I.

On the 14th of October, the king's second son, James, duke CHARLES of York, was born, and christened by archbishop Laud the 24th of November.

reform some

rendon's

It has been observed, the remissness of Abbot introduced a The archbishop ennegligent latitude, not to say profaneness, in Divine service. deavours to The churches had neither ornament or decency, or so much as negligences reparation bestowed on them; and the sacraments were admi- in Churches. nistered where the people had most mind to receive them. Lord ClaThis profane indifference the archbishop was resolved to re- Hist. vol. 1. form, and called upon his suffragans for their concurrence. The recovering of the churches from a condition of offensiveness and scandal, and bringing the circumstances of devotion to an uniformity, was without question a commendable undertaking but whether through the obstinacy of the people, the expence of the execution, or want of temper in the management, the design miscarried in some places, and made the discontents against the hierarchy run higher.

And now to look over the affairs of the Church in Scotland. The king had observed the orders in the late reign for officiating in the English liturgy at Holyrood-house had been discontinued; and being resolved to attempt the bringing the whole island to an uniformity of worship, he conceived the use of the English Common Prayer in the chapel royal might prove a serviceable introduction. For the trial of this expedient, he ordered Ballantine, bishop of Dumblain, and dean of the chapel there, the following instructions for Holyroodhouse :

"CHARLES REX.

instructions

"I. Our express will and pleasure is, that the dean of our The king's chapel that now is, and his successors, shall be assistant to the for offiright reverend father in God, the archbishop of St. Andrew's, ciating in the at the coronation, so often as it shall happen.

English Liturgy at the chapel in

house.

"II. That the book of the form of our coronation, lately Holyroodused, be put in a little box, and laid into a standard, and committed to the care of the dean of the chapel successively.

"III. That there be prayers twice a day with the choirs, as well in our absence as otherwise, according to the English Liturgy, till some other course be taken for making one that may fit the customs and constitutions of that Church.

"IV. That the dean of the chapel look carefully that all

LAUD, that receive the blessed sacrament there, receive it kneeling; Abp. Cant. and that there be a communion held in that our chapel the first Sunday of every month.

Oct. 8, 1633.

66

"V. That the dean of our chapel that now is, and so successively, come duly thither to prayers upon Sundays, and such holidays as the Church observes, in his whites, and preach so whensoever he preach there; and that he be not absent thence but upon necessary occasion of his diocese, or otherwise, according to the course of his preferment.

"VI. That these orders shall be our warrant to the dean of our chapel, that the lords of our privy council, the lords of the session, the advocate, clerk, writers to the signet, and members of our college of justice, be commanded to receive the holy communion once every year, at the least, in that our chapel royal, and kneeling for example sake to the kingdom. And we likewise command the dean aforesaid to make report yearly to us how we are obeyed therein, and by whom; as also if any man shall refuse, in what manner he doth so, and why.

"VII. That the copes which are consecrated for the use of our chapel be delivered to the dean to be kept upon inventory by him, and in a standard provided for that purpose, and to be used at the celebration of the sacrament in our chapel royal.

"To these orders we shall hereafter add others, if we find Bibl. Regia. others more necessary for the service of God there."

sec. 2.

num. 2.

And the king, possibly being apprehensive Ballantine might be warping toward the Presbyterian persuasion, gave the archbishop a warrant in writing to correspond with this bishop of Dumblain, and transmit his majesty's directions to him for the Id. sec. 11. management of the chapel.

num. 4.

Notwithstanding archbishop Laud exerted himself for retrieving the usages of the Church, he found the Puritan novelties very difficult to deal with. Calvin, and some others of that complexion, were in many places the idols of the people insomuch, that to practise up to the primitive Church, to worship God "in the beauty of holiness," and guard the solemnities from contempt, was interpreted to be superstition. To give an instance of the undistinguishing obstinacy of these men. The parishioners of St. Gregory's, in St. Paul's Church

I.

between some

761.

yard, had been at a considerable expence in ornamenting their CHARLES church amongst other furniture they had prepared a table for the holy eucharist. Now the dean and chapter of St. Paul's A contest being ordinaries of the place, directed them to set it at the of the parishioners of east end of the chancel, that by this situation it might recover St. Gregory its ancient standing, and be conformable to the mother-church, and the dean About five of the parishioners contesting this order, appealed of St. Paul's about placing to the dean and the arches; and the dean and chapter, to the commu nion-table. countermine them, referred the decision to the king. On the 3d of November the matter was brought before the councilboard, the king being present. After the cause had been pleaded at length on both sides, his majesty, having first declared his dislike of all innovation, gave sentence for the dean and chapter: the parishioners had urged the eighty-second canon to prove the liberty of placing the communion-table in a situation of most conveniency. But here the king's decision takes notice, "That this liberty is not to be so understood, as if it was left to the direction of the parish, and much less to the singular fancy of every humoursome person, to over-rule this matter. To make this inference, was a wide misconstruction of the canons; for these circumstanees, both of place and time, were to be governed by the direction of the ordinary." Bibl. Reg. This judgment in behalf of the dean and chapter was a serviceable precedent, and encouraged the ordinaries in other dioceses to go through with the same regulation. Towards the latter end of this year the king wrote to the archbishop for encouraging the printing of Greek manuscripts: and because the letter may not be unacceptable to the reader, I shall insert it in the records. Farther, to promote the interest of oriental Num. 110. learning, the following letter was sent to the Turkey merchants :

sec. 2.

num. 17.

Regist.

fol. 196.

letter to the

"Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. "We have of late taken into our princely care, how to fur- Laud, par. 1. nish the Greek press within our kingdom, that such of our The king's subjects as are learned in that language might be able to set Turkey merforth some of those divers manuscripts in Greek, with which chants, for promoting our own library, and the libraries in our universities, are well oriental learning. furnished; which course, if it be well followed (as we doubt not but it will), must needs bring a great deal of profit and honour both to Church and State. With the consideration of

LAUD, this concerning the Greek, we took into our care also a great Abp. Cant, difficulty, which yet we conceive may be well mastered, if it be

The death of
Godwin,
bishop of
Hereford.

providently looked into. There is a great deal of learning, and that very fit and necessary to be known, that is written in Arabic; and there is a great defect in both our universities, very few spending their time to attain that, or any other of the Eastern languages: which we impute not so much to the fault of the students there, as partly to the great scarcity and want of Arabic and Persian books, on which they might spend their pains, and partly to their lack both of opportunity and means to provide and furnish themselves with such books. While we took this into our royal consideration, and withal how useful and necessary the knowledge of those languages would be for our subjects, we could not but think and advise which way some better store of Arabic and Persian books might be gotten and brought unto us. After a long deliberation, we could not find any way so good, and likely to be successful, as the employing your service which trade thereabouts. And because we would do it with little or no burden unto you, we have thought of this course, which we pray and command you to follow carefully, and with effect, namely, that every ship of yours, at every voyage that it makes, should bring home one Arabic or Persian manuscript book, to be delivered presently to the master of the company, and by him sent or carried to the lord archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, who shall dispose of them as we in our wisdom shall think fit. And we doubt not but you will be careful at all times readily to perform this service, which so much tends to our own honour, the advancement of learning, and the good of our people; the value of one book being not a considerable thing. And always provided that they bring any other books besides the Alcorans, because we have choice of them already.

"Given under our signet at our palace at Westminster,

the -day of February, in the ninth year of our reign."

This year Francis Godwin, bishop of Hereford, departed this life. He was son to Thomas Godwin, bishop of Bath and Wells. Francis was translated from the see of Landaff to that of Hereford by king James. He was a considerable mathematician, a good preacher, and an eminent antiquary, and

successor.

I.

wrote well in Latin. His principal works are, his book, “De CHARLES Præsulibus Angliæ," and his " Annals" of the reign of Henry VIII., king Edward VI., and queen Mary. Juxon, dean of Worcester, and clerk of the closet, was nominated for his But upon Laud's advancement to Canterbury, he was recommended to the king by that archbishop for the see of London, and hither his majesty promoted him. And thus the church of Hereford continuing vacant, Augustin Lyndsell was translated thither, and Francis Dee, doctor in divinity, and dean of Chichester, was made bishop of Peterborough.

secuted and

the Star

This year William Pryn, outer-barrister of Lincoln's-inn, was Pryn procalled to an account for his "Histriomastix." In this perform- censured in ance the heat of his temper, and his puritanical principles, chamber. carried him too far. He writes with no guard of discretion or charity; rambles extravagantly beyond his bounds; and not only falls upon masks and dancing without reserve, but flies his satire against hunting, public festivals, keeping Christmas, bonfires, and May-poles.

Rushworth's
Collections,

He is charged with insulting the court, reproaching the vol. 2. queen, and dropping some dangerous expressions against the P. 220. 235. king and government.

Besides these misdemeanours, for which he was prosecuted in the Star-chamber, attorney-general Noy cited several scandalous passages in his book, of which the information took no notice. The reason why these things were overlooked in the matter alleged against him was, their being of ecclesiastical cognizance, and proper for the High Commission.

Ibid. p. 221.

To mention somewhat of this part of Pryn's invective. He throws a general censure upon the bishops and clergy; falls upon them for making an over-expensive and foreign figure; and taxes them with scorning to feed the poor. He complains of cringing and ducking to new-erected altars, and of dedicating St. Paul's to Diana. He goes on in this coarse way of rallying; calls the Church music "a bleating of brute beasts. Choristers (says he) bellow the tenor as if they were oxen; bark a counterpoint like a kennel of dogs; roar a treble as if Ibid. p. 232. they were bulls; and grunt out a base like a parcel of hogs." for p. 223. The lords of the Star-chamber, that delivered their opinion at large, and harangued upon Pryn's misbehaviour, were the lord Cottington, chancellor of the Exchequer, the lord chief justice Richardson, the earl of Dorset, and secretary Cook. After

"wrong paged,