THE FOUNDERS OP CHARLES CHURCH. 
227 
the county of Warwick ; and he then appears to be living in Ply- 
mouth, for on the 27th May, 1633, there is a letter from King 
Charles to Bishop Hall, of Exeter. " His Majesty understands 
that the Incumbent of Plymouth has been troubled by refractory 
persons endeavouring to maintain a lecturer there contrary to the 
approbation of the Incumbent. The Bishop is required not to 
admit any presentation to that Church in prejudice of the Incum- 
bent, and to settle Thomas Bedford, who is approved by the In- 
cumbent, in the place of Lecturer, and not to permit him to be 
disquieted by Grosse." 
Soon after this recommendation — namely, in 1634 — Henry 
Wallis was succeeded as Vicar by the learned Aaron Wilson, and 
the approbation of the former merged into the friendship with the 
latter, which lasted during life, and under date September 19th, 
1635, the following entry is found in the Town Books: "Mr. 
Thos. Bedford, batcheleor in Divinitye, was commended by the 
King's Mat. to the Lord Bishope of this Diocesse to be established 
Lecturer in this Towne. And whereas hee hath livd and preacht 
here almost foure yeares with good approbation shall from this daye 
be establisht to be a Lecturer here, and shall have during his resi- 
dence and preachinge here for his maintaynance One hundred pounds 
a yeare, to be payd him quarterly. — John Martyn, Maior — 
Robert Trelawny." 
So far as Plymouth is concerned, this is our introduction to 
Thomas Bedford ; nothing is known of his association with, or the 
part he played in, the foundation of Charles Church ; but a man 
of such mark, who had been called to preach his sermon upon 
" The ready way to True Freedom " at St. Paul's Cross on the Feast 
of St. John Baptist, June 24th, 1638, must evidently by his 
position have been closely connected with his friend Robert Tre- 
lawny, first of all in the efforts to obtain the Act authorizing the 
construction of the Church ; have been cast down by the apparently 
fruitless efforts of eight years of labour and waiting ; and at last 
have been as joyful over the sudden and apparently unexpected 
successful termination of their labours as Robert Trelawny himself, 
to whom belongs the actual honour of obtaining the Act. 
Staunch Royalists, both Bedford and Trelawny must now have 
turned their attention to raising the necessary funds for the building 
of the church, and it may be surmised that while the eloquent 
tongue of the lecturer of Plymouth resounded through the long 
