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 of the church. Hacket, in his 'Life of Williams,' speaks very contemptuously of the objections urged against the prayer-book by the puritans in the committee. They were, he says, 'petty and stale, older than the old Exchange.' No effect was produced by this committee, but in the discussions which took place Hacket appears to have distinguished himself, as he was soon after requested by the whole of the churchmen on the committee to represent the church at a very important crisis in the House of Commons. On 20 May 1641 the so-called 'root and branch' bill was brought into the House of Commons by Sir Edward Dering [q. v.] for the abolition of bishops and all officers connected with the episcopal form of government in the church. Leave was given for an advocate to appear in the house to plead for deans and chapters, and Hacket, at the request of the committee for religion, undertook the duty. He had only a day given him to prepare his speech, but it shows considerable tact and knowledge of his auditory. He begins by acknowledging that cathedral music needs reform, and the doing away with 'fractious and affected exquisiteness,' and that more sermons ought to be preached in cathedrals. He defends these institutions on the ground of their being useful for the superintendence of grammar schools, for holding out prizes for learning, for furnishing a council to the bishop, for keeping up the magnificent structures belonging to them. He shows that to abolish the chapters would cause the ruin of a great many persons connected with the churches, of the cathedral towns, and of the holders of leases. He points out that the cathedrals have furnished refuges for distinguished foreign divines, as Saravia, Isaac and Meric Casaubon, Primrose, Vossius, Peter Moulin. The effect of his speech was considerable, and the commons voted that the revenues of the chapters should not be taken away. A little later (15 June) they reversed this vote and agreed that deans and chapters, archdeacons, &c., should be utterly abolished. Hacket was closely interested in the bill, as he was not only an archdeacon and canon in the diocese of Lincoln, but had been just appointed residentiary canon of St. Paul's.

In the succeeding troubles Hacket does not seem to have fared so badly as some of his brethren. He was appointed a member of the Westminster Assembly of divines, but soon ceased to attend the meetings of that body, as the episcopal divines had no weight in their deliberations. On 13 Dec. 1645 his living of St. Andrew's, Holborn, was sequestered, and all his church building fund confiscated; but he was allowed, eventually, though not without considerable perils, to retain the little benefice of Cheam. Here he continued, at some risk, to officiate according to the Book of Common Prayer. On one occasion a soldier entering his church presented a pistol at his breast and ordered him to stop. Hacket replied that he would do what became a divine, let the other do what became a soldier; and continued the service. He is said to have carefully committed the burial service to memory that he might use it without offending the puritans. He was at one time taken prisoner by the army of Essex and carried with them. Lord Essex used much persuasion to lead him to join the parliamentary side, but Hacket remaining obdurate, he ordered him to be dismissed. At Cheam Hacket remained during the whole period of the rebellion and protectorate occupied in learned studies. After the death of Archbishop Williams in 1650, Hacket composed an elaborate biography under the title of 'Scrinia Reserata: a Memorial offered to the Great Deservings of John Williams, D.D.' This work was not printed till 1693; abridgments appeared in 1700 (by Ambrose Philips) and 1715. It displays great learning and much wit, but has the common biographical defect of defending too indiscriminately the many questionable passages in the lord keeper's life; nevertheless, it remains one of the best biographies in the English language. Coleridge, in his 'Table Talk,' credits it with giving the most valuable insight into the times preceding the civil wars of any book he knew. After the execution of the king, Hacket declared that he would never again set foot in London, but broke his resolution so far as to attend Lords Holland and Norwich when they were condemned to death. Some letters written about this time by Hacket to Dr. Dillingham, and preserved among the Sloane MSS., represent him as a 'sickly old man' who had fallen into bad health through grief of mind. He always appears, however, full of faith and courage, and with a firm belief in the certainty of the coming of the restoration.

On the return of Charles II, Hacket at once took a prominent place. He preached before the commissioners of the Savoy conference at Croydon, and frequently before the king during 1660. He also occupied the pulpit at St. Paul's, where he had been appointed a residentiary before the troubles. In 1660 he was offered the bishopric of Gloucester, but refused to accept it; however, on 4 Nov. 1661 he was nominated to the see of Lichfield and Coventry, void by the translation of Accepted Frewen to York, and was 