No More Learning

He was very active in the ejectment
of the clergy, by which upwards of eight thousand churchmen are said
to have lost their cures in the course of four or five years. In order
to encourage and justify these violent measures, he published his
famous treatise, entitled, "The First Century of Scandalous Malignant
Priests, made and admitted into benefices by the Prelates, London,
1643;" a tract which contains, as may be inferred from its name, an
hundred instances of unworthiness, which had been either proved to
have existed among the clergy of the church of England, or had been
invented to throw a slander upon them. When this satire was shown to
Charles I. , it was proposed to answer it by a similar exposition of
the scandalous part of the puritanical teachers; but that monarch
would not consent to give countenance to a warfare in which neither
party could gain, and religion was sure to be a loser between them.
Similar considerations are said to have prevented White himself from
publishing "A Second Century," in continuation of his work. He wrote
another tract, entitled, "The Looking Glass;" in which he attempted to
prove, that the sin against the Holy Ghost was the bearing arms for the
king in the civil war. His own party bestow on White a high character
for religion and virtue; but the cavaliers alleged, that although he
had two wives of his own, a large proportion of matrimony, he did not
forbear to visit three belonging to his neighbours in the White Friars.
He died in January 1644, and is said, in his last illness, to have
bitterly lamented the active share which he had taken in ejecting so
many guiltless ministers, and their families. This, however, may be a
fiction of the royalists; for the death-bed repentance of an enemy is
amongst the most common forgeries of party. White's body was attended
to the grave by most of the members of Parliament, and the following
distich inscribed on his tomb:

"Here lyeth a JOHN, a burning shining light,
His name, life, actions, all were WHITE. "

_See Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses. _


Note XVI.

_The Lion, studious of our common good,
Desires (and kings' desires are ill withstood)
To join our nations in a lasting love;
The bars betwixt are easy to remove,
For sanguinary laws were never made above. _--P. 218.

When James II. ascended the throne, deceived by the general attachment
of the church of England for his person, and the little jealousy which
they seemed to entertain of his religion, he conceived there would
be no great difficulty in procuring a reconciliation between the
national church and that of Rome. With this view he made a favourable
declaration of his intentions to maintain the church of England as
by law established, and certainly expected, that, in return, they
would consent to the repeal of the test act and penal laws;[275] and
this, it was conceived, might pave the way for uniting the churches.
An extraordinary pamphlet, already quoted, recommends such an union,
founded upon the mutual attachment of both communions to King James,
upon their success in resisting the Bill of Exclusion, and their common
hatred of the dissenters. "This very stone, which was once rejected by
the architects, is now become the chief stone in the corner. We may
truly see in it the hand of God, and look upon it with admiration; and
may expect, if fears and jealousies hinder not, the greatest blessings
we can wish for. An union betwixt these two walls, which have been thus
long separated, and now in a fair way to be united and linked together
by this corner stone; after which, how glorious a structure may we hope
for on such foundations! " A plan is therefore laid down, containing
the following heads, of which it may be observed, that the very first
is the abrogation of these penal laws, which Dryden states to be the
principal bar between the alliance of the Hind and the Panther.

"First, that it may be provided, That those who are known to be
faithful friends to the king and kingdom's good, may equally with us
enjoy those favours and blessings we may hope for under so great and
so just a king, without being liable to the sanguinary penal laws, for
holding opinions noways inconsistent with loyalty, and the peace and
quiet of the nation; and that they may not be obliged, by oaths and
tests, either to renounce their religion, which they know they cannot
do without sacrilege, or else to put themselves out of capacity of
serving their king and country.

"Secondly, That, for healing our differences, it be appointed, that
neither side, in their sermons, touch upon matters of controversy with
animating reflections; but that those discourses may wholly tend to
peace and piety, religion and sound morality; and that, in all public
catechisms, the solid grounds and principles of religion may be solely
explicated and established, all reflecting animosities being laid aside.

"Thirdly, That some learned, devout, and sober persons, may be made
choice of on both sides, who may truly state matters of controversy
betwixt us; to the end, each one may know others pretensions, and the
tenets they cannot abandon, without breaking the chain of apostolic
faith; which, if it be done, we shall, it may be, find that to be
true, which the Papists often tell us, that the difference betwixt
them and us is not so great as many make it; nor their tenets so
pernicious, but if we saw them naked, we should, if not embrace them
as truths, yet not condemn them as errors, much less as pernicious
doctrines. Yet if, notwithstanding all this, we cannot perfectly
agree in some points, let us, however, endeavour to live together
in the bonds of love and charity, as becomes good Christians and
loyal subjects, and join together to oppugn those known maxims, and
pernicious errors, which destroy the essence of religion, loyalty, and
good government. "--_Remonstrance, by way of Address, to the Church of
England_, 1685.


Note XVII.

_Yet still remember, that you wield a sword,
Forged by your foes against your sovereign lord;
Designed to hew the imperial cedar down,
Defraud succession, and dis-heir the crown. _--P. 219.

The Test-act was passed in the year 1678, while the popish plot was
in its vigour, and the Earl of Shaftesbury was urging every point
against the Catholics, with his eyes uniformly fixed upon the Bill of
Exclusion as his crowning measure. It imposed on all who should sit
in parliament, a declaration of their abhorrence of the doctrine of
transubstantiation. The Duke of York, with tears in his eyes, moved
for a proviso to exempt himself, protesting, that he cast himself upon
the House in the greatest concern he could have in the world; and that
whatever his religion might be, it should only be a private thing
between God and his own soul. Notwithstanding this pathetic appeal,
he carried his point but by two votes. With seven other peers he
protested against the bill. Dryden therefore, and probably with great
justice, represents this test as a part of his machinations against
the Duke of York, whose party was at that time, and afterwards, warmly
espoused by the church of England. But though the Test-act was devised
by a statesman whom they hated, and carried by a party whom they had
opposed, the high-church clergy were not the less unwilling to part
with it when they found the advantages which it gave them against
the Papists in King James's reign. Hence they were loaded with the
following reproaches: "My business is to set forth, in its own colours,
the extraordinary loyalty of those men, who obstinately maintain a
test contrived by the faction to usher in the Bill of Exclusion: And
it is much admired, even by some of her own children, that the grave
and matron-like church of England, which values herself so much for her
antiquity, should be over-fond of a new point of faith, lately broached
by a famous act of an infallible parliament, convened at Westminster,
and guided by the holy spirit of Shaftesbury. But I doubt there are
some parliaments in the world which will not so easily admit this new
article into their creed, though the church of England labours so much
to maintain it as a special evidence of her singular loyalty. "--_New
Test of the Church of England's Loyalty. _


Note XVIII.

_The first reformers were a modest race;
Our peers possessed in peace their native place,
And when rebellious arms o'erturned the state,
They suffered only in the common fate;
But now the sovereign mounts the regal chair,
And mitred seats are full, yet David's bench is bare. _--P. 221.

This passage regards the situation of the Roman Catholic peers.
Notwithstanding their religion, they had been allowed to retain their
seats and votes in the House of Lords. So jealous were they, (as was
but natural,) of this privilege, that, in 1675, when Danby proposed a
test oath upon all holding state employments and benefices, the object
of which was to acknowledge the doctrine of non-resistance, and disown
all attempts at an alteration of government, the Roman Catholic peers,
to the number of twenty, who had hitherto always voted with the crown,
united, on this occasion, with the opposition, and occasioned the loss
of the bill. This North imputes to the art of Shaftesbury, who dinned
into their ears, "that this test (by mentioning the maintenance of the
Protestant religion, though that of the royal authority was chiefly
proposed) tended to deprive them of their right of voting, which was
a birth-right so sacrosanct and radically inherent in the peerage,
as not to be temerated on any account whatsoever. " When the earl had
heated the Catholic lords with this suggestion, he secured them to the
opposition, by proposing, and carrying through, an order of the House,
that no bill should be received, tending to deprive any of the peerage
of their right. But when the Test-act of 1678 was moved, which had,
for its direct purpose, that exclusion which that of 1675 was supposed
only to convey by implication, Shaftesbury laughed at the order which
he himself had proposed, saying, _leges posteriores priores abrogant_.
And by this test, which required the renunciation of their religion
as idolatrous, the Catholic peerage were effectually, and for ever,
excluded from their seats in the House of Lords. Dryden intimates, in
the following lines, that this test applied to the Papists alone, and
complains heavily of this odious distinction, betwixt them and other
non-conformists.


Note XIX.

_When first the Lion sat with awful sway,
Your conscience taught your duty to obey. _--P. 223.

James II. and the established church set out on the highest terms of
good humour with each other. This, as the king afterwards assured
the dissenters, was owing to the professions made to him by some
of the churchmen, whom he named, who had promised favour to the
Catholics, provided he would abandon all idea of general toleration,
and leave them their ancient authority over the fanatics. Moved, as
he said, by these promises, the Declaration in council, issued upon
his accession, had this remarkable clause: "I know the principles of
the church of England are for monarchy, and the members of it have
shewn themselves good and loyal subjects, therefore I shall always
take care to defend and support it. " This explicit declaration gave
the greatest satisfaction to the kingdom in general, and particularly
to the clergy. "All the pulpits of England," says Burnet, "were full
of it, and of thanksgivings for it. It was magnified as a security
far greater than any that laws could give. The common phrase was,
_We have now the word of a king, and a word never yet broken_. This
general feeling of gratitude led to a set of addresses, full of the
most extravagant expressions of loyalty and fidelity to so gracious
a sovereign. The churchmen led the way in these expressions of zeal;
and the university of Oxford, in particular, promised to obey the king
without limitations or restrictions. " The king's promise was reckoned
so solemn and inviolable, that those addresses were censured as guilty
at least of ill-breeding, who mentioned in their papers the "religion
_established by law_;" since that expression implied an obligation on
the king to maintain it, independently of his royal grace and favour.
But the scene speedily changed, as the king's intentions began to
disclose themselves. Then, as a Catholic pamphleteer expresses himself,
"My loyal gentlemen were so far out of the right bias, that, in lieu
of taking off the tests and penal laws, which all people expected from
them in point of gratitude and good manners, they made a solemn address
to his majesty, that none be employed who were not capacitated by the
said laws and tests to bear offices civil and military. "[276]

If James, had viewed with attention the incidents of the former reign,
he might have recollected, that, however devoted the clergy had then
shown themselves to the crown, his brother's attempt at his present
measure of a general indulgence had at once alarmed the whole church.
This sensibility, when the interest of the church is concerned, is
severely contrasted with the general indifference to the cause of
freedom, into which they relapsed when the indulgence was recalled, in
a party pamphlet of the year 1680-1. "You may easily call to mind, a
late instance of the humanity and conscience of this race of men here
in England: For when his majesty, not long since, attempted to follow
his own inclinations, and emitted a declaration of indulgence to tender
consciences, the whole _posse cleri_ seemed to be raised against him:
Every reader and Gibeonite of the church could then talk as saucily
of their king, as they do now of the late honourable Parliament; nay,
they began to stand upon their terms, and delivered it out as orthodox
doctrine, that the king was to act according to law, and, therefore,
could not suspend a penal statute; that the subjects' obedience was
a legal obedience; and, therefore, if the king commanded any thing
contrary to law, the subject was not bound to obey; with so many other
honest positions, that men wondered in God how such knaves should come
by them. But wherefore was all this wrath, and all this doctrine?
merely because his majesty was pleased for a time to remove the sore
backs of dissenters from under the ecclesiastical lash; the bloody
exercise of which is never denied to holy church, but the magistrate is
immediately assaulted with the noise and clamour of Demetrius and his
craftsmen.

"But now, the tables being turned, the same mercenary tongues are
again all Sibthorp, and all Manwaring; not a bit of law, or conscience
either, is now to be had for love or money; not any limits to be put to
the king's commands, or our obedience. It is a gospel truth with these
men, that all which we have is the king's; and if he should command our
estates, our wives and children, yea, and our religion too, we ought to
resign them up, submit, and be silent. "--_The Freeholders' Choice, or,
A Letter of Advice concerning Elections. _


Note XX.

_Possess your soul with patience, and attend;
A more auspicious planet may ascend;
Good fortune may present some happier time,
With means to cancel my unwilling crime. _--P. 224.

The first expression in these lines seems to have been a favourite with
Dryden. In the Introduction to the Translation of Juvenal, he makes
it his glory, "that, being naturally vindicative, he had suffered in
silence, and _possessed his soul in quiet_. "

The arguments used by the Panther in this passage seem to have more
weight than her antagonist allows them. It was surely reasonable, that
the church of England should rest upon her penal statutes and test act,
as the sole mode of preventing the encroachments of her rival during a
Catholic reign, and at the same time that she should look forward with
pleasure to a future period, when such severe enactments might be no
longer necessary for her safety; a time, of which it has been our good
fortune to witness the arrival.

The argument of the Panther, in this speech, is, with the simile of
the inundation, literally versified from an answer to Penn's pamphlet.
"The penal laws cannot prejudice the Papists in this king's reign,
seeing he can connive at the non-execution of them, and the repeal
of them now cannot benefit the Papists when he is gone; because, if
they do not behave themselves modestly, we can either re-establish
them, or enact others, which they will be as little fond of. But their
abrogation at this time would infallibly prejudice us, and would prove
to be the pulling up of the sluices, and the throwing down the dikes,
which stem the deluge that is breaking in upon us, and which hinder
the threatening waves from overflowing us. " _Some reflections on a
discourse, entitled_, "Good Advice to the Church of England. "--_State
Tracts_, Vol. I. p. 368.


Note XXI.

_Your care about your banks infers a fear
Of threatening floods and inundations near;
If so, a just reprise would only be
Of what the land usurped upon the sea. _--P. 225.

This conveys a perilous insinuation, which perhaps it would, at the
time, have been prudent to suppress; since it goes the length of
preparing a justification of the resumption of the power, authority,
lands, and revenues, of the church of England, upon the footing of
their having originally belonged to that of Rome. It cannot be supposed
that this hint could be passed over at the time, without a strong
feeling of a meditated revolution in church government and property.


Note XXII.

_Behold how he protects your friends oppressed,
Receives the banished, succours the distressed!
Behold, for you may read an honest open breast. _--P. 225.

Burnet, in the "History of his Own Times," gives the following account
of the relief which James, either from inclination or policy, extended
to the French Protestants, who were exiled by the recal of the edict of
Nantes.

"But now the session of Parliament drew on, and there was a great
expectation of the issue of it. For some weeks before it met, there
was such a number of refugees coming over every day, who set about a
most dismal recital of the persecution in France; and that in so many
instances that were crying and odious, that, though all endeavours were
used to lessen the clamour this had raised, yet the king did not stick
openly to condemn it as both unchristian and unpolitic. He took pains
to clear the Jesuits of it, and laid the blame of it chiefly on the
king, on Madame de Maintenon, and the Archbishop of Paris. He spoke
often of it with such vehemence, that there seemed to be an affectation
in it. He did more: He was very kind to the refugees; he was liberal
to many of them; he ordered a brief for a charitable collection over
the nation for them all; upon which great sums were sent in. They
were deposited in good hands, and well distributed. The king also
ordered them to be denizen'd, without paying fees, and gave them
great immunities. So that, in all, there came over, first and last,
between forty and fifty thousand of that nation. There was such real
argument of the cruel and persecuting spirit of popery, wheresoever
it prevailed, that few could resist this conviction; so that all men
confessed, that the French persecution came very seasonably to awaken
the nation, and open men's eyes in so critical a conjunction; for upon
this session of Parliament all did depend. "--BURNET, Book IV.


Note XXIII.

_A plain good man, whose name is understood,
(So few deserve the name of plain and good. )_--P. 226.

These, and the following lines, contain a character of James II. most
exquisitely drawn, though, it must be owned, with a flattering pencil.
Bravery, economy, integrity, are the ingredients which Dryden has mixed
for his colours. Without attempting a character of this unfortunate
monarch, we may say a few words on each of the attributes ascribed to
him. Bravery he unquestionably possessed; but it was of that ordinary
kind, which, though unshaken by mere personal danger, is unable to
sustain its possessor in great and embarrassing political emergencies.
The economy of James, being one great engine by which he hoped to carry
on his projects, was so rigid as sometimes to border upon avarice. His
upright integrity, the virtue upon which he chiefly prided himself, and
which was the usual theme of courtly panegyric, frequently deviated
into obstinacy. When he had once resolved upon a measure, he often
announced his resolution with imprudence, and almost always pressed it
with an open disregard of consequences. No fault can be more fatal to
an English king; because the stream of popular opinion, which would
subside if unopposed, becomes irresistible when the obstinacy of a
monarch persists in attempting to stem it.


Note XXIV.

_A sort of Doves were housed too near their hall,
Who cross the proverb, and abound with gall. _--P. 228.

The virulent and abusive character which our author here draws of the
clergy, and particularly those of the metropolis, differs so much
from his description of the church of England, in the person of the
Panther, that we may conclude it was written after the publishing of
the Declaration of Indulgence, when the king had decidedly turned
his favour from the established church. Their quarrel was now
irreconcileable, and at immediate issue; and Dryden therefore changes
the tone of conciliation, with which he had hitherto addressed the
heretic church, into that of bitter and unrelenting satire. Dryden
calls them doves, in order to pave the way for terming them, as he
does a little below, "birds of Venus;" as disowning the doctrine
of celibacy. The popular opinion, that a dove has no gall, is well
known. In Scotland, this is averred to be owing to the dove which Noah
dismissed from the ark having flown so long, that his gall broke; since
which occurrence, none of the species have had any.


Note XXV.

_An hideous figure of their foes they drew,
Nor lines, nor looks, nor shades, nor colours true;
And this grotesque design exposed to public view. _--P. 231.

The Roman Catholic pamphlets of the time are filled with complaints,
that their principles were misrepresented by the Protestant divines;
and that king-killing tenets, and others of a pernicious or absurd
nature, were unjustly ascribed to them. A tract, which is written on
purpose to explain their real doctrine, says, "Is it not strange and
severe, that principles, and those pretended of faith too, should be
imposed upon men which they themselves renounce and detest? If the
Turks' Alcoran should, in like manner, be urged upon us, and we hanged
up for Mahometans, all we could do or say, in such a case, would be,
to die patiently, with protestations of our own innocence. And this
is the posture of our condition; we abhor, we renounce, we abominate,
such principles; we protest against them, and seal our protestations
with our dying breath. What shall we say, what can we do more? To
accuse men as guilty in matters of faith, which they never owned, is
the same thing as to condemn them for matters of fact which they
never did. "[277] Another author, speaking in the assumed character of
the established church, says, that the Catholic controvertists have
often told us, that "we behave ourselves like persons diffident of our
cause, decline disputes on equal terms, and either misrepresent their
tenets, as appears manifestly in their doctrines of justification
and merit, satisfaction and indulgences; or else play the buffoons,
joking, scoffing, and relating stories, which, if true, would not touch
religion. "--_A Remonstrance, by way of Address_, &c.


Note XXVI.

_No Holland emblem could that malice mend. _--P. 231.

Emblems, like puns, being the wit of a heavy people, the Dutch seem to
have been remarkable for them; of which, their old-fashioned prints,
and figured pan-tiles, are existing evidence. Prior thus drolls upon
the passage in the text:

"_Bayes. _ Oh! dear Sir, you are mighty obliging: but I must needs say
at a fable, or an emblem, I think no man comes near me; indeed I have
studied it more than any man. Did you ever take notice, Mr Johnson,
of a little thing that has taken mightily about town, a cat with a
top-knot? [278]

_John. _ Faith, Sir, 'tis mighty pretty; I saw it at the coffee-house.

_Bayes. _ 'Tis a trifle hardly worth owning. I was t'other day at
Will's, throwing out something of that nature; and, i'gad, the hint was
taken, and out came that picture; indeed the poor fellow was so civil
to present me with a dozen of 'em for my friends. I think I have one
here in my pocket; would you please to accept it, Mr Johnson?

_John. _ Really 'tis very ingenious.

_Bayes. _ Oh, Lord, nothing at all! I could design twenty of 'em in an
hour, if I had but witty fellows about me to draw 'em. I was proffered
a pension to go into Holland and contrive their emblems; but, hang 'em,
they are dull rogues, and would spoil my invention. "--_Hind and Panther
Transprosed. _


Note XXVII.

_The noble Buzzard ever pleased me best. _--P. 233.

Gilbert Burnet, well known as an historian, was born of a good family
in Scotland, in 1643. He went through his studies with success; and,
being ordained by the Bishop of Edinburgh, obtained the living of
Salton, in East Lothian, in 1665. While in this living, he drew up a
memorial of the abuses of the Scotch bishops, and was instrumental in
procuring the induction of Presbyterian divines into vacant churches;
a step which he afterwards condemned as imprudent. [279] To measures so
unfavourable for Episcopacy, Dryden seems to allude, in these lines:

I know he hates the Pigeon-house and Farm,
And more, in time of war, has done us harm;
But all his hate on trivial points depends,
Give up our forms, and we shall soon be friends.

Burnet's opinion, or rather indifference, concerning forms, may be
guessed at, from the applause with which he quotes a saying of Dr Henry
More; "None of them are bad enough to make men bad, and I am sure
none of them are good enough to make men good. " He was next created
professor of divinity at Glasgow; but as his active temper led him
to mingle much in political life, he speedily distinguished himself
rather as a politician than a theologian. In 1672 he was made one of
the king's chaplains, and was in high favour both with Charles and his
brother. He enjoyed much of the countenance of the Duke of Lauderdale;
but a quarrel taking place between them, the duke represented Burnet's
conduct in such terms, that he was deprived of his chaplainry, and
forced to resign his professor's chair, and abandon Scotland. He
had an opportunity of revenging himself upon Lauderdale, as will be
noticed in a subsequent note. During the time of the Popish plot,
he again received a portion of the royal countenance. He was then
preacher at the Rolls Chapel, under the patronage of Sir Harbottle
Grimstone, master of the rolls, as also lecturer at St Clement's,
and enjoyed a high degree of public consideration. Having, as he
conceived, a fit opportunity to awaken the conscience of Charles, he
ventured upon sending him a letter, where he treated his personal
vices, and the faults of his government, with great severity,[280]
and by which he forfeited his favour for ever. This freedom, with his
low-church tenets, gave also offence to the Duke of York, who was,
moreover, offended with him for some interference in the affair of the
Exclusion, in which, if he did not go all the length of Shaftesbury, he
recommended the appointment of a prince-regent; a measure scarcely more
palatable to the successor. At length, his regard for Lord Russell,
and the share which he took in penning, or circulating, his dying
declaration, drew upon him the full resentment of both brothers. To
this, a whimsical accident, in the choice of a text for the day of the
gun-powder plot, happened to contribute. The preacher _chanced_ (for
we must believe what he assures us, _ex verbo sacerdotis_) to pitch on
these words: "Save me from the _lion's_ mouth; thou hast delivered me
from the horns of the _unicorn_. " This was interpreted as referring to
the supporters of the royal arms; and Burnet was discharged, by the
king's command, both from lecturing at St Clement's, and preaching
at the Rolls Chapel. After this final breach with the court he went
abroad, and, having travelled through France and Italy, settled in
Holland at the court of the Prince of Orange. Here he did not fail,
with that ready insinuation which seems to have distinguished him,
to make himself of consequence to the prince, and especially to the
princess, afterwards Queen Mary. From this place of refuge he sent
forth several papers, in single sheets, relating to the controversy
in England; and the clergy, who had formerly looked upon him with
some suspicion, began now to treat with great attention and respect a
person so capable of serving their cause. He was consulted upon every
emergency; which confidence was no doubt owing partly to his situation
near the person of the Prince of Orange, the Protestant heir of the
crown. He stood forward as the champion of the church of England, in
the controversy with Parker concerning the Test. [281] In the "History
of his Own Times," the bishop talks with complacency of the sway which
circumstances had given him among the clergy, and of the important
matters which fell under his management; for, by express command of the
Prince of Orange, he was admitted into all the secrets of the English
intrigues.
These insinuations of Burnet's importance, although they
afterwards drew the ridicule of Pope, and the Tory wits of Queen Anne's
reign, may, from the very satire of Dryden, be proved to have been well
founded. This acquired importance of Burnet is the alliance between
the Pigeon-house and Buzzard, which Dryden reprobates, believing, or
wishing to make others believe, that Burnet held opinions unfavourable
to Episcopacy. James considered this divine as so formidable an enemy,
that he wrote two very severe letters to his daughter against him,
and proceeded so far as to insist that he should be forbidden the
court; a circumstance which did not prevent his privately receiving
a double degree of countenance. A prosecution for high treason was
next commenced against Burnet, and a demand was made that he should
be delivered up; which the States evaded, by declaring that he was
naturalized, by marrying a Dutch lady. The court of England were then
supposed to have formed some plan, as they had attempted in the case
of Peyton, of seizing, or perhaps assassinating him, and a reward of
L. 3000 was offered for the service. Burnet, however, confident in the
protection of the prince and states of Holland, answered, replied,
and retorted, and carried on almost an immediate controversy with
his sovereign, dated from the court of his son-in-law. This active
politician had a very important share in the Revolution, and reaped his
reward, by being advanced to the see of Salisbury. He died on the 17th
of March, 1714-15.

His writings, theological, political, and polemical, are very numerous;
but he is most remarkable as an historian. The "History of the
Reformation," but more especially that of "His Own Times," raises him
to a high rank among our English historians.


Note XXVIII.

_A portly prince, and goodly to the sight,
He seemed a son of Anach for his height;
Like those whom stature did to crowns prefer,
Black-browed, and bluff, like Homer's Jupiter;
Broad-backed, and brawny built, for love's delight,
A prophet formed to make a female proselyte. _--P. 234.

The following song, which is preserved in the "State Poems," gives a
similar account of Burnet's personal appearance:

_A new Ballad, called, The Brawny Bishop's Complaint. _

To the Tune of--_Packington's Pound. _

I.

When B----t perceived the beautiful dames,
Who flocked to the chapel of hilly St James,
On their lovers the kindest looks did bestow,
And smiled not on him while he bellowed below;
To the princess he went,
With pious intent,
This dangerous ill in the church to prevent:
O, Madam! quoth he, our religion is lost,
If the ladies thus ogle the knights of the toast.

II.

Your highness observes how I labour and sweat,
Their affections to raise, and new flames to beget;
And sure when I preach, all the world will agree,
That their ears and their eyes should be pointed on me:
But now I can't find,
One beauty so kind,
As my parts to regard, or my presence to mind;
Nay, I scarce have a sight of any one face,
But those of old Oxford, and ugly Arglas.

III.

These sorrowful matrons, with hearts full of truth,
Repent for the manifold sins of their youth;
The rest with their tattle my harmony spoil;
And Bur--ton, An--say, K--gston, and B--le,
Their minds entertain,
With thoughts so profane,
'Tis a-mercy to find that at church they contain;
Even Hen--ham's shapes their weak fancies entice,
And rather than me they will ogle the Vice. [282]

IV.

These practices, madam, my preaching disgrace;
Shall laymen enjoy the just rights of my place?
Then all may lament my condition for hard,
To thresh in the pulpit without a reward.
Then pray condescend,
Such disorders to end,
And from the ripe vineyards such labourers send;
Or build up the seats, that the beauties may see
The face of no brawny pretender but me.

V.

The princess, by rude importunities pressed,
Though she laughed at his reasons, allowed his request;
And now Britain's nymphs, in Protestant reign,
Are locked up at prayers like the virgins in Spain;
And all are undone,
As sure as a gun,
Whenever a woman is kept like a nun,
If any kind man from bondage will save her,
The lass, in gratitude, grants him the favour.

The jest of his being "a prophet, formed to make a female proselyte,"
was more cutting, as he had just acquired a right of naturalization
in Holland, by marrying Mrs Mary Scott, a Dutch lady, but of Scottish
extraction, being descended of the noble house of Buccleuch.


Note XXIX.

_The hero and the tyrant change their style,
By the same measure that they frown or smile. _--P. 235.

It must be owned, that, with all Bishop Burnet's good qualities, there
are particulars in his history which give colour for this accusation.
His opinions were often hastily adopted, and of course sometimes
awkwardly retracted, and his patrons were frequently changed. Thus, he
vindicated the legality of divorce for barrenness on the part of the
wife, and even that of polygamy, in his resolution of two important
cases of conscience. These were intended to pave the way for Charles
divorcing his barren wife Catherine, or marrying another; and so
raising a family of his own to succeed him, instead of the Duke of
York. These opinions he formally retracted. Notwithstanding his zeal
for liberty, his first work is said by Swift to have been written in
defense of arbitrary power. Above all, his great intimacy with the
Dukes of Hamilton and Lauderdale, the King and the Duke of York, the
Pope and the Prince of Orange; in short, his having the address to
attach himself for a time to almost every leading character, whom he
had an opportunity of approaching, gives us room to suspect, that
if Burnet did not change his opinions, he had at least the art of
disguising such as could not be accommodated to those of his immediate
patron. When the king demanded that Burnet should be delivered up by
the States, he threatened, in return, to justify himself, by giving an
account of the share he had in affairs for twenty years past; in which
he intimated, he might be driven to mention some particulars, which
would displease the king. This threat, as he had enjoyed a considerable
share of his confidence when Duke of York, may seem, in some degree, to
justify Dryden's heavy charge against him, of availing himself of past
confidence to criminate former patrons. It is remarkable, also, that
even while he was in the secret of all the intrigues of the Revolution,
and must have considered it as a near attempt, he continued to assert
the doctrine of passive obedience; and in his letter to Middleton,
in vindication of his conduct against the charge of high treason,
there is an affectation of excessive loyalty to the reigning monarch.
Against these instances of dissimulation, forced upon him perhaps by
circumstances, but still unworthy and degrading, we may oppose many
others, in which, when his principles and interest were placed at
issue, he refused to serve the latter at the expence of the former.


Note XXX.

_His praise of foes is venomously nice;
So touched, it turns a virtue to a vice. _--P. 235.

This applies to the sketches of characters introduced by Burnet in his
controversial tracts. But long after the period when Dryden wrote, the
publication of the History of his Own Times confirmed, to a certain
extent, the censure here imposed. It is a general and just objection
to the bishop's historical characters, that they are drawn up with
too much severity, and that the keenness of party has induced him, in
many cases, to impose upon the reader a caricature for a resemblance.
Yet there appears to have been perfect good faith upon his own part;
so that we may safely acquit him of any intention to exaggerate the
faults, or conceal the virtues, of his political enemies. He seems
himself to have been conscious of a disposition to look upon the dark
side of humanity. "I find," says he, "that the long experience I have
had of the baseness, the malice, and the falsehood of mankind, has
inclined me to be apt to think generally the worst of men, and of
parties. " Burnet therefore candidly puts the reader upon his guard
against this predominant foible, and expressly warns him to receive
what he advances with some grains of allowance.

But whatever was Burnet's private opinion of the conduct of others,
and however much he might be misled by prejudice in drawing their
characters, it should not be forgotten, that, in the moments of triumph
which succeeded the Revolution, he not only resisted every temptation
to revenge for personal injuries, but employed all his influence to
recommend mild and conciliating conduct to the successful party.
Some, who had suffered under the severity of James's reign, were
extremely indignant at what seemed to them to argue too much feeling
for their discomfited adversaries, and too little sympathy with their
own past distresses. Samuel Johnson, in particular, reprobates the
Scottish bishop's exhortations to forgiveness and forgetfulness of
injuries. "And, besides, we have Scotch doctors, to teach us the art
of forgetfulness. Pray you have _gude_ memories, _gude_ memories; do
not remember bad things, (meaning the murders and oppressions of the
last reigns,) but keep your memories for _gude_ things, have _gude_
memories. " To this mimicry of the bishop's dialect, in which, however,
he seems to have conveyed most wholesome and sound council, Johnson
adds, that, during the sitting of King William's first parliament,
while his complaints were before them, the bishop sent to him his
advice, "Not to name persons. " "I gave, says he, an English reply
to that message; 'Let him mind his business, I will mind mine. ' His
bookseller, Mr Chiswell, by whom I had the message, seemed loth to
carry him that blunt answer. Oh! said I, he has got the title of a Lord
lately, I must qualify my answer: 'Let him _please_ to mind his own
business, I will mind mine. "--This was very natural for one smarting
under sufferings, who complains, that "while a certain traveller,"
meaning Burnet, "was making his court to the cardinals at Rome, he got
such an almanack in his bones, (from scourging,) as to incapacitate him
from learning this Scotch trick of a _gude_ memory. "[283] But it is
the very character of moderate councils to be disgusting to those who
have been hurried beyond their patience by oppression; and Johnson's
testimony, though given with a contrary view, is highly honourable to
the bishop's prudence.


Note XXXI.

_But he, uncalled, his patron to controul,
Divulged the secret whispers of his soul;
Stood forth the accusing Satan of his crimes,
And offered to the Moloch of the times. _--P. 235.

In 1675, the House of Commons being resolved to assail the Duke of
Lauderdale, and knowing that Burnet, in whom he had once reposed
much confidence, could bear witness to some dangerous designs and
expressions, appointed the doctor to attend and be examined. His own
account of this delicate transaction is as follows:

"In April 1675, a session of parliament was held, as preparatory to
one that was designed next winter, in which money was to be asked; but
none was now asked, it being only called to heal all breaches, and
to beget a good understanding between the king and his people. The
House of Commons fell upon Duke Lauderdale; and those who knew what
had passed between him and me, moved, that I should be examined before
a committee. I was brought before them. I told them how I had been
commanded out of town; but though that was illegal, yet since it had
been let fall, it was not insisted on. I was next examined concerning
his design of arming the Irish Papists. I said, I, as well as others,
had heard him say, he wished the Presbyterians in Scotland would rebel,
that he might bring over the Irish Papists to cut their throats. I was
next examined concerning the design of bringing a Scottish army into
England. I desired to be excused, as to what had passed in private
discourse; to which I thought I was not bound to answer, unless it were
high treason. They pressed me long, and I would give them no other
answer; so they all concluded, that I knew great matters; and reported
this specially to the House. Upon that I was sent for, and brought
before the House. I stood upon it as I had done at the committee,
that I was not bound to answer; that nothing had passed that was high
treason; and as to all other things, I did not think myself bound to
discover them. I said farther, I knew the Duke Lauderdale was apt to
say things in a heat, which he did not intend to do; and, since he had
used myself so ill, I thought myself the more obliged not to say any
thing that looked like revenge, for what I had met with from him. I was
brought four times to the bar; at last I was told, the House thought
they had a right to examine into every thing that concerned the safety
of the nation, as well as into matters of treason; and they looked on
me as bound to satisfy them, otherwise they would make me feel the
weight of their heavy displeasure, as one that concealed what they
thought was necessary to be known. Upon this I yielded, and gave an
account of the discourse formerly mentioned. They laid great weight on
this, and renewed their address against Duke Lauderdale.

"I was much blamed for what I had done. Some, to make it look the
worse, added, that I had been his chaplain, which was false; and that
I had been much obliged to him, though I had never received any real
obligation from him, but had done him great services, for which I had
been very unworthily requited: Yet the thing had an ill appearance, as
the disclosing of what had passed in confidence; though I make it a
great question, how far even that ought to bind a man when the designs
are very wicked, and the person continued still in the same post and
capacity of executing them. I have told the matter as it was, and must
leave myself to the censure of the reader. My love to my country, and
my private friendship, carried me, perhaps, too far; especially since I
had declared much against clergymen's meddling in secular affairs, and
yet had run myself so deep in them. "--_History of his Own Times_, Vol.
I. p. 375.

The discourse to which Burnet refers was of the following dangerous
tendency, and took place in September 1673.

"_Duke. _ If the king should need an army from Scotland, to tame those
in England, might the Scots be depended upon?

"_Burnet. _ Certainly not. The commons in the southern parts are all
Presbyterians. The nobility thought they had been ill used, were
generally discontented, and only waited for an opportunity to show it.

"_Duke. _ I am of another mind. The hope of the spoil of England will
bring them all in.

"_Burnet. _ The king is ruined if he trusts to that; for even
indifferent persons, who might otherwise have been ready enough to push
their fortunes without any anxious enquiries into the grounds they went
upon, will not now trust the king, since he has so lately said, he
would stick to his declaration,[284] and yet has so soon given it up.

"Duke. _Hinc illæ lacrymæ. _ The king was forsaken in that matter, and
none sticks to him but Lord Clifford and myself. "--_Ralph, with the
Authorities he quotes_, Vol. I. p. 275.

James II. afterwards revived the plan of maintaining a Scottish
standing army, to bridle his English subjects.


Note XXXII.

_And runs an Indian muck at all he meets. _--P. 235.

To run a-muck, is a phrase derived from a practice of the Malays. When
one of this nation has lost his whole substance by gaming, or sustained
any other great and insupportable calamity, he intoxicates himself
with opium; and, having dishevelled his hair, rushes into the streets,
crying _Amocca_, or _Kill_, and stabbing every one whom he meets with
his creeze, until he is cut down, or shot, like a mad dog.


Note XXXIII.

_Such was, and is, the Captain of the Test. _--P. 236.

Burnet may have been thus denominated, from having written the
following pamphlets, in the controversy respecting the Test, against
Parker, the apostate bishop of Oxford:

"An Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed on all
Members of Parliament, offered by Dr Samuel Parker, Bishop of Oxford. "

"A Second Part of the Enquiry into the Reasons offered by Doctor Samuel
Parker, bishop of Oxford, for Abrogating the Test; or an Answer to his
plea for Transubstantiation, and for Acquitting the Church of Rome of
Idolatry. "

"A Continuation of the Second Part of the Enquiry into the Reasons
offered by Dr Samuel Parker, Bishop of Oxford, for Abrogating the Test
relating to the Idolatry of the Church of Rome. "

These two last pamphlets were afterwards thrown together in one tract,
entitled, "A Discourse concerning Transubstantiation and Idolatry,
being an Answer to the Bishop of Oxford's plea relating to these two
points. "

Burnet himself admits, that his papers, in this controversy with
Parker, were written with an acrimony of style which nothing but such
a time and such a man could excuse. His papers were so bitter, that
nobody durst offer them to the bishop of Oxford, till the king himself
sent them to him, in hopes to stimulate him to an answer.

Several of these pieces seem to have been published after "The Hind and
the Panther;" but it must have been generally known at the time, that
Burnet had placed himself in the front of this controversy.

And much the Buzzard in their cause did stir,
Though naming not the patron, to infer,
_With all respect_, he was a gross idolater.

The passage particularly referred to in these lines occurs in a tract,
entitled, "Reasons against repealing the Act of Parliament, concerning
the Test," which is the first of six papers published by Dr Burnet when
in Holland, and reprinted at London in 1689. His words are these:

"IX. I am told some think it very indecent to have a test for our
parliaments, in which the king's religion is accused of idolatry;
but if this reason is good in this particular, it will be full as
good against several of the articles of our church, and many of the
homilies. If the church and religion of this nation is so formed by
law, that the king's religion is declared over and over again to be
idolatrous, what help is there for it? It is no other than it was when
his majesty was crowned, and swore to maintain our laws.

"I hope none will be wanting in all possible respect to his sacred
person; and as we ought to be infinitely sorry to find him engaged in a
religion which we must believe idolatrous, so we are far from the ill
manners of reflecting on his person, or calling him an idolater: for
as every man that reports a lie, is not for that to be called a liar;
so that, though the ordering the intention, and the prejudice of a
mis-persuasion, are such abatements, that we will not rashly take on us
to call every man of the church of Rome an idolater; yet, on the other
hand, we can never lay down our charge against the church of Rome as
guilty of idolatry, unless at the same time we part with our religion. "

We cannot suppose that Burnet was insensible to the poignancy of
Dryden's satire; for, although he attempts to treat the poem with
contempt, in the defence of his "Reflections on Varillas' History,"
his coarse and virulent character of the poet plainly shows his inward
feelings. "I have been informed from England, that a gentleman, who
is known both for poetry and other things, had spent three months in
translating M. Varillas's History; but that, as soon as my Reflections
appeared, he discontinued his labour, finding the credit of his author
was gone. Now, if he thinks it is recovered by his Answer, he will
perhaps go on with his translation; and this may be, for aught I know,
as good an entertainment for him as the conversation that he had set on
between the Hinds and Panthers, and all the rest of animals, for whom
M. Varillas may serve well enough for an author: and this history and
that poem are such extraordinary things of their kind, that it will
be but suitable to see the author of the worst poem, become likewise
the translator of the worst history, that the age has produced. If his
grace and his wit improve both proportionably, he will hardly find that
he has gained much by the change he has made, from having no religion
to choose one of the worst. It is true, he had something to sink from,
in matter of wit; but as for his morals, it is scarce possible for him
to grow a worse man than he was. He has lately wreaked his malice on
me for spoiling his three months' labour; but in it he has done me all
the honour that any man can receive from him, which is to be railed at
by him. If I had ill-nature enough to prompt me to wish a very bad wish
for him, it should be, that he would go on and finish his translation.
By that it will appear, whether the English nation, which is the most
competent judge in this matter, has, upon the seeing our debate,
pronounced in M. Varillas's favour, or in mine. It is true, Mr D. will
suffer a little by it; but at least it will serve to keep him in from
other extravagancies; and if he gains little honour by this work, yet
he cannot lose so much by it, as he has done by his last employment. "


Note XXXIV.

_They long their fellow-subjects to enthral,
Their patron's promise into question call,
And vainly think he meant to make them lords of all. _ P. 236.

Part of the controversy which now raged, turned on the precise meaning
of the king's promise, to maintain the church of England as by law
established. The church party insisted, that the Declaration of
Indulgence was a breach of this promise, as it suspended their legal
safeguards, the test and penal laws. The advocates for the toleration
answered, that the promise was conditional, and depended on the church
consenting to the abrogation of these laws. This was stated by Penn, in
his "Good Advice;" to which the following indignant answer is made by a
champion of the church, perhaps Burnet himself:

"And if there be no other way of giving the king an opportunity of
keeping his word with the church of England, in preserving her, and
maintaining our religion, but the repealing of the penal and test laws,
as he intimates unto us, (Good Advice, p. 50. ) we have not found the
royal faith so sacred and inviolable in other instances, as to rob
ourselves of a legal defence and protection, for to depend upon the
precarious one of a base promise, which his ghostly fathers, whensoever
they find it convenient, will tell him it was unlawful to make, and
which he can have a dispensation for the breaking of, at what time
he pleaseth. Nor do we remember, that when he pledged his faith unto
us, in so many promises, that the parting with our laws was declared
to be the condition upon which he made, and undertook to perform
them. Neither can any have the confidence to allege it, without having
recourse to the Papal doctrine of mental reservation. Which being one
of the principles of that order, under whose conduct he is, makes us
justly afraid to rely upon his word without further security. However,
we do hereby see, with what little sincerity Mr Penn writes; and what
small regard he hath to his majesty's honour, when he tells the church
of England, that if she please, and like the terms of giving up the
penal and test laws against Papists, that then the king will perform
his word with her; (Good Advice, p. 17. ) but that otherwise, it is she
who breaks with him, and not he with her. " (_Ibid. _ p. 44. )


Note XXXV.

_Then, all maturely weighed, pronounced a doom
Of sacred strength for every age to come.
By this the Doves their wealth and state possess,
No rights infringed, but license to oppress. _--P. 237.

The declaration for liberty of conscience was a strange and
incongruous, as well as most impolitic performance. It set out with
declaring, that although the king heartily wished that all his
subjects were members of the Catholic church, (which they returned,
by heartily wishing that he were a Protestant,) yet he abhorred all
idea of constraining conscience; and therefore, _making no doubt of
the concurrence of Parliament_, declared, 1. That he would protect
and maintain the bishops, &c. of the church of England, as by law
established, in the free exercise of their religion, and quiet
enjoyment of their possessions. 2. That all execution of penal laws
against non-conformists be suspended. 3. That all his majesty's
subjects should be at liberty to serve God after their own way,
in public and private, so nothing was preached against the royal
authority. 4. That the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and the tests
made in the 25th and 30th years of Charles II. , be discontinued. 5.
That all non-conformists be pardoned for former offences against the
penal laws and test. 6. That abbey and church lands be assured to the
possessors.

Such were the contents of this memorable Declaration, in which
a bigotted purpose was cloaked under professions of the highest
liberality; and prevarication and falsehood were rendered more
disgusting, by being mingled with very unseasonable truth.


Note XXXVI.

_Concluding well within his kingly breast,
His fowls of nature too unjustly were opprest;
He therefore makes all birds, of every sect,
Free of his farm. _--P. 237.

When the king had irreconcileably quarrelled with the church, he began
to affect a great favour for the dissenters; and, as has been often
hinted, endeavoured to represent the measure of universal toleration
to be intended as much for the benefit of the Protestant dissenters as
of the Catholics. He dwelt upon the rigour of the church courts, and
directed an inquiry to be made into all the vexatious suits which had
been instituted against the dissenters, and the compositions which had
been exacted from them, under pretence of enforcing the laws.