the terms of not there. How he avoided volved in '' Refufes a Not long after this, a living worth three hundred living on pounds a year, which was in the gift of the Earl of Effex, becoming void, he offered the prefentarefiding tion to our author, upon condition he would promife still to refide in London; adding, "That in "the present posture of affairs, his friends could "not permit him to be abfent from the Town." He thereupon told the Earl, " That in cafe he was "prefented to a Cure of Souls, he must think him"felf under fuch an obligation to refidence, as no "other confiderations could difpenfe with." And for this reafon the Benefice was given to another. In the year 1683, when the Rye Plot broke out, and the Earl of Effex and Lord Ruffel were taken being in into cuftody, all who knew his long and ftrict any plots. friendfhip with thofe Great Men, concluded he would have been involved in the fame accufation. But as it had been his conftant principle, that refiftance was not lawful, on account of fingle acts of injuftice or oppreffion, unless the very bafis of the Conftitution was ftruck at; fo in order to avoid being drawn into fecrets he could not approve, he had declared to all those he convers'd with, that 'till he fhould be convinced that refiftance was warrantable, he should think it his duty to disclose all confultations, which he was made privy to, tending to that end. By this declaration, his most intimate friends, when they entered into cabals of this nature, were fufficiently warned against communicating their defigns to him. And this now proved his fecurity. His behaviour at the Trial of the Lord Ruffel; his attendance on him in prifon, and afterwards upon the fcaffold, at the time of his execution; the examination he underwent before the Council, in relation to that Lord's Dying Speech, and the boldnefs with which he there undertook to vindicate his memory; as alfo the indignation the Court ex-, prefs'd againft him, upon that occafion; are all fully fet forth in the Hiftory. Thither I must like wife refer the reader, for an account of the fhort tour our author took to Paris, and of the unufual civilities there fhewn him, by the King of France's express direction. His friends at Court would indeed have perfuaded him to a longer ftay there; they apprehended great feverities were preparing for him at home, which they reprefented in the ftrongest light: But neither their intreaties, nor the menaces of his enemies could prevent his returning to London. He faid, "That as he was confcious "of no crime, which could be truly laid to his "charge, fo he would not alarm himfelf, with the "continual apprehenfion of what falfe witneffes cr might invent against him: That how fatal foever his return might prove, he could not think "himself at liberty to be abfent from the duties "of his function." This objection was indeed foon after removed; for he was, that very year, Is difmifdischarged from his Lecture at St. Clement's, in fed from pursuance of the King's mandate to Dr. Hafcard, and from Rector of that parih: And in December 1684, the Rolls. by an extraordinary Order from the Lord Keeper North to Sir Harbottle Grimfton, he was forbid preaching any more in the Chapel at the Rolls. hi lecture, fea. Thus at the time of King Charles's death, he His travels was happily difengaged from all thofe ties, which beyond might have rendered his ftay in England any part of his duty. Upon King James's acceffion to the Crown therefore, he defired his leave to go out of the Kingdom; which the Marquis of Halifax eafily obtained, the Court regarding him as one, whom they had no profpect of gaining, and whom it was their intereft therefore to keep out of the way. He first went to Paris, where he lived in great retirement, in order to avoid being involved in any of the Confpiracies, which the Duke of Monmouth's friends were then forming in his favour. When that rebellion was at an end, having contracted an acquaintance with Brigadier Stouppe, a Proteftant Officer then in the French fervice, he VOL. I. b was was prevailed upon to take a journey with him into Italy; though many of his friends thought it a bold venture, confidering how remarkably he had fignalized himself, in the controverfy with the Romish Church. But as he was not himfelf of a Constitution, very fubject to fear, fo the advice of the Lord Montague, who was then at Paris, encouraged him to embrace this opportunity of feeing Rome. The relation of these travels is fo amply given, in the Letters our Author published in the year 1687, that there will be no occafion to add any thing here concerning them; except as to one particular, which may ferve as a proof, both of the great regard paid him abroad, and of his own uniform zeal for Toleration. He was much careffed and esteemed by the principal men of Geneva: He faw they infifted ftrongly upon their Confent of Doctrine, which they required all thofe to fubfcribe, who were admitted into Orders. He therefore employed all the eloquence he was mafter of, and all the credit he had acquired amongst them, to obtain an alteration in this practice: He reprefented to them the folly and ill confequence of fuch fubfcriptions; whereby the honefteft and worthieft men were frequently reduced to the neceffity of quitting their native Country, and seeking a fubfiftance elsewhere; whilft others of lefs virtue were induced to fubmit, and comply against their conscience, and even begin their miniftry with mental equivocations. The warmth, with which he expreffed himself on this head, was fuch, and fuch was the weight of his character, that the Clergy at Geneva were afterwards releafed from thefe fubfcriptions, and only left fubject to punishment or cenfure, in cafe of writing or preaching against the established doctrine. This is a Formulary commonly known by the name of the Confenfus. After the Prince After a tour through the Southern parts of Is well reFrance, then under perfecution upon the repeal of ceived by the Edict of Nantes, through Italy, Switzerland, and Prin and many places of Germany, our author came to cefs of Utrecht in the year 1686, with an intention to Orange; have fettled in fome quiet retreat within the Seven Provinces: But at his arrival there he found Letters, from fome of the principal Ministers of State at the Hague, intreating him to fix upon no fettlement, 'till he fhould have feen the Prince and Princess of Orange. When he was first admitted to an audience of them, he perceived that his friends in England, efpecially the Marquis of Halifax, and the Lady Ruffel, had given him fuch a character, as not only enfüred him a moft gracious reception, but foon after procured him an entire confidence. When he was made acquainted with the fecret of their Councils, he advised the putting the Fleet of Holland immediately into fuch order, as might give courage to their friends in Great Britain, in cafe matters there fhould come to extremities; he prevailed upon both their Highneffes, to write a letter to King James, in favour of the Bishop of London, who was then under fufpenfion; he ventured to propofe to the Princefs, the explaining herself, upon that nice but neceffary point, of the fhare the Prince was to expect in the Government, in cafe the British Crown fhould devolve on her; and when it was determined to fend over Mr. Dyckvelt, as Ambaffador to England, our author was employed to draw his fecret inftructions, of which the rough draught is ftill extant, in his own hand. fitts on his The high fayour now fhewn him at the Hague, King alarmed King James, who was much incenfed James inagainst him, for the account he had printed of being forhis Travels; in which he had fo ftrongly difplayed bid that the miferies, thofe nations groan under, where Court. Popery and Arbitrary Power prevail, that it feemed to have a fenfible effect on the people of Eng b 2 land: Is profecuted in Scotland fand for righ land. The King wrote two fevere letters against him to the Princefs of Orange; and when the Marquis d'Albeville was fent Envoy to Holland, he had orders to enter upon no other Matter of Treaty, 'till our author was firft forbid the Court there; which, at his importunity, was done; but he continued to be trufted and employed in the fame manner as before; Halewyn, Fagel, and the reft of the Dutch Minifters confulting him daily. The report, that he, was then on the point of marrying a confiderable fortune at the Hague, and Eng. having reached the English Court; in hopes to divert this, a profecution of High-Treafon was fet on foot against him in Scotland. Before notice of Treafon. this profecution came to the States, he had been naturalized in order to his marriage: When therefore he undertook, in a letter to the Earl of Middletoun, to answer all the matters laid to his charge, he added, "That being now naturalized "in Holland, his allegiance during his ftay there, "was transferred from his Majefty to the States." This expreffion was immediately laid hold of. So that dropping the former profecution, they now proceeded against him for thefe words, as guilty of High-Treafon; and a fentence of outlawry pafs'd on him. D'Albeville thereupon, firft demanded him to be delivered up; and when he faw this demand was like to prove ineffectual, he infifted that he fhould be banished the Seven Provinces, in pursuance of an article in the laft treaty between the two Nations, which related to Rebels and Fugitives, though it could not be pretended that he came within either of thefe defcriptions. The States, in their answer to the British Envoy's The States Memorial, faid, "That as Dr. Burnet, by Natu"ralization, was become a Subject of their own, they could not banifh him, unless fome crime "was legally proved upon him; if his Britannick Majefty had any thing to lay to his charge, they "would compel him to anfwer it; and if his refufe to deliver him up. 66 Judges |