He made it his work, to see what books were in the press; and to look over Epistles Dedicatory, and Prefaces to the Reader, to see what faults might be found.
It was an observation what a sweet man this was like[ly] to be, that the first observable act that he did, was the marrying of the Earl of D[evonshire] to the Lady R[ich] [See Vol. I. p. 483]: when it was notorious to the world, that she had another husband, and the same a nobleman, who had divers children then living by her.
King James did, for many years, take this so ill, that he would never hear of any great preferment of him: insomuch that Doctor Williams, the Bishop of Lincoln (who taketh upon him, to be the first promoter of him) hath many times said "That when he made mention of Laud to the King, His Majesty was so averse from it, that he was constrained oftentimes to say that 'He would never desire to serve that Master, which could not remit one fault unto his servant.'"
Well, in the end, he did conquer it, to get him [on the 10th October, 1621] the Bishopric of St. Davids: which he had not long enjoyed; but he began to undermine his benefactor, as, at this day, it appeareth.
The Countess of Buckingham told Lincoln, that "St. Davids was the man that undermined him with her son." And, verily, such is his aspiring nature, that he will under-work any man in the world! so that he may gain by it.
This man, who believeth so well of himself, framed an Answer to my Exceptions.
But to give some countenance to it; he must call in three other Bishops, that is to say, Durham, Rochester, and Oxford, tried men for such a purpose! and the style of the Speech runneth, "We, and We." This seemed so strong a Confutation, that, for reward of their service, as well as for hope that they would do more, Doctor Neyle, Bishop of Durham, and the Bishop of Bath, were sworn of the Privy Council.
The very day, being Sunday, Master Murray was sent unto me, with a writing: but finding me all in a sweat, by a fit of the stone which was then upon me, he forbore, for that time, to trouble me, and said, "That on the morrow, he would repair to me again."