LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHAKP. 369 



come in never so often, he would give his vote for it, 

 but he was afraid it ivotdd break us. Allowances 

 should be made for their different way of argu- 

 ing, since they both voted the same way. One 

 shewed the spirit of a general, the other of a 

 bishop. 



Upon another occasion he opposed the grant- 

 ing a privilege to the meeting-houses equal to 

 that of the Church of England, viz. in the Natu- 

 ralization bill, 1708-9. *' He voted against the 

 commitment of it, March 15, and spoke (as did 

 also the Bishops of Carlisle and Chester) for 

 the alteration of that clause where it was en- 

 acted, that it should be sufficient to qualify a man 

 for naturalization, that he received the sacrament iti 

 any Protestant congregation. They would have 

 had it inserted in any parish church, but it was 

 carried against them. There were seven bishops 

 more with them, and six against them." 



Before we quit this head, which concerns the 

 dissenters, let his opinion of their baptisms be 

 added with that of several other bishops. On 

 Easter Tuesday, 1712, when, according to cus- 

 tom, most of the bishops of both provinces dine 

 with the Archbishop of Canterbury, their con- 

 versation turned upon the validity of baptism 

 by lay hands. 



1712. Tuesday, April 22d. " At eleven 

 o'clock I went to Lambeth. We were in all 



B b 



