Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/328

Fuller William, Robert, and Gervase, and two daughters, Jane, married to Brian Walton, D.D., afterwards bishop of Chester, and Mary. Mrs. Walton, soon after the Restoration, erected a 'comely monument' over her father's grave. In his will, dated 14 Dec. 1658, and proved on 30 May 1659, Fuller requests that his 'written bookes and papers shall not be scene or disposed of without the privity and consent' of his son-in-law Brian Walton (registered in P. C. C. 273, Pell). He published: 1. 'A Sermon [on Ephes. iv. 7] preached before his Maiestie at Dover Castle,' 4to, London, 1625. 2. 'The Movrning of Mount Libanon ... A Sermon [on Zech. xi. 2] preached. . . 1627. In commemoration of the Lady Frances Clifton,' &c., 4to, London, 1628. From the dedication to Sir Gervase Clifton we learn that Fuller had preached the funeral sermon of the first Lady Clifton, which, however, 'went out in written copies.'

[Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 79-80, 82; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 357; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1638-9, p. 298, 1640-1, pp. 213, 401, 1660-1, p. 232.]  FULLER, WILLIAM, D.D. (1608–1675), bishop of Lincoln, was son of Thomas Fuller, merchant of London, by his wife, Lucy, daughter of Simon Cannon, citizen and merchant taylor. He was born in London, and was educated at Westminster School, from which he removed to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a commoner, about 1626, migrating to Edmund Hall, at which he took the degree of B.C.L. about 1632. After admission to holy orders he was appointed one of the chaplains or petty canons of Christ Church Cathedral. He was presented by the king to the rectory of St. Mary Woolchurch in the city of London on 30 June 1641, and resigned it on 16 Dec. of the same year, in which he was also appointed to the rectory of Ewhurst, Sussex. When Charles I shut himself up in Oxford in 1645, he became chaplain to Edward, lord Lyttelton, lord keeper of the great seal. As an ardent loyalist he suffered greatly in the civil wars, and in the parliamentary visitation of the university lost his position at Christ Church. During the protectorate he fell into 'a low condition.' Pepys tells us he supported himself by keeping a school at Twickenham, where he endeavoured to instil principles of loyalty and churchmanship into the minds of his scholars. While at Twickenham he had for his assistant William Wyatt, who had acted in the same capacity to Jeremy Taylor when he maintained himself by keeping school at Llanfihangel in Carmarthenshire, in conjunction with Nicholson, afterwards bishop of Gloucester. Wyatt was rewarded by his former principal when bishop of Lincoln with the precentorship of that cathedral (, Fasti, ii. 254).

So consistent a loyalist naturally obtained speedy preferment at the Restoration. On 3 July 1660, little more than a month after the completion of the Restoration, Fuller was appointed to the deanery of St. Patrick's Dublin, and received the degree of D.C.L. at his own university on 2 Aug., by virtue of a letter of the chancellor, and also was admitted D.D. of Cambridge by the same authority. Other preferments in the Irish church followed: the treasurership of Christ Church, Dublin, on 11 July 1661, the chancellorship of Dromore in 1662, and finally the bishopric of Limerick, to which he was consecrated in Christ Church Cathedral on 20 March 1663-1664, with permission to hold his deanery in commendam for two years. Six months after he became dean of St. Patrick's, 27 Jan. 1660-1661, twelve bishops were consecrated at one time for as many vacant sees in St. Patrick's Cathedral by Archbishop Bramhall, the primate, Jeremy Taylor being then consecrated to the see of Down and Connor, and preaching the sermon. For this ceremonial an anthem was composed by Fuller, entitled 'Quum denuo exaltavit Dominus coronam.' It is evident that Fuller regarded his Irish dignities as little more than stepping-stones to some more acceptable English preferment. During the time he was dean of St. Patrick's we are told that he spent the greater portion of his time in England, leaving the sub-dean to preside at chapter meetings. But he manifested a warm interest in the repair of his cathedral, which during his tenure of office was restored from a ruinous condition to decency and stability (, Hist, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, pp. 191-6). At last, after frequent disappointments, the long-looked-for translation to an English see took place. In 1667 Laney was translated from the bishopric of Lincoln to that of Ely. The see of St. Asaph, which had previously become vacant, had been promised by the king to Dr. Glemham, dean of Bristol, who was, however, anxious to exchange St. Asaph for Lincoln. Dr. Rainbow, the bishop of Carlisle, was not unwilling to accept Asaph. Dean Glemham's wishes were opposed in influential quarters, and Fuller, who was then laid up with the gout at Chester, on his way to Ireland, wrote to Williamson, Lord Arlington's secretary, on 25 May 1667, that, 'as when two contend for a post a third person is sometimes chosen, he hoped that Lord Arlington would propose, and the Archbishop of Canterbury approve of, his being translated from Limerick to Lincoln' (Calendar of State Papers, Dom.) His