King James, the Bishop retired; and as soon as King William was seated on the throne, and the oaths of allegiance were to be taken to him, he, for his refusal being deprived by the state, did relinquish his revenue, (though not his care,) with as clear a conscience and as generous a mind, as that by which it was once bestowed on him.

At the time of his being made Bishop, Mr. Francis Morley, nephew to the forementioned Bishop, knowing how little he had provided for such an

1" Jan. 15.-I visited," says Evelyn, "the Archbishop of Canterbury, where I found the Bishops of St. Asaph, Ely, Bath and Wells, Peterborough and Chichester, the Earls of Ailesbury, and Clarendon, Sir George Mackenzie, Lord Advocate of Scotland, and then came in a Scotch Archbishop, &c. After prayers and dinner, divers serious matters were discoursed, concerning the present state of the public, and sorry I was to find there was as yet no accord in the judgments of those of the Lords and Commons who were to convene: some would have the Princess made Queen without any more dispute, others were for a regency; there was a tory party (as then so called) who were for inviting his Majesty again upon conditions; and there were republicarians who would make the Prince of Orange like a Statholder. The Romanists were busy among these several parties to bring them into confusion; most for ambition or other interest, few for conscience and moderate resolutions. I found nothing of all this in this assembly of bishops, who were pleased to admit me into their discourses, they were all for a regency, thereby to salve their oaths, and so all public matters to procede in his Majesty's name, by that to facilitate the calling of a parliament, according to the laws in being. Such was the result of this meeting."—Vol. ii. page 1.

"March 29.-The Archbishop of Canterbury and four other Bishops refusing to come to parliament, it was deliberated whether they should incur premunire; but it was thought fit to let this fall, and be connived at, for fear of the people, to whom those prelates were very dear, for the opposition they had given to popery." Vol. ii. page 9.

expense, as attends the entry and continuance in such a chair, most generously offered, and lent him a considerable sum to defray his expences, and furnish him with an equipage, as his station required: which he would often mention with a grateful acknowledgment, expressing a particular satisfaction, when he found himself in a condition to discharge the debt. And he was often by Dr. Thomas Cheyney (one of his chaplains, to whom I am obliged for many of the particulars which frame this account) observed to complain, that for this very reason no great matter was to be expected from him; as thinking himself obliged to be just before he could be charitable. But here, if any should expect extravagance, in that having enjoyed such preferments he was still poor, it must be observed, that, if there can be an extravagant in good works, he was such, in that most excellent gift of charity. His whole fortune lying in his preferments, those of his relations who were necessitous, (but whom he could never regard the less for their being so) were a continual drain upon his revenue: and he seemed to joy with those who lived in more plenty, not more for their own well-being, than that thereby he was at liberty to disperse the remainder of his income to necessitous strangers, which he always did with so open a bounty, that he became a common father to all the sons and daughters of affliction. His charity was so extensive, that having once, while in the See of Bath and Wells, received a fine of four thousand pounds, great part of it was given to the French Protestants'; and so little regard had to future contingencies, that when he was deprived by the state, (which was not long after) all his effects after

1

See his Letter to the Clergy of his Diocese in their behalf.

the sale of all his goods, excepting his books (which he never sold), would amount to no more than seven hundred pounds. Which with the ever to be acknowledged generosity of his noble friend and eminent benefactor, procured him the enjoyment of a clear quarterly payment of twenty pounds, which that noble peer charged on part of his own estate; and which among many other and greater favours, is thus thankfully acknowledged in the last will and testament of our grateful Bishop: viz.-"I leave and bequeath to the Right Hon. THOMAS LORD VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH, in case he outlives me, all my books, of which his lordship has not the duplicates, as a memorial of my gratitude for his signal and continued favours." Besides which gift of books, he had in his life-time, both before and after deprivation, given several large catalogues to places that were populous, and had parochial libraries within his own diocese. He had an excellent genius for, and skill in musick; and whenever he had convenient opportunities for it, he performed some of his devotional part of praise with his own compositions, which were grave and solemn.

He had always a great relish for divine poesy; and in his retirement under this noble lord's roof, he composed many excellent, useful, and pious pieces, which (together with one epic poem, which was written by him about the time of his voyage to Tangier, and seems to have had his last hand) may soon be ready for the press, if this specimen be well accepted'. But now his public affairs giving room, and his cholic pains rendering him uncapable of more serious study, he applied himself so happily to this favourite entertainment, as thereby in some measure to palliate the acuteness of his pain, and,

1 These were afterwards published in four volumes, 8vo.

as is hoped and conceived, may give full satisfaction to his readers, by promoting their chief happiness, to the glory of God the giver. So close was his application to these studies, and so was his mind bent upon quietness, that during all the time of his retirement, and among all the attempts of, and clamours against those called Jacobites in the reign of King William, he was never once disturbed in that quiet enjoyment of himself, and it is presumed, never suspected of any ill design, since never publickly molested, or privately rebuked. It is true, he was once sent for by warrant, to appear before the privy council in the year 1696; but having the particular of that matter by me, left under his own hand', I think it best to refer the reader to it, as subjoined to the latter end of this account. That his opinion was not agreeable with such of the nonjurors, who were for continuing a separation, by private consecrations among themselves, may (should there be any good occasion) best be known by his answers to letters, written from men of learning, who conversed with him on that subject; and which he left behind him and from what I must affirm, that it was on his request the present Bishop of Bath and Wells accepted of that see. And because some have attempted to detract from this good man, as if tainted with errors of popery, and not so stedfast to the doctrine of the Church of England, and per

1 See the account of his examination before the privy council, and the extract from the life of Kettlewell, explaining the transaction here referred to.

The following extracts from Evelyn strongly confirm this statement of Ken's attachment to the Church of England :"The Bishop of Bath and Wells preached on John vi. 17. a

haps for want of a steady conduct about the time of the revolution; I think myself obliged, not only from

most excellent and pathetic discourse; after he had recommended the duty of fasting and other penitential duties, he exhorted to constancy in the Protestant religion, detestation of the unheard of cruelties of the French, and stirring up to a liberal contribution. This sermon was the more acceptable, as it was unexpected from a Bishop who had undergone the censure of being inclined to Popery, the contrary whereof no man could show more. This indeed did all our Bishops, to the disabusing and reproach of all their dilators, for none were more zealous against Popery than they were."-Vol. i. p. 625.

"Most of the great officers, both in the court and country, lords and others, were dismissed, as they would not promise his Majesty their consent to the repeal of the Test and penal statutes against Popish recusants. To this end most of the parliament men were spoken to in his Majesty's closet, and such as refused, if in any place or office of trust, civil or military, were put out of their employments. This was a time of great trial, but hardly one of them assented, which put the Popish interest much backward. The English clergy every where preached boldly against their superstition and errors, and were wonderfully followed by the people. Not one considerable proselyte was made in all this time. The party were considerably put to the worst by the preaching and writing of the Protestants in many excellent treatises, evincing the doctrine and discipline of the reformed religion, to the manifest disadvantage of their adversaries. To this did not a little contribute the sermon preached at Whitehall before the Princess of Denmark and a great crowd of people, and at least thirty of the greatest nobility, by Dr. Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, on John viii. 46, (the gospel of the day) describing through his whole discourse the blasphemies, perfidy, wresting of scripture, preference of tradition before it, spirit of persecution, superstition, legends, and fables of the Scribes and Pharisees, so that all the auditory understood his meaning of a parallel between them and the Romish priests, and their new Trent religion. He exhorted his audience to adhere to the written word, and to persevere in the faith taught in the Church of England, whose doctrine for Catholic and soundness he pre