Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/416

 Elizabeth's reign he refused two bishoprics (Salisbury and Ely), because the offer in each case was coupled with the condition that he should consent to the alienation of part of the revenues of the see; but shortly before her death (1597–8) he accepted first a stall, and then (1601) the deanery at Westminster. Under King James I Andrewes's rise was rapid. In 1605 he was persuaded with some difficulty to accept the bishopric of Chichester, and was made in the same year king's almoner; in 1609 he was translated to Ely, and in 1619 to Winchester, ‘whence,’ says Bishop Buckeridge, ‘God translated him to heaven,’ not, however, before he had narrowly escaped another translation on earth, to the primacy of all England. In 1619 he was also made dean of the Chapel Royal; and he was a privy councillor both for England (1609) and for Scotland (1617). He took part in the Hampton Court conference (1603–4), where his vast patristic learning was of service; his name stands first in the list of divines who were appointed (1607) to make our ‘authorised version’ of the Bible, being one of the Westminster ten whose province was to translate the Pentateuch and the historical books from Joshua to 1 Chronicles; and when King James set up episcopacy in Scotland it was Andrewes who suggested, in vain, that the prelates elect ought to be ordained priests before they were made bishops. Though Andrewes was so great a favourite at three successive courts, and held, on religious grounds, the highest views of the regal power, he was no flatterer. The following anecdote has been often told: ‘My lords,’ said King James to the bishops, Neale of Durham and Andrewes of Winchester, as they stood behind his chair at dinner, ‘cannot I take my subjects' money when I want it without all this formality in parliament?’ ‘God forbid, sir, but you should,’ said Bishop Neale; ‘you are the breath of our nostrils.’ Andrewes replied (with perfect truth, for he systematically avoided mixing himself up with politics) that he had ‘no skill in parliamentary cases;’ but being pressed, ‘Then, sir,’ said he, ‘I think it lawful for you to take my brother Neale's money, because he offers it’ (WALLER). It is said that the awe of Andrewes's presence was wont to restrain King James from that unseemly levity in which he was rather too prone to indulge. Andrewes only went to court to deliver his divine Master's message, and so, ‘when through weakness he was unable to preach,’ Bishop Buckeridge tells us, ‘he began to go little to the court.’ Though he was so often preferred, Andrewes was quite indifferent about preferment; others were bitterly disappointed when he was not advanced to the primacy, but he himself never was; and so far from showing any resentment against Abbot, who was preferred before him, he proved himself the kindest friend of the unfortunate archbishop when he fell under the charge of casual homicide. Truth, however, compels us to add that in some points Andrewes was not in advance of his age. It is sad to think that he was probably one of the bishops who sanctioned the burning of the Arian, Leggat; and that he voted for the divorce of Essex. He died 26 Sept. 1626.

Andrewes was eminent in three capacities: (1) As a prelate. Few men have more happily combined the various qualities which contribute to make a great prelate than Andrewes. His principles were most distinct and definite, and from these principles he never swerved. He was a thorough English churchman, as far removed from Romanism on the one hand, as from puritanism on the other. He never interfered in public affairs, either as a privy councillor or in any other capacity, except when the spiritual interests of the church seemed to him to be at stake; and then, in spite of his constitutional modesty, he spoke out boldly and to the point. His learning was unequalled. From his childhood to his death he was an indefatigable student; his multifarious business as a public man was never allowed to interfere with his studies. He made a rule of not being interrupted, except for public or private prayer, before dinner-time (12 o'clock); when he was intruded upon, he would say ‘he was afraid he was no true scholar who came to see him before noon.’ The result was that he made himself master of fifteen languages, if not more, while his knowledge of patristic theology was quite unrivalled. ‘The world,’ writes Fuller, ‘wanted learning to know how learned this man was, so skilled in all (especially oriental) languages, that some conceive he might (if then living) almost have served as an interpreter general at the confusion of tongues.’ Yet he was eminent for his social qualities; he had a guileless simplicity both of manner and mind, an unaffected modesty, and a rare sense of humour. His munificence was so great that the very multitude of his benefactions renders it impossible to enumerate them here. Bishop Buckeridge (who knew him perhaps better than any man) seems to have thought that this was the most prominent feature in his character; for he took for the text of his funeral sermon Heb. xiii. 16 (‘To do good and to distribute forget not,’ &c.), and dwelt largely on Andrewes's fulfilment of this precept. Among Andrewes's other merits as a prelate must be noticed his extreme con-