Bristol.
_Can Bishops vacate their Sees?_ (Vol. v., p. 156.).--R. C. C., in his
reply to this Query of K. S., writes, that he has never heard of any but
Dr. Pearce who wished so to do.
There is another instance in the case of Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, who,
having failed in his attempt to exchange his bishopric for some canonry or
headship at Oxford, applied to the Secretary of State for his majesty's
permission to resign his bishopric.
So extraordinary a petition excited his majesty's curiosity, and caused his
inquiry from whence it came; when, learning that the person was his old
acquaintance, Dr. Berkeley, he declared that he should die a bishop in
spite of himself, but gave him full power to choose his own place of
residence. This was in 1753.
The above is taken from Bp. Mant's _History of the Church of Ireland_, vol.
ii. p. 534.