Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 34.djvu/80

 for him, on his consenting to enter into a bond of 1,000l. to resign it ‘whensoever the queen's majesty should convert the same to a school or house of learning’ (, Orig. Letters, lxi. lxvii.). He was accordingly postulated by the chapter, and on 28 Jan. the postulation was confirmed by the queen (, St. Patrick's, p. 166). On the establishment of the commission for ecclesiastical causes, on 1 Oct. 1565, he was appointed to the chief place on it. His learning and discretion had already obtained Sussex's approbation, and he was universally acknowledged to be a zealous and eloquent preacher. The damp climate of Ireland, however, did not agree with his health, and in August 1566 he obtained leave to be absent in England for twelve months (Cal. Fiants, Eliz. No. 928). Ill-health compelled him to stop for a time at Cambridge, but on 3 Nov. he addressed a letter from his lodging in Southwark to Cecil, enclosing an account that had reached him of the damage done to his diocese by Shane O'Neill, and requesting permission to resign his archbishopric (, Orig. Letters, cii.) On 25 Nov. he was admitted to the degree of D.D. at Cambridge (, Athenæ Cantabr.) Meanwhile the question of finding a suitable successor to Archbishop Curwen, who had been translated to Oxford, was occupying the attention of government. Loftus at first suggested Hugh Brady, bishop of Meath, but finding him somewhat lax on the commission for ecclesiastical causes, he withdrew his recommendation in favour of Christopher Goodman (, Orig. Letters, lxxxv. xcviii. cvii.) But on 11 March 1567 Sir Henry Sidney announced to Loftus the queen's intention of translating him to the archbishopric, and on his own account added the words, ‘nunc venit hora ecclesiam reformandi’ (ib. cix.) Loftus was inclined to stipulate for the retention of his deanery (ib. cx.) But finding that it was designed for the new lord chancellor, Robert Weston, he resigned it, and on 8 Aug. 1567 was translated to Dublin (, Fasti Eccles. Hib.) Shortly after his installation his enemies sought to damage him with the queen, by insinuating that he was making innovations in the celebration of the communion. His theology was indeed strongly leavened with puritanism; but though he numbered among his correspondents John Knox, and accounted Thomas Cartwright an honoured friend, he was always a staunch adherent of the establishment. There seems, indeed, little doubt that he was indifferent in matters of ritual, and personally favoured a more simple ceremonial than that established by law; but he emphatically denied that he had in his sermons to the clergy or the people ‘persuaded any innovation, or seemed to mislike of (but wished reverently to be embraced), that order set forth already by the law’ (State Papers, Ireland, Eliz. xxiii. 18). So, too, when he was charged, on the ground of his intimacy with Cartwright, with being a puritan, he indignantly declared himself ‘utterly ignorant what the term and accusation of a puritan meaneth’ (ib. lvii. 36).

During the disturbances that occurred in the spring of 1573 Loftus suffered severely. His town of Tallaght, lying on the edge of the Wicklow mountains, was invaded by the Irish, and a nephew of his and some of his men slain at the very gates (ib. xl. 36). On the death of Weston, in May 1573, he was appointed lord keeper, and held the office till April 1576, when he was succeeded by Sir William Gerard [q. v.] (Lib. Hib.) Meanwhile he laboured diligently as a preacher and an ecclesiastical commissioner to advance the reformation; but he suffered much from an infirmity in his leg, and Fitzwilliam, though thinking he might, ‘having youth and strength,’ ‘bear it out for a time,’ advised his translation to Oxford, with the deanery of Wells in commendam (State Papers, Ireland, Eliz. xlii. 16, lv. 29, lvi. 27). A commission, issued on 18 March 1577 to George Acworth and Robert Garvey for granting licenses, dispensations, faculties, &c., was resented by Loftus, the head of the commission for ecclesiastical causes, and the other bishops generally, as an infringement of their rights; and after considerable controversy, in which Loftus took a prominent part (, State Papers concerning the Irish Church, pp. 26–36), the commission was revoked on 14 March 1579 (Cal. Fiants, Eliz. No. 2996). During Gerard's absence in England, in 1576 and 1579, Loftus filled the office of lord keeper, and on 21 Nov. he received additional authority to hear causes. On 6 March 1581 he was again constituted lord keeper, and on 16 Aug. he was created lord chancellor, an office which he held till his death (Lib. Hib.) Apparently also about the same time, 1579, he obtained, ‘on account of the exility and tenuity of his see,’ the chancellorship of St. Patrick's, with the rectory of Finglas annexed. His desire to increase his income did not escape the notice of his enemies; but before he became lord chancellor his entire income amounted to little more than 400l. a year. He had a numerous family to provide for, maintained a hospitable establishment, redeemed some of the property of the church alienated by his predecessor, and personally had ‘never gained the value of one groat by