The History of England, from the Accession of James II Volume III Part 35

[Footnote 497: See Collier's Desertion discussed, 1689. Thomas Carte, who was a disciple, and, at one time, an a.s.sistant of Collier, inserted, so late as the year 1747, in a bulky History of England, an exquisitely absurd note in which he a.s.sured the world that, to his certain knowledge, the Pretender had cured the scrofula, and very gravely inferred that the healing virtue was transmitted by inheritance, and was quite independent of any unction. See Carte's History of England, vol, i. page 297.]

[Footnote 498: See the Preface to a Treatise on Wounds, by Richard Wiseman, Sergeant Chirurgeon to His Majesty, 1676. But the fullest information on this curious subject will be found in the Charisma Basilicon, by John Browne, Chirurgeon in ordinary to His Majesty, 1684.

See also The Ceremonies used in the Time of King Henry VII. for the Healing of them that be Diseased with the King's Evil, published by His Majesty's Command, 1686; Evelyn's Diary, March 18. 1684; and Bishop Cartwright's Diary, August 28, 29, and 30. 1687. It is incredible that so large a proportion of the population should have been really scrofulous. No doubt many persons who had slight and transient maladies were brought to the king, and the recovery of these persons kept up the vulgar belief in the efficacy of his touch.]

[Footnote 499: Paris Gazette, April 23. 1689.]

[Footnote 500: See Whiston's Life of himself. Poor Whiston, who believed in every thing but the Trinity, tells us gravely that the single person whom William touched was cured, notwithstanding His Majesty's want of faith. See also the Athenian Mercury of January 16. 1691.]

[Footnote 501: In several recent publications the apprehension that differences might arise between the Convocation of York and the Convocation of Canterbury has been contemptuously p.r.o.nounced chimerical.

But it is not easy to understand why two independent Convocations should be less likely to differ than two Houses of the same Convocation; and it is matter of notoriety that, in the reigns of William the Third and Anne, the two Houses of the Convocation of Canterbury scarcely ever agreed.]

[Footnote 502: Birch's Life of Tillotson; Life of Prideaux. From Clarendon's Diary, it appears that he and Rochester were at Oxford on the 23rd of September.]

[Footnote 503: See the Roll in the Historical Account of the present Convocation, appended to the second edition of Vox Cleri, 1690. The most considerable name that I perceive in the list of proctors chosen by the parochial clergy is that of Dr. John Mill, the editor of the Greek Testament.]

[Footnote 504: Tillotson to Lady Russell, April 19. 1690.]

[Footnote 505: Birch's Life of Tillotson. The account there given of the coldness between Compton and Tillotson was taken by Birch from the MSS.

of Henry Wharton, and is confirmed by many circ.u.mstances which are known from other sources of intelligence.]

[Footnote 506: Chamberlayne's State of England, 18th edition.]

[Footnote 507: Condo ad Synodum per Gulielmum Beveregium, 1689.]

[Footnote 508: Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Historical Account of the Present Convocation.]

[Footnote 509: Kennet's History, iii. 552.]

[Footnote 510: Historical Account of the Present Convocation, 1689.]

[Footnote 511: Historical Account of the Present Convocation; Burnet, ii. 58.; Kennet's History of the Reign of William and Mary.]

[Footnote 512: Historical Account of the Present Convocation; Kennet's History.]

[Footnote 513: Historical Account of the Present Convocation; Kennet.]

[Footnote 514: Historical Account of the Present Convocation.]

[Footnote 515: That there was such a jealousy as I have described is admitted in the pamphlet ent.i.tled Vox Cleri. "Some country ministers now of the Convocation, do now see in what great ease and plenty the City ministers live, who have their readers and lecturers, and frequent supplies, and sometimes tarry in the vestry till prayers be ended, and have great dignities in the Church, besides their rich parishes in the City." The author of this tract, once widely celebrated, was Thomas Long, proctor for the clergy of the diocese of Exeter. In another pamphlet, published at this time, the rural clergymen are said to have seen with an evil eye their London brethren refres.h.i.+ng themselves with sack after preaching. Several satirical allusions to the fable of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse will be found in the pamphlets of that winter.]

[Footnote 516: Barnet, ii, 33, 34. The best narratives of what pa.s.sed in this Convocation are the Historical Account appended to the second edition of Vox Cleri, and the pa.s.sage in Kennet's History to which I have already referred the reader. The former narrative is by a very high churchman, the latter by a very low churchman. Those who are desirous of obtaining fuller information must consult the contemporary pamphlets.

Among them are Vox Populi; Vox Laici; Vox Regis et Regni; the Healing Attempt; the Letter to a Friend, by Dean Prideaux the Letter from a Minister in the Country to a Member of the Convocation; the Answer to the Merry Answer to Vox Cleri; the Remarks from the Country upon two Letters relating to the Convocation; the Vindication of the Letters in answer to Vox Cleri; the Answer to the Country Minister's Letter. All these tracts appeared late in 1689 or early in 1690.]

[Footnote 517: "Halifax a eu une reprimande severe publiquement dans le conseil par le Prince d'Orange pour avoir trop balance."--Avaux to De Croissy, Dublin, June 1689. "his mercurial Wit," says Burnet, ii. 4., "was not well suited with the King's phlegm."]

[Footnote 518: Clarendon's Diary, Oct. 10 1689; Lords' Journals, Oct.

19. 1689.]

[Footnote 519: Commons' Journals, Oct. 24. 1689.]

[Footnote 520: Ibid., Nov. 2. 1689.]

[Footnote 521: Commons' Journals, Nov. 7. 19., Dec. 30 1689. The rule of the House then was that no pet.i.tion could be received against the imposition of a tax. This rule was, after a very hard fight, rescinded in 1842. The pet.i.tion of the Jews was not received, and is not mentioned in the Journals. But something may be learned about it from Narcissus Luttrell's Diary and from Grey's Debates, Nov. 19. 1689,]

[Footnote 522: James, in the very treatise in which he tried to prove the Pope to be Antichrist, says "For myself, if that were yet the question, I would with all my heart give my consent that the Bishop of Rome should have the first seat." There is a remarkable letter on this subject written by James to Charles and Buckingham, when they were in Spain. Heylyn, speaking of Laud's negotiation with Rome, says: "So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself among us in England with a priority instead of a superiority over other Bishops, and with a primacy instead of a supremacy in those parts of Christendom, which I conceive no man of learning and sobriety would have grudged to grant him,"]

[Footnote 523: Stat. 1 W & M. sess. 2. c 2.]

[Footnote 524: Treasury Minute Book, Nov. 3. 1689.]

[Footnote 525: Commons' Journals and Grey's Debates, Nov. 13, 14. 18.

19. 23. 28. 1689.]

[Footnote 526: Commons' Journals and Grey's Debates, November 26. and 27. 1689.]

[Footnote 527: Commons' Journals, November 28., December 2. 1689.]

[Footnote 528: Commons' Journals and Grey's Debates, November 30., December 2 1689.]

[Footnote 529: London Gazette, September 2 1689; Observations upon Mr.

Walker's Account of the Siege of Londonderry, licensed October 4. 1689; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary; Mr. J. Mackenzie's Narrative a False Libel, a Defence of Mr. G. Walker written by his Friend in his Absence, 1690.]

[Footnote 530: Walker's True Account, 1689; An Apology for the Failures charged on the True Account, 1689; Reflections on the Apology, 1689; A Vindication of the True Account by Walker, 1689; Mackenzie's Narrative, 1690; Mr. Mackenzie's Narrative a False Libel, 1690; Dr. Walker's Invisible Champion foyled by Mackenzie, 1690; Weiwood's Mercurius Reformatus, Dec. 4. and 11 1689. The Oxford editor of Burnet's History expresses his surprise at the silence which the Bishop observes about Walker. In the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584. there is an animated panegyric on Walker. Why that panegyric does not appear in the History, I am at a loss to explain.]

[Footnote 531: Commons' Journals, November 18 and 19. 1689; and Grey's Debates.]

[Footnote 532: Wade's Confession, Harl. MS. 6845.]

[Footnote 533: See the Preface to the First Edition of his Memoirs, Vevay, 1698.]

[Footnote 534: "Colonel Ludlow, an old Oliverian, and one of King Charles the First his Judges, is arrived lately in this kingdom from Switzerland."-Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, September 1689.]

[Footnote 535: Third Caveat against the Whigs, 1712.]

[Footnote 536: Commons' Journals, November 6. and 8. 1689; Grey's Debates; London Gazette, November 18.]

[Footnote 537: "Omme solum forti patria, quia patris." See Addison's Travels. It is a remarkable circ.u.mstance that Addison, though a Whig, speaks of Ludlow in language which would better have become a Tory, and sneers at the inscription as cant.]

[Footnote 538: Commons' Journals, Nov. 1. 7. 1689.]

[Footnote 539: Roger North's Life of Dudley North.]

[Footnote 540: Commons' Journals, Oct. 26. 1689.]

[Footnote 541: Lords' Journals, October 26. and 27. 1689.]

[Footnote 542: Commons' Journals, Oct. 26. 1689.]