LORD STRAFFORD AND ARCHBISHOP USSHER.
In Lord Campbell's account of the conduct of Archbishop Williams, and the advice which that prelate gave to Charles I. with respect to the attainder of Lord Strafford, is a sentence which seems to require a "Note." Having observed that "Williams's conduct with respect to Strafford cannot be defended," and having referred particularly to his speech in parliament, he proceeds in these words:—
"The Bill of Attainder being passed, although he professed to disapprove of it, he agreed to go with three other prelates to try to induce the king to assent to it, and thus he stated the question:—'Since his Majesty refers his own judgment to his judges, and they are to answer it, if an innocent person suffers,—why may he not satisfy his conscience in the present matter, since competent judges in the law have awarded that they find the Earl guilty of treason, by suffering the judgment to stand, though in his own mind he is satisfied that the party convicted was not criminous?' The other three bishops, trusting to his learning and experience, joined with him in sanctioning this distinction, in laying all the blame on the judges, and in saying that the king, with a good conscience, might agree to Strafford's death. Clarendon mainly imputes Strafford's death to Williams's conduct on this occasion, saying that 'he acted his part with prodigious boldness and impiety.' It is stated as matter of palliation by others, that Ussher, the celebrated Archbishop of Armagh, was one of this deputation, and that Strafford, although aware of the advice he had given, was attended by him on the scaffold, and received from him the last consolations of religion."—Lives of the Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 494., second edition.
The account which Lord Campbell has here given is the same in substance as that given by Bishop Hackett in his Life of Williams (Part II. p. 161.), and in several particulars is calculated to mislead the reader. The whole story has been very carefully examined by the late Dr. Elrington in his Life of Archbishop Ussher. Hackett's account is very incorrect. There were five prelates consulted by the king, Ussher, Williams, Juxon, Morton (Durham) and Potter (Carlisle). The bishops had two interviews with the king, one in the morning, and the other in the evening of the same day. At the morning meeting Ussher was not present. It was Sunday, and he was engaged at the time preaching at Covent Garden. In the evening, he was in attendance, but so far from giving the advice suggested by Williams, much less approving his pernicious distinction between a public and private conscience, Ussher plainly advised the king, that if he was not satisfied of Strafford being guilty of treason, he "ought not in conscience to assent to his condemnation." Such is the account given by Dr. Parr, Ussher's chaplain, who declares, that, when the primate was supposed to be dying, he asked his Grace—
"Whether he had advised the king to pass the bill against the Earl of Strafford? To which the Primate answered: 'I know there is such a thing most wrongfully laid to my charge; for I neither gave nor approved of any such advice as that the king should assent to the bill against the Earl; but, on the contrary, told his Majesty, that if he was satisfied by what he heard at his trial, that the Earl was not guilty of treason, his Majesty ought not in conscience to consent to his condemnation. And this the king knows well enough, and can clear me if he pleases.' The hope of the Primate was fulfilled, for, when a report reached Oxford that the Primate was dead, the king expressed in very strong terms, to Colonel William Legg and Mr. Kirk, who were then in waiting, his regret at the event, speaking in high terms of his piety and learning. Some one present said, 'he believed he might be so, were it not for his persuading your Majesty to consent to the Earl of Strafford's execution;' to which the king in a great passion replied, 'that it was false, for after the bill was passed, the Archbishop came to me, saying with tears in his eyes, Oh Sir, what have you done? I fear that this act may prove a great trouble to your conscience, and pray God that your Majesty may never suffer by the signing of this bill.'"—Elrington's Life of Ussher, p. 214.
This account Dr. Elrington has taken from the narrative given by Dr. Parr, who adds, that he had received this account of the testimony borne by the king from Colonel Legg and Mr. Kirk themselves:—
"This is the substance of two certificates, taken divers times under the hands of these two gentlemen of unquestionable credit; both which, since they agree in substance, I thought fit to contract into one testimony, which I have inserted here, having the originals by me, to produce if occasion be."—Parr's Life of Ussher, p. 61.
Indeed, considering the great and uninterrupted friendship which subsisted between Ussher and Strafford, considering that the primate was his chosen friend during his trial and imprisonment, and attended him to the scaffold, nothing could be more improbable than that he should have advised the king to consent to his death. At all events, the story is contradicted by those most competent to speak to its truth, by the archbishop and by the king; and therefore, in a work so deservedly popular as Lord Campbell's, one cannot but regret that any currency should be given to a calumny so injurious to a prelate whose character is as deserving of our esteem, as his learning is of our veneration.
PEREGRINUS.
POETICAL COINCIDENCES.
Sheridan.
In the account which Moore has given, in his Life of Sheridan, of the writings left unfinished by that celebrated orator and dramatist, he states:
"There also remain among his papers three acts of a drama without a name, written evidently in haste, and with scarcely any correction."
From this production he gives the following verses, to which he has appended the note I have placed immediately after them:—
"Oh yield, fair lids, the treasures of my heart,
Release those beams, that make this mansion bright;
From her sweet sense, Slumber! tho' sweet thou art,
Begone, and give the air she breathes in light.
"Or while, oh Sleep, thou dost those glances hide,
Let rosy slumber still around her play,
Sweet as the cherub Innocence enjoy'd,
When in thy lap, new-born, in smiles he lay.
"And thou, oh Dream, that com'st her sleep to cheer,
Oh take my shape, and play a lover's part;
Kiss her from me, and whisper in her ear,
Till her eyes shine, 'tis night within my heart."
"I have taken the liberty here of supplying a few rhymes and words that are wanting in the original copy of the song. The last line of all runs thus in the manuscript:—
'Til her eye shines, I live in darkest night,'
which not rhyming as it ought, I have ventured to alter as above."
Now the following sonnet, which occurs in the third book of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, is evidently the source from whence Sheridan drew his inspiration, the concluding line in both poems being the same. Had Moore given Sheridan's without alteration, the resemblance would in all probability be found much closer:—
"Lock up, faire liddes, the treasure of my heart,
Preserve those beames, this ages onely light:
To her sweet sence, sweet sleepe some ease impart,
Her sence too weake to beare her spirits might.
"And while, O Sleepe, thou closest up her sight,
(Her sight where Love did forge his fairest dart)
O harbour all her parts in easefull plight:
Let no strange dreame make her faire body start.
"But yet, O dreame, if thou wilt not depart
In this rare subject from thy common right:
But wilt thy selfe in such a seate delight,
"Then take my shape, and play a lover's part:
Kisse her from me, and say unto her sprite,
Till her eyes shine, I live in darkest night."
The edition I quote from is that "Printed by W. S. for Simon Waterson, London, 1627." I may add, that I wrote to Moore as far back as 1824 to point out this singular coincidence; but although the communication was courteously acknowledged, I do not believe the circumstance has been noticed in any subsequent edition of Sheridan's memoirs.
T. C. SMITH.