Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/279

 but as a political interest and a subject of party and faction. He seldom came to prayers or to any exercises of devotion, and was so lifted up with pride that he was become insufferable to all that came near him' (, History of his Own Times, iii. 211).

He was allowed to hold the archdeaconry of Canterbury in commendam with his bishopric. His prebend he had resigned in 1685. He at once began to work actively on the king's side. He published 'Reasons for abrogating the Test,' which, though sensible enough in themselves, were regarded, in the excited state of public feeling, as a direct encouragement of the Roman projects against the English church. The book aroused a violent literary controversy ; and the suspicions of Parker's treachery were not allayed by his attempt to induce the clergy of his diocese to address the king with expressions of gratitude and loyalty after his declaration of his intention to secure to the clergy of the church of England the free exercise of their religion and the enjoyment of their possessions. It was pointed out that such an address would compromise the constitutional position of the English church, and when Parker assembled his clergy to ask their subscription to the address, 'they all unanimously refused' (Biographia Britannica, v. 3304; cf. Somers Tracts, 1748, ii. 373).

He was early apprised of the king's intention to use the appointments to office in the universities for the furtherance of the Roman catholic religion, and thus when, after the death of Dr. Clerke, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr. Thomas Smith called upon him to ask his interest, he replied that 'the king expected that the person he recommended should be favourable to his religion.' Six months later, after the failure of his attempt to force Anthony Farmer upon the fellows, the king nominated Parker as president of Magdalen College (14 Aug. 1687). Parker was ill, and desired to be admitted by proxy; but the fellows refused to elect him, having already elected Hough. The king's visit to Oxford did not advance matters, and finally the ecclesiastical commission visited the college and, after inquiry, installed Parker as president by the king's mandate, and, forcibly entering the lodgings, placed him in possession (25 Oct.) On 2 Nov. he came into residence, and was occupied for the next four months in admitting Roman catholic fellows and demies, including several Jesuits, on successive mandates from the king (, Magdalen College and James II, Oxford Hist. Soc.; Vice-President's Register, 2, 5, and 16 March 1678). He made futile endeavours to induce the members of the foundation to recognise him as president, and expelled refractory demies. He was regarded by many as an almost avowed Romanist. 'A Third Collection of Papers relating to the present juncture of Affairs in England ' (London, 1689) gives a letter from a Jesuit at Liège to a Jesuit at Fribourg, dated 2 Feb. 1688, which stated that Parker proposed in council that one college at Oxford should be given to the Romanists, and that he publicly drank the king's health, 'wishing him success in all his undertakings ' (p. 10).

But such statements must be received with scepticism. When the king's mandate ordered him to admit nine more Roman catholics as fellows, Parker's patience was exhausted, and a burst of anger followed, which led to a convulsive fit. He had long been in failing health, and, worn out by the anxieties and contentions of the last year, he died on 21 March 1688. During his sickness he was visited by Roman catholic priests, but he told them that he neither was nor would be of their communion. He received the sacrament according to the English rite, and made a declaration to the fellows of his adherence to the national church. The room in which he died, on the first floor of the president's house, was afterwards used as a study. It was pulled down during the recent reconstruction of the president's lodging.

He was buried by torchlight on 24 March on the south side of the ante-chapel, without memorial. An epitaph, said to have been written by himself, is given by Dr. Bliss (note to 's Athenae Oxon. iv. 872), in which he says: 'Omnes simultates et privatas inimicitias, non modo non fovi sed contempsi, sola integritate fretus.' His will was proved at Oxford 5 April 1688. His younger son, Samuel (1681-1730), is separately noticed. Burnet, a prejudiced witness, says Parker was 'full of satirical vivacity, and was considerably learned, but was a man of no judgment and of as little virtue; and, as to religion, rather impious' (History of his Own Times, i. 382). Two satirical epitaphs preserved by Hearne very happily express contemporary opinion. One of them runs : 'Hac alieni Raptor honoris, Usque librorum. Vana minantum Futilis autor, Ore bilinguis Fronte bicornis, Conditur urna, Samuel Oxon.' (Collectanea, ed. Doble, ii. 258).

When asked 'What was the best body of divinity?' Parker is said to have answered, 'That which would help a man to keep a coach and six horses was certainly the best ' (Somers Tracts, ii. 507); and the facts of his life show