him when very young to write all his letters to Eng- 1667. land in cipher; so that he was generally half the day writing in cipher, or deciphering, and was so discreet, as well as faithful, that nothing was ever discovered by him. He continued to be still the person whom his father trusted most: and was the most beloved of all the family; for he was humble and obliging, [but was peevish and splenetic *.] His judgment was not to be much depended on; for he was much carried by vulgar prejudices and false notions. He was much in the Queen's favour, and was her chamberlain long. His father's being so violently prosecuted on the account of her marriage, made that she thought herself bound to protect him in a particular manner. He was so provoked at the ill usage his father met with, that he struck in violently with the party that opposed the court and the king spoke always of him with great 258 sharpness and much scorn. His brother, now earl of Rochester, is a man of far greater parts. He has a very good pen', but speaks not gracefully. He was thought the smoothest man in the court: and during all the dispute concerning his father, he made his court so dexterously, that no resentments ever appeared on that head. When he came into busi * though sometimes peevish, was substituted by the editors. y much, much, much. S. z I suppose it was of gold or silver. S. a He was apt to give a positive assertion instead of an argument; and when any objection was made to it, all the answer was, that he could not help thinking so. And I never knew a man that was so soon 1667. ness, and rose to high posts, he grew violent [and insolent:] but was thought an incorrupt man. He has high notions of government, and thinks it must be maintained with great severity. He delivers up his own notions to his party, that he may lead them; [and on all occasions he is wilful and imperious.] He passes for a sincere man, and seems to have too much heat to be false. [This natural heat is influenced by frequent excesses in drinking.] Morley was long dean of the chapel: but he stuck so to the lord Clarendon, that he was sent into his diocese: and Crofts, bishop of Hereford, was made dean in his room. Crofts was a warm devout man, but of no discretion in his conduct: so he lost ground quickly. He used much freedom with the king; but it was in the wrong place, not in private, but in the pulpit. The king was much offended with the bishops. The king was highly offended at the behaviour of most of the bishops: and he took occasion to vent it at the council board. Upon the complaints that were made of some disorders, and of some conventicles, he said, the clergy were chiefly to blame for these disorders; for if they had lived well, and had gone about their parishes, and taken pains to convince the nonconformists, the nation might have been by that time well settled. But they thought of nothing but to get good benefices, and to keep a good table. This I read in a letter that sir Robert Murray writ down to Scotland: and it agrees with a conversation that the king was pleased to have with my self once, when I was alone with him in his closet. While we were talking of the ill state the church was in, I was struck to hear a prince of his course of life so much disgusted at the ambition, covetousness, and the scandals of the clergy. He said, if the clergy had done their part, it had been 1067. an easy thing to run down the nonconformists: but he added, they will do nothing, and will have me do every thing and most of them do worse than if they did nothing. He told me, he had a chaplain, that was a very honest man, but a very great blockhead", to whom he had given a living in Suffolk, that was full of that sort of people: he had gone about among them from house to house; though he could not imagine what he could say to them; for he said he was a very silly fellow but that, he believed, his nonsense suited their nonsense, for he had brought them all to church: and, in reward of 259 his diligence, he had given him a bishopric in Ireland. a a 1668. for a comprehension of the pres A treaty Bridgman and Wilkins set on foot a treaty, for comprehension of such of the dissenters as could be brought into the communion of the church, and toleration of the rest. Hale, the chief justice, con- byterians. curred with them in the design. Tillotson, Stillingfleet, and Burton joined also in it. Bates, Manton, and Baxter were called for on the side of the presbyterians. And a project was prepared, consisting chiefly of those things that the king had promised by his declaration in the year 1660. Only in the point of re-ordination this temper was proposed, that those who had presbyterian ordination should be received to serve in the church by an imposition of hands, accompanied with words which imported, that the person so ordained was received to serve as a minister in the church of England. This treaty 1668. became a common subject of discourse. All lord Clarendon's friends cried out, that the church was undermined and betrayed: it was said, the cause of the church was given up, if we yielded any of those points, about which there had been so much disputing: if the sectaries were humble and modest, and would tell what would satisfy them, there might be some colour for granting some concessions: but it was unworthy of the church to go and court, or treat with enemies; when there was no reason to think, that after we had departed from our grounds, which was to confess we had been in the wrong, that we should gain much by it, unless it was to bring scorn and contempt on ourselves. On the other hand it was said, the nonconformists could not legally meet together, to offer any schemes in the name of their party: it was well enough known, what they had always excepted to, and what would probably bring over most of the presbyterians: such a yielding in some lesser matters would be no reproach, but an honour to the church; that, how much soever she might be superior both in point of argument and of power, she would yet of her own accord, and for peace sake, yield a great deal in matters indifferent: the apostles complying with many of the observances of the Jews, and the offers that the church of Africk made to the Donatists were much insisted on the fears of popery, and the progress that atheism was making, did alarm good and wise men and they thought, every thing that could be done without sin ought to be done towards the healing our divisions. Many books were upon that account writ, to expose the presbyterians, as с I think so too. S. men of false notions in religion, which led to Anti- 1668. nomianism, and which would soon carry them into 260 a dissolution of morals, under a pretence of being justified by faith only, without works. The three volumes of the Friendly Debate, though writ by a very good man, and with a good intent, had an ill effect in sharpening people's spirits too much against them. But the most virulent of all that writ against the sects was Parker, afterwards made bishop of Oxford by king James; who was full of satirical vivacity, and was considerably learned; but was a man of no judgment, and of as little virtue, and as to religion rather impious. After he had for some years entertained the nation with several virulent books, writ with much life, he was attacked by the liveliest droll of the age, who writ in a burlesque strain, but with so peculiar and so entertaining a conduct, that, from the king down to the tradesman, his books were read with great pleasure. That not only humbled Parker, but the whole party: for the author of the Rehearsal Transprosed had all the men of wit (or, as the French phrase it, all the laughers) on his side. But what advantages soever the men of comprehension might have in any other respect, the majority of the house of commons was so possessed against them, that when it was known in a succeeding session, that a bill was ready to be offered to the house for that end, a very extraordinary vote passed, that no bill to that purpose should be received. e An act passed in this d Writ by bishop Patrick. S. e What is a droll? S. f Andrew Marvel. O. (“ We "still read Marvel's answer to London re session for rebuilding the The city of |