Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/352

H in concert with Sir Nicholas Bacon, and when, in the disputation that ensued, the Romish divines refused to abide by the preliminaries that had been agreed upon, Heath refused to uphold them in their objections, and condemned their disorderly conduct. In the debate in the House of Lords on the bill for establishing the queen's supremacy Heath made a long speech, dwelling especially on the danger of forsaking the see of Rome and on the nature of the supremacy claimed, which he held to be against the word of God. The speech attributed to him by Burnet against the Uniformity Act was made by Abbot Feckenham [q. v.] When the bishops were called upon to take the oath enjoined by the Supremacy Act, and were summoned before the queen, Heath naturally became the leader and spokesman for the party. He showed great boldness on the occasion, calling upon Elizabeth to fulfil Mary's covenant with the holy see for the suppression of heresy. The archbishop suffered no ill-consequences from his bold words. Upon his ultimate refusal to take the oath, Heath, together with the other bishops, was deprived of his see. It is said that the bishops were completely taken by surprise at the deprivation being enforced, as there were no others to supply their places. Heath's deprivation took place on 5 July 1559 at the lord treasurer's house in Broad Street. On his deprivation he was committed to the Tower, together with some of the other recusants. They were treated mildly and allowed to dine together. In a short time Heath was set at liberty and allowed to retire to his estate at Chobham in Surrey, on giving an undertaking ‘not to interrupt the laws of church and state or to meddle with affairs of the realm.’ This undertaking he appears to have religiously observed, as the queen more than once paid him a visit at his house at Chobham and was loyally welcomed. He was allowed to dispose of his property at will, and died of old age, respected by all, at the end of 1578 (Loseley MSS.). He was buried in the chancel of Chobham Church, a plain black stone marking his grave. His moderate tone was of much service to Elizabeth. As the leading surviving prelate of the Marian days he had much influence in determining the attitude of the Romanists towards her. 

HEATH, RICHARD (d. 1702), judge, son of Roger Heath, was admitted as a member of the Inner Temple in July 1652, and called to the bar in November 1659. He may be the Mr. Heath mentioned by Pepys (Diary, i. 350) as attorney to the duchy of Lancaster in 1662. He became a bencher of his inn in October 1677, a serjeant-at-law in 1683, and when Sir Edward Atkyns became chief baron, he succeeded to the vacancy in the court of exchequer, 21 April 1686. He concurred with his colleagues in expressing an opinion in favour of the king's dispensing power, but did not altogether approve of the royal policy, as appears from Sancroft's statement on 6 Nov. 1688, that Heath alleged himself to have had instructions from the court to pronounce the bishop's petition a factious libel. James II superseded him in December, but he was excepted out of the Bill of Indemnity after the revolution, went into retirement, and died in July 1702. He married Katherine, daughter of Henry Weston of Ockham and Sende, sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. 

HEATH, ROBERT (1575–1649), judge, son of Robert Heath of Brasted, Kent, a member of the Inner Temple, by Anne, daughter of Nicholas Posyer, was born at Brasted on 20 May 1575, and educated at Tunbridge grammar school and St. John's College, Cambridge, which he entered on 26 June 1589, and where he spent three years, but took no degree. In 1591 he entered Clifford's Inn, and on 23 May 1593 the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1603. He was reader at Clifford's Inn for two years (1607–9), was appointed clerk of the pleas in the king's bench for life in 1607, and on 7 July 1612 had a grant in trust for Robert Car, viscount Rochester, afterwards Earl of Somerset, of a moiety of the office of chief clerk of the inrolments in the king's bench, with a twelfth of the emoluments in reversion expectant on the death of the then holder, Sir John Roper. When Roper was raised to the peerage as Lord Teynham (19 Nov. 1616), Heath was appointed trustee of the same moiety for George viscount Villiers during Teynham's life. He was elected a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1617, and by recommendation of the king recorder of London on 10 Nov. 1618, was autumn reader at the Inner Temple in 1619, was returned to parliament for the city of London on 20 Nov. 1620, and