Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/39

 2<i S. N 2., JAN. 12. '56]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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and require : Whomsoever you, my brother (as circum- stance and occasion may offer) shall take and join with yourself, shall choose and approve, confirm and consti- tute, I also * (as far as in me lies, and I can do lawfully) do in like manner take and join with 3-011, choose and approve, confirm and appoint. In a word, whatsoever you yourself shall do in such matters, or think proper to be done, all that, how great soever, or of what nature soever it may be, do you boldly impute the same to me. Behold! I, William, have written it with mine own hand; I will maintain and make it good; yea, I will not only ratify it, but be thankful for it. Now, may the light of our Lord God be upon thee, brother, and may He direct and strengthen the ivorks of thy hands. And moreover, may He snatch thee (and all our brethren) out of the mouth of the lion, and the hand of the dog, and the horns of the unicorns. May He hear you, and honour and crown you finally with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus !

" Given from my own hired dwelling (for the hut which I am building for myself, the sharp winter coming upon us, is not yet finished) here in Fressingfield (which is even now deeply frozen), situate within the precincts of your diocese, on the ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord 1691. W. CANT.

" Done in the presence of me, Win. Bancroft, Jun., Notary Public."

An account of the first consecration under tbis commission was drawn up and left in MS. by Dr. Hickes ; and is thus alluded to by the Rev. John Lindsay, in his Preface to Mason's Vindication of the Church of England :

"I have seen an account of this affair in manuscript, drawn up (I suppose) by Dr. Hickes himself; out of which I shall oblige my reader with the following parti- culars: viz. that after "the deprivation of the archbishop and his brethren, they immediately began to think of continuing their succession by new consecrations, and often discoursed of it, without taking any particular reso- lutions, till after the consecration of the intruders (as they call them) into their sees, that then the deprived archbishop and bishops resolved to continue the same, and to write to the late King James about it : that in their discourses on this matter the deprived Bishop of Ely acquainted the archbishop and his brethren with the letters in St. John's College library in Cambridge, which had passed upon the like occasion between Chancellor Hyde and Dr. Barwickf; that thereupon they had re- course to those letters, and resolved to impart the secret to the then Earl of Clarendon, who had been his father's secretary in that correspondence ; that from those letters, and the additional light which they received from that noble earl, it appeared that, in that case, in regard of the diffi- culties of making elections, it was resolved to consecrate the new bishops with suffragan titles, according to the statute of King Henry VIII. ; that therefore the deprived archbishop and bishops resolved upon the same method in this case also, and to write to the late King James for his consent to it in the way directed by that statute ; though (it seems) they judged it a matter of so great im- portance as to resolve to do it even without his consent, rather^than not at all: that upon their application the late King James returned his answer, that he would readily concur with it, and required them to send some

ever present with you."
 * " Although absent in body, yet in mind and feeling

t See the Life of Dr. John Barwick, p. 206. The letters are given in the Appendix.

person over to him, with whom he might further confer about the matter, and along with him a list of the de- prived clergy : that Dr. George Hickes, being made choice of for that purpose, set forward from London, May 19, 1693, and, after many difficulties, arrived at St. Germains in about six weeks' time : that there the late King James acquainted him that, for the further satisfaction of his own conscience, he had consulted the Archbishop of Paris, and the Bishop of Meaux, and the Pope himself, who severally determined that the Chxirch of England, being established by the laws of the kingdom, he (though a Papist) was under no obligation of conscience to act against it, but obliged to maintain and defend it, as long as those laws are in force : that the late King James put their said determinations into the Doctor's hands, which he read and found to be to the effect aforesaid: that the said late King James also assured him, that he had on all occasions justified the Church of England since the Revo- lution. That the Doctor returned to London 4th Febru- ary, 1693, and was consecrated on the 24th." *


 * 1) Knor

The Savoy, The following will serve as an addendum to Timbs and Cunningham in their account of the Savoy, and shows also that the inhabitants of this precinct preserved that cha- racter for ill behaviour for which they were no- torious when Fleetwood, the Recorder of London in 1581, described them as "rogues and master- less men ; " and in 1697, when their condition is so forcibly described by Macaulay :

"In the year 1736 the German Congregation in the Savoy preferred a petition to the Lords of the Treasury, wherein they set forth ' that near to their church is situated a house (late Peter Miller's, Cabinet Maker) which is now inhabited by a coalheaver, whose wife washes linen for the barracks, by whose noises they are frequently disturbed in Divine Service, and by the great stench of the lye used for the linen ; by keeping of hogs there, and by the smoke proceeding from the apartment underneath, several of the congregation are kept from church ; besides which, several rude persons belonging to the said house abuse them, make trespasses upon their church to their frequent charge and expense.' They then pray that as the house in question is not in grant, that they may have a lease thereof on paying a rent of six pence per annum." f

" By a warrant dated June 28, 1736, the Treasury, in order to remove the annoyances and inconveniences com- plained of by the congregation, and to the end that the officers might render the piece of ground and building thereupon commodious, and add a vestry-room to the church for the service of the congregation, gave licence to the officers of the church to hold the piece of ground during the royal pleasure, paying the yearly rent of three pence, and keeping the premises to be erected thereon in repair." J

WirxiAM HENR\ HART.

Albert Terrace, New Cross.

Father Petre and Dr. Busby. The following story from Revolution Politicks, will, I hope, be

f Treasury Crown Lease Book, No. 4. p. 22. t Ibid. p. 10.3.
 * See also Macpherson's Original Papers, i. 452455.