in 1688 Compton was instrumental in bringing over the Prince" 

 of Orange; and being "released from his suspension," he, together 

 with the Earl of Dorset, conveyed the Princess Anne safely from 

 London to Nottingham. He was chosen by William of Orange 

 to perform the ceremony of the coronation, and he also enjoyed 

 the high esteem and intimacy of his former pupil, Queen Mary. 

 Yet in spite of the favour shown to him, and notwithstanding 

 that the see of Canterbury was twice vacant in the reign of William 

 III., he was never nominated to fill it, but remained Bishop of 

 London until he died at Fulham in 1713, at the age of eighty. 

 From the stand he made in defence of the rights of the Church 

 in the reign of James II., he was styled the " Protestant Bishop." 

 Before the Restoration and before taking orders, Compton had 

 served in the Horse Guards, and his spirited reply to King James II. 

 oh one occasion, when the King told him he " talked more like a 

 colonel than a bishop," was a reference to this time. " His 

 Majesty," he said in polite retort, " did him honour in taking 

 notice of his having formerly drawn his sword in defence of the 

 constitution, and that he would do so again if he lived to see 

 it necessary" 



Bishop Compton is supposed to have planted the famous avenue 

 of elms leading to the "Bishop's Park," which a few years ago 

 was opened as a public recreation ground. In this avenue are 

 many lamentable gaps. Only last spring I watched the felling 

 of one of these patriarchal trees which had to come down for 

 the safety of the public but if these really be the elms that Compton 

 planted, the wonder is not that so few, but that so many, remain ! 



The fame of the Bishop of London's grounds was at its height 

 at the close of Compton's long term of residence ; and it was well 

 for the garden that it was so long. Thirty-seven years is a genera- 

 tion and more, in the life of a man ; but it is little in the life of a 

 tree. In this period, however, during which the good bishop had 

 dug and planted, and watered and pruned, many of the objects of 

 his tender care had time to arrive at maturity, and others were 

 well on the way to it. Evelyn mentions that " he had a thousand 

 species of exotic plants in his stores and gardens . . . there were 

 few days in the year, till toward the latter end of his life, but he 

 was actually in his garden, ordering and directing the removal 

 and replacing of his plants." But alas ! as Lysons tells us in 



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