1753. The LIFE of Bishop BURNET. he accepted, and was ordained priest by the bishop of Edinburgh. Here he not only performed exactly and diligently all the duties of the paftoral office, but often by his charity affifted or relieved fuch of his parishioners as were in any distress; ard obferving that the bithops then in Scotland were very negligent of their duty, he drew up a memorial of their abuses, which brought upon him fome very harsh treatment. However, as his cure was near Edinburgh, he was often fent for and confulted by the chief men entrusted. with the government of Scotland, and was appointed one of the managers for the church, in the fcheme then on foot, for an accommodation between the epifcopal and prefbyterian parties, which introduced him to the acquaintance of the thendutchefs of Hamilton, who not only invited him to Hamilton, but engaged him to undertake the writing of the memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton, from the materials with which he furnished him. A C Whilft he was at Hamilton, he was, without his knowledge, chofen profeffor of divinity in the univerfity of Glafgow, which with fome difficulty he accepted, but as he thought it inconfiftent with his cure at Saltoun, he refigned the latter, and removed to Glasgow in 1669, where he was more than ufually diligent in inftructing the young Ntudents of divinity in that univerfity. Upon the duke of Lauderdale's D hearing that he was employed to write the memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton, he preffed him to come to court, to receive fuch informations as he was able to furnish; whereupon he went to London, and four bishopricks in Scotland, becoming vacant whilft he was at London, he was offered his choice of them, but he E thought himself too young for fuch a high dignity in the church, and therefore refufed the offer, making no other ufe of the confidence which Lauderdale repofed in him, than to negotiate a reconciliation between that minifter and the duke of Hamilton, which he effected, and obtained for the latter an affignation upon the revenues of the crown in Scotland, for F what was due to him by the crown. SI In 1672, whilft the duke of Lauderdale was in Scotland, as king's commiffioner to the parliament, he published his Vindication of the Authority, Constitution and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland, wherein he fo ftrongly maintained the cause of epifcopacy, and the illegality of refiftance, merely on account of religion, that he was again courted to accept of a bifroprick," with the promise of the next archbishoprick that should become void; but he ftill perfifted in his refufal. Soon after his return to Glasgow he married lady Margaret Kennedy, a daughter of the earl of Caffils, and an intimate freind of the dutchefs of Hamilton; and to fhew that this match was wholly owing to inclination, he delivered to the lady, the day before their marriage, a G deed, whereby he renounced all pretenfion to her fortune, which was very confiderable, tho' fhe had never afked or defired any fuch thing. February, 1753. In 1673, he was again obliged to take a journey to London, to obtain a licence to print his Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, when he was often fent for both by the king and the duke of York, and was appointed one of the king's chaplains, which was the only favour he could be prevailed on to accept, as he was far from approving the measures pursued by the court. After having obtained a licence for publishing his book, he returned to Scotland, and finding that a new breach had happened between Lauderdale and Hamilton, and that the animofity between them had rifen to a height not to be compofed, he retired to his ftation at Glasgow, and refused to ftir from thence all that winter; but as the measures of the court had proved unfuccefsful in parliament, and as Lauderdale threw the whole blame upon him, he was obliged once more to return to court in 1674, in order to vindicate himfelf, where he was not only received coldly by the king, but ordered to be ftruck out of the lift of chaplains. However, the duke of York endeavoured to reconcile him with Lauderdale, but the latter infifting on fuch terms as he difdained to comply with, a reconciliation became impracticable, and therefore his royal highness was fo kind as to warn him, that if he returned to Scotland he would be clapped up in prifon, and detained there perhaps as long as the fame intereft prevailed at court; whereupon he found himfelf under a neceffity to refign his profef forfhip at Glasgow, and to refolve to fettle in England, which he accordingly did. Soon after his fettling at London, the was offered the living of St. Giles's Cripplegate by the dean and chapter of St. Paul's; but as they had before defigned it for Dr. Fowler, he thanked them for the favour, but faid he did not think himfelf at liberty to take it, as he heard they had intended it for fo worthy a divine. Thus he remained for fome time without any fettlement, but in 1675, Sir Harbottle Grimstone, mafter of the Rolls, appointed him preacher at the Rolls chapel, and L 82 The LIFE of Bishop BURNET. and perfifted in his appointment, tho' exprefsly injoined by the court to revoke it; and he was soon after chofen lecturer at St. Clement's, having become one of the moft followed preachers in town. B In 1679, he published the first volume of his Hiftory of the Reformation, which procured him the thanks of both houfes of parliament, with a defire that he would profecute his undertaking and compleat that valuable work. And as he was not only become a famous preacher, but had great credit among the people in London, king Charles, during the enquiry into the Popish plot, often fent for and confulted him upon the state of the nation, and offered him the bishoprick of Chichester then vacant, on condition he would entirely come into his interefts; to which he answered, that he knew the oaths he was to take upon fuch an occafion, which he would religiously obferve, but as he did not know how far fuch a general condition might be thought to extend, he could accept of no preferment upon fuch a condition. However, his free access to the king, tho' it procured him no preferment, it engaged him to write a letter to his majesty, wherein he gave him his advice, as well with regard to ftate affairs as to religious matters, in fo fincere and free a manner, as plainly thewed he did not aim at preferment, but at a strict difcharge of his duty both as a faithful fubject and D true churchman. And yet, tho' he was one of the keeneft advocates and moft fuccefsful writers against Popery, he ufed his endeavours to fave the lives of the lord Stafford and other Papifts; and his temperate conduct in regard to the exclufion of the duke of York, and the fcheme of a prince regent propofed by him, in lieu of that of an exclution, very much offended all the zealous exclufionifts. About the fame time an accident furnithed him with an opportunity of making a convert and fincere penitent of the famous and witty earl of Rochefter, who had been a moft lewd liver, and a profeffed freethinker, rather from want of thinking, as most of fuch men are, than from thinking freely; for tho' the doctor had no parochial cure, yet he never refufed his attendance upon any fick perfon who defired it; and amongst others he was called on to vifit a fick lady, who, he foon found, had been engaged in a criminal amour with the earl of Rochef ter: The manner in which he treated her during her illnefs, gave that lord a great curiofity of being acquainted with him; and his lordship's profigate character was fo far from being with him a motive to eject, that it made him readily embrace F Feb. the opportunity, the confequence - of which was, that he not only convinced the earl's judgment, as to the genuine truths of the Chriftian religion, but made him a fincere penitent, as appears from a letter under his lordship's own hand still extant. In 1682, he was offered the mastership of the Temple, on condition of his breaking off correfpondence with fome of his eld friends, which he rejected; and as he had before loft the favour of the earl of Shaftsbury and the exclufionifts by his moderation, and his connection with the earl of Halifax; fo now he chose to facrifice all the advantages he might have expected from the earl's great intereft at court, rather than to abandon the earl of Effex, the lord Ruffel and Sir William Jones; foon after which the earl of Effex offered him a prefentation to a living worth 3col. a year, upon condition he would promife ftill to refide in London; but as he thought refidence abfolutely necefiary for a cure of fouls, and as his friends at London could not part with him in the then posture of affairs, the living was given to another. Tho' he never would engage in any plots against the government, yet his behaviour at and after the trial and execution of the lord Ruffel railed the refentment of the court fo high againft him, that he was foon after difcharged from his lecture at St. Clement's, by the king's exprefs mandate to Dr. Hafcard, rector of that parish; and in 1684, by an extraordinary order from lord-keeper North to Sir Harbottle Grimiton, he was forbid preaching any more in the chapel of the Rolls. Upon king James's acceffion, by the means of his freind the then marquifs of Halifax, he obtained the king's leave to go out of the kingdom, and went to Paris, where he lived very retired until after the defeat of Monmouth's rebellion. He then ventured to travel into Italy, and in his paffage through Geneva, he remonftrated fo ftrongly againit forced fubscriptions to articles of faith, that they altered their church government, fo that their clergy were no more obliged to fubfcribe their belief of any doctrine, but only to be fubject to punishment or cenfure, in cafe of writing or preaching against that which was established. After a tour through Italy, Switzerland, and fome parts of Germany, he arGrived at Utrecht in 1686, and was prefently invited by the Dutch ministers to come and pay his respects to the prince and princefs of Orange, which he accordingly did, and not only met with a mot gracious reception, but was admitted in Stt our Magazine for laft Month, p. 32. to 1753. The LIFE of Bishop BURNE T. to their moft fecret councils, and his advice followed in many of their future tranfactions. In a little time after his arrival at the Hague, he became acquainted with, and was foon after married to Mrs. Mary Scot, a Dutch lady of a large fortune, and noble extraction, being originally A defcended from a younger brother of the family of Buccleugh in Scotland, and related to feveral of the nobleft houfes in Zealand. In order to this marriage he was naturalized in Holland, which furnished the Dutch with a good reafon for not delivering him up, when required fo to do, by the court of England, upon a profecution for high treafon being commenced against him here; and when our court found that they could not get him delivered up, a defign was formed to get him affaffinated, and an order for 3000l. actually lodged in the treasury here, to be paid to any perfon that should destroy him; but he escaped all the machinations for this purpofe, and attended the prince of Orange in his enterprize upon England, where he greatly contributed to his fuccefs. C 83 and the princefs Sophia, dutchefs, afterwards As foon as the first feffion of parlia- Upon the establishment of the revolution, Dr. Crew, bishop of Durham, thought, that the leaft punishment he could expect, for the part he had acted in the high commiffion under king James, D was the lofs of his bithoprick; therefore, to fecure a friend, and at the fame time a fubfiftence for himself, he propofed to refign his bishoprick to Dr. Burnet, and that he would truft to his generofity for an allowance of cool. a year out of the epifcopal revenue during his the doctor's life, which propofal he fent by the lord Montague to the prince of Orange; but E when the meffage was carried to the doctor, he rejected the propofal as being of a fimoniacal nature; and even when the bishoprick of Salisbury became vacant by the death of the incumbent, the doctor follicited king. William for it, in favour of his old friend, Dr. Lloyd, then bishop of St. Afaph, to which the king coldly F anfwered, that he had another perfon in view, and next day in council nominated the doctor himself for that fee. As Dr. Burret had been the first who by letter gave rotice to the court of Hanover of the defigned enterprife upon England, and at the fame time intimated, that the fuccefs of that enterprife would naturally end in an entail of the British G crown upon that illuftrious houfe *, it brought on a correfpondence between him As he beheld with concern the deflitute condition of many poor benefices attended with a great cure of fouls, he was the firft who formed the fcheme for augmenting the maintenance of the poor clergy, which he first laid before queen Mary, and after her death before king William, but could not get it made effectual until the fecond of queen Anne, when an act of parliament was passed for that purpofe. During the life of queen Mary, the af. faits and promotions of the church paffed wholly though her hands; but upon her death, a commiffion was granted to the two archbishops, the bishop of Salifbury, and three other prelates, whereby they, or any three of them, were ap pointed to recommend to all preferments in the church, fignifying the fame to his majefly, under their hands; and in his majefty's abfence, to prefent to all henefices, in the gitt of the crown, under 140l. a year; which commiffion was renewed L 2 *From Lence, it seems, that the exclufion of king James and his irfant fon was resolved on at the Hague, before the prince of Orange cinbarked for Ergland, and fime months before 84 Two CHARACTERS. newed in 1700, and the bishop of Salisbury ftill continued to be one. It would be tedious to enumerate the many marks of favour he received from king William; and yet there is not one fingle inftance, wherein he follicited a favour for himfelf or his family. In 1698, the king, with the approba- A tion of the princefs, afterwards queen Anne, appointed him preceptor to the duke of Gloucefter, which with great difficulty he was prevailed to accept of, on condition that he fhould either have leave to refign his bifhoprick, or that the duke fhould refide all the fummer at Windfor, from whence he could easily go at any time to Salisbury, and that he fhould have ten weeks allowed him every year to vifit the other parts of his diocefe; which laft was agreed to. A little before this he had, to his great forrow, loft his lady, and his children being young made it neceffary to look out for a proper miftrefs to his family: Accordingly, he foon after married Mrs. Berkeley, a lady of uncommon learning, as well as piety and virtue. Feb. conveyable to the meaneft understandings by the simplest terms, in a profufion of words. His vanity and conceit force him upon an eternal egotism; these accompanied with a strong flow of fpirits, and great natural warmth of contradiction; and when he opposes you, ftitution, render him impatient of conit is not with reafon, but declamation, and he does not argue but harangue. As his natural capacity is fuperior to that of the bulk of mankind, he has the art of conciliating himself to perfons of known inferiority of parts, by falling in with their fentiments; and taling the topick Ball the arts of oratory, all the figures of out of their hands, will display it with rhetorick, for he lofes no opportunity of talking; he will oppofe for the fake of triumphing, and talk against his own fenfe of things merely for the fake of victory: How often have I feen him with an impudent torrent of words, bear down a man has rendered him unequal to the contest? of fuperior knowledge, whofe modefty Notwithstanding this, Euphronius hath the power of pleafing, and frequently doth, where he meets with no contradiction, and in company whofe inferiority induces them to revere him as an oracle. It is true, I have feen Euphronius filent, but it has been when he could not maintain the character he had af C The last five or fix years of his life, he The following Contraft of Characters, as it is Readers. F Euphronius, the eldeft of the two, and who rendered himfelf remarkable at that time for his loquacity, is a man of flender education, and pretty extensive G fuperficial reading, by which, joined with a ready elocution, and uncommon affurance, he is able to pafs upon commen company for a thorough master of the arts and fciences. He fmothers truth, all * He lies buried in the fumed in the prefence of a man, whom. as he knew to be wifer than himself, fo he know likewife he had boldness enough to detect him. The reverfe of this gentleman is Camillus, who, tho' young, has made mankind his ftudy, and is an admirable judge of human nature; but an exceflive modefty, that frequent attendant upon true merit, prevents his appearing what he really is, to any but a few intimate acquaintance: He hath not the quicknefs of apprehenfion of Euphronius, but he hath abundantly more judgment; he has a thorough knowledge of antient and modern hiftory, and a judicious manner of introferved, that his tafte was excellent, and ducing and applying it. You justly obthat he was no bad judge of poetical and dramatick compofitions; his praifes were always juft, and his cenfures delivered without oftentation, and with a degree of candour, that spoke a heart overflowing with tenderness and humanity: Camillus is indeed poffeffed of every talent that can render him entertaining and edifying; but by an infuperable modefty is prevented from doing either, and is conftantly filent where Euphronius appears, who with fmall knowledge, fupported by an unparalleled impudence, is conftantly triumphing over him. of St. James Clerkenwell. A |