fion, James being unable, as a Papist,* to receive it in the Anglican form. He felected Ken, although the junior Bishop, to walk by his fide, under the canopy of state, † in the proceffion from Westminster Hall, and to be his fupporter on the fteps of the throne during the ceremonies in the Abbey. His friend, Francis Turner,§ Bishop of Ely, was appointed to preach the Coronation sermon, a service which afterwards bound him with additional ties to the cause of James after he was dethroned. || Thus we fee the two poor Winchester scholars brought to great emi heavy on his fpirits." D'Oyly's Life of Sancroft, p. 127, on the authority of Salmon's Lives of English Bishops, p. 96. *Subsequent to this, he ftruck out the word "true" before the word "Religion," in the Service for the 29th of May, the day of the Restoration. See Tanner MSS., vol. xxxi. fol. 54. † Among the engravings in Sandford's elaborate and highly ornamented work of the Coronation, fol., 1687, is one reprefenting the King and his attendants in proceffion; the countenance of Ken appears to be a correct likeness when compared with other engraved portraits of him. + People were ftruck by the King's demeanour throughout the auguft ceremonial, contrasted, as it was, with the seriousness and humility of the Queen : "fhe answered all the refponfes, but he never moved his lips: the expreffed great devotion, but he little or none; often looking about, as unconcerned. When she was anointed and crowned, I never faw greater devotion in any countenance." Bishop Patrick's Autobiography, 12mo, 1839, p. 105. § Evelyn mentions Turner as a good preacher in the former reign, and we shall fee afterwards that he was a distinguished speaker in the House of Lords; "Dr. Turner, now translated from Rochester to Ely upon the death of Dr. Peter Gunning, preached before the King at Whitehall, on Romans iii. 8, a very excellent fermon, vindicating the Church of England against the pernicious doctrines of the Church of Rome. He challenged the producing but of five clergymen who forfook our Church and went over to that of Rome, during all the troubles and rebellions in England, which lasted near twenty years; and this was, to my certain observation, a great truth." Evelyn's Diary, vol. ii. P. 200. || Life of Kettlewell, 8vo, 1718, p. 430. nence, both men of serious lives, who esteemed a holy retirement above all the parade of courts, yet fought out by the King, as worthy of the highest marks of favour he could bestow. Shortly after, James opened Parliament with a fpeech, in which he promised to fupport and defend the Church of England, and the people feemed difpofed to rely on his pledges. The Commons, by unanimous vote, fettled upon him during his life the revenues enjoyed by the late King. The Speaker, in presenting the Bill for the Royal affent, expressed the fatisfaction of the Houfe in his "Majefty's gracious and sacred word, repeated declarations, and assurance to fupport and defend the religion of the Church of England, as is now by law established: and we humbly befeech your Majefty to accept this revenue, and along with it our hearty prayers, that God Almighty would blefs you with a long life and happy reign to enjoy it." The King thanked them very heartily for the Bill, declaring that their readiness and cheerfulness in the dispatch of it was as acceptable to him as the Bill itself and that he could not exprefs his thoughts more fuitably than by affuring them he had "a true English heart, as jealous of the honour of the nation as you can be; and I please myself with the hopes that, by God's bleffing, and your affiftance, I may carry the reputation of it yet higher in the world than ever it has been in the time of of my ancestors." any CHAPTER XI. The Duke of Monmouth; his life and character-Invades England-Lands in the Weft of England-Defeated in the battle of Sedgemoor-Cruelties of Lord Feverfham, and Colonel Kirke-Ken's appeal to the King on behalf of the prifoners-Monmouth condemned to death-Ken attends him on the fcaffold. 'N the midst of this interchange of civilities between the King and Parliament, intelligence arrived that the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate fon of the late King, had landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, and fet up the ftandard of rebellion in the western counties. The Parliament immediately paffed a Bill of attainder against him, offered a reward of 5,000l. to any who fhould bring him in, and having voted 400,000l. to the King for the present emergency, both Houfes adjourned on the 2nd of July, the members being difmiffed to their several counties, where their prefence was required to encourage the loyal, and control the difaffected. Ken was prefent in the House of Lords on this occafion;* but within * It does not appear that Ken ever spoke in the House of Lords. After this prorogation James never affembled the Parliament again, except for a few days in Auguft and November following. On the laft occafion Compton, Bishop of London, spoke against the employment of Popish officers, and declared that he expreffed, not only his own fen a few days after we find him in his Diocese, a messenger of charity amidst the din of war, raised by the invafion. This period of Monmouth's history forcibly illuftrates the Bishop's character in two particulars,-his compaffion for fufferers, and his ftedfastness in carrying out the injunctions of the Church, even when his benevolent feelings would have prompted him to relax the ftrictness of her rule. It is, therefore, neceffary to enter into a brief review of Monmouth's eventful life. He was the eldeft fon of Charles II., born at Rotterdam during the King's exile. He first went by the name of James Crofts, received his education at Paris under the care of Henrietta Maria, and was brought up a Roman Catholic. At the age of fourteen, foon after the Restoration, the King fent for him to Court, provided him a stately equipage, appointed for his use apartments in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall, and by warrant authorized him to bear the royal arms of England and France. He caufed him also to be reconciled to the English Church. He was a youth of lovely form and countenance, perfected in all the graces and accomplishments of the Court, and fo great a favourite with the King, that for many years he lavished upon him every honour and endearment that an over-indulgent parent could bestow. Having already created him a Peer of Parliament, and a Knight of the Garter, before he was eighteen years old, he fecured for him in marriage the richest heiress of the kingdom, the beautiful Countess of Buccleuch, then only fixteen years of age. The mere lift of his titles and offices would fuffice to show the entire devotion of the King's heart to this Abfalom of his house.* Charles feemed to delight in his fociety:—wherever he went Monmouth was his chofen companion, or if he fent him occafionally to serve in the French army, he was everywhere received with the honours due to royalty. The Diaries of Evelyn and Pepys abound with notices of the over-weening attachment of his father, who seemed to love him for his very faults. These were indeed too like his own; for he was a profligate youth, owning no law but his own will. Pepys fays, "the little Duke of Monmouth is ordered to take place of all Dukes, and fo follow Prince Rupert, before the Duke of Buckingham or any elfe:"-" the King fo fond of the Duke of M. that everybody admires it: and the Duke fays he would be the death of any man, who says the King was not married to his mother:"-" the Duke of Monmouth fpends his time most viciously and idly of nor will be fit for any thing: yet fpeaks confidently of his mother having been married to the King:" "talk of the D. of Monmouth being made Prince of Wales not true:" &c. &c. any man, We cannot wonder that the King's brother should be alarmed at fuch indications of an ill-regulated par * Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch, Earl of Doncaster and Dalkeith, Lord Scott of Tindale, Whitchester, and Ashdale. Lord Great Chamberlain of Scotland, Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull, Chief Justice in Eyre of all the Forefts, Chafes, Parks, and Warrens south of the River Trent, Lord General of all the King's Land Forces, Captain of the Life Guards of Horse, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Master of the Horse, |