where he had run through so hard a Task with the Regius Professor though he missed Windsor took this occasion to make himself merry as the Poet did musa jocosa mea est Ov. And so fell into this vein of Poetry When Windsor Prebend late disposed was One ask'd me sadly how it came to pass Potter was chose and Heylyn was forsaken I answer'd 't was by Charity mistaken But this Fancy was soon turned into a mournful Elegy by the death of his noble Friend the Attorny General Mr. Noy whose memory he could never forget for the honour of delivering to him the gracious message from his Majesty and for the intimacy he was pleased to bear to him as a bosom friend that he imparted to the Doctor all the affairs of State and transactions of things done in his time which made him so perfect an Historian in this particular and shewed him his papers manuscripts and laborious Collections that he had gathered out of Statutes and ancient Records for the proof of the Kings Prerogative particularly before his death at his house in Brainford where the Doctor kept Whitsontide with him in the year 1634. he shewed to him a great wooden Box that was full of old Precedents for levying a Naval aid upon the Subjects by the sole Authority of the King whensoever the preservation and safety of the Kingdom required it of them Mr. Hammond L' Strange acknowledges that Mr. Noy was a most indefatigable plodder and searcher of old Records The learned Antiquary Mr. Selden though no friend to the King nor Church confesses in his excellent book entituled Mare Clausum That the Kings of England â—…sed to levy mony upon the Subjects without the help of Parliament for the providing of Ships and other necessaries to maintain that Soveraignity which anciently belonged to the Crown Yet the honest Attorny General for the same good service to the King and Country is called by Hammond Le Strange The most pestilent vexation to the Subjects that this latter Age produced So true is the old Proverb some may better steal a Horse than others look on For it is usual with many not to judge according to the merits of the cause but by the respect or disrepect they bear to the Person as the Comedian once said Duo cum idem faciunt saepe possis dicere Hoc licet impune facere huic illi non licet Non quod dissimilis res sit sed quod qui facit When two does both alike the self same Act One suffers pain the other for the Fact Not the lest shame or punishment and why Respect of persons makes Crimes differently The death of Mr. Noy the more sadly afflicted the Doctor to lose so dear a Friend and an entire Lover of learned men during whose time no unhappy differences brake out betwixt the Dean of Westminster and the Prebends of that Church but all things were carried on smoothly by his Lordship because he knew well that Dr. Heylyn had a sure Advocate in Court both in behalf of himself and his Brethren if they stood in need of help that no sooner this worthy person departed the World but the Bishop so extremely tyrannized over the Prebendaries infringing their Priviledges violating their Customes and destroying their ancient Rights that for the common preservation of themselves and their Successors they were forced to draw up a Charge against his Lordship consisting of no less than thirty six Articles which were presented by way of complaint and petition of redress to his sacred Majesty who forthwith gave order for a Commission to be issued out unto the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York the Earl of Manchester Lord Privy Seal Earl of Portland the Lord Cottington the two Secretaries of State Sir John Cook and Sir Francis Windebank Authorizing them to hold a Visitation of the Church of Westminster to examine the particular charges made against John Lord Bishop of Lincoln and to redress such grievances and pressures as the Prebends of the said Church suffered by his misgovernment The Articles were ordered by the Council Table to be translated into Latin by Dr. Heylyn which accordingly he performed to avoid the common talk and scandal that might arise if exposed to the publick veiw of the vulgar on April 20. A. D. 1634. the Commission bore date which was not executed but lay dormant till December 1635 the Bishop expecting the business would never come to a hearing he raged more vehemently dispossessed the Prebends of their Seats refused to call a Chapter and to passe their Accounts conferred holy Orders in the said Church without their consent contrary to an ancient Priviledge which had been inviolably retained from the first foundation of the Church he permitted also Benefices in their gift to be lapsed unto himself that so he might have absolute power to dispose them to whom he pleased Quo teneam nodo With many other grievances which caused the Prebends to present a second Petition to his Majesty humbly beseeching him to take the ruinous and desperate estate of the said Church into his Princely consideration Upon which the former Commission was revived a day of hearing appointed and a Citation fixed upon the Church door of Westminster for the Bishops and Prebends to appear on Jan. 27. Upon the 25th instant The Prebends were warned by the Subdean to meet the Bishop in Jerusalem Chamber where his Lordship foreseeing the Storm that was like to fall upon his head carried himself very calmly towards them desiring to know what those things were that were amiss and he would presently redress them though his Lordship knew them very well without an Informer to which Dr. Heylyn replyed that seeing they had put this business into his Majesties hands it would ill become them to take the matters out oâ—… his into their own Therefore on Jan. 27th both Parties met together before the Lords in the Inner-star Chamber where by their Lordships Order the whole business was put into a methodical course each Mâ—…day following being appointed for a day of hearing till a Conclusion was made of the whole affair On February the 1st The Lords Commissioners with the Bishop and Prebends met in the Council-Chamber at White-hall where it was first ordered that the Plaintifs should be called by the name of Prebends supplicant Secondly they should be admitted upon Oath as Witnesses Thirdly they should have a sight of all Registers Records Books of account c. which the Bishop had kept from them Fourthly that the first business they should begin with should be about their Seat because it made the difference or breach more visible and offensive to the World than those matters which were private and domestick And lastly it was ordered that the Prebends should have an Advocate to plead their Cause defend their Rights and represent their Grievances Accordingly the Prebends unanimously made choice of Dr. Peter Heylyn for their Advocate The business now brought on so fairly
Brother did both pay her and the other Sisters Portions who were all married to Persons of Quality himself had an Estate left him by his Father to the value of 800l per Annum he married an Heiress whose fortune added to his Estate on which they lived nobly for many years before he fell into losses and misfortunes caused by his own extravigant Pleasures and chiefly of Gaming at Dice and Cards Quem damâ—…osa Venus quem Praeceps alea nudat To the said Letitia High-gate Mr. Heylyn was an earnest Sutor For indeed he could not make a better Choice for the excellency of her Person Wit and Friends all concentring together for his more happy Contentment she being also a discreet Religious young Lady which is a Blessing to a Clergy-man his Courtship of her was not after a Romantick manner nor as a Gallant of the times but like a Scholar and a Divine as appears by a Copy of Verses written upon a rich guilded Bible which he presented to her and the Verses are as followeth Could this outside beholden be To cost and cunning equally Or were it such as might suffice The Luxury of curious Eyes Yet would I have my Dearest look Not on the Cover but the Book If thou art merry here are Aires If melancholly here are Prayers If studious here are those things writ Which may deserve thy ablest Wit If hungry here is Food Divine If thirsty Nectar heavenly Wine Read then but first thy self prepare To read with zeal and mark with care And when thou read'st What here is writ Let thy best Practice second it So twice each Precept read shall be First in the Book and next in thee Much reading may thy Spirits wrong Refresh them therefore with a Soâ—…g And that thy Musick Praise may merit Sing David's Psalms with David's Spirit That as thy Voice do pierce Mens Ears So shall thy Prayer and Vows the Sphaears Thus read thus sing and then to thee The very Earth a Heaven shall be If thus thou readest thou shalt find A private Heaven within thy mind And singing thus before thou dye Thou sing'st thy Part to those on High The Verses with the Bible were most affectionately received by her as the best Tokens of Love that could be given to lay the Foundation of a future Happiness betwixt them that was now begun so Religiously with the Book of God which they both intended to make the Rule of their Life and Love Soon after the Solemnization of Marriage followed by the consent of Friends on both Parties in the presence of whom and other Witnesses they were married by Dr. Allibone his faithful Friend upon the Festival day of St. Simon and St. Jude in Magdalen Colledge Chappel where he was Fellow but now the Husband of a good Wife of whom we may say as the Poet Felices Quos irrupta tenet copula nec malis Divulsis querimoniis Suprema citius solvet die Most happy is the Marriage-tye Where Love abideth â—…onstantly No sad Complaints or Cryes whilst Breath Remains but true Love unto Death At his Marriage with this vertuous Gentlewoman he had a good Estate of his own besides her Portion to begin the World with for he had a Rent Charge of Inheritance paid him out of the Manor of Lech-led in the County of Glocester and the Adv ousan of Bradwel living near Lech-led both which were left him by his Father as a Competent Portion for a younger Brother but he wisely parted with the Advousan resolving not to bury his Parts in a Country Parish where if he had been once setled possibly his Fortune might have proved like other Mens never to have been Master of more Lands or Goods than the Tythe or Glebe of his own Parsonage Therefore he took the first opportunity offered to him as a more probable means of his future preferment and that was to attend the right Honourable the Earl of Danby to the Isles of Guernsie and Jersie of which afterward he writ a Description And for this gooâ—… Service he so much endear'd himself to his Lordship who took great notice of his extraordinary merits that at their return back the Noble Lord commended him not only to some Lords in Court but presented him to Arch-Bishop Laud then Bishop of London who had cast a singular Eye of favour upon him before but now reminded by the Earl he presently got him admitted Chaplain to the King knowing that step to Preferment would carry him on further because the rise of the Clergy is either from the Press or the Pulpit in both which Mr. Heylyn was exercised The good Bishop instructed him with Counsel and wise Cautions how to behave himself in all Circumstances sutable to the Calling and Dignity of his Place telling him amongst other things That the King did not love Silk nor Sattin Chaplains which Mr. Heylyn ever observed both young and old never ruffling in Silks like some of his Brotherhood but went alway in a plain grave and decent habit In humble gratitude to the Earl his original Patron who first recommended him to the Bishop and afterward brought him to the honour of acquaintance with Noble-men among whom he found such a general love and respect that their Lordships would often call him to a familiar Conversation with them by which means Mr. Heylyn acquired more than an ordinary Interest in Court He could not study out a more ingenious way to please and oblige all their Lordships than the Vindication of the most noble Order of the Garter and that by writing his History of the famous Saint and Souldier of Christ Jesus St. George of Cappadocia which Work he performed so admirably well for History Learning and Language all these not vulgar but incomparable in their kind that I would fain see the Fellow that can second it especialy considering that never any one before Mr. Heylyn durst attempt the work by reason of the many difficulties occurring in Story But what could re sist the Authors Ingenuity and Industry who had importunum Ingenium a restless working Head and a Mind indefatagable for Study Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor Hor. So various and perplexed are the infinite stories that go of this Saint that one would think it were an impossible thing to find out the Truth Great care was taken by Anterus Bishop of Rome An. Dom. 238. who was a Martyr himself to preserve the Memory of the Christian Martyrs by causing all their Acts and Passions to be written by publick Notaries and afterwards laid up in the Register of the Church as Platina tells us and we find in Gregories Epistles that in the Ancient Martyrologies the time of their death and place where they suffered is described but not the circumstance and manner of their deaths whereby hath risen so many Fables and incredible stories especially of St. George which the Monks of old hath filled their Legends with And on the other side some because they would be contradictory to them
when he thought it would digest The Scruple troubled all the rest Notwithstanding this scrupulosity in them the World knows their hypocritical Practices under all those zealous Pretences how light they are in the Ballance and how extraordinary a thing it is to find from their hands downright honesty and plain dealing they are too much like the Scribes and Pharisees who by godly shews of long Prayers sad Countenances Justification of themselves that they were the only Righteous and all others Sinners played the Hypocrites most abominably to deceive the vulgar sort they made Religion a meer mock and empty show 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour to be seen like Stage-players in a Theater Nam tota actio est histrionica as Erasmus well observeth their whole carriage was dramatick to make a feigned Pageantry and Ostentation of Piety Yet John Lord Bishop of Lincoln in compliance with this Sect out of discontent and revenge because deprived of the great Seal and commanded by the King to retire from Westminster transformed himself into one of these Angels of new Light and made himself the Archangel and Head of their Party First of all by writing his pretended Letter to one Titly Vicar of Grantham against the holy Communion Table standing Altar-wise to which Dr. Heylyn made a sudden and sharp reply in his Book entituled A Coal from the Altar to which the Bishop within a Twelve-month after he took time enough for the Work did return an Answer under the Title of The Holy Table Name and Thing pretending withal that this was written long ago by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in Queeu Marys Reign No sooner the King heard of this new Book but he sent a Command to Dr. Heylyn to write a speedy Answer to it and not in the least to spare the Bishop Neither did the Doctor baulk the grand Sophos but detected all his false Allegations and answered them that were true which the Bishop had wrested to a contrary sense if we will look into the Doctors Book called by him Antidotum Lincolniense All this while the Bishop as it must be confest being a man of Learning writ against his own Science and Conscience so dear is the passion of revenge to gratifie which some men wilfully sin against the Light of their own Souls therefore the Bishop according to the Apostles word was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned of himself For look upon him in the point of practice and we shall find the Communion Table was placed Altar-wise in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln whereof he was Bishop and in the Collegiate Church of Westminster of which he was Dean and lastly in the private Chappel of his own house as Dr. Heylyn saith in whieh it was not only placed Altar-wise but garnished with rich Plate and other costly Utensils in more than ordinary manner By all which the Bishop needed no further refutation of his Book than his own Example that in those places where he had Authority the Holy Table did not stand in Gremio and Nave of the Quire as he would have it fixed but above the Steps upon the Altar close to the East end of the Quire ex vi catholicae consuetudinis according to the ancient manner and custom in the Primitive Catholick Church But hinc illae lachrymae ever since this mischief followed his Book that in most Country Churches to this day the Table is set at the hither end of the Chancel whithout any Traverse or Rails to fence it Boys fling their Hats upon it and that which is worse Dogs piss against it Country Juries write their Parish accounts Amerciaments By-Laws c. all which is a most horrible profanation and not to be suffered But now John Lord Bishop of Lincoln who would have removed the holy Communion Table from its proper place and had displaced his Prebends of their ancient Seat was himself at this time Anno Dom. 1637. thrown out of his Episcopal Chair by sentence of the Star-Chamber for endeavouring to corrupt the Kings Evidence in a Cause of Bastardy brought before his Majesties Justices of Peace at Spittle Sessions in the County of Lincoln which business afterward came to a hearing before the Lords in Star-Chamber by whose definitive sentence the Bishop was suspended ab Officio Beneficio deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Preferments deeply fined and his Complices with him and afterward committed to the Tower of London where he continued Prisoner for three years and in all that space of time his Lordship did never hear Sermon or publick Prayers to both which he was allowed liberty but instead thereof he studied Schism and Faction by his own Example and his Pen disguisedly During the time of his Lorships Imprisonment Dr. Heylyn was chosen Treasurer for the Church of Westminster in which Office he discharged himself with such diligence and fidelity that he was continued in it from year to year till the Bishops release out of tâ—…e Tower and his removal back again to Westminster While he was Treasurer he took care for the repairs of the Church that had been neglected for many years First of the great West-Isle that was ready to fall down was made firm and strong and of the South-side of the lower West-Isle much decayed he caused to be new timbred boarded and leaded but chiefly the curious Arch over the preaching place that looketh now most magnificently he ordered to be new vaulted and the Roof thereof to be raised up to the same height with the rest of the Church the charge of which came to 434 l. 18 s. 10 d. He regulated also some disorders of the Quire perticularly the exacting of Sconses or perdition mony which he divided among them that best deserved it who diligently kept Prayers and attended upon other Church Duties Whilest he was Treasurer his Brethren the Prebendaries to testifie their good affections to him presented him to the Parsonage of Islip near Oxford a very good Living worth about 200l per Annum then by the death of Dr. King made void but by reason of the distance from Alresford though standing most conveniently to taste the sweet pleasures of the University he thought fit to exhange it for another nearer hand the Rectory of South-warnborough in the County of Hampshire that was in the gift of St. Johns Colledge in Oxon to which exchange he was furthered by the Arch-Bishop who carried a great stroke in that Colledge of which he had been President It pleased God soon after to visit him and his Family at Alresford with a terrible fit of Sickness of which none escaped the Disease was so contagious but the Cook 's boy in the Kitchen who was then Master Cook for the whole Family and he performed his part so well in making their broths and other necessaries that he was the best Physitian among the Doctors for by his Kitchen Physick the Sick was cured No sooner Dr. Heylyn recovered of the