[572] I cannot but refer, and that with sincere pleasure, to a Sunday evening spent at Pontresina, in the Engadine, the summer before last, when, together with a Nonconformist friend, I united in such a service, with representatives of different sections of the Establishment.
[573] The Christian Poet.
[574] Himself and his brothers.
[575] Diary, i. 15.
[576] Memoir prefixed to Diary, p. xviii.
[577] Memoir prefixed to Silva, i. 15.
[578] My rule has been to select characters who died before the Revolution, but it is necessary to notice Evelyn’s life in connection with Margaret Godolphin; and although he survived the Revolution so many years, he may fairly be taken as a type of religious life before that period. A MS. by him was published in the year 1850, in two volumes, entitled, A Rational Account of the True Religion. The first volume treats of natural theology. In the second, besides a description of Judaism, primitive Christianity, and the decadence and corruption of religion, Evelyn “professes to explain the true doctrines of Holy Scripture and of the Church of England.” The chief interest attaching to the work will be found to consist in its value “as an impartial interpretation of her Articles and her Liturgy; conveyed too in a manner which shows he was not propounding new views, but merely stating them as understood by her members in his time.”—p. xi. In other words, Evelyn explains the doctrines of the Church of England from an Anglo-Catholic point of view. The book indicates the intelligence and devoutness of the author.
[579] One of the Blagge family was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VIII., and a great favourite with the King, who, for some reason, called him his pig. “He was a Sacramentarian; and when Wriothesley and Gardiner, in 1546, commenced their persecution on the Statute of the Six Articles, Blagge was clapped up in Newgate, and, after a hurried trial, condemned to be burnt. But the moment the King heard of it, he rated the Chancellor for coming so near him, even to his privy chamber, and commanded him instantly to draw out a pardon. On his release, Blagge flew to thank his master, who, seeing him, cried out, ‘Ah, my pig, are you here safe again?’ ‘Yes, Sire,’ said he, ‘and if your Majesty had not been better than your Bishops, your pig had been roasted ere this time.’”—Tytler’s England under Edward VI. and Mary, i. 146.
[580] The Life of Mrs. Godolphin, by Evelyn, edited by the Bishop of Oxford. p. 104. The year of the marriage is not given.
[581] Ibid., 106.