REVENUES.
To pass from this shot so skilfully but so illegally fired into the ecclesiastical preserves of the State—whether it brought anything into the hands of this ministerial poacher is not worth inquiry—we light upon other examples, in abundance, of clergymen patiently waiting and eagerly asking for the bestowment of patronage. The Rector of Meonstoke, Hampshire, informed the influential man at head-quarters that he had just fulfilled his course of preaching in the Cathedral Church of Chichester as a minor prophet, which rendered him capable of advancement to a residentiary’s place, if he could obtain an election. There was a place vacant, and he now solicited the Secretary’s interest with the Dean, who was Clerk of the Closet,—as he would not deny such an important personage anything,—and the petitioner was sure that a certain Canon he mentions would agree with the Dean; and both together could overrule the Chapter, which at that time consisted of them and two others. The latter, indeed, were stiffly resolved for a Mr. Sefton, and the Dean had thoughts of the thing for himself; but the writer presumed the Dean would get loose to it when he understood it was below him. Should he, however, continue in such inclination, the petitioner asked that he might be the Dean’s successor. The place would be a preferment to the suppliant Rector, who considered he would not be unacceptable to the Church and City, and it would redeem him from the desolate condition he was in by the death of his dear Betty.[287] Again, Bishop Reynolds appointed Dr. Mylles to be his Chancellor in the diocese of Norwich, by patent under his Episcopal seal dated 13th of September, 1661. The Chancellor requested the Dean and Chapter to confirm the patent, which they refused to do, without assigning any reason for their refusal. He accordingly applied to the King, and prayed that he would be graciously pleased to enforce the needful confirmation of the patent by the proper ecclesiastical authorities. In urging upon His Majesty this petition, Dr. Mylles notices an objection made to him, on the ground of his having been on the side of the Parliament in the late troubles. To remove the objection, he asserts that he had never disobliged any of the King’s friends; that when he discovered Cromwell’s designs, he quitted the army; that he was ejected from the University at Oxford for declining to take the Engagement; that he had served under the Duke of Albemarle, and had helped to bring in the King. This petition was backed by Rushworth, who pleaded, amongst other things, in his client’s favour, that at private meetings, where he thought he might speak without danger, he had not hesitated to contribute counsel and advice towards His Majesty’s restoration, which had produced upon Lord Fairfax, and other considerable persons, a good effect.[288]
To cite another case:—“Most honoured Sir,”—wrote Dr. Fell, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, to Williamson, immediately after the death of Dr. William Fuller, who had been translated from Limerick to Lincoln,—“it is a privilege our people here take to themselves to bestow all bishoprics before the King disposes of them; and they, having, upon the first news of the vacancy of Lincoln, made the Provost to be the successor, went on, in the same method of liberality, to bestow his places; and upon Sunday night one of the most popular Bachelors in Divinity that we have in town came to me upon that errand, signifying his concern on behalf of the Master of Pembroke; and on Monday several others, of other houses, made the same application. I told them all, that first it was very indecent to begin a canvass before a place was actually void, and probably a considerable time would pass before there would be a vacancy; besides, they should consider that Dr. Tully might justly pretend to the place, and, if he did, would not fail of being assisted by his friends.” To move on behalf of Dr. Hall, he goes on to say, might be a great unkindness to him, since he did not appear as a candidate, nor probably would like to have his name brought in question; besides, it would create a competition and disturbance in the University; and therefore he had desired his friends not to proceed in the matter.[289] Dr. Tully, referred to in this letter—an eminent Divine and Controversialist, of whom notice will be taken in our review of the theology of the period—was not an unconcerned spectator of the changes occurring at the time, and the excitement which they produced; and I find amongst the State Papers the following exquisite specimen of the characteristic flattery of the age preserved in a letter which he wrote, on Holy Thursday, to his friend at Court:—“Right Honourable,—Having no way else to express the sense of my greatest obligations to you, I beg you will commiserate so far as to accept this renewal of my heartiest acknowledgments. I hasten to make it, not for fear I should forget your favours (I know that to be next impossibility), but to shun the pain of delay, from the weight and pressure of them. It is some ease to a grateful mind, under such a load of obligations, to air itself in the field where they grow. Most honoured Sir, amongst all the rest of your noble kindnesses to me, I must single that out of the crowd, which made you unkind (I had almost said, unnatural) to yourself, to let me know how much you are my friend. I can but thank you, and tell stories at home and abroad of your goodness to me, and heartily pray for the increase of all honour to you, with a long enjoyment, and the reward at last of a blessed immortality.”[290]
REVENUES.
These well-timed compliments were not in vain; for, though Tully did not obtain any preferment in consequence of the death of the Bishop of Lincoln, he was immediately afterwards promoted to the Deanery of Ripon, upon the death of Dr. John Neile.
Dr. Barlow, a well-known Oxford man, and an eager aspirant for a bishopric, obtained the see of Lincoln, and wrote on the 29th of May, as mentioned already, to his friend, the Secretary, stating that fees, first-fruits, and other charges cost him £1,500 or £2,000 before he could receive a penny from the bishopric. “I was never in debt,” he says, “yet borrow I must, and, to enable me to repay honestly, I mean to stay here (as others I see do in the like case) till a little after Lady-day next. My College and Margaret Lecture I can (without any dispensation) keep, and perform the duties of both till then.”[291]
Amidst the turnings of the preferment-wheel at that time, Dr. Hall, referred to in Vice-Chancellor Fell’s letter, was elected to the Margaret professorship, vacated at length by Barlow’s resignation.
In July of the same year, 1675, another letter reached Whitehall, upon a similar subject. “It is thought here,” wrote Dr. John Wallis, the celebrated Mathematician at Oxford, “that the Bishop of Worcester is either dead, or at least not likely to subsist long, which will give occasion of alterations. If that or any other occasion give you opportunity of doing a kindness to your servant, or my son, I believe His Majesty would be very ready to grant, if we knew what to ask. I have signified to Dr. Conant by his son your good thoughts of him.” We must now terminate these illustrations.
IV. By an easy transition we pass from ecclesiastical revenues to ecclesiastical courts. Both the Archidiaconal and the Consistorial resumed their activity after the Restoration, and before them were brought numerous charges of delinquency, respecting clergymen and laymen. It would be beyond my purpose to enter into the penetralia of these intricate proceedings; it will be sufficient to notice the nature of some of the accusations on which individuals were arraigned, as illustrative of the social life of the period. Yet before doing so I must notice two circumstances, which require more attention than they have received from historians. The first is this:—
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.