The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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from being heard beyond the walls. Yet, with all this
care, it was often found impossible to elude the vigilance of
informers. In the suburbs of London, especially, the law was
enforced with the utmost rigour. Several opulent gentlemen were
accused of holding conventicles. Their houses were strictly
searched, and distresses were levied to the amount of many
thousands of pounds. The fiercer and bolder sectaries, thus
driven from the shelter of roofs, met in the open air, and
determined to repel force by force. A Middlesex justice who had
learned that a nightly prayer meeting was held in a gravel pit
about two miles from London, took with him a strong body of
constables, broke in upon the assembly, and seized the preacher.
But the congregation, which consisted of about two hundred men,
soon rescued their pastor. and put the magistrate and his
officers to flight.472 This, however, was no ordinary occurrence.
In general the Puritan spirit seemed to be more effectually cowed
at this conjuncture than at any moment before or since. The Tory
pamphleteers boasted that not one fanatic dared to move tongue or
pen in defence of his religious opinions. Dissenting ministers,
however blameless in life, however eminent for learning and
abilities, could not venture to walk the streets for fear of
outrages, which were not only not repressed, but encouraged, by
those whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Some divines of
great fame were in prison. Among these was Richard Baxter.
Others, who had, during a quarter of a century, borne up against
oppression, now lost heart, and quitted the kingdom. Among these
was John Howe. Great numbers of persons who had been accustomed
to frequent conventicles repaired to the parish churches. It was
remarked that the schismatics who had been terrified into this
show of conformity might easily be distinguished by the
difficulty which they had in finding out the collect, and by the
awkward manner in which they bowed at the name of Jesus.473
Through many years the autumn of 1685 was remembered by the
Nonconformists as a time of misery and terror. Yet in that autumn
might be discerned the first faint indications of a great turn of
fortune; and before eighteen months had elapsed, the intolerant
King and the intolerant Church were eagerly bidding against each
other for the support of the party which both had so deeply
injured.
END OF VOL. I.
1 In this, and in the next chapter, I have very seldom thought
it necessary to cite authorities: for, in these chapters, I have
not detailed events minutely, or used recondite materials; and
the facts which I mention are for the most part such that a
person tolerably well read in English history, if not already
apprised of them, will at least know where to look for evidence
of them. In the subsequent chapters I shall carefully indicate
the sources of my information.
2 This is excellently put by Mr. Hallam in the first chapter
of his Constitutional History.
3 See a very curious paper which Strype believed to be in
Gardiner's handwriting. Ecclesiastical Memorials, Book 1., Chap.
xvii.
4 These are Cranmer's own words. See the Appendix to Burnet's
History of the Reformation, Part 1. Book III. No. 21. Question 9.
5 The Puritan historian, Neal, after censuring the cruelty
with which she treated the sect to which he belonged, concludes
thus: "However, notwithstanding all these blemishes, Queen
Elizabeth stands upon record as a wise and politic princess, for
delivering her kingdom from the difficulties in which it was
involved at her accession,. for preserving the Protestant
reformation against the potent attempts of the Pope, the Emperor,
and King of Spain abroad, and the Queen of Scots and her Popish
subjects at home.... She was the glory of the age in which she
lived, and will be the admiration of posterity."-History of the
Puritans, Part I. Chap. viii.
6 On this subject, Bishop Cooper's language is remarkably
clear and strong. He maintains, in his Answer to Martin
Marprelate, printed in 1589, that no form of church government is
divinely ordained; that Protestant communities, in establishing
different forms, have only made a legitimate use of their
Christian liberty; and that episcopacy is peculiarly suited to
England, because the English constitution is monarchical." All
those Churches," says the Bishop, "in which the Gospell, in these
daies, after great darknesse, was first renewed, and the learned
men whom God sent to instruct them, I doubt not but have been
directed by the Spirite of God to retaine this liberty, that, in
external government and other outward orders; they might choose
such as they thought in wisedome and godlinesse to be most
convenient for the state of their countrey and disposition of
their people. Why then should this liberty that other countreys
have used under anie colour be wrested from us? I think it
therefore great presumption and boldnesse that some of our
nation, and those, whatever they may think of themselves, not of
the greatest wisedome and skill, should take upon them to
controlle the whole realme, and to binde both prince and people
in respect of conscience to alter the present state, and tie
themselves to a certain platforme devised by some of our
neighbours. which, in the judgment of many wise and godly
persons, is most unfit for the state of a Kingdome."
7 Strype's Life of Grindal, Appendix to Book II. No. xvii.
8 Canon 55, of 1603.
9 Joseph Hall, then dean of Worcester, and afterwards bishop
of Norwich, was one of the commissioners. In his life of himself,
he says: "My unworthiness was named for one of the assistants of
that honourable, grave, and reverend meeting." To high churchmen
this humility will seem not a little out of place.
10 It was by the Act of Uniformity, passed after the
Restoration, that persons not episcopally ordained were, for the
first time, made incapable of holding benefices. No man was more
zealous for this law than Clarendon. Yet he says: "This was new;
for there had been many, and at present there were some, who
possessed benefices with cure of souls and other ecclesiastical
promotions, who had never received orders but in France or
Holland; and these men must now receive new ordination, which had
been always held unlawful in the Church, or by this act of
parliament must be deprived of their livelihood which they
enjoyed in the most flourishing and peaceable time of the
Church."
11 Peckard's Life of Ferrar; The Arminian Nunnery, or a Brief
Description of the late erected monastical Place called the
Arminian Nunnery, at Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, 1641.
12 The correspondence of Wentworth seems to me fully to bear
out what I have said in the text. To transcribe all the passages
which have led me to the conclusion at which I have arrived,
would be impossible, nor would it be easy to make a better
selection than has already been made by Mr. Hallam. I may,
however direct the attention of the reader particularly to the
very able paper which Wentworth drew up respecting the affairs of
the Palatinate. The date is March 31, 1637.
13 These are Wentworth's own words. See his letter to Laud,
dated Dec. 16, 1634.
14 See his report to Charles for the year 1639.
15 See his letter to the Earl of Northumberland, dated July 30,
1638.
16 How little compassion for the bear had to do with the matter
is sufficiently proved by the following extract from a paper
entitled A perfect Diurnal of some Passages of Parliament, and
from other Parts of the Kingdom, from Monday July 24th, to Monday
July 31st, 1643. "Upon the Queen's coming from Holland, she
brought with her, besides a company of savage-like ruffians, a
company of savage bears, to what purpose you may judge by the
sequel. Those bears were left about Newark, and were brought into
country towns constantly on the Lord's day to be baited, such is
the religion those here related would settle amongst us; and, if
any went about to hinder or but speak against their damnable
profanations, they were presently noted as Roundheads and
Puritans, and sure to be plundered for it. But some of Colonel
Cromwell's forces coming by accident into Uppingham town, in
Rutland, on the Lord's day, found these bears playing there in
the usual manner, and, in the height of their sport, caused them
to be seized upon, tied to a tree and shot." This was by no means
a solitary instance. Colonel Pride, when Sheriff of Surrey,
ordered the beasts in the bear garden of Southwark to be killed.
He is represented by a loyal satirist as defending the act thus:
"The first thing that is upon my spirits is the killing of the
bears, for which the people hate me, and call me all the names in
the rainbow. But did not David kill a bear? Did not the Lord
Deputy Ireton kill a bear? Did not another lord of ours kill five
bears?"-Last Speech and Dying Words of Thomas pride.
17 See Penn's New Witnesses proved Old Heretics, and
Muggleton's works, passim.
18 I am happy to say, that, since this passage was written, the
territories both of the Rajah of Nagpore and of the King of Oude
have been added to the British dominions. (1857.)
19 The most sensible thing said in the House of Commons, on
this subject, came from Sir William Coventry: "Our ancestors
never did draw a line to circumscribe prerogative and liberty."
20 Halifax was undoubtedly the real author of the Character of
a Trimmer, which, for a time, went under the name of his kinsman,
Sir William Coventry.
21 North's Examen, 231, 574.
22 A peer who was present has described the effect of Halifax's
oratory in words which I will quote, because, though they have
been long in print, they are probably known to few even of the
most curious and diligent readers of history.
"Of powerful eloquence and great parts were the Duke's enemies
who did assert the Bill; but a noble Lord appeared against it
who, that day, in all the force of speech, in reason, in
arguments of what could concern the public or the private
interests of men, in honour, in conscience, in estate, did outdo
himself and every other man; and in fine his conduct and his
parts were both victorious, and by
care, it was often found impossible to elude the vigilance of
informers. In the suburbs of London, especially, the law was
enforced with the utmost rigour. Several opulent gentlemen were
accused of holding conventicles. Their houses were strictly
searched, and distresses were levied to the amount of many
thousands of pounds. The fiercer and bolder sectaries, thus
driven from the shelter of roofs, met in the open air, and
determined to repel force by force. A Middlesex justice who had
learned that a nightly prayer meeting was held in a gravel pit
about two miles from London, took with him a strong body of
constables, broke in upon the assembly, and seized the preacher.
But the congregation, which consisted of about two hundred men,
soon rescued their pastor. and put the magistrate and his
officers to flight.472 This, however, was no ordinary occurrence.
In general the Puritan spirit seemed to be more effectually cowed
at this conjuncture than at any moment before or since. The Tory
pamphleteers boasted that not one fanatic dared to move tongue or
pen in defence of his religious opinions. Dissenting ministers,
however blameless in life, however eminent for learning and
abilities, could not venture to walk the streets for fear of
outrages, which were not only not repressed, but encouraged, by
those whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Some divines of
great fame were in prison. Among these was Richard Baxter.
Others, who had, during a quarter of a century, borne up against
oppression, now lost heart, and quitted the kingdom. Among these
was John Howe. Great numbers of persons who had been accustomed
to frequent conventicles repaired to the parish churches. It was
remarked that the schismatics who had been terrified into this
show of conformity might easily be distinguished by the
difficulty which they had in finding out the collect, and by the
awkward manner in which they bowed at the name of Jesus.473
Through many years the autumn of 1685 was remembered by the
Nonconformists as a time of misery and terror. Yet in that autumn
might be discerned the first faint indications of a great turn of
fortune; and before eighteen months had elapsed, the intolerant
King and the intolerant Church were eagerly bidding against each
other for the support of the party which both had so deeply
injured.
END OF VOL. I.
1 In this, and in the next chapter, I have very seldom thought
it necessary to cite authorities: for, in these chapters, I have
not detailed events minutely, or used recondite materials; and
the facts which I mention are for the most part such that a
person tolerably well read in English history, if not already
apprised of them, will at least know where to look for evidence
of them. In the subsequent chapters I shall carefully indicate
the sources of my information.
2 This is excellently put by Mr. Hallam in the first chapter
of his Constitutional History.
3 See a very curious paper which Strype believed to be in
Gardiner's handwriting. Ecclesiastical Memorials, Book 1., Chap.
xvii.
4 These are Cranmer's own words. See the Appendix to Burnet's
History of the Reformation, Part 1. Book III. No. 21. Question 9.
5 The Puritan historian, Neal, after censuring the cruelty
with which she treated the sect to which he belonged, concludes
thus: "However, notwithstanding all these blemishes, Queen
Elizabeth stands upon record as a wise and politic princess, for
delivering her kingdom from the difficulties in which it was
involved at her accession,. for preserving the Protestant
reformation against the potent attempts of the Pope, the Emperor,
and King of Spain abroad, and the Queen of Scots and her Popish
subjects at home.... She was the glory of the age in which she
lived, and will be the admiration of posterity."-History of the
Puritans, Part I. Chap. viii.
6 On this subject, Bishop Cooper's language is remarkably
clear and strong. He maintains, in his Answer to Martin
Marprelate, printed in 1589, that no form of church government is
divinely ordained; that Protestant communities, in establishing
different forms, have only made a legitimate use of their
Christian liberty; and that episcopacy is peculiarly suited to
England, because the English constitution is monarchical." All
those Churches," says the Bishop, "in which the Gospell, in these
daies, after great darknesse, was first renewed, and the learned
men whom God sent to instruct them, I doubt not but have been
directed by the Spirite of God to retaine this liberty, that, in
external government and other outward orders; they might choose
such as they thought in wisedome and godlinesse to be most
convenient for the state of their countrey and disposition of
their people. Why then should this liberty that other countreys
have used under anie colour be wrested from us? I think it
therefore great presumption and boldnesse that some of our
nation, and those, whatever they may think of themselves, not of
the greatest wisedome and skill, should take upon them to
controlle the whole realme, and to binde both prince and people
in respect of conscience to alter the present state, and tie
themselves to a certain platforme devised by some of our
neighbours. which, in the judgment of many wise and godly
persons, is most unfit for the state of a Kingdome."
7 Strype's Life of Grindal, Appendix to Book II. No. xvii.
8 Canon 55, of 1603.
9 Joseph Hall, then dean of Worcester, and afterwards bishop
of Norwich, was one of the commissioners. In his life of himself,
he says: "My unworthiness was named for one of the assistants of
that honourable, grave, and reverend meeting." To high churchmen
this humility will seem not a little out of place.
10 It was by the Act of Uniformity, passed after the
Restoration, that persons not episcopally ordained were, for the
first time, made incapable of holding benefices. No man was more
zealous for this law than Clarendon. Yet he says: "This was new;
for there had been many, and at present there were some, who
possessed benefices with cure of souls and other ecclesiastical
promotions, who had never received orders but in France or
Holland; and these men must now receive new ordination, which had
been always held unlawful in the Church, or by this act of
parliament must be deprived of their livelihood which they
enjoyed in the most flourishing and peaceable time of the
Church."
11 Peckard's Life of Ferrar; The Arminian Nunnery, or a Brief
Description of the late erected monastical Place called the
Arminian Nunnery, at Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, 1641.
12 The correspondence of Wentworth seems to me fully to bear
out what I have said in the text. To transcribe all the passages
which have led me to the conclusion at which I have arrived,
would be impossible, nor would it be easy to make a better
selection than has already been made by Mr. Hallam. I may,
however direct the attention of the reader particularly to the
very able paper which Wentworth drew up respecting the affairs of
the Palatinate. The date is March 31, 1637.
13 These are Wentworth's own words. See his letter to Laud,
dated Dec. 16, 1634.
14 See his report to Charles for the year 1639.
15 See his letter to the Earl of Northumberland, dated July 30,
1638.
16 How little compassion for the bear had to do with the matter
is sufficiently proved by the following extract from a paper
entitled A perfect Diurnal of some Passages of Parliament, and
from other Parts of the Kingdom, from Monday July 24th, to Monday
July 31st, 1643. "Upon the Queen's coming from Holland, she
brought with her, besides a company of savage-like ruffians, a
company of savage bears, to what purpose you may judge by the
sequel. Those bears were left about Newark, and were brought into
country towns constantly on the Lord's day to be baited, such is
the religion those here related would settle amongst us; and, if
any went about to hinder or but speak against their damnable
profanations, they were presently noted as Roundheads and
Puritans, and sure to be plundered for it. But some of Colonel
Cromwell's forces coming by accident into Uppingham town, in
Rutland, on the Lord's day, found these bears playing there in
the usual manner, and, in the height of their sport, caused them
to be seized upon, tied to a tree and shot." This was by no means
a solitary instance. Colonel Pride, when Sheriff of Surrey,
ordered the beasts in the bear garden of Southwark to be killed.
He is represented by a loyal satirist as defending the act thus:
"The first thing that is upon my spirits is the killing of the
bears, for which the people hate me, and call me all the names in
the rainbow. But did not David kill a bear? Did not the Lord
Deputy Ireton kill a bear? Did not another lord of ours kill five
bears?"-Last Speech and Dying Words of Thomas pride.
17 See Penn's New Witnesses proved Old Heretics, and
Muggleton's works, passim.
18 I am happy to say, that, since this passage was written, the
territories both of the Rajah of Nagpore and of the King of Oude
have been added to the British dominions. (1857.)
19 The most sensible thing said in the House of Commons, on
this subject, came from Sir William Coventry: "Our ancestors
never did draw a line to circumscribe prerogative and liberty."
20 Halifax was undoubtedly the real author of the Character of
a Trimmer, which, for a time, went under the name of his kinsman,
Sir William Coventry.
21 North's Examen, 231, 574.
22 A peer who was present has described the effect of Halifax's
oratory in words which I will quote, because, though they have
been long in print, they are probably known to few even of the
most curious and diligent readers of history.
"Of powerful eloquence and great parts were the Duke's enemies
who did assert the Bill; but a noble Lord appeared against it
who, that day, in all the force of speech, in reason, in
arguments of what could concern the public or the private
interests of men, in honour, in conscience, in estate, did outdo
himself and every other man; and in fine his conduct and his
parts were both victorious, and by
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