BURNET

BURNET, Gilbert, bishop of Salisbury, was born at Edinburgh in 1643, but was descended of an ancient family in the county of Aberdeen. His father being bred to the law, was, at the restoration of King Charles II., appointed one of the lords of session, by the title of Lord Crimond, as a reward for his constant attachment to the royal party during the civil wars. Gilbert, the youngest son of his father, was instructed by him in the Latin tongue; and at ten years of age he was sent to Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he was admitted A. M. before he was fourteen years of age. His own inclination led him to the study of the civil and feudal law; and he used to say that it was from this study he had received more just notions concerning the foundations of civil society and government, than those which some divines maintain. He afterwards changed his views, and, to the great satisfaction of his father, began to apply to divinity. He received ordination before the age of eighteen; and Sir Alexander Burnet, his cousin-german, offered him a benefice, but he refused to accept of it.

In 1663, about two years after the death of his father, he came into England; and after six months stay at Oxford and Cambridge, returned to Scotland; which he soon left again to make a tour of some months, in 1664, in Holland and France. At Amsterdam, by the help of a Jewish

rabbi, he perfected himself in the Hebrew language; and likewise became acquainted with the leading men of the different persuasions tolerated in that country, Calvinists, Arminians, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Brownists, Papists, and Unitarians; among each of which sects he used frequently to declare he met with men of such unfeigned piety and virtue, that he became fixed in a strong principle of universal charity, and an invincible abhorrence of all severities on account of religious dissensions.

Upon his return from his travels, he was admitted minister of Saltoun; in which station he served five years in the most exemplary manner. He drew up a memorial, in which he took notice of the principal errors in the conduct of the Scottish bishops, which he observed not to be conformable to the primitive institution; and sent a copy of it to several of them. This exposed him to their resentments; but to show he was not actuated by a spirit of ambition, he led a retired course of life for two years, which so endangered his health that he was obliged to abate his excessive application to study. In the year 1668 he was appointed professor of divinity in the university of Glasgow; and, according to the usual practice, he read his lectures in the Latin language. It was apparently at this period that he laid the chief foundation of that theological learning for which he became so distinguished. In 1669 he published his "Modest and free Conference between a Conformist and Nonconformist." He became acquainted with the Duchess of Hamilton, who communicated to him all the papers belonging to her father and her uncle; upon which he drew up the "Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton," afterwards printed at London, in folio, in the year 1677. The Duke of Lauderdale, hearing he was engaged in this work, invited him to London, and introduced him to King Charles II. He returned to Scotland, and married Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, a lady of great knowledge, and highly esteemed by the Presbyterians, to whose sentiments she was strongly inclined.¹ As there was some disparity in their ages, that it might be sufficiently evident that this match was wholly owing to inclination, and not to avarice or ambition, the day before their marriage he delivered to the lady a deed, by which he renounced all pretensions to her fortune, which was very considerable, and must otherwise have fallen into his hands, she herself having no intention to secure it. His "Vindication of the Authority, Constitution, and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland," was printed at Glasgow, in octavo, in the year 1673. This was considered as so material a service to the government, that he was again offered a bishopric, with a promise of the next vacant archbishopric; but he did not accept of it, because he could not approve of the measures of the court, the great view of which he perceived to be the advancement of popery. The publication itself was one of those which the author could not afterwards recollect with much satisfaction.

His intimacy with the Dukes of Hamilton and Lauderdale procured him frequent messages from the king and the Duke of York, who had conversations with him in private. But Lauderdale, who was the most unprincipled man of the age, conceiving a resentment against him on account of the freedom with which he spoke to him, represented at last to the king that Dr Burnet was engaged in an opposition to his measures; and on his return to London he perceived that these suggestions had entirely deprived him of the king's favour, though the Duke of York treated him with greater civility than ever, and dissuaded him from going to Scotland. He accordingly resigned his pro-

Burnet. professorship at Glasgow, and settled in London. About this time the living of Cripplegate being vacant, the dean and chapter of St Paul's (in whose gift it was), hearing of his circumstances, and the hardships which he had undergone, made him an offer of the benefice; but, as he had been informed of their first intention of conferring it on Dr Fowler, he generously declined it. In 1675, at the recommendation of Lord Hollis, whom he had known in France as ambassador at that court, he was by Sir Harbottle Grimstone, master of the rolls, appointed preacher at the Rolls chapel, notwithstanding the opposition of the court; and he was soon afterwards chosen lecturer at St Clement's, and became one of the most popular preachers in town. The first volume of his History of the Reformation of the Church of England was published in folio in 1681, the second in 1683, and the third in 1715. For this great work he received the thanks of both houses of parliament. Of the first two volumes he published an abridgment in the year 1683.

Dr Burnet about this time happened to be sent for to a woman in sickness, who had been engaged in an amour with the Earl of Rochester. The manner in which he treated her during her illness gave that profligate nobleman a great curiosity for being acquainted with him; and during a whole winter, he spent one evening of the week with Dr Burnet, who discussed with him all those topics upon which sceptics and men of loose morals attack the Christian religion. The happy effects of these conferences occasioned the publication of his account of the life and death of that nobleman. In 1682, when the administration was changed in favour of the Duke of York, being much resorted to by persons of all ranks and parties, in order to avoid returning visits, he built a laboratory, and for above a year pursued a course of chemical experiments. Not long after he refused a living of three hundred pounds a year offered him by the Earl of Essex, on the terms of his not residing there, but in London. When the enquiry concerning the popish plot was on foot, he was frequently sent for and consulted by King Charles with relation to the state of the nation. His majesty offered him the bishopric of Chichester, then vacant, if he would engage in his interests; but he refused to accept it on these terms. He preached at the Rolls till 1684, when he was dismissed by order of the court.

About this period he published various works, among which we must not overlook the following seven. "Some Passages of the Life and Death of John Earl of Rochester." Lond. 1680, 8vo. "The Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale, Kt. sometime Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties Court of Kings Bench." Lond. 1682, 8vo. "The History of the Rights of Princes in disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church Lands." Lond. 1682, 8vo. "The Life of William Bedell, D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland." Lond. 1685, 8vo. "Reflections on Mr Varillas's History of the Revolutions that have happened in Europe in matters of Religion, and more particularly on his ninth book, that relates to England." Amst. 1686, 12mo. "A Defence of the Reflections on the ninth book of the first volume of Mr Varillas's History of Heresies; being a Reply to his Answer." Amst. 1687, 12mo. "A Continuation of Reflections on Mr Varillas's History of Heresies, particularly on that which relates to English Affairs in his third and fourth tomes." Amst. 1687, 12mo. He bore a very conspicuous part in the controversy which at that time was so ably maintained against the papists; and

a complete catalogue of his works would occupy no small space. The following translations deserve to be mentioned in this very brief and inadequate notice. "Utopia, written in Latin by Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of England: translated into English." Lond. 1685, 8vo. "A Relation of the Death of the primitive Persecutors, written originally in Latin by L. C. F. Lactantius: Englished by Gilbert Burnet, D. D. to which he hath made a large preface concerning persecution." Amst. 1687, 12mo.

On King James's accession to the throne, having obtained leave to quit the kingdom, he first went to Paris, and lived in great retirement, till, contracting an acquaintance with Brigadier Stoupe, a Protestant gentleman in the French service, he made a tour with him into Italy. He met with an agreeable reception at Rome. Pope Innocent XI. hearing of his arrival, sent the captain of the Swiss guards to acquaint him he would give him a private audience in bed, to avoid the ceremony of kissing his holiness's slipper; but Dr Burnet excused himself as well as he could. Here, with more zeal than prudence, he engaged in some religious disputes; and, on receiving an intimation from Prince Borghese, he found it necessary to withdraw from this stronghold of priestcraft, and pursued his travels through Switzerland and Germany. He afterwards came to Utrecht, with an intention to settle in some of the seven provinces. There he received an invitation from the prince and princess of Orange (to whom their party in England had recommended him) to come to the Hague, and of this invitation he accepted. He was soon acquainted with the secret of their councils, and advised the preparation of a fleet in Holland sufficient to support their designs and encourage their friends. This, and the account of his travels,² in which he endeavoured to blend popery and tyranny together, and represent them as inseparable, with some papers reflecting on the proceedings of England, that came out in single sheets, and were dispersed in several parts of England, of most of which Dr Burnet owned himself the author, alarmed King James, and were the occasion of his writing twice against him to the princess of Orange, and insisting, by his ambassador, on his being forbidden the court; which, after much importunity, was done, though he continued to be trusted and employed as before, the Dutch minister daily consulting him. To put an end to these frequent conferences with the ministers, a prosecution for high treason was commenced against him both in England and Scotland; but receiving the intelligence before it reached the states, he avoided the storm, by petitioning for, and obtaining without any difficulty, a bill of naturalization, in order to his intended marriage with Mary Scott, a Dutch lady of considerable fortune, who, with the advantage of birth, united those of a fine person and understanding.

After his marriage with this lady, being legally under the protection of Holland, when Dr Burnet found King James plainly subverting the constitution, he omitted no method to support and promote the design which the prince of Orange had formed of delivering Great Britain; and, having accompanied him in quality of chaplain, he was in the year 1689 advanced to the see of Salisbury. He declared for moderate measures with regard to the clergy who scrupled to take the oaths, and many were displeased with him for declaring for the toleration of nonconformists. As my lord of Salisbury, says the Earl of Shaftesbury, "has done more than any man living for the good and

honour of the church of England and the reform'd religion, so he now suffers more than any man from the tongues and slander of those ungrateful church-men; who may well call themselves by that single term of distinction, having no claim to that of Christianity or Protestant, since they have thrown off all the temper of the former, and all concern or interest with the latter." The same noble writer has elsewhere mentioned him in the following terms of commendation: "The bishop of Salisbury's Exposition of the Articles is, no doubt, highly worthy of your study. None can better explain the sense of the church, than one who is the greatest pillar of it since the first founders; one who best explain'd and asserted the reformation its self; was chiefly instrumental in saving it from popery before and at the Revolution; and is now the truest example of laborious, primitive, pious, and learned episcopacy."¹

His pastoral letter concerning the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to King William and Queen Mary, 1689, happening to touch upon the right of conquest, gave such offence to both houses of parliament, that it was ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common executioner. He soon afterwards published a very valuable work, entitled A Discourse of the Pastoral Cure. Lond. 1692, 4to. In 1698 he lost his wife by the small-pox; and as he was almost immediately after appointed preceptor to the Duke of Gloucester, of whose education he took great care, this employment, and the tender age of his children, induced him the same year to supply her loss by a marriage with Mrs Berkeley, a widow, who was eldest daughter of Sir Richard Blake. In 1699 he published his Exposition of the thirty-nine Articles; which occasioned a representation against him in the lower house of convocation in the year 1701, but he was vindicated in the upper house. His speech in the House of Lords in 1704 against the bill to prevent occasional conformity, was severely attacked. He formed a scheme for augmenting the small livings; which he pressed forward with such success, that it ended in an act of parliament passed in the second year of Queen Anne, for the augmentation of the livings of the poor clergy. He died in 1715, and was interred in the church of St James, Clerkenwell, where a monument was erected to his memory.

Bishop Burnet's History of his own Time, consisting of two large volumes in folio, was not published till several years after the author's death; the first volume appeared in 1724, and the second in 1734. An account of his life was added by his youngest son Sir Thomas Burnet, one of the judges of the court of common pleas. The history itself was not printed without mutilations; but after an interval of nearly a century, an edition, containing all the passages which had formerly been suppressed, was published under the superintendence of the learned Dr Routh. Oxford, 1823, 6 vols. 8vo. This is a work of great and intrinsic value: it exhibits many curious and interesting delineations of character, and many striking views of the causes and progress of events. The first volume, which relates to the reigns of Charles II. and his brother James, we consider as the more interesting of the two. His materials are not always very carefully digested, and his style is sometimes supposed to be too familiar; but these defects are abundantly compensated by the copiousness of his information, the benevolence of his sentiments, and the earnestness of his manner. The Conclusion displays superior dignity of composition, and cannot be perused without the most favourable impression of the author's intellectual attainments and moral worth. He uniformly evinces his attachment to the cause of freedom, nor is this

the least conspicuous part of his character: the church of England, in its collective capacity, has always been hostile to civil as well as religious liberty; and its annals exhibit very few names which tend to remove the general stigma. Those of Burnet and Hoadley ought never to be forgotten.