of Laud's life with which 
 I am now dealing, that I cannot refrain from quoting a por- 
 tion of it. " Whatsoever was the Cause of it, this excellent 
 Man, who stood not upon the advantage ground before, from 
 the time of his Promotion to the Arch-Bishoprick, or rather 
 from that of his being Commissioner of the Treasury, exceed- 
 
 1 " Strafford Papers," vol i. p. 479. "D\2.xy, p. 51.
 
 2 54 Life of Archbishop Lmtd. ^ItXt^^' 
 
 ing provok'd, or underwent the Envy, and Reproach, and 
 Malice of all Men of all Qualities, and Conditions ; who 
 agreed in nothing else : all which, though well enough known 
 to him, were not enough Consider'd by him, who believ'd, as 
 most Men did, the Government to be so firmly Settled, that 
 it could neither be Shaken from within, nor without, and that 
 less than a general Confusion of Law and Gospel, could not 
 hurt him ; which was true too ; but he did not Foresee how 
 easily that Confusion might be brought to pass, as it prov'd 
 shortly to be." ^ 
 
 Laud had that passion for stones, bricks and mortar, to 
 which the clergy of " all denominations of Christians " are 
 so much addicted. Three consecutive entries in his Diary ^ 
 in the year 1635 afford examples of this. 
 
 " Septeuib. 2. Wednesday, I was in attendance upon the King 
 at Woodstocke, and went thence to Cudsden, to see the House 
 which Dr John Bancroft then Lord Bishop of Oxford had 
 there built, to be a House for the Bishops of that See for 
 ever. He having built that House at my perswasion." 
 
 " Septenib. 3. TJmrsday, I went privately from the Bishop of 
 Oxfords House at Cndsden, to St John's in Oxford, to see my 
 building there, and give some directions for the last finishing 
 of it. And returned the same Night, staying there not two 
 Hours." 
 
 " Septenib. 23. Wednesday, I went to Saint Pauls to view 
 the building, and returned that Night to Croydon.'' 
 
 In the same year, we find the Queen of Bohemia exercising 
 her influence with Laud with a view to obtaining a bishopric 
 for one of her chaplains.^ " A worthy honest man has desired 
 her recommendations to him. It is Dr Hassall, Dean of 
 Norwich. She does not love to trouble him, or her other 
 friends with recommendations, but this honest man for some 
 years lived at the Hague, preacher in the English Church 
 and she can answer for him, that he is a deserving man, and 
 no puritan ; therefore she could not refuse to recommend him 
 and entreats his Grace for her sake to prefer him when he 
 shall have occasion." As in many other ladies' letters, the 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 102. -P. 52. ^ " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1635, p. 327.
 
 St?62.^^^'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 255 
 
 pith is in the postscript : — " P.S. She hears the Bishop of 
 Norwich is dead ; she says no more, but leaves all to the 
 Archbishop." 
 
 Laud replied ^ that he had " made Hassall Dean of Norwich 
 merely for the sake of the Queen of Bohemia, whom Hassall 
 had served at the Hague. ... A fortnight before her letters 
 came, Hassall was with the Archbishop and he promised (if 
 it lay in his power) to help him to a better deanery, or some- 
 thing else to advance his means." [Hassall was evidently 
 a terrible place-hunter and beggar.] " After this, Hassall 
 brought him her letters, by the postscript whereof, he first 
 discovered his aim to be Bishop of Norwich, whereas Hassall 
 knows as well as the writer that the King " — i.e., Laud — " will 
 make none bishops but such as he has some knowledge of 
 himself, as having been his own chaplain in ordinary or other- 
 wise, &c, &c. . . . He would here end, being very unwilling 
 to make any complaint, but Hassall when he delivered him 
 her Majesty's letters, carried it so high upon his own merit 
 that he dares say had he done so to the writer's predecessor 
 he would soon have found he had done amiss. But the Arch- 
 bishop will, for Hassall's reference to her Majesty, pass over 
 this, and do that which shall beseem him for Hassall, as he 
 may be able to prevail with his Majesty." 
 
 Not altogether an agreeable letter this for the Queen of 
 Bohemia to receive from Archbishop Laud, especially as she 
 was endeavouring, at that very time, to enlist his services and 
 influence with her brother, the King of England, on her own 
 personal behalf. In the same month that she received the 
 above letter, she wrote " to Laud, saying that her son, the 
 elector, was " desirous, for his first action, to show his respect 
 to the King his uncle, and go himself to kiss his hand and 
 give him thanks for his favours. Entreats the Archbishop to 
 give him his best counsel in all his actions and his favour in 
 his affairs." And then comes another P.S. " Had written 
 this when she received his from Mr Gordon. Gives him many 
 thanks for his favour to Dr Hassall for her sake, but is sorry he 
 behaved himself so ill as to give the Archbishop any offence." 
 
 ^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1635, pp. 375-6. ^ lb., p. 400.
 
 256 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1^62.^^^" 
 
 It is pretty clear, here, that she felt her son's interests to be 
 more important than those of Hassall, for whom she attempted 
 no defence. 
 
 She writes more freely in recommending her son to Sir 
 Henry Vane, on his visit to England. ^ " He is young ct fort 
 noiiveau, so he will no doubt commit many errors, which 
 Vane's good counsel may hinder him from. She fears dam- 
 nably how he will do with their ladies, for he is a very ill 
 courtier, therefore prays Vane to desire them not to laugh 
 too much at him, but be merciful to him." 
 
 Among the many letters of Laud to the Queen of Bohemia, 
 is a long one ^ in which he urges her to " demand of the Em- 
 peror the investiture of her son in a legal form." Certainly 
 he spared no time or pains in advising her. In doing this 
 however, he may have been acting chiefly at the bidding 
 of his royal master, who strongly advocated a similar 
 policy.^ 
 
 After making many and strenuous objections, the queen 
 acted on Laud's advice. Lord Arundel was sent by King 
 Charles on an embassy to Vienna on her behalf In a letter 
 to Laud, "she said that though she would not dispute the 
 king her dear brother's will in anything, she could not but 
 regret the Viennese embassy." '* 
 
 Into the merits of this question I have not space to enter; 
 I can only quote a few sentences to show the spirit of the 
 correspondence between herself and Laud. 
 
 " I fear this last speech of mine," she says to him in one of 
 her letters, " may make you think . . . that I would rather 
 have my son restored by force than by treaty ; ... it is all 
 one to me by what ways he be restored, so he be so fully and 
 honourably ; but indeed I do not think he will be restored 
 fully, otherwise than by arms ; sixteen years' experience 
 makes me believe it." ^ 
 
 Laud was, or pretended to be, dreadfully shocked at this. 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Doni.," 1635, p. 435. ^ lb., p. 415. 
 
 ^ Boswell's Dep., Feb. 18, March 6, April 20, 1635. 
 
 * Green's '* Lives of the Princesses of Eng.," vol. v. p. 551. 
 
 ^ June II, 1636, German Corresp.
 
 gres'''-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 257 
 
 He replies : — " You grant it all one to you by what way he be 
 restored, so he be restored fully and honourably. Under 
 favour, good madam, not so. For it cannot be all one to 
 Christendom, nor to yourself to have him restored, be it 
 never so honourably, by arms as by treaty. It may be there 
 is soldiers' counsel in this, madam ; but I am a priest, and as 
 such, I can never think it all one to recover by effusion of 
 Christian blood, and without it, provided that without blood 
 right may be had." ^ 
 
 To this, perhaps rather priggish, letter of Laud's, the queen 
 replies : — " I confess, as a woman and a Christian, I should 
 rather desire it by peace, but I have lived so long amongst 
 soldiers and wars, as it makes one to me as easy as the other 
 and as familiar, especially when I remember never to have 
 read in the chronicles of my ancestors, that any King of 
 England got any good by treaties, but most commonly lost 
 by them, and on the contrary, by wars made always good 
 peaces. ... I know your profession forbids you to like this 
 scribbling of mine, yet I am confident you cannot condemn 
 me for it. . . . All I fear is that you will think I have too 
 warring a mind for my sex ; but the necessity of my fortune 
 has made it." '" 
 
 On this particular point, the woman got the last word ! 
 
 A couple of years later, the queen and Laud were ap- 
 parently of one mind about " the effusion of Christian blood," 
 as well as her other affairs ; for she writes to him : — " The 
 king my dear brother was pleased to write to me himself, 
 that he doth approve of my son's intentions, and with so great 
 a favour as the bestowing his money towards the levies. 
 You may easily imagine how much contentment it brought 
 to us both. I am confident your good counsel did much 
 contribute to this resolution of the king's, for which I shall 
 ever be beholden to you. Meppen is now rendered into my 
 son's hands, the garrison there having sworn to him ; the 
 levies are already begun ; I hope shortly he will be ready to 
 go himself into the field." ^ 
 
 ^ June 26, 1636, German Corresp. ^ Aug. 6, 1636, German Corresp. 
 
 ^ April 12, 1638, German Corresp.
 
 258 Life of A rchbishop Laud. V^M^Xt^^' 
 
 There was no longer any question of the " cold compli- 
 ments " passing between the queen and the archbishop, 
 which she mentioned in a letter to Roe in 1634; on the 
 other hand, she writes to him of another great ecclesiastic, 
 Cardinal Richelieu, "as this ulcerous priest."^ 
 
 1 Oct. 29, 1639, German Corresp.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The re-appearance of the plague in London, made the 
 spring of the year 1636 an anxious one in England ; but, 
 fortunately, the outbreak was less serious than that of 1603-4, 
 mentioned in an earlier chapter, when over 30,000 people are 
 said to have died of it in London alone, and still less so than 
 that of about thirty years later, when upwards of 100,000 are 
 reported to have perished. Political troubles were also 
 gathering on the horizon ; although it was attempted to 
 conceal these by the splendour of the court and the pretended 
 popularity of the king, hated as he was in reality by a large 
 proportion of his subjects. 
 
 Loved, again, as was the queen among the few, she and 
 her native attendants, more especially her chaplains, were 
 objects of dislike and grave suspicion to the many. Yet 
 everything, that could be, was being done to bring her charms 
 and virtues into prominence before the country at large. 
 Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Waller were all engaged 
 in promulgating her praises in verse ; Rubens and Vandyke, 
 the latter of whom married an English woman and lived at 
 Blackfriars, painted portraits of her, while Inigo Jones was 
 making her court picturesque by the scenery which he devised 
 for her masques and ballets. Her tastes were imitated by 
 the nobility. In the royal progresses, it became the fashion 
 for the hosts who received the king and queen, to engage 
 poets to compose special dramas for their entertainment, as 
 was the case with the Earl of Newcastle when they paid him 
 a visit at Bolsover Castle, in Derbyshire,^ for which occasion 
 Ben Jonson wrote complimentary verses to be recited before 
 the royal guests. 
 
 The king was in reality more devoted to the arts than the 
 
 1 " Hist. Coll. of Noble Families," by Collins, p. 26. 
 
 259
 
 2 6o Life of ArcJihishop Laitd. [xviithcem. 
 
 queen, although his people attributed his bent in that direc- 
 tion to her "evil" influence. He not only succeeded in 
 bringing Rubens and Vandyke to England, but, with his 
 own hand, wrote to Albano/ the famous painter of children 
 — his popular picture of the Infant Saviour and St John is 
 familiar to all who have visited Florence — asking him to 
 come and live at his court in England. Daniel Mytens was 
 one of his court artists, and Nicolas Laniere was not only 
 employed to engrave for him, but also to choose works of 
 art for purchase. As to Charles's poetical tastes, Milton 
 sarcastically wrote of him (in his Icojwdastes) that he was 
 actually so depraved as to be fond of Shakespeare. " I shall 
 not instance an abstruse author, wherein the King might be 
 less conversant, but one whom we well know was the closest 
 companion of these his solitudes, William Shakespeare." - 
 
 Another poet, Drummond, had a slap at him, for his love 
 of the arts. In his history of Scotland, when writing of 
 "James the Third," he is evidently aiming at King Charles, 
 of whom he says : — " It is allowable in men that have not 
 much to do, to be taken with admiration of watches, clocks, 
 dials, automates, pictures, statues ; but the art of princes is to 
 give laws, and govern their people with wisdom in peace, and 
 glory in war ; to spare the humble, and prostrate the proud." ^ 
 
 A Puritan, again, after Charles's death, wrote of him as 
 " squandering away millions of pounds on braveries and 
 vanities, on old rotten pictures and broken-nosed marbles." * 
 
 Much as Laud undoubtedly influenced Charles in ecclesi- 
 astical affairs, I do not think tliere is any evidence to show 
 that he did anything to encourage him in his taste for the 
 fine arts, except in the matter of the repairs and adornments 
 of St Paul's Cathedral. Laud sat for his portrait to Vandyke, 
 and the picture now hangs in the palace at Lambeth — there 
 is an excellent copy of it in Mr Benson's life of Laud — but 
 
 ^ " Academi^E Picturte," p. 282. 
 
 " I quote from D'Israeli's " Life and Reign of Charles I.," vol. iii. p. 109. 
 
 2 lb., pp. 106-7. 
 
 * "The Non-such Charles," his character, extracted out of divers original 
 Transactions, Despatches, and the Notes of several public ministers, as well at 
 home as abroad, 1651.
 
 xviithcent. Life of Archbishop Laiul. 261 
 
 what artistic taste he possessed, personally, was chiefly in the 
 direction of architecture, although his work at St Paul's and 
 St John's may have been actuated rather by a desire for 
 the advancement of the interests of his church and his 
 college, than by any irrepressible exuberance of architectural 
 genius. 
 
 The tastes in common between the king and his archbishop 
 seem to have been chiefly religion and ecclesiastical matters, 
 politics, and, on certain somewhat circumscribed lines, litera- 
 ture. On principle Laud was a king-worshipper ; but he was 
 also much attached to Charles as a man. 
 
 The features of Charles I. are probably better known than 
 those of any other monarch in history. Different in many 
 ways, his eyes, like those of Laud, were quick and penetrat- 
 ing. As they discussed their policy, each must have en- 
 deavoured to read the other with his glance, and so far there 
 was much in common between them ; but the round, plump, 
 and rubicund face of the archbishop was in violent, and 
 somewhat unbecoming, contrast to the long, narrow, pale 
 features of the king ; nor was there a less marked distinc- 
 tion between Charles's stuttering accents, and the decided, 
 rasping voice of Laud. It is well to remember, when 
 picturing to oneself the two friends, that Laud was the older 
 by twenty-seven years. Both men were impetuous ; but 
 the king had most self-command ; if neither of them was 
 graceful, and both were hurried in their bodily movements, 
 Charles was the most active; if neither was tall, the king 
 was at least of moderate height, while the archbishop was 
 diminutive. In point of character, Laud had one great 
 advantage over his monarch — he always knew his own mind, 
 whereas Charles often did not. 
 
 Most readers of English history must have contemplated 
 the appearance of these two men who were so often in 
 counsel together, and the share attributed to either in the 
 misfortunes which were consequent from those counsels will 
 have depended to a great extent upon the predilections of 
 each individual student, some tracing every evil that befell 
 Charles I. to the bad advices he received from Laud, others
 
 262 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [xvnthcent. 
 
 regarding Laud as a martyr to the follies of a weak and 
 faithless monarch. 
 
 To be quite candid, I admit the difficulty of deciding how 
 far Laud really influenced the conduct of the king. In 
 ecclesiastical matters he most unquestionably did so very 
 greatly, though even in these, there are evidences that Charles 
 sometimes, if very rarely, took a line of his own ; in political 
 affairs the extent of Laud's influence is very much more 
 doubtful. That it existed, even that it existed to a very con- 
 siderable degree, no honest observer of his times can deny ; 
 yet it is open to an historian to assert that much of Charles's 
 policy, commonly attributed to the suggestions of Laud, may 
 more probably have been due to those of other ministers of 
 the Crown. 
 
 Finance was the medium of one-half the troubles of 
 Charles L, religion of the larger proportion of the other. 
 If we allow that Laud was responsible for the latter, can 
 we acquit him of all share in the former 1 I fear it is im- 
 possible to do so ; but most certainly Charles's ruinous 
 financial measures were not entirely the suggestion of his 
 archbishop. 
 
 Both the Treasury and the king's private purse were woe- 
 fully empty, and he and his ministers were at their wits' end 
 for means to " raise the wind." Much money was brought 
 into the royal exchequer by what was little else than a 
 mere legal quibble, and one which was too technical to 
 have been the work of the archbishop. The objects of 
 this attempt to obtain funds were large landowners, who 
 had hitherto considered themselves secure in tenure of 
 the estates which they had inherited from their fore- 
 fathers, but were now surprised to find themselves sub- 
 jected to enormous so-called " fines." In those days, as in 
 more modern ones, the proverb that " nothing is so safe as 
 land " was proved to be subject to certain qualifications. 
 " My Lord of Salisbury," writes Clarendon, " was fined 
 ^20,000; the Earl of Westmorland, i^ 1 9,000 ; Sir Chris- 
 topher Hatton, ;{^i 2,000; My Lord Newport, ;^3000 ; Sir 
 James Watson, ^4000 ; Sir Robert Bannister, ^^3000, and
 
 ^■res"''-] Life of Archbishop Lmtd. 26 
 
 many others smaller sums," ^ for encroachments on the forest 
 of Rockingham alone. The commissioners of the Treasury- 
 had hunted up some ancient royal rights over certain forests ; 
 and, although, in the course of five centuries, these rights had 
 practically become obsolete, they revived them, and " the 
 landholders were summoned to prove their titles, or otherwise 
 to answer for their encroachments." - 
 
 Exactions were enforced by water, as well as by land. 
 Noy, the Attorney-General, found among the documents at 
 the Tower some old writs compelling the ports, under certain 
 circumstances, to provide the king with ships ; and not only 
 these, for there were other writs which obliged the maritime 
 counties, as well as the actual ports, to contribute to their 
 cost. This old tax was revived, and thereby "the King 
 obtained a yearly supply of two hundred and eighteen 
 thousand five hundred pounds " ; "a fleet of more than sixty 
 sail annually swept the narrow seas, and the admirals, first 
 the earl of Lindsay, afterwards the earl of Northumberland, 
 received orders to sink every foreign ship which refused to 
 salute the English flag." '■' 
 
 The success with the navy was made the stepping-stone to 
 similar measures with the army. Laud's bosom friend, Went- 
 worth, spoke thus on this subject in the Council. " Since it 
 is lawful for the king to impose a tax towards the equipment 
 of the navy, it must be equally so for the levy of an army ; 
 and the same reason which authorizes him to levy an army 
 to resist, will authorize him to carry that army abroad, that 
 he may prevent invasion. Moreover, what is law in England, 
 is law also in Scotland and Ireland." * 
 
 Admirable in logic, and, I am afraid, very Laudian in style ! 
 
 A quiet, courteous, and, as was thought, retiring country 
 gentleman, named Hampden, a rich Buckinghamshire squire 
 of good family, had astonished his friends and acquaintances, 
 some ten years earlier, by refusing to pay an assessment 
 which he considered unjust, and going to prison rather than 
 yield. In 1636, he again attracted the attention of his fellow- 
 
 ^ Clarendon's " Hist, of the Reb." - Lingard, vol. vii. chap. v. 
 
 =* lb. ■» Rush worth, ii. pp. 252-8 ; " Biblioth. Regia," pp. 246-250.
 
 264 ^{/^ of ArchbisJiop Laud. [^t'ef''" 
 
 countrymen by resisting the tax for ship-money. His case 
 was argued for twelve days, before as many judges, in the 
 Court of Exchequer. " So strong," says Macaulay,^ " were the 
 arguments against th-e pretensions of the Crown that, de- 
 pendent and servile as the judges were, the majority against 
 Hampden was the smallest possible. Still there was a 
 majority." The popularity of Hampden became extraor- 
 dinary, and a spark had fallen upon a train of gunpowder 
 which was to help materially in shattering the king and his 
 Government, yet, outwardly, Charles seemed to be, for the 
 time, triumphant. 
 
 In 1635 died one of Laud's many enemies, nor the least 
 powerful. This was the Earl of Portland, Lord Treasurer, 
 and as we have already seen, Laud took his place at the 
 Board ; but, a year later, he persuaded the king to give the 
 post to his old schoolfellow, William Juxon, Bishop of London. 
 He says in his Diary - : — " No Church Man had it since Henry 
 7's time. I pray God bless him to carry it so, that the 
 Church may have Honour, and the King and the State 
 Service and Contentment by it. And now if the Church 
 will not hold themselves up under God ; I can do no more." 
 
 Of this proceeding. Clarendon writes ^ : — " On a suddain 
 the Staff was put into the hands of the Bishop of London, a 
 man so unknown, that his Name was scarce heard of in the 
 Kingdom, who had been, within two years before, but a 
 private Chaplain to the King, and the President of a poor 
 Colledge in Oxford. This Inflam'd more men than were 
 angry before, and no doubt did not only sharpen the Edge of 
 Envy and Malice against the Arch-Bishop (who was the 
 known Architect of the Fabrick) but most unjustly Indis- 
 posed many towards the Church it self; which they look'd 
 upon as the Gulph ready to swallow all the great Offices, 
 there being Others in view, of that Robe, who were ambitious 
 enough to expect the rest." 
 
 At the risk of being accused of overburdening my work 
 with quotations, I will give part of what he says in the next 
 
 1 " Hist, of Eng.," vol. i. chap. i. " P. 53- 
 
 3 " Hist, of the Reb.," vol. i. p. 99-
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 265 
 
 paragraph. " In the mean time the Arch-Bishop himself 
 was infinitely pleas'd with what was done, and unhappily be- 
 liev'd he had provided a stronger Support for the Church ; 
 and never abated any thing of his Severity, and Rigour to- 
 wards men of all conditions, or in the Sharpness of his 
 language, and expressions, which was so natural to him, 
 that he could not debate anything without some Commo- 
 tion, when the Argument was not of moment, nor bear Con- 
 tradiction in debate, even in the Council, where all men are 
 free, with that Patience, and Temper that w^as necessary ; of 
 which, They who wish'd him not well, took many Advant- 
 ages, and would therefore contradict him, that he might be 
 transported with Passion, which, upon a short recollection, 
 he was always Sorry for, and most readily, and heartily 
 would make Acknowledgment." In short, they doubtless 
 nudged each other, and whispered the seventeenth century 
 equivalent of: — " Now, I will get a rise out of old Laud ! " 
 
 We have seen how Cottington " drew " him, upon one 
 occasion : it was not a solitary one. " No man," continues 
 Clarendon, " so willingly made unkind use of all those 
 Occasions, as the Lord Cottington, who, being a master of 
 Temper, and of the most profound Dissimulation, knew 
 too well how to lead him into a Mistake, and then drive him 
 into Choler, and then Expose him upon the matter, and the 
 manner, to the judgment of the Company ; and he chose to 
 do this most, when the King was present ; and then he would 
 Dine with him the next day." 
 
 Cottington would hardly have played these pranks upon 
 Laud in the king's presence, unless he had reason for know- 
 ing that it would be entertaining to his Majesty, and it is 
 far from impossible that, much as Charles respected Laud 
 and trusted his advice, he may have been a little wearied 
 of being constantly tutored by him, in which case it would 
 be a relief to his feelings to see his pedagogue made 
 sport of. 
 
 Of the " others in view," mentioned by Clarendon — that 
 is to say, other ecclesiastics for whom high offices were in- 
 tended, D'Israeli gives us some idea, in his Life and Reign of
 
 266 Life of ArcJibishop Lcmd. ^^t^f}^' 
 
 Charles I.} although he does not mention his authority. 
 "An ill-natured rumour of the day made Wren, Bishop of 
 Norwich, a Secretary of State ; and Bancroft, Bishop of 
 Oxford, Chancellor of the Exchequer." And he presently 
 adds : — " This advancement of the ecclesiastics was never 
 forgiven by the affronted nobility, nor even by the jealous 
 lawyers : the lawyer Whitelocke is sore, and the courtier 
 Clarendon murmurs." May, again, in his History of the Par- 
 liament of England'^ says: — "The Archbishop by the same 
 means which he used to preserve his clergy from con- 
 tempt, exposed them to envy, and as the wisest could then 
 prophesy, to a more than probability of losing all." 
 
 Laud was none the less on the eve of one of his greatest 
 triumphs. His king and queen had consented to become 
 his guests at Oxford. King, Church, and Oxford were the 
 three things nearest to his heart, so that his delight at the 
 prospect may well be imagined. Great preparations were made 
 for the royal visit, and the great people in the neighbour- 
 hood were most liberal in sending provisions to assist Laud, 
 as Chancellor of the University, in entertaining the king, 
 queen, and court. Besides fi'^S iii money, he received, as 
 presents for the occasion, " 7 stags, 63 bucks and does, 
 5 oxen, 74 wethers, 2 lambs, i calf, besides poultry innumer- 
 able, swans, pheasants, partridges, quails, turkeys, ducks, 
 rabbits, and peafowl, fish, fruit, and even cakes, creams, and 
 cheeses." ^ 
 
 He started from Croydon for the university town with not 
 a little state, being accompanied by a retinue of between forty 
 and fifty horsemen, " being all of my own," as he writes 
 with evident pride. 
 
 Sir Thomas Roe had sent him an invitation to stay at his 
 country house, on the journey, to which he replied that he * 
 " will trouble him for the night, upon two conditions ; that 
 they will let him come as to a private lodging, and not trouble 
 themselves with chargeable entertainment ; and let him 
 begone betimes in the morning without eating, for his thoughts 
 
 ^ Vol. iii. p. 69. - P. 33. 
 
 ■^ "Cal. Sta, Pa. Dom.," 1636, Preface, p. xxii. •* lb., 1636-7, Aug. 4, 1636.
 
 circa^,636.j ^ ^y^. gf Avchbishop Luud. 267 
 
 will be full of business and will make him no good company 
 for any of his friends." 
 
 The second night he stayed at Cuddeston, which seemed 
 almost too near Oxford to be worth stopping at, but he may 
 very likely have desired to enter the city with dignity, and 
 as free as possible from travel-stains, although he writes ^ : — 
 " I came privately into Oxford, in regard to the nearness of 
 the King and Queen, then at Woodstock," 
 
 Garrard wrote to Lord Conway - : — " On Monday all 
 repaired to St John's to pay their respects to Laud." 
 " Courteous he was to all, but walked most and entertained 
 longest my Lord Cottington." Was this returning good for 
 evil, or was he rather afraid of him ? " At one of the clock 
 on the ringing out of the University Bell, all the students of 
 quality waited on their Chancellor, Archbishop Laud, to meet 
 his Majesty near two miles out of town, all on horseback and 
 with footcloths." 
 
 The number of speeches to which the king had to listen 
 on entering Oxford was extraordinary. Laud writes '■' : — " The 
 Vice-Chancellor made a very good speech," when the king 
 reached Oxford from Woodstock. As the procession passed 
 St John's College, " Mr Thomas Atkinson made another 
 speech unto them, very brief, and much approved of by his 
 Majesty afterwards to me. Within Christ Church Gate, Mr 
 William Strode, the University Orator, entertained him with 
 another speech, which was well approved. Then the King 
 accompanied his Queen to her lodging, and instantly returned 
 and went with the Lords to the Cathedral." Thither, of 
 course, he had to go without his wife. " There after his private 
 devotions ended, at the West Door Dr Morris " (he was the 
 Regius Professor of Hebrew), "one of the prebendaries, 
 entertained him with another short speech, which was well 
 liked, and thence his majesty proceeded into the quire and 
 heard service." 
 
 The speeches were all very well in their way ; but there 
 
 1 " Lib. of Ang. Cath. TheoL," vol. v. part i. p. 155. 
 ■■^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1636-7, Sept. 14, 1636. 
 ^ '-Lib. Ang. Cath. Theol.," part. i. pp. 148 and fol.
 
 268 Life of Archbishop Laud. [!ir63'''" 
 
 had been a lack of enthusiasm as the royal cavalcade passed 
 in solemn state through the Cornmarket, past Carfax, and 
 down St Aldate's, to Christ Church. " Though the streets 
 were lined with scholars of all degrees, yet neither they nor 
 the citizens made any expressions of joy, or uttered, as the 
 manner is, ' Vivat Rex'' ^ 
 
 After supper, the royal party were entertained at Christ's 
 Church with a play, which Laud admits, although "well 
 penned," " did not take the Court so well " ; while, in his 
 already quoted letter to Lord Conway, Garrard says it was 
 " fitter for scholars than a Court," adding that Lord Carnarvon 
 pronounced it to have been the " worst he ever saw but one 
 that he saw at Cambridge." 
 
 The next day. Laud had his royal master up betimes, in 
 the cathedral, where there was " a service and a sermon," 
 soon after eight o'clock. In the course of the morning there 
 was convocation, at which " the two princes with divers lords, 
 were pleased to be made Masters of Art ; and the two princes 
 names were by his majesty's leave entered in St John's 
 College : to do that house honour for my sake," says Laud. 
 
 Then came the great event of the visit, the banquet given 
 by Laud to his king and queen, with their court, in his own 
 dearly loved St John's. 
 
 He says: — "They first viewed the new buildings," — let it 
 be remembered that the older part was not then at all ancient 
 — " and that done, I attended them up the library stairs ; where 
 so soon as they began to ascend, the music began, and they had 
 a fine short song fitted for them as they ascended the stairs." 
 
 The banquet was served in " the new library, built by 
 myself." Crossfield remarks of this dinner that " the baked 
 meats served up in St John's were so contrived by the cook 
 that there was first the forms of Archbishops, then bishops, 
 doctors, &c., seen in order, wherein the king and courtiers 
 took much content." 
 
 After dinner there was a play at St John's. The windows 
 of the hall, Laud tells us, were " shut," and candles were 
 lighted. He " had the hall kept as fresh and cool," — it was 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1636, Preface, p. xxiv.
 
 Circa ^i636.-| Life of ArcJibiskop Laiid . 269 
 
 the 30th of August — " that there was not any one person 
 when the king and queen came into it." The play itself 
 " was merry without offence, and so gave a great deal of 
 content." 
 
 Of the royal visit to St John's College he writes : " I thank 
 God I had that happiness that all things were in very good 
 order, and that no man went out at the gates, courtier or 
 other, but content ; which was a happiness quite beyond 
 expectation." 
 
 That evening, after supper, at eight o'clock, there was again 
 a play at Christ Church. Fortunately, unlike its predecessor 
 of the previous evening, it was a great success. Even Garrard 
 admits this ! The subject was a Persian story, and the scenery 
 and decorations had been designed by Inigo Jones. Laud 
 writes that it was both " well penned and acted." " The 
 queen liked it so well, that she afterwards sent to me to have 
 the apparel sent to Hampton Court, that she might see her 
 own players act it over again, and see whether they could 
 do it as well as it was done at the university. I caused the 
 University to send both the clothes and the properties ; and 
 the play was acted in the November following. And by all 
 men's confession, the players came short of the University 
 actors. Then I humbly desired the King and Queen, that 
 neither the play nor stage might come into the hands and 
 use of the common players abroad, which was graciously 
 granted." 
 
 The next morning, Wednesday, at about nine o'clock, the 
 royal party and the court left Oxford. The total cost of the 
 two nights' entertainment was ^^"2666, is. /d.^ 
 
 " I returned homewards, the Day after : " writes Laud in 
 his Diary; - " Having first entertained all the Heads of Houses 
 together." 
 
 Laud was now in the very zenith of the royal favour; the 
 king's and queen's visit to Oxford was a proof of it ; yet, six 
 weeks afterwards, he thinks it worth while to write in his 
 Diary : — " Octob. 14. Friday Night, I Dreamed marvellously, 
 that the King was offended with me, and would cast me off, 
 
 ^ " Cal, Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1636, Preface, p. xxx. - P. 53.
 
 270 L ife of A rchbishop Land. [mi.\]^^ ' 
 
 and tell me no cause why. Avertat Dens. For Cause I have 
 given none." 
 
 The poor man's nervous anxiety about the king's favour 
 appears to have been almost a disease with him ; it seems to 
 have been as great as that which he sufifered concerning the 
 favour of Buckingham during the life of that all-powerful 
 statesman. 
 
 After all, in congratulating himself upon the royal visit to 
 Oxford, and in reflecting that, as we say now, " everything 
 went off without a hitch," Laud may have contrasted it with 
 what he had heard of the visit which Queen Elizabeth paid 
 to Oxford some seventy years earlier, and seven years before 
 his own birth, when the students greeted her with loud cries 
 of " Vivat Regina," as she drove up the Cornmarket, to which 
 she replied " Gratias ago, gratias ago." He may have re- 
 membered hearing that, after a professor had made a Greek 
 speech to her, at Carfax, instead of remarking to her attend- 
 ants that she " much approved," she had replied in the same 
 language; that, although, like Charles I. and Henrietta 
 Maria, she had been entertained with several plays, she had 
 also spent long hours in the schools, listening to learned 
 discussions on science, politics, and philosophy ; and that, in- 
 stead of two nights, she had remained five at Oxford, leaving 
 it on the sixth day, and reining in her horse on Headington 
 Hill to turn round and exclaim : " Farewell, Oxford ! Fare- 
 well, my good subjects there! Farewell, my dear scholars, 
 and may God prosper your studies ! Farewell, farewell ! " ^ 
 
 Altogether, between the rumblings of distant thunder in 
 the political atmosphere, the lack of enthusiasm for the 
 monarch among the students and tradesmen, the attendance 
 of a court who were bored to death by a play that had the 
 slightest scholastic tendency, and the presence of a queen 
 whose religion prevented her from attending any of the ser- 
 vices in that very " churchy " city, King Charles's visit to 
 Oxford was decidedly a less brilliant affair than had been 
 that of Queen EHzabeth. 
 
 ' NichoU's " Progresses of Elizabeth," and Froude's " Hist, of Eng.," vol. viii 
 chap. X. -
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Laud appears to have been very well received by the Oxford 
 dons when he went to their university to entertain the king 
 and queen ; but a few months earlier there had been a slight 
 strain in the relations between them and their chancellor. 
 In 1635 he had endeavoured to establish his right of visita- 
 tion at both Oxford and Cambridge, in the character of 
 archbishop. So far as Oxford and his own personal influence 
 were concerned, he had little to gain by maintaining it ; but 
 he was a great stickler for the rights of office, and made it 
 his duty to claim every prerogative pertaining to any post in 
 which he had an interest, whether it was in his holding or in 
 that of one of his subordinates, and of ecclesiastical privileges 
 he was more jealous than of any other. 
 
 Both Oxford and Cambridge stoutly resisted the arch- 
 bishop's claims to the right of visiting the universities, and the 
 matter was debated, in 1636, before the king in Council. 
 
 Even in the Middle Ages, there had been some uncertainty 
 with regard to the relations of the universities to the Church, 
 and appeals to Rome on the question had not been unfre- 
 quent. It has been stated that no real archiepiscopal visitation 
 of Oxford had ever taken place. Huber,^ however, asserts 
 that this " is an unfounded boast," and that instances occurred 
 in 1276, 1284, and 1384. Sometime between 1394 and 1397, 
 a Bull was put forth by Pope Boniface IX., in which the 
 words were used : — " By the power of these presents we ex- 
 empt, &c., from all jurisdiction, dominion and power of any 
 Archbishops soever, as also of the natural [natorum] Legates 
 of the said see ; likewise of all Bishops, and other ordinary 
 Judges, as to contracts entered into, or excesses, crimes, and 
 misdemeanours committed beneath the limits, &c."^ This 
 
 1 " Eng. Univ.," vol. ii. part ii, p. 4S5. - lb., p. 484. 
 
 271
 
 272 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. ^^ttt'^^' 
 
 Bull was revoked by Pope John XXIII., but confirmed, at 
 least to some extent, by Pope Sixtus IV. Some authorities 
 ascribe the Bull to Pope Boniface VIII. ; ^ but the Bull of 
 Pope Sixtus IV. ascribes it expressly to Pope Boniface IX. 
 
 When the Council met to try the question of the arch- 
 bishop's rights, Laud, Chancellor of Oxford, stood at the 
 king's right hand ; on the left was Lord Holland, Chan- 
 cellor of Cambridge ; the Attorney-General represented 
 Laud ; the Recorder of London " spake for Cambridge " ; 
 " Sergeant Thin spake for the University of Oxford."^ 
 
 The king decided in favour of the archbishop ; but as 
 Laud never made a visitation at either university in the 
 character of archbishop, all this trouble seemed hardly 
 worth the taking. 
 
 During the same year in which he triumphed over the two 
 leading universities on this point. Laud had a vexation of 
 a more private character. This was a letter from Sir 
 Kenelm Digby announcing that he had joined the Church of 
 Rome. 
 
 Kenelm was the eldest son of Sir Everard Digby, who had 
 been attainted for his share in the conspiracy of the Gun- 
 powder Plot. He was scarcely three years old when his 
 father expiated his crime on the scaffold, and he says that from 
 that father he " inherited nothing but a foul stain in his blood 
 for attempting to make a fatal revolution in this state " ; ^ not 
 that this was strictly true, as some of Sir Everard's property, 
 worth ^3000 a year, was entailed, and the Crown failed in 
 its endeavour to wrest it from his son. 
 
 Lady Digby was a Catholic; but Kenelm was taken from 
 her — whether with or without her consent is not very clear 
 — and placed under the tuition of Laud, who was at that time 
 Dean of Gloucester. Laud held the Deanery of Gloucester 
 from 1616 till 1620, and, as Kenelm Digby was born in 1603 
 and was sent to Oxford in his fifteenth year, he must have 
 been put under Laud in his thirteenth or fourteenth year. 
 It is needless to say that Laud brought him up as a Protestant. 
 
 1 " Encyc. Brit.," 8th ed. vol. xxi. p. 454. - Rushworth, vol. ii. 
 
 3 «« Private Memoirs of Sir Kenelm Digby."
 
 area ^1636. J j^-jr^ of ArckbisJiop Laud. 273 
 
 He writes of the time when Kenclm joined the Church of 
 England, as if that had been a voluntary matter : one would 
 imagine that a boy of thirteen or fourteen would be a convert 
 easily made in the hands of a strong-minded and determined 
 ecclesiastic, like Laud, who would be certain to think that 
 the rod and reproof gave wisdom. In the letter which Laud 
 wrote to his former pupil, on receiving the news that he had 
 become a Catholic, he says ^ : — " And whereas you say, that 
 you have return'd into that Communion, who {sic) from your 
 Birth had right of possession in you, and therefore ought to 
 continue in it, unless clear and evident proof (which you say 
 surely cannot be found) should have evicted you from it : 
 Truly, Sir, I think this had been spoken with more advantage 
 to you and your Cause, before your adhering to the Church 
 of England, than now ; for then right of possession could not 
 have been thought little. But now since you deserted that 
 Communion, either you did it upon clear and evident proof, 
 or upon apparent only." 
 
 Is there not something supremely absurd in writing in this 
 strain to a man of thirty-three, and upbraiding him for seeing 
 things in a different light, at that age, from that in which he 
 had regarded them at thirteen, or thereabouts, especially as 
 he was under the tuition of Laud himself at the earlier period, 
 when a boy is naturally influenced by the opinions of older 
 men .'' 
 
 Before dealing with the rest of Laud's letter to Digby, it 
 may be well to say that, although he only announced his re- 
 turn to the faith of his fathers to Laud in 1636, the author of 
 the Introduction to his Memoirs believes that he really was 
 reconciled to the Church some twelve or thirteen years 
 earlier,^ although he did not make it public until just before 
 writing to Laud. This, with all humility, I should venture 
 to doubt. 
 
 Three years before he wrote to announce his reconciliation, 
 he had lost his wife, the famous beauty, Lady Venetia, 
 daughter of Sir Edward Stanley ; when he " wore a long 
 mourning cloak, a high cornered hatt, his beard unshorn, 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 613. 2 p_ i^.
 
 2 74 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xviithcem. 
 
 look't like a hermit, as signes of sorrowe for his beloved 
 wife." ^ This is true enough ; for great is the contrast be- 
 tween the carefully curled locks, the twisted little moustache 
 and small tuft beneath the lower lip, the clean shaven cheeks 
 and chin, the richly patterned coat, and the splendidly em- 
 broidered lace collar, in his earlier portrait by Vandyke, and 
 the wild locks, the unkempt, straggling beard, the plain, 
 almost puritanical white collar, and the austere black garment 
 in his later portrait by the same artist, as well as in another 
 attributed to Janssen, both of which were painted some time 
 after his wife's death. " To avoyd envy and scandall," says 
 Aubrey, " he retired into Gresham Colledge, at London, where 
 he diverted himselfe with his chymystry, and the professors 
 good conversation." 
 
 His studious habits would recommend themselves to Laud ; 
 so also would his devotion to his king, although the latter once 
 led to consequences of which Laud would not approve ; for, 
 having toasted King Charles as " the best king in the world," 
 at a dinner given at a private house in France, a certain 
 " French lord " at " those words seemed to laugh," when Sir 
 Kenelm, "thoroughly moved in behalf of our Sovereign King 
 Charles," challenged him to fight, and " ran his rapier into 
 the French lord's breast till it came out of his throat again." ^ 
 
 It may be worthy of observation, in passing, that both 
 Laud and another contemporary ecclesiastic who had much 
 influence in mundane matters, namely, Cardinal Richelieu, 
 did what they could to put down duelling. Laud imposed 
 fines in the Star Chamber ; Richelieu contrived that sterner 
 measures should be dealt by the judges. To such a point 
 had duelling risen in France, that Louis XIII., in the course 
 of twenty years, signed no less than eight thousand letters of 
 pardon to duellists who had sent or received challenges." ^ 
 Richelieu determined that this state of things should cease, 
 and after the Comte de Chapelle and the Due de Bonteville 
 had fought a duel on the Place Royale in Paris, they were 
 
 ^ Aubrey's " Lives of Eminent Men." 
 
 ^ A very rare tract, entitled " Sir Kenelm Digby's honour maintained, &c." 
 
 3 "Ency. Britt.," 8th ed. vol. xix. p. 163.
 
 Grca^i636.-] Life of ArcJibisJiop Laud. 275 
 
 both tried and beheaded, a tragedy which had the effect of 
 sending duelhng out of fashion for a period in the French 
 capital. 
 
 But I must return to Laud and his reply to Sir Kenelm 
 Digby's letter announcing his return to the Catholic Church. 
 
 Whether Laud wrote more gently on account of the de- 
 pression of spirits which hung over Digby for some years 
 after the death of his wife, a wife of whom Ben Jonson 
 wrote : — 
 
 "In all her petite actions so devote, 
 As her whole life was now become one note 
 Of piety and private holiness " ^ 
 
 (although her morality had been more than questioned before 
 her marriage), I cannot hazard an opinion ; be this as it 
 may, in some respects the letter of Laud to Sir Kenelm 
 Digby might well serve as a model to Protestants when they 
 write to upbraid a friend who has become a Catholic. I 
 suppose that most converts, soon after their reception into 
 the Church, receive a sheaf of letters couched in a very 
 different spirit. I am, myself, the possessor of some choice 
 specimens, although I have one, also written by an Anglican 
 Bishop, which surpasses Laud's in kindness, consideration, 
 good feeling, and charity. 
 
 In considering Laud's letter, too, we must remember his 
 own temper and the temper of the times ; nor should we 
 forget that Kenelm Digby had been, in the first instance, 
 induced to desert the Catholic for the Anglican Church by 
 Laud himself, either directly or indirectly. 
 
 He begins ^ : " Sahitem in CJiristo. Worthy Sir, I am 
 sorry for all the Contents of your Letter, save that which 
 expresses your Love to me." Then come some unimportant 
 details as to the date and reception of another letter he had 
 lately written to him. 
 
 The following paragraph begins : — " In the next place, I 
 thank you, and take it for a great Testimony of your Love 
 to me ; that you have been pleased to give me so open and 
 
 1 " Eupheme." - " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 6io.
 
 276 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Sres''^" 
 
 clear Account of your proceedings with your self in this 
 matter of Religion. In which as I cannot but commend the 
 strict reckoning, to which you have called your self ; so I 
 could have wish'd, before you had absolutely setled the 
 Foot of that Account; you would have called in some Friend, 
 and made use of his Eye as a By-stander, who sometimes 
 sees more than he that plays the Game. You write, I 
 confess, that after you had fallen upon these troublesom 
 Thoughts, you were nigh two Years in the diligent Discus- 
 sion of this matter ; and that you omitted no Industry, either 
 of conversing with Learned Men, or of reading the best 
 Authors, to beget in you a right Intelligence of this Subject. 
 I believe all this, and you did wisely to do it. But I have 
 some Questions, out of the freedom of a Friend, to ask about 
 it. Were not all the Learned Men, you conversed with for this 
 Particular, of the Roman Party 1 Were not the best Authors, 
 you mention, of the same Side ? " And a few lines further 
 on, he says : — " Why was I (whom you are pleased to Style 
 one of your best Friends) omitted ? True, it may be, you 
 could not reckon me among those Learned Men and Able 
 for Direction, with whom you conversed : Suppose that ; yet 
 your self accounts me among your P>iends. And is it not 
 many times as useful, when Thoughts are distracted, to make 
 use of the Freedom and Openness of a Friend not altogether 
 Ignorant, as of those which are thought more Learned ; but 
 not so Free, nor perhaps so Indifferent .-' " 
 
 There is something exceeding rich in the idea of Laud being 
 called in to act the part of a disinterested bye-stander, on the 
 question of remaining in or leaving the Church of England, as 
 by law established. The principal argument used in the letter 
 is that already quoted, namely, that if he left the Church of 
 Rome for good reasons, those reasons still held good. This 
 he harps upon, again and again, and repeats in different 
 forms and language. 
 
 Further on he says : — " The Temper of your Mind (you say) 
 arms you against all Censures, no slight Air of Reputation 
 being able to move you. In this, I must needs say, you are 
 happy. For he that can be moved from himself by the
 
 arca^i636.j ]^{j-^ of A7^chbishop Laud. 277 
 
 changeable Breath of Men, lives more out of than in himself; 
 and (which is a Misery beyond all expression) must in all 
 Doubts go to other Men for Resolution ; not to himself; as if 
 he had no Soul within him. But yet post Conscientiatn Fama. 
 And though I would not desire to live by Reputation ; yet 
 would I leave no good means untried, rather than live with- 
 out it. And how far you have brought your self in question, 
 which of these two. Conscience or Reputation, you have 
 shaken by this double Change, I leave yourself to judge ; 
 because you say your first was with a semblance of very 
 good Reason. And though you say again. That it now 
 appears you were then mis-led ; yet you will have much ado 
 to make the World think so." 
 
 And then came a passage for which all praise is due to 
 Laud. Generally speaking, Protestants criticise severely the 
 time and the manner chosen by their convert friends for 
 seeking reception into the Church. " There was trickery in 
 his mode of taking the step, or inconsiderateness towards the 
 feelings of others," says Newman. ^ " They went too soon, or 
 they ought to have gone sooner. They ought to have told 
 every one their doubts as soon as ever they felt them, and 
 before they knew whether they should overcome them or no." 
 Not so Laud ! He continues — 
 
 " The way you took in concealing this your Resolution of 
 returning into the Communion, and the Reasons which you 
 give why you so privately carried it here, I cannot but 
 approve. They are full of all Ingenuity, tender and civil 
 Respects, fitted to avoid Discontent in your Friends, and 
 Scandal that might be taken by others, or Contumely that 
 might be returned upon your self And as are these Reasons, 
 so is the whole frame of your Letter (setting aside that I 
 cannot concur in Judgment) full of Discretion and Temper, 
 and so like your self, that I cannot but love even that which 
 I dislike in it." 
 
 Further on he writes : — " To the Moderation of your own 
 
 heart, under the Grace of God, I must and do now leave you 
 
 or matter of Religion ; but retaining still with me, and 
 
 ^ " Present Position of Catholics," p. 243.
 
 278 Life of ArchbisJwp Laud. [it'ss.^^^' 
 
 entirely, all the Love and Friendliness which your Worth 
 won from me ; well knowing, that all Differences in Opinion 
 shall not shake the Foundations of Religion." 
 
 He concludes by saying : — " In the last place you promise 
 yourself, That the Condition you are in, will not hinder me 
 from continuing to be the Best Friend you have. To this I 
 can say no more, than that I could never arrogate to my self 
 to be your Best Friend ; but a poor yet respective Friend of 
 yours I have been, ever since I knew you : And it is not 
 Change, that can change me, who never yet left, but where I 
 was first forsaken ; and not always there. So praying for 
 God's blessing upon you, and in that Way which he knows 
 most necessary for you, I rest. Your very Loving Friend to 
 serve you in Domino^ 
 
 In a short postscript, he adds : — " I have writ this Letter 
 freely ; I shall look upon all the Trust that you mean to 
 carry with me, that you shew it not, nor deliver any Copy to 
 any Man." (Laud kept a copy of it himself.) "Nor will I 
 look for any Answer to the Quceries I have herein made. If 
 they do you any good, I am glad ; if not, yet I have satisfied 
 my self" And finally he apologises for making " a Volume 
 of a Letter." 
 
 The tone and spirit of this letter are so excellent as to 
 make me almost doubt whether even his friend and admirer, 
 Clarendon, did not sometimes write a little too hardly of him. 
 
 The mutual promises of Digby and Laud to remain friends, 
 in spite of the former's return to the Catholic Church, were 
 no mere vain, conventional civilities. These two men had 
 still much in common, as well they might, since Digby had 
 " studied almost every branch of human science," and " as 
 a philosopher," " an orator, a courtier, a soldier, his exquisite 
 talents are alike conspicuous ; " ^ and, as one of his con- 
 temporaries said of him, " he was the magazine of all arts." ^ 
 That they continued on a friendly footing is shown in a letter 
 which Digby wrote to the Keeper of the Oxford University 
 Archives, after Laud's death, in which he says : — " As I was 
 one day waiting on the late king, my master, I told him of a 
 ■* Intro, to " Memoirs," p. Ixxvi. - //;., p. Ixxviii.
 
 xviuhcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. 279 
 
 collection of choice Arabic manuscripts I was sending after 
 my Latin ones to the University. My Lord of Canterbury 
 (that was present) wished they might go along with a parcel 
 that he was sending to St John's College : whereupon I sent 
 them to his Grace, &c., &c." " The troubles of the times soon 
 followed my sending these trunks of books to Lambeth-house, 
 and I was banished out of the land, and returned not till my 
 lord was dead, &c." ^ 
 
 A still greater proof of his good feeling towards Laud is to 
 be found in Laud's own writings. In his account of his trial,- 
 he says : — " My Servant, Mr Edw. Lenthrop, came to me and 
 told me, that the day before he met with K. Digbye, who had 
 the leave to go out of Prison (by the Suit of the French 
 Queen), and to Travel into France. But before he took his 
 Journey, he was to come before a Committee, and there (he 
 said) he had been. It seems it was some Committee about 
 my Business ; for he told Mr Lenthrop, and wished him to tell 
 it me, that the Committee took special notice of his Acquaint- 
 ance with me, and Examined him strictly concerning me 
 and my Religion, whether he did not know, that I was ofifer'd 
 to be made a Cardinal ; and many other such like things. 
 That he Answer'd them. That he knew nothing of any Car- 
 dinal-ship offer'd me ; And for my Religion he had Reason to 
 think, I was truly and really as I professed myself ; for I had 
 laboured with him against his return to the Church of Rome : 
 (Which is true, and I have some of my papers yet to shew.) 
 But he farther sent me word, that their Malice was great 
 against me ; though he saw plainly, they were like Men that 
 groped in the Dark, and were to seek what to lay to my 
 Charge." 
 
 And here we take leave of this clever and eccentric char- 
 acter, who was courtier, statesman, soldier, diplomatist, chemist, 
 Protestant, Catholic, Royalist, Parliamentarian, duellist, theo- 
 logian, author, and philosopher, at one time or another. 
 
 It must not be supposed that because Laud wrote civilly to 
 Sir Kenelm Digby, on his conversion, and remained his friend 
 after it, that he was universally tender-hearted towards con- 
 
 1 Aubrey's " Letters,", No. i. ^ P. 209.
 
 28o Life of Archbishop Laud. [xviuhcent. 
 
 verts or old Catholics. On the contrary, he did all in his 
 power to prevent conversions, as, indeed, one would expect 
 that he should have done, if he honestly believed the Anglican 
 to be the true Church of Christ. Who shall blame him .-• 
 Even the late Cardinal Manning, a {^.^n years before his own 
 conversion, being then an Anglican Archdeacon, persuaded a 
 very young and recent convert to return to the Church of 
 England, although both afterwards became distinguished 
 ecclesiastics in the Church of Rome. 
 
 In respect to possible converts, Laud kept a specially sharp 
 and anxious eye upon Oxford undergraduates, and made 
 searching inquiries whether any of them showed signs o f 
 what are termed in these days, " Romish leanings." H 
 once received information — I fear that he was not above 
 employing spies — that a letter had been found, addressed to 
 a Mr Fisher in Clerkenwell — this may have been the Fisher 
 of Laud's controversy ; unless, which is not impossible, the 
 whole thing was a hoax — asking whether " he knows one or 
 two, who for religion's sake are desirous to be entered in 
 some order beyond the seas, especially that of fratrum 
 minorum, or Jesuits." ^ The reply was to be directed " to one 
 Richard Pulley" in St John's College in Oxford. 
 
 A Catholic recusant in Laud's own favourite college ! 
 This was very shocking. 
 
 He wrote at once to his vice-chancellor: — "If there be 
 such a man as Pully here mentioned, be sure to make him 
 fast ; " and he was also ordered to inquire whether " any 
 Jesuits, or others, have Iain hankering up and down there- 
 abouts." 
 
 The vice-chancellor reported that there was a scholar of 
 a name not unhke Pully at St John's. Modern under- 
 graduates may be a little surprised at hearing how the vice- 
 chancellor set about the delicate task of ascertaining this 
 youth's religious views. 
 
 " I set a spy upon him," he says. " On Friday morning I 
 took him coming from prayers in the quadrangle, where I 
 might see how he behaved himself at citation. I instantly 
 
 1 " Lib. of Ang. Cath. Theol.," vol. v. p. 1 80.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of ArchbisJiop Lmid. 281 
 
 searched his pockets, took his keys of study and trunk 
 from him, searched them (he staying in my lodging). I 
 looked over every book and paper ; I found nothing that 
 might give the least suspicion that he is inclined towards 
 popery." 
 
 It might be supposed that this would more than satisfy 
 Laud ; but he replies : — " You cannot carry too careful an eye, 
 either over Pullen or the rest ; for certainly some are about 
 that place to seduce as many as they can." In the same 
 letter, he admonishes his vice-chancellor rather sharply 
 concerning another little matter connected with Popery. 
 
 Chillingworth was bringing out a book against the Catholic 
 Church, and it was just then going through the Oxford press, 
 which was under the control of the vice-chancellor. Now a 
 certain Jesuit, who went by the name of Knott (his real name 
 was Wilson), intended to write a book in reply, called *' A 
 direction to N. N., being an admonition to Mr Chillingworth 
 to attend to his own arguments." ^ Laud, in his letter to the 
 vice-chancellor, says that he has reason for believing that 
 Father Knott is privately obtaining, from some workman at 
 the Oxford printing-press, proof sheets of Chillingworth's 
 book "as they are done." "I know," he says, "the Jesuits 
 are very cunning at these tricks ; but if you have no more 
 hold over your printers, than that the press must lie thus 
 open to their corruption, I shall take a sourer course, than 
 perhaps is expected. For though perhaps they go so 
 cunningly to work, as that I shall not be able to make a 
 legal proof of this foul misdemeanour ; yet " (if) " I find that 
 Knott makes a more speedy answer than is otherwise 
 possible, without seeing of the sheets, I shall take that for 
 proof enough, and proceed to discommission your printer, 
 and suppress his press." 
 
 This was stern language and a stern threat to use to a vice- 
 chancellor of the great University of Oxford, even from the pen 
 of the chancellor himself He clearly kept his vice-chancellor 
 well up to the mark in respect to any danger of Catholicising 
 influences at Oxford ; for three years later, that official wrote 
 
 ^ "Records of the Eng. Province, S.J.," series i, p. 540.
 
 282 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^ittf.''^- 
 
 to him 1 : — "We have an inn in the High Street called The 
 Mitre, which is the general rendezvous of all the recusants, 
 not in this shire only, but in the whole kingdom, that have 
 any business to Oxford. Seldom are they there without 
 some scholars in their company, upon pretence or acquaint- 
 ance." " The host a professed papist." " His house hath a 
 back gate towards Lincoln College, where most of the guests 
 privately enter, and is near neighboured by many recusants." 
 " I only give your grace the naked relation." 
 
 To this terrible revelation Laud replied — " I like it much 
 worse, because there is such a private back way to the inn 
 as you mention." He says, however, that as the inn is under 
 the jurisdiction of the town authorities and not of the uni- 
 versity, he has no power to interfere. Nevertheless, he 
 proposes " to follow it close, till all be done which may be 
 done by law." 
 
 The vice-chancellor must have known as well as Laud 
 that he was powerless in the matter, and, as there was great 
 ill-feeling towards the university authorities on the part of 
 the town authorities, it would be as likely as not that the 
 latter would rather rejoice in anything calculated to annoy 
 Laud, and secretly, if not openly, encourage it. 
 
 It was not only at Oxford that the " Romish Recusants " 
 were disporting themselves and vexing the soul of Laud. 
 Great must have been his annoyance, in the year 1636, at 
 hearing of the brilliant success of the opening of the queen's 
 new chapel at Somerset House.'^ Even the laying of the 
 foundation stone had been a grand affair ; when " the plot 
 on which the chapel was to stand was very tastefully fitted 
 up in the form of a church ; rich tapestry served for walls ; 
 the most costly stuffs for roof; the floor strewed with flowers." 
 " At the further end was seen an altar, garnished with mag- 
 nificent ornaments, with large chandeliers of silver gilt, and 
 with a great number of vases." High mass was celebrated, 
 " while harmonious music ravished the heart. The concourse 
 
 1 "Lib. Ang. Cath. TheoL," vol. v. part i. p. 269. 
 
 ^ I take my account of it from Fr. Cyprien's " Memoirs of the Missions in 
 England of the Capuchin Friars, 1630 to 1669," Colburn's ed., pp. 30S-314.
 
 arca^x636.j ^ 'j-^ ^jr ^ rckbts/wp Land. 283 
 
 of people was so great, that it seemed as if all the inhabitants 
 of London had concerted to attend this noble ceremony. 
 Mass being finished, her Majesty was conducted by the 
 ambassador to the place where she was to lay the first 
 stone, &c., &c." 
 
 This alone must have been highly calculated to provoke 
 Laud, especially when such stringent laws were in force 
 against English Catholics ; but it must have been nothing to 
 his vexation when he heard the details, as he assuredly 
 would, of the opening of the chapel when built. 
 
 High Mass was celebrated " with all possible pomp and 
 magnificence " by the Bishop of Angouleme, and for the first 
 time ^^ pontifically " in England " for about one hundred 
 years." " A multitude of Catholics thronged to receive the 
 Holy Communion from the hands of the bishop." 
 
 After dinner there were vespers, compline, and sermon, 
 and there was " a machine," — there is a long description of 
 it, and it seems to have been an arrangement of decorations 
 and candles, — " which was admired by the most ingenious 
 person, to exhibit the Holy Sacrament, and to give it a more 
 majestic appearance." 
 
 " Those who were in the chapel had great difficulty to 
 leave it on account of the crowd of people who were bent on 
 forcing their way in." "The crush lasted so long that it 
 was impossible to close the doors of the church till the third 
 night," when the king desired to come to see it himself. 
 " Accordingly, he went thither, attended by his grand marshal, 
 the comptroller of his household, and some other gentlemen. 
 He admired the composition, kept his eyes fixed on it for a 
 very long time, &c." 
 
 Not only Catholics, but Protestants " never ceased coming 
 in crowds from all parts to behold this wonder." " From the 
 8th of December, the day consecrated to the immaculate con- 
 ception of the Blessed Virgin, the queen with great prudence, 
 ordered the chapel to be left with all its decorations till 
 Christmas." 
 
 " From six o'clock in the morning there were successively 
 masses, and in general communions, till noon." The " con-
 
 284 Life of Archbishop Laud. [irea''^' 
 
 fessionals were surrounded by a crowd of penitents." " Persons 
 were obliged to wait two or three hours before they could 
 enter a confessional." 
 
 Imagine how galling it must have been to Laud to hear of 
 all this at a time when he could not even induce a large 
 number of the clergy in his own archdiocese to turn their 
 communion-tables " altarwise," or some of the laity to kneel 
 when receiving communion !
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 In the last chapter I showed that Laud was much put out at 
 the prospect of a book by Father Knott, S.J., whom OHver 
 calls " a man of transcendent talents and vigour of intellect." ^ 
 In the same year he was greatly worried about a book by an- 
 other Catholic. This was that standard and beautiful work. 
 An Introduction to a Devout Life, by St Frangois de Sales. A 
 greater contrast than that between the style of devotional 
 writing of this saint and the style of Laud it would be difficult 
 to imagine. How this worry came about Laud shall tell us 
 for himself" 
 
 " There was an English translation of a book of devotion, 
 written by Sales, Bishop of Geneva, and entitled Praxis 
 Spiritnalis sive introdiictio ad vitam devotam, licensed by Dr 
 Hayward, then my chaplain, about the latter end of November 
 last ; but before it passed his hands, he first struck out divers 
 things wherein it varies from the doctrine of our Church, 
 and so passed it." 
 
 Lingard says '^ that, among other alterations, he changed 
 the word " mass," wherever it occurred, for " divine service." 
 
 " But by the practice of one Burrowes," continues Laud, 
 (" who is now found to be a Roman Catholic,) those passages 
 struck out by Dr Hayward were interlined afterwards (as 
 appears upon examination before Mr Attorney-General, and 
 by the manuscript copy), and were printed according to 
 Burrowes's falsifications." 
 
 To call the restoration of the original, " falsifications," is 
 really a magnificent piece of bare-faced casuistry ! although, 
 of course, the printer would be quite unjustified in making 
 such a restoration under the circumstances. But to continue. 
 
 J " Collectanea S.J." " " Libr. of Ang. Cath. Theol.," vol. v. part i. 
 
 ^ Vol. vii. chap. v. 
 
 283
 
 2 86 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xviithcem. 
 
 *' The book being thus printed gave great and just offence, 
 especially to myself." 
 
 In the account of his own trial ^ he says: — "The Complaint 
 of Printing this Book came publickly into the Star Chamber. 
 And then was the first time that I ever heard of it." " The 
 whole thing," says he, " was a meer Plot of this Recusant, if 
 not Priest, to have Sales Printed, with all his Points oi Popery 
 in him." 
 
 It is well to hear both sides in most cases, so we will read 
 the evidence ^ of " Mary, widow of John Oates," who " attestes 
 that her husband about seven years since printed part of a 
 book intitled Francis Salis' " (Sale's) " Introduction to a 
 Devout Life, licensed by Dr Haywood," (Hayward) "chaplain 
 to Archbishop Laud, for the press. Finding some Popish 
 passages not fit for the press as he conceived, Oakes carried 
 the same to Haywood, who told him to go on and print the 
 same, and he would bear him out therein. When the book 
 was published exceptions were taken to these passages, and 
 the book ordered to be burnt in Smithfield, which was done. 
 Oakes was thereupon sent for and imprisoned about three 
 weeks, and the fault put upon him and the publisher, as if 
 they had put those passages into the licensed copy when Dr 
 Haywood had purged them out, whereas in truth he com- 
 manded the passages to be put in and stand as they were in 
 the copy brought to the press, which was proved before Sir 
 Edward Deering at a Committee this Parliament." 
 
 Of this evidence, I would say in the first place that, at 
 worst, it scarcely affects the reputation of Laud who, as he 
 says, knew nothing about the matter until it came before the 
 Star Chamber. Dr Haywood was the person whom it most 
 concerned ; and even on his behalf it may be said that it was 
 but second-hand evidence given through the widow of the 
 actual witness ; yet she gives that evidence very plainly and 
 straightforwardly. If Burrows, who appears to have been the 
 publisher, was the author of the " falsifications," why did not 
 Oates, or Oakes, lay the blame on him instead of on Dr 
 Haywood "i Is it likely, again, that Burrows would have 
 
 1 P. 363. - " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1641-3, p. 550.
 
 ^rel'"'] Life of Archbishop Laud. 287 
 
 thought it worth his while to incur the penalties which would 
 certainly befall him, if he tampered with his employer's 
 " copy " before entrusting it to the hands of his printer. 
 And I would ask any fair-minded person to consider whether 
 a modern Catholic publisher or printer, if commissioned by a 
 Protestant to produce a garbled edition of a Catholic book, 
 would think that he could serve the interests of his own 
 religion by correcting it according to the original, in defiance 
 of the instructions of the editor, although he would be in no 
 danger from a Star Chamber ? 
 
 The system of printing books by Catholics without all 
 their "Points of Popery in" them, unfortunately did not cease 
 with Laud's time. I have often heard a Protestant say — " It 
 
 is remarkable how little mention a good man like " 
 
 (mentioning some Catholic writerj " makes of the Virgin ! So 
 unlike the modern Romanist writers ! " Whereas his books 
 are in reality full of allusions to Our Lady, of, what 
 Protestants call, " the most extravagant kind " ; but they 
 have every one of them been carefully excised in the edition 
 " adapted to the use of English Churchmen." If our books 
 are to be read at all, they ought to be read as their authors 
 wrote them. In short, they should be read in the " falsified " 
 editions, as Laud would say ; that is, in the original. 
 
 As has already appeared by Mrs Oates's evidence, the 
 sequel of " Sale's " book was that Laud called in every copy 
 that could be laid hands on — some eleven or twelve hundred 
 in all — and had them publicly burned in Smithfield. 
 
 His zeal in this, and the other matters connected with 
 Catholicism, which I have mentioned in this and the preced- 
 ing chapter, was probably stimulated by the " libels " that 
 were just then so freely promulgated against him, as an 
 abettor of Popery. 
 
 He writes to Wentworth,^ boasting of the burning of The 
 Devout Life, and also of the arrest and trial of Father Morse, 
 a Jesuit priest, who had distinguished himself by his charity 
 in attending to the sick during the outbreak of a contagious 
 fever in St Giles's. Indeed, he himself signed the warrant 
 
 1 " Strafford Papers," ii. 74.
 
 288 Life of Archbishop Laid. ^Mttt'''' 
 
 for his commitment to the Keeper of Newgate, on March 26, 
 1637. "Theis are to will and require you to receave into y"" 
 custody the p'son of Henry Morse, a Romish priest, herewith- 
 all sent vnto yow ; and to keepe him safe prisoner vnder your 
 charge in the prison of Newgate, vntill further order from 
 this boarde. For which this shall be your Warrant. Dated at 
 Whitehall, ye 26 of March, 1637 W. Cant"^ (and other names). 
 
 When he was first arrested, Father Morse was shut up in a 
 room by himself, and he " consumed the Blessed Sacrament, 
 which he was at that time carrying to the dying, with all the 
 reverence possible under the circumstances, though not fast- 
 ing, to prevent Its falling into the hands of the heretics ; he 
 also hid the pyx as well as he was able." - 
 
 No doubt he expected, nor without good reason, that 
 searchers would come in presently and examine all his 
 pockets and garments, and that, if they found the host, they 
 would carry it off with his other effects. Possibly they might 
 have " filed " it, as the lawyers for the plaintiff in a famous 
 modern ritual case filed a wafer which had been received, but 
 not consumed, at the communion-rails of a certain " high " 
 church, and carried off and " put in " as evidence by one of 
 their witnesses. 
 
 It is but fair to say that, at the earnest intercession of 
 Henrietta Maria, who had supplied him with food and money 
 when he was visiting the sick. Father Morse was respited by 
 the king. No thanks to Laud for this ! The discharge 
 begins : — " Whereas at the instance of our deerest consort 
 the Queene, wee have bene pleased to grant that Henry 
 Morse," &c., " shal be enlarged, &c." ^ 
 
 Curiously enough, one of the charges against Laud, at his 
 own trial, was " his holding correspondence with Papists and 
 Jesuits, and amongst others . . . Henry Morse who had 
 seduced five hundred and odd in Westminster," ^ — a most 
 groundless accusation. 
 
 1 "Records of the Eng. Prov., S.J.," series i, p. 606. - lb., p. 578. 
 
 ^ S. P. Dom. Chas. I., vol. ccclxii. No. 6. 
 
 ^ London^ s Intelligencer, July 17 to 25, 1644. Brit. Museum, King's 
 Pamphlets, No. 167.
 
 ^Te'J''-] L ife of A rchbishop Laud. 2 89 
 
 Laud was somewhat hard pressed to proceed against Father 
 Morse by the petition of the rector and church-wardens of St 
 Giles's-in-the-fields, who complained that people in their 
 parish who " before that tyme were Protestants, but in this 
 weeknes " [the outbreak of fever] were " p'verted by Morse 
 to the Romish Church " and " dyed soe." They hum.bly left 
 the " reformacon to your Iopp^ grave wisdomes." ^ 
 
 A few years later, Father Morse was again arrested, con- 
 victed of being a priest, hanged, drawn, and quartered ; but 
 not before Laud's own head had fallen upon the scaffold. 
 
 Laud kept a sharp eye upon the queen's own private chapel. 
 Perhaps the accounts of that grand opening ceremony, the 
 crowded confessionals, and the communions at nearly every 
 mass from 6 A.M. till noon, may still have rankled in his 
 bosom. In 1636, Mr E. R. writes to Puckering-: — ^" One of 
 those two priests I mentioned in my last was clapped up by 
 my lord's grace " (Archbishop Laud), " because he preached 
 the sermon the Sunday before in the queen's chapel in Somer- 
 set House, that place being only allowed to the queen's chap- 
 lains, and not to any other priests, especially any English 
 priests. The other was committed for company ; his fault 
 was his being a popish priest." 
 
 " His fault was his being a popish priest " is a remark very 
 much to the point, and shows that the law which made it a 
 criminal offence to be a priest was not allowed to lie dormant. 
 It also proves that the sufferings of such men were solely on 
 account of their religion. 
 
 Laud showed his anti-Papal zeal also against the laity, 
 as well as priests, in 1637. There is an entry in his 
 Diary 3 — " A great Noise about the perverting of the Lady 
 Newport : Speech of it at the Council : My free Speech there 
 to the King, concerning the increase of the Roman party, 
 the Freedom at Denmark House, the Carriage of Mr Wal- 
 Montague'' [this was a converted son of the Earl of Man- 
 chester, who occupied several diplomatic appointments, and 
 eventually became abbot of the rich abbey of Pontoise — 
 
 ^ S. P. Dom. Charles I., vol. cccxxxi. No. 93. 
 2 " Court and Times of Charles I.," vol. ii. p. 237. ^ P. 55. 
 
 T
 
 290 Life of Archbishop Lazid. [^t?64.^^^" 
 
 " Milord Montaigu, abb6 de Pontoise " ^ — but he was more, 
 than abbe, being, as I said, abbot] " and Sir TJioby MattJiews. 
 The Queen acquainted with all I said that very Night, and 
 highly displeased with me ; and so continues." This took 
 place in October. In December, he writes : — " I had Speech 
 with the Queen a good space, and all about the Business of 
 yix Montague, \>\x\.^Q parted fair." "Fair" sounds rather a 
 dubious footing on which to leave the presence of a queen ; 
 although the word may have meant more in those days than 
 it does at present. 
 
 Rushwood's account of the SirThoby Matthews, above men- 
 tioned, is not unamusing." " Sir Toby Matthew, a Jesuit, of the 
 Order of Politicians, who was so vigilant that he never entr'd 
 a Bed, but only slept an hour or two in a Chair, imploy'd 
 himself Day and Night in Contrivances. This person was a 
 peculiar Plague to the King and Kingdom, thrusting himself 
 continually into the Company of his Superiors and others to 
 fish out their minds, which he imparted to the Pope's Legate, 
 to the Pope himself, or to Cardinal Barberini." 
 
 We come now to a difficult point in relation to Laud's 
 treatment of Catholics, namely, the question of how far he 
 influenced Wentworth in his harsh action towards them in 
 Ireland. It would be most unfair to saddle the memory of 
 Laud with every cruel oppression of Catholics practised by 
 Wentworth ; at the same time it must be admitted that 
 the Lord Deputy constantly consulted him with regard to 
 his management of ecclesiastical affairs in Ireland, and it is 
 difficult to put away the suspicion that he would be a good 
 deal guided by him in dealing with the Catholics in that 
 country, as well as with the Anglicans. At the very least, 
 Laud can scarcely have been ignorant that Wentworth, the 
 man who was perpetually inviting his advice and usually fol- 
 lowing it, was cruelly persecuting the Irish Catholic gentry. 
 In short, he was submitting those who were minors to the 
 same treatment to which Sir Kenelm Digby had been sub- 
 jected many years earlier in England. He enforced to the 
 full the powers of the Court of Wards, by which a Catholic 
 
 1 Notes to " Bassompierre's Embassy," pp. 6, 8. - Vol. iii. p. 338.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Land. 291 
 
 ward, if a minor, was educated a Protestant, and, if he 
 were not a minor, was not allowed to have possession of his 
 property unless he would recant his faith by taking the oath 
 of supremacy, which included the abjuration of several 
 articles of the Catholic creed. Charles I. had bound himself 
 to abolish this oppressive law in his contract of 1628. Went- 
 worth, however, took good care that this contract should not 
 be confirmed. Nay, he made this infamous law still more 
 effective. " To elude the claim of the crown to the ward- 
 ships," says Lingard, " and to prevent the necessity of suing 
 out the livery of lands, the Catholics had been accustomed to 
 alter the property of their estates, by long leases of some 
 hundred years, and feoffments to secret trusts and uses. But 
 such expedients were now rendered unavailable by an act 
 passed at the suggestion of the Lord Deputy, which provided 
 that all persons, for whose use others were seized of lands 
 should be deemed in actual possession thereof, and that no 
 conveyance of any estate of inheritance should be valid, 
 unless it were by writing, and enrolled in the proper court." ^ 
 
 By this means, Wentworth hoped by degrees to make the 
 families of the Irish landowners Protestant instead of 
 Catholic. The matter, he says, " was a mighty considera- 
 tion, for formerly by means of their feoffies in trust, their 
 persons almost never came in ward, and so still lived from 
 father to son in a contrary religion, which now, as they fall 
 in ward, may be stopped and prevented." ^ 
 
 This was no empty boast. " Its consequence," he tells us, 
 "appears in the person of the earl of Ormond, who, if bred 
 under the wings of his own parents, had been under the same 
 affections and religion his brothers and sisters are : whereas 
 now he is a firm Protestant." 
 
 To enter upon the other ways in which Wentworth perse- 
 cuted the Irish landlords, and deprived them of their pro- 
 perty upon unjust pretexts, would demand more space than 
 I can spare for such a purpose. 
 
 At the same time, it is due to Wentworth to say that he 
 did not invent, suggest, or get enacted the Court of Wards in 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v. " "Strafford Papers," i. p. 344.
 
 292 Life of A^'chbisJiop Laud. [xviithcent. 
 
 Ireland. That had been the handiwork of King James L 
 It is true that Wentworth enforced its powers at a time when 
 they had been allowed to lie dormant ; but for that, as a 
 Protestant statesman, he might have defended himself with 
 a certain show of reason ; while he might have maintained 
 that if such were the law of the land, the Catholics ought 
 not to be allowed to set it at defiance by an evasion, even if 
 that evasion had been tolerated by his predecessor. 
 
 When, a couple of years later, Charles I., fearing that his 
 expedition against Cadiz might provoke Spanish retaliation 
 upon the coast of Ireland, wished to increase the Irish army, 
 he obtained ;^i 20,000 for this purpose from the Irish land- 
 lords, in return for certain concessions, one of which was that 
 Catholics should be able to sue the living of their landed 
 properties out of the Court of Wards, by an oath of civil 
 allegiance " made heartily, willingly, and truly upon the true 
 faith of a Christian," ^ without any reference to religious 
 creeds. 
 
 Whether Laud recommended the king to agree to this, 
 does not appear ; let us hope that he did so, and it is not 
 unlikely ; but it greatly chagrined his brother archbishop. 
 Usher, of Dublin, who, when he heard that such a proposal 
 had been mooted, called together eleven other Irish Anglican 
 bishops, and with them declared in solemn synod "that to 
 permit the free exercise of the Catholic worship would be a 
 grievous sin, because it would make the Government a party 
 not only to the superstition, idolatry, and heresy of that 
 worship, but also to the perdition of the seduced people, who 
 would perish in the deluge of Catholic apostasy ; and that, 
 to grant such toleration for the sake of money to be con- 
 tributed by the recusants, was to set religion to sale, and 
 with it the souls of the people whom Christ had redeemed 
 with his blood." ^ 
 
 To give Laud his due, he never wrote or spoke of Catholics 
 and their religion quite in this style. Moreover, in one of 
 his letters to Wentworth," he rather advises caution in the 
 
 ^ " Strafford Papers," i. p. 317. ^ « Cyp_ Angl.," p. 206. 
 
 ^ " Strafford Papers," vol. i. p. 479.
 
 MTel^''-] ^iA of ArchbisJwp Laud. 293 
 
 persecution of them, if not exactly from the highest motive. 
 " My Lord, I am the bolder to write this last Line to you, 
 upon a late Accident, which I have very casually discovered 
 in Court. I find that notwithstanding all your great services 
 in Irelmtd, which be most graciously accepted by the King, 
 you want not them which whisper, and perhaps speak louder 
 where they think they may, against your Proceedings in 
 Ireland, as being over-full of personal Prosecutions against 
 Men of Quality." "And this is somewhat loudly spoken by 
 some on the Queen's side. And although I know a great 
 Part of this proceeds from your wise and noble Proceedings 
 against the Romish Party in that Kingdom, yet that shall 
 never be made the cause in Publick, but Advantages taken 
 (such as they can) from those and like Particulars to blast 
 you and your Honour if they be able to do it." 
 
 If Laud occasionally worried Catholics, he was not 
 without his own worries from other quarters. 
 
 We have had many instances, in our own times, of the 
 fact that the no-Popery outcry of the puritanical party has 
 not, as a rule, the effect of inclining the vilified Anglican 
 ecclesiastics to, or even in the direction of, the fold of 
 the Catholic Church ; it may provoke them into becoming 
 " higher " ; but generally that is all. 
 
 \\\ the year 1637, " libels," as he called them, were poured 
 forth liberally upon Laud and his brother bishops. " A 
 Short Libel " was " pasted on the Cross in Cheapside : that 
 the Arch- Wolf of Cant, had his Hand, in persecuting the 
 Saints, and shedding the Blood of the Martyrs." ^ " Another 
 Libel " was " fastened to the North Gate of St Pauls. That 
 the Government of the Church of England is a Candle in the 
 snuff, going out in a Stench " ; and " the same Day at Night 
 my Lord Mayor sent me another Libel, hanged upon the 
 Standard in Cheapside. My Speech in the Star-Chanibe)^, 
 set in a kind of Pillory, &c." Four days later, he writes 
 " Another short Libel against me in Verse." A clergyman, a 
 Bachelor of Divinity, had the effrontery to write of bishops as 
 " Limbs of the Beast, even of Antichrist," as " Antichristian 
 
 1 Diary, p. 54.
 
 2 94 ^l/"^ of Archbishop Laud. [it?64.^"" 
 
 Mushrumps," as " Jesuited Polypragmatics," whatever they 
 might be, and as " Sons of Belial " ; expressions for which he 
 had to answer before Laud in the Star Chamber. Anagrams 
 were the fashion in those days, and some puritanical wit 
 made the pleasing discovery that, somehow or other, the 
 letters of the name of William Laud would also spell ^ 
 " Well, I am a Divel." It was in this year that Prynne and 
 his companions were tried before the same tribunal. With 
 these I have already dealt in a former chapter, but I should 
 add that, after they had stood in the pillory, they were sent to 
 prisons in different parts of the country, and that so strong 
 was popular opinion in their favour, that the first part of their 
 journey from London was more like the triumphal procession 
 of heroes than the disgraceful conveyance of convicts to their 
 places of punishment. Laud himself wrote - that " thousands " 
 of people assembled to see them pass by ; but, says Lingard, 
 although all this " excited alarm in the breast of the Arch- 
 bishop," " that alarm, instead of teaching him the impolicy 
 of such cruel exhibitions, only prompted him to employ 
 additional severity." ^ 
 
 The Catholic convert, Sir Kenelm Digby, in writing'^ of the 
 cutting off of their ears on the pillory, said : — " The bloody 
 sponges and handkerchiefs that did the hangman service in 
 cutting off their ears " were picked up and treasured with 
 great veneration by the Puritans, and, he continued : — 
 " You may see how nature leads men to respect relics of 
 martyrs." 
 
 A man of good family in Durham, John Lilburn, was put 
 into trade in London, and one of the party of prisoners men- 
 tioned above, Bastwick, persuaded him to take the manu- 
 script of a libellous pamphlet which he had written, called 
 TJie Merry Liturgy, to Holland, where he got it printed, 
 and then brought it back to England, together with a book 
 called TJie Vanity and Impiety of the Old Litany, and 
 other publications of a similar nature. He dispersed these 
 books, tracts, and pamphlets with the utmost secrecy ; but he 
 
 ' Benson, p. 74. From Lambeth Papers. " "Strafford Papers," ii. 99. 
 
 2 " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v. •* S. P. O. Dom., vol. ccclxix. No. 68.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 295 
 
 was, as he says,i " treacherously and Judasly betrayed (by 
 one that " he " supposed to be " his " friend ") into the hands 
 of " the pursuivant, with four of his assistants," and " com- 
 mitted to the Gate-house by Sir John Lamb, the prelate of 
 Canterbury's chancellor." 
 
 He was tried in the Star Chamber, where he greatly 
 scandalised Laud by refusing to take the oath, on the ground 
 that it was " an oath of inquiry, and of the same nature as 
 the high-commission oath ; which oath " he knew " to be un- 
 lawful, and withal " he found " no warrant in the word of 
 God for an oath of inquiry." 
 
 Laud happened at that moment to be standing with his 
 back to him, and looking round over his shoulder, he per- 
 emptorily ordered him to pull off his glove, lay it on the 
 book, and take the oath. 
 
 " ' Sir,' replied Lilburn, ' I will not swear ; ' and then 
 directing my speech unto the lords, I said, most honourable 
 and noble lords, with all reverence and submission unto your 
 honours, submitting my body unto your lordships' pleasure, 
 and whatsoever you please to inflict upon it, yet I must refuse 
 the oath." 
 
 " ' My Lords,' said the Arch Prelate (in a deriding manner), 
 ' do you hear him .'' he saith, with all reverence and submis- 
 sion, he refuseth the oath.' " 
 
 He " was cruelly whipped through the streets to West- 
 minster," at the cart's tail, and was then placed in the pillory, 
 in a place where the judges in the Star Chamber could see 
 him through the windows, for two hours. He scattered a 
 number of his libellous tracts from the very platform of the 
 pillory, and, during his subsequent imprisonment, he wrote, 
 and by some means managed to get published, a book en- 
 titled Nine Arguments against Episcopacy. He eventually 
 became a captain in Cromwell's army ; he fought at Edge- 
 hill ; he was taken prisoner at Brentford, and only just 
 escaped execution for high treason by an exchange of 
 prisoners ; he fought as a lieutenant colonel at Marston- 
 Moor ; he quarrelled with some of his fellow-officers and 
 
 1 "Celebrated Trials," vol. i.
 
 296 Life of A7xhbishop Land. [^^64.^"- 
 
 others among the Parliamentary party, including Cromwell 
 himself; he was fined ;^7O00 and banished, to come back to 
 England and become a quaker and preacher, and at his 
 funeral, in 1657, four thousand people were present. 
 
 One of the most unpopular measures instituted by Laud 
 was the fruit of his desire to put a stop to the publication of 
 books directed against his own school in the Established 
 Church. He was intent, says Heylin, " upon ^ keeping down 
 the Genevian Party, and hindring them from Printing and 
 Publishing any thing which might disturb the Churches 
 Peace, or corrupt her Doctrine. To this end he procured a 
 Decree to be pass'd in the Star-Chamber, on July i Anno 
 1637." "By which Decree it had been Ordered, That the 
 Master Printers from thenceforth should be reduced to a cer- 
 tain number ; and that if any other should secretly or openly 
 pursue that Trade, he should be set in the Pillory, or whipped 
 through the Streets, &c." ; and that no books or prints should 
 in future be published even by the " said Master Printers," 
 until they had been " lawfully Licensed, either by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of London, or certain 
 other authorities mentioned." Also that " every Merchant, 
 Bookseller, or other Person, who shall Import any Printed 
 Books from beyond the Seas, shall present a true Catalogue 
 of them to the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being, 
 before they be delivered, or exposed for Sale, &c." 
 
 One of the first books seized, under the power of this 
 decree, was the little Genevan edition of the pocket Bible, 
 with footnotes.- Two entire editions were confiscated at the 
 Hague. On this account, Laud was accused of having 
 deliberately opposed the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, 
 with about as much reason as the same accusation has often 
 been brought against the Catholic Church. In either case it 
 was, of course, not the Holy Bible itself, but the garbled 
 translation, or else the notes appended, to which exception 
 was taken. 
 
 The notes'^ in "The Genevian Bibles," says Heylin, "did 
 not only teach the Lawfulness of breaking Faith and Promise 
 
 ^ "Cyp. Ang.,"pp. 340 and 341. '^Benson, p. 79. ^ "Cyp. Ang.,"p. 342.
 
 ^?X'''-] Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. 297 
 
 when the keeping of it might conduce to the hurt of the 
 Gospel : but ranked Archbishops, Bishops, and all men in 
 Holy Orders, or Academical Degrees, amongst those Locusts 
 in the Revelation, which came out of the Pit." Naturally 
 Laud did not wish to be compared to a locust, in the Revela- 
 tion, coming out of the Pit. The notes of the same Bible 
 advocated "the murthering" of kings, "if they proved 
 Idolaters." Nevertheless, this arbitrary curtailment of the 
 liberty of the press has not been generally considered a 
 diplomatic measure, on the part of Laud, by political critics 
 of his history. 
 
 Upon Laud was thrown the whole odium of another 
 national annoyance. This was the exodus of a number of 
 Puritans to America, to avoid his persecution, and their 
 settlement in the place they called New England. It was 
 said that Laud "in his own Person, and his Suffragans, &c., 
 &c.," "had caused divers Learned, Pious and Orthodox 
 Preachers of God's Word to be silenced, suspended, deprived, 
 degraded, excommunicated, or otherwise grieved and vexed 
 without any just cause; whereby, and by divers other means 
 he had hindered the Preaching of God's Word, and caused 
 divers of his Majesties Subjects to forsake the Kingdom "^ 
 and settle in New England. 
 
 Heylin says that '' Neiv England, like the Spleen in the 
 Natural Body, by drawing to it so many sullen, sad, and 
 offensive Humours, was not unuseful and unserviceable to 
 the General Health : But when the Spleen is grown once 
 too full," and so on, and so on, " it both corrupts the Blood, 
 and disturbs the Head, and leaves the whole man wearisom 
 to himself and others." For this reason, it was actually 
 contemplated, by Laud, he goes on to say, " to send a Bishop 
 over to them, for their better Government " ; — mark especially 
 what follows — "and back him with some Forces to compel, 
 if he were not able to perswade Obedience. But this Design 
 was strangled in the first Conception, by the violent breakings 
 out of the Troubles in Scotland^ 
 
 Yet, when we think with pity of the narrow escape of the 
 
 i"Cyp. Ang., p. 346."
 
 298 Life of Archbishop Lattd. ^M^Xf"'' 
 
 exiles for conscience sake, in New England, from a persecut- 
 ing bishop, backed up by an army of soldiers, it is well to 
 remember that they not only practised barbarous cruelties 
 upon the native Indians soon after their arrival in their 
 adopted country ; but that, in a few years, they caught three 
 Quaker women, who had landed in New England, stripped 
 them to the waist, flogged them through eleven towns, and 
 drove them through frost and snow a distance of eighty 
 miles, and that they hanged three Quakers and one Quakeress,^ 
 for no other offence than their religion. 
 
 1 <( 
 
 Ency. Brit.," 8th ed. vol. xviii. p. 719.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIL 
 
 A MUCH more important personage than any of the so- 
 called " libellers " described in the last chapter, was to be 
 brought before Laud in the Star Chamber in the year 1637. 
 The archbishop was to have the pleasure of lecturing, in that 
 tribunal, a brother bishop, a future archbishop, an enemy, 
 and a man of religious and political views very different 
 from his own. 
 
 When Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, lost his post of Keeper 
 of the Great Seal, he had assumed the role of a popular, 
 liberal and democratic, if not republican, bishop. Retir- 
 ing to his own diocese, he had lived there in considerable 
 splendour and become quite a hero among those who bore no 
 good will towards the king and the court. He was vain, 
 imperious, hot-tempered, and no respecter of persons. In. 
 appearance, his portrait represents him as high-shouldered, 
 small-eyed, with a pointed chin and nose, and a disagreeable 
 smile. It does not look a sincere face ; but it is a shrewd 
 one. 
 
 Clarendon tells us that ^ " he did not always confine him- 
 self to a precise Veracity, and did often presume, in those 
 unwary discourses, to mention the person of the king with 
 too little reverence." And he says that " he would frequently, 
 and in the presence of many, speak with too much Freedom, 
 and tell many stories of Things and Persons upon his own 
 former experience." 
 
 Nor was it only against the king and the court that 
 Williams felt ill-will and talked gossip. " He did affect to 
 be thought an Enemy to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ; 
 whose Person he seem'd exceedingly to contemn, and to be 
 much displeased with those Ceremonies and Linovations, as 
 
 ^ "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. iii. p. 345. 
 
 299
 
 300 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^i^%t'" 
 
 they were then called, which were countenanced by the 
 Other ; and had himself published, by his own Authority, a 
 Book against the using those Ceremonies, in which there 
 was much good learning, and too little Gravity for a Bishop." 
 
 It will be remembered that, even if it be true that Williams 
 recommended Laud for a bishopric, he certainly quarrelled 
 with him afterwards. It will also be remembered that the 
 quarrel was patched up, after some sort of fashion. That the 
 nominal peace was not very sincere is shown by the remarks 
 of Clarendon which I have just quoted ; and when a man of 
 Laud's temperament heard that Williams was not only abus- 
 ing him but, still worse, making fun of him, he must have 
 been irritated to the last degree. 
 
 D'Israeli ^ says that " Laud cruelly persecuted Williams for 
 a contemptuous jest." Considering Williams' attempts to 
 prejudice Laud in high quarters, when he was himself in 
 power, and his attacks with his pen on both Laud and his 
 ecclesiastical policy when he fell into disgrace, I do not think 
 that this is a very just accusation. At the same time, I am 
 not prepared to deny that Laud may have felt sensations of 
 inward satisfaction, when Williams was summoned in the 
 Star Chamber "for contriving and publishing False Tales and 
 News to the scandal of his Majesty's Government, and for 
 revealing some things contrary to the Duty of his Place, and 
 Oath of a Privy Counsellor." ^ 
 
 So little was the prosecution expected by the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, that when the summons was presented to him by 
 " Mr Attorney's Clerk," "he said somewhat merrily to him, 
 ' You mistake the party ; ' quoth he, ' this bill bclongeth to 
 the Earl of Lincoln, and not to the Bishop.' The messenger 
 replied, ' If it please your lordship to peruse it, you shall find 
 it concerns the Bishop only.' " ^ 
 
 The Attorney-General, in prosecuting, did not soften his 
 language in deference to the Right Rev. Father in God, whom 
 it was his business to attack. " Here," said he, "was a heap 
 
 ^ " Life and Reign of Charles I.," vol. iii. p. 74. 
 
 ^ Rushworth's "Historical Recollections," vol. ii. 
 
 " Mr Pery to Lord Brooke, " Court and Times of Ch. L," vol. ii. p. 196.
 
 %\%l^^^-] Life of A^xhbishop Laud. 301 
 
 of ofifences tending to the subversion of Justice, and labour- 
 ing, tampering, suborning and sending away the King's 
 Witnesses, to suppress the Truth, and to cause Retracting a 
 Scandal rais'd against the Proceedings of the Sessions, and 
 an Aspersion cast upon Sir Jolin Mounson : These are great 
 crimes in themselves, much more in a Bishop ; if not reme- 
 died, will draw the same Infamy on this Nation as it did 
 upon Greece, Dare mutiium Testimonhnnr 
 
 This speech of the Attorney-General's cannot have been 
 other than very pleasant hearing to Laud. Quite as delightful 
 to the archbishop's ears must have been the opening sentences 
 of Lord Cottington's judgment. Laud himself knew what it 
 was to be worsted by Cottington, and he would all the more 
 relish the spectacle of his enemy writhing in the hands of the 
 same tormentor. 
 
 Lord Cottington said that " the Well-head from whence all 
 these foul Streams flow'd was very small, and the Bishop's over- 
 throw was of his own seeking : he was sorry a Person so great, 
 wise and well-experienced, and who had sat there himself, 
 should come to be censured for such foul Offences." 
 
 Very agreeable, too, to Laud, must have been the conclud- 
 ing portion of Lord Cottington's judgment, when he sentenced 
 the Bishop of Lincoln to be fined ";^io,000 to the King, to 
 be imprison'd in the Tower during the King's pleasure, 
 suspended from all Ecclesiastical Functions, ab officio et 
 bencficio, &c., &c." 
 
 When it came to Laud's own turn to pass sentence on 
 his brother bishop, it may have been that he felt a little 
 nervous ; for Laud had nerves, like other men, although 
 excessive nervousness has not generally been considered one 
 of his most characteristic attributes.^ 
 
 "The Archbishop began with his great sorrow, that a 
 Person of the Bishop of Lincoln's Profession, one so Avise, 
 discreet and understanding, of such excellent Parts natural 
 and acquired, of such Wisdom, learning. Agility of Memory 
 and Experience, should be guilty of such Offences as deserved 
 the Censure of this Court ; that after he had been overtaken 
 
 1 I quote from the long account of the trial in Rushworth, vol. ii.
 
 302 Life of Archbishop Lazed. [It'V.^"' 
 
 in one Error in the first Cause he should now fall into a worse 
 by obnoxious and Criminal ways ; that when some question 
 was made of his Loyalty and Discretion in words only, he 
 should by unlawful means seek to justify his Words and 
 Actions." 
 
 But it would not do to appear to be rejoicing over a fallen 
 foe ; so Laud assumed for a moment the part of a sorrowing 
 friend. " He said he had been five times upon his Knees to 
 the King on his behalf" [Would Williams, himself a fibber, 
 be very likely to believe this .-'] " The Bishop " of Lincoln 
 " by his Letters, acknowledged that his main hopes rested on 
 him " (the archbishop), " yet for all this he was but coarsly 
 us'd and ill requited by him." 
 
 This was a private and personal matter, which had nothing 
 to do with the case before the Court, and it was a grievous 
 mistake on the part of Laud to introduce it, more especially 
 in delivering his judgment. 
 
 By and bye, Laud could not resist the opportunity of show- 
 ing himself off He must needs become historical, biblical, 
 and classical, at poor Williams' expense. " He wished he," 
 Williams, "had been as free from Passion as St Cecilia." 
 " As for the Charges and Defences in the Cause, for him 
 to repeat them, would be but dictum dicere ; that though 
 this matter be not perhaps subornation of Perjury, yet tam- 
 pering, threatening, deterring, affrighting, corrupting, silenc- 
 ing, or absenting of Witnesses, are ejusdem naturcE and foul 
 Crimes ; and if this be suffer'd, it will destroy the Interest of 
 ineuin et tiinni, and subvert all Right and Justice." 
 
 Bearing false witness " took its birth in Hell, and came in 
 with two Sons of Belial, in the Devil's Name." " This Eneine. 
 fetch'd from Hell outfac'd the God of Truth, for false 
 Witnesses were found out against Christ himself" 
 
 The Romans made a law against false witnesses, " that the 
 guilty Person should be thrown down a steep high rock, 
 e monte Tat'peio, or e saxo Tarpeio, and have his Bones dash'd 
 to pieces." 
 
 All this must have been very interesting to poor Williams, 
 
 " In the second part of the Decretals, a Suborner of Wit-
 
 5J^^^^'.^37] ]^ij(, of Archbishop Laud, 303 
 
 nesses, if he brought a false Testimony (though compel'd 
 thereunto by his Lord and Master), was to be excommuni- 
 cated during his Life." — This was a pretty direct thrust at his 
 bishop-victim. — "A heavy Burden (though in these looser 
 times little set by) to be bereav'd of the Communion of Saints, 
 and of being a Member of Christ's Body." 
 
 Williams was reputed to " set little by " such matters as 
 membership of any particular church ; so this delicate hint 
 would be well understood. 
 
 As to a bearer of false witness, " Aristotle terms him one 
 qui pietatein non cu7'atr The great philosopher was made 
 the medium of some more lecturing, and presently Laud 
 said : — " the Bishop is a miserable man " ! 
 
 " In the first Council of Macedon, seventeenth canon, a 
 perjur'd Person is ranked with Murderers ; nay, the Sub- 
 orner and Procurer of false witnesses is worse than a Man- 
 slayer, for he destroys two souls at once, his own and that 
 of him who sweareth." 
 
 Even this was not enough. " In the seventeenth Council 
 of Agatho," " a Tamperer with false witnesses was to be put 
 to death," 
 
 I have only given a fraction of Laud's long judgment, the 
 deliverance of which evidently afforded him keen enjoyment. 
 Bishop Racket says of it^: — "Then comes in the Arch- 
 bishop with a Trick, to Noise up the Bishop with some 
 Praise, that it might push him in pieces with a greater 
 Censure, That when he thought upon this Delinquent's 
 Learning, Wisdom, Agility in Despatch, Memory, and Ex- 
 perience, that accompanied him with all these Endowments, 
 he wondred at his Follies and Sins in this Cause. O Sins 
 by all means ! for by dioptrical Glasses some find Blemishes 
 in the Sun." " So upon this matter his Grace took up no 
 less than a full Hour to declaim against the horrid Sin of 
 Perjury." " The Auditors thought he would never make an 
 end." But, as he pithily observes, " It was Williams's turn 
 now to suffer Episcopal Disgrace and Declension ; " " it was 
 Canterbury s not long after." 
 
 ^ " Scrinia Reserata," pp. 125-6.
 
 304 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xviithcem. 
 
 Williams spent some years in the Tower. While there, 
 he is said by Clarendon ^ to have given his friends and ad- 
 mirers a very mendacious account of his trial, as well as of 
 some secret offers which he pretended were made to him. 
 He also put forth a statement " impeaching the credit of 
 Kilvert " (one of the principal witnesses against him), " who 
 had been informed against for perjury, and was living in 
 adultery ' under my Lord Graces nose.' " - 
 
 " It had once been mention'd to Him, whether by Authority, 
 or no, is not known, ' that his Peace should be made if he 
 would resign his Bishoprick, and Deanery of Westminster^ 
 (for he had That in Commendam), ' and take a good Bishop- 
 rick in Ireland' ; which he positively refused; and said, 'he 
 had much to do to defend himself against the Arch-Bishop 
 Here ; but if he was in Ireland, There was a Man (meaning 
 the Earl of Strafford) who would cut off his Head Avithin 
 one month.' "^ He long outlived Laud, became eventually 
 Archbishop of York, and died of a " Squinancy." '^ 
 
 The greater part of this chapter has been devoted to show- 
 ing how stern Laud could be to a Broad-Church bishop ; I 
 must admit that I fear personal enmities may have had quite 
 as much to do with the bitter feeling, which existed between 
 these two Anglican dignitaries, as theological, and I am about 
 to show that he could be very kind if firm to a Broad-Church 
 ecclesiastic on occasion. 
 
 " The ever-memorable " Hales, as he has been called, had 
 written a tract on schism, in which he not only showed a 
 contempt for ecclesiastical authority, but dealt with it in a 
 spirit of sarcasm. Although privately printed, a copy, some- 
 how or other, fell into the hands of Laud, who immediately 
 sent for its author. 
 
 Poor Hales arrived at Lambeth at about nine o'clock on a 
 summer's morning, most probably in considerable trepidation. 
 Laud took him into his garden, and, pacing up and down, 
 gave him his mind on the subject of the unlucky tract. Hales 
 afterwards confessed to Heylin that he had had a terrible 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Reb.," vol. iii. pp. 346-8. - " Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1637, p. 262. 
 
 2 lb., p. 348. ^ •' Scrinia Reserata," p. 227.
 
 Sre;'"' ] Life of A rchbiskop Laud. 305 
 
 time of it. " He had been ferreted from one hole to another, 
 till he was resolved to be orthodox and declare himself a 
 true son of the Church of England, both for doctrine and 
 discipline." 
 
 Nor was the ferreting soon over. When they, or at least 
 Laud, had been talking for some time, the bell rang for 
 prayers, when the archbishop took his victim with him 
 through the door from the garden into the chapel. The 
 service being over, he led him forth by the same portal into 
 the garden and went at him again till dinner-time. Having 
 then fed him, he took him once more into the garden and 
 lectured him again till four o'clock. 
 
 But, in all this, Laud did nothing but argue out the points 
 in dispute ; he evidently allowed Hales to have his fair share 
 of the controversy ; for, says Heylin : — " In they came, highly 
 coloured and almost panting for breath ; enough to shew that 
 there had been some heats between them not then fully 
 cooled." 
 
 Opposite as were Hales's views to Laud's, the archbishop 
 recognised his talent and his powers as a conversationalist as 
 well as a listener ; he may have also flattered himself that he 
 had to a great extent converted him to a better state of mind ; 
 at any rate, instead of summoning him as a heretic before the 
 High Commission, he made him one of his chaplains, and 
 afterwards persuaded the king to give him a canonry at 
 Windsor. 
 
 In the year 1637, we hear once more of our old acquaint- 
 ance. Lady Eleanor Davies, in connection with one of Laud's 
 pet works, the railing-in and the adornment of communion- 
 tables.^ " It seems that the cathedral church of Lichfield is 
 lately very beautifully set out with hangings of arras behind 
 the altar ; the communion-table itself set out in the best 
 manner, and the bishop's seat fairly built. This lady " [Lady 
 Eleanor Davies] " came one communion day in the morning 
 with a kettle in one hand and a brush in the other, to sprinkle 
 some of her holy water (as she called that in the kettle) upon 
 
 1 Mr E. R. to Sir T. Puckering, Bart., " Court and Times of Ch. I.," vol. ii. 
 p. 259. 
 
 U
 
 3o6 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvmhcent. 
 
 these hangings and the bishop's seat, which was only a com- 
 position of tar, pitch, sink-puddle, water, &c., and such kind 
 of nasty ingredients, which she did sprinkle upon the afore- 
 said things." 
 
 For this performance, she was shut up in a lunatic asylum. 
 After all, may there not have been "a method in her mad- 
 ness " ? for she hated Laud and all his works, and anything 
 that he had enjoined, whether it were hangings of arras, com- 
 munion-tables set out in the best manner, or anything else, 
 Avas odious to her. He had introduced many Popish practices 
 into the Reformed Church ; but not holy water ; so she 
 determined to do this for him. 
 
 Unorthodoxy in religion was not the only offence towards 
 which Laud turned his attention ; immorality was a crime 
 which he took an equal delight in punishing. In the year 
 1627, Lady Purbeck, the wife of Viscount Purbeck, was con- 
 victed before the High Commission at London House of 
 adultery, and was ordered, by the twenty commissioners 
 present, to do penance, barefooted, in a white sheet, in the 
 church of the Savoy. Such a performance was not at all to 
 the taste of her ladyship, and she determined to avoid it. As 
 Laud says,^ " she withdrew her self, to avoid the Penance," 
 Who can wonder ? As a matter of fact, she disguised herself 
 — not in a white sheet, but in a man's clothes,- and joined her 
 paramour. Sir Robert Howard, at his house in Shropshire, 
 where she lived, says Laud, " avowedly with him," and had a 
 family. 
 
 While these two wicked people were living in the country, 
 they were left unmolested; but, "at last, they grew to that 
 open boldness, that" Sir Robert brought Lady Purbeck 
 "up to London, and lodged her in Westminster. This was 
 so near the Court, and in so open view ; that the King and 
 the Lords took notice of it, as a thing full of Impudence, 
 that they should so publickly adventure to outface the 
 Justice of the Realm, in so fowl a business." 
 
 One day, when Laud was at court, the king took him 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub. and Tryal of W. Laud," p. 146. 
 ^ Lingard's " History," vol. vii. chap. v.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Land, 307 
 
 aside and told him of this scandal, " and added, that it was 
 a great Reproach to the Church and Nation " ; worse still, 
 says Laud, he said that " I neglected my duty, in case I did 
 not take order for it." Laud replied that Lady Purbeck 
 was the wife of a peer of the realm ; but that now he knew 
 his Majesty's pleasure, he would do his " best to have her 
 taken, and brought to Penance, according to the Sentence 
 against her." 
 
 He was as good as his word. " The next day," he con- 
 tinues, " I had the good hap to apprehend both Her and 
 Sir Robert ; and by Order of the High-Commission-Court, 
 Imprisoned her in the Gate-Jioicsc, and him in the Fleetr He 
 took care not even to let them be in the same prison. 
 
 " The Sujtday sevennight after, was thought upon her to 
 bring to Penance. She was much troubled at it, and so was 
 he." Sir Robert, therefore. " dealt with some of his friends," 
 one of whom, " with Mony, corrupted the Turn-Key of the 
 Prison (so they call him) and conveyed the Lady forth, and 
 after that into France in Man's Apparel (as that Knight hath 
 since made his boast)." That knight, however, remained a 
 prisoner in the Fleet, and although Laud could not prove 
 him to have been the means of contriving Lady Purbeck's 
 escape, " in the next sitting of the High-Commission^' he 
 ■' Ordered him to be close Prisoner till he brought the Lady 
 forth." After being in prison for three months — for the lady 
 remained abroad — Sir Robert was liberated, on his own 
 bond of ;^2000, never to admit Lady Purbeck again into his 
 presence. 
 
 It would seem that, while living in France, Lady Purbeck 
 repented of her sin and became a Catholic. " My Lady 
 Purbeck left her Country and Religion both together," writes 
 the Rev. Mr Garrard to Wentworth,^ " and since he will not 
 leave thinking of her, but live in that detestable Sin still, let 
 him go to their Church for Absolution, for Comfort he can 
 iind none in ours." 
 
 Again, a Mr E. R. writes to Sir R. Puckering-: — "The 
 
 ^ " Strafford Papers," vol. ii. p. 73. 
 
 - " Court and Times of Charles I.," vol ii. p. 242.
 
 3o8 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvnthcent. 
 
 last week we had certain news that the Lady Purbeck was 
 declared a papist ; and that she had engaged their Majesties 
 of France and the Cardinal Richelieu to move the Kingjof 
 England for her pardon, and that she may come over. 
 They do undertake it, and to that purpose they have sent 
 instructions hither to their ambassador extraordinary, who 
 is very zealous in the business. The lady hath written a 
 long letter of three sheets to her majesty, the story of her 
 life from her very childhood to her conversion, humbly de- 
 siring her majesty to intercede for her pardon. She hath 
 also written to the Duchess of Buckingham and to some 
 other of the great ladies, to take off {sic) my Lord's Grace 
 of Canterbury. It is said she is altogether advised by Sir 
 Kenelm Digby, who indeed hath written over letters to 
 some of his noble friends of the privy council, wherein he 
 sets down what convert this lady is become, so superlatively 
 virtuous and sanctimonious, as the like hath rarely been 
 either in men or women : and therefore he does most humbly 
 desire their lordships to farther this lady's peace, and that 
 she may return into England, for otherwise she does resolve 
 to put herself into some monastery. I hear his majesty 
 does utterly dislike that the lady is so much directed 
 by Sir Kenelm Digby, and that she fares nothing better 
 for it." 
 
 But this is not the end of the story ; for not only did the 
 lady escape her penance, but Sir Robert applied for damages 
 for false imprisonment, when the Long Parliament was in 
 power, and was awarded i^iooo ; that is to say, £^oo from 
 Laud, and ^^250 each from Martin and Lambe, who were 
 judges in the Court.i Laud writes : — " I payd it, to satisfie 
 the Command of the House: but was not therein so well 
 advised as I might have been, being Committed for Treason." 
 
 Our divorce courts might be less popular if the delinquents 
 were made to stand, barefooted and in white sheets, in the 
 churches in one or more parishes in which they had given 
 scandal, as in the days of Laud. Among Laud's papers is 
 also a form of penance and reconciliation for renegades or 
 
 ^ Lingard's " Hist.," vol. vii. chap. v.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 309 
 
 apostates/ which one would imagine must have been an 
 obstacle calculated to stand much in the way of the return to 
 the fold of a lost sheep. 
 
 After various preliminaries, including the penitent's formal 
 excommunication, both in his own parish church and in the 
 cathedral of his diocese, he is to appear, on a Sunday, in " the 
 porch of the church, if it have any, if none, yet without the 
 church door, if extremity of weather hinder not, in a penitent 
 white sheet, and with a white wand in his hand, his head un- 
 covered, his countenance dejected, not taking particular notice 
 of any person that passeth by him." He is to kneel and 
 say to people going into the church: — "Good Christians, 
 remember in your prayers a poor wretched apostate, or 
 renegado." A judicious N.B. is appended : — " Order must 
 be taken that boys and idle people flock not about him." 
 
 On the second Sunday he is to be allowed to stand inside 
 the porch, and when the Te Demn has been sung, one of the 
 church-wardens is to bring him into the church and place him 
 on the west side of the font, where he is to kneel until the end 
 of the second lesson, when he is to read a long act of contrition 
 and then go back to his place in the porch. 
 
 On the third Sunday he is to stand in his sheet " near unto 
 the minister's pew." " The clergyman is to take no notice of 
 him until just before the Apostle's creed, when he shall publicly 
 put the offender in mind of the foulness of his sin, and stir 
 him up to a serious repentance, advising him that a slight 
 and ordinary sorrow is not enough for so grievous an offence." 
 
 The penitent is then to read a long confession, and the 
 minister an exhortation to the congregation to forgive him. 
 Then the penitent is to read another long form, begging for 
 absolution, which the minister is at once to administer. After 
 this, the clergyman is to kneel, facing eastward, and the 
 penitent in his sheet is to kneel behind him. More, and very 
 long, prayers are to be recited, and finally, the white sheet is 
 to be taken off the repentant sinner, and the minister is to 
 inform him that he may be admitted to receive the sacrament 
 "upon any communion-day following." 
 
 1 "Lib. Ang. Cath. Theol.," part v. vol. ii. pp. 373 and following.
 
 o 
 
 lo Life of Archbishop Latid. [xvihhcent. 
 
 When we reflect that this ceremony did not seem a likely- 
 bait to win back a " renegado," it may be well to remember 
 that, in those times, the civil disabilities of a formally excom- 
 municated person were so inconvenient, so many, and so great, 
 as to make life scarcely worth living, and that it may have 
 been desirable, for purely temporal reasons, to go through the 
 form of this tedious penance. 
 
 The marvel is that, with all these severities, bold tricks 
 were sometimes played in churches. Several are mentioned 
 in the course of this volume, and not long after the date of 
 the present chapter, when the king and Laud went solemnly 
 to thank God for the judges' decision that he could levy ship- 
 money, someone actually bribed the leading chorister to sing, 
 instead of the proper psalms for the day, the Ixxxii., which 
 contains the words, " How long will ye give wrong judgment?" 
 " They will not be learned nor understand, but walk on still 
 in darkness," and *' Ye shall die like men : and fall like one of 
 the princes." The judges " were very angry and Canterbury 
 put the youth in prison for not saying who gave him the 
 money." ^ 
 
 ^ Transcript from Papal Registers relating to Eng. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS. 15, 
 390, 1638, torn, vii., fol. 74.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 We shall now have to concentrate our attention for a time 
 on Scotland, a country from which a cloud arose that was to 
 sweep England with the storm in which Laud was to perish. 
 
 When Charles had returned from the North in 1633, he had 
 brought with him unfading memories of the opposition which 
 he had experienced in the Scottish Parliament, and he left 
 behind him disloyal feelings among his subjects no less bitter ; 
 these were still further increased by his ill-advised, and 
 practically fruitless, prosecution of Lord Balmerino. 
 
 It was over ecclesiastical affairs that the storm was to 
 burst. The king's father, James I., at Laud's suggestion, had 
 induced the General Assembly, much against its inclination, 
 to authorise the drawing up of a code of ecclesiastical law 
 and the preparation of a liturgy in the year 16 16. This 
 liturgy was composed, and, after the king himself had altered 
 it a little with his own pen, it was sent back to the Scotch 
 bishops ; but so strong was the feeling in the country against 
 it, that it did not come into general use ; neither did the so- 
 called " Canons of the Assembly of Perth." Indeed James 
 was much annoyed with Laud for having proposed the use 
 of a liturgy for Scotland at all, and still more for urging that 
 it should be enforced upon the unwilling people. " He feared 
 not mine Anger," said he to Williams,^ " but assaulted me 
 again with another ill-fangled Platform, to make that stub- 
 born Kirk stoop more to the English Pattern. But I durst 
 not play fast and loose with my Word. He knows not the 
 Stomach of that People." 
 
 Some time after his son Charles I. had come to the throne 
 — in 1629, in fact — the matter was revived, it is generally 
 believed at Laud's suggestion, albeit he denied it at his trial. 
 
 ^ " Scrinia Reserata," p. 64. 
 
 3"
 
 T2 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^ittf'' 
 
 The accusation ran ^ : — " He hath maHciously and Trayter- 
 OLisly Plotted, and endeavoured to stir up War and Enmity 
 betwixt his Majesty's two Kingdoms of England and Scot- 
 land ; and to that purpose hath laboured to introduce into the 
 Kingdom of Scotland divers Innovations both in Religion 
 and Government, all or the most part tending to Popery and 
 Superstition." 
 
 In Laud's reply, he says : — " Nor did I labour to introduce 
 into the Kingdom of Scotland any Innovations in Religion 
 or Government." Presently he mentions " that Service-Book," 
 and says he will " set down briefly what was done." 
 
 "'Drjohn Maxzvel, the late Bishop of Ross, came to me 
 from his Majesty, it was during the time of a great and dan- 
 gerous Fever, under which I then laboured." " The Cause of 
 his coming was to speak with me about a Liturgy for Scot- 
 land. At his coming I was so extream 111, that I saw him 
 not." " When I was able to sit up, he came to me again, and 
 told me it was his Majesty's Pleasure, that I should receive 
 Instructions from some Bishops of Scotland concerning a 
 Liturgy for that Church ; and that he was imployed from my 
 Lord the Arch-Bishop of St Andrews, and other Prelates 
 there about it. I told him that I was clear of Opinion, that 
 if Jus Majesty would have a Liturgy setled there, it were best 
 to take the English Litmgy without any variation, that so 
 the same Service-Book might be established in all Ids Majesty's 
 Dominions." 
 
 King Charles, on this point, " inclined to my Opinion " ; 
 but, " afterwards, the Scottish Bishops still pressing his 
 Majesty that a Liturgy Framed by themselves, and in some 
 few things different from ours, would relish better with their 
 Countrymen. They at last prevailed with his Majesty, to 
 have it so, and carried it against me, notwithstanding all I 
 could say or do to the contrary. Then liis Majesty com- 
 manded me to give the Bishops of Scotland my best Assist- 
 ance in this Way and Work. I delayed as much as I could 
 with my Obedience ; and when nothing would serve, but it 
 must go on, I confess I was then very serious, and gave the 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Troub.," &c., p. 167.
 
 %r6l^''-] Life of Ai^chbisJiop Laud. 313 
 
 best help I could." "And I do verily believe, there is no one 
 thing in tJiat Book, which may not stand with the Conscience 
 of a right Good Protestant. '' 
 
 I commend this expression of the great founder of High 
 Anglicanism, as some will have him to be, to my ritualist 
 friends. " A right Good Protestant ! " There is an honest, 
 genuine ring in these words, which they may well take to 
 heart. Whether a liturgy, which had rather more in common 
 with the Roman Missal than the Anglican, would relish better 
 with the Scotch Presbyterians, was at least doubtful. That 
 adopted varied but little from the present curious Coimminion 
 Office of the Church of Scotland, which first uses the prayer of 
 consecration and afterwards prays that the " Creatures of 
 Bread and Wine " " may become the Body and Blood of 
 Christ." A very dubious criticism upon the efificacy of the 
 consecration ! An invocation, from which this was probably 
 copied, occurs in the Missal ; but, of course, before instead of 
 after the consecration. Even in our own times, the Scottish 
 Liturgy has been regarded from different points of view. 
 Dean Stanley wrote^: — "The Scottish Prayer-Book (with one 
 exception, that of the words of administering the Eucharistic 
 elements) was, not as is often erroneously supposed by both 
 sides, more Roman and less Protestant than the English, 
 but in all essential points was more Protestant and less 
 Roman." 
 
 I see no reason for doubting Laud's account of the matter ; 
 but, whether the Scottish Liturgy was a little " higher " or a 
 little " lower " than the Anglican, does not affect the point 
 that Laud, from first to last, did all in his power to thrust a 
 liturgy upon the Scotch. 
 
 A little further on, Laud continues, in his written account 
 of his defence at his trial - : — " And here I take leave to 
 acquaint the Reader, That this was no new Conceit of His 
 Majesty, to have a Liturgy framed, and Canons made for 
 the Church of Scotland : For he followed his Royal Father 
 
 1 "Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland." By Arthur Penrhyn 
 Stanley. 1872. P. 43. 
 
 2 "Hist, of the Troub.," &c., p. 170.
 
 314 Life of Archbishop Laud. [1^64.^^^' 
 
 King- James his Example and Care therein, who took Order 
 for both at tJie Assembly of Pert Ji, An. 1618." 
 
 Exactly, and, if Racket and Williams are to be believed, 
 his Royal Father, as we have already shown, declared that 
 Laud himself had " assaulted " him with this " ill-fangled 
 Platform," not understanding " the Stomach of that people " ; 
 and so ill-advised did James consider it that he practically 
 allowed the whole matter to fall into abeyance. 
 
 The visit of Charles I. and Laud to Scotland, for the 
 coronation, in 1633, was the precursor of decided action on 
 their part in respect to ecclesiastical matters in that country. 
 It took some time to complete the new liturgy, and when it 
 was ready, the king, who, be it remembered, was not legally 
 the head of the Church in Scotland, as he was in England, 
 enjoined its use, as well as that of the Book of Canons, by 
 " his authority royal." ^ 
 
 James was quite right when he implied that Laud did not 
 understand the Scotch. They had been in the habit of boast- 
 ing " that they were not, as the ministers in other churches, 
 fettered and shackled with forms and rubrics," ^ says Lingard ; 
 and the moment that the obligatory use of the new liturgy 
 was announced, there was an uproar, not only among the 
 people, but from the pulpits. So great and loud was the 
 outcry that the bishops themselves trembled for the probable 
 result of the using of the new prayer-book, or " the buke," as 
 it was called in the North ; and even in the South of England 
 certain misgivings may have been experienced. 
 
 At last, it became known in Edinburgh that on a certain 
 day the new liturgy would be used for the first tim.e in the 
 high church, which had been made the cathedral. The 
 bishop and the dean, accompanied by the lords of the 
 Council, and the judges and magistrates, went thither in 
 solemn state. The building was crowded, the devout female 
 sex being very strongly represented. 
 
 The dean nervously began to read the service, and was not 
 set at his ease by the groans, which gradually developed into 
 hisses, that arose from the congregation. A small fraction of 
 
 1 "Bib. Regia.," pp. 136, 138; Balfour, ii. 224.
 
 Mt'X'''-] L ife of A re hb is hop Lattd. 3 1 5 
 
 it, however, was more orthodox, and even ventured to repeat 
 the responses. " Ane j:^odly woman," Balfour, who did not 
 sympathise with High-Churchism, tells us in Stonieficld Day, 
 " when sche hard a young man behind sounding forth amen 
 to that new composed comedie, sche quicklie turned her 
 about, and after sche had warmed both his cheeks with the 
 weight of her hands, sche thus shot against him the thunder- 
 bolt of her zeal : — ' False thief,' said sche, ' is there na uther 
 pairt of the churche to sing mess in but thou must sing it at 
 my lugge ? ' " 
 
 Other ladies yelled out that " the mass was entered, that 
 Baal was in the church." Nor did the poor dean, who was 
 reading the service, escape personal remarks. He was " a 
 thief, a devil's gett, and of a witche's breeding." Neverthe- 
 less, in spite of these and other opprobrious epithets, he stuck 
 to his post and read away manfully at his " divine service." 
 
 Finding that barking produced no effect, a valiant old 
 Scotchwoman thought the time had arrived for biting. 
 Stealthily taking in her hand the stool on which she had 
 been sitting, she hurled it at the head of the unhappy dean. 
 It was a very fair shot ; it is true that it just missed its mark, 
 but it flew within a few inches of the dean's nose. 
 
 He winced. The bishop observed it and boldly took the 
 place of honour, believing that the dignity of his office would   
 be respected, and began to read. He could scarcel}^ hear his 
 own voice for the loud cries of " fox ; wolf ; belly-god " — 
 this was an ungraceful allusion to his corpulency. Presently 
 a stool, deftly flung, almost grazed his ear. " Neither," says 
 Balfour, " could that lubberly monster with his satine gown 
 defend himself by his swollen hands and greasy belly, but he 
 had half a dissen seek fishes to a reckoning." Clasped Bibles 
 now began to hurtle through the air in the direction of the 
 "satine gown." Worse still, there were unmistakable symp- 
 toms of riot from without as well as within. Stones came 
 crashing through the windows, amidst cries of " A pape, a 
 pape, anti-christ, stane him ; pull him down." 
 
 The magistrates had by this time turned most of the 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v.
 
 3 1 6 L ife of A rchbishop Laud. [St' 64.^^^' 
 
 rioters out of the church, and the doors were locked ; but the 
 storm of stones through the windows increased, and it vented 
 its force in the direction of the bishop, who thought it high 
 time to beat a retreat. 
 
 The service, between one minister and another, was got 
 through somehow, and the bishop was not sorry to leave his 
 cathedral for his lodgings in the High Street. On his way 
 thither, he was followed by a crowd of "godly women." 
 He hastened his steps, and just succeeded in reaching his 
 door before they caught him. To his disgust, they came 
 into the house after him. He ran upstairs : they ran after 
 him. A party of stalwart women soon had him in their close 
 embraces, and carrying their Right Reverend Father in God 
 down his own staircase, they took him through the door and 
 delivered him to the crowd of she- saints waiting in the street, 
 who rolled him in the muddy gutter. 
 
 At the afternoon service, ladies were excluded, and it was 
 performed in moderate quiet ; but when the bishop started 
 for it, his appearance in the street was more than the " gude 
 weififes " could resist, and they greeted him with a volley of 
 stones. Fortunately, Lord Roxburgh hurried him into his 
 carriage and drove him to a safe asylum at Holyrood, 
 followed, however, the whole way, by a crowd of shrieking 
 women and showers of stones. 
 
 Edinburgh was not the only city in which strong exception 
 was taken to the new liturgy. In a synod at Glasgow, a Mr 
 Annan had spoken favourably of " the buke " in his sermon. 
 " At the outgoing of the church," says a contemporary writer,^ 
 " about thirty or forty of our honestest women, in one voice 
 before the bishop and magistrates, fell a railing, cursing, 
 scolding, with clamours on Mr Annan." " He is no sooner 
 in the street at nine o'clock, in a dark night, with three or four 
 ministers with him, but some hundreds of enraged women of 
 all qualities are about him with neaves, staves, and peats, but 
 no stones. They beat him sore. His cloak, hat, and ruff 
 were rent. However he escaped all bloody wounds, yet he 
 was in great danger even of killing." 
 
 1 Baillie, 8.
 
 Mt"V,^'''\ Life of Archbishop Laud. 317 
 
 The news of the residt of attempting to force a hturgy 
 upon the Scotch reached Laud, the man who was reputed to 
 be the author of it, early one morning. 
 
 It was not calculated to put him into a good humour. He 
 was intensely irritated, and he started for Whitehall to attend 
 the Council, brooding over the failure of one of his favourite 
 projects. On his way thither, he met Archie Armstrong, 
 the court jester. A fool, whether real or pretended, was not 
 a character suited to the taste of so matter-of-fact a man as 
 Laud, and this particular jester was specially odious to him ; 
 for it is said ^ that at a banquet at which the archbishop was 
 present, Archie had volunteered to say grace, which he pro- 
 ceeded to do in the following words : — " Great praise be to 
 God, and little laud to the Devil." When, therefore, Laud 
 met the court jester — the last but one in English history, 
 according to Dr Doran — on his way to the Council, his 
 already exasperated nerves were still further irritated. There 
 was no escape, however, and he was obliged to pass close to 
 the fool. Archie, in his motley, cap, and bells, bowed mock- 
 ingly before the little archbishop in his rochet and lawn 
 sleeves.' " News from Scotland, your Grace," said he. " WJio 's 
 tJie fool now ? " 
 
 This was more than Laud could endure. Boiling over 
 with passion, he went at once to the king and complained 
 of the insult which had been offered to him by his jester. 
 Although Archie had been in his service since he ascended 
 the throne, as well as in that of his father, King James, before 
 him, King Charles gave orders for his dismissal then and there. 
 Archie pleaded the privileges of his coat, but all in vain, as the 
 following order, dated Whitehall, i ith March, 1637, will show : 
 — " It is this day ordered by His Majesty, with the advice 
 of the board, that Archibald Armstrong, the King's fool, for 
 certain scandalous words of a high nature, spoken by him 
 against the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, his Grace, and 
 proved to be uttered by him, by two witnesses, shall 
 have his coat pulled over his head, and be discharged the 
 King's service, and banished the court, for which the Lord 
 
 1 " History of Court Fools," by Dr Doran, p. 204.
 
 v5 
 
 1 8 Life of Archbishop LaiLci. [xvnthcent. 
 
 Chamberlain of the King's Household is prayed and required 
 to give order to be executed. And immediately the same 
 was put in execution." 
 
 A writer in " Phoenix Britannicus " ^ says that he after- 
 wards met Archie in Westminster Abbey in a suit of black, 
 and sympathised with him over the loss of his brilliant 
 jester's coat. "'Oh,' quoth he, 'my Lord of Canterbury 
 hath taken it from me, because either he or some of the 
 Scots bishops may have the use of it themselves. But he 
 hath given me a black coat for it ; and now I may speak 
 what I please, so it be not against the prelates, for this coat 
 hath a greater privilege than the other had.' " 
 
 Laud had lost Archie Armstrong his place at court and 
 his means of livelihood, while he himself remained in royal 
 favour ; but, as a matter of fact, the archbishop was on the 
 eve of the downfall which was to end in his execution, 
 whereas the ex-clown had already amply feathered his nest, 
 and, after retiring to his native place in Cumberland, marry- 
 ing, and living in wealth and comfort to a good old age, he 
 died a natural death, very many years after the heads of the 
 king who dismissed him and the prelate who accused him 
 had fallen on the scaffold. 
 
 It was long before matters showed any symptoms of mend- 
 ing in Scotland. Laud had himself chosen and nominated 
 several of the Scotch bishops, with whom he kept up a cor- 
 respondence, and he may have been misled by their reports. 
 The Archbishop of St Andrews advised the suppression of 
 " the Buke." After that first terrible day of its introduction, 
 he said : — " The labour of thirty years is lost for ever in one 
 day"; but the younger bishops of Laud's selection were in 
 favour of fighting the matter out. The Lord Treasurer of the 
 Scottish Council, the Earl of Traquair, was supposed to have 
 sympathised with Laud, and to have made things no better 
 by his want of tact. 
 
 On the other hand. Laud, in his letters to Wentworth, 
 accuses him of blundering, if not of treachery, and Heylin, 
 in enumerating the causes of the failure of the attempt to 
 
 1 I quote from "Court Fools," p. 207.
 
 %[':%l^^''-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 319 
 
 enforce the use of a liturf,^y in Scotland, writes i; — "That 
 which appears first is the confidence which Canterbiny had in 
 the Earl of Traquaire, whom he had raised from the condition 
 of a private Laird to be a Peer of that Realm, made him first 
 Treasurer Deputy (Chancellor of the Exchequer we should 
 call him in Englmid), afterwards Lord Treasurer and Privy 
 Counsellor of that Kingdom. This man wrought himself so 
 far into Laud's good liking, when he was Bishop of London 
 only, that he looked upon him as the fittest minister to 
 promote the Service of that Church, taking him into his 
 nearest thoughts, communicating to him all his counsels, 
 committed to his care the conduct of the whole Affair, and 
 giving orders to the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland, not 
 to do any thing without his privity and direction. But being 
 a Haniilto7iian Scot (either originally such, or brought over 
 at last) he treacherously betrayed the cause, communicated 
 his Instructions to the opposite Faction from one time to 
 another, and conscious of the plot for the next days tumult, 
 withdrew himself to the Earl of Morton's house of Dalkeith 
 to expect the issue." 
 
 Lingard's reply to this accusation is much to the point, be 
 its value what it may - : — " The failure of every measure pre- 
 scribed by Charles induced the prelatic party to accuse 
 Traquair of treachery ; his best justification will be found in 
 the conduct of his opponents, who pursued him with unre- 
 lenting hatred, as their most vigilant and most dangerous 
 enemy." 
 
 I do not think that Laud would have laid blame on another 
 unjustly, had he been aware that he was doing so ; the blame 
 again, in this instance, may have been due ; but, in cases of 
 failure, there is a great temptation to account for the want of 
 success of one's own " admirable plans," on the score of the 
 clumsy, or the dishonest, executions of some one to whom 
 they have been entrusted. 
 
 The Scottish Council suspended the use of the book ; 
 King Charles sent a messenger to reprove that Council, and 
 commanded the renewal of its use. A second time it was 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.," p.;328. ^ ««Hist. of Eng.," vol. vii. chap. v.
 
 320 Life of Archbishop Laud. S^Mttf.^''- 
 
 suspended, and again did Charles order its enforcement. An 
 angry crowd hung about Edinburgh protesting against " the 
 Buke," and the authorities became alarmed. The petitioners 
 kept increasing in numbers, and formed committees, under the 
 name of the Four Tables, representing the nobles, the gentry, 
 the clergy, and the burghers, to promulgate their opinions, 
 and to deal with the authorities on the subject. The Tables 
 demanded the revocation by the Government of the book of 
 canons, of the liturgy, and of the Court of High Commission. 
 The affair was beginning to wear the look of a rebellion, the 
 more dangerous because men in the position of Lord Rothes, 
 Lord Balmerino, Lord Lindsay, Lord Lothian, Lord Loudon, 
 and other influential magnates, were supporting it. 
 
 Traquair condemned the Tables as unlawful, but offered to 
 pardon all who should at once return peaceably to their 
 homes. This order was publicly read and posted. The 
 petitioners were prepared for it, and the herald had no sooner 
 finished his task, than they read a counter-order which they 
 had drawn up themselves, and affixed it to the market- 
 cross. 
 
 A still stronger measure was adopted by the Puritan 
 petitioners. They formed " a Covenant," a vow, by which all 
 the subscribers were to bind themselves, " by the great name 
 of the Lord their God," to defend the king ; to maintain the 
 true religion ; and to resist everything that might be contrary 
 to it, i.e., to the opinions of the Tables. There were com- 
 mittees all over Scotland, and they summoned everyone who 
 valued the true Gospel and the discipline of the Kirk, to sign 
 the Covenant. 
 
 A great fast was held in preparation, and on a certain day 
 all the faithful who were within reach were ordered to meet 
 at the Church of the Grey Friars. After an exciting address 
 from Lord Loudon, the whole congregation rose, and with 
 outstretched arms swore to observe the Covenant. The 
 enthusiasm spread from the capital to the provincial towns, 
 from the towns to the villages, and from the villages to the 
 most remote hamlets and huts in the Highlands. In most 
 places the Covenant was readily and eagerly subscribed, and
 
 Grca^i638.j ^ -jr^ ^jT ^ yckbisliop Lauci. 3 2 I 
 
 where the will was wanting, compulsion was used.i " You 
 could not have chased but laugh to have seen the pipers 
 and candle-makers in our town committed to the town-jail by 
 our zealous Mr Mayor ; and herdmen and hiremen laid in 
 the stocks up and down the country, and all for refusing to put 
 their hand to the pen, as a thousand have done, who cannot 
 write, indeed ; " and the author quoted says that " you would 
 have laughed better to have seen the wives in Edinburgh," 
 who could not write, holding up their hands as a sign of swear- 
 ing to the Covenant, "as soldiers do when they pass a muster." 
 
 Charles resolved to put down the Covenant by force. He 
 sent the Marquess of Hamilton to Scotland as his Commis- 
 sioner, with a promise that the book of canons and the liturgy 
 should not be pressed upon the people in any other than a 
 fair and legal manner, and that the High Commission should 
 be put upon a footing less likely to be offensive, and that all 
 who had signed the Covenant should be pardoned, provided 
 they would at once renounce it. 
 
 Hamilton soon returned to London with a despairing re- 
 port of the attitude of the Covenanters, and after making a 
 second visit to the North, he came back in a yet more dis- 
 couraged state of mind. Charles thought it wiser to temporise : 
 he sent Hamilton to Scotland a third time, with orders to 
 command the people to renounce the Covenant, at the same 
 time suspending the liturgy, the book of canons, and the High 
 Commission, and summoning a Parliament for the following 
 year, as well as a free Assembly of the Kirk for an earlier 
 date. Soon after he had started, Charles wrote to Hamilton : — • 
 " Your chief end being now to win time ; that they may com- 
 mit more follies, until I be ready to suppress them."^ 
 
 The leaders of the Covenanters were not deceived by this 
 ruse ; for they were privately informed, on what appeared 
 good authority, that Charles was only endeavouring tem- 
 porarily to pacify them, while he was preparing an army with 
 which to enforce every obnoxious measure which he had for 
 the moment withdrawn, and they were much encouraged by 
 
 , ^ Dalrymple, ii. 25. (I quote from a note of Lingard's.) 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol. vii. chap, v.
 
 322 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^i.ttt^'^' 
 
 communications from puritanical Englishmen, who proposed 
 to emigrate to the northern land of the pure Gospel, if the 
 Scotchmen would but be firm. '■^ Anno 1638, April 29," 
 writes Laud,i " The Tumults in Scotland, about the Service- 
 Book offered to be brought in, began July 23, 1637, and con- 
 tinued increasing by fits, and hath now brought that Kingdom 
 in danger. No question, but there is a great Concurrence 
 bet\veen them, and the Puritan Party in England. A great 
 aim there to destroy me in the King's Opinion." Again, he 
 writes to Wentworth, a couple of months later ^ : — " The 
 Scotish Business is extream ill indeed, and what will become 
 of it God knows, but certainly no good, and his Majesty has 
 been notoriously betrayed by some of them." 
 
 The Covenanters issued a formal protest in reply to the 
 Royal Proclamation, and it became evident to both sides that 
 a crisis was imminent. 
 
 The General Assembly met in due time, the election 
 having been successfully manipulated by the supporters of 
 the Tables. Hamilton attended, in his office of Royal Com- 
 missioner, and, after having been opposed on every point, he 
 rose from his seat, in tears, and dissolved the Assembly, 
 taking the opportunity, not only of denouncing the treasonable 
 conduct of the Covenanters, but also of blaming the ambition 
 and even the immorality of some of the Scottish bishops. 
 
 The Assembly was not going to be dissolved at the com- 
 mand of the representative of the Crown ; on the contrary, 
 it continued to sit, and in a more determined frame of mind 
 than ever. At this point, the hitherto doubtful Earl of 
 Argyle joined it, and a resolution was passed that in spiritual 
 matters the Kirk was independent of the king and the civil 
 power ; " the buke," the canons, and the High Commission 
 were condemned ; Episcopacy was abolished ; the bishops 
 and their clergy were excommunicated, and a day of national 
 thanksgiving was proclaimed for the merciful deliverance of 
 Scotland from the yoke of Prelacy and Popery. 
 
 Both countries, England and Scotland, immediately began 
 to prepare for war. 
 
 -^ Diary, p. 55. ^ "Strafford Papers," vol. ii. p. 185.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Comparisons have often been made between the great 
 ecclesiastic who virtually ruled France, at the period of 
 which I am writing, and the subject of my biography ; per- 
 haps a life of Laud would scarcely be complete without 
 one. 
 
 Certain characteristics and certain accidents of fortune 
 were common to both men. Each was the son of far from 
 wealthy, if well-to-do, parents ; there, however, the similarity 
 in their beginnings ended, as Richelieu was a man of old 
 family, and Laud was of comparatively low birth. Both were 
 born during the latter part of the sixteenth century; both 
 were exceedingly ambitious ; both became ecclesiastics, both 
 became bishops, — real or otherwise, — both used their clerical 
 positions as stepping stones to political power ; both, in time, 
 ruled the rulers of their country ; both made many bitter 
 enemies ; both men died within the same decade. 
 
 I think it will be pretty generally admitted that, as a 
 statesman, Richelieu was immeasurably superior to Laud ; 
 as a man, in respect to disposition, honesty of purpose, trust- 
 worthiness, and general good feeling, and apart from the 
 right or wrong of the religions professed by either, I venture 
 to think that the palm should be given to Laud. 
 
 One great distinction between the conduct of the two men 
 was their treatment of the Calvinists, whom both hated. 
 Laud never spared them ; Richelieu, stern and severe as he 
 was in many matters, treated them with, for those times, 
 considerable tolerance. It is true that he instigated the 
 siege of La Rochelle, and that he crushed the power of the 
 Huguenots as a political body ; but the cause of his so doing 
 had been the unwise action of Henry IV., in making the 
 Huguenots an imperiuni in imperio by establishing their 
 
 323
 
 324 Life of Archbishop Laiui. [xviithCent. 
 
 political status in the Edict of Nantes ; and even when he 
 had reduced the power of the Protestants as to matters con- 
 nected with the State, and had razed their fortifications and 
 castles to the ground, he neither demolished their churches 
 nor interfered with them in the practice of their religion. 
 He not only adopted an opposite policy to that of Laud 
 in his treatment of the Calvinists, but actually gave the 
 Calvinistic Scottish Covenanters assistance in their struggle 
 against Laud. 
 
 In matters concerning his Church, Laud was absolutely 
 uncompromising ; so also, in religious matters, was Richelieu ; 
 but he sent the Marquis de Coeuvres with a Swiss army 
 against the Papal troops, when they were protecting the 
 communication of the Spaniards with the German Empire 
 through the passes of the Alps. 
 
 Laud was not made a bishop (so-called) until he was 
 forty-eight ; Richelieu was consecrated bishop at the age of 
 twenty-three ; Laud was deposed and executed ; Richelieu, 
 although he fell at one time into temporary disgrace, was in 
 the plenitude of his power at the time of his death. 
 
 Honestly and disinterestedly as Laud served his country, 
 he never secured for it a fair province like Lorraine, nor 
 humbled mighty enemies like Spain and Austria, nor built a 
 palace like the Palais Royale and presented it to his king, 
 nor founded an institution like the French Academy ; on the 
 other hand. Laud's ambition was more moderate, his self- 
 esteem was humility in comparison with Richelieu's vanity, 
 and his persecution of his personal enemies was somewhat 
 less cruel ; yet Richelieu, on his deathbed, when asked by his 
 confessor if he forgave his enemies, replied that he had never 
 had any, except those of the State ; he never oppressed the 
 people with exorbitant taxes or subsidies — a point on which 
 Laud had the reputation of having given questionable advice; 
 if Richelieu punished severely, he rewarded generously ; and 
 his disposal of ecclesiastical dignities was generally based 
 rather on the virtue and learning of the recipients than on 
 the question of the party to which they belonged, which, I 
 fear, is more than could always be said of Laud.
 
 ^MtX^^^'] Life of Ar chins Jiop Laud. 325 
 
 I must now describe the manner in which Richelieu's in- 
 fluence came to be used adversely to Laud's policy and 
 interests, and to do this some apparent digression may be 
 necessary. 
 
 Richelieu was deeply interested in the Thirty Years' War, 
 in which, after first making a treaty with Gustavus Adolphus, 
 and assisting him with money, he joined openly in 1635, and 
 endeavoured to turn to the aggrandisement of France. One 
 contemplated move in his game was to seize the maritime 
 towns of the Spanish Netherlands, and in order to do so, he 
 desired to make sure of the neutrality of England. Accord- 
 ingly, with a view to ascertaining the disposition of the 
 English Crown and Cabinet, he sent Count D'Estrades to 
 England, armed with private instructions, in the year 1637. 
 
 He was well aware that he himself was not in the best 
 of favour, at that time, with the Queen of England, whose 
 mother, Marie de Medicis, he had lately quarrelled with ; 
 but he told D'Estrades to assure her of his good will and his 
 anxiety to serve her interests. 
 
 D'Estrades carried two letters in his pocket for Henrietta 
 Maria — one from Richelieu, the other from her brother, the 
 King of France. If he found that he could soothe her 
 animosity towards the cardinal, he was to present the former, 
 if not, the latter only. He soon found that to induce her to 
 trust Richelieu would be impossible, so he gave her the letter 
 from Louis XHL, which implored her to do all that lay in 
 her power to persuade her husband, King Charles, to guaran- 
 tee his neutrality. She replied to D'Estrades that she " never 
 intermeddled in affairs of this nature," but, to please her 
 brother, she promised to mention the subject to the king, and 
 she asked D'Estrades to come to see her again the same day, 
 at five o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 He returned punctually at that hour, and was at once re- 
 ceived by her Majesty. She was in a very bad humour, and 
 told him that she had broached the matter in question to her 
 husband, and had got a scolding for her pains. D'Estrades 
 " had been the occasion of her suffering a severe reprimand 
 for having proposed to the King^to^remain neuter while the
 
 326 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^M^t" 
 
 sea-ports of Flanders were to be attacked." He would be 
 able, however, to judge of the king's disposition in the matter 
 for himself, as his Majesty wished to see him at six o'clock. 
 
 The prospect of this audience was not very agreeable ; but, 
 to the surprise of D'Estrades, King Charles received him 
 graciously enough. 
 
 The ambassador plunged into his business forthwith, assur- 
 ing Charles that if he would guarantee his neutrality, the 
 cardinal would not only take care to further his interests at 
 the Court of France, but endeavour to induce Louis XIII. to 
 help him in suppressing his own rebellious subjects. 
 
 Charles replied that he wished always to remain a friend 
 to his brother-in-law, the King of France ; but that there could 
 be no friendship between them if he would be expected to do 
 anything dishonourable, or injurious to the interests of his 
 people. If the ports of Flanders were to be attacked by 
 France, the English fleet would be in the Downs ready for 
 action, and on board it would be an army of 15,000 men. 
 He was much obliged to the cardinal for his offer to keep his 
 own subjects in order for him, but that he would prefer to do 
 for himself. 
 
 Richelieu had been fully prepared for the possible con- 
 tingency of such an answer from Charles to his overtures, and 
 he had instructed D'Estrades as to what he should do in that 
 event. If Charles should guarantee a strict neutrality, he was 
 to be rewarded by help in some form against the Scotch 
 Covenanters ; if, on the contrary, he should refuse to be 
 neutral, his neutrality was to be practically assured, by assist- 
 ing the Scotch Covenanters to attack him, and thus divert 
 his army from the south to the north. Therefore, D'Estrades 
 at once put himself into communication with two of the leading 
 members of the Scotch Covenanting party, then in London, 
 and communicated with Richelieu, who sent to Edinburgh his 
 chamberlain, the Abbe Chambres, or Chambers, as he called 
 himself when he reached Scotland, accompanied by a confi- 
 dential page of his own, who happened to be a Scotchman. 
 Richelieu gave the Covenanters material help, by procuring 
 the release of six thousand stand of arms, which had been
 
 Circa ^,638.-] ^ ^j^ ^jr ^ rckbisJiop Laiid. 327 
 
 purchased by them and seized by the States of Holland, and 
 by presenting their commander-in-chief, General Leslie, with 
 a hundred thousand crowns. 
 
 Matters were now, therefore, reduced to this absurd posi- 
 tion, that a Catholic bishop and cardinal was assisting a 
 puritanical army, whose chief cry was " No-Popery," while 
 the army which it was attacking, on the ground of its 
 encouragement of Popery, was under the patronage of a 
 Protestant archbishop ; nor is it altogether unlikely that the 
 absurdity of the situation may have amused Richelieu him- 
 self, who would consider one party quite as Protestant as 
 the other. 
 
 In his attempts to influence King Charles, Richelieu failed ; 
 but he was successful in considerably hampering him, for the 
 sake of the interests of France, and it is to be feared that, in 
 view of the same interests, he helped to foster complications 
 in England,^ as well as Scotland, so that the great French 
 ecclesiastic intentionally, and the great English ecclesiastic 
 unintentionally, both helped to bring about the overthrow 
 of that unfortunate monarch, Charles I. 
 
 Wentworth did not take the movements of Richelieu into 
 calculation, when he wrote " to the Lord High Admiral, of 
 the threatened war with Scotland, that it happened, " in some 
 Rispects, in a very ill Conjuncture of Time and affairs " : — 
 " And yet there is some Good in this Evil, in regard all our 
 Neighbours are so soundly together by the Ears one with 
 another, as admits them no Leisure to look so far North- 
 ward, or Boldness to move his Majesty to declare himself a 
 Party on either Side, where now he is upon a Neutrality." 
 " And on the other Side, without Assistance from abroad, the 
 gallant Gospellers shall not by God's Blessing be able to bear 
 up their rebellious Humours against their King or bring 
 other than their own Ruin upon themselves." He thought 
 himself very clever and a great diplomatist ; yet at least one 
 of his neighbours was not so soundly " by the Ears " with the 
 others, but that he had leisure to plot against his Majesty of 
 England and to laugh at Wentworth and Laud. 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol. viii. chap. i. 2 <e Strafford Papers," vol. ii. p. 190.
 
 ^ 
 
 28 Life of Archbishop Latid. [Ss''''' 
 
 Macaulay^ says: — " Charles and Laud determined to force 
 on the Scots the English liturgy, or rather a liturgy which, 
 wherever it differed from that of England, differed, in the 
 judgment of all rigid Protestants, for the worse"; .and he 
 calls it " a step, taken in the mere wantonness of tyranny, 
 and in criminal ignorance of public feeling." In the next 
 paragraph he says : — " For the senseless freak which had 
 produced these effects Wentworth is not responsible," and a 
 footnote directs the reader to " see his letter to the Earl of 
 Northumberland, dated July 30, 1638," the very letter of 
 Wentworth's from which I have just been quoting. 
 
 Lord Macaulay is quite right, strictly speaking ; for Went- 
 worth expressly says : — " Indeed in this matter of Scotland, I 
 was utterly resolved to decline meddling or giving any counsel 
 at all further than I should be commanded and required there- 
 unto by his Majesty ; and hitherto I have kept myself intire on 
 that Foot, not a Syllable writ on that Subject, &c.," and he 
 mentions " that unhappy Principle of State, practised as well 
 by his Majesty as by his blessed Father, of keeping secret 
 and distinct all the Affairs and Constitution of that Crown " 
 (of Scotland) " from the Privity and Knowledge of the Council 
 of England, in so much as no Man was intrusted or knew 
 any Thing, but those of their own Nation, which was in effect 
 to keep them two Kingdoms still." 
 
 This proves Macaulay's accuracy ; at the same time, I must 
 admit that, until I had read the whole letter for myself, I 
 inferred from his words that he intended to imply that the 
 letter, in some way, showed that Wentworth objected to the 
 " senseless freak " of Charles and Laud, in forcing a liturgy on 
 the Scots ; and knowing Wentworth's sympathy with Laud in 
 ecclesiastical matters, I was puzzled ; this was an error on my 
 part, but one into which others might possibly fall ; I hasten, 
 therefore, to show that, although, as Macaulay very truly says, 
 Wentworth was in no way directly responsible for the en- 
 forcement of the liturgy, far from objecting to it, he heartily 
 sympathised with it. 
 
 I will quote one or two passages from this very letter in 
 
 1 "Hist, of Eng.," vol. i. chap. i.
 
 1^65'.^'^] L ife of A rchbishop Laud. 329 
 
 proof of this. " I have read the late Proclamation, penned 
 with all Moderation, as likewise their Protestation, the 
 sauciest and most unmannerly Piece my Eyes ever went 
 over, which will to Posterity remain the first Fruits of their 
 Rebellion, and the Scandal of the reformed Churches." " I 
 am clear in Opinion this is such an Insolency, as is not to be 
 borne by any Rule of Monarchy, but must be thoroughly 
 corrected, &c." After describing his plan for the campaign, he 
 says : — " I should hope his Majesty might instantly give his 
 Law to EdenborougJi, and not long after to the whole Kingdom ; 
 which though it should all succeed, yet at the Charge of that 
 Kingdom w^ould I uphold my Garrison at LeitJi, till they had 
 received our Common Prayer Book, used in our Churches of 
 England without any Alteration." He implies here a wish for 
 the use of the English rather than the Scottish liturgy, but in 
 this he only shows himself at one mind with Laud. " The best 
 Part of the IrisJi Army might be drawn down into Ulster, 
 close upon Scotland, as well to amuse those upon that Side as 
 to contain their Countrymen amongst us in due Obedience." 
 The Clergy of England and Ireland would be instructed to 
 preach to the People against their Disorders and Rebellions, 
 as they do most impudently against the Common Prayer 
 Book, and Ceremonies of our Church." 
 
 I have entered into this matter at some length, lest any 
 other reader should fall into my own mistake, of inferring 
 from Macaulay's words that Wentworth was out of sympathy 
 with Laud in his endeavours to introduce a liturgy into 
 Scotland. I may add that Mr Gladstone writes : ^ — " There 
 seems to have been established a thorough community of 
 soul between them ; and it might be hard to show any single 
 point of action or opinion on which they differed." 
 
 At his own trial for high treason. Laud said in his de- 
 fence " : — " I ever advised the " (Scotch) " Bishops, both in 
 his Majesty s Presence, and at other times, both by Word 
 and by Writing, that they would look carefully to it, and be 
 sure to do nothing about it but what should be agreeable to 
 the Lazvs of that Kingdom. And that they should at all 
 
 ^ Romanes' Lecture. - " Hist, of the Troub., &c., of W. Laud," p. 169.
 
 66' 
 
 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [S^es.^^^' 
 
 times be sure to take the Advice of the Lords of his Majesty s 
 Council in that Kingdom, &c." " Which Course if they have 
 not followed, that can no way reflect upon me." Again he 
 says : — " In a Letter of mine after my last coming out of 
 Scotland, thus I wrote to the late Reverend Arch-Bishop of 
 5. Andrezvs, Septenib. 30, 1633, concerning the Liturgy: 
 That whether that of England, or another were resolved on, 
 yet they should proceed Circumspectly ; Because his Majesty 
 had no intendment to do any thing, hut that which was 
 according to Honour and Justice, and the Laws of that 
 Kingdom, <^c." 
 
 It may be replied that this defence, made by Laud when 
 he was being tried for his life, was probably exaggerated, if 
 not untrue. To prove the contrary, I will quote from his 
 correspondence with Wentworth some years before the very 
 idea of his impeachment had been mooted. 
 
 I must apologise for my length on this point ; but it 
 seems my duty, in writing a life of Laud, to give evidence 
 for my belief that the strong things which have been said 
 about his share in enforcing a liturgy, nole^is, volens, upon the 
 Scotch, are subject to very considerable modifications. 
 
 In November 1638, Wentworth wrote to Laud ^ : — "It 
 was ever clear in my Judgment, that the Business of Scot- 
 land so well laid, so pleasing to God and Man "—this shows 
 that he approved of the introduction of a liturgy into that 
 country — "had it been effected, v/as miserably lost in the 
 Execution, yet could never have so fatally miscarried, if 
 there had not been Failure likewise in the Direction, oc- 
 casioned either by over-great desires to do all quietly with- 
 out Noise," — possibly he meant by this the king's reservation 
 on the subject to his English advisers, himself and Laud 
 included,^ — " by the State of Business misrepresented, by 
 Opportunities and Seasons slipped," — it was then four years 
 since the king's visit to Scotland, — " or by some such like. 
 Besides, it sometimes falls forth, that out of an Easiness and 
 Sweetness of Nature some Men insensibly suffer Opposi- 
 tions." By this " sweetness of nature " he doubtless meant 
 
 1 "Strafford Papers," vol. ii. p. 250.
 
 area ^i633. J jr ^j:^ ^jT ^ rclibisfiop Laud 331 
 
 the king's, and he goes on to explain that those who give 
 way to such a disposition, often " difficult their own Affairs 
 and discourage their own Party most extremely, &c." In 
 the next paragraph, he presently says: — "Therefore God 
 Almighty guide his Majesty's Counsels, and strengthen his 
 Courage. For if he master not them," there will be danger 
 that "this Affair" (the affair of the use of the Anglican 
 liturgy, be it observed) " tending so much and visibly to the 
 Tranquility and Peace of his Kingdom," and "to the Honour 
 of Almighty God," may lead to serious trouble. 
 
 To this Laud replied,^ that the errors were " all Errors 
 about the Execution not the Direction." One of them, he 
 said, was " a great one ; but I could not help it. For such 
 of the Bishops of Scotland as were trusted with it were all for 
 the quiet Way, and that fitting his Majesty's Disposition, I 
 was not able to withstand it, and indeed must have been 
 thought very bold, had I taken upon me to understand the 
 Course of that Church and Kingdom better than they." 
 
 By " the quiet Way " Laud probably meant the introduc- 
 tion of the new liturgy, without allowing the country and the 
 Council to know much about it until it was actually sprung 
 upon them. One cannot conceive that he meant the opposite 
 of introducing it under armed force ; for, in that case, a body 
 of soldiers would have been required both within and with- 
 out every kirk in Scotland. He goes on to say : — " But the 
 main Failure in the Direction, if I mistake not, was, that all 
 the Lords of that Council were not more thoroughly dealt 
 with by the King, and their Judgments more thoroughly 
 sifted before any thing had been put to Execution." 
 
 It is needless to say that the majority of " the Lords of 
 that Council " would not have recommended the forcing of 
 a liturgy upon their fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Wentworth took a very grave view of the situation. In 
 his reply to Laud,- he wrote about the " insolent and peevish 
 Covenanters," and asserted that it behoved " his Majesty 
 to buckle himself roundly and severely to the Discipline of 
 these rebellious Assumptions and Attempts, which otherwise 
 
 1 "Strafford Papers, ",vol. ii., p. 264. - lb., p. 271.
 
 332 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^itet^' 
 
 certainly will never rest, till they lay on their rough Hands 
 and even captivate Sovereignty itself." 
 
 This proved to be but too accurate a prophecy ! It will 
 be observed that both Wentworth and Laud had now 
 begun to find serious fault with the policy and behaviour of 
 their pet king, and to admit that he did not always act upon 
 the advice of either. What is even more remarkable is that 
 two men, who depended so much upon the royal favour, 
 should run the risk of sending letters to each other from 
 England to Ireland, and vice versa, in which such opinions 
 were freely expressed, not in cypher, but in ordinary 
 characters. The discovery of one of the letters, which I 
 have lately quoted, if it had got into the king's hands, 
 would probably have led .to the disgrace and fall of one, 
 if not both, of these royal favourites.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Laud's own account, in his Diary, of the troubles in Scotland, 
 in 1638 and 1639, are so short, and at the same time so 
 descriptive, that I do not hesitate to quote freely from them. 
 
 In 1638, he writes 1 on "April 29. The Tumults in Scot- 
 land, about the Service-Book offered to be brought in, began 
 July 23, 1637, and continued increasing by fits, and hath now 
 brought that Kingdom in danger." 
 
 " Maij 26. Saturday, James Lord Marquess Haniilton set 
 forth, as the King's Commissioner, to appease the Tumults 
 in Scotland. God prosper him, for God and the King." 
 
 " Noveinb. 21. Wednesday, The General Assembly in Scotland 
 began to sit." 
 
 Now observe the length of its session. " Noveinb. 29. 
 Thursday, The Proclamation issued out, for dissolving the 
 General Assembly in Scotland, under pain of Treason. 
 Decevih. 20. They sate notwithstanding, and made many 
 strange Acts, till Dccenib. 20, which was Tluirsday, and then 
 rose. But have indicted another Assembly against Jtily 
 next." With these events we have already dealt. 
 
 In 1639, he writes ^ on '^ March 27. Wednesday, Coronation- 
 day, King Charles took his Journey Northzvard, against the 
 Scottish Covenanting Rebels. God of his infinite Mercy 
 bless him with Health and Success." 
 
 He is silent as to his own efforts in assisting the king's 
 army ; but there is evidence of them in a letter which he 
 wrote to his suffragan bishops, in which he says ^ : — " In this 
 Case of so great danger both to State and Church of England, 
 your Lordships, I doubt not, and your Clergie under you, 
 will not only be vigilant against the close Workings of any 
 Pretenders in that kind : but very free also to your Power 
 
 1 Diary, p. 55. 2 p, 35. 3 «< Cyp. Ang.," p. 357. 
 
 333
 
 
 4 Li/e of Archbishop Laud. [xvinhcent. 
 
 and Proportion of means left to the Church, to contribute 
 towards the raising of such an Army, as, by God's Blessing 
 and his Majestie's Care, may secure this Church and King- 
 dom from all intended violence." " These are to pray your 
 Lordship to give a good Example in your own Person, &c." 
 '' And I hope also your Lordship will so order it, as that 
 every man will at the least give after the Proportion of 
 3s. lod. in the Pound, of the valuation of his Living, or other 
 Preferment, in the Kinge's Books." "Your Lordship must 
 further be pleased to send a List of the Names of such as 
 refuse this service." 
 
 While Laud was urging his bishops and clergy to con- 
 tribute towards the army for the North, his old friend, Sir 
 Kenelm Digby, with Walter Montague, against whose 
 " carriage," since he had become a Catholic, Laud had lately 
 declaimed at the Council,^ " likewise dispers'd the Letters 
 amone the Roman Catholics to this effect : That the happy 
 Moderation they live under, being to be ascribed to the 
 Queen's Protection and Intercession, they doubt not but the 
 occasion of expressing their Gratitude will be joyfully em- 
 braced by every one ; that they have already by their former 
 Letters endeavour'd to prepare them to a cheerful Assistance 
 of his Majesty in his Journey to the Northern Parts. They 
 recommend to them the Nomination of some of the ablest 
 and best dispos'd in every County, both to s elicit and collect 
 such voluntary Contributions." 
 
 If plenty of money was subscribed, ill use was made of it. 
 Lookino- throudi the accounts of letters written from men 
 with the army, in the Calendar of State Papers^- we find a 
 state of things which puts into the shade the modern blunder- 
 ings for which we always blame our own authorities whenever 
 we go to war. 
 
 There are some who " think all this business too long, too 
 costly, and too troublesome." A letter-writer tells his cor- 
 respondent that " our soldiers " " lay last night and were fed 
 yesterday worse perhaps than your dogs." " Never till now 
 was an army heard of without sutler or victualler till this ; it 
 
 i.Rushworth, vol. iii. pp. 20 and foil. ^ 1639, pp. 270-283.
 
 2^66.^^"] Life of Archbishop Latid. 335 
 
 is true they are paid, but they cannot eat money." " Well, 
 God amend it all ! but it is very scurvy, and we begin to have 
 our factions and our fooleries already." There was treachery, 
 too, in the camp. " A sycophantical rascal " in the king's 
 army, "stole six great horses, is gone into Scotland and 
 turned Covenanter." " Here is another fellow, one Sir [John] 
 Hay, the Clerk Registrar, who has frequent access to the 
 King. This trout, for all his hypocritical and asinine aspect, 
 is thought no honester than he should be, and to wish well to 
 the holy cause as the most puritanical varlet in the company." 
 
 " Our men grow sick with lodging sub dio ; above lOO 
 are sick of the small-pox in Sir Thomas Morton's regiment." 
 *' Last night we were here in great affliction for fear of the 
 miscarriage of our troops." " Here is great complaint made 
 in town of somebody's indiscretion." 
 
 Perhaps the most extraordinary ill-management and want 
 of discipline in Charles' army was when his soldiers, whom he 
 was taking to Scotland to enforce High-Church doctrines and 
 ceremonies, were ^ " so ill principled, or so ill perswaded, that 
 in their marchings through the Country they brake into the 
 Churches, pulled up the Railes, threw down the Communion 
 Tables, defac'd the Common Prayer Books, tore the Surplices, 
 and committed many other Acts of outragious insolence." 
 
 Letters of this period mention the virulence of some of the 
 Scotch ladies against those of their own kith and kin who 
 take the side of the king against the Covenanters. Hamil- 
 ton's own mother is waiting her opportunity to shoot him, 
 and has had some silver bullets cast for the purpose. 
 
 "Here'-^ is great talk of my old lady, Marchioness of 
 Hamilton ; of her case of pistols at her saddle, for she leads 
 her own troop of horse, and is in the field, and her case of 
 dags at her girdle. Her silver bullets are not forgotten for her 
 own son and my Lord General, and how the ladies and gentle- 
 women, by her example, do all practise their arms, in which 
 new kind of housewifery they are very expert. Of the form 
 of their, I mean the women's, imprecation and curse, every 
 one talks, and certainly but too true, wishing their husband's 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 426. " lb., p. 282.
 
 336 Life of Archbishop Lmid. [It'ee.^^^' 
 
 and children's flesh to be converted into that of dogs, and 
 their souls annihilated, is the word, or " [and ?] " damned the 
 meaning, if they refuse to come into the covenant, or ever 
 consent to admit of the bishops," 
 
 Strong opinions were not wanting on the opposite side. 
 Sir James Douglas wrote to Windebank^ : — " The Act of the 
 present Assembly abrogating and annulling Episcopacy as 
 unlawful in the Church of Scotland was sent up to his 
 Majesty four days since. Episcopacy orthodox in England, 
 heretical in Scotland. Lord God have mercy on my soul." If 
 Sir James had lived now, he might have said something partly 
 to the same effect. Strongly as Laud had urged the clergy 
 to contribute towards the expenses of the war against the 
 Covenanters, when Charles had condescended to ask the 
 advice of his counsellors, after Hamilton's first return from 
 Scotland, he argued earnestly in favour of peace ; much to 
 the annoyance of the king, who reprimanded him for his 
 pusillanimity. The majority of the Council were more anxious 
 to keep in the good graces of their sovereign, and confirmed 
 him in his resolution. 
 
 It is needless for me to describe how this first war between 
 King Charles and the Covenanters ended in a sort of ill-defined 
 compromise and truce, without any very serious fighting. 
 Laud, as he admitted at his trial, maintained that the king 
 might have obtained better terms. " There arose," ^ he writes, 
 " a debate at the " (Council) " Table, about these Affairs, and 
 the Pacification ; and I said that I did often wish from my 
 Heart that His Majesty had kept the Army which he had at 
 Barwick together but Eight or Ten Days longer : And that I 
 did not doubt, but that if he had done so, he might have had 
 more Honourable Conditions of his Scottish Subjects." 
 
 Further on, he says: — "And for the Pacification, I shall 
 say thus much more : Though I could with all my Heart 
 have wished it more Honourable for the King, and more 
 express and safe for my Brethren of the Clergy ; yet all 
 things Considered, which were put unto me, I did approve it, 
 
 i"Cyp. Ang.,"p. 454- 
 
 " " Hist, of the Troub., &c., of W. Laud," p. 170.
 
 ^^^y.^39-j i^ife of Archbishop Land. y^^ 
 
 For before the Pacification was fully agreed upon, His Majesty 
 did me the Honour to write unto me with his own Hand : In 
 this Letter he Commanded me, all delay set apart, to send 
 him my Judgment plainly and freely what I thought of the 
 Pacification ; which was then almost ready for conclusion. I 
 in all Humility approved of the Pacification, as it was then 
 put to me ; and sent my Answer presently back, and my 
 Reasons why I approved it." 
 
 Clarendon more than agrees with Laud in thinking that 
 Charles ought to have made better terms with the Scots, and 
 instead of approving the " Pacification," as the best course 
 under the difficult circumstances, he condemns it roundly.^ 
 " The Mischief that befel the King from this wonderful 
 Attonement cannot be express'd, nor was it ever discover'd 
 what prevail'd over his Majesty to bring it so wofully to 
 pass : all Men were asham'd who had contributed to it." 
 " The Factions and Animosities at Court were either greater, 
 or more visible, than they had been before." " The King 
 himself was very Melancholick, and quickly discern'd that he 
 had lost Reputation at home and abroad." As to his coun- 
 sellors, every man was " shifting the blame from himself, and 
 finding some Friend to excuse him : and it being yet necessary 
 that so Infamous a matter should not be cover'd with ab- 
 solute Oblivion, it fell to Secretary Cokes turn (for whom 
 nobody cared) who was then near fourscore years of age, to 
 be made the Sacrifice." " This unhappy Pacification kindled 
 many Fires of Contention in Court and Country, though the 
 Flame broke out first in Scotland. On the other side the 
 Scots got so much Benefit and Advantage by it, that they 
 brought all their other mischievous Devices to pass, with ease, 
 and a prosperous Gale in all they went about." 
 
 It is probable, therefore, that Laud did not speak of this 
 '' Pacification " in stronger terms than the rest of his party. 
 
 In another part of his History,^ Laud writes : — " From the 
 Publishing of this Service-Book, to this Pacification, I was 
 voyced by the Faction in both Nations, to be an Incendiary, 
 a Man that laboured to set the two Nations into a bloody 
 
 1 " Hist, of the Reb.," pp. 124 and foil. 2 p_ yg. 
 
 Y
 
 '^ 
 
 SS Life of Archbishop Laud. V^i.ttt"''' 
 
 War : Whereas, God knows, I laboured for Peace so long, 
 till I received a great check for my labour." 
 
 In October, the king met with a distraction from his 
 Scottish affairs. A Spanish fleet had been discovered in 
 the English Channel by De Wit, the commander of the 
 Dutch squadron, who gave chase, in which he was joined by 
 Van Tromp. It seemed as if the Spaniards could not escape, 
 when Charles, seeing, as he thought, a tempting opportunity 
 of earning money wherewith to raise an army to keep the 
 Scots in order, offered to take the Spanish fleet under his 
 protection and convey it safely to the coast of Flanders, and 
 from thence to a port in Spain, for a payment of i^i 50,000.^ 
 The terms were gladly accepted ; but the Free States were 
 too quick for the negotiators, and ordered De Wit and Van 
 Tromp to attack immediately. Twenty-three of the Spanish 
 ships ran ashore, and twenty which put out to sea were 
 either destroyed or captured by the enemy. 
 
 Laud's account of this misadventure runs as follows - : — 
 " Oct. 1 1 and 1 2. Friday and Saturday, The SpamsJi Navy 
 was set upon by the Hollanders in the Downs. The Fight 
 began to be hot, when they were past Dover. They were in 
 all nearly sixty sail. The Spaniards suffered much in that 
 Fight, not without our dishonour, that they should dare to 
 begin the Fight there. But this is one of the effects of the 
 Scottish daring." 
 
 It was much more to " our dishonour," because Charles 
 had undertaken to protect the Spanish fleet and failed to do 
 so, although, according to Lingard, Pennington, who was 
 in command of the English fleet, with orders to prevent 
 hostilities, lay within sight of the battle, an idle spectator. 
 To all intents and purposes, he probably was one ; but Van 
 Tromp wrote to the Comte de Charost : — " As far as we can 
 judge, the fire of the English was intended rather for a 
 feint than from passion ; " so he seems to have at least opened 
 fire.^ 
 
 In this affair, the influence of the great French ecclesiastic 
 gave trouble to the master of the English archbishop, for 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol. vii. chap. v. - Diary, p. 56. ^ Griffet, xxi. 233.
 
 S?^'] ^ife of Archbishop Laitd. 339 
 
 Cardinal Richelieu " had desired the Prince of Orange ' to 
 give orders to his admirals to engage the Spanish Fleet in 
 the Downs, notwithstanding the protection which the King 
 of England seemed inclined to give them.'"^ 
 
 Owing to Charles's indecision, Richelieu obtained for 
 nothing from him the neutrality, in the matter of the Spanish 
 and Netherlandish fleets, which he had offered to purchase at 
 a great price, and while the well-meaning Laud was helping 
 to make his master more unpopular, and gradually to bring 
 about his ruin, the wily French bishop was not only manag- 
 ing the domestic policy of his country with admirable skill, 
 but directing its foreign diplomacy with consummate tact and 
 foresight. 
 
 In reply to Charles's angry remonstrance, the Dutch am- 
 bassador made a reluctant apology, pretending that the 
 Spaniards had fired the first shot, which he admitted might 
 possibly have been accidental, but was, in that case, mis- 
 understood. King Charles accepted this lame apology, and 
 endured the disgrace of the event. 
 
 The ambassador, to use a modern diplomatic phrase, " de- 
 parted from accuracy of statement," for D'Estrade's Corre- 
 spondence with Cardinal Richelieu shows that Van Tromp had 
 orders to attack the English fleet, as well as the Spanish, if 
 it should attempt to defend the latter. Before this order had 
 been given, or decided upon, some member of the States- 
 General had expressed a fear of anything which might lead 
 to a rupture between Holland and England, when it was 
 at once and insolently replied that King Charles dared not 
 quarrel with them. 
 
 Even D'Israeli admits ^ that " the state of his affairs no 
 longer admitted of an expostulation by his own navy ; what 
 was just and glorious in 1637 was no longer so in 1639. The 
 mind of Charles was now too deeply engaged in military pre- 
 parations against his own revolting subjects, while his Ex- 
 chequer was so utterly exhausted that it became for him a 
 
 1 "Life and Reign of Ch. I.," D'Israeli, vol. iii. p. 427 ; also D'Estrade's 
 Correspondence with Cardinal Richelieu. 
 - Vol. iii. p. 435.
 
 340 Life of Archbishop Laud. St?66.^^^' 
 
 direful necessity to look to the help of his people, to gather 
 the reluctant alms of their loyalty, or to submit once more to 
 the dubious results of that new master of Sovereignty — the 
 Parliament." 
 
 The assistance given by Cardinal Richelieu to the " revolt- 
 ing subjects " had obviously effected the object he had aimed 
 at — the neutrality of Charles in naval battles between the 
 Dutch and the Spanish. 
 
 The alternative of a Parliament was gradually becoming 
 more and more necessary, and on " Decemb. 5. Thursday," in 
 1639, we find Laud writing^: — "The King declared his Re- 
 solution for a Parliament, in case of the Scottish Rebellion. 
 The first Movers to it were my Lord Deputy of Ireland" 
 (VVentworth), " my Lord Marquess Hamilton, and my self" 
 
 Here we have Laud, who hated parliaments, advising the 
 king to summon one, after an interval of eleven years, only, 
 no doubt, because, as Macaulay says, " to impose fresh taxes 
 on England in defiance of law would, at this juncture, have 
 been madness. No resource was left but a Parliament, &c." 
 Nevertheless, Laud adds to the entry in his Diary above 
 recorded : — " A Resolution Voted at the Board, to assist 
 the King in extraordinary ways ; if the Parliament should 
 prove peevish, and refuse, &c." 
 
 From his Diary, his letters to Wentworth, his pacific 
 counsels with regard to Scotland when the liturgy had been 
 rejected, and other symptoms, Laud seems, at this time, to have 
 been dejected, out of spirits, and even nervous. Certainly he 
 had much to make him all three, and he may have been the 
 more disposed to yield, both to his own personal depres- 
 sion and the force of circumstances, owing to his ill health. 
 Three days before the king decided, "in case of the Scottish 
 Rebellion," to call a Parliament, Laud writes : — " My 
 Chyrurgeon in trust, gave me great and unexpected ease in 
 my great Infirmity. But after, the weakness continued." 
 
 We know little as to the " chyrurgeons " and physicians who 
 attended Laud. It would be interesting to know whether Dr 
 Harvey, the discoverer of the true theory of the circulation of 
 
 1 Diary, p. 57.
 
 ^^6;/'°] Ltf(^ of Archbishop Laud. 341 
 
 the blood, ever attended him. As he was physician extra- 
 ordinary to James I., and afterwards court physician to 
 Charles I., it is not unlikely. Harvey's services to Charles I. 
 were of a practical nature ; for he was in personal attendance 
 upon the king at the battle of Edgehill.^ 
 
 In all his political troubles Laud was not forgetful of his 
 beloved Oxford, for, in the year 1639, he sent 576 manuscripts, 
 about a hundred of which were Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian, 
 to the university library, having already sent more than 700 
 volumes. 
 
 He had contrived to get on good terms again with the 
 queen, and so far as his favour at court was concerned, he 
 had no cause for uneasiness. 
 
 It was decided that, before the English Parliament as- 
 sembled, Wentworth should go to Ireland and appeal for 
 pecuniary and military assistance to the liberality of the 
 Parliament of that country.'^ Before he started, the king 
 created him Earl of Strafford and made him Lord Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, The Irish Parliament dared not oppose him, but 
 at once voted large subsidies, and, after ordering a levy of 
 eight thousand Irish soldiers, he returned to London to assist 
 at the English Council. 
 
 On April 13, 1640, " The Parliament sat down, called about 
 the Rebellion of Scotland," Laud tells ^ us. Again,^ " At that 
 time it sat down, and many tumultuary Complaints were made 
 by the Scots against the Bishop and Church Government in 
 England, and with great vehemency against my self. All this 
 while the King could get no Money, to Aid him against the 
 Scottish Rebellion. At last, after many Attempts, Sir Henry 
 Vane told the King plainly, that it was in vain to expect 
 longer, or to make any other overture to them. For no 
 Money wou'd be had against the Scots." 
 
 Then he says that the king called "all his Lords of 
 Council" to meet at 6 A.M. in the Council Chamber. All the 
 peers, except two, " concurred to the ending of that Parlia- 
 ment " ; yet the blame of it was laid chiefly upon Laud, and 
 
 1 "The Origin and Growth of the HeaHng Art," Bardoe, p. 384. 
 '■^ " Clarendon Papers," ii. 82. ^ oi^ry, p. 57. 4 .. History, &c.," p. 78.
 
 342 Life of Archbishop Laud. [I'e;.''" 
 
 notices were " set up in divers parts of the City, animating 
 and calling together Apprentices and others, to come and meet 
 in St George's Fields, for the Hunting of William the Fox" 
 or, as would now be said, to " draw Laud," for " the Breach," 
 i.e., the dissolution, "of the Parliament." The archbishop 
 fortunately got warning of the night on which the sportsmen 
 intended to pay him a visit for this purpose, " and by the 
 Advice of some Friends," he " went over the water, and lay at " 
 "his Chamber in White-Hall that Night, and some other 
 following." 
 
 In his Diary ,^ he says: — '' Maij ii. Mwiday-night, At Mid- 
 night my House at [Lam'\beth was beset with 500 [of] these 
 Rascal Routers. [I] had notice, and stren[gthened] the House 
 as well as I could ; and God be [thanked, I had] no harm, 
 t[hey continued] there full two hours : Since I hav[e — for]tified 
 my House as well as I can ; and hope all may be safe, &c." 
 " My deliverance was great ; God make me thankful for it." 
 
 He was evidently terribly frightened, as well he might be ; 
 for it is not unlikely that the mob and rabble would have 
 given him a bath in the Thames, if they could have caught 
 him. 
 
 The punishment of at least one of the hunters of " William 
 the Fox " was severe. Laud writes : — " MaiJ 21. Thursday. 
 One of the Chief being taken, was Condemned at Southwark, 
 and Hanged and Quartered on Saturday Morning following, 
 Maij 23." 
 
 ' P. 58.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 This, perhaps, may be the most fitting place to make a 
 break in the continuous history of Laud, and interpose a 
 chapter concerning certain persons with whom he was con- 
 nected, or whom he influenced, within the space of a few 
 years preceding the date of the last chapter. 
 
 Laud took a great interest in an attempt — the only 
 attempt, so far as I can ascertain — to institute a kind of 
 spurious religious life in the Anglican Establishment during 
 the first half of the seventeenth century. 
 
 The St Benedict of the modern monasticism was one 
 Nicolas Ferrar, a man nineteen years younger than Laud, 
 and the son of a highly respected London merchant. His 
 portrait by Cornelius Janssen shows us a handsome but rather 
 effeminate countenance. Even as a little child he had been 
 of a religious turn of mind, and the favourite books of his 
 boyhood are said to have been the Bible and Fox's Book of 
 Martyrs. He was a clever lad, and distinguished himself at 
 Cambridere. When he left it, he went to Holland in the suite 
 of King James's newly-married daughter, Elizabeth, after- 
 wards Oueen of Bohemia. He remained on the Continent 
 about five years, making Venice his head-quarters ; but he 
 travelled a good deal in different countries, and wandered 
 about Spain, chiefly on foot. While abroad he collected 
 books, old prints of biblical subjects, and curiosities. On his 
 return to England, proposals were made that he should accept 
 a professorship at Cambridge ; but he took up law instead, 
 and became counsel to the Virginia Company. In 1624 he 
 became a Member of Parliament ; but in the same year he 
 made up his mind to give up the world and live a religious, 
 or semi-religious, life. 
 
 For this purpose, he purchased a property in Huntingdon- 
 
 343
 
 344 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [xviithcem. 
 
 shire, called Little Gidding. There, a half-ruined manor- 
 house, with a building which had once been a church, but was 
 then a barn, stood in an almost deserted village. He sent 
 workmen to repair them sufficiently for use, though in great 
 simplicity ; and, for a community, he enlisted his mother, his 
 sister, Mrs Collet, and her husband — whether his monastery 
 contained nurseries does not appear — his married brother and 
 his son and other relations to the number of thirty or forty 
 in all. 
 
 Ferrar himself was to be a sort of prior to the establish- 
 ment, and, being a layman, he felt some diffidence at the 
 prospect of such a situation ; he did not want to be a 
 clergyman ; yet he thought his position as a layman would 
 be anomalous ; and in his perplexity he consulted Laud, who 
 was at that time Bishop of St David's. Now, at that par- 
 ticular period, lay teachers and preachers were only too 
 common, and they went by the name of lecturers. These 
 lecturers were a thorn in the flesh to Laud. The idea of the 
 proposed religious community, however, was pleasing to him, 
 and he advised that the difficulty should be overcome 'by his 
 ordaining Nicolas Ferrar a deacon, and a deacon only. 
 His advice was followed. As Laud had been Archdeacon of 
 Huntingdon, it is not unlikely that he may have recom- 
 mended Ferrar to buy Little Gidding, which must have been 
 formerly under his jurisdiction. 
 
 When it became known that Ferrar had received ordina- 
 tion, his friends, who were many and influential, offered him 
 preferment ; but he refused all such offers, stating that he had 
 only received deacon's orders so as to be legally qualified to 
 give spiritual assistance to those living in the establishment 
 which he proposed to found. 
 
 There is evidence that Laud not only made Ferrar a 
 deacon, but took a keen interest in his pseudo monastery. 
 
 A short notice of this precursor of modern Anglican 
 religious houses may not be out of place here, especially as 
 Laud ordained its founder, and, as I shall show by-and-bye, 
 endeavoured to advance his son in learning and royal favour. 
 I take my account of it chiefly from Professor Creighton's
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 345 
 
 article on Nicholas Ferrar in the Dictionary of National 
 Biography, the notice of Ferrar in Chalmers General 
 Biographical Dictionary, Mr Benson's Archbishop Laud, 
 Mozley's Essay on Laud, Nicholas Ferrar : His HouseJwld 
 and Friends, Edited by Rev. T. T. Carter, and Rushworth's 
 account of King Charles's visit to Little Gidding. 
 
 Everybody in the establishment was supposed to be taught 
 a trade; although, judging from the length and frequency of 
 their devotions, they would seem to have had little time to 
 learn them, and still less to practise them. Education was 
 one of the leading works of the community, and children 
 were received free of charge. Visiting the sick and helping 
 the poor were also among the principal occupations of these 
 good people, and they kept alms-houses for widows. Their 
 chief duty, however, was prayer. Bishop Home wrote that 
 "through the whole four and twenty hours of the day and 
 night, there was no portion of the time when some of the 
 members were not employed in the performing that most 
 pleasant part of duty and devotion." 
 
 The whole establishment rose at four ; at five, there were 
 prayers in the oratory; at six, "the psalms of the hour" — 
 Ferrar's psalms for the hour ; he had divided them after a 
 fashion of his own — with a portion of the Gospel and a 
 hymn ; at least they used to read some Gospel until Mr Ferrar 
 had completed "his Concordance," and, after that, this Con- 
 cordance was substituted for the Gospel. Judging from the 
 little that I have seen of it, it must have been most dreary 
 reading, and it was a curious book to choose as part of a 
 devotional office. At half-past six, the whole community set 
 off for the church to recite Mattins. They marched in proces- 
 sion, according to a prescribed order, two and two, Mr Ferrar 
 bringing up the rear in his surplice. Caps and gowns were 
 worn by most of the men, and both males and females wore 
 a uniform. On entering the church, every one " made a low 
 obeisance," and then went to his, or her, allotted place, except 
 Mr Ferrar, in his surplice, who made one genuflection on 
 entering the building, another when a little way inside the 
 church, and a third before ascending the reading-desk. Hav-
 
 n 
 
 46 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xviithcent. 
 
 ing finished Mattins, the psahns of the hour and a hymn were 
 said. Then followed breakfast. At ten, the whole party went 
 to church again for the Litany, and at eleven they dined. 
 After dinner came reading from the Scriptures and Fox's 
 Book of Martyrs. I would specially call the attention of 
 the superiors of modern Anglican sisterhoods, and religious 
 houses for men, to their daily use of that edifying Martyr- 
 ology. After Fox there was recreation until one o'clock, 
 from which hour till three there was " instruction." At four, 
 all went to church again for Evensong ; at five, or some- 
 times six, there was supper, and from supper till eight there 
 were " diversions." Then came prayers, and, after prayers, 
 bed — but not for everybody ; for there were the Night 
 Watches to be kept, and doubly kept too, a certain number 
 of men watching at one end of the house, and of women at 
 the other. A watch lasted four hours, and during that time 
 the watchers, it is said, repeated the whole book of psalms, 
 verse and verse about ; but possibly this may be an exaggera- 
 tion. Mr Ferrar, who slept in a frieze gown on bare boards, 
 rose at one o'clock, to pray and meditate, and people from 
 outside used to come in to listen to him. 
 
 It may surprise modern High-Churchmen to learn that the 
 communion service was only celebrated once a month in this 
 Anglican monastery, when the clergyman from a neighbour- 
 ing parish came over to officiate, and Mr Ferrar acted as 
 deacon. 
 
 Such a community was certain to provoke unfavourable 
 remarks among those without, and Ferrar admitted that these 
 were a constant mortification to him. "They were abused," ^ 
 says Chalmers, " by some as Papists, by others as Puritans," 
 and a treatise was written upon The Anninian NunJiery. On 
 the other hand, they obtained the episcopal approval, not 
 only of Laud, but also of his extreme opposite, Williams, 
 Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 Many people went to see the place for themselves, among 
 others George Herbert and Crashaw, the poet, who later on 
 became a Catholic, a priest, and a canon of Loretto ; but the 
 
 1 P. 227.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 347 
 
 little community was also honoured by two visits from royalty 
 itself. In 1633, on a royal progress, the king and court went 
 out of their way in order to see the Little Gidding establish- 
 ment ; an event which must have somewhat interfered with 
 the recitation of " the psalms of the hour," the reading of 
 Fox's Book of Martyrs, and such like monastic avocations. 
 Charles was much pleased with a work which Ferrar had 
 engaged a professional to teach his community, called " past- 
 ing-printing," or the making of " diatessarons," This con- 
 sisted in cutting out selected texts from two printed copies 
 of the four Gospels, so as to make a continuous narrative, 
 and pasting them in a book, with pictures to illustrate them, 
 and binding them in coloured velvet, with gold lace. Charles 
 was delighted with the book, and honoured it by scribbling 
 notes on the margin, an evil trick to which he was much 
 addicted. Before leaving, he desired Nicholas Ferrar's nephew 
 and namesake, the son of his brother John, a lad of about 
 one-and-tvventy, to come up to London and present himself 
 to Laud. 
 
 The king's invitation was responded to some time after- 
 wards, and before going to court, Nicholas went to Lambeth, 
 as he had been bidden, to present himself to the archbishop. 
 On being ushered into his presence, he knelt down, kissed 
 his hand, and reverently asked his blessing. " My Lord 
 embraced him very lovingly, took him up, and after some 
 salutes, began to talk very kindly to him, and promised to 
 take him the next day to the king at Whitehall." Nicholas 
 had brought with him some books, executed by the com- 
 munity at Little Gidding in their " pasting-printing " style, 
 as an offering to his Majesty, and Laud expressed himself 
 much pleased with them, promising to let the king know 
 beforehand that he might expect a present. 
 
 On the morrow, young Nicholas met the great archbishop 
 at Whitehall, and followed him nervously into the presence- 
 chamber. 
 
 Charles was standing by the fire, talking to some of his 
 court. " What," said he to Laud, " have you brought with 
 you those rareties and jewels you spoke of.-"'
 
 348 Life of Archbishop Lazid. [xviithCent. 
 
 "Yes," replied the archbishop, "here is the young gentle- 
 man and his works," and, taking Nicholas by the hand, he 
 led him up to the king. 
 
 A case, which the lad had brought with him, was then 
 opened, and eight richly-bound volumes were taken out of 
 it. Charles was delighted and even the courtiers expressed 
 their admiration. One of the books contained the Gospel 
 in eight languages. Another was a Concordance. When the 
 king had looked at it he said to Laud : — " You have given 
 me a right character of the work, truly it passeth what I 
 could have wished." And after making a long, bombastic 
 oration, he concluded by saying : — " It shall, I assure you, be 
 my companion in the daytime, and the sweetest perfumed 
 bags that can lay under my pillow at night." Then he made 
 a very characteristic speech to Laud : — " I know that they " 
 (the Ferrars) " look for none, nor will they receive any 
 reward. Yet let them know, as occasion shall be, I will not 
 forget them." It is but fair to add that he promised to send 
 Nicholas to Oxford at his own expense, and he ordered 
 him to dine that morning with the younger lords, in the 
 palace. 
 
 As soon as he had left the presence-chamber, the king, 
 himself a stutterer, turned to Laud and said that it was a 
 great pity that the boy stammered. Laud respectfully ven- 
 tured to differ from his Majesty ; for if the youth had had 
 the free use of his own tongue, the chances were that he 
 would not have acquired a familiarity with so many written 
 ones. 
 
 Lord Holland recommended that he should be made to 
 try the effect of talking with pebbles in his mouth ; but 
 Charles said that that was a useless remedy ; he had tried 
 it for his own stammering, and had derived no benefit from 
 it whatever. In his opinion, singing was the only thing that 
 could cure stammering, and young Ferrar, he told Laud, 
 must be taught to sing. 
 
 Besides bringing presents for the king, Nicholas had brought 
 a book illustrated with coloured pictures for Prince Charles. 
 The boy was much pleased with it, and so also was the little
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Lmid. 349 
 
 Duke of York, who envied his brother his brilHantly coloured 
 present. " Will you not make me such another fine book ? 
 Do ! " said he to Nicholas. " Most certainly, your Grace," 
 was the reply. " One shall be made without fail." Then 
 came the childlike inquiry, " But how long will it be before I 
 have it .-' " "Very soon," answered Nicholas. "Yes, but how 
 long will that be .'' Tell the ladies at Gidding to be very 
 quick." 
 
 The next day Nicholas left London and took leave of 
 Laud at Lambeth. The archbishop reminded him of the 
 king's promise to pay for his education at Oxford, and in- 
 formed him that it was his Majesty's great wish to have a 
 polyglot of the New Testament in twenty-four languages. 
 He thought Nicholas might in time be capable of such a 
 work ; that he should have a good education given him at 
 Oxford, and every opportunity of learning more languages, 
 as well as the help of all the learned linguists whom the king 
 could secure. This polyglot Testament was to be the labour 
 of his life. 
 
 The lad knelt down, took the archbishop's hand, and kissed 
 it. This pleased Laud, who " took him up in his arms " — he 
 must have been very diminutive, considering how small Laud 
 himself was — " laid his hand upon his cheek," blessed him, 
 and prayed for him that God would " increase all graces 
 in him, and fit him every day more and more for an instru- 
 ment of His glory here upon earth, and a saint in heaven." 
 As he took his leave of him, he said, " God bless you ! God 
 bless you ! I have told your father what is to be done for 
 you after the holidays. God will provide for you better than 
 your father can. God bless you and help you ! " 
 
 King Charles's great polyglot was never to be made ; for a 
 few months after his visit to London young Nicholas Ferrar 
 died. The next time that the king visited Little Gidding 
 Laud was a prisoner in the Tower, 
 
 I need not enumerate the writings of Nicholas Ferrar, 
 
 he founder of the religious house at Little Gidding ; 
 
 they were not many, but I may observe that he wrote one for 
 
 Archbishop Laud, a Harmony of the Mosaic Law, and that
 
 350 Life of Archbishop Laud. [xvmhcent. 
 
 it is at present among the manuscripts of St John's College, 
 Oxford. 
 
 It may be added that the end of the Little Gidding estab- 
 lishment for prayer, praise, and good works, was to be 
 plundered and looted by the soldiers of the Parliament. 
 
 But, before dismissing the matter of the Ferrar family and 
 their Anglican convent, I must say something of one who 
 was thrown in the way of both, as well as of Laud. Indeed, 
 like Nicholas Ferrar the elder, he consulted Laud at a critical 
 period of his career, and upon much the same question. 
 
 George Herbert was only a year younger than Nicholas 
 Ferrar, and, like him also, passed a brilliant career at Cam- 
 bridge. Long before he fell under the influence of Laud, he 
 had attracted the notice of Laud's model bishop, Lancelot 
 Andrewes. He was a very finished classical scholar, and he 
 especially distinguished himself by his Latin versification. 
 In 1619 he was installed Public Orator at Cambridge, and his 
 duties brought him into contact with King James, his court, 
 and the great Buckingham himself Like Nethersole, who 
 had held the appointment before him, he hoped to obtain still 
 higher offices, and his many opportunities of paying compli- 
 ments to great and influential personages in his orations, 
 seemed to pave the way to advancement. He was some- 
 what divided, however, between two opinions, asking himself 
 whether he should seek " the painted pleasures of a court life,. 
 or betake himself to a study of divinity." 
 
 While he was yet in this state of indecision, he received an 
 offer which might well have influenced him ; not from Laud,, 
 who eventually settled his mind as to which course to follow, 
 but from one of Laud's greatest enemies, Williams, Bishop of 
 Lincoln. It came in the form of a presentation to the pre- 
 bend of Layton Ecclesia, which was attached to an estate at 
 Leighton Bromswold, Huntingdonshire, a place only a couple 
 of miles from Little Gidding, where his Cambridge acquaint- 
 ance, Nicholas Ferrar, had just set up his ascetic establish- 
 ment. He at once offered the prebend to Ferrar, who 
 refused it, but advised Herbert to restore the ruined church, 
 giving money for the purpose, in addition to advice. Herbert,
 
 XV 1 1 th Cent. 1 Life of A rcJi b is hop Land. 351 
 
 who was far from well off, collected more money towards the 
 same object among his friends, and the two men became very 
 intimate over the work. Yet Herbert did not feel prepared 
 to undertake the duties of a benefice. 
 
 In addition to the influence of Ferrar, he fell also under that 
 of the good-looking and religious-minded Dr Donne, who was, 
 like himself, a poet, and of whose effusions Chamberlain wrote 
 to Carleton ^ that they contained " curious conceits, but much 
 piety." Herbert and Donne wrote verses to each other, and 
 conversed about spiritual things. " Betwixt this George 
 Herbert and Dr Donne," says Izaak Walton in his life of the 
 latter, "there was a long and dear friendship, made up by 
 such a sympathy of inclinations, that they coveted and joyed 
 to be in each other's company." 
 
 A threat of consumption induced him to resign his post of 
 Orator to the University of Cambridge, and he retired to the 
 house of his brother for a time, fell in love, and got married. 
 Soon afterwards, in the year 1630, Charles I., at the request 
 of Herbert's cousin, Lord Pembroke, presented Herbert to a 
 rectory in Wiltshire. Again he hesitated ; but he went to 
 Wilton to thank his relative for his kindness. Just at that 
 time the king happened to be at Salisbury, and with the king 
 was Laud, who was then Bishop of London. 
 
 Lord Pembroke, anxious that his cousin should not let slip 
 this good opportunity which he had been at such pains to 
 obtain for him, went to Laud, asked him to use his influence 
 in endeavouring to induce George Herbert to take " priest's 
 order," so-called, and to accept the living. Accordingly, he 
 took Laud to Wilton. There he met George Herbert, and 
 drew him into conversation ; he led him into the great gallery, 
 and paced up and down, after his wont, as he talked to him. 
 
 George Herbert was handsome, if somewhat too aquiline 
 in the nose, refined-looking, graceful in figure, and charming 
 in manner ; yet he was free from all pride, as well as from the 
 swagger which was only too common among the courtiers of 
 the period, and he was a scholar and highly cultivated. 
 
 The Anglican clergy were not in those days remarkable 
 
 ^ " Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1623-5, p. 168.
 
 352 Life of Archbishop LmLcl. [xviuhcent. 
 
 for either their breeding or their refinement, and to lead into 
 their ranks a member of one of the best families in England, 
 as distinguished for his acquirements as for his genealogy, 
 and as charming as he was cultured, seemed to be a step that 
 might be of untold importance to the Church whose interests 
 Laud had so much at heart. 
 
 As the event proved, it was of even greater importance 
 than he imagined. He convinced his recruit that he had 
 a call to the ministry, and that it would be sinful to refuse to 
 obey it, and a messenger was hurried off to Salisbury to 
 summon a tailor to supply him, forthwith, with clerical 
 garments ; for, although he " had been made Deacon some 
 years before," ^ he seems to have still worn the gay dress of 
 a courtier. In his new "canonical clothes," George Herbert 
 went to Dr Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury, on April 26th, 
 1630, and was by him, on the same day, "inducted into 
 the good, and more pleasant than healthful, Parsonage of 
 Bemerton ; which is a mile from Salisbury." 
 
 Laud was thus the means of enlisting into the ranks of the 
 clergy of the Church of England one who was to become 
 the model of those refined and cultivated scions of good 
 families that have done so much to grace the Anglican 
 establishment for the last two hundred and sixty years. 
 Perhaps it would be no great exaggeration to say that Laud 
 did few, if any, greater services to the Church of England 
 than that of persuading George Herbert to enter its 
 ministry. 
 
 This is not the place to enter upon the question of Her- 
 bert's literary merits, or demerits, to enumerate his works, 
 beginning with the little manuscript volume of verse which 
 he dedicated to his friend — his " most entire friend and 
 brother " — Nicholas Ferrar, a book of which good old Izaak 
 Walton tells us that twenty thousand copies had been sold 
 in 1670, or to give a history of his life, which, by the way, 
 lasted only three years after his institution to his rectory ; 
 but I would venture to point out that, by his example, he 
 did that for his Church which Laud failed to do. May we 
 
 ^ Izaak Walton's " Life of George Herbert," Bullen's ed. p. 291.
 
 xviithcent.] Life of Archbishop Laud. 353 
 
 not indeed ask whether her poets have not, as a class, done 
 more for the Anglican Church than her preachers or her 
 canonists ? To mention no others, who can estimate the 
 influence of Keble in the nineteenth, Ken in the eighteenth 
 and seventeenth, and George Herbert in the seventeenth 
 centuries, upon their co-religionists. 
 
 I would go further still, and say in the words of Cardinal 
 Newman ^ : — " It is sometimes asked whether poets are not 
 more commonly found external to the Church than among 
 her children ; and it would not surprise us to find the 
 question answered in the affirmative. Poetry is the refuge 
 of those who have not the Catholic Church to flee to, and 
 repose upon ; for the Church herself is the most sacred and 
 august of poets." "She is the poet of her children; full of 
 music to soothe the sad and control the wayward — wonder- 
 ful in story for the imagination of the romantic ; rich in 
 symbol and imagery, so that gentle and delicate feelings, 
 which will not bear words, may in silence intimate their 
 presence or commune with themselves. Her very being is 
 poetry; every psalm, every petition, every collect, every 
 versicle, the cross, the mitre, the thurible, is a fulfilment of 
 some dream of childhood, or aspiration of youth. Such 
 poets as are born under her shadow, she takes into her 
 service ; she sets them to write hymns, or to compose chants, 
 to embellish shrines, or to determine ceremonies, or to mar- 
 shal processions ; nay, she can even make schoolmen of 
 them, as she made of St Thomas, till logic becomes poetical." 
 And of what a list of poets she can boast, from Dante 
 downwards ! It would not have surprised Newman to hear 
 the question he mentions answered by some in the affirma- 
 tive, but I think that the true reply must certainly be in the 
 negative. 
 
 I must now notice another character with whom Laud was 
 brought into contact, namely, Lucius Cary, Viscount Falk- 
 land, whom Mr Matthew Arnold described as a " martyr of 
 sweetness and light." 2 No phrase is more identified with 
 
 ^ "Essays, Crit. and Hist.," vol. ii. pp. 441 and foil. 
 ^ " Mixed Essays," p. 326. 
 
 z
 
 354 Life of A rchbishop Laud. [xviith cent. 
 
 that writer's name than " sweetness and light " ; yet it is not 
 so original as some may suppose ; for when he used it in 
 Falkland's case, he had evidently been studying Clarendon, 
 who writes of the same person as one of " inimitable sweet- 
 ness and delight in conversation." " Sweetness and delight " 
 may have suggested the modern rendering of " sweetness 
 and light." 
 
 Falkland was a great friend of Laud's two protegeSy 
 Chillingworth and Hales, who more or less shared his free- 
 thinking views, and were ever welcome at his manor-house of 
 Great Tew, some ten or twelve miles from Oxford. He 
 made certain Oxford men free of his house ; they came when 
 they liked, they stayed as long as they liked, and he only 
 knew, by meeting them at meals or in his gardens or hall, 
 whether they were at any particular time his guests. Nor 
 was he limited to men of his own theological opinions for 
 friends ; Sir Kenelm Digby, Ben Jonson, Waller, Selden, 
 Hobbes and others swelled the list. I do not claim that 
 Laud ever ranked in it : on the contrary, Matthew Arnold 
 says that Falkland " disliked Laud." ^ " He had a natural 
 antipathy to his heat, fussiness, and arbitrary temper." Per- 
 haps Laud disliked him less than his mother and brothers, 
 who became Catholics ; but it is probable that he was more or 
 less worried, from different theological directions, by the 
 whole family, which, between sweetness and light on the one 
 hand, and Popery on the other, sorely tormented his soul. 
 
 1 " Mixed Essays," p. 215.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 I MUST go back a year to describe how Laud had anxieties 
 in connection with ecclesiastical affairs abroad, as well as at 
 home, and I will take, as an example, the case of a Mr John- 
 son, one of his clergy, who was acting as the Queen of 
 Bohemia's chaplain at the Hague. It will serve also as a 
 specimen of Laud's correspondence with his clergy. The 
 clergyman in question wrote to Laud ^ that his " halcyon 
 days " of " peace with all " were " disturbed by those who 
 rejoice in all troubles," and that he had " tasted of the malice 
 of some Scottish spirits," who said that he was an Arminian. 
 Laud replied ^ that he heard a much worse accusation against 
 him, namely that he " had commended the Socinian writers 
 for their rational and clear expression of themselves. And 
 though it be one thing to commend the style of an author 
 and quite another to commend the matter ; yet, in that place, 
 and in these dangerous times, and where there is justly con- 
 ceived so much jealousy of the increase of the Socinian party^ 
 being a most desperate and dangerous heresy," Johnson " did 
 extremely ill in any sort to commend their writings, and 
 thereby give any probable occasion to strangers to think that 
 either " he " or any else in the Church of England were 
 inclinable to that foul heresy, and the most dangerous that 
 ever spread itself since the beginnings of Christianity." He 
 then ordered Johnson to " take some discreet way to stop 
 this suspicion " ; for if it were to " once break out into public, 
 the scandal " would " be too heavy," and, he adds, " I shall be 
 driven to recall you thence, which being done upon such an 
 occasion will utterly lose you in the Church, and for my part 
 I shall account myself very unhappy to have meddled with 
 you." " And I hereby further require you, upon your 
 
 1 "Cal. Sta. Fa.," 1639, p. 35. . -//;., pp. 41-42. 
 
 355
 
 356 Life of Archbishop Laud. . [i^ee.^^g- 
 
 canonical obedience, to abstain from giving any the like 
 offence hereafter." He also said, somewhat sadly : — " The 
 times are so injurious to me, that every man's error with 
 whom I have to do is cast upon me." 
 
 Laud made inquiries as to the truth of the reports of 
 Johnson, from a man at Amsterdam, named John le Maire, 
 who wrote ^ in reply that " Dr Johnson utters himself in his 
 discourses, as well at the table as in conference with men of 
 great knowledge, sustaining boldly that the heresy of Faustus 
 Socinus is ' vera et solida theologia,' and that the arguments 
 of our chiefest divines ' pro divinitate Christi ' are ' futilia, 
 straminea,' which abominable opinion makes great discontent 
 and mourning among the ministers of this country, &c." 
 
 Then more correspondence took place between Laud and 
 Johnson, in which the latter endeavoured to explain that he 
 had been entirely misrepresented. Laud replied^: — "You 
 must give me leave to tell you two things. First, that mis- 
 taking or no mistaking, it is a very ill-favoured accident, 
 both for yourself and the Church of England, that such a 
 rumour should be raised and spread. Secondly, that the 
 words which you are said to have spoken, as they are related 
 to me, are very desperately foul in themselves, and cannot be 
 salved by any pretence of being mistaken." Then he admits 
 that the Queen of Bohemia and other great people are " all 
 satisfied that the whole business was a misunderstanding," 
 and that he hopes he did not speak the words as they were 
 related to him ; and he says he " will rest satisfied for the 
 present as they do, provided that the business die so and be 
 quieted. But if it rise again, and make any distemper in 
 that church at their synods or otherwise, you must then 
 give me leave to take more care of the Church of England 
 than of you. And I heartily pray you to make this a sad 
 warning to yourself for your future conversation." 
 
 Looking homewards, again, we find the vice-chancellor 
 writing to worry him, as Chancellor of Oxford, about dis- 
 putes between the town authorities and the university.^ " The 
 mayor pretending the statute of Edward L for his night 
 
 1 ".Cal. Sta. Pa.," 1639, p. 76. ^ lb., p. 223. 3 /^.^ pp. 272-4.
 
 l^?y.^39j i^ifc of Archbishop Laud. 357 
 
 watch." This civic night watch trenched upon the duties and 
 privileges of the proctors and their bull-dogs. " That statute 
 appoints the watch to stand at the gate, where had they 
 kept themselves the proctors had not questioned them ; but 
 when they took the boldness to walk the streets, to examine 
 scholars of all conditions, to enter houses and search what 
 company there, then they thought it high time to appear and 
 stand up in defence of their own authority and the privilege 
 of the University. Your Grace having been proctor long 
 since cannot but know that the night walk has of old belonged 
 to the University, &c." 
 
 Again, although knowing " that upon his Majesty's return " 
 (from Scotland) Laud would have his " hands full of great 
 business, and that time is precious to " him, the Archbishop 
 of York writes^ to enlist his assistance against " a blasphemous 
 heretic " who, before the High Commission itself, had " avowed 
 and maintained his damnable blasphemous heresies and 
 opinions," yet escaped without censure. 
 
 The Bishop of Bristol also writes - to Laud complaining of 
 a case, at the assizes at his cathedral town, in which one, 
 Davis, was found not guilty. The bishop had seen the 
 judge beforehand and expressed his desire " that a matter of 
 this high nature might not be slighted nor slubbered over, 
 but carried at least with severity, so as mettis ad omnesy 
 Apparently, " the judge did his part copiously, gravely, and 
 with semblance of great severity." He asked the prisoner 
 what he thought of bishops, and Davies replied that they 
 were appointed by Christ for the government of his Church ; 
 and he knelt down and prayed for them. The bishop's " con- 
 ceit upon the whole matter is this, that the whole carriage of 
 the business was a mere scene, wherein the judge acted his 
 part cunningly, the jury plausibly, populo ut placerent, and 
 the prisoner craftily, that he might no longer resemble Davis, 
 qii i per hi rbat o m n ia." 
 
 The Bishop of Exeter adds his complaints, in a long letter 
 to Laud,^ against the " heady and ignorant opposers of govern- 
 ment and good order," who should be " chokingly convinced 
 
 ' "Cal. Sla. Pa.," 1639, p. 455. 2 /^_^ p_ ^gg. * lb., pp. 526-7.
 
 358 L ife of A rchbishop Laud. [^^67^°' 
 
 and seasonably checked." He thinks it would be " seasonable, 
 safe, and happy to employ the spiritual sword against them." 
 
 Laud was to have trouble with a bishop in the spring of the 
 3'ear 1640. " MaiJ 2g. Friday,"^ he writes, "The Convoca- 
 tion sate after the ending of the Parliament till Maij 29, and 
 then ended; having made in that time 17 Canons; which, I 
 hope, will be useful to the Church." Among the rules laid 
 down in these canons was one that, four times every year, 
 every clergyman in England should " instruct his parishioners 
 in the divine right of kings, and the damnable sin of resist- 
 ance to authority." 2 There were also some very intolerant 
 enactments against Socinians, Separatists, and Catholics. 
 That against the latter greatly annoyed Dr Goodman, Bishop 
 of Gloucester, the bishop, already mentioned, who was in the 
 habit of reading the Divine Office. This bishop, in a sermon 
 preached before the king, had spoken very strongly on the 
 subject of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, and his 
 doctrines thus expressed had caused considerable sensation 
 and comment. The king himself doubted their soundness, 
 and appointed a committee to consider and report upon the 
 matter .3 The committee were inclined to treat it leniently, 
 " howsoever," " they thought it very fit that Dr Goodman 
 should be appointed to preach again before His Majesty, for 
 the better explaining of his meaning." The affair was in this 
 manner passed over without any more serious consequence 
 than making Goodman suspected of Popish inclinations. But 
 when the bishops, sitting in Convocation, in their very first 
 canon, enacted "Proceedings against the Papists,''^ a canon 
 which was so framed as to be " very express for the use of all 
 good and Christian means, to bring them out of their Super- 
 stitious Errors, and to settle them in the Church of England,'' 
 " this Canon would not down with my Lord of Gloucester," 
 hi3i'/ member of Convocation who made any objection 
 to it. 
 
 Laud says that in the morning of the day on which the 
 
 ' Diary, p. 58. - Lingard's " Hist.," vol. vii. chap. v. 
 
 ^ See Hook's " Lives of the Arch, of Cant.," vol. xi. p. 121. 
 * " History, &c., of W. Laud," p. 81.
 
 arca^i64o. J ^ -j^ ^jT ^ rcliMshop L a 2id. 359 
 
 canon was to be subscribed, Goodman crossed the river to 
 Lambeth, called on him, and gave vent to "great expressions 
 of his dislike to this Canon." Laud "gave him the best 
 Counsel " he "could, that he would keep himself out of that 
 scandal, which his refusing to Subscribe would bring, both 
 upon his Person, his Calling, and the Church of England, in 
 these broken times especially. But " Laud " fell so short of 
 prevailing with him," that Goodman told him " plainly, He 
 zvould be torn with wild Horses, before he would Subscribe that 
 Canon : And so " they " parted." 
 
 " The hour of Convocation drew on ; and " the bishops " met 
 to Subscribe tJie Canons!!^ 
 
 Now, according to ancient custom. Convocation ought to 
 have risen with the Parliament ; but Charles, being anxious 
 to get a grant of subsidies from the clergy voted to him by 
 the bishops, contrived to get some of the judges to declare 
 that it was quite legal for Convocation to continue to sit. 
 Laud himself told the king ^ his fears that such a course 
 " would be excepted against in all likelyhood by divers, and 
 desired his Majesty to Advise well upon it." The king replied, 
 " that he had spoken with the Lord Keeper, the Lord Fiitch" 
 — an " obsequious lawyer," says Lingard, who had only very 
 lately been made Lord Keeper — " about it, and that he assured 
 him it was Legal." This nettled Laud, who wrote : — " I con- 
 fess, I was a little troubled, both at the difficulties of the Time, 
 and at the Answer it self ; that after so many Years faithful 
 Service, in a business concerning the Church so nearly, his 
 Majesty would speak with the Lord Keeper, both without me, 
 and before he would move it to me : And somewhat I said 
 thereupon, which pleased not ; but the Particulars I do not 
 well remember. Upon this, I was Commanded to sit, and 
 go on with the Convocation'' This is the first occasion on which 
 we meet with any mention of friction between King Charles 
 and Laud. 
 
 We will return to the subscription of the canons, and see 
 what use Goodman made of the doubtful legality of Convoca- 
 tion sitting when Parliament had risen. When it came to his 
 
 ' "History, &c., of W. Laud," p. 79.
 
 36o Life of Archbishop Laud. [St'e/.'*"' 
 
 turn, he objected that Convocation "had no Power to make 
 Canons out of Parliament time, since the Statute H. 8. It 
 was then told his Lordship, that " Convocation, on the present 
 occasion, " had the King's Power according to that Statute." 
 Laud adds : " This was but a pretence to disgrace our Pro- 
 ceedings, the better to hide his unwiUingness to subscribe that 
 Cano7i against the Papists; as appeared by that Speech, 
 which he had privately used to me that Morning, and with 
 which I publickly charged him upon this occasion, that he 
 spake the words unto me." Surely this looked like a breach 
 of confidence on Laud's part ! 
 
 Laud quotes a number of precedents of Synods and 
 Councils in the Catholic Church, for about a page, and then 
 says that when Dr Goodman would neither affirm nor deny 
 " that Canon against the Papists',' he, " with the consent of 
 the Synod suspended him. Divers of my Lords the Bishops 
 were very tender of him, and the Scandal given by him. 
 And John Davenant then Lord Bishop of Salisbury, and 
 Joseph Hall then Lord Bishop of Exeter, desired leave of the 
 House (and had it) to speak with my Lord of Glocester, to 
 see if they could prevail with him. They did prevail ; and 
 he came back and Subscribed the Canons, in open Convoca- 
 tion. But I told him : Considering his Lordship's Words, I 
 did not know with what Mind he Subscribed ; and would 
 therefore according to my Duty acquaint his Majesty with 
 all the Proceedings, and there leave it." 
 
 Convocation being ended. Laud tells us that he " did 
 acquaint his Majesty with my Lord of Glocester' s Carriage." 
 
 "His Majesty" he says, "having other Jealousies of this 
 Bishop besides this, resolved to put him to it. So his Lord- 
 ship was brought before the King, and the Lords in Council ; 
 and restrained to his Lodging, and a Writ ne exeat Regniun 
 sent him." 
 
 Now mark especially what follows : — " But this Writ pro- 
 ceeded not for any thing said or done by his Lordship in the 
 Convocation, but upon other information which his Majesty 
 had received from some Agents of his beyond the Seas." 
 
 The king sent him to prison ; but he did not stay there
 
 Circa i64o.] Life of Avchbisliop Laud. 361 
 
 long, for he acknowledged his fault before the Lords of the 
 Council, and he seems ^ to have taken " the Oath injoyned in 
 the sixth Canon, for preserving the Doctrine and Discipline 
 of the Church of England, against all Popish Doctrines which 
 were thereunto repugnant." Of this oath he afterwards re- 
 pented ; for, as I said in a preceding chapter, he died a 
 Catholic- " In the time of his last Sickness," says Heylin, 
 " he declared himself to be a Member of the Church of Rome, 
 and caused it so to be expressed in his last Will and Testa- 
 ment, that the news thereof might spread the further, and his 
 Apostacy stand upon Record to all future Ages. A Scandal 
 so unseasonably given, as if the Devil himself had watched 
 an opportunity to despite this Church." ^ Dean Hook * 
 quotes the editor of the Clarendon State Papers, as remark- 
 ing^ that " within a year he conformed again " ; but neither 
 the Pattzani Memoirs nor Cypriamis Anglicanus make any 
 mention of his relapsing after having been received into the 
 Church ; and Heylin would pretty certainly have crowed 
 loudly over such an event had it actually taken place. The 
 acknowledgment of his having become a Catholic in his will, 
 too, would almost certainly have been revoked, had he 
 returned to the Anglican Church. 
 
 It was the archbishop's duty to publish the seventeen new 
 canons ; and when he did so, in order to propitiate the 
 Puritans and the mob that supported them, of whom he had 
 by this time become thoroughly afraid, he appended a letter, 
 signed by himself and the Bishop of Rochester, in their 
 characters of judges, of the High Commission, ordering the 
 arrest and production before that Court, not only of all 
 priests and their harbourers, but also of any person in whose 
 possession might be found Catholic books, of everyone who 
 had been, or was suspected of having been, present at mass, 
 of all who had been baptized by priests, and of every boy who 
 had been at, or was about to be sent to, a Catholic seminary. *" 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 418. - " Memoirs of Panzani," pp. 248 and 260. 
 
 '-'• "Cyp. Ang.," p. 419. ^ " Lives of the Archbishops," vol. xi. p. 123. 
 
 ^ Vol. ii. pp. 17 and 18. 
 
 ® Despatch from Rosetti Liiglio, 27; N. S. Lingard's "History," vol. vii. 
 chap. V.
 
 362 Life of A7^chbishop Laud. [St?V.^'°' 
 
 This order, on the part of Laud, greatly alarmed the English 
 Catholics, who had been accustomed to look upon him as a 
 somewhat harmless and only half-hearted enemy, and they 
 applied for relief to the queen. Although she had been on 
 excellent terms of late with Laud, she was too wise to appeal 
 to him directly in the matter, but took into her confidence 
 Windebank, who was probably, by this time, already half- 
 converted. They went together to her husband, and re- 
 minded him respectfully of the assistance which he had lately 
 received towards his army against the Covenanters, from his 
 Catholic subjects, in the shape of a free and gratuitous present 
 of ;^ 1 4,000, and represented to him that Laud's action might 
 well have the result of alienating every Catholic Englishman 
 from his loyalty to the king. Charles was frightened, and 
 sent for Laud. Again there was an unpleasantness between 
 the monarch and his archbishop ; the king reprimanded 
 Laud for his officiousness, and commanded him to be very 
 careful, in such critical times, not to offend any of his subjects, 
 whether Catholic or Protestant. 
 
 Considerable ridicule was brought upon Laud in the year 
 1640 by a stringent oath which he drew up and required to 
 be taken by a large number of people, consenting to what- 
 ever ecclesiastical measures might be imposed by the " Arch- 
 bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, &cr It was spoken of as the 
 "et cetera oath," and Mr Gardiner says that it "turned the 
 laugh against Laud." ^ It was generally looked upon as 
 being as ridiculous as it was vague and dangerous, and in 
 the October of the same year, by the king's orders, Laud 
 suspended it. 
 
 Among the State Papers are some notes for a speech 
 by Sir Thomas Framston " against Archbishop Laud 
 demonstrating the unconstitutional character of the [et 
 cetera] oath and canons approved by the late Synod." - " I 
 find," he says, "by this oath he doth advance himself in point 
 of Government of the Church above the King, and without 
 his leave ; 2"'' above the Parliament ; y^ above the law." 
 
 ^ "Dictionary of National Biography," Article on Laud. 
 - "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1641-3, pp. 529-30.
 
 circai64o.j j^^jT^ of Avchbiskop Lmid. 363 
 
 " Must the King judge? No. Must the Parliament judge ? 
 No. Must the rubric and confirmed Canons judge t No. 
 Then let [us] inquire who is made judge by the Canons." 
 And he argues that the et cetera oath was so framed that the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury should be the supreme judge — "the 
 Patriarch of England ; and this he says, if we well please, we 
 may call him Metropolitan or Patriarch, in his late book 
 [margin, page 171, line 28 Relat. contra Fisher]." 
 
 The Scots were again giving trouble. In August news 
 arrived that the Scottish army had crossed the English 
 border and, as Laud says, " His Majesty took his Journey 
 towards the North in haste." On the twenty-fourth of Sep- 
 tember, he writes : — " A great Council of the Lords were 
 called by the King to Yoi^k, to consider what way was best 
 to be taken to get out the Scots." 
 
 Charles found it absolutely necessary to obtain assistance 
 from the nation, and, of the two evils, he preferred an 
 assembly of Lords to a Parliament with its House of Com- 
 mons. Twelve of these very Lords, however, signed a 
 petition, representing the grievances under which the nation 
 was suffering, and begging him to summon a Parliament, at 
 once, as the only safe remedy. Presently, another, in a 
 similar tone, reached York, signed by ten thousand Londoners, 
 and the majority of the peers urged him to consent. After 
 much hesitation, the king gave way. In the meantime, 
 negotiations were opened by the peers at York with the 
 Covenanters, a meeting taking place between the repre- 
 sentatives of both at Ripon. 
 
 Poor Laud was much deserving of pity in the year 1640. 
 He was thoroughly frightened, being, at last, fully alive to the 
 danger threatened by the puritanical party ; he had had at 
 least two disagreeable scenes with the king, who, till this 
 year, had almost invariably treated him with respect and 
 affection ; his nerves had been quite unstrung by the attack 
 upon his palace at Lambeth ; they had been still further 
 shaken by a shower of stones with which he, together with 
 several other members of the High Commission, had been 
 received, on emerging from one of its sittings in October ; and
 
 364 Life of Archbishop Laud. [&''*" 
 
 his health, never very good, was giving way. It was enough 
 to alarm him when, on ^ " the High Commissio7i sitting at St 
 Pauls, because of the Troubles of the Times," very " near 
 2000 Brownists made a Tumult at the end of the Court, tore 
 down all the Benches in the Consistory ; and cryed out, they 
 would have no Bishop, no High Commission." 
 
 There were other disquieting symptoms. He writes in his 
 Diary: — ''Sep. 21, I received a [Letter from] John Rockel a 
 Mfan both by] Name and Person [unknown] to me. He 
 was [among the] Scots, as he tra[ veiled through the] Bishop- 
 rick of [Durham] he heard them [inveigh and] rail at me 
 [exceedingly, and that] they hoped Shortly [to see me, as the 
 Duke was] Slain by [one least] suspected. His Letter [was 
 to] advise me to look to my self" I copy the brackets as 
 they are placed in the old edition of his Diary. 
 
 Laud's terrors were fomented by his superstition. On 
 October 27th, he writes in his Diary : — " I went into my 
 upper study, to see some Manuscripts, which I was sending 
 to Oxford. In that Study hung my Picture, taken by the 
 Life ; " — Can this have been his portrait by Vandyke now at 
 Lambeth palace? — "and coming in, I found it fallen down 
 upon the Face, and lying on the Floor, the String being 
 broken, by which it hanged against the Wall. I am almost 
 every day threatened with my Ruine in Parliament. God 
 grant this be no Omen." 
 
 In his History, also, he mentions the troubles of that time.'^ 
 The seventeen new canons " at their first Publication " 
 "were generally approved in all Parts of the Kingdom ; and 
 I had Letters from the remotest Parts of it, full of Approba- 
 tion : Insomuch, that not my self only, but my Breth'ren 
 which lived near these Parts, and which were not yet gone 
 down, were very much Joyed at it. But about a Month 
 after their Printing, there began some Whisperings," and then 
 he describes how ill-feeling against the canons rapidly spread, 
 " Till at last, by the practise of the Faction, there was 
 suddenly a great alteration, and nothing so much cryed 
 down as the Canons. The comfort is, Christ himself had 
 
 1 Diary, p. 59. - P. 8.
 
 %\'X^'°] Life of Archbishop Laud. 365 
 
 his Osanna turned into a Cruafige in far less Time. By this 
 means the Malice of the Time took another occasion to 
 whet it self against me." 
 
 Laud was now on the very eve of his fall, and he seems to 
 have been aware of it. Wearied out, and with ruin staring 
 him in the face, he may well have recalled the words of his 
 contemporary, Bacon : — " The rising unto place is laborious ; 
 and by pains men come to greater pains." " The standing 
 is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall or at least 
 an eclipse." ^ Alas, it was to be " a downfall " in Laud's 
 case. 
 
 1 Bacon's Essay, " On Great Place."
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 "In November 1640," says Lord Macaulay, "met that re- 
 nowned Parliament which, in spite of many errors and 
 disasters, is justly entitled to the reverence and gratitude of 
 all who, in any part of the world, enjoy the blessings of 
 constitutional government." ^ 
 
 Laud announces the fact in periods less rounded. " Noveinb. 
 3. Tuesday, The Parliament began : the King did not 
 ride, but went by Water to Kings Stairs, and through 
 Westminster- Hall to the Church, and so to the House." ^ 
 
 Heylin says that ^ " entring the Church at the Little door 
 which openeth towards the East, he was received by the 
 Sub-Dean and Prebendaries under a Canopy of State, and 
 so conducted to the place where he heard the Sermon ; the 
 performance of which work was commended by his Grace of 
 Canterbury to the Bishop of OxonT 
 
 We have had plenty of opportunities of observing how fond 
 Laud was of preaching before the king at state functions of 
 this kind, and I am inclined to attribute his having " com- 
 mended " the task to a friend on this occasion to the 
 condition of his nerves. 
 
 It is likely enough that Charles doubted whether he would 
 receive a very loyal welcome if he rode in state through the 
 streets to open Parliament, and feared to run the risk of a 
 cold reception, which might become a matter of common 
 gossip and thus increase his unpopularity. 
 
 He must have met his Parliament with very serious mis- 
 givings, and he made a short but conciliatory speech from the 
 throne. Nevertheless, it by no means pleased everybody. 
 Heylin tells us ^ that " the Commons were not more willing 
 
 1 " Hist, of Eng.," chap i. - Diary, p. 59. 
 
 ^ " Cyp. Ang.," p. 430. •* lb., p. 430. 
 
 366
 
 Circa ^i64o. J ^ ^J^ ^J ^ ^^J^J^ j^/^^p Laiul 
 
 O"/ 
 
 to hear that his Majesty was resolved to cast himself wholly 
 on their good affections, than many zealous Patriots seemed 
 to be troubled at it ; knowing how ill it sorts with Kings when 
 they have no way to subsist, or carry on their great Designs, 
 but by casting themselves wholly on the love of the People. 
 These on the other side were no better pleased with hearing 
 his Majesty call the Scots by the name of Rebels.'' Indeed, 
 on this particular point, " the displeasure went so high, that 
 his Majesty finding into what condition he had cast himself, 
 was fain to call both Houses before him within two days 
 after, there to Explain, or rather to Retract so harsh a Title, 
 calling them afterwards by the name of his Subjects of Scot- 
 Imzd, as he used to do ; which gave the Commons such a 
 sense of their Power, and of his Compliance, that they resolved 
 to husband both to their best advantage." 
 
 The day after the assembling of the Parliament, Convoca- 
 tion was opened at St Paul's. It was saddened by the news 
 of the death of the Archbishop of York, Dr Neile. To Laud 
 himself the death of this faithful friend must have been a 
 great blow, and a most disheartening one at such a critical 
 moment and in his state of extreme depression. The first 
 business of Convocation, after the hearing of the sermon in 
 the choir of St Paul's, was to elect a prolocutor, and then an 
 adjournment was made to Westminster. 
 
 After the usual formalities — the protestation of the sub- 
 dean and prebends, &c. — and the presentation of the prolo- 
 cutor in Henry Seventh's chapel, the archbishop " in an 
 eloquent but sad Oration, bemoaned the infelicities which he 
 saw hanging over the Church." ^ Although no business of 
 importance was transacted that day, a sign of the times was 
 given, when a clergyman from the diocese of Worcester pro- 
 posed a motion, " That they should endeavour (according to 
 the Levitical Laws) to cover the Pitt ivhicJi they had opened, 
 and to prevent their Adversaries intention by condemning 
 such offensive Canons as were made in the last Convocation." ^ 
 Nothing, however, came of it. 
 
 Other troubles began to thicken for Laud and his friends. 
 1 "Cyp. Aiig.,"p. 431. 2 /^,
 
 68 Life of Archbishop Laud. [St?6;.^'°" 
 
 Wentworth, now Earl of Strafford, who had been with the 
 army in the North, was well aware that, in their Remonstrance, 
 the Scots had complained against him for calling them traitors 
 and rebels, and for his energy in endeavouring to thwart them in 
 every possible way. This knowledge had been confirmed by a 
 private warning that it would be more prudent for him either 
 to return to Ireland, where he was popular with the army, or 
 to go abroad until the threatened storm of popular ill-will 
 should have passed over, and his friends, among whom may 
 have been Laud, judging from Heylin's intimacy with their 
 advice, recommended him not to fear lest his absence, should 
 an impeachment take place, might be regarded as an acknow- 
 ledgment of guilt, " where Partiality held the Scales, and Self- 
 ends backt with Power, and made blind with Prejudice, were 
 like to over-ballance Justice." 
 
 Strafford was inclined to listen to their advice, but the king 
 desired his assistance in London, and assured him that " not a 
 hair of his head should be touched by the parliament " ; so he 
 braved his enemies, and came up to the metropolis to take 
 his seat in the House of Lords. Even as he entered the House, 
 he was followed closely by Pym, who went into the House of 
 Commons and immediately made a speech, in which he de- 
 clared him to be the " principal author and promoter of all 
 those counsels which had exposed the kingdom to so much 
 ruin." It was a remarkable speech ; nor was the speaker a 
 man devoid of talent. Sprung from a wealthy Somersetshire 
 family, he had been at Pembroke College, Oxford, and then 
 studied for the law. He had become a Member of Parlia- 
 ment early in life, and had soon proved himself to be a bold 
 and able debater. 
 
 So great was the influence of his declamation against 
 Strafford that the House of Commons concurred in his 
 desire for the impeachment, and he went, accompanied by 
 the majority of the members of that House, to the Bar of the 
 House of Lords for that purpose. There he was quite at 
 home, for he had stood at that Bar both to impeach Bucking- 
 ham and to arraign Mainwaring. 
 
 Strafford was in consultation with the king when Pym and
 
 ^rcai64o.j Life of Avchbishop Laucl. 369 
 
 his companions entered the House of Lords. On hearing of 
 what was taking place, he hurried to the House, and was 
 about to take his usual seat, when there were loud cries that 
 he must withdraw. After an interval, a messenger recalled 
 him into the House, where he was informed that he must 
 kneel at the Bar, and then the Lord Keeper told him that, 
 as he had been impeached by the Commons, the House had 
 •committed him to the custody of the Black Rod until he 
 should have cleared himself of the imputation of guilt. 
 
 It was thought by some people that, on this occasion, 
 Strafford did not exhibit his usual nerve or decision of 
 ■character. In fact, when Pym had impeached him, he showed 
 no fight at all, and, although no particular act of treason had 
 thus far been brought home to him, he was forthwith com- 
 mitted to the custody of the Black Rod. This took place a 
 week after the opening of Parliament, and a fortnight later 
 he was sent to the Tower. 
 
 Laud writes 1; — "It is thought (and upon good Grounds) 
 that the Earl of Strafford had got Knowledge of the Treason 
 of some Men, and that he was preparing to accuse them. 
 And this Fear both hastened and heated the proceedings 
 against him. And upon Dec. 4, being Friday^ his Majesty, 
 at the great Importunity of some Lords of his Council, gave 
 way that his Council should be examined upon Oath in the 
 Earl of Strafford's Case ; and I (with others) was examined 
 that very Day. There were great Thoughts of Heart upon 
 this Business, and somewhat vapoured out at Men's Tongues ; 
 but the thing was done." 
 
 Laud clearly disapproved of it, and considered the king 
 weak in yielding on this point. In the next paragraph he 
 tells us why he thought so much eagerness was shown to ex- 
 amine the Lords of the Council. It seems that, " after the 
 breaking up of the late Parliament, Sir Hen. Vane, at the 
 private Committee concerning the Scotch Affairs," instead of 
 merely " setting down the Heads of the Several Businesses 
 then Treated of," had " Writ down " in full " what every Man 
 said at the Committee" Worse still, " by a cunning con- 
 
 1 "History," p. 85. 
 2 A
 
 370 Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^67.^*°' 
 
 trivance between his Son " and " himself, this Paper, or a 
 Copy of it was dehvered to some Members of the House of 
 Commons ; and in all probability, was the Ground of that 
 which was done against the Lord Strafford, my self, and 
 others, and the Cause, why the King was so hard pressed to 
 have the Lords and others of his Council examined, was, that 
 so Sir Henry Vane might upon Oath avow the Paper which 
 his Son had seen and shewed ; and others be brought to 
 witness as much (had Truth, and their Memories been able to 
 say as much) as his Paper." 
 
 With regard to the " cunning contrivance " between Sir 
 Henry Vane and his son, both its authors were brought to 
 book. This they had fully expected, and were equally 
 prepared for. Clarendon gives a long and amusing de- 
 scription of what took place, — the virtuous indignation of 
 the father, and the, if possible, more virtuous, although 
 respectful, wrath of the son, and he ends by saying ^ : — " This 
 scene was so well acted, with such Passion and Gestures, 
 between the Father and the Son, that many Speeches were 
 made in commendation of the Conscience, Integrit}^, and 
 Merit, of the Young Man, and a motion made, ' That the 
 Father might be enjoyn'd by the House to be Friends with 
 his Son : ' but for some time there was, in Publick, a great 
 distance observ'd between them." 
 
 Most likely there had been some exceedingly free speak- 
 ing at the private committee upon " the Scotch Affairs," and 
 many things may have been said by both Laud and Strafford, 
 which they never intended to be divulged in public ; things,, 
 moreover, which would be exceedingly dangerous to their 
 liberty, and even to their lives, when known to their enemies. 
 
 Strafford had not long been under arrest, when the king 
 took a most unpropitious step, so far as Laud's interests were 
 concerned, by the release of his enemy, Williams, Bishop of 
 ' Lincoln. There can have no longer been any question of 
 Charles having shaken himself free from the influence of 
 Laud, when he could do such a thing as this. Like Laud, 
 the king was frightened, as well he might be, and the two 
 
 1 "History of the Reb.," vol. i. p. 230.
 
 2l6;.^^°] Life of Archbishop Laud. 371 
 
 instances we have lately seen of his disapproval of Laud's 
 proceedings make it appear that he was half inclined to 
 attribute some of his own troubles to the want of tact of his 
 archbishop. On the 17th of November, Williams was re- 
 ceived, and conducted into Westminster Abbey, by six 
 bishops.^ Having entered the abbey, he officiated, the day 
 being one of humiliation ajid prayer. He afterwards took 
 his seat in the House of Lords. 
 
 The reinstatement of Williams was a serious danger to the 
 High-Church party ; but on the very day that he entered the 
 abbey with so much pomp, another ominous event took 
 place, close by, at St Margaret's, W^estminster. " The Min- 
 ister Officiating the Second Service at the Communion-Table, 
 according to the ancient Custom, was unexpectedly inter- 
 rupted by the naming and singing of a Psalm, to the great 
 amazement of all sober and well-minded men." - 
 
 Williams was not the only prisoner; sentenced by Laud, 
 who was liberated. The House of Commons also set free 
 Bastwick, Prynne, and • Burton, who arranged to meet on 
 their journey back to London, and were triumphantly escorted 
 by thousands " of the Puritan fraction," carrying " Bays and 
 Rosemary in their hands." Prynne had not reached Le^ndon 
 many hours before he was admitted to a private conference 
 with the Bishop of Lincoln, nor can it be doubted that such 
 a meeting boded no good to Laud, who had preached a long 
 sermon to each, when passing sentence upon them, at their 
 respective trials. 
 
 This interview took place early in December, and on the 
 eleventh appeared the notorious "Root and Branch Petition." ^ 
 It complained of "the Growth of Popery and increase of 
 Papists, Priests and Jesuits in sundry places, but especially 
 about London since the Reformation ; the frequent venting 
 of crucifixes and Popi.sh pictures both engraved and printed, 
 and the placing of such in Bibles." 
 
 But it was against the Established Church that the petition 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.,"p. 435. 'lb., p. 439. 
 
 ^ Rushworth, iv. 93; Gardiner's "Const. Doc. of the Puritan Revolution," 
 pp. 67 and foil.
 
 72 Life of Archbishop Laud. [It";''" 
 
 more directly asserted itself, pointing out " the great con- 
 formity and likeness both contrived and increased of our 
 Church to the Church of Rome, in vestures, postures, cere- 
 monies, and administrations, namely as the bishop's rochets 
 and the lawn-sleeves, the four-cornered cap, the cope and 
 surplice, the tippet, the hood, and the canonical coat ; the 
 pulpits clothed, especially now of late, with the Jesuits 
 badge" (I.H.S.) "upon them in every way," 
 
 Then there was the superstitious " standing up at the Gloria 
 Patri and at the reading of the Gospel, the praying towards 
 the East, the bowing at the name of Jesus, the bowing to the 
 altar at the East, the cross in baptism, the kneeling at 
 communion." 
 
 Moreover, there was "the turning of the Communion Tables 
 altarwise, the setting images, crucifixes, and conceits over 
 them, the tapers and books upon them : the reading of the 
 second service at the altar, and forcing people to come up 
 thither to receive " (communion) " or else denying the sacra- 
 ment to them ; the turning the altar to be a mercy-seat, or 
 the place of God Almighty, which is a plain device to usher 
 in the mass." 
 
 The bishops, of course, were railed at also, nor altogether 
 illogically. "The offices and jurisdictions of archbishops, 
 lord bishops, deans and archdeacons, being the same way of 
 Church Government, which is in the Romish Church," , . . 
 " the same arguments supporting the Pope which do uphold 
 the prelates, the overthrowing the prelates, which do pull 
 down the Pope ; the other Reformed Churches, having upon 
 their rejection of the Pope cast the prelates out also as 
 members of the beast, &c." 
 
 It was for this reason, said the petitioners, that " the prelates 
 here in England, by themselves or their disciples, plead and 
 maintain that the Pope is not Antichrist, and that the Church 
 of Rome is a true Church, hath not erred in fundamental parts, 
 and that salvation is attainable in that religion." 
 
 All these crying evils the petitioners wished to be eradi- 
 cated, " root and branch." 
 
 The House of Commons were turning their attention
 
 c!rca,64o.] ^^j-^ of ArcJibishop Laud. 2>l'h 
 
 towards the iniquities of another of Laud's friends. Secretary 
 Windebanke had signed warrants for the protection of several 
 CathoHcs, and for the discharge of others in prison. It is true 
 that he had signed them all at the orders of the king, and 
 that, for his greater security, he had even obtained a written 
 pardon from the king himself; but Charles, unnerved and 
 demoralized, was very anxious to escape the odium of these 
 transactions. Windebanke, therefore, escaped to France, 
 eventually became a Catholic, and died abroad. 
 
 In the middle of December, things looked more threaten- 
 ing every day and every hour for Laud. He tells ^ us that 
 " there arose great and violent Debates in the HoiLse of 
 Cojujnons against the Bishops, and particularly their Votes in 
 Parliament^'' On the i6th, a vote was taken against the 
 canons, as contrary to law, the rights of Parliam.ent, and the 
 property and liberty of the subject, and as containing " matters 
 tending to Sedition." " I," writes Laud, " was made the 
 Author of all, and presently a Committee put upon me to 
 inquire into my Actions and prepare a Charge. The same 
 Morning in the Upper-House, I was Named as an Incendiary, 
 in an Accusation put in by the Scottish Commissioners : For 
 now by this Time they were come to the Article of the 
 Treaty, which reflected upon me. And this was done with 
 great noise, to bring me into Hatred with the People, especi- 
 ally the Londoners ; who approved too well the Proceedings 
 of their Brethren the Scots, and debased the Bishops and the 
 Church Government in England." 
 
 He cannot have failed to see for himself that the crisis 
 was at hand. Ballads were " cried about London-Streets^' 
 abusing and deriding him. Some of these were brought 
 both into the House of Commons and the House of Lords ; 
 and it was ominous that while the peers and the commons 
 handed them from one to the other and laughed at them, no 
 steps were taken to suppress them. 
 
 On the 1 8th of December, a direct accusation of high 
 treason was made against him in the House of Commons ; 
 but no particular charges were made ; these, it was said, 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 86.
 
 374 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [it^e/.^^"" 
 
 should be drawn up in due time. Among the speakers was 
 a member named Grymstone, who said : — " Look upon him 
 as hee is in his Highnesse, and hee is the stye of all pestilent 
 filth, that hath infected the State, and Government of the 
 Church and Common Wealth." ^ What is now termed " Par- 
 liamentary Language " had not been invented in those days. 
 
 Denzell HoUys was chosen to convey the message to the 
 Bar of the Upper House. As soon as he reached it, he im- 
 peached Laud for the crime of high treason ; he had hardly 
 done so, when the Scottish Commissioners brought up the 
 distinct charges they had' promised against him, as an in- 
 cendiary between the two nations. 
 
 I have several times said that, within the last few months. 
 Laud's nerves had been considerably shattered ; yet, in the 
 face of this double attack, he rose from his seat with his old 
 courage, energy, and temper. It seemed that, when the 
 battle really began, he forgot his fears and rushed eagerly 
 into the fray. He not only indignantly protested his own 
 innocence, but began angrily to arraign his accusers. His 
 well-known irritable voice had regained all its wonted 
 warmth, when a chill was given to its jarring tones by the 
 cold incisive orders of the Earl of Essex, and Lord Saye 
 and Sele, that he must submit himself to the House, which, 
 without hearing his proffered defence, committed him, like 
 Strafford, to the custody of the Black Rod. 
 
 Maxwell, the Gentleman Usher, whose prisoner he had now 
 to consider himself, permitted him to return, in his own com- 
 pany, to his palace at Lambeth, in order that he might get, 
 as he says,'^ " a Book or two to Read in, and such Papers as 
 pertained to my defence against the StotsT What follows is 
 pathetic. " I stayed at LanibeiJi till the Evening, to avoid 
 the gazing of the People." And again,^ " When I w^as gone 
 to LmnbetJi, after some little discourse (and sad enough) with 
 my Steward, and some private Friends, I went into my 
 chappel to Evening Prayer. The Psalms for that day * gave 
 me much comfort, and were observed by some Friends then 
 
 ^ " Canterburie's Doome." - Diary, p. 60. 
 
 ^ lb. , p. 74. ^ Psalms 93 and 94.
 
 circa^,64o.-j j^-jr^ of ArcJiblsJiop Laiul 375 
 
 present, as well as by my self. And upon the Comfort I then 
 received, I have every day since (unless some urgent Business 
 prevented me) Read over both these Psalms, and, God 
 willing, purpose so to do every day of my Life, Prayers 
 being ended, I went with Wx Maxwell, as I was commanded ; 
 Hundreds of my Poor Neighbours standing at my Gates to 
 see me go, and Praying heartily for my safe return to my 
 House : For which, I blessed God, and them." 
 
 There is no passage more eloquent, in the whole of Mr 
 Benson's graceful Life of Laud, than that ^ which treats of 
 these events : — " I know of few authentic scenes which com- 
 bine such tragic and pathetic elements — the long, restless 
 day spent in the well-known house, musing over the sudden 
 snapping off of all designs and treasured conceptions. It is 
 not probable that he anticipated death, but it is certain that 
 he expected to be sequestrated from his Archbishopric. We 
 may stop to wonder a little over the thoughts of the busy 
 self-willed man at such a crisis — so sure that he had been 
 doing God's work, and yet so irresistibly arrested ; and 
 then the familiar household routine not even interrupted ; 
 the anxious wonderings and confabulations of chaplains, 
 secretaries, and domestics ; the silence in the corridors, and 
 evening chapel as the day closed in ; and the little active 
 figure, the centre of so much life, moving to his place for 
 the last time, almost broken down ; then the barge ordered 
 as usual, and the crowd gathering at the gates — perhaps the 
 only people in England who felt a spark of love for the hard 
 lonely man." 
 
 ^ P. 120.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 With Laud safe in custody (although in the private house of 
 Maxwell, for the time being), his deadly enemy, Prynne, set 
 to work with renewed vigour. 
 
 In order to comfort Laud, " a Parliament Man of good 
 Note, and Interested with divers Lords," sent word to him, 
 three days after his arrest, that, in consequence of his patience 
 and " moderate Carriage " since his commitment, the peers 
 were not now " so sharp against " him as they had been at 
 first, and they were now determined only to turn him out of 
 his archbishopric and the king's Council. Very cold com- 
 fort, indeed, did the poor man consider this well-intended 
 message. " So I see," he says,^ " what Justice I may expect ; 
 since here is a Resolution taken, not only before my Answer, 
 but before any Charge was brought up against me." He 
 would have considered this resolution trivial enough, and 
 much to be desired, had he been aware of the real resolution 
 of his enemies, which was to have his blood. 
 
 Meanwhile, he was well-treated and rather liked than 
 otherwise under the roof of his jailer, Maxwell, where " he 
 gained so much on the good opinion of the Gentlewoman of 
 the House, that she reported him to some of her Gossips, to 
 be one of the goodest men, and most Pious Souls, but with 
 all one of the silliest fellows to hold talk with a Lady that 
 ever she met with in all her life." Laud was not at all a 
 " lady's man," although he was accustomed to the society of 
 queens and princesses. 
 
 To wait an indefinite time, a prisoner in a private house^ 
 tried the patience of a man of a naturally impetuous, and 
 habitually active temperament. Nothing happened. Each 
 weary day and anxious hour passed without any charge being 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 60. 
 376
 
 MTts^^'' ] ^ ^/^ of A rchbishop Lmid. ^jj 
 
 lodged against him. It must have seemed, as he had written 
 half in jest, that his persecutors really intended to punish him, 
 not only untried, but unaccused. 
 
 Laud was not kept at the king's expense at the Gentle- 
 man Usher's ; for in fees and for his " Dyet," he Avas 
 charged twenty nobles a day, and his bill, after being 
 there two months and a half, came to ^^460, 13s. 4d. ; ^ 
 and, as he says, " Mr Maxwell had it all, w^ithout any 
 Abatement." 
 
 At last the charges were prepared, and Laud was conducted 
 to the House of Lords to hear them. Pym, Hampden, and 
 Maynard carried them up from the Commons to the Lords, 
 says Rushworth ; '^ but Laud himself writes on Friday, Feb- 
 ruary 26th ^ : — " This day I had been full ten weeks in re- 
 straint at Mr Maxwell's House. And this day, being St 
 Augustins day, my Charge was brought up from the House 
 of Commons to the Lords, by Sir Henry Vane the Younger." 
 (This was the Vane, who, he said, had made " a cunning con- 
 veyance " with his father in divulging what had been spoken 
 in " the private Committee concerning the Scotch Affairs.") 
 The charge " consisted of fourteen Articles." 
 
 The articles were read to him at the Bar, by " the Clerk of 
 the Parliament." He at once made a short, but dignified 
 reply, especially to a charge of encouraging the Catholic 
 religion, " as if," says he, " I should profess with the Church of 
 England, and have my Heart at Rome, and labour by all 
 cunning ways to bring Romish Superstition in upon the 
 Kingdom. This {my Lords) I confess, troubles me exceedingly ; 
 and if I should forget my self, and fall into passion upon it " 
 (here the old familiar Laud comes out !) ; " I should but be in 
 that case which St Jerome confessed he was in ; when he 
 knew not how to be patient, when Falsehood in Religion was 
 charged upon him." 
 
 Having noticed some of the charges, he ended his speech, 
 which was not intended to be a formal reply to them. His 
 regular trial had yet to begin. For the present he was 
 ordered to be committed to the Tower ; but, for his con- 
 
 1 " Hist.," p. 145. 2 Vol. iii., pp. 195-199, &c. ^ Diary, p. 6o.
 
 378 Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^68.''" 
 
 venience, his removal thither was deferred until the following 
 Monday. (It was now Friday.) 
 
 During the two intervening days, he cannot have looked 
 forward to his journey to the Tower with feelings altogether 
 •devoid of dread. On the Friday afternoon, he sent his 
 steward to the Lieutenant of the Tower to arrange for his 
 lodging there "with as much convenience as might be." 
 When the Monday came, Maxwell had duties, as Gentleman 
 Usher, which prevented the journey to the Tower being made 
 very late in the evening, as Laud had specially wished, so as 
 to escape pubhcity ; failing this, " Noon, when the Citizens 
 were at Dinner, was chosen as the next fittest time for 
 Privateness." ^ Maxwell, he says, " carried me in his Coach." 
 "All was well, till I passed through Newgate Shambles, and 
 cntred into Cheapsider (A place in which so many of 
 Laud's prisoners in the Star Chamber had been made to 
 stand in the' pillory !) " There some one Prentice first 
 Hollowed out, more and " (" and more," is put in the margin) 
 "followed the Coach (the Number still increasing as they 
 went) till by that time I came to the Exchaiige, the shouting 
 was exceeding great. And so they followed me with Clamour 
 and Revilings, even h&yow^ Barb arityW. self; not giving over, 
 till the Coach was entred in at the Tozver-Gate. Mr Maxwed, 
 out of his Love and Care, was extreamly troubled at it ; but I 
 bless God for it, my Patience was not moved : I looked upon 
 a higher Cause, than the tongues of S/dmei and his Children." 
 Or, as his biographer, Heylin, called them, "the Raskle 
 Rabble." It ought not, however, to be forgotten that Laud 
 had been very glad that Prynne, Burton, Bastwick, and others 
 should be exposed to the "Tongues of 5"//zV;/« and his Children." 
 
 His imprisonment created a great sensation, not only in 
 England, but also on the Continent, and the very worst fears 
 were expressed as to the probable outcome of it. Grotius 
 sent his friend Pococke, an Oriental scholar, to offer him his 
 sympathy, and to beseech him to make his escape, assuring 
 him that if he would seek a refuge on the Continent, he would 
 be gladly welcomed.^ 
 
 ^ "Hist.," p. 174. - "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1644-45 > Preface, p. xxii.
 
 ^";'*68'*"] Life of Archbishop Laud. 379. 
 
 To this the archbishop replied^: — "I can by no means 
 be persuaded to comply with my friend Grotius's advice. An 
 escape, indeed, is feasible enough ; yea, it is, I believe, the 
 very thing which my enemies desire; for every day an 
 opportunity for it is presented to me, a passage being left 
 free, in all likelihood for this very purpose, that I should en- 
 deavour to take advantage of it ; but they shall not be grati- 
 fied by me in what they appear to long for. I am almost 70 
 years old, and shall I now go about to prolong a miserable 
 life, by the trouble and shame of flying .'' Besides, whither 
 should I fly .? . . . No, I am resolved not to think of flight, 
 but, continuing where I am, patiently expect to bear what a 
 good and wise Providence hath appointed me, of what kind 
 soever it may be." 
 
 The very day that he was taken to the Tower, a committee 
 was named in the House of Lords to examine into " Innova- 
 tions in Doctrine or Discipline, introduced into the Church 
 without Law since the Reformation." To Laud's intense 
 indignation, it was to consist of ten earls, ten barons, and 
 ten bishops ; so, as he writes, " the Lay Votes will be double 
 to the Clergy." 
 
 These ten clergy, or rather the other nine besides himself, 
 were summoned in a letter by Laud's foe, Williams, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, who wrote with his " best Wishes " " in Christ 
 Jesus" to say that they were to attend "as Assistant in that 
 Committee" and to help their lordships to find out what was 
 " behoveful for the good of the Church and State." They 
 were to "prepare" their "Thoughts, Studies and Meditations 
 accordingly," and he recommended them "to God's protec- 
 tion," signing himself their "very loving Friend and Brother."^ 
 A copy of this got into Laud's hands and must have annoyed 
 him excessively. 
 
 The poor prisoner " setled " himself in his " Lodging in the 
 Tower" where, he says, " I pass my weary time as well as I 
 can." After his active life, this must have been a most un- 
 welcome change. When he had been there a fortnight, 
 someone told him an anecdote, which he records as follows.^ 
 
 ^ "Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1644-45; Preface, p. xxii. - "Hist., "p. 175- '^ lb.
 
 o 
 
 80 Life of Archbishop Lattd. [MtM^'"' 
 
 "On Saturday, Mai'. 13, Divers Lords dined with the Lord 
 Herbert, Son to the Earl of Worcester, at his new House by 
 Fox-Had in Lambeth. As they came back after dinner, three 
 young Lords were in a Boat together, and St PatiTs Church 
 was in their Eye. Hereupon one of them said, he was sorry for 
 my Commitment, if it were but for the building of St Pauls, 
 which would go but Slowly on there-while. The Lord Brook, 
 who was one of the three, replyed, / Jiope one of us shad live 
 to see, no one stone left upon another of that buildingT 
 
 This was not very consoling news ; for it showed that 
 others, besides the " Raskle Rabble," felt ill-will both towards 
 Laud and the church which he so greatly loved. 
 
 Three weeks after Laud had been imprisoned in the Tower, 
 a great trouble befell him in the trial of his bosom friend, 
 Strafford, in Westminster Hall ; it lasted about three weeks, 
 with a {qw intervals, and Laud says that " the Earl got all 
 the time a great deal of Reputation by his Patient, yet 
 Stout and clear Answers." ^ The popular feeling against 
 him was, nevertheless, tremendous, and the names of all the 
 members of the House of Commons who opposed the bill of 
 attainder, " were Pasted up at the Exchange under the Title 
 of Straffordians." 
 
 Laud's anxiety as to the fate of his friend must have been 
 still further embittered by the very shilly-shallying conduct 
 shown by the king in the matter ; for Charles's faithlessness 
 threatened danger to his own life, as well as to Strafford's. 
 When the trial had been proceeding for about ten days, the 
 king went into the House of Lords and declared to the 
 members of both Houses that he had been present at each 
 day's hearing, and had listened to all the evidence and all 
 the arguments with the greatest care, and had come to the 
 conclusion " that his Fault, whatever it were, could not 
 amount to Treason ; " he added that he would never be 
 able to wrong his honour or his conscience by passing a bill 
 finding him guilty of treason ; but that if they would " pro- 
 ceed by way of Misdeineanour," "he would concur with them 
 in any sentence." 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 176.
 
 "ATet'-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 381 
 
 It must liave gone to Laud's heart to put on paper his 
 disapproval of this conduct of the king, who had formerly 
 obeyed him so implicitly, and whom he had loved with such 
 devotion for so long a time ; but he would speak the truth 
 and he proceeds : — " This displeased mightily, and I verily 
 think it hastened the Earls Death. And indeed to what end 
 should tJie King come voluntarily to say this, and there, 
 unless he would have abode by it, whatever came ? And it 
 had been far more Regal to reject tJie Bill when it had been 
 brought to him (his Conscience standing so as his Majesty 
 openly professed it did), than to make this Honourable 
 Preface, and let the Bill pass after." 
 
 How he must have wished that he could have been at the 
 side of Charles to prevent his doing this stupid thing, as he 
 flattered himself he had prevented his doing many a stupid 
 thing in the past ! 
 
 The mob was trying to intimidate the king, his court, and 
 the Lords ; " Citizens of London and Prentices came down in 
 Multitudes to the Parliament, called there for Justice, and 
 pretended all Trade was stopp'd, till Justice was done upon 
 the Earl of Strafford!' Nor were they by any means unsuc- 
 cessful. " Upon Sunday, May 9, the King was so laid at, and 
 so frighted with these Bugbears, that if Justice were not done, 
 and the bill passed for the Earl of Strafford's Execution, the 
 Multitude would come the Next Day, and pull down White- 
 Hall (and God knows what might become of the King him- 
 self), that these fears prevailing, Ins Majesty gave way, and 
 the Bill passed ; and that Night late. Sir Dndly Carlton, one 
 of the Clerks of the Council, was sent to the Tower, to give 
 the Earl warning that he must prepare to Dye the Wednesday 
 Morning following." 
 
 It is much to Laud's honour that he gives no further de- 
 tails of the king's weakness and faithlessness on this occasion, 
 if he knew them, which he probably did. It is almost need- 
 less to say that every reader of English history is aware of 
 the pitiable condition of vacillation, fear, and distress, in 
 which the king spent that Sunday ; of the warning by Juxon 
 — who was to succeed Laud in the Archbishopric of Canter-
 
 o 
 
 82 tl-ife of Archbishop Laud. [m'.''" 
 
 bury and to attend Charles himself on the scafifold — that he 
 ought on no account to shed innocent blood by consenting to 
 the bill; of th^ sinister advice of Williams, Bishop of Lincoln,, 
 to the effect that whatever the king's private and individual 
 opinion jnight be, he was bound to concur in that of his two 
 houses of Parliament ; and of the grave representations which 
 were mad§ to his Majesty of the dangers which would 
 threaten himself and his family in the case of his rejecting^ 
 the bill which would forfeit the life of his devoted friend and 
 faithful servant. 
 
 Strafford, says Laud, "received the Message of Death with 
 great Courage, yet Sweetness ; (as Sir Ditdly himself after told 
 me :)." On the Monday morning, he sent for the Bishop of 
 Armagh, who went to see Laud, when he left Strafford, and 
 told him " that he never knew any Layman in all his Life, 
 that so well and fully understood Matters of Divinity, as the 
 Earl did, and that his Resolutions were as firm and good." 
 
 Laud then says that Strafford made "two Suits to his 
 Majesty',' the first that he might " Dye privately," the second 
 that he might be respited till the Saturday. Charles sent 
 both requests to the houses of Parliament, and both were 
 refused. 
 
 And now Laud relates a circumstance which, had " the 
 Church " been the Catholic Church, might have obtained for 
 Strafford canonisation as a martyr. 
 
 "The Earl made these two Suits; in the mean time one 
 Offer was made to him. It was this, That if he would em- 
 ploy his Power and Credit with tJic King, for the taking of 
 Episcopacy out of the Church, he should yet have his Life. 
 His Christian Answer was very Hcroical ; Namely, That he 
 wotild not bity his Life at so dear a rate'' 
 
 For the next part of the account of Strafford's end, so far 
 as it related to Laud, I must refer to Heylin.^ The night 
 before the execution, Strafford sent for the Lieutenant of 
 the Tower and asked whether it would be possible that he 
 might see the archbishop. The lieutenant replied that he had 
 no power to grant his request without an order from Parlia- 
 
 ' "Cyp. Ang.," p. 450.
 
 Mu^'es''"] L ife of A rchbishop Laud. 383 
 
 mcnt. Then Strafford said that, if the interview were per- 
 mitted, the Heutenant would be welcome to be present and 
 hear every word that passed between them ; " for it is not a 
 time for him to plot Heresie, or me to plot Treason." 
 
 The lieutenant pleaded his inability and begged his lordship 
 to send a petition at once to the Parliament for the favour. 
 
 "No," answered Strafford, "I have gotten my despatch 
 from them, and will trouble them no more; I am now 
 Petitioning an Higher Court, where neither partiality can 
 be expected, nor Error feared." And then, turning to the 
 Archbishop of Armagh, who was present, he said that he 
 would tell him what he should have spoken to the arch- 
 bishop, and would ask him to convey the matter to him. 
 " You shall desire the Archbishop to lend me his Prayers 
 this night, and to give me his Blessing when I do go abroad 
 tomorrow ; and to be in his Window, that by my last 
 Farewel I may give thanks for this, and all other his former 
 Favours." 
 
 When Laud received this message, he said, " That in con- 
 science he was bound to the first, and in duty and obligation 
 to the second ; but he feared his weakness and passion would 
 not lend him eyes to behold his last Departure." 
 
 Strafford was undoubtedly Laud's greatest friend, and, now 
 that the king had shown his faithlessness, the loss of such a 
 friend would be so much the greater. It was only natural 
 that he should dread the last farewell, especially under such 
 trying circumstances. 
 
 The next morning dawned, and the hour arrived for 
 Strafford to leave his chamber and walk towards the scaffold. 
 As he drew near the window of the room which he was in- 
 formed was that of the archbishop, he said to the Lieutenant 
 of the Tower : — " Though I do not see the Archbishop, yet 
 give me leave I pray you to do my last observance tou^ards 
 his Rooms." 
 
 Almost at that moment the figure of Laud was seen behind 
 the iron bars of the window. Strafford immediately knelt 
 down and exclaimed, " My Lord, your Prayers and your 
 Blessing."
 
 -1 
 
 84 Life of Archbishop Laud. [it?68.^*'" 
 
 Laud's hands appeared between the bars, and his trembling 
 voice was heard, blessing Strafford and praying for him. 
 Then, in a second, all was silent, and the dark window was 
 vacant : the poor, over-wrought old man had fallen back, 
 overcome with grief. 
 
 Strafford, who had risen from his knees, perceived that his 
 old friend was no longer at the window, and may have sus- 
 pected the cause. Reverentially bowing down again, he 
 cried out, so that Laud should hear him : — " Farewel, my 
 Lord, God protect your Lmocency." 
 
 The archbishop heard him and made another effort. He 
 was just able to say " that he hoped by God's Assistance, 
 and his own Innocency, that when he came to his own 
 Execution (which he daily longed for) the World should per- 
 ceive he had been more sensible of the Lord Strafford's Loss, 
 than of his own : And good reason it should be so (said he) 
 for the Gentleman was more serviceable to the Church (he 
 would not mention the State) than either himself, or any of 
 all the Church-men had ever been." 
 
 Heylin calls this, and not unjustly, "A gallant Farewel to 
 so eminent and beloved a Friend." 
 
 Laud's account of this scene is much shorter. " As he 
 passed by," he says, ^ " he turned towards me, and took the 
 Solemnest leave, that I think was ever by any at a distance 
 taken one of another ; and this in the sight of," Lord New- 
 port, Constable of the Tower, the Bishop of Armagh, Lord 
 Cleveland, the Lieutenant of the Tower, " and divers other 
 Knights and Gentlemen of Worth. Besides, though during 
 the time of both our Restraints, and the nearness of our 
 Lodgings, we held no Intercourse with each other; yet Sir 
 Williain Balfore, then Lieutenant of the Tower, told me often 
 what frequent and great expressions of Love the Earl made 
 to me." 
 
 His description of the execution is dry and practical ^i — 
 " The Earl prepared himself : And upon Wednesday Morn- 
 ing, about Ten of the Clock, being May the Twelfth, he was 
 Beheaded on the Tower-Hill, many Thousands beholding 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 179. '^ lb., pp. 177, 178.
 
 g^g'.''"] Life of Archbishop Laud. 385 
 
 him. The Speech which he made at his End, was a great 
 Testimony of his ReHgion and Piety, &c." All this is a little 
 prosaic ; but presently he becomes more animated at the 
 thought of his lost friend, and adds : — " Thus ended the 
 Wisest, the Stoutest, and every way the Ablest Subject, 
 that this Nation hath bred these many Years. The only 
 Imperfections which he had, that were known to me, were 
 his want of Bodily HeaWi, and a Carelessness (or rather 
 Roughness) not to oblige any : And his Mishaps in this last 
 Action were, that he groan'd under the Publick Envy of the 
 Nobles, served a Mild and a Gracious Prince, who knew not 
 how to be, or to be made great ; " — observe here how Laud 
 had lost confidence in, as well as respect for, Charles — 
 " and trusted false, perfidious and cowardly Men in the 
 Northern Imployment, though he had many Doubts put to 
 him about it." 
 
 Clarendon gives a longer, a more eloquent, and a more 
 critical summary of the character of Strafford ; but, perhaps, 
 the best part of it is the conclusion, in which he says^ : — " In 
 a word, the Epitaph which PlutarcJi records that Sylla wrote 
 for himself, may not be unfitly applied to him, ' That no man 
 did ever exceed him, either in doing good to his Friends, or 
 in doing Mischief to his Enemies; for his acts of both kinds 
 are most notorious.' " Excellent, again, is the passage in 
 which he says of him : — " Of all his Passions, his Pride was 
 most predominant : which a moderate exercise of ill Fortune 
 might have corrected and reform'd ; and which was by the 
 hand of Heaven strangely Punish'd, by bringing his Destruc- 
 tion upon him by Two Things that he most despised, the 
 People and Sir Henry Vane.'' 
 
 Of Strafford's affection. Laud never harboured a doubt ; 
 but, to his intense distress, others did so and more ; for he 
 heard that " most notorious untruths " on this point " were 
 swallowed and believed by the most." " They delivered to 
 the World, that the Earl of Strafford drawing near to his 
 End, when he saw no Remedy, but he must Dye, fell into 
 great and passionate Expressions against me ; that I and my 
 
 1 "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. i. p. 260. 
 2 B
 
 386 Life of Archbishop Land. [^res''" 
 
 Counsels had been the Ruine of him and his House ; and that 
 he cursed me bitterly." Few, if any, of the many troubles 
 which befell Laud in the course of his long confinement in the 
 Tower of London, can have given him as much pain as these 
 " untruths " concerning his relations to his best, his dearest, 
 and his most faithful friend.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Laud was keenly sensitive, especially for a man who had for 
 so many years held prominent public positions. He con- 
 stantly complains of " libels " both in his Diary and his His- 
 tory. Even in prison he laments that, not only libels, but 
 " Ballads against me were fi'equently sung up and down the 
 Streets. And (I thank God for it) they were as full of False- 
 hood as Gall. Besides, they made base Pictures of me ; 
 putting me into a Cage, and fastning me to a Post by a Chain 
 at my Shoulder, and the like." ^ When one thinks of the 
 equanimity with which — let us say — cabinet ministers endure 
 the thousands of " base Pictures " which are " made " of them, 
 one can scarcely forbear a smile at the serious evil which 
 Laud considered such things to be. He goes on to say that 
 "divers of these Libels made Men sport in Taverns and Ale- 
 houses ; where too many were as Drunk with Malice, as with 
 the Liquor they sucked in." 
 
 Among the " libels " published at this period is one which 
 was scarcely suited to an ale-house. It is entitled The Recan- 
 tation Of The Prelate of Canterbury : Being his last Advice to 
 his Brethren the Bishops of England : To consider his Fall, 
 observe the Times, forsake their Wayes, and to joyne in this 
 ^ood work of Refor^nation. London, Printed 1641. I have 
 used a copy of its frontispiece for my own. It is very serious 
 and heavy fooling, so much so, that it might almost deceive 
 a reader into fancying that it is Avhat it pretends to be. It is 
 partly in prose and partly in verse. I will give a specimen 
 ■of each. 
 
 "Though I have hitherto deckt my self with a kinde of 
 Majesty, and Grace, in my Prelaticall pride arrayed with 
 Splendor, and taught the gazing times to hide my faults, 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 180. 
 
 387
 
 388 Life of Archbishop Laud. [gt'es''" 
 
 giving my Plots good Fortune, yet behold, an ungratious 
 light (sudden as a Tempest at Sea) hath discovered my 
 nackednesse, and publisht my shame ; I am vile, and 
 abased, trode down, and hid in the dust; Judgment and 
 Justice take hold on me, and cast abroad the rage of their 
 wrath, which will certainly extend their terrours to you " (the 
 rest of the bishops), " if you forsake not these wayes, whose 
 going down are to the chambers of death." ^ 
 
 He is made to give " the world's estimation " of himself in 
 the following lines - : — 
 
 " Sp'rit of Delusion, Church and State 
 Have found this wrapt in thy black fate : 
 Thou roarest forth the Canon law, 
 And trembling madst them stand in aw, 
 And both the Scepters swaya'st, but now 
 Thy Mitre tumbles from thy brow. 
 Thy maske is torn, and we do see 
 The flames of thine adulterate eye, 
 'Twas from the North was heard the voice 
 Making all England to rejoyce, 
 Which first betrayed thee to thy shame. 
 And did display thy stinking fame : 
 With tyrant Laws, and Iron rod, 
 Thou mad'st the prouder Mountains nod, 
 And Cffidars reel, Thence thou wouldst try 
 The Artick Pole, and reach the Skie, 
 But thence great terrours, lightnings, thunder 
 Did teare thy throne, thy selfe asunder. 
 And drown'd thee in eternal night 
 Proud and counterfeited light." 
 
 A more serious evil shortly befell him in " a Tertian Ague, 
 which," he says, "was Comfortless in a Prison." It was 
 fortunately of short duration, and then he was restored to 
 his usual state of health, " the only Comfort " he had " in this 
 time " of his " Affliction." 
 
 And here I may observe, that with the exception of this 
 
 short attack of ague and a strain in his leg, which laid him 
 
 up for a long time. Laud's health, and certainly his nerves, 
 
 appear to have improved during the four years which he 
 
 1 P. 4. 2 p_ iy_
 
 it'es.^*'"] Life of Archbishop Laud. 389 
 
 spent in the Tower, in spite of the anxieties which he under- 
 went there. At sixty-eight, after a very active life, the 
 beneficial effects of the rest and quiet of the old fortress seem 
 to have more than counteracted the evil consequences of the 
 disgrace, solitude, and threatening prospects of his imprison- 
 ment. It should be remembered that the surroundings of 
 the Tower of London were very different then from what 
 they are now ; instead of the densely packed population, of 
 a low class, which at present half-encircles it, and the filthy 
 Thames, the overgrown Billingsgate market, and the pro- 
 digious modern dockyards in its neighbourhood, a few houses 
 here and there in the open fields, markets and dockyards on 
 what would now be called very diminutive scales, and the 
 comparatively clean river did little to pollute the atmosphere 
 of the fine old building, standing out conspicuously by itself. 
 Even in these days, officers quartered at the Tower do not 
 find much fault with it on the score of insalubrity, and in the 
 seventeenth century, its best " lodgings," as they were called, 
 probably offered not unhealthy places of retirement for over- 
 worked old gentlemen, while the Tower gardens afforded 
 them sufficient opportunities of getting fresh air and moderate 
 exercise. Certainly, many lived there to considerable ages, 
 and, had it not been for the executioner's axe, very likely 
 Laud might have become an octogenarian in his prison. 
 
 In June 1641, knowing that he was charged with treason 
 by the civic authorities of Oxford, for his proceedings in the 
 regulation of that city in his own name, as chancellor, he 
 sent to the king, through the Bishop of London, to say that 
 although he had answered all the complaints which had been 
 made against him in the matter, he considered it " requisite " 
 that he should " Resign the Chancellorship of that place." 
 He gave ^^ His Majesty such Reasons, as he approved," for 
 his doing so ; and it is not impossible that this ready approval 
 of his Majesty may not have been altogether gratifying to 
 him. 
 
 " The truth is," he says,^ " I suffered much by the Clamours 
 of the Earl of Pembroke, who thought it long, till he had 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 181.
 
 390 Life of Archbishop Laud. [Ires.^''* 
 
 that place, which he had long gaped for : And after the 
 Cloud was once spread over me, spared me in no Company ; 
 though I had in all the time of my Prosperity observed him 
 in Court, more than ever he deserved of me." 
 
 To have to give up to an enemy a post which he had held 
 so long and with so much pride, in his dearly beloved Oxford, 
 must have been a cruel blow ! 
 
 The same autumn. King Charles "rode away Post into 
 Scotland^ There were no consultations with Laud before 
 he made important expeditions now, and his former mentor 
 seemed to have his misgivings as to what foolish things his 
 old pupil, with no tutor to look after him, might be guilty of 
 He says " there was great Scanning about this Journey." I 
 may add, however, in the words of Laud himself, " What the 
 King did in Scotland, hath no Relation, for ought I yet hear, 
 to this poor Story of mine." 
 
 In September 1641, Laud had the great misfortune to 
 lose his old factotum. He says of this trouble, "my Ancient, 
 Loving, and Faithful Servant, and then my Steward, after he 
 had served me full Forty and Two Years, dyed, to my great 
 both loss and grief. For all my Accounts since my Com- 
 mitment, were in his Hands." Of his death, just at a time 
 when he himself was in such trouble, he writes: — "So true 
 it is, that Afflictions seldom come single." 
 
 True indeed ; for another was treading on the heels of the 
 one just mentioned. 
 
 There was a parliamentary recess, during which the Judge 
 of the Prerogative died. This post was in the gift of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Laud promptly appointed 
 a certain Dr Merricke. Then a " Dr Duck missing his hopes 
 of this Office, by his own absence and default, and finding 
 me under this thick Cloud, hoped to have wrested this Office 
 out of my Hands, and his to whom I had given it," says 
 Laud. "This was one of the basest, and most ungrateful 
 parts, that ever Man played me." Duck tried to oust Mer- 
 ricke by law, and herein he failed ; but Williams, who had 
 now been made Archbishop of York, induced the Lords to 
 sequester Laud's right of jurisdiction as archbishop until
 
 l^es.^'^''] Life of Archbishop Laud. 391 
 
 such a time as he should be either acquitted or convicted of 
 the charge of high treason which had been brought against 
 him, and, further, that " concerning these Ecclesiastical 
 Benefices, Promotions, or Dignities, that " were " in his dis- 
 posing, he " should present for approval to the House of Lords 
 the names of such persons as he proposed to appoint to them. 
 Laud thought this " very hard " ; but really, in the case of 
 an archbishop awaiting his trial for high treason, it was only 
 what should have been expected. He appears to have for- 
 gotten that Abbot's jurisdiction was for some time sequestered, 
 when he was archbishop, and that he himself had had the 
 principal hand in administering it. 
 
 " The day on which the Houses " of Parliament met again, 
 says Macaulay,! " is one of the most remarkable epochs in 
 our history. From that day dates the corporate existence 
 of the two great parties which have ever since alternately 
 governed the country." " During some years they were 
 designated as Cavaliers and Roundheads. They were sub- 
 sequently called Tories and Whigs ; nor does it seem that 
 these appellations are likely soon to become obsolete." 
 Nevertheless, we have had Conservatives and Liberals, and 
 Caves of Adullam and Fourth Parties, as well as Unionists 
 and Separatists, since then, and of Tories and Whigs we now 
 hear little ! 
 
 When the king returned from Scotland, he was received in 
 London " with great State and Joy, and Sumptuously Enter- 
 tained." In old days. Laud would have been one of the first 
 men he would have seen and confided in ; now, Laud was 
 under lock and key at the Tower and the king made no sign 
 to him. Still, Laud writes that his good reception " made 
 divers Men think, there would have been a Turn in the 
 present business " ; and this, of course, might have meant 
 saving Laud's life, and possibly even a restoration of his 
 dignities ; but it was not to be. " What it might have 
 proved," he writes, " if the King would have presently and 
 vigorously set himself to vindicate his own Just Power, and 
 leave them their Antient and Just Priviledges, is not I think 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. i. chap. i.
 
 592 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [St?68.^ 
 
 hard to judge. But he let it cool, and gave that which is 
 truly the Malignant Faction (but call others so) time to 
 underwork him, &c." The fact was, he would appear to 
 imply, that Charles had not got himself at his elbow now ; 
 so what could be expected ? 
 
 It is amusing to read that Williams, who had but lately got 
 out of the Tower and got Laud into it, and had succeeded 
 x\\ getting himself made as good an archbishop as his rival, 
 was suddenly sent back to prison in that very same Tower, 
 and, like Laud, for high treason. Both these deadly 
 enemies, therefore, were locked up in the Tower at the same 
 time, and both on charges of high treason. It was fortunate 
 that there were good thick walls between them. 
 
 Nor was Williams sent alone ; nine other bishops were 
 sent to the Tower with him ; so that there were, in all, eleven 
 bishops in the Tower, including two archbishops. Besides this 
 formidable array, there was a sort of " overflow meeting," as it 
 is the fashion to say in these days, at the house of Maxwell, 
 which Laud had left but a few months earlier ; for here a 
 couple more bishops, old and infirm bishops, were prisoners. 
 Heylin, as might be expected, writes of the incarceration of 
 Williams with the greatest satisfaction.^ " The Archbishop 
 of York was now so much declined in favour, that he 
 stood in as bad termes with the Common People, as the 
 other " [Laud] " did. His Picture cut in Brass, attired in 
 his Episcopal Robes, with his square cap upon his head, 
 and Bandileers about his Neck, shouldring a Musket upon 
 one of his shoulders, &c." " Together with which a book 
 was Printed, in which he was Resembled to the Decoy- 
 Duck (alluding to the Decoyes in LincolnsJiire where he had 
 been Bishop), restored to Liberty on design, that he might 
 bring more Company with him at his coming back, and a de- 
 vice Ingraven for the Front of the Book, which represented 
 the conceit ; and that not unhappily. Certain I am that our 
 Archbishop in the midst of those sorrows seemed much 
 pleased with the Fancy, whither out of his great Love to wit, 
 or some other self-satisfaction which he found therein, is be- 
 
 i"Cyp. Ang.,"p. 460.
 
 ^^68.''"] Life of Archbishop Land. 393 
 
 yond my knowledge." It can hardly be beyond the know- 
 ledge of posterity that it was the " self-satisfaction which he 
 found therein " which pleased Laud, and that his gratification 
 did not proceed purely from " his great Love to wit." 
 
 The offence committed by these delinquent bishops — I 
 write of the twelve, of course, and not of Laud — had been 
 that they had had the audacity to present a " Petition and 
 Protestation " to the king, asserting that they had " been at 
 several times violently Menaced, Affronted, and Assaulted 
 by multitudes of People, in coming to perform their service 
 to " the House of Lords ; that they had been " chased away 
 and put in danger of their lives " ; and that they dared " not 
 sit to Vote in the House of Peers " unless his Majesty would 
 " secure them from all Affronts, Indignities, and Danger in 
 the Premises." Nor were their fears ''built upon Fancies and 
 Conceipts, but upon such Grounds and Objects, as " might 
 " well terrific Men of great Resolution and much Constancy." 
 Yet they were " called upon, by several and respective Writs, 
 under great Penalties, to Attend in Parliament," and give 
 their votes. All they begged for was to " be protected from 
 force and violence." As a guarantee of their good faith, they 
 further protested that they did "abominate all Actions and 
 Opinions tending to PoperyT 
 
 So far, so good ; unfortunately they added that " all Votes, 
 Resolutions, and Determinations " passed during " their forced 
 and violented absence " from " the said Honourable House,'' 
 were " in themselves null." This was more than the House 
 of Commons could endure, and it there and then impeached 
 the dozen bishops for high treason. 
 
 The nervous " Head of the Church " bore the imprisonment 
 of so large a portion of his bench of bishops with praise- 
 worthy indifference ; but there is a point at which a worm 
 will turn, and in Charles's case it was a hint that the Commons 
 contemplated an impeachment of the Queen. 
 
 Four days after the bishops had been sent to the Tower, 
 the Attorney-General, at the king's command, appeared at the 
 Bar of the House of Lords — a hard-worked tribunal of late — 
 and impeached Pym, Hampden, Holies, Stroud, Lord Kim-
 
 394 Life of Archbishop Lmtd. V^itbt'"' 
 
 bolton, and Haslerig^ for high treason. Instead of ordering 
 them at once into custody, the House of Lords appointed a 
 committee to search for precedents. This maddened Charles, 
 who, on his own responsibility, sent a serjeant-at-arms to de- 
 mand the persons of the impeached members in the Lower 
 House. The Commons, instead of sending the five members, 
 sent a message to say that they required time for mature 
 deliberation. At this, the king was still more angry, and, the 
 next day, he went, in a rather melodramatic fashion, to the 
 House of Commons in person, accompanied by his guards 
 and a number of officers with drawn swords to seize his prey. 
 The objects of his vengeance, however, had avoided a scene, 
 by the very simple method of absenting themselves, and 
 Charles was placed in a ridiculous position, for getting into 
 which he was condemned by friends as well as foes. 
 
 The Commons adjourned for a week, and then the five im- 
 peached members came to the House by water, with an escort 
 of two thousand sailors in boats, while eight pieces of cannon 
 were mounted, and detachments of the trained bands were 
 placed on each bank of the river for their defence. On land- 
 ing they were received by four thousand mounted horsemen, 
 and, amidst shouts of joy and the music of military bands, 
 they walked in procession to the House of Commons, the 
 populace execrating the king in shouts and screams as they 
 passed Whitehall. 
 
 This complete defeat of the king must have been sad news 
 to Laud, and it left him little hope of escape from the block 
 and the axe. 
 
 He writes that the king and queen had gone to Dover, and 
 that her Majesty had resolved to " go into Holland, with her 
 young Daughter the Princess Mary, who the Year before was 
 Married to the Prince of Anrange his Son. But the true 
 Cause of this intended Journey, was to be out of the Fears, 
 Discontents and Dangers (as she conceived) of the present 
 Times." 
 
 The question now presents itself whether Laud, in spite of 
 the dignified protest against all idea of attempting an escape, 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol. vii. chap. vi.
 
 ^itel^''-] Life of Archbishop Lmtci. 395 
 
 which he is said to have sent to Grotius soon after he had 
 been taken to the Tower, did not, later on, wish that he, too, 
 could take a "journey" to the Continent, and get clear away 
 from " Fears, Discontents and Dangers." Who could blame 
 him if he did? Windcbanke had fled abroad, so had Cot- 
 tington, so also had Lord -Keeper Finch; why should not 
 Laud do the same — if he could ? 
 
 It may be worth while to notice here a passage from Lin- 
 gard, which has some bearing on this matter^: — "There is 
 however, some reason to believe that, in the solitude of his 
 cell, and with the prospect of the block before his eyes, he 
 began to think more favourably of the Catholic church. At 
 least, I find Rosetti inquiring of Cardinal Barberini whether, 
 if Laud should escape from the Tower, the pope would afford 
 him an asylum and a pension in Rome. He would be con- 
 tent with one thousand crowns — ' il quale, quando avesse 
 potuto liberarsi dalle carceri, sarebbe ito volontieri a vivere e 
 morire in Roma, contendandosi di mille scudi annul.' Bar- 
 berini answered, that Laud was in such bad repute in Rome, 
 being looked upon as the cause of all the troubles in Eng- 
 land, that it would previously be necessary that he should 
 give good proof of his repentance ; in which case he should 
 receive assistance, though such assistance would give a colour 
 to the imputation that there had always been an understand- 
 ing between him and Rome. ' Era si cattivo il concetto, che 
 di lui avevasi in Roma, cioe che fosse stato autore di tutte le 
 torbolenze d'Lighilterra, che era necessario dasse primo segni 
 ben grandi del suo pentimento. Ed in tal caso sarebbe stato 
 ajutato ; sebene saria paruto che nelle sue passate resoluzioni 
 se la fosse sempre intesa con Roma.' — From the MS. abstract 
 of the Barberini papers made by the canon Nicoletti soon 
 after the death of the cardinal." 
 
 To put a right interpretation upon these exceedingly im- 
 portant letters is not very easy. Did Rosetti speak on his 
 own authority only, or on that of Laud himself, when he 
 asserted that he would " be content with one thousand 
 crowns" as a pension .-• It reads as if he had had better 
 
 ^ " Hist, of Eng.," vol. viii., note at the end of chap. i.
 
 396 Ufe of Archbishop Laud. LSs''" 
 
 grounds than his own expectations when he wrote so 
 decisively. 
 
 Then, why a pension ? A pension presupposes past ser- 
 vices. What services had Laud ever rendered to the Pope? 
 Barberini himself notices this point, when he says that " such 
 assistance would give a colour to the imputation that there 
 had always been an understanding between him and Rome." 
 It may be replied that Barberini does not deny that there 
 had been some such understanding. To this, on the other 
 side, it might be answered that Barberini distinctly states 
 that he " was in bad repute in Rome, being looked upon as 
 the cause of all the troubles in England," and that, before 
 any help could be given to him, " it would previously be 
 necessary that he should give good proof of his repentance." 
 Even to this a counter reply is open. Barberini says that if 
 " he should give good proof of his repentance," " he should 
 receive assistance." Now, why should he receive assistance ? 
 Is it usual to give pensions to repentant heretics and per- 
 secutors of the Church .'' Converts would be expensive at 
 a thousand crowns a head, and much more at a thousand 
 crowns a year for the rest of their lives. It is very notice- 
 able, too, that not a word is said on either side about any 
 question of his conversion. Altogether, it might be main- 
 tained, with some colour, that this correspondence leads to 
 the supposition that, at one time or another, if not from time 
 to time, the authorities at Rome came to some understand- 
 ing with Laud that, in return for certain benefits on their 
 part, (whether monetary or otherwise, or whether personal or 
 otherwise, there is nothing to show), he should contrive to 
 control the persecution of Catholics in England, which the 
 laws of that country enjoined, within the narrowest possible 
 limits ; that he had fulfilled his promise faithfully up to a 
 certain point ; but that, when the Puritans and Covenanters 
 had raised an outcry against him for his toleration of Popery, 
 he had become alarmed and had permitted, and even per- 
 petrated, cruel proceedings against Catholics in England, 
 and that it was for this offence that he must give good proof 
 of his repentance, before he could receive an asylum and
 
 Mt.%s^^''] -^^f^ of Archbishop Laud. 2)91 
 
 a pension for his former services. Those who choose to hold 
 such a theory, might not unreasonably refer to the story of 
 the offers of a cardinal's hat, as tending to prove that over- 
 tures were made to him by Rome, that he may have been 
 told that if he would become a Catholic, he would be made 
 a cardinal, and that even if he would suppress the persecu- 
 tion of the English Catholics he should be well paid for so 
 doing. 
 
 Another thing in favour of the advocates of such a theory 
 is that Cardinal Barberini undoubtedly sent money, in order 
 to obtain relief for the Catholics in England, through other 
 channels. Henrietta Maria, in 1641 or 1642, applied for 
 assistance in the troubles of her husband to the Pope, asking 
 him for a grant of a hundred and fifty thousand crowns out 
 of the treasury in the Castle of St Angelo,^ and promising in 
 return that the king should forthwith abolish the penal laws 
 against Catholics in Ireland, and, as soon as possible, against 
 those in England also. The Holy Father knew a little too 
 much of Charles to be tempted by the offer of such a bar- 
 gain, and replied that the papal treasury was a trust which 
 could only be applied for the benefit of Catholic princes, 
 nor even in their case except where their interests coincided 
 entirely with those of the Church ; but Barberini (his nephew), 
 in conveying the refusal, gave the queen a present of thirty- 
 five thousand crowns out of his own purse, hoping thereby 
 to induce her husband to show favour to the poor persecuted 
 English Catholics. 
 
 Looking at the matter from every point of view, the rela- 
 tions of Laud to the Roman authorities cannot, on the 
 evidence at present available, be at all definitely ascertained. 
 I cannot find any certain proof that he ever gave signs of 
 an inclination to become a Catholic, and I should not like 
 to think that he took anything in the shape of a bribe for 
 tempering his zeal against the " popish recusants " ; at the 
 same time, it must be admitted that, in spite of his declama- 
 tions against their errors and their " unconformableness," his 
 angry attempt at a refutation of Father Fisher's explanation 
 
 ^ Lingard's "Hist.," vol, vii. chap. vi.
 
 398 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^Ittt^^' 
 
 of the Catholic position, and his protest on the scaffold itself 
 that he had " always lived in the Protestant religion " and 
 was about to die in it, he acted, on the whole, and except in 
 a few aggravated instances, far more leniently, and with much 
 greater toleration towards the Catholics than towards those in 
 his own Church who held certain views which were different 
 from his own and transgressed what he considered to be its 
 laws, and the question remains whether he did so from purely 
 disinterested motives. It is true that in those days little was 
 thought of accepting a bribe ; but, while I have done all in 
 my power to do ample justice to the opposite point of view, 
 from my own it appears that Laud was probably quite 
 guiltless of having been influenced in his conduct towards 
 Catholics by any presents, or income, or pension received 
 from Rome ; and I have come to this conclusion, not so much 
 from any evidence on this particular point, as from a study 
 of the man's whole life and character, with which any such 
 conduct would have been exceedingly inconsistent. 
 
 The backsliding of the king — King Charles the Martyr ! — 
 was a perpetual sorrow, as well as danger, to Laud in his 
 prison. On his very journey to Dover, to get the queen safe 
 out of the country, the king sent a message to both Houses 
 ot Parliament, in which these words occurred ^ : — " Concerning 
 the Government and Liturgy of the Church, Jiis Majesty is 
 willing to declare, that he will refer that whole Consideration 
 to the Wisdom of his Parliament, which he desires them to 
 enter into speedily, that the present Distractions about the 
 same may be composed, &c." To refer the government of 
 the Church and the liturgy of the Church to the greatest 
 enemies of both, was practically to sacrifice his Church in 
 order to save his own head, and, if possible, his crown on the 
 top of it. Well might Laud write, " So here they are made 
 Masters of all, and in a time of great exasperation against the 
 Clergy and the Bishops^ The latter, too, were at that time 
 turned out of the House of Lords ; so they could not vote 
 in any legislation which might take place about ecclesiastical 
 matters. 
 
 1 (( 
 
 Hist.," p. iS
 
 ^uYs^^'-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 399 
 
 The very day that this objectionable message was sent by 
 the king, an order was issued by the House of Lords that 
 ^' the Twelve Bishops might put in Bayl if they would." 
 They had now been imprisoned m.ore than six weeks in the 
 Tower, and "They were glad Men, procured their Bayl, and 
 went out of the Tower." This order for their release on bail 
 " was known to the House of Coimiions " well enough ; but 
 they pretended to be ignorant of it and did nothing to pre- 
 vent the twelve bishops from walking out of prison. When, 
 however, they " were sure the Bishops were come forth and 
 gone to their several Lodgings, they sent a Message to the 
 Lords, that they desired the Bishops might be presently re- 
 manded to safe Custody, or else they might and would Pro- 
 test against their Lordships for Breach of the Privileges of 
 their House: Because being Impeached by them, the Lords 
 had Bayled them, without acquainting them first with it in a 
 Parliamentary zvayT 
 
 The Commons, therefore, had waited until the bishops had 
 actually been set at liberty on the order of the Lords, on pur- 
 pose to let the latter put themselves, as the Commons held, 
 in the wrong ! As Laud writes, " though the Bishops had a 
 great Indignity and Scorn put upon them ; yet that which 
 was put upon the Lords was far greater." 
 
 Instead of showing firmness, the Lords, following the ex- 
 ample of the king, lost courage and yielded, " and the poor 
 Bishops were brought back again to the Tozver the next 
 Morning." And there we must leave them for the present, 
 merely remarking that they were kept in prison, from first to 
 last, "just eighteen weeks." ^ 
 
 I will end this chapter by observing that, as if there were 
 not already troubles enough with Scotland, a rebellion broke 
 out in Ireland, of which Laud writes: — "The Irish pretended 
 the Scots Example, and hoped they should get their Liberties, 
 and the Freedom of their Religion, as well as they." 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.," p. 466.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 One Sunday, Laud received a visit at the Tower from a 
 member of the House of Commons, Mr Edward Hyde, who 
 was many years later to become Lord Clarendon and to write 
 much about him in his History of the Great Rebellion. They 
 were sitting together in Laud's bedroom, when a message 
 was delivered that a Mr Plunt desired an interview with him. 
 Leaving Hyde in the inner room. Laud went into his sitting- 
 room, where he found " a tall Gentleman " waiting for him. 
 This man began by saying that, although he was unknown 
 to the archbishop, he came to do him a " service in a great 
 Particular," and gave his assurance that he had come purely 
 on his account, not having been sent by any statesman or 
 member of Parliament, and with no wish for any reward, 
 but solely and only in the hope of being able to be useful to 
 his grace. Laud " wondred what the matter should be." 
 Presently his tall visitor " drew a Paper out of his Pocket " 
 and gave it him to read. It contained four articles drawn 
 up against him, all of them, he says, "touching my near 
 Conversation with Priests, and my endeavour by them to 
 subvert Religion in England^ Mr Hunt told him that they 
 had not yet been presented to the House of Commons, 
 but probably soon would be. They were signed " by one 
 Willoughby" who, Mr Hunt said, "was a Priest, but now 
 turned." Laud asked Mr Hunt what service he hoped to 
 render him by showing him this paper. Mr Hunt replied 
 that he left the archbishop to consider that for himself, and 
 again repeated his statement that his motives were purely 
 disinterested. At this Laud grew angry, and told him that 
 Willoughby "was a Villain to subscribe such a paper," and 
 that he might present it to the Parliament whenever he pleased. 
 400
 
 ires"'"] Life of Archbishop Land. 401 
 
 Then, he tells us/ " I left him and his Paper, and returned to 
 Mr Hide into my Bed-Chamber. There I told him, and my 
 Servant Mr Richard Cobb, all that passed : And they were 
 glad I gave him so short and so harsh an Answer, and did 
 think as I my self did, that it was a Plot to intrap me. After 
 they were gone, I sat thinking with my self, and was very 
 Sorry that my Indignation at this base Villany had made 
 me so hasty to send Hunt away, and that I did not desire 
 Mr Lieutenattt of the Tozver to seize on him, till he brought 
 forth this Willoughby. I am since informed, that this Hunt 
 is a Gentleman that hath spent all or most of his Means ; 
 and I verily believe this was a Plot between him and WU- 
 lougJiby to draw Money from me to conceal the Articles ; in 
 which way had I complyed with him, I had utterly undone 
 my self" 
 
 A meaner trick to try to extort money from the poor old 
 man, in his trouble, could hardly be imagined. 
 
 A fortnight later, a physical misfortune befell him. A 
 tendon of his right leg " brake asunder," as he was walking 
 up and down a large room, of which he had the use, before 
 he went to dinner. He was walking at the time " upon plain 
 Boards, and had no uneven step nor slip, not so much as a 
 turning of" his " Foot aside upon any chink. This Tendon, 
 or part of the main Sinew above " his " Heel, brake just in 
 the same Place where " he " had unhappily broken it before," 
 fourteen years earlier. The consequent " Lameness con- 
 tinued two whole Months, before " he " was able to go down 
 Stairs to take any Air to refresh" hirnself; and it was long 
 after even that date that he " received any competent Measure 
 of Strength." 
 
 While he was laid up, he was worried by orders from the 
 Parliament as to the disposal of his preferments. In being 
 forced to submit, he felt that he was not only yielding a 
 trust, but that his power was being taken away from him in 
 every sense. 
 
 At last the poor lame prisoner thought he would try 
 to go to church. " I made a shift between my Man and my 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 190. 
 2 c
 
 402 Life of Archbishop Laud, [l^es.^'^^" 
 
 Staff," he says/ "to go to Church. There preached one Mr 
 Jostin? His Text, Judg. 5, 23, Curse ye Meroz, &c. To 
 pass over what was strangely Evil throughout his Sermon, 
 his Personal Abuse of me was so foul and so palpable, that 
 Women and Boys stood up in the Church, to see how I 
 could bear it : And this was my first Welcome into the 
 Church, after my long Lameness." He then says that he 
 bore it very Avell, adding " God forgive them." 
 
 After this he, personally, " had some quietness " ; but none 
 the less " all things grew higher and higher between the King 
 and the Parliament, to the great Dammage and Distraction 
 of the Kingdom." Laud might well say this. The king and 
 his Parliament were, in fact, actually at war ; while he " had 
 some quietness," the royalist and parliamentary troops were 
 in bloody conflict, and at least a thousand men were laid 
 dead at the single battle of Edge Hill. 
 
 It was not so long since Charles had reprimanded Laud for 
 endeavouring to propitiate the Puritans by an exhibition of 
 stern measures upon the Catholics ; but in the early part of 
 this ill-fated civil war, the king paraded his own Protestantism 
 by ordering two priests to be put to death at Tyburn and a 
 couple more at York.^ But I am writing a life of Laud, and 
 not a history of England ; so I cannot follow Charles L in 
 his battles or describe his policy, further than it relates, 
 directly or indirectly, to the subject of my memoir. 
 
 The clash of arms in the field does not seem to have 
 affected Laud so much as the seizure of his own arms at 
 Lambeth palace by " Captain Royde^i and his Company, by 
 Order of Par/ia7uenl," on the 19th of August. They arrived 
 at Lambeth about " seven of the Clock in the Evening," 
 " stayed there all Night, and searched every Room, and 
 where any Key was not ready, brake open Doors : And the 
 next Morning they carried my Arms away in Carts to Ginld- 
 Hall, London ; and I was sufficiently abused all the way by 
 the People, as my Arms passed. They gave out in Loiidony 
 there were Arms for Ten Thousand Men ; whereas there was 
 not enough for Two Hundred. And the Arms I bought of 
 
 ^ "Hist.," p. 196. " Jocelin. ^ Lingard, vol. viii. chap. i.
 
 %%l^^'-] Life of Archbishop Land. 403 
 
 my Predecessor's Executors ; only some I was forced to 
 mend, the Fashion of Arms being changed." 
 
 Within three months another unwelcome visit was paid to 
 "my House at LambctJiy The callers were two members of 
 the House of Commons, this time, accompanied by some 
 musketeers. They searched, not for weapons, but " for 
 Mony," and walked off with £yZ, which they took from the 
 archbishop's official receiver, statin-:^ that it was required " for 
 the Maintenance of the King's children. God of his Mercy 
 look favourably upon the King, and bless his CJiildren from 
 needing any such poor Maintenance." 
 
 Once again, before the year was out, visitors arrived at 
 " Lambeth-House," in the shape of " Souldiers," who, as 
 Oxford undergraduates would term it, " made hay " in Laud's 
 chapel, and " offer'd violence to the Organ." Just before 
 Christmas, says Heylin :^ — '' LeigJiton the Schismatick, who 
 had before been sentenced in the Star-Chamber for his 
 libellous and seditious Pamphlets, came with an Order from " 
 the Commons " to dispossess the Souldiers of their quarters 
 there, and turn his house into a Prison." 
 
 I must return now to September, when, says Laud,^ " the 
 Bishops were voted down in the House of Conunons. " 
 " And that Night there was great Ringing," which he himself 
 could not have failed to hear from his chambers in the Tower, 
 " and Bonfires in the City ; which I conceive was cunningly 
 ordered to be done by Alderman Pennington, the new Lord 
 Mayor, chosen in the room of Sir Richard Gtirney, who was 
 then in the Tower" 
 
 On the tenth of the same month, the bishops were " Voted 
 down " by the Lords also ; whereupon Laud writes : — " So it 
 seems I must live to see my Calling fall before me." That 
 he would leave the Tower " by any other door than the door 
 of death," ^ he had long ceased to hope ; but to see the 
 Anglican episcopacy appear to fall before him was a bitter 
 sorrow. 
 
 In October it was resolved " That all Rents and Profits of 
 all Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Deans and Chapters, and other De- 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 467. ^ " Hist.," p. 196. » " Cyp. Ang.," p. 467.
 
 404 Life of Archbishop Laicd. L^t?^.^'^^' 
 
 linqueiits, should be Sequestered for the Use and Service 
 of the Common -Wealth." There was something specially- 
 cutting in the words " and other Delinquents." By this 
 ordinance Laud says: — "All the Profits of my Arch- 
 Bishoprick were taken away from me, and not one Penny 
 allowed me for Maintenance." 
 
 A further discomfort came, in a few days, in the form of an 
 order that no prisoner in the Tower should keep more than 
 two servants, or speak to anyone, except in the presence of a 
 warder. He " humbly besought the Lords ^' on account of 
 his age and infirmities, to allow him to have a cook and a 
 butler, in addition to two servants who attended him in his 
 rooms — rather a liberal allowance, one might suppose, for a 
 prisoner ; but it was granted. 
 
 Ill-tidings now followed each other rapidly. News came 
 that his own " Cathedral Church of Canterbury was grossly 
 Prophaned ; yet far worse afterward." 
 
 In January 1643, "the Bill Y>^ss,e6. in the Lords House for 
 abolishing of Episcopacy. God be merciful to this sinking 
 Church." Even a little revenge in the midst of such troubles 
 was sweet. It will be remembered that Lord Brook, when 
 some one had praised Laud for restoring St Paul's Cathedral, 
 had said he hoped to live to see the time when one stone of 
 it should not be left standing upon another. He was a bitter 
 enemy to the Church, and to the very name of episcopacy. 
 Well, this wicked man, to Laud's evident satisfaction, met 
 with his deserts. He was just going to order an attack on 
 the close of Lichfield Cathedral, and was " taking view of the 
 place, from a Window in a House opposite to the Close" with 
 the "Bever" of his helmet raised, to get a better view, and 
 naturally thinking " that a Musket at such a distance could 
 have done him but little harm ; yet was he Shot in the left 
 Eye, and killed Dead in the place without speaking one 
 word." He adds with gusto: — "This great Enemy to 
 CatJiedral-Chiirches died thus fearfully in the Assault of a 
 Cathedral. A fearful manner of Death in such a Quarrel ! " 
 And then, recalling Lord Brook's after-dinner remark about 
 himself and St Paul's Cathedral, he says : — " That Church
 
 %7.)o^''] Life of Archbishop Laud. 405 
 
 stands yet, and that Eye is put out that hoped to see the 
 Ruins of it." 
 
 A stranger to Laud came to the Tower one day and told 
 him a most alarming piece of gossip — namely, that he was 
 to be sent to New England. This would indeed have been 
 falling out of the frying-pan into the fire. Considering the 
 gentle manner in which the New-Englanders had treated the 
 Quakers — women as well as men — what would they not have 
 done to Laud, who was reputed among them to have been 
 the primary.cause of their exile and all their woes ? A couple 
 of months after he had heard this rumour, " it was moved in 
 the House of Covnnons, to send" Laud "to New England; 
 but it was rejected. The Plot was laid by Peters, Wells, and 
 others of that Crew, that so they might insult over " ^ him. 
 
 A petty annoyance was the seizure of his furniture and 
 other effects at Lambeth, and their public sale. Although 
 the sum they realised in no way affected him, it appears to 
 have mortified him to hear that they were sold " scarce at a 
 third of their worth." A more serious matter to his own 
 personal comfort was an order issued on the very day of 
 what would now be called the sale of the " Laud Collection," 
 to the effect that he was not to go out of his chambers with- 
 out his " Keeper, so much as to take the Air." He sarcasti- 
 cally calls the first of these annoyances " an Exemplary piece 
 of Justice," the other " of Mercy." 
 
 " Much about this time," he received another letter from 
 his Majesty. Letters from Charles were no longer written in 
 a tone of affectionate banter. The missive in question re- 
 quired him " that as oft as any Benefice or other Spiritual 
 Promotion whatsoever should fall void in " his gift, he 
 " should dispose it only to such as his Majesty should name 
 unto him." In old days, his Majesty used to ask him, on the 
 contrary, to name clergymen for the benefices and spiritual 
 preferments, including bishoprics, in the royal gift ; but, at 
 any rate, by this letter the king was trying to get the better 
 of the Parliament, which would be some comfort to Laud ; 
 for the letter proceeded to order that " if any Command lay 
 
 1 " Hist.," p. 203,
 
 4o6 Life of Archbishop Laud. St?7o.^*'- 
 
 otherwise upon " Laud " from either, or both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment" he " should then let them fall into Lapse, that " the 
 king " might dispose of them to men of worth." 
 
 There were suspicions, as Laud points out a little later, that 
 the Parliament knew this letter had been written ; and a few 
 days after he had received it, an "Ordinance of both Houses" 
 of Parliament was handed to him requiring to " give no 
 benefice, or Spiritual Promotion now void, or to be void at 
 any time before " his " Trial, but with leave and Order of both 
 Houses of Parliament r 
 
 On the 31st of May 1643, " A Search came betimes in the 
 Morning into the Tower upon all the Prisoners, for Letters 
 and other Papers." Laud thought that the real object of this 
 search was for his own papers, and that the Commons 
 specially aimed at finding out whether Laud had received 
 any letter about the disposal of his preferments from King 
 Charles. He was the more convinced that the search was 
 intended for himself, personally, by learning that " all other 
 Prisoners had their Papers re-delivered them before the 
 Searchers went from tJie Tower " ; whereas his own were 
 " carried to the Committee^ 
 
 So far as Laud was concerned, his " implacable Enemy, Mr 
 Pryn, was picked out (as a Man whose Malice might be 
 trusted) to make the search upon " him. " And he did it 
 exactly." 
 
 No sooner were the gates of the Tower opened in the 
 morning, than the search-party entered them. Prynne, armed 
 with his search-warrant, proceeded at once to Laud's rooms, 
 and commanded the warder in charge of them to open the 
 doors. Leaving two musketeers beside the doorway, as 
 " centinels," he marched upstairs " with three other, which 
 had their Muskets ready cocked." 
 
 Laud was in bed, and he must have been very much 
 astonished when his door was thrown open and his " implac- 
 able Enemy, Mr Pryn," walked into the room with his three 
 musketeers. Perhaps he may have fancied that one of his 
 most vivid, unpleasant, and ominous dreams was upon him. 
 Presently, he says, he thought upon his " Blessed Saviour,
 
 %[':)^^'^-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 407 
 
 when Judas led in the Swords and Staves about him." 
 Judas, in this case, however, showed no inclination to offer a 
 kiss ; there was no question whatever of betrayal ; nor could 
 Prynne's worst enemy accuse him of ever having been one 
 of Laud's disciples ; so, altogether, the comparison was not 
 very apt. 
 
 I will give the description of the interview in Laud's own 
 words.^ " Mr Pryn, seeing me safe in Bed, falls first to my 
 Pockets to rifle them ; and by that time my two Servants 
 came running in, half ready. ' I demanded the sight of his 
 Warrant ; he shewed it me, and therein was Expressed, that 
 he should search my Pockets. The Warrant came from the 
 Close Conwiittee, and the Hands that were to it, were these. 
 E. Manchester, W. Saye and Scale, Wharton, H. Vane, Gilbert 
 Gerard, and Jolm Pint. Did they remember when they gave 
 this Warrant, how odious it was to Parliaments, and some of 
 themselves, to have the Pockets of Men Searched } " For the 
 moment he appears to have forgotten the complaisancy with 
 which he heard of the rifling of the pockets of an Oxford 
 undergraduate, whom he had ordered to be watched on 
 account of his Popish inclinations. " When my Pockets had 
 been sufficiently ransacked, I rose and got my Cloathes about 
 me, and so half ready, with my Gown upon my Shoulders, ht 
 held me in the Search till past Nine of the Clock in the 
 Morning. He took from me Twenty and One Bundles of 
 Papers, which I had prepared for my Defence ; and the two 
 Letters before named, which came to me from his Gracious 
 Majesty about Charthavi and my other Benefices ; the 
 Scottish Scrvice-Book, with such Directions as accompanied 
 it ; a little Book, or Diary, containing all the Occurrences of 
 my Life ; and my Book of Private Devotions ; both these last 
 written through with my own Hand. Nor could I get him to 
 leave this last ; but he must needs see what passed between 
 God and me : A thing, I think, scarce ever offer'd to any 
 Christian. The last place which he rifled, was a Trunk which 
 stood by my Bed-side. In that he found nothing, but about 
 Forty Pound in Money for my necessary Expences (which he 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 205.
 
 4o8 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [S?^.''"' 
 
 meddled not with), and a Bundle of some Gloves. This 
 Bundle he was so careful to open, as that he caused each 
 Glove to be looked into ; upon this I tendered him one pair 
 of the Gloves ; which he refusing, I told him he might take 
 them, and fear no Bribe, for he had already done me all the 
 Mischief he could, and I asked no Favour of him : So he 
 thanked me, took the Gloves, bound up my Papers, left two 
 Centinels at my Door (which were not dismissed till the next 
 Day Noon), and went his way." Finally, Laud, as usual on 
 such occasions, expresses his thankfulness for the patience 
 which God gave him during this trying scene ; as usual, too, 
 it reads rather like a veiled piece of self-praise. 
 
 It was quite a relief to him when the Parliament formally 
 sequestrated his archbishopric ; for it had gone sorely against 
 his conscience to be forced by the Commons to appoint men, 
 whom he considered unfit and unworthy, to benefices which 
 fell to his disposal ; whereas now his responsibility entirely 
 ceased. 
 
 He had to listen to another very disagreeable sermon at 
 church, in the Tower, from a preacher whose name he could 
 not learn. " In his Sermon," says he, "after he had liberally 
 railed on me, he told the Auditory, that Mr Pryn had found 
 a Book in my Pocket, which would discover great things." 
 " This is Zealous Preaching ! God forgive their Malice." 
 
 In the same month. Laud was greatly scandalized by the 
 publication of the names of the " Synodical Men," who were 
 to sit in committee for the reformation of the Anglican 
 Church and its liturgy. They were not at all men to his taste 
 — " A great, if not the greater part of them, Brownists, or In- 
 dependents, or New-England-Ministers, if not worse, or at the 
 best refractory Persons to the Doctrine or Discipline, or both, 
 of the Church of England Established by Law, and now 
 brought to Reform it. An excellent Conclave ! But I pray 
 God, that befal not them, which Tully observes fell upon 
 Epicurus, Si qncz corrigere voliiit, deteriora fecit ; He made 
 every thing worse that he went about to mend. I shall for 
 my part never deny, but that the Liturgy of the Clmrch of 
 England may be better; but I am sure withal it may easily
 
 Circa j643.] ^^/"^ of Arckbiskop Laud. 409 
 
 be made worse." Then he says that this Synod should re- 
 member that the authorised Convocation of EngHsh prelates 
 and clergy still existed, and that there could not be two 
 lawful ecclesiastical Synods in the same nation and place at 
 the same time. "Belike we shall fall to it in the Donatists 
 way : They set up Altare contra Altare in Africk; and these 
 will set up Synodum contra Synoduvi in England^ It may 
 be worth noticing that both Laud's and Newman's minds 
 were directed to the Donatist schism ; but with different 
 consequences. 
 
 Not very long before this declamation against the new 
 liturgy-reformers was written, Laud had been engaged in 
 writing a defence of his own attempt at liturgy-making, and 
 this seems a proper time to notice it. While in the Tower, 
 he had been considering the accusations lodged against him 
 for his share in framing the Scottish Prayer-Book. Without 
 going into this matter at any length, or following him into 
 wearisome details and quibbles, I think it may be interesting 
 to give some expressions of his which bear upon the doctrine 
 he held on the Real Presence in the Eucharist.^ 
 
 It had been objected that the words ordered in the prayer 
 of consecration, in the liturgy for Scotland, " that they may 
 be unto us the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved 
 Son," occurred also in the Roman Missal. Laud replied that 
 he could wish with all his heart that the words " ut fiant 
 nobis " " were the worst Error in the Mass'' For, says he, 
 the words " that they may be unto us, the Body and Blood 
 of Christ," imply that the consecrated elements '^ are to us, 
 but are not Transubstantiated in themselves, into the Body and 
 Blood of Christ, nor that there is any Corporal Presence, in, 
 or under the Elements^ And again, " The true Sense, so well 
 signified and expressed, that the words cannot well be under- 
 stood otherwise, than to imply not the Corporal Substance, 
 but the Real, and yet the Spiritual use of them." He 
 evidently believed that the body and blood of Christ were 
 present to the receiver of the elements ; but not in the 
 elements themselves ; a very common, perhaps the most 
 
 1 "Hist," p. 121.
 
 4 1 o Ufe of Archbishop Laud. [St'o.'"'- 
 
 usual, Anglican theory, but not what would be considered in 
 these days a very " high " one. This opinion of his was 
 further confirmed in the same manuscript, when he wrote ^ : — 
 " They say there are, which teach them, that Christ is received 
 in the Sacrament Corporaliter, both Objective, and Subjective. 
 For this Opinion, be it whose it will, I for my part do utterly 
 condemn it, as grosly Superstitious." On page 124, he also 
 condemns the theory, put forward now by many advanced 
 High-Churchmen, that there is any sacrifice in the eucharist, 
 except " the Sacrifice of Praise." It is a " Commemoration 
 and a Representation of that great Sacrifice offered up by 
 CJirist himself: As Bishop Jewel very Learnedly, and fully 
 acknowledges." The name of Bellarmine, the well-known 
 Catholic controversialist, who had died only a few years 
 earlier, having been mentioned. Laud says : — " If Bellarmin 
 go farther than this " — as of course he knew well enough that 
 he did — "he is Erroneous." His feelings as to the eucharist 
 are obviously implied again when, in contrasting the Catholic 
 with the Anglican liturgy,- he says : — " 'Tis one thing to Offer 
 us his Body, and another to Offer up the Memorial of his 
 Body." 
 
 All that Laud would admit, in respect to the Real Pre- 
 sence, was that the receiver was made a spiritual partaker of 
 Christ's body and blood. Thus he writes to Fisher^ of " the 
 faith of the church of England, that in the most blessed sacra- 
 ment the worthy receiver is by his faith made spiritually par- 
 taker of the true and real body and blood of Christ truly, and 
 really, and of all the benefits of his passion. Your Roman 
 Catholics add a manner of this his presence, transubstantia- 
 tion, which many deny ; and the Lutherans a manner of this 
 presence, consubstantiation, which more deny." Referring to 
 this passage, his Jesuit critic, T. C, not unfairly, I think, 
 says * : — " He understands such a belief of the English Pro- 
 testants real presence, as carries with it an express denial both 
 of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation in the Sacra- 
 ment." I write under correction ; but I imagine that this 
 
 ip. 123. - P. 115. 
 
 ^ "Conf. with Fisher," 0.\ford ed., p. 241. ^ " Lawd's Labyrinth," p. 308.
 
 S;f%^.^^3.] L ife of A rchbishop Laud. 4 1 1 
 
 would be considered rather low eucharistic teaching by 
 High-Churchmen of the present day. 
 
 In forming an opinion as to the orthodoxy of Laud's views 
 from a modern High-Church standpoint, it is well to bear in 
 mind his doctrine on the question of intention. Among 
 Catholics it is held that three things are necessary for the 
 validity of a sacrament, namely, the matter, the form, and 
 the intention, and I imagine that Anglicans of the High- 
 Church school would say as much, although they might use 
 those terms with a more or less modified meaning ; but 
 Laud distinctly denies that " this intention of either bishop 
 or priest " is " of absolute necessity to the essence of a 
 sacrament, so as to make void the gracious institution of 
 Christ"! 
 
 On the preceding page he says : — " Your council of Flor- 
 ence had told us, that three things are necessary to every 
 sacrament ; the matter, the form of the sacrament, and the 
 intention of the priest which administers it, that he intends to 
 do as the church doth. Your council of Trent confirms it 
 for the intention of the priest." He is treating of the possi- 
 bility of a pope's not being validly ordained ; but exactly the 
 same argument would apply to every sacrament. Perhaps 
 he may have felt the necessity of discarding the doctrine of 
 intention, owing to the certainty that some of the early 
 bishops of the Anglican establishment had no intention of 
 ordaining priests, or consecrating bishops, and consequently 
 that, if intention were necessary, at least a large number of 
 Anglican ordinations must be invalid. In support of his 
 theory of the needlessness of intention, he quotes a Neapo- 
 litan bishop ; but the author oi LawcTs Labyrinth proves ^ that 
 this bishop. Cardinal Catharinus, meant nothing of the kind. 
 Neither the matter nor the form were very certain in some of 
 the early Anglican consecrations of bishops, and little seemed 
 left to give the slightest colour of a sacrament to them when 
 Laud calmly repudiated the value of intention, and abso- 
 lutely taunted Fisher about the " error " held by his Church, 
 in maintaining that " a sacrament is not perfectly given, if he 
 
 1 "Conf. with Fisher," Oxford ed., p. 229. 2 p_ 285.
 
 412 Life of Archbishop LaiLci. ^M^nf.''^' 
 
 that administers it have not inteiitionem facicndi quod facit 
 ecclesia, an intention to do that which the church doth by 
 sacraments." 
 
 Should it, however, turn out that modern High-Anglicans 
 are of one mind with Laud on this question, I would humbly 
 apologise for misrepresenting them.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Mr Prynne was not long in producing before the world one 
 of the treasures he discovered among the papers which he had 
 laid hands upon in Laud's rooms at the Tower. It appeared 
 in the form of a tract, bearing on its title page the words, 
 " It is ordered by the Committee of the House of Commons 
 in Parliament, concerning Printing, this first day of August, 
 1643. That this Book, Intituled ROME's MASTER- 
 PIECE, be forthwith Printed by Michael Sparke, Senior." 
 The full title was " Rome's Master-Piece : or. The Grand 
 Conspiracy of the Pope and his Jesuited Instruments, To 
 Extirpate the Protestant Religion, Re-establish Popery, Sub- 
 vert Laws, Liberties, Peace, Parliaments ; By Kindling a 
 Civil War in Scotland, and all his Majesty's Realms, and to 
 Poison the King himself, in case he Comply not with them 
 in these their execrable Designs." This plot was said to 
 have been revealed to Andreas ab Habernfield by an apostate 
 priest, who "having known the vanities of the Pontifician 
 Religion," "felt his conscience to be burdened," and appears 
 to have relieved it by telling lies to the Protestants. " This 
 good man " having told his story to Habernfield, who is said 
 to have been a chaplain to the Queen of Bohemia, Habern- 
 field repeated it to Sir William Boswell, English Minister at 
 the Hague ; Boswell then wrote about it to Laud, and Laud 
 told King Charles. Prynne's object in getting this corre- 
 spondence published was to show that although several 
 well-known characters were named as concerned in the plot, 
 namely, the Duchess of Buckingham, Lady Arundel ("a 
 strenuous she-champion of the Popish Religion "), Lady 
 Newport, Montague, Digby, Winter, Lord Arundel, Winde- 
 bank (" a most fierce Papist "), and Porter, the Groom of the 
 
 413
 
 414 Life of A rchbisJwp Laud. [it?^'.^'^" 
 
 Bed-Chamber, neither Laud nor the king instituted " any 
 Prosecution of the Conspirators." 
 
 The greater part of the correspondence printed in this 
 pamphlet took place in 1640, and Habernfield's letters read 
 very like hoaxes. They state " that a certain Society hath 
 conspired, which attempts the Death of the King (and Lord 
 Archbishop), and Convulsion of the whole Realm." Habern- 
 field wrote to Laud that when the " good man," i.e., the 
 apostate priest, " related to me the Factions of the Jesuits, 
 with which the whole Earthly World was assaulted," " my 
 Bowels were contracted together, my Loyns trembled with 
 horrour, that a pernicious Gulf should be prepared for so 
 many thousands of Souls." As to Laud himself, he wrote : 
 — " How many Rocks, how many Scillas, how many dis- 
 pleased Charibdes appear before your Grace, in what a 
 dangerous Sea the Cockboat of your Grace's Life, next to 
 Shipwrack, is tossed, your self may judge ; the Fore-deck of 
 the Ship is speedily to be driven to the Harbour." He signs 
 himself, not at all inaptly, " Your Grace's most Observant, 
 and most Officious Andrew Habernfield.^' 
 
 Laud wrote an account of the matter to Charles, saying : 
 — " The Business (if it be) is extream foul. The discovery 
 thus by God's Providence offered, seems fair." And he pro- 
 fesses that " with the labour or indignation " produced by it, 
 he "fell into an extream faint Sweat." Judging, however, 
 from the fact that neither the archbishop nor the king pro- 
 ceeded to take any steps against the alleged conspirators, it 
 would seem that, on their calmer judgment, both of them 
 came to regard the affair in the light of a mare's nest and 
 certainly there is not a grain of evidence in Habernfield's 
 letters in support of his assertions. Even in his letters to 
 the king, Laud appears to have had some doubts of the 
 authenticity of the story. In asking Charles to keep the 
 affair secret for the present, he says : — " This Information 
 is either true, or there is some mistake in it : If it be true, 
 the persons which make the discovery, will deserve Thanks 
 and Reward ; if there should be any mistake in it, your 
 Majesty can lose nothing but a little silence."
 
 arca^i643.] Life of ArcJibisliop Laud. 415 
 
 As Charles and Laud were, according to Habernfield, the 
 chief people endangered, one would have thought that the 
 publication of the correspondence by their enemies would 
 have only proved to the nation that neither of them had 
 shown any inclination, or favour, to Popery. The object of 
 the Commons, however, may have been to reveal Habern- 
 field's statement that Con had been informally received as a 
 Papal Legate in London.^ 
 
 Laud writes - that the publishing of the pamphlet was " to 
 drive the People into headlong mischief." 
 
 It is difficult, if possible, to believe that designs were ever 
 framed by any of the people named in the " Master-piece " 
 against the persons of either Charles or Laud ; that they 
 were entertained by either the Pope or Cardinal Barberini, 
 who were also stated to be in the plot, is much more unlikely, 
 nor is it probable that any plot to murder either Laud or 
 Charles was ever contemplated by even a small party of 
 English Catholics. Without doubt a " Plot to Extirpate the 
 Protestant Religion," and to " Re-establish Popery," existed, 
 as it exists now, in exactly the same sense that a plot to 
 extirpate one religion and establish another exists wherever, 
 and whenever, missionaries go to a country to introduce 
 their own religion and substitute it for the religion held by 
 the majority of the inhabitants of that country. 
 
 As to Laud's relations with Con, further evidence is now 
 available. Con wrote to Rome : — " Canterbury told the 
 Oueen he could not visit me without raising a storm." " Can- 
 terbury spoke of me, saying I was bitter because he could 
 not visit me." " Canterbury urged the King to renew edicts 
 against the Queen's chapels and to stop the growth of Popery. 
 Was only way of quieting the affairs in Scotland to make 
 laws against the Catholics." "Canterbury is following his 
 old artifices. He shows himself the head of the Anglican 
 Church, and is as much a Puritan as a Catholic. In London 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 5S5. "Master Cuneus did at that time enjoy the Office of the 
 Pope's Legat." Again, "Cuneus smelling from the Archbishop, most trusty to 
 the King, that the King's mind was wholly pendulous for doubtful), &c." 
 
 ^ lb., p. 209.
 
 41 6 Life of Archbishop Land. [St?^.^'^' 
 
 many reports are spread of the negotiations between Canter- 
 bury and myself; but as I have written, though I would 
 willingly make use of him to undo the schism, still he 
 changes so much in what he says. Of his nature he is timid, 
 ambitious and inconstant." ^ As a matter of fact, Con would 
 have made a good witness for Laud at his trial ! 
 
 To add to the sorrows of Laud's imprisonment, news 
 arrived in the spring of 1643 that his dear old native town 
 of Reading, after a siege of ten days, had surrendered to 
 the parliamentary forces under the Earl of Essex, who had 
 a force of eighteen thousand men. The only comfort we hear 
 of his receiving, about this time, was the news (already 
 noticed in an earlier chapter) that Sir Kenelm Digby had 
 borne witness, in examination before a committee of the 
 House of Commons, that Laud " laboured with him against 
 his return to the Church of Rome" and that he believed 
 Laud to be, what he professed to be, a Protestant, accom- 
 panied by a kind message from Sir Kenelm himself But 
 this was a single good incident among many that were 
 unfavourable. The queen was impeached in the House 
 of Lords by Pym, in the name of the Commons, and Waller, 
 the poet, who had privately advocated the formation of a 
 third party to mediate between the king and the Parliament, 
 was arrested, together with several who sympathised with 
 him, and he only "saved his life by the most abject sub- 
 mission. ' He seemed much smitten in conscience : he 
 desired the help of Godly ministers.' " "^ Two of his com- 
 panions were executed. 
 
 " Then came the Covenant, that excellent Piece of . . . ,"3 
 as Laud writes, which was a new oath taken by the members 
 of the House of Commons, in which they all swore " never 
 to consent to the laying down of arms so long as the papists, 
 in open war against the parliament should be protected 
 against the justice thereof, but according to their power 
 and vocation, to assist the forces raised by the parliament 
 
 1 Transcript from Papal Registers relating to England, &c., 1637-8. Brit. 
 Mus., Add. MSS. 15,390. 
 
 ^ Lingard, vol, viii. chap. i. ^" Hist.," p. 210.
 
 Circa J643.-] j^^j^ of ArckbisJiop Laud. 4 1 7 
 
 against the forces raised by the king." It was ordained 
 that not only M.P.s, but every man should swear the same 
 covenant in his parish church.^ 
 
 This oath was much more than a mere protestation. It 
 was a covenant between the English and the Scots, between 
 the Puritans and the Presbyterians. It provided "that all 
 endeavours should be used for the preservation of the 
 Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland, both in 
 Doctrine, Worship, Liturgy, and Government ; and for 
 bringing the three Kingdoms to the nearest Conjunction, 
 and Uniformity in Religion, Confession of Faith, Form of 
 Church Government, Directory for Worship and Catechism." 
 There was also to be an "extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, 
 that is. Church Government, by Arch-bishops and Bishops," 
 &c., " and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on the 
 Hierarchy, Superstition, Heresie, Schism, Profaneness, and 
 whatsoever should be found contrary to sound Doctrine, and 
 the power of Godliness." 
 
 The extirpation of archbishops threatened the complete 
 ruin of Laud, and afterwards came a passage that, as Heylin 
 says,2 "seems to have been made to no other purpose but 
 to bring the Archbishop to the Block." It makes the 
 covenanters swear "that they should with all diligence and 
 faithfulness discover all such as have been, or shall be 
 Incendiaries, Malignants, or evil Instruments, by hindering 
 the Reformation of Religion, dividing the King from his 
 People, or one of the Kingdoms from one another, or making 
 any Faction or Parties amongst the People contrary to this 
 League and Covenant, that they may be brought to publick 
 trial, and receive condign punishment, &c." If Laud's name 
 had been mentioned among them, the object of these words 
 could scarcely have been plainer. Heylin says '^ that certain 
 people "with no unhappy curiosity observing the number 
 of words which make up this Covenant, abstracted from the 
 Preface and Conclusion of it, found them amounting in the 
 total to 666, neither more nor less, which being the number 
 of the Beast in the Revelation, &c., &c., may very justly 
 
 1 Lingard, vol. viii. chap. i. "- " Cyp. Aug.," p. 478. ^ lb., p. 479. 
 
 2 D
 
 41 8 Life of Archbishop Land. [iryo.^'^^ 
 
 intitle it to so much of Antichrist, as others have en- 
 deavoured to confer on the Popes of Rome." 
 
 When the news of this covenant reached the king, he 
 interdicted all his subjects from either imposing or taking it, 
 but his proclamation "came out too late to hinder the taking 
 and enjoying of this Covenant."'^ Two days after the members 
 of Parliament and the Assembly of divines took it in St 
 Margaret's Church, Westminster, " it was administered with 
 no less solemnity to divers Lords, Knights, Gentlemen, 
 Colonels, Officers, Souldiers, and others residing in and 
 about the City of London." On the Sunday following, it 
 was "enjoyned to be taken" in all the churches and "Chappels 
 of London, within the Lilies of Communication, by all and 
 every the Inhabitants within the same, as afterwards by all 
 the Kingdom in convenient time. Prosecuted in all places, 
 with such cursed rigour, that all such who refused to sub- 
 scribe the same, and to lift up their hands to God in testi- 
 mony that they called him to witness to it, were turned out 
 of house and home, as they use to say, not suffered to 
 compound for their Goods or Lands till they had submitted 
 thereunto. A terrible and a woful time, in which men were 
 not suffered to enjoy their Estates without betraying them- 
 selves to the King's displeasure, and making shipwrack of a 
 good conscience in the sight of God." 
 
 Meanwhile, Charles was no less eager than the covenanters 
 in proclaiming his Protestant orthodoxy. On one occasion, 
 when Archbishop Usher was just going to give him com- 
 munion, he rose and said to him, in a loud enough voice for 
 the whole congregation' to hear ^ : — " My Lord, I have to the 
 utmost of my soul prepared to become a worthy receiver ; and 
 may I so receive comfort by the blessed sacrament, as I do 
 intend the establishment of the true reformed Protestant 
 religion, as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of Queen 
 Elizabeth, without any connivance at popery." [This almost 
 sounded like a hit at Laud.] " I bless God that in the 
 midst of these publick distractions I have still liberty to 
 communicate ; and may this sacrament be to my damnation, 
 
 VCyp. Ang.," p. 479. -Rushworth, v. 346.
 
 circa^i643.] Lifc of ArcJibisIwp Laud. 419 
 
 if my heart do not joyn with my lipps in this protestation." 
 Who, then, was ever a stronger Protestant than Charles I. ? 
 It was no question of the Church of England, the English 
 Church in its continuity from the early British Church, which 
 always, as we are now told, opposed Rome, or the English 
 Catholic Church versus the Roman Catholic Church ; but 
 " the true reformed Protestant religion " ! and might the 
 sacrament, which he was then and there about to receive, be 
 to his damnation, if his heart did not join with his lips in this 
 his solemn declaration of Protestantism. 
 
 Pennington, Lord Mayor of London, was now made Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower, and the day after he took possession of 
 it, which was a Sunday, Laud had to endure listening to a 
 sermon from a preacher who wore a buff coat under his gown, 
 and told the congregation that those who died in the cause 
 of the Parliament "were all Blessed," "with much more such 
 stuff." 
 
 Laud had now been long in prison awaiting his trial, and 
 in October 1643 he writes: — "By this time Mr Pryns 
 malice had hammer'd out something." Ten additional 
 articles were brought against him by the Commons on the 
 24th, and he was required to answer them in writing in six 
 days. He at once sent to the Lords to ask for longer time, 
 for money out of his own sequestrated estate " to fee " his 
 " councel, and to bear the necessary Charge of" his " Trial ; 
 for Coiincel, and for a Solicitor, and some Servants to attend " 
 his " Business," The Lords gave him all he asked for except 
 the money, as to which they referred him " to the Committee 
 of Sequestrations." The latter desired him to appear " /;/ 
 Forma Pauperis'^ On this and other questions he sent 
 several petitions to the Houses of Parliament. 
 
 His trial had been delayed by the alarm felt by the Parlia- 
 ment at some of the king's successes ; but when the parlia- 
 mentary troops were reported to be getting the best of the 
 war, the Commons took heart and proceeded fearlessly 
 against the archbishop. In short, as Heylin puts it^: — "And 
 thus the business was drilled on, hastned, or slackned, as the 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.,"p. 482.
 
 420 Life of ArchbisJiop Laud. [it^y.^"^' 
 
 Scots advanced in their expedition ; and as the expedition 
 prospered in success and fortune, so was it prosecuted and 
 advanced to its fatal Period. For understanding that the 
 Scots were entred England and had marcht victoriously 
 almost as far as the Banks of the River Tine, they prest the 
 Lords to name a day for the beginning of his Tryal, who 
 thereupon fixed it upon Tuesday the twelfth of March next 
 ensuing." 
 
 But I am anticipating. In the previous November, he was 
 summoned to the Bar of the House of Lords, in order to put 
 in his claims for the assistance of counsel and fees to pay 
 them with. What he ^ "spake to the Lords was this : ' That I 
 had no Skill to judge of the Streights into which I might fall 
 by my Plea, which I had resolved on, being left without all 
 assistance of my Conncel, in regard to the nature and form of 
 the Impeachment, that was against me." 
 
 When he had put in his written answer — " All Advantages 
 of Laiv against this Impeachjnent saved and reserved to this 
 Defendant, he pleads Not Guilty to all, and every part of the 
 InipeacJunent, in maftner and form as 'tis Charged in the 
 Articles:" he humbly besought their Lordships "to take 
 into their Honourable Consideration," his great years, " being 
 Threescore and ten compleat," pleading that his "Memory, and 
 other Faculties, by Age and Affliction," were " much decayed," 
 and that he was suffering from the effects of his " long Im- 
 prisonment, wanting very little of three whole Years, and this 
 last year little better than close Imprisonment." Then he 
 thanked the Lords for assigning him counsel ; at the same 
 time expressing a doubt whether, as his " Councel were most 
 ready to obey their Lordships in all the Commands laid upon 
 them," they would advise him " without Offence." The 
 charges against him were " so interwoven, and left without 
 all distinguishment, what is intended as a Charge of T7^eason, 
 and what of Crime and Misdemeanour : That to remove these 
 Doubts," he " had humbly besought tJieir Lordships twice for 
 distinguishment, &c.," and his " Prayers were" "that having 
 (not without much difficulty) prevailed upon" his ''Councel 
 
 1 '* Hist.," 212.
 
 circaj643.] Life of Arcliblshop Laiid. 421 
 
 to attend ; tJieir Lordships would be pleased to hear them 
 speak in this very perplexed Business." 
 
 His counsel were heard, and so far induced the Lords to 
 " think upon the distinguishment " that they " seem'd some- 
 what better content, that they had gotten so much." He 
 adds, with evident pride : — " Not long after this, I heard from 
 good Hands, that some of the Lords confessed, I had much 
 deceived their expectation ; for they found me in a Calm, but 
 thought I would have been stormy," anticipating that " Choler 
 and Indignation might thrust forth." If they had expected 
 anything of the kind, they had been foolish enough to forget 
 that it is one thing to be a judge — especially in such a 
 tribunal as the Star Chamber — and quite another to be a 
 prisoner. 
 
 Twice, again, within the next couple of months, he had to 
 appear at the Bar " at the Lords Llouse," to put in his 
 answers, before his regular trial began. On the last occasion 
 (it was the 22nd of January) " the TJianies was so full of Ice, 
 that he could not go by Water. It was Frost and Snow, and 
 a most bitter day." He went " therefore with the Lieutenant 
 in his Coach, and twelve Warders with Halberts went all along 
 the Streets." He " could not obtain either the sending of 
 them before, or the suffering them to come behind, but with 
 the Coach they must come ; which was as good as to call the 
 People about " him. " So from the Tower-gate to Westmin- 
 ster^' he " was sufficiently railed on, and reviled all the way. 
 God forgive the misguided People." Coming back, however, 
 " the Tyde serving " him, he " made a hard shift to return 
 by Water." 
 
 On the 28th of December 1643, " one Mr Wells" a New- 
 England minister went to the Tower, obtained, through the 
 son of the Lieutenant, an interview with Laud, " and in a 
 boisterous manner demanded to know " whether he had 
 repented or not. Laud fancied that he had never seen the 
 man before ; but, when he hinted as much, Mr Wells cor- 
 rected him, reminding him that when he had been a clergy- 
 man in Essex, Laud, then Bishop of London, had suspended 
 him. By degrees, Laud " recalled the Man to " his " Remem-
 
 42 2 Life of Archbishop Laud. St?7o'''" 
 
 brance, and what care " he " took in Conference with him at 
 London-House, to recall him from some of his turbulent ways ; 
 but all in vain." This probably meant a sound and violent 
 rating. Now Mr Wells was taking care to recall Laud from 
 some of his turbulent ways, telling him in conclusion that he 
 "went about to bring Popery into the Kingdom, and" he 
 hoped he should have his " Reward for it." But the last 
 word was with Laud, who writes : — " When I saw him at this 
 heighth, I told him, he and his Fellows, what by their Ignor- 
 ance, and what by their Railing, and other boisterous Carriage, 
 would soon actually make more Papists by far, than ever I 
 intended ; and that I was a better Protestant than he, or any 
 of his Followers." A proud, nor unfounded boast ! " So I 
 left him in his Heat," he says. He tells us nothing of his 
 own temperature. 
 
 We now approach Laud's trial. To deal with it at length 
 would require a separate volume. Laud's own account of 
 it fills more than two hundred folio pages. So many are the 
 details of his past that are brought to light in it, that to take 
 the trial alone, and write fully upon it, would be one way, nor 
 altogether a bad way, of writing a life of Laud. I have 
 rather worked in the opposite direction, referring occasionally 
 to Laud's account of his trial for particulars on this point or 
 on that, in the course of my attempt to write his biography. 
 
 It was an exceedingly long trial. " Mr Pryn was trusted 
 with the providing of all the Evidence, and was Relater 
 and Prompter, and all : Never weary of anything, so he 
 might do " Laud " mischief." The counsel employed by 
 the Government against the prisoner were Serjeant Wilde, 
 Browne, Maynard, Nicolas, and Hill ; but the last named 
 " was ConsnVBibulus" and did not speak at the Bar. 
 
 Laud was convinced, and with reason, of the strong general 
 feeling that he must be sacrificed. " A Man of good Credit" 
 told him that " a P arliament-y\.-axi " " was pleased to say " 
 that Laud was now an old man, and that it would be a 
 happy thing, both for himself and the Parliament, if God 
 would be pleased to take him away ; but Laud writes that he 
 was certain that " if Age, or Grief, or Faintness of Spirit had
 
 %')l^*^-] Life of Archbishop LatLd. 423 
 
 ended " his days, there would have been an outcry " against 
 this hard Chance, that should take away so guilty a Person 
 from Publick Tryal." When a friend of his bemoaned his 
 case to " another Parliaineut-Md,xi (of whom " he " had de- 
 served very well)," and said he was a good man, " The Parlia- 
 meni-Man replyed, Be lie never so Good, we must now make 
 him III for our own sakes." During the trial itself, again, 
 " some Citizens of London were heard to say, that indeed " 
 Laud " answered many things very well : But " he " must 
 sufifer somewhat for the Honour of the Honse!'
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 I YIELD to none in my admiration of the courage with which 
 Laud met his judges and his accusers at his trial ; yet I can- 
 not but admit that he may have been, to some small extent, 
 buoyed up all through it by the thought that he had a signed 
 and sealed pardon from the king in his pocket, in case he 
 should be condemned to death. Clarendon says ^ that " the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had always a great Rever- 
 ence and affection for him, had spoken to the King of it," 
 [his trial] " and proposed to. him, 'that in all events, there 
 might be a Pardon prepared, and sent to him, under the Great 
 Seal of England ; to the end, if they proceeded against him 
 in any form of Law, he might plead the King's Pardon ; which 
 must be allow'd by all who pretended to be govern'd by the 
 Law ; but if they proceeded in a Martial, or any other extra- 
 ordinary way, without any form of Law, his Majesty should 
 declare his Justice and Affection to an old faithful Servant, 
 whom he much esteem'd, in having done all towards his pre- 
 servation that was in his power to do.' The King was 
 wonderfully pleased with this Proposition ; and took from 
 thence occasion to commend the Piety and Virtue of the 
 Arch-Bishop, with extraordinary Affection ; and commanded 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to cause the Pardon to be 
 prepared, and his Majesty would Sign and Seal it with all 
 possible secrecy ; which at that time was necessary.'' This 
 project was carried out, and the pardon, " Sign'd and Seal'd 
 with the Great Seal of England," was " carefully sent, and 
 deliver'd into the Arch-Bishop's own hand, before he was 
 brought to his Trial ; who receiv'd it with great joy, as it was 
 a Testimony of the King's gracious Affection to him, and 
 care. of him, without any opinion that they who endeavour'd 
 
 1 Vol. iv. p. 573. 
 424
 
 S";;'''] Life of Archbishop Land. 425 
 
 to take away the King's Life, would preserve his by his 
 Majesty's Authority." 
 
 When Laud showed the pardon to his counsel, they made 
 certain technical objections to it, so he sent it back to the 
 king by the same messenger, and " it was perfected accord- 
 ingly, and deliver'd safely again to him, and was in his hands 
 during the whole time of his Trial." 
 
 I will endeavour to keep my account of this celebrated 
 trial for high treason within reasonable limits ; but I should 
 not be doing justice to the subject unless I gave some idea of 
 the articles of impeachment. I will, therefore, quote a 
 summary of them from Celebrated Trials, and Remarkable 
 Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence. From the Earliest Records 
 to the Year 1825 : and the reader can glance through it, or 
 not, as he pleases. 
 
 These articles were sent in two divisions. The first were : — 
 
 " I. That he had traitorously endeavoured to subvert the 
 laws, and introduce arbitrary government. 
 
 " 2. That he had denied the authority of parliaments, 
 establishing an absolute power, not only in the king, but in 
 himself and other bishops, above and against the law. 
 
 " 3. That by threats and promises to the judges, he had 
 perverted the courts of justice, and deprived the king's subjects 
 of their rights. 
 
 "4. That in his own courts he had sold justice, and taken 
 bribes. 
 
 " 5. That he had caused divers canons to be made, contrary 
 to the king's prerogative, and the laws ; established an un- 
 lawful authority in himself, and successors ; and endeavoured 
 to confirm his exorbitant power by a wicked oath. 
 
 " 6. That he had assumed a papal and tyrannical power. 
 
 " 7. That he endeavoured to subvert the true religion, and 
 introduce popish superstition. 
 
 " 8. That he abused the trust his Majesty reposed in him, 
 procuring the nomination of persons to ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ments, which belonged to others, preferring persons that were 
 popishly affected. 
 
 " 9. That his own chaplains, to whom he committed the
 
 426 Life of Archbishop Land. Et'^'^'"' 
 
 licensing of books, were popishly affected, which had 
 occasioned the pubhshing of divers superstitious books. 
 
 " 10. That he endeavoured to reconcile the churches of 
 England and Rome, and countenanced the establishing a 
 popish hierarchy in the kingdom. 
 
 " II. That he had caused several orthodox ministers to be 
 silenced, and deprived, and many loyal subjects to forsake 
 the kingdom. 
 
 " 12. That he had abrogated the privileges granted the 
 French and Dutch churches in this kingdom, endeavouring 
 to cause discord between the Church of England and other 
 reformed churches. 
 
 " 13. That he had laboured to bring divers popish innova- 
 tions into the kingdom of Scotland, in order to create a war 
 between the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and advised 
 his Majesty to subdue the Scots, forcing the English clergy 
 to contribute to that war ; that he had censured the pacifica- 
 tion as dishonourable, and so incensed his Majesty, that he 
 entered into an offensive war with the Scots. 
 
 " 14. That, to prevent his being questioned for these traitor- 
 ous proceedings, he endeavoured to subvert the rights of the 
 parliament, and to cause divisions between his Majesty and 
 his people ; for which they impeached him of high treason." 
 
 The second set of articles comprised the following : — 
 
 " I. The first additional article charges, that in the 3rd 
 and 4th year of the king, he caused the parliament to be 
 dissolved, and aspersed the members, affirming they were 
 factious Puritans, and commended the Papists. 
 
 " 2. That for ten years past he had endeavoured to advance 
 the power of the council-table, the canons of the church, and 
 the king's prerogative above the laws. 
 
 " 3. That to advance the ecclesiastical power, he had 
 hindered the granting writs of prohibition to the ecclesiastical 
 courts. 
 
 "4. That a judgment being given against one Burley, a 
 parson, for non-residency, he had stayed execution by apply- 
 ing to the judges, and said, ' He would never suffer a 
 judgment to pass against a clergyman, by nihil dicit.'
 
 Circa ^i644.] /^/^, of ArcIibisJiop Laud. 427 
 
 " 5. That he had caused Sir John Corbet, a justice of 
 peace, to be imprisoned, for causing the petition of right 
 to be read at the sessions of the peace ; and, during his 
 imprisonment, granted away part of the glebe lands of 
 Alderley " [Adderley] " belonging to the said Sir John ; and 
 prevented the execution of a judgment, which Sir John had 
 obtained, and procured him to be committed by the council- 
 table, till he submitted to their order. 
 
 " 6. That divers sums being given for purchasing impro- 
 priations, he had caused the same to be overthrown in the 
 Court of Exchequer. 
 
 " 7. That he had harboured and relieved Popish priests, 
 who had traduced the 39 articles. 
 
 " 8. That he had said, a blow must be given to the church 
 before it could be brought to conformity. 
 
 "9. That in May 1640 he caused the convocation to be 
 held, after the dissolution of the parliament, where canons 
 were made, contrary to law and the privilege of the parlia- 
 ment, and a dangerous and illegal oath formed, approving the 
 doctrine and discipline of the established church, and pro- 
 mising not to consent to any alteration in the government of 
 the church by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, &c. 
 Which oath he had taken himself, and caused other ministers 
 to take ; and imprisoned the bishop of Gloucester, for refusing 
 to subscribe the said canons, and take the oath, till he 
 submitted. 
 
 " 10. That a resolution being taken at the council-table for 
 assisting the king by extraordinary means, if the parliament 
 should prove peevish, the archbishop wickedly advised his 
 Majesty to dissolve the parliament in 1640, and it was there- 
 upon dissolved ; and soon after he told his Majesty, ' that he 
 was now absolved from all rules of government, and at liberty 
 to use extraordinary ways for a supply.' " ^ 
 
 Now the evidence given in the foregoing portion of the 
 present volume should be sufficient, I think, to convince the 
 reader of three things ; the first, that a great part of the 
 above charges were utterly unfounded ; the second, that a 
 
 ^ "Celebrated Trials," vol. ii. pp. 26-28.
 
 428 Life of Archbishop Lmcd. [S??/.^^*' 
 
 large proportion of the remainder were grossly exaggerated ; 
 the third, that there was a certain residue of true accusations 
 which, in the hands of the kind of judges who were to try 
 Laud, might be used for ruinous, if not fatal, purposes. This 
 being the case, it became of the utmost importance to him to 
 ascertain which of the offences charged in the articles were 
 held to be high treason, and which mere misdemeanours, and 
 for this reason, as we saw in the last chapter, he " besought 
 their Lordships twice for distinguishment." 
 
 At last the day came, and the little old man, still rather 
 lame, hobbled to the Bar of the House of Lords, dressed in 
 his black gown and white ruff, without his rochet, and wear- 
 ing his close-fitting black cap on his head. As he looked up 
 the long hall, with its tapestried walls, within which he had 
 so often acted a prominent part, he observed that the benches 
 on either side were very scantily occupied. Instead of being 
 set at his ease by seeing an array of judges that was numer- 
 ically far from formidable, he was filled with dismay ; for he 
 knew that the larger the number of peers present, the stronger 
 would have been the majority in his favour. 
 
 He had only just become "settled at the Bar," when 
 Serjeant Wilde rose to open the case for the prosecution. If 
 Laud had little personal knowledge of Wilde, he had " had a 
 Character given " him " of this Gentleman, which " he fore- 
 bore to express. Still, he was conscious that he himself had 
 been a member of the august body which was to try him, 
 and he probably comforted himself with the reflection that, 
 for this reason, he would be treated with respect and courtesy, 
 if with severity. 
 
 When he had passed sentence on Williams, had he not 
 begun with compliments } Whatever might come later in 
 the Serjeant's speech, the opening would be flattering. A 
 contemporary writer informs us that Serjeant Wilde spoke 
 " with abundance of elegancy." 
 
 " This great cause of the Archbishop of Canterbury," he 
 began,! " after a long and painful travail, is now come to the 
 Birth." And then he explained the reasons of the long 
 
 ^ *' Canterburies Doome."
 
 circa^i644.-] j^ij^^ of Arckbiskop Laud. 429 
 
 delay, amounting to three years and as many months. Hav- 
 ing disposed of these preliminary details, he proceeded to the 
 business in hand. " If all the oppressions, all the pernicious 
 practices and machinations, which have been in each time to 
 ruinate our religious laws and liberties, were lost, I think here 
 they might be found again to the life." 
 
 Then he enumerated some of the prisoner's crimes. He 
 " laboured a Reconciliation with Rome." (I am quoting now 
 from Laud's own account.^) He " maintained Popish and 
 Arniinian Opinions:" he "suffered Transubstantiation, Justi- 
 fication by Merits, Purgatory, and what not, to be openly 
 preached all over the Kingdom : " he " induced Superstitious 
 Ceremonies, as Consecrations of Churches, and Chalices, and 
 Pictures of CJirist in Glas-Windows " : he " held Intelligence 
 with Cardinals and Priests, and endeavoured to ascend to 
 Papal Dignity ; Offers being made " him "to be a Cardinal." 
 He " caused Sermons to be Preached in Court to set the 
 Kings Prerogative above the Law." Presently he went on (I 
 refer now to Prynne's account -) : — " Had they been faults of 
 common frailty, error or incognitancy, which this man had 
 committed, we should gladly have stepped back, and cast a 
 cloak over them ; but being so wilful, so universal, so com- 
 prehensive of all the evils and miseries which now we suffer, 
 the sin would lie upon our own heads, if we should not call 
 for justice." 
 
 After going on in this strain, for a time, he said : — " That 
 which of itself is so heinous is much more enhanced and aggra- 
 vated by the quality of the person : a church-man ; a great 
 prelate ; a great man in great trust ; " and " a man endued 
 with so great gifts of nature " — here Laud may have been re- 
 minded of his own sentence on Williams — " and favour from 
 His Majesty, and for all these to be perverted to a contrary 
 end, even to the destruction of the public, and the ruin of the 
 womb that bare him, how deep a dye do these impose upon 
 his foul crime." ^ 
 
 " Here was treason in the highest pitch and altitude" (I 
 am quoting now from Celebrated Trials^) ; " even the betray- 
 
 ^ " Hist.," p. 221. - " Canterburies Doome." ^ //'. ■* Vol. ii. p. 30.
 
 430 Life of Archbishop Laitd. '^Mt^l^^^' 
 
 ing the whole realm, and the subversion of the very founda- 
 tions." " Churchmen in all ages, were the archest seedsmen 
 of mischief, and the principal actors in all the great distrac- 
 tions that had happened ; and as they meddled with tem- 
 poral things, heterogeneal to their calling, God was pleased 
 to smite with blindness, and infatuate their councils, of which 
 this prelate was an instance ; who, employing his time in 
 state affairs, became the author of all the illegal and tyran- 
 nical proceedings and innovations in religion and govern- 
 ment, and indeed, of all the concussions and distractions 
 that had happened in church and state. And when by the 
 magnanimity of former princes, and the wisdom of their ances- 
 tors, they had shaken off the antichristian yoke ; and when 
 they had seen such bloody massacres, plots, and prosecutions 
 at home and abroad, in order to introduce it again ; that this 
 man should go about to reduce them to those rotten prin- 
 ciples of error and darkness again, it could not be expected 
 but the people should be ready to stone him." 
 
 " To conclude." (I quote from Prynne.^) " Naaman was a 
 great man, but he was a leper. This man's leprosy hath so 
 infected all, as there remains no other cure but the sword of 
 justice, which we doubt not but your Lordships will so apply, 
 that the Common Wealth shall yet live again and flourish." 
 
 The rodomontade of this Serjeant Buzfuz of the seven- 
 teenth century greatly affected the prisoner against whom it 
 was directed. " I was much troubled," he writes, " to see my 
 self, in such an Honourable Assembly made so vile." Never- 
 theless, he braced himself up and said : — 
 
 " My Lords, my being in this Place, and in this Condition, 
 recalls to my memory that which I long since read in Seneca; 
 Tormentuvi est, etianisi absolutus quis fuerit, Causani dixisse, 
 'Tis not a grief only, no, 'tis no less than a Torment, for an 
 ingenuous Man to plead Criminally, much more Capitally, at 
 such a Bar as this ; yea, though it should so fall out, that he 
 be absolved. The truth of this I find at present in my self: 
 And so much the more because I am a Christian ; And not 
 that only, but in Holy Orders ; And not so only, but by God's 
 
 ^ "Canterburies Doome," p. 53.
 
 Circa 1644] Llfc of Avchbishop LatLci. 431 
 
 Grace and Goodness preferred to the greatest Place this 
 Church affords ; and yet now brought, Causani dicerc, to Plead, 
 and for no less than Life, at this Great Bar. And whatsoever 
 the World thinks of me (and they have been taught to think 
 more ill, than, I humbly thank Omst for it, I was ever 
 acquainted with ;) Yet, ;;// Lords, this I find, Tornientum est, 
 'tis no less than Torment to me to appear in this Place to 
 such an Accusation. Nay, my Lords, give me leave, I be- 
 seech you, to speak plain Truth : No Sentence, that you can 
 justly pass upon me (and other I will never fear ixovix your 
 Lordships), can go near me as Causavi dixisse, to have 
 pleaded for my self, upon this occasion, and in this Place. 
 For as for the Sentence (I thank God for it) I am at St Paul's 
 Word : Lf / have coinniitted any thing worthy of death, L 
 refuse not to die : For I bless God, I have so spent my time, as 
 that I am neither ashamed to live, nor afraid to die. Nor 
 can the World be more weary of me, than I am of it : For 
 seeing the Malignity which hath been raised against me by 
 some Men, I have carried my Life in my Hands these divers 
 years past. But yet, my Lords, if none of these things, 
 whereof these Men accuse me, merit Death by Law ; though 
 I may not in this Case, and from this Bar appeal unto Ccesar ; 
 yet Xoyour Lordships Justice and Litegrity, I both may, and 
 do Appeal ; not doubting, but that God of his Goodness will 
 preserve my Innocency." 
 
 Laud's greatest enemies could not fairly deny that this 
 opening of his defence was dignified and pathetic, and as free 
 from bombast as from cringing servility. He went on to say 
 that the charge against him was divided into two " main 
 Heads, the Laivs of the Land, and the Religion by those 
 Laws established." 
 
 As to the laws of the land, he made a very good case 
 for himself for having been "as strict an Observer of them 
 all the Days of" his "Life, so far as they" concerned him, 
 " as any Man." His defence in the matter of religion was 
 longer ; for he knew very well that it was here that the 
 danger lay. It was on his freedom from any inclination to 
 Catholicism that he placed most stress. " My Lords," he
 
 432 Life of Archbishop Laiid. [It?'!'.'''' 
 
 said, " I am as Innocent in this business of Religion, as free 
 from all Practise, or so much as thought of Practise for any 
 alteration to Popery, or any way blemishing the True Pro- 
 testant Religion Established in the Church of England, as I 
 was when my Mother first bare me into the World. "^ Again 
 he says : — " If I had any purpose to blast, the True Religion 
 Established in the CJmrch of England, and to introduce 
 Popery ; sure I took a very wrong way to it." Then he 
 said that he "stayed as many that were going to Rome, 
 and reduced as many that were already gone," as any 
 " Bishop or other Minister " in England. He gave the names 
 of about twenty people, whom he had either induced to 
 leave the Catholic Church after joining it, or to refrain from 
 joining it when they were on the point of doing so. 
 
 Thus ended the first day of his trial. He then left the 
 Bar and " went patiently into the little Committee-Chamber 
 at the entring into the House." Thither a Mr Peters, a 
 clergyman whom Laud had never before seen, but of whom 
 he had heard more than enough, followed him " in great 
 haste, and began to give " him " ill Language," telling him 
 that " he, and other Ministers, were able to name Thousands, 
 that they had converted." Peters was in such a "choler" 
 that one of Laud's counsel " stepped between " them, and 
 reproached him for his " uncivil Carriage " towards the arch- 
 bishop " in his Affliction." Mr Peters revenged himself by 
 going shortly afterwards to a church in Lambeth and preach- 
 ing against Laud, saying " that a great Prelat, their Neighbour 
 (or in words to that effect), had bragged in the Parliament- 
 House, that he had Converted Two and Twenty ; but that 
 he had Wisdom enough, not to tell how many Thousands 
 he had Perverted." 
 
 " After a little stay " in the " Committee-Chamber," Laud 
 received his " Dismission for that time, and a Command 
 to appear again at Nine in the Morning." He must have 
 spent, from first to last, a good deal of time in this chamber ; 
 for he tells us that although nine in the morning was his 
 " usual Hour to attend," he " was seldom called into the 
 
 1 " Hist.," p. 225.
 
 Circa ^,644. J ]^ jf^ gjT ^ rcJibisIiop L and. 433 
 
 House till two Hours after." Worse than this, on one 
 occasion, he writes^: — "After some Hours Attendance, I 
 was sent back again unheard, and Order'd to come again 
 on TJiursday',' and on another, " I was again brought to the 
 House, made a sufficient scorn and gazing-stock to the 
 People ; and after I had waited some hours, was sent back, 
 by Reason of other Business, unheard." Twice again he 
 mentions that he " attended the Pleasure of the House some 
 Hours," and " was remitted without Hearing " ; and he com- 
 plains of " the Charge which this frequent coming put " him 
 to. " I did not appear any day but it cost me six or seven 
 Pound. I grew into want." ^ 
 
 Besides its expense, " this frequent coming " was attended 
 with other annoyances. We find him writing^ that "the 
 Landing place at Westvnnster was not so full of People ; 
 and they which were there, much more civil towards me 
 than formerly. My Friends w^ere willing to perswade me, 
 that my Answer had much abated the edge of the People, 
 saving from the violent and factious Leaders of the Multitude, 
 whom it seems nothing would satisfie but my Life (for so 
 I was told in plain terms, by a Man deeply interested in 
 them ;) when I presently saw Qiiateruian coming towards 
 me, who, soon as he came, fell to his wonted Railing, and 
 asked aloud, tvJiat the Lords meant, to be troiibled so long and 
 so often, with such a base Fellow as I was, they sJwidd do well 
 to Hang me out of the way.'' 
 
 Before dealing with Laud's trial in detail, it may be well 
 to consider some of the public events which had recently 
 taken place, or were to take place in the course of it. 
 
 The great ecclesiastic in the neighbouring kingdom, whom 
 Laud is believed by some historians to have emulated, if not 
 imitated, was no more. Cardinal Richelieu had died when 
 he was at the summit of his power, just at the time that death 
 was threatening Laud when power had fallen from his grasp. 
 Again, when Laud's master, Charles I., had lost the control of 
 the kingdom which he had ruled in so despotic a manner for 
 many years, a youthful king, who was to become remarkable 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 281. 2/^_^p_28i. "^ Ib.,^.2,SA- 
 
 2 E
 
 434 Life of Archbishop Laud. V^Mt^l'''' 
 
 as the embodiment of extreme monarchical pretensions, had 
 ascended the throne of France, in the person of Louis XIV. 
 In England, a very different character was rapidly rising to 
 distinction during the progress of the trial of Laud. Oliver 
 Cromwell was to be the means of destroying the king who 
 had not, perhaps, been so faithful to Laud as Laud had been 
 to him. In the middle of Laud's trial, Cromwell crushed the 
 power of the royalists in the North of England at the battle 
 of Marston Moor. Each piece of news, as it reached Laud in 
 the Tower, must have increased his hopelessness. Perhaps 
 the most cruel blow of all may have been the abolition of his 
 beloved Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 It was while Laud's trial was going on that the great party 
 of Independents attained its extraordinary supremacy in 
 England. Their very existence as a predominant power 
 would have been fatal to Laud's liberty, if not to his existence. 
 Meanwhile, the appearance of the streets of London had 
 greatly changed. The smart cavaliers and gay royalist troops 
 were no more seen, and in their place were round-heads, 
 whigs, high-peaked hats, black capes, " godly " ministers, and 
 the sombre uniforms of the parliamentary soldiers. The 
 "raskle rabble," as Heylin called it, was allowed to go 
 pretty much where it liked, and peers and peeresses, and 
 country squires and their wives and daughters were little 
 thought of or respected. It is true that the wild ruffianism 
 and immorality that usually accompany revolutions were 
 absent, and that sermons, which are rarely tolerated in any 
 shape on such occasions, were the favourite entertainment of 
 both soldiers and civilians ; but it was none the less evident 
 that London was in the stern presence of what has been well 
 named by Clarendon " The Great Rebellion."
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 An account of the trial of Laud might be written in more 
 than one way. His biographer, Heylin, might be quoted to 
 the effect that his persecutors found ^ " more difficulty in it 
 than was first lookt for," as his defence " gave such a general 
 satisfaction to all that heard it, that the mustering up of all 
 the evidence against him would not take it off. To prove the 
 first branch of the charge against him, they had ript up the 
 whole course of his Life, from his first coming to Oxford, till 
 his Commitment to the Tower; but could find no sufficient 
 Proof of any design to bring in Popery, or suppress the true 
 Protestant Religion here by Law Established. For want 
 whereof, they insisted upon such Reproaches as were laid 
 upon him when he lived in the University, the beautifying of 
 his Chappel Windows with Pictures and Images, the Solemn 
 Consecration of Churches and Chappels, &c., &c. ; " " the care 
 and diligence of his Chaplains in expunging some offensive 
 passages out of" certain books; "the preferring of many 
 able men to his Majesties Service, and to advancements 
 in the Church ; " " and finally the Piety of his en- 
 deavours, &c." 
 
 Or another contemporary writer might be chosen as the 
 authority to follow, and we might " begin with his owne 
 Kennel at Lambeth " ^ and show how it was proved by his 
 accusers that " no chappell in Rome could be more idolatrous;" 
 that he had taught his clergy to make " low bowings or duck- 
 ings to the Altar;" and that " he likewise introduced Gaudy 
 Romish Copes into his Chappell." Next we might "pursue 
 and trace this Romish Fox from his chappell and public, to 
 his Study and private devotions." " Having hunted this 
 Popish Vermin from place to place in his own kennel, and 
 
 ^ " Cyp. Ang.," p. 491. 2 <i Canterburies Doome," pp. 59 and foil. 
 
 435
 
 436 Life of ArchbisJwp Laud. [^^y^""' 
 
 bolted him out thence," we might follow him " from Lambeth 
 across the Thames to the Kings own Royal Chapel at White- 
 hall," and see what was proved against him, at his trial, 
 concerning his misdoings there ; we might " in the next place 
 pursue this Romish Reinold unto our Cathedrall Churches, 
 where hee began his Popish Innovations very early ; " and last 
 of all we might " so fuU)^ uncase this RomisJi Fox., as not- 
 withstanding all his shifts and subterfuges to evidence him 
 the most Pestilent J esuiticall underminer and subverter of the 
 established doctrines of the Church of England, the Archest 
 advancer of the Erroneous Positions of the Church of Rome, 
 that ever breathed in our English Ayre." 
 
 A third method would be to work entirely from Laud's own 
 account of the trial, which is much the fullest. I propose to 
 make the latter the basis of my report ; but freely to use 
 materials from various convenient sources and to make my 
 story as short as I can. 
 
 First I will quote from Clarendon. ^ " They accused him 
 ' of a design to bring in Popery,' and of having ' corre- 
 spondence with the Pope,' and such like particulars, as 
 the Consciences of his greatest Enemies absolv'd him from. 
 No Man was a greater, or abler Enemy to Popery ; No 
 Man a more resolute and devout Son of the Church of 
 England. He was prosecuted by Lawyers, assign'd to that 
 purpose, out of those, who from their own Antipathy to the 
 Church and Bishops, or from some disobligations receiv'd from 
 him, were sure to bring Passion, Animosity, and Malice 
 enough of their own, what evidence soever they had from 
 others. And they did treat him with all the rudeness, 
 reproach, and barbarity imaginable ; with which his Judges 
 were not displeased. He defended himself with great and 
 undaunted Courage, and less Passion than was expected from 
 his Constitution ; answer'd all their objections with clearness, 
 and irresistible reason ; and convinced all impartial Men of 
 his Integrity, and his detestation of all Treasonable Inten- 
 tions. So that though few excellent Men have ever had 
 fewer Friends to their Persons, yet all reasonable Men 
 
 1 "Hist, of the Reb.," vol. iv. p. 572.
 
 Circa ^,644.-| j^^j^ of ArcJibiskop Laud. 437 
 
 absolv'd him from any foul Crime that the Law could take 
 notice of, and punish." 
 
 I will now give a short summary of some of the evidence 
 brought against him in the course of his trial. ^ 
 
 Alderman Atkins deposed that when he was prosecuted 
 before the Council about ship-money, Laud was more violent 
 against him than anybody else. 
 
 Sir Henry Vane swore that when the last Parliament rose, 
 the archbishop said to the king that " now he might use his 
 power." 
 
 It was deposed that when someone had denied the king's 
 proclamation to be of equal force to a statute, his grace had 
 replied : — "^ Whosoever falls upon • it shall be broken ; but 
 upon whomsoever it falls, it shall grind him to powder." 
 
 The imprisoning of Burton, Prynne, and Bastwick were 
 laid to his charge, as also was that of Sir John Corbet. 
 
 A witness named Ask swore that he had protected some 
 players who had been found at a tavern at an unreasonable 
 hour of the night, and that he had threatened Ask himself 
 for not coming to receive the sacrament at the communion- 
 rails. 
 
 A Brownist named Grafton deposed that he had been 
 imprisoned and fined ^50, owing to the archbishop. 
 
 Witnesses deposed that Laud had censured, deprived, and 
 imprisoned a good clergyman named Huntley ; that he 
 practically took a bribe by making Sir Edward Gresham 
 give half a bond of i5^200, which the Court assigned to him, 
 towards the repair of St Paul's ; that he got the men of 
 Chester fined £1000 for feasting Prynne, and then, for the 
 bribe of two hogshead of sack, had the fine reduced to i^200 ; 
 that he brought Sir Richard Samuel before the High 
 Commission simply for doing his duty as a magistrate in 
 punishing some clergymen ; that he had summoned some 
 other magistrates for holding their sessions in a part of the 
 church at Tewkesbury ; that he had illegally extorted from 
 the king a patent for appropriating the fines inflicted by the 
 Court of High Commission to the repairing of St Paul's ; 
 
 ^ Chiefly from " Celebrated Trials," vol. ii.
 
 438 Life of Archbishop Laud. [It'"/.'''" 
 
 that he had presented a blind man to a hving ; that, making 
 himself a universal law-giver, he had illegally altered the 
 statutes for cathedrals and the University of Oxford ; and 
 that he had assumed papal power by allowing himself to be 
 written to as Sanctitas tua, Spiritu sancto effusissinie plenus, 
 and SuvwiMS Pontifex. 
 
 Further evidence was produced in a Bible found in his 
 study with the five wounds of our Lord represented upon the 
 cover, a Missal, and some other Catholic books ; and it was 
 shown by depositions that there was an Ecce Homo among 
 the pictures in his gallery and a painting behind the com- 
 munion-table in his chapel. 
 
 It was proved that he had caused very many communion- 
 tables to be placed altar-wise ; that he had consecrated 
 communion plate ; and that, on the other hand, he had passed 
 heavy sentences in the Court of High Commission upon a 
 clergyman who had preached against images, as well as upon 
 another who had removed a representation of God the Father 
 from a church window at Salisbury. 
 
 Sir Henry and Anthony Mildmay gave evidence that he 
 was hated in Rome by one faction and loved by another, and 
 that there was a strong opinion that there had been a con- 
 siderable improvement in the prospects of a reconciliation 
 between the Anglican and Catholic Churches since he had 
 been in power. 
 
 Other witnesses swore that, on hearing that a clergy- 
 man whom he had driven out of his benefice had gone to 
 New England, he said that his arm should reach him even 
 there ; that he had suppressed the English Bible with 
 Geneva notes, and had also suppressed, or tampered with, 
 other religious books ; that he had said in the Star Chamber 
 that the altar was the greatest place of God's residence on 
 earth, " greater than the pulpit " ; and that he had stated 
 "that the Church of Rome and ours, were all one, that we 
 did not differ in fundamentals, but circumstances, that Rome 
 was a true church, &c." 
 
 Another accusation was that he had had " intelligence " 
 with the Pope through a Franciscan Friar named Santa
 
 arca^i644.-| j^^j^ of Archblsliop Laud. 439 
 
 Clara, and had given him rooms at Oxford. As this matter 
 has not yet been noticed in these pages, I may take this 
 opportunity of saying that, among the State Papers, are his 
 notes on this subject, in which he states that this man "was 
 setting out a book about the Articles of the Church of Eng- 
 land," and " his desire was to have his book printed here." 
 " I gave him this answer : That I did not like the way which 
 the Church of Rome went concerning Episcopacy ; and how- 
 soever that I could never give way that any such book from 
 the pen of any Romanist should be printed here ; and that 
 the Bishops of England are very well able to defend their 
 own cause and calling, without calling in aid from Rome, 
 and would so do when they saw cause." ^ He only gave 
 him rooms at Oxford, at the request of the king, in order 
 that he might have the use of the library. 
 
 Many passages out of his Diary, which I have already 
 noticed, as well as events which I have recorded, were put 
 in and sworn to as evidence. 
 
 Although Laud had the assistance of counsel, he con- 
 ducted his own case in the House of Lords, except on some 
 purely technical points, and, when he had returned to the 
 Tower, he carefully wrote out an account of each day's 
 defence. Perhaps he may have made up his mind that his 
 judges were determined to condemn him to death, whatever 
 might happen, and he may have come to the conclusion that 
 the best he could hope for would be to be acquitted by 
 posterity, when his own history of his trial should be read 
 by future generations. 
 
 Many of the charges brought against him were so frivolous 
 that he was able to reply to them without difficulty and even 
 to hold them up for derision. In respect to not a few of the 
 remainder, he answered that the actions of other men, and 
 even those of the Star Chamber, the Council Table, the 
 Court of High Commission, and Convocation were unjustly 
 attributed to himself, personally, when he had had nothing 
 to do with them, or else exclusively laid to his charge when 
 he had only shared in them with several others. 
 
 1 " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1641-3, p. 542.
 
 440 Life of Archbishop LaiLci. [l^yi!^^*' 
 
 Laud showed no want of courage in addressing his 
 judges. For instance, when replying to a charge of saying 
 that certain churchwardens, who refused to turn a com- 
 munion-table, which was placed " table-wise," " altar-wise," 
 "deserved to be laid by the Heels for the Contempt of their 
 Bishop " ; he said ^ : — " Under Favour, my Lords, I spake 
 Truth." Again, in defending himself for having been the 
 means of causing a man named Adams to be excommuni- 
 cated, he said - : — " I cannot but think he well deserved it." 
 Yet again, when dealing with an accusation that he had had 
 a pew taken down which "was set above the Communion 
 Table " in a London church, he said ^ : — " I confess to your 
 Lordships, I could never like, that Seats should be set above 
 the Communion Table : If that be any Error in me, be it so." 
 Now and then he would give a slap to a witness. A Mr 
 Wheeler had given evidence of an offensive passage in one of 
 his sermons, and of this he spoke ^ as follows : — " I cannot 
 but be sorry to hear it from Mr Wheeler s own Mouth ; that 
 he was so careful to write this Passage, and so ready to 
 come to witness it against me ; considering how many Years 
 I have known him, and how freely he hath often come to my 
 Table, and been welcome to me ; yet never told me, this 
 Passage in my Sermon troubled him. It seems some 
 Malignity or other laid it up against this wet Day." 
 
 Mr Nicholas, one of the committee appointed to manage 
 the evidence against him, said " 'Tis Blasphemy to give that 
 Title (Sanctitas) in the Abstract, to any but God." ^ Laud 
 replied that it had been given to many bishops besides him- 
 self (to say nothing of its not having been applied ex- 
 clusively to Popes), " clean through the Primitive Church, 
 both Greek and Latin ; " and he added that he " must tell Mr 
 NicJiolas, that 'tis a great Presumption for him, a Lawyer, and 
 no Studied Divine, to Charge BlaspJieviy upon all the Fathers 
 of the Primitive Church. 'Tis given to St Augustine by 
 Hilarius and Enodius, and in the Abstract." And presently 
 he said : — " According to Mr Nicolas his Divinity, we shall 
 
 1 " Hist.," p. 262. 2 ji,^^ p_ 267. 3 lb., p. 272. 
 
 ^ lb., p. 273. ^ lb., p. 284.
 
 circa^i644.-] Life of ArcJibisJiop Laud. 441 
 
 learn in time, to deny the Inuuortality of the Soul. For Iiii- 
 mortality in the Abstract is applied to God only, i Tim. 6, 
 who only hath Iinniortality. Therefore, if it may not in an 
 under and a qualified Sense, by Participation, be applied to 
 the Creature, the Soul of Man cannot be Immortal^ It 
 seems strange that a man who could see the force of this 
 argument should not be able to understand the inferior 
 worship or homage paid by Catholics to saints. 
 
 But to return to Mr Nicholas. On another day of his trial, 
 Laud said that " Mr Nicolas was up again with Pander to the 
 Whore 0/ Babylon, and his other foul Language," and he went 
 on to prove that one of Mr Nicholas's " zealous Witnesses 
 against the Whore of Baby Ion',' was not a particularly moral 
 character in his own private life, and he implied in language 
 which would not be tolerated in the present day, that he 
 would do well to remember that there were other places be- 
 sides Babylon in which all people were not quite so immaculate 
 as might be desired. 
 
 A Mr Pincen bore witness that Laud, in the Court of High 
 Commission, had declared that the clergy were now " de- 
 based." To this Laud answered ^ : — " Truly, uiy Lords, if I 
 did say thus (which is more than I can call to Memory) I 
 spake truth ; they were debased." 
 
 Laud was accused of treason and assuming Papal power in 
 forbidding marriages in the chapel of the White Tower at the 
 Tower of London, the witness being " Sir William Balfore, 
 then Lieutenant of the Tower. He says, that / did oppose 
 those Marriages. And so say L But I did it for the Subject 
 of England's sake. For many of their Sons and Daughters 
 were there undone. Nor Banes " (Banns) " nor Licence, nor 
 any means of fore-knowledge to prevent it. Was this ill ? " '^ 
 Later he writes : — " Then he tells the Lords, that in a Dis- 
 course of mine with him at Greenwich, about this business, / 
 let fall an Oath. I am sorry for it, if I did. But that 's no 
 Treason." And by-and-bye, he girds himself up for a thrust 
 at his tormentor, saying : — "And his Majesty having Graciously 
 taken this Care for the Indempnity of his Subject, I troubled 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 287. '^ lb., p. 295.
 
 442 Life of Archbishop Land. V^t^y,!''^- 
 
 my self no more with it : My aim being not to cut off any 
 Priviledges of that Place, but only to prevent the Abuses of 
 that Lawless Custom. And if cui bono be a considerable Cir- 
 cumstance, as it uses to be in all such Businesses, then it may 
 be thought on too, that this Gentleman the Lieutenant had 
 a considerable share for his part out of the Fee of every 
 Marriage. Which I believe was as dear to him as the 
 Priviledge." 
 
 He is delighted to have a laugh at his old enemy, Prynne, 
 too ^ : — " I pray in all this curious Search (and Mr Pryn here, 
 and all along spared no pains), why were no Prayers to the 
 B. Virgin and the Saints found, if I were so swallowed up in 
 Popery .-' " He loses his temper with Prynne, on another 
 occasion, about the stained glass windows in his chapel. 
 Prynne had said that " he had taken a survey of the Windows 
 at Lambeth. And I doubt not his diligence."^ "He says, 
 the Pictures of these Stories are in the Mass-Book. If it be so, 
 yet they were not taken thence by me. Arch-Bishop Morton 
 did that work, as appears by his Device in the Windows. He 
 says, the Story of the day of fudgment was in a Window in 
 atrio, that must 7iot come into the Chappel. Good Lord, 
 whither will Malice carry a Man .^ " 
 
 He is severe, again, upon some clergymen who said he had 
 unjustly suspended them. Of one he observes^ : — " He says, 
 that his Patron took away his Benefice. Why, viy Lords, he 
 had none ; he was only a Curate, and, God knows, unfit for 
 that." Of another : — " Pie says, That I sent to Sir Nath. 
 Brent to Siispend him. That is true, but it was when he 
 would neither Obey, nor keep in his Tongue." 
 
 One of the charges led to a curious defence, which has an 
 important bearing upon his views concerning apostolical 
 succession. I will quote his own words ^ : — " The First 
 Charge is. That I deny, them to be a Church " {i.e., the 
 French and Dutch Reformed Churches) : " For they say, 
 that I s^y plainly in my Book against Fisher, that No Bishop, 
 no Church." And then he says that " Mr Nicolas added, that 
 this ivas seconded by Bishop Mountague's Book, which Mr 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 314. 2 /^,^ p, 3J7. 3 7^.^ p. 344. 4 7^,.^ p. 374.
 
 circa^i644. J Life of ArckbisJiop Laud. 443 
 
 Pryn (carefully) witnessed was found in viy Study, and 
 Licensed by Dr Braye " : who was one of Laud's deputies. 
 Observe now what Laud says on this point : — "He " 
 Montague, " adds this Exception, that none but a Bishop 
 can ordain, but in Casu Necessitatis, which is the Opinion 
 of many Learned and Moderate Divines." That is to say, 
 when a priest is urgently required, and no bishop can be 
 obtained to ordain him, a simple priest can do so. It is a 
 case of necessity. It might very rarely happen, but, were it 
 to do so, the thing might be done. Verily, necessity is the 
 mother of invention ! He makes this further comment : — 
 *'Yet this is very considerable in the Business, whether an 
 inevitable Necessity be cast upon them, or they pluck a kind 
 of necessity upon themselves." 
 
 It would be very wrong, he evidently means, for any one 
 to go purposely out of reach of bishops in order to have the 
 excuse of ordaining a priest on the ground of " inevitable 
 Necessity," and thus " pluck a kind of Necessity " ; but if a 
 shipwrecked crew and one clergyman were to be cast on a 
 desert island, and the clergyman were to find himself dying 
 he might ordain a successor, who would be able to celebrate 
 the eucharist for them just as well as any other in the world. 
 It is needless to say that this is a tremendous admission. 
 Of course, the strictest Catholic theologian would admit that 
 a shipwrecked crew, on a lonely island, could unite together 
 in prayer and worship ; that, if they had women with them, 
 they could marry, as, in Casu Necessitatis, such marriages 
 would be valid ; for the man and woman, and not the priest, 
 perform the sacrament in every marriage ; and that if they 
 had children, they could themselves baptize them, as any man, 
 or woman, for that matter, can baptize in Caste Necessitatis ; but 
 no Catholic would for a moment allow that any but a bishop 
 could ordain a priest in Casu Necessitatis ; for the Catholic 
 Church does not make two and two equal to five in casu neces- 
 sitatis. For instance, where there is no priest, no host can be 
 consecrated, and where there is no consecrated host there 
 can be no sacramental communion ; but the Church teaches 
 her children that they can make spiritual communions
 
 444 Life of Archbishop Laud. [It'^i!'''' 
 
 wherever they may be, and one of her saints compares 
 sacramental and spiritual communions to gold and silver 
 vessels ; she teaches that, where no priest can be obtained, 
 a good act of contrition gains forgiveness of sin ; she claims, 
 by the power of the keys, to grant enormous spiritual 
 blessings to those who devoutly make certain short ejacula- 
 tions, wherever they may be, and more especially at the 
 hour of death ; and she lays enormous stress on the doctrine 
 that the desire for sacraments, where they cannot be had, 
 may obtain the graces of them ; but she never pretends that 
 any but bishops can consecrate bishops or ordain priests, or 
 that any but priests can make bread and wine into the 
 body and blood of Christ, even in the most extreme casii 
 necessitatis. 
 
 It is but fair to Laud to say that, in mentioning the 
 question of the validity of ordinations by others than bishops, 
 /// casn necessitatis, he observes that his accusers said he 
 disliked the idea of it ; but he does not deny the doctrine ; 
 indeed he appears to imply that orders so given would be 
 valid, provided the necessity were " inevitable," and not 
 "plucked." 
 
 It is very far from my purpose to deny that Laud believed 
 in either apostolical succession or the real presence, as he un- 
 derstood them ; on the contrary, in that sense, he was an 
 ardent champion of both ; but I do most emphatically deny 
 that he believed in what Catholics understand by those terms, 
 or anything at all approaching it, and I more than doubt 
 whether he believed in what modern High-Churchmen mean 
 when they make use of them, although this is a somewhat 
 " unknown quantity," and a point on which I write under a 
 possibility of correction. 
 
 One day, when Laud came to the Bar of the House of 
 Lords, he was surprised to see ^ " every Lord present with a 
 New Thin Book in Folio in a blue Coat." He adds: — "I 
 heard that Morning that Mr Pryn had Printed my Diary, 
 and Published it to the World to disgrace me. Some Notes 
 of his own are made upon it. The first and the last are two 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 411.
 
 Circa ^i644.] j^^j-^ of ArcJibisJiop Laud. 445 
 
 desperate Untruths, besides some others. This was the 
 Book then in tJie Lords Hands, and I assure my self, that 
 time picked for it, that the sight of it might damp me, and 
 disinable me to speak : I confess I was a httle troubled at 
 it." 
 
 When he did speak, and it was the occasion of a recapitula- 
 tion of his defence up to this point, he referred to the fact 
 of his judges having his private Diary in their hands. After 
 complaining that his very pockets had been searched, and 
 his Diary, nay, his very prayer-book taken from him, he 
 declared that he was ^ " thus far glad, even for this sad 
 Accident. For by my Diary your Lordships have seen the 
 Passages of my Life : And by my Prayer Book the greatest 
 Secrets between God and my Soul : So that you may be 
 sure you have me at the very bottom : Yet blessed be God, 
 no Disloyalty is found in the one ; no Popery in the other." 
 This was something to be thankful for ! 
 
 1" Hist.," p. 413.
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Laud's recapitulation, from which I gave an extract at the end 
 of the last chapter, need not be discussed at length in these 
 pages. It began ^ : — " My Lords, my Hearing began March 
 12, 164I, and continued to the end of July. In this time I 
 was heard before your Lordships, with much Honour and 
 Patience, Twenty Days, and sent back without Hearing, by 
 reason of your Lordships greater Employments, Twelve 
 Days. The rest were taken up with providing the Charge 
 against me." 
 
 Some of the points of his recapitulation were not devoid 
 of sarcasm. 
 
 ''All the late Canons have been charged against me; and 
 the Argument which is drawn from thence, must lie thus : 
 The Third of these Canons for suppressing the Growth of 
 Popery, is the most full and strict Cano7i that ever was made 
 against it in the Church of England: Therefore I that made 
 this Canon to keep it out, am guilty of endeavouring to bring 
 it in." 
 
 Next he refers to his having " reduced to tJie Church of 
 England as many that were gone to Rome, as I believe any 
 Minister in England can truly say he hath done:" "where 
 the Argument lies thus : I converted many from Popery, and 
 setled them in the Religion established in England ; There- 
 fore I laboured to bring in Popery ; which out of all doubt 
 can be no sober Man's way." 
 
 Then he refers to the already mentioned " Rome's Master 
 Piece " revealed by Andreas ab Habernfield, by which, he 
 says, it appeared that he had been in danger of his life " for 
 stiffly opposing the bringing in of Popery ; and that there was 
 no hope to alter Religion in England, till " he " was taken out 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 412. 
 - 446
 
 Circa ^i644-j i^{fe of ArcJibisIiop Laud. 447 
 
 of the way." " And then," he says, " the Argument against 
 me lies thus : There 's no hope to bring in Popery, till I am 
 taken out of the way ; therefore I did labour to bring it in. 
 Do not these things, viy Lords, hang handsomely together 1 " 
 
 " Lastly, There have been above Threescore Letters and 
 other Papers, brought out of my Study into this Honourable 
 House ; they are all about composing the Differences between 
 the Lutherans and the Calvinists in Germany!' " Then the 
 Argument will be thus : I laboured to reconcile the P^^o- 
 testants in Germany, that they might unanimously set them- 
 selves against the Papists ; therefore I laboured to bring 
 Popery into England.''' 
 
 He then reminds the Lords of something which had been 
 said against him at the Bar by his prosecutors — " That they 
 did not ui'ge any of tJiese particidar Actions as Treason against 
 me ; hut the Result of them all together amounted to Treason. 
 For answer to which, I must be bold to tell your Lordships, 
 That if no particular which is charged upon me be Treason, 
 the Result from them cannot be Treason." " The Result 
 must be of the same Nature and Species with the Particulars 
 from which it rises. But 'tis confessed no one of the Parti- 
 culars are {sic) Treason : Therefore neither is the Result that 
 rises from them." " Neither can the Body of a Bear, and the 
 Soul of a Lion result into a Fox : nor the Legs of a Bull, the 
 Body of a Horse, and the Head of an Ass, result into a Man." 
 And then he proceeds to prove that, not only in nature, but 
 also in morality and law, the same rule holds good. He 
 ends by thanking their lordships for the " very Honourable 
 Patience" with which they had heard him " through this long 
 and tedious Tryal," by treating them to a quotation from St 
 Augustine, and by saying : — " And under that Providence, 
 which will, I doubt not, work to the best to my Soul that 
 loves God, I repose my self" 
 
 We travel quickly from the sublime to the ridiculous in 
 Laud's autobiography. Half a dozen lines below the quota- 
 tion just made, he continues ^ : — " On Wednesday, Septemb. 
 4, as I was washing my Face, my Nose bled, and some- 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 421.
 
 448 Life of Archbishop Laud. Bt?7i^'''- 
 
 thing plentifully, which it had not done, to my remem- 
 brance, in Forty years before, save only once, and that was 
 just the same Day and Hour, when my most Honourable 
 Friend the Lord Duke of Buckinghavi was killed at Ports- 
 mouth, my self being then at Westminster. And upon 
 Friday, as I was washing after Dinner, my Nose bled again. 
 I thank God I make no superstitious Observation of this or 
 any thing else ; yet I have ever used to mark what and how 
 any thing of note falls to me. And here I after came to 
 know, that upon both these Days in which I bled, there was 
 great agitation in the House of Commons, to have me 
 Sentenced by Ordinance ; but both times put off, in regard 
 very few of that House had heard either my Charge or 
 Defence." 
 
 And this was the man who found fault with Catholics for 
 being superstitious ! 
 
 In reply to Laud's recapitulation, a Mr Brown made " a 
 Summ or Brief of the Charge which was brought against " 
 him, during the recital of which Laud " possessed " his " Soul 
 in Patience ; yet wondring at the bold, free, frequent, and 
 most false Swearing that had been against" him. 
 
 Three weeks later, he writes ^ : — " Mr Nicolas made a great 
 noise about me in the House, and would have had me 
 presently Censured in the House ; and no less would serve 
 his turn, but that I must hQ Hanged, and was at Sus. per Coll. 
 till upon the Reasons before given, that if they went on this 
 way, they must Condemn me unheard ; this violent Clamour 
 ceased for that time." 
 
 At last one of Laud's own counsel, Mr Hern of Lincoln's 
 Inn, got up to defend him, and " delivered his Argument veiy 
 freely and stoutly, proving that nothing which " Laud " had 
 either said or done according to this Charge is Treason, by 
 any known Established Law of this Kingdom." His speech 
 was very dry, very technical, very abrupt, very jerky, yet very 
 wordy. Its entire drift was upon the legal question whether 
 the charges against his client, even if proved, amounted to 
 high treason. He maintained the contrary. 
 
 1 " Hist. " p. 422.
 
 Circa ^1644. J [^jj^, of Archbisliop Land. 449 
 
 To Laud's intense annoyance, on the first of November a 
 warrant was delivered to the Lieutenant of the Tower com- 
 manding- him to be brought to the Bar of the House of Com- 
 mons. " I knew no Law or Custom for this," he writes ; ^ 
 " for though our Votes " (those of the bishops), " by a late Act 
 of Parliament, be taken away, yet our Baronies are not : And 
 so long as we remain Barons, we belong to the Lords House, 
 and not to the Commons, Yet how to help my self I knew 
 not." The House of Lords had risen when he received notice 
 to be at the Bar of the Commons the very next morning ; so 
 it was too late to petition his compeers for any privilege. 
 He adds, with practical sense, " And should I have under any 
 Pretence refused to go^Mr LieitteTta7it'wo\x\d have carried me." 
 
 He had no sooner taken his stand at the Bar of the House 
 of Commons, than the Speaker informed him that an Ordi- 
 nance had been already drawn up to attaint him of high 
 treason ; " but, that they would not pass it, till they had 
 heard a Summary of the Charge which was laid against" him, 
 and that he " was sent for to hear it also." Laud then 
 begged that his counsel and solicitor " might stand now by " 
 him. This request was refused. Upon this, Mr Brown got 
 up, and " delivered the Collection and Sum of the Charge 
 against " him ; " much at one with that which he formerly 
 made in the Lords House T 
 
 The moment that Mr Brown sat down, the Speaker called 
 upon Laud to reply there and then. Against this, Laud 
 humbly protested and begged for time. Ten days were 
 granted to him. 
 
 When the day and hour arrived for him to make his 
 answer, he stood at the Bar of the House of Commons and 
 began as follows - : — " Mr Speaker, I was here Novenib. 2. It 
 was the first time that ever I came within these Doors : And 
 here then you gave me the most uncomfortable Break-fast 
 that ever I came to ; namely. That this Honourable House had 
 drawn up an Ordinance against me of High Treason ; but 
 that before they would proceed farther, I should hear the 
 Sum of the Charge which was against me ; which was the 
 
 ' "Hist.," p. 432. - 7(5., p. 433. 
 
 2 F
 
 450 Life 0/ Ai^chbishop Land. \St^v.'^- 
 
 cause I was sent for then. And to give my Answer to that 
 which was then said, or rather mistaken in saying and infer- 
 ring, is the cause of my coming now." He proceeded to tell 
 his judges that he hoped if he should say anything un- 
 advisedly, he might be given " liberty to re-call and expound " 
 himself; and then he said : — " Favourably consider into what 
 Straits I am cast, that after a long and tedious Hearing, I 
 must now come to answer to a Sum, or Epitome of the same 
 Charge ; which how dangerous it may be for me, all Men 
 that know Epitomes, cannot but understand." 
 
 In referring to the charge reported to the Commons against 
 him by Mr Brown, he spoke as graciously of that lawyer as he 
 could ^ : — " This worthy Gentleman hath pressed all things as 
 hardly against me, as the Cause can any way bear : That was 
 his Duty to this Honourable House, and it troubles me not. 
 But his Carriage and Expressions were civil towards me, in 
 this my great Affliction ; And for this I render him humble 
 and hearty Thanks ; having from other Hands pledged my 
 Saviour in Gall and Vinegar, and drunk up the Cup of the 
 Scornings of the People to the very bottom." He had 
 evidently not forgotten the opening speech for the prosecu- 
 tion from the lips of Mr Serjeant Wilde ! 
 
 Considering that he was standing before the tribunal of the 
 House of Commons — and we must bear in mind of what kind 
 of men its members for the most part consisted — Laud spoke 
 very boldly on one point, Mr Brown had stated that he had 
 complained that many of the witnesses, who had been pro- 
 duced against him in the House of Lords, were Separatists — 
 not Home Rulers ; but, as we should now say, Dissenters — 
 and it was certain that many Separatist M.P.s were at that 
 moment sitting in judgment upon him. Thereupon Laud 
 said : — " I did indeed complain of this, and I had abundant 
 Cause so to do. For there was scarce an active Separatist in 
 England, but some way or other his Influence was into this 
 Business against me. And whereas, the Gentleman said, the 
 Witnesses ivere some Aldermen, and some Gentleinen, and Men 
 of Quality. That 's nothing ; for both Gentlemen, and Alder- 
 
 1" Hist.," p. 434.
 
 ^e"/.^''] Life of Archbishop Land. 451 
 
 men, and Men of all Conditions (the more 's the pity), as the 
 Times now go, are Separatists from the Doctrine and Discip- 
 line of the ChiircJi of England Established by Law. And 
 I would to God some of my Judges were not." 
 
 He then went through all the charges which had been 
 brought against him, and gave an answer to each, much as 
 he had done in the House of Lords, but more briefly, as the 
 time at his disposal was very limited. 
 
 He objected to his trial before the Commons on the ground 
 that that House was going to try him only upon Mr Brown's 
 report, " or a Hearsay," and not upon oath. He " most humbly 
 desired " that his counsel might be heard upon the " point of 
 Law," whether even the charges brought against him, " if 
 proved (which " he conceives " they are not "), made him 
 guilty of high treason. He also wished for the assistance 
 of his counsel, because his infirmities were " many and great, 
 which Age and Grief" had " added to those which " were 
 " naturally in " him. He mentioned his " full four years 
 durance," and made an urgent appeal to the Speaker. 
 
 " I humbly desire you to take into consideration, my Call- 
 ing, my Age, my former Life, my Fall, my Imprisonment, 
 long and strict. That these Considerations may move you." ^ 
 
 " Mr Speaker, I am very aged, considering the Turmoils of 
 my Life ; and I daily find in my self more Decays than I make 
 shew of ; and the Period of my Life, in the Course of Nature, 
 cannot be far off. It cannot but be a Grief unto me, to be 
 at these Years thus Charged before ye : Yet give me leave to 
 say thus much without Offence, Whatsoever Errors or Faults 
 I may have committed by the way, in any of my Proceedings, 
 through Human Infirmity ; as who is He that hath not 
 offended, and broken some Statutes too by Ignorance, or Mis- 
 apprehension or Forgetfulness, at some sudden time of Action .-' 
 Yet if God bless me with so much Memory, I will die with 
 these Words in my Mouth: Thatl never intended, much less 
 endeavoured the subversion of the Laws of the Kingdom ; 
 nor the bringing in of Popish Superstition upon the true 
 Protestant Religion, Established by Law in this Kingdom." 
 
 1" Hist.," p. 439-
 
 452 Life of A rchbishop Land. \^Mtnl^^^' 
 
 To make his long speech before the Commons was all he 
 could do. " I was exceeding faint," he says,^ " with speaking 
 so long ; and I had great pain and soreness in my Breast for 
 almost a Fortnight after ; then, I thank God, it wore away." 
 
 Two days after his reply to Mr Brown, he attended at the 
 Bar of the House of Commons to hear that lawyer's " reply 
 to his reply." It " had some great Mistakes in it ; but else 
 was for the most part but a more earnest Affirming of what 
 he had delivered." Laud " conceived " that he was not in- 
 tended to make a counter-reply, but that Mr Brown was to 
 have the privilege of " the last Speech." " Therefore," says 
 he, " being dismissed, I went away : And I was no sooner 
 gone, but the House called for the Ordinance which was 
 drawn up against me, and without Hearing my Councel, or 
 any more ado, Voted me guilty of High TreasonT 
 
 Three days afterwards, this Ordinance was presented to the 
 House of Lords. There and then, says Laud, " the Earl of 
 Pembroke began more fully to shew his canker'd Humour 
 against me ; how provoked, I protest I know not, unless by 
 my serving him far beyond his Desert. There, among other 
 coarse Language, he bestowed (as I am informed) the Rascal 
 and the Villain upon me." 
 
 The business of the Ordinance against Laud was then dis- 
 cussed and adjourned several times, for a fortnight, when the 
 Lords appointed a committee to examine the notes they had 
 made during his trial in their own House. " The Earl of 
 Northumberland on the Wool-Sack during the Debate, which 
 lasted some days. When their own Notes failed, they called 
 to Mr Brown, Clerk of their House, for his." 
 
 In yet another fortnight, December i6th, there was "(the 
 Times considered) a very full House of Lords ; about Twenty 
 present, and my Business largely debated, and ready to come 
 to the Question." What Laud implied, in saying " the 
 Times considered," was that most of the peers had left 
 London, either to support the king in person, or to levy 
 troops for him among their tenants and retainers. 
 
 " I wish," he goes on, " with all my Heart it had, while the 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 441.
 
 circa^:644.-| Life of Avchbishop Laud. 453 
 
 House was so full. But the Earl of Pembroke fell again into 
 his wonted violence : And asked the Lords what they stuck 
 at ? And added ; what, sJiall ive think the House of Commons 
 had no Conscience in passing this Ordinance ? Yes, they knew 
 well enough zvhat they did. One of the Wits hearing this 
 Excellent Passage of tJie Earls ; Protested, If ever he lived 
 to see a Parliament in Bedlam, this Prudent Earl should be 
 the Speaker, if he were able to procure him the Place." 
 
 The subject was then adjourned to the next day. There 
 were only fourteen peers present on this occasion ; they 
 voted Laud guilty of endeavouring to subvert the laws and 
 overthrow the Protestant religion, and declared him to be 
 an enemy to parliaments. " Then it being put to the Judges, 
 whether this were Treason or no ; the Judges unanimously 
 declared, that nothing which was charged against " him " was 
 Treason, by any known and established Law of the Land." 
 
 On Christmas Eve, the Lords and the Commons had " a 
 Conference " on the matter, when the former stated that they 
 had given the whole affair their most careful consideration, 
 and were quite unable to find the prisoner guilty of treason; 
 therefore they begged that the arguments which had been 
 previously laid before them by Laud's counsel might be 
 answered. 
 
 " Then came Christmas-Day^'' Laud tells us, ^ and a most 
 Solemn Fast kept on it, with as Solemn an Ordinance for the 
 due observance of this Fast, and against the manner of keep- 
 ing of that day in former Superstitious Times. A Fast never 
 before heard of in Christendom.'^ There can have been little 
 object in instituting this fast on such a day, except to annoy 
 the more orthodox Anglicans, of whom Laud was, at that 
 time, chief! 
 
 After the conference between the Lords and the Commons, 
 Mr Serjeant Wilde told some friends that he wondered that 
 the peers should " so much distract their judgments." 
 
 On hearing this, Laud wrote : — " To see how good Wits 
 agree ! Surely, I believe he was of the Earl of Pembroke's 
 Councel, or the Earl of his, they jump so together. It seems 
 
 1 "Hist.," p. 442.
 
 454 Life of Archbishop Laud. \^it^l^^^' 
 
 in these Mens Opinions, the House of Commons can neither 
 Err in Conscience nor Judgment. Howsoever, that House 
 thought it fit the Lords should be satisfied, that I was by Law 
 guilty of High Treason. And to that end sent up a Com- 
 mittee,/^?/. 2, 1644" — he must have meant 1645 — "to make 
 proof of it to their Lordships. At this Meeting two Judges 
 were present, Justice Reeves, and Judge Bacon. The Managers 
 of the business against me were three Lawyers, Mr Brown, 
 Serjeant Wild, and Mr Nicolas. Neither my self nor any of 
 my Councel there. What will this effect upon the Lords, 
 Time must discover, as it doth the effect of other Eclipses. 
 And thus far I had proceeded in this sad History hy Jan. 3, 
 1644" (1645). "The rest shall follow as it comes to my 
 Knowledge." 
 
 These were the last words written by Laud in his History. 
 A note in italics is added by his editor i; — ''Next day, the 
 Arch-Bishop receiving the News that the Bill of Attainder had 
 passed in the House of Lords, broke off his History, and 
 prepared himself for Death." 
 
 We hear something of the place where, and the manner in 
 which, he received the information that he was to die, from 
 Heylin.- " The passing of the Ordinance being signified to 
 him by the then Lieutenant of the Toiver, he neither enter- 
 tained the news with Stoical Apathy, nor wailed his fate with 
 weak and womanish Lamentations (to which Extremes most 
 men are carried in this case) but heard it with so even and 
 smooth a Temper, as shewed he neither was ashamed to live 
 nor afraid to die." 
 
 There is some difference of opinion among historians as to 
 the number of peers who passed the Ordinance for Laud's 
 attainder ; some put it at " not above fourteen," ^ others say 
 that only seven were present — the Earls of Kent, Pembroke, 
 Salisbury, and Bolingbroke, Lord North, Lord Grey, and one 
 other unnamed.* Clarendon says that the number was " not 
 above twelve."^ Heylin gives the same names as those 
 
 1 " Hist.," p. 443. 2 «. cyp_ Ang.," p. 496. 
 
 ^ " Celebrated Trials," vol. ii. p. 43, •* //;., footnote. 
 
 ^ "Hist, of the Great Reb.," vol. iv. p. 572.
 
 Circa ^i64,.j Ufc of Arclibis/iop Liiud. 455 
 
 quoted above with that of " Lord Bruce (better known by the 
 name of the Earl of Elgiri) " ; ^ but he adds " that the said 
 Lord Bruce hath frequently disclaimed that Action, and 
 solemnly professed his detestation of the whole Proceedings, 
 as most abhorrent from his nature, and contrary to his known 
 affections." 
 
 Clarendon's brief account - of the passing of the Ordinance 
 may be worth recording. " When they had said all they 
 could against Him, and he all for himself that need to be 
 said, and no such Crime " (as treason) " appearing, as the 
 Lords, as the Supreme Court of Judicatory, would take upon 
 them to judge him to be worthy of death ; they resorted to 
 their Legislative Power, and by Ordinance of Parliament, as 
 they call'd it, that is by a determination of those Members 
 who sate in the Houses (whereof in the House of Peers there 
 were not above twelve) they appointed him to be put to death 
 as guilty of High Treason. The first time the two Houses 
 of Parliament had ever assumed that Jurisdiction, or that 
 ever Ordinance had been made to such a purpose ; nor 
 could any Rebellion be more against the Law, than their 
 Murtherous Act." 
 
 1 " Cyp. Aug.," p. 494. - " Hist, of the Great Reb.," vol. iv. p. 572. 
 
 [This may not be an inappropriate place in which to quote Carlyle's opinion 
 of Laud. " Poor Laud seems to me to have been weak and ill-starred, not dis- 
 honest ; an unfortunate Pedant rather than anything worse. His ' Dreams ' and 
 superstitions, at which they laugh so, have an affectionate, loveable kind of 
 character. He is like a College Tutor, whose whole world is forms, College- 
 rules ; whose notion is that these are the life and safety of the world. He is 
 placed suddenly, with that unalterable luckless notion of his, at the head not of a 
 College but of a Nation, to regulate the most complex deep-reaching interests of 
 men. He thinks they ought to go by the old decent regulations ; nay that their 
 salvation will lie in extending and improving these. Like a weak man, he drives 
 with spasmodic vehemence towards his purpose ; cramps himself to it, heeding no 
 voice of prudence, no cry of pity : He will have his College-rules obeyed by his 
 Collegians ; that first ; and till that, nothing. He is an ill-starred Pedant, as I 
 said. He would have it the world was a College of that kind, and the world was 
 not that. Alas, was not his doom stern enough } Whatever wrongs he did, were 
 they not all frightfully avenged on him." — Lectures on Heroes. The Hero as 
 King. ]
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 6th of January, in the year 1645, it was 
 ordered that Wilh'am Laud, sometime Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, should be hanged, drawn, and quartered on the follow- 
 ing Friday. Laud immediately sent to the Lords the king's 
 pardon which, as already stated, he had for some time had 
 in his possession, " which he pleaded, and tender'd to them, 
 and desired that it might be allovv'd," ^ together with a 
 petition, in which he prayed that, if die he must, the manner 
 of his execution might be changed to beheading, and that Dr 
 Stern, Dr Heywood, and Dr Martin might be allowed to 
 attend him, " before and at his Death, to Administer Comfort 
 to his Soul." - 
 
 The next day, Wednesday, " the Lords, at a Conference, 
 acquainted the Conuiions " ^ with their reception of this pardon 
 and petition, and they were read in both Houses. After a 
 very short debate, the Commons declared the pardon to be 
 of no effect, as the king had not the power of pardoning a 
 prisoner condemned to death by the Parliament. The House 
 of Lords agreed to the alteration in the mode of execution, 
 and to his receiving the ministrations of the three clergymen 
 he had selected ; but the House of Commons gave a point 
 blank refusal to the petition in toto, with the single exception 
 of permitting Dr Stern to visit the prisoner, provided that one, 
 or both, of two " Godly Ministers " of their own choosing 
 were invariably present while Stern was with him. 
 
 Wednesday, therefore, must have been a miserable day to 
 Laud ; there were only forty-eight hours, or less, of life before 
 him, and the horrible and disgraceful death of hanging, being 
 cut down while yet alive, having his bowels roughly torn 
 
 ^ Clarendon, " Hist.," vol. iv. pp. 573-4. 
 ^ Rushworth, par. 3, vol. ii. p. 834. ^ lb. 
 
 - 456
 
 area ^1645.] ^ /^^, qJ ^ rckbiskop Laud. 457 
 
 out by the executioner and burned before his eyes, if he 
 should have life enough left in him to see it done, and then 
 to have his naked body hacked to pieces, as if it were that of 
 a pig in the hands of a butcher, in the presence of an immense 
 crowd, was the prospect before him at the end of it. In the 
 meantime, there would be a canting, covenanting, "uncon- 
 formable " minister in his room, whenever he wished to con- 
 fess to, or receive spiritual comfort from, his own chaplain. 
 
 He made, however, another attempt to soften the rigour of 
 his sentence, by sending a petition to the Parliament, praying 
 that, as a divine, as a bishop, as one who had had the honour 
 of sitting in the House of Lords, and of being a member of 
 the king's most Honourable Privy Council, he might not be 
 exposed to such an ignominious death, and that he might die 
 at the block. On the Thursday, within four-and-twenty 
 hours of his execution, to his great relief he was told that the 
 Commons had relented, and that, instead of being hanged, 
 drawn, and quartered, he would have his head cut off on the 
 following morning. He spent his time, during the interval, 
 beyond what was required for sleep and the taking of food, 
 partly at his devotions, and partly in writing out a speech 
 which he intended to deliver on the scaffold ; for he was not 
 only anxious to say the right thing at such a time, which he 
 might fail to do, from nervousness or distractions, if he trusted 
 himself to make an extempore address, but also to be able to 
 hand to his chaplain a written paper containing the very 
 words he had used, so that no garbled report of them need be 
 tolerated. It was a sad sermon to have to prepare ; but he 
 evidently bestowed very great care and trouble upon it. 
 
 Heylin says ^ : — "So well was he studied in the Art of 
 Dying (especially in the last and strictest part of his Im- 
 prisonment) that by continual Fastings, Watchings, Prayers, 
 and such like Acts of Christian Humiliation, his Flesh was 
 rarified into Spirit, and the whole man so fitted for Eternal 
 Glories, that he was more than half in Heaven, before Death 
 brought his bloody (but Triumphant) Chariot, to convey him 
 thither." 
 
 i"Cyp. Ang.,"p. 496.
 
 458 Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^71!'''' 
 
 I hope that it may have been so ; but it is not always easy 
 for the biographer of Laud to steer between eulogiums of 
 this kind from the pen of Heylin and the angry abuses of 
 Prynne, who describes the "transcendent Hainousnesse" of 
 "the boldest and most impudent Oppressour that ever was." 
 
 The warrant for his execution was brought to the Tower 
 by Sheriff Chambers on the evening of Thursday, January 
 9th. He now devoted himself to prayer, and begged the 
 prayers of others, especially those of Dr Holdsworth, who 
 had been a fellow prisoner in the Tower for a year and a half; 
 although they had had no intercourse during that time. 
 
 Shortly before his fall from power, Laud had .shown many 
 symptoms of nervousness, if not of abject fear ; but throughout 
 his trial, and still more at the time of his execution, although 
 worn out with anxiety and sorrow, he displayed admirable 
 courage. 
 
 On the Thursday evening, says Heylin,^ " after he had re- 
 freshed his Spirits with a moderate Supper, he betook himself 
 unto his Rest, and slept very soundly, till the time came, in 
 which his Servants were appointed to attend his rising. A 
 most assured sign of a Soul prepared." This, I venture to 
 think, is a somewhat bold assertion ; for the sleep of many a 
 modern murderer, on the night preceding his execution, has 
 been better than, at least, the apparent preparation of his 
 soul. 
 
 Laud got up early on the Friday morning, and, as might 
 have been expected when he had only a few hours to live, 
 began his prayers. Perhaps Mr Benson may be right in say- 
 ing - : — " I do not think we are justified in saying more than 
 that he was a prayerful man, but more liturgically than con- 
 templatively. I do not think he went to his prayers for light 
 and leading," " but that he looked upon them as a bounden 
 duty and as a source of comfort." The prospect of immediate 
 execution, however, is said to be a wonderful stimulant to 
 devotion when a man has any faith at all. 
 
 It was observed that the day of Laud's death, the tenth of 
 January, was the feast day of his namesake, William (Saint 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.,"p. 496. - p. 207,
 
 Circa ^,645.] j^jf^ of Arc/ilus/iop Lttud. 459 
 
 William), Archbishop of Bourges, who had fought as zealously 
 against the Albigenses as Laud had fought against the 
 Puritans and Covenanters ; ^ but no notice was taken of the 
 fact that the French William, Archbishop, was a remarkably 
 devoted servant to the Pope, and that, unlike the English 
 William, " he refused to have recourse to the civil power 
 against" "impenitent sinners." "- 
 
 Laud continued in prayer until Pennington, the Lieutenant 
 of the Tower, accompanied by other officers, came to conduct 
 him to the place of execution on Tower Hill. The distance 
 to be walked was not very great, perhaps between two and 
 three hundred yards in all ; but it may have seemed quite 
 long enough when, after passing through the gates, beyond 
 the precincts of the Tower, and turning to the right, the pro- 
 cession wended its way amidst the dense crowd assembled to 
 see the execution. Any sort of execution is a pleasure to a 
 mob, and to see the head of an Archbishop of Canterbury 
 chopped off was a treat to look upon for which, what modern 
 reporters call, "every coign of vantage," would be eagerly 
 seized. 
 
 As Laud paced slowly on, surrounded by officials and 
 soldiers, through the tightly packed mass of spectators, " some 
 rude and uncivil People reviled him as he pass'd along, with 
 opprobrious Language, as loth to let him go to the Grave in 
 Peace ; yet it never discomposed his Thoughts, nor disturbed 
 his Patience." ^ 
 
 The outward surroundings, apart from his guard with their 
 pikes and the soldiers with their muskets, must have looked 
 far less stern than the thick walls and embattlements of the 
 Tower in which he had been imprisoned for some years, 
 and the row of ordinary houses, with their pointed gables, 
 which we find represented in most old pictures of Tower Hill, 
 would give a peaceful and civilian appearance to the unen- 
 closed piece of ground to which the party was progressing on 
 that fine January morning ; but presently an ugly, square 
 erection, with a single railing round it, came into view, and 
 
 ^ Benson, p. 158. - Butler's "Lives of the Saints," vol. i., January 10. 
 
 3"Cyp. Ang.,"p. 496.
 
 46o Life of ArchbisJiop Land. E'^x!^'"' 
 
 Laud saw before him the scaffold and the block. Within six 
 weeks that scaffold was erected for no less than five execu- 
 tions — Sir Alexander Carew's, the Hothams' (father and 
 son), Laud's, and Lord Maguire's. 
 
 Poor old fellow ! He walked with great courage up to the 
 forbidding structure, ascended the steps, and stood upon the 
 boarded floor. " As he did not fear the frowns," says 
 Heylin,^ " so neither did he covet the Applause of the Vulgar 
 Herd ; and therefore rather chose to read what he had to 
 speak unto the People, than to affect the ostentation either 
 of Memory or Wit in that dreadful Agony ; whether with 
 greater Magnanimity than Prudence, I can hardly say. As 
 for the matter of his Speech, besides what did concern him- 
 self and his own Purgation, his great care was to cleer his 
 Majesty, and the Church o{ England, from any inclination to 
 Pope7yr 
 
 As Laud's speech on the scaffold is long, I shall take the 
 liberty of quoting Mr Benson's rendering of it into modern 
 spelling. 
 
 " ' Good People, this is an uncomfortable time to preach ; 
 yet I shall begin with a text of Scripture, Hebrews xii. 2, 
 " Let us run with patience the race that is set before us ; 
 looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, 
 Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, 
 despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
 throne of God." 
 
 " ' I have been long in my race ; and how I have looked 
 unto Jesus, the Author and P'inisher of my faith. He best 
 knows. I am now come to the end of my race, and here I 
 find the Cross, a death of shame. But the shame must be 
 despised, or no coming to the right hand of God. Jesus 
 despised the shame for me, and God forbid that I should not 
 despise the shame for Him. 
 
 " ' I am going apace, as you see, towards the Red Sea, and 
 my feet are upon the very brink of it : an argument, I hope, 
 that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise ; for that 
 was the way through which He led His people. 
 
 1 "Cyp. Ang.,"p. 496.
 
 circa^i645.j /^^y^, of Arclibisliop Laud. . 461 
 
 " ' But before they came to it, He instituted a passover for 
 them. A lamb it was ; but it must be eaten with sour herbs. 
 I shall obey, and labour to digest the sour herbs, as well as 
 the lamb. And I shall remember it is the Lord's passover. 
 I shall not think of the herbs, nor be angry with the hands 
 that gather them ; but look up only to Him who instituted 
 that, and governs these : for men can have no more power 
 over me than what is given them from above. 
 
 " ' I am not in love with this passage through the Red Sea, 
 for I have the weakness and infirmity of flesh and blood 
 plentifully in me. And I have prayed with my Saviour, 
 Hi transiret calix iste, that this cup of red wine might pass 
 from me. But if not, God's will, not mine, be done. And 
 I shall most willingly drink of this cup as deep as He pleases, 
 and enter into this sea, yea, and pass through it, in the way 
 that He shall lead me. 
 
 " ' But I would have it remembered, good people, that when 
 God's servants were in this boisterous sea, and Aaron among 
 them, the Egyptians which persecuted them, and did in a 
 manner drive them into that sea, were drowned in the same 
 waters, while they were in pursuit of them. 
 
 " ' I know my God, Whom 1 serve, is as able to deliver 
 me from the sea of blood, as He was to deliver the Three 
 Children from the furnace. And (I most humbly thank my 
 Saviour for it) my resolution is as theirs was : they would 
 not w^orship the image which the king had set up, nor will 
 I the imaginations which the people are setting up. Nor 
 will I forsake the temple and the truth of God, to follow the 
 bleating of Jeroboam's calves in Dan and in Bethel. 
 
 " ' And as for this people, they are at this day miserably 
 misled : God in His mercy open their eyes, that they may see 
 the right way. For at this day the blind lead the blind ; and 
 if they go on, both will certainly fall into the ditch. 
 
 " ' For myself, I am (and I acknowledge it in all humility) 
 a most grievous sinner many ways — by thought, word, and 
 deed ; and yet I cannot doubt but that God hath mercy in 
 store for me, a poor penitent, as well as for other sinners. I 
 have now, upon this sad occasion, ransacked every corner of
 
 462 Life of Archbishop Laud. [^^71!^*^' 
 
 my heart ; and yet I thank God I have not found among the 
 many, any one sin which deserves death by any known law 
 of this kingdom. 
 
 '"And yet hereby I charge nothing upon my judges : for 
 if they proceed upon proof by valuable witnesses, I or any 
 other innocent may be justly condemned. And I thank 
 God, though the weight of the sentence lie heavy upon me, 
 I am as quiet within as ever I was in my life. 
 
 " ' And though I am not only the first Archbishop, but the 
 first man, that ever died by an Ordinance in Parliament, yet 
 some of my predecessors have gone this way, though not by 
 this means : for Elphegus was hurried away and lost his 
 head by the Danes ; Simon Sudbury in the fury of Wat 
 Tyler and his fellows. Before these, St John the Baptist had 
 his head danced off by a lewd woman ; and St Cyprian, 
 Archbishop of Carthage, submitted his head to a persecuting 
 sword. Many examples great and good ; and they teach me 
 patience. For I hope my cause in heaven will look of 
 another dye, than the colour that is put upon it here. 
 
 " 'And some comfort it is to me, not only that I go the way 
 of these great men in their several generations, but also that 
 my charge, as foul as it is made, looks like that of the Jews 
 against St Paul (Acts xxv. 8) ; for he was accused for the 
 law and the temple, i.e. religion ; and like that of St Stephen 
 (Acts vi. 14) for breaking the ordinances which Moses gave, 
 i.e. law and religion, the holy place and the law (verse 13). 
 
 " But you will say, Do I then compare myself with the 
 integrity of St Paul and St Stephen ">. No : far be that from 
 me. I only raise a comfort to myself, that these great saints 
 and servants of God were laid at in their times, as I am now. 
 And it is memorable that St Paul, who helped on this 
 accusation against St Stephen, did after fall under the very 
 same himself 
 
 " ' Yes, but here is a great clamour that I would have 
 brought in Popery. I shall answer that more fully by and 
 by. In the mean time, you know what the Pharisees laid 
 against Christ Himself, " If we let Him alone, all men will 
 believe on Him etvenieni Rojnani, and the Romans will come
 
 Circa ^:645.] j^if^ of Arckbisliop Laucl 463 
 
 and take away both our place and nation." Here was a 
 causeless cry against Christ, that the Romans would come : 
 and see how just the judgment of God was. They crucified 
 Christ for fear lest the Romans should come ; and His death 
 was it which brought in the Romans upon them, God punish- 
 ing them with that which they most feared. And I pray God 
 this clamour of venicnt Ro)iiani (of which I have given no 
 cause) help not to bring them in. For the Pope never had 
 such an harvest in England since the Reformation, as he hath 
 now upon the sects and divisions that are amongst us. In 
 the mean time, " by honour and dishonour, by good report 
 and evil report, as a deceiver and yet true," am I passing 
 through this world. 
 
 " ' Some particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of 
 
 '" I. And first, this I shall be bold to speak of the King, 
 our gracious Sovereign. He hath been much traduced also 
 for bringing in of Popery ; but on my conscience (of which 
 I shall give God a present account), I know him to be as 
 free from this charge as any man living. And I hold him to 
 be as sound a Protestant, according to the religion by law 
 established, as any man in the kingdom ; and that he will 
 venture his life as far and as freely for it. And I think I do 
 or should know both his affection to religion, and his grounds 
 for it, as fully as any man in England. 
 
 "'2. The second particular is concerning this great and 
 populous city (which God bless). Here hath been of late a 
 fashion taken up to gather hands, and then go to the great 
 court of the kingdom, the Parliament, and clamour for 
 justice; as if that great and wise court, before whom the 
 causes come which are unknown to the many, could not or 
 would not do justice but at their appointment ; a way which 
 may endanger many an innocent man, and pluck his blood 
 upon their own heads, and perhaps upon the city's also. 
 
 " 'And this hath been lately practised against myself; the 
 magistrates standing still, and suffering them openly to pro- 
 ceed from parish to parish without check. God forgive the 
 setters of this ; with all my heart I beg it : but many well- 
 meaning people are caught by it.
 
 464 Life of Archbishop Latui. [Sry//'^' 
 
 " * In St Stephen's case, when nothing else would serve, 
 they stirred up the people against him (Acts vi. 12). And 
 Herod went the same way : when he had killed St James, 
 yet he would not venture upon St Peter, till he found how 
 the other pleased the people (Acts xii. 3). 
 
 " ' But take heed of having your hands full of blood (Isai. 
 i. 15) ; for there is a time best known to Himself, when God, 
 above other sins, makes inquisition for blood. And when 
 that inquisition is on foot, the Psalmist tells us that God 
 remembers ; but that is not all : He remembers, and forgets 
 not the complaint of the poor, i.e. whose blood is shed by 
 oppression. 
 
 " ' Take heed of this : " It is a fearful thing to fall into the 
 hands of the living God " ; but then especially when He is 
 making inquisition for blood. And with my prayers to 
 avert it, I do heartily desire this city to remember the 
 prophecy that is expressed in Jer. xxvi. 15. 
 
 '"3. The third particular is, the poor Church of England. 
 It ,hath flourished, and been a shelter to other neighbouring 
 Churches, when storms have driven upon them. But, alas ! 
 now it is in a storm itself and God only knows whether or 
 how it shall get out. And, which is worse than a storm 
 from without, it is become like an oak cleft to shivers with 
 Avedges made out of its own body ; and at every cleft, pro- 
 faneness and irreligion is entering in. While (as Prosper 
 says) men that introduce profaneness are cloked over with 
 the name religionis iniaginarics, of imaginary religion ; for 
 we have lost the substance, and dwell too much in opinion. 
 And that Church, which all the Jesuits' machinations could 
 not ruin, is fallen into danger by her own. 
 
 "'4. The last particular (for I am not willing to be too 
 long) is myself I was born and baptised in the bosom 
 of the Church of England, established by law : in that 
 profession I have ever since lived, and in that I come now 
 to die. 
 
 " ' What clamours and slanders I have endured for labour- 
 ing to keep an uniformity in the external service of God, 
 according to the doctrine and discipline of this Church, all
 
 arcax645.-| ^^^^ ofArcJibishop Laud. 465 
 
 men know, and I have abundantly felt. Now at last I am 
 accused of high treason in Parliament, a crime which my 
 soul ever abhorred. This treason was charged to consist 
 of two parts — an endeavour to subvert the laws of the land ; 
 and a like endeavour to overthrow the true Protestant 
 religion, established by law. 
 
 " ' Besides my answers to the several charges, I protested 
 mine innocency in both Houses. It was said, Prisoners' 
 protestations at the bar must not be taken. I must, there- 
 fore, come now to it upon my death, being instantly to 
 give God an account for the truth of it. 
 
 '"I do therefore here, in the presence of God and His 
 holy Angels, take it upon my death, that I never endea- 
 voured the subversion either of law or religion. And I 
 desire you all to remember this protest of mine for my 
 innocency in this, and from all treasons whatsoever. 
 
 " * I have been accused likewise as an enemy of Parliaments. 
 No ; I understand them, and the benefit that comes by them, 
 too well to be so. But I did dislike the misgovernments 
 of some Parliaments many ways, and I had good reason 
 for it ; for corruptio optimi est pessima. And that being 
 the highest court, over which no other hath jurisdiction, 
 when it is misinformed or misgoverned, the subject is left 
 without all remedy. 
 
 " ' But I have done. I forgive all the world, all and 
 every of those bitter enemies which have persecuted me ; 
 and humbly desire to be forgiven of God first, and then 
 of every man. And so I heartily desire you to join in 
 prayer with me. 
 
 " ' O eternal God and merciful Father, look down upon 
 me in mercy, in the riches and fulness of all Thy mercies. 
 Look upon me, but not till Thou hast nailed my sins to 
 the Cross of Christ, not till Thou hast bathed me in the 
 blood of Christ, not till I have hid myself in the wounds 
 of Christ \ that so the punishment due unto my sins may 
 pass over me. And since Thou art pleased to try me to 
 the uttermost, I most humbly beseech Thee, give me now, 
 in this great instant, full patience, proportionable comfort, 
 
 2 G
 
 466 Life of Archbishop Laud. ^it^t'^^ 
 
 and a heart ready to die for Thine honour, the King's 
 happiness, and this Church's preservation. And my zeal 
 to these (far from arrogancy be it spoken) is all the sin 
 (human frailty excepted, and all incidents thereto) which is 
 yet known to me in this particular, for which I come now to 
 suffer; I say, in this particular of treason. But otherwise, 
 my sins are many and great. Lord, pardon them all, and 
 those especially (whatever they are) which have drawn down 
 this present judgment upon me. And when Thou hast given 
 me strength to bear it, do with me as seems best in Thine 
 own eyes. Amen. 
 
 " ' And that there may be a stop of this issue of blood 
 in this more than miserable kingdom, O Lord, I beseech 
 Thee give grace of repentance to all blood-thirsty people. 
 But if they will not repent, O Lord, confound all their 
 devices, defeat and frustrate all their designs and endea- 
 vours upon them, which are or shall be contrary to the 
 glory of Thy great Name, the truth and sincerity of 
 religion, the establishment of the King, and his posterity 
 after him, in their just rights and privileges ; the honour 
 and conservation of Parliaments in their just power; the 
 preservation of this poor Church in her truth, peace, and 
 patrimony ; and the settlement of this distracted and dis- 
 tressed people, under their ancient laws, and in their native 
 liberties. And when Thou hast done all this in mere 
 mercy for them, O Lord, fill their hearts with thankful- 
 ness, and with religious dutiful obedience to Thee and 
 Thy commandments all their days. So, Amen, Lord Jesu, 
 amen. And receive my soul into Thy bosom. Amen. 
 
 " ' Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy 
 Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth. 
 As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
 And forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive them that 
 trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; 
 But deliver us from evil : For Thine is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.' "
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 One feature of Laud's speech upon the scaffold deserves 
 especial attention, and that is the manner in which he said all 
 he could in favour of his king, and endeavoured, if possible, 
 to save him. His conduct, in this matter, towards Charles 
 contrasts very favourably with Charles's towards himself from 
 the time of his arrest. I am not imputing any blame to the 
 king in respect to the actual execution, which he was power- 
 less to prevent at the time it occurred ; for Laud was then in 
 the hands of the Parliament, with whom Charles was at war ; 
 but, in the earlier days of his archbishop's imprisonment, it is 
 not unfair to think that he might have made greater efforts 
 on his behalf. Again, even if it were impossible that he 
 could do anything to save him, it might have been expected 
 that we should find some records of communications and 
 kind offices between two men who had been such intimate 
 friends, even if it might have been a dangerous step for 
 Charles to visit Laud personally in the Tower. Let all 
 credit be paid to the king's memory for sending his old 
 servant a free (and, as it proved, useless) pardon ; but it 
 would have been pleasanter to have read of other acts of 
 kindness and recognition besides this. Not a word, on the 
 other hand, can be said against the faithfulness of Laud to 
 his master, and at the very last he made a valiant defence 
 of his king's Protestantism and freedom from Popery — his 
 " gracious Sovereign," who " hath been much traduced also 
 for bringing in of Popery " ; but on his conscience, of which 
 he is on the very point of giving an account, he knows him 
 " to be as free from this charge as any man living," and holds 
 " him to be as sound a Protestant, according to religion by 
 law established, as any man in the Kingdom," feeling certain 
 that he would " venture his life as far and as freely for it." 
 
 467
 
 Circa 1645. 
 
 468 Life of Archbishop La2id. SSlt^ 
 
 Perhaps, in his prayer, we cannot altogether defend Laud 
 from what is vulgarly called " playing to the gallery," when 
 he beseeches God to give repentance "to all blood-thirsty 
 people," and, if they will not repent, " to confound all their 
 devices," and " defeat and frustrate all their designs and en- 
 deavours " ; and again, when he prays for " this distracted 
 and distressed people," and tells his Maker confidentially 
 that he is not guilty of treason. All this was carefully 
 written out beforehand, and was probably intended partly for 
 God and partly for the mob. 
 
 When he had finished reading his speech. Laud handed it 
 to his chaplain, Dr Sterne, and observing that a man, named 
 Hinde, had kept taking notes of it as he uttered it, he begged 
 him to let him have no wrong done him by the publication of 
 an imperfect edition. " Sir," replied Hinde, " you shall not. 
 If I do so, let it fall upon my own head. I pray God have 
 mercy upon your soul." "I thank you," answered Laud. 
 "I did not speak with any jealousy as if you would do 
 so, but only, as a poor man going out of the world, it is not 
 possible for me to keep to the words of my paper, and a 
 phrase might do me wrong." ^ 
 
 He then began to prepare himself for the axe, and as he 
 took off his coat he said :— " I will put off my doublets, and 
 God's will be done. I am willing to go out of the world ; no 
 man can be more willing to send me out, than I am willing 
 to be gone." 
 
 A great many officials and others had been allowed to 
 come on to the scaffold, and they had the bad taste so to 
 press round the archbishop, to see how he was bearing up, 
 that he had scarcely sufficient room to disrobe himself; 
 whereupon he begged that he might at least have space 
 enough given him for his death. " I thought," " there would 
 have been an empty scaffold, that I might have had room to 
 die. I beseech you let me have an end of this misery, for I 
 have endured it long," said he. 
 
 A space was then cleared immediately round him. This 
 enabled him to see the boards of the scaffold, when, to his 
 
 ^ Benson, p. 151.
 
 Circa 1645.] i^if^ of Avckbiskop Laud. 469 
 
 annoyance, he perceived, on looking down through the chinks 
 between them, that, in addition to the people upon the plat- 
 form, there were others beneath it, even almost under the very 
 block itself, who probably hoped thereby to have a choice view 
 of some of the more ghastly details of the execution. He 
 begged that either the spaces between the boards might be 
 filled up, or that the people beneath the scaffold might be re- 
 moved, " Lest my innocent blood should fall upon the heads 
 of the people," said he. 
 
 In the meantime, the crowd kept jeering at the disgraced 
 archbishop, who took no notice whatever of the uproar ; but 
 a certain Sir John Clotworthy, an Irishman, determined to 
 worry the poor victim at the point of death. He had 
 succeeded in obtaining admission to the scaffold, and, 
 standing close to Laud, he said : — " What is the comfort- 
 ablest saying which a dying man would have in his mouth ? " 
 " Cupio dissolvi et esse cum CJiristol^ answered Laud. " That 
 is a good desire," went on Sir John, "but there must be a 
 foundation for that divine assurance " ; to which Laud 
 replied : — " No man can express it ; it is to be found 
 within." The Irishman was not yet satisfied. "It is 
 founded upon a word," said he, " and that word should 
 be known." " That word," responded Laud, " is the know- 
 ledge of Jesus Christ, and that alone." ^ But he saw that 
 the man had not done ; so " he turned away to the execu- 
 tioner, as the gentler and discreeter person ; and, putting 
 some money into his hand, without the least distemper or 
 change of countenance, said, ' Here, honest friend, God for- 
 give thee, and do thine ofifice upon me with mercy.' " 
 
 Then he knelt down, and, as soon as he had done so, the 
 executioner asked him to give him a signal when to strike. 
 He replied that the sign should be his using the word, "Lord, 
 receive my soul " ; but " first," said he, " let me fit myself" 
 
 Kneeling opposite the block, but not leaning down upon 
 it, he prayed as follows : — ' 
 
 " Lord, I am coming as fast as I can. I know I must 
 pass through the shadow of death, before I can come to see 
 
 ^ Benson, pp. 152-3.
 
 470 Life of Archbishop Land. ^M^^f.'^' 
 
 Thee. But it is but umbra mortis, a mere shadow of death, 
 a Httle darkness upon nature : but Thou by Thy merits and 
 passions hast broke through the jaws of death. So, Lord, 
 receive my soul, and have mercy upon me ; and bless this 
 kingdom with peace and plenty, and with brotherly love 
 and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian 
 blood amongst them, for Jesus Christ His sake, if it be Thy 
 will." 
 
 Having said this prayer loudly enough for those standing 
 near him to hear, he bent down and fitted his neck on to the 
 block. Then he prayed for a short time (" to himself," as 
 Heyhn expresses it^), inaudibly, and presently said aloud, 
 ^^ Lord receive my Soul" whtn, immediately, "the Executioner, 
 who very dexterously did his Office," " took off his head at a 
 blow." 
 
 His body was put into a leaden coffin and carried to the 
 Church of All Hallows, Barking, which was close to the 
 scene of the execution. A large number of people accom- 
 panied it, and at its burial the liturgy, which had just been 
 abolished, was duly used. Therefore, his very funeral itself 
 was an act of high treason. His body lay in the church of 
 All Hallows, at Barking, for about eighteen years, and was 
 then — it was after the Restoration — removed to the chapel of 
 his dearly beloved St John's College, Oxford, where it was 
 placed beneath the communion-table."-^ 
 
 Malicious people said that he had purposely painted his 
 face, on the morning of his execution, in order to prevent 
 his paleness making him look as if he feared death. This, 
 explains his great biographer, was a base calumny; there 
 was no paint whatever on his face, and yet it sustained its 
 ruddiness even until he knelt at the block itself Very 
 probably ; but it may be well to remember that there is 
 such a thing as eczema, which would give a colour more per- 
 manent than paint. Heylin describes ^ his countenance as 
 "chearful and well-bloudied, more fleshly, (as I have often 
 heard him say) than any other part of his body." 
 
 1 " Cyp. Ang.," p. 503. - Benson, p. 156 ; also Ileylin. 
 
 ■' "Cyp. Ang.," p. 507.
 
 Circa I645.-J Life of Arckbiskop Laud. 471 
 
 Laud's death presented the ghastly and horrible comedy 
 of the execution of a man for spreading and encouraging a 
 religion in which he did not believe, and against which he 
 had perpetually protested. From a Catholic point of view, 
 he had the honour of martyrdom thrust upon him, and its 
 merits offered him, only to suffer its pains without obtaining 
 its merits ; as he died abusing the faith for which he was put 
 to death. 
 
 It is not improbable that, at this point of my story, non- 
 Catholic readers may feel some curiosity as to thej opinion 
 of a Roman Catholic biographer upon the question of the 
 destination of Laud's soul, when the fatal axe had severed 
 his head from his body. 
 
 Our theologians would, I believe, say, that granted the very 
 worst interpretation of Laud's life, — an interpretation which 
 I, for one, am not in the very least inclined to put upon it — 
 from the Catholic standpoint it would be possible, I do not 
 say probable, that during the fraction of a second in which 
 the sharp-edged iron was falling through the air, he might 
 have made such a perfect act of contrition as to save his soul; 
 
 " Between the saddle and the ground 
 He mercy sought and mercy found." 
 
 but, without supposing such an extreme case as this, there 
 is a far more likely issue. I may convey my meaning 
 by making the following quotation from a book which 
 the late Cardinal Manning wrote of as " one of the most 
 complete and useful Manuals of Doctrine, Devotion, and 
 Elementary information for the instruction of those who 
 are seeking the truth ; and not for them only, but for 
 those who have inherited it." In a chapter headed 
 "Things that Catholics do not believe," the author writes: 
 — " Catholics do not believe that Protestants who are bap- 
 tized, who lead a good life, love God and their neigh- 
 bour, and are blamelessly ignorant of the just claims of the 
 Catholic Religion to be the only one true Religion (which 
 is called being i?i good faith), are excluded from Heaven, pro- 
 vided they believe that there is one God in three Divine
 
 472 Life of Archbishop Laud. [i^y.^"'- 
 
 persons ; ^ that God will duly reward the good and punish 
 the wicked ; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man ; 
 who redeemed us, and in whom we must trust for our salva- 
 tion ; and provided they thoroughly repent of having ever, 
 by their sins, offended God. Catholics hold that such Pro- 
 testants who have these dispositions, and, moreover, have no 
 suspicion of their religion being false, or have not the means 
 to discover, or fail in their honest endeavours to discover, the 
 true Religion, and who are so disposed in their heart that 
 they would at any cost embrace the Roman Catholic Religion 
 if they knew it to be the true one, are Catholics in spirit and 
 in some sense within the Catholic Church, without themselves 
 knowing it. She holds that these Christians belong to and 
 are united to the ' soul' as it is called, of the Catholic 
 Church, although they are not united to the visible body of the 
 Church by external communion with her, and by the outward 
 profession of her faith." - 
 
 What follows, however, must be given its due measure of 
 serious consideration. " Very different is the case of a person 
 who, having the opportunity, neglects to learn from genuine, 
 trustworthy sources what the Catholic Religion is and really 
 teaches, y^ar/w^, that were he to become convinced of the truth 
 of the Catholic Faith, he would be compelled by his con- 
 science to forsake his own religion and bear the worldly 
 inconveniences attached to this step. This very fear shows a 
 want of good faith, and that he is not in that insurmountable 
 ignorance which could excuse him in the sight of God, but 
 that he is one of those of whom it is said in Psalm xxxv. 4, 
 ' He woidd not understand that he might do well' " 
 
 Now that we have seen Laud's own head cut off, it may be 
 well to consider how far he contributed to the decapitation of 
 others. There appears to be little doubt that his proceedings, 
 
 ^ A footnote says : — "A believer in one God who, without any fault on his 
 part, does not know and believe that in God there are three divine Persons, is, 
 notwithstanding, in a state of salvation, according to the opinion of most Catholic 
 theologians." To go further than this and explain the reasons given by theo- 
 logians for their belief in the salvation of " the honest savage " would be beyond 
 the scope of a Life of Laud. 
 
 2 " Catholic Belief," by the Rev. J. F. Di Bruno, pp. 219, 220.
 
 ^,':y,^'^-] Life of Archbishop Laud. 473 
 
 and more still his advice, led to events which brought about, 
 or helped to bring about, the executions of both Charles I. 
 and Strafford. It is possible that, had Laud never existed, 
 they might none the less have met their deaths in the same 
 manner and under similar circumstances ; yet it is difficult 
 to study Laud's relations to those unfortunate men without 
 coming to the conclusion that his friendship, policy, and 
 advice had something to do with the fall of both. 
 
 Whether Buckingham would have become a victim to the 
 spite of his many enemies, if he had not died from the blow 
 of an assassin, no man can say ; if he had, it may be a ques- 
 tion whether in his case, also. Laud would not have had a 
 share in increasing his unpopularity and effecting his over- 
 throw. 
 
 Turning from individuals to institutions, a hostile historian 
 of Laud might plausibly argue that, by encouraging the king 
 to dispense with a Parliament, by urging him to the most 
 arbitrary, if not unjust, actions, and by causing him to make 
 enemies among his nobility and gentry with severe punish- 
 ments for offences against ecclesiastical laws, he unintention- 
 ally but most effectively gave a blow to monarchical govern- 
 ment in this country from which it has scarcely yet fully 
 recovered. I am not myself prepared to go to such lengths 
 in criticising his secular policy ; but I should hesitate to 
 accept a brief on the opposite side. 
 
 As to the institution with which he was more directly con- 
 cerned, the Established Church of his country, it appears to me, 
 as an outsider, that the result of his endeavours was to bring 
 the whole fabric down about his ears. He lived to see the 
 abolition of its bishops, as well as that of its liturgy, and its 
 government placed in the hands of its bitterest enemies. His 
 Anglican admirers boast that it grew again from his ashes 
 to a greater size than it had ever attained before, and that 
 it flourished in proportion to the sacrifices which he made for 
 it.^ It would appear, according to this theory, that, as the 
 
 ^ "He obtained hold of the hehn. He gave to the AngHcan polity and worship 
 what was in the main the impress of his own mind. He then sank to the ground 
 in that conflict of the times, which he had made and helped to exasperate. But
 
 474 Life of ArcJibishop Laud. [^^71'.^'^' 
 
 Christian Church rose in all its greatness from the death of 
 its founder, so the Established Church of England sprang into 
 a new and more vigorous life owing to the death of Laud. I 
 venture to think that the two cases are not exactly parallel. 
 It is quite certain that Laud reduced his Church to confusion ; 
 it is, at best, uncertain whether his death contributed in any- 
 perceptible degree to its resurrection. Its doctrinal advance- 
 ment in the early part of the seventeenth century was due 
 rather to Andrews than to Laud ; its restoration in the latter 
 half of that century was to a large extent the work of the 
 temperate and judicious Juxon. 
 
 Again, writing as an outsider, I may say that I think Laud 
 certainly did do one thing for the Church of England, which 
 was to demonstrate the dangers of its authorities assuming 
 very marked, decided, and aggressive religious " views," and 
 it may be that, by the warning of his sad example, he practi- 
 cally founded that race of moderate, "safe," non-extreme, 
 compromising, and colourless bishops for which his Church 
 has been so celebrated since his death. 
 
 I anticipate that in addition to unfavourable criticisms on 
 account of my dulness and my unblushing practice of the 
 literary vice commonly described as " book-making," I shall 
 incur the censures of High-Churchmen for representing Laud's 
 " views " concerning apostolical succession and the eucharist 
 as very different from theirs. My defence must be that, from 
 the evidence which I have been able to obtain on the subject 
 and have produced in the foregoing pages, I honestly imagine 
 them to have been so. On the other hand, I readily admit 
 that I am not very conversant with the High-Church doc- 
 trines of this particular moment. Moreover, I gratuitously 
 volunteer the opinion that, had Laud lived now, it is not 
 impossible that he might have rejoiced at the development 
 of ritualism and have " levelled-up " his views to the times. 
 
 Perhaps I may be fairly open to criticism for having dwelt 
 so little upon Laud's Erastianism, and I may as well state 
 
 his scheme of Church polity, for his it largely was, grew up afresh out of his 
 tomb, and took effect at the Restoration." — Romanes' Lecture, 1892. By the 
 Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.
 
 Circa X645J Lifc of ArcJibiskop Land. 475 
 
 candidly that the cause of my hesitation in doing so has 
 been that I have felt some doubts whether he would have 
 been such a keen advocate for kingly rule in ecclesiastical 
 affairs, had not the particular king with whom he had most 
 to do been singularly subservient to ecclesiastical rule. In 
 short, during Laud's prosperity, he told the king what to tell 
 him to do, and then, if complaints were made, he said to the 
 complainers that it had been the king's doing. James I. had 
 not sympathised with Laud's high views, and at the risk of 
 offending him, Laud tried, nor altogether without success, 
 to elevate those of James ; but he did not pander to the 
 religious opinions of the " Head of the Church," and conse- 
 quently never fully obtained James's confidence. I do not 
 deny that Laud was an Erastian ; nay, I clearly perceive his 
 Erastianism in many details of his history ; but, to my mind, 
 this is one of his characteristics to which somewhat undue 
 prominence has been given^ and I feel pretty certain that it 
 was never his intention that the Established Church of 
 England should be governed so much by Car. Rex as by 
 Guil. Cant. 
 
 I must pause in my own criticisms on Laud to notice 
 two or three which were passed immediately after his 
 death by his contemporaries. One of them consists of a 
 poem of ninety lines, entitled an " Elegy upon the life and 
 death of Bishop Laud of Canterbury." It begins^ : — 
 
 " Can Britain's Patriarchal Peer expire, 
 And bid the world good night, without a choir 
 Of Saints to sing his requiem, and toll 
 A blessing bell unto his dying soul ? 
 Shall he steal to his rest thus ? and not have 
 A blazing star to light him to his grave ; 
 Nor warning ' Pace !' no volley — shot of thunder 
 From Heaven's artillery, to strike with wonder. 
 To ring alarums in the world's dull ear 
 And rend the universe with panic fear." 
 
 The thing is too long to quote at length : I will only give 
 a few lines, taken here and there. 
 
 ^ " Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1644-5, Preface, pp. xxiii.-v.
 
 476 Life of Archbishop Land. [S?^^'^^" 
 
 " How sweetly went'st thou hence ; thy fluent tongue 
 Warbling thy [own] swan-like expedicum : 
 Where such a concourse rolled, as they had been 
 To hear the raptures of some seraphim." 
 
 (Thou) " didst press 
 And trample death, with such undauntedness 
 As if thou meanst to spurn at Fate and spit 
 Defiance in death's face, and welcome it." 
 
 " Thy scaffold was thy Church, and we may please 
 
 Term it, a chapel (as some do) of Ease ; 
 
 There pouring forth thyself to Syon's King, 
 
 Thyself wert both high priest and th' offering ; 
 
 An offering to the Almighty, since thy late 
 
 Sad decollation doth conduplicate 
 
 Thy triumphs with thy Saviour ; who didst list 
 
 And Canonize thee an Evangelist. 
 
 Thus hast thou left us, only to lay down 
 And change thy mitre for a glorious crown." 
 
 All the poetry written about him, at the time of his death, 
 was not quite in the same tone. Here is a verse from another,^ 
 written just before his execution : — 
 
 " Take with you Bishop La[u]d 
 That's Canterbury 
 Trotting upon a jade 
 Soon to the ferry. 
 Advance ye Charon 
 With a good freight. 
 When ye are every one 
 To his boat brought." 
 
 •■a' 
 
 Here is yet another - : — 
 
 " My little Lord [Laud] methinks it's strange 
 You should induce so great a change 
 In such a little space ; 
 You that so proudly th' other day 
 Did rule and the King's country sway, 
 Must trudge to know the other place ; 
 Remember now from whence you came 
 And that the grandsires of your name 
 Were dressers of old cloth ; " 
 
 i."Cal. Sta. Pa. Dom.," 1644-5, P- 280. 2 /^,
 
 area ,645.j ^ ^^^ ^j ^ rc/ibisJiop Laud. 477 
 
 " Within six years six ears have been 
 Cropt off [most] worthy men and grave 
 For speaking what was true ; 
 But if the subtle head and ears 
 Can satisfy these six of theirs 
 Expect what is your due. 
 Poor people of late have felt your rod, 
 Give Laud to the Devil and praise to God 
 For freeing them from thrall ; 
 Your little Grace for want of Grace 
 Must lose the Patriarchal place, 
 And have no grace at all." 
 
 After such quotations as these, I feel it incumbent upon 
 myself once more to vindicate my hero from the charge of 
 Popery. I can see no reason for doubting the sincerity of 
 his ardent professions of Protestantism in his speech on the 
 scaffold. From the earliest times of the Anglican Church 
 Establishment to this very moment, High-Churchmen have 
 been accused of being in league with Rome, of furthering the 
 interests of Rome, of being Romanists at heart, and, for the 
 most part, very unjustly. People of every school of thought 
 except their own, and most of all Catholics, see how illogical 
 is their position ; but they are blind to it themselves. They 
 believe themselves to be in the Catholic Church ; they acknow- 
 ledge " Roman " Catholics to be a branch of the Church, or a 
 sister Church, or a local Church ; but only as a rotten branch, 
 as a fallen sister, or as a local establishment which has no 
 business away from home. Catholics would be as eager as 
 they are themselves to clear Anglicans of " Romanism." A 
 good Puritan, who had an intense personal love of his 
 " Saviour " — a form of piety which has much in common with 
 the Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart — may have been 
 quite as " near to Rome " as Archbishop Laud, or even very 
 much nearer, for that matter ; just as, to-day, an Evangelical 
 clergyman, preaching true contrition, may be really, but 
 unknowingly — how angry he would be if he did know — 
 united to the " soul " of the Roman Catholic Church, while a 
 Ritualist, with a Roman chasuble on his back and a golden 
 thurible full of the very choicest incense in his hand, may be
 
 478 Life of A rchb ishop Laud. ^Mtn^^'^' 
 
 exceedingly foreign to it. But this neither of the great 
 parties in the AngHcan Church ever recognises or reahses. 
 
 As in the nineteenth century, so also in the seventeenth, 
 the Anglican Church, as a body, did not know either what 
 it was, or what it wanted. True, it had its creeds, it had 
 its articles of religion, it had its liturgy ; but then, as now, 
 some of its ministers interpreted them in one way, some in 
 another ; its various parties attributed its origin to very 
 different sources ; this section of its clergy stating that 
 it was Protestant, that section that it was Catholic, a 
 third section that it was not exactly one or the other, 
 yet partly both ; and, with regard to its wants, some main- 
 tained that its best interests lay in a higher ceremonial 
 and an increasing conformity to the ancient usages of the 
 Catholic Church, while others asserted that its only hope 
 rested in the eradication of the last vestige of the papal rags. 
 These divisions of the Anglican Church have ever been in 
 conflict since her foundation, and have prevented it from 
 knowing its own mind, its beginning, its ends, or its wants. 
 In one of the throes of this perpetual agony. Laud fell. He 
 was devoid of that spirit of compromise which is the very 
 essence of the Church to which he belonged ; he failed to 
 appreciate the comprehensiveness which some of its modern 
 bishops declare to be one of its greatest beauties, and, unlike 
 High-Churchmen of our own time, he tried to insert the thick 
 end of the wedge where he ought to have applied the thin. 
 
 Possibly Laud might have succeeded better if he had had 
 a judicious and a popular wife to soothe his feelings when 
 ruffled, to laugh him out of his little idiosyncrasies, and to 
 counteract his own unconscious efforts at making himself 
 unpopular. With Catholic priests the case is very different ; 
 their whole position is apart from that of the parson, and their 
 duties differ as much from his as do their doctrines. It is true 
 that the Catholic Church allows its priests, in certain localities 
 and under certain rites, to marry, and that there are married 
 Catholic priests at this moment — in the Lebanon, for instance 
 — but it is not found, as a rule, to be a satisfactory arrange- 
 ment, and a married clergy would not be liked by the laity
 
 circa^i645.-] Life of ArcJiHshop Laud. 479 
 
 any more than by the clerical authorities at Rome. In parson- 
 dom, on the other hand, a clergyman is but half-fledged until 
 he is a married man, and it may be that if Laud had had 
 a sensible wife, she might have prevented the abolition of 
 episcopacy and the decapitation of her husband. 
 
 I can find nothing in the writings of any unprejudiced 
 historian of Laud, or in any unbiassed contemporary evidence, 
 to lead me to consider him other than a well-meaning man ; 
 my readers, I hope, will agree with me in believing him to 
 have been an honest one ; nor can there be two opinions on 
 the question whether he put the interests of the Church to 
 which he belonged, and the king whom he served, before his 
 own. Ambitious he was, without doubt, but his love of 
 power was much more strongly developed than his love of 
 place ; and if he loved wealth, he used it generously enough 
 in assisting in the improvements at St John's College, the 
 repairs of St Paul's Cathedral, the enrichment of the 
 Bodleian Library, the erection of alms-houses in his native 
 town of Reading, in other works of charity, and in his 
 hospitalities at his palace of Lambeth and elsewhere. 
 
 He certainly did not owe his successes in life to the charms 
 of either his appearance, his manner, or his voice ; he was no 
 great orator, and his literary style was stiff and ungraceful, 
 although he lived in the days of such prose writers as Bacon, 
 Clarendon, Hobbes, Burton, Brown, and Chillingworth, and 
 of such poets as Shakespeare and Milton ; neither did he 
 win his way in the world by the subtilty of his tact or the 
 brilliancy of his statesmanship, in both of which he was 
 singularly deficient ; but he obtained respect and confidence 
 in high places by the certainty with which he knew his own 
 mind, by his immense power of will, and by his unwavering 
 honesty of purpose. 
 
 It is true that, as Clarendon and others say of him, he was 
 generally anything but obsequious to great people, that he 
 was often rude to them, and that he never hesitated to get 
 them punished if he caught them tripping ; but he chose a 
 few mighty potentates, almost worshipped them in word and 
 work, and was prepared to sacrifice everybody else's interests.
 
 48o Life of Archbishop Laud. [^t??;'*'- 
 
 and even his own, to theirs. We may observe the first symp- 
 tom of this in his consenting to marry his earliest great 
 patron, the Earl of Devonshire, against his own conscience, 
 and more still in his conduct towards Buckingham, Charles I., 
 and Wentworth, 
 
 If Anglicans should ever think of canonizing Laud — I 
 once read a little book in which such an idea was mooted — 
 they will find an Advocatus Diaboli ready made in Prynne. 
 The question of Laud's personal sanctity would be a delicate 
 one for a writer professing a different religion to enter upon ; 
 but if it should be said that his period was not one remark- 
 able for Christian holiness, or that his piety was remarkable 
 for his times, I would reply that he lived in the days of that 
 great mystic, St Teresa, of St Charles Borromeo, of St 
 Aloysius, of St John of the Cross, of St Philip Neri, the 
 founder of the Oratorians ; of St Camillus of Lellis, the founder 
 of a great order of men-nurses ; of St Rose of Lima, the first 
 canonized saint of America ; of the charming St Francis of 
 Sales ; of his disciple, St Jane Francis of Chantal ; of St Peter 
 Claver, " the Apostle of the Negroes " ; of the gentle and 
 charitable St Vincent of Paul, and of many others, while, 
 close at home, he may have almost seen some of the lately 
 beatified English martyrs pouring forth their blood for their 
 faith. " And," I can imagine my readers saying, " he poured 
 forth his own for his faith." Nay, he was made to pour it 
 forth for encouraging " Romanism," whereas he died profess- 
 ing himself the best of Protestants. 
 
 Let us not dispute over this. He died a brave man, I hope 
 a good one, and, take him all in all, he may be said to have 
 been an historical character of whom " conformable " people 
 have every reason to feel proud, while even " Romish 
 recusants " may admire him as a well-intentioned, straight- 
 forward, and manly Englishman. 
 
 THE END.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aberguille, Laud's palace as Bp. 
 of St David's, 114. 
 
 Abbott, Archp., Master of Un. Coll. 
 Ox., 23, 27 ; Opposes Laud's 
 elect, for Pres. of St John's, 
 49 ; Encourages marr. of Pcess. 
 Eliz. with Elector Palatine, 54 ; 
 Homicide by, Ti ; Objects to 
 Spanish Alliance, 88 ; Scolds 
 Laud, 92 ; Suspended by Kg., 
 134; Death, 169. See also 
 50, 51. 
 
 Abbott, Bro. of Archp., Preaches 
 against Laud, 36, 54-5. 
 
 Accident in The Tower, Laud's, 
 401 seq. 
 
 Adderley Chapel case, 229 scq. 
 
 Ague, Laud's, in the Tower, 388. 
 
 Abigenses, 27. 
 
 All Hallows, Barking, Church of, 
 Laud buried first at, 470. 
 
 Allison sentenced, by Laud, 43. 
 
 Almanack, Beales, 152. 
 
 Altar, High, at St Peter's, Rome, 
 The Celebrant at, faces nave 
 and congregation, 220. 
 
 Amsterdam, 356. 
 
 Anagrams, 144, 186, 294. 
 
 Andrews, Bp., 19 ; Private Chapel, 
 19-20 ; Hears confessions, 103 ; 
 Used wafers for communion, 
 20-41 ; Death of, 127. 
 
 Andrews, Bp. of St, 167. 
 
 Anglicanism, 478. 
 
 Angouleme, Bp. of, 283. 
 
 Antidotum Lincolniense, 154. 
 
 Appello Caesarem, 109 seq. 
 
 Apostolical Succession, 18, 38, 210, 
 
 443-4. 
 
 Aquaviva, General of the Jesuits, 
 condemns conspiracies of 
 Catholics in England, 32. 
 
 Arabic MSS. given by Laud to Ox- 
 ford, 341. 
 
 Archbishop of Cant., Laud made, 
 169. 
 
 Archdeacon, Laud made an (of 
 Huntingdon), 54. 
 
 Arches, Court of, 230. 
 
 Archpriest, The, condemns Gun- 
 powder Plot, 34. 
 
 Argyle, Earl of, 322. 
 
 Armada, The Spanish, 10, 11, 24. 
 
 Armagh, Archp. of, 383. 
 
 Arminianism, 99, 100, loi. 
 
 Armstrong, Archie, the Court 
 Jester, 317 scq. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, 353 seq. 
 
 Articles of Impeachment against 
 Laud, Summary of, 425 seq. 
 
 Articles, The Thirty-nine, 227. 
 
 Arundel, Earl of 165, 256. 
 
 Arundel, Lady, " A strenuous she- 
 champion of the Popish re- 
 ligion," 413. 
 
 Asaph, St, Bp. of, 182, 184. 
 
 Ascham, Roger, 4. 
 
 Aylett, Dr, 147. 
 
 Ayry, Dr, His quarrel with Laud, 36. 
 
 Bacon, Francis, 123, 365. 
 
 Baines' Life of Laud, 40. 
 
 Balfore, Sir W., Lieutenant of The 
 
 Tower, 384, 441. 
 Ballads against Laud sold in the 
 
 streets, 373. 
 Bancroft, Bp. 254. 
 Baptism, contest as to, of the 
 
 Prince, 145. 
 Barberini, 395, 396. 
 Barlow, Bp., 18. 
 Bartholomew, Massacre of, 26. 
 Bassompierre, 129. 
 Bastwick, 204-5, 37 1- 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, 95, 259. 
 Bedell, Bp., brought Archp. of 
 
 Spalatro to England, 60. 
 Bellarmin, 27, 112, 410. 
 H 481
 
 482 
 
 Index. 
 
 Benson, Mr, on Laud's style, 47 ; 
 Takes opposite view to Dr 
 Hook about Laud's " Con- 
 ference with Fisher." His 
 description of Laud's last visit 
 to Lambeth, 375 ; numerous 
 other references. 
 
 Bible, Genevan, 296-7. 
 
 Bilson, Bp. of Winchester, 49. 
 
 Bishop, Name and Thing, 39. 
 
 Bishop, Laud made a, 68 seq. ; 
 said to have been at Williams's 
 suggestion, ib. 
 
 Bishops, Thirteen imprisoned, 392 ; 
 Released and again imprisoned, 
 
 399- 
 Bishops, Laud offends the, 223. 
 
 Black Rod, Usher of. See Maxwell. 
 
 Blackwell, Fr., Archpriest in 
 England, 32. 
 
 Blount, Charles, 28. 
 
 Bodleian Library. See Bodley. 
 
 Bodley, Sir Thos., 52 seq. 
 
 Bohemia, King of. Death of, 164. 
 
 Bohemia, Queen of, Coronation, 65 ; 
 Dethroned, 66 ; Her corre- 
 spondence with Laud, 254 seq. 
 
 Bolsover Castle, Festivities at, 259. 
 
 Book of Common Prayer abolished, 
 
 434- 
 
 Book of Sports. See Sports. 
 
 Boswell, Sir W., English Minister 
 at the Hague, 413. 
 
 Bothaw, St Mary's, Seats at, 221. 
 
 Bowyer, Lodowick, Slandered Laud 
 and severely punished, 222 seq. 
 
 Bramhall, 226. 
 
 Brecknock, Laud preaches at, 114. 
 
 Bridge, The Rev., would not con- 
 form, T83. 
 
 Brigstock, Vicar of, locks in his 
 congregation to hear him 
 preach, 207. 
 
 Bristol, Bp. of, 357. 
 
 Bristol, Earl of, quarrels with Buck- 
 ingham, 127. 
 
 Brook, Lord, Wishes destruction 
 of St Paul's, 380 ; Killed, 404. 
 
 Brown, Counsel for the prosecution 
 at Laud's trial, 448 seq. and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Buckeridge, Laud's tutor, 15, 23 ; 
 President of St John's, 48. 
 
 Buckhurst, Lord Treasurer, became 
 Chancellor of Oxford, 15. 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of. His influence 
 in raising Laud to the Episcopal 
 bench, 69, 70, 71 ; Friendship 
 with Laud, 81 scq.\ Illness, 93 ; 
 Enmity towards Bristol, 127 ; 
 Extravagance in dress, ib.; 
 Love for Anne of Austria, ib.; 
 Letters as to his unfaithfulness 
 from his wife, 130 scq.\ His 
 expedition to the Isle of Rh^, 
 i^pseq.; His assassination, 140 
 seq.; Many other references. 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, Marriage of 
 his daughter, 249. 
 
 Building, Laud's love of, 254. 
 
 Bullets, Silver, Lady Hamilton's, 
 
 335- 
 Burgoyne, Mr, 139. 
 Burial of Laud, 470. 
 Burton, 204-5, 371. 
 Butts, Dr, Vice-Chan, of Cambridge, 
 
 Suicide of, 163. 
 
 Cadiz, Expedition to, 292. 
 
 Calvinism, 98-101. 
 
 Cambridge. See Butts. 
 
 Campion, Fr., 7, 25. 
 
 Candidate for Ordination, unfit, 1 16. 
 
 Canons, The, 354, 358 seq. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishopric pro- 
 mised to Laud, 125 ; given to 
 him, 169. 
 
 Canterbury, Province of, Accts., 
 181 seq. 
 
 Canterbury Cathedral profaned. 
 
 Capuchin, 129, 178, 182. 
 
 Cardinal's Hat, said to have been 
 offered to Laud, 172 seq. and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Carey, Lucius. Sec Falkland. 
 
 Carey, Anne and Elizabeth, 
 207. 
 
 Carmarthen, 117. 
 
 Cashell, Bp. of, 226. 
 
 Casu necessitatis, In, 443-4. 
 
 Catesby, 33 seq. 
 
 Catholic Belief, 472. 
 
 Chancellorship of Oxford, Laud ob- 
 tains the, 148 ; He resigns it, 
 389.
 
 Index, 
 
 48 
 
 Chapel at Aberguille, Laud con- 
 secrates, 115; Queen Henrietta, 
 1 1 7 seq. ; Laying foundation 
 stone of her, 164 ; Opening of, 
 283. 
 
 Charost, Comte de, Van Tromp 
 writes to, 338. 
 
 Charles L goes to Spain with Buck- 
 ingham, 87 scq.; Accession, 
 
 102 ; Marriage, 10 
 
 J J 
 
 Un- 
 pleasantness with Queen about 
 her religion and attendants, 
 1 1 7 seq. ; Coronation, 121; 
 Chides bishops, 124 ; Goes 
 with Laud to Scotland, 166 
 seq.; His love of the fine arts, 
 260 seq.; Comparisons with 
 Laud, ib.; Visits Laud at Ox- 
 ford, 267 seq.; Starts with an 
 army to attack the Scots, 333 
 seq.; First unpleasantness with 
 Laud, 359 ; Laud disapproves 
 of his conduct towards Straf- 
 ford, 369, 380-1 ; His faithless- 
 ness to Strafford, 381-2 ; Yields 
 the Liturgy to the control of 
 the Parliament, 398 ; Orders 
 priests to be martyred, 402 ; 
 Declares his Protestantism im- 
 mediately before communicat- 
 ing, 418-19 ; Gives a Free 
 Pardon to Laud before his 
 trial, 424 ; His conduct to- 
 wards Laud contrasted with 
 Laud's towards him, 467 ; Ab- 
 solved from the charge of 
 Popery by Laud on the 
 scaffold, ib. 
 
 Chevreuse, Duchess of, " Fair, but 
 paints foully," 119. 
 
 Chillingworth, 161 seq..^ 281, 479. 
 
 Chorister, A, bribed at St Paul's 
 Cathedral to sing something 
 not in the day's service, 310. 
 
 Christmas Day, Fast on, 453. 
 
 Churches, Foreign Protestant. Sec 
 Protestant. 
 
 Churchwarden, Laud's father a, 5. 
 
 Clara, Santa, 438-9. 
 
 Clarendon, His opinion of Laud 
 and his actions, 43, 169 seq.., 
 436, 455 ; Numerous other 
 references. 
 
 Clerk of the Closet, Laud acts as, 
 
 103 ; Juxon made, 164. 
 Clotworthy, Sir J., Torments Laud 
 
 on the scaffold, 469. 
 Coach, Laud's upset, 114. 
 Coadjutor wanted by Goodman, 
 
 223-4. 
 Coates's History of Reading, 2, 5, 
 
 12. 
 Cock-fighting in a church, 178. 
 Collets, 344 scq. 
 Committee-Chamber, Ho. of Lords, 
 
 Laud teased in, 432. 
 Common-Prayer, see Book of. 
 Commons, Laud summoned before, 
 
 449- . 
 
 Communion, Laud would have 
 forced on Non-Anglicans, 214. 
 
 Communion-Tables, Time of Laud, 
 58, 85, 178 scq., 215, 226. 
 
 Communion-Tables, Modern, clergy- 
 men placing them as in pre- 
 Laudian times, 219. 
 
 Con, 241, 415. 
 
 Concordance, Ferrer's, 348. 
 
 Conference with Fisher. See 
 Fisher. 
 
 Confession, Laud encouraged, 42 ; 
 Bp. Andrews heard, 103 ; Ad- 
 vocated by the High Church 
 clergy in Laud's times, 179 ; 
 Laud became confessor to 
 Buckingham, 81, 82. 
 
 Consecration of churches by Laud, 
 
 115, 155- 
 
 Converts, 207. 
 
 Convocation, 358 seq., 367. 
 
 Convocation, Subsidies of members 
 of, 92. 
 
 Corbet, Sir J., 229 seq., 427- 
 
 Cork, Earl of, and his monument to 
 his wife, 188 seq. 
 
 Coronation of Charles L at West- 
 minster, 120 seq. J- of the Queen 
 of Bohemia, 65. 
 
 Cosin, Bp., 41. 
 
 Cottington, Lord, 250 seq., 265, 267, 
 
 395- 
 Counsel for the prosecution at 
 
 Laud's trial, 422. 
 Counsel and solicitor refused to 
 
 Laud, before Commons, 449. 
 Covenant, The, 416 seq.
 
 484 
 
 Index. 
 
 Coventry, 221. 
 
 Cranmer, Archp., 17, 38. 
 
 Creed Church, St Catherine, Laud 
 
 consecrates, 155. 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 295-6, 434. 
 Cuddeston, 254, 267. 
 Cyprien, Fr., Henriette Maria's 
 
 chaplain, on the Anglican 
 
 clergy, 178 seq. 
 
 Davenant, Bp. of Salisbury, 239, 
 352. 
 
 David's, St, Laud made Bp. of, 72 ; 
 references to, 75 ; First Visita- 
 tion, 85 ; second, 114. 
 
 Davies, Lady Eleanor, 14.4. seq., 148, 
 184-5, 305-6. 
 
 Deacon, Laud made a, 26. 
 
 Dean of Gloucester, Laud made, 
 58. 
 
 Decalogue, The, painted over a 
 commtmion-table considered 
 High Church in Laud's days, 
 189. 
 
 De Dominis, 60 seq. 
 
 Denmark House, 145. 
 
 Devonshire, Earl of, 28 seq. 
 
 D'Estrades, Count, 325 seq. 
 
 Diary, Laud's, produced at trial, 
 
 444-5- 
 Diary, his last entry in, 454 (con- 
 stantly quoted). 
 Digby, Sir John, 53. 
 Digby, Sir Kenelm, 272 seq., 354. 
 Digby, Lady Venetia, 273. 
 Distinguishment between charges 
 
 of Treason and Misdemeanour, 
 
 Laud asks for, 420. 
 Divinity Lectureship, Laud obtains, 
 
 27. 
 Divorced woman. Laud marries a, 
 
 to his patron, 29. 
 Donne, Dr, 351. 
 Dorset, Lord, reproaches Charles L 
 
 for going to Mass, 106 ; also 
 
 175, 204. 
 Dreams, Laud's, 95 seq., 116, 133. 
 Dress, Laud's usual, 197. 
 Duck, Dr, 390. 
 
 Durham, Bp. of, 105, 119, 149. 
 Durie, John, 191 seq. 
 Dutch Protestants in England. See 
 Protestants. 
 
 Earl Marshal, 231. 
 
 Edge Hill, Battle of, 341, 402. 
 
 Edinburgh, Riots at, about the 
 Liturgy, 314 seq. 
 
 Elegy upon Laud, 475-6. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 6, 15; Her visit 
 to Oxford, 270. 
 
 England, New, 297 seq. ; Moved in 
 the House of Commons that 
 Laud should be sent there, 
 405. 
 
 Episcopacy, Bill for abolishing in 
 Scotland, 336 ; in England, 
 404. 
 
 Erastianism, Laud's, 474-5. 
 
 Essex, Earl of, 15, 27, 28, 416. 
 
 Et Cetera Oath, The, 362-3. 
 
 Evangelical Alliance, Laud at- 
 tempts an, 191. 
 
 Exchequer, Laud made a Commis- 
 sioner of, 249. 
 
 Executions of Essex, 27 ; Laud, 460 
 seq. ; actual, 470 ; Raleigh, 59 ; 
 Five in six weeks, 460. 
 
 Exeter Coll., Oxford, Sermon 
 against Laud at, 14S. 
 
 Exeter, Bishop of, 158, 357. 
 
 Faith, Good, Catholic Doctrine 
 on, 471. 
 
 Falkland, Viscount, 353 seq. 
 
 Falkland, Lady, 484. 
 
 Fami lists, 180. 
 
 Fast, Public, 105. 
 
 Fast, on Christmas-Day, 453. 
 
 Father, Laud's, a tailor, i ; a 
 churchwarden, 5. 
 
 Felton, the assassinator of Buck- 
 ingham, 140. 
 
 Ferrar, Nicholas, 143 seq. 
 
 Fisher, Father, a/t'as Percy or 
 Piercy, 76-7. 
 
 Fisher, Conference with, 27, 37, 62, 
 63 ; account of, 76 seq. 
 
 Finch, Lord Keeper, 359. 
 
 Fines, 262. 
 
 Foreign Protestants in England. 
 See Protestants. 
 
 Foreign Protestant clergy given ap- 
 pointments in Anglican Church 
 without re-ordination, 40, 41. 
 
 Forma Pauperis, In, Laud desired 
 to plead, 419.
 
 Index. 
 
 48; 
 
 Fox, William The, 342. 
 
 Fox's Book of Martyrs, 346^-^7. 
 
 Framstow, SirT., his speech against 
 Laud and the " et cetera " oath, 
 362. 
 
 Frankfort, Diet of, 191, 194. 
 
 French Protestants. See Protest- 
 ants. 
 
 Froude, 16, 25. 
 
 Fulham, 146 seq. 
 
 Funeral, Queen's, 64-5 ; King 
 James's, 103 ; Laud's, 470. 
 
 Garnet, Fr., 32 seq. 
 Gee, The Informer, 245. 
 Gladstone, The Right Hon. W. E., 
 
 329, 473 ; title page. 
 Glasgow, riots at about the Liturgy, 
 
 316. 
 Gloucester, Laud made Dean of,58. 
 Gloucester, Bp. of. Miles Smith, 
 
 Quarrels with Laud, 58. 
 Goldwell, Bp., One of the last of the 
 
 old real bishops, g. 
 Good Faith, Catholic teaching as to 
 
 those who die in, 471. 
 Goodman, Bp., of Gloucester, 223 ; 
 
 358 seq. 
 Grammar Reader, Laud made, 25. 
 Green, J. R., 209. 
 Green way, Fr., lo- 
 Green's Norton, 158. 
 Gregory's, St, Church, 217. 
 Grotius, 378. 
 Gunpowder Plot, 31 seq. 
 
 Habernfield, Andreas ab, 173, 
 241 ; "Rome's Master Piece," 
 413 seq. 
 
 Hacket, Bp., 68. 
 
 Hague, The, 413 seq. 
 
 Hales, 304 seq. 
 
 Hall, Bp., 239. 
 
 Hamilton, Marquess of, 321, 335, 
 346. 
 
 Hamilton, Marchioness of, 335. 
 
 Hammersmith, 146 seq. 
 
 Hampden, John, 263 seq. 
 
 Hanged, Laud condemned to be, 
 456. 
 
 Harbourne, The modern Vicar of, 
 moves his communion-table, 
 219. i 
 
 Harvey, Dr, 340-1. 
 
 Hassall, Dean of Norwich, Protege 
 of Queen of Bohemia, 225. 
 
 Hatton, Ld. Chancellor, 15. 
 
 Haywood, or Heywood, or Hay- 
 ward, Laud's chaplain, 244, 
 285-6, 456. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Marriage and 
 arrival in England, 103 seq. ; 
 Her chapel, attendants, and 
 quarrels with Charles, 1 17 seq. ; 
 Refuses to attend the corona- 
 tion, 121 ; Threatened im- 
 peachment of, 393 ; Flies from 
 England, 394 ; Negotiations 
 with Cardinal Barberini, 397. 
 See also Chapel, The Queen's. 
 
 Henry IV. of France, 26. 
 
 Henry, Prince of Wales, Death of, 
 
 53- 
 
 Herbert, George, 350 seq. 
 
 Heylin, Peter, 153 ; His account of 
 Laud's trial contrasted with 
 Prynne's, 435 (Constantly 
 quoted). 
 
 Hinde, Takes notes of Laud's ser- 
 mon on the scaffold, 458. 
 
 Histrio-mastri\, 201. 
 
 Hobbes, 354. 
 
 Hocus Pocus, 180. 
 
 Holies, 143. 
 
 Hollys Denzell conveys impeach- 
 ment of Laud from Commons 
 to Bar of Ho. of Lords, 374. 
 
 Holy wood. Coronation at, 167. 
 
 Honye-Lacye, 116. 
 
 Hook, Dean, 2, 34, -]-], 173. 
 
 Howard, Sir R., Paramour of Lady 
 Purbeck, 306. 
 
 Huguenots, 323. 
 
 Humphrey, 23, 
 
 Hurst, 117. 
 
 Ignatius, St, 7. 
 
 Illness, Laud's longest, 145. 
 
 Immaculate Conception, The, 283. 
 
 Immoral clergy, 178. 
 
 Impeachment of Laud, 374. 
 
 Incense, Used by Andrews, 20. 
 
 Income, Laud's, 227. 
 
 Indians persecuted by New Eng- 
 
 landers, 298. 
 Indulgences, "Sale of," 172.
 
 486 
 
 Index. 
 
 Innovations in Doctrine and Dis- 
 cipline, 379. 
 
 Inns of Court, Laud's disputes with, 
 177. 
 
 Intention not considered necessary 
 to a Sacrament by Laud, 40, 
 411, 412. 
 
 Ireland, 186 and elsewhere. 
 
 I sham, John Etkins of, 207. 
 
 James L, 51 ; Conversation with 
 Williams about making Laud a 
 Bishop, 68 seq. ; Death and 
 notes on his character, religious 
 views, &c., 97 seq. 
 
 Jester, The Court, 317 seq. 
 
 Jesuits, Law against and other 
 priests, 8. 
 
 Jewell, 9. 
 
 Johnson, Chaplain to Queen of 
 Bohemia, 355. 
 
 John's, St, II, 12 ; New Buildings 
 at, 157 ; Entertainment to 
 King and Queen at, 268 ; 
 Laud's bones lie at, 470. 
 
 Jones, Father Leander, O.S.B., 
 245. 
 
 Judges, 176. 
 
 Juxon, 26 ; Clerk of the Closet, 164 ; 
 Bp. of London, 264, 474. 
 
 Keble, 353. 
 Ken, 353. 
 Kilmorey, Lord, 
 
 !3o seq. 
 
 Labyrinth, Lawd's, 78 seq., 410. 
 
 Lambeth Palace, Attack on, 342 ; 
 Laud visits for last time, 374-5 ; 
 Private life at, 197 seq. 
 
 Last hours, Laud's, 456-9. 
 
 Laud, Birth (1573), 2 ; Fellow of 
 St John's (1593), Ordained 
 "Deacon" (1600), 26; Or- 
 dained "Priest" (1601), 26; 
 Proctor (1603), 27 ; President 
 of St John's (1611), 49-51 ; 
 Archdeacon (1615), 54; Dean 
 (1616), 58 ; Bishop of St 
 David's (1621), 68 ; Bishop of 
 London (1628), 130; Chan- 
 cellor of Oxford (1630), 148; 
 Archbishop of Canterbury 
 i}^Z'i\ 169 ; Impeached and 
 
 arrested (1640), 374; Sent to 
 
 the Tower (1641), 376 seq.\ 
 
 Executed (1645), 470. 
 Laying foundation stone of Queen's 
 
 Chapel, 164. 
 Layton Ecclesia, 350. 
 Leander, Father, 245. 
 Leicester, as Chancellor of Oxford, 
 
 Leighton, 1 50 seq. 
 
 Lent, 146. 
 
 Lenthrop, Laud's servant, 279. 
 
 Libels against Laud, 141 -2, 293, 
 
 1,12>, 387- 
 
 Lilburn, J., 294 seq. 
 
 Lincoln, Williams, Bp. of, 120, 122-3 5 
 Trial of, 299 seq.; Release of, 
 370 ; Imprisoned again, 392. 
 See also Williams. 
 
 Lindsell, Dr Dean of Lichfield, 158. 
 
 Little Gidding, 344 seq. 
 
 Liturgy, The Scotch, 311 seq. 
 
 London, Laud made Bishop of, 130. 
 
 Loudon, Lord, 320. 
 
 Louis XIII. of France, 129. 
 
 Louis XIV., 434. 
 
 Lutheran, doctrine on Real Pre- 
 sence, 37. 
 
 Macaulay, 18, 328, 391. 
 
 Mady, Mr, 50. 
 
 Manning, Cardinal, 471. 
 
 Manuscripts given by Laud to Ox- 
 ford, 148. 
 
 Marriage of Charles and Henrietta 
 Maria, 103. 
 
 Marriage of Earl of Devonshire and 
 Lady Rich, 29. 
 
 Marriage of priests allowed by Cath. 
 Ch. under certain rites, 478. 
 
 Marriage in the Tower, 441. 
 
 Marston Moor, Battle of, 434. 
 
 Martyrdoms, of Catholics, 9 and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Mary Queen of Scots, Her execu- 
 tion, 10. 
 
 Mass, Charles I. said to have heard, 
 106. 
 
 Maurus, Fr., O.S.B., 50. 
 
 Maxwell, Usher of Black Rod, Laud 
 committed to charge of, 374. 
 
 Maxwell, Mrs, Her opinion of Laud, 
 376.
 
 Index. 
 
 487 
 
 Mende, Bp. of, 118. 
 
 Merchants, English, in Holland, 
 212-13. 
 
 Merricke, Dr, 390. 
 
 Merry Liturgy, The, 294. 
 
 Milton, John, 46 ; He sneers at 
 Charles I. for reading Shakes- 
 peare, 260. 
 
 Mitre Hotel, The, Oxford, a resort 
 of CathoHcs, 282. 
 
 Montague, Dr, and the Jesuits and 
 his books, 107 seq.; Made 
 Bishop of Chichester, iii seq.; 
 His negotiations with Panzani 
 for re-union with Rome, 236 
 seq. See also 443-4. 
 
 Montague, Walter, 289-90, 413. 
 
 Morse, Fr., 287 seq. 
 
 Morton, Bp., 21, 239. 
 
 Mother, Death of Laud's, 26. 
 
 Mounsen, Sir J., 301. 
 
 Mountain, or Montaigne, Bp., 138. 
 
 Mulgrave, 147. 
 
 Nantes, Edict of, 26. 
 
 Natural Sciences, at Oxford, 63-4. 
 
 Needhams, 229 seq. 
 
 Neil, Archp. of York, 43, 46, 54, 
 
 58 ; Death of, 367. 
 Neri, St Philip, 24. 
 New Buildings, St John's Coll., 
 
 Oxford, 157. 
 Newburgh, Lord, 207-8. 
 New England, 297, 405. 
 New Gagg for an Old Gospel, An, 
 
 108 seq. 
 Newman, Cardinal, 353, 409. 
 Newport, Lady, 289, 413. 
 Nicholas, 440 seq., and elsewhere. 
 Non-kneelants, 220. 
 Northumberland, Earl of, 452. 
 Nose, Laud's, bleeds, 447. 
 Noy, 218, 231, 263. 
 Nuremburg, Church at, 196. 
 
 O. AND P. Schedule, The, 102. 
 Office, The Divine, said by an 
 
 Anglican Bishop, 358. 
 Orange, The Prince of, 339. 
 Oratorians, 24, 224. 
 Orders, Anglican. See Apostolical 
 
 Succession. 
 Ordination of Laud, 26. 
 
 Orientation, 147. 
 
 Oxford, 11-15 ; Parliament at, 107 ; 
 Laud made Chancellor of, 
 148 ; Visit of King and Queen, 
 267 ; Laud resigns Chancellor- 
 ship, 389. 
 
 Oyster - Boards (Moveable Com- 
 munion-Tables called), 17. 
 
 Pacification, The, 337, 
 
 Paget, J., 172. 
 
 Painted, Said that Laud, before his 
 
 execution, 470. 
 Palatinate, Laud asks his clergy to 
 
 contribute to the war in, 75. 
 Panzani, 236 seq. 
 Paris, Buckingham's visit to, 127. 
 Pardon, Written, sent to Laud by 
 
 Charles before his trial, 424. 
 Parker, Bp., 18. 
 Parliament at Oxford, 107. 
 Parliament, The, of 1628, 136. 
 Parliament, The, of 1640, 341, 366. 
 Pasting-printing, 347. 
 Patrick's Cathedral, St, 188. 
 Paul's Cathedral, St, Forced Con- 
 tributions to, 150, 171-2. 
 Peers who passed Ordinance for 
 
 Laud's attainder, 454-5. 
 Pembroke, Lord, Death of, 147-8 ; 
 
 His hatred of Laud, 453-4. 
 Penance, Public, Form of, 308 seq. 
 Pennington, 338 ; As Lieutenant of 
 
 the Tower, he conducts Laud 
 
 to execution, 459. 
 Persian MSS. given by Laud to 
 
 Oxford, 341. 
 Pestilence, 104, 259. 
 Peters tries to get Laud banished 
 
 to New England, 405 ; Teases 
 
 him at the House of Lords, 
 
 and preaches against him in 
 
 a church near Lambeth, 
 
 432. 
 Pillory, 204-5, 3.nd elsewhere. 
 Pine-martin skins. Laud writes to 
 
 Wentworth for a coat lined 
 
 with, 227. 
 Plague. See Pestilence. 
 Pococke sent by Grotius to advise 
 
 Laud to attempt escape from 
 
 Tower, 378. 
 Poems upon Laud, 475-6-7.
 
 488 
 
 Index. 
 
 Poets, Their influence on Angli- 
 canism, 353. 
 
 Polyglots, 349. 
 
 Popery, Laud not guilty of, 43, 45, 
 417. 
 
 Portland, Death of, 264. 
 
 Portraits of Laud, 199. 
 
 Poslingford, The Vicar of, 206. 
 
 Prayer, for Buckingham, 83. 
 
 Prayer, Laud's, on the scaffold, 465, 
 469. 
 
 Prayers, Laud's, Mr Benson on, 
 458. 
 
 Preached at by Abbott's brother, 
 Laud, 36-7, 54-5. 
 
 Preached at, at Exeter Coll., Oxford, 
 148. 
 
 Preached at in The Tower, 402. 
 
 Preached at by Peters near Lam- 
 beth, 432. 
 
 Presence, Real, see Real. 
 
 Prebend of Windsor, Laud made 
 a, 67. 
 
 Predestination, 90, 150. 
 
 Presidentship of St John's, 49, 51. 
 
 Preston, Fr., 244. 
 
 Priest's orders, so-called, given to 
 Laud, 26. 
 
 Prince, A, born and died in an 
 hour, 145. 
 
 Prince Charles goes to Spain, 87 seq. 
 
 Prince Charles II. born, 149. 
 
 Prince of Wales, Death of a, 53. 
 
 Prince, A (The Duke of York) 
 born, 186. 
 
 Princess Elizabeth's marriage to 
 Prince Frederick, Elector 
 Palatine, 54. 
 
 Printers, 150, 181. 
 
 Proctor, Laud made, 27. 
 
 Proctors, disorderly, 159. 
 
 Protestants, French and Dutch, 
 209, 442. 
 
 Protestantism of Laud, 477. 
 
 Protestantism of Charles I., 418-19. 
 
 Province of Canterbury, Accts. of, 
 181 scq. 
 
 Prynne, William, 201 seg. ; searches 
 Laud's person and rooms in 
 the Tower, 406 seq. ; His 
 account of Laud's trial con- 
 trasted with Heylin's, 435 ; 
 Constant quotations from. 
 
 Pulley and Pullen, 280- r. 
 Purbeck, Lady, 306 seq. 
 Purgatory, 38. 
 Puritans, Bitterness of, 16. 
 Pursuivants, 50, 51. 
 Pym, 368-9. 
 
 King 
 
 and 
 
 Quarrels between 
 
 Queen, 1 17 scq. 
 Quakers, 298. 
 Questions to Clergy, 85. 
 
 Rabble, The attack, Lambeth 
 
 Palace, 342. 
 Rainold, Dr, President of Corpus 
 
 Christi Coll., Oxford, a strong 
 
 Puritan, 23. 
 Raleigh, Sir W., Execution of, 
 
 59- 
 Reading Abbey, 19. 
 Reading, Laud built almshouses at, 
 
 479- 
 Reading, Town of had a scholarship 
 
 at St. John's Coll., O.xford, 11. 
 Reading, Siege of, 416. 
 Real Presence in the Sacrament, 
 
 Andrews on, 19. 
 Real Presence, Bp. Goodman's 
 
 sermon on, 358. 
 Real Presence, Laud on, 409 seq. 
 Recapitulation, Laud's, at his trial, 
 
 446. 
 Reconciliation with the Catholic 
 
 Church, 42, 236 seq. 
 Remonstrance, The, 136, 143. 
 Reporter, A, at Laud's e.xecution, 
 
 468. 
 Retentive to stay, A, 17. 
 Revell, Dr, an immoral clergyman, 
 
 178. 
 Reunion. See Reconciliation. 
 Rhe, siege of, 13 1-2. 
 Richardson, Chief Justice, de- 
 nounces The Book of Sports, 
 
 175 seq. 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 323, 274, 339, 
 
 340 ; Death of, 433. 
 Rome, 24 ; Question whether Laud 
 
 sought an asylum at, 395. 
 Rome's Masterpiece, 413 seq.., 446. 
 Root and Branch Petition, The 
 
 371- 
 Rosetti, 395.
 
 Index. 
 
 489 
 
 Roxburgh, Lord, saves the Bp. of 
 Edinburgh from the mob of 
 women, 316. 
 
 Sabbatarian, Laud not a rigid, 
 
 175- 
 Sackville, Sir E. 63. 
 Sacrament, B. Exposition of, 283. 
 Sacrament, Intention not considered 
 
 necessary to a, by Laud, 40. 
 Sacrament, Received not fasting 
 
 by Fr. Morse, 288. 
 Sales, St Francois de, 7 ; His 
 
 " Devout Life," 285 seq. 
 Salisbury's Anti-Laudian sermon, 
 
 42. 
 School, Laud at, 2, 3, 4. 
 Scholarship at St John's, Laud 
 
 obtains a, 23. 
 Scholastic Philosophy abolished at 
 
 Oxford, 14. 
 Science in XVlIth Cent., 63-4. 
 Scotland, Laud taken to by James L, 
 
 57- 
 Scotland, Visit of Charles L and 
 
 Laud to, 166 seq. 
 Scotland, The Liturgy in, 311 seq. 
 Search for Laud's things in the 
 
 Tower, 406 seq. 
 Segar, Sir W. Garter, 149. 
 Seldon, John, 205, 354. 
 Sermon, Laud's, 47. 
 Sermon, Preached by him on the 
 
 scaffold, 460. 
 Services, Anglican, length of, 149. 
 Shakespeare, Death of, 57 ; Milton 
 
 on, 260. 
 Sherston, Grandfather of W. 
 
 Prynne, 201. 
 Shingleton, committed for ridiculing 
 
 King James's " Latinities." 
 Ship money, 263. 
 Shotover, Timber from the woods 
 
 of, used for the New Buildings 
 
 of St John's Coll., 157. 
 Sibthorpe's, Dr, Sermon, Archp. 
 
 Abioott suspended for refusing 
 
 to give his imprimatur to it, 
 
 134. 
 Sister, Rome considered an elder 
 of the Angl. Ch. by Laud, 
 
 45- 
 Slav rite, 211, 212. 
 
 Smart, preaches a Puritanical ser- 
 mon, 138-9. 
 Smith, Miles, Bp. of Gloucester, 
 
 furious with Laud, his Dean, 
 
 58. 
 Socinians, 355-6. 
 South, both Laud and Charles L 
 
 make puns on his name, 183. 
 Spalatro, Archp. of, 60 seq. 
 Spanish Alliance, attempted, 87 seq. 
 Speculum Mundi, 63-4. 
 Spenser on state of the Irish clergy, 
 
 186. 
 Sports, The Book of, 174 seq., 222. 
 Stanley, Dean, 214, 313. 
 StarChamber,43-4 ; Leighton before, 
 
 151 ; Bp. Williams before, 296 
 
 seq., and many other places. 
 Stern, Dr, Laud's chaplain, attends 
 
 him on the scaffold, 468. 
 Steward, Laud's, dies, 390. 
 Stoniefield Day, 315. 
 Strafford, Earl of, Wentworth made, 
 
 368 ; Impeachment of, 368-9 ; 
 
 Trial, 380; Interview with Laud 
 
 on way to his execution, 383-4 ; 
 
 Execution, 384 ; Clarendon on, 
 
 385. See also Charles I. 
 Succession. See Apostolical. 
 Sudborough, 158. 
 Supermtendents, The Lutheran, 
 
 considered the same thing as 
 
 Bishops by Laud, 39. 
 Superstitions of Laud, g6 seq., and 
 
 elsewhere. 
 Surplices, 19, 57, 179. 
 Sweetness and Light, 354. 
 
 Table, Communion. Sec Com- 
 munion-Tables. 
 
 Tables, The Four, 320. 
 
 Taskites, 180. 
 
 Taxes, Necessity of a Parliament to 
 impose, 340. 
 
 Ten Commandments. See De- 
 calogue. 
 
 7"hames, Laud's coach sunk in, 184. 
 
 Thin, Serjeant, 272. 
 
 Thirty Years' War, 160, 325. 
 
 Thomas, St, of Aquinas, 353. 
 
 Thunderstorm on arrival of King 
 and Queen in London, T04. 
 
 Tobacco, 227. 
 
 21
 
 490 
 
 Index. 
 
 Tolmach, Sir Lionel, 243. 
 Tortoise, Laud's pet, 199. 
 Tower, Laud committed to the, '},']'] 
 
 seq. 
 Tower, His health in the, 388-9. 
 Tower, Marriages in the, 441. 
 Tower Hill, 459. 
 Trade, Laud put on the Committee 
 
 of, 249. 
 Traske, John, 142. 
 Traquair, 319 scq. 
 Trent, Council of, 7. 
 Tretire, 206. 
 Trial, Laud's, properly so-called, 
 
 begins, 428. 
 Trial, Cost of each day's attendance 
 
 at, 433- 
 
 Undergraduate life, Laud's, 23. 
 
 Undergraduate, An, with Romish 
 leanings, how treated in Laud's 
 times, 280-1. 
 
 Union of Protestants, Scheme for a 
 great, 191 scq. 
 
 Union with Rome. See Reconcilia- 
 tion. 
 
 University disputes with Civic 
 Authorities at O.xford, 356-7. 
 
 Ussher, Archp.. 292, 418. 
 
 Vandyke, 199, 259, 260. 
 
 Vane, Sir H., 221, 341, 369, '}>^o, 385, 
 
 437- 
 Van Tromp, 338-9. 
 Virginia Company, The, 343. 
 Visit of King and Oueen to Oxford, 
 
 267 seq. 
 Visitation, Archbishop's right of 
 
 Visitation at the Universities, 
 
 271. 
 Visitations of St David's, Laud's 
 
 first, 85 seq. ; His second, 114 
 
 seq. 
 
 Wafers used by Andrews, 20. 
 Wafers never used by Laud, 41. 
 Wales, Laud visits, 85 seq.., wni^seq. 
 Waller, 259, 354. 
 Walloon congregation, A, 208. 
 
 Walton, Izaak, 351. 
 
 War, The Thirty Years', 160, 325. 
 
 Watson, one of the Marian 
 Bishops, 9. 
 
 Weldon, O.S.B., Chronological 
 Notes of, 50. 
 
 Wells, A New England minister 
 tries to get Laud banished 
 there, 405 ; Visits and abuses 
 Laud in the Tower, 421. 
 
 Went worth. Lord, 150, 187, 226 
 seq.., 328 scq. See Strafford. 
 
 Westminster, Laud made a Pre- 
 bend of, 66-7. 
 
 White, Sir F., Founder of St John's 
 Coll., Oxford, II. 
 
 Wickhffists, 27. 
 
 Wife, Want of a, by Laud, 478-9. 
 
 Wilde, Serjeant, loses patience with 
 the Peers, 453. 
 
 Wilde's, Serjeant, opening speech 
 at Laud's trial, 428. 
 
 William, St of Bourges, 458-9. 
 
 Williams, Lord Keeper, 68 ; Quarrel 
 with Laud, 91. For rest, J^^ 
 Lincoln, Bp. of. 
 
 Willoughby, 400. 
 
 Wilton, Laud meets George Her- 
 bert at, 351. 
 
 Windebank, 145, 164 ; made Secre- 
 tary of State, 163, 362; "A 
 most fierce Papist," 413. 
 
 Wit, De, 358. 
 
 Witnesses against Laud at his 
 trial, 437 scq. 
 
 Woodstock, The Court at, 145 and 
 267. 
 
 Wyatt, Sir F., The Rebel, ii. 
 
 York Minster, A house standing 
 inside it, 166. 
 
 Young, Bishop of Rochester, or- 
 dained Laud, 26. 
 
 Zurich, The Confession of. Bishop 
 Jewell held to, 17. 
 
 Zwinglius, A disciple of his was 
 Humphi'ey, Regius Professor 
 of Divinity at Oxford, 23. 
 
 TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRlWTERa, EDINBURGH. 
 
 iK^
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 Series 9482