252 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 



tion, of attending her*. And being considered 

 in this point of view, as it was impossible for 

 him to escape the remarks of a world divided 

 in its sentiments of the public interests, so he 

 would necessarily incur as much censure on the 

 one handy as he gave satisfaction on the other. Yet 

 so guarded and moderate was his conduct on 

 the whole, and such was the good opinion that 

 men generally conceived of him, that his public 

 character was as little struck at, and himself as 

 universally esteemed, as could be expected in 

 those circumstances, and in an age when the ani- 

 mosities of party ran so high, and spared so few. 



Bishop Burnet, in his history of those times, 

 speaking of the promotion of Dr. Tillotson and 

 Dr. Sharp at the same juncture, to the two 

 archiepiscopal sees, having acknowledged their 

 talents as divines, distinguishes upon their civil 

 characters in this manner, only Sharp did not 

 know the world so well, nor was he so steady as 

 Tillotson was. 



As his lordship neither gives any further 

 explanation of this remark, nor produces any 

 instances throughout his whole history to sup- 

 port it, we are left at some uncertainty what 

 construction to put upon it, seeing it is capable 

 of a more or less favourable sense, as the reader 



* He took his last leave of the Queen May 10, 171 3, and died 

 the February following. Queen Anne died August 1, 1714. 



