therefore wrote an urgent letter for this object to Dr. George Hickes, the deprived Dean of Worcester, whose influence among the Non-jurors was so powerful, that nothing could be done without his aid. He begs him to confult Lloyd, and Dr. Smith, Wagstaffe, and "the excellent Mr. Dodwell," and then proceeds: "In the mean time, give me leave to fuggest my present thoughts, if it is not judged advisable for my Brother of Norwich and myself, to refign up our canonical claims, which would be the shortest way, and which I am ready to do, for the repose of the flock, having long ago maintained it to justify our character; if, I fay, this is not thought advisable, then that a circular letter fhould be peñed, and dispersed, which should modeftly and yet resolutely, affift the cause for which we fuffer, and declare that our opinion is ftill the fame, in regard to Paffive-obedience, and fpecify the reasons which induce us to communicate in the Publick Offices, the chiefest of which is to restore the peace of the Church, which is of that importance, that it ought to superfede all ecclesiastical canons, they being only of human, and not divine authority. A letter to this purpose would make our prefence at some or the prayers rightly understood to be no betraying of our cause ; would guard us against any advantage our adversarys may take from our Christian condefcenfion; would relieve fundamental charity, and give a general fatisfaction to all wellminded perfons. I offer this with fubmiffion, and out of a fincere zeal for the good of the Church, and I beseech the Divine goodness to guide both fides into the way of peace, that we may with one mind, and one mouth, glorify God. "Y' most affect. Friend and Brother, 17 March, 1700, 1701."† "B. & W.* Bp. Lloyd adds a note, "A coppy of this I had from Mr. Dean of W―r, on the 11th of April, 1701.” W. N. + Sic in original hand writing of Lloyd of Norwich, from whofe copy in Dr. Williams's Collection, this is taken. This appeal was made in vain: Hickes was irreconcileable:-in 1689 he had nailed up to the Cathedral door of Worcester his Protest against the Intrusion of his fucceffor, and it would have been as easy to move the Cathedral itself, as to make him fwerve from his fixed purpose. Two events now occurred, of the deepest interest and importance to all parties. James and William were taken away within fix months of each other.* One had outlived his hopes;-the other had learnt, that fuccessful ambition is but little conducive to happiness. Who can fay which of the two, in their contests, had gained most for eternity, he who loft, or he who won the Crown? On both it had pressed uneafily. James meditated deep inroads on the English and Scotch Churches, but he was fruftrated: William had the power to inflict upon them wounds as deep, and more lafting:-and he exercised it to the full. We feel them to this day. His last thoughts were bent on the paffing of a law enacting new oaths, to be taken by all perfons,-abjuring the claims of James's fon. But his dying hand was too feeble to affix the fign manual to this ftringent measure of policy. His throne was already paffing away to * James II. died at St. Germain's, on the 6th of Sept. 1701. There is a letter among the Cole MSS., apparently addreffed to Lloyd of Norwich, which gives fome curious particulars of the King's death: "He asked pardon of all whom he might have any ways injured: at the fame time he forgave all the world, the Emperor, the P. of O., his daughter, and every one of his fubjects who had defignedly contrived, and contributed to, his harms and misfortunes."+ William died the 8th of March, 1702. + Cole MSS. in the Brit. Muf., vol. lix. p. 192. another, to one whom he cordially difliked, and had treated with unmerited harfhnefs. The dread fummons had gone forth, against which there is no appeal. Even the arrival of Lord Albemarle from Holland, with important intelligence on affairs of deep interest to him, could no longer rouse his departing fpirit:-"je tire vers ma fin," was the only languid reply. It is no fair ground of cenfure against William to say, that he loved Holland exclufively. It was the country of his birth and inheritance; and where is the law that condemns a man for being a patriot? Certain it was, he had no love for England, except as a poffeffion, and a means of his own aggrandizeNor is it just to say, that he was altogether a foreigner for his mother was an English Princess. The real blot on his character is, that, being a nephew and fon-in-law of James, he deliberately violated his word, and difregarded the ties of kindred, in the pursuit of his ambition. ment. As a brave warrior, and a fagacious statesman, his claims to high repute are unquestionable, though in the complex politics of England he was often-times wavering and undecided. The liberties fecured to us by his acceffion cannot be too highly prized: but they were not his grant. The BILL OF RIGHTS was a noble triumph, gained by our ancestors of that day: to them we must afcribe the honour of its achievement. It is a lafting monument to their memory, and to the wisdom which exacted it, as the ftipulated price of the Crown,-then in their power to bestow. It remains for hiftorians to justify, as beft they may, his willingness, in the latter part of his reign, to recognize the claims of James's fon (whose birth he had before ftigmatized) in preference to thofe of Anne, who had yielded to him her prior title to the throne, on the faith of his pledge, and juftice. But for that voluntary ceffion, he would probably have ceafed to be King, after the death of Mary. The confternation, and heartfelt grief, occafioned by the death of William, throughout Holland, and the undisguised joy of the French, bore equal teftimony to the high sense entertained of his talents by friends and foes. He raised his native country to a dignity it had never reached under any former Prince; and England owed to him the honour of having curbed the exorbitant ambition of Louis. The acceffion of Anne revived the hopes of the Non-jurors, who had been occafionally treated with great harshness in the time of William; and they now expected that the rigorous measures against them would be relaxed under a more gentle fway. Anne, too, was supposed to entertain favourable difpofitions towards the future pretenfions of the young Prince, her half brother.* The Non-jurors, therefore, began to look out of their quiet nooks, to fee what this gleam of funshine might promife. The intercourse between Lloyd and Ken had flackened, because that The Act for abjuring the Prince of Wales was paffed after the keeneft oppofition, and called forth Protefts from ten Peers, of whom Lord Weymouth was one. It does not appear that this measure of the expiring King was used afterwards as an inftrument to oppress the quiet Non-jurors. See Tindal's Continuation of Rapin, 1758, vol. iii. PP. 502-3. entire community of opinion and fentiment, which was effential to the maintenance of an active correfpondence, no longer exifted between them. Moreover, the jealousy of the Government made the interchange of letters precarious, if not fraught with danger. After their papers had been feized by the Privy Council, they were more cautious. Lloyd, living at Hammersmith, had his letters directed " For Mrs. Hannah Lloyd, at Mr. Harabin's house, a grocer over against Somerset House;" and Ken, on a vifit to his nephew, at Poulfhot, received his letters through the circuitous medium of " Mr. William Jones, at Canon Walton's House, in the Close in Sarum." The Non-jurors refolved to meet once more, and confider what might be done for the caufe. Lloyd, Ken, and Frampton alone remained of the deprived Bishops. But Frampton was old, and happy in a perfect retirement and preparation for death. Three years before this, Ken had transmitted to him, through Lloyd, a mourning ring, as a memento of their mutual friend, Dr. Fitzwilliam, which he thus acknowledged; "Right Reverend Father in God, "Jul; 18. "This comes humbly, and with great refpect, to thank your good Lord" for y° kind letter you were pleased to send me, as also to acknowledge my receit of y° ring in memory of Dr. Fitzwilliams, wch our good brother of Bath and Wells defired your Lord" to transmit to me. "Y° ring, to be fure, fhall be preserved with care, out of y' reverence y' I beare and owe both to yo living and yo dead. But it is not likely to ftay long with me, because I am not likely to stay long with it: hafting amaine, as I doe, towards my exit out of this world, for weh God be prayfed. ch |