But, whether my life be longer or shorter, and be the time of my decease, and quitting this earthly stage, sooner or later, I am for leaving the narrative that here ensues, as a legacy to those that come after me, to be received and disposed of as they think fit. And, notwithstanding that the fore-cited Sir William Temple, in the close of his "Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning," in a way of pleasantry, gives it as the sense of the wise Alphonsus, King of Arragon, "That among so many things as are by man possessed or pursued, in the course of their lives, all the rest are but baubles, besides old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to converse with, and old books to read," I cannot help being of opinion, that such as think fit to be at the pains to read over what is here put into their hands, if it should ever be published, will find somewhat, not only to amuse them, and give them a transient, hasty entertainment, but somewhat, also, that may improve them, and do them some service either by way of instruction or caution.

And in that hope I proceed to give what account I am able of the most noted passages of my life, the Providence of God towards me, the times I have lived in, and the remarks I have made on what occurred, as far as it fell under my notice. And as I have reason to think the reflections I have been led into while I was drawing up these papers, have heightened my own thankfulness to the Great Ruler

of the world and Disposer of all events, so it is my hearty wish that others may find their reading them has a like effect upon them also, stirring them up to give glory to Him to whom all glory belongs, and to whom all mankind are strictly accountable.

CHAPTER I.

1671-1686.

Of my Family and Parentage; Birth and Education; until the time of my Entrance upon Academical Studies; with an addition of some passages relating to the Court and Ministry, in the latter part of the Reign of King Charles II.

I SHALL begin with the family and stock that I came of, (for which I think I may be allowed to have some value, since God has been pleased to honour it,) though I am not able to carry my account far back.

I have been informed that my grandfather was a reputable tradesman in Walbrook, in the city of London, who came from the Isle of Guernsey, and settled here. It is not unlikely but his father came originally from Normandy in France, being driven into that island which lies upon their coast, that he might be sheltered from persecution, about the time of Charles IX. I have been so informed by some of the oldest of my relations, that I have known and conversed with; who told me that my grandfather, applying to the Heralds' Office, about his coat-ofarms,* was there certified that there was an old

* See "Diary of Burton," ii. 456 n. ad fin.—ED.

town and castle that bore his name,) on the Norman coast,) which belonged to his ancestors.

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I never could get any intelligence that my great grandfather had any more sons than my grandfather, whose Christian name I bear. He was bred to learning, a Cambridge man, admitted of PembrokeHall, July 4, 1616;* of the Puritan stamp, and at length chaplain to bishop Felton, of Norwich, who is said by Archdeacon Echard,† to have been happy in the wise choice of all his curates and chaplains." He lived in his family, and was much esteemed and cherished by him. But when he afterwards fell into the hands of his successor, bishop Wren, (who is even by Lord Clarendon himself,+ owned to have been "a man of a severe sour nature," and by Echard,§ to have been "a person of no little severity, especially against the Puritan party, towards whom he used so high a hand, that many of them in his diocese of Norwich left the nation and settled in foreign parts :") he, as well as many others, was much molested and worried.

.

After having been long a celebrated preacher in the country, first at Swaffham, two churches in the county of Cambridge, then at St. Edmund's Bury, in Suffolk, (where my father was born, and in which

Dr. Calamy says "he was born in Feb. 1600."-Account, (1713) p. 4.—ED.

"History of England," ii. 55.-C.

"History of the Rebellion," i. 103.-C.

"History of England," iii. 207.-C.

town my grandfather continued ten years,)* and afterwards at Rochford, in the Hundreds of Essex, under the protection of the old Earl of Warwick,† he was at length, about the year 1639, chosen to succeed Dr. Stoughton, by the parishioners of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, in London. Here his house was a receptacle for all Presbyterian ministers, and the place in which the Remonstrance was framed against the prelates, for which some bore him no great good will. However, he continued there for many years, as eminent a preacher, and as much followed, as any divine in those times.

In some "Historical Observations,"§ printed in 1643, it was charged "that he complied with Bishop Wren, the Diocesan." But in his "Just and necessary Apology against an unjust Invective, published by Mr. Henry Burton," in 1646, he positively declared that "he never bowed to, or towards the altar; never read the Book of Sports; never read prayers at the high altar; and that he preached against innovations," &c.

"Till Bishop Wren's articles and the Book of Sports drove him, and thirty more worthy ministers out of the diocese.”—Account, p. 5.-ED.

+ Who died in 1658. He was a favourite courtier of the Lord Protector Oliver. See "Diary of Burton," ii. 356. 535, 536 n.-ED.

"The London Petition against bishops, presented to the Commons, Dec. 11, 1640."-Rushworth, (1706) iii. 309.-ED.

"Upon the proceedings, pretences and design of a prevailing party in both Houses of Parliament."-Athen. Oxon. (1691) i. 898.-ED.