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desired him to appoint me another time, which he did on the Saturday morning after.

"Then I came again, and he took me into his closet, where I told him that I could not but have a deep sense of His Majesty's great grace and favour to me, not only to offer me the best thing he had to give, but to press it so earnestly upon me. I said, I would not presume to argue the matter any farther, but I hoped he would give me leave to be still his humble and earnest petitioner to spare me in that thing. He answered, he would do so if he could, but he knew not what to do if I refused it. Upon that I told him, that I tendered my life to him, and did humbly devote to be disposed of as he thought fit. He was graciously pleased to say, it was the best news had come to him this great while. I did not kneel down to kiss his hand, for without that I doubt I am too sure of it; but requested of him that he would defer the declaration of it, and let it be a secret for some time. He said he thought it might not be amiss to defer it till the Parliament was up. I begged farther of him, that he would not make me a wedge to drive out the present Archbishop: [Sancroft:] that sometime before I was nominated, His Majesty would be pleased to declare in Council, that since his lenity had not had any better effect, he would wait no more, but would dispose of their places. This I told him I humbly desired, that I might not be thought to do anything harsh, or which might reflect upon me; for now that His Majesty had thought fit to advance me to this station, my reputation was become his interest. He said he was sensible of it, and thought it reasonable to do as I desired. I craved leave of him to mention one thing more, which, in justice to my family, especially to my wife, I ought to do, that I should be more than undone by the great and necessary charge of coming into place; and must therefore be a humble petitioner to His Majesty that, if it should please God to take me out of the world, that I must unavoidably leave my wife a beggar, he would not suffer her to be so; and that he would graciously be pleased to consider that the widow of an Archbishop of Canterbury (which would now be an odd figure in

England) could not decently be supported by so little as would have contented her very well if I had died a Dean. To this he gave a very gracious answer, I promise you to take care of her.""

The Archbishop's wife, it must be noted, was a niece of Oliver Cromwell. King William fulfilled his promise by giving this lady an annuity of £600 when she became a widow; and this, with 2,500 guineas, produced by the sale of Tillotson's posthumous sermons, constituted all her fortune. The King also forgave him his first-fruits. †

He discharged the duties of his new station very honourably, not finding the burden to be insufferable, as he had feared, yet very heavy. Burnet gives his character in his own peculiar style, but quite consistently with all that is recorded elsewhere. The Bishop speaks thus:

"I preached his funeral sermon, in which I gave a character of him, which was so severely true, that I perhaps kept too much within bounds, and said less than he deserved. But we had lived in such friendship together, that I thought it was more decent, as it always is more safe, to err on that hand. He was the man of the truest judgment and best temper I had ever known; he had a clear head, with a most tender and compassionate heart; he was a faithful and zealous friend, but a gentle and soon conquered enemy; he was truly and seriously religious, but without affectation, bigotry, or superstition; his notions of morality were fine and sublime; his thread of reasoning was easy, clear, and solid; he was not only the best preacher of the age, but seemed to have brought preaching to perfection; his sermons were so well heard and liked, and so much read, that all the nation proposed him as a pattern, and studied to copy after him; his parts remained with him clear and unclouded; but the perpetual slanders,

Only two, who had filled the see of Canterbury, had been married, Cranmer and Parker.

+ First-fruits are a sum equivalent to one year's income of an archbishopric or bishopric, paid during the first four years after the appointment. It was first exacted by the Pope, then transferred to the Crown, and, since the reign of Queen Anne, distributed for augmentation of poor livings, &c.

and other ill-usage he had been followed with, for many years, most particularly since his advancement to that great post, gave him too much trouble, and too deep a concern: it could neither provoke him, nor fright him from his duty; but it affected his mind so much, that it was thought to have shortened his days."

But he returned good for evil; of which proof was given, some time after his promotion, when the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General gave him notice that several persons, on the account of publishing and dispersing libels against him, were secured in order to prosecution. On hearing this, he went to wait on them, and earnestly desired that nobody might be punished on his account. "That," he said, " was not the first time he had experienced that kind of malice, which, however unpleasant to him, he thought it the wisest way to neglect, and the best to forgive it." And on a bundle of libels found among his papers after his death, was found this inscription, by his own hand:"These are libels: I pray God forgive the authors; I do."

On a Sunday in November, 1694, while in the chapel at Whitehall, he was taken ill; but, unwilling to interrupt Divine service, kept his place. It was the approach of palsy; and, on the fifth day after this attack, he died. He could scarcely speak, but was serene and calm, and in broken words thanked God that he was quiet within, and had nothing to do but to wait the will of his heavenly Father.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST NOBLE CITY
OF LONDON,

IN THE YEAR 1185 circ.*

AMONG the noble cities of the world, which fame celebrates, the city of London, seat of the kingdom of the English, is the one that spreads its own fame the widest,

• Translated for the "Youth's Instructer," from the Latin of Wilhelmus Filius Stephani, or William Fitz-Stephen, a Monk who lived in London, and evidently enjoyed London life.

sends its wealth and merchandise the farthest, holds up its head the highest. It is happy in salubrity of air, in the Christian religion, in strength of fortifications, in nature of situation, in honour of citizens, in matron modesty; in games, also, it is merry, and fruitful in noble men: each of these apart we may now consider.

If the mildness of the climate in that city softens the minds of men, it is not to make them licentious, but rather that they may be kind and liberal.

There is a Bishop's chair in the church of St. Paul, in London, which was once that of the Metropolitan, and it is thought that it will be such again, if citizens find their way back into the island; unless, perhaps, the archiepiscopal title and bodily presence of the blessed martyr Thomas† should preserve this dignity in perpetuity to Canterbury, where it now is. But as St. Thomas illustrated both of these cities, London by his birth, and Canterbury by his death, so, in regard to the same saint, each city has something to plead for itself in preference to the other. And so far as relates to culture of the Christian faith, there are in London and the suburb thirteen large convent-churches, § besides one hundred and twenty-six lesser parish-churches.

On the eastern side there is a palace-castle,|| very great and strong, whose walls and interior buildings rise up from a very deep foundation, of which the mortar was tempered with the blood of animals. On the western side there are two castles, exceeding strong; the wall of the city being high and great, continued between seven gates, each gate having double doors; and on the northern sides it is crowned at intervals with towers (muro urbis alto et magno, duplicatis heptapyla portis, inter continuante, turrito ab aquilone per intercapedines). In like manner London was once walled

1

• Instead of following the King and his Court in Normandy.

+ Thomas Becket.

1 Not suburbs. There was then but one suburb, which will be presently described.

The principal churches were attached to the monasteries. The Monks had far greater power than the parish Priests.

The Tower of London.

and towered on the south; but the river Thames, which flows on this side,—a very large river, abounding in fish,* by the influx and reflux of the sea, has, in course of time, worn the wall, weakened it, and thrown it down. And on the west, again, a royal palace rises over the same river, an incomparable edifice, with outworks and battlements (cum antemurali et propugnaculis), about two miles out of the city, which distance is occupied by a suburb containing many houses (suburbio frequenti continuante).

The citizens living in the suburb have everywhere their houses surrounded with gardens, spacious and beautiful (spatiosi et speciosi), and contiguous to one another.†

On the north, too, there are fields, pastures, and a pleasant plain of meadows, well watered with streams, on which mills are built, whose wheels roll round with cheerful murmur. In this neighbourhood spreads a vast forest, with shady groves, the haunts of wild animals, of stags, deer, wild boars, and wild bulls. The corn-lands of the city are not unyielding wastes, but fat fields of Asia,

Qui faciant lætas segetes,§

and can fill the barns of their cultivators

Cerealis mergite culmi." ||

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On the northern side of London are the chief suburban fountains of fresh water, salubrious, clear, dashing over pebbly beds. The best known of these are the Sacred Fountain," "the Clerks' Fountain," and "St. Clement's Fountain," which are celebrated for being visited by large parties of scholars and youth of the city, who go out on summer evenings to take the air. The city, indeed, is good, if it had but a good master.¶

• Not yet poisoned by the filth of the city.

+ This was the original “west end."

1 All gone, like the fish of the river.

$ Capable of yielding abundant harvests.

With sheaves of ripened ear.-Virgil, Georgic, lib. ii., v. 517.

¶ London had a chief Magistrate, indeed, called the Portgrave, or Portreve; but, after the Norman conquest, he was not elected by the citizens, and, we may judge by Fitz-Stephen, was not in very good odour. Rastell, in his

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