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Heylyn year afterwards. He was accused later of having contracted a clandestine marriage, and deceived his college. It would seem that the greater part of the society were ignorant of it, and regarded the rumours about it as a joke, and that Heylyn did not act quite honourably in not immediately resigning his fellowship. He had a small inheritance from his father, but was looking out for preferment, and went as chaplain to the Earl of Danby, who was governor of Guernsey and Jersey. There Heylyn wrote a description of those islands, which he appended to his 'Survey of France.' Danby commended him to Laud, and in 1630 he was made one of the king's chaplains. He showed his gratitude to Danby by writing in 1631 a 'History of St. George of Cappadocia,' the patron saint of the order of the Garter. In this book Heylyn proved to his own satisfaction both the historical reality and the holiness of the martyr St. George. This book won him the presentation from a private patron of the benefice of Meysey Hampton in Gloucestershire; but the patron's right was disputed, and Bishop Goodman decided against him. Soon afterwards the king presented him to the rectory of Hemingford, Huntingdonshire, but Bishop Williams, who did not wish to have a partisan of Laud's in his diocese, claimed the presentation himself, and refused to institute Heylyn. The king retaliated by appointing Heylyn to a prebend of Westminster Cathedral (1631), of which Williams was dean. From that time forward it was one of Heylyn's occupations to annoy Williams, who was in disgrace at court, and make himself an instrument of the royal vengeance. In 1633 he made himself useful by preparing for Noy the case against Prynne for the publication of the 'Histriomastix.' He further prepared a memorandum for Noy on the subject of the feoffees for impropriations, a body of trustees who bought tithes for the purpose of endowing puritan lectureships. Heylyn had already preached against them at Oxford on 11 July 1630, probably at Laud's instigation; they were now proceeded against in the exchequer chamber, and were dissolved (, History from 1603 to 1642, vii. 258–9).

In 1633 Heylyn was presented by the king to the benefice of Houghton in the bishopric of Durham, which he immediately exchanged for Alresford, Hampshire, that he might be nearer London. At Alresford Heylyn beautified the church and introduced the Laudian ritual; he also built a chapel for his parsonage, enlarged the house, and laid out his grounds, saying 'that he loved the noise of the workman's hammer.' He similarly improved his house at Westminster, and was a model of æsthetic munificence. In 1633, in his disputation for the degree of D.D., he again had a controversy with Prideaux about the authority of the church; Prideaux's arguments were laid before the king by Laud, and Heylyn was accused of having acted as an informer (Examen Historicum, ii. 211–18;, Peter Pursued, pp. 6–9). In 1635 Heylyn headed a complaint of the prebendaries of Westminster against their dean, Bishop Williams, which was referred to a body of commissioners. The points raised were trivial, and after many sessions the commissioners could not agree, so that Heylyn only gained the character of a malicious busybody (, Life of Williams, ii. 90–9). In 1636 Heylyn was ordered by the king to write a 'History of the Sabbath,' as an answer to the scruples raised by the puritans. The book was written and printed in four months. At the same time Heylyn enjoyed a malicious triumph over his old antagonist Prideaux by translating from the Latin a discourse on the sabbath which had been read at Oxford in 1622, and took a broader view of the matter than was agreeable to the puritans, who regarded Prideaux as one of their champions. This, however, was only an episode in Heylyn's pursuit of Bishop Williams, whom Charles I and Laud were desirous to discredit. Heylyn brought to light a letter of Williams to the vicar of Grantham, written in 1627, in which the bishop ruled that the communion-table should stand, 'not altar-wise, but table-wise,' and supported his ruling from Elizabeth's injunctions. This letter Heylyn pulled to pieces in a pamphlet, 'A Coal from the Altar' (licensed 5 May 1636). To this Williams replied by a book, 'The Holy Table, Name and Thing,' which professed to be written by a Lincolnshire clergyman, and only to be licensed by the bishop (licensed for his own diocese 30 Nov. 1636). Heylyn quickly retorted by 'Antidotum Lincolnense, an Answer to the Bishop of Lincoln's Book,' and certainly had the best of it in smartness and point (ib. ii. 101–10;, Hist. Engl. viii. 253). Williams was suspended by the Star-chamber 24 July 1637, and controversy with him became needless.

On the removal of Williams, Heylyn was made treasurer for the chapter of Westminster, and did good service in repairing the abbey. He was presented by the chapter to the living of Islip, Oxfordshire, which he at once exchanged for South Warnborough, Hampshire, so as to have his benefices nearer together. About this time Heylyn's eyesight began to fail him, and in 1638 he and his family were attacked by a dan-