Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/247

Atterbury passed a vote of thanks to him, and his own university conferred upon him the degree of D.D. without the usual fees.

Atterbury did not lose his favour at court through his bold advocacy of the rights of the clergy. He had long been a favourite preacher at the Chapel Royal, and on Queen Mary's death in 1694 he was the only royal chaplain who was still retained. The Princess Anne and her husband highly esteemed him, and when the former succeeded to the throne she made him her chaplain in ordinary, and in 1704 dean of Carlisle. In 1709 he was appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel, where several of his printed sermons were delivered. The tory reaction which marked the last four years of Queen Anne's reign naturally brought Atterbury into still greater prominence. In fact, if the tradition be true (and there is no reason to doubt its truth) that he took a chief part in the composition of Dr. Sacheverel's speech before the House of Lords in 1710, he had no small share in bringing about that reaction. Queen Anne consulted him largely about church matters, and in 1711-12 appointed him as successor to his old friend and chief. Dr. Aldrich, in the deanery of Christ Church. Since the time when convocation, largely through Atterbury's means, had resumed its active functions, he had been a most prominent figure in the assemblies of the lower house. He was the life and soul of the party which carried on its long warfare against the latitudinarian bishops. In 1709 he was associated with the excellent Archbishop Sharp's scheme to bring before convocation the question of providing bishops for the plantations. In 1710 he was elected prolocutor of the lower house by a large majority, and in that capacity, in 1711, he drew up by the queen's command that famous 'Representation of the State of Religion' which has been so often quoted in histories of the times, but for which the bishops insisted upon substituting a less unfavourable report. No doubt Atterbury took a gloomy view of the situation in this 'Representation,' but he expressed his honest convictions, and did not pen it for mere political purposes; his tone is quite as desponding in his charges as archdeacon of Totnes. In 1713 he was made bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster, two posts which, according to the objectionable custom of the times, always went together. 'Thus,' says his enemy, Bishop Burnet, 'he was promoted and rewarded for all the flame he had raised in our church.' As a debater and public speaker he had long held the highest rank among the representatives of the clergy in convocation, and he soon became almost as prominent a figure in the House of Lords. A fine person and graceful delivery contributed to his success, and, to judge by the almost unanimous testimony of contemporaries, he must have been one of the greatest orators of his day.

There is no doubt that, during the lifetime of Queen Anne, Atterbury had, like a vast number of his contemporaries, shown a leaning to the Jacobite cause; but the oft-repeated story, that he offered to head the procession in his lawn sleeves to proclaim King James III at Charing Cross, rests on doubtful authority. At any rate, he submitted to the new regime, and took part officially, as bishop of Rochester, at the coronation of George I. He was entitled to the throne and canopy as his perquisites, but gracefully offered them to the king. The present was rejected, and Atterbury could scarcely help regarding this as a studied affront. Again, the declaration of confidence in the government after the rebellion of 1715 contained many reflections upon the high-church party, the very party of which Atterbury was the undoubted chief. He refused to sign it, and became more and more alienated from the ruling powers, which he attacked frequently and vehemently, and at last drifted away entirely into the service of him whom he considered to be the rightful monarch. It was about the year 1717 that Atterbury began to hold direct communication with the Jacobites. The climax was reached about five years later. The birth of a son to the exiled 'Chevalier' in 1720 raised the hopes of the Jacobites in England. The bursting of the South Sea bubble increased the prevalent disaftection to the reigning dynasty, and the conjuncture was regarded as favourable for another attempt to restore the ancient line. That Atterbury was really involved in this attempt there can be no doubt; but whether the mode of proceeding against him was justifiable is another question. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower, and a bill of pains and penalties was brought against him in the House of Commons. He declined to plead his cause before the house, declaring, with some dignity, that he was 'content with the opportunity (if the bill went on) to make his defence before another house, of which he had the honour to be a member.' After the bill had passed its third reading in the Commons, it was sent up to the Lords, and Atterbury was sent for from the Tower, where he had been confined for seven months, to plead his cause. The evidence which chiefly contributed to condemn him was curious. A Mrs. Bates, being examined by the crown,