A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



Bohemia, sister to Charles I. At the restoration, he was first appointed 

 Bishop of Worcester. 



An elaborate series of articles of the primary visitation of his 

 diocese were issued and printed by Bishop Morley in \66z. 1 They go 

 more into detail than some others of the same date. Inquiries are made 

 whether the font is of stone and if it has a good cover, also if there is 

 * a Bier with a black Hearscloth for the Burial of the dead.' Inquiries 

 were also made if the clerk or sexton kept the church ' clean from dust, 

 cobwebs, and other annoyance,' and if the churchwardens saw that none 

 ' sit, lean, or lay their hats upon the Communion-table,' and also permitted 

 ' no minstrels, no morris-dancers, no dogs, hawks, or hounds to be brought 

 or come in to your Church to the disturbance of the Congregation.' 



After two years of grace the beneficed ministers were required, 

 under pain of deprivation, ' to declare their unfeigned assent and consent 

 to all and everything contained in and prescribed by the Book of Com- 

 mon Prayer,' and those who had not received ordination were to submit 

 themselves to the bishop. On St. Bartholomew's day, 1662, in Hamp- 

 shire as elsewhere, a considerable number of beneficed ministers (though 

 certainly a smaller number than the previously ejected episcopalians) had 

 to withdraw from their cures. 2 All honour to those, whether prelatists 

 or nonconformists, who preferred freedom of conscience to the allure- 

 ments of a settled income and a cosy parsonage. The men in those 

 changeful times to be really pitied were those who clung to their 

 benefices right through that period, easily changing their profession of 

 faith in accordance with that of the dominant power. 



Among those Hampshire incumbents to be honoured for their 

 consistency in declining conformity was Nathaniel Robinson of All 

 Saints, Southampton, who had been one of Cromwell's chaplains, and 

 had arranged the marriage between Richard Cromwell and Dorothy 

 Mayor of Hursley ; John Warren of Romsey, who is said by Calamy 

 to have refused two bishoprics ; and Walter Marshall of Hursley, who 

 was a fellow of New College and author of an appreciated book, The 

 Gospel Mystery of Sanctiftcation. These and many others speedily became 

 the founders of Presbyterian or Independent congregations. Just at first 

 these nonconformists were left alone and allowed to form themselves into 

 congregations for worship, but Charles II. 's desire for toleration was soon 

 overcome by the parliament, who dreaded the reintroduction of popery. 



The Church was outwardly strengthened but inwardly and spiritu- 

 ally weakened by such legislation as the Five Mile Act, the Conventicle 

 Act and the Sacramental Test Act. The severity of treatment accorded 

 to the Quakers during this period, already mentioned, applied almost 

 equally to other nonconformists of Hampshire, particularly about South- 



1 There is a copy in the British Museum, press mark 5155, C. 52. 



' Green's account of the causes for expelling parsons during the Civil War is another of the grave 

 blots on his history. He must have known that the use of the Prayer Book in public or private was 

 prohibited, and that no orderly minded ordained priest could possibly have retained his benefice under 

 such conditions (Hiit. of Eng. People, viii. ch. i). 



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