1. TO write the lives of worthy personages was ever accounted a most laudable custom among the heathens; for to perpetuate the memory of the dead who were eminent in virtue did manifestly conduce to the public benefit of the living. Much more the ancient Christians, in their time, both solemnly retained this practice, and adjudged it an act of piety and justice to the deceased, if they were men of fame for learning or other virtues, to celebrate their praises to posterity, and by this means stir up emulation in others to follow so noble precedents before them. 2. For which cause St Jerome writ his Catalogus Il1ustrium Virorum; before whom also Eusebius, with others, in short recorded to future ages the holy lives of those primitive fathers who were signally active or passive for the Christian faith. Suum cuique decus posteritas refendit (saith the historian): “Posterity doth render to every man the commendation he deserves.” 3. Therefore for the Reverend Doctor’s sake, and in due veneration of his name, — which I doubt not is honored by all true sons of the Church of England, both for his learned writings and constant sufferings in defense of her doctrine and discipline established by law — here is faithfully presented to them a true and complete narrative of his life; to answer the common expectations of men in this case, who would read his person (together with the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of providence that befell him) as well as his books, that were long before published to the world. 4. To give satisfaction in the former, here is nothing inserted but the relations of truth, which hath been often heard from his own mouth, spoken to his dearest friends, or written by his pen in some loose fragments of paper that were found left in his study after his death; upon which, as on a sure foundation, the whole series and structure of the following discourse is laid together; but would have been more happily done, if he had left larger memoirs for it. Nothing was more usual in ancient times, than for good men (saith Tacitus) to describe their own lives — (suam ipsi vitam narrate, fiduciam potius morum quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt) — “upon a confidence of their right behavior, rather than to be supposed any arrogancy or presumption in them.” 5. First of all, I shall begin with his birth, in that country above all other ennobled with the famous seat of the Muses, to which he was a constant votary. By Cambden, Oxford is called “the sun, eye, and soul of Great Britain;” by Matthew Paris, “the second school of the Church;” by the Reverend Doctor “coeval to Paris, if not before it, the glory of this island and of the western parts.” Yet it cannot be denied as high praises have been attributed by learned men to the most famous University of Cambridge, that I dare make no comparisons betwixt those two sisters of Minerva, for the love I owe to either of them, who were both my dear nurses. However, the University of Oxon was long since honored with the title of generale studium, in nobilissimis quatuor Europoe academiis; and this glorious title conferred upon none else in former times, but the Universities of Paris in France, Bononia in Italy, and Salamanca in Spain. Near which Oxon, or noble Athens, he was born, at Burford, an ancient market-town of good note, in the county of Oxford, upon the twenty-ninth day of November, anno Dom. 1600, in the same year with the celebrated historian Jacob. August. Thuanus. On both whom the stars poured out the like benign influences; but the former, viz. Peter Heylyn, had not only the faculty of an historian, but the gift of a general scholar in other learning, poloumaqe>statov kai< oJ pe>ri pa~n pepaideume>mov as will appear to any one that reads his laborious writings. 6. He was second son of Henry Heylyn, gentleman, descended from the ancient family of the Heylyns of Pentre-Heylyn, in Montgomeryshire, then part of Powis-land, from the princes whereof they were derived, and unto whom they were hereditary cupbearers; for so the word “Heylyn” doth signify in the Welch or British language; — an honorable office in most nations, which we find in divine as well as profane history; whereby Nehemiah became so great a favorite with Artaxerxes, that he obtained a grant for the rebuilding of the holy city. Magni honoris erat pincernoe munus apud Persas, saith Alex[ander] ab Alex[andro]. 7. If Camden Clarencieux be of good authority, (as with most he is unquestionable), the Doctor deriveth his pedigree from Gronoap-Heylyn, who descended from Brockwel Skythrac, one of the Princes of Powis-land, in whose family was ever observed that one of them had a gag-tooth, and the same was a notable omen of good fortune; which mark of the tooth is still continued in the Doctor’s family. These and such-like signatures of more wonderful form are indeed very rare, yet not without example: so Seleucus and his children after him were born with the figure of an anchor upon their thigh, as an infallible mark of their true geniture, (saith Justin): Originis hujus argumentum etiam posteris mansit, si quidem filii nepotesque ejus anchoram in femore veluti notam generis naturalem habuere. f54 8. The aforesaid Gronoap-Heylyn’s, from whom the Doctor is one of the descendants, was a man of so great authority with the Princes of North Wales, that Llewellen, the last Prince of the country, made choice of him before any other, to treat with the Commissioners of Edward the First, King of England, for the concluding of a final peace between them; f55 which was accordingly done; but afterwards Llewellen, by the persuasion of David his brother, raised an army against the King, that were quickly routed; himself slain in battle: and in him ended the line of the Princes of North Wales, — who had before withstood many puissant monarchs, whose attempts they always frustrated by retiring into the heart of their country, and (as the Doctor saith) “leaving nothing for their enemies to encounter with but woods and mountains,” — after they had reigned Princes of North Wales for the space of four hundred and five years — a goodly time, that scarcely the greatest monarchies in the world have withstood their fatal period and dissolution, as chronologers usually observe — Anni quingenti sunt fatalis periodus regnorum et rerum publicarum, saith Alsted. f57 9. But this little monarchy of Wales may be compared to a finger or toe, or the least joint, indiscernible in the vast body of the four great empires, and yet withal shows the mutability of them and all worldly powers — that time will triumph in the ruin of the strongest states and kingdoms; as is most excellently represented to us by Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold, silver, iron, and brass, that moldered away, though durable metal, because it stood upon feet of clay. So unstable are all mortal things, and of no longer duration are the most high and mighty powers under heaven than the British monarchy; which caused the historian to complain, that the more he meditated with himself of things done both in old and latter times, tanto magis ludibria rerum mortalium cunctis in negotiis obversantur f59 — “so much the more,” saith he, “the uncertain-tics and mock vanities of fortune in all worldly affairs came to his remembrance.” 10. Notwithstanding those great alterations in Wales, no longer a kingdom of itself, but annexed to the crown of England, the family of Pentre-Heylyn, from whom the said Gronoap-Heylyn descended in a direct line, removed not their station for all the ages past, but continued their seat until the year anno Dom. 1637; at which time Mr Rowland Heylyn, Alderman and Sheriff of London, and cousin-german to Dr Heylyn’s father, dying without issuemale, the seat was transferred into another family, into which the heiresses married. This Mr Rowland Heylyn was a man of singular goodness and piety, that before his death caused the Welch or British Bible to be printed at his own charge in a portable volume, for the benefit of his countrymen, which was before in a large church folio; also the “Practice of Piety” in Welch — a book, though common, not to be despised; besides a Welch Dictionary for the better understanding of that language; all which certainly was a most pious work, notwithstanding their opinion to the contrary, who think that the Bible in a vulgar tongue is not for edification but destruction. Yet God hath been pleased in all ages to stir up some devout men of public spirits, as Sixtus Senensis the monk confesseth, that Christians may read the holy Bible to their own edification and comfort, and not be kept hoodwinked in blindness and heathenish ignorance. Not to mention what other nations hath done, King Alfred caused both the Old and New Testament to be published in the vulgar tongue for the benefit of this land; and in the reign of Richard the Second the whole Scripture was set forth in English, as Polydor Virgil testifies, that, when the parliament endeavored to suppress the same, John Duke of Lancaster stood up in defense thereof, saying, “We will not be the refuse of all men; for other nations have God’s laws in their own language: so ought we.”

Therefore, seeing such noble precedents of godly zeal for the general instruction of the people, it was a most excellent work of the good Alderman Mr Rowland Heylyn to print those Welch Bibles, which were before rare and costly, but now grown common in every man’s hand, and in his own mother’s tongue. 11. As the Doctor was of honorable extraction by his father’s side, so his mother’s pedigree was not mean and contemptible, but answered the quality of her husband; being a gentlewoman of an ancient family, whose name was Eliz. Clampard, daughter of Francis Clampard of Wrotham in Kent, and of Mary Dodge, his wife, descended in a direct line from Peter Dodge of Stopworth in Cheshire, unto whom King Edward the First gave the seigniory or lordship of Padenhugh in the barony of Coldingham, in the realm of Scotland, as well for his special services that he did in the siege of Barwick and Dunbar, as for his valor showed in several battles, encontre son grand enemy et rebelle le Baillol, roy d’Escose et vassal d’Angle terre, as the words are in the original charter of arms, given to the said Peter Dodge by Guyen King of Arms, at the King’s command, dated April the 8th, in the 84th year of the said King Edward the First. One of the descendants from the said Peter Dodge was uncle to Dr Heylyn’s mother, and gave the manor of Lechlade in the county of Gloucester, worth £1400 per annum, to Robert Bathurst, Esq., uncle to the Doctor, and father to the loyal Knight and Baronet, Sir Edward Bathurst, lately deceased. 12. The Doctor in his green and tender years was put to school at Burford, (the place of his nativity and education), under the care of Mr William North, then schoolmaster; by whose good instructions, and his own wonderful ingenuity, he grew up to that proficiency in learning, that he was admired both by his master and scholars; because his entrance into the free school was at the time of childhood, when he was but six years old; betwixt which time and the space of four years after he plied his book so well, that he appeared more than an ordinary Latinist, being composer of several exercises both in prose and verse, particularly a tragi-comedy upon the wars and destruction of Troy, with other exercises historical, which foreshowed what an excellency he would after attain unto in all kind of generous learning. 13. Such early blossoms are for the most part. blasted, or seldom bring forth fruit to ripeness and perfection; that few examples can be named of precocious wits as have been long-lived, or come near to the years of old age, as the Doctor did, excepting one fatuously known above others, Hermogenes the rhetorician, of whom it was said, oJ ejn paisi< ge>rwn, ejn de< ge>rousi pai~v — “ He was an old man when he was a child, and a child when he was an old man.” In his childhood he was often brought before Marcus Ant[oninus], the Roman Emperor, who delighted to hear his talk, for the natural eloquence that flowed from him: but though he lived long, his wit and admired parts soon decayed; and for his long life, saith Rhodiginus of him, ut unus ex multis, “he was one (as it were) of a thousand.” Yet a reverend Father of the Christian Church, the glory of his time, St Augustine, did far excel Hermogenes the orator; for he tells us in his Confessions, that in secunda pueritia, that is, about the age of twelve, legisse et intellexisse Logicos et Rhetorieos Aristotelis libres, “he read and understood the books of Aristotle’s Logic and Rhetoric;” by which learning and study of divinity, well managed together, St Augustine appeared the only champion in the field for the orthodox faith, confounded the Manichees, Donatists, and other heretics, and finally he lived to a great old age, — a blessing which ordinarily accompanied the primitive Bishops and holy Fathers, and still is continued, as may be observed, to the worthy Prelates of our Church. But to find many of prodigious wits and memories from childhood, and for such persons to live unto extraordinary years, and keep up their wonted parts most vigorously after they are turned sixty, — which is the deep autumn of man’s life, — I believe Dr Heylyn had the happy fortune in youth and age above many others, that his virtues and excellent abilities kept equal balance together for all his life, primus ad extremum similis sibi — that as he began 84 happily, so he went on; like Isocrates his master, who, being always the same, could say, Nihil habeo quod senectutem meam accusem — “ He had nothing to accuse his old age with.” f72 14. After he was first disciplined under his master North, whom death took from the school to another world, he was committed to his successor Mr Davis, a right worthy man and painful schoolmaster, who trained him up in all points of learning befitting a young scholar for the University; where he was admitted at the fourteenth year of his age commoner in Hart Hall, and put under the tuition of Mr Joseph Hill, an ancient Batchelor of Divinity, and formerly one of the Fellows of Corpus Christi College, but then a Tutor in Hart Hall. After whom Mr Walter Newbery, a zealous Puritan in those days, undertook the charge of him; who little thought his pupil would afterward prove so sharp an enemy to the Puritan faction.

But by the help of his two tutors, who faithfully discharged their office in reading logical lectures to him and other kind of learning, his own industry also and earnest desire to attain unto academical sciences setting him forward beyond his years and standing, he was encouraged by his tutor and good friends (who saw his parts were prodigious) to stand for a Demy’s place in Magdalen College at the time of their election. But he being very young, and the Fellows already pre-engaged for another, he missed the first time, as is usual in this ease; with which disappointment he was not at all discouraged, but cheerfully followed the course of his studies: and, among other exercises for recreation sake, and to show his wit and fahey, he framed a copy of verses in Latin, on occasion of a pleasant journey he took with his two tutors to Woodstock; which verses he presented to the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, who at the next election, in the year 1615, unanimously chose him Demy of the House, where soon after he was made Impositor of the Hall: which office — (no small honor to him, being then but fifteen years of age) — he executed with that trust and diligence, that the Dean of the College continued him longer in it than any of his predecessors; for which he was so envied by his fellow Demies — (as that malignant passion is always the concomitant of honor) — that they called him by the name of Perpetual Dictator. About the same time, being very eager upon his juvenile studies, he composed an English tragedy, called by him Spurins, that was so generally well liked by the society, that Dr Langton, the President, commanded it to be acted in his lodgings. 15. After those and many other specimina ingenii, fair testimonies of his wit and scholarship, he easily obtained his grace for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in [July] the year 1617, [but was not presented to it till the October following, by reason of the absence of one of his seniors; holding it unworthy to prejudice another person for his own advancement. After the performance of the Lent exercises for his degree, he fell into a fever, which, increasing with great violence, at last turned into a tertian ague, and caused him again to retreat unto his country air, which he enjoyed till the middle of July following, and] then, according to the College Statutes and custom, that requires some exercise to be performed by a junior bachelor in the long vacation, he read several lectures of geography, to which his genius naturally led him, and carried them on so pleasantly in a new method, not observed by others, by joining history with cosmography, that made the work very delightful; for scarce any memorable action done in any nation, country, or famous city in the world, but he hath recorded it: which was a wonderful task for a youth of his years; that all his auditors, grave fellows as well as others, .was struck into deep admiration of his profound learning and wisdom, that forthwith the whole society, nemine contradicente, admitted him Probationer Fellow, in the place of Mr Love, and that before such time he had fully finished the reading of his lectures.

And for a further encouragement of him in his studies, being also a good philosopher as well as geographer, the college chose him Moderator of the Senior Form in the Hall, that brought both credit to his name and profit to his purse; for which, in gratitude to them, — (as he ever showed a grateful mind to his patrons and benefactors,) — he presently writ a Latin comedy, called by him Theomachia, which he finished and transcribed in a fortnight’s time, and dedicated the same to the Fellows; who were so highly pleased with his ingenuity and pains, that on July the 19th, 1619, he was admitted Fellow in that honorable society, according to the usual form — In verum et perpetuum socium. After which followed a new honor upon him, — (as all degrees in the university are honorable, and but the just reward of learned men) — that in the year 1620 the University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts. And surely a young master he was, that not one of twenty is capable of this degree at his years; but more remarkable it was at that time, because he was one of those masters that first sat with their caps on in the Convocation-house, by order of the Earl of Pembroke, then Chancellor of the University, who signified his Lordship’s pleasure by his especial letters: “That from that time forward, the Masters of Arts, who before sat bare, should wear their caps in all congregations and convocations;” which has been ever since observed. f82 16. He, now a Master of Arts in the University, and Fellow of a noble College, than which no greater encouragements can be imagined for young men to follow their studies, and put audacity into them to show their parts, especially when they have gained by their learning and merits both preferment and honor — he was persuaded by several friends to publish those Geographical Lectures which he read in the long vacation, that others might taste the sweetness and pleasure of those studies, besides his own fellow-collegians. Accordingly, having got his father’s consent for the printing of them, and the perusal and approbation of his book by some learned men, at the age of twenty and one years the young writer comes forth, November the 7th, anno Dom. 1621. Whose ingenious writings found such general acceptance, (manibus omnium teruntur, f85) that scarce any scholar’s study was without them; and to this day, since their enlargement by several editions, are as commonly cited upon occasion as any authentic author that is extant. The first copy was presented to his Royal Highness King Charles the First, then Prince of Wales, unto whom the young author dedicated his work, and by the young Prince was as graciously received, being brought into his Highness’ presence by Sir Robert Carr, afterward Earl of Ancram, but then one of the Gentlemen of the Prince’s Bed chamber. 17. Having so fortunate a beginning, to gain the Prince his patron, he desisted in geography, and proceeded to higher studies, that might capacitate him for greater services hereafter, both in Church and State. In order thereto, first piously he took along with him the episcopal blessing of confirmation by the hands of Bishop Lake, in the parish-church of Wells, September the 15th, anno Dom. 1623; the fruits of whose fatherly benediction, [and] devout prayers, with imposition of hands, did manifestly appear in this true son of the Church; whom the Almighty did bless, and “daily increase in him the manifold gift of grace, bestowed on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding,” etc. And certainly such singular benefits do accompany this apostolical institution, mentioned in Scripture, constantly used in the primitive Church, that the neglect or contempt thereof from the hands of God’s Bishops no doubt deprives us of many good blessings which we should otherwise receive from the hands of God.

Being thus confirmed by the Bishop, according to the order of the Church of England, he afterward applied himself to the study of divinity, which St Basil calleth qewri>a tou~ o]ntov the theory or contemplation of the great God, or his being, so far as he hath revealed himself to us in the book of nature and Scripture. This knowledge excelleth all other, and without it who knoweth not the saying, Omnem scientiam magis obesse quam prodesse, si desit scientia optimi, that “all other knowledge does us more hurt than good, if this be wanting.” notwithstanding, he met with some discouragements to take upon himself the profession of a divine, for what reasons it is hard for me to conjecture; but it’s certain at first he found some reluctancy within himself, whether for the difficulties that usually attend this deep mysterious science, to natural reason incomprehensible, because containing many matters of faith, which we ought to believe and not to question, — (though now divinity is the common mystery of mechanics, to whom it seems more easy than their manual trades and occupations;) — or whether because it drew him off from his former delightful studies. More probably (I believe), his fears and distrusts of himself were very great, to engage in so high a calling and profession and run the hazards of it, because the like examples are very frequent both in antiquity and modern history. However, so timorous he was upon this account, lest he should rush too suddenly into the ministry, although his abilities at that time transcended many of elder years, that he exhibited a certificate of his age to the President of the College, and thereby procured a dispensation, notwithstanding any local statutes to the contrary, that he might not be compelled to enter into holy orders till he was twenty-four years old: at which time still his fears did continue, or at least his modesty and self-denial wrought some unwillingness in him, till at last he was overcome by the arguments and powerful persuasions of his learned friend Mr Buekner; after whose excellent discourses with him he followed his studies in divinity more closely than ever, — (having once tasted the sweetness of them, nothing can ravish the soul more with pleasure unto an ecstasy than divine contemplation of God and the mysteries in his holy word, which the angels themselves pry into, and for which reason they love to be present in Christian assemblies when the Gospel is preached, as the Apostle intimates to us:) — that by continual study and meditation, and giving himself wholly to read theological books, he found in himself an earnest desire to enter into the holy orders of Deacon and Priest, which he had conferred upon him at distinct times in St Aldate’s Church at Oxon, by the Reverend Father in God Bishop Howson. At the time when he was ordained priest, he preached the ordination sermon, upon the words of our Savior to St Peter, Luke 22:32: “And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” — an apposite text upon so solemn occasion. Being thus ordained, to his great satisfaction and contentment, the method which he resolved to follow in the course of his studies was quite contrary to the common road of young students; for he did not spend his time in poring upon compendiums and little systems of divinity, whereby many young priests think they are made absolute divines, when perhaps a gentleman of the parish doth oftentimes gravel them in an ordinary argument; but he fell upon the main body of divinity, by studying Fathers, Councils, Ecclesiastical Histories, and Schoolmen, — the way which King James commended to all younger students for confirming them in the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, that is most agreeable to the doe-trine of the primitive Church. 18. By this time his book of Geography, — in the first edition bought up by scholars, gentlemen, and almost every householder, for the pleasantness of its reading, — was reprinted and enlarged in a second edition, and presented again to his highness the Prince of Wales, who not only graciously accepted the book, but was pleased to pass a singular commendation upon the author. But afterward the book being perused by his royal father King James, the second Solomon for wisdom, and most learned monarch in Christendom, — (the book put into his Majesty’s hand by Dr Young, then Dean of Winton, and Mr Heylyn’s dear friend), — the King’s piercing judgment quickly spied out a fault, which was taken no notice of by others; — as God always endows Kings his vicegerents with that extraordinary gift, the spirit of discerning .above other mortals, — (Sicut angelus Dei est dominus meus Rex, saith the holy Scripture, f99 “As an angel of God, so is my lord the King.”) Who, lighting upon a line that proved an unlucky passage in the author, who gave precedency to the French King, and called France the more famous kingdom; with which King James was so highly displeased, that he presently ordered the Lord Keeper to call the book in: but this being said in his anger and passion, no further notice was taken of it. In the mean time Dr Young took all care to send Mr Heylyn word of his Majesty’s displeasure; the news of which was no small sorrow to him, that he was now in danger to lose the King’s favor, — Nil nisi peccatum manifestaque culpa fatendum est.

Pcenitet ingenii, judiciique mei — that Mr Heylyn could have wished them words had been left out. Dr Young advised him to repair to court, that by the young Prince’s patronage he might pacify the King’s anger; but, not knowing whether the Prince himself might not be also offended, he re, sided still in Oxford, and laid open his whole grief to the Lord Danvers, desiring his lordship’s counsel and best advice, what remedy he should seek for cure, According to the good lord’s counsel, he sent up an apology to Dr Young, which was an explanation of his meaning upon the words in question, and then under condemnation: the error was not to be imputed to the author, but to the errata of the printer, which is most ordinary in them, to mistake one word for another; and the grand mistake was, by printing is for was, which put the whole sentence out of joint, and the author into pain, if it had been of a higher crime than of a monosyllable, it had not been pardonable, for the intention of the author was very innocent. — Quis me deceperit error?

Et culpam in facto, non scelus esso meo. f102 The words of his apology which he sent up to Dr Young, for his Majesty’s satisfaction, are these that followeth — “That some crimes are of a nature so unjustifiable, that they are improved by an apology; yet, considering the purpose he had in those places which gave offense to his sacred Majesty, he was unwilling that his innocence should be condemned for want of an advocate. The burden under which he suffered .was a mistake rather than a crime; and that mistake not his own, but the printer’s. For if, in the first line of page 441, was be read instead of is, the sense runs as he designed it; and this appears from the words immediately following; for by them may be gathered the sense of this corrected reading: ‘When Edward the Third quartered the arms of France and England, he gave precedency to the French; first, because France was the greater and more famous kingdom; that the French,’ etc. These reasons are to be referred to the time of that King, by whom those arms were first quartered with the arms of England, and who desired by [this] honor done unto their arms to gain upon the good opinion of that nation, for the crown and love whereof he was then a suitor; for at this time — (besides [that] it may seem incongruous to use a verb of the present tense in a matter done so long ago) — that reason is not of the least force or consequence; the French King having so long since forgot the rights of England, and our late Princes claiming nothing but the title only. The place and passage so corrected, I hope I may, without detraction from the glory of this nation, affirm that France was at that time the more famous kingdom. Our English swords, for more than half the time since the Norman Conquest, had been turned against our own bosoms; and the wars we then made, — except some fortunate excursions of King Edward the First in France, and King Richard in the Holy Land, — in my opinion were fuller of pity than of honor. For what was our kingdom under the reigns of Edward the Second, Henry the Third, John, Stephen, and Rufus, but a public theater on which the tragedies of blood and civil distensions had been continually acted? On the other side, the French had exercised their arms with credit and renown both in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and had much added to the glory of their name and nation by conquering the kingdoms of Naples and Sicilia, and driving the English themselves out of [all] France, Guyen only excepted. If we look higher, we shall find France to be the first seat of the Western Empire, and the forces of it to be known and felt by the Saracens in Spain, the Saxons in Germany, and the Lombards in Italy: at which time the valor of the English was imprisoned in the same seas with their island. And therefore France was at that time, when first the arms were quartered, the more famous kingdom. It is true indeed, that since the time of those victorious Princes, those duo fulmina belli Edward the Third and the Black Prince his son, the arms of England have been exercised in most parts of Europe; nor am I ignorant how high we stand above France and all other nations in [the] true fame of our achievements. France itself divers times overrun, and once conquered, the house of Burgundy upheld from ruin, the Hollanders supported, Spain awed, the ocean commanded, — are sufficient testimonies that in pursuit of fame and honor we had no equals. That I always was of this opinion, my book speaks for me, — (and indeed so unworthy a person needs no better advocate), — in which I have been nowhere wanting to commit to memory the honorable performances of my country. The great annalist Baronius, pretending only a true and sincere History of the Church, yet tells the Pope, in his Epistle Dedicatory, that he principally did intend that work pro sacrarum traditionum andquitate, et authoritate Romance Ecclesioe. The like may I say of myself, though not with like imputation of imposture. I promised a description of all the world, and have, according to the measure of my poor ability, fully performed it; yet have I apprehended withal every modest occasion of ennobling and extolling the soldiers and Kings of England. “Concerning the other place at which his most sacred Majesty is offended, viz. the precedency of France before England; — besides that I do not speak of England as it now stands, augmented by the happy addition of Scotland, I had it from an author whom, in my poverty of reading, I conceived above all exception. Cambden Clarencieux, that general and accomplished scholar, in the fifth page of his Remains, had so informed me; if there be error in it, it is not mine but my authors. The precedency which he there speaks of, is in general councils. And I do heartily wish it would please the Lord to give such a sudden blessing to his Church, that I might live to see Mr Cambden confuted by so good an argument as the sitting of a general council.”

Thus Mr Heylyn apologized for himself, in his letter written to the Dean of Winton, who showed the whole apology to the King: with which his Majesty was fully satisfied, as to the sincere intention and innocent meaning of author; yet, to avoid all further scruples and misconstructions that might arise hereafter, Mr Heylyn, by the advice of his good friend, the wise and most worthy Dean, took order that whole clause which gave so much offense should be left out of all his books.

Ita plerique ingenio sumus omnes; nostri nosmet poenitet, as once the comedian said.

Having undergone such troubles about France, he was resolved upon a further adventure, to take a voyage thither, with his faithful friend Mr Lever, of Lincoln’s Inn, who afterward, poor gentleman, through misfortune of the times, lived and died prisoner in the Fleet. They both set out anno Dom. 1625, and, after their safe arrival in France, took a singular interview of the chief cities and most eminent places in the realm, of which Mr Heylyn’s gives a more accurate account and description (though his stay was not there above five weeks) than Lassel the priest doth of his five years’ voyage into Italy. And now Mr Heylyn was sufficiently convinced with his own eyes which was the more famous kingdom, that after his return home he composed a History of his Travels into France; and, being put into the hands of several friends, [it] was at first printed by a false copy, full of gross errors and insufferable mistakes, that he caused his own true copy to be printed, — one of the most delightful histories of that nature that hath been ever heretofore published; wherein is set out to the life the monsieurs and the madams the nobility and the peasantry, the court and country; their ridiculous customs, fantastical gait, apparel, and fashions, foolish common talk, so given to levity that without singing and dancing they cannot walk the open streets; in the Church serious and superstitious; the better sort horridly atheistical.

Besides all he hath written in that ingenious book, I think he hath in short most excellently deciphered them in his Cosmography where he maketh a second review of their pretty qualities and conditions; as thus, if the reader has a mind to read them: “They are very quick-witted, of a sudden and nimble apprehension, but withal rash and hare-brained; precipitate in all their actions, as well military as civil, failing on like a clap of thunder, and presently going off in smoke; full of law-suits and contentions, that their lawyers never want work; so litigious that there are more law-suits tried among them in seven years than have been in England from the Conquest.

Their women witty, but apish, sluttish, wanton, and incontinent; generally at the first sight as familiar with you as if they had known you from the cradle, and are so full of chat and tattle, even with those they know not, as if they were resolved sooner to want breath than words, and never to be silent till in the grave: dancing such a sport, to which both men and women are so generally affected, that neither age nor sickness, no nor poverty itself, can make them keep their heels still when they hear the music. Such as can hardly walk abroad without crutches, or go as if they were troubled all day with a sciatica, and perchance have their rags hang so loose about them that one would think a swift galliard might shake them into their nakedness, will to the dancing-green howsoever, and be there as eager at the sport as if they had left their several infirmities and wants behind them.

Their language is very much expressed by their action; for the head and shoulders must move as significantly, when they speak, as their lips and tongue, and he that hopeth to speak with a grace must have in him somewhat of the mimic. They are naturally disposed for courtship, as makes all the people complimental, that the poorest cobbler in the parish hath his court cringes, and his eau beniste de cour, his ‘court holy water,’ (as they call it), as perfectly as the best gentleman-usher of Paris. They wear their hair long, goes thin and open to the very shirt, as if there were continual summer; in their gait, walk fast, as if pursued on an arrest. f122 Their humor is much of scoffing, yea even in matters of religion; as appeareth in the story of a gentleman that lay sick on his bed, who, seeing the host brought unto him by a lubberly priest, said that ‘Christ came to him as he entered into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass.’ I cannot forget another of the like kind, a gentleman lying sick upon his death-bed, who, when the priest had persuaded him that the Sacrament of the altar was the very body and blood of Christ, refused to eat thereof, because it was Friday.” And so far the good geographer, who hath pleasantly and truly described them. 21. But now we must come to him as a divine, wherein he acted his part as well as of a cosmographer, when he was called unto the Divinity School to dispute in his turn, according to the Statutes of the University. On April 18th, A.D. 1627, he comes up as opponent, and on Tuesday the 24th following he answered, pro forma, upon these two questions — An Ecclesia unquam fuerit invisibilis?

An Ecclesia possit errare?

Both which he determined in the negative. Upon occasional discourse with him at Abingdon, he was pleased once to show me his supposition, which I read over in his house at Lacye’s Court; but I had not then either the leisure or good luck to transcribe a copy of it, which would have been worth my pains, and more worthy of the press, to the great satisfaction of others. For my part, I can truly say that I never read any thing with more pleasure and heart-delight, for good Latin, reason, and history, which that exercise was full of; but since, both it and many other choice papers in his study (through the carelessness of those to whose custody they were committed, I suppose) are utterly lost and gone, ad blattarum et tinearum epulas. f123 22. In stating of the first question, that caused the heats of that day, he tells us himself — “I fell upon a different way from that of Doctor Prideaux, the Professor, in his Lecture De Visibilitate Ecclesioe, and other tractares of and about that time, in which the visibility of the Protestant Church, (and consequently of the re nowned Church of England), was no otherwise proved, than by looking for it in the scattered conventicles of the Berengarians in Italy, the Waldenses in France, the Wicklifists in England, and the Hussites in Bohemia.

Which manner of proceeding not being liked by the respondent, as that which utterly discontinued that succession of the hierarchy which the Church of England claims from the very Apostles and their immediate successors, — he rather chose to find out a continual visible Church in Asia, Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, yea Rome itself, as also in all the western provinces then subject to the power of the Roman Bishop, when he was the chief Patriarch.” Which Mr Heylyn, from his great knowledge and more than ordinary abilities in history, strenuously asserted and proved; to which the Professor could make but weak replies, (as I have heard from some knowing persons who were present at that disputation), because he was drawn out of his ordinary bias, from scholastical disputation to foreign histories: in which encounter Mr Heylyn was the invincible Ajax — Nec quisquam Ajacem possit superare nisi Ajax. f129 But chiefly the quarrel did arise for two words in Mr Heylyn’s hypothesis, after he had proved the Church of England received no succession of doctrine or government from the Berengarians, Wicklifists, etc., who held many heterodoxes in religion, as different from the established doctrine of our Church as any point that was maintained at that time in the Church of Rome: that the writers of that Church, [and] BeHar-mine himself [amongst them] hath stood up as cordially in maintenance of some fundamental points of the Christian faith against Anti-trinitarians, Anabaptists, and other heretics of these last ages, as any of the divines f132 and other learned men of the Protestant Churches; which point Mr Heylyn closed up with these words: Utinam (quod ipse de Calvino,) sic semper errasset nobilissimus Cardinalis. At which words the reverend Doctor was so impatient in his chair, that he fell upon the respondent in most vile terms, calling him Papicola, Bellarminianus, Pontificius, etc., to draw the hatred of the University upon him, according to the saying, Fortiter calumniare et aliquid adhoerebit: grievously complaining to the younger sort of his auditors, unto whom he made his chiefest addresses, of the unprofitable pains he took among them, if Bellarmine, whom he had labored to confute for so many years, should [now] be honored with the title of nobilis-simus. f135 23. Notwithstanding the respondent acquitted him- [self most bravely before all the company, ascribing no more honor to Bellarmine than for his deserts in learning, and integrity in that particular point before spoken of; which any generous man would give to his learned antagonist. For many Lutherans and Calvinists, I may say, (pace tanti viri), so angry at a word, have not grudged, much less judged it any crime, to praise the Cardinal’s learning. Doctrinam et nos in ipso commendamus, saith a rigid Lutheran, and St Paul himself would not stick to call him who was an inveterate enemy of the Christians, “most noble Festus.” And though Cardinals, we know, were originally but parish Priests, by pride and usurpation have made themselves compeers to Kings, that which is unjustly once obtained by time groweth common and familiar, that none will refuse to give such their ordinary titles of honor, although they come by indirect means and not by merit to them. Bellarmine also was of no poor and base extraction, but better than his fellows; for which reason he was created Cardinal by Clement the Eighth. Hunc eligimus (saith he) quia est nepos optimi et sanctissimi Pontificis because he was the nephew of Marcellus the Second, who said that he could not see how any one could be saved who sat in the pontifical chair — Non video quomodo qui locum hunc altissimum tenent, salvari poossunt. f139 24. After those heats of disputation were over, Mr Heylyn took a journey to London, where he waited on Bishop Laud, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, who had heard of all the passages that had happened at Oxford. Of which Mr Heylyn gave a more perfect account to his Lordship, who was pleased to read over the supposition at which Dr Prideaux was so highly offended: but the good Bishop, on the other side, commended it, and encouraged Mr Heylyn in his studies — “ saying that he himself had in his younger days maintained the same positions in a disputation in St John’s College; that Mr Heylyn’s hypothesis could not be overthrown in a fair way: exhorting him to continue in that moderate course; and that, as God had given him more than ordinary gifts, so he would pray to God, that he and others might employ them in such a way and manner as might make up the breaches in the walls of Christendom.” Mr Heylyn, to clear himself from the suspicion of popery, which Dr Prideaux had most unjustly branded him with, in November next following preached before the King on those words, John 4:20: “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,” etc. In which sermon he declared himself with such smart zeal and with as quick judgment against several errors and corruptions in the Church of Rome, that his sermon was otherwise resented by the King and court than his supposition by the King’s Professor at Oxon.

And when that clamor was revived again by his enemies, that he had some inclinations to the Romish religion, he gave such satisfaction in his third and fourth sermon preached at Whitehall, in the year 1638, upon the Parable of the Tares, on these words, Matthew 13:26, Tunc apparuerunt zizania, (“ Then appeared the tares also”), that some of the court did not stick to say that he had done more towards the subversion of popery in those two sermons than Dr Prideaux had done in all the sermons which he had ever preached in his life. For that Doctor was a better disputant than a preacher, and, to give him his due, a right learned man in his place of Regius Professor; yet withal so dogmatical in his own points, that he would not abide to be touched, much less contradicted by Mr Heylyn — Non aliam ob causam, nisi quod virtus in utroque, Summa fuit…. f145 More especially being a great man, at that time very popular in the University, profoundly admired by the junior masters, and some of the seniors inclined to Puritanism; his own College then observed to be (communis pestis adolescentum ) the common nursery of west-country, men in Puritan principles, so that Mr Heylyn could expect no favor nor fair dealing in the way of his disputation, when it ran contrary to the Professor’s humor. 25. After these academical contests, growing weary of ohs. and sols. in scholastical disputations, which was ever opposite to his genius, and for this purpose being unwilling to be always cloistered up within the walls of a College, where he must be tied to such exercises; — besides, a man of an airy and active spirit, (though studious and contemplative,) would not be perpetually devoted to a melancholy recluse life: — also emulation and envy, the two inseparable evils that accompany learned men in the same society, hath frequently stirred up animosities and factions among them, that I have known some ingenious persons for this reason have been wearied out of a collegiate life; — resolved therefore he was to marry, and alter the condition of his life, which he thought would prove more agreeable to the content and satisfaction of his mind; — (Neque aliud probis quam ex matrimonio solatium esse, saith the good author, “because marriage is the only comfort of minds honestly given.”) Accordingly a fair fortune was offered to him, a wife with a thousand pounds portion, and a gentlewoman of a very ancient family and of as excellent education, Mrs Letitia High-gate, third daughter of Thomas High-gate of Heyes, Esq., one of his Majesty’s justices of peace for the county of Middlesex, (who in his younger days, whilst his elder brother was alive, had been Provost-Marshal-General of the army under the Earl of Essex at the action of Cales), and of Margery Skipwith his wife, one of the daughters of that ancient family of the Skipwiths in the county of Leicester, of which family still there is a worthy person living, Sir Thomas Skip-with, Knight, a learned Serjeant in the Law. Which said Thomas High-gate, the father before mentioned, was second son of that Thomas High-gate who was Field-Marshal-General of the English forces before St Quintine, under the command of the Earl of Pembroke, anno Dom. 1557, and of Elizabeth Stoner his wife, a daughter of the ancient family of the Stoners in the county of Oxon. f151 26. To this young gentlewoman, Mrs Letitia High-gate aforesaid, Mr Heylyn was no stranger; for his elder brother, Mr Edward Heylyn, had married some years before her eldest sister. His seat was at Minster Lovel in Oxfordshire, where his son (to whom Dr Heylyn was uncle) now liveth, viz. Henry Heylyn, Esq., justice of peace for the county of Oxon, an ancient colonel, and an excellent commander in the army of King Charles the First, and a most accomplished gentleman in all respects, to the honor of his family. Another of the sisters of Mrs Letitia High-gate married Robert Tirwhit, Esq., one of the ancient family of the Tirwhits in the county of Lincoln, Master of the Buck-hounds in the reign of King Charles the First, a place of honor and of great revenue. Finally, to the honor of that family, Sir Henry Bard of Stanes, Knight, who afterward was created Viscount Lord Bellamount, did marry the daughter of Sir William Gardiner, whose Lady and Mrs Letitia High-gate were sisters’ children.

That unfortunate Lord, (who is mentioned in the Marquess of Worcester’s Apophthegms for a brave commander, and governor of Camden House in the time of war,) did attend his sacred Majesty all the time of his exile, until the treaty at Breda, when he was sent, (as I have heard), on some ambassage into the Eastern Countries, where, travelling in Arabia Deserta, for want of a skillful guide, [he] was swallowed up in the gulf of sands.

These were the relations, and many others of quality, (which I forbear to mention), of Mrs Letitia High-gate. And whereas the late writer disparages the young gentlewoman, that her portion was never paid, I am sure he has done her that wrong which he can never recompense; for her elder brother did both pay her and the other sisters’ portions, who were all married to persons of quality; himself had an estate left him by his father to the value of £800. per annum; he married an heiress, whose fortune added to his estate, on which they lived nobly for many years, before he fell into losses and misfortunes, caused by his own extravagant pleasures, and chiefly of gaming at dice and cards, f155 Quem damnosa Venus, quem praeecps alea nudat. f156 To the said Letitia High-gate Mr Heylyn was an earnest suitor. For indeed he could not make a better choice, for the excellency of her person, wit, and friends, all concentering together for his more happy contentment; she being also a discreet, religious young lady, which is a blessing to a Clergyman. His courtship of her was not after a romantic manner, nor as a gallant of the times, but like a scholar and a divine, as appears by a copy of verses written upon a rich gilded Bible which he presented to her; and the verses are as followeth — Could this outside beholden be To cost and cunning equally; Or were it such as might suffice The luxury of curious eyes; Yet would I have my dearest look, Not on the cover, but the book.

If thou art merry, here are airs; If melancholy, here are prayers; If studious, here are those things writ Which may deserve thy ablest wit; If hungry, here is food divine; If thirsty, nectar, heavenly wine.

Read then, but first thyself prepare To read with zeal, and mark with care; And when thou read’st what here is writ, Let thy best practice second it; So twice each precept read shall be, First in the book, and next in thee.

Much reading may thy spirits wrong; Refresh them therefore with a song; And that thy music praise may merit, Sing David’s Psalms with David’s spirit; That as thy voice do pierce men’s ears, So shall thy prayer and vows the spheres.

Thus read, thus sing, and then to thee The very earth a heaven shall be; If thus thou readest, thou shalt find, A private heaven within thy mind; And singing thus before thou die, Thou sing’st thy part to those on high. 27. The verses with the Bible were most affectionately received by her, as the best tokens of love that could be given, to lay the foundation of a future happiness betwixt them, that was now begun so religiously with the book of God, which they both intended to make the rule of their life and love. Soon after the solemnization of marriage followed, by the consent of friends on both parties; in the presence of whom and other witnesses they were married by Dr Allibone his faithful friend, upon the festival day of St Simon and St Jude, in Magdalen College Chapel, where he was Fellow, but now the husband of a good wife; of whom we may say as the poet, Felices [ter et amplius] Quos irrupta tenet copula, nec malls Divulsus querimoniis Suprema citius solver [amor] die. f159 Most happy is the marriage-tie, Where love abideth constantly; No sad complaints or cries, whilst breath Remains, but true love unto death. 28. At his marriage with this virtuous gentle woman, he had a good estate of his own, besides her portion, to begin the world with; for he had a rent charge of inheritance paid him out of the manor of Leehlade in the county of Glocester, and the advow-son of Bradwel living near Lechlade, both which were left him by his father, as a competent portion for a younger brother; but he wisely parted with the Advowson, resolving not to bury his parts in a country parish; where if he had been once settled, possibly his fortune might have proved like other men’s, never to have been master of more lands or goods than the tithe or glebe of his own parsonage. Therefore he took the first opportunity offered to him as a more probable means of his future preferment; and that was to attend the right honorable the Earl of Danby to the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey, (of which afterward he writ a description). And for this good service he so much endeared himself to his Lordship, who took great notice of his extraordinary merits, that at their return back, the noble Lord commended him, not only to some Lords in court, but presented him to Archbishop Laud, then Bishop of London, who had cast a singular eye of favor upon him before; but now, reminded by the Earl, he presently got him admitted Chaplain to the King; knowing that step to preferment would carry him on further, because the rise of the Clergy is either from the press or the pulpit, in both which Mr Heylyn was exercised. The good Bishop instructed him with counsel and wise cautions, how to behave himself in all circumstances suitable to the calling and dignity of his place; telling him amongst other things, that “the King did not love silk nor satin Chaplains;” which Mr Heylyn ever observed, both young and old, never ruffling in silks like some of his brotherhood, but went always in a plain, grave, and decent habit. 29. In humble gratitude to the Earl his original patron, who first recommended him to the Bishop, and afterward brought him to the honor of acquaintance with noblemen, among whom he found such a general love and respect that their Lordships would often call him to a familiar conversation with them, by which means Mr Heylyn’s acquired more than an ordinary interest in court — he could not study out a more ingenious way to please and oblige all their Lordships than the vindication of the most noble order of the Garter, and that by writing his “History of the famous Saint and Soldier of Christ Jesus, St George of Cappadocia.” f167 Which work he performed so admirably well, for history, learning, and language — all these not vulgar, but incomparable in their kind that I would fain see the fellow that can second it; especially considering that never any one before Mr Heylyn durst attempt the work, by reason of the many difficulties occurring in story. But what could resist the author’s ingenuity and industry, who had importunum ingenium, a restless working head, and a mind indefatigable for study? Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor. f168 So various and perplexed are the infinite stories that go of this Saint, that one would think it were an impossible thing to find out the truth. Great care was taken by Anterus, Bishop of Rome, anno Dom. 236, (who was a martyr himself), to preserve the memory of the Christian martyrs, by causing all their acts and passions to be written by public notaries, and afterwards laid up in the register of the Church, as Platina tells us; and we find in Gregory’s Epistles that in the ancient martyrologies the time of their death and place where they suffered is described, but not the circumstance and manner of their deaths: whereby hath risen so many fables and incredible stories, especially of St George, which the monks of old hath filled their legends with. And on the other side, some, because they would be contradictory to them, do run into another extreme of things, not regarding whether they are true or false: they stigmatize St George with all the reproaches imaginable, making him not a Saint but a devil, at the best the bloody George of Alexandria, who was a butcher rather than a Bishop, that caused the slaughter of so many poor Christians for being orthodox and not Arians. More kind and favorable are they that condemn him for a fiction, a mere chimera and non entity, and “will allow him no place,” as the historian saith, “on earth, in heaven, nor hell itself.” f173 30. From all which slanderous accusations of the one side, and from the foppish superstitions and forgeries of the other, Mr Heylyn hath redeemed St George’s honor and reputation; proving by undeniable authorities that St George was a blessed and glorious martyr for Christ, so believed and owned in all Christian nations, a canonized Saint through Christendom, the patron both of our English nation anciently deemed, and of the most honorable order of knighthood in the world. The History was at first presented to his Majesty by the author, and afterwards to the Knights of the noble Order; by his Majesty it was most graciously accepted, and by the nobility highly praised. Notwithstanding Dr Hackwel, the intimate friend of Dr Prideaux, for whose sake, to revenge the old quarrel, appeared against the author, and treated him “neither with that ingenuity which became a scholar, nor that charity as becomes a Christian.” The King, hearing of Dr Hackwel’s sharp reply to this History of St George, sent for Mr Heylyn, commanding him to consider the arguments of his adversary, and for this purpose to go to Windsor, and there search into the records of the Order. But there was little need for that, because all Dr Hackwel’s arguments and allegations were idem per idem, the very same repeated over, which Mr Pryn had before laid down in his book called Histriomastix: which occasioned a second edition of Mr Heylyn’s History, wherein he answered the arguments of both his antagonists; who never troubled him more upon that point; and Dr Hackwel, for his part, in the next edition of his book about the Decay of Nature made an ingenious retractation of the passages relating to St George. Which blessed Saint and Martyr Mr Heylyn the more zealously defended with his pen, not only for the reasons before mentioned, but from a particular obligation wherewith he thought himself bound above others to prosecute the History; because several churches being dedicated to the honor of God by St George’s name, particularly St George’s church at Burford, “where it pleased God,” saith he, “to give me first my natural being and afterward my education, in which regard I hold myself bound in a manner to vindicate St George his honor [having received such comforts in a place] where his memory was anciently precious, and the only church in it dedicated by his name.” Finally the memory of this Saint shines in our calendar, prefixed before the public Liturgy of the Church of England, where he is specially honored with the name of Saint, as is not any of the rest excepting those which saw our Savior in the flesh. f182 Let me finally add what the author of the “Present State of England,” in honor of St George, hath written: — “The greatest monarchs,” saith he, “of Christendom have been enrolled, and have taken it for an honor to be of this Order: a Saint so universally received in all parts of Christendom, so generally attested by the ecclesiastical writers of all ages from the time of his martyrdom to this day, that no one Saint in all the calendar (except those attested by Scripture) is better vindicated.” f184 31. The publishing of this History met with that general good entertainment, for the rarity of its subject, that a gentleman of quality, one Mr Bridges, out of a real respect and love to the author’s learning, presented him to the parsonage of Meysie Hampton, in Gloucestershire; to which if things had happened successfully, Mr Heylyn had then been successor to the Reverend Sebastian [Benefield], D.D., Rector of that living, and Margaret Professor in the University of Oxon. But, contrary to his Patron’s and his own expectation, it proved a living of most litigious title, from whence followed a chargeable suit in law, occasioned by Bishop Goodman, the worst of all his predecessors that sat in the see of Gloucester; who outwardly pretended great kindness to Mr Heylyn, for his learning’s sake, but (like the Fox in the fable, Then he praised the Crow’s singing) to get the meat out of his mouth: for, after he had persuaded Mr Heylyn to leave his presentation in his hands, and enter a caveat in his court, and promising that he would grant no institution to any person till the title was cleared, his Lordship immediately after gave institution to another, (who was his friend), one Mr Jackson, who was presented by Corpus Christi College, in Oxon, that pretended the right of patronage and presentation to that parsonage. And no wonder Mr Heylyn found such base dealing, when this spiritual father so prevaricated with his mother, the Church of England, from which he apostatized most shamefully. No doubt he! was a Jesuite in voto, or “had a Pope in his belly,” before he crept into the bishopric. His Lordship’s hypocrisy was detected in a sermon afterwards preached, for which he was not only questioned, but sentenced to a recantation before the King. But much more scandal he gave at the time of his death, “a scandal so unseasonably and untimely [given],” saith Dr Heylyn’s “as if the devil himself had watched an opportunity to despite this Church. And though some [men] have gladly cherished this occasion to draw the rest of the f193 prelates [and prelatical party] into a general suspicion [of being as much inclined to Popery], yet Christian charity should instruct them not to think evil of all for the fault of one, or prejudge any one man, much less the whole body of a Clergy, for the fault of another. It rather should be wondered at by all moderate and discerning men, that, notwithstanding so many provocations of want and scorn, which have of late been put upon them, there should be found but one of that sacred order [and but three more, that I have heard of, of the regular Clergy] to fall off to Popery; though to say truth, it was not in this Bishop a late falling off, but a pursuance rather of some former inclinations which he had that way, that being thought to be the reason why he refused subscription to the canons in convocation.” f197 32. Seldom misfortunes go alone, but one of them is a prologue to another, though in conclusion of all the scene may end with a pleasant epilogue.

And so it fared with Mr Heylyn, who met with a second disappointment by the hand of fortune, he being yet neither parson, vicar, nor curate, but one of his Majesty’s Chaplains in Ordinary. He was now presented to another living, of which he missed his aim, but thereby was fortunate in his very misfortune. For, having attended the King, and preaching in his course at Whitehall, his Majesty was so well pleased with his sermon, that within a few days after Mr Heylyn was presented by the King to the rectory of Hemingford in the county of Huntington. Soon after he applied himself to the Bishop of Lincoln for institution; which was not only denied him, but the Bishop, more boldly than did befit his Lordship, disputed his own title against his Sovereign, and fell upon Mr Heylyn with most foul opprobrious language, because he presumed to defend the King’s right against his Lordship: which he proved by the instruments of conveyance made from the other party; at which the Bishop was the more highly offended with him, that such a young divine should have so great knowledge of the law, and especially to argue the case with his Lordship.

F200 But this was not the main business, — latet anguis in herba, “there was a snake in the garden;” for his Lordship had a subtle design under disguise, or otherwise he would have easily waived his right of presentation, pro hac vice, to pleasure the King in the preferment of his Chaplain, or at least, preserving his own right, bestowed the living upon Mr Heylyn. But then here lieth the matter — his Lordship had been crossed in his wonted method, that is, to give with one hand and take away with the other, which he could not for shame do with a King’s Chaplain. For when he bestowed a living upon any person, (as he had many in his gift, being both Lord Bishop and Lord Keeper,) — he would tie the incumbent to pay an annum pension out of it, to be disposed to such charitable and pious uses as he thought fit; so that the stream of his charity flowed out of other men’s purses, and not his own; at the best he robbed Peter to pay Paul: which the incumbents felt by dear experience, whom he kept at a low pittance, that for the most part they lived but poorly, for the heavy taxations laid upon them. By this means he had more pensioners than all the Noblemen and Bishops in the land together: and, though he made no particular benefit to himself out of those livings than his name cried up for a noble benefactor, in all other things, to fill his own coffer, he was so covetous and extremely tenacious, that he would never let go what once he had laid hold on; for at the same time he was both Bishop, Dean, Lord Keeper, Parson of Walgrove, and held the poor Prebendary of Asgarby f204 in which last I have the honor to succeed his Lordship. 33. The King, hearing the news of Mr Heylyn’s rough entertainment at Bugden, — how his royal presentation was slighted, and his Chaplain with ill words abused — was not a little offended with the Bishop, on whom he had heaped so many dignities one upon another, both in Church and State; — I will not say undeservedly, if his Lordship’s loyalty and integrity had been answerable to his other great abilities. But his Majesty was pleased, for the comfort of his poor Chaplain, so disappointed and badly treated by the Bishop, to send him this gracious message by the Attorney General Mr Noy (not usual with Kings to private persons) — “ that he was sorry he had put him to so much charge and trouble at Bugden; but it should not be long before he would be out of his debt.” Nor long it was; for within a