Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul's (at Whitehall), on Luke x. 41, 42. The
Holy Communion followed, but was so interrupted by the rude breaking in
of multitudes zealous to hear the second sermon, to be preached by the
Bishop of Bath and Wells, that the latter part of that holy office could
hardly be heard, or the sacred elements be distributed without great
trouble. The Princess being come, he preached on Mich. vii. 8, 9, 10,
describing the calamity of the Reformed Church of Judah under the
Babylonian persecution, for her sins, and God's delivery of her on her
repentance; that as Judah emerged, so should the now Reformed Church,
whenever insulted and persecuted. He preached with his accustomed
action, zeal, and energy, so that people flocked from all quarters to
hear him.
15th April, 1688. A dry, cold, backward spring; easterly winds.
The persecution still raging in France, multitudes of Protestants, and
many very considerable and great persons flying hither, produced a
second general contribution, the Papists, by God's Providence, as yet
making small progress among us.
29th April, 1688. The weather was, till now, so cold and sharp, by an
almost perpetual east wind, which had continued many months, that there
was little appearance of any spring, and yet the winter was very
favorable as to frost and snow.
2d May, 1688. To London, about my petition for allowances upon the
account of Commissioner for Sick and Wounded in the former war with
Holland.
8th May, 1688. His Majesty, alarmed by the great fleet of the Dutch
(while we had a very inconsiderable one), went down to Chatham; their
fleet was well prepared, and out, before we were in any readiness, or
had any considerable number to have encountered them, had there been
occasion, to the great reproach of the nation; while being in profound
peace, there was a mighty land army, which there was no need of, and no
force at sea, where only was the apprehension; but the army was
doubtless kept and increased, in order to bring in and countenance
Popery, the King beginning to discover his intention, by many instances
pursued by the Jesuits, against his first resolution to alter nothing in
the Church Establishment, so that it appeared there can be no reliance
on Popish promises.
18th May, 1688. The King enjoining the ministers to read his
Declaration for giving liberty of conscience (as it was styled) in all
churches of England, this evening, six Bishops, Bath and Wells,[65]
Peterborough,[66] Ely,[67] Chichester,[68] St. Asaph,[69] and
Bristol,[70] in the name of all the rest of the Bishops, came to his
Majesty to petition him, that he would not impose the reading of it to
the several congregations within their dioceses; not that they were
averse to the publishing it for want of due tenderness toward
dissenters, in relation to whom they should be willing to come to such a
temper as should be thought fit, when that matter might be considered
and settled in Parliament and Convocation; but that, the Declaration
being founded on such a dispensing power as might at pleasure set aside
all laws ecclesiastical and civil, it appeared to them illegal, as it
had done to the Parliament in 1661 and 1672, and that it was a point of
such consequence, that they could not so far make themselves parties to
it, as the reading of it in church in time of divine service amounted
to.
[Footnote 65: Thomas Ken.]
[Footnote 66: Thomas White.]
[Footnote 67: Francis Turner.]
[Footnote 68: John Lake.]
[Footnote 69: William Lloyd.]
[Footnote 70: Sir John Trelawny, Bart.]
The King was so far incensed at this address, that he with threatening
expressions commanded them to obey him in reading it at their perils,
and so dismissed them.
[Sidenote: LONDON]
20th May, 1688. I went to Whitehall Chapel, where, after the morning
lessons, the Declaration was read by one of the choir who used to read
the chapters. I hear it was in the Abbey Church, Westminster, but almost
universally forborne throughout all London: the consequences of which a
little time will show.
25th May, 1688. All the discourse now was about the Bishops refusing to
read the injunction for the abolition of the Test, etc. It seems the
injunction came so crudely from the Secretary's office, that it was
neither sealed nor signed in form, nor had any lawyer been consulted, so
as the Bishops who took all imaginable advice, put the Court to great
difficulties how to proceed against them. Great were the consults, and a
proclamation was expected all this day; but nothing was done. The action
of the Bishops was universally applauded, and reconciled many adverse
parties, Papists only excepted, who were now exceedingly perplexed, and
violent courses were every moment expected. Report was, that the
Protestant secular Lords and Nobility would abet the Clergy.
The Queen Dowager, hitherto bent on her return into Portugal, now on the
sudden, on allegation of a great debt owing her by his Majesty disabling
her, declares her resolution to stay.
News arrived of the most prodigious earthquake that was almost ever
heard of, subverting the city of Lima and country in Peru, with a
dreadful inundation following it.
8th June, 1688. This day, the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the
Bishops of Ely, Chichester, St. Asaph, Bristol, Peterborough, and Bath
and Wells, were sent from the Privy Council prisoners to the Tower, for
refusing to give bail for their appearance, on their not reading the
Declaration for liberty of conscience; they refused to give bail, as it
would have prejudiced their peerage. The concern of the people for them
was wonderful, infinite crowds on their knees begging their blessing,
and praying for them, as they passed out of the barge along the Tower
wharf.
10th June, 1688. A YOUNG PRINCE born, which will cause disputes.
About two o'clock, we heard the Tower ordnance discharged, and the bells
ring for the birth of a Prince of Wales. This was very surprising, it
having been universally given out that her Majesty did not look till the
next month.
13th June, 1688. I went to the Tower to see the Bishops, visited the
Archbishop and the Bishops of Ely, St. Asaph, and Bath and Wells.
14th June, 1688. Dined with the Lord Chancellor.
15th June, 1688. Being the first day of term, the Bishops were brought
to Westminster on habeas corpus, when the indictment was read, and they
were called on to plead; their counsel objected that the warrant was
illegal; but, after long debate, it was overruled, and they pleaded. The
Court then offered to take bail for their appearance; but this they
refused, and at last were dismissed on their own recognizances to appear
that day fortnight; the Archbishop in £200, the Bishops in £100 each.
17 June, 1688. Was a day of thanksgiving in London and ten miles about
for the young Prince's birth; a form of prayer made for the purpose by
the Bishop of Rochester.
29th June, 1688. They appeared; the trial lasted from nine in the
morning to past six in the evening, when the jury retired to consider of
their verdict, and the Court adjourned to nine the next morning. The
jury were locked up till that time, eleven of them being for an
acquittal; but one (Arnold, a brewer) would not consent. At length he
agreed with the others. The Chief Justice, Wright, behaved with great
moderation and civility to the Bishops. Alibone, a Papist, was strongly
against them; but Holloway and Powell being of opinion in their favor,
they were acquitted. When this was heard, there was great rejoicing; and
there was a lane of people from the King's Bench to the water side, on
their knees, as the Bishops passed and repassed, to beg their blessing.
Bonfires were made that night, and bells rung, which was taken very ill
at Court, and an appearance of nearly sixty Earls and Lords, etc., on
the bench, did not a little comfort them; but indeed they were all along
full of comfort and cheerful.
Note, they denied to pay the Lieutenant of the Tower (Hales, who used
them very surlily), any fees, alleging that none were due.
The night was solemnized with bonfires, and other fireworks, etc.
2d July, 1688. The two judges, Holloway and Powell, were displaced.
3d July, 1688. I went with Dr. Godolphin and his brother Sir William to
St. Alban's, to see a library he would have bought of the widow of Dr.
Cartwright, late Archdeacon of St. Alban's, a very good collection of
books, especially in divinity; he was to give £300 for them. Having seen
the GREAT CHURCH, now newly repaired by a public contribution, we
returned home.
8th July, 1688. One of the King's chaplains preached before the Princess
on Exodus xiv. 13, "Stand still, and behold the salvation of the Lord,"
which he applied so boldly to the present conjuncture of the Church of
England, that more could scarce be said to encourage desponders. The
Popish priests were not able to carry their cause against their learned
adversaries, who confounded them both by their disputes and writings.
12th July, 1688. The camp now began at Hounslow, but the nation was in
high discontent.
Colonel Titus, Sir Henry Vane (son of him who was executed for his
treason), and some other of the Presbyterians and Independent party,
were sworn of the Privy Council, from hopes of thereby diverting that
party from going over to the Bishops and Church of England, which now
they began to do, foreseeing the design of the Papists to descend and
take in their most hateful of heretics (as they at other times expressed
them to be) to effect their own ends, now evident; the utter extirpation
of the Church of England first, and then the rest would follow.
17th July, 1688. This night the fireworks were played off, that had been
prepared for the Queen's upsitting. We saw them to great advantage; they
were very fine, and cost some thousands of pounds, in the pyramids,
statues, etc., but were spent too soon for so long a preparation.
26th July, 1688. I went to Lambeth to visit the Archbishop, whom I
found very cheerful.
10th August, 1688. Dr. Tenison now told me there would suddenly be some
great thing discovered. This was the Prince of Orange intending to come
over.
15th August, 1688. I went to Althorpe, in Northamptonshire, seventy
miles. A coach and four horses took up me and my son at Whitehall, and
carried us to Dunstable, where we arrived and dined at noon, and from
thence another coach and six horses carried us to Althorpe, four miles
beyond Northampton, where we arrived by seven o'clock that evening. Both
these coaches were hired for me by that noble Countess of Sunderland,
who invited me to her house at Althorpe, where she entertained me and my
son with very extraordinary kindness; I stayed till the Thursday.
18th August, 1688. Dr. Jeffryes, the minister of Althorpe, who was my
Lord's chaplain when ambassador in France, preached the shortest
discourse I ever heard; but what was defective in the amplitude of his
sermon, he had supplied in the largeness and convenience of the
parsonage house, which the doctor (who had at least £600 a year in
spiritual advancement) had newly built, and made fit for a person of
quality to live in, with gardens and all accommodation according
therewith.
My lady carried us to see Lord Northampton's Seat, a very strong, large
house, built with stone, not altogether modern. They were enlarging the
garden, in which was nothing extraordinary, except the iron gate opening
into the park, which indeed was very good work, wrought in flowers
painted with blue and gilded. There is a noble walk of elms toward the
front of the house by the bowling green. I was not in any room of the
house besides a lobby looking into the garden, where my Lord and his new
Countess (Sir Stephen Fox's daughter, whom I had known from a child)
entertained the Countess and her daughter the Countess of Arran (newly
married to the son of the Duke of Hamilton), with so little good grace,
and so dully, that our visit was very short, and so we returned to
Althorpe, twelve miles distant.
[Sidenote: ALTHORPE]
The house, or rather palace, at Althorpe, is a noble uniform pile in
form of a half H, built of brick and freestone, balustered and _à la
moderne_; the hall is well, the staircase excellent; the rooms of state,
galleries, offices and furniture, such as may become a great prince. It
is situated in the midst of a garden, exquisitely planted and kept, and
all this in a park walled in with hewn stone, planted with rows and
walks of trees, canals and fish ponds, and stored with game. And, what
is above all this, governed by a lady, who without any show of
solicitude, keeps everything in such admirable order, both within and
without, from the garret to the cellar, that I do not believe there is
any in this nation, or in any other, that exceeds her in such exact
order, without ostentation, but substantially great and noble. The
meanest servant is lodged so neat and cleanly; the service at the
several tables, the good order and decency--in a word, the entire
economy is perfectly becoming a wise and noble person. She is one who
for her distinguished esteem of me from a long and worthy friendship, I
must ever honor and celebrate. I wish from my soul the Lord, her husband
(whose parts and abilities are otherwise conspicuous), was as worthy of
her, as by a fatal apostasy and court-ambition he has made himself
unworthy! This is what she deplores, and it renders her as much
affliction as a lady of great soul and much prudence is capable of. The
Countess of Bristol, her mother, a grave and honorable lady, has the
comfort of seeing her daughter and grandchildren under the same economy,
especially Mr. Charles Spencer, a youth of extraordinary hopes, very
learned for his age, and ingenious, and under a governor of great worth.
Happy were it, could as much be said of the elder brother, the Lord
Spencer, who, rambling about the world, dishonors both his name and his
family, adding sorrow to sorrow to a mother, who has taken all
imaginable care of his education. There is a daughter very young married
to the Earl of Clancarty, who has a great and fair estate in Ireland,
but who yet gives no great presage of worth,--so universally
contaminated is the youth of this corrupt and abandoned age! But this is
again recompensed by my Lord Arran, a sober and worthy gentleman, who
has espoused the Lady Ann Spencer, a young lady of admirable
accomplishments and virtue.
23d August, 1688. I left this noble place and conversation, my lady
having provided carriages to convey us back in the same manner as we
went, and a dinner being prepared at Dunstable against our arrival.
Northampton, having been lately burned and re-edified, is now become a
town that for the beauty of the buildings, especially the church and
townhouse, may compare with the neatest in Italy itself.
Dr. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, wrote a very honest and handsome letter
to the Commissioners Ecclesiastical, excusing himself from sitting any
longer among them, he by no means approving of their prosecuting the
Clergy who refused to read the Declaration for liberty of conscience, in
prejudice of the Church of England.
The Dutch make extraordinary preparations both at sea and land, which
with no small progress Popery makes among us, puts us to many
difficulties. The Popish Irish soldiers commit many murders and insults;
the whole nation disaffected, and in apprehensions.
After long trials of the doctors to bring up the little Prince of Wales
by hand (so many of her Majesty's children having died infants) not
succeeding, a country nurse, the wife of a tile maker, is taken to give
it suck.
18th September, 1688. I went to London, where I found the Court in the
utmost consternation on report of the Prince of Orange's landing; which
put Whitehall into so panic a fear, that I could hardly believe it
possible to find such a change.
Writs were issued in order to a Parliament, and a declaration to back
the good order of elections, with great professions of maintaining the
Church of England, but without giving any sort of satisfaction to the
people, who showed their high discontent at several things in the
Government.
Earthquakes had utterly demolished the ancient Smyrna, and several other
places in Greece, Italy, and even in the Spanish Indies, forerunners of
greater calamities. God Almighty preserve his Church and all who put
themselves under the shadow of his wings, till these things be
overpassed.
30th September, 1688. The Court in so extraordinary a consternation, on
assurance of the Prince of Orange's intention to land, that the writs
sent forth for a Parliament were recalled.
[Sidenote: LONDON]
7th October, 1688. Dr. Tenison preached at St. Martin's on 2 Tim. iii.
16, showing the Scriptures to be our only rule of faith, and its
perfection above all traditions. After which, near 1,000 devout persons
partook of the Communion. The sermon was chiefly occasioned by a Jesuit,
who in the Masshouse on the Sunday before had disparaged the Scripture
and railed at our translation, which some present contradicting, they
pulled him out of the pulpit, and treated him very coarsely, insomuch
that it was like to create a great disturbance in the city.
Hourly expectation of the Prince of Orange's invasion heightened to that
degree, that his Majesty thought fit to abrogate the Commission for the
dispensing Power (but retaining his own right still to dispense with all
laws) and restore the ejected Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford. In
the meantime, he called over 5,000 Irish, and 4,000 Scots, and continued
to remove Protestants and put in Papists at Portsmouth and other places
of trust, and retained the Jesuits about him, increasing the universal
discontent. It brought people to so desperate a pass, that they seemed
passionately to long for and desire the landing of that Prince, whom
they looked on to be their deliverer from Popish tyranny, praying
incessantly for an east wind, which was said to be the only hindrance of
his expedition with a numerous army ready to make a descent. To such a
strange temper, and unheard of in former times, was this poor nation
reduced, and of which I was an eyewitness. The apprehension was (and
with reason) that his Majesty's forces would neither at land nor sea
oppose them with that vigor requisite to repel invaders.
The late imprisoned Bishops were now called to reconcile matters, and
the Jesuits hard at work to foment confusion among the Protestants by
their usual tricks. A letter was sent to the Archbishop of
Canterbury,[71] informing him, from good hands, of what was contriving
by them. A paper of what the Bishops advised his Majesty was published.
The Bishops were enjoined to prepare a form of prayer against the feared
invasion. A pardon published. Soldiers and mariners daily pressed.
[Footnote 71: By Evelyn himself. The letter was as follows:--
"My Lord, The honor and reputation which your Grace's piety,
prudence, and signal courage, have justly merited and obtained, not
only from the sons of the Church of England, but even universally
from those Protestants among us who are Dissenters from her
discipline; God Almighty's Providence and blessing upon your Grace's
vigilancy and extraordinary endeavors will not suffer to be
diminished in this conjuncture. The conversation I now and then have
with some in place who have the opportunity of knowing what is doing
in the most secret recesses and cabals of our Church's adversaries,
obliges me to acquaint you, that the calling of your Grace and the
rest of the Lords Bishops to Court, and what has there of late been
required of you, is only to create a jealousy and suspicion among
well-meaning people of such compliances, as it is certain they have
no cause to apprehend. The plan of this and of all that which is to
follow of seeming favor thence, is wholly drawn by the Jesuits, who
are at this time more than ever busy to make divisions among us, all
other arts and mechanisms having hitherto failed them. They have,
with other things contrived that your Lordships the Bishops should
give his Majesty advice separately, without calling any of the rest
of the Peers, which, though maliciously suggested, spreads generally
about the town. I do not at all question but your Grace will
speedily prevent the operation of this venom, and that you will
think it highly necessary so to do, that your Grace is also enjoined
to compose a form of prayer, wherein the Prince of Orange is
expressly to be named the Invader: of this I presume not to say
anything; but for as much as in all the Declarations, etc., which
have hitherto been published in pretended favor of the Church of
England, there is not once the least mention of the REFORMED or
PROTESTANT RELIGION, but only of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND AS BY LAW
ESTABLISHED, which Church the Papists tell us is the CHURCH OF ROME,
which is (say they) the Catholic Church of England--that only is
established by Law; the Church of England in the REFORMED sense so
established, is but by an usurped authority. The antiquity of THAT
would by these words be explained, and utterly defeat this false and
subdolous construction, and take off all exceptions whatsoever; if,
in all extraordinary offices, upon these occasions, the words
REFORMED and PROTESTANT were added to that of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND
BY LAW ESTABLISHED. And whosoever threatens to invade or come
against us, to the prejudice of that Church, in God's name, be they
Dutch or Irish, let us heartily pray and fight against them. My
Lord, this is, I confess, a bold, but honest period; and, though I
am well assured that your Grace is perfectly acquainted with all
this before, and therefore may blame my impertinence, as that does
[Greek: allotrioepiskopein]; yet I am confident you will not reprove
the zeal of one who most humbly begs your Grace's pardon, with your
blessing. Lond., 10 Oct., 1688." (From a copy in Evelyn's
handwriting.) See _post_, p. 285.]
14th October, 1688. The King's birthday. No guns from the Tower as
usual. The sun eclipsed at its rising. This day signal for the victory
of William the Conqueror against Harold, near Battel, in Sussex. The
wind, which had been hitherto west, was east all this day. Wonderful
expectation of the Dutch fleet. Public prayers ordered to be read in the
churches against invasion.
28th October, 1688. A tumult in London on the rabble demolishing a
Popish chapel that had been set up in the city.
29th October, 1688. Lady Sunderland acquainted me with his Majesty's
taking away the Seals from Lord Sunderland, and of her being with the
Queen to intercede for him. It is conceived that he had of late grown
remiss in pursuing the interest of the Jesuitical counsels; some
reported one thing, some another; but there was doubtless some secret
betrayed, which time may discover.
There was a Council called, to which were summoned the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Judges, the Lord Mayor, etc. The Queen Dowager, and all
the ladies and lords who were present at the Queen Consort's labor, were
to give their testimony upon oath of the Prince of Wales's birth,
recorded both at the Council Board and at the Chancery a day or two
after. This procedure was censured by some as below his Majesty to
condescend to, on the talk of the people. It was remarkable that on this
occasion the Archbishop, Marquis of Halifax, the Earls of Clarendon and
Nottingham, refused to sit at the Council table among Papists, and their
bold telling his Majesty that whatever was done while such sat among
them was unlawful and incurred _præmunire_;--at least, if what I heard
be true.
30th October, 1688. I dined with Lord Preston, made Secretary of State,
in the place of the Earl of Sunderland.
Visited Mr. Boyle, when came in the Duke of Hamilton and Earl of
Burlington. The Duke told us many particulars of Mary Queen of Scots,
and her amours with the Italian favorite, etc.