In proof of this, Gauden,[85] in the Petitionary Remonstrance which he delivered to Cromwell, in behalf of the suffering Clergy of England, stated that the number of Ministers ejected from the benefices amounted to 8000. And Gauden would not, in a public address, and to such a man as Cromwell, have ventured to make a false or careless statement. But a much closer investigation of the subject was afterwards made, and the result of it was published by Walker, in his well known work, entitled—“The Sufferings of the Clergy,” from which it may be seen that, if we include in the catalogue the Cathedral Clergy, and the Clergy belonging to the Universities, and chaplains,—as well as the parochial ministers and their curates,—the sufferers far exceeded the number above stated. By a resolution passed in the House of Commons, during the Protectorate of Cromwell, all ministers were to be deprived of their benefices who refused to sign the League and Covenant; and, consequently, numbers who were too loyal to subscribe a document so hostile to the interests of the King and the Church, were at once reduced to poverty, and had to bear the severest hardships and privations. They and their families were driven from their houses, not knowing where to look for food and shelter; exposed also to the brutal insolence of the military, who found as much pleasure in plundering a peaceful parsonage, as in defiling the sanctity of the house of God. And these outrages appear to have been sanctioned by those in authority, rather than repressed. Besides this, numbers were thrown into prisons—the ancient palaces of the Bishops being turned into jails for the purpose; and when these and the common prisons in London were crowded with inmates, “many” as Clarendon states, “both of the laity and clergy, were committed to prison on board the Ships in the river Thames, where they were kept under decks, and no friend suffered to come to them, by which many lost their lives.” Nor is this to be omitted, in giving account of their sufferings, that while they were enduring these wrongs, for conscience sake—nay, suffering the loss of all things, rather than abandon their principles—they were vilified in Parliament, and by the public press, as being little better than criminals; and men, whose reputation had never been blemished by a single stain,—whose deep learning, and still deeper piety, would have reflected honor on any church of which they had been members;—men who were saints indeed, in the true and ancient sense of the word—were held up to public scorn, as if they were not fit to live, and branded by the name of “malignant and scandalous ministers.”

The recollection of these persecutions, inflicted on the loyal body of the clergy, sharpened the feelings of the Government, after the Restoration, against Dissenters; and those who then came into power were too ready to make reprievals for the injuries and wrongs committed during the Commonwealth. The consequence was, that many excellent men, whose devotedness to God and whose zeal in the pastoral office was unquestioned—men of whom, indeed, “the world was not worthy,” and whose only offence was want of conformity to the Church, suffered very severely; but their sufferings were trifling, both in extent or severity, compared to the previous sufferings of the Clergy: so much, indeed, does the one exceed the other, that Archbishop Bramhall, who certainly was one not accustomed to utter words at random, says, “Let Mr. Baxter sum up into one catalogue all the nonconformists throughout the kingdom of England, even since the beginning of the Reformation, who have been cast aside, or driven away. I dare abate him all the rest of the kingdom, and only exhibit the Martyrologies of London, and the two Universities, or a list of those who in the late intestine wars have been haled away to prisons, or chased away into banishment, by his own party, in these three places alone; or left to the merciless world to beg their bread, for no other crime than loyalty, and because they stood affected to the ancient rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, and they shall double them for number.”—Grot: Relig. p. 116.

It is very desirable that such facts as these should be known; not that the knowledge of them may serve to ferment and keep alive any feelings of hostility, or unkindness, towards those who still maintain the principles of nonconformity—such a purpose cannot be too strongly repudiated; but, that we may have an answer to give to such as charge the Church with intolerance and persecution, and may be able to shew, that in this respect she has been far more “sinned against than sinning.” These facts also prove to us, and on this account they are worthy of record, that the principles of the Church of England were considered by our forefathers as worth suffering for; and that rather than surrender the Articles of her Creed, or abrogate her regimen, they willingly endured the severest penalties; took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and counted not their life dear unto them. Happily, the day of persecution for conscience sake is past,—the spirit of the age does not tolerate any thing like violence;—would that our “unhappy divisions” were at an end also;—that all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity were not only of one heart, but of one mind also—were “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement,” “spoke the same things,” “walked by the same rule;” not only kept “the unity of the Spirit,” but also unity of worship and of doctrine. This is the fellowship which the Scripture teaches should subsist between the members of Christ’s Church; and nothing short of this should be the object of your hopes and prayers.

N.
(Page 183.)
DR. PERCY.

The following particulars respecting Dr. Percy, have been very kindly communicated to me by the Rev. H. E. Boyd, Rector of Dromara, in the County of Down, who was for many years domestic Chaplain to the Bishop:—“The Right Reverend Thomas Percy, D. D., Bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, highly distinguished in the literary world, the son of Arthur Lowe Percy, by his wife Jane Nott, was born at Bridgnorth, and baptized the 29th of April, 1729; his grandfather, Arthur Percy, having removed thither from the City of Worcester, where his family had been settled for several generations. Arthur was grandson of Thomas Percy, who was Mayor of Worcester, in 1662. The subject of this note received the rudiments of his education at the Grammar School of Bridgnorth, and graduated as A. M. from Christ’s Church College, Oxford, in 1753: in November of that year, in the presentation of his College, he was instituted to the Vicarage of Easton Manduit, in Northamptonshire, which he retained until 1782. In 1756, he became resident, and was presented to the Rectory of Willby, by the Earl of Sussex, whose Mansion was close to the Parsonage. In 1759, he was married to Ann Goderick, after an attachment of several years, to whom he had addressed the pastoral ballad of “O Nancy, wilt thou go with me;” which being transformed, by changing some words into the Scottish dialect, “Nancy” into “Nannie,” “go” into “gang,” &c., has passed with many persons as an original Scottish ballad, written by Burns, or Allan Ramsay. During his residence at Bridgnorth, through the kindness of Mr. Humphrey Pitt, of Prior’s Lee, he became possessed of the M. S. folio of Ancient Poetry, which exercised a magnetic influence on his literary taste, and led to the publication of the Reliques, in 1764. Through the kindness of the Earl of Sussex, he was introduced to the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, who appointed him their domestic Chaplain, and patronized him in his Antiquarian pursuits. In 1769, he became Chaplain in Ordinary to King George III.; and having obtained the degree of S. T. P., from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was collated to the Deanery of Carlisle, 1778; and in 1782, elevated to the see of Dromore, where he died 30th September, 1811, in the 84th year of his age, revered by all sects and classes in his Diocese, to whom the exercise of every virtue—piety, charity, and hospitality—especially to his Clergy, had endeared him, during an episcopate of nearly thirty years. There, his memory is still vividly preserved: and recollections of his kindness are traditionally handed down from father to son by the inhabitants of Dromore. He survived his excellent and amiable partner, Mrs. Percy, about five years; they are both interred in a vault in the north aisle of Dromore Cathedral, which was added in 1804, and erected chiefly at the Bishop’s expense. The “Key to the New Testament,” a most useful manual to the Divinity Student, and a translation of the “Song of Solomon,” with some occasional Sermons, form the chief of the Bishop’s theological labours. An allusion to his discursions in the other various paths of literature, in which he was engaged, would extend this notice to an inconvenient length. And as it is intended to give a more detailed account of this eminent man, in case the copious supply of materials, known to be in existence, be contributed and placed in the hands of the writer, the brevity of this sketch will be the less to be regretted.”

O.
(Page 191.)
PETITION PRESENTED TO
LADY BARTUE.

The following is a copy of the Petition, presented to Lady Bartue, the draft of which is preserved among the papers of the Corporation:—

“We are bold (hearing of your noble and charitable disposition to distressed people) to impart unto you, that in these miserable times our Town is left a sad spectacle and pitiful object of the woeful effects of war; for besides the firing of more than 300 families, we had also burnt, a fair Church, College, Almshouse, and Market House; whereby we are exposed to great misery and distress. The Parliament, upon our humble address for some relief, hath vouchsafed us a Brief, and we are upon that work, hopeing, by God’s blessing thereunto, we shall live to see some of our public losses againe repaired. Now our motion is humbly, that your Ladyship, having an old ruinous Barn, at Wenlock, which would serve for the bonds of a new Market House, hearing that it is to be sold, do address ourselves hereby to your Ladyship, desirous that you would be pleased to sell us the same; and send us a price in consideration of our poor condition. We are not willing to meddle with the slate covering, only the wood and timber; entreating that you will be pleased to favour us in the summer. We conceive it worth £40 or £50 and great charge we shall be at to take it down. We humbly beseech, that we shall have your Ladyship’s pleasure therein; that we may know what to trust unto in that behalf. And you will oblige unto yours—those by whom this Petition represent—the whole body of the Town, and are