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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 103 



to subscribers, and that no copies will be printed 

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 and produce a lasting Memorial of that industrious 

 printer. The form of the work is of importance, 

 with reference to the cost of its production : and 

 if a new life of the first English printer should 

 perchance be found necessary, " The Caxton 

 Coffer " will require to be considerably replenished 

 before the literary undertaking can be carried into 

 effect. Beriah Botfield. 



LORD STRAFFORD AND ARCIIHISHOP XISSHER. 



In Lord Campbell's account of the conduct of 

 Archbishop Williams, and the advice which that 

 prelate gave to Charles I. with respect to the at- 

 tainder of Lord Strafford, is a sentence which 

 seems to require a " Note." Having observed 

 that " Williams's conduct with respect to Straf- 

 ford cannot be defended," and having referred 

 particularly to his speech in parliament, he pro- 

 ceeds in these words : — 



" The Bill of Attainder being passed, although he 

 professed to disapprove of it, he agreed to go with 

 three other prelates to try to induce the king to assent 

 to it, and thus he stated the question: — 'Since liis 

 Majesty refers his own judgment to his jud;;es, and 

 they are to answer it, if an innocent person suffers, — 

 why may lie not satisfy his conscience in the present 

 matter, since competent judges in the law have awarded 

 that they find the Earl guilty of treason, by suffering 

 the judgment to stand, though in his own mind he is 

 satisfied that the party convicted was not criminous?' 

 The other three bishops, trusting to his learning and 

 experience, joined with him in sanctioning this dis- 

 tinction, in laying all the blame on the judges, and in 

 saying that the king, with a good conscience, might 

 agree to Strafford's death. Clarendon mainly im- 

 putes Strafford's death to Williams's conduct on this 

 occasion, saying that ' be acted his part with pro- 

 digious boldness and impiety.' It is stated as matter 

 of palliation by others, that Ussher, the celebrated 

 Archbishop of Armagh, was one of this deputation, 

 and that Strafford, although aware of the advice he 

 had given, was attended by him on the scaffold, and 

 received from him the last consolations of religion." — 

 Lives of the Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 494., second edition. 



The account which Lord Campbell has here 

 given is the same in substance as that given by 

 Bishop Haekett in his Life of Williams (Part II. 

 p. 161.), and in several particulars is calculated to 

 mislead the reader. The whole story has been 

 very carefully examined by the late Dr. Elrington 

 in his Life of Archbishop Ussher. Haekett' s" ac- 

 count is very incorrect. There were five prelates 

 consulted by the king, Ussher, Williams, Juxon, 

 Morton (Durham), and Potter (Carlisle). The 

 bishops had two interviews with the king ; one in 

 the morning, and the other in the evening of the 

 same day. At the morning meeting Usslier was 

 not present. It was Sunday, and he was engaged 



at the time preaching at Covent Garden. In the 

 evening he was in attendance, but so far from 

 giving the advice suggested by AVilliams, much 

 less approving his pernicious distinction between 

 a public and a private conscience, Ussher plainly 

 advised the king, that if he was not satisfied of 

 Strafford being guilty of treason, he " ought not 

 in conscience to assent to his condemnation." 

 Such is the account given by Dr. Parr, Ussher's 

 chaplain, who declares, that, when the primate was 

 supposed to be dying, he asked his Grace — 



" Whether he had advised the king to pass the bill 

 against the Earl of Strafford? To which the Primate 

 answered : • I know there is such a thing most wrong- 

 fully laid to my charge ; for I neither gave nor ap- 

 proved (if any such advice as that the king should assent 

 to the bill against the Earl ; but, on the contrary, told 

 his Majesty, tliat if he was satisfied by what he heard 

 at his trial, that the Earl was not guilty of treason, liis 

 INIajesty ought not in conscience to consent to his con- 

 demnation. And this the king knows well enough, 

 and can clear me if he pleases.' The liope of the 

 Primate was fulfilled, for, when a report reached Ox- 

 ford that the Primate was dead, the king expressed 

 in very strong terms, to Colonel William Legg and Mr. 

 Kirk, who were then in waiting, his regret at the 

 event, speaking in high terms of his piety and learning. 

 Some one present said, 'he believed he might be so, 

 were it not for his persuading your Majesty to consent 

 to the Earl of Strafford's execution ; ' to which the 

 king in a great passion replied, 'that it was false, for 

 after the bill was passed, the Arclihishop came to me, 

 saying with tears in his eyes, Oh Sir, wliat have you 

 done ? I fear that this act may prove a great trouble 

 to your conscience, and pray God that your Majesty 

 may never suffer by the sigiung of this bill.' " — Elring- 

 ton's Life of Ussher, p. 214. 



This account Dr. Elrington has taken from the 

 narrative given by Dr. Parr, who adds, that he 

 had receired this account of the testimony borne 

 by the king from Colonel Legg and Mr. Kirk 

 themselves : — 



"This is the substance of two certificates, taken at 

 divers times under the hands of these two gentlemen of 

 unquestionable credit; both which, since they agree in 

 substance, I thought fit to contract into one testnnony, 

 which I have inserted here, having the originals by me, 

 to produce if occasion be."— Parr's Life of Ussher, p. 61. 



Indeed, considering the great and uninterrupted 

 friendship which subsisted between Ussher and 

 Strafford, considering that the primate was his 

 chosen friend during his trial and imprisonment, 

 and attended him to the scaffold, nothing could be 

 more improbable than that he should have advised 

 the king to consent to his death. At all events, 

 the story is contradicted by those most competent 

 to speak to its truth, by the archbishop and by 

 the king ; and therefore, in a work so deservedly 

 popular as Lord Campbell's, one cannot but regret 

 that any currency should be given to a calumny so 

 injurious to a prelate whose character is as de- 



